Summary: It's the week of Regionals and Blaine is being pulled in many different directions. Will a surprise call send him over the edge?
Notes: Several Flashbacks told in italics.
98% of the time Blaine had no doubts that his decision to return to Dalton was the right one. Today was firmly in the 2%. One again his Academic Detour to McKinley was biting him in the ass.
Starting this week of the school year, all Seniors in good standing were finished with classes and were assigned their Senior Projects. The exception was Advisory which went from Friday mornings to Monday, Wednesday, Friday. However, Advisors only kept track of progress, students were expected to organize and maintain their own rigorous schedule.
Blaine's parents had come back from Hawaii the night before and were at Dalton earlier that morning. The three of them had a meeting with (still acting) Head Master Montgomery who explained that he was indeed behind on his graduation plan. He was missing the community service hours from his Junior year and he had not taken the Advanced Placement test in Biology (actually he had tried and failed, but Wes' dad was being nice). Making up the Biology shouldn't be a problem as now he wasn't only working from the knowledge he acquired (or not) at McKinley. It was the community service hours that were an issue. Although he had chipped away at them, he was still significantly behind where his friends were.
Mr. Montgomery saw three factors that were a hinderance to his completion. The first was that Blaine would be missing time this week as those involved in his attack were sentenced. Then next week, he and several others were to give depositions in Dalton's cases against the former Head Master as well as Hunter Clarington. In fact, so many Dalton Seniors were involved that counselors had been busy rearranging college visits. They would now happen after Spring Break.
His final concern was if the Warblers made Nationals as everyone expected, Blaine would devote a lot of time to preparation. Mr. Montgomery suggested Blaine delegate more than usual, but they all knew that wasn't going to happen.
With those factors in mind, Mr. Montgomery told them he had held a meeting with all department heads concerning Blaine. It was not a surprise for Blaine's parents (or Blaine himself if he was being honest) to hear that Blaine was a favorite amongst the majority of faculty members and they wanted to help. They agreed to work across departments to assign him projects that would settle his requirements in more than one subject at a time. It sounded like a perfect solution...until now. Now that he was sitting in a practice room staring at a blank piece of sheet music. Who the hell thought to put his Music Theory teacher and the head of the Foreign Language Department together to create a project?
Writing a song? No problem. Writing as song in Italian? Problem.
He should have stuck with French.
Nothing was coming to him. He had already switched from his tablet to paper when he found himself playing Candy Crush. After a loud groan of frustration and throwing his pencil across the room, he gave up then chose to pick up his guitar rather play piano. If he wasn't coming up with something new, maybe playing something old would inspire him. At least it would get rid of the melody stuck head. It wasn't right for what he had to work on.
On top of everything else going on, Blaine was more than aware that he had not practiced nearly enough for his Julliard audition. He planned on performing three songs, each with a different instrument. For Sebastian's Heart, he had Doug remix the exchange of piano/guitar to piano/violin and he would play the violin portion live. Next, he would perform his acoustic guitar version of I Dreamed a Dream and would finish up on piano, going full on Freddy Mercury with Bohemian Rhapsody (yes, somewhere Jesse St. James had just died a little inside). Again, another plan that had seemed like a good idea at the time, but his hands weren't close to where he needed them to be. He hadn't played all those instruments on the same day, let alone consecutively. The only positive was that his audition had been moved until after Spring Break.
Maybe he could convince Beat's mom to give him some practice time in one of the studios when they are in LA.
Flashback…Valentine's Evening, Motta House
"Your choices are fettuccini alfredo or cereal." Blaine told Sebastian when he asked if there was anything to eat.
"Fettuccini alfredo?"
"Rosa knew since you went home, I would come here after the wedding and be hungry because wedding food is notoriously bad. What? Can I help it if I'm her favorite? By the way, that food was awful. No, awful would be a complement." Blaine turned on the oven and then sat on a stool at the breakfast bar beside Sebastian "You know you don't have to tell me what's wrong, but I'm pretty sure you didn't smash your phone by stepping on it."
"We can't go to Paris for Spring Break."
"Ok."
Not the answer Sebastian was expecting "What do you mean "ok"? You bugged me for two weeks on how it would be so romantic, and not a total cliché, to have a picnic by the Eiffel Tower. You wrote me a poem, B. I distinctly remember the line…Bas, I want to put my ass on the Parisian grass."
"Of course, that would be the line that you remembered." Blaine stopped smiling as their conversation took a more serious turn "I know there's a reason we can't go and I'll wait until you're ready to tell me what it is. But, after what happened today, you have to talk to someone. Yes, I mean professionally, just not Doc because that would be weird for us to have the same therapist. And not Molly since she's your best friend's mother. Although, I bet she would recommend someone good. She found me Doc."
"Blaine…"
"Bas, we promised that we were going to stop trying to save each other, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you fall down a hole you'd have to dig out of. I was there. It's not a fun place to be. Now, since we're not going to Paris would you like to come to LA with me and Beat?"
"Um, that was fast. You and Beat are going to LA? Wait, I know I was out of it, but was he dancing with your friend Mike? Oh, shit! Did he finally come out?"
Blaine continued to play, but laughed at a memory from the next day. To say Beat had finally come out was a massive understatement.
Flashback…Sunday Afternoon, Warblers Commons
"Thank god you're here! You're the mysterious Bud, make him stop!" Nick yelled at Blaine as he walked into the commons.
"Make who stop what?" Like he didn't know.
"That would be me" Beat smiled a devilish smile acknowledging he was having fun with whatever he had been up to. "Evidently, the guys have been hypothesizing about my supposed boyfriend for the last two years. So, I've been sharing with them all about my actual boyfriend."
"Hold up!" Blaine was practically giddy with Beat's (inadvertent?) piece of information and since Nick had referred to him as Bud… "Drum, are you saying Mike is your boyfriend? Because if that's true I should probably prepare Sam for an epic Tina Cohen-Chang meltdown."
"As of last night, yes. Mike is my boyfriend and you can call Sam later and warn him. May I continue?"
"Go right ahead. Have you talked about his abs? I have seen him dance shirtless and I must say you are a lucky man."
"Hell, yeah I am. I mean, I know we saw Sam in all his glory at the Diva-off…and I totally agree with Sebastian…"
"Agree with me about what?" Sebastian asked as he had come in mid-conversation.
"I'm assuming that Drum concurs with your assessment of Sam's lips" Blaine told him.
"That they're a waste on a heterosexual?"
"Ok, ok, point taken and we're sorry" Jeff apologized (sort of) for all involved. "Don't we need to get started?"
Blaine gave Beat a wink as a sign that he was proud of him and then agreed with Jeff "You are correct my friend, we do. Thad, will you help me get the board?"
Blaine's OCD had continuously ramped up the closer they got to Regionals. Hoping that it would help calm him at least a little, Sebastian found the rolling white board for him to plot/diagram/note/strategize all of his thoughts and suggestions on. It kept Blaine focused and the rest of them from locking him in the office of their non-existent advisor until it was time to perform on Saturday. Since it was on wheels Thad wondered why Blaine asked for his help. It came to him only after Blaine said very softly, but with great authority "Don't think for a second that I've forgotten about having to tell poor Brittany about Santa."
Blaine didn't understand why his mind cleared in that particular moment, but it did. Maybe because he was no longer focusing on his 2% of regret. He had let his mind wander back to Sebastian and his friends, the 98% where there were no doubts about his return to Dalton or the process he referred to as Saving Myself.
When he got up to take another try at the Italian song, he realized something. This entire time he had been playing the melody that had been stuck in his head, which had obviously freed itself. He sat down with his tablet and an hour later he had the chorus finished, an opening stanza and bridges between the other stanzas and the chorus. He was right, this was not going to be the Italian song for his project. It was so much more. Maybe because he had been playing acoustic guitar when this came to him he heard that sound in the forefront. He made a mental note to ask Sam to bring his guitar to Breadstix tomorrow.
Flashback…Sunday Afternoon, Warblers Commons cont.
"Just indulge me" Blaine practically pleaded as the rest of the guys groaned at his request. "Remember, I spent last year at McKinley where everything was last minute. I can't go through that again."
Sebastian rolled his eyes at his boyfriend which would probably cost him later "And yet the New Directions won. Fine, one last time." He didn't need to look at the board, none of them would. "Monday, which is normally our day off will be "Speak now or hold your peace day". Sterling and I will cover dance issues."
Nick spoke next, just like the five times before "Thad and I are covering harmonies."
"I've got the band." The band is what Beat called his guys who handled rhythms and instrumental voices.
"And Blaine, you're covering solos and other pull-outs while I meet with Sylvia to make sure logistics are set. We've got this." Once again, Trent was trying to be the voice of reason as the others had been quietly plotting on how to lock Blaine in the office…that included Sebastian.
Blaine finally walked away from the white board and slumped down into his chair. "I'm sorry everyone. It's just we had to switch Monday and Tuesday because of me. I know how we Dalton boys love our routines."
"No Anderson, you love your routines." Jeff may have been teasing to get Blaine to relax, but they all knew it was true.
"And B, since you'll be out, I'm staying home to spend time with my sister and Izzy before things get really crazy later in the week. It's the best day to do it since there is no Advisory or Lacrosse." Neither Sebastian or Thad were playing Lacrosse this season. Most Seniors didn't play unless they were after a scholarship, which neither of them were. They just worked out with the team to keep in shape for try-outs in the fall.
"That does make me feel better about this. Thanks guys. I know I've been more of a drama queen than usual with what's happening Tuesday…"
Beat gave Blaine a wink of support just like Blaine had done for him earlier "Don't worry, Bud. We've got you."
Tuesday was going to be hard and he knew it. All three of those involved in his attack were accepting their plea deals and being sentenced. To maintain his anonymity, the only member of his family that would be present would be his Uncle Robert. He would be there as the lawyer representing Blaine's interests against Wyatt and Toby. Sebastian's dad represented him against Earl.
As a family, the Andersons decided to spend the day together at Breadstix of all places. Cooper was having his soft opening that evening and they would be able to help out and keep their minds off things. They were also, including Sugar, going to see Molly for a family therapy session and Blaine was going to see Doc for a two hour individual session. He was ready to talk about Tommy.
It only seemed fitting to choose that day to talk about Tommy since Tommy was the one person that had no say in any of this. Hell, the assholes that did this to them had more say. It wasn't right, but he'd deal with those feelings tomorrow.
There was another loss he was dealing with now.
Flashback…Sunday Afternoon, Warblers Commons cont.
"So, it's really over?" Thad asked.
"We knew Fight Club had to end, at least our version of it" Blaine reminded him. "There's too much for Dalton to lose with the trial of our illustrious former Head Master and his psychopathic nephew only a couple of months away. We just need to make sure people stay quiet."
"And you're sure David's money's hidden?"
"Yes, very sure. I called two cooperate financial investigators and an IRS agent from the Warbler network, then a guy my uncle recommended whose specialty is finding money men are hiding from their wives. None of them found it."
Nick stood up and began to pace a bit "I'm more worried about the keeping people quiet part. What happened with Dave Karofsky worked for a while, but what about when people get the idea that since there's no more fight club it's ok to talk? And how are we going to control everyone those two idiots talked to?"
"Nick, since you're up, why don't you go make sure the door is locked?" Blaine asked and then noticed all eyes were on him. "Trust me."
Sebastian had begun to nod off, but his attention was back "B, what's going on?"
"When it comes to the guys that attacked me there are plea deals that will be submitted in court and then there are parts that won't. We call them the Motta Clauses." No one interrupted but nodded that they understood. "One of Wyatt and Toby's clauses is that they submit a list of names of people they remember telling about fight club. A lot of them go to college at Ohio State. Uncle Robert turned over his "Private Security and Investigation" business to Cooper…"
"As in your brother Cooper?" Beat asked in disbelief.
"I know. Anyway, he hired Puck and Finn, hear me out, to keep ears and eyes on these people as news gets out the Dalton Fight Club has disbanded. A few weeks ago, the two of them crashed a frat party at OSU Lima. Something happened with the music and they somehow got ahold of a guitar and drums and are now an in-demand frat party band. They'll be around these people while their drunk, which is most likely when they would say something."
"Guys, that actually makes sense" Trent said giving his opinion. "What about the people not covered in clause?"
"First, we let it be known that Wyatt and Toby talked about the Dalton Fight Club and are now in jail. They're not part of the confidentiality agreement. Then, if everyone agrees, we could turn the Registration Forms over to Cooper and probably Dmitri. They will no longer be our responsibility. Don't say anything, just think about it. We're not letting the news out until after Regionals."
Nick sat down and looked like he had calmed down, almost "What about Dalton Boys? We all know that we are going to have to be the ones that handle them."
Thad pointed over at Nick "I agree. I don't have a problem letting Cooper handle the others be we have to handle Dalton. It would be best if we had some sort of idea…"
"Or, we can let it out that we gave consequences to someone they would never expect. Also, that consequences will still be imposed and they will be harsher than before."
"B, that's great but there's no one to go after right now" Sebastian reminded him.
"Yes, there is."
"Who?"
"Me."
Blaine had just picked up his tablet again when his phone went off and a picture of Santana appeared on his screen. "Hey, Tana. What's going on?"
"Where are you?"
"In one of the music practice rooms at Dalton. Where are you? Did you stay?"
"Yes, just like your wonderful Godmother told me to. Don't worry, the plane didn't turn into a pumpkin. They all flew back yesterday."
"I know. Nichole called to thank me once again and David left me 8 texts about his date with Mercedes last night. He took her to the top of the Empire State Building since for some reason An Affair to Remember is one of her favorite movies."
"Those two are almost as bad as you and Seb. That's why I'm calling. Is he ok?"
"He has some family issues but he's working on them."
"Is he going to Cooper's soft opening? I really need to talk to the two of you."
"Sorry, just me. Is there a problem?"
"No, I'll tell you tomorrow. Blainers, I have to ask, did you tell him what happened when Kurt sang at the reception?"
"Oh, yeah."
Flashback…Sunday Afternoon, Warblers Commons cont.
"What!"
Sebastian stood and motioned toward the door "If you'll excuse us, I think my boyfriend and I have a few things to discuss."
"Guys, you don't have to leave. Let me explain…" Blaine didn't have a chance to finish before he and Sebastian were the only two left in the room. "That was totally unnecessary."
"What's totally unnecessary is for you to suffer some consequence when you've already gone through hell. The guys agreed to telling Sam and Puck, and you told Santana because you had to explain what happened to Karofsky."
"Are you done? I wasn't going to say that I should face new consequences. I was going to say that we could tell people that my exile to McKinley WAS my consequence. Leaving for Kurt was the cover story. Hell, we could say Kurt was part of the consequence. Think about it. If the Rules Council gave a consequence that huge to Wolverine, what would they do to some random idiot that chose to run his mouth?"
"Oh" Sebastian didn't want to admit he overreacted, but…"That's actually a really good idea. Sorry."
Blaine took a deep breath and moved to sit next to Sebastian "I need to tell you about something that happened at the reception and I'm pretty sure you're not going to like it."
That could only mean one thing "What did Hummel do now?"
"He sang Being Alive from Company. It was beautiful."
Sebastian told himself to settle down. After what just happened, it was probably a good idea to hear the entire story. "And?"
"I sort of, not ran, but walked quickly out of the room when he was done. I needed a moment alone, but he followed me to the restroom. Evidently it freaked our friends out, especially Sam and Santana."
Less settled, but still holding it together "And?"
"He told me that he knew I was still in love with him. I told him no, but I did miss the Kurt I saw on stage. The Kurt I first knew, not the person in front of me. I made it clear that I am in love with you. Totally and completely in love with you. Then Wes and David showed up. David took me back to the ballroom and Wes stayed to talk to Kurt."
"Which Wes did he get? Logical, calm Wes or Scary, intimidating Wes?"
"I don't know because my sexy boyfriend showed up and told me he wanted to dance."
Sebastian smiled and then took a deep breath similar to the one Blaine had taken only a few moments earlier "I'm adopted and I'm not dealing with it well."
"I know and I'll help if you let me."
"Soon, B. I promise."
He was packing to leave when his phone went off again. This time it was a number he didn't recognize.
"Hello…Yes, this Blaine…Oh, Mr. Barnes…Ok, Ted…Seriously?...Um, yes I can change one to an original" Blaine pulled out his tablet and opened his email "Yes, I got it…I'd actually like to talk to my parents first…I'm sorry, but I won't be here tomorrow. I have several family obligations…Thursday would be perfect…11:30 with Miss Meyer. I take it you have her number?...Of course, we can video conference…I'm looking forward to it too. Thank you so much for the opportunity…Goodbye."
Blaine didn't know how long he sat staring at his phone after the call ended. What could he say? Oh yeah, there was one thing.
"Jeff was right. I really am the Alphiest Alpha Gay ever."
Notes:
An Affair to Remember: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr 1957
A soft opening is when a restaurant opens but to a select few and not the public. It's like a dress rehearsal for staff.