Blaine didn’t see Mr. 21 today on his way to work and the wardrobe crew is in another part of the theatre. Should Blaine go to the costuming spot after the show to thank Mr. 21 for the note? If Mr. 21 can be well-mannered out of nowhere, then Blaine would look like an idiot if he doesn’t return those manners.

Wait.

Maybe that is it.

Maybe Mr. 21 has decided that his personal vendetta against Blaine isn’t working, so he’s now acting as if nothing’s happened. Blaine crumbles up the paper and he shoves it in the pocket of his jacket.

Then Kurt’s words ring in his ears. Blaine is being ridiculous. He doesn’t know why Mr. 21 acts like he does and he shouldn’t act like he does. After all, if there’s one thing Kurt’s taught Blaine is that everyone has their own lives to live. When Kurt’s stuck in a mood, it’s also easy to get annoyed and angry at him, while he’s just trying to sort out his feelings.

Maybe Mr. 21 is going through something as well. Blaine wouldn’t know what, but it’s not as if Mr. 21 owes Blaine anything.

Blaine sighs. It’s just very confusing. Blaine and Mr. 21 have been feuding neighbours for almost a year. Why change that now?

A signal indicates that the show’s starting and Blaine focuses on that instead. The conductor starts his work and Blaine plays the opening notes of the show.

Things get progressively better after that note. As Smash Mouth would say, the days keep coming and they don’t stop coming, and Mr. 21 is constantly nice to Blaine.

Mr. 21 now always acknowledges Blaine’s existence. First it only happens at work, but now also at their apartment building. One day he even holds the door open for Blaine when he sees Blaine coming around the corner.

Like, who is this man and what has he done to the grumpy Mr. 21 that Blaine’s so accustomed to?

Blaine’s ready to update Kurt on the entire situation, but Kurt immediately starts talking about The Guy. Blaine supresses a sigh. He really should be elated for Kurt. Kurt sounds so genuinely interested in The Guy and it’s been so long since Kurt expressed himself like that, but Blaine dreads every conversation.

They’re playing the current Splatfest. May will have three Splatfests in a row about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They’re once again on the opposite team, but look, Leo has a sword, so of course Blaine had to go team Leo. Kurt’s adamant that Ralph is the better turtle.

“Did you know that The Guy also plays video games?” Kurt says while demolishing the Blaine’s team with an ink storm, which is deserved after Blaine made a comment about ink storm.

“Damn, Kurt, I take back what I said earlier,” Blaine quickly says to hopefully move away from The Guy.

Kurt doesn’t budge.

“Oh, revenge is served, Blaine, but anyway, I don’t see The Guy that often during work but someone from his department has a Switch and we sometimes play Mario Kart at work.”

Blaine has to suppress another sigh. Maybe he can lead the conversation astray by talking about Mario Kart. Kurt and Blaine haven’t played much of that game together, even though it’s the only other online game that they can play.

“Maybe we could-”

“So,” Kurt talks over Blaine in his excitement, and Blaine feels even worse about hating this, “this colleague tells me that they also play Mario Kart with The Guy! That’s good, right? Common ground and what not.”

“It is,” Blaine forces himself to say. On screen, he splats Kurt’s character after doing some nice dodge rolls.

“Oof, that was a nice kill. Save it for your portfolio,” Kurt says, “Do you think The Guy plays Splatoon 2 too? It’s a popular game.”

Blaine sucks in a breath. A stab of jealousy hits him. Splatoon 2 is their game. If Kurt is so hell-bent on gaming with The Guy, can’t he stick to Mario Kart or maybe wait until Super Smash Bros. Ultimate gets released later this year? The inklings from the original Splatoon are added to that game, so he and The Guy can have their Splatoon action there. Anything but Splatoon 2, please!

Oh.

Blaine guesses that it’s not a normal thing to get incredibly possessive over a video game like that.

The match ends and his team has won, but he doesn’t feel very cheerful. His mind is preoccupied with other thoughts. He needs to leave.

“My mom is calling,” Blaine blurts out. It is a very simple lie, but now he’s said it. “I haven’t spoken to her in a while. Time differences and all that. So, I, uh…”

“Of course!” Kurt says. He doesn’t see through the lie. Besides, Blaine really should give his mom a call, but Kurt hasn’t done the math. It’s in the middle in the night for his mom.

“Talk to you later!” Blaine says and he closes the game. He also sets his Discord status to invisible. Then he disconnects his Switch from the internet so that Kurt can’t see that he’s starting another game.

He needs to clear his mind. He considers playing some Breath of the Wild, since that’s probably his second favourite game, but he’s still stuck in the Champion’s Ballad in Master Mode, and he needs something relaxing. He starts Stardew Valley instead.

Would I ever create a farm with Kurt when multiplayer finally becomes available? his treasonous mind immediately thinks when the opening titles play.

He really can’t stop thinking about Kurt, can he?

Maybe gaming isn’t the right thing to do. He closes Stardew Valley before he even loaded his save and he moves to his piano. He’s been on The Street for a while now, so he doesn’t need to learn any more tracks, but it’s always good to practise.

Music is his solace. He completely loses himself in it and it nice to not think about Kurt, or The Guy, or Mr. 21, or his career. He plays until it’s time to leave for work.

Once he closes his front door, he sees Mr. 21 who also got out of his apartment.

“Going my way?” Blaine asks, even though he knows it’s true.

Mr. 21 nods.

“So… shall we?” Blaine nods towards the elevator.

Mr. 21 has a surprised smile on his face and he nods again. Blaine doesn’t mind the surprise. Like Mr. 21, Blaine hasn’t been the kindest, but if Mr. 21 can have a sudden change of heart, then so can Blaine. He much prefers this Mr. 21 over the grumpy neighbour.

The two of them travel to work in silence, but unlike the previous silences, it’s a comfortable one. They part ways inside the theatre and Blaine has a warm feeling in his chest when Mr. 21 waves goodbye.

“Woah, do my eyes deceive me?” Avalon says from behind, “Are you two getting along?”

“I guess,” Blaine says.

“I know it’s none of my business, but you said you two hated each other,” Avalon says. Together, Blaine and Avalon walk towards the music department head, so that they can check in.

“Avalon, I am as surprised as you, but it is a welcome surprise,” Blaine says during the short trip.

“Does this mean you’ll finally get off your ass and you’ll join us for a game?” Avalon asks.

Blaine smiles. He’ll consider it.

“Wait, we like Mr. 21 now?” Thad asks.

Blaine hands him a cup of tea with a shrug.

“Sort of, yes,” he answers, “It’s not a big deal.”

Wes walks into the living room with the remaining cups of tea. Blaine’s had a week to think about it, but now he’s invited his friends over to talk about Splatoon 2. He’s taking Kurt’s advice and he’s going to tell them.

Blaine picked his friends up in the lobby and on their way to the apartment, they passed Mr. 21. Blaine and Mr. 21 had exchanged a kind smile and it absolutely baffled the others.

“Not a big deal?” David practically yells and he looks at Wes and Thad, “You’re hearing this, fellas? It’s not a big deal!”

“David-”

“I’m with David here, Blaine,” Thad cuts Blaine off, “We’ve been hearing nothing but complaints for almost a year. Mr. 21 was the bane of your existence. And now it’s fine? We like him now?”

“This is not what I wanted to talk about-”

Now, Wes is the one who interrupts him.

“Well, too bad. Start talking.”

“What’s there to say,” Blaine looks at his friends, “Around two weeks ago, he just… started being nice to me, you know? He’s still silent, but I’m starting to think that’s just who he is, because he does acknowledge me now. We even travelled to work together.”

“Even travelled to work together!” Wes echoes in disbelief.

Honestly, being a Warbler makes everyone extremely dramatic, even years out of school.

“Guys, shut it,” Blaine hisses out and he turns red from embarrassment.

“Why? We saw him leave. It’s not like he can hear us!” David yells out the last two words for good measure.

“Do we know why Mr. 21 changed his attitude?” Wes says.

Blaine drags his hand down his face.

“There is no ‘we’ here. This is between Mr. 21 and me.”

“Kinky,” Thad quips and Blaine shouldn’t have taken a sip from his tea, because he chokes and spills it on himself.

“Guys!” Blaine yells, “I appreciate your interest in my life, but be assured, I will tell you once I know more. And no, I don’t know why Mr. 21 changed his attitude, and as Kurt says, I cannot look inside his head to figure it out. And speaking of Kurt…”

“Kurt?” Blaine can hear Thad mutter next to him.

“Yes, Kurt, my friend from the-”

“Friend, huh?” Wes says with a smirk.

Blaine’s friends mean well, but the constant interruption is getting a bit on Blaine’s nerves.

“Wait, I thought we were still at Mr. 21 when it comes to men Blaine likes to bone - which can totally happen now that he isn’t a dick anymore. Who is Kurt?” David says as he adds more sugar to his tea.

“I do not want to bone Mr. 21, he’s just attractive!” Blaine says quickly. Then he composes himself. “My friend Kurt is someone I met online in the LGBT Splatoon 2 Discord advised me to tell you about this and since you guys are some of my closest friends, I want your, I don’t know, thoughts and opinions.”

His friends exchange some looks. They don’t crack a joke this time.

Okay, Blaine didn’t want to sound like there was something very serious and important going on - but on the other hand, it is very serious and important to Blaine. That is the whole point of this get-together.

So Blaine puts everything related to Kurt or Mr. 21 aside. He wants his friends to hear this and maybe it is a bit much, since it’s just a game, but it also isn’t for Blaine.

“So, I play a lot of video games, especially Splatoon 2, which is a non-gruesome third person shooter and I am hoping to get some sort of… uh, career out of it.”

Silence.

But it’s not uncomfortable. Blaine doesn’t think his friends are judging him. It looks like they need some time to understand what Blaine just said and he gets that. How many people can say that their friend wants to play competitive Nintendo games?

“Is that the one with the humanoid squids and the colourful ink?” Wes asks after a while.

“Yeah.”

“Sounds legit,” Thad says in a calm, understanding tone.

David nods slightly and he takes a sip from his tea. He acts as if Blaine’s said a mundane fact about the weather and Blaine is glad.  

“What does this career entail, though?” Wes asks. He also seems chill about it, but he’s also Wes Montgomery, of course he needs to know more about the serious part.

“Career is maybe the wrong word. It’s just tournaments. I hope to find a team this summer and then it’s gaming for fun. But also competitive.”

“Makes sense,” Thad says in the same tone as before.

Blaine looks down to his mug and he nods to himself. This is going great. He feels great. His friends understand that this is serious enough to not make shitty jokes about it. Great. Absolutely great!

At least he has their support.

Blaine feels a hand on his shoulder. David has a concerned look on his face.

“What is it?” he asks, “You were nervous about telling us, weren’t you? Why’s that?”

Blaine quickly explains that he has tickets to the World Championship and that he doesn’t know how to tell his dad and Cooper. Because, sure, his friends are cool about it, but that’s because they take the time to understand why this silly colourful game is so important to Blaine.

Blaine loves his family, but his father and Cooper aren’t like that. Hell, even his mom is often worried about him because he doesn’t like the same things that she does.

“It’s just… this is really important to me, guys! This isn’t just a game to me. This is something I put a lot of time and effort in and it’s given me a dear friendship. But I am afraid they’re not going to look past their own view of video games!” Blaine finishes. He takes a deep breath. He’s gotten all worked-up and his friends are all patient with him.

Really, these Warblers can drive him mad, but they know him like no other.

“This runs deep, huh?” Thad says.

Blaine nods.

“Yeah, dad’s already given me so much crap with the music thing and now this? He has a view on what a proper job or passion should be and Cooper and I stray away from that. At least Coop still has his IT shit.”

“And you have your The Street shit!” David exclaims, “Isn’t that already showing him that music is legit?”

“And with the eSports thing… maybe compare it to regular sports?” Thad adds, “Like, you often hear people say crap like ‘oh how is this fun, it’s playing a game’, as if we aren’t all nuts for the Buckeyes. That’s also playing a game and we watch it from TV!”

“Or put the emphasis on something else!” Wes suggests, “You mentioned Kurt, right? We will definitely go back to him, but anyway… put the emphasis on the social aspect of this game. You have a great friend. You need to be a team player. That’s good shit, Blaine.”

Blaine sits back. This doesn’t completely ease his nerves, but his friends do have some solid tips on how to approach this. A small smile forms on his face.

He doesn’t want to talk badly about Kurt, but these ideas are more concrete than showing videos of his plays. Kurt probably never had to convince his dad of his passions. Man, Kurt’s dad really must’ve been an extraordinary man.

Blaine looks to his friends.

“Thanks, guys.”