singing you the right blues [emma/nick] [part 1]
It has been innapropriately long since I've posted but this fic (along with like 5 other WIP's) has been in the works since last Octoberish! That was the time when How I Met Your Mother suddenly became the HIMYM of Season One and Glee was being perfect and so were the boys and the stars aligned and this fic got started.
So! Hopefully this makes up for a ridiculous drought fic-wise:
Title: Singing You The Right Blues: Part One [Nick/Emma] [Glee/HIMYM/Disney RPF/Easy Academy AU (of an AU)]
Pairing/Character: Nick/Emma, but more of an ensemble fic.
Word Count: ~19,000
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Nick never saw himself joining Glee.
Author's Notes: Contains references across the board to ...everything? It takes place in a someone crossverse of McKinley High, mixed with Easy Academy teachers, mixed with Disney students, and HIMYM parents. Yeeeeah. I don't know either.
Takes place in the spectrum of Season 5 of HIMYM, Season 1 of Glee (loosely), and the endless cycle of Disney relationships.
When Nick was eight, he found flow charts titled 'Chart of Nick's Path to Success' behind the huge barrel in the living room. When Nick's mom found him, he was leaned against the wood, trying decipher why the charts went from the baby Broadway stints to 'musical prodigy' with this weird picture of Beethoven with Nick's face pasted on it, to a final arrow pointing to LAWYER. After his mom yelled at his dad ("Marshall! You can't make flow charts ABOUT YOUR SON!") and his dad trying to explain his logic ("Nicky, there wasn't enough ink to give you any other options. If it makes you feel better I'll show you the bar graph showing me and your mom's happiness levels when you were born...") she explained to him that no matter what he did, they'd love him.
It's not like they didn't try to influence it though. Mom was always asking him to help her with posters for her class and the looks of disappointment were worse when Nick's rhino looked more like a cat than when he brought home his first (and last) B. His parents' friends weren't much help either. They practically lived at the house on weekends, despite the fact that most had families of their own, and apparently had the right to offer input on his life. Uncle Ted took Lincoln Logs too seriously and dragged him, David, Uncle Ted's son, and Selena, Uncle Ted's step-child, to the City on Saturdays to point out "buildings that changed architecture." It became clear pretty quickly that this was every building in New York, with these trips happening faaar too often with few breaks in between. Barney--Nick tried to call him Uncle for a while but Barney was pretty adamant on not wanting to be "the old farts that your parents have become," so--didn't teach him much about his job. Nick had gone to McLaren's about four times with him, had a scotch, and learned how to pick up girls before his parents caught wind of what "babysit Nick for you" consisted of, though.
So yeah, maybe they did push him in a few directions, but Nick likes to think that he found music all by himself. The way his fingers seemed to find the chords when he picked up a guitar, the way his words seemed to find ways to shape themselves into songs, just, everything. And okay, maybe the flow chart of his life was starting to point in a certain direction when the Broadway stints were lined up to the regular McLaren's gigs him and David have started to get and the talent show first place that he got for one of his originals.
But still. Nick never thought he'd end up in Glee.
*****
Wendy's Wednesdays was what Finn determined the name to be. Nick had been trying to shoot down the stupid names all year but Finn had become pretty stuck on his McDonald's Mondays and Thirsty Thursdays (which, obviously, as Finn explained, involved either a smoothie or a milkshake.)
He and Joe share a parking spot this year, since he's a junior and Joe's a senior, but it's definitely his car that they're using. Prince the Mustang had been passed down from their older brother Kevin and when Kev went off to college, Joe had inherited her. After about three accidents within two months, his parents decided that it was probably best for Nick to have control the car and lend it out to Joe when he felt it appropriate. Nick felt the same way.
Nick got the car around the time him and Miley broke up though, and maybe it was just that he needed something to fill the void or something, but the summer after sophomore year, he's pretty sure he spent more hours underneath the car than in his own bed. Around the time of the new engine, a fresh coat of paint and racing stripes his baby was named Prince, or as Joe called her, "Nick's girlfriend."
Joe had Demi to drive him around everywhere, anyways, Nick figures. It's not his problem that 'shared spot' became 'his spot' preeetty quickly. Nick drives on Wednesdays ("Wendy's Wednesdays," Finn always corrects, as if that's going to catch on or something) and the minute the lunch bell rings, Nick shoves his chair into the desk in Coach Winters' English class and practically tumbles down the stairs in a rush for the door. He makes it to Prince in record time and it takes only a minute more for Finn to jump in behind him, panting from his sprint from the third floor.
"Hey, man," Finn says, catching his breath. "Puck's going to meet us there. I think he's driving a few of the Gleerios."
"The wha--?"
"Ya' know," he says, finally situated in shotgun and already pulling his ID out of his wallet to flash to the police guards to leave campus. "The Cheerio girls that are in Glee club."
Nick nods in affirmation. Finn and him have been best friends for a while, with Finn's mom raising him in the apartment complex Nick's family used to live in when they were kids. Finn's mom didn't share the same affinity his mom did for shopping but she became really good friends with Nick's dad, somehow. They've stayed close in high school but the Glee Club thing that Finn's doing has definitely brought some space into the relationship. It's not that Nick judges or anything--he totally gets how Finn feels about singing and about music, for one, -- it's just Nick doesn't really get the appeal. Finn's really into it though, so Nick doesn't really mention anything. He'll just let Finn do his own thing on this one.
Nick's whipping out of his parking spot and is getting ready to ease into the lunch traffic line, when Puck's monster truck pulls up next to him.
"Hey, Jonas!" Puck says, his aviators on and and a few Cheerio, Gleerios, Whatevrios, next to him and it just pisses Nick off a little, how cool Puck thinks he looks. It isn't that they aren't friends or anything, it's just that even after three years of high school, Nick is still getting used to how full of it Puck is. Still.
"What's up Puck?" Nick really can't help himself from rolling his eyes. Puck doesn't notice.
"See you at Wendy's right? Want to see if that dinky little car of yours can still take the Hulk?" Puck grins, revving his engine, as if its NASCAR or something.
"Nah Puck," Finn says uneasily, glancing at Nick. "We'll just see you there--"
"Alright," Nick says, grinding his teeth. "Lunch is on the loser."
"Nick--" Finn grits, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We are NOT doing this."
And yeah, maybe Nick should listen, but he has a hard time ignoring competition in general. But ignoring a dig from Puck? Kiiiind of impossible.
He shrugs off Finn's hand and revvs Prince. Nick is serious when it comes to competition (and okay, a lot of other things) and isn't about to let any other kids out in front of him; he rides the bumper of Puck's car through the traffic line on school grounds. Actually he's pretty sure he edged out the Mosby's Volvo at one point, recieving a rude gesture from David, but he's not really phased by this point because he kind of has his head in the game. They finally get out of the lunch traffic line and Prince growls a little when Nick spins her out of the school, following close behind Puck. The seats shake and he has to shift gears pretty quickly to keep her from stalling in mid acceleration, and already, he can see Finn to the right of him, gripping his seat like a a kid who ate too much before a rollercoaster.
"Jesus, Nick!" Finn swears, under his breath, staring straight ahead at the road, as Nick breaks suddenly in order to keep from barreling into the old lady driving in front of him. Well, he can't really see who's in the preceeding car, but the rate that person's driving, he'd say its a safe bet to put them in the senior citizen category.
He pulls in front of Puck at a stop light, switching lanes at the last second. Nick whoops and turns around to flash a grin at the car behind him. It's not even that Nick likes going fast, mostly for safety reasons, but it's such a rush winning a race, really. Finn swings around also, and yells "Suck itttt!" He turns around pretty quickly though and glances over at Nick.
"Yeaah, he just flicked us off."
It's whatever though because Nick's already swerving into a left turn the minute the light turns green, trying to ignore the incessant whining coming from underneath Prince's hood.
"It'll be over soon, baby," he says, patting the dashboard quickly and ignoring the weirded out look on Finn's face. "Just ride this one out for me."
"Freak," Finn says under his breath.
They end up on the two lane roads near the fast food strips, Nick right on Puck's tail, who has managed to reel around them in a completely illegal maneuver. The dotted yellow lines begin to approach and Nick glances over at Finn.
"Dude, you ready for this?"
He barely hears Finn's 'God, no' over the groan of Prince as he guns him into the opposite lane, preparing for a pass. Prince whines even more as Nick pushes it further, further, until he sees a safe (well, relatively safe) distance ahead of Puck to swerve in front of him. Nick turns his steering wheel slightly, and Prince clips Puck's car off, taking the lead.
"Yes!" Finn shouts, high fiving Nick. "And THAT'S how you do it!"
Nick grins and begins to pump the gas pedal. They might as well finish this off strong, he figures. Instead of roaring ahead, however, Prince, gives a huge rattling sound and the car decellerates completely, and Nick has to struggle to keep control of it. Nick's heart plummets. Despite his hands, which have begun incessantly shaking, he manages to maneuver it into the Wendy's parking lot about a quarter blockdown the road, but Prince's engine gives a sputter that sounds serious when he finally pulls her into park.
Nick feels nauseaus and all he can do for a few minutes is sit there staring at the dashboard, his stomach rolling and Finn glancing at him nervously, like he thinks Nick can't see him. He can't believe himself; how could he be so irresponsible? All the hours and money spent on Prince for a few moments of satisfaction are just so unlike him and even though he knows he won't do something like this again, it sucks so much to have to explain this to his parents. They aren't yellers, but they've always held Nick on some kind of pedestal and their dissapointed looks make Nick feel sick again just thinking about it.
Puck pulls up with the girls and he doesn't mention the race, instead quietly hands Nick his AAA card to call the car service. The company says they can send a tow truck within the hour but the estimate they give for the engine takes away the new Gibson guitar he's had his eye in a second, and without even thinking about it, Nick says no and hangs up the phone. The twisting in his stomach is seriously the worst feeling in the world, right now and it's not even like he can do anything about it: this is completely his fault. He sits there for a minute and Finn says they might as well get lunch and Puck can take them back to school so they can figure it out there. Nick isn't hungry anymore but there's not much he can do at the moment so they head inside the Wendy's. Finn, Puck, Quinn and Santana, he thinks is the Cheerios' name, Nick guesses, not that it even matters right now, step in line behind the five or six high schoolers that beat them to it, and Nick mentions that he's not getting anything and he'll just grab a table. It's not like he has money to drop on take out as of now.
Finn leans against the waiting rails looking concerned, but nods. It's Puck though, he seems to see how sick Nick feels (because, ugh, he feels sick). Puck still has a few more people in front of him when he leans towards Nick. There's this weird look on his face, a mixture of exasperation and ...compassion? constipation? hopefully compassion?
"Listen man. Don't worry about it. This kid in Glee Club, Kurt? His dad's a mechanic and I'm sure if you got Finn to flirt him up a little he could tow and fix your 'Stang up for cheap."
Finn blushes a little and scratches the back of his neck. "Naw dude, he's just my friend. I can definitely ask him for you though. Leave your car here, meet me after school, and we'll ask him before Glee."
This is such as relief to hear and Nick feels a little of the panic leaving his chest.
"Hey, thanks," he says to Puck, just because.
"Whatever man," Puck says, already acting like the gesture didn't happen. Lunch is uneventful, with Quinn devouring a weird mixture of a burger with ice cream on top, and justifying it with "I'm pregnant, stop looking at me like that," and the rest of them arguing about a music number in Glee. It's not like he'd find the conversation riveting on a normal day, but Nick can hardly keep his mind off of his car to even attempt paying attention. The rest of classes go by pretty slowly as Nick sits through the remaining two hours worrying about people carjacking Prince in the middle of Wendy's. Or people keying the poor thing. Or her rolling away. The scenarios are endless, honestly.
Nick pretty much sprints to the chorus room after school, so it's pretty early when he gets there, and instead of kids from Glee, it's only Mr. Schuester in there chatting with another teacher.
"Hey Nick!" Mr Shue says, and Nick feels himself relaxe. He's never had Mr. Shuester before but he's gotten used to teachers knowing his name, thanks to the official title of 'Joe Erikson's Good Little Brother.' Mr. Shue's a geniune guy though and despite their lack of communication, the man still knows his name.
"How's it going, Mr. Shuester?" Nick says, smiling.
"You finally joining Glee Club?" Mr. Shue says, excitedly, like he has the form ready for him to fill out in his back pocket.
Nick's French teacher, Mr. Nixon starts laughing. "Shue, calm down," Mr. Nixon's voice is rough, but he's really great too. Nick's actually pretty sure he's one of Mr. Nixon's favorites, but he is pretty good at French. "People are going to think Glee isn't popular or something if you keep acting like that."
"Shut up, Lew," Mr. Shuester grins. "But really Nick, what can I do for you?"
"I'm actually waiting for Kurt and Finn because my car---" Nick feels kind of bad because Shue's so freaking excited for him to be there, so when Finn rounds the corner with Kurt in step with him, he immediately cuts off his sentence with a , "--hey guys!"
"Nick," Finn grins at him. "Kurt said his dad could definitely tow Prince over to the shop and fix her up, man."
"Wow, thanks Kurt," Nick smiles at him. "I really appreciate it. Just tell your dad to name the price and--"
"Don't worry about it, Nick." Kurt says primly, his head tilted slightly upward and if Nick didn't hear about what a great guy he was from Finn, he'd say the kid's a little snooty. "From one musician to another, let's just call it a favor."
"See, Nick-o?" Finn smiles, squeezing Kurt's shoulder tightly. Nick tries to ignore how red Kurt turns at this, how he leans in a little to Finn's gesture. It's probably nothing, he figures. "Kurt, you're great."
"Y-y-yeah, no problem, Finn." Kurt's blushing, like so hard, that even Finn, who wouldn't know if someone liked him if they kissed him on the mouth, even looked a little thrown off. "You'll just have to wait until after Glee practice. That's when my dad picks me up, so we can all just drive over. You'll probably have to drive with my dad and me and Finn can carpool---you know what?," he says hastily, face still pink as he sees the raised eyebrow look that Nick's giving him, because seriously, this kid needs to cool it, "--we'll figure out the logistics after practice."
Kurt walks away, straightening out his satchel as he heads into the band room for rehearsals. Finn rubs the back of his neck.
"Man, do you think Kurt's alright? He was, like, bright red. Maybe he's dehydrated. Can you even dehydrate from singing?..."
"Who knows, man. Who knows," Nick rolls his eyes, elbowing his best friend as they walk into the rehearsal room themselves.
The rest of the kids slowly mill in, walking into the room in pairs or groups. The Asian chick and Artie, who Nick has a few classes with, come in first, sharing a pair of headphones and air-drumming to some song. A few minutes after them, a few football players that Nick's only seen around. Quinn and Santana come in a little later, with a few cheerleaders that Nick's not sure of names and Nick's actually surprised at how visibly relaxed they look when they walk through the doors. They're still dressed in those Cheerios outfits (David always said "more like you can SEE their Cheerios" but Nick refuses to high-five on) but the way Quinn easily walks over to Artie and gets handed an earbud for a listen, well, it's a different Quinn than he's used to. The Quinn he knew was the one who's attached to Finn's arm, which, come to think of it, was something Nick hadn't seen in a while, actually.
"Hey," Nick says suddenly, turning to Finn. They sprawl themselves on the chorus bleacher-style steps, waiting for Shue, who's still chatting it up with Mr. Nixon to get started. "What's up with you and Quinn?"
Finn shrugs like it doesn't matter, but Nick can tell it's something that's been bothering him. "I'm not really sure. We don't talk too much since she found out about the baby. I think she's just scared or something. I mean, I'm scared too, but I just want her to know that I'll be there, you know?"
He looks so earnest about it, and Nick, even though Quinn seems a little more than scared, really hopes everything works out. Because, man, Finn would be the best dad.
"Yeah, man," Nick says, patting his knee. "I'm sure she knows. She probably just needs to figure it all out."
Finn gets this miserable look in his eyes and just nods and goes in to 'Finn-world,' where, if Nick probably left him alone, he'd burst into song about it or something. That's what happened last time anyways, Nick walking into Finn's house to find Finn on the bed dancing around his room. Nick did a pretty good job of pretending it didn't happen that time, but if it were to repeat himself, he doubts that he could restrain himself. He hasn't lived with Joe for seventeen years for nothing.
Rachel, who Finn talks about a lot (he says 'voice like Celine Dion' a lot and mentions 'looks like Celine Dion' a little too many times also) floats into the room. They've gone to school with Rachel for a while now, but she usually is in her own world to the point that Nick's never really spoken to her. She says 'hi' to Shue in a voice that seems to rise above the rest of the room then gravitates towards Finn and Nick.
"Hi, Finn," she says brightly, beaming him this smile that was meant for a dentist's textbook. "Hello, Nicholas," she says, smiling (much smaller, Nick notes) as an afterthought.
"Hey Rachel," Nick says. "It's actually Nick." He refrains from mentioning it's been Nick since, like, sixth grade.
"I know. I like Nicholas better though. Much more mature," she says seriously, nodding her head while she speaks.
"Are you joining Glee Club?" Her eyes seem to bore into his skull, as if she's studying everything about him, like some sort of test of eligibility for the club.
"We could really use some actual male talent. We can't have Finn carrying the male line for the rest of the club," she smiles, glancing over at Finn, patting his knee in a way that he's sure she meant comfortingly.
"No, I'm actually here for--"
"Okay, well that's dissapointing. Anyways," Rachel interrupts, immediately disinterested with Nick, "I have important Sectional matters to discuss with Finn. Do you mind giving us some time alone?"
"Y-yeah," and it's all Nick can do not to laugh at the prim tone Rachel's giving him or the weird way that Finn is ...staring at her? He gets up to wander around, glancing back to check up on Finn. Their knees are turned towards eachothers, Finn's long legs awkwardly in her personal space, and even though they aren't touching, the way that Rachel's talking so intensely and Finn's listening like his life depended on it, it's just, there's clearly something there.
When Nick looks away, he accidentally makes eye contact with Quinn who had obviously been looking at the pair on the stairs as well. Quinn narrows his eyes, but Nick quickly shrugs and turns away. He doesn't really know anything for sure and it's really not his business. He makes a mental note to ask Finn about it later. Just in case.
After that, Nick clearly can't go talk to Quinn and he's not really friends with any of the other Glee kids so he decides to mention a question he has about French to Mr. Nixon. He's not making the 100s he's used to in the class, so Nick would rather be completely clear about what's on the text test now, then regret it later.
"Mr. Jonas," Mr. Nixon says, dryly, smiling when Nick walks up to the front of the room. "These kids not good enough for you?"
"Nah," Nick grins. "I'm just old for my age. I mean, not ancient like you guys but..."
Mr. Nixon laughs, "Alright chief. You've already got a few gray hairs yourself, so I'd watch it. What can we do for you? Still not budging on Glee?"
"I was actually wondering about the upcoming text, Mr. N."
After getting clarification on it, and Mr. Nixon grinning at him like he just can't figure Nick out, he begins to explain his traumatic, horrific, devastating (he uses those exact words to describe, actually) experience with Prince. He's getting to the part where his car won't start when the guidance counselor walks into the room.
Joe's mentioned her a few times, about how cute she was that he wanted to keep her in his pocket, mostly to piss off Demi (it didn't really work...Nick remembers Demi completely agreeing) but Nick had never really seen her before. He had taken control of most of his academic stuff, plus Uncle Ted hooked him up with a few university recommendations for Northwestern, so he had never felt the need to make an appointment.
She's, well, she's really pretty. Her eyes are this electric green that Nick didn't even know was possible, and she kind of siddles up to the desk that Mr. Shue's leaning against and gives a small wave to all of them.
"Hey, Emma," Mr. Shue says, smiling at her, Mr. Nix offering her a crooked smile and nod.
"Hi Will, Lew." she says, quietly and her voice is soft and sweet, like the lemon cookie crumble Nick's mom makes for the fourth of July. She intertwines her fingers together, and shines this gigantic smile up at Shue, like he's this Music God. The two of them stare at each other for a little, and Nick wonders if anything is actually going on there. Hopefully not (solely for Mr. Shue's sake, he tells himself), because from what he remembers, Shue was married to that insane school nurse who tried to give him a shot to "get rid of his diabetes." Nick shoots Mr. Nixon a look, but all the teacher does is slightly shrug his shoulders, like, yeaaah he doesn't know either.
"Nick, you must know Ms. Pillsbury," Mr. Shuester says, smiling at the two of them. Emma turns her wide eyes towards Nick, and he feels like he's blushing--Jesus, why is he blushing?
"A--actually, no." He can't even bring himself to meet her eyes because seriously, he can't risk staring any longer, not with all these teachers so close by. "NicktomeetyouI'mNice---I mean, I'm Nick, Ms. Pillsbury. Nick."
Nick doesn't really understand what's happening at this point, the way that he's tripping over his words. The fumbling over things to say is usually Kevin's job, who's always way too excited about something to slow down at say it clearly (Danielle always re-explains Kevin's stories when he's not around, for comprehensive purposes). But seriously, he's switching his words up and blushing like a two-year-old over a (okay, way too young to be out of school, he decidedly assumes,) teacher and already, he can see out of the corner of his eye Mr. Shue elbowing Mr. Nixon, and Nixon just cocking an eyebrow at Nick. Greeaat.
Ms. Pillsbury just shoots a look at Shue, who promptly stops his elbowing.
"Iiii'm going to go start rehearsal. Yeah." Shue starts, pounding it with Mr. Nixon, who picks up his own coat to leave.
Nick moves his guitar to lean against the desk so the guidance counselor can take the other end of it. She smiles at him, and her lips fold into an easy smile that relaxes her face and Nick feels like someone pulled his chair from out under him, the way his stomach drops. He doesn't think she notices anything, but her voice is a little shaky when she starts to say something.
"Nice to meet you, Nick. Call me Emma outside of school, okay? I want you to be able to talk to me."
"Alright. Emma," he smiles. Nick finally finds the manners he'd been taught in him and extends his hand. Her hands are small and soft, and Nick holds on a little longer than he should.
They spend a while on Shue's desk watching Rachel efficiently undermine Shue's authority in a practiced fashion, criticizing everyone around her, including Mr. Shue and his count off ("Honestly, Mr. Shue, don't you think it'd be better if we practiced a silent count off rather than the amateurish baton one you're giving?")
Nick laughs in himself a little and glances over to Emma. She's covered her mouth primly, but from his side view, he sees a smile behind the hand and her shoulders shaking slightly.
"Rachel's got a mind of her own," he says, under his breath to her. Nick shifts his body closer, until they're both leaning against the left side of the desk, so she can hear him better.
She tilts her head towards his and cups her hand, like she's telling him a secret."She's very...driven about Glee."
"Rachel's driven about everything," Nick says, keeping his voice low, but his body close. "My brother told me she actually tried to out-bench press our right tackle in weight training the other day."
She laughs and man, it's small and warmer than he expected. She glances up at him, and lightly pushes his arm.
"That's probably not true," she grins, but she's smiling again and Nick all of a sudden wants to think of something else funny, just to get her to laugh again. "Will says you're a pretty incredible singer yourself, Nick. Why aren't you in Glee?"
Nick should probably be tired of answering this question, but there's something about Emma that's really genuine. Like the question isn't really meant for the greater good of Glee, like Shue and Rachel, or Finn wanting a buddy in the club, but like she really wants to hear about his life.
He keeps it short. "It's not really my thing. I prefer guitar, mostly. The singing just kind of comes. Me and my cousins--you know David Mosby and Selena, right (she nods, and Nick grins at the slight exasperated sigh at David's name)--we play shows at McLaren's together. That's really where Mr. Shuester saw me and, well, he's mentioned Glee a few times after. I don't know, honestly," Nick backtracks, because he's not really keeping it short at all, now. "It's not really where I want to go with my music."
"That makes sense," Emma says quietly, nodding. "I think Glee's different, though. I come to all the practices---I'm the assistant coach of Glee--" Nick can hear the hint of pride in her voice, the way it grows a little when she says that, "and the way these kids are bonding, and what Will's doing with them, it's great. I think it's great." Even though Nick tries to ignore the way her voice does the same rising thing with Mr. Shuester's name, it's kind of hard to. He almost wants to bring it up, some side comment about Mr. Shuester, maybe his, oh, wife but Shue calls his name from across the room.
"Nick! Do you mind playing guitar for us on a few songs? Puck's at football and these next few are acoustic." Nick feels kind of apprehensive about this. He's just supposed to be watching practice, not practicing himself, is all.
"You don't have to sing or anything, just a few chords," Shue says, exasperated. "C'mon man, I'm not asking you to commit for life or anything."
It's only a few songs, Nick figures, as he hops off the desk.
Mr. Shuester hands him a guitar out of the corner and a crumpled sheet of chords for the next few songs. Nick tunes it a little and strums through a few chords to warm up his fingers. The songs they're singing are actually really great, and he already has the chords for Sweet Caroline under his fingers, so this probably won't even be that bad.
Shue counts them off and Nick's opening up the song. The chord sheet shows Puck singing the opening few lines, so Nick figures he'll just sing the few few lines, for the sake of continuity. The entire group is dancing and swaying along to the song, Rachel grinning some sort of told-ya-so kind of thing, and it actually feels pretty great, having this kind of support from these guys. Shue's grinning at him too, and even though that's really nice, it's Emma's face that totally gets Nick.
Her eyes are just as wide, but it's like her whole face is lit up and she's looking at him, well, like he's the greatest thing she's seen in a while. Nick feels like the adrenaline he usually gets when he plays is amped up waay past where he's used to all of a sudden and just because he's feeling it, he deliberately makes eye contact with her. Emma blushes, in a way that makes her hair seem even brighter and Nick feels like his feet are tripping over each other and he accidently makes a chord minor, which isn't as smooth as he would've liked it. He tries to focus though, because he really can't make two mistakes in one song. That would be ridiculous.
The rest of the group comes in at the chorus, and Nick continues to sing along for the heck of it. Everyone's voices are just so good, the way Finn sounds so strong and happy, how Artie and Tina balance each other out, how Santana's voice owns the upper register; he just never really caught on to how good the group was. Mercedes gets up and starts dancing with Kurt and Mr. Shue spins Rachel around and Nick can't stop grinning at how fun this actually is.
It's over pretty quickly, and while Rachel's leading group cool-downs for their voices, Nick approaches Mr. Shue. He can still feel his heart thumping, even though he isn't that winded. It's been a while since him and the Mosbys have performed and Nick's forgotten how good it feels to make music with other people.
"Here's you're guitar, Mr. Shue."
"Thanks, Nick. Thanks for covering for us, also." Mr. Shue's pretty distracted, writing down setlists for Coach Sylvester and the Principal. Nick hears him mutter a few things like, "Sue" and "nightmare," which he can't help but smile at. Miley has Coach Sylvester for Cheerios and when they were dating, he's pretty sure "Coach Sue" and "bitch" became preeetty synonymous, so this is nothing new.
Nick's kind of waiting around though, mostly waiting for Finn to finish talking to Rachel but he's kind of still hyped and despite Prince, he feels pretty good right now.
"Y'know, Mr. Shue," Nick says while Shue's still writing, "if you needed a permanent guitar player, I wouldn't mind. " Nick can't believe he's saying this, because honestly, he really doesn't need Glee. His resume's looking pretty sharp without Glee and he's kind of sure David and Sel are going to call 'traitor' on him about joining another music group or whatever.
"I don't really need a singing part or anything, but it'd work out if you wanted Puck to focus on vocals or whatever..." He sort of trails off at the end, and Nick pretty much expecting him to say they only need his voice, or whatever.
Mr. Shuester's face lights up though, in a really genuine way, and he puts his pen down to look up at Nick.
"Nick, that'd be great! Puck's pretty inconsistent with the whole attending-rehearsal thing, so this would be so helpful. I'll get all the tab sheets for you to practice and I'm sure Finn will give you the details on rehearsal. Welcome on board!"
Nick grins and shakes Shue's hand. He feels pretty good about this, he thinks. It's just, with soccer season over and the only job for a kid in town being a receptionist at his Dad's law firm, Nick has to find something to do with his time. He's not even sure if that's the real reason for joining, but for now it's probably the best one to go by.
Nick looks over to other end of the room to where Finn was last, but instead of Rachel and Finn having some weirdly intimate talk like they were before, it's Emma's talking to Quinn. For some reason he just really wants to tell Emma first, about the whole Glee guitarist thing, so he starts walking in that direction, anyway.
It seems like a pretty rough conversation they're having, though, and from what Nick can tell, Quinn looks on the verge of tears. Emma pats her shoulder a few times and reaches into her purse to hand Quinn a few pamphlets. Quinn gives this teary smile, before turning away and heading in Finn's direction. Nick waits a few moments before heading over. He's not really sure if its any of his business and but he's worried; even though Quinn isn't the warmest person in the world, it doesn't mean Nick doesn't worry about her. , but for some reason he just really wants to tell Emma first, about the whole Glee guitarist thing.
"Hey, is Quinn alright?"
Emma, smiles at him, and this time, it's a comfortable smile, like they've already progressed past the introductions.
"I think she will be. Quinn's a strong girl," Emma says, glancing in Quinn's direction. "Anyways, it's confidential, Nick. I can't tell you what's going on." Her lips twist a little, and if Nick didn't know better, he'd say Emma was flirting with him.
Nick grins at her. "Oh alright, you be that way. Quinn'll be alright. Finn's good to her. The baby'll be fine."
Emma's smile falters for just a moment. Nick double-underlines his mental note to ask Finn what's going on later, because seriously, something has to be up.
"You sounded great out there," she says, changing the subject. Nick goes with it, and shrugs.
"Thanks. I actually told Mr. Shue that I'd play guitar for Glee, like, full-time, so."
Emma's face smile is careful for a moment, but it's as if she can't control it because a second later, her whole face is bright and lit up and Nick's stomach turns, like a million times, which is so ridiculous, because he just met her today. It's really just because she's so pretty, really. And probably, because she kind of reminds him a bit of Selena, with her sincerity, and that's why it feels so familiar. He's Just familiar.
"That's so great, Nick," Emma beams, and clasps her hands together.
"I figure, I could really help you guys out. I haven't told you my extensive musical background yet," Nick elbows her, jokingly. For a second, it occurs to him that she's a teacher (okay, well, school employee) and that he's only known her a day and also, she's works here,but the way Emma rolls her eyes at him kind of makes it alright.
"Extensive musical background, huh?"
"Yeah, I have a few Broadway shows under my belt," he says, purposely leaning against the desk in a ridiculous lounging position that he's only seen Uncle Barney do when flirting with, well,everyone.
"And yeah, it was mostly crawling around and playing my infant baby self, but I definitely think my experience will help this group out."
"You're better off not mentioning this around Rachel Barry, unless you want your head chopped off," Emma grins, and there's this flint in her eye that Nick would swear, if he wasn't already being over-the-top anyways, meant she was flirting with him.
Nick laughs and before he can start listing off additional (some imaginary, some true) accolades, starting with the Tony award on his dresser, Finn bounds over, with Kurt trailing behind him.
Finn's face is so transparent and easy to read and man, Nick thinks that is so great about him. Right now it's like sunbeams as Finn pulls Nick into a headlock, ruffling his hair. "Man, I just knew you'd like it! Best friends at it again!" Finn grins, before turning to Emma.
"Hey, Ms. Pillsbury," Finn says.
"Hey, Finn," Emma returns, with a goofy smile at Finn's enthusiasm. "You sounded great out there. You too, Kurt."
"Thanks, Ms. P," Finn says, and Kurt nods, primly.
"You ready to go, Nick-o? Kurt's dad's waiting outside for us," Finn says, clasping Nick's shoulder.
"Yeah," he says. Weirdly enough, he forgot about Prince for that few minutes of singing and talking to Emma. Not that he isn't ready to go get him right now though, because who knows what people are trying to do to his baby.
"So, I guess I'll be seeing you a lot more often then, huh?" Just saying that makes Nick nervous, because even though it's not hard to see that Emma's cute, seeing her more often, well, it makes things more ...permanent.
"I guess so," Emma says, twisting her fingers in her lap.
It's not until Prince is towed safely home, and he's talking about his day at dinner that Nick realizes that, though Finn called the guidance counselor 'Ms. Pillsbury' multiple times, not once did she correct him. The idea that maybe she's only said 'call-me-Emma' to him, makes his stomach feel like it's going to explode again. At least it'll be nice to have someone to talk to at Glee. That's all Emma is, Nick has to remind himself, someone to talk to. He spends the rest of dinner trying to get the smell of her hair out of his head.
Part Two!
So! Hopefully this makes up for a ridiculous drought fic-wise:
Title: Singing You The Right Blues: Part One [Nick/Emma] [Glee/HIMYM/Disney RPF/Easy Academy AU (of an AU)]
Pairing/Character: Nick/Emma, but more of an ensemble fic.
Word Count: ~19,000
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Nick never saw himself joining Glee.
Author's Notes: Contains references across the board to ...everything? It takes place in a someone crossverse of McKinley High, mixed with Easy Academy teachers, mixed with Disney students, and HIMYM parents. Yeeeeah. I don't know either.
Takes place in the spectrum of Season 5 of HIMYM, Season 1 of Glee (loosely), and the endless cycle of Disney relationships.
When Nick was eight, he found flow charts titled 'Chart of Nick's Path to Success' behind the huge barrel in the living room. When Nick's mom found him, he was leaned against the wood, trying decipher why the charts went from the baby Broadway stints to 'musical prodigy' with this weird picture of Beethoven with Nick's face pasted on it, to a final arrow pointing to LAWYER. After his mom yelled at his dad ("Marshall! You can't make flow charts ABOUT YOUR SON!") and his dad trying to explain his logic ("Nicky, there wasn't enough ink to give you any other options. If it makes you feel better I'll show you the bar graph showing me and your mom's happiness levels when you were born...") she explained to him that no matter what he did, they'd love him.
It's not like they didn't try to influence it though. Mom was always asking him to help her with posters for her class and the looks of disappointment were worse when Nick's rhino looked more like a cat than when he brought home his first (and last) B. His parents' friends weren't much help either. They practically lived at the house on weekends, despite the fact that most had families of their own, and apparently had the right to offer input on his life. Uncle Ted took Lincoln Logs too seriously and dragged him, David, Uncle Ted's son, and Selena, Uncle Ted's step-child, to the City on Saturdays to point out "buildings that changed architecture." It became clear pretty quickly that this was every building in New York, with these trips happening faaar too often with few breaks in between. Barney--Nick tried to call him Uncle for a while but Barney was pretty adamant on not wanting to be "the old farts that your parents have become," so--didn't teach him much about his job. Nick had gone to McLaren's about four times with him, had a scotch, and learned how to pick up girls before his parents caught wind of what "babysit Nick for you" consisted of, though.
So yeah, maybe they did push him in a few directions, but Nick likes to think that he found music all by himself. The way his fingers seemed to find the chords when he picked up a guitar, the way his words seemed to find ways to shape themselves into songs, just, everything. And okay, maybe the flow chart of his life was starting to point in a certain direction when the Broadway stints were lined up to the regular McLaren's gigs him and David have started to get and the talent show first place that he got for one of his originals.
But still. Nick never thought he'd end up in Glee.
*****
Wendy's Wednesdays was what Finn determined the name to be. Nick had been trying to shoot down the stupid names all year but Finn had become pretty stuck on his McDonald's Mondays and Thirsty Thursdays (which, obviously, as Finn explained, involved either a smoothie or a milkshake.)
He and Joe share a parking spot this year, since he's a junior and Joe's a senior, but it's definitely his car that they're using. Prince the Mustang had been passed down from their older brother Kevin and when Kev went off to college, Joe had inherited her. After about three accidents within two months, his parents decided that it was probably best for Nick to have control the car and lend it out to Joe when he felt it appropriate. Nick felt the same way.
Nick got the car around the time him and Miley broke up though, and maybe it was just that he needed something to fill the void or something, but the summer after sophomore year, he's pretty sure he spent more hours underneath the car than in his own bed. Around the time of the new engine, a fresh coat of paint and racing stripes his baby was named Prince, or as Joe called her, "Nick's girlfriend."
Joe had Demi to drive him around everywhere, anyways, Nick figures. It's not his problem that 'shared spot' became 'his spot' preeetty quickly. Nick drives on Wednesdays ("Wendy's Wednesdays," Finn always corrects, as if that's going to catch on or something) and the minute the lunch bell rings, Nick shoves his chair into the desk in Coach Winters' English class and practically tumbles down the stairs in a rush for the door. He makes it to Prince in record time and it takes only a minute more for Finn to jump in behind him, panting from his sprint from the third floor.
"Hey, man," Finn says, catching his breath. "Puck's going to meet us there. I think he's driving a few of the Gleerios."
"The wha--?"
"Ya' know," he says, finally situated in shotgun and already pulling his ID out of his wallet to flash to the police guards to leave campus. "The Cheerio girls that are in Glee club."
Nick nods in affirmation. Finn and him have been best friends for a while, with Finn's mom raising him in the apartment complex Nick's family used to live in when they were kids. Finn's mom didn't share the same affinity his mom did for shopping but she became really good friends with Nick's dad, somehow. They've stayed close in high school but the Glee Club thing that Finn's doing has definitely brought some space into the relationship. It's not that Nick judges or anything--he totally gets how Finn feels about singing and about music, for one, -- it's just Nick doesn't really get the appeal. Finn's really into it though, so Nick doesn't really mention anything. He'll just let Finn do his own thing on this one.
Nick's whipping out of his parking spot and is getting ready to ease into the lunch traffic line, when Puck's monster truck pulls up next to him.
"Hey, Jonas!" Puck says, his aviators on and and a few Cheerio, Gleerios, Whatevrios, next to him and it just pisses Nick off a little, how cool Puck thinks he looks. It isn't that they aren't friends or anything, it's just that even after three years of high school, Nick is still getting used to how full of it Puck is. Still.
"What's up Puck?" Nick really can't help himself from rolling his eyes. Puck doesn't notice.
"See you at Wendy's right? Want to see if that dinky little car of yours can still take the Hulk?" Puck grins, revving his engine, as if its NASCAR or something.
"Nah Puck," Finn says uneasily, glancing at Nick. "We'll just see you there--"
"Alright," Nick says, grinding his teeth. "Lunch is on the loser."
"Nick--" Finn grits, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We are NOT doing this."
And yeah, maybe Nick should listen, but he has a hard time ignoring competition in general. But ignoring a dig from Puck? Kiiiind of impossible.
He shrugs off Finn's hand and revvs Prince. Nick is serious when it comes to competition (and okay, a lot of other things) and isn't about to let any other kids out in front of him; he rides the bumper of Puck's car through the traffic line on school grounds. Actually he's pretty sure he edged out the Mosby's Volvo at one point, recieving a rude gesture from David, but he's not really phased by this point because he kind of has his head in the game. They finally get out of the lunch traffic line and Prince growls a little when Nick spins her out of the school, following close behind Puck. The seats shake and he has to shift gears pretty quickly to keep her from stalling in mid acceleration, and already, he can see Finn to the right of him, gripping his seat like a a kid who ate too much before a rollercoaster.
"Jesus, Nick!" Finn swears, under his breath, staring straight ahead at the road, as Nick breaks suddenly in order to keep from barreling into the old lady driving in front of him. Well, he can't really see who's in the preceeding car, but the rate that person's driving, he'd say its a safe bet to put them in the senior citizen category.
He pulls in front of Puck at a stop light, switching lanes at the last second. Nick whoops and turns around to flash a grin at the car behind him. It's not even that Nick likes going fast, mostly for safety reasons, but it's such a rush winning a race, really. Finn swings around also, and yells "Suck itttt!" He turns around pretty quickly though and glances over at Nick.
"Yeaah, he just flicked us off."
It's whatever though because Nick's already swerving into a left turn the minute the light turns green, trying to ignore the incessant whining coming from underneath Prince's hood.
"It'll be over soon, baby," he says, patting the dashboard quickly and ignoring the weirded out look on Finn's face. "Just ride this one out for me."
"Freak," Finn says under his breath.
They end up on the two lane roads near the fast food strips, Nick right on Puck's tail, who has managed to reel around them in a completely illegal maneuver. The dotted yellow lines begin to approach and Nick glances over at Finn.
"Dude, you ready for this?"
He barely hears Finn's 'God, no' over the groan of Prince as he guns him into the opposite lane, preparing for a pass. Prince whines even more as Nick pushes it further, further, until he sees a safe (well, relatively safe) distance ahead of Puck to swerve in front of him. Nick turns his steering wheel slightly, and Prince clips Puck's car off, taking the lead.
"Yes!" Finn shouts, high fiving Nick. "And THAT'S how you do it!"
Nick grins and begins to pump the gas pedal. They might as well finish this off strong, he figures. Instead of roaring ahead, however, Prince, gives a huge rattling sound and the car decellerates completely, and Nick has to struggle to keep control of it. Nick's heart plummets. Despite his hands, which have begun incessantly shaking, he manages to maneuver it into the Wendy's parking lot about a quarter blockdown the road, but Prince's engine gives a sputter that sounds serious when he finally pulls her into park.
Nick feels nauseaus and all he can do for a few minutes is sit there staring at the dashboard, his stomach rolling and Finn glancing at him nervously, like he thinks Nick can't see him. He can't believe himself; how could he be so irresponsible? All the hours and money spent on Prince for a few moments of satisfaction are just so unlike him and even though he knows he won't do something like this again, it sucks so much to have to explain this to his parents. They aren't yellers, but they've always held Nick on some kind of pedestal and their dissapointed looks make Nick feel sick again just thinking about it.
Puck pulls up with the girls and he doesn't mention the race, instead quietly hands Nick his AAA card to call the car service. The company says they can send a tow truck within the hour but the estimate they give for the engine takes away the new Gibson guitar he's had his eye in a second, and without even thinking about it, Nick says no and hangs up the phone. The twisting in his stomach is seriously the worst feeling in the world, right now and it's not even like he can do anything about it: this is completely his fault. He sits there for a minute and Finn says they might as well get lunch and Puck can take them back to school so they can figure it out there. Nick isn't hungry anymore but there's not much he can do at the moment so they head inside the Wendy's. Finn, Puck, Quinn and Santana, he thinks is the Cheerios' name, Nick guesses, not that it even matters right now, step in line behind the five or six high schoolers that beat them to it, and Nick mentions that he's not getting anything and he'll just grab a table. It's not like he has money to drop on take out as of now.
Finn leans against the waiting rails looking concerned, but nods. It's Puck though, he seems to see how sick Nick feels (because, ugh, he feels sick). Puck still has a few more people in front of him when he leans towards Nick. There's this weird look on his face, a mixture of exasperation and ...compassion? constipation? hopefully compassion?
"Listen man. Don't worry about it. This kid in Glee Club, Kurt? His dad's a mechanic and I'm sure if you got Finn to flirt him up a little he could tow and fix your 'Stang up for cheap."
Finn blushes a little and scratches the back of his neck. "Naw dude, he's just my friend. I can definitely ask him for you though. Leave your car here, meet me after school, and we'll ask him before Glee."
This is such as relief to hear and Nick feels a little of the panic leaving his chest.
"Hey, thanks," he says to Puck, just because.
"Whatever man," Puck says, already acting like the gesture didn't happen. Lunch is uneventful, with Quinn devouring a weird mixture of a burger with ice cream on top, and justifying it with "I'm pregnant, stop looking at me like that," and the rest of them arguing about a music number in Glee. It's not like he'd find the conversation riveting on a normal day, but Nick can hardly keep his mind off of his car to even attempt paying attention. The rest of classes go by pretty slowly as Nick sits through the remaining two hours worrying about people carjacking Prince in the middle of Wendy's. Or people keying the poor thing. Or her rolling away. The scenarios are endless, honestly.
Nick pretty much sprints to the chorus room after school, so it's pretty early when he gets there, and instead of kids from Glee, it's only Mr. Schuester in there chatting with another teacher.
"Hey Nick!" Mr Shue says, and Nick feels himself relaxe. He's never had Mr. Shuester before but he's gotten used to teachers knowing his name, thanks to the official title of 'Joe Erikson's Good Little Brother.' Mr. Shue's a geniune guy though and despite their lack of communication, the man still knows his name.
"How's it going, Mr. Shuester?" Nick says, smiling.
"You finally joining Glee Club?" Mr. Shue says, excitedly, like he has the form ready for him to fill out in his back pocket.
Nick's French teacher, Mr. Nixon starts laughing. "Shue, calm down," Mr. Nixon's voice is rough, but he's really great too. Nick's actually pretty sure he's one of Mr. Nixon's favorites, but he is pretty good at French. "People are going to think Glee isn't popular or something if you keep acting like that."
"Shut up, Lew," Mr. Shuester grins. "But really Nick, what can I do for you?"
"I'm actually waiting for Kurt and Finn because my car---" Nick feels kind of bad because Shue's so freaking excited for him to be there, so when Finn rounds the corner with Kurt in step with him, he immediately cuts off his sentence with a , "--hey guys!"
"Nick," Finn grins at him. "Kurt said his dad could definitely tow Prince over to the shop and fix her up, man."
"Wow, thanks Kurt," Nick smiles at him. "I really appreciate it. Just tell your dad to name the price and--"
"Don't worry about it, Nick." Kurt says primly, his head tilted slightly upward and if Nick didn't hear about what a great guy he was from Finn, he'd say the kid's a little snooty. "From one musician to another, let's just call it a favor."
"See, Nick-o?" Finn smiles, squeezing Kurt's shoulder tightly. Nick tries to ignore how red Kurt turns at this, how he leans in a little to Finn's gesture. It's probably nothing, he figures. "Kurt, you're great."
"Y-y-yeah, no problem, Finn." Kurt's blushing, like so hard, that even Finn, who wouldn't know if someone liked him if they kissed him on the mouth, even looked a little thrown off. "You'll just have to wait until after Glee practice. That's when my dad picks me up, so we can all just drive over. You'll probably have to drive with my dad and me and Finn can carpool---you know what?," he says hastily, face still pink as he sees the raised eyebrow look that Nick's giving him, because seriously, this kid needs to cool it, "--we'll figure out the logistics after practice."
Kurt walks away, straightening out his satchel as he heads into the band room for rehearsals. Finn rubs the back of his neck.
"Man, do you think Kurt's alright? He was, like, bright red. Maybe he's dehydrated. Can you even dehydrate from singing?..."
"Who knows, man. Who knows," Nick rolls his eyes, elbowing his best friend as they walk into the rehearsal room themselves.
The rest of the kids slowly mill in, walking into the room in pairs or groups. The Asian chick and Artie, who Nick has a few classes with, come in first, sharing a pair of headphones and air-drumming to some song. A few minutes after them, a few football players that Nick's only seen around. Quinn and Santana come in a little later, with a few cheerleaders that Nick's not sure of names and Nick's actually surprised at how visibly relaxed they look when they walk through the doors. They're still dressed in those Cheerios outfits (David always said "more like you can SEE their Cheerios" but Nick refuses to high-five on) but the way Quinn easily walks over to Artie and gets handed an earbud for a listen, well, it's a different Quinn than he's used to. The Quinn he knew was the one who's attached to Finn's arm, which, come to think of it, was something Nick hadn't seen in a while, actually.
"Hey," Nick says suddenly, turning to Finn. They sprawl themselves on the chorus bleacher-style steps, waiting for Shue, who's still chatting it up with Mr. Nixon to get started. "What's up with you and Quinn?"
Finn shrugs like it doesn't matter, but Nick can tell it's something that's been bothering him. "I'm not really sure. We don't talk too much since she found out about the baby. I think she's just scared or something. I mean, I'm scared too, but I just want her to know that I'll be there, you know?"
He looks so earnest about it, and Nick, even though Quinn seems a little more than scared, really hopes everything works out. Because, man, Finn would be the best dad.
"Yeah, man," Nick says, patting his knee. "I'm sure she knows. She probably just needs to figure it all out."
Finn gets this miserable look in his eyes and just nods and goes in to 'Finn-world,' where, if Nick probably left him alone, he'd burst into song about it or something. That's what happened last time anyways, Nick walking into Finn's house to find Finn on the bed dancing around his room. Nick did a pretty good job of pretending it didn't happen that time, but if it were to repeat himself, he doubts that he could restrain himself. He hasn't lived with Joe for seventeen years for nothing.
Rachel, who Finn talks about a lot (he says 'voice like Celine Dion' a lot and mentions 'looks like Celine Dion' a little too many times also) floats into the room. They've gone to school with Rachel for a while now, but she usually is in her own world to the point that Nick's never really spoken to her. She says 'hi' to Shue in a voice that seems to rise above the rest of the room then gravitates towards Finn and Nick.
"Hi, Finn," she says brightly, beaming him this smile that was meant for a dentist's textbook. "Hello, Nicholas," she says, smiling (much smaller, Nick notes) as an afterthought.
"Hey Rachel," Nick says. "It's actually Nick." He refrains from mentioning it's been Nick since, like, sixth grade.
"I know. I like Nicholas better though. Much more mature," she says seriously, nodding her head while she speaks.
"Are you joining Glee Club?" Her eyes seem to bore into his skull, as if she's studying everything about him, like some sort of test of eligibility for the club.
"We could really use some actual male talent. We can't have Finn carrying the male line for the rest of the club," she smiles, glancing over at Finn, patting his knee in a way that he's sure she meant comfortingly.
"No, I'm actually here for--"
"Okay, well that's dissapointing. Anyways," Rachel interrupts, immediately disinterested with Nick, "I have important Sectional matters to discuss with Finn. Do you mind giving us some time alone?"
"Y-yeah," and it's all Nick can do not to laugh at the prim tone Rachel's giving him or the weird way that Finn is ...staring at her? He gets up to wander around, glancing back to check up on Finn. Their knees are turned towards eachothers, Finn's long legs awkwardly in her personal space, and even though they aren't touching, the way that Rachel's talking so intensely and Finn's listening like his life depended on it, it's just, there's clearly something there.
When Nick looks away, he accidentally makes eye contact with Quinn who had obviously been looking at the pair on the stairs as well. Quinn narrows his eyes, but Nick quickly shrugs and turns away. He doesn't really know anything for sure and it's really not his business. He makes a mental note to ask Finn about it later. Just in case.
After that, Nick clearly can't go talk to Quinn and he's not really friends with any of the other Glee kids so he decides to mention a question he has about French to Mr. Nixon. He's not making the 100s he's used to in the class, so Nick would rather be completely clear about what's on the text test now, then regret it later.
"Mr. Jonas," Mr. Nixon says, dryly, smiling when Nick walks up to the front of the room. "These kids not good enough for you?"
"Nah," Nick grins. "I'm just old for my age. I mean, not ancient like you guys but..."
Mr. Nixon laughs, "Alright chief. You've already got a few gray hairs yourself, so I'd watch it. What can we do for you? Still not budging on Glee?"
"I was actually wondering about the upcoming text, Mr. N."
After getting clarification on it, and Mr. Nixon grinning at him like he just can't figure Nick out, he begins to explain his traumatic, horrific, devastating (he uses those exact words to describe, actually) experience with Prince. He's getting to the part where his car won't start when the guidance counselor walks into the room.
Joe's mentioned her a few times, about how cute she was that he wanted to keep her in his pocket, mostly to piss off Demi (it didn't really work...Nick remembers Demi completely agreeing) but Nick had never really seen her before. He had taken control of most of his academic stuff, plus Uncle Ted hooked him up with a few university recommendations for Northwestern, so he had never felt the need to make an appointment.
She's, well, she's really pretty. Her eyes are this electric green that Nick didn't even know was possible, and she kind of siddles up to the desk that Mr. Shue's leaning against and gives a small wave to all of them.
"Hey, Emma," Mr. Shue says, smiling at her, Mr. Nix offering her a crooked smile and nod.
"Hi Will, Lew." she says, quietly and her voice is soft and sweet, like the lemon cookie crumble Nick's mom makes for the fourth of July. She intertwines her fingers together, and shines this gigantic smile up at Shue, like he's this Music God. The two of them stare at each other for a little, and Nick wonders if anything is actually going on there. Hopefully not (solely for Mr. Shue's sake, he tells himself), because from what he remembers, Shue was married to that insane school nurse who tried to give him a shot to "get rid of his diabetes." Nick shoots Mr. Nixon a look, but all the teacher does is slightly shrug his shoulders, like, yeaaah he doesn't know either.
"Nick, you must know Ms. Pillsbury," Mr. Shuester says, smiling at the two of them. Emma turns her wide eyes towards Nick, and he feels like he's blushing--Jesus, why is he blushing?
"A--actually, no." He can't even bring himself to meet her eyes because seriously, he can't risk staring any longer, not with all these teachers so close by. "NicktomeetyouI'mNice---I mean, I'm Nick, Ms. Pillsbury. Nick."
Nick doesn't really understand what's happening at this point, the way that he's tripping over his words. The fumbling over things to say is usually Kevin's job, who's always way too excited about something to slow down at say it clearly (Danielle always re-explains Kevin's stories when he's not around, for comprehensive purposes). But seriously, he's switching his words up and blushing like a two-year-old over a (okay, way too young to be out of school, he decidedly assumes,) teacher and already, he can see out of the corner of his eye Mr. Shue elbowing Mr. Nixon, and Nixon just cocking an eyebrow at Nick. Greeaat.
Ms. Pillsbury just shoots a look at Shue, who promptly stops his elbowing.
"Iiii'm going to go start rehearsal. Yeah." Shue starts, pounding it with Mr. Nixon, who picks up his own coat to leave.
Nick moves his guitar to lean against the desk so the guidance counselor can take the other end of it. She smiles at him, and her lips fold into an easy smile that relaxes her face and Nick feels like someone pulled his chair from out under him, the way his stomach drops. He doesn't think she notices anything, but her voice is a little shaky when she starts to say something.
"Nice to meet you, Nick. Call me Emma outside of school, okay? I want you to be able to talk to me."
"Alright. Emma," he smiles. Nick finally finds the manners he'd been taught in him and extends his hand. Her hands are small and soft, and Nick holds on a little longer than he should.
They spend a while on Shue's desk watching Rachel efficiently undermine Shue's authority in a practiced fashion, criticizing everyone around her, including Mr. Shue and his count off ("Honestly, Mr. Shue, don't you think it'd be better if we practiced a silent count off rather than the amateurish baton one you're giving?")
Nick laughs in himself a little and glances over to Emma. She's covered her mouth primly, but from his side view, he sees a smile behind the hand and her shoulders shaking slightly.
"Rachel's got a mind of her own," he says, under his breath to her. Nick shifts his body closer, until they're both leaning against the left side of the desk, so she can hear him better.
She tilts her head towards his and cups her hand, like she's telling him a secret."She's very...driven about Glee."
"Rachel's driven about everything," Nick says, keeping his voice low, but his body close. "My brother told me she actually tried to out-bench press our right tackle in weight training the other day."
She laughs and man, it's small and warmer than he expected. She glances up at him, and lightly pushes his arm.
"That's probably not true," she grins, but she's smiling again and Nick all of a sudden wants to think of something else funny, just to get her to laugh again. "Will says you're a pretty incredible singer yourself, Nick. Why aren't you in Glee?"
Nick should probably be tired of answering this question, but there's something about Emma that's really genuine. Like the question isn't really meant for the greater good of Glee, like Shue and Rachel, or Finn wanting a buddy in the club, but like she really wants to hear about his life.
He keeps it short. "It's not really my thing. I prefer guitar, mostly. The singing just kind of comes. Me and my cousins--you know David Mosby and Selena, right (she nods, and Nick grins at the slight exasperated sigh at David's name)--we play shows at McLaren's together. That's really where Mr. Shuester saw me and, well, he's mentioned Glee a few times after. I don't know, honestly," Nick backtracks, because he's not really keeping it short at all, now. "It's not really where I want to go with my music."
"That makes sense," Emma says quietly, nodding. "I think Glee's different, though. I come to all the practices---I'm the assistant coach of Glee--" Nick can hear the hint of pride in her voice, the way it grows a little when she says that, "and the way these kids are bonding, and what Will's doing with them, it's great. I think it's great." Even though Nick tries to ignore the way her voice does the same rising thing with Mr. Shuester's name, it's kind of hard to. He almost wants to bring it up, some side comment about Mr. Shuester, maybe his, oh, wife but Shue calls his name from across the room.
"Nick! Do you mind playing guitar for us on a few songs? Puck's at football and these next few are acoustic." Nick feels kind of apprehensive about this. He's just supposed to be watching practice, not practicing himself, is all.
"You don't have to sing or anything, just a few chords," Shue says, exasperated. "C'mon man, I'm not asking you to commit for life or anything."
It's only a few songs, Nick figures, as he hops off the desk.
Mr. Shuester hands him a guitar out of the corner and a crumpled sheet of chords for the next few songs. Nick tunes it a little and strums through a few chords to warm up his fingers. The songs they're singing are actually really great, and he already has the chords for Sweet Caroline under his fingers, so this probably won't even be that bad.
Shue counts them off and Nick's opening up the song. The chord sheet shows Puck singing the opening few lines, so Nick figures he'll just sing the few few lines, for the sake of continuity. The entire group is dancing and swaying along to the song, Rachel grinning some sort of told-ya-so kind of thing, and it actually feels pretty great, having this kind of support from these guys. Shue's grinning at him too, and even though that's really nice, it's Emma's face that totally gets Nick.
Her eyes are just as wide, but it's like her whole face is lit up and she's looking at him, well, like he's the greatest thing she's seen in a while. Nick feels like the adrenaline he usually gets when he plays is amped up waay past where he's used to all of a sudden and just because he's feeling it, he deliberately makes eye contact with her. Emma blushes, in a way that makes her hair seem even brighter and Nick feels like his feet are tripping over each other and he accidently makes a chord minor, which isn't as smooth as he would've liked it. He tries to focus though, because he really can't make two mistakes in one song. That would be ridiculous.
The rest of the group comes in at the chorus, and Nick continues to sing along for the heck of it. Everyone's voices are just so good, the way Finn sounds so strong and happy, how Artie and Tina balance each other out, how Santana's voice owns the upper register; he just never really caught on to how good the group was. Mercedes gets up and starts dancing with Kurt and Mr. Shue spins Rachel around and Nick can't stop grinning at how fun this actually is.
It's over pretty quickly, and while Rachel's leading group cool-downs for their voices, Nick approaches Mr. Shue. He can still feel his heart thumping, even though he isn't that winded. It's been a while since him and the Mosbys have performed and Nick's forgotten how good it feels to make music with other people.
"Here's you're guitar, Mr. Shue."
"Thanks, Nick. Thanks for covering for us, also." Mr. Shue's pretty distracted, writing down setlists for Coach Sylvester and the Principal. Nick hears him mutter a few things like, "Sue" and "nightmare," which he can't help but smile at. Miley has Coach Sylvester for Cheerios and when they were dating, he's pretty sure "Coach Sue" and "bitch" became preeetty synonymous, so this is nothing new.
Nick's kind of waiting around though, mostly waiting for Finn to finish talking to Rachel but he's kind of still hyped and despite Prince, he feels pretty good right now.
"Y'know, Mr. Shue," Nick says while Shue's still writing, "if you needed a permanent guitar player, I wouldn't mind. " Nick can't believe he's saying this, because honestly, he really doesn't need Glee. His resume's looking pretty sharp without Glee and he's kind of sure David and Sel are going to call 'traitor' on him about joining another music group or whatever.
"I don't really need a singing part or anything, but it'd work out if you wanted Puck to focus on vocals or whatever..." He sort of trails off at the end, and Nick pretty much expecting him to say they only need his voice, or whatever.
Mr. Shuester's face lights up though, in a really genuine way, and he puts his pen down to look up at Nick.
"Nick, that'd be great! Puck's pretty inconsistent with the whole attending-rehearsal thing, so this would be so helpful. I'll get all the tab sheets for you to practice and I'm sure Finn will give you the details on rehearsal. Welcome on board!"
Nick grins and shakes Shue's hand. He feels pretty good about this, he thinks. It's just, with soccer season over and the only job for a kid in town being a receptionist at his Dad's law firm, Nick has to find something to do with his time. He's not even sure if that's the real reason for joining, but for now it's probably the best one to go by.
Nick looks over to other end of the room to where Finn was last, but instead of Rachel and Finn having some weirdly intimate talk like they were before, it's Emma's talking to Quinn. For some reason he just really wants to tell Emma first, about the whole Glee guitarist thing, so he starts walking in that direction, anyway.
It seems like a pretty rough conversation they're having, though, and from what Nick can tell, Quinn looks on the verge of tears. Emma pats her shoulder a few times and reaches into her purse to hand Quinn a few pamphlets. Quinn gives this teary smile, before turning away and heading in Finn's direction. Nick waits a few moments before heading over. He's not really sure if its any of his business and but he's worried; even though Quinn isn't the warmest person in the world, it doesn't mean Nick doesn't worry about her. , but for some reason he just really wants to tell Emma first, about the whole Glee guitarist thing.
"Hey, is Quinn alright?"
Emma, smiles at him, and this time, it's a comfortable smile, like they've already progressed past the introductions.
"I think she will be. Quinn's a strong girl," Emma says, glancing in Quinn's direction. "Anyways, it's confidential, Nick. I can't tell you what's going on." Her lips twist a little, and if Nick didn't know better, he'd say Emma was flirting with him.
Nick grins at her. "Oh alright, you be that way. Quinn'll be alright. Finn's good to her. The baby'll be fine."
Emma's smile falters for just a moment. Nick double-underlines his mental note to ask Finn what's going on later, because seriously, something has to be up.
"You sounded great out there," she says, changing the subject. Nick goes with it, and shrugs.
"Thanks. I actually told Mr. Shue that I'd play guitar for Glee, like, full-time, so."
Emma's face smile is careful for a moment, but it's as if she can't control it because a second later, her whole face is bright and lit up and Nick's stomach turns, like a million times, which is so ridiculous, because he just met her today. It's really just because she's so pretty, really. And probably, because she kind of reminds him a bit of Selena, with her sincerity, and that's why it feels so familiar. He's Just familiar.
"That's so great, Nick," Emma beams, and clasps her hands together.
"I figure, I could really help you guys out. I haven't told you my extensive musical background yet," Nick elbows her, jokingly. For a second, it occurs to him that she's a teacher (okay, well, school employee) and that he's only known her a day and also, she's works here,but the way Emma rolls her eyes at him kind of makes it alright.
"Extensive musical background, huh?"
"Yeah, I have a few Broadway shows under my belt," he says, purposely leaning against the desk in a ridiculous lounging position that he's only seen Uncle Barney do when flirting with, well,everyone.
"And yeah, it was mostly crawling around and playing my infant baby self, but I definitely think my experience will help this group out."
"You're better off not mentioning this around Rachel Barry, unless you want your head chopped off," Emma grins, and there's this flint in her eye that Nick would swear, if he wasn't already being over-the-top anyways, meant she was flirting with him.
Nick laughs and before he can start listing off additional (some imaginary, some true) accolades, starting with the Tony award on his dresser, Finn bounds over, with Kurt trailing behind him.
Finn's face is so transparent and easy to read and man, Nick thinks that is so great about him. Right now it's like sunbeams as Finn pulls Nick into a headlock, ruffling his hair. "Man, I just knew you'd like it! Best friends at it again!" Finn grins, before turning to Emma.
"Hey, Ms. Pillsbury," Finn says.
"Hey, Finn," Emma returns, with a goofy smile at Finn's enthusiasm. "You sounded great out there. You too, Kurt."
"Thanks, Ms. P," Finn says, and Kurt nods, primly.
"You ready to go, Nick-o? Kurt's dad's waiting outside for us," Finn says, clasping Nick's shoulder.
"Yeah," he says. Weirdly enough, he forgot about Prince for that few minutes of singing and talking to Emma. Not that he isn't ready to go get him right now though, because who knows what people are trying to do to his baby.
"So, I guess I'll be seeing you a lot more often then, huh?" Just saying that makes Nick nervous, because even though it's not hard to see that Emma's cute, seeing her more often, well, it makes things more ...permanent.
"I guess so," Emma says, twisting her fingers in her lap.
It's not until Prince is towed safely home, and he's talking about his day at dinner that Nick realizes that, though Finn called the guidance counselor 'Ms. Pillsbury' multiple times, not once did she correct him. The idea that maybe she's only said 'call-me-Emma' to him, makes his stomach feel like it's going to explode again. At least it'll be nice to have someone to talk to at Glee. That's all Emma is, Nick has to remind himself, someone to talk to. He spends the rest of dinner trying to get the smell of her hair out of his head.
Part Two!