&&heartbreaker

“Well you wont be on it long,” he assured. He didn’t mean it to sound like he was being optimistic, which he could be, but he meant it quite literally. He and Nick had an extra room, it just didn’t have a bed in it. They didn’t typically have traditional guests over, if they even had time for guests who were there for more than a casual party. “We literally just need to go buy a bed, and shift around some of the boxes in there, since its a glorified storage unit at this point.”

“Well drink up,” he said holding his bottle up for Hunter, to cheers him with his own beer bottle that Sebastian had given him. “You’ll have to describe it for me. Was it a red with anger moment, or did he look like a fly catcher?”

“At least there’s one thing for me to look forward to.” Hunter shrugged. He was used to shutting off his emotions. Hiding them because he was too scared to admit what was underneath. Emotions just meant that things were going to get painful. Even if he had just told his father off, that didn’t take away his fear. 

“I know that, you’re preaching to the choir here. The issue is, you’re saying it, but not quite executing on it. You want us to be a team, but you certainly don’t understand the concept of a team, particularly this one.” He shrugged, completely in his element of snark and wit. Hunter’s words hardly phased him, he would dwell on them later, but in the moment it was nonchalance and throwing back as good, if not better ( in his opinion ) than he got, “I’m not doing anything to not allow you to be part of the team, you’re doing just fine of that all on your own. Remember you’re the captain, do you need a refresher course on what that means?”

“My entire background is nothing but team work. You think they pit us all against each other in military school? Not really it was more about learning respect for others and how to use our strengths together. It was about being one, even in the battlefield. And right now our battlefield is Sectionals.” Maybe he was letting Sebastian get under his skin, but he didn’t really care anymore. “And please tell me what is your idea of a leader?” 

“But I’m not wrong,” he stated, feeling rather smug, and he had every right to feel that way. After all Hunter just said he was right. He was going to treasure the moment for what it was.

“You’re loss,” he shrugged. He then looked at Hunter and deadpanned, “I already have a gold star, but if you want to give me another I wont complain.”

“Careful that might be the last time I say it.” He smiled knowing that Sebastian took pride in what he was saying. And it was nice, to just relax for a moment. 

“Should I just get you a sticker book? Would that be better for you?” 

“Even if we paid rent for this place, which we don’t thanks do daddy dearest, I’m not going to make you pay rent,” he told him. “Stay as long as you need, you’ll be on the couch for now, we’ve got a spare room but its got no bed in it at the moment,” he said taking a swig of beer.

He waved off the bed situation like it was nothing. “We’ll figure that out tomorrow, tonight drink to telling your old man off.”

Hunter had to admit that it was nice for them to at least have some sort of friendship. Where they weren’t always trying to tear off each other’s heads. “Couch is fine,  more than I have at the moment.” But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and find something else too. 

“Healthy skepticism is not unwarranted. We can’t all have blind faith. The Warblers have an issue with that, so forgive me for not being all gung ho about your abilities and plans.” The Warblers did have an issue with blind faith, he was just trying to protect them, that was all. He was also slightly jealous, but he wasn’t going to let Hunter know that.

“It’s cute that you want to protect them. But in case you forgot we are all on the same team. It’s not me against the Warblers, it’s the Warblers against the rest of the shows choirs.” Maybe it was a little rehearsed, something Hunter would tell himself every day, but it didn’t matter. “We only work when you start letting me part of the team.” 

He laughed with a nod, “Yeah, though with Blaine, pretty sure the furniture alone can tell us how many times he was on top of it.”

He gave Hunter a look, an eyebrow raised, “Well now that you’re going to be like that, I’ll make it a point to say how proud of you I am. Would you like to play fetch as well, or can Krypto keep his job there?”

“You aren’t wrong, but my point still stands.” A shrug of his shoulders came along with the end of his sentence, instead just choosing to simply be in this moment. 

Sebastian gave a nod, and went to preparing a drink for both himself and Hunter. Which was two bottles of beer, that he easily popped the caps off of. No need to get to the hard stuff yet. He handed one bottle to Hunter. So it was a plan, part of one if you asked Sebastian, “You got a place to stay, or are you hoping mine and Nick’s couch wont break your back?”

He shrugged softly, it wasn’t like he knew exactly where he was going to go but he figured that maybe he could meet up with one of the other Warblers and convince them to let him rent for a month or two until he found a job and could get on his feet. “Not yet, but I’ll figure it out. If you are willing to let me stay I would pay rent but I’m not expecting you to just let me either.” 

“You might not need it, but you want it, and its not just my approval, its the Warblers.” he stated, as if he was stating fact, but his assumptions seemed to be pretty on the nose. “But like you said, you have the position, do what you want. Just don’t forget your team while you’re busy trying to be our poster boy, we don’t all have as many USO shows as you do under our belts, Captain.”

Hunter knew that Sebastian had the upper hand, that he was right and that he wanted the Warbler to approve of him. But he was terrified of getting close with them, letting him in, letting them see how broken he really was. No one was going to see him the same. “It wouldn’t hurt you to have a little faith in me, Smythe. I actually do know what I’m doing and I do pay attention to what you guys like and dislike.” 

Jeff and Nick were in cahoots, it did not surprise him in the slightest, and Nick had been lying to him. That damn notebook was probably in his room at some point he could have ended all their misery because one half of the troublesome pair was his roommate. “Then I definitely should call him, get a definitive answer, what else do you think those two kept track of?”

He barked out a laugh, “But was it directed at you, its a different thing to see it and be the recipient Hunter.”

“Honestly, I would say just about anything. Probably the amount of times Anderson climbed on furniture while he was singing, and the amount of times that Nixion would tell them to just be nice to each other.” The list could go on and on in reality. 

Marley had been looking forward to the party, because as much support as she had received, the last few weeks had been stressful for her nonetheless, and this party was a way of unwinding and just having some fun with her friends. 

“Great! Any special requests?” Marley replied, her lips curved into a wide grin. She didn’t really mind what song they’d be singing, as long as she would get to sing with him at all.

Hunter hummed softly as he pulled her a little closer to him, giving him a soft kiss on the top of her head before putting his arm around her and thinking for a moment on what it was that he wanted to sing. 

     The slick-haired brunet smiled  demurely  at the compliment, casting his eyes downward. Admiring the gloss of the hardwood beneath their feet. Hearing that kind of  praise  from someone who didn’t compliment people freely  meant something,  and Blaine would accept it, if not a little bashfully. He pushed his lips into a thoughtful frown as he considered.   “ Maybe not, but I don’t think feelings are a bad thing in a competition piece. Music is how our souls  speak, ”   he offered with an easy shrug.