8: History Never Repeats (Split Enz)

Once Kurt had quaffed his hair into a satisfactory style, he waited for Ryan patiently by the practice rooms. His heart was beating faster than it had in a very long time, and his fingers were sweating as he clutched the strap of his leather book bag. He had brought along some music of his own, hoping to get Ryan's opinion on what he'd done to fix his masterpiece— the song he had written about his failure with Finn.

He didn't have to wait long for Ryan to show up, a CD player held in one hand and a Guess bag in the other. Kurt couldn't deny that the guy had good taste— Guess was expensive, but that bag would totally have been worth it.

They found an empty practice room and Ryan went straight to the piano, placing his CD player on top of it. He dropped his expensive bag onto the bench and began digging through it for the sheet music while Kurt waited apprehensively, perhaps stealing a glance or two at the guy's behind. But he wasn't staring, or anything, because that would be weird.

"A few of Professor Capucilli's classes have sort of banded together to put on a show for next week's open-house," Ryan explained as he dropped himself onto the bench and put the music on its stand, "It's just seven short skits, each with a song and dance number— nothing huge, plot-wise, but I'm choreographing two of the dances, so I suppose I should be thrilled."

Ryan motioned for Kurt to sit next to him, and he did, albeit a little delicately. Kurt had as of yet to meet a gay guy who was so interesting and non-stereotypical, and Ryan threw him for a loop. His eyes scanned the music on the stand quickly, sighing with relief after noting that the female lead's part was well within his range. Not that he had been overly worried, as he could hit a high-F if need be, but it was comforting to know he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of Ryan.

"I'm playing the lead in skit number two, and have a small part in number seven, but only as a back-up dancer. I was attempting to practice my lead role earlier and found it impossible to do so without someone doing the female part— which, thank you so much in advance for that, I mean, seriously, I'm grateful."

Kurt murmured a dull, "It's no problem." Butterflies had somehow invaded his stomach and were now battering around inside of him, fluttering their little wings and making him nauseous. Ryan seemed not to notice, opening his CD player with a button and placing a CD carefully inside.

"I thought you'd want to listen to it before we started," Ryan explained, then pushed play. Kurt listened carefully to the female part, mentally noting where the music sped up and slowed down. The harmonies would be a little tricky, but he figured he could manage it alright. It wasn't something he'd heard before, but it had a simple enough melody to pick up on. Ryan offered to play it again, but Kurt said he'd gotten it— so Ryan turned off the player and hovered his hands above the keyboard, studying the sheet music before beginning to play.

Ryan was very good at what he did, Kurt noticed as Ryan's fingers danced across the keys. He watched, intrigued, as Ryan bit his tongue a little in concentration, his eyes never leaving the page. When the intro was finished, Kurt pulled his eyes away from Ryan's face and looked at the music, following the notes and waiting until the right time to sing his part.

"Moon so bright, night so fine; keep your heart here with mine. Life's a dream worth dreaming," Ryan began singing, and Kurt was horribly reminded of a similar situation he had been in with Finn, not so long ago. He felt the twinge in his chest he always felt when he was reminded of Finn; Finn, who had rejected his romantic efforts and stomped his heart to pieces, without ever meaning to.

Kurt mentally shook himself of the image. What was history was history. Ryan wasn't Finn and Juilliard wasn't McKinley. Perhaps history sometimes repeats itself, but it isn't going to now, Kurt thought, his eyes glued to the music as he began to sing.

"Race the moon, catch the wind; ride the night to the end. Seize the day, stand up for the light," Kurt sang, his pitch as perfect as it could be on a first try. He drew out the word for the whole four beats, and then went right into the harmony.

"I want to spend my lifetime loving you, if that is all in life I ever do," they sang together, Kurt's soprano tone contrasting nicely with Ryan's tenor. Kurt took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment as it was once again Ryan's part, imagining what the scene Ryan would be staring it would look like opening night.

"Heroes rise, heroes fall. Rise again, win it all!"

"In your heart, can't you feel the glory?" Kurt began his next part, stealing a sideways glance at Ryan. He seemed really concentrated on his fingers, though the tune was not really all that difficult. "Through our joy, through our pain—"

"We can move worlds again. Take my hand, dance with me," they harmonised, and Ryan added his overlaying, "Dance with me!" at just the right part as Kurt held his me for nine beats.

"I want to—" was Kurt's next (very short) solo-part, which quickly faded to a harmony as Ryan joined in on, "—spend my lifetime loving you, if that is all in life I ever do. I will want nothing else to see me through, if I could spend my lifetime loving you."

Kurt could see why this would be difficult to sing on one's own. It just wouldn't sound right without a partner.

"Though we know we will never come again, when there is love, life begins—" Ryan continued, and Kurt jumped in to harmonise on the following, "Over and over again!"

"Save the night, save the day. Save your love, come what may. Love is worth everything we pay," they sang together once more, pulling strong for the final few notes. "I want to spend my lifetime loving you, if that is all in life I ever do. I want to spend my lifetime loving you, if that is all in life I ever do. I will want nothing else to see me through, if I can spend my life time loving you."

"Loving you," Ryan finished, sighing as his fingers played the last few notes.

When he was done, he looked at Kurt and grinned. "You really can hit that note!" he decided, looking at the shorter boy with newfound admiration. Kurt gave a loud humph, crossing his arms and looking at Ryan in his most Diva-like manor.

"You doubted me?"

"Perhaps." Ryan grinned boyishly, once again revealing his rows of sparklingly white teeth. "Are you any good at dancing? I could use someone to help me go through my steps, too, if you don't mind."

If Kurt didn't know better, he'd say that Ryan was flirting with him. You don't know better, the little voice in his head said, Now get up off your butt and dance with that boy! Kurt did what the little voice told him, though he felt a little odd for it. He just hoped that he wasn't going schizophrenic or anything.

"I can dance," Kurt assured Ryan, standing up from the bench and offering Ryan his hand. "Can you dance?"

"I'm a choreography major!" Ryan declared, standing up from the bench himself and taking the offered hand. "Of course I can dance."

Ryan lead Kurt through the unfamiliar steps, and Kurt soon had a pretty good idea of what the finished project would look like. For the final, "Loving you," Ryan pulled Kurt close to his chest, and Kurt felt his heart flutter again. The butterflies in his stomach had a field day, battering around inside him happily. When Ryan didn't automatically let him go, he felt himself leaning in toward the warm chest in front of him. Ryan was warm and comfortable. It was a good combination.

"You are really snugly, you know that?" Ryan commented, letting Kurt go. Kurt took a step backwards, blushing furiously.

"Sorry," he apologised quickly, looking down at his shoes. He should have known better than to get so attached so soon.

"It's alright," Ryan comforted him, reaching out and laying a hand on Kurt's shoulder, "It's actually kind of... endearing." He paused for a moment, regarding Kurt with a kind of bemused but interested look. "C'mon, let's try that again. I lost my footing during the second chorus."

They began to dance again, a little more surely this time. For a second Kurt could swear he felt Ryan tracing some pattern on his skin when he held his arm, but as suddenly as the ticklish touches began, they ended. There was a spin somewhere in the middle, and Kurt was so caught up in thinking about how wonderful this was that he tripped and fell into his partner, nearly knocking them both to the floor.

Ryan regained his balance first, less-than-gracefully stumbling and grabbing Kurt by the upper arms so as not to let him fall. There was a moment of panic before Kurt regained his own footing, suddenly nose-to-chest with Ryan's shirt. The Hello Kitty hat had fallen off in this exchange, but neither noticed immediately.

"Are you alright, Sweetheart?" Ryan asked, once again calling Kurt 'sweetheart.' Not that he minded this time around. His heart fluttered in response.

"Um, yeah," he mumbled, looking up at Ryan, wide-eyed. "Sorry. I kind of... tripped over my own feet."

"It happens to the best of us," Ryan concluded, still holding Kurt very close.

Kurt felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest, it was fluttering so rapidly, and he could barely breathe because Ryan was so close. And he knew that Ryan was well aware of how he was feeling, because the dancer suddenly rolled his body against Kurt's, and for a second, the soprano thought that he was going to go insane. His hands unconsciously attached themselves to Ryan's hips, holding him close.

"For the record," Kurt managed to say breathlessly, looking back up at Ryan with the same wide-eyed expression, "You are flirting with me now, right?"

Ryan just laughed, and then kissed him on the forehead. "Yes, Sweetheart," he concluded, ruffling Kurt's once-perfect hair with one hand, "I am flirting with you."

After a moment, Ryan's hand flew to his head, suddenly realising that his fedora was absent. He bent over to retrieve his fallen hat, and Kurt couldn't help but turn his head sideways and admire the view.

"Good to know," Kurt said with a grin as Ryan perched the hat once again atop his head, adjusting it to a suitable jaunty angle once more. "'Cause if you weren't, I'd be worried."

They laughed, and began the dance again.