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Chapter Eleven: This Time For Sure
"'Beautiful Soul?'" Blaine asked, looking through the score that Kurt had made. "And you managed to make it into a duet with both our voice ranges. You're incredible."
Kurt fought back a blush, but smiled and said, "I know."
That had been back in January, when Blaine and Kurt had met up after several at-home festivities with their own groups and families. After New Year's, though, they were both back in school, and so they went back to spending as much time as they could with each other while balancing practice and other friends and homework and any other things they were involved in.
They got to work right away, merely talking about choreography and costumes in the beginning. Over the next few weeks, they would meet every week in Blaine's basement to figure out choreography.
"No. I refuse to put jazz hands in a pop piece," Kurt said, stopping the disk he had mixed for the karaoke track.
"Sorry, sorry. I had the Chicago soudtrack on repeat last night, and I had seen the movie with my family and… well, there are jazz hands in several of the numbers and I guess I had a dream about it or something because the whole show has been popping up all over my day," Blaine replied, shaking his head. "Can we do that again?"
Kurt sighed and pressed the 'back' button on the disk player. "Remember it's come together, 12 beats of 4-beat ball-room, release, spin and come together again. No. Jazz. Hands."
Blaine chuckled and crossed his heart childishly before Kurt made them go again.
Soon, Kurt was bringing in swatches of cloth for color schemes for costumes.
"I don't look good in sparkles. Please don't humiliate me in front of New Directions by making me wear sparkles," Blaine had told the other boy point blank at their first practice.
"All right…" Kurt replied, a bit taken aback. He had thought "Beautiful Soul" and sparkles would fit perfectly. Oh well… He was thinking of combining the Dalton blue with William McKinley's bright red anyway, with a neutral creamy white to balance out the two. (The convergence of two cultures/communities was the big theme in the whole performance. The song was meant to be just a Warbler and a member of New Directions singing to each other: not just Kurt and Blaine. Though that didn't stop the two from focusing on each other in practice.)
"How about hats?" Kurt asked.
"I don't see any tap-dancing or dancing with canes like they do in old movies. Unless we want to add that," Blaine said.
"No. No top hats. Think Dick Tracy but more colorful and made by yours truly and some other dexterous Warblers. Mostly Elliot because I don't trust Pasha with a needle and thread," Kurt replied, shuddering slightly.
Blaine laughed. "Yes, Pasha and anything pointy is disaster. And Elliot? He made me this shirt for my last birthday," he said, pointing to the very well made, button-down shirt (purple with white horizontal stripes) he was wearing. "You have good tastes in your workers."
Kurt smiled, "He showed me some of his work, including a dress he made for Maggie's Sweet Sixteen. You have good tastes in friends."
They set a date for when Blaine would come to a rehearsal of New Directions, Kurt would beg and plead his group to listen to all the Warblers and New Directions could accomplish together, and they would perform. They thought the best night would be the night before Regionals, so that they wouldn't be so hard on each other.
"And that's a wrap for today," Kurt said, falling onto the old, beat-up couch in Blaine's basement.
"And since we are in our second cycle, please pick out our next soloist for our last song-off before we have to focus on our selections for Regionals," Aleksey called as New Directions shuffled off to their buses after another win for Dalton (fourth in four weeks.)
"Damn, we better win next week or we're going to be horrible in rehearsal just thinking about it," Santana commented as she flounced up the steps into the long yellow bus.
Kurt was rubbing Mercedes' back—she had just lost against a Warbler who's name escaped him, even though Kurt had met almost all of the Dalton glee club. He and Blaine had been shutting themselves off from both the Warblers and New Directions to practice for the death-defying duet for both their teams.
"It'll be all right, Mercedes. It's okay, baby girl," Kurt whispered as Rachel made all three of them squeeze into a seat (all right, so Kurt had to sit half on Rachel's lap, half on Mercedes for it to work, but they weren't complaining about the situation).
"Can you sing next week, Kurt?" Finn asked, "You won against Jesse, and I think you can win again because your father's on the judge panel."
"Guys, don't assume that! My father is fair, and if who I am up against simply has got more than me in the three places they judge on—voice, use of space, and emotional attachment to the song—then so be it," Kurt replied.
Puck, Finn, Mike and some of the other members stared at him. "Wow… you were all about beating the Warblers at Sectionals. What's gotten into you?" Puck asked.
"Nothing. I'm tired and I just want to go sleep off this week," Kurt lied, staring front and center at the disgustingly green leather seat in front of him.
The other decided not to push it, and as they got off the bus and went to their own cars, Rachel stopped Kurt, "I'm nominating you on Monday… the least we can do is try something that worked the last time."
Kurt was still angsting from the confrontation on the bus, "You worked last time…"
Rachel was taken aback, but gave her friend a hug, understanding that her friend was feeling a little low. Him bringing up her loss last week was a low blow, but Kurt had his moments of utter bitchyness, and Rachel accepted that tonight was another one. "Have a good weekend. Call me if you want to have coffee or something. It's been a while."
It had been a while. Kurt had been so caught up with Blaine and this performance that he had completely forgotten about Rachel and Mercedes. He gave his friend a thumbs up and got into his stepbrother's car.
"Hey, white boy. Despite your outburst, you're gonna represent us," Mercedes said, flipping through the box of music Schuester had put in front of him. Kurt was to pick a song for next Friday—the last song-off before Regionals. They'd have another couple of weeks to prepare just for Regionals, and then the Friday before, Blaine was set to come down to the McKinley auditorium to put on the performance.
Kurt glanced over the sheet music and shook his head, "I don't know if I can do it again…" he whispered.
"Of course you can," Rachel said, as it was a small break from the routine they were practicing. "You're literally our last hope to win this thing and keep up our morale for Regionals!"
"Thank you for making me scared out of my wits," Kurt replied, but there was a smile on his face.
He flipped absentmindedly through the music again, just not finding the music he wanted. He sat back in the chair he had been sitting in and breathed out, watching as Finn and Rachel gave each other a loving look across the room. They were so cute with each other. For a minute, he wished Blaine was there, and that he could give him such a precious look as Rachel was giving Finn.
He sighed, hefted the box up on his knee, and then carried it back to the piano. "Thanks, Mr. Schue, but I couldn't find anything," he said.
Mr. Schuester crooked his head to the side and said, "Will you have something tomorrow, Kurt?"
Kurt gave the other a smile and nodded, "There might be something of worth on my iPod. I've heard I'm great at adapting music from solos to duets and vice versa so… I think I can find something of worth…"
Will nodded and gathered everyone up to go through a couple of weak spots in the song they had been practicing.
Friday came around quite fast, and Kurt was still nervous. He was to sing against Dmitry after all, as a Big Ending Bang for the New Directions/Warblers song-offs. They were at the Dalton Auditorium, where the song-offs had actually started, which was actually quite poetic for Kurt. So Dmitry was up first.
Kurt settled down in between Mercedes and Rachel and looked up at the blond teen on the stage. Shyly (for a jock), Dmitry looked at the judges, smiled, and then looked into the crowd (at Michael, Kurt guessed) and said, "I'll be singing… be singing 'The Very Thought Of You' by Vic Mignogna."
Kurt had never heard of the song, but as the karaoke track started, he sort of wished he did. Dmitry had the voice of an angel. Not quite as high as Pavel's, but a deeper, tonal quality. He was definitely a tenor, and it was beautiful.
Dmitry's use of stage was brilliant. At key points in the song, he talked to everyone in the audience, but at moments where the lyrics and music swelled, he went right back to singing to Michael. Dmitry's performance was kind of like Kurt's would be, in that respect. And Dmitry had a very, very, very strong attachment to the song, especially when he was finishing up:
"Because at the very thought of you the stars applaud above me
And I've dreamed that you might someday choose to love me
Could be just another dream that will never come true
But I won't let go of the very thought of you
No I won't let go of the very thought of you…"
By the end of Dmitry's performance, everyone was crying at the implications. Kurt turned to the judges' table and watched as his father wiped away a tear, Will put his hand over his mouth, and Aleksey took off his glasses to wipe away a little condensation.
Kurt looked to Blaine, who gave him a knowing look. and then looked to Michael, who was curled up, his knees up on the seat, tears in his eyes, and clutching at his heart.
Dmitry thanked the judges and ran off the stage. Obviously, being the backup vocals was actually best for the boy. He looked terrified.
Kurt stood up and shuffled past Mercedes up to the stage. He composed himself by inhaling and then exhaling, and looked to Dmitry. "Thank you, Dmitry. That was wonderful." Kurt glanced at the judges, and then at Blaine, "I'll be singing a solo version of 'At The Beginning' from Anastasia."
As Kurt started, he did use his stage, hardly looking at the audience. He looked around and saw his life with Blaine as it had been, smiling at everything. It was only when the chorus began that he looked to Blaine:
"And life is a road
and I wanna to keep going
love is a river
I wanna keep flowing
life is a road
now and forever
wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
in the end I wanna be standing
at the beginning with you…"
He continued the motif, this time singing to each one of the Warblers as he sang. But at the chorus, he always directed it at Blaine. New Directions thought it was only a game, using the other team to frighten them off a little, but the Warblers didn't seem scared. They laughed and clapped along, especially when Kurt directed "…on a crazy adventure," to Jimmy.
By the end of the song, Kurt had danced his way back to the middle, and he was belting out the last few notes. He smiled at the judges when he finished, bowed, and ran off the stage.
"Well… both performances were wonderful. Dmitry's was moving, and Kurt's was fun. And since we really couldn't choose between two such delightful pieces… we're leaving this one a tie," Will said to both teams out in the lobby.
Both teams gasped, but Kurt and Dmitry beamed at each other. Maybe this was a new beginning for both teams?
"What the hell are you talking about, Schue?" Mercedes asked, pissed off.
"Yeah!" Sam yelled. "Kurt's performance was less of a downer!"
Kurt sighed and shook his head, "Forget you guys," he said, and ran out to wait by the buses.
No one asked questions on the ride back. Kurt sat in the back alone, and then lay back in the back of Finn's car when they went home. The only piece of peace from the night was a text from Blaine: Dmitry got some! Michael totally kissed him in front of all of us after New Directions left :D
And with that in mind, Kurt drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Songs featured: "At The Beginning" – from Anastasia
"The Very Though Of You" – Vic Mignogna
Preview For The Next 'Scene': It's Valentine's Day, and a certain Warbler finds it necessary to woo a certain member of New Directions instead of rehearsing a 'death defying duet.' It this Kurt and Blaine's big break in their relationship?