Sam had stayed and helped him as well as he could until Burt had thrown him out at 10pm with a pointed look at the clock. They hadn't been finished by then and the fabric he had bought hadn't been enough. In the end he shot a text to all the boys, telling them to bring their black pants from sectionals, black shoes, a white dress shirt and a bow tie and no he didn't care where they got one from, he only had three so they would have to manage!

In the end he had dug deep to find enough of just any blue fabric. It wasn't perfect but it would do. Although he did come close to crying as the fabric nearly didn't last for Finn's jacket.

Blaine had tried to call him but Kurt hadn't wanted to take the call in front of Sam. He didn't know why. Maybe he didn't want to be distracted or he just wanted to keep Blaine to himself a little while longer. Yeah, he had told Mercedes but he didn't have to jump the gun with the rest of the glee kids, had he?

He had shot Blaine a short text after Sam had left, telling him that he was busy with glee but that he was fine and that Blaine could call if he still wanted to.

Not ten minutes later his phone had rang and Kurt had accepted the call with a pounding heart and gratefulness for the intrusion.

"Hello?" Blaine asked, sounding a little unsure.

"Hey, Blaine." Kurt greeted. The smile was audible in his voice but he couldn't help it. It was like a reflex to hearing Blaine talk.

"So… glee was good then?"

"Yes, indeed it was. They were really asking for my creative input." Kurt bit his lip as he noticed how surprised he sounded.

"Well that's good. I'm happy to hear that. Are you allowed to tell me what you're doing or is that crossing a line?" Blaine's voice was teasing and Kurt's smile grew at that.

"Mhh Blaine Warbler if you hadn't been that obvious I might have dropped some information but now I'm cautious… I'm just going to tell you that my hands are sore from sewing jackets all evening with Sam."

"The cute blonde?" Blaine asked and Kurt felt his heart drop. Did Blaine find Sam cute? But he wouldn't crush on a straight… seemingly straight… guy would he?

"You think Sam's cute?" His voice was small.

"Well that's what you told me." Blaine didn't seem to notice Kurt's slip in mood and Kurt was happy about that as he asked blushing: "Did I really say that?"

"Yes, Kurt. Yes, you did. It might even have been gorgeous but I thought I'd tone it down a little. So you two worked all day? That's hard. Coming close to a deadline?" Kurt groaned.

"Gosh. In fact yes, we are. I'm not ever going to dispute that we are unorganized again, Blaine. We have to get our number ready till tomorrow at four. And yes: we started planning today and now I tell you for competitions we are done months, even years before that."

That was a downright lie but Kurt wasn't going to tell Blaine that this was normal business for them.

"Tomorrow at four?" Blaine asked confused.

"Yes. I can't believe it really. Till this afternoon I didn't think we'd perform at all and now I'll be working all night if I'm unlucky. Four and a half jackets done – one and a half still to go."

Kurt chuckled lightly but no reaction came from the other side of the line.

"Blaine? You still there?"

"Yes. Sorry, Kurt. I just… I guess you won't be able to help me with French then?"

Wednesday. Of course. Their study date. How could he have forgotten that? He wanted nothing more than to hit his head against a wall in this moment. How could he be so stupid? This was important to Blaine and he had been looking forward to it so much! They had known each other for less than a week now and he was already being a bad friend.

"Blaine. I'm so sorry. Of course. How could I have forgotten? I mean … I even searched for stuff to study over the weekend. I really did… but with all the stuff going on and then the boys and I mean it's glee… I guess I could still skip? Just give them their damn jackets and… the choreo doesn't stand yet… because like nothing does and I am sure not to get a solo so … I could still skip. Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. That's more import…"

He was interrupted by an insistent but not loud Kurt! from the other side of the line and shut up immediately.

"It's okay, Kurt. It really is." Blaine sounded calm but Kurt thought he could hear a slight hint of well hidden disappointment.

"I will manage without you. I think I'd do better with help but I'm not going to fail. You can always make it up next time?"

"Sure." Kurt mumbled before Blaine continued.

"And I wouldn't want you to skip for me anyway."

"You skipped for me today." Kurt argued and Blaine laughed.

"Yes. And it was the right thing to do, Kurt, because you needed me."

"Yeah… but…" Kurt tried to dispute but Blaine just continued.

"Anyway. What do you say to meeting me after glee then? I guess I can lay off my family until like six so we still would have like an hour if you met me at five?" Blaine sounded hopeful and Kurt was happy to be able to say yes wholeheartedly.

"Great and we could talk Thursday night so we can go over anything I need to remember last minute?"

"Of course, Blaine. I'd love to do that."

"Thank you, Kurt. And I guess I'll let you get back to your work then. It's already close to half past ten and I can hear those jackets calling for you all the way to Westerville."

Kurt groaned.

"Yeah. Yes, you're right. Really don't want to but got to. I think I need coffee."

"Nothing better for late nights. Courage, Kurt! See you tomorrow."

"See you, Blaine." And with that the phone call disconnected and Kurt slumped down on the bed, until his sewing machine caught his eye and with a deep sigh Kurt got back up to finish his work.

When he went to school the next day, Kurt felt tired but achieved.

He had stayed up half the night to finish the jackets. The boys had met up during study hall and the jackets had all fit flawlessly. Also, being used to work under pressure really did help when they went to coordinate their voices, everyone already knowing their parts.

As they had been singing together and harmonizing for over a year now, their voices melted together and Mike seemed to be so hyped because his lack of sleep that he powered them all trough a down as they started the choreography.

He even suggested to skip classes till lunch as to get their number ready and everyone was happy to agree on that… to either catch half an hour of sleep or perfect their moves.

As the lunch bell rang Finn called them all to circle up.

"Okay guys. This was good. After final period we have half an hour with the band until Beiste comes and we have to bring it hard. Guess we should dunno… say something so she knows that we're really doing this for her. We'll just wing it."

Kurt had to roll his eyes. That would surely be a good speech.

"I think we all did a good job here and we'll be awesome later. Hands in the middle."

They filed out of the room after doing their show circle, leaving the room to head to lunch.

Kurt stayed behind and made sure that the jackets and bowties would be in place for later.

He sighed deeply. Normally performing made him forget about everything but even now he was thinking about Blaine. He really tried to distract himself but even if he did after one or two minutes he would end up thinking I wonder if Blaine likes it or I'd really like to know what Blaine thinks about that and he would have to shake himself to stop.

Kurt walked to his locker, still mulling over what he was planning to do, fidgeting with a folder he had put together when he had needed a break the previous night.

He opened his locker and looked at what was inside, the pictures and little items. They all showed parts of his life but as he looked at all of it, it didn't feel right anymore.

It wasn't complete. Everything that had happened over the last week was important. It seemed huge and Kurt felt different because of it.

And still… was he being creepy?

He pulled out the photo he had printed last night. It was a photo of Blaine, his Facebook profile picture to be precise, as he didn't have any other source.

It might not be the best picture but it was the only clear shot available to Kurt… yet.

With a huff Kurt pushed his worries to the back of his mind and began to rearrange his locker.

Ten minutes later he was done with his work.

He had put up the picture of Blaine with a magnet frame. The word courage, spelled in letters from magazines, was pinned below it.

Kurt smiled while looking at it. Blaine's picture and this word in his locker were like a private reminder to be strong and keep fighting. Like a part of Blaine was there with him, looking over him.

A warm feeling spread through Kurt's body as he marveled in the thought, his eyes unfocusing as he stared dreamily at the photo.

Suddenly he fell forward, against his open locker, as something hit him hard from behind. He slid down as the force of the impact made him lose his balance.

The pain came second to the fear as he looked up and saw Karofsky staring at him as if he dared him to say something, showing Kurt that absolutely nothing had changed. Then the jock simply turned and walked away, Kurt staring after him.

No one else looked. They didn't look at Karofsky. They didn't look at Kurt, crouched down on the floor. In this moment, even Blaine's image hanging over him didn't help. He just pulled his knees closer to him and stayed on the floor, asking himself why with every good thing in his life the bad things had to increase tenfold and why nobody even bothered to notice.

Kurt's mind was fogged. He just went to class and took notes and seemed to listen but his thoughts were far away.

Inside his head, he was running circles; thinking about Karofsky and Blaine; about closeted jocks and forced kisses; about dreamboat private school boys and warm eyes.

He was surprised when the final bell rang.

The boy walked to the choir room on auto pilot, his feet knowing the way while his mind stayed with things and problems far away.

It was when Sam asked him to help him tie his bowtie that he snapped out of it.

Smiling at Sam, he helped him and as soon as the music started and rehearsal began he could let go, focusing on the task at hand, getting lost in the music and choreography.

Time passed in a blur and soon the 30 minutes were up and first Mr. Schue, then the girls and at last Beiste came to join them.

Beiste didn't seem too thrilled to be there but at least she had come and was still dressed as a coach. Kurt took that as a good sign for their task. He knew they'd be good. Maybe not as perfect as the girls but considering their preparation time they would be pretty darn fantastic.

As he had imagined, first Finn, then Sam, Puck and even Artie attempted an apology. At first he had to roll his eyes but then he just had to bite back a grin. He had to remind himself that they were trying to be nice and honest but honestly, "nougatty" really?

The music kicked in and Kurt gave it his all.

They sounded brilliant and even Finn managed to move his feet in the right direction.

Some of them might have missteped once or twice (Kurt knew that he had moved his wrong hand once, but that had been his only mistake) but Mike pulled them all out, while Puck's, Artie's, Sam's and Finn's solos sounded amazing.

Kurt enjoyed it. As lack of time they had decided to improvise a little and as he started to give Mercedes a lap dance he had a hard time to stop himself from laughing in order to sing.

Mr. Schue was smiling too and even though Beiste didn't look as happy, she seemed to get into it as the song continued.

When they were close to the end they surrounded her, finishing in formation around her.

The girls cheered. Kurt grinned. They had been awesome.

"Really good. I liked it." Beiste said now. Kurt's grin good wider, while the tense look on the footballers' faces faded away.

Coach Beiste got up, looking at all the boys. "Thank you."

Quickly, all the boys moved in, hugging their coach. They had been successful.

Kurt shared a broad smile with Mercedes, feeling the thrill of performing and his heart warm at the scene before him.

Half an hour later Kurt pushed open the door to the Lima Bean.

He was still high on their success from earlier and his spirits were lifted even higher when he saw a certain, handsome, dark haired boy crouched over a stack of papers.

He looked desperate, three cups of coffee standing in front of him.

Kurt went to the counter to get his own fix of caffeine. He eyed the display of muffins and biscotti and on impulse bought two muffins.

He walked to Blaine at his table, his grin growing as he noticed how the boy was mindlessly messing up his neatly gelled hair in his neck.

"Mind if I sit here?" Kurt asked as he stood directly in front of Blaine.

Blaine froze in his action, before looking up wide eyed.

"Kurt! Is it already that late? I didn't see you coming in. Sure. Please take a seat."

Kurt nodded and smiled as he sat down.

"So not too much luck up till now?" Blaine groaned.

"No. Not at all. It's hopeless."

"I will be the judge of that. Here have some sugar and chocolate." He pushed over the chocolate chip muffin before eyeing the empty coffee cups. "Though maybe you are hyped enough…?"

"Yeah. I need coffee. A lot of coffee. But I guess something sweet is exactly what I need now. Thank you, Kurt." Blaine gave him a warm smile. Not toothy and wide, but sweet and utterly thankful. He was beautiful.

Kurt felt his heart skip a beat and a blush rising up his cheeks.

"Y-yeah. No problem. No problem at all." Blaine was unwrapping the muffin and Kurt knew he was staring.

"French." He reminded himself and shook his head lightly. "Okay Blaine. You eat. I look at your French assignments and then we'll work this stuff out."

Blaine handed him some papers and Kurt started to go through them.

Kurt looked up at Blaine from under his eyelashes and watched how Blaine tore his muffin into small edible pieces before carefully putting one into his mouth. It was the cutest thing Kurt had ever seen.

When Blaine caught him staring, he smiled again and Kurt quickly averted his eyes, his cheeks turning pink as he tried to focus on the paper in front of him.

In this moment Kurt was happy.