Chapter Four: Coffee Republic

"Next time I pay for our coffees," Kurt said as he leaned back in his seat.

"I was raised to be a gentleman," Blaine replied.

"So was I," Kurt returned a little defensively.

Blaine studied Kurt quietly. "You think I'm treating you like a girl, don't you?"

Kurt took a drink of his coffee. "Well…you opened the door for me. You ordered for me. You paid for me and then you pulled out my chair. I would say that you've effectively made me "the girl" in this relation- uh, interaction," Kurt said gently.

"Kurt," Blaine said leaning across the table to take Kurt's hand, "Trust me, I'm well aware that you are not a girl. I was simply trying to…be polite, maybe even impress you. I can't help it, there's something about you that brings out my-"

"Dapper side?" Kurt teased.

"Dapper McDapperpants, that's me."

"McDapperpants…Blaine that's awful even for you," Kurt laughed. "And I get it, I do. You're a gentleman. I guess I'm a little sensitive because of everything that went on with the glee guys and how I'm treated at school. I mean, I know I'm not the most masculine of guys, and sure I claim honorary girl membership but I'm not a girl. I'm just…I'm me. I'm a guy and it feels like I'm constantly having to remind people of that and-."

"Kurt I get it." Blaine said softly. "I mean, yeah, I'm a little more, I guess stereotypically male than you, but I'm still gay and for some people that translates into me automatically lacking in masculinity. I can't possibly enjoy sports, or video games or be able to defend myself or-"

"Be on the football team or know anything about cars," Kurt broke in. "You'd be amazed how many people assume I don't even know how to change my oil. Never mind the fact that my father owns a freaking garage! I know more about cars than I do about fashion. It's just-"

"It's frustrating," Blaine completed. "Being stereotyped is frustrating. All the more so when certain aspects of who you are seem to live up to the stereotype. Then it feels like you can't win for losing."

"Exactly. If talk about fashion or Broadway, its "well of course he's into fashion and show tunes," Kurt said bitterly.

"But if I kick ass at Call of Duty-"

"Or rebuild a transmission-"

"Then its, "I didn't know gay guys did stuff like that."

"And you have to decide whether to be pissed, hurt, let it slide or turn it into a teaching moment," Kurt said.

"Like I said, it's frustrating," Blaine agreed. He smiled at Kurt. "Next time, you can pay for the coffee."

Kurt beamed. "I'll also pick you up, open all the doors for you and if you play your cards right I may even put my jacket over a mud puddle in the street to protect your shoes."

Blaine laughed. "Really now?"

"Well, if it's your jacket," Kurt amended. "My jackets are all fabulous. That Dalton blazer on the other hand is a polyester abomination."

"It's a polyblend and in all fairness, you've never seen me outside of this uniform. I'm pretty sure my wardrobe would meet with your approval." Blaine teased.

"I guess I'll find out Friday," Kurt grinned.

Before Blaine could respond there was the clearing of a throat and a condescending greeting.

"Well, hello Blaine. This is a nice surprise. Care to introduce us to your…friend?"

Blaine looked up into the unwelcome and unwanted face of a sneering Thad Harwood and mentally cursed. As if being suddenly confronted with Thad's presence wasn't bad enough, he was accompanied by Flint Wilson, a fellow Warbler whose hatred of Blaine made Thad's look subtle.

Son of a bitch, thought Blaine.

"Flint. Thad. It's nice to see you," Blaine greeted them. "Kurt Hummel, this is Flint Wilson and Thad Harwood. They attend Dalton and are in Warblers with me."

Kurt could sense the tension between the three boys and his eyes flicked nervously to Blaine.

"Hello," Kurt murmured softly.

"Blaine, he's precious. Where have you been hiding him?" Thad replied.

"I haven't been," Blaine replied bluntly. "Kurt attends McKinley and he's a member of New Directions, their glee club. He lives in Lima."

"I remember you," Flint said suddenly. "You were on campus when we performed Teenage Dream."

"Yes, I was. That's how I met Blaine," Kurt said.

"And you're in New Directions?" Thad slid his gaze across to Blaine. "Starring in your very own version of The Spy Who Loved Me, hmmm Blaine? I'm sure I speak for David and Wes when I say that the council does not look favorably on this type of disloyalty."

Blaine's eyes flashed and he went to respond but before he could Kurt spoke up.

"I wouldn't be so quick to speak for Wes or David if I were you," Kurt said frostily. "After all, when they joined Blaine and I for coffee they didn't seem at all disapproving," Kurt said in a strong, steady voice.

Thad's jaw dropped and Blaine smirked.

"David used the term "endearing" as a matter of fact. Meeting them was an absolute pleasure," Kurt paused for effect. "Pity I can't say the same about the two of you."

Flint narrowed his eyes at Kurt and Thad sneered at Blaine. "Your kitty has claws, Blaine."

"You have no idea," Kurt responded lowly and then treated Thad to his patented "bitch face".

"Flint, Thad. I believe you gentleman should be taking your leave now," Blaine said with false civility.

"With pleasure," Thad growled. He stalked out of the coffee shop and Flint cast one more calculating stare at Kurt then followed suit.

"Well, they were thoroughly unpleasant," Kurt observed.

"And you were…amazing."

Kurt blushed. "What I lack in bulk I make up for in wit," Kurt replied. "I wasn't going to sit here while they tried to…I don't even know what they were trying to do but it was ugly and I wasn't going to just be quiet while they ganged up on you."

"Thank you." Blaine said. "I'm not used to having people leap into the fray to uh…protect me."

"I know what it's like for people to just stand by silently and do nothing while you're being ripped to pieces and…" Kurt trailed off. "You're my friend Blaine. That means something to me. You mean something to me. I'll always stand up for you." Kurt said.

Blaine was touched, but skeptical. There weren't many people that Blaine mattered to. The heir to Anderson International mattered. The lead singer of the Warblers mattered. The meal ticket mattered. The poster child for prep school perfection mattered. The eligible bachelor mattered.

Blaine? Not so much.

He looked at Kurt. Kurt was honest, brutally so, at times. He had been through so much but hadn't let it make him hard and cynical. There was an innocence to him but he wasn't exactly na�ve. He could be an absolute bitch at times, but the gentlest soul at others. He was cracked, but not broken and it all combined to make him one of the most intriguing people Blaine had ever met.

And if that wasn't enough, all he seemed to want from Blaine was the pleasure of his company.

Blaine recognized that Kurt was far more dangerous to him than Thad could ever be. Kurt had said Blaine mattered to him and if Blaine was honest with himself, Kurt was beginning to matter to Blaine as well.

"Hey Duckie, I've got a surprise for you." Wes announced gleefully, as he and David invaded Blaine's room.

"Ugh, really Wes, are we really going back to the Pretty in Pink era of torturing me?" Blaine moaned.

"Blaine, my boy, we never left the Pretty in Pink era of torturing you," David announced, clapping Wes on the shoulder.

"But we come bearing gifts!" Wes chirped. "So quit your bitching and pull up a chair," Wes motioned, making his way over to Blaine's laptop.

"What are you two going on about?" Blaine asked, sitting down next to David.

"We," Wes began.

"Being responsible members of the Warblers council," David interrupted.

"And concerned friends-"

"Took it upon ourselves to do a little research on one, Kurt Hummel," David finished.

"You…you investigated Kurt?" Blaine asked, surprised at the amount of venom in his voice.

"Whoa, down boy," Wes said, putting up his hands in mock surrender. "We didn't, you know, hire a PI or anything. We just googled the McKinley High New Directions, dude. There were like, a bunch of performance videos of them online."

"And the school has this blog site, so…"

"C'mon Blaine, you know you wanna watch," Wes teased.

"Dude, it's things like that make me question your heterosexuality," David cracked.

"Please, I'm the definition of metrosexual," Wes declared. He then broke out into song.

I'm, too metro for my love

Too metro for my love

Love's going to leave me…

"For the love of Grilled Cheesus, shut up!" Blaine laughed.

David and Wes blinked at him. "What is a grilled cheesus?" David asked.

"A holy grilled cheese sandwich," Blaine responded seriously.

"Does it come with sanctified tomato soup?"

"Is it blessed by the right Reverend Velveeta?"

"Shut up, Heckle and Jeckle," Blaine groaned. "It's…Kurt told me about it and…you guys have to have him tell you the story sometime."

"Uh huh…well in the meantime, let's bask in the online glory that is the New Directions," Wes said. "They sent Kurt to spy on us, turnabout is fair play." Wes explained.

"If they were posted online then I doubt there's going to be anything related to sectionals on them," Blaine pointed out.

"Probably not, but at the very least it will let us know a bit more about what New Directions has to offer," Wes said.

"You know if you say New Directions fast enough it sounds like-"

"Thank you, David for pointing that out to everyone." Blaine interrupted.

"I aim to please."

"Anyway," Wes broke in, "What do you want to see first?"

"I don't care, you pick something," Blaine was curious to hear Kurt sing, but didn't want to appear overly eager.

"Oh snap dude they did Push It," David laughed.

"And I thought Teenage Dream was testing the boundaries of good taste," Wes replied, queuing up the video and pressing play.

Blaine watched the performance with a curious and critical eye. Kurt appeared much younger in the film, and although he didn't seem to have any solo parts he was an amazing dancer and seemed to have a natural gift for showmanship.

And he was wearing a fanny pack.

Blaine was never going to let him live that down.

"What's the next one?"

They made their way through several more videos and Blaine began to get a sense of what Kurt had been complaining about. Seldom was anyone other than a freakishly tall boy and his diminutive female counterpart ever featured as leads.

"What is this? Kurt Hummel- Single Ladies performance," Blaine read aloud

"Click it, click it!" David urged.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

There was Kurt, in some sort of leotard/leggings ensemble shaking and gyrating and swiveling his hips in ways that had Blaine thinking some seriously undapper thoughts.

"I'm watching the girls. I'm watching the girls. I'm watching the girls," Wes chanted.

"I'm not," David replied with a grin.

Blaine's head whipped around so fast Linda Blair would have been jealous. "What's that supposed to mean?" .

Wes and David exchanged a look before David addressed Blaine, "Are you seriously tripping because I'm checking out Kurt's a-"

"I'm not tripping, David," Blaine ground out. "I just don't think Kurt should be ogled like a piece of meat-"

"What you mean is you don't want Kurt being ogled unless you're the one doing the ogling," Wes corrected.

"The green eyed monster just made you its bitch Blaine," David remarked.

"This is a momentous occasion," Wes yelped.

"Why?" Blaine asked warily.

"This is the first time David has ever seen you jealous," Wes declared.

"Oh my God, it is!" David chimed in. "You never get jealous."

"I'm not jealous!" Blaine denied hotly. "I'm just…leave it alone guys."

David and Wes smirked and went back to the computer.

They scrolled through a few more videos, and stopped cold when they got to Kurt performing with the cheerleading squad.

"Kurt was a cheerleader?" Wes asked.

"He mentioned it, but I thought he was like, you know, the manager or something," Blaine said in awe.

The boys watched as Kurt and the girl Blaine knew as Mercedes performed a rendition of 4 Minutes.

After that they clicked around a bit until they found a copy of the group performing The Funk.

"Kurt is singing the baseline? No fucking way," David said.

"Holy crap, can you imagine what his range is?" Wes asked.

"He said he can hit the high F in Defying Gravity," Blaine supplied.

"No fucking way," David repeated.

"Why don't they use him more?" Wes wondered.

"Why don't they use ANY of them more?" David asked. "We're only halfway through the videos and I still can't get a read on the talents of half the people in the club because they're always in the background. There are only twelve people, it can't be that hard to rotate leads."

"Even Vocal Adrenaline swapped out who partnered with Jesse. He may have been the featured male lead but they always had a dog fight for the second slot," Wes put in.

"You guys realize this is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black?" Blaine said raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe," Wes conceded, "But at least everyone in Warblers is happy with the status quo."

"And we don't just hand you the solo…you do have to audition like everybody else," David reminded Blaine.

"From what you said, that doesn't seem to be the case in New Directions." Wes said.

"According to Kurt, most everyone there is ready to cancel the Finchel show," Blaine remarked.

"What the hell is a Finchel?" Wes asked.

"Finn and Rachel. The giant and the dwarf that always sing lead," Blaine explained.

"I know you didn't just make a short joke," David cut in.

"Oh fuck you," Blaine replied laughing.

"I KNEW you wanted to get up on this!" David said smugly.

"Gentleman, if you could please focus on the task at hand," Wes interrupted.

"What is the task at hand?" Blaine asked.

"Researching Kurt…and New Directions." Wes reminded him.

"Research? I thought we were giving Blaine jerk off-"

"Finish that sentence and you better sleep with one eye open." Blaine cut in.

David beamed.

"Why don't we check out the blog?"

Blaine couldn't remember the last time he'd been so angry.

When Kurt had told him he was being harassed at school Blaine's mind had filled in the blanks but he hadn't been capable of imagining the living hell Kurt was enduring at McKinley.

He understood why Kurt had been so skeptical that the Warblers were popular at Dalton. Apparently, at McKinley, being a member of New Directions was social leprosy.

The glee kids were the target of everyone from the football team to the cheerleaders. Even the kids at the bottom of the social totem pole took swipes at them and the kid who ran the blog, some guy named Jacob Ben Isreal, chronicled every last slushie toss and insult thrown their way.

Kurt had explained to Blaine about the slushie facials but he had no idea that it was such a normal part of daily life at Mckinley.

"Why the hell don't they just get rid of the slushie machine?" David wondered

"Money," Wes replied absently. "Schools make contracts with soda and snack companies to sell their products on school grounds and in concession booths during school events. They split the profits."

"See…right there. Proof that money is the root of all evil," David quipped.

"Don't blame it on my precious, precious money! If these videos are indication the origin of evil can be traced back to red dye no.5," Wes defended.

Blaine tuned out Wes and David as he read story after story of the relentless bullying that made up the culture at McKinley High. Even the cheerleading coach got in on the action.

Even though it seemed only a select few, mostly jocks and Cheerios, were granted immunity from the torment, from what Blaine could see, Kurt seemed to get far more than his fair share. It seemed that even among the unpopular glee club, Kurt was singled out for special consideration. For everyone else, the harassment seemed to start and stop with the school bell.

Kurt wasn't that lucky.

"Pee balloons?" David said, the revulsion evident in his tone. "What kind of disgusting motherfucker throws pee balloons at somebody?"

"Apparently, the same type of disgusting motherfucker that throws a kid half his size in a dumpster," Wes noted.

"What if there was like, broken glass in there or something? What if he landed wrong or hit his head or some shit? What is wrong with these kids?" David fumed.

"Can you believe the size of some of these guys throwing him around? Kurt's tall but he's not exactly buff and if those videos are any indication, Kurt was tiny a couple of years ago, man." Wes said.

"They nailed his lawn furniture to his roof?" David asked

"This…this is so far past bullying man. I mean, this is…most of this is illegal," Wes said.

"I don't even want to know what smear the queer was," David seethed.

Blaine kept silent. He kept playing Kurt's words from earlier over in his head.

"I know what its like for people to just stand by silently and do nothing while you're being ripped to pieces."

"You're my friend Blaine. That means something to me. You mean something to me."

"I'll always stand up for you."

"Blaine? Yoo hoo, Earth to Blaine. You alright man?" David asked.

"I'm fine." Blaine said quietly.

David and Wes glanced at one another. They could tell finding out the intimate details of Kurt's harassment had angered Blaine, but he was being eerily calm about the whole thing.

David had only known Blaine since he'd begun attending Dalton, Wes on the other hand had grown up with the other boy. He knew Blaine almost better than Blaine knew himself and he knew that Blaine didn't simply get mad.

He got even.

David had been wrong earlier when he said Blaine never got jealous. Blaine rarely displayed jealousy, but when it came to the people and things that were important to him he was prone to it. He was also fiercely possessive and protective once he decided someone mattered to him.

If anyone or anything Blaine held dear was threatened, he hit back like the fist of an angry God.

Wes had no doubt that if Kurt Hummel ever managed to make the short list of people that were important to Blaine, he would stop at nothing to bring Kurt's tormentors to their knees.

"Blaine," Wes said cautiously, "You've been awfully quiet. What are you thinking?"

Blaine remembered the tears in Kurt's eyes that first day he'd taken him to coffee and the fire in them when he'd defended Blaine to Thad and Flint.

"I'm thinking that I've seen enough." He said, closing the lid on the laptop.