Title:Can a leopard Hide his spot?
Author: Crazysnape/psykogleek
Beta : GayforKurt thanks!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but words
Summery: Fed up with bullying Kurt decides to blend in with the surroundings, but there is the limit between mixing and losing himself, isn't it?
NA: this story had been written for the puckurt big bang. There is 10 parts and I am going to post one chapter a day, I hope you like it.
An awesome banner had been made for it and it can be find there : bumerbmw . livejournal 33253 . html
Thanks for the favorite and alert, It's nice to know you like it, but don't forget It would be nice to read what you think about it too!
chapter 3
Even after a long reflection, Kurt still had no clue how he ended up here. How did Brittany convince him to come watch her try-out?
He looked around him; well, at least he wasn't the only one. Mike got coerced by Santana. Wherever Mike went Matt followed – and subsequently – the other boy was here, too. Officially, Max was here to support them in that ordeal, but from the way he stared at the girls as they stretched and danced, Kurt could stake his life that it wasn't the only reason.
Their opinions about the girls' abilities were not always the same but they agreed on two things: first, Brittany and Santana were two of the best – and the coach was absolutely awful. Her comments were so horrible that every other time the contender left in tears.
Kurt had to admit that she was mean but, honestly, he had no idea why some of the girls came; they moved and danced like ... Michael Guerin! It was like they came there to be bashed like in the "Worst auditions" in American Idol. Maybe they were all masochists?
The coach finally dismissed them by yelling, "Get out of my sight! And if your name isn't on the list, don't even dare to come to snivel in my office. That's because you're worse than a group of dancing human torsos!"
Thirty seconds later, almost everyone had gone and Kurt briefly wondered how many were still hoping to be on the list the following day. Brittany jumped into his arms and lightly kissed him on his lips – she'd done it three times already and he wouldn't be surprised if all students thought they were dating.
"How were we? Do you think we did well?" Brittany threw out the questions before anxiously nibbling her lips while waiting for his answer.
"Brit-Brit, I already told you we were the best," Santana butted in before Kurt could say a word. "They were all so shitty that they could barely stand on one foot without falling on their asses, so don't worry." Her answer was not enough, however, to appease her best friend's fears.
Kurt noticed this and smiled as he petted Britt's cheek.
"I wouldn't go as far as Santana, but she is right, sweetie. You were good, one of the best and if you're not chosen, no one will be. Right, guys?"
He didn't look at the other boys but they must have agreed because she immediately relaxed. Then, she took his hand and Santana's pinkie and pulled them toward the door.
Passing through the door was as challenging as it had been all day long since Santana had Mike's hand in hers and they were walking like a human chain. It was funny to watch people observing their strange group and moved aside so they could walk ... it was like the Red Sea parting for Moses.
Tuesday morning proved Kurt and Santana right and on Wednesday the two girls could be seen in the short red skirt and the matching red and white top of the cheerleaders' uniform.
Max, Matt, Mike and Kurt were waiting for Coach Tanaka to arrive. The atmosphere on the pitch was full of excitement and apprehension. The coach was not often late but enough to show to Kurt there was a lack of seriousness and commitment.
They were looking at the other competitors, attempting to guess which positions they were here to try out for. Sometimes it was obvious, like the two mountains of muscles, but others – like the ginger from the dumpster – were not.
A loud and long whistle made them all freeze before everybody turned towards the sound. It came from a stocky dark-haired man with an ugly and unfriendly face.
If Coach Sylvester was mean, at least she physically suited her job; Coach Tanaka didn't.
The man was huge, but not with muscles, only fat. Chances were good that he was unable to do any of the things he was about to ask them to do. Kurt exchanged a surprised glance with his friends.
"Okay, guys, I want you to run five laps in less than eight minutes and split off by position." He pointed out the notices he held in his hands. "Go!"
Everyone began to run; some were very quick, others a lot slower.
As he didn't have a timer, Kurt did the laps as quickly as he could without getting out of breath. When the final whistle sounded, quite a few of the guys were still running. Max was among them.
"All those who aren't around their notice can leave: I don't need slugs, I want dynamic and athletic people!"
Eyes wide, Kurt saw his new friend looking at him as if he was waiting for something. Before he could decipher what that was, the coach yelled at them to warm up and wait for him to tell them what to do.
Then Kurt turned his attention toward the other kickers and did what had been asked of them. In all there were five. Neither spoke while they stretched but they all evaluated each other; trying to figure out the level of their opponents, but there was no way of being sure. At least, none that Kurt knew.
Coach Tanaka came back with a boy following him and they all stopped.
"Okay, I can't be everywhere at once so Malcolm here will take some notes for me. I want you to shoot five times in a row, from different places and Malcolm will write down the results. When you are done, you can go. I'll call you back no later than Friday if you are taken. If not, well, sorry – and try again next year."
Then, he was gone. It really wasn't at all as Kurt had imagined.
Malcolm called them one by one. The first one did well. The second missed his first try and the two after failed them all but Kurt couldn't tell if it was because of the stress or just because they were bad.
When his turn arrived, he felt so stressed that his legs were nearly shuddering and he barely heard people around him over his own heartbeat.
He took a deep breath, getting ready to kick when he heard the yells: "Go, Kurt, go! Woo-hoo!"
He glanced at the bleachers and laughed: Brittany, Santana and two unknown cheerleaders were there. From then on his stress left him and he didn't miss a single shot. They all went straight over the uprights and every time his personal cheering section made itself heard.
It was nice and he wondered if it would feel that good if he made the team.
He did… and it did.
Two days later he was, along with Mike and Matt, one of the new members of William McKinley High School's football team, the Titans. Obviously Max hadn't made it and he came to yell at them the day following the try-out results and when he saw them with their letterman jackets in the school colors.
Apparently, Max had expected them to throw away their own chances to succeed in support of him.
Kurt was so outraged by Max's behaviour – someone he'd on known for just a week – that he froze. Luckily it was only for a short time and then he pulled himself together and took Max down a peg or two with some well-chosen words. It wasn't planned, but several people heard it, repeated his words and misrepresented them to the point that he became known for his blistering tongue and some kids even started avoiding him.
He didn't enjoy it but it was better being avoided because people are scared of you than being the one who was scared. At least, with that setup, he was left alone except by his friends.
Since the 'double-date', Kurt didn't take the time to think about what Brittany had said. It was true that his voice was a lot higher than most of other boys of his age. He never really thought about it, unless someone was calling him Mrs. Hummel on the phone.
He hated to answer, "No she's dead, this is her son," but he loved the awkward silences that followed the cold-calling.
His friend, Google, attested that for most boys, the changing of the voice already happened by his age so he began to worry. Why hadn't his voice changed? Could he do something about it? Was it even possible?
He typed in "how to have a deeper voice" and learnt that exercises could strengthen his vocal cords.
It didn't look too hard or time-consuming. Even if no one but Brittany ever said anything about it, he didn't want to give ammunition to his detractors and it might be useful to extend his vocal range anyway. As they said, better safe than sorry, and that was how he ended up with a new work-out.
One week after being accepted on the football team, Kurt realised he never got to tell his dad. It wasn't as if he'd tried to make it a secret. His dad had come home really late that day and then he just ... forgot?
Now, because of his negligence, he didn't know how to tell him without hurting him, without making him feel unimportant.
Kurt mentioned his dilemma to his friends, looking for guidance, but nobody seemed to understand his problem. Hendson, the running-back, looked puzzled by the question. It wasn't that he didn't understand it; he just couldn't grasp how Kurt could have forgotten something that huge.
As for Kurt, he wondered a moment how to explain to someone to whom football was so important that it wasn't the case with him. How could he tell Hendson that, three months ago, the rules were a mystery to him and, therefore, it wasn't always on his mind? He couldn't and he didn't want to, so he shrugged.
The conversation deviated to the game between the Giants and the Eagles on Saturday and Kurt inadvertently turned the sound down. That was when he got an idea. That evening he was in the kitchen eating dinner with his father when he put his idea into action.
"Hey, dad, can I invite some friends over next Saturday?"
The silence following his question wasn't surprising. It was a question he'd never had to ask him. He'd had friends in elementary school but at that time his mum was still alive and she was the one taking care of it.
When she died, things changed. He'd pushed his friends away and, thinking about it now, perhaps they had pushed him away, too. He remembered people looking at him differently but he mostly remembered feeling alone and it remained the same during all of middle school.
So, it truly was the first time he asked that of his father. Burt's surprise quickly shifted to pleasure.
"Why not? Well, how many are we talking about ... you don't mean a party, right?"
"Not that many; just Matt, Mike, Hendson and maybe Brit and Santana. But I am not sure if they will be interested. No, not a party ..." Here he took a deep breath and leapt. "As I am on the team, I thought it would be nice if we all watched the game together and it might help build team spirit, you know?"
If his dad was happy to discover he had friends now, he was ecstatic when he realized who his friends were.
"Congratulations, kiddo! So, which position? Quarterback like your old dad?"
Kurt laughed. "Dad! Do you see me? No, kicker is good enough for me!"
It was so strange to see his dad babbling; it was a first. They spent the rest of the evening deciding on food and drinks and talking about his first practices.
Things, however, didn't go as easily as he thought.
He invited the boys without problem; with the girls it didn't go as smoothly.
Britt asked if her new friend Quinn could come, too. Quinn was one of the Cheerios. She was also in Biology with Kurt and looked nice enough so he agreed. She came to talk to him at the end of the lesson, wondering if her boyfriend (apparently it was quite new) could join them.
Finn Hudson, the quarterback.
Kurt didn't have a definitive opinion about Hudson yet. He didn't look very smart but perhaps he hid it very well. He could be nice when he wanted to – if he stopped hanging out with the bullies.
After a quick reflection, he nodded. Quinn smiled and thanked him before leaving. Kurt shook his head, amused; she looked lovely when she smiled. Her smile wasn't like Britt's, though; it was Mona Lisa-like, sweet and a bit melancholy.
Hudson caught up with him when he left the restroom after lunchtime, Shane Tinsley and Azimio Adams by his side and he asked if they could come, too.
Kurt held his sigh, realizing that he would end up with a bigger crowd than he originally thought, but he didn't want to be rude so he extended the invitation.
He was annoyed to have to tell his dad there would be nearly twice the number coming than he'd first said, but he did it. Contrary to his concern, though, his father wasn't disturbed, commenting only on the amount of food they would need.
Saturday came sooner than Kurt expected or would have wanted it. Luckily, he slept better than before the last friendly gathering. Matt offered to come early to help set things up, which Kurt appreciated a great deal.
Indeed, even if his father said it too, Kurt knew by experience how Saturdays were at the shop. He would most certainly arrive late and Kurt really didn't want to be rushed.
The cleaning was finished around 1 p.m., and he was surprised to hear when the bell rang less than half an hour later. He headed for the door and opened it.
"Hi, I hope it's not too early ..." Matt said with a half-shy, half-embarrassed smile on the face.
"Of course not, except if you were joking about giving a hand!"
Matt's smile became easier. "I wasn't. So, what can I do?"
To begin, they put some music on because musical work is funnier. Kurt let his friend choose the music, being fairly easy-going about it. Of course he had some favorites but he could listen to everything without too much complaint.
They re-arranged the living-room so that everyone had a comfortable seat before pushing the table against the wall and put glasses, plates and napkins on it.
Then, they headed to the kitchen. When Kurt said he was going to prepare the pizza dough first for it to rest while he made other things, Matt offered to do it.
They both started to work, sometimes in silence enjoying the music, sometimes talking, exchanging cooking tips or singing along with Michael Jackson.
Matt was a huge fan; he knew all the lyrics and most of the dance moves. He did a mean moonwalk and he explained that Mike and he used to watch the video clips tirelessly until they could both perfectly recreate the choreography, but that Mike was far better than him.
Soon pizzas and pigs-in-the-blanket were in the oven waiting to be cooked, chips, sodas and sweets were on the table and cheeses and fruits in the fridge. Kurt just wanted to cut the pineapple, strawberries, melons and watermelon but Matt suggested making fruit skewers as it was pretty and colorful. As Kurt loved when food was pretty, they quickly put some together before people began to arrive.
Watching the game with his dad and other people was a new experience. It was interesting and funny. Personally, he didn't have any opinion about who he wanted to win but the same couldn't be said for the others.
The line was clearly drawn: Quinn, Hudson, Adams and Tinsley cheered for the Giants and his dad, Mike, Matt and Santana for the Eagles. Brittany, true to herself, cheered for whoever scored. The best part was when she was commenting on the physique of the athletes.
"Hmm, 49 has nice arms"... "I love 89's smile" … "Oh, look at the muscles on number 5 !" … or "Oh gosh, 2 has a really great ass, yummy!"
Each of her comments was then discussed by the girls who agreed or disagreed while the boys grumbled uncomfortably. Once again, Kurt was in a quandary.
Brittany said all that in his dad's presence!
No one should make these kinds of statements in front of someone's parents! At the same time, though, he couldn't help but see if he agreed or not with her comments. Generally, he did.
During the early part of the game, everybody migrated to the food. Kurt discreetly got closer to Matt and they quickly critiqued the food. When the game started again, Matt was corroborating that the pigs-in-a-blanket were better with a hint of mustard and Kurt was trying to gain his pizza dough recipe.
During half time, he noticed Mike going through his movies, clearly impressed and the following discussion led to a movie night the next Wednesday.
When the match finally ended, his dad invited everyone to come back the following week for the Cowboys vs. 49ers game. Kurt wasn't exactly pleased since he never intended to watch all the games but since everybody looked happy about it, he kept his mouth shut.
Life settled down to a routine: school, football, practice, friends and dates.
Every morning, he came to school and found himself near the dumpster, feeling revolted, but watching nevertheless as Hudson, Adams and Tinsley threw people in it.
He never really took part in it but he felt awful just for being there – awful and ashamed for not trying to stop it, even if he did hold their belongings. He witnessed more slushies getting thrown than he would have wanted and even if Berry's facial expressions were always funny, he refused to think about the state of her clothes.
Football wasn't hard, at least not for him, and even if he was slowly getting better he didn't get to show off his skills very often during games.
His first impression concerning Coach Tanaka was right. Kurt didn't know a lot about football, except how to kick and strategy wasn't his strong point, but he noticed the coach made a number of bad decisions. To be honest, everything would go better if he managed to inspire a bit of motivation in the team, but he just talked a lot of air.
Most of the players were more interested in sashaying around school and making fun of people than in the game itself. Personally, he didn't care since he joined for reasons even shallower, but that was sad for guys like Greg Hendson who joined because they just lived and breathed football.
The best part of this year was that he had friends, real friends.
When Max stopped talking to him because of football, he was irritated and sad at not being able to get to know him better. He was the first boy voluntarily talking to him in a while. But, despite the bad beginning, he still ended up with great friends with whom he had common interests.
Once a week, generally on Wednesdays, Matt and he had a movie night since they both enjoyed good musicals. Sometimes, but not very often, Greg and Mike were there, too, and they watched a comedy (Greg) or horror (Mike).
With Matt, he also enjoyed the experimental cooking night and that was funny. Sometimes, the experiment was so bad that it went directly into the garbage but other times it was delicious and beautiful and they would take pictures and cautiously write them down.
And there were dates; nearly every week someone would ask him out. First, it was Brittany, then Alice, then Victoria...
Those dates, while nice on a whole, ended oddly.
He and his date would both enjoy the time they spent bowling or seeing a movie but as soon as they were alone somewhere, his date would transform and become some kind of succubus, apparently thinking she was supposed to act like that to be appreciated and loved. At the end of each of these dates, however, Kurt found himself repeating the sex talk his dad had given him.
When he came home at the end of the third date like that, Kurt literally burst out at his dad after he casually asked him, "Hi, son, how was your date?"
"I don't understand! You said girls are smarter than boys about feelings and sexual matters. Then, why are they all so eager to do things they are definitely not ready for?"
"I don't know, son." From his intonation, that wasn't the discussion his father was hoping for when he asked his question, but Kurt was unable to stop himself, so he sighed.
"That discussion sucked for both of us, but you were right: it was a necessity. Respecting yourself is important – so why don't the other parents don't do it? I mean, all the girls that I've been out with wanted to do 'like on the TV because that's what boys want, right?', or because they want to be cool and appreciated. And, when I'm in the locker room, the boys are always talking about boobs and legs and which girls let them do what. There is no feeling here, no respect. If they were talking about pieces of meat it wouldn't be different!" Kurt said all that in one breath.
His face fell as he looked at his father.
"You think you can do something about that?" Burt watched his son struggle with his 'dilemma'.
"I ... I don't know ... Maybe ... hey! Why don't I invite them here? Then, you could tell them like you told me?"
"You ... I ... No!" His dad's face looked horrified.
"Why not? You did well with me… and it worked on Brittany, Alice and Victoria. You would be so great, dad!"
His dad looked at him incredulously but he pulled himself together and answered. "You said it: that talk sucked for both of us but you are my son. I love you and I had to do it. I can't talk about that with young girls I don't even know. It's not my role! Those girls have parents, haven't they? That's their job!"
"But, dad..." Kurt tried to plead his cause.
"No. Don't you have a Guidance Counsellor at that school of yours?"
Kurt frowned. "I don't know… maybe?"
"Well, find out and explain the problem to him or her and they will take care of it."
Kurt thought about it for a moment and nodded. "Okay."
But the next day, Kurt took one look at Ms. Pillsbury and he just knew she wouldn't be up to the job. She looked like a shy little mouse and would get her head bitten off by some of the girls.
So he mulled it over and then decided right then to make it his affair. As he told his dad, he'd done it with Brittany, Alice and Victoria; he managed to remain friends, very good friends with them and, even more important, it worked.
He knew it for sure because he had to bite his lips to stop himself from bursting out laughing the other day.
He was in the locker room, changing back into his clothes when Jason, the boy with whom Brittany had a date with three days before, explained his evening.
Apparently everything was going great until he saw her back home. He was about to kiss her when her fucking cat bit his ankle; after that, she froze and said: "Thank you, but no thank you".
Kurt was silently listening to Jason bitching about it until the guy began bad-mouthing her, saying she wasn't that great anyway or pretty or smart. He smiled on the inside thinking that Brittany might be right about Lord Tubbington's power because that boy was truly a jerk.
From that moment, he went out a lot. His 'no-relationship-lasting-longer-than-two-weeks' rule didn't prevent girls from coming onto him.
Brittany, Alice and Victoria were the first of a very long list of girls.
He helped them understand they were perfect the way they were; they had to respect themselves and learn to do what they wanted – not what they thought boys wanted.
His first purpose was to pass on his father's view on relationships to those who needed it but it indirectly gave him a huge womanizer reputation.
The funny thing was that, even if he went out with more girls than any of his classmates, he was the only one of them who remained friends with all his exes.
That year, summer time was more exciting.
Besides his job at the shop, he ran nearly every day with Matt, Mike and Greg (he restarted to ask his dad to join him with still no luck yet). They played some games and he was surprised to see he wasn't bad at other positions, either, but that didn't mean he would try out for quarterback or receiver's positions. They all hung out and had fun together.
Kurt even got invited to parties. It wasn't the first time but summer parties had a different flavour. They were wilder, crazier and hilarious.
Well, to be honest, it was hilarious after the first one.
During the first party, he let himself go and drank alcohol, so much that he partially forgot his evening and suffered from an awful hangover the next day. It was so bad that he scratched the word alcohol from his vocabulary.
Being a sophomore wasn't much different from being a freshman.
He was still on the team, still had good friends and good grades and he was still looking with longing at the glee club notice but not enough to bring his reputation into question.
Seeing Berry – known as I-am-everywhere-but-I-am-still-a-loser – getting shushies almost every day or Anderson, the bowtie-wearing singer, being thrown into the dumpster every two days didn't encourage him either. And, since he didn't want to be near Mr. Ryerson more than necessary, glee club remained a big 'no-no' for him.
He considered talking to Anderson a few times to give him some advice on how to stop being a walking target but he didn't dare, not knowing how it would be received. The team was as bad as the previous year and things would have remained exactly the same without Finn Hudson's idiocy.
TCB
See you tomorrow