A Big Gay Team of Dancing Gays, ch. 6/6: Looks Like the Road to Heaven, Feels Like the Road to Hell
Title: A Big Gay Team of Dancing Gays: Looks Like the Road to Heaven, Feels Like the Road to Hell
Author: lennoxave
Pairing,Character(s): Everyone. Seriously, I would write the list, but it's ridiculous.
Rating: PG-13 (language [including homophobia] and some talk of sexual situations)
Word Count: 8,230
Spoilers: Through 2.10, "A Very Glee Christmas."
Summary: The truth comes out, as is its wont, at glee club rehearsal. Various things (hijinks and otherwise) ensue.
Author's Note on the Series: I'm writing this as a sort of self-challenge. It's going to be a series (oh dear god, I'm writing a series) in which almost every member of New Directions has some degree of queerness to their sexuality. I'm using this as a) a challenge to write pairings, which I almost never do, b) a challenge to write in a wider variety of character voices, and c) a challenge to write slightly angst-ier fic than I usually do.
Author's Note on the Chapter: I'm working off of the idea RIB seem to be that high school football season lasts as long as the NFL season does, so it's still football season here. Also, thank you to everyone who's been reading along the way! I greatly appreciate all of your lovely comments. :D
This is also where I usually say "this chapter can be read as a stand-alone," but this one really can't, so here's where you can find the rest of the story:
Prologue
1. Adding Up the Total of a Love That's True (Brittana)
2. What Part of Partie Don't You Understand? (Puck/Artie)
3. This Is a Girl-Girl Thing (Quinn/Mercedes)
4. My Two Feet Can't Find a Way (Sam/Mike)
5. I'm Looking for an Interruption (Brittany/Santana/Tina)
Looks Like the Road to Heaven, Feels Like the Road to Hell
Here's the deal: when shit goes down, it only ever goes down right before something big's about to happen. It's like some sort of addendum to Murphy's Law.
The kids of New Directions know this well. It's why Finn finds out about Puck and Quinn right before their first Sectionals performance, and why Rachel finds out about Finn and Santana right before their second. It's why Quinn goes into labor at Regionals.
It's just how the world works, and they really should be expecting it by now.
Maybe it's because the big event is a football game and not a show choir competition (although, with half the glee club being football players or Cheerios, they're practically the same thing), but it catches everyone off guard when all the drama hits the week of the State Championship game.
* * *
Mike has gym class second period and glee third. That's usually pretty annoying, going from one very active thing to another with no downtime, but all the football players get to sit out gym this week to rest up for the big game on Saturday, so he's cool with the situation at the moment.
Mike's sitting on the bleachers doing his chemistry homework when he gets a text from Tina.
can u meet me in the choir room? now?
The bell for his class to hit the showers is going to ring soon anyway, and Beiste is focused on trying to teach some band kid how to set a volleyball, so Mike packs up his stuff and slips away.
Tina has study hall second period, so it's not the first time he's ever played hooky in gym class, but it's weird that they didn't plan it ahead of time. Still, Mike figures that she probably just wants to make out or something, which is fine. Spending time with Tina has been getting a little more awkward, though, because of the whole Sam situation (which has been going really well in a way Mike never would have anticipated but is thoroughly enjoying) and the accompanying guilt Mike has been feeling about it.
He knows what he should do, but he hates hurting people and he's just selfish enough that he wants the security he gets from having a girlfriend in Lima. It makes him feel like a horrible person when he sits and thinks about it, so he tries to avoid doing that as much as possible.
Mike walks into the choir room to find Tina sitting on a chair and hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes are red and puffy, and she sniffles when she looks up at him.
“What's wrong?” he asks immediately, running over to her side. Mike may not be capable of loving Tina the same way she loves him, but she's still one of his closest friends, and he'd move mountains to make her feel better.
“Mike?” she says, and if she had stopped crying by the time he got there, she's definitely started again. “I did something bad yesterday. I did something terrible, and I don't think you'll ever forgive me.”
“What happened?” Mike asks.
Tina looks at the ground. “I had sex with Brittany and Santana.”
Mike feels his eyes grow very wide. Whatever he had been expecting her to say, that was totally not it.
“And I'm sorry,” Tina's sobbing now, “I'm so sorry, and I can't--”
Mike suddenly gets the feeling that he's having a two-roads-diverged-in-a-wood moment. It would be easy, it would be so easy for him to break up with Tina right now. She cheated, and he could tell people that she cheated without having to lie (he could do omissions of the truth, but flat-out lying was beyond his grasp), and nothing would look suspicious about it. No one would suspect anything about him, and he could just have a secret relationship with Sam, and everything would be fine. Great, even. No more guilt.
But then there's Tina, wrecked and crying in front of him.
Mike knows he's selfish, but he's not that selfish.
“Tina,” he says softly, and he grabs her and pulls her into his arms. “Shh, it's okay. It's okay,” he repeats, stroking her hair as she sobs into his shirt.
“I don't understand,” Tina says once she's cried it all out. “I don't understand how you can even look at me right now, much less touch me.”
She looks needy, and sad, and tired, and Mike just can't keep lying to her.
“I--” he starts, but he has absolutely no clue how to say this. “I'm not perfect, either. I'm very not perfect.”
Tina looks incredulous. “What are you talking--”
“I'm gay,” Mike cuts her off.
Tina pulls away from him very suddenly. “You're what?”
“I'm gay,” Mike says again, but he cringes, because this was supposed to help Tina feel less guilty about what she did, but she only looks hurt.
“Mike, we've been dating for five months!”
“I know.”
“Have you known this whole time?”
“Yes.”
“And you've been using me for our entire--” Tina stops abruptly, and her jaw drops, and Mike can see that she's just put the puzzle pieces together.
“Oh my god,” she says. “You and Sam?”
“It's not--” Mike tries to say, but he gives up, because it's exactly what it sounds like, and he really has no defense for himself.
“I can't believe you.” Tina's glaring at him now, and it reminds him so much of the way Willow's eyes would get all dark and evil when she cast a spell on Buffy the Vampire Slayer that it's terrifying.
“I can't believe you!” She shouts it this time.
Mike feels terrible, sure, but now that the shock of her reaction has started to wear off, he's starting to get a little pissed that she seems to have forgotten that he's not the only one at fault here.
“Can I maybe point out that you cheated, too?” he says. “And you had sex, while Sam and I haven't even done anything more than hug yet.”
Tina stands up and starts to storm out of the room, but after two steps she turns around and scowls at him.
“The only reason I did that,” she says, and she speaks very quietly but very deliberately, “is that I was feeling lonely and rejected because you were hanging out with Sam all the time.”
She looks like she wants to add something else, but the anger is giving way to tears again and Mike feels like the biggest douche-bag in the world. She turns around before she starts to cry again, like she doesn't want to give him the satisfaction (despite the fact that seeing her cry gives him no satisfaction at all), and she stomps out of the choir room.
Just as Mercedes and Quinn are entering it.
The bell must have rung while they were arguing. Mercedes puts a hand on Tina's shoulder, but Mike hears Tina mutter, “I need to be alone right now,” and she leaves.
Mercedes and Quinn look at each other before looking at Mike and staring daggers at him.
“What did you do to our girl?” Mercedes asks, although it's more of an accusation than a question.
Mike just sits there opening and closing his mouth ineffectually because there is not a single part of their conversation that he can actually tell Mercedes about.
“Why are we all pissed at Mike?” Santana asks, walking in with Brittany, Puck, and Finn.
“He did something and now Tina's upset,” Quinn says.
“Oh?” Santana smirks. “She found out?”
“Found out what?” Mercedes and Quinn say together, their heads snapping back to look at Mike.
Mike, for his part, glares at Santana, because this is basically all her fault anyway. If she could have just kept her damn hands to herself for once . . .
But more people are coming into the room now, and they keep having to get caught up on what's gone down, and it buys Mike some time to try to come up with an answer.
Unfortunately, he can't think of anything to say.
Sam's the last student to arrive.
“What the hell?” he asks at the ruckus.
“Mike did something that Tina found out about and now she's God only knows where crying, and he won't tell us what he did,” Mercedes answers.
Thankfully, everyone's back is to the door, so no one except for Mike sees the look of sheer panic on Sam's face.
Santana must sense it, though, because she gives Mike a wink and how did Santana figure it out, anyway?
“Seriously, dude, what the hell?” Finn asks, and that, for some reason, sets Mike off.
“I'm gay, all right!” he shouts. He's pretty sure no one here has ever heard him shout before, and everyone stops dead in their tracks.
“You're what?” Artie asks.
“I'm gay, and I told Tina because I couldn't keep lying to her anymore, and that's why she's upset.” Mike manages to feel both awful and relieved at the same time. This thing about him is out there in the world now, and it does feel like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders, but he knows there's a price to it.
“I can't believe--” Quinn starts to say, but someone clears their throat from the back of the room.
“Guys,” Mr. Schue says. He's standing there with the piano dude and Mike's not sure how long they've been there, but he thanks every deity in the world that he's not going to have to finish this conversation. “I get that something big just happened, but we have work to do. Deal with it outside of class, okay?”
Everyone nods and finds their seats, and Mike hopes that that will be the end of it.
* * *
Santana warns her as soon as they enter the choir room not to say anything.
“Let me handle this. If we play it right, everyone will fess up and we won't have to deal with all this angst-y secret relationship bullshit anymore.”
Brittany hopes that's the case, because she really doesn't get it. She feels so much better now that she and Santana can kiss each other in public, and she knows that everyone else will feel better, too, once they can be open about their relationships.
Santana has told her in the past that it's not that simple, but Brittany doesn't get why it's not. Love is love, and who really cares who you're in love with? She knows that other people sometimes need time to come around--look at Santana, for instance--but she's confidant that everyone will be happier when they do.
So she's really happy for Mike when he finally tells everyone the truth, because he's a super-awesome guy and he deserves to be happy. She thinks that maybe Sam will come out, too, but then Mr. Schue's there and making them all take their seats and it looks like that's the end of their coming-out-a-thon.
“Why don't we just tell everyone about everything?” Brittany whispers in Santana's ear as they start moving.
“It's better if they do it for themselves,” Santana says, and it's another thing Brittany doesn't get, but Santana's the one who's had experience overcoming the whatever that makes people repressed and sad, so Brittany trusts her.
Brittany sits in the middle of the back row with Santana. Sam's the only one willing to sit next to Mike in the front row, and Quinn and Mercedes sit directly behind them, to Brittany's right. Lauren sits on the other side of Santana, and the front row fills in with Finn, Rachel, Puck, and Artie.
Brittany thinks it's cute how the couples all ended up sitting by each other, but Santana's told her not to say anything, so she keeps her mouth shut, for her friends' sakes.
Brittany's not a very good student, but she's very good at getting into trouble during class, so when Mr. Schue tells them all to settle down but doesn't give them anything else to do while he searches through his bag, she knows everyone's going to start talking and that the subject of Mike will come up again.
“I just can't believe you would do that to Tina,” Quinn leans over and says to Mike. She speaks quietly, but loud enough that everyone can still hear her. “You're the nice guy, the good guy. What happened?”
Brittany feels her phone vibrate in her bag. She pulls it out; Santana has sent her a text:
subtext: q hates herself 4 using sam the same way
Brittany grins; as Santana has told her many times, there's nothing more passive-aggressively awesome than judging people through text while you're in the same room as they are.
“Yeah,” Mercedes adds. “I mean, of course it's fine that you're gay, but dating someone just to--”
“Knock it off,” Sam turns around and says to them. “What the hell do you two know about it, anyway?”
“What the hell do you know about it?” Mercedes asks.
Brittany shoots Santana a text back:
he's gonna crack
“A lot,” he says angrily. “A damn lot.”
“Guys,” Mr. Schue tries saying from the front of the room, but nobody's paying any attention.
“Wait . . .” Rachel says. “Are you gay?”
Sam swallows hard. “Yeah,” he says, “Yeah, I am.” He reaches his hand out to Mike, who grabs it gratefully. “We're dating.”
The next text Brittany sends merely says:
eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
“That's why you broke up with me?” Quinn asks, gobsmacked.
Santana snorts. “Oh, princess,” she grins. “Like you should talk.”
As she's speaking, she's typing, and she sends to Brittany:
i know i said we shouldnt help but she needed a push
“What's that supposed to mean?” Finn asks.
Quinn looks ready to kill Santana. “Nothing. It doesn't mean anything.”
“Quinn,” Mercedes murmurs. They look at each other, and Brittany watches them have a conversation with their eyes the same way she and Santana do, and it seems to give Quinn the courage she needs.
“Fine,” she says. “I, uh . . . I'm a lesbian.”
“Fucking seriously?” Puck says. “You played me all last year and I never even had a chance?”
This seems like a good opportunity for Santana to call him on his shit, but Mercedes speaks before she gets a chance.
“You better lay off my woman, Puckerman,” Mercedes says with a finger wave and a head bob and everything.
“Your woman?” Mike asks, pulling an epic Mike-Chang face of confusion.
“Did I stutter?”
“Oh, for fuck's sake,” Puck buries his face in his hands, and Brittany wonders if Mr. Schue is going to tell him to stop swearing, but their teacher looks too shocked at how things are progressing to say anything.
“What?” Mercedes asks, and she's clearly looking for a fight.
“Two of my ex-girlfriends are dating each other!” Puck says.
“We didn't really date, you remember that, right?”
“Whatever. It's still fucking weird!” Puck pauses to think. “And hot. Can I watch?”
Artie smacks him across the chest, and Brittany knows Santana told her not to say anything, but she thinks she gets how this game works now, and this is a golden opportunity.
“Gosh,” Brittany says flatly, “it's so strange that Artie just hit Puck for asking that. I wonder what could have caused him to do that?”
“Yeah,” Quinn says, “what did cause him to do that? That sounds like something Artie would say, not be mad about.”
Brittany gets another text from Santana:
i fucking love you
“ . . . I have recently discovered feminist tendencies?” Artie tries.
“Oh, fuck it, dude,” Puck says. “Artie and I are totally hooking up.”
“Bisexuals represent,” Artie adds, pounding his chest twice and flashing the peace sign.
“Okay, this has officially gotten ridiculous,” Sam says.
“And statistically improbable,” Rachel puts in.
“What I don't get,” Mike says, looking up at Santana, “is how you knew about all of this. I've been watching you, and you haven't been surprised once.”
“Maybe because y'all are about as subtle as a Mack truck hitting a toddler?” Lauren says, looking up from her notebook.
Santana is genuinely impressed and holds up her hand. “High five for being devious enough to notice this shit,” Santana says. Lauren slaps her hand.
Artie's eyes narrow on Lauren's notebook. “Hold up. Have you been writing down everything that's been going on?”
“Duh!” Lauren says. “How do you think I write all of my Harry Potter fan fiction? I just write down what happens in glee and change the names to Hogwarts students.” She smirks. “Rachel is usually Hermione, but since she hasn't expressed any tendency toward femslash yet, I'm going to use Quinn instead.”
Brittany's never read the books or seen the movies, so she can't tell if Quinn looks pissed off because she's mad about being Hermione or because she just got compared to Rachel.
“Also, it's important for the integrity of the story for me to know: has any girl in here slept with Tina yet?”
“Tina's not--” Artie starts, but he stops when he sees Brittany and Santana raise their hands.
“Bitch, please,” Lauren says to him. “She checks out Brittany just as much as you do.”
“Okay, guys?” Mr. Schue says. It looks like he's finally taking back control of the class. Brittany holds out her pinky and Santana links her own with it, and Brittany can tell that her girlfriend is pretty pleased with how this turned out.
* * *
Will knows he should have intervened sooner. He should have intervened a lot sooner, because no one needs to know that much abut their students, but seeing an hour's worth of Maury drama unravel in the span of five minutes is enough to shock anyone into submission.
And he's sort of glad he let them work it all out. Even if everyone looks a little angry and hostile and kind of terrified, they also look freer, somehow. Confession is good for the soul, Will knows, and he's happy his kids have gotten the chance to let go of the secrets that have been holding them captive for so long.
“I'm glad you've all gotten to share things in a safe space,” he says, “but we need to start rehearsing.” He's about to tell them to see Emma if they want to discuss things further, but Finn, who's been sitting in the front row with his brows becoming increasingly furrowed, gets up to address the group.
“Wait a second,” Finn says. “You've all been lying to us this entire time?”
“Finn,” Will says, but it's mostly a cursory gesture, because he knows it takes a lot to get Finn going about something, but once he's started he can't really be stopped.
“We dated,” Finn says, looking at Quinn, “and you gave me hell for joining glee because you thought it was too gay,” he looks at Puck, “and now you're saying you kept this big huge thing from me?”
“From us,” Rachel corrects, and she goes to join Finn at the front of the room. “Glee's supposed to be a family, and this is the type of thing you tell your family.”
At this point, Will gives up trying to get the group on track. He'll stop things if they start to escalate, but it sounds like his kids still have stuff to work out, and nothing's going to get accomplished if they don't do it.
“It's not the type of thing I can tell my family,” he hears Mike mutter, but it's Quinn who directly challenges Rachel and Finn.
“Oh, thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Heteronormativity, for making our pain all about you.”
“I'm sorry,” Finn says, “but it hurts when you find out your closest friends don't trust you enough to tell you the truth about themselves.”
“And what about Kurt?” Rachel asks. “You tried to help him stand up to the bullying, sure, but the thing you could have really done? Help alleviate the loneliness, the isolation of being the only gay kid in school? You let him suffer alone when you could have helped him in ways Finn and I never could.”
That's enough to make the rest of the club look abashed.
Finn turns to Will. “I can't rehearse today,” he says. “I need time to think.”
“And I need to go let out my feelings with a thematically appropriate song,” Rachel says, and they both walk out of the choir room.
Will looks down at the sheet music he was going to hand out. “When a Man Loves a Woman” doesn't seem like a particularly good idea at the moment.
He glances at Brad, who's taken his seat at the piano. “I think I'm going to call an audible on this one,” Will whispers to him.
“Good plan,” Brad says back, although the disdain he usually has in his voice and demeanor is softened by the sheer WTF-ness of everything they've just witnessed.
“All right,” Will says to the group. “Let's do some vocal warm-ups.” There's no segue there, he realizes, but he's not really sure what else he can say.
* * *
Finn sits on the bleachers and surveys the football field. They've had a recent warm-up, and the field is all sorts of muddy. He wonders what the conditions are like in Canton, where the championship game is going to be held.
He hears someone climb up onto the bleachers, and he feels the dip of the bench as the person sits down next to him, but he doesn't take his eyes off the field. He knows who it is, anyway.
“I thought you were going to the auditorium,” Finn says.
“I was,” Rachel replies, “but Tina was in there crying, and as much as I'm sure she'd appreciate my rendition of Billy Joel's 'A Matter of Trust,' I thought now might not be the best time.”
Finn smiles a little, the way he always does when Rachel manages to do something not completely selfish (no matter how small a gesture it might be). “You could always sing it out here.”
Rachel shakes her head. “That's all right. The lyrics don't really fit, anyway. I just never thought I'd have to have a song prepared for the possibility that three-quarters of the glee club turned out to be members of the LGBT community.”
“That's not even what I care about, y'know?” Finn says, and he finally turns and looks at Rachel. “I just hate being lied to.”
“I know,” she says.
“And it's like, I get not telling the rest of the school, but it's us. It's glee. Where you're supposed to be able to be who you are. Like we give a damn if someone's gay or whatever.” Rachel raises her eyebrows at him questioningly. “Okay, but I got there eventually. And they all saw me get there.”
“True,” she concedes. They're silent for minute. “I think we're being too hard on them, though.”
“I know we are,” Finn says. Because now that he's had a chance to cool down and think about things, he realizes how insanely tough it must have been on his friends to keep those secrets, and how the cruel world they live in forced them to. It doesn't make him feel less bad that they didn't trust him, but he understands why they didn't. “It's just a lot to take in,” he sighs.
A bell rings off in the distance. It's the signal to change for gym class, which means five minutes until the period is over.
“Come over tonight,” Rachel says. Finn just looks at her. “I don't mean it like that. But I think we should prepare something, a song, to apologize for our reactions.”
Finn nods. “Yeah, that's a good idea.”
At the before-school glee rehearsal the next day, they sing a duet arrangement of “If You Were Gay” from Avenue Q to their friends, which culminates in a full-group kick-line (Artie mimics the motions with his arms). No one in the room says the words, “I'm sorry,” but everyone's forgiven anyway.
* * *
Tina knows there's a conversation she needs to have, though. So she takes the hall pass from the library and makes her way down to the gym during second period.
She stands at the side of the bleachers and hisses Mike's name until she gets his attention.
“Oh!” he says, and he looks a little surprised, but when she motions toward the door with her head, he gets up and follows her into the hallway.
“So, what's up?” Mike asks.
“Look,” Tina says, “I can't say that I'm not still a little mad at you, because I am.” Mike looks bummed, but she knows that if they want to salvage any sort of relationship, they have to be honest with each other. “But I shouldn't have blown up at you like I did. I'm sorry.”
“You don't have to be,” Mike sighs. “You have every right to be angry.”
Tina shakes her head. “I know your parents, Mike. Traditional is an understatement when it comes to them. I get why you didn't want to come out. Hell, my parents don't know everything about me, and they went to Berkeley.” She pauses. “And really, it's a little hypocritical for me to be mad. I didn't tell you I was bi, either.”
Mike shoots her a look. “I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but it's apples and oranges.”
“Yeah. It was worth a shot, though.” She smiles at him, and he returns it. “But you could have told me, you know. I totally would have been your pretend girlfriend.”
“I have no idea why I didn't,” Mike says. “I knew that all of the glee kids would be cool about it. It just . . . seemed like it was too much for me. Like it was too big for me to handle, and the only way I could handle it was to ignore it.”
“I get that,” Tina says, and to a certain degree, she does. She also knows that their situations, while being similar, are not the same, and that she will never know exactly what it's like to be gay, while he'll never know the unique challenges of being bisexual.
That doesn't mean they can't be there to support each other.
“I can't be friends with you quite yet,” Tina says. “But in a couple of weeks, once I've got my shit together? You think you could maybe use a hag?”
They both start cracking up, because really, who would have thought they'd ever be in this situation?
“Yeah,” Mike grins. “I definitely could.”
* * *
Coach Beiste made them a very specific schedule for the week leading up to game day, and that's why they're in the locker room on a Wednesday afternoon instead of in glee.
Finn thinks it's a good thing Mr. Schue and Coach Beiste get along so well; if they didn't, this week could have turned into the disaster that happened with Tanaka last season.
(Although it's funny how this year, even though he likes Beiste a lot, he doesn't have any hesitation about which team he'd choose.)
He walks back to his locker clad only in his towel and flip-flops, and as he makes the turn into his locker row, he has to stop himself from laughing.
The first vaguely hilarious thing is that the only other guys in his row are Puck, Artie, Mike, and Sam. Which means that he's the only straight dude changing clothes there.
He's glad he got over his issues, although it's admittedly easier to do when all of the guys who could possibly be checking you out are right next to their boyfriends.
The second vaguely hilarious thing is the change in his friends' demeanors now that they're all out to each other. None of them are talking, or looking at each other, or talking to or looking at any of the other guys on the football team, either. It's like they're trying so hard not to betray anything about themselves that they're betraying everything.
“Guys?” Finn says. They all turn and look at him. “You're being super-obvious.”
“What?” Artie asks.
Finn lowers his voice. “You remember last practice when you guys were all pretending to be straight but didn't know that everybody else was, too? That worked better. Do that.”
The guys all look at each other, and finally Sam bursts out laughing. “We? Are idiots,” he says, and he whips Puck in the head with his towel before going to throw it in the laundry bin.
Everybody else starts laughing, too, and Finn starts to get changed with his friends acting normal again.
He's just gotten his pants on when Mike starts talking about how he and Brittany are thinking about getting fake IDs so they can try out for So You Think You Can Dance?, and that's when Karofsky walks by.
“Fag,” he says, rolling his eyes. Finn's about to lay into him, but Puck gets there first.
“What's your deal, dickweed?” he sneers.
“Sorry,” Karofsky mock apologizes. “I didn't mean to insult your boyfriend.”
“Puck's not my boyfriend,” Mike says, glancing over Karofsky's shoulder. Finn looks over, too, and sees Sam standing right behind Karofsky, absolutely seething with rage.
“I am,” Sam says, and Finn has to admire how awesomely Batman the whole thing is, because Sam takes advantage of Karofsky being completely caught off guard to push him into the lockers.
“Wait, what?” Azimio says, poking his head out from the next row of lockers.
“You heard the man,” Puck says. “And for the record? I'm into both dudes and chicks, and you can go fuck yourself if you've got a problem with that.”
“Ditto for me,” Artie says.
Finn looks at his friends in awe. They are both incredibly courageous and incredibly stupid.
Azimio's jaw drops. “Holy shit. Glee club really does turn people gay. Hudson? You joining up with the queer army, too?”
“Nope,” Finn says. “Still straight. But totally willing to kick your ass if you mess with my friends.”
“Oh, we'll see about that,” Karofsky says.
“C'mon,” one of the smaller guys on the team, Grady, pipes up from the back. “Do we really need to--”
“Yes!” Karofsky barks at him. He and Azimio and few of the other players start to advance on the glee guys. “They need to be shown what happens to freaks like them . . .”
“Hey!” The jocks stop at the sound. It's Coach Beiste, barreling into the locker room after cleaning up the field from practice. “What do you people think you're doing?”
“Nothin',” Azimio says, clearly assuming that the usual jock code of silence is going to protect him.
Well, Finn Hudson says fuck that noise.
“They were hassling Mike and Sam and Puck and Artie because they're gay,” he blurts out. When Puck elbows him in the side, he adds, “Or bi. Whatever, they're still being homophobic.”
Coach Beiste glances back and forth between the glee football players and their tormenters a few times, as if trying to process what she's just heard.
“Team meeting, at the white boards, now,” she finally says. She looks pointedly at Azimio and Karofsky. “Anybody who doesn't show up is automatically off the team.”
Everyone finishes changing and goes to sit on the benches.
“Now, what I'm hearing is that some members of the team aren't straight. Is that right?” Beiste asks. Mike, Sam, Puck, and Artie nod. “And some other members of the team are giving them a hard time about it. Is that right?” They nod again.
“Coach, it's not our fault,” Azimio says. “I can't play knowing a bunch of dudes might be looking at my junk while I'm changing!”
“You managed to play when Kurt Hummel was on the team,” Mike points out.
“Kurt played football?” Sam whispers.
“It was a whole thing,” Artie whispers back.
“That was different,” Azimio says. “Hummel's such a flamer you can see him from space. I could cover up when Hummel was around. Y'all are some stealth gays. I've been showering with dudes I didn't know were homos for years!”
“But somehow,” Puck rolls his eyes, “we've all managed to keep our hands off of you.”
“Listen,” Beiste cuts in. “We are a team. We are a team even if some of our players like to kiss guys. We are a team even if some of our players like to sing and dance. We are a team even if some of our players like to wear dresses or recite Shakespeare or play with My Little Ponies, all right? It doesn't matter. If you can run a football, if you can throw a block, if you can tackle a halfback, you are a part of this team. And this team will sink or swim depending on how united we are. We all need to have each other's backs, or we stand no chance. And, like most things, what applies in football also applies in life. Are we clear?”
A lot of the jocks look chastened by Beiste's speech. Even Azimio, as pissed as he looks, nods his head in agreement.
“Good. If I hear anyone give these kids grief, I am throwing you off the team and you are going to have a long, miserable talk with the principal. And I know some of you can't afford to have another one of those.” Finn follows her gaze to look at Karofsky, who is absolutely shaking with anger at this point.
“Fuck this,” he says, and he stands up.
“What did you say, Karofsky?” Beiste asks.
“Fuck this. I am not playing football with a bunch of fucking fags.” Karofsky's so angry he has tears in his eyes, which Finn finds super-weird, and he kicks the locker nearest to him before he storms out of the locker room.
“If you leave now, you are never playing football here again, do you understand me?” Beiste calls, but Karofsky just keeps walking.
* * *
The next day, Finn's on his way to his first class when he sees Karofsky at his locker with a duffel bag. It looks like he's cleaning all the stuff out of his locker.
“Dude,” Finn says, walking up to him. It's not like he wants Karofsky to stay, or anything, but he's curious about what's up.
“Yeah?” Karofsky says. He looks like he wants to start a fight, but Finn's not really up for one today.
“What are you doing?” he asks instead.
“What does it look like, dumbass? I'm cleaning out my locker.”
“Yeah, but why?”
Karofsky gets an angry, far away look on his face. “I'm transferring,” he says.
“To where?”
Karofsky speaks in a low, exasperated voice, like he can't believe he's actually talking to Finn. “There's this boarding school in Michigan. My dad's making me go there.”
“Because of what happened at practice yesterday?” Finn asks.
“No. Because I went home and smashed the TV in with a baseball bat.”
Damn. “Dude, that's messed up,” Finn says.
“Yeah, well . . . my dad says I have anger-management issues or some shit, so . . . I'm leaving. Going to a 'better environment where I can learn to control my emotions', or whatever.”
Finn studies the guy in front of him. Karofsky looks less intimidating than he usually does. More tired, certainly, but maybe a little scared, too.
“Look,” Finn says, “I can't say I'm going to miss you, but--”
Karofsky puts up a hand to cut him off. “Hudson. I don't need your pity, your look-at-me-I'm-such-a-good-guy-for-feeling-sorry-for-somebody-else speech, all right?” He throws one last stack of binders into his bag and slams his locker shut.
“Well, good luck, anyway,” Finn says.
Karofsky stares at him for a second, like he wants to say something, but he just mutters, “Thanks,” and walks away.
* * *
“Wow,” Burt says from across the dinner table.
“I know, right?” Finn says, taking a drink from his glass of milk.
“Well, that's great news, isn't it?” Carole says. “Without that Karofsky boy in school, Kurt can come back if he wants.”
“I don't know,” Burt says. “It sounds like there are still a lot of bullies at McKinley.”
“There are,” Finn admits. “But they've got nothing on Karofsky. I mean, I wouldn't blame Kurt if he wanted to stay at Dalton, but I know there are things he likes about here better than he likes about there.” Like glee club, although Finn's not sure that Kurt dislikes doing a cappella enough to brave the halls of McKinley again.
“Well,” Burt says, “why don't you give him a call tonight? You know more about the situation than I do; tell him what happened and see what he wants to do. Let him know I support him however he wants to handle things.”
“We both do,” Carole says, taking Burt's hand.
After dinner, Finn calls Kurt.
“What's up?” Kurt answers his phone.
“Hey,” Finn says. “I just wanted to let you know that Karofsky left McKinley today.”
There's a pause before Kurt speaks. “What do you mean?”
“He's transferring schools. He freaked out at practice yesterday, got kicked off the team, and I guess he went home and did some damage to his house. His dad's sending him to get, like, anger management and stuff.”
Again, there's silence on Kurt's end of the line. “Wow,” he eventually says.
“Yeah. So, I mean, I'm not saying you have to come back to McKinley, because I totally get if you don't want to, but--”
“What set him off at practice?” Kurt asks.
It occurs to Finn that he hasn't talked to Kurt since everything about everyone finally came out. “Uh, have you talked to Mercedes lately?” he asks.
“Yeah, Tuesday night. Why?”
“Did she . . . maybe mention a whole bunch of drama that went down that day?”
“. . . No. What happened?”
Finn's not totally sure why Mercedes didn't tell Kurt that most of his former glee teammates are now in same-sex relationships, but he thinks it might have something to do with that thing Rachel said, about how they could have helped Kurt feel less alone. It's probably going to hurt him to find out that all of these people had something in common with him that they never shared, and Finn doesn't really want to be the one to tell him about it, but the dude's going to find out eventually, and it might as well be now.
“Well . . .” he starts, “I'm not sure how to tell you this, but Mercedes is, um, dating Quinn.”
Finn feels like he's heard Kurt go silent way more than he's heard him talk during this conversation. “I knew that,” Kurt finally says. “How did you know that?”
So Finn spends the next few minutes filling Kurt in on everything, everyone's relationships and sexual orientations and all the stuff that happened in glee and at football practice. It takes a few minutes, but Kurt gets caught up.
“Wow. I . . . kind of don't know what to say about all of that.”
“I know,” Finn says. “It's a lot to take in.”
“Look,” Kurt says, “I know you probably want an answer now about whether I'm going to come back or not, but I need to think about it.”
“I understand,” Finn says. “No rush. Well, I mean, it would probably be good if you could make a decision before Regionals, but--”
“I think I can do that,” Kurt laughs a little bit. It's the first time he's laughed their whole conversation. “And good luck at the game on Saturday. I wish I could make it, but I have to sing at this nursing home with the Warblers . . .”
“No problem. I know you'd be there if you could be,” Finn says. “Anyway, uh, take care of yourself.”
“Thanks. You, too.”
* * *
Against all odds, the McKinley Titans win the State Championship 35 to 17. A lot of it has to do with the fact that the bulk of their offense involved either Sam or Puck pushing Artie full force down the field, something that everyone's pretty sure will be illegal when the next year's rulebook is published, but no one really cares about that right now.
Artie is hoisted, chair and all, into the air by his appreciative teammates. They're so appreciative that no one gives it a second glance when Sam and Mike exchange a kiss in the end zone, or when Brittany and Santana basically have sex with each other on the sidelines following the win.
In fact, even some of the most homophobic dudes are patting Puck on the back or slapping Finn's helmet in celebration. It's interesting, Finn thinks, how the glee kids have been trying to win show choir competitions to improve their reputations, when apparently all they had to do was win the school a football trophy.
He's not sure how long the goodwill toward his friends will last, but he'll take it while he can get it.
* * *
Kurt can't remember the last time he was this nervous to go to school.
Well, he can, it was during the Karofsky debacle, but this feeling is different. It's the feeling of not really knowing what you're walking into. He doesn't know what his reception back at McKinley will be like, and he doesn't know how his reception at glee is going to go, either.
It's Monday morning, and he has his transfer papers in his bag. He had wanted to get this done before school, but he was late, because he carpooled with Finn and Finn is always late, so he goes to see Ms. Pillsbury (-Howell, now, he supposes) during first period and ends up talking to her about bullying prevention and the anti-bullying policies at Dalton, which turns into a meeting with Principal Figgins (and Sue Sylvester, because that's just how things work at McKinley, although he's pleased that she's sticking with the “Porcelain” nickname), and finally he gets to actually go to class.
Just in time for third period, which is, of course, glee.
He had wanted to keep his return a secret, if only for the grand entrance he could make, but Finn sends him a text while he's listening to Sue discuss possible bully punishments (including, but not limited to, the rack, Chinese water torture, and constant exposure to Poison, [the band, not the method of death]), and Finn has apparently spilled the beans to Mercedes. Which means that the whole club knows by now.
And, as much as Kurt's wondering what their reaction to him will be, he's also wondering what his reaction to them will be. Because they all (well, most of them) kept some very important secrets from him. He has every right to be mad about it, that they let him take the brunt of the bullying while they stayed safe in the closet.
He still gets his grand entrance to glee club; everyone else is already there, and as soon as he walks in the room, all eyes are on him.
He surveys his friends; every face is apologetic, and every person looks guilty.
Really, though, Kurt's known all along how he would handle this moment. He knows that the pain of the closet in every way cancels out the pain they were able to avoid from bullying. And, for the same reason he has still never told anyone but Blaine about Karofsky, he knows that he cannot hold a grudge against these people--his friends--for not being able to handle the hurt that comes from being out in Lima, Ohio.
He looks at the group. “So,” he says, his voice as haughty yet sardonic as he can make it, “word on the street is that, of all the guys in glee, you people let me crush on the only straight one. I'm not sure if I can ever forgive you.” He maintains his tone for the whole speech, but he can't stop himself from cracking a smile once he's finished. The sense of relief in the room is palpable. Finn shoots him an easy grin and Mercedes pats the seat between her and Quinn.
“Oh, please,” he says as he makes his way over to her, “I can't be breaking up the lovebirds, now, can I?”
* * *
When Will walks into the choir room, it is the most joyous atmosphere he's seen in ages. All the couples are together, Brittany and Santana hooking pinkies, Mike with his arm around Sam, Artie and Puck engaged in a heated discussion, Mercedes with her head resting on Quinn's shoulder. Lauren's showing Tina something on her phone, and it looks like there could be the start of a friendship there. And Kurt's finally back, laughing at something Rachel has said, and she's laughing, too, even if she's trying to maintain her usual dignified air.
Will catches Finn's eye, and they both grin at each other, because this is how it's supposed to be.
“Okay, guys,” Will says, and everyone quiets down. “First of all, a big congratulations to the members of our State Champion football team!”
The group applauds, and Sam gives a goofy bow.
“Secondly, I'd like to welcome back our favorite counter-tenor, Mr. Kurt Hummel!”
Everyone claps again, and Kurt stands up to mock Sam's bow, which earns him a good-natured swat to the arm from Mike.
“Now, I know it's been a crazy week for everybody,” Will says.
“But we need to get serious about rehearsing,” Quinn finishes for him.
Will laughs. He's maybe been a bit obsessive about that recently. “Yes. But I just wanted to let you guys know . . .” he trails off, trying to find the right words. “. . . how proud I am of you. It's not easy to be yourself in high school. It's especially not easy to be yourself when you're something other people don't want to accept. But you are all some of the bravest people I have met in my entire life, and you have demonstrated so much personal growth in the last year and a half, and I am so proud and honored to be your teacher. If you ever need help because someone's giving you a hard time, please let me know, and I will do everything in my power to help you.”
Shannon told him what happened in the locker room, and Will knows that his kids have a hard road ahead of them. And he knows that there are limits to what he can do to help them. But damn it, he is going to try, even if the only thing he can do is give them one hour a day when they feel like they belong.
“That brings us to the new song assignment,” Will says. He starts handing out the music. “It's 'Freedom '90', by George Michael.”
“That's a little on-the-nose, don't you think?” Kurt smirks from the back row.
“Well,” Will smiles, “it fit you all too well for me to pass it up. Now, as for this arrangement, Kurt's taking the lead on the choruses, but everybody's got at least one solo line. You've earned it,” he adds as they start to get excited.
Yeah, they've definitely earned it.
Author: lennoxave
Pairing,Character(s): Everyone. Seriously, I would write the list, but it's ridiculous.
Rating: PG-13 (language [including homophobia] and some talk of sexual situations)
Word Count: 8,230
Spoilers: Through 2.10, "A Very Glee Christmas."
Summary: The truth comes out, as is its wont, at glee club rehearsal. Various things (hijinks and otherwise) ensue.
Author's Note on the Series: I'm writing this as a sort of self-challenge. It's going to be a series (oh dear god, I'm writing a series) in which almost every member of New Directions has some degree of queerness to their sexuality. I'm using this as a) a challenge to write pairings, which I almost never do, b) a challenge to write in a wider variety of character voices, and c) a challenge to write slightly angst-ier fic than I usually do.
Author's Note on the Chapter: I'm working off of the idea RIB seem to be that high school football season lasts as long as the NFL season does, so it's still football season here. Also, thank you to everyone who's been reading along the way! I greatly appreciate all of your lovely comments. :D
This is also where I usually say "this chapter can be read as a stand-alone," but this one really can't, so here's where you can find the rest of the story:
Prologue
1. Adding Up the Total of a Love That's True (Brittana)
2. What Part of Partie Don't You Understand? (Puck/Artie)
3. This Is a Girl-Girl Thing (Quinn/Mercedes)
4. My Two Feet Can't Find a Way (Sam/Mike)
5. I'm Looking for an Interruption (Brittany/Santana/Tina)
Looks Like the Road to Heaven, Feels Like the Road to Hell
Here's the deal: when shit goes down, it only ever goes down right before something big's about to happen. It's like some sort of addendum to Murphy's Law.
The kids of New Directions know this well. It's why Finn finds out about Puck and Quinn right before their first Sectionals performance, and why Rachel finds out about Finn and Santana right before their second. It's why Quinn goes into labor at Regionals.
It's just how the world works, and they really should be expecting it by now.
Maybe it's because the big event is a football game and not a show choir competition (although, with half the glee club being football players or Cheerios, they're practically the same thing), but it catches everyone off guard when all the drama hits the week of the State Championship game.
* * *
Mike has gym class second period and glee third. That's usually pretty annoying, going from one very active thing to another with no downtime, but all the football players get to sit out gym this week to rest up for the big game on Saturday, so he's cool with the situation at the moment.
Mike's sitting on the bleachers doing his chemistry homework when he gets a text from Tina.
can u meet me in the choir room? now?
The bell for his class to hit the showers is going to ring soon anyway, and Beiste is focused on trying to teach some band kid how to set a volleyball, so Mike packs up his stuff and slips away.
Tina has study hall second period, so it's not the first time he's ever played hooky in gym class, but it's weird that they didn't plan it ahead of time. Still, Mike figures that she probably just wants to make out or something, which is fine. Spending time with Tina has been getting a little more awkward, though, because of the whole Sam situation (which has been going really well in a way Mike never would have anticipated but is thoroughly enjoying) and the accompanying guilt Mike has been feeling about it.
He knows what he should do, but he hates hurting people and he's just selfish enough that he wants the security he gets from having a girlfriend in Lima. It makes him feel like a horrible person when he sits and thinks about it, so he tries to avoid doing that as much as possible.
Mike walks into the choir room to find Tina sitting on a chair and hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes are red and puffy, and she sniffles when she looks up at him.
“What's wrong?” he asks immediately, running over to her side. Mike may not be capable of loving Tina the same way she loves him, but she's still one of his closest friends, and he'd move mountains to make her feel better.
“Mike?” she says, and if she had stopped crying by the time he got there, she's definitely started again. “I did something bad yesterday. I did something terrible, and I don't think you'll ever forgive me.”
“What happened?” Mike asks.
Tina looks at the ground. “I had sex with Brittany and Santana.”
Mike feels his eyes grow very wide. Whatever he had been expecting her to say, that was totally not it.
“And I'm sorry,” Tina's sobbing now, “I'm so sorry, and I can't--”
Mike suddenly gets the feeling that he's having a two-roads-diverged-in-a-wood moment. It would be easy, it would be so easy for him to break up with Tina right now. She cheated, and he could tell people that she cheated without having to lie (he could do omissions of the truth, but flat-out lying was beyond his grasp), and nothing would look suspicious about it. No one would suspect anything about him, and he could just have a secret relationship with Sam, and everything would be fine. Great, even. No more guilt.
But then there's Tina, wrecked and crying in front of him.
Mike knows he's selfish, but he's not that selfish.
“Tina,” he says softly, and he grabs her and pulls her into his arms. “Shh, it's okay. It's okay,” he repeats, stroking her hair as she sobs into his shirt.
“I don't understand,” Tina says once she's cried it all out. “I don't understand how you can even look at me right now, much less touch me.”
She looks needy, and sad, and tired, and Mike just can't keep lying to her.
“I--” he starts, but he has absolutely no clue how to say this. “I'm not perfect, either. I'm very not perfect.”
Tina looks incredulous. “What are you talking--”
“I'm gay,” Mike cuts her off.
Tina pulls away from him very suddenly. “You're what?”
“I'm gay,” Mike says again, but he cringes, because this was supposed to help Tina feel less guilty about what she did, but she only looks hurt.
“Mike, we've been dating for five months!”
“I know.”
“Have you known this whole time?”
“Yes.”
“And you've been using me for our entire--” Tina stops abruptly, and her jaw drops, and Mike can see that she's just put the puzzle pieces together.
“Oh my god,” she says. “You and Sam?”
“It's not--” Mike tries to say, but he gives up, because it's exactly what it sounds like, and he really has no defense for himself.
“I can't believe you.” Tina's glaring at him now, and it reminds him so much of the way Willow's eyes would get all dark and evil when she cast a spell on Buffy the Vampire Slayer that it's terrifying.
“I can't believe you!” She shouts it this time.
Mike feels terrible, sure, but now that the shock of her reaction has started to wear off, he's starting to get a little pissed that she seems to have forgotten that he's not the only one at fault here.
“Can I maybe point out that you cheated, too?” he says. “And you had sex, while Sam and I haven't even done anything more than hug yet.”
Tina stands up and starts to storm out of the room, but after two steps she turns around and scowls at him.
“The only reason I did that,” she says, and she speaks very quietly but very deliberately, “is that I was feeling lonely and rejected because you were hanging out with Sam all the time.”
She looks like she wants to add something else, but the anger is giving way to tears again and Mike feels like the biggest douche-bag in the world. She turns around before she starts to cry again, like she doesn't want to give him the satisfaction (despite the fact that seeing her cry gives him no satisfaction at all), and she stomps out of the choir room.
Just as Mercedes and Quinn are entering it.
The bell must have rung while they were arguing. Mercedes puts a hand on Tina's shoulder, but Mike hears Tina mutter, “I need to be alone right now,” and she leaves.
Mercedes and Quinn look at each other before looking at Mike and staring daggers at him.
“What did you do to our girl?” Mercedes asks, although it's more of an accusation than a question.
Mike just sits there opening and closing his mouth ineffectually because there is not a single part of their conversation that he can actually tell Mercedes about.
“Why are we all pissed at Mike?” Santana asks, walking in with Brittany, Puck, and Finn.
“He did something and now Tina's upset,” Quinn says.
“Oh?” Santana smirks. “She found out?”
“Found out what?” Mercedes and Quinn say together, their heads snapping back to look at Mike.
Mike, for his part, glares at Santana, because this is basically all her fault anyway. If she could have just kept her damn hands to herself for once . . .
But more people are coming into the room now, and they keep having to get caught up on what's gone down, and it buys Mike some time to try to come up with an answer.
Unfortunately, he can't think of anything to say.
Sam's the last student to arrive.
“What the hell?” he asks at the ruckus.
“Mike did something that Tina found out about and now she's God only knows where crying, and he won't tell us what he did,” Mercedes answers.
Thankfully, everyone's back is to the door, so no one except for Mike sees the look of sheer panic on Sam's face.
Santana must sense it, though, because she gives Mike a wink and how did Santana figure it out, anyway?
“Seriously, dude, what the hell?” Finn asks, and that, for some reason, sets Mike off.
“I'm gay, all right!” he shouts. He's pretty sure no one here has ever heard him shout before, and everyone stops dead in their tracks.
“You're what?” Artie asks.
“I'm gay, and I told Tina because I couldn't keep lying to her anymore, and that's why she's upset.” Mike manages to feel both awful and relieved at the same time. This thing about him is out there in the world now, and it does feel like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders, but he knows there's a price to it.
“I can't believe--” Quinn starts to say, but someone clears their throat from the back of the room.
“Guys,” Mr. Schue says. He's standing there with the piano dude and Mike's not sure how long they've been there, but he thanks every deity in the world that he's not going to have to finish this conversation. “I get that something big just happened, but we have work to do. Deal with it outside of class, okay?”
Everyone nods and finds their seats, and Mike hopes that that will be the end of it.
* * *
Santana warns her as soon as they enter the choir room not to say anything.
“Let me handle this. If we play it right, everyone will fess up and we won't have to deal with all this angst-y secret relationship bullshit anymore.”
Brittany hopes that's the case, because she really doesn't get it. She feels so much better now that she and Santana can kiss each other in public, and she knows that everyone else will feel better, too, once they can be open about their relationships.
Santana has told her in the past that it's not that simple, but Brittany doesn't get why it's not. Love is love, and who really cares who you're in love with? She knows that other people sometimes need time to come around--look at Santana, for instance--but she's confidant that everyone will be happier when they do.
So she's really happy for Mike when he finally tells everyone the truth, because he's a super-awesome guy and he deserves to be happy. She thinks that maybe Sam will come out, too, but then Mr. Schue's there and making them all take their seats and it looks like that's the end of their coming-out-a-thon.
“Why don't we just tell everyone about everything?” Brittany whispers in Santana's ear as they start moving.
“It's better if they do it for themselves,” Santana says, and it's another thing Brittany doesn't get, but Santana's the one who's had experience overcoming the whatever that makes people repressed and sad, so Brittany trusts her.
Brittany sits in the middle of the back row with Santana. Sam's the only one willing to sit next to Mike in the front row, and Quinn and Mercedes sit directly behind them, to Brittany's right. Lauren sits on the other side of Santana, and the front row fills in with Finn, Rachel, Puck, and Artie.
Brittany thinks it's cute how the couples all ended up sitting by each other, but Santana's told her not to say anything, so she keeps her mouth shut, for her friends' sakes.
Brittany's not a very good student, but she's very good at getting into trouble during class, so when Mr. Schue tells them all to settle down but doesn't give them anything else to do while he searches through his bag, she knows everyone's going to start talking and that the subject of Mike will come up again.
“I just can't believe you would do that to Tina,” Quinn leans over and says to Mike. She speaks quietly, but loud enough that everyone can still hear her. “You're the nice guy, the good guy. What happened?”
Brittany feels her phone vibrate in her bag. She pulls it out; Santana has sent her a text:
subtext: q hates herself 4 using sam the same way
Brittany grins; as Santana has told her many times, there's nothing more passive-aggressively awesome than judging people through text while you're in the same room as they are.
“Yeah,” Mercedes adds. “I mean, of course it's fine that you're gay, but dating someone just to--”
“Knock it off,” Sam turns around and says to them. “What the hell do you two know about it, anyway?”
“What the hell do you know about it?” Mercedes asks.
Brittany shoots Santana a text back:
he's gonna crack
“A lot,” he says angrily. “A damn lot.”
“Guys,” Mr. Schue tries saying from the front of the room, but nobody's paying any attention.
“Wait . . .” Rachel says. “Are you gay?”
Sam swallows hard. “Yeah,” he says, “Yeah, I am.” He reaches his hand out to Mike, who grabs it gratefully. “We're dating.”
The next text Brittany sends merely says:
eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
“That's why you broke up with me?” Quinn asks, gobsmacked.
Santana snorts. “Oh, princess,” she grins. “Like you should talk.”
As she's speaking, she's typing, and she sends to Brittany:
i know i said we shouldnt help but she needed a push
“What's that supposed to mean?” Finn asks.
Quinn looks ready to kill Santana. “Nothing. It doesn't mean anything.”
“Quinn,” Mercedes murmurs. They look at each other, and Brittany watches them have a conversation with their eyes the same way she and Santana do, and it seems to give Quinn the courage she needs.
“Fine,” she says. “I, uh . . . I'm a lesbian.”
“Fucking seriously?” Puck says. “You played me all last year and I never even had a chance?”
This seems like a good opportunity for Santana to call him on his shit, but Mercedes speaks before she gets a chance.
“You better lay off my woman, Puckerman,” Mercedes says with a finger wave and a head bob and everything.
“Your woman?” Mike asks, pulling an epic Mike-Chang face of confusion.
“Did I stutter?”
“Oh, for fuck's sake,” Puck buries his face in his hands, and Brittany wonders if Mr. Schue is going to tell him to stop swearing, but their teacher looks too shocked at how things are progressing to say anything.
“What?” Mercedes asks, and she's clearly looking for a fight.
“Two of my ex-girlfriends are dating each other!” Puck says.
“We didn't really date, you remember that, right?”
“Whatever. It's still fucking weird!” Puck pauses to think. “And hot. Can I watch?”
Artie smacks him across the chest, and Brittany knows Santana told her not to say anything, but she thinks she gets how this game works now, and this is a golden opportunity.
“Gosh,” Brittany says flatly, “it's so strange that Artie just hit Puck for asking that. I wonder what could have caused him to do that?”
“Yeah,” Quinn says, “what did cause him to do that? That sounds like something Artie would say, not be mad about.”
Brittany gets another text from Santana:
i fucking love you
“ . . . I have recently discovered feminist tendencies?” Artie tries.
“Oh, fuck it, dude,” Puck says. “Artie and I are totally hooking up.”
“Bisexuals represent,” Artie adds, pounding his chest twice and flashing the peace sign.
“Okay, this has officially gotten ridiculous,” Sam says.
“And statistically improbable,” Rachel puts in.
“What I don't get,” Mike says, looking up at Santana, “is how you knew about all of this. I've been watching you, and you haven't been surprised once.”
“Maybe because y'all are about as subtle as a Mack truck hitting a toddler?” Lauren says, looking up from her notebook.
Santana is genuinely impressed and holds up her hand. “High five for being devious enough to notice this shit,” Santana says. Lauren slaps her hand.
Artie's eyes narrow on Lauren's notebook. “Hold up. Have you been writing down everything that's been going on?”
“Duh!” Lauren says. “How do you think I write all of my Harry Potter fan fiction? I just write down what happens in glee and change the names to Hogwarts students.” She smirks. “Rachel is usually Hermione, but since she hasn't expressed any tendency toward femslash yet, I'm going to use Quinn instead.”
Brittany's never read the books or seen the movies, so she can't tell if Quinn looks pissed off because she's mad about being Hermione or because she just got compared to Rachel.
“Also, it's important for the integrity of the story for me to know: has any girl in here slept with Tina yet?”
“Tina's not--” Artie starts, but he stops when he sees Brittany and Santana raise their hands.
“Bitch, please,” Lauren says to him. “She checks out Brittany just as much as you do.”
“Okay, guys?” Mr. Schue says. It looks like he's finally taking back control of the class. Brittany holds out her pinky and Santana links her own with it, and Brittany can tell that her girlfriend is pretty pleased with how this turned out.
* * *
Will knows he should have intervened sooner. He should have intervened a lot sooner, because no one needs to know that much abut their students, but seeing an hour's worth of Maury drama unravel in the span of five minutes is enough to shock anyone into submission.
And he's sort of glad he let them work it all out. Even if everyone looks a little angry and hostile and kind of terrified, they also look freer, somehow. Confession is good for the soul, Will knows, and he's happy his kids have gotten the chance to let go of the secrets that have been holding them captive for so long.
“I'm glad you've all gotten to share things in a safe space,” he says, “but we need to start rehearsing.” He's about to tell them to see Emma if they want to discuss things further, but Finn, who's been sitting in the front row with his brows becoming increasingly furrowed, gets up to address the group.
“Wait a second,” Finn says. “You've all been lying to us this entire time?”
“Finn,” Will says, but it's mostly a cursory gesture, because he knows it takes a lot to get Finn going about something, but once he's started he can't really be stopped.
“We dated,” Finn says, looking at Quinn, “and you gave me hell for joining glee because you thought it was too gay,” he looks at Puck, “and now you're saying you kept this big huge thing from me?”
“From us,” Rachel corrects, and she goes to join Finn at the front of the room. “Glee's supposed to be a family, and this is the type of thing you tell your family.”
At this point, Will gives up trying to get the group on track. He'll stop things if they start to escalate, but it sounds like his kids still have stuff to work out, and nothing's going to get accomplished if they don't do it.
“It's not the type of thing I can tell my family,” he hears Mike mutter, but it's Quinn who directly challenges Rachel and Finn.
“Oh, thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Heteronormativity, for making our pain all about you.”
“I'm sorry,” Finn says, “but it hurts when you find out your closest friends don't trust you enough to tell you the truth about themselves.”
“And what about Kurt?” Rachel asks. “You tried to help him stand up to the bullying, sure, but the thing you could have really done? Help alleviate the loneliness, the isolation of being the only gay kid in school? You let him suffer alone when you could have helped him in ways Finn and I never could.”
That's enough to make the rest of the club look abashed.
Finn turns to Will. “I can't rehearse today,” he says. “I need time to think.”
“And I need to go let out my feelings with a thematically appropriate song,” Rachel says, and they both walk out of the choir room.
Will looks down at the sheet music he was going to hand out. “When a Man Loves a Woman” doesn't seem like a particularly good idea at the moment.
He glances at Brad, who's taken his seat at the piano. “I think I'm going to call an audible on this one,” Will whispers to him.
“Good plan,” Brad says back, although the disdain he usually has in his voice and demeanor is softened by the sheer WTF-ness of everything they've just witnessed.
“All right,” Will says to the group. “Let's do some vocal warm-ups.” There's no segue there, he realizes, but he's not really sure what else he can say.
* * *
Finn sits on the bleachers and surveys the football field. They've had a recent warm-up, and the field is all sorts of muddy. He wonders what the conditions are like in Canton, where the championship game is going to be held.
He hears someone climb up onto the bleachers, and he feels the dip of the bench as the person sits down next to him, but he doesn't take his eyes off the field. He knows who it is, anyway.
“I thought you were going to the auditorium,” Finn says.
“I was,” Rachel replies, “but Tina was in there crying, and as much as I'm sure she'd appreciate my rendition of Billy Joel's 'A Matter of Trust,' I thought now might not be the best time.”
Finn smiles a little, the way he always does when Rachel manages to do something not completely selfish (no matter how small a gesture it might be). “You could always sing it out here.”
Rachel shakes her head. “That's all right. The lyrics don't really fit, anyway. I just never thought I'd have to have a song prepared for the possibility that three-quarters of the glee club turned out to be members of the LGBT community.”
“That's not even what I care about, y'know?” Finn says, and he finally turns and looks at Rachel. “I just hate being lied to.”
“I know,” she says.
“And it's like, I get not telling the rest of the school, but it's us. It's glee. Where you're supposed to be able to be who you are. Like we give a damn if someone's gay or whatever.” Rachel raises her eyebrows at him questioningly. “Okay, but I got there eventually. And they all saw me get there.”
“True,” she concedes. They're silent for minute. “I think we're being too hard on them, though.”
“I know we are,” Finn says. Because now that he's had a chance to cool down and think about things, he realizes how insanely tough it must have been on his friends to keep those secrets, and how the cruel world they live in forced them to. It doesn't make him feel less bad that they didn't trust him, but he understands why they didn't. “It's just a lot to take in,” he sighs.
A bell rings off in the distance. It's the signal to change for gym class, which means five minutes until the period is over.
“Come over tonight,” Rachel says. Finn just looks at her. “I don't mean it like that. But I think we should prepare something, a song, to apologize for our reactions.”
Finn nods. “Yeah, that's a good idea.”
At the before-school glee rehearsal the next day, they sing a duet arrangement of “If You Were Gay” from Avenue Q to their friends, which culminates in a full-group kick-line (Artie mimics the motions with his arms). No one in the room says the words, “I'm sorry,” but everyone's forgiven anyway.
* * *
Tina knows there's a conversation she needs to have, though. So she takes the hall pass from the library and makes her way down to the gym during second period.
She stands at the side of the bleachers and hisses Mike's name until she gets his attention.
“Oh!” he says, and he looks a little surprised, but when she motions toward the door with her head, he gets up and follows her into the hallway.
“So, what's up?” Mike asks.
“Look,” Tina says, “I can't say that I'm not still a little mad at you, because I am.” Mike looks bummed, but she knows that if they want to salvage any sort of relationship, they have to be honest with each other. “But I shouldn't have blown up at you like I did. I'm sorry.”
“You don't have to be,” Mike sighs. “You have every right to be angry.”
Tina shakes her head. “I know your parents, Mike. Traditional is an understatement when it comes to them. I get why you didn't want to come out. Hell, my parents don't know everything about me, and they went to Berkeley.” She pauses. “And really, it's a little hypocritical for me to be mad. I didn't tell you I was bi, either.”
Mike shoots her a look. “I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but it's apples and oranges.”
“Yeah. It was worth a shot, though.” She smiles at him, and he returns it. “But you could have told me, you know. I totally would have been your pretend girlfriend.”
“I have no idea why I didn't,” Mike says. “I knew that all of the glee kids would be cool about it. It just . . . seemed like it was too much for me. Like it was too big for me to handle, and the only way I could handle it was to ignore it.”
“I get that,” Tina says, and to a certain degree, she does. She also knows that their situations, while being similar, are not the same, and that she will never know exactly what it's like to be gay, while he'll never know the unique challenges of being bisexual.
That doesn't mean they can't be there to support each other.
“I can't be friends with you quite yet,” Tina says. “But in a couple of weeks, once I've got my shit together? You think you could maybe use a hag?”
They both start cracking up, because really, who would have thought they'd ever be in this situation?
“Yeah,” Mike grins. “I definitely could.”
* * *
Coach Beiste made them a very specific schedule for the week leading up to game day, and that's why they're in the locker room on a Wednesday afternoon instead of in glee.
Finn thinks it's a good thing Mr. Schue and Coach Beiste get along so well; if they didn't, this week could have turned into the disaster that happened with Tanaka last season.
(Although it's funny how this year, even though he likes Beiste a lot, he doesn't have any hesitation about which team he'd choose.)
He walks back to his locker clad only in his towel and flip-flops, and as he makes the turn into his locker row, he has to stop himself from laughing.
The first vaguely hilarious thing is that the only other guys in his row are Puck, Artie, Mike, and Sam. Which means that he's the only straight dude changing clothes there.
He's glad he got over his issues, although it's admittedly easier to do when all of the guys who could possibly be checking you out are right next to their boyfriends.
The second vaguely hilarious thing is the change in his friends' demeanors now that they're all out to each other. None of them are talking, or looking at each other, or talking to or looking at any of the other guys on the football team, either. It's like they're trying so hard not to betray anything about themselves that they're betraying everything.
“Guys?” Finn says. They all turn and look at him. “You're being super-obvious.”
“What?” Artie asks.
Finn lowers his voice. “You remember last practice when you guys were all pretending to be straight but didn't know that everybody else was, too? That worked better. Do that.”
The guys all look at each other, and finally Sam bursts out laughing. “We? Are idiots,” he says, and he whips Puck in the head with his towel before going to throw it in the laundry bin.
Everybody else starts laughing, too, and Finn starts to get changed with his friends acting normal again.
He's just gotten his pants on when Mike starts talking about how he and Brittany are thinking about getting fake IDs so they can try out for So You Think You Can Dance?, and that's when Karofsky walks by.
“Fag,” he says, rolling his eyes. Finn's about to lay into him, but Puck gets there first.
“What's your deal, dickweed?” he sneers.
“Sorry,” Karofsky mock apologizes. “I didn't mean to insult your boyfriend.”
“Puck's not my boyfriend,” Mike says, glancing over Karofsky's shoulder. Finn looks over, too, and sees Sam standing right behind Karofsky, absolutely seething with rage.
“I am,” Sam says, and Finn has to admire how awesomely Batman the whole thing is, because Sam takes advantage of Karofsky being completely caught off guard to push him into the lockers.
“Wait, what?” Azimio says, poking his head out from the next row of lockers.
“You heard the man,” Puck says. “And for the record? I'm into both dudes and chicks, and you can go fuck yourself if you've got a problem with that.”
“Ditto for me,” Artie says.
Finn looks at his friends in awe. They are both incredibly courageous and incredibly stupid.
Azimio's jaw drops. “Holy shit. Glee club really does turn people gay. Hudson? You joining up with the queer army, too?”
“Nope,” Finn says. “Still straight. But totally willing to kick your ass if you mess with my friends.”
“Oh, we'll see about that,” Karofsky says.
“C'mon,” one of the smaller guys on the team, Grady, pipes up from the back. “Do we really need to--”
“Yes!” Karofsky barks at him. He and Azimio and few of the other players start to advance on the glee guys. “They need to be shown what happens to freaks like them . . .”
“Hey!” The jocks stop at the sound. It's Coach Beiste, barreling into the locker room after cleaning up the field from practice. “What do you people think you're doing?”
“Nothin',” Azimio says, clearly assuming that the usual jock code of silence is going to protect him.
Well, Finn Hudson says fuck that noise.
“They were hassling Mike and Sam and Puck and Artie because they're gay,” he blurts out. When Puck elbows him in the side, he adds, “Or bi. Whatever, they're still being homophobic.”
Coach Beiste glances back and forth between the glee football players and their tormenters a few times, as if trying to process what she's just heard.
“Team meeting, at the white boards, now,” she finally says. She looks pointedly at Azimio and Karofsky. “Anybody who doesn't show up is automatically off the team.”
Everyone finishes changing and goes to sit on the benches.
“Now, what I'm hearing is that some members of the team aren't straight. Is that right?” Beiste asks. Mike, Sam, Puck, and Artie nod. “And some other members of the team are giving them a hard time about it. Is that right?” They nod again.
“Coach, it's not our fault,” Azimio says. “I can't play knowing a bunch of dudes might be looking at my junk while I'm changing!”
“You managed to play when Kurt Hummel was on the team,” Mike points out.
“Kurt played football?” Sam whispers.
“It was a whole thing,” Artie whispers back.
“That was different,” Azimio says. “Hummel's such a flamer you can see him from space. I could cover up when Hummel was around. Y'all are some stealth gays. I've been showering with dudes I didn't know were homos for years!”
“But somehow,” Puck rolls his eyes, “we've all managed to keep our hands off of you.”
“Listen,” Beiste cuts in. “We are a team. We are a team even if some of our players like to kiss guys. We are a team even if some of our players like to sing and dance. We are a team even if some of our players like to wear dresses or recite Shakespeare or play with My Little Ponies, all right? It doesn't matter. If you can run a football, if you can throw a block, if you can tackle a halfback, you are a part of this team. And this team will sink or swim depending on how united we are. We all need to have each other's backs, or we stand no chance. And, like most things, what applies in football also applies in life. Are we clear?”
A lot of the jocks look chastened by Beiste's speech. Even Azimio, as pissed as he looks, nods his head in agreement.
“Good. If I hear anyone give these kids grief, I am throwing you off the team and you are going to have a long, miserable talk with the principal. And I know some of you can't afford to have another one of those.” Finn follows her gaze to look at Karofsky, who is absolutely shaking with anger at this point.
“Fuck this,” he says, and he stands up.
“What did you say, Karofsky?” Beiste asks.
“Fuck this. I am not playing football with a bunch of fucking fags.” Karofsky's so angry he has tears in his eyes, which Finn finds super-weird, and he kicks the locker nearest to him before he storms out of the locker room.
“If you leave now, you are never playing football here again, do you understand me?” Beiste calls, but Karofsky just keeps walking.
* * *
The next day, Finn's on his way to his first class when he sees Karofsky at his locker with a duffel bag. It looks like he's cleaning all the stuff out of his locker.
“Dude,” Finn says, walking up to him. It's not like he wants Karofsky to stay, or anything, but he's curious about what's up.
“Yeah?” Karofsky says. He looks like he wants to start a fight, but Finn's not really up for one today.
“What are you doing?” he asks instead.
“What does it look like, dumbass? I'm cleaning out my locker.”
“Yeah, but why?”
Karofsky gets an angry, far away look on his face. “I'm transferring,” he says.
“To where?”
Karofsky speaks in a low, exasperated voice, like he can't believe he's actually talking to Finn. “There's this boarding school in Michigan. My dad's making me go there.”
“Because of what happened at practice yesterday?” Finn asks.
“No. Because I went home and smashed the TV in with a baseball bat.”
Damn. “Dude, that's messed up,” Finn says.
“Yeah, well . . . my dad says I have anger-management issues or some shit, so . . . I'm leaving. Going to a 'better environment where I can learn to control my emotions', or whatever.”
Finn studies the guy in front of him. Karofsky looks less intimidating than he usually does. More tired, certainly, but maybe a little scared, too.
“Look,” Finn says, “I can't say I'm going to miss you, but--”
Karofsky puts up a hand to cut him off. “Hudson. I don't need your pity, your look-at-me-I'm-such-a-good-guy-for-feeling-sorry-for-somebody-else speech, all right?” He throws one last stack of binders into his bag and slams his locker shut.
“Well, good luck, anyway,” Finn says.
Karofsky stares at him for a second, like he wants to say something, but he just mutters, “Thanks,” and walks away.
* * *
“Wow,” Burt says from across the dinner table.
“I know, right?” Finn says, taking a drink from his glass of milk.
“Well, that's great news, isn't it?” Carole says. “Without that Karofsky boy in school, Kurt can come back if he wants.”
“I don't know,” Burt says. “It sounds like there are still a lot of bullies at McKinley.”
“There are,” Finn admits. “But they've got nothing on Karofsky. I mean, I wouldn't blame Kurt if he wanted to stay at Dalton, but I know there are things he likes about here better than he likes about there.” Like glee club, although Finn's not sure that Kurt dislikes doing a cappella enough to brave the halls of McKinley again.
“Well,” Burt says, “why don't you give him a call tonight? You know more about the situation than I do; tell him what happened and see what he wants to do. Let him know I support him however he wants to handle things.”
“We both do,” Carole says, taking Burt's hand.
After dinner, Finn calls Kurt.
“What's up?” Kurt answers his phone.
“Hey,” Finn says. “I just wanted to let you know that Karofsky left McKinley today.”
There's a pause before Kurt speaks. “What do you mean?”
“He's transferring schools. He freaked out at practice yesterday, got kicked off the team, and I guess he went home and did some damage to his house. His dad's sending him to get, like, anger management and stuff.”
Again, there's silence on Kurt's end of the line. “Wow,” he eventually says.
“Yeah. So, I mean, I'm not saying you have to come back to McKinley, because I totally get if you don't want to, but--”
“What set him off at practice?” Kurt asks.
It occurs to Finn that he hasn't talked to Kurt since everything about everyone finally came out. “Uh, have you talked to Mercedes lately?” he asks.
“Yeah, Tuesday night. Why?”
“Did she . . . maybe mention a whole bunch of drama that went down that day?”
“. . . No. What happened?”
Finn's not totally sure why Mercedes didn't tell Kurt that most of his former glee teammates are now in same-sex relationships, but he thinks it might have something to do with that thing Rachel said, about how they could have helped Kurt feel less alone. It's probably going to hurt him to find out that all of these people had something in common with him that they never shared, and Finn doesn't really want to be the one to tell him about it, but the dude's going to find out eventually, and it might as well be now.
“Well . . .” he starts, “I'm not sure how to tell you this, but Mercedes is, um, dating Quinn.”
Finn feels like he's heard Kurt go silent way more than he's heard him talk during this conversation. “I knew that,” Kurt finally says. “How did you know that?”
So Finn spends the next few minutes filling Kurt in on everything, everyone's relationships and sexual orientations and all the stuff that happened in glee and at football practice. It takes a few minutes, but Kurt gets caught up.
“Wow. I . . . kind of don't know what to say about all of that.”
“I know,” Finn says. “It's a lot to take in.”
“Look,” Kurt says, “I know you probably want an answer now about whether I'm going to come back or not, but I need to think about it.”
“I understand,” Finn says. “No rush. Well, I mean, it would probably be good if you could make a decision before Regionals, but--”
“I think I can do that,” Kurt laughs a little bit. It's the first time he's laughed their whole conversation. “And good luck at the game on Saturday. I wish I could make it, but I have to sing at this nursing home with the Warblers . . .”
“No problem. I know you'd be there if you could be,” Finn says. “Anyway, uh, take care of yourself.”
“Thanks. You, too.”
* * *
Against all odds, the McKinley Titans win the State Championship 35 to 17. A lot of it has to do with the fact that the bulk of their offense involved either Sam or Puck pushing Artie full force down the field, something that everyone's pretty sure will be illegal when the next year's rulebook is published, but no one really cares about that right now.
Artie is hoisted, chair and all, into the air by his appreciative teammates. They're so appreciative that no one gives it a second glance when Sam and Mike exchange a kiss in the end zone, or when Brittany and Santana basically have sex with each other on the sidelines following the win.
In fact, even some of the most homophobic dudes are patting Puck on the back or slapping Finn's helmet in celebration. It's interesting, Finn thinks, how the glee kids have been trying to win show choir competitions to improve their reputations, when apparently all they had to do was win the school a football trophy.
He's not sure how long the goodwill toward his friends will last, but he'll take it while he can get it.
* * *
Kurt can't remember the last time he was this nervous to go to school.
Well, he can, it was during the Karofsky debacle, but this feeling is different. It's the feeling of not really knowing what you're walking into. He doesn't know what his reception back at McKinley will be like, and he doesn't know how his reception at glee is going to go, either.
It's Monday morning, and he has his transfer papers in his bag. He had wanted to get this done before school, but he was late, because he carpooled with Finn and Finn is always late, so he goes to see Ms. Pillsbury (-Howell, now, he supposes) during first period and ends up talking to her about bullying prevention and the anti-bullying policies at Dalton, which turns into a meeting with Principal Figgins (and Sue Sylvester, because that's just how things work at McKinley, although he's pleased that she's sticking with the “Porcelain” nickname), and finally he gets to actually go to class.
Just in time for third period, which is, of course, glee.
He had wanted to keep his return a secret, if only for the grand entrance he could make, but Finn sends him a text while he's listening to Sue discuss possible bully punishments (including, but not limited to, the rack, Chinese water torture, and constant exposure to Poison, [the band, not the method of death]), and Finn has apparently spilled the beans to Mercedes. Which means that the whole club knows by now.
And, as much as Kurt's wondering what their reaction to him will be, he's also wondering what his reaction to them will be. Because they all (well, most of them) kept some very important secrets from him. He has every right to be mad about it, that they let him take the brunt of the bullying while they stayed safe in the closet.
He still gets his grand entrance to glee club; everyone else is already there, and as soon as he walks in the room, all eyes are on him.
He surveys his friends; every face is apologetic, and every person looks guilty.
Really, though, Kurt's known all along how he would handle this moment. He knows that the pain of the closet in every way cancels out the pain they were able to avoid from bullying. And, for the same reason he has still never told anyone but Blaine about Karofsky, he knows that he cannot hold a grudge against these people--his friends--for not being able to handle the hurt that comes from being out in Lima, Ohio.
He looks at the group. “So,” he says, his voice as haughty yet sardonic as he can make it, “word on the street is that, of all the guys in glee, you people let me crush on the only straight one. I'm not sure if I can ever forgive you.” He maintains his tone for the whole speech, but he can't stop himself from cracking a smile once he's finished. The sense of relief in the room is palpable. Finn shoots him an easy grin and Mercedes pats the seat between her and Quinn.
“Oh, please,” he says as he makes his way over to her, “I can't be breaking up the lovebirds, now, can I?”
* * *
When Will walks into the choir room, it is the most joyous atmosphere he's seen in ages. All the couples are together, Brittany and Santana hooking pinkies, Mike with his arm around Sam, Artie and Puck engaged in a heated discussion, Mercedes with her head resting on Quinn's shoulder. Lauren's showing Tina something on her phone, and it looks like there could be the start of a friendship there. And Kurt's finally back, laughing at something Rachel has said, and she's laughing, too, even if she's trying to maintain her usual dignified air.
Will catches Finn's eye, and they both grin at each other, because this is how it's supposed to be.
“Okay, guys,” Will says, and everyone quiets down. “First of all, a big congratulations to the members of our State Champion football team!”
The group applauds, and Sam gives a goofy bow.
“Secondly, I'd like to welcome back our favorite counter-tenor, Mr. Kurt Hummel!”
Everyone claps again, and Kurt stands up to mock Sam's bow, which earns him a good-natured swat to the arm from Mike.
“Now, I know it's been a crazy week for everybody,” Will says.
“But we need to get serious about rehearsing,” Quinn finishes for him.
Will laughs. He's maybe been a bit obsessive about that recently. “Yes. But I just wanted to let you guys know . . .” he trails off, trying to find the right words. “. . . how proud I am of you. It's not easy to be yourself in high school. It's especially not easy to be yourself when you're something other people don't want to accept. But you are all some of the bravest people I have met in my entire life, and you have demonstrated so much personal growth in the last year and a half, and I am so proud and honored to be your teacher. If you ever need help because someone's giving you a hard time, please let me know, and I will do everything in my power to help you.”
Shannon told him what happened in the locker room, and Will knows that his kids have a hard road ahead of them. And he knows that there are limits to what he can do to help them. But damn it, he is going to try, even if the only thing he can do is give them one hour a day when they feel like they belong.
“That brings us to the new song assignment,” Will says. He starts handing out the music. “It's 'Freedom '90', by George Michael.”
“That's a little on-the-nose, don't you think?” Kurt smirks from the back row.
“Well,” Will smiles, “it fit you all too well for me to pass it up. Now, as for this arrangement, Kurt's taking the lead on the choruses, but everybody's got at least one solo line. You've earned it,” he adds as they start to get excited.
Yeah, they've definitely earned it.