I've needed this song to be done on Glee for a while now, so I wrote it myself. Cameo from a long-lost season three character!
This is the worst fucking idea NYADA has ever had, and that includes rejecting me the first time, Kurt thought to himself as he woke up at six-thirty in the freaking morning on a late August Monday morning. It was NYADA Freshman Orientation Day, and the board of deans at school had decided that since there was an equal amount of freshmen and sophomores that year, each newbie would get an older student assigned to them as tour guide/mentor/etc for the first semester. Kurt almost considered dropping out of school when he heard this news, but he didn't want to give his dad another heart attack.
Damn Dad and his health issues, he grumbled mentally as he hopped into the shower before Rachel could steal all the hot water. While he soaped up and rinsed off, he consoled himself by thinking that there was a chance he could at least get Blaine as his mentee and use their tour time and planned tutoring/mentoring/whatever the hell else sessions as, um, tension relievers.
Of course the universe wasn't in his favor that day.
"Oh my God, no way!" Rachel squealed after she opened the packet containing her freshman's name and info. "I got Blaine!"
Kurt scowled into his to-go cup of coffee. "Of course you did. Who did I even- oh, no. Not possible. This coffee must have been spiked by that homeless guy I bumped into on the stairs down to the subway because I have got to be hallucinating this."
"What? Who is it? Is it Sebastian, is he transferring?" Rachel spat out a series of questions, pawing at Kurt's arm to make him lower his paper so she could see the name and headshot on it.
"No, Rach, if it was that rat bastard I'd hurl myself off the Brooklyn Bridge. It's the Gerber baby." The disbelief in Kurt's voice during those last two words could turn the Pope into an atheist. He grabbed Rachel's wrists and lowered them back to her sides.
"No!"
"Yes! I thought she was only a sophomore two years ago, what gives? Oh, wait, her info sheet says she took summer classes and graduated a year early so she 'wouldn't peak while still in obscurity.' Pretentious." Kurt crumpled the ends of his packet a bit before closing the folder and almost hurling it onto the bench they were nearing, collapsing next to it before nursing down the rest of his coffee. He could just tell it was going to be a long day.
"Hey, guys! Rach, they told me you're my mentor! How cool is this?" Blaine greeted them effusively as he walked up, smile on his face and festive drama mask-print bow tie around his neck. Of course he was ten minutes early, he was such an overachiever. "Baby, is something wrong?" He knelt down in front of Kurt, angling slightly to look right into Kurt's eyes.
"Look who my mentee is, Blaine, and then ask me if something's wrong," Kurt responded resignedly, shoving the folder toward Blaine's hands. Blaine opened the folder and read silently, mouth forming the name "Harmony Belle" unconsciously as he tried to remember who that was.
"Wait, the girl from the Unitards at Regionals two years ago? Wow, small world," he said after his brain finally clicked into gear.
"Too small of a world, B. God, she was so unnaturally perky at that mixer, like a Stepford Thespian. If I have any luck at all, she'll have mellowed out some by now." Kurt almost kicked himself after saying that. He didn't want to jinx himself!
"I'm sure it'll be fine, Kurt. At least you know your duet will sound amazing!" Blaine tried to console Kurt, but it only half-worked.
"Oh God, I forgot we have to sing a duet with our mentee at the end of the day. Hopefully she's less of a spotlight hog than you, Rach," Kurt said with a smirk.
Rachel smacked him on the arm, and it actually stung a bit. She must have gone back to Sue90X without him over the summer. "Hey! I am not a spotlight hog! I am a diva, and I deserve my stage."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, hon."
Suddenly, a voice broke into their conversation. "Are you Kurt Hummel? Wait, do I know you from somewhere?" Harmony had arrived. She must wear red like Rachel used gold stars, because she had on a red blouse and matching red lipstick, and her backpack had little red apples all over it.
"Hi, yes, I'm Kurt. We actually met at a mixer two years ago back in Ohio. I was in the New Directions?" He stuck out his hand for a shake, hoping name-dropping the New Directions would jog her memory.
"Oh my God, yeah, you guys went onto Nationals after beating us that year! I can't believe you're my mentor, you must know so much about musical theatre if you could win over La Tibideaux midway through the year!" Harmony looked like she was about to launch into a monologue while pumping away at his hand, so Kurt quickly cut her off with a distraction while extricating his hand from her clutches.
"You never know, it could've been my dashing good looks," he teased, adding a jaunty wink at the end. "Do you mind if we do most of our activities with Rachel and Blaine? Obviously we'd rehearse in private, but Rachel and I talked beforehand and thought we'd do better giving the tour and dispensing advice as a team," Kurt bluffed, hoping Rachel would take the hint. Thankfully, she did.
"Oh, yeah, we figured that two mentors were better than one, right?" she added on cheerfully, not missing a beat. "As long as both of you are okay with it, though."
"I'd be totally okay with that," Blaine said, smiling over at Kurt. "How about you, uh-?" he cut off there, realizing he shouldn't already know Harmony's name.
"Harmony, Harmony Belle," she filled in the blank, shaking Blaine's hand, too. "I'm fine with that, too – I need to scope out the competition while I can." Kurt couldn't tell if that was a joke that didn't land or an honest statement. Either way, he decided to just move past it.
"Shall we go?" he asked, throwing out his empty cup and gesturing toward the doors in one smooth motion. Everyone nodded their agreement, and off they went.
Five hours later, after a tour, lunch, and a few information sessions, Kurt and Harmony were locked in a practice room. Kurt was blessing whoever designed these rooms, because the soundproofing was the only thing keeping him from a long prison stint at this point.
"I was not flat on that last note, Harmony. You were oversinging," Kurt said forcefully, clenching his jaw. "The room they're putting us in has perfect acoustics; you won't have to push it that hard to get the sound out."
"How did you even get in here in the first place, Kurt?" she shot back. "You wouldn't know the right note if it bit you on the ass!"
"I could muzzle you and you'd still push too hard on that last note! Just listen to me, I'm your mentor for Chrissakes!"
They'd decided on "What Is This Feeling?" from Wicked, knowing that it wouldn't sound quite as powerful with only a few students enlisted to sing back-up, but figuring it would still blow the doors off the auditorium. Unfortunately, that was the only point they'd agreed on since then, and Kurt was about to strangle this girl with his new Hermes scarf. First they'd argued over who got which part, finally deciding to play Rock Paper Scissors over Glinda since they both wanted the high notes. Harmony won best two out of three, though Kurt thought she'd cheated that first time since she went on "shoot" and not "scissors." Then she thought their harmonies didn't match, even though even the accompanist agreed that they were fine. Finally, she said Kurt was flat for the last note, while Kurt knew she was straining.
"You know what? Screw it," Kurt said, throwing his hands in the air. "I'm not dealing with your insanity any more. We sound great minus you pushing your voice harder than your mother had to push to shoot you out of her womb, so let's just call off the rest of this practice and rest our voices until it's our turn, okay?"
"Fine," Harmony replied, pouting grouchily. "But don't blame me if you're suddenly put down for extra voice lessons this semester."
"Oh believe me, I won't." Kurt turned on his heel and left the room, walking to the drinking fountain at the end of the hall to lubricate his vocal cords before heading into the auditorium to wait. He heard Harmony come in a few minutes after him and half-assedly waved her over. She sat down next to him without saying anything and stuck her nose in the air. They ignored each other pointedly until Rachel and Blaine came back and sat next to them.
"Are you guys super excited for this showcase?" Rachel asked effervescently.
"Oh, beyond your wildest imaginings," Kurt responded dryly, and reached next to him to grab Blaine's hand. Blaine leaned over and kissed him quickly, making him smile a bit.
"I don't think you'll beat us. We prepared the best number of all time," he said jokingly. Kurt took the bait he offered.
"You know I always win, Anderson. We'll see what happens once everyone gets back."
They spent the last few minutes bantering back and forth with interjections from Rachel and stony silence from Harmony until the program leaders came on stage.
"Is everyone excited for the talent demo?!" asked the leader, Stephanie, who was a petite and perky blonde. The crowd gave a dutiful roar, and she continued on. "We're going alphabetical by freshman, so Blaine Anderson and Rachel Berry, you're up!" Blaine and Rachel hurried up to the stage and grabbed their mics as their bouncy accompaniment began.
"Why do I know this song?" muttered Kurt under his breath. Then Blaine began to sing, Rachel harmonizing a few lines later, and he realized all too well what song it was.
It's hard to believe
That I couldn't see
You were always there beside me.
Thought I was alone
With no one to hold
But you were always right beside me.
This feeling's like no other
I want you to kno-ow!
"Of course they did. Of course they did," Kurt said to himself, incredulous. Only Rachel and Blaine would think that unintentionally incestuous song from High School Musical would be a great duet. I can only have relationships with Disney geeks, apparently, he thought, remembering Finn's tendency to break into "Hakuna Matata" whenever someone in the Hudmel house was stressed. Despite himself, he ended up smiling and toe-tapping along by the end, charmed by his boyfriend and his best friend's antics. He even gave them a standing O when they finished.
"Well? What'd you think?" Blaine whispered to him as they sat back down, "Anna Barnes and Skylar Paulsen" having been called to the stage next.
"Only you two would sing a High School Musical song at NYADA. But I loved it anyways," Kurt answered, pressing a kiss to Blaine's lips.
"Well, you are what I've been looking for forever," Blaine said, the brightness of his grin rivaling that of the spotlights in the room.