v: warbler au – pianokeysandbowties

They’re all counting, and she’s ninety-eight percent sure that she’s about to get stuck kissing someone at the strike of twelve that a ) she doesn’t like, and b ) wouldn’t want to kiss on a regular day-to-day basis. It’s bad enough that she got dragged out too a party WITHOUT an actual date. Should have stayed at home. ❝ Look, I was a cheerleader, and you seem like an okay kind of person, so if you want to kiss me, I won’t mind. As long as there’s no butt grabbing or FOUL PLAY.

❞

The feeling in the room is becoming a fever pitch of excitement and half drunken howls of laughter. Or not so half drunken. If you look at the faces of several kids Blaine is barely beginning to know with their sparkling eyes and too-wide smiles? The half-drunk line was way passed. Couples were drawing one another in closer as the numbers lowered. 10, 9, 8! The one close friend he has here is nowhere to be seen. 7, 6, 5! A turn around to try and spot Kurt has him bumping into Quinn and he’s barely able to believe what he hears next. 4, 3, and 2 go by but all he hears is her. The irony of no butt grabbing or FOUL PLAY has his nose scrunching as he laughs. They’re the only two alone. The clock isn’t stopping. Who wants to be the only person in the room with no one to kiss? “I promise. No butt touching. None from you either, Quinn.” Blaine winks to earn a smile. It’s silly to make this anything more but a why not?! Nerves tighten his belly but his arm is gentle and careful around her waist when the 1 that is shouted should have made him jump forward. Fingertips touch her cheek and when his lips touch hers–it takes him a moment to close his eyes and press them in firmly. A tilt of his head and he feels how soft they are. The feeling loosens his stomach up far enough to spin it into a whirl, his breath catches and this feels much better than it should.

kurt.

“You can ask.” He says with a slow nod. Explaining could be a good thing. No more secrets to keep from Blaine – or, well, hardly any more – maybe he could beam about a spell working, actually talking about it at all would be nice.
So long as Blaine keeps it a secret all should be well.. Though Kurt is aware that he’ll have to cover some rules while he’s at it to clarify that he isn’t tormenting anyone.. The rule of three and all of that.

Nerves still buzzing though, he makes his way over to his bed and sits gingerly on the edge. Kurt laces his fingers together on his lap to keep from fidgeting. He can only imagine how obscured all of this must look. It’s most likely that Blaine isn’t thinking magic right now, just that Kurt was up to something odd, and/or Kurt was more odd than he thought. Part of him still wonders if he should just let that be the case and opt out of this conversation again.

Blaine studies Kurt closely looking for any signs that Kurt would rather not talk about what he just walked in on. In spite if he answered that he could. It’s during that close look that Blaine realizes something about himself.
He hasn’t barely moved from the few steps inside he took before their strange situation began. Kurt told him to stay put. He–literally–stayed put. Now that Kurt was back and sitting on his bed–it seemed silly that he couldn’t walk further inside their room. The conversation didn’t have to be held with them feet apart and Blaine suddenly self-consciously wondering if Kurt might think he was ready to bolt.

Finding a seat on the floor in front of where Kurt sat on the bed–Blaine crosses his legs under one another and gently cups his knees. “You don’t have to answer anything. I promise I’m not going to tell anyone but you only have to say what you are most comfortable with.” He keeps his voice purposefully soft and tries his hardest to offer as much understanding as he can. “What were you doing? I mean–I could guess by what it looks like but I’d rather you tell me?”

kurt.

It would be a lot easier if Blaine wasn’t so nice about it- no name calling? Not demanding explanation? No, just manners. He was making this harder than it should be. “I just need to think for a minute, it’s ok, I wont be gone long anyway.” This was a more troubling evening than he signed up for.

“Just don’t touch anything?” He isn’t really waiting for a reply as he crosses to the door and slips out. There’s vending machines down the hall, he can get some water at least and think by himself before having this talk. It feels like quite a lot of time passing by though in reality it’s less than ten minutes before Kurt is reigning himself in and making the walk back to their room.
He’s screwed, truly, but at least he can be honest about the situation. Worst case scenario this gets out and he’s mocked as much as the no bullying policy will allow for believing in magic and no one will be the wiser.

Blaine nods and thumbs the side of his nose and sniffles trying to act as casual as possible about a rather bewildering situation. Hazel eyes toss a glance to Kurt’s back as he retreats out of the room. Left alone with what’s remaining on the floor and his curiosity? All he can do is tilt his head to the side, cross his arms over his chest and not touch anything.

He listens, of course. Why would he want to risk messing with some cosmic weirdness he has no idea what would happen if he did anyway? Not that any of this was much to freak out about. And he wasn’t freaking out per say. Baffled. He was baffled. That’s a better word for it. What was Kurt working on anyway? It probably was breaking some sort of etiquette to ask but he really wanted to know.
If he had the slightest clue at what he was looking at other than it was some sort of ritual? Maybe he could figure it out. But..nope. He was out of his element on this one by a long shot. Blaine was in the same spot Kurt left him–not touching anything when he heard Kurt coming up behind him. “So… Um–. Am I allowed to ask a few questions? Or.. Is that a no-no?”

kurt.

“You think you haven’t sinned? Blaine, everyone does bad things. All the time. Intentional or otherwise.” He says with a shrug. “It’s no big deal.”

“I know everyone does bad things,” Blaine ran a palm across his mouth, “I get that. I just–.” Running out of words–he meets Kurt’s eyes with guilt still lingering in his. “You’re sure it’s not a big deal?” The problem was? Blaine hated making mistakes. Intentional or not–like Kurt said. It doesn’t matter.

kurt.

Well it was a nice attempt. But the fact remained that Kurt was caught…Blaine wouldn’t freak out, he’s pretty sure. If anything he’d probably just be curious. Kurt isn’t supposed to tell anyone though. He was afraid of getting out of practice at Dalton, and so far he hadn’t but that might change if he has to dodge questions..

“It wasn’t anything important, don’t worry.” He says, biting at his lip. Chances are, with Blaine’s manners he wont even ask for weeks and just give him questioning looks. Letting that happen would give him more time to think about it but… He isn’t sure that it would help. There wasn’t a particularly good outcome, but at least there wasn’t a horrible one either.

Tomorrow. He’ll decide what to do tomorrow. For now.. “I’m gonna go- eat, or something..” He trails off.

Not wanting to make Kurt even more uncomfortable–Blaine stopped watching him. Period. Not that the faint scent of oils and wax was something either one of them could ignore. But–he could pretend like it wasn’t there and maybe Kurt would forget about that part?

Oh, what a mess.

You don’t have to,” Blaine’s attention snapped from the wall he stared at. Like not watching and doing that was going to make things any awkward?!

He was thrown off–okay? Thinking on his feet in a rather I never saw this coming situation was something he could normally pull off. This though? This was up there in the I never saw this coming category to pull off. All he planned on doing was to come to their room, see Kurt and enjoy some quiet time to shake off his adrenaline from practice so he could sleep. Under prepared? You could say that.

I mean–unless you want to?” Honestly? He really hoped Kurt would stay so he could try to ease his beyond frazzled nerves.

quiet.

Kurt quirked an eyebrow playfully at Blaine, giggling softly at his response. “Well, I think you would be a thief by association then, but then again, I’m assuming that would be most of the school. Jeff and Nick have a habit of doing things big.” He chuckled, following after Blaine almost loyally up the steps, holding onto his hand and just wondering what was up there, and sure he’d like it, if it was something Blaine liked.

“Oh,” He whispered out, surprised as they entered the room, taking a second for his eyes to adjust, but the room looked wonderful. He was sure that it was a great secret hiding spot, everything looked warm and inviting, not the stark contrast of the clean downstairs of the school. Well, clean when Nick and Jeff were behaving, at least. He thought that this would be a great place to come hide and read sometimes.

Feeling the tug on his hands, Kurt followed Blaine towards the set of double doors. He watched Blaine, feeling a flush rising on his cheeks, but distracted as Blaine opened the door to the balcony. Still holding onto the others hand, he stepped forward a bit to look outside, and felt his heart leap on his chest. He’d always thought of Dalton as beautiful, but seeing it from this high up and this angle was breathtaking. He didn’t say anything at first, his face just breaking into a huge grin.

“See? I told you so,” Blaine whispered as his thumb pressed in tighter against the edge of Kurt’s hand. The rest of his fingers followed suit by lacing in deeper and absentmindedly flexing against the hollows between Kurt’s. He found himself ignoring the view below again for the one standing right beside him. Seeing Kurt burst into grin that made Blaine’s lips reflect it was worth every letter scribbled on the wall he’d–no doubt–have to shrug off later when asked about it and say he had no clue on who might’ve done that. There’s no way anyone in this school would think Kurt was the one to do it. And he’d leave it at that. Their secret. Just like this place was.

Making sure to look away before he was busted–Blaine leaned one shoulder against the window frame without letting the other boy go. The wood felt cool against his temple when he rested it there. “How lucky are we,” he kept whispering not wanting to ruin the moment by talking too loud. There was magic in the moment he didn’t want to lose and wouldn’t risk any chance of destroying it by breaking the spell Dalton had the power of casting on him–and by the looks of it Kurt. “Being here. Surrounded by this place,” his chin inclined towards the grounds as he peeked at Kurt. “I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be. It’s almost like your life before here doesn’t matter.”

Which is precisely what Blaine wanted before he came here. Though the other didn’t know how backstory. He figured Kurt would just talk it up to him waxing poetic and that was fine. “Not when you can lose yourself here. Sometimes it makes me feel so small in the grand scheme of things. How long it’ll exist after us and how long it did before but one thing will never change. It’s Dalton and it’s home. Sorry,” he grinned now embarrassed at gushing about his love affair for their school. “Sometimes what goes on in my mind just comes right out of my mouth. Even if it is sort of..” He shrugged and aimed his smile at the glow coming from the glass dome above the main building’s entry way, unsure of what to compare it to without further embarrassing himself.

tina.

^{Tina couldn’t help looking over at the table of guys as well and grinned to herself because they looked like a fun bunch. Then again, anyone who wasn’t Puck or the hockey players would look like that to her. At the mention of the piano being his favorite, her smile widened because it was nice to meet someone else who appreciated the instrument. “I figured you had to go to a private school given,” she gestured at his outfit,” what you’re wearing. It stands out around here. You’re part of the Warblers, huh?” She remembered coming across the group on various show choir blogs and forums but hadn’t realized that they were located so close. Of course, the New Directions were too busy focusing on Vocal Adrenaline and Jesse St. James to give the Warblers much thought. “Yup, that’s us. You’re looking at one of the original members, thank you very much.” Oh, Rachel and the others were going to have her head if they found out she was chatting with a member of a rival choir. But Blaine seemed so nice, Tina couldn’t help it. “Indeed, we very well could be. I’m sure both sides will make a good fight out of it.” At least on the surface, the Warblers seemed like they were a group with actual integrity and good sportsmanship. “Thank you. It would be boring to be someone else. The last person who tried to get me to change learned the hard way that that’s not something I appreciate.”}

Blaine looked at his blazer with it’s red piping and Dalton emblem like he was just noticing how wearing it would make him and his classmates stick out and was oblivious to it up til now. They were in Lima–after all. The land of McKinley High. How that wasn’t much of a thought to him before smacked him upside the head and he smirked embarrassedly. “I am. We’re a misfit band of brothers but I think we have something pretty special. All those guys behind me,” his thumb jutted back over his shoulder, “They’re Warblers too. A few of them live here in town. We met up for a weekend practice and to drive a couple back to Westerville. The trip’s much better with friends than being stuffed in the car with your parents. Don’t you think?” The couple before them finished their order and the barista waited expectantly. Blaine ordered his medium drip–the second for the day–and motioned for Tina to order what she wanted. “Oh! And one of those four people sized chocolate cookies too? Thank you,” he made sure the girl used his debit card before Tina could argue then gave her a triumphant grin. A few dollars were shoved into her jar for a trip. “Looks like I got lucky to meet at least one of you before competitions start. Maybe we can be friends before foes, huh?” Another cheeky smile and he lightly lead Tina towards the pick up counter with a touch to her elbow and a warm smile. “Never let anyone change you, Tina. From what I see so far? You’re an interesting person. Being unique is a huge part of that. Don’t you think? So? Have you guys started rehearsing? How’s it all going? Who are your key players so far? Any ideas yet?”