#4. Slushy
The house was quiet. It usually was. Quiet, in the real silent definition of the word but also in the hollow feeling, the void that existed between him and his parents. It wasn't all their fault and Blaine knew that. They tried and he if let them than maybe they would learn and would become better at it but he never let them cross that bridge. Their pity was just too much. Children just weren't supposed to feel less than their parents. They were supposed to be smarter, better adapted, stronger. His dad was never beat up in high school though. His dad was never hospitalized after some stupid prank and Blaine just couldn't deal with being a loose bolt on evolution's railway.
Kurt could cross the bridge still. He made it not so quiet. He'd come by every afternoon after school and his simple presence brought Blaine back from the deserted island he'd been cast away to and for those few hours it was almost as if none of it had never happened.
Sometimes when Kurt was there he was glad it had happened though. Apparently you didn't need a whole bucket of icy water dumped on your head for a so called reality check. An industry standard 'medium' with a side of sugar and cancerous food colouring would due. The rock salt was just an added bonus. The message was received long before Blaine dove in front of Kurt. Just seeing the cup being passed into Sebastian's hand was enough. And as much as Blaine loathed his assailant and his accomplices, he loathed himself more. For months Kurt had stood at his side and put on a scathing sneer. He had had to rebuild those walls, that armor, that they'd worked tirelessly together for the past year to take down.
And it was no wonder he had done so. Countless times Kurt had voiced his concerns about Sebastian but Blaine had ignored them. He let his own jealousy over the way everyone flocked to Finn as the leading man boom so loudly that it drowned out the only voice that was truly on his side, the only voice that mattered. Kurt was right. Sebastian didn't care about him. He just liked watching others squirm at his command. Showering Blaine with praise after months of Finn's scorn made him blush more than he was willing to admit. It made Kurt seethe and Sebastian wanted nothing more than to see him erupt, sending Blaine into his arms only so he could discard him. He had come close too. The simple fact that Blaine could feel the walls between himself and Kurt proved that. They were still low though, not tall enough yet to separate them so completely that their relationship would have mimicked what he had with his parents. If he had anything to be thankful for these days, it was this.
He still kicked himself though. It was just all so obvious. So obvious that he hadn't simply not noticed, he had had to actively avoid the signs. Why though? He'd suffered plenty of animosity before. Maybe it was different because all last year he had considered Finn a friend. Maybe it cut deeper or in a different place, a fresh place that hadn't already hardened over with scar tissue because this time, it wasn't a gay thing. It was something else. It had never been something else before.
But maybe it was the navy blazer with red piping that Sebastian wore around his shoulders. Last time, Dalton had welcomed him with open arms. Dalton was safe. Dalton was home. He left so he could begin finding carving out those comforts elsewhere but if he could ignore Sebastian's snide remarks about the boy he loved, than he hadn't gotten very far.
He was there now though. A trip to the hospital and a diagnosis threatening permanent blindness would do that.
Blaine clenched his fists around his comforter. Sitting still in the deafening quiet was becoming unbearable. He wanted to scream out into the night. He needed to. He wanted to scream so loud that the boys he had once called friends would be jolted out of their peaceful slumber in their dorms. He wanted their eardrums to bleed like his eye had. Mostly though, Blaine wanted to tear the blazers from their backs. How dare they call themselves Warblers? How dare they call themselves Dalton boys and dawn the first symbol of true tolerance and companionship Blaine had ever known? They had no right when they could so easily turn their backs on one of their own. Two of their own. Kurt had been a Warbler too so much so that they knew that the slushy would sting the most. If it had hit its intended target that night, the rock salt wouldn't have been necessary. And that sheer cruelty was what kept Blaine up at night. They weren't his friends. They weren't his Warblers. It wasn't his Dalton anymore and he would gladly watch whatever this knew thing was burn to the ground before they could defile it any further.