"Hello Kurt."
Kurt looked at his vanity mirror, at the person on the other side.
He wiped away the tears still staining his cheeks, angry that the other had seen him cry.
"Hello Phoenix."
The other him smiled slightly.
"Bad day?"
"You could say that."
"Tell me?"
...So he did. He always told Phoenix about his day, when he asked. And Phoenix always asked.
While he applied his lotions and moisturizers, he talked.
Phoenix had his own rituals, but Kurt had never seen them.
All Phoenix ever did was listen and offer sympathy and play with a dull red ball of fire that Kurt didn't ask questions about.
A part of him hated this other-Kurt, with his little differences... hair too long, eyes too blue, skin too perfect pale...
The rest of him was too happy to have someone listen and understand to care.
Phoenix didn't expect anything... Not like everyone else who 'listened'.
Sometimes Kurt thought he was going crazy.
The rest of the time he didn't care.
His body was one big bruise from the daily dumpster trips.
He wished there was someone there to rub lotion into the places he couldn't quite reach, something to ease the ache...
He hadn't realized he said that out loud until Phoenix replied "I wish I could be there to do that for you. You don't deserve this Kurt. You really don't."
He flushed and looked down.
And when he looked up, Phoenix was giving him an... odd look.
"...Would you like that Kurt? To have someone take care of you? To make things all better?"
He nodded.
Who didn't?
And Phoenix smiled a strange, strange smile.
"Would you like to come live in my world Kurt? You wouldn't be thrown in dumpsters here, or slushied or taunted or bullied... I promise you that."
Those impossibly blue eyes were almost glowing... Like fire had taken up residence around his pupils...
"...You can do that?"
"I would find a way Kurt."
"...Maybe..."
And Phoenix nodded ever so slightly.
"The offer is there. If you ever want to take me up on it, just knock three times on the mirror. Now, you should go to sleep Kurt... It's late."
Every night.
Every night the mirror would... change.
And there would be Phoenix.
Every night.
Every night they talked.
Or rather, Kurt talked and Phoenix listened.
And then...
Then there was that night.
The words, not like daggers, which cut and sliced but like poison, that burned and twisted and echoed...
That face, twisted and angry...
The tears, hot and shameful, pouring down his cheeks...
That voice, more bitter venom in it then a building full of cobras...
And he knew...
He knew and that didn't make it better...
With a trembling hand, he rapped on the mirror, three times.
And there was Phoenix...
Who took one look at him and said "Pack your things."
He obeyed. Just his favorite things... the things he couldn't live without...
He apologized for needing so much.
Phoenix told him not to worry, that it would be alright. Everything would be alright.
He wrote a note.
Phoenix didn't ask to see it.
Kurt was grateful for that.
"Got everything?"
He nodded. He didn't trust himself to speak right now.
"Then take my hand."
And there was a pale, perfect hand, pressing against the mirror...
Pressing through the mirror.
And Kurt took it.
And let Phoenix pull him into the other world...
Author's Notes: This is set during Season 1... A seriously awesome author (DearNearScary... Go read her stuff, there's a lot of it and it's wonderful...) convinced me to start actually posting some of my Glee stuff. And this is one of the pieces I'm fond of...
I'll leave it up to you lovely readers to decide if Kurt's gone off the deep end, or if it's real...
Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Glee. I own an overactive imagination, a fascination with the characters and a couple of DVDs. But not Glee.