forget your troubles, happy days are here again / you better chase all your troubles away

[highf]

So here's what you missed on Glee:

After getting slushied in the face for years and dealing with Karofsky's bullying, Kurt's decided to take a few defense lessons from the Black Widow herself - ( "I... just wanted to say thank you, again, for letting me participate in this course, and how much I'm looking forward to future lessons. You kind of blew

Comments

[highf]

"Flash as part of the mafia," Kurt remarked from the side, getting a better look at the young man's outfit, just a brief glance to get the overall feel. "Not something I expected to see, but I think I like it."

All in all, he was a little less certain how to approach the people at the party that he'd never met before, but having witnessed the young man enter with Cissie on his arm made him feel a little better. At least the plus ones were inclined to get along with party hosts, even when it was only for the sake of their significant others, and having that ability to avoid conflict was something Kurt would never be anything short of grateful for.

[slowspeedster]

"Blame the clothing box," Bart said, slight amusement quirking up the corners of his mouth as he tried for blankness. "Flash could do Mafia. Keystone Motors has its connections to the Teamsters and other less squeaky clean groups."

Not that he'd ever dealt with those angles. A few weapons smugglers and some illegal dumping. He always got stuck with tedious stuff.

Doing his best to give the hard-as-nails assessing look he'd never quite perfected, Bart gave Kurt the once-over, then took a pregnant pause before offering his hand. "Bart Allen. And I suppose I should be wishing you a happy birthday."

[highf]

Though he did his best to maintain a respectful expression, the heavy glance that Bart gave him only had Kurt feeling as though he'd just been run through airport security, by someone without any true intention of pushing Kurt against the wall for any number of flaws or threats that he posed. And even had Bart been capable of threatening him with a look alone, Kurt had to admit that knowing the young man was all tied up with Cissie erased any remaining sense of tension.

"Impressive," he grinned nonetheless, holding out his own hand for a firm shake. "A pleasure to meet you, Mister Allen. Kurt Hummel, and I certainly won't turn away any well wishes for the year. Though I'm not the sole person under the spotlight tonight. My birthday's actually on Sunday, but Santana's was two days ago, so you should definitely swing by her too, if you get the chance."

[slowspeedster]

Bart broke into a grin. "Side-effect of having Robin for a best friend most of my life. Every mafia event should have at least one scowling bodyguard, right?" he joked.

It was different, having people who weren't looking at him to be anyone besides just another teenager. "And I'll do that. I have to admit I don't really get to a lot of parties. Back home it was mostly weekends with the Titans."

[highf]

Almost wincing at the fact that he'd apparently stumbled across another person who was surely fictional back in his world, Kurt did his best to recover from the revelation. He wasn't the most familiar with any of the major comic titles, only knowing the more iconic characters, and any that were brought to the silver screen. Admittedly, Bart's wasn't a face that he recognized, but between the mention of the Robins and the Flash tie, Kurt was pretty sure that there was something else there.

"Titans like... Teen Titans?" he asked, tilting his head with a slight smile, measured and careful. "Can't say I know too much about the Titans, though, obviously I know of them."

[slowspeedster]

"Yeah, those Titans. Though there have been arguments over whether or not the teen part applies. It's not like anyone ever stops being a Titan. But not everyone likes comic books, and it seems like a lot more people come from places without superpowered anything," Bart said, then frowned a little as he realized how much he was saying and that he'd gotten a little fast.

"That's kinda how Cissie and I first met. Chasing the same bad guy." If his expression was a little goofy, that was hardly unexpected. Even if Max had ended up calling in Social Services, he'd made a friend that evening.

[highf]

It was starting to sound like Bart was familiar with the fact that he and his friends were featured in comics and television shows in other worlds, and more than anything else, the ease with which he accepted that was nothing short of strange, to Kurt. In this case, it proved convenient enough; it meant that Kurt himself wouldn't have to worry about accidentally letting the fact out, sooner or later. But still he stared for a brief second, pondering his own reaction should a similar revelation come to him, and he found that he just couldn't imagine it. Not for a moment.

More power to those who could accept it though, Kurt supposed.

"Yeah, I'm not sure my world really had people with powers," Kurt replied hesitantly. "I mean, I suppose they could be out there, but in secret, but the odds of that still feel pretty thin to me."

[slowspeedster]

Bart had seen too much crazy in his life to really be thrown by anything for long, his own apparent fictional existence in this corner of reality being one of them. In fact, it meant he had a window on his world when he was homesick.

"There were days when I wished I didn't have to worry about some costumed crazy ruining the school dance or whatever. At least I could tell my closest friends who I was. It was two years before Robin finally was allowed to tell us anything personal," Bart said, smiling slightly. "The secrets are the worst part. Nobody wants to be thought of as a loser when you know exactly what you can do."

[highf]

"I guess I'm a little out of my league, there," Kurt sighed, mostly to himself, though he offered Bart a polite smile. He had no doubt that the other man's life was interesting, probably far more so than Kurt's own, but at the same time, Kurt never did settle well into conversations where he didn't have something significant to add. He felt, if anything, like he was on the cusp of being a bad host, being unable to engage Bart in conversation. Costumed 'crazies,' secret identities, it was so far beyond the realm of anything Kurt did. The most Kurt had kept from anyone was his sexuality, and by the way people reacted when he finally did come out of the closet, it was pretty clear that it hadn't been much of a secret to begin with.

"My secrets are a little bit closer to the heart and far less... fantastic, I guess you could say," he shrugged. "Although I find that I don't mind."

[slowspeedster]

"And I'm a bit out of my league here," Bart said, shrugging a little. "If you can't learn it from a book or a video game, I'm pretty much out of luck. I spent most of my school time bouncing between the principal's office and detention, and I didn't really understand about taking anything slow."

So parties weren't really in his repertoire, but he tried.