As he lay beside his boyfriend, Blaine once again thanked the universe for bringing the other teen into his life. With Kurt by his side, Blaine felt certain he would be able to deal with the difficult times ahead. Blaine wasn’t one for self-delusion, he knew life would be difficult for a while, as he would have to cope with a totally new environment since there was no way he could afford Dalton’s tuition fees. Blaine would have to find somewhere nearby to live because there was no way he would leave Kurt, he truly felt Kurt was his future. He found it terrifying sometimes, how easy it was to imagine their future together. He and Kurt already had plans to live together in New York, with Kurt going to NYDA and he going to NYU to study criminal law. Blaine’s dream was to become a District Attorney, something his father insisted would be an insult to the Anderson name. His father had insisted that anything less than an Attorney General was beneath an Anderson’s attention.

“Are you okay, baby?” Kurt asked softly, noticing the sudden tension in Blaine’s body.

“Where am I going to live now? I don’t want to leave you, Kurt.”

“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. We’ve got some time to find somewhere nearby for you to live,” Kurt said soothingly.

His breath catching in his throat Blaine said, “I hope so, there’s nothing I want more.”

Taking a deep breath Blaine switched on his phone and looked at the display, finding out there were four voicemail messages. Blaine dialled his voicemail, unsure as to if his father would simply disown him by message, he wouldn’t past the man since his father had never cared about giving terrible news by message. When Blaine had been in a coma after the Sadie Hawkins dance his father had told Cooper by voicemail, which Cooper had revealed one night when he thought Blaine couldn’t hear.

Blaine’s body tensed up as he heard his father’s voice, quickly pressing the phone onto speaker phone feeling it would be best for Kurt to hear everything that was said because Blaine knew he wouldn’t be able to repeat the terrible words without crying.

“Blaine, I have had enough of your deplorable, disgusting, amoral behaviour. I will not let you destroy everything I have worked for by flaunting your perversion. You are not fit to be my son or to bear the Anderson name, unfortunately, I cannot remove the Anderson name but I can make sure you never benefit from it. I disown you completely, you are no longer in my will, or have access to any Anderson funds. You are no longer welcome at any of my properties and should you step foot on them, I will have you arrested for trespassing.”

Although he had been warned what was coming, it still hurt Blaine to hear the man he had called father coldly throw him aside. It would probably hurt for a long time but Blaine would not give the man the power to destroy his life, he was going to work hard and achieve his dreams. He was certain that one day his father would realise just what he had lost due to bigoted beliefs.

“I guess that’s it then. We should get going, Beautiful, the others will be waiting for us.” Blaine said standing, flinching slightly at the loud click when he stretched his arms.

Blaine tried to think of a way to voice his idea that he should attend a public high school instead of Dalton because he couldn’t expect Cooper to pay for his tuition. While the very though of it terrified him, he couldn’t think of another solution. He would miss Kurt terribly but at least they would have the weekends and after school.

Standing Kurt briefly kissed Blaine’s cheek before walking over to the table and picking up his phone. ready to meet their friends. Kurt was sure their friends wouldn’t be upset by their decision not to go bowling, perhaps one of them would ask if everything was okay but that was it. In fact, his friends might even think that they needed to talk after their recent terrible experiences with New Directions.

Kurt would normally want to have a shower and get changed but they didn’t have enough time. Going to his bag, Kurt took out his hairbrush and quickly fixed his hair since he refused to let anyone see his hair in less than an immaculate condition.
*******
“Lovebirds,” Flint said with a smirk as he saw his friends approaching.

Kurt rolled his eyes, “Hi, Flint. We do have names, you know.”

“Lovebirds just seems right and it’s amazingly cute like you two are together,” Flint cooed.

Blaine said sincerely, “Thank you.”

Blaine shook his head fondly as he clutched Kurt’s hand, they had such amazing friends even if they did get teased for being a little sappy sometimes.

“You missed it, man. Our team totally trounced our esteemed leader’s team Valiant.”

“You named your team Valiant?” Kurt asked looking at Wes in disbelief.

Wes said indignantly, “Hey, it’s a good name!”

Trent smiled, “Yeah, for a ship.”

“He has a point,” David said laughing when Wes frowned at him.

“Just for that you can’t have any of my mom’s Sesame Cookies when they arrive on Friday,” Wes said triumphantly.

David pouted, unable to believe his best friend was going to deprive him of the delicious treats. Knowing his luck, the rest of the Warblers would finish them off before he managed to convince Wes to relent on the ban.

Taking an envelope from his pocket Wes said, “Now we need to arrange our paintball teams. I am going to be in charge of team one and David is team two’s leader. Now to be fair, I’ve written numbers onto pieces of paper, and placed them into an envelope. Everyone pick a number and you will find out what team you are in.”

The group of boys nodded and each one took out a piece of paper from the envelope, waiting until everyone had selected their team number before opening them. One by one they announced their teams, surprised when the teams were relatively evenly matched in terms of athletic ability and experience.

Kurt and Blaine ended up on different teams, much to their disappointment but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be playing to win. Each boy had a competitive nature and would not let their relationship stop them from working hard to help their team win.
*******
Back in Lima Rachel was busy trying to think of some way to make Kurt realise that she was still his best friend and that her warnings to Blaine were with the best of intentions. While her warnings may have been slightly strong worded, her sentiment was sincere. As Kurt’s friend it was her duty to look after him which included making his boyfriend realise that Kurt should be cherished and loved. as the sound of Don't Stop Believin' filled the air, Rachel answered her phone with a smile in anticipation of talking to Finn.

“Hello Finn, did you manage to talk with Kurt about his behaviour?”

“Hey Rach. I talked to him but he is still really upset.”

“Did you tell him that I was only looking out for him like a friend should?” Rachel said pointedly, unsure as to if Finn would have made that point clear to Kurt.

Finn said seriously, “Yeah, I told him. I kinda get why he’s upset, though. If someone had said the same things to you that you wrote to Blaine, I would be really mad and hurt. K...Kurt’s looking out for his boyfriend and I think it hurt him that we all kinda told him that we don’t think he could handle a relationship.”

Shocked Rachel said passionately, “I can’t believe you, Finn. How can you take his side! You know that I would never hurt Kurt and I have always had his well being in mind.”

“I'm just saying that’s why he’s upset. I'm going to be watching to make sure Blaine doesn’t do anything to upset Kurt and if he does, I'll be there. Maybe you need to think about how you would feel in Kurt’s place, it might make things a little clearer.”

“I don’t need to do that, Finn. I am right and Kurt will soon realise I did the right thing. You just have to make Kurt see that. You should do it when Blaine’s not there because otherwise Blaine will just make it look like you are just being petty.”

“I'm keeping out it. I can’t take sides or it would be weird and someone would get hurt.”

“Finn, don’t be silly, of course you are on my side.”

“I'm not on any side,” Finn insisted

“I've got to work on my song for Kurt.”

“Maybe you should give him some space,” Finn suggested remembering the pain and anger in Kurt’s eyes that morning

“Kurt needs to know he has friends that are going to support him when his relationship with Blaine ends, he needs to know I am here for him.”

Finn was confused as to why Rachel would automatically think the pair would break up. He hadn’t spent that much time with Kurt and Blaine or seen them behaving like a couple but he knew Kurt loved Blaine, even if his brother hadn’t admitted it to Blaine yet.

“I've got to go, Rachel. Burt asked for me to help in the garage,” Finn said stumblingly, needing to get off the phone so he could think about everything and knowing Rachel would accept his excuse.

Saying goodbye, Rachel ended the call and turned back to her computer to find the perfect song. She was halfway through the D’s section of her music library when she found the perfect song. She already knew the words, all she needed was a few days practice and her performance would be ready to be shown to the public.
*******
Cooper Anderson looked down at the book in front of him, trying to figure out how to pay for his little brother’s schooling and find somewhere for Blaine to live. A quick look at the school’s website showed that Cooper didn’t have the funds to pay for Blaine to board at Dalton since he had seriously underestimated the cost of tuition. He could pay for Dalton if Blaine was a day student He dreaded the call he would have to make later to tell his brother that he would be forced to go back to the high school where he had been viciously attacked. Blaine’s godmother lived in Ohio as did many of Cooper’s close friends but he wasn’t sure any of them would agree to have Blaine live with them or if they would be as homophobic as his father.

The first thing Cooper would have to do was speak with their aunt and Blaine’s godmother, Andrea to ask if she would let Blaine live with her. If not, then Cooper would speak to his friends and see if they would let Blaine board with them, if he paid for Blaine to live there.

Going through his contact list, Cooper found Andrea’s number and dialled her number, mentally planning what he was going to say. At least he knew that she wasn’t homophobic since she had always been supported Blaine, often calling out their father for his callous treatment of Blaine not that their father listened. Cooper had lost count of the number of times he had heard his father insulting her and complaining that she was going to make Blaine never recovered from the brainwashing that had made him believe he was gay.

“Hello, Andrea Gordon designs. Andrea speaking, how may I help?”

Cooper smiled at his aunt’s greeting saying, “Aunt Andrea, it’s Cooper. Have you got some time to talk?”

“I always have time for you, Cooper. What do you want to talk about?”

Cooper explained, “Father has disowned Blaine and I need some help to make sure Blaine is okay. For some absurd reason father believed Blaine can suddenly be straight. As Blaine made it clear that he’s gay and nothing can change that, father disowned him. I need some help to make sure Blaine is okay.”

“I'll do everything I can to look after Blaine. What do you need from me?” Andrea said, disgusted with her brother.

“Could Blaine live with you so that he can finish high school?” Cooper asked eagerly.

Andrea said smiling, “Of course. It will be nice to have someone else in the house. We should probably to get Blaine moved in quickly because knowing your father he will throw all of Blaine’s stuff away soon. I'll go to your parent’s house today and get everything picked up.”

Cooper said relieved, “You are wonderful, Aunt. Blaine will be so happy, I think he was worried he would have leave Ohio. I'll call Blaine and let him know that he will be moving in with you. He’ll be totally stoked, I know he doesn’t get as much time with you as he wants.”

“I'll always be there for you, Blaine and Cara. If you need anything just call me,” Andrea said honestly.

“I will do. Bye,” Cooper said, relieved that he had solved one problem for Blaine.

Andrea said softly, “Goodbye, Cooper.”

Cooper ended the call and looked down at his notepad, crossing off the first item on the list. Now to the second item to find a lawyer that could help with the process of making Blaine emancipated since he wanted to make sure Blaine was as protected from his father’s machinations as possible.