Always a pleasure
FlyingRabbit
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Always a pleasure: Mattress


T - Words: 2,439 - Last Updated: May 27, 2012
Story: Closed - Chapters: 47/? - Created: Dec 20, 2011 - Updated: May 27, 2012
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Blaine supposed it was kind of his own fault. Maybe he shouldn't have made a habit out of jumping on every flat surface he came across, but really, where was the fun in that? Jumping (and, consequently, dancing, if the possibility was there) on furniture brought just a little more joy to his, admittedly rather dull, life.

It was only too bad that his parents didn't appreciate this particular hobby of his.

His father had been more than a little annoyed when his mother had come to the conclusion that there was something wrong with Blaine's bed – more precisely, his mattress. It looked completely torn apart, and was, according to both parents, no longer appropriate for Blaine to sleep on whenever he came home during the weekends.

That's how Blaine found himself, on a slightly-too-cold-for-the-time-of-the-year day at the end of November, in front of a mattress store near Lima, Ohio. Why they couldn't have just gone to Columbus was beside him, but he found the name of the store, Mattress Land, to be very promising. Even though coming home for certain weekends didn't always appeal to him, this was a better reason to spend the weekend with his parents than many other things Blaine and his friends could've come up with.

He must've been smiling a little too happily, as his father was eyeing him out of the corner of his eye in a way that Blaine knew didn't mean much good. This was the kind of look his father gave him whenever he was happy about something his father didn't deem a suitable activity for his son, or whenever his father was somehow reminded of the fact that Blaine was, in fact, gay.

He almost bounced inside, both his parents following at a distance. When he saw the inside of the store, Blaine's hopes and expectations came true: mattresses, everywhere. Wherever he looked, there were mattresses. His whole body started tingling; so many mattresses, so little time… and so much judgement from his parents and all the other customers in this store.

Blaine bit his lip. He really wanted to climb and jump all these mattresses, or at least the ones his parents considered buying. Knowing his dad, he'd buy the least jumpable mattress of them all.

"Most of these are complete beds," his mother noted, also looking around, albeit less eagerly than Blaine did.

"I'm sure we can buy a mattress without a bed as well," his father said. "Well, let's – let's look around alright?"

He grabbed Blaine's shoulder more forcefully than Blaine had expected, and steered his son around the store. Blaine grudgingly looked around, disliking this shopping trip already. He just wanted to stay here all day and then pick a mattress, but it was obvious that that wasn't going to happen.

"Where are all the salesmen anyway?" his father grunted after a while, looking around unhappily. "We could use a little help finding a good, decent mattress for a teenager who needs to be taught not to jump on every flat surface he comes across…"

At that moment, Blaine heard it. Music.

He turned around so swiftly that his father let go of his shoulder. "Blaine, where are you going?" his mother asked as Blaine began to walk towards the source of the music slowly. "What's wrong?"

"Don't you hear that?" he asked excitedly. "Come on, let's go see where that music comes from!"

He almost sprinted off, not looking behind him because he knew that his father's expression wouldn't be a nice one. They could reprimand him later; first, he wanted to find the music.

There it was. Blaine stared in awe at the big, beautiful, oh-so-jumpable mattresses. He was almost inclined to – oh, right. A bunch of kids was jumping and dancing and being athletic on the mattresses, while singing a Van Halen song Blaine vaguely recognised. He felt like his dream had come true – mattresses, everywhere, and other kids to jump and sing and have fun with, while jumping on said mattresses.

This only proved what Blaine had known, but had been forced to keep quiet, for a very long time. He wasn't the only kid his age who liked jumping on mattresses. There were more people like him.

He bounced up and down excitedly as the group in front of him appeared to have the time of their lives. He wanted so badly to join them, but he hadn't missed the mini-set that had been built in the middle of the store. They were filming something. He'd just have to ask if he could jump for a bit when they were done, or taking a break or something.

As he stood there, grinning from ear to ear, a firm hand suddenly grasped his shoulder again, and Blaine turned around swiftly, scared out of his wits. He'd completely forgotten about his parents for a moment.

"What's going on here?" his father asked, eyeing the set and the jumping kids disdainfully.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like a lot of fun!" Blaine responded, trying to stay happy and excited for a little longer before his dad would inevitably make him lose his enthusiasm.

When the song was over, there was a small applause, and Blaine joined in happily. This seemed to catch the attention of the two men who'd been watching the group too, and one of them approached Blaine and his parents.

"Can I help you with anything?" the man asked with a broad smile.

"We're looking for a mattress," Blaine's father replied bluntly.

The man laughed heartily. "Well, obviously, otherwise you'd be in the wrong store!"

Blaine's father clearly didn't appreciate this man's sense of humour. "Where can I find one of the salesmen?" he demanded. "My son's in desperate need of a new mattress… one that can survive his constant need to jump on everything he sees."

"I'll be with you in a moment," the jolly man told him. "I think we've finished filming the commercial now anyway."

"That was a commercial?" Blaine asked, completely in awe. "That's so cool! That must be one of the most wicked commercials ever!"

Blaine's father pursed his lips. "Do you really think that that's a good idea? These kids are setting a wrong example; seeing the commercial will only cause kids, and Blaine here, want to jump on everything he comes across even more! Parents in Ohio will not like this, I can guarantee you that!"

The man didn't seem to understand what the problem was and why Blaine's father was so annoyed. "But with the commercial, we're proving that our mattresses can endure just about everything, even jumping teenagers!"

"Teenagers shouldn't be jumping on mattresses," Blaine's father countered, and the man sighed.

"Look, I'll help you out in a minute, sir. I just need to wrap up this commercial."

Blaine's father scoffed angrily, storming away. Whereto, Blaine didn't know, and he didn't want to go after him and find out just yet.

True to his word, the man was back soon. "Why don't you take off your shoes and relax a bit over there?" he told Blaine, nodding towards where the other teens were still jumping and talking and singing and just lying around. "I'll help your parents find a mattress that suits their standards and your needs."

Although Blaine felt like he was being spoken to like he was some sort of toddler, he happily agreed anyway. He kicked off his shoes as he went, but came to a halt a few feet away from the group, suddenly feeling a bit awkward about just approaching them.

"Hi!" a blond girl greeted him enthusiastically from where she was jumping. "Are you coming to play with us?"

Within a second, everyone's attention was on Blaine. "If that's alright with you," he replied, now a little hesitant. All these kids knew each other already, and he knew none of them. It was like kindergarten all over again. "But – do I need to put on those pyjama's too if I am?"

"We were just wearing them for the commercial," another blond girl told him. "I think you're just fine."

Blaine grinned. "Awesome!"

He wasn't normally like this, he knew it, but something about all these mattresses made him giddier than ever. He would never live it down if his friends at Dalton somehow got word (or, worse, video footage) of this.

"Well, come on, then!" the first blond girl said. "Can you do a cartwheel?"

Having climbed onto one of the biggest mattresses on the set (also one of the biggest ones Blaine had ever seen), Blaine nodded. "I've never done one on a mattress, though," he admitted.

"At least you'll land on something soft," a guy with a Mohawk said, shrugging, before doing some intricate tricks himself. This only spurred Blaine on to try some tricks himself, which would probably result in him suffering from aching muscles for the entirety of the next week. But it was worth it.

"Imagine being able to come here whenever you want and just… jump," he said as he lay down on the mattress a while later, feeling some of the other kids still jumping around on it.

"It sure is a good workout," another boy quipped, before letting himself fall down next to Blaine.

"How did you even land this commercial?" Blaine asked curiously. "No offence, but you all look like a bunch of school kids to me."

"We are a bunch of school kids," an Asian girl replied as she sat down next to the other boy. "Aren't you?"

Blaine nodded, suddenly feeling a little sleepy. He could stay here forever and be fully content. "Hmhm. I wish I could've been in that commercial, though. It looked awesome."

The boy and girl exchanged grins. "It was awesome," the girl replied. "Hey, now, don't fall asleep! We weren't done jumping yet!"

The two stood up again, hauling Blaine back onto his feet as well. A few of their friends started singing again, and Blaine eagerly harmonised with them, jumping from one pile of mattresses to another. He was having a lot of fun here.

After running around the mattresses for a bit, Blaine climbed on top of a mattress again, this time sitting next to a boy in a wheelchair. The boy grinned at him. "Are you having fun?" he asked.

Blaine nodded a bit hesitantly now. After all, it would be pretty mean to rub it in this boy's face that jumping on mattresses was one of the best things in the world when the boy himself couldn't jump along. "Yeah, it's nice," he attempted to shrug it off. "It must suck, though, just sitting here… doesn't it?"

"It does," the boy agreed. "But I was lying on the mattress earlier while the others jumped around, which was pretty sweet as well."

Blaine glanced at the group from where he was sitting. The tall boy and the short girl who'd been singing lead (other than this boy in the wheelchair) were lying and laughing together, while one of the blond girls from earlier kept an eye on them from where she was jumping with the Asian girl and a dark-skinned girl. The guy with the Mohawk and two other boys Blaine hadn't really spoken to were trying to constantly outdo each other and were jumping and cartwheeling and doing other crazy stuff. And, lastly, the boy Blaine had talked to earlier was lying down on a mattress, giggling like mad as two girls jumped and danced up and down, trying to launch him, it seemed.

"You can go and jump along, you know," the boy in the wheelchair suddenly broke the silence that hung between the two. "After all, that's why you came here, right?"

"Yeah…," Blaine said slowly. "If you're sure you don't mind."

"It's okay," the boy assured him. "It looks like Quinn's taking a break now anyway, so I won't be entirely alone."

Blaine looked up and noticed one of the blond girls – the one who'd been staring daggers at the lead singers earlier – approaching them. He grinned widely at her before hopping off of the mattress and bouncing over to the bigger ones again.

"Hey!" he shouted happily before flopping down next to the boy who was still being launched into the air by the two girls, who, he suddenly realised, were giggling loudly as well.

"Hi!" the other three called back, before erupting into laughter once more.

Blaine tried to lie still, but with the girls jumping around them (at this point, two more girls had joined them), this was pretty hard. Before he knew what was happening, his head collided with the other boy's head, causing Blaine to sit up instantly, groaning. That hurt.

Before he knew it, though, he lost his balance again, even while sitting, and this time, his head landed on the other boy's chest. At first, he didn't think too much of it; he even tried to bury his face in the soft material.

Then, all of a sudden, he realised what he was doing and where he was. He wasn't in his bed, this wasn't his pillow. No – he was in a store, in a public place, trying to almost cuddle with a guy he'd met less than an hour ago and, knowing Blaine's luck, wasn't even gay (and would therefore probably not appreciate what Blaine was doing now, as most guys weren't used to showing affection for other guys), who was just wearing a pair of pyjamas he'd been given to wear for some commercial he'd just done.

Quicker than he'd thought possible, Blaine sat up again, only to find that the other boy was starting to become pretty red in the face, and the girls surrounding them had stopped jumping. In fact, they were just standing there now, looking shocked, but simultaneously trying to stifle their giggles.

"I'm so sorry," Blaine uttered, staring at the boy in fear.

"It – that's okay," the boy replied, still looking like he couldn't really believe what had just happened.

"I won't – it won't happen again, I swear," Blaine continued, slowly backing away. "I'll just – "

"Blaine!" His father was back, and he was currently looking at Blaine like he was the biggest disappointment he'd ever come across. Not like that was anything new. "Come on, son, we don't have all day!"

Blaine nodded minutely, but his father had already stalked off again. "I should go," he said quietly to the others, who'd all fallen silent. Slightly awkwardly, Blaine moved to the side of the mattress and sliding off, before putting his shoes back on. "Maybe I'll see you guys around," he added, waving at the group one last time (fortunately, they all waved back, including the boy Blaine had just tried to sleep on).

He hurried after his father, his face still burning. Hopefully he could at least have the final say in what mattress his parents were going to buy for him.


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