We Compare Our Hearts [1/7]
When Kurt Hummel was a little boy, his absolute favorite time of the day, hands down, was bed time.
Not because he liked to sleep (far from it, actually) but because bed time meant story time. And story time meant he got to cuddle up close to his mom, he got to breathe in her scent, and he got to be so, so, so happy.
At six years old, Kurt thought life just couldn’t get any better.
“And so the valiant knight slayed the evil dragon and then he finally-”
“And he finally saves the princess! And they live happily ever after!”
Elizabeth Hummel smiled down at her son, getting a toothy grin in return and she hugged him close to her side, “And they lived happily ever after,” she agreed, placing the book on their laps and running her hand gently through Kurt’s still slightly-damp hair.
Kurt snuggled closer into her side before reaching out and grabbing the book in his hands.
“Mommy?”
“Hmm?” Elizabeth asked, watching her son as he continued to stare at the pictures in front of him.
“Do you think I can do that someday?”
“Slay a dragon? Sorry, but I think you’re outta luck for finding a dragon in Ohio, kid,” she told him, laughter dancing in her eyes.
“No,” Kurt shook his head, flipping to the next page, pointing to the picture of the princess and the knight riding off into the sunset, “that,” Kurt said quietly, eyes never straying from the book.
“Oh, well, sweetie, I’m sure one day you will. When you’re all grown up, you’ll find the princess that you’ll want to sweep off her feet and live happily ever after.”
Kurt continued to stare at the page for a long time, staying silent before looking up, his blue eyes staring questioningly into his mother’s.
“What… what if I… would it be okay if… maybe I was the… the princess? And then a knight can come and rescue me?”
Elizabeth stayed quiet, staring at her son in a way Kurt had never seen.
Finally she spoke, a small smile appearing on her face. “If that’s what you really want Kurt, then I really do believe that one day, one day you’ll get that.”
Kurt was content with her answer, nodding happily before dropping the book and wrapping his small arms around his mother as much as he could.
“I really want that. I wanna have a …mommy, what’s that word?” He asked, peering up through the tendrils of brown hair that flopped onto his forehead.
“A soulmate?” She asked as she closed the book and put it on the nightstand next to Kurt’s bed.
“Yeah! That. Like the princess and the knight or…or like you and daddy! Daddy’s your soulmate, right mommy?”
Elizabeth grinning down at Kurt nodding, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Yes baby, your daddy is my soulmate.”
Kurt nodded again, burrowing down into his covers, clinging tightly to a stuffed animal as his eyes began to droop.
“I wanna soulmate. Someone who’ll love me like you love daddy,” he said quietly, drifting off in the middle of his sentence.
Elizabeth brushed some hair back before kissing his forehead and standing up quietly. She flicked off Kurt’s lamp in exchange for the dimmer light of his nightlight.
Stories of princesses and knights and dragons and soulmates were just things Elizabeth told her son before bed.
Kurt had always wanted them to be true.
Especially the soulmates part.
He had no idea just how right he was.
**
When Kurt Hummel was seven years old, his dad wanted him to join little league.
Instead, Kurt joined tap dancing.
He was great at it, a total natural, and even Burt had to admit, seeing his son’s happy face every day after practice was worth storing away the bat and mitt he had been so excited to buy Kurt.
Some of the fathers from Kurt’s second grade class, however, didn’t exactly see it his way.
“You have to set boundaries, Burt. You can’t let your son think he can do whatever he wants… especially when it’s obviously the wrong choice.”
“Wrong choice?” Burt asked, subconsciously crossing his arms over his chest as he glanced at his son in the classroom. Elizabeth was speaking to his teacher for Parent-Teacher night.
“Come on, dancing? Ya gotta know that stuff’s for sissies. You gotta toughen him up now before-”
“Before what? Your boy starts picking on mine?” Burt asked, voice beginning to rise slightly.
“No, no, just-”
“Look, my kid is happy dancing. They’re only seven years old; they know a better world than we do. So if dancing is what Kurt likes, then that’s exactly what he’s gonna do," he told the other man angrily before walking into the classroom and ruffling Kurt’s hair.
“Wanna go play outside while your mom finishes talking to Mrs. Aarons?”
“Can I show you my new routine instead, Daddy?”
Burt looked down into his son’s eyes, watching as they lit up at the chance to show his father what he could do.
“Sure, kiddo.”
**
When Kurt was eight years old, he was one of the best dancers in his class.
He was so good, in fact, that he got a part in the upperclassmen' spring recital.
“Isn’t that awesome, Mommy? I can’t wait to tell Daddy!” Kurt said excitedly from the backseat, kicking his feet against the seat in front of him in time with the beat in his head.
Elizabeth looked at her son through the rearview mirror, smiling at her son’s excitement.
“So Kurt, since this is your special night, what would you like for-”
She cut off her own sentence with a gasp and a choked-off scream and before Kurt could ask what was going on, everything around him was spinning and breaking. Glass shattered all around him as his body began to ache.
“M-Mommy?” He called out weakly, just before everything around him went black.
-
Kurt woke up to lots of beeping around him and a strange smell that reminded him of the stuff his mommy put on her fingers to wash away the nail paint.
He could hear voices around him, but he was too tired to open his eyes.
He recognized his daddy’s voice, though.
“So he’ll be okay?”
“Kurt has a minor concussion and a broken wrist, but other than that, it’s just a lot of cuts and bruises. He should be waking up soon.”
“A-And Liz?”
The other man was quiet; Kurt risked opening his eyes slightly, trying to get a better idea as to what was happening.
That was a bad idea, however, because the second he did, bright light flooded his vision and seared into his brain, making him groan out in pain.
“Kurt?”
Suddenly his dad was there, hovering over him and blocking out the harsh light.
“D-Daddy?” Kurt whispered quietly, his eyes scrunched tightly together. He heard something click and tried opening his eyes again, the room now darker, easier to see in.
“Hey, baby boy, how’re ya feelin’?” Burt asked as he sat next to Kurt’s hospital bed, stroking a few pieces of hair away from Kurt’s face.
Kurt shrugged his tiny shoulders lightly, turning half-lidded eyes towards his father.
“Wha’ happened?”
Burt took in a deep breath before reaching down to hold his son’s hand in his.
“Th-There was an accident, buddy. Your mommy, she… when you guys were coming home from practice, the car was hit by another, bigger car.”
“Oh,” was all Kurt replied, exhaustion sweeping over him.
“Where’s mommy?” He asked quietly, fighting to keep his eyes open just a little longer.
Kurt missed the way his father’s eyes began to well up when a yawn escaped him, losing the battle with his eyelids as they finally slipped shut.
“You’ll see her soon, Kurt, I promise.”
Kurt mumbled his reply before letting the exhaustion win out and pull him back into the darkness.
**
When Kurt was eight years old, he stood at his mom’s grave, clutching his dad’s hand as hard as he could.
He didn’t understand this.
He didn’t understand any of it.
Why did his mom have to die? Why couldn’t she stay with him like she promised she would?
He didn’t like any of this.
He didn’t like that everyone was wearing black and was crying.
He didn’t like that everyone at school looked at him like he was about to break.
He didn’t like that it was sunny and the birds were singing.
Why should they sing? There was nothing happy to sing about.
Why did everything else get to be happy when he was so so sad?
When Kurt Hummel was eight years old he realized the world wasn’t fair.
**
SLAM.
“Watch it, homo!”
Kurt watched from his spot on the floor as the meathead jocks continued walking down the hall, fist-bumping each other and laughing as they turned the corner.
Gotta love the first day back to school, Kurt thought bitterly to himself as he got up off of the ground and fixed the strap over his shoulder, heading to his first period class. Just one more damn year and I’m gone. Goin’ to New York and never looking back.
After four shoulder-checks, a slushy and endless slurs, Kurt had had enough. He opted to skip Glee Club for the day and just head home.
It’s only the first day, Kurt reconciled with himself, and Mr. Schue will probably just blather on about his summer and then cut to the chase about nationals.
Nothing Earth-shatteringly important, he’s sure.
**
Kurt’s in the middle of his advanced chemistry homework when there’s a knock on his door and a head pops in.
“Hey.”
“Ever heard of knocking, Finn? Let me tell you about it. It’s this thing you do when a door’s closed. It’ll change your life.”
“Dude, why weren’t you at Glee today?” Finn asked as he opened the door fully and walked a few steps into his stepbrother’s room.
Kurt shrugged, eyes never leaving the notebook in his lap as he jotted down a formula from his textbook.
“I wasn’t up to it. It was only the first day, Mr. Schuester will understand.”
“Whatever, but Kurt, there’s this-”
“Finn, I have homework to do, I really don’t wanna talk about Glee right now, okay?”
“But dude, there’s a ne-”
“Finn.” Kurt used what everyone called the ‘bitchface voice,’ meaning he was two seconds away from completely blowing up.
“Fine, fine,” Finn conceded, hands placatingly in the air as he backed out of the room slowly. “Mom says dinner will be ready in ten minutes,” he told Kurt quietly before closing the door behind him and walking away.
Kurt sighed and ran a hand over his face, then slammed the textbook shut and fell back against the pillows on his bed with a groan.
He was being a dick, and he knew it.
Finn hadn’t done anything wrong and Kurt still felt the need to blow up at him for no reason.
He really needed to start working on an attitude adjustment.
**
The next day at school, Kurt skipped lunch headed to the choir room to finish the rest of his homework from the night before in silence.
It wasn’t the first time Kurt sought out solace in the room. It was the one place in the entire planet other than his home that he felt completely safe and wanted. It was pretty much his home away from home.
All too soon, the bell rang and Kurt scowled, knowing it was only a matter of moments before the other members of New Directions began to pile in and he would never be able to finish his work.
“Hey Kurt!” Kurt looked up to see Mike and Tina walk into the classroom hand in hand, smiling at him. He smiled back despite his previous attitude, the bubbly happiness from the couple becoming infectious.
He high-fived Mike and kissed Tina’s cheek as they took their seats next to him.
“How was your summer, Kurt?” Tina asked as she subconsciously began to play with Mike’s fingers in her lap.
Kurt shrugged. “It was fine. Nothing too exciting really happened, to be honest.” He shrugged again, packing his books away as Santana, Brittany and Quinn all walked in.
Brittany literally ran over to him, jumping into his lap and hugging him tightly.
“H-hey Brit,” Kurt choked out, awkwardly hugging her back before she pulled away, going back to Santana’s side and linking their pinkies together. Santana nodded her head in greeting and Quinn leaned down to give him a hug as well, the three of them moving to sit on his other side.
Rachel, Mercedes, Artie, a blonde guy and… Lauren Zizes (and seriously, since when was she in Glee Club?) all walked in next, the girls going over to hug Kurt and Artie fist-bumping him before introducing him to Sam Evans, one of the new kids, just as Mr. Schue walked in.
“Hello, Kurt. Missed you yesterday.”
“Yeah uh, sorry Mr. Schue, wasn’t feeling well.”
Will nodded as he dropped his briefcase on the piano, walking over to the board to erase anything previously written on it.
“Where’s Fi-”
Kurt cut himself off when Finn walked in laughing with Puck and… someone else.
Finn glanced over and his smile widened, running over and grabbing Kurt’s arm, pulling him up and across the room.
“Hey man, this is Kurt. Kurt, meet Blaine Anderson, the newest member of the New Directions!”
Kurt took in the boy in front of him, arm still locked in his brother’s vice grip.
Blaine wore jeans that were a bit too long over scuffed up Chucks and a dark blue t-shirt underneath a light blue plaid shirt.
Kurt usually disliked plaid, cursing the name of the person who brought it ‘back’ and made it popular, but for Blaine… it worked.
He had short curly hair that flew everywhere and eyes that… whoa, eyes that were fucking beautiful. Kurt didn’t even know what color to call eyes that weren’t quite green but weren’t quite brown either. Hazel didn’t seem like an appropriate enough title.
“Kurt?”
Kurt shook his head slightly, shaking himself out of his thoughts to see Blaine’s hand held out awkwardly between them.
“Crap, yeah, sorry. H-Hi Blaine,” Kurt mumbled out, reaching out to shake Blaine’s hand.
Kurt gasped quietly the second their fingers touched, electricity pinging out through the hand shake, spreading warm and powerful over his body.
He looked up to see the same shocked expression on the other boy’s face, Blaine’s eyes locked on the hands between them, no longer shaking in greeting but instead holding onto one another.
Kurt felt like they were standing there forever, holding hands as fire and lightening coursed its way through his system, but all too soon someone was clearing their throat and the boys broke apart, Blaine jumping back slightly.
“Uh, nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, same,” Kurt breathed out as the four of them made their way to the seats. Blaine ended up sitting in front of Kurt, in between Artie and Sam, and Kurt found himself staring at the back of Blaine’s curly head for most of the period, tuning out most of Mr. Schue’s directions.
**
The more Kurt thought about what he felt when he shook Blaine Anderson’s hand, the crazier he felt.
It was just static electricity. That was the zap you felt, dumbass, he chided himself through all of Glee Club.
After Glee, Kurt hurried home, wanting to finish his homework and get a start on dinner before his dad got home.
Burt Hummel’s health hadn’t been all that great recently, and Kurt had decided to take it upon himself to ensure his dad stayed healthy.
Carole was great and all, and she made Burt really happy, but she was used to cooking for a teenaged boy who could eat his weight in burgers on a daily basis, not for a man with high blood pressure and a teen who treated calorie-counted like a job.
He got through his chemistry homework fairly quickly, and his French assignments had been a breeze, so all too soon Kurt was changing into a more comfortable outfit, something that he didn’t care too much about if it were to get stained from cooking, and headed down out of his room.
Kurt descended the stairs towards the kitchen humming to himself when his eyesight blurred and the world around him tilted a bit, making him lose his balance for a moment.
He stumbled over a stair and his hands flailed out, grabbing the banister before he could fall face-first down the rest of the steps.
“Whoa,” he mumbled shakily, hands still wrapped tight around the banister as he closed his eyes, breathing in slow and deep.
“Okay,” he said again, blinking open his eyes and looking down at the stairs, walking carefully down the remaining six steps and turning towards the kitchen.
That was weird, Kurt thought to himself as he moved to gather together the ingredients needing to make pasta and salad, trying to ignore the way his head was beginning to lightly throb, the tell-tale signs of an impending headache.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but soon Burt was walking through the doorway and walking towards him.
“Hey kiddo…you okay?” Burt asked as he came over, squeezing Kurt’s shoulder gently.
“Hmm? Oh, uh yeah, fine, dad,” Kurt said quietly as he stirred the pasta in the pot methodically with his right hand, his left gently massaging his temple.
“Ya sure? I can take over cooking if you’re not feeling well.”
Kurt shook his head in response (and yeah, okay, bad idea), dropping his left hand from his head.
“Seriously dad, I’m good. Just a little headache. I’ll pop a few Advils once this is done.”
Burt said nothing, just stared at his son, trying to read his face. But Kurt was used to it, knowing how to school his features just perfectly for his father’s benefit.
Burt shrugged to himself before moving away, heading towards the stairs “If you say so, kid. I’m gonna go upstairs to change. Carole should be home soon. Finn’s at Puckerman’s house with some of the guys, so it’s just us tonight.”
Kurt bit the inside of his cheek hard, turning his back to his father and looking back at the stove.
Kurt didn’t know why it still hurt so much, after all this time.
He just wasn’t like them.
He didn’t like spending hours on end killing Nazi Zombies and talking about boobs.
He didn’t like watching sports and rough housing and just generally acting like an idiot.
He just didn’t like it.
But that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt to not even be invited at all. To not even know about it when even his dad did.
The Glee guys, they were supposed to be his friends. They were all supposed to be a family (and now Finn technically was his family) and yet they didn’t even bother to see if Kurt wanted to join them.
He glared down at the stove as tears began blurring his vision, making Kurt angrily wipe them away.
Fine, whatever, he didn’t need to hang out with the rest of them.
He didn’t need them at all.
**
It was 11:30 at night when Finn finally walked through the door and trudged up the steps.
“Carole said to see her before you go to bed,” Kurt called out from his room when Finn walked by, making him stop in the middle of the hallway and turn back, poking his head into Kurt’s room.
“What’d you say?” Finn asked, reaching over to flick on Kurt’s lights.
Kurt hissed and groaned at the sudden light that seared into skull, reaching over to smash a pillow over his head.
“Jesus Finn, are you trying to kill me?!” Kurt yelled angrily through his pillow.
“Sorry dude,” Finn replied, shutting off the light again and opening the door more, the light from the hallway flooding into the darkened bedroom, “You okay?”
“M’fine,” Kurt answered tersely, voice still muffled by the pillow, “S’just a headache.”
Finn scrunched his face at his brother’s garbled words but shook his head. “Ya know, Blaine had a killer headache tonight too. Had to cut our COD playing-time short to drive him home because he was too out of it to do it himself. Maybe something’s goin’ around.”
“That’s great Finn, wha’ever. Just… go see your mom so she doesn’t ground your ass for breakin’ curfew,” Kurt mumbled out, wanting nothing more than to be left alone in the darkness and the silence.
At the mentions of ‘curfew’ and ‘grounding,' Finn’s eyes grew huge.
“Shit! Okay, yeah. Night, Kurt,” Finn called out, slamming the door behind him and making his way down the hall quickly.
Kurt winced as the door slammed shut, the sound echoing around his head and piercing his ear drums.
He couldn’t move, couldn’t think, with the intensity of his migraine.
It was all-consuming and Kurt just wanted it to stop.
He had taken four Advil’s and they barely did anything.
Kurt contemplated downing the whole bottle, anything for relief, but it wasn’t about to risk OD’ing and needing to get his stomach pumped in the middle of the night.
Just fucking suck it up. The sooner you fall asleep, the sooner it’ll probably go away.
**
Okay, his subconscious lied.
It didn’t go away.
It intensified.
Kurt had managed to get a few hours of sleep and woke up with an intense pounding in his skull. Something so painful it brought him to tears just to move.
But he had to go to school. He couldn’t worry his father. He couldn’t risk Burt’s health.
Kurt grabbed the Advil bottle from his nightstand and took two more before dropping the pill bottle into his school bag.
He walked to his closet and hardly spent any time picking out an outfit, mind too busy concentrating on working through his migraine to put any real thought into his clothes.
He managed to eat a piece of toast and wheedle a ride to school from Finn, making up a story about lack of sleep and fear of falling asleep at the wheel (which, to be honest, was actually completely true).
The closer they got to school, the more Kurt could actually concentrate, thank God. His head was still pounding, but he could actually think beyond the incessant painpainpain that had been thrumming through his thoughts all night.
“You good dude?” Finn suddenly asked, making Kurt jump a bit in his seat.
“Huh?” Kurt asked, squinting over at his brother. He then realized they were already in McKinley’s parking lot and Finn was halfway out of the car.
“S-sorry, must’ve dozed off,” Kurt lied easily, grabbing his bag and making his way out of the car.
“Yup. Anyways, see ya later,” Finn called, walking down the hallway towards his locker.
Kurt sluggishly headed towards his own locker, ignoring the usual remarks that were thrown at him as he passed a small group of hockey players.
He gathered his things and headed to his first period ten minutes early, smiling to his teacher weakly before dropping into his seat and laying his head on his arms over the desk.
“Are you feeling well, Mr. Hummel?”
Kurt inwardly groaned before lifting his head slowly. “Yes ma’am, just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.”
She nodded before returning her gaze back to the stack of papers in front of her on the desk.
“Very well. Just no nodding off during my class, Kurt, understood?”
“Yes,” Kurt replied before dropping his head back down.
**
The rest of the day went by much the same.
Kurt would get to his classes and lay his head down, only moving when being spoken to or when the bell rang.
Soon enough, last period was over and it was time for Glee.
Kurt really didn’t feel like going, wanting nothing more than to go home and burrow under the darkness of his pillows, but then he remembered he came to school with Finn. Who had the car keys. And would get his ass verbally handed to him by Rachel if he skipped.
He hung his head and headed over to the choir room.
Again, Kurt was first to class, so he dropped his bag and sat in the back, leaning his head back against the wall.
“Hey.”
Kurt’s head shot back up to see Blaine walk in, shoulders slumped and bag dragging on the floor behind him, the strap dangling from the boy’s fingers.
“Hey,” Kurt replied before tipping his head back and closing his eyes.
He heard Blaine move around the room and peeking his eye open for a moment to see Blaine sit next to him, laying his head back and mirroring Kurt’s position.
“I’ve had a raging headache all damn day. All damn night too. I was with the guys last night when it hit. I wasn’t about to come in today, but well…it wouldn’t look good as the new kid to be skipping classes the first week.” Blaine explained to him, voice quiet as it wrapped itself around Kurt’s senses.
“Mmm,” Kurt agreed, eyes still closed.
“But it’s… it’s weird. I kinda feel a bit better now.”
“Me too,” Kurt answered without thinking, eyes shooting open once he realized what he said.
He looked over to see Blaine’s head tilted towards him, eyes searching his.
“What do you mean, ‘me too?' Ya mean I wasn’t alone with the headache from hell?” Blaine asked teasingly.
Kurt risked shaking his head, relief sweeping through him when the move was met with a dull throb instead of a pounding.
“I pretty much couldn’t sleep because of it. I’ve felt like crap all day. But… I dunno, now I feel… better, I guess,” Kurt explained as best he could.
“Maybe it’s the room. Maybe it’s being in here, in Glee, knowing that the people in here actually care about you, regardless of wha--who you are.” Blaine replied, tone light and honest as he turned his head back forward, eyelids slipping shut once more.
“Yeah…yeah, maybe.” Kurt answered back quietly, using the moment to look at the boy next to him, really take in as much of Blaine as he could.
He noticed the way the corner of Blaine’s mouth twitched, but said nothing of it as the rest of the New Directions began to pile into the room.
Mr. Schuester got right down to work the moment everyone sat down.
“Alright guys, so, I figured we’d do something small to start off the year. Nothing major, just simple duets.”
There was a murmur throughout the group as people looked across the room at each other, nodding and smiling.
“But,” Mr. Schue continued, “here’s the catch. I’m picking the duet partners this time. And I don’t want a single complaint. We’re family, guys; this shouldn’t be something to fight over.”
Kurt looked around to see some people bitchfacing at Will, but for the most part, they all agreed.
“Okay, so first up. Rachel, you’re with Sam.” Sam looked over to Rachel and smiled who actually, thank the lord, kept her mouth shut and smiled back, almost looking pleased with her partner.
“Finn, you’re with Tina. Quinn, with Artie.”
Mr. Schue paced back and forth in front of them, looking at them all as he tapped his finger against his lips, thinking quietly.
“Santana, you’re with Lauren.”
Both girls eyed each other up and down, but knew better than to start anything. Mr. Schue took their silence as a cue to continue.
“Brittany, you’re with Puck. Mike, with Mercedes and finally, Kurt, you’re with Blaine.”
Kurt looked over at the boy next to him and saw him grinning. Kurt couldn’t help but grin back, Blaine’s smile infectious.
“And here’s the other thing. You guys all have to pick a song that isn’t already a duet. So a song from a solo artist, or a band, as long as it’s predominately one singer. I want you guys to pick a song apart and make it work for two people. You have all of next week to work on it and perform it the week after that.” He clapped his hands and nodded towards the door, “Well, that’s it. I really want you guys to work together and make this great, so I’m giving you all the rest of the period to go out on your own and talk it all over.”
Mumbles and chairs scraping against linoleum quickly filled the room as everyone walked over to their partners to talk about their assignments.
“So,” Blaine started, leaning down to grab his bag off the floor, throwing a strap over his shoulder.
“So,” Kurt replied lightly, doing the same and picking up his bag, dusting it off lightly.
“I was thinkin’, it’s a bit too early to head home, so wanna go somewhere else? Get coffee or something while we go through our iPods and make a song list?”
Kurt looked Blaine over, noting his hopeful expression, the eagerness in his eyes.
“I-I mean, I know you weren’t feeling well before, so it’s totally cool if you just wanna start working tomorrow or whatever, I just thought-”
“Blaine.”
“Yeah?”
“Coffee sounds great.”
Kurt watched the relief spread through Blaine’s face as they both stood and started towards the door.
“Hey, Kurt!”
Kurt and Blaine both turned as Finn walked towards them with Tina.
“Tina’s coming over to think of songs and whatnot. You and Blaine coming too?”
Kurt shook his head and then nodded towards Blaine, “Nah, Blaine and I are going to get coffee while we think of songs.”
“Yeah, I’ll take Kurt home, no worries,” Blaine added, nodding.
“I’ll just see you at home. Tell dad for me?” Kurt asked Finn, adjusting the strap over his shoulder.
“Yeah sure. Later dudes.”
Kurt and Blaine both waved goodbye to Finn and Tina as they walked down the opposite end of the hallway, needing to go to Tina’s locker to pick up a few textbooks.
“Finn said ‘see you at home.’ Is he your brother?”
Kurt just nodded as he followed Blaine out of the school and into the parking lot, deciding to spare him the gory details of Kurt’s epic crush on Finn all of the previous year and how setting up their parents was all part of his plan to win Finn’s heart.
**
Since Blaine was new to Lima, Kurt had taken it upon himself to direct Blaine to The Lima Bean, pretty much the only good place to get coffee in the whole town.
They got their drinks quickly and settled into a table in a back corner, both of them taking out their iPods and notebooks.
“So, does Mr. Schuester have like, certain requirements or restrictions on song choices?” Blaine asked as he swirled sugar into his drink, glancing up at Kurt as he stuck the stirrer into his mouth for a moment to clean it off.
Kurt found himself staring at the other boy’s lips as he sucked the excess coffee off of the drink stirrer before snapping out of it and looking Blaine in the eye.
“Umm, n-no, not really. He’s pretty lenient with song choices. As long as it has something to do with the week’s assignment, he’s cool with it.”
“Cool.” Blaine said with a laugh as he popped the top back onto his cup and took a small sip of his drink, “So any ideas?”
Kurt shrugged as he picked at the cardboard cozy around his cup. “Well, we’ve never heard each other sing, and we probably have totally different tastes in music, so this could take a while.”
Blaine leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow, smirking across the table at Kurt. “How are you so sure we have different tastes in music? For all you know, our iPods could be the exact same.”
Kurt gave him an incredulous look before scoffing, “Please. I know your type. You’re totally one of those brooding singer-songwriter guys. I bet your iPod is nothing but John Mayer, Death Cab and Coldplay.”
Blaine pouted (and okay, really, why was that cute?) but said nothing as he took another sip of his drink.
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Shut up,” Blaine mumbled, grabbing his iPod and thumbing through it.
Kurt smiled to himself as he began to do the same.
“I have an idea,” Blaine said suddenly before reaching out and snagging Kurt’s iPod out of his hand.
“Hey!”
“Shh, this is perfect. Here,” Blaine said, sliding his own iPod across the table and in front of Kurt, “we’ll go through each other’s songs and pick the ones we like. Say… top ten? Then we’ll have twenty songs and we can narrow it down from there.”
“B-but…”
“Oh come on, we’re partners, don’t get all iPod-shy on me, Kurt! What’s the worst you can have? The Spice Girls?”
Kurt mumbled under his breath but then huffed out a sigh, grabbing the bright purple iPod from the table and turning it on.
“I knew it,” he said the second the screen came to life, a Coldplay song on pause. Kurt turned the screen towards Blaine with a satisfied grin before leaning back into his chair and getting comfortable, putting the iPod on Artists and settling in to go through the other boy’s music.
They spent the next hour scrolling through hundreds of songs, commenting every now and then just to tease the other.
“‘The Best of ABBA,’ Kurt, really?”
“Shut up, they’re fantastic and you know it. Don’t even try and pretend like you don’t know every single word to Mamma Mia.”
Blaine just smiled and shrugged.
And then a while after that, “Britney, Christina, Katy. Wow, you really like your bubblegum pop, huh Blaine?”
Blaine had the decency to blush before rolling his eyes. “Look, it’s not about the actual songs as it is about the lyrics. They’re really good!” Blaine shot back, trying to defend his music.
“Yeah, sure, because using animals and candy as euphemisms for sex is truly lyrical prowess.”
It was almost 8PM when they both finally had lists of ten songs each. Some, surprisingly enough, were duplicates.
They went through the lists, crossing off songs they knew either wouldn’t work. “Kurt, no offense, but I don’t think a Sweeney Todd number would go over too well with Mr. Schue.” Or they just wouldn’t do, “I’m not singing a Snow Patrol song, Blaine, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Soon they had a list of about seven songs and they were talking and were talking about how amazing The Beatles were when Blaine’s phone buzzed.
“Shit,” he said to himself when he looked down and saw it was 8:45 at night.
“Everything okay?” Kurt asked, finishing off his second cup of coffee.
“Y-yeah, well… no. Just, I had a curfew of 8:30 and my mom wants to know where I am.”
Kurt nodded, helping Blaine clean up the papers scattered on the table, “I understand. I can walk home, or have my dad get me, it’s no pro-”
“No.”
Kurt looked up from where he was putting his things in his bag, his eyes widening slightly.
“I’m taking you home, Kurt. I brought you here, and I told Finn I’d take you home, so I am.”
“Are you sure? Really, Blaine, it’s fine, I don’t want you to get in trouble for me…”
Blaine rolled his eyes and he grabbed his two empty cups and threw them out, coming back and doing the same with Kurt’s before he had the chance to.
“I’m sure, Kurt. I’m already in trouble anyways. I might as well make it worth it.”
Kurt just rolled his eyes and smiled exasperatedly as he followed Blaine out to his car.
All too soon they were pulling up to the front of Kurt’s house and he was moving to unbuckle his seatbelt, glancing up every few seconds to stare at Blaine.
It was weird. Kurt had only known Blaine for a day but it still felt… wrong to leave his side. They exchanged phone numbers back at the coffee shop, Blaine even took a dorky picture of himself with Kurt’s phone, but to Kurt, it still didn’t feel like it was enough.
“Hey Kurt?”
Kurt looked up fully as he slid the seatbelt over his chest. “Yeah, Blaine?”
Blaine didn’t say anything, his hand hovering in between them for a moment before he dropped it onto the gear shift and looked at the other boy, “I’m just glad Mr. Schue made us partners. I can’t wait to sing with you,” Blaine told him, smiling warmly.
Kurt returned the smile easily. "Yeah, me too. Night, Blaine,” Kurt told him as he got out of the car and walked quickly up the steps.
Blaine didn’t move, waiting until Kurt was safely inside.
“Night, Kurt,” Blaine said aloud quietly before driving off.
**
part 2
Not because he liked to sleep (far from it, actually) but because bed time meant story time. And story time meant he got to cuddle up close to his mom, he got to breathe in her scent, and he got to be so, so, so happy.
At six years old, Kurt thought life just couldn’t get any better.
“And so the valiant knight slayed the evil dragon and then he finally-”
“And he finally saves the princess! And they live happily ever after!”
Elizabeth Hummel smiled down at her son, getting a toothy grin in return and she hugged him close to her side, “And they lived happily ever after,” she agreed, placing the book on their laps and running her hand gently through Kurt’s still slightly-damp hair.
Kurt snuggled closer into her side before reaching out and grabbing the book in his hands.
“Mommy?”
“Hmm?” Elizabeth asked, watching her son as he continued to stare at the pictures in front of him.
“Do you think I can do that someday?”
“Slay a dragon? Sorry, but I think you’re outta luck for finding a dragon in Ohio, kid,” she told him, laughter dancing in her eyes.
“No,” Kurt shook his head, flipping to the next page, pointing to the picture of the princess and the knight riding off into the sunset, “that,” Kurt said quietly, eyes never straying from the book.
“Oh, well, sweetie, I’m sure one day you will. When you’re all grown up, you’ll find the princess that you’ll want to sweep off her feet and live happily ever after.”
Kurt continued to stare at the page for a long time, staying silent before looking up, his blue eyes staring questioningly into his mother’s.
“What… what if I… would it be okay if… maybe I was the… the princess? And then a knight can come and rescue me?”
Elizabeth stayed quiet, staring at her son in a way Kurt had never seen.
Finally she spoke, a small smile appearing on her face. “If that’s what you really want Kurt, then I really do believe that one day, one day you’ll get that.”
Kurt was content with her answer, nodding happily before dropping the book and wrapping his small arms around his mother as much as he could.
“I really want that. I wanna have a …mommy, what’s that word?” He asked, peering up through the tendrils of brown hair that flopped onto his forehead.
“A soulmate?” She asked as she closed the book and put it on the nightstand next to Kurt’s bed.
“Yeah! That. Like the princess and the knight or…or like you and daddy! Daddy’s your soulmate, right mommy?”
Elizabeth grinning down at Kurt nodding, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Yes baby, your daddy is my soulmate.”
Kurt nodded again, burrowing down into his covers, clinging tightly to a stuffed animal as his eyes began to droop.
“I wanna soulmate. Someone who’ll love me like you love daddy,” he said quietly, drifting off in the middle of his sentence.
Elizabeth brushed some hair back before kissing his forehead and standing up quietly. She flicked off Kurt’s lamp in exchange for the dimmer light of his nightlight.
Stories of princesses and knights and dragons and soulmates were just things Elizabeth told her son before bed.
Kurt had always wanted them to be true.
Especially the soulmates part.
He had no idea just how right he was.
**
When Kurt Hummel was seven years old, his dad wanted him to join little league.
Instead, Kurt joined tap dancing.
He was great at it, a total natural, and even Burt had to admit, seeing his son’s happy face every day after practice was worth storing away the bat and mitt he had been so excited to buy Kurt.
Some of the fathers from Kurt’s second grade class, however, didn’t exactly see it his way.
“You have to set boundaries, Burt. You can’t let your son think he can do whatever he wants… especially when it’s obviously the wrong choice.”
“Wrong choice?” Burt asked, subconsciously crossing his arms over his chest as he glanced at his son in the classroom. Elizabeth was speaking to his teacher for Parent-Teacher night.
“Come on, dancing? Ya gotta know that stuff’s for sissies. You gotta toughen him up now before-”
“Before what? Your boy starts picking on mine?” Burt asked, voice beginning to rise slightly.
“No, no, just-”
“Look, my kid is happy dancing. They’re only seven years old; they know a better world than we do. So if dancing is what Kurt likes, then that’s exactly what he’s gonna do," he told the other man angrily before walking into the classroom and ruffling Kurt’s hair.
“Wanna go play outside while your mom finishes talking to Mrs. Aarons?”
“Can I show you my new routine instead, Daddy?”
Burt looked down into his son’s eyes, watching as they lit up at the chance to show his father what he could do.
“Sure, kiddo.”
**
When Kurt was eight years old, he was one of the best dancers in his class.
He was so good, in fact, that he got a part in the upperclassmen' spring recital.
“Isn’t that awesome, Mommy? I can’t wait to tell Daddy!” Kurt said excitedly from the backseat, kicking his feet against the seat in front of him in time with the beat in his head.
Elizabeth looked at her son through the rearview mirror, smiling at her son’s excitement.
“So Kurt, since this is your special night, what would you like for-”
She cut off her own sentence with a gasp and a choked-off scream and before Kurt could ask what was going on, everything around him was spinning and breaking. Glass shattered all around him as his body began to ache.
“M-Mommy?” He called out weakly, just before everything around him went black.
-
Kurt woke up to lots of beeping around him and a strange smell that reminded him of the stuff his mommy put on her fingers to wash away the nail paint.
He could hear voices around him, but he was too tired to open his eyes.
He recognized his daddy’s voice, though.
“So he’ll be okay?”
“Kurt has a minor concussion and a broken wrist, but other than that, it’s just a lot of cuts and bruises. He should be waking up soon.”
“A-And Liz?”
The other man was quiet; Kurt risked opening his eyes slightly, trying to get a better idea as to what was happening.
That was a bad idea, however, because the second he did, bright light flooded his vision and seared into his brain, making him groan out in pain.
“Kurt?”
Suddenly his dad was there, hovering over him and blocking out the harsh light.
“D-Daddy?” Kurt whispered quietly, his eyes scrunched tightly together. He heard something click and tried opening his eyes again, the room now darker, easier to see in.
“Hey, baby boy, how’re ya feelin’?” Burt asked as he sat next to Kurt’s hospital bed, stroking a few pieces of hair away from Kurt’s face.
Kurt shrugged his tiny shoulders lightly, turning half-lidded eyes towards his father.
“Wha’ happened?”
Burt took in a deep breath before reaching down to hold his son’s hand in his.
“Th-There was an accident, buddy. Your mommy, she… when you guys were coming home from practice, the car was hit by another, bigger car.”
“Oh,” was all Kurt replied, exhaustion sweeping over him.
“Where’s mommy?” He asked quietly, fighting to keep his eyes open just a little longer.
Kurt missed the way his father’s eyes began to well up when a yawn escaped him, losing the battle with his eyelids as they finally slipped shut.
“You’ll see her soon, Kurt, I promise.”
Kurt mumbled his reply before letting the exhaustion win out and pull him back into the darkness.
**
When Kurt was eight years old, he stood at his mom’s grave, clutching his dad’s hand as hard as he could.
He didn’t understand this.
He didn’t understand any of it.
Why did his mom have to die? Why couldn’t she stay with him like she promised she would?
He didn’t like any of this.
He didn’t like that everyone was wearing black and was crying.
He didn’t like that everyone at school looked at him like he was about to break.
He didn’t like that it was sunny and the birds were singing.
Why should they sing? There was nothing happy to sing about.
Why did everything else get to be happy when he was so so sad?
When Kurt Hummel was eight years old he realized the world wasn’t fair.
**
SLAM.
“Watch it, homo!”
Kurt watched from his spot on the floor as the meathead jocks continued walking down the hall, fist-bumping each other and laughing as they turned the corner.
Gotta love the first day back to school, Kurt thought bitterly to himself as he got up off of the ground and fixed the strap over his shoulder, heading to his first period class. Just one more damn year and I’m gone. Goin’ to New York and never looking back.
After four shoulder-checks, a slushy and endless slurs, Kurt had had enough. He opted to skip Glee Club for the day and just head home.
It’s only the first day, Kurt reconciled with himself, and Mr. Schue will probably just blather on about his summer and then cut to the chase about nationals.
Nothing Earth-shatteringly important, he’s sure.
**
Kurt’s in the middle of his advanced chemistry homework when there’s a knock on his door and a head pops in.
“Hey.”
“Ever heard of knocking, Finn? Let me tell you about it. It’s this thing you do when a door’s closed. It’ll change your life.”
“Dude, why weren’t you at Glee today?” Finn asked as he opened the door fully and walked a few steps into his stepbrother’s room.
Kurt shrugged, eyes never leaving the notebook in his lap as he jotted down a formula from his textbook.
“I wasn’t up to it. It was only the first day, Mr. Schuester will understand.”
“Whatever, but Kurt, there’s this-”
“Finn, I have homework to do, I really don’t wanna talk about Glee right now, okay?”
“But dude, there’s a ne-”
“Finn.” Kurt used what everyone called the ‘bitchface voice,’ meaning he was two seconds away from completely blowing up.
“Fine, fine,” Finn conceded, hands placatingly in the air as he backed out of the room slowly. “Mom says dinner will be ready in ten minutes,” he told Kurt quietly before closing the door behind him and walking away.
Kurt sighed and ran a hand over his face, then slammed the textbook shut and fell back against the pillows on his bed with a groan.
He was being a dick, and he knew it.
Finn hadn’t done anything wrong and Kurt still felt the need to blow up at him for no reason.
He really needed to start working on an attitude adjustment.
**
The next day at school, Kurt skipped lunch headed to the choir room to finish the rest of his homework from the night before in silence.
It wasn’t the first time Kurt sought out solace in the room. It was the one place in the entire planet other than his home that he felt completely safe and wanted. It was pretty much his home away from home.
All too soon, the bell rang and Kurt scowled, knowing it was only a matter of moments before the other members of New Directions began to pile in and he would never be able to finish his work.
“Hey Kurt!” Kurt looked up to see Mike and Tina walk into the classroom hand in hand, smiling at him. He smiled back despite his previous attitude, the bubbly happiness from the couple becoming infectious.
He high-fived Mike and kissed Tina’s cheek as they took their seats next to him.
“How was your summer, Kurt?” Tina asked as she subconsciously began to play with Mike’s fingers in her lap.
Kurt shrugged. “It was fine. Nothing too exciting really happened, to be honest.” He shrugged again, packing his books away as Santana, Brittany and Quinn all walked in.
Brittany literally ran over to him, jumping into his lap and hugging him tightly.
“H-hey Brit,” Kurt choked out, awkwardly hugging her back before she pulled away, going back to Santana’s side and linking their pinkies together. Santana nodded her head in greeting and Quinn leaned down to give him a hug as well, the three of them moving to sit on his other side.
Rachel, Mercedes, Artie, a blonde guy and… Lauren Zizes (and seriously, since when was she in Glee Club?) all walked in next, the girls going over to hug Kurt and Artie fist-bumping him before introducing him to Sam Evans, one of the new kids, just as Mr. Schue walked in.
“Hello, Kurt. Missed you yesterday.”
“Yeah uh, sorry Mr. Schue, wasn’t feeling well.”
Will nodded as he dropped his briefcase on the piano, walking over to the board to erase anything previously written on it.
“Where’s Fi-”
Kurt cut himself off when Finn walked in laughing with Puck and… someone else.
Finn glanced over and his smile widened, running over and grabbing Kurt’s arm, pulling him up and across the room.
“Hey man, this is Kurt. Kurt, meet Blaine Anderson, the newest member of the New Directions!”
Kurt took in the boy in front of him, arm still locked in his brother’s vice grip.
Blaine wore jeans that were a bit too long over scuffed up Chucks and a dark blue t-shirt underneath a light blue plaid shirt.
Kurt usually disliked plaid, cursing the name of the person who brought it ‘back’ and made it popular, but for Blaine… it worked.
He had short curly hair that flew everywhere and eyes that… whoa, eyes that were fucking beautiful. Kurt didn’t even know what color to call eyes that weren’t quite green but weren’t quite brown either. Hazel didn’t seem like an appropriate enough title.
“Kurt?”
Kurt shook his head slightly, shaking himself out of his thoughts to see Blaine’s hand held out awkwardly between them.
“Crap, yeah, sorry. H-Hi Blaine,” Kurt mumbled out, reaching out to shake Blaine’s hand.
Kurt gasped quietly the second their fingers touched, electricity pinging out through the hand shake, spreading warm and powerful over his body.
He looked up to see the same shocked expression on the other boy’s face, Blaine’s eyes locked on the hands between them, no longer shaking in greeting but instead holding onto one another.
Kurt felt like they were standing there forever, holding hands as fire and lightening coursed its way through his system, but all too soon someone was clearing their throat and the boys broke apart, Blaine jumping back slightly.
“Uh, nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, same,” Kurt breathed out as the four of them made their way to the seats. Blaine ended up sitting in front of Kurt, in between Artie and Sam, and Kurt found himself staring at the back of Blaine’s curly head for most of the period, tuning out most of Mr. Schue’s directions.
**
The more Kurt thought about what he felt when he shook Blaine Anderson’s hand, the crazier he felt.
It was just static electricity. That was the zap you felt, dumbass, he chided himself through all of Glee Club.
After Glee, Kurt hurried home, wanting to finish his homework and get a start on dinner before his dad got home.
Burt Hummel’s health hadn’t been all that great recently, and Kurt had decided to take it upon himself to ensure his dad stayed healthy.
Carole was great and all, and she made Burt really happy, but she was used to cooking for a teenaged boy who could eat his weight in burgers on a daily basis, not for a man with high blood pressure and a teen who treated calorie-counted like a job.
He got through his chemistry homework fairly quickly, and his French assignments had been a breeze, so all too soon Kurt was changing into a more comfortable outfit, something that he didn’t care too much about if it were to get stained from cooking, and headed down out of his room.
Kurt descended the stairs towards the kitchen humming to himself when his eyesight blurred and the world around him tilted a bit, making him lose his balance for a moment.
He stumbled over a stair and his hands flailed out, grabbing the banister before he could fall face-first down the rest of the steps.
“Whoa,” he mumbled shakily, hands still wrapped tight around the banister as he closed his eyes, breathing in slow and deep.
“Okay,” he said again, blinking open his eyes and looking down at the stairs, walking carefully down the remaining six steps and turning towards the kitchen.
That was weird, Kurt thought to himself as he moved to gather together the ingredients needing to make pasta and salad, trying to ignore the way his head was beginning to lightly throb, the tell-tale signs of an impending headache.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but soon Burt was walking through the doorway and walking towards him.
“Hey kiddo…you okay?” Burt asked as he came over, squeezing Kurt’s shoulder gently.
“Hmm? Oh, uh yeah, fine, dad,” Kurt said quietly as he stirred the pasta in the pot methodically with his right hand, his left gently massaging his temple.
“Ya sure? I can take over cooking if you’re not feeling well.”
Kurt shook his head in response (and yeah, okay, bad idea), dropping his left hand from his head.
“Seriously dad, I’m good. Just a little headache. I’ll pop a few Advils once this is done.”
Burt said nothing, just stared at his son, trying to read his face. But Kurt was used to it, knowing how to school his features just perfectly for his father’s benefit.
Burt shrugged to himself before moving away, heading towards the stairs “If you say so, kid. I’m gonna go upstairs to change. Carole should be home soon. Finn’s at Puckerman’s house with some of the guys, so it’s just us tonight.”
Kurt bit the inside of his cheek hard, turning his back to his father and looking back at the stove.
Kurt didn’t know why it still hurt so much, after all this time.
He just wasn’t like them.
He didn’t like spending hours on end killing Nazi Zombies and talking about boobs.
He didn’t like watching sports and rough housing and just generally acting like an idiot.
He just didn’t like it.
But that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt to not even be invited at all. To not even know about it when even his dad did.
The Glee guys, they were supposed to be his friends. They were all supposed to be a family (and now Finn technically was his family) and yet they didn’t even bother to see if Kurt wanted to join them.
He glared down at the stove as tears began blurring his vision, making Kurt angrily wipe them away.
Fine, whatever, he didn’t need to hang out with the rest of them.
He didn’t need them at all.
**
It was 11:30 at night when Finn finally walked through the door and trudged up the steps.
“Carole said to see her before you go to bed,” Kurt called out from his room when Finn walked by, making him stop in the middle of the hallway and turn back, poking his head into Kurt’s room.
“What’d you say?” Finn asked, reaching over to flick on Kurt’s lights.
Kurt hissed and groaned at the sudden light that seared into skull, reaching over to smash a pillow over his head.
“Jesus Finn, are you trying to kill me?!” Kurt yelled angrily through his pillow.
“Sorry dude,” Finn replied, shutting off the light again and opening the door more, the light from the hallway flooding into the darkened bedroom, “You okay?”
“M’fine,” Kurt answered tersely, voice still muffled by the pillow, “S’just a headache.”
Finn scrunched his face at his brother’s garbled words but shook his head. “Ya know, Blaine had a killer headache tonight too. Had to cut our COD playing-time short to drive him home because he was too out of it to do it himself. Maybe something’s goin’ around.”
“That’s great Finn, wha’ever. Just… go see your mom so she doesn’t ground your ass for breakin’ curfew,” Kurt mumbled out, wanting nothing more than to be left alone in the darkness and the silence.
At the mentions of ‘curfew’ and ‘grounding,' Finn’s eyes grew huge.
“Shit! Okay, yeah. Night, Kurt,” Finn called out, slamming the door behind him and making his way down the hall quickly.
Kurt winced as the door slammed shut, the sound echoing around his head and piercing his ear drums.
He couldn’t move, couldn’t think, with the intensity of his migraine.
It was all-consuming and Kurt just wanted it to stop.
He had taken four Advil’s and they barely did anything.
Kurt contemplated downing the whole bottle, anything for relief, but it wasn’t about to risk OD’ing and needing to get his stomach pumped in the middle of the night.
Just fucking suck it up. The sooner you fall asleep, the sooner it’ll probably go away.
**
Okay, his subconscious lied.
It didn’t go away.
It intensified.
Kurt had managed to get a few hours of sleep and woke up with an intense pounding in his skull. Something so painful it brought him to tears just to move.
But he had to go to school. He couldn’t worry his father. He couldn’t risk Burt’s health.
Kurt grabbed the Advil bottle from his nightstand and took two more before dropping the pill bottle into his school bag.
He walked to his closet and hardly spent any time picking out an outfit, mind too busy concentrating on working through his migraine to put any real thought into his clothes.
He managed to eat a piece of toast and wheedle a ride to school from Finn, making up a story about lack of sleep and fear of falling asleep at the wheel (which, to be honest, was actually completely true).
The closer they got to school, the more Kurt could actually concentrate, thank God. His head was still pounding, but he could actually think beyond the incessant painpainpain that had been thrumming through his thoughts all night.
“You good dude?” Finn suddenly asked, making Kurt jump a bit in his seat.
“Huh?” Kurt asked, squinting over at his brother. He then realized they were already in McKinley’s parking lot and Finn was halfway out of the car.
“S-sorry, must’ve dozed off,” Kurt lied easily, grabbing his bag and making his way out of the car.
“Yup. Anyways, see ya later,” Finn called, walking down the hallway towards his locker.
Kurt sluggishly headed towards his own locker, ignoring the usual remarks that were thrown at him as he passed a small group of hockey players.
He gathered his things and headed to his first period ten minutes early, smiling to his teacher weakly before dropping into his seat and laying his head on his arms over the desk.
“Are you feeling well, Mr. Hummel?”
Kurt inwardly groaned before lifting his head slowly. “Yes ma’am, just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.”
She nodded before returning her gaze back to the stack of papers in front of her on the desk.
“Very well. Just no nodding off during my class, Kurt, understood?”
“Yes,” Kurt replied before dropping his head back down.
**
The rest of the day went by much the same.
Kurt would get to his classes and lay his head down, only moving when being spoken to or when the bell rang.
Soon enough, last period was over and it was time for Glee.
Kurt really didn’t feel like going, wanting nothing more than to go home and burrow under the darkness of his pillows, but then he remembered he came to school with Finn. Who had the car keys. And would get his ass verbally handed to him by Rachel if he skipped.
He hung his head and headed over to the choir room.
Again, Kurt was first to class, so he dropped his bag and sat in the back, leaning his head back against the wall.
“Hey.”
Kurt’s head shot back up to see Blaine walk in, shoulders slumped and bag dragging on the floor behind him, the strap dangling from the boy’s fingers.
“Hey,” Kurt replied before tipping his head back and closing his eyes.
He heard Blaine move around the room and peeking his eye open for a moment to see Blaine sit next to him, laying his head back and mirroring Kurt’s position.
“I’ve had a raging headache all damn day. All damn night too. I was with the guys last night when it hit. I wasn’t about to come in today, but well…it wouldn’t look good as the new kid to be skipping classes the first week.” Blaine explained to him, voice quiet as it wrapped itself around Kurt’s senses.
“Mmm,” Kurt agreed, eyes still closed.
“But it’s… it’s weird. I kinda feel a bit better now.”
“Me too,” Kurt answered without thinking, eyes shooting open once he realized what he said.
He looked over to see Blaine’s head tilted towards him, eyes searching his.
“What do you mean, ‘me too?' Ya mean I wasn’t alone with the headache from hell?” Blaine asked teasingly.
Kurt risked shaking his head, relief sweeping through him when the move was met with a dull throb instead of a pounding.
“I pretty much couldn’t sleep because of it. I’ve felt like crap all day. But… I dunno, now I feel… better, I guess,” Kurt explained as best he could.
“Maybe it’s the room. Maybe it’s being in here, in Glee, knowing that the people in here actually care about you, regardless of wha--who you are.” Blaine replied, tone light and honest as he turned his head back forward, eyelids slipping shut once more.
“Yeah…yeah, maybe.” Kurt answered back quietly, using the moment to look at the boy next to him, really take in as much of Blaine as he could.
He noticed the way the corner of Blaine’s mouth twitched, but said nothing of it as the rest of the New Directions began to pile into the room.
Mr. Schuester got right down to work the moment everyone sat down.
“Alright guys, so, I figured we’d do something small to start off the year. Nothing major, just simple duets.”
There was a murmur throughout the group as people looked across the room at each other, nodding and smiling.
“But,” Mr. Schue continued, “here’s the catch. I’m picking the duet partners this time. And I don’t want a single complaint. We’re family, guys; this shouldn’t be something to fight over.”
Kurt looked around to see some people bitchfacing at Will, but for the most part, they all agreed.
“Okay, so first up. Rachel, you’re with Sam.” Sam looked over to Rachel and smiled who actually, thank the lord, kept her mouth shut and smiled back, almost looking pleased with her partner.
“Finn, you’re with Tina. Quinn, with Artie.”
Mr. Schue paced back and forth in front of them, looking at them all as he tapped his finger against his lips, thinking quietly.
“Santana, you’re with Lauren.”
Both girls eyed each other up and down, but knew better than to start anything. Mr. Schue took their silence as a cue to continue.
“Brittany, you’re with Puck. Mike, with Mercedes and finally, Kurt, you’re with Blaine.”
Kurt looked over at the boy next to him and saw him grinning. Kurt couldn’t help but grin back, Blaine’s smile infectious.
“And here’s the other thing. You guys all have to pick a song that isn’t already a duet. So a song from a solo artist, or a band, as long as it’s predominately one singer. I want you guys to pick a song apart and make it work for two people. You have all of next week to work on it and perform it the week after that.” He clapped his hands and nodded towards the door, “Well, that’s it. I really want you guys to work together and make this great, so I’m giving you all the rest of the period to go out on your own and talk it all over.”
Mumbles and chairs scraping against linoleum quickly filled the room as everyone walked over to their partners to talk about their assignments.
“So,” Blaine started, leaning down to grab his bag off the floor, throwing a strap over his shoulder.
“So,” Kurt replied lightly, doing the same and picking up his bag, dusting it off lightly.
“I was thinkin’, it’s a bit too early to head home, so wanna go somewhere else? Get coffee or something while we go through our iPods and make a song list?”
Kurt looked Blaine over, noting his hopeful expression, the eagerness in his eyes.
“I-I mean, I know you weren’t feeling well before, so it’s totally cool if you just wanna start working tomorrow or whatever, I just thought-”
“Blaine.”
“Yeah?”
“Coffee sounds great.”
Kurt watched the relief spread through Blaine’s face as they both stood and started towards the door.
“Hey, Kurt!”
Kurt and Blaine both turned as Finn walked towards them with Tina.
“Tina’s coming over to think of songs and whatnot. You and Blaine coming too?”
Kurt shook his head and then nodded towards Blaine, “Nah, Blaine and I are going to get coffee while we think of songs.”
“Yeah, I’ll take Kurt home, no worries,” Blaine added, nodding.
“I’ll just see you at home. Tell dad for me?” Kurt asked Finn, adjusting the strap over his shoulder.
“Yeah sure. Later dudes.”
Kurt and Blaine both waved goodbye to Finn and Tina as they walked down the opposite end of the hallway, needing to go to Tina’s locker to pick up a few textbooks.
“Finn said ‘see you at home.’ Is he your brother?”
Kurt just nodded as he followed Blaine out of the school and into the parking lot, deciding to spare him the gory details of Kurt’s epic crush on Finn all of the previous year and how setting up their parents was all part of his plan to win Finn’s heart.
**
Since Blaine was new to Lima, Kurt had taken it upon himself to direct Blaine to The Lima Bean, pretty much the only good place to get coffee in the whole town.
They got their drinks quickly and settled into a table in a back corner, both of them taking out their iPods and notebooks.
“So, does Mr. Schuester have like, certain requirements or restrictions on song choices?” Blaine asked as he swirled sugar into his drink, glancing up at Kurt as he stuck the stirrer into his mouth for a moment to clean it off.
Kurt found himself staring at the other boy’s lips as he sucked the excess coffee off of the drink stirrer before snapping out of it and looking Blaine in the eye.
“Umm, n-no, not really. He’s pretty lenient with song choices. As long as it has something to do with the week’s assignment, he’s cool with it.”
“Cool.” Blaine said with a laugh as he popped the top back onto his cup and took a small sip of his drink, “So any ideas?”
Kurt shrugged as he picked at the cardboard cozy around his cup. “Well, we’ve never heard each other sing, and we probably have totally different tastes in music, so this could take a while.”
Blaine leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow, smirking across the table at Kurt. “How are you so sure we have different tastes in music? For all you know, our iPods could be the exact same.”
Kurt gave him an incredulous look before scoffing, “Please. I know your type. You’re totally one of those brooding singer-songwriter guys. I bet your iPod is nothing but John Mayer, Death Cab and Coldplay.”
Blaine pouted (and okay, really, why was that cute?) but said nothing as he took another sip of his drink.
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Shut up,” Blaine mumbled, grabbing his iPod and thumbing through it.
Kurt smiled to himself as he began to do the same.
“I have an idea,” Blaine said suddenly before reaching out and snagging Kurt’s iPod out of his hand.
“Hey!”
“Shh, this is perfect. Here,” Blaine said, sliding his own iPod across the table and in front of Kurt, “we’ll go through each other’s songs and pick the ones we like. Say… top ten? Then we’ll have twenty songs and we can narrow it down from there.”
“B-but…”
“Oh come on, we’re partners, don’t get all iPod-shy on me, Kurt! What’s the worst you can have? The Spice Girls?”
Kurt mumbled under his breath but then huffed out a sigh, grabbing the bright purple iPod from the table and turning it on.
“I knew it,” he said the second the screen came to life, a Coldplay song on pause. Kurt turned the screen towards Blaine with a satisfied grin before leaning back into his chair and getting comfortable, putting the iPod on Artists and settling in to go through the other boy’s music.
They spent the next hour scrolling through hundreds of songs, commenting every now and then just to tease the other.
“‘The Best of ABBA,’ Kurt, really?”
“Shut up, they’re fantastic and you know it. Don’t even try and pretend like you don’t know every single word to Mamma Mia.”
Blaine just smiled and shrugged.
And then a while after that, “Britney, Christina, Katy. Wow, you really like your bubblegum pop, huh Blaine?”
Blaine had the decency to blush before rolling his eyes. “Look, it’s not about the actual songs as it is about the lyrics. They’re really good!” Blaine shot back, trying to defend his music.
“Yeah, sure, because using animals and candy as euphemisms for sex is truly lyrical prowess.”
It was almost 8PM when they both finally had lists of ten songs each. Some, surprisingly enough, were duplicates.
They went through the lists, crossing off songs they knew either wouldn’t work. “Kurt, no offense, but I don’t think a Sweeney Todd number would go over too well with Mr. Schue.” Or they just wouldn’t do, “I’m not singing a Snow Patrol song, Blaine, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Soon they had a list of about seven songs and they were talking and were talking about how amazing The Beatles were when Blaine’s phone buzzed.
“Shit,” he said to himself when he looked down and saw it was 8:45 at night.
“Everything okay?” Kurt asked, finishing off his second cup of coffee.
“Y-yeah, well… no. Just, I had a curfew of 8:30 and my mom wants to know where I am.”
Kurt nodded, helping Blaine clean up the papers scattered on the table, “I understand. I can walk home, or have my dad get me, it’s no pro-”
“No.”
Kurt looked up from where he was putting his things in his bag, his eyes widening slightly.
“I’m taking you home, Kurt. I brought you here, and I told Finn I’d take you home, so I am.”
“Are you sure? Really, Blaine, it’s fine, I don’t want you to get in trouble for me…”
Blaine rolled his eyes and he grabbed his two empty cups and threw them out, coming back and doing the same with Kurt’s before he had the chance to.
“I’m sure, Kurt. I’m already in trouble anyways. I might as well make it worth it.”
Kurt just rolled his eyes and smiled exasperatedly as he followed Blaine out to his car.
All too soon they were pulling up to the front of Kurt’s house and he was moving to unbuckle his seatbelt, glancing up every few seconds to stare at Blaine.
It was weird. Kurt had only known Blaine for a day but it still felt… wrong to leave his side. They exchanged phone numbers back at the coffee shop, Blaine even took a dorky picture of himself with Kurt’s phone, but to Kurt, it still didn’t feel like it was enough.
“Hey Kurt?”
Kurt looked up fully as he slid the seatbelt over his chest. “Yeah, Blaine?”
Blaine didn’t say anything, his hand hovering in between them for a moment before he dropped it onto the gear shift and looked at the other boy, “I’m just glad Mr. Schue made us partners. I can’t wait to sing with you,” Blaine told him, smiling warmly.
Kurt returned the smile easily. "Yeah, me too. Night, Blaine,” Kurt told him as he got out of the car and walked quickly up the steps.
Blaine didn’t move, waiting until Kurt was safely inside.
“Night, Kurt,” Blaine said aloud quietly before driving off.
**
part 2