TITLE: Of Boarding School and Super Powers
RATING: T
WARNINGS: Boy/boy dating, kissing, etc. in later chapters! Super Powers. Occasional curse words.
SUMMARY: Kurt is sent off to Dalton; a school for the unnatural and gifted. But will he be able to cope with still being different and special in a school full of freaks?
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee or the major characters. FOX and Ryan Murpphy do.
(A/N): Okay, so I wrote some of this, but really didn't want to post it. Then, Violethillbeautiful sent me an idea for another story, and we started talking. I asked her about the idea for this story, and ever since then, she has been helping me with ideas and plots and kind of beta-ing and so much more, and I hope she continues to do so! :) Thanks a ton, Violethillbeautiful! You're awesome! ;D
ENJOY!
Chapter 1: New Life
Kurt looked nervously out the window of his Navigator. The giant school loomed before him. In his rearview mirror, he saw his dad's car, which contained his dad, Carole, and Finn. His car was overloaded with boxes and other things.
He gave the sublime school one last overall look before entering the Visitor's parking lot. They all exited the two cars. Kurt still wore a look of nervousness, and as he looked around, he realized each face around him was twisted with slight fear. He didn't know if it was because of him, or because of the fact that they were being forced to leave him here. At Dalton.
Yes, Dalton. The school for the unnatural and gifted. Pretty much one of the only schools of its kind in the United States. And for that reason, the price for Kurt's tuition and boarding fee was extremely steep. Luckily, Burt and Carole were willing to give up their honeymoon savings for him. Either that, or they were too scared of him to have him around the house too often.
Kurt was willing to bet on the latter because, come on, who would want a freak living in their house. Kurt sure wouldn't. The immaculate boy caught a reflection of himself in a window as they walked down the beautifully-designed hallways. On the outside, he didn't look like a freak. He looked like a normal, fashionable, teenage boy.
Kurt couldn't deny it though; he was different. So very different. He had odd powers which hadn't appeared until after his eleventh birthday. Weird things like being able to control people's feelings and being able to make things appear different from what they really were.
"Kurt?" Burt called gently, shaking the pale boy. "Kurt, we're at the office."
Sure enough, when Kurt looked up, the door in front of him was emblazoned with a sign reading 'OFFICE'. He pushed the door open slowly. He had only been here once before.
The kind face of an attractive woman met them from a desk. "Oh, Kurt Hummel. Nice to see you again!" she smiled. Kurt nodded and walked towards her as Finn stood in the doorway.
"Mr. Porter is ready to see you." Mr. Porter was the school's Dean. Like a principal. Kurt knew this, but he had never really met the guy. "He will give you all the information you need."
She stood and motioned to another door. Kurt walked through with the rest of his family. A pleasant looking man looked up from some papers.
"Ah, Kurt Hummel. And you must be Burt Hummel. Now, who is this?" His eyebrows scrunched together as he looked at Finn and Carole.
"I'm Carole, Burt's wife. And this is our son, Finn." Mr. Porter nodded before looking back at Kurt.
"Now, do you know what your power is?" Kurt almost laughed at how quickly the conversation had changed from normal to strange.
"Yes, kind of." Kurt murmured.
"Why don't you show me?" Mr. Porter smiled.
Kurt nodded and picked up a pencil from the desk. Mr. Porter watched along with the others, confused.
Suddenly, with a small smirk, the sharpened pencil convulsed until the yellow color peeled back and disentegrated to reveal a small snake. It slithered around Kurt's hand, weaving between his pale fingers and slipping it's slight tongue out occasionally.
Kurt peeked up at the people around him. Carole looked warily at the snake and Finn looked pretty freaked out. Burt had been dealing with this longer so he just wore a bored look because this was nothing compared to the first time Kurt had discovered his powers, but that was a story for another time.
He focused back on the task at hand.
Kurt locked eyes with Mr. Porter's brown eyes and thought about his own blue ones. With his imagination, he thought about his eyes turning a different, bolder color. He could practically see the blue-green pour from is own eyes, replaced by a color that could easily be described as blood-red.
Just then, the older man's eyes widened. Kurt knew, even without a mirror, that to anyone who looked at him, his eyes would appear red from now on unless he changed them back.
"You're an illusionist," Mr. Porter breathed. "Not too many of those here."
With a flip of his hands and a blink of his eyes, the pencil was back, the snake was gone, and his eyes were the glasz color again.
"Nice to have a label for it," Kurt laughed. "And I can also sort of read and control emotions. Got a name for that?"
"Also?" Mr. Porter echoed. "You're a Hybrid?"
"Isn't that when something's an offspring of two different species?" Kurt asked, confused.
"Yes, but here, we use that for a term of someone with multiple powers. There's only two other Hybrids here at Dalton; Blaine Anderson and Jeff Sterling."
"Oh, okay. So, is there a special term for my other power? Or just an Empath?" Kurt shrugged in question.
"Yes, that's what we call people who have the power of Empathy. Empaths. Simple as that. Now, let me see your hand." Mr. Porter grabbed at Kurt's hand.
"What for?"
"I'm a type of Senser. I sense and reveal peoples' powers. I'm just making sure that you're actually an Empath, not actually some weird version of a Te-" He stopped himself abruptly, staring at Kurts hands.
"Wow. This is very, very strange."
"What?" Kurt asked, his brow creasing with slight worry.
"You have more than two powers. You have four."
"What?" Burt repeated, disbelieving.
"Dude." That's all Finn could say, of course.
"Mr. Hummel, your son is not only is a Hybrid, but he's got twice the amount of powers that normal Hybrids do."
"Great. So even in a place full of freaks, I'm still different. Perfect," Kurt sighed. "So what are these so called 'extra powers'?" Kurt's jaw tightened in annoyance as he pursed his lips and rested his hand on his hip in a very diva-like fashion.
"You're not only an Illusionist and and Empath, but you're also a Screamer and a slight Stealer!" Mr. Porter clapped- actually clapped- in delight. "This is very exciting! I've never ever heard of a story like this."
He mumbled something about speaking to a few people of- as he put- 'higher ranking'.
"Those gifts don't sound very pleasant," Kurt frowned. "What are they?"
"A screamer is- well, do you like to sing, Kurt?"
"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"And can you sing abnormally high, Kurt?"
"Yeah, I guess," Kurt bit his lip nervously, afraid of where this was going.
"Sing the highest note you can," Mr. Porter ordered.
"Now?"
"Just do it," Mr. Porter urged impatiently.
So Kurt looked around and opened his mouth, hitting that high F that he had been denied the glory of singing last year. Everyone gaped.
Kurt held the note out. "Now, sing higher." Mr. Porter grinned excitedly like a small child on Christmas morning.
Kurt frowned ever so slightly, but tried even harder, ordering his voice not to crack in his head.
To his immense happiness, his note rose higher and higher, easily slipping from one to the next. Suddenly, Carole shrieked. That's when Kurt noticed that his family and Mr. Porter were all covering their ears with pained expressions gracing their faces.
He stopped singing at once. "What's wrong?" He asked, looking at the hurt, scrunched-up expressions. The Dean smiled quickly.
"You're a Screamer. When you sing high enough, the frequency of your voice gets higher and higher until normal ears cannot handle it. Sing- well, scream- high enough and someone's ears will actually begin to bleed. Along with everything else; eyes, ears, nose, mouth. Screamers usually use their power as self-defense."
Kurt's eyes widened. "I didn't hurt any of you, did I?" They shook their heads.
Kurt quickly looked to Mr. Porter, slightly afraid. "Wh-what is a Stealer?"
"It's just pretty much the power of power absorbption. You can steal other people's power for a very short amount of time. Usually, the stronger you are, the longer you can harness the power. Isn't that amazing?" Mr. Porter smiled again.
"Doesn't that leave them powerless, though?" Truthfully, it sounded kind of cruel to steal a person's power for yourself, leaving them with nothing.
"Well, you're only a slight Stealer. You steal their power for yourself, but they're left with the same amount of power as you take, so it can't really be used as the self-defense of them being powerless against you. Your version seems like something that is just for the experience of other powers."
"Oh."
"Yes, you are very special. I cannot wait to see what your powers are like after Dalton has given you all it has to offer. Speaking of Dalton, we should get back to the subject of your schooling. You're boarding here, right?"
And we're back to normal.
"Yes," Burt answered for him.
"Okay, well, you'll actually be rooming by yourself, because you registered a little late."
"That's fine with me." Kurt smiled to himself.
For the next hour, they spoke of Kurt's upcoming school year plans, Dalton's rules ("No using your powers for innappropriate uses such as sneaking out or cheating in class or sports. No girls in dorm rooms. No sneaking out past curfew. No alcohol. No breaking uniform."), and Kurt's expectations. Kurt was happy to find out that he, in fact, could keep his Navigator here for weekends.
Then, Mr. Porter brought up the Warblers. He said that he knew they were looking for a countertenor. Kurt eagerly agreed to try out and Mr. Porter agreed to talk the Senior Head Warblers.
Finally, Mr. Porter stood, gave Kurt his dorm key, class schedule (which included both normal and abnormal classes), and a small map of the campus and buildings. At Kurt's departure, Mr. Porter pulled him away from his family.
"Kurt, I understand that this must be tough for you; this sudden switch from normal to odd. If you need to talk to anyone, and you don't feel like you can talk to your parents, you can always come to me. My goal as Dean is to be kind of like an extra father to all of my students." He smiled and set a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "Or I know that many of the students are known to mentors."
"Thank you, Mr. Porter," Kurt smiled.
"No problem, Kurt."
"Seeya, Kiddo," Burt hugged Kurt quickly.
"Bye, Dad," Kurt mumbled, blinking back tears. He murmured similar things to Carole and Finn and watched as they drove off. He kept his gaze on the car until it disappeared around a curve.
He let a few tears slip down, not worried about anyone seeing him in such a pathetic state because the other students were in class. He had gotten the day off to unpack and get settled but he'd have to attend tomorrow. He also had Warbler auditions sometime soon. That is, if he'll be allowed.
Kurt turned back and headed to his dorm, taking in the towers of boxes. He sat on one of the two abnormally large beds and grabbed a box marked 'CLOTHES'. Sighing, he realized that the only time he'd need his lovely clothes was on the weekends. Though now, at an all boys school, maybe he could actually try to impress someone.
Kurt shook his head and lifted the first jacket out, frowning at the few wrinkles. He stood and grabbed his hangers, also looking for the closet. Spotting a door, he pulled it open. Sure enough, there was a closet. And inside the closet hung the most hideous clothes Kurt had ever seen (excluding Rachel Berry's normal attire).
Kurt picked up the blazer and frowned. He absolutely hated suits and blazers. And he really hated khakis.
But apparently, an ugly uniform is the price to pay to attend such a 'grand' private school. Well, that, and the tuition fee, of course...
Kurt sighed and turned back to his multiple boxes of clothes. Picking up the bundle of hangers, he set to work hanging them up.
OoOoOoO
It didn't take as long to put the clothes on the plastic hangers as Kurt thought it would. The problem was actually fitting all the clothes into the closet. That took some time and major effort.
He had mulled over the fact that he simply could have taken the second closet that belonged to the empty bed on the opposite side of the large room, but then again, what if someone did have to room with him? He didn't want to look like a snarky diva who only cared about looks. Even if that was kind of true.
Anyways, in the end, he only used the single closet.
Kurt stepped back and huffed both tiredly and happily, surveying the stuffed closet. He turned to the barren bed as his iPhone beeped with a message.
Mercedes.
Kurt's face broke into a grin. He picked up the phone and didn't even read the message. He just called Mercedes, all the while knowing she was in the middle of glee practice.
It rung only once before someone picked up, except it wasn't his best friend who answered.
"Hey, Hummel! Wassup?" Puck asked, laughing quietly at Mercedes as she attempted to grab at the phone. In the backround, Kurt heard various voices saying things like "Hey, Kurt!" One voice- obviously Brittany- asked where her dolphin was.
"Hey, Noah! And nothing at all," Kurt sighed. "Now, give the phone to Mercedes or I'll go back to McKinley only to castrate you with a spoon and make you eat it."
"Fine! Fine! No need to be harsh." Kurt could hear some movement.
"Puckerman, I swear to God, if you throw my phone!"
Then, a whoosh of air sounded before a shriek from Mercedes.
"So you throw my phone! I hate you. Hey, Kurt! We all miss you already! How are you likin' it at Dalton? See any hotties yet?"
Puck laughed. "Knowing Hummel, he's fucked nearly ninety percent of the Dalton student body already."
"Wanky," Santana purred.
"Shut up, Noah! If you haven't noticed, you've talked way too much in this conversation, so shut up," Kurt still blushed at his words. "'Cedes, why do you have me on speaker phone? And aren't you guys in glee practice?"
"Everyone wanted to talk to you, that's why. And Mr. Schue is late again. I have an odd feeling he's with Ms. Pillsbury. But that's only my opinion."
"Actually, Mercedes, Mr. Schuester called in sick before glee. Apparently, Principal Figgins was too cheap to get a substitute. Now, you need to hang up so we can get back to practicing."
Kurt rolled his eyes at Rachel's annoying orders, but he had to admit: he'd miss her insanity.
Really, he'd miss all their insanity, humor, and , not so much of the last one...
Before Mercedes could threat Rachel, Kurt sighed. "Actually, I have to go anyways. Gotta unpack."
"M'kay! Text me!" A chorus of 'Me too!' flooded through the phone.
"Will do!" Kurt laughed, hanging up. He set the phone down, looking around sadly.
So, this was his new life. Boarding school and superpowers.
"Oh, joy," Kurt sarcastically muttered to the empty room.
He turned back to the pleathora of cardboard boxes and began unpacking.
Three hours later, an exghausted Kurt looked around, pleased. His half of the dorm room was decorated fashionably. It was simple, but chic. The room was based off of different tones of cream, off-white, slate and sand.
Truthfully, it just looked like a smaller, altered version of his old room.
Then, he glanced at the other half of the room. It just kind of looked pathetically naked compared to his half.
Kurt took in the large pile of empty cardboard boxes. He sat down and started breaking them down and unfolding them. There was a dumpster outside. He had seen it as he had driven his Navigator to the Student Parking.
He picked up the large pile of caved-in boxes before shuffling out of his dorm room. He pushed open the door going to the stairs with his hip.
Scrambling down the two flights of stairs, Kurt heard a few voices. The sounded like they were heading up the stairs, but Kurt couldn't see past the cardboard in his arms. School must be out.
Suddenly, Kurt couldn't hear the voices anymore, but a pair of hands brushed against his, taking about half of the pile.
"Here, let us help you with that." A voice offered, sounding kind and gentle.
"David, take some from Blaine's arms. Knowing him and his lack of ability to walk like a normal person, he'll end up flying down the stairs." This voice was slightly higher.
"Well, at least he could heal himself." A couple of laughs followed. So, his power was a Healer?
Another set of hands grabbed some boxes and Kurt could finally see the people.
There was a short, dark haired boy with quite prominent eyebrows. His eyes held amused annoyance as a taller boy with a shaved head and lovely mocha-colored skin took most of the boxes from his arms. On the other side of the shorter boy was an older looking boy who appeared to be of asian-american decent. He looked at Kurt with a smile.
"Hi! My name is Wesley Montgomery. Or just Wes."
"And I'm David Thompson." The tallest one attempted a handshake, but quickly realized it was impossible due to the boxes in his arms.
The last one smiled warmly at Kurt. "I'm Blaine Anderson, and you are?" Blaine Anderson. Where had he heard that?
Kurt smiled thankfully to the three. "I'm Kurt Hummel."
"Nice to meet you. Now, why don't we get these boxes down to the dumpster?" The short one- er, Blaine- turned to walk down the steps.
"Ugh, Blaine," Wes cried theatrically. "Can't you just use your powers to make these float to the dumpster or something?"
"No, I cannot use my powers to be lazy. You know that Mr. Porter said it's highly frowned upon."
"Wait, I thought he was a Healer?" The words were out of Kurt's mouth before he could stop himself. "I mean- uh, I meant that-" He groaned giving up, shaking his head in an apology.
"It's fine," Blaine laughed. "I'm a Hybrid. Healer and Mover."
Oh yeah! Kurt remembered Mr. Porter mentioning Blaine earlier.
"Cool. If you don't mind me asking, what are your guys' gifts?" Kurt looked between Wes and David as they finally stepped outside, heading towards the dumpster.
"Oh, I'm a Tessan," Wes offered as he raised his hand after they all had discarded the boxes in the dumpster.
"Huh?" Kurt asked confused. "What's that?"
"It pretty much means that I can control someone with my mind. You know, mind control?"
Kurt's eyes widened as he looked at Wes, who faked an evil laugh.
"Don't worry. I have to make eye contact with you- which I just did, by the way- but I don't really use it if I don't have to. Unless I really want to. Like this!"
Suddenly, Wes turned to Blaine, laughing again. Wes looked into Blaine's eyes before Blaine could do anything.
"Blaine, you want to slap yourself." Wes ordered in a soothing voice as David chuckled. Kurt watched as Blaine's eyes glazed over.
The short boy lifted his hand and slapped himself. And he slapped himself pretty hard, too.
The next thing Kurt knew, Wes broke eye contact with Blaine and hunched over himself, laughing.
"God! That never gets old!" David let out a hearty laugh.
"Whoa, what just happened?" Blaine rubbed his cheek and winced. "Seriously, Wes? Again?"
After the initial worry passed, Kurt laughed a little bit.
"Anyways, that's what I am," Wes finished.
"I'm a major Empath. Like, I can control the emotions and feelings of large groups for a long period of time."
"Oh! I'm an Empath, too! I'm not really good at it, though." Kurt rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"That's okay. Dalton had these types of classes that teach you to harness your complete self-power and control it well."
"That's really good, because I apparently have a few powers I never knew about," Kurt groaned.
"What?" Blaine asked.
Kurt looked around the small group as they walked back to the building. They seemed like potential friends. Did he really want to ruin it by seeming like a freak? They'd have to learn eventually though, and Kurt could just feel that all three of these boys were trustworthy and non-judgemental.
"Well, I came here thinking that I was only an Empath and a- what did Mr. Porter call it? Oh! An Illusionist," Kurt began.
"Whoa, you're a Hybrid, too?" Wes asked, looking at Kurt oddly.
"Well, yeah, but when I got here, Mr. Porter was sensing my powers or something, and he said that I was actually a Screamer and a Partial Stealer."
David looked immensely interested, as did Blaine and Wes. "Wait. So you're a Screamer and a Stealer? I thought you were an Empath and an Illusionist?"
"I'm all four," Kurt admitted, looking at the hallway's clean floor as they headed back to his dorm.
Blaine murmured something while staring at Kurt.
"Can you show us? All your powers?" David begged.
"Uh, well I could try. But how do I show you the whole 'Empath' thing?"
"Oh, you don't have to do that. We've seen David do it enough," Wes smiled.
"Do the Illusions first!" Blaine smiled.
"Okay?" Kurt just aimed for something easy. He looked at his simple and- in Kurt's view- disgusting outfit of loose jeans and a plain T-shirt before imagining another outfit in his mind.
His mind shuffled through his many clothes and finally settled on his tightest pair of white skinny jeans with a light blue button-up with the sleeves rolled up. Just for the heck of it, he added a slim belt and a bow-tie.
He focused on that outfit instead of the one he had on right now.
Then, "Whoa." Kurt opened his eyes and found three sets of wide eyes on him.
He looked down at himself and found the outfit he imagined.
For no reason, he smiled and told them to watch his eyes. Without much thought, he switched their color from blue-green, to red to orange, and then down the colors of the rainbow, causing some different comments. Mostly just 'ooh' and 'ah'.
When Kurt blinked, his eyes went back to normal. He straightened up, and his clothes went back to the looser jean and T-shirt.
"That's epic," David breathed.
"It's just me being an Illusionist," Kurt laughed. "Nothing special."
"Okay, okay. Next gift. Do the Scream thing." Wes grinned, excited.
"Well, that doesn't sound weird," Kurt retorted. "This might hurt a bit."
Then, nervously he went for his normal high note, and the three became awestruck.
He smirked slightly, raising his note effortlessly again, not limiting himself. He noticed the others' face distorting in slight pain, and they began covering their ears. Kurt let the note go a tiny bit higher before stopping.
"Dude, that was- whoa!" Wes laughed. "It was awesome. Painful? Yeah, but that's beside the point. The point is that it was cool!"
"Okay?" Kurt lifted an eyebrow.
"Next gift!" David urged.
Kurt blushed. "I don't really know how Stealing works. I never knew I had the power before today."
"Hmm... I remember Brandon- he was a senior here last year- saying that it had a lot to do with your mind, and focusing. Like, you imagine as the other person's power as a type of light. Then, you imagine the light being pulled from them and absorbing into you. And it takes focus," David offered.
"I-I can try," Kurt frowned.
He shut his eyes and imagined Wes. Except, Wes was now shining extremely brightly, almost blindingly. Kurt saw himself in his mind, too. He stood there calmly focusing on Wes, watching as the light shifted, pulling slowly from the Wes in his mind to himself. As it reached his skin he felt an amazing joly of excess energy and power.
When the light was evenly split between them, the ribbon connecting Wes' power from him to Kurt snapped quickly. Kurt opened his eyes to find a distraught Wes.
"Dude, it feels like part of me is just... gone," he frowned. "It- it just feels really depressing for some reason. You know, like that feeling you get when you find out your favorite love song was written about a sandwich? Yeah, that sad feeling."
Kurt breathed and looked Wes in the eye, focusing quickly, realizing Wes still had some power, and he could probably turn it around and control Kurt.
You'll listen to me, Wes.
Kurt chanted this internally, still loving the new feeling, but Kurt could already feel it draining away sightly.
They watched as Wes' eyes glazed over, no feeling left in them. Kurt bit back a smile.
"Wes, you will slap yourself."
And quickly after that, Wes did as told. Blaine was the first to erupt into laughter.
Kurt focused and used his imagination to see all the extra light in Kurt returning to Wes.
Wes shook his head. "Did you seriously just make me slap myself?" Wes rubbed his cheek. "Ow. But I feel whole again," he smiled.
But Kurt frowned. He felt weird, as if he hadn't wanted to let go of the extra power. Oh well.
"You got what you dished out," Kurt smiled at Wes.
"No, but really, Kurt. It's amazing how gifted you are," Blaine turned serious.
That's when Kurt realized that they were at his room. "You guys wanna hang out a little more?"
They went into Kurt's well-decorated room and the others looked around.
"This looks awesome," Blaine added randomly.
"We would, but unlike you, we had class today. Which means we have homework. Maybe tomorrow?" Wes shrugged in question.
"Sure," Kurt agreed.
They said their goodbyes and left.
Kurt flopped onto his neatly made bed, checking his phone. He decided to choose an outfit for his first day at Dalton, but sadly remembered that he had to follow the Uniform and Dress Code.
He fell back onto the bed, and looked up at the ceiling.
Wes, David, and Blaine all seemed really nice. They were also the closest thing to friends he had here. But they were accepting of him. And it didn't hurt that they were all interesting and funny in their own way. Maybe Kurt could fit in?
And Kurt could also look forward to possibly joining the Warblers. That would be amazing.
Maybe attending Dalton wouldn't be as bad as he thought.
(A/N)- What do you think? :)