Chapter 3- Getting To Know You


When evaluating the best things about having four devoted best friends, Kurt often decided upon the fact that they would all be there for him no matter when time he needed them or why. If he was simply in need of an impromptu sleepover, they would arrive at his house with snacks within the hour.

This was the case this time, but with a slightly different agenda.

First on the agenda, revenge.

Santana and Brittany arrived together, as usual. They were both deeply in love with each other, but extremely reluctant to profess their feelings. People's constant undermining of Brittany made her extremely self-conscious. Santana's own doubts about her sexuality and personality caused her to be cautious around Brittany, careful not to reveal too much.

Tina was the first to arrive, waiting on a text from Artie, who hadn't responded to her in three days. It was Christmas break and Tina had tried to call Artie's cell seven times in the past two days. After some ranting to Kurt, she had settled on waiting until he called her. She hadn't heard anything from him. Kurt took this to mean that he simply didn't care about his relationship with such a wonderful girl and would be having words with Arthur Abrams when they reconvened for the next semester of school.

Quinn arrived last, having some prior engagements to reschedule. Kurt didn't mind her lateness simply because she had dropped whatever she was doing to come to a sleepover.

"It's fine, Kurt. You guys are my best friends; I would do anything for any of you." Quinn said, skipping into the basement which Kurt had converted into his bedroom with a big smile. Santana and Brittany smiled back, but Tina was reluctant to, something that Kurt did not miss. Kurt was very perceptive when it came to his best friend and there was not much that he missed in terms of facial expressions and movements and tones of voice. He had spent so long observing people that it was hard to not analyse them.

"So, let's get down to business. The reason why you are all assembled here now is because of the obvious threat to our happiness. The vile gangrene on the toenail of life. The mustard stain on every Marc Jacobs sweater. Noah Puckerman. He must be stopped and fast, before he destroys anybody else. Quinn, what he did to you was kind of irreversible after a certain time limit, so we can't do anything about that apart from cold, hard revenge." Kurt smirked.

"Wanky." Santana muttered from next to him.

"Definitely not. Apologies to you, Unholy Trinity, but your lapse in good taste was definitely apparent when deciding to sleep with that cretin. Tina and I have kept a clean slate in that area, something which shouldn't be too hard to maintain." Tina smiled uncertainly. Quinn frowned at her, but dismissed it.

"Anyway, before Santana's irrelevant interruption, I believe I have formulated the cruellest rumours, plans and strategies to hit Puckerman right where it hurts. After we're done with him, no woman or man is going to want to touch him in any way. Nobody is going to want to speak to him, even the jocks. For all of this to work, we are all going to have to be completely honest and open with each other. I trust you all with my life and I hope you do the same with each other. This plan may involve us being quite complicit at some points, but that's not relevant just yet. So, before we strike, we must band together and become solid. We should use this weekend to cement that extra bond between us all and make sure we're tightly knit and on point. Any questions?"

"When you say complicit…" Tina began, not entirely sure that she wanted to get in legal trouble just so she could rub something in Noah Puckerman's face. Ew no, bad images.

"Nothing that won't be meticulously planned to the last detail by yours truly. Don't worry, T, you'll be fine. The Ivy's will still be in a position to consider each of us after this, no smudging of our records."

Brittany instinctively stiffened at Kurt's mention of the Ivy League Colleges. She knew that the other four were planning on attending them in some form or another. She also doubted that they would even take notice of her unless she stunned everybody with an SAT score that even Artie would be envious of. Brittany figured that she could always ask Kurt to study with her, as she knew that he would do it in a heartbeat, but she wanted her scores to be reflective of her own accomplishments and intelligence, not just what wisdom Kurt imparted onto her.

She reckoned that if she studied hard enough, she could get a good score, but not one that would make her considered by the Ivy's. Her GPA was decent, but not stellar, as the rest of them had. She would be extremely happy for them if they all attended Ivy League schools, but she would not be able to contain her jealousy and mild resentment if she didn't.

She wanted to become a veterinarian, so a Veterinary Sciences course seemed applicable but they were also highly competitive. She would definitely need Kurt's help with her application. He was looking to go on and study at Harvard Medical School, something which everybody knew that he could do. He was certainly intellectual and mature enough to take it on. Many misinterpreted Kurt's character and expected him to be studying musical theatre or fashion design or something related to those fields. Those who truly knew him knew that they were passions, but medicine was something he had been considering since his mother died. He wanted to help people and prevent people from feeling the way that he did when he lost his mother.

Santana's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"That's not to say that if the opportunity for illegality rose that we wouldn't snap it up promptly and ruin him that way." She supplied helpfully. Kurt's eyes narrowed slightly, but he nodded all the same.

"I have ways of escaping arrest; I'm a ninja like that."

The other just nodded, accepting the fact that Kurt was incredibly sneaky and could probably talk his way out of anything he needed to.

"Kurt!" Burt called from upstairs. "Could you come here for a second, please?" Kurt nodded curtly.

"Amuse yourselves, won't you? This shouldn't take too long." Kurt apologised and dashed upstairs to check what his father wanted from him.

As soon as they were alone, Santana spun to face Tina.

"Alright, Girl Chang, ever since this little group started hanging out, you've been glaring at me when you think Kurt is not looking and noticing. I know there's something you want to say to me so let's talk about that. Out with it." Santana raised an eyebrow expectantly.

She knew that Tina didn't like her a great deal, but that was probably because she didn't know her. Santana figured that Tina was wary of her being around Kurt, but that was easily rectified.

"Fine, like Kurt said, it's truth time."

Tina readied herself.

"With an honest disclosure policy intact, I feel that I have to draw attention to my concerns with you, Santana. I'm not going to be a Mercedes Jones and dictate who Kurt can be friends with, because that's just stupid, but I'm always worried and concerned that you're going to end up hurting Kurt in some way. Besides Brittany, you've alienated most of your friends in some way. What makes you think that you're not going to do the same to Kurt?" Tina challenged her.

Santana smirked. Alright, Girl Chang, she thought, let's play.

"The simple fact is that you know nothing about me or my friendship with Kurt. That's a good thing. It means I can explain it to you myself.

"Kurt is good for me. He's very good for me, in fact. He brings out the best parts of me and tames the worst parts. Finding Kurt is one of the best things to happen to me. He gets me in a way that only Brittany and Quinn have ever come close to. We're not kindred spirits or anything, but we're alike. Very. So he understands the way that my mind works.

"He makes me a much better person. A person that I can stand to look in the mirror at and say 'You know what, I am a good person'. Rather than hating myself for always having to put people down or keep secrets, I can be happy with who I am. I don't think that Glee has done that for me; but Kurt has. He's so patient and understanding with me. At first it drove me crazy, but I can get on board with it now."

Tina nodded along with her explanation, but still remained quite sceptical.

"I know what you're thinking, Tina. 'Is this really Santana Lopez?' or some shit like that. It's me. Before I met Kurt, I would've been still insulting the likes of you and Wheels…I mean Artie. I'm not saying that Kurt has made me a nice person, because even he has stated that that is a challenge to difficult for even him. All I'm saying is that I owe him for making me more confident in myself. I owe him a lot for all of his time and his good advice. So if anybody fucks with him, I'll be there to whack them down and make them bleed. And hurt him myself? Well, that is something that I would never, ever consider doing. If I ever do, it'll be the biggest mistake I ever make and I hope he forgives me for that. I have to also apologise to you, Tina. I haven't been fair to you in the past. I would never have done with Puck did, but I've been pretty awful to you and Kurt has made me see that. So, for that among other things, I'm sorry. Ugh, I hate saying those words, but I do mean it."

Tina regarded Santana's monologue with wide eyes. She had not expected such a revelation.

"I actually like Kurt. And everybody knows that I don't exactly like many people. But Kurt's special. And I like him."

Quinn blinked, noting something worth remembering about what Santana had said.

She had revealed that she and Kurt were close and she liked him, but nothing about Tina. She hadn't made anything clear about the other girl. In fact, none of them really expressed sincere liking to the others bar Kurt. Santana and Brittany were obviously in love, so they didn't count. Tina hadn't mentioned anything about Brittany, Santana or Quinn herself. Quinn and Santana were friends, as the former was with Brittany, but she didn't really know Tina as, Quinn suspected, Brittany didn't either. Quinn realised then that Tina Cohen-Chang was the missing link in all of this.

She was very much a part of the group, but only really so because of Kurt. The others didn't really know her. Quinn mentally planned to rectify this, but the timing wasn't quite right just yet for such a conversation.

Meanwhile, Kurt had timed everything perfectly. He was stood listening outside the basement door to Santana's explanation with a wide smile on his face. Santana rarely talked about anybody who wasn't Brittany with such fondness and he was genuinely flattered that she considered him with such high regard. Waiting a few beats to make his re-entrance, Kurt pushed open the door and re-joined his girls for a much-needed night of connections and planning.

Half an hour later, Kurt and the girls were discussing a possible school musical for their junior year.

Santana had rather reluctantly suggested Chicago, but only if Quinn and herself were Roxie and Velma. Kurt and Brittany had both praised their casting choices, with Tina adding her desire to be Mama, rather than the generic choice of Mercedes.

Brittany had suggested they try and pull off a production of Wicked but it was, to their immense surprise, Kurt who had shot that particular idea down.

"Not that that wouldn't be completely fabulous, but I just know that Mr Schuester would be cliché and awful and give Elphaba to Rachel without giving anybody else a look-in." He had complained. Tina had nodded in acquiescence with his point, but Quinn had frowned.

"I thought that you would be gunning for Glinda anyway, Kurt. You're certainly pretty enough to play her." As soon as she finished, Santana closed her eyes and held her breath, watching Kurt's reaction. By Brittany's reaction, Quinn had known that it was the wrong thing to say.

Kurt had paled considerably and he had swallowed audibly.

"Excuse me, I think I have to get a glass of water." Kurt whispered before fleeing from the room. Santana just sat there, biting her lip. Brittany almost moved, but Tina was the quickest, following Kurt up the stairs and into the ground floor bathroom.

Before she entered, Kurt had cradled himself into a ball in between the toilet and wall, his heads planted into his crossed arms. His knees were drawn up against his chest and Tina could plainly hear the sobs escaping from his throat.

She knocked on the door hesitantly, but pushed her way in nonetheless.

"Kurt, what's wrong?" Tina said, worry lacing her voice.

"Oh, it's nothing I'm being stupid."

"Kurt, don't lie to me, please. I respect you far too much to accept that."

He sniffled. "Fine, I'm not okay, Tina."

"Was it what Quinn said?"

He just nodded.

Neither Kurt nor Tina knew that Quinn, Santana and Brittany were listening slightly outside the door. All three girls were completely silent, waiting to hear what Kurt would reveal to Tina.


Author's Note: Unfortunately, this update comes with slightly bad news. I won't be updating for a while. I've come with the strategy that every time I update, I lose focus on a story. BUT I don't want to abandon anything! So...I'm completing all of my stories and then posting the completed version fully to FanFiction so the next updates will be the entire fic. If this is an awful idea, I don't care. But this is the way I want to do it.

So the next time you check in to an update of this story, it will be complete. Au revoir until then. I'm excited about this story!