Blaine woke up to the sound of the shower running. He squinted his eyes at the light streaming through the blinds with only one thing on his mind: coffee. Stumbling from his bed, he ran a hand through his unruly hair and made his way down the stairs and to the kitchen. As usual, both of his parents were up sipping on their own cups, passing the paper back and forth with the news on low.

"Morning, Blaine," his mother said. He grunted in response. "Did you and Kurt have a good night last night?" Blaine grunted again. He wrapped both of his hands around his steaming mug after dumping in a generous amount of cream and sugar.

"We know this is hard on you, having people coming and going all the time."

"I know the spiel, Dad. I don't need to hear it agai -"

"No, Blaine. It's really important that you understand this."

Blaine sighed, dropping into a bar stool and resigning himself to hearing the talk for the millionth time. This was the part where they talked about how much Kurt had been through, and how much it would mean to him to have some stability in his life, a friend even. He always left that part up to Coop, and tried to stay out of the way of their scheming antics.

"Kurt has been through a lot," cue eye roll, "more than anyone his age - or any age - should have to endure. You're such a sweet boy," Blaine held back a grimace. What kind of teenage boy wanted to be told he was sweet? If they had heard the way he talked to Kurt last night they wouldn't think he was sweet. That gave him the smallest bit of satisfaction. "And we would really appreciate it if you put in a little extra effort with Kurt."

"With you two being so close in age, we thought it would be good if you got to spend some time together," Blaine's mom was talking now, and he did not like the direction this was heading in.

"Mom, we're already sharing a bathroom and soon to be school. How much more time is there?"

"Let me finish, Blaine. Ms. Martha also thought it would be good for Kurt to get to interact with kids his own age, and I assured her your friends were all very nice. We talked to Kurt about it last night and he's agreed to join the Glee club with you."

"What!?" Blaine blurted out, suddenly awake despite the lack of caffeine in his system. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am. We know how much you love the club and thought you might want to share it with someone."

"Glee club is my thing, Mom. Mine. I don't want to share it with one of your pity projects!" Blaine knew he was being irrational, but he couldn't help the anger that was boiling through his system. The Glee club was the one place where people actually payed attention to him, people actually liked him. And he was one of the best singers in the club. He wasn't overshadowed by his stupid older brother, or the stupid foster kids that paraded in and out of their lives.

"Blaine!" His mother started, looking shocked.

"That's no way to talk to your mother, or to me, mister," Blaine's father began, looking sternly over his paper.

"Oh, please. Like you care how I talk to you. You never listen to a word I say anyway."

"Someone's PMSing early this morning," Cooper strolled into the room, already dressed with a bag in his hand, reaching for the loaf of bread. Blaine raked a hand through his curly hair in annoyance.

"Cooper, not now," Mr. Anderson stated. "And Blaine. Your behavior last night and today has been disappointing. I look forward to hearing about Kurt's first day this evening, and expect to hear only good things."

Standing from his bar stool, Blaine grabbed his coffee mug and stalked out of the room, ignoring the sting in his hand as the coffee sloshed over the edge. He fumed as he stomped up the stairs and into his room. Kurt stared at him as he entered, his chestnut hair dripping onto the neckline of his T shirt and his arm cast still wrapped up in some ridiculous looking plastic bag from his shower.

"What are you looking at," he finally snapped, and Kurt flinched. He shrunk into himself as Blaine brushed past him and slammed the door to the bathroom.

ooo

Kurt should have known better than to expect any different from this family. The night before Mr. and Mrs. Anderson had been so kind to him, making him feel at home, but now it was clear to him that Blaine was the real threat in the family.

He clearly had a temper and, with muscles like that, it was only a matter of time before that temper manifested itself as violence. Kurt just hoped that Blaine would hold out until his arm and his ribs heeled, because they both still hurt like a bitch. Kurt had a sneaking suspicion that one of the boys from the group home had nicked his prescribed pain killers from his bag before making the trip here, because he couldn't find them anywhere.

Standing in front of the mirror, Kurt looked over his appearance for his first day of school. His blue jeans were baggy and held up by a belt cinched tight around his small waist. A plain gray T shirt covered his torso. He normally would have preferred long sleeves, but his cast was too bulky so he had to settle on leaving his scrawny arms exposed. He kept himself from staring longingly at Blaine's closet full of soft, colorful clothing and instead focused on stuffing his feet into his beat up trainers. Grabbing his towel, Kurt rubbed his hair dry one last time before heading to the door.

The rest of the Anderson family was in the kitchen, so Kurt figured this was where he should go to wait on further instructions.

"Kurt!" Mrs. Anderson was the first to notice him. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, ma'am." Kurt replied. He had slept better than usual, and whenever he awoke in a cold sweat from a nightmare he stared at the light seeping out from the cracked bathroom door and was comforted.

"I'm glad. We've got toast, cereal, and bagels for breakfast. I'm afraid nothing gourmet this early in the morning. What would you like?"

"Um. Whatever's easiest." Kurt's heart beat faster. He hoped that was the right response. He was grateful to be getting food at all but having a choice was a little overwhelming. He was twisting his hands together nervously when Cooper saved him from further decisions.

"Crap, I'm going to be late. Take mine," he shoved the freshly toasted bagel across the table to Kurt, who took it with a look of relief. "See ya later, squirt!" Cooper winked at him before darting out the door, waving his parents goodbye.

They settled into silence as they ate, broken by Mr. Anderson leaving for work, kissing his wife on the cheek and giving Kurt a friendly clap on the shoulder.

"Have a good day, sweetheart," Mrs. Anderson called. She then turned her attention to Kurt. "I'm going to come with you and Blaine to school today, just to make sure everything is in order for you," she informed him. "I think you'll be testing this morning, and meeting with the counselors to get your schedule straightened out in the afternoon. Starting tomorrow everything should be normal."

She smiled at him, and Kurt tried to smile back. He didn't exactly have the best school history. He was always missing school for days or weeks at a time, and his past grades were far from stellar. He probably wasn't smart enough to be in classes with his age group.

"We told Blaine that you would be joining him for Glee club this afternoon, so he can fill you in on that," Kurt gulped and nodded. At first he was excited at the idea of singing again, but now he was more nervous than anything. Especially since it would mean more time with Blaine, a ticking time bomb. "Speaking of Blaine, you all ready?"

Blaine stood in the doorway, hand clenching his book bag. His previously wild hair had been tamed with what Kurt could only assume was a mountain of hair gel. He was looking anywhere other than at Kurt. "Yeah, let's go."

A/N: Wow thanks for the response guys! I promise Blaine isn't going to be this bitchy forever. He's just needy.