Blaine Anderson sighs as he writes his name on the chalkboard, his advanced English class filing in around him, chatting and high off of the excitement of their summer. Once the bell rings and everyone finds a seat, Blaine turns around and smiles at the class, passing a stack of books to the person in the front desk and gesturing for him to pass them around the room.

"Welcome, class," Blaine grins, trying to make eye contact with all of the students. He rattles off his introductory speech before going on to explain their assignment.

"Now, can any of you tell me what author created the paperback book?" Blaine raises his eyebrows as he walks around the classroom, gesturing to a girl when she raises her hand.

"Shakespeare."

"Ah, an excellent guess," Blaine says, "but, unfortunately, Shakespeare didn't write novels."

With another quick glance around the classroom, Blaine tries to hold in his sigh, hoping that they might be a little bit better than his class last year, but, somehow, he really doubts it.

After instructing them to write all their answers down, Blaine paces the room again, glancing at each notebook and sheet of paper, one after another coming up with wrong answers and, at least as far as Blaine knows, some of them even making up their own authors.

He briefly pauses next to a small boy's desk, and while Blaine is small himself, this boy just looks young. He knows there's a freshman in this class, and Blaine thinks that he may have found him. And, even more surprising, he has the right answer on his sheet of paper, the word Dickens written in soft, neat print.

When Blaine talks to him after class, he can tell that this is a boy he's going to need to look out for, and as Charlie leaves the room, Blaine vows to himself to help him as much as he can.

***

"He just looks so sad, Kurt," Blaine sighs as he lays down on his stomach on the couch, trying not to think about how Kurt is straddling his waist and pressing firmly into his tight muscles. "And I gave him an extra assignment for To Kill a Mockingbird, because, seriously, he looked desperate for it, and I just – I don't know what to do."

"Honey," Kurt murmurs, leaning down to press a soft kiss to Blaine's shoulder as his thumbs dig into his back. "You worry too much."

"I think I worry just the right amount."

Kurt laughs and kisses his shoulder again, and Blaine can feel him smiling against his skin.

"I told him to call me Blaine outside of class," Blaine murmurs into the pillow, his eyes drooping closed as relaxation takes over his body. "I just – he needs someone to talk to. And he seems to trust me, but I'm not sure if that's just because I'm providing him with new reading material."

Kurt laughs again, and Blaine's eyes close all the way, his breath deepening after a long day at work.

***

"How's Charlie?" Kurt asks him a few days later.

Blaine glances up from the tests he was grading, smiling as Kurt comes to perch on his lap. "He's good," he murmurs as he presses a few kisses to Kurt's neck. "I gave him a C on his extra essay."

Kurt gives him a pointed look, and Blaine holds his hands up in surrender. "He runs his sentences together," he explained, "He has so much potential, Kurt, I'm honestly just trying to help."

Kurt grins again and ruffles Blaine's hair, loving just how much his husband genuinely cares about his students.

***

Blaine sighs as he snuggles into Kurt, pulling the blankets up around them as he loses himself in the soft mattress and the smell of Kurt.

"I told Charlie he should participate more," Blaine murmurs into Kurt's shoulder.

"And how did that work out?" Kurt asks. "Because, at least from what you told me, he seems like a bit of a wallflower."

"Mmm," Blaine hums in agreement, "he is. I just – he needs some friends, you know? He should live and enjoy his youth while he can."

"Well, maybe he wants to spend all of his time reading books. Lord knows that's all you do."

Blaine laughs and tugs on Kurt's waist until he's spread out on top of him. Blaine leans down and presses a few kisses against his lips, his hands roaming up the front of Kurt's shirt.

"I gave him Peter Pan to read, too," Blaine says after a few moments, his breath heavy and his voice gone deep and husky.

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that you've read it at least six times since we've been married?" Kurt grins, his eyes dark. "And that's not even including the times before we even met each other."

"Hush," Blaine murmurs, pulling his face close to his lips again. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

***

Kurt hasn't heard anything about Charlie in a while, and he thinks that maybe Blaine's little project worked and the kid is now out and about and being social and active, or whatever the hell Blaine was trying to achieve with him.

He glances up from his laptop and grins as Blaine walks into their small apartment, opening his mouth in greeting when Blaine beats him to it.

"I gave Charlie a B on his paper over Peter Pan," Blaine grins, swooping down to kiss Kurt briefly before undoing his tie. "You should have seen his face, Kurt, seriously. And I give him A's on his report cards but – god, Kurt, he looked so proud."

"You, Blaine Anderson, are the world's best teacher," Kurt comments as he finishes typing out a quick email. "Honestly, I don't think many other teachers would take all this extra time to help one kid."

Blaine shrugs again, like he does every time, and he says, like he's said many times before, "He has so much potential."

***

Blaine sits next to Kurt on the couch, humming along to the Christmas music on the radio and just watching the lights on their Christmas tree.

"I gave Charlie The Catcher in the Rye to read over break," Blaine murmurs after a few moments of silence. "Even though it's on the school's banned books list, I just – it's something I think every teenage boy needs to read."

Kurt hums in agreement, and Blaine knows for a fact that they both read it back when they were young and in high school. "Did you tell him it was your favorite when you were his age?"

"Of course," Blaine says. "And I also told him what you said about it?"

"That it was the kind of book you make your own?"

Blaine nods and squeezes Kurt's hand. "I told him exactly that."

"Good," Kurt preens. "He needs something like that in his life, I think."

Blaine grins at him, turning his head a little so Kurt can have a better look at his face. "I think he's growing on you too," Blaine says.

Kurt smirks at him and quickly pinches his waist. "Maybe," he teases. "But you'll never hear it from me."

Blaine laughs and kisses him, hoping that, wherever Charlie is, he's surrounded by people who love him. It's the least he deserves, especially on Christmas of all days.

***

Kurt doesn't hear a lot more about Charlie until Blaine came home on the second day of February a little later than usual. Kurt glances up from the book he was reading, his forehead creasing at Blaine's long, tired face.

He quickly stands up and helps Blaine out of his tie and suit jacket, hanging them both up neatly on the coat rack as Blaine kicks his shoes off.

"I – Charlie came and talked to me after class," Blaine sighed, rubbing his temples with his hands as he sits down next to church on the couch. "I mean, I asked him to because I wanted to hear his thoughts on the book I gave him to read, but then I made him tea and – Kurt, he asked me if he could smoke in my office."

Kurt pauses his circular, soothing motions that he'd been rubbing into Blaine's back. "Oh," is all he can think to say.

"I told him to quit, obviously," Blaine says after a few seconds. "But – I just want to help him, Kurt."

"You're doing everything you can, honey," Kurt murmurs, stroking a stray curl off of Blaine's head. "Just by talking to him, you're helping."

Blaine takes a shaky sigh and nods. "He actually asked about me today. Once I had finished asking about him, of course," Blaine says, a small laugh escaping from his lips almost like an afterthought. "Although he didn't seem to really like the idea of me moving to New York."

"Of us moving to New York," Kurt murmurs.

"Obviously," Blaine rolls his eyes. "And – get this, Kurt, you're going to think this is hysterical – he asked me if I had a girlfriend."

Kurt snorts, and Blaine lets out a small laugh too. "I just told him no," Blaine says slowly after a few moments. "I didn't – I don't know what his views on that kind of stuff are, and I don't want to make him uncomfortable so that he doesn't talk to me anymore." Blaine pauses, desperately searching Kurt's eyes for him to understand. He doesn't want Kurt to feel like he's ashamed of him, Kurt's already had so much of that in his life, and he doesn't need it from his husband of all people –

"Blaine, I can see your thoughts zooming around in your mind," Kurt whispers into his hair. "It's fine, honey, I understand. I know why you didn't tell him about me."

Blaine kisses Kurt then, just to prove how much he loves him, even if Kurt already knows it.

***

When Kurt doesn't hear anything about Charlie for over a month, his curiosity gets the better of him and he flat out asks Blaine about him.

"So Charlie hasn't done anything to make you emotional lately?" He asks, his voice playful, but he knows that Blaine can tell he's genuinely curious by the glint in his eyes.

"No," Blaine replies. "I've given him a few more books and assignments, but he hasn't told me much else. Although I think he might have a girlfriend."

Kurt grins and, even though he won't admit it, lets out a loud whoop.

"I know," Blaine laughs, shaking his head. "Ever since he became friends with those two seniors, he's become more social but, at the same time, I almost worry about him more because of it."

Kurt bites his lip and nods.

"And I don't think he has the best family situation either," Blaine murmurs after a few moments. "But that's just a hunch."

Kurt hums again and loops his arms around Blaine's neck. "I'm glad he has you," he whispers into his hear before planting a soft kiss just beneath it. He feels Blaine's breath hitch a little, like it always does, and he smiles against his hair.

"I'm thinking of giving him Hamlet to read next," Blaine says after a few seconds of heavy breathing and lips pressed together and shared breaths. "I think it would be good for him. And Hamlet as a character is really relatable to the characters in most of the other books I've given him."

Kurt hums and kisses Blaine's neck again, and even if he only understands parts of what Blaine says when talking about literature, he knows how passionate Blaine is both about books and about Charlie.

"That's probably a good idea," Kurt whispers into his ear. "And maybe you should suggest he doesn't get caught up in it. I can see him being the kid who thinks it's too fancy."

Blaine laughs, and Kurt knows that, even if he doesn't personally know Charlie, he knows his personality almost as well as Blaine does.

***

It's a few months later when Blaine walks through the door to their apartment, his eyes welled with tears as he breaks down right as the door closes, sliding down it and pressing his hands against his face.

Kurt sits next to him and holds him, letting him cry into his shirt and not even caring. He murmurs sweet, soothing nothings into his ear, rubbing his back and arms and stomach until Blaine calms down and his sobs subside.

"Charlie?" Kurt asks, voice soft and tentative. Much to his surprise, though, Blaine shakes his head.

"No," he says, voice hoarse and cracking. "One of the only out gay kids got beat up by a jock today." Blaine takes a deep breath, and oh, Kurt really hadn't been expecting that. "And – Charlie was there, and he apparently put a stop to it but – but I wasn't there, Kurt, I wasn't and I – I should have been because, because I've been in that position and what I would have given for a teacher to have helped – to have stopped –"

Blaine's working himself up again, and Kurt shushes him again and rubs his back until he stops shaking.

"It's not your fault, honey, you know that," Kurt murmurs. "You're such a good teacher, B, you care about the kids so much – almost too much. You can't be everywhere at once."

Blaine takes another deep breath and nods. "I know, "he whispers. "But that doesn't stop me from wishing."

***

"What do you think about maybe. . .waiting a few years to go to New York?"

Kurt glances up from his tablet in his lap, sitting up a little straighter and squinting his eyes at Blaine. "...why?" He asks tentatively.

"I just. . ." Blaine pauses and takes a deep breath, reaching out to take Kurt's hands in his own. "I really like teaching, Kurt. I – it's really – I really like it. And they offered for me to take over the drama department next year, if I stay and – I don't know what to do."

Kurt sighs and sets his tablet to the side, turning to face Blaine. "You know I would do whatever makes you happy," Kurt murmurs. "But. . .there are teaching jobs in New York, you know."

Blaine nods and bites his lower lip. "I know," he whispers, squeezing Kurt's hands. "But it's only my first year teaching. Maybe it would just be easier to stay in one place for a while."

Kurt nods and kisses Blaine's hand gently, all the while wondering if there is anything he wouldn't do for this man who he gladly calls his husband.

***

It's only a few days later when Blaine brings up Charlie again.

"I told him about you. About us." Blaine says as they put on their pajamas for the night. "I don't know why I chose today, but he took it really well, actually."

"That's great," Kurt grins, slipping into the bed and curling the covers around him as he waits for Blaine's body heat.

Blaine hums as he curls himself around Kurt and pulls him close to his body. "I love you," Blaine murmurs into his hair.

"And I, you," Kurt replies, rubbing Blaine's hand with the back of his thumb. He's silent for a moment, until he says something he's said to Blaine a lot over the course of the past school year. "I'm really proud of you for helping him, Blaine."

"I know," Blaine whispers, squeezing Kurt against him even tighter. "I'm really proud of me, too."

***

"What do you think about inviting Charlie over for dinner?"

Kurt grins at Blaine and nods his head. "I think it would be great," he says. "I'm honestly surprised it took you this long."

Blaine smiles and laughs, winding his arms around Kurt's waist and pressing a messy kiss against his forehead.

***

He invites Charlie for lunch instead, which Kurt is silently thankful for since it means that the whole affair is a lot more casual. He and Blaine are joking and laughing and nudging each other with their hips when the doorbell rings, Blaine grinning and pressing a quick kiss to Kurt's cheek before rushing to answer it.

Kurt hears Charlie's voice, followed by Blaine's, and then the two are standing directly in front of him.

"Charlie," Blaine says, and that grin can't seem to leave his face. "This is my husband Kurt."

Kurt shakes Charlie's hand, and he instantly understands why Blaine was so taken by this boy. Just from looking at him, Kurt feels like he wants to snuggle him up and a cloud and never let him leave. And then when he talks, his voice and the way he phrases his sentences – god, it hurts Kurt's heart and he doesn't even know why.

He understands now, and judging by the look on Blaine's face, he knows that Blaine realizes that he understands.

Kurt listens as Blaine and Charlie talk, chatting about things Blaine has told him and things Blaine probably didn't know himself. Charlie says he participated, just like Blaine said, causing both Blaine and Kurt to let out a peel of laughter. And when he brings up a girl named Sam, Kurt feels his heart hurt again. He knows that look on Charlie's face as he talks about her, he's sure it's the same look on his own face whenever he used to talk about Blaine.

And, as Charlie finishes gushing about Sam, the room falls quiet. Kurt watches closely as Blaine shifts a little and clears his throat.

"Charlie. . .I want to thank you."

Kurt has to swallow the lump in his throat that forms.

"Why?" Charlie says, and Kurt already knows Blaine's answer.

"Because it has been a wonderful experience teaching you."

Blaine goes on to tell him how smart he thinks Charlie his, about how gifted he is, how he's one of the brightest students he's ever had, and that's why he gave Charlie all of the extra work.

"Charlie," Blaine says seriously after a few moments. "Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm not trying to make you feel uncomfortable. I just want you to know that you're very special. . .and the only reason I'm telling you is that I don't know if anyone else ever has."

Kurt wants to cry. After the whole year, through all of Blaine's preaching about how he needs to be there for Charlie, because he doesn't know if anyone else is, about how smart he is, he's finally telling Charlie, and Kurt thinks that it's exactly what Charlie needs to hear.

"So, when the school year ends, and I'm not your teacher anymore, I want you to know that if you ever need anything, or want to know about more books, or want to show me anything you write, or anything, you can always come to me as a friend. I do consider you a friend, Charlie."

Kurt does start crying then. He knows that when Blaine says someone is a friend to him, he isn't lying. Blaine takes friendships and relationships seriously, and for him to tell Charlie that, it melts Kurt's heart. He watches Blaine, how his demeanor doesn't waver, he doesn't even show any sign of breaking down and crying, and Kurt, even if he did before, really, truly knows how much Charlie means to him. He isn't just a student to Blaine – he was never really just a student to him.

And when Charlie says, "You're the best teacher I ever had," Blaine simply smiles and says "thank you," and the room falls silent again.

Once Charlie gets up to leave, Kurt hugs him tight before he can walk out the door. "You mean a lot to him," he whispers into Charlie's ear. "You really, really do. More than I think you'll ever know."

Charlie pulls away and smiles, and Kurt isn't even sure if he heard him.

He shakes Blaine's hand and walks out the door, and Blaine shuts it behind him and closes his eyes for a few moments.

"He's something else," Kurt whispers, taking a few steps towards Blaine as he breaks the silence.

"Yeah," Blaine murmurs. "He really is."

And even though they aren't going to New York next year like planned, and even though their lives may be different than they originally thought they would be, it's the moments like these that Kurt thinks makes it all worth it.

He holds Blaine tight, the tears still streaming down his face, and he knows that Blaine's right. Charlie really doesn't know how special he is.

***

Blaine tells Kurt a few weeks later that Charlie's in the hospital. He doesn't know much, but Kurt can tell that he's panicking. He soothes him best he can, and it isn't until August that they can go see him.

They walk into Charlie's room at the beginning of August, hands clasped tight between them, and the second Blaine sees Charlie curled up next to the window, pale and skinny dazed as he watches the world go by around him, he breaks down into tears and clutches to Kurt for support.

And when Charlie notices them and smiles, Blaine rushes to him and hugs him tight, too, like Kurt knows he's wanted to do for the past two months. He whispers that he's so special, and important, and that both he and Kurt care about him.

Kurt sits down next to Blaine, and proceeds to tell Charlie about how they adopted a cat. Charlie smiles again, and Kurt thinks that he should smile more often.

As they leave, hand in hand, Blaine leans over and kisses Kurt's cheek once, soft and gentle and loving. "You're special, too," Kurt whispers into his ear as they continue to walk close together. "You're so special, B."

Blaine looks over at Kurt, his smile wide and happy. "I think everyone is special," he says slowly, stroking Kurt's hand with his thumb. "It's just a matter of whether you have people around you to see it or not."

Kurt writes Charlie a letter later that night, ending it with a simple thank you.