Fic: Sweet Music Man (6/?)
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: Ok so first off I'd like to apologize for the writing in this chapter. I hate hurting poor Kurt and I think it shows in the quality (or lack thereof). But just hang on through this chapter. Next chapter I have the SWEETEST Klaine scene planned (I hope) and there are some good supportive father figure Burt/Blaine scenes coming up too. For those wondering where this story is going, I'm planning on it going through until the summer after senior year.
Previous Chapter
July 20, 2011
12:31 PM
Blaine had been working at Hummel Tires and Lube for a week, and it was hard damn work. He was used to just having everything handed to him because his parents had money, but now he had to work for it. He wanted to work for his stay at the Hudson-Hummel house, but he also had a lot to save for. He would need a car, clothes, and he needed to save money for when Kurt got out of the hospital and they wanted to find some place to live together. Blaine had planned a future with Kurt, and he wanted to do everything to build that life. He even considered not returning to high school at all for his senior year so he could work full time.
That was, of course, not an option according to several people.
Burt and Carole had urged him to enroll in McKinley, and Finn had told him it didn’t matter about the bullies anymore because Azimio and Karofsky - the worst of the bunch - had graduated.
It had been Mercedes, Tina, and Rachel that convinced him to join them for their final year of high school. They’d been planning to meet him for lunch since they found out Kurt was awake. As soon as they arrived, he told Burt he was heading out for lunch and he’d be back in half an hour, but Mercedes had other ideas.
“Mr. Hummel, would you mind if we kidnapped Blaine for the rest of the afternoon?” Mercedes asked politely. She linked arms with Blaine on one side and Rachel appeared on his other side. Burt looked at them skeptically for a moment. Their relationship was still strained, but Burt was slowly coming to terms with the fact that Blaine was in fact a large part of his life because of Kurt. While Burt had to be there for Kurt, Blaine chose to be there for Kurt. Burt respected the younger man’s choice.
“Sure,” Burt shrugged in the end. The girls let out simultaneous screams of happiness and barely gave Blaine time to change from his coveralls to his regular clothes, standing impatiently in the doorway of the back office tapping their feet.
“Why are you in such a hurry?” Blaine asked, amused.
“Just hurry up, bear. We got business,” Mercedes said. He tugged on his baggy shorts and slipped his feet into a pair of flip flops. His summer attire was decidedly casual, even for him. He was sure dressing awful by Kurt’s standards would warrant some kind of comment from his boyfriend one of these days.
“Business doing what?” Blaine let out a small squeak as they jerked him out of the office and out towards the car Mercedes had borrowed from her mom. Rachel and Tina sat in the back and let Blaine sit in the front and took off before he could ask any more questions.
“We’re not going to lunch are we?” Blaine asked when he realized Mercedes was driving out of Lima instead of into town.
“We’re going to see Kurt,” Mercedes said, in all seriousness. Blaine’s face fell. He wanted to tell her to stop the car. Right now. Turn around and stay in Lima and stop thinking about seeing Kurt.
“I don’t think he’s ready,” Blaine said hesitantly, looking out the window.
“I don’t believe that for a second,” Tina snapped from the backseat.
“We know you, bear. You just wanna keep him for yourself,” Rachel added. Blaine scowled at this comment. Of course he wanted to keep Kurt for himself. He’d visited Kurt every day since he woke up and he only seemed to make progress when Blaine was there.
“I’m sorry. He just…he won’t even look at his dad, so why would we make this any harder on him by pressuring him?” Blaine didn’t mean to sound as hostile as he did, but he wanted Kurt’s recovery to happen without pressure. If Kurt remembered him, he’d surely remember everyone else in time.
“No way my boo won’t remember me,” Mercedes said. She glanced over at Blaine quickly before looking back at the road. Blaine scowled unhappily, knowing that when Mercedes wanted to do something, she was going to do it. But when she realized how much this upset Blaine, she softened her expression. “Look bear, we won’t stay long. I promise. We just want to see him because we love him so much.”
It took Blaine a moment to respond, but when he turned away from the window to look at each of the girls in turn, he knew it would be ok to grant them this moment with Kurt. And just maybe they might get Kurt to do or say something.
The rest of the drive consisted of Rachel, Mercedes, and Tina trying to get Blaine to sing with them. He refused, too tired from work and worrying about Kurt to engage in their merriment for the moment.
When they arrived at the Westerville Hospital, he took them inside and they followed him to Kurt’s room. He had been moved from the glass hallway to a different, more private room with solid walls. The door was closed, as it usually was. Blaine knew there was no one there now - Finn was with Puck, Burt was at the shop, and Carole was grocery shopping - which meant there was a possibility Kurt might be sleeping.
“He might be asleep, so be quiet,” he told the girls. They nodded obediently and followed him through the white painted door.
Kurt looked impossibly small in his bed. He didn’t look up when they entered, but he was awake. He stared down at the bed, his chin touching his chest. His fingers were fisted tightly in the blankets on either side of him, as if he were concentrating really hard on something to the point of becoming frustrated. Blaine motioned for the girls to stay where they were for the moment.
He approached Kurt’s bed slowly, reaching out to touch the edge of it as he moved closer. Kurt didn’t look up or acknowledge that he knew Blaine was there until Blaine trailed his fingertips over Kurt’s fisted hand.
Kurt gasped at the contact and tipped his head up just a bit. He loosed his grip on the sheets and moved his hand to grasp Blaine’s. There was a small sniffle from where the girls stood, but Kurt didn’t seem to notice. Blaine pulled a chair up beside Kurt’s bed so he was sitting lower than Kurt. He ducked his head down a bit to try to look Kurt in the eye, which didn’t prove to be an easy task.
“Hey,” Blaine said softly. There was a small smile tugging at Kurt’s lips that only he could see. This was only the fourth time Kurt had smiled since waking up. The first time had been for Blaine, then for Blaine and Carole, then for Burt, and now for Blaine again.
“H-Hi,” Kurt whispered softly.
“I missed you,” Blaine said. He ducked his head down and pressed a kiss to the back of Kurt’s hand. “I wanted to come yesterday but your dad had me working hard at the shop today.”
Kurt looked confused again and did not respond. His grip tightened on Blaine’s hand and it was almost painful. Blaine would never let go.
“Kurt, some of your friends are here. Mercedes and Tina and Rachel. They wanted to see you,” Blaine said softly. Kurt’s brow furrowed and his throat worked for a moment, then he picked his head up just enough so his eyes could dart over to where the girls stood. The effort of holding his head up seemed too much, and he let it drop back do he was looking down at Blaine.
Mercedes decided to move closer, moving towards the other side of Kurt’s bed. She stood cautiously next to her best friend and looked down at him, taking in the sight of his frail body and short, untamed hair.
“Hey boo,” she said softly.
It was quiet for a moment before she spoke again.
“I wanted to see you. I miss shopping with you,” she said. This seemed to peak his interest. He slowly moved his head to look at her, and she was surprised at the dullness in his eyes.
“Cedes,” he said.
At the sound of his hoarse voice, ragged from not being used, she almost broke. This was Kurt. Kurt freaking Hummel, fiercest bitch of them all. King of the fashionistas. Self-proclaimed diva, honorary girl, and the most vocally talented person she knew second only to herself.
“Oh Kurt,” she managed to say. She wanted to touch him, to talk to him, to do something other than just stand there, but she didn’t want to scare him away.
Kurt looked at her, then glanced over at Rachel and Tina, who looked at him hopefully. His eyes slowly moved back to Mercedes and he let out a sigh.
“You guys…” he started. He glanced back at Blaine, who gave him a gently squeeze of the hand. “You skipped school to visit.”
The girls didn’t know what to say at first, startled by the statement. What did that mean? Did he not know that he’d missed ten weeks of his life? Was he simply unaware of time moving?
“Uh…Kurt…remember how we talked a couple days ago?” Blaine spoke up. Kurt did not respond. “Kurt, you’ve been here a while. You were asleep for ten weeks. It’s summer now.”
Blue eyes suddenly opened wide. His neck straightened and his brow furrowed as though he was suddenly hearing this for the first time and truly comprehending it. He looked at Blaine, his jaw trembling in overwhelming confusion.
“What? I-I-I missed Nationals,” Kurt said. The words came out slow, forced, like he wanted to talk but his body thought it too much effort. Even with confusion evident, Blaine was still proud. This was the most he’d heard Kurt speak since he woke up. He was making progress.
“It was all right.” Rachel stepped towards the bed, her hands clasped in front of her. “We didn’t win. We couldn’t win without you.”
Kurt cringed, disbelieve apparent on his face. Blaine felt a small pain in his heart as he recognized Kurt’s pain.
“I missed so much, didn’t I?” Kurt asked, his voice small and broken. He held Blaine’s hand like it was a lifeline. “Why did I miss so much?”
“You were in an accident, boo,” Mercedes said softly. She slipped her fingers through Kurt’s other hand, causing him to tense suddenly and rip both his hands from their grips.
“What? What accident?” Kurt squawked, sending panicked looks to all his friends. Blaine sent a worried glance to toward the girls, although his was for a different reason than theirs.
“Kurt, we talked about this on Monday. We were in a car accident almost three months ago. We went on a date and on the way back to my house we were hit by another car,” Blaine explained. He thought Kurt understood what had happened. He’d spoken with him at length about it and Kurt had even muttered acknowledgments when Blaine paused to ask him if he understood what he was talking about.
“You didn’t tell me anything. What are you talking about?” Kurt looked at him oddly, his eyes filled with fear and panic. It was starting to scare Blaine. So maybe Kurt hadn’t been as responsive as he thought the other day. Then Kurt was looking right at him, eyes wide and clear for the first time since he woke up.
“Blaine, your hair. It’s long,” Kurt said. “Why is it so long? It was just short the other day.”
Now Blaine was confused. He sent a glance over to Mercedes, who was starting to look afraid for her friend. She looked over at Rachel and Tina, muttering that maybe they should wait outside. Maybe Kurt wasn’t ready to see them. Blaine confirmed that this was a good idea and waited until they were outside.
“It’s been three months, Kurt,” Blaine sighed. “You’ve been in the hospital for almost three months. You missed the end of your junior year of high school. You missed Nationals. You missed a lot.”
“Oh,” Kurt said. His eyes were wide, glistening with tears as he began to understand the seriousness of the situation.
“Yeah,” Blaine said. “Oh.”
“I must look horrible,” Kurt muttered. Blaine laughed at this and Kurt glared before ducking his head down and reaching a hand up to run it through his hair. His short and unstyled hair. Blaine waited for a moment as Kurt felt his hair. “Oh my god.”
“In the accident, you went through the windshield of your Navigator. Your hit your head pretty bad and there was a huge gash. They had to shave your hair off,” Blaine said solemnly, as if mourning the loss of Kurt’s gorgeous chestnut hair. It would grow back, but it would take time. After all, it took Kurt seventeen years to get it like he had it.
Kurt felt for a moment, running his fingers over the raised lump of a scar where the hair was growing back unevenly. He held in a choked sob as he let his hand fall to his side.
“You’re beautiful, Kurt. No matter what you do or how you look. I will always love you,” Blaine said, taking the hand that rested at Kurt’s side. Kurt offered him a small smile, letting his head tip down again. They were silent, Blaine rubbing small circles on Kurt’s hand with his thumb. For a while it seemed like Kurt was going to be all right, until his soft, terrified voice spoke again.
“Blaine?” Kurt inquired softly.
“Yes?” Blaine leaned closer, waiting for his question.
“Why can’t I move my legs?” Kurt asked.
Blaine’s golden eyes widened. He looked at the appendages in question, finding them motionless even though the determined look on Kurt’s face showed he was very much trying to move them.
“I-I-I don’t know,” Blaine said. He felt tears burn his eyes. Tears he hadn’t let himself cry in a long time. Kurt was quivering with the effort to hold back his own tears.
“I can’t move my legs,” Kurt cried. “I don’t understand. I can feel them. I can feel the sheets on them, I can feel you close to them. But they won’t move.”
Blaine didn’t know what to do. He didn’t what to say. He didn’t know if he could handle this, but Kurt needed him, so he had to help him. He resigned, in the end, to pressing the call button and asking for a nurse to come and explain the situation to Kurt better than he could.
. ~ . ~ .
By the time Blaine left Kurt’s room, it was three hours later. He was surprised to find not only Mercedes, Tina, and Rachel still there, but Finn, Carole, and Burt were waiting also. Burt stood, looking like he was at the brink of his self-control.
“Rachel called us and told us what was happening,” Burt said.
“You could’ve come in,” Blaine said. “You should’ve. He could really use his dad right now.”
Burt sighed and glanced at the others. “I don’t know how to deal with him like this. I figured he’s responded better to you.”
“It’s all right,” Blaine said. “He just…he’s so confused. And he can’t…he can’t move his legs. They don’t know if he’ll be able to walk.”
Burt tried to hide his reaction, but it was difficult. It was a mixture of anger and sorrow and hatred for the man who hit their car that night and pain for his son. Blaine wanted to do something to comfort Burt, but he was so tired from dealing with Kurt.
“I’m gonna go in and see how he’s doing,” Burt said. Blaine nodded and was startled when Burt reached out and drew him into a tight embrace. He patted the stunned teenager on the back, squeezing him hard. “Thank you,” Burt said, just for Kurt to hear. “Thank you so much.”
Then he stepped back and headed into Kurt’s room. Blaine turned back to the others, who looked at him worriedly.
“I have to be with him all the time. I mean, I’ll work at the shop but I have to stay with him. He needs me. If he can’t walk he’ll need someone to help him get around.” Blaine pushed his hands into his pockets and sighed. He couldn’t go back to school in September. He had to work for Kurt. If he couldn’t walk, then he’d need to live in a place that was easily accessible and it would be more expensive. “I’m not going back to school in September. There’s just no way.”
“Don’t talk like that, bear,” Mercedes suddenly snapped.
“Yeah,” Rachel chimed in. “With an education, you’ll be able to support Kurt better.”
“We know you want to work, Blaine, but Kurt would want you to go to McKinley with us,” Tina said.
“Besides, man, it’s senior year! You can take a half day and spend the rest of the time with Kurt,” Finn added. Blaine looked at them all skeptically. He hadn’t planned on returning to school in the fall, and now that Kurt was awake and needed him more than ever he really didn’t want to.
But if any of them had a point, Rachel was right. At least with a high school diploma he could get a job other than working at Burt’s shop.
. ~ . ~ .
“Dad,” Kurt whispered softly as his father entered the room. It was apparently that he had been crying, but he quickly wiped his eyes in an effort to mask his sadness.
“Hey, kiddo,” Burt said, smiling at him regardless of the depressing mood in the air. Kurt looked up at him from behind heavy eyelids.
“Go away,” Kurt said shyly. “Just…just leave. Please. Don’t come closer.”
Burt was hurt. He froze in his spot and his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. Kurt’s words hurt. His own son didn’t want him near him.
“I don’t want you to see me like this,” Kurt said. He sniffled and jerked his head away, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Kurt.” Burt’s heart ached for his son. He continued moving closer until he was beside Kurt’s bed. “Oh Kurt. It doesn’t matter. You’re my son. I love you.”
Struggling not to cry, Kurt’s entire face became pinched as his chest quivered with the effort not to cry. It was failing him. Burt wanted to tell him to just let it out.
“I’m so sorry, daddy,” Kurt let out a choked sob. “I’m so sorry this happened. I’m sorry I can’t move and I’m sorry I look like crap and I’m so sorry that you had to worry about me.”
“Kurt, look at me.”
He shook his head, refusing.
“Son, I want you to look at me right now,” Burt said sternly.
Slowly, Kurt turned look up at him.
“Do. Not. Apologize to me. You have nothing to apologize for. Accidents happen all the time, Kurt, and it is most certainly not your fault. It’s gonna be hard from here on out, I know that. But you’ll get better and we’ll bring you home. We’ll build ramps, we’ll get one of those pullout beds and you can take over the family room. We’ll figure something out. And Blaine’s staying with us now. He’ll help you. We’ll all help you and we’ll get through this,” Burt told him. Tears were streaming steadily down Kurt’s face and Burt could tell that more than anything he was scared.
“I love you, Dad,” Kurt said.
Burt’s heart broke.
“I love you too, kiddo,” Burt said. He leaned over and pulled Kurt into a tight embrace.
They would get through this. He was sure of it.
. ~ . ~ .
July 24, 2011
7:16 PM
It took Blaine exactly three days in a row of visiting Kurt to realize what the problem was.
Quite frankly, he was terrified of it.
On the fourth day, he knew it was easier if he took the morning shift of being with Kurt, so he hopped in Burt’s truck and hurried to Westerville. When he got there, Kurt was still asleep, but he quickly woke up after sensing Blaine’s presence.
“Hi, Kurt,” Blaine said, smiling. He held Kurt’s hand and kissed the ring on his finger.
“Hi,” Kurt said, offering him a small smile. He yawned, stretched his other arm, and ran one hand through his hair. Then his whole body stiffened. “Blaine…what happened to my hair?”
Blaine’s eyes closed. Here we go again.
“Blaine, what’s going on? Why can’t I move my legs? What aren’t you telling me?”
Then Kurt was crying and Blaine was thinking he couldn’t keep explaining this to Kurt every single day and he couldn’t keep hiding Kurt’s short-term memory loss from Burt.
Blaine took a deep breath and managed to get Kurt calm enough to explain everything to him. He was getting better at it. When he was done, he crawled into the small hospital bed and held Kurt in his arms. He cried for three hours into Blaine’s shirt before Burt and Carole arrived.
“Kurt, I have to talk to your dad alone,” Blaine said. After a lot of effort, he extracted himself from Kurt’s embrace and left him alone in the room with Carole.
“What is it?” Burt asked once they were in the hallway.
“Uh…you haven’t talked to his doctor since yesterday, have you?” Blaine asked. He tried to avoid eye contact with the older man. He was just thankful that Burt had developed a great amount of patience with him since he started working at the tire store.
“No. Why? Is there something wrong with Kurt?” Burt questioned.
Blaine nervously shifted from foot to foot and rubbed the back of his neck. He shrugged and chanced a glance at Burt.
“He’s got short-term memory loss. And he’s got it pretty bad. I’ve had to tell him six times in the last for days about the accident. He keeps forgetting. I’m really worried about it.” Blaine dropped his arm and let it hang by his side. Burt didn’t look as angry as Blaine had anticipated. He just looked worried like he had every day since the accident.
“What are the doctors doing?” Burt asked. Blaine shrugged.
“Medication. I guess there’s still some swelling in his brain that just won’t go away. They usually come around in about twenty minutes to check on him. They’ll probably talk to you then. I just…I wanted to tell you,” Blaine said.
Burt looked like he didn’t know what to say about that, but in the end he reached out and set his hand on Blaine’s shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze, and he thanked him.
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