A/N - Again, I want to thank those of you who are following the story...and those of you who have favorited it. Sometimes I wonder if readers have any idea how grateful an author is just to have someone read what they put out there. That being said, if you have any feedback, I'd greatly appreciate it. :) (Not so subtle hint to review and recommend if you will?)

Also, if you're in need of something else to read when you're done here, check out "Model Behavior" by theMuse19. It's quite long, and if you're anything like me, you'll get to a point where you're ready to choke the life out of Ri, the esteemed author, but believe me: KEEP READING, because it's fabulous and well worth it!

I own nothing you recognize, blah blah blah...of course, after Thursday night's episode, I wish to hell I owned what Tina was focused at the blackboard in the classroom. Gettin' hot in here...

CHAPTER 13

"For the love of God and all that's holy….what the hell is WITH these people, anyway?" Blaine groaned. He could hear the sound of voices and banging around in the hallway, and he covered his face with his pillow. This actually worked, until he began to panic when he dozed off and woke up gasping for air, afraid he'd smother. "What the hell time is it anyway?"

He looked toward his alarm clock but it was blank. Reaching up to turn his light on, he found that it wasn't working either.

"What the…?" He grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand and found it blank, and it wouldn't turn on…and it seemed oddly lighter than it generally was. For a minute he was waiting for the Twilight Zone theme song to start playing.
"Are you freakin' kidding me? Where the hell is my phone battery!?" he groaned in frustration. Then it hit him. He'd dropped his phone on the way in last night when he'd stumbled up the stairs to his door. Hopefully it was somewhere on the stairs or in the hallway. That didn't answer the lack of electricity though.

He staggered out of bed and into the bathroom. Seeing himself in the mirror, he raised both eyebrows in surprise, then grimaced at how hungover he looked. He splashed cold water on his face and instantly felt a little better. Back into the bedroom he went and grabbed a pair of sweats to go hunt for his phone battery and see if the lack of power was due to something going on, rather loudly, in the hallway.

He opened the door and was immediately faced with a large, burly man holding what seemed to be a rather huge piece of furniture. He was blocking Blaine's door and seemed not to notice that Blaine was even there.
"I'm tellin' you, if you just flip the damn thing, it'll go through the door without a problem! "
"And I'm tellin' YOU that we've already tried it that way and it didn't work!"

"I'm putting it down, this thing is too friggin' heavy to be standing here holding it!" said the man holding the end of a sofa.

Clearly, the new tenant was moving furniture in…..or rather having furniture delivered, and they were having issues getting it into the doorway.
"Actually, if you just do this…." Blaine said, as he unscrewed the decorative feet on the sofa…."it'll slip right in without a problem and then we'll all be happy. You get the sofa in, they can sit on the sofa, and I can get out of my apartment!" he grinned.

"Dude, f-ing seriously!?" The burly man said, irritated at his moving partner. "How the hell long have you been doing this and you didn't know this?"

Blaine cleared his throat loudly, and the men proceeded to unscrew the legs on the sofa. Sure enough, it slid right in the door. He was out of his apartment and down into the foyer on the first floor in seconds, searching the ground for his battery and the back of his phone.
"…..gotta be freakin' kidding me, man…" he said in frustration as he looked, unsuccessfully, around the floor. He made his way to the stairs, but the stairwell was dark with the electric out. He was on all fours, practically crawling up the steps, searching each and every one intently, lest it be lost in the shadows. Suddenly he saw feet on the stairs. Assuming it was burly dude and whiner moving man, he slipped to the side to let them pass.

"You don't look half bad on your hands and knees, neighbor….I figured as much, though." He heard.

Blaine looked up slowly, knowing, before he saw the snarky grin and the glowing eyes who he was going to find standing there. He steadied himself on his knees and tried to look a little less intimidated than he was feeling at the moment.
"Dropped my phone somewhere in the hallway on the way in last night and can't find the back or the battery. I know I was in the building, but I was a bit buzzed and having no light doesn't help. What's going on with that, anyway?" he asked.

"Happens a lot," Sebastian answered. "Keeps you on your toes, though. You learn to navigate in the dark, that's for sure."

"I'm not fond of crawling around looking for things, and I tend to keep my hands and knees activities behind closed doors, NOT in the hallway of my apartment building" Blaine snarked back.

"As I recall, you didn't seem to mind at all last night?"

"I didn't….I wasn't…..that's not….." Blaine stammered.

"You did, you were, and it was…..you were giving off the 'I just totally jacked off' scent like it was your fucking job, so don't even TRY to convince me otherwise. You still haven't answered me though. Was it as good for you as it was for me? I mean, because let's be honest, Blaine…..I know you know what I was doing, and I sure as hell know what YOU were doing…"
"I'm….you're….I find you….quite…..abrassive, Mr. Smythe" Blaine observed.

"Only abrasive? That's too bad. We'll just have to get to know each other better until Itruly 'rub you the wrong way', don't you think? Then we'll see if I'm abrasive or not." He winked at Blaine and turned to saunter away. "I'm late for a date, but don't get too discouraged. I'll be back."

Blaine's eyebrows shot up in surprise at his comment.

"Oh, and by the way…." He tossed Blaine his battery and the back of his phone. "I found this just outside my door. Were you, perhaps, waiting for me to come out and play?"

Blaine stared at Sebastian, unsure what to think. He clearly came home with another man last night. They were practically screwing each other on the stairs. He, then, came on to Blaine downstairs in the hallway. Now he was making provocative remarks WHILE leaving for a date. This guy was bizarre, and he made Blaine uncomfortable, to say the very least.

Blaine sat on the top step in the stripe of sunlight that was making it's way into the dark hallway through the window. He replaced the battery and the back of his phone and waited to see if it was going to work or if he'd broken it. He heard the movers arranging furniture and talking to a woman, who clearly had her own ideas where things should go. He got up to head back to his own apartment and thought about introducing himself, since she was right there anyway, but thought better of it when it dawned on him that his first impression wouldn't be all that great considering he was in his pajama pants and a wife beater with crazy hair and probably worse morning breath. "Another time…." He said to himself.

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"So, he said that? This guy is totally out there….whacked…..and I want to meet him, just to be clear!" Nick laughed, raising is eyebrows.
"Yeah, he's bizarre. It's as if he wants to harass me about knowing what was going on with them on the stairs and in the hallway, but then he blatantly comes on to me 10 minutes later, with the guy probably still in his apartment, and then again this morning in the hallway. Talk about being creeped out!" Blaine said, chuckling.
"Well, although he sounds incredibly handsome with a decent amount of 'charming' thrown in, he's not the one that I was thinking about all night…." Nick smiled, shyly.
"OH MY GOD! JEFF! He's going to kill me!" Blaine yelled, his eyes going wide.
He grabbed his phone and checked his text messages, realizing that his notifications were all off on his phone and he probably had a list of missed calls and messages because of the battery incident.

"I'm in so much shit…" he grinned.

7:48 p from Blaine: Please don't be angry, I have a good excuse!

7:50 p from Jeff: I'm not speaking to you. You teased me with an adorable boy and then disappeared. I didn't sleep well last night, and it's all your fault. And his fault for being….well…..adorable. And sexy. And I can't stop looking at that picture you sent.

7:52 p from Blaine: He's right here, can I show him that?

Blaine leans over and shows Nick the text message, and Nick turns bright red, grinning like a fool.

7:53 p from Jeff: OMG man, NOOOO. No No No! You ignore me all night and all day and NOW you want to embarrass me to death too? Asshole!

7:53 p from Jeff: Don't! Don't do it!'

7:54 p from Jeff: Blaine, you're doing it, aren't you? Damn it…..

7:54 p from Blaine: I did it.

Blaine grabbed Nick's phone off of the table and put Jeff's number into his contacts, handing it back to a very blushing Nick. Then he sent Jeff Nick's number and added Nick to their text conversation.

Nick's phone buzzed twice; once when Blaine sent the first message and once when Jeff texted back. He stared at it in fascination with a bashful smirk on his face

7:56 p from Blaine: There, now don't say I never gave ya nuthin'!

7:56 p from Jeff: Blaine. Blaine. BLAINE! Whose number is this? BLAAAINE?

7:57 p from Blaine: You realize you're just yelling right? You didn't hit send in between those 'Blaine's' so it's all one text.

7:58 p from Jeff: Blaine, whose number is this? Dare I hope? J

7:59 p from Nick: Hi…um….it's Nick. It's mine…is that ok?

Silence.

More silence.

"Do you think he's ok? Maybe he didn't want my number? "

8:02 p from Trent: WTF man, Jeff just ran out into the courtyard and he's giggling like a little girl and flailing around and I'm kinda scared. He's yelling something about you being the best asshole he knows? What gives?

8:03 p from Trent: {attachment} jpg397

Nick and Blaine were hunched over the table laughing at the image of Jeff with his arms raised and eyes closed spinning in the courtyard of their apartment like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music on top of the mountain. His midriff was showing under his shirt and you could just make out the happy trail of soft hair heading down in to his waistband. Nick was mesmerized and blushing. Blaine was laughing and giving Nick the wiggly eyebrows.

"You guys plan on playing tonight or what?!" Joe yelled into the break room.

"Oh shit!" they both laughed and jumped up from the table.

8:04 p from Blaine: Trent, tell Jeff I have to play….I'll be back later. ;) And tell him I'm sorry about last night, and this is my way of making it up to him. Take it easy, T!

With that, the two stumbled out onto the stage, still laughing at the picture of a blissful Jeff spinning like a maniac.
"You're gonna forward that picture to me immediately, right?" Nick asked, still blushing and laughing. "God he's fabulous!"

"You have no idea, Nick….he's totally fabulous!" Blaine grinned back.