Kurt stepped out of his car on the first day of school and grabbed his new messenger bag from the passenger seat. He dusted off the nonexistent dirt from his black skinny jeans and red bondage jacket. Once he was sure he was presentable, he started making his way up to the school, almost immediately joined by Puck. Apparently, Puck hadn’t been kidding about being Kurt’s bodyguard when he returned because ever since Kurt had transferred back, it was hard to find him without at least one of the glee guys following him around.

“Hey, Hummel, so I was wondering, since I heard your parents are gonna be away this weekend, if we can—”.

“Don’t even think about it Puckerman,” Mercedes cut in, walking up to join them. “Kurt’s a good boy and Mr. Hummel trusts him. Ain’t that right, Kurt?”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Well, hello to you, too. My morning has been absolutely splendid so far, and yours?”

He was ignored as Mercedes and Puck squabbled and turned the corner away from them, but he didn’t really mind as his phone began to vibrate in his bag and he knew who it would be.

Have fun at school today, love. I love you. Courage. – xoxo Blaine

Kurt couldn’t stop the smile that over took his face as he finally reached his locker and spun the combination.

You, too. I love you. – xoxo Kurt

Would he ever get tired of saying that? Or of hearing it? Gosh, he hoped not.

Blaine and he had just celebrated their 7month anniversary two days ago and were going stronger than ever. Their summer had been amazing with Kurt going to all of Blaine’s summer gigs and the two of them hanging out in the Hummel’s backyard when Kurt wasn’t helping his dad in the garage. Kurt didn’t like to get ahead of himself, but when he pictured his future, he pictured Blaine in it.

“Hey, homo!” Kurt stiffened and slowly turned around to see Azimio and Jackson, another of the football thugs, making their way towards him. Karofsky had been good since the whole Prom fiasco but that didn’t mean the rest of the school was suddenly ready to embrace the gay. “Miss us? We sure missed you. And we even brought you a little present.”

Kurt didn’t know where Puck had gone but suddenly he was back again, alongside Mike and Artie. “Watch yourself, Azimio. I ain’t afraid to go back to juvie if it means putting you in your place.”

“I would have thought the summer would have straightened you out, Puckerman,” Jackson laughed. “But I can see your still queer as ever from the faggy little club of yours. What did you do this summer? I bet you spent all your time shacking up with Princess here. Tell me, do you give it to him or do you like it up the ass like the rest of the queers?”

Puck was ready to launch himself at the pair was Mike was able to hold him back. Before anything drastic could happen, Kurt took a deep breath, thinking back to the text he had just been sent from his loving boyfriend. Courage. ”Are you saying you like it up the butt, Jackson?”

Azimio growled, taking a step forward. “We ain’t queer you little freak.”

Kurt shrugged innocently. “You could have fooled me. You seem mightily invested in who I spend my time with. It seems like someone’s a little jealous.”

Azimio took another step forward alongside Jackson, fists raised, but Artie was quicker. Mike, still struggling to hold on to Puck, laughed as the meatheads jumped back, yelping from the pain of having a kid in a wheelchair running over your toes.

“You better watch your step, Princess.” And with that and one last sneer, they turned away.

Mike finally release Puck who then turned and punched a locker with the side of his fist. “I hate them! They can’t just go around saying shit like that to you, Hummel! It ain’t right!”

Kurt hesitantly put a hand on Puck’s shoulder. “It’s alright, Puck. I’m fine. Nothing I can’t handle.”

Puck turned back to the group, eyes blazing. “But you shouldn’t have to handle. That’s what we’re here for. If you’d just let me get a few good punches in…”

“No! Noah, you listen to me,” Kurt started furiously, removing his hand from Pucks shoulder and placing it on his cocked hip. “You will not punch or hurt anybody, especially because of me. I can handle it just fine on my own. And I’m not alone anymore. I have you guys for back up. And I have a lot more courage than I did before.”

Kurt smiled at the small reminder of his boyfriend but it didn’t last long.

That’s when Mike decided to remind the group of his presence. “Does that have anything to do with that picture of the that dude in your locker that says ‘Courage’.” And he nodded to said to said picture as all the boys turned to look at it, causing Kurt to slam his locker shut.

Blaine and Kurt had discussed their relationship and had decided it’d be best to keep it quiet. Of course, their families knew and the Warblers, Rachel, and Mercedes, but Kurt was worried that rest of the glee club would be uncomfortable. He knew they all knew he was gay and liked him just fine, but he also knew they got uncomfortable around him sometimes and knowing he’s gay and actually seeing him with a boyfriend are completely different. So far they had been doing a pretty good job at keeping their relationship a bit more secretive. Finn was the hardest as he had had to promise to keep it a secret from Puck, but just reminding him of how much he owed Kurt for all the bullying he had endured was enough.

Yes, the glee club knew that Kurt had a friend from the Warblers and they did pretty much everything together. Blaine had gone to prom with Kurt but New Directions had spent most of their time on stage. They saw them dance at the end but that didn’t have to necessarily mean they were together and Kurt was very good at avoiding questions. Same thing with “Somewhere Only We Know”. As far as New Directions knew, the Warblers had just wanted to say goodbye.

Kurt murmured something unintelligible before turning back to the boys. “We better go or we’ll be late to class.”

As is common knowledge, boys have extremely short attention spans, so as you can imagine, that was the end of that conversation.

The morning was strange but passed in a blur. There were girls in every corner, whispering and giggling, and at first, Kurt just assumed it was a first day of school thing until he overheard a group of Cheerios talking in the back of his Science class.

“I saw him sitting in the Principles office. I think he’s a new transfer.”

“Is he as hot as Jessica said he was?”

“Even hotter.”

Then all the girls dissolved in to giggles and began talking at such a high frequency that Kurt could feel himself losing brain cells with each passing second of eavesdropping, so he turned back to pay attention to his teacher.

Alright, so there’s a new transfer student. Big whoop. Who really cares? Kurt knew that wasn’t really fair because before Blaine he would have been gossiping with the rest of the girls, but now he did have Blaine so what did it really matter.

He met Mercedes, Rachel, and Tina at his locker and they all made their way to cafeteria. Once there, they all sat down at the New Directions’ table where the rest of the group was waiting for them.

“Did you guys hear?” Quinn started.

“If you’re going to tell us about this supposedly hunky new transfer, then yes,” Mercedes answered.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t heard about him,” Rachel added.

Tina threw in her own two cents as she took her place next to Mike. “I heard that this morning was spent finalizing all the paperwork but now that he’s done he’ll be able to go to lunch and the rest of his classes.”

All of a sudden, there was commotion in the middle of the lunchroom where a huge group of girls were surrounding someone. It was almost comical how the girls on the outskirts of the circle were trying to crane their heads to get a better look.

“Mmmh-hmm,” Santana hummed. “I’ve seen him. He’s gorgeous. And sweeties, he’s all mine.”

“Santana!” The girls and Kurt admonished, finally dragging the boys out of their in depth conversation about some video game they were planning on having a tournament for that weekend.

“What’s going on?” Finn asked, only just noticing the fuss everyone was making a few tables away where someone was obviously trying to get through the crowd.

“There’s some new dude that all the girls are going gaga over,” Puck told him.

“Hey, Kurt?” Mike cut in before anyone could say anything. “Isn’t that the guy from your locker?”

“What?” A few of the other members asked but Kurt was already spun around in his seat and…

Holy mother of pearl.

At the same time Kurt turned to look, Blaine spotted him and their eyes connected. Kurt’s mouth fell open with a pop as he took in the fact that his boyfriend was THERE and that said boyfriend, with his gorgeous curly hair without gel, happened to be wearing dark-wash jeans and a tight black t-shirt that should just be completely illegal. No wonder those girls were going crazy.

Kurt stood up and finally regained enough control over his muscles to shut his mouth. His whole table was staring at him now but he couldn’t be bothered to care because there was Blaine, and he was making his way over to him.

The crowd seemed to part a little as they saw Blaine walking with purpose. Then, obviously, since Cheerios are known to have IQs that match their shoe size, intercepted him.

“Oh, honey, you don’t wanna go over there. They’re all freaks. But if you want a good time, me and my friends would be glad to help.” She gave what she must’ve though was a seductive look as her friends behind her all giggled.

Blaine didn’t even have the chance to look uncomfortable before Santana was standing next to him as well.

“I don’t think so. Get your hands off my man!”

Kurt felt white-hot jealousy shoot through him and tried to shake it off. He knew he was being stupid considering Blaine was gay for starters, and very much in love with Kurt, but still. Kurt could feel Finn, Rachel, and Mercedes’s wide eyed glances on his back as he stood there, watching the scene play out.

“Actually—” Blaine tried to cut in, but didn’t have the chance.

“Why would he choose you, Little Miss Fake-Boobs, when he can have all natural?”

“Watch was you say, Miller, or—”

But neither of them got to finish because Blaine, obviously having gotten tired of the cat fights going on around him, walked around the girls and made his way over to Kurt. The girls shut up pretty quickly once they realized he had left only to see him making his way to the New Directions table. Santana shot the other Cheerio a smug glance before quickly flouncing off after him.

She reached him before he reached the table and linked arms with him. “I promise I won’t make you regret it. How about my place, tonight? I’ll rock your world.”

Blaine looked uncomfortable again as he carefully slipped his arm out of hers. “Look, I’m sure you’re a lovely girl, but I’m actually taken at the moment.”

All the girls sighed miserably. Of course he was taken. But Santana didn’t give up.

“Trust me, whatever she can do, I can do better.”

“Um, well…”

They had finally reached the table and his earlier conversation with Santana was immediately forgotten as he laid eyes on his beautiful boyfriend. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Kurt answered.

Blaine visibly relaxed and started apologizing. “I just couldn’t take it! Dalton’s so far away and I know you didn’t want people to know and I’m sorry but please!”

Kurt stared at him for a few seconds, Blaine shifting from foot to foot, but a small smile broke free which Blaine took as to mean he was forgiven and grinned back.

“Someone want to tell me what’s going on,” Santana voiced what everyone else was thinking as she laced her arm back through Blaine’s and placed her other hand on his chest.

Kurt turned his stare towards her and looked her up and down, in a challenging way no one had seen before. “Santana,” he started sweetly but with bite, “get your hands off my man.”

Santana’s eyes widened and the cafeteria was silent. Some jock in the back let out a loud cough that sounded suspiciously like “fags”. She swore under her breath as she unlaced herself from Blaine.

“Why are the hot ones always gay?”

Blaine smiled at her apologetically but wasted no time in going to Kurt, kissing him on the cheek and taking the seat the empty seat beside him that Mercedes had just vacated for him a second ago.

“Hey Rachel, Mercedes, Finn,” Blaine greeted happily as Kurt sat down beside him, trying to ignore the hundreds of stares he felt boring into his back.

“Hey, Blaine,” they chorused back.

Kurt glanced at his boyfriend from the corner of his eye to see him looking back. Kurt sighed and placed his hand on his boyfriend’s thigh. He knew Blaine would never initiate any physical contact because he knew how uptight Kurt was when it came to PDA, but Blaine had come to McKinley for him. Despite everything that Blaine had been through and everything he knew Kurt endured every day, he had come. And as cheesy as it sounded, Blaine gave Kurt courage.

Looking at Blaine again, Kurt saw him smiling and gently placing a hand on top of Kurt’s, and as they turned to face the multitude of question their friends were bound to have, Kurt knew they’d be okay.