A/N: Hi, me again! So, this update took longer than I’d hoped, mainly because I was distracted by a guest who took all of my attention for a week. The next one should be up in the week beginning the 18th, because I have mock exams next week.

Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, I would drop out of college.

Chapter Twelve: Jump.

Artie, Mercedes, Kurt, and Tina were at their usual lunchtime table when Blaine walked into the lunch hall. They were discussing the Glee photos, he realised, as he sat down between Tina and Kurt. Or, rather, the lack of said photos. He swapped a smile with Kurt and start eating his lunch, since there wasn’t much he could contribute to this conversation.

It was at times like this that Blaine almost wished that he were in the Glee club. Or some sort of club, at least. The photos of the clubs, for this year’s Thunderclap, were being taken soon, and he wasn’t going to be in any of them. Which meant he wasn’t going to be in his yearbook, except for his class photo. It saddened him somewhat that the yearbook wasn’t ever going to be something he could show his kids. Well, the hypothetical kids that he may never have.

“I can’t believe Rachel asked me to be in the Glee club picture with her.” Artie shook his head. “I think she’s getting desperate.”

“Either that, or she just considers us her friends.” Mercedes made a face, as if both options were equally bad. Blaine was pretty sure she was half-joking. They all complained about Rachel, but he could tell that they at least admired her voice, even if they weren’t so fond of her personality. And he got the feeling they were fond of her, even if it was usually fond exasperation they were feeling towards her...

“What’s so bad about being in the photo?” Blaine asked them, confused. “I mean, I get that people deface the yearbook photos, but...” They were acting like it was more than that. After all, popularity had never really mattered to any of them, or they wouldn’t have joined Glee in the first place. They wanted to belong, not to a crowd who didn’t really care, but to a group where they could be themselves. More and more, Blaine was seeing the appeal in joining the Glee club. Especially now the bullies were beginning to notice him more. He was no longer the new kid: he was a friend of ‘Homo Explosion’. He’d actually had spit balls thrown at him the other day in class; the bullying was getting steadily worse.

“One of the past members of the Glee club whose photo got defaced had a mental breakdown and is now the homeless man who lives outside the public library. Another Glee club member, dead, in a manner eerily predicted by the graffiti on her photo.” Kurt told Blaine, exchanging glances with the others around the table, who all looked solemn.

Blaine blinked at him, slightly frightened by this information. “The kids are this school are vicious.” He’d already got a taste of how vicious, though he knew that Kurt got the worst of it.

“They’re vicious at every school,” Kurt said.

“I know.” Blaine muttered, and could practically sense the curious looks being swapped. “So, who’s doing the photo with Rachel, then?” He asked, to change the subject. Diversion was an excellent tactic. And since they were teenagers, they all had a short attention span, so it worked like a charm.

“I don’t know.” Mercedes shrugged. “Nobody wants to be in the photo.”

“She’d probably ask you, if you were in the club.” Tina grinned, nudging him.

Blaine rolled his eyes at her as the others all sniggered. “No, she wouldn’t, I talked to her yesterday and- here she comes, shh.”

Rachel was indeed heading for them, with a determined look on her face. She reached the table and glared at them all, arms folded. “I’d just like to thank you all for the support you’ve shown for the Glee club so far.” This was laden with sarcasm, unsurprisingly.

Tina shrank down in her seat a little, presumably to prevent Rachel from noticing and asking her. Blaine was pretty sure that Rachel wasn’t entirely aware that Tina existed. Rachel didn’t always sit with them at lunchtime, though, sometimes preferring to spend her time watching Finn from somewhere safe where Kurt wouldn’t made snide comments about it. She was also spending more and more time talking to Finn. Considering how close they were, it was a very good thing that she didn’t know about Puck being the father. She would definitely tell him.

“Kurt-” Rachel began, turning to him with a terrifying smile and a stare that most human beings would crumble under.

“No.” Kurt was not easily swayed, especially by the likes of Rachel Berry.

She scowled. Blaine took pity on her. “Sit down, Rach.” He grabbed her hand to pull her towards him, and she ceded, sitting down next to him and rooting in her bag for her lunch. She brought her own food to school, since the vegetarian option wasn’t usually vegan-friendly.

There were a few moments of silence, then: “Are none of you proud of being in Glee club?” Rachel asked, looking around the table with an indignant expression.

“Rachel, we all get enough crap every day for being in the club. If we were in the photo, it’d just be more reason for them to hate on us. We want to survive high school.” Mercedes shrugged.

As Rachel opened her mouth to respond, Tina interrupted quickly. “So, what are everyone’s plans for Christmas?”

“I don’t celebrate Christmas.” Rachel said, and all of them rolled their eyes at her. “But I will be celebrating Hanukkah with my dads.” She began eating her food, which was just as well since lunch time would be over in 25 minutes.

“My mom’s surprising my dad with a trip to Yellowstone National Park. He’s always wanted to go. And they can’t leave me at home alone, so I’m being dragged out there too.” Mercedes told them, looking unenthusiastic.

“Oh, come on, you’re going to love it. You can stay indoors, keep warm, and watch for animals.” Kurt said.

She smiled. “Yeah, I know. I’ll miss you all, though.”

“I’m just staying at home with my family.” Artie shrugged, glancing at Tina, who nodded to indicate that she was too. “I can’t really leave the house much during the winter months, since it’s hard for me to keep warm. I can’t exactly jump up and down.”

The sympathetic quiet lasted a few moments, before Mercedes spoke. “I know you’re staying in with your dad, Kurt. What about you, Blaine?”

Blaine felt everyone’s eyes on him and froze slightly. “Uh, well, we were supposed to be going up to visit Cooper, but, uh, he had to cancel at the last minute, so we’re having my grandparents over, instead...” He trailed off.

“Sounds fun.” Mercedes smiled.

It would be the opposite of fun. If it were his mom’s parents who were coming, he’d be more excited. But it was his dad’s parents. Meaning his grandmother would sit around and complain until she fell asleep, and his grandfather would make disparaging comments about Blaine’s sexuality and ask Blaine’s dad why he hadn’t “sent him to one of those camps to fix him up”. To which the answer was that Blaine’s mom wouldn’t allow it. She wasn’t good at standing up to his dad, but she’d always maintained that Blaine didn’t need fixing.

The talk turned to a discussion about the chances of it snowing this Christmas (very high) and the chances that their teachers would be lax with the homework-setting (very low). Blaine shook off the thoughts about his family and Christmas, and joined in the conversation. After all, there were still 3 weeks to go until Christmas. And Sectionals was in a week. He had that to look forward to, at least.

---

“So, I guess Rachel’s back to chasing Finn again.” Tina muttered to Blaine, as they walked past the choir room after their final lesson of the day, where Rachel was practically salivating over the uncomfortable-looking footballer.

“Well, maybe if he falls for her, he won’t be so mad when he finds out about Quinn.” Blaine said thoughtfully, shaking his head a little at the faint sound of the song Smile coming from the room. It looked like this rendezvous was more about the Glee club photo than about romance.

“True. And it means she’s stopped chasing after you.” Tina nudged him and grinned. “So, you talked to her, yeah? What did she say?”

“She wasn’t upset. I mean, she knew as well as we did that she was just focussing on me to stop thinking about Finn. And, well, she knows.” He admitted, needing to tell someone, having not had the chance to discuss it with Kurt yet.

“Knows?” Tina stopped, turning to him, expression serious. “Wait, she knows that you’re gay?” She whispered the last word, conscious of the busy hallway. No-one was paying attention to them anyway, but it wasn’t worth the risk of someone overhearing and spreading the news. Blaine was going to come out on his own terms, this time.

“Yeah. She’s not going to tell anyone.” He reassured her, confident of this.

Tina smiled. “Rachel’s actually quite a good friend, when she isn’t thinking of herself. But, that doesn’t happen much.” She raised her eyebrows at him when he didn’t laugh. “Did she say something else?”

“Yeah. She, uh, figured something else out.” Glancing around to check nobody was in hearing distance, he lowered his voice. “Tina... I like Kurt.”

For a few seconds, she stared at him, eyebrows still raised in what he presumed was shock. That is, until she opened her mouth. “And...?”

“That-that’s kind of it. Did you know?” Now he was the one in shock. Was he that obvious? If so, he really needed to tone it down.

“Blaine Anderson, I like to think I know you well enough by now to be able to work out that you have it bad for one of my closest friends.” She nudged him.

A little panicked, he asked, “Am I really obvious?”

“No, you’re not, honestly. Mercedes and Artie have no idea, and they spend nearly as much time with you as I do. Even Kurt doesn’t have a clue.”

“Good.” Blaine sighed. “It’s stupid of me to be so into him. I mean, he’s... he really doesn’t feel the same about me.”

“No, he’s too busy making eyes at Finn.”

“So you’ve noticed, huh?”

“Yeah.” She admitted. “It’s not like he tries that hard to hide it, though. I hope it doesn’t continue for too much longer.”

“I think he’s still convinced that there’s a chance that Finn will turn gay. And he’s not ready to let go of that conviction.”

“I hope he does, and soon.” They stopped at Kurt’s locker. “Why are you still here, anyway? Don’t you have to go met your mom?”

It was true that his mom was currently waiting to give him a lift home, but he had news, and he wanted to tell Kurt first. “Yeah, but I have news.”

She gave him a curious look as Kurt reached them. “Hi, Tina, sorry I’m late.” He said, a little breathlessly.

“Oh, we have plenty of time. Finn and Rachel were practising when we walked past just now.”

Kurt’s expression suggested that he thought that was not “plenty of time” and that it was, in fact, an adequate reason to burst into the choir room right away.

“I have to go, but I just wanted to tell you both something.” Blaine grinned. “I can finally drive myself to school, starting Monday. So I’ll actually be able to hang out after school more often. If you want to, of course.” He added.

Tina looked pleased, but rolled her eyes. “Of course we want to hang out with you, Blaine.”

Kurt had one of those looks on his face. “Does this mean you can come over and watch The Sound of Music sometime? He’s never seen it,” he added to Tina, who bit her lip in order to hide her amused smile.

“I guess so.” Blaine did want to watch it, really, he did. It was just such a long film and he spent most of his time out of school travelling to school and doing homework, and... well, yeah, it was an excuse to spend time with Kurt.

“It’ll be quite late by the time we’ve gotten out of school and watched it. You could stay over, but I don’t know if dad would be happy with that.” Kurt mused.

“Hold on, when did you turn 16?” Tina asked Blaine, giving him a shocked look.  It must have just occurred to her that he’d have to be 16 to drive to school by himself.

“Uh, October the 3rd.”

The two looked shocked. “And you didn’t think to mention it?” Kurt demanded, obviously displeased.

“I just... didn’t think it was that big of a deal.” Blaine said, unsure of how else to respond. He really hadn’t thought it was that big of a deal. The last time he’d made a big deal out of his birthday was when he was 10. Since then, he just received some presents from his parents (and Cooper, usually a few days late) on his birthday and nothing more was said about it, apart from a “Happy Birthday, Blaine, hon!” from his mother.

They both gaped at him.

Blaine glanced at his watch. “I really have to go. See you both tomorrow?” He smiled at them both before walking away down the corridor towards the exit.

“I’m giving you two Christmas presents!” Kurt called after him.

“I’m giving you THREE, because I’m a better best friend than Kurt!” Tina yelled, before giggling as Kurt made an indignant noise.

The sounds of their playful arguing followed Blaine out of the door. He was still smiling as he reached the car.

“Spending time with Kurt?” His mom asked as he climbed in. Her tone was a little stiff.

As his smile faded, the thought crossed his mind that he should respond with ‘yeah, we were screwing in the boys’ bathroom’. Since he didn’t want to be grounded for the rest of forever, he shrugged in a non-committal way.

“Don’t shrug, Blaine. I asked you a question.” She snapped, before closing her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and opening them again. “I’m sorry, my kids were running wild today, and I don’t feel very well.”

“Kurt and Tina.” Blaine told her, watching her with concern as she put the car into drive and pulled out of the parking space. “Are you okay to drive, mom?” He asked, recognising all the signs of a bad day and feeling glad he hadn’t chosen to reply in the way he’d thought of.

She stopped the car, looking ready to cry. “Maybe not.”

“C’mon, I’ll drive.” He grabbed his bag and dug through the glove compartment to find some Tylenol before he opened his door and they swapped sides, Blaine handing the drink and Tylenol once he was seated. “So, what happened with the kids?”

---

“That was awesome.” Kurt was practically bouncing up and down with joy. “We’re going to be on TV. Imagine where we could be a year from now... movies, TV shows, Broadway...” The last word elicited a squeal from Rachel.

They’d just finished the final take for the mattress commercial and were now standing outside of the shop. Kurt wasn’t the only one who was excited about their future prospects. They all were. Any doubts they had about how much this would actually change their lives had been swept away by the shared thrill of being on TV. Even if it didn’t cause their careers to take off, they were actually going to be on TV.

“I can’t wait to tell my parents!” They all grinned at Artie’s words: just one more thing to be excited about.

“I bet Mr Schuester will be really proud of us.” Rachel’s eyes were sparkling. “We performed that number without his help, and it was fantastic.”

“Yeah, why do we even need him?” Artie asked.

“I don’t need anyone, except maybe a publicist.” Mercedes tossed her hair back, eliciting amused smiles from everyone.

Santana scoffed and checked her cell phone. “I better go. See you suckers in school.” She tightened her ponytail and left.

This seemed to release them all from the spell they’d been under: the entire Glee club had, for one glorious hour or so, been in harmony – and not just singing-wise. But now, the popular members drifted away and the remaining five said their goodbyes to each other, wanting to go home and inform their families of the good news. They’d been given an idea of when the commercial would air, so they’d be able to show it to people.

Kurt couldn’t wait.

---

“Turn on the TV!” Were the first words Kurt said when Blaine picked up the phone, voice breathless with excitement.

Blaine was used to be greeted by such odd messages on the phone. “I’m already watching it. What channel?” It was a testament to their friendship that he didn’t ask what he was supposed to be watching.

“Fox.”

He pulled the remote towards him and switched channels, since it was only a re-run of Friends that he was watching. “Got it. Uh, what’s so exciting about the news?” Maybe something awful had happened. Wait, Kurt had sounded excited. ... maybe something awful had happened to Rachel.

“Wait for it.” Kurt’s excitement was infectious, and Blaine found himself grinning even though he still had no clue what the heck was going on.

“It just switched to commercials, Kurt, I don’t... oh.”

The Glee club was on the screen.

He watched the commercial attentively, smiling at how cute Kurt looked in it and admiring the vocals, mostly provided by Finn and Rachel (as ever). And, yeah, admiring Kurt, who looked really adorable and cosy in his pyjamas.

When it ended, he simply breathed out “Wow,” grabbing the remote and turning the TV off.

“Did you like it?” Kurt asked.

“It was awesome. How’d you land that?” He asked, getting up to go upstairs, since his dad was going to be home soon, and he should probably make a start on his homework.

“Rachel. The school photographer was filming the commercial and she managed to convince him that we could do it.” Kurt explained.

“That’s great! Has your dad seen it?” Blaine asked, trotting into the kitchen to grab himself a drink of water, lodging the phone between his ear and shoulder as he found a glass and filled it.

“Twice. He was pretty impressed, though he did ask why I didn’t get a bigger singing role.”  Kurt told him.

“I’d like to ask that, too. Hey, they could’ve just had you singing for the entire commercial, that’d sell really well.” Blaine said truthfully, retrieving his phone with his free hand and heading off upstairs.

He could practically hear Kurt blushing and rolling his eyes. “Flatterer. I do agree with you, though.”

“Of course you do, you’ve heard yourself sing.” If Blaine had a voice like that, he’d join Glee club regardless of the consequences. And then demand every solo.

Oh god, he’d be a male version of Rachel Berry.

“Exactly.”

Blaine reached his room and kicked the door shut as he entered, sitting down on his bed. “I should probably go, I haven’t made a start on my homework yet and I’ll have to make dinner soon.”

“Same, actually.” Kurt paused. “You make dinner?”

“Oh, uh, only when mom’s not feeling well. And she had a rough day last week which turned out to be the first stages of the ‘flu, so...” He shrugged, forgetting that Kurt couldn’t see him over the phone. “And dad never wants to cook. Work is too tiring, apparently.” He tried not to inject too much bitterness into the last statement. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye!” Kurt chirped.

He hung up with a smile on his face.

Right, homework time.

---

“I’m glad we already have a set list sorted out, or you just know that Rachel would be singing two solos at Sectionals.” Kurt said irritably, as they left the choir room, having just been informed by Schue that he’d slept on a mattress. He hadn’t fully explained why, simply saying that he’d had a fight with his wife. If they got divorced, Schue was definitely going to start chasing after Miss Pillsbury. That could be cute, though.

“She’ll try to, knowing her.” Mercedes added.

Kurt rolled his eyes skywards. “If there was a way for her to sing both parts of a duet, Finn would be relegated to back-up like the rest of us.”

Mercedes nodded in agreement. “Someone needs to take that girl down a peg or two. If only you’d won the sing-off for Defying Gravity, that would’ve shown her.” When Kurt didn’t say anything in response, her expression shifted to one of guilt. “I’m sorry, boo. I know you’re upset about that.”

He really should have told her that he’d missed the note on purpose, but it was too late now. And besides, what if she didn’t believe him? “It’s fine.”

Pulling out his phone, he sent a text off to Blaine: Schue’s gotten himself disqualified from Sectionals. We have to compete without him.

“We’ll place second, at the very least.” He added, continuing their conversation.

Mercedes shrugged. “The deaf kids might get sympathy votes. We were all singing with them by the end of their number.”

“We’ll just have to hope that the judges are professionals who can judge by talent, rather than by how much they want to cry at the end.” Kurt sighed, before checking his phone as it vibrated.

Oh, dear, how the heck did he do that? At least *you* didn’t get disqualified. I mean, I’ve already bought a ticket and everything!

The text brought a smile to Kurt’s face despite the dire situation. Messaging back to tell Blaine about the mattress, he glanced up and realised that Mercedes was half-smirking at him. “What?” He asked, instantly going on the defensive.

“Is there something you wanna tell me, Kurt?” She asked, nodding towards his phone.

“I’m just texting Blaine.” He told her, holding his phone up as if in evidence, even though the screen was dark.

“I know.” The half-smirk was still on her face.

It took him a second, but he got there. “Mercedes... there’s nothing going on between Blaine and I.” The idea was laughable. Sure, Blaine was gay – not that she actually knew that – but there was nothing there. They were best friends. Purely platonic.

“Not yet.” She looked absurdly pleased with herself, as if she’d brought them together and waved a magic wand over them to make them fall in love.

“Mercedes, I like Finn.” Had she forgotten, or did she think he’d given up on that crush? “And anyway, Blaine’s straight.”

Mercedes didn’t look convinced. “That hasn’t stopped you with Finn. And anyways, I’m pretty sure Blaine isn’t. Straight, I mean.”

He chose to ignore her first comment, focussed more on the second. “How do you know that?”

“He just... remember the other day, when I asked if any girls had caught his eye so far, and he went all quiet? I cornered him the next day to tell him that he should ask Tina out, and he told me that I was very sweet to say so but that he really wasn’t interested in her, because she really wasn’t his type, and I got the message. So... is he?”

Somewhat impressed with her deduction, Kurt nodded. “But there’s honestly nothing going on between us, Cedes.”

She stared at him for a moment, before nodding. “Okay.” Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, she waved and left.

He could swear he heard her mutter “Not yet” as she went, but maybe he was imagining things.

Checking his phone, he found he had a text from Blaine. Oh, that sucks!

It’ll be okay, as long as Berry doesn’t take all the solos. Oh, and Mercedes knows, btw. That you’re gay.

The reply came quickly. You’d probably win, though, if she did. ... do girls all have second senses now?

Maybe. He frowned at the next part. Girls? Did I miss something?

Oh, Rachel knows, too. Maybe they just spend too much time around me.

At least Rachel wouldn’t tell anyone. Right, okay. Anyway, I need to get home, I’ll call you later?

Ttyl! :)

He snorted at Blaine’s attempt to be one of the cool kids, before shoving his phone into his pocket and setting off for home.