The third day follows almost exactly the same pattern as yesterday, but with a much better start to the morning than before. Nick and Blaine stayed at each other’s side all day, with Brittany also her ever comforting presence on Blaine’s other side. Although over lunch they were unable to talk, they were able to communicate in their own way of meaningful looks while the guards had their attention elsewhere. The afternoon started off by following the same pattern as yesterday, being retold a lot of the rules from yesterday by a couple of guards, Nick being taught for the first time.

Mid-afternoon they are met once again by Hunter. He strides into the room as though he has better places to be, and starts addressing all the subs without looking down at any of the kneeling figures.

“As you probably have worked out, we have the auction tomorrow. Everything you have been taught so far applies, but let’s reiterate they important ones so there are no excuses. You are to stay kneeling all day, unless a hum asks you to stand for them. You are not to converse with any hums beyond that of ‘Yes Sir, No Ma’am’; they won’t care what you have to say anyway. And most importantly, you are to keep your heads down at all times; the only exception is if a prospective buyer tells you to look up, but as soon as they turn their attention elsewhere I expect you to drop your heads once again. Now you get to finish early for the day, spend the time making yourself presentable. You are dismissed.”

Hunter walks out, and slowly Blaine and the rest of the subs rise as well. They make their way down the corridors, only one guard following behind. Blaine gets disorientated on the way, but it appears Brittany had learnt the layout of the building already, so he allows her to lead. He has a feeling the rest of them are just as happy as him that there is someone who knows the way already. As soon as they have all made it back to their cell, the guard locks the door and leaves without a word.

They all stand there like lost puppies, no one really sure what to do. Nick is the first to move.

“Well, I’m going to have a shower before the water pressure disappears.” He says, walking through the door to the wash room. Blaine decides to copy him.

It’s the first time he has ventured into the room, and it was pretty much how he expected. It looked almost like the room in holding but larger - on reflection Blaine thought that made sense, they were owned by the same company for the same usage. Instead of the strange ratio of fittings however, this room had exactly 4 of each. However there were no partitions between anything, meaning no privacy at all. Blaine was hesitant to approach the toilet with his friend in the room, but realised he would probably be more comfortable doing his business in front of his friend than one of the others subs he is yet to know, and chances are there will not be much time for privacy in this room anyway, so he might as well get a taste of the waters before plunging in deep. And it’s not as though Nick – or any of the other subs for that matter – hasn’t seen him naked.

Blaine starts showering as Nick finishes, neither saying anything out of embarrassment – despite the reassuring talk he gave himself before. As he steps under the cold flow of water, he is joined by a smiling Brittany, who turns on the shower next to him.

“Aww Blainey, you don’t look as puppy like with your hair wet! It’s not fluffy anymore.” She greeted, oblivious to the tension in the room.

“It will be fluffier when it dries, just you wait Britt.” He chuckles.

“Can I pat it when it’s fluffy?”

“If you want to I guess. My Mom used to braid it sometimes when I was upset. It was her way of cheering me up.” The memory of his Mom causes him to close in on himself; he believes he needs to forget his past in order to survive being a sub.

“You’re upset now.” She states. “I will style it once we finish in here.”

Blaine picks up the generic 2 in 1 shower gel and shampoo combo Nick had used and squirts some onto his hand, before politely passing it to Brittany to use as well. Of course the OSO couldn’t have given them the two separate products; they wouldn’t have spent the extra money. Half of Blaine wonders if they will even have access to anything once this one bottle has ran out. Maybe they are only allowed it because they are being ‘displayed’ tomorrow.

Two other subs have also joined in showering in the time he has been there. Neither of them he has spoken to yet. He isn’t sure if it is even worth finding out their names, but then again a year is a long time to make friends – even if they can’t be long term – so he resolves to at least find out the names of the other subs.

There aren’t any towels in the room, so Blaine and Brittany both walk out of the room dripping with cold water, lucky that it is the hottest time of the year so they don’t feel frozen. Blaine hates to wonder what this place will be like in the winter; he doesn’t think they will waste money on heating the whole place. Blaine sees Nick sat in the far corner, on the floor like the rest of the subs, and decides to go sit with his friend, Brittany following behind.

“Hey.” He greets them both sullenly.

“Hi! I’m Brittany. And Blaine says I can braid his hair.” Nick looks at Blaine in shock, knowing Blaine would never let any of the Warblers touch his thickly gelled hair. Blaine just shrugs in response, sitting down next to Nick with Brittany on her knees behind him, eyeing up his hair.

They stay sat like that for a while, Brittany trying lots of different styles in his hair but not coming to one she likes. At one point the girl he spoke to two days ago – Tina – comes over and joins them. They don’t mention anything personal – like school, hobbies or old friends – and instead talk about banal topics, like the customer service at target.

A lot later a guard comes in, who is met with no resistance when he locks them all in their cages. Although not everyone was involved in a conversation, the more relaxed evening put most of them in a slightly better, more optimistic mood. Idly, Blaine wonders why it was a guard who came rather than Santana, but then again maybe she is under her own orders to get ready for tomorrow.

He falls asleep the quickest he has since being labelled a sub.