Hello, everyone! I am here with my first story, a one-shot about some spectulation on Blaine's character before Dalton. Sadly, this one-shot will not feature any Klaine, but some cute Warblers who care about their buddy Blainers :3 Well, you know, before Michael . Yeah, I was VERY disappointed in them in that episode. Well, at least the sort of made up for it in 'Black or White', but still. HE WAS THEIR FRIEND {{Harry Potter moment OMG}}. Anyway.
Warnings: Not many; maybe if you get triggered by a Selective Mute person, than you shouldn't read, but I highly doubt that anyone would be triggered. There are also some small spoilers for Michael, if you haven't already seen the episode.
Enjoy!
The only people I've really ever considered family turned their backs on me and caused me to go to the hospital after a stupid prank.
But I can't tell anyone why it hurts more than it should, because then they'll know that I was a Selective Mute for almost a year, and have more of a past than I'm willing to share.
Posted by Ithurts on February 7th, 4:12 pm, 2012
xXx
Blaine will never tell the New Directions about life at Dalton before Kurt came.
It wasn't because it was horrible; no, Dalton was honestly the best two years of his life, but because Blaine didn't like opening up. He just didn't. Granted, he'd only told a handful of people about how his other school was like, but he didn't want the people that called him a traitor for no reason knowing that he was constantly bullied, harassed, mocked, and beaten just for liking boys.
He used to hate talking. He used to not trust people. He used to not want to sing. But The Warblers had changed that.
He still remembered being a freshman, sitting in the Dalton cafeteria, reading a book by himself. He could still feel the stares of a group of boys - six of them - boring into his side. It made him feel self conscious. He hated that feeling.
He wanted, more than anything, to pick up his head and say 'Are your eyes broken?' or some witty remark, but he knew that he couldn't. Because talking meant that he was going to get close to someone. And he didn't want people to come near him and start talking to him, because in the end they'd all leave him. Because people are like that.
The students of Dalton Academy for Boys continued to chat around him, talking about classes or something he heard as 'The Warblers'. He had heard from someone in his English class that 'The Warblers' were holding auditions again, so new members could join.
Blaine liked the way The Warblers sang. The way the all harmonized with each other perfectly, their voices overlapping together to make a beautiful string of notes without any instruments…
He still felt those six boys staring at him, like he was some sort of disfigured creature. It bothered him, but he continued to ignore it, just praying that lunch would end soon so he could get to his dorm quicker.
The conversations and the feeling that he was being stared at lingered for five more minutes, while he sat at his table, pretending like the scene in his book where Katniss and President Snow are talking is the only thing on his mind, and that he's only thinking about that and not some weird people staring at him.
As soon as the bell rings, Blaine gets up almost immediately, shutting his book after making a 'dog ear' on the page, and gathering his stuff before throwing away his trash. He weaves around the boys of Dalton, through the thick sea of navy blue and red blazers, and almost leaps out of the doors and into the safety of the hallways.
"Hey, wait up," He knows it's for him. That one of those weirdo's that were staring at him are now coming toward him.
Blaine still doesn't know whether it was his PTSD or the fact that he just didn't want to talk, but he felt the blood in his veins rushing, and that was enough to make him run to the stairs, practically jogging up them, and toward the extensive hallways full of dorm rooms for the boys of the school.
That's when Wes, David, Thad, Nick, Jeff, and Trent first become interested in him.
xXx
One of the boys was in his French class. He didn't know his name, just that he was a bit bigger than the others and that he was pretty sassy when he wanted to be. The boy wasn't staring at him like yesterday, but every once and a while, Blaine felt a pair of eyes lock into the back of his head whilst the teacher clearly circled a French phrase.
Blaine didn't know why the kid was so interested in him; clearly they haven't met before. It bothered him. A lot.
The bell rang a few minutes later, and once the boy stood up from his chair, Blaine practically ran out of the classroom, not actually caring as he heard heavy footsteps behind him, following him. He gulped in slight fear, turning down the hallway and running toward the staircase, hoping that the boy behind him would just leave him alone.
Of course, Blaine managed to get away, but that only lasted until lunch the next day.
xXx
As soon as he opened his book, a hand snatched it away.
Blaine's eyes widened in shock, looking around for the culprit. One of the boys, a black haired one, had stolen his book, speed walking back to the table that he was sitting at yesterday. As soon as the boy sat down, he started waving the black book in the air, the capitalized letters 'CATCHING FIRE' glistening in the faint light of the cafeteria ceiling lights.
"If you really want it," he said, grinning like a maniac, "then you have to sit with us."
Blaine blinked, doing a double take. Were they really making a proposition like this? Blackmail? He narrowed his eyes. I want my book back, he inwardly sighed, his insides churning, but I can't. What if they're just like the other guys at Westerville High? Maybe this school has a zero bullying tolerance, but that doesn't mean that they won't say anything or tease me…
He shook his head at them, hoping that they'd give it up. But the black haired boy was persistent, cocking an eyebrow. The blonde boy that sat next to him smirked.
"Just come over," he called, smiling warmly. The warmth made Blaine feel a bit safer, but not enough to go against his willpower and sit next to the boys. "We promise we won't hurt you or anything," he added, as if he could somehow sense the smaller boys fear.
That one sentence was what made Blaine get up slowly, walking over to the table where they sat. They said that they won't hurt you…they won't. They look nice… He shook slightly as he sat down at their table, his eyes darting to inspect each of their faces.
They didn't look all too bad; the black haired boy, the blonde haired boy, and the boy in his French class looked about his age, maybe a year younger, while the others looked either a year older or the same age.
"You can't have your book back until you talk to us, okay? You seem super lonely and all, so you need to be more social," the blonde haired boy smirked.
Blaine's eyes widened. Talking? No way. I'm definitely-
One of the other boys, an Asian one, just smiled softly, "I'm Wes, that's David," he spoke up, moving back so that Blaine could see the boy that sat next to him fully, "Thad's right over there," Wes gestured to where another boy sat, looking up from where he was eating a lump of pasta, "Nick's the one that stole your book, Jeff's the blondie over there, and I think you may know Trent from your French class."
Blaine nodded slowly, taking in all of the new information. Nick still had his book, his wrist safely draped over it so he couldn't snatch it away and wallow in his own solitude. Jeff was looking at Blaine up and down, narrowing his eyes.
"You don't talk much, do you?" he asked, causing Trent to smack his arm. "Ouch, just asking! Seesh!"
Trent looked back at Blaine. "Sorry about that," he apologized, glaring at Jeff from the corner of his eye, "Jeff's very…"
"Straightforward," David spoke up, rolling his eyes as Jeff lifted his chin.
"I am not," he scoffed, causing the other boys to glare at him. "What?" he asked after a few moments of silence.
Blaine shifted, feeling out of place amongst them. Why are they being so nice? He felt like curling into a ball, knowing that people could pretend to be the nicest people in the world, only to turn their backs on you when you need them most.
Thad must have noticed just how uncomfortable Blaine was, because his eyes lingered on Blaine for a few moments, tracing his body language and movements. Thad's had cocked to the side, looking puzzled. Blaine just frowned.
Thad was the first to notice that something wasn't completely alright with Blaine.
xXx
After lunch, Nick and Jeff followed Blaine out of the cafeteria, with Trent trailing behind them, talking about how they were all going the same way because they were freshman and whatnot.
Funny, Blaine thought darkly, narrowing his eyes, I honestly wish that it was that simple; that I could gather some courage to scream 'I'm only a freshman because I got held back a year because some jerks beat that crap out of me!'. But that'd mean talking. And talking means trusting. Two things I can't do.
Whilst walking with the three boys, Blaine had learned that Wes was a junior, and David and Thad were sophomores, and that soon Nick and Jeff would try out for The Warblers.
"Trent already got in," Nick muttered smugly, casting a side glance at Trent. Blaine looked over at the other boy, curiously.
Trent just rolled his eyes. "Seriously, you guys are still obsessing over that? Wes says that I have a very good voice for The Warblers. Just because you two haven't gathered the guts to try out, doesn't mean it's my fault, you know."
Jeff just sighed, "Well, it's not like we don't want to…"
"We're just waiting until the moment feels right." Nick finished, smiling.
Blaine just cocked an eyebrow humorously, blinking as Nick and Jeff went on about how The Warblers had lost to a group called 'Vocal Adrenaline' a year back, and how if they wanted to win, then they needed to be better.
Blaine felt as if he were some sort of dead weight with the other boys, and was about to turn away and walk to his dorm, when he suddenly remembered that Nick still had his book.
Narrowing his eyes, he nudged Nick, pointing to where his book was tucked underneath his arm. Nick looked at the book and back, smirking.
"Will you sit with us tomorrow?" he asked, looking hopeful. Like, even though Blaine hadn't spoken a word to any of them, the fact that he was there was still something amazing.
Blaine blinked, shifting uncomfortably. Are they playing some kind of prank? I mean, at Westerville High no one would come by me…so why do they care? The moment of hesitation must have been what answered his question.
"You'll get it back when you sit with us." And that was that.
xXx
"I swear, Mr. Hadaway is going to be the death of me with all of this homework," Thad huffed from his side of the table.
Blaine still sat in between Wes and Trent, slouching on his section of the bench. The boys were either eating, talking, or - in Thad's case - doing their homework. Nick still didn't give him his book back, forcing him to sit with them. And it wasn't like Blaine didn't try to go to the library to get another book; Nick and Jeff had set up some miniature border around the library, not allowing him inside. And Blaine didn't want to make Nick upset by breaking into his dorm and stealing his book, so he really did have to sit with them a lot.
David just smirked, "You're the one who wanted to play Call of Duty for three hours last night instead of doing your homework, Thad," he remarked, getting another spoonful of his mashed potatoes.
Thad just face palmed. "Whatever, David, I just seriously need to get this done before next period. I already have a C in his class, and I don't think my mom will be happy about a D." He growled, scibbling in another answer.
"Oh yeah, your mother might beat you with a French bread stick again," Nick said, giving Thad a slightly sympathetic look. Thad just nodded, jotting some more answers down on the paper, only pausing to eat some more food.
Trent made some sort of gasping noise, pointing his fork at his mashed potatoes and looking at the other boys, smiling. "I just made a smiley face in my potatoes without even noticing! I feel like I'm amazing or something!"
Blaine just cocked an eyebrow, whilst Wes just shook his head. "That's his only accomplishment. Making a smiley face in his food," he sighed. After a few more moments, Wes just looked at David and Thad. "Has the council decided if we're going to Sectionals next year?"
David just shook his head. "I haven't heard anything from anyone. Apparently, Marcus isn't doing anything because he's a senior and doesn't feel as though it's his obligation anymore," he growled with an irritated tone, exhaling heavily through his nose.
More Warbler news, I guess, Blaine thought, watching as the other Dalton students just shook their heads.
"No offense to them, but the council this year is pretty…" Nick started, fumbling over the last word.
"Wimpy?" Jeff offered.
Nick nodded, "Yeah, wimpy,"
Blaine had almost no idea what they were talking about. Dalton didn't have a student council, and he had no other clue as to what they could be talking about.
Only David seemed to realize that the boy at their table was completely stumped. "The council is like the leaders of The Warblers," he explained, "Marcus is the head of the group, while Shawn and Daniel are his second-in-command's. They chose our songs for the competitions, and who's going to front them, basically."
Blaine nodded, at least feeling some sort of clarification. Once again, Blaine felt Thad's eyes on him, like he was still inspecting him.
Blaine frowned. He hoped that no one would notice that he was too scared to talk.
xXx
"Bonjour," Mrs. Finch said as soon as she entered the classroom, placing her purse and laptop onto her desk, before turning back to the classroom to hear their responses.
"Bonjour, Mrs. Finch," most of the class said mechanically, except Blaine, that is. All of his teachers and most of the staff knew of his condition, and were told to make him give written reports rather than oral reports, and not to get upset or frustrated when he didn't answer back.
But of course, some teachers, like his French teacher, still wanted a written response, even though Blaine didn't want everyone knowing he was mute.
Bonjour, Mrs. Finch, he scribbled down, flashing it to the teacher.
It was his new normal. Unless he wanted everyone knowing, he would rather have to do it sometimes than for every question he got.
xXx
"You can't talk, can you?"
The question made Blaine nearly choke on his food. He looked up, seeing Thad looking at him expectantly. The other kids at the table just scowled at Thad.
"Thad," David hissed, shouldering him roughly.
Blaine looked at Thad with wide eyes, fear obviously evident in each of them. That's obviously when the six boys found out that he was a mute, but, unlike what he believed, they weren't judgmental.
"Oh." Nick said, a bit guiltily. "All this time, I thought you were ignoring us or something." Blaine looked at his pants, swallowing.
Trent must have been piecing together things that he observed in class, because he was the first to bring up the topic of class, "Oh, so that's why Mrs. Finch doesn't call you up for oral reports or make you repeat her sentences in French! I thought you didn't speak English or something," he said, looking at Blaine sympathetically.
Wes just smiled softly. "So…how do you communicate with other people? Write it down?" he asked slowly, looking like he was making sure that he didn't insult Blaine or anything.
Blaine nodded gently, meeting Wes's gaze for a moment, before looking back down. He suddenly heard a swift intake of breath from the other side of the table,
"Wow, dude! That's sort of cool, actually," Jeff said cheerfully, his eyes wide with enthusiasm. To you, maybe, Blaine thought ruefully, twitching his nose like a rabbit's.
After that, The Warblers continued to ask Blaine questions about his mute-ness, like it was the most amazing thing that they've ever heard. Blaine, even though he tried to fight it, felt like he was slowly starting to trust them, a bit more than he had when Nick stole his book, anyway.
xXx
Today, Nick didn't steal his book. He didn't force Blaine to sit by them again; Blaine found his book sitting on his old table. But, something within him, he didn't even know what, and he wasn't sure he wanted to question it, made him walk over to their table and sit by them, in his usual spot.
Nick looked at him with a bright smile, finally realizing that Blaine was maybe trusting them. It was a start, anyway.
xXx
"So, Blaine, what did you get for question 19?" Nick asked from the other side of the couch, tapping his pencil onto the paper before looking back up at Blaine.
549.234, Blaine wrote down, showing it to the other boy. Nick nodded, jotting it onto his own paper.
"Thanks, man,"
Blaine had grown accustomed to doing homework with Nick, Jeff, and Trent, or playing board games with the other boys. They still thought it was a little weird that they had a friend that couldn't (on Blaine's behalf, wouldn't) respond to them, but they were slowly starting to understand it.
"Do you guys want to order pizza or something? It's only like, 8:15." Trent asked, pulling out his phone from his back pocket.
Sure, cheese for me, Blaine wrote, flashing it to Trent. Trent nodded, dialing the number whilst asking the others what they wanted.
Maybe this friendship wasn't such a frightening thing. Maybe trusting wasn't either.
xXx
"How…how did you become mute, Blaine?"
Both Wes and Blaine were alone now, walking down the deserted hallways together toward Thad and David's dorm. Blaine paused, looking up at Wes. He looked at him for a few moments, unsure what to write down.
Wes sighed, "David looked it up. You either become mute in an accident, or you choose to be mute - well, not choose, but you can still talk. A Selective Mute, I think it was called," He looked back at Blaine, a soft and questioning look in his eyes.
Blaine blinked. Something…something happened at my old school, before I transferred to Dalton. And yes, it's called being a Selective Mute.
Wes blinked. "Oh." A pregnant pause followed, before he looked back at Blaine. "How did it…?"
One sentence made everything fall into place for Wes, making him realize just how bad it was for Blaine at his old school.
Not everyone accepts gay kids.
It was also how he came out to his new friends.
xXx
Blaine tried to get out of David's grasp, wrinkling the bridge of his nose. For some reason, he was being dragged down the hallways of Dalton, toward somewhere that Blaine had only visited to get Nick when Jeff had asked him too.
"We're almost there Blaine," David panted, turning down a corner.
Blaine shook himself out of the other boys hold, grabbing the notebook that he used for talking from his bag, and a pen.
Where are we going, David? I want to study, not play hide-and-go-seek again. He wrote down, raising an eyebrow as David just rolled his eyes.
"We're," he said, opening some doors that Blaine had only just realized were there, "giving you a surprise."
Blaine's eyes widened once the doors opened, revealing a sea of navy-blue and red blazer wearing boys. The Warblers smiled at Blaine, Wes walking in front of them with Jeff, Nick, Trent, Thad, and now David slowly joining a bit behind him.
"Blaine, I, well, told The Warblers about…you know," Blaine drew in a quick breath, "Sorry about doing it without you knowing and all," Wes quickly recovered, looking fearful about making Blaine mad, "but…we want to show you that…-"
Nick quickly took up the conversation, "We want to show that, even though you've never spoken an actual word to us," Nick looked at the other Warblers around him, "we still…we still care about you. I don't know how bad it was at your old school and all, but…we hope you like what we've put together for you." Nick nodded to the other boys, before a soft humming began, slowly turning into a string of oral notes. Wes opened his mouth, beginning the first verse.
"When you try your best but you don't succeed,
When you get what you want but not what you need,
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep,
Stuck in reverse…"
Blaine stared at them with wide eyes. They were singing a…a song to him? But no one, not even his brother, had ever sung to him. He always guessed that it was because he was never important enough for anyone to sing him a song. But here were The Warblers, singing. To him. The kid that was always called homophobic slurs at either to his face or behind his back.
Nick looked at Wes, before stepping a few steps forward and joining him.
"And the tears come streaming down your face,
When you lose something you can't replace,
When you love someone, but it goes to waste,
Could it be worse?"
He smiled softly, even though the lyrics had a sad meaning to it, he inhaled deeply. Trent gave him a thumbs up even though he was harmonizing. David and Jeff joined him as the stepped up with the other two boys, Thad coming in after them.
"Lights will guide you home,
And ignite your bones,
And I will try to fix you…"
Blaine couldn't handle it at that last line. No, he couldn't really believe that they actually cared that much to sing that. He didn't know how anyone could actually be that kind to care for someone that they only met a few months ago, out of pure curiosity and the fact that they were sitting by themselves.
Drawing a thumb over the bottom of his left eye, he braced himself for the next part of the song. Of course, David started the next verse.
"And high up above or down below,
When you're too in love to let it go,
But if you never try you'll never know,
Just what you're worth,"
He sighed, biting his bottom lip. The six boys once again sung the next part, still smiling broadly,
"Lights will guide you home,
And ignite your bones,
And I will try to fix you…"
Blaine just shook his head again, rubbing his temple with his thumb. This song was definitely sweet and thoughtful, but it was just so deep. So that's what made him practically break down as they continued the song, until the last verse was sung:
"Lights will guide you home,
And ignite your bones,
And I will try to fix you…"
His new friends looped their arms around him; the first hug he had gotten since he woke up from the hospital a few months ago. And, for some reason, for the first time in almost a year, he whispered the first words that he'd spoken ever since the Sadie Hawkins dance.
"Thank you."
xXx
I didn't even know this kid until I saw him sitting alone at his lunch table. He was reading a book, not even paying attention to the things going on around him. I stole his book and made him sit by us, because I wanted to know more about him. What I figured out was the most amazing, special, and kind human being I've ever came to know. He was a Selective Mute for quiet awhile, until me and my friends sung a song to him and made him feel like he was worth it. Ever since than, he's made me laugh, cry, and even do some crazy crap. Blaine, you GMH.
Posted by FeelinLikeABoss on January 15th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
I am having a *small* feeling that this is sort of rushed...the progression, anyway. I didn't want to do the expected and put some flashbacks in this, but, you know, I am happy with the outcome of this. Urgh, I'm listening to Bad as I'm writing this. SO. MANY. FEELINGS.
The websites that Blaine and Nick used are and . Both are websites that will either touch your heart or make you smile. But, sometimes, SBS triggers. So, prewarning for that.
Anyway.
The song used and the inspiration for this one-shot is 'Fix You' by Coldplay.
Don't forget to review!