Hooking up with Kurt’s hot friend was a bad idea, Blaine realized that the moment he walked off with her, but he was so bored. It had barely been three days, but everything in Lima was immensely mundane. Part of it, he knew, was that all of his friends were two hours away. And part of it was how routine the Berry’s were. Even being in the car with Rachel an hour after classes let out listening to her complain about him smoking was getting old, and fast. Plus, he didn’t have access to a gym, and needed some way to relieve the stress.

The last two days he spent the hour she had glee rehearsals wondering around the parking lot smoking. He was bound to get caught if that happened, but the area under the bleachers was inaccessible after school due to football practice. At least it was the weekend now, and he could attempt to convince his father to give him his car back. 

As it turned out, the man was waiting at the Berry’s house when he and Rachel returned from school Friday afternoon. He was sitting at the counter with his lawyer, Andrew, and Melissa talking quietly. Their conversation stopped abruptly once they noticed Blaine and Rachel walk through the door.

“Blaine,” Richard said, “we need to talk.”

“Don’t we always,” Blaine said sardonically before turning to walk back out the door.

“Rachel, Sweetie, why don’t you head upstairs,” he heard Melissa say before the door slammed shut behind him. 

Fuck, he thought as he lit a cigarette. He did not want to deal with this shit today. Leaning against the wall, the teenager slid down until he was seated on the concrete porch with his legs stretched out in front of him. 

A few moments later, his father walked out the door. 

“I wish you wouldn’t smoke, son.”

“There are a lot of things you wish I wouldn’t do.”

“Drop the attitude, Blaine. I’m trying to help you.”

“I don’t want your help,” the boy spat.

With a frustrated sigh, his father snatched the cigarette out of his hands and pulled him up by the collar. 

“Wha-?” Blaine started to say. 

“Too bad. Get in the car,” Richard said shoving the boy towards the silver BMW. 

After stumbling slightly, he regained his balance and shot his father a venomous glare. “Make me,” he growled.

Without responding, the man grabbed Blaine’s arm and roughly pulled him to the car. 

“Let go of me, asshole!” Blaine yelled trying to pull out of his father’s grip.

Ignoring him, Richard opened the car door and shoved his son into the car. Once the door was closed, he hurried to the driver’s side and climbed in. 

Blaine was halfway out of the car, but the older man grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him back. 

“I’m not in the mood to deal with your shit today, Blaine. Buckle the damn seatbelt,” he demanded. 

With a huff, Blaine slammed the door. Slouching down in his seat, he propped his boot clad feet on the dashboard and raised an eyebrow at his father. 

“Seatbelt,” he reminded the teenager before pulling out of the driveway. 

Lima flew by as Blaine stared sullenly out the window. The car was silent, and he could feel the older man’s eyes halfway watching him as the car sped down the road. Several long minutes passed, and the teenager had to fight the urge to sit up straight. Plus his current position was immensely uncomfortable. 

Finally he gave up and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, and pressed the button to roll down the window. It didn’t move. He pressed it several more times, becoming more agitated by the second. It took a second for him to realized his father had not only snatched another cigarette from him, but this time taken the entire pack. 

“Fucking seriously?” he shouted. 

“Language, Blaine,” Richard chastised. 

“Whatever,” he said.

“You still owe me that explanation,” the man said after a few moments. 

“Why do you even care?”

“Because, believe it or not, I care what happens to you,” he said. “I don’t want you to ruin your future this way. Do you really think I want to see you go to prison?”

“The only thing you care about it the backlash me being arrested will have on your company,” Blaine said. 

“That’s not entirely true, but what do you want me to say? Would you like me to deny being concerned about it? This company is your future, if you don’t throw it away first.”

“Have you ever thought maybe I want to throw it away?”

“Bullshit, Blaine.”

He didn’t have a comeback for that. Blaine’s life revolved around the power that came from money. Neither being in jail nor messing up his schooling would benefit his lifestyle. 

The ride was silent for a while, though not nearly as unbearable as it had been. Several questions raced through Blaine’s mind. Most importantly, where was his father taking him? The only thing he could figure out was they were headed towards Columbus. 

Relief flooded through him as they turned into a familiar neighborhood. 

“Here’s the deal,” his father said. “Andrew is going to run with whatever story you and your idiot side kick come up with. I expect it to at lest be partially true. And at some point, you will tell me the entire story. I don’t want any more surprises, understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’m having a word with Governer Sterling.”

Without wasting a second, Blaine was out of the barely parked car and rushing through the front door of the Governor’s house. He pushed passed the maid and startled Mrs. Sterling as he flew up the stairs. 

“Fucking hell, man!” Jeff yelled when Blaine flung his bedroom door open. 

The blonde boy had dropped his phone and was staring at Blaine. 

“What have you told them?” Blaine demanded after closing the door behind him.

Jeff scrambled to pick his phone back up, and said, “I’ll call you back in a bit. Love you!” before hanging up. 

Stalking forward, Blaine grabbed the blond and slammed him into the wall opposite the door. “What did you fucking tell them,” the curly haired boy demanded. 

“Nothing! Jesus Fucking Christ, B, calm your shit!” Jeff said pushing at the other boy until he let go. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jeff asked once they were seated across from one another. 

Blaine could tell he had frightened his friend. The only thought he had been able to process had been if Jeff told, he was fucked. It overrode everything else.

“Fuck if I know. Sorry. I panicked,” he apologized.

“Well, you shouldn’t have,” Jeff said. “You’re like a brother, B. I won’t speak a word.”

“Thank you,” Blaine breathed. 

“Why are you here anyway?” Jeff asked. “I’m not supposed to have contact with anyone. Well, I can talk to Nick, but that’s it.” 

“My father wanted to talk to yours.”

“He wants to know how my dad is trying to stop the investigation.”

“Probably. Bastard thinks they’ll actually get enough evidence to charge us.”

“Eli would have to wake up for that to happen,” Jeff said. 

“Wake up?” Blaine asked.

The blond looked at him in shock. “They haven’t told you,” he said.

“Told me what?”

“Eli is in a coma. They don’t know if he’ll wake up. You’re fucked either way.”

“Fuck!” Blaine yelled. That explained why his father was so concerned about what happened. Assault they could cover up, but if the fucker died…

“Yes, fuck.”

“What did you tell them?”

“The police or my dad?” Jeff asked.

“The police.”

“That we were practicing for the Alumni Gala in two weeks with the Warblers,” Jeff said. “What else could I say. Yes, Officer, I was with my friends. We broke into a building and were beating the shit out of one another just for kicks. That’ll go over nicely.”

“Don’t be an ass, Jeff.”

“You’re one to talk, B. The back of my head fucking hurts thanks to you.”

“You’ll live. Anyway, we need a story, because you’re dad and my father are going to know practice is a lie.”

“Well, what do we tell them?”

For the next hour the two discussed what parts of that night to tell their fathers and lawyers and what parts to leave out. 

When Mrs. Sterling came to fetch them, they had long since figured it out, and Blaine was seated on the balcony with the doors open smoking a cigarette. Jeff was laying half in and half out of the room doing the same.

“Jeffery!” she screeched upon seeing what her son was doing. 

“Mom!” the blond said scrambling up and flicking the cigarette over the railing.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

“Nothing?” Jeff said. All three knew the boy had been caught.

Blaine chuckled in amusement at his friend. 

“It most certainly wasn’t ‘nothing’,” she said. “Your father wants you downstairs. You too, Blaine.”

Groaning, Blaine took one last drag of his cigarette before using the plant next to him to put it out. 

“We’ll talk about this later, Jefferey,” Mrs. Sterling said shotting Blaine a deadly look. 

Jeff just nodded his head before heading downstairs. 

“I want you to keep away from my children. You’re a terrible influence, Blaine Anderson,” she hissed as Blaine passed her. 

It took everything for him not to laugh. The woman had hated him since she caught him in her eldest daughters bed last summer, then making out with a different girl at the country club the next day. Come to think of it, Elizabeth, Jeff’s sister, hadn’t spoken to him since that day. It took nearly a month for Jeff to forgive him. 

Both of their fathers, and Andrew were waiting when Blaine walked into Governer Sterling’s library. 

“Alright boys,” Governer Sterling said, “let’s hear the convoluted story the two of you have no doubt come up with.”

With a glance at Blaine, Jeff started speaking. “Some of us have been sneaking off campus for the past couple of years and doing a fight club like thing. It’s only supposed to be our really close friends, and some others from Dalton there.”

“Jeff!” Blaine hissed glaring at his friend who was already telling to much of the truth. He was supposed to say it was the first time they had done it. 

Seeming to ignore him, the blond kept speaking. “Lately some other guys have been showing up though.”

“Like Mitchel and Eli Carter,” Richard said.

“That night was the first time we saw them. The older one, Mitchel was really cocky and being an asshole in general.”

“Then what happened?” Andrew, who was taking notes, asked.

“He challenged me to a fight,” Blaine said. 

“Did you accept?” the Governer asked.

“Yes. And he lost,” Blaine said,

“Badly,” Jeff added earning another glare from Blaine. 

“Then what happened?” Andrew asked.

“Some other people fought, then we left,” Blaine said.

“In a group?” the lawyer asked again.

“No. Blaine and I went to get some food before we went back to Dalton,” Jeff finished.

“Did you see either of them again?” 

“No,” Blaine said. From the look his father gave him, Blaine knew the man didn’t believe him. Luckily, Richard didn’t call him out on it.

“So they did this to themselves and are trying to frame the two of you?” the Governer asked.

“Probably,” Blaine said.

“Why drag Jeff and the younger one into it?” Richard asked.

“Blaine and I both rejected him. That’s why Mitchel challenged Blaine in the first place. He was kind of an ass about it,” Jeff said.

“Of course he was,” Richard muttered. 

“Well, now that we’ve got your side of things, we’ll have a better chance at keeping the police from charging you boys with anything,” Jeff’s dad said. 

A few minutes later, Blaine was being ushered back into the car by his dad.

“How much of that was true?” Richard asked.

“All of it, except the part about not seeing the two of them again.”

“Because you did everything that boy says you did.”

“Yes. And because I made him watch what I did to Eli,” Blaine said after a minute.

It was lucky the car was stopped at a stop sign, because as soon as the words left 

his mouth, his father backhanded him across the face. The side of his head hit the window jarring him. 

“What the fuck?” he yelled in pain. “That hurt!”

“You’re a stupid fucking idiot, Blaine. What were you thinking?”

“I don’t know!”

“You better figure it out, and fast,” Richard said.

Glaring at his father and rubbing his head, Blaine successfully rolled down the window and lit a cigarette. For once, his father didn’t say anything about it as he drove back to their estate. 

Upon arriving, Richard turned to Blaine and said. “Pack whatever shit you need because you won’t be back in this house until the holidays. You’ve got two hours.”

The curly haired boy started up the stairs, wanting nothing more than to take a nap. His head was still throbbing from hitting the window. 

“And Blaine,” the older man said stopping him, “You’re still expected to attend the dinner next Saturday with a… suitable date. Behave through then and I might think about giving you your car back.”

Rolling his eyes he continued up the stairs. 

*******

“I heard a rumor about you,” Quinn said to Kurt while they had their lunch break at The Lima Bean during Cheerio practice Saturday. 

“Which was?” 

“That you might lose your spot as co-captain,” she said smugly. 

“It’s just a rumor, Q.”

“Then what did Coach keep you behind for yesterday?”

He took a long drink of his coffee trying to decide what to tell her. Best friends or not, Quinn would kill him to get her spot as co-captain on the Cheerios back. 

“My grades in Calculus and Chemistry are starting to slip,” he eventually said. 

“Coach was warning me that if I start to fail she’ll put me on some kind of probation.”

“Like?” 

“More laps probably. That’s her favorite punishment lately.”

“I don’t see why you’re taking such difficult classes anyway,” the blond said. 

“You’re taking Chemistry too, Q. It’s a requirement,” he pointed out. 

“But you’re taking all AP classes, and Calculus. That’s like, insane.”

“It’ll help with college,” he shrugged. “Anyway, lunch break is almost over.” He stood up from the table to throw his trash away.

Quinn followed suit, and commented, “We should just skip. I’m so tired of running laps.”

“She’ll add more laps if we skip, and you know it. Hopefully today is the last day and we can get back to actually doing routines.”

The next four hours was nothing but running laps around the track and running through basic tumbling exercises. Then Kurt spent nearly all of Sunday catching up on homework and trying to understand the work from Chemistry and Calculus. 

By the time Monday rolled around, Kurt was exhausted, both mentally and physically. If he had to spend the three hour practice after school running laps again, he was sure to collapse. 

Lost in thought, Kurt wasn’t paying attention to where he was walking, and ran directly into someone. The overwhelming scent of cigarette smoke, leather, and Yves Saint Laurent L’Homme Libre cologne filled his nostrils. Calloused hands on his arms were the only thing that kept him from hitting the ground. 

“I believe it was your fault this time,” Blaine said with a laugh. 

“Sorry. I had a long weekend,” Kurt said. 

“You and me both,” Blaine said cryptically. 

The Cheerio looked at him curiously but didn’t comment. “I need to get to class,” he said after a few minutes of walking quietly next to the curly haired boy. 

“And I need a cigarette,” Blaine said turning towards the football field. “See you in Calculus.” With a final wave, the curly haired boy is gone. 

Kurt shook his head, and continued walking towards the building. Cheerio or not, there were still some people at the school that wouldn’t be nearly as amused having the gay kid walk into them. Mainly a couple of very prejudiced football players and one field hockey player. Thankfully his uniform and the threat of harming Coach Sue’s prized possession kept them from doing anything more than hissing demeaning comments towards him every now and then. 

He barely paid attention to his first two classes, still trying to figure out who he could get to help keep him from failing. He could have asked Mike to help, but the football player hadn’t quite forgiven him for making his girlfriend, Tina, cry a couple of weeks ago. Well, Santana made her cry, he just let her and laughed when the girl did cry. 

Note to self, he thought, stop being mean to the glee losers. It apparently came back to bite him. Not that he knew if Mike would turn him down for tutoring or not, he just didn’t want to find out. 

Halfway through Calculus, it dawned on him that he could ask Blaine. Coming from a school like Dalton, his grades had to be better than half their class. At least Kurt hoped they were. 

“Hey, Blaine, can I ask you something?” Kurt asked once the bell rang. 

“Yeah?” Blaine looked apprehensive about what the Cheerio might want.

“Dalton’s curriculum is better than ours, right?”

“A lot better,” he commented. 

“What are your grades like?”

“Why do you want to know?” Blaine asked his voice taking on a slight defensive tone.

“Because I need a tutor in this class and Chemistry or Coach give Q my position as co-captain,” Kurt explained.

“And you’re asking me because?”

“Because I think Mike will tell me know and I don’t actually like anyone else in this class.”

“Should I feel special then?”

“Don’t be an ass. If you don’t want to do it, then say so. Then I can figure something else out.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t,” Blaine said. 

“So is that a yes?”

“You have to do something for me first.”

Kurt turned to look at him, almost afraid to ask. 

“Does your friend Quinn have a boyfriend?”

“No, why?” Confusion and curiosity spread through him. After Thursday, he thought the senior was interested in Santana. 

“Because there’s a dinner I’m required to attend next Saturday and I apparently need a suitable date for it. Your friend seems like a good candidate.”

“You want me to convince her to go with you?”

“You need a tutor, I need a date. Get her to agree and I’ll help you with both classes.”

“Santana won’t be happy about it. Why can’t you take her?”

“I said suitable. Santana’s hot, but she wouldn’t exactly fit in.”

“Because she isn’t rich,” Kurt said.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You’re wearing a nine hundred dollar Michael Kors jacket, Blaine. You don’t have to say it for it to be true. What makes you think Quinn is a suitable date? Her family doesn’t exactly have have money either.”

“She can pull the look off. And she doesn’t sound poor.”

Disbelief crossed Kurt’s face at the statement. “That was incredibly rude. She’s not poor. Her dad is a pediatrician. And you don’t know anything about Santana.”

Kurt angrily turned to walk away from him, thinking he might be better off taking the risk to ask Mike to help. 

The curly haired boy reached out and grabbed him by the arm. “Look sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I’ll talk to Q. But please try to refrain from saying anything else stupid.”

“I’ll do my best. All of this,” Blaine gestured to the students around them, “is new to me.”

“You’ll get used to it. When do you want to meet up to help me?”

“After school? Whenever is good for you. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.”

“I’ve got Cheerio practice. It’s over at six. Can we meet at seven?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Blaine said then turned to walk away.

“Not going to sit with us today?”

“I need a cigarette. I’ll text you the address later.”

The Cheerio shook his head as he watched Blaine walk out the door. Getting Quinn to go on a date with him would be a challenge. Especially considering she hasn’t dated since Puck knocked her up at the end of freshman year. For a moment Kurt wondered if that would make her ‘unsuitable’ for Blaine’s dinner.