The drive home was quiet. Blaine didn’t say anything, and neither did his father. When they arrived back home, Blaine’s mother wasn’t home, and he figured they would go their separate ways – Blaine to his room and his father to his study – and they would be done with the matter.

Blaine was just about to head to the stairs when his father said, “Blaine, come on into in the kitchen.”

“Oh. O-okay.” Blaine stammered, and he made his way back to the kitchen and sat himself down in one of the dining chairs. He began to mentally prepare himself for the lecture he was about to get about being foolish and running around wasting his time with a boy.

His mother had been great about showing support for his relationship, but his father had remained distant. But Blaine remembered how his father had asked him if he was okay when they were back at school, and how he had talked to Kurt like it was nothing.

Blaine’s father sat down in the chair next to him, “Okay Blaine, we should talk.”

Blaine lowered his gaze, “Yes sir.”

He could hear his father sigh, as if in frustration. Figures. He has a right to be frustrated with his disappointing son.

“Blaine, listen to me, and listen to me good. I do not care that you have a boyfriend.”

Blaine’s head snapped up to stare in bewilderment at his father.

“Well, I do care, but only because you are in a relationship which is a big deal, but the fact that it is with a boy is fine. I know I have been a bit distant lately, but it is not because I am ashamed, or disappointed or anything like that… It’s that I do not know how to show my support for you. Today was a bit easier because I could show you with my actions, but when we are just around the house, I am not sure what to do…”

Blaine couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His mother had said that she and his father had been trying to be better about showing him support, but Blaine had just figured that his mother was the only one that was actually trying to change… Maybe he should start listening to his mother more.

“I know nothing has changed for you, but this is a big change for me and your mother. We are both just working to adjust, okay?”

Blaine continued to stare, in astonishment, for a few silent moments, before he felt himself standing and crossing the space between them to hug his dad.

He could feel his father’s arms around him, returning the hug, and Blaine felt worry and anxiety pouring out of his body with the embrace.

“Thank you…” was all he could say.

His father nodded, and Blaine sat back in his chair.

“We do still have to talk about what happened today though.”

And just like that, the worry was back. Not because he was afraid of getting in trouble, he knew they hadn’t done anything wrong, and he now knew his father was on his side, but because he still knew that people were upset. They were in a bad situation, and he could not help but worry about what the fallout over all of this would be. Secrets about the past were bound to come out sooner or later, and he was not looking forward to it.

“So, tell me about how you met Kurt. While I am fine with you dating him, I have to admit that you two look like an unlikely couple.”

Great. It was gonna be the conversation with Cooper all over again. He would be sure to leave out the word “gang” this time.

Blaine told his father about how he and Kurt had met and had gotten to know each other, and how they eventually started dating. His father then asked about what had happened with Karofsky earlier, and Blaine told him, but that let to questions about whether this was the first time something like this had happened. Blaine was honest, and told him about the fight that had taken place in the parking lot.

His father sighed. “Blaine… why didn’t you say anything? You could have told me or your mother.”

Blaine got nervous, he didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “I—I didn’t say anything because Kurt asked me not to.”

“What? Why not?”

“I… I had asked him about maybe telling his father or a teacher at school but—“

“Yes, that would have been the responsible thing to do,” his father cut him off. “If you had gone to an adult this might not have happened, we could have nipped it in the bud and—“

“Dad! You don’t think I know that? I didn’t want this to go any further either but Kurt asked me not to and he trusts me and I could not just go back on my word!”

Blaine was breathing a little heavy after he had yelled. He had never raised his voice at his father before, and it had made him feel a little uneasy. It wasn’t that he was mad at his father particularly, it was more that he was frustrated with this situation. Everybody else thought they knew how to the best handle the problem, but they were not the ones that were in the middle of it. He and Kurt were. He knew people were just trying to help, but how could they, when they didn’t know the whole story? And he couldn’t tell the whole story. He was stuck, and he didn’t know what to do.

But things had changed. More people had become involved because Karofsky had been caught in action. So things had changed, and the situation was not the same anymore. If things were going to change, and hopefully for the better, then something was going to have to give. Blaine just didn’t know what that something was going to be.

“I’m sorry,” Blaine said. “I didn’t meant to raise my voice. I am just upset.”

Blaine was staring at the ground, but when he felt his dad lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, he looked up at him.

“It’s okay, son. I don’t mean to pry, but I am just trying to figure out everything I can about what is going on so that I can maybe get the school to do something about it.”

Blaine doubted that would happen. Kurt had gone to teachers before, and nothing had happened. But… things had changed.

“What—Can I… Can I ask what you all talked about in the principal’s office?”

Blaine’s father sat back in his seat. “Of course.”

~*~*~

Mr. Anderson stormed into Principal Figgins’ office after he had glanced at Blaine and his boyfriend to make sure they didn’t look took too bad. But he only spared a glance because he could not wait much longer to go into the office. He was livid.

He had gotten a call from the school when he had been on his way home from work early, and they had told him that Blaine had “gotten into an altercation with another student”. He had to turn around and go to the school. Mr. Anderson knew his son. He was not the type to get into fights, he had always been a polite well-behaved young man. There had to be some other explanation.

And then it hit him.

Bullying.

He really hoped that was not the case, the guilt might eat him alive, but the more he thought about it as he drove, the more likely the situation seemed. By the time he arrived at the school he was furious. At the school, at the world, at himself.

If he had not insisted that Blaine transfer to this school this might never have happened. But he would worry about that later.

When Mr. Anderson walked into the office and saw Blaine and his boyfriend sitting together, his suspicions were all but cemented in his head.

He stormed into the office and could keep his anger in any longer.

“What the hell is going on here!?” He yelled as he entered the office.

“Ah, Mr. Anderson. Thank you for coming. Would you like a seat?” Principal Figgins motioned to a chair nearby.

“I’d like to stand thank you.” His polite words had no kindness behind them. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now.

“Very well. We had to call you in today, sir, because one of our staff members caught your son and one of his friends having an altercation with Mr. David Karofsky here.” Figgins motioned to the other boy sitting in the office, who at least had the decency to look somewhat sheepish.

Mr. Anderson turned back to Figgins, “I doubt that is actually what happened. My son does not get into fights.”

“Well, Mr. Anderson, it seems to be your son’s word against David’s, and so he have no way to settle this.”

“Are you kidding me?! What about the fact that he was there too?” Mr. Anderson said, pointing out at the boy sitting next to his son.

“Mr. Hummel has not proven himself to be a very reliable source, given his past track record of skipping classes and consistently being in detention, along with your son,” Figgins replied.

Mr. Anderson chose to ignore those last few remarks for the time being. He had more important matters to attend to. “What about the teacher who saw everything?”

“He has been dismissed for the day, and what he saw can be matched up by both David’s and your son’s stories.” Figgins replied calmly.

Mr. Anderson had to take a deep breath before he spoke again. “So, you are telling me,” he continued, trying to keep his composure, “that even though you have three witnesses that testify that this boy,” he said motioning to David, “was harassing those two boys out there,” he motioned to the two outside, “that you are discounting all of their accounts because one skips classes, and the other two can be discounted because of whatever tales this other boy makes up?” he had spoken slowly as if he had been taking to a small child.

“That is right Mr. Anderson.”

“THAT IS UTTER NONSENSE AND THIS IS A COMPLETE ABOMINATION!”

Mr. Anderson had not noticed the door opening behind him in the middle of his tirade, but then there was another man standing next to him.

Figgins turned to the new man as if Mr. Anderson had not just been yelling at him.

“Ah, Congressman Hummel. Thank you for coming in.”

Mr. Anderson turned to him and stuck out his hand. “Hello, sir. I am Johnathan Anderson, Blaine’s father. It seems that our sons are dating,” he said briskly. He had no ill will against Mr. Hummel, but the situation under which they were meeting was not ideal.

Mr. Hummel shook his hand and chuckled. “It would appear so. It is nice to meet you.”

He turned back to Figgins once the introductions had ended.

“So, what happened here?” Mr. Hummel asked, far calmer than Mr. Anderson was.

Figgins explained everything again including both sides of the story, and after Mr. Anderson heard David’s side of the story again it seemed even more ridiculous than it had the first time.

“And so you see, Mr. Hummel, we are at a stand-still here. It is one story against another.”

“Aw, come on now, Figgins. You, and I, and everyone else in this room know that, that is not the case here.” Mr. Hummel said after the recount had been finished.

“Yes, I am afraid it is, and as such there is nothing I can do.”

“YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.” Mr. Anderson could not hold his tongue anymore. “You are not going to do anything about this?! You are just going to let him off scot-free so that he can just do the same thing all over again?”

“He is right Figgins,” Mr. Hummmel added. “If you let this go you know you will get in a whole heap of trouble. You have three witnesses and something like this cannot be pushed under the rug. Who knows how long this has been going on before they got caught?”

The more people talked, the further David sunk into his seat.

“Well what do you suppose we do?” Figgins asked, obviously becoming frustrated himself with not being able to control the situation.

“He needs to be expelled.” Mr. Anderson said without hesitation.

“Now, Mr. Anderson—“

“No! This sort of thing should not be taken lightly, and if you will not take care of it, then I will go to the school board. My son should not have to fear going to school because he might be bullied!”

Mr. Hummel nodded in agreement next to him.

“I am sorry gentlemen. My hands are tied here.”

Mr. Anderson stood there for a few moments staring at Figgins unwaveringly. When it didn’t look like Figgins was about to change his mind, Mr. Anderson turned on his heal and strode toward the exit. He opened the door to exit, and standing in the doorway he turned back for one final comment: “This is completely ridiculous, and I will not stand for it.”

And with that, he slammed the door behind him.

~*~*~

Blaine sat in silence while he listened to the story, and now that it was over, he didn’t know what to say.

But he didn't have to.

"Look, Blaine, I meant what I said, if I have to go to the school board to make sure that school is safe for you again, then I will."

Blaine waited a bit to let all of this new information sink in.

"Dad I... It means so much to me that you fought for me like that, but I don't think getting David Karofsky expelled is going to make the school all better. Yes, it may help, but things are always going to be like this. There is always going to be prejudice in the world. Even if Karofsky left, there will probably be others that are just like him. It just seems like a lot of hassle for not much reward."

Blaine's father shook his head, "You are not a hassle Blaine."

Blaine dipped his head, "You know what I mean."

His father was quiet for another few moments.

"I understand that this will not fix everything, but Blaine, this cannot be ignored. This kid attacked you guys. That kind of behavior cannot, and should not slide."

Blaine's eyes were trained on the grain of the table. "Right..."

"Listen, Blaine, I think that... I will have to discuss it with your mother, but I think maybe you should transfer back to Dalton."

Blaine's head snapped up quickly and he was already shaking his head no. He couldn't leave McKinley. Kurt was at McKinley.

"Now, don't say no right away, Blaine. Hear me out. It is our job as your parents to make sure you are safe, whether that means going to the school board to make sure that kid can never hurt you again, or whether it means moving you to a place that we know is safe. The choice between the two is yours, but we cannot just sit back and pretend this never happened."

Blaine was speechless. He could not think of anything to say because he felt completely stuck. Like someone has pushed the ‘pause’ button on his ability to think through things rationally, and he just couldn't manage to press ‘play’.

His father sighed, "I know you might not like this, but just take some time to think about it, okay?"

Blaine could only nod.

"Okay, well... why don't you go to your room for a bit. I will have to tell your mother about all of this and I doubt you want her fussing over you the whole time, right?"

Blaine chuckled a bit as he stood, but it was halfhearted. Everything he seemed to know had been turned on its head within a matter of hours, and he felt a bit disoriented. He just didn't know what to do about anything anymore. But there was one thing that he was still certain about.

Kurt.

He called him once he got to his room, but Kurt didn't pick up.

Maybe he is having his own conversation with his father, Blaine thought. But all Blaine wanted to do was talk to him. Even just to hear his voice—

Call me when you can. Blaine texted, instead of calling again like he actually wanted to.

He laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling for hours. Even when he heard his mother come home, and he could hear the muffled voices of his parents downstairs talking, he didn't move. Too many thoughts were running through his head.

Should he go back to Dalton? He couldn't. Kurt was at McKinley.

 But what about Karofsky? They could face him together.

But what if they couldn't? What might Karofsky do next time?

He really wanted to talk to Kurt.

What felt like minutes, but was probably hours later, his mother gently knocked on his door before coming in. She sat on the edge of his bed next to where he was laying.

"Are you okay, honey?" She asked, brushing his hair back.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"I've made some dinner."

"I don't think I am really hungry."

"Sweetie, are you sure you are okay?" She was looking at him with a worried expression.

"Yes, I'm sure. It's been a long day, I think I am just tired. I'll probably just go to bed."

His mom paused for a few moments before she spoke. "Blaine, we want you to know that whatever you decide to do, we will support you, and do our best to make sure that everything is okay for you."

Blaine sat up to hug her. "Yes, I understand that now. Thank you."

They pulled back from the hug, and she stroked his cheek. "We love you very much, don't forget that, Blaine."

He nodded. "I love you both, too."

She brushed his hair back one more time. "Get some sleep, I'll leave you some leftovers in the refrigerator if you get hungry. See you in the morning."

After she left the room Blaine continued to stare at the ceiling, unable to come up with any answers to the questions running through his head, until he couldn't keep his eyes open any more, and fell asleep.

~*~*~

He was awoken by the sound of his phone ringing on his bedside table. It was dark outside, but he felt suddenly very awake as Kurt's name flashed on his phone.

"Kurt?" he answered by way of greeting.

"Hey." he heard on the other end of the line, and he couldn't help but let out a relived sigh, unaware of just how relived he would feel just with that one word.

"Hey," he replied.

There was a few moments of comfortable silence before everything that happened a few hours ago caught up to him.

"Kurt, I don't know what to do. Things are already changing so fast and I'm not sure how to handle them or what decisions to make and I just don't--"

"You should open your window." Kurt interrupted his rambling.

"I... what?"

He heard Kurt chuckle on the other end of the line, "Walk across your room, unlock your window, and open it." Kurt's tone was teasing but insistent.

Instead of replying, Blaine did what Kurt asked him to do. When he opened his window and looked down, Kurt was standing there, phone pressed to his ear. He waved at Blaine.

Blaine could only stick out his hand and copy the action.

"Can I come up?" Kurt asked, almost shyly.

That spurned Blaine into action. "Yes! Yeah, of course, just um... just go to the front, I'll be down in a moment."

He closed his window and hung up the phone. He tiptoed as quietly as possible down the hallway and stairs to the front door, grateful that his parents were already asleep.

He unlocked and opened the front door as quietly as he could, and there Kurt was, leaning patiently against the side of the porch, waiting.

Blaine smiled, and took his hand without a word, and led him inside, closing the door silently. He led him upstairs, and it was only after they were safely inside Blaine's room that either of them made a sound.

"Hey," Blaine said as he turned to him.

Kurt chuckled. "Hey, again," He stepped closer and reached up to tuck a curl behind Blaine's ear, and Blaine leaned into the touch.

"What are you doing here?"

Kurt shrugged. "I wanted to see you."

Blaine grinned. He couldn't help it when he was around Kurt.

"I think you are a bad influence on me, Kurt Hummel. Encouraging me to sneak strange men into my house in the dead of night."

Kurt wound his arms around Blaine's waist and quirked an eyebrow, "Are you complaining?"

Blaine dropped his arms over Kurt's shoulders and shook his head, "Not at all."

Kurt kissed him them, slow and caressing, and Blaine would have been content to do nothing else for the rest of his life except kiss Kurt. He tightened his arms around Kurt's shoulders, trying to keep him close, and kissed him back, trying to pour all of his emotions into it. He loved Kurt so much, and no matter what happened next, he knew that he would find a way to stay with him.

 ~*~*~

They moved to the bed, and Kurt wrapped himself around Blaine’s back and Blaine held tightly to the hand that was resting against his front. Their breathing was slow and easy. All they wanted to do was be close to each other.

“I love you, Kurt.”

“I love you too, Blaine.”

Blaine held tighter to Kurt’s hand.

Kurt sighed and drew him in closer. “Everything is going to be alright.”

“How do you know that?”

There was a pause while Kurt stroked his thumb over Blaine’s hand.

After a while, he answered, “Because we will make it okay.”