Chapter 7

You're stuck in the middle

(Now it's us, now it's we)

.

Part one

September

'Are you sure you don't want me to drive you?' The expression on Blaine's mother's face is anxious as she fusses with the collar of his jacket.

Blaine smiles and rolls his eyes. 'It's fine, Mom. It's high school. I'm not going off to war. Besides I'm walking with Sara.'

'Okay.' She gives a small sigh as she abandons Blaine's collar finally and looks at her watch instead. 'I do have to get to work... Just- be prepared, all right? Kids can be mean.'

'They'll understand. I'll be fine.' Blaine shrugs. 'It can't be worse than before, right?'

Five minutes later Blaine is standing outside Sara's house and, left with nothing to do but think about the day ahead of him as he waits for his best friend to come out, he does get a little nervous. Other than Sara and his friend Tyler from the PFLAG group, none of the students know that he goes by Blaine now. He suddenly wishes he had seized some of those opportunities over the summer to come out to his friends from middle school. But no, he thinks, this is good. Everyone will know what's going on when they see him and when they do the roll call. It'll be fine.

'Morning!'

Blaine is pulled from his thoughts by a bright voice and he looks up to see Sara skipping down the pathway to him. She greets him with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, before stepping back to take in his appearance. There is little androgynous about it anymore.

'Wow. So handsome.' She runs a hand through his short, dark curls. 'If I were even remotely straight...'

'Then I'd still be gay,' Blaine finishes for her. He grins. 'But thank you. Come on, let's go. We don't wanna be late for our first day.'

Blaine turns and starts a brisk walk down the street. A moment later Sara falls into step beside him.

'Nervous?' she asks, keeping her voice light.

Blaine shrugs. 'A little. It's kinda daunting,' he admits. 'But it's exciting, isn't it? Highschool. We made it finally.' His voice gets breathy and excited as he continues, 'Cooper says I should find the arts teachers and make sure to make a good first impression within the first week, so they know I'm serious and stuff. And I can't wait to get started on lessons. English first, right?'

Sara snorts. 'You are such a dork. But yes. We have English and History together first thing. And then we're on our own for the rest of the day.'

At her last words, Sara's expression turns anxious in a way that reminds Blaine of his mother, so he takes her hand and squeezes reassuringly. 'It'll be fine. For both of us. You'll see.' Sara still doesn't look completely convinced, and as they round a corner and the school building comes into view, Blaine adds, 'Worrying isn't going to help anyway.'

'No, but I just think-'

'Come on, frowny,' Blaine says exasperatedly, tugging a little at his friend, quickening their pace. 'And smile. You never know when a cute girl is gonna look your way.'

Blaine and Sara spend the first twenty minutes in their new school, trying to get acquainted with it; mapping out important locations such as their lockers, the cafeteria, the library and today's classrooms. Ironically their running about the school ends up confusing them more than anything, and for their first lesson they accidentally head to the library instead of the English classroom with the result that they are very nearly late. They step inside the classroom just as the bell rings, and the teacher scowls at them as she points to two empty seats at the back of the room.

'What was that you said about good first impressions?' Sara mumbles as they start towards the seats, curious heads turning to stare after them.

'All right, class. Eyes up here, and let's get started,' the teacher says, and as she goes on to introduce herself and the class, Blaine settles into his seat and gets his things out, finishing just as his teacher announces that it's time for roll call. Blaine's stomach does a sudden back-flip, and he really, really hopes that everything went as it should, and the teacher doesn't somehow have his old name on her list.

'Allen, Catherine.'

A girl Blaine knows well enough from middle school raises her hand. 'Cathie's fine.'

The teacher ignores her as she continues, and Blaine is certain that he's next. 'Anderson, Blaine.'

Blaine can't help the smile on his face as he raises his hand. He forces himself to look confident when about a dozen kids – all kids that he knows from middle school – turn to stare at him. His smile falters a little when he hears Cathie whisper to the girl next to her, 'It's a girl,' loud enough for half the class to hear, and heat rises in his cheeks when half a dozen more heads turn to look. He swallows and avoids meeting anyone's eye, keeping his attention on the teacher.

'Chase, Neil,' the teacher continues a second later, and then the moment is over and Blaine breathes a sigh of relief. He glances left at Sara who smiles encouragingly at him. It's not that bad, he thinks to himself. The people who knew him before are bound to wonder at first. It's only natural.

By the second lesson, however, his classmates' curiosity has only intensified, and when the teacher calls his name, a few people actually begin snicker. Blaine kind of wants to sink into the floor.

'Cut it out,' Sara turns and hisses to the boy behind her. 'It's not a freaking joke.'

During lunch Blaine and Sara sit with a group of other freshmen, made up of a mixture of kids he knows from middle school and people he has never met before today, or else doesn't remember.

'So, Amber,' Cathie addresses Blaine, her voice falsely pleasant. 'Her real name,' she explains to the group and Blaine's eyes narrow. 'Had a nice summer?'

'It's Blaine now,' he replies, ignoring the question but keeping his tone polite. He doesn't want to make any enemies. He knows he has to be patient with people. 'You heard the teachers.'

'Why?' Cathie asks, like it's the most idiotic thing she has ever heard, and around the table heads perk up in interest.

'Because...' Blaine feels his face heating up again. He hates having to explain himself like this, and he knows this won't be the last time he's made to. He forces himself to meet Cathie's eye as he replies. 'Because I'm transgender. Because I'm actually a boy.'

'I- Okay, wow.' Cathie clearly doesn't know what to say, and loses a bit of her cocky attitude. Around the table people are exchanging looks with each other.

'Yeah.' Blaine swallows a mouthful of food with difficulty. 'So I'd appreciate it if you'd address me as such. And also not go around telling people my old name.'

'Okay I- I guess we'll try,' Cathie says and looks uncertainly around at their classmates. 'Right?'

As all eyes turn to him once more, Blaine catches a few dirty looks, but most of his classmates just shrug and return their attention to their food. No one wants to be the one to say anything. One girl that Blaine doesn't know throws him a supportive smile, and Blaine smiles back nervously. He feels Sara's reassuring hand on his leg under the table.

'Breathe, sweetie,' she whispers, and as Blaine does as told, he is able to relax somewhat and finish his meal without choking on it. He has just swallowed down the last bite when he hears a voice call his name.

'Blaine, buddy! There you are.' It's Tyler, and he smiles widely as he takes a seat at the end of the table. 'How are you? How's your first day going?'

'It's been...interesting,' Blaine says. 'By the way, Sara, this is-'

'Hey, Amber, who's your friend?' a girl calls from the other end of the table, and Blaine glares down at her. The boy next to her pokes her in the side. 'What? He's cute and I'm single.'

'No, I mean...' The boy giggles as he tries to address just the girl next to him, but his voice carries easily down to where Blaine is sitting. 'We're supposed to call her Blaine now.'

'Excuse me?' Tyler says before Blaine himself can react.

'Ty...' Blaine warns, not really sure why, but he has a bad feeling about this.

'It's okay,' Tyler tells him quietly before calling down the length of the table, 'I think you meant "him" there, huh, buddy?'

'No. I didn't. She's a girl so...'

'You do realize that "Blaine" is a boy's name, right?'

'So?' the boy says, defiant even though the older boy clearly intimidates him a little. 'That doesn't magically make her a boy.'

Blaine who has been staring at his empty plate looks up. 'No, I am a boy,' he says firmly. Did he not just explain this five minutes ago? 'I always have been, regardless of my name or anything else.'

'That's insane,' another boy says suddenly.

'Watch who you're calling insane,' Sara growls, chiming in for the first time.

'I said it's insane. I didn't say she was.'

'He,' Sara corrects.

'Whatever. I'm just saying. It's kind of crazy, isn't it?'

'No, it's not,' Sara retorts. 'Just because you're too stupid to understand it-'

The next moment three more people speak up at once and within thirty seconds it has turned into a small ruckus with people chiming in left and right about how weirdit is, and why can't Blaine just be a tomboy like Sara? It escalates into a full-blown discussion on the merits of Blaine's identity, and Blaine himself is ignored or else treated like a being of lower intelligence, who has no say in anything. Sara and Tyler are firmly on Blaine's side, of course and a few of his classmates tentatively suggest that maybe they shouldn't judge, but the whole thing makes Blaine want to disappear, though he can't make himself just walk away either.

When Blaine comes home later that afternoon, his father is in the driveway, standing on a step-ladder, fastening the old basketball hoop to the garage wall. Great, Blaine thinks, another bonding activity.

'Hey, buddy,' his father calls. He still isn't quite used to the new name yet, so he uses a lot of nicknames. Other than "buddy", Blaine has heard "champ" and "sport" a lot over the last few months. 'How was school?'

Blaine opens his mouth and for a moment he's about to mention everything that has gone wrong today, but then it hits him that he has just been to school as Blaine for the first time, and he can't help but let that override all the negatives. So some people called him the wrong name and pronouns. So some people thought he was weird. So it isn't going to be as easy as he might have hoped. So it's going to take time and effort and patience. He can do it. Blaine can do it.

'It was great,' he says, smiling up at his father, and it doesn't even feel like that much of a lie.

Blaine was getting jittery, he couldn't help it. He was leaned forward in his chair, his arms resting on his legs, which were bouncing restlessly up and down. He looked at his watch. Five minutes to go. How had only one minute passed since last time he checked? He glanced up at the clock that hung on the wall opposite him in the waiting room. Yes, five minutes was correct.

Next to him his mother was reading emails on her phone, and Blaine was getting annoyed with her. Could she not see that he needed her more than her job did right now? They had agreed that just one parent should accompany Blaine to his appointment today, and Blaine had been happy to have his mother here, since she knew better than anyone what to be concerned about and what questions to ask, but right now he wished that they hadn't left his dad and Cooper back at the hotel.

'Ugh, do you really have to that right now?' he muttered irritably, low enough that he didn't think anyone else in the waiting room could hear him.

His mother startled a little and looked up, taking in Blaine's stiff posture. 'I'm sorry, just...' She pressed a few more buttons, before putting the phone away in her purse. 'There. Look, it's done. I'm here now.'

'Whoop-dee-doo,' Blaine replied, voice heavy with sarcasm. A second later he breathed out heavily and leaned back in his chair. 'Sorry.'

'Are you nervous?' his mother asked, sounding mildly surprised.

'Yeah,' Blaine admitted with a sigh.

'You'll be fine,' his mother told him, patting his thigh, but it sounded automatic and it wasn't at all what Blaine needed to hear.

'Blaine Anderson?' the voice of a young woman called and Blaine looked up, his pulse quickening. 'Dr. Blackstone will see you now.'

'...that I qualify for the keyhole procedure, which means hardly any scarring,' Blaine finished, beaming around at his family. It was New Year's Eve, and the whole family was halfway through dinner in the hotel restaurant. Blaine had spent most of it excitedly re-recounting the consultation of the previous day.

In hindsight Blaine didn't know what he had been nervous about. True, the inspection of his chest had not been fun. He was so used to doing everything he could to ignore its existence, that having someone touch and talk about it so candidly felt awkward to say the least. But of course it had all been for a good cause, so Blaine had been able to withstand it without too much difficulty.

'Wow, Blaine,' Cooper said, mock-impressed. 'Tell us again, because I don't think we heard you the first five times.'

Blaine grinned. 'Shut up. I'm allowed to be excited. It's kind of a big deal, you know. Most guys have to live with significant scarring, so I'm actually really lucky.'

'I know, I'm just teasing.' Cooper bumped his shoulder against Blaine's. 'You can go ahead and tell the whole story for a sixth time if you want. Hold on.' Cooper put down his knife and fork, turned sideways towards Blaine and spread his arms wide as though to say lay it on me. 'All right, I'm ready. Go on.'

Blaine snorted and shoved playfully at his brother. 'You're ridiculous.'

'Well, of course. Life would get boring otherwise,' Cooper said seriously, and Blaine chuckled in response.

He was just so... happy. He was having top surgery. He really, really was. It didn't even matter much that his surgery – scheduled to take place a few days after Nationals – was nearly five months away, because it was real now and it washappening. Waiting didn't seem so bad when he had a concrete date to look forward to. Blaine looked over at his parents across the table, noticing them exchanging a look and a smile.

'What?' he asked.

His father smiled. 'Just that... it's been a while since we've heard you call yourself "lucky".'

'Oh.' Blaine's grinned sheepishly. 'Well, it's all about perspective, isn't it?'

Blaine supposed he could choose to be bitter about the whole thing. He could choose to complain that other boys didn't have to have surgery to help them be comfortable in their own bodies. He could point out that it was unfair that his parents had to fork out thousands of dollars for it. Admittedly there were days where he was inclined to think that way, but where did that kind of thinking really get him? Nowhere good. So he chose a different perspective where there were plenty of things to be happy about. Like the fact that he had been able to start his transition while he was still a teenager – plenty of people were well into their twenties, and even thirties and beyond. Or the fact that his family – his immediate family at least – supported him. Or the fact that his parents even had the necessary money, let alone were willing to pay, for his surgery. There was a lot to be thankful for, yes.

The conversation soon turned to other things the new year held in store for the Andersons, including Blaine's father's possible promotion, his mother's "exciting" plans to revolutionize her department, and new "plot" developments for Cooper's commercial. After dinner Blaine and Cooper were allowed to go off on their own, once Cooper had promised not to take Blaine anywhere too crazy and to not get him drunk.

'And be back before midnight!' their dad shouted after them as they were leaving, and Cooper gestured with his hand to show that he had heard.

As they had no real plans for the night except for – as Cooper said - fun, they spent a while just wandering around the streets, amusing themselves with observing all the drunk people, and debating which ones would still be awake come midnight. Eventually they came across a comedy club that had a show just starting and they decided to check it out. The place was packed so they had to stand and Blaine couldn't really see well, but it was still great fun, and Cooper allowed Blaine to drink from his beer (exploiting the loophole that strictly speaking their parents hadn't forbidden Blaine from drinking, as long as he didn't get drunk). Blaine thought it might be the best New Year's Eve ever, which he made sure to let his Facebook friends know in all caps, and he texted Kurt multiple times throughout the night, each message containing at least eight happy smileys in various forms.

When the show had ended, Blaine and Cooper found themselves once more out on the cold street, wondering where to go next. Midnight was still two hours away. Cooper looked thoughtfully around, and after a moment his eyes fell on a sign across the street and he got a mischievous glint in his eyes. Blaine followed his gaze.

'Coop, no,' he protested.

'Come on, Blaine. Live a little. It's New Year's Eve!'

Cooper tugged at him a little, but Blaine remained standing where he was. 'I can't get in anyway. I'm underage, remember.'

'Don't worry. I'll get us in. Dude, come on. You cannot leave San Francisco without having visited at least one gay bar. I'm pretty sure it's, like, law or something.'

'But...' Blaine trailed off as he finally let himself be dragged across the street. He wasn't sure why we was protesting except that his experience at Scandals had been a bit of a mixed bag, leaving him not particularly eager to explore gay bars and clubs further. Of course there was no reason to assume that tonight was going to be remotely similar, so in the end Blaine decided to keep an open mind and let Cooper lead him inside.

The place looked nothing like Scandals. It was huge, modern-looking and absolutely packed with people. Talking and laughing and the faint clinking of glass could be heard through the loud rhythmic music that played to a full dance floor. There was a large crowd around the bar, and it took them quite a while to get serviced – a while Blaine spent alternating between taking in his new surroundings and trying to convince his brother to let him have a beer, arguing that Cooper was the one who made him come here in the first place. Cooper kept saying no until finally Blaine played his wild card and looked at him with those big, sad eyes that had worked so well for him when he had been younger and wanted something.

'All right, one beer,' Cooper finally caved after ten seconds of it. 'But that's it, and only because it's New Years Eve and because you played dirty. I want you coherent when we meet back up with Mom and Dad.'

Blaine grinned. 'Deal.'

By a small miracle the two of them managed to find a seat each by a table in the corner, where they sat for a while, chatting as much as the music allowed them to, but mostly just amusing themselves by watching people make fools of themselves on the dance floor. Blaine kept remarking every few songs how much he loved the current song in question, and every so often a guy would come over to their table and proposition one (or both) of them, but of course they always left disappointed with the information that Cooper was straight and Blaine had a boyfriend. One particularly desperate-looking man in his early twenties, when told this, gave an exasperated sigh (or so Blaine assumed – he couldn't actually hear it) and asked why they were even there then.

'You know, he's got a point,' Blaine said when the man had left looking rather dejected. 'We are kind of just sitting here.'

'Then go,' Cooper offered. 'Tear up the dance floor. I'll mind the drinks.'

'But-'

'And Kurt won't mind,' he said, reading Blaine's protests. 'Just keep it PG, yeah?'

'Aw, do I have to?' Blaine said as stood up, his eyes flicking to the dance floor and back to his brother as he pretended to be put out. 'I was really looking forward to grinding up on some random guy.'

Cooper snorted and gave a tiny roll of his eyes. 'Just go. Before I decide to go instead and you can be the one to sit here and guard the drinks.'

'All right, all right. I'm going,' Blaine said with a grin before taking off towards the still crowded dance floor.

At first he felt a little awkward and self-conscious about being on his own, but once he realized that no one really cared who you were with or not, he quickly felt his inhibitions slip away (and he was starting to feel that beer too) until there was just him and the music and feeling wonderfully free and hopeful about the new year.

'I love San Francisco,' Blaine declared an indeterminable number of minutes later as he flopped back down in his chair next to Cooper. Blaine's smile faded a little, however, when his words got no reaction from Cooper who was looking oddly serious. 'What's up with you all of a sudden?'

'What?' Cooper seemed to snap out of his thoughts, and a second later he was smiling brightly again. 'Oh, nothing. Just tired, I guess.'

'Well, then get not-tired, big bro.' Blaine smiled and shoved lightly at Cooper. 'It won't do to fall asleep before midnight. Go get another drink or something.'

Cooper's eyes flicked around for a few moments before settling on the bar across the room. 'Yeah, I guess I'll do that. Need anything?' he asked as he stood, adding with a teasing wink before Blaine could say anything, 'Non-alcoholic, I mean.'

Blaine grimaced. 'Oh, you're no fun.'

'And you're underage,' Cooper reminded him.

Blaine sighed dramatically. 'Fine. Coke then, please.'

Cooper grinned and gave a short bow before turning and walking off towards the bar. In the meantime Blaine fished out his phone, intending to send off another happy text to Kurt, but he was distracted by a voice close to him.

'This seat taken?'

Blaine looked up at the owner of the oddly familiar voice, and his mouth fell open in surprise.

'Sebastian?'

'Hi,' Sebastian said – casually like this was the Lima Bean and not a random gay bar in San Francisco – as he took Cooper's seat, setting his drink aside on the table. Blaine just stared dumbly at him. 'Happy New Years.'

'Happy Ne- What are you doing here?'

Sebastian leaned back in his – no, Cooper's. Where was Cooper? – chair, looking perfectly relaxed and watching Blaine's astonishment with mild amusement. 'Here in San Francisco or here specifically?'

'Both. Either.'

Sebastian shrugged. 'Came to San Francisco with some friends. Wasn't going to celebrate New Year's in Ohio. That's just sad.' He paused for a moment in which he seemed to be imagining this. 'As for here – I saw your Facebook update that you were here. I was in the area. Thought I'd come say hi.'

'What, and you just dragged your friends along with you?'

'What? My friends? Oh yeah, they're around here somewhere.' Sebastian made a vague gesture with his hand as though he didn't really care where the heck his friends were. 'What about you? Why is Blaine Anderson spending New Year's Eve in San Francisco? I thought you'd be hanging out with pretty boy or something.'

'Oh.' Blaine hadn't thought to prepare a story for what he was doing in San Francisco of all places. 'I was going to but we- I...'

'Wait.' Sebastian perked up at Blaine's hesitation. 'You guys didn't break up, did you?'

'What? No! Of course not.'

'Well, damn.' Sebastian took a swig off his drink and his shoulders slumped slightly in disappointment. 'I thought you might've finally come to your senses.'

'Sebastian,' Blaine said. It was hardly chastising at all, but his tone was serious and even.

'What, I'm kidding. Jeez, Blaine, lighten up, huh?' Sebastian rolled his eyes, but a satisfied smirk crossed his face a moment later. 'You'd think I'd struck a nerve or something.'

Blaine almost laughed out loud, because Sebastian was so far from the truth it was ridiculous. He was about to respond, when he caught sight of Cooper returning to the table, carrying two bottles and his eyes fixed on Sebastian in an angry glare.

'You,' he said to Sebastian once he was close enough to be heard over the music. Blaine watched as Cooper set down the bottles with a loud clatter and he frowned in confusion at his brothers greeting, because Cooper had never met Sebastian, or even seen a photo.

'Me,' Sebastian replied with a slight raise of his eyebrows.

'Leave,' Cooper said, and Blaine was surprised by the harshness of his tone.

'Cooper, what...?'

Cooper turned his gaze on Blaine for the first time since returning. 'While you were out there,' - Cooper's eyes flicked to the dance floor - 'I caught him staring at you-'

'Admiring,' Sebastian corrected, his tone conversational.

'—staring at you, and it was creepy.'

Sebastian gave an exasperated snort. 'Oh, come on, man. Overreact much?'

'Stalk much?' Cooper shot back.

Blaine held up a hand to stop Sebastian from responding. 'Cooper, it's fine. I know him. This is Sebastian.'

'Sebastian?' Cooper asked, his eyes widening. He pulled over a chair from a nearby table, and his expression when he sat down was one of curiosity, as though he had just stumbled upon something incredibly fascinating. 'So you're the famous Sebastian?'

'Aw, you mentioned me to your brother? I'm touched.' Sebastian grinned and leaned into Blaine a little, his hand on his thigh. His mouth was close enough that Blaine could smell the alcohol on his breath, and Blaine tried not to wrinkle his nose at it. 'Any particular way I should interpret that?'

'Yeah, okay, you know what, buddy?' Sebastian's attention turned towards Cooper as he addressed him, his voice unusually firm and authoritative. 'I think you do need to go.'

'Oh, you think so?' Sebastian said, his tone challenging.

'Yes, I think you're drunk and pathetic, and you're only going to embarrass yourself further by staying.'

'Who's embarrassed? I'm not embarrassed.' Sebastian shrugged and turned his attention towards Blaine once more. 'Anyway, we were just discussing- what were we discussing? Kurt! Yes, Kuuuurt,' he drawled out and Blaine raised a perplexed eyebrow. He was beginning to suspect that Sebastian was more than a little tipsy. 'Your pretty boy boyfriend, Kurt. You deserve better, Blaine.'

'Kurt is amazing,' Blaine said – hotly, despite realizing that Sebastian was probably to be taken even less seriously than usual.

Sebastian let out a dismissive puff of air. 'For a girl maybe. Just the way he dresses, Christ. You need a real man, B.' Blaine's frown was growing deeper and deeper with each word, and since when was he "B"? 'Not some gender confused sissy poor excuse of a-'

Cooper stood up suddenly and he grabbed Sebastian by the arm, hauling him with. 'Seriously, man. You need to go now.'

Sebastian – still steady on his feet – took a step closer to Cooper so their faces were inches apart. His face was screwed up in anger as he practically growled, 'Or what?'

Cooper remained utterly calm, except for the fact that he now laughed openly in Sebastian's face. 'Is that supposed to sound threatening? You gonna fight me now?' Blaine, who was watching the scene unfold with his mouth open and unsure what to think or how to react, could see why provoking a fight might be a bad move on Sebastian's part for several reasons. He might be the taller of the two, but Cooper was older, broader and probably stronger.

'What if I am?' Sebastian shot, clearly not one to admit defeat.

'Jesus Christ, kid. Just walk away,' Cooper nearly shouted, and Blaine could tell that his brother had finally lost his patience and was snapping. 'Take your pathetic little crush and go find someone else to harass. Don't take your miserable life out on us. It's not our fault you've got no friends, and mommy and daddy couldn't stand the sight of you any longer, so they shipped you off to boarding school two states over and left you to spend the holidays alone.'

Sebastian's jaw had tightened and his chin raised a little, but otherwise he showed no discernible reaction to Cooper's frankly rather harsh words. And Cooper's wasn't even finished apparently.

'I bet no one even noticed, did they? When you stole your state attorney daddy's second credit card and skipped across fives states just pursue your sad, pointless crush on a boy who's just too polite to tell you that you're the most annoying person he knows and to just. Back. The. Fuck. Off.'

For a short moment Sebastian's gaze fell on Blaine still sitting dumbstruck at the table, his eyes, which were usually dancing with mischief, looking suddenly soft and sad, and it struck Blaine that the other boy looked genuinely hurt by Cooper's words. Blaine opened his mouth, but hesitated, unsure what to say exactly, and a second later Sebastian's eyes narrowed at him, and he turned on his heel, stalking off towards the bar.

'That was... kind of unnecessarily harsh,' Blaine said as Cooper reclaimed his seat, his breathing heavy enough that Blaine could hear it over the still blaring music.

'So? He's a creep. He actually followed you to a different state just to get you on your own.'

'You don't know that. It could be a coincidence,' Blaine countered, unsure why he was defending Sebastian except that maybe he emphasized a little with Sebastian's apparent issues. 'He said he was here with friends.'

'Really? Where are they?' Cooper gestured around the bar, and how should Blaine know? It wasn't like he knew who the friends in question were. 'You're so naïve, Blaine.'

Blaine shot his brother an annoyed look as he made a grab for his coke, his jaw tightening and his eyes averting as he took a swig from it.

'Okay, I'm sorry,' Cooper said after a moment. 'Don't get me wrong, I think it's admirable that you still see the best in people, when you and I both know you've already seen them at their worst.' Blaine turned his gaze back over at Cooper who was looking at him imploringly. 'But just- People like this Sebastian dude... He's nothing but bad news, and I just don't want you getting hurt, okay?'

'So... I should just hurt him instead? Is that what you're saying?'

'No, just...' He trailed off as he reached a hand into his pocket, drawing out his phone. 'You know what I mean. Shit, it's Mom. What time is it? God, it's nearly midnight. Come on.'

As the two of them hurried out of the bar and made their way across town, Cooper texting their parents to tell them they were running late but were there soon, Blaine found himself pondering Cooper's words to him. He had never really given it much conscious thought, but he supposed it was true that he tended to do that. "See the best in people." And maybe it was particularly remarkable coming from him given some of the things he had experienced at the hands of some of them. Or maybe that was precisely why it wasn't remarkable, because Blaine knew what it was like to be pre-judged, to have people assume they knew everything about him before he had even said two words to them. Why should he want to make others feel that way too? He wasn't naïve. He was neither deaf nor blind to Sebastian's words and actions, but was it so wrong if Blaine felt bad for him now and wanted to text him and apologize for his brother? If he wanted to believe that there was more to Sebastian than throwing around insults and bad pick-up lines?

Or did that make Blaine naïve?

As he and Cooper made it to their parents just in time for the final countdown, however, Blaine dismissed the thought and turned his attention instead to the new year ahead of him, thinking of the things it would bring. Top surgery. His and Kurt's first anniversary. Other first things. Possibly a national show choir championship if they all worked really hard. His dad might get that promotion and start being home more. Of course the year would also bring his boyfriend going off to New York and leaving Blaine behind to finish high school on his own, and that thought didn't exactly fill Blaine with joy, but it was still more than six months away. They would cross that bridge when they got to it. If there was one thing Blaine had learned over the last five weeks, it was that Kurt really did love him (and my, how the thought still made him shiver), so they would make it work. Breaking up wasn't even an option.

The point was, Blaine thought to himself, shaking his head as he realized that he had gone off on a tangent, that 2012 was going to be a good year. Looking around at his family, he smiled as the clock struck midnight and the sky lit up with fireworks. A great year. Blaine admired the sky for a moment before fishing out his phone from his pocket and texting Kurt, fake-apologizing for California's slowness and wishing his wonderful, wonderful boyfriend a happy New Year.

The best year.