“Are you okay?” Kurt knew the second the words left his mouth that he’d end up regretting it. The boy currently covered from head to toe in red slushie shuddered and looked up at Kurt through impossibly long lashes.

He had deep, golden eyes and black hair that Kurt suspected would have been curly if it wasn’t for the thick layer of gel covering it. Actually, as the ice melted, he could see natural curls forming at the top of his head.

“Oh god, you can see my curls, can’t you?” As Kurt nodded, the boy promptly moved his hands to his head, shielding his hair from view. Not that anyone was looking. That was the thing about slushies, everyone wanted to watch it happening, but no one wanted to stick around for the aftermath.

“Here, let me help you,” said Kurt, sighing deeply. He had used the last three years making sure no one knew who he was, and by helping this kid he could very well be risking the safety anonymity  had so far brought him.

Grabbing hold of one of the kid’s hands (which were still trying to shield every piece of his hair) he started dragging him towards the closest bathroom.

The boy refused to let go of his head until the door was safely shut, and then he went straight to the mirror, staring at his hair with a look of horror on his face, completely ignoring the slushie still dripping from his face.

“Do you have any spare clothes?” The boy jerked away from the mirror, as if he had forgotten that Kurt was there. “What?”

“Your clothes are covered in slushie. Do you have anything you can change into?” The kid looked down, noticing, for what seemed like the first time, that his clothes had big splotches of melting, red ice that would probably ruin them. He shook his head, biting his lip in a way that should not be as distracting as it was.

“I – I think I’ve got something in my locker you can borrow. Just wait here, okay?” Not waiting for an answer Kurt spun on his heel, nearly running out the door, blushing deeply. As he walked back to his locker he kept his head down, trying not to let anyone notice him, just as usual.

When he returned with the clothes he found the kid washing his hair under the sink, his wet shirt lying on the floor. Luckily he still had his pants on. Hearing Kurt come in, he shut the water off and stood up, wiping water from his face.

“Here, use this towel,” said Kurt, handing it to him while trying not to look at his bare chest. “Thanks,” said the boy, taking the towel from him without another word. “Err, I had some spare clothes in my locker, and I think they’ll fit you fine. They might be a bit big for you, but it’s better than nothing, right?” He laughed nervously, trying not to start blushing again.

The boy smiled, taking the clothes from him and shutting himself in one of the bathroom stalls to change. When he emerged he looked a lot better. Yes, the clothes were a bit too big and his hair was a big mess of curls (Kurt could sort of see why he had freaked out about the gel), but he looked a lot happier. Smiling widely he made his way over to Kurt. “Thanks a lot … Um, what’s your name?” Kurt smiled. “Kurt,” he said. “Nice to meet you Kurt, I’m Blaine,” he said shyly.

Kurt looked at the clock. It was nearly lunchtime, which meant it was nearly time for Kurt to disappear in the masses of people going to lunch. Blaine seemed to be thinking the same thing. “Do you want to have lunch with me?” Kurt looked over at him, surprised. “What?” This seemed to shake Blaine’s confidence a bit. “I – I mean, only if you don’t have anything else to do.”

Kurt thought about it. He shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t. He had already risked too much by helping Blaine out in the first place. He needed to stay invisible, and he had found that the best way to do that was by sitting alone in the back of the cafeteria where no one would think to look. But the idea of actually having someone to talk to for a change was too tempting for Kurt not to agree to. “Yeah, sure. Let’s go,” he said, smiling at Blaine.

Once in the cafeteria Kurt wasn’t as sure as he had been whether or not this would prove to be a good idea. Staring at all the kids filling up the room Kurt couldn’t help but think that most of them probably didn’t even know he existed.

When they had gotten their food they stood together looking for a table. For once, table was occupied. “Hey, there’s some room over there,” said Blaine, pointing towards a table by the wall. “No, no, no, we can’t sit there,” said Kurt, shaking his head. Blaine looked at him curiously. “Why not?” Kurt sighed – for what felt like the millionth time that day – and shook his head again. “That’s the glee club. If you sit with them I can assure you that the slushie you got today won’t be the last.

Blaine frowned. “Well, there isn’t anywhere else to sit. Can’t we just sit with them? They look nice.” Kurt followed Blaine’s eyes and looked at the table. He recognized all of them. Rachel Berry, the girl with the killer voice – Kurt’s was better of course, but he hadn’t sung outside of the house in a long time, so almost no one knew that, Finn Hudson, her boyfriend, who also happened to be the quarterback of the football team, Tina Cohen-Chang, the Asian girl who used to have a stutter, Mercedes, the black girl with another killer voice – even if it was very unlike Rachel’s, and Artie, the kid in a wheelchair.

The reason he knew who they were was because he had been one of them. For a short period of time, Kurt had been in the glee club, but he hadn’t been able to handle the bullying that came with it, and he had found that being invisible was better than getting shoved into lockers every day.

“They are nice, but I don’t want to sit with them. Let’s go outside or something.” Blaine looked like he was about to ask something, but the look on Kurt’s face told him he didn’t want to talk about it. Without another word Blaine followed Kurt outside, and sat next to him on the stairs. It was a little chilly, but not anything they couldn’t handle.

They ate in silence for a while before Blaine couldn’t keep the question inside him any longer. “What was all that about? Do you know them?” Kurt looked down, biting his lip. He wasn’t sure if he should tell him. After all, he hadn’t told anyone. Not even his dad. Blaine looked at him expectantly. “I’m sorry, I can’t,” he said, fighting back the sudden wetness gathering in his eyes.

“I get it, we’ve only know each other for about an hour. You don’t want to confide in a complete stranger. But know this Kurt, I’m not giving up on you. I can see that you’ve been hurt before, and so have I, but I want to help you Kurt.”

Shock was evident on Kurt’s face. That was not what he had expected. “I was bullied at my old school, you know? That’s why I had to transfer.” Kurt looked at Blaine, searching his face for any sign that he might not be telling the truth. He couldn’t find anything.

“What happened?” Kurt asked. He knew Blaine wanted him to ask, probably so he could ask something in return, but he couldn’t resist. What had made someone want to hurt the beautiful boy next to him?

“I came out,” said Blaine, still looking at Kurt. Oh. Oh! He was gay. “And then my school had this Sadie Hawkins dance, I decided to go with a friend of mine, the only other gay kid at school. When we were in the parking lot, waiting for his dad to pick us up, these guys came out of nowhere, and they – “ Blaine seemed to be having a difficult time talking, but he swallowed hard and continued. “They beat the living crap out of us.”

Kurt gasped. “I – I’m so sorry Blaine. I had no idea.” He didn’t know why he had said that. Of course he couldn’t have known what had happened to Blaine. Like he said, they had barely known each other for an hour.

“It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known. But I wanted you to know. I’m someone you can confide in Kurt, I hope you know that. I have to go to class, but I hope I’ll talk to you alter.” His voice was thick and Kurt could swear there were tears in his eyes. He stood abruptly and walked away; leaving Kurt to stare after him and wondering how the shy boy he had helped out of pity had ended up making him reevaluate everything he had done to protect himself for the last three years.

Had it really been worth it, giving up everything he loved, just to keep from getting noticed? Kurt wasn’t sure anymore.