Chapter 11: Valentines

Songs used: Young Volcanoes by: Fall Out Boy, A Thousand Years by: Christina Perri

Ben wanders by himself, humming a random song under his breath. He hears footsteps and sighs to see Tanner running towards him.

"Hey you!" chirps Tanner, smiling and taking his hand.

"Hi," Ben says, smiling despite himself.

"How are you feeling today?"

"Kinda shitty, as usual."

Tanner frowns, concerned. "Are you sure you don't want to go to a counselor or something? They'd help you."

"I'm not going to a fucking counselor!" Ben snaps, "I'm too poor anyways!"

"I wish you would tell someone…"

"I don't trust people, Cooper, and you're going to have to deal with it."

Tanner sighs, staring at the ground as they walk aimlessly. "Sorry. I just hate to see you so worn-down."

"Well get used to it." Ben releases an exasperated sigh.

"Fine, I'll try." The two boys continue their walk in silence.

After a long silence between them, Tanner speaks up, in a quiet voice.

"Ben, can I talk to you? It's serious, though. I feel like you've trusted so much to me that I should let you in on some things about me. I trust you."

"Why?"

"Because you've put your trust in me. I'm ready to return the favor."

"Uh, sure? What's on your mind?"

"I'm worried about coming out."

"Huh?"

"My parents. They're homophobes. They want to set me up with a girl from my school."

Ben bites his lip. "Yeah?"

"Mmhm."

"I'm afraid of mine, too."

"I was wondering if you'd come home with me."

Ben stops in his tracks. "Huh?"

"I want you to be there when I come out to my parents. Please… I'm really scared."

"I-I don't think I can do that."

"I… I can't make you, but… It'd just mean so much, to have you there, if you care enough to go with me…."

"I couldn't. I'd mess up too bad."

"Please!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Then at least… Can't you come to glee club with me on Saturday? Just sit and watch?"

Ben huffs. "Fine."

Tanner sighs quietly, frowning. "I'll… I'll see you then." He turns around and walks away.

~.~.

"Hey. You okay?"

Marvel looks up from where he was curled up in the seat of the auditorium, waiting for the other glee club members to show up for their Saturday rehearsal.

"Oh. Hi there Rue."

"You don't look so good."

"It's Valentine's Day. Another reminder that I can't hold on to a girlfriend."

Rue takes a seat beside him, her gentle brown eyes twinkling with concern.

"Where's Skeeter?"

"Coming."

"Hm."

Rue puts a hand gently on his shoulder. "Have you talked to Poppy since the parade?"

He sighs quietly and shakes his head, "No. Haven't even looked at her."

"That may be the place to start. I'm sure she'll understand, everyone has days like that sometimes."

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts. This relationship isn't going to be over unless you exterminate it yourselves. I'm sure she'd listen if you talked."

"I was just so scared and stressed out. Really, I still am."

"That happens to most every couple sometimes. I was a mess during finals week, and he was a mess pretty much all of last year. There have definitely been times where we lost tempers with each other, but we're still doing okay."

"Yeah, but you're you two. You've been friends since you could even toddle."

"That might be true, but that certainly doesn't make us the perfect couple in any kind of way. We still have stumbles and roadblocks, just like you."

"I guess we're overreacting…"

Rue winks. "Maybe just a little bit."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up."

Rue grins at him and leans back, "Aw, you know you love me!"

"For some reason," Marvel sighs.

The two make casual small-talk as the other students soon arrive in the auditorium for practice.

Byna sits by herself, nose buried in a book. This is the longest she's been in the same room as Crawley and able to read. Her fellow drum major paces around the room, biting his lip. Finally, after going over what he wants to say, he sits next to her.

Byna glances up and waits for him to start talking before greeting him.

"Hey," he says shyly.

She smiles slightly, closing her book. "Hi Crawley."

"Happy Valentine's Day," he says shyly.

"Same."

He holds out a rose and she takes it with the nimble fingers of a pianist.

"Would you like to be mine?" he asks. "We wouldn't have tell your parents, or anyone really…" he mumbles quickly.

"You don't give up easily, do you?" she asks, an amused expression intruding her facial features.

"When it's something as precious as you, nope!" he chirps cheerily. "So, what do you say?"

Byna glances at the rose, her cheeks rosy in flattery. "Alright." She glances up at him, "We can give it a try."

"Yeah!" Crawley fist-pumps happily. Byna rolls her eyes, smiling a bit despite herself.

"So, are you going to crack about that middle name situation?" she asks, amused.

"What?! Of course not!"

Byna giggles a bit to herself and neither can say much more before Mr. Everdeen starts rehearsal.

"Love," he says. "Obviously that's the theme for this rehearsal." He glances to where Prim happily pops some chocolate from Rory into her mouth.

"Love or lack thereof," Mr. Fellington remarks from the piano stool. All of the students exchange a look.

"Well, uh, anyways, is there anyone that would like to sing-"

Suddenly in comes Tanner, Ben holding his hand.

"Sorry we're late!" he says.

"Who invited Asswad!?" Jason groans. Locke kicks him in the shin and whispers, "Be nice."

Ben makes a face at Jason, muttering an annoyed "Gutterball," under his breath.

Tanner pulls him into a seat and Mr. Everdeen starts to talk again.

"Well, uh, welcome, Ben. We're glad you came back."

Ben grumbles but soon the others ignore him.

"So, is there anyone that would like to sing first?"

There's a pause when Crawley raises his hand. "I would!"

Byna suddenly realizes what this entails and buries her face in a book to keep the attention away from her, as if the action would.

Crawley takes the stage to a bunch of enthusiastic whooping from the other singers.

"This song goes out to you Byna. Together we're gonna flip society on its ass."

The music, a favorite song of his, starts to play, and a few of the students recognize the tune as soon as the pit starts singing, "La, do da dum, la da da da dum, la da da da, do da dum…"

The Archer sisters both have their phones out.

"What're you doing?" Kelley asks.

"Are you kidding?" whispers Miranda, giggling. "Our brothers at college have got to see this!"

And then, Crawley starts to sing. "When Rome's in ruins, we are the lions,
Free of the coliseums!
In poison places, we are anti-venom.
We're the beginning of the end!"

Byna squeaks and watches over her book, blushing. Her parents would never let her listen to such bands as Fall Out Boy, but every once in a while she would get the opportunity to in secret.

"We are wild! We are like young volcanoes!
We are wild! Americana, exotica,
Do you wanna feel a little beautiful baby?
Yeah!"

Crawley doesn't have a terrible voice, as the band had discovered when they let him alone for his Hey Baby solo. He smiles hugely, over the moon with happiness at finally getting Byna to give him a chance. Soon the rest of the glee club chimes in with the pit for background vocals.

Crawley taps his feet against the stool and lets the music take him away with the next verse,

Come on make it easy, say I never mattered!
Run it up the flagpole!

We will teach you, how to make boys next door
Out of assholes!"

He provides a small laugh before going on,

"Tonight, the foxes hunt the hounds!
It's all over now! Before it has begun,
We've already won!"

He sings the chorus with a new wave of joy, not noticing his sisters who giggle quietly as they film his song. Locke sings background with a jolly air; he likes to sing but definitely not by himself in front of so many people, no matter who those people might be. But, he happens to have quite a fondness for this song, and lets himself enjoy hearing it.

When the song is over everyone cheers and Crawley grins at Byna, who is squeaking with embarrassment but also very flattered.

As the applause dies out, one person continues clapping. Everyone looks toward the back of the auditorium to see a tall, slender woman with curly blonde hair that walks down the aisle to the stage.

"Not bad, really, very good! You've done a good job, Drakey Pie!" she giggles a bit. Their student teacher turns red as a tomato and sinks into the piano.

"Hey kiddos! I'm Miss Walker, I'm the student teacher at Capitol Academy."

"Oh yeah," the kids remember her caroling with them on Christmas.

"I just dropped by to give my Valentine's gift to Drake. Er, uh, Mr. Fellington."

"Honest to God, Champagne…" he buries his beet-red face in his hands.

"Is this boy your principal singer, Drakey?" Miss Walker hands him a bouquet of flowers and a heart-shaped box of candies, giggling.

"W-We don't really have one."

"Oh. Well our principal singer this year is very talented and going to drive Capitol Academy to victory. Do any of you know Holden Duch?"

The kids shake their heads, but Crawley hesitates because he does know that name. He knows it well. Finally he makes himself shake his head in denial.

"Well, he's got a really pretty voice. Mario left a legacy to be rivaled with, that's for sure. Though I'm sure Platty did as well."

Drake shrugs, looking awkward and blushing bright red.

"Anyways, I'll see you on Saint Patrick's Day!"

She turns around and walks out, the kids exchanging a look.

Crawley takes a seat next to Byna and puts an arm around her, trying to forget about that name Miss Walker said and feeling nervous. He gazes at Byna and silently reassures himself that Junior high was Junior high and that those days are gone.

"Curse Capitol Academy," sighs Skeeter, and everyone laughs.

"So Miss Walker, eh?" asks Rue.

"All of you shut it! There's nothing going on there!"

"Scandalous," Kelley says teasingly. Mr. Fellington growls, blushing harder, and the other kids all burst out into laughter.

Mr. Everdeen grins, "So, who would like to sing next?"

Rue stands up. "I would, if you don't mind."

"Sure thing! Come on up!"

Rue smiles and takes the stage, the others cheering her on, except for Skeeter, who sits and watches, dumbfounded.

Rue smiles softly as the track starts and says, "This song goes out to no other than Skeeter, who keeps me grounded when times get tough."

Then she starts to sing. "Heart… beats… fast,
Colors and promises.
How to be brave?
How can I love when I'm afraid… to… fall?
But watching you stand alone,
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow…

One step closer…"

She sways softly on the stool, smiling and singing calmly and sweetly, which she does better than anything. Skeeter watches dumbly, amazed, while the others all smile and sway to the calming song.

As she sings, Skeeter eventually breaks into a stupid grin that stays on his face and doesn't leave for a long while. She's into the second verse when she gets off the stool and takes his hands, pulling him up and into a slow-dance.

"…I will be brave
I will not let anything take… away,
What's standing in front of me!
Every breath,
Every hour has come to this…"

He smiles and sways with her, back and forth, humming a harmony part quietly under his breath. She smiles softly with the chorus, listening to Skeeter's quiet harmonies.

Tanner smiles and rests his head on Ben's shoulder, and Crawley sways gently, his arm around Byna, both of them smiling softly. Posy and Bonnie both glance at Kelley and take one of his arms, and he smiles but doesn't react other than that. Both girls want to tell him how they feel but just can't.

Rue continues her sweet singing without the instrumental, the others listening and Skeeter listening quietly, smiling hugely.

"I have died, every day, waiting for you…
Darling don't, be afraid, I have loved you,
For a thousand years…
I'll love you for a thousand more…

And all along, I believed, I would find you.
Time has brought, your heart to me!
I have loved you, for a thousand years…
I'll love you for a thousand more…"

The instrumental fades and Rue kisses her boyfriend softly, a kiss that is gently returned. It's sweet and light, not too long, and by the time the instrumental part fades, both juniors take their seats again and the glee club applauds. Rue snuggles as much as she can with the armrests there and whispers, "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Same to you," Skeeter laughs, "Too bad I just got you candy and a crappy poem."

Rue giggles, "Hey, who doesn't like candy? And I'm sure your poetry is lovely."

"As long as you don't mind rhyming Rue with Kazoo."

She bursts out laughing. Jason makes a puking noise and Locke elbows him for it.

~.~.

After rehearsal is over, Ben and Tanner walk to Tanner's car together. Once they're in and situated, Tanner reaches through the backseat and hands Ben a nicely-wrapped box.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he says with a soft smile.

Ben looks dumbfounded. "I-I… I don't have anything for you." He holds out the box, "You can take it back."

"No, I want you to have it. It doesn't matter if you've got anything for me."

"Are you sure?"

Tanner nods encouragingly, "Open it."

"Okay…?" he unwraps the box and pulls out a card. When he opens it, he finds a handwritten message.

Dear Ben,

You're the strongest person I've ever met and I really like you. I hope you're very happy this Valentine's Day and want to keep on making you happy. You can come to me with absolutely anything. I want you to remember that no matter what, you can always come and talk to me about ANYTHING. You're stronger than you think. Keep on being strong, no matter what. And remember that I'll always be there for you, as a friend or a nerd or a boyfriend.

Love,

Tanner Tyson Cooper

"T-Tanner…"

"What do you think!?" his blue eyes twinkle with excitement.

"It…It's so nice…"

"That's kind of what this day is about."

Ben smiles a bit. "I needed it a lot. So, thanks."

Then he removes the tissue paper in the box to find a nice hat, scarf, and gloves.

"Cooper-"

"I know you need them, even if you say you don't. And I want you to have them, and use them."

Ben hangs his head, not sure what to say or think. "Th-Thanks."

Tanner starts driving home.

"So, what'd you think of today's rehearsal?" he asks.

"I don't know," he sighs. "I guess I feel crappy that I have nothing for you except for my crappy reassurance that I don't hate you."

"That's okay," Tanner says.

"It doesn't feel okay."

"Well it is."

Ben sighs and glances at the smiling senior. "We'll never be like them."

Tanner smiles softly, parking the car at the spot where he usually drops Ben off, and brushing some of the bangs out of his boyfriend's face. "That's okay," he says quietly, "I love you anyways."

As soon as Tanner says those three word, Ben freezes and nods a bit. "Uh, right," he stammers, "Talk to you later." He quickly gets out of the car, wearing his new winter things.

Tanner sighs a little bit to himself, then drives the rest of the way back home.