The Super League Of Slightly Weird Teens (Part V)
Title: The Super League Of Slightly Weird Teens (Part V)
Pairing: Klaine, (a little bit)Kurtofsky, (pre) Brittana, ArtiexBrittany, beard!Santofsky
Rating: NC-17
WordCount: ~4500
Genre: Fantasy!AU, Drama and the occassional crack!Sue
Warnings: There is a lot of manipulation going on and creepy things happen (I don't know how to label this) amidst the fun and games. So not for you if you don't like dark fics
Verse Summary: Kurt Hummel is not your average teenager. He's a super hero, what he hadn't known was that there are more like him.
Installment Summary: Brittany makes a pained expression, “Puck dropped Artie when carrying him out of the bus and two of his fingers are crushed. Quinn is shaken and Rachel is passed out. Everyone else is fine…Kurt is in the ICU” She hiccups in between her words and Santana only pulls her closer.
“And Terri?”
There’s a small smile on Brittany’s face, “Third degree burns.”
Co-creator: longas91. Inspired by the brilliant art here and here and his damn good ideas over superhero stuff in general.
Beta: alexxasick
Author's Note: You should totally check out this one for when Dave goes to Kurt as Blaine and for some awesome superhero costumes (not yet made an appearance in the fic) go here and here and here
Previous Installments: Part One Two Three Part Four
Blaine waited till the weekend was over to start thinking about breaking up. They’ve just had a pretty magical weekend with Kurt trusting him enough to tell him he has superpowers, Blaine tries to hide the twinge of guilt that he’s still keeping his own power a secret, and going to meet Burt and Carole. Burt, he was sure that Burt would kill him if he broke up with Kurt the day after they were introduced. Maybe he could’ve blamed it all on Burt, whined that he was scary and that he’d never want to get into his bad books and then just break up. Except breaking would do just that, put him in Burt’s bad books. So he waited a few days, carefully detaching himself. Now they kissed like once a day only and Blaine would not hold Kurt’s hand in public. Kurt would for the most part shrug it off, look hurt or not notice.
He notices that he keeps stalling till tomorrow when Wes raises an eyebrow at their clasped hands during their Wednesday Warbler practice. He wants to tell Wes that he’s really close to breaking up. He totally would have done it on Monday if Kurt hadn’t kissed him. He kissed back so it was rude to break up right after kissing back right? The other part of Wes’ order was taken care of though. He’d inquired more about the Super League. Found out there were six of them with Santana being the latest addition, she was the Pyro and there was a Cryokinetic as well as a Screechy Cat who Blaine presumed was the Sonic Boom he was more used to calling Rachel. The others seemed pretty boring. He didn’t even know what Adoptive Muscle Memory was and was pretty sure the whole thing about the guy in the Mohawk being irresistible was made up. Wes knows all this already and Blaine couldn’t care less what he plans on doing with it. Wes has always been an information slut. It was downright creepy the way Blaine was required to provide the details of his past relationships when he’d agreed to join the Warblers.
When Wes had given his orders on Saturday night. It seemed like the hard part would be to inconspicuously get some answers from Kurt but that was over and the easy part was taking longer than expected. But he couldn’t find an excuse not to be with Kurt even when he wanted to. Kurt would innocently flash a math book at him and they’d do math for an hour, completely innocent and appropriate, and then make out for the next half hour. Worst part was, Kurt didn’t even initiate the distractions half the time. In fact Kurt was possibly quite shy. It was Blaine who’d usually be overcome with this need to lean over and just kiss him because he wanted to and because he could. Bad habits are always the hardest to break.
Like smoking…
…and Angry Birds.
It’s when Wes raises an eyebrow at their clasped hands a second time passing them in the hallway that week (Damn! What happened to not holding Kurt’s hand in public?) that Blaine thinks he really needs to end things once they reach his bedroom (till then it’s okay to hold his hand, right?) Kurt doesn’t need to be invited in and Craig waves at him with a big grin on his face as soon as they enter the room and Blaine is thinking that he really should wait until after Kurt’s done with his Integrations that he should tell him. After all, it’s just plain rude to turn a guy away in his time of need (right?)
It’s another Saturday morning when Blaine gets around to actually going through with the break up. Blaine has gotten some weekend detention and has to clean the windows on the second floor, Kurt’s standind at the foot of the ladder just because he can be there to make fun of him as Blaine struggles on. Blaine was grumbling to himself because he was sure the teacher just needed someone to clean his windows, he was only talking like a little bit in class and hadn’t talked back when the teacher reprimanded him (at least he didn’t talk back much) but he was still stuck here at 8 am cleaning windows while the boyfriend he was supposed to have broken up with a week back was laughing while standing with cocked hips on the ground.
The fact that Kurt was in his normal clothes and that his normal clothes included incredibly tight pants and the ones he was wearing today was leather (for fuck’s sake Blaine was discovering kinks he never knew he had) had nothing to do with his distractions. Blaine suddenly lost balance and was falling backwards ladder in tow when he suddenly stopped midair and was pushed back to his original position safe against the building wall. He looked down to see one of Kurt’s hands on a rung of the ladder holding it steady while the other brushed dirt off his shoes. Blaine slid down the ladder and let go right before his foot could reach the ground so that he sort of jumped in front of Kurt.
“I needed to tell you that I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? About what?”
“That I can’t do this anymore.”
Kurt let out a puff of laughter, “You should apologize to Mr. Higgins right? It’s his windowsill you-
“Kurt, I meant us.”
“What did I do wrong?”
“It’s not you it’s me.”
“Oh great! You hate me so much that you couldn’t come up with a more original break up line?”
“It’s already hard enough being gay and with you and superpowers and boyfriends and commitment. It’s all too much.” And Blaine looks as earnest as he can with the line he’s rehearsed a million times in his head this past week. He isn’t convinced by it but Kurt looks aptly speechless and he’s suddenly straightening his back and turning his chin up high, the blush in his cheeks and the slight quiver of his lips, the only sign that he’s unhappy.
“Well then…” And he turns around.
Blaine tells himself he’s done the right thing.
----------------------------
Kurt is confused the whole walk back to his room. He knows he should be upset but it doesn’t feel like a break up. He half expects Blaine to jump at him and scream ‘you just got Blaine-d’ or ‘Gell-ed’ or whatever is Blaine’s cup of tea regarding prank punch-liners. Somewhere within Kurt’s instincts, the one that alwys knows when it comes from a bottle tells him that Blaine actually didn’t mean any of it. It’s the same voice inside his head that never accepts Blaine’s, ‘that-time-I-took-your-virginity-in-your-room-was-a-dream’ theory.
Sometimes the battle of his instincts is a hard one against his pessimistic common sense.
But before he can ponder, analyze and then over analyze Mercedes jumps at him from somewhere and he has to scream and bat his hands at her until she does it back to him and they are bitch slapping in the Dalton hallways when one of her blows comes down with a painful smack against his jaw and oh my he certainly hadn’t hallucinated that.
“What’s wrong with you, gurrrl?”
“Mercedes…you’re actually here?”
“Yeah…Of course!” She aims a friendly punch at his forearm and oh…that was real too.
“What are you doing here?”
“Well. The New Directions were asked to sing at a Nursing Home a little way down Westerville. Mr. Shue received the invitation just yesterday and the road we take crosses Dalton…so we had the most brilliant idea.”
“But I already used up my monthly weekend pass.”
“It’s for a good cause!” And she held up the permission slip he would need to cross the gates and waved it at him, he took it impressed.
“Well we pulled some strings and ta daaaa!” And she brought her other hand from behind her and waved another permission slip. Kurt’s heart sank at the ‘Blaine Anderson’ on top of the page. He quickly snatched it from her.
“Yeah well…he’s busy today and can’t come.”
“Can’t you at least ask him?”
“He can’t come.” Kurt snaps, “He’ll feel left out anyway, let’s just go.” Mercedes shrugged and hooked their elbows together as she led him out to the parking lot where the bus was but she looked at him a little uncertainly.
“You sure you’re okay?”
She murmurs before they’re within the other’s line of sight and before Kurt can nod his assurance he’s already bombarded with a million ‘hellos’ and dashing smiles. Lauren actually trots up to him and picks him up; the resulting squeeze cleanses him of all and any breath that was inside his lungs before she dumps him on Finn. Finn puts him on the ground and pats his shoulders, “Sorry I was out when you visited last week.” Kurt’s reply is lost in another tight hug from Finn. When he finally manages to climb into the bus he’s already noticed that Santana no longer makes eye contact with Sam and Artie has traces of a scar on his cheek which Brittany makes a point of rubbing every few minutes.
“All aboard?” Mr. Shue’s annoyingly friendly voice rings out and Kurt realizes that he really missed these crazies. Even though he got light dozes of a few of them at Sue’s on Tuesdays it was comforting to have Mercedes’ warmth pressed to his side on the bus as they discussed this year’s Fall Fashion in Paris’s Fashion Week. He couldn’t see the premiere when it aired because the TV in the commons was being hogged for the sake of a football match.
Oh the heartache.
Kurt takes out a mirror and fixes his hair when they crossover onto a bumpy road and some of his gelled locks have rebelled loose. He tucks them repeatedly, almost obsessively back in and he can hear the deep breath Mercedes is taking beside him probably to give him a huge lecture in one long go when the bus lurches violently to the side and Brittany actually falls out of her seat.
The driver curses in the front and suddenly the light coming in through the bus window fades as dark clouds roll onto the sky blocking the sunlight. There’s a rumble of thunder outside and they are surrounded by the sounds of rain pelting on the metal contours of the bus when the bus lurches to the side once more. This time Rachel topples to the ground and Puck collapses on top of her while Quinn has latched onto Finn as he holds his seat to not follow suit.
By the third lurch they’re all on the ground with their hands above their heads and just as the bus seems like it wouldn’t stay upright by the fourth time it lurches, Kurt rushes outside. He’s hit with the roaring of the wind all around him, threatening to take him with it as he throws himself at the side of the bus and pushing it against the force of the wind until it’s back on its four wheels.
He’s panting from the effort, he was half afraid that a bus full of people would be the limit of his powers but before he could make heads or tails of the situation and why there was a sudden storm roaring around them. Someone jumps onto the top of the bus with a loud clang and Kurt darts back to see what it was.
Kurt hears more than sees the clanking continue as the lady continues stomping on the top of the bus and there is a loud clatter as the top gradually caves in. Kurt sees a few rocks fly past him and towards the top of the bus all banging against the metal.
“WILL SCHUESTER! COME OUT HERE AND TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!”
There’s a loud screech inside the bus and everyone is suddenly pouring out as he realizes what must be Rachel using her Sonic Boom. This is the first time Kurt has seen it unrestrained and he can actually see the vibrations in the air as Terri is knocked off her perch on the top of the bus but before she can crash into the ground she stops mid-air. Kurt can see the dust swirling in a strong current underneath her and ultimately cushioning her fall.
Terri bends her knees in an aikido stance and then swings her hand towards the bus and suddenly it flies off and hits the side of the hill they were stationed against. The side of the bus crumbles and he’s suddenly afraid that Rachel is hurt but he hears another scream as the door of the bus flies out and Rachel wobbles out. The impact from the bus sends down a bunch of rocks and earth rolling down. The way they were approaching them seemed as though Terri had a hand in keeping their motion continuous even when it had reach the road and was still rolling full speed against the gravel.
“I only loved you Will. I wanted what was the best for us! And you gave our baby away, stomped on my heart, divorced me and sent me to therapy as though I was the one at fault!”
Kurt suddenly realizes that those rocks weren’t rolling towards them but at Mr. Schue. As he rushes to break down the bigger and more threatening ones, He’s glad to see that Puck has the sense of mind to usher them behind a tree on the farther end of the road. Santana and Quinn rush forward.
Santana’s arms are ablaze and he can see the scowl on her face as a growl rumbles from deep within her and she throws her hands to the front so that a large ball of fire flies towards Terri. Terri runs back but she’s cackling with mirth because slowly but surely the fireball that was big enough to consume Terri whole was becoming smaller and smaller from the wind that attacks it from all sides until it withers and finally dies.
Quinn seems to take over as the air has suddenly gotten cold but it seems to have to effect as Terri laughs at her while protecting herself in a bubble of air that keeps Quinn’s temperature drop out.
“You!” And Terri seems to go manic as she realizes who Quinn is, “You were supposed to give me your baby!” And Quinn flies back with a wail as a gust of air hits her square to the chest. Kurt can see her scrambling back up and Santana now runs towards Terri probably to just punch her in the face if nothing else and Kurt dashes forward at the same, relying on his speed to catch up with Santana despite being farther away. Kurt and Santana both manage to land a punch, Santana’s more of a slap to her face than anything else. Kurt was too afraid to use any strength never having hit another living being with full strength before.
Sure Terri was twisted and had issues moving on but Kurt didn’t want to kill her.
Terri falls face down onto the ground and Santana pulls her up by her hair; a trail of blood lead from her nose to her chin and her cheeks red from where Santana hit her. Kurt is a little afraid of Santana as she hits Terri again. The wind around them seems to quiet down a bit as the sky clears up.
Kurt is falsely reassured.
Suddenly Terri screeches, like literally screeches until he’s certain she’s the Sonic Boom and not Rachel but that’s just a distraction he realizes when there’s a collective scream from behind them and Kurt realizes that all the commotion around them died down so that Terri could concentrate on sending a huge boulder towards the crowd hiding not so effectively behind one measly tree.
Kurt doesn’t have time to think, he just runs, the wind whistles past his ears and his muscles scream at him, trembling as he struggles to catch up, there’s a fraction of a second when he sees the boulder right beside him and it feels as though they’re both still beside each other and Kurt grunts with the effort to go faster as he overtakes the boulder and stops in front, the effort scratching a hollow into the hard earth.
Kurt throws a punch and he feels the impact of the boulder on his hand, feels it rippling through his whole body, the burn and the strain centered on his right hand and the sting as his muscles pulsate and eventually break, breaking tendon by tendon and Kurt’s chest is heavy and his head swims and the last thing he remembers is the tangy copper taste of blood in his mouth before he blacks out.
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By the time Santana has knocked Terri out, there are wails and screams for help behind them and she runs side by side with Quinn as they rush to see what the deal was. Quinn curses and immediately backtracks she drops her face to Santana’s shoulder and quivers. Santana herself needs a moment to digest the sight.
Kurt is lying flat on the ground, his face splattered with blood from having coughed a good amount out before collapsing. But the truly horrible sight was his right hand; it was splayed outwards the sleeve of his red sweater ripped until the shoulder and the whole hand was red and raw, not burned or cut but as though someone had peeled Kurt’s skin right off to reveal what was underneath.
Santana closed her eyes.
She could listen, the dead quiet and the wreckage it hid, and the cries of despair, the shock and fear were so evident that she could almost hear that too.
She felt like her eyes had been closed for an eternity, an eternity of a desperate pair of arms wrapped around her middle, and the slow drag of tears on her shoulders, tracing cracks and preparing for her to crumble.
The loud sound of an approaching ambulance brings her out of her trance. And just like that, like some magic hand had come and stirred things up everything started moving again.
Two paramedics jump out of the first one with a stretcher and pulls Kurt up. Puck, Mercedes and Tina jumps in after him and they rush away first. While the second one checks for damage control, a paramedic is clutching into her and Quinn’s upper arm, coaxing them into following her, while another grills Mike over who else left.
“Rachel…” Quinn whispers for a moment and she’s suddenly running off towards the crashed bus. A paramedic intercepts her and she collapses into his arms and she’s babbling and crying and he’s directing another person towards the bus while carrying her to the ambulance.
The paramedic has tucked almost everyone inside the second ambulance and a third one appears and takes Rachel and Terri in a stretcher. Santana feels rage pulsing through her. She doesn’t want them to save Terri, she wants to leave her here till hyenas have chewed on her carcass and buried it with their feces.
She hears the words ‘caught in a landslide’ being shouted into a phone and her whole body shakes with the helplessness at their situation. No one would believe her and Terri would run free. Not just run free but also be a victim just like them. As she buries her head in her hands, covering her face and the tears that sting at her eyes Brittany’s hands wrap around her shoulders and she turns and clings back.
When Brittany shushes at her and whispers, “It’s going to be alright.” It’s the only thing that makes sense as she lets it all out. Accepts that it’s okay to cry and be scared and angry.
Santana is steered to a hospital room where nurses clean up her wounds and bandage them. There’s a pink Cinderella Band-Aid on Brittany’s wrist when she comes to curl their fingers together and Santana can’t help but peer down at her own knee and frown at her plane bandage.
“I’m alright.” Truth be told Santana is a little bit embarrassed at her earlier outburst and the last thing she needs is for Brittany to baby her for it.
Brittany’s eyes flicker in understanding, “I’m not.” And suddenly she throws herself into Santana’s arms, she buries her head into the crook of her neck and Santana tries to ignore how warm it makes her feel, “I hate hospitals.” She shivers a little as Santana rubs her back.
After a few minutes she raises her head, “Why did things happen the way it did?”
Santana remembers Kurt and swallows, “I don’t know.”
There’s a long silence during which they just hold each other.
“How are the others?”
Brittany makes a pained expression, “Puck dropped Artie when carrying him out of the bus and two of his fingers are crushed. Quinn is shaken and Rachel is passed out. Everyone else is fine…Kurt is in the ICU” She hiccups in between her words and Santana only pulls her closer.
“And Terri?”
There’s a small smile on Brittany’s face, “Third degree burns.”
Santana’s laughter is lost in the press of their lips.
“I was afraid of losing you.” Brittany’s gaze seems to cut straight through her as she tangles her fingers through her hair.
Santana doesn’t know what to say, how to reassure that she’s here and solid and alive and all right. She pulls Brittany closer to her, just lets their noses brush together for a moment before she crashes their mouths together.
Brittany doesn’t get a lot of things, but Brittany gets her and the things she does and why she does them.
So Santana prays that Brittany understands this…them.
-------------------------------------------
The news comes to Blaine in an off hand comment while he’s curled up with his chemistry book in the Junior’s Commons. He’d come here primarily due to the fact that Craig wasn’t in the room and he was painfully aware of all the things he’d do there with when Craig was usually out.
In fact, it was a mere coincidence that he even heard. He had largely ignored the two playing chess in the chairs on the other side of the room; they’d been there for a long time. His ears perked up when he heard them say ‘McKinley’.
Blaine wasn’t even aware that Kurt wasn’t in school. (He’d only thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t bumped into him during the day or Kurt hadn’t followed him and demanded a proper explanation. Blaine was entirely unprepared for a confrontation on the matter of the break-up.
It wasn’t until he heard ‘Hummel’ that he pulls the Chemistry book down from his face and asks, “What?”
The two boys look at him uncertainly and when they’re sure that Blaine, the star Warbler, was indeed talking to them, the shorter of the two pushed his glasses up his face, “There was a mysterious landslide on the Highway leading out of Westerville and a school bus from McKinley was caught in it. No one died but a kid called Hummel is in the ICU.
“Hummel? As in Kurt Hummel?”
“What? You mean our Kurt? Surely he’s…” And the short guy with glasses looks alarmed for a second.
And it’s like Blaine’s senses have a shut down. The other boy’s chatter has completely drowned out; heck Blaine can’t even see him. The page in front of him is a garbled mess of black lines and dots blurred into white…white bandages soaked in deep red blood marring beautiful pale skin. Blaine doesn’t know if he’s stopped thinking or sensing or living but he takes a sharp intake of breathe at the contact on his shoulder. His eyes turn to Wes who has a soft smile on his face.
“Everything okay man?”
And Blaine is scared. Scared for Kurt but he’s also scared that Wes would find out. Blaine doesn’t know what or why Wes does things, he just knows that when Wes wants something done it has to be done. So Wes can’t know what Blaine wants to do, that he wants to run, run till he’s found Kurt and pick him up and hold him close and tell him that he was wrong.
No, Wes can’t know.
Blaine takes a deep breathe and nods.
---------------------------------
When Sue bursts in to the room Burt grunts angrily at her and wants to tell her that Kurt is sleeping but they know better, they know that he’s been out cold for three days. When the hospital said it was alright to move him out of the ICU Burt after 24 hours of observation Burt had thought that everything would be just as fine but his son was still comatose and his right hand wrapped completely in bandage from shoulder till palm. The only thing visible was the tips of his fingers, raw and newly forming scabs that disappear into the bandage and Burt has run his own fingers over them so many times, as though that would heal them.
It surprises Burt on the amount of things that people are content to ignore, like the fact that there is no reason for Kurt to be hurt in this way, centered on his right arm only from something like a landslide but there was no other possibility considered or discussed.
Burt knew what had happened because Rachel told him what happened, she’d come to visit Kurt when she had been discharged and Burt could see the anger that bubbled inside him reflected in her eyes so Burt had kept calm, knew that everyone who could comprehend the truth would be angry and terrified but the easiest way to deal with this was to pretend to believe what most people were ready to believe.
It was a landslide.
Sue looks straight at him and that was all the permission she had asked from him before she called in the kids involved in the accident. The ward was too small to fit so many of them and they crowded around her and Kurt huddling into one another as Sue cleared her throat.
“Now as you all know or at least suspect that a few of you guys are not normal by most social standards.” Quinn fidgets beside Burt, she looks nervous and scared at Sue’s words.
“We all guessed it wasn’t a landslide but that Terri had attacked you from the jealousy at having been dumped by the guy on who’s patronage most grease producing companies survive. I know that it’s hard for you to accept but you must tell the story as how people would believe it.”
Sue raised her hand in Santana’s direction already bubbling with protest.
“You think being gay or having fake boobs or having a penchant for singing cheap show tunes makes you a misfit? People will be jealous of you and scared of you and use that as an excuse to block you out. So, those of you with powers and those of you without but know about people you’ve deemed as your friend please hold your peace and sign these papers.
She hands one out to Burt as well and he sees the title:
“Sue’s Secrecy Clause
A breach of this clause shall earn you a lifetime of Sue’s wrath and extreme hatred.”
A/N: NES has really outdone himself this time! TOTALLY check this out!
Pairing: Klaine, (a little bit)Kurtofsky, (pre) Brittana, ArtiexBrittany, beard!Santofsky
Rating: NC-17
WordCount: ~4500
Genre: Fantasy!AU, Drama and the occassional crack!Sue
Warnings: There is a lot of manipulation going on and creepy things happen (I don't know how to label this) amidst the fun and games. So not for you if you don't like dark fics
Verse Summary: Kurt Hummel is not your average teenager. He's a super hero, what he hadn't known was that there are more like him.
Installment Summary: Brittany makes a pained expression, “Puck dropped Artie when carrying him out of the bus and two of his fingers are crushed. Quinn is shaken and Rachel is passed out. Everyone else is fine…Kurt is in the ICU” She hiccups in between her words and Santana only pulls her closer.
“And Terri?”
There’s a small smile on Brittany’s face, “Third degree burns.”
Co-creator: longas91. Inspired by the brilliant art here and here and his damn good ideas over superhero stuff in general.
Beta: alexxasick
Author's Note: You should totally check out this one for when Dave goes to Kurt as Blaine and for some awesome superhero costumes (not yet made an appearance in the fic) go here and here and here
Previous Installments: Part One Two Three Part Four
Blaine waited till the weekend was over to start thinking about breaking up. They’ve just had a pretty magical weekend with Kurt trusting him enough to tell him he has superpowers, Blaine tries to hide the twinge of guilt that he’s still keeping his own power a secret, and going to meet Burt and Carole. Burt, he was sure that Burt would kill him if he broke up with Kurt the day after they were introduced. Maybe he could’ve blamed it all on Burt, whined that he was scary and that he’d never want to get into his bad books and then just break up. Except breaking would do just that, put him in Burt’s bad books. So he waited a few days, carefully detaching himself. Now they kissed like once a day only and Blaine would not hold Kurt’s hand in public. Kurt would for the most part shrug it off, look hurt or not notice.
He notices that he keeps stalling till tomorrow when Wes raises an eyebrow at their clasped hands during their Wednesday Warbler practice. He wants to tell Wes that he’s really close to breaking up. He totally would have done it on Monday if Kurt hadn’t kissed him. He kissed back so it was rude to break up right after kissing back right? The other part of Wes’ order was taken care of though. He’d inquired more about the Super League. Found out there were six of them with Santana being the latest addition, she was the Pyro and there was a Cryokinetic as well as a Screechy Cat who Blaine presumed was the Sonic Boom he was more used to calling Rachel. The others seemed pretty boring. He didn’t even know what Adoptive Muscle Memory was and was pretty sure the whole thing about the guy in the Mohawk being irresistible was made up. Wes knows all this already and Blaine couldn’t care less what he plans on doing with it. Wes has always been an information slut. It was downright creepy the way Blaine was required to provide the details of his past relationships when he’d agreed to join the Warblers.
When Wes had given his orders on Saturday night. It seemed like the hard part would be to inconspicuously get some answers from Kurt but that was over and the easy part was taking longer than expected. But he couldn’t find an excuse not to be with Kurt even when he wanted to. Kurt would innocently flash a math book at him and they’d do math for an hour, completely innocent and appropriate, and then make out for the next half hour. Worst part was, Kurt didn’t even initiate the distractions half the time. In fact Kurt was possibly quite shy. It was Blaine who’d usually be overcome with this need to lean over and just kiss him because he wanted to and because he could. Bad habits are always the hardest to break.
Like smoking…
…and Angry Birds.
It’s when Wes raises an eyebrow at their clasped hands a second time passing them in the hallway that week (Damn! What happened to not holding Kurt’s hand in public?) that Blaine thinks he really needs to end things once they reach his bedroom (till then it’s okay to hold his hand, right?) Kurt doesn’t need to be invited in and Craig waves at him with a big grin on his face as soon as they enter the room and Blaine is thinking that he really should wait until after Kurt’s done with his Integrations that he should tell him. After all, it’s just plain rude to turn a guy away in his time of need (right?)
It’s another Saturday morning when Blaine gets around to actually going through with the break up. Blaine has gotten some weekend detention and has to clean the windows on the second floor, Kurt’s standind at the foot of the ladder just because he can be there to make fun of him as Blaine struggles on. Blaine was grumbling to himself because he was sure the teacher just needed someone to clean his windows, he was only talking like a little bit in class and hadn’t talked back when the teacher reprimanded him (at least he didn’t talk back much) but he was still stuck here at 8 am cleaning windows while the boyfriend he was supposed to have broken up with a week back was laughing while standing with cocked hips on the ground.
The fact that Kurt was in his normal clothes and that his normal clothes included incredibly tight pants and the ones he was wearing today was leather (for fuck’s sake Blaine was discovering kinks he never knew he had) had nothing to do with his distractions. Blaine suddenly lost balance and was falling backwards ladder in tow when he suddenly stopped midair and was pushed back to his original position safe against the building wall. He looked down to see one of Kurt’s hands on a rung of the ladder holding it steady while the other brushed dirt off his shoes. Blaine slid down the ladder and let go right before his foot could reach the ground so that he sort of jumped in front of Kurt.
“I needed to tell you that I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? About what?”
“That I can’t do this anymore.”
Kurt let out a puff of laughter, “You should apologize to Mr. Higgins right? It’s his windowsill you-
“Kurt, I meant us.”
“What did I do wrong?”
“It’s not you it’s me.”
“Oh great! You hate me so much that you couldn’t come up with a more original break up line?”
“It’s already hard enough being gay and with you and superpowers and boyfriends and commitment. It’s all too much.” And Blaine looks as earnest as he can with the line he’s rehearsed a million times in his head this past week. He isn’t convinced by it but Kurt looks aptly speechless and he’s suddenly straightening his back and turning his chin up high, the blush in his cheeks and the slight quiver of his lips, the only sign that he’s unhappy.
“Well then…” And he turns around.
Blaine tells himself he’s done the right thing.
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Kurt is confused the whole walk back to his room. He knows he should be upset but it doesn’t feel like a break up. He half expects Blaine to jump at him and scream ‘you just got Blaine-d’ or ‘Gell-ed’ or whatever is Blaine’s cup of tea regarding prank punch-liners. Somewhere within Kurt’s instincts, the one that alwys knows when it comes from a bottle tells him that Blaine actually didn’t mean any of it. It’s the same voice inside his head that never accepts Blaine’s, ‘that-time-I-took-your-virginity-in-your-room-was-a-dream’ theory.
Sometimes the battle of his instincts is a hard one against his pessimistic common sense.
But before he can ponder, analyze and then over analyze Mercedes jumps at him from somewhere and he has to scream and bat his hands at her until she does it back to him and they are bitch slapping in the Dalton hallways when one of her blows comes down with a painful smack against his jaw and oh my he certainly hadn’t hallucinated that.
“What’s wrong with you, gurrrl?”
“Mercedes…you’re actually here?”
“Yeah…Of course!” She aims a friendly punch at his forearm and oh…that was real too.
“What are you doing here?”
“Well. The New Directions were asked to sing at a Nursing Home a little way down Westerville. Mr. Shue received the invitation just yesterday and the road we take crosses Dalton…so we had the most brilliant idea.”
“But I already used up my monthly weekend pass.”
“It’s for a good cause!” And she held up the permission slip he would need to cross the gates and waved it at him, he took it impressed.
“Well we pulled some strings and ta daaaa!” And she brought her other hand from behind her and waved another permission slip. Kurt’s heart sank at the ‘Blaine Anderson’ on top of the page. He quickly snatched it from her.
“Yeah well…he’s busy today and can’t come.”
“Can’t you at least ask him?”
“He can’t come.” Kurt snaps, “He’ll feel left out anyway, let’s just go.” Mercedes shrugged and hooked their elbows together as she led him out to the parking lot where the bus was but she looked at him a little uncertainly.
“You sure you’re okay?”
She murmurs before they’re within the other’s line of sight and before Kurt can nod his assurance he’s already bombarded with a million ‘hellos’ and dashing smiles. Lauren actually trots up to him and picks him up; the resulting squeeze cleanses him of all and any breath that was inside his lungs before she dumps him on Finn. Finn puts him on the ground and pats his shoulders, “Sorry I was out when you visited last week.” Kurt’s reply is lost in another tight hug from Finn. When he finally manages to climb into the bus he’s already noticed that Santana no longer makes eye contact with Sam and Artie has traces of a scar on his cheek which Brittany makes a point of rubbing every few minutes.
“All aboard?” Mr. Shue’s annoyingly friendly voice rings out and Kurt realizes that he really missed these crazies. Even though he got light dozes of a few of them at Sue’s on Tuesdays it was comforting to have Mercedes’ warmth pressed to his side on the bus as they discussed this year’s Fall Fashion in Paris’s Fashion Week. He couldn’t see the premiere when it aired because the TV in the commons was being hogged for the sake of a football match.
Oh the heartache.
Kurt takes out a mirror and fixes his hair when they crossover onto a bumpy road and some of his gelled locks have rebelled loose. He tucks them repeatedly, almost obsessively back in and he can hear the deep breath Mercedes is taking beside him probably to give him a huge lecture in one long go when the bus lurches violently to the side and Brittany actually falls out of her seat.
The driver curses in the front and suddenly the light coming in through the bus window fades as dark clouds roll onto the sky blocking the sunlight. There’s a rumble of thunder outside and they are surrounded by the sounds of rain pelting on the metal contours of the bus when the bus lurches to the side once more. This time Rachel topples to the ground and Puck collapses on top of her while Quinn has latched onto Finn as he holds his seat to not follow suit.
By the third lurch they’re all on the ground with their hands above their heads and just as the bus seems like it wouldn’t stay upright by the fourth time it lurches, Kurt rushes outside. He’s hit with the roaring of the wind all around him, threatening to take him with it as he throws himself at the side of the bus and pushing it against the force of the wind until it’s back on its four wheels.
He’s panting from the effort, he was half afraid that a bus full of people would be the limit of his powers but before he could make heads or tails of the situation and why there was a sudden storm roaring around them. Someone jumps onto the top of the bus with a loud clang and Kurt darts back to see what it was.
Kurt hears more than sees the clanking continue as the lady continues stomping on the top of the bus and there is a loud clatter as the top gradually caves in. Kurt sees a few rocks fly past him and towards the top of the bus all banging against the metal.
“WILL SCHUESTER! COME OUT HERE AND TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!”
There’s a loud screech inside the bus and everyone is suddenly pouring out as he realizes what must be Rachel using her Sonic Boom. This is the first time Kurt has seen it unrestrained and he can actually see the vibrations in the air as Terri is knocked off her perch on the top of the bus but before she can crash into the ground she stops mid-air. Kurt can see the dust swirling in a strong current underneath her and ultimately cushioning her fall.
Terri bends her knees in an aikido stance and then swings her hand towards the bus and suddenly it flies off and hits the side of the hill they were stationed against. The side of the bus crumbles and he’s suddenly afraid that Rachel is hurt but he hears another scream as the door of the bus flies out and Rachel wobbles out. The impact from the bus sends down a bunch of rocks and earth rolling down. The way they were approaching them seemed as though Terri had a hand in keeping their motion continuous even when it had reach the road and was still rolling full speed against the gravel.
“I only loved you Will. I wanted what was the best for us! And you gave our baby away, stomped on my heart, divorced me and sent me to therapy as though I was the one at fault!”
Kurt suddenly realizes that those rocks weren’t rolling towards them but at Mr. Schue. As he rushes to break down the bigger and more threatening ones, He’s glad to see that Puck has the sense of mind to usher them behind a tree on the farther end of the road. Santana and Quinn rush forward.
Santana’s arms are ablaze and he can see the scowl on her face as a growl rumbles from deep within her and she throws her hands to the front so that a large ball of fire flies towards Terri. Terri runs back but she’s cackling with mirth because slowly but surely the fireball that was big enough to consume Terri whole was becoming smaller and smaller from the wind that attacks it from all sides until it withers and finally dies.
Quinn seems to take over as the air has suddenly gotten cold but it seems to have to effect as Terri laughs at her while protecting herself in a bubble of air that keeps Quinn’s temperature drop out.
“You!” And Terri seems to go manic as she realizes who Quinn is, “You were supposed to give me your baby!” And Quinn flies back with a wail as a gust of air hits her square to the chest. Kurt can see her scrambling back up and Santana now runs towards Terri probably to just punch her in the face if nothing else and Kurt dashes forward at the same, relying on his speed to catch up with Santana despite being farther away. Kurt and Santana both manage to land a punch, Santana’s more of a slap to her face than anything else. Kurt was too afraid to use any strength never having hit another living being with full strength before.
Sure Terri was twisted and had issues moving on but Kurt didn’t want to kill her.
Terri falls face down onto the ground and Santana pulls her up by her hair; a trail of blood lead from her nose to her chin and her cheeks red from where Santana hit her. Kurt is a little afraid of Santana as she hits Terri again. The wind around them seems to quiet down a bit as the sky clears up.
Kurt is falsely reassured.
Suddenly Terri screeches, like literally screeches until he’s certain she’s the Sonic Boom and not Rachel but that’s just a distraction he realizes when there’s a collective scream from behind them and Kurt realizes that all the commotion around them died down so that Terri could concentrate on sending a huge boulder towards the crowd hiding not so effectively behind one measly tree.
Kurt doesn’t have time to think, he just runs, the wind whistles past his ears and his muscles scream at him, trembling as he struggles to catch up, there’s a fraction of a second when he sees the boulder right beside him and it feels as though they’re both still beside each other and Kurt grunts with the effort to go faster as he overtakes the boulder and stops in front, the effort scratching a hollow into the hard earth.
Kurt throws a punch and he feels the impact of the boulder on his hand, feels it rippling through his whole body, the burn and the strain centered on his right hand and the sting as his muscles pulsate and eventually break, breaking tendon by tendon and Kurt’s chest is heavy and his head swims and the last thing he remembers is the tangy copper taste of blood in his mouth before he blacks out.
------------------------------
By the time Santana has knocked Terri out, there are wails and screams for help behind them and she runs side by side with Quinn as they rush to see what the deal was. Quinn curses and immediately backtracks she drops her face to Santana’s shoulder and quivers. Santana herself needs a moment to digest the sight.
Kurt is lying flat on the ground, his face splattered with blood from having coughed a good amount out before collapsing. But the truly horrible sight was his right hand; it was splayed outwards the sleeve of his red sweater ripped until the shoulder and the whole hand was red and raw, not burned or cut but as though someone had peeled Kurt’s skin right off to reveal what was underneath.
Santana closed her eyes.
She could listen, the dead quiet and the wreckage it hid, and the cries of despair, the shock and fear were so evident that she could almost hear that too.
She felt like her eyes had been closed for an eternity, an eternity of a desperate pair of arms wrapped around her middle, and the slow drag of tears on her shoulders, tracing cracks and preparing for her to crumble.
The loud sound of an approaching ambulance brings her out of her trance. And just like that, like some magic hand had come and stirred things up everything started moving again.
Two paramedics jump out of the first one with a stretcher and pulls Kurt up. Puck, Mercedes and Tina jumps in after him and they rush away first. While the second one checks for damage control, a paramedic is clutching into her and Quinn’s upper arm, coaxing them into following her, while another grills Mike over who else left.
“Rachel…” Quinn whispers for a moment and she’s suddenly running off towards the crashed bus. A paramedic intercepts her and she collapses into his arms and she’s babbling and crying and he’s directing another person towards the bus while carrying her to the ambulance.
The paramedic has tucked almost everyone inside the second ambulance and a third one appears and takes Rachel and Terri in a stretcher. Santana feels rage pulsing through her. She doesn’t want them to save Terri, she wants to leave her here till hyenas have chewed on her carcass and buried it with their feces.
She hears the words ‘caught in a landslide’ being shouted into a phone and her whole body shakes with the helplessness at their situation. No one would believe her and Terri would run free. Not just run free but also be a victim just like them. As she buries her head in her hands, covering her face and the tears that sting at her eyes Brittany’s hands wrap around her shoulders and she turns and clings back.
When Brittany shushes at her and whispers, “It’s going to be alright.” It’s the only thing that makes sense as she lets it all out. Accepts that it’s okay to cry and be scared and angry.
Santana is steered to a hospital room where nurses clean up her wounds and bandage them. There’s a pink Cinderella Band-Aid on Brittany’s wrist when she comes to curl their fingers together and Santana can’t help but peer down at her own knee and frown at her plane bandage.
“I’m alright.” Truth be told Santana is a little bit embarrassed at her earlier outburst and the last thing she needs is for Brittany to baby her for it.
Brittany’s eyes flicker in understanding, “I’m not.” And suddenly she throws herself into Santana’s arms, she buries her head into the crook of her neck and Santana tries to ignore how warm it makes her feel, “I hate hospitals.” She shivers a little as Santana rubs her back.
After a few minutes she raises her head, “Why did things happen the way it did?”
Santana remembers Kurt and swallows, “I don’t know.”
There’s a long silence during which they just hold each other.
“How are the others?”
Brittany makes a pained expression, “Puck dropped Artie when carrying him out of the bus and two of his fingers are crushed. Quinn is shaken and Rachel is passed out. Everyone else is fine…Kurt is in the ICU” She hiccups in between her words and Santana only pulls her closer.
“And Terri?”
There’s a small smile on Brittany’s face, “Third degree burns.”
Santana’s laughter is lost in the press of their lips.
“I was afraid of losing you.” Brittany’s gaze seems to cut straight through her as she tangles her fingers through her hair.
Santana doesn’t know what to say, how to reassure that she’s here and solid and alive and all right. She pulls Brittany closer to her, just lets their noses brush together for a moment before she crashes their mouths together.
Brittany doesn’t get a lot of things, but Brittany gets her and the things she does and why she does them.
So Santana prays that Brittany understands this…them.
-------------------------------------------
The news comes to Blaine in an off hand comment while he’s curled up with his chemistry book in the Junior’s Commons. He’d come here primarily due to the fact that Craig wasn’t in the room and he was painfully aware of all the things he’d do there with when Craig was usually out.
In fact, it was a mere coincidence that he even heard. He had largely ignored the two playing chess in the chairs on the other side of the room; they’d been there for a long time. His ears perked up when he heard them say ‘McKinley’.
Blaine wasn’t even aware that Kurt wasn’t in school. (He’d only thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t bumped into him during the day or Kurt hadn’t followed him and demanded a proper explanation. Blaine was entirely unprepared for a confrontation on the matter of the break-up.
It wasn’t until he heard ‘Hummel’ that he pulls the Chemistry book down from his face and asks, “What?”
The two boys look at him uncertainly and when they’re sure that Blaine, the star Warbler, was indeed talking to them, the shorter of the two pushed his glasses up his face, “There was a mysterious landslide on the Highway leading out of Westerville and a school bus from McKinley was caught in it. No one died but a kid called Hummel is in the ICU.
“Hummel? As in Kurt Hummel?”
“What? You mean our Kurt? Surely he’s…” And the short guy with glasses looks alarmed for a second.
And it’s like Blaine’s senses have a shut down. The other boy’s chatter has completely drowned out; heck Blaine can’t even see him. The page in front of him is a garbled mess of black lines and dots blurred into white…white bandages soaked in deep red blood marring beautiful pale skin. Blaine doesn’t know if he’s stopped thinking or sensing or living but he takes a sharp intake of breathe at the contact on his shoulder. His eyes turn to Wes who has a soft smile on his face.
“Everything okay man?”
And Blaine is scared. Scared for Kurt but he’s also scared that Wes would find out. Blaine doesn’t know what or why Wes does things, he just knows that when Wes wants something done it has to be done. So Wes can’t know what Blaine wants to do, that he wants to run, run till he’s found Kurt and pick him up and hold him close and tell him that he was wrong.
No, Wes can’t know.
Blaine takes a deep breathe and nods.
---------------------------------
When Sue bursts in to the room Burt grunts angrily at her and wants to tell her that Kurt is sleeping but they know better, they know that he’s been out cold for three days. When the hospital said it was alright to move him out of the ICU Burt after 24 hours of observation Burt had thought that everything would be just as fine but his son was still comatose and his right hand wrapped completely in bandage from shoulder till palm. The only thing visible was the tips of his fingers, raw and newly forming scabs that disappear into the bandage and Burt has run his own fingers over them so many times, as though that would heal them.
It surprises Burt on the amount of things that people are content to ignore, like the fact that there is no reason for Kurt to be hurt in this way, centered on his right arm only from something like a landslide but there was no other possibility considered or discussed.
Burt knew what had happened because Rachel told him what happened, she’d come to visit Kurt when she had been discharged and Burt could see the anger that bubbled inside him reflected in her eyes so Burt had kept calm, knew that everyone who could comprehend the truth would be angry and terrified but the easiest way to deal with this was to pretend to believe what most people were ready to believe.
It was a landslide.
Sue looks straight at him and that was all the permission she had asked from him before she called in the kids involved in the accident. The ward was too small to fit so many of them and they crowded around her and Kurt huddling into one another as Sue cleared her throat.
“Now as you all know or at least suspect that a few of you guys are not normal by most social standards.” Quinn fidgets beside Burt, she looks nervous and scared at Sue’s words.
“We all guessed it wasn’t a landslide but that Terri had attacked you from the jealousy at having been dumped by the guy on who’s patronage most grease producing companies survive. I know that it’s hard for you to accept but you must tell the story as how people would believe it.”
Sue raised her hand in Santana’s direction already bubbling with protest.
“You think being gay or having fake boobs or having a penchant for singing cheap show tunes makes you a misfit? People will be jealous of you and scared of you and use that as an excuse to block you out. So, those of you with powers and those of you without but know about people you’ve deemed as your friend please hold your peace and sign these papers.
She hands one out to Burt as well and he sees the title:
“Sue’s Secrecy Clause
A breach of this clause shall earn you a lifetime of Sue’s wrath and extreme hatred.”
A/N: NES has really outdone himself this time! TOTALLY check this out!