For the duration of that week, things didn’t get any better between Blaine and his father. Every day Blaine got up extra early and left the house for school before his dad woke up. Every night Blaine would stay out until the very last second before his curfew and went straight to bed. Rachel was getting worried about her brother.

The first morning she sought him out in the hallway before first period and tried to talk to him, but Blaine kept making up excuses. The same thing happened at lunch and during History, and Rachel was worried about her brother. Especially when he didn’t come home that night until after their father had gone to bed already. She tried again in the morning, but again Blaine dodged her efforts at conversation. On the third day, she told herself she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Rachel knew it hadn’t been the smarted idea, but if Blaine wouldn’t talk to her on his own, then she’d have to go to extremes. That Wednesday morning she made sure to get to school early and asked Finn to meet her by his locker. Once he arrived, they got to work on her plan.

That morning when Blaine and Kurt walked into English, they were surprised to see that they had a substitute, and that surprise soon turned to excitement when the elder woman announced that they’d be watching a movie instead of presentations. As soon as the opening credits started up and the classroom was dark, save for the illuminated television screen, Blaine scooted his desk against Kurt’s.

“Hey, Stranger,” Kurt said and Blaine placed an arm around the boy’s waist.

“Hey,” he muttered and placed a soft kiss to Kurt’s cheek.

“Um, is there a Blaine Anderson here?” their sub asked and Blaine glanced toward the front of the room with a puzzled expression. He raised his hand and she smiled at him. “You’re wanted in the principal’s office,” she said, reading off of the slip in her hand. Why would Blaine be called to Figgin’s office? He unattached his arm from Kurt and walked up to the front desk, taking the slip from the woman before stepping out of the class room.

He glanced down at the yellow paper in his hand as he walked. The note was pretty simple, it just read, “Send Blaine Anderson to my office ASAP.” Blaine bit his lip. But why? He wondered. Blaine rounded a corner and was caught off guard when a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back. “What the hell?” Blaine cried and fought the arms off him and made to move away from them, but they’d apparently dragged Blaine into a room and the doors closed soundly in front of Blaine’s face. He turned around to look at the person who’d brought him here and felt his jaw drop slightly. “Rachel?”

“Thanks, Finn,” she said and Finn, who was standing a few feet to Blaine’s left, smiled at her.

“No problem. Do you need me to stick around or…”

“No, we’re fine.”

“Okay good, because I have a math test to take.” He walked over to Rachel and kissed her forehead before giving Blaine a goodbye pat on the back and walking out of the room. Blaine looked down at the note in his hand.

“You made this didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question; Blaine knew how Rachel got when she really wanted something. She never took no for an answer. “What is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me? You won’t talk to me. You’re never home. What’s wrong with you?” Blaine sighed. He really didn’t want to have this talk. Not now. Not at all.

“Can we talk about this la-”

“No, we can’t talk about this later because you’ll make sure there isn’t a later. Please, Blaine, just talk to me. I miss you. I miss my brother.” Blaine raked a hand through his hair without thinking and mentally scolded himself.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I know I haven’t been talking to you, but this whole thing with Dad…” Blaine trailed off as he walked over to a chair and slumped into it. “I’m trying to distance myself from home.”

“Including me.” Rachel sat in the chair next to Blaine and stared down at the floor. “Blaine, how many times do I have to tell you? I’m on your side.” Blaine looked over at his sister.

“I know you are. And I don’t think you’ll ever know how much that means to me. But Rach,” Rachel looked up at him then, “I’m not distancing myself from you. All this week, you’ve been cornering me, trying to talk to me about Dad, when I’ve been trying to tell you that I really don’t want to talk about him. Why do you think I’m always at Kurt’s?” Rachel shook her head.

“Please come home, at least for a little while today? Talk it over with him.” Blaine began to close himself up. Why was Rachel so adamant about this? “I know he feels guilty about it. Please Blaine, I can’t stand this. I feel like our house is a mine field and it feels wrong when you’re not there. It’s like Dalton all over again. I don’t want you to just disappear again.” Blaine let out a deep sigh. “Please, just come home.”

“Hello, Sweet Pea, did you have a good day at school?” Blaine froze at the sound of the voice. He looked at his sister with wide eyes, but she simply took his arm and dragged him toward the kitchen.

“What is he doing home?” Blaine hissed, but Rachel simply shushed him. When they entered the room, Mr. Anderson was sitting at the dining room table, seemingly going over some papers for work. He looked up with a smile when he heard footsteps, but it faltered when he saw Blaine standing there. His dad stared at him for a moment before his face became pinched and he looked back down at his work without a word. Blaine felt like he’d be punched in the stomach.

Rachel opened her mouth, trying to find something productive to say, but the tension in the room was so thick it seemed to suffocate everyone. Blaine yanked his arm out of Rachel’s hold and walked out of the room. He heard Rachel call after him, probably to stop him from leaving, but instead of going out the front door, Blaine bolted for the stairs and ran to his bedroom before slamming the door shut behind him. He then quickly pulled out his phone and dialed before he was even conscious of the act. The person answered on the second ring.

“Blaine?”

“Hey, Mike. Do you think it’d be okay if I spent the night?”

“Uh, yeah, sure. Is everything alright?”

“I honestly don’t know.” A pause. “But, thanks. I really appreciate it. I’ll come by later so you can spend time doing homework or relaxing or-”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Come over now, we can watch movies and play video games.”

“I don’t want to intrude too much,” Blaine said softly as he began to pack an overnight bag.

“Blaine, if you’re not here in an hour, I will shred your bow ties.”

“Ouch,” Blaine said, but laughed non-the-less. “Alright. I’m just going to stop by Kurt’s house for a minute and then I’ll be over. Don’t do anything hasty.”

“One hour,” Mike reminded him, trying to sound ominous, before the line went dead. Blaine smiled to himself and pocketed his cell before throwing his bag over his shoulder. He went out of his room, but was instantly bombarded by Rachel.

“Where are you going?”

“Out,” Blaine said stiffly as he sidestepped around her and descended the stairs.

“Blaine, please,” Rachel called, following closely behind.

“No. I’m done.”