"Who's that boy?"
Sebastian turned his head to where Nick pointed to a boy around their age exit out of the Head Mistress's office. Taking his time to note all of his attributes he quickly decided that he was very interested.
Obviously this boy must be a new student because if someone like that had been walking the halls of Dalton he would have known. He was a little on the short side but Sebastian had never been particularly fond of men the same height as his six feet. His black hair was slicked back into a dapper style with too much hair gel. Sebastian was already imagining the positions the two of them could get into with his slight but well-toned body.
"You don't waste anytime do you?" Nick sighed out noting the intrigued look on his friend's face.
"Those who waste time never enjoy it," Sebastian quickly replied but his eyes tracked the movements of the beautiful boy who was now slipping a manila folder into his bag, "Would you excuse me?"
"Remember we have Warbler practice tomorrow," Nick calls out, watching Sebastian slip into the crowd of students moving about to their next class. Sebastian managed to give a final wave of acknowledgement before disappearing.
He does a wide circle around the boy in order to get a closer inspection of him. He observes with appreciation the near perfect ass, the curve of his jaw line, the strength in his back muscles. Without the other boy noticing Sebastian comes to a full stop in front of him waiting patiently for the boy to notice him. For a moment he's distracted by the long, full eyelashes the fan across his cheekbones then is suddenly startled by a pair of hazel eyes staring up at him.
"Hello there," Sebastian offers smoothly with a charming smirk, "I couldn't help but notice you're new. Do you need help finding any of your classes?"
The boy remains quiet, eyes moving about him rapidly taking in all of his features. Now usually when people gazed up at him it was in awe or lust, but Sebastian could not help but detect the fear in this boy's eyes.
"I'm fine," the boy finally mumbled out, taking a large step backwards to place more distance between them. A frown temporally mares Sebastian's face but he takes the reaction in stride, after all he's not the kind to give up that easily.
"Are you sure there is nothing I can help you with?" His voice dips down to an intimate, low whisper meant to captivate the person he's speaking to. The boy just stares up at him in wide, confused eyes.
Sebastian is starting to find it very odd. Maybe this boy is just shy or possibly straight despite the alarms of his gaydar going off.
He reaches out to touch the boy's arm to make any kind of connection with him but to his surprise the boy jerks back harshly at the attempt. The boy stumbles back on unsteady feet, body tensed up like he expected Sebastian to hit him.
"I need to go," he stutters out before turning around and nearly running down the now empty hallway.
Sebastian remains rooted to the spot wondering what had caused such a reaction and if he'll ever see this boy again.
The mornings are the worst for him.
The pale morning light that seeps through his window curtains remind him that it is a brand new day that Blaine can't bring himself to look forward to.
Today is his first official day at Dalton academy after the 'incident' at his old school. The event no one talks about in hopes that it will disappear from their memories but Blaine cannot forget. He is reminded of it everywhere he goes, his constant companion and burden. Sometimes he's afraid that other people can see what he carries, that it hangs around him like a black shroud.
Blaine squeezes his eyes shut and breathes in slowly.
No, he has to stop thinking that way, because today is a new day. Today he enrolls in a school that will protect him in ways his old one did not. He can finally start breathing again instead of holding his breath waiting until the next attack. But none of that can start until he gets up.
Blaine pushes aside the cover and swings his legs over the bed.
His room is completely empty save for the furniture. Yesterday his parents helped him move all of his possessions into the small single dorm room on campus. They reassure him that being away from home will be for the best. That Dalton can help him readjust to being around other people.
He walks to his barren closet that only contains his new uniform. With care he slips his pajama top over his head still expecting to feel the throb of pain by making his back muscles move. He has forgotten that the bruises and cuts healed weeks ago, leaving him only these phantom pains that have yet to vanish. His hands move quickly to put on the pants and dress shirt, loop the red and blue striped tie into a proper knot, then shrug on the dark blue blazer. After smoothing down the wrinkles Blaine give himself a once over in the mirror.
He does not look like himself which gives him the first hope that he can get through this day.
After taming his curls with his gel, Blaine softly makes his way down the stairs to the kitchen. His father sits at the table behind the newspaper and does not acknowledge Blaine entering the room. His mother gives him a weak smile that he finds difficult to return. Without a word she places a plate of food in front of him that Blaine has no appetite for but he'll eat it anyways. Not eating is a sign that he's gone back to that dark frame of mind again, which means he'll have to return to the pills and seeing the doctor he never liked.
The family eats in silence. No one dares to catch each other's eye or speak a word to break the quiet. Blaine does not know what he could say to undo this habit they have fallen into. It was not always like this, once upon a time they were a happy family. Until Blaine and the 'incident' happened and he remembers why he does not bother to speak anymore.
Blaine leaves the house right on time. He tells his father to have a good day at work receiving a grunt in return. His mother follows him to the door watching him put on his coat. He can tell she wants to fuss over him, straighten out his tie or remind him to eat properly, but she holds back. She barely touches him now, a flash of fear crosses her eyes whenever she attempts.
He won't see her for weeks and he wished he felt worse about it.
He formally says goodbye and gives her a stiff nod. As he walks away from the only home he's ever known Blaine does not notice her watching him from the living room window. Her eyes never leaving his form until he is gone.
"Can I please have order," Wes demands, slamming the gravel down hard twice to emphasis his request. Warbler practice never starts on time but that is to be expected when you have a large group of teenage boys.
Sebastian watches in amusement as Wes's sends his patented death glare to Nick and Jeff who are giggling over a YouTube video on Nick's phone. The two boys blush sheepishly, eying wearily the gravel that's pointed at them. The day Wes finally snaps and starts throwing his gravel at those who don't listen to him will be one of the best in Sebastian's life.
"Thank you," Wes states tersely, "Now before we start discussing solo auditions we need to bring an important item to the table."
Wes turns his head to make eye contact with David who nods solemnly.
"We will have someone watching our meeting today," David laces his fingers together on top of the table, "But he has yet to accept our invitation to join."
A ripple of confused murmurs travel through the room, the idea that someone would not immediately accept an invitation to be a Warbler is unbelievable.
"Is he any good?" Trent asks skeptically.
"He's amazing," Thad the last member on the council table sighs out, "I saw him perform last year at King's Island."
Sebastian wonders if Thad's fan-girl opinion should be taken seriously, especially if he saw this person perform at an amusement park. People who do shows at amusement parks do so as a last resort before prostitution.
"Another thing to take into consideration," David's eyes move across the room to make sure they are paying attention, "Is that this boy is a Level One."
The room has now entered into a shocked silence. Since its reputation for a zero policy against bullying Dalton has become a safe haven for those tormented at their old schools. There is an unspoken system in place that categorizes these students into the severity of bullying they suffered from. Level One is the worst category to be in and many in the room can't remember the last time they had a Level One.
Pleased that everyone is not quiet Wes speaks up again, "I want everyone to treat this boy with caution and sympathy."
Each boy nods in agreement till Wes feels that his point has been made.
"Can you let him in Thad?"
The short, dark hair boy nearly leaps from his seat and excitedly moves to the large doors. When he returns the boy that had caught Sebastian's interest yesterday is with him.
Sebastian smirks appraising at how well he wears the uniform, perhaps he will get his second chance after all.
"Everyone this is Blaine Anderson," Thad announces excitedly with a hand flourish that makes Sebastian roll his eyes. Seriously, Thad needed to learn restraint if he did not want to remain a virgin till he was thirty.
Blaine gives a half wave, though his eyes are not fixed on the ground, he's not exactly making eye contact with anyone.
"Lovely to have you Blaine," Wes says warmly that is kind of off putting, "Please take any seat."
Without another word Blaine moves silently to the back of the room to one of the chairs against the far wall. From this angle Sebastian can only see the profile of his face that is a complete blank mask.
"Shall we begin?" Wes cracks the gavel down once again to official start the meeting.
Like all Warbler meetings the pace is slow and decisions take forever because everyone wants a turn to debate their point. Sebastian wonders if a choir club run by committee is the preferable method when simply having one leader to direct them would be more effective. It is his secret plan to one day take over this club and make them act like a team instead of children who squabble over the politics of a Lady Gaga song. Until then Sebastian continues to silently enjoy these meetings, the best part being when David and Trent start throwing out subtle insults to vent their frustrations.
Today however he splits his time observing the new boy, who watches the proceedings with a curious fascination but says nothing. Sebastian hopes David's long speech on the greatness of Bryan McKnight songs does not scare him away.
After a painfully long hour of getting nowhere Wes's bangs the gavel to call the meeting to an end. Sebastian wastes no time in getting up from his chair to make his way over to Blaine for that second attempt. Only to find the chair he occupied to be completely empty.
"Well that was fun," Nick groans under his breath coming up to Sebastian's side with Jeff tailing behind him.
"I can't believe David called me an ill-educated degenerate for wanting to do a Shakira song," Jeff moans pitifully, Nick giving him a comforting pat on the back.
"Let's hurry down to the cafeteria," Nick offers up encouragingly, "It's Italian tonight."
The blonde perks up at Nick's words with a happy grin on his face, and Sebastian silently wishes these two would make it official already. He follows them out the room because out of all the Warblers Nick and Jeff are the only ones he can sit through a whole meal with. Halfway down the main staircase he realizes that he left his math text in the music room when Jeff asks to borrow it.
"We'll save you some garlic bread," Nick shouts is an amiable tone to his retreating back which makes Sebastian feel both annoyed and pleased.
The hallways are completely empty and Sebastian revels in the quiet. After a long day of hearing other people talk, it's nice to have time to actually hear your thoughts. Especially his thoughts are fixated exclusively on the new boy; what's his story? How can Sebastian get closer to him? Are those lips as soft as they look?
Completely lost in these important matters it takes Sebastian a second to realize he can hear music softly, wafting through the air coming from the music room. He figures someone left their phone behind then he reaches the door and it is undeniably someone playing the piano.
Through the crack of the door Sebastian spies in expecting to see Wes or David but is pleasantly surprised it's Blaine. He recognizes the song as Beethoven's "Pathetique," despite the fact he was never particularly interested in classical music. His grandfather on the other had viewed it as a religion. As a child Sebastian was dragged to many concerts and promptly fell asleep at most of them due to boredom. If only the musicians there played like Blaine then his attention would have never wavered.
Blaine's fingers move nimbly over the keys, playing the song with technical ease while still managing to fill each note with the right amount emotion. The pensive expression of concentration is strangely entrancing, his eyes closed while his upper body sways gently to the music.
There is something captivating about this boy.
He is not simply playing the keys but instead bringing forth a life to it.
There is a vibrancy he has yet to see Blaine himself express on his own.
"What are you doing here?"
The sound of Blaine's voice catches Sebastian off guard especially the infuriated tone to his voice.
Sebastian stares back at the boy whose hazel eyes flash between fear and anger neither emotion truly dominating over the other. It's hard to watch this boy tear himself apart in front of him.
"What do you want from me?" Blaine demands as he stands up. His body language tells that he's ready to fight off Sebastian, like he's expecting this to come to physical blows.
"I left my math text," He answers quickly not wanting to antagonize him further, "What's wrong with – "
"Just leave me alone!" Blaine shouts out immediately deflating afterwards as though those words took everything out of him, "Just stop watching me."
Sebastian strangely wants to explain that he never meant to harm him or invoke this reaction out of him. But the boy before him is like a powder keg that only needs the flame from one match to go off. He stands back as Blaine gathers his things and rushes out of the room not meeting Sebastian in the eye.
Alone in the music room Sebastian wonders if there will be a time Blaine make him feel baffled when he leaves.
He walks to the piano and lets his hand glide across the black and white keys playing a short melody. The music does not come out nearly as beautiful as when Blaine played.
The next day Sebastian paid extra close attention to watching Blaine.
The boy he now sees talking to David is completely different from the one he saw last night. The way Blaine holds his body reserved and withdrawn. How hyper aware he is of his surroundings, flinching at every unexpected sound or drawing himself further away when someone moves in closer. He's a puzzle that Sebastian wants to figure out, to get to the bottom of.
The Blaine he sees before him does not even compare to the one last night. The Blaine that was fierce and consumed by the music he was playing is the one he wants to see more of.
It's just a matter of figuring how to do it.
"You seem distracted," Wes drawls out suddenly appearing beside his table in the library. Several tables over Blaine is quietly listening to an animated Jeff explain something with wild hand gestures. There's a bemused grin tugging at Blaine's lips, not seeming to be put off by the blonde Warbler's antics. He is however leaning his body slightly backwards not totally comfortable by how easily Jeff barges into his personal space. Though to be fair only Nick is comfortable with Jeff not observing the four foot rule of personal space.
Sebastian tilts his head up towards Wes who is gazing down at him with a worried expression on his face. A concern that is most certainly not directed towards him.
The two of them never got on since the day Sebastian started here. He finds Wes to be a pompous, overbearing know-it-all while Wes is not changing his opinion of Sebastian being an egotistical troublemaker. Often the two simply never interact unless forced but always keeping an eye on the other.
"There's a lot on my mind," Sebastian sighed out in false distress, "My woes are many."
"Uh huh. Perhaps it centers on Blaine Anderson," Wes counters with a frown.
"Perhaps," Sebastian shrugs nonchalantly turning his attention back on Blaine. Jeff has finally left him in peace; he can't help but notice how Blaine's shoulders are now more relaxed.
"Are you even sure he's gay?" Wes apparently has not taken the hint to leave him alone.
Sebastian tosses him a disbelieving look, like anyone could possibly doubt his ability to pick out the gay boys.
"Even if he was straight I'd still be able to convince him to experiment."
"You need to stop whatever your planning," Wes moves in order to block his view of Blaine, "He's been through a lot Sebastian even you can tell that. The last thing he needs is someone treating him like a plaything."
Sebastian thinks back to last night when Blaine yelled at him with not anger in his eyes but terror.
"I find him curious," He answers honestly because Wes is not the type to gossip it around. That is the only aspect of his usual boring personality that Sebastian respects.
Wes does not answer straight away; no doubt his reply was not the one he expected.
"You need to be someone he can trust," Wes states bluntly, surprisingly his tone lacks any condescension, "Can you do that?"
When Sebastian remains silent for over five minutes Wes finally walks away, leaving him to his tangled thoughts.
Here's the thing about trust; it has to works both ways.
For that very reason there is no one in Sebastian's life that he trusts. In order to gain trust you have to first make yourself vulnerable. You have to open yourself up to someone else and pray that they don't abuse it.
It's a chance that he swore he would never take again.
At this point he should cut his losses. Blaine is certainly good looking but there are plenty of gorgeous guys who throw themselves at his feet every day. Sebastian should save himself the trouble and forget about him. What does Blaine Anderson mean to him? He barely knows the boy, and from what he's seen Blaine is a troubled individual. Taking care of another person's feelings or problems is just not in his repertoire.
But then he thinks of those hazel eyes and the fire he saw there.
The sound of piano made when Blaine played it, pouring everything he had into the music.
It's those two things that he simply can't let go of that brings him to the music room.
This time Blaine isn't even playing just sitting on the piano bench hands by his sides.
He clears his throat when Blaine either doesn't notice or pretends he doesn't notice that he's entered the room. Blaine's shoulders instantly tense up and Sebastian wonders about the amount of knots he must have there. He resists the urge to suggest he could smooth those out for Blaine with a dark smirk.
"Hope I'm not interrupting you...you sitting alone in a room," Sebastian awkwardly starts, the situation made worse since Blaine won't turn around to meet his gaze.
"I just wanted to say that maybe I should not have made a pass at you that morning," Sebastian skillfully ducks around using the word 'sorry' since he finds it beneath him to use, "Most guys enjoy the attention but apparently you don't."
Blaine is still not responding, but he takes the lack of yelling as a sign to continue.
"You also don't like it when people listen to you play," Sebastian notices a small tremble in Blaine's shoulders, "Which I actually find really odd."
The shaking has now increased that his entire body is consumed by it, at first he thought he provoked the boy into another rage until he hears the laughter.
"That has to be the worst," Blaine turns to give a half amused and half flabbergasted look, "Apology anyone has ever given."
"I'm offended by that," Sebastian has to hold back from getting caught up in Blaine's infectious laughter, "I excel at everything."
Blaine rolls his eyes, it's the first time his mannerisms have been unguarded, and Sebastian can't help but feel pleased.
"You're too much," He shakes his head in bewilderment, "Next time start with a 'sorry'."
"I have a better offer," Sebastian announces smugly which in turn causes Blaine to gaze at him suspiciously, "My services as a mentor."
"Um...what?"
"You desperately need to be taken under the wing of someone with experience," He shrugs in a self-satisfied manner, "I'm someone with experience."
"Not the kind I want help in," Blaine snorts but has yet to officially turn him down.
"I promise to keep my hands to myself," a crafty grin spread slowly across his face, "Unless of course you don't want me to."
"I'd rather you did."
"Then I'll stick to being your mentor," Sebastian can see Blaine wavering but not completely on board, "Like in Queer for Folk, I'll be the Brian to your Justin."
"They end up together," Blaine deadpans.
"We'll just skip that part," Sebastian steps further into the room satisfied when Blaine does not try to place more distance between them, "Do we have a deal?"
"Why should I trust you?" Blaine counters his guard going back up.
Sebastian does not have an answer to that.
"Guess you'll have to take a risk," He holds out his hand to Blaine hoping he didn't see the hesitation in his own voice.
For a minute Blaine eyes his outstretched hand cautiously before sliding his own into a light handshake.
It's a start, of what Sebastian is not entirely sure of.
A/N: It's official I've caught the Seblaine fever that's been going around. This will be an interesting journey for me considering I've only written Klaine before.
Next chapter: Sebastian tries to convince a reluctant Blaine to audition for a solo.
