Rory sighed as he looked at the notice on the classroom door. CLASS IN COMPUTER LAB 265 TO WORK ON PROJECTS.
How did anyone expect him to find the computer lab? Most of the class seemed to dart off as soon as they saw the notice, nobody stopping to ask Rory if he knew where he was going. Rory wrote the room number in his notebook, and then plucked up the courage to ask the cute redhead in his class where this room was.
"Hey, Meg-"
"Top o' the mornin', Irish." A fellow classmate said, before knocking his notebook out of his hand. Rory's face turned as red as Meg's hair as he went to pick it up, but when he returned, Meg was being led to class by the bully.
What was he going to do? He refused to ask anyone else in class. He could skip class? No, he couldn't do that. He could find Brittany? No, odds are she would get lost, too. Maybe he could ask Finn Hudson? He seemed to like him, right? No, he didn't want to scare Finn away with all these questions, considering Finn was the only friend he had made thus far. But he still needed to get to class, fast.
Rory noticed a familiar face from Glee Club closing his locker. He was tan, with dark hair gelled back, and was wearing brightly colored clothes. What was his name again? Blaise? Blake? Brian? Whatever it was, Rory was getting desperate, and this boy seemed nice enough in Glee Club; it wouldn't hurt to ask for directions, right?
"Excuse me," Rory began nervously. "Would you mind telling me where the computer lab is?"
"Which one?" The dark haired boy grinned. Rory frowned. There were different computer labs?! "Hey, you tried out for glee club, right?"
"Yes, sir." Rory nodded enthusiastically.
"Well, you did an awesome job." He said encouragingly, and held out his hand. "I'm Blaine Anderson."
"Me name's Rory Flanagan." He said, shaking it.
"Nice Irish name if I ever heard one." Blaine complimented. "Which lab did you say you were going to again?"
"Well, I wasn't aware there were different ones..." Rory laughed uneasily, taking out his notebook. "Luckily I wrote it down. It says room 265."
"Wow, that's on the other side of the school, Rory!" Blaine exclaimed. "So, go to the end of this hallway, and take a left, then take the SECOND staircase you see up to the next floor. Once there, you go-"
Blaine noticed Rory's face, utterly confused. "You know what? I'll take you to it, c'mon."
"Oh, no, you really don't have to do that. If you give me the general direction, I should find it one way or another."
"No, I insist. I was new this year, too. Luckily I had the luxury of knowing the whole glee club beforehand. But if I didn't, things would've been even harder. It's never easy being new."
"Try being new to the country." Rory said dismally, catching up to him.
"I bet the accent throws some people off, doesn't it?" Blaine said fairly.
"Yeah. You'd think more people would be able to understand an Irish accent, don't ya?" Rory sighed.
Blaine could understand why, but he didn't have the heart to tell Rory. Sometimes his words did seem to jumble together. Luckily, his grandmother came from Ireland, so he was used to the accent and could easily understand Rory.
"Not too big of an Irish population here, surprisingly." Blaine informed him. "I'm fifty percent, though."
"You don't say?" Rory noted.
"Yeah, I'm also fifty percent Filipino, so it kind of throws people off." He laughed. There was silence for a moment. Rory didn't know how to respond. He had never met anyone of Filipino descent, they didn't have any in Ireland, and he didn't know how to keep this conversation going. His replies had to be nothing less than interesting, or else Blaine might leave him alone, like almost everyone else in the school.
"So, you like Glee Club, then?"
"Yeah, I've always been involved in Glee club one way or another in high school. This is my third school, and third glee club. I'll admit it, I was the star of the Dalton Academy Warblers, and I miss them a lot, but the New Directions has to be my favorite. There's just a great since of family, you know?" Blaine explained.
Family. That was something Rory really needed right now. "They seem like a good bunch. Finn Hudson is a great lad. And I'm staying with Brittany...she's really something, isn't she?" Blaine could tell by his smile that Rory had some interest in Brittany, unaware of her feelings for Santana. That conversation could be saved for another time.
"Yeah. They all responded to your audition enthusiastically. Rachel Berry called you 'magical'. And Kurt couldn't stop complaining about you!" He laughed.
Rory gave him a funny face. "Complaining? I don't know about you Americans, but in Ireland, complaining is usually a bad thing."
Blaine chuckled. "It is, except in Kurt's case. It means he's extremely jealous of you. He is under the impression that your falsetto is going to outshine him."
Rory smiled. So...he was good? "Well, I guess I didn't do too badly."
"Rory, you're great!" Blaine said encouragingly. "Kurt is the most talented man I know. If he feels threatened by you, then that means you're doing something right."
Rory's smile suddenly faded. Kurt felt...threatened? "He's not going to hurt me, right? Not like everyone else?"
Blaine frowned. He didn't think things would be so hard on the poor Irish kid, but he must be wrong. "No. Kurt wouldn't do that. People like Kurt and I get bullied enough as it is, and we'd never do it to others."
"You get bullied? For what?" Rory couldn't comprehend why the cool and confident Blaine Anderson would be bullied.
"I'm gay, Rory. And Kurt is too. We've been dating for about six months now. For some reason, this bothers some people. I try not to let it get to me."
"Oh." Rory said.
Blaine could not determine what Rory's reaction meant. "And if it bothers you, I'm afraid our conversation ends here."
"No, not at all! It's cool, actually. Where I come from, people are more reserved and afraid to express yourselves. I think it's great you don't hide who you are." Rory said truthfully.
"Oh," Blaine grinned sheepishly, embarrassed he accused Rory of being homophobic. "Cool. I'm sorry I was defensive. Some people just are really uncomfortable around gay people. They have this belief that I'm going to hit on every male I talk to." He gave a bitter laugh. "Some guys are just full of it. They need to stop flattering themselves. As if I would hit on them! I have standards."
Rory laughed uneasily. He wasn't in the same situation, but he could relate. "People are so judgmental and stereotypical. Half the people I've met here think that I'm a leprechaun!"
"I guess stereotypes come with every high school." Blaine sighed.
"You can't stop people judging you, but you can stop you yourself from caring." Rory said wisely.
Blaine stopped and thought about that for a moment. "Hm. I like that, Rory. Good philosophy to live by."
"Yep."
"Well, here we are, Lab 265!" Blaine said brightly.
"Thank you so much, Blaine."
"Anytime, buddy. Just name a class, and I'll take you to it. And I'm sure any of the new directions members would help you out to." He said, and added with an afterthought, "Well, maybe not Kurt, just yet. He'll come around." He smiled. "But maybe we shouldn't tell him about this conversation just yet. He'd accuse me of 'fraternizing with the enemy', or something like that." He laughed.
Rory laughed too, and let slip before he could stop himself, "Would you like to be my friend?" Shoot. Finn Hudson told him guys don't ask that!
"It's too late." Blaine grinned. "You're already stuck with me."