Chapter 6

The Letter

Blaine had already figured he wouldn't be sleeping very well, yet he couldn't help but groan when the reflection from the sun through the window hit his eyes after he had finally dozed off for a while. Slowly, he sat up and scratched the back of his neck. He reached over, picked up his pocket watch, and saw that he was already late for breakfast, causing him to swear loudly.

"It's about time," Artie said as his best friend finally sat down beside him at the Gryffindor table.

"Sorry, I overslept."

"Have a little too much fun last night?"

Blaine caught his tone and shot him an evil glare. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You went to that glee club meeting last night."

Blaine's eyebrows rose and knitted together. "How do you know?"

"I followed you out of the dormitory."

"I thought you were sleeping."

"I was; I woke up when you closed your suitcase. I followed you down to the commom room, but I couldn't see you and I saw the port hole open, so I assumed you had your Invisibility Cloak on. Then I heard the Fat Lady yelling at you when you ran out."

"...Oh..."

"You know, you really should cast that Muffling Charm if you don't want anyone hearing you."

"...Sorry."

"The thing I still don't understand is what made you decide to go in the first place."

"What?" Blaine asked, beginning to feel irritated.

"I mean, you got so worked up when I asked you about it the other day."

"I was just asking you about it!"

"Blaine, it's a boys-only glee club."

"And I have loved singing ever since I was a kid, so why not get involved in something I might like?"

Artie didn't respond at first, and Blaine hoped that would be the end of it.

He reached over and poured some pumpkin juice into his goblet; his insides weren't exactly in the mood for food this morning.

"Blaine, there's something I need to tell you."

"Don't bother," Blaine snapped instinctively; he wasn't exactly in the mood for talking about the night before anymore.

"Look, I just wanted to say-"

"Just lay off, Artie; I'm not in the mood! I let the other guys take the fall for the meeting, and they all probably hate my guts right now."

"They're all up in Professor Schuester's office right now and it's my fault, Blaine!"

Blaine's eyes darted to look at him. "...How is it your fault?"

"When I followed you out of the common room, the Fat Lady started yelling at me about being out of bed; I tried to quiet her, but Figgins was there before I could take off. He threatened to give me detention, so I told him about the meeting; I said I was going to report it to the faculty..."

Anger began to burn in Blaine's eyes. "It was you?" You're the one who ratted us out?"

"Blaine, I'm sorry. He threatened me with detention."

"Did you tell him who went to the meeting?"

"No, just that you guys were holding one."

Blaine stood up abruptly then.

"Blaine! I swear, I'm sorry!"

"Forget it, Artie," Blaine said flatly before turning to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"To confront the guys. Where did you say they were?"

"Professor Schuester's office."

Blaine was gone the moment Artie finished the last word.

"Blaine, hang on!"

He refused to answer as he stormed out between the tables and disappeared into the corridor.

"Blaine! Wait up!"

He spun around at the voice, and his expression lightened. "What's up?" he said, trying to fake a small smile.

"I know where you're going, and I'm coming with you," Kurt told him firmly.

Blaine frowned. "No, Kurt, I don't think you are."

"Blaine, I was there too. If you're going to talk to the other guys, then I'm going with you, and there's nothing you can say to make me change my mind."

Blaine inhaled and sighed, letting out a small grunt of frustration at the end. "Fine, but if we both get detention, you get to be there when I get a pile of Howlers from my dad in the post."

Kurt's lip curled. "Fair enough."

"Professor, you have to hear us out!" Nick said. "We were just trying to start a club where guys could just be themselves with each other! You can't let Figgins give us detention for that!"

"You guys didn't get detention for trying to start a glee club," Professor Schuester clarified, "you got detention for getting caught sneaking out after curfew to do it."

"We asked beforehand, but Figgins wouldn't let us make one!" Jeff told him. "He said he didn't like the idea of Hogwarts having clubs that were strictly for one gender; that it would ruin the purpose of equality in the school."

"Then maybe you guys should go compromise with him; tell him you'll allow girl in if he lets you make it an official glee club, and if he agrees, I can be your club director."

Every single boy in the room exchanged funny looks with each other, all of them obviously far from satisfied by this idea.

"Professor," Wes spoke up, "we held the meeting in secret for a reason. We started as an independent boys-only club without any unnecessary adult supervision, and we would appreciate it if it stayed that way."

Schuester frowned. "It's your choice boys. I suppose if you manage to sway Figgins enough he may take you up on it, but until then I'll see all of you in detention. You are all dismissed."

Outside the doorway, Blaine and Kurt were pressed up against the wall and listening in to the conversation.

Blaine's hands curled into gentle fists as he heard Schuester's final statement. Detention, he thought, just great! Let's see if they'll even look at me now! Suddenly, he heard footsteps and low angry grumbles approaching them. His first thought was to run for it, but guilt crashed over him again and he knew that this time he'd have to face them like a man.

"What are you doing here, Blaine?" Nick spat as he spotted him, anger dripping from his tongue like sulfuric acid.

Blaine was taken slightly aback by his attacking tone. "I...I wanted to-"

"You ditched us last night," Nick interrupted him. "Why?"

"I... I'm sorry! My folks would have killed me!"

"You didn't think the rest of us will get our asses kicked just as bad when our folks find out?"

"Nick, easy on him," Wes cut in, lightly pulling him back away by the shoulder. "This isn't his fault."

"No, Wes, it is," Blaine blurted. "I ran and hid when I should have stayed loyal to the group; I should have taken the fall too. We all were part of this."

"Don't blame yourself. I was the one who started this club in the first place."

"You all should really hate me right now..."

"Well, we don't," Jeff said.

Blaine smiled at him.

"Actually," Wes continued, "we werre considering making you the lead."

Something in Blaine's chest swelled at these words. "W...What?"

"We were considering going to talk to Figgins later about the club, but now we're kind of just assuming that- knowing Figgins- he'll reject any proposal of ours until we allow girls to join the club. We're simply going to continue the club in the Gryffindor common room. That being said, we want you to be the new head Warbler."

"...I...I don't understand...I thought you all would be pissed off at me."

"Some of us might be," Jeff said shooting a look at Nick who rolled his eyes. "Though, it wasn't your fault we were busted."

"Sneaking out after curfew wasn't exactly the smartest idea in the first place," Wes said with a sheepish smile appearing on his face.

"But wait," Blaine said, "putting the club in the common room? That means kids from all the other houses won't be allowed to join anymore; we'll just be restricted to Gryffindor-only."

"We thought about that," Nick explained, his tone of voice much easier and calmer now, "and we decided that if we really want to keep this club going the way we want to run it, it's just going to have to be that way."

"But-" Blaine turned his head sharply to look behind himself, expecting a certain brunette to catch his glance, and a certain pair of hurt blue eyes to meet his; he was sadly disappointed. "Wait, where's-"

"We're sorry, Blaine, it just has to be that way."

"But-"

"End of discussion," Wes said firmly.

Blaine's heart sank, knowing Kurt was probably feeling the same way he was right now. The two of them had just started becoming real friends, hanging out whenever time away from their friends would permit it, but now the option of joining an all-house club together was gone; and Blaine still didn't even know what Kurt's singing voice sounded like.

He felt all Warbler eyes weighing down on him.

"Our next meeting is this weekend. We're considering an impromptu performance and we need to pick out our song and who's singing what before anything else; we hope to see you there."

This time Blaine didn't attempt to protest. Instead, he stood and watched as the rest of his team mates pushed past him.

"Why do you hang out with him?"

Blaine wheeled back around to face Nick. "What?"

"You've been talking to Hummel quite a bit lately. Why?"

Blaine's fingers curled involuntarily; he didn't appreciate the tone returning to Nick's voice. "Because he's my friend."

Nick snorted. "You can't be serious."

"I am," Blaine replied flatly. "Who I hang out with is my choice."

Nick leaned over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I just gotta warn you man, I don't like him; a lot of us don't."

"Doesn't mean I can't."

Nick's eyes narrowed. "Fine, be careful who you choose to waste your time with, Blaine."

Blaine scoffed. "I'm wasting my- okay, wow!"

"Look, all I'm trying to say is you can't trust a guy like Hummel."

"His name is Kurt, and you don't know him at all." Blaine turned on his heel abruptly, leaving Nick in his dust.

"Blaine!"

He ignored his name and continued walking.

Nick grunted in frustration as Blaine turned the corner back to the Great Hall.

Blaine had a huge tendency to over-think things. Sometimes if someone wouldn't respond to his letter within a few days he would assume that either they were angry at him or something bad had happened. If someone was in a bad mood and snapped at him, he would worry that he had done something wrong and the issue would bother him for at least the rest of that day. This situation was one of those times.

Blaine didn't see Kurt the whole afternoon, and when evening came he still wasn't anywhere to be found. Blaine prayed to god this wasn't a bad sign, that Kurt wasn't avoiding him. He'd heard the whole conversation about the future of the Warblers, Blaine was sure; he could only imagine how Kurt felt right now.

That night, Blaine sat in his four-poster writing a letter to his folks; it seemed to be the only thing able to take his mind off the boy for a while.

Mum and Dad,

I don't understand how so much can change in only a few weeks. How does time pass by so smoothly yet so roughly at the same time?

It was a tap on the window that startled him, and when he looked up he saw an all-too familiar barn owl flapping outside.

He scrambled out of bed and edged the window open to allow the owl into the dormitory.

The owl hooted as it landed on the concrete tile.

"Pavarotti!" Blaine knelt down beside him. "What are you doing here?"

Pavarotti hooted again and stuck out his leg, where a small roll of parchment was tied.

Blaine eyed it curiously before reaching over to remove and unravel it.

The handwriting was unfamiliar to him, though he immediately realized to whom it belonged.

Blaine,

I'm sorry I took off so abruptly today; your friends just made it far too obvious I wasn't welcome anymore.

I know I've already said this, but I'm saying it again: None of this is your fault; a lot of it is mine. I'll make it up to all of you somehow, I promise.

If you ever want to hang out one-on-one, I'll be all for it. It's not that I want to keep our friendship private, but it may have to be like this until your friends warm up to me- that is, if they ever do.

I heard your first Quidditch game is this weekend, so in case I don't see you before then, I'm wishing you the best of luck.

Until then, good night, Blaine.

-Kurt

Blaine's stomach dropped.

Gryffindor was playing Ravenclaw in two days. They didn't have a strategy.

"Blaine?"

He didn't even have to look up to recognize his best friend's voice. Remembering the events from that morning, anger returned to Blaine's thought process. "Hey," he said plainly.

"You okay? You were kinda quiet all day..."

"Yeah, I'm alright."

Artie detected the strong monotony in his voice. "You're still pretty pissed, aren't you?"

His question made Blaine finally look up to meet his eyes. "Why did you do it?"

Artie broke the eye contact to wonder his gaze over to the window with a small guilty exhale. "I... I was just trying to keep you from getting hurt."

Blaine's grip on Kurt's letter tightened just enough to wrinkle the parchment a little. "Hurt?" he repeated venomously, the "t" spitting out in annoyance.

Artie's hands slid down to hide in his jean pockets. "You know what I'm talking about."

Blaine released the letter and allowed it to fall down onto his bed. "You're just like everyone else."

"So the others are telling you the same thing? Well, have you considered actually listening to your friends?"

"I have the freedom to hang out with whomever I want to, and if you can't accept that then I'm not sure I can call you a real friend."

"Well I find that kinda offensive to be honest; you've only know this guy for how long?"

"Doesn't matter! He's a nice guy and you don't know him, so therefore you have no room to judge him. If you're seriously going to keep this up then please just leave me alone."

The room fell silent.

Artie didn't reply, and instead gave him a last glare before turning on his heel and storming back down the stairs.

Blaine's hands came up to fist his curls in frustration.

Why did everyone have to treat Kurt that way? He didn't do anything to them. They were all wrong, they didn't know him at all... not like he did... Blaine had only known him for about a month now, and yet there was something about Kurt that he couldn't help but admire. Kurt was kind and polite, but he wasn't afraid to speak his mind when it was necessary.

Blaine flopped down onto his bed with a huff, reaching for the parchment again. He examined the slight wrinkles in the paper before shrugging and folding it back up. He stretched his free hand to open his side table drawer, where the letter would rest until he decided to look at it again. He took a moment to debate whether or not he should send Kurt a quick reply, but his exhaustion level was becoming too powerful, and a few minutes later he was slowly drifting off into his subconscious.

Hey everybody. Holly hell, I know it's been forever since I've updated! I feel like the worst writer ever. Well, now I'm back on my writing streak so hoorah! I promised I would continue writing till the story is over, and I plan to keep that promise.

Anyways, if you liked this chapter, leave me a review! If you hated it, you should still leave me a review (but please be nice?)

My hopes are that my writing has improved in the last six months after my hardcore Composition classes.

That's all for now, peace out!