Title: Gemini, chapter 1
Character(s); Pairing(s): Kurt, Burt, OMC; Klaine mentioned
Rating: PG
Genre: Angst, Family
Warnings/Spoilers: No warnings, slight S3 spoilers about the future
Disclaimer: Glee is not mine. No money is being made.
Author's Note: This is a fill for the glee angst meme on livejournal.
Word Count: 1400 (this chapter)
Summary:When Kurt meets a kindred spirit his first day of college, it turns his entire family upside down.
Kurt was used to it, used to the gnawing empty place in his heart that he could never quite fill. It wasn't a lack of good friends, because it was still there when he found Mercedes and Rachel. It wasn't a lack of a romantic love, because it was still there when he and Blaine fell in love. He thought it might have been the loss of his mother, but Carole's presence in his life didn't help the feeling at all, despite how much Kurt loved her.
When Kurt didn't get into NYADA, but NYU instead, he wondered if pursuing a design degree instead of performing arts was a misstep in his quest to fill that void in his heart. He was wrong.
Being a freshman in New York City was the most exciting thing to ever happen in Kurt's life. He texted Blaine constantly with little tidbits about what he was doing and seeing and even smelling! And class hadn't even started yet! His first class was Freshman writing, and while Kurt thought it superfluous, given his obvious skills in the area, the books he'd had to buy for the class looked intriguing.
Kurt entered the smallish classroom alone, since his roommate Peter didn't have this class until evening, and took a seat on the far side of the room, the better to observe his classmates, since he was only the third student to arrive. Kurt watched students arrive and take their seats, giving friendly smiles to those who looked at him and making up stories about them based on their appearances.
Just before class was about to start, a boy slipped into a seat near the door and Kurt's heart stopped. No. It couldn't be. It was just a strange confluence of genetics, right?
Except for the cheesy fauxhawk; the loose, tatty jeans; the wire rim glasses; and the tight, faded, "Kiss me I'm Irish" t-shirt, the boy across the way looked exactly like Kurt. He had the same chestnut hair, the same ski slope nose, the same slightly pointed ears, the same cheekbones, the same chin dimple. It was impossible. Wasn't it?
As the teacher started talking, the boy looked around the room, finally noticing Kurt and doing such a dramatic double-take that Kurt almost laughed. Except, you know, he could hardly breathe as it was. After a moment of blank staring, the boy mouthed, "Who are you?"
Nonplussed, Kurt mouthed back, "Who are you?"
Before the boy could answer, the teacher, a younger man with a goatee that he probably thought suited him, but didn't, said, "Excuse me, man in the green shirt...?"
"Kevin Maloney," he replied, his voice not quite as high as Kurt's, but definitely up there.
"Right, well, Kevin Maloney. Would you please save the discussion with your brother until after class? Thank you."
Kevin looked like he was going to protest, but Kurt shook his head. As much as he wanted to know exactly who was this stranger with his face, he was certain now, the first meeting of his first ever college class, was not the time.
As it was, Kurt barely had the wherewithal to copy down the homework assignment before the professor dismissed them and then he was shoving books into his satchel and hurrying over to introduce himself. Breathless as he met Kevin at the halfway point of the room, he said, "Kurt Hummel."
"Kurt," Kevin said with a nod, making an abortive, half-gesture like he was going to give Kurt a hug, but thought better of it. "I'm K-"
"Kevin," Kurt finished for him. "I heard. This," he pointed back and forth between the two of them, "isn't just me, right? I mean, it's..."
"Uncanny," Kevin nodded. Tilting his head, he asked, "When's your birthday?"
"May twenty-seventh," Kurt replied, wondering if this question meant what he thought it might.
"Ninety-three?" Kevin asked and Kurt nodded. "Me too. Wow."
"Do you think...?"
"Has to be," Kevin nodded, obviously understanding what Kurt had tried to ask. "Where have you...?"
"Lima," Kurt replied, before adding, "Ohio. You?"
"Boston. That's in-"
"Oh, I know where Boston is!" Kurt snapped, but softened it with a fond smile.
People had started filing into the room for the next class, so Kurt linked his arm with Kevin's and led him from the room, saying, "You'd better not have class right now, because we're getting coffee at the cart downstairs and you're going to tell me everything about you."
"Well, I was going to go find the library," Kevin said, shuffling along next to Kurt in his loose (oh, god why?) sandals, "but I like your plan better."
Kevin ordered his latte with hazelnut flavoring instead of caramel, but otherwise they were roughly the same, and the two of them sat at a table near the cart.
Kurt began his questions by asking, "Who did you grow up with?"
"My mom. You?"
"My dad, Burt Hummel," Kurt replied. "And my mom. She died when I was seven."
"I never had a dad," Kevin said softly, taking a sip of his coffee. "Mom said he died when I was little."
Kurt wanted to ask if he and Kevin looked anything like Kevin's mom, but he suspected they didn't. Kurt's mom, on the other hand... He didn't, though. Instead, he cleared his throat a little and asked, "Favorite music?"
Kevin shrugged one shoulder and it was weird, because that was one of those gestures Kurt used pretty often, but few others did. It was almost like looking in a (fashion deranged) mirror. "Mostly Indie rock. You?"
"Show tunes," Kurt admitted, refusing to blush. "And Lady Gaga."
Chuckling a little, Kevin asked, "Gay?"
The absolute lack of malice in Kevin's question made it easy for Kurt to answer with a nod, "Quite. And you're straight?"
Kevin burst out laughing. "Oh my god, no! Also very, very gay."
"I guess we really are born this way," Kurt quipped, taking a sip of his coffee. "Okay, so! Gossip! Boyfriend?"
"I've had a few," Kevin nodded. "None at the moment, though." Smirking, he added, "Kinda looking forward to the whole college playing-the-field thing before I get into anything serious. You?"
"One," Kurt replied, frowning a little at the unromantic thought of "hooking up" with random guys. "One boyfriend. He's still in Ohio, so we're doing the whole long-distance thing."
Nodding, Kevin asked, "What's his name? Is he hot?"
Kurt pulled his phone out of his pocket and called up a picture of him and Blaine from that summer at King's Island. "His name is Blaine. We've been together for a year and a half."
"Aw," Kevin cooed. "You two look so cute together. Also, holy crap, did you grow up on a farm or something?"
Startled by the question, it took Kurt a second while he took his phone back before he could reply, "What? No! Why would you ask that?"
"Dude," Kevin cried, poking Kurt's bicep. "I play baseball and I'm not even that ripped! What, were you on the swim team or something?"
Kurt frowned, looking at his arm, surprised that someone had noticed. "No. Why would I let chlorine touch all this?" He motioned with his open hand drawing a circle in from of his face. "Look, I guess I just... Ohio's not the greatest place, alright? I mean, dancing for show choir did a lot of this, but Finn sort of convinced me that the best defense was a good offense... He tends to think in football terms."
"Finn...?"
"Oh, my stepbrother," Kurt explained. "My dad remarried two years ago." Kurt still had his phone out on the table, so he flipped through his pictures until he found the one he was looking for, "Here. This is all of us."
"Your dad is Burt Hummel, the congressman?" Kevin asked, incredulous. Then he added, "I can really see the resemblance..."
Kurt thought that Kevin looked like a guy having his whole world ripped out from under him and guessed that he looked nothing like his mother. Kurt couldn't wait to call his dad and ask what was going on. In the meantime, Kurt smiled at the boy he was almost sure was his brother and asked, "So, baseball? What's that like? I imagine the stirrup paints must be hideous."