"Blaine! We're on in five minutes you ready?" Sam asked as he came out of the bathroom stall his fingers struggling with his own bow tie.

Blaine laughed, "I'm ready but it looks like you could use some help with your tie."

Sam grinned sheepishly.

"Let me help you." Blaine said standing on his tiptoes to tie the tie into a perfect bow.

"Thanks man." Sam smiled.

There was a loud rapping at the bathroom door. "BLAINE! SAM! Come on we have to get our places!" Sugar cried from the other side of the door.

The boys hurried out of the bathroom and backstage.

Blaine sighed heavily as he took his place behind the curtain. He loved performing it made him feel invincible, it made him happy, it made him forget everything but the stage, the lights, the song.

The curtain started to rise and the spotlight began to light up Blaine's face. The music started and Blaine brought the mic to his face.

"Everybody yeah, rock your body yeah, Everybody yeah, rock your body right." Blaine sang as the rest of the glee club fell into formation behind him. They all joined in as Blaine finished the first line. "Backstreets back Alright!"

The set brought the house down and as the curtain went down the New Directions ran off stage breathless but elated. As they ran into the wings Blaine caught sight of the familiar blue and red blazers. He locked eyes with Sebastian who offered Blaine a curt nod before the Warblers took the stage.

Blaine felt his chest tighten as he heard the Warblers hit their opening harmonies but as he walked into the green room the sound filtered off.

"We killed it! We've got first place in the bag!" Sam cried out. The glee club cheered in agreement.

Soon Mr. Shue bustled through the door, "Great job guys! Now we have go back on stage for the awards ceremony, come on!"

"Let's go get our trophy!" Sam shouted as the club hurried back on stage.

Blaine gripped Tina's hand tightly as the celebrity judge Anna Banana, the star of Lima's number one television show "Bananas!" came onto the stage. "Hello boys and girls! Are we ready to see who our very special winners are?"

The crowd cheered as Blaine saw Tina trying to hold in a smirk.

"Before I announce the winners I just want you all to remember that you are all very special snowflakes and I love each and everyone of you! Now lets see who are winners are!"

Anna pulled out the first envelope. "In third place we have The Showstopperz!" Anna jumped up and down as she handed the dejected Showstopperz a small trophy.

Blaine offered the lead singer of the Showstopperz a sad smile as they left the stage.

"Only two choirs left, The Warblers from Dalton Academy and The New Directions from McKinley High. Who will our winner be?"

Blaine squeezed Tina's hand tighter as Anna opened the envelope. "And the winner is The New Directions! Congratulations! You get to go to Regionals!"

The New Directions burst out in shouts and cries of joy. Blaine and Tina walked hand in hand up to Anna to accept the trophy. They hurried back to their team and lifted it high above their heads. The celebration continued as the New Directions hurried off stage. The dejected Warblers followed behind.

Blaine was quickly caught up into a group hug backstage before he heard a familiar voice call his name.

"Umm Blaine?"

Blaine peered over the tops of his teammates head to see Sebastian standing just outside the circle. He quickly worked his way through the hugs to see Sebastian looking at him with an awkward smile.

"Can I talk to you in private?" Sebastian asked quietly.

Blaine nodded and began to follow Sebastian back into the greenroom.
Tina quickly noticed that Blaine was no longer in the midst of the group hug and made her way out. She emerged just in time to see Blaine following Sebastian out of the wings.

"Sam!" Tina called as she kept her eye on Blaine. Sam poked his head out from the group hug and offered Tina a smile. Tina quickly gestured for him to follow her. He pulled away from the group and gave the small girl a questioning look.

"What's up, where's Blaine?" he asked.

"He and Sebastian went towards the green room and I don't trust that rat; we need to make sure Blaine is ok." Tina said as she began to walk towards the green room.

As they entered the green room Blaine spoke up. "Hey, I'm really sorry you guys didn't win. You were fantastic as always."

Sebastian waved his hand. "Yeah, I know we were. Seems like the judges still have a thing for filthy misfits, I guess"

Blaine laughed stiffly at Sebastian's comment. There was a moment of silence before Blaine took a breath.

"Is there something you needed, Sebastian?"

Sebastian nodded before looking into Blaine's eyes. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Have you told anyone?"

"No, and I don't plan to. I'm fine, Sebastian, I promise."

"Blaine, you can't live in your car all winter; you'll freeze to death."

Blaine sucked in a harsh breath. He knew Sebastian was right. The weather in Ohio was quickly getting worse and soon it would be full-blown winter.

"Sebastian I appreciate your concern, but I'll be fine. Kurt comes home next week and I'm going to tell him then." Blaine lied.

"Oh, you are?" Sebastian asked dryly.

Blaine nodded. "Yes. I'm sure the Hummel's will let me stay with them."

"Ok, but if you need anymore help just let me know. Ok? Can't have you starving or you'll lose that hot bod of yours."

"I will." Blaine snorted. "Thanks Sebastian. I'd better go and get back to my friends."

Sebastian nodded quickly; "Yeah, I'm not sure if it's the overwhelming smell of hair gel or the sickening amount of niceness I've been dishing out but I feel like I might throw up. I'll talk to you later, Blaine."

Blaine waved goodbye to the Warbler as he turned to back towards the wings. As he opened the green room door he ran straight into Tina and Sam who both looked at Blaine with concerned filled eyes.

"Blaine, was what Sebastian said true?" Tina asked as her eyes brimmed over with tears.

Blaine took in harsh breath as he realized that Sam and Tina had heard the whole thing. He quickly tried to hide his fear by forcing a smile.

"What are you guys talking about? Sebastian was just congratulating me on our win."

"Cut the bullcrap Blaine, we heard him say that you've been living in your car!" Sam yelled.
Blaine shuddered slightly at the volume of Sam's voice.

"Why did he say that Blaine?" Tina asked again her voice watery.

Blaine shook his head, unwilling to spill his secret again. "It's fine guys, you misunderstood. I'm fine." He said as he tried to squeeze his way between them.

"Blaine! Just stop! Tell us what is wrong." Sam pleaded.

Blaine felt hot tears once again prickle at the back of his eyes. He could feel himself breaking beneath the surface. He knew that soon the cracks would show through and he wouldn't be able to hide them anymore. But as the cracks splintered through Blaine he still knew he had to keep it together.

"Nothing is wrong, Sebastian...he didn't have his facts straight."

"So you're not living out of your car?" Sam asked his voice full of disbelief .

Blaine bit his lip, "I...I was but I've been living with my grandparents." the lie was so bold that Blaine knew his friends wouldn't believe it.

"What?" Tina asked sharply.

"I was kicked out by my parent's right before school started." True. "After that happened I went to my grandparents who live in Westerville." False. "Sebastian thought I had been living out of my car because for a few nights I was." False. "But its fine. I'm back with my grandparents for now and I plan to tell Kurt this weekend. I'm hoping I can move in with his family until I figure something out." Definitely False.

"Why haven't you told Kurt yet?" Sam asked. "You two are still dating right?"

Blaine nodded vigorously, "Yes we are still dating, and I just didn't want to overwhelm him, it hadn't been a big deal until now."

"Getting kicked out of your house isn't a big deal!?" Sam yelled again, anger radiating off of him in waves.

Blaine took in a harsh breath of air, he could feel himself crumbling. "No, please let me deal with this. I promise if something happens I will tell you all right away. But for now I just want to forget about it and go out and celebrate our win, ok?"

Tina and Sam continued to stare at Blaine before Tina engulfed him a hug.

"Blaine, I want you to promise me that you will come to us if you need help." Her words were a bit muffled by Blaine's shirt but he nodded.

"I will, now please promise me that you won't tell Kurt. I want to tell him."

Sam looked at Blaine warily but agreed Tina nodded along as well.

Blaine forced a smile as he looped his arm into Tina's, "Thank you. Now let's go admire our trophy."