Kurt looked at his father knowing he was probably going to upset the man but feeling he should give his father some explanation as to why he was no longer speaking to Rachel so that the man didn’t try to stage some sort of mediation between them. He loved that his father cared enough about him that he would do such a great thing but Kurt knew he wouldn’t be around Rachel for long without losing his temper and he didn’t want to do that because his dad would undoubtedly start worrying.

“Dad, can we talk?”

“Of course. Has someone been hassling you, Kurt? You can tell me,” Burt answered taking a seat on the couch and waiting for Kurt to talk.

Taking the seat opposite his dad, Kurt considered what would be the best way to start the difficult and painful conversation. His dad would undoubtedly ask him questions and Kurt didn’t think he was ready for that. He couldn’t explain the reasons why his friends had behaved as they had nor did he know if he could put into words just how hurt he was by their actions. He just knew that he would never forget what they had done to Blaine and wasn't sure if he would ever truly be able to trust them not to hurt Blaine again. His boyfriend had been hurt and Kurt felt terrible because he hadn't been able to prevent it from happening. He had always thought New Directions would have his back when it came to his relationship with Blaine but he was wrong and that cut to the bone.

Taking a deep breath to calm down Kurt said carefully, “I had coffee with Blaine this morning and he had a book with him, which he gave me. New Directions had sent him a book full of threats, anger, vitriol, aggression and violence, supposedly to make sure he didn’t hurt me. It was horrible. I don’t know how they could do that to him. He has never done anything to hurt anyone and they were so bloodthirsty, vicious, cold and toxic. Just thinking about their words makes me feel sick with anger.”

“Is he okay?” Burt asked worried, knowing that for all that, Blaine seemed tried to project a confident mask; the teen was still making his way in the world and was unprepared for such hostility.

Now his son had been dating Blaine for a few weeks Burt had started to see that for all he tried to hide it, Blaine was a kid who had been hurt just as much as Kurt. One night while he had been waiting for Kurt to come back from a date with Blaine, Burt had taken the time to think back to the day Blaine had walked into his garage and asked him to talk to Kurt about sex. He could clearly recall the spark of pain in the teen’s eyes when Blaine had admitted his father had asked him to restore the car out of some belief that doing so would make him straight. Burt would never interfere in Blaine’s relationship with his father unless he thought Blaine was in danger but he would be there if Blaine needed help.

Kurt shook his head, “Not really, and I understand it. He is so hurt by it, Dad.They made him feel ashamed of who he is and they didn’t care, I'm not sure if they wanted him to hurt or not. Blaine didn’t say anything but I think it made him think about when he was attacked before he enrolled at Dalton.  We went to speak to New Directions together about the book and....it was horrible to experience.”

Kurt was worried the attack by New Directions would give Blaine terrible flashbacks and was worried he wouldn’t be able to help when Blaine needed him. Blaine had suffered so much at his old school, having been attacked to the extent that he had been in a coma forcing him to miss a year of school. Kurt could only hope that their friends in the Warblers would be able to take care of Blaine when he wasn’t there.

“Hell, Kurt. Is Blaine going to be okay?”Burt asked shocked.

Kurt said calmly, “I think so; at least he’s not alone tonight. The Warblers are there for him, they are great friends, better than the ones I thought I had at McKinley. I asked everyone in New Directions to apologise to Blaine, not that an apology is enough to make up for their actions, but it was like they couldn’t see what they did was wrong. It wasn’t until I explained just how horrible the book made Blaine and I feel that some of them seemed to see they were wrong. Most of them did apologise, a few seemed insincere so I'll be keeping an eye on them. Rachel, Santana and Finn all refused to apologise for their disgusting behaviour. Since Blaine understood and to an extent agreed with Finn’s sentiments, I guess I have to forgive him. Rachel and Santana on the other hand are no longer anything more than acquaintances; I refuse to call them friends. I refuse to have anyone who could be so malicious in my life or to let Blaine get hurt again."

“Okay, Kurt. Just how bad was this book?” Burt asked knowing it had to be terrible for his son to be so upset since Kurt rarely let anyone see him in pain, out of worry people would think he was weak.
Kurt took the book from his bag and silently passed it to his father, watching in silence as the man started reading the book, becoming worried by his father’s increasingly red face.

Kurt pleaded, “Dad, please don’t get upset. I have dealt with it; I just wanted you to know why I'm not speaking to them so you don’t try to make me talk to Rachel when she comes over to see Finn.”

Not wanting his son to feel he couldn't confide in him in the future Burt said, “Okay, Kurt. I am so sorry that your friends did that and I promise that I will never let anyone hurt you or Blaine. If anyone tries anything, please tell me. I am always going to be here for you and for Blaine. I want you to tell Blaine that if he needs anything at all he can come to me and I will do my best to help him.”

After giving his dad a quick hug Kurt said, “Thanks, Dad. I'm going to my room.”

Once his son was safely out of earshot Burt sighed loudly, he couldn’t believe Kurt’s friends could be so cruel, sure they were all just kids really but that didn’t excuse their behaviour. He would have a word with Finn to make sure the boy realised just how inappropriate his behaviour was and that he couldn’t create some scheme to get Kurt and Rachel to talk. He knew that Finn tended to go along with Rachel’s crazy schemes but this time it wouldn’t be right. Burt knew he would have to do something to make Blaine realise that he would be there to help, he just couldn’t understand why Kurt’s friends would do such a terrible thing. Burt knew Blaine would probably need to spend a little more time with Kurt now that he had been forced to relive the pain and trauma of his previous school so Burt would help make that happen.

With Lady Gaga as background music Kurt was critically looking over his clothes to find the perfect outfit for what would be his first team bonding event. Wes had actually formally announced it during their last meeting, saying that it was a tradition they were going to start since he felt it would help strengthen their friendships and they didn’t get a lot of time to socialise as a group outside of school given the various commitments they all had outside of school. By mutual agreement, the Warblers voted and decided that they should start their event early on Saturday morning as it would make it easier on those students who weren’t boarders since they would just have to ask for permission to stay one night away from home. Kurt had been amused when Nick had asked if Wes would mind talking to his mom to convince her it would be a great idea since she seemed to think spending the night away from home would end in drunken debauchery. Since Wes had simply nodded instead of commenting, Kurt had the impression that Nick had made such requests before, clearly his friend hadn’t been exaggerating about his mom’s overprotective nature.

Kurt frowned when his phone started playing the opening lines of Don’t Rain On My Parade, Kurt quickly pressed reject call. He didn’t want to speak to Rachel so it was a good thing that he had personalised ringtones for his friends. A part of his mind was insisting that he should have answered the call so he could tell her to keep anyway from him but he knew that Rachel would have just ignored him. The simpler, more effective method was simply to ignore her, as it would cause him less stress and she would soon learn that her heinous actions had cost her a friend. Once, Kurt would have said the admittedly talented girl was going to a lifelong friend but now he couldn’t bear the thought of having to spend time in a room with her. He was angry with her for hurting Blaine with her and would never be able to forget just how much she had hurt him. Kurt was disgusted and disappointed that she couldn’t see how wrong her actions were. He held firm to the belief that one day Rachel would regret what had happened to their friendship and how much pain she had caused, he just hoped when that day occurred she would apologise.

Kurt’s friendship with Santana was different but it had become important to him. When he had been on the Cheerios Kurt had gotten to know the girl, and he had to admit she had a great mask as one of the meanest, cold-hearted and angriest girls at McKinley but that wasn’t true. Santana would do anything to help her friends and was fiercely loyal. She would be truly loyal to someone unless they betrayed her, when she would use her considerable intelligence and cunning to ruin them. He would miss her but he couldn’t let her back into his life until she apologised because doing so would make her think that her behaviour towards Blaine was acceptable.

With a calming breath, Kurt turned back to his closet, eager for the chance to show his impeccable fashion sense when it came to the Dalton uniform and he was going to make the most of this opportunity. He had no idea what to expect of the team bonding weekend, what he did know was that although they hadn’t won at Regionals, the Dalton Academy Warblers had never seemed so close. Kurt knew his relationship with Blaine was part of the reason the group had become closer since some had admitted they had been a divide in the group between the people who wanted to play matchmaker and those who felt it would be best for he and Blaine to discover their mutual feelings in their own time.

Whilst Kurt was busy deliberating on his outfit, Blaine had just walked into the Warbler Common Room. Given the disastrous way New Directions had reacted, Blaine had never felt happier to have such wonderful friends who so fiercely supported his relationship with Kurt.

“You have that sappy smile on your face; I take it you had a good date with Kurt?” David asked pleased to see Blaine so happy.

Blaine smiled saying, “Of course, every second I spend with Kurt is perfection. Tell Nathan thanks for the recommendation, the restaurant was perfect.”

David found it disappointing that he had to ask  his cousin Nathan for recommendations for a gay friendly restaurant n the first place because he couldn’t see why anyone felt they could treat his friends as second class citizens because of their sexuality. Thankfully, Blaine hadn’t been hurt by his going behind his friend’s back. After hearing Blaine ask Kurt to go out for dinner, Wes had instantly remembered his cousin Nathan crying brokenly explaining that despite making a reservation weeks ago he had been turned away from a restaurant because the Maitre d’ saw him holding his boyfriend’s hand when they had checked in.

Blaine asked, “Do you want to play Call of Duty? I am pretty sure Wes and Thad would be more than happy to join us.”

David nodded in agreement, it had been a month or so since the last game he had played with his friends. Often, they spent most of the game talking about their romantic troubles or about little things that had been bothering them.
***********
Kurt was in the middle of his nightly moisturising ritual when his phone beeped with a text message. Picking it up, Kurt grinned when he saw it was from Blaine.

Beautiful, I'm just about to go to bed and dream of you. Sweet dreams, Kurt. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. ~B

Kurt quickly typed a reply and sent it to Blaine, he loved the way Blaine would always say goodnight to him. It felt wonderful to know that Blaine was thinking about him just as much as he thought about the beautiful black haired boy.

Goodnight, Honey. I can’t wait to see you in the morning :>D ~K

Kurt quickly finished his moisturising, switched on his alarm and got into bed. He couldn’t wait to see Blaine in the morning and to find out just what a Warbler bonding day actually involved. He was certain that whatever it was would be wonderful because every day seemed to be wonderful when he was with Blaine. Blaine was everything he had always wanted in a boyfriend and together they could face the sometimes harsh world.
*******
The next day Kurt had just walked into the kitchen to make breakfast when Finn appeared as if from nowhere, frowning at him as though he had done something wrong. Kurt had a feeling that Finn was going to hassle him about his decision to cut Rachel from his life but he was not going to change his mind. He wouldn’t ignore the girl should she come over to his house to spend time with Finn but he was not going to treat her as anything more than an acquaintance. He was only doing so because it was clear his brother cared about her but there was no way he would back down. Rachel simply didn’t deserve to be his friend if she could be so cruel, merciless and self-centred.

Ignoring the angry look in his brother’s eyes Finn asked, “Rachel is really upset about what happened yesterday. She was crying for hours, she was only looking out for you, Kurt. Why can’t you forgive her?”

“Finn, she hurt Blaine. I mean really hurt him and she hurt me. She had no right to treat Blaine like that. I honestly can’t consider her to be anything more than a passing acquaintance. Maybe when she realises just what she has done and truly apologises, I could think about accepting her into my life.”

“Dude, she’s your best friend,” Finn said confused as to why Kurt couldn’t understand Rachel was only being a good friend and it was probably just an empty threat to scare Blaine.

Kurt shook his head replying, “No, Finn. She was a good friend until she hurt the boy that I love. Finn, please just keep out of this. I don’t want to be mean but it’s not your place to fix this, it’s Rachel’s.”

“Have you ever thought that maybe there was a good reason she was worried?”

“Finn, she attacked him and didn’t even realise she was wrong. I cannot forgive her for doing that.”

Seeing he wasn’t going to change Kurt’s mind, Finn just walked back into the dining room since Kurt had banned him from cooking after a disastrous attempt to make cookies. Finn would eat the amazing breakfast Kurt would make and then call Rachel to explain that Kurt wouldn’t listen to him. He just hoped that Rachel wouldn’t be angry at him because he had tried his best to make Kurt listen to him.
*******
Blaine looked up from his notepad when his phone starting ringing, recognising the ringtone as the one he had set for his parents so that he would be in the right frame of mind before answering it. Blaine had learnt years ago that he had to remain calm, polite and somewhat emotionally distant around his father. His family had never been one for physical affection but he had always been certain his parents loved him but that changed when he came out. Since the day he had come out Blaine had started to doubt his father’s love for him because whenever he looked in his father’s eyes all he could see was hate.

“Hello,” Blaine said seriously.

“Blaine, it’s your father. There is a party at Mr Jackson’s house next Saturday and you are going to be Emma Jackson’s date. Her father and I have agreed you will be a suitable match.”

Not reacting to the cold tone Blaine said firmly, “Father, I will attend the party if I must but I am not going as her date. I am already dating Kurt.”

David Anderson said sternly, “Blaine, stop with this foolishness. You are not a homosexual and you will not sully our family name by persisting with your perversion.”

“Father, I am gay and you can’t change that,” Blaine said tiredly.

Disappointed his son hadn’t seen the error of his ways David Anderson said gravely, “No Anderson has ever been and will never be homosexual. You were brainwashed by that Hamilton boy at your old school which is why you were attacked. The boys who attacked you only did so because they were trying to make you see just how wrong it is to be homosexual. Admittedly, it is unfortunate that their actions caused you to miss so much of your school but you should have thanked them for trying to help you overcome whatever that Hamilton boy had brainwashed you into believing.”

Blaine couldn’t believe that his father could was still justifying the actions of the three guys who attacked him and Jason after they had gone to the Sadie Hawkins dance as each other’s dates. At the time, Blaine had perhaps foolishly thought going as Jason’s date was a wonderful idea since there was safety in numbers. Instead, they had been beaten and he had spent three weeks in a coma, only to wake up and hear his father say the brutes that had attacked him had been doing the right thing. After waking Blaine had started to realise just how homophobic his father was, which was one of the reason’s he had been sent to Dalton. His father believed being around heterosexual boys would make a man of him and his absence from polite society would save the family name from being tarnished whilst Blaine recovered from the Hamilton boy’s brainwashing because there was no other reason his son would believe he was gay

Focusing on not losing his temper Blaine said, “Father, I am dating the most amazing, compassionate person I have ever met and I will never break up with him regardless of what your opinion is of my sexuality. Father, you cannot make me stop loving Kurt or renounce him.”

David Anderson sneered, “You are not in love with this boy, you are weak and have allowed someone to brainwash you into behaving in such a disgusting manner. Blaine, you will attend this party and be Ms Jackson’s date or I will remove you from Dalton. Do not try my patience, boy or you will regret it.”

“Fine,” Blaine replied bitterly.

Blaine knew there was nothing he could do to change his father’s mind nor could he allow his father follow through on his threat. He could not leave Dalton because doing so would mean never seeing Kurt again for his father would keep him under house arrest or send him to military school far away from Ohio. Blaine would have to attend the party as Emily Jackson’s date but he would tell her that he was gay and dating Kurt. He would not let the girl believe he would date her because that would be wrong, he did not care if it would cause strain on his father’s relationship with Mr Jackson. Blaine was looking forward to the day he was 18 Blaine and would have access to his trust fund inherited from his Grandmother. As soon as he had access to his fund, he would cut his parents from his life and fates willing would never see them again.

“I will tell the maid to have your quarters ready at six. If you have the impudence to flaunt your perversion at the party, I will have you removed from Dalton and enrolled at military school. Do not embarrass our family,” David Anderson said before ending the call.

Blaine looked at the phone in his hand and tried to think of a way to tell to Kurt that he would be going on a date with someone else. He knew Kurt wouldn’t be jealous and would understand that he was being blackmailed but it didn’t make him feel any better, he felt by going on the date he was betraying Kurt. Blaine hated that his father had the power to so easily destroy his life and he hated that his father’s attitude towards his sexuality still hurt him. Although he hadn’t been close to his father for years, Blaine supposed there was still a part of him that wanted his father’s acceptance but he knew he would never receive it.

At the gentle knocking at his door, Blaine grinned recognising the introduction to Teenage Dream meaning Kurt had arrived. Blaine opened the door to his room with a wide smile where he was met by the beautiful sight of Kurt wearing clothes that looked like they had been designed just for him. Kurt was wearing skin-tight black jeans and a black cashmere sweater with red piping Blaine vaguely recalled seeing in a copy of Vogue.

Seeing pain in Blaine’s eyes Kurt frowned questioning, “What’s wrong, Blaine?”

Blaine sighed explaining, “Father just called. He’s demanded I attend a party next Saturday as the date of the daughter of one of clients.”

“Oh. How do you feel about that?” Kurt asked gently, not wanting to cause Blaine further pain but knowing his boyfriend needed to talk about it.

“I don’t want to do it but I have no choice. If I don’t go then he will withdraw me from Dalton and I will never see you again. I know my father, I would be under house arrest until the day he sent me to a military academy. It’ll be okay, Kurt. It’s just one date and I'll make the poor girl realise that I'm already dating the most amazing person I have ever met.”

“Blaine, you don’t have to tell her about me if it is going to cause problems with your father. The people important to us already know about our relationship and that’s all that matters to me.”

Looking into Kurt’s eyes Blaine vowed, “I won’t hide our relationship, Kurt as though it is a shameful secret. I want you to be proud to be with me. I am so lucky to be with you and I want everyone to know just how wonderful you are. I want to introduce you to my family but I can't because of Father and I hate it.”

“I am already proud of you and to be dating you, Blaine. I...I just don’t want you to get hurt because of me and I want you to stop feeling guilty about not introducing me to your family. I'm willing to wait until you think it is best to be introduced to your family.”

Blaine admitted, “I am counting the days until my eighteenth birthday when you can meet them. I can’t wait to introduce you to Cara and Andrew. I just know you will like them.”

“I am looking forward to meeting them, Honey.”

Blaine smiled at Kurt’s sincerity, pleased that Kurt was looking forward to the only people in his family apart from his Grandma Lin that he cared about. Blaine knew he was lucky to have his sister because without her, Blaine wasn’t sure if he would even be alive. His sister was the one to find him crying when he had first come to terms with his sexuality and was the one to tell him that being gay was perfectly normal. It was his sister who had promised to help find him a way to get out of the oppressive Anderson household, by arranging for their father to overhear her boyfriend remark  how pleased he was that Dalton had made his cousin become a man instead of the destructive force he had once been. Cara had also arranged for a copy of the Dalton prospectus to be delivered, supposedly by accident to their house.

“If you want to, you can come by my house after the party if it doesn’t finish too late,” Kurt said hoping his dad really wouldn’t mind.

Kurt hoped that his dad would understand why he was worried about what kind of damage Blaine’s father could be inflicting upon him. Kurt hated that Blaine’s father was such a cold man who seemed to think nothing of berating Blaine on a daily basis and he couldn’t believe someone as amazing as Blaine could survive such a destructive, abusive home.

“I might take you up on that,” Blaine said with a wide grin as he pulled Kurt into his arms.

Kurt quickly wrapped an arm around Blaine’s waist as he soaked up the feeling of contentment that he only felt around Blaine. Kurt felt like the luckiest boy in the world to be able to call Blaine his boyfriend and one day he would be able to call Blaine his lover. He had no idea how long it would be until that happened but he knew that Blaine agreed that they would only make love when it felt right for both of them.

“Kurt, I was thinking we could talk to the rest of the Warblers today, just to let them know how much we appreciate their support for our relationship.”

Kurt nodded commenting, “That is a good idea. They are wonderful great friends, Blaine. You know, it is a shame I couldn’t say the same about people at McKinley. Are you ready to go? We’re supposed to meet in the common room in nine minutes and Wes will have a fit if we are late.”

“I just need to get my coat, Beautiful.” Blaine said, taking hold of Kurt’s bag before his boyfriend had a chance to complain.

Kurt just smiled at Blaine’s charming display of manners, for some reason Blaine seemed to think it was his duty to carry his bag or his books as the case may be. Kurt would never complain because it was one of the reasons he loved Blaine. He knew Blaine wasn’t doing it to emasculate him and it was just a part of Blaine's natural instincts.

Once Blaine had picked up his black coat, he opened the door for Kurt to walk out in front of him. Kurt waited for Blaine to come out of the room before gently taking Blaine’s hand as they walked through the hallways, secure in the knowledge that in Dalton they were safe. Kurt knew it was something he could have said about McKinley, where he would have been anticipating some kind of attack. The safe environment had been confusing at first, he had jumped whenever someone brushed against him in the hallways, approached him carrying a Slushy and had spent a month terrified that he would be attacked by some of the football team. He had berated himself at first for being so irrational but he knew that he shouldn’t have expected Dalton to erase all his fears immediately. He had gone through years of pain and it would take some time to heal the emotional and mental scars McKinley had given him but he held firm to the belief that he would heal.

When they arrived outside the Warbler Common Room, Kurt opened the door and grinned at the eager greetings from his friends.

Flint smirked saying, “Hi Endearing, hi Dapper boy!”

“Hi Kurt, hi Blaine.” Trent said solemnly before giggling.

“Dalton’s Sweethearts are here, finally!” Nick said excitedly.

With a pointed look at his watch Wes said, “Nice to see you too arrived, you are only two minutes and fifteen seconds late.”

David rolled his eyes, “Relax, Wes. I factored in a thirty minute Klaine delay into our plans in case the lovebirds wanted to have a little alone time. We have got plenty of time.”

“Just what are we going to do this weekend?” Kurt queried, unable to contain his excitement any longer.

David smiled, “Wes insisted we have a rough itinerary, of course so we know exactly what we're doing, clearly he thinks it would be chaos if left to us. Today we are going bowling, followed by lunch then we are going to play paintball followed by shopping and then we are going to The Cincinnatian Hotel where Flint has arranged for us to stay tonight. The next day we will have breakfast then see a movie followed before returning to Dalton in plenty of time for those who are day students to get home without their parents becoming concerned.”

“Of course you have a schedule,” Kurt said with a laugh.

“Can everyone please sit down, Kurt and I have something we need to say to you all.”

Alarmed at Blaine’s request Nick asked, “You two haven’t broken up, right?”

At Nick’s question, the rest of the Warblers focused their gazes on Blaine and Kurt looking worried, confused and hurt.

“No, of course not,” Kurt assured, touched by how much his friends cared about their relationship.

Smiling softly Blaine said, “Kurt and I spoke to New Directions yesterday about a certain book I received from them. A member of New Directions mentioned a book you sent them about how to be a good friend, we want to thank you for doing it.

Kurt said sincerely, “We are so lucky to have friends like you and we wanted to let you know how much we appreciate you and the support you have given us.”

David said honestly, “Of course we support you, Blaine. You two are our friends and we would do anything for our friends.”

Thad nodded, “We also know the boundaries of friendship, we would never presume to intrude on your relationship but we will help if you ask.”

“You have no idea how great it is to hear someone say that,” Kurt said honestly,

“Now, I know this is a very touching scene but we need to get going. Everyone, please get into your assigned cars,” Wes commanded, purposely ignoring the rolled eyes and amused smiles from his fellow Warblers.

Kurt couldn’t help but smile knowing Wes wasn’t one for emotional scenes because he preferred to display his affection for his friends in other ways such as making sure the common room was comfortable for Kurt when he had a migraine. It was partly due to his friendships at McKinley that Kurt had recognised Wes’ behaviour since Santana also preferred to show through actions not words that she considered someone her friend.

Tightly holding his boyfriend’s hand Blaine led the way out of the building and walked straight to his car. Blaine and Kurt would be joined by the only other couple in the Warblers, Jeff and Nick who seemed to enjoy having another couple they could hang out with. Once inside the car, Blaine put the mix disc he had created especially for their road trip into the stereo and smiled when Bad Romance start playing since he knew it was one of Kurt’s favourite Lady Gaga songs.