Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay on this story! And a Happy New Year (I know I'm late)!
WARNING: This chapter is going to be fun! It might stir up laughter, so please read on your own risk! ;)
A very special THANK-YOU to WaitingForThisMomentToBeFree for helping me with his chapter. Thanks for listening to my problems and insecurities!
A Little Respect
"Looking really good everyone! Let's take a group picture!" Finn suggested enthusiastically and held up a camera. "We gotta hold this moment forever!"
"I'd rather not," Artie objected. "I'll already have a hard time to ever forget having Puck and Sam help me change into this outfit. I don't need a visual reminder."
"Dude, that's the gayest thing I ever did," Puck told proudly. "Helping another dude getting his pants off and change into a skirt."
"Could we please not call it a skirt?" Artie objected again.
"Right, it's called a kilt," Rory explained. "It's traditionally worn on special occasions mainly in Scotland."
"Your hometown?" Sam asked.
"No, I'm from Ireland," Rory answered irritated. "And Scotland is a country, not a town."
"Come on! Get closer together, everyone!" Finn motioned for them to gather for a group picture and set the timer on his camera before hurrying over to stand next to Puckerman. They all grinned and called "Cheese!" and waited for the flash.
Blaine couldn't help but feeling overly excited about this performance. He'd never thought he'd be standing amidst a group of uniform-clad boys again, except they weren't wearing blazers and ties, but red-green sheckered kilts and black shirts.
He tried to imagine the Warblers doing a group number in kilts, but he knew that his Dalton friends would never do something like that. They were much too traditional to ever let go of their grey pants and blue blazers. Blaine was pretty sure that they would never step out of their comfort zone like this, not even for Kurt. That's why he was extra proud of Finn to come up with this idea.
"Hey, man, what did I say about the tees?!"
Blaine was pulled out of his thoughts by Finn pointing at Puckerman who sported a black T-shirt with a white skull and crossbones on the front.
"I thought we agreed on plain black tees and black Chucks!" Finn continued to complain about the look of his best friend who also wore glaring red Chucks.
"What? I'm expressing my individuality! Just like he does!" Puck pointed to the Irish boy standing next to him.
Now all eyes were on Rory.
"Dude! Where did you rent that kilt?" Finn said, clearly impressed.
"Yeah, it looks very authentic," Artie observed.
Rory instantly felt uncomfortable at being the center of attention all of a sudden. "I brought this kilt from home. My dad, my brothers and me wear those to special occasions, like on the St. Patrick's Day parade."
He brushed his hands over the accessories that were emblazed on his kilt. He wore a short sleeved black polo shirt and a green bow-tie that made him stick out from the rest of the bunch. Also Rory was the only one wearing knee-high stockings and leather shoes, looking very festive.
"You look really good," Blaine said admiringly. Rory beamed and muttered a shy, "Thanks".
"Stop hitting on the boy," Sam moved between Blaine and Rory and nudged Blaine's side playfully. "You already got a boyfriend."
"You think I...? I wasn't!" Blaine stuttered while Rory blushed under the armpit of Sam's arm draped firmly around his neck.
"You can't wear that skull shirt," Finn said again to Puck.
"Why not?" Puck protested and smoothed one hand over his chest. "I'm a badass Braveheart."
Blaine couldn't help but grin like an idiot at the sight of the ND boys in kilts. He gave them high credit for this, walking around in kilts, but especially Finn for coming up with the idea in the first place and talking the guys into doing this. They had turned it into a what girls can do we can do better sort of thing, but it still was brave to walk around like this in an American high school on a regular school day.
Blaine was rubbing his hands in anticipation. "I so can't wait for Kurt's reaction when he sees us!"
"Tina will freak out seeing me like this," Mike replied, grinning.
"I just hope it'll soon be over." Artie looked very unhappy and kept smoothing the fabric of his kilt, trying to cover his naked knees. "I feel exposed."
"Stop whining," Puck said gruffly. "We let you keep your underwear."
"Dude," Finn said, eyes wide in shock. "Aren't you wearing underwear?"
"Course not," Puck shot back, looking around puzzled. "Do you?"
Nobody acknowledged him, but everybody shuffled slightly away from him.
"You guys aren't wearing underwear, too, right? Right?"
The boys were laughing, everybody was nervous, but in a good mood. Blaine remembered that time Kurt had worn a kilt to prom. Blaine had been a wreck beforehand, because he had been scared of bullies making mean remarks on Kurt's outfit. This time it was different. This was a group number. They were all in this together.
"I have to say I really like the cool breeze," Puck said, whirling around a bit with his hands on his hips.
"By all means, keep your skirt down!" Finn called out in horror.
"Please, could we not refer to the kilts as skirts," Artie pleaded. "I feel naked enough as it is! Say, Rory, do you happen to have an extra pair of those knee socks I could borrow?"
"Sorry," Rory shook his head.
"Guys, we've got nothing to be ashamed of," Finn started another one of his encouraging speeches. "We all work out and have great legs to show off."
"Speaking of," Artie leaned forward, looking at his teammate's legs closely and adjusting his glasses. "Sam, did you shave your legs?"
"Yeah, to match my chest," Sam responded. "Also I don't want to look like a bear like Finn."
"Your chest?" Blaine raised an inquiring eyebrow at his friend.
"Yeah, look, my shirt's torn at the collar," Sam whispered to him with a wink. "I prepared it so it's easier to rip it off of me."
Blaine widened his eyes. "You're gonna strip?"
Sam shrugged. "If I'm in the mood and the crowd's screaming for it I might."
Before Blaine could process this information, Puckerman snuck up and nudged his side, saying in a whisper, "I always thought the whole point of wearing menskirts was wearing nothing underneath them. That's why gays are crazy about kilts, right?"
Blaine looked up to him and pulled a face. "You're really not wearing boxer shorts?"
"Alright, guys! I think we're ready to go all Braveheart on the school!" Finn cheered and the boys cheered along with him.
"Break a leg, everyone," Finn said. "Let's not get this out of control, seeing how most of our assembly performances usually end in some sort of riot."
Blaine quirked his eyebrow at that, but chose not to ask for further details.
Finn took a deep breath. "Here we go!"
Finn's enthusiasm about the whole idea was endearing, but there was a flash of nervousness across his face right before they were about to enter the stage that had Blaine floundering, too.
As they stepped out onstage their appearance stirred up laughter from the benches. But they were confident that their choice of music would win the judgemental audience over since they had agreed to mix their outfits with punk rock music.
Instantly Blaine's eyes were scanning the crowd for his boyfriend.
He was thinking of the conversation he'd had with his boyfriend only fifteen minutes ago. He had reminded Kurt to show up in the assembly hall to see their performance and Kurt had steepled his hands like in prayer. "Please, don't do anything stupid. Just promise me it's not gonna be anything like the GAP attack or the dancing in foam for the Dalton sister school or…"
"Don't worry, just enjoy the show. I gotta go and get changed," Blaine had excused himself.
"Get changed? What for?" Kurt had asked, clearly alarmed.
"You'll see. The boys dress up for you and the girls. But mostly for you. It's been Finn's idea."
Kurt had furrowed his brows in worry. "You realize it doesn't soothe me that you keep telling me that everything's been Finn's idea, right?"
Blaine found Kurt sitting next to Rachel and Tina, one hand raised to cover his mouth in silent horror. All three of them looked shell-shocked at the sight of their boyfriends in kilts. Blaine resisted the urge to wave at them.
Tina was the first to recover. She held her hands at her mouth and hollered, "Woo-Hoo! Sexy legs, Mike! That's my boyfriend!"
Mike bowed towards her and blew her a kiss. Tina giggled and leaned against Kurt, grasping his hand in excitement and now Blaine could see that Kurt was grinning happily, too. Apparently he enjoyed the sight of naked legs. Blaine flashed him a bright smile.
Finn stepped up and addressed the little crowd of fellow students who had gathered in the assembly hall, sitting on the benches and waiting to be entertained.
"Hi everyone, we're the New Directions without the girls, because we're preparing for a girls versus boys show off this Saturday and today we're here to tell them that whatever they can do, we can do better. And we're not afraid to wear girl's clothes! Well, kilts aren't exactly girl's clothes, but yeah, we're wearing them anyway. With this I want to salute my brother Kurt – hi Kurt! – who was the first to be brave enough to walk the halls of McKinley in a kilt and today we're following his lead. To make it short, we're the Bravehearts, and we're here to rock this school. Hit it!"
Finn hurried behind the drums and Sam and Artie began playing their guitars.
Puckerman was the first to step forward, grabbing the mike and sing,
"Do you have the time to listen to me whine
About nothing and everything all at once?"
After the first few words the crowd was already cheering and singing along. You could always depend on Green Day to save the day. The audience loved them right from the start despite the kilts.
"Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up, I think I'm cracking up
Am I just paranoid? Am I just stoned?"
Finn changed the beat into a faster drum for a smooth transition to another punk rock song and Mike took over the microphone.
"She's getting kicked out of school 'cause she's failing
I'm kind of nervous, cause I think all her friends hate me
She's the one, she'll always be there
She took my hand and I made it I swear"
When he reached the chorus all the boys joined in, kind of more shouting than singing the lines,
"Because I fell in love with the girl at the rock show
She said 'what?' and I told her that I didn't know
She's so cool!
Everything's better when she's around
I fell in love with the girl at the rock show!"
Finn slowed down the beat and for the next part of their mash up Blaine took hold of the microphone. He had fought hard to persuade his teammates to add the Erasure sequence into the mix, since he had to dismiss his beloved Katy Perry already, because the boys wouldn't for the heck of it allow him to sing one of her songs. He didn't have a clue why they were so strict about that, but at least they agreed to do Erasure.
So Blaine stepped up front, his eyes searching his boyfriend once more and making eye contact when he sung the high notes of the eighty's tune,
"I'm so in love with you
I'll be forever blue
What religion or reason
Could drive a man to forsake his lover
And if I should falter
Would you open your arms out to me
We can make love not war
And live at peace in our hearts"
The boys were backing him up with "uuhs" and "aahs" and by singing,
"Don't you tell me no
Don't you tell me no
Don't you tell me no
Don't you tell me no"
Blaine couldn't take his eyes off of Kurt and the breath taking smile gracing Kurt's face. Blaine felt encouraged to know that Kurt liked their performance, and he didn't care about their audience anymore, he only sang for Kurt.
"I'm so in love with you
I'll be forever blue
Soul, I hear you calling
Oh baby please
Give a little respect to me"
Finn changed the beat once again, speeding up, and all of the boys roared into their microphones again,
"I fell in love with the girl at the rock show
She said 'what?' and I told her that I didn't know
She's so cool!
Everything's better when she's around
I fell in love with the girl at the rock show!"
They ended the mash-up performance with a bang!
Artie and Puckerman hit their electric guitars hard, making as much noise as possible.
Mike did some incredible dance moves, somehow managing to split legs without showing his underwear.
Sam stepped up front and ripped his shirt off, doing his infamous body roll moves and showing off his abs.
Finn gave a final drum roll and the show was over and out.
The crowd was screaming enthusiastically.
Blaine looked around the hall, perplexed by the response, but beaming. He was surfing on a high. The kilts were a success, the rock song mash up was a success, all of the McKinley students loved them.
Blaine searched for Kurt in the crowd again and found him clapping cheerfully, beaming over at him. And suddenly Blaine felt confident and proud. But it was only when Kurt put his fingers to his lips and blew him a kiss that Blaine felt like flying and he knew that he had to get his boyfriend to go to New York.
So he brought the microphone to his lips and stepped forward, even though his fellow rockers already gave their bows and goodbyes.
Blaine wasn't finished yet.
While the crowd was still cheering and calling for an encore Blaine began to sing without music.
"Talk about our future like we had a clue
Never planned that one day I'd be losing you"
He felt Sam's and Mike's startled eyes on him and when he looked sideways at Artie the boy gave him a quick shake of his head, telling him, no, don't do this.
But Blaine felt like he just had to do this number, because it was the only song that came close to his feelings for Kurt right now.
Besides, Katy Perry was always right.
So Blaine started belting out the first lines of the song.
"I was June you were my Johnny Cash
Never one without the other we made a pact
Sometimes when I miss you I put those records on...woe"
After a second of hesitation Finn started to accompany Blaine with a steady beat of his drums and the boys backed him up like Blaine had hoped they would. For a minute he felt like a Warbler again, able to burst out into song whenever and wherever and his fellow Warblers would back him up vocally and the crowd would cheer him on.
"In another life I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you were the one that got away
The one that got away
In another life I would be your girl
We keep all our promises"
Some of the students started laughing, some were shaking their heads like, what the f... It wasn't until the first guy booed that Blaine was fully aware of the change of mood of their audience. The song was supposed to be the cherry on top, but clearly it ruined things. Soon enough the cheers turned into laughter and boos and mean cat-calling. Blaine hadn't spend much thought on the lyrics, but singing about wanting to be someone's girl didn't approve very well with the McKinley crowd.
Blaine kept his eyes on Kurt, bravely finishing the song in a rush before things got worse. Kurt's eyes scanned the crowd warily, clearly expecting a commotion or something bad to happen.
"You are so gay!" Someone shouted.
"Show us what you're wearing underneath, girls!"
"In another life I would be your girl
We keep all our promises be us against the world
In another life I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you were the one that got away
The one that got away."
When the song ended half of the student body had already cleared the assembly hall, the remaining kids were laughing at them and calling them names while some teachers called them to order.
Blaine risked a glance at where Kurt and the girls were sitting to find his boyfriend covering his face in disbelief.
"Well it takes balls to make a complete fool of oneself." Puckerman clapped Blaine's shoulder, leaving the stage.
"No guts no glory," Sam agreed.
"Thanks for going down with me," Blaine sighed. "I appreciate your efforts to make me look less like an idiot."
"No more Katy Perry for you," Mike wiggled his finger at him with a grin.
"New Direction boys!" Principal Figgins' sharp voice tuned out their chatting. "All of you! Into my office, at once!"
Blaine felt uncomfortable as he hid among the New Direction boys gathering in the principal's office. He knew that their performance might not end well with their audience and cause some trouble with certain fellow students, but he hadn't thought they'd end up talking to Principal Figgins about it.
It didn't help that Kurt had chosen to come with them, standing next to Finn, his arms crossed and sternly waiting for Figgin's sentence as if he had been part of this.
"Can I just say that I find it funny that Kurt's the only one of us wearing pants?" Puckerman muttered to no one in particular. Of course he was heard by those nearest around him and Blaine had to bite down on his lips as not to let a rude comment slip, but it wasn't necessary to defend Kurt, because his boyfriend already reached out and pinched the soft part of Puckerman's arm.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Puckerman exclaimed and rubbed his arm.
"Multiple reasons," Kurt answered with a sly grin.
Blaine suppressed a chuckle at this, but it was only when Kurt smiled and winked at him that Blaine felt like he could breathe again.
They resumed listening to the denunciation Figgins was just giving, with Mr Schuester and Mrs Pillsbury listening just as anxiously as the rest of them.
"The whole performance was inappropriate," Principal Figgins just finished his accusiation speech. "I resent your song choices and especially the outfits."
"Those were all songs that are played in the radio constantly. Basket case is a punk rock classic! Everybody loved it!" Puckerman defended his favorite song.
"This is a school. You cannot sing songs about drugs and sex and violence," Figgins pointed out.
"We also sang about respect," Artie chimed in.
"And make love not war," Rory added.
"The Erasure song was my idea," Blaine muttered. He wanted to make sure Kurt knew that the I'm so in love with you part was his contribution.
"What about individuality?" Finn asked, steaming. "We have a right to express ourselves."
"Yes, but not in a way that provokes outrage and upsets other students. Clearly, that's what you intended by wearing these." Figgins gestured at their outfits.
"What's wrong with guys wearing skirts?" Finn demanded to know. "Why is it a disturbance?"
"Yeah, it's just an outfit for a performance," Sam said, helping Finn to defend their artistic choices. "It's not like we're walking around in this all the time."
"Even if we were," Finn continued. "What's wrong with that? Girls are wearing pants, too. Why can't guys wear skirts?"
"Kilts," Artie protested weakly.
"That's not the point," Figgins said, talking to Finn. "The point is when you asked me for permission to use the assembly hall for a performance, you didn't tell me that you were going to be dressed like this. You were aiming to stir the pot, to provoke the crowd and create a riot."
"No, we weren't."
"You had to know that showing up dressed like this would cause an uproar at this school."
"Yeah, and why is that?" Finn shot back.
"Finn!" Mr Schuester warned, raising a hand to remind Finn to keep his temper.
"Because the students at this school are narrow-minded Neanderthals and the teachers aren't doing anything about it," Kurt answered his step-brother's question coolly.
"Kurt, watch your mouth!" Mr Schuester turned to him. "What are you doing here, anyway? You're not part of this."
"Principal Figgins called all of the New Direction boys into his office," Kurt countered.
Mr Schuester sighed and shook his head. "Really, Kurt? One day you'll have to decide what you really want. You can't switch sides as you wish. This mess is about the girls versus boys competition and last time I checked you were on the girl's team."
Everybody grew silent, appalled by Mr Schuster's outburst.
Kurt raised his chin, shooting daggers from his eyes at his teacher.
"Fine," Kurt spat out. "I'm sorry. I hope I didn't offend anyone by my presence."
He turned on his heels and left the room.
"Fuck. He's pissed off," Puckerman muttered and leaned closer to Blaine. "If I were you I'd go after him. Angry sex is the best!"
"Mr Schuester," Blaine spoke up, not really knowing what was going to come out of his mouth. All kind of thoughts were twirling around in his head about sexuality and equality and respect and why on earth should Kurt not be allowed to express his individuality and still claim to be what he was, a male member of this group?
"Yes, Blaine?" Mr Schuester looked at him, brows raised and daring him to speak his mind.
"You're an idiot!" With this Blaine stormed off to follow his boyfriend, not waiting for his teacher to respond.
Finn and the rest of the boys exchanged looks of excitement and admiration for Blaine. Did the hobbit really just insult a teacher and storm off to go after his lover? How freaking Braveheart was that?
"Instead of detention I order you to wear these kilts for the rest of the week at school," Figgins addressed the group again. "That way the students can get accustomed to the look and will grow indifferent. In the end an extreme change in dress will not create cause for trouble in the future."
Figgins held up his hands and showed them thumb-ups, grinning about his great idea.
The boys faces fell at this death sentence.
"I feel like I'm gonna faint," Artie muttered under his breath.
Songs in this chapter:
Green Day – Basket Case
Blink 182 – The Rock Show
Erasure – A Little Respect
Katy Perry – The One That Got Away
Thank you for reading! :)