Chapter 25- Listen Up

Summary: The Warblers stumble across some videos of Kurt and spend a rehearsal session watching them. What they find intrigues and shocks them and makes them look at Kurt in a completely different light.

Characters: Blaine Anderson, Kurt Hummel, Dalton Academy Warblers

Rating: K+/T

AU: Kurt only met Blaine after transferring to Dalton.

Another prompt by the wonderful DemonCaptainofWonderland! Thank you so much and hope you enjoy this!

The familiar echo of Wes swinging the gavel down brought the Warbler meeting to order. Kurt was shocked at how quickly the Warblers' heads snapped towards the Big Three of the Council. He fought off the urge to roll his eyes at their simultaneous behaviour. He was constantly having to remind himself that the Warblers simply had their own way of getting things done. It was a welcome change from the hullaballoo of the New Directions' choir room, though he did find himself missing the raucous arguments that were happening across the room, usually between somebody and Rachel or somebody and Mr. Schuester's outrageous song choices.

"So," Wes began, drawing Kurt's attention away from his thoughts. "First order of business, Regionals!"

There was a quiet buzz around the room, not nearly as chaotic as Kurt was used to back at McKinley. He really had to stop doing that; comparing Dalton to McKinley was fun most of the time when he realised he was never going to be terrorised at the private school, but when it came to Glee Club, New Directions won by a landslide. They were his crazy, incestuous, energetic family. The Warblers merely acknowledged the most exciting of announcements with a polite nod. Kurt figured that most of these boys had been in private education all their lives, whereas this was an entirely new experience for him. He just had to learn to adapt to the changes, as Blaine had not a little condescendingly pointed out.

Blaine was an interesting case.

He was a sophomore and already getting competition leads. Yes, he was talented, but Kurt rather thought that the Warblers weren't carried by one person. It was their collective sound that made them unique and made them stand out. Blaine's admittedly wonderful lead vocals were strong, but Kurt resented the fact that the Warblers put so much energy into backing vocals that were drowned out by whatever song Blaine decided that he wanted to sing. It wasn't even jealousy that propelled Kurt's thoughts anymore. He thought of all the voices he had heard in the Warblers; most of them could carry a competition lead and stand a good chance of winning. He wanted variety, not just the male equivalent of Rachel Berry.

"Now we performed well at Sectionals, our harmonies were strong and everyone liked the song, but we were completely blindsided by the New Directions' dancing and choreography strengths."

Several Warblers sent ominous looks in Kurt's direction. He stared stoically at Wes instead of humouring them.

"Now I realise that we are not known for our dancing, but after interviewing audience members about our set, they admitted that they were a little bored by the step shuffles and tidy formations. They wanted some to rise the performance.

"So, as a council member of the Warblers, I propose that we incorporate dancing into our Regionals set list."

Kurt wanted to take back every comment he had made about the Warblers' lack of energy, because good lord, when they wanted to shout they could shout. Kurt couldn't hear any individual comments because everybody was drowning each other out. He briefly made out the words 'kangaroo court' but wasn't totally sure if he had heard them correctly.

Wes slammed his gavel down once more and, yet again, the room fell silent. Kurt shook his head at the power of the gavel. He would never ever again doubt Wes' influence on the rest of the group. Or at least the influence of recognised authority.

"That's enough of that! Let's put it to a vote. All Warblers in favour of adding dancing to our set, sing an ah."

A beautiful, surprisingly well-harmonised, array of ah's floated around the room, including Kurt's own voice. Despite the shouting, the vote seemed to have passed.

Wes smiled. "Then it's decided. We begin choreography after we have sorted the vocal parts. Does anyone have any prior dance experience in any style?"

Kurt sheepishly raised his hand.

"Ah, Warbler Kurt, that's great. Which styles?"

Kurt smiled. "Ballet, mostly. I trained in tap for a few years before I gave it up and I have a more than competent knowledge and skillset for contemporary, street and jazz. I also took charge of teaching Beyoncé's iconic Single Ladies routine to the McKinley Titans football team last year so I have some teaching experience."

"Would you be up for taking the lead in choreographing a routine for the Warblers?"

Kurt smirked. "I think I would be more than up for the task, yes. I appreciate the opportunity." Kurt realised that this meant he probably wasn't going to be singing at Sectionals, but he didn't mind that. Dance was one of his passions, too. And it would be his own choreography being performed at competition. Even if only Brittany would recognise his nuances, it would still be something to shout about.

Wes dipped his head in a nod. His next words were drowned out by a surprised cry from a Warbler Kurt didn't know the name of yet.

"Whoa! That's amazing!"

Wes's eyes flickered to the boy, who tried to keep it together but failed. "Is there something you would like to bring to the attention of the entire group, Matthew?"

Matthew, apparently, shrugged. "Well…I...I wanted to remember what the Beyoncé routine was like so I searched YouTube and…well…" His eyes found Kurt's. Suddenly Kurt know what was happening and wanted the ground to swallow him up any moment now.

"Well what?" Wes challenged.

Matthew paused. "Do I have permission to use the Warblers projector?"

Kurt's brain halted. Projector? Oh HELL no. "Is this really necessary? We all know what the Single Ladies routine looks like, don't we?"

Some Warbler nodded, but most shrugged in bemusement.

"Heathens," Kurt muttered out of earshot from the rest of the group.

Wes sighed. "Considering the Warblers are now distracted, I will allow use of the projector. I assume you can connect your phone to it yourself."

Matthew nodded eagerly and tapped a few buttons on his phone before flicking upwards.

And Kurt's world stopped.

There he was, standing alongside Brittany and Tina in his leotard, in his basement prior to his father walking in.

"Oh dear god, no," Kurt whispered as eyes were trained on him.

Matthew hit play and the music swelled up, the choreographed movements playing on the big screen. The Warblers fixated on it with ample interest, but Kurt had never felt so embarrassed. How had Matthew even found that video? It was supposed to be a secret.

He figured that Brittany had uploaded it or something. Whatever had happened, it was not supposed to be happening.

He could feel the eyes turning to them as the squat happened. He was rather proud of his performance and the slow squat drop had been hard to master. He heard a gasp from somewhere to his left.

Blushing, Kurt slid over to Matthew and tapped the pause button on his phone that was lying on the table.

"Okay, I think we've had enough of that!" He exclaimed, clapping his hands.

Kurt looked up and realised that he had paused it on a still of him slapping his ass. Not good, he thought.

"Kurt..." Blaine tried feebly. Kurt was rather amused when he noticed Blaine had crossed his legs and was leaning forward. He knew that position, hell he had used that position a good few times during Mike Chang's dance performances. His smirk broke out fully when he noticed several of the Warblers were blushing harder than he was and were attempting to conceal...something.

"I don't think this is the type of choreography I will be teaching the Warblers, so this is irrelevant."

Matthew picked up his phone once more and gaped. "Kurt...there's a whole channel just dedicated to you."

"What's that now?"

Matthew flicked the screen onto the projector again and the Warblers buzzed with excitement.

Kurt looked at the related videos section. 4 Minutes. Cheerios Nationals. Bad Romance. Le Jazz Hot. Dread began to pool in his stomach because he knew exactly what was going to happen. The Warblers would see these performances and render him "not the right fit" for the club and kick him out or just stop him ever singing solos or choreographing the routines for Regionals.

As Matthew obnoxiously clicked on 4 Minutes, the world spun more violently than it ever had before.

And so it began.

Kurt watched in horror as he saw himself and Mercedes. Granted, he was proud of all of these performances, but the Warblers were classy, straight-laced performers with no room for showbiz panache. They would not approve of this kind of performing.

"I didn't know you were a cheerleader, Kurt," Jeff commented from behind him. Kurt turned around smirked.

"There are a lot of things you'll come to learn about me if you insist on watching these videos."

"I look forward to it."

Kurt rolled his eyes and stopped watching the video. Instead, he looked around the room and the Warblers' reactions were not what he had expected. They were watching with nothing but interest, smiles on some faces and glazed eyes on others. It was definitely a welcome sight, Kurt thought, but this whole experience was still a little strange.

As 4 Minutes came to an end, applause followed.

Same with Le Jazz Hot.

But what followed when Matthew put on a video called "Funk Week + Cheerleading Nationals".

"What the hell is this, Kurt?"

Kurt's mouth flapped open and closed. "I wasn't getting enough solos in Glee Club, so I joined the cheer squad and Coach Sylvester decided to let me solo at Nationals, I..."

Thad shook his head. "No, that's not what I mean. Where has this talent been since you got here?"

Kurt didn't know what to say.

"When you auditioned for the solo at Sectionals, you sang Evita. You hit a bass note I didn't even think you were capable of in that funk intro. Why do you always play to what people expect of you?"

Kurt fidgeted with his hands. This was getting much too personal now. "I've always been that way. People shoehorned me into a certain box when I was five and I've always stuck to that image. I found that it was easier just to do what everyone thought I would. Being predictable meant I could predict their responses."

"But you realise how unhealthy that is, right? You're living for everybody else and not for yourself."

Kurt shook his head. "It's not like that. Look, I knew that I was different when I was five. Kids looked at me differently even back then. I was the only boy in my ballet class. Everyone else was playing GI Joe and I was writing narratives for Sailor Moon and her friends. I knew I was going to have to face that fact and I found the easiest way to do it. I've always been myself, just in a less complicated way than I would like."

Blaine sighed. "Kurt..."

Kurt turned to him, head snapping in his direction. "No. You don't get to give me that sigh of pity and tell me that I'm allowed to be whoever I want, Blaine. After I auditioned for the aforementioned Sectionals solo, you're the one who told me try and blend in, be like everybody else, because that was how I was going to make it in the Warblers."

Wes gasped, frowning at Blaine. "Blaine. Explain yourself."

Blaine held his hands up. "I merely explained that we have uniforms for a reason and we need to be in harmony with other while performing."

"Easy for you to say when you're always taking the lead."

David coughed. "We're getting off track."

"Oh my god," Matthew uttered from across the room.

"What have you found now?" Kurt snapped, perhaps a little too harshly.

Matthew bit his lip. "Uh...Kurt, how much do you know about someone called JBI?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "He's a creepy journalist at McKinley. He pretty much runs the school paper and has an online blog where he posts gossip and trash rumours, usually about the Glee Club. Why?"

"He's running this account that's filled with videos of you."

"That's old news, he was a little obsessed with me for a while in his confused phase."

Matthew shook his head. "That's not what I mean. See for yourself."

Matthew flicked the image onto the projector once more and what Kurt saw made his stomach sick.

"Here we have freshman Kurt Hummel, being punished for talking back to the football team. I tell you, McKinley, this is a lesson in how not to stay under the radar."

It was Kurt being tied to the flagpole in his underwear, and hoisted up slowly until he was more than halfway up the full height of it.

Kurt covered his mouth.

The video changed and on screen was another horrible video: Video Kurt was being shoved into a locker and pushed up against it, Karofsky leaning in close and whispering something at him, angrily. Bile rose in Kurt's throat and he took a deep breath, a tear slipping down his face.

"Stop this."

Matthew tapped his phone. "I can't! It's frozen."

The video switched to Kurt being slushied.

Kurt being thrown in the dumpster.

Kurt's bag being emptied.

Kurt's spare clothes being cut with scissors.

Kurt being punched.

Kurt being kicked.

Kurt being on the receiving end of horrible slurs.

"Turn the fucking projector off." He wasn't requesting anymore.

Thad fumbled with the remote before switching the projector off, the sound and video fading away into the depths of nothing.

Kurt was shaking. He covered his hands to stop them trembling.

"Kurt, we had no idea," Wes whispered quietly.

"That's why you don't like physical contact," Blaine added in a hushed tone. "That's why you transferred here."

Kurt nodded. "This is what it's been like since I was six. The only difference then was that I truly didn't have a friend in the world besides my parents. And then my mother died. My dad was grieving, so I only had myself. You get it now. Why I have to be and do what they expect. Because if I don't, it gets so much worse. You don't know what these kids are capable of."

"I think we just saw it," Blaine countered.

"Those videos don't capture everything, Blaine. Dumpster tosses and slushies and locker shoves, I've learned to handle. But constant slurs and death threats and sexual assault? I have no way of being able to deal with that!" Kurt slapped his hand over his mouth; he'd said way too much.

"Sexual assault?" Jeff piped up from behind him. "Kurt, did they...?"

"No. Not that. One of the jocks, he...shoved me in a locker so I confronted him. I got some advice online that said to deal with the source of the problem head on. Once most of the jocks joined Glee Club, it was easier to pinpoint the main offenders. So I chased him into the locker room. We shouted and he kissed him. And I pushed him off. He kissed me again. His hands were everywhere and he was bigger than me and I couldn't..."

Jeff had come to sit by his side, his arm tentatively hovering above Kurt's back, unsure whether the contact would peeve him or not. "It's okay, Kurt. You're safe with us."

"I can't," Kurt whispered and bolted from the room.

Blaine stood to follow, but Jeff glared at him. "It's apparent that you're not the person to fix this, Blaine, let me deal with it."

Jeff's eyes flickered to Thad, who nodded permissively.

Jeff found Kurt sitting just around the corner, knees drawn up to his face.

"I don't want you to see me like this."

"I don't care, Kurt. You're sad and I don't want you to be."

"I'm sorry."

Jeff chuckled. "Are you really apologising for being upset? Listen, Kurt, I already liked you and knew you were strong as hell, but after what you told us, I admire you. You were put in an awful situation in there. It was all fun and games when we were watching your performances, and we'll be talking about those ten inch Gaga heels another time, but we shouldn't have been allowed to see those other videos. Matthew had no right."

"It's not his fault."

"No, it's not. It's this JBI piece of trash. He's a sick fuck, Kurt, posting videos of you being harassed like that. But you've come through so much, you can come through this. No matter what Blaine says to you or what your insecurities tell you that you can't do, don't listen to them. Listen to me, and Nick, and Thad, and everyone in the Warblers and your old Glee Club who appreciates you and cares about you. Because they recognise how special you are. And your immense talent. If you don't get the solo for Regionals, I'll quit the club, I'm not kidding. You deserve it and more."

Kurt sniffled grossly. "Thank you, Jeff. You've been much too kind to me ever since I got here."

Jeff fidgeted with his fingers. "I've kinda been wanting to ask you out since you got here...you don't have to say anything, I recognise you need to heal first. But just know that I'll be waiting right here to help you through it. Don't feel any pressure, either. I want the best for you and if that doesn't include me, then I'm perfectly fine with that. You deserve to be able to think about yourself first for a change."

"Can I hug you?"

Jeff smiled. "Now that you can do."

Kurt laughed unsteadily and wrapped his arms around Jeff's shoulders, flattening his hand on the boy's back. It felt nice to be wrapped up in a hug that offered comfort. To be touched by somebody purely because they wanted him to be safe and happy. It was a new feeling and one that Kurt was going to crave.

"Do you want to go back in?" Jeff wondered.

Kurt pulled back from the hug and smiled crookedly. "I don't think I can face them quite yet. Maybe tomorrow."

"That's fine. I'll go and tell them you won't be coming back. If you want, we can go and get coffee or something?"

"I...I'd like to be alone if that's okay? I'm sorry."

Jeff smiled. "Don't apologise, I'm sorry for asking. You've had a rough day. I'm a text away if you need me though, yeah?"

Kurt nodded. "Thank you."

Jeff patted Kurt's arm as he walked away and headed back into the choir room.

"Kurt's headed back to his room for the day."

"Is he okay?" Nick asked immediately.

Jeff nodded, smiling. "I think he will be. As long as he doesn't get ambushed like this again. What the hell, Matt?"

Matthew looked crestfallen. "I'm so sorry, man, I had no idea it would lead to that."

Jeff dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Don't worry about it. Kurt doesn't blame you. Nobody does, relax."

David appraised the Warblers. "He needs the Regionals solo."

Jeff sighed in relief. "Thank god you agree."

Blaine stood up. "What the hell?"

Wes rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Blaine. You saw his range, his talent, singing and dancing. And he's got charisma in spades. And quite frankly, it's time we stopped putting you front and centre every single time we perform. It's getting boring and there's so much more talent in this group. You'll be sitting out this time, if David and Thad agree."

David and Thad nodded.

"So it's settled. Kurt will solo at Regionals. I think we can call it a day there."

Wes banged the gavel and the Warblers dispersed. Nick walked up to Jeff solemnly.

"You told him, didn't you?"

Jeff sighed. "I did. It kinda just slipped out. My timing was horrible, but I told him that I'd be waiting for him when he's ready."

"You love him, don't you?"

Jeff nodded. "I think so." He couldn't wait until Kurt was ready to be with him, if that's what he chose.

He would show Kurt that he deserved to be loved and he was way more special than anybody had told him he was or than he thought he was.

Because that's was what Kurt deserved.

Author's Note: The song is "Listen Up" by the should-be-legendary songstress Nicole Atkins from her latest amazing album, Goodnight, Rhonda Lee