Disclaimer: I don't own Sweeny Todd, or Glee all hail Ryan Murphy.
Kurt sat in his room watching Pavarotti flit about in his cage, and thought about his day. He didn't get the solo, and Blaine , while wonderfully well intentioned, just made him feel worse. How was he supposed to learn to fit in, when his individuality was always his favorite thing about him? He felt lost, but worse than that, he felt caged. He looked at Pavarotti, "How do you stand it?" he asked. But the bird just cocked his head to the side at chirped happily at him. So kurt walked over to the cage on his desk and began to sing.
"Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
How is it you sing?
How can you jubilate,
Sitting in cages,
Never taking wing?"
Because this is what Kurt does, he sings what he feels, except this time there's no room full of sympathetic new directions to hear him and understand. No Mercedes, waiting patiently for him to talk about it, and understanding when he can't. No Rachel to distract him with an (irritatingly accurate) un-solicited critique of his performance, no Mr. Shue to offer whatever advice he can in his almost pathological desire to be helpful. This time there was nobody but Pavarotti in his cage and Kurt in one of his own. He moved to the window and looked out at the other students going about their lives in the coutyard outside, and hears Blaine's words over again, "Did you notice we all wear uniforms here?".
"Outside the sky waits,
Beckoning, beckoning,
Just beyond the bars.
How can you remain,
Staring at the rain,
Maddened by the stars?"
Blaine was on his was to the senior commons when he heard it, the high clear voice he knew so well, and turned to follow it, stopping at Kurt's door to listen. The door hadn't been closed all the way so Blaine had no trouble watching Kurt as he sang. He recognized the song immediately and it kind of broke his heart a little, seeing Kurt look so disconsolate, hearing those words from his mouth and knowing how he must feel .
"How is it you sing
Anything?
How is it you sing?
Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
How is it you sing?"
He doesn't get it, how can they not feel stifled, how can they not feel trapped?
"My cage has many rooms,
Damask and dark.
Nothing there sings,
Not even my lark."
Here Kurt throws an apologetic look at Pavarotti.
"Larks never will, you know,
When they're captive.
Teach me to be more adaptive."
Kurt tuns away from the window to come back to sit near Pavarotti and sings directly to the bird, one warbler to another, and Blaine cant help but admire his soft strength of the boy.
"Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
Teach me how to sing."
Kurt's voice soars and Blaine feels a strange mixture of pride and affection for the determined look on Kurt's face as he belts the last line.
"If I cannot fly… Let me sing…"
He'll apologize to Kurt later, he decides, for the for ever thinking he should try and change.
**The song, for any who do not know, is 'Green Finch and Linnet Bird' from Sweeney Todd**
Woo-hoo! First Fanfic! I hope you like it, because its nothing like I intended it to be. Oh well, please review!