At Any Price

This is the first time I've really properly attempted a Klaine story, so please be kind, but honest in your reviews, if you love it, tell me why, if you hate it tell me!

Synopsis: Down on his luck Kurt has all but given up on his New York dream, with just $200 to his name and nothing left to sell, desperate times call for desperate measures. A story of first times, first love and finding yourself along the way.

Chapter 1

Life is made up of many moments; some are tiny and insignificant, never to be remembered, others stand out, make you stop and think, force you to look at life differently, define who you are as a person.

Kurt Hummel was having one of the latter moments right now, staring at the screen on his old, worn out laptop, his bank balance displayed – almost mockingly across the screen. Ordinarily, this would not be considered a significant moment, but he had just $200.00 to his name to pay rent, utilities and next semesters fees, this, Kurt considered, would be a defining moment in anyone's life – the moment you realize that your New York dream is really over, and all those bullies were right – you really were a Lima loser.

Sure, he could live off Rachel until the end of the semester (not that he'd want to – or feel very good about it), her dads had given her more than enough money in a trust fund to fund college and the lifestyle she seemed to want along with it, but after that what was he supposed to do? The fees at NYADA were astronomical, and he couldn't expect anyone to pay for that – even Rachel, and especially not his dad.

He didn't see much point in heading to work, now that he knew his New York dream was really dead, but he couldn't even afford the plane ticket home, and at the very least, he needed money for that.

Haphazardly, he threw on his uniform and headed out the door, depression kicking in. He really was going to miss all of this, the bright lights, the rush of the city, the fact that you could walk down the street with a bright orange mohak and a tutu (yes, he really had seen that!) and nobody would look twice.

The door jingled as he entered, Santana and Sam barely looking up from their seats at the bar.

"Don't you two ever do any work?" Kurt asked as he headed towards them, hoping that six hours of monotonous work would help distract from the all too real fact that this would soon be a distant memory.

Santana momentarily tore her eyes off the magazine she seemed so engrossed in "Only when jerk off is around"

Sam nodded in agreement, half-heartedly throwing a cloth over the counter, in an attempt to look like he was doing something at least.

"I take it Jeff has left you in charge for the rest of the day?"

Santana only nodded, her eyes never leaving the magazine. Kurt rolled his eyes, how Santana was allowed to be left in charge he would never know.

Shrugging off his jacket and satchel and placing them on the peg behind the counter, he grabbed his notepad and pen, figuring he would at least do some work tonight, he needed all the tips he could get.

After over an hour waiting on tables, he had had enough, downtown New Yorkers were pretty stingy tippers, he had made a little over six dollars, and had waited on four tables, maybe Santana had the right attitude after all.

He slumped down beside Santana, who hadn't moved since he had come in. "Pretty boy, you best be just takin' a breather"

Kurt arched an eyebrow and scoffed "Really Santana?"

"You best believe it, hop to it porcelain" she waved her hand, dismissing him

"Uh huh" Kurt nodded "I'll get right on that"

"Don't you get sarcastic with management, I'll have you fired"

He couldn't help but let out a laugh at that one, "Tana.."

"Yeah you're right lady lips, I really don't care enough to do anything"

Kurt gave a heavy sigh, the depression finding its way back to him, he wasn't planning on bringing it up, but it just sort of, well, slipped out "may as well fire me though , I'm Lima bound, so it makes no difference"

Even Sam looked up at that one, if there was one person who anyone expected to say a permanent goodbye to Lima, it was Kurt, he belonged in the city, on Broadway, with his name in lights, not in Lima working at the Lima Bean, hoping to God he'd get a part in the local nursing homes' production of Peter Pan.

"My moneys' just about dried up, my dad can't afford to pay and even if he could, I'd never take it off him, I have $200.00 to my name and I still owe Rachel rent money"

"That spoilt bitch?" Santana asked, throwing her now very dog-eared magazine to the side "You're still paying that prissy little daddy's girl to live there?"

At this moment in time Kurt just wanted to hide under a blanket, and pretend the world didn't exist, like he did as a kid, because once Santana got going, there was no stopping her – and, quite frankly, she was terrifying too.

"I still live there, so yeah I do", he knew immediately that was the wrong answer because Santana had that look in her eyes, that look that told him she was about to get all Lima Heights adjacent on his ass.

"What's that prissy little yuppies number?" she motioned to Kurt with her phone, practically shoving it down his throat.

"I'm not giving you Rachel's number!" for the sake of his well-being, he knew this was not the wisest thing he could have said, but, in his defence, he honestly didn't mind paying Rachel rent, he didn't like taking people for a ride (even though she could more than afford it!).

"You will if you know what good for you, now do it Hummel" , all concept of personal space out the window at this point, both her and her phone were not more than two inches from his face.

"What difference will not paying rent make anyway?" Kurt asked, in an effort to gather some personal space, and for Santana to stop over-reacting to such a minor detail of the whole thing "I need $15,000 big ones for next semesters fees and I don't have that, no amount of free rent could get me that money in time"

Santana seemed to take a step back for a moment, her lip worried between her teeth, she seemed to be considering what he had said, which, he had to add, was quite an unusual occurrence for her. Slowly, she retreated back to her seat, she knew that Kurt made a good point, no amount of kicking Rachel's ass was going to fix this (no matter how satisfying it would feel). "But you can't leave"

Sam couldn't help laugh, this was all so un-Santana like (not the over-reacting, no, that was completely a Santana move), she actually sounded like she was going to miss him. "Aww Santana, are you going to miss little Kurty?"

Santana turned and shot him a look that made his insides run cold "I'm just sayin', it sucks a little less with lady lips around"

Kurt shook his head and laughed, that was as close to a compliment as he was ever going to get with Santana, and it did make him feel a little better, that even she would miss him when he was gone.

"There's nothing else to do, I've held on for as long as I can, I have no choice" he sighed, really wishing that it hadn't come to this "believe me, if there was a way I could stay, I would be"

Santana began flicking excitedly through her magazine "There is one way"

Kurt rolled his eyes and gave a slight chuckle, nothing in Cosmo was going to earn him enough money to stay here.

"There" She smiled, opening a page on an article, seeming pleased with herself for having even though of this idea

"What is this?" he asked, confused as to what he was supposed to be looking for

"How you stay in New York dumb ass"

"Oh yeah that really makes me wanna stay" he grumbled, pulling the magazine closer to him, humoring her.

At Any Price: The story of how one girl auctioned off her virginity

He didn't need to read any more than that, was she having some sort of joke? Or seizure? How could she think he would even do something like this?

He threw the magazine back at her "Are you actually being serious right now?" he gave a nervous laugh, because he had a feeling he knew the answer.

"Oh come on Hummel, you gotta get laid sometime, you may as well get paid for it, there are tons of freaks out there that get off on de-flowering guys like you"

She said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world, like he was crazy for not doing it.

"Hell if I still had mine, I'd be doing it, at least then I wouldn't have to come here and pretend to work and give a crap about people"

"That's long gone, even before you took up permanent residence on Isle Lesbian" Sam quipped, before quickly ducking under the counter in fear

"Shut it fish lips" she retorted, throwing the cloth at him.

There was no way he would even consider this as an option, it was just so wrong in every conceivable way, he would much rather be a Lima loser than an online whore.

"It's not happening Santana, thanks for the suggestion and all but I'll keep my virginity and head back to Lima, if that's ok with you"

"Prude"

"Whore"

It was ten o clock before he finally managed to get through the door, and Rachel belting out don't rain on my parade is not a way he wanted to be greeted.

He let out a heavy sigh and headed toward his bedroom, ready to forget the day and the horrible, crushing reality it brought with it. He prayed to a deity he didn't really believe in that Rachel would leave him be for once, and he thought he had gotten away with it this time, his hand was on the door, ready to unlock it.

"Kurt!"

He raised his eyes heavenward "See, this is why I think you don't exist", before retreating to the living area.

"Yes Rachel?"

"I recorded Jane the Virgin for you, you don't wanna watch it?"

"No thanks, I've had enough talk of virginity for one day" he laughed a little to himself at that one, before turning to leave, hoping that was the end of it. Yet again, he was disappointed

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking positively puzzled, it wasn't a look he saw often.

He sighed heavily, shrugging off his jacket and satchel and taking a seat next to Rachel in one of the overpriced, plush purple sofas adorning the living room. He may as well get this over and done with, let her know that he was leaving, he would have preferred to stick his head in the sand for just a few more days and pretend this wasn't really happening, but in truth, he knew it was best to just do it now.

"I have to leave New York"

Worry and panic spread across Rachel's face, immediately jumping to the worst conclusions "Oh my gosh, what's wrong? Is it your dad? Is it his heart? Is it Carole? Is-"

He had to cut her off there, she sounded like she was about to have a heart attack herself "No, Rach, calm down, there's nothing wrong with my dad or Carole, I just don't have the money anymore"

"Oh that's all?" she asked, seeming genuinely relieved "I can cover you Kurt, you know I'm good for it"

Kurt shook his head, no, he couldn't and wouldn't take a handout from Rachel, even though she could more than afford it.

"Rach, we're not just talking rent and utilities, we're talking next semesters fees, I could never take that off you"

She stared forward, shaking her head, laughing sadly "I know you wouldn't but I just wish you would"

"Why?"

Rachel stared at him, incredulous, the answer to that had to be obvious, surely, but, he really didn't seem like he knew the answer. "Because you belong in New York, Kurt. This is where you're supposed to be, and I really would miss having one friendly face from home here with me"

He gave her a weak smile "You're not the only one to say that today"

"Who else said it?" she asked, taking a sip of her juice

"Santana, actually, of all the people"

The next thing he knew, juice was everywhere, on the rug, his uniform, the sofa. He had to laugh, Rachel Berry was rarely surprised by people.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry", she said rushing to grab napkins from the kitchen "It's just that Santana was the last person I expected you to say"

"Yeah I gathered that" he chuckled, looking down at his now very stained uniform

He gratefully took one of the napkins she handed him and began cleaning himself off "She was the one who brought up the whole virginity thing as a way to stay"

Rachel quirked an eyebrow "She what?"

Kurt took a deep breath "She showed me some article in Cosmo that she was reading about some girl who sold her virginity for money – she thought it would be a good idea for me" he paused for a minute, trying to dab out a particularly bad area of his shirt "worst thing was, she was serious"

He expected another outburst, like the one two minutes previous, but he was met with stony, awkward silence. That worried him, a lot.

"Rach?" he asked, nervously looking up at her.

"Well..." she began, looking more awkward than he had ever seen her

"You actually agree with Santana?" he retorted, he couldn't actually believe what was happening right now "You agree with Santana Lopez, seriously Rach, are you feeling OK?"

She nodded, uncertain of what way to word her response, because, quite frankly, she couldn't believe it herself "I mean I never thought I would agree – like ever, but I have to say Kurt, it makes a lot of sense, you're twenty-two, you've barely so much as kissed a guy, it's time to stop making such a big deal out of who your first time is with and if you make enough money out of it to pay for college, then why not, it's killing two birds with one stone"

Kurt shook his head, before quickly getting up to leave "you need your head examined, you know that?"

Freshly washed and changed from the shower, Kurt settled into his bed, laptop in front of him. Now was as good a time as any to start checking flight prices.

Slapping the laptop awake (he never shut it down anymore – it just took too long to start up), he began his search. Twenty minutes later, and every possible stopover checked out, the cheapest price he could find was $600. It would take him forever to even come up with that money, the rate people were tipping him at work and his $8 an hour part time pay check wasn't exactly going to make things easier either.

He threw his head in his hands and groaned, he was in a complete catch twenty-two situation, he couldn't afford to stay, yet he couldn't afford to leave. When did his life get so crappy? He had come to New York so sure he was going to prove those bullies wrong, and he thought he had done that, but boy he was the one that was wrong.

Before he even realized what he was typing, he was on Cosmo, looking for the article, he had so quickly dismissed earlier in the day. Why, he didn't know.

At Any Price: The story of how one girl auctioned her virginity.

Sarah* 21, from Pasadena, CA, was desperate, alone and had nothing left to sell online to pay for her mounting tuition fees, when she came across a story about another American girl, who although, had ended up not going through with it, had put her virginity up for auction, on specialist escort website

"I figured it was worth a shot" says Sarah, now in her third year of her undergraduate degree at UCA, Berkely "I mean I really had nothing left to lose – except my virginity"

In a hurry to get the money, and not to change her mind, she says she chose the shortest auction time available – three days. She managed to not just meet her reserve, but surpass it completely.

"I put a reserve of $40,000 on the auction, within twenty-four hours I had two bidders going head to head, by the end of the auction, I had managed to raise over $100,0000, more than I could ever have imagined"

She says the whole transaction took place rather quickly, but was completely under her terms, she had requested her suitor to be well groomed, bring her for a real date and have a romantic hotel room complete with champagne and strawberries, where the deal would be closed.

"Although it wasn't a conventional first time, I wanted it to feel that way as much as possible, and the winning bidder was more than happy to oblige, he even gifted me with some beautiful jewelry I'll always treasure"

She says that she has absolutely no regrets, the money she earned from the transaction having gone straight into funding her education in the hopes of bettering hers and her families futures "I'm the first of my family to go to college, I want to make something of myself so that not only can I make my family proud, I can make life a little easier for them.

When asked if she would do it again, her answer was almost instantaneous "In a heartbeat"

Kurt shook his head, mere hours ago he was laughing at the suggestion of something like this, now, now it seemed like the only viable option he had left, if he wanted to stay in New York, as much as he hated to admit it to himself. But he had to ask himself the question, did he really want to stay in New York that badly?

He knew the answer almost instantly, no thinking required. Yes , yes he wanted to stay in New York, he needed to stay in New York, he belonged here, this was where his heart was. But the words his dad has said to him during their awkward sex talk kept ringing through his mind 'don't throw yourself around like you don't matter, 'cause you matter, Kurt' . He knew that this fell into that category, being paid for sex was more than just throwing yourself around, it was damn right prostitution. But how the hell else was he supposed to come up with the money, he really had nothing else left to sell.

"Fuck it" he said, shaking his head as he typed the website into the search bar

The website upon first look, seemed like a seedy porno site, all reds and blacks and italicized writing, it was broken into four sections, Kurt decided it best not to even venture into the other sections, for fear of what he might find, quickly clicking on the 'Auction' area.

The application form seemed fairly straight forward, like dozens of others he had filled in for job applications before. He kept trying to tell himself that, otherwise he would have chickened out.

Name: Kurt H

Age: 22

Birthday: May 27

Location: New York

Hair Colour: Chestnut Brown

Eyes: Glasz

Height: 5' 11"

Hobbies/Interests: Fashion, Patti LuPone (I mean seriously, who doesn't love her?), Theatre (I long to see some of the classics in an actual Broadway theatre), reading, writing (I have been known to blog!), music (I was a member of my Glee club in high school!) and so many more, that you'll just have to find out.

Kurt cringed as he wrote that last part, it sounded nothing like anything he would ever say – like ever. Though in saying that, this was not something he thought he would ever do either, so he just went with it.

The next couple of questions kind of made him nervous, these were definitely not questions he had been asked in a job application, and if they were, they certainly weren't asked in this context.

Orientation: Most definitely gay

Experience: Uhm – I don't know, very minimal, I've had one kiss from a secretly gay bully – does that count?

Are you open minded?: Well I would have to be, to be considering this

Use of condom required?: I can't believe this is actually a question, um YEAH!

What will the winning bid go towards: my education at NYADA

What can the winning bidder expect from you: Oh God, who comes up with these questions? I don't know, to have a little dance, make a little love and basically get down that night?

Is there anything that you wouldn't consent to?: Nothing overly kinky, I don't want to be scared off sex for life after my first time.

What are your terms (if any): I definitely want it to be a somewhat special and memorable experience, I'm not looking for hearts and flowers, but some dinner and dancing beforehand would be nice, make me feel like I've actually gone on a date.

Winning bidder must be in the New York area, or willing to travel at their own expense, as obviously I can't afford that!

If you could please not be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, that would be great (a glass of wine with dinner is perfectly acceptable).

Also, confidentiality and discretion is a must, I'd rather everyone didn't know about this.

Reserve Price:

This last question made him stop and think. How much did he really value his virginity? Himself even? It was hard to put a number on it, it felt so wrong, to be charging for something that was meant to be given as a gift, not used as a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder.

He quickly typed in a figure $50,000, to be exact. He was sure that it wouldn't be met and that this whole debacle could be over and he'd be back in Lima working in the Lima Bean, hating every minute of it.

He quickly added a few pictures of himself and clicked upload, shutting the laptop over and switching off the light, letting the sleep take him and for a little while, forget what he had just signed up to.

In a house big enough to house its own helicopter pad on Manhattans upper east side, lived business mogul Blaine Anderson and his wife Quinn.

Perfect pictures adorned the seemingly perfect walls, a trophy wife on his arm, a designer state of the art home surrounded him, designer clothes hung in his closet, awards and accolades for his multi-million dollar business, a perfect life, it would seem.

However, behind the closed doors of his office, late at night, Blaine Anderson had a secret, a secret he couldn't tell anyone, especially not his wife.

Logging on to his computer, he opened up the search tab in incognito mode, and typed in ' '.

Clicking on the 'Gay' tab, he began browsing through the ads, nothing really catching his eye, until a blue eyed boy, named only as Kurt H, caught his eye.