Chapter 6
Between Barry and Sebastian, it took only one trip to move into Sebastian's dorm in Dalton. Sebastian figured that between the Grandparents, and the next four years of living in a dorm, he will fill up the room without much fanfare. So he only brought one large suitcase and a cardboard box of miscellaneous items when he moved into his dorm. Just the essentials, clothes for the weekend, some books and supplies he is sure to use for either entertainment or class. A spare flannel blanket he stole from his parent's closet for when he gets home sick. He only has to snatch that hoodie he knows his brother is so fond of before they leave.
The dorm room was not very large but was warm and cozy enough to fit two teenage boys over the year. The walls were the same warm wooden motif as most of the school. Two twin beds each with drawers installed underneath. A wardrobe with a partition in the middle for hanging. Two study tables on different corners of the room. A modest bathroom tucked away behind a door that looked almost like a second closet.
"Cozy." Barry noted while putting down the box on the study desk on the left side of the room from the entrance knowing his brother's preference of staying on the deeper side of the room.
"Yeah." Sebastian said looking around, peeking into the drawers and bathroom. "I wonder who my roommate is?"
"I pity the fool." Barry teased. "You're a tough roommate to hang with."
"We haven't shared a room since we were eleven." Sebastian reminded. "Besides, you know you're gonna miss me."
"I know." Barry reached into his backpack and took out a wrapped gift "I got you a dorm warming gift."
"You shouldn't have." Sebastian said, accepting the gift. Barry took a seat at the bed across from Sebastian as he tore through the wrapper. It revealed a bear.
"I know it's cheesy." Barry said. "But I wanted you to give you something that would remind you of me when you get homesick. I saw him at the school store and I had to buy it."
It was a regular teddy sized teddy bear. But it was wearing a printed shirt with CCSA's school logo and a mini labcoat.
Sebastian reached over to his own backpack. "I hadn't had the chance to wrap him yet, I found him when Dad and I came to finish up the paperwork yesterday."
He pulled out a similar looking bear with a Dalton Blazer and a printed collared shirt and tie underneath. Barry was looking at the bear with the same amusement Sebastian had for his gift.
"Great minds think alike"
Both brothers laughed and hugged.
"I'm gonna miss not having you at home rehearsing."
"I'm gonna miss your experiments exploding across the hall." Sebastian said. "But hey, It's only during the school year. I'll be back in Central City for break before you know it."
The brothers stood there together for a good few minutes before Barry pulled away. "Isn't there some sort of extra curricular fair that you wanted to check out?"
"Yeah, Nick and Jeff said to meet them there."
"Come on then." Barry said. "I'm finally gonna meet this famous Nick and Jeff."
"I'm sure they're just as excited to meet you."
The halls of Dalton were bustling with activity. Boys were going in and out of the indoor gymnasium. The school had organized a club fair during move in week. Various student clubs and organizations were set up, inviting new members to join and sign up.
A pair of boys were waiting for their friends at the entrance. The taller bleached blonde spotted his friend heading towards them with an addition.
"Seb?"
"Jeff!" Sebastian greeted his friend with a hug. "How've you been?"
"I've been well." he said, still staring at Barry. The brunette beside him interrupted his staring.
"Finally meeting you in the flesh." he said, hugging Sebastian like an old friend. "Nice to see you, Sebastian."
"Nick!" Sebastian greeted. "Nice to finally see you too."
"This must be, Barry, right?" Nick said offering a hand at the awkward teen. He lightly kicked Jeff's shin.
"Yeah, Barry Allen." Barry shook his hand. Shaking Jeff out of his daze.
"I'm sorry." Jeff said. "Hi, Barry. Nice to finally meet you. Sebastian has told me all about you. Well almost."
"Did I forget to mention, I'm a twin?" Sebastian said with a cheeky smile. Much to Barry's amusement.
"Yeah, you failed to mention that little detail." Jeff squeaked still staring at the other brother. Half convinced he was looking at a doppelganger.
Barry laughed. "We let people find out when they meet us, than advertise it to everyone we meet."
"You said Barry was your older brother."
"Unfortunately" Sebastian rolled his eyes. "By like fifteen minutes."
"I think a few minutes checking out the clubs will shake it out of his system." Nick said with a laugh, slightly shaking his best friend's shoulders. "Come on. I found the robotics club while waiting for you guys earlier. I was planning to sign up."
Tables were with club sign ups and posters displayed on the various clubs that the school was offering. Sebastian and Barry had split up from Nick and Jeff at the Robotics club. Sebastian had tried to get into robotics at one of his repertoire building plans when Barry had started CCSA, but he just doesn't have that same touch for robotics.
"So what are you looking to join?" Barry asked. "Knowing you, you'd join almost every club that you can. Any of the clubs caught your eye yet?"
"I might join Debate again." Sebastian said. "Maybe a sport. After that fiasco with the seven clubs simultaneously meeting, I've decided that I'm going to minimize the damage by keeping it to three clubs. Academic, Athletic, and maybe even Artistic."
"If they have a theater group, you're good." Barry said. "You used to spend most of your time with them before you started debate."
"Dalton doesn't have a theater group. I checked."
"There's a whole line of sports groups over there." Barry pointed out. "Not the usual Football though. But who knows you might find one that you're good at."
Sebastian was listening to the vice captain talk about the gameplay of Lacrosse. Barry had thought it seemed like hockey on grass with sticks but apparently there is more to it. He had lost interest halfway through while Sebastian was fully engrossed. He started to check out some of the other clubs that Dalton offered. It wasn't that different from other schools. But the students seem much more enthusiastic about their extracurriculars.
Barry had heard singing in one of the booths and decided to check it out. There was an open laptop playing a performance done by a dozen or so boys in ties and blazers. The booth had a cream colored flag with a logo of a bird sitting on a cattail plant with a music note.
Barry was no stranger to music. Sebastian was a performer at heart and would have music blasting from his room varying from decades old music, theater musicals, or recent hits. But watching the video, there was something different about how the boys were singing. They seemed more like a modern barbershop quartet than the show choir performances that Barry had seen Sebastian watching.
"Hey," a blonde haired boy greeted Barry with a big smile. He looked about sixteen or seventeen. He wasn't that much taller than Barry but was stocky and had this aura of authority that was almost intimidating. "Are you interested in joining the Warblers?"
"Warblers?" Barry asked. "Like birds?"
The blonde boy smiled. "Yeah, exactly. We're Dalton Academy's Acapella Show Choir."
"Oh, so like a Glee club."
"We're more than just a glee club…"
"There you are Barry!" Sebastian said catching up to his brother. "I'm sorry, Justin was very convincing. I might try out for the Lacrosse Team."
Sebastian looked at the sign. "The Warblers! I saw the performance for Ohio Regionals. I still say you should've won against Vocal Adrenaline."
The blonde Warbler's eyebrows raised. "You've heard of us."
"I checked out all the clubs before enrolling." Sebastian admitted sheepishly. "Or at least the ones with public pages. I found the Warbler's performances at the top of the list when I was looking if Dalton had a theater guild."
"Wow. I love the dedication." the Warbler praised reaching his hand to Sebastian. "I'm Oliver Prince. You can call me Verse or V. I'm Head of the Warbler Council."
"Sebastian," he said, shaking his hand. "This is my brother, Barry."
"Would you like to join the Warblers?"
"I've never joined a choir before." Sebastian mused. "I'm more used to theater and dance."
"Well, then you'd fit right in." Verse said "The Warblers is like our Show Choir, our Dance guild and our Theater group all in one. While in public, we are primarily an acapella show choir. But within Dalton and our sister school Crawford, we collaborate with their theater group and we occasionally have a production done for charity."
Barry could see Sebastian's interest peak. He picked up one of the brochures that Verse had laid out.
"Hey guys!" Nick and Jeff approached the table. "Oh the Warblers."
"Are you guys gonna audition?" Barry asked the two. "Sebastian hasn't started his wave of questions. So now's the time to talk because once the floodgates start, it won't stop."
"You don't even have to know how to sing." Verse pitched. "We welcome all."
"How does that work?" Jeff asked. "Wouldn't it make it hard to sing acapella?"
"Not everyone is musically skilled." Verse agreed. "But every voice counts. Some boys can't hold a tune but can hold a good beat. Some are the opposite. For the Warblers, as long as you are willing, we can train you. Not to mention, the Warblers are like a band of brothers. Once you're one of us, we have your back and we hope you have ours as well."
"We'd love to join." Nick said. "Jeff has an amazing voice. And I used to do a lot of musical theater back in my old school. I've never done acapella performances though."
"Most of us haven't." Verse admitted. "But with the help of our upperclassmen, you'd get a hang of it in no time."
"Is there an audition process?" Sebastian asked, finally peeling his eyes out of the page. "How do you know which boys can sing and which ones have to be trained?"
"We usually give a brief introduction at the start of the year." Verse said. "Auditions are often held by the council. You've actually met one of my council mates, Justin. He's the Captain of the Lacrosse team. Our youngest council member is Wes. He's a junior. But he's still on vacation with his family out of town. We split everyone into their voice groups and adjust as we go. Some boys join our performance groups. We have two groups, our aviary and our competition group."
"Aviary? Like housing for birds?"
"Yep. Of course we'll go into more detail once the school year starts. But we give a chance for everyone who joins to perform. But to moderate, we have two main performance groups. Our performance group, who represent the Warblers for the Annual Show Choir Competition. We hold auditions and select around twenty or so boys who'd perform. Then we have our Aviary, the bulk of our Warbler population. Some in the Aviary join us in our performances for charity, showcasing skills like acting, dancing, musical instruments, or sometimes they join us to staff in events, collecting money for charity."
"That does seem fun." Sebastian said. "I guess I'll join too."
"Great." Verse said, clapping his hands together. "Welcome to the Warblers!"
On the last day of move in, the Allens went to help Sebastian finalize any last minute items to help him settle in. Nora helped Sebastian put the last of his uniform into the closet. Sebastian had lucked out and the floating roommate. Just ready for any last minute dorm changes or mid year transfers.
"I guess that's the last of it." Nora said wistfully. She looked at her youngest son and grabbed Sebastian in a hug.
Sebastian ignored the slight burning of his nose as he held back the tears. He wasn't crying. No, it's just dusty. That's it.
"Now," Nora said, pulling away from her son to look at him sternly. "Study well, listen to your grandparents, call us after your first day. We want to know all about it."
"I will, mom."
"My beautiful baby boy." she said grabbing him for one more tight hug before letting him go.
"We are so proud of you, Champ." Henry said, hugging his son. "You'll do well here. And remember, if ever you feel homesick or you want to come home. You just call and we can figure something out."
"Thanks, Dad." Sebastian said "But I think I'll be fine here."
"I know you will be."
Barry approached his brother last with a cheeky smile on his face. "Don't be a stranger."
"Please." Sebastian drawled. "You know within the first week, I'm calling you to help me with my science homework."
"And I'll be calling to try and get some dating advice."
Sebastian opened his arms for a hug which both brothers enthusiastically shared.
"See you, Bassy."
"See you, Barry."
It was the first day of school for the Dalton boys. Sebastian was up way before his alarm had rang. He was both nervous and excited. After a quick shower and comb through of his hair, he had changed into his Dalton Uniform. His grandfather taught him how to tie the tie before moving into the dorms and Sebastian was so glad it didn't take him ten times to get it right. He slipped on the Blazer and looked at himself in the mirror. He quickly sent a picture to his brother. Who quickly replied with a similar looking photo.
He was ready for his Freshman year in Dalton Academy.
And there is the end of the prologue.
We meet our head of the Warbler council, Oliver Prince (or Verse in poetry or a song). I have a few plans and OCs that will shape the story and Seb's general demeanor over time. But Verse is one that I am looking forward to write. He's a nod to Oliver Queen (hence the name) but the description is more comic referenced than Arrow referenced. Which we will see more in latter chapters.
Next parts will be purely Sebastian's POV in Dalton with little mention of his family. Which means I'll be tagging it as a Glee fic rather than a crossover. but we will still see Grandparents Seb and Natty and occasionally see Nora, Henry, and Barry but mostly it will be Sebastian and the Warblers.
So look out for that :D
