KURT

By the time Kurt got home, Rachel was already asleep. In lieu of a 'best gay', she had clearly comforted herself; the remnants of a bagel and waffle extravaganza were littered over the couch and the coffee table. He could hear her snoring behind the privacy curtain.

Kurt put the canvas bag with his guitar down and cleared away the mess. Then, he ironed his diner uniform and hung it out for his early shift in the morning and packed a small weekender bag with a change of clothes for his subsequent work at Vogue. Though he still had a lot of cramming to do for his other midterms, he had planned to put in as many hours at his two jobs as he could now that he didn't have any classes; Isabelle needed a lot of help with the upcoming holiday specials, and he could use the money from the diner for Christmas presents and a trip to Ohio. He'd use his lunch break and the evening to prepare his musical theory exam. With his day thus planned out to the smallest detail, he changed into his pajamas and got ready for bed.

Rachel was still sleeping as Kurt left the loft the next morning, and he left her a thermos with hot herbal tea and a bottle of Pepto just in case.

A few hours later, Kurt took an intermission and slipped into an empty booth to take a quick mock-exam on the NYADA website for students. A pop-up informed him that he had several new messages in his NYADA mailbox. His curiosity piqued, he decided to check them, and almost wished he hadn't.

OMG did you hear? Rachel Berry quit NYADA!

What happened with Rachel?!

BERRY & TIBIDEAUX EPIC FIGHT

Kurt shook his head and called up his address book. Just as he did, a text from Rachel arrived, asking him if he could meet her for lunch at Belmondo's. He sighed. So much for his plans. Once again, Rachel - and her future career- needed him. He spent the rest of his shift mentally preparing his arguments for the upcoming pep talk and damage control strategies.

When Rachel arrived at Belmondo's however, she wasn't as distraught as Kurt expected her to be. Instead, she seemed excited and energetic.

"Hiiii, sorry that I'm late," she said cheerfully as she breezed in and put her coat down on the chair opposite of Kurt.

"I know what you did. You're crazy," Kurt said, irritatedly. How could she be so casual about this?

Rachel rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh my god, are you serious? You really already heard about that?" She sat down at their table with a deep sigh, like she was disappointed she didn't get to tell Kurt first.

"Seriously?" Kurt snapped. "The gossip chain in NYADA is the most efficient part of the school. I already had several messages waiting for me at 11 am."

"Ok, look," Rachel started, and grabbed Kurt's bottle of Pellegrino, helping herself to a glass. "Don't judge me. It's not my fault. Carmen was completely unreasonable. All I did was ask her if I could defer my midterm-"

"Your resit midterm," Kurt corrected.

"Until after Fanny's tech rehearsals. And instead of helping me out, she gave me this whole speech, asking me if I wanted to be part of NYADA's community or not, and if I cared about the work or just the spotlight-"

Kurt raised an eyebrow. So far, Madame Tibideaux didn't seem that unreasonable to him.

"And then she had the nerve to call me a 'little girl' and said I lack a foundation, that I'm not ready. Does she have any idea? I have been working my entire life, Kurt. My foundation is literally my childhood. I was born ready. I was born to be Fanny."

Kurt sighed. "Did you tell her that?" he asked dully. He was beginning to fear that the situation was beyond damage control.

"Yes. And then I quit. It was the right thing to do."

Kurt shook his head. "How can you say that? Two years ago you would have done anything humanly possible to force your way into that school and now you're just gonna quit?"

Rachel gaped at him like she couldn't believe her ears. "Oh my god, that was before Fanny, ok? Everything changed from that moment on." She grinned and sipped her water.

Kurt briefly closed his eyes and cursed the moment he had signed her up for her audition. Why did he always have to meddle? He took a deep breath, and tried to bring her down to earth. "I understand that, but an education from NYADA will give you options in the future. Broadway is a fickle business. What if this is the last role you'll ever get?"

"Last role?!" Rachel repeated, shocked. "Really? Wow, you are worse than Carmen! Is that really what you think of me?"

Kurt's shoulders slumped. When Rachel was in a mood like this, it was hard to reason with her. She had clearly made up her mind. She hadn't invited him for lunch in search of advice, but to find an ally.

"I'm just saying you need to be smart about this," he offered.

"Kurt, I'm just not interested in spending huge sums of money on a school whose classes I can barely even attend," Rachel said, gesticulating dramatically, and all Kurt could think of was her personalized pink credit card and the check from her fathers that came in every month to pay her share of the rent.

"And a Dean who doesn't like me or support me-" she continued.

"That's not what it is, she's just-" he tried to interject. It wasn't Madame Tibideaux's job to like her students. It was her job to pick talent and guide her students to their best possible future career, and that included preparing them for a tough entertainment job that didn't provide special treatment.

"You know, I am so hurt right now that you are standing in the corner with a failure like Carmen Tibideaux and not your best friend!" Rachel snapped.

A failure? The Dean of Vocal Performance and Song Interpretation at NYADA, the profound Broadway and opera star, who taught master classes all over the world? If she was a failure, what did that make them?

"I'm not on Carmen's side. I'm on your side," Kurt replied tersely. "I'm just saying, what if-"

"We can play the 'what if' game all day long, Kurt, but the point is: I have the opportunity of a lifetime staring me in the face right now and I can't let anything- whether that's school or Carmen or the diner or, you know, even my friends- stop me from accomplishing my dreams!"

"I'm not trying to-" Kurt started, then shook his head. He had seen her like this before, when she accused Santana of taking the understudy part to sabotage her. No matter what anyone said, she believed it and acted accordingly. But he had to give it one more shot for the sake of their friendship.

"For the last time, Rachel, I am begging you: please don't do this."

Rachel shook her head and pointed at him. "You're afraid. You're afraid to venture out." She got up and grabbed her coat angrily. "You need a place like NYADA, where it's just one big safe group where no one takes any risks. That way, you guys can just huddle together and avoid the facts of actually having to grow up and be an adult." She shook out her collar aggressively and picked up her bag.

Kurt was at a complete loss for words. After everything they had been through - after everything he had helped her through; this was what she threw at him? It hadn't been much more than a year since she called him from New York in tears, telling him how she hated NYADA because Ms July was so mean to her, and how terrible her dorm was. NYADA a safe place? Then why did she advise him to stay away from Adam's Apples? Why did she feel like her life was over when her peers voted against her in Midnight Madness? If there was anyone who avoided the facts of being an adult, it was the girl who constantly needed her friends, teachers and daddies to pick her up when things didn't go her way.

There was only one thing Kurt could think of to say.

"Screw you, Rachel."

Rachel rolled her eyes at him, and left, shaking her head and leaving Kurt with the tab on their table. Having lost his appetite, Kurt simply paid for the bottle of water and left, figuring he might as well get to the Vogue office early.

A/N: After this scene, Kurt gets bashed (in canon). The prompter of this fic specifically told me to leave that out, so you can rest easy- Kurt will arrive at Vogue safely :)