I couldn’t put it off any longer, or at least it’s wouldn’t be wise to. I had to introduce Blaine to his fellow CITs before afternoon trainings started, even if I’d rather we just spend the whole afternoon in the woods.

I paused in front of the door to the CIT room, listening to the jumble of voices coming from inside, so different from the stillness I’d walked into with Blaine last night. I turned towards Blaine, mentally sighing at his expression.

Every time I thought we’d made some kind of connection or maybe he was going to come out of his shell a little bit, something would make Blaine shut right back down. In this case, it was the prospect of meeting a whole bunch of new people. I guess I should realize that it’s going to take longer than a day for Blaine to really open up, but it feels like it’s been longer than a day. And I’m not really the world’s most patient person in the first place.

“Remember, they’re nice guys. They’re just going to want to meet you. Imagine them as a room full of puppies. Lots of energy but no malice. You ready?” I gave Blaine what I hoped was a reassuring smile as I waited for him to take a deep breath and nod.

I pushed the door open and stepped in, giving Blaine the chance to hide, er, stand, behind me. I scanned over the chaos of the room looking for one particular face to start with. Trunks and bags were spread open everywhere. Guys were shouting to each other across rows of bunk beds. Somehow it seemed like way more than ten teenagers had arrived during lunch today.

The guy I was looking for found me first. “Kurt!” He called across the room, vaulting over an open trunk to suddenly be right there to pull me into an enthusiastic hug. I returned it quickly before pulling away with a grin on my face. Man, it was good to see him.

“Nick! I’m glad you guys finally made it. Are you hiding Jeff under a bed somewhere?” The two were practically inseparable after all. They spent even more time together than Sam, Mike, and I did.

“Nah. He just went to pee. Something about long car rides and too much soda. How are you? It’s good to see you? Did you just stop in to say hi?” Nick wasn’t usually quite this bouncy. I wonder if Jeff shared all that soda. “Oh, you’re hiding someone.” Nick was peering around my shoulder, and I turned with him to catch the overwhelmed look on Blaine’s face at all the crazy in here.

“I am. I actually came by to introduce him to you. But maybe in the hallway? Where it’s a little less, all of this?” I nodded my head towards the door, and Blaine took that as a sign to retreat moving quickly and still silently.

Nick and I stepped out after him, and I pulled the door shut, muffling some of the noise. “So, did Schue tell you guys that you have a newbie joining your group this summer?” I asked softly, leaning casually against the bare wood of the wall.

“No…” Nick let the word trail out as he gave Blaine a quick look over. I could guess what he was seeing. Blaine looked downright scared at the moment, cast tucked right up his body again as he held himself. “I did notice someone’s things I didn’t recognize were already unpacked in there, though.” Nick just raised his eyebrows over at me, waiting for an explanation. Nick looked almost as surprised at the thought of having a new CIT this year as I had, when Sam told me about it yesterday.

“Well, there is one. This is Blaine. He’ll be joining your group this summer. Schue made me his big brother, so I’ve been showing him around since he got here a day early. Blaine, this is Nick.”

Blaine froze for just a second before giving Nick a wary smile, but a smile none the less. “It’s good to meet you.” That sounded a lot more formal than natural, but hey, Blaine was finally saying something here. I’ll take it.

“Good to meet you, too. It’ll be nice to have some new blood around when we all start to get on each other’s nerves in the same ways we have been for years now.” I gave Blaine a little raise of eyebrows, like ‘See?’

I would have said something about it as well, but a blond tornado pushed past Blaine and made me glad I was braced by the wall behind me when he threw himself at me in a warm hug. I swear that without the wall to hold me up he would have knocked me right over.

“Jeff, geez. Don’t squish me. How much caffeine did you have, anyway?” I returned the hug before pushing the blond guy away playfully. “I have someone for you to meet.” I looked past Jeff to check on Blaine, mouthing over ‘Remember. Puppies.’ when I saw the rather shell-shocked look on his face at Jeff’s entrance.

Blaine took a deep breath and nodded over to me before he turned to give Jeff a nervous smile, arms tucked tight again himself. “Hi?” I swear he really did make the greeting sound like a question.

“Oh! Hey! You’re new. Either that or someone really changed in the last year.” Jeff observed jokingly. “My name’s Jeff.”

“Blaine. Yeah, I’m new. Are you a CIT, too?” It was tentative and nervous sounding, but at least Blaine wasn’t waiting for me to introduce him. That was a good reason for me to just stay leaning against the wall over here. I’d let Blaine handle it, until and if he needed me.

Jeff nodded enthusiastically. How much caffeine did he have, anyway? Maybe it was a combination of that and ‘just got to camp’ excitement? “I am! Wait, too? Are you talking about Nick? Oooh. Or is yours the mystery stuff that was all unpacked in our room when we got here?” How in the hell did Jeff, with his floppy hair, actually manage to look that much like a puppy?

“I guess I could mean Nick, too, but I was talking about myself. That is my stuff. No one messed with it, right?” Blaine glanced quickly between Nick and Jeff. I fully understood that fear, in a way neither of those two probably could. I doubted either of them had ever had anyone purposely dirty or destroy their things, just to get at them.

“No one would.” I spoke up, since the other two just looked confused and slightly offended at that question. “I mean, at some point, someone might steal a pair of Sam’s underwear to run up the flag pole, but that’s only because they know he’d think it was hilarious. No one’s going to ruin your stuff here. Well, if you work with the little guys, it’s rather amazing how much bug juice than can manage to transfer onto your body, but no one will purposely do it. Plus, Schue would actually deal with it if someone tried.”

Nick raised his eyebrows over towards me quickly, mouthing ‘talk later?’ before he turned to grin to Jeff, moving to stand beside his best friend. “I already told Blaine how excited we’ll all be to have some fresh blood in the group. I think your bed is beside the bunk Jeff and I are sharing. Just be prepared for the guys to be curious tonight. They’ll be welcoming, but it’s been years since someone new has joined our group. It’s good practice for getting to be counselors. We might have a new co-counselor every year, after all.”

I gave Nick a relieved look and nodded to his request. The reason I chose Nick to pull out went beyond just the fact that we’re friends. He’s a good guy, and I have a gut feeling that he and Blaine will get along. “Right now though, I think we should head upstairs. Wes said he wanted everyone to meet in the JC’s room for training this afternoon, which means, if we don’t get up there soon, we’ll end up sitting on the floor.”

I’d been right. The JCs had all staked out spots already, meaning the CITs were going to have to find a spot on the floor or get snarked at by Wes for being out of ‘optimal listening range’.

Thankfully, I had a secret weapon, Mike.

As soon as we walked into the room, Mike waved us over. I suppose he really should have saved spots for us, considering the prime location he’d secured was actually sitting on top of my bed. It was the least he could do. “Kurt, Blaine! I saved you spots!”

I let out a chuckle as we made our way over to him. “You’d better have, considering that it is /my/ bed you’re sitting on.” I pointed out, slipping off my sandals to sit beside Mike, patting the foot of the bed in invitation to Blaine. “Nick and Jeff can just steal your bed in retribution.” I told him with a smirk. “It’s probably close enough to not freak Wes out.”

“Is Wes hard to get along with?” Blaine asked softly as he followed my example and slipped off his shoes, taking the offered spot on my bed, tucking his legs up against his body, arms tight around them, all closed in.

“Nah. He’s just a bit uptight sometimes.” Mike answered, leaning forward a bit to talk across me. “He’s a good guy though. You can go to him to talk about /anything/, and he’ll listen. Just don’t go against Wes’s planned structure.”

That said, Mike turned and gave Nick and Jeff a grin. “Welcome back, guys! Just don’t get dirt on my sheets. Or tell Kurt that I rubbed stinky feet all over his.”

I was in the middle of whacking Mike on the shoulder when Wes strolled in, catching me but missing the reason for it. Just my luck. “Hands to yourself, Hummel,” our group leader stated in a tone that really sounded exactly like my fourth grade teacher.

I pulled my hand back and stuck my tongue out at Mike instead, just like I would have done in fourth grade. It was apparently the right choice because there was a startled bit of laughter from Blaine at the childishness. Hey, I’d act like I was ten more often if it got that response.

Wes spent the next two hours going over characteristics of children at different ages. Blah. I really did try to listen in, but I’ll admit to getting occasionally distracted by, well, anything. I’d heard most of the same stuff last year. I think Wes might have a memorized script.

Finally, he gave us a break, and, handily enough, Blaine took the time to go use the bathroom. With half the other guys (Mike and Sam included) doing the same thing, I knew I’d have the three minutes I needed to talk to Nick and Jeff.

I spun around on the bunk to face Nick and Jeff where they’d sprawled out at opposite ends of Mike’s bunk. “So. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. My new sidekick.”

Nick laughed at that term. “You’re going to be Batman, and he’ll be Robin? I bet you could whip out the costumes, no problem.”

“Of course I could. But that’s not really what I meant. I’d be a fabulous Batman, though, right? With the old style spandex costume and everything? Bang. Pow.” I shook my head, refocusing. “Will you two help me keep an eye on him? I don’t want to treat him like he’s five or anything, but I want him to settle in and feel safe here.”

Jeff nodded for both of them. “You didn’t really even need to ask. You know we all look out for each other. What’s the story there, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t really know. He hasn’t told me much at all. I think it’s going to take him awhile to trust anyone here enough to open up.” I hesitated before adding, “I do know now why Schue chose me, though. I’ve got personal experience with being bullied, and I’m pretty sure Blaine has faced more than his share of it.”

Yeah, that earned me raised eyebrows from Nick. “You do? I never knew that.”

“Coming out in high school is probably a rather different experience in Ohio than Boston or New York. And even before I was out, it’s not like it wasn’t rather obvious that I was different.” I noted, nodding to Nick and Jeff as I named the cities they lived in. “I don’t like to talk about it here. I’d rather just enjoy two months without having to deal with it. This is my escape to refresh and recharge. I’d like Blaine to get the chance to feel like he’s got a safe spot to do the same, you know?”

Nick nodded over. “I guess that makes sense. I’ll do my best to make sure Blaine feels welcome but not that I’m treating he’s one of Finn’s cute, little juniors.”

“Perfect. And keep it super light on the teasing? He probably wouldn’t take it in the spirit you mean it right now.” I advised before glancing toward the door. Blaine’d probably be back anytime now. “So, what are you most looking forward to about being CITs?”