The last duffel bag hit the dirt with an ominous thud. Blaine guessed that being here was better than being home, but that didn't mean he wanted to be at summer camp for three months.

Blaine's father shut the trunk and leaned a hip against it for a moment, considering his son as Blaine gathered up his things. The lawyer's expression remained flat as he spoke. "I'll see you in eight weeks, Blaine. Remember the Rules," he said, making Blaine flinch almost imperceptibly, and nodded to his son once as way of goodbye as he walked around to his door.

"Take care of Cooper for me!" Blaine called to his father, who grunted in response before he slammed the door and drove away

Blaine stood, squinting against the dust that had been kicked up as he watched the BMW disappear into the distance. After it was completely gone from sight, he sighed and walked towards the main building for check-in.

He struggled to shoulder open the door with all his bags in tow and barely managed to not fall down on his way to the front desk. Carrying all that weight made his still-sore ribs ache a little bit more. He smiled politely at the beaming girl sitting at the table that he assumed he was supposed to go to first. She looked like she was probably a high schooler, maybe college-aged. Pretty, too-but that kind of homey, low-maintenance pretty. In Blaine's opinion, that was the best kind of pretty on a girl. Or guy, for that matter.

She had strawberry blonde hair, slicked back into a neat ponytail with just a few strays falling around her face and a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She had her ears pierced 3 times each with a fourth little hoop of silver stuck through the top of her left ear. Her bottle green eyes glittered happily as Blaine approached her.

"Hi! I'm Abigail. Welcome to camp, dude. What's your name?" she asked as she moved her hands towards the stack of lanyards containing name tags for everyone.

"Blaine Anderson," he answered and she smiled as she picked his up off the top of the stack and handed it to him. He dropped his lanyard around his neck and briefly touched the hair at the nape of his neck, making sure it was free from the necklace.

"Here ya go, Blaine. Your parents bringing the rest of your stuff in?" she asked, then frowned slightly when he shook his head.

"No, this is all my stuff," he said, glancing down at his bags then back up at her, giving his excuse, "We were running late this morning and my dad had to rush to make it back in time for a meeting with a client."

Abigail seemed to accept that easily enough and nodded, standing up. "Well, I'll help you carry some of it, then. You look so bogged down. Follow me and we'll get you checked for lice," she said as she bent down to pick up one of his duffel bags and led him down a long hallway off to the side.

They went into a big room that looked it was probably mostly used for conferences. There were a few other kids, mostly younger than him, getting check by various adults and high schoolers. Abigail directed him to an empty chair, where he sat patiently, hands folded neatly in his lap as he hummed under his breath as Abigail pulled on the latex gloves behind him and started inspecting his hair.

"Just call on me, and I'll send it along. With love, from me, to you," Abigail chimed in softly behind him and Blaine's humming faltered. "The Beatles. Wise choice, kid."

Blaine was silent for a moment before saying, "Thanks." A genuine smile touched his lips for a moment as he began to sing the words softly under his breath.

"All done!" Abigail announced happily as she pulled her gloves off and tossed them in the trash. "Nice 'do, by the way. You totally rock the curls with excellence, my man." She ruffled his dark curls with her now bare hand for emphasis.

Blaine's grin widened this time as he stood up. He knew that she was probably just dong her job as a counselor, treating him like that and trying to make him feel special, but it was working-he felt special.

They both picked up a bag and walked towards the door. "Yours isn't so bad, either, ginger kid," he said with a grin.

"Hey, now!" Abigail protested and elbowed him in the bicep as a laugh rose from her throat and she tipped her head back slightly.

They chatted for the few minutes it took to walk to Blaine's cabin. "Here we are, kiddo," she said to him and pushed open the door with her hip.

She dropped the bags she was carrying in the middle of the room and turned to him, dusting her palms off on her denim cut offs before she planted them on her hips and looked around, appraising the room.

"Nice digs, kid. You got one of the two-person cabins. Means you don't have a counselor with you 24/7, just your roommate. Lucky," she said as he moved into the cabin and set his bags on the bed to the left of the door, claiming it as his own.

When he turned back around, Abigail was at the door. "I'll catch you later tonight, kid. Gotta go take care of my duties and all," she said as she pushed open the squeaky screen door and walked backwards down the path as it slammed close. "See you at orientation!" she called. She grinned in response to his wave before turning and jogging back towards the main building.

After she left Blaine kept smiling for a few seconds, then the smile faded away as the emptiness of the cabin settled over him. He looked around at what would be his home for three months.

The floor was covered with an old, stained forest green burber that was ripped up and loose in one corner. The walls were bare wood and looked old and weathered, almost like it had rained against the inside for years instead of the outside. The beds looked like they were convertible and could be made into bunk beds, if they wanted, but for the moment they were set against the two opposite walls that didn't contain the door or single window that filtered in sunlight.

He began to unpack and put things away, dropping his clothes into the set of drawers tucked under his bed. He also put a few random things in the drawers of the bedside table and shoved his mostly empty bags under his bed before putting the sheets on the mattress. Once he was done, he looked around the cabin again before shrugging to himself and flopping down on the bed, fiddling with the rubik's cube he'd tossed in his bag on a whim.

He attempted, unfruitfully, to solve a side for a few minutes before he spaced out, merely turning the pieces at random as he thought. He wondered who his roommate was going to be. Most of all, he hoped it was someone ugly. If the boy was cute it would make it so much harder to follow the Rules while he was here and they were alone together all the time.

His thoughts were interrupted quickly, though, when he heard someone approaching the cabin. Voices filtered in through the door and he listened absently.

"Be good, son. And have fun." The man's voice was deep and warm and loving. Blaine fought back the pang of jealousy that shot through his chest. His dad never took that tone with him. When Bill Anderson told Blaine to "be good", it was a warning, not affectionate.

"Love you too, Dad," the younger voice came. Blaine heard the soft clap of flesh on flesh, signaling that they were hugging and clapping each other on the back. He heard a soft kiss and could picture the father leaning down to kiss his son on the forehead, or maybe the cheek.

Then the door opened and Blaine stood, ready to greet the the boy. When he caught sight of who it was he froze, his clenching in his chest. His fingers went slack and the Rubik's cube dropped to the floor with a loud clatter.

Dean, for his part, recovered quicker than Blaine. He shook his head once and straightened up a little bit, slapping on a smile.

"Hey, Blaine."