Something To Sleep To [14/?]
Title: Something To Sleep To
Chapter: 14/?
Author: wishof_wings
Betas: Becky, Izzy, & Em
Rating: R
Pairing: Klaine
Word Count: 2000
Summary: What started as a volunteer gig at Lima Memorial is slowly turning into a fairy tale for Kurt Hummel. Except Kurt is pretty doubtful that a kiss is going to wake his Prince Charming from his coma.
Spoilers: None
Warnings: AU, homophobia related violence
Author's Notes: Yay, I did it! Three chapters in a week you guys, can you believe it? It's to make up for the fact that I won't really be writing for the next couple of days. But this chapter marks a significant turning point in this story. Take that as you will. (;
Go back to the beginning.
The point in time has come where Blaine has crossed from adorably disheveled to possibly homeless. His curls are a tumbling mess on his head and Kurt can’t even imagine having a head of hair like that (it must be a nightmare to control), and his scruff has passed rugged and is heading straight for full on beard.
Although, Kurt has to admit that the scruff has begun to grow on him.
But there’s nothing like a makeover to take Kurt’s mind off things.
He isn’t really sure about hospital policy on things like keeping coma patients groomed, but he figures they aren’t very lenient considering he’d had flowers confiscated. Well, it’s just something he’ll have to ask Carole about.
Kurt’s less hesitant as he walks into Blaine’s room. The thoughts and images are still there, burned into his memories as if they really happened. But they didn’t. And if Kurt just blushes a little more every time he sees Blaine, well, it’s not like Blaine can tell.
Best if he just tries to make things as normal as possible. After all, there is absolutely no reason he can’t be friends with Blaine and still find him attractive. Blaine doesn’t need to suffer Kurt’s sudden awkwardness, so Kurt will just have to try and hold a conversation and not think about Blaine’s hands and chest and mouth.
He is so not off to a good start. He pauses outside of Blaine’s door, squaring his shoulders as if he’s about to face the entirety of the football team and not an adorable, curly-haired boy in a coma.
It still doesn’t prepare him for the other person in Blaine’s room.
His first thought is that it’s Blaine’s mother and, oh god, what is he going to do? But when his eyes start to work again he sees that it isn’t a woman, but a man. Blaine’s father? That isn’t better at all.
But the man is looking at him now and, no, he can’t be Mr. Anderson. He’s way too young, dressed fashionably (not as fashionably as Kurt, but fashionable for Ohio), and is ridiculously attractive.
“Oh hello.” He seems surprised that Kurt is there, which makes sense in a bitter sort of way. Kurt wasn’t a part of Blaine’s life before, and, whoever this guy is, he hasn’t been in the picture since Blaine’s been in the hospital.
“Are you Blaine’s boyfriend?”
Kurt isn’t sure what keeps him standing, but he’s insanely grateful for it.
Boyfriend. Boyfriend. Blaine’s boyfriend. The word rings around in his head, amplifying until it’s the only word Kurt seems to know anymore. Boyfriend boyfriend boyfriend boyfriend. And wow, okay, Kurt really needs to sit down.
He doesn’t.
The shock is beginning to settle, leaving room for the sudden giddiness exploding through him. Boyfriend. Blaine is gay. Kurt isn’t sure if he wants to laugh or cry or both.
“No,” he says, when he realizes that he’s still being stared at expectantly. “No, I’m. I’m just.” He stops before he says hospital volunteer. He could have been Blaine’s boyfriend, if he had wanted to be. Well, no, it’s not that he doesn’t want to be. But he isn’t and this isn’t a Sandra Bullock movie. People just don’t go around and lie about being people in coma’s boyfriends. So he just smiles. “I’m a friend.” The man’s smile softens and, as if suddenly remembering his manners, he stands up from his chair (not Kurt’s chair, but the other one that no one ever uses) and extends a hand over Blaine’s body.
“I’m Cooper, Blaine’s older brother.” Kurt blinks, slightly surprised, and reaches forward to shake Cooper’s hand. So Blaine has a brother.
“Kurt. It’s nice to meet you.” It feels forced as he says it. Is Cooper another family member that gave up on Blaine? Left him for dead? If Kurt wasn’t still reeling from the fact that Blaine is gay, Blaine is gay, he’d be a lot more angry.
They fall into an almost awkward silence as Kurt situates himself in his chair, aware that Cooper’s eyes are following him. They’re blue and Kurt wonders if Blaine’s are, too.
“How often do you come here?”
The question draws Kurt’s attention back to Cooper, and he furrows his eyebrows.
“Every day.” It’s close enough to the truth that Kurt doesn’t elaborate. He watches as the words sink in and as Cooper lowers himself back into the other chair. He’s silent, staring at his brother with eyebrows furrowed.
“I’m from LA,” he says, apropos of nothing. He’s still looking at Blaine, but Kurt gives Cooper his attention. “I moved out there a few years ago to be an actor.”
“Would I have seen you in anything?” He doesn’t look familiar. Cooper just laughs, shaking his head.
“No. I’m still doing small things. Local commercials, extras, anything I can get, really.” Cooper stops as if that’s it, the end of his story, before he reaches forward and carefully tousles a few of Blaine’s curls. “I didn’t know he was in the hospital until about a week and a half ago. I couldn’t afford to come any sooner.”
Kurt notices that, despite being impeccably dressed, Cooper is wrinkled and travel worn. There are bags under his gorgeous eyes, and a slew of coffee cups on the nearest flat surface. How long has he been here?
“Thank you,” Cooper says, his voice strained when he finally looks back at Kurt. “For being here. My parents.” He stops, gritting his teeth. “They haven’t exactly been the same since the attack.”
Kurt’s blood runs cold.
He looks at Blaine, all of his injuries faded or hidden beneath clothing and sheets. It was the part of Blaine that Kurt hadn’t let himself think about in detail. Blaine was in the hospital for some reason and, as curious as Kurt had been, there was a part of him that didn’t want to know what that reason was. He didn’t want to know about a car crash or an unfortunate fall. He didn’t want to know what sort of accident had put Blaine there.
Except it wasn’t an accident.
He doesn’t even notice that his arms have wrapped around himself, holding him together. Blaine is gay and he was attacked. It isn’t hard for Kurt to put the pieces together.
But he doesn’t ask. He’s too afraid to ask, to know what’s out there. That could have been me. Even if fear wasn’t a factor, the look on Cooper’s face would be.
“Did you know,” Cooper starts, voice quiet, and Kurt wonders if he’s going to get the story anyways. He wants to say no, please, stop, terrified of whatever mental pictures it could possibly paint, but then Cooper starts talking again. “That after thirty days, coma patients are considered vegetative.”
Kurt’s back straightens even though he has the sudden urge to curl in on himself. He shakes his head minutely.
“The longer he’s like this...” Cooper doesn’t finish the sentence, doesn’t have to. Kurt knows how it ends.
“But you haven’t given up.” He doesn’t mean to say it, but the realization blindsides him. He had thought that Blaine’s family had stopped hoping completely, abandoned him when Blaine needed them the most. But Cooper hadn’t and has no intention to.
Cooper looks insulted at first, but then he smiles, just a little bit, and settles a hand on Blaine’s shoulder.
“Of course I haven’t.” He sounds so sure that Kurt feels his fickle hope start to solidify into something real that he can grasp onto. “My brother might be small, but he’s tough. And brave. A lot braver than I’ve ever been.” He pulls his hand away and turns back to Kurt. “He’ll pull through. He always does.”
Kurt doesn’t have any siblings, nor has he ever wanted any. He was the sort of child who basked in his parent’s attention and was content having his mom or dad be his best friend rather than a younger sibling. He never really thought about older siblings. Looking at Cooper and the way he talks about Blaine, the way he thinks of his little brother, Kurt finds himself longing for that sort of relationship.
“I hope so,” Kurt finds himself saying, and Cooper smiles at him. It’s small, but it’s real and relaxed and that counts for something.
They sit in silence for a few moments, Kurt staring down at his thighs and wondering if he should just leave. It feels strange being there when someone Blaine knows and loves is there. The thought hurts more than it should.
“What do you usually do?”
Kurt looks up, eyes curious, to see Cooper looking at him with interested eyes.
“When you visit? What do you usually do?”
His words tumble around in his mouth for a moment as he struggles with coherency.
“I, um. I normally tell him about my day, update him on current gossip and the songs I hear on the radio. Sometimes I just sit and do homework and say things out loud.” Oh god. It sounds so much stranger when he says it to someone else. So Kurt doesn’t mention how sometimes he’ll sing softly, either to voice the tune playing in his head or just because he wants to sing to Blaine.
Cooper is looking at him and Kurt blushes, ducking his head and trying not to wring the hem of his shirt no matter how badly he wants to. It will wrinkle.
“I’m glad he has someone like you,” Cooper says after a beat. Kurt blinks at him, confused. “Someone who doesn’t treat him like... Like he’s gone, or fragile. You treat him like he’s normal and... Blaine would appreciate it.” He leans forward on his hands, eyes having drifted over to watch his brother’s rhythmic breathing. “I haven’t seen him much in the last few years. He came out to me before he told our parents, and... I wanted to be there for him. He needed me and... I wasn’t.”
Cooper’s breath drags out of him in a long, slow exhale.
“I think he’ll forgive you,” Kurt says, immediately regretting it. He knows nothing about what kind of person Blaine is or what his relationship is like with his older brother. Blaine could hate Cooper and here Kurt is, feeding him false hope. But. The hopeful look on Cooper’s face is worth it. He doesn’t need more reasons to feel hopeless right now.
“Yeah,” Cooper whispers, looking at Blaine again. “Yeah.”
Kurt wonders how much Cooper and Blaine are alike. There’s only so much he can gleam from their conversation-how Cooper and Blaine had once been close, how Blaine had needed someone after coming out. Kurt knows he’s lucky. He can’t imagine what his life would be like now if his dad hadn’t just nodded acceptance and said, I know.
“I can-You haven’t seen him in a while. I think I should go.” He doesn’t want to. Kurt feels antsy at home these days, like he knows that something is happening somewhere else and he’s supposed to be there. But Cooper immediately shakes his head.
“No, no. Stay. Do what you usually do. If you don’t mind having someone else here?”
Kurt shakes his head, surprised, and Cooper claps his hands and says, “good!”
So Kurt settles, pulling out his homework material and spreading it on the table where his flowers rest in their plastic vase. He blushes, averting his eyes as he produces a paper stargazer lily. He can feel Cooper watching him and steadily avoids looking across at him as he reaches out and takes Blaine’s hand.
It’s not even something he consciously does anymore. Kurt holds Blaine’s hand and that’s simply how it is. When Kurt finally musters up the courage to look up, Cooper is smiling at him again and Kurt smiles back.
He purposefully doesn’t think about all of the potentially tragic things Cooper had hinted at, or the fact that Blaine is gay and that all of Kurt’s premonitions about him being a homophobic asshole have turned to glorious, glorious ash.
Instead he squeezes Blaine’s hand and fishes out his latest addition of People, unable to keep a happy little quirk from the corner of his lips.
<< 14 >>
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Chapter: 14/?
Author: wishof_wings
Betas: Becky, Izzy, & Em
Rating: R
Pairing: Klaine
Word Count: 2000
Summary: What started as a volunteer gig at Lima Memorial is slowly turning into a fairy tale for Kurt Hummel. Except Kurt is pretty doubtful that a kiss is going to wake his Prince Charming from his coma.
Spoilers: None
Warnings: AU, homophobia related violence
Author's Notes: Yay, I did it! Three chapters in a week you guys, can you believe it? It's to make up for the fact that I won't really be writing for the next couple of days. But this chapter marks a significant turning point in this story. Take that as you will. (;
Go back to the beginning.
The point in time has come where Blaine has crossed from adorably disheveled to possibly homeless. His curls are a tumbling mess on his head and Kurt can’t even imagine having a head of hair like that (it must be a nightmare to control), and his scruff has passed rugged and is heading straight for full on beard.
Although, Kurt has to admit that the scruff has begun to grow on him.
But there’s nothing like a makeover to take Kurt’s mind off things.
He isn’t really sure about hospital policy on things like keeping coma patients groomed, but he figures they aren’t very lenient considering he’d had flowers confiscated. Well, it’s just something he’ll have to ask Carole about.
Kurt’s less hesitant as he walks into Blaine’s room. The thoughts and images are still there, burned into his memories as if they really happened. But they didn’t. And if Kurt just blushes a little more every time he sees Blaine, well, it’s not like Blaine can tell.
Best if he just tries to make things as normal as possible. After all, there is absolutely no reason he can’t be friends with Blaine and still find him attractive. Blaine doesn’t need to suffer Kurt’s sudden awkwardness, so Kurt will just have to try and hold a conversation and not think about Blaine’s hands and chest and mouth.
He is so not off to a good start. He pauses outside of Blaine’s door, squaring his shoulders as if he’s about to face the entirety of the football team and not an adorable, curly-haired boy in a coma.
It still doesn’t prepare him for the other person in Blaine’s room.
His first thought is that it’s Blaine’s mother and, oh god, what is he going to do? But when his eyes start to work again he sees that it isn’t a woman, but a man. Blaine’s father? That isn’t better at all.
But the man is looking at him now and, no, he can’t be Mr. Anderson. He’s way too young, dressed fashionably (not as fashionably as Kurt, but fashionable for Ohio), and is ridiculously attractive.
“Oh hello.” He seems surprised that Kurt is there, which makes sense in a bitter sort of way. Kurt wasn’t a part of Blaine’s life before, and, whoever this guy is, he hasn’t been in the picture since Blaine’s been in the hospital.
“Are you Blaine’s boyfriend?”
Kurt isn’t sure what keeps him standing, but he’s insanely grateful for it.
Boyfriend. Boyfriend. Blaine’s boyfriend. The word rings around in his head, amplifying until it’s the only word Kurt seems to know anymore. Boyfriend boyfriend boyfriend boyfriend. And wow, okay, Kurt really needs to sit down.
He doesn’t.
The shock is beginning to settle, leaving room for the sudden giddiness exploding through him. Boyfriend. Blaine is gay. Kurt isn’t sure if he wants to laugh or cry or both.
“No,” he says, when he realizes that he’s still being stared at expectantly. “No, I’m. I’m just.” He stops before he says hospital volunteer. He could have been Blaine’s boyfriend, if he had wanted to be. Well, no, it’s not that he doesn’t want to be. But he isn’t and this isn’t a Sandra Bullock movie. People just don’t go around and lie about being people in coma’s boyfriends. So he just smiles. “I’m a friend.” The man’s smile softens and, as if suddenly remembering his manners, he stands up from his chair (not Kurt’s chair, but the other one that no one ever uses) and extends a hand over Blaine’s body.
“I’m Cooper, Blaine’s older brother.” Kurt blinks, slightly surprised, and reaches forward to shake Cooper’s hand. So Blaine has a brother.
“Kurt. It’s nice to meet you.” It feels forced as he says it. Is Cooper another family member that gave up on Blaine? Left him for dead? If Kurt wasn’t still reeling from the fact that Blaine is gay, Blaine is gay, he’d be a lot more angry.
They fall into an almost awkward silence as Kurt situates himself in his chair, aware that Cooper’s eyes are following him. They’re blue and Kurt wonders if Blaine’s are, too.
“How often do you come here?”
The question draws Kurt’s attention back to Cooper, and he furrows his eyebrows.
“Every day.” It’s close enough to the truth that Kurt doesn’t elaborate. He watches as the words sink in and as Cooper lowers himself back into the other chair. He’s silent, staring at his brother with eyebrows furrowed.
“I’m from LA,” he says, apropos of nothing. He’s still looking at Blaine, but Kurt gives Cooper his attention. “I moved out there a few years ago to be an actor.”
“Would I have seen you in anything?” He doesn’t look familiar. Cooper just laughs, shaking his head.
“No. I’m still doing small things. Local commercials, extras, anything I can get, really.” Cooper stops as if that’s it, the end of his story, before he reaches forward and carefully tousles a few of Blaine’s curls. “I didn’t know he was in the hospital until about a week and a half ago. I couldn’t afford to come any sooner.”
Kurt notices that, despite being impeccably dressed, Cooper is wrinkled and travel worn. There are bags under his gorgeous eyes, and a slew of coffee cups on the nearest flat surface. How long has he been here?
“Thank you,” Cooper says, his voice strained when he finally looks back at Kurt. “For being here. My parents.” He stops, gritting his teeth. “They haven’t exactly been the same since the attack.”
Kurt’s blood runs cold.
He looks at Blaine, all of his injuries faded or hidden beneath clothing and sheets. It was the part of Blaine that Kurt hadn’t let himself think about in detail. Blaine was in the hospital for some reason and, as curious as Kurt had been, there was a part of him that didn’t want to know what that reason was. He didn’t want to know about a car crash or an unfortunate fall. He didn’t want to know what sort of accident had put Blaine there.
Except it wasn’t an accident.
He doesn’t even notice that his arms have wrapped around himself, holding him together. Blaine is gay and he was attacked. It isn’t hard for Kurt to put the pieces together.
But he doesn’t ask. He’s too afraid to ask, to know what’s out there. That could have been me. Even if fear wasn’t a factor, the look on Cooper’s face would be.
“Did you know,” Cooper starts, voice quiet, and Kurt wonders if he’s going to get the story anyways. He wants to say no, please, stop, terrified of whatever mental pictures it could possibly paint, but then Cooper starts talking again. “That after thirty days, coma patients are considered vegetative.”
Kurt’s back straightens even though he has the sudden urge to curl in on himself. He shakes his head minutely.
“The longer he’s like this...” Cooper doesn’t finish the sentence, doesn’t have to. Kurt knows how it ends.
“But you haven’t given up.” He doesn’t mean to say it, but the realization blindsides him. He had thought that Blaine’s family had stopped hoping completely, abandoned him when Blaine needed them the most. But Cooper hadn’t and has no intention to.
Cooper looks insulted at first, but then he smiles, just a little bit, and settles a hand on Blaine’s shoulder.
“Of course I haven’t.” He sounds so sure that Kurt feels his fickle hope start to solidify into something real that he can grasp onto. “My brother might be small, but he’s tough. And brave. A lot braver than I’ve ever been.” He pulls his hand away and turns back to Kurt. “He’ll pull through. He always does.”
Kurt doesn’t have any siblings, nor has he ever wanted any. He was the sort of child who basked in his parent’s attention and was content having his mom or dad be his best friend rather than a younger sibling. He never really thought about older siblings. Looking at Cooper and the way he talks about Blaine, the way he thinks of his little brother, Kurt finds himself longing for that sort of relationship.
“I hope so,” Kurt finds himself saying, and Cooper smiles at him. It’s small, but it’s real and relaxed and that counts for something.
They sit in silence for a few moments, Kurt staring down at his thighs and wondering if he should just leave. It feels strange being there when someone Blaine knows and loves is there. The thought hurts more than it should.
“What do you usually do?”
Kurt looks up, eyes curious, to see Cooper looking at him with interested eyes.
“When you visit? What do you usually do?”
His words tumble around in his mouth for a moment as he struggles with coherency.
“I, um. I normally tell him about my day, update him on current gossip and the songs I hear on the radio. Sometimes I just sit and do homework and say things out loud.” Oh god. It sounds so much stranger when he says it to someone else. So Kurt doesn’t mention how sometimes he’ll sing softly, either to voice the tune playing in his head or just because he wants to sing to Blaine.
Cooper is looking at him and Kurt blushes, ducking his head and trying not to wring the hem of his shirt no matter how badly he wants to. It will wrinkle.
“I’m glad he has someone like you,” Cooper says after a beat. Kurt blinks at him, confused. “Someone who doesn’t treat him like... Like he’s gone, or fragile. You treat him like he’s normal and... Blaine would appreciate it.” He leans forward on his hands, eyes having drifted over to watch his brother’s rhythmic breathing. “I haven’t seen him much in the last few years. He came out to me before he told our parents, and... I wanted to be there for him. He needed me and... I wasn’t.”
Cooper’s breath drags out of him in a long, slow exhale.
“I think he’ll forgive you,” Kurt says, immediately regretting it. He knows nothing about what kind of person Blaine is or what his relationship is like with his older brother. Blaine could hate Cooper and here Kurt is, feeding him false hope. But. The hopeful look on Cooper’s face is worth it. He doesn’t need more reasons to feel hopeless right now.
“Yeah,” Cooper whispers, looking at Blaine again. “Yeah.”
Kurt wonders how much Cooper and Blaine are alike. There’s only so much he can gleam from their conversation-how Cooper and Blaine had once been close, how Blaine had needed someone after coming out. Kurt knows he’s lucky. He can’t imagine what his life would be like now if his dad hadn’t just nodded acceptance and said, I know.
“I can-You haven’t seen him in a while. I think I should go.” He doesn’t want to. Kurt feels antsy at home these days, like he knows that something is happening somewhere else and he’s supposed to be there. But Cooper immediately shakes his head.
“No, no. Stay. Do what you usually do. If you don’t mind having someone else here?”
Kurt shakes his head, surprised, and Cooper claps his hands and says, “good!”
So Kurt settles, pulling out his homework material and spreading it on the table where his flowers rest in their plastic vase. He blushes, averting his eyes as he produces a paper stargazer lily. He can feel Cooper watching him and steadily avoids looking across at him as he reaches out and takes Blaine’s hand.
It’s not even something he consciously does anymore. Kurt holds Blaine’s hand and that’s simply how it is. When Kurt finally musters up the courage to look up, Cooper is smiling at him again and Kurt smiles back.
He purposefully doesn’t think about all of the potentially tragic things Cooper had hinted at, or the fact that Blaine is gay and that all of Kurt’s premonitions about him being a homophobic asshole have turned to glorious, glorious ash.
Instead he squeezes Blaine’s hand and fishes out his latest addition of People, unable to keep a happy little quirk from the corner of his lips.
<< 14 >>
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