Title: Alone
Author: SilverWiiings
Fandom: Glee
Pairing(s): Kurt/Blaine, Rachel/Finn, Mike/Tina, Brittany/Santana
Rating: T
Warnings: brief "language"
Word Count: 1476
Summary: Mr. Schue decides to redo the duets assignment the week that the Glee Club only has thirteen members. Kurt is once again left alone, so he just doesn't show up. No one realizes that Kurt was alone until Mr. Schue asks for Kurt's partner to call him.
Prompt: Blaine has transferred to McKinley. Mr. Schue decides to have another Duets competition and for some reason they are not even pairs this time either (maybe someone is sick or quit or something like that). Kurt assumes he and Blaine will sing together, but Blaine asks someone else because he wants to try to sing with someone he hasn't sung with before (please no cheater!Blaine or intentional jerk!blaine), and once again Kurt finds himself without a partner. Except this time instead of singing by himself he just doesn't show up on the day of the competition. Angst from Kurt because he's once again left out and angst from ND when they realize that he once again made him feel left out.
Bonus: If the members of ND doesn't realize that Kurts without a partner again until the day of the competition when he doesn't show up and Schue asks his partner to call him.
A/N: Prompt from the Glee Angst Meme.
Kurt slipped into the chorus room just five minutes after Glee had started, finding only a seat in the corner of the room, next to Mercedes, available. "I'm sorry I'm late, Mr. Schue. Coach Sylvester wanted to talk to me about rejoining the Cheerios."
"Well, I'm glad you made it, Kurt. We're just getting started," was Mr. Schue's only reply as he picked up a dry-erase marker and started writing on the board.
As soon as Mr. Schue's back was turned, Kurt leaned over to Mercedes and whispered, "Where's Puck? Shouldn't he be here by now?"
Mercedes glanced at Kurt quickly before replying, "He got in a fight during lunch yesterday and was sent back to Juvie; he'll be out in two weeks. Didn't you know?"
Kurt shook his head slowly before turning his attention back to Mr. Schue, who had just finished writing on the board, drawing his arm out with a flourish.
"Alright, guys. This week's assignment is," Mr. Schuester granted a dramatic pause before moving aside to reveal his hasty scrawl, "duets. Now, I know that we've already done this assignment, but so much has changed since then that I think we should give it another go. The song can be whatever you choose. It can be fun, serious, or a declaration of feelings; just make sure that it's school appropriate. Now, I know that I usually leave your pairings to the Hat of Fate, but like the last time, I'm leaving the choice up to you. So, pair up and get to it!" Mr. Schuester finished with a clap before turning his back and walking into his office.
Kurt quickly stood while scanning the faces around him for Blaine, his boyfriend. Once Kurt caught sight on Blaine talking to Quinn on the other side of the choir room, he darted towards him. Wrapping his arms around Blaine, Kurt gave Blaine a peck on the cheek before allowing the latter to turn around in his arms.
"Hey, Baby. How was your day? I didn't get to see you at lunch." Blaine lightly kissed Kurt's lips before Kurt could respond.
"It was pretty good, but it's better now that I'm with you." Kurt blushed, embarrassed by his own words. "So, for the duet, I was thinking that we could do something from Rent. I like the idea of 'Cover You', but I'm not sure if we should do that, or..." Kurt trailed off, noticing Blaine's discomfort. "Baby, what's wrong? We don't have to do Rent if you're uncomfortable, we could always do-"
"Kurt." Blaine cut him off. "It's not that I'm uncomfortable, it's just that I've already agreed to do a duet with Quinn."
Kurt froze. "Oh."
"I'm sorry, Kurt, but I don't really know Quinn that well, and doing this duet would be a great chance to do just that." Blaine's voice sounded guilty. "Plus, don't I always do a duet with you? It'll be expected, and we can always do our own duets together any other time."
Kurt found his own voice, saying, "Oh, yeah, I get it. It's totally fine. I'll just have to find someone else. No big deal." Kurt wandered off, leaving Blaine and Quinn to discuss duet ideas so he could find Mercedes. Surely she would partner with him.
"Sorry, white boy. You know I love you, but I've already partnered with Lauren. We have the perfect song in mind, and I thought you were going to be with Blaine. You'll have to find someone else, boo. Sorry." Mercedes gave one last look at Kurt before walking back towards Lauren.
When Kurt looked back around the room, he found that everyone else had already paired up; Mike with Tina, Rachel with Finn, Sam with Artie, and Santana with Britney, leaving himself all alone.
The bell rang, signaling the end of after-school activities, accompanied by Mr. Schue's shout of, "All right, guys. I'll see you and your duets next Thursday!" before he left for the day. In pairs, the glee club filed out of the room, turning the lights out after them, leaving Kurt all alone in the dark.
It was the next Thursday that the glee club met in the choir room to perform their duets. "Okay, as we know, you were assigned to perform a duet with the partner of your choosing. I'm really excited to see these, guys, and I hope you really put your all into them," Mr. Schue spoke. "Now, who wants to go first?" Almost immediately, Rachel's hand was in the air, and before long she was dragging Finn up to the front to perform yet another love song.
After all of the performances from those who were present, and the last note of Mika's 'Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)' rang throughout the room, courtesy of Mercedes and Lauren, Mr. Schue stood and faced the group.
"Okay, that was a great job, you guys. You rocked that song. Now, we have one duet left, and that would be Kurt's pair," Mr. Schue paused and quickly scanned the room. "Do you guys know where Kurt is? I could've sworn that he was in my class today."
The group looked around briefly before realizing that Kurt was not, in fact, present. There was a brief silence before Finn spoke up. "I don't know, Mr. Schue. I know he was here, 'cause he drove me today, but I didn't see him afterwards."
Mercedes looked away from Finn to Mr. Schue before speaking. "I don't know where he is, but I know my Kurt, and he wouldn't let his partner down by just ditching glee club."
Mr. Schue shut his eyes and sighed, pressing his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. "Well, if he's not here than he can't perform. Whoever Kurt's partner is, could you maybe call him and ask him where he is and if he can come back here?" There was a long silence before Mr. Schue looked back up at the group. "Guys, who was Kurt's partner?" When no one responded, Mr. Schue took a step back. "Guys? Everyone but Kurt is here, right?"
When the club just looked around and nodded, Finn swore. "Shit."
"Finn, language!" Mr. Schue admonished.
Finn merely glanced at Mr. Schue before standing and facing the glee club. "Guys, Kurt didn't have a partner; there weren't enough people because Puck was gone. We made him feel left out again. We've already done this to him once; no wonder he didn't show up this time."
Blaine, listening intently, was shocked by what he heard. "What do you mean, 'already done this to him once'? You mean you've done this before?"
Sam seemed to remember something before responding for the group. "Yeah, when we did duets before Kurt was supposed to be my partner, but Finn was told him not too because he didn't want me to be mocked for singing with the 'gay kid', so Kurt dissolved the partnership and did a duet on his own."
Blaine, though mildly impressed with Kurt's previous duet, was furious. "Finn? You warned off Sam because Kurt's gay? He's your brother! And the fact that not only once, but twice has Mr. Schue given the assignment for duets when there was an odd number of people is terrible! Insulting, even, to know that Kurt's been the one who's been alone both times! If anyone else were to have been alone, you would've noticed and fixed it, damn it! God!" Blaine took a deep breath, calming his self down. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go call my boyfriend and see if he's okay."
Blaine rushed out of the classroom before hitting one on his speed dial. "Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up," he muttered whilst pacing the hallway outside of the choir room. When the phone automatically switched to voice mail, Blaine slammed his fist to the wall. "Damn it." Taking a deep breath, he rushed outside to the parking lot and into his car, heading for the Hummel residence.
A couple of miles away, Kurt was curled up on his bed surrounded by blankets, a wetness on his face that had only one explanation. As he cried, he heard a banging on his front door and Blaine's shouts of "Open up, Kurt! Please! I'm so, so sorry about the duets. Just let me in, please. I feel really bad about this.". After listening for a moment, Kurt abandoned Blaine in favor of soaking his pillow with even more tears, because no matter how good life was, or how great it seemed to get, he would always, always be alone.
Thank you so much for reading this. I do hope that you've enjoyed it. :)
(Oh, and I watched the Glee 3D Movie! Midnight premiere, of course, and I have to say that it was amazing! Watch it if you can, because it is definitely worth your time.)