A/N: Sequel to Llama Turf. I would suggest reading that first, but all you really need to know is that Kurt talks in his sleep and got over his shame about it through brotherly bonding and a tape recorder. This fic is not canon-compliant past 2.16. Also, my first time writing Will. I hope you won't be able to tell that I don't like him – I portrayed him the way I think he'd act based on canon.
Mr. Schue thought his kids were, in general, pretty nice. That's why he couldn't believe what he heard when they were in New York.
I've also included the links for the specific sleep talking quotes I was thinking of at the bottom (they are numbered in the fic).
Even though he was often touted as one of the best teachers at McKinley (when among the ranks of Sue Sylvester, Sandy Ryerson and Ken Tanaka it was hard not to be), Will Schuester was among the more oblivious. When booking room assignments for National in New York, he had noticed the argument (Mercedes' strident tones had always been particularly effective at drawing attention) but once Kurt had calmed her down he had gone back to writing down the pairings that had come to him.
He didn't know what the argument had been about, and quite frankly, with the amount of fighting that went on inside the choir room he was glad not to have to step in on this occasion. Will didn't think another thing of it until they reached New York. They had been shuffled off to a pretty crappy hotel with a couple of other Glee clubs, but Will was just happy they had put everybody on the same floor. He absentmindedly waved to the Choir Director of The St. Stephens' Songbirds who had gotten the floor above them. He had gotten his own room – not wanting to start up any rumours of impropriety, and was trying to de-stress. Having 12 highly competitive and vocal students on a plane was not the most relaxing of endeavours, when he realized he could hear everything on either side of him – and looking up, the faintest hint of conversation upstairs.
At dinner that night, Will had tried to stress to the kids that they needed to be well rested for tomorrow and that any conversations were likely to be overheard. Judging by the amount of eye rolling – and an inappropriate comment from Santana, he was ineffective at getting it across.
He jerked upright a few hours after he had finally fallen asleep – laughter and high-spirited conversation had flowed between the rooms, keeping him up. Kurt was murmuring something, his distinctive tone allowing Will to recognize his voice. Dragging himself up out of sleep – he would be upset to have to get out of bed to calm them down – Kurt's voice got clearer before abruptly shouting out an incredibly vulgar word (1).
Will's eyes widened. He couldn't believe Kurt would be so crude, but his next utterance – Will flinched as he swore – was the last straw. The rest of his kids found it to be completely hilarious. Will started to get out of bed when their laughter was renewed. He couldn't believe his kids were being that inconsiderate. They needed to be awake to perform tomorrow.
Debating to himself, Will huffed and lay back down. They were shooting themselves in the foot with their flippant attitude, but as Figgins had granted them permanent status after Regionals – much to the disgust of Sue – Will decided to leave this as a learning lesson. He tried to get comfortable, eventually dozing off.
He ended up waking up thrice more – each time because of Kurt. The first time he was apparently trash talking the competition (2), which Will could only hope that they could not hear (but considering the paper thin walls of the hotel he couldn't count on it). And he was startled awake for the second time by Kurt swearing; Will could only assume Finn had said something (he had heard about the Bambi incident from Emma) (3). And then again by Kurt, who was calmly discussing the possibility of him ripping out a voice-box (4).
Will didn't know when Kurt had gotten so violent, but he needed to have a serious talk with him. He was seriously considering pulling him from the next competition if he acted like this again. The more he thought about it the madder he got. There were in New York City, representing Ohio in front of the National Show Choir Board and Kurt was blatantly flouting the rules. With the amount of laughter following each remark the others would need to be talked to as well.
He tossed and turned for the rest of the night, only to be woken by the blaring of the alarm clock beside his bed. Grumpily he went through his morning ablutions before knocking on each of his kids' doors, hearing the groaning and calling through the door to be downstairs in half an hour. He saved Kurt and Finn's room for last, asking Kurt to step outside.
He had never seen Kurt so dishevelled. His hair was half flattened, allowing the opposite side to stick straight up. A fabric imprint on half of his face along with wrinkled PJ's completed the look. Clearing his throat, Will began.
"Now I understand this is a big deal to be here at Nationals, even you Kurt." Kurt looked a bit confused, but nodded.
"However, I heard you multiple times last night Kurt, trash talking you opponents and using language that frankly, I think you should be ashamed of."
Kurt was turning pink, arms crossed as he hunched in on himself.
"I thought about taking you out of this competition to teach you –"
Kurt jerked his head up, letting a disbelieving "What?" escape his lips.
Will looked down at him. "Kurt, you threatened to rip out someone's voice box. That is not acceptable behaviour."
Finn opened the bathroom door, lips pursed as he brushed his teeth. Completely ignoring Will, he pulled the toothbrush out and mumbled, "Kurt, are you getting ready? Hey Mr. Schue," he added as he noticed Kurt was outside the room. Spitting into the sink, he joined Kurt.
Will changed tactics. "Finn, I can't believe you didn't stop him."
Looking confused, Finn asked, "Stop who? Doing what? Did Puck do something stupid – cos I had nothing to do with that I swear!"
Will ran his hand through his hair, completely frustrated. "I'm talking about Kurt Finn. I'm talking about him using completely inappropriate language and threatening the other show choirs."
A look of dawning comprehension was on Finn's face. "Mr. Schue, Kurt talks in his sleep. He doesn't have any control over what he says. Why are you ragging on him? I thought you heard him explain that when we were choosing roommates." He clapped Kurt on the back, making him stumble, and disappeared back into the bathroom.
Will glanced back at Kurt, who had almost disappeared into himself, looking much like he had when Karofsky had been harassing him. Clearing his throat, he shamefacedly told the two teens, "I knew that Puck had started something but wasn't too clear on what and since you guys resolved it fairly quickly I didn't think it was that important. Was everybody alright with it Kurt? You know you shouldn't be ashamed of something like that. No one's said anything to you?"
Kurt finally looked up, a frown marring his face. "No Mr. Schue. You were the only person who made me feel ashamed. Even Puck thought it was neat." His cheeks were still pink, although apparently now flushed from anger as opposed to embarrassment.
Will felt his mouth gape open, and anger began to warm him before he got a hold of himself.
"Of course. I apologize for what I said. I just wish I had known about it before hearing you speak like that."
"I'll take that under advisement. Now as I'm behind on my morning routine I need to get ready." Pausing, Kurt archaed an eyebrow. "Unless there was something else you wanted to discuss?"
Clearing his throat again Will managed to shake his head, retreating back to his hotel room. He needed sometime to compose himself before breakfast.
1) www . sleeptalkinman . com/audio/junglePussy . mp3
2) www . sleeptalkinman . com/audio/singingWakeTheDead . mp3
3) www . sleeptalkinman . com/audio/vulnerableFawn . mp3
4) www . sleeptalkinman . com/audio/noMoreQuestions . mp3
