This episode is one of my favorites that Glee has EVER done. This is the Glee I fell in love with. The perfect combination of silly and serious. Love it love it love it.
That said, Kurt isn't in this episode (which, despite my love for him, I think was okay). This episode focuses on Blaine as he finally realizes that maybe he does belong at McKinley, after all. Even without Kurt. I gave Kurt a scene at the beginning and at the end, and a tiny moment somewhere in between, but we'll see more of him in the next two episodes. :)
(I do not own Glee or any of the characters, dialogue, or songs from the show. It's all just for fun!)
KURT
Kurt spent the weekend at home with his dad, Carole, and Finn. They had a Friday night dinner on Saturday at lunchtime so that Finn could be there instead of at the school preparing for the evening's showing of Grease. They sat in the living room and exchanged stories of New York and Washington DC and Lima. Kurt even went with Finn to work at the tire shop for a few hours on Sunday morning to help him with some administrative work before he and Rachel had to get back to the airport to fly to New York. To Kurt's relief, Finn kept the subject matter light as they chatted. Nothing about Blaine. Nothing about Rachel. It felt good to spend casual time with his step-brother.
This time, when Burt dropped him and Rachel off at the airport, Kurt didn't cry. He didn't feel nervous or uncertain. The only sadness he felt was because he had to say goodbye to his father again. No matter where he was, Kurt knew that his life was always missing a tiny something when he was so far away from Burt. But he wasn't going to miss Ohio anymore.
After such an emotional weekend, Kurt was glad to return to his normal routine on Monday morning. As soon as he arrived at Vogue dot com, he stopped by Isabelle's office.
"Hello?" he knocked on the doorframe so Isabelle would look up from her desk.
"Kurt!" she smiled. "Hi! Come in, come in."
He stepped into the room and took at seat as Isabelle motioned at the chair across from her.
"I just wanted to thank you again for letting me have Friday off," Kurt said. He and Rachel had left New York on Friday morning so they could see Grease that evening, and Isabelle had been incredibly accommodating when Kurt had, in a rush of nervous air, asked for the first time if he could have the day off.
She waved her hand in the air in a motion that said "don't worry about it". "So," she said cheerfully, "how's Ohio?"
"Not exactly as I remembered it," Kurt admitted. "The term 'you can't go home again' really speaks to me at the moment."
Isabelle reached into her desk and produced a tray of little individually-wrapped chocolates. She offered the dish to Kurt, and he took one.
"Thanks," he smiled.
"I keep these in my desk for those days when I'm feeling like things are out of control in my life," Isabelle explained.
Kurt unwrapped the chocolate and popped it into his mouth. "I feel better already," he joked. "But, seriously, thank you. I think it was just a bit of reverse culture shock. I'll be okay."
"I don't doubt it," Isabelle agreed. "How was your family? Dad the Congressman and step-mom, right?"
"Right," Kurt confirmed. "They're great. That part was amazing. We cried tears of joy at the airport and everything."
Isabelle laughed with him.
"And, I have to admit," Kurt added, "I was impressed with my old self's color choices in my bedroom at home. Very sophisticated."
"Finally starting to feel like a New Yorker, huh?" Isabelle asked.
"Um...?" Kurt wasn't sure what she meant.
"Your 'old self'," Isabelle put his words in air quotation marks.
"Oh," Kurt realized. "Yeah, I guess so."
As he thought about it, he realized that it was true. He felt like he had come home to New York. He had felt very much at home with his family, but Lima felt like a place he had once lived. Not his home.
The realization delighted him. He had struggled with the possibility that he didn't belong in New York since his arrival two months ago. He had worried that he wasn't good enough to live up to his big city dreams.
But he was.
The epiphany provided a rush of confidence, and Isabelle smiled knowingly.
"What'd'ya say to a field trip today?" she suggested. "I'm heading over to NYU to give a guest lecture... two, actually: 'Ethics in fashion' at eleven and 'Art versus practicality' at one. I could definitely use an assistant."
Kurt beamed at her. "Yes, absolutely, I'd love to assist," he confirmed.
"Them, come on," she said as she stood up and grabbed her bag off her desk, "let's go educate some young people and then I'll take the 'new you' out to lunch."
BLAINE
During lunch on Monday, Blaine and Sam started a Thanksgiving-themed food and clothing drive in the hallway near the cafeteria. They had made posters the week before and had campaigned for the drive as best as they could on Facebook and Twitter, and Blaine was delighted with the response from the school's students and teachers. The drive was set to run all week; Blaine had recruited all the members of his new Secret Society of Superheroes club to run the collection table during lunch each day.
The best part was that they got to wear superhero costumes. Blaine was proud of his; he had managed to make it with only a little help from Tina to figure out how to piece together a decent chest plate.
He wished that he could show Kurt.
"This is even better than I imagined," he laughed when they stopped accepting donations for the day and he and Sam tried to figure out what to do with all the food and clothing they had collected.
"Do you think anyone would notice if we ate, like, one of these things?" Sam wondered as he placed can after can of food into a large box.
Blaine opened his mouth to scold Sam for even thinking about it, but Sam flashed him a smile. "Kidding!" he teased.
Blaine's heart stuttered briefly, but he recovered before the embarrassment reached his face. By the time the bell rang to signify that they needed to hurry to their next classes, everything was packed safely away in a nearly-empty storage closet near the cafeteria, and Sam raised a hand for a high five.
"Well done, Nightbird," he said, his voice deep as he impersonated Darth Vader.
"Thank you, Blonde Chameleon," Blaine smiled, hitting Sam's palm with his own. "See you after school."
The rest of the day flew by because Blaine was anticipating the second meeting of the Secret Society of Superheroes club. They had met for the first time the week before, and Blaine had been pleased with the turnout. The Superhero Sidekicks club had fizzled out a few weeks prior, so there were plenty of people at McKinley who were looking for something to replace it. And Blaine had even managed to get a few teachers on board with the whole superhero concept. Coach Bieste had asked to be faculty advisor to the glee club while Mr. Schu was away, and Blaine had convinced her that she had to dress as a superhero at least once a week if she wanted the job.
"The Secret Society of Superheroes club is now in session," Blaine announced that afternoon, striking the school's gavel on its sounding block to get everyone's attention. "It is the purpose of this club to fight injustice, to right all of that which is wrong, and to preserve truth, justice, and peace in the halls of McKinley High."
"First order of business," Blaine informed the group, "roll call. Go!"
"Asian Persuasion here," Tina went first. "My superpower is being the mistress of manipulation."
"Blond Chameleon here," Sam said in George W. Bush's voice. "My superpower is I can impersonate anybody. George W. Bush. Heh."
"Tarantula Head here," Joe said. "My superpower is lashing you with my dreads."
"Sweet 'N' Spicy here!" Sugar added. "My superpower is money."
The rest of the group introduced themselves in the same manner, and Blaine noticed the small group standing by the door.
"Second order of business," he explained, "inducting new members into our ever-swelling ranks. Candidates, come forth!"
Artie, Brittany, and Becky entered the room.
"Excited to be here, Blaine!" Artie said as he rolled toward Blaine's table. He was wearing a bald cap.
"First of all, there are no civilian identities in here, okay?" Blaine reminded him "I'm Nightbird: the Nocturnal Avenger! And, second of all, I really hope you're not trying to pass yourself off as a certain telepathic leader of a certain group of superhuman mutants because that would be a copyright violation."
"I'm... Dr. Y," Artie explained. "And my superpower is... wheelies?"
"Welcome, Dr. Y," Blaine approved. "Next?"
"I'm Queen Bee and I can sting like a bitch!" Becky introduced herself. "Bzzzzz!"
"Welcome, Queen Bee," Blaine said. "Next!"
"I'm the Human Brain," Brittany explained. She narrowed her eyes, and Blaine realized she was trying to communicate with him telepathically. He played along, squinting his eyes to receive her message.
"Welcome, Human Brain," he approved.
As he was finishing the sentence, his phone made the screeching noise he had programmed in as the alert tone for superhero-related emergencies.
"What's this? A text just came through on my Nightphone," Blaine picked the phone up off the table and read the text from Tina out loud. "'Have you talked to Kurt?'"
He glared at her. "I already told you, Asian Persuasion, this account is only supposed to be for emergencies. And you cannot use your powers of manipulation to coax me into getting back with my ex, so stop trying!"
Everyone in New Directions knew about his encounter with Kurt on Grease's opening night.
To Blaine's relief, Dotti – formally Tina's assistant – ran into the room and distracted the group. She looked flustered.
"What is it, Chai Tea?" Blaine said, standing quickly to assess the situation.
"Emergency in the choir room!" she cried.
"To the choir room," Blaine instructed, and he led the way out the door.
"Someone took your Nationals trophy and left that laptop in its place!" Dotti explained the situation as they rushed into the choir room.
"Who leaves a laptop?" Artie wondered.
"Someone rich," Blaine assessed. He had a feeling he knew what this was about. "Someone who wanted to send us a message. I got this."
He stepped forward to play the message left for them on the laptop, and Blaine's suspicions were confirmed as a boy dressed in a Dalton blazer appeared on the screen. He was holding New Directions' Nationals trophy.
"Greetings, New Directions," the boy said, his voice digitally disguised and his face distorted. "You have been living as national champions on borrowed time, and that ends now. We have your trophy. Soon we'll have your title, as well. A great reckoning is ahead: Sectionals. Your move."
"It's just a trophy," Blaine reassured the group, hoping to stave off any unnecessary outbursts. "But do not worry. It'll be back by the end of the week."
"You're so brave," Tina breathed. Blaine cut his eyes at her and decided to ignore the comment.
"Back to headquarters," Blaine ordered the group. "We need to finalize the list of who is running the donations table at lunch all week..."
It didn't take long for them to finish their meeting, and, once it was over, the members of the Secret Society of Superheroes club who were also in New Directions wandered back down the hallway to the choir room.
"Nice costume," Marley smiled at Blaine as she walked into the room a few minutes later.
"Thanks," he returned the smile. "You should join! It's fun."
"Um, I dunno," Marley ducked her head.
Blaine decided not to press the issue. "Invitation's always there," he said kindly as she moved to a chair behind him.
Finn arrived soon after, and Blaine watched him as he stood with his back to the group. Blaine knew Finn was nervous. This was his first glee club rehearsal without Mr. Schu there.
"Okay, guys, sit down!" Finn said brightly as he turned around and walked to the center of the room. "We've got a lot of work to do today!"
Nobody seemed to hear him.
"No, seriously, I mean it," Finn said, a hint of begging in his voice as everyone continued to talk. "Sit down."
The noise in the room subsided and everyone turned their attention to Finn.
"Okay," Finn said, "so, the first order of business today is to welcome the newest members of the glee club: Ryder and Kitty."
"Wait, don't we all get to vote on her or something?" Tina asked, motioning at Kitty.
"Well, Tina," Finn replied. "Kitty was fantastic in Grease."
"In spite of my god-awful part," Kitty commented.
"Besides," Finn said, "we're under the gun. We have to go to Sectionals next week and we need twelve members to compete."
"Oh, well," Tina whined, "then just call Santana back from Kentucky again because, apparently, she's better than anyone who's actually enrolled here."
"Look, Tina, not now," Finn scolded. "Uh, look, where was I? Sectionals, yes! Here's the game plan..."
He walked to the white board, but he couldn't find a usable marker. For a few long, awkward seconds, he struggled to figure out what to do, but then he recovered and abandoned the white board.
"The theme is 'foreigner'," Finn explained as he walked to his pad of paper on the piano. "We're gonna sing songs by Foreigner, in foreign languages, wearing all the costumes of the world's nations."
Artie laughed.
"Wait, seriously, that's your idea?" Artie realized when nobody else made a sound.
"Yeah," Finn said brightly.
As Brittany asked her phone what it thought of the idea, Blaine tried to think of a way to explain to Finn that his idea wasn't what they needed.
"Finn, times have changed," he said. "We're national champions now, which means we have to exceed all expectations." Finn looked nervous, but Blaine knew that they couldn't go through with Finn's plan just to spare his feelings. "So, if that's your best idea, I don't think we stand a chance."
Blaine could tell that they weren't going to get anything done in this rehearsal. So, he stood up and headed for the door.
"Wait, where're you going?" Finn asked.
"I'm going to get our trophy back from the Warblers," Blaine replied, trying to fight his annoyance that Finn hadn't come more prepared. "The one you haven't even noticed is missing."
Finn looked to the trophy cabinet.
"Crap," he realized. "Uh..."
Blaine turned and left the room with a flourish of his Nightbird cape.
He stopped at home before going to Dalton so he could drop off his schoolwork and change into normal clothes. As much as part of him wanted to see the looks on the Warblers' faces when he came through the door in his Nightbird costume, he decided that he needed to dress for the situation. He needed to look put together so he wouldn't cause a scene at the elite school.
Blaine hadn't driven to Dalton in a long time – after he had been nearly blinded the year before, there hadn't really been any reason to visit – but the drive felt familiar and easy. As Blaine parked his car and looked around at the beautiful Dalton campus, he wished that he didn't miss it so much.
He had to kill about half an hour before the Warblers would gather in the music building to rehearse, so he wandered around campus and reminisced about his time there. Things had been so simple. Every building and every outdoor space reminded Blaine of the fun he had with the Warblers and of falling in love with Kurt.
KURT
Kurt was sitting on the train from Manhattan to Brooklyn – earlier than normal after an especially satisfying day with Isabelle – when his phone vibrated and he was inundated with memories by way of a photo message from Blaine.
The photo was of a cement sidewalk, surrounded by perfectly trimmed grass and grand brick buildings.
Here on official business, but thinking of you. I'm sorry about everything, Kurt. I miss you and love you.
Kurt stared at the photo and knew exactly what was on Blaine's mind. Now it was on his mind, too.
Less than a week into their new relationship, Kurt and Blaine were walking side by side down a narrow sidewalk through one of Dalton's many green spaces when the backs of their hands brushed against each other. Unsure about what was appropriate, Kurt darted his eyes in Blaine's direction to find that Blaine's head was ducked so that he was smiling at the sidewalk in front of his feet. They continued walking in comfortable silence, pretending that it hadn't happened.
Until Blaine extended his arm and brushed their hands together again. This time, with purpose.
Kurt's heart fluttered in his chest as Blaine played with their fingers. Brushing them against each other and occasionally hooking their fingers together.
Blaine was flirting with him. It was still such a new sensation that Kurt couldn't help the delighted blush that crept up his neck onto his face. When they were almost to their dorm building, Kurt and Blaine were smiling widely and both trying not to be the first to give in, but Kurt could feel his resolve slipping.
"Fine," he huffed, pretending to be annoyed. He caught Blaine's hand in his and felt a thrill at the way Blaine's hand felt like it fit perfectly in his own.
Blaine squeezed his hand and, when Kurt turned to look at him, Kurt saw the same shy excitement in Blaine's face that he was feeling.
"I like this," Blaine confessed, swinging their hands between them.
"I like you," Kurt returned.
He regretted it immediately. Where had those words come from? He blushed furiously and tried to pull his hand out of Blaine's grasp to cover his face or aid him in discovering a way to turn invisible, but Blaine wouldn't let go.
"I like you, too," Blaine teased before he leaned over to press a sweet kiss to Kurt's cheek.
Kurt tipped his head back until it hit the glass of the window behind his seat. He could still feel the memory of the way Blaine made him feel that day; giddy and nervous and blindly in love.
He didn't feel any of those things anymore.
The love was still there. It was deeper now than it had been at the start. Real love, solidified over the course of the year and seven months that had passed between the day they became boyfriends and the day they broke up. But now there was pain associated with the memory of Blaine, too. And the two emotions continued to battle for dominance inside of Kurt. Some days, he woke up wanting to call Blaine and sob into the phone that he loved him and that he would always love him and that he wanted to try again. And, some days, he woke up wanting to call Blaine and scream at him for shattering the trust that they shared and ruining everything.
He didn't text Blaine back.
BLAINE
After Blaine sent the photo to Kurt, he wondered if he had overstepped. He hoped not. Things couldn't get much worse between them, so did it really matter? He hoped that Kurt would recall the memory fondly.
Forcing himself to re-focus on the task at hand, Blaine made his way to the music building and up the stairs to see if anyone was in the Warblers' official music room. They rarely used it in favor of the larger study rooms downstairs, but it wasn't quite time for Warbler practice yet, so Blaine thought someone might be hanging around the usually-empty room.
It was locked.
Blaine walked back down the hallway, and was halfway down the grand spiral staircase with the huge skylight shining above when he saw a familiar face at the base of the stairs.
"Sebastian," Blaine greeted. "Of course it was you."
"No, it wasn't," Sebastian countered as Blaine reached the bottom of the stairs. "I swear. I turned over a new leaf, remember?"
"Oh, that's right," Blaine said skeptically.
"No more bullying, blackmail, or assault this year," Sebastian reminded him as they walked together toward the library where the Warblers usually rehearsed.
"Well, that must be boring for you," Blaine suggested.
"Yeah, it is," Sebastian agreed. "Being nice sucks."
They walked in silence for a few seconds before Sebastian spoke again.
"He's waiting for you in the library."
"Who is?" Blaine wondered.
"The guy you're here to see," Sebastian reminded him. "Captain of the Warblers."
"I thought you were captain of the Warblers," Blaine narrowed his eyes.
"Let's just say that my attitude didn't do me any favors," Sebastian explained as he motioned for Blaine to open the doors to the room where the new captain of the Warblers was waiting.
When Blaine pushed the doors open and stepped into the achingly familiar room, he thought, at first, that Sebastian had been mistaken. There was nobody else in the room.
But movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to see a young man in a Dalton blazer sitting in a swiveling chair by the fireplace. He had a white cat in his lap.
"I knew they'd send you," the unknown Warbler said, his voice full of confidence. "Allow me to answer the obvious questions. I'm Hunter Clarington. I'm the new captain of the Warblers and I'm not even remotely bi-curious."
"How are you captain of the Warblers when –?"
"When you've never seen me before?" Hunter interrupted, tossing the cat to the floor so he could stand up. "Simple. Dalton just gave me a full scholarship to move here from Colorado Springs, where I led my military academy choir to a Regionals victory with Presidential honors. Now I'm here to kick it up a notch. And that starts with you."
"That's very intimidating," Blaine replied, not in the mood to play games with a new student trying to prove his authority. "Where's the trophy, Hunter?"
Hunter laughed. "Don't worry, it's safe," he reassured Blaine, and Blaine realized that the trophy was probably upstairs in the locked room. "It was just bait, after all."
Blaine didn't like where this was going. Bait?
"See, you're kind of a legend here," Hunter explained. "I like that. So, here's my offer. Your little diversity club can have its Nationals trophy back... when you re-join the Warblers."
That was not what Blaine had expected Hunter to suggest. His eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"And why would I ever leave McKinley?" he countered.
"Why would you stay?" Hunter inquired. "I heard you only went there to be with Kurt, right?"
Kurt wondered what else the Warblers told new members about him.
Hunter started to walk toward Blaine. "In fact," he said, "I hear they even call you Blaine Warbler."
Blaine stared at the unfamiliar face in front of him and tried not to admit to himself that Hunter's logic made sense.
"They know you don't belong there," Hunter said. "So, why don't you?"
"We all know the real Blaine, Blaine," Sebastian added as he joined them in the room, along with three other Warblers. "Ambitious, driven. You're a Dalton boy."
Blaine was starting to feel simultaneously threatened and tempted.
"Present the blazer," Hunter commanded.
"That's not going to work on me," Blaine argued as one of the Warblers produced an extra Dalton blazer.
"Then why be afraid to try it on?" Hunter countered.
Sebastian stepped behind Blaine, and Blaine obeyed, allowing Sebastian to slip the blazer onto his arms and up to its resting place on his shoulders.
This wasn't his Dalton blazer – he had his at home – but this one was his size. Tailored to his measurements.
It felt like he had never been without it.
"Here's the thing, Blaine," Hunter said, clasping an arm around Blaine's shoulders to lead him toward the fireplace. "You know that Nationals trophy was a fluke. Just like you know we're going to win at Sectionals."
After the chaos of that afternoon's glee rehearsal, Blaine couldn't even find the strength to argue. New Directions' Nationals win had not been a fluke, but could they win again this year? Blaine really didn't want them to lose at Sectionals the year after they were national champions.
"Now, I don't want to see a Dalton legend like you sidelined in his senior year," Hunter explained as he returned to his chair. "I want you on the winning side. Here with us."
Blaine was trying to decide what to say when Sebastian picked up the conversation.
"You know what goes great with a new Dalton blazer?" Sebastian suggested. "An impromptu song."
"What?" Blaine turned away from Hunter to protest the sudden request from Sebastian and the other Warblers in the room. "No."
"Come on," Sebastian pushed. "One song for your old buddies?"
"Guys, I didn't come here to sing a song, okay?" Blaine explained. "I came here to get the –"
They started the song before he was done protesting, and Blaine didn't bother continuing to resist as the rest of the Warblers came flooding into the room for rehearsal. It was a song he knew well; he had helped them arrange it.
Blaine threw all thoughts of his complicated life away and let himself fall back into the security of being Blaine Warbler.
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
There's a place that I know
It's not pretty there and few have ever gone
He strolled past many of his old friends and some new faces to the center of the room. He could feel everyone watching him.
And if I show it to you now will it make you run away?
Will you stay even if it hurts?
Blaine buttoned his blazer as he sang. He wished that he had never left Dalton. He missed this so much.
Even if I try to push you out will you return and remind me who I really am?
Please remind me who I really am
He wandered around the room, saying silent hellos to the people he knew as he sang, before returning to the room's center aisle. The group followed him, forming up to do the choreography for the song as Blaine sang. He watched them carefully, trying to remember the steps.
Everybody's got a dark side
Do you love me? Can you love mine?
Nobody's a picture perfect but we're worth it
You know that we're worth it
Blaine put his arms out, and the group parted for him without question. It felt amazing. Even after being gone for so long, he had authority here. He strolled up the center of the room toward the windows as he sang.
Will you love me even with my dark side?
The Warblers gathered around, and Blaine remembered this section of choreography. He turned and headed back toward the door, and the group followed. Even with some new faces in the group, they were still a team that was in tune with Blaine.
Don't run away
Don't run away
Just promise me you will stay
Promise me you will stay
Hunter finally climbed out of his chair and walked to the window, motioning for the group to form lines on either side of the aisle. As Hunter and Blaine walked toward each other in the middle of the group, some of the arrogance in Hunter's eyes was replaced with kindness. He shoved Blaine's shoulder encouragingly as they stepped to opposite sides of the aisle to join the formation.
Will you love me with my dark side?
Oh oh
Everybody's got a dark side
Do you love me? Can you love mine?
The choreography flooded back to Blaine. He danced with his friends and sang his heart out and forgot that he had ever left. He was a Warbler. This was his home.
Nobody's a picture perfect but we're worth it
You know that we're worth it
Will you love me even with my dark side?
Don't run away
Don't run away
The last words of the song snapped Blaine out of his fantasy.
Don't run away.
He had run away once before. And he still had a bitter taste in his mouth whenever he thought about it.
"What'd I tell you?" Sebastian said to Hunter as the song ended. "Flawless."
Blaine unbuttoned the blazer he was wearing. It wasn't his. These weren't his Warblers. These Warblers had betrayed him when he went to McKinley. Sebastian had almost blinded him. Blaine slipped the blazer off his shoulders and held it out to Hunter
"Keep it," Hunter refused. "It's already yours. Don't you think it's time you came back where you belong, Blaine Warbler?"
Filled with fond memories and the energy of the performance, Blaine didn't trust himself to stay any longer.
"I'll be back for the trophy," he said firmly before turning and walking out of the room.
BLAINE
By the next afternoon, Blaine had made the tentative decision to stay at McKinley. He wasn't going to run away because he didn't feel like he belonged at McKinley. He was captain of New Directions and president of the student body. He had responsibilities.
Finn's arrival to glee rehearsal brought a moment of welcome distraction; he was wearing a blue and yellow superhero costume.
"Okay!" Finn announced as he walked into the room.
"Oh dear god," Artie expressed the group's uncertainty.
"So, I get it," Finn said as he arrived at his place in front of the group. "My first idea was pretty bad."
"Worse than 'funk'," Tina commented.
"Worse than 'night of neglect'," Artie added.
"So," Finn said, walking to the whiteboard to write the week's lesson, "I decided to try something new. 'Dynamic duets'! This is going to be a lot more fun, and it focuses on something you guys actually like: superheroes!"
"So, wait, are we all going to have to wear costumes?" Marley asked.
"And who, exactly, are you supposed to be?" Artie asked. "The bulge who makes gym socks disappear?"
"Please don't melt us with your bulge," Brittany requested.
"Well," Finn explained proudly, slipping the whiteboard marker into his waistband, "I am the almighty Treble Clef. Uniter of glee clubs."
"Jesus is the only real almighty superhero," Kitty informed them.
"Amen," Joe said.
"Nobody asked you," Kitty scolded.
"Come on, guys," Ryder said. "Let's hear him out."
"Thanks," Finn said to Ryder before turning his attention back to the entire group. "Think of The Avengers," he told them. "Individually, they all have amazing powers, but, as a team, they cannot be stopped. Right now, we're a bunch of individuals with great powers and talents, but we're not a team. Some of you even have mortal enemies in this very room, allowing the dark side to turn us against each other while we should be focusing on the Warblers."
"Nightbird is handling the missing trophy," Blaine interjected.
"Great," Finn approved. "Thank you, Nightbird!"
He turned to the rest of the group. "Jake will pair up with Ryder; Marley will join Kitty to do the duets. The rest of you? Start preparing to fight an epic battle against the forces of evil at Sectionals."
Most of New Directions seemed to approve, but Blaine was stuck inside the emotional tornado that was his brain. He could only appreciate that this idea was much more promising than Finn's first plan. He couldn't find any excitement.
"That idea was slightly better," Artie acknowledged.
"Still could be horrible," Tina warned.
They warmed up and starting working on the vocals for Some Nights, which was a song they had decided, together, to try as a candidate for Sectionals. (Only one of the three songs had to fit the "foreigner" theme.) Singing boosted Blaine's spirits a bit, but it also gave him more to think about. Singing with New Directions didn't feel as natural to him as singing with the Warblers.
BLAINE
At lunch the next day, Blaine recruited the students of New Directions to help him paint over some graffiti on one of the school's outer walls. Principal Figgins had been so unhappy about the unkind words and the amount of spray paint on the wall that he had given Blaine – and anyone who would help him – permission to skip his final classes of the day if he needed to in order to finish the cleanup. So, recruiting people to help him paint the exterior wall had been no problem.
It was fun. The weather was beautiful. The painting was done quickly. And, in the process, the group turned their paintbrushes on each other and had a paint fight during the middle of a school day. By the end, Blaine was sweaty, covered in paint, and happy.
But it was short lived. That afternoon in glee club, Ryder and Jake sang their duet together and it turned into a fist fight. The room erupted in screams and Blaine jumped up to help restrain the two boys, but Sam and Finn had it under control. They dragged Jake and Ryder out of the room – Finn shouted over his shoulder that glee rehearsal was dismissed for the day – and Blaine was forced to go home early and spend the evening alone with his thoughts.
The possibility of transferring back to Dalton would not leave his mind.
Everything at McKinley made him think of Kurt. Kurt would've resisted the superhero idea at first, but Blaine knew he would've been able to talk him into making himself a wonderful superhero costume. They could've done the food and clothing drive together. Blaine could've let Kurt borrow some of his old clothes so Kurt would join them in painting the wall without destroying his designer outfit. Blaine could have helped Kurt rinse the paint out of his hair. They could have sung a duet together in their superhero costumes, silly and upbeat and in love.
But, instead, Blaine was at McKinley by himself. Stuck with a heavy burden of guilt and without the boy he loved. It was affecting his entire life. His ability to care about things and connect with people and be an effective leader.
And nobody seemed to notice.
Blaine opened his closet door and reached to the furthest corner for his Dalton blazer. It hung there as if it were waiting for him. Waiting for Blaine to put it back on and return to the place where he felt safe and at home.
He sat down on the bed with the blazer in his lap and stared at the photo of Kurt on his dresser.
McKinley didn't matter without Kurt. McKinley had never existed for Blaine without Kurt.
But Dalton had.
BLAINE
The next day, Blaine rushed to glee rehearsal after his last class so he could talk to Finn before everyone else arrived.
"Hey, you got a minute?" he asked as he walked into the choir room. To his relief, Finn was the only one there.
"Yeah!" Finn agreed. "Dude, I was just going to text you! How's Operation Rescue Recovery going?"
"Well," Blaine dodged the question but was grateful for the easy transition into talking about his old school, "when I went back to Dalton... all those blazers and singing with the Warblers again –"
"Wait, wait," Finn stopped him. "What? You sang with the Warblers?"
"It just sorta happened," Blaine explained, feeling a spark of embarrassment that he had gone to steal back the trophy and had ended up singing with New Directions' competition. "But they embraced me like I was a long lost brother... it was like in X-Men Two when Pyro left the X-Men to join Magneto's brotherhood."
Finn didn't understand.
"It just felt right," Blaine stressed. "Like maybe... I belong with the Warblers."
"Dude, no!" Finn disagreed immediately. "No, you belong here with us, okay?"
Blaine turned away and walked toward the back of the room. How could he explain how much he needed to find some way to feel wanted again? How much being at McKinley without Kurt felt indescribably lonely?
"Does... does this have to do with Kurt?" Finn wondered.
"Everything in this room reminds me of him!" Blaine shouted, turning back to face Finn. "We were a dynamic duo in here. Kurt was my anchor, Finn. And, now that he's gone, I just... I feel like I'm floating."
It was the first time he had ever tried to describe his emptiness out loud.
"And you..." Blaine added, motioning to Finn and the set of figurines on the piano that represented New Directions, "you need a team that's gonna gel."
"Yes, absolutely!" Finn agreed as he followed Blaine to sit down. "We need a team with a lot of gel and you're, like, the biggest part of that."
Blaine couldn't engage his brain enough to laugh or be upset at the joke.
"I'm sorry, Finn," Blaine said, "but the Warblers are my birthright and my destiny."
He was going to transfer back to Dalton.
The decision gave him the same sort of adrenaline rush that he had felt when he went to Eli's hotel room more than a month before. He was going for it. As Blaine stood up and walked toward the door that would lead him out of the choir room and away from the onslaught of memories of Kurt, he felt almost lightheaded with relief.
"What the hell, dude?" Finn's voice stopped him as he reached the door. "No! You can't just –"
Blaine paused in the doorway.
"I'm going back to Dalton," he said, his voice steady. "Thanks for..." his throat closed up as an unexpected wave of emotion hit him and he tried to blink the tears out of his eyes. "Thanks for not hating me after... what happened. With Kurt."
"Blaine!" Finn shouted as Blaine stepped out the door and walked away down the hall. "Blaine!"
Finn chased Blaine down the hallway, and Blaine finally decided to acknowledge him when they reached the doors to the parking lot.
"I don't belong here, Finn!" he said sharply, turning to face Finn while keeping one hand on the door. "The only reason I'm here at all is because I wanted to be with Kurt. And look how that turned out. I screwed everything up."
"But –" Finn started.
"Goodbye, Finn," Blaine said, and he pushed the door open and ran across the parking lot to his car.
BLAINE
Blaine returned to school early the next morning to clean out his locker. He hoped that he would be able to get his books and the photographs and mementoes from his locker and leave without running into anyone he knew.
As Blaine gathered his things out of his locker into a box he had grabbed out of a storage closet, he couldn't decide how he felt.
He was excited about Dalton. But there were things he was going to miss about McKinley.
And he felt like he was letting everyone down by abandoning New Directions a week before Sectionals.
"Dude, this is part of some master plan, right?" Sam, worried and animated, was suddenly behind him. "You're going back to the Warblers to gather intel for us so we can kick their asses at Sectionals."
"Sam, don't," Blaine scolded. "I feel awful enough as it is."
"Look, stop, okay?" Sam responded sharply, placing a steady hand on Blaine's back. "You've been beating yourself up for, like, weeks since you and Kurt broke up."
Blaine turned around to lean against the row of lockers and look at Sam.
"But going back to Dalton?" Sam continued. "You told Finn it was because you feel more at home there. If you ask me, it's just another way to punish yourself. For what? What did you do, exactly?"
"It was a guy that friended me on Facebook," Blaine admitted, so disgusted with himself that he could barely say the words. "I went over to his place because it felt like Kurt was moving on with his life and I wasn't a part of it."
This was what he wanted to say to Kurt.
"And I got to thinking," Blaine added, "that maybe Kurt and I weren't meant for each other. That we weren't supposed to spend the rest of our lives together."
Sam dropped his eyes from Blaine's for a moment, acknowledging the sadness of the situation.
"But the horrible thing is," Blaine concluded when Sam met his gaze again, "right after I did it I knew that we were."
"Dude, you've gotta tell Kurt that," Sam said immediately.
"What, you think I haven't told him that?" Blaine snapped. "You think I haven't tried? He doesn't want to hear from me–"
"Calm down!" Sam interrupted. "It's okay."
"No!" Blaine raised his voice as he slammed his locker and turned around to face the other boy with his box of belongings in his arms. "It's not okay, Sam!"
He realized that he was shouting and lowered his voice.
"Because I cheated on the one person that I love more than anything in this world," Blaine explained. "I hurt him, so of course he's not going to trust me. He's never going to forgive me."
Kurt's words from the last time they had seen each other still rang loudly in his ears. I don't trust you anymore.
"Even if he doesn't," Sam allowed, "you've got to forgive yourself. You've gotta stop– what's the word when you make someone into a villain? Uh..."
"Villainize?" Blaine suggested.
"Yeah, you've gotta stop villianizing yourself!" Sam said. "Yeah, you hurt Kurt. That wasn't cool. So, you're trying to make it right. But exiling yourself to Dalton won't fix anything!"
"I just want to stop feeling like I'm a bad person," Blaine admitted.
He had never said those words out loud before. It felt strange. And, somehow, like a weight had been lifted off of Blaine's shoulders. It was no longer a secret.
"You're not," Sam argued. "You're one of the good guys. And I've got a whole glee club that agrees with me."
Blaine shot Sam a skeptical look, but Sam ignored it.
"Give me a day," Sam asked. "One day before you pack it all up. One day to be the hero we all know you are. And then, you know, you can decide where you really belong."
Blaine looked at Sam as he debated his options. He hadn't done anything official yet. His plan was to carry his box of belongings to the front office and withdraw from McKinley, then drive to Dalton and re-enroll there. He knew they would take him back. And he knew that his parents would be happy to pay. They had never really approved of his transfer to McKinley, but they had gone along with it because Blaine had been a convincing liar about why he wanted to transfer. He had lied to his parents. He had lied to his friends. He had lied to himself. Getting a second chance to face the demons of public school was just a bonus to getting to see Kurt every day.
It had been a mistake.
Or had it?
"And to start," Sam said seriously, "we're going to sing a song together."
"What?" Blaine scoffed.
"This week's assignment is 'dynamic duets'," Sam reminded him. "And I know you like performing, so let's go."
He turned and walked away toward the auditorium, and Blaine hesitated. He wanted to transfer back to Dalton. He had wanted to come to McKinley to be closer to Kurt, but he had never wanted to leave Dalton. This could be his second chance to be a Dalton boy and a Warbler.
Sam glanced over his shoulder to see if Blaine was following him, and Blaine knew that he had to oblige. He liked Sam. He owed Sam one final song.
"Think about this week, man," Sam said as Blaine hurried to catch up. "We gathered all that food for poor people for Thanksgiving and we painted over that graffiti for Principal Figgins. People are going to have a good, warm meal to be thankful for and a clean wall to walk past at school because of you. Those things were your ideas. A bad person wouldn't do those things."
Blaine nodded. He knew that he was capable of doing good things. Nice things. But he had pushed all of his morals aside and cheated on Kurt. It was difficult to imagine that he was a good person deep down inside when he was capable of something so terrible.
"What are we singing?" Blaine asked as they walked through the door into the auditorium.
"We're going to remind you that you're a hero, not a villain," Sam said, grabbing his guitar off a stand on the edge of the stage.
Blaine shrugged.
"Okay," Sam said, "you stand here..." he grabbed Blaine's shoulders and steered him to the front corner of the stage. "I'll start."
As Sam grabbed a stool and dragged it to a microphone stand in the center of the stage, someone clasped a hand on Blaine's back. He jumped in surprise as he twisted around to see who was there.
It was the band.
"What...?" Blaine looked back at Sam.
"We sing with instruments here," Sam teased. "Okay, guys, let's do this."
Sam sang the first verse of David Bowie's Heroes, and Blaine thought about New Directions versus the Warblers as he watched and listened. Where did he belong? With the Warblers: ambitious and talented and traditional? Or with New Directions: enthusiastic and creative and unique?
When the song reached a musical interlude, Sam stood up and dragged his stool over to where Blaine was standing.
"Your turn," he said, motioning toward the microphone stand.
Blaine sighed and started to walk across the stage, but Sam caught his arm to stop him.
"Like you mean it," Sam demanded.
Blaine laughed and nodded, pulling out of Sam's grasp and hurrying to the microphone at the center of the stage.
He let himself feel the music as the band picked up the song again, and he danced a little on the stage before he started to sing. Singing with the Warblers had given him clarity about how well he fit in there. He owed Sam – and McKinley – the same chance.
By the end of the song, he was glad he had gone for it.
The Warblers had been his home once. But not anymore. This was his place. McKinley was where he belonged.
As they finished the song, Sam – who had come over to sing the final part of the song with Blaine – shoved Blaine's head, teasing him. And Blaine shoved him back.
Sam was his friend.
For the first time in a long time, Blaine felt an adrenaline rush for a positive reason. He had a friend at McKinley. And maybe the others were his friends, too, but he had been too emotionally closed off to reciprocate.
"You think you fit in really well at Dalton," Sam said as the band waved their goodbyes and left Sam and Blaine alone in the auditorium, "but what you don't realize is that you fit in here just as well. Everyone in New Directions looks up to you. The senior class voted you – and me, you know, that probably helped – to the top position in the entire school. Just because you came here for Kurt doesn't mean you can't stay for you."
Sam turned away to put his guitar down, and Blaine reached down to grab his bag off the floor.
"Well," Sam said as he walked back over, "what's your decision?"
Blaine sighed, satisfied, and held out Sam's Blonde Chameleon mask.
"One last mission first," he said. "You in?"
Sam nodded.
"We need to steal back the trophy," Blaine explained. "It's in a room – a locked room, unfortunately – on the second floor of Dalton's music building."
"Are we skipping school for this?" Sam asked hopefully. Blaine considered it briefly before nodding, and they left the auditorium together.
"We're going to need a decent plan," Blaine continued as they walked to his car, "because, obviously, we're going to stick out in the sea of blazers."
"I could call and impersonate the President and have the school evacuated," Sam suggested.
"Too obvious," Blaine disagreed. "Plus, they'd see us for sure. We need to be stealthy."
"Dude!" Sam exclaimed. "You know how we've been doing that obstacle course in gym class with the rope climbing?"
"Perfect," Blaine understood. He offered a fist and Sam bumped it with his.
They stopped by a hardware store to get supplies and went to Blaine's house to assemble a grappling hook.
"I find your house pleasing," Sam said in Spock's analytical voice as they walked through the front door.
"Thanks," Blaine laughed.
As they worked on securing the climbing device, they talked about New Directions and about how much they liked having Finn around again. They even talked a little about Kurt and Rachel and Blaine tried to explain to Sam how amazing it was that Kurt was working side by side with Isabelle Wright.
Now that Sam knew the truth about what had happened between him and Kurt, Blaine felt like all the pressure to censor himself was off. Sam knew that he had cheated and didn't automatically hate him. Sam had listened to the whole story and reassured Blaine that he wasn't a bad person.
They decided that they needed to do something nice to Finn to officially welcome him as their leader for the next few weeks. Sam texted everyone their idea – and let them know that Blaine wasn't transferring, after all – and they organized a small list of things for people to bring to glee rehearsal that afternoon to put in the bag for Finn. They didn't have time to do the shopping themselves. They had a trophy to steal back.
"This is pretty much the coolest thing I've ever done," Sam commented an hour later when they hooked their new climbing tool to the large ring that held up Blaine's punching bag in the garage. They needed to test if it would hold their weight. Blaine smiled in agreement as he hung from the rope for a moment and felt satisfied that it was secure.
They ate lunch and changed into their superhero costumes before making the drive to Dalton.
"Remember that time I delivered a pizza to you guys when you and Kurt lived here?" Sam remembered as they parked.
"Yeah," Blaine acknowledged, smiling fondly. He and Kurt had been so newly in love that day. And Dalton had been Blaine's home.
So much had changed since then, Blaine thought as he showed Sam exactly where they were going on a campus map in case they got separated. But, as Blaine looked at Sam, sitting beside him in the car – dressed as a superhero to help Blaine steal back a trophy – Blaine realized that some of the changes had been good ones.
They waited in the car until immediately after a class change, and then they made their move. They ran across a small courtyard to stand directly under the second floor balcony of the Warblers' locked room. Sam threw the grappling hook up – it secured to the railing on the first try, much to Sam and Blaine's delight – and they climbed the rope to the balcony.
"Alright," Blaine whispered, out of breath from the climb as Sam pulled the rope up onto the balcony, "leave the hook attached so we can get out of here in a hurry if we need to. Let's go."
They snuck into the room through the unlocked doors to the balcony and examined the case where the Warblers had secured the trophy.
"It's locked," Sam whined. "Do you think there's an alarm or can we break the glass?"
"It looks like a really simple lock," Blaine commented. "Do you have a screwdriver?"
Sam reached inside his jacket and handed Blaine a screwdriver. Blaine stuck it into the cabinet lock and wiggled it around. Nothing happened.
"Try twisting it," Sam suggested.
The lock clicked open as Blaine turned the screwdriver like a key.
"This is legendary," Sam declared. Blaine snorted out a laugh.
Sam carried the trophy over to the doors to the balcony while Blaine held the Dalton uniform Hunter had given him and asked himself if this was really what he wanted.
Being in the Warblers had changed his life. They had helped him regain his confidence after he was bullied out of public school. They had, just by existing, led him to Kurt.
But it was time to let them go. Now, New Directions would help Blaine find himself again as he tried to forgive himself for what he had done to Kurt.
He belonged at McKinley now.
"Dude, let's go!" Sam hissed.
Blaine grabbed a piece of paper and a marker off a small table in the room.
No thanks, he wrote.
He folded the blazer and put it in the cabinet where the trophy had been before placing the note on top.
When he tried to close and lock the cabinet door, the screwdriver wouldn't budge.
"It's stuck," he turned to Sam.
The sound of footsteps walking by the closed door to the hallway scared them both into silence. Abandoning the screwdriver, Blaine rushed across the room to Sam and they hurried out onto the balcony. Sam climbed down the rope first, and Blaine tossed the trophy down to him before climbing down, too.
They were trying to wiggle the grappling hook loose when they heard the doors to the room upstairs burst open.
"Time to go!" Blaine gasped, and they turned and ran away across the grass toward Blaine's car.
As they climbed into the vehicle, Blaine glanced back at the building they had just escaped from. Sebastian and Hunter were standing on the balcony, watching them.
Blaine waved as they drove away, and he and Sam laughed and recounted the story together the entire way back to McKinley.
As they changed out of their superhero costumes and into their normal clothes in the locker room, Blaine realized that he was going to be okay. The heartbreak over what had happened with Kurt was still inside him. As was the guilt. But, now, there was hope, too. He could see a light at the end of the tunnel of emotional numbness that he had been living in for almost two months.
BLAINE
New Directions was already gathered in the choir room by the time Sam and Blaine arrived with the Nationals trophy. Sam lifted it victoriously over his head as they entered the room to cheers from their classmates.
"Guys, it was epic," Sam told the group as everyone calmed down. "Dalton was like Death Star meets Mordor meets Temple of Doom. I might be exaggerating, but probably not."
"I owe all of you an apology," Blaine added, "for ever doubting that McKinley is my home. You guys are my home."
He felt like he was seeing everyone for the first time. As his friends rather than a group of people who were nice to him because he was with Kurt.
"We've got a real fight ahead of us with the Warblers at Sectionals," Blaine continued. "But I am not worried at all. Because we've got the team, we've got the talent, and we have, most importantly, the leader."
He took the trophy from Sam and handed it to Finn, and everyone cheered as Finn returned it to its place in their trophy cabinet.
"Alright, alright!" Finn approved as he returned to the center of the room to stand beside Blaine and Sam. "Let's start with some warm-ups, and then we can –"
"Oh, Finn?" Tina interrupted, "Wait. Can I say something? This is for you, from all of us."
"It's a superhero utility belt cleverly disguised as a fanny pack," Artie explained as Tina handed the bag to Finn.
"There's some stuff in there we thought you could use," Joe added.
"Ah, cool!" Finn accepted the gift. "Uh..." he unzipped the bag and reached inside.
"Magic markers!" he discovered. "I can never find these! Antacid," he pulled a pink bottle out of the bag.
"In case you get the show choir squirts," Sam said.
"Thanks," Finn mouthed.
He reached back into the bag and pulled out a Barbie head.
"That's from me," Brittany said. "You're welcome."
Sam nudged Blaine with his elbow. Their gift was next.
Finn pulled a gold treble clef pin out of the bag.
"That's to always remind you that you're the almighty Treble Clef," Blaine explained. "The uniter of glee clubs. And the uniter of friends."
"Wow," Finn said to everyone. "Uh, I don't know what to say. I'll never let you down, I promise."
He turned to look at Blaine and Sam before turning his attention back to the group sitting in the chairs.
"Okay, come on," he motioned with his arms, "huddle up!"
Blaine stepped over next to Finn to join the huddle and relished the happiness that he was feeling. It was like he could suddenly breathe properly for the first time in months.
"Next week at Sectionals," Finn said enthusiastically, "we are going to kick some Warblers' sorry asses. Then it's Regionals, and then it's Nationals, and then this year is gonna go down in the McKinley High record books as the greatest year the New Directions has ever seen. Onwards and upwards!"
"Amazing!" the group cheered as they threw their hands in the air.
"Let's give Some Nights a dress rehearsal," Finn suggested as the group stepped out of the huddle. "How about... dark jeans and red shirts?"
"Oh, hold up," Artie protested.
Finn winked at him and Blaine glanced at Sam. He shrugged.
Blaine had a red shirt in his car, so he ran to get it and was ready to go before most of the others who were sorting through the costume closet to find appropriate shirts to wear. He wandered into the auditorium and found Finn sitting in the audience, ready to watch the rehearsal.
"Hey," Blaine said softly, hopping off the stage so he could walk closer to Finn.
"Oh, hey!" Finn smiled. "Great outfit! That's totally what I imagined! What's up?"
"I wanted to apologize," Blaine admitted. "I... panicked, I guess. Yesterday. I'm sorry."
"All's well that ends well, man," Finn stood up and walked to where Blaine was standing. "I'm really glad you decided to stay."
"Me too," Blaine admitted.
Some of the other students were starting to arrive on the stage, and Blaine glanced back at them before turning his attention to Finn again.
"Let's kick ass at Sectionals," Finn suggested.
"Let's do it," Blaine agreed, offering his fist.
Finn fist-bumped him, and they both laughed when Finn made an exploding noise as their fists separated.
"Thanks, Finn," Blaine smiled before he turned to run back up to the stage.
Once everyone was dressed and ready to go, Finn stood up.
"Okay," he called to the group from his seat in the audience, "show me what you've got! Blaine? Take it away."
KURT
"I am so tired I think I could fall asleep standing up," Kurt announced as he closed the door to the apartment on Friday evening and turned to see Rachel sprawled out on the couch with her laptop.
"Mmm," Rachel hummed in agreement. Kurt doubted that she really heard him. He wandered over to the kitchen and briefly considered making himself something healthy before settling on a huge bowl of cereal.
"What's going on in the world?" he asked with his mouth full as he sat down on the couch by Rachel's feet.
"Did you know that we could eat out once every single day and never eat at every restaurant in the city?" Rachel asked. Kurt rolled his eyes.
They sat in silence for a while as Kurt crunched on his cereal and stared at nothing and tried not to fall asleep sitting on the couch. Work had been intense all week as Isabelle and a few of the office's other senior members planned a trip to South Africa for a photo shoot. It meant that the start of the following week would be more relaxed than usual – the office would be significantly less crowded than normal and Isabelle had suggested that they deflect as many calls as possible so that she wouldn't return to the office to find hundreds of messages waiting for her – but Kurt was too physically and emotionally exhausted to appreciate the future yet.
"Can I use that?" Kurt asked when he finished his dinner and set the bowl on the floor by his feet. He motioned at the computer in Rachel's lap. "I feel incapable of letting down for the weekend without checking my email one more time."
"Yeah... hold on..." Rachel finished whatever she was doing and passed the laptop to Kurt.
He checked his email (nothing that required immediate attention) before absentmindedly heading to Facebook.
As he scrolled through his feed, he came across a photograph of Blaine.
He was dressed in a bright red shirt – as was Sugar, who had one arm wrapped around Blaine's shoulders and was pressing a kiss to his cheek as she took the self-portrait with her other hand – and Kurt could tell that they were on the stage at McKinley. Rehearsing for Sectionals, he assumed.
Kurt's mouth was suddenly dry as he looked at Blaine. The way his smile stretched across his face and shone in his eyes. He looked good. Confident and relaxed and everything that Kurt loved so much about him.
As Kurt gawked at the photo, the page refreshed and a new photo – this one posted by Finn – appeared at the top of the page. This time it was the whole group; all of New Directions huddled together on the stage in their red shirts and dark jeans. Blaine was standing right in the middle with the same huge smile on his face.
"Ready for Sectionals!" said Finn's caption.
Kurt closed the laptop and handed it back to Rachel.
"I'm going to bed," he announced.
Rachel stretched out her arm and Kurt squeezed her hand briefly. "Goodnight," Rachel smiled.
"'Night," Kurt said, too tired and emotional to return the smile.
Kurt wandered into his makeshift room, wondering briefly how much it would cost to construct actual walls as he passed the curtain that blocked him from view but not from earshot. As he changed into his pajamas and wandered back across the apartment to the bathroom to brush his teeth, he tried so hard not to think about Blaine that the other boy was the only thing on his mind.
He missed Blaine.
The pain of Blaine's infidelity was still there, raw and terrible, but as the weeks passed a new feeling was starting to wedge its way into Kurt's mind. He was in the process of convincing himself that it was just silly nostalgia, but he knew it was more than that. Kurt would catch himself thinking about Blaine as the sweet, energetic boy he loved instead of the person who had shattered the trust they shared. He would see something on the streets of the city that would remind him of Blaine and he would sometimes feel fondness in his chest rather than devastation. He was starting to be able to say Blaine's name in casual conversation without wanting to fall to the floor and die of a broken heart. And, one day the week before, he had even woken up and reached out for his phone to text Blaine good morning before remembering that they were no longer together.
Kurt was halfway through brushing his teeth for a second time before he realized that he had already done it. He paused to look at himself in the mirror, annoyed, before plodding back past Rachel to his room.
He wished that he could hate Blaine. Hate everything about Blaine and be scorned and bitter about Blaine's betrayal forever. Because missing Blaine and knowing that things could never be the same between them again hurt so badly.
As Kurt climbed into bed, he wondered if he would feel the ache of Blaine's absence forever.
Blaine's finally starting to feel a bit better! Hallelujah. He's still got a long way to go to figure out how to repair his relationship with Kurt, but at least he can find some happiness in his life now. Let me love you, Sam, you sweetheart. Kurt, I imagine, hasn't quite reached that point yet, but he will soon enough!
Up next (on Monday!)... 4x08: Thanksgiving!