Blaine arrived home and dropped his bag and his phone onto the chair, slipping his keys onto the hook in the hallway. He walked through and slumped into the sofa, the rooms silence buzzing in his ears. He thought over everything that had happened. Kurt really wanted to see him later...he’d backed that up by texting him to come to Kurt’s dorm at 8 that evening to talk. What was there even to talk about? The fact that they kept kissing and rubbing up against each other whilst both spat words of hatred at each other or the fact that neither could even deny that there was something between them, but neither prepared to act on it. He sighed heavily and reached lazily for the remote, dragging it back towards his body when the door swung open and he heard the voice of his younger sister crying out.

“Dad?!” She screamed.

Blaine jumped out of his seat and ran into the hallway, “What’s wrong Lucy?” He asked urgently, seeing her tear stained cheeks and the harshness of her breathing. Her knee was cocked up and he went over to help support her.

“I think I’ve broken my leg.” She cried. “In cheerleading practise.”

“Come on, I’ll take you to the ER, we’ll call Dad from the car.” He said, grabbing his keys from the hook and turning out the door, helping his sister to his car. He gently assisted her into the passenger seat and shut the door, racing around to the driver side and then he backed out of the driveway, heading straight for the hospital.

“Phone dad, Luce. Let him know.” He said, taking a left at the next turning.

She nodded, and pressed a few buttons on her phone and then pressed it to her ear, turning to gaze out of the window.

“Hi Dad...” She paused, Blaine knew that his dad would be speaking over her about how important his job is and how he can’t waste time on the phone.

“Dad I’m on my way to the hospital-no no, Blaine’s taking me. I think I’ve broken my leg...” She paused again and wiped a tear from her cheek. “Yes, cheerleading practise-no dad please, I can’t quit. It’s all I have, please.” She begged. Blaine sighed but didn’t say anything, he pulled into the parking lot and he turned the engine off, sitting silently as his sister fought their father for her to stay on the cheerleading squad.

“Pass me the phone,” Blaine whispered.

Lucy turned to look at him and shook her head. He sighed again and took the phone out of her shaking hand.

“Dad it’s Blaine.”

“You can’t stay-Oh hello Blaine.”

“We’re at the ER, I don’t suppose you can get off work to come see if your daughter’s okay can you?” He asked, knowing the answer.

“No Blaine. I certainly cannot.”

“When are you going to stop being a selfish prick and realise that your daughter needs you.”

“Stop using that kind of language Blaine Anderson. Take your sister inside and I’ll talk to you both when you get home.”

With that, he hung up the phone. Blaine handed it back to his sister and shook his head at her when she eyed him questioningly.

“Come on Luce, let’s go inside.” He said, helping her out of the car.

They waited in the waiting room for a short while before a doctor took Lucy off to have some x-rays. Blaine waited in the same chair for hours as they sorted her out with some crutches and a cast.

***

Five hours later, found Blaine and Lucy arriving back home to their awaiting father, who didn’t seem like he had moved since he’d got in from work. His jacket was dropped lazily around the back of the chair he was sat in, and he was reading the newspaper whilst snacking on a piece of toast.

“Hi Dad” Lucy said softly, using the crutches to help get her into the room until Blaine pulled a chair out for her and ran off to get her something to eat.

“Hello Lucy, how are you?” he muttered, not once looking up from the newspaper.

“They said it’s broken and she has to use the crutches for 6 weeks, no cheerleading for 3 months.” Blaine said, placing a glass of orange juice and a sandwich in front of his sister and then taking a seat next to her, smiling encouragingly.

“That won’t be a problem, will it Luce?” Her dad asked arrogantly.

“I’m not quitting cheerleading dad.” She said bluntly.

“We’ve discussed this Lucy. You will quit Cheerleading and focus on your studies.” He said, placing the newspaper down. “Blaine’s done so well this year so far, we don’t need you getting distracted since he’s worked so hard not to.”

Lucy looked at Blaine pointedly, silently begging him to do something.

“Oh Dad, about that...I forgot to mention that a few months ago I joined the Warblers, at Dalton.”

“What are the Warblers?” He asked, frowning.

“The glee club there.” He said proudly.

“I thought we agreed, Blaine. No singing, no fencing, no boys.” He repeated, Blaine had heard it a million times he was pretty sure he could recite it in his sleep.

“I know. But singing just sort of happened...as for the fencing, I don’t think there’s a fencing club at Dalton but I’ll make sure to look into that.”

His father scoffed. “And boys?”

Blaine stood from his chair and stepped back, leaning forward over the table a little bit. “I go to an all boys boarding academy, work that one out for yourself. Anyway, it’s late and I’m going to go sleep. Feel better Luce.” He said smiling; he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

“Night Blaine” she replied happily. She really did have the best brother in the world.

Blaine walked tiredly into his bedroom, stripped down to his underwear and climbed under the covers. He drifted almost instantly to an easy sleep.

***

“Blaine...get up! You said you’d drive me today and I have to leave in 25 minutes!” Lucy yelled, banging her crutches against his bedroom door.

“Mmmrf.” He mumbled into his pillow.

“No. Get up.” She said. “Blaine come on...” her yelling turned into pleading and he dragged himself out of bed and walked to the door, cracking it open a little bit.

“Give me 20 minutes Luce. Go make me some toast.”

“Hurry up.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He closed the door and went straight into his shower, stripping his underwear at the door and letting the hot water relax his tense muscles. He ran his fingers through his hair, making sure to wash all the gel out. He squeezed some strawberry shampoo onto his hand and rubbed it through his hair.

Once he had finished in the shower, he dried thoroughly and got dressed in his usual Dalton uniform and moved back to the mirror in the bathroom to gel his hair. He opened the tub and put his finger in, but touched empty air.

“Shit.” He whispered under his breath. No gel. Fuck.

“Blaine come on! I have to go, now!” Lucy yelled from the corridor.

He’d have to just leave it, his hair wasn’t too bad, and at least it was dry. It was just a little bit curly. He brushed it down with his hands until he was satisfied that it wouldn’t look too bad around school, and he grabbed his keys and left the room.

“Okay Luce, go wait in the car I’ll be 1 minute.” He said, handing her his keys. She nodded and left the house, hobbling over to the car.

“Dad, we’re going now.” Blaine announced. “I’m picking Santana up on Friday; she said she spoke to you about staying with us?”

“Yes, Rachel and Noah can stay in the guest bedroom and Santana can stay with you. Lucy is going to see your mother from Thursday for a week, and I’ll be away on business so you’ll have the place to yourself. Don’t get into trouble.” He warned.

“Okay, bye.” Blaine said, picking up his bag and phone from where he’d dropped them the night before.

He slipped his phone into his pocket without looking at it and clicked the door shut on his way out.

He drove to Lucy’s school with only the sound of the radio and he helped her out of the car where she was greeted by 4 cheerleaders, all urgently trying to help support her.

“Thanks Blaine.” Lucy said solemnly, taking her bag from him.

“That’s alright Luce, love you.” Blaine added, slipping back into the car.

“Love you too.” She said smiling.

He drove to Dalton immediately after, knowing that he was a bit early but he could catch Sebastian and Marc for their breakfast in the cafeteria. He parked in his usual spot, grabbed his bag and walked into the cafeteria where he saw Sebastian, Mark and Nick all seated at their usual table.

He slipped in the seat next to Nick and smiled at them. “Hey guys.”

“Where were you last night?!” Sebastian said urgently.

“Uhh-my sister broke her leg...I had to take her to the hospital...why?” Blaine said curiously.

“Because Kurt phoned me at 3am saying he waited for you for 7 hours.” Sebastian whispered, knowing that anyone who over heard that Kurt Hummel was waiting for a guy who never showed, would take that gossip and spread it like wild fire.

“Oh. Shit.” Blaine dropped his head and slipped his phone out of his pocket.

1 new text message.

From: Kurt.

I’m disappointed, Blaine.

Blaine pressed “call” without thinking what he was doing and held the phone to his ear, the buzzing of the ringtone irritating his head already. Kurt didn’t answer.

“What are you doing Anderson?” Marc said leaning forward. “Do you honestly think he’ll answer you?”

“I-I don’t-He and-” Blaine stuttered.

“Just, leave it.” Sebastian added. “It’s solo auditions today, you need to be focusing on that more than Kurt right now.”

Blaine nodded. “Okay, yeah. You’re right.”

“What song are you singing?” Nick asked, dipping his biscotti into his coffee.

“Uh, Whatya Want From Me.” Blaine smiled.

Marc and Sebastian looked at each other knowingly, both with a smile playing on their lips.

“Adam Lambert?” Sebastian asked impressed.

“Yeah...What?” Blaine asked when they broke into huge grins.

“Nothing, nothing.” Sebastian said, shaking his head, but the smile didn’t falter.

“Seriously...what?” Blaine asked again.

“It’s just, appropriate.” Marc grinned.

“What...”

“No, no. It’s...” Marc trailed off and Sebastian picked up where he didn’t finish.

“Perfect. It’s perfect.”

“Right...” Blaine said carefully as the bell rang.

“Well we’ll see you in Warblers later, okay?” Sebastian said, taking Marc’s hand in his own.

“Yeah, see you later.” Nick added before him and Blaine headed to English.

Warbler Solo Auditions today will finally give us an answer as to just how far the new kid has gone to getting Hummel onto his side...

The rest of the day went by pretty fast for Blaine. He sat with Marc at lunch because Sebastian had gone to see Kurt since he had skipped all his lessons today. He walked to lessons with Jeff, who he had been getting to know better since they did hang out all the time but barely spoke. On his way to Warbler rehearsals, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Santana’s glowing picture shined up at him.

“Hey Lopez, what’s going on?”

“I’ve got a surprise for you!” Her voice rang out in a melody.

“What kind of surprise?”

“One with a dick” She said bluntly, the smile evident in her voice.

“Santana.” He said harshly.

“What?! Okay, I’ve just invited an old friend to join us for the weekend. Plus, James said you have the place to yourself so I thought we could have a few people over...”

“You can’t resist a party can you?”

“I just wanna see those preppy boys you’ve got in the city...I’ve already made a bet with Puckerman that you’re gonna fuck at least two this weekend.”

“At least Noah’s still on my side.”

“Oh no sweetie. He thinks four.”

“Fantastic.” Blaine quipped.

“Look gorgeous I gotta go, I’ll see you Friday?”

“Alright baby, Love you”

“Love you”

Blaine hung up the phone with a smile and slipped it into his pocket.

“Who was that?” Marc asked grinning suspiciously. “Calling someone baby? Don’t let Kurt hear.” Sebastian laughed, joined at his side again.

“Her name’s Santana. She’s...well, she was my best friend back in Lima. She takes credit for ‘creating’ me.” He sighed, shaking his head as if he believed none of it.

“Creating you?” Nick asked from Blaine’s other side.

“What the hell does that mean?” Jeff added.

“When I moved to Lima, I was really shy and didn’t know anyone. I joined the cheerleading squad for a while cause I was pretty flexible and I joined the fencing team too...she was head cheerleader and took really well to me. Decided I had ‘potential’ and helped me to fit in. The rest is sort of history. We bonded over it, and she’s been my girl for years now.” Blaine smiled; he really loved Santana even though they did bicker like siblings sometimes.

“That’s really sweet.” Marc grinned.

“Cheerleading, huh?” Sebastian cocked an eyebrow.

“Yeah, only for three years. Once I joined fencing I kind of forgot about it. I only went to competitions because Santana didn’t wanna have to share a room with anyone apart from me and Britt and rooms were split into three.”

“She sounds nice.” Nick said.

“She’s coming here on Friday. Throwing a party at my place, you guys should come...if you’re free I mean.”

Marc and Sebastian exchanged a look.

“We’ll be there.” Jeff said.

They all filed into the rehearsal room and took their seats, Blaine flicking aimlessly through his text messages, his eyes stopped at the one from Kurt and then he looked up to see Kurt walking through the door, shirt untucked. He stood at the front of the room and turned his back to everyone apart from Sebastian. Sebastian looked as if he was arguing subtly with him and he pointed to Kurt’s hair, whose hands shot up to style it somewhat roughly. He tucked his shirt back into his jeans and turned back to the rest of the Warblers.

“So he’s sleeping around again then,” Jeff whispered.

“Great.” Nick replied sarcastically.

“He really has slept with everyone here, hasn’t he?” Blaine asked.

“Uhh, everyone apart from Jeff, Seb, me...and you.” Marc counted.

“I have.” Blaine’s mouth formed the words before he realised what he’d said.

“Wait...you, you two had-” Marc said, disbelieving.

“But Kurt said you hadn’t.” Sebastian added.

Blaine sighed. “Yes. We did. Once. It meant nothing, it still means nothing.”

“Nothing makes sense anymore.” Sebastian said gazing at Kurt, where he’d walked across the room.

“Alright everyone be quiet.” Kurt said impatiently. “Today we have auditions, Trent. You’re up first.”

Trent sang pretty well, Blaine thought. He’d never actually heard many of the Warblers sing solo, so it was nice to see the other voices. He forgot his words at one point and Blaine saw Kurt shaking his head to Sebastian, who scribbled his name out on a piece of paper. It was obvious that Kurt was harsh about this.

“Thank you Trent.” Kurt paused. “Jeff you’re up next.”

Jeff stood up and made his way to the front of the room where Kurt was. Blaine watched as Kurt stretched his arms in the air, tugging his shirt from his pants a little bit. Small dark bruises were beginning to appear on his hips. Blaine felt a lump in his throat but he swallowed thickly, trying to get rid of it. He couldn’t be jealous about this...there was no way. His mind reeled during Jeff’s song – which he honestly paid no attention to.

“Seb.” He whispered. “Seb...”

“What Blaine?” Sebastian replied. Kurt eyed them suspiciously but turned back to Jeff as if he hadn’t seen them.

“I need to change my song.” He smiled.

***

“Okay, last up is Blaine.” Kurt declared after sitting through David’s cover of Man in the Mirror.

Blaine stood up at the front and turned a little pointedly to Kurt, but not enough to draw attention to it. When Kurt met his eyes, he looked down to his hips and then back to Kurt’s eyes. Kurt’s cheeks blushed a tiny amount, but Kurt shrugged him off and sat back, fingertips instinctively touching where the marks were.

“I was originally going to sing Adam Lambert...but, I’ve had a recent change of heart.” Blaine declared. He nodded to Sebastian who pressed play on the iPod Dock, and he sung as a heavy beat hit the room.

Is it still me that makes you sweat?

Am I who you think about in bed?

When the lights are dim and your hands are shaking as you’re sliding off your dress?

Then think of what you did

And how I hope to God he was worth it

He gazed at Kurt, looking down to the bruises on his hips where Kurt’s fingers were pressing attentively to test the sensitivity.

When the lights are dim and your heart is racing as your fingers touch his skin

I’ve got more wit, a better kiss, a hotter touch, a better fuck

Than any boy you’ll ever meet,

Sweetie you had me

Oh I was it, look past the sweat, a better love deserving of

Exchanging body heat in the passenger seat

No, no, no, you know it will always just be me

Kurt refused to break eye contact with him; he knew this song was meant for him.

Blaine gulped as he picked up the chorus, why was he suddenly so jealous of everyone? He knew that Kurt slept with everyone...why was it suddenly a big deal.

So I guess we’re back to us, oh cameraman, swing the focus

In case I lost my train of thought, where was it that we last left off?

Oh now I do recall, we were just getting to the part

Where the shock sets in, and the stomach acid finds a new way to make you get sick

I hope you didn’t expect to get all of the attention

Now let’s not get selfish

Did you really think I’d really let you kill this chorus?

He watched as Kurt turned to Sebastian and nodded softly, if you’d have blinked, you’d have missed it. But Blaine didn’t. It was that moment, that everything hit Blaine, harder than anything before.

Let’s get these teen hearts beating, faster, faster

So testosterone boys and harlequin girls,

Will you dance to this beat, and hold a lover close?

So testosterone boys and harlequin girls,

Will you dance to this beat, and hold a lover close?

Blaine had feelings for him. This was insane; there was no way this was happening. He couldn’t. It was Kurt Hummel.

I’ve got more wit, a better kiss, a hotter touch, a better fuck

Than any boy you’ll ever meet, sweetie you had me

Oh I was it, look past the sweat, a better love deserving of

Exchanging body heat in the passenger seat

No, no, no, you know it will always just be me

He swallowed shakily and tried to find something in Kurt’s eyes...anything to tell him that what he felt wasn’t wrong, or something that would destroy his life. Kurt avoided his eyes, he had turned back to the Warblers, but his fingertips still idly stroked the bruises left by another man.

So testosterone boys and harlequin girls

Dance to this beat

So testosterone boys and harlequin girls

Dance to this beat

And hold a lover close

Let’s get these teen hearts beating, faster, faster

Let’s get these teen hearts beating, faster.

He finished smoothly, smiled and returned to his seat. Kurt stood up.

“Well done everyone. I’ll consult with the other two and get back to you. You can go.” He smiled. Everyone knew the ‘other two’ meant Marc and Sebastian, so everyone automatically assumed Blaine would get it because he was best friends with them. But Sebastian and Marc took it seriously too, they weren’t about to give Blaine a solo at a competition which could make or break the group if they didn’t think that he could handle it.

Kurt left the room after a nod at Sebastian who smiled back and then turned to Blaine.

“You were brilliant.” Sebastian praised.

“Seriously! Why the song swap though?” Marc added.

Blaine just shrugged and sat down in a chair.

“Woah, not so fast. Kurt wants to see you.” Sebastian said, flicking through some papers that were at the table he was sat at. “He’s in his dorm.”

“Now?” Blaine asked, standing from his chair. “Why?”

“Some things don’t go unnoticed, Blaine. Just go. We told him about your sister’s leg so he’s not upset or anything” Marc added.

Word on the street is that our precious New Kid has fallen hard and fast. The only question is, will he land straight on his face, or will there be a prince to catch him?

Blaine walked the familiar route to Kurt’s dorm and knocked hard twice. It was the end of the day so he should probably be heading home soon, but Lucy’s friend was taking her home so he didn’t really have that much of a need to be home.

“Come in Blaine.” Kurt’s voice spoke, it wasn’t as cocky as usual, but Blaine didn’t doubt that he’d come out of here feeling 20x worse about himself. He pushed the door open and clicked it shut behind him, dropping his things and his jacket as usual.

Blaine walked through to see Kurt sitting on his bed, back up against the headboard and legs out straightened.

“Your performance was great.”

Blaine stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.

“Uh, thank you.”

“We’re friends, aren’t we Blaine?”

“Of course.” He answered, hands running through his gel-free hair.

Kurt watched him for a moment and sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, as if thinking deeply about something.

“Your hair looks good like that.” He finally said.

“Oh-I, I dunno. I ran out of gel.” Blaine stuttered; hands trying to smooth it back down again.

“I like it.” Kurt shrugged.

“Thanks” Blaine replied quietly.

There was another silence, slightly more comfortable than the one before.

“Come sit down.” Kurt said after a long time, he moved over a little and patted the space next to him.

Blaine toed off his shoes and went to mirror Kurt’s position, legs straightened out and back resting against the headboard.

“You make me calm.” Kurt breathed.

What.

“What?”

“I can’t explain it. Your presence, it just...makes me calm.” He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Oh...okay.” Blaine had no clue what to say, what did Kurt want him to say? Why was he suddenly being like this?

There was a long silence until Kurt untucked his shirt. Blaine glanced down instinctively to get a better look at the marks on his hips. It was exactly like he thought. Finger marks. Kurt touched them carefully and winced but Blaine’s hand was around his wrist within a second, pulling his hand away. They locked eyes for a moment, both confused, but there was something....