Title: Stood Up

Author: Maeby Isolde

Summary: What if Rachel Berry decided to put her scheming skills to good use: getting revenge on Karofsky for scaring off her new BFFL, Kurt. Hummelberry friendship, Klaine. Spoilers through 2x10.

Rating: T

AU: Set Pre-AVGC (Early December), Klaine is dating and Finchel broke up without any Puckleberry drama (around Sectionals). Also, Rachel, Kurt and Blaine hang out a lot.

Warnings: Slash (not graphic), Spoilers (fair game through S2 Regionals), Violence/Bullying, Homophobia

Main Characters: Rachel, Kurt, Blaine, some Mercedes, Puck, etc.

A/N: First, from where I'm at right now with chapters, I have a feeling I'm going to be writing a story of Proustian length. Updates will be once a week at minimum. Second, this is my first foray into the world of fanfiction as a writer, so any con-crit is definitely welcome. I try to keep my characters from getting too OOC, which is actually the reason I decided to write this fic. Both Kurt and Rachel (especially Rachel) have seemed completely OOC on the show lately and I just couldn't deal with it anymore. So here we are, with my first shot at fanfiction. Let me know what you think.

Chapter One :: Fighter

Kurt sat beside his boyfriend Blaine in the Warbler's meeting room, watching with morbid fascination as Wes and David started critiquing the performance of their members in yesterday's free performance practice. They reminded him a bit of a certain diva best friend he had, though they were definitely more aware of people's feelings and tempered their criticisms with well meaning platitudes. Looking back, Kurt realized he may have actually preferred Rachel's earnest ridiculousness, as it gave her compliments more gravity. No political waffling involved with his girl.

Then, as if summoned by Kurt's mere thinking of her, the mahogany door flung open to reveal one Rachel Barbara Berry. Clad in a, for once, sartorially inoffensive white dress and nude flats that Kurt had forced her into purchasing just this weekend, she couldn't have stood out more in his uniform-wearing all-boys private school if she'd tried. Kurt made a mental note to talk to Rachel about wearing sunglasses inside as, really, any advice ever uttered by Miss Pillsbury was by default wrong (horribly terribly wrong). Her dramatics obviously knew no bounds as she didn't spare a glance for any of the spluttering Warbler's and instead marched over to Kurt in a manner that reminded him intensely of her patented "Diva Storm Outs". If he was a lesser man he would be frightened at the readily apparent mania fueling Rachel's very existence at that point, but Kurt was well practiced with Rachel's particular brand of crazy. Which is how, despite the hush that fell over the room as Rachel stomped to a stop mere inches from Kurt, he couldn't help but smile, "Rachel, lovely to see you darling. What brings you out to Dalton?"

Rachel, well practiced at having to up the ante for her hard to shock best friend, whipped off her Jackie-O sunglasses in an almost vicious manner, leading Kurt to wonder who the inspiration was there… instead of looking sexy or dangerous Rachel just looked like she was moments away from losing an eyeball. However, before Kurt's critique of her dramatics could be voiced, his entire thought process came to a screeching halt as he caught sight of what those sunglasses had been concealing. Even though Kurt knew Rachel had played this for effect, he couldn't help but respond as he leapt to his feet, his voice nearly a screech as he yanked his best friend closer to examine the rapidly blooming bruise splashed high across her cheekbone and underneath her left eye, a slight split to her upper lip only now becoming apparent as he got closer, "What the hell happened?"

In classic Rachel Berry fashion, the tiny diva missed his concern entirely, and went straight to the line she'd undoubtedly been practicing the entire drive to Dalton, "Karofsky was given two week's suspension for hitting me and Beiste revoked his position on the football team!"

The glee in Rachel's voice would be unsettling considering the content of her statement if one didn't have practice with Rachel never reacting in a manner that, as Puck once put it, "made any damn sense". Kurt however, did have practice with this particular quality of Rachel's, and so instead of letting himself be bulldozed into some crazy discussion over what was undoubtedly the least important portion of a topic, Kurt brought the conversation back to what actually mattered, namely, "He hit you?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, honest to god rolled her eyes at his concern, "Yes, it was all very dramatic. But more importantly, I got him suspended! Figgin's refused to act when I demanded vengeance, and so I was forced to take action myself."

One of the senior Warblers, who Kurt was fairly certain had introduced himself as Thad, murmured in obvious fear "this would probably be a good time for a break" to Wes, but the head of the council looked almost amused at the tableau playing out in front of him and ignored the boy in favor of waiting for Kurt's response. It was definitely worth it for anyone who loved drama, as Kurt found his own levels of annoyance and the pitch of his voice rising, "Rachel, please tell me you didn't plan for him to hit you."

The confusion on Rachel's face was almost comical, but Kurt had always appreciated her facial dramatics, even pre friendship and so let it slide without commentary, "Of course not. If I'd known he was going to hit me I'd have video-taped the incident for the forthcoming storm of litigation and hellfire I am planning to rain down upon that… cretin." She paused to eye Kurt in an assessing manner, "Though that is a remarkable plan, Kurt. I wasn't aware of your scheming talents or I would have employed them previously. No, this was just a remarkable stroke of good luck."

"Good luck?" Kurt screeched, his patience with Rachel's missing the point was reaching its limit, "How is a Neanderthal jock punching you a stroke of good luck?"

"I had thought it'd be difficult enough to plan for Figgins to witness a slushy attack, so the unexpected escalation to violence right in front of his office was almost miraculous. I hadn't thought even Karofsky imbecilic enough to hit a girl in that close of proximity to the principal's office. Nonetheless, it just goes to show I was obviously right to orchestrate the encounter."

Rachel's response was so blasé that Kurt almost gave in to his desire to shake the girl. Instead he kept his own voice just as matter of fact as he pointed out the glaringly obvious flaws in his best friend's plans, "Rachel. What do you think is going to happen when he comes back to school? Or if he decides to pay you a decidedly more extra-curricular visit? Are your dad's even back from their 'Business Trip-Vacation Medley Get Away'?"

"Any further actions against my person will just add fuel to the aforementioned 'Storm of Litigation and Hellfire'," Kurt could actually picture the capital letters Rachel was surely giving the words.

"So you provoked the psychotic football player, who may I point out is literally twice your size at minimum, and your plan for his inevitable retaliation is to just let it happen?" Kurt's could hear the horror in his own voice and so wasn't surprised when Blaine stood up from his still seated position to stop the coming diva fight.

"Rachel, I think what Kurt is trying to say is that while he… appreciates your desire for revenge on his behalf, he's concerned about the possible consequences of your actions."

"I'm concerned she's going to get herself killed." Kurt waspishly interjected.

Rachel just appeared confused, and Kurt's anger melted a little with the naïvely earnest approach she took to protecting her best friend, "No one was doing anything," and here Kurt could see the effort it took Rachel to refrain from stomping her foot, "So I decided to take care of it."

If Kurt believed in god, he would be praying for patience right about now, but instead he counted to five before addressing his friend, "I'm not okay with you getting in fights with someone who could squash you like a bug, Rachel. However, I think the rest of my teammates might appreciate it if we finished this conversation after our meeting has finished."

Rachel seemed to finally take note of the silent, staring mass of teenage boys and shifted slightly uncomfortably, before quickly stilling herself so as to not show any weakness to a group of strangers (Kurt understood Rachel's thought process far too well, he decided). "I'll wait outside until you finish." she turned to the head table, where Wes was seated, her tone losing none of its bluntness, "What time will that be?"

Wes just seemed amused by the pocket-sized diva, and Kurt could only thank his lucky Prada belt that the head of the Warbler's council was one of the few to be amused by Rachel right away instead of needing gradual exposure to understand she wasn't crazy. "We usually finish at five, but with the," he almost smirked, "disruption, it will probably be ten after."

Rachel nodded at Wes before turning back towards Kurt and Blaine, "I'll wait in the entrance hallway. We can get dinner when you've finished and plan my next step."

Kurt's exasperation was obvious as he sighed, "Just… don't start planning anything until we talk Rachel."

Rachel rolled her eyes again and placed her sunglasses back on her face with a much more subtle flourish this time. Before she could storm back out of the room Blaine motioned to her cheek, "Maybe you should get some ice on that while you wait."

"It isn't that serious, but thank you for your concern, Blaine." Rachel attempted to brush Kurt's boyfriend off in an obvious attempt to show Kurt that her bruise was inconsequential.

Blaine however, had spent an incredible amount of time with the two divas this last month, and had learned how to get Rachel to listen to his concerns fairly early, "Even a slight amount of swelling could affect your facial muscles and in turn your singing."

Rachel suddenly looked absolutely horrified, "I hadn't considered that. I'll go wait with some ice then."

With that Rachel whirled around and almost fled the room in her haste to procure some ice for her injury. Kurt rolled his eyes at his friends priorities, but allowed Blaine to lead him back to his seat. As the door banged shut behind his best friend, Wes called the now gossiping room to order, "Shall we continue our discussion of Matt and Tristan's choreography?"

The teens were apparently used to Wes' ability to ignore any excitement to keep focused on Warblers business, as they quickly quieted down and listened intently to the council's breakdown of the number. Kurt meanwhile tuned the discussion out to focus on the most recent exploits of his crazy best friend. Only Rachel could think that it was a good idea to provoke the psychotic football player who had forced Kurt to flee McKinley High. Really though, looking back, Kurt should have expected something like this. While Rachel and he had come to the realization that they were destined to be friends in recent months, Kurt was under no illusions about how crazy she could get. Her primary trigger used to be solos, but this past year Rachel had begun trying to put her friends first. So, really, it should have been obvious that Rachel would want 'vengeance' for any slight against her best friend, let alone an unpunished campaign of terror that had forced him to transfer schools. Karofsky's actions had hurt both Kurt (Rachel's best friend) and the Glee Club , essentially Rachel's two favorite things. While some of her actions in the past had been almost amusing, like her sole responsibility in getting Sandy Ryerson fired, her newest campaign was destined to end badly. As far as Kurt was concerned it was already going badly. While Rachel may be taking getting punched in stride, Kurt was feeling no such emotion. He had of course struggled with abandoning Rachel and Mercedes at WMHS. He'd known that the bullying and slushies would continue for them and that for Rachel in particular his leaving would essentially cut her number of allies in half. But he had at least been able to comfort himself with the fact that no one was going to beat her up or shove her into lockers. Rachel was a girl. Even the worst of the jocks shied away from physically bullying any of the girls, and the Cheerios seemed to prefer psychological warfare, probably influenced by this being Sue's method of engaging in battle. Now though, Kurt couldn't help but picture Karofsky, or his friends, getting back at Rachel with their fists.

Rachel, who weighed ninety pounds max and was shorter than most twelve year olds.

Kurt spent the remainder of the meeting trying to come up with some way to make her see reason and was still coming up blank when Wes closed the session with a bang of his gavel. Kurt was already standing with his bag in hand before Blaine had even put away his notebook, "Hurry up, we need to go talk some sense into Rachel."

Blaine looked confused, "You want me to come?"

"You expect me to get anything accomplished alone with Rachel? Even the two of us working together may not be able to stop the ball of crazy that is this plan from barreling on." Honestly, as though there was any situation in which Kurt didn't prefer to have Blaine with him. The fact that the newest Rachel situation could actually be improved by a tag team approach was just a bonus.

Blaine stood, slinging his own bag over his shoulder, and taking Kurt's hand "Alright… lead the way." As they hurried past all the obviously trying to look nonchalant but listening-in Warblers, Blaine continued in a lower voice, "Do you have a plan of attack?"

Kurt gave a delicate one shouldered shrug, "It's hard to plan for anything involving Rachel, things tend to spiral off in unpredictable, often horrifying, ways. I think the goal needs to be damage control. She'll never admit that provoking Karofsky was an ill-conceived plan, so I think I'll focus on making her realize that he could kill her with very little effort. And probably no great strain on his conscience."

Blaine nodded, his worry obvious as his hand tightened involuntarily around Kurt's, "Do you think he'd actually attack her again?"

Kurt considered this for a long moment before shrugging again, "I don't really know. I want to say no, but then Karofsky is unbalanced. He fixated on tormenting me and I hadn't really done anything to him other than being gay and existing. Rachel got him suspended and has a tendency to not realize when it's time to back off, she provoked the attack today and it seems like she wants to do so again."

Both boys fell silent by mutual agreement as they entered the front hall and spotted Rachel sitting primly on a bench, a blue ice pack pressed firmly against her cheek, sunglasses pushed aside to perch atop her head. Kurt seated himself beside her and pushed aside the ice pack to look at her face in the brighter light allowed by the window facing the courtyard, a frown covered his face as he let go and allowed her to replace the ice, "That Neanderthal obviously wasn't holding back. What did you say to him?"

Rachel's expression brightened with remembered glee, but before she could start up Blaine interrupted the two divas, "Maybe we should finish this discussion in private."

Rachel just looked confused, privacy and propriety had never been particularly important in New Directions regardless of the topic. Baby daddy drama, hook ups, break ups, cheating, even Mr. Schue's situation with Miss Pilsbury, it was all open for discussion and speculation. Kurt was grateful for Blaine's level-headedness, he didn't want his classmates overhearing anything about Karofsky and the bullying that had forced Kurt to leave McKinley even if he suspected most of them already knew. "We can go to that eco-conscious restaurant in Shawnee you've been talking about for months."

With that settled Blaine excused himself to go drop off their bags in his dorm and get the keys to his car, the boys coming to a silent, mutual agreement that perhaps Rachel's tiny 'environmentally-conscious' car and fresh drivers license were a bad idea with the snow that was steadily falling outside. Kurt distracted Rachel from her desire to plot by questioning her about glee's current weekly assignment. It surprised Kurt to this day that Rachel had decided almost immediately after he left McKinley that he could be trusted with details about New Direction's plans. Rachel Berry who had once interrogated a freshman who had been sitting in the auditorium while she had been practicing a number not even related to Glee (on 'suspicion of espionage') had rather blasely informed him that she trusted Kurt to be discrete with any information she shared. Of course, she didn't share their actual set lists (though, with the way Schue changed the list every week, any information given this far ahead of Regionals was almost guaranteed to be inaccurate), but she felt no desire to censor herself when speaking about daily assignments or other related Glee drama (of which there was always plenty).

By the time Blaine had returned, Kurt had been caught up on Puck's ongoing pursuit of Lauren Zizes and Sue's increasingly insane routines, someone had apparently spotted the woman purchasing a human cannon. Blaine came to stand in front of them, waiting patiently while Rachel finished describing Sue's most recent diatribe against Schue's hair. "Ready to head out?"

Rachel and Kurt popped up off the bench and started to follow Blaine to the doors when Rachel paused, "I should probably return the ice pack to the secretary before we leave."

Kurt just took Rachel's arm in his and started pulling her along, anxious to get off campus for the first time that week and even more anxious to hear the details of what precisely had occurred between Rachel and Karofsky. "You should probably keep it on. I can return it for you when we come back tonight."

With that decided, the three teens made their way outside towards Blaine's car. Kurt offered his petite best friend the passenger's seat but bless her heart she refused, with a glance between the two boys that Kurt could only thank Prada Blaine had missed as he climbed into the driver's seat. As they all settled Rachel pouted from the back seat, "I still don't understand why I couldn't drive."

Blaine offered a diplomatic, "Your car isn't suited for this weather." Which was ruined when Kurt glanced at his best friend in the rearview mirror, "Plus you got your license three weeks ago and you're quite honestly just terrible at driving… how did you pass your test, by the way?"

Rachel's mostly fake indignation quickly gave way to embarrassment at Kurt's question, and Kurt spun around in his seat, gossip radar tingling, "Spill Rachel Berry."

"I may have threatened to schedule a test every day for the next two weeks… and I also may have mentioned that perhaps in those future tests I would bring along a compilation of my favorite Broadway hits in order to have something to sing with to keep myself calm."

Blaine gave what sounded suspiciously like a snort which Kurt ignored in favor of rolling his eyes at Rachel, "So you admit that you're incredibly unqualified to be driving a car, particularly in a blizzard?"

"I won't need to do something as plebian as drive a car when I'm living in New York." Rachel countered.

Kurt couldn't help but let out his own laugh at how earnest Rachel could be when saying the most ridiculous things. Willing to, for the moment at least, put his interrogation over her actions today on hold, Kurt gave his best friend a smile and pulled out his iPod. Carefully selecting the mix he'd made for the inevitable singing that occurred anytime Blaine and Rachel were in a confined space for more than ten minutes, he plugged it into the iPod jack and leaned back in his seat as Blaine and Rachel exchanged brilliant smiles in the rearview mirror before dramatically singing and dancing along to the first number (Katy Perry, of course).

xx

Kurt found himself smiling at how cute his best friend looked cuddled up in the backseat of Blaine's SUV, fast asleep. The boys had turned down the music in consideration for the sleeping girl and Kurt had carefully pulled Blaine's emergency fleece blanket over her at a stop light ten minutes ago. While normally Kurt would be annoyed if one of his friend's fell asleep while he was explaining his theory on Vocal Adrenaline's chances this year at Regionals, he couldn't be mad at Rachel. For starters, it was obviously an adrenaline crash from her fight that afternoon with Karofsky that had her asleep in the backseat at 8.30 on a Friday. There was also the fact that Rachel reminded him of an (at times annoying) younger sister. Mercedes was his girl, she had been Kurt's best friend since she had moved to Lima in middle school, and no one would ever replace her spot in Kurt's heart… but Rachel was often more a sibling than a friend. They had even had the sibling rivalry down at various times over the years. When it really counted though, Rachel was the one who noticed what was going wrong and tried to fix it. With her planning for the boys to confront Karofsky and even her being the only one to notice how lonely Kurt had been during the duet competition. So yes, he could admit to some brotherly affection as he stared at the tiny sleeping form in the backseat. The real reason he couldn't bring himself to be angry at his best friend were the protective instincts that had flared up when Rachel had first whipped off her sunglasses, seeing Rachel tiny and vulnerable in her sleep was doing uncomfortable things to Kurt's stomach. She was so little, and even though their age difference was really only about a year, Rachel just seemed so much younger, especially in sleep when her larger than life attitude had faded to leave her looking incredibly small and fragile. Gucci, if something happened to his honorary little sister-something more, he corrected as a flash of headlights illuminated the darkening bruise-he didn't even know what he would do.

Blaine reaching over to take his hand had him snapping his head forward to look at his boyfriend with a questioning raised eyebrow. "She's going to be fine, Kurt. I think our argument was very persuasive. Besides, Karofsky isn't going to want to make his situation any worse than it already is."

Kurt sighed, leaning his head against the headrest again to stare at Blaine's profile, "I hope so… but I just can't stop thinking about the worst case scenarios. What if he hurts her Blaine, worse this time? He isn't the most level-headed of people, and Rachel just got him suspended."

"I really think it'll be alright. We told Rachel numerous times to be careful, not to go anywhere alone. You laid out a list of rules for her Kurt. I think as long as she doesn't provoke him again, it'll all work out." Blaine tried to sound certain, despite his lack of familiarity with the boy in question as he pulled into the Dalton student parking lot.

"I hope so. I just never thought something like this would happen. She's a girl. What kind of guy hits a girl, let alone one Rachel's size?" Kurt couldn't quite keep the anger out of his voice.

"Not one who's worth very much." Blaine parked his car in his still empty spot from earlier this afternoon, surprising considering how close it was to the main entrance . "More immediate concern though: how is Rachel going to drive home in this?"

The snow was falling heavily outside and another quick glance to the backseat showed that Rachel was still fast asleep despite Blaine having turned the car off. "She'll have to sleep over. It takes an hour to get to Lima without the snow, there's just no way. She's tired and a horrible driver, it would just be asking for trouble.

Blaine nodded in understanding as he unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door, "Alright. I can sleep on the sofa and you can have my bed so she can have yours."

Kurt raised his voice as he stepped out into the windy cold air, Blaine hurrying around to his side and helping him out of the SUV, "Rachel and I can share, it's not a big deal. We all sleep together in Rach's bed when we have sleepovers. Even though my bed is much smaller, she doesn't take up much space."

With that decided, Kurt opened the backdoor, carefully unbuckling Rachel's seat belt with some effort as she was laying on top of it to curl up on the seat. Kurt shook her shoulder a few times until she raised her head and owlishly blinked at the boys, "I was sleeping."

"Yes, we know Rachel." Kurt answered, always amused that the girl who sprang from bed at 6 am every morning was this sluggish whenever she indulged in sleeping outside of her normal schedule.

She tugged the fleece tighter around herself, "I'ma go back to sleep. Blanket."

Kurt ignored Blaine's poorly suppressed laughter, "Sweetie, it's freezing outside. Let's go inside where it's warm and you can go to sleep." Rachel just continued to blink at him instead of making any move to get up, so Kurt started bodily hauling the petite diva upright, glad that she only weighed like ninety pounds. She made a high pitched whining noise but otherwise allowed him to reposition her until she was sitting normally in the seat, "Okay, now let's get out of the car and go up to our dorm."

Luckily Kurt had some practice with maneuvering Rachel around (sometimes it was easier than getting her to shut up and listen to just forcibly move her). He managed to get her out of the car and standing (well mostly leaning on him) in less than a minute. Blaine shut the door since he had his hands full with Rachel before leading the way up to the entrance. Rachel seemed to come around as they started moving, whether from the freezing air or the actual movement, Kurt couldn't say. Nonetheless, he found himself wishing she hadn't as she suddenly announced, "I should probably head home."

Kurt continued dragging her along, glad for his superior size, "It's snowing like mad, you're exhausted and as we've already established, a terrible driver. You can stay the night. Your dads aren't even home, no one will miss you."

Blaine raised an eyebrow at his tactlessness, Rachel was a bit sensitive about her constantly absent fathers, but Kurt ignored it. He and Rachel had transcended awkward politeness before they'd even become friends and he wasn't about to start tip toeing around now. "I would argue… I'm just so tired."

Kurt laughed at that, nodding his head in thanks as Blaine held the door open for them, "I never thought I'd see the day that anything would stop you from arguing until you got your way. Are you mellowing Rach?"

Rachel scrunched her nose up in faux disgust, then winced and reached a hand towards her bruised cheek and eye, "Never. I think today has just been… long. A long, long day."

Kurt almost laughed but was distracted by trying to keep Rachel upright and moving up the stairs towards their dorm, "Lift your feet, sweetie! Unless you want one of us to carry you."

At that pseudo threat, Rachel straightened up a bit and began actually walking up the stairs instead of stumbling up them. A lot of problems could be solved with Rachel by threatening to carry her or bodily move her, as she liked to pretend she was more physically imposing than she actually was. Kurt or Blaine, or even Puck on occasion, picking her up shattered her delusions. "There's plenty of people that could pick you up too. You're not that much bigger than me."

Kurt just smiled, "Yes, but even an average sized girl could carry you."

Before the well-rehearsed fight could escalate, Blaine interrupted, "How's your face feel Rachel? Do you want me to run down and grab you another icepack before you go to sleep?"

"Mildly sore, but I'm already incredibly cold, so ice is out. I appreciate the offer though."

Kurt rolled his eyes, "Well don't complain to us tomorrow when your bruise is all puffy and painful."

"I think it'll be that way regardless of what I do. Karofsky can punch really well." Rachel admitted, and that right there was a testament to how tired she was, as she'd never have admitted to something like that in front of Kurt otherwise.

And with good reason, as Kurt's jaw clenched for a beat before he obviously forced himself to release it, "Yes well, even morons like Karofsky have to have something they're good at. It's no surprise that his only skill is violence since he's an unevolved cretin."

Rachel made a musical 'hmm' sound and Kurt's anger faded slightly as he smiled down at the petite brunette he was propping up. Even though Kurt suspected this may qualify as sleep walking, the diva was still making strides towards turning all noises she emitted into music. He had once caught her half-singing the basic tenants of the Monroe Doctrine before her AP US History midterm. When they reached their dorm, Blaine quickly unlocked the door and entered, flipping on the lights and then watching as Kurt led Rachel over to his bed. The petite girl all but collapsed forward onto it, kicking her shoes off and climbing up to the corner by the wall, curling her body around a pillow, entirely ignoring the covers in favor of just sleeping.

As Blaine locked the door behind them, Kurt sat on the bed beside Rachel, trying to pull the pillow away from her, "Rach, you need to change into some pajamas. You can't sleep in that dress."

"Why?" Rachel whined into the pillow she was tenaciously holding onto.

"It won't be even a little bit comfortable. Also, it isn't good for the dress."

Rachel mumbled something that ended in 'other dresses'. But Kurt understood her as he sighed, "Not as cute as that one. Come on sweetie. I'll grab you some sweats and a tee shirt. Two minutes, and you can go to sleep."

"Nooo." Rachel sounded just like every bratty kid sister he'd ever seen, and Blaine smiled at the image as Kurt finally yanked the pillow away from her.

"Yes. You want to brush your teeth too, don't you?" His tone was cajoling, as though he'd had this argument before and knew what to say.

"Fiiine." she moaned, stumbling forwards off the bed and almost falling over. Kurt was quick to grab hold of her, leading her over to his dresser and propping her against it while he dug around. Already anticipating the problem, namely that Kurt didn't really own 'casual' sleep clothes (Blaine had only ever seen him in silk), he dug out a pair of sweats and a tee shirt from his own drawer. "She can wear these."

"Thanks Blaine," Kurt took the clothing in one hand and led Rachel over to their bathroom, pushing her inside and giving her firm instructions, "Wash your face, brush your teeth with the spare toothbrush, get changed. Got it?"

Blaine didn't hear a response, but Kurt appeared satisfied as he shut the door for Rachel. Turning to smile at Blaine, "Sometimes I feel like her keeper."

"I think all older brothers feel that way at some point, it's just coming later for you."

Kurt's expression went dark, "I wonder if my position as her honorary older brother means I'm entitled to annihilating that neanderthal."

"How about we worry about him tomorrow. I don't think we'll get anything solved tonight, especially with Rachel so tired…"

Wandering over to sit on his bed, Kurt stared at Blaine as he started to turn down his bed, "You're right. I'm just so angry… I'm finally starting to see why Puck loved Fight Club so much. If I could smash Karofsky's face in, I would."

Blaine let out a half scoff, half laugh at that declaration, "I personally like your face as it is, so maybe Fight Club isn't the greatest idea."

Kurt couldn't quite contain his happiness at Blaine's indirect compliment, so he walked over to his own bed and started removing the pile of throw pillows to hide his blush, "You're right. I'm just frustrated. I think Rachel needs to just stop making decisions without my input altogether."

Blaine laughed, sitting on his bed to watch Kurt's slow progress in readying his bed for sleeping, "Oh, Kurt. I know Rachel loves you, but I don't think she's ever going to go for that."

"Well how else am I supposed to keep her from getting hurt?" Kurt looked about ready to pull a move out of his 'little sister's' playbook and stomp his foot in frustration.

"Having no siblings myself, I can't be certain, but from what I gather… that's what makes having a little sister so difficult."

"Yes, but I thought I just had to worry about her lack of fashion sense getting her ridiculed and boys breaking her heart. I didn't think I had to be worried about her getting punched in the face."

Before Blaine could answer, Rachel came out of the bathroom: teeth brushed, face slightly damp and drowning in Blaine's sweatshirt. Kurt rolled his eyes at the sight, "Rachel, what happened to the pants Blaine gave you?"

"They wouldn't stay up. 'S okay, you're like my brothers." Rachel mumbled as she pushed past Kurt to climb into his bed.

Blaine had to smother his smile as Kurt huffed but helped the petite girl get situated under the covers nonetheless, essentially tucking the sixteen year old into bed, "Well maybe if you weren't such a midget…"

Any bite was removed from the comment by the affectionate tone Kurt used, and Rachel just smiled sleepily at him, "Five one."

"Yes, you aren't legally a midget. Congratulations." He snarked back.

Rachel yawned, burrowing deeper into the covers and looking even smaller and younger than normal, "Thanks."

The expression on Kurt's face was gentle as he leaned over to kiss his best friend's forehead, "Go to sleep sweetie, you're exhausted."

"You're a good pretend brother." Rachel observed, indicating she had probably overheard their conversation in the bathroom, but Kurt wasn't terribly surprised, Rachel did love eavesdropping after all. She interrupted herself to yawn before continuing, "My favorite. Love you."

"I love you too Rach. Good night."

"Night." Rachel closed her eyes momentarily before opening them to look blearily across the room at Blaine, who was still sitting on his own bed watching the two friends interact, "I think you'll make a good pretend brother too…" she smiled the shy, genuine smile that was Blaine's favorite of all the various Rachel Berry trademark smiles, "Night Blaine."

"Night Rachel." Blaine gave her the kind of warm look he usually reserved for his family and Kurt. Lowering his voice as Rachel buried her head back into the pillow, eyes closed, Blaine looked back at his boyfriend, "You tired yet?"

Kurt shrugged a delicate shoulder, "Not really."

"Care to join me in going to see what the rest of the guys are up to?"

"Only if by that you mean, care to go down to the undoubtedly empty study hall and talk."

Blaine laughed at his boyfriend, walking over to pull him up off of his bed, looping his arms around Kurt's neck, "Sounds like a plan."

"Well, Rachel's not the only one who enjoys plotting. Mine just has more… pleasurable results."

"Ew." Rachel mumbled into the pillow, flinging an arm in Kurt's direction, "Like my brother. I don't want to hear that."

Blaine was surprised when, instead of turning bright red, Kurt just rolled his eyes, "As if I didn't have to hear all about you from Finn."

"Not my fault." Rachel muttered.

"Fine, we'll leave. I'll take my phone, if you need us, just call."

"I'm sixteen." Rachel protested, sounding more tired than indignant.

"Yes, yes. Nonetheless. We'll be back later, get some sleep."

"I'm trying."

Kurt rolled his eyes but instead of commenting, grabbed Blaine's hand and dragged him to the door, "Good night, Rachel."

A final indistinct mumble came from the tiny lump on the bed as Kurt carefully shut the door behind them. Leaning against the oak and smiling up at Blaine through his eyelashes, "Now, where were we?"