A/N: This is another one of those celebratory chapters, of sorts; not because of the content, but because it's now exactly a year ago that I posted the first chapter to this story :) which, frankly, is also pretty hard to believe, so, a big thanks to everyone who's read, reviewed, favourited, and alerted this story! I doubt it'd still be going if it wasn't for you :) And, for the people who hadn't seen it yet, I actually wrote and posted a sequel to the previous chapter. It's called 'Operation Klaine' and you can find it on my page, if you're interested.
Now, this chapter... it's based on a prompt from an anon going by JustCause, who asked for a Kurt and Blaine at the ND auditions. As you're about to see, once again, I didn't completely follow the prompt, in that they actually meet before (but still on the same day as) the auditions. I hope that's not too big a problem :) I hope it all makes sense, too.
Hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter, and please remember to leave a review at the bottom! :D
Well. This was it. Blaine Anderson took a deep breath before getting out of his car. After double-checking that it was locked, he made his way towards the school in front of him.
McKinley High.
After what had happened last school year, he wasn't about to go back to his previous school, and luckily, his parents had understood and agreed. They had given him a choice: he could go to Dalton Academy in the fall, a private school about an hour and a half away from where they'd moved over the summer, and start again as a freshman, due to Dalton's curriculum being much more difficult and much more intensive than that of an average public school, or be home-schooled for the remainder of the past school year and try another public school.
It had been terribly tempting to just go to Dalton. It had a zero tolerance policy against bullying, and Blaine would be completely safe there. Scared as he was, though, he still felt like he was giving up. Like he was letting his bullies win.
So he'd decided to start again at another public school, one where nobody knew him, and see if that went any better. He could always decide to switch to Dalton, his mother had told him.
Nobody bothered him as he walked towards the front doors, though that might have to do with the fact that a bunch of beefy guys were all standing around a smaller boy already, seeming intent on throwing him in the trash or something. Blaine shuddered.
He wanted to help, but he also wanted to survive. Whatever his eventual plan would be, though, he now had to find his way towards his first class. He'd get settled first, he figured, and then he'd attempt to help out kids in need.
If he himself wasn't about to become such a kid.
o-o-o-o-o
A week later, Blaine was slowly getting used to McKinley High. His classmates had shot him some curious looks during his first few days, but when it became clear that he was more than happy to fade in the background – for now, at least – they mostly left him alone.
One girl, though, did approach him, and, apparently not having much of a gaydar, asked him if she could make out with him. He'd walked away from her as quickly as possible.
Now he was standing in front of the notice board, looking it up and down in an attempt to find a nice extracurricular. Although he liked to watch sports on TV or from the stands, he wasn't really the type to play himself. Plus, if word got out that he was, in fact, gay, the other guys would give him hell in the locker room, he suspected.
In the end, he took out a scrap of paper and jotted down the possible extracurriculars on it, so he could think it all over when he got home. Then he saw it. A Glee club? He felt a smile tug at his lips. If there was one thing he loved most in the world, it was singing. Without really thinking about it, he shoved the piece of paper back in his bag and scribbled down his name on the sign-up sheet, underneath Mercedes Jones and Kurt Hummel, who were the only other two students who'd signed up for the club.
Oh well. Blaine was certain that more people would show an interest. He turned on his heel and made his way out of the school. The first auditions would be taking place the next day already, so Blaine had to make sure he found a good song to sing. Mentally going through all the songs on his iPod, Blaine drove home.
o-o-o-o-o
The next morning, Blaine was standing at his locker before first period, minding his own business. All of a sudden, something came flying at him. Something ice cold, wet, and sticky. He stood there, gasping, while the other students just sent him sideways glances and walked away.
What had just happened? Perhaps more importantly, why had it happened?
He closed his locker almost mechanically, not daring to make any unnecessary movements, but before he could do anything else, he heard footsteps. Great. He'd thought everyone had left already.
"Are you okay?" a voice came, and Blaine looked up. After what had just happened, he hadn't expected anyone to worry about his wellbeing. He just shrugged in reply, and the boy in front of him nodded. "Come on," he said, and he directed Blaine to the nearest bathroom. Only when they were inside, Blaine realised that it was, in fact, the girls' bathroom.
"We're – why are we here?" he asked.
"It's safer than the boys' bathroom." The boy started looking through his book bag, and Blaine sniffed.
"What's that smell?" he asked. He certainly hoped it wasn't – no, he didn't even want to think it.
"My early morning dumpster toss," the boy replied, and Blaine was shocked by the ease he said it with. "I was lucky someone threw out a lot of plastic yesterday, I suppose. Though the stench is still awful."
Only now did Blaine recognise him as the boy he'd seen standing near the trash on his first day. "I'm sorry," he muttered.
The boy shrugged. "You're not the one doing it, right? And… I guess that's what I get." He frowned. "Here you go. Just – can you give me your jacket? You can wash your hair with this. At least the slushie hit you from behind; otherwise, it would've gotten in your eyes, and that's not pleasant at all."
"That's what you get?" Blaine asked, accepting the soft towel the boy had taken from his bag. "For…" He didn't want to assume, but it seemed to be the only option. "For being gay?"
"For… being me," the boy responded. "I don't even know. I just – I'm not even completely sure of it, but with my voice, my clothes… people just assume." He scoffed. "I wouldn't even have to come out anymore."
Blaine shuddered. "Great," he muttered. This school might be even worse than his previous one, and he was beginning to regret his decision to try another public school.
"Great?" the boy echoed, suddenly seeming to become defensive. "What? That you're now stuck in a bathroom with – "
"No!" Blaine hastily interrupted him, trying to find a good stance to wash his hair in. "That this school's so homophobic. I'd hoped it'd be better than the last, but… clearly not."
He could feel the other boy's eyes at him as he tried to get rid of the slushie – that must've been it – in his hair. He could hear the other faucet being turned on as the boy tried to get the stains out of his jacket.
"So they – they know you're… gay?" the boy hesitantly asked after a few minutes of silence.
Blaine sighed. "Not as far as I know. Maybe it was just to welcome me to the school?"
"Oh, right, you're the new guy," the boy said. "I didn't even think of that. I'm sorry that had to happen."
"It's fine," Blaine replied, as he tried to dry his hair with the towel. "Thanks for helping me out, by the way."
"That's fine," the boy echoed him. "Oh – I'm Kurt Hummel, by the way." He held out his hand, and Blaine grasped it eagerly.
"Blaine Anderson, but you already knew that. Wait – you're Kurt Hummel? You signed up for Glee club as well, right?"
Kurt shifted on his feet. "Yeah, I did. You too?" Blaine nodded happily; at least he knew someone now. "They must've seen the sign-up sheet, then," Kurt muttered. "Glee club… is not exactly cool at this school. The old one just got disbanded, but chances are the new one won't be any more popular."
"Maybe it will." People always said Blaine was sometimes optimistic at the least opportune times.
"Maybe it will," Kurt conceded. "Come on. I think we're done here." As they walked out, he added, "You know, I've never met another – I mean, a gay guy my age."
o-o-o-o-o
When Blaine looked for Kurt (and eventually found him) during lunch break, they talked briefly about the other potential club members. Blaine heard from Kurt that Mercedes Jones was also a sophomore, like them, and she was probably a decent enough singer.
"Why are we sitting out here anyway?" Blaine asked at some point. If anyone were to find them here, they might just think the two boys were doing… stuff in the bushes.
"I was sitting here in order to escape the jocks," Kurt replied. "You were the one to sit with me."
"You're the only person who's talked to me for longer than a minute so far," Blaine reasoned. "Plus, us gays have to stick together, don't we?"
Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine's face. "You may be right. Though, if you want to keep your sexuality a secret for a bit longer, you may want to avoid me, instead of hanging out with me."
"Perhaps they'll leave us alone if there's more of us," Blaine said. "You know, then it's not all against one. And there's an actual witness. It might become easier – for us, I mean."
"There'll also be at least five witnesses who will state the opposite," Kurt retorted. "Well, we can always hope for the best, I guess."
o-o-o-o-o
Before Blaine knew it, classes were over and it was time for Glee auditions, which were to be held in the auditorium. As he walked past the notice board, he snuck a glance at it. The sign-up sheet for Glee club was covered in red slushie. That didn't bode well, Blaine realised.
When he arrived at the auditorium, he appeared to be the first to get there. However, from inside, he could hear a girl singing her lungs out.
"That's Mercedes," Kurt, whom Blaine hadn't even heard approach, said. "Come on, we need to get backstage. This is the audience entrance."
"Are you nervous?" Blaine asked as they walked.
"Not really," Kurt admitted. "I would be, but did you see the auditions list? There are only about six people interested in joining. I'm not sure if Schuester has much of a choice."
"Do you mind if I listen to your audition?" Blaine then asked, figuring that Kurt had a point. He would really like to hear his new friend (or whatever they were) sing. He had a pretty unique voice, after all.
"Only if I get to hear you as well," Kurt responded. Blaine didn't really have a problem with that.
Soon, the girl who was, apparently, Mercedes Jones, walked out. She seemed surprised to see both boys there already, but she didn't mention anything except that it was Kurt's turn now.
Blaine snuck in after Kurt, missing only the first part of his introduction. He'd been right about Kurt's singing, however – he was amazing. He didn't get the chance to gush, though – he had to take Kurt's place immediately. He hoped that the grin on his face would be enough for Kurt to know that Blaine had enjoyed his performance immensely.
"Hi," he said, feeling only slightly uncomfortable. There was only one teacher in the audience, so Blaine assumed that must be Mr Schuester. "I'm Blaine Anderson," he introduced himself. "I'll be singing You belong with me by Taylor Swift." Well, after hearing Kurt, he figured he'd best only sing the chorus, which he did.
When he was done, Mr Schuester thanked him for coming in, and sent him off. He didn't even have to call anyone else in. Apparently, there was still a class going on, so the other people auditioning would be there a little later.
He then walked backstage, where Kurt was standing with an amused smile on his face. "Taylor Swift?" he asked Blaine, shooting him a judging look. "Really, Blaine?"
"What?" Blaine asked, as they walked out. "She's a great singer. And yeah, I probably would've chosen something else, but this was the best I could do at such short notice."
"You sounded great, though," Kurt admitted.
Before he could say anything else, Blaine interrupted him. "So were you! And I love Chicago! It's one of my favourite musicals of all time."
Kurt smiled for real now. "Really?"
"Hey, didn't I already tell you I'm gay?" Blaine joked, glancing around quickly in order to make sure no one could hear what he was saying. "I like musicals."
"Do you want to watch it?" Kurt asked, sounding a little hesitant. "I was planning on watching it after school anyway; you can join me if you want to?"
"Now?" Blaine asked. "Sure, I'd love to! I just need to… tell my parents where I'm going."
o-o-o-o-o
The house wasn't exceptionally big, but it was homey, and Blaine was amazed when he heard that Kurt's room was in the basement. "This is amazing," he said, glancing around.
"It took a lot of hard work, but it was worth it," Kurt said. "Hey, Blaine?"
Blaine looked up from the bookcase he was inspecting. "Yeah?"
"What happened at your old school?" Kurt asked. "You said that… it was pretty bad there, but did something happen that forced you to leave?" Blaine took a moment to answer, so Kurt quickly added, "If you don't want to talk about it – sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
"No, that's fine," Blaine replied. "But – yeah. Can we discuss this some other time? I'm not really… comfortable with discussing that yet. That's not the reason we moved, though. We did that for my dad's job, so even if nothing had happened at my old school, I'd still probably have started at McKinley this year."
Kurt nodded. "Okay. Sure. Whenever you're ready. Shall we go upstairs, then?"
Noticing that Kurt had already found his Chicago DVD, Blaine smiled happily. "Of course." Once they were upstairs, he asked, "Kurt? You know… if something's bothering you, you can talk to me as well, okay? Bullies, or… something else."
Kurt looked moderately surprised. "Thanks, Blaine. Would you believe that it's hard to imagine already that we only met about eight hours ago?"
"I'm actually glad you said that," Blaine replied. "It seems the same way to me." A few seconds later, he asked, "Your parents won't mind that you invited someone over, though?"
Kurt shrugged. "I think my dad'll just be relieved I finally seem to be making friends."
Blaine frowned. "Your mom… doesn't live here?" He glanced around the room, in search for pictures.
"She's dead," Kurt replied quietly. "But – you know." He sighed. "Maybe that's why – I think I'm gay, but what would my dad do if I told him? He's all I have left."
"And you're all he has left," Blaine countered, rubbing Kurt's shoulder awkwardly. "I'm sure he'll… be okay with it."
"Let's not talk about this now," Kurt decided. "We have a musical to watch, remember?"
o-o-o-o-o
In the end, Blaine left before Kurt's father came home from work. His own mother, like Kurt had predicted his father to react, seemed glad that Blaine was making friends. She was less happy, however, when she found out that there were still slushie stains on Blaine's clothes. He tried to convince her that it had been an accident, and could only hope that she believed him. Otherwise, she'd probably soon ship him off to Dalton. Blaine figured he'd have to start using the advice Kurt had given him at some point during the day – always make sure he packed a second outfit.
When he arrived at school the next day, Blaine instantly noticed the jocks standing around the dumpster again. Once more, Kurt seemed to be their target. He was about to tell them to stop harassing him – although he wasn't sure how he could accomplish this – when Kurt caught his eye and shook his head minutely.
Blaine didn't immediately understand, but then realised that Kurt didn't seem to want him to help. After all, there wasn't much he could do, and Kurt had told him himself that Blaine might become a target as well if he helped. It was too late for anything like that, though – the jocks had notice Blaine standing there.
While some of them looked confused, others sneered at him. A guy with a mohawk grinned widely. "Ah, look, it's his boyfriend coming to save him!" he exclaimed mockingly.
"Disgusting fags," Blaine heard one of the other jocks mutter, before he was scooped up and dragged over to the dumpster. He felt a small wave of satisfaction wash over him when he kicked one of the people carrying him in the face, but, in the end, this only resulted in the others just dropping him on the concrete.
"We don't want people like you here," another boy said.
Kurt scoffed. "You've sure got a funny way of showing it. Why are you dragging us over here, then?"
"To make sure queers like you are put in your place," the mohawked guy said, narrowing his eyes as Blaine finally managed to get up. The biggest guy in the bunch instantly grabbed his arms. "In the trash, where you belong."
"That doesn't even – " Kurt started, but a couple of jocks grabbed him and threw him in the dumpster, while Blaine had to watch, horrified.
"Why would you – " he wanted to ask, but then, he was tossed in the trash as well, and he groaned. This was disgusting.
"Blaine?" Kurt's voice came after a minute, when the jocks had left. "Are you okay?"
"I've been better," Blaine muttered. He sighed. "At least they didn't throw me on top of you."
"Come on," Kurt told him. "Let's get out of here." Blaine wasn't sure if he wanted to know the reason behind it, but Kurt was out of the dumpster rather quickly. "At least it wasn't almost empty today. That's when it hurts the most."
Blaine nodded, finally managing to climb out. "Good thing these things aren't any bigger, too."
Kurt almost smiled. "If we hurry, we might even still be in time for first period."
Blaine eyed him questioningly. "Don't we need to change clothes?"
"If you want to," Kurt replied. "They're not… really dirty, though. And everyone in this school smells, so they wouldn't notice the difference. You'd better put those extra clothes in your locker for when you get slushied. You'll need them more then than you do now."
o-o-o-o-o
And indeed, Blaine spent most of his lunch break cleaning himself up after being brutally slushied again – by two people at once. He hoped that Kurt wouldn't be worried about him or anything; it had only now occurred to him that they didn't have each other's phone numbers.
Kurt did seem surprised when Blaine sat next to him during their final period of the day – perhaps he thought Blaine had ditched him in order to not be a target? – but agreed to exchange numbers. Blaine also figured that he should try to get home before his mother that day; if she, like Kurt, noticed him change of clothes… well, things would be bad.
After class, they walked to the choir room together. Blaine, having never been there before, thought it was a pretty nice room, all in all. Soon, the other club members, Mr Schuester, and the piano man came in, and Blaine surveyed them all from his seat near the wall.
There were only six members, including Kurt and Blaine. Apart from them, there were also a boy in a wheelchair, an Asian girl, a short brunette, and the girl they'd heard auditioning yesterday.
"This should be interesting," Blaine muttered, and Kurt pulled a face, obviously thinking something along the same lines.
It was quite interesting indeed. Mr Schuester made them rehearse a song Blaine had never heard of before, only giving them a few pointers when it came to choreography. Then the short brunette, Blaine thought her name was Rachel, blew up at them and ran off. When their director soon went after her, the other students left as well.
"It's so weird," Blaine remarked as they stood at Kurt's locker. "From what I could hear, we're all pretty decent singers, but that was just…"
"I know," Kurt said when Blaine found himself lost for words. "We'll get better. I just hope that Rachel won't hog all the solos." He sighed. "Who am I kidding? She probably will."
"She seems… very strong-willed," Blaine agreed.
Kurt looked thoughtful. "Why don't we find out for ourselves? I bet that's what they're talking about – come on, they probably went outside or something!"
He hastily closed his locker and stalked off, and Blaine hurriedly followed.
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Blaine whispered as they walked beneath what seemed like the bleachers. "What if someone sees us here? That'll make for some nice rumours."
It surprised him that Kurt actually laughed at this – well, he chuckled. But still. "Rachel's awful," he replied, ignoring the second part of what Blaine just said. "She's this… spoiled brat who thinks she's better than everyone else, while in reality, people hate her more than the two of us combined. Sorry."
"So we're spying on her and Mr Schuester because…?" Blaine asked.
"At least we'll know beforehand what they're cooking up," Kurt replied. "We'll be prepared when they tell us. If they even tell us. Besides, by doing this, we can be even more certain that most jocks have already left once we leave."
Blaine shrugged. "Fair enough. I think we're here, by the way."
" – I need a male lead who can keep up with me vocally," they heard Rachel exclaim, and the boys exchanged exasperated glances. After Mr Schuester's suggestion of coaching Artie was shot down by the girl, she added, "And don't even think about considering either Kurt or Blaine for that role. Besides the fact that Kurt's voice is too high to be a male lead, they're gay. And not as in 'happy', gay, but as in, likes guys. I have two gay dads, so I have nothing against them at all. But you can't expect me to have chemistry with either of them, because they're just not up for that yet."
"Maybe she should just quit," Kurt muttered angrily as they trudged back to the school building. "At least we wouldn't have to put up with her diva antics anymore."
"Well, at least neither of us has to fake chemistry with her now," Blaine pointed out.
Kurt pulled a face. "I doubt there's anyone Rachel could have real chemistry with. Even if there were, no one besides us has joined Glee club, right? I doubt Mr Schue will be able to find anyone."
Blaine shrugged. "Who knows." By now, they'd arrived at the (mostly empty) parking lot. "So, I'll see you tomorrow, then?" he asked.
Kurt nodded. "Of course. Just… don't worry about me, okay? We know now that, whether there's one or two of us, they're going to bully us. I don't want you to go through more abuse than you would've gotten if it hadn't been for me."
Blaine sighed exaggeratedly. "Well, I think we both know that won't work… we'll figure it out along the way, okay? One day, they'll wish they hadn't pushed us around so much."
"I don't doubt that," Kurt agreed. "See you tomorrow, Blaine."
Blaine walked off in the opposite direction, towards his own car, suddenly realising that, while he'd only be seeing Kurt tomorrow, they might be speaking long before that. He had Kurt's number, after all. First, however, he needed to beat his mother home, and wash his clothes. But it was all worth it, he decided.
A/N: I think that, in this AU, Sue will call them 'gay' and 'other gay' when she decides to split up the group, much like she called Tina and Mike 'Asian' and 'other Asian'. Kurt and Blaine probably have no idea who's who in Sue's mind.
Anyway, what did you think? :) Let me know, please review!
