Chapter 62: A Whole New World

"How's it going with your mid-term projects?" Rachel dug into her box of Chinese take-out.

Kurt swirled Shanghai noodles around his chopsticks. "The digital design project is done. The drawing studio workshop is a giving me problems." He chased a piece of shrimp. "Dance class any better?"

"It's like high school all over again. The girls in my dance class are the mean girls and I'm the odd one out. Again!"

"You don't have to be that girl again."

"What do you mean?"

Kurt waved his chopsticks, encompassing Rachel's clothes. "You should change your look. This whole Anne of Green Gables thing is tired."

Rachel looked down at her skirt and knee socks. "I don't know, Kurt. I don't have your sense of style."

Kurt grinned. "No, but you have me. That's almost as good. The kids at Parsons eat, sleep and dream fashion. They know every rag shop that ever opened its doors. My lab partner in Integrative Design has a great eye. I'll get some names from her. This weekend we'll get you a whole new wardrobe to go with the whole new you. The girls in your class won't recognize you on Monday." Kurt shot Rachel a sly smile. "Or Brody either."

"You know, you're the only one who doesn't call me Dennis." Denis Andre Gagnon's grimace of distaste made his opinion of that fairly clear.

Kurt shrugged. "High school French."

Denis looked up from the lab computer. "Vous parlez Francais?"

"Pas bien. Je peux commander dans un restaurant, mais c'est tout."

"Not bad, for a guy from Ohio. It's Ohio, right?"

Kurt adjusted the colour on his digital design. "Yeah, Lima. You've never heard of it, no one has. I couldn't wait to get out of there."

Denis heard the lack of enthusiasm in Kurt's voice. "But, now you miss it?"

Kurt snorted. "Lima, no way! But some of the people, yes."

Denis rolled his chair back, and turned to face Kurt. "Boyfriend?"

Kurt sighed as he pushed back from his own computer. "Yeah. He's in Boston now, working." He clicked on close, and shut his program down. "What about you? Anyone you miss?"

"Non. I dated a guy for about six months last year, but you know…" Denis waved his hands, and gave a shrug. "I worked part-time at a department store in Quebec City. He designed the window displays. He's the one who got me thinking about design. Et voila, bonjour New York."

Kurt grinned. "Really? I met my boyfriend in a men's store. I was a pretty serious shopper, and he was a sales rep."

Denis stared at his classmate. Kurt became a different person when he talked about his boyfriend. And that told Denis just how much the missing man meant to Kurt. He shut his computer down. "I'm done here. You want to go get something to eat?"

"Sure." Kurt stuffed his lab notes into his messenger bag, and waited for Denis to do the same. "Where do you want to go?"

Kurt took the subway home, feeling incrementally less lonely. Denis was a nice guy, and Kurt needed a friend. He dragged the metal door shut, and looked around for Rachel. "Rache?"

"Here!" Rachel came bursting through the dividing curtains, bubbling with excitement.

"Oh, someone had a good day."

"Kurt!" Rachel threw her arms around Kurt, and danced away. "You should have seen them, the look on their faces. The dance-wear you selected makes theirs look like granny pants!"

Kurt tossed his messenger bag on the couch, and hung his jacket on the coat tree by the door. "And you're surprised? I could have changed your life years ago, if you would have listened to me in high school."

"Really? Cause I remember listening to you once and looking like a skank."

Kurt stretched out of the couch, totally non-repentant. "Skank, maybe, but hot. It's not my fault that Finn was afraid of hot!"

"Not your fault!" Rachel grabbed a cushion, and smacked Kurt around the shoulders with it. "You set me up!"

Kurt tried to dodge the flying pillow, but he was laughing too hard. "You said I didn't have a chance because I was a guy." He twisted the cushion out of Rachel's hands, and sat up, pulling his sweater into place. "Which was absolutely true, but not what I wanted to hear."

Rachel patted the cushion back into place, and grinned at Kurt. "Thanks for actually helping me this time."

"And what did Mr. Brody Weston have to say?"

Rachel dipped her head, and then looked over a Kurt. "I asked him over for dinner tomorrow night."

Kurt cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed. "Look out world! Rachel Barry's taking charge." He smiled at his roommate. "Good for you!" He got up and started to walk to his 'bedroom' to change. "Wait, you're not actually cooking, are you?"

Rachel threw the pillow at him.

"There's my Boston boy."

"Hey, babe." Nigel smiled at the Kurt on his screen. "What's new in New York?"

"Oh, major action around here." Kurt's eyes laughed into Nigel's. "The new look I put together for Rachel got her a date tomorrow night."

Rachel popped her head in between Kurt's curtains. "Maybe it wasn't the clothes you picked, Hummel. Maybe it was the me under the clothes."

"Hi, Rachel."

Kurt tilted his laptop so Rachel could see Nigel. "Hi, Nigel."

"Go learn how to cook before you poison the poor guy tomorrow."

"Please, how hard can it be?" Rachel swished the curtains shut, and Kurt grinned at Nigel. "Want to make a bet they end up eating pizza?"

"I heard that, Kurt!"

"You sound happy." Nigel pushed his glasses higher, and smiled.

"I had dinner with a classmate."

"No! You mean they're not all no-talent competitive morons."

"I may have been a bit hasty in my total condemnation."

Nigel laughed. "Not you!"

"Hah! Funny! There's a girl in my Perspectives class, she has a great sense of colour. She's fearless. And this guy, Denis, in my Integrative Studio lab. He's the one I had dinner with tonight, he's very creative." Kurt spoke to the screen, and wished that Nigel was here with him. "You know, it's a whole different world here. I feel like I've sunk through the rabbit hole. Back in Lima, everyone assumes everyone else is straight. But at Parsons everyone assumes all the guys are gay." Kurt smirked. "Here it's the straight guys who get the weird looks. Here it's the straight guys who have to 'come out'. It's actually pretty funny. Last week, one guy said he was straight, and the guy next to him said, 'You're kidding, right?' Like he'd never heard the word before. It's mind bending."

"Aww! You mean you're no longer unique!" Nigel grinned at Kurt, teasing in his voice.

"I am not unique because I'm gay. I'm unique because I'm me!" Kurt parodied a snobby British noble, and Nigel had to laugh.

"So amid this plethora of gay guys, is anyone interesting?"

"Who has time to notice? We're all so worried about projects and deadlines, exams and papers!" Kurt pleaded with the screen. "Promise me. It gets better, right?"