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"Now for the results of the paintballing exercise. In reverse order, the team coming last and therefore subject to the aforementioned penalty are..." Wes paused for dramatic effect, "Warblers Kurt Hummel, Jeffrey Sterling and Ryan O'Sullivan."
A loud chorus of relieved shouts went around the room from those who were now not subject to performing the council's no doubt embarrassing song choice tomorrow.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Complained Jeff. "Between Kurt's fashion heels slowing him down and our whole team being quite tall in comparison making us easy targets we were disadvantaged from the start!" Jeff continued loudly.
"Sour grapes, gentlemen, sour grapes,... " Wes interrupted, "as the losing team you must accept the consequences. As mentioned in the last meeting, your task is to perform at tomorrow night's Warbler party, a song chosen by us, the council." Jeff sat down, resigned to his team's fate.
"I can now announce that the council has chosen the song to be performed... with a slight twist. The song is to be performed specifically for the winning team." He smirked, seemingly at an inside joke, probably because he was one of the few in the room to know the identity of the winning team.
Thad frowned, watching his best friend and other council member. What is Trent up to now? He's got his meddling face on again. He thought, disapprovingly.
"The song is For Your Entertainment by Adam Lambert." Sniggers went round the room as the losers gasped collectively and paled at their fate, waiting in nervous anticipation for the identity of their intended audience.
Trent looked extremely smug at this announcement, making Thad think that he was indeed trying to meddle in these poor boys' love lives. I guess my team lost then, it's obvious it's Blaine, Nick and Nate who've won. There'd be no need for that smug look otherwise. I wish he'd concentrate on his own love life, not everyone else's! He thought bitterly.
He watched as Kurt, Jeff and Ryan looked extremely uncomfortable, obviously coming to the same conclusion that he had.
Thad's gaze shifted to the probable winners. Blaine was fingering his collar and Nick was inspecting the floor. Nate, as usual, was leering at Ryan, making the poor boy even redder.
Thad kept his expression neutral, pretending to still be interested in the outcome of the paintballing, although he thought it was a foregone conclusion.
Wes announced each team's place in reverse order until they were finally down to the last two teams, Blaine's and Thad's.
"Aaaand, the runners up are... Warbler's Thad, David and Flint! That means that Warblers Blaine, Nick and Nate you are the winners and will be performed to tomorrow night by Warblers Kurt, Jeff and Ryan!" A loud mix of laughter, cheers and clapping filled the room.
Well, at least my team came second. Thad caught Trent's gaze as the noise continued. Trent looked confused and slightly hurt as Thad frowned slightly, shaking his head and quickly left the room, just behind Kurt, Jeff and Ryan who had practically run out.
As the door slammed behind them, Kurt paced as Jeff and Ryan sunk onto each bed in shock.
"Nate makes no secret of what he thinks of me and I've been trying to keep him at arm's length, what am I supposed to do?" Ryan whined.
Kurt stopped pacing. "You know, I think we've been set up. That twist was added after they realised who the winners and losers were. It's no secret to anyone except Blaine that I have feelings for him, and you two have just confirmed my suspicions about the objects of your desires..."
The redhead looked up sharply, to which Kurt responded "Oh come on, Ryan, admit it, you wouldn't be so worried if you weren't interested. Why won't you give him a chance, any way?"
Kurt looked honestly interested, so Ryan decided to confide in his friends.
"Well, it's just that I don't know if he is being serious or not. What if it's some kind of bet or something? I mean, at my last school my looks made me a target for bullying ever since the first Harry Potter film came out and someone pointed out I looked a bit like the Weasley twins..." he looked at Jeff and Kurt's raised eyebrows and smirk respectively, "...okay, okay, so I look a lot like the Weasleys."
Jeff coughed as he spoke "brother from another mother!" and the redhead threw a pillow at him as Kurt laughed.
Ryan was quiet for a while before he asked "Do you think he really likes me or is he just laughing at me behind my back?"
Kurt went over to Ryan, crouched down and put his hands on his knees, comfortingly. "Oh sweetie, Blaine is definitely the object of my affection, but I can safely say that Fred and George Weasley are hot, and so are you!"
Ryan smiled gratefully and blushed profusely at the compliment, "Thanks" he replied, "it's just hard to believe any positive attention after so much bullying."
Kurt nodded understandingly and squeezed his shoulder sympathetically, before continuing, "But seriously, something is up here. Trent had a self-satisfied smirk on his face before he announced the winners. Well, I think we should beat the council at their own game."
Jeff and Ryan looked up at Kurt, waiting for an explanation. "If we are going to do this song, then we are going to own it. No half measures, if they want a performance from us, then that is exactly what they are going to get!"
Jeff nodded "I think you're right about Trent. I'm always up for a good dance routine - if we get practicing straight away I can sort out the choreography."
Ryan looked resigned, saying "OK, a half-hearted performance is never good, if we are going to do this then I agree we need to do it properly."
Kurt smiled suddenly. "Now, let's talk about costumes..." he clapped his hands together.
Kurt picked up his phone and made a call.
"Hi, Mercedes? It's Kurt. Yes, yes, I'm fine. I need your help though. Can you come visit me at Dalton tomorrow morning really early? Bring your whole makeup kit and any kind of body art glitter or badass bling you can find. Think of the colour palette of silver, greys and blacks to keep it simple. Adam Lambert style. I'll explain when you get here Merc, but I've gotta go right now. Okay? Love you too, 'Cedes, bye!"
He turned to the other two boys who were now in Ryan's single room. The previously bare-looking and uncluttered room was now filled with three lots of potential wardrobe choices spread on the bed and the floor and any other flat surface to be found.
Ryan's wardrobe doors were open and he was just bringing out a large box for Jeff and Kurt to look in. He lifted the lid and both other boys gasped in admiration of the contents.
"Oh my goodness, how many hats do you have Ryan? I've never seen you wear one. You really should, I bet you can rock that look! Nate won't know what's hit him!" Kurt exclaimed in delight.
Ryan blushed. Although he felt better now that Kurt and Jeff had both complimented his appearance, he was still not very able to accept them graciously.
Jeff looked thoughtful. "Hey, you've got enough trilby's here for all of us. If we work it into the moves, we could use them as a prop as well as costume. Plus, they're a really sexy look, which we need to go for. Hey - we could even make them sit out at the front and put our hats on their heads during the routine!" The blond started thinking of possible dance moves in his head.
Kurt went over to the pile of fitted shirts stacked on the floor which was Jeff's offering. He selected a few colours that went well together, holding them up to himself and the other two boys, before selecting black for him, red for Jeff and grey for Ryan as a first suggestion.
Next, the boys turned to Kurt's selection of skinny trousers on the bottom of Ryan's bed. "My god, Kurt, how do you get into those? With a shoe horn?" Jeff laughed. "And I thought my jeans were skinny!"
Kurt laughed as he replied. "You'll be thanking me when you see what your ass looks like with them on - well maybe Nick and Nate will!" Jeff and Ryan blushed, before they each picked a dark pair to try on, Ryan's denim and Jeff's leather, disappearing one at a time into the bathroom. None of them particularly wanted to do the my-pants-are-way-too-tight hop in front of the other boys, so they only came out when safely zipped or buttoned up.
Kurt came out of the bathroom last clad in extremely tight leather trousers and the three boys inspected each other. They all nodded in appreciation, each very pleased with how they looked. Jeff handed out the shirts and they quickly put them on.
Ryan thought for a minute. "What about ties? I have some in here somewhere... here they are!"
They tried Jeff's collar open wide with a thin black leather tie strung around his neck, tied loosely. "Mmm, definitely a sexy look - Nick can pull you around by that after the song!" Kurt teased as Jeff's eyes widened comically.
At Jeff's suggestion, they all rolled their sleeves up.
Next they chose a thicker silky black tie for Ryan, done up in a neat business-like way, with his shirt tucked into his trousers. Then Kurt helped string a chain through his belt loops which contrasted nicely with the smart upper body look in a good way.
For Kurt, they kept it similarly smart with his shirt buttoned up almost to the top, with no tie. He quickly rummaged around one if the bags he had brought to Ryan's room and produced sparkly gloves, to the approval of the other two.
Kurt pointed out "I think we need to go very different with our hair and faces. It's okay now, but it's still too nicey-nicey. We need sex-god hot!" He laughed. "That's where Mercedes comes in tomorrow. I think you two can rock the mussed up "I've just had sex" look, while I've been trying out a slightly different coif that I'll have a go at tomorrow morning."
The three boys were slowly getting used to being outside of their comfort zones clothing-wise and were starting to relax and enjoy planning their performance outfits.
Ryan in particular was enjoying getting back into more out-there fashion and accessory choices. Megan will be pleased with me when I skype her tonight. He thought. I'm really starting to feel like the real me again, from last summer, before all the bullying started.
He smiled softly, proud of himself and how far he'd come emotionally at Dalton.
The rest of the evening and most of the next morning was spent practicing the routine over and over. Kurt had asked Mercedes to instead come in around early afternoon so they could get as much performance practice as possible before doing their hair and makeup. Warbler Hall was now off-limits to nosey students so they weren't seen before their big reveal.
Mercedes followed the text message instructions and eventually found the boys she had come to see.
"White boy!" She shrieked and flung herself into Kurt's open arms. "Mercedes! I've missed you! Thank you so much for helping us. You and I are definitely going shopping next week and I'm buying you lunch as a thank you!" He finally let go.
"You know Jeff and this is Ryan, our newest Warbler." Mercedes batted her eyelashes at Ryan admiringly as he kissed her hand in a hello.
"Down girl! He's gay too!" Kurt laughed as Mercedes pouted.
"Doesn't mean I can't look!" She sassed back, managing to make Ryan blush.
The next two hours flew past with hair and make-up trials. Mercedes had also brought some eyebrow and ear cuffs together with leather wrist cuffs. Kurt had brought his box of brooches to look through too. Finally it was time for Mercedes to leave and she hugged each boy tightly, wishing them well for their performance and reassuring them that they were looking very hot.
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