continued from here.

Blaine couldn’t understand why he felt so nervous. Sitting on the edge of his bed staring at his phone until it went black, he wondered what he and Sam were that the other boy couldn’t explain it over texts. The fact that he felt he had to drive here, in the middle of the night, to tell him the details? Didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that the details meant something more than a simple conversation over phone screens tapped out by their fingertips. Sam wanted to put his face, his voice and his presence behind the words.

What did he forget..? How much..?

Frustrated at himself–Blaine’s feet began rapidly bobbing up and down, heels never touching the ground. Like the beating of rabbit’s feet without the hop. Knees bouncing as he tossed his phone on the bed and pressed the heels of his palms against them, his arms rattled as his fingers curled backwards stopping when their tips touched the tops of his palms. Shutting his eyes and burrowing his brows, he tried to think. Come up with anything. Anything at all. Come on..please? All he ended up with for his efforts was the beginning of a tension headache and sore ankles. How long did it take to drive from Sam’s house to Dalton? When would he be here? Should he change? In the end, he was still sitting right where he was when he heard the knock on the door.

Sam hugged him so tight he couldn’t breathe. Blaine rushed to catch up and managed to hug him back, albeit from an awkward angle, and he watched as Sam changed a shade healthier because he breathed for the first time since he walked through the door. Then, it was Blaine’s turn to lose his breath. With every word he listened to, Blaine’s gaze softened. A sad smile pouted his bottom lip into his upper but he kept quiet and listened searching through the words like they were a light inside the fog wishing that he could put together more than imagined pictures he painted in his mind’s eye as Sam narrated a past that was just gone. His heart was beating so fast, faster.

The gut instinct to crawl from the pillows he rested on and scootch down the bed until he was sitting back on his heels in front of Sam won over and by the time Sam finished, Blaine was taking his hand and pulling it into his lap trying to comfort him the only way he knew how. He might not remember what Sam said. He maybe even laughed at the park story. But Blaine knew it had to hurt Sam that he didn’t connect any of it together. Only to the person telling the tales. Smiling again, he shook his head finding it silly that he would have thought they were anything but.. “Friends then? We were friends. Sounds like we really kept everyone on their toes. I do like Blam, though. Who came up with that?”

A crooked grin and he covered the top of Sam’s hand with his free one capturing it completely as he tucked his chin towards his collar and studied Sam’s expression to see if this was all too much. “I’m trying. For you. For everyone. For me. I’m trying so hard. Thank you for this? Tell me everything. I don’t care how long it takes. Even the bad stuff, if there was bad stuff. Like. If we had fights. Though you seem hard to want to fight with. Please don’t hold anything in, okay? Everyone tries to soften things, you know? Make it so I’m not overwhelmed or whatever.” He shrugged helplessly. “But the bad part is? What they’re holding in, when I see them do it? That’s the worst.. Ironic, isn’t it?”

nosquisumus.

“They call every year on my birthday now which is a step. Surprised the hell out of me when they called me up out of the blue three years ago since I hadn’t heard from them in seventeen years. They’re working it out.” he’d meant to gloss over that part, didn’t want him to know his parents didn’t want anything to really do with him since he ‘officially’. That he’d lived with Carter, his older sibling, since he was fourteen. But it did get better, even if it took half his life to do it. “Sometimes life surprises you.”

“Oh?” he asked a little surprised. “Food sounds pretty good to me actually. Yeah. Maybe I can monitor those fingers of yours.”

“I’m glad things are working themselves out for all of you. Hang in there. I’m sure it’ll keep getting better if they’re willing to work towards understanding you.” Blaine could understand how even the smallest steps felt like mountains you’ve climbed to the top of every chance you got to feel like you made headway with your parents in getting them to accept you. Any hint of approval was something worth clinging onto. Because you never were sure when you might get another one. Or lose what groundwork you made. It was nice to see that Jason’s parents put forth an effort that stuck. Slowly, but surely, his mother was doing the same. Now that his father was tapering out of the picture several years after his parents divorced. Only a matter of time before that was bound to happen. If it gave him his mother the happier and more herself she became? That was his celebration. Take what you can get, remember?

“Even if they can’t understand. You’re still their son. It’s nice to see they’re remembering that. Come on. Dinner’s on me then,” he glanced down at his fingers and held in a groan. Tomorrow was going to be ugly. Might as well admit it to himself. Smiling up at Jason anyway, he grabbed his gym bag off the bench and slung it over his shoulder. “Any requests?”

my mistake.

❝…” Yeah, I did… Sebastian stared at him as Blaine echoed his words, with a stupefied expression, expecting not so patiently for him to elaborate even though he had a feeling Blaine wasn’t going to. Or that his elaboration wasn’t going to help much. Now that the doctor was gone and he was feeling a little less dizzy, he could see how unusually pale Blaine looked, and a glance down told him he’d been twisting his fingers in the nervous way he used to whenever something was on his mind. But the time when Sebastian used to notice (or care about) those little things was long gone, and he forced himself to look away. It was NOT his job to care anymore, and it’d taken him what? Almost a decade to start jotting that down? He wasn’t going off the rails now.

“I can’t believe you.” He stated, shaking his head. “Yeah? Well, most of us don’t live in romcoms, Blainers, and no matter what those might say, you really CAN’T smile your way into a non relative’s hospital room. I’d know.” He’d spent many a night alone in hospitals, from a kid to adulthood, it wasn’t anything new for him, and that type of movie magic was a little too strong for even Blaine Anderson to pull off. “Of course he isn’t.” He sighed out, then stopped.

“You did?” He’d thought that meant the didn’t know, Shirley Temple, that was, that Blaine had made some excuse, because when it came to Sebastian and Blaine’s gang of muppets he, somehow, no matter the circumstances, always ended up as the excuse. He raise an eyebrow as he glanced at him, before licking his lips. He tried to reach for the table and winced. “Since you’re here. Can you… Get me some water..? I’m freaking parched. The painkillers…” He made a gesture towards his mouth, he was used to that too, having had his fair share of hospital rendezvous. " ‘Throw a wild guess out there, and say they don’t know about the fiancé part?” He glanced at him. He hadn’t even expected Blaine to tell them he was with Sebastian at the hospital, so he wasn’t exactly judging, but still- “Tell me why I shouldn’t tell the next nurse the truth, here.” He said slowly, as he looked at him, not defensive now, just tired. Exhausted.

They both knew where this road lead. And it wasn’t anywhere good. It was beyond ironic that he was the one not willing to “pull the prank” so to speak and fool these people, to tell the lie, to play the part, because in this case, the part would leave him hanging, dry, and hurting a hell lot more than this car accident, and he knew it. They’d done this so many times now. It never ended well. Either one or both of them ended up injured one way or another, and Sebastian was tired. He was tired of having any kind of hope. It’d been years now, but even just being in the same room like that, having Blaine say he wanted to take care of him, that he was worried for him, was already starting to cut him open. “Can we just skip to the end? You heard doctor strange, I’m fine. I’m gonna be great. Thanks… For being here, getting– us engaged and all that jazz. Time to go back to your actual fiancé. You know, that one you took a town over to my boarding school, to propose to. I assume he’s still the one.”

Blaine was obviously not done messing with his fingers. His hands slid out from underneath him, dug at his knees. Knuckles bled to white as he clasped them together, shoved them between his thighs and dug his thumbnails into the fleshy part of his hand just under them on their opposite sides. Later one, there’d be crescent shapes pressed in that might leave a bruise. He was searching for any amount of approval of what he did. For the reasons why. For Sebastian to show him any sign that he was glad he didn’t wake up hurting and alone in the hospital. A smile. It could be tiny. Or laced with some snarky comment that might brush off how much he meant what he was saying. Anything from the pages of their past that might amount to something substantial enough to hang onto.

What he got was anything BUT what he was looking for. ‘I can’t believe you.’ Clamping his mouth shut, he immediately broke eye contact and his lap was instantly locked in his sights. His entire posture sank making him seem smaller than normal where he sat on the large sleeper chair. “I know you can’t. That’s why I lied..” Lifting his chin just enough that he could peek over Sebastian, he nodded. “I didn’t think you’d want anyone else here.” Seems Sebastian didn’t want ANYONE here (including him) but Blaine had the foresight enough to know that Kurt was probably the LAST person on Earth he’d want. Risking what might happen when he got home, he’d warded him away.

Seeing Sebastian wince, Blaine was already half out of his seat when he was asked for water. Trembling hands reached for the pitcher as soon as he rushed close enough to grab it. Water splashed onto the fake wood grain surface of the hospital bed table but he managed to get enough into the cup. “Because I’ll leave without you getting me kicked out of here. If that’s what you want me to do. And it is. I can see.” Once his hand was free of the cup, he stepped back and pressed his lips together. He could see it clear as day when he met Sebastian’s gaze. His hope to be a soothing presence was a failure in the worst kind of way. It was time to go. Staying any longer was only going to worsen the insult he hadn’t meant to dish out from the beginning.

“Okay,” his heart broke in ways it shouldn’t. In ways it didn’t have the right to. As Sebastian said, he’d made his choice. Starry eyed and love struck, he made his choice. What time did between now and then didn’t matter. His throat felt like it filled with rocks that were digging in and tightening up his chest, stomach. One word and Blaine turned, went back to his chair and grabbed his coat from where he had it shoved into the corner and draped over the back to use as a makeshift pillow. What else did he have left to say out loud anyway? Sebastian didn’t want to hear that he was welcome. That he was here because he was petrified he might’ve lost him on the street. That he didn’t want to go and a huge part of him never wanted to leave. Sebastian wouldn’t want to hear any of it. His chance for an open ear died at the bottom of a staircase. Warmth surrounded him when he pulled it on.

“This was selfish. A mistake. I’m so sorry for how I made you feel, Sebastian.”

cooper.

THE WESTERVILLE HOUSE HADN’T FELT LIKE HOME FOR YEARS. the sunshine of los angeles had called cooper away as soon as he could. he never once regretted abandoning his father’s hopes that he would go to college. he never once regretted leaving ohio behind and never looking back. not until he’d had his mother crying down the phone telling him that his little brother had fallen victim to some disgusting attack. as strained as his relationship with blaine was – mostly completely oblivious on cooper’s side, admittedly – he never wanted to hear that his pesky little brother was hurt in any way. it was how he found himself home after filming a new cut away for his credit rating commercial – he would be lying if he didn’t use the emotion from his home situation as excellent fuel to channel someone with a truly awful credit score. his relationship with his family wasn’t excellent but it also wasn’t horrific. he loved his mother dearly and blaine had become less of an annoying wobbling and infuriating shadow that followed him around. but their father was an utter enigma to cooper. one moment, the man was happy and proud of him – but who wouldn’t be given his commercial success across the entire country? – and the next he was as cold hearted and disappointed as ever.

typically, cooper would have never overstepped his boundaries, but considering he was making his own money and relied on his father for nothing? he’d given him quite the piece of his mind for even thinking about leaving while blaine had gone through something so traumatic. his blood had been boiling at how the man could just shrug off his youngest son like he meant very little, that him being hurt and attacked by pathetic individuals was somehow blaine’s fault. as he left the study, having gotten nowhere with the stubborn old man, he was still fuming. only upon seeing blaine’s face over the back of the couch did his expression soften to something more akin to fondness while he took a deep breath to let go of his frustration. pocketing that extreme anger for a later audition would come in handy and using it all up now on a fruitless mission was a ridiculous notion.

❝ me? i’m fine, squirt. i was playing bad cop in there, ❞ he joked, hopping over the arm of the couch to perch at blaine’s feet while fixing a warm smile on his face. ❝ gave the old man a piece of my mind about how his son is way more important than sitting in a bar and having business meetings. if he can’t see that, then he’s the one you should feel sorry for. ❞ reaching over, cooper lightly ruffled blaine’s hair – always cautious of the injuries his brother had sustained. ❝ i didn’t think you’d be awake. those painkillers? i heard they sell them as sleeping pills on the hollywood black market. ❞ changing the subject for cooper had never been a difficult task. he was a master of improvisation and making anything seem believable, especially after spending a few months twirling a quiznos sign like it read ‘entrance to heaven’ on it at the beginning of his los angeles stint. ❝ did mom go lay down? ❞ cooper asked after a moment of silence. he hadn’t thought of dear pam anderson when he’d went to town arguing with their old man. it probably did nothing for her nerves and cooper really did feel rather bad if she’d had to hear it. ❝ i guess that means we can bust out the old wii. see if you’re still terrible at mario kart, hm? ❞

Worried eyes (one still shadowed by lovely shades of black, purple and green in a crescent shape underneath) watched as Cooper approached the couch. Through the fog of the medicine running through his veins, he hadn’t missed catching a glimpse of anger etched on his brother’s face. Cooper’s eyes were too expressive for that. Too blue and too bright not to miss when they were darker and angrier. Since they were rarely like that. As far as Blaine knew Cooper rarely got mad. Unless he followed him around too much or refused to leave his things alone when they were younger. Other than that? Catching a tiny glimpse of Cooper infuriated? Blaine couldn’t help but feel sorry for anyone on the receiving end of that stare. His expression faltered from curious to a thoughtful pout hidden by the back of the sofa. Then like magic, Cooper was smiling and Blaine made himself comfortable in the position he’d flopped in. Just in time for his brother to land at his feet.

A drugged laugh made his cheek hurt but he couldn’t help it. For some reason, Cooper airborne then knelt in front of him was enough comedic material to make him smile at least. More importantly? More agreeable not to argue that he didn’t look okay like a sober Blaine might have. Instead, he nodded then pulled his shoulders up in a lazy shrug at the news of their father deciding he’d put off his clients long enough. “Probably better he’s not here, Coop. I got you and mom and that’s enough. I stopped disappointed a long time ago,” that last part was a lie. An obvious one at that. Blaine’s smile fading to barely visible, the shift of his posture, and change in the tone of his voice were all dead giveaways.

“They do? M’good for now. I think. I’ve been sleeping way too much.” Tugging the pillow he’d been hugging earlier back onto his lap, Blaine wrapped both arms around it and hugged it gently. The feathery soft weight against the sorest spots offered support and relief until it got too bothersome and he tossed it aside. Cracking another sheepish, cheeky grin as his curls were ruffled–Blaine reached out and rested his palm against his brother’s cheek studying him for a beat like he was the most fascinating thing on the planet (also thanking him with the gesture because words weren’t enough to show Cooper how much staying meant to him and how badly he needed him to just be here) before pulling his hand away and nodding. “Yeah, she did.” The heaviness felt like it was sucked out of the air by a massive vacuum with two words: Mario Kart. “Terrible! I’m only terrible cause you cheat,” huge eyes blazed with sudden accusation. “I’m gonna show you. Also,” insert a breakneck change of direction yet again, “If it isn’t too much trouble? Can you get more orange juice? My mouth feels like a desert most of the time.”

nosquisumus.

“Oh, I don’t mind if people know I’m here but if the cops come asking me whose ass you kicked I’d rather actually not know.” he explained, a low laugh vibrating through his chest. “Come on kid.” of course, the kid with the bloody knuckles happened to have walked right up to an FBI consultant but he wasn’t going to scare him off. He needed the help.

“I’m Jason Lin.

Comment vous appelez-vous?” he asked as he lead the younger man over to a sink, running some warm water. He quickly soaked a rag in the warm water before applying it to his knuckles. “Scrapper? You don’t really look the type.”

Blaine nodded as an embarrassed wince formed crookedly across his mouth. “Sure. Sorry. This was probably the LAST thing you thought you’d have to deal with tonight.” The ache wasn’t letting up. They had to be better by morning. Missing a lesson on account of a match turned fight wasn’t something he was going to be forgiven for very easily and lying wasn’t one of his greatest talents. ~~Most of the time.~~

“I’m Blaine. It’s nice to meet you, Jason. My apology for the reason why.” Blaine connected the rag in Jason’s hand and the water running in the sink to what was about to happen and readied himself. Just not enough… Gentle as the pressure was, the initial touch drew a hissed in breath between clenched teeth. “Yeah. I mean. No. Not like that. It wasn’t supposed to go that far.”

jason.@nosquisumus

“I’d rather not, plausible deniability and all. Come on, let’s get you patched up.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to breathe a word you were here. I’d rather not answer questions about how this happened anyway.” Blaine shot the guy a guilty smile before looking down at his ~~bloodied~~ bruised knuckles. They really were a mess. And he had piano lessons tomorrow. Probably should have thought about that before he didn’t regain control of a sparring match gone a teeny bit out of control.

“I’ll be–,” he hissed in a breath through clenched together teeth in a grimace when he wriggled them trying to make a point that failed beyond the meaning of fail (so said the pain shooting up his arm). “Wow. That really is getting worse..and a lot more gross.” Cringing, his nose scrunched when he met the other’s eyes and nodded. “I mean–yeah. Thanks.”

Blaine sat curled into the corner of the sofa. In the background–he could hear his father and Cooper ‘talking’. His foggy brain couldn’t keep up with their conversation–muffled and far off as it was by distance alone–the warm numb moving through his veins kept his attention moving from the fire dancing inside the fireplace to the television he’d turned down to the point of muting it all together and back towards the sound of their conversation. Barely picking up words now and then, he’d gone to the end closest to the hallway to try and hear better. In spite of his efforts, he had no such luck. Judging by the way his mother abruptly excused herself a half an hour ago? No doubt it was about him and what happened.

A couple of days earlier was still in the hospital and–his father was home for less than that before business called and he planned to leave again. Blaine would be hard pressed to say it was all that bad that his father was leaving in the first place. Because Cooper was suddenly there–out of the blue to Blaine because he had no idea he was coming–to take his place. A much better option considering how his father was taking the entire situation. Unable to tell if he was more angry at the kids who did what they did. Or that Blaine went against his wishes and had asked the boy to make a statement with him that couldn’t be ignored. That they should be proud of who they are. Have the courage to stand up to the stares, face the school together. To say his father was opposed was an understatement.

They went anyway. The end result was…this.

He waited until there was silence until he heard the clicking of the door to his father’s office and footsteps coming toward the living room. Blaine lift his head and peered over the top of the couch from underneath a mop of loose curls that shadowed some of the cuts and bruises on their way to healing but the worst over his bottom lip and by his eye were the worse when he screwed his face up and pouted thoughtfully trying to ready himself for whatever happened. Seeing his brother–he slumped back down into his spot and his breath left him in one full woosh of deflating air. “I’m sorry, Coop. Are you okay? What did he say to you?”

inthequiver.

sebastian raised curious, confused, green eyes as the doctor walked in, and then they widened for a moment. oh. so he HADN’T imagined blaine there, after all. blaine had actually… he felt the urge to groan and bury his face in his hands. he tried to scramble through his memory to find out if he’d said anything EMBARRASSING, while bleeding on the sidewalk. he thought he remembered telling blaine he missed him, and he hoped to hell that was just inside his own head. he couldn’t have, could he? then again, none of this made any fucking sense. like the fact he’d actually walked into a cab with a drunk driver and never even noticed. have you been here all this time? he wanted to ask, but it felt pointless, and he wouldn’t get into it in front of the doctor.

❝so what’s wrong with – ?’ he asked, before the doctor could even speak, seizing the man with tired distrust. he’d never liked doctors much, since they were always trying to FIX him. he stopped short on his words, though, at what he heard NEXT, never finishing his sentence ( … me? ). he stared at the doctor in disbelief. lips parted, and almost dreaded turning his head to the side, to meet BLAINE, though he felt like he couldn’t help it, as his attention was dragged to the side. betrothed? betrothed?!! his eyes said as they met caramel ones, color coming to his face like it never happened, and burning it up with complete shock. he had actually- blaine had not only stayed, he’d lied to do so, which had got to be eating up inside him, if sebastian knew him any. and he still DID. did he feel THAT much pity? sebastian didn’t get it. the doctor was still speaking but his ears were ringing.

only when the man started speaking to him, again, did he tear his sarcastic expression and raised eyebrows out of blaine, and onto him, but the other didn’t seem to have noticed anything. sebastian stared a little vacantly as he spoke, only relieved that blaine’s comment hadn’t really meant anything as it seemed, and he was going to be fine. he sunk back onto the pillows and closed his eyes for a moment, nodding some, before opening them again as the doctor left. he’d have to stay at the hospital for at least one day more, until they were sure his lungs would be fine, and then he’d have to stay bandaged and caring for his ribs for a while, and probably use some kind of support on his dislocated fingers. he pressed his lips slowly as the door closed, and bit on them hard as he stared at it.

‘you told them.’ he started very slowly. ‘i’m your fiancé?’ he more stated, than asked, before turning his head towards the other, eyebrows up on his hairline, as though saying are you INSANE? he huffed out a bitter laughter and shook his head as he brushed his face. this had got to be a joke. the entire thing. a sick joke from the universe. ‘you gotta be KIDDING me.’ he mumbled, muffled, into his bruised hands. he dropped them. ‘so when can i expect peakurt to walk in and make a scene?’

Blaine didn’t realize that under the intense weight of Sebastian’s unwavering, righteously shocked ‘what the flying hell’ stare that he’d begun to wring his hands together. Fingers gripping palms and scraping back and forth in white knuckled tenseness. Who could blame him? Even if he couldn’t bare being looked at the way Sebastian was looking at him now by anyone.. The sheer intensity of the gaze directly right into his deer-caught-in-the-headlights eyes would have been enough to give him a complex about it if he hadn’t had one years before. His biggest problem wasn’t the bubble of guilt that lying put in his belly the previous day that kept growing the longer he sat in silence throughout the night. Or that it was an absolutely INSANE idea to say what he said in the first place (but Sebastian was hurt and he was desperate to make sure he was okay and not leave him alone–so what other options did he have??).

Still. Both of those issues were small-cheese compared to the scenario that blurred into his mind and slowly became clearer and clearer with each breath the doctor took. How Sebastian was going to react to this (aside from the stunned expression and increasingly red tint to his pale, freckled skin) was so up in the air and he couldn’t figure it out because he was on the verge of a panic attack just thinking about the next ten minutes. Blaine barely heard the doctor finish giving Sebastian the rundown of what was going to happen past the explanation of his injuries. His mind was too busy elsewhere and the voice in the room sounded muffled. Like his head was buried in a pillow and he had the sides pulled up to block out his ears. If only he was that lucky.

He was sorry. Sorry that he used that reason to be here. Sorry that he didn’t tell the truth. However, what he was sorriest about? Was that Sebastian found out. Yes, he was dumb enough to not think of the consequences. But he had no time and hoped that he might be able to skim past the reason he was being given so much leeway to stay by chalking it up to politeness going a long way. Or something equally as flimsy but hopefully-might-work-worthy. Cat out of the bag having come and gone? They were alone and he had the rippling thunder of the door shutting still echoing in his brain when the relief he felt from Sebastian giving the doctor his attention was gone and it was right back on himself.

“Y-Yeah. I..did,” he answered matching Sebastian’s voice and with a cramp snapping his attention back to his hands that hadn’t stopped moving, he grabbed onto both tight and shoved them between his thighs practically underneath them. Long lashes veiling his eyes from sight fluttered to show he was searching for the answer of what to say next in the weave of his pants and coming up empty handed. Looking back up wasn’t an option and he kept his head down. “They wouldn’t let me,” his voice trailed off as he skipped yet another part of potential awkwardness and clung to the mess he was in instead, “stay here if I didn’t…say something. I didn’t want to leave. Kurt isn’t coming. No one is.” His gaze lifted but he kept his chin tucked down. “I asked them not to. I’m sorry…I did this. I only.. I wanted to stay.”

Send “@” for a SCARED text.

another text message meme.

( mssg » santana | sent ) I know I said that I didn’t think you needed to be here.

( mssg » santana | sent ) I made a mistake. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. All I do is stare at the monitor trying to pick apart the colors on the screen like I can diagnose if I need to run to find a doctor because something’s wrong.
( mssg » santana | sent ) They said he’s going to be okay but I can’t convince myself he will be. I don’t trust anyone. I keep thinking what if they’re wrong? What if something happens before Burt’s plane lands?
( mssg » santana | sent ) I think I need you to keep my head on straight. Please?.

nick.

For the first six hours on shift there were no calls. It was almost as if the whole city of Chicago was fast asleep. That hardly ever happened. The fireman and paramedics of firehouse 51 were enjoying a nice uninterrupted meal. It was taco night and every one enjoyed it as usual. As luck would have it clean up began and the very familiar alarm went off throughout the house. Nick BOLTED up from his seat and headed for the rig, getting in the passenger’s seat. They were heading towards a fire that had started at the University of Chicago’s Theater. It wasn’t that far and before they knew it they were pulling up behind Truck 81. Nick could tell the fire was FAIRLY large so they started to triage people that needed it. Nick was helping a young woman when the squad lieutenant brought over a short male. But it wasn’t just any other short male. Nick was in shock, it was Blaine. His best friend from when he went to school in Ohio. “Blaine, oh my gosh. Take a seat.” He said, QUICKLY grabbing a mask. The other had blackness under his nose so Nick knew he would have to be looked at.

Comedy of Errors. Who would have thought the title of the play would end up half right if taken literally? A string of errors from too old lighting and a rewire mishap that ended up not so comedic. The entire stage and backstage of the area were filled with smoke that soon ballooned in a pitch black cloud filled with shouts of students making sure everyone exited the building and no one was left behind. The doors had been slung open, faculty and staff poured out but it was the few left behind when the smoke became too thick to see that were lost and trying to navigate getting out by memory only. An easier said than done task since panic overrode common sense. Blaine’s hand held tight to a girl’s who he barely talked to as they crawled along the floor in the direction of what he was sure this time was the way out. You’ll never know how happy you can be when you hear a sound like Darth Vader coming at you and a thickly gloved hand closes on your arm a second later until you realize that you really aren’t that sure after all. Oh thank God..

The air outside tasted awful thanks to the flavor in his mouth Blaine was sure he’d never get out. But they were safe and he was being taken somewhere, coughing but alive and unharmed save a few bruises scrapes thanks to bolted down seats and rough corners. His body slumped forward as soon as he sat down but his attention zipped up as soon as he realized someone said his name.. No way? Did he hit his head? His voice was confused and gravelly but he couldn’t believe his eyes, “..Nicky?”