A/N: So this chapter picks up the next day in the middle of Kurt's day at McKinley.

He didn't know what event from yesterday pushed him towards this conclusion.

He didn't' know why he was so invigorated, so pumped up with adrenaline he could hardly speak.

All Kurt could comprehend was the image of the sparsely populated hallway in front of him, the last remaining students making their way idly to their respective classes. He should have been headed to his history class, but something had stopped him, something that had been nagging him from the moment he'd woken up and climbed out of bed.

He could hear their voices emanating from an adjacent corridor.

"So he finally snapped and gave me a detention after, like, a month of me cheating on tests. Took the asshole long enough, jeez. You know what, I don't even care anyway; it was fun to see him go apeshit. I slashed his tires too, so he won't even be able to get home. You can't give me detention if you're not at school cuz your car's in the shop."

Kurt listened as a few other male voices laughed in unison to the story. They were getting closer now, and he could feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest.

He knew Kyle's everyday route; it was the same route he used to take before he'd been forced to change it to ensure his safety. Now Kurt was purposefully standing in the intended path, and he had never felt so breathless with anticipation.

"And no matter what happens, Kurt, we'll push through it together. And we'll get stronger."

Blaine's voice piped up in his thoughts and he smiled to himself, turning the words around in his mind like he had done all of last night. Sure, Blaine was right on one count; they would get stronger together. But Kurt didn't want to simply push through it all, he wanted to barrel through his obstacles. He wanted to make himself known to his oppressors. He wanted to be heard. After all that he'd been through in his life, after everything that had been shoved in his face day after day, didn't he deserve that much? Hadn't he earned the right to speak up for himself? Just because it had taken several broken ribs and a bout of lifelessness that could have possibly been diagnosable depression to realize it was beside the point.

He stood his ground as the group of burly teens rounded the corner, still chuckling from their friend's tale of unwarranted vandalism. Kurt could feel his breath rising in his throat and could hear the tiny voice in his mind chirping annoyingly like an alarm; get away, go go go…

There were three of them, positioned triangularly with Kyle in front and his lackeys flanking. They seemed to look up at the same moment, their expression twisting into similar hate-filled sneers as their footsteps paused on the tile.

"What the hell are you doing here, fairy?" Azimio growled. Kurt swallowed against the lump of terror in his throat, willing his voice to come out even and not cracked like his slowly withering resolve.

"I'll go where I please, thank you very much. And, frankly, I'm surprised you're the one to throw the first insult; isn't that usually Kyle's job, or is his mouth too sore from all the ass he's been kissing to stay out of Juvie?" Kurt glared menacingly, fighting back the surge of excitement that threatened a smile. He decided that he liked fighting back. It was empowering.

Kurt watched as the expression on Kyle's face darkened. The captain lumbered forward, leaving his two friends behind as he approached Kurt himself. Kurt had to force his feet to stay grounded to the floor as Kyle stopped mere feet from him, the boy's giant fists curled tightly enough that the skin of his knuckles stood white against the red flush of anger.

"Say that again, faggot, I dare you," he hissed, leaning forward. Kurt could feel the foul warmth of the boy's breath hitting his cheeks and he fought against the urge to run. No, he told himself. I'm doing this. It's been long overdue.

"You don't scare me." Kurt said slowly, annunciating each word with an uncharacteristic amount of venom. "You think you're so big and tough, but really you're nothing more than a scared little child who's afraid of anything different. And you know what, Kyle? I'm not going to change. You can't punch the gay out of me any more than I can punch the ignoramus out of you. Is it what it is, and there is nothing you can do. Deal with it."

Kyle paused for a moment, his face flickering out of the hardened glare. For a moment, Kurt thought he saw surprise there, maybe shock. But only for a moment, because Kyle's features immediately shifted back into the former glower and his face reddened even more until he faintly resembled a wrinkled tomato.

"Are you just asking for a beating now? I swear to god, Hummel, I will break your face."

Kurt scoffed dramatically and rolled his eyes. "Oh please, you won't do a thing to my face. One more complaint to Figgins and you're screwed."

"Who are you kidding? Figgins won't do shit."

"Oh yeah?" Kurt countered, gritting his teeth as a sickening smile crept onto his lips. He was sure at this point he looked like a madman, and Kyle's reaction to the crazy gleam in his eyes proved him right, but he couldn't care less. "What about your coach? I'm sure he'd be more than willing to do shit if he caught wind of you dishing out any more abuse. I was hospitalized, Kyle. That's the magic word, as far as I'm concerned. Hit me one more time and you'll be saying bye-bye to the team. And after that, what will you be? Some worthless little jock wannabe? Could you handle it, Kyle? Could you handle being nothing? I don't think so."

Silence hung in the air between them, the tension almost tangible as Kyle opened his mouth to say something but failed to vocalize. Kurt felt his lips pull back against his teeth as his smile widened, his eyes throwing taunts in every which direction.

After what seemed like almost too long, Kyle pulled back and hovered over Kurt, his face contorted with loathing. "You're not…you're not worth my time, faggot." He spat. He seemed to consider something for a moment before reaching out and shoving Kurt violently, throwing the smaller boy onto the floor before stalking off in the opposite direction.

Kurt watched the three of them leave, Azimio and the other thug throwing Kyle confused glances but following him nonetheless. He didn't know if it was just his imagination, but Kyle seemed to walk with less sureness, and Kurt felt an inner part of him leap with joy at the sight. He waited until they turned the corner before picking himself up off the ground and dusting off his clothing, his formerly dark smile brightening into an uncontainable grin.

He couldn't remember when he started laughing, but all of a sudden he was and he doubled over at the strength of it, his cheeks flushed with color and his chest bursting with elation. He was nearly hysterical with the feeling; had he ever been this excited? His body was so pumped full of stale anxiety and adrenaline and happiness he thought he would die.

And the bite of fear that had been gnawing at his conscience had been more than worth it because he had finally spoken out and had been acknowledged in some form or another. Sure, Kyle probably hadn't processed all of it through that thick skull of his, but on some level, Kurt had broken through, and he was so thrilled he could scream. So he did. Loudly. He ran down the hall and into the girl's bathroom, giggling uncontrollably and ignoring the dirty looks thrown his way as he splashed his face with cold water from the sink. After the jitters calmed a bit and the few girls left, Kurt looked up at himself in the mirror, a jolt of pleased surprise coursing down his body as he registered the exuberance there, the unbridled lightness in his eyes and the blush of his cheeks.

He knew that it was unwise of him to hope like this again, to put his heart on the chopping block. But he couldn't stop himself. Beneath the outer layer of joy, there was a part of him that was truly thinking about the consequences of his actions. He most likely put himself in even more danger than he was in previously. But he didn't care. He knew that things would get better. Maybe not that same day, or the day after, but eventually Kyle would back down. And if that was all the hope that he could cling to, so be it; he was clinging.

Blaine was in the middle of his solo when his pocket vibrated with a text message.

"Today I don't feel like doing anything…I just wanna—oh! Shoot, hey guys?"

He turned mid-shuffle to face the rest of the Warblers side-stepping behind him, ignoring their continued background harmonies until they died down awkwardly one after the other. Wes groaned and pulled his hand through his hair.

"Dammit, Blaine, the song was going perfectly." He sighed, annoyance clear in his voice. Blaine disregarded the quip, his fingers already pulling the phone out from his pocket. He angled the screen up to peek at the name of the sender, his heart jumping in his chest when Kurt's name popped out of the little envelope. His initial thought to why Kurt was texting him filled him with dread and he looked back at Wes with a desperate, pleading stare.

"I'm really sorry, but I've got to take this; it's important."

The rest of the Warblers council must have noticed the change in Blaine's demeanor because they nodded in understanding and motioned for him to take the phone outside. Blaine muttered a quick "thank you" before ducking out of the room, whipping the message out as he strode down the ornate, empty hallway.

I did it! I stood up to Kyle! I finally got the nerve to tell him he's a pitiful dumbass! Well…I didn't actually use those words, but whatever :)

Blaine felt his limbs turn cold. His mouth popped open silently before his thumbs began flying across the keyboard, furiously typing his reply.

What? Kurt, are you crazy? I mean, I'm happy for you and I'm so proud of your courage, but do you have any idea how dangerous that was?

He sent the message too soon, not giving enough time for him to really think about what Kurt's actions implied. A thought flashed across his mind and his entire body stiffened with worry. He didn't wait for Kurt's reply before he was typing out another message.

Wait, Kurt, he didn't hurt you, did he?

No no no I'm fine; he didn't hit me. Well actually he shoved me over, but whatever, it doesn't matter. What matters is that I did it! God Blaine, I could seriously break into weird, random Broadway tunes right now…

Despite the after effects from the lurch of his chest, Blaine felt his lips curl upwards at Kurt's message and warmth spread through to his fingertips, soured only a bit by the fact that Kyle had laid a hand on Kurt anyway, but at least the boy's reaction left Kurt unscathed. Blaine could not wait to get home—well, to get to Kurt's house, but he considered it home anyway. He wanted to see the brightness in his boyfriend's eyes that had been absent for quite a while. He wanted to hug and kiss him and support him and share in his happiness.

But it was only fifth period.

Blaine sighed, faintly irritated at how slow time could move when one was watching it, and started typing again at a significantly less brisk pace, letting his fingers amble languidly across the keys as his body relaxed with relief and contentment. He wished he could hear Kurt's voice, but he figured Kurt was sitting in class right now, texting under his desk. Blaine thanked his lucky stars that he'd been in Warblers practice when he'd received the message.

I love you, you know that? I'm really very proud of you, Kurt and I can't wait to see you. You did something that I hadn't been able to do when I was in your shoes. You might be the bravest person I know.

I love you too:) And thank you. I've got to go though; my teacher's giving me the 'bitchy-librarian' look again. See you later babe!

Blaine grinned fully, and typed back a short 'See you 3' before slipping the phone back in his pocket and making his way back to the Warblers, Kurt's glowing face in the forefront of his thoughts.

A/N: I know it's a shorter chapter, but I think I'm going to be wrapping the story up soon, so I wanted to start the ending on a happy note. Yes, I quoted Kurt's actual line from when Karofsky kissed him on the show: "You can't punch the gay out of me any more than I can punch the ignoramus out of you". Classic. I love it. Anyway, I'm sorry about the long gaps between updates; just've had a lot going on. And I feel kinda guilty about my other story Daybreakers which I haven't updated at all in like weeks…yikes I need to get on the ball…