The Ghost and Mr. Hummel (8/9)
“So buddy, what’s been up with you?” asked Burt over Saturday morning breakfast. He said this through a mouthful of bacon and eggs, and Kurt wrinkled his nose at Burt picking up bad Finn habits. He allowed his dad to have one greasy breakfast a week, and Burt usually picked Saturday because it gave him something to look forward to.
“Depends on what you’re talking about,” replied Kurt as he spread some lowfat cream cheese on a pumpernickel bagel.
“Did the dance go well?” asked Burt.
Kurt sighed, and took a sip of his coffee. “As good as could be considering I was crowned Prom Queen.”
“What?” asked Burt incredulously.
“It was a joke, a terrible one at that,” murmured Kurt. “But I got through it, made a joke of my own and danced the rest of the night with Blaine.”
“I can’t believe they would do that,” Burt grumbled. “Well, actually I could. You’d think one of those visits to that school would stick, but I guess not.” Burt fumed for a moment before asking, “Who was Prom King?”
“Some hockey player with a mullet. He declined the dance with me, and I would have never touched someone with that much Axe on their body.”
“Mullets? Those back again?”
“Ugh, no. Even if you had a full head of hair, I would forbid it.”
“Yes, we’d both have to conspire to shave your head at night,” teased Carol as she came into the kitchen in her bathrobe. She pecked Burt on the lips and said, “Good morning honey.”
“Hey hun,” said Burt with a grin.
“So are you doing anything today?” asked Carole.
“Not much, just some homework. I’ll let you two love birds be alone until Finn rises from the dead,” said Kurt, picking up his cup of coffee.
He quietly walked past Finn’s room, even if he wouldn’t wake easily. He got back to his room, closing the door with his foot, and he sat down on his chair to nurse his cup in both hands, enjoying the warmth and scent that wafted from the mug.
“Don’t get too enraptured by the mug, otherwise it might think you want a commitment,” teased Dave.
“Can you actually marry coffee?” mused Kurt. “I mean, that guy married a pillow in Japan, why can’t I marry this coffee?”
“By the time you get to the courthouse to fill out paperwork, your beau will already be drunk and digested, making you a black widow,” Dave said. Kurt looked over to see that Dave had flicked on the TV to some reality show about dancing kids and their crazy moms . Clearly there wasn’t a game to watch.
“But would I get custody of the children? Because then I could grind them up and have even more coffee…” rambled Kurt as he continued to breath in his warm drink.
“Okay, you clearly have not fully woken up because that’s a little weird,” said Dave grinned, moving in front of Kurt’s face. “Either that or I’m rubbing off on you.” Dave wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Please do not make a literal ‘rubbing off’ joke, I’ve heard that multiple times from Puck.”
Dave grinned, “Hey, you said it, not me.”
“I’m going to ignore you now. Mmmm, coffee,” Kurt said in-between gulps.
“You can’t ignore me for forever, y’know,” Dave said, blowing onto Kurt’s face, much to Kurt’s distaste.
“You’re disgusting. Now what do you want?”
“So do you have any plans for the day?” asked Dave.
“Other than to avoid anyone who went to prom last night? Nope.”
Dave grinned, beckoning Kurt forward. "Well then, come and try to beat my high score on Halo, I dare you to even try."
Kurt looked up from his coffee with a glint in his eye, saying, "Oh, it's on."
Kurt had been trying to broach the subject for some time now, not entirely sure how to tell Dave that he officially ended things with Blaine a while ago, or why. It seemed almost callous to explain both at once, but at this point he was going insane with Dave teasing him about his “boyfriend,” even though they were now only friends again.
He was reading a trivial magazine, one of those silly Cosmo sex tips articles that left Kurt a little flustered. He moved onto the next page, and his eyes were glued to the page. Emblazoned in red was the title “Drop, Kick and Grab!: How to Move on to Your Next Beau.”
The whole article itself was ridiculous, he was sure, but now he was already on the mindset of how to tell Dave. Should he try to be nonchalant? Blunt? Kurt bit his lip before mentally berating himself on ruining the facial he just finished. ‘This is ridiculous,’ thought Kurt. ‘Just get it over with and be done with it. Quit being such a baby.’
He looked up quickly to see that Dave was also reading something, though he looked bored. “So,” said Kurt as casually as he could. He continued to look down at the glossy magazine pages, flipping them nervously. “I broke up with Blaine a while ago.”
Dave looked up from his own sports magazine, incredulous. “What?”
“We broke up. Mutually. A while ago. It was time for us to see different people.”
“Oh,” said Dave. “Well, that’s… Great, I guess, that you’re going for who you really want? I’m not sure who there is around here, unless that blonde boy from Glee club came out. It’s the blonde one that you told me about, right? The one with the crazy big lips?”
Kurt sighed, “No, it’s not Sam.”
Dave paused for a moment, thinking. “Puck? I’m sure he would come around to it, sex seems to be almost a second language for that guy.”
“No,” said Kurt quickly. “No, not him. Blaine and I are the only gay kids at school other than Brittany and Santana. We just don’t mesh like we used to, and we decided to be friends.”
“Then okay, you’re having a cooling off period with Blaine? That’s cool, you guys can always work it out,” Dave assured, not sure what to say next.
“Do I have to say it?”
“Say what?”
“That Blaine is clearly not the guy for me, not when I want you.”
There was a moment of silence, Kurt nervously staring at Dave for a reaction. Dave’s face went from shock to confusion, and finally to a resigned sadness.
“You do realize that this is never going to work, right?”
Kurt scoffed, annoyed that Dave hadn’t even addressed Kurt’s confession by itself. “Well, why not?”
“There’s that whole factor of I’m dead and you’re not. Or it could just be that I’m a Gemini and you’re a Libra, whatever.”
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” said Kurt indignantly.
Dave scoffed. “And what kind of life would that be, always in the shadow of a ghost?” He looked at Kurt somberly, but still firm in his opinion. “That’s no life for you.”
“But that’s what I want! And no one tells me what or what not to do with my life, David Karofsky,” Kurt fumed. Who did Dave think he was, to try and tell him what to do? These were his feelings, and he was the one in charge of his life, not Dave.
“You clearly don’t understand how hard it is to live this kind of life,” said Dave, waving Kurt off. Kurt couldn’t understand how much it would kill him to watch Kurt keep getting older while he still stayed the senior high school student. “I’m telling you now, it’s not a good idea, it will never be a good idea, and it’s best that you forget it.”
“How could I forget it, forget what I could possibly have with you? This isn’t some stupid crush, Dave!” Kurt said desperately. He was not going to give up on this, even if he had to argue with Dave for years to come. He would make him see it his way.
“Even when they clearly know what’s best for you?” snarled Dave.
“Even then,” Kurt gritted through his teeth. “You can’t change my mind.”
“Then I see no choice,” Dave said with finality. “Goodbye, Kurt.”
“What…” started Kurt, anger fading into confusion. Dave began to fade physically, his jacket-clad body turning transparent. “What are you doing?” cried Kurt. He lunged forward, desperately hoping to keep Dave tangible, but he only caught air.
“Dave!”
“I’m sorry Kurt,” Dave said, his voice tinny. “It’s for the best. It was bound to happen sooner or later anyways...”
“So what, you were just going to leave one day?” asked Kurt accusingly.
“If it meant that you could live your life, yes. Being with me won’t help you,” said Dave, his voice fading away even more.
“I’ll always love every second,” said Dave, his smile hard to see now that he was barely in the room. Kurt saw him flicker, and he began to panic. He reached forward that by some last hope, he would be able to touch Dave, to bring him back. All he reached was air, and Dave vanished, his spirit completely gone.
“No,” murmured Kurt. “This isn’t funny Dave, get back here right now! Dave?” Kurt sank to the ground, only barely registering that his math textbook was digging into his knee. He felt his eyes start to water, stinging with tears he was trying to hold back.
“Oh Dave,” sobbed Kurt. “I’ll never forget you.”