Road To Love: Chapter 11

Kurt pulled open his locker, smiling brightly at the pictures of him and Blaine taped to the inside.

Ever since his dad had found out about Blaine 3 weeks ago, Kurt had been a lot happier. He still didn't see Blaine as much as he would have liked, although they certainly had a little more time to spend together. The main benefit of Burt finally knowing about Kurt and Blaine was that Kurt didn't have a nagging guilt following him everywhere he went.

Kurt was extremely excited about the mid-semester break that was coming up in a few days. He and Blaine would both have two weeks off school, and they would be able to see each other almost every day.

Kurt smirked to himself. He had a feeling these holidays were going to be amazing. As he shut his locker, his cellphone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out as he walked down the hall, to see that he had a new text from Blaine.

From: Blaine

Warblers practice sucks. Wes has a disturbing relationship with his gavel. Wish you were here - I can't stop thinking about you. Xox

Kurt smiled so widely he thought his face might split in two. This was just one of the reasons he loved Blaine so much – he always said these things that made Kurt feel so special and wanted. It was a feeling he wasn't really used to and one that he was sure he would never get sick of.

As he grinned down at his phone, he was suddenly met with a huge, strong body, slamming him backwards into a row of lockers. Kurt's back clanged against the hard metal, and he winced. He saw Karofsky turn to glare at him, challenging him with his eyes, before sauntering off down the hall.

Kurt found himself suddenly overwhelmed with a bout of intense rage. Karofsky's attacks, insults and slushies had become more and more frequent over the last few months. And, for some reason, it seemed to be only him who was being targeted, not the other Glee club members as well. Kurt was sick of it. He was sick of being bullied and victimised. He was sick of the fact that when he was in school, every time he smiled, Karofsky would give him a reason not to. He felt a sudden rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins, and he took a deep breath before running after Karofsky.

"HEY!" He cried angrily, as he followed the boy into a locker room at the side of the hall.

Jacob Ben Israel quickly snuck into the boy's locker room, a large bag of adult diapers in his hand.

He snickered to himself quietly, heading behind the first row of lockers towards the second row, to locker 215 – which belonged to Sam Evans. He had the combination memorized, of course – he knew the combination to nearly everybody's locker. That was one of the bonuses of being McKinley High's gossip guru.

He quickly opened the locker and planted the bag of diapers, placing it so that it would fall out as soon as the locker was re-opened. He pushed his glasses up his nose and smirked to himself. Once Sam Evans got out of gym class, he would have a nice surprise waiting for him, and Jacob would have several witnesses to back up this new piece of fantastic gossip: Sam Evans wears adult diapers. Jacob cackled maniacally at the thought of what his girlfriend Quinn Fabray would think of that – especially since she was clearly only dating Sam to climb McKinley High's social ladder.

As he slung his backpack over his shoulder and turned to leave, Jacob heard the door of the locker room slam open, and he dropped to the floor quickly, hiding behind the first row of lockers.

"I AM TALKING TO YOU!" A high-pitched male voice shouted angrily.

Jacob recognised the voice immediately – it belonged to McKinley's token gay kid, Kurt Hummel. For a second Jacob thought that Kurt had spotted him and had come to defend Sam, since they were in Glee club together, but then another voice spoke up and he realised that Kurt was not alone.

"Girl's locker room's next door."

Jacob recognised the voice of David Karofsky, the worst of the McKinley High bullies. Kurt Hummel was his biggest victim, and excitement bubbled in Jacob's chest at the realisation that a confrontation was about to take place, and he would be here to witness it.

He quickly fumbled in his bag, trying to be as quiet as possible, but it wasn't really necessary as the sound of the two boys arguing heatedly drowned out the sound of his shuffling. He located his video camera in the bag, turned it on, and peeked out from behind the row of lockers. From his spot on the floor he had a clear shot of Karofsky and Kurt, but it was unlikely that they would see him, as they seemed far too caught up in their argument to notice anything much around them.

Jacob listened to the argument with rapt attention as it escalated.

Karofsky had his fist raised, but Kurt wasn't backing down.

"You gonna hit me?" He asked, glancing down at Karofsky's fist. "Do it!"

"Don't push me!"

"Hit me, because it's not going to change who I am. You can't punch the gay out of me any more than I can punch the ignoramus out of you!"

Jacob raised his eyebrows in surprise and admiration. He had to hand it to Hummel, the kid had serious guts. Karofsky was much bigger than Kurt, and he looked absolutely furious as he shouted back, clearly very close to snapping and losing his temper. Jacob hoped that he didn't – he didn't want to see another student get beaten to a pulp right in front of him, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to help. Or, rather, he would be too scared to step in if things got violent – it wasn't his responsibility, anyway. He just hoped that Hummel knew well enough to quit while he was ahead.

"GET OUT OF MY FACE!" Karofsky roared. Kurt fearessly brought up a finger and pointed it right in the other boy's face, his expression fixed with determination and fury. He wasn't backing down.

"You are nothing but a scared little boy who can't handle how extraordinarily ordinary you are!"

Karofsky lunged forwards, and Jacob winced, but the attack that he expected didn't come - at least, not in the way that he had anticipated.

Karofsky kissed Kurt. There was no denying it – he grabbed the boy's face with both hands, and pressed his lips up against his. The kiss was not tender and gentle, it was desperate and rough. Jacob clapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his gasp, and quickly double-checked to ensure that his camera was still recording.

After a few short seconds, Karofsky pulled away. Kurt looked horrified. He stood with his mouth slightly open, gaping at Karofsky. The larger boy lunged forwards again, but this time Kurt quickly pressed a hand to the boy's chest and pushed him away forcefully, letting out a scared whimper and he took a step back and brought a hand to his own mouth. Karofsky looked at Kurt with a conflicted expression on his face before slamming his hands into the locker next to him, letting out a cry of frustration. He then bolted from the room.

Jacob watched with bated breath as Kurt stood right where he was for a couple of minutes, breathing heavily and trembling. He still had a hand to his mouth, and he looked like he was about to cry. When he finally seemed to recover, he trudged from the room, and Jacob breathed a sigh of relief, switching off his video camera.

He knew what he had to do. Karofsky was well-known as being the biggest bully at the school, and he had slushied Jacob more times than he could count. Jacob wouldn't have any reason to fear him anymore once this got out. He had absolutely no moral qualms with dragging the bully's reputation through the dirt. He felt a little bad about Kurt, but he figured that everyone already knew he was gay anyway, so what did it matter? Besides, it was pretty clear from the video that Karofsky had initiated the kiss, and Kurt had pushed him away.

Jacob looked both ways before hastily exiting the locker room, making sure that neither Karofsky nor Kurt were anywhere in sight. As he walked down the hall, he couldn't seem to stop himself from smirking with a sick sense of pleasure. David Karofsky, he thought, today is the day that the tormentor becomes the tormentee. This news was going to turn the school upside-down.

The morning after his confrontation with Karofsky, Kurt arrived at school filled with nervous jitters, and sat in his parked car for a moment before going inside.

His first instinct when he had arrived home the previous day had been to call Blaine and tell him everything, but that would have meant confessing to the bullying that he had been keeping secret, and he just didn't want Blaine to have to deal with that. Blaine had enough on his own plate, what with his dad and the Warblers and his often ridiculous workload. He didn't have to worry about Kurt too, especially when there wasn't really anything he could do to help.

Kurt decided that the best thing to do would be to keep everything to himself for now, and find a way to talk to Karofsky. It went completely against his better judgement, but he felt bad for the boy, and he wanted to help. Even though he had been tormented and abused by him for years, he now knew why. Karofsky was gay, and he was in the closet, and that was not an easy situation to be in. Kurt had the potential to ruin Karofsky completely, but he didn't want to do that, not even a little bit. He didn't believe in outing people.

With a sigh, Kurt got out of his car and walked through the front doors of the school. Immediately, he knew that something was wrong. As soon as he walked in and headed to his locker, the entire hallway filled with students turned to look at him, and began whispering. Kurt looked around in bewilderment. Suddenly, Mercedes and Rachel came flying down the hall towards him, panting breathlessly.

"There you are!" Rachel gasped, skidding to a halt in front of Kurt. "We've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Have you seen it yet?" Mercedes asked, looking concerned.

Kurt was completely perplexed. "Seen what?"

Rachel shoved her iPhone under his nose. There was a video on the screen. She hit play, and Kurt's mouth dropped open in horror.

"No," he gasped, as he heard his furious voice ringing out from the phone. The video was being filmed from the floor behind Karofsky, and the camera was slightly wobbly, but it had a clear shot of both of the boys. Then Karofsky grabbed Kurt, and kissed him, and Kurt heard the person wielding the camera gasp. There was no denying it – it was there, clear as day. And then Karofsky was lunging again, and Kurt was pushing him away, and Karofsky was running from the room. The camera zoomed in on Kurt's terrified, horror-stricken face for a moment, before the video ended.

"Where did you get that?" Kurt asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"Jacob Ben Israel posted it on his blog last night!" Rachel cried. "Everyone knows, and – Kurt – you have to get out of here. I saw Azimio and some of the other footballers earlier, and they looked furious."

"At me? Why? Rachel, you saw what happened on that video –he kissed me!"

But before Rachel could respond, a huge body slammed into Kurt, hard, and he landed sprawled on the floor. He looked up to see Azimio and four other large letterman-jacket-clad boys towering over him.

"Leave him alone!" Mercedes yelled, but the boys ignored her.

Azimio grabbed Kurt by the front of his jacket and yanked him to his feet roughly.

"You disgusting fag," he snarled, and Kurt could feel flecks of spit hitting his face.

"You just go around infecting people with your gay? Huh? Is that what you did, homo? Nobody's safe in this school, not even Karofsky!"

Kurt shoved Azimio off him roughly, surprised when he actually let go. "You can't infect people with gay, Azimio," Kurt spat. "It's horrible, ignorant people like you, who call yourselves his friends, that made him feel like he would never be able to be himself at this school!"

Azimio gaped at Kurt, seemingly at a loss as to what to say. "Karofsky isn't a fag like you," he said finally, his voice low. "He doesn't prance around in girl clothes singing gay songs and listening to Lady Gaga. We have been friends for years. He's not gay. You did something to him, Hummel. And you're going to pay for it."

With that, Azimio turned on his heel and stormed off down the hall, his friends following in his wake. Kurt drew in a shuddering breath, and turned to Rachel and Mercedes, who had been standing nearby poised to intervene if necessary.

"Do you know if Karofsky's at school yet?" Kurt asked.

"No, he's not, he's always la-" Mercedes said, but Kurt had already torn off down the hall before she could finish her sentence.

He ran outside into the carpark, letting out a sob. He wanted to call Karofsky and warn him, but he didn't have his number. He didn't know what to do, so he called the only person who he thought may be able to comfort him in this situation – Blaine.

Blaine picked up almost immediately.

"Hey babe, what's up? I've missed you this week."

Kurt let out another involuntary sob.

"Kurt? Oh my god, Kurt, what's wrong?"

"Can you come to my house?" He asked, his voice low.

"Kurt, are you hurt? Please, you're freaking me out here."

"No…no, Blaine, I'm not hurt. I'm fine, just…I need to talk to you."

"I'm leaving right now. I'll be there in about 2 hours. Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine, Blaine. Thank you."

"I love you."

"I love you, too. Bye."

Kurt hung up, and walked over to his car. He decided to wait for Karofsky to arrive – he probably had no idea about the video yet, and Kurt knew that if he walked into school, things would not turn out well.

Karofsky arrived about 15 minutes later. He pulled up in his big red pick-up truck, and Kurt quickly clambered out of his car and ran up to the boy before he could get inside the school.

"DAVID!" He cried, and Karofsky spun around, narrowing his eyes when he saw him.

"What the fuck do you want, Hummel?" He snarled.

"We need to talk," Kurt said, trying to figure out how to break the news without giving the other boy a heart attack or ending up with a black eye. "It's about what happened yesterday."

Karofsky glanced around furtively, before taking a step forwards. "There's nothing to talk about," he hissed. "Nothing happened, do you hear me, Hummel? And if you tell anyone that something did happen, I'll kill you."

Kurt breathed in sharply. He hoped that that was an empty threat, because if Karofsky decided to shoot the messenger, he would be screwed. There was nobody around to help him if things got ugly. He braced himself before uttering the next words that really, really did not want to have to say. "It's too late," he said, his voice soft. "Everyone already knows."

Karofsky's eyes immediately filled with panic.

"It wasn't me, David, I swear I didn't say a word. Somebody was hiding in the locker room with a video camera, and they filmed the whole thing and it wound up on Jacob Ben Israel's blog. It spread around the school. I'm so sorry."

Karofsky's hands were shaking. Kurt didn't know what he should do next.

"David…?" He asked tentatively.

The boy suddenly turned away from Kurt, doubled over, and vomited all over the ground. Kurt turned away, but he could hear the sounds of dry-retching for several minutes before Karofsky managed to compose himself. When he and Kurt turned around to face each other again, there were tears in Karofsky's eyes.

"What do I do?" He whispered, and Kurt felt his stomach clench painfully at the fear in the boy's trembling voice. "Please, Kurt, you have to help me. Please, tell them that you kissed me, everyone already knows that you're…please! I'm not ready, I can't…"

Kurt would have done it, if he could. He would have lied for Karofsky, to protect the boy from being outed before he was ready, but it wouldn't work. The video was clear. It was obvious who kissed who.

When he told Karofsky this, the boy let out a strangled sob. Kurt was at a loss – he had no idea what to say to make it better.

"Come with me," he said finally, and Karofsky looked up at him.

"What?"

"Come with me. We're going back to my house to talk. You can't be at school right now and I'm not letting you drive yourself anywhere in this state."

Karofsky looked like he wanted to argue for a moment, but he just nodded resignedly and followed Kurt to his car, sobbing brokenly.

When they arrived at Kurt's house, they sat on the couch in silence. Kurt headed to the kitchen to get Karofksy a can of coke, but on second thought, grabbed one of his dad's beers instead.

Karofsky didn't stop sobbing for a very long time.

When he finally seemed to calm down, he just stared into space, his face blank. Kurt was sitting on the far end of the couch awkwardly, sure that anything he might say would just make things first.

In the end, it was Karofsky who spoke first.

"Why do you call me David?" He asked.

Kurt blinked in surprise, and shrugged. "That's your name, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but everyone at school just calls me Karofsky."

"Is…is that what you'd like me to call you?"

"No!" He said quickly, then blushed at how quickly he had answered. "I mean…I don't like it when people call me by my last name. It's like they don't see me as a real person. But…could you call me Dave? David is what my dad calls me."

Kurt smiled at the boy, even though Dave was refusing to meet his eye. "Dave it is, then."

There was a knock on the door. Dave jumped and looked at Kurt with a scared expression on his face, as if he was sure that whoever was knocking was there to kill him.

"It's ok," Kurt said reassuringly. "It's probably just Blaine."

"Who's Blaine?"

"My boyfriend."

"WHAT?" Suddenly Dave was on his feet, his face panic-stricken.

"Relax," Kurt said. "You can trust him."

Kurt pulled open the front door, and suddenly found himself wrapped tight in Blaine's arms. Kurt breathed in deeply, Blaine's usual scent of coffee, cinnamon and chocolate filling his nostrils.

Kurt pulled back and kissed his boyfriend quickly on the lips.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked, his voice filled with concern. "I was so worried."

Kurt sighed sadly. "Come to my room with me, I'll explain."

As Kurt lead Blaine through the living room, he caught sight of Dave sitting on the couch, staring at Blaine with an expression that was both nervous and suspicious. Blaine raised an eyebrow at Kurt questioningly.

"Dave, this is Blaine. Blaine, this is Dave, he goes to McKinley with me."

"Hi," Blaine said, and Dave nodded stiffly in response.

"Come on," Kurt said, pulling Blaine in the direction of his bedroom.

Once they were comfortably seated on Kurt's bed, he turned to Blaine and explained everything, from the bullying that he had been keeping secret, to the kiss and the video.

He watched as his boyfriend's expression went from furious (Kurt had to physically hold him back from charging out of the room to attack Dave), to shocked, to pitying. At the end, Kurt breathed a huge sigh of relief now that everything was out in the open.

"He can't go back there, to McKinley," Kurt said simply. "I don't think I can either, at least not until this all blows over."

Blaine nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't want you to."

"Maybe after mid-semester break."

"Maybe."

"Is it safe for me to take you back into the living room now?" Kurt asked, worriedly.

Blaine's eyes narrowed. "Kurt, this guy bullied you for years. He tormented you, mocked you, pushed you around. Then he kissed you against your will. I don't like him."

Kurt nodded. "I don't particularly like him either, but I feel sorry for him. All I've seen today is a scared boy who doesn't know what to do. It might not be too late for him."

Blaine deliberated for a moment. Then he reached out his arms towards Kurt. Kurt raised his eyebrows before moving forward so Blaine could pull him into his lap and twine his arms around his waist, nuzzling his neck. "This is why I love you so much," he mumbled. "You have the most beautiful heart I've ever seen."

Kurt cupped his boyfriend's face and pulled him into a slow, deep kiss. When they parted, Blaine was smiling slightly. "If you want to help him, I will support you," he said. "Just don't expect me to be buddies with him."

Five minutes later and Kurt, Blaine and Dave were all seated in the living room. An awkward silence filled the room. Kurt coughed loudly.

"So, Dave, is there umm…anything that you want to talk about?"

Dave shook his head stiffly.

"Kurt told me what you did," Blaine said, and Dave looked up quickly. Kurt could tell that he wanted to deny it, but there was no point. There was proof now. Solid, tangible evidence that Dave Karofsky had kissed Kurt Hummel.

Dave leaned forward and buried his face in his hands, choosing not to respond. Blaine decided to keep talking.

"It seems like you might be a little confused, and that's totally normal. This is a very hard thing to come to terms with, and you should just know that you're not alone."

At this, Dave looked up, and Kurt was shocked to see that he looked angry. "You don't get it!" He yelled. "Everyone knows. I can't even admit it to myself, that I'm…you know! And now it's all over the school, and my dad is going to find out, and…"

Dave turned to Kurt, and glared at him. "We can't all be lucky like you, Hummel! You have a dad who will always have your back, no matter what. You go to school in your gay clothes and you join Glee club and you hang pictures of your boyfriend in your locker, and you get slushied and bullied but you still walk down the halls like you own them! I wish I had that kind of strength, but I don't. I wish I could just…not care what everyone else thought, but I do. And it doesn't matter if I'm 'not alone', or whatever, because there may be kids all over the world going through the same things as I am, but this is my life, and it's the only life I know, and it sucks!"

Kurt was, once again, lost for words. He didn't know what to say, because the boy had a point.

"Look, forget it," Dave snarled, standing up and heading for the door. "I'm going home."

"But your car's still at the school…" Kurt protested.

"I'll walk," Dave said. "It's not far."

As he yanked open the front door, Blaine jumped from his seat and rushed to grab the boy's sleeve. Dave glared down at him.

"I go to Dalton Academy," Blaine said. "It's pricey, but it has a zero-tolerance bullying policy which is actually enforced. Nobody would judge you there, and they actually have a pretty good football team. Just…think about it."

Dave regarded Blaine for a moment before nodding stiffly, and he left the house, slamming the door shut behind him.