Pretty Painted Porcelain Grins
Five Times Somebody Sees Kurt Smile and Thinks it's Sad or Weird, and One Time Somebody Just Smiles With Him
AN/ Okay, so I wrote this for the glee_angst_meme. I wrote it in like half an hour for a more relaxed reason, and I was only going to post it on the meme before I realized that it had exceeded the character limit, so...yeah.
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1. Will Schuester
Kurt never smiles. Will is perfectly aware of this, and has been aware of it ever since he saw the boy for the first time, Freshman year. He's not a sweet boy, really, all sharp edges, but sometimes when Will sees him eating alone at a table, everybody around him ignoring him, it honestly hurts.
After the boy auditions for glee club, he's happy because...well, he's glad that Kurt's good and that he's doing something that might get him friends for the first time.
"Great job, Kurt!" He gives the boy a congratulatory smile. "You're in!"
The boy is surprised, and raises a finely manicured eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah, definitely. You deserve a place in here."
Just like that, Kurt's face breaks out into one of the sunniest smiles he's ever seen, and unlike every other time Will's seen him smile, it doesn't just end right after he cracks it. It stays on even as he walks off the stage.
The sixteen year old has a nice smile, and suddenly, through his happiness, a pang of sadness hits Will, because that's when he realizes that Kurt could be a sweet boy if anybody ever gave him reason to be.
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2. Mercedes Jones
Mercedes adores Kurt, even after he kind of really hurts her, because she knows he didn't mean it, and it's not her place to force feelings on him that he can't give back.
They go shopping one day, and when they're in the food court and Kurt is picking at his greasy food, he suddenly says, "This is really nice." And he smiles.
A nice smile, a lazy smile that spreads across his face and just stays there, quietly happy. And Mercedes knows she should be just as happy as him, but she just feels like hell--because she's never seen him smile like that before, and has an aching feeling that he might not have had a reason to.
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3. Finn Hudson
Finn likes the way Kurt smiles when he sings a ballad. It's a smile with teeth and everything, but it's weird because he's never seen Kurt smile like that before.
Then he sees Kurt sing "I Honestly Love You", not ever making eye contact with him in the front row, his voice is pretty and Finn is reminded of Quinn, but the way that he smiles his shiny smile through the whole thing gives Finn a sort of weird sad feeling.
Because even if Kurt may honestly love someone, what are the odds they'll love him back?
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4. Quinn Fabray
She lets him hold the baby first because he's been so helpful, with money and all that, and the way that he looks at her little girl, suddenly smiling and smiling and not even stopping, opening a window into himself she's never seen before, suddenly hits her hard, and she's crying harder than she did when her baby was born.
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5. Rachel Berry
She's more talented than him, and she readily admits it, but even she can't be more than just a little angry when Mr. Schue gives him "Bridge Over Troubled Water" because the way he beams at his first solo doesn't help make her angry at all. In fact, the strangeness of it gives her a soft melancholic feeling, because she wonders why somebody would hide such an award-winning smile so often. She certainly wouldn't.
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6. Noah Puckerman
Geez, people with people feelings. It's messy, really, feelings and stuff, and he's never felt bad about things before, but he feels a kind of twisty feeling in his stomach while Kurt cries, sitting in the middle of the auditorium.
He doesn't know why, but thinks it might have to do with those hockey guys and that big bruise on Hummel's cheek.
"Hey," he strides into the dark auditorium and takes a seat next to the guy, legs spread out in a manly way. "What's up, man? Was it one of those hockey bitches, 'cause I'll kick their asses if ya want."
"I'd rather you didn't, Puckerman. Why are you even talking to me?"
"Ya might be a fairy, but you're kinda one of the team, man, and I feel like getting some adrenaline pumping." He actually doesn't, today, he's just really tired, that's why his anger hasn't manifested outwardly other than a steely glint in his eyes.
The smaller boy wipes away his tears violently. "It's nothing. I don't want you to hit anyone."
"'Kay, man." But when Kurt starts to shake a little as he cradles his hand, which is a sick mix of purplish and red, Puck suddenly get angry. "What the fuck, I'm kicking their asses."
He takes down half of the hockey team and scares Karofsky into never fucking hitting Kurt again, understand? and only leaves with a good shiner.
It's so badass, and he likes the way the Cheerios admire it, but during glee, it's the way Kurt's smiling this giant grin that kind of makes it worth it (which is the girliest thing he's ever thought and he'd never admit it). He makes eye contact with the other boy and realizes this is the first time he's seen him smile this long and damn if it isn't the first time he's made Kurt smile, so he decides to go with it and just smiles back.