Author's Note: Well, I've finally gone and published something on here after all these months of being strictly a reader. Yay, me! Anyway, I'm always obsessed with Glee and I've just recently become obsessed with Les Miserables; from that union, this story was born! I'm taking summer classes right now, so my weekdays are a bit hectic, so I'm shooting for updating the story at least every week. I don't anticipate this to be a very long story at all, but hopefully I can build a base of readers who will stick with me when I move on to other projects. So, yeah, please read and review, let me know what's working and if anything needs work :)
P.S. I realize this first chapter involves much, much more "K-" than "-laine," but stick with it. It'll get there ;)
Dear Lord, will she ever stop talking?
Kurt was trying to be interested in whatever the hell Rachel had been droning on and on about for the last fifteen minutes—he was listening enough to know that she was complaining about Finn, again, but he hadn't paid attention to exact details—but after his long day of classes, all he wanted to do was get back to the apartment the two of them shared so he could rest.
They took the shortcut through the University Center. Since he wasn't listening to Rachel anyway, Kurt let his eyes wander to the row of bulletin boards hanging on the wall to his right as they walked down the hallway. Scanning the hundreds of flyers, Kurt noticed all the usual suspects: advertisements for tutoring services, used textbooks, and guitar lessons and flyers for parties, club events, and more parties, etcetera, etcetera.
Just as Kurt was about to divert his attention away from the bulletin boards, a bright green flyer caught his eye.
OPEN CALL AUDITIONS FOR SPECIAL PRODUCTION OF LES MISÉRABLES
"…and so I told Finn that I—"
"Shut up, Rachel," Kurt said as he quickly walked over to the board on which the flyer was hung.
Rachel scoffed. "I'm sorry, Kurt, if I was boring you, but—"
Suddenly very excited, Kurt snatched the flyer from the board and held it in front of Rachel's face. "Look at this!" He held it there for a few seconds, and when he moved it away, she looked just as thrilled as he felt. He moved back to stand beside her as they both read the rest of the flyer together.
OPEN CALL AUDITIONS FOR SPECIAL PRODUCTION OF LES MISÉRABLES
HOSTED BY THE NYU THEATER DEPARTMENT
SPONSORED BY THE LGBTQ SOCIETY
AUDITIONS WILL BE HELD EVERY DAY NEXT WEEK
WE'D LOVE TO SEE YOU THERE
Kurt and Rachel looked at each other and squealed happily at the same time.
"We have got to audition!" Rachel practically yelled. "You would be an excellent Marius."
Kurt looked at her incredulously. "Rachel, come on. I can't pull off those male lead roles; I've accepted this. Remember the debacle that was my audition for Tony when McKinley did West Side Story? Seriously, I would be ecstatic just to be cast as part of the chorus in Les Mis. I mean, of course it would be amazing to play Marius, but—"
"Oh my God, Kurt, you could play Éponine!" Rachel looked up at him, wide-eyed. Now Kurt was confused.
"Um, thanks for that, Rach, but in case you forgot, that's a female role."
She smirked and shook her head. "Not in this production, it's not. Read the fine print." She pointed to the very bottom of the flyer, and Kurt saw a bit of text he had missed before.
NOTE: In this production, as per the request of our sponsor, the role of Éponine will be gender-swapped. We will only be auditioning males for the renamed role of Everard.
Kurt couldn't believe what he was seeing; it was too good to be true. He read the note again. Yep, it was there. It was his turn to look at Rachel with wide eyes.
"This is unbelievable!" He broke into a smile. "This is exactly the type of production that I need right now."
Rachel smiled back at him and they pulled each other into a tight hug. "Kurt, this is so perfect!"
When they broke apart, Kurt suddenly looked concerned. "Oh, shit," he began, "what about you? Isn't Éponine, like, your dream role?"
Rachel simply shrugged. "Meh, I can try out for Fantine. Besides, I'll have more chances to play the role. This is clearly a sign that it's your time to shine."
Kurt looked back at Rachel, relieved that she wasn't upset.
God knows I couldn't handle another verbal tirade this evening.
"Come on," he said. "Let's get back to the apartment. Auditions are next week, so we'd better start rehearsing our songs." They each took the other's hand and hurried home.
It was the day of Kurt's audition. He stood backstage in the NYU auditorium, waiting for his name to be called, thinking about the past few days. It had seemed like he would never decide on a song to sing. The obvious choice would be to sing something from Les Mis, but he didn't want to seem like he hadn't put any thought into his audition. Finally, he decided on "What I Did For Love" from A Chorus Line: it wasn't too safe, it was emotional, and, most importantly, it showed that he had the range to sing Éponine's songs. After hours of practice, he felt pretty comfortable with his rendition.
Rachel's audition had been the previous day. She auditioned for Fantine with a beautiful "I Dreamed a Dream." Unlike Kurt, she wasn't worried about the song choice seeming safe because she knew that her voice would "stun them so much that it wouldn't matter shat song she was singing." Kurt peeked out from behind the curtain and saw her sitting in the same spot he had sat in for her the day before.
The boy ahead of Kurt was just finishing up his song. When the music ended, he heard a voice say, "Thank you. Next!" It took Kurt a few seconds to remember that that was his cue, but he swiftly strode out onto the stage and looked out at the seating area. He took notice of a few people, besides Rachel, who were there to watch the auditions, but his gaze soon fell upon the three people seated behind a desk directly in front of the stage.
These are the people I really need to impress.
Kurt put his hands on his hips and flashed them his most dazzling smile. "Hello. I am Kurt Hummel, auditioning for the role of Everard—very interesting artistic choice, by the way—and today I will be singing "What I Did For Love."
One of the three, a man wearing a vest with curly, dark blonde hair, gave a warm smile and said, "Whenever you're ready." Kurt took a deep breath, looked to his left and nodded at the sound technician, giving him permission to start his instrumental track he had brought. The music started, Kurt closed his eyes, and he began to sing.
"Kiss today goodbye…"
His voice sounded clear and beautiful, and he knew he had picked the perfect song. At that point, he let everything go and just sang the song just the way he had rehearsed it. In the middle, he swelled right along with the music and belted out the powerful notes with perfect pitch and emotion. Finally, before he knew it, the track was winding down and he was singing the last lines.
"Won't forget, can't regret what I did for love."
Kurt looked back at the three people in front of him, remembering they were there. The man had a look of pure amazement. The woman to his left, a thin redhead with large eyes, looked to be on the verge of tears. The man on the other side of her, wearing all black with short, black, spiked up black hair, looked as if he was trying as hard as he could and failing to remain stoic and not look as astonished as the other two judges. Kurt just stood there taking in their reactions. Finally, the man with the black hair spoke up.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Hummel, but you're a countertenor, are you not?"
Kurt smiled. "Why, yes, I am."
The three all gave each other a look, the man with the curly hair mumbling, "Impressive."
Kurt couldn't have been more pleased with their response. The judges all scribbled some notes quickly on some paper in front of them before the woman looked up. "Thank you very much," she said, "That will be all."
Kurt smiled again and gave a little bow. "Thank you all," he said, "and have a good day." With that, he walked briskly backstage the way he had come. When he went back into the main area of the auditorium, Rachel was already there waiting for him. She ran towards him and pulled him into a tight hug.
"You were incredible!" she screamed as they let go and started to head home. "If you don't get the role, I swear, I will refuse to accept the role as Fantine."
Kurt chuckled. "Rachel, no you won't."
She sighed. "Well, you're right, but I'll be very upset, and you should be too, because you killed it!"
Kurt's smile widened then. "I did, didn't I?" He bumped his hip lightly into hers and they kept walking, laughing to themselves. "Nothing left to do now," Kurt said, "but wait for the cast list to be posted on Friday."
Doing nothing but waiting was easier said than done. Kurt felt confident about his chances of getting the role, he really did, but he knew there was no way he could shake his nerves until he saw the cast list. He spent the couple of days before Friday feeling jittery and on edge, just counting the minutes until he could find out whether he had been cast or not.
And if I don't get Everard, he told himself, I'm sure I at least will get a chorus role like I had thought about in the first place.
He really wanted Everard, though. It was his dream to play a starring role.
Finally, Friday rolled around. Time seemed to pass even more slowly, as Kurt ignored his professors' lectures and stared at the clocks on the walls of his classrooms. Once his final class for the day was over, he practically sprinted to the auditorium. Rachel wasn't there yet, so he waited outside the front doors. Kurt had only been waiting about five minutes when she showed up, but it felt more like five hours.
"Rachel, where the hell have you been?" he hissed.
"I'm sorry, but my professor held us back a few minutes longer than normal," she told him. "Anyways, I'm here now, so let's go look at the list."
They walked inside, hand in hand. There on the wall in front of them was a piece of the same bright green paper that the flyer had been printed on. They could see the list of roles and names in black ink, but could not read it from that distance, so they walked closer to it. Kurt and Rachel both closed their eyes when they got right in front of the list. Giving Rachel's hand a squeeze, Kurt opened his eyes. There, third from the top was the casting for Fantine.
FANTINE – RACHEL BERRY
Kurt gasped and looked at Rachel. She still hadn't opened her eyes, making Kurt laugh. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly.
"Rachel, you got it! You got Fantine!"
Her eyes flew open and she looked at the list. "Oh my God!"
She jumped up and down a little bit and Kurt gave her a hug.
"Congratulations!" Smiling, they both looked back on the list and kept reading.
COSETTE – QUINN FABRAY
MARIUS – BLAINE ANDERSON
Kurt stopped reading.
Hm, sexy name. Probably straight, though. Damn it. Once again, a straight man will be the object of my unrequited love. At least it'll just be acting this time.
Kurt was broken out of his daze when he suddenly heard Rachel's glass-shattering scream right beside him. He gave her a terrified look and was about to ask what the matter was when he saw that she was pointing to the list again with a hand over her mouth.
"Look, Kurt, oh my God!"
Kurt had been so wrapped up in his musings over the name of Blaine Anderson that he had forgotten to keep on reading. He looked down to the next listing on the page.
EVERARD – KURT HUMMEL
Kurt's own scream at that moment rivaled the one Rachel had just unleashed a minute before. Immediately, he scooped her up into a huge hug that she returned wholeheartedly.
"Holy shit! Holy shit! I got it, Rachel! I'm playing Everard!"
They looked at each other again and couldn't contain themselves. They both squealed like schoolgirls and ran outside. Once they calmed down a bit, they decided to treat themselves to a celebratory dinner. They gave a toast to themselves. Kurt could hardly believe that he was finally getting his chance.