Fic: Sweet Music Man (3/?)
Media: Fic
Title: Sweet Music Man
Author: Elizabeth (taylarellolove/ilovehummel)
Rating: T
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Everything up to 2x18
Pairings: Klaine, but mostly Blaine/Burt centric
Summary: A series of unexpected circumstances cause Burt and Blaine to form an unlikely friendship based on the one thing they have in common: unconditional love for Kurt.
A/N: Again, thank you to my wonderful readers! This chapter starts getting into Burt/Blaine a little more, but still focuses on Kurt a lot. That will change.
Chapter Two
June 10, 2011
5:10 PM
Blaine visited Kurt the day his cast came off. He felt he had to because he knew Kurt had been lonely the last couple weeks. Burt had been trying to distract himself from the pain of his son not waking up, so he worked overtime at the tire shop. Maybe once a week Carole and Finn managed to find time to trek out to Westerville to see Kurt. The only one that visited him constantly anymore was Blaine. Even then it was difficult to find time to go without his parents knowing.
Six weeks after the accident, Blaine had decorated Kurt’s room with anything that might make Kurt feel more at home. Whenever he came, he set the new iPod he spent some of his savings on - Kurt’s had been lost in the accident - and he set it on the dock beside Kurt’s bed and played Lady Gaga and show tunes while he rubbed lotion on Kurt’s dry skin or helped Nurse Kathryn shave Kurt’s light facial hair.
The first day Blaine walked in to see Kurt with a beard, he was a little freaked out. He had to check three times to make sure he walked into the right room. He wasn’t even sure Kurt could grow facial hair, but he found out from the Nurse that he just hadn’t been shaven in over a week.
His visits weren’t focused so much on seeing Kurt and how hurt he was. He didn’t even think so much anymore about the fact that Kurt might never wake up. Kurt’s silence had been unnerving before, but now Blaine was used to it. His visits were now about taking care of Kurt. He made sure Kurt’s perfect skin was taken care of and he shaved him and he even helped bathe him once and once a week he was allowed to help the physical therapist do exercises with Kurt’s arms. They couldn’t move much else on his body since his legs were still in casts and his back was still injured.
Blaine was almost ashamed of how much he depended on that time he spent caring for Kurt. In the end, Blaine admitted to himself that taking care of Kurt was the only way he could believe that Kurt was going to live. Blaine was good at keeping promises, too. He wasn’t going to leave Kurt. Not even if Kurt never woke up. He gave Kurt that ring for a reason.
The ring.
It had cost three times as much as the iPod, and it was nowhere to be found. Nurse Kathryn even inquired around the hospital to see if it had been dropped when they were moving the rest of Kurt’s belongings, but whatever happened, it was gone.
So was, unfortunately, the one Blaine was to wear himself.
It had been in his blazer pocket and his blazer had been left somewhere in the mangled mess of car the night of the accident.
Blaine let out a sigh. Maybe the accident was the universe telling him he wasn’t good enough for Kurt Hummel. Some divine being decided to have some guy run right into Kurt, snatching the life right out of him before Blaine gets to really enjoy the time he had with Kurt. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right, but Blaine didn’t care what message someone was trying to send him. He loved Kurt and he refused to give him up.
He’d rather die himself than give up a chance to love Kurt.
“Hey, kiddo.” A throat cleared behind him and Blaine paused in applying some kind of oil free moisturizer cream to Kurt’s pale white and lifeless cheeks. He looked over his shoulder to see Burt Hummel standing there, offering him an uncomfortable glance. It had been five days since Burt came in to visit Kurt last.
“Hello Mr. Hummel,” Blaine said. He continued applying the moisturizer. Kurt had to be comfortable. That was Blaine’s number one priority.
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Burt?” The older man moved over to Kurt’s other side and looked down at his son.
“Just one more time, sir,” Blaine said. He knew Burt was still uneasy around him after everything that happened, but if he could just show him how much he loved Kurt, he knew he could change Burt’s mind about him.
“I…uh…I just wanted to thank you,” Burt said, settling down in the chair beside Kurt’s bed. “You’re giving up your life to take care of him.”
“I have to,” Blaine said. “How could I not? I love him.”
“I understand that, Blaine, but you’re only seventeen years old. You’re just a kid still. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. I won’t be mad at you if you want to move on,” Burt told him. He looked over Kurt and his eyes met Blaine’s. Blaine saw something there. It looked a little like care or maybe concern. Either way, it was a look that wasn’t often directed toward Blaine, and there was a little jolt inside of him when he noticed it.
“It’s only been six weeks. I won’t give up on him yet,” Blaine declared. He placed the bottle of moisturizer back in the bag and pulled out another.
“Maybe you should talk to someone,” Burt offered. “I mean, it’s the end of the school year. You should be hangin’ with your buddies or whatever it is you kids do these days. You shouldn’t be in here moisturizing Kurt’s skin for him.”
Blaine didn’t respond. His friends at Dalton understood that Kurt had become such a big part of his life that his absence was physically painful for Blaine. Burt didn’t know that much about Blaine though, so he couldn’t know just how much Blaine needed to be there, moisturizing Kurt’s skin, touching and feeling that Kurt was still there. Alive. Even if just barely.
“I know that it’s probably painful for you, but I was wondering if maybe you could tell me what happened the night of the accident,” Burt said, interrupting the silence. Blaine’s breath hitched and his chest grew tight for a moment. He didn’t like talking about it. But the older Hummel man deserved to know.
“Kurt and I went to this Italian restaurant for dinner, then we were gonna go back to my house,” Blaine started. He debated lying through the next part, not telling Burt that they planned to do nothing but inappropriate things all night, but he couldn’t do that. Not now. “Kurt was tired and he…he wanted to have energy for later that night. For when we were…alone. So I offered to drive and we got in the car. Before we left I told him I loved him and I gave him a ring. A promise ring. And I promised him I would never leave him.”
Tears burned Blaine’s eyes but he would not cry over this. Not here. Not now. Not in front of both Hummel men. He was strong.
“Then he put the ring on and we left. It was quiet out and he fell asleep in the passenger seat. He was asleep when it happened. Then after it was over, he was lying there, half through the windshield telling me how much he needed me and I couldn’t be there to save him and he was bleeding so much and they pulled me away and he was hurt and I just wanted to help him and…”
“Hey, buddy, it’s not your fault,” Burt said, his voice soft and comforting. Blaine looked over at him with glistening eyes. “I know I said it was before, but it’s not. It doesn’t matter who was driving because it probably would’ve happened no matter what. If Kurt had been driving, this would be you.”
Blaine winced. He wanted it to be him. But he knew Kurt would be hurting just as much either way.
“So you gave him a ring?” Burt continued. Blaine gave one nod and reached for Kurt’s left hand, letting his blunt fingertips rest on Kurt’s ring ringer.
“It was lost in the accident,” Blaine said. Burt nodded and watched Blaine for a moment until the teenager removed his hands from Kurt and gathered his things. Before leaving, Blaine looked at Burt solemnly and said, “I won’t stop loving him.”
. ~ . ~ .
June 13, 2011
10:14 AM
Burt slipped away from Hummel Tires and Lube with the intention of sneaking another trip to Westerville in before he headed off to the annual classic car show in Montgomery County. It was a yearly event he’d taken Kurt to since the year Kurt was born. He’d contemplated taking Finn this year, but it just didn’t feel right. He’d probably just go alone.
He was headed out of Lima, thinking of the last six weeks and how hard they’d been without Kurt’s presence. Kurt’s room was exactly like it had been before, and he knew for a fact that Carole cleaned it every few days to make sure it was spotless in case Kurt was to wake up any time. It was hard on everyone, Kurt being gone, but Burt knew it was especially hard on Blaine.
Blaine was a good kid. He took care of Kurt. He loved Kurt. Hell, he even took the time to figure out all that moisturizer crap that Kurt used so much just to keep Kurt’s skin looking like it did. How many people would do that for anyone let alone his kid? And Blaine loved Kurt enough to give him a ring. They hadn’t been together that long and sure, it might be a little odd for a teenager to want to make a commitment like that, but Blaine cared.
Then Burt saw it. The jewelry store. The really expensive one on the outskirts of Lima that he bought Carole’s engagement ring at.
Maybe he could do something right by both Kurt and Blaine.
He pulled into the empty parking lot and hopped out of his truck. Pocketing his wallet, he slammed the door shut and headed inside the door. There was a guy that dressed a lot like Kurt standing behind the counter. He raised a disapproving eyebrow when Burt strode in, heading over to the rings.
“What can I help you with sir?” the man asked, unnecessary hostility in his voice. God Burt wished his son would never grow up to be like that.
“I…uh…” Burt’s eyebrows drew together. What was he here for? Well, he might as well just say it as it is. The man on the other side of the counter couldn’t be judging him more already. “My son was in an accident, and his…his boyfriend told me that right before the accident he gave him a ring, but now the ring is gone and I feel bad so I wanted to get another one but I don’t have any idea what to get.”
Before he even finished, Judgmental Jewelry Store guy was bent over, digging around in one of the jewelry cases, pulling out two rings, one a simple gold band and another the same save for two tiny diamonds set side by side.
“I assume you’re talking about Kurt and Blaine, right?” Judgmental Jewelry Store guy asked. Burt looked at him, wondering how on earth he could know that. “There aren’t many openly gay guys around here, so when two of them get in accidents news tends to travel fast. Especially when Blaine is your cousin.”
Burt raised both eyebrows now, a little afraid of this guy. But before Burt could say anything, the guy was ringing up the two rings and giving him a discount and telling him the total - four hundred and fifty seven dollars, Jesus H. Christ - and saying they accepted payments, seeing as he understood money was tight with Kurt in the hospital and all.
He handed over his credit card and paid for them in full. Those boys deserved this. He’d be getting a large sum of money from the driver’s family, so he could afford this.
He tucked the velvet boxes in his jacket safely and headed off to Westerville.
. ~ . ~ .
Blaine was there when Burt arrived.
“Teacher work day at Dalton,” Blaine explained. He wasn’t sitting on Kurt’s bed or touching Kurt or even looking at Kurt. He was in the chair in the far corner, sitting sideways with his legs draped over the arm of the chair, writing something in a notebook.
“How is he today?” Burt asked as he headed over to Kurt’s bed. Kurt’s expression hadn’t changed in six weeks. There was still a tube down his throat. His body was still. His heart ached.
“Fine,” Blaine said. “He moved earlier. I was talking to him and his hand twitched. The nurse said it was just an involuntary movement though.”
Burt nodded. He was quickly learning that it wasn’t like Blaine to cling to false hope. Blaine knew it wasn’t likely that Kurt would wake up at all by this point. It didn’t stop him from just needing to be there.
“I…uh…I got something for you. And him.” Burt moved across the room and sat down in the chair beside Blaine’s, watching one of the boy’s dark eyebrows quirk upwards. Burt reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the two velvet boxes. “I stopped on the way out of Lima and apparently you have a cousin that works in the jewelry profession.”
Blaine’s other eyebrow shot up to match the other. The rest of his expression remained stoic. It was a face Burt knew all too well from Kurt. He handed over the two boxes and Blaine leaned forward to take them.
“Mr. Hummel…you didn’t have to.” Blaine opened the boxes and looked at the rings. They weren’t as nice as the original rings - which were custom made for Blaine’s specifications - but they were the ones he had based them off of.
“I know how much he means to you, and you’ve already given so much. I figured a little symbol of commitment never hurt anybody,” Burt shrugged. Blaine swung his legs off the arm of the chair and stood. He took the ring meant of Kurt and took it over to the hospital bed. Taking Kurt’s left hand, he slid the ring on his finger. It fit perfectly.
“The size. It’s perfect.” Blaine looked over at Burt. He took his own ring and slid it on his finger. It fit too.
“Don’t look at me. That guy at the store gave them to me.” Burt held his hands up and watched as Blaine looked back down to marvel at the rings.
“Thank you so much,” Blaine said. “You’ll never know how much this means to me.”
Burt didn’t quite know what to think of that. He just offered the kid a smile and watched him staring at Kurt in wonder.
. ~ . ~ .
June 17, 2011
It was the last day of school for both McKinley and Dalton, and Finn invited Blaine to his end of the school year party at the insistence of both Burt and Carole, as well as most of New Directions. In the last seven weeks, Blaine had become close friends with Mercedes, Rachel, Santana, and Tina, mostly because he was their main source of information on how Kurt was doing.
So when Blaine pulled up in front of the Hudson-Hummel house that afternoon, he was welcomed with hugs from all the girls, and some of the guys. He hadn’t been inside the house since before the accident, and he wasn’t sure how much he looked forward to it. He knew that Kurt’s room was there, preserved for that unknown time in the future when he would presumably wake up and get to come home.
Blaine ate pizza and drank three cans of vanilla Coke and participated in a karaoke competition in which it came down to him and Mercedes. They tied. When some of them moved outside to take advantage of the warm night, Blaine retreated upstairs. Kurt’s bedroom door was closed, and he hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. Turning it, he pushed open the door.
It was cold inside. A little stuffy, with the lingering smell of facial cleansers and roses and Kurt. The bed was perfectly made, the shelves were dusted, everything was clean. Blaine kept the light off as he stepped inside, running his fingers over the fabric of the comforter on the bed. He made his way into Kurt’s closet, seeing all the clothes in there. He wondered what Kurt would think when he woke up. Would he insist on going shopping right away? He already missed out on a new season of fashion. Kurt wouldn’t even want to wear these clothes when he woke up!
“Hey, bear.” A soft voice startled him and he turned to find Mercedes. He smiled at the nickname she had given him. The girls called Kurt “boo” and so they decided to call him “bear”. It was cute and it made him feel loved, accepted.
“Hello,” Blaine replied. He glanced over her head to see Rachel and Tina behind her.
“We want to go see him,” Mercedes said. “We haven’t seen him since before the accident.”
Blaine nodded and looked back into the closet and spotted a jacket he’d admired on Kurt a couple of times. He pulled it off the hanger and traded his own jacket for it, finding that despite the size difference between him and Kurt, it fit perfect.
“Looks good, bear,” Rachel offered. “You should have it. You know, to remind you of him.”
Blaine looked back and smiled at her, buttoning up the navy blue jacket. His eyes drifted closed as the scent that was uniquely Kurt drifted up to meet his nose. It wouldn’t be long before it wouldn’t smell like Kurt anymore, but for now, he would love it.
. ~ . ~ .
Blaine, Mercedes, Rachel, Tina, Santana, and Puck all excused themselves from the party and thanked the Hummel’s for having them in their house, then they piled into Blaine’s Lexus. It was cramped, and the drive to Westerville wasn’t a short one, but it was worth it. They were mostly quiet, the air filled with nervousness at the opportunity to finally see Kurt.
When they got to the Westerville Hospital, Blaine used his charm to get the group past multiple groups of nurses and orderlies until they got to that narrow hallway of glass doors. Blaine got to Kurt’s room and motioned for them to be quiet as they entered, even though they knew it wouldn’t be disturbing Kurt.
They all piled into the room slowly, surrounding Kurt’s bed, looking down on him in awe. His hair was still short, that alone was a major difference. His cheeks were dark and hollowed around the tube in his throat. His eyelids were tinted dark and his skin was so pale they could almost see right through to the bed.
“He looks so breakable,” Mercedes whispered. She stood on the left side of the bed and took Kurt’s hand, doing a double take when her fingers brushed the cold metal of the ring. She shot a look over to Blaine, surprised. He’d told her about the ring and how it was lost in the accident.
“His dad,” Blaine offered. He showed his own. “He got them both for us.”
A sweet moment followed where all six of them surrounded Kurt’s bed, taking turns telling him how much they missed him and wanted him to wake up.
“We really miss you, boo,” Mercedes said, her eyes glistening with tears. “It’s the end of the school year and I missed our annual beginning-of-the-summer shopping trip. You’re so pretty sleeping like this though, but you’re even prettier when you’re awake.”
“Nationals sucked without you, Kurt. I’m pretty sure that’s why we lost. I only hope you’ll be able to come with us next year,” Tina said, not looking directly at Kurt like it was too painful.
“I really miss your sarcasm and your criticism of my singing and my wardrobe. No one quite knows how to fire a witty comeback quite like you, and it really makes everything feel dead without you,” Rachel said, her voice perfectly even but her eyes tearing up like everyone else’s. Then Santana stepped forward and put a careful hand on Kurt’s pale arm.
“Look, Kurt, I know we haven’t always got along, but you inspire people even when you’re practically dead. I guess I decided to learn from it, so last week I told the whole glee club that I play for the other team. Like the actual other team. So I guess I can’t tell anymore gay jokes,” Santana said with a little laugh. She circled her hand around Kurt’s arm and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to will herself not to cry. “I just miss you so fricken much.”
Blaine pat her shoulder and was surprised when she curled up into him, hugging him tightly. He comforted, watching as Puck put his hand on Kurt’s shoulder softly and just stared at him.
“I wanna apologize properly, Kurt. For all the slushies and the dumpster dives and that time I locked you in the port-a-potty and the pee balloons and the lawn furniture on the roof and writing homo all over your locker in the locker room,” Puck spoke quickly, never removing his hand from Kurt’s shoulder. “I guess I was just jealous that you were so confident, even though we tried to break your spirit. You never deserved any of it. And I really miss you too.”
Santana turned to hug Puck, sobbing into his shoulder.
Blaine was touched by how much they cared about Kurt, but he knew their words weren’t going to make Kurt wake up any sooner. Kurt would wake up when Kurt was ready.
Next Chapter