Kurt had found that he quite liked Dalton. Everyone there was really friendly, and the Warblers all accepted him as one of their own. He had all of his classes with at least one of them, and he felt that he was quickly becoming good friends with all of them, and Blaine was always there to help him. Ah yes. Blaine Devon Anderson. His hero, his saviour, his mentor, his best friend, and also the man he was in love with. Of course he would never admit that out loud, and as much as he tried to deny it, he knew it was true. He had fallen head over heels for his best friend, and there was nothing he could do about it, he was in way too deep. He told himself that it was just a silly crush, but he knew that that was probably the biggest lie he had ever told himself. He really was, truly and deeply in love with Blaine. He made his way down to lunch, trying his best to shake his thoughts about Blaine from his mind. He reached the canteen, got his lunch and made his way to the table where the Warblers always sat. Just as he was about to take a seat inbetween Wes and Jeff, Trent came over and slipped into the seat, laughing and joking with the others. Looking around, he realised that there was nowhere for him to sit.

"Guys? Blaine?" he asked, moving around the table carrying his lunch on a tray. They all ignored him, carrying on as if he had never spoken. You would have thought he was invisible, a ghost from Dalton's past. Feeling left out, Kurt sighed and moved to an empty table where he sat and ate his lunch alone. I'll bring it up during Warbler practice today he thought, trying to forget about it, telling himself it was just a one time thing, and that the canteen was a loud place, but deep down he knew it was something more. He looked over at the Warbler table longingly. They looked so happy. He should be there, part of that group. He thought he was...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lucky I'm in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where I've been" Kurt sang quitely as he walked to the practice room for Warbler practice. His singing was cut short as he opened the doors. It was empty. He checked his watch to make sure he wasn't early. Nope, he was exactly on time. Maybe they're just lateKurt thought as he set his bag down and sat on one of the large plush couches.

He kept checking his watch every five minutes, but nobody came. An hour later, Kurt grabbed his bag and sulked off to his dorm room. Maybe he just got the practice days wrong. He knew that he was just making excuses for himself, he knew that they practiced every day other than Friday, and it was Tuesday, but he did it to make himself feel better. He walked into his room and dropped on the bed, crying softly into the pillow. He didn't know what was going on, but it was something.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday night. Kurt had decided to stay at Dalton that weekend to catch up on studying, and he knew that if he went home his friends would surround him with questions about his new school, and he just didn't have time for that. He'd been sitting on his bed with textbooks surrounding him for hours, but he couldn't concentrate due to the loud yelling and screaming coming for the room a few doors down. It sounded like some sort of crazy party. A crazy party that Kurt wasn't invited to. He didn't mind though, because he probably didn't know the people having the party, but the other Warblers probably did, and it would have been nice if they had told him about it. But why would they? He hadn't spoken to any of them for a week, he'd only seen them in Warbler practice, but they all seemed to ignore him there, acting like he wasn't even sitting there. After the first couple of days, he'd given up trying to be noticiced and just sat there doing nothing, hoping to be noticed.

Groaning in frustration he slammed his textbooks shut, got up and stormed over to the room where the party was. He threw open the door, ready to scream at them, when he saw what it was. There was a large banner saying "Warbler Annual Bonding Night", the Warblers were jumping around, singing and having a good time. Without him. He knew he had to take action now, this was getting out of hand.

"HEY! Guys, this is getting totally unfair, I've been here for a month now, and for the last week you've all been treating me like I'm not even here! I've had enough of it, I thought we were friends! Especially you Blaine, we were best friends, and now I'm invisible to you?" Kurt yelled, standing in the doorway.

"Jeff, come on, this next song is ours!" Nick called, pulling Jeff up.

Kurt felt the tears prickling his eyes, and he ran before they could escape. He collapsed on his bed sobbing. He had no idea what he had done, and he didn't think he was going to find out soon. But hey, it was Regionals tomorrow, they would see him then, they would have to talk to him, remind him where to stand and everything. It would all be sorted by tomorrow. That's what Kurt told himself as he fell into a dreamless sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kurt woke up, pumped for Regionals. Today was a good day, he could feel it. He got all of his uniform on, went through the lyrics and headed off. Just as he left the gates, he saw the bus pulling away, the Warblers singing away on it. His heart dropped.

"WAIT!" He yelled, running after the bus. "You forgot me, wait!"

But he knew that it was no use. The bus was out of sight, they'd gone, leaving him behind. They probably hadn't even realised. Choking back tears, Kurt ran back into the school, collapsing on his bed in tears for the third time in the past week. He felt sick to his stomach. Something must be going on here, he couldn't have just dropped out of their minds and lives over night. It was too sudden. Too sudden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't believe we won!" Blaine yelled as the Warblers got off the bus, ecstatic after their win at Regionals.

"Yeh, I thought the New Directions would win, those original songs were amazing!" Wes said, clapping each Warbler on the back.

"New Directions....why does that name sound so familiar?" David ask, a look of confusion washing over his face.

Everyone stopped, lost in thought for a second.

"No idea" Thad concluded, shrugging his shoulders.

"This win means a celebration. Come on, let's go to my dorm room!" Jeff yelled, punching his fist in the air.

The Warblers whooped and hollered as they made their way to Jeff's dorm, ready for a party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kurt could hear them, hear them celebrating their blatant win. Of course they'd won, with Blaine singing that breathtaking solo. He wiped away his tears, and tried to carry on studying, doing everything he could to ingore the sounds of champagne bottle being opened, ignoring the cheers, ignoring the people he thought were his friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm sorry Kurt, but it's just not possible" Burt sighed into the phone.

"But dad, it's my birthday!" Kurt yelled.

"I know kiddo, I know, and we're sending over all of your presents, but there's just no room right now, not with so many people staying here, every bed, floor and couch is taken up"

"Fine, just forget it" Kurt whispered, letting a tear escape and roll down his cheek before hanging up.

This birthday sucked. Stuck in a school where his "friends" had forgotten he existed and all alone. Just great.

With a sigh, Kurt began unpacking his bags.

Once he was done, Kurt picked up the bag of party hats and the cake he'd bought himself because he needed it to be perfect, wondering what to do with them. Well, if I can't have a birthday party with my family, I could always have one by myself...Kurt thought. He cried silently as he lit the candles on his cake, strapped on a party hat and turned off the lights. He sat on the floor in the middle of his room with the cake in front of him, the candles flickering in the dark.

"Happy birthday to me" Kurt began to sing quietly to himself. "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear me, happy birthday to me" he finished, sobbing in his room. And this was his 17th birthday, the year before his 18th, the year he wanted to spend with his friends. His first birthday with friends, he couldn't see the ones back home and the ones here were apparently not his friends. A knock on his door, and the presents from his family were there. Piles and piles of them, which you would have thought would make him happy, but it just reminded him of how alone he was. He had nobody to open presents with, nobody to see the look of enlightenment on his face, nobody to share this moment with him. He kept them unopened, surrounding the room, where he sat in the middle, ready to blow out his candles. Just as he leaned forward, poised to blow them out, his door flew open.

"I don't think anyone stays in this room, come on guys, we can practice here whilst the practice room is being repainted!" Wes called, waving all of the Warblers into the room. They filed in, chatting loudly. Blaine was the first one to stop.

"Oh my god....Kurt! I-I haven't seen you in so long, where have you been?" Blaine stuttered, knowing full well what he'd done.

"Don't pull that crap Blaine. You forgot about me, didn't you? All of you did. Somehow, overnight, you forgot I existed. For three weeks now. I thought you were my best friend. Oh, and by the way, it's my birthday. Remember, I told you the day before you all left me alone? No, of course you don't because it slipped your mind, didn't it? And I don't mean my birthday, I mean me. I slipped your mind. Some friends. And I thought it was all going really well here" Kurt snapped, standing up and wiping away his tears, begging himself to make them stop, but they kept pouring out of his eyes. "And that goes for all of you. I might as well transfer back to McKinley, at least I get noticed there, even if it's in the worst way possible. I think you should all just leave"

"Come on guys, let's go" Trent muttered, looking at Kurt apologetically.

"I'm so sorry Kurt"
"I never meant for this to happen"
"If I can do anything to make it up to you, I'll do it" was said to him as the Warblers left. All but one. Blaine stayed standing right in front of him, tears filling his own eyes. David closed the door behind all of them, knowing that Blaine wasn't planning on leaving any time soon, leaving the two of them alone.

"Kurt, listen-" Blaine started, moving towards Kurt.

"No Blaine, youlisten. I was happy here, I was so, so happy, I finally felt accepted, I was beginning to get really comfortable here, I felt safe! Everything was finally going wellin my life, I had friends who cared about me, I had you, even if it wasn't in the way I wanted! But what? Was it all a lie, an accident? Was I wrong about you? Did you even ever like me? Even if it's just as a friend, because I can tell you right now, I like you as way more than a friend, and I feel like I've just been kidding myself this past month, and I really hate myself more than ever right now, and you know why? Because I loved you before, and I should hate you right now, but I still love you for some weird, mucked up reason! I love you so much that it hurts, I never thought I could feel this way about anyone, and you clearlydon't feel the same why about me, seeing as you fricking forgot that I exist!" Kurt slapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes turning wide. Oh god....I just told him I love him he thought, making a move for the door. Before he could reach it, Blaine grabbed his arm, spun him round and smashed their lips together.

"I love you" Blaine whispered, his eyes closed tight.

"Oh come on" Kurt scoffed, yanking himself away. "Right, of course, you forgot about me, yet you love me. Sure, like that one's true"

"It is Kurt! Maybe I didn't realise it before, when I...when I forgot, but hearing you say all of that, I realise now. I love you, I really do, and words don't even beging to explain how truly and deeply sorry I am. I'm so sorry Kurt, so, so, sodamn sorry" Blaine yelled, sobbing. "I'm so sorry" he whispered, breaking down. He dropped onto Kurt's bed, his face buried in his hands. "I'm so sorry, so damn sorry" he kept whispering, over and over again. "GOD!" he screamed punching the bed. "I'm the world's worst person, I can't believe I ever did this, I don't know how" Blaine jumped up and grabbed Kurt's face in his hands, holding him close like he never wanted to let go. "I'm so sorry, please forgive me, I'll do anything, just please, please, please forgive me, I love you, I love you, please forgive me, I don't want to be without you now, I can't believe I never realised sooner, I'm so damn stupid, please Kurt, please!"

"Blaine...." Kurt sighed, moving his head away from Blaine's. His heart panged in his chest. He felt so strongly about this man, the emotions in his voice were real, he could tell, but he just didn't know. Maybe he could just... "Kiss me again" he whispered, turning back to Blaine.

"What?" Blaine asked, snapping out of whatever state he was in.

"Kiss me again" Kurt repeated, bolder this time.

Blaine moved forward, kissing him gently this time, their lips moving in sync, letting him feel the passion and love he felt. They pulled apart, and Blaine rested his forehead against Kurt's.

"Please" he whispered shakily.

"You really love me?" Kurt asked.

Blaine nodded his head quickly, his eyes wide and passionate. "Yes, yes, definitely yes, yes"

Kurt looked down and bit his lip. "Open presents with me?" he asked, looking up at Blaine through his eyelashes.

"Of course" Blaine grinned, breathing a sigh of relief. They sat together in the middle of Kurt's room, smiling at each other.

All of the pain and hurt Kurt had been feeling over the past few weeks vanished as they sat there, Blaine passing him presents and Kurt opening them. Once they were all open and the wrapping paper in the bin, they sat in front of the cake next to each other.

"Make a wish" Blaine said.

Kurt squeezed his eyes shut tight, made a wish and blew out the candles. Before he could open his eyes, he felt a pair of soft lips on his.

"Happy Birthday" Blaine whispered, kissing him once more.

"You just made my wish come true" Kurt whispered back, earning himself a grin from Blaine.

"Now, I have a present for you" Blaine said, straightening up.

Kurt raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Uh-huh, sure, you forgot yet you have a present"

The smile on Blaine's face dissappeared, and it was replaced with a look of guilt.

"I really am sorry you know" he said, looking at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"I know" Kurt told him, cupping his chin and kissing him gently.

"Now, your present. Stand up and close your eyes" he said.

Kurt did as he was told.

"Now, open" he heard Blaine's soft voice say. He opened his eyes and looked down to see Blaine on one knee. He gasped, a hand flying to his mouth. Blaine took the other hand in his and looked up at him.

"Kurt Hummel. Will you do me the honour of being my boyfriend?" he asked nervously.

"Of course!" Kurt yelled, pulling Blaine up and closing the distance between them.

"I love you" Blaine whispered.

"I love you too" he whispered back.

Maybe this birthday didn't suck so much after all.