“Don’t worry about it, just let me do the talking,” said Blaine in a low voice while climbing the stairs at William McKinley High School. He and Kurt were touring to school, trying to find David Karofsky. They tried the locker rooms first, thinking Karofsky would have football practice to get ready to. When they saw no one was there, they tried the cafeteria, then the halls and the garden next, no such luck. They were climbing the metal staircase at the back of the school when they saw him.

“Okay, there he is.” Kurt was nervous. He didn’t think this plan was going to work out and it would probably backfire if Karofsky thought Kurt had started telling people about what happened between them.

“Excuse me?” Blaine called out to Karofsky, getting as close as possible to him while Kurt stayed a few feet away.

“Hey ladyboys.” Karofsky didn't even bother to stop walking as he spoke, looking like he'd rather avoid them. “This your boyfriend, Kurt?”

“Kurt and I would like to talk to you about something.”

“Well, I’ve gotta go workout.” Karofsky was hostile, as Kurt had expected.

“Kurt told me what you did.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Behind his mask, Karofsky looked taken aback for the fraction of a second.

“You kissed me,” Kurt said, breathily.

Karofsky started to panic and there was no way this was going to end good. Of course, he pretended not to know what they were talking about.

“It seems like you might be a little confused,” Blaine said, softly.

Kurt knew that Blaine was trying to talk some sense into David to help them both. But he could now admit to himself that as soon as Blaine set foot in the school to talk to Karofsky, he knew that this was useless. That’s not how it works here, that’s not how things work once Karofsky’s involved.

Blaine went on, telling him that this was a hard thing to come to terms with, and tried to let him know that he wasn’t alone.

Karofsky made a move like he was just going to walk away, not listening to them anymore, like what they were talking about was batshit crazy. Like he was trying to escape. But he hesitated for a second, and the next thing Kurt saw was Karofsky pushing Blaine into the wall and Blaine grabbing him by his arms to turn him around to hold him pinned against the wall.

With a voice that only the three of them could hear, Blaine said, “We’re trying to help.” Slowly, like he was trying to get his message across. “You may not want it. Doesn’t mean you can go around giving all kinds of crap to people. Am I clear?” he said in a strong, calm voice.

Karofsky struggled to free himself from Blaine's grasp, but failed miserably. Blaine drew his face closer to Karofsky’s. “You’re not going to touch Kurt anymore or hurt him in any way. Do you understand?” he growled through gritted teeth. Kurt saw Karofsky nod once. When Blaine released his grip, he stormed off looking shocked by what happened, though Kurt was sure it also had something to do with not wanting to be seen with them.

Kurt felt how hot his cheeks had become, probably red because of the adrenaline, and the cold. He looked at Blaine, not knowing what to say. He knew Blaine didn’t want to use his strength this way, he knew that Blaine knew violence was not the answer but when things got to that point, he just had to show this other face of him. “Didn’t know you had that in you” Kurt said, jokingly.

“Oh, I do when I need to,” Blaine smirked. Then he saw Kurt’s puzzled look and added, “When I transferred to Dalton, I took boxing lessons. I also started the Dalton branch of Fight Club, but obviously, I’m not supposed to talk about that.”

Kurt didn’t know if Blaine was serious or not, but he had seen the movie, and knew what went on in a fight club. Did Blaine have Dissociative Identity Disorder? He certainly hoped not. He jumped back to reality when he heard Blaine call his name. “Well, come on then, we don’t want to waste precious time, do we?” he said. Was his tone a little bit… authoritative? Well, maybe Kurt didn’t think Blaine had it in him, but he couldn’t deny that Blaine’s new (at least to him) attitude was kind of hot. No, nope, not right now, Kurt. Not ever, please.

—

Once they had arrived at the Hummel household, Blaine immediately began Kurt's training session, taking advantage of their existent adrenaline rush. The plan was to work on Kurt’s legs to improve his balance and stability for his punching bag training. They started off with fifteen minutes of cardio to warm up and then started to flex.

Kurt Hummel was known for many things, but unnecessary humbleness was not one of them. So Kurt wasn’t lying when he said the extra stretching wasn’t needed; he was already very limber and high kicks were one of his signature moves. Though, he couldn’t persuade Blaine, who just kept going on and on about how these were “all part of a routine” and it wasn’t “only about flexibility but also about strength”. For all Kurt knew, they could also build strength via the core workouts. Blaine was now giving him a speech about how being determined and consistent were keys to his training, with his hands occasionally on Kurt’s knees or shoulders, which were making it hard for Kurt to not feel things. He didn’t know if this was wishful thinking –or even why he was wishing for this- Blaine was babbling now, ruffling Kurt’s hair and Kurt knew that Blaine was nothing if not a professional in his work but would it be so crazy to wonder if all this wasn’t just in the name of professionalism but also suggestive? Was Blaine trying to hint at Kurt that he was putting the moves on him?

Kurt gave in, trying to push the thoughts away, laid down on his back on the mat, his pelvic tuck still, careful not to arch his lower back while Blaine held his leg and guided it up and towards his head. Which wasn’t making Kurt feel things at all. Blaine stopped his pressure on Kurt’s legs at the right times and then continued without hurting Kurt in any way. Kurt’s mind slowly drifted away from reality, searching his own thoughts to find out why he was feeling the things he felt. This didn’t look like anything people did in those movies  that he had tried to watch once or twice. Besides, he and Blaine were kind of sweaty which was gross, and no, Kurt Hummel wasn’t going to think about these things while one of Blaine’s hands was trailing up and down his inner thigh and the other was on his ankle. He certainly— Uh Oh. No, please no sweet mother of Madonna please, this is not happening right now.

Kurt had to abandon his state of denial once Blaine stopped the stretch, his beautiful hazel eyes looking at him, his irises bigger and darker than usual. “Oh my god!” Kurt snapped, and freed himself from Blaine’s grasp, and stood up. He felt his face burning up; this was the single most embarrassing thing he ever had happen and he’d done some embarrassing stuff. “I… I... Ugh.” What was he even going to say?

Blaine saved him the trouble, “Kurt, no, it’s okay.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t… I’m sorry.” Kurt blurted out, not able to look Blaine in the eye. His own face was probably scarlet red by now, and just… Blaine had to go and never see him again. Blaine probably wouldn’t want to see him again anyway; this had to be creepier than anything he'd ever seen.

“No, Kurt, you don’t have to apologize.” Kurt tilted his head up enough so that he could see Blaine’s while still avoiding his eyes. Blaine was— smiling? Hiding a grin? How the - “It happens, Kurt. You’re not the first guy in the world to grow a boner while doing that.”

“I think you should go.”

“Kurt, let’s just talk about it. I’m serious, it happens- look it up on Google!”

“No, I really can’t… I’m sorry,” Kurt said, still not looking at Blaine in the eye. He couldn’t talk about this, not right now, he normally had more control of himself than this and now his body was betraying him. He grabbed Blaine by the arm and led him towards the door of his room.

“Okay, I’ll go, but Kurt, please call me later, okay?” Blaine asked softly when they were halfway to the door. Kurt released his grip and followed Blaine awkwardly, not realizing how close together their bodies were until Blaine’s hand was on the door handle.

Then everything happened at once.

Blaine turned back to face Kurt, his hand slipping off the door handle. Their bodies were almost touching, leaving Kurt worried that Blaine would somehow be able to feel his racing heart. Kurt finally risked looking Blaine in the eyes, only to see Blaine’s eyes falling to his lips and he felt his own eyes grow bigger in surprise. Blaine’s eyes were closing slowly, he felt Blaine’s lips on his lips, and his own eyes shut slowly…

Blaine’s lips on his lips. So soft, so gentle, so… real. It felt like everything he was waiting for and everything he didn’t know he needed. His hands moved up to Blaine’s neck, then to his cheek, kissing him back needily.

When Blaine sucked on Kurt’s bottom lip to deepen the kiss, Kurt broke it, freaked out and not knowing what to do. He muttered a quick “I’m sorry”, opened the door, shoved Blaine out and closed it before Blaine had a chance to say anything.

“No, wait, Kurt!” Blaine cried from the other side of the door.

Kurt sat on the ground with his back against the door and replied with a rather silent "Go away Blaine!"

He still felt Blaine, still felt him sucking on his lip, and he felt his own lip pulsating, and he already missed Blaine’s touch.

"Please, Kurt." Kurt didn’t say anything this time, just sat there, baffled more than ever.

He didn’t know how long he sat like that, but suddenly realized that he didn’t hear Blaine anymore. He opened the door, only to see that Blaine has left.

—

Blaine wasn’t proud of what he’d just done. He hadn't wanted Kurt to see that –savage, as he would call it-  side of him but when Karofsky attempted to push him around like he does everyone else, he just snapped. So he hoped that this confrontation was effective. He cared about Kurt and didn’t want him to be in danger. That was harmless, right?

“Didn’t know you had that in you” Kurt had said with a playful voice.

 I didn’t, once. And look what it did to me.

Instead of dwelling on the shadows of his past, Blaine decided to joke and laugh about it because sometimes you just had to do what had to be done.

Once they were at the house, he didn’t have to ease Kurt into starting training like he normally had to. They usually chatted a little bit at first, but not this time. After Blaine waited for Kurt to get in his training gear (which was this time black ankle length sweatpants and a see-through black tank-top pulled over a white t-shirt), they warmed up with medium-intensity cardio then moved onto working on Kurt's legs -which Blaine had to convince Kurt to do first (because he was obviously already flexible). Maybe he insisted a little bit more than needed but it was for Kurt’s own good and not at all selfish.

Blaine had to admit that he thought about Kurt in a not-entirely-professional way after they started to get closer, but  Kurt had never treated him like anything but a friend, if that. Besides, even if Kurt had, Blaine wouldn’t have made a move because doing so would have been against his ethical beliefs. Still, a part of him said, no, to hell with that.

He gently put one of his hands to Kurt’s inner thigh and the other to his ankle, reminded him not to bend his knee, and pushed Kurt's leg higher, pausing then and now when Kurt’s leg tensed and then increasing the angle of the stretch more after he sensed Kurt’s muscles relax a bit again.

Blaine was thankful that the few intimacy experiences he had gained in college had taught him how to control his reactions in considerably hard situations like this one, when he pressed against Kurt’s leg one more time, feeling Kurt tense up a bit more than he had before. He was getting ready to slowly release his hold, thinking that he had pushed Kurt to his limit, when he felt the reason for Kurt's new-found tension and it had nothing to do with how painfully challenging the stretching was.

Oh my god.

Blaine froze, just holding with his hands still on Kurt's elevated leg though not pressuring anymore, staring at him in awe. He snapped back to reality when Kurt freed himself from his grasp with a high-pitched “Oh my god!” Kurt started to stutter so Blaine reassured him that it was okay and he didn’t need to apologize because it really was okay, it happened. Rarely, maybe, but it did. Kurt was seventeen and this was all normal.

Before Blaine understood what was happening, Kurt was dragging him out of the room. He realised that Kurt had probably never experienced a situation like this with anyone before and that he needed time. So getting Kurt to agree to come over or at least give him a call to talk and leaving peacefully was the most he could do. Kurt released him and they reached door. Blaine's hands lingered on the door handle a little longer than they needed to and he thought about how stubborn Kurt was, how Kurt was never going to call him back, he must be feeling terribly embarrassed and irritated right now.

He turned back to face Kurt, surprised to find him so close that they almost bumped heads. When he looked at Kurt, he saw that Kurt was still unable to look at him, until suddenly - unexpectedly - their eyes met. Blaine shied away first, and his gaze fell to … Kurt's lips.

It was nothing like he had ever felt. Nothing like the sloppy, out-of-courtesy  kisses he had in his few and regrettable one-night stands in college, nothing like the one that new guy (who was annoyingly too out-there) forced onto him during his senior year at Dalton, literally nothing like anything he ever had experienced.

He sucked on Kurt’s bottom lip, trying to get him to open his mouth for him, and next thing he knew was that it was already over, and Kurt was throwing him out. He suddenly felt as if all of his feelings crushed onto him and he felt rejected. Kurt had kissed him back but it was probably only because he was in shock. It was so stupid to think he would actually want Blaine. “No wait, Kurt!” he tried not to sound defeated, hoping that his voice didn’t come across as disappointed as he felt.

Blaine… didn’t know what to feel, and he had no idea what Kurt was feeling. He didn’t know if Kurt was merely freaking out or worse, if he was feeling betrayed, considering the circumstances of the last time he had been kissed. He heard Kurt’s muffled voice call, “Go away, Blaine!” And Yes, he thought, that must be it. Great, Blaine -you fucked this up too. How surprising.

“Please, Kurt!” Blaine sat with his back against the door, practically begging Kurt to reconsider. It didn’t do any good; Kurt didn’t answer him. Blaine sat outside the door for a long time before he was able to gather enough willpower to leave so that Burt or anyone else wouldn’t come home to this.

Blaine drove home in silence, and threw himself on the couch as soon as he had walked in the door. He hoped that he would lose consciousness and doze off a little bit since even a minimal amount of thinking hurt. He had almost fallen asleep when he heard the doorbell ring. He felt a warm wave go through his body and his heart started to thump. He didn’t expect Kurt to come over this quickly, but he was so happy that he decided to talk.

Blaine dragged himself to the entryway and opened the door half-awake, heard a loud thump as a traveling bag fell to the floor, and heard someone yell “Blainey!”