Darren was in his '95 Chevy, turning up the radio as he started playing a new CD that Chuck burned for him with the band he just formed with a couple of guys he met in LA, where he moved after graduation. It was the first day of the year and Darren already knew this was going to be an amazing senior year. He was happily singing along to his brother's music with his windows down when his neighbour, Blaine Anderson, a junior who used to go to private school but transferred to McKinley this year, opened up the back seat, where he placed his messenger bag before sitting in the front seat.

"Good first day?" Darren asked happily, turning the music down slightly.

"It was amazing! I missed being in school with Kurt." Blaine chirped.

Darren started pulling out of his spot as he continued, "Dude, that's so awesome. I knew you'd like it here!"

"I do." Blaine hummed contentedly before looking at the radio. "I guess this is Chuck?"

"Yeah, he's in a new band! Isn't that so cool? My brother… in a band?" Darren mused.

"Yeah, real cool, Dare. Can we please put the windows up and turn the air on?" Blaine asked, not amused.

"Well… it's broken again…" Darren admitted, chuckling a little.

Blaine rolled his eyes, "Why don't you just get it fixed or even ask my dad to fix it?"

"Because I'm an asshole who doesn't want to waste money at a repair shop and I really don't like your dad all that much." Darren answered.

"Yeah, I don't either." Blaine admitted, laughing despite himself.

"So are you coming over to watch a movie and for dinner?"

Blaine shrugged, "Sounds good. Your mom's cooking is way better than frozen food and I really don't feel like making a meal for must myself. Plus, I don't have any homework."

"Sweet." Darren said, before going back to singing along with the CD.

Blaine bobbed his head along to the music until they finally pulled up to Darren's house. Blaine got out of the car, grabbing his carrier bag out of the back seat. "Okay, I'm gonna drop off my bag at home. I'll be right over." Blaine told Darren as he started walking over to his house, which was right next door to Darren's.

Darren went inside, greeted his mom, told her about Blaine coming over and then went straight to the basement, where he started setting up a movie and sprawled out on the couch. Blaine went home, put his bag in his room, re-gelled a part of his hair, and went quickly over to Darren's. He walked in without knocking and had a quick chat with Mrs. Anderson. She asked about school and Kurt and he asked about work and Chris. Mrs. Anderson and he were probably closer than he ever was with either of his parents. When he finally started walking down the stairs, Darren groaned with aggravation.

"What took so long, B?" he asked, not looking up from the couch.

"Sorry. I was talking to your mom." Blaine said as he started walking over to the other side of the couch, crossing his legs as he sat.

"And you fixed your hair." Darren noted, sitting up with a goofy smile on his face.

"I did not!" Blaine objected.

"Yuh-huh." Darren insisted.

"Okay, so?" Blaine folded.

"Why do you even gel your hair? Cool kids have curly hair." Darren said, laughing as he shook his head so his almost ridiculously long curly hair bounced.

Blaine rolled his eyes, "That's not fair. Your curls are neat and look nice."

"Yours do too." Darren answered.

"Yeah, okay." Blaine snorted a little.

"Whatever. Let's start the movie." Darren said as he pressed reached for the remote.

Blaine finally looked at the TV, where he saw the menu screen for Lord of the Rings and groaned. "Nope. Not again."

"But…" Darren started.

"Nope." Blaine cut him off.

"Fine." Darren huffed. "Then how about-"

"If it's Disney, Star Wars, another Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter, then no." Blaine struck preëmptively.

"C'mon, you like Disney!" Darren objected.

"Yeah, the first thousand times." Blaine answered.

Darren walked over to his case of DVDs, finger touching each movie as he looked down the shelves. He suddenly stopped and turned around to Blaine, looking at him hopefully. "Dark Knight?"

Blaine's face broke into a wide grin. "Sounds great!"

They started the movie, both watching intensely even though they both knew almost every line by heart. About half way through, Blaine started paying attention to his phone more than the movie. By the smile on his face, Darren instantly knew whom he was texting. He took the opportunity to tease his younger friend.

"Who ya texting?" he asked excitedly as he scooted a bit closer to Blaine.

"Nobody." Blaine mumbled as he angled his phone away from Darren, trying to bite his smile away.

"Doesn't look like nobody." Darren insisted, with a grin.

Blaine laughed and elbowed at Darren, "Who do you think it is?"

"Ohhh… is it your boyfriennnd?" Darren teased.

"Yes." Blaine answered shortly, smiling despite himself.

"May I see?" Darren continued teasing.

"You absolutely may not." Blaine chuckled.

Darren laughed, "C'mon, B. Lemme see."

"Darren, no! How would I like it if I read through a conversation with you and your girlfriend?" Blaine said a little more firmly.

Darren made a contemplative face and sat back where he was sitting originally. He laughed as he answered, "Point taken."

"Much better." Blaine smirked.

The two of them watched the rest of the movie. When it ended, Darren changed the TV's mode and left it on a random channel, which was playing a stupid, rather annoying show, but he didn't really feel like changing it. Blaine was comfortable enough in the company to not care about what was on the television; it was really just for background noise now.

"So tell me more about your first day." Darren requested happily.

"I don't know what to tell you. I mean, I saw Kurt, and the Glee club was awesome. My teachers didn't seem that bad. It was a lot louder than Dalton and it was weird being allowed to wear whatever I wanted, but it wasn't much better nor was it much worse." Blaine told him

"Well nobody bothered you, right?" Darren asked with concern.

"Nope. Really, everything was great." Blaine answered cheerily.

"I'm glad. And how was Glee?" Darren asked, relieved.

"Great! I don't get why you don't join! You have a great voice." Blaine was talking quickly and more excitedly now.

"Calm down, Blainers. Thanks. I just… Glee's not exactly my thing. It's great that you love it, but I think I'd much rather sit here and do Disney covers with my keyboard than follow assignments for a glee club. Plus, I probably wouldn't remember any of the lyrics." Darren answered, smiling at how happy Blaine seemed.

"Fine." Blaine said with a bit of a sigh.

"Plus, I think orchestra rehearsal overlaps and there's no way I'm giving up violin. Sorry." Darren told him.

"I wouldn't want you to!" Blaine answered quickly.

"Good." Darren answered happily. "Now tell me, just how excited was Kurt when you surprised him?"

"Oh my gosh. I've never hugged anybody more tightly in my life!" Blaine answered excitedly.

"That good?" Darren laughed.

"Yes. I think I made the right decision." Blaine told him, grinning.

"I think so too." Darren said as he reached over to ruffle some of Blaine's gelled hair.

Blaine pushed away Darren's hand, giving him a disgusted look, which caused Darren to laugh. "Sorry, I'm kind of an asshole."

"Kind of?" Blaine asked.

"Fine, I'm a major asshole." Darren admitted as he started pulling his hand away from Blaine's hair.

"Ow! Ow! Stop!" Blaine exclaimed, stilling Darren's hand by grasping him by the wrist.

"What's wrong?" Darren asked, confused.

"Your watch! It's stuck in my hair!" Blaine shouted.

"Fuck! Hold on... Just let me…." Darren used his other hand to gently tug Blaine's hair out of the watch. "There you go."

"Thanks a lot." Blaine said discontentedly, working to smooth his hair back down. He glared at Darren's cheap watch, which matched with basically nothing that Darren (or anybody else for that matter) owned. "Why do you even wear that thing?"

"It tells the time." Darren answered straightly.

"Oh really?! I didn't know!" Blaine said sarcastically.

Darren pushed him slightly and both boys laughed when Darren's mom called them both upstairs. She got dinner ready early, because his dad got called in for another shift at work and she wanted them all to eat dinner together. Blaine helped Darren set the table and pour drinks for everybody. Dinner went well. Mr. Criss asked about their classes and first day; Blaine let it slip to Darren's parents that the car's air conditioner was busted, which they told him he'd have to get looked at;Mrs. Criss chastised Darren every time he teased Blaine but did nothing of sorts to Blaine; it was just a genuinely nice dinner. That's why Blaine loved visiting the Criss's so often. When everybody finished, Darren started rinsing off the plates and Blaine began loading the dishwasher.

"I'm going to go home. I need to shower and call Kurt." Blaine said as he dried his hands.

"Alright, good luck taking that gel out." Darren teased.

"Shut up." Blaine retorted as they both started walking to the door.

"I'm driving you in again tomorrow." Darren told him.

"As long as you wake up on time." Blaine answered, walking outside. Blaine turned around to wave at Darren and Darren waved back, watching until Blaine made it into his house. Yep, this was going to be the best senior year ever. He had a great girlfriend, a good group of friends, an early acceptance letter to the University of Michigan, and the best best friend ever.