Blaine tried to find Kurt after being pulled into that practice, he really did, but he didnt know where Kurts dorm where or even where he hung out. Heck, he tried to escape during the practice once he saw that Kurt was gone but the overzealous little group of cheerleaders pulled him back and made him go over the routine until Coach Beiste was satisfied.

He definitely didnt want what had been pushed upon him. His winter break was supposed to be a chance to relax and be with family, but his family had found other things to do and now he wouldnt even be able to have some down time with the schedule the stunt team had over the holidays.

Santana was no help in figuring out where Kurt was, aside from telling Blaine via text that hed been seen leaving campus with his dad, presumably to have some help while he recuperated from his fall, and the girls he usually saw Kurt hanging around with werent visible on campus during the holidays.

So Blaine went from competition to competition with practices in between. They placed first in everything and Blaine consistently reaffirmed that once Kurt was back, he was done with stunt. However, this particular group of cheerleaders was nothing if not disinterested in anything but winning competitions. He was told that so long as Kurt wasnt reliable enough not to fall, Blaine would be in that top spot.

It gave Blaine pause to say the least. Did Kurt really spend so much time voluntarily with these people who were so much more interested in a silly routine than the welfare of one of their teammates? it was rhetorical of course though. Hed seen how irritated they all had been when Kurt had fell, like his suffering was an inconvenience to to them all. They never talked about anything other than cheer either. Boring, shallow automatons - all of them.

Kurt didnt surface during the break though, so Blaine was left alone with the cheer robots until classes resumed in January. His parents and his brother each sent him a care package, both of which he stared at darkly for the better part of a day before opening. He didnt want gifts. He wanted his family. He wanted friends and people to spend time with. College was supposed to be the time of his life where he met interesting people and had adventures. If the first term was any indication though, it was a miserable, lonely place, and the only light within it had disappeared before Blaine had even had the chance to talk with him.

He would fix that though. The instant he saw Kurt. He would gather up all the courage he had and talk to him.

Which was why it came as a surprise to Blaine when the first time he saw Kurt after the break was stepping into one of the classes he needed to take for finance and seeing Kurt sitting in the back and rotating a pen between his finger as he waited for class to start. Kurt didnt see Blaine until Blaine sat himself beside Kurt and offered him a small, hopeful smile, getting a glare in return.

"Why are you in here?"

"I - ah…. One of my majors is finance?" Blaine stumbled on his words, not expecting the harsh tone Kurt was taking with him.

"Well… fuck…" Kurt hissed.

Blaine swallowed hard, looking at Kurt - now free of crutches, presumably better. "What about you?"

"Finance is my minor."

Kurt didnt seem pleased to see Blaine in the least. In fact he seemed quite offended by his presence and Blaine didnt know how to handle that aside from keep talking, hoping to warm Kurt up to his being there.

"Santana said you spent the holidays with your family?"

"Yes."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes."

"Ready for regular cheer to start back up again?"

"Yes."

Well this was going nowhere. Blaine nibbled over his lower lip as he struggled to come up with something that might lead to more than a one word answer from Kurt.

"What did you get for Christmas?"

"Stuff."

Well that attempted had failed miserably. Luckily, the professor stepped in and the conversations in the class were silenced by the professor introducing himself and going over the curriculum and plan for the semester. Every now and then Blaine would glance to his side at Kurt, who was mostly focusing on the board and writing down notes. He did catch him looking over one time though, and Blaine took that opportunity to shoot Kurt a smile.

"Fuck off." was the response to that, whispered through gritted teeth before Kurt looked back to the board leaving Blaine feeling more lost than ever. He leaned back in his seat, staring blankly ahead and unable to process what the professor was saying. What did he do?

The end of class couldnt come quickly enough and as Kurt snapped his book shut and tried to make off quickly, Blaine reached out to grab him by the wrist, looking up to him pleadingly as Kurt glowered back at him.

"Please. Let me just… can we talk? Please? Coffee?"

Kurt snapped his wrist away. "Nothing to talk about."

Then he stormed off and Blaine watched his retreating figure while his own heart sunk into his back and atop of his stomach heavily.

The next day was much the same. Blaine sat himself next to Kurt, tried to talk to him, and ended up ignored and scowled at. The third day he didnt even get a scowl - Kurt just didnt look at him at all.

"Its because you took his perch." Santana grumbled Blaines way as they slid through the cafeteria line up together.

"His… perch?"

"His top spot. Like an eagle. Looking down over all the rest. Boy covets his damned perch."

Blaine shook his head, handing his cafeteria card over the cashier before following Santana out to a seat. "I dont understand why…. its just cheerleading…"

"For you - yes. At our school though, it was everything, and for Kurt it protected him from the bullies. You went to that all boys school where I assume everyone was just flaming left, right, and center, but Kurt… Kurt was the only out kid at school, and he was tormented for it."

"We didnt-" Blaine started, intending on fixing Santanas perception of Dalton before deciding it wasnt worth it and went back to the focus of the conversation. "... Cheer fixed that for Kurt?"

Santana gave a little noncommittal shrug, "Not at first. Then some football jerk came up and forced himself on Kurt… just a kiss… and it was the same guy who was picking on him the worst. Kurt used it against him. Blackmailed him into keeping the jocks at bay. Guy ended up transferring later on, but by that time Kurt had secured himself the position of top bitch and no one messed with him anymore."

"Oh…"

"Yknow. He used to be a sweet kid. Naive, dorky, and completely flaming - but sweet. But now… honestly Blaine. I dont know what you see in him." Santana noted, brown eyes searching Blaines face for answers.

Blaine didnt have any answers to give though. Asking him why he liked Kurt was like asking a fish how wings worked - it just wasnt something he had the capacity to figure out. "You never really talk about high school Santana…"

Santana gave another small shrug. "Not much to talk about."

"But you did go to the same school as Quinn, Brittany, Kurt, and Kitty. What happened between you all?"

Santana frowned at that, shook her head, and stabbed a piece of tomato with her fork. "Dont change the subject short stuff. Were talking about you. Besides, what happened in high school stays in high school."

Blaine arched his brow, but didnt push the matter any further. Obviously what happened in high school had followed Santana and the others here to SCU instead of staying there, and Blaine was certain that Kurt wasnt the only one that had been warped into something new by that school.

FondueForMew
Santana?

AuntieSnix
Yeah Brit?

FondueForMew
Can you come over? The laundry ate all my socks again.

KittysKorner
Dare I ask why that necessitates Santana joining you?

Quintessential
Brittany has a thing about socks.

AuntieSnix
Be there soon.

KittysKorner
Clearly Im behind on what qualifies as a fetish nowadays. Socks… jeeze...