February 2006

"Hi, Blaine," Blaine's mother greets him, as she does every day in a flat voice. "How was your day?"

Blaine shrugs, murmuring a quiet, "Fine," before trudging up the stairs to his room. His mother doesn't question him further, like she doesn't every day, and Blaine doesn't offer anything more.

Truth is, his day was anything but fine. It always is.

At eleven, Blaine is very much aware of how different he is from his peers. Unlike the other boys in his class, Blaine enjoys music, drama class, reading (especially the fashion magazines his mom reads all the time). He has wild curly hair unlike the boys in his class who have short, tamed locks. He's short for his age, as he's always been (a curse his older brother, Cooper, somehow managed to dodge), and even though his parents tell him he'll hit his growth spurt eventually, Blaine only wish that it happen sooner than later. It was more than enough for people to tease him about how different his interests were; having his height add to the mix would probably be more than he could handle.

Blaine only ever felt like he was part of the crowd was during gym class. Despite his size, Blaine was a quick learner, and enjoyed the adrenaline and competition associated with the games they played. He may have been a loner outside of this one class, but, despite the fact, most people were okay with him being on their team during a sport.

Some days, Blaine expects someone from his gym class to befriend him outside of it. But it hasn't happened yet.

So, for now, Blaine spends his days alone, getting good grades, singing, reading, and wishing to be a part of a group that clearly doesn't want him.

August 2007

This is it, Blaine thinks, this will be my year.

It's his first day at junior high, and Blaine is feeling optimistic. His growth spurt had begun the summer that passed and he's wearing a new outfit that he feels good in: sweater vest, slacks, button-up, bowtie. He feels confident, determined, hopeful.

Blaine's on his way to his locker when someone tall (someone definitely older than him) trips him. He's still not quite used to the fact his limbs are getting longer, and Blaine flails, landing ungracefully with his nose to the floor. The books and binders in his arms fly around him, creating a ruckus.

The guy guffaws out, "Ha, loser."

"I know, right?" someone (a friend, Blaine guesses) agrees. "And look at his hair! So stupid."

There's a collection of snickers follow the taunt, and Blaine blushes furiously, picking up his things quickly and trying to stay out of attention. From that day on, Blaine goes through an entire bottle of gel a week to plaster his hair down. It doesn't completely stop the teasing, but at least people stop picking on him about his hair.

May 2008

"Freak."

Blaine ducks his head down, trying not to let the blood rising steadily on his cheeks show. He hikes his bag up his shoulder, willing his feet to move faster down the hall. He can hear the snickers of whoever called him out along with their friend's, the sound making Blaine feel ashamed more and more by the second. Blaine speed walks down the hall, knowing full well that any teachers who are witnessing this are happily turning a blind eye to the tormenting.

When Blaine finally reaches his locker, he breathes a sigh of relief, unlocking it with quick movements. All he has to do is pick up his textbooks for the night and he can leave.

This, sadly, is not what happens.

What does happen is Blaine being bombarded with dozens of water-filled balloons falling out of his locker and splashing on him, soaking him from head to toe. He can only gasp for breath, blood rushing in his ears from the adrenaline. But even that can't block the uproar of laughter that comes from everyone in the hallway, and it rings in his ears.

Blaine bites his lips harshly, his eyes clamped shut and willing the tears to stay at bay. He breathes heavily through his nose, clenching his fists and hoping that he can get himself out of here as fast as he can without embarrassing himself even more. He wipes his eyes furiously, rubbing the water out of them. He forgets the reason why he comes to his locker, slamming it shut and running out of the school as fast as he can.

But Blaine's life simply isn't that easy.

Instead of vacating the scene quickly, he slips on a piece of ripped up balloon, falling in a splash onto the floor.

This makes everyone laugh even harder, people yelling names he hears on a daily basis.

"Loser!"

"Dork!"

"Stupid!"

Ignoring the pain shooting through the limbs he landed on, Blaine bites his lip harder, trying as carefully and swiftly as possible to get out.

Even once Blaine's long gone from school, the laughter and taunts of his classmates stay loud and clear in his mind until he goes to sleep later that night.

October 2008

Maybe it was naïve of him to do, but despite the fact Blaine didn't get asked out to the Sadie Hawkins dance, he still opted to go stag because he didn't want to miss his first high school dance.

He should've just skipped it instead of going alone, like his father suggested.

But it's too late for that now.

Blaine suffers through another blow and whimpers helplessly, curling in on himself as the senior jocks of his school take turns to punch him. The blood rushing down his nose and mouth block the stench of the booze that radiates off the seniors.

"What a loser," one of them says, eliciting a roar of laughter from his friends as he punches Blaine in the gut.

"Fucking idiot," another one agrees, picking Blaine up before punching him as well.

Blaine grunts as another punch hits him across his jaw, and he's sure that he's dislocated something when he hears the crack that results from the force of it. The sound only makes the others laugh.

"I bet he's a fag, none of the girls asked him to the dance. Even they can tell he's a queer."

"Fucking fairy, all right. I mean," and the guy punches Blaine in the cheek, "take a look at his faggot hair."

Blaine's desperate to say something, to beg them to stop or at least tell them that I'm not gay, I just don't have any friends, girl or otherwise, please stop please. But he can't. He can't even feel his face anymore.

Blaine had prayed, in a moment of desperation early on, for him to die so the pain would end. But when the beating does cease, even for a second, Blaine panics, breath hitching because now he's expecting even worse to come.

When he drops to the floor, in a daze, he only barely manages to catch one of the jocks spitting on him, demanding in a hard voice, "Next time, don't fucking come to any of our dances, freak."

"That's what you get for coming alone, loser," another adds.

That's the last thing Blaine hears before he blacks out.

October 2009 – a different night

Blaine's been awake and conscious for several days now, and he's been wrapped up in several bandages for even more. He's got a dislocated jaw, a broken rib, sprained wrist, and bruises all over himself. It could've been worse, he knows this, but it infuriates Blaine how bad he was beaten up.

Even worse, his family isn't doing anything to stop the bullies who did it.

"What do you mean you're not pressing charges?!" Blaine had yelled when he found out. The nurses tried to calm him down, tell him that his erratic heartbeat would not help with his body to heal, but he couldn't give a lesser care. His tormenters weren't being brought to justice, and his parents were okay with that.

His mother had not replied, but his father stated, "We're transferring you to a private school. The boys that hurt you are being dealt with and –"

"But why aren't you pressing charges, Dad?" Blaine had begun to sob.

His father had shut his lips tight, forming a straight line before gruffly answering, "You didn't listen to me, Blaine. I told you you shouldn't have gone alone."

Blaine gripped his sheets tight, ignoring the pain shooting through his fingers. "So you think I deserved it?!"

"You're father's just saying that we don't want this to get any messier than it already has, Blaine," his mother had finally answered.

Since that argument, the only person of family Blaine's spoken to in the last few days is Cooper. Though Blaine sometimes resented the way he was always in his older brother's shadow, it was Cooper who had calmed Blaine down after the fight, easing him into the idea of moving schools. Blaine eventually agreed, though reluctantly, and Cooper had stayed by his side through everything going on.

Still, it angers Blaine that the bullies had hurt him so bad, beaten him so furiously for being different that he ended up in a hospital bed. It infuriates him that his parents don't want anymore unnecessary attention brought upon them, unable to stand up for their son.

The nurses have to sedate him from time to time to get Blaine sleeping or else he's up all night being angry at the person he's disappointed in most of all:

Himself.

January 2009

Dalton Academy and Crawford Day are brother-sister schools, Blaine had learned on the first day of his transfer. Once in a while, the schools collaborated and held co-ed assemblies or workshops for a day.

Blaine bit his lip, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he looked around the gym from his lonely corner. Even if Dalton and Crawford had zero-tolerance policies, sometimes he couldn't help but steel himself for things that could come his way. No one had yet to hurt or bully him, but it was second nature for him to brace himself during large gatherings now.

The only large gatherings Blaine felt comfortable in so far since his transfer were during Warbler meetings and rehearsals. He had noticed the group giving an impromptu performance in the cafeteria during lunch one day and noticed how every member afterwards were treated: so high on a pedestal it was like they were celebrities.

Blaine knew he had a voice, and if joining such a large club meant he could be treated the same way the boys in the glee club were being treated, then he would try his hardest to do it.

It turned out, Blaine actually didn't have to try that hard to be accepted into the Warblers, despite the fact he tried out halfway into the year. Everyone praised him during his audition, and solos were easy for him to come by not long afterwards. He made a few friends – like sophomores, Wes and David – and was treated like someone who belonged.

It felt like a blessing to Blaine sometimes.

Still, during assemblies like these, Blaine knows better than to interrupt his friends as they flirted with the girls from Crawford Day, not wanting to impose or cramp their style in fear of being ejected from the group. So Blaine always stayed off to the side, participating (but not really) during the workshops.

Since he didn't pay attention to the headmaster when he explained the co-ed workshop for the day, it startles Blaine when someone behind him taps his shoulder, asking, "Why are you alone? Do you not have a partner?"

Blaine turns around, surprised that somehow managed to sneak up on him.

"Um, I, um," Blaine starts, but he finishes with the syllable, looking away because how much more lame can he get? He simply shakes his head, hoping that his answer will be enough for them.

When Blaine looks up again, he realizes that whoever snuck up on him is still there. The person who taps Blaine is a student from Crawford Day, short, dark haired, clad in her uniform though paired with a bright headband that doesn't exactly match.

The girl ignores this, giving Blaine the onceover before sticking her hand out and saying with a bright smile, "I'm Harmony, and I need a partner for this workshop, so now you're mine." Blaine barely has his hand in hers when she whisks him away, taking him further into the gym and loudly demanding for people to get out of her way.

That's how Blaine's first relationship begins.

September 2009

Blaine and Harmony are walking outside, just around the edges of Dalton's grounds, their hands swinging back and forth where they're joined together. Blaine smiles, breathing in the warm not-summer-anymore-but-not-quite-fall air, turning to look at Harmony, who hums quietly.

They've been dating for a few months now, kept their relationship steady through the summer. His friends are impressed by how quickly he'd managed to keep a solid relationship already, and some days Blaine wonders the same thing.

Still, that doesn't mean dating Harmony is exactly easy for Blaine. Harmony's the type of person who knows what she wants, how she wants it, when she wants it, and how to have it hers. She's a force with a personality Blaine sometimes guesses is bigger than the state of Ohio. A performer, Harmony's part of Crawford Day's choir (though not show choir, to her often vocally displayed disappointment) and takes every opportunity she can get to shine.

It's a lot Blaine has to deal with, and some days he and Harmony argue a lot because he never feels like he has any say about anything. She makes a lot of their decisions, which Blaine doesn't mind for the most part, but more often than not they're irrational or hastily made. Sometimes, they also argue about Blaine's insistence on playing things safe, shamelessly afraid of the consequences.

It's hurtful (and the truth), and having Harmony storm out of Blaine's dorm at Dalton is something everyone in his hallway is already used to now. That, or they find Blaine in Dalton's gym, having snuck in to take his anger out on the punching bags.

Not to say that Blaine's a perfect boyfriend, either. The course of his and Harmony's relationship is mostly a symbol of how hopeless he is at romance, how he lacks and fails to meet Harmony's expectations. She's come to accept that he's no Romeo, and they both know that they love each other, though it still makes Blaine angry with himself to know that he can't be what she wants all the time.

But for all that, Harmony's also the only person who really got to know and understand Blaine. She sticks up for him when people get nasty. She's confessed about how much of an outsider she felt at her old school before transferring to Crawford Day. She knows firsthand what it's like to be treated differently because of her interests. She understands what he's been through – or at least some part of it – and that, more than anything, is what Blaine loves most about his girlfriend.

"You've been staring at me for the past five minutes, Blaine," Harmony points out, pulling Blaine out of his stupor. "What are you thinking about?"

"You," he answers truthfully, resulting in her smiling brightly at him, and, yes, sometimes Blaine can get this romance stuff right too. She playfully pushes at his shoulder, and he chuckles, gripping her fingers tight where they're laced with hers.

"Remember how we got together?" Harmony says then, completely out of the blue.

Blaine chuckles softly, replying, "Yeah, you said, 'We should date, I think we should date,' after you insulted some guy who was picking on me at the mall about – two? I think it was two – months after we struck up a friendship."

She huffs, her lips forming a pout when she says, "Well, when you put it like that it takes the drama out of my obvious passion for you."

Blaine just shakes his head, still smiling when he says, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He takes a moment to think about how he can make it up to her (it's clear she wants him to say something more appealing than how they actually began their relationship) and tries, "What I mean to say is, you came to my rescue out of your obvious passion for me, and I realized that the only way I could show my gratitude was by accepting your proposition at a relationship."

Harmony pushes his face away with her free hand as she laughs, shaking her head and saying, "You're ridiculous." She shakes her head before leaning into Blaine, giving him a quick peck before whispering, "But I love you anyway."

Blaine grins back, saying, "Love you too."

May 2010

"Have a great summer, Blaine!"

"See you later!"

"Yo Blaine, text me, okay?"

Blaine chuckles, waving his friends goodbye as they exit the foyer. He sinks back into the seats in Dalton's foyer, waiting for Cooper to pick him up for the summer. Boarding this year definitely took a load of the commute he had to travel to get here, but he missed home too.

Boarding this year wasn't the only change Blaine had made though. The past year changed Blaine in so many ways. Not only did he become an integral part of the Warblers, his popularity within the group had also skyrocketed his popularity outside of it.

People didn't bully Blaine anymore. People liked him.

His social status only increased once he joined Dalton's sports. Now along with Warbler rehearsals and meetings, there were fencing matches and polo practices. Like Cooper, he had also taken up boxing and ended up creating the Dalton branch of Fight Club.

(Unlike his older brother, however, who boxed because he deemed it "pretty cool", Blaine had taken it up to alleviate the anger he always felt when he thinks about his past and the tormenters who chased him away. It's something Blaine's come to regret, and he knows that if he ever gets the chance to do it all over, he'd stick it out, fight the oppressors who bullied him so much.)

Blaine still keeps to himself a lot. Most of his teammates or clubmates are more his acquaintances than actual friends, but he was at the very least liked by them, which was a lot more to say than how he was before he transferred to Dalton.

He's still smiling when someone plops into the seat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Hey," Blaine says, looking down at where Harmony flopped onto him. He gives a quirk of a smile, and when she looks up, she gives a small one back.

"You're calling me tonight, right?" she asks him, her smile dropping and her face serious. Blaine, however, continues to smile on.

"I do every night, don't I?" he replies.

"And you're coming to watch my performance this weekend?" As if Blaine has a choice.

"Wouldn't miss it for anything," he assures her. She nods, seeming content with his answers before settling into her seat more.

"I'm gonna miss you," she confesses quietly, turning her face away. It's a defense mechanism of hers, and Blaine's learned that it's better to let her do what she needs than to try and make her face him.

"I'll miss you too," he answers immediately, because he will. As much as she infuriates him sometimes, she's still his girlfriend and friend. "But we'll be fine, just like last summer."

The two turn to each other and Harmony gazes up into his eyes, Blaine doing his hardest not to look away under the scrutiny. He knows she just doesn't want to see any hint of a lie, and he figures it's the least he can give her. When she lets out a slow breath, nodding, they slink back into their seats.

"When are your parents picking you up?" she asks quietly.

"It's Cooper, actually," he says. "My parents will be waiting for me at home, I think." She hums a noise of a reply and the two stay silent until Cooper comes along and they kiss each other goodbye and part with quick 'I love you's.

On the car ride home, Blaine thinks about how drastically his life changed in the span of a few years. He moved schools, made friends, and has a steady relationship with someone who understands him. He may be hopeless at romance, still too cautious about a lot of things, and maybe he really isn't doing as much as he can with the opportunities he's met with sometimes, but Blaine's okay, content with his life.

And that's fine with him.

November 2010

Kurt's not the greatest spy, that much Blaine is certain. He knows for a fact that even before you step into the halls of Dalton Academy for your first day, you're required to wear your uniform. Still, Blaine had seen the distance in Kurt's eyes on that staircase, watching in awe as Blaine was simply being friendly to him.

It's a look Blaine's seen in his own reflection before.

So he invited Kurt over to watch the Warbler performance. If Kurt came to spy, well, Blaine wasn't going to hesitate giving him a performance. And he wanted to know more about Kurt, wanted to figure out why someone who looked as put together as him came looking around in Dalton like it was a safe haven.

When Blaine, David, and Wes invite Kurt for lattes after the performance, all three of them on their off periods, it clicks together in Blaine's mind why Kurt came. It's clearly spoken through Kurt's silence when David mentions Dalton's no tolerance policy, and when Wes says everyone's treated the same way, no matter what they are.

"It's pretty simple," Wes finishes. Kurt goes completely speechless, looking like he's on the verge of tears.

Blaine tilts his head at Kurt, knowing that he needs a little space right now.

"Would you guys excuse us?" Blaine asks, and his friends depart with 'take it easy's.

Blaine waits for the two to leave, watching Kurt take deep breaths as he calms himself down.

"I take it you're having trouble at school," Blaine says, stating the obvious.

"I am the only person out of the closet at my school," Kurt confesses with a nod.

This doesn't come to Blaine as a surprise, or as an un-surprise, he's not like that, he doesn't assume. But he doesn't understand what that truly means either, being the only out person in an entire study body. But Blaine still has to control himself, fighting the urge to touch Kurt and tell him it's okay. It's still hard, being different from everyone else, and that is something Blaine does understand.

"A-and I-I've tried to stay strong about it," Kurt continues, ignoring his stumble, "but there's this Neanderthal who's made it his mission to make my life a living hell... and nobody seems to notice."

Blaine takes another sip of his latte, trying to come up with something encouraging to say but falling short. So he goes for the truth.

"Look," he says, putting his cup down and looking right into Kurt's bright eyes (blue, Blaine notices, as they shine even brighter with unshed tears – it hurts Blaine to see Kurt like this and he doesn't know why), "I'm not gay, so I'm not going to say I know how you feel, because I don't understand how it's like to be the only out person in your school."

When Kurt's shoulders sink and he turns to look away, Blaine quickly continues, "But I do know what it's like to feel like no one seems to care about the way you're being treated. I know what it's like to be on the short end of someone's crap."

Kurt meets his eyes again, timid but willing to listen, and Blaine takes a breath, steeling himself for a confession he doesn't even tell people he knows at this school.

"I got taunted at my old school," he says, and he shakes his head, already getting angry at the memories, "and it really – pissed me off." He takes another breath, continuing, "I wanted to complain to the faculty, but I knew they wouldn't care. They never did. They turned a blind eye to the bullying I went through and went, 'Sorry, we didn't see it.'"

This clearly puts Kurt down, and Blaine presses on with his story, shrugging.

"So I left. I came here, simple as that," he finishes, gesturing to Dalton's beautifully decorated room.

He feels like a total coward for admitting this to someone who's going through the same thing he went through, and Blaine looks away, ashamed that Kurt could see. Blaine takes a moment to think about advice – any advice – he can give Kurt before they part ways, so he opens his mouth again.

"So you have two options," he says. "I mean I'd love to tell you to just come roll here, but tuition at Dalton's sort of steep and I know that's not an option for everybody."

Kurt gives him an unreadable look, so Blaine pushes on, giving Kurt the advice that he should've taken himself so long ago.

"Or, you can refuse to be the victim," he says with as much conviction as he can manage, because he wants Kurt to believe it like he should have. "Prejudice is just ignorance, Kurt. And you have a chance right now to teach him."

"How?" Kurt asks, sounding on the border of convinced and curious.

"Confront him," Blaine answers, like I should have with my own demons. "Call him out." Blaine leans forward in his seat, finally saying, "I ran, Kurt. I didn't stand up. I let bullies chase me away, and it something I really, really regret."

The two are met with a still silence then, and Blaine can see the curiosity (and maybe sympathy, though that might just be Blaine's imagination) in Kurt's eyes, and more than anything, Blaine really hopes that Kurt has the courage to take the advice he couldn't take.

.x.

Blaine isn't exactly one to reveal his life to someone he just met, but he's oddly comfortable in his friendship with Kurt. It's only been a few days, but already Blaine's become better friends with Kurt quicker than he has with some of people he's known since he transferred to Dalton. They even have a we're-just-friends date set up to watch RENT together. It's probably strange, but Blaine doesn't mind. He likes having Kurt as his friend.

In turn, Kurt reveals the troubles he deals with at a daily basis in McKinley. He tells Blaine about Dave Karofsky's (the guy who's tormenting Kurt) escalating bullying, the fact that no one does anything about it. Blaine listens intently and tries to be supportive as possible, to be understanding about what Kurt's going through. He may not be gay, but he does know how it is to be bullied. If anyone had reached a hand out to help him back then, Blaine knows he would've faired much better.

So he does this for Kurt.

.x.

COURAGE, Blaine texts Kurt once more, pocketing his cell phone once he enters his class.

He hopes Kurt appreciates his efforts, trying to be a friend in a difficult time like what Kurt's going through. It makes Blaine feel better about himself, knowing he's doing what he can to help someone like this.

Taking his seat in Algebra class though, Blaine won't find out until later how, sometimes, advice can be given at the wrong times.

.x.

"He kissed me," Kurt sobs, his voice cracking. Blaine bites his lips, tugging at his gel-stiff hair and regretting the false-hope texts he sent Kurt. "He kissed me and he nearly did it twice if I-I didn't stop him."

Blaine flops into his bed, upset that his advice had caused this. The guy who's messing with Kurt clearly has some serious issues that he's too afraid to deal with, but Blaine's at a loss with what to do here. He's not gay, and he's certainly never dealt with anything like this. So he offers up a weak apology, desperately hoping that Kurt knows just how sorry he is about all this.

"Kurt, I'm so sorry, I –"

"I just," Kurt whimpers, continuing on as if Blaine never said anything, "I wanted to be like you said. I-I wanted to confront him and –" Kurt cuts himself off with another heartbreaking sob, and Blaine aches knowing that he caused this.

"Shh," Blaine tries. Comforting may not be Blaine's strongest point, but he has to try. "It's okay. I'm sorry. I should have never told you to do that," he says quietly, comfortingly as he can.

"No, it isn't your fault – I just," but Kurt can't finish, his throat clearly too thick to properly end his sentence. Blaine's so humbled by Kurt, who dismisses this unfortunate situation as not his fault when it clearly is. He admires Kurt for that. "Can you – I know this is a lot to ask and-and you can say no but I don't know what to do anymore and –"

"What is it?" Blaine cuts him off. He knows he'll say yes to whatever Kurt asks him. It's the least he can do, after all, to make up for this.

Kurt's quiet for a moment, and Blaine's about to ask what he needs to do again when Kurt finally whispers, "Can you come to McKinley tomorrow? I-I want to confront him again, but I don't want to be alone and I don't know who else I can turn to anymore."

"Yes," Blaine answers before he really thinks about what this means now. He probably has to miss a class but English can wait for another day he supposes. "How about lunch? We'll talk to him out in the open so we don't have another repeat of – of what happened."

Kurt sniffs, ending the call with a string of 'Thank you, thank you so much, Blaine's before hanging up and revealing that he needs to freshen up before his dad finds him.

Kurt probably is asking Blaine a lot, but Blaine doesn't care. He just wants to help Kurt.

.x.

Blaine keeps his demeanor calm, trying as hard as possible not to run away or punch this mammoth of a football player. Even if he's shoving him and Kurt around, Blaine needs to talk to this guy, for Kurt.

"It seems that you're confused," Blaine says, hoping that what's coming out of his mouth makes sense. This isn't his forte, but he'll be damned if he can't try to make the situation better. "And that's totally normal! This is a very hard thing to come to terms with," he continues, the words sounding okay to even his own ears, "and you should just know that you're not alone." Blaine's not speaking of himself, but he knows that there's others out there who are battling with what Dave's dealing with.

"Do not mess with me," Dave says, pushing Blaine against the fence before Blaine even has a chance to think. Blaine makes his body motionless, his hands coming up in surrender out of habit, hoping with all that he can that this doesn't turn out for the worse. Blaine's small, and despite his time boxing, he's not in a gym right now, and this is a person, not a bag.

"You have to stop this!" Blaine vaguely hears Kurt yell, pushing Dave off of him, and Blaine can only watch in wonder as Kurt stands his ground, angry and tall, as Dave looks to both of them before finally walking away.

The silence that they're left with is cold and unbelievably tense, and as Kurt walks to the staircase next to them to drop down on, Blaine says, "Well, he's not coming out any time soon." It sounds off to his ears, but trying to relieve the tension is the first thing on his mind right now. When Kurt says nothing, not even chuckling quietly, Blaine sits next to Kurt, asking, "What's going on? Why are you so upset?"

The latter is something Blaine is asking more for himself because if anything, Kurt should be proud of himself for standing up against a bully like Dave exactly how he did. Even now, Blaine isn't able to do what Kurt did, and he really respects Kurt for that.

When Kurt takes a shaky breath, finally revealing, "Because up until yesterday I had never been kissed. Or, at least, one that counted."

This makes Blaine pause, looking away as Kurt does. Despite all that Blaine's been through, his first kiss with Harmony had been of his own choice. It was something to remember, as all first kisses he thinks are, and he doesn't want to know how it feels like to have that ripped away from you.

He nods to himself, knowing that what Kurt really does need now is his friendship, and Blaine promises himself that he's going to try and be a better one for Kurt.

Blaine pats Kurt carefully, hoping that what comes out of his mouth will at least take Kurt's mind off of the fact that he has so much to deal with.

"Come on," Blaine says, standing up and giving Kurt a smile, "I'll buy you lunch."