Okay, so this idea popped into my head and I couldn't really get rid of it. So I played around with it and then this happened.

Basically, Sam didn't convince Blaine to stay and he ended up transferring back to Dalton. And then, chaos basically ensues. I think this may have bits and pieces of canon intermixed, but for the most part will probably come from my own brain. I'd love to know what people think of this! :)

Blaine would have been lying if he said he wasn't glad to be back at Dalton. He really was. But it was more of a bittersweet feeling than anything else. He was upset that he would be leaving his McKinley friends, but at the same time, he was glad to be back with the Warblers.

Because the more he thought about it, the more Blaine realized how easy it was to compare Dalton and McKinley. At Dalton he was captain of the Warblers, star-student, and best friend to all. At McKinley he was Kurt's spotlight-stealing transfer boyfriend. Then he became the douche who broke Kurt's heart. He didn't really fit in anywhere. He didn't have a reputation worth mentioning. He wasn't one of the primary (or hell, secondary) soloists, he wasn't super athletic compared to the jocks in Glee. He was just Kurt's boyfriend. He didn't even have that many good, actual friends outside of Kurt. But he had always hoped that the new members would somehow help him cement a secure spot as a leader of the New Directions. It wasn't because he wanted to be lead soloist or captain (he did, but he didn't want to give people the wrong impression) but because he just wanted to feel needed or at the very least, wanted.

And then there was the matter of comparing the two glee clubs. Especially the way they handled transitioning into new seasons.

The Warblers were able to recover from the loss of graduating students easily; they would move on. They would hold auditions for new members, new soloists, and new council members, while the New Directions mourned the loss of their soloists as they half-heartedly limped along. When the New Directions finally did allow new members to join, they were divided into the old and the new.

And Blaine couldn't help but feel caught in the middle.

Sure, he was a returning member. But he wasn't one of the "originals" that were still around. And he certainly didn't fit in with the young new kids who looked at everything with wide, starry eyes. He was just Blaine. Blaine the Warbler. Blaine the Dalton Boy. Blaine who transferred schools to be with his boyfriend, only to be left alone to wander the halls of a school that still didn't feel like home after almost two years of being there.

Which was why it didn't take much convincing from the Warblers to transfer back to Dalton. The transition back was surprisingly easy: his parents were actually thrilled that he was going back, the New Directions (with the exception of Sam) didn't seem to care whether he left or stayed, and the Warblers already had a soloist spot reserved for him. They treated him like a celebrity, like a show choir god. And Blaine would have been lying if he said he didn't mind the ego stroke, after all it was nice to have his talents appreciated by someone. It all made Blaine wonder if maybe it was fate that he should be going back.

The few (if any) doubts he had about returning immediately disappeared when he set foot on the Dalton campus. As he headed towards the familiar route to the dorms, the occasional random student (that he may or may not know) would approach him excitedly, welcoming him back. He had forgotten what it felt like to be popular, to fit in, to be that guy that everyone wanted to be friends with.

He glanced down at the crumpled page in his hands, quietly muttering the number of his dorm room under his breath so he wouldn't forget it. He scanned the hallway full of closed mahogany doors, each engraved with gold numbers proclaiming which room was which. Walking down the hall in red capris and a black sweater as he carried several boxes in his arms, Blaine couldn't help but be reminded of when he transferred to Dalton for the first time. He had been a scared little boy with a broken body and a bruised sense of trust in others. Now he was a lonely boy with a broken heart and a lack of direction in his life.

Standing in front of the door that was supposedly his room, Blaine took a deep breath. He was suddenly nervous. He wasn't sure why he was nervous, after all, he really had nothing to be nervous about. But maybe it was because for some strange reason, knocking on the door would make it real. Knocking on that door would be the end of McKinley and the beginning of Dalton (Part Two). As soon as he met his roommate and rejoined his Warbler friends, he would no longer have to keep in touch with anyone at McKinley. There would be no need to, because he will have moved on. If he knocked on that door, there would be no turning back.

He took another deep breath and knocked on the door with a bright (albeit fake, as his smiles were never real anymore) smile. Less than three seconds later, the door opened to reveal the surprised and elated face of one Nick Duval.

"Blaine!" Nick cried, grinning widely and Blaine sighed in relief. A small part of him had been secretly worried he'd end up with a creep for a roommate. But what happened next he would have found comical, had Blaine not been so physically and emotionally drained.

Practically every door in the dimly lit hallway flung open and the heads of almost every Warbler poked out of their respective doorways with wide smiles on their faces. It reminded Blaine faintly of dogs at a shelter when a potential adopter came along.

"Blaine?"

"As in Anderson?"

"Blaine!"

"He's back! He's back for real!"

And suddenly, the formerly silent hallway was transformed into a cacophony of excited laughs and chatter as the Warblers all surrounded Blaine in a massive pile of hugging and Warblers. Blaine blinked in shock. Too many voices reached his ears and his tired brain could barely register what anyone was saying, so he just plastered a sheepish smile on his face as he tried to make his way into his room. The boxes were heavy and he really just wanted to sleep. Secretly, he felt like the Warblers were taking the whole "celebration" thing a tad too far, as he felt like a celebrity with all the swarming and questions. He was pretty sure someone even snapped a picture.

"Guys, he hasn't even set foot in our room yet. Give him a chance to relax," Nick called over the chatter. Blaine shot him a grateful look and he nodded in response. Blaine was eternally grateful that fate seemed to be on his side in choosing his roommate. "Let's help him unpack," Nick added after a moment.

Blaine almost kissed Nick in gratitude.

"So what are you doing back at Dalton?" Trent had asked once they all settled down into Nick's (and now Blaine's) room. Dalton boys covered literally every possible space. Some lounged on the floor, on Nick's bed, in the spare chairs, and a few even sat on Blaine's currently unused desk. Blaine, Nick, and Jeff sat perched on Blaine's bed.

Blaine sighed. Good question, he thought as he played with a loose thread on his cardigan. "Well..." He began quietly. "...I was thinking. About what you guys had said when I...visited last." He decided 'visited' was an appropriate loose term for 'I came back to take the New Directions trophy that you guys had stolen but then it ended up being a ploy to get me to come back to Dalton. A ploy that actually worked'. "And I thought about what I wanted to do with my life, and what people I wanted in it. And I decided that I belonged here. With you guys." He smiled brightly, his smile a little bit more forced than necessary.

"But didn't you say McKinley was where your heart is?" Someone, most likely a freshman or new kid, asked from the back. He was immediately silenced with several dozen voices hissing 'shhhh' or 'shut up!' A few people even threw pillows at the poor kid.

Blaine paled visibly at his words, and that was when it hit him like a ton of bricks again. Kurt hated him. The New Directions hated him. He cheated on the love of his life. He screwed up so badly that his entire life was one big mess full of stops and starts and restarts. He'd transferred high schools three times in the past few years. And he had nothing to show for it. He'd gone from a confused, scared kid to Dalton's top boy to some sad failure with no direction in his life in the course of a few years.

Blaine wasn't really sure what to say in response to that, so he wracked his brain for something to say, something to change the subject matter. When he came up short and an awkward, terse silence started to form, he began to panic. He was terrified the Warblers would realize he was no longer the chipper, dapper, lovestruck, happy-go-lucky boy that they had known and loved. He'd changed, he'd grown up. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry long as the sound of yelling and a door slamming captured everyone's attention.

"You take it back, Smythe!"

"Why should I, Clarington?"

"You suck. You are the most intolerable, insufferable person I have ever met!"

"Your girlfriend thought otherwise last night."

"I'm going to fucking kill you!"

Blaine blinked in surprise when the Warblers collectively groaned. Everyone rolled their eyes and muttered complaints under their breath. He frowned in confusion, as no one looked too concerned.

"Let's go break it up," Jeff said with a resigned sigh. He stood up and the rest of the Warblers followed suit as they filled out into the hallway. Blaine followed, looking around bewilderedly. He had absolutely no idea why they were treating it so commonplace. Blaine's eyes widened at the sight that greeted them in the hall.

Sebastian stood in the middle of the hallway with his hair disheveled, his dress shirt untucked with his tie loose and blazer missing, a feral snarl on his face, and a lacrosse stick in hand. Opposite him was Hunter Clarington, dressed in a similar manner, wielding a baseball bat dangerously.

What surprised Blaine the most about the scene was Hunter. He hadn't talked much with the boy, and the few conversations they had made Blaine inclined to dislike him, but Blaine had immediately received the impression that Hunter was a composed and collected individual. Apparently, he was wrong.

"You're a fucking moron," Hunter snapped at Sebastian, throwing the baseball bat onto the ground in frustration.

"Says the guy who named his cat after Hitler," Sebastian retorted snidely, his green eyes blazing venomously. He was breathing heavily and it was clear to Blaine that was from both anger and running from an irate Hunter. But clearly Sebastian wasn't in the most tranquil of moods either. Blaine couldn't remember a time that he'd seen Sebastian look even remotely disheveled before now.

"It was my grandfather's name," Hunter spat through bared teeth, reminding Blaine of —coincidentally— an irritated cat with its fur standing on end.
"Still," Sebastian snorted. "Who names a cat Adolf?" He sneered and shook his head. "Nazis and Assholes. So which one are you?"

The hallway fell silent for just a split second, everyone's eyes flitting between Hunter and Sebastian in terrified anxiety. Blaine knew he should do something, someone should do something. But he was too sluggish and shocked to do anything other than gawk in horror.

The dead, still silence lasted for about two seconds before Hunter lunged for Sebastian. And that was when all hell —quite literally— broke loose.

Hunter clearly had more muscle on him, but Sebastian had speed. It was clear they were a pretty even match as they fought bitterly on the floor. Blaine was faintly recalling a wrestling match he had seen at McKinley, and he decided the current fight was more reminiscent of a cross between that and one of the unorganized fights that used to break out in Fight Club. Sebastian and Hunter were currently locked in a fierce struggle on the ground as they cursed and spewed insults. It seemed Sebastian was swearing in French, and Hunter in German.

To make matters worse, the Warblers did nothing to help. They crowded around the fight, some cheering them on while others screamed to stop. Blaine noticed Thad filming the fight on his phone, while Jeff seemed to be taking bets on who would win. He was just having trouble grasping the fact that this was what the Warblers had become: a group of seemingly leaderless wild boys, looking for the quickest source of excitement.

And just as quickly as the fight had started, it ended.

Nick had somehow managed to find a fire-extinguisher and aimed it towards the brawling boys with such practiced skill that Blaine realized it probably wasn't the first time Nick had done this. "Break it up!" Nick yelled in frustration as he sprayed the boys. "That's enough!" Blaine watched in a mixture of terror and amusement as Hunter and Sebastian recoiled sharply away from each other. The minute the pair stopped fighting, several Warblers were grabbing and dragging the two boys in opposite directions.

"That is enough," Nick repeated once things had died down. "Sebastian, you're sleeping in Jeff's room tonight. Hunter, your ass better not leave your room if you know what's good for you." Nick's eyes scanned around the hall in such an authoritative manner that Blaine couldn't help but be incredibly impressed. "Everyone else, back to your rooms. Continue on, there's nothing to see here."

The Warblers gradually broke apart and drifted down the halls back to their respective dorms. Hunter and Sebastian continued to shoot each other death glares until a disgruntled-looking Jeff dragged Sebastian back to his room. Eventually, only Blaine and Nick remained in the quiet, chemical foam-covered hallway.

"Nice job, Captain," Blaine joked weakly after a few moments of stunned, awkward silence. He still wasn't quite sure what had happened, or what was going on. He'd only been back at Dalton for about three hours, and he already seemed to be forced into the latest drama.

Nick shrugged and set the fire extinguisher down. "It's one of the perks of being one of the few seniors that have been part of the Warblers all four years," he said quietly. Blaine frowned, as he couldn't help but feel like that was a shot directed at him.

"Nick," Blaine said quietly. "I'm...I'm not the same Blaine that was your captain. I'm not that guy anymore. I-I can't just be that guy who bursts into song at any given moment." He looked down at his feet with a sigh. "I'm sorry." He felt bad. He didn't want to let the Warblers down. But he knew he couldn't just resume being the Blaine that Dalton knew and loved. Everyone expected a different Blaine: one for Dalton, one for McKinley, one for Kurt, one for his parents, one for his bullies. Sometimes he felt like there were 50 Shades of Blaine.

"Good," Nick said finally, a tired smile on his face. "Because we certainly aren't the same Warblers that you left. Make no mistake, we've been through some tough shit too."

"People change," Blaine said with a sigh, his words holding more meaning that he let on.

"Nothing ever stays the same," Nick agreed.

Blaine couldn't agree more.