Chapter 13

I win, thrive, soar

.

'Hey.'

'Oh, hey, Mike.' Blaine put down the book he was holding and turned to greet his friend. 'What's up?'

'I just wanted to see if you were okay,' Mike said as he leaned against the locker next to Blaine's. 'Tina told me that some of the kids in Algebra gave you a hard time again.'

'I'm okay, Mike. You guys don't need to look after me like that.'

Mike shrugged. 'It's what friends are for, isn't it?'

Blaine closed his locker, barely containing a smile. Two days later he was still kind of astonished that his friends weren't more weirded out by it all. 'Right.'

'Any word on JT?' Mike asked.

'Yeah, suspension. They gave his friends a warning.' Mike looked unimpressed and Blaine shook his head. 'I guess that's McKinley for you.'

'It's ridiculous,' Mike said. 'Pretty sure what he did is enough to file a police report if you wanted. I mean, he...' Mike made an awkward gesture with his hand in front of his crotch.

'I know,' Blaine replied in a dark undertone. He didn't need reminding that what JT had done there could basically be classified as sexual assault. 'But since he didn't actually try to, you know, touch me, I'm willing to bet he'd get off with a warning.' Blaine spoke in a carefully controlled voice, keeping the anger that had risen inside him from bubbling over. It was infuriating that JT could do something like that to him – out him, bully him, push him around, stick his hand into his pants for Christ's sake – and still get away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Blaine let out a heavy breath just as a young girl, a freshman probably, passed by, looking curiously in his direction. 'What are you looking at?' he snapped, and she ran away looking frightened.

'So how are you really?' Mike asked, his expression carefully neutral. '"I'm okay" doesn't usually snap at people.'

Blaine thought for a few moments, opening and closing his mouth wordlessly. Truthfully the constant staring and whispering was starting to get tedious and more than a little distracting when he was trying to concentrate on a lesson or hang out with his friends. And the news about JT had not exactly improved his mood. Blaine let out a long breath. 'I'm dealing with it. It's just kind of...'

'Hey guys!' someone called, and Blaine looked around to see Finn and Puck approaching, both sets of eyes bright with excitement.

'Uh oh, here comes trouble,' Mike said, quirking an eyebrow at Blaine, who bit his lip to keep from laughing, his mood already brightened. Sometimes those two were like a pair of overgrown children.

'Dudes, check it out,' Puck said when he and Finn reached them. 'I've got the house to myself on Friday night, and Finn and I were thinking we should do a guys' night. You know, warm up for Regionals bro-style.'

'Cool, count me in,' Mike said and fist-bumped Puck. 'Just... no porn, okay? Because that got really weird last time.'

Puck rolled his eyes while Blaine quietly thanked God that he hadn't been around for that. 'Fine, no porn.'

'Blaine?' Finn said.

'Kurt's welcome too of course,' Puck interjected. 'As long as we don't catch you guys doing it under the blankets or something.'

While Finn simply looked disturbed at the idea, Mike sent Puck a look that seemed to say something like Dude, really?

'What?' Puck gave a defensive shrug. 'Not like I care, but it's bros' night. Be unfair to the rest of us.'

Blaine grinned, too busy being happy that his friends wanted him at a guys' night to care that Puck was being a little... well, Puck. 'It's fine, I think we can keep our hands to ourselves for one night.' Blaine's eyes widened at his own words. 'I mean, not that we- Or, I mean, we do but-'

Blaine stopped talking, sure that his face must be bright red. The other three simply looked amused, although Finn did look slightly uncomfortable.

'So you'll come?' Puck asked.

'What?' Blaine had almost forgotten what they had been talking about in the first place.

'To the sleepover.'

'I- Wait, it's a sleepover?'

Puck shrugged. 'Yeah.'

'Oh. Well, in that case I don't really think... I mean, it's... Sleepovers just aren't my thing.'

'Dude, why not?' Mike asked, hitting Blaine's shoulder with the back of his hand. 'It's loads of fun, trust me.'

'I- well. It's just...'

'What he's trying to say,' said a fifth guy, who had apparently been eavesdropping on their conversation, as he poked his head in between Finn and Puck. 'is "I'm a freak with boobs, it might be weird."'

The eavesdropper grinned at Blaine, clearly hoping to get a rise out of him. Blaine shot him a sarcastic grimace. Ha ha. Very funny.

Puck frowned in annoyance and pushed the guy out of his way. 'Dude, butt out.'

The guy sent Blaine a strange wink before walking off without another word, and Blaine rolled his eyes as he watched him go.

'Ignore him,' Finn said. 'He's an idiot.'

Blaine sighed. 'Yeah, he and half the school.' Blaine gestured around the hallway, for the first time openly acknowledging the many eyes that had been furtively glancing his way since he had arrived at his locker five minutes previously. His friends glanced around at the many onlookers, most of which quickly looked away when they realized they had been caught.

'Is it like this all the time?' Finn asked.

'Yeah, pretty much.' Blaine sighed again. 'It's just so annoying. I mean, I can sort of get the comments – it's high school. But that.' Blaine pointed at a girl across the hall who had been staring at him on and off for the past few minutes. She quickly looked away and pretended to be interested in her phone. 'What is that? What are they hoping to see?'

'Dude, they're curious,' Puck said. 'Do you have any idea the kind of rumors that are floating around about you?'

'Do I wanna know?' Blaine asked in a dull voice.

'Maybe not,' Puck conceded. 'Point is, a lot of it isn't true, and people suspect that, but then they don't know what to actually believe.'

'So, what? You think I should just start walking up to people and saying "Here's the deal"?'

'I don't know, man. I'm just calling it like I see it.'

'Hm.' Blaine fell into thought and was quiet for a while as they all began to walk towards the choir room.

'I say just keep ignoring them,' Mike offered after a moment. 'It's high school, something else'll come along soon enough and they'll forget all about you. It's none of their business anyway.'

Blaine quirked an eyebrow at his friend. 'Well, you all certainly made it your business yesterday.'

'Hey, I'm not the one who asked about peeing,' Mike said, giving Puck an admonishing look.

'We're your friends,' Puck said. 'It's different. But, you know, sorry about that.'

Blaine nodded. 'You said. And guys, it's fine. I'm just teasing.' They passed the notice board, and Blaine stopped short, struck by a sudden idea. 'I have to go.'

'Now?' Finn said. 'We have glee club.'

'Tell Mr. Schue I'll be five minutes late,' Blaine said, already headed the opposite way down the hall. 'It's important, I swear.'

'Hey, what about bros' night?' Puck yelled after him. 'You coming?'

'I'll get back to you!' Blaine called over his shoulder.

A minute later Blaine knocked on the door to Principal Figgins's office, and without waiting for a response, he opened it and stepped inside, a little out of breath.

Principal Figgins looked up from the papers he had been poring over. 'Mr. Anderson, how can I help you?'

'I need a favor.'

***

Two days later Blaine was pacing the floor to the side of the auditorium stage. This had to work. 'Is he done yet?' he asked as he gave up pacing and walked over to where Kurt was watching Principal Figgins address the school.

Kurt frowned. 'No, he's still talking about broken toilets or something.'

Blaine chewed his lip and waited in silence for Figgins to finish, but he soon grew impatient and began hopping from foot to foot, brimming with nervous energy. 'God, this is torture.'

Kurt turned towards him and steadied him with a hand on his upper arm. 'You'll be fine. You've got lots of people cheering for you. If you get nervous just find one of their faces and focus on them.' Kurt poked his head further out on the stage, enabling him to see the crowd. So many people, Blaine thought, slightly panicked. 'The glee club is mostly on the fifth row,' he told Blaine when he turned back.

Blaine nodded, suddenly unable to form words. For the past two days, thinking about and planning this moment had made him feel empowered, in control of his own life, but now actually standing here, he wasn't so sure he didn't just want to call the whole thing off.

'Did Cooper come like he said he would?' Kurt asked.

'Yeah, he should be out there,' Blaine said, voice flat and emotionless. 'My mom texted to say good luck and she mentioned that he was on his way.'

'Okay, good,' Kurt said. 'That's one more friendly face out there.'

Before Blaine could respond, they heard Figgins's voice finally announce, 'Thank you for your time. Now if you could please turn your attention towards one of your fellow students who has a message for everyone.'

Blaine breathed out heavily, his eyes fixed on Principal Figgins as he turned and walked towards the side of the stage. 'Okay. Okay. I can do this.'

'Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?' Kurt asked. 'For moral support?'

Blaine shook his head. 'Thank you. But this is something I need to do by myself.'

Blaine knew that the whole glee club would be up there with him if he asked. The idea made him smile and gave him the final bit of courage he needed to nod politely at Principal Figgins before proceeding towards the podium that stood in the middle of the stage.

Once there he reached into his back pocket and pulled out two folded sheets of paper, which he unfolded and flattened against the podium, hands shaking slightly. God, that was a lot of text.

'Um. Hi, everyone,' he said as he adjusted the microphone, wincing when it gave a loud feedback noise. 'My name is Blaine Anderson. I asked Principal Figgins to let me speak here at the assembly today because as you probably know some things have gone down recently, and it's resulted in me getting a lot of attention from you all, ranging from curious looks to some frankly bullying remarks.' Blaine paused for a moment, trying to channel the confidence and conviction he had possessed during his practice runs. He took a deep breath before continuing. 'This needs to stop. In an ideal world I would simply ask you to and you would, but I'm not naïve enough to think that will work, so instead I'm here today to put my cards on the table, which should put to rest some of the false rumors that are going around, and hopefully after today all this will no longer be an issue.'

Blaine paused again to get his bearings in the text. The auditorium was completely silent, and he looked out there, finding some expressions bored, some politely interested, and still other students seemed to be hanging on to his every word. He found Rachel's eyes in the crowd, and she smiled and nodded encouragingly. Next to her Finn gave him the thumbs up.

'So, yes...' Blaine continued, grabbing the sides of the podium tightly and shifting his gaze to look at the audience as a whole. 'I am transgender. "And what does transgender mean?" you might ask. It can mean a lot of different things to different people, but I'm not here to give a seminar, so the short version is...'

Blaine's own voice faded to background noise as he went on autopilot, this part of his speech so much based in fact that he couldn't get nervous about it. He explained the difference between sex and gender, went over a brief list of terms and expressions, and he outlined the choices a person was faced with when they wanted to transition. Amazingly the crowd stayed quiet through all of it, almost respectful, and Blaine kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

'It's a completely individual choice,' Blaine said, speaking off hormone replacement therapy and surgery. 'And a person's gender isn't determined by how far they go.'

'So how far did you go?' someone yelled.

'Do you have a dick?' someone else yelled, and suddenly the auditorium was buzzing with murmuring and barely suppressed snickering. Shoe dropped.

Blaine swallowed, rattled by the questions. He hadn't accounted for interruptions. He scanned the piece of paper in front of him, furiously searching for a sentence he could use as a response, and when he found none he looked up instead, eyes flickering across the auditorium. He found the New Directions first, some looking annoyed, others apologetic – all of them lost for what to do.

Not finding that particularly helpful, Blaine continued to scan the crowd, searching for Cooper – Cooper would know, would give him some sort of sign telling him what to do – but the auditorium was only dimly lit, and the further back the face, the more difficult it was to make out. Blaine quietly cursed himself for not having thought to text his brother beforehand and get his exact location.

'Well...' Blaine said, because he couldn't stay silent much longer. His panicked eyes searched the crowd again, and he was suddenly aware just how manypeople were looking up at him. He closed his eyes, blocking them out. When he opened them a moment later, he plastered on a smile, answer ready. 'Well, you'll be unsurprised to learn that I have been on hormones for quite a while. I mean' – Blaine forced a short laugh – 'hello, deep voice, facial hair.'

Blaine heard laughter again, but he breathed out, relieved, because this time they were laughing with him, not at him.

'However,' he went on, silencing the crowd with a sudden, serious tone. Humor only went so far. 'anything beyond that is frankly none of your business, and I will not – I repeat: not – be answering questions about what my body looks like or what is in my pants.'

Blaine looked to his right, where Kurt was watching him just outside of view from the crowd. Kurt was quite a few feet away and half shrouded in darkness, but Blaine saw his proud smile clear as day. He remembered Kurt's words to him four days previously – so proud to call you my boyfriend – and for the first time Blaine thought he might understand why he should be.

'While we're on the topic of questions,' Blaine said and turned his attention back towards the crowd, reminding himself that he wasn't finished. 'I do understand that most of you have probably never met a trans person before, and it's natural to be curious. However, if you find yourself with a question on your mind, I urge you to consider two things before asking me. First: Are you and I friends, or do we in fact have any sort of relationship beyond going to the same school? Second: Would you want me to ask you the same question? If the answers to both of those questions are "no", then your question is probably inappropriate and you shouldn't ask me. Google is your friend.'

Blaine glanced down at his notes, relieved to find that he had almost reached the bottom of the second and last page. He skimmed the paragraph once before drawing a breath and looking up again.

'Lastly, I-'

Blaine was pretty sure his heart stopped for a moment. His eyes were drawn to the far left, halfway between himself and the entrance at the back, to a familiar figure dressed in an even more familiar uniform. Even at this distance there was no doubt about it. It was Sebastian.

'I, um...'

Blaine swallowed with difficulty. What was Sebastian doing here? How long had he been sitting there? What was he thinking? What was he going to do? Knowing Sebastian, there was no way that he would sit and do nothing with this new piece of information. And the guy had put rock salt in a slushie as a joke, so Blaine wouldn't exactly put anything past him.

Blaine glanced down again. He was nearly done, and he was about to make the most important point of all; he could not blow it now. Blaine looked back up, forcing the Sebastian issue away to deal with at a later time, and continued as planned, vaguely hoping that his words might have some effect on Sebastian as well.

'I want to mention that I'm aware that some of you may not like who I am. You might think that it's wrong or weird or crazy or that it's okay to call me names. To you I say: I have heard it all – every argument and every dirty name in the book.' As Blaine spoke, his past experiences flashed before his eyes but, for once, rather than let it throw him off, he was able to draw strength from it. 'I have been taunted and bullied and shoved and pushed around and beaten up and put in the hospital, and you know what? Who I am is not up for debate. So if you do have something against me, then I ask that you please keep it to yourself, or you'll only waste your time, because who I am isn't going to change. Trust me, people have tried. I don't demand that you like it or me, but I do demand respect. I'm a person, just like any of you.'

Blaine took a step back to indicate that he was finished, but the silence still held for a long moment. No talking. No laughing. Not even a cough. Then, just as he was beginning to feel really seriously awkward and that maybe he should just hurry off the stage before he got heckled, someone started clapping. Bewildered, Blaine scanned the crowd, but before he could find the source more people joined in, and within seconds the auditorium filled with noise as what had to be nearly every student applauded him, some even standing and cheering.

Blaine stared at the scene before him, and he gave a laugh of disbelief, inaudible through all the noise. His eyes fell first on his glee club friends, who were all clapping and cheering harder than anyone, and then as he looked around again, overwhelmed by it all, he finally found his brother, standing out now that he was on his feet. His cheering was quieter, almost reserved, but Blaine could tell by his eyes that he was almost as emotional as Blaine was.

A movement in the corner of his eye distracted Blaine, and he looked around in time to see Kurt running towards him, grinning widely. He flung his arms around Blaine's neck, making Blaine stumble a few steps backwards.

'Sorry,' Kurt breathed in his ear, his voice filled with laughter.

'Don't be,' Blaine said, because with how happy he was right now, he was pretty certain that Kurt could have knocked him off the stage and he wouldn't have cared.

***

Blaine was so wrapped up in relief and euphoria in the face of the school's support, and then last minute rehearsals for Regionals, that it wasn't until the next day when he was seated in the auditorium along with the rest of the New Directions, listening to the judges be introduced, that he thought of the Sebastian situation again. His heart skipped a beat when it occurred to him that he hadn't heard from Sebastian at all since the previous morning, and he got a sudden bad feeling. He had little time to ponder it though, because the next moment the curtains parted to reveal the Warblers on stage, unsurprisingly fronted by Sebastian.

Rather than launching them straight into their first song, however, Sebastian addressed the crowd. 'Afternoon, everyone. We're the Warblers from the Dalton Academy for Boys.' Blaine wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not, but he thought he heard a certain emphasis on the word Boys.

'Oh my god,' Blaine whispered before he could stop himself. 'He's gonna say something.'

'What?' Kurt whispered back.

'Sebastian,' Blaine said, staring at the Warbler on stage. 'He was at McKinley yesterday, and he heard everything.'

'What?' Kurt repeated, twisting in his seat this time. 'Why didn't you tell me?'

'I forgot,' Blaine said truthfully, and Kurt opened his mouth in something like horror, his attention caught between Blaine and the stage.

'Blaine Anderson, your old Warbler friends have a message for you,' Sebastian was saying on stage, and Blaine almost swore out loud, because oh my god, he had gone and told the others everything, and what kind of person made a thing of this at a competition in front of a thousand people? It wasn't just humiliating and rude, it was unprofessional. Sebastian was looking straight at Blaine, and Blaine glared back, expecting to find mischief or maybe even malice in the other boy's eyes. Instead what he found looking uncannily like sincerity. 'We miss you, and you're always welcome back here.'

'What,' Blaine said loud enough that it made several people look around.

'This song is for you and anyone else who has ever felt down or stepped on.'

And just like that the moment was over. Sebastian stepped back, blending in next to his teammates, and a second later the song started up.

Blaine looked around at Kurt, who appeared about as surprised as Blaine felt. 'What just happened?' Blaine asked.

'I think... I think Sebastian's being nice about something for once,' Kurt replied, raising an eyebrow at his own words as though he didn't quite believe them.

'It's gotta be an act for the judges, right?' Blaine said as he looked back towards the stage, cocking his head at the performance as he attempted to ascertain its sincerity. If he had had a chance to consider it, Blaine might have expected support from the Warblers, but like this and arranged by Sebastian?

'I... would be very confused right now if I was a judge,' Kurt said slowly as though it was causing him great pain to do so. 'They'll have no idea what he's talking about.'

Kurt fell silent, and Blaine considered his words just as Sebastian sang the words You will see who are your friends, which almost made Blaine laugh because while his friendships with the members of the New Directions had arguably grown stronger this past week, he had never been more confused about his friendship with Sebastian himself.

It occurred to Blaine that perhaps it was time for him to stop brushing off Sebastian's attempts at a conversation, so when the Warblers' set ended, Blaine stood up.

'I'm going to go find him,' he told Kurt as he began to move past Kurt towards the aisle.

'Blaine.' Kurt closed a hand around Blaine's wrist, making him look around.

'I'll be back before we go on,' Blaine assured him, but Kurt shook his head.

'I still don't like him.'

'Are you asking me not to go?'

'No,' Kurt said and let go of Blaine's wrist. 'I'm just saying...I don't know, be careful. Even if he's capable of being nice once in a blue moon, it doesn't mean he's worth having around.'

'I know. I'm just going to talk to him,' Blaine said, and with a last look at Kurt, he moved past the rest of New Directions towards the aisle, muttering 'I'll be back,' in response to their questioning looks.

Outside the auditorium Blaine wandered around for a few moments before he found the classroom that was acting as the Warblers' dressing room today. He heard excited voices through the door and stopped just outside it, peering through the small window. The Warblers stood in one big group in the middle of the floor, evidently talking about – and pleased with, judging by their expressions – their performance.

Blaine watched them wistfully, suddenly missing his own days as a Warbler. He was happy with Kurt at McKinley, but still, the Warblers had brought him up in a sense – not just as a performer, but as a man as well.

'Afraid of going in there?'

Blaine turned around in the direction of the voice and smiled when he saw who it was. 'Trent, hi.'

'No one cares, you know,' Trent said as he approached Blaine. 'Sebastian told everyone during rehearsal yesterday, and well, he probably shouldn't have done that, but everyone's fine with it, Blaine. Or, if they're not, they're keeping it very quiet.'

'I know, I figured from that little speech before your performance.' Blaine shook his head a little, still not quite believing that it had actually happened.

'All Sebastian's idea, believe it or not,' Trent said with a fond smile that had Blaine thinking that Trent was not quite over his crush on Sebastian, though he chose not to comment.

'Yeah, I'm still picking my jaw up off the floor over that one,' Blaine said as he raised an eyebrow.

'Aren't we all.' Trent chuckled and approached the door. 'You coming in?' he asked, looking back at Blaine.

'Maybe just for a minute,' Blaine said, checking his watch for time. 'I only came for Sebastian, really.'

'Well, come on then,' Trent said, waving Blaine towards him. 'You can say hi to the guys first.'

Through the door they went with Trent announcing Blaine's presence loudly and happily, and the effect on the group was instantaneous. Everyone turned to face him, faces lit up in excitement, and within seconds Blaine found himself being hugged left and right. Finally Blaine had to ask that they let go and allow him to breathe. The group dispersed a little, giving him room.

'So... Hi, guys.' Blaine grinned a little self-consciously. 'Good to know you're still happy to see me.'

'Blaine, nothing's changed,' Nick said. 'You're always welcome here. Just like Sebastian said.' Nick gestured with his hand, and Blaine followed it to the edge of the half-circle that had been formed around him. Sebastian stood there, watching the proceedings with rather more reserve than his teammates. Their eyes locked for a moment before Sebastian became the one to look away.

'Yeah,' Jeff said, and Blaine turned his attention back on the rest of the group. 'Mostly we're just sorry if you were scared about what we would think.'

Blaine shrugged. 'I was fifteen when I came here, and transphobia and awkwardness was more familiar to me than acceptance; I was pretty much scared of everything. Don't take it personally.'

Once again Blaine was struck by how easy it was to talk about his past now. Yeah, he had been bullied. No, he didn't let it define him.

He fell into a conversation with his old friends, touching in both old, well-tread topics ('Great performance, guys. You killed it as always.') as well as newer, unfamiliar ones ('So how are the McKinley kids taking the news? They treating you right?'), and it all managed to feel comfortable somehow. After a few minutes Blaine felt someone tugging on his arm, and he looked around and saw Sebastian, who had stayed silent since Blaine entered.

'Can we...' Sebastian gestured with his head towards the hallway.

'Yeah, okay,' Blaine said, and though he still had half a mind to ask Sebastian to leave him alone, he gave a short goodbye to the rest of the Warblers and followed Sebastian outside.

'So I guess I should apologize,' Sebastian said once the door closed behind them, his hands in his pockets and his voice just a little bit off from its usual self-assured drawl. 'Trent kind of yelled at me for telling the other guys. I take it he's always known?'

'We were roommates,' Blaine said simply, not sure yet how much he wanted to engage.

Sebastian nodded, but he seemed oddly distracted and not really taking in Blaine's words. His eyes flickered for a few seconds before they came to rest on Blaine again. 'Were you really put in the hospital for being trans?'

Blaine's eyes narrowed in confusion. 'Yeah, three years ago. Why?'

'I don't know, I just...' Sebastian scratched his chin. 'I've put you in the hospital, haven't I?'

Blaine couldn't really argue with the truth of that, and neither was he interested in being angry right now, so he simply shrugged at Sebastian's words.

'Look, I'm not like that, okay?' Sebastian went on, and he looked almost pleading. 'Or at least, I don't wanna be. No one was supposed to get hurt.' He shook his head slowly, looking away from Blaine. 'It was supposed to be a joke, but it's not- it's not just fun and games anymore.' When Sebastian looked back at Blaine, there was a kind of sincerity in his eyes that Blaine had never seen before. 'I'm not like the people who hurt you.'

Blaine cocked his head to one side, curious but wary. 'I didn't say you were.'

'Then give me another chance,' Sebastian said as he took three quick steps forward, coming close enough that Blaine had to tilt his head up to meet his eyes. 'Let's be friends again.'

Blaine let out a breath that was somewhere between a sigh and a laugh, and he took a few steps backwards. 'I don't think so.'

'Blaine...'

'I accept your apologies,' Blaine said, still retreating slowly. 'And you're not the spawn of Satan, but-'

'You make me want to be a better person.'

Blaine stopped and stared at Sebastian for a long moment, not sure what to make of that statement. Things had been a lot simpler when Sebastian had just been trying to get into Blaine's pants. 'Yeah, I'm pretty sure you just stole that line from a movie.'

'Hey, I changed a word,' Sebastian said, unperturbed and seeming just a little bit more like the Sebastian that Blaine was used to. 'Do I at least get points for referencing a fifteen-year-old movie?' Blaine felt the corners of his mouth twitching, and Sebastian barely suppressed a smirk. 'Come on, admit it, you find me charming.'

Blaine gave an exasperated laugh, but then he crossed his arms in front of his chest. 'Sebastian, I'm with Kurt. That hasn't changed, and it isn't going to.'

'I'm not asking for a date, I'm asking for your friendship back.'

Blaine appraised Sebastian. He seemed genuine enough, but still... Blaine chewed his lip, remaining silent.

'Come on,' Sebastian pressed. 'I know you're the kinda guy who believes in second chances.'

'Fine,' Blaine breathed out finally, relaxing his arms and surrendering. A second later, however, he pointed a warning finger at Sebastian. 'But no flirting. Start that again and we're done.'

'I won't, scout's honor,' Sebastian said, his expression solemn and holding up three fingers.

Blaine rolled his eyes. 'And no rock salt slushies or insulting my boyfriend or cheating or- or anything.'

'Yes, yes,' Sebastian replied, smiling but impatient. 'Nice and boring.'

Blaine glared.

'I mean,' Sebastian corrected himself quickly. 'Nice. I'll be nice.'

'Mm.' Blaine regarded Sebastian carefully, torn between amusement and exasperation. 'I'm going to regret this, aren't I?'

Sebastian grinned. 'Probably.'

Blaine snorted and shook his head, but before he could reply he felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and he knew it must be his teammates calling for him. 'I have to go.'

'Right, of course.' Sebastian gestured in the direction of the auditorium. 'Good luck up there. See you on stage when we win.'

'Ha, in your dreams,' Blaine called, already heading down the hall. 'We've so got this.'

A short while later, however, as Blaine was on stage with the rest of the New Directions, the idea of winning Regionals got pushed to the back of his mind, because the act of doing this in the first place – with people he was proud to call his friends, and a boy he was even prouder to call his boyfriend – seemed much more important than any award.

Aptly, Blaine's verse in the song that opened the New Directions' set was all about overcoming adversity, and even though he hadn't chosen the song, let alone written the words, in those fifteen seconds, he felt like he was telling his story.

Me, me, me against them

Me against enemies, me against friends

Somehow they both seem to become one

As a cheer went through the crowd, Blaine's eyes fell first on Trent, Sebastian and the rest of his Warbler friends, and he did find them all on their feet, cheering enthusiastically, but they weren't alone, and in fact a surprising number of familiar and semi-familiar faces seemed to be in the crowd today. A group of girls from his Algebra class. Some kids from his French class. Still more from his English class. JT's two friends. The odd thing was that it didn't feel like any of these people were here to ogle him like a circus freak. It felt like a show of support.

A sea full of sharks and they all smell blood

They start coming and I start rising

Must be surprising, I'm just surmising

Finally, Blaine's gaze drifted to the far right to the section where most of his friends' parents were seated today, and he found his own parents and Cooper, all there for once and wearing expressions that mirrored a lot of what Blaine himself was feeling. Happiness. Hope. Relief. Pride.

I win, thrive, soar

Higher, higher, higher

More fire

Winning competitions was fun and the validation was always welcome, but in this moment Blaine had not a care in the world about the outcome of Regionals today, because this? This was what victory felt like.