𝙼𝚢 𝙶𝚕𝚎𝚎 𝙾𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗

"Dude," Sam says, approaching Blaine at his locker. "Come here, I've got something to tell you!"

Blaine furrows his brow. "What's up?"

Sam shakes his head. "No, dude, it's... it's kind of a secret. I need you to come closer."

"Okaaay," says Blaine, leaning in, trying not to think about how close those lips were, how easy it would be to just turn slightly and kiss him. Don't think about it, Blaine, he thinks to himself. He's just going to whisper in your ear.

Then Sam turns his head, pressing his lips half to Blaine's cheek and half to his lips. Blaine's brain short circuits. He barely registers Sam looking at him very seriously for a second, before he breaks into a smile, then turns away with a whoop, launching himself down the corridor giggling, attempting to jump and spin at the same time and almost knocking over Puckerman's brother.

"Dude, leave the dancing to me huh?" Jake says, and Blaine burbles out a laugh, unable to do anything else. He glances around and sees Tina across the hallway, looking at him, the shock in her eyes mirroring his own.

And then he's sprinting down the corridor to catch up with Sam.

Jeremy - Artie. I really don't know why but it makes sense.

Michael - Sam. They have the same vibes.

Christine - Tina. I don't care if Rachel would want it because she "is Christine", Tina would do an amazing job.

Brooke - Quinn. Her voice fits best. It could also be Brittany because they have similar personalities, but I feel like Quinn suits the role more.

Chloe - Santana. Just think about it.

Rich - Puck. Again, same vibes.

Jake - Mike, the sportiest guy I have left.

Jenna - Mercedes. This is the only correct answer.

The SQUIP - Blaine. But if Mike wasn't already Jake, it would go to him, because I saw someone on Instagram say that and I'm obsessed.

Okay, so autistic!Blaine is always on the back of my brain, but what ticked me off in this verse was the penguin bowtie (’ “Really? A penguin bow tie! That’s so cool! Oh my God!” He’s practically jumping up and down, grinning from ear to ear. “Tell them I said thank you! And I love them! So much! Ah!” ’). That sounds like stimming to me. Essentially, in this scene, Blaine is overcome with so much emotion he resorts to self stimulatory behavior (i.e. stimming) to express the strong emotions he felt towards Kurt and the penguin bowtie. While everybody stims to some extent - essentially any kind of repetitive behavior affecting the scenes is a form of stimming (e.g. listening to music, tapping your foot, whistling, twirling your hair, biting your fingernails, etc.) - autistics tend to stim more noticeably/often than our neurotypical peers since our nervous systems and emotions regulate differently. That’s where the autistic stereotypes about rocking and hand flapping come from. Similarly, Blaine is repeating himself and rambling throughout this phrase (sort of ? It’s the vibe.) which I would classify as echolalia. Echolalia is a both a vocal form of stimming and a tactic for people who struggle with communication; essentially it’s either repeating words over and over or repeating somebody else’s words instead of composing your own sentences. As I was saying, while everybody stims, a neurotypical person isn’t likely to jump up in down out of excitement unless it’s something really important, however, Blaine did it over: a bowtie.

That brings me to how you treat bowties in this fic. Autistic people often struggle with decision making. (’ kurt :( you know i hate making choices :( ’) That whole sequence was very ✨autism✨, but I’ll get back to that after the bowties. I’m not going into the neurology behind choices and autism (you can look it up if you want lol), but people with autism or ADHD very commonly struggle with deciding things. This relates to yet another autism stereotype that is sort of true: autistic people always wear the same thing. I personally like to express myself through clothing, but my dad actually does this. Blaine’s canonical fashion isn’t nearly as stagnant as my father’s, but I’m sure you can concur to it being somewhat uniform-y. He usually wears capris, boat shoes, either a polo or button down shirt, a bowtie, and often a cardigan, all in varying colors. While those aspects come together to create the Blaine uniform, the bowtie is commented on most often both in canon and this particular fic. This leads me to consider it a comfort item. Think of a comfort item like a toddler carrying around a teddy bear, except in this case the teddy bear can be anything and it’s being carried by an (often autistic) adult. Atm, my main comfort item is a Glee blanket I got for Christmas; it’s very soft. Another interesting thing about bowties relating to autism is the compression aspect. Bowties, obviously, lightly squeeze your neck. While fic writer have done some other lovely things with this (/s), I choose to relate it to sensory issues. Us autistics often need to be gripped tighter that neurotypicals, and find it very comforting. I don’t know what you know about Temple Gradin and the cow squeezing tube and the origin of weighted blankets, but same thing. I’m currently wearing compression socks for old ladies with arthritis lmao. Now, back to Blaine wanting Kurt to choose their dates. The pressure to conform to neurotypical society regularly causes autistics (or anybody who feels different; this isn’t exclusive to autism) to mask their autistic traits to appear more “normal”. The toxic cycle of masking who you are and failing to conform well enough often leads to a very people pleasing mentality, which,, BLAINE ?? Are you kidding me, B L A I N E !!! You won’t really find scientific articles about the people pleasing masking cycle, but it’s talked about A LOT in blogs and personal recounts, so I’m including it :3

When it comes to masking and Blaine, it’s pretty evident in all aspects of his being, not just the people pleasing. I’m sure you, as a fic writer, have battled with rationalizing Blaine’s shift in personality from S2 to S4. I propose to you: he was masking in order to fit in with the posh Warblers, but being with Kurt helped him let down the mask to be himself <3 <3 <3 I WILL cry, it’s so freaking beautiful <3 <3 <3 (HonestlyJustHereForALaff wrote a series of oneshots called Spectrum on our beloved AO3 about Blaine masking with the Warblers, which I’m aggressively telling you to read!! /lh) Back to your fic, Blaine behaves like the dorky Blaine we all know and love to Kurt on Snapchat. (’ blaine can stay on the island > ta-da! > new name :) ’) Even though he hasn’t let down the mask for the rest of the world yet, Blaine <3 feels <3 like <3 he <3 can <3 be <3 himself <3 around <3 Kurt <3 I could probably go on for a lot longer, but I’ll leave you with all of * t h i s * and the links to two Tumblr posts which chronologize Blaine’s autistic behaviors through the show!

Blaine at Dalton in season 2?

^ possibly an AU when he stays longer/graduates from Dalton because 16 is as young as I’m willing to play

Blaine at Dalton in season 6

Blaine wanting to go back to the warblers after he cheats on kurt

Exploring Blaine’s relationship with his family (especially Cooper and his father)

Blaine’s (unhealthy) relationship with food/body image (I have a history of eating disorders so I’m particularly interested in this one but it may be triggering, everything will be tagged obviously)

Blaine helping someone through a rough time, especially one similar to something he’s been through (bullying, family issues, mental health, etc.)

Just exploring Blaine’s mental health in general because Glee doesnt explore it much but the more I watch (and totally overanalyze) I’m realizing it’s TERRIBLE

Blaine making friends at NYU? Maybe even roommate AU, those are my weakness

Fluff/relationships but only in AUs where Kurt isn’t a part of his life because (I wish I didn’t but) I have a really hard time picturing and supporting it otherwise

I WILL PAY SOMEONE $9,000,000 TO PLAY COOPER AGAINST MY BLAINE ON TUMBLR OR DISCORD

Someone walking in on him playing/singing or writing an emotional (happy or sad or just reflective) song? That brings out a deep conversation probably? Idk

Nsfw, but pretty low-key and nothing too crazy (not that I don’t think Blaine can be kinky, I’m just not good at writing it or personally very kinky lol)

More drunk blaine pls 

Blaine’s eye injury in season 3

blaine anderson in every episode of glee

(4x04 - the break-up)

fun facts:

darren criss wrote a message to the fans prior to this episode airing, causing them to believe he was leaving the show.

darren suggested the song don’t speak and helped with the arrangement.

teenage dream was sung live on set and the arrangement was created by darren himself.

darren recieved a lot of online abuse after this episode aired, causing him to take a break from social media.

the break-up scenes and don’t speak were filmed less than 24 hours after darren starred in his final starkid show, meaning he hadn’t slept and was emotionally exhausted.

CHARACTER BIO ➸ SAM EVANS