Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.
A/n: So I had this chapter almost written. And then I decided that I hated what I'd done because it was purely filler, and that I needed to start all over and write something that was actually worth asking all of you to read. So hopefully you'll like this chapter!
Blaine really hadn't planned on staying out so late, even though it was a Friday night. Technically there was a curfew at Dalton, but students could get around that with permission from their parents. And Blaine's parents had called the school and let them know that he'd been at dinner with them and that he was going to be later than originally expected getting back to school. The fact that he'd been forced to stop for gas had pushed him further behind getting back, especially after he'd run into Dave Karofsky and some of the football player's friends at the gas station. Blaine hadn't really thought much of it once he'd left; the McKinley student hadn't said a word to him despite the comments coming from the remainder of the group.
It wasn't until Blaine was getting out of his car in the juniors parking lot at Dalton that he even thought about the boys that had been trying to start something at the gas station. He felt a hand clamp down on his mouth before he even knew that someone was behind him, and Blaine immediately started struggling as an arm wrapped around his waist.
"What, you going to put up a fight now, homo? Where was all this spirit when you ran away from us earlier, huh?" Blaine scratched at the hand that covered his mouth, trying to pull it away so that he could scream and hopefully get someone's attention. The person holding him was a hell of a lot stronger than he was. "Get his feet. I can't carry him like this." Another figure came around and Blaine tried to kick, but the guy managed to grab onto his legs and hold them so that Blaine was effectively trapped. "Get him in the truck."
"Dude… you said we were just going to scare him…" a familiar voice said. Blaine cut his eyes to the side and saw Dave Karofsky standing by the truck, looking less than pleased at what was going on.
"We are… we're just having a little fun while we're doing it." Blaine didn't stop struggling until another guy came into his line of sight and landed a punch in Blaine's stomach.
"Hey! We weren't going to hurt him!"
"Shut it, Karofsky! You're in this now, so either help us or shut the fuck up!" Blaine opened his mouth and did his best to bite down on the hand that was still clamped across his mouth. His whole world went black before he could even begin to scream.
Blaine's chest was aching again when he woke up, his heart racing as he struggled to catch his breath. He instinctively grabbed at the hand that had reached out to push the curls out of his face, blinking as the person turned on the light. Blaine relaxed when he realized that it was his mother, sitting on the edge of his bed. She said something to him that Blaine didn't hear, and he still hadn't quite grasped the art of reading lips. Blaine finally let his eyes close, drifting back off to sleep as his mother stroked his hair in a comforting gesture.
By the time Blaine woke up the next morning, his mother had already gone. That was usually how things happened – he woke up in the middle of the night after a nightmare to his mother doing her best to comfort him. By the next morning, she'd already woken up to go get ready for the day, and then she would come back to help Blaine get ready. It meant he usually ended up laying in bed for another fifteen minutes or so, but he couldn't really get up without help. He watched the door as he waited, hoping it wouldn't take too long.
He was surprised when his father came in rather than his mother, until he realized that his dad being there meant it was Saturday. Which meant that they were driving to Dayton for Regionals so that Blaine could see his friends. "When are we leaving?" Blaine asked, turning on the hearing aid in his right ear after his father gave it to him.
"It's a two and a half hour drive… we're going to leave about 9:30 so that we have plenty of time to get down there," the man said, helping Blaine sit up and put his broken leg down on the floor. Technically Blaine probably could have gotten out of the bed on his own, but he usually woke up long after his last pain pill wore off and he really didn't want to deal with the pain that would go along with trying to move on his own. "Your mom's running late, as usual. What do you need me to help you do?"
"Get dressed first…" Blaine watched as his father walked over to the dresser and started to search for clothes. "Dad… there's an outfit on top of the dresser."
It took a lot longer for Blaine to get ready with his father's help than it would have if his mother had been helping him instead. They were only running about ten minutes behind schedule when they left, but between some unexpected traffic and having to stop a few of times for various reasons they barely made it to the venue in time to get inside for the competition.
The Warblers were first to perform, and Blaine was sort of glad for that because it meant he would get to spend more time with Kurt once they were off stage. Blaine couldn't completely understand what they were saying as they sang; everything still sounded off through the hearing aids despite the fact that he had been back to the audiologist more than once to have them adjusted. He could sort of make out the words to their songs, but Blaine had a feeling that he wasn't going to have any idea who would win the competition when it was all said and done. There were just too many things that he couldn't quite pick out.
Despite the fact that he couldn't really hear what was going on, Blaine still clapped for his teammates at the end of their performance. As soon as they had left the stage, Blaine pulled out his phone and sent a text to Kurt, telling the younger boy where he was. It took all of about two minutes for Blaine to be surrounded by Warblers even though most of them were hanging back a bit, as if they were afraid to get too close for fear of hurting him.
"Would you guys mind if Blaine went and sat with us? We have an extra seat and we'd like to hang out with him for a while," David said. Blaine turned to look at his parents, smiling hopefully.
"Alright… just bring him back before you go on stage for the awards. We aren't planning on staying too late," Blaine's mom said. He smiled and let Kurt help him to his feet, the other boy's arms wrapping around him in a hug before they started down a few more rows to a group of empty seat with Blaine leaning part of his weight on Kurt's shoulders.
"Are you okay?" Kurt asked as they walked, quite a bit slower than the other Warblers. Blaine knew why he asked; ever since the Warblers had left the stage, Blaine had been realized just how much he missed everything to do with the Warblers and singing. Blaine really wasn't good at hiding his emotions.
"I just missed my first competition since I started at Dalton. And it's just sort of become real… that this is how my life is going to be from now on. That I don't get to really be a part of this any more."
"Don't talk like that, Blaine…"
"It's the truth. It's not coming back, Kurt. I can't sing if I can't hear myself… I'm never going to be a Warbler again…"