A/N- Because the other Faberry story I'm working on is angsty as hell, here's something happier. College AU from Kurt's pov as he figure out how to be alright in his sexuality as observing the one and only Quinn Fabray. (title from same song as the following quote)
White sheets, bright lights, crooked teeth, and the night life.
You told me this is right where it begins.
But your lips hang heavy underneath me.
And I promised myself I wouldn't let you complete me.
- 'Is There Somewhere', Halsey
Kurt is a freshman in college, after months of applications and tough deliberation, he's picked the perfect ivy league on the East coast, and packed his bags as soon as he could. Now, school is starting, and he's ready to make himself a new life here.
He hefts his suitcase through the entryway of his new dorm, marveling in the century old building he will be living in for the next year. His father is outside wrangling the rest of his luggage while he gets the key and finds his room.
In the entryway is a long wood table with a few students milling about in bright blue t shirts. Kurt shakes his short hair out, squares his shoulders, and marches with all the confidence possible towards the table. As he draws near, he is halted in his tracks when a tall blonde turns around.
The woman smiles at Kurt, her impossibly bright hazel eyes skim up and down the boy in seconds as a slow smile crawls across her face. Kurt is very sure of his sexuality (has been since he tried to steal his mother's high heeled shoes in the third grade- not that he's had the confidence to do anything about it yet), but for just a half second, he questions himself.
"First year?" The woman asks. Her voice is deep and husky, and rolls down Kurt's spine deliciously.
"Yeah." Kurt hardly manages to breathe out.
"What's your name?"
"Kurt Hummel."
The woman turns her back on Kurt once more, giving the brunette an opportunity to get a grip over himself, "Hummel, Hummel." The woman mutters, fingering through a box on the table before coming up triumphantly after a moment, "Kurt Hummel! Fifth floor, room 432."
She hands Kurt over a yellow envelope containing his key, "Your RA is Santana."
The blonde says, looking over her shoulder to point out the other woman before stopping short to shoot a quick glare at a tall Latina sitting on the heavy wooden bench with her feet thrown up on the table. She has headphones in and is typing intently on her cellphone.
"Lopez!" The blonde calls, smacking the Latina's sandalled feet.
The woman shoots upright with a glare, pulling her earbuds out, "The fuck has your panties in a twist, Q-ball?"
Kurt watches the interaction with interest. The blonde narrows her eyes, "This is Kurt, he's one of the first years on your floor, maybe you want to go show him up?"
"Whatever you say Madam President." The brunette- Santana- shoots of a weak two fingered salute before sauntering away down the hall. Kurt follows to the elevator where Santana stabs the button and waits impatiently.
Santana taps her foot while they wait, Kurt decides to test his RA, "So, you're a junior?"
"Senior."
"Right."
The rest of the ride up to the fifth floor is quiet as Santana sizes up Kurt. She seems to come to some sort of conclusion when she nods and faces forwards again. When they arrive, Kurt follows Santana out of the elevator, stopping at the third room.
"Well, this is you. I'm right across the hall." Santana points at a wooden door decorated minimalistically with a sign reading, 'Where be that bitch?' on the cork board with the options to inform the public of 'that bitch' being either 'home, away, asleep, or the fuck out of here'.
"Your room is an awkward space so you'll probably have to rearrange the furniture. If you need me, I'll be downstairs. Try not to need me."
On that note, Kurt begins the process of setting up his dorm room.
…
That day, Kurt finds out just how fiery his RA is when she huffs her way through greeting the rest of her residents, goodness only knows how she got her job in the first place. On one of Kurt's final trips, he was struggling to get a large trunk into the elevator when a shorter brunette popped seemingly out of midair.
The shorter woman was wearing a bright blue shirt that let Kurt know she was a student leader helping with orientation, "Need a hand?" She asks brightly, not waiting for a reply before she grabs one end of the trunk from Kurt, and helping him pivot the large case into the elevator.
"Thanks." Kurt says as he presses the button for the fifth floor.
"It's nothing." The woman dismisses, "I'm Rachel by the way!"
Kurt smiles and introduces himself before asking, "Are you an RA in this building?"
"Oh, no." Rachel gets the smallest smirk before explaining, "I was just coming over to visit Green Hall. I actually live just across the quad in Adams Tower, I'm the RA of their third floor."
The elevator dings and lets the women out, Rachel takes her end of the trunk and leads the way down the hall, "Which one is yours?"
"Just here." Kurt inclines his head. Rachel pauses and together, they manage to shove the trunk through the doorway. From there, the older brunette excuses herself, and Kurt finishes arranging some things before heading downstairs to say goodbye.
He hugs his father. Their relationship has never been easy especially since his mother died, but Kurt swears he sees his father's eyes shining with tears when he claps him on his back and tells him to make him proud. It's all Kurt's been trying to do ever since he knew how, it's why he is still barricading himself in the closet as deeply as he can- he can't disappoint his father.
When Kurt walks back through the door of Green Hall, he sees Santana with her feet thrown up on the table once again, though the beautiful blonde seems not to notice as she's absorbed in a conversation with Rachel.
…
It takes a full day for Kurt to learn the blonde's name.
It's the first all hall meeting, and Kurt is squished on a couch between a girl in the room next to his named Mercedes, and a stuttering girl named Tina.
All of the freshmen and the student leaders are sitting in a circle in the living room of Green Hall, everyone waiting for something. That something arrives in a flurry of blonde hair and a deep, raspy voice, "I'm so sorry to keep you all waiting."
The woman falls gracefully into a chair just across the circle from Kurt. She brushes her hair off her face, and instantly composes herself, "My name is Quinn Fabray, and I am the house president of Green Hall this year."
Kurt didn't hear anything further as he was lost in the perfection of the slope of Quinn's neck. It figured that the flawless woman would have such an elegant name.
…
Kurt lives on the fifth floor of his building. It's the room closest to the stairs, it's got a small bathroom next to it with one stall, and way at the other end of the floor is the larger one and a kitchen.
The first week Kurt walks all the way down the hall to try and get hot water for his tea, only to find the hot water tap is broken. From that evening on, he learns to go down to the fourth floor and get hot water from them. As such, every night, Kurt walks past Quinn's room on his way down to get water for his tea. Most nights the president's door is shut firmly. Except for the one night it's cracked the tiniest bit.
Kurt can feel the heat radiating out from the single room when he's still a few paces away, not to mention he can hear the loud tell tale sign of a room being filled to the brim with college students. Kurt steps into the kitchen to fill his mug, and when he emerges, his eyes lock onto a certain blonde.
Quinn is leaning against the wall opposite her door, her hair is in a messy pony tail, the sides slicked down slightly with sweat, she is holding a red solo cup in one hand and fanning herself off with the other.
She smiles kindly at Kurt, "How's your first week been treating you?"
"Pretty well, I think I've finally gotten the hang of getting around campus." He doesn't know what it is, but something about the blonde just puts him at ease. He can breathe in her presence without being afraid of saying something wrong.
Quinn nods, "That was a struggle when I first came here too." She opens her mouth to say something further, but she is cut off by the door to her room bursting open and Santana poking her head out. Kurt shouldn't be too surprised seeing as he passed his RA's door on the way down and saw the pin announcing she was 'away'.
"There you are, bitch. I thought you'd gone missing!"
Quinn rolls her eyes, "Like I would leave you brats alone in my room."
The Latina flips Quinn the bird before turning to the mass of people in the dorm room, and raising her red cup high in the air, "A toast, to our president!" She announces with a haughty smirk.
The student's packed in the dorm room echos 'to our president' and Quinn rolls her eyes.
"Only like five of them actually live in this building, you realize that right?"
Santana merely shrugs, "Semantics. Your ball and chain is looking for you."
What comes out of Quinn's mouth next keeps Kurt up practically all night gossiping with his neighbor Mercedes while he recounts the blonde's exact words over and over.
"How many times have I told you not to call her that." Quinn sighs exasperatedly.
Her.
The word catches in Kurt's brain and he is initially convinced it must have been a mistake, he heard wrong and Quinn really told Santana not to call 'him' that because Quinn must have a boyfriend, not a girlfriend.
Quinn is beautiful and perfect, she's on student government, she's in charge of the residence hall, she's well liked and successful, she can't be gay. Can she? He has no frame of reference for this, the only out people he's come across are the outcasts from high school.
He is so caught up on trying to convince himself of this that he misses the next words exchanged between the two women, and only snaps back to reality when he sees Rachel pulling Quinn back into the packed room. Quinn waves over her shoulder at Kurt one last time before disappearing into the mass of bodies. The door swings shut, caught cracked open slightly by a sideways doorstop against the jamb.