Blaine Anderson had never felt comfortable at McKinley High. The boys constantly made him feel as if he didn't belong with them and the girls constantly pointed out that no matter how much he was like them or how similar he may seem, he would still always be a boy.

And that was just with the Glee Club. These were the people who were supposed to be his friends and they thought they were. They thought their jokes were funny and they thought they meant well when they asked if he wouldn't rather leaved the conversation when they talked about girls or when the girls asked if he felt sad about never having a boyfriend.

He did feel sad about it. And it had been especially worse with Dave Karofsky bullying him.

But Blaine Anderson kept it all inside because that's what Blaine Anderson did best.

Today however, the boys were planning for their big mashup performance against the girls.

"Alright, here's my plan," Puck started. "I say we just start off with a big number like a big rock anthem and then just walk up to the girls and lay one on them. And I'm talking tongue. Just knock them off their feet."

Blaine shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I don't know that Mr. Schuester will be too keen on that…" Finn started before Puck interrupted him.

"That's the point Finn! Real rockers don't care and they go all the way for the performance and the desired effect."

Finn sighed. "I don't know Puck…"

"Dude! All you have to do is kiss your girlfriend. And Mike will kiss Tina, Artie will kiss Britt, Sam can have Quinn, I'll take Santana."

The other guys looked at Blaine and Blaine looked down at his feet.

Puck followed their gaze and Blaine could feel himself flushing.

Puck cleared his throat. "And, um- Blaine can, uh. Well, Mercedes! You guys are friends right? So that won't be like, terribly weird or whatever."

Blaine nodded slightly, still looking at his feet.

Finn turned his gaze away from Blaine and glared at Puck.

"You know what Blaine, you know how Schue was talking about those other teams? Why don't you go spy on them or whatever. We'll figure, something out here."

Blaine grabbed his bag, happy to find an excuse to leave. He walked out of the room, but not before he heard Puck mutter, "Sorry. I always forget that we have him to worry about.":

Dalton Academy was really quite beautiful. Blaine didn't know why he hadn't heard of this school before. Especially since it was chock full of guys in blazers perfectly tailored and giant hallways with exquisite design.

But they were all going somewhere and he wanted to fit in. But today he chose to wear jeans of all days and his polo was nice, but it wasn't a Dalton polo. And all these guys knew where they were going and Blaine didn't. And he didn't want to stand out without anyone to talk to.

One of the boys brushed by him, and Blaine decided to catch his attention.

"Um, excuse me, I'm new here. I was just wondering if someone could show me around…"

The boy smiled and extended his hand.

"I'm Kurt."

Blaine paused for a second, taken aback by the kindness, and reached his hand out to clasp Kurt's.

"Blaine."

"Nice to meet you Blaine. But you should hurry if you want a tour, we're moving."

Kurt started to move down the stairs and Blaine followed him.

"Moving where?"

"To the common room. The Warblers are putting on a performance."

"Wait, so the Warblers are cool here?"

Kurt turned to smile at Blaine. "The Warblers are like rockstars."

Kurt stopped walking and Blaine almost ran into him.

"What? Why did you stop?"

Kurt just smiled and grabbed Blaine's hand. "Come with me, I know a shortcut."

And suddenly Kurt and Blaine were jogging down a huge hallway and Blaine couldn't help but be wildly impressed by the vastness of it all.

They reached the common room and Kurt let go of Blaine's hand.

"Alright wait here."

Blaine looked around wildly, "Wait, where are you going?"

Kurt turned towards Blaine and saw that his collar was messed up. "Better fix your collar new kid. You'll want to fit in."

He gave Blaine a wink and moved towards the center of the common room, pointing his finger at the group of guys that had accumulated.

All of them, except for Kurt started singing the melody to "Teenage Dream". When the words came in, Kurt took lead and he had all eyes for Blaine.

And Blaine had all eyes for him.

"You are not a student here Blaine Anderson, but I am curious as to why you came" Kurt said, quite bluntly. He was looking Blaine up and down, and Blaine couldn't tell if he was sizing him up or dressing him down.

"Um- no. I am not a student of Dalton Academy but I am technically a student so I'm not a complete liar…"

Kurt started making a tsking noise and picked his coffee up off of the table and continued. "Blaine. This will be a lot easier if we're both honest with each other."

Blaine nodded and looked around the Dalton lounge. "I still can't believe that you guys have your own lounge. With an espresso machine."

Kurt nodded. "Beyond the point Anderson. Spill."

Blaine looked down at his lap where his fingers were interlocked. "My glee club sent me over to spy."

Kurt was silent and Blaine didn't want to look up.

"You look down a lot don't you?"

Blaine looked up and saw a sympathetic look in Kurt's eyes. "What?"

"I used to look down a lot too. Anytime I was nervous or scared or felt that I might not be able to fit in or that I might stand out too much I would look down because I had the idea that if I couldn't see anyone then they couldn't see me. I wanted to be invisible."

Blaine nodded. "But you know what Blaine? I was never meant to be invisible. I was born to stand out. I have a voice, a personality, and Ilike shining. I like being a star. I like being on the Warblers and being needed. That looking down thing? That's a byproduct of feeling like you don't belong. It's that feeling that tells you you should be somewhere new."

Blaine was completely transfixed on Kurt. Kurt looked very vulnerable and he looked as if he wanted to cry but he had spent too many years wasting tears on people who didn't deserve them.

"I came to Dalton because I found a place where I belonged. I have a feeling you need to belong too Blaine Anderson."

Blaine gave Kurt a small smile. He wanted to ask where he had gone to school before, but he blurted out, "Are you gay?" before covering his mouth with both hands. Kurt started laughing and Blaine brought his hands down and started rapidly saying, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Kurt waved him off and said, "No, it's okay. I am. I'm surprised you didn't just assume I was. Most people are tipped off by the voice."

Blaine shrugged and said, "I guess I thought I might be getting too hopeful."

Kurt raised an eyebrow and said, a little seductively but Blaine didn't want to get ahead of himself, "Is that so?"

Blaine just smiled and looked down at his coffee, picking it up with one hand and drinking it.

Before he could take a sip he felt Kurt's hand on top of the hand holding the coffee.

He locked eyes with Kurt and Kurt just smiled his sweetest smile yet and said, "Blaine Anderson, stop looking down."

Blaine walked back through the doors of McKinley with a smile on his face the size of the sun and he felt like he was walking on air. He hadn't had a crush on anyone since Puck last year and while he was nice about it, let's be honest, he wasn't returning any feelings.

But today Blaine Anderson had held hands with a guy running down a hall and while Kurt hadn't made a move Blaine couldn't help but take a small victory from the fact that at least, for once, the guy he had a crush on was gay.

"What's with the smile fag?"

Blaine halted and realized suddenly that the hall was quite empty except for him and the voice behind him.

"Excuse me? Queer? I asked you a question." Blaine felt a hand on his shoulder and he took a few steps forward abruptly and found himself facing Karofsky.

"I- um- nothing. I don't know."

"You know what Anderson? Not good enough."

Karofsky shoved him into a locker and started to walk away, laughing. Blaine looked down and avoided catching eye contact as Karofsky made his way towards the locker room.

Suddenly, Blaine heard a voice in his head say, stop looking down and Blaine looked up, watching Karofsky enter the locker room and the door swing shut behind him.

Blaine pushed himself off the ground and ran towards the locker room, shoving the door open and making his way to Karofsky's locker. The other guys had already left to start gym, and Karofsky already had his shirt off.

He noticed Blaine standing there and grabbed his shirt out of the locker, covering himself. "Sorry fag, this isn't a free peep show."

Blaine grabbed Karofsky's shirt out of his hands, threw it into the locker and slammed it shut.

"You know what Karofsky? You need to stop. It is high time you stopped bullying me for someone I was born to be and someone I can't help being. You know what I think? I think you're an insecure, unsure, pretentious jock who is so scared of being different he'd rather be nobody. You're so scared of being called gay or having someone think you're different that you attack those that are."

"Get out of my face Anderson!"

"No! You've never had anyone stand up to you because you've never given anyone the chance! You go through life trying to prove you're better than everyone else when in fact, you're nothing! You're too scared to be different, or more importantly, special that you are completely content being safe and boring. And that makes you nothing. No one's ever told you but you are. You are nothing."

"Get out of my face!"

"You are never going to be anything more than that bully in high school who couldn't sustain a C- average and ended up working at the local garage. And I'm glad to know you'll amount to nothing because it speaks to the exact level of ignorance and intolerance you couldn't hope to ever overcome and I'm glad you'll never have the chance to see how perfect and special being different is!"

Suddenly, Dave Karofsky grabbed both sides of Blaine's face and before he could fight him off, kissed him.

He released Blaine and both boys stood there momentarily, perfectly silent. Then Karofsky moved in for another kiss. This time, Blaine planted both of his hands on Dave's chest and pushed hard. Karofsky was stunned, but then he slammed his hands against the locker before leaving the locker room without his stuff.

Blaine was silent. Then he let out a choked sob and covered his mouth.

There was motion in the hallway and Blaine pulled himself together, picked up his bag, and left the locker room.

"I don't know what to do. I mean, I followed your advice, but he'd a big guy, and I'm scared he's going to hurt me or lash out or do something and, I don't know, I just wanted some help."

Kurt grabbed Blaine's shoulder. "You came to the right guy, okay? You showed a lot of courage Blaine. You kept your head up and you stood up. Now all you have to do is keep standing and things will work themselves out."

Blaine nodded.

Kurt smiled. "Alright, now let's go talk to this Dave Karofsky. I have a bone to pick with him."

Blaine laughed. "I assumed you would say violence isn't the answer."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "And I never said it was. But aggressive wordplay is never off the table."

Blaine laughed at Kurt and Kurt couldn't help but laugh at himself. When they stopped Kurt said, "Bring me to this 'Dave Karofsky' fellow."

Blaine nodded and started to make his way to the outdoor courtyard. When he had barely made it one step, Kurt cleared his throat and Blaine turned around.

"What?"

Kurt extended his arm and gestured for Blaine to grab his hand. Blaine smiled and gladly accepted it, ignoring the fact that he was about to roam around with Kurt looking for Blaine's tormentor.

It didn't take long to find him. He was leaning against a cement pillar talking to some football friends. Blaine shouted out, "Hey! Karofsky!"

Karofsky turned and saw him, said something to his friends and immediately made his way down the stairs.

Blaine sighed, and this time, Kurt pulled him along. "Come on Anderson."

It didn't take long to catch up to Karofsky, but he didn't seem eager to talk.

"Dave, come on. Blaine told me what you did."

Karofsky whipped around and glared at Kurt. "Oh yeah, and what is that?"

"You kissed me."

Karofsky looked around wildly. "No I didn't you little fag and if you tell anyone else otherwise I'll kill you."

"Dave, you and I know that's not true. You just need someone to talk to, and trust me, there are people who can help, and are willing to…"

Kurt was interrupted when Dave threw him against the fence next to the stairs.

Blaine got in between them both, surprising Karofsky for the second time that day.

"You have to stop this!"

Karofsky gave Blaine a look, about to speak, but turned his attention to Kurt, and then fled back down the stairs.

Blaine sighed and sat down on the stairs.

"Well he's not coming out of the closet anytime soon."

Blaine nodded acknowledgement, but didn't say anything, looking down at the ground.

Kurt looked at Blaine, and then sat down next to him, putting his arm around Blaine's shoulders.

"What's wrong? Why are you so upset?"

"Bullies like Dave Karofsky are always going to pick on me. And they're always going to keep me looking down. I just want it to stop." Kurt pulled Blaine in for a tight side hug. "That was the first time I've ever been kissed. By a guy at least."

Kurt gave Blaine a squeeze before saying, "You know what Blaine? I think we can both decide to agree that this one does not count." He lifted Blaine's head with his hand and said, "Your first kiss is going to be one you won't want to forget for a whole other reason entirely."

Blaine smiled sheepishly at Kurt before Kurt stood and offered Blaine a hand to help him up.

"Let's forget this happened and go grab lunch, what do ya say?"

Blaine nodded and added, "I couldn't agree more."

Kurt smiled and looked down at his watch. "Alright, I got about an hour. I gotta go meet my boyfriend at 4."

Kurt turned to walk away and Blaine's face fell.

Boyfriend? Boyfriend?

Kurt turned around when he realized Blaine wasn't following him.

"Whatcha waiting on Anderson?"