Blaine pouted. "It's not that funny."

"Yeah it was, man. Especially when she started crying over you being left behind as one of his rejects," Finn added.

"You're hardly one to talk, Finn. Apparently he believed in Santa until the fifth grade." Kurt drawled, making Mercedes laugh loudly.

"Dude, come on, I told you that in the confidence of brotherhood!"

"First of all, no calling me dude. Second, everyone knew you still believed in him then. You're just lucky that Brittany still believes in him because otherwise we'd be mocking you ruthlessly."

"Who's Ruth?"

Blaine was about to correct Finn and define the word for him, but then Tina exclaimed, "Oh my god, Artie!"

Everyone in the choir room quieted. Blaine gasped at the sight of Artie rolling into the room covered in slushie from head to toe, shivering.

"It was awful," Artie said with wide eyes as Brittany jumped from her seat to get to her boyfriend.

"That's it. Screw rehearsal! This ends here and now!" Finn exploded, storming out of the room with Puck and every other football player in the glee club following him.

Before they could leave the room, however, the rest of the football team started pouring in. "So this is what the ladies' lounge looks like on the inside."

Blaine froze in his chair, staring the hulking players with wariness. Yes, he had seen them everyday for the last few months, but it was always in passing in the hallways or in classrooms with teachers. This felt different – they were alone and the football players looked ready to pick a fight.

He couldn't even feel Kurt's hand squeezing his until Kurt nudged Blaine, eyes full of concern.

Blaine tried to smile back, but he didn't feel any relief until Coach Beiste and Mr. Schue came into the room, telling everyone that the football team would be temporary members of New Directions.

Every person protested in some form or another, but all that Blaine could do was stare at Karofsky, wishing that he would leave the room; wishing that he would leave the school.

"Glee club has our backs," Kurt whispered in Blaine's ear. "Besides, they need to be nice if they want to play in the final match."

Blaine chuckled. "Championship game. Matches are in tennis."

Kurt scoffed. "Whatever. I don't have to know it."

"Kurt, Finn, weren't you guys talking about singing a duet?" Mr. Schue asked, nodding at them.

Finn and Kurt looked at each other with smiles and nodded, walking down the stairs to stand in the front of the room. Puck joined them with a guitar and they sang "Brothers and Sisters" by Coldplay. Hearing them together was always a pleasure for Blaine, even if it did make him feel a twinge of jealousy – having a sibling must seem nice; it would certainly be less lonely, that was for sure.

Once the song was over, all the members of New Directions cheered, Blaine grinning from ear to ear. But then Azimio said, "The girl had a really nice voice," directing it toward Kurt.

Blaine dropped his hands to his lap and curled them into tight fists, glaring at Azimio, who was still talking, only now he was refusing to wear anything with “sequeens”.

Then Puck tried to charge at Azimio with the guitar as if it were a baseball bat, causing everyone to spring into action. Everyone was yelling, especially Rachel, who was being restrained from attacking.

Blaine jumped down to the mob to see if he could do anything to stop the fighting. He found Kurt by the piano, his eyes wide with shock more than anything. Desperate for the chaos to stop, Blaine ended up snatching Puck's guitar from his tight grip.

Puck stopped trying to get out of Coach Beiste's hold so he could glare at Blaine. "What the hell, dude? He just insulted your man!"

Blaine used the guitar as a shield. "You'll thank me later!"

It took Mr. Schue and Coach Beiste over fifteen minutes to dismiss glee club, but even long after that, Blaine's heart continued to palpitate. He really, really didn't like the idea of sharing glee club with Kurt's tormentor.

~**~

"Hey, Blaine! Kurt's still getting ready, but you can chill on the couch," Finn greeted him, stepping aside.

Blaine walked into the house to find Burt sitting on the couch watching TV. "Finn, come back, I think they're gonna go for it," Burt said urgently, eyes glued to the screen.

Finn rushed over, collapsing on the couch next to Finn. Blaine shut the door behind him and glanced over at the program, seeing it to be basketball, which he wasn't very familiar with.

"You watch?" Burt asked, still keeping his eyes on the screen.

"Uh, no, I'm really more into football. Tomorrow night is exciting – playoffs," Blaine answered.

"Yeah, the Colts game should be good."

"Burt!" Finn hissed

Burt and Finn tensed, gripping each other's hands as they stared at the TV with open mouths and wide eyes. Blaine glanced at the TV again, watching as someone stuck their arm out and stopped the shot, causing Burt and Finn to curse as the ball traveled to the other end of the court.

Soon after the buzzer went off, signaling the end of the game, judging by the groans and moans of frustration coming from Finn and Burt.

"He had the shot," Finn whined, gesturing toward the TV.

"I know," Burt said, shaking his head.

Blaine looked up at the staircase, wondering where the heck his boyfriend was. He was probably hiding in his room, waiting for the game to be over.

"I'll go get him," Burt announced, taking his time lifting himself off the couch. "He tends to be conspicuously absent when sports are on."

Blaine grinned. Before Burt walked passed Blaine, he patted him on the shoulder twice without looking at him, which made him feel dizzy with pure happiness, as crazy as that sounded.

"Oh, Blaine," Finn stage-whispered, waving Blaine over as he slid down to Burt's side of the couch to give Blaine room.

Blaine got to his feet slowly and sat down, confused.

"So, Puck and I totally made up a seating chart for next week with the football team in Glee Club," Finn explained. "Basically, you and Kurt will like, sit at the very edge, near the instruments and stuff, and then Puck, me, Mike, and Sam will surround you."

"But…what about the girls?"

Finn's face fell. "Well, I mean…they wouldn't hit girls…" he said, not sounding very convincing.

Blaine sighed, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "Thank you, Finn, for trying to protect us, but Coach Beiste and Mr. Schue will be in the choir room, so I doubt they'd let any of them hurt us."

Finn nodded, his brow furrowed. "Right. Yeah. But, basically, we have your back."

Blaine smiled. "I know."

"Sorry, Blaine, you know how much I hate basketball. And then I ended up changing my outfit, and –" Kurt babbled from the staircase, walking down with Burt close behind him.

"You look great."

Kurt's eyes lit up. "I know."

They smiled at each other for a moment before Burt coughed. Blaine flushed but offered his arm to Kurt, who rolled eyes, accepting it anyway.

~**~

Kurt was applying Blaine’s zombie makeup, and Blaine was pretty sure he was driving Kurt nuts. “Will you hold still!” Kurt scolded. Mr. Schue and Coach Beiste had decided they would be the halftime entertainment at the football game, and it involved costumes and stage makeup – two things Blaine knew Kurt was thrilled about.

“Sorry,” Blaine apologized. “The brush tickles.” The rest of New Directions, including the members of the football team, was spread about backstage, all of them in various stages of make up application. Everyone seemed to be getting along and having a good time, but Blaine wasn’t holding his breath.

The glee club and the football team could never work together, and everyone knew it.

"This is so gay." Azimio glared into the mirror. Kurt met Blaine’s gaze and sighed.

"Yeah, cause slapping guys on the butt after scoring is so straight," Kurt muttered. "And don't even get me started on the uniform." Blaine laughed. He couldn’t help it.

"Laugh again, homo, and I'll smash your face in!" Karofsky shouted, prompting an outcry from the rest of New Directions. Blaine shrank back, memories from a certain Sadie Hawkins dance washing over him.

“Are you okay?” Kurt asked once Mr. Schue and Coach Beiste had come in and calmed everyone down (Coach Beiste had had to blow her whistle before everyone had stopped shouting).

“Fine,” Blaine answered, but from the frown on Kurt’s face, he knew he hadn’t convinced his boyfriend.

~**~

“Mr. Schue?”

“Yes, Blaine?” Mr. Schue turned around to face him. Blaine stood in the middle of the stage, the auditorium now empty. He bit his lip as he considered what he would say next.

“I heard what you said…to Karofsky after the performance,” Blaine replied. He and the rest of the New Directions boys plus the football team had just done an amazing rendition of “She’s Not There” by the Zombies. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I just…”

“It’s okay, Blaine,” Mr. Schue put a hand on Blaine’s shoulder.

“No, it’s not,” Blaine told him. “I don’t think Karofsky joining glee is a good idea.”

“The other’s weren’t that accepting of you at first, but now you all get along fine,” Mr. Schue answered. “It just takes time.”

“Yes, if Karofsky would be willing to change,” Blaine agreed. “But he’s not. He’s still horrible to me, and to Kurt.” Mr. Schue frowned.

“I won’t turn anyone who expresses an interest in glee club away, Blaine,” he finally said. “If Dave does decide to join us, we’ll just have to figure out how to work together.” Mr. Schue smiled at him. “Good work today.” He turned and walked off backstage, leaving Blaine to stare after him.

~**~

Blaine headed into the locker room to wash off his zombie make up, only to find the room filled with shouting.

Figures. He edged his way into the room, to find several of the non-glee members of the football team standing under the showers washing what looked like slushie off their faces.

“What the hell?” Blaine uttered, stopping next to Kurt.

“The hockey team,” Kurt answered.

“Well now, that’s…” Blaine tried not to gloat, but it was about damn time the football players knew about the horror of being slushied.

“It burns!” Karofsky was shouting.

“It’ll stop in a minute,” Kurt casually informed him as he examined his manicure, missing the glare that Karofsky directed his way. Blaine saw it though, and gritted his teeth.

“You do this to people every damn day,” Blaine couldn’t stop himself from saying. “Maybe now that you know what it feels like, you’ll stop.”

“Forget this!” Azimio was hollering now. “I’m done with this.”

“Done?” Finn asked.

“As in, I quit.” Azimio clarified. “Who’s with me?” Cheers arose from the rest of the players not in New Directions.

“But if you quit, then you can’t play in the game. You’ll be off the team,” Sam tried to reason with them.

“Then I guess we’re off the team,” Karofsky snapped.

~**~

“This is crazy.” Mercedes grabbed her coffee cup from the outstretched hand of the barista behind the counter. Blaine looked around the lobby of the Lima Bean, spotting a shaker of cinnamon and picking it up on their way to the table.

“They just all walked out?” Rachel asked.

“Yep,” Blaine said, sitting next to Kurt, close enough that their shoulders brushed. Maybe they couldn’t hold hands or whatever for fear of what someone might say, but damn if Blaine wasn’t going to sit as close to Kurt as possible. Blaine took a sip of his coffee, then dunked his biscotti into it.

“What are we going to do?” Mercedes wanted to know.

“I don’t know.” Kurt took a sip of his drink. “Finn was so upset, not even a glass of warm milk and one of our lady chats was able to cheer him up.”

“Warm milk, really?” Blaine glanced at him with a teasing smile. Kurt lifted his chin.

“It’s delicious.”

“See, if Finn and I were still together, I think I could really make him feel a lot better, you know?” Rachel pointed out.

“Let it go, Rachel,” Kurt cut her off. They made small talk until the girls left, and finally Blaine was alone with Kurt. After a moment, he felt Kurt’s hand come to rest on his thigh. It was the first time he’d ever done that, and Blaine stiffened up, glancing around the lobby quickly before relaxing. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been kind of off all week.”

“I –“

“You can tell me anything, you know that right?” Kurt looked concerned.

“I know,” Blaine murmured. “I’ve just been…thinking…about my old school.”

“About Dalton?”

“No…the school I went to before Dalton,” Blaine sighed. “The one I ran from.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?” Blaine could feel Kurt’s eyes on him, but he couldn’t bring himself to meet Kurt’s gaze.

“Most of the bullying wasn’t terrible – name calling, the occasional spit wad in my hair, being tripped or shoved…” Blaine smiled sadly. “We didn’t have a slushie machine.”

Kurt, who had been frowning, cracked a slight smile. “What changed?” he asked softly.

“I went with a friend of mine, the only other gay guy in the school, to a Sadie Hawkins dance,” Blaine answered. “I had just come out and…” He paused. “These three guys, football players, jumped us after the dance was over.” He almost didn’t register Kurt’s inhalation of shock. “We were waiting for his dad, just standing there, not doing anything – we weren’t even touching! – and they just…beat the crap out of us.”

“Oh, Blaine,” Kurt whispered, raising his hand from Blaine’s thigh to stroke Blaine’s cheek gently. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Blaine finally said. “I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not, Blaine,” Kurt insisted. “What you did, going to Dalton…that wasn’t running away. It wasn’t cowardice.”

“Then what was it?” Blaine finally stared into Kurt’s eyes.

“Survival.”

~**~

When Blaine entered the choir room the next day, it was pretty morose. The girls on the Cheerios were being forced to choose between glee and cheerleading thanks to an edict from Coach Sylvester, and the guys on the football team were depressed because they didn’t even have enough players to play the championship game.

“This sucks,” Finn muttered. “Coach had open tryouts this morning, and no one showed up.”

“You know, Finn, high school regulations let you play a few guys short – you really only need about five more players,” Blaine pointed out.

“Dude, really?” Finn looked up at him, excited.

“Where are we going to get five more players?” Puck asked, and then every head in the room swiveled to stare at him and Kurt.

Oh, crap.

~**~

“This is kind of surreal,” Blaine said as they stood on the sidelines. The crowd was cheering behind them, and Kurt was waving to his dad. Blaine saw the Hummels in the stands, and sighed. He’d told his parents he’d be playing – well, sort of – tonight, and while they’d been surprised and even wished him well, they weren’t there to watch.

He still couldn’t believe he was about to go out play football. He eyed a couple of the girls – Tina and Rachel, specifically. They had also joined the team, along with Lauren – but Blaine really wasn’t worried about her.

“You ready for this?” Kurt asked him. Blaine took a deep breath and nodded.

Nope. Not at all.

~**~

“We suck,” Blaine gasped. “We really, really suck.” He’d been knocked flat on his back more times than he could count, and every part of his body ached.

“We don’t have time to worry about that now.” Kurt panted beside him. “We gotta go change.”

Blaine labored behind him as they ran inside to the locker room. The former members of the football team were in there, and were currently being yelled at by Puck.

Miracle of miracles, Puck somehow convinced them all to join in the half-time number, and to play the rest of the game – except for Karofsky. It shouldn’t have, but that kind of made Blaine happy. They found out Finn had wrangled Quinn, Santana and Brittany (saving the poor girl from being shot out of a canon by Coach Sylvester, something Blaine couldn’t believe was legal) when they ran out onto the field to take their places. Blaine bounced excitedly on the darkened field.

This was going to be awesome. They were singing a mash up of “Heads Will Roll/Thriller” and Blaine was over the moon about it. Dalton never went to such extremes for performances, and Blaine understood now why Kurt loved performing with New Directions so much.

The song started, and Blaine glanced at Kurt, who looked like he was having the time of his life. His attention was pulled away though, by the arrival of Karofsky, who joined them in the middle of the song. Kurt saw him too, and they exchanged a glance.

The song drew to a close and Blaine was startled when Finn hugged Karofsky in celebration.

“Finn, really?” Kurt stalked over to them. “You’re really hugging him?”

“Guys, now is not the time.” Blaine broke it up, seeing the matching hurt/shocked faces of Kurt and Finn, and the angry face of Karofsky.

The ref blew his whistle, and they scrambled off the field.

~**~

Blaine and Kurt followed behind the rest of the team as they tore into the locker room, whooping and cheering their win. He still wasn’t sure how’d they managed to pull it off, but they had. They were all excited. By earlier agreement, Kurt and Blaine disappeared into bathroom stalls to change, while the rest of the team headed for the showers. Blaine was sure Kurt was dying to shower (he was too), but neither of them wanted to run that gauntlet, so they’d elected ahead of time to just wash up and change, saving the shower for when they got home.

They met in front of Kurt’s gym locker, sharing Kurt’s mirror as the finished up. Finn was the first one out of the showers, joining them.

“Are you still mad at me?” Finn asked Kurt quietly.

“Yes.” Kurt’s answer was short and to the point, encapsulating his anger in his tone.

“But why?” Finn asked.

“Because!” Kurt snapped turning to face Finn. He didn’t seem to notice the rest of the guys trickling out of the showers now, but Blaine did. Either that or Kurt was too worked up to care. “You know what he did.”

“And he can’t earn forgiveness?” Finn shot back. “You forgave me, you forgave Puck.”

“Neither of you threatened to kill me.” Kurt replied. Blaine could see Karofsky now, hovering near them and the rest of the boys murmured quietly. They knew that Karofsky had done something to Kurt – after all, it had gotten Karofsky temporarily expelled - but they hadn’t known what.

“Kurt-"

“No, Finn,” Kurt said, and his voice cracked. That’s how Blaine knew he was more than angry – he was hurt. “Just no. You don’t know what he put me through.”

“That’s because you don’t tell anyone anything!” Finn shouted. “You just expect us all to know.”

“You have eyes, Finn.” Kurt hissed. “Use them.”

“Kurt-" Karofsky’s voice interrupted them. Every head turned to look at Karofsky. Some kind of realization seemed to wash over Kurt then, as he and Karofsky stood face to face in front of the lockers and Blaine could only imagine what was going through his head.

“What?” Kurt was wide eyed, maybe a little panicked. “What could you possibly have to say to me?”

“Guys, maybe we shouldn’t –“

“Stay out of it, Finn!” Kurt yelled.

“I’m sorry, Kurt.” Karofsky said quietly, and Kurt looked taken aback. Blaine was shocked himself.

“Sorry for what, exactly?” Kurt muttered. “I mean, you have so many things to choose from.” And then Kurt proceeded to list them off – locker slams, slushies, dumpster tosses, derogatory comments –

“I’m sorry for kissing you!” Karofsky finally shouted, and then he smacked a hand over his mouth. Kurt stared at him, gobsmacked. A pin could have dropped in the locker room, and it would have been like a bomb going off.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Coach Beiste’s angry snarl rang out. Voices rose up trying to explain things but it was too much noise. Blaine wasn’t sure who threw the first punch, but it suddenly was a free for all, and the sound of flesh pounding into flesh reverberated in his ears and it was like that night all over again – he was suddenly back to the night of the dance, terror gripping him. He cowered back against the lockers, covering his ears as if it would block out the noise.

“Stop it!!” he screamed, and miraculously, they did. Kurt pushed through the crowd of boys, coming to stand in front of Blaine.

“Blaine…” He met Kurt’s worried gaze.

“I’m sorry…I can’t…” With that Blaine took off out of the locker room, right as Azimio turned to Karofsky and asked accusingly “Why didn’t you tell me you were as queer as a three dollar bill?”

Blaine didn’t know where he was going, he just ran. Kurt’s voice echoed out behind him, calling his name, but Blaine didn’t stop.

Couldn’t stop.

~**~

Blaine was sitting in the auditorium doing scales on the piano when the doors on stage left opened. He quickly glanced at the doors, automatically trying to think of excuses for teachers, but then he realized it was Kurt walking across the stage like he was a runway model. Blaine looked back at the keys.

"I've been looking for you," Kurt said, his soft voice echoing in the auditorium.

"Sorry. I didn't want to make you worry," Blaine muttered, refusing to meet Kurt's gaze.

"Not talking to me all weekend already did that for me," Kurt retorted somewhat testily before sighing. "I'm sorry, I didn't –"

"No, uh, thank you. For giving me space."

Kurt slid onto the bench, leaving an inch or so between them. He began to play a slow version of "Chopsticks" in a lower key. Blaine joined in at one point, the entire song sounding depressing and morose.

"What happened, Blaine? You're going to have to talk about it someday," Kurt urged, dropping his hand from the piano.

Blaine wanted to tell Kurt. He thought about it all weekend and he knew he had to talk about everything, especially since this is what they did – their entire relationship was based on honesty and trust.

"Do you want to sing about it, maybe?"

Blaine sighed, wondering what song could possibly express everything that he was feeling. How could a three or four minute song describe almost ten years of life?

Then it hit him.

It had come up on his iTunes shuffle over the weekend and thinking over the lyrics, they could just work.

"Okay," Blaine agreed, straightening his back so he could ghost his hands over the keys.

"Should I –"

"No, no, stay."

Kurt nodded and waited for Blaine to start. First Blaine played with a few notes, trying to find the right key before he started singing.

"All day, staring at the ceiling making friends with shadows on my wall…" Blaine sung, focusing on his hands forming the right chords. He didn't look at Kurt until he sang "But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see a different side of me" – Kurt's eyes were too emotive for Blaine to focus on, but he kept glancing over.

By the time he finished, Kurt had tears running down his cheeks and Blaine was fighting back his own.

"Blaine," Kurt whispered, wiping his face dry.

Blaine shook his head. "I just…" He chewed on his bottom lip before speaking again. "Home is supposed to be this…safe haven, right? Like your house. But with mine…it's like I'm going into this hotel or I'm temporarily living with a host family or something. I don't…there's not anything there. My parents and I are strangers. I feel like they don't even care half the time, so I can't talk to them and I don't feel welcome at all and I can't tell them that I'm so, so scared about going to school and –" Blaine choked, slapping a hand over his mouth to stifle his sobs.

Kurt wrapped an arm around Blaine's waist and hugged him tightly, resting his chin on top of Blaine's head. He just held him for a minute or so, letting Blaine cry into his neck. When Blaine's sobs subsided, Kurt said, "My relationships with my dad and with Finn weren't always…as good as they are now."

Blaine leaned back to he could look at him properly. "What do you mean?"

Kurt kept his arm around Blaine, but he loosened his hold. "I didn't come out to my dad until I was a sophomore and before that…it was just. Quiet. It was like as you said…strangers living under one roof, continually haunted by my mother, who was the glue in the family."

Blaine waited as Kurt gathered his thoughts.

"But then it got good, once I told him. Or, at least better, anyway. We tried." Kurt closed his eyes and his hand tightened around Blaine's waist. "How Dad and Carole met was…born out of selfish desires," he finally admitted.

Blaine's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Kurt looked up, his eyes glassy. "I wanted to be closer to Finn and I thought that…it was just stupid. Really, really stupid."

It took Blaine a few seconds to work out that Kurt meant that he’d had a crush on Finn. Oh God. Finn Hudson, who was over six feet tall and played football and was one of the major soloists of New Directions.

Before Blaine could properly freak out, Kurt continued with, "But I kept…pushing him, when my dad offered they move in with us in our old house. And he just…he said all these things were 'faggy,' but my dad…" Kurt shook his head, as if trying to erase the memories.

"He actually –"

"Obviously we've gotten past it. But…I just wanted you to know that my family wasn't always picture perfect either."

Blaine didn't know what to think of that. Was Kurt trying to hint that Blaine needed to try to make things work with his parents? No, Kurt knew that Blaine had tried…but it had to go both ways; it wasn't solely his responsibility…

"Come to glee club," Kurt said gently, kissing Blaine on his temple, interrupting his train of thought.

Blaine bit his lip and shook his head once. "Not today."

He had never felt more ashamed.

Kurt rested his forehead where he kissed Blaine and said, "I love you," in a quiet, but clear voice before leaving him alone in the auditorium.

Now Blaine had never felt more ashamed.

~**~

Blaine wandered through the halls of McKinley, lost in thought. He supposed he should go to class but he couldn’t quite seem to make himself. He figured no one would care – no one at this damn school ever gave a damn about anyone…except for maybe Mr. Schue, and Coach Beiste. No matter how awkwardly they went about it, Blaine knew at least they cared.

McKinley did have some good things going for it. Blaine felt like he belonged here (finally), and there was Kurt, of course. There was always Kurt.

Blaine found himself in the locker room, blinking as he came out of his fog and took in his surroundings. He didn’t know why he’d come back here.

“You must be laughing your head off.” Blaine glanced up, startled by Karofsky’s voice. The jock was sitting on the bench in front of Blaine, staring at his locker.

Blaine followed his gaze and saw what Karofsky was looking at.

Someone had taken a black marker and scrawled Fag across the front of Karfosky’s locker.

“Hate is never funny,” Blaine finally replied, sitting down and staring at it too. Suddenly, Karofsky didn't seem so scary. He seemed like a messed up person. Blaine could relate.

“How do you do it?” Karofky asked, looking at him.

“Do what?”

“Be so comfortable with yourself.” He looked away. “You and Kurt, you’re so…”

“It didn’t happen overnight,” Blaine told him. “I just slowly realized that while I might be gay, that’s not all that I am,” he said, realization settling in as he realized what Kurt had been trying to tell him. “If I’m going to love myself, I have to love all of me.” He chuckled a little. “I’m still learning that. Kurt and I are not perfect.”

“Any advice?”

“It takes time,” Blaine replied. “And keep a change of clothes in your locker.” Karofsky actually laughed, and Blaine smiled. “Come on, I’ll help you clean this off.”

“Thanks,” Karofsky murmured.

“Anytime.” They set to work. “You know, being in glee is the only way I’ve found real acceptance,” Blaine said. “Once they stopped accusing me of spying, I realized that they’re pretty awesome.”

Karofsky snorted. “Being in glee is for losers.”

“Maybe,” Blaine allowed. “But being part of something special makes you special – and screw what everyone else thinks.”

He promised himself that he'd take his own advice.

~**~

“Guys, seriously. I’m okay; can we all just let it go?” Kurt asked, frustrated. From the moment glee rehearsal had started, the other members of the group had been asking Kurt if he was okay and “is Karofsky really gay?”

Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand as the topic turned back to song selection, and Rachel got up to start singing.

Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ohhh...

Won't you come see about me?
I'll be alone, dancing you know it, baby

Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out and
Love's strange so real in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on

Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, baby

She flashed Blaine a grin and then tugged him out of his chair, down with her, and he joined in on the chorus.

Don't you forget about me
Don't, Don't, Don't, Don't
Don't you forget about me

Will you stand above me?
Look my way, never love me
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
down, down, down

Will you recognize me?
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
down, down, down, down

Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ohhhh.....

He took over signing, and he grabbed her hand, spinning her around. Everyone else was dancing in their chairs and signing along.

Don't you try to pretend
It's my feeling we'll win in the end
I won't harm you or touch your defenses
Vanity and security

Don't you forget about me
I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby
Going to take you apart
I'll put us back together at heart, baby

They sang together, everyone getting up and joining them, dancing around. He made his way over to Kurt, taking his hand as they danced together.

Don't you forget about me
Don't, Don't, Don't, Don't
Don't you forget about me

As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
When you walk away

Or will you walk away?
Will you walk on by?
Come on - call my name
Will you call my name?

I say :
La la la...

The song drew to a close, and Blaine looked around at all the happy, smiling faces: Rachel, the best frenemy he could ask for. The guys on the football team – good friends, and people who would watch out for him. Santana, who was well on her way to being one of his best friends…and Kurt, the love of his life.

Maybe McKinley wasn’t the idyllic atmosphere of Dalton, and sure things were harder here, but Blaine wouldn’t have it any other way.