A frustrated sigh escaped Blaine Anderson’s lips as he tried for the fifth time to tie his tie correctly. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

It was the first official day of his job since leaving college. At just twenty three, Blaine was the youngest employee to have ever been hired by Dalton Academy and he knew that it wasn’t only for his exceptional test scores and his fantastic teaching skills. No, it was also because he had been a Dalton student himself and so had his father. And his grandfather and every single other male in the entire Anderson line had gone to Dalton since it opened.

Blaine had always felt a connection to the school. Whether it had been from listening to stories of Dalton from his father and older brother, Nate, growing up, or if it was from the pure experience Dalton had to offer, Blaine wasn’t sure. He had loved every moment of his time at the school, boarding and all and while some people would think that he was a fool to go back to teach there, Blaine knew differently.

Dalton had been his haven. After some personal issues in junior high, Dalton had been an exceptionally warm welcome for Blaine for the remainder of his schooling. Especially with their strict no bullying policy.

Blaine had managed to shine while at Dalton. After years of being suppressed by his peers for being different, he was able to come out of his shell a bit and be who he was without the fear of being teased for it.

When Blaine was twelve, he first discovered that he liked boys more than girls. All of his friends were at the stage where they were noticing girls in their class, or the older sisters of their friends but Blaine never had. He noticed this one particular boy in his class who was a little shy, kept to himself but was more gifted in music than anyone else Blaine had ever met.

His crush on Andrew had grown over the summer and during eighth grade, Blaine had somehow gained the courage to talk to him. He became Andrew’s friend very fast and even though he had a crush the size of the Atlantic on him, Blaine didn’t mind. Andrew was special and Blaine felt special around him.

They hung out after school and Andrew taught Blaine how to play the guitar. Andrew was some kind of musical prodigy; Blaine had realised as he not only played the piano but he played the violin and had taken up guitar when he was eleven. The more time Blaine spent with Andrew, the more he realised that this boy, this thirteen year old boy had changed his life so much in such a short amount of time.

Andrew had confided in Blaine one day that he liked boys and Blaine’s heart had soared. Blaine told Andrew that he liked boys too and in the same breath, asked him to the Sadie Hawkins Dance that was on Friday. Andrew had shyly said yes and Blaine had walked around on cloud nine for the remainder of the week. He wasn’t sure if it was an ‘official’ date or anything but Blaine was excited either way.

The dance had been fun. He and Andrew had danced a little but had spent a lot of the night talking. Blaine loved talking to Andrew, he was so fascinating and had so many goals and dreams that Blaine found him inspirational.

The night, however, hadn’t ended exactly how Blaine had hoped it would. In his mind, he wanted to take Andrew’s hand in his and thank him for going with him and maybe have a small kiss.

Of course, it didn’t end like that. Blaine and Andrew had both ended up in the hospital and after that night, Blaine never saw Andrew again.

All Blaine knew from that night was that he had ended up with three broken ribs, a lot of internal and external bruising and a heart that had broken at the loss of his best friend.

Blaine had spent a lot of time in hospital healing and even more at home. Once Andrew had been discharged from hospital, his family moved out of the state and Blaine wasn’t allowed to contact him again, which made him even more upset than he already was.

After extensive discussions and plans, Blaine’s father had sent him to Dalton for the rest of the school year, despite the fact he was still in the eighth grade. Blaine’s father had pulled a lot of strings to get him into Dalton because it was the safest place for Blaine to be after the dance incident and Blaine wasn’t going to complain. He kept quiet and kept to himself. He didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to himself – he just wanted to get through his time at Dalton in one piece.

The incident had impacted Blaine a lot more than he would have liked it to. He had nightmares almost every single night for the first six months after that night and even though Blaine’s parents had organised for him to see a therapist, the nightmares still came.

It wasn’t until almost a year after the accident that they began to ease up and that was because one particular student wouldn’t leave his side until Blaine agreed to be friends with him. Wesley Montgomery ended up being Blaine’s best friend throughout their entire time at Dalton. They had even gone to college together but both studied different things. Wes was studying to become a lawyer and Blaine found his passion in teaching.

When Wes first told Blaine that “I’m not leaving here until you agree to be my friend”, he had thought he was joking but Wes was far from it.

They became fast friends and even though Blaine still kept him at arm’s length, Wes didn’t push. They were both invited to join the Warblers soon after that and Wes had encouraged Blaine to come out of his shell a little more. Blaine had been hesitant at first but after he auditioned for his first solo, he felt a lot better about himself and the world than he had thought possible.

Eventually, Blaine let Wes get closer and he confided in him what had happened. Blaine hadn’t expected Wes to hug him and tell him that he was ‘safe now’ but he had and Blaine had been so grateful for his friendship right then.

The rest of Blaine’s schooling had gone better than he ever could have imagined. He led the Warblers to a National championship in his senior year, making it the first time they had ever won. It was like a dream come true and now he was going back to Dalton to teach, he wanted to input as much as possible to the Warblers, despite knowing it was entirely student run except when there were teachers chaperoning them to competitions or excursions.

Blaine looked over at the clock on his bedside table and quickly tried to get his tie correctly done up once more. He finally succeeded and hurriedly pulled on his jacket before leaving his apartment.

He was glad that he lived relatively close to the school so he wouldn’t be late for the start of year dinner for the staff. It was a way for them to all get to know each other a little before the school term started and Blaine was more than a little nervous. He had met most of the other teachers the week before the students arrived as they had a lot of meetings about the curriculum, clubs and events the school would hold throughout the year but Blaine had mostly been focused on his work rather than his colleagues.

Blaine arrived at the school a short while later and slipped easily into the staff lounge. It was a large area, thankfully, but then again, most of the classrooms and other rooms in the school were large.

Blaine wasn’t the last one to arrive if the size of the crowd was anything to go by, which he was immediately grateful for. He hated being late to anything and it was easy to get lost in the school, despite schooling here himself a few years ago.

“Blaine, right?” a petite blonde woman asked, stepping up to his left side.

“Yeah,” he replied with a nod, holding out his hand to shake the woman’s own. “And you are?”

“Sally,” she replied. “I teach Home Economics.”

Blaine smiled. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Sally kept talking to Blaine while the rest of the staff members slowly arrived and soon the room was full with every single teacher at Dalton. Blaine knew from his own past that there were teachers who boarded at the school as well while others that had younger children would leave at the end of the day.

Blaine had chosen to live off campus for at least his entire first year so he could get his footing before being thrown back into living at a school.

Soon, everyone was seated for dinner and Sally invited Blaine to join her so they could keep their conversation going. They chatted a lot about teaching and Sally’s experiences with the students in her class. Blaine figured it must be tough to be a thirty year old, quite attractive woman teaching at an all boys school but Sally said she commanded respect from her students.

“Sure, there is the occasional one who tries to impress me so much that he almost burns down the entire kitchen but it’s kind of sweet,” Sally said with a wistful smile.

Blaine grinned. “I don’t know how you do it,” he said. “Having a classroom of more than twenty boys ogling you?”

Sally just shrugged in response. “I’m sure you’ll get plenty of boys ogling you too, Blaine.”

Blaine felt the tips of his ears go pink and he took a sip of water. “I… I mean, not that it wouldn’t be flattering but isn’t it a little creepy?”

“Not really,” Sally replied. “Don’t you remember what it was like to be sixteen and infatuated?”

Blaine fell silent as he processed Sally’s statement. It was true, he had once had a fleeting crush on his music teacher when he was younger but he was always too shy to ever say anything. He mostly remembered striving harder to impress his teacher so that he would get praised and be showered with attention. Blaine figured if some of his students pushed themselves to work harder for his attention, then he didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

“I guess we’ve all been there,” Blaine said eventually.

“That we have,” Sally replied, picking up her glass of wine to take a sip.

The rest of the dinner passed smoothly and once the plates were all cleared, Frank Gibbons, the principal, stood to address everyone and answer any last minute questions anyone might have.

He read off the list of students who were prefects and one of the new staff members asked why they were called ‘prefects’ and not just hall monitors. Blaine smiled as he listened to the answer of how the prefects were for more than just monitoring the hallways but they were more than a student representative council too. The prefects were there to not only aid the students but were responsible for organising everyone into an orderly fashion should an emergency occur. They were also called upon to help staff if they needed it and they mostly organised any school social event with a couple of select teachers to provide the students with ideas of what they could do for themes, or fundraising. Dalton had always believed in making their students as independent as possible, which is why clubs like the glee club were always student run.

Principal Gibbons answered a few more questions before letting them leave for the evening.

“See you tomorrow, Blaine,” Sally said as they stood. “Rest up; it’s going to be a long day.”

Despite the fact that he didn’t have to teach his first class until after lunch, Blaine was awake surprisingly early. He organised everything into his briefcase, notes, pens, and his books before snapping it shut.

Seeing that it was barely eight in the morning, Blaine figured he had plenty of time to get a coffee and some breakfast from Starbucks. He grabbed his keys and left his apartment, deciding to walk the short distance there.

As Blaine read the menu boards, he figured he may as well go with what he normally drank and try something new the next time. He was too nervous to enjoy a hazelnut latte and knew if he got one, he would regret it.

Just as he was about to step forwards when ‘next’ was called, he almost bumped into a young man roughly the same height as him who was carrying a tray holding four take away coffees and a paper bag.

“Sorry,” he said automatically.

“It’s okay, no harm, no foul,” the guy replied.

Blaine nodded and stepped to the side to let him passed. Blaine placed his order and once he had got it, he left feeling much lighter than he had when he walked in.

The first class Blaine had was freshman English and the assignment was pretty straight forward: write about your summer. The students had, of course, groaned, especially when Blaine said he wanted a one thousand word paper on his desk by Friday. He knew it was a tedious exercise but it also helped him determine just how many of his students were dedicated to writing and those that would need a little extra help.

Once the lesson was finished, the students got up and quickly left the room, leaving Blaine alone. He sat down at the desk and took a deep breath. The nerves that Blaine felt when the students had first walked into the class hadn’t left yet and he still had one more class to teach that afternoon.

Shaking his head, Blaine stood and gathered his notes and belongings, putting them back into his briefcase before leaving the room for his senior AP English class. He passed students in the hallways that were all heading towards their next class and the second bell sounded, making Blaine officially late for his class.

He picked up his pace a little and finally made it to the third floor. He took a deep breath to calm himself again and entered the room just as one of the students was standing, probably to leave.

“You can sit back down,” he said coolly.

The student gave him an annoyed look but Blaine tried to ignore that in favour of introducing himself to the class.

“My name is Blaine Anderson but you can call me Mr Anderson,” he started.

“Like the Matrix?” a guy in the back row called out. “Mr Anderson.”

Blaine tried not to smile at the Smith impersonation because that wouldn’t command the authority he needed. “That’s your one and only shot at saying that, it gets old pretty quick.”

A couple of the students chuckled and Blaine’s attention fell on a student who was sitting in the third row, avidly writing something. He tried not to stare when the boy looked up, catching his gaze.

Blaine swallowed thickly. “Right, well, now you all know who I am, we’re going to go around the room and you’re going to let me know who you all are.”

Blaine gazed back over at the student who was still writing and he mentally shook his head. “Let’s start with you,” he said, pointing to a student in the front row. “Name and an interesting fact about yourself.”

“Uh,” the boy said. “My name is Josh Collins and I’m obsessed with Star Trek.”

Blaine smiled and the next student took his turn. He kept his focus on each student as they spoke until his attention fell upon the boy who had captured his attention in the third row.

“My name is Kurt Hummel and I either want to work in fashion or be a playwright.”

“Such a cop out, Kurt,” the boy next to him said, earning a smile from the blue eyed teen. “I’m Jeff Galven and I want to be a spy when I’m all grown up.”

There were some snorts of laughter and Blaine couldn’t help but smile.

“Nick Ward and I am the current pinball champion of this school.”

The class erupted into cheers and Nick grinned widely.

“Alright, settle down,” Blaine said quickly, glad that the boys did so.

The rest of the class introduced themselves and Blaine went about his lesson like he had planned. As he spoke, however, he couldn’t seem to stop looking over at the boy named Kurt. He knew it was silly but he was quite enamoured by him even though Kurt had only spoken the once.

Once the lesson had finished, the students filtered out one by one while Blaine turned to clear the whiteboard of the notes he had written up while they had been discussing things. He thought that the lesson had gone rather well and he started to feel less nervous.

“Mr Anderson?”

Blaine looked over his shoulder, startled to see Kurt standing before him, clutching the strap of his book bag.

“I’m Kurt,” he said.

“I know,” Blaine replied immediately.

Kurt smiled at him for a brief moment. “I just wanted to let you know that Nick, Jeff and I are all senior prefects and that if you needed a hand with anything, photocopying or… anything. Well, we’re all in the same class and one of us would be more than willing to help.”

Blaine swallowed thickly and nodded. “Thanks, Kurt,” he said, throat feeling a little dry. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Kurt smiled again. “I… You’re welcome,” he said but didn’t move. “Welcome to Dalton, Mr Anderson.”

Kurt turned on his heel and left, leaving Blaine standing alone in the classroom, gaze fixed on the spot where Kurt had just been.

“I’m telling you, Wes, it was nuts,” Blaine said, picking up the pan to drain the pasta. “I thought college boys were hot but some of these students? Wow. And I mean wow.”

“Blaine, that’s… adorable that you think some of your students are attractive but don’t be silly,” Wes started, getting the ladle to scoop out the meatballs and sauce. “These are your students. Thinking about them like that is not only illegal but it’s also immoral.”

Blaine rolled his eyes at Wes. “It’s just a comment, Wes, it’s not like I’m going to go have rabid sex with all of my students. What do you think I am? A monster?”

Wes sighed. “Don’t turn this around on me, Blaine, you’re the one who brought it up.”

“I’m surrounded by an entire teen population of boys every single day, Wes,” Blaine pointed out. “I think I’m entitled to admit that some of them are… appealing. Or better – would be appealing if they were older, and legal and I wasn’t their teacher.”

Blaine separated the spaghetti onto two plates and waited for Wes to take over with the sauce. “Besides, you can’t tell me that you haven’t thought a younger girl was hotter. I distinctly remember that freshman you tried to hook up with when we were seniors.”

“That was college, it was a little different,” Wes replied, setting the ladle back in the pan.

Blaine picked up the two plates and took them to the small dining table. “Fine, let’s talk about something else.”

“Wise choice,” Wes replied, bringing over their glasses of wine. “How is the teaching side going?”

“Pretty good so far,” Blaine said, picking up his fork. “Everyone has been pretty welcoming and I’ve even made a new friend.”

“Good for you,” Wes replied with a smirk.

“And she’s a woman too,” Blaine replied. “A very, very hot and very, very single home economics teacher.”

Wes paused with his fork half way to his mouth. “Do tell.”

Blaine smirked in response and launched into the story of how he met Sally Wilkins at the staff dinner at the start of the week.

Blaine enjoyed catching up with Wes. It had been a few weeks since they had seen each other since Blaine had been preparing for his teaching position and Wes was doing a paid internship at a Columbus law firm. They usually tried to catch up at least twice a month, if not more.

After dinner, Blaine and Wes took their wine glasses and the bottle to the living room to continue catching up and by the time the night was through, Blaine had promised to at least get Sally to give Wes a call to see if they would be compatible at all.

Later that night when Blaine climbed into bed with a book, he couldn’t help but think back to his and Wes’ earlier conversation.

He knew it was absolutely silly to even so much as look at his students but he couldn’t help the fact that Kurt had caught his attention. He pushed the thought aside as soon as it had formed though. Blaine was professional. He was a teacher to these students and that is all he would be. Indulging it silly little fantasies could make him lose his job and end up in jail.

Sighing, Blaine set his book aside, not in the mood to read anymore and he shut off his bedside light. He shuffled under the blankets and willed sleep to come.