"Michael" Spoilers
I just wrote a thousand words on a character who has said three lines help. It's unbeta'd and rough, but I had to get it out now while I was thinking about it.
Warbler head-canon go!
Trent used to go to McKinley, you know.
He wasn’t in New Directions. God no. He was bullied enough as it is, and if he had joined in with the social suicide that was the New Direction he would be dead by now. But he would watch them perform sometimes, and he would tap his feet and hope no one would notice. Trent loves music-he had been in the jazz band, once-but he had to quit because music in McKinley was treated like a disease, and the only cure was being locked in a portapotty, or slushied, or tossed in a dumpster.
He had enough problems just being an overweight kid. He didn’t need to paint a bigger target on his back.
He envied them sometimes, though. The way they would sing, like they didn’t care about the consequences. They had each other, and that was enough for them. With each other, they could weather any storm.
He wanted that for himself. That love, that acceptance.
He wouldn’t get it at McKinley, though.
The summer before his junior year, he convinces his parents to let him transfer. They decided on Dalton, which wins Trent over with its no-tolerance bullying policy, but wins his father over with its superior academics.
The first day at Dalton, he auditions for the Warblers, along with a boy named Blaine.
Blaine is-Trent’s not gay, okay, not that there’s anything wrong with that-but Blaine is sort of magical. When he sings, it’s like the whole world just sort of stops to watch him. His charm is infectious, and his voice is just sort of awe-inspiring.
The council looks at him like he’s the second coming of God.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Blaine gets into the Warblers, and to Trent’s complete surprise, he does too. Blaine hugs him in congratulation, and one of the first things Trent ever thinks about Blaine is how honest to God kind he is. For a boy who had been bullied and mistreated himself, Blaine puts everyone else first. He supports everyone, encourages everyone to try their hardest, to do their best. He makes everyone stand up and dance. He’s everything a Warbler should be.
Which makes his departure a year later so much harder to swallow.
David and Thad, while decent council members, aren’t really leaders, at least not in the way Wes was. Wes had spent all of last year grooming Blaine to be his replacement, and now he’s suddenly…not there. He’d rather be at McKinley. With Kurt.
(Some of the Warblers are still a little bitter about that.)
It’s why when Sebastian arrives, all charming with a good voice, the Warblers sort of scramble around him. He elects himself Captain, which David and Thad support because crap, they don’t know what to do, and Sebastian just spent a year in France studying music, he probably knows what he’s doing.
(It doesn’t hurt that Sebastian, in his initial arguments, mentions that New Directions has a team captain. We want to be as good as they are, yes?)
Still, Trent’s not really all that worried, because he knows Blaine will be back before too long. Kurt is cute and all, but he can’t be worth a slushy to the face every day.
“A what to the face?” Nick asks, like he can’t honestly believe that happens in real life. A few of the other Warblers nod in agreement.
So somehow, Trent ends up spending all of Warbler practice relating tales of McKinley brutality. He tells them about the slushies, about the dumpster tosses, about the portapotties.
Sebastian suggests they slushy the New Directions. A few other Warblers murmur in agreement, and Trent sits there, aghast. He wouldn’t wish a slushy to the face to his worst enemy, much less to a group that contained two of their former members.
“But what about the zero-tolerance bullying policy? Isn’t slushying bullying?” Jeff asks, oddly thoughtful.
“It’s not like it hurts.” Someone else-Nick, Trent thinks--argues. “If anything, it makes them a little cold and sticky. That’s not really bullying.”
What Trent wants to say is, it’s humiliating. You have no idea. It’s like being slapped in the face with a cup of ice, and the food coloring stings, and it ruins your clothes, and you feel like you are the most insignificant person in the entire world. It is most definitely bullying.
He doesn’t say anything, though. Even if he did, it’s not like most people would listen to him. He’s not really much of a leader.
He wishes he had, though, when Sebastian throws the iced drink smack into Blaine-Blaine, who is the kindest person Trent knows-‘s face. And when he hits the ground, he screams in pain.
Trent has been hit by a lot of slushies, and he’s seen a lot of people get hit with slushies, but he’s never seen someone with that reaction before.
When Santana Lopez shows up to Dalton to tell them that Blaine has to have surgery, Trent’s stomach drops. What have they done? Don’t they realize how serious this is? He knows they’re still a little mad at him, but this is serious. He could go blind!
David hands Sebastian a slushy to throw in Santana’s face, and Trent feels like throwing up.
He never wanted this. He wanted to come to Dalton to escape the bullying, not to become a bully himself. This is wrong. Sebastian has…he’s corrupted them, he’s ruined them. Why did they ever listen to him in the first place?
(Because Blaine left. Because Blaine abandoned them first chance he got for his boyfriend. Because Blaine was supposed to lead them, and when he didn’t, they let the first person who could have all the power, because it was easier to lay all the blame at Blaine’s feet rather than to try and become the bigger people. It was easier than following Dalton’s code, easier to become the thing they once stood again rather than do something better.)
That’s why, when the New Directions invite them to their auditorium, telling them they aren’t going to fight anymore, Trent does the one thing he was never brave enough to do at McKinley.
He stands beside them, and sings.
Warbler head-canon go!
Trent used to go to McKinley, you know.
He wasn’t in New Directions. God no. He was bullied enough as it is, and if he had joined in with the social suicide that was the New Direction he would be dead by now. But he would watch them perform sometimes, and he would tap his feet and hope no one would notice. Trent loves music-he had been in the jazz band, once-but he had to quit because music in McKinley was treated like a disease, and the only cure was being locked in a portapotty, or slushied, or tossed in a dumpster.
He had enough problems just being an overweight kid. He didn’t need to paint a bigger target on his back.
He envied them sometimes, though. The way they would sing, like they didn’t care about the consequences. They had each other, and that was enough for them. With each other, they could weather any storm.
He wanted that for himself. That love, that acceptance.
He wouldn’t get it at McKinley, though.
The summer before his junior year, he convinces his parents to let him transfer. They decided on Dalton, which wins Trent over with its no-tolerance bullying policy, but wins his father over with its superior academics.
The first day at Dalton, he auditions for the Warblers, along with a boy named Blaine.
Blaine is-Trent’s not gay, okay, not that there’s anything wrong with that-but Blaine is sort of magical. When he sings, it’s like the whole world just sort of stops to watch him. His charm is infectious, and his voice is just sort of awe-inspiring.
The council looks at him like he’s the second coming of God.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Blaine gets into the Warblers, and to Trent’s complete surprise, he does too. Blaine hugs him in congratulation, and one of the first things Trent ever thinks about Blaine is how honest to God kind he is. For a boy who had been bullied and mistreated himself, Blaine puts everyone else first. He supports everyone, encourages everyone to try their hardest, to do their best. He makes everyone stand up and dance. He’s everything a Warbler should be.
Which makes his departure a year later so much harder to swallow.
David and Thad, while decent council members, aren’t really leaders, at least not in the way Wes was. Wes had spent all of last year grooming Blaine to be his replacement, and now he’s suddenly…not there. He’d rather be at McKinley. With Kurt.
(Some of the Warblers are still a little bitter about that.)
It’s why when Sebastian arrives, all charming with a good voice, the Warblers sort of scramble around him. He elects himself Captain, which David and Thad support because crap, they don’t know what to do, and Sebastian just spent a year in France studying music, he probably knows what he’s doing.
(It doesn’t hurt that Sebastian, in his initial arguments, mentions that New Directions has a team captain. We want to be as good as they are, yes?)
Still, Trent’s not really all that worried, because he knows Blaine will be back before too long. Kurt is cute and all, but he can’t be worth a slushy to the face every day.
“A what to the face?” Nick asks, like he can’t honestly believe that happens in real life. A few of the other Warblers nod in agreement.
So somehow, Trent ends up spending all of Warbler practice relating tales of McKinley brutality. He tells them about the slushies, about the dumpster tosses, about the portapotties.
Sebastian suggests they slushy the New Directions. A few other Warblers murmur in agreement, and Trent sits there, aghast. He wouldn’t wish a slushy to the face to his worst enemy, much less to a group that contained two of their former members.
“But what about the zero-tolerance bullying policy? Isn’t slushying bullying?” Jeff asks, oddly thoughtful.
“It’s not like it hurts.” Someone else-Nick, Trent thinks--argues. “If anything, it makes them a little cold and sticky. That’s not really bullying.”
What Trent wants to say is, it’s humiliating. You have no idea. It’s like being slapped in the face with a cup of ice, and the food coloring stings, and it ruins your clothes, and you feel like you are the most insignificant person in the entire world. It is most definitely bullying.
He doesn’t say anything, though. Even if he did, it’s not like most people would listen to him. He’s not really much of a leader.
He wishes he had, though, when Sebastian throws the iced drink smack into Blaine-Blaine, who is the kindest person Trent knows-‘s face. And when he hits the ground, he screams in pain.
Trent has been hit by a lot of slushies, and he’s seen a lot of people get hit with slushies, but he’s never seen someone with that reaction before.
When Santana Lopez shows up to Dalton to tell them that Blaine has to have surgery, Trent’s stomach drops. What have they done? Don’t they realize how serious this is? He knows they’re still a little mad at him, but this is serious. He could go blind!
David hands Sebastian a slushy to throw in Santana’s face, and Trent feels like throwing up.
He never wanted this. He wanted to come to Dalton to escape the bullying, not to become a bully himself. This is wrong. Sebastian has…he’s corrupted them, he’s ruined them. Why did they ever listen to him in the first place?
(Because Blaine left. Because Blaine abandoned them first chance he got for his boyfriend. Because Blaine was supposed to lead them, and when he didn’t, they let the first person who could have all the power, because it was easier to lay all the blame at Blaine’s feet rather than to try and become the bigger people. It was easier than following Dalton’s code, easier to become the thing they once stood again rather than do something better.)
That’s why, when the New Directions invite them to their auditorium, telling them they aren’t going to fight anymore, Trent does the one thing he was never brave enough to do at McKinley.
He stands beside them, and sings.