Fic: Song Beneath the Song (3/6)
Title: Song Beneath the Song (3/6)
Author: gameboycolor
Betas: a_glass_parade (with additional support from truthaboutglee) Any mistakes are my own.
Pairing: Kurt/Blaine (Mentions of Blaine Anderson/Jackson Avery and canon Grey’s Anatomy ships mentioned in passing.)
Spoilers: none
Warnings: Medical situations, Death of a minor canon character: [Spoiler (click to open)]
Burt Hummel
Rating: NC-17 overall
Length: ~3100 / ~7600
Summary: Glee/Grey’s Anatomy Crossover. Kurt and Blaine are surgical residents at Seattle Grace Mercy West brought together by a broken heart. Written for this prompt on the GKM.
A/N: If you're just joining us and you're not familiar with the show, make sure you check out the background post here.
Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three
The first order of business this morning is rounding on Kelsey Long. It’s still early. Kurt always feels like he’s tiptoeing around peds. Part of him wishes rounds could wait until later in the morning, but he knows that it’s a necessary evil. She's set to be discharged by the end of the week, so at least the rude awakenings won't be for much longer.
When he approaches Kelsey’s room, he hears an unmistakable bark of laughter. When he peeks into the room, Blaine is perched on the end of Kelsey’s bed. They’re looking over sheet music and laughing. The scene feels out of place for a pediatric intensive care unit.
At least he doesn’t have to be the one to wake up the sleeping child. It seems as though Blaine has already done that for him.
“You two do realize that it’s five am, right?” he asks with a quirk of his eyebrow.
“You two do realize that it’s five am, right?” Kelsey mimics.
Blaine turns around to look up at Kurt. “You have to admit, she totally has you down.”
Kurt sighs. “That she does.” He takes a seat on the couch beside Kelsey’s bed. Unlike Blaine, he doesn’t see patient beds as a answer to seating. “I’m assuming you rounded before playtime?”
“It’s not playtime,” Blaine says. “She has a piano recital coming up. And yes, Kurt. I have already rounded on all of Arizona’s patients. Betcha I’ve been here longer than you.”
“Four am,” he tells Blaine.
“Three-thirty,” Blaine grins.
“Bragging about waking up early,” Kelsey says. “You two really are losers.”
“Hey,” Blaine whines, smacking Kelsey’s shin lightly. “We’re totally cool. Aren’t we cool, Kurt?”
“Really cool,” Kurt assures her. “You’ll have to mind my colleague, Kelsey. Some of us don’t make it out of med school with our social skills intact.”
Blaine sticks his tongue out at Kurt.
“Did you losers always want to be doctors?” she asks curiously. "Like, little kids say they want to be doctors when they grow up, so what did doctors want to be when they grew up?"
"Doctors were little kids too once, you know," Blaine point out.
Kelsey scrunches her nose. "If you say so."
"I wanted to perform. Or teach music," Blaine says. "What about you, Kurt?"
Kurt doesn’t like talking about dreams. Especially the ones from Before. They seem silly now. "I... uh. Well, Kelsey. I wanted to be a cardiothoracic surgeon."
"No you didn't,” she says. “No kid wakes up one day and decides that. C'mon, it had to be something more fun than that."
Arizona Robbins has always said that the kids on her unit have super powers. The only super power Kurt has found them to possess is the ability to see through bullshit. This is part of why they make him so uncomfortable. Adults, he can fool. Kids? Not so much.
"Fine," Kurt gives in. "But I have to argue, I think my job is pretty fun." He shakes his head. "Broadway. I wanted to do whatever it took to be on Broadway. I felt like the role I was destined for had yet to be written."
Blaine is looking at him with an indecipherable smile.
Kurt leans over and pinches his arm.
"Hey," Blaine pouts. "Not nice."
"Don't judge the dreams of a teenage boy. Obviously I grew up. My dreams became more... practical." Kurt traded spotlights for scalpels a long time ago. Dreams fade, but ambition doesn’t.
"Dreams are never silly," Kelsey cuts in.
"She's right, you know,” Blaine urges gently. “I mean, look at me. I didn’t exactly end up where I thought I would, but I never let that stop me from performing.”
Kurt doesn’t like being consoled on the way he chooses to live his life by a child and someone who might as well be a child. He is focused. He is a resident, one of the best in his department. Attendings look forward to seeing him on their rotations. He is respected, feared. He enjoys being both of these things.
“You don’t have to be so serious all of the time,” Blaine says as he plucks Kurt’s ID badge lightly, causing it to snap back to its original position. The snap startles Kurt, and he bats his hand away. “Lighten up.”
Kurt knows by now that this is Blaine’s sense of humor. He diffuses stress with jokes and teasing. It’s how he survives in this place. That might work for Blaine, but it doesn’t work for Kurt.
“You could stand to be a little more serious yourself,” Kurt says, straightening his badge. His patience is thinning and his day has hardly begun. He leaves Kelsey’s chart on the bedside table, on the off chance Blaine feels like doing actual work.
He needs to find somewhere where he can breathe.
Kurt loves the catwalk above the main entrance of hospital right before sunrise. It’s one of the quietest places in the hospital, far enough away from the waiting rooms and patient rooms for him to collect his thoughts. He comes here after his more trying days.
He thinks about the boy he almost met at Sectionals that year. Would he have even said hi? Would he have been drawn to that infectious smile and melodious voice? It doesn’t matter, not really.
What ifs don’t mean much when you’re a surgical resident at one of the top teaching hospitals in the country. What ifs are for the people whose lives went wrong somewhere along the way.
Despite the world’s most undesirable hands of cards, Kurt’s life has been going right for a while now.
He’s made sure of it.
His room in the Hudson house is a recent addition. Like a lot of the things in Kurt’s world, it’s an afterthought. It throws off the symmetry in the house. During its construction, Kurt slept on an air mattress in Carole’s sewing room. His life is in pieces, so why shouldn’t his room reflect that?
Kurt feels like an afterthought. Like he’s screaming to be noticed.
Carole tries so hard, and Kurt wishes he had the energy to try a little harder himself. It’s because of her that he wasn’t thrust into the foster care system at the age of sixteen, too old for a fresh start and too young to set out on his own. But when he looks at Carole and Finn, he only sees the family that could have been. It makes it hard for him to try, sometimes.
Three sharp knocks sound from the doorway. Finn knows better than to bother him when he’s studying. Carole’s knocks are softer, more hesitant.
That leaves -
“Make it quick,” Kurt calls out, his eyes never leaving his laptop screen.
“Kurt,” Rachel greets briskly. “I understand you’re quite busy these days, but there is one small matter that I needed to discuss with you--”
“I’m not coming back to Glee club,” he interrupts. “My answer hasn’t changed and neither has your inability to pull off bangs.”
They have had both of these conversations enough times by now.
“Kurt,” she pleads. “It’s our senior year. It’s our last shot at Nationals. We need you. I need you.”
He lets out a strangled sounding laugh. “You really don’t.”
“I don’t even recognize you,” Rachel says in a sad voice. “I mean, I’m happy for you. I heard Ohio State gave you a full ride. Pre-Med, right? Because of your Dad?”
“We are so not having this conversation.”
“He would have been so proud,” she continues. “But your Dad would have loved for you to have kept singing, Kurt. I just know it.”
It takes all of his self restraint not to find the heaviest book on his desk and throw it at her. Instead, he clenches his fists. His nails bite the skin of his palms in a way that brings him back into himself. “You didn’t know my father, Rachel. I would appreciate if you left.”
Rachel pauses in the doorway. “They talk about you, you know. People at school. They’re saying you were the one who put those answer keys in Ashley’s locker. That you did it so you could be valedictorian.”
“Do you believe them?” He doesn’t know why he asks. He doesn’t know why he even cares at this point.
“I want to believe you didn’t do it,” she says, just before shutting the door behind her.
She stops asking him to come back to Glee after that conversation.
Kurt wonders when she stopped believing her own words.
A hand on his shoulder shakes him out of his thoughts.
“Where’d you go?” Blaine asks.
“Nowhere important,” Kurt replies. He rolls his shoulders to rid himself of both Blaine’s hand and the tension that has seeped into his limbs. “What’s up?”
“What are you doing Friday night?” Blaine asks. His smile is full of mischief and Kurt feels that he might already have his answer.
-
Kurt heads up April Kepner’s office around lunchtime to grab his food from her fridge. Unfortunately, Dr. Yang and the more sourpussed Dr. Grey seem to be using her office as their lunchroom.
“Kurt! Hi!” Dr. Kepner greets, her ever present clipboard seemingly glued to her hand. “I’m working on the on-call schedule for the week, and I seem to have a hole on Friday. Would you mind helping out?”
“Of course you have a hole, April. You’re not going to get anyone to give up their plans,” Dr. Yang says as she spears a piece of pineapple with unnecessary force. “Especially not for you.”
Kurt rolls his eyes. “As much as I’d love to help out, I have... plans.”
“A date with The New England Journal of Medicine isn’t plans, Hummel,” Dr. Yang smirks.
Dr. Grey grins. “Add a bottle of wine and it totally is.”
Kurt thinks she almost looks pretty when she’s not frowning.
“Actual plans,” he clarifies. “I don’t know what they are, exactly, but I’m pretty sure they’re plans.”
“With Blaine?” Dr. Kepner asks.
Kurt rarely works with Dr. Kepner. He should know by now not to underestimate the Seattle Grace gossip machine, but this is a little ridiculous.
“Where did you hear that from?”
“Cristina,” she shrugs.
Kurt turns to Cristina. “And where did you hear that from?”
“My eyes.” She waves a chunk of pineapple in the air. “And my ears.”
“Dr. Yang, it’s not what it looks like,” Kurt tries to explain frantically. “It’s a professional outing, at best. We’re thinking of writing an article together.”
It’s a lie. He just lied to Cristina Yang.
“Hummel, if you think I’m going to do the whole Romeo and Juliet crock of shit and forbid it, you have another think coming. That would require me caring about your personal life.”
“But you said--”
She tilts her head to the side and gives him one of her trademark condescending smiles. “I was screwing with you. It keeps me young.”
“At least they’re both residents,” Dr. Grey adds. “No messy seniority stuff.”
“But the attendings are always hotter.”
“You’re always had a thing for a man in charge.”
“You know it.”
“Stop it!” Dr. Kepner interrupts. “Seriously you guys, this is my office. This isn’t a high school lunchroom.”
“I’m not... dating. Blaine. We’re not dating. Dating is a waste of time,” Kurt adds.
“Eh, you wouldn’t be singing that tune if that hot little number of yours from your intern class didn’t defect to the derm.”
“Paul moved back to Maryland to take care of his sick mother,” he corrects. “He didn’t just defect to derm for the hell of it.”
“Yeah, but he did fail his intern exam. Nothing wrong with that, but a guy’s gotta have the balls to take it again.”
That strikes a chord, because that’s where she’s right. Kurt needs someone to keep up with him. He’s a surgical resident. Paul had been a wonderful boyfriend, but he was struggling in his career. He fell behind. When given the chance to retake his intern exam after repeating the year, he opted to change specialities instead. Thankfully, this also involved him moving back home.
Kurt is glad for that. He doesn’t need any skeletons wandering around the hospital. Paul’s departure made Kurt’s dating history all the more difficult to track.
He grabs his lunch from the fridge, pushing past Dr. Kepner’s curious glance and the pair of gossipy hens to his right. “Wish I could help.”
But the thing is, he really doesn’t.
-
They’re standing in the entrance of the auditorium of a high school and hour outside of Seattle. Kurt doesn’t know where they are, actually. He had joked with Blaine on the ride over that he was trusting him not to leave him on the outskirts of town.
“When you asked if I was free on Friday night, this wasn’t what I had in mind,” Kurt says with an amused smile. “Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just...”
“Blaine!” Kelsey calls from the other end of the hall. “You came!”
She’s only been out of the hospital for a couple of days, but the color has already started to return to her cheeks. Bruises from IVs and blood draws are carefully covered by a pink cardigan, paired with a simple black dress.
“And if it isn’t the lady of the evening.” Blaine takes Kurt’s hand and leads him to where Kelsey is standing with her parents. Kurt notes the black satchel hanging from her shoulder and fastened around her hips. He knows it’s the VAD, but to any passerby, it might look like an odd sort of messenger bag.
Kurt realises now that Blaine’s motivations were genuine. This wasn’t about getting in on a hot shot surgery. He wanted a girl to have a shot at normal life instead of being cooped up in a hospital room.
“And I brought company, I hope you don’t mind. Kurt, you remember Kelsey,”
“Of course,” Kurt smiles. “It’s nice to see you out and about. How are you feeling?”
Kurt is never exactly sure how to act around children. He knows the older ones, like Kelsey, are supposedly little adults. They wanted to be treated that way. Kurt remembers being treated like a little adult, having to grow up too quickly, so he refuses to treat them that way. He likes to let them be kids for a little longer, even if it makes them roll their eyes.
“A little tired of lugging this thing around, but I’m awesome,” she beams. “Right Blaine?”
“Right,” Blaine smiles. He turns to address Kelsey’s parents. “Dr. Robbins sends her best. She’s on-call tonight, so I’m afraid she won’t be able to make it.”
“She’s a busy woman,” Mrs. Long smiles. “I’m not surprised.”
“Well, we appreciate her sending you,” Mr. Long says, patting Blaine on the shoulder. “You too, Dr. Hummel. We understand that you two don’t have a lot of time away from the hospital. It means a lot that you made time for Kelsey.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Blaine tells them.
He’s still holding onto Kurt’s hand. The moment Kurt becomes aware of this, he lets go of Blaine’s hand.
“Well, we’ll see you boys in there?” Mrs. Long says kindly, and Kurt doesn’t miss her quick glance in the direction of their hands.
“So I’m your second choice,” Kurt teases as they go to find their seats in the auditorium. “I’m no Arizona Robbins, but I guess I’ll do.”
“What’s your problem with her, anyway?” Blaine asks.
Kurt freezes. “Um, no problems here,” he says quickly. “She’s a fantastic surgeon, it’s a shame I missed the chance to scrub in with her.”
“No one likes a brown noser, Kurt. C’mon, it’s only us.” He directs Kurt to a pair of seats in the back of the auditorium.
“If you must know...” Kurt takes his seat, fiddling with his program nervously. “It sounds so, so petty, I’m aware, but I have it on good authority that the reason I’m not working under the brilliant Erica Hahn is because that ortho attending, Dr. Torres, cheated on her with your little roller skating boss. I think it speaks of her character, so I don’t like her.”
Blaine chuckles. “Kurt, no one likes a gossip. Besides, that’s total bullshit. Erica was out of the picture way before that. If you’re going to feed into the gossip, at least get your facts straight. Next you’ll be telling me that Izzie Stevens really did cut the LVAD wire...”
It’s Kurt’s turn to laugh. He knows it’s not funny, but he appreciates having a leg up on Blaine.
The lights go down and someone’s little angel begins to clumsily plunk their way through Chopin.
“Are you serious?” Blaine says at a volume that just on this side of unacceptable for their location. A nearby parent hushes them. “Oh my god, I never wanted to believe it, but that is so romantic.”
“How is it romantic? The guy died.”
“That’s what makes it romantic, duh.” Blaine places a hand to his heart. “Kurt, would you cut my LVAD wire? Put your career on the line to save your dying love?” His voice drops to a whisper. “In this situation, keep in mind, I am your dying love.”
“Absolutely not,” Kurt replies. “I hardly tolerate you most days.”
“But... dying love?”
“Nope.”
When the same parent shushes them a second time, Kurt gives her an apologetic smile. This is a smile he has mastered after years of working closely with the general public.
“We’ll have plenty of time to talk afterwards,” he assures Blaine.
“You’re right,” Blaine nods. “Hey, think her kid is the one that sucks?”
Kurt elbows him in the side.
-
After the recital, they end up sitting on the roof of Blaine’s car outside of a greasy burger joint. It somehow manages to be that most romantic quasi-date Kurt has been on in years, and he doesn’t know what that says about him.
“This is dangerous, you know,” Kurt tells him. “I always operate under the assumption that it’s about to rain.”
“Even though you moved to Seattle, you never really settled down here, did you?” Blaine asks with an amused smile. He pops a fry into his mouth and his eyes never leave Kurt’s.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because the people who live here know that it’s still just as beautiful when it rains,” he smiles.
With talk like that, Kurt expects to feel a few well timed raindrops begin to fall, but they seem to be in the clear. He almost finds himself wishing it would rain. The mad rush to the car would follow, until they were laughing and teasing each other. Damp clothes sticking to their skin and matching smiles.
He looks up, only to find clear skies.
Author: gameboycolor
Betas: a_glass_parade (with additional support from truthaboutglee) Any mistakes are my own.
Pairing: Kurt/Blaine (Mentions of Blaine Anderson/Jackson Avery and canon Grey’s Anatomy ships mentioned in passing.)
Spoilers: none
Warnings: Medical situations, Death of a minor canon character: [Spoiler (click to open)]
Burt Hummel
Rating: NC-17 overall
Length: ~3100 / ~7600
Summary: Glee/Grey’s Anatomy Crossover. Kurt and Blaine are surgical residents at Seattle Grace Mercy West brought together by a broken heart. Written for this prompt on the GKM.
A/N: If you're just joining us and you're not familiar with the show, make sure you check out the background post here.
Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three
The first order of business this morning is rounding on Kelsey Long. It’s still early. Kurt always feels like he’s tiptoeing around peds. Part of him wishes rounds could wait until later in the morning, but he knows that it’s a necessary evil. She's set to be discharged by the end of the week, so at least the rude awakenings won't be for much longer.
When he approaches Kelsey’s room, he hears an unmistakable bark of laughter. When he peeks into the room, Blaine is perched on the end of Kelsey’s bed. They’re looking over sheet music and laughing. The scene feels out of place for a pediatric intensive care unit.
At least he doesn’t have to be the one to wake up the sleeping child. It seems as though Blaine has already done that for him.
“You two do realize that it’s five am, right?” he asks with a quirk of his eyebrow.
“You two do realize that it’s five am, right?” Kelsey mimics.
Blaine turns around to look up at Kurt. “You have to admit, she totally has you down.”
Kurt sighs. “That she does.” He takes a seat on the couch beside Kelsey’s bed. Unlike Blaine, he doesn’t see patient beds as a answer to seating. “I’m assuming you rounded before playtime?”
“It’s not playtime,” Blaine says. “She has a piano recital coming up. And yes, Kurt. I have already rounded on all of Arizona’s patients. Betcha I’ve been here longer than you.”
“Four am,” he tells Blaine.
“Three-thirty,” Blaine grins.
“Bragging about waking up early,” Kelsey says. “You two really are losers.”
“Hey,” Blaine whines, smacking Kelsey’s shin lightly. “We’re totally cool. Aren’t we cool, Kurt?”
“Really cool,” Kurt assures her. “You’ll have to mind my colleague, Kelsey. Some of us don’t make it out of med school with our social skills intact.”
Blaine sticks his tongue out at Kurt.
“Did you losers always want to be doctors?” she asks curiously. "Like, little kids say they want to be doctors when they grow up, so what did doctors want to be when they grew up?"
"Doctors were little kids too once, you know," Blaine point out.
Kelsey scrunches her nose. "If you say so."
"I wanted to perform. Or teach music," Blaine says. "What about you, Kurt?"
Kurt doesn’t like talking about dreams. Especially the ones from Before. They seem silly now. "I... uh. Well, Kelsey. I wanted to be a cardiothoracic surgeon."
"No you didn't,” she says. “No kid wakes up one day and decides that. C'mon, it had to be something more fun than that."
Arizona Robbins has always said that the kids on her unit have super powers. The only super power Kurt has found them to possess is the ability to see through bullshit. This is part of why they make him so uncomfortable. Adults, he can fool. Kids? Not so much.
"Fine," Kurt gives in. "But I have to argue, I think my job is pretty fun." He shakes his head. "Broadway. I wanted to do whatever it took to be on Broadway. I felt like the role I was destined for had yet to be written."
Blaine is looking at him with an indecipherable smile.
Kurt leans over and pinches his arm.
"Hey," Blaine pouts. "Not nice."
"Don't judge the dreams of a teenage boy. Obviously I grew up. My dreams became more... practical." Kurt traded spotlights for scalpels a long time ago. Dreams fade, but ambition doesn’t.
"Dreams are never silly," Kelsey cuts in.
"She's right, you know,” Blaine urges gently. “I mean, look at me. I didn’t exactly end up where I thought I would, but I never let that stop me from performing.”
Kurt doesn’t like being consoled on the way he chooses to live his life by a child and someone who might as well be a child. He is focused. He is a resident, one of the best in his department. Attendings look forward to seeing him on their rotations. He is respected, feared. He enjoys being both of these things.
“You don’t have to be so serious all of the time,” Blaine says as he plucks Kurt’s ID badge lightly, causing it to snap back to its original position. The snap startles Kurt, and he bats his hand away. “Lighten up.”
Kurt knows by now that this is Blaine’s sense of humor. He diffuses stress with jokes and teasing. It’s how he survives in this place. That might work for Blaine, but it doesn’t work for Kurt.
“You could stand to be a little more serious yourself,” Kurt says, straightening his badge. His patience is thinning and his day has hardly begun. He leaves Kelsey’s chart on the bedside table, on the off chance Blaine feels like doing actual work.
He needs to find somewhere where he can breathe.
Kurt loves the catwalk above the main entrance of hospital right before sunrise. It’s one of the quietest places in the hospital, far enough away from the waiting rooms and patient rooms for him to collect his thoughts. He comes here after his more trying days.
He thinks about the boy he almost met at Sectionals that year. Would he have even said hi? Would he have been drawn to that infectious smile and melodious voice? It doesn’t matter, not really.
What ifs don’t mean much when you’re a surgical resident at one of the top teaching hospitals in the country. What ifs are for the people whose lives went wrong somewhere along the way.
Despite the world’s most undesirable hands of cards, Kurt’s life has been going right for a while now.
He’s made sure of it.
His room in the Hudson house is a recent addition. Like a lot of the things in Kurt’s world, it’s an afterthought. It throws off the symmetry in the house. During its construction, Kurt slept on an air mattress in Carole’s sewing room. His life is in pieces, so why shouldn’t his room reflect that?
Kurt feels like an afterthought. Like he’s screaming to be noticed.
Carole tries so hard, and Kurt wishes he had the energy to try a little harder himself. It’s because of her that he wasn’t thrust into the foster care system at the age of sixteen, too old for a fresh start and too young to set out on his own. But when he looks at Carole and Finn, he only sees the family that could have been. It makes it hard for him to try, sometimes.
Three sharp knocks sound from the doorway. Finn knows better than to bother him when he’s studying. Carole’s knocks are softer, more hesitant.
That leaves -
“Make it quick,” Kurt calls out, his eyes never leaving his laptop screen.
“Kurt,” Rachel greets briskly. “I understand you’re quite busy these days, but there is one small matter that I needed to discuss with you--”
“I’m not coming back to Glee club,” he interrupts. “My answer hasn’t changed and neither has your inability to pull off bangs.”
They have had both of these conversations enough times by now.
“Kurt,” she pleads. “It’s our senior year. It’s our last shot at Nationals. We need you. I need you.”
He lets out a strangled sounding laugh. “You really don’t.”
“I don’t even recognize you,” Rachel says in a sad voice. “I mean, I’m happy for you. I heard Ohio State gave you a full ride. Pre-Med, right? Because of your Dad?”
“We are so not having this conversation.”
“He would have been so proud,” she continues. “But your Dad would have loved for you to have kept singing, Kurt. I just know it.”
It takes all of his self restraint not to find the heaviest book on his desk and throw it at her. Instead, he clenches his fists. His nails bite the skin of his palms in a way that brings him back into himself. “You didn’t know my father, Rachel. I would appreciate if you left.”
Rachel pauses in the doorway. “They talk about you, you know. People at school. They’re saying you were the one who put those answer keys in Ashley’s locker. That you did it so you could be valedictorian.”
“Do you believe them?” He doesn’t know why he asks. He doesn’t know why he even cares at this point.
“I want to believe you didn’t do it,” she says, just before shutting the door behind her.
She stops asking him to come back to Glee after that conversation.
Kurt wonders when she stopped believing her own words.
A hand on his shoulder shakes him out of his thoughts.
“Where’d you go?” Blaine asks.
“Nowhere important,” Kurt replies. He rolls his shoulders to rid himself of both Blaine’s hand and the tension that has seeped into his limbs. “What’s up?”
“What are you doing Friday night?” Blaine asks. His smile is full of mischief and Kurt feels that he might already have his answer.
-
Kurt heads up April Kepner’s office around lunchtime to grab his food from her fridge. Unfortunately, Dr. Yang and the more sourpussed Dr. Grey seem to be using her office as their lunchroom.
“Kurt! Hi!” Dr. Kepner greets, her ever present clipboard seemingly glued to her hand. “I’m working on the on-call schedule for the week, and I seem to have a hole on Friday. Would you mind helping out?”
“Of course you have a hole, April. You’re not going to get anyone to give up their plans,” Dr. Yang says as she spears a piece of pineapple with unnecessary force. “Especially not for you.”
Kurt rolls his eyes. “As much as I’d love to help out, I have... plans.”
“A date with The New England Journal of Medicine isn’t plans, Hummel,” Dr. Yang smirks.
Dr. Grey grins. “Add a bottle of wine and it totally is.”
Kurt thinks she almost looks pretty when she’s not frowning.
“Actual plans,” he clarifies. “I don’t know what they are, exactly, but I’m pretty sure they’re plans.”
“With Blaine?” Dr. Kepner asks.
Kurt rarely works with Dr. Kepner. He should know by now not to underestimate the Seattle Grace gossip machine, but this is a little ridiculous.
“Where did you hear that from?”
“Cristina,” she shrugs.
Kurt turns to Cristina. “And where did you hear that from?”
“My eyes.” She waves a chunk of pineapple in the air. “And my ears.”
“Dr. Yang, it’s not what it looks like,” Kurt tries to explain frantically. “It’s a professional outing, at best. We’re thinking of writing an article together.”
It’s a lie. He just lied to Cristina Yang.
“Hummel, if you think I’m going to do the whole Romeo and Juliet crock of shit and forbid it, you have another think coming. That would require me caring about your personal life.”
“But you said--”
She tilts her head to the side and gives him one of her trademark condescending smiles. “I was screwing with you. It keeps me young.”
“At least they’re both residents,” Dr. Grey adds. “No messy seniority stuff.”
“But the attendings are always hotter.”
“You’re always had a thing for a man in charge.”
“You know it.”
“Stop it!” Dr. Kepner interrupts. “Seriously you guys, this is my office. This isn’t a high school lunchroom.”
“I’m not... dating. Blaine. We’re not dating. Dating is a waste of time,” Kurt adds.
“Eh, you wouldn’t be singing that tune if that hot little number of yours from your intern class didn’t defect to the derm.”
“Paul moved back to Maryland to take care of his sick mother,” he corrects. “He didn’t just defect to derm for the hell of it.”
“Yeah, but he did fail his intern exam. Nothing wrong with that, but a guy’s gotta have the balls to take it again.”
That strikes a chord, because that’s where she’s right. Kurt needs someone to keep up with him. He’s a surgical resident. Paul had been a wonderful boyfriend, but he was struggling in his career. He fell behind. When given the chance to retake his intern exam after repeating the year, he opted to change specialities instead. Thankfully, this also involved him moving back home.
Kurt is glad for that. He doesn’t need any skeletons wandering around the hospital. Paul’s departure made Kurt’s dating history all the more difficult to track.
He grabs his lunch from the fridge, pushing past Dr. Kepner’s curious glance and the pair of gossipy hens to his right. “Wish I could help.”
But the thing is, he really doesn’t.
-
They’re standing in the entrance of the auditorium of a high school and hour outside of Seattle. Kurt doesn’t know where they are, actually. He had joked with Blaine on the ride over that he was trusting him not to leave him on the outskirts of town.
“When you asked if I was free on Friday night, this wasn’t what I had in mind,” Kurt says with an amused smile. “Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just...”
“Blaine!” Kelsey calls from the other end of the hall. “You came!”
She’s only been out of the hospital for a couple of days, but the color has already started to return to her cheeks. Bruises from IVs and blood draws are carefully covered by a pink cardigan, paired with a simple black dress.
“And if it isn’t the lady of the evening.” Blaine takes Kurt’s hand and leads him to where Kelsey is standing with her parents. Kurt notes the black satchel hanging from her shoulder and fastened around her hips. He knows it’s the VAD, but to any passerby, it might look like an odd sort of messenger bag.
Kurt realises now that Blaine’s motivations were genuine. This wasn’t about getting in on a hot shot surgery. He wanted a girl to have a shot at normal life instead of being cooped up in a hospital room.
“And I brought company, I hope you don’t mind. Kurt, you remember Kelsey,”
“Of course,” Kurt smiles. “It’s nice to see you out and about. How are you feeling?”
Kurt is never exactly sure how to act around children. He knows the older ones, like Kelsey, are supposedly little adults. They wanted to be treated that way. Kurt remembers being treated like a little adult, having to grow up too quickly, so he refuses to treat them that way. He likes to let them be kids for a little longer, even if it makes them roll their eyes.
“A little tired of lugging this thing around, but I’m awesome,” she beams. “Right Blaine?”
“Right,” Blaine smiles. He turns to address Kelsey’s parents. “Dr. Robbins sends her best. She’s on-call tonight, so I’m afraid she won’t be able to make it.”
“She’s a busy woman,” Mrs. Long smiles. “I’m not surprised.”
“Well, we appreciate her sending you,” Mr. Long says, patting Blaine on the shoulder. “You too, Dr. Hummel. We understand that you two don’t have a lot of time away from the hospital. It means a lot that you made time for Kelsey.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Blaine tells them.
He’s still holding onto Kurt’s hand. The moment Kurt becomes aware of this, he lets go of Blaine’s hand.
“Well, we’ll see you boys in there?” Mrs. Long says kindly, and Kurt doesn’t miss her quick glance in the direction of their hands.
“So I’m your second choice,” Kurt teases as they go to find their seats in the auditorium. “I’m no Arizona Robbins, but I guess I’ll do.”
“What’s your problem with her, anyway?” Blaine asks.
Kurt freezes. “Um, no problems here,” he says quickly. “She’s a fantastic surgeon, it’s a shame I missed the chance to scrub in with her.”
“No one likes a brown noser, Kurt. C’mon, it’s only us.” He directs Kurt to a pair of seats in the back of the auditorium.
“If you must know...” Kurt takes his seat, fiddling with his program nervously. “It sounds so, so petty, I’m aware, but I have it on good authority that the reason I’m not working under the brilliant Erica Hahn is because that ortho attending, Dr. Torres, cheated on her with your little roller skating boss. I think it speaks of her character, so I don’t like her.”
Blaine chuckles. “Kurt, no one likes a gossip. Besides, that’s total bullshit. Erica was out of the picture way before that. If you’re going to feed into the gossip, at least get your facts straight. Next you’ll be telling me that Izzie Stevens really did cut the LVAD wire...”
It’s Kurt’s turn to laugh. He knows it’s not funny, but he appreciates having a leg up on Blaine.
The lights go down and someone’s little angel begins to clumsily plunk their way through Chopin.
“Are you serious?” Blaine says at a volume that just on this side of unacceptable for their location. A nearby parent hushes them. “Oh my god, I never wanted to believe it, but that is so romantic.”
“How is it romantic? The guy died.”
“That’s what makes it romantic, duh.” Blaine places a hand to his heart. “Kurt, would you cut my LVAD wire? Put your career on the line to save your dying love?” His voice drops to a whisper. “In this situation, keep in mind, I am your dying love.”
“Absolutely not,” Kurt replies. “I hardly tolerate you most days.”
“But... dying love?”
“Nope.”
When the same parent shushes them a second time, Kurt gives her an apologetic smile. This is a smile he has mastered after years of working closely with the general public.
“We’ll have plenty of time to talk afterwards,” he assures Blaine.
“You’re right,” Blaine nods. “Hey, think her kid is the one that sucks?”
Kurt elbows him in the side.
-
After the recital, they end up sitting on the roof of Blaine’s car outside of a greasy burger joint. It somehow manages to be that most romantic quasi-date Kurt has been on in years, and he doesn’t know what that says about him.
“This is dangerous, you know,” Kurt tells him. “I always operate under the assumption that it’s about to rain.”
“Even though you moved to Seattle, you never really settled down here, did you?” Blaine asks with an amused smile. He pops a fry into his mouth and his eyes never leave Kurt’s.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because the people who live here know that it’s still just as beautiful when it rains,” he smiles.
With talk like that, Kurt expects to feel a few well timed raindrops begin to fall, but they seem to be in the clear. He almost finds himself wishing it would rain. The mad rush to the car would follow, until they were laughing and teasing each other. Damp clothes sticking to their skin and matching smiles.
He looks up, only to find clear skies.