Embrace the deception

spazzula — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 22:22:23 GMT

Today is RB's birthday. She is [age redacted for my own safety]. As is annual tradition on March 2nd, I am spamming her with birthday love everywhere I possibly can, especially since I can no longer just drive across town, squirrel-tackle her with a hug, and then run away before she can start yelling at me.

Because that would happen.

Instead, I mail her alcohol (already en route!) and blow up her dash/flist/inbox with birthday wishes. To that end:

<3,
Me

Glee reaction post

spazzula — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:04:33 GMT

I haven't been motivated to write an episode reaction in a long time, but the one complete sucker punch scene from last night's Glee makes it really hard for me not to. So spoilers within; as always, YMMV, this is just my read on things.

Okay, so here's the thing. I actually really like Max Adler. Aside from some PR miss-steps where he's demonstrated that he's very much a straight white dude with limited perspective on gay social issues (which, hello, straight white chick here, I will never claim to be especially knowledgeable), I think he seems like a really nice guy. I even feel for Karofsky sometimes, and can appreciate that they've tried to give him some depth. They just haven't really succeeded with that -- every time I start to thaw toward Karofsky, he says or does something that completely undermines his character for me. Karofsky doesn't trigger me based on any personal experience, I've just found some of his past actions creepy as fuck, and I fully credit Max for selling me on the creepy factor, to the point that I just haven't been able to get past it.

There hasn't been enough attention paid to Karofsky's so-called 'redemption' for me to care as much as Glee obviously expects me to care. I was perfectly happy to see him moving on to a new school, getting a fresh start, and coming to terms with himself at his own pace, where he could concentrate on himself without: a) being near Kurt, and b) falling back into his old bad habits and people's expectations. Mostly without being near Kurt.

And then they bring him back to creepily seek out Kurt, in a gorilla suit to hide his identity, shower him with gifts in spite of only talking to Kurt ONCE in nearly a year, and profess his 'love' with every expectation of Kurt falling into his arms and abandoning the boyfriend he's been perfectly happy with for the past year. Kurt has no obligation to return Karofsky's 'affections' (air quotes because Karofsky doesn't KNOW Kurt, but he's fixating on him to what I perceive to be an unhealthy degree).

I appreciate that Kurt told him no, and pointed out all the things Karofsky did to him in the past -- forgive, but don't forget. I do NOT appreciate the fact that they went there in the first place. It's not Kurt's job to explain to Karofsky why a relationship between them is just not a good idea; he's already expressed in no uncertain terms that Karofsky isn't his type and Kurt is not attracted to him, I find it hard to believe that Karofsky actually thinks he has a good shot at this. Plus the fact that Karofsky knows Kurt has a boyfriend, and that Kurt's reaction to the last card clearly indicates that he thinks they're from Blaine ("Wait, you think you love me?"), and I just find Karofsky's petulant surprise at Kurt's rejection surprising. There are so many reasons that scene was a bad idea, and if they follow through on the random classmate figuring out Karofsky's secret by having Dave get gay bashed and forget that Blaine's been through that -- yeah, that will piss me off even more. And I don't especially want a Karofsky suicide attempt instead, but at least that wouldn't undermine Blaine in the process, it would just be uncharacteristically dark and heavy for Glee, and very much an issue I don't trust the Glee writers to handle well at all (especially since that would probably even be presented as All Kurt's Fault after this rejection, argh.) No matter where they go with this -- DNW x1000.

Bullet points about the rest of the ep:
• Santana continues to be a BAMF and make me love her again. She got downright mean for a while there, but I'm hoping that was the character hitting rock bottom and she'll continue to use her bitch-powers for good. A+ for pointing out the double-standard at work! (Now if only the writers would make an effort to correct it...)
• Really, Mercedes isn't sure where she stands on gay people? Really? She was the first person Kurt came out to. Nearly three years ago. Before he told his dad. I just -- whatever, Glee, Kurtcedes is obviously not even on your radar as a friendship that actually happened, anymore.
• Despite that moment of characterization fail, Mercedes rocked 'I Will Always Love You'. Knocked it straight out of the park, you go, Amber. I want my Samcedes, but I appreciate that Mercedes regrets hurting Shane and needs to forgive herself first, and that song was pretty epic, even without recent events making it even more relevant.
• I love Rachel's dads. Period. Hiram makes me cover my face and laugh. I want them to interact with Kurt. And Blaine. But mostly Kurt. Also, Sugar continues to be hilariously daffy and spoiled, <3
• I refuse to believe Kurt and Blaine didn't kiss once during or just after 'Love Shack'. It's patently ridiculous to think otherwise. It makes me sad to think that the Brittana kisses (while long overdue) filled the show's quota of gay affection to the point that Klaine were only allowed to dance adorably with each other (even if Chris and Darren sold the hell out of that).
• I have seen recaps/reviews questioning Blaine's ability to sell the 'campy' aspect of 'Love Shack'. ...Yes, because Darren Criss' signature schtick isn't the least bit campy at all*. It's one of the main reasons I adore Blaine so much, that ability to be a complete goofy idiot and still totally adorable -- what were those reviewers watching, I wonder?
• If not for the sucker punch of the Karofsky scene, I think I would have enjoyed this episode quite a lot, more than I actually expected going in. Unfortunately, it's really hard to ignore the awful, horrible taste of that Karofsky scene, and it's tainted my enjoyment of the rest of the episode, which makes me really sad. Last year's 'Silly Love Songs' was marred by Finn's descent into inexplicable douchiness, and this year suffers from Karofsky-rage. Very sad.

* /sarcasm, btw, XD

Obligatory Dreamwidth shout-out

spazzula — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 01:51:35 GMT

People are jumping ship from LJ in droves, and considering I have this account just sitting here unused, I figured I'd go ahead and use it to friend those on my flist who are defecting. I don't have much time to clean this journal up right now, but when I get a chance, I hope to figure it out, maybe see if I can confirm the set up to cross-post to my LJ -- but for right now, I just want to make sure I can still follow those on my flist who have made the move, and I'll still be checking in regularly over at LJ, even if I haven't been posting much!

Glee : Klaine wallpaper

spazzula — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:09:20 GMT

Holdover squees from 03x05 + new song preview from tonight's episode = me playing with Photoshop and making myself another wallpaper, heh. I've seen other people using this image from 03x05 as their desktop backgrounds, but for the life of me, I haven't been able to locate that particular wp myself, so I made my own.

Cut for song spoilers for tonight's episode, :)

(As usual, it's sized 1280x800 for my laptop desktop, but I have the
Photoshop file and can adjust the proportions accordingly -- just let me
know if you need a different size, and I'll see what I can do!)

Other sizes:
1280x768
1440x900

spazzula — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:40:55 GMT

It's been nearly 6 years since I last modded a journal-based RPG, and suddenly I'm the sole mod remaining in a Glee game over on IJ. Not entirely sure how that happened, but the game seems to be just continuously changing hands and not quite dying, and now suddenly our most recent primary mod has decided that she's unhappy with the way the current season has been shaping up, so she's leaving it entirely in my hands.

...So if there are any RPers on my flist who might be interested in a canon-based Glee game that currently has LOTS of characters available, I'm going to start advertising for new players later this week -- let me know and I'll be glad to hold characters pending an app. The outgoing mod played Kurt, but I've already got a line on a new Kurt who's Klaine-friendly, and there's a hold on Finn pending rewrites to an application, but seriously, LOTS of characters are open...

spazzula — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:09:37 GMT

Okay, so I'm a bit perplexed about all the hype that went into this episode being the BEST EVAR!!11! -- but I did enjoy parts of it. Parts of it made me cringe, too, but that's to be expected.

I love Mike Chang. I'm so glad he got a storyline, finally. I can definitely empathize with his parents pushing him in school and having their own expectations for what he's going to do with his life, and I love that we get to see that struggle with him. He did a fantastic job with his WSS audition, I was pleasantly surprised by Harry Shum's singing. And the scene with his mom was so sweet, my heart, <3

I failed to get behind either Rachel or Mercedes in this diva-off. Rachel does get everything handed to her, and this is a problem with Shue's favoritism -- but she also works really hard to improve on her talent. Mercedes is under-appreciated and overlooked too often, but in this episode she just struck me as much less willing to work for it than Rachel (ie, all of her Booty Camp scenes). Honestly, by the time we got to the actual diva-off, I just wanted them to give Maria to Tina and have done with it. Mercedes unwillingness to share the spotlight with Rachel made me sigh, and Rachel's insistence on running for class president against Kurt even after she got Maria just made me shake my head. Both of them frustrate me, although I'm not sure they aren't supposed to, honestly. (And Mercedes boyfriend is not endearing himself to me, either; I'm pretty sure isolating your girlfriend from her friends, even under the guise of being 'supportive', is questionable...)

Will and Emma -- was just bizarre. The whole 'ginger supremacy' thing did actually feel like a throwback to season 1's weird, edgy humor, at least, but I still have problems with Will wanting to 'fix' Emma. It wasn't nearly as blatant and condescending as it has been in the past, and at least Will is admitting that he doesn't know what to do, but it still bugs me.

Kurt and Blaine continue to be my favorites, especially with the flowers scene. That was sweet, and I love that Kurt is being supportive even when he's disappointed. I also thought that scene was a lot more subtle than we'd been led to believe by spoilers; it wasn't Kurt leaning in for a kiss and Blaine backing away like early rumors suggested, it was both of them glancing around and acknowledging that it wasn't the time or the place, even though it was really obvious that both of them wanted a kiss, and both of them sold it really well with just a few glances. I defy anyone to tell me these two don't genuinely care about each other just because they don't make out in public, especially when there's reasons they don't make out in public, :(

I'm not even going to pretend I wasn't happy Blaine got Tony -- I wanted him to, especially after changing schools and giving up everything he had at Dalton. I wish it hadn't been at Kurt's expense, but I appreciate that even Kurt admitted that Blaine was more suited for the part. I'm realizing more and more that Kurt is no longer solely my favorite character, not even by a tiny margin -- I love both of them equally, and want them both to succeed. I want Blaine to be more fleshed out as a character, independent of Kurt, and I want Kurt to win. I desperately want Kurt to get senior class president -- Rachel doesn't want it for the right reasons, and Brittany wouldn't know what to do with it. But I just don't see how they're going to go from Kurt being voted Prom Queen as a nasty joke, to Kurt being voted senior class president based on his own merits and not a catchy dance number. I love Brittany, but 'because I'm a girl' doesn't make her more (or less) qualified, and Kurt actually has things he wants to change that are relevant to the school. (Sorry Brit, but you're critiquing US political issues, not McKinley High policies; it sounds smart, but really isn't relevant to a student council election.)

There needs to be a debate for senior class president. Let that part of Chris Colfer's personality bleed into Kurt, instead of the sai swords of last week -- Kurt would wipe the floor with both Rachel and Brittany, and I'd love to see Blaine cheering him on.

spazzula — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:39:18 GMT

I didn't do an episode recap of the Glee season premiere, but I actually made an attempt at this week's episode, mostly because I don't know what to think about it yet. On the one hand, I've had to really think about this one, which I suppose is a good sign, but on the other -- OWWW. So forewarned: there be babbling within.

I am really conflicted over this episode, and I think it was kind of like 'Prom Queen' x100 for me. There were parts of PQ that I really enjoyed, but the overwhelming ache for Kurt made it impossible for me to enjoy the episode as a whole. I'm pretty sure that's the major reason I'm left feeling very unsettled after last night's ep, even though I appreciate parts of the episode as a whole -- only it's a hundred times worse because I ache for Kurt and Blaine this time. (Kurt gets piled on more with the 'ow', but Blaine gets a share of it in my read, too.)

Okay, let's go point-by-point so I can at least attempt to stay objective until the last possible minute.

• I enjoy Brittany's general outlook on life, although I think her approach is too optimistic and idealistic for McKinley. It's awesome that she thinks Kurt is a special unicorn and all, but considering how his special unicorn-ness has been received by McKinley up to this point, that's really not the most effective way to go about convincing people to vote for him for senior class president. I pretty much agreed with Kurt's initial reaction -- calling attention to his differences in pink glitter isn't going to help him, not with a student body that is more likely to use it as joke fodder, instead of acknowledging that he's the best person for the job. I like to think that Kurt's perspective within McKinley actually makes him uniquely suited to try to bring about some kind of change, and thus I can buy him running for class president to do something about it, even though I don't quite see him winning with the social climate at McKinley being as abysmal as it was obviously portrayed in PQ.

• I care very little for Quinn and Shelby. Skank!Quinn was at least new and different for her, and I can understand her being conflicted about seeing Beth again. I have issues with her final proclamation that she's going to get full custody, though. I am okay with Quinn and Puck being in Beth's life, especially since Shelby has so many regrets about missing Rachel's childhood and wants this for Beth. I get all sorts of red flags at Quinn wanting her baby back, and her assertion that she is Beth's mother and Shelby never will be irks me to no end. On the other hand, I very much appreciate Puck's character development over the last two seasons. And the picture of him with Beth was really sweet.

• Really don't care about Shelby and Rachel. Like, at all.

• I was not pleased at all by the leaked spoiler that Blaine is suddenly a junior -- I mean, seriously, they're going to de-age him two years from his original character description? I love Blaine, but he's nothing like the boy we met in NBK almost a year ago, and I have to side-eye certain things in season two now. I can only justify so much character retconning before I just shake my head and throw up my hands. This development makes NO SENSE based on what we saw of Blaine last season, and is very much RIB cashing in on Darren Criss to keep him around another year, and by extension, Chris Colfer. I don't believe for a minute that they'll do a spin off, by this point, and I'm fully expecting something to keep Kurt in Lima, *sigh*.

• Despite the fact that de-aging Blaine makes NO SENSE in terms of established canon, it does kind of make sense in the musical story line they've decided to pursue. I don't like the fact that they couldn't make it work without making ludicrous character decisions, but it gives Blaine another legitimate reason to not seek to challenge Kurt for Tony. And I appreciate that he didn't, going into his audition. It feels true to Blaine -- he's just not as competitive as Kurt is. He performs because he enjoys performing, but his relationships are more important to him than the spotlight. He doesn't have a very big support structure right now, his parents aren't Burt and Carole at home, so he's not willing to jeopardize his relationship with Kurt for the school musical. Plus, I honestly think that now that he's away from Dalton and out of his comfort zone, he's not nearly as confident as he's pretended to be, and doubts himself in a lead role. I think he'd love to play Tony, but I think he prioritizes Kurt higher.

• Kurt just makes me hurt. I could NOT watch his audition. I don't understand his song choice, and the climbing around and sai sword twirling made it the first time I saw Chris instead of Kurt. It just didn't make sense to me. I can understand the concerns voiced by Emma and Artie and Beiste, even if I thought them weird based on the fact that they were specifically looking to cast creatively -- but I also think Kurt could do it, because his Romeo and Juliet scene was very Not-Kurt, but in a more deliberate way than his audition. Everyone laughing at him made me cringe, since he was trying so hard. I was kind of dreading that they were setting up a Hummelberry kiss, even a stage kiss, but Rachel laughing made me want to cry -- I just watched that whole scene in a state of detached horror.

• Oh god, Blaine's audition. I have never seen West Side Story; I have no idea if Blaine would make a good Tony. I really enjoyed his performance, and expect he could be awesome at it, but that's not really based on personal knowledge of the character. I appreciated the fact that he was NOT auditioning for Tony -- for all the reasons I mentioned above -- so it's nice that he's asked to read for Tony without asking for it. It still hurts, because I expect he would be awesome and it's something he would love, but -- Kurt. If I could get past my ache for both of them, this is probably a really good source of conflict for them that still keeps them (so FAR) fairly in character. It just hurts to watch, because I love them both, and ending the episode on that note just makes me really unsettled, :(

spazzula — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:17:50 GMT

I have a new layout! It is not yet finished, though. There is this big, perfect space on my header for song lyrics or a quote or something, and I can't figure out what to do with it. So the current header is just a temp header until I figure out what I want to put there, and finish it properly, :(

(Suggestions are welcome, btw, *lol*)

Glee is back -- yay! -- but I haven't been able to articulate a reaction post this week. Hopefully I will make more sense in my own head next week? Although chasingkerouac will be here (!!!), so we'll see if I have time to post, :)

spazzula — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:22:35 GMT

FYI for the two people I know track me over on Delicious -- I'm going to be transferring a LOT of bookmark tags over the next couple of days. I've been tagging them on Diigo just because it's quicker with the toolbar, but I prefer having them ultimately on Delicious just because it has a few features Diigo doesn't. (If I'm reading my sidebar right, I actually have a few other people tracking me, which is kind of mind-boggling, since I don't recognize the usernames -- I just have Southern guilt out of flooding people's Network pages.)

...It's times like this I miss having an actual fic recs blog, heh.

spazzula — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:29:18 GMT

Okay, so I got to go see the Glee Live 3D movie last night at midnight. With my mother. Which was an interesting experience, to say the least. (My mother is an unapologetic Blaine fangirl at age 58, incidentally, so it's sometimes very funny to watch her reactions to things like the Mini-Warbler, XD)

I was still kind of meh on the emphasis on fan anecdotes, but it wasn't as bad as I feared. They didn't butcher down all the songs, at least -- as far as I could tell they were all full length or close to it. If anyone saw the 'Raise Your Glass' sneak peak that got posted online, that is NOT how it is in the movie; they run it straight through without random shots of ND, and they don't crop out the entire middle of the song. They do sort of intersperse fan stuff, playing the songs in chunks of 2-3 at a time, and they focus on three fans in particular; honestly, if they'd left out the three primary fans, it wouldn't have been that fan heavy at all, just little quick cuts of things like who's your favorite character, who are you most like, etc. (I suppose technically you could count the Mini-Warbler as a fourth fan focus, but he only gets the one tiny little segment that bleeds into 'Teenage Dream' and intros the Warblers, he doesn't get the 3-4 segments the other three get -- although he did get the biggest laughs from our small theater audience.)

Kurt was by far the best part, IMO. There were several occasions in which he was doing something in the background that made me laugh; as usual, I ended up looking for him in any and all group numbers. He was conspicuously absent when 'Forget You' started, for example, but then he popped up to dance with Gwyneth and Mom started cracking up. Also, he's ridiculously adorable in his duet with Rachel, and visibly trying not to giggle at the fans' reactions during 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', :)

The Warblers were pretty awesome, too, but Blaine suffered a bit from the filming techniques they were using during the 'Silly Love Songs' crowd walk-through -- the only time the 3D got REALLY distracting was when they focused in on someone moving head-on and close up, and they seemed to do that a lot with Blaine and Rachel, for some reason, so it made me sad (it was slightly worse with Rachel because she'd stare STRAIGHT into the camera and it was a little creepy). They did have a bit of behind the scenes with the Warblers that made me smile; Riker/Jeff was all, 'it's a little discouraging that I've gone up against this guy six times for solos', and the other guys are like, 'but we LOVE Blaine, he's awesome, what can you do?' and Darren's down there in the corner like, 'you guys are so full of shit', XD

I thought the behind the scenes in-character stuff was kind of cute, because we got little bits like Rachel flipping out at the thought of Barbra Streisand in the audience, and Blaine shamelessly exaggerating Brittany stalking him onstage for the 5 seconds we got of the Klaine skit, and Santana being Santana and her hair/make-up lady being a little afraid of her, and Kurt just sitting silently in the make-up chair and judging everyone in profile. I could have done without all the fan reaction stuff, but the behind the scenes snippets actually amused me, :)

Overall, needs less fan focus, even though it wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be. We DID get to watch most of the concert with a few cuts to audience reactions, but at least the songs weren't cut way down for time. I knew going in that there would be no 'Friday', no 'Single Ladies', minimal Klaine skit and between-songs filler, that 'Somebody To Love' was after the credits, which we didn't stay for (couldn't handle being slushied in 3D, *shudder*), and 'Dog Days Are Over' was cut entirely and shows up on the soundtrack as a bonus track, so I suppose that's how they had time to add in the fan stuff. Coming out of the theater, Mom's gut reaction was 'Quinn got shafted, she only had the one song and had to share it with Sam', but then I pointed out that Sam was the same, Tina only got her 'Born This Way' parts, and Puck doesn't get much to do outside of 'Fat Bottomed Girls', not to mention Lauren didn't even get to talk, much less sing. It's heaviest on Rachel and Finn singing leads, Mercedes and Santana after them (with a fair bit of Artie, too, in hindsight), Brittany and Kurt (they're both fan-story focuses), and Blaine mostly because he's the Warblers' lead and obviously a fan favorite in spite of the Blaine-hate that seems to exist in parts of fandom.

TL;DR - heavier on the fan testimonials than I'd have preferred, and 3D was not necessary, but still fun to watch everyone on stage, :D

spazzula — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:20:29 GMT

Flanigan on Fringe? ...Yeah, okay, that sparks some really bizarre fandom collisions in my head, *lol*. Is it sad that I'd almost rather toss Rodney and Walter in a room together and see what happens?

I'm not dead! I just haven't had a chance to put together a decent post-Houston-move LJ post yet, heh.

spazzula — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:32:20 GMT

In bullet-point format:

•Was... there a second song mashed-up with the Madonna song? Because I think I totally missed it.

•Already in NYC, and they don't have their songs written? Oh, ouch, that hurts my head.

•'My Cup' > 'My Headband'. Purely because it's Brittany, ~~bitch~~.

•Not gonna lie, I cracked up when the boys started singing that 'Lady and the Tramp' song for Finn and Rachel. And I maintain that the 'serenade' was in Finn's head, since they didn't stop when Rachel bolted. Also, accordian. Totally in Finn's head.

•I <3 Kurt and his whole 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' idea. And I'm only somewhat familiar with 'Wicked', but I enjoyed 'For Good' solely for the look on Kurt's face, :)

•I kind of liked having Quinn, Santana, and Brittany circle back to the fact that they all started this together as the three popular girls. I wasn't terribly sympathetic to Quinn's 'poor little popular girl' lament on first viewing, but then I remembered that whole teen pregnancy thing they keep conveniently forgetting exists. Quinn has had a crap couple of years, I'll give her that.

•I don't see why Schue couldn't go do his Broadway show thing during the summer and go back to McKinley in the fall. It's summer, man, you already have it off, and no source of income for a couple of months, at least. Let the man have his summer Broadway show.

•Finchel on-stage kiss = awkward. Kind of glad that it was supposed to be, and they didn't unequivocally back up Finn's insistence that it was epic and romantic. Nope, still unprofessional, Finn, listen to Jesse just this once.

•Uh, yeah, if you don't even write your songs until like the day before the competition, it's kind of a given that you won't place. Saw that coming, would've been floored if they had. (Also, they need to have something to shoot for next season. I'm predicting next season they kick ass at Nationals, since apparently most of the cast is 'graduating' and they'll be back at square one.)

•Samcedes! I never knew I needed this pairing in my life until the prom episode, but damn, they're cute together. Sam is a dork and Mercedes just laughs and smacks him on the arm, XD

•Can't help but be glad Brittana was left kind of unresolved, too. Santana's still not ready, I don't think, although I think they're headed in the right direction. Also, Brittany? ALWAYS BE THIS SMART AND PERCEPTIVE, <3

Which brings me to...

That ONE Kurt/Blaine Scene That Pretty Much Made My Night

<3. Just... <3. I love that we didn't see it coming. Klaine is a ninja like that. Kurt's just being all cute and filling Blaine in on all the nationals gossip, and beaming because it was still an awesome experience, he got to sing on a Broadway stage, and Blaine just... can't not say he loves him. The look on Blaine's face was so affectionate and smitten and I love it.

^THIS is what will get me through summer until next season.

...So, okay, now what am I going to do with my Tuesday nights?

spazzula — Thu, 12 May 2011 22:32:37 GMT

I am as surprised as anyone at how much I actually enjoyed this week's Glee, considering it was an Ian Brennan ep and his eps make me nervous. Again, not my favorite -- but overall my reactions were fairly positive.

Well. Except. Oh, except, *sob*.

GAAAAH, Blaine backstory. He got the crap beat out of him for going to a dance with another boy, y'all. I just wanted to give him a hug. The fact that Blaine's bullying did in fact have a physically violent aspect to it breaks my heart, but it also puts Blaine into perspective. He sees himself as less strong, as someone who ran away when things got tough -- and in some ways, he had it as bad or worse (in terms of physical threat) than Kurt. Kurt's been through hell with Karofsky, but as far as we know, he's never had the crap beat out of him. That's not negating or downplaying what Kurt's had to put up with, but it emphasizes that Blaine isn't a coward, and he's not weak -- he put up with some seriously bad bullying before he transferred to Dalton, and it's kind of amazing that he's as positive and optimistic as he is. Just like Kurt, he didn't run away -- he removed himself from a toxic environment, and it kind of hurts a little that he doesn't see himself as strong or brave. Kurt is amazing, but so is Blaine.

Also? He's crazy about Kurt, XD And incidentally, I find it amusing that all of ND -- even if it's a bit odd from Kurt -- are habitually calling him 'Blaine Warbler' now. He has a last name, we know what it is, but it strikes me as kind of a teasing little pet name ND has given him, and I can't help but appreciate that.

Karofsky: damn, I like Max Adler. I don't want to like Karofsky. I am so not cool with what he put Kurt through. He creeped me the hell out, and I had no sympathy for him in the beginning, but damned if Max doesn't sell Karofsky's issues. I was dead set against Kurt ever being left alone with him again, but that scene with the two of them was good. Kurt continues to impress me with his ability to empathize with his former tormentor, and when Karofsky broke down in tears -- that kind of shocked me, and it sold his genuine, sincere remorse for what he did to Kurt better than I expected. I can see a Karofsky redemption now. I can even see a tentative Kurt&Karofsky friendship. But I will NOT advocate a Kurtofsky relationship, still, and I kind of want Blaine or Santana around as a buffer at least most of the time.

I LIKE BRITTANY SO MUCH IN THIS EP. She cracks me up on a regular basis, but they;ve let her be kind of sweetly dim and still cognizant of what's going on around her, lately. Like telling Artie she's still going to prom stag, so she can work on herself and dance with everyone's dates. (Also, see later on RE: Santana and Kurt...)

I do wish Mercedes was still owning her singlehood, but as someone who didn't date until I was in college, I can completely understand what she was getting at. And I'm loving Sam lately, with his willingness to escort Mercedes and Rachel on a budget, and his dorky bolo tie and borrowed suit, <3. I find myself surprisingly willing to be sold on Sam/Mercedes, and I blame that entirely on the fact that they've let Sam be goofy again, *pets him*.

Jesse -- oh, Jesse. I knew nothing about Jonathan Groff before Glee, so I've gotten familiar with him through Glee interviews and such. I really like Groff, and I generally find Jesse amusing -- he and Rachel are kind of hilariously narcissistic together. But Jesse is still kind of a douche. He may be an entertaining douche most of the time, but I still have to facepalm at some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth (Sam doesn't need your 'sympathy', Jesse). And unfortunately, Jesse and Rachel together makes more sense to me than Rachel and Finn, because even though Rachel regresses in her own diva-tendencies around him, at least she doesn't pine constantly and tragically, *headdesk*. So mixed feelings on Jesse being back, because 'majoring in show choir' = *lol*, but isn't this the back half of season 2 all over again, now?

I can appreciate Burt and Blaine's point about Kurt drawing the wrong kind of attention by wearing a kilt to prom. It makes sense coming from Burt, since he doesn't want his son to be a target anymore, and I absolutely did not get the feeling that Burt was trying to tell Kurt to conform or not be himself. And Blaine's agreement made total sense, given what we learned about his last foray into school dances; he doesn't want to paint a target on their backs this time, and he certainly doesn't want to see Kurt hurt like that. Blaine never once says he doesn't like the kilt, or that it looks bad -- he just points out the potential risks and consequences of Kurt wearing it.

Prom itself:
I can't watch the boys sing 'Friday' without cracking up. I just can't. It's so ridiculous that it makes me laugh. I'm pretty sure that is going to end up one of the Glee songs my four-year-old gets really, really attached to and wants me to play over and over again in the car, heh.

As much as I love Blaine and Darren Criss, I wasn't enamored of 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance'. Blaine was great fun to watch, naturally, but the song just didn't appeal to me that much. And the fact that Finn and Jesse got into it in the middle of everything -- gah, boys.

...And I've just realized this, but that little bit of stupidity effectively got Finn out of the way for what came next, and deprived me of watching Finn react to what his classmates did to Kurt, XO

Kurt. Oh, Kurt. As much as I love Glee, it doesn't actually make me cry as often as one might think. And I was spoiled for the prom queen announcement -- it is insanely difficult to avoid spoilers in this fandom (I have serious respect for anyone who manages it), so I've given up trying. But it kind of breaks my heart a little when something this big gets leaked, because it's nearly impossible to avoid it while participating in fandom, but I really wish I could have gone in unspoiled. Because this broke my heart. The look on Kurt's face when Figgins called out his name -- yeah, I was a mess. And then he ran out of the gym and Blaine chased after him and Kurt was in tears -- *sob*.

I really appreciate that Blaine didn't go all wise gay mentor on him this time. He just asked Kurt what he wanted to do. And he backed him up without question. He handed Kurt a tissue, and helped him up, and asked him if he was ready. And when Karofsky balked at at the king/queen dance (again, no issue with that, since it's a damn public way to be put on the spot and expected to come out; plus I DID NOT WANT Kurt to be backed into dancing with Karofsky in the first place), Blaine stepped up and asked Kurt to dance and they owned it. Blaine pushed aside his own bad associations with dances, and if Kurt's going to stand up in front of all those people and refuse to flinch, Blaine's going to back his boyfriend up and dance with him proudly, <3

(Also, I got distracted by the fact that when Blaine holds out his hand to Kurt, there's one extra behind them who looks suspiciously like either one of the Warblers, or Jeremiah with shorter, blonder hair...)

ETA: This guy--- V

So yes: THANK YOU, Ian Brennan, for not derailing Kurt and Blaine, or making any one of the glee kids a weirdly terrible person for one ep. (I'm not going to get into Figgins letting it all happen in the first place, *shakes head*.)

Two more eps left, and next week we get Kurt singing with Finn! *bounces happily*

spazzula — Wed, 04 May 2011 14:51:11 GMT

I neither loved nor hated last night's Glee. As I told chasingkerouac on rewatch, it was no SLS or Furt for me, but it wasn't BIOTA either, and that's always a plus, heh.

I do enjoy having Kurt back to watch in the background again. I have no shame in the fact that I'm generally watching him during musical numbers, because Chris Colfer is a flawless human being, and Kurt-in-the-background is still more entertaining than most of the other characters in the spotlight, *lol*.

I really appreciate what we got on Sam, too; he desperately needed a little character development, since his character has been wildly inconsistent and disconnected this season. I liked him at first in Duets, because he was kind of a dork and trying too hard, and because he was about the only straight boy we've ever seen accept Kurt without batting an eyelash. (I'm pretty sure flyingcarpet was the one who pointed that out to me, that Sam has more impact as a straight ally character, and if he turns out to be closeted, that dims the impact significantly.)

I mean, I have no issue with Kurt/Sam as a ship. I can totally see why it exists. I just don't subscribe to it because I like Sam better as a supportive friend and ally, side-eying people who have a problem with Kurt being gay even though he's got a demonstrated tendency to worry about what people think of him. And I'm really glad that the writers trolled us with the Kurt/Sam rumors, but didn't blow the ship out of the water. I really don't want a ship war to erupt (worse than it already has, at least), and I don't want to think the writers are just being cruel and pointedly crushing the hopes of a segment of fandom, even if I think that segment is a little too invested in insisting that their ship is Going To Happen in spite of all evidence to the contrary. It's entirely possible to ship something without insisting it has to materialize on screen, after all.

But I do like Sam, especially when they let him be a bit of a dork and worried about his image and an awesome big brother. I really like the idea of a Kurt&Sam friendship -- Kurt was giving him clothes, and keeping his secret at the cost of all the rumors to himself, and I'm so proud of him. Kurt's refusal to even dignify Rachel's gossiping with a denial made me want to cheer, too; he's really benefited from being at Dalton, and I will argue with anyone who says otherwise.

Stuff I really didn't care about:
~ The Finn/Quinn/Rachel mess. Again. Although I did appreciate Rachel calling Finn out on taking Quinn back when he can't trust her. Still should have gone that one step further and pointed out that Finn is a hypocrite, since he encouraged Quinn to cheat on Sam with him in the first place, *shakes head*. Don't care about this triangle, although I appreciate that Finn is marginally less douche-y in the past couple of eps -- all three of them need to just step back and be single and quit obsessing over each other for a little while.
~ Everything involving Will. Again. Passion does not make you a good teacher, Will Schuester. Go be on Broadway, or take some continuing education classes on how to not be a horrible teacher and put a student on the spot in front of his classmates and back him into admitting he's living in a motel, *shakes head*.

Incidentally, I didn't mind the lack of Blaine too much; he got name-checked a lot, and as much as I do love Darren Criss on my TV screen, I totally appreciate that he's still a presence in Kurt's life, even when he's not physically there. And we'll get him in a tux next week, :D

Which leads me to: prom promo? Prom promo! I was a little worried about the whole kilt issue, I'll admit it, but damned if Kurt doesn't rock it like a great big rocking thing, XD. Other characters are still going to say he's wearing a skirt (XO), but he looks awesome and they can GTFO. And YES, FINN, that is what I like to see with your character: supportive-step-brother!Finn, waving his warm milk around as he tells Kurt his kilt rocks. I love me some Hudmel family bonding, :D I'm still anxious about some of the prom spoilers that have hit Twitter, but I'm going to reserve judgement until I see the ep next week. Maybe it'll be awesome? Glee does that occasionally, after all, ;)

spazzula — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:48:09 GMT

Last night's ep was kind of meh for me. I'm not a fan of Schuester, and not really attached to Holly Holiday, so I mostly just watched for the little snippets of Kurt & Blaine and Santana. And Mercedes and Lauren, because they're apparently just fun together, :)

I've been seeing a lot of comments about scrappy!Blaine being out of character, which just... baffles me. I don't think Blaine's reaction to Karofsky's macho, homophobic posturing was out of character at all. And I don't really think Blaine was being especially protective of Kurt, either -- Karofsky was harassing both of them, and Blaine doesn't lunge at him until Karofsky levels a particularly homophobic epithet directly at Blaine. I interpreted it as hitting a little too close to home with regards to the treatment he escaped in the past, the names he's been called before, and the bullying at his old school that 'pissed him off', and Blaine isn't willing to be chased away this time. And I've seen a few comments about him being 'ungrateful' to Santana. He's a boy. He has his pride. And more than that, he wants to be able to handle this on his own, because he didn't at his old school -- he ran. His 'we could have handled it on our own' wasn't particularly cutting or sullen, just him pointing out his opinion, and whether they really could have handled it or not, he just wants to think they could.

I'm REALLY looking forward to next week's ep -- except I'm going to be in Costa Rica for the next week and a half, so I'm going to miss it! I've got it DVRing, but I probably won't get to watch it until the next Monday, and since I'll have basic internet access on the trip for my online classes, I expect I won't be able to completely avoid people discussing it and spoilers for a whole week, :(

But yes, leaving in the morning to take the kids to Nonni's house, and then flying out on Friday -- so I'll be on limited net access until after May 1st.

spazzula — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:05:29 GMT

...Okay, so that episode happened. XD

Morning after and I am still flailing, *lol* I expect I will be flailing for quite a while, honestly. I had to go to the dentist to get two cavities filled this morning, which makes me all tense and anxious, so I was clinging to last night's Glee ep like a sad, sad individual, just to tune out the whole dentist thing.

Awesome Klaine stuff is awesome:
- Blaine and the Pips, heh. I see you meta-ing there, Ryan Murphy. And oh, I missed bitchy!Kurt, he is my happy place. And yet, bitchy!Kurt was still kind of affectionately exasperated with Blaine getting all the solos ever, all 'You're awesome, Blaine, but ENOUGH ALREADY', I love it.
- The Warblers freaking out because Blaine suggests wearing slightly different uniforms for Regionals. I laughed so hard at their scandalized protests, *lol*. Oh, but hey, they're totally cool with the two gay guys fronting them in competition on a flirty duet, go get it Kurt, JUST NOT THE RED TIES WITH BLUE PIPING, OKAY?? Man, I'm going to miss the Warblers if they're really done...
- Blaine's faaaace. During Blackbird. That would be his 'Blaine finally gets a clue-by-four upside the head' face, and it's because of Kurt doing what he does best and being so very quintessentially Kurt, and the look in Blaine's eyes, and Darren now officially has my undying love, if he didn't already, XD
- Blaine doesn't want to be a spotlight hog! He wants other people to sing! No, he wants Kurt to sing! At Regionals! With him! For a duet! And the Warblers are all for this idea, screw holding auditions, Kurt wins at everything, *fistpump*
- Oh, btw, Blaine, I'm pretty sure you don't actually listen to the lyrics you're singing when you pick songs. First 'When I Get You Alone' with casual references to sex toys in the middle of the Gap, and now moderately depressing break-up song 'Candles' to sing with the guy you've just realized you want? Blaine is totally a song selection failure, but he's just so cute about it, XD
- THE KISS. AGGGH. 'Oh! There you are. I've been looking for you forever.' And Blaine was so nervous and sweet, and Kurt was just-- that's the look he gets on his face when he's been tossed in dumpsters, locker-slammed, attacked and kissed and harassed by a closeted bully, had his life threatened, transferred schools, and repeatedly felt like who he is is somehow wrong or not good enough -- and all of a sudden, he gets what he wants. My heart, guys.
- Blaine's pep talk for Kurt before going on stage, aww. 'Are you nervous? That's adorable. You're adorable...' <3
- I'm gonna need gifs and icons of Blaine during 'Raise Your Glass'. He's such a goofy dork when he gets into it, *lol*. And Kurt was having a ball, too, none of this hanging back or looking awkward or sitting down while everyone else dances, :)
- "We do nursing home shows all the time. And do you know how many Gaps there are in Ohio? Tons." I see your weird sense of humor there, Blaine, :D
- It did not occur to me until I was trying to sleep that the whole thing with Blaine taking Kurt's hand as they walked away from Pavarotti's grave was a direct call back to Burt doing the same thing to baby!Kurt in the flashbacks to his mom's funeral. Like, down to the close-up of their hands, *happy sigh*.

On the rest of the ep, which was not focused on Kurt & Blaine (wait, what? why?):
- I do not get the original songs gimmick, but then again, part of the reason I got into Glee was because I enjoyed hearing their takes on popular music. That said, I actually enjoyed Puck and Mercedes' songs (poor Mercedes, having to immediately follow The Kiss, I was too busy flailing to pay much attention, even if I'd already heard it). And I'll admit it -- I think 'Loser Like Me' is kind of catchy, if a bit too self-referential about the show to ever stand on its own. I have to appreciate that the second verse is totally written from Kurt's perspective, even if Finn's the one singing it. And I'm glad they cut out the bizarre chanting bit, wherein they make a completely unnecessary grammar butchering that ruins my enjoyment of the song. Yeah, I'm picky, but it bugs me.
- Rachel's song? Meh. Judge bias aside, Warblers should've won. 'Candles' was a weird song choice, and I'm not particularly fond of the original, but they sang it really well, and I do love Chris and Darren's voices together. 'Raise Your Glass' KILLED IT, though, and that's going to be the performance I'm watching over and over again. (Well, and Blackbird, obviously.)
- Still find Quinn/Finn/Rachel boring. Can't bring myself to care. But hey, look over there -- Kurt/Blaine is canon! *flails happily*

spazzula — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 23:15:38 GMT

Oh, hey, look -- new friends from the beyond_dapper Friending Meme, :D Hi, new friends! My flist is suddenly packed with reaction posts and such from last night's Glee, I might have literally squealed happily when I loaded it this afternoon, :D

I am of two minds over last night's ep. I loved Burt and Kurt's talk, and Santana has my undying love in spite of her chronic bitchiness (or because of it, rather). I loved the whole Brittana subplot, especially Santana's confession and Brittany's reluctance to hurt Artie, although I still do not understand why Holly being a sex-ed substitute makes her remotely qualified as a sex therapist.

Also, I kind of want to pat Blaine on the head like an overlarge puppy, because he keeps going back and forth between sage-mentor!Blaine and fail-bot!Blaine, and it amuses me that they're actually letting him be both. I love Blaine, even when he makes me want to shake my head, heh. I mean, Kurt makes me shake my head regularly, too, and I adore Kurt. And yes, I liked the Blaine & Burt scene, too, if only because I love both characters and find their dynamic fascinating -- I wish Burt hadn't needed the kick in the pants to do what Kurt asked him to do last ep, but I can understand why Blaine voicing his concerns would make it really hit home. And Burt's expression when he agreed that Blaine overstepped was just so Burt, and thus by definition innately awesome.

On the other hand, there were entire sections of the ep that I had to watch from between my fingers. I have a SEVERE secondhand embarrassment squick, so watching Kurt during 'Animal' (WTF random warehouse and schoolgirls and foam? Even with context it didn't make sense!) and later in his room with Blaine was an exercise in not stuffing my fingers in my ears and singing much like Kurt. (There are entire sub-genres of rom-coms I can't watch without covering my eyes, srsly, just ask chasingkerouac.) Plus, I just can't seem to like Holly, Will continues to creep me out, Emma makes me headdesk with her Will hang-up and Carl-fail, I just can't even care much about Quinn/Finn, and I've given up on 90% of the things in this show making any sort of sense at all. And I come from scifi fandoms, y'all, I totally know suspension of disbelief, heh.

So yes -- part yay! and part meh, *lol*

spazzula — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:09:58 GMT

Happy, happy birthday, chasingkerouac! I realize that it's like dinnertime where you are, but I hope it's been a good one, :)

Birthday care package should be in the mail tomorrow!

[ETA: Oh hey, appropriate GIF is appropriate, :)]

FIC: 'A Credit To His House'

spazzula — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 22:38:17 GMT

(Written for the KissKiss Valentine Exchange fic at kurt_blaine; main post is HERE.)

Title: A Credit To His House
Recipient: jyusan
Author/Artist: spazzula
Rating: PG-13, to be safe
Warnings: homophobic bullying; Harry Potter crossover (YMMV on character Sorting)
Word Count: 3,979
Summary: Slytherins and Gryffindors don’t mix, everyone knows that -- so Blaine is understandably shocked the first time Kurt Hummel deigns to speak to him.
Notes: Unavoidable changes in character history to fit the HP-verse -- which means some of the characters may seem a little OOC at times, but hopefully it's kept to a minimum. (For the sake of this fic, Blaine hasn’t been as subject to bullying in the past, so he’s got less of a filter than usual.) Also, the tone is more 'Glee' than 'Harry Potter', and thus more American than British.

---

It’s really almost impossible not to notice Kurt Hummel, when it comes right down to it. At least Blaine has always used that as his excuse.

They have Charms and Transfiguration with the Slytherins, so it’s not like the two Houses can completely ignore each other. Blaine is proud to be in Gryffindor, but their rivalry with Slytherin is so deeply ingrained that it’s almost a foregone conclusion. He’s heard too many horror stories about Slytherins baiting other Gryffindors, jinxing other students in the halls between classes, or outright cheating at Quidditch -- and he’s familiar enough with Puckerman and Lopez to believe every last horror story.

Kurt Hummel just oozes Slytherin, anyway -- always cool and smugly superior, green-striped tie ruthlessly sharp. Blaine’s comfortable in his school robes, but Hummel has flair, even when he’s wearing the same robes as everyone else. It’s in the way he carries himself, the way he tilts one hip as he lifts a condescending eyebrow, and the way he looks right through you with those odd, light eyes, his expression faintly mocking.

Slytherins and Gryffindors don’t mix, everyone knows that -- so Blaine is understandably shocked the first time Hummel deigns to speak to him.

“Blaine, isn’t it?” Kurt asks after class one day, his voice high and vaguely bored. Blaine misses a step, blinking in confusion at the mild expression on Kurt’s face.

He doesn’t wait for an answer. “Tell Finn he needs to stop being such a guy and send his mom an owl,” Kurt scowls. “I’m tired of running interference for him, and she thinks he’s dying from some horrible Muggle disease.” Kurt rolls his eyes expressively. His tone is almost affectionate, though, and it takes Blaine a second to remember why that shouldn’t surprise him: Kurt is Finn’s stepbrother now, his dad married Finn’s mom over the summer holidays, and the other sixth-year Gryffindor boys had given Finn hell for weeks about having a step-sibling in green and silver. As weird as it is, it actually does make sense for Kurt to be checking up on Finn, since he’s been laid up with a nasty case of spattergroit for the past three days.

It doesn’t make it any less bizarre, though, and it doesn’t explain why Kurt chose Blaine to play owl for him.

“I’ll pass it along,” Blaine answers, amused in spite of himself. “He’s going a little stir-crazy in the dorms anyway, even if it’s better than the hospital wing, so writing home will give him something to do.”

“Be prepared to sit on him and shove a quill into his hand,” Kurt sniffs. “Finn’s disgustingly well-intentioned, I’ve found, but he’s a little lacking on his follow-through, especially when it comes to reliable correspondence. Tell him I’ll even let him borrow Pavarotti, if he needs him.” Kurt refocuses, and this time he actually looks at Blaine. It’s disconcerting, to say the least. “You seem to be the least flighty of his Gryffindor year-mates, at least, so try not to drop the ball on this one,” he adds, and then he’s walking away, sailing off to his next class in a swirl of black robes.

It takes a minute for Blaine to register the odd little tilt of Kurt’s mouth as he leaves, and he’s halfway to Potions before he realizes that Kurt Hummel -- a Slytherin through and through -- had actually smiled at him.

---

Finn is pathetic when he’s sick. He hasn’t been contagious since Madame Pillsbury sent him back to the dorms (mostly to get him out of her hair, Blaine is certain), but the spots haven’t faded yet either, and he’s woefully self-conscious of what people will say when they see him. Blaine and Sam have been taking turns bringing Finn food from the Great Hall, but they’re both getting tired of humoring his teenage vanity, so he’s going to have to venture out beyond the Common Room before too much longer.

“Your stepbrother stopped me after Charms today,” Blaine tells him as soon as he gets back into the dorm. Wes is there, too, and his brow furrows at this bit of news. “He says, and I quote: ‘tell Finn to quit being such a guy and send his mother an owl.’” Blaine grins at him. “You’ve got a Slytherin prompting you to be a good son, Hudson, there’s something wrong with this picture.”

Finn shoots him a glare over his Herbology text. “Kurt’s not that bad,” he says defensively, and hunches his shoulders. “It’s just that he thinks he’s my mom sometimes, and I’ve already got one of those.”

Blaine’s eyebrows creep upwards at that. “Slytherins have maternal instincts?” he asks, incredulous.

“Kurt does,” Finn sighs. “It’s kind of weird, since he’s younger than me and... you know, shorter than me. But he has a bad habit of reminding me when it’s my turn to do the dishes.” Finn looks affronted. “I keep telling him I’d remember better if we were allowed to use magic.”

Blaine and Wes are both staring at Finn now, equally perplexed. “He does chores?” Wes asks carefully. “Voluntarily?”

Finn frowns. “Yes?” He sounds uncertain. “We have to take turns. Except for with laundry, Kurt won’t let me touch his dress robes. He’s picky about starching spells or bleaching charms or -- something, I forget.” Finn rolls his shoulders in an approximation of a shrug. “Don’t ask, man, Kurt’s picky about lots of stuff.”

“He’s a Slytherin, of course he is,” Wes mutters, but Blaine is too busy picturing Kurt Hummel up to his elbows in laundry detergent, his sleeves rolled up and that usually perfect hair falling across his forehead. He blinks, surprised by just how attractive a mental image that is, and shoots Finn a disturbed look.

“Yeah, right -- tell us another one, Finn,” Blaine says dryly, his face hot as he busies himself with putting away his schoolbooks.

---

It’s not that Blaine’s roommates don’t already know that he’s gay -- it’s just that it’s never really been an issue. By the time Blaine admitted he liked other boys, they were third years and had already been sharing a room far too long for anyone to voice any complaints. Sam and Wes had been pretty cool with the announcement, and David swore he’d known all along, but Finn had been a little weird about it at first -- which makes Blaine wonder a little, since Kurt is a lot more obvious about his orientation.

There’s no question in his mind that Kurt Hummel is gay. The boy accessorizes meticulously, his voice is as high and clear as a bell, and Blaine is pretty sure he crosses his legs and perches on his chair primly in class, in spite of the camouflaging drape of school robes. He’d gotten all the confirmation he needed from Finn just after the start of the school year, when he walked into the dormitory to hear the taller boy complaining about Sam’s unhealthy fixation on Muggle science-fiction films, and he went so far as to equate it with his stepbrother’s obsession with Wizarding Vogue.

“Hey, don’t hate,” Blaine had said mildly. “The August issue was fabulous.”

Finn doesn’t tease Sam about Avatar anymore, after that.

Still, Blaine’s found himself watching Kurt more after passing along his message to Finn, despite the fact that he knows it’s a really, really bad idea. He’s trying to reconcile the normal, teenage boy image Finn painted with the carefully coiffed, impeccably dressed Slytherin boy he sees in class, but the bored expression Kurt habitually wears is making it difficult.

Blaine does notice something else, though -- Kurt doesn’t seem to get along with his own Housemates much better than he does anyone outside of Slytherin. Puckerman and Lopez are equal-opportunity insult machines, and Kurt tends to fire back at them with just as much venom, even if his retorts are more sly witticisms than actual verbal daggers. He and Berry are ridiculously competitive, each trying to outdo the other in class, and on more than one occasion Blaine can’t help but wonder if they’d get along much better if they weren’t so much alike. (The idea of Kurt Hummel and Rachel Berry joining forces for anything is kind of frightening and awe-inspiring at the same time, though, so he tries not to think about it.)

Kurt and Karofsky, however, completely hate each other.

Karofsky is an absolute Beater of a boy, tall and broad and barrel-chested, and he knows how to use his size to intimidate. The older Gryffindors always make a point of warning the first year students about Karofsky and his buddy Azimio on the first day -- stay out of their way if you can help it, unless you want to get jinxed in the corridors without warning. Azimio and Kurt don’t much like one another, either, but there’s something particularly vicious about the way Karofsky looks at Kurt.

Blaine isn’t sure what the story is behind that particular bit of animosity, but the first time he hears a bang and sees Kurt on the floor in the Charms corridor, cradling one shoulder with a pained grimace, Karofsky's the first person he looks for as a potential culprit.

---

He stops by the hospital wing later that afternoon with a flimsy excuse, and Kurt’s just leaving.

“You okay?” Blaine asks, and freezes as he realized that the words actually left his mouth, despite his better judgment.

Kurt glances up at him, his eyes shuttering. “Just caught a stray jinx in the halls, nothing serious,” he mutters. “You can tell Finn to relax, he didn’t have to send you to check up on me.”

Blaine doesn’t bother to correct him -- Finn could have just as easily come down himself, after all -- but he can’t quite leave it alone, either.

"Karofsky's aim sucks, anyway," he says, and Kurt stiffens immediately. It’s all the confirmation Blaine needs about the source of the jinx, and he’s pretty certain it wasn’t an accident, either.

“He couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, much less a first year,” Kurt answers, after a very slight hesitation. “The little rug rats are tiny, after all.”

Blaine’s not buying it, but he lets it slide. “I’ll let Finn know you’re alive, at least,” he promises, and beats a hasty retreat before he says something else incriminating.

---

Blaine manages to avoid getting caught up in watching Kurt again, until the next Quidditch match. It’s Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff, and he can’t help but notice the jaunty angle of Kurt’s green-and-silver scarf as he watches the match play out in the skies over the pitch. He’s so distracted by the pale line of Kurt’s throat vanishing into the wool that it takes him a moment to realize -- he’s sitting with a Hufflepuff.

Mercedes Jones has her arm threaded companionably through Kurt’s, her own scarf decidedly less pristine than his. Blaine leans forward a bit in spite of himself, and mutters an amplification charm under his breath.

“--Really need to call me before you dress yourself,” Kurt is saying with a sniff, and shoots a baleful look at Mercedes’ scarf. “You look like a deranged bumblebee.”

“Blame the house colors,” Mercedes answers with a roll of her eyes. “Not all of us get to work with colors that compliment our skin tones like you do.”

“Silver is universally flattering,” Kurt answers smugly. “And I can rock most shades of green, that’s very true.”

“You’d have been screwed if you’d gone to Gryffindor,” Mercedes tells him. “It’s a good thing the Hat let you choose.”

“I’d have made it work,” Kurt sniffs. “But red does tend to wash me out, so I’ll consider that a bullet dodged.”

Blaine releases the spell in shock, his eyes glazed. He doesn’t manage to concentrate on the match again after that, despite being an avid Quidditch fan, so damned if he could say who eventually won.

---

Blaine mentions Mercedes to Finn later that night, and is surprised when the taller boy grins at him.

“Did she have to hex any of her Housemates? They tend to give her a hard time when she sits with Kurt, especially when they’re playing Slytherin,” Finn observes. “Those two have been joined at the hip since they were really young, though, and Hufflepuffs are loyal.”

“None of the Slytherins have a problem with it?” Blaine asks, incredulous. Slytherins were even more fanatically exclusive than the rest of the Houses combined, and Hufflepuff was considered to be almost as bad as Gryffindor, in their eyes.

“I think Kurt had to throw around a few nasty little hexes of his own before they quit giving him hell about it,” Finn says with a shrug. “He's kind of scary when he's pissed,” he adds earnestly.

Blaine can't ask about how Kurt ended up in Slytherin, though, because it would be obvious that he was eavesdropping. Besides, that was long before Kurt and Finn's parents had hooked up, chances were Finn wouldn't know about it, anyway.

Sorting aside, though, Kurt Hummel is a Slytherin with a Gryffindor for a stepbrother and a Hufflepuff for a best friend, and he actually acknowledges both of them in public.

Curiouser and curiouser.

---

When it comes right down to it, if Blaine had managed to rein in his compulsive study of Kurt, maybe he could have avoided drawing Karofsky's attention himself. He just had a little trouble focusing when Kurt was nearby, and that meant he sometimes forgot to be fully aware of his surroundings.

Kurt is laughing at something Rachel Berry said to him as they left Transfiguration -- actually laughing, not the smug, sarcastic little chuckles he usually uses around Berry -- and it’s distracting enough that Blaine actually turns toward the sound before he catches himself.

Karofsky catches it, though.

“Looks like Hummel has an admirer,” Karofsky jeers, jostling closer to Blaine. “And a Gryffindor -- hope you're not holding your breath for St. Hummel to go slumming anytime soon,” he mocks.

Blaine looks up at him -- way up, alas, he really hates being so short -- and schools his expression into mild interest. “I'm not allowed to wonder what the joke was?” he asks. “Most Slytherins don't have a sense of humor, call me curious.”

Karofsky towers over him, and Blaine spares a moment to wonder exactly when he'd completely lost his mind. Intelligent, sane people didn't bait Karofsky -- but then again, he was a Gryffindor, not a Ravenclaw, so maybe it was inevitable.

“Mouthy little fag, aren't you?” Karofsky growls.

“Not particularly mouthy, usually,” Blaine notes. “But I'll cop to the rest of it.” He lifts an eyebrow at Karofsky, and figures he may as well sign his own death warrant with a flourish. “Why -- jealous?”

Karofsky turns purple at that, and Blaine doesn’t even notice that he's pulled his wand until it’s leveled at his forehead, and by that point it’s too late to do anything except cross his eyes stupidly in an attempt to focus on the smoothly rounded end of the length of wood--

There’s a flash of light, so bright Blaine sees stars, and Karofsky yelps in pain and fury. Blaine blinks rapidly, trying to focus through watering eyes, and feels someone seize his arms and propel him forcibly away from Karofsky's howls. He vaguely hears Kurt's voice, high and cold as he tears into the bigger Slytherin boy -- something about Professor Sylvester expelling him if he’s stupid enough to hex another student at point-blank range -- but before Blaine can protest, he'd been bundled out of the corridor.

He doesn't manage to clear his head enough to recognize Finn's hands steering him until they've neared the Fat Lady's portrait, and Blaine digs in his heels.

“What the hell was that?” Blaine asks, bewildered.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Finn says. “You just mouthed off to Karofsky -- you're either stupidly brave, even for a Gryffindor, or you're just insane.”

Blaine shakes his head quickly. “Momentarily lapse of sanity, won't happen again,” he assures Finn. “No, I meant the—“ He pantomimes an explosion with his hands, fingers bursting outward to indicate whatever had temporarily blinded him.

“Oh -- Kurt Disarmed him,” Finn answers, his brow furrowing. “I think he did, at least -- I didn't recognize the spell, and Expelliarmus isn't usually that, ah, vicious.” His frown deepens. “You're really lucky Kurt's got awesome aim, man, he could have hexed off your face, it was that close.”

Blaine stiffens suddenly, and blinks up at Finn in alarm. “Your stepbrother's gay, right?” he demands.

“Uh, yeah,” Finn answers. “Pretty sure that's not a secret.”

Blaine groans. “Karofsky just tried to hex me in the middle of the hallway for being a 'mouthy little fag', Finn. What exactly do you think he's likely to do to your brother for stopping him?”

Finn opens his mouth in surprise, and closes it as alarm creeps into his eyes. “But Kurt's a Slytherin,” he protests.

“So? Karofsky's jinxed him in the corridors before,” Blaine says. “Wouldn't be the first time he's sent Hummel to the Hospital Wing.”

Finn looks horrified, but he doesn't stop to ask how Blaine knows all of this, at least. Instead, he turns on his heel, marching back the way they'd come.

“Go back to the common room,” Finn mutters when Blaine hurries to catch up with him. Blaine just shoots him a disbelieving look, and lengthens his stride to keep up with the taller boy.

Their assistance isn’t needed, though, as they discover when the reach the Transfiguration corridor -- Professor Holiday already has the matter well in hand, and Blaine and Finn arrive just in time to hear her handing out detentions to Kurt and Karofsky. Blaine has to bite back a protest at that; the only reason Kurt had been tossing around spells in the hallway was to keep Karofsky from cursing Blaine into next week, but the fact remains that Kurt had cast the spell, so arguing the point won’t change the verdict.

At least they’ve been given separate detentions -- and Professor Holiday is notoriously lenient, so it could have been much worse. Blaine bites his lip as Karofsky stalks off, and Kurt just sniffs derisively as he turns to leave. He brushes past Finn without a backward glance, supremely unconcerned by his stepbrother’s dismay -- so Blaine is understandably startled when Kurt’s eyes lock briefly with his own.

It’s just the briefest of looks, barely more than a clash of glances, but Blaine realizes that he’s holding his breath, even as Kurt sweeps past and continues on to his next class, head held high.

Blaine is so, so screwed.

---

It isn’t hard to get past Professor Holiday. Of all the teachers, she’s the most half-hearted in her punishments, and Blaine’s always had a knack for talking his way through most situations. When he stops by her classroom to ask about the last Numerology lesson a few days later, it’s carefully timed -- Kurt is already installed at one of the low tables, organizing scrying stones for his detention.

After a few minutes of Blaine’s very best imitation of sincere interest, Professor Holiday excuses herself to go retrieve a few books from her office for him to borrow. She shoots him a sly wink as she leaves, though, so Blaine’s sense of accomplishment is dampened.

There’s a long moment of silence after the door closes behind her, and Blaine watches Kurt separate the gemstones from common river rocks, organizing by cut and color.

“I don’t suppose you’re actually here about single-digit summations?” Kurt drawls without looking up.

Blaine grins slightly. “Can’t blame me for trying,” he shrugs. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you, the other day. For the assist.”

Kurt looks up at that, his expression disdainful. "Karofsky's a Neanderthal and a bully," he scoffs. “I question your intelligence for baiting him, but he’s going to get himself expelled if he keeps making tragically unfortunate decisions like that.”

Blaine lifts one eyebrow. “I fail to see how this would be a bad thing,” he answered. “And I wouldn’t think you’d have a problem with it, either.”

To his surprise, Kurt’s eyes drop at that, and he’s suddenly very interested in the pile of scrying stones in front of him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he mutters.

“Funny, since you seem to end up on the wrong end of his jinxes more often than not,” Blaine says mildly. “I mean, I know he’s a Slytherin and all, but hexing his own Housemates is just mean.”

Kurt flushes, and he glances up mutinously. “He’s an ass, but he’s got his reasons for being an ass,” he counters. “And we aren’t all sociopathic Dark Wizards-in-training just because we’re in Slytherin, you know.”

“I’ll take your word for it, on Karofsky,” Blaine concedes. He crosses his arms over his chest and leans back against one of the tables, watching Kurt intently. “But you’ve got to admit that Slytherin has a certain... reputation.”

Kurt snorts at that, and arches one delicate eyebrow. “Sly, cunning, morally reprehensible? Sure, because being ambitious automatically makes us evil,” he scoffs. “Most of us just want to make something of ourselves, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

“Is that why you chose Slytherin?” It’s out of Blaine’s mouth before he can stop himself, and he can’t take it back even if he wanted to.

Kurt stares at him for a moment, frowning slightly. “I chose Slytherin because I refuse to be a nobody,” he finally answers. “Slytherin gives me the best shot at avoiding obscurity.” He gives Blaine a pointed look. “Why are you in Gryffindor?”

Blaine shrugs. “Courage,” he answers somberly, and that’s the only explanation he can give. He doesn’t really feel particularly brave most of the time, after all, but he wants to be -- and it occurs to him if he can be half as strong as the boy sitting in front of him, he’ll be a credit to his House.

He shakes himself slightly, and gives Kurt a sheepish smile. “Are you going to teach me that hex you used on Karofsky, then?” he asks, his voice light.

Kurt laughs -- it’s fascinating to see, his mouth wide and appreciative as he grins back unabashedly -- and goes back to sorting stones. “Depends on what’s in it for me,” he answers, and shoots Blaine an arch look that could almost -- almost -- be called flirtatious. He dumps another box of scrying stones out on the table, and nudges one of the other chairs back from the table with one foot. “Make yourself useful, and I’ll think about it.”

---

It’s really almost impossible not to notice Kurt Hummel, when it comes right down to it. And, Blaine is coming to realize, that’s the entire point.

---

Highest rating preferred: R
Prompt(s) used: 2) Harry Potter crossover, where Kurt is Slytherin and Blaine is a Gryffindor, the latter helping the former realizing he has a heart of gold (Kurt got sorted into Slytherin because that's what he “chose” but is kind of an in-between). House rivalry and so is given.  

FIC: Coda

spazzula — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:16:00 GMT

I've been obsessing over this for long enough. It's not going to get any better than this, not at my hands, so I may as well go ahead and post it, *lol*

Title: Coda
Rating: PG
Spoilers: through 2.10 ('A Very Glee Christmas')
Characters: Kurt, Mercedes, Blaine, Rachel
Word Count: 1,423
Summary: If both parties had actually asked him to come, independently of each other, it wasn't Kurt being overeager or creepy or pushy, so Finn could just mind his own business. [character study for Kurt, this time]
Notes: Companion piece to 'Reprise', from Kurt's POV; this will make MUCH more sense if you've read that first. I debated posting this, since Christmas is long past, but figured I could use the practice with Kurt's voice. Again, thanks to chasingkerouac and flyingcarpet for beta-reading and general support, :)

Technically, Blaine invited him first.

Granted, the invitation was sort of tossed in without much real thought, squeezed in between amusement and frustration at having to deal with Rachel as his duet partner. Blaine's texts were getting increasingly more alarmed, and Kurt couldn't quite help but find it highly entertaining that Blaine was losing his aura of calm control because of Rachel Freaking Berry, even if she had that effect on nearly everyone.

She carries around sheets of star stickers. did you know this? very disturbing. --Blaine

Isn't finn your step-brother? i sense an unhealthy obsession. --Blaine

Really, how do you shut her up? there's got to be a way. --Blaine

Oh my god, how fast can you get here with rope and a pair of scissors? --Blaine

Nix the scissors. have decided not to cut all her hair off after all. pixie cut wouldn't suit her. --Blaine

But you're coming for one of the shows, right? with rope and a gag, just in case? --Blaine

To Rachel's credit, she extended her own invitation shortly afterward, via email -- but Kurt wasn't sure how to take it, since Rachel couldn't seem to decide on an approach: demand his attendance like the diva she was, or wheedle him into providing a little moral support in her time of need.

( "Don't come on the first performance, obviously, we'll still be working out the kinks. Come to the 9:00 show on the second night, by then I'll have a better idea if this boy is anywhere NEAR good enough. And maybe you should bring someone else along, too? I mean, it's a long drive, and I'd hate for you to be bored until we take the stage..." )

If Kurt hadn't already been tempted to make the drive out to Kings Island after helping Blaine rehearse, there was no way he'd be able to pass this up -- so he called in Mercedes as back-up (and wingman, just in case Rachel needed distracting and/or cutting), and convinced his dad to extend his curfew by two hours so they could try to catch Blaine and Rachel after the show.

And if both parties had actually asked him to come, independently of each other, it wasn't Kurt being overeager or creepy or pushy, so Finn could just mind his own business.

***

"Don't hate on the hat," Mercedes told him stoutly as they took their seats, and she tugged the garishly sequined Santa hat down rakishly. "'Tis the season, you know -- besides, Santa's not really a Christian thing, you can’t say I’m trying to convert you just by wearing a hat."

"The secularization and commercialization of your sacred holiday really doesn't bother you, does it?" Kurt deadpanned, though not without affection.

"Keep talking, Hummel," Mercedes scoffed. "I've got your present in the car for later, don't think I won't find a Toys For Tots bin if you keep pushing it. I bet there's tons of Tots who'd appreciate Marc Jacobs."

"Your threats are hollow, but far be it for me to rain on your holiday cheer," Kurt smiled. "Did it have to be sequined?"

"Yes," Mercedes grinned. "And you secretly think it's fabulous, don't even pretend."

"It's something," Kurt said dubiously, and tugged his scarf straight as the house lights dimmed for the start of the performances.

***

If he hadn't known ahead of time that Rachel was talented, watching her and Blaine might've been a bit depressing for Kurt. They played off each other beautifully, and it was hard to believe they'd only met less than a week before. Still, there were little things that Kurt knew to look for -- Rachel rocking back on her heels in an effort not to turn the tables and chase Blaine instead, or Blaine not quite leaning in to Rachel as close as he could near the end of the song. Kurt wasn’t certain, but he thought he recognized parts of the choreography, as if it mirrored what he'd done with Blaine in the Dalton common room, and he couldn't help but feel a little smug about that. Watching Blaine perform was always a pleasure, but now Kurt knew that was nothing compared to singing with him. If Kurt briefly wished he were up there in Rachel's place, flirting blatantly with Blaine in public -- well, no one could really blame him.

Besides, he and Blaine were friends, and Kurt wasn't in any hurry to torpedo that particular friendship like he had with Finn. Finn might be his stepbrother now, and it had all worked out for the best -- but Blaine was important, and Kurt couldn't afford to mess this up.

***

Kurt and Mercedes found the stage door without too much trouble after the show ended, and they didn't have long to wait before performers and stagehands started trickling out. Rachel and Blaine emerged together, and Kurt couldn't help but smirk a little at catching Blaine out of uniform, even with Dalton miles away and on holiday.

He didn't get a chance to say anything about the snug turtleneck in a particularly fetching shade of dark green, though, because Rachel skipped ahead, hips swaying as she broke into song -- and Kurt grinned as he recognized the familiar lyrics he'd just heard her belt out onstage not an hour before. He picked up the song without missing a beat, just as he knew Rachel was expecting, and met her drama for drama with a twirl and a dip that made her laugh, and had Mercedes rolling her eyes at them and grinning.

"You survived being onstage with Rachel Berry, rich boy, Kurt Hummel ought to be a piece of cake, now," Mercedes said. Kurt pulled Rachel upright and looked up to see Blaine smiling at him in amusement, Mercedes' compliments settling around his shoulders effortlessly. Kurt was getting pretty good at managing the jittery feeling in the pit of his stomach when Blaine smiled at him, but that didn't keep the butterflies from swarming, anyway.

"If I'd realized Rachel was your partner, I'd have armed you with duct tape and the original cast recording of Funny Girl," he said instead. Because rope wouldn't have done a bit of good when Rachel really got on a roll, and Kurt knew from prior experience that duct tape suited her so much better -- but Blaine didn't know that, not yet.

He was too busy grinning at Blaine to voice any objections to Mercedes' suggestion of a late dinner -- not that he would, but she didn't have to add that little dig about his curfew. Still, he couldn't suppress a flash of surprise when Rachel pulled away to latch onto Mercedes instead, leaving Kurt and Blaine to follow behind. She shot Blaine an unreadable look over her shoulder, and Kurt shook his head slightly at Mercedes' matching 'please-god-get-her-off-me' expression.

If it gave him a few minutes to talk to Blaine without an audience, Kurt was going to feed her to the fame monster gladly.

"I'm totally going to steal that spin-and-dip move for tomorrow night, you know," Blaine announced, and Kurt had to glance over at him to see if he was serious.

"You have my blessing," he answered, willing himself not to flush. "You'll probably pull it off better, anyway. I don't know what you were so worried about."

Blaine's laughter punched straight through to his gut, and Kurt cursed the fluttering in his stomach as the other boy nudged him with one shoulder -- he really had to stop doing that, it was hell on Kurt's nerves. "I was right, you know," Blaine murmured, his voice low enough to give Kurt a pleasant little jolt. "You're way better than that girl."

Kurt suppressed a shiver, and for the first time in recent memory he hated his fair complexion as the color rose higher in his cheeks. "If you have any sense at all, you won't let Rachel hear you say that," he countered.

Kurt counted it a personal victory that his tone was appropriately appalled, and that he didn't completely embarrass himself with a goofy, besotted grin when Blaine laughed loudly enough to garner suspicious looks from Rachel and Mercedes. The corner of his mouth quirked slightly, though, and he lifted one innocent eyebrow at both of the girls -- neither of them bought it, he suspected, but it was the principle of the thing.

He'd pull off this whole friendship thing yet, even if it killed him. 

***
END

FIC: Reprise

spazzula — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:23:57 GMT

Title: Reprise
Rating: PG
Spoilers: through 2.10 ('A Very Glee Christmas')
Warnings: none
Word Count: 2,392
Summary: Blaine honestly hadn't expected to recognize his duet partner when he arrived at Kings Island for their first rehearsal -- and he really hadn't expected her to recognize him.
Notes: Not my idea, originally, but it took hold and wouldn't let go until I did something with it. Many thanks to flyingcarpet and chasingkerouac for beta-reading and putting up with my squeeing on a regular basis, :)
ETA: companion piece, 'Coda', from Kurt's POV.

---

Blaine honestly hadn't expected to recognize his duet partner when he arrived at Kings Island for their first rehearsal -- and he really hadn't expected her to recognize him.

"You're from the Warblers," the slight brunette pronounced without even saying hello first. She folded her arms over her chest, eyes narrowing at him slightly. "You sang lead on 'Hey Soul Sister' at Sectionals -- Blaine something-or-other. Your voice is very good, but we're going to have to work on your choreography."

Blaine just blinked at her, taking a long moment to place the stubborn set of her jaw. "You're from McKinley," he said slowly. "The girl Kurt was talking to before we went on. It's... Rachel, isn't it?"

"Rachel Berry. I'm New Direction's star soloist," she corrected pointedly, her eyes narrowing even more. She stuck out her hand, still eyeing him. "You're very talented. I would know -- I'm very talented, too."

"Right," Blaine answered, his eyebrows shooting up as he shook her hand. "Modest, too, I see."

Rachel waved one hand dismissively, and Blaine spared a moment to wonder if she practiced that in the mirror. "Just realistic about my own prodigious talent," she said airily. "False modesty isn't a virtue, I assure you." She tilted her head at him, her expression speculative. "You wouldn't be here if you couldn't carry a tune, at least, but we're going to have to do something about your hopping around the stage like the Energizer Bunny."

"Hopping?" Blaine echoed, affronted.

"Granted, the effect was quite entertaining at Sectionals, but you won't have an entire ensemble of swaying a cappella singers in identical uniforms backing you up, so we should probably go through the entire song and work out something a little more... organic," Rachel continued, oblivious to his expression. "We can break it down verse by verse -- you have studied the lyrics, I hope?"

"I know the lyrics," Blaine answered, and gave up feeling insulted in favor of amused. "I actually had Kurt help me rehearse before he left for break, so you don't have to worry about me forgetting my lines."

Rachel brightened at that. "Oh, if you had Kurt helping you, you'll be all right, then," she sighed. She turned swiftly, linking her arm through his and pulling him toward the practice stage. "Kurt doesn't have my vocal tone or my overwhelming stage presence, but he's a more than competent performer."

Blaine let himself be dragged along, shaking his head slightly. "I'll tell him you said so," he murmured dryly.

***

It didn't take long for Blaine to realize that Rachel Berry was a lot of things -- self-centered, obnoxious, overbearing -- but most of all, she was driven. And despite his misgivings, she really was very talented.

Granted, he was still trying to figure out how to convince her that she shouldn't be chasing him around the stage -- it was a little disconcerting, especially when she got that single-minded glint in her eyes, and it didn't fit the song at all -- but she had an excellent voice, and knew how to use it.

Still, he stood by his earlier assessment -- Kurt was better. And granted, that was probably because Kurt wasn't a girl, and there was only so much chemistry Blaine could manufacture with Rachel, no matter how talented she was.

"If you'd quit scrunching your eyes closed and making pained faces, this would be a lot less awkward," Blaine huffed, pushing his hair back off his forehead.

"It's called emoting," Rachel countered. She looked affronted. "And you make goofy faces, yourself, don't pretend otherwise."

"It's called having a little fun with it," Blaine fired back. Honestly, he was starting to think that Rachel would try the patience of a saint, considering how badly she was testing his own vaunted control. "And you've got to stop chasing me, it's supposed to be the other way around -- the whole thing's going to look weird if you're doing the chasing."

"Oh, because a girl can't chase a boy?" Rachel sniffed.

"No, because of what you're singing," Blaine said, and threw up his hands. "You're really terrible at being chased, aren't you?"

"Did you ever consider that you’re just bad at chasing?" she retorted. "It's obvious you've got the confidence to perform in public, but you don't seem to know the first thing about playing the role of pursuer."

"Because you're a girl," Blaine blurted out in sheer frustration.

"Of course I'm a girl, what did you think--" Rachel broke off, blinking slightly. "Oh. Oh," she said. "Wait, you're--"

"Not into girls, no," Blaine sighed. "And I'm starting to really appreciate that, for once in my life," he muttered.

Rachel didn't seem to be paying much attention, though, and her eyes narrowed slightly at him. "You said you had Kurt helping you with this?" she asked.

Blaine eyed her warily. "Yes. He's got the range, and the stage presence. Why?"

Rachel just smiled sweetly at him. "No reason."

***

To: Kurt
Out of curiosity, do i 'hop around the stage like the energizer bunny'?

From: Kurt
Only occasionally. It's generally considered charming, though. Why the sudden concern?

To: Kurt
Hmm. is it normal to want to smother her with a pillow when she makes a valid point?

From: Kurt
...Wait, what? Who?

To: Kurt
Rachel berry is my duet partner for bico. not even kidding.

From: Kurt
Ouch. Homicidal fantasies are totally normal. Happens to the best of us.

From: Kurt
Also, you're not nearly as obnoxiously gay as the Energizer Bunny. I mean, really, bright pink fur? Not remotely subtle.

Blaine couldn't help the bark of surprised laughter as he read Kurt’s last text, and the death glare Rachel shot him only made it worse. He closed the text window hastily and dropped his phone back into his coat pocket, before crossing the stage to get back to their rehearsal. Break time over, apparently.

Rachel just watched him with slightly narrowed eyes for a long moment before saying anything, and when she did, it was a tossed off, too-casual, "If Kurt doesn't come to see us perform, I'm going to take it very personally, make sure you tell him that."

***

"Seriously, Rachel, this is never going to work if you don't loosen up and stop trying to choreograph every single step of the song."

"I wouldn't have to if you could convincingly fake chemistry with your duet partner, despite the fact that I happen to have breasts."

"You're really not the most tactful person in the world, are you?"

"Tact is for those with less talent. I'm honest, especially when it comes to performing."

"Right, because faking chemistry is totally honest."

"Don't argue semantics with me. I may not be Kurt, but he and I have a lot more in common than he's willing to admit, so if you have to close your eyes and pretend I'm a five-foot-ten countertenor with ridiculous hair, then so be it."

Blaine just blinked at her, dumbfounded. "What? What does Kurt even have to do with anything?"

***

It took two days of rehearsals to break Rachel of her habit of hijacking the song, and one more to get her to pretend she was coy. By the time they faced their first public performance, Blaine was way more nervous than he'd ever been onstage with the Warblers, and he blamed most of that on the sheer unpredictability of Rachel Berry.

He did not have to pretend she was Kurt to get the right tone in the song. That would be completely unprofessional of him, not to mention potentially damaging to his friendship with Kurt. He might have gone back and adjusted some of the choreography to more closely mirror the impromptu rehearsal at Dalton, but that was just because it was more suited to the song than Rachel's more dramatic onstage theatrics. It had nothing to do with Kurt himself.

And if Blaine chose to conveniently block out his memory of how that rehearsal had ended -- with an awkward laugh and his neck heating at his sheer proximity to Kurt -- that was pure self-preservation.

***

"He made it!" Rachel squealed softly, peering out at the audience from behind the curtain.

Blaine shot her a bemused look, only a little distracted from his own attention to the performances preceding theirs. "Who made it? Boyfriend?" he whispered.

A brief shadow crossed Rachel's expression at that, but she pushed it away impatiently. "No, Kurt -- I was hoping he'd be able to convince Finn to come, but I suppose he's still angry about-- well, angry at me." She refocused her attention on the audience and changed the subject hastily. "But Kurt's here, and he brought Mercedes, too."

"Kurt's here?" Blaine echoed. He abandoned all pretense of watching the other acts and shifted to look over Rachel's shoulder. Sure enough, he spotted Kurt and Mercedes a few rows back in the audience, she sporting a festive, sequined Santa hat, and he with a brightly patterned scarf around his neck and a disapproving look for said Santa hat.

Blaine chuckled under his breath at that. "Yeah, that's Kurt," he murmured dryly. He shook his head at Rachel's questioning look. "I'm really starting to wonder how he's coping with the school uniforms without losing it and wallpapering the senior commons with Vogue covers."

"Accessories," Rachel supplied knowingly. "I bet you anything he's got a whole collection of fashionable-yet-quirky brooches he wears underneath the blazer where no one can see them."

That startled another laugh out of Blaine, and he grinned at her. "Thanks a lot, now I'm going to wonder."

Rachel just gave him another one of those knowing, too-sweet smiles. "You do that. Now, run through the blocking for the last verse again -- we've got to nail the final notes, and I want to make sure you remember to take the lower harmonies."

***

The fact that Blaine knew Kurt was watching was not why they managed to pull off their most convincing performance to date. No, it was probably because Rachel was determined to show her fellow glee-clubbers -- or former fellow glee-clubbers, in Kurt's case -- just how much of a star she really was, even if it meant giving Blaine the reins. Or maybe it was because they had shared that little moment of amusement before taking the stage, effectively wiping away the nerves and tension that had kept them bickering all week.

Or maybe it was just because they were both natural performers, talented and confident and fully committed to giving their best no matter who was watching.

Yeah, totally not because Kurt was watching.

Rachel was flushed and practically vibrating as they left the stage, the applause still ringing in their ears, and Blaine couldn't help but grin back at her. She did remind him a little bit of Kurt, after all, barely contained enthusiasm and raw talent bleeding through the adrenaline rush, so he just laughed when she went up on her toes (thank god she was actually shorter than him) to kiss him lightly on the cheek.

"It's a shame you're gay," she told him brightly. "But remind me to introduce you to my dads sometime, anyway."

***

Kurt and Mercedes were waiting for them when they finished changing back into street clothes and emerged from the stage door. Blaine grinned at Kurt happily, but Rachel broke ranks and rushed ahead, belting out the last few lines of their performance as she sashayed over to Kurt. To Blaine's surprise, Kurt's smile just grew wider, and he picked up the other half of the duet -- Blaine's part -- and caught her hand to turn her in a graceful spin, his voice blending beautifully with Rachel's as they soared into the final harmonies and he finished by dipping her dramatically.

If Blaine had managed to block out that weird little flutter of nerves in his stomach the first time he'd sung that song with Kurt, it was a lot harder to ignore when he had a chance to really watch the other boy perform it -- and to hear him take the traditionally male half of the song really shouldn't have given him goose bumps like that.

Something in his expression must have given him away, because Mercedes wasn't watching Kurt or Rachel -- she was smirking at Blaine, instead. "You survived being onstage with Rachel Berry, rich boy, Kurt Hummel ought to be a piece of cake, now," she chuckled. "You guys were awesome."

"Thanks," Blaine managed, his mouth still inexplicably dry.

Kurt pulled Rachel up into a loose hug, laughing, and lifted an eyebrow at Blaine as he released her. "If I'd realized Rachel was your partner, I'd have armed you with duct tape and the original cast recording of Funny Girl," he said wryly. "At least then you'd have been able to shut her up for a few minutes."

"Streisand usually has that effect, I'm learning," Blaine grinned. "I'll keep it in mind, though -- we've got two more shows tomorrow night before they cut us loose, and I'm getting tired of telling her to dial back on the 'emoting'."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Mercedes snorted. "Are you guys free for the night, at least? We were talking about getting a late dinner before we have to head home to make it by Kurt's curfew."

"We're free until call time tomorrow," Blaine answered, and Rachel nodded happily as she fell into step with Mercedes and started chattering. She spared a moment to cast a significant look over her shoulder at Blaine.

He ignored it, and gestured for Kurt to precede him. "I'm totally going to steal that spin-and-dip move for tomorrow night, you know," he announced as they followed the girls.

"You have my blessing," Kurt answered, and Blaine was almost certain that his cheeks had taken on a slight flush. "You'll probably pull it off better, anyway. I don't know what you were so worried about."

Blaine chuckled, and nudged Kurt playfully with his shoulder, leaning in and dropping his voice. "I was right, you know. You're way better than that girl," he said softly.

Kurt's flush was unmistakable this time. "If you have any sense at all, you won't let Rachel hear you say that."

***
END

Drabbles round-up

spazzula — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 02:49:43 GMT

On account of the fact that I tend to obsessively catalog the fic I post, both here and on Delicious (*shakes fist at having to move bookmarks*): here be the fills I've managed for the kurt_blaine Holiday Fic-Fest -- mostly for my own records. (Ongoing all weekend; we'll see what I manage to get done when I don't have real life interfering, heh.)

(I fail at titles. Also drabbling in general.)

Professional Pride (Prompt, flyingcarpet : "Anything involving Kurt and Blaine attending a McKinley football game. :D")
Preening (Prompt, weyrdchic : "Pavarotti POV, any scenario.")

Glee : Chris Colfer wallpaper

spazzula — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 01:52:17 GMT

...Yeah, this pairing is pretty much eating my brain, *ducks*. This is what happens when I have a Photoshopping mood hit me at midnight.

New wallpaper -- same general style as the earlier Darren Criss wallpaper I posted a couple of weeks ago, but predominantly black instead of white, this time. And, y'know, Chris Colfer instead of Darren.

Possible song spoilers for an upcoming episode. C'mooooooooon February...!

(Once again, it's sized 1280x800 for my laptop desktop, but I have the
Photoshop file and can adjust the proportions accordingly -- just let me
know if you need a different size, and I'll see what I can do!)

Other sizes:
1024x768
1440x900

spazzula — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:24:56 GMT

I discovered when I sat down to make that last wallpaper I posted, that apparently I never got around to installing a bunch of the handwritten fonts I used to use all the time -- I had a ton of them, and it didn't occur to me to try to transfer them when I got Photoshop on my laptop. So I did a sweep of dafont.com and came away with waaaaay more fonts than I could ever use.

...But considering the fact that I'm working on yet another wallpaper, I figured it had to be done, *headdesk*.

Also in the process of figuring out where to shift my Delicious bookmarks, since it looks like that will be vanishing at some point. I've got an import in progress at Diigo, but still no word on whether it's gone through or not; from what I've heard, everyone over at Delicious is jumping ship to other services, so they've got to be flooded with new users. Guess I'm going to be keeping my own bookmarks until I can get something else set up -- I dislike change very much, *hrmphs*

Must make dough for Christmas cookies this afternoon. I will be productive, dammit -- just as soon as I finish playing with my new

spazzula — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:11:32 GMT

(This is mostly chasingkerouac's fault. Ignore me, this is plotless, pretty much just a stream of consciousness character study for a character we haven't learned much about yet, *hides*. Also? I've realized that I haven't written fic in something like three years, so I'm probably way out of practice, gah.)

Title: Unruffled
Rating: PG
Spoilers: through 2.10 ('A Very Glee Christmas')
Warnings: none
Word Count: 1,280
Summary: Blaine is not the type to pine. He doesn't blush and stammer and yearn like a teenage girl, not at all. [character study, through 2.10]

---

Blaine is not the type to pine. He doesn't blush and stammer and yearn like a teenage girl, not at all. He went through that awkward teenage crush stage at his old school, and it only made things epically worse for him in the long run, so he's hardly fitted for a Dalton blazer before he resolves to never put himself in that position again. Dalton is his fresh start, his chance to be the person he wants to be, instead of the resident punching bag and object of scorn he'd been before he ran away -- no, before he transferred.

The person he wants to be is cool. Calm, collected. Unruffled. And he's not going to pull off 'unruffled' if he's constantly blushing and stammering, or if he can't get ahold of himself when faced with a cute boy. It takes work, of course -- confidence doesn't develop overnight, and the one thing he's learned is that the best way to keep the teasing in check is to practically ooze confidence. He practices that amused little half-smile in the mirror until he can do it in his sleep, and trains himself to keep his shoulders back, his head high, even after months of bending under the pressure until he's afraid he might break.

He's finally at the point where he thinks he has himself under control -- eventually, if you fake confidence long enough, you start to believe it, and it gets easier to let everything slide off his back. He's perfectly capable of functioning around any boy he finds attractive, finally, and that more than anything gives him a little perverse sense of glee at his own progress.

So he absolutely, positively, does NOT pine when he meets Kurt.

Kurt amuses him. He's a walking contradiction -- a sarcastic, stylish, smugly superior boy who can't quite hide the shadows of past hurts in his eyes. Blaine doesn't obsess about the color of those eyes, either -- he's more concerned with the fact that Kurt never quite looks people in the eye when he's talking to them, not unless they startle him into making eye contact. It's a sign of nerves, something he can't seem to control, even when he pulls on his thin cloak of biting humor and superiority to hide it. Blaine's barely known him for an hour before he crumbles under the strain of it, and that more than anything is what convinces Blaine to do something. He's only just met Kurt, but he'd bet anything that this is a side of him that no one at his own school ever gets to see, not if Kurt has anything to say about it.

It's not that Blaine doesn't think Kurt is attractive, either -- just because he can control himself doesn't mean he's blind, after all. He flirts with Kurt shamelessly in the senior commons, at any rate, spinning and soft-shoeing through 'Teenage Dream' with the kind of loose freedom he only allows himself when he's performing. It's kind of exhilarating, letting go long enough to see Kurt's eyes light up with surprise and pleasure, and if he shows off a little ('when you look at me'), well, that's hardly the same as making a gibbering idiot of himself in public over a complete stranger.

Blaine's outgrown that phase, anyway.

And then there's Karofsky, and Kurt needs a friend -- someone who understands, who won't judge him when things get so bad he has to leave. It's his safety at stake, after all, not just his peace of mind and his pride, and Blaine gets that better than anyone else could. He ran away, but Kurt removed himself from an unacceptable situation, and there's a difference. Kurt didn't want to leave McKinley -- he had friends there, people he cared about, and if it helps him to have a friend already at Dalton, Blaine is totally okay with that. He's not about to jeopardize his friendship with Kurt, not when he needs it just as much as Kurt does. He loves the Warblers, loves Dalton, but Kurt somehow makes him laugh and cringe and crack stupid jokes that none of his other friends would appreciate, and Blaine has missed that more than he realized.

And just because Blaine thinks it's kind of hilarious when Kurt puts on his bitch-face to deliver some caustic witticism, that doesn't mean they can't be friends. He absolutely doesn't think it's adorable or endearing -- just kind of hilarious.

Settling in is a bit tougher on Kurt than Blaine anticipated, but he has full confidence that Kurt will manage. He survived much worse at McKinley, after all, so learning how to function in a group like the Warblers shouldn't be nearly as traumatic. He just has to learn the group's style, how to work the crowd and insert his opinions without pissing off the upperclassmen. Kurt has an amazing voice, even if Evita isn't really the Warblers' style, and Blaine's sure that he'll adapt without losing that biting humor that makes him Kurt, and if he can develop a layer of polish and tact to go with that fierce intensity Blaine is learning to associate with Kurt, he's going to end up running the Warblers before he's through with them.

Dalton's not so much a cage as a safe haven, after all -- Blaine wasn't kidding about Pavarotti finding his voice again, and he wasn't kidding about Kurt, either. There were hawks out there like Karofsky, after all, and Dalton didn't so much keep Kurt in as keep his enemies out. He's a strong kid, stronger than Blaine, and Blaine admires him for it.

And really, he does have an amazing voice, so it shouldn't really be a surprise when Blaine asks him to help him rehearse for the Kings Island gig. He's got the range, and Blaine knows he's got the stage presence to give him something to work against. He's already sung to Kurt, after all, and it wasn't awkward or weird at all, and if he's going to have to sing with a girl he's never met before, he could really use the practice getting into character.

Only this time it is a little awkward, a little weird -- just for a second, a split second when they're both laughing and sitting a little too close and Blaine glances over and Kurt is smiling at him, and for just a second, he forgets that he's supposed to be playing a character. Because it's too easy, it's too comfortable, singing with Kurt, and he's starting to realize that alone might be something he should worry about.

He covers quickly, of course. This is Kurt, after all, who's become a better friend than Blaine had anticipated, and he's not about to jeopardize that. Blaine doesn't pine, he doesn't waste his time on what ifs and if onlys, not anymore. So he laughs softly, pushing himself to his feet and tossing off a casual compliment as he brushes past Kurt on the way out, nodding politely to Will Schuester as he passes and not thinking to question why Kurt's old glee teacher is wandering around Dalton unescorted.

When Blaine realizes he left his CD player behind, he doesn't bother to go back for it. It'll be there later, and he doesn't want to bother Kurt while Mr. Schuester is here. It has nothing to do with the fact that he's got a nagging feeling that he's no longer completely in control, no longer perfectly steady and composed.

He's had two years to make sure he isn't that boy anymore, and he can't go back to that -- not even for Kurt.