Blaine sat next to Kurt as they held hands together, waiting for Mr. Schue to come in. They had had an eventful week and he just wanted to forget it all. Well, making love to Kurt would have made him forget it, but he didn’t want to use sex as a way to forget stuff because he felt it would cheapen what they had. Kurt rubbed his hand, he wanted to hug Blaine, but he knew that people would over react. He thought to himself, Fuck the world and hugged Blaine hard, the latter trying to soak up as much comfort as he could.

          Mr. Schue came in just then, with a big smile on his face. He took the marker and wrote in big, bold letters: FOR YOUR FATHER. He said, “We had this whole discussion last week about how your parents manage to support you every step of the way, even with the generation gap slightly widening. So, this week’s assignment is to sing a song either to or for your father. And no, Puck, you cannot sing “Father Figure” by George Michael.

          “The fuck?” said Puck, who hadn’t even spoken a word since Mr. Schue had entered. The teacher then looked at Artie and said, “You wanted to say something?”

          Artie rolled himself to the centre of the room and said, “I’m sure Mr. Schue didn’t want to say it, but I was talking to Ms. Pillsbury this week about how patient my dad has been with me seeing how my going anywhere is five or ten times harder than for a normal kid. So, this is my song for my dad, and yes, I practiced it for today. No rapping.”

          He then started into a slow, harmonious rendition of Paul McCartney’s “Gratitude”.

Loved by you, I was loved by you

Yeah, I was loved by you

I wanna show my gratitude

 Wanna show my gratitude

 Yeah, show my gratitude,

 Ooh, to you Gratitude,

Show my gratitude, oh yeah…

          As he finished, the tear tracks were quite visible on his face. Luckily no one commented on it as Brittany got up and hugged the once-love-of-her-life. Santana fumed in the corner, knowing that it was just platonic but still hating it.

          Kurt looked around to see that almost everyone was wiping their tears. It was like they could see flashbacks of how Artie learned to manage the fact that he could never walk again with the help of his father. He then looked at the love of his life, who had his hands folded and was pouting. He knew that this assignment was not going to be good for him. But he didn’t know what to do. Actually, he knew he couldn’t do anything but just be there for him the way Blaine was for him.

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          Blaine was confused as to what to do. He knew that Kurt was discreet enough that no one in New Directions knew about the hate-hate relationship that he and his father had. It was a testament to how horrible it was that he had scraped the top of the barrel while telling Burt, a total stranger, about how his Dad tried to convert him back to being straight.

          If he tried hard enough (and he didn’t want to), he could still remember all those soirees which just happened to be held at his place, where all the physically charming ladies had turned up. And he was sure it was just a coincidence that all of them seemed to put a hand on his arm and talk to him like he was some hot-shot as opposed to a curly-haired fourteen year old kid.

          But he didn’t want to hide anymore. He rarely spoke to his dad anymore, his mom stopped telling him to stop the charade and grow up, and he was in pure love with the most perfect boy he had ever seen. Then he realized exactly what song he wanted to sing. It wasn’t originally sung in the same context. But then again, according to Kurt, half the songs sung by the New Directions made no sense if you took it in its original context.

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          It was Thursday and almost everyone had finished singing. Kurt had done a mellow version of “Thank You” by Dido. All the others had some sappy songs, except Santana who went all out in cussing out her father with “Fuck you very much” by Lily Allen. Blaine then stood up and told Mr. Schue, “I’d like to finish my part in the assignment if that’s okay.”

          He then curled up his fists to center himself. And then he started singing what would later turn out to be the most charismatic and realistic performance ever done in that choir room.

Days like this I want to drive away
Pack my bags and watch your shadow fade

Blaine hated how his dad never even tried to accept Kurt as his boyfriend. Once, he had literally told Blaine to meet his associate’s daughter in front of Kurt. It took a lot of begging to pry Kurt away from beating up his dad.

You chewed me up and spit me out
Like I was poison in your mouth

His dad literally never took whatever he did seriously. According to him, it was the gay in him that made him like the kind of music he liked, the movies he watched and even the biscotti he ate. It was insane and he hated every moment of it.

You took my light, you drained me down
But that was then and this is now
Now look at me
This is the part of me
That you’re never gonna ever take away from me, no

He loved Kurt for the fact that Kurt never had any expectations from him. Kurt wanted him as he was, flaws and all. And according to Kurt, “The flaws are the most beautiful part of you, because that’s what makes you unique from the rest.”

This is the part of me
That you’re never gonna ever take away from me, no
Throw your sticks and your stones, throw your bombs and your blows
But you’re not gonna break my soul
This is the part of me
That you’re never gonna ever take away from me, no

          As he finished singing the song, Blaine literally brought his hand down with the force of all frustration and anger that was coursing through his veins. Kurt realized this mood for what it was: the time when the anger was so much Blaine released it by boxing. He immediately went to the front of the room and hugged Blaine. He then kissed him, hard. They had found out a few weeks back, that Kurt was somehow able to manage Blaine’s anger. He cooled it down with his presence itself. And that was what Blaine needed at the moment.

          The whole choir room seemed to echo with the silence that had suddenly developed. The Glee Club members were so used to Burt’s easy acceptance of Kurt that they had presumed Blaine’s dad was the same. Then Mike started clapping slow, long claps, trying to dissipate all the tension in the room. The others also joined in, then everyone started walking down and joined Kurt and Blaine in a big group hug. Blaine seemed to recognize what Kurt had told him before he had joined McKinley.

 At the end of the day, even with all our squabbles and fights, we are a family. And we never lose our support for each other.