Fic: You Can’t Win
Rating: PG
Fandoms: Veronica Mars and Glee
Characters/Pairings: Veronica, Blaine, Kurt, Logan, OFC, Burt, Carole, Finn, The Warblers, New Directions. Veronica/Logan, Burt/Carole, mentions of Blaine/Rachel, pre Kurt/Blaine
Prompt: Mourning
love_bingo card.
Spoilers: 2.14 Blame it on the Alcohol, None from Veronica Mars
Word Count: 3681
Summary: On the anniversary of their mother’s death Kurt and Veronica celebrate how they always had. Shopping, sugar filled food, the Sound of Music, and a charity karaoke event.
Disclaimer: I do not own Veronica Mars or Glee. I do not claim that I own either of these shows. They are the property of their creators. I’ve only used what I know about both shows for entertainment, to make this verse.
AUTHOR’S NOTE PLEASE READ!! IT’S IMPORTANT!! (Hence this being in capitals and bolded :D)
1. This is the second fic in my Veronica Mars/Glee crossover verse, the first being I’ll Be There For You. You should probably read that one first if you haven’t already as it gives the background to the story. It’s
here.2. If you choose not to read I’ll Be There For You or it’s just been a while since you’ve read it this is what you need to know. Veronica is Kurt’s older sister; she was adopted by Burt and Elizabeth Hummel when she was a kid because they thought they couldn’t have kids. Kurt is essentially the miracle child. Veronica’s back story is very different to the one she has in Veronica Mars. It’s completely AU for her and Logan. Blaine’s a junior.
3. I’ve had this finished for a while I just haven’t been happy with it. But since it’s my birthday today I decided that I would post it and hope for the best :D
4. The songs sung in the fic are
You Can't Win by Kelly Clarkson (but for the purpose of the fic by Veronica Mars),
Crazy little Thing called Love by Michael Buble and
Suddenly by LeAnne Rimes. Feel free to click the links and listen.
5. This series doesn’t have a beta. I’ve tried to get one but have been unsuccessful. If you’d like to help me out either drop me a comment or shot me a PM because I’d really like to have a beta for this verse.
6. Other than that enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment and feel free to leave constructive criticism as long as you are nice about it and won’t bite my head off if I ask for clarification (yes I’ve had that happen before).
The first and only time that Veronica hadn’t been in Ohio for the anniversary of her mother’s death it hadn’t been her fault. The record company had decided that she needed to be in LA that day and no matter how hard she and her agent tried to fight it, they couldn’t win. Not that it mattered. Kurt had called six hours in, crying, because someone had called and thought he was their mother, and she had been on the first plane to Ohio.
When she made it back to LA she demanded a new contract that said she wouldn’t, under any circumstance, work the week that was the anniversary of her mother’s death or she’d leave the company. They had conceded but they weren’t’ happy about it. That made her happy, in a strangely sad way. It meant she could be home for all the traditions that her family had during the time.
The year after Kurt’s meltdown Veronica arrived, with Ally, in Ohio two days before the anniversary. She swag through Danny’s first, to make sure everything was in order before heading to the new house. She had decided on the plane that she would go and see Kurt tomorrow, giving Ally the whole day to be with her grandparents (she hardly knew her new grandmother after all) then the night with Logan after he landed, before spending the next night helping the good folks at Danny’s get ready.
Little did she know, nothing would go according to plan.
The next afternoon she waited patiently, leaning casually against her hired car, whilst prep school boys walked to their cars around her, sipping from her coffee cup. She was only interested in one though. When she saw him she could barely contain her squeal, remembering to place her cup on the roof, before running across the parking lot and into her little brother’s arms. Holding on tight for several seconds she pulled back briefly to ask, “Where’s Blaine?” before pulling him back into a hug.
When they separated properly for a second time Kurt just shrugged, mumbling something about homework before sliding into the front seat. That should have been her first clue. Instead she shrugged it off, put the car in reverse and left Dalton, heading to the closet mall to spend some quality time doing retail therapy. They headed back to Dalton three hours later with far too much sugar and a plan to curl up in the common room on Kurt’s floor and eat everything that they had whilst watching the Sound of Music. For some reason, at this time of year, it always made them cry. For Veronica, it was about watching it on repeat with their mom whilst she was pregnant with Kurt. Her deep connection with the musical had been founded then, and when her mom had asked her to name her newly born brother she hadn’t hesitated in naming him after her favourite Von Trapp sibling. Through the years they had both watched the Sound of Music together and Kurt always joined him. After their mother passed they made it a tradition that the night before the anniversary they would watch it in her honour.
Taking the food from Kurt, she kissed him gently on the cheek and left him to go to his room, change and grab his copy of the DVD whilst she went down to the common room. It wasn’t that far and it wasn’t long before she was entering the room, smiling at Blaine who was sitting alone on the couch.
“Hey Blaine. How did the homework go?” Veronica asked, dropping the bags of food on the table.
“Um... Ok I guess,” Blaine replied, raising his eyebrow, “I got most of it done during study hall. Why are you in town?”
“Oh… Kurt said you were studying and that’s why you didn’t come shopping with us.” Veronica replied slowly, unsure of what else to say.
“Well I haven’t seen him all day,” Blaine replied with a shrug, “We had an argument.”
Veronica nodded in understanding, “Yeah this time of year leaves us both very snappy, Kurt in particular. Whatever it was about I’m sure it will blow over.”
“One of his best friends asked me out after we drunkenly made out.”
Veronica laughed, “And he doesn’t like the fact that one of his guy friends was in the closet when he was stuck being out?”
Blaine shook his head, “It wasn’t a boy. It was Rachel.”
“Rachel Berry?” Veronica asked confused. When Blaine nodded she sighed and sat down, “How drunk were you?”
“Pretty drunk. I’m sure I made a dick of myself in front of his friends.”
Veronica nodded in understanding, “Ah, drunken high school kisses. I only ever had one that was with a guy I wasn’t in a relationship with. It felt like the best kiss I’d ever had at the time. The next day though, when we kissed again, it was like none of that chemistry was there. It taught me a very important lesson. Drunk kisses are intense for a reason, because you’re drunk.”
“So?”
Veronica rolled her eyes, “You don’t listen in Health do you?” Continuing without an answer, “Drinking lowers in your inhibitions. It makes things, like me kissing that boy and you kissing Rachel, feel better than it should.”
“But what if it will always feel that way?”
“It could,” Veronica replied with a shrug, “But what if it doesn’t. I’m not saying don’t go and find out. I just don’t think you should fight with Kurt over it. At the end of the day you’re a kid and you’ll figure it out. You have all the time in the world, well until you graduate anyway.”
Laughing Blaine shot Veronica the first real smile he had all day, “Thank you.”
“It’s what I do,” Veronica replied with a smile, “Does this mean you’re not coming to Danny’s tomorrow night?”
“Who’s Danny and what’s at his place?”
“Ummm... It’s a yearly charity event at a local pub. They put on karaoke and we raise money for cancer research. We do it in mom’s honour. Kurt said he was going to invite his friends here too.”
“And I did,” Kurt replied with a smile as he entered the room, “Blaine just wasn’t at that Warblers meeting and we haven’t really talked in a couple of days so I didn’t get a chance to invite him yet.”
“Fair enough, well you’re invited now.” Veronica replied with a shrug, “I’m assuming you and the other boys are going over together.”
Kurt nodded, placing the DVD he had grabbed down on the table, “Yeah we’ll leave here at five. We’re meeting in the car park. I can give you a lift?”
Blaine nodded, standing quickly before answering, “That would be great. I’ll leave you to your evening.”
Watching him walk away for a second Veronica turned back to Kurt nudging him slightly, hoping to prod him into what she was thinking. Seeing his scowl she smiled innocently before motioning with her head again.
Sighing Kurt turned to Blaine saying, “You can stay you know. We’re just watching the sound of music and eating too much junk food.”
Veronica nodded, smiling at her brother first before turning to Blaine, “Yeah and then we’ll cry our eyes out and eat some more junk. You can save us though.” Tilting her head slightly and changing her eyes she whispered, “Only you have the power.”
Laughing at Veronica’s face Blaine nodded, “I can do that, as long as I’m not intruding.”
“Not at all,” Veronica said with a quick shake of her head, patting the spot he had just left before getting up to place the DVD in, “Not at all.”
Veronica spent the majority of the next day at Danny’s getting everything in order. Surprisingly the event still drew as many people as it once did so the place had to look fantastic. Considering that Kurt had taken charge as the head decorator there was no reason that it wouldn’t though. The first year that they had the event Danny, the owner, had organised it to give the family a night off and part of the proceeds had actually gone to helping them pay medical bills that were racking up. When their mother didn’t last another year Veronica thought for sure that the night would get cancelled but three weeks before the event Danny had called. He said that people still wanted the night, as a way to always remember Elizabeth Hummel and that she was more than welcome to come. Replying that she would be there, she had only missed one year’s event so far and she planned to make up for it tonight.
Turning to clean another table she blinked as a light flashed through the room. Glancing up she glared at Logan, who had Allyson in his arms with a camera in her hands.
“Doesn’t mommy look pretty, even though she’s cleaning tables?”
Ally gave a vigorous nod of her head before saying, “Mommy always looks pretty.”
“For that, I think you and I should go get milkshakes before the sound check and leave daddy to finish the tables.”
“Yay!”
Logan shook his head, “Why are you the fun parent? You spend more time with her.”
“That’s why I’m the fun parent.” Veronica replied with a shrug, “Maybe you take her next time you go to Italy for a film and then you’ll be the fun parent.”
“Yeah!! I wanna go!!”
“We’ll see,” Logan replied with a sigh before waving at Danny, “Hey Danny. My wife’s not bugging you too much is she?”
“You know she’s not,” Danny argued back.
Veronica smiled before taking Ally out of Logan’s arms and placing her on the floor. “Go and say hello to Uncle Danny and then we’ll go.”
“Ok.”
Standing she let Logan pull her into his arms. Sighing she rested her head on his chest, “You know I was thinking of that first Danny’s gathering all those years ago. It’s insane that it has been seven years.”
Veronica nodded, “Yeah. It was the first time you met my dad and Kurt too.”
“I thought your dad was going to kill me with his shot gun.”
Veronica scoffed, “Don’t be silly. Dad only owns a rifle.”
“Yeah cause that makes me feel better.”
“Just be glad you married me and shut up,” Veronica replied with a grin before placing her head on his other shoulder. “I missed you while you were away.”
“I missed you too.” Logan sighed, kissing her head before whispering, “Do you think our life will always be this crazy.”
“I hope not but until one of us wants to give up our job there’s always going to be a level of crazy.”
“What if I wanted another child? Would you be ok with that?”
“Are you planning to carry it for nine months and giving birth?”
“No but I’d plan to help you raise it.”
Pulling back Veronica looked in his eyes, trying to figure out what was going on. “What do you mean?” she breathed, not allowing her voice to get louder.
“It doesn’t matter at the moment. We’ll talk about it when we’re back in LA. For now go grab the munchkin and get milkshakes.”
Veronica smiled, letting Logan drop the subject for the moment, “You want a chocolate one?” she asked. When he nodded she kissed him lightly once before yelling over her shoulder, “Do you want a milkshake Danny?”
“Yes please. Vanilla.”
“Ok, come on kiddo, let’s go before these two rope us into work.”
Ally nodded twice before running to the door quickly. Smiling at her Veronica kissed Logan again quickly before following her daughter to the door. Even though they spent a fair bit of time apart she couldn’t help but think that her family was kind of perfect.
Later that night Veronica placed Ally in her chair, wedged firmly between her grandfather and her new favourite grandmother, before heading to the side of the stage: waving to Kurt quickly as she walked past him and his Dalton friends. Making her way over to the stage she was concerned by the look on Danny’s face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked the moment she got to his side.
“There are some teenagers at the door, clearly drunk, trying to get into the event. Billy’s complaining about them.”
Taking a quick look around the room Veronica sighed, “I’ll go see them. There’s a good chance there Kurt’s friends.”
“Your brother should know better.”
Veronica shrugged, “I never said that he was drunk. There was a party on the weekend. From what I can gather Kurt and Finn were the only ones who didn’t drink.”
Danny nodded, “Fair enough but I can’t let the rest of them in.”
“I understand. I’ll deal with them.”
“Anything so I don’t have to deal with them,” Danny replied with a shrug, “But we start in five minutes.”
“I only need three,” Veronica called over her shoulder as she headed to the door. She understood where Danny was coming from. It was one thing to make tonight an all ages night, it was a completely different thing to allow drunken teenagers on the premises. Swinging the door open she sighed when she saw the group standing near the door, the two closest to the security guards trying to push through.
Moving over she smiled to the group before calling out to them all, “Hey guys! Can I have your attentions please!” The group stopped long enough for Veronica to say, “Go home! Sleep off the alcohol!”
“But we promised Kurt,” Rachel replied with a slight slur.
“They won’t let you in cause your drunk and underage.” Veronica argued with a shake of her head, “Now I’m going to call you cabs and pay for your fare. All you have to do is go home. That’s it.”
“Listen here white girl, wannabe rock star, we’ll come in if we want too,” Santana argued.
Veronica shrugged, “I’m not touching the rock star comment but if enter the pub I’m letting the owner call the police and that will ruin the night for everyone. So just go home.”
“We just want to support Kurt,” Mercedes protested.
“You should have thought about that before you showed up drunk.” Veronica replied with a shrug, “Make sure they get in the cabs Billy. After that they aren’t our problem.”
Slipping a few bills into his hand she left him there, knowing that Billy would be able to handle the teenagers. Smiling at Kurt as she passed him she couldn’t help but feel bad. She knew they were his friends and whilst she didn’t understand why they needed to act this way, she knew he had wanted them here. Shaking her head she rid herself of those thoughts. She was more than willing to enjoy her night and forget her brother’s friends. Maybe this would make him realise how awful they can be, after all his friends from Dalton were all here and sober.
Smiling at Danny she whispered in his ear that it was taken care of before she took the microphone off him and crossed the stage to the middle. Smiling as the people in the crowd cheered she raised a hand in greeting.
“Hey everyone!” She called bring the mic to her lips, “How are you all tonight?” Laughing at their cheer she continued, “I’m glad that you’re good. I’m sure you all know but just in case I’m Veronica Hummel-Echolls, though I’m more famously known as Veronica Mars. Now you all probably know why you’re here but just case I’m going to tell you anyway. Tonight we celebrate and remember the life of the beautiful Elizabeth Hummel the amazing woman who was my mother. In doing so we’re also raising money for cancer research.
“This is how it’s going to happen. I’m singing a song from my new album then beautiful baby brother is going to sing a song that I’ve picked for him. After that you come and see Lester,” Veronica said, gesturing to the balding man standing at the side of the stage with a clipboard in one hand and a bucket in front of him. “He will take your donation and place your name next to the song you’re going to sing. You have no choice in the matter so don’t try. Donate as much or as little as you can. We don’t mind.
“And without further ado I would like to say welcome to the eight annual Danny’s night for cancer research. Have fun and sing some songs.”
Turning she nodded at Lester so that he could start the music. Smiling at her brother as her gaze swept past him she start to sing when the first twelve beats were over, “If you go, they say you’re following, if you don’t then you’re too good for them, if you smile you must be ignorant, if you don’t - what’s your problem?”
Smiling as the crowd started to clap along she turned her eyes to Kurt and crooked her finger, beckoning him onto the stage as she continued to sing. It was weird to think that she had written this song whilst Kurt was at his worst but it made sense at the time. After all Kurt wasn’t the first open gay to have problems, let alone the only kid with problems. It had made sense at the time to ensure that there was a song that would help anyone who had fallen on difficult times. She hadn’t expected her second single to go off as well as it did though. It had almost doubled her album sales and led her to the number one position on I-Tunes for six weeks. It was surprising to say the least.
“If you speak, you’ll only piss ‘em off, If you don’t, you’re another robot. If you stop, they just say you quit, if you don’t you might lose your shit. You can’t win, no. You can’t win, no. You can’t win, no.”
Pulling Kurt up onto the stage with her she turned back to the audience to see that most of them were moving to the beat. Winking at Logan she danced with Kurt on the stage until the song was over. Raging applause rang out from the crowd as she gave a little bow and blew the audience a kiss. As far as she was concerned the thrill of performing would never leave her system. It was such a joy to be on the stage.
Smiling back at the audience she said, “Ok so you can go see Lester at any time, it makes it more fun if you do join in. So start signing up. Whilst you do that I’m going to give Kurt here,” gesturing to Kurt as he curtsied on the stage, “Will sing his song. He still doesn’t know what it is. It’s being loaded into the karaoke system as we speak.” Looking over at Lester he nodded to let her know it was ready. “So without further I give the amazing voice of Kurt Hummel.”
Smiling as the cheers rang out she handed the mic to Kurt, kissing him lightly on the cheek before walking off the stage as the opening bars to Michael Buble’s version of Crazy Little Thing Called Love started playing.
Moving to her husband’s she let him sway her in his arms as Kurt rocked out the song on the stage. The rest of the night was a whirl wind of dancing singing and having fun. She was surprised when Blaine got on the stage and sung Suddenly by LeAnn Rimes, staring at Kurt the whole way through. She wasn’t surprised when they went over to a corner to talk about their issues. She hoped that it would ok. She was glad that Kurt had a good friend like Blaine, especially when he wasn’t like the kids from New Directions. It made her happy to know he had at least one stable friendship if not more with the Warblers.
Hours flew by without Veronica really noticing and before she knew she was back on stage announcing the amount of money that they had raised (five hundred and twelve dollars) and thanking everyone for coming. Than Kurt and his friends were returning to Dalton with hugs and promises of coffee after school. Her dad lifted Ally into his arms from the chair where she had fallen asleep several hours ago. Before she knew it she was tucked up in her bed, wrapped around Logan’s body, her head over his heart, counting every blessing for the amazing people in her life.
The next day coffee went better than she imagined. A still half drunk Rachel had marched into the Lima Bean and over to their table. Grabbing Blaine’s face she had kissed him out of the blue. Shocked Kurt and Veronica stared at each other as Blaine turned Rachel down as politely as possible. Slipping Kurt a twenty dollar bill across the table so he would have a reason to leave the table and talk to Rachel she turned to Blaine the second he left.
“So?”
Blaine shrugged, “You were right. Kissing girls is better drunk.”
“You’re one hundred percent gay when you’re sober?” she asked, for clarification.
“Defiantly, one hundred percent, without any doubts, I’m gay.”
“Good to know,” Veronica replied with a smile as Kurt took his seat again, sitting down and sliding her coffee to her, her smile grew as he started to tell a story about something that had happened at school. She was more than happy to know that everything was going to be ok between Kurt and Blaine.
The End