Author's notes: Another one I debated about posting on this site, but I'm working on an extension of it right now that I'm really rather proud of (I don't know that I want to post that one here, though). Meh. We'll see. I like this one too, although it's probably one of the shortest fics I've ever written. It's different, if nothing else. Anyway, this was yet another fill for a prompt on the angst_meme. The prompter asked for Will to have taken a shine to Kurt instead of Finn and then for people to misinterpret the relationship between them, starting and spreading ugly rumors around the school about the pair, causing things to get serious for both of them. Have fun.
It was weird.
And it wasn't as if they tried to hide it. Everyone could see it.
People knew the Hummel kid had lost his mom a couple years ago-cancer or something-and his dad was this macho gruff guy who was probably distant as hell and ashamed of his faggy son. And that's what gays do, right? Look for father figures?
And Schuester, it wasn't really surprising there, either-not that much of a stretch. His wife was a nut job. And she was pregnant, so she probably wasn't putting out.
Not like Kurt.
And a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. Why reject a willing body? A pair of open legs?
The glee kids noticed first: the secret smiles from the white board, the random solos and bits of praise, the private meetings meant for doling-out advice, the "after-school practices." But no one said anything. Kurt wouldn't do that; he was as fruity as they came, but he wasn't easy. Mr. Shue wouldn't do that; he's their teacher and the fact that he knocked his wife up was probably a good indicator that he wasn't into boys.
But still, all the signs were there.
It got really bad when the rest of the school began to take notice. How could they not when Kurt was the only one Shue noticed getting the daily slushie facial? When he allowed Kurt to change in his office after being tossed into a dumpster? When the announcement that Quinn was pregnant didn't even faze him but Kurt missing one glee rehearsal was cause for panic? Something was up. And that something was weird. And really, really gross.
No one was really sure who brought it up to Kurt first. Probably Mercedes, trying to get some insight into the dealings of her best friend. He shrugged them all off.
"You're joking," he'd say, face completely neutral. "Me and Mr. Shue. Seriously? I guess I should be flattered that you think I'm capable of stooping to that level, and at least he's under forty, but really? With a teacher? With our teacher? No, he's just been helping me through a rough patch lately."
It was worse when they tried to get Shuester to talk.
"Guys, that's not funny. You shouldn't joke about stuff like that. I'm trying to help Kurt out. Nothing more. Now let it go." And that was that.
No one was really sure how Figgins found out. A lot of people suspected Rachel, but most assumed that the principal just couldn't ignore the obvious anymore. Shuester was gone in two hours, just enough time to collect all of his things from his desk and the choir room. Glee was permanently disbanded.
That's when things got ugly for Kurt. It was bad enough when some teacher left to pop out some babies or something and they were stuck with a sub for the rest of the year, but damn. The Spanish teacher and a student? A dude, even?
Kurt stopped going to Spanish class.
The hallways got rougher too: the comments louder (no longer whispered behind his back or when they thought he wasn't listening or just outside the bathroom door when they knew he was in there), the slushies more frequent and the bullying more intense. He used more foundation in a month to cover up his black eyes and swollen purple cheeks than he'd ever used in his life. He stopped wearing nice things-they'd only be ruined.
And nobody said a thing. He deserved it, the little freak. The glee kids blamed him for the loss of their mentor, their teacher, their friend, and so did nothing when he walked down the hall bleeding from the lip onto the collar of a cheap t-shirt he'd never have worn before. They never said a word as he withdrew day by day until he stopped showing up at school at all.
No one bothered to ask why. No one bothered to see what was bothering Kurt and why he needed an adult to back him up. No one bothered to figure out that Kurt had been losing the one parent he had left to disease and was fighting to keep his head above water, trying not to drown. No one bothered because it was only one kid, right?
And he was a fag anyway.