Truth Be Told
Title: Truth Be Told
Summary: 11 boys. 11 secrets, 11 drabbles.
A/N: I saw this template in another fic in another fandom and I’ve had the empty template sitting for awhile on my computer, and I finally filled it in. If it's your template, I seriously apologize for raping and pillaging it like this. 11 spah!verse boys (okay, there’s 13, but the template was for 11 and I couldn’t think of anything for Dorian or Steve) and 11 secrets they hide. I’m not entirely sure it’s canon compliant, but just go with it, okay? The only one I'm not entirely happy about is Wes's. You'll see why when you read it.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Glee, and I don’t own spah!verse.
Fic under the cut
(i)-j i m-b o n d
(ii)-h a r r y-t a k a s h i m a
(iii)-l i a m-v a n-s h r i e k
(iv)-k u r t-h u m m e l
(v)-l e e-d w y r e
(vi)-b e n-g r e e n
(vii)-p r a t i k-k a p o o r
(viii)-d a v i d-h a r d i s o n
(ix)-w e s-h e e l y
(x)-e r i c-l e n n h a r d t
(xi)-b l a i n e-a n d e r s o n
_________________________________
(i)-j i m-b o n d
Are you listening, Jim? You hear it.
Jim Bond doesn't want to listen to Jenny’s sobs across the hall late at night; he wants to hear his sister’s laughter. Jim doesn’t want to listen to Pierce quietly ask Jenny why Jim doesn’t hang out with them anymore; he wants to hear Pierce and Jenny arguing over who really scored that last touchdown. Jim doesn’t want to hear Dad lie; he wants to hear him tell the truth. Jim doesn’t want to listen to someone else tell him goodbye, again; he wants to hear the sound of his family, together. Jenny-Pierce-Sylvia-Mom-Dad, but he knows that won’t ever happen. Can’t ever happen.
Jim doesn’t want to listen to the voices, and so he distances himself under a mask. And slowly, that mask became part of him, until he couldn’t hear anything at all.
Just listen, Jim. Are you listening?
Silence is deafening too…
________________________________________
(ii)-h a r r y-t a k a s h i m a
Just rebel, Harry. Break the rules.
Harry Takashima wants to rebel. That’s what teenagers are supposed to do. So he breaks the dress code (no one cares), cuts classes (he’s still good enough to tutor Pratik), sneaks out to parties (never gets caught) and adopts a fascination that borderlines on obsession (not enough).
But what is there to rebel against, when no one’s ever at home to care?
He resolves that when he’s in college, he’ll forge his own path, and he’ll be the opposite of what his parents want him to be. Music instead of science. Art instead of math. Dreams instead of facts.
And when he has kids, he’ll be everything his parents never were-strict, overbearing and too heavily involved in his (multiple) child(ren)’s life. He’s going to give his children something to rebel against. And then he’s going to let them.
Well, Harry. Wanna start a revolution?
You have no idea…
________________________________________
(iii)-l i a m-v a n-s h r i e k
Help him, Liam. He needs someone.
Liam van Shriek likes holding hands. When he does it with his brothers, it’s to keep them safe. When he does it with the Warblers, it’s in a celebration of victory as they take a bow. When he holds Kurt’s hand, it’s out of comfort. When he holds David’s hand, or Wes’s hand, it’s out of friendship. But when he holds Eric’s hand, it’s different. It’s the only way he really knows to show Eric that he’s not going anywhere, that he’s always going to be Liam and Eric is always going to be Eric, and that nothing will take him away. So he hold’s Eric’s hand and squeezes it so tightly, he can feel the bones protest. But that’s okay, he’s showing Eric he loves him in the only way he knows how.
Just love him, Liam. Just hold his hand and never let go, deal?
Forever and ever and ever…
________________________________________
(iv)-k u r t-h u m m e l
Be proud, Kurt. Just be yourself.
Kurt Hummel hates his name. It’s a constant reminder of the mother who died for him, and a constant reminder that he doesn’t quite fit, that there’s something wrong with him.
Elizabeth Hummel was a strong, beautiful woman, who faced down everything life threw her way, raising Kurt, helping manage a business, fighting for equal rights and all the while managing to make dinner and keep the house clean.
How could Kurt ever live up to that?
He’s just the boy who everyone thinks should be a girl, the boy everyone stares at in horror when he shows up (because how dare he be here?), the boy who doesn’t fit.
There are worse people to be named after, Kurtis Elizabeth. Do you know how proud your mother would be?
You've made it this far…
________________________________________
(v)-l e e-d w y r e
Is this really you, Lee? Because lying is never the answer.
Lee Dwyre is confused. He really doesn't know who to believe anymore in this fucked up fairytale. So, he lies. He’s not in love with Jim (lie, he’s never loved someone so much in his whole life), he’s not upset he’s not on lead in Warblers (how come he’s not good enough?), he doesn’t mind always being pushed to the background.
He lies when Pratik asks if he’s alright. He lies when Harry asks him if he’s okay with staying behind the drum riser. He lies when Jim asks where he got his bruised knuckles. But he’s honestly getting sick of this shade of grey and someday he knows the truth is going to come spilling out and everyone is going to hate him, especially Jim.
But he’s going to lie then too.
What a tangled web we weave, Lee. Will you ever really get over it?
Living happily never after…
________________________________________
(vi)-b e n-g r e e n
This is what you wanted, Ben. No matter what they tell you.
Ben Green always wanted to come live with the father he never knew. He just never expected his father to immediately send him off to boarding school. But that’s okay, he’s in America, and he’ll at least see his father on weekends. But when his father doesn’t even come home, his heart breaks a little and he begins throwing himself into extracurriculars. Warblers, football (soccer, here), chess club, book club, debate, anything to avoid the empty house waiting for him.
Sometimes he wonders why he chose to come here instead of staying in England with his mum, like he’d done for the past sixteen years.
But then there’s the weekends where his father isn’t bogged down with work, where his father becomes Dad, and he gets this amazing feeling in his chest when Dad shows up for a football(soccer) match or a Warbler’s performance and everything falls into place and just fits.
You know the truth, Ben. Doesn't it make it all worth it?
Dreams really do come true…
________________________________________
(vii)-p r a t i k-k a p o o r
Don't listen to them, Pratik. We know you're not stupid.
Pratik Kapoor isn’t stupid. He’s not deaf, either, and he hears the rumors behind his back, the ones that say he’s only still at Dalton because the Warblers need him, that his grades are too low and his mind too slow to keep up with rigorous Dalton academics. He knows people laugh when he gets a D or an F on a test, just like he knows they secretly wonder if he’s retarded.
He’s not, though, it’s just that there are other, more important things than mere facts and theories, but that doesn’t stop it from hurting when people laugh behind his back. He wants to show people that he’s more than just the guitarist from team/blu, that he’s more than just a singer and a musician.
So he studies for hours and hours and hours, in all his free time. He memorizes facts and tables and asks Harry for help when he doesn’t understand. He spends his summers scraping his way through textbooks and study guides and playing the guitar when he can.
And when he graduates high school with a 98% as his overall SAT score, he couldn’t be happier.
You weren't stupid to begin with, Pratik. But doesn't it feel better now that you've proved it?
Brains and talent, have it all…
________________________________________
(viii)-d a v i d-h a r d i s o nTake a chance, David. You won't be disappointed.
David Hardison always knew he was in love with Wes Heely to some degree. But he’s scared that he’d lose his best friend, terrified that Wes would push him away and never return. After all, they’re best friends, guy best friends, and guy best friends don’t fall in love with each other. It might work in the movies, but it never works out in real life. It’s just too cliché to succeed. So when there’s even the slightest chance that Wes might love him, David shoots it down. He can’t ruin a good thing, he can’t ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to him.
He can’t ruin his friendship with Wes, because he can’t let Wes down.
You don't understand, David. Can't you see true love never fails?
Be the prince in shining armor…
________________________________________
(ix)-w e s-h e e l y
Don't judge a book by its cover, Wes. You know better than that.
Wes Heely was always too quick to judge. He wanted to put people in boxes and label them with stereotypes, just so everything would be neat and orderly. But his stereotypes were almost always wrong. When he was five, he’d pegged David as being too mean and too quiet. He’d been wrong. David was as loud and as fun and as nice as Wes himself, and soon, they were inseparable. When Wes’s parents forgot about him, David was there. When something went wrong, he had David to lean on. If he was being honest, David was probably the only reason he ever made it to high school. And to think they’d met during a fight in kindergarten over who got the blue Power Ranger.
But he judged everyone else too.
Blaine was too shy. (not once he came out of his shell)
Harry was too obsessive. (he wasn’t, really)
Pratik was too slow. (Wes had just been plain wrong)
Eric was too freakish. (that was probably his only accurate judgement)
Liam was too kind. (really, that was just wrong)
Kurt was too flamboyant. (it was a part of his charm)
And he realized he wouldn’t trade them for anything, even if he had been wrong when he first met them.
Friends show up in unexpected places, Wes. Isn't it nice to have friends like you have?
No better sense of security then that…
________________________________________
(x)-e r i c-l e n n h a r d t
Oh no, Eric. Why do you feel alone?
Eric Lennhardt grew up in a huge family. Six brothers, his mother, his father, a whole farm complex as his home.
But he always felt alone. His brothers always paired off, and Eric was left behind, the one out. He was the only short one, the only one who preferred to climb rather than race, the only one who preferred to hide in his room during family dinners, all because he knew that no one would want to talk to him anyway.
So he made up nicknames for everyone to push them away.
Harry was Wannabe British.
Wes was Wesley.
David was Irritating Guy.
Blaine was Hobbit.
And Liam?
Liam was his best friend. Liam was his family. Liam was his brother. Liam was the only one who listened to him and made him feel like he belonged. And there's no better nickname for Liam then that.
You found a family, Eric. Doesn't it feel great?
Everyone deserves a family...
________________________________________
(xi)-b l a i n e-a n d e r s o n
It's hard, Blaine. Are you sick of being the middle?
Blaine Anderson never knew where he fit. The middle child, the middle friend, the middle person of the dynamic bookends of David-and-Wes. He’s the one that gets lost in the shuffle of Keiran house, the one that everyone overlooks next to David and Wes’s rambunctious displays. Everyone goes to David or Wes for the laughs. Everyone goes to Harry or Pratik for the music. Everyone goes to Jim for the sex. Everyone goes to Kurt for the fashion. Honestly, Blaine gets a little jealous.
Blaine doesn’t know where he fits in this crazy place called Dalton, and he’s not sure he’ll ever find it, not even as the lead singer of the Warblers. But he doesn’t know how much he’s needed. He’s David and Wes’s balance. He’s Harry’s source of advice. He’s Kurt’s love. He’s the Warbler’s leader. He’s the steady calm in the sea of chaos.
You're so loved, Blaine. Do you even realize how much you're needed?
There always has to be a middle for there to be a beginning and an end…
________________________________________
Summary: 11 boys. 11 secrets, 11 drabbles.
A/N: I saw this template in another fic in another fandom and I’ve had the empty template sitting for awhile on my computer, and I finally filled it in. If it's your template, I seriously apologize for raping and pillaging it like this. 11 spah!verse boys (okay, there’s 13, but the template was for 11 and I couldn’t think of anything for Dorian or Steve) and 11 secrets they hide. I’m not entirely sure it’s canon compliant, but just go with it, okay? The only one I'm not entirely happy about is Wes's. You'll see why when you read it.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Glee, and I don’t own spah!verse.
Fic under the cut
(i)-j i m-b o n d
(ii)-h a r r y-t a k a s h i m a
(iii)-l i a m-v a n-s h r i e k
(iv)-k u r t-h u m m e l
(v)-l e e-d w y r e
(vi)-b e n-g r e e n
(vii)-p r a t i k-k a p o o r
(viii)-d a v i d-h a r d i s o n
(ix)-w e s-h e e l y
(x)-e r i c-l e n n h a r d t
(xi)-b l a i n e-a n d e r s o n
_________________________________
(i)-j i m-b o n d
Are you listening, Jim? You hear it.
Jim Bond doesn't want to listen to Jenny’s sobs across the hall late at night; he wants to hear his sister’s laughter. Jim doesn’t want to listen to Pierce quietly ask Jenny why Jim doesn’t hang out with them anymore; he wants to hear Pierce and Jenny arguing over who really scored that last touchdown. Jim doesn’t want to hear Dad lie; he wants to hear him tell the truth. Jim doesn’t want to listen to someone else tell him goodbye, again; he wants to hear the sound of his family, together. Jenny-Pierce-Sylvia-Mom-Dad, but he knows that won’t ever happen. Can’t ever happen.
Jim doesn’t want to listen to the voices, and so he distances himself under a mask. And slowly, that mask became part of him, until he couldn’t hear anything at all.
Just listen, Jim. Are you listening?
Silence is deafening too…
________________________________________
(ii)-h a r r y-t a k a s h i m a
Just rebel, Harry. Break the rules.
Harry Takashima wants to rebel. That’s what teenagers are supposed to do. So he breaks the dress code (no one cares), cuts classes (he’s still good enough to tutor Pratik), sneaks out to parties (never gets caught) and adopts a fascination that borderlines on obsession (not enough).
But what is there to rebel against, when no one’s ever at home to care?
He resolves that when he’s in college, he’ll forge his own path, and he’ll be the opposite of what his parents want him to be. Music instead of science. Art instead of math. Dreams instead of facts.
And when he has kids, he’ll be everything his parents never were-strict, overbearing and too heavily involved in his (multiple) child(ren)’s life. He’s going to give his children something to rebel against. And then he’s going to let them.
Well, Harry. Wanna start a revolution?
You have no idea…
________________________________________
(iii)-l i a m-v a n-s h r i e k
Help him, Liam. He needs someone.
Liam van Shriek likes holding hands. When he does it with his brothers, it’s to keep them safe. When he does it with the Warblers, it’s in a celebration of victory as they take a bow. When he holds Kurt’s hand, it’s out of comfort. When he holds David’s hand, or Wes’s hand, it’s out of friendship. But when he holds Eric’s hand, it’s different. It’s the only way he really knows to show Eric that he’s not going anywhere, that he’s always going to be Liam and Eric is always going to be Eric, and that nothing will take him away. So he hold’s Eric’s hand and squeezes it so tightly, he can feel the bones protest. But that’s okay, he’s showing Eric he loves him in the only way he knows how.
Just love him, Liam. Just hold his hand and never let go, deal?
Forever and ever and ever…
________________________________________
(iv)-k u r t-h u m m e l
Be proud, Kurt. Just be yourself.
Kurt Hummel hates his name. It’s a constant reminder of the mother who died for him, and a constant reminder that he doesn’t quite fit, that there’s something wrong with him.
Elizabeth Hummel was a strong, beautiful woman, who faced down everything life threw her way, raising Kurt, helping manage a business, fighting for equal rights and all the while managing to make dinner and keep the house clean.
How could Kurt ever live up to that?
He’s just the boy who everyone thinks should be a girl, the boy everyone stares at in horror when he shows up (because how dare he be here?), the boy who doesn’t fit.
There are worse people to be named after, Kurtis Elizabeth. Do you know how proud your mother would be?
You've made it this far…
________________________________________
(v)-l e e-d w y r e
Is this really you, Lee? Because lying is never the answer.
Lee Dwyre is confused. He really doesn't know who to believe anymore in this fucked up fairytale. So, he lies. He’s not in love with Jim (lie, he’s never loved someone so much in his whole life), he’s not upset he’s not on lead in Warblers (how come he’s not good enough?), he doesn’t mind always being pushed to the background.
He lies when Pratik asks if he’s alright. He lies when Harry asks him if he’s okay with staying behind the drum riser. He lies when Jim asks where he got his bruised knuckles. But he’s honestly getting sick of this shade of grey and someday he knows the truth is going to come spilling out and everyone is going to hate him, especially Jim.
But he’s going to lie then too.
What a tangled web we weave, Lee. Will you ever really get over it?
Living happily never after…
________________________________________
(vi)-b e n-g r e e n
This is what you wanted, Ben. No matter what they tell you.
Ben Green always wanted to come live with the father he never knew. He just never expected his father to immediately send him off to boarding school. But that’s okay, he’s in America, and he’ll at least see his father on weekends. But when his father doesn’t even come home, his heart breaks a little and he begins throwing himself into extracurriculars. Warblers, football (soccer, here), chess club, book club, debate, anything to avoid the empty house waiting for him.
Sometimes he wonders why he chose to come here instead of staying in England with his mum, like he’d done for the past sixteen years.
But then there’s the weekends where his father isn’t bogged down with work, where his father becomes Dad, and he gets this amazing feeling in his chest when Dad shows up for a football(soccer) match or a Warbler’s performance and everything falls into place and just fits.
You know the truth, Ben. Doesn't it make it all worth it?
Dreams really do come true…
________________________________________
(vii)-p r a t i k-k a p o o r
Don't listen to them, Pratik. We know you're not stupid.
Pratik Kapoor isn’t stupid. He’s not deaf, either, and he hears the rumors behind his back, the ones that say he’s only still at Dalton because the Warblers need him, that his grades are too low and his mind too slow to keep up with rigorous Dalton academics. He knows people laugh when he gets a D or an F on a test, just like he knows they secretly wonder if he’s retarded.
He’s not, though, it’s just that there are other, more important things than mere facts and theories, but that doesn’t stop it from hurting when people laugh behind his back. He wants to show people that he’s more than just the guitarist from team/blu, that he’s more than just a singer and a musician.
So he studies for hours and hours and hours, in all his free time. He memorizes facts and tables and asks Harry for help when he doesn’t understand. He spends his summers scraping his way through textbooks and study guides and playing the guitar when he can.
And when he graduates high school with a 98% as his overall SAT score, he couldn’t be happier.
You weren't stupid to begin with, Pratik. But doesn't it feel better now that you've proved it?
Brains and talent, have it all…
________________________________________
(viii)-d a v i d-h a r d i s o nTake a chance, David. You won't be disappointed.
David Hardison always knew he was in love with Wes Heely to some degree. But he’s scared that he’d lose his best friend, terrified that Wes would push him away and never return. After all, they’re best friends, guy best friends, and guy best friends don’t fall in love with each other. It might work in the movies, but it never works out in real life. It’s just too cliché to succeed. So when there’s even the slightest chance that Wes might love him, David shoots it down. He can’t ruin a good thing, he can’t ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to him.
He can’t ruin his friendship with Wes, because he can’t let Wes down.
You don't understand, David. Can't you see true love never fails?
Be the prince in shining armor…
________________________________________
(ix)-w e s-h e e l y
Don't judge a book by its cover, Wes. You know better than that.
Wes Heely was always too quick to judge. He wanted to put people in boxes and label them with stereotypes, just so everything would be neat and orderly. But his stereotypes were almost always wrong. When he was five, he’d pegged David as being too mean and too quiet. He’d been wrong. David was as loud and as fun and as nice as Wes himself, and soon, they were inseparable. When Wes’s parents forgot about him, David was there. When something went wrong, he had David to lean on. If he was being honest, David was probably the only reason he ever made it to high school. And to think they’d met during a fight in kindergarten over who got the blue Power Ranger.
But he judged everyone else too.
Blaine was too shy. (not once he came out of his shell)
Harry was too obsessive. (he wasn’t, really)
Pratik was too slow. (Wes had just been plain wrong)
Eric was too freakish. (that was probably his only accurate judgement)
Liam was too kind. (really, that was just wrong)
Kurt was too flamboyant. (it was a part of his charm)
And he realized he wouldn’t trade them for anything, even if he had been wrong when he first met them.
Friends show up in unexpected places, Wes. Isn't it nice to have friends like you have?
No better sense of security then that…
________________________________________
(x)-e r i c-l e n n h a r d t
Oh no, Eric. Why do you feel alone?
Eric Lennhardt grew up in a huge family. Six brothers, his mother, his father, a whole farm complex as his home.
But he always felt alone. His brothers always paired off, and Eric was left behind, the one out. He was the only short one, the only one who preferred to climb rather than race, the only one who preferred to hide in his room during family dinners, all because he knew that no one would want to talk to him anyway.
So he made up nicknames for everyone to push them away.
Harry was Wannabe British.
Wes was Wesley.
David was Irritating Guy.
Blaine was Hobbit.
And Liam?
Liam was his best friend. Liam was his family. Liam was his brother. Liam was the only one who listened to him and made him feel like he belonged. And there's no better nickname for Liam then that.
You found a family, Eric. Doesn't it feel great?
Everyone deserves a family...
________________________________________
(xi)-b l a i n e-a n d e r s o n
It's hard, Blaine. Are you sick of being the middle?
Blaine Anderson never knew where he fit. The middle child, the middle friend, the middle person of the dynamic bookends of David-and-Wes. He’s the one that gets lost in the shuffle of Keiran house, the one that everyone overlooks next to David and Wes’s rambunctious displays. Everyone goes to David or Wes for the laughs. Everyone goes to Harry or Pratik for the music. Everyone goes to Jim for the sex. Everyone goes to Kurt for the fashion. Honestly, Blaine gets a little jealous.
Blaine doesn’t know where he fits in this crazy place called Dalton, and he’s not sure he’ll ever find it, not even as the lead singer of the Warblers. But he doesn’t know how much he’s needed. He’s David and Wes’s balance. He’s Harry’s source of advice. He’s Kurt’s love. He’s the Warbler’s leader. He’s the steady calm in the sea of chaos.
You're so loved, Blaine. Do you even realize how much you're needed?
There always has to be a middle for there to be a beginning and an end…
________________________________________