Chapter Six: The Warbler

Blaine entered his new dorm, timidly, not sure what to expect. Within four seconds, all three boys had noticed him. "Hi, I'm Blaine." He said it mostly to break the sudden silence.

"Brian," the nearest boy said. "We thought we were going to have a guest bed all year."

"Sorry to take it away."

"Don't be dumb," a second said. "I'm Jason, and the whole guest bed thing was a joke. We're not allowed to have overnight guests."

"Oh."

"Charles," the third said.

"Charles," Brian mimicked in a poor attempt at an English accent. "That's Chuck. Don't let him tell you otherwise."

Blaine looked at Chuck to make sure that was okay, but he was grinning, so Blaine just nodded. "Don't just stand there, new kid. Put your stuff down. Make yourself at home."

"Right." Blaine quickly moved to the only barren corner of the room and dumped his duffle and backpack on it. He sat. "So what does everyone do for fun around here?"

"Well," Chuck said. "We've all got class in an hour, but after dinner we're allowed free play in the gymnasium. Do you play basketball?"

"Of course I play basketball," Blaine laughed. "What kind of question is that?"

"Then we'll see you there. About time we got a fourth. Haven't been able to play any of the dorm battles without one." Jason was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.

"Dorm battles?"

"Yeah. It's like a championship. Each room within a dorm plays the others until there's one undefeated. Then, at the end of the year, the teams play each other to determine which dorm gets the Golden Globe."

"The Golden Globe?" Blaine repeated dubiously.

"It's a spray-painted basketball," Chuck explained nonchalantly. He clearly wasn't as enthusiastic as Jason.

Jason was on his feet. "Do not disgrace the glory of the Globe!" He grabbed Chuck by the neck and threw him to the floor and punched him in the face. "Sacrilege!"

"Holy shit!" Blaine swore, alarmed and then suddenly confused by Jason and Chuck's laughter.

"That is stage combat," Brian rolled his eyes. "Once you've seen them run into enough doors or fall down enough stairs, it won't faze you."

"Oh." Blaine's eyes were still wide.

"We can show you if you want," Chuck volunteered.

Blaine smiled. "Is there a theatre program at Dalton?"

"Not really. Do a few Shakespeare scenes every winter, but other than that..."

"As if you two ever plan on doing anything besides Tybalt's death scene."

"Oh, come on!"

"Yeah, how often do you get to play with swords in school?" added Jason.

"Do you like theatre?" Chuck asked.

Blaine shrugged. "Kind of. I like singing. I was hoping there might be a musical or something."

"Well, then you want to audition for the Warblers."

"What's the Warblers?"

That was how Blaine found himself sitting outside a classroom with three other freshmen. His name was called and he walked in. "Hi, Blaine."

"Hello, Warblers."

"What are you going to sing for us?"

"I, um."

They waited patiently for him to say something. "Is it alright if I sing a girl song?" he asked. "My voice is kind of... high."

"That is perfectly alright," the Warbler in the center of the table said. "Go for it. We lost our last soprano, so if you can hit those notes, you're definitely in."

So Blaine sang the first thing that came to mind. He made it through the verse, and felt himself tearing up. "Well, I've been afraid of changing 'cause I've built my life around you. But time makes you bolder. Even children get older, and I'm getting older, too. So, take my love, take it down. Climb a mountain, and turn around. And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills," Blaine sang, hitting a high note and executing a run to take him up another octave, "Well, the landslide'll bring it down."

There was utter silence. He sniffed in a breath and grinned self-consciously. "Thank you, Blaine. Can you call in Justin?"

"Yeah," he said, trying not to despair over their lack of enthusiasm. He sent the last boy in, a million thoughts running through his brain. He shouldn't have sung. He shouldn't have hit any high notes. They could tell he was hiding a female body under his clothes. They'd go to the headmaster and get him expelled and he'd have to go back to Jamie and all the other kids who made his life a living hell.

Blaine was hunched over on himself, struggling to breathe normally by the time Justin left the room and sat next to the three of them. "They're talking it over. Should be out in a few minutes," Justin informed them all. He seemed confident. Well, that was great for Justin. Justin's body produced its own testosterone and didn't have boobs. What did he have to worry about? "You alright?"

It took a moment for Blaine to realize Justin was talking to him. "Yeah, great."

"Only, you look like you're about to vomit."

"Must've been something I ate."

"Are you new?"

"Yeah," Blaine nodded. "Is it that obvious?"

"Dalton's a small school," Justin explained. "Even if you don't know everybody, you don't see new faces that often. And I'd remember someone as cute as you."

Blaine's eyes widened and he was about to try to ask what Justin meant by that, but the doors to the classroom opened and a senior stood in the doorway. "Alright, boys," he announced. "We had two slots to fill, so I'm afraid we could only take two of you. It was a rough decision because you're all really good singers. But in the end... We voted to take-" he paused for dramatic effect, the jerk- "Justin and Blaine." Blaine's face lit up. "Practice is Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at three. See you both tomorrow."

Blaine sat with his roommates at dinner, and they talked basketball after celebratory jell-o in honor of his induction to the Warblers.

"I'd say you're getting an A plus in Assimilation 101," Brian remarked.

They won against two of the four teams in their dorm that night and returned to shower feeling victorious. "New guy showers last," he said nervously, knowing there were only two shower stalls in the dorm. He knew there were curtains and no one was going to bother him, but he couldn't stop the unreasonable waking nightmare from playing through his brain over and over that there was some kind of new-kid hazing where they'd snatch him from the shower to take him somewhere but stop when they realized-

"You're up, new kid," Jason said, walking in wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Blaine tried not to look alarmed at the amount of skin. He was a guy, they were guys, it wasn't like they didn't know what the other guys looked like naked. Well... Anyway, clearly there was no cause to freak out as Chuck and Brian barely looked up.

Blaine showered quickly, just in case.

At rehearsal, they learned backup to "Baby" by Justin Bieber. Apparently it was for the irony. Just before they dismissed everyone, two of the older Warblers brought something forward. "New Warblers, Justin and Blaine," the one said. Blaine thought his name was Wes. The other pulled the cover from it to reveal that it was a bird cage. Immediately, the little thing began to chirp. "This is Bocelli. You have joint custody of this little Warbler. Care for him well."

Blaine and Justin looked to each other. This was an unexpected development. For him, at least. If Justin was thrown by it, he hid his surprise well. After they were let out with their new feathered ward, they set him on the bench outside where they'd waited for auditions. "So would you like him first or shall I take him?" Blaine asked.

"You can have him first," Justin said. "I'll help you set him up. Which dorm is yours?"

"I'm in 231," Blaine said and Justin grabbed the cage.

"Onward!" his friend commanded imperiously and they set forth toward Blaine's room.

When they got there, Blaine cleared off his night stand and moved it to the side of his bed by the wall, just to make sure no one accidentally ran into the cage during the night. Justin set Bocelli down in the place of honor. "Perfect."

"So, do we want to switch him off every week or do we want to work out some kind of weekends and holidays thing?" Blaine joked.

"I think we can do a weekly thing," Justin said and Blaine noticed he was studying him. Justin's eyes shot back to Blaine's as soon as he realized Blaine was looking. Oh, god. Justin knew. He could see the way the coat was tight around his hips but loose at the waist. It didn't matter that it held its form. He could tell that Blaine had girly curves, however slight they may have been. Sometimes, Blaine wondered if anyone noticed but him. But right now, it was obvious that Justin did. "You are gay, right?"

"What?" Blaine's eyes practically popped out of his head. "I mean... What?"

"I mean, I'm normally pretty good at... But, if I'm wrong, I'll just-"

"Does it matter?" Blaine asked, suddenly nervous that he'd found the thing for which everyone at Dalton would torment him.

"Well, I was probably going to hit on you or something if you were, but if not... I'd rather not embarrass myself any worse than I already have..."

"Oh," Blaine said, thrown for a loop. "You want to- Me? Why?"

"Uh..." Justin laughed nervously. "I should go..."

"No!" Blaine said a little too loudly. "I mean, I am gay, but... Why would you want to hit on me?"

Justin squinted at him. "Because you're adorable and charming and... If you're not interested, I'd really appreciate you sparing me the embarrassment. Seriously."

"No, I-" Blaine noticed Justin for the first time. He was definitely Blaine's type. Did Blaine have a type? What did it mean to have a type? Justin was nice. He was cute. He liked things Blaine liked. He could definitely at least date Justin. Could he date Justin? Would Justin want to date him if he knew Blaine was transgender? Was it okay to date him without telling him? It's not like Justin would find out because they were fourteen and he'd had a terrible fear of pregnancy ever since Cooper had said it and so therefore was in no hurry to have any form of naked time with anyone. He'd had nightmares where he woke up with a round belly and suddenly everyone was calling him by his birth name and he could just feel the parts of him that made him different.

"You okay?"

"Fine, yeah," Blaine replied quickly. Did he reply too quickly? Justin probably thought he was twitchy now or something. "We could- We could definitely go for coffee or something, maybe."

"Great," Justin beamed. "There's a place called the Lima Bean where a lot of Dalton guys go. How about there?"

"Sure," Blaine agreed. He was going on a date?

"Friday?"

"Sure." He was going on a date with a guy?

"How about we go in the morning? Seven maybe? That should give us enough time to eat breakfast and then get back in time for class."

"Sure." He was going on a date with a guy. A really nice guy. And no one was going to beat him up for it this time. "Is this a gay friendly kind of coffee place?"

"This is Ohio," Justin scoffed. "But no one will bother us. Unless we start making out in the middle of the café, no one will even really know we're not just two students having breakfast before class. Seriously. Dalton guys go all the time. They're used to it."

"Okay," Blaine nodded. His face had turned red at the suggestion of them making out, but other than that, he was perfectly at ease after the assurance. "Friday morning then."

"Excellent," Justin smiled. "See you then."

"See you then," Blaine mumbled as his new...friend?... slipped out of his room and headed for his own.