Rose (chatterboxrose on Tumblr) gave me an AU Klaine headcanon and I needed to write it. Never met before!College!AU featuring a couple of my favorite songs from musicals.
It's the first day of Kurt's sophomore year at NYADA, and he's idly gazing around the theater while he's waiting for his "hands-on" Musical Theatre seminar to start when fuck.
A ridiculously attractive (if somewhat short) guy has just walked into the theater, and it's so not fair that someone can look super cute and super anxious at the same time, because now Kurt's being drawn to this guy's big, so luminous and big hazel-gold eyes like a moth to a freaking inferno and where was this kid last year when Kurt was trying to get over Adam?
The boy notices Kurt looking at him and takes a seat a few chairs to Kurt's left, giving him a small smile before digging his phone out of his satchel and tapping away at the screen for the last few minutes before class starts. Kurt's debating angling his neck to try to see if there's anything interesting on the boy's phone when the professor comes onstage.
"Hello, everyone, and welcome to Musical Theatre 225! I'm delighted to announce that for our first session today, Madame Tibideaux has decided to sit in and watch your opening performances – maybe one of you will be fortunate enough to receive an invitation to perform at the Winter Showcase!" The professor is effusive in her hand motions, sweeping them up and down as she talks and almost strangling herself in the scarf she's wearing. Kurt wonders if she's purposely channeling Ms. Darbus from High School Musical or if all the NYADA professors are just a little bit cracked. "But first things first, I'm Ms. Reynolds, and my favorite musical is Oklahoma! Now, when I call your name, tell us yours! Blaine Anderson?"
Kurt starts to groan but then the boy next to him speaks up. "Uh, hi, I'm Blaine, and my favorite musical is Grease." Kurt's not too surprised by this fact, as the boy – Blaine, now that he has a name for him – is wearing enough hair gel in his black hair to drown a toddler in if it were still liquid. Somehow that makes him even more attractive, though, and it kind of pisses Kurt off because that's so not okay.
Kurt zones out for the next few people, snapping back to attention when he hears the professor sing out "Kurt Hummel?"
"Hello, I'm Kurt Hummel, and my absolute favorite musical is Wicked," he states, noticing Blaine staring at him out of the corner of his eye with an expression that looks like wonder on his face. Kurt's confused by Blaine's reaction, but definitely not put off by it. If a hot guy wants to stare at him, that's completely okay by Kurt.
The last six or seven names get called, and then Carmen Tibideaux herself walks onstage and then into the house, seating herself dead center. Ms. Reynolds claps her hands together twice and calls out "Okay, everyone, it's time for us to see what you can do! I'm not expecting perfection, so don't be afraid if your most prepared piece is still a bit rough. Just give it your best effort and know that the end-of-semester performance is the only one that really matters! We're going to go in reverse alphabetical order for this, so Ms. Walker, you're up!" Kurt sees a petite blonde get up and make her way to the stage and settles in for what he's sure will be a long two hours of mediocrity, himself included. He knows the class is mostly sophomores, with a few exceptional freshmen and unremarkable juniors, so they're all still new enough to NYADA that they're not quite ready to knock a number out of the park with no notice.
Sure enough, the girl is only decent, giving her best shot at a number from Phantom that she really needed to pick a better key for before all the dogs in Manhattan came running. The people after her range from better than expected to hopelessly bad, and then it's his turn.
After confabulating with the pianist, Kurt decides to sing "Gimme Gimme" from Millie, since he's been on a massive Sutton Foster binge after marathoning Bunheads with Rachel all summer. He mentally flinches a bit when his tempo runs slightly off from the accompanist's, but overall he's proud of his performance. It might not be Winter Showcase good, but it was definitely first-day-back good. He's still patting himself on the back for the next few performances, and then he hears Blaine's name being called.
He watches eagerly as Blaine heads up to the stage, waiting to see if his voice is as gorgeous as the rest of him. After a brief conversation that Kurt can't hear, Blaine walks center stage and nods to the pianist, who clicks a button on the electric keyboard in front of him. The opening bars of something Kurt only vaguely recognizes swell up, and then Blaine's singing. With a start, Kurt realizes the song is "Save the People" from Godspell of all things, but Blaine's killing the song. He has a smooth tenor voice that sounds like it should be crooning songs from the Great American Songbook, and Kurt is hooked. He actually has to stop himself from giving Blaine a standing ovation once he's done, though he does clap a bit harder for Blaine than he did for anyone else.
Once class ends that day, Kurt frantically throws his coat and bag on so he can catch up with Blaine out in the hallway.
"Hey, I just wanted to tell you you were really good in class today," he says, blushing a bit after realizing how unoriginal he sounds.
"Oh, thanks! That was my audition piece, so it was still pretty fresh for me. I'm Blaine, I'm a freshman," Blaine replies, sticking out his hand for Kurt to shake.
Kurt clasps it, saying "Wow, that explains it. I'm Kurt, and I'm a sophomore. Would you like go to out for coffee sometime, maybe? I can tell you all my super secret insider knowledge of NYADA if you'd like." He winks to ensure Blaine knows he's joking. He knows not everyone gets his humor right away.
"Well how could I possibly refuse an offer like that?" Blaine winks right back at Kurt, lowering their hands to their sides but refusing to let go. "I'm free right now, if that works for you."
"Right now sounds perfect." Kurt starts leading them out the doors of the building, thinking that his sophomore year could turn out to be even better than his freshman year if stuff like this keeps happening.