Oh my god, I am so sorry for being late with this chapter. I meant to have it up a long time ago but it was fighting me at every turn and I learned that conventions are not good for writing much of anything. I should have known that, really.

The next chapter is in progress, but I probably won't have it up this weekend because I have two essays due next week and I've barely started on either of them. Wish me luck~

I couldn't have this chapter beta'd, as my beta is also in research paper hell, so any mistakes or oddness in this chapter is purely my own fault, and as always reviews are delicious. To keep track of the status of this fic, follow me at my tumblr (Hyperchef . tumblr . com).

From: Finn H.

That was the most humiliating thing ive
ever done and i walked down the
hallway in my underwear

Received:
Fri, 8:45

Tobias raised an eyebrow at his phone as he read the message, a slow grin spreading across his face. Sure, challenging Finn and his friend to sing Barbie Girl in front of their entire school had been childish and humiliating, but he didn't think they'd actually DO it. Pushing aside his math book, the teen reclined in his chair as he tapped out a reply.

Don't forget, I want proof. Vid or it didn't
happen.

He didn't get a reply for nearly three hours, the other boy likely distracted by classes and backlash from the performance, but finally, while eating lunch, he felt his phone buzz.

Its prolly on youtube by now

Toby shot off a reply to that one, promising he'd look it up, and finished eating, quick to thank his mother for the sandwich as he passed her office on the way to his room. Turning up his nose at his remaining reading for the day, Toby instead opened his laptop and brought up youtube. After finding the video and watching it about sixteen times, he'd have to say he's probably never laughed so hard in his life.

Congratulations, Finn. You somehow
managed to perform that without
completely humiliating yourselves. Sort of.

The next text came on the heels of his own; too fast to be a reply.

From: Unknown Number

yo tis puck. wut u doin 2nite? crews goin
bowlin

Received:
Fri, 12:27

One: When did you steal my number, and
two, is that Mohawk for 'Can Toby come
out and play'?

ten mins ago. is that a yes?

Toby furrowed his brow, his amusement fading behind a rush of thought. He glanced back at the door, wondering. Could he go out? People don't often invite him out for things, unless it's Sebastian, and his brother doesn't count on principle. Of course, neither Puck nor Finn knew how easily he got sick, so they wouldn't spend the evening making sure he wasn't overexerting himself, either.

As soon as the idea crossed his mind, Toby wanted nothing more than to spend an evening out with the guys, without having to worry about how careful he was, and he surged to his feet, determined.

I'll get back to you on that.

"Mom?" he called, knocking lightly on her door. He waited for her response before pushing it open and stepping up to her side. In just a few weeks the room had become a monster of creation. Large design pads rested against one wall, and several other labeled sketchbooks were stacked around the room. Sheets of paper were taped to the wall, design after design overlapping until the tacky wallpaper was all but covered. Splashes of bright color hung on one side, while monotone design rested on the other like some sort of fashion gang war. The clothes were modeled on faceless women of all sizes, and Toby spent a moment admiring a new blue summer style for young girls that must have gone up on the sea of potentials today.

Crumpled balls of failed sketches scattered across the floor, leading from the door to the tilted artist desk beneath the window, in direct view of the sun. Transparent pencil sketches covered half the window. The desk itself held a large sketchbook, a smaller sketchbook, and about sixteen different types of pen. There was a small bookshelf crammed under the desk, all available space messily covered in books, magazines, and portfolio folders with older designs, as well as an even smaller set of drawers filled with various art supplies.

Rose sat hunched over the desk, glasses perched on the tip of her nose, pencil balanced delicately between her teeth as she carefully erased a line on her current project. She didn't look up at him, but he could tell from the way she tilted her head towards him that she was listening. "I'm done with my homework; can I borrow the car for the day?"

She looked up then, placing her pencil on the desk, concern written over her features. She was a beautiful woman, but Toby wasn't very fond of that look. "You're going out?" At his nod, Rose pulled off her glasses and set them aside, standing to move around the desk. "Where are you going?"

"Just out with some friends, maybe the mall or something." She fixed a stern look on him and he resisted the urge to fidget, realizing his mistake. "Bas introduced me to them, they're pretty cool."

His mom pursed her lips thoughtfully before wrapping her arms around him and tugging him unwillingly into a hug. "Oh, baby. I'm glad you're making friends, but is this a good idea?"

Toby swallowed a sigh. "I went out the other day, remember? And I was fine."

"But they're saying it might storm tonight."

"I'll pack a bag and if it storms I'll stay with one of them for the night so I don't have to make the drive back."

She pulled away so she could look at him properly, a hard look in her eyes. "Do they know?"

"Of course," Toby lied again. "I wouldn't go anywhere without making sure the people I'm with know what to do in case of emergency. Please? I'll go crazy if I have to stay in all day. It's beautiful outside." He widened his eyes slightly, trying to convince his mother with the power of pouting.

He's not sure if it's the pout, or his completely fabricated sincerity, but Rose's gaze softened and she cupped his cheek in one hand. "I just want you to be careful. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

Grinning, he hugged her this time, quickly spinning on his heel with a chirped 'thanks mom!'.

"Take your medicine with you!" followed him back to his room and he pulled a duffel bag out from under his bed. He didn't plan on actually staying anywhere, and wasn't even sure if either of the guys would take him if it DID start to storm, but having it would please his mother. After packing, he sent out two quick texts, one to Puck saying he'll be in Lima by five, and one to his brother.

Needed to get out of the house. Told

mom you introduced me to some

friends. Cover me.

Puck replied quickly with an address, and after writing it down Toby tucked his phone into the duffel. Double checking to make sure he had what he needed, he returned downstairs to grab his jacket and keys. "Bye mom, I'll see you when I get home," he called. One set GPS and a gas stop later, Toby was on the highway heading towards Lima.

He arrived in Lima a little early, and decided to stop at the Lima Bean while he waited. The shop was just as busy as before, and the noise was comfortable after the long drive and near silence from home. By the time five thirty came around he was relaxed, and almost bouncing with excitement.

Clouds were starting to gather in the sky as he pulled up to the address Puck had given him. It was a quaint little house, but beautiful, and something about it made him smile. He parked on the street and rubbed his hands over his legs with nervous energy. After the first game, Toby had played against the other teens often, and he was definitely considering them friends, but this would be the first time he'd actually seen either of them since the McKinley incident. Part of him was starting to doubt whether or not this could actually go well, but before that part could get a deeper hold on him, the front door was opening and Finn was jogging down the driveway to greet him.

"Hey dude! You're just in time," Finn said when Toby stepped out of his car. "We're just getting ready to leave." He clapped him on the shoulder, and nudged him slightly towards one of the trucks in the drive. "Puck and Sam will be right out and we'll go."

Toby, feeling like he'd suddenly been caught in a whirlwind, nodded mutely as he was directed into Finn's truck. The other two teens appeared only a moment later, Puck coming around to offer a fist to him through the window. "Sup, Veme?"

He shook his head. "Not much," he finally spoke. The other boys were all quite a bit bigger than he was, but the friendly familiarity of their voices was easing the intimidation. "Is that Sam?"

The blond waved from the other truck as Puck nodded. Toby'd heard enough about him through the other two, but they'd never spoken before. Puck smacked his hand against the door. "You can talk later, let's get going. We need to meet the girls."

"The girls?" Toby asked, startled, but Puck didn't hear him, jumping into the driver's side of the other truck. He turned to see Finn doing the same, and repeated his question, silently congratulating himself on keeping his voice steady this time.

"Yeah, coupla the girls wanted to come. They know you're coming so it won't be a problem." Toby opened his mouth to reply, but came up blank, so he just sat back as they pulled out of the driveway, and hummed along with the radio until they made it to the alley.

It was a good sized building, parking lot slowly filling up as people gathered for a Friday night match. The tacky sign over the door introduced the alley as 'Pioneer Lanes' in large, cheesy letters. He followed Finn inside, assaulted with the bright noise of an arcade just to the left of the door, LED lights flashing as teenagers sacrificed tokens for tickets. Half of the lanes were already taken, and as Toby watched, Finn jogged towards the other end where a gathering of people greeted him enthusiastically.

Toby stood back, largely unnoticed as the New Directions drew the three boys into their excited conversation. He recognized Rachel, the short haired blonde, the scary latina, and the other blonde. Two more boys were with them, one who kind of looked like a softer Kurt, and one sporting dreadlocks and wearing a beanie hat. It took him a few moments, studying them, to realize that most of the conversation had fallen quiet as he was noticed.

Puck reached back and grabbed him, something Toby was discovering was normal with this group, and pulled him forward. "Alright, quick rundown. Ya know Berry here, this is Quinn, Satan-"

"Santana," the girl corrected with a roll of her eyes.

"S'what I said. Then we got Brit, Irish, and Teen Jesus." He gestured to everyone in turn. The boys both stepped forward, offering him a hand, and introduced themselves as Rory and Joe as they shook.

Brit was giving him an odd look, as if she was trying to figure something out, but she spoke before he could ask. "Timon is my favorite meerkat. Is that you're name? Cause you don't look as mean as that other meerkat." Well, there went anything his brain could have thought up to say. Meerkat?

Luckily Santana stepped in, giving him time to recover from the random assault of words. "He's the other meerkat's brother, sweetie, but Finn says he's cool so we have to play nice today."

"I was just going to ask if he could sing for me."

"No, no singing!" Rachel interrupted sharply, making Toby jump. "I agreed that tonight was going to be a truce between us and the Warblers, for the sake of having fun, but there will be no singing. I refuse to risk having a traitor in our midst."

Toby stared at her for a moment, and shook his head in disbelief. "I'm not a Warbler. I don't even GO to Dalton, and do you think my brother would have allowed me to come here if he knew I was hanging out with you guys? Besides, I don't really sing, I'm sorry Brit."

"That's okay. I can sing to myself." She started humming Hakuna Matata under her breath.

Rachel opened her mouth, but was interrupted by Puck, who proceeded to drag Toby with him over to the shoe counter. "Man, you came here without telling anyone where you were going? That's badass."

"I like to think of it as preventing a blowout."

"Too true. Here, I'll pay for ya."

"No, you don't have to-"

"Don't worry about it. What size, ten?"

Toby shook his head again, smiling as he gave the man behind the counter his shoes and his size, accepting his pair with only a slight grimace. As he returned to the group and began lacing them on his feet, he was soon distracted from the hope that the alley used disinfectant by Quinn sitting next to him, a soft smile on her face.

"I wouldn't worry about them. Rachel is just on edge lately, so she's a bit more vocal than usual."

"Oh no, it's fine. That was leagues better than the greeting I got last time I saw you guys." She laughed and he grinned brightly.

The next few hours flew by faster than he expected. After the initial introductions, the others didn't seem to care who he was. He was teamed up with Quinn, Brittany, Sam and Rory, against Finn, Puck, Rachel, Joe and Santana. He couldn't play very well, and even the smallest weight was difficult to launch down the lane with any sort of accuracy. By the end of the first game it was clear that he couldn't really compete with most of the group, but he settled into a private game within the next round against both Rory and Rachel, who seemed to be on the same level of skill.

At nine thirty the group finally started saying their goodbyes, gathering their shoes and cleaning up their lanes. Toby didn't quite participate in the conversations, but he didn't feel left out either, content to listen while he waited for Finn to be ready to go. Brittany hugged him just before she left with Santana, assuring him that she would love to sing with him sometime, even if he couldn't sing.

Santana gave him an appraising look. "You're not so bad after all, Tobs. Keep up the good work and maybe I won't have to go to town on your ass." She smirked and Toby followed them to the door, startled when he saw the rain sliding in sheets across the parking lot.

Reality rushed back in, then. He never grabbed his duffle bag from the passenger seat of his car. He didn't have his umbrella, or his heavier coat. Dread settled on his shoulders as he watched the girls run to their car. He was still standing there when he felt Finn's hand rest on his shoulder.

"You okay, dude?" Finn asked, glancing between Toby and the doors. "You've gone white."

Toby shook his head, resisting the urge to rub his arms. "No, I'm fine. I'm fine. We, ah…we should go. Before it gets worse."

"Yeah, didn't expect it to get this bad so soon. Here, unlock the doors while I take Rachel to her card." He handed Toby his keys, and turned back to the remaining group to make sure everyone got to their cars.

Toby stared at the keys for several long moments before taking a breath. He'd gone all day without a care, and it had been nice. A short run to the truck wasn't going to hurt him, and he'd change out of his wet clothes the second he got back to his own car. Decided, he pushed the door open and dashed out into the rain. He shut down and stopped thinking as he ran, gasping at the cold splashing into his face and steadily soaking his clothes. He only fumbled the keys once when he made it to the truck, and hurled himself through the door as fast as he could, banging his knee.

He took a moment to catch his breath before stripping off his hoodie. The t-shirt underneath was, luckily, only damp, but the sooner he could change the better. Thankfully Finn wasn't too long in returning, slamming his own door shut as soon as he was in.

Finn pulled into the garage when they arrived, shielding them from the storm. "Come on, I got some clothes you can change into while your things dry," he offered, leading Toby into the house.

"Oh, I couldn't. I have a bag out in the car, I can-"

"No, dude, I'm not letting you go back out there, you're already shaking." Toby lifted a hand to check, and bit his lip. Finn had a point, he was already cold, and while he was pretty sure he's fine now, going back out would only make it worse. "Come on, my room's up the stairs." He started leading the way through the house, but they were stopped before they could get far.

"Finn, don't you dare take another step, you are soaking wet and we JUST had the carpets cleaned." Toby turned so that he was hiding behind Finn as Kurt appeared in the hallway with an armful of towels. "These are also for Sam and Noah, so make sure they use them." His voice sounded different when directed towards someone he was obviously fond of. It was warmer, more like a bright spring morning than the icy chill Toby had heard from his before.

"Cool, bro. We need another though, Toby needs one." Finn began separating the towels, throwing one over his own shoulder before turning to offer a second to Toby.

Kurt's expression turned from mild annoyance to surprise, and straight through to flat faster than Toby could keep up. "Oh. You didn't say he was going to stay the night."

"It's storming pretty bad out there, you can't expect him to drive."

"No," Toby interjected. "It's not that bad, if you want me to I can go."

The other teen pressed his lips together, and glanced back at the windows in the living room. "It's fine," he admitted finally. "Just try not to track water through the house. Blaine and I have the living room, so you guys will have to be up in your room, Finn." With that, Kurt turned back to return to his boyfriend, and Toby smiled gratefully, running his towel through his hair.

Finn's clothes were just a little big on him. He wasn't that much shorter than the athlete, but he was a good deal skinnier; the shirt hung off his shoulders as if he was trying to swim in it, and he had to repeatedly pull his pants back up from his hips so he didn't step on the ends. Sam and Puck arrived before they got comfortable in front of the x-box, loaded with snacks from the nearest store and extra games from Puck's house.

It wasn't until half the night was over that it occurred to Toby that this was the first real sleepover he's ever been to. He's had friends throughout the years, and some even came to stay at his place, but he'd never gone out to stay at anyone's house. It was always too risky. He stared at his hands in awe until he heard Sam pause their game.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, uh, just…yeah." He shook himself out of it, feeling his cheeks heat up. "It's nothing. Had a thought."

"Don't hurt yourself," Puck quipped cheerfully, punching him in the shoulder, and Toby snorted.

"Of course I won't. I'm not you." Toby stuck his tongue out at the other boy and leaned across the bed for the bag of pretzels, happy to lose himself back into the game.

Tobias was a morning person. Even when he went to bed late he was in the habit of waking up early enough to share breakfast with his dad before the man left for work. He loved taking an early morning shower, sitting over coffee with his mother, and then starting the day's lesson plan. It allowed him to have his studies done by the early afternoon, and then he had all day to fill with whatever extracurricular he pleased. It wasn't the standard routine for boys his age, some who wouldn't get out of bed until noon if they had their way, but it worked for him. It was the one constant throughout the moves, and the hospitals, and gave him something to focus on from day to day. It's the first thing that went wrong the second he woke up in the Hudmel house.

The sun filtered merrily through Finn's blinds right across where Toby lay curled on the boy's floor. The blanket he'd unconsciously clutched around his shoulders had little effect on the chill in his spine, and the snores of three teenagers pierced into his head with deadly accuracy. He slowly drew in breath, horrified at the scratchy sensation in his throat, and sat up, regretting it instantly. Climbing dizzily to his feet, Toby staggered out into the hall bathroom, clutching the edge of the sink as he turned on the faucet. The water was cool on his face, and was supposed to soothe his throat, but instead got caught in his airway, driving him to his knees. It took him several long minutes to catch his breath again, and when he did he pushed himself back into the hallway.

He was careful on the stairs, and made it all the way to the front door, god knows how he remembered where it was, before he came across another problem. His fingers fumbled with the lock, scraping frantically across the bolt as he failed to get a grip. Struck by another coughing fit, Toby sunk back to his knees, resting his forehead against the cool wood.

It occurred to him that he was losing time. Someone was pulling at his shoulder, maneuvering him against the wall, and placing a hand on his forehead. His vision swam painfully, and then there was a glass of water in his hand. He drank from it, just barely avoiding a third fit, and managed focus his gaze on the woman kneeling at his side.

"Is that better? What do you need, dear? Talk to me." She asked, voice feeling like a river of thick honey in his ears.

He shook his head, trying to clear it, and drank again. It was so cold. "Med-medicine. Bag, car. Need…keys." He fumbled at his pocket, before remembering he wasn't wearing his jeans. A pained noise escaped him. Where were his keys?

The woman-her name was Carol, right?-disappeared. He wrapped his arms around his knees, burying his face between them in an effort to get control. He hurt all over, and he didn't know what to do. Leaving his bag in the car had been stupid. Leaving his medicine IN the bag was even worse. It was almost too much just to focus on breathing, and before he could even think about moving someone was taking his hand and placing three pills on his palm. It took him too long to recognize them, but the second he did he was shoving them in his mouth and looking for the glass, where did it go?

Carol was holding it, offering it up to his lips, and he swallowed, holding his breath in an effort to keep from accidentally choking again. She turned and spoke over her shoulder, and then someone else was there. They pulled him to his feet, and he stumbled between them for some distance until they were gently lowering him into a chair.

The dizziness was the first to go. He could sense someone moving around him, and people were talking, but he wasn't able to make out what they were saying. He became aware that there was a thick blanket wrapped around him. At one point Carol returned and coaxed a thermometer past his lips. The expression on her face wasn't promising, but she was gone again before he could ask what it was.

He woke with a start sometime in the afternoon, soft light glowing through beige curtains. Voices came to him from the next room over, attempting to be quiet, and it took him longer than he'd like to admit to recognize Finn and his mother. Swinging his legs off the couch, perplexed that he couldn't remember when he was moved, Toby pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. He felt a bit warm, but he couldn't tell for sure. Taking as deep a breath as he could risk, his throat still tight, he decided to just face the music and get the conversation over with before someone called an ambulance.

Everyone was in the kitchen. The other three boys were eating, though he could tell their minds weren't entirely on their food. Carol was pacing on the other side of the island. Even Kurt was leaning against the counter. They noticed Toby immediately as he shuffled in, and Carol offered him a glass of water, which he accepted with a nervous smile.

"How are you feeling?" she asked after giving him a moment to collect himself.

"Yeah, man, you had us worried you were goin' to die or something," Puck added, his lunch left forgotten.

Toby's face flushed with embarrassment, and he avoided looking at them. "It's normal. Thank you for taking care of me, though-"

"Dude, that's not normal." Finn interrupted. He looked so distressed that Toby almost wanted to hug him just to reassure him that it was okay.

Instead, he looked at all of them. Carol looked concerned, but there was something about her that spoke of experience with this sort of situation. It reminded him a little of his own mother. The boys had their own varying looks of worry. Finn looked vaguely confused and hovered almost as if he thought Toby was going to fall over. Considering what Toby remembered of that morning it was a perfectly valid fear. Puck was staring at him suspiciously, ready to call him out on his bullshit, and Sam was slowly finishing his lunch, one hand suspiciously close to a cell phone. Accepting that he wasn't getting out of this, Toby nodded.

"You're right; it's not, not for other people at least." He looked down, weary, and figured out how best to explain it. "When I was younger I was in a bad car accident, and I had to have my spleen removed." He touched his belly where he knew the scar stretched. "I guess normally after that sort of thing you just have to take antibiotics and you'll be fine, but I have some kind of problem with my immune system stacked on top of it, so I get sick really easily. Believe it or not, that sort of episode isn't that big of a deal. Usually I keep my medicine closer just in case, it helps my body fight off whatever bacteria hits my system, but the storm was too bad last night to go get it."

"Why didn't you say something? Any one of us would have gotten it for you." Sam spoke up, frowning.

"I didn't-"

"Yeah, man. We'd totally have had your back."

Carol shushed Puck and turned to smooth Toby's hair back from his face. "You should have at least let us know, dear." He nodded and looked down to avoid her gaze. He didn't want to be worried about. "Here, I made you some soup. Let's see if we can pull that fever down a little more."

She settled him with a bowl of soup and left him to eat. Toby proceeded to spend the next few minutes pretending he wasn't the object of an intense, silent conversation between the other boys. Finally someone ventured to speak, but it wasn't who Toby expected.

"Look, Smythe," Kurt started, sounding slightly exasperated. "Just because you get sick easily doesn't make things any different. Sure, Finn's going to hover like an overprotective wildebeest, but Sam's eternally nice to everyone and Puck's too stupid to treat you any differently." The words were said with thinly veiled fondness, and Toby looked up to find the tiniest of smiles on Kurt's face. Puck objected loudly, and Sam laughed. "You should probably check your phone, too. It went off a few times while you were asleep." Kurt grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge then, leaving the kitchen.

It was like a switch was flipped. Swearing under his breath, Toby abandoned his bowl on the island and returned to the living room, hunting for his bag. He found it at the end of the couch. Rifling through it, Toby finally located his phone and stared at it in horror.

Ten new messages. 37 missed calls. All from Sebastian. He opened up the most recent text and flinched.

From: Bastian

Where are u! Answer ur damn phone

Tobias! I can't keep covering for u!

Received:

Sat, 12:23

The rest were similar messages, growing calmer the further into yesterday he scrolled. The first message was just a simple question on where he was going, and Toby could kick himself for forgetting to actually pocket his phone. Sebastian was probably thinking something had happened and that he was lying in a ditch somewhere. Overdramatic, but it's not as if the possibility didn't exist.

Setting his teeth against his lip, Toby dialed his brother, waving at the boys to be quiet when he noticed them walk into the living room, their curiosity getting the best of them.

It rang longer than he thought it would, having figured Sebastian would have been glued to his phone, but the hello he received when his brother finally picked up exceeded his expectations and drove past them at ninety miles per hour.

"Just where the HELL have you been, Tobias!"