Disclaimer: All people, places, and things Glee-related are not mine!
Roses Dipped In Gold
Prologue
If he could do it all again, knowing how it ended, would he?
Would he have stolen those kisses? Made those promises? Said those words?
Now there were no more kisses to steal, no more promises to make, and no more words to say.
But the memories of those promises, those words, those kisses...those were enough to fill the seemingly bottomless hole in his heart.
So, if given the chance, would he do it all again?
Absolutely.
Chapter One
A fresh start. That's all seventeen-year-old Blaine wanted. A new place where nobody knew him. Was that too much to ask? Apparently.
He had only been at Dalton Academy for 4 hours, and already the rumors were swirling.
Oh my gosh, is that…?
Look, I think it's him!
Don't look now, but he's behind you...I said don't look!
Blaine knew exactly how it would go. It was always the same.
It would begin with the whispered conversations and covert pointing; the other students talking secretly to each other about who he was without ever really saying who he was. They would get dangerously close to breaking that rule, but would pull back from the brink just as the forbidden words were about to fall off their lips. Anderson. Council. Elite. The gossip would get worse before it got better.
Along with the whispers came the stares. All eyes were on him as if he were on exhibit in a zoo. Some stares were low and fleeting as their casters tried to maintain some dignity, while others were bold, and lingering.
Many of the braver students would approach Blaine and attempt to make conversation that they hoped would lead to friendship. It was hard to make friends, though, when most everyone had an ulterior motive for getting to know you. He'd learned that the hard way. Being Elite, even other Elites wanted your connections rather than your actual friendship. Plus, they were mostly insufferable, self-absorbed...well...elitists. The name seemed fitting.
As much as he wanted to retreat and avoid having to speak to anyone, he was bred and raised to be polite and respectful to others. That was how you gained power, after all, by making people like you. So he endured the awkward conversations and false enthusiasm because that's all he knew how to do. It wasn't like he had many real friends, anyway.
By the time Blaine finished navigating his way through the maze that was Dalton's corridor system and finally located the cafeteria, it was clear that word had spread like wildfire. Dozens of pairs of eyes were trained on him as he grabbed a tray and loaded it with food that would probably go uneaten.
Blaine scanned the room looking for any familiar faces. He knew of at least one other person who attended Dalton, though he hadn't seen her yet today. He and Renna had known each other since they were children, and he hoped that she would be in that cafeteria to save him from sitting alone, which would inevitably invite unwelcome strangers to join him.
But alas, it looked like he would be dining alone, trying to ignore the stares and drown out the whispered rumors.
Of course, all of the rumors were true. It was hard to hide your identity when your family was as prominent as Blaine's. As strict as Dalton's rules were to protect student anonymity, the administration was helpless to prevent its students from watching the news - it was their only connection to the outside world. And Blaine's family frequented the news.
"Hi," a soft female voice said as its owner slipped onto the bench next to Blaine. He looked up. She batted her eyelashes and gave a coy smile. "Mind if I sit here?"
Two boys, seeing the girl approach him, became courageous and joined them. They started up a light conversation that somehow managed to highlight their strengths and accomplishments.
And so it began. Blaine sighed. Such was the life of the Chancellor's son.
Kurt very much preferred his room to the cafeteria for mealtimes. Especially on days like today, when everyone was atwitter about the new kid and his presumed background. Many people were speculating, but Kurt knew for a fact it was true. Blaine the new kid was Blaine Anderson, son of the Chancellor. And Kurt couldn't care less. In fact, he hoped his path never crossed with the kid born into the family at the forefront of the Class Separation Movement. Injustice was everywhere around Kurt, surrounding him, filling him, drowning him. He didn't need it brought to him here too, in this place that was supposed to create an equal opportunity for all children under eighteen.
Kurt longed to call his father, who he could rant to for hours about how screwed up their society was, but he couldn't. Students were not allowed any physical or verbal contact with their families during the school year. It was meant to help protect student identities, as were all of the Academy rules. They were allowed to write letters, but there was no way Kurt would put that in writing. He was pretty outspoken about his beliefs, and they had gotten him in trouble a few too many times.
No, he would yet again keep to himself.
Even surrounded by hundreds of other people his age, Kurt lived a fairly solitary life at Dalton. Make no mistake, though. It was of his own design that he lived this way. He didn't see the point in making friendships when they would be over the second they graduated from the artificial environment of Dalton. When they would be thrust out into the real world and forced to adhere to the Class laws and turn their backs on each other. Wouldn't it be heartbreaking for two people to become inseparable only to find out come graduation that one of them was Low Class and one was High Class and they would only ever be allowed to speak to each other on any sort of personal level again?
So Kurt shut himself off. He ate on his own, didn't attend any social functions, and even managed to have a dormitory room to himself. (He may have grossly exaggerated his less compatible traits and sent roommate after roommate running. The school eventually stopped assigning other people to his room. Kurt was pretty sure it was a deliberate oversight, but he wasn't complaining.) But despite deliberately blocking himself off, Kurt often found himself lonely.
He did have one friend here. Or maybe she would be considered more of a friendly acquaintance. He never let anyone get close enough to become friends with him.
It was undeniable. Renna was a joy to be around. Kurt tried keeping his distance from her at first, like he did with everyone, but she was just so friendly and persistent and supported him standing up for what he believed in. So he conceded, and now they would sit together in classes, walk in the halls together, and sometimes even spend down time together, which was more than Kurt vowed he would ever do with someone in this place.
Kurt heard the bell ring, signaling the five-minute warning for afternoon classes. He gathered up his trash and headed to chemistry, reminding himself that each day brought him one step closer to going back home, where his real life would start.
Blaine wished he could put a paper bag over his head. It seemed that every student in the entire school had heard some form of rumor about him during the lunch period, and the stares were as intense as ever. The gossip had shifted from who he was to what he had done. Once you were assigned to an academy, you didn't leave. Not unless you were expelled for breaking the rules.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he located the lab and sat down in the corner, away from most of his curious classmates. It was only when he looked up to see what the professor had written on the chalkboard that he noticed he had sat directly across from someone. Someone downright stunning with perfect chestnut hair, flawless pale skin, and beautiful eyes. It was several moments before Blaine realized he had been staring at the boy with his mouth slightly open. And now he'd been caught doing it.
The other boy, who had glanced up to see him staring, raised his eyebrows, then turned around so that his back was to Blaine.
Blaine felt an indescribable pull toward this boy. It could have been that he was the only person in the entire school who hadn't ogled him like he had three heads. It could have been that he didn't seem to know or care who Blaine was or what he had done to get here. But more likely, it was the ethereal beauty, the sadness behind his eyes, and the confidence and strength this boy exuded.
"My name is Blaine." The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them.
The boy, seeming to know he was being spoken to, looked back over his shoulder for a brief second and said "Hi" before turning back around. Even his voice was beautiful.
Blaine's heart was hammering with excitement. He smiled broadly to himself.
Being ignored had never felt so nice.
It surprised Kurt more than he wished it would have that someone sat across from him when there were plenty of open spaces around. In his second year at Dalton, the other students started to realize that Kurt wasn't interested in making friends. Gradually, people stopped attempting to make conversation, then they stopped waving or smiling as they passed in the hall, then they stopped making eye contact altogether. It didn't bother Kurt most of the time. Not really. He had made it that way. And besides, Kurt thrived on being observant, and without anyone's eyes on him, he could manage to see everything.
He watched the boy who sat down in the chair across from Kurt. Of course. Him. In the regular world, he was known as Blaine Anderson. But in the Academies, students shed their last names to avoid recognition or prejudice based on family names. So he would be known just as Blaine.
Kurt was having a hard time peeling his eyes off of Blaine. Sure, he had seen him on television before, but TV did not do the boy justice. If Kurt had ever allowed himself to picture his perfect man, he would look exactly like Blaine.
Kurt groaned internally. There was no chance he could ever let himself have anything with Blaine, even if Blaine was interested. Which he wouldn't be. Kurt, however, didn't have any self-made rules saying he couldn't indulge a little every now and then, so he continued to watch.
Almost an entire minute passed before the boy began to look up, forcing Kurt to drop his eyes. Kurt expected to feel the boy's gaze slide over his face to the next person, or even shoot through him to someone more exciting, but that was not what happened. Blaine didn't look away. When he couldn't take it anymore, Kurt returned the look. Blaine flushed slightly, shutting his mouth that had been agape.
Kurt raised his eyebrows with an offhanded curiosity, and wheeled around to face the other direction. Nobody besides Renna had looked at him in so long. Certainly Renna had never looked at him like that.
Shut it down. You can't, he told himself.
Breaking his train of thought, the boy spoke.
"My name is Blaine."
Kurt fought the smile that was tugging at his lips. He looked back to see, much to his unexpected pleasure, that Blaine was still staring. "Hi."
He turned back around and the urge to smile could won out.
Being noticed had never felt so nice.
