Yay for friendship.
"You look like you're about to swallow three bottles of sleeping pills, Hobbit."
He hasn't spoken with Santana ever since she got banned from Glee Club. But here she is now, ponytail gleaming and in Cheerio uniform, her arms crossed over her chest as she eyes him up. He attempts to close his locker, slowly and tries to think of something to say. "…Excuse me?" Is what he comes up with. "Who died, Anderson?" She asks him, and when he doesn't reply, she rolls her eyes and slams his locker shut for him. "You look awful." He apologizes, even though he doesn't really know what for, and earns himself another eye roll. And then, before he knows it, she's holding onto his hand and pulling him along, through the hall and out the door. He asks her where they're going, matching her quick stride and she doesn't even look at him when she says: "Coffee."
"I've got Glee Club," he tells her, his stomach doing funny but pleasant twists, and she laughs like it's the craziest thing she has ever heard him say. "Glee Club?" Her voice is bitter, and he understands why. "Waste of time." Blaine doesn't say anything and neither does she, but they both know her heart wasn't in this insult.
x-x-x
Not much later, they're both holding their own steaming cup of coffee. They haven't even really spoken yet, but Blaine feels this is the best day he's had at McKinley yet. "So tell me," Santana finally speaks after a few minutes of sipping and sighing, and her eyes tell him he better not lie. He doesn't even think before he opens his mouth, and the words just spill. "I'm terrified." He admits for the first time, since he left the blazer hanging in his closet. "The last time I went to public school, I –" He stutters, Santana just looks at him, urging him to continue and he closes his eyes for a fraction before opening them again.
"I went to a Sadie Hawkins dance with the only other gay kid at school. …They cornered us after. Just… these huge guys exactly like Azimio and his friends. And they beat the shit out of us." He remembers the way the pavement looked that night, shining the deadliest of black. "There was, there was a lot of blood," his voice cracks, but his eyes are dry and Santana sits on the other side of the table, staring into her own coffee, eyes unseeing but she's listening. He can tell. "…Jeremy didn't make it, he died of brain damage. I was there when they… when they – his parents wanted me to be there to say goodbye."
He relaxes his grip on the cup in his hands, not realizing he had tightened it so much until he looks down. "Anyway," he clears his throat, "my parents let me transfer to Dalton, after the accident. I ran away as fast as I could." He doesn't know what to say now, instead takes a sip of his coffee and Santana leans on her hand and watches him, her eyes bright and shining as if she is about to cry. Blaine thinks it must be a trick of the light. "You think you're a coward, don't you, Anderson?" She says, all of a sudden and her voice is so sharp and clear that he almost forgets to swallow. "Because you transferred?"
"I do," he admits without a doubt. "I shouldn't have. I should have stayed and faced my bullies, I should have –"
"Died?" Santana cuts him off, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Now you need to listen to me, Blaine," it's the first time she actually uses his first name instead of 'Hobbit' or 'Anderson' but he's too stunned to speak up about it. "A bunch of douchebags beat the shit out of you for who you are. They killed your friend for who he was. Because they were too afraid to admit that people like you exist. That there are people in this world who are different and proud. And now, years later, you still have the guts to say you should have stayed and faced your bullies? You faced your bullies, Anderson. You faced them that night. The only cowards I know are the assholes who dared to touch you and you need to see that." She pauses, her eyes taking him in as he tries to breathe through a rapidly closing throat. A lock of hair has escaped from her ponytail and she reaches up to hide it behind her ear. "Life fucking sucks, Anderson. We're gay and we're going to keep getting hell for it." They both feel how much of a big deal this is, to hear her say it out loud, and a tear escapes before he can stop it. "But tearing yourself down because of something that happened years ago isn't going to make things better. You need to realize what you're doing, Blaine. Because I sure as hell have and I think it's time you do, too." She leans forward, her hands flat on the table and she looks him straight in the eye the way no one else can. "You left your private school behind to come back, you figuratively leapt off a cliff for your boyfriend, Blaine. And even though that is one of the cheesiest, most vomit-inducing things I have ever heard of outside a romcom, it is also one of the fucking bravest things I have ever seen someone do."
She gives him a look, downs the last bit of her coffee and then stands up, smoothing her uniform. "Knock it off, Anderson. The whole masochistic thing is so Twilight and only fat girls with twelve cats are into that shit." She says, and then eyes him again. "Also, get rid of that bow-tie. It's the ugliest thing I have ever seen." He barks a surprised laugh and watches her go, through the window. For a moment, he thinks he sees a smile on her face but then thinks twice and figures it's just another trick of the light. Touching his bow-tie, thoughtfully, he doesn't realize he's smiling until Kurt calls him and asks him why he sounds so happy when he picks up.
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