Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Glee. Wish I did, though.
Chapter 1—Our Endearing Spy
Performance in 5, senior commons. Soul sister? -Wes
As finished her lecture, I texted Wes back: Uh uh, td! -Blaine.
I could practically hear his exasperated sigh at my love for the amazing icon that is Katy Perry from the other side of the school as he replied, Fine...you owe me! And tell ur class, and don't be late! -Wes.
My friend Jeff glanced at me curiously when I quietly exclaimed in triumph. As I was texting the okay back to Wes, I whispered to Jeff, "We're doing Teenage Dream in 5!"
Unfortunately for me, caught my whisper. "Mr. Anderson. Would you mind sharing what is more important than my class?" her sharp voice called to me from across the room.
Knowing she loved the Warblers, and that I was one of her top students gave me the boldness to stand up confidently, declaring, "Well, there is gonna be a Warbler's performance in 5 minutes guys! We'll be at the Senior Commons!"
As all my classmates jumped up grinning (and not only at the potential of getting out of class), ' face relaxed into a smile and a sigh. "Alright, class dismissed!".
While all of the other boys filed out talking amongst themselves, I approached her desk. "Thanks." I said.
She smiled and responded, "Ah, you know I love these performances as much as the kids. Hurry along, and sing well!"
With those words, she walked out of the classroom, closely followed by me. As I hurried down Dalton's large spiral staircase, my phone buzzed.
Come on, hurry up! -Wes
I quickly typed back On my way. -Blaine when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I stared at the nervous boy in front of me.
Soft, styled chestnut brown hair, beautiful pale skin, and wide blue-green eyes were the first features I noticed about him. Second was the fact that his tall and slim build was not clad in a uniform, but rather dark pants and a studded leather jacket. "Excuse me, um, hi. Can I ask you a question? I'm-I'm new here." were his first words to me.
As my mind automatically latched on to the fact that even if he was new, he would have a uniform (even emergency transfers were given one for their first day), my manners kicked in, and I reached up to shake his hand. "My name's Blaine."
He shook it, replying, "Kurt", then looked nervously around at the crowd of rushing boys. "Uh, so what exactly is going on?", he asked.
"The Warblers!" I laughed, and , leaning in, confided that "Every now and then they throw an impromptu performance. It tends to shut the school down for a while." I winked at him, wanting to show him I didn't bite.
Confusion crowded his face. "So, wait, the glee club here is kinda...cool?" he asked.
With the words "glee club", it clicked into place—he was from another choir group and was most likely spying on us—hence the nonexistent uniform. However, instead of kicking him out, I decided to let him see us. I mean, we had nothing to hide, why not show off a bit? Now not trying to scare him off, I smoothly responded, "The Warblers are like rock stars here!" He looked surprised, so I grabbed his hand, saying, "Come on, I know a short cut." The flinch I felt when I grabbed his hand (along with his obviously well-groomed appearance contrasted to his sloppy attempt as copying the Dalton uniform) told me everything: gay, bullied, looking for a safe place, and using spying as an excuse to check out Dalton Academy, which had a reputation as being a "gay" school. Poor kid, I thought to myself.
When we reached the Senior Commons, I let go of Kurt's hand and slipped my bag off my shoulder, noticing all the other Warblers had already arrived.
"Boy, do I stick out like a sore thumb." Kurt murmured as he glanced (still wide-eyed) around at the grandeur of the room.
Not wanting to break his cover yet, I reached over and adjusted one of his lapels, jokingly saying, "Well, next time don't forget your jacket, new kid!" He stared at me, still wide-eyed and completely taken aback, and I reflected that probably no one else did things like that to him. "Now, if you'll excuse me." I said, mindful of Wes' glare, and turned toward the Warblers.
As I began to sing the beginning of Katy Perry's (god bless her) Teenage Dream, I relished the look on Kurt's face as he heard me sing. Finding myself wanting to show off to our spy, I maintained eye contact with him throughout most of the song. This meant I was able to savor the looks of wonderment, surprise, and enthusiasm that competed for display across his face.
When we finished, I noticed him clapping, eyes bright, as other Warblers clapped me on my back, telling me how great I was. Catching Wes and David's eyes, I whispered to them, "We've got ourselves a spy."
They started, then spotting him immediately, nodded. "He's cute." David whispered appreciatively.
"You're straight." I replied. He shrugged.
"I know, but it doesn't mean I can't think another guy's cute. Wes is cute."
"Okay," Wes cut in, "all that aside, shall we talk to him?". I nodded, and approached Kurt where he was still standing.
"You guys were amazing!" He half-gasped in a high, breathy voice.
Smirking, I shrugged, saying "Thanks. I'm sure your glee club is also great." As his face fell, I added, "I know you were spying on us. Coffee?".
A look of confusion rested for a moment on his face at my question, but soon vanished to be replaced by a frightening calm as he nodded slightly. However, I noticed if I looked in his eyes, a deathly fear was evident, even prominent, along with a slight tremble of his hands. David, Wes and I showed him to Dalton's small café, where we sat down at a round table and he took off his jacket, revealing a patterned gray suit top. Yep, I though, definitely gay.
"This is Wes and David." I introduced him to my friends.
He mouthed a 'thank you' to Wes when he handed him a latte. He gripped it tightly, then said, slightly sarcastically, but with the fear still evident, "It's very civilized of you all to invite me for coffee before beating me up for spying."
"We are not going to beat you up." Wes immediately said firmly, probably remembering how I had been when I first came to Dalton. Three words: a big mess.
Kurt looked mildly surprised. David leaned forward, saying with his usual easy grin, "You were such a terrible spy, we thought it was sort of endearing."
Kurt blinked at this, and I cut in smoothly (before our conversation from before regarding straight vs. complimenting guys could come up), "Which made me think that spying was not the reason you came here."
Kurt looked at us staring at him, more supportive than hostile, and grew apprehensive. "Can I ask you guys a question?", he asked. The three of us nodded, curious as to what he wanted to know. Kurt leaned forward slightly, and cautiously queried, "Are you guys all gay?".
I chuckled along with Wes and David at Kurt's question, well-aware the world thought Dalton was a gay school. "Uh, uh, no," I answered, containing my laughter when I noted his crushed expression. I elaborated, saying "Well, I mean, I am, but these guys have girlfriends." His eyes seemed to light up slightly at this—I was probably the first gay guy he'd ever met.
David explained how Dalton worked, how "This is not a gay school. We just have a zero-tolerance harassment policy."
As Wes added in how, "Everybody gets treated the same, no matter what they are. It's pretty simple."
I studied Kurt's face. There was a sad hopelessness there as he reacted to Wes' words, and I knew Wes had just depicted a hopeless dream, a beautiful paradise just out of reach, for him. I know it had felt that way when I first arrived at Dalton. It had taken David and Wes' combined efforts months to get me to come out of my shell.
Thinking I'd have a better chance to talk to and help (because I desperately wanted to help this boy who reminded me so much of myself before Dalton) Kurt alone, I nodded briefly to Wes and David, asking, "Would you guys excuse us?".
They caught the memo instantly (though David gave me a look that just screamed 'We'll talk about this later!'), and stood up easily. Clapping Kurt on the back, Wes told him,"Take it easy."
Now I had my chance to find out the facts. I started out with the obvious—"I take it you're having trouble at school."
His eyes gleaming with unshed tears, he nodded slowly. "I am the only person out of the closet at my school," Kurt explained, reinforcing my assumption, "and I try to stay strong about it, but there's this Neanderthal who's made it his mission to make my life a living hell, and nobody seems to notice".
Memories of past bruises, locker slams, dumpster tosses, and slurs passed through my thoughts. Glaring students, faces of once-friends, and of uncaring teachers flitted through my head, and I found myself opening up to Kurt. "I know how you feel. I got taunted at my old school, and it really..." I searched for a word to describe the way I had felt at my old school, "pissed me off. I even complained about it to the faculty, and they were sympathetic and all-" Kurt looked away at this, and I leaned forward, "-but you could just tell that nobody really cared. It was like, "Hey, if you're gay, your life's just gonna be miserable. Sorry, nothing we can do about it.". So I left" I glanced around at the high, arched ceilings of Dalton, "I came here. Simple as that." I hoped I didn't sound bitter. I loved Dalton, I really did, but it still hurt to think of my old school. Kurt was looking at me steadily, so I continued. "So you have two options. I mean, I'd love to tell you to just come and roll here," Kurt looked almost gratified by these words, "but tuition at Dalton's kind of steep, and I know that isn't an option for everybody." Kurt looked so disappointed at this, and I became more passionate in my endeavor to help him. "Or, you could refuse to be the victim." He shot me an unbelieving look. "Prejudice is just ignorance, Kurt," I explained, "and you have a chance right now to teach him."
"How?" Kurt asked, skeptical of my claim.
"Confront him!" I exclaimed, "Call him out!" I took a deep breath, then said (for some reason I don't know, I hadn't ever voiced this before), "I ran, Kurt, I didn't stand up. I let bullies chase me away, and it is something I really, really regret."
Why was I telling him this? I hadn't even told David or Wes that I was ashamed of how I came to Dalton. Kurt nodded his head shakily, probably taken aback by the raw emotion in my voice. I checked my watch, and it was getting kind of late to be chatting, so I told him, "I have to go, but could I have your cellphone number? Just in case, you know, you ever want to talk." He nodded silently, and we exchanged numbers.
As I stood up to leave, he suddenly said, "Thank you. For-for everything."
I winked, trying to lighten the mood. "What are friends for?"
When I returned to my dorm, it was to find Wes and David sitting on my bed, grinning at me. "What?" I asked, confused.
"So, what didja talk to our endearing spy about?" David asked.
"He has a name, you know. It's Kurt." I replied, still trying to puzzle out their, while not abnormal, still strange behavior.
"Really? Cute name. We actually never caught it, as you ordered us off like a pair of dogs." Wes answered. I flinched, realizing I had kind of ordered them around.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I just thought-"
"You wanted some alone time with Kurt?" David cut in, grinning.
I looked at him strangely. "No, I just thought that he'd be more open to talking about what was wrong in front of only me, and not two straight guys."
Wes gasped dramatically, putting a hand to his heart. "AH, no! It hurts too much! Blaine thinks we aren't sensitive enough!"
"Hey!" I defended myself. "I only thought he should have someone who can empathize, not just sympathize with him."
Wes considered this for a moment, then laughed, saying, "Whatever you need to tell yourself."
He and David pushed themselves off my bed and headed out the door, laughing to themselves. Running my hand through my hair (and ruining at least half an hour's worth of work in the process), I stared after them, still not sure what they had been going at.
The next day was pretty much the same routine as every other, except for the number of guys congratulating me on my number yesterday had increased substantially. Usually it was only one or two guys who had heard the Warblers practicing, but today most of the guys from each class made sure to take the time to praise me and my voice. Being the lead Warbler had its perks.
At lunch, as usual, I sat at the Warblers' table surrounded by Wes, David, Nick, Jeff, Cameron, Thad, and Trent, to name a few. It was David who brought up Kurt.
"So, did you guys see the spy yesterday?" As I glared at him, the other guys looked surprised.
"Oh, was that the guy Blaine was singing to?" Nick asked.
David and Wes nodded spastically, and the other guys looked appeased.
"So that's why he wasn't in uniform." Jeff said, "I had wondered about that. And that he didn't look very familiar."
"Yeah, what was his name?" Thad asked.
"Kurt." I answered. Trent gave a small chuckle at this.
"What's wrong with Kurt?" I asked defensively.
"Whoa there," Trent replied, "I wasn't making fun of the name or anything. I just appreciated the reference."
"What are you talking about?" David asked, clueless.
Trent looked at us like we were insane. "Anybody else know?"
Nick and Jeff were thinking, but apparently came up with nothing.
Trent rolled his eyes. "Honestly, you guys call yourselves a show choir. Kurt, as in Kurt von Trapp." He explained. He only received blank stares from us. "The Sound of Music?" he asked, and we all gave an 'ohh' of realization.
Talking about Kurt, I remembered what I had advised him to do today-stand up to his bully. Thinking about how hard it would be for him, I sent him a text-Courage. -Blaine.
"Who are you texting?" Jeff asked curiously, and for good reason, as everyone I normally texted was sitting at the same table.
"Isn't it obvious?" Wes smirked. "He's texting Kurt."
"So what if I am? He's going through a hard time, I'm just helping him out." I defended myself. Everyone looked at me and smiled. What was going on here?
"So on a more serious note," Thad began, "what are we gonna do about our spy?"
I looked up, confused, to see the others nodding thoughtfully. "Huh? What do you mean, do to him?" I asked.
"Well, he did see us perform, didn't he? And now he's gone back to whatever school he's from's glee club, which, by the way, do we know where he's from?" Thad explained. Everyone looked at me questioningly.
"Umm," I answered, realizing I in fact had no clue what school he was from, "that kind of never came up..."
David smacked his forehead with his hand. "Really, Blaine, really?"
"What? I was more concerned with helping him than trying to pump him for information." I answered indignantly, ignoring the snickers from Nick and Jeff.
"So all we know is that this kid, Kurt, do we know his last name?" Thad started again, once again veering off to ask me a question.
I rolled my eyes. "I think it's Hummel, I saw that name in his phone." I answered.
"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" Wes exclaimed, typing into a lab top he had procured from his bag. He turned the screen so we could all see the heading, 'New Directions, the new glee club at McKinley High in Lima, OH, wins their Sectionals, and will progress to Regionals'. It went on to list all the members, Blaine remarking silently that there were only 12-they had just enough to compete-and there was him, listed as Kurt Hummel. There was a picture of the whole club, and I immediately picked Kurt out from the other 11 kids, standing straight with a smile on his face.
Wes reclaimed his computer, and opened up a new window. "So we know what club he belongs to now, let's take a peek."
"Wes, that's cheating!" Nick exclaimed, surprised.
Wes looked up from the compute to stare at Nick. "Not if it's in public domain. Example-YouTube." He replied.
Nick looked slightly appeased, especially after Jeff patted his hand, saying, "And technically, we're only returning the favor."
"Here we go." Wes interrupted them, once again swiveling the screen so we could see it. He had typed in 'Kurt Hummel' into the search engine, and gotten a few results. Clicking on one, it directed him to a channel called 'The New Directions'. Wes clicked on a note, saying that this had all the songs performed by the New Directions, filmed courtesy of the AV team, who wanted something to do. Just as Trent started to ask why they would ever upload their videos on YouTube, Wes shushed him and clicked on one of the videos. The song You Can't Always Get What You Want came on, and there he was in the front, smiling and singing. We watched the video, occasionally commenting on it. The overall decision of the Warblers is that the New Directions would be some tough, but not impossible competition.
David, being David, saw a link to another video which had our spy's name on it, and eagerly clicked it. The screen went black, then showed Kurt, maybe a year or two younger (his face was less angular, more round), standing in some basement backed by two girls that had been in the previous video. He was wearing, god, Blaine tried not to stare. Kurt sported a black unitard, black skinny jeans, a black vest, and black tie tied round his neck. Wes paused the video before the music started.
"Whoa." David whistled.
"He's hot." Jeff whispered.
I shook my head slightly to rid myself of the image as Nick glanced at Jeff, slightly hurt. "Okay, guys, this is getting kinda creepy and stalkerish, even for your guys. Can we just stop?" I asked.
Thad looked confused. "Don't you wanna hear him sing?" he asked.
I considered it. "No. I can always just ask him myself one day." I decided. No way was the first time I heard him sing gonna be from a video.
"Your loss." Wes said, but thankfully gave it up as the bell rang. I hurried to my next class, excited to get the Warbler's practice later in the day.
After the final bell of the day had rung, I hurried to Warbler's practice, ready for another hour or two filled of song and laughter. The Warblers really were the favorite part of my day. They were always supportive of me, and all adored my voice. Also, they were just fun to hang and sing with.
Unfortunately, the first thing Wes did during the meeting was inform all the members who weren't already aware of Kurt's existence about our endearing spy (why they continued to call him that escaped me). Their reactions ranged from indifferent, to outraged, to concerned. Thankfully, Wes, David, and Thad managed to calm down the other Warblers, assuring them that it was fine, Kurt was a good person, and that they had seen a performance of the New Directions as well, so they were on even footing.
One Warbler had the sense to ask, "And how do we know so much about our spy? Even his name? I mean, it wasn't as if after spying on us y'all sat down to coffee and talked or anything."
Wes, David and I traded looks. "We have our sources." David said confidently.
"They actually have coffee with him, and he and Blaine exchanged phone numbers." Nick stage-whispered.
"Really?" asked the Warbler.
"Yeah." Nick replied, which caused the room to break out in titters.
"Hey!" I once again defended myself in regards to Kurt. What was up with this? "He's going through a hard time, and I thought I'd help him out. It's not like I invited him to rehearsal or anything."
At that precise moment, the doors were thrown open, and in rushed a disheveled Kurt.