“Blaine? Nick?” A voice he recognises asks.

“Trent.” He breathes. Blaine and Nick both look up to see Trent and Jeff. He can’t process it, his friends here to see Nick and himself, there can’t be another reason as both boys are against the sub system. Unfortunately, slapper had been walking behind him when they both looked up.

“I’ve told you both already to behave.” She hisses into their ears, grabbing the backs of both their heads and pushing them down. “This will be dealt with later, you can count on it.” Standing up she addresses the two boys. “Sorry gentlemen. These two have been causing issues all day. You look like this is your first auction, would you like me to show you where the ones for sale today are? We have a year until these products are for sale, you don’t want to wait that long.”

“Umm, no thanks. Umm, these are the ones we were looking for.” Jeff stutters, not really sure how he should be acting. Slapper makes a sound as if to say suit yourself and leaves. Keeping his head down, Blaine raises his eyes to watch the two boys.

“Wow, this is so much worse than I was expecting.” Trent is the first to speak. “It’s barbaric! You are just as human as the rest of us! Is this how you are treated the whole time?” He asks.

“Yes sir.” Blaine says, not knowing if slapper is in hearing range.

“Blaine, it’s us.” Jeff states. “I’m not a sir to you, I’m your friend. I feel awkward enough standing here clothed with you two kneeling naked.” Blaine looks down, not sure what to say.

“We… we are not meant to talk.” Nick whispers, so quietly Blaine almost can’t hear him. Jeff does though.

“Oh. Okay. Um. Well. I guess we will just talk at you then?”

“What Jeff is trying to say is we have a plan.” Trent starts, Jeff nodding along. “After Jeff saw Blaine at the OSO office, and you told us Nick was there as well, we have been thinking and planning.”

“We spoke to the other Warblers first.” Jeff continues, as though they had rehearsed who would say what. “And then we went to your parents and the rest of Dalton.”

“And we are all going to be saving absolutely every coin we can. We are going to do performances to raise extra money, the lacrosse team are going to do charity matches, anything we can do we will. Everyone is on board, we want you both back.”

“And by back, we don’t mean as slaves.” Jeff takes over. “We mean we want our friends back. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t be able to legally attend school or travel where ever you want on your own, but there is nothing stopping you from living with us two in our dorms if we are listed as your owners. Both your parents agree it might be better for you to stay with us, although it is up to you of course, as that way you won’t be stuck on your own all day, instead you will be able to see any of the guys when you feel like it. Also, and kind of why we are here and not your parents, they didn’t think you would want them to see you like this, and they want to remember you as the happy private school boys.”

“We have checked with the principle, and although he hasn’t had anything like this happen before, he is willing to let you attend classes if you want to, off the radar and you won’t get a qualification, but the option is there. We have still got to think everything through of course, as the past week and a bit we have just been trying to make sure it is possible, we wanted to visit you as soon as we could, but we didn’t want to bring false hope.” Trent adds.

“Wow.” Blaine gawks, eyes starting to swell with tears. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I… I don’t know what to say.”

“I love you Jeff. I love you so much right now.” Nick cries. Blaine looks over to him, he didn’t realise the two where an item.

“I love you too Nicky. I promise we will get you out, both of you. Just keep your head down for the year and stay safe, and it will all be ok!”

“Thanks Jeff, Trent. Tell everyone thanks.” Nick says, Blaine nodding in agreement. Unfortunately, slapper had heard the last sentence, and seen both the boys looking up.

“Hello again gentlemen.” She says, making Nick and Blaine jump. Instantly they both drop their heads, knowing they are in huge trouble for talking and looking up once again. Blaine hopes she didn’t hear much of the conversation. “I’m going to have to ask you to move on now please. I need to have a word with these two subs, since apparently they both suffer with short term memory loss. If you would like to head over to the catering area, I’ve heard the dessert dishes are out now.” With one last look, Trent and Jeff regretfully leave. Slapper turns her attention to Blaine and Nick.

“You dirty fags.” She hisses. “Have I not told you both already today to not talk out of turn?”

“But it wasn’t out of turn-“ Nick starts, silenced by a slap.

“You have just earnt so much more trouble for yourself by talking back. Now, I didn’t hear the whole conversation, but you boys will tell me when we are on our own later. I’ve already called someone to bring over a couple of gags, but this will just be the start. You will both seriously regret today by the end of it.” She straightens herself up as another guard appears, as promised with two gags. Slapper picks up one and bends down to push it into Blaine’s mouth. He opens his jaw without any retaliation, not wanting to make whatever is already instore any worse. The ball feels almost the same size as a tennis ball, although Blaine knows it can’t be since it just fits in his mouth, albeit uncomfortably. Slapper does the strap up a lot tighter than it needs to be, but apart from an involuntary gasp, Blaine doesn’t object.

“Now you can sit here quietly for the rest of the day and behave.” Slapper says as she retreats. Blaine looks at Tina and Brittany out of the corner of his eyes, and sees both girls are also on the verge of crying, having been able to hear everything that happened. He drops his head once more, and doesn’t do anything for the rest of the afternoon.