They enter another room Blaine is yet to have visited, Puck unlocking it before opening the door for him. This one holds a simple rectangular table, big enough to seat 6. There is another boy in there with his back to them, even more naked than Blaine since his brand is fully visible, having healed up enough already. This must be 9103. The boy turns to look at the new arrivals, and both the boy and Blaine freeze.

“Nick?” Blaine whispers.

“Blaine Devon Anderson! Oh my God it’s you. It’s fucking you! Oh shit, you’re this labelled sub shit as well.” Nick shouts.

“How many times? No swearing. No shouting.” Puck says looking pissed off.

“And what are you going to fucking do about it? Take away my freedom? Take away my clothes? Burn me against my will? Sorry to burst your bubble square head, but that’s already been done.” Nick spits, glaring at Puck.

“And no eye contact.” Puck mutters. “I hope you realise that at the sub house they will enforce these rules you don’t like.” Puck turns to Blaine. “See if you can talk some sense into this asshole. Especially since it appears you know each other.” He turns back to Nick. “I will give you some privacy. But I will be waiting at the door, and if I even suspect you are about to pull another runner, so help me god I will call Sue.” Blaine notices Nick shiver at the mention of Sue.

“Another runner?” Blaine askes.

“There has got to be some way out of here, so if I run fast enough, enough times, eventually I will be able to find it.” Nick says as though Blaine is stupid for not trying the same thing.

“Let’s sit down shall we?” Blaine notices that there is already food on the table. “We can eat and talk. It’s not as though standard manors matter anymore.” He says, indicating his lack of clothing.

“I’m not eating.” Nick states, but still sits down at the table.

“Why ever not?”

“Hunger strike.”

“Oh come off it Nick. I know you can be impulsive, but this is just silly. You are going to end up killing yourself!”

“So what if I do. At least I’m not going to be someone’s fuck toy for the rest of my life!” Nick crosses his arms in a pout. Blaine decides to change the subject to something he thinks is easier.

“How come you’re here? I thought you had already had your birthday?”

“Well, I had my birthday 6 months ago. I may have lied slightly when I said I had passed on the 1st of February. I scored 42 points. But I was so sure that when July came around I would pass, that I thought it would be safe to say I had passed first time. Then I would come back in July, pass it, and carry on my life as though nothing had happened. No one needed to know. Plus how many people fail on the second time round? I must be the only one I think. My parents even raised me to be a hum! They didn’t want me to suffer the life of a sub, so they tried everything to stop it. And it still didn’t work!” Nick says angrily.

“You do realise that being a sub isn’t down to DNA, but because of traits you are simply born with? Anyway, I’m interested to know, what does that make your ID?” Blaine asks, trying to continue a conversation, while changing the subject.

“010216-9103-6. The same format as yours, but with a 6 to show I was not labelled on my birthday. What a shitty way to spend a birthday, in this shit hole.”

“Language Nick.”

“Like it’s your birthday. You are finally old enough to drive. But what do you spend the day doing? Going to an appointment. And if you have an early appointment and fail, you have absolutely no time to celebrate, and before you know it, you have your humanity took away and a burning iron on the back of your neck. It’s not fair. And anyway Blaine, why do you care if I swear? If I remember correctly you are the worst for swearing at warbler practice.”

“Way to make a man feel good Nick.” Nick looks confused, so Blaine elaborates. “My appointment was at 11am on my birthday.”

“When was your birthday? You never told anyone.” Blaine glares at Nick, surely the boy wasn’t that naive. “Oh shit, it was yesterday?” Blaine nods his head.

“I knew I would be marked a sub, so I kind of expected it. Not to say I wasn’t still panicked when I was took to get my blood tested. And that’s why I never told anyone my birthday; I knew I would have to say goodbye if you all knew, and I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Better I just disappeared and let everyone find out once I was already gone. Which in a way is exactly as you have done, just I got my expected outcome and you didn’t. And to answer your question, I care about you swearing because I care about you. Yes you might not like this situation, but if you don’t follow the rules you won’t be around to see the small joys of life.”

“Are you crazy? There isn’t going to be any joys as a human fuck toy!”

“There may not be, however if you’re not around there is no way to find out is there?” Blaine asks.

“Fuck you and your inspirational crap.” Blaine doesn’t really know what to say to that, so instead he picks up the bottle on the table. He eyes it warily, not knowing what the substance inside is.

“I wouldn’t drink it.” Nick states. “It’s some kind of drugged water, meant to relax the subs to help the transition.” He says mockingly. Blaine purposely takes a huge gulp, both because he is famished, and wanting to prove a point to Nick.

“I’m not going to starve or dehydrate myself, not when I’m sure I will be forced to once we are moved to the sub house. So I’m going to enjoy the little things I’m given for the next week.” Blaine says, and starts eating from the bowl in front of him. He thinks its pea soup, but can’t be certain that’s what the mushy liquid is. He also has two pieces of wholegrain bread, Blaine’s least favourite type, but he dips it into the soup anyway. It was surprisingly better than he expected, although would have been better if it was warm.

Just as he finishes eating, Puck comes back in.

“You two have been very quiet; I would have thought you had a lot to talk about?” He says, staring mainly at the still pouting form of Nick. Neither of the boys say anything. Puck pulls out a pair of handcuffs and walks over to Nick, who gets up and doesn’t protest as his hands are locked behind him. Blaine expects Puck to cuff him as well, but instead Puck leads Nick to the door.

“Come on Blaine.” He says, realising Blaine hasn’t followed.

“Hold on a second. You are letting Blaine walk around uncuffed, just trusting him to follow, whereas you never take me anywhere without them. Even though I have been here much longer! And he is special enough to be allowed a name?” Nick demands.

“Yes, because Blaine isn’t an asshole.” Puck states as a matter of fact. Without checking Blaine is following, Puck leaves the room. Blaine does follow however, not wanting to get lost in the maze of corridors. Eventually they arrive at a cell Blaine doesn’t recognise. Puck pulls open the unlocked door and walks in with Nick, walking until he is face first against the far wall, standing on a mat almost identical to Blaine’s. Blaine decides to wait outside, instead watching.

“Ok, 9013. You know the drill, but I feel I should repeat myself so we are clear, since it hasn’t stuck yet. I uncuff a hand, you put it on the wall above your head. I uncuff the second hand, it joins its friend on the wall. They stay there until you hear the door lock. Got it?” Puck waits for a nod, but doesn’t get one. He sighs and uncuffs Nick as he explained. He pauses for a second, making sure it doesn’t appear as though Nick is going to try anything, then slowly turns around to make sure Blaine is still there while walking out. Turning round was his mistake though, as no sooner has he walked two steps, Nick had punched him round the back of his head. Part of Blaine is in awe at the move, wishing he’d had Nick on the Dalton fight team, the other half of him feels bad for Puck. Before he can really understand what was going on, Nick had ran out of the cell and past Blaine, not stopping.

“Shit.” Puck curses. “Blaine, if you don’t run off I will come up with a huge reward for you.” He starts chasing Nick down the hallway, cursing.

Blaine realises he has two options, to stay or to wonder. He decides to wonder down the corridor, far enough to have a nose but close enough Puck will still see him when he comes back.

The corridor he is in is one of the longest ones he has seen in the building so far. He walks down the far end, opposite to the direction Nick and Puck had run. On the same side of Nick’s cell were there are no other doors, just a long white wall. On the other side there is a door every few feet. 12 to be exact. He decides to have a look into the room marked 7. Opening the door he realises it is no larger than a school broom cupboard. However instead of mops and buckets, it is filled with boxes, each one with a year on. He locates the 2036 box, and discovers there are two. He decides to have a look through the second one as it doesn’t look to be as full, and he doubts he has long before Puck will return.

However once he pulls it off the shelf he sees something the makes him pause. Lying on top of the unlidded box is a picture of him. His school photo. He pushes it to the side and looks underneath. There are loads of documents about him, more than what he handed over yesterday. Someone must have done a lot of research into him in the last 26 hours or so. He sees a paper titled test report, and curiosity gets the better of him.

230716-5226. Previously Blaine Devon Anderson. Tested by S Sylvester, OSO area 4 manager.

Upon first impression it was clear 5226 was a sub. This was confirmed when the necessary points had been accumulated in 7 minutes. After a minor freak out he was subordinate, without any direction. Blood test shows no illnesses or infections. During the first 12 hours in the cell with no contact he appeared calm and relaxed, not fighting his cuffs or any attempts to escape. Branding was less smooth, and involved lots of begging, however he submitted to it quicker than most, resulting in the branding being unsmudged and clear, although waiting for picture confirmation after healing.

Blaine doesn’t know what to make of the report. Half of him is happy it makes him look well behaved, which will hopefully work in his favour, however the other half thinks it makes him sound weak willed. He hastily puts the box back and leaves the room. He notices Nick’s cell door is still open, so continues down the corridor in the direction he was going previously, assuming Puck hasn’t been back yet. When he reaches the end the corridor goes both left and right. Checking once more that Puck hasn’t returned, he goes left. Before long there is another corridor on the left. One he recognises. He sees room two, the room he entered as a hum and left as a sub. He knows if he runs, he could probably make it out the door before anyone caught up with him. But he knows he wouldn’t survive long, naked and with a sub mark. He starts walking forwards, still unsure that he is where he thinks he is. It seems strange that they would keep the sub that’s trying to run away, near the one place (that he knows of) that he can get out, but he supposes that normally the hardest things to find are those right under your nose. Before he reaches room two, the door opens. He freezes, knowing that no matter what he does he will be caught. Out from the room comes Sue, and another person he recognises. Jeff. They are talking to each other and smiling. Jeff notices Blaine stood watching, and pauses, trying to understand what his eyes are seeing. This causes Sue to look, and her expression to instantly change from friend to foe.

“You little shit.” She spits at Blaine before turning to address Jeff. “Jeffery, if you could be kind enough to show yourself out. You can pick up your documents from the desk on the way.” She turns back to Blaine and starts advancing on him.

“Jeff!” Blaine shouts, wanting to say something before it’s too late, but Sue is quickly approaching. “Nick is here as well. Tell everyone we are both sorry for not saying goodbye.” The last thing he remembers is Jeff opening his mouth in shock, before a swift kick to the stomach causes him to fall to the floor, passing out.

Blaine wakes to the sound of shouting, still on the floor in the corridor.

“Puck, you hurry up and get your arse here now.” Sue booms.

“Shit, what happened?” He hears from somewhere.

“You tell me. I had just finished an appointment, and here he is, standing in the corridor. Not only is this going to be headline in the news for a while, since someone saw him – who recognised him no less – and watched me knock him out, I need to know what caused him to be so close to making a run for it! Explain.”

“I was bringing them both back from lunch, and thought I would take 9103 back first, since he causes the most hassle. However as I was leaving his cell he spun around and hit me, before taking of in the other direction. I chased after him, telling 5226 to stay where he was, and obviously being incorrectly trusting.”

“So you thought; I know, I’m going to chase after the one who has run away from the exit and leave the other one unrestrained, to easily wonder off and run away. You should have shut him in the cell temporarily while you went for your jog!” Sue hisses. “You are so lucky I came out my room at the right time, otherwise you wouldn’t still be stood here with a job.”

“Jeff wouldn’t tell.” Blaine whispers, not really believing it but wanting to get Puck out of some trouble.

“Oh shut up faggot! I don’t want to hear anything from you.” For some reason that word gets to Blaine more than the other names Sue has used. He coils into himself. “Get him to his cell. I don’t want to see either of you for a while.” With that, Blaine hears Sue walking off.

Puck picks him up without saying anything, and carries him in a firemen’s lift through the maze to his cell.

The rest of the week followed a similar pattern, but much less uneventful. Puck would come late morning to take him to wash, going through the whole event without a word. The cream for the brand became less painful daily, until his 7th day in the centre (the 29th), where the gauze was left off for good. He was then taken straight to lunch on his own, with Puck silently in the room monitoring him. He assumed Nick and him where no longer allowed to see each other, because he was then led straight back to his cell and left until dusk, where Puck would lead him back to the toilet once again. Then the whole thing was repeated the next day. Until it wasn’t.