"Hey, are we… I mean, were still good, right?" Blaine was rubbing the back of his neck a bit awkwardly as he stood by Kurts locker. He hadnt brought up the whole dumpster incident yet, but it was starting to feel like a giant weight on his chest and he had to do something to take care of it. "Im sorry about what I said. Suggesting you let Finn take care of Karofsky and Azimio. I mean… I get it, you know? Well, you dont really know, but… I get it."

And how he wanted to tell Kurt just how much he got it. How he understood that this was a fight that was bigger than Finn or anyone else could ever understand. How he knew that it wasnt just the stuff that all the other Glee kids went through. This was something more and something personal and something that had to stop but not because of someone else saying something. It had to be Kurt who fought this battle because it was his battle and he just… he had to win. Blaine understood that more than anyone could ever know.

Blue eyes looked at him for a minute before Kurt shook his head and shot him a smile, closing his locker and nudging Blaine with a shoulder as they started for their English class together. "Dont worry so much, Blaine. You were just trying to help. I get it. Its just something that I have to face. Besides, getting Finn involved would just end up with him being even more hated by half of his stupid football team, and that would just end in more losses on the field, which would make life at home a bitch. So Id rather just let him play nice with the meat-heads." He laughed lightly then and it was absolutely musical.

Blaine couldnt help but smile as they took their seats for class. "Im glad you arent mad at me or whatever. I just… I think youre really brave, Kurt. For standing up to them all and just… being you. Its really something." The teacher strode into the room then and the class quieted, but Blaine still caught the blushing grin that followed his words, and he felt his own cheeks heat up a bit as well. This guy was everything Blaine wished he could be. Kurt was secure with himself, he was downright fierce, and he wasnt scared despite the bullying he faced every single day. Despite the bruises that made it hurt sometimes when he sat back in his chair during class. Nothing seemed to get Kurt Hummel down, and it made Blaine wish he was that strong.

He tried to think of exactly what the main thing was that inspired him so much when it came to Kurt, and one word came to mind. He scrawled it down on a small square of paper, and passed it to his friend as the teacher droned on about something pointless that was already in his brain from his year at Dalton.

Courage.

Kurt had a smile on his face for the rest of the class period.

______________________________________________________________

It was already October and the Glee club was busy preparing for Sectionals, which would be held at the start of November this year. They were also talking about upcoming parties, since October meant Halloween, which for most of the kids meant an excuse to let loose and party it up apparently. Blaine wasnt sure how he felt about this whole party idea, but it didnt seem like any of the Glee kids were exempt from the shindig, so he just shrugged and shared an eye-roll with Kurt, who seemed just as put off by the idea of Puck scrounging up alcohol so the girls could dress in skimpy costumes and get sloppy drunk at Rachels.

At least they had some good songs picked out for Sectionals, though. It was strange to be in a Glee club that didnt choose just one person to front them, but in a way it was nice, too. Sure, Rachel was the main lead of the club, but she wasnt always the lead in their numbers, and that was… oddly refreshing. Blaine couldnt help but grin when he was offered one of the leads in Call Me Maybe. It was the big group number, and it was bound to be good, especially with the dance routine that mimicked that viral youtube video.

He was humming the song as he strode through the hall that second Monday of October, head bobbing a little and pants cuffed in a way that wasnt very masculine of him. He was slipping, and he hadnt even realized it, but apparently somebody had. As he headed to his locker to gather his books, having just finished lunch with the others from Glee, Blaine nearly ran into the lumbering jocks who blocked his path.

He gulped. The others had taken their books with them, so he was on his own on his trip to his locker. He was alone, pretty much cornered, and one of those jocks, he was pretty sure it was the one Kurt called Karofsky, was definitely holding a bright red slushie. Shit.

"If it isnt the newest Gleek," the guy spat, making the word sound like the worlds worst insult even though Blaine was pretty sure the jocks were the only ones who really found it that insulting. Still, he found himself shuddering before the guys and he barely had time to brace himself before the frigid ice and syrup hit him square in the face, sliding down the front of his shirt and back of his neck without any resistance.

It was cold, painfully so, and Blaine felt his eyes prick with what had to be tears, but he refused to let them fall. Not in front of the meat-heads who were howling their laughter at him. "Have fun with your new friends, Gleek," Azimio, Blaine remembered the name, teased as they turned and high-fived. "Hope you enjoyed your first slushie facial! Plenty more to look forward to!"

Their laughter echoed even after the guys had left the hall, and Blaine felt his knees give out before he even realized he was about to fall. Instead of the pain that should have come from crashing to his knees in the hallway, though, Blaine felt a soft but sturdy embrace. He didnt fall all the way to the floor, but instead found himself supported, leaning against the lockers and able to open his eyes as they were wiped clean with something softer than a gym towel.

"You okay? The first one always sucks the worst…" It was Kurts voice soothing in his ears, and Blaine couldnt hold back the small sob that caught in his throat. He was freezing and he hadnt been physically bullied in a while now and it was scary and this wasnt even with them knowing who he really was! "Shh, come on, Ill help you. Do you have another shirt? You know what? Dont even worry about it. I have something you can wear. Just… let me get in my locker real quick, okay? Weve all been here, Blaine. Its okay."

His smile only made Blaine have to fight to choke back another sob. The boy was so perfect, so selfless, and he had to deal with this shit every single day. How was he still so kind? It hurt to even think of Kurt being so alone here dealing with these horrible monsters masquerading as kids… but he couldnt come out. He couldnt tell the beautiful, helpful boy before him that he thought he might love him. No, that simply wasnt an option.

It didnt even bother Blaine when he admitted it in his mind. He might be falling for Kurt. Hed known for a while now. The fact that the kid was now leading him to the bathroom with a dress shirt that looked much fancier than a mechanics son should be able to afford just made that clearer. He was going to let Blaine wear one of his precious shirts, and it wasnt even just an undershirt or something. It was something hed seen Kurt wear before. It was something he cared about, and he was sharing it with Blaine.

His heart ached.

Stained shirt soaking in cold water in the sink, Blaine let Kurt use the hand towel (from home- the ones at school are horrible for the skin) to clean off his neck and back. He tried to clean his own chest and face, but his hands were shaking so hard he couldnt do it and Kurt simply snatched the towel back and soothed his friend with warm water and sweet whispers of support and care.

By the time Kurt was done, Blaines hair was all loose curls (gel gone thanks to the need to wash away the slushie) and his face was fresh and a lot happier. Blaines hands had stopped shaking enough that he could button the shirt on his own, and Kurt returned to the soaking shirt, ringing it out and looking it over with a studious gaze.

"Youll have to use some stain remover still, but that should have stopped the worst of it from setting. If you want, I could wash it for you. Ive become a sort of master of getting slushie dye out of clothes by now…" The offer was friendly and natural and it made Blaine stare at the boy in awe. It might have been the kindest thing anyone had ever done for him, offering to launder his clothes for him just because they were good at it and he was their friend.

He grinned, heart filling with an emotion that he didnt want to name for fear of what it would mean for his future in this school. His future in the world in general. "That would be great, if you really dont mind. I dont really need anymore questions at home and Im already going to get enough when I show up in someone elses shirt."

He laughed lightly and watched Kurt put the shirt in a plastic bag before leading the way out of the bathroom. They were already at least ten minutes late for class. "Wanna go to the choir room? Doesnt really seem necessary to go to chem now that weve missed a good chunk of the class anyway. Nobody will be there and we could just… Do homework or something. Itd be easier than explaining why were late."

Kurts words were a godsend to Blaine, since he really didnt feel ready to go back to class just yet. He needed a little time to calm down, relax. He needed to stop grinning so much and making what had to be heart-eyes at Kurt, too. "That sounds perfect," was his simple answer, and the two headed to the room that was fast becoming as much a sanctuary to Blaine as it was to the veteran New Directions kids. He could think about his worries later. For now, he just wanted to spend a little more time with Kurt before he was thrust back into the real world that was high school hell.

___________________________________________________________

That afternoon had turned into a whole half of school worth of skipped classes (but it wasnt like anybody cared or reported it to parents anyway, so what was the harm?) until Glee club. In that time, Blaine and Kurt had really gotten to know each other. Theyd talked about the art of removing slushie dye from clothing, the necessity of carrying spare clothes in cars, lockers, everywhere possible, really. One never knew how many incidents might occur during the day that necessitated a quick wardrobe change.

Blaine had told the other boy about his old school, explaining how Dalton hadnt allowed creativity with his wardrobe but had offered a shelter from… harm. He told Kurt of being bullied into transferring to the boarding school, but he hadnt let him know why. He wasnt ready for that, especially after the attack today. Kurt had been a bit in awe that Blaine decided to leave a place with so much safety. Hed made a joke about it being all about the lack of girls, which Blaine just laughed at. Oh, if this boy only knew…

The rest of the club joining them only meant the boys included more people in their conversation, which had by that point reached Halloween costumes. This was quite a popular topic, since it was decided that the party was definitely costume-mandatory.

"For the last time, Noah, I am not cross-dressing for my costume!" The argument had been raging for at least ten minutes, even after Mr. Schue had tried to get them all to settle down, and Blaine couldnt help but laugh at Kurts indignant huff. "Just because I sing traditionally female songs does not mean I want to wear a dress!" Hed already smacked Finn in the back of the head when the quarterback pointed out that half of Kurts wardrobe was technically from the womens department.

Rachel had already announced that she and Finn would be doing a couples costume, despite Kurts idea that she should be Elphaba and he would be Guylinda, which Blaine had a chuckle over at the time. Now, Kurt didnt know what he was going as, Blaine was secretly considering Danny Zuko, and Puck was trying to get Finn to ditch Rachel and be the ass to his horses front half. The whole conversation was really going nowhere and Mr. Schuester was clearly getting frustrated.

"Are we going to have a club meeting with singing and dancing and, you know, practice today, or are you all just going to talk about Halloween costumes? Because you do realize we have sectionals in a matter of weeks, right?" The directors voice washed over them and got lost somewhere in Santanas declaration to be the sexiest damn baby unicorn youve ever seen after Brittany informed her of her costume. Apparently Brittany was going to be half unicorn and half cat because she was only halfway unicorn and Lord Tubbington wanted to help me be more like him whatever that meant.

Brittany poked Kurt and told him he should dress as a dolphin, to which Kurt rolled his eyes but forced a smile for the sweet, if confusing, blonde. Mr. Schue had already given up, tossing some sheet music on the piano and leaving the room for the teachers lounge and a strong cup of coffee. Rachel was screeching at Puck about how Finn was not being his horse butt because he was already going to be her Nick Arnstein (pre-prison, Finn) to which Finn just shrugged, not having any idea what the hell was going on.

Quinn said something about a bunny, which had Mercedes piping up about how cliche that was and the two started snapping at each other while Tina and Mike whisper-fought about how much Tina would rather not go with some Asian theme for her costume. Artie started telling Blaine about how he was going to turn his wheelchair into a car with some expertly wielded cardboard and dress as a Nascar driver. It actually sounded pretty cool, but soon Blaine was distracted as Mr. Schue had wandered back in and demanded that they be finished now that the voices werent raised quite so high.

From that point, practice actually commenced and Blaine was more than ready to sing his background bits in Poker Face which was oddly enough a duet between Rachel and Kurt. It worked well, though. The two really did compliment each others voices when they werent fighting with each other. The solo song, and artist, hadnt been announced yet despite how close it was to the competition, but apparently this was the natural progression of things and Blaine shouldnt worry.

The practice went well despite them not having the full time thanks to the Halloween discussion, and they all parted with easy smiled. It would be next week before Mr. Schue announced the solo song of Livin On A Prayer to be sung by Finn. It was his first actual solo, and the quarterback was pretty pumped about it. Rachel was even happy for her boyfriend. Life in New Directions was pretty damn good.