Kurt wasn't going to cry anymore, that is what he told himself, he was going to pick himself up and move on. Except when he got home and sat down that wasn't quite what happened. Blaine had helped him mail off his woefully, in his mind, inadequate NYADA application. Afterwards he had wanted to take Kurt out to keep his mind occupied but he'd declined. He appreciated the gesture but he didn't want to try and keep his mind off of a life he saw slipping away as every chance he took ended in epic failure. Someone was having a really good laugh at his expense that's when he remembered everyone was having a really good laugh at his expense. After that thought the tears had come again and he didn't try to fight them off.

No one else was home currently. His dad and Carol were out celebrating his dad's win and newly appointed congress position. Finn was off with Rachel trying to console her over her suspension she got for her ballot box stuffing crime. Blaine was at home probably reading his lines for the role of Tony he'd landed in the schools West Side Story production, another event for which as much as Kurt tired to be happy for his boyfriend he couldn't help but feel bitter about. This left Kurt alone taking stock and recalling all that had gone wrong recently and everything he'd failed to achieve and he didn't feel like fighting off tears that tortuously wanted to fall.

He didn't hate Rachel for what she had done, in fact some of his tears were because he couldn't help but feel partially responsible for her predicament. She had gotten that ballot box stuffing idea from him. Now logically he knew he hadn't told her to do that or convinced her in any way to take that course of action. He'd almost been sick when he thought about doing it himself because that wasn't him, no matter what he wasn't a cheater, he fought and earned what he had. Still he felt responsible for planting the idea and now Rachel had an addendum on her own application that could kill her dreams of NYADA as well and that really killed him.

The knock on the door jarred Kurt out of his pity party for one and was an unwelcome interruption. He wasn't sure who could possibly be calling and was absolutely certain he didn't want to talk to whoever it was. Nevertheless it would never be said that Kurt hid or didn't have manners for that matter so he got up and trudged to the door with a heavy heart and heavier thoughts. Wiping his face, straightening his outfit, and attempting some semblance at respectable, because really he was Kurt Hummel and if nothing else he always looked his best, he pulled open the door. The two people he probably least expected to see and if he was being brutally honest least wanted to see at this moment of weakness stood on his doorstep before him, Brittany S. Pierce and Santana Lopez. Yes fate was having a wonderfully great laugh at his expense.

"Hey Kurt," McKinley's newly appointed student body president said smiling brightly and reaching out to hug him.

Despite everything that had happened Kurt hugged her back. He wasn't angry with the blonde in fact all things considered he was still rather fond of her and he wasn't certain he could ever hate her even if he tried. After his time as Brittany's boyfriend and his stint on the Cheerios' Kurt had grown incredibly close to the ditzy blonde with moments of keen insight and she had always had a great deal of affection for Kurt. Whom Kurt wasn't so sure of was the smirking Latina behind the blonde in his arms. Brittany and Kurt may be close but Santana was another matter entirely, while recent events had brought him and the sassy girl closer she was still a wild card in Kurt's book.

"Porcelain," Santana said stepping into the house passed the two hugging in the doorway.

Kurt released Brittany and stepped aside so she could come in as well, after all Santana had already waltzed in so it wasn't like he could send them on their way with a thanks for stopping by but I'd really rather be alone right now line.

He shut the door and turned around looking at the two girls. He could tell by the look on their faces mostly the look on Santana's face this wasn't going to be a short and sweet visit and resigned himself. "I'll grab some drinks and snacks," Kurt said politely playing the part of proper impromptu host besides he knew Santana would only demand refreshments anyway might as well head her off at the pass. Looking to the living room he decided he'd rather not have to deal with Finn or god forbid Finn and Rachel walking in on the two Cheerio's visiting should Finn return or his efforts to console lead him to the house with the pint size brunette, "you two can wait upstairs in my room Britt you remember the way?" He phrased it as a tentative question just in case.

"Course dolphin," she said cheerfully grabbing Santana's hand and pulling her along.

Kurt walked into the kitchen and put together some fruit, cheese, and crackers along with a few munchies and grabbed some waters and diet sodas and walked into the unknown waiting for him in his room. Upon placing the snacks down each girl grabbed the desired items of their choosing and Kurt moved to sit at his vanity, with a diet coke, since they'd taken up residence on his bed.

"Okay so here's what's up," Santana said getting straight to it which was one aspect of the girl Kurt did like. "You're not going to get into NYADA."

Kurt felt like she could have smacked him and it would have hurt far less and his face said as much, shock from her bluntly spoken words to great to for his mask to hide the feelings going through him.

"Yeah yeah cry me a river," Santana waved her hand at his hurt expression clearly unconcerned with the fact that she just told Kurt he would not be getting into his dream school. "If you ask me you never should have applied there in the first place I mean really come on Hummel Broadway" she said finger quotations and all around the word Broadway.

Kurt just stared at her mouth slightly open eyes displaying clear disbelief that she could really be as heartless as to sit there and just toss aside all his dreams like they meant nothing, like he was stupid for having them in the first place. He'd known Santana could be cruel at times and hardly expected compassion from her of all people but what she was doing right now seemed to him, at least, unnecessarily cruel.

"S," Brittany said upset clear in her voice at the obvious distress written all over her dolphin.

Santana glanced at Brittany and the deep concern in her eyes and back to Kurt and shrugged slightly but continued on deciding to tone down her harshness though, "we all know Berry is going to the stage, she's meant to be there and I have no doubts she'll get their but you're not Berry and thank your stars for that otherwise I would not be wasting my time."

"You're special Kurt," Brittany said in a voice that was clearly meant to cheer up the brunette boy her statement spoken in that way like the statement itself answered everything.

Kurt felt suddenly and explicitly irrationally angry. He was getting really tired of people telling him he was special or unique because it felt like what they were really saying was there was no place for him.

"Look Kurt I know you love singing and performing," Santana said her voice taking on a tone she almost never used, an understanding and empathetic tone. "It isn't all you love though, it isn't your only passion in life and frankly before you and Berry became besties Broadway wasn't even on your radar and I personally happen to believe she stuck the idea you needed to be there in your head rather than you coming up with that idea all on your own."

"Is there a point to this Santana?" Kurt finally asked a little of his ire coming through in his tone. Empathy or not he was sick of this conversation already.

"What is the one thing you're just as passionate about as singing and performing?" Santana asked letting the angry tone slide she knew she'd pushed a bit too hard moments ago and while she would never say that she'd let Kurt's ire by as an olive branch. When no answer was forth coming she raised her brows, "before Berry Kurt, hell before Glee."

Now Kurt understood where Santana was going with this little conversation and he wasn't sure he liked it but unfortunately for him Santana saw the comprehension flicker through his blue green eyes as the answer she was looking for came to him.

"What is it Kurt?" she demanded angry at his hesitancy to speak the answer to her question.

"Fashion," he said quietly but with the unmistakable passion that always inflected in his voice when he talked about that subject.

"Thank you," the Latina said as if some great revelation had been revealed, crossing her legs and throwing a few Cheetos in her mouth.

"You always say that every moment of your life is an opportunity for fashion right dolphin," Brittany smiled. Kurt looked up at the blonde in true shock that she remembered he'd said that.

"Look I don't always get your clothing choices Porcelain nor do I care for them some of the time but I'm not blind either," Santana she said calming slightly, "you love clothes, you love designing, you love designers, I could pull something out of a designer store at random and I'll bet you would know who designed it and if it was last season just by looking at it, hell given the time you could probably make a replica of it."

"Totally you're like a fashion encyclopedia," Brittany nodded along, "plus you take risks with clothes and isn't that what designers do?" Brittany asked while Santana smiled at her endearingly, a look mostly reserved for the blonde.

"So what you both came here to tell me was that I should give up on my Broadway dreams and any hope of singing or performing professionally and take up a career in fashion?" Kurt asked skeptically with an eyebrow raise.

"Is that such a leap?" Santana shot back annoyed at his skeptic attitude for what she deemed a brilliant idea. "Look Porcelain as good as you may be at singing and performing you can't deny you would be damn good at a job in fashion and you can't say with any kind of honesty you wouldn't love to work somewhere in the fashion industry."

Kurt took a moment to look between the two Cheerios not entirely sure why they cared in the first place. Unconsciously his eyes drifted to his closet bursting at the seams and then over to the sketchpads lying on his shelves as Santana's words sunk in, regardless of her agenda in saying them. It was true that he loved fashion; if he was really honest he lived and breathed fashion. He had sketchpads of ideas because designing came as easy to him as singing and performing, as easy as breathing. Sure as he knew he could kill any song he knew he could put together one hell of an ensemble to sing it in. He just wasn't sure a career in fashion was the right choice. Sure the thought of being the next Marc Jacobs or Alexander McQueen had its appeal, hell being the next Anna Wintour definitely had its appeal but would he be happy with that. Could he live without singing his heart out and pouring every ounce into a performance? That was the part he wasn't so sure of.

"Look Hummel everyone has their passions and everyone has their gifts but few are blessed with real talent in something that needs to be shared with the masses," Santana said pulling his focus. "Your talent is in making something unique and amazing and filling the world with a beauty that it more often than not lacks," she said a hint of sadness in her voice. Despite Santana's biting sarcasm and razor sharp wit were eyes that saw and understood how cruel the world could be to people who didn't fit the majority.

Santana wasn't blind. She saw how the people at school treated Kurt, hell how the whole town treated Kurt. It wasn't right but she knew it wasn't going to change at least not anytime soon. Kurt didn't belong in Lima that much he had right. He belonged in New York but he belonged their filling the world with beauty it could see and appreciate not prancing around on a stage. She didn't often show it and she never would outright say it because it was way too sappy but the Latina cared for Kurt. At first it was just that Brittany cared so much for him that Santana cared for him by extension because she loved Brittany. Once she was finally honest with herself about whom she was though she cared about him for a lot more. She knew he understood some of the pain she felt herself and she knew that he had defended her against Finn when the stupid boy outed her to the whole town accidentally or not. Kurt was fiercely protective and deeply loyal to those he cared for and loved and she respected that, she was the same way.

Kurt's defense of her and his growing place in her heart made her want to help him and see him succeed and she really believed fashion is where he would shine the brightest. The world of fashion would see him and appreciate him in a way she didn't think any other place would. Broadway would not value Kurt's uniqueness in the way the world of fashion would, of this she was certain. Plus she fully believed in her words that he had a gift in that area, in individuality and creativity that would allow him to thrive and be noticed, to stand above in a way he was meant to. Kurt had a gift, an honest true talent in creating beautiful designs. As someone without a, not so obvious, talent she could appreciate how special that was and how special it made the boy across from her. Kurt just needed to realize these things and she was here to push, albeit in her own fierce Santana Lopez way.

"Lord Tubbington loves the leather jacket you made him," Brittany said as if this solidified Santana's points.

The Latina looked at the blonde and sat back in genuine surprise. "Kurt made that?" she asked and then looked over at Kurt whose face had turned beat red and eyes seemed laser focused on the diet coke can in his hands.

"Mmhmm," Brittany said, "I was trying to get him to give up smoking and he had for a while so I wanted to give him something as a reward and Kurt helped me out by making him that awesome leather jacket." Brittany frowned suddenly, "he's started smoking again though and joined a gang on top of it so I think maybe I should take it back till he gets back on track."

"Well hot damn," Santana said with a chuckle, "kitty couture way to go Porcelain." Kurt groaned and she smirked at him. "I'd say this just proves my point rather beautifully all things considered." Santana got up pulling Brittany with her and tossed something on Kurt's bed. "Think about what I said Kurt," she stated seriously causing him to look up at her eyes flickering noticing she had tossed something on the bed.

Brittany paused pulling from Santana briefly to walk over to Kurt. Kneeling down she pulled the brunette in to her in a fierce hug, "you're the most awesomest boy at school don't hide any of that, your attempt to hide how magical and awesome you are is what cost you the presidency" she whispered in his ear before getting up and linking pinkies with Santana.

The shock at Brittany's departing words kept Kurt rooted to his spot till he heard the slam of a door downstairs indicating the two Cheerio's had left. He got up to see what Santana had left on his bed and saw a college book like the many Miss Pillsbury had in her office, in fact he would lay money that's where she got it from. The design on the front of the book was beautiful but that was to be expected on a college book that read The New School – Parsons.