Just Watch the Fireworks (Kurt/Blaine, Wes) [Part 2]
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Honorary Warbler Jesse St James’ fake Dalton ID - used to bypass campus security many a time and renewed every year - courtesy of Warbler Randy (who spends way too much time on the computer and is probably going to end up working for Facebook or something).
-*-
The year Blaine Anderson transfers to Dalton is a year filled with a lot of changes in Wes’ life.
Wes doesn’t mind change. He’s used to it; his dad has a new wife every few months (he’s on number six by the time Wes is fifteen); his oldest sister has a new job just as frequently; his mom is in a different country so often that half the time Wes doesn’t even know where she is and by the time he does, she’s moved on. So yeah, Wes can handle change.
The change that Blaine brings with him though, is full of new friends, new attitudes and new rules. It’s a hurricane of new experiences and Wes has never felt so overcome with all the different things going on in his life. And it’s so much more personal.
Befriending Blaine brings with it a feeling of overwhelming protectiveness. Wes has never had anyone to protect but himself and the need to wrap Blaine up in cotton-wool and never let the world hurt him again, is, to put it simply, weird.
But Wes takes it in stride. He helps Blaine the way Wes himself would want to be helped. He doesn’t crowd the younger boy, but he always keeps an eye on him; he makes sure Blaine isn’t drowning in his schoolwork; he makes sure that Blaine eats and invites him to sit with Wes and his friends in the dining hall; he gets him an audition with the Warblers.
Wes adjusts to having a thirteenth voice in their show choir, he adjusts to having a sixth player in their weekly Monopoly and/or Clue games and he adjusts to having a second person living in his room.
The hardest adjustment he has to make, however, is the realization that, for the first time since he was three, he has a family. Not the kind with a mother and a father and two point five children and a dog, but the kind that looks out for each other and takes care of one another.
He’s been a Warbler since second semester of freshman year but he didn’t think of it as more than an extra-curricular to put on his college applications until the year after.
It doesn’t dawn on him that the Warblers are so much more than a singing group until the night Blaine is given a formal welcome in.
Blaine looks like he’s just met Patti Lupone and walked down the red carpet to the Oscars by the time they get back to their room after his first rehearsal.
He throws himself on the bed and sighs.
“It’s like having my own band of brothers,” he says. He’s got this ridiculously goofy grin on his face and he’s so sincere, that Wes is inclined to believe him.
Because it’s so true: David is like his twin - the Fred Weasley to his George; Anthony, one of the senior councillors, is his older brother; Thad is the brother he goes to when he has feelings. And just like that, Blaine has made him realize he has people to look out for and people to look out for him.
After that night, Wes protects his family with the intensity of a mother bear. He takes on the responsibility of making sure that everything is OK, everyone is fine. He takes it so seriously, that he forgets that there are other people in the world who can do his job for him: Jeff has loving and doting parents; Nick has the world’s most overprotective sisters; Blaine has a friend from his old school.
It’s the last one that really strikes Wes because as far as he knows, everyone at that school treated Blaine like gum on their shoes.
Wes finds out about Jesse during Parents’ Night.
When Blaine grabs his hand and drags him away from Dad and Tina (Nina? Sabrina? Wes doesn’t know, all his dad’s wives look the same) and tells him that he has to meet someone very important, Wes assumes Blaine is talking about his Mom or something.
He doesn’t expect to see the face of someone who is probably the same age as him or to be introduced to the only person in that hell hole who cared.
What he experiences in that moment is entirely foreign to him, but Wes guesses that this is probably what jealousy feels like. For two months, Wes was the only one who cared and Wes was the one Blaine looked to for help and advice with his deer-in-headlight eyes. Wes has the right to feel jealous of this new guy Blaine has never even talked about.
But then Jesse St. James opens his mouth, and he’s oozing charm like he’s trying to channel Gene Kelly himself and Wes warms up to him. They share anecdotes about Blaine’s dorkiness - much to Blaine’s dismay - and talk show choir (Jesse is a part of Vocal Adrenaline so Wes knows better than to talk about anything substantial).
Jesse tells him about how hard he tried to get the faculty to help Blaine and some of the other openly gay kids out.
He tells Wes about convincing Blaine to transfer.
He talks about how much he admires Blaine and how envious he is of the Warblers for getting to him first. He curses Vocal Adrenaline’s moratorium on recruiting members who are freshmen. Jesse tells Wes he’s glad that Blaine has people like Wes at Dalton to protect him.
And how can Wes hate a guy who is that genuine in his affection for Blaine?
Over the next few months, all of the Warblers take Blaine under their wings. He’s the youngest Warbler therefore he is everyone’s younger brother and Jesse is just another addition to their over protective family.
Jesse becomes a frequent visitor at Dalton and Wes does mean frequent - to the point where Jesse sometimes has to sleep on their floor and sneak out in the mornings.
Sometimes, when Blaine has an exceptionally bad week, Jesse stays for the weekend.
Sometimes he comes after Saturday morning practices and brings coffee.
He flirts with Jeff in a combined effort with David to make Nick jealous enough to make a move. And continues to flirt with Jeff after Nick has made his move just for kicks.
He talks with Randy, who is the only other freshman aside from Blaine, in posh (and very, very fake) British accents.
He always calls them by their given names - Wes is Wesley, Thad is Thaddeus, Randy is Randal, Frank is Franklin - and they pretend that they’re annoyed but the truth is they love Jesse like he’s one of them.
They love him despite the fact that he is the competition, despite the fact that he’s a diva, despite the fact that he can be super pretentious (and super catty) and despite the fact that there are times he’s willing to do some pretty terrible things to get his way.
They love him because he’s family now and they’re willing to forgive and adore him flaws, claws and all.
-*-
Kurt looks like a fish right now. Wes would find it hilarious if weren’t for the fact that Kurt keeps switching from his ridiculous fish face to his scary, angry polar bear face every thirty seconds.
Jesse looks really guilty and most of the Warblers just look like they’re lost. Wes can sympathize because he has no idea what is going down between the silent exchange of looks that Jesse and Kurt are giving each other.
“What the hell do you mean Honorary Warbler, David?” Kurt asks, clearly he’s trying to keep his voice steady and intimidating. It seems to be working on Jesse.
David shifts eyes from Kurt to Jesse a couple of times before answering, “Before he went off to California, Jesse used to visit so often that we made him an unofficial Warbler.”
“You guys realize that he was competition, right?” Kurt asks, his tone wavering on incredulous.
Jesse sighs, “Not everything is about competition, Kurt.”
“Oh, that’s rich coming from you,” Kurt spits.
And wow. That’s a lot of hostility. Wes knows a lot of people that don’t like Jesse, but that’s mostly because he has a tendency to use backhanded complements and is kind of a pretentious ass. What Kurt is projecting towards Jesse, however, is contempt.
Then something clicks in Wes’ head.
He remembers Jesse coming to Dalton right before his last Regionals competition and how quiet he was. Wes spent that entire weekend in Nick’s dorm so Blaine and Jesse could have time alone. By the time he left, Jesse still looked terrible.
When Wes asked Blaine about it, he told Wes that Jesse had transferred to William McKinley for a little while and some of the things his Vocal Adrenaline coach made him do there made him miserable.
He never got the full story, but Wes knew enough to put together the gist of it. Long story short, Jesse does stupid things that hurt not only him, but everyone around him.
But he can worry about that later, because right now he has to diffuse this ticking time bomb and get all the Warblers out of its vicinity in the meanwhile.
“Clearly,” he starts, “Kurt and Jesse have a lot of to catch up on. Warblers, rehearsal will be cut short today. Will someone go inform Blaine that Jess is here?” Alex raises his hand to volunteer. “Thanks Alex. Everyone else, you are dismissed.”
Within minutes the hall is empty save for Wes, Kurt and Jesse.
“You two want to explain to me what’s going on?” Wes asks in his most authoritative voice.
Kurt is still glaring at Jesse. “Yes, Jesse,” he says, “why don’t you tell us exactly what’s going on here?”
Jesse looks hesitantly at Wes. Like whatever he’s about to say isn’t something Wes already knows and is willing to forgive. Wes may not have the whole story, but he can find a way to forgive one of his friends for almost anything short of questionably legal activities. He tells Jesse as such and gets a grateful smile from him.
So Jesse tells him about becoming Rachel Berry’s boyfriend and about transferring to New Directions. He tells him about making Rachel fall in love with him (and Wes suspects Jesse did a bit of falling in love too), about Rachel’s mom and his glee coach, about sabotaging the New Directions and about egging Rachel. There’s so much that he’s not telling them, Wes can see that but it’s neither the time nor the place to bring that up.
And just because Wes is willing to forgive him, doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel like punching the idiot.
He pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out a frustrated huff. “That was really stupid, Jess,” he says.
Jesse shoots him a look that reads you don’t think I know that as he collapses on the couch. He looks like someone just shot his dog so, in spite of his frustration, Wes sits down beside Jesse and throws a comforting arm over his shoulder.
Kurt is leaning against the councillors’ table, lips pursed, arms crossed over his chest, obviously waiting to be informed on Jesse’s relation to the Warblers.
Wes thinks about how Kurt must be feeling right now. Dalton is supposed to be his safe place away from his old tormentors. And now Jesse, someone who humiliated Kurt and his friends shows up here?
Yeah whatever it is that Kurt’s feeling, it’s probably not very pleasant.
“Jesse, why don’t you go to see Blaine? I’m sure that by now he’s gotten over the fact you came from California to see us. He’ll probably only yell at you a little bit,” Wes tries to reassure him with his best this is me being comforting smile.
Jesse takes it for the clear escape route that it is and leaves.
That just leaves Wes and Kurt for A Brief History of the Inner Workings of Dalton round: two.
There’s no point in stalling so Wes just dives in, “Blaine introduced me to Jesse.”
“What?” Kurt looks really surprised.
“It was Parents’ Night, I’d known Blaine for three months then, and he dragged me away from my dad and my stepmom to meet Jesse.”
“That must have been nice.” Wes can feel the sarcasm dripping from Kurt’s words.
“Honestly? Jesse can be extremely charming when he wants to be. I mean, sure, sometimes I want to punch him in the face - like right now for example - because he can be an idiot, but he’s pretty genuine when it comes to caring for his friends.”
Kurt raises an eyebrow in obvious scepticism.
“Look, when Blaine came here, he wasn’t…he wasn’t the Blaine we know now. He was quiet and broken and scared - and from what I’ve been told, you’re coming from a similar situation so you should know what I’m talking about. But that’s beside the point.
“The point is, Blaine wasn’t himself and I had to work so hard to get him to open up, Kurt. There were all these people that had hurt him and I got so angry sometimes just thinking about it - about how alone he must have felt. But then Jesse came along, and there was someone else working just as hard at keeping Blaine safe and being his friend. I guess we bonded really well over that.
“We couldn’t get rid of him after that first night. He kept coming around during visiting hours and on weekends; he made friends with the professors; he got along better with Mr. Carlton, the head of custodial, better than anyone else in this entire school. He’s a Dalton boy at heart even if he’s never actually come here for school.
“What I’m trying to say here is that what Jesse did to you and your friend was stupid and reckless and downright terrible. But he’s my friend just as much as you are. And I’m not expecting you to like him - all I’m asking for is that you tolerate him, for my sake and for Blaine’s sake. Because Jesse is one of his best friends and it would suck for him to have two of his closest friends fighting. Alright?”
There is a beat of silence and Wes almost thinks that Kurt is going to argue with him, but instead he says:
“So what you’re telling me is Jesse St. James (who broke - and pains me to admit it, but she is - my friend’s heart for the sake of winning a stupid competition and proceeded to pelt her with eggs, disregarding the fact that she’s a vegan) actually has a heart; actually cares about someone other than himself; and is actually liked by other people?”
“It’s hard to believe, I know.”
Kurt runs a hand through his perfectly coiffed hair. “I don’t like this Wes. I don’t like him - mostly because he’s the male Rachel Berry and she is a diva like no other and just plain annoying - but I am willing to trust your judgement. I promise not to start any cat fights…so long as you promise to keep him as far away from me as possible at all times.”
Wes beams at him. Perhaps Kurt is finally ready to give this Dalton Boy thing a try.
-*-
Warblers 2010-2011, first day back from Summer Break, front hall: Kippler Dormitories
From left to right - back row: Stacy, Chris, Trent, Kent (who is not a Warbler), Lynn, Randy, Bailey Middle: Thad, Alex, David Front: Jeff, Nick, John Missing: Wes and Blaine
Folded and water damaged in Blaine’s pocket after a walk in the rain.
(“Hey guys! We need a group picture!” Wes shouts after the excitement of being back and seeing each other again has slightly died down.
They’ve lost eight of the Warblers from last year: James, Carter, Louis, Lee and Holland have graduated and Sam, Hartley and Lewis have transferred out.
That leaves seven of the Warblers from last year’s team: Wes himself, David, Jeff, Nick, Randy, Thad, Trent, and Blaine.
Stacy, Chris, Alex, Bailey, Lynn and John have been on reserve since second semester auditions last year and are now active Warblers.
As a newly appointed councillor, Wes feels damn proud of the team he’s got. They get along famously and most of them have known each other for years. He thinks that they’ve really got a shot at winning Nationals this year.
“Blaine isn’t here yet, Wes,” Nick points out.
“Well, that’s too bad for him!” Trent shouts. “He’s late and we specifically said we’d all meet here at eight before everyone else got here. We can get Kent to fill his spot!”
All of the Warblers laugh when Kent looks up from his copy of Anna Karenina - in the original Russian - at the mention of his name with a really confused expression.
There’s a brief argument over whether or not they should listen to Trent. David wants to wait for him but everyone else wants to take one with Kent so they choose to take one with the non-Warbler and one with Blaine when he decides to show up.
They pose in front of the grand staircases and just as Wes (who is taking a stance against any and all pictures taken of me by any Warbler because you all take very, terrifically bad photos) is about to click the shutter, Kent pulls out his phone takes a picture of Wes taking a picture of them.
They print a copy for everyone with Lynn’s new printer.
When Blaine comes in two hours later, looking sad, the Warblers give him a welcome home group hug and Wes hands him the photo.
Wes knows for a fact that Blaine carried that thing with him for the entire first week of school.)
-*-
So Wes loves his friends. He’s made that very clear.
But his friends can be idiots.
Like that time Randy decided that it’d be cool to hack the Pentagon’s spy satellites and almost got caught because he’s good, but he’s not that good.
Or that time David tried to bake his girlfriend a cake for her birthday and ended up almost poisoning her.
Or that time Lynn danced on the roof of the science and math building to see if anyone would notice.
The point is, his friends have a tendency of getting momentary lapses in judgement. At least none of them ever tried to sabotage a glee club and break a girl’s heart in the process just to win a stupid competition…oh. Wait.
Wes has to keep telling himself that Jesse must have had a good reason. But what could possibly be a good reason for doing that to someone?
He has to wait an entire half hour before he can calm himself enough to look Jesse in the face without wanting to yell at him. Wes refuses to lose his cool twice in the span of less than seven days.
Wes is an adult. He can handle this without getting angry and flustered. He can do this.
He walks into the infirmary where he finds Jesse and Blaine talking in hushed voices. He can see that they’re both laughing and they look better than Wes has seen either of them in a while.
“Hey Jess?” he says as he approaches Blaine’s bed. Jesse looks up at him. “You want to go grab a coffee with me? Dinner is in a couple of hours; I’m sure we can convince Dean Weatherly to let you stay and eat.”
Jesse looks at Blaine and Blaine laughs. “Go, Jess. There are others here to keep me company. Though, really, you guys shouldn’t be wasting your time here.”
“Blaine, the Warblers have been looking after each other since forever - we’re not going to stop just because you think we’re wasting our time.” Wes reprimands.
The walk to Wes’ car is silent and awkward. They both know about the inevitable conversation they’re about to have, but neither of them really want to broach on the topic.
The car rolls out of the lot and they sit in more silence for several minutes before Wes says, “You didn’t give me the whole story Jess. I can’t know what to make of all this unless I know fully what happened. So start talking.”
He looks at Jesse and it doesn’t seem like the other boy is going to say anything so Wes says, “Look, I need you to tell me what the hell actually happened because right now I’m having a really hard time reconciling the Jesse St. James I know to the asshole that Kurt seems to think you are. The Jesse I know is an arrogant, cutthroat diva but he would never ever put someone else’s heart on the line like that. So please just tell me.”
If Wes were David or Thad or even Jeff, he would have reached across the gear shift to give Jesse a comforting pat on the knee or maybe even hold his hand for a few seconds. But he isn’t. He’s about as awkward as a newborn foal when it comes to physical affection - even when it comes to his girlfriends - so instead he offers his most encouraging smile and hopes for the best.
And success, Jesse starts to speak.
“I’m on a full scholarship,” he starts.
Wes knows this.
Wes watched as Thad edited Jesse’s scholarship essay for him, he helped Jesse prepare for his audition (it was a performance scholarship) and had his dad, an alum of the University of California, write a letter of recommendation for him. So he kind of doesn’t see what that has to do with anything.
Jesse sees Wes’ confusion and continues, “They - they needed a letter of recommendation from two of my teachers: my glee coach and my principal. Shelby, she said she’d write it for me if I helped Rachel figure out that she was her…well, her biological mother. That wasn’t that bad really. I was curious enough anyway.
“Then I met Rachel and she was like - she was so passionate and driven and yeah, a little pushy but I’d be the world’s biggest hypocrite if I complained about that. I kind of really liked her Wes. And her team. God, her team!
“They were friends, Wes. I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean, they all hated me and probably each other, but there were times when I could see exactly how much New Directions meant to each of them, how much they meant to each other. I didn’t want to do it Wes, I didn’t. But -”
He cuts off and runs a hand through his hair, tries to compose his thoughts, get a hold of his emotions. This is the most vulnerable Wes has ever seen Jesse - strong, confident, stubborn Jesse - and it’s more than a little unnerving.
Jesse sighs and starts again, “The Principal at Carmel is kind of a bastard about winning - especially if you’re part of Vocal Adrenaline. He called me into his office the day he got the request for the letter from the scholarship committee. He said that he’d write it, of course he’d write it, but I’d need to make sure Vocal Adrenaline would win Nationals. He told me to make sure New Directions weren’t an issue…said that if I didn’t, he’d take me off the team and make up some lie that would make the university revoke my early acceptance.
“I needed that scholarship, Wes. I needed to get the hell out of Ohio and out of that school, and out of that house. He was dangling my future over a cliff and making me dive for it…I couldn’t lose. I couldn’t lose it, Wes.”
Jesse’s voice has gone down to a whisper and Wes knows that he’s reliving that moment in the office and he can tell that there’s a bit more that Jesse isn’t telling him but he’s not going to push his luck.
He wants to make it better, wants to put that obnoxious grin back on his friend’s face, but he doesn’t know how.
The best he can do is buy Jesse a coffee and forgive him (even if there’s nothing to forgive because Wes knows Jesse needs to hear it) and talk to him.
So that is exactly what he does.
[Next part]