Ah. Okay. This one I'm excited about. And, yes, I know Wes was a senior or whatever, but… I'm pulling an Ouran. I can't bear the thought of any of the Warblers not being there, so we're just gonna have them not graduate… yup.

"BLAINE-A-BEE!" Jeff yelped, tackling him to the ground and bringing all of his bags down with them in the center of Dalton's foyer. "I MISSED YOU!" he crooned, nuzzling his cheek against Blaine's face and hugging him as tight as feasibly possible. Luckily, Nick grabbed him by the collar and tugged him off before he could suffocate him. Blaine stood up a bit tipsily as Nick scolded the tall blonde.

"We talked about this," he hissed to his best friend, and Jeff's eyes lit up in remembrance. Oh yeah. Things weren't so peachy in the Klaine universe anymore. His cheeks flushed as Nick hit his arm, and scratched the back of his neck as Nick wrapped Blaine up in a far gentler hug. "I'm really sorry," he said empathetically, and Blaine just bit his lip, shrugging.

"I don't want to think about it…" he said, and Jeff could practically feel the heartbreak. Crap. This was worse than he thought. A close look at Blaine's face revealed red eyes and a nose to match, looking as if he had been crying during the entire drive over to Dalton. His suitcases were still scattered around his feet, and Blaine didn't seem to be interested in picking them up, so Jeff slung one of the two duffle bags over his shoulder and grabbed the handle of his rolling suitcase, while Nick snagged his other duffle. Jeff bit his lip.

"Okay… whelp. I know you just got back, and you haven't even managed to put this stuff in your room yet, but we have Warbler's practice. Sorry, it's so soon…" he trailed off awkwardly, and Blaine noticeably paled. The fakest smile Jeff had ever seen (and that was saying something since he had roomed with freaking Nathan freshman year) spread out on the younger boy's face, his chin quaking a bit and his knuckles whitening on the strap of his messenger bag.

"Oh. Okay. I understand, I just…" Blaine trailed off, and Jeff nodded. He was probably feeling too upset to sing or something. He turned to Nick.

"It started like," he glanced at his watch, "now-ish, so we should probably head over," he said, turning and walking down the hall, and was confused when after a minute, Blaine hadn't moved. "Are you coming?" he asked, and Blaine's entire face lit up. The kid was an anime character…

"I'm invited?" he asked hopefully, and Nick laughed.

"Are you a Warbler?" he asked, swishing his dark hair out of his eyes and smiling his million-watt smile. Despite this, however, Blaine's face fell, his eyes looking downcast.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just-" he started, but something clicked in Jeff's brain before he could finish.

"Dude," he interrupted, beckoning him with one hand and putting an arm around his shoulder, "Once a Warbler, always a Warbler. We kicked Sebastian out to get your spot back for you and everything!" Jeff said enthusiastically. Blaine arched an eyebrow, so Nick explained.

"It wasn't that big of a deal. Wes hated him. He could 'never sing songs like they were his own' and he 'somehow sounded calculated and like a moron at the same time'," he quoted, "because of it. Wes was having conniptions, like, every two seconds. You're doing us all a favor. One more lecture, and I think my ears would have fallen off in a bleeding mess on the floor," he assured him, and it was insane how Blaine's mood had shifted.

"YES! Awesome! Cause I had been thinking awhile ago about all these songs I wish I could have sang, and, oh, Nicky! I have the perfect song for you! I thought of it after 'Uptown Girl'. You're going to love it, and you can sing it with Jeff! It'll be perfect for your voices, we just have to do some arranging, and that's not a big deal. And Wes had been talking about doing…" Blaine went on, and Jeff couldn't help but felt like they dodged a giant bullet.

At some point during the very one-sided conversation, Jeff managed to lock eyes with Nick, and a bit of relief passed between the two of them. Blaine had an exponentially large smile plastered on his face as he explained all of his ideas. The kid really did love music… and the Warblers… His nose was still tinged pink, but Jeff wasn't worried about it anymore. This was the Blaine he knew.

But at the same time, it wasn't.

Because Jeff couldn't help but notice the way the curly haired boy's blazer hung far loser around him than it should have, and he saw the giant bags under his friend's eyes. Once again, he locked eyes with Nick, and it was obvious he had noticed to. Their little Blaine-a-bee was messed up, and they didn't like it.

"It's seriously great to have you back, Blaine," Wes said, donning the younger boy's bed with perfect hospital corners as he managed to cram his clothes into their shared closet. Blaine somehow managed to be neat in a very, very sloppy way. Everything managed to get where it needed to be, just in the wrong order and occasionally upside-down.

He was weird to room with.

"I know!" he chirped, struggling to stuff a Dalton-issued button-down on one of the padded hangers. Blaine was wincing as he did it, and Wes mimicked, knowing how gross it felt to have your fingernails run over the foam. It was only one of his least favorite things ever. Worse than having them go up against a paper towel… ugh. "It's also kind of weird… but in a good way. It sucked living at home, I was always running out of stuff," he said, and Wes nodded.

Plus to living with 100 other guys: There was always someone to borrow/steal from.

Negative: Practically ten-second showers with water from barely melting icebergs.

Then, suddenly, Blaine's cheerful tone turned professional. "But, seriously, Wes, I've been thinking, we could totally-" and Wes let himself tune out. Blaine knew that, despite being a frequent soloist, he didn't exactly have a voice in the Warblers. That would be him, Thad, and David, thank you. Of course, it didn't stop him from pelting him with thoughts the second he got him alone.

Plus to rooming with Blaine Anderson: A Very Potter Musical was always a valid option for movie night.

Negative to rooming with Blaine Anderson: The second he felt comfortable and had nothing to prove, he never stopped talking.

Luckily, lights out was in ten minutes. It wasn't long before the emergency lights flickered on and off as someone- presumably their prefect ,Nathan- cut the power to warn them that they were at the five minute mark. Blaine practically leapt into the bathroom, slamming the door while saying, "But seriously! It should be considered a crime that we haven't done the Plain White T's yet!"

Wes had already tucked himself into bed when Blaine came out of the bathroom. "We haven't done the Plain White T's cause they're too iconic," he answered, and before Blaine could respond, the room went dark. Outside their room, there was still yelling and laughing, but Wes was a stickler for rules. No talking after lights out. Ever. Blaine nodded feebly at him before crawling under his covers slowly.

He seemed to change attitudes with the lights out. Wes could see his silhouette by a lamp post shining through the window behind him. He was sitting up stiff and straight in bed, and he could barely make out his shoulders shaking. "Are you okay?" Wes whispered, rules be damned. Blaine immediately stilled.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, sounding half chipper, half… Half not like Blaine at all. "Why do you ask?" Wes scratched his head, not sure what to tell him. 'Cause you're boyfriend cheated on you, and you seem so tired, and sad, and skinny, and you're mood has been bouncing all over the place since you got there,' would have been ideal but instead he went with-

"No reason," he responded, guilt immediately gnawing at his stomach. He wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. He had immediately engulfed Blaine in his usual Warbler status, having him sing a very, very irritating song as a solo the second he walked in (he, of course, knew all the words and didn't even touch the sheet music he had printed him. What was with him and Top 40?), but… what else? He had seemed pretty sufficiently distracted for most of the afternoon, but the second he stopped talking…

He turned into a zombie.

A really depressing zombie.

Blaine was a really strong person. Students attended Dalton for three reasons. First, they were filthy, freaking rich. Second, they had their eyes set on some amazing college of some sort. Third, they dealt with some pretty crappy stuff at their old school. Blaine was mostly the latter. He had money, and he was all about a good education, but… Wes didn't know everything that happened at Blaine's old school. Frankly, he didn't want to. It hurt too much to watch his friend struggle to tell him, and every time he learned something new about him, this terrible weight settled in his stomach.

He did know that Blaine had spent more than one weekend locked in a closet, he knew that Kurt's being shoved into lockers was nothing compared to the abuse he got, he knew that he still had some really deeply hidden self-esteem issues that he couldn't seem to deal with, and Wes knew that because of all this, Blaine was really, really strong.

But he didn't think he could take this.

This wasn't fair.

Wes was really starting to hate Kurt. He didn't seem to understand the effect yet of what he had done. If he received one more text asking how Blaine was, he would throw a chair. Kurt should be there on one knee and begging for forgiveness. He should feel crippling guilt. Blaine hadn't been right for a long time, Wes had noticed. He had noticed how desperate he seemed whenever Klaine rolled into a Warbler party. He noticed how hard it was for the younger boy to keep Kurt's attention. He noticed how Blaine was trying so, so hard to make things work.

And he hated Kurt for not noticing. He hated Kurt for allowing Blaine to waste away without comment. He hated him for breaking Blaine because Blaine was most definitely broken. A person could only go through so much, and Kurt should have known that.

He should have known how quickly Blaine invested himself in things. It stressed Wes constantly, and made him incredibly hard to protect. He fell in love in minutes, and he was constantly paying for his instant loyalty. But Kurt was supposed to be different. He was supposed to be the one to love Blaine back and treat him right.

Why couldn't Blaine have just been enough? How had he not been enough? Why was he never enough?

A disgusting nauseating feeling wormed it's way through Wes. If he was asking these questions then Blaine… Oh, Blaine. Wes couldn't even imagine… Admittedly, he was heartbroken. He had a million questions. Blaine was probably so scared and confused, and as far Wes knew, they hadn't actually broken up. He doubted the two had even talked since Blaine had walked in on him and Sam…

Wes sighed. This was a mess. And if the way Blaine still was sitting up straight in bed and the way his entire bed was creaking with his shaking was anything to go by, he was a mess too.

No. This wasn't good.

Now, for a while, Wes had prided himself in not being an extremely touchy person. Well, not in the way that Nick and Jeff were with each other. Not even with David. So not even he could explain what could possibly make him crawl into Blaine Anderson's bed his first night back at Dalton. However, the quaking of Blaine's body as he made him lie back told him that it wouldn't be the last.

"Shh. It'll be okay."

Okay, so that was satisfying. I feel like I could write this forever.