Title: Just Beginning (2/?)
Authors: redelainem

Pairing: Will/Kurt
Rating: T (for now)
Warnings: Nothing yet – though references to canon couples are made.
Spoilers: Up to Duets, then divergent
Word Count: 3183 this chapter. Current total 5287.
Disclaimer: Glee and its characters don't belong to me. Neither does Les Miserables.
Summary: Kurt has a plan. After graduation, he's headed to New York City to find his place in the world, hopefully on Broadway. Things aren't happening as expected, however, when the one person he needs to get out of his system has coinciding plans . . .

Will felt his grin instantly leave his face as, in what seemed to be slow motion, his student fell to the floor. The gasps that erupted in the echoing auditorium seemed deafening, piled on top of the staccato yelps of "Kurt!" and "Shit!" - some of it falling past his own lips, professionalism be damned in his shock.

The group piled around the boy, until Will came to his senses and shouted for everyone to give him some air. What most astounded the young teacher was while everyone else was huddled around Kurt, Mercedes was standing there, giggling. He couldn't help the glare he shot in her direction, as much as he couldn't hide the anger in his voice when he addressed her from his current crouched position beside the fallen senior.

"Mercedes! I fail to see what is so funny." she coughed, either clearing her throat or just trying to force herself to stop laughing, Will didn't know. "Friends don't generally laugh when friends are hurt, Miss Jones."

When Mercedes rolled her eyes – actually rolled her eyes at him! - Will had to grit his teeth and refrain from saying something that would probably not be received well. The word 'Bitch' came to mind rather forcefully, and he would have stopped to wonder just why he was so riled up if not for the object of his current irritation walking up to Kurt and shaking his shoulder none too gently.

"Come on, wake up, Drama Queen." She smiled, and Kurt's eyes squinted; his mouth formed a smirk.

"Call me that again, bitch, and you'll be finding your Coach bags at the bottom of the Ottawa River." They both laughed and Mercedes turned to Mr. Schue.

"See, he's fine. Probably just skipped lunch again and danced too hard." Kurt shot her an angry look, bringing himself to a seated position and holding his glare.

"That is SO not why I fainted and you know it!" He snapped without thinking. "It's preposterous! I'd never faint after one little number like that! Absurd! I . . ."

"Kurt."

"I'm a performer for fuck's sake! I . . . "

"Kurt!" Schuester yelled more firmly and Kurt scowled.

Shaking his head and deciding to drop the issue, at least for the moment, Will extended his hand, intending to help the young man to his feet. Kurt looked at it for a second, blinked, and then got up on his own.

"I'm not some damsel in distress, Mr. Schue." He said simply to Will's confused face, then smiled. "Thanks, though."

Will nodded, feeling uncomfortably like he should be saying or doing more, but not quite able to figure out what that was. Instead, he just put his hand down, momentarily puzzled about why he still had it out at all, then shrugged the feeling aside. He was probably just shaken. It's not everyday one of your favorite students falls to the floor in a dead faint.

One of his favorite students. Everyone in New Directions, the Glee club, His Glee club held a special place for him. These kids, no, these men and women – they were all going to go far. He hadn't been kidding or exaggerating when he had told them he was proud of them. They were all amazing in their own right, incredible, spectacular performers . . . and great people. Sure they still had some growing up to do, and there were some things that just couldn't be taught, but he had such . . . hope for them.

Sitting himself down on one of the many auditorium chairs, Will contented himself with just watching them all chit chat with each other.

Rachel and Finn. There weren't many high school relationships that stood the test of time, and watching them vaguely reminded him of himself and Terri, back when things were still good between them. Those two were in for a challenge, and Will had to wonder how far they'd thought things through. How they were going to manage when Rachel found her niche in LA – she undoubtedly would; that girl was ferociously determined, after all . . . and what if Finn went pro, which again, Mr. Schuester could easily foresee. . .

He wasn't a huge football fan, but he promised himself he'd try to catch the Trojan games whenever he could – and he'd definitely make it a point to see any game that might pit them against Notre Dame . . . Finn and Sam had developed quite the friendly, competitive attitude towards each other over the years, and it would be interesting to see them take that out on the field, leading their respective teams.

He smiled to himself. Quinn was sure to help Sam out with the injuries he was sure to get playing ball once she was done with nursing school. While that, well, whatever they had going on , didn't seem to last long, it didn't take a genius to see that the two genuinely cared about each other.

Santana, Brittany, and Artie . . . those three had become like watching a soap opera. He shook his head and smirked affectionately. Teenagers.

Tina and Mike – where were they anyway . . . Will grimaced when he spotted them making out in the corner . . . and decided to let them be. Rumor had it that Mike was going to China for the summer, and leaving the day after graduation . . . might as well give them the little time they had.

His eyes finally fell on Mercedes and Kurt. Out of everyone in Glee, those two seemed to confuse him the most. The amount of bickering they indulged in – completely in jest for the most part and always affectionate – in another world, in some sort of strange, parallel universe, Will was sure those two would have been in some romantic, old married couple type relationship. Their camaraderie was nothing short of incredible, and he couldn't help but feel a little . . . jealous of them. To have a friendship that those two had – against all rhyme and reason . . . .

Oh, but they infuriated him as much as he adored them. For the life of him, he just couldn't put a finger on exactly what those conflicting emotions stemmed from.

They both had gorgeous voices, separate styles, but wonderful in their own right . . . though he had to say, from a professional standpoint, that if either of them was going to make it – it was definitely Kurt. That guy had talent coming out the ears – singing, dancing, emoting . . . he assumed fashion sense, but couldn't say for sure, as he was severely lacking in that department – even he knew that. There was just something about that guy . . .

"Mr. Schue?" Will nearly jumped out of his seat, startled out of his thoughts abruptly. It had been Rachel who had addressed him, and as he looked around the room, he realized everyone for some reason was just standing there and staring right at him. He turned to Rachel – she was standing there next to him with what looked like . . . worry etched on her features.

"Mr. Schue . . . you, um. You're crying. Are you alright?" his eyes widened in surprise and his hand went up to his cheek. Sure enough it came back wet. He hadn't even realized. When had that started? "You looked pretty deep in thought there for a while . . ."

"Oh . . ." surprise again. His throat was raspy – choked up. He had to cough to clear it. "I uh . . . well I was thinking about all of you to be honest . . . guess I'm going to miss you guys more than I thought."

"Not Kurt!" Mercedes shouted. "You're going to be stuck with him on Broadway someday!" Kurt gaped at her and flushed scarlet.

"Mercedes, shut up!" He hissed, and then jumped when Mr. Schue seemed to pop up beside him out of nowhere, and put his hand on the younger man's shoulder, smiling brightly.

"Looking forward to it, Mr. Hummel." Then the older man winked before walking more towards the center of the room. A sudden Ow! Turned his attention back to Kurt and Mercedes. Kurt was rubbing his arm and glaring at his friend. She shrugged nonchalantly.

"Looked like he was going to faint again . . . so I pinched him." Confused and, he figured, probably a little oblivious – those two always seemed to play off some secret joke – Will turned back . . . to say his good byes. He paused when he thought he heard Kurt mutter a death threat to Mercedes, but just shook his head and smiled.

"Guys . . . I just don't have the words to express how much you all mean to me as an instructor – or even just as a human being. Thank you all so much for these wonderful years." He put out his hand to Rachel, she was the closest, to shake. She just smiled teary eyed and shook her head 'no'.

"Mr. Schuester . . .there's no way you're saying goodbye to us with a hand shake. Group hug's the only way to go."

Before he could protest, he was very nearly tackled to the ground with one extremely enthusiastic Glee club group hug.

"You're sure?" Will smiled sadly and shook his head, looking up from the now full box sitting atop his empty desk.

"I'm packing, aren't I?" He chuckled sadly. "You were there when I passed in my resignation, Emma. You know I'm sure." Glancing up at her, Will noticed her shuffling uncomfortably, worrying her lip with her teeth, and quite obviously looking to be on the brink of tears.

"I . . . I'm sorry Will, of course you are . . . I'm just . . . I've been dreading today, you know?" She inhaled shakily. "I'm going to miss my best friend." Will sighed.

"C'mere" he said, and wrapped his arms around the distraught woman, trying to hold back his own threatening tears. "You know my number . . . you can call, write . . . I'll even send you front row tickets to my first show." Releasing the hug and holding her at arms length, he smiled. "You'll see me again, and when you do, we can go for coffee and chat, and complain to each other about our love lives . . . just like old times."

"Promise?" She asked, and he nodded firmly. Emma sighed.

"Will, can I ask you a favor?" Cocking an eyebrow, Will waited for her to continue. "Just . . . make sure you make some new friends while you're up there . . . you're so closed off all the time . . . I . . . Well, I don't want you to be so darn lonely anymore. New starts are great and all, and I'm happy for you, I really am but you don't take enough time for yourself . . . plus being in a big city and not knowing anyone. . . I'm just worried, I suppose." That did it. Dammit, and he really didn't intend to cry in front of her, but at that point he just couldn't help it. He could barely remember the last time he'd cried so much in the course of a day . . . well he could actually, but he preferred not to bother himself with thoughts of Terri and her insanity. Leave it to Emma to know just what to say to get the waterworks going.

"I'll try . . . oh!" he smiled, quickly wiping the moisture from his eyes, glad to have the opportunity to change the mood in the room. "I found something out about an hour ago about that . . . turns out I'm not the only one from McKinley trying to take off to Broadway." Emma smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Oh really. Who?" Will smirked mischievously.

"Three guesses . . . though I know you know my gleeks, so you'll probably only need one – maybe two."

"Either Rachel Berry or Kurt Hummel" she paused, "Though judging by that grin on your face, I'm going to guess it's Kurt." He chuckled.

"Now why would you say that?"

Emma leveled "The Look" at him, and he paused with the poster he was busying himself taking down.

"Really, Will? I mean, you get all up in arms when Rachel's giving you goo goo eyes, but never once complained about Kurt . . . and you're not blind, or stupid." Seeing the confused shock on her friend's face, her eyes widened. "You really didn't notice?"

Will blinked the surprise off his his face, and rolled his eyes.

"I think you're reading too many of those homoerotic romance novels, Emma." She blushed, but just shook her head.

"No, I'm pretty sure about this. Woman's intuition. The psych major doesn't hurt either." Deciding abruptly that he really needed to sit down, he did, exhaling heavily.

"That would explain the fainting. . . and Mercedes' laughing. I think I owe her an apology." Emma's brow crinkled.

"Fainting? What happened?" Will rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger as if staving off a headache.

"Kurt fainted after I told him that I would be seeing him around Broadway. I was worried, Mercedes was giggling, and I snapped at her pretty harshly. Long story short version, anyway. . . If you're right Emma . . . damn, it is rather obvious now that I think about it." Emma smirked.

"You're blushing." Will chuckled.

"You're imagining things." Sighing, Emma turned to head toward the door.

"No . . . no, I don't think I am. Anyway, I really have to be heading home. Carl's going to be worried." Pausing, poking her head out the door and then back in again, she grinned. "Someone's in the music room . . . unless you left your Les Miserables soundtrack running." Will stood up, and listened.

. . . And I know it's only in my mind, that I'm talking to myself . . . and not to him,
And although I know that he is blind! Still I say, there's a way for us!

" . . . That's no soundtrack." Walking out the door and motioning for Emma to follow him, he strode quietly down the hall.

I love him, but when the night is over . . . He is gone, The river's just a river . . .
Without him, The world around me changes
The trees are bare and everywhere the streets are full of strangers.

Emma peered into the music room, and Will pulled her back, putting his finger to her lips to tell her to stay quiet.

I love him, but every day I'm learning . . . All my life, I've only been pretending!
Without me, his world would go on turning,

A world that's full of happiness that I have never known!

Will shuddered.

Raw.

Definitely, the only word he could use for the emotions currently playing out vocally. No other word would do.

I love him . . . I love him . . . I love him
But only on my own.

Emma shot him a look, as if to say something along the lines of "I told you so," and then mouthed the words "I've gotta go" and "Call me."

Will nodded and then banged the back of his head against the wall on which he was currently leaning.

Kurt wiped the tears out of his eyes, sighed, smiled and shook his head. Sometimes he thought himself positively masochistic . . . singing a song like that right now. What was he thinking!

"You put Rachel Berry to shame." Kurt's head whipped up and he spun around almost too quickly. Surprise had put him off balance. "Don't tell her I said that though, or she'll probably lynch me." Eyes widening, hands shaking, and probably blushing one shade short of maroon, Kurt swallowed the uncomfortable lump that had settled in his throat.

"M-Mr. Schue!" he stuttered, and cursed mentally at himself for how startled he sounded.

Mr. Schuester smiled, rubbing the back of his head in what looked to be a nervous, uncomfortable fashion. Kurt just stood there for a moment, trying to get his racing heart under control.

"Will." The older man said firmly, and Kurt could do nothing but stare dumbly at him.

"Excuse me?" Smiling, Mr. Schuester walked over to the piano and grabbed something rectangular from atop it. A few somethings, actually. Taking one and putting the rest in his pocket, he walked over to stand in front of the utterly flabbergasted teen.

"Will." he repeated, handing Kurt what the young man now saw to be a business card. "I'm not your teacher anymore, and you're not my student. . . I'm really excited that I might get a chance to work with you again, and being on a first name basis just feels more appropriate." He smiled and pointed to the card in Kurt's hand. "I just had those printed up. Give me a call when you get to New York." Will turned to leave, hand up in a farewell wave.

Kurt couldn't help the tears that welled up in his eyes then, happiness that felt like it would just explode out of him as he ran up to his former teacher and hugged him from behind. Feeling the vibrations of Will's chest as he chuckled, Kurt felt more content, more alive then he had since he could remember.

"T-Thank you." He stuttered slightly, reluctantly letting go. "Will." The older man nodded, and walked out of that particular door for the last time.