Title: You Can't Stop The Beat
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Up until S02E10, just to be safe
Warnings: Flirting but a painful lack of boykissing – I'm sorry I'm evil like that. The use of Internet-translated French (sorry) – it's supposed to say "Okay, this has been fun, but we should get to class" and "yes, why not"
Word count: ~3800
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Summery: Warblers and New Directions team up to kick some Vocal Adrenaline ass – through music, off course. Klaine fluff.
A/N: This is my first Klaine fic, actually it's my first fic, period. So please bear with me. I usually spend my time writing my own stuff but eight weeks is a VERY long time to go without a fix. Hope you enjoy. (this is also up on my livejournal(thefannywidell), as well as the kurt_blaine community, but I felt like posting here too)
Kurt though this was the best idea he had ever had, and as he walked into the auditorium at McKinley High he was sure of it. Rachel stood at center stage with her back towards him, yelling about some mistake one of the guitarists had apparently made. Kurt didn't bother listening to her high-pitched voice, but waited politely till she was done being a bitch. Wow, Finn needs to get over whatever they're fighting about. For the sake of the rest of the school population, he thought grimly. He got bored waiting for Rachel to be done: he knew how long that might take, so he cleared his throat. This made Rachel turn around on the spot and glare her 'who dares interrupt me'-glare. When she saw it was Kurt her face smoothened and she smiled.
"Take five, guys." She said and walked over to where Kurt now stood at the edge of the stage. "Hey Kurt." She said as she came closer.
"Hi Rachel. Nice dress." He said, gesturing to the old-fashioned – and not in a good way – dusty-rose colored thing she wore.
"Really?" She said surprised.
"No." He just couldn't lie like that. It was unfair to all the pretty dresses in the world. "But I have a good idea and I need you onboard."
"Oh." The silence filled the space between them. Kurt broke it about a minute later.
"So, do you want to hear it?"
"Does it involve me singing?"
"Yes."
"Then let's hear it." Kurt smiled at that and started to tell her about the marvelous idea that had come to him the night before. He had decided to get Rachel onboard first, before going to the Warblers. No need suggesting something to "the council" before he knew he could get New Directions in on it.
"So, what do you think?" He asked nervously.
"A Warbler/New Directions duet to scare the living hell out of Vocal Adrenaline." She mused. "I love it." Kurt's face lit up and he couldn't contain the feeling that this fully annoying girl in front of him deserved a hug. He threw his arms around her and squealed a little. Rachel hugged him back tightly and joined in on the squealing part. Didn't she hug him just a little too tightly? He needed to have a little talk with his stepbrother; Rachel clearly wasn't feeling too well.
"I'll call you tomorrow and let you know what the Warblers said, and then you can – hopefully – get working on convincing the others, okay?" Kurt said when Rachel – finally – let got of him.
"Yeah. Great."
"I'll let you get back to what you were doing before I so rudely interrupted." He said and smiled. "I'll talk to you tomorrow." He left then and made his way back home.
The next morning when he met Blaine before class he asked him if he could talk to the Warblers at that afternoon's practice.
"Yeah, sure." Blaine said but looked a little confused. "Is everything okay Kurt?"
"Yes. I just have a suggestion on a… fun thing we could do." It was a bit unnerving to Kurt that the look on Blaine's face was one he could not read. It was gone within a couple of seconds but it was long enough for Kurt's stomach to tie itself into a knot. And not in the usual way.
"That's great. I'll talk to Wes about giving you a few minutes." Blaine said and smiled one of his charming smiles, and Kurt couldn't do anything else but to smiled back.
The day passed slowly and at the end of the school day he was starting to wonder if it actually was such a good idea after all. The song he had chosen wasn't a song the Warblers would pick and earlier he had thought it wasn't so far off but now he wasn't so sure. Musicals didn't seem to be their thing and he wasn't actually sure they could do an a cappella version of it. Maybe he should have talked to Blaine first. Acquired an ally before going on trial. Well, too late now, he thought to himself as he walked towards the room where the Warbler meetings were held.
"Kurt! Kurt, wait up." He heard Blaine's voice behind him, so he slowed down to let him catch up.
"I talked to Wes, and you've got the first five minutes." Blaine said, a little out of breath, when he was beside Kurt.
"Oh, thank you Blaine. Did you run over here?"
"Well, I saw you at the end of the corridor and… yeah, I ran." Another charming smile and Kurt could feel the knot his stomach tight up in a different way than last time: the usual way. Play it right in there and you might get the chance to sing with him. In public and not just in the common room. Alone. A new incentive started to build inside of Kurt and he smiled towards Blaine.
"Thank you." He said again, but for his newfound motivation this time. Blaine just smiled back. They walked side by side in silence until they reached their destination. Blaine took Kurt's hand and stopped him before he could enter the room.
"You'll do great." Blaine said and squeezed his hand a little before letting it go and walking inside.
Kurt stood there for a few seconds before he could trust his legs enough to move again, and until his heart had calmed down enough for him to hear his own thoughts. Kurt knew that hearing his own thoughts were crucial in a presentation.
"So, what I suggest is for us to do You Can't Stop The Beat form the superb Broadway musical Hairspray, a cappella, with New Directions. All to show Vocal Adrenaline that New York is not for them." Kurt said as he finished his speech in front of his new glee club. There was silence for while and though Kurt felt he presented it in a very good way he was far from sure that he had convinced them. He glanced over to Blaine in hopes of seeing a reassuring face. What met him was Blaine's huge grin and as their eyes met he nodded and Kurt could see how his eyes sparkled with excitement. Kurt knew he could count on Blaine to be on his side, but this was a very good sign. It made Kurt brave enough to glance over the faces of the other boys in the room, and what he saw were similar smiles on almost every boy's face.
"I like it." David said. "It will set us back a week in terms of working on our material for Regionals, but I like it. What do you guys say?"
The room filled with several 'yeah's mixed with a bunch of 'hell yeah's and some 'let's show them's.
"Well then, it's settled. We'll work with New Directions next week. Assuming they're in?" Wes said with a smile and a glance toward Kurt.
"Just let me make a call." Kurt said; his face lit up with the most excitement he'd felt since… well, if he were to be honest, since before he had transferred.
"So this is McKinley high." David said as the Warblers stood in front of Kurt's old high school. It was Monday afternoon and they were supposed to meet New Directions in the choir room at four.
"Lead the way Hummel." Wes said and gestured for him to well, lead the way.
Kurt started to walk the all too familiar rout to where his old glee club had their rehearsals. Blaine walked up beside him and together they led their glee club into the school. Blaine, Kurt thought and sneaked a glance at the cute boy next to him. He wore his uniform with such elegance and he made it look like such an easy thing to pull off. Kurt looked around and noticed that it sure wasn't as easy for all the Warblers. But Blaine looked impeccable in the uniform and Kurt was convinced he would have gotten bored with seeing and wearing the same outfit every day if it weren't for how Blaine looked in it. Eye candy, he thought and stole another glace. This time he found the boy's eyes fixed on him.
"So you're after a solo?" Said boy asked him.
"What? Always. But what's your angle?" Where did this come form? Do you know I'm planning to suggest we'd do one of the verses? Should I have asked in private so that he doesn't feel he has to? So that if he says no I won't be completely humiliated?
Blaine laughed and made Kurt's day by saying,
"I was thinking we should do verse two together."
"Way ahead of you." He answered and smiled shyly, but happily as they arrived at the rehearsal room.
"Kurt!" Mercedes squealed happily when the boys entered.
After they had all said their hello's and introduced themselves to the opposite glee club, they sat down and Mr. Shue let them know it was time to start.
"Actually, Mr. Shue, we've agreed that you are not to be a part of the rehearsal process. We want you to only see the finished production." Rachel said as a matter of fact.
Mr. Shue looked surprised but didn't argue. As soon as he had left the room Rachel made sure the door was closed and then she turned to Kurt.
"The floor is yours, Kurt. What's your plan? I though I'd do verse one with Finn." He heard the others in New Directions sigh loudly.
"As much as it pains me to say, and believe me it does, that's what I had planned."
"But…"
"No Finn, I can't take another evening full of sad classical rock songs. It's painful in so many ways." Finn lowered his head and muttered,
"Not cool, bro." A low giggle shook the room but Rachel's glares killed it pretty soon.
"Anyway, this is the plan." He got up from his seat and went to lean on the black piano, facing the group. "As stated, Rachel and Finn takes the first verse, I'll be doing the second verse with Blaine." Here he looked over to where Blaine sat to make sure he was still up for it. Blaine smiled and winked. He winked? Gosh that was cute, Kurt thought and melted a little before continuing. "Third verse I though Artie and Tina might want to do?" He asked the singers in question and they smiled and nodded in response. "And I thought Mike and Britt could do another dance routine, and that Mercedes would take the last verse with Wes." He waited to see if there were any objections before continuing. "If everyone is okay with this I think we should get started. Friday will be here sooner than we'd think."
"I'll contact Vocal Adrenaline and make sure they're in the auditorium on time." Puck said.
"Just remember that we want them alive." Quinn said with a side-glance at Puck.
"Yes Barbie." Puck scoffed while Quinn glared at him menacingly.
The rest of Monday's rehearsal was spent figuring out how to arrange the song to fit their voices and to work as an a cappella song. David, Wes and a few other Warblers took it upon themselves to have the arrangements finished for next day's rehearsal.
After Tuesday's rehearsal Kurt took his time stuffing his things back into his bag while the rest of the boys and girls looked and acted like there was no way they could get off campus soon enough. Soon it was just him an one other person left in the room and as he looked up to meet the gorgeous brown pools he could look into for hours if it wouldn't be considered incredibly creepy, he found them smiling back at him.
"Want to go for a coffee?" Blaine said in that sweet, dark voice of his.
"That would be nice, but I really have a lot to do for my French class tomorrow." Damn for actually learning something in school that required you to study out of school to understand it.
"What if I'll help you?"
"You take French? But you're in Spanish? Right?" Have I missed something here?
"I am, but only because I already know French." That could be it. A charming smile, and Kurt melted again. He really had to stop that, it was a little annoying and one of these days it would be written all over his face and Blaine would know and… run. At least if the past was any indication.
"Come on, let's get a cup of coffee and I'll help you study." Blaine continued when Kurt failed to answer. When Kurt finally managed to agree, despite his better judgment, Blaine took him by the hand and pulled him upright. To Kurt's disappointment he let go before they were out of the room. That was probably a good this seeing as they were at McKinley's and not at Dalton. But Kurt still felt the loss of Blaine's warm hand as they walked to his car.
Kurt could not bring himself to regret going with Blaine for that coffee even if it meant that he had to stay up later than his sensitive skin would be okay with. They had studied, and to Blaine's knowledge he had helped Kurt with his homework. Kurt knew otherwise, as French-speaking Blaine was even sexier than regular Blaine. This obviously made it yet another level harder to actually listen and take in what Blaine was saying, when all he wanted was to kiss those sexy French-speaking lips of his.
Well at home Kurt thought back to his first day at Dalton and when he first met up with Blaine, and as it were Wes and David, in one of the commons before class. Blaine had taken one look at Kurt and then turned his whole body to look out the window. At first Kurt felt ashamed and confused, and he even stopped dead in his tracks prepared to start running in the other direction. Then he saw Wes and David try to stifle a laugh. Well, Wes tried to while David just didn't bother covering anything up. It also helped when Wes gestured for him to come over.
"Hi guys. Hi Blaine." Kurt said when he had reached them. Wes and David nodded and smiled, while Blaine seemed to move further towards the window.
"Hi Kurt." Blaine said, still with his back towards him and his head bent down slightly.
"Are you okay there, buddy?" David asked, cracking up again.
"Yeah, I was… uhm… I was just…"
"Yeees?" Was said, clearly not tying to help.
"I… I was… I am…"
"You got something in you eye and now you're using the reflective properties of the glass to try to get it out?" Kurt offered.
Blaine spun around on his heals.
"Yes. Yes, that one." He said and pointed at Kurt with one of his charming smiles on his lips.
"Yeah, we know…" Wes said and coughed, possibly as a bad attempt to hide what he had just said. It had David cracking up all over again.
"Now look at what you did; you broke him." Wes looked at Blaine with a serious face.
"What, I did? You're the one that's being… Ah! Forget it!"
"I will." Said Wes, still serious.
"Bien, cela a été amusant, mais je pense que nous devrions aller en classe, no?" Kurt said and looked at the three boys around him. He wasn't sure why he had started to speak French to them, but as an afterthought it might have been because he wanted to be part of their little group of weird. At first Blaine just stared at him. Then he mouthed what Kurt thought might be and 'oh my god' to a spot on the floor by Kurt's feet. Mission accomplished on the being weird part. Great, just great Hummel. Then Blaine seemed to have a little trouble swallowing and then he bit his lip ever so slightly. Hot. Even thinking back, it was… hot. Then he smiled yet another really charming smile and said with an unsteady, airy voice,
"Oui, pourquoi pas?"
Kurt then turned, eager to not make a bigger fool out of himself, thinking now that he must have missed how Blaine's French voice sounded. He hadn't been missing it tonight though. The sound was still in Kurt's head as he climbed into bed that evening.
When Friday arrived the two glee clubs met at the McKinley auditorium to get ready for their performance. Vocal Adrenaline and all the Warblers sat in the audience whit Mr. Shue while New Directions stood on the stage.
"So what are we doing here? Having a stare contest?" One of the Vocal Adrenaline-guys said and rolled his eyes.
"We wanted to let you know who will block your way to Nationals this year." Rachel said when the chatter and laughter had died down.
"Yeah, 'cause you did such a good job last year." One of the girls of Vocal Adrenaline scoffed and more laughter was heard.
"Well, we still got something that you don't." Finn chipped in.
"We're not afraid of funk, dude."
"No, but we've got friends to help us knock you down, bitches." Said Santana, and that was the signal for the Warblers to take the stage with their new friends. Well not the 'bitches', that was improvised.
(Listen to/watch You Can't Stop The Beat, the OMP(2007) version, to get the feeling down)
As the song started; sung into existence by the Warblers' beautifully arranged harmonies, the teenagers on stage felt their own excitement build. Rachel and Finn moved to the front of the stage right on time and sung their verse impeccably.
Kurt moved to the front of the stage as Blaine's and his verse started. He sung it with all the passion in his being; trying desperately to convey the love he felt for the beautiful boy at his side. Both as part of the number and because it felt so good to express what he actually felt for the boy. Blaine seemed to be doing the same thing as he sung his parts directly to Kurt, making his cute faces and worldly little dance moves. They sang the words together and to each other, feeling every word. Kurt was ready for the fight; he had been ready a long time; he had fought alone for a long time. It was about time that he wasn't alone any more. Blaine moved closer to Kurt and standing slightly behind him they finished their verse, bodies touching and lips just inches from skin.
As Kurt backed up with Blaine, holding his hand and looking into those smiling eyes, Artie and Tina started on their verse on the other side of the stage. The background vocals and beats grew louder at the end of the third verse but died down again as Brittany's and Mike's dance routine took its presence on the stage. As Mercedes and Wes started on the last verse the background vocals and beats once again grew louder. Kurt and Blaine, as well as the others made their way to the front of the stage and let their happiness at "being in love and happy" show clearly on all of their faces. After the last 'you can't stop the beat' the large room grew silent as a solitary confinement cell in a maximum-security prison. Only the panting of the performers on stage was audible. But the looks on Vocal Adrenaline's faces said everything: they had nailed it and their purpose had been fulfilled. Mr. Shue seemed to choose that moment to come to his senses and started to applaud like a mad person. This made the two glee clubs on stage burst out in victorious shouts and bursts of laughter while hugging each other. Some taunting of the third glee club present was probably also audible, but Kurt wasn't sure because he had noticed that Blaine's hand was still tightly wrapped around his own. He looked down at their intertwined fingers and turned his body a little in that direction. He let his eyes trace up the arm and over the chest of the boy that had such a hold on him. He was a little afraid to raise his eyes just in case said eye were watching him. He feared that the magic would end if their eyes met and the situation dawned on them. He had just finished that thought when he felt a stream of hot breath at his ear. It tickled him in just the right way and he felt his stomach tighten.
"That was fun." Blaine's excited voice rang in his ear. Kurt had to look up to answer him, but made a point of not looking into his eyes. Instead he moved his own mouth as close as he dared to Blaine's ear and spoke,
"Yeah, when are you going to learn that my ideas are the best ones?" Kurt laughed a bit and Blaine joined in.
"From now on I'm going to take your word for it."
Kurt then couldn't hold himself back anymore; he wanted to drown in those eyes. As he raised his head and let his eyes find Blaine's he braced himself for the force that was Blaine's eyes after a performance. But he could not have prepared himself for that kind of force. Blaine's otherwise so brown eyes were shining at him with an almost golden glow. Kurt felt himself getting lost in them, and he didn't know if he ever wanted to find his way out. But he'd better before it was too noticeable on his face. Before he could even attempt to tear his eyes away from Blaine's, Blaine moved in closer.
"You were great Kurt. Absolutely amazing."
"So were you." He managed to get out in a somewhat shaky voice.
If Kurt didn't know any better he would have thought that Blaine was about to kiss him. What Blaine really had been intending to do would be forever lost on him as David and Wes chose that time to jump them both to congratulate them on a job very well done.