Okay, so I have finally got this one-shot edited based on two manips by gogogadgetdarren. Link's on my profile as usual. Hope you like it!
Thanks to chamilet, who has agreed to edit some of my stuff when my love Sue is crazy busy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.
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Blaine limped back and forth on his crutches in the living room. Three agonizing weeks later and he had finally been released from the hospital. He knew he wasn't going back to that hellhole he used to call a school, but he had to get used to walking around somehow. Cooper, who flew back in despite him begging not to, was walking slowly along with him. Whenever Blaine gave him the glare, Cooper just raised his hands and said, "Everyone needs company while walking. Hey, that's an awesome line. I might just use it when I get around to writing that screenplay of mine."
Blaine just rolled his eyes, as he realized Cooper's poor misdirection. Cooper employed the crazy dialogue only when he wanted someone to get their mind off some unpleasant thing. He agreed. "Cooper, thanks for your concern, but your insane theories will not get my mind off the pain, sadly." Cooper sat down on the couch, since they had brought up the topic and he couldn't avoid it anymore by cracking jokes. Blaine was about to say something when their parents walked in.
Maggie looked at Dan, who started speaking, "Blaine, there's good news, and some okay news. The good news is we got all your transcripts from the place, and so you don't have to go there again." Blaine heaved a sigh of relief as he cherished the fact of not having to step on those grounds, reliving those memories again. He then looked back at his Dad, who had a lot of papers in his hand. His Dad spoke again, this time sadly, "We didn't tell you this, but your mom and I, we had plans to send you to Dalton. It has a no-bullying policy and you with your old-fashioned ways would have fit in there perfectly. I tried my best to manage your admission, but Blainey, we don't have the money." Blaine understood the situation as he knew very well how expensive private schools were.
Maggie seemed to be leafing through some pamphlets, as she told Blaine, "There were two more choices, Carmel High and McKinley High. Both have Glee Clubs as well as boxing as a part of gym class. They also have football, but I don't think they'll take someone short like you." Blaine groaned at the insult, but appreciated his mom lightening the mood. She then continued, "Both have their own ups and downs, so you should choose what you want. Sadly we can't give you Dalton, so the least we could do is let you decide." They walked away, coming back to drag Cooper away when he said, "That school name sounds like Caramel. You should join so you can taste the wall to see if it's made of caramel. You might just increase some weight that way."
Blaine looked through each of the brochures, highlighting the stuff he liked. He had heard a lot about Carmel from Jesse, a friend he had made during the singing lessons he went to during middle school. Carmel would kill his individuality, and make him a Ken doll like the rest, everyone with a picture-perfect personality. He had heard also heard about McKinley from Sam, who had lived in his area for a while. They had become close friends and kept in touch even though they didn't get to meet each other a lot. McKinley didn't look kindly upon gay students, and apparently bullying them was the norm, something that even the Principal didn't take into consideration. He decided to think about it overnight and make the decision the next day. He had spoken with his parents and decided that he would start the next school year than trying to attend the last few months as he had to recover from a whole lot of injuries. He also had to attend physical therapy, and the expert had advised him that it would sap a lot of energy out of him.
He wasn't going to miss a year because of this. His parents had gotten his work for him and he was working on it at home as he did his therapy. He would do the rest of the work at summer school and start his senior year at McKinley rather than have to do his Junior year all over again.
He wasn't going to let this set him back, he determinedly thought as he wobbled unsteadily on his crutches down to the guest room. He missed his bedroom. He still remembered the embarrassment of his Dad carrying him from the car to the couch when they first got back from the hospital. Later that night, Cooper had carried him into his room. He couldn't go there himself since there were a lot of steps and he didn't want to miss one and go falling down.
The next morning the scent of waffles drew him to the dining room where he announced his decision to his Mom and Dad. "I want to go to McKinley High. And waffles. And good morning guys." Maggie seemed to pass the awkwardness as she set a plate of hot waffles and fruit in front of him. He decided that he was going to keep his head low this time. All the sarcastic remarks he had thrown back at the jocks at the place, would now stay in his head, locked inside a box, and would not come out until it got really bad. He groaned inwardly at the phrase 'come out' as he realized he was going to become a closeted gay boy at McKinley High, if only so that he wouldn't get damaged this time around.
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He packed all his bowties and his tight, brightly colored pants into a corner of his closet. He had to make space for all the new hoodies, loose tees and jeans he was going to buy. As he came back from the mall, holding four different bags filled to the brim, his Mom opened the door and raised an eyebrow at the large amount of clothes. He nervously told his mom, "I'm experimenting with new fashion." She obviously realized what he was doing, but said nothing, which made him presume that she was okay with it.
He entered the school and immediately stepped back a few steps as a broad-shouldered boy in a Letterman jacket shouted, "Have a nice bath, fairy!" and dumped a Slushie on a boy's head. He looked on in shock as the soft-looking boy was then slammed into a locker and all the other students walked past the scene, as if it were normal. Maybe he was right to dress up like a straight boy than get beat up like that. He was shocked as the boy he had stereotyped as soft screamed, "All these slushies will come back to torture you one day, when you work for me." However, the jock who did the slamming just punched his fist into a nearby locker as he walked away.
He couldn't help but applaud for the boy in his mind. It also didn't help his romantic mind that the boy looked exactly like a guy who he would ask out on his first date. That is, if he ever mustered up the courage to ask someone out after the Sadie Hawkins scene. He walked past the boy as he opened his locker and Blaine saw a name in a nice collage on his locker door, Kurt. He rolled the name around in his mouth, liking it instantly.
Blaine quickly walked away from the scene and into homeroom. He got a seat next to a girl who wore a black, lacy dress and had cool blue highlights in her hair. He introduced himself, only to get some fluttering eyes back at him. He almost said, "I'm gay," but caught himself in time. She said, "My name's Tina. Tina Cohen-Chang." To his frustration, not only was the girl in all but two of his classes, but Kurt was in every one of them. It was hard to act straight when his eyes seemed to have a mind of their own and went searching for the boy's tight, tight pants.
About two weeks later, he realized three things: One, swim team was a blessing in disguise as he loved swimming and he got a letterman jacket from it which gave him extra protection from the usual bullying going on at the school. Two, watching Kurt in his class every day gave him a sense of peace, something he had lost since the Sadie Hawkins Dance. Three, Tina had no sense of gaydar, and rubbed upon him every chance he got, which made her the perfect beard.
The impact that the bashing had on him was something he never wished to experience again. He wished that he wasn't such a coward that after he saw Kurt getting slammed into locker doors and thrown into dumpsters, he still walked around with a proud smile on his face. The sound of Kurt's voice, the way he sang in such a magical way, and how he managed to insult and compliment a person in the same sentence made him a perfect person to crush on. However, this wasn't a school where there was no bullying, and he didn't want any more harm to come to Kurt. So he looked from a respectable distance.
Tina had asked him out for coffee and he had accepted immediately, happy to have a companion to share his obsession with. However, he realized about three weeks later that she had seen all their coffee outings as dates when almost every member of the Glee Club, including Kurt, sent him texts about not hurting Tina.
Finn: You look like a cool dude and all, but she's very sweet. So don't hit it and quit it with her or I'll have to hit you, being the leader of the Glee Club.
Rachel: You don't know much about music, but the background singers are just as important as the lead singers. And if you break Tina's heart, she'll start crying every time she sings a song, and that hurts our chances at Regionals. So don't break her heart.
Kurt: She was the first person who friended me on Facebook and we meet up for sleep-overs every other week. So if you hurt her, I'll tie you down and wax your whole skin so hard, you'll feel the pain for days.
Puck: You did good, scoring the hot Goth. You know she'll be freaky in bed. But don't be an asshole.
Most of the other conversations went the same way and it was easy for him to admit that he was intimidated by their closeness.He felt happy that no one suspected he was gay, but at the same time, he felt like he was stringing Tina along. He hated taking advantage of Tina's crush on him, but the feeling of safety was more important to him, and so he played along. He took her out for lunch dates and coffee dates. He told her that he was from a strict family who didn't support relationships so they didn't have to tell his family anything. He gave her only chaste, close-lipped kisses, telling her that he wanted to take it slow. Either she was naïve enough to believe it, or just let it be.
However, when the Sadie Hawkins dance was announced, a large amount of fear ran through him, making him almost hyperventilate. He almost freaked out, especially when Tina told him that she had asked Brittany, who was the Senior Class President, to host the Sadie Hawkins as opposed to the usual Prom. He and Tina were really close friends, and he wanted to tell her the reason why the term in itself caused him to shiver, but that would mean the whole reel of lies would unroll one by one, and he left the topic. He let her blather on and on about costumes and matching dress and tie as he hoped it wouldn't be a disaster like the previous Sadie Hawkins he had attended.
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It was a very pretty theme. The whole Glee Club had arranged for a Winter Wonderland theme and Blaine paid some attention to Tina when she said that all the people not dating in the Glee Club were coming together as a group. He didn't know Kurt's relationship status, but he did know that if Kurt was dating someone, that someone was a douche for not helping Kurt with his bullying situation. But all his worries about a douchebag boyfriend were eliminated when he saw Kurt, Sugar, Artie and Mercedes sit together at a table. He danced with Tina as Rachel sang a slow, acoustic version of Katy Perry's "The One That Got Away". He tried not to mouth the lyrics as he playfully dipped Tina over and she pouted her lips. He bent and gave her a slight kiss, not noticing Kurt's inquisitive look as he did so. He shimmied along with the others while Tina and three other girls sang "Who's That Chick" and clapped the hardest when they finished singing, as if trying to get rid of his guilt.
Principal Figgins got on stage, as he deadpanned about some snow problem and started calling the nominations for King and Queen. Surprisingly, he had been one of the shortlisted and hugged Tina before walking onto the stage. Out of the three girls nominated, two were from the Glee Club and one was a girl he had seen in Bio Lab sometimes. Figgins announced, "The King for this year is… Blaine Anderson!"
Everyone started clapping as Blaine walked onto center stage and some girls mimed swooning in front of him. Figgins put a hand on his left shoulder as he said, "And the Queen is – Kurt Hummel?" Blaine was appalled as the whole room fell silent. He looked around swiftly for Kurt, only to find him run outside. He looked around, trying to be polite, but there was no rhyme or reason to play such a prank and he ran outside behind Kurt, shouting, "Kurt! Kurt, wait!" He didn't hear Tina ask him where he was going as he was too worried about Kurt and his mental state.
Finally he reached the area where Kurt had sunk down onto the floor, muttering, "Of course they would do this to me…I shouldn't have come in the first place…"
Blaine sat down beside him as he said, "I don't think it's right, what they did to you. It's abhorrent, and sickening, and just pure malice."
Kurt worriedly asked, "Till right now, you hadn't even spoken to me, Blaine Anderson. What's going on?"
Blaine heaved a huge sigh, then said, "I'm gay, Kurt. I've known that I was gay since I was thirteen. I lied about it here, so I could fit in and not get bullied. At my old school, I came out just before the Sadie Hawkins Dance so I could go with one of my platonic friends, who also happened to be gay. The people there didn't take it too well, and while we were waiting for Tony's dad to turn up, the jocks came and beat us up badly. I was on crutches for more than a month. My parents didn't have the money to send me to a private school and I didn't want to pressure them by getting beat up again here. So, I hid."
Kurt was touched by Blaine's speech, then remembered that the King and Queen had run away, and if he knew the student body well, they'd still be standing there. He proclaimed,
"I'm going out there and getting coronated. I'm going to show them that they can't touch me, that I won't be harmed by their petty, malicious pranks."
Blaine got up and put out his hand, so that Kurt could use his help in getting up. As they slowly walked back to the gym, he said, "I wish I had your courage, Kurt."
Five minutes later, he and Kurt were wearing their crowns as they danced to "No One". Tina looked on with sadness as she realized what she was seeing was something truly special. She was only in the way, even if it wasn't her fault.
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Hope you liked it! Let me know!
