Connor didn’t have an ‘off button’. How Blaine could let that slip past his mind, he had no idea. Mental note for next time. Though he was fairly sure changing this leopard’s spots was going to be impossible. He knew Connor was loving the playful hell he was putting him through. One look into Connor’s dark eyes dancing with happiness at himself was all it took for verify the thought. If someone had a need to check in the first place.
Blaine choked on his coffee. Choked. When the lighthearted way he was listening to Connor’s banter came back to bite his rear in the form of a particular image painted with one of the things Connor might do to him in that situation flashed in his mind. With watery eyes due to caffeine up the nose, he stared at the table and shook his head before looking back up and TRYING so hard to fire back ANYTHING that was going to get him ground to catch his footing on. “I..” Dang it! Bad time to pause! “Good luck getting any of that by calling me Smurfster. Contrary to popular belief..or maybe just your own… names like that are NOT the way to get anyone.. By anyone, we’re referring to me, in nothing but their–aka my–tie..”
Don’t laugh. Whatever you do. Don’t laugh. …Breathe.. Poor Sebastian. He didn’t deserve that!
In spite of his efforts, Blaine did crack a smile and the laugh he tried to swallow escape about halfway before he was able to force it down. The light in his eyes remained and, surprisingly, didn’t fade even after the very overt insinuation that was all way too true for him to deny. Doesn’t mean he couldn’t sit back hard against his chair and go a kaleidoscope of crimsons all the way down to his neck where they disappeared underneath his crisp white collar.
“I.. Connor!” Blaine skipped right over the comment about any sort of pelvic movements so blatantly that he couldn’t even pretend not to. “I’d be careful. If that gets back to Sebastian? You might end up with a lacrosse stick somewhere you don’t want it to be..”
Have anyone mentioned how perfect your ass is in those pants?’
Just like poof!! In the blink of an eye, the sassy retort he was about to give Connor was ripped right out of his mouth. The Warbler stopped mid-attempt to stand up with his mouth open and an owlish stare towards Trent who stumbled away from his slight eavesdropping glowing more red than the crimson washing over Blaine’s nose and cheeks. Trying to gain some of his composure back, Blaine palmed the gaping expression off his face and shot Connor a flustered smile that was his attempt at a grin. So close, yet so far.
“I don’t think anyone but you…and maybe Sebastian with his overt hints that aren’t really hints at all..has the nerve to pull that off. You’re impossible. You know that. Right?”
The cheerleader’s eyes narrowed. He probably had a point. Lack of options aside, even Kurt couldn’t quite possibly deny the local Starbucks had begun to aim for mediocre. ❛ You were obviously trying to get my attention. ❜
Blaine was growing increasingly flustered. The McKinley Cheerio never failed to make his insides twist up and his fingers ache to curl into a fist he could beat against a punching bag because he secretly hated being made to feel like this. No matter how hard he tried to brush it off with nonchalance? Kurt’s attitude always busted past those carefully constructed barriers he put around his very well practiced air of confidence and self-esteem where it nipped and picked at a part of him he wished he wasn’t there. Frustration twisted to anger should be easier. Come on, Blaine. Just make it happen. “No. I wasn’t. See? That’s the thing Kurt. I didn’t even realize you were here.” Liar. “I wouldn’t have noticed you if you didn’t go out of your way to make sure I heard your discontent. So.. Who was trying to get who’s attention? You tell me.”
❛ Can’t you just go find some place else to get your lousy cappuccino? Some of us are actually trying to socialize. ❜
“Um.Sorry. The last time I checked, we were in Lima, Ohio. There aren’t many options for good coffee. So, no. I don’t know why my being in line would prevent you from socializing. Other than, you know, you stopping to ask me why I am here. You can go back to what you were doing and ignore me while I get my drink. Which is a medium drip, by the way. NOT a cappuccino. Sort of a win/win for both of us then, isn’t it?”
Mason was more than serious about believing in ghosts. There was no way that there weren’t ghosts in the world. Of course he’s heard that Dalton’s haunted, but that was also because he was always very easily scared by things. When Blaine came up behind him, Mason turned around and raised an eyebrow at the fellow Warbler. Chicken? Mason McCarthy was not a chicken, but he also was very terrified of pissing off ghosts, so they definitely were running into an issue there.
“Why you and I specifically?” Mason inquired before nodding at Blaine’s suggestion of a camping trip. It was going to be far too creepy and not at all fun, but he never backed down from proving he wasn’t anything but fearless. “Then again, it’s probably because they think we’re the only ones who honestly could handle it.”
In retrospect, Mason pretty much figured that fact also had to be true. Hesitating, the brunet finally just nodded at the whole idea. “Fine, but if we’re possessed by the end of the night, we’re going after the upperclassmen.” Childish, sure, but Mason was also very terrified that it was true. Ghosts weren’t a force to be reckoned with. As the taller male motioned to the hallway, he looked over at Blaine so that he could follow him to the storage rooms. “So.. between you and me– do you think it’s haunted?”
“I think you’re right. The last thing the Warblers need is two members running out in the middle of the night with the cackling of some jerkish upperclassmen chasing their backs. You and me? WE GOT THIS.”
Blaine hadn’t the slightest clue if he believed in ghosts or not. Okay. A part of him certainly did. There had to be more to life than just the physical sense of where they are while they’re living and breathing. To think that energy just fizzles out and they become nothing was too morbid of an ending to think of. Maybe another, more hopeful and romantic side of him, wanted to believe reincarnation was what waited for them on the other side. Could be.. No. Definitely. There could be both. People who were ready to move on and learn again. Or people too lost to want to let go. That had to be it.
And since Dalton was beloved by anyone who walked it’s halls, it would be easy enough to assume that there might be ghosts lurking here and there. Why not the orchestra storage? At least they could find some peace and quiet away from the living there if they wanted to. What a fantastic time to have a spiritual discovery! On the ebb of a night spent inside the very rooms he just deemed a ghost retreat!
“Fair enough,” he chuckled up at the slender boy as they solidified their resolve to stick it out and go through with the plan. “They’d deserve it.” The question caught him off guard and he bit his lip before it dropped open for a breath or two. “Do you? I..uh.. Yeah,” he whispered like he was afraid someone might hear. Both brows jerked up as he glanced around and leaned in closer. “Between you and me? Even if it isn’t? I think we should make them think it is.. ,” here came that cat-that-ate-the-canary grin, “And we got a whole night to make up a story that’ll make them sleep with the lights on for the rest of the year.” On that note? “You..um..think we should go get our things ready and settle in before it gets dark?”
( mssg » blaine | sent ) So about half of that was English, which means I understood enough to know that you’re drunk. ( mssg » blaine | sent ) And you want me to be drunk too. ( mssg » blaine | sent ) So how about you tell me where you are, oh thee of ‘fantastic ideas.’ I’ll come find you. ( mssg » blaine | sent ) Drink some water, please.
( mssg » barry | sent ) HOw dare I…?? ( mssg » barry | sent ) I think aall if it was in English my friend. you just need to learn how to read better!
😁
( mssg » barry | sent ) Yes I am and yes I do. Come be drunk with me Barry. ( mssg » barry | sent ) in the attic, I just said so. werhe they keep the instruments and we all come up To hide away togethere soemtimes. ( mssg » barry | sent ) why drink wayer when there’s wine???
( mssg » barry | sent ) ARe you here yet? no…but you should be.
( mssg » barry | sent ) so You konw that great id ea I had about joining the guys in the attid? ( mssg » barry | sent ) Turns out it wsnt a great idea ( mssg » barry | sent ) IT was a fantastic one!!!!!! ( mssg » barry | sent ) where are you? not here and thats’ the wrong place to eb!
is that an audiblesigh of relief ?? NO, of course not, not a chance. but it’s the mention of a DATE that recaptures keen attention. all too CRITICALhis gaze, unreadable behind glasses. blaine anderson would actually WANT to go on a DATE with him? is he MISREADING this??it’s something he’s BOUND to overthink later, but now… hands clasp together, throat CLEARED. a smile just hardly curves his lips, a RARE sight. keep it together. ❛ of course. ❜ FIGURE OF SPEECH.
❛ well, ah—– it’s at six, so is there a place i could pick you up ? ❜ it would be IMPOLITE not to accompany him, wouldn’t it ? maybe he should have brushed up on social etiquette beforehand.
Hinging on Hartley’s reaction, Blaine bit into his lip and squinted carefully hoping that he didn’t just overstep a boundary that would end up making this silence go from awkward to unbearable if Hartley changed his mind. All because of his lack of keeping his brain under control enough not to use a boldly presumptuous word like date. But then Hartley, a boy who rarely smiled, did exactly that and Blaine felt his stomach go from feeling like it’d been weighed down by a cinderblock to light as air. He laughed softly at himself, thankful for the pass he was just given. “Right. Totally. Figure of speech,” he choked when he heard his tongue tied voice echo back in his eardrums. Did he just ask where to pick him up? Oh God, he did. Shocked, he stammered a few bumbled attempts at actual words. “Um. My house. It’s close to the club and..we could drive together?” Success! He was talking! Hopefully this round wouldn’t end up with his shoe in his mouth. “Um. Thanks for agreeing to this. I don’t think I ever looked forward to one of these dinners before. First time for everything, I guess.”
“I know this probably sounds like the weirdest invitation you’ve ever heard but..hear me out?” Blaine curled his fingers towards his palms and shoved them into the pockets of his grey slacks as he approached Mason. Thank God, the hallway was empty. No one needed to hear the pitch he was about to make. No one but Mason, who missed the entire leading up to part of this conversation, and was about to be caught up very quick. MOSTLY.
“Some of the upperclassmen swear Dalton is haunted. They dared the Warblers that we are too chicken to find out. We all know we aren’t.. There was an argument.. Um. Long story short? They dared us that you and I wouldn’t last a night in the old orchestra storage rooms. I told them they were wrong. Soooo. Impromptu dusty creepy room indoors camping trip? Maybe?”
pianokeysandbowties 