#colfati

He glanced to Quinn who had appeared next to him. She offered him a light, which he accepted, before taking a drag off her own. It was then that Kurt noticed a girl clinging tightly to the arm of the new kid while he swung a stick back and forth.

"It's Rachel Berry," he chuckled. "I think we can work on it."

"Probably an even bigger douche than Finn, though. I mean, look at those god awful sunglasses."

Kurt raised an eyebrow at her before smirking at the now empty grass before them.

"Says the bitch who never takes off that cheap, oversized hunk of plastic," he said.

"At least I have the decency to look hungover," she grinned. "Now, please tell me you're going to fuck that fantastic ass."

"Oh, I definitely plan to."

 -x-

He didn't approach him until the next week. Fortunately, Rachel wasn't clinging to him as tightly and he had lost the stick (thank god, he probably would've poked someone's eye out) but he was still wearing those sunglasses. Kurt walked to him as soon as he saw him leave the doors.

"Hey, Rachel," he said as he walked up next to her. "Don't you have an ass to kiss?"

At this, she immediately turned back inside, leaving the new kid standing alone.

"That was easier than expected. Though I'm not sure if she thought I was calling her a kiss-up or her boyfriend an ass. Hell, I don't know what I meant."

"Hello?" was all he got in response. The kid seemed like he was confused, but he didn't move his head or even look Kurt in the eye. But, to Kurt's delight, he was looking in the direction of his stomach.

"Eyes are up here, sweetcheeks," he grinned.

The boy blushed, "Oh, I'm sorry. I-"

"Though I can't say I mind. You're free to look...?" Kurt trailed off.

"Blaine. And I can't really-"

"Oh, don't worry about Berry. She's got Frankenteen wrapped around her finger. I can't see her minding if you had a little fun."

Blaine frowned, "That's not what I-"

"You know, I get that people think shades are cool and all, but these are not working for you." Kurt reached over and pulled at the glasses, still getting no movement from Blaine until they were completely off. He closed his eyes tightly and reached out two feet to the right of Kurt.

"Please, I need those. I may not be able to see the sun, but it still hurts."

And that's when it started to make sense. Kurt stood there in shock for a moment before placing the glasses carefully back in Blaine's hand and sprinting back to the bleachers to meet Quinn's giggle with a punch to the shoulder. The bell rung not soon after that, but Blaine was still there, taking an occasional and tentative step, softly calling out. Kurt knew he should help him, but Quinn would probably make fun of him even more. And he couldn't forget how desperate and exasperated Blaine had sounded when Kurt took his glasses. Did people really bully a blind kid? Oh, crap, had Kurt bullied a blind kid? Eventually, Rachel came back, apologizing profusely. Blaine just exhaled a shaky sigh of relief and followed her guiding arm with unsteady steps.

-x-

"Hey, Anderson, can I try on your glasses?"

Kurt overheard it in the hallway a few days later. He had been on his way to history-he usually attended at least one class a week to stay caught up enough to pass-when he saw Blaine walking with an Asian girl now guiding him and stick thing in hand. Maybe he had lost faith in Rachel. Kurt probably would've socked her if she had bailed on him like that. He probably would've punched himself, too. Then again, a blind person probably wouldn't have a lot of luck in violent situations.

“Hey, I’m talking to you, Shades!” Of course it was Karofsky. “You go deaf, too?”

But although Blaine had tensed up, he continued walking and ignored the comment. Apparently, this was the wrong response because Azimio stuck his foot out to trip him, sending Blaine toppling to the ground and his cane across the hall. Kurt wasn’t sure how it happened but suddenly he was holding the metal stick and swinging it at the ankles of the football players.

“What kind of an ass picks on a blind kid?” he shouted as two of them fell down. “Feels kind of shitty, doesn’t it?”

He pulled Blaine up off the ground and dragged him down the hallway before anyone had a chance to retaliate.

“Where are we going?” Blaine asked helplessly.

“The nurse,” Kurt replied shortly, his annoyance obvious.

“I’m fine, really.”

“No, you’re not. You probably have a concussion or something,” Kurt said. “I can’t believe them. Tripping a blind kid is-“

“Is worse that leaving one alone outside? I could hear your footsteps when you ran off, you know. And I knew it was you as soon as you spoke back there. Your voice is-“ he stopped suddenly. “Uh, unique.”

Kurt snorted. “Yeah, that’s one way to put it.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Blaine hurried out.

“Yeah?” Kurt asked, stopping in front of the nurse’s office. “What did you mean?”

“I don’t know,” Blaine mumbled. “It just seemed like a better option than calling it beautiful.”

Now it was Kurt’s turn to be flustered so he opened the office door and ushered Blaine inside and onto a bench. They sat in silence for a bit while Kurt filled out a little sheet for Blaine’s attendance. Then, Kurt finally spoke up.

“I disagree,” is all he said.

Blaine startled at the sound before realizing Kurt had spoken. “What?”

“I would have preferred beautiful.”

-x-

The next day, Blaine got a ride with Rachel to school, which worried him immensely. He couldn’t see but he didn’t think there were enough potholes in the world let alone on the way to school to make the car jerk so many times. She really loved being there to help him out, though, so he let her. And really, she wasn’t completely clueless on how to help him out. She could just get so caught up in herself that it slipped her mind. She had promised not to leave him alone again, but with that memory plus the incident the day before, he knew he needed to be extra careful.

He opened his door on the passenger side but waited for her to walk over and help him out. He didn’t really know her car that well, and he didn’t want to fall over again. The nurse yesterday hadn’t found anything but a bump, but it still hurt.

Rachel took longer than she should have, which probably meant she had forgotten he needed help, but she eventually guided him out of the car and towards the school.

“Stairs,” she said too late, but luckily she had a firm enough grip on Blaine’s arm that he remained upright. This was looking like a bad idea.

As soon as she opened his locker for him, she asked to go talked to Finn across the hall, promising to “be really, really, super fast”. Blaine sighed, but consented, earning him a hug and a squeak instead of a farewell.  On the bright side, he already knew his locker’s layout enough to quickly find the books he needed and check the Braille on the spine to be sure. On the down side, he had to stand alone waiting for Rachel once he was done. When he heard footsteps behind him, he expected it was her return.

“That wasn’t exactly fast,” he commented, shutting his locker and holding an arm out. To his surprise, however, the voice that answered was definitely not Rachel’s.

“Didn’t know I was on a time limit,” Kurt said, pulling the books from Blaine before looping his free arm through the offered one.

“Oh, I didn’t know it was you,” Blaine replied, confused at the way Kurt was acting. “I thought it was Rachel. Why are you here?”

“Well, I can tell you it wasn’t to be compared to Berry so you probably shouldn’t do that again,” Kurt said, but Blaine thought he could hear a smile in his voice. “I figured I owed you. You know, civil duty and shit. So I’m your new bodyguard.”

“I don’t need a bodyguard,” Blaine grumbled as he was pulled along with Kurt down the hallway.

“No, but you want one, don’t you?” Kurt countered. “If you’re near me, no one’ll mess with you.” Blaine was about to speak when Kurt finished. “Not physically, anyway. Now, where’s your first class?”

-x-

Kurt really did continue to walk him from class to class throughout the day. He would be waiting outside the door as soon as his teacher helped him out of the classroom-technically a teacher was supposed to help him at all times but McKinley had apparently chosen to forget that little rule-and linked their arms before asking where they needed to be next. Once, Blaine had to ask to be taken to the bathroom which was a little embarrassing, but Kurt hadn’t even commented. He just led him to a stall where Blaine said he had it from there (he didn’t really but figuring it out on his own seemed like a better option than asking for more assistance). It wasn’t until they barely made it to Blaine’s class that he realized Kurt probably wasn’t going to class on time and leaving early. He brought it up as soon as that class ended.

“You know, you have your own classes to attend,” he said. “You really don’t have to skip them to… Escort me.”

“Honey, if I wanted an escort, I’d call a service. And it doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have gone to any of them anyway,” Kurt replied.

“How are you gonna graduate if you don’t go to any of your classes?” Blaine asked incredulously. “And don’t give me any crap about not caring because you’re still here for a reason, but you want to get out of this hell of a town just as much as everyone else. So either you’re stuck here or you’re waiting to graduate.”

“Well, looks like I’m caught between a rock and a hard place,” Blaine could practically hear his smirk. “And unfortunately, I’m not talking about your hips.”

They continued to walk for a little longer before he spoke again.

“The teachers don’t really mind if I don’t show up,” he was speaking quietly so that Blaine had to tilt his head in closer. “Last year, showing up for school was tough.” Blaine wanted to inquire further on that, but he knew Kurt was opening up a lot already. Prying wouldn’t help. “My dad tried to help, but he couldn’t eliminate the problem. He could stop me from dealing with it, though. So from then on, I took the majority of my classes online. As for the rest, all the teachers were informed of my ‘situation’.” Kurt regarded the last word with disdain. “They email me everything that happens; some even tape the class for me. Plus, I’m never marked as absent.”

Blaine had been nodding along, but now he didn’t know what to say. Kurt probably was done talking about himself so he didn’t ask for any more.

“I tried to get homeschooled or a tutor, but my mom thought it was important I got the same opportunities as any other kid. So apparently that means the same torture form,” he offered. Kurt chuckled a bit, which he took as a good sign.