Hello! So Gavin is back, but he's not so little in this story. I know I kinda jumped a huge age gap here, but as I'm not really posting these in chronological order, I think it's fine. The inspiration for this story came from my brothers recent foray into the Drama Club because of a pretty girl. And the song choices are my two top played on iTunes right now. I thank everyone for their rave reviews on my previous stories, and I hope you'll all like this.
Enjoy!
Gavin was walking down the hall, carrying his books for his next three classes, just trying not to be late for his next class. He knew he was going to be early, but it still didn't quell the fear. And after having found one of his Pops old diaries, he was also dead scared of getting slushie on his new sweater. As he turned the corner, he slammed into someone. "Oops, so-oh. Um, sorry Caitlyn." He cleared his throat as the prettiest girl he had ever seen smiled back at him, Caitlyn Lyons. Wavy brown hair, bright blue eyes, peachy creamy skin and a light dusting of freckles across her nose. He had met her in homeroom the first day, and ever since she always made it a point to say hello.
"That's okay Gavin." She bent down to pick up her books, and he hurried to help. Some were his anyways. "Thanks. Um, so, hey, are you coming to try outs after school?"
"Um, for…?" How is her smile so pretty?
"Glee club."
No. "Oh, um, yeah, absolutely, can't wait." Really?
"I'm so nervous."
"Oh you'll get in no problem, you're amaz-" He cleared his throat again. Damn voice changes. "Um, you'll do great."
She laughed. He thought it sounded like bells and angels. "Well, thanks. It'll be nice to see a familiar face there at least; I don't know any other freshmen who are going for it." She's waiting for a response. "So, I'll see you at four then?"
Answer her! "Sure, yeah, three o'clock, in the…"
"Auditorium. Later Gavin!" She smiled and walked away.
"Later." Gavin watched her walk around the corner, holding his books awkwardly to his chest. He was brought out of his reverie as the warning bell rang. Crap! He began to run to his next class, dodging around other students. He was now going to be late for sure.
Gavin ran home as soon as the lunch bell rang. He had no idea what to expect with a Glee Club try out, but he knew exactly who to ask to help him prepare. Luckily, they were both home from work today. "Dad! Pops! I need your help!"
"What, what is it? What's wrong?" Kurt dropped the newspaper he was reading and jumped up from the couch. Blaine ran out from the kitchen, an unopened can of pop in his hands.
Gavin caught his breath. "I need you to help me with my try out."
"For what?" Blaine asked as he perched himself on the arm of the couch. Kurt sat down again.
"Glee club."
Kurt jumped up again, making Blaine chuckle. "Oh my gaga!"
"Gavin, since when are you into singing?"
Gavin shrugged nonchalantly and grabbed the can of pop from Blaine's hand. "Since always, why?" Blaine grabbed for it, but Gavin chugged it.
Kurt raised an eyebrow at Blaine, and Blaine hid his smirk. "No reason. Uh, so when are these try outs?"
Gavin finished the pop, set the can down, and burped. "Well… today at three o'clock. And, excuse me." He added.
"Are you serious?" Blaine asked.
"Gavin, c'mon, you could've given us a bit more warning."
"I forgot…"
Blaine ran his hand through his hair and adjusted his glasses. "I don't know-"
"Blaine, hush." Kurt held his hand up to shush Blaine. "Gav, don't worry, believe me, sometimes the best performances come out at the last minute. That's how we won Regionals once. All we need to do is find a song, have you run through it a couple times, then make sure you know the lyrics, and when you go up on stage, act like you've been doing this for ages, not like you've taken an afternoon to practice."
Gavin sat down on the couch and looked to Kurt. "What song should I do?"
"Well, you're going to want something accessible, either Broadway or Top 40's, something that will work with your vocal range, something upbeat, but not too dance-y, something-"
At the overwhelmed look on his sons face, Blaine interrupted Kurt. "Hold on, Gavin sweetie, give me your iPod."
"Why?" Gavin asked as he dug it out of his back pocket.
"I'm going to find you a song." Blaine took the iPod and began to scroll through it. "Here we go, Top Played list, number one…" He looked up and saw the questioning look on Gavin's face. "This way you're sure to know the words, and you'll know the song well enough that you can kind of make it your own on stage."
Gavin nodded. "Huh… Makes sense, I guess."
"What song are we working with here Blaine?" Kurt asked impatiently.
"Invincible by Hedley." Blaine smiled.
Kurt breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, that'll be easy. Good song to show off with."
"I don't even know if I can show off." Gavin said uncertainly.
Blaine handed Gavin back his iPod. "Alright, listen to the song, prepare yourself, and come out here in ten minutes and give us a little performance."
"Okay." Gavin stood up and headed to the basement, which his fathers' had sound proofed when they moved in. Blaine and Kurt would sing and play instruments down there, and Pippa would practice her saxophone and piano down there. Sometimes when company was over, especially Gavin and Pippa's Aunt Rachel, they would hold impromptu performances. Mostly by Rachel and her daughter Barbara.
Once the door closed, Blaine turned to Kurt. "I've never really heard him sing before."
"He sings in the shower." Kurt tried to justify. He knew Blaine was right though. Gavin had never shown any interest in anything musical before now.
"So does your dad, that doesn't make him good."
"Blaine!" Kurt chastised.
"I'm just saying." Blaine chuckled.
Kurt held his head high. "Well, with us as his fathers, how can he be anything less than spectacular?"
"With one of us as his father," Blaine corrected. "There is the possibility that he got his "mother's" talents." Blaine felt he needed to remind Kurt of the fact that even though Pippa had wonderful musical talent, Gavin might not.
Kurt rolled his eyes with an indulgent smile. "Whatever, just have some faith in him."
"Oh, I have plenty of faith." Blaine defended. "I want him to be amazing as much as anybody, it's just…"
"I know." Kurt was worried what would happen to their sons confidence if he turned out to be, well, not so good.
After a few minutes of Kurt smacking Blaine's hand away so he couldn't chew his nails, and Blaine nervously rambling that Gavin was always a more intellectual child anyways, Gavin came upstairs. His light blonde hair was mussed up from running his hands through it, and Kurt was sure that if he checked Gavin's nail beds they would be chewed beyond recognition. "Ready."
Blaine and Kurt smiled encouragingly. Gavin cleared his throat and began to sing.
As Kurt and Blaine listened to their son, they both had to hold back tears. Gavin's voice was beautiful. When he finished the song, he looked to his fathers.
"So?"
"Gavin, honey, that was…" Blaine couldn't think of a word good enough to describe what he just heard.
"Beautiful." Kurt finished.
"Really? You sure you're not just biased?" Gavin laughed.
"Amazing, absolutely spectacular." Blaine assured him.
"Just do it like that at the try out today, and there is no way you won't get into the club."
"Cool. Thanks guys." Gavin hugged them each, then looked at his watch. "Oh, I gotta get going or I'll be late for class. Thanks guys. Love ya!" He put in his headphones and ran out the door.
"Love you too!"
"Break a leg!" Kurt yelled. Kurt turned to Blaine. "Oh my-"
"I know-"
"I told you." Blaine laughed and kissed Kurt.
Caitlyn walked through the backstage doors, seeing a bunch of kids milling around. She spotted Gavin and walked over to him with a smile. She tapped him on the shoulder, and whipped around. "Hey." She giggled.
"H-hey Caitlyn." Gavin cleared his throat. "Hey."
Gavin watched as Caitlyn pushed an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "So, you ready? Got your song all picked out?"
"Oh yeah, totally."
"What are you singing?"
You gotta tell, she's going to hear it anyways. "Invincible by Hedley." He ducked his head. "Kind of old school, I know-"
She hit his arm playfully. "Shut up, I totally love those guys! No one ever seems to know who they are."
"I saw them in concert once." Gavin blurted out.
"No way!"
"Yeah, I went with my Dad, it was, like, one of those festival things, and I wasn't close to the stage or anything, but it was still pretty cool."
She grinned. "That's awesome. My song will seem so lame in comparison."
"No it won't. W-what are you singing?"
She scrunched her nose up in embarrassment. "I Could've Danced All Night from My Fair Lady. It's like, my second favorite musical, but my favorite song."
Gavin snorted. Of course she loves musicals. "That's not lame. At least, not by glee club standards anyways." He tried not to laugh. After all, he was singing a song from almost thirty years ago.
"Thanks." She said sarcastically. At that moment, they heard a call over the loud speaker calling Gavin to the stage. "Well, break a leg." She gave him a quick hug and a wink.
Gavin could only manage a weird smile back. Caitlyn laughed. She smells like peppermint, he thought as he walked out onto the stage.
The bathroom door slammed open and Gavin almost chocked on his toothpaste. "Okay, spill it!" Pippa had her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face.
Gavin spit out his mouthful of toothpaste. "Woah, Pipsqueak, get outta here!"
"You're just brushing your teeth, I made sure." Pippa shrugged and jumped up to sit on the long counter beside her brother. "So what's this I hear from Pops that you're now a proud member of your high schools glee club?"
He rinsed his mouth and turned to her. "You're nine, how are you such a gossip?"
She shrugged. "I hear things."
"Well, I'm not in yet. We won't find out until tomorrow when they post who got in."
She snorted. "Since when are you into singing? I mean, you fall asleep when we watch musicals, how are you going to be in one?"
He grabbed his face wash from the shelf. "It's just the songs we sing, we don't do the whole show; and it's not just Broadway stuff, we'll be doing lots of different stuff." He parroted what the glee club teacher, Mr. Holland, had told the group before try outs. He turned on the tap and began to wash his face.
Pippa waited and let him finish, as Pops liked to call it, his grown-up routine. But, she was nine, and very impatient. "So who's the girl?"
"What?" He asked over the water. He finished and turned the water off, reaching for a towel. Pippa handed him one.
"Oh c'mon, the only reason you're doing this, and we both know it's true, is because of a girl. So, who is she?"
Gavin looked at his sister. He would have to talk to Dad about getting Pops to not gossip around her so much. She was picking up bad habits. "No one, I just wanted to do this."
"Uh huh…" She rolled her eyes.
"Okay, out, now." He moved toward her and she jumped down from the counter, sticking her tongue out. "You are so annoying. I really need a lock on my door."
"It's my bathroom too!" Pippa exclaimed as Gavin began shoving her out the door leading to her room. "Dad!"
"Out Pipsqueak!" When she threw her arms out so that he couldn't push her though the door anymore, he gave up and went with his old stand-by. Tickling.
Her arms collapsed and he picked her up, still tickling her, and threw her onto her bed. He pinned her arms up with one hand, and continued tickling her with the other. "Hey, no fair! No tickling! Papa, help!" Pippa laughed.
Had to end it with some cute sibling rivalry. A few things that you might want to know that wouldn't have sounded good if I had written them in.
First off, I have to say that I love Hedley! One of my Top 5 favorite bands. I just figured that, 30 years from now, Hedley would've passed on as a popular band, and their music would be considered "Old School" ;) Gavin would've seen them with Blaine when he was like, 6-ish...
There is a five year difference in age between Gavin and Pippa, give or take a few months.
The house that the Hummel-Anderson's live in is about 15 minutes from Gavin's high school, and about 10 minutes from Pippa's elementary school. Gavin did not, as many kids in America do, attend middle school. The elementary school goes from Kindergarten to grade 8.
The house is an attached, two story brownstone in New York (d'uh :P), and since I don't know the geography of the city that well, use your imaginations as to location. Three bedrooms, a small, 3 piece shared en-suite between the kids bedrooms, a small, 3 piece en-suite off the master bedroom, a 2 piece powder room on the first floor. Open concept dining room/living room, galley kitchen (which bugs Kurt, he can barely cook in there), a basement that Kurt and Blaine finished shortly after they moved in, and a small grassy backyard with a tree. One car drive way and street parking. Sounds awesome right? :D Again, use your imaginations, because I have very little knowledge about real estate, so I don't know if that would work...
It's about a week into school.
I will definitely be bringing Caitlyn back.
Gavin is more into science, reading, writing, math. He basically loves to learn. Not really sporty or musical, tried piano when he was young but couldn't get the hang of it. He secretly loves to dance and has an innate sense of style. He loves 80's pop music, and bands like Hedley, All-American Rejects, Article One, and he loves Taylor Swift (I love all those guys, but he's not a Mary-Sue, I promise, it's just hard to write about liking music that I don't know well).
The diary he finds was in a box for charity that he decided to dig through. He didn't bring it up to Kurt, but he still might. He was never really bullied, he was just really quiet and wasn't great at making friends in grade school. His high school doesn't have a slushie machine, but he's still worried.
And yes, he does find out the next day that he got into the Glee Club, along with, surprise! Caitlyn! They end up being the only two freshman in the club (it's not very popular, and so kids usually wait until they have a bit of a niche in the school before they try out). This leads to a bit of heckling from the older members who are new/returning, but Gavin is cool with it because he gets to spend every Thursday afternoon with the gorgeous Caitlyn Lyons.
So, that's it, I hope you enjoyed! R&R! :D
