Fic: Let Me Walk Among You (Part Two)
Title: Let Me Walk Among You (Part Two)
Disclaimer: I don't own em and don't make any money off of em.
Warnings: violence and language
Word Count: 2137
Rating: R
Summary: Burt always wanted Kurt to have more friends
A/N: Based on a fantastic prompt by anon on the glee angst meme from like two months ago. I was reading over old prompts and this one stole my brain. The action should pick up a little in the next part.
Pain assaulted Kurt the moment that he opened his eyes the next day. For a few minutes Kurt was sure that he wasn't going to be able to get out of bed. But that meant that his dad would find him and see everything that was wrong. So he hauled himself over the side and somehow made his way to the bathroom. The bruises looked even worse than they had the night before. He spent half an hour applying concealer and trying to make himself look halfway presentable. By the time he was done he barely had time to throw on clothes before slowly climbing the stairs.
When he finally reached the kitchen he was shaking. Kurt didn't know how he was going to get past his dad and to school. It didn't matter how much concealer he used, he knew that if his dad got one good look at him the only place that he would be headed was to the doctor. He braced himself and tried to look as healthy as possible. But when he entered he kitchen his dad was no where to be found. All at once Kurt felt happy and disappointed. He was glad that his dad wasn't there to keep him from school but they never missed breakfast together.
Kurt was just about to leave the kitchen when he noticed the note on the fridge. His dad had gone with Carole to breakfast. Once again Kurt had to force down disappointment in the face of relief that he would have more time to heal before his dad really saw him. Besides it was taking all of his energy to make it to his car.
When he finally made it out to the garage, Kurt had to force himself to climb in. The motion made his chest ache painfully and he had to lean over the wheel and pant for a moment. Once again Kurt's thoughts drifted back to the fact that his dad hadn't even realized that there was anything wrong. Those thoughts stayed with him as he carefully backed down the driveway and slowly continued on to school.
Instead of dwelling on the situation with his dad Kurt just forced himself to continue to try to safely drive to school. When he got there his sat in his baby, unable to force himself to walk into the building. He steeled himself and climbed down from his car. He knew that there was no chance that his friends would believe that he was really alright but he hoped to blow off most of their concerns.
Brittany was waiting for him by the doors to the school with Puck standing next to her. She waved at him, practically jumping up and down in her eagerness to attract his attention. Puck just stood there with his hands in his pockets looking like he would rather be anywhere than standing right where he was. Kurt didn't really know why the jock was there, but he was just relived that there didn't see anyone around to toss him into the dumpster.
“Kurt, Puck made the mean boys leave.” Brittany grabbed his hand and pulled him over. “I don't want them to throw you into the trash so he made them go away.”
“That was really nice Brittany.” sighed Kurt. He knew that this just increased the chance that he would get tossed later in the day. When there was no one around to help him climb out, He could feel Puck's eyes roaming over his face and knew that the jock could see every bruise under his attempt at concealer.
“Look Hummel. Brit told me what you did yesterday.” Puck looked uncomfortable and he rubbed at the back of his neck. “It was pretty cool you not letting them hurt her or anything. I guess that you might just be a dude after all.”
If he wasn't hurting so badly Kurt probably would have laughed out loud at the surreal situation. Instead of trying to come to terms with Noah Puckerman sort of complimenting him, he just smiled in a sort of vague acknowledgment. He turned back to Brittany and noticed that she was frowning at him now. He tried to take a step back but Brittany clutched at his hand.
“Are you really going to be alright Kurt.” She asked tears welling in her eyes. “I want us to go on more not dates.”
“I'll be fine Brit.” Kurt could feel Puck's heavy gaze resting somewhere on his back. Brittany pulled him into a hug that left him gasping slightly as she bounded away into the school. Before Kurt could walk away, Puck grabbed him by the wrist.
“Shit. I thought that Brit was exaggerating but they really did fuck you up didn't they?” Puck's gaze was fixed on Kurt's heaving chest. “You know you should just skip out and head to the clinic. Broken ribs are nothing to fuck around with.”
Finally able to jerk his arm away Kurt whirled to face Puck. “Look, I'm grateful for what you did today and everything, but you can leave me alone now. We're not friends or anything, you don't have to worry about me.” Kurt stormed off leaving Puck standing there in bewilderment.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
School was hell that day. Between the pain that he was in, avoiding questions from his friends and trying to convince Brit that he was going to be fine Kurt was exhausted. But the worst part was that he didn't know how he was going to make it through glee practice. Just the thought of trying to dance was making him feel a little panicky.
So he waited until the last possible second to slip into the choir room. Everyone turned to look at him as he took a seat next to Brittany on the first row. Mr. Shue just frowned at him before continuing with his currant inspiration spiel about how they would beat vocal adrenaline and win regionals. Kurt just considered himself lucky that Rachel hadn't lit into him for being late.
Things went rapidly downhill when they started learning the choreography for their new number. Every step sent spikes of pain through his torso. The pain meant that Kurt quickly found himself fighting to breathe correctly never mind focus on dancing. After just ten minutes he was feeling incredibly light headed and was more than a little worried that he might faint.
It didn't help that Puck was staring at him the entire time. Because all of the jock's focus was on Kurt, he was doing a horrible job learning the steps as well. Mr. Shue kept calling for him and Puck to watch out but nothing was helping. Finally after 45 minutes their teacher called an end to practice and told them to come back with more focus next time. Kurt could tell that the teacher was frustrated with them but all he cared about was that he could go home.
Before Kurt could hurry out he was stopped by Santana. The cheerio grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the closest bathroom.
“Lady face,” she said while pinning him with an indescribable look. She paused for a moment before she continued. “Look, I know that we barely tolerate each other and everything. Brittany told me what happened yesterday and this still doesn't mean that I can stand you. But thank you. For thinking about what it would have done to her if they had hurt her.” Santana presses a quick kiss against his cheek. “I may not really like you or anything, but I'll be looking out for you.”
With that she was gone. Kurt really couldn't even process what had just happened. Now his head was spinning from his encounter as well as from the pain. Finally he decided that all that mattered in that moment was that he could go home now. And going home meant that he could go to bed. And bed meant sleep which Kurt wanted more than anything else right now.
The good part of Santana dragging him away was that everyone else was gone by the time that he made it to parking lot. He had done a pretty good job avoiding Mercedes all day and he didn't really feel like addressing all that had happened with her now. It helped that she was still kind of dating Puck, but Kurt still knew that of she really saw what shape he was in she might attack someone. So Kurt was happy that he was able to heave himself into his car in private and head towards home, the idea of his bed once again urging him forward.
The house was suspiciously empty when Kurt walked into the kitchen. He just wasn't used to his dad spending so much time away from home. Instead of anger now a sadness settled over Kurt as he dropped his bag by the door. He was still happy that his dad didn't know he was hurt, but there was a part of him that needed his dad to make everything better.
The loud ring of his cell phone started Kurt out of his thoughts. He winced as he had to bend over to retrieve his phone from his bag. He was a little breathless as he answered the phone.
“Kurt?” his dad asked. “You alright? You sound kinda funny.” Kurt swore internally for not checking who was on the line before answering.
“Um, I'm fine.” Kurt answered hastily, trying to sound robust. “I just had to run across the room to get my phone.” He swore to himself again. Since when did Kurt Hummel ever run for the phone? He sucked at this keeping his dad from worrying thing.
“Well if you're sure.” Burt filled in. Kurt could tell that his dad was getting suspicious and wracked his brain trying to think of some way to change the subject before his dad got really worried.
“Did you need something?” Kurt finally asked hoping that he could distract his dad.
“Well I was going to take Carole and Finn out for dinner and hoped that you could meet us there. You don't have plans with Brittany again do you?” Burt had evidently fallen for the change of subject. “Cause it's alright of you can't come. We can make plans for a night later this week.”
For a moment Kurt panicked. There was no way that he would make it through an entire dinner without his dad knowing that something was wrong. And he just couldn't bring himself to lie about spending time with Brittany. He also knew that he couldn't risk Brit actually coming over. Kurt finally just took a deep breath and focused.
“I had planned on school work tonight dad.” Kurt tried to keep his voice even. “I've just been spending so much time with Brit recently and I need to work on a couple of big projects. I wish that I could go to dinner but I just really need to plow through a couple of subjects.” Kurt held his breath as he waited to see how his dad would respond.
“Well, I guess that I can't fault you for that.” Burt said after a pause. “This is sort of short notice and all.” Kurt let out the breath that he had been holding. His secret was safe for one more night.
“I guess that I'll see you when I get home. Love you kid.” Burt said quickly. Kurt could hear that under his cheer his dad was a little worried.
“Love you too dad.” Kurt said trying to keep the emotions out of his voice. “I'll see you when you get home.” Although with any luck his dad would stay out late enough that it wouldn't be weird for him to come home and find his teenager already in bed. Because Kurt knew that he would be in bed, hopefully asleep, inside of the hour.
After making it down to his room, Kurt made himself go and take a shower. All he wanted to do was climb into bed but he knew that the heat would help with his painful chest. He stayed in the shower until dizziness set in and then climbed out carefully. The last thing that he needed was for his dad to come home and find him passed out on the floor.
By the time he pulled on pajamas Kurt felt like he might just pass out. He tossed back a couple of Advil and tried to get comfortable in bed. Surely tomorrow would be a better day.
Disclaimer: I don't own em and don't make any money off of em.
Warnings: violence and language
Word Count: 2137
Rating: R
Summary: Burt always wanted Kurt to have more friends
A/N: Based on a fantastic prompt by anon on the glee angst meme from like two months ago. I was reading over old prompts and this one stole my brain. The action should pick up a little in the next part.
Pain assaulted Kurt the moment that he opened his eyes the next day. For a few minutes Kurt was sure that he wasn't going to be able to get out of bed. But that meant that his dad would find him and see everything that was wrong. So he hauled himself over the side and somehow made his way to the bathroom. The bruises looked even worse than they had the night before. He spent half an hour applying concealer and trying to make himself look halfway presentable. By the time he was done he barely had time to throw on clothes before slowly climbing the stairs.
When he finally reached the kitchen he was shaking. Kurt didn't know how he was going to get past his dad and to school. It didn't matter how much concealer he used, he knew that if his dad got one good look at him the only place that he would be headed was to the doctor. He braced himself and tried to look as healthy as possible. But when he entered he kitchen his dad was no where to be found. All at once Kurt felt happy and disappointed. He was glad that his dad wasn't there to keep him from school but they never missed breakfast together.
Kurt was just about to leave the kitchen when he noticed the note on the fridge. His dad had gone with Carole to breakfast. Once again Kurt had to force down disappointment in the face of relief that he would have more time to heal before his dad really saw him. Besides it was taking all of his energy to make it to his car.
When he finally made it out to the garage, Kurt had to force himself to climb in. The motion made his chest ache painfully and he had to lean over the wheel and pant for a moment. Once again Kurt's thoughts drifted back to the fact that his dad hadn't even realized that there was anything wrong. Those thoughts stayed with him as he carefully backed down the driveway and slowly continued on to school.
Instead of dwelling on the situation with his dad Kurt just forced himself to continue to try to safely drive to school. When he got there his sat in his baby, unable to force himself to walk into the building. He steeled himself and climbed down from his car. He knew that there was no chance that his friends would believe that he was really alright but he hoped to blow off most of their concerns.
Brittany was waiting for him by the doors to the school with Puck standing next to her. She waved at him, practically jumping up and down in her eagerness to attract his attention. Puck just stood there with his hands in his pockets looking like he would rather be anywhere than standing right where he was. Kurt didn't really know why the jock was there, but he was just relived that there didn't see anyone around to toss him into the dumpster.
“Kurt, Puck made the mean boys leave.” Brittany grabbed his hand and pulled him over. “I don't want them to throw you into the trash so he made them go away.”
“That was really nice Brittany.” sighed Kurt. He knew that this just increased the chance that he would get tossed later in the day. When there was no one around to help him climb out, He could feel Puck's eyes roaming over his face and knew that the jock could see every bruise under his attempt at concealer.
“Look Hummel. Brit told me what you did yesterday.” Puck looked uncomfortable and he rubbed at the back of his neck. “It was pretty cool you not letting them hurt her or anything. I guess that you might just be a dude after all.”
If he wasn't hurting so badly Kurt probably would have laughed out loud at the surreal situation. Instead of trying to come to terms with Noah Puckerman sort of complimenting him, he just smiled in a sort of vague acknowledgment. He turned back to Brittany and noticed that she was frowning at him now. He tried to take a step back but Brittany clutched at his hand.
“Are you really going to be alright Kurt.” She asked tears welling in her eyes. “I want us to go on more not dates.”
“I'll be fine Brit.” Kurt could feel Puck's heavy gaze resting somewhere on his back. Brittany pulled him into a hug that left him gasping slightly as she bounded away into the school. Before Kurt could walk away, Puck grabbed him by the wrist.
“Shit. I thought that Brit was exaggerating but they really did fuck you up didn't they?” Puck's gaze was fixed on Kurt's heaving chest. “You know you should just skip out and head to the clinic. Broken ribs are nothing to fuck around with.”
Finally able to jerk his arm away Kurt whirled to face Puck. “Look, I'm grateful for what you did today and everything, but you can leave me alone now. We're not friends or anything, you don't have to worry about me.” Kurt stormed off leaving Puck standing there in bewilderment.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
School was hell that day. Between the pain that he was in, avoiding questions from his friends and trying to convince Brit that he was going to be fine Kurt was exhausted. But the worst part was that he didn't know how he was going to make it through glee practice. Just the thought of trying to dance was making him feel a little panicky.
So he waited until the last possible second to slip into the choir room. Everyone turned to look at him as he took a seat next to Brittany on the first row. Mr. Shue just frowned at him before continuing with his currant inspiration spiel about how they would beat vocal adrenaline and win regionals. Kurt just considered himself lucky that Rachel hadn't lit into him for being late.
Things went rapidly downhill when they started learning the choreography for their new number. Every step sent spikes of pain through his torso. The pain meant that Kurt quickly found himself fighting to breathe correctly never mind focus on dancing. After just ten minutes he was feeling incredibly light headed and was more than a little worried that he might faint.
It didn't help that Puck was staring at him the entire time. Because all of the jock's focus was on Kurt, he was doing a horrible job learning the steps as well. Mr. Shue kept calling for him and Puck to watch out but nothing was helping. Finally after 45 minutes their teacher called an end to practice and told them to come back with more focus next time. Kurt could tell that the teacher was frustrated with them but all he cared about was that he could go home.
Before Kurt could hurry out he was stopped by Santana. The cheerio grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the closest bathroom.
“Lady face,” she said while pinning him with an indescribable look. She paused for a moment before she continued. “Look, I know that we barely tolerate each other and everything. Brittany told me what happened yesterday and this still doesn't mean that I can stand you. But thank you. For thinking about what it would have done to her if they had hurt her.” Santana presses a quick kiss against his cheek. “I may not really like you or anything, but I'll be looking out for you.”
With that she was gone. Kurt really couldn't even process what had just happened. Now his head was spinning from his encounter as well as from the pain. Finally he decided that all that mattered in that moment was that he could go home now. And going home meant that he could go to bed. And bed meant sleep which Kurt wanted more than anything else right now.
The good part of Santana dragging him away was that everyone else was gone by the time that he made it to parking lot. He had done a pretty good job avoiding Mercedes all day and he didn't really feel like addressing all that had happened with her now. It helped that she was still kind of dating Puck, but Kurt still knew that of she really saw what shape he was in she might attack someone. So Kurt was happy that he was able to heave himself into his car in private and head towards home, the idea of his bed once again urging him forward.
The house was suspiciously empty when Kurt walked into the kitchen. He just wasn't used to his dad spending so much time away from home. Instead of anger now a sadness settled over Kurt as he dropped his bag by the door. He was still happy that his dad didn't know he was hurt, but there was a part of him that needed his dad to make everything better.
The loud ring of his cell phone started Kurt out of his thoughts. He winced as he had to bend over to retrieve his phone from his bag. He was a little breathless as he answered the phone.
“Kurt?” his dad asked. “You alright? You sound kinda funny.” Kurt swore internally for not checking who was on the line before answering.
“Um, I'm fine.” Kurt answered hastily, trying to sound robust. “I just had to run across the room to get my phone.” He swore to himself again. Since when did Kurt Hummel ever run for the phone? He sucked at this keeping his dad from worrying thing.
“Well if you're sure.” Burt filled in. Kurt could tell that his dad was getting suspicious and wracked his brain trying to think of some way to change the subject before his dad got really worried.
“Did you need something?” Kurt finally asked hoping that he could distract his dad.
“Well I was going to take Carole and Finn out for dinner and hoped that you could meet us there. You don't have plans with Brittany again do you?” Burt had evidently fallen for the change of subject. “Cause it's alright of you can't come. We can make plans for a night later this week.”
For a moment Kurt panicked. There was no way that he would make it through an entire dinner without his dad knowing that something was wrong. And he just couldn't bring himself to lie about spending time with Brittany. He also knew that he couldn't risk Brit actually coming over. Kurt finally just took a deep breath and focused.
“I had planned on school work tonight dad.” Kurt tried to keep his voice even. “I've just been spending so much time with Brit recently and I need to work on a couple of big projects. I wish that I could go to dinner but I just really need to plow through a couple of subjects.” Kurt held his breath as he waited to see how his dad would respond.
“Well, I guess that I can't fault you for that.” Burt said after a pause. “This is sort of short notice and all.” Kurt let out the breath that he had been holding. His secret was safe for one more night.
“I guess that I'll see you when I get home. Love you kid.” Burt said quickly. Kurt could hear that under his cheer his dad was a little worried.
“Love you too dad.” Kurt said trying to keep the emotions out of his voice. “I'll see you when you get home.” Although with any luck his dad would stay out late enough that it wouldn't be weird for him to come home and find his teenager already in bed. Because Kurt knew that he would be in bed, hopefully asleep, inside of the hour.
After making it down to his room, Kurt made himself go and take a shower. All he wanted to do was climb into bed but he knew that the heat would help with his painful chest. He stayed in the shower until dizziness set in and then climbed out carefully. The last thing that he needed was for his dad to come home and find him passed out on the floor.
By the time he pulled on pajamas Kurt felt like he might just pass out. He tossed back a couple of Advil and tried to get comfortable in bed. Surely tomorrow would be a better day.