Maybe it was the fact that as soon as he had entered middle school he got picked on more than ever and as soon as he entered high school the bullying did not get any better – it got worse. And his father had always told him that the Hummel's do not get pushed around; they were strong. Kurt did not feel strong. He did not want his father to be ashamed of him or be disappointed in him.

So Kurt kept his big secret to himself, until one day when Mercedes got it out of him. Really they had just been talking when it happened. Mercedes had been talking about how lame it was that she never had any luck with getting a boyfriend, and then she had started teasing Kurt, asking him why such a nice guy like himself had never had a girlfriend. Kurt had panicked and it had just slipped out. He wanted to run and hide so badly, afraid that she would not want to be his best friend anymore, but then Mercedes gave him a big hug and told him that it was okay. There was nothing wrong with him being gay.

Of course news travels fast at his high school. The fact that he was gay was brought out at his favorite club, the glee club, and of course then everyone knew it. Not that it came as a total surprise to much of anyone at McKinley High – Kurt had been deemed the 'gay outcast' of the school since seventh grade, when he really started wearing more unique and fashionable clothing, styling his hair even more, and his singing voice was still higher than that of their choir teacher at the time, Mrs. Riley. All of the things that made Kurt different, unique, caused him hours of torment from his fellow classmates, leaving him disheartened and worn out by the end of the day. At the beginning of each school year Kurt would hope to Gaga that things would be different, but now he just accepts that this is the way it will always be.

It did not help that he was in McKinley High's glee club, New Directions. The kids in the club were bottom of the ladder, complete social outcasts. Except for maybe the few football players and cheerleaders who had joined; they managed to make it by without generally having to worry about 10am slushy attacks. Many a spectacular outfit had been ruined thanks to the staining dye of an ice cold slushy.

Kurt loved the glee club though. He loved singing, performing, and just being a part of a group of kids who accepted him. Sure there was drama and the fact that barely anyone outside of the club wanted to acknowledge their existence, but the friendship and togetherness of the group made up for those things. Well...most of the togetherness. Sometimes they had trouble with that part.

The worst part for Kurt was that Karofsky still attended the same school. And he still bullied Kurt the most. It had gotten to the point that he could ignore the verbal insults – no matter how hard they stung some times – but the physical hurt was something he could not ignore. Being shoved into lockers every day, pushed in the halls, slushies aimed directly in his face – that stuff could burn your eyes for a good hour – and even on occasion being tripped...Kurt could not ignore any of that. Not when it happened, not when he could feel pain as he walked or when someone bumped into him by accident, and he especially could not ignore the hurt when he looked in his mirror at night, shirtless, and viewed the dozens of new and the fading bruises that littered his back and shoulders. Some days it was too much and Kurt would fake sick, just so he could stay home and spend the day shut up in his room to avoid the cruelty of the high school world.

It was when his father got the phone call that Kurt finally had to just come out and tell him. Kurt was coming home from school, walking into the shop to see how his father was doing, when the phone rang. He waited patiently off to the side, waving at his father to announce his presence. His father waved in return and went over to answer the phone. The call was short and ended early by Burt angrily shouting into the phone.

"No one says terrible things like that about anyone in my family. You call here again and I'll call the cops!" And with that he hung up the phone forcefully.

Kurt's face fell when he heard how angry his father sounded. "Dad? Who was it?"

Burt looked over at his son, still looking a bit angry. "No one, son. Just some idiot who better realize how stupid it'll be to call back here."

"It...it wasn't about me, was it?" Kurt asked quietly.

His father was silent for a second. It was a second long enough for Kurt to figure out that the call was most likely an insult meant to be thrown his way. "Kurt-"

"It's okay, dad." Kurt sighed, shaking his head. "I've probably heard every insult in the book by now. I'm sure whatever they said was nothing compared to what I normally get."

"Wait, what?" Burt gave his son a hard look. "Are you telling me you get treated poorly at school, besides those ridiculous slushies?"

Kurt bit his lip nervously, slowly nodding in reply. He was ashamed that his father had to find out about this.

"Why didn't you tell me, Kurt? I could have gone to the school and told them to do something about this."

And knowing his father, Burt probably would go to the school. Kurt had no doubts about that. "I'm sorry, dad. I just didn't think...you always tell me no one in our family gets pushed around, and I guess I was just...ashamed to admit that I wasn't strong enough to not let that happen."

"Don't say that, Kurt." Burt walked over to him, giving him a stern look. "You're strong. I've seen how strong you can be. You should have told me about this bullying though. How can I do my job at protecting you if you won't let me?"

Kurt's eyes were tearing up. He hated how easily he cried. It had been like that since he was little and had never gotten any better. "I'm sorry..." he whispered, looking down at the ground. He paused for a second then looked back up at his father. "And I really am...gay, dad. I was scared to tell you before, because I was just still worried about admitting that I was getting picked on at school, but now that you know all that I figured you should know why I get picked on so much."

"Can I be honest? I'm kind of...not totally surprised. About the 'being gay' part, I mean." His father told him, shrugging. "You used to beg to play dress up with your mother's heels. Not to mention the lack of interest in girls. I don't even know if you realize you do it, but when we watch television together you always tend to point out in movies whether a guy is good looking or not, as opposed to whether a girl is good looking or not."

"Now that you mention it...I do that a lot, don't I?" Kurt's face reddened a bit. And here he had thought he was being subtle about his interests.

"There's nothing wrong with being gay, son." Burt reached out to pull him close, hugging him tightly. "And you know I'll always love you, no matter what. I'm going to have a talk with your principal tomorrow. Someone should be doing something about all the bullying that goes on in that school."

Kurt was pretty darn sure the school would end up doing pretty much nothing to stop what went on in the halls at McKinley, but he appreciated that his dad cared so much and wanted to help him. He was starting to wish he had just worked up the courage to tell his father sooner rather than later. "Thanks, dad. I love you too."

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Kurt was not surprised when, even though his father had a rather heated discussion with Principal Figgins, nothing really changed at the school. Life about McKinley High went on as normal, which of course meant Kurt continued to get picked on and bullied. Not that he was going to tell his father all about that.

Some time during the school year Kurt found out his father was spending quite a bit of time with a fellow classmate's mother. Not just any classmate though: Finn Hudson. The same Finn that Kurt had been crushing on for quite a bit of time now. It was also the same Finn that happened to be in New Directions with him. So, after the first initial shock at the news, Kurt decided he might be able to use this to his advantage. After all, he could become closer to Finn this way.

Well, until Finn made it very plainly clear he was not gay and was most definitely not interested in Kurt. That kind of ruined any of Kurt's hopes. He eventually decided that Finn was just too boyishly gross for him anyway. Turns out that when you try getting closer to others you may learn things about them you just really don't want to know, plus they just may not be as amazing as you think.

Seeing his father and Finn's mother happily spending time together though did make Kurt happy. Maybe, if he was lucky, Carole would finally start letting him help her fix up her wardrobe. He knew exactly what sort of styles would look perfect on her, not to mention he just wanted to have a mother figure he could talk to. Sometimes it was hard talking to his father about certain things. Not that he was trying to replace his mother. She had been gone for several years now, but Kurt still missed her terribly and knew that no one would ever replace her, or even his real mother. Sometimes he just found himself longing for a motherly figure in his life who he could talk to.

With the bullying being a constant issue and torment, Kurt tried focusing all his attention on his studies and on glee club to keep his self from going insane. The promise of going to New York for Nationals this year was something that kept Kurt motivated. He loved New York - ever since that trip all those years ago - and he was most definitely going to do whatever it took to make sure their glee club got to go.

Things took a turn for the worse though when one day, during class, he got pulled out by Ms. Pilsbury – McKinley's guidance counselor. His heart about stopped when she quietly informed him that his father had had a heart attack and was currently in the hospital. He had begged to be taken to the hospital right away.

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His father was not awake. He was in a comatose state and as hard as Kurt called to him he just would not respond. It was devastating. Burt was all the family Kurt had; they only had each other. Well, they had Carole and Finn too, but when it came down to it, it had always just been Kurt and his dad and right now that was all that Kurt was seeing. He had already lost both of his mothers; he could not lose his father too.

His friends wanted to pray for him, but Kurt refused to accept their prayers. He had not been to church since his mother died. And he had never really gotten into the idea that there was some great almighty guy up in the sky looking down all over them all. He had believed even less when he found out the views that church had on gays – why would God create people he then told others were wrong? And even more so...why would God let all these bad things happen to Kurt? So much for 'all loving'. No, Kurt did not want his friends' prayers, but he did appreciate their kind words of sympathy.

School became even worse for him. The fact that he was feeling down at school was probably written all over his face and of course that just fueled the bullies' fun to pick on him. His friends from glee club were growing increasingly worried about him. They tried to do everything they could to cheer him up, even dragging him out of the house so he would not sit alone all the time when he was not at the hospital to visit his father. They figured if they tried keeping a positive look on things then maybe it could keep Kurt's hopes up.

This was why Mercedes decided to drag him out for coffee one day after school, just in hopes that she could cheer him up for an hour or two. Maybe if circumstances had been different Kurt might have realized who exactly he ran into that day.