Chapter inspiration: S.O.S. (Tim Curry)


The last thing Sebastian expected was to find Nate standing in the rehearsal room. The poor guy looked in rough shape. He could only wonder what the hell Joel did now.

"Has anyone seen Joel? He's—" The young man turned to see the co-captain. "Seb! Joel's gone dark. I'm really worried."

Most of the team looked between Sebastian and this guy they hadn't seen before. "Seb, who is this? Another of Joel's conq—" Sebastian glared at his boyfriend, which immediately silenced Hunter.

"Guys, this is Nate. He's... uh, Joel's, uh... friend." Nate looked at the tall boy, who shook his head. He got it; no one else knew about Joel's rehabilitation. "Just sit down and we'll figure out a game plan. Tell me what happened."

Nate sat on the couch beside Nick and fidgeted with his hands. "So Joel's supposed to get in contact with me every day, text, call, whatever." He smiled a little. "Once he even sent a drone. Damn thing wouldn't stop following me for the rest of the day." Then his face fell. "For the first six months, he was on it, telling me about his day. Mostly good, sometimes bad. Three days ago, it stopped. It's not like him to forget something as important as this. Makes me think he... y'know."

Sebastian turned to the room. "In the past three days, has anyone seen or heard from Joel?" A chorus of "no"s was not encouraging. "Nick, he called you his best friend. Last you saw him?"

The dark-haired boy racked his brain. "Sixth period Spanish on Friday. Señora Talbot was pretty pissed when he translated an entire list of swear words. It was actually pretty amazing. But he got detention and... I haven't seen him since."

"There's our first clue." Sebastian stood up. "Nick, you, Jeff and Louis come with Nate and I." The four gathered at the door. "Hunt, do as you will."


"Sorry, boys. Not since Friday." Señora Talbot looked at her students and the arrival. "He apologized during detention and I let him go early. When you find him, tell him he still owes me homework." She shut the door.

Louis blew his hair out of his eyes. "That was a bust. What now?" He looked up at Sebastian expectantly. "Wait! Scott might know." To Nate, who looked confused, he elaborated, "He's a new Warbler and the latest poor soul to be Joel's roommate."

"Hey, guys, what's up?" The lanky ravenet seemed to materialize out of nowhere. "I forgot to give Señora my essay." He looked between them and his normally chipper expression vanished. "I dunno where he is. Honestly, I can't get to sleep without him telling me to shut the fuck up." He held out his hand to Nate. "I'm Scott. You must be Nate." Nate nodded and shook his hand, blinking quickly, as if he couldn't believe how tall Scott was. "I've overheard Joel talking to you. I'm pretty sure he's joking but you don't want to know what he calls you when he's off the phone."

Nick smiled at the basketball player. "Well, he knows, so he might as well come with us. You can be our lookout since y'know?" Scott nodded.

"Does Joel still have any friends at McKinley?" Nate's question came out of the blue. "He told me once about this guy named Blaine—"

Louis groaned. "We are not driving an hour and a half to McKinley to find Joel, who may not even be there!"

"You know he'd do it for you," Sebastian muttered as the others headed for the front door. Louis stood there for a moment feeling guilty before following them.


"...You know I never wanna lose you

But you must learn to play the game by the rules

Show me how much my love means to you

Don't mess up this good thing..."

Nate and the Warblers stood outside the McKinley choir room. Most trips to the New Directions resulted in them being accused of being spies, so it was decided that Nate should go. The redhead looked apprehensive but opened the door.

"Can we help you?" The unmistakable sound of their former soloist's voice gave the Warblers a little relief.

"Uh, you might be able to. You're Blaine, right?" No answer from the curly-haired boy as Nate continued. "My name's Nate. I'm a friend of Joel's—"

"Is Joel okay?" Blaine hadn't worried about his former teammate and friend since seeing him at BreadstiX. "You know he goes to Dalton, right?"

Nate cleared his throat. "Y-yeah. The Warblers don't know where he is. He mentioned you a few times so I thought maybe you might know?"

"Haven't seen him in like six months." Louis rolled his eyes and elbowed Sebastian in the chest, who shoved him back, holding his hand up to prevent a fight. "Hope you find him. Tell him to stop by sometime. We miss him."

Nate nodded. "I will. Thanks, Blaine." He exited the room and looked at the five Warblers. "Nothing."

Louis didn't say anything. He only headed for the car.


Scandals was the next possible location, but someone had to tell Scott why they were going to a gay bar. Scott's naivete was something to behold in a sixteen-year-old, and the others had shared looks, not wanting to be the one to corrupt him. As they pulled onto the freeway, Sebastian took it upon himself to chat quietly with him in the back.

"Scott?" Damn it. Those big brown eyes were killing him. "Look, man, there are things about Joel that he won't talk about. Only a few of us know about this but since you're coming with us, I think it's best you do too." He exhaled. "Right now, we're going to a gay bar, where... Joel used to work... as a dancer."

Scott listened closely and nodded slowly. "Was that how he started drinking?" The look on Sebastian's face indicated something resembling an affirmative; Sebastian didn't have the heart to tell him the whole truth. "Wow, uh, I never would've expected that."

"When you see him, just leave it." Scott nodded.

Louis pulled into the parking lot and looked over at Sebastian. "Dude, I don't think AA here is even old enough to go in there." Nate looked a little sheepish. "How old are you?"

"Twenty." Sebastian ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Sorry, guys."

"Not your fault. We don't need to go in. There's a bouncer." The group exited the car and walked towards the entrance.

The bulky blond looked at them with suspicion. "What do you kids want?"

"We're looking for our friend. Maybe you know him? About yea high, dirty brown hair, used to be a dancer—"

The bouncer raised an eyebrow. "Joel? Not here. Haven't seen him in almost a year." Louis let out an annoyed groan, to which Jeff elbowed him hard. "Last I heard, he was getting his shit together. Glad to hear it. I always said this wasn't right for him."

"Thanks." Sebastian nodded, leading everyone back to the car.


"So what now, Shitlock?" Louis sulked in the backseat, glaring at Sebastian. The brunet exhaled as he focused on the road.

"Hey, guys?" All attention turned to Scott. "I just remembered something. Joel has this... secret spot where he goes when he wants to be alone. It's down by the creek."

Louis looked ready to kill but Nick took firm hold of him. "Chill."

They pulled into the parking lot and Nick and Jeff steered Louis inside while Sebastian and Nate followed Scott down towards the creek. Scott put his finger to his lips and motioned. Joel was lying on his back, staring at the underside of the bridge.

"What do you guys want? I can smell Seb's cologne from here." Joel's voice was uncharacteristically calm.

The three walked over. Joel didn't get up, only moving his head to look at them. "Hey."

"Joel, what the fuck?" Sebastian rarely swore and Joel did look a little taken aback by this. "We've been to McKinley, Scandals and back to find you. You didn't check in with Nate?"

Joel sighed. "Nate, I'm sorry I didn't call you. It's been a really tough day." There were tear streaks on his cheeks. Sebastian blinked; it was a sight to behold when Joel cried.

"Are you okay?" Scott spoke up.

"I dunno. I guess I'm still processing."

"You son of a bitch!" Louis' shout made the wildlife flee, and Joel didn't react to his teammate's anger. "Where were you?"

Joel chuckled lightly. "Nice to see you too. I was just about to tell these guys why." He nodded to Nick and Jeff, who followed close behind Louis. The six boys sat across from Joel, who pulled his knees up to his chest.

"I got a call this morning. It was American Airlines. There was an accident involving two flights." He bit his lip for a moment. "Mom, Dad, two brothers, two sisters. All... gone."

They were all dead silent. No one knew what to say. It was common knowledge that Joel wasn't particularly close with his family; he often spoke ill of his parents but he never mentioned siblings.

"Yeah. So... I've been out here all day just trying to make sense of it all. I mean, Mom and Dad made it pretty fucking clear they didn't want me. Told me every chance they got. Aaron at least tried to defend me. Becky only cared about herself. Dad spoiled her rotten. I took care of Hal and Tara though. I stood up for them whenever I could."

"Joel—"

"Don't. Don't say cliches. I don't know if I'm okay. I really don't know how I'm feeling. But I can promise you this. I'm not suicidal. This is gonna sound horrible, but this is the least suicidal I've felt in a really long time." He sighed. "Can I just be alone? Please? You can keep an eye on me from Nick and Jeff's room. I'm not going anywhere."

He resumed his position laying down and put on his headphones.

"Let's go." Nate's voice was soft as he ushered the Warblers away.


It was almost ten. Nate refused to leave until Joel was inside. Louis had been quiet since they came in. He sat in the corner, head in his hands.

"I feel like the worst friend ever," he murmured to Nick. "It's just..."

Nick rubbed his back. "He gets on everyone's nerves and it's hard to tell the difference. Believe me, I get it."

"So I'm not a bad person?"

"No. You're a very good person. Your irritation shows that you care." Nick's reassuring smile made Louis relax.

The door opened and Joel carried his belongings in. "I'm going to bed." His voice was still quiet. "Sorry again for making you run all over Ohio to find me." He walked over to Nate. "Call you in the morning?" Nate nodded. "Night."

Joel departed, leaving his friends staring after him. "It's not that I don't trust Scott but someone has to watch him. Not it!" Everyone touched their nose, leaving Louis last.

"Aw, what? Fuck you guys."