Kurt was walking to his locker, thinking about the song alternatives to suggest to the guys to sing in their second annual boys vs. girls tournament. In their last Glee Club practice, they debated about what to cover, and all the boys except him seemed to agree on something like AC/DC or Van Halen, and while Kurt appreciated their enthusiasm, and actually liked those bands, for the boys to sing hard rock like they always did would be expected and would not be challenging to them. To him. If they picked a Diana Ross song, they would be doing the unexpected and that could actually improve their singing abilities more than AC/DC would, though none of the other boys seemed to care about that.

He was lost in his own thoughts and he didn't even notice the large, body with a red jacket walking towards him. Those familiar barbaric hands grabbed and pushed him against his locker like it was part of a routine, like throwing a gum wrapper into the bin.

Kurt had never stood up for himself. Sure, he was proud of who he was and he wished he could change other people’s lives somehow. Other people like him. Although he was the only out gay teenager in McKinley High, he knew there were more people like him and they were just afraid to show who they were. He would love to change something, to make it easier for both him and the other teenagers but showing that he was different was the most that he’d done.

He didn’t know what was different about that day; he wouldn’t call it courage, he never thought he had that kind of courage, but he just chose to stand up that day. He talked back to Karofsky after he threw him to the lockers, simply starting to walk away afterwards. And when it backfired -how could he be so naïve to think that it wouldn’t, that things would change-,when Dave came back and started talking about how he named his fists and when he found himself thrown at the lockers once again facing the ground, he was affected more than he usually was. If even this small a move couldn’t change anything, what was even the point?

As usual, no one else in the crowded hallway said anything so Kurt just sat there. He just sat there, and closed his eyes, trying to shut the world out for a few seconds to be able to keep himself together.

Kurt wasn't weak. He was going to deal with this, he would be strong -just for himself- because he knew that nobody else would be. He took a long breath to pull himself together,  trying not to think about how unfair everything was, and opened his eyes.

Mr. Schuester, who had seen Kurt sitting on the ground with his eyes closed, figured that something obviously happened and came over to him to ask if he was okay.

 Of course he wasn’t.

Kurt found himself at the door of Mr. Schuester’s office and to be honest, he didn’t understand why Mr. Schuester acted like he cared. Nobody in McKinley cared enough to try to change -anything. Some kid is getting bullied by a pack of jocks, how sad that is, let’s go tell him how sorry we are but never actually do something to prevent bullying. That was obviously the popular opinion of the teachers and Principal Figgins and nothing was going to change that.

When he stormed out of Mr. Schuester’s office thinking that it was always going to be like this, that he was always going to suffer -and the worst part: alone- Kurt couldn’t be more wrong. Everything was about to change.

—

Burt Hummel was done for the day at the tire shop and was closing up when his phone rang. He hadn't paid attention to the caller ID and the voice on the other end didn't belong to Kurt or Carole like he expected it to.

“Ah, hey Burt, it's Will Schuester, I just wanted to talk to you about something."

—

The next morning, Burt was driving to work and he hadn't caught breakfast before leaving the house so he decided to change his route a little bit to grab something at the Lima Bean. It was one of the very few decent coffee shops around, he had once heard Kurt talking about the place. Burt bought a sandwich (one that Kurt and Carole wouldn’t approve of) and a coffee to wash it down with. He was on his way to the exit when he saw the poster on the notice board right next to the door. It was a simple printed ad with a mid-quality photo of a guy boxing, advertising classes in Martial Arts taught by a Blaine Anderson.

What Will said on the phone yesterday hadn't left his thoughts but he couldn’t talk to Kurt about it, not yet. It wouldn’t be easy and he had no idea how to approach him or what to do. He had never thought about giving Kurt Martial Arts training before but it actually seemed like a good idea. It would probably be a little hard to convince Kurt to do it, but it would be for his own protection. He took the phone number on the posterand added a mental note to make a call when he had the chance.

**

Later that afternoon, sitting at the kitchen island, Kurt rolled his eyes at Burt. “Dad, I really don’t need this.  It’s not even a big deal.”

“Oh come on, Kiddo. You know you don’t have to deal with this by yourself. Just let me help you. You don’t even have to use what you learn, it’s solely for self-confidence and self-discipline purposes and look, it’ll just make me feel better, alright?”

Kurt sighed. If only his dad had told him about this earlier, he would have had time to talk him out of this (which was probably why he didn’t tell him earlier) but now the guy was on his way to meet him.

Burt sat down across from Kurt. Kurt was playing with his hands and the pitch of his voice got higher when he said “I just don’t understand why you think that if I spend some time with some burly man, the bullies at my school will stop throwing me at lockers and dumpsters. It’s not like I can defend myself with any of this stuff at school.” And not to mention he’s probably just like them.

“Okay, first of all, he’s not some man. He’s actually only three years older than you, so he must be at college or something. And… well actually, I don’t know about burly- I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”, Burt said, his mouth full with a leftover toast he'd found in the fridge.

Kurt decided to put his best bitch-face on and stay quiet; he was out of witty comments and a little tiny part of him actually wondered what this guy looked like. After a few moments of studying his father, he couldn’t keep himself from saying “Ew- don’t chew with your mouth open, Dad, please. The noises are driving me crazy.” Then, he tried to ignore Burt’s glare.

They sat in silence for 5 minutes at most before the doorbell rang. Burt rose to answer the door.

Kurt could only hear the conversation because although the kitchen island was the closest thing to the front door, Burt was blocking the door with his body.

“Hi, you must be Blaine.” 

“Hey Mr. Hummel, it’s nice to meet you.”

So, okay maybe Blaine’s voice sounded deep, kind and impressive but no, he was against this whole martial arts classes thing and whatever this guy sounded or looked like, Kurt wouldn’t surrender.

Burt told Blaine to come in, he moved aside and — Oh my god, no. Just no. Kurt felt enthralled. Apparently the guy was far from burly. Yes, he was well-built but he was actually tiny and cute.

After a pause which felt like forever to Kurt, Blaine offered his hand for him to shake. “My name is Blaine.”

 “…I’m Kurt.” His voice was hardly more than a whisper. No. I, Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, am not going to surrender.

—

“So I was thinking when we don’t need a sandbag or any other extra equipment we’d work here because it’s actually big enough for basic training and core workout. We’ll just need a few mats-I’ll bring them over. And when we need extra things we’d just go to my place. I kinda turned an extra room into a training room,” Blaine said devotedly, quickly adding, “That is, of course, if it’s okay with you.” He turned to Burt, who nodded to let Blaine know it was okay with him.

Maybe there was something about Blaine’s tone that was affecting Kurt differently because he could hardly pay attention to what Blaine had been saying for the past half an hour. The conversation went on like that for another 10 minutes, then Blaine left after scheduling a lesson for Kurt after school the next day.

—

When Kurt came home from school the next day, he was nowhere near okay, burying all his thoughts into his piano, half playing Darkness Falls by Philip Wesley and half improvising his way through it. Though he heard the doorbell ring, he couldn’t stop playing or bring himself to open the door. A few minutes later when he finally acknowledged that he was home alone and nobody would open the door unless he did, he stopped playing and rose to his feet, moving himself to the not-so-far away door.

When Kurt opened the door he saw that Blaine was nearly bouncing on his feet -Kurt saw that he was an excitable person after studying his expressions last night but couldn’t he tone it down a little bit?- He took half of a second to really look into Blaine’s hazel-brown eyes (which had a beautiful mix of honey in them) and god— why was he always so enthusiastic, and how? Kurt muttered a quick apology about how he lost track of everything because he was playing the piano, then welcomed Blaine in.

“Oh, that’s okay, I know the feeling.”

Oh. That was an interesting piece of information. Still, not interesting enough to cheer him up. He sat down on the sofa in the living room, motioning Blaine to sit as well.

 “Um.. Are you okay Kurt? You look a bit—”

“Shaken? I just… Do we have to train today?”Kurt hoped for a second. He really didn’t feel like being pushed further today, already feeling the tears building up, but he wasn’t going to do this in front of the ridiculously attractive boy whom he just met the day before.

“Yes, we do.” Blaine faked a pout and sat down next to Kurt. “But hey, do you want to talk about it? We always have time to talk as long as you want.”

Kurt took a long breath. He hadn't told Burt about what happened at school earlier yet and it didn’t seem quite right telling a stranger first. Still, he needed to get it out of his system in order to be able to do anything else, and a part of him wanted to believe that there was something in Blaine that demanded his trust. Kurt opened his mouth to say something, but he didn’t even know about Blaine’s sexual orientation, hell, he was probably straight and had a girlfriend. Or to hell with that, he was a really hot, 20 year-old guy who was going to college -he probably had (or has had) several. Would he even understand?  He let out another sigh, deciding to give it a try.

“I… Blaine you know why my dad wanted me to get trained? It’s because I was -I am- getting bullied at school because I’m the only out gay kid there.”  

Blaine nodded slowly as Kurt spoke, his face growing more serious and worried as he listened.

“Well, after yesterday, I really thought maybe I could change something. Today I…” Kurt let out another heavy sigh while struggling with how to tell him this. “Today I finally stood up for myself, and when this kid called Karofsky pushed me into the locker, I went after him into the boys’ locker room and he…”

By then Kurt’s voice have already gotten lower and his throat started to ache. He felt a tear fall down at his cheeks as he felt Blaine’s arm draw reassuring circles on his back, not pressuring him, just being there. He couldn’t hold back the tears anymore as Blaine mumbled a “Shh, it’s okay” at his ear.  

“He kissed me.” Kurt said between his sobs.

He heard Blaine whispering “Oh, Kurt.” and rocking him slowly to help him to calm down.

“It was my first real kiss… Well, one that counted anyway,” he added after a while once he was soothed.

Blaine got up, held his hand for Kurt and said, “Come on, I’ll bake you something.”

—

They made cupcakes in comfortable silence, except for Blaine asking where the needed ingredients and pans were now and then.

When they started eating their creations, Kurt finally felt relaxed, content, and although he really didn’t know how he felt about it, full of Blaine Anderson. On one hand, Blaine had such an energy that sucked you in like this bright ball of light. On the other hand, Kurt Hummel, you really can’t afford falling for someone again. After what happened when he had a crush on Finn and after the little crush-like thing which was, in reality, nothing more than a wonder of ‘what if he’s gay’  with Sam, he couldn’t afford this. His thoughts went back to the same thing they always went back to since he’d met Blaine- that Blaine probably wasn’t even gay. If Kurt was going to get physical and sweaty with this guy, he was going to have to do this without creeping him out.

When Kurt got out of his thoughts and into reality, he found Blaine staring at him. Kind of.

“You’re still thinking about earlier today, huh?”

Kurt opened his mouth to protest, but Blaine went on anyway, his eyes suddenly darker. “Kurt when I came out, I had it rough with the bullies.”

Oh, so… Okay.

“My parents didn’t support me. Instead of standing up for me in any kind of way, they just gave me money and didn’t really care about the rest. And I ran. I let the bullies chase me away and I really, really regret it. But you don’t have to do that. You have a father who supports you, you have the courage I never had then- you just have to find it in you. You can stand up for yourself. You can refuse to be the victim.”

Kurt looked kind of taken aback and didn’t know what to say.

“And do not fear, I’ll help you with that.” said Blaine, winking. Kurt couldn’t help but grin because, seriously, what was it with Blaine Anderson?

Blaine got up and motioned Kurt to follow him upstairs into Kurt’s room to start training. “I think we have business to attend to.”