Kurt and Blaine’s heads snapped up simultaneously, staring with incredulous eyes towards the door, where a middle-aged, blonde haired woman stood. Her expression was very similar to that of the boys sitting on the floor.
“What is gong on here?” She exclaimed, confusion spreading over her face.
“Uh…um…” Kurt stuttered out, unable to speak through his shock.
The woman just stared back at them, raising her eyebrows as if demanding an answer
Blaine realised that he couldn’t stay. He had to get out of there.
He turned to Kurt with pleading eyes, willing him to understand.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered to him, before swiftly rising to his feet, closing the gap between him and the door, and pushing past the woman that stood there.
“Excuse me!” She shouted at him, turning around and staring after the retreating boy.
Kurt could only shake his head slightly, staring at the ground. He understood why Blaine left-he wasn’t in any fit state to explain to some incompetent teacher about what had just happened-but that didn’t make Kurt any less peeved. Now he would have to explain everything to this unfamiliar woman alone. He sighed, lifting his head and meeting the woman’s blazing eyes.
“Follow me.” She snapped at him, turning around in the doorway, and walking out, her shoes clicking against the hard floor. And Kurt had no choice but to follow her.

XXX

Blaine pushed past the woman, not caring when he knocked her arm, the only thought on his mind was to get out of there. He ignored the woman’s shout of “Excuse me!” and kept running.
He needed to think.
The sound of his shoes thudding against the floor echoing through the deserted hallways, he managed to summon a map of the school in his mind (he had memorized the map before he came here so as not to get caught out with faulty directions from other students), and planned the quickest route to his locker. He wasn’t letting himself think about what had just happened with Kurt until he was out into the fresh air, where he could clear his head.
He finally reached his locker a few moments later, after nearly falling down a staircase, slamming against at least a few walls, and almost landing flat on his face after tripping.
He hastily put the correct code in, panting, and the locker clicked open. He managed to remember that he had English homework, so he shoved the book into his bag, grabbed his jacket and put it on, and slammed the locker door shut again.
At a more regular pace, he managed to reach the front door of McKinley unscathed.
Pushing the door open, he finally reached the fresh air of the warm summer afternoon. He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes and relishing in how the air seemed to penetrate his mind, clearing it and allowing him to think rationally again. He walked out the school, heading in the direction of his house. It was at least a 25 minute walk, so he had plenty of time to go over everything.
He had told Kurt everything. He had bared his soul to the boy he barely knew.
He knew why he did it. That much was clear to him. Kurt had told him everything that had happened to him, all the things that Karofsky had done to him. Blaine shuddered at the memory of Kurt telling him about the kiss especially. He had seen the fear and pain in the poor boys eyes, yet he could tell that he had remained strong. Not as strong as he once was, but strong all the same. And Blaine could also tell that he had never lost himself throughout it all, and this was something that Blaine admired him for. Through all the pain and humiliation he had gone through, he had stayed true to himself. Blaine however, could not say the same for himself.
But Kurt had told Blaine his past just so he could warn Blaine of what Karofsky was capable of, and he was forever grateful to him. He was now going to stay as far away from Karofsky as possible, not that he hadn’t been planning to do so before, he was just fully warned now.
Kurt baring his soul to Blaine had been what did it. What had prompted him to tell the boy what had happened to him. He didn’t think it would have been fair if he hadn’t told Kurt everything, when Blaine knew about him. He had also been overwhelmed at the realisation that he trusted Kurt with this information. He had actually wanted to tell him everything.
So he had told him, and then he couldn’t stop crying. The tears just wouldn’t stop, but he hadn’t felt at all embarrassed as he was being held in Kurt’s arms, slowly being rocked. He had felt protected in those moments clutching Kurt, and as he cried about what had happened in his past, a new emotion had risen in him. Hope.
He felt that with Kurt, things might be okay. That together they might get through the cruel years of high school that they had left.
The moment the stupid woman, presumably a teacher, had unlocked the door, Blaine’s newfound hope had shattered into a thousand pieces around him, reminding him of glass. In that cupboard he could pretend that it would all be okay, but really that was just a dream. Even having Kurt with him wasn’t going to change that fact.
A sudden thought came to Blaine. If he and Kurt became proper friends, this would only provoke more taunting from the bullies. More pain, more humiliation for both of them.
He let out a growl of frustration and quickened his pace, desperate to collapse on his bed and drown himself in some Musical soundtracks.
So if he was friends with Kurt, both boys would get bullied even more.
But if he wasn’t friends with Kurt, he didn’t know how he was going to survive with no one to talk to, to share things with. And he knew he was probably getting ahead of himself, but he wanted to keep talking to Kurt so much, to just learn about him, instead of hearing about his awful past. He wanted to get to know the sweet boy. So what was he going to do?
He sighed deeply, clutching at the straps of his bag. He started humming softly to himself, raising his head towards the sky and watching the fluffy clouds drift past his head, heading the opposite way to him.

15 minutes later, he had reached the door to his house, and was standing outside it, staring at it. He was trying to formulate a plan to stay as far away from his dad as possible. Giving up a few minutes later, he opened the heavy door and stepped inside the cream-coloured hall.
Shrugging his jacket off and kicking his shoes to the left of the door, he headed into the living room. This was not by choice, it was the only route to his room. Glancing to his right, he saw his father slouching on the sofa, staring intently at the screen, a beer can clutched in his hand.
“Hi, Dad.” He said hesitantly, his eyes darting around the room. His father turned to him, looked him up and down and grunted. He turned back to the television, disapproval lurking across his unattractive features.
Blaine sighed and walked briskly across the room, before bounding up the staircase, taking two stairs at a time. He ran along the corridor, into his room, and slamming the door shut behind him, fell onto the bed.
He was used to his Fathers disapproval, but every time it was aimed at him, he still got upset. Well, on the bright side, he still had his mother. She would be back soon, and he could tell her about what happened on his first day at his new school. She wouldn’t be happy at all, knowing that the past was reliving itself, but Blaine needed to tell her.
But for now, he got up and placed his iPod into his docking station and started blasting the Hairspray soundtrack.
Smiling softly, he sat down at his desk and started on his English homework.

XXX

Half an hour after the two boys were found in the cupboard, Kurt was walking to his locker, his head down. He had spent all that time trying hopelessly to explain to the teacher-Miss Peterson-what had happened. He was pretty sure that she had understood all the facts in the end, but he could tell she was not the most understanding teacher out there. The exchange had tired him, and all he wanted to do now was go home and sleep. But of course there was always a catch.
As he walked up to his locker, he saw a familiar face standing outside it, forehead planted against the row of doors.
“Finn?” Kurt said, confused as to why his step-brother was waiting outside his locker when it was at least 45 minutes since the rest of the school had got out.
Finn grunted and turned around to face him, his eyes heavy.
“Were you…sleeping?” He asked incredulously as Finn hastily rubbed his eyes, turning to face him.
“Um…no.” He replied, looking awkward. Kurt just shook his head and shooed him away from his locker before putting in the combination.
“Where were you? I’ve been waiting here for ages!”
Kurt rummaged around in his bag and locker, transferring books between, and when he was done, slammed the door shut.
He turned to Finn, who was still staring at him, waiting for an answer. He was too exhausted to try and lie to him, so he decided to just tell the truth.
Walking away from Finn, the confused boy hastily following behind, he said, “I was talking to Miss Peterson about why Blaine and I were stuck in a cupboard for two hours.”
“Wait…what?” Was Finn’s reply, and Kurt just kept walking towards the door of the school.
“You were stuck in a cupboard? Blaine? Is that the new guy? What the hell, man?” Finn shouted at him from a few paces behind.
“Yes, yes, and yes.” He replied bluntly, pushing the doors open and inhaling the fresh air deeply. He started walking towards the deserted car park, where his car was sitting waiting for him.
Finn waited until they reached Kurt’s car, and jumped in the passenger seat, before turning to him and repeating himself.
“What the hell?” Kurt all but threw his bag into the back seat and put his seat belt on. He turned to Finn.
“Finn, I know you’re just asking because you care, but I really can’t be bothered explaining right now, I’m exhausted. I’ll have to explain it all to dad when we get back, so if you really want to, you can listen in then.” Kurt answered, dreading that particular conversation. Turning the key in the ignition, he said, “Wait, what are you doing in my car?”
Finn looked around his surroundings, as if proving to himself that he was in Kurt’s car, and a few moments later explained why.
“I let Puck borrow mine, so I was hoping I could get a ride home?” He said, a goofy grin on his face.
“I don’t have much choice now, do I?” Kurt answered back, pulling his car out of the car park probably faster than was deemed acceptable.
The 10 minute car ride went by quickly, as both boys engaged in talk about glee club. Kurt noticed the conversation steered quickly towards Rachel, and he decided to note that down in his mind for later use.
Kurt pulled into the Hudmels drive, and turning the engine off and grabbing his bag from the back seat, gracefully got out his car. Finn did the same, though gracefully was not the word to describe his movements as he shimmied out the door, slamming it shut and howling in pain when he hurt his hand someway or another. Kurt just shook his head at the boy and headed inside the welcoming house that promised a shower and most importantly, a good nights sleep.
“Hey Dad!” He shouted as he placed his shoes next to the door, and carefully shrugged his jacket off.
“Hey Kurt!” his Dad replied from the living room, where Kurt knew he would be contentedly sitting on the sofa watching the TV, as per usual.
Finn shuffled through the door behind him, shouting a quick hello before trudging up the stairs and presumably sitting in front of his X Box, where he would remain for the rest of the night. He had already forgotten about listening to what had happened to Kurt, and for that he was grateful. He didn’t need to know.
Kurt gave a deep sigh, bracing himself for the upcoming conversation. He had decided back in the car while Finn was describing how pretty Rachel’s hair had looked that day that he wasn’t going to give his dad too much information about Blaine. He was just going to tell him that they had talked about his old school, and that he didn’t have a very good time there. His dad didn’t really need to know the rest yet, especially since Kurt didn’t even know if he and Blaine were even friends.
Tensing his shoulders, he walked into the room where Burt was mirroring what Kurt thought he would be doing in his head, and sat down beside the man.
“How was your day, kiddo?” Burt’s eyes never once left the TV screen, expecting to hear Kurt talk about his Glee club like usual, but what came from his sons’ mouth next got his full attention.
“Something happened. With…Karofsky and the others” Kurt stared awkwardly at his lap, not meeting his fathers wide eyes. He felt him shuffle closer to him though, and lay a hand on his shoulder.
“Kurt. What happened?” Burt’s eyes were full of concern, worried for his sons’ wellbeing.
So Kurt explained what had happened to him and Blaine, leaving out the details of Blaine’s story. And even though he stared at his lap the whole time, he knew that Burt was fuming by the time he reached the end. The clasp on his shoulder had tightened, and when Kurt finally looked up, his eyes were blazing. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish for a few moments, not knowing whether to comfort the boy or to storm straight to the school right there and then.
“I’m going to get him expelled, Kurt. Don’t worry.” He started to raise himself up from the sofa, eyes maniacally searching for the phone, ready to give that good-for-nothing head teacher a piece of his mind, when he felt Kurt’s hand grab at his arm, holding him back.
“Dad, not now! I told the teacher about it, and she promised that she would call Karofsky and his dad in tomorrow to talk about it! And no ones at the school now, phoning will do nothing.” Kurt said, eyes pleading with his father to understand.
Burt stood for a moment, debating what he should do in his mind. He slowly sunk down on the couch again, sighing deeply.
“I just hate what they do to you, Kurt.”
And this was why he loved Burt. No matter how he went about things, it was all to try and secure Kurt’s happiness. Kurt’s heart swelled and he gave the man a tight hug, clutching him and burrowing his head into his shoulder.
“I know Dad. Thank you.” He said. Burt could just make out what Kurt said as his speech was muffled from being pressed against his top, but he smiled, returning the hug.
“It’s okay, kiddo.” He said, pulling back and smiling at his son. They sat on the sofa together in silence for a few moments, watching the game on TV. Burt was the one to break the silence.
“So, what about this Blaine kid. Is he nice?” He surveyed Kurt’s reaction to this question with scrutiny. He did not fail to notice the faint blush that appeared on his cheek, or the way he averted his eyes from him.
“Um, yeah, he’s nice.” He replied awkwardly.
“Is he gay?” Burt asked bluntly, but by Kurt’s ever growing blush he already knew the answer.
“Dad!” Kurt shouted at him, playfully slamming a cushion into Burt’s chest, receiving a chuckle from the older man.
“I’ll take that as one almighty yes then.” Burt replied, laughing harder at the shocked look on his sons face.
Kurt gave his dad one last glare before getting up from the sofa and heading downstairs to his room. He sat down on his bed, rummaging through his bag for the subject jotters that he had homework for. Through it he was mumbling softly to himself about what his dad had said, and his complete bluntness. He should’ve known to expect it from the man, it had just come as a shock when he had said it.
And Kurt knew how painfully obvious his feelings for Blaine showed through on his face. Because that was just it.
Kurt knew that he was falling for Blaine. As much as he didn’t want to, as much as he had only known the boy for a day, for gods’ sake, he wasn’t going to try and deny it.
He was the first-openly-? Could you really say that he was open about being gay?-gay guy Kurt had ever met, and he was attractive, and caring, and emotional and…
He mentally slapped himself. He shouldn’t be thinking about this. He wasn’t even sure if they were even friends yet, all he knew was that they had bonded. But that didn’t necessarily mean they were friends, did it? Blaine had trusted him with his past, everything that he had went through, and Kurt admired him and appreciated him for that. He was glad Blaine had finally told someone the full extent of what had happened. And he was especially glad that that someone had been him.
Kurt sighed and plugged his iPod into his docking station which started blasting Lady Gaga. Softly singing along, he settled down at his desk, homework in hand, and he promised himself that he wouldn’t think of Blaine until he was done.
2 minutes later he had already failed. Placing his head down on the desk, he sighed at his own stupidity.
Stupid Blaine, why does he have to be so damn attractive? And endearing? And open? And emotional? And caring?
At this point he was close to screaming, so he set down his homework, promising that he would do it later, and went in the shower to try and clear his head.
The rest of the evening passed by in a blur of eating, doing homework, watching Les’ Miserable for the umpteenth time and eventually, sleeping. And Blaine of course. Rather a large part of it was dedicated to thinking about Blaine, not that he would admit that to anyone. And his dreams may have just centered around that same boy. Not that Kurt was complaining all that much.