A/N: I've said it before, but I just want to say again – THANK YOU to all of you who have favorited or followed my story. I'm taking each favorite or follow to mean "Hey! I kind of like your story!" so I really appreciate the compliments, guys. :) This chapter's a bit of a filler to help move the plot along and show us where our main characters are at. Next chapter, we'll be meeting someone new – or rather, Blaine will. So stay tuned. ;)
Blaine slept fitfully Wednesday night. Around 3:00 he woke up suddenly, sitting bolt upright to find himself soaked in sweat and gasping for breath. Calloused fingers rubbed at his tingling throat, his skin remembering even after the dream had faded. His entire body trembled from the memory of the pain his dream subjected him to, and soon, his cheeks began to ache, straining as he fought the urge to sob aloud. Warm tears tracked down his face and the boy turned carefully to bury his face in the pillow, to muffle the whimpers. He must have fallen asleep again after a while because he awoke to dimmed sunlight filtering through his blinds. Closing his eyes resolutely, he tried to will himself back to sleep, but after a while gave up with a huff. He pushed himself to sitting. His muscles ached. He felt more tired in the morning than he had the night before.
He checked the clock on his phone and once certain it was late enough that he wouldn't see Rachel, he set about pulling on jeans before heading to breakfast. As usual, Hiram and LeRoy were both at the table. It seemed like no matter how late Blaine got up, the pair was determined to be in the kitchen and ready with food. Hiram lowered his coffee cup and greeted the teen with a smile. "Good morning, Blaine." That caused LeRoy to raise his eyes from the paper he was reading.
LeRoy smiled, too and closed the newspaper, as if any news he might be reading could wait now Blaine was there. "Hey, Blaine, sleep well?"
Blaine shrugged, his responsive 'good morning' now lodged in his throat. He swallowed it back. "Fine," he murmured and took a seat at the table. There was already a bowl and two types of cereal to choose from, milk, and fruit laid out for him. He proceeded to pour himself a bowl of cheerios, then tugged a banana off the bunch.
"So we were thinking, Blaine," Hiram began cautiously. Blaine looked up from where he was pouring milk into his cereal. "We'll need to decide what to do about school."
"We understand if you aren't ready," LeRoy cut in quickly.
"But either way, we need to come up with a plan. McKinley's the local high school. It's where Rachel goes. And Finn. So you'd at least have some people there that you know." Blaine's eyebrows just furrowed at that, though he stared resolutely at his glass of milk as the men spoke.
"But if you aren't ready to go back to school yet, we're willing to home-school for a while – if that's something you'd prefer." LeRoy reached towards him and patted the tabletop near his hand. Blaine watched this and drew his own hand away slowly. LeRoy frowned lightly and straightened up in his seat, withdrawing his hand as he did.
Hiram glanced at his husband nervously, then back at Blaine. "I think it might be good for you to be around other people your own age, though. Get out there. Make new friends," he tried encouragingly. "Surely, you don't want to be cooped up in this house all the time with a pair of old fuddy-duddies." The self-deprecating tone earned Hiram the slightest twitch of a smile and the man smiled warmly, pleased with himself.
When Blaine said nothing for a while, Hiram pressed on, "I've already asked for copies of your records from your old school, and…" He stopped, taken aback when Blaine's eyes suddenly flew up to meet Hiram's, holding his gaze for a second before dropping away, brows furrowing deeper than ever.
LeRoy seemed to catch on quickly despite Blaine's silence on the matter. "We won't judge you, Blaine," he said softly. Blaine lifted his head to direct a fierce, challenging glare at LeRoy. "If that's what you're worried about." Blaine barely suppressed a scoff at that as he looked back down at his food.
Sensing the tension, Hiram attempted to steer the conversation back on track. "What we really need to know is if you want to go to school with Rachel and Finn or if you'd rather explore alternatives."
Blaine slipped his left hand around his middle and stabbed at his cereal with his spoon. For a long beat he said nothing. Then, he finally spoke, the answer blunt and carefully chosen since it didn't really address the question asked. "I don't want to be home-schooled," he told them. And that, the Berrys supposed, was as close to agreement to go back to public school as they would get.
The sound of loud, clanging metal cut through the rising and falling din of conversation and laughter. and barely anyone batted an eye. Pain shot through Kurt's shoulder and spread down his spine and he winced, hissing, as he tried to steady himself and cradle the impacted shoulder. He turned quickly, his expression part hurt and part disbelief – because even after all this time he didn't, couldn't understand it – to see an angry furrow deepen in Karofsky's brow. "Quit breathing my air, Fairy," the bully ground out as he walked away.
A cold chill shuddered up Kurt's spine, dulling the pain as he recognized the feeling as fear. His eyes followed the bigger boy until he was out of sight. The danger lessened now, Kurt swallowed, then looked around quickly. He was shaking. He felt himself shaking, and noticed that no one around him even looked his way. Not one person even noticed him, or the fact that his shoulder was throbbing angrily. No one seemed to care that someone thought it ok to shove him and tell him to stop breathing. Hell, they probably thought Karofsky had a point.
Pulling himself up to stand straighter, Kurt hiked up the strap of his messenger bag. He did his best to ignore the trembling in his fingers as he did, but couldn't help the instinct to glance again over his shoulder, just to ensure that no one was following him, before heading off to class. Two steadying breaths weren't enough to calm his nerves now on high alert, but maybe an hour of European History would help him forget for a while.
Despite her fathers' attempts to bring Blaine into every conversation, Rachel was both pleased and annoyed that her "brother" wasn't interested in participating. She didn't want to have him involved in discussions that really had nothing at all to do with him – like her play, her friends, her plans for Halloween. At the same time, his superior attitude was really starting to grate on her nerves. She couldn't see what was so damn special about the boy that he could think himself better than everyone else at the table and above their topics of conversation. So Rachel just did her best to ignore his presence entirely. That was tough when every other breath either Hiram or LeRoy would try and include the rude little jerk.
"So anyway, it turns out Mr. Shue decided performing Rocky Horror was a bad idea after all, which of course is something I had said at the start, but we'll be performing it tomorrow just for ourselves," she prattled. "I think that's a really constructive plan to ensure that all my talent and hard work isn't completely wasted. I mean, an audience of one is still an audience." She paused for only a moment to take a bite of her pasta primavera, but it was long enough for LeRoy to cut in with a question, and this one was (thankfully) not directed at Blaine.
"Do you and your friends have plans for Halloween, Rachel?"
Both Hiram and LeRoy looked at her with fond interest. Blaine didn't look at anyone. Rachel smiled brightly. "Actually, we were thinking of celebrating our opening/closing performance at Breadsticks in full costume. I mean, it'll actually be Halloween so it shouldn't be too strange and I hear they dye the breadsticks orange and black for the holiday. Then after that I think Brittany's having a party that Finn and I might go to, but I'll have to change first. I finally got Finn to agree to dress as the tin man, and I, of course, will be playing Dorothy," she beamed.
Hiram's smile widened. "Well that sounds like a lot of fun."
"Mmm," LeRoy hummed in agreement, "a lot of fun. Don't you think that sounds like fun, Blaine?"
Blaine looked up quickly. His brows furrowed and he shrugged his shoulder. Going to a party with Princess Peach and the Jolly Green Giant? No, not really. "I guess," he responded non-committally.
LeRoy's hopeful smile widened. "Well, I'm sure we can find you a costume in time, and you can go with Rachel and Finn to Brittany's, couldn't he, Rachel?" The girl's eyes widened and on a sharp inhale started to sputter and choke. She dropped her fork with a clang and patted her chest, then took a swig of water. She looked up between her dads with shock.
"You can't be serious. It's – I mean – well, Finn and I don't even know if we're going, and he won't even know anyone there but us…" Her face was starting to redden and Hiram considered her appraisingly.
"Yes, well, we know that, Rachel, but if Blaine's going to start at McKinley soon, he'll need to get to know people sooner or later."
"Maybe he can make some friends," LeRoy added helpfully. "You're both the same age, practically, you'll probably have a lot of the same classes, and you can introduce him to some of the other juniors you know."
Rachel's jaw just slacked as she sputtered, trying to find some reason why she shouldn't have to drag her loser brother along. Blaine just watched the exchange with an ever deepening frown. They were talking about him like he wasn't even there – or rather, Rachel was. He could tell she was pointedly avoiding looking at him. Hiram, at least, was looking at him. "What do you think, Blaine?" Hiram asked gently.
Blaine just looked at him, his will-power focused on keeping resentment out of his voice. He just shrugged, his eyes shifting to look at Rachel, who looked more bothered than ever. "Halloween's not really my thing," he said flatly. Lie. "And it's kind of pointless to meet a bunch of juniors. I'm a sophomore." He let the words roll off his tongue like it didn't bother him, like he didn't know they were judging him for it, but he could only do so much to keep the flush from his face. Rachel turned wide eyes on Blaine, but before he could see the reluctant gratitude in them, the boy set his sights back on his meal.
LeRoy and Hiram were less than pleased, but grudgingly accepted that their idea had not gone over as well as they'd hoped. They exchanged glances, both hesitating out of embarrassment that neither had known that Blaine was a year behind. "Well, in that case, we can always do something else tomorrow," LeRoy suggested. "Maybe some back-to-school shopping. How does that sound, Blaine?"
"Good idea, LeRoy," added Hiram. "Better to get that sort of thing done during work hours on a weekday. The malls are always overrun with people otherwise."
The boy raised tired eyes to see the hope on both men's faces as they looked to him expectantly. He really didn't want to go shopping again. He didn't want to owe the Berrys more than he already did. But from the way that Hiram said it, it sounded like he didn't really have a choice about whether he went – but only as to when. Capitulating, the boy exhaled a sigh and nodded. "Yeah. Sure," he murmured in agreement.