Fic: A Heavy Heart to Carry 9/16 [Glee]
Title: A Heavy Heart to Carry
Author: purplehrdwonder
Rating: R
Genre/pairing: Mentions of Kurt/Blaine and one-sided Sebastian/Blaine
Characters: Blaine, Kurt, Sebastian, Burt, Cooper, various Warblers, Tina, Sam, Finn, Carole
Word count: 4,220
Warnings: Homophobic language, mostly off-screen violence
Spoilers: Through 4x10
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
Summary: When a hate crime leaves Blaine in the hospital and re-opens old hurts he'd thought buried, Kurt and Sebastian grudgingly work together to look after him, neither trusting the other not to hurt Blaine further.
Chapter 9
Burt and Cooper left at a quarter until six after making Kurt promise not to let Blaine push himself too hard with his Dalton friends; he’d already pushed himself talking to the police, and any extra exertion was likely to push back his recovery. If it were up to Kurt, he would’ve let Blaine sleep on and hoped that the other boys would just leave.
But it wasn’t up to him-and damn Sebastian for knowing just how to push that button; once Blaine had been on board with the idea, no one was going to refuse him-so Kurt woke Blaine up at five till; the other boy wanted to be moderately coherent when the Warblers arrived. It took Blaine a while to shake off the bleariness from medication-induced sleep even at the best of times, and the morphine was really doing a number on him.
Though considering the extent of his injuries, that was probably for the best.
There was a knock on the door promptly at six, and Blaine, who was slowly coming out of his grogginess, perked up when Sebastian entered, followed in by David, Thad, Trent, Jeff, and Nick. They were all out of their blazers, but that didn’t stop Kurt’s hackles from rising as the door shut behind them. He didn’t think he’d ever shake the memory of those same boys walking away while Blaine was crying out in pain on the ground of a parking garage.
And Blaine hadn’t even been their intended target.
“Hey Killer,” Sebastian greeted, interrupting Kurt’s reverie. “Bringing the party to you, as promised.” He glanced toward Kurt, obviously amused at his presence. “Kurt.”
Kurt pursed his lips, thinking of Sebastian’s smirk in the hallway earlier, but said nothing. Instead, he scooted his chair closer to Blaine’s bed. Sebastian rolled his eyes and moved aside so the other Warblers could step further inside the room.
There was a brief moment when shocked silence descended over the Warblers as they took in Blaine’s small, battered form-the cast, the bruises, the bandages, Blaine’s pallor. It was obvious hearing about Blaine’s injuries hadn’t prepared them for seeing them, which Kurt could sympathize with, but the moment was quickly broken.
“Hey Blaine!” David said, smiling widely as he stepped up next to Sebastian.
“It’s good to see you,” Thad added.
“You look good,” Trent said hesitantly.
Blaine laughed quietly, wincing as his ribs probably ached. “No I don’t.”
“You look alive,” Sebastian pointed out, a haunted look crossing his face so quickly that Kurt might’ve thought he’d imagined it had he not seen Sebastian at the hospital the night Blaine had been attacked.
Blaine’s expression fell and his gaze dropped. “Yeah.”
The Warblers exchanged nervous looks as the mood in the room turned somber. Kurt was debating whether or not to break in and spare them or let them stew in their juices for a bit longer when Nick broke the silence.
“Well, this wouldn’t be a Warbler party without a bit of singing, would it?” he asked with a mischievous look.
Blaine looked up and glanced between the Warblers curiously. “What?”
“You know party rules, Warbler Blaine,” David teased.
And then they started humming. After a few introductory bars, the group started singing:
Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin’, “Don’t worry about a thing,
“‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
Blaine’s eyes widened momentarily, but a surprised grin spread across his face as they kept going. Sebastian took over the next verse.
Rise up this mornin’,
Smiled with the risin’ sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin’ sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin’, (“This is my message to you-ou-ou”)
Blaine laughed, his good arm wrapped gently around his midsection in support, as Sebastian and the other Warblers started dancing around the room, trading off lines. One by one, they came over to the bed and clapped Blaine gently on his good shoulder. Kurt was pretty sure he saw Blaine’s bottom lip trembling as Jeff stepped back into the casual formation so they could finish the song.
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, oh no!
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
Blaine hiccupped a final laugh when the hums faded into silence and applauded the best he could with one arm in a cast and the other hand with splinted fingers. Despite his lingering grudge, Kurt found himself applauding as well, though more for the happy look they’d put on Blaine’s face than anything.
“Bob Marley, guys? Really?” Blaine asked, amused.
“Shut up, you love it,” Jeff retorted with a smirk.
“I do,” Blaine agreed softly.
A feeling Kurt couldn’t quite describe settled over the group at that-a measure of understanding passing between the Dalton boys, past and present, Kurt supposed. He felt suddenly like an outsider, intruding on something special that only true Dalton boys could understand. Because, Kurt knew, the blazer had never fit him the way it had Blaine.
Oh, Kurt owed a lot to his brief time at Dalton-he’d found sanctuary, found himself again, and even found love in those precious months-but he’d never belonged; McKinley had always been his home, so when the opportunity presented itself to transfer back, his only hesitation had been leaving Blaine behind.
The moment passed and Sebastian moved to take one of the free chairs. The other five made to fight for the three remaining chairs. Trent commandeered one of the chairs in a surprising show of quickness. Nick ended up in the second chair with Jeff perched in his lap, and David won the game of musical chairs for the last one, leaving Thad to lean against the wall with a pronounced pout. Blaine grinned as he watched his friends, and Kurt didn’t have it in him to say anything when Blaine’s eyes were crinkling up happily like that.
Kurt had missed that expression more than he could put into words.
God, he wanted nothing more than to kiss Blaine right then-his entire being ached with the sudden desire-but he restrained himself; it wasn’t his place. Even if Blaine had remembered that Kurt had come home that week to talk about their relationship, they hadn’t actually resolved anything.
"What… What do you want from me, Kurt?"
"I was finally moving on, only to have it all thrown in my face tonight."
"I just… I can't do this right now, Kurt."
Kurt suppressed a flinch at the memories, and glanced over at Blaine, who had been pulled into some meaningless stream of conversation with the Warblers. Kurt couldn’t bring himself to follow the conversation, though he recognized some of the names being thrown around either from talking with Blaine or his own time at Dalton. Instead, he focused his attention on Blaine, watching as he came alive around his friends. There was a light behind his eyes that Kurt couldn’t remember seeing in a long time.
A stomach-turning thought hit Kurt then; had he taken that light from Blaine when he’d pushed his boyfriend to transfer to McKinley?
Kurt knew now, months after their breakup and a lot of introspection later, that he’d been heavily focused on his own problems senior year, content to have Blaine at his side but not particularly thinking about how Blaine might be missing Dalton and the Warblers. Blaine had gotten along with the other members of New Directions for the most part, but he hadn’t been close to anyone outside of maybe Mike.
Blaine had never complained though, and it hadn’t occurred to Kurt that he might have felt isolated-not until he saw the difference in Blaine around his friends, anyway. It was a jarring revelation that left Kurt feeling nauseous.
After a few attempts at pulling Kurt into the conversation were rebuffed, the other boys simply stopped trying. Every now and then, Kurt would glance up from Blaine to see Sebastian looking at him, an unreadable expression on his face. He’d just raise an eyebrow when Kurt glared at him before turning back to the conversation.
Kurt realized after a few minutes that Warblers hadn’t once commented on the weakness of Blaine’s voice; in fact, after their initial hesitation at seeing Blaine looking so fragile, they’d recovered remarkably well and were acting as though nothing was wrong.
It was exactly what Blaine needed.
But about half an hour into the visit Blaine started flagging. Kurt was actually surprised he’d lasted that long after his trying afternoon, but the Warblers had seemed to give him some newfound energy. Sebastian seemed to have noticed as well as he pushed himself to his feet.
“Well, we should probably get going.”
Blaine blinked heavily. “I’m sorry, guys. I don’t mean to-” He yawned. “-fall asleep on you.”
“Blaine,” David said easily as he rose along with the other Warblers. “It’s fine.”
“You just need to focus on getting better,” Thad agreed.
“We’ll be back. It’s Spring Break and everything,” Nick said with a wink.
“Hell, you won’t be able to get rid of us,” Jeff added, elbowing Nick in the side.
Trent reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. He hesitated before handing it to Kurt, who looked at the scrawled Blaine on the front curiously.
“It’s a card, signed by the other Warblers,” he explained. “And some other Dalton people.”
Blaine swallowed shakily, glancing between the envelope and the Warblers. “Thanks guys,” he whispered as Kurt opened the envelope and handed the card to him. He traced a hand reverently over the front, as though he couldn’t believe someone would care enough to do something like that for him.
“Once a Warbler, always a Warbler, right?” Sebastian asked.
Kurt wanted to make some kind of nasty response to that about loyalty and slushies, but Blaine’s lip twitched and he nodded back at Sebastian. There must be some joke there that Kurt wasn’t aware of.
“We’ll see you later, Blaine!”
“Sebastian,” Blaine called quietly. “Wait.”
The other boy glanced back at the other Warblers, who were already in the hall but watching the exchange with varied levels of curiosity, but came back over to the bed. “Yeah?”
Blaine yawned again, but he shook his head when Sebastian looked like he was about to protest. “It’s fine. Just.” He took a breath before continuing. “I hear you found me. After,” he said haltingly.
Sebastian lost a bit of color at that, but he nodded. Kurt wondered, not for the first time, how exactly Sebastian had found Blaine in that parking lot. His imagination would likely be creating scenarios for the rest of his life as he thought about it, but they would never compare with the real deal.
“I did,” Sebastian managed to reply.
“They told me that you…” Blaine’s eyes drooped shut but he forced them open again. Stubborn. “That you probably saved my life.”
“Blaine, I-” Sebastian seemed startled, and more than a little uncomfortable, to have the subject broached.
“Thank you,” Blaine murmured, reaching for the other boy’s hand. Sebastian let him take it, watching with no small amount of wonder as Blaine squeezed it briefly before letting go.
Something wrenched in Kurt’s chest at the sight and he had to look away.
He only looked up once the door had been shut behind Sebastian, putting a barrier between them and the Warbler whirlwind. Kurt turned to Blaine, who had opened the card and was peering inside.
“There’re so many,” he murmured in awe, looking at all the signatures and notes.
Kurt raised an eyebrow, pushing aside those jealous feelings with as much force as he could muster and glanced at the card in Blaine’s lap, which was nearly solid with handwriting. Even now, nearly two years after Blaine had left the school, his legacy lived on. It wasn’t surprising; Blaine had been one of the most popular kids at Dalton, and being his best friend and a Warbler had put Kurt on top of the food chain at Dalton almost immediately after his transfer. It had been a dizzying climb up the social ladder. Blaine, after all, was uniquely talented as a performer-the Warblers knew it and had continued trying to woo him back to Dalton even a year after his transfer.
But more than that, Blaine was a genuinely good person.
“You have a lot of people who care about you,” Kurt said, nudging him gently.
Blaine looked over at Kurt and gave him a wan smile. Kurt reached out for Blaine’s hand and squeezed it gently as Blaine’s eyes fluttered shut. Kurt, his heart aching, stroked the back of Blaine’s hand with his thumb as the other boy’s breathing evened out in sleep.
-----
Sebastian looked up from the book he was reading at a knock on his door. “Come in,” he called, fairly certain as to who would be bothering him the Friday night of Spring Break. Most of the campus had emptied out that day as students went home, but there were still a few boarders, like Sebastian, who were staying for break.
A moment later, the door cracked open and Thad’s head peered into the room. “Hey.”
Sebastian nodded in greeting-not surprised in the slightest at his guest-and put his Kindle down. “Coming to try to get me to socialize?” he guessed. He’d ended up skipping the Warbler gathering once they’d gotten back from the hospital.
Thad stepped into the room and shut the door behind him before shaking his head. “Nah. I don’t think a lot of the guys are in a partying mood after all.”
Sebastian raised an eyebrow as his phone beeped with another text demanding that he join the party. The remaining Warblers had commandeered the senior commons and were blasting music that echoed through the empty hallways. As an RA, Thad was technically supposed to be in charge, but it looked like he had as much interest in joining the fun as Sebastian did.
“None of the seniors are in the mood,” Thad corrected.
There it was. Seeing a good friend laid up in the hospital in the wake of a hate crime tended to kill any joyful mood. Blaine had been in good spirits, though, enough so that there were moments that it was easy to forget they weren’t just hanging out at a Warbler get-together. But Blaine’s voice had been strained and his eyes glassy and distant.
And then there were the injuries themselves. Sebastian had been more prepared than the other Warblers, who’d been remarkably silent on the side back to campus from the hospital, for them. Blaine was normally a ball of charisma and energy-he seemed to take up far more space in a room or on stage than his compact size allowed-but seeing him looking so small and fragile, no matter how much he’d improved since being admitted, was hard.
Yet, all Sebastian could think about was the feel of Blaine’s hand taking his and squeezing it as he whispered his thanks. He’d felt Blaine’s hand in his own more than once before from various handshakes, but there had been something intimate about that specific touch that left Sebastian’s skin tingling and his pulse pounding.
Fuck.
“Sebastian?” Thad asked with a frown.
Sebastian blinked, shaking himself. “Yeah, sorry. Did you have something in mind then?”
“Seniors-only movie night?”
Sebastian opened his mouth to decline, but there was something in Thad’s look (and the lingering feeling in Sebastian’s hand) that had him changing his mind. He threw his legs over the edge of his bed and got to his feet. Forgetting everything for a few hours didn’t sound like a bad idea after all.
“Sure.”
-----
When Kurt walked into Blaine’s room Saturday morning, Cooper was already there, but he wasn’t alone. Tina sat next to Blaine on his bed, one leg curled up under her and the other on the floor for balance. Blaine was resting his head against her shoulder as he smiled blearily at something Sam, who was sitting at Blaine’s feet on the bed, was saying. A wave of jealousy crashed through Kurt at the sight as he remembered the pictures in Blaine’s room, but he tamped down on it as he shut the door behind him.
“Hey Kurt!” Sam greeted with a wave.
Cooper also lifted his hand in greeting, though they’d already seen each other that morning.
“Kurt,” Tina said, though her tone was cooler. Kurt raised an eyebrow, but she just stared at him levelly as he took a seat at Blaine’s other side. Kurt filed that reaction away to think about later.
“Hey you,” Blaine murmured, turning his head to glance at Kurt through half-lidded eyes.
Warmth blossomed in Kurt’s chest at the look; it was one Kurt had seen in private countless times, a sleepy contentment present most often when Kurt returned to bed after cleaning them up after sex. The first time he’d seen it, Kurt was sure he’d stopped breathing for a moment at the sudden understanding of how deeply he loved Blaine. The look had never stopped making his heart flutter, and for so long after their breakup, he’d been sure he was never going to see it again. The world felt like it was righting itself with that look on Blaine’s face again.
Then Blaine blinked and the hospital room came back into focus.
“Hi,” Kurt replied breathlessly, heart still hammering.
Blaine, oblivious of Kurt’s revelation, just smiled before turning back to Tina and Sam.
Kurt couldn’t help notice how easy Blaine, Sam, and Tina seemed around one another; he knew they’d gotten close in the last months, having seen the pictures on Facebook and heard about some of their antics from the occasional phone call or text message. It hadn’t seemed like an obvious trio at first to Kurt, but seeing them together now, it made sense. They slotted together effortlessly, finishing each other’s sentences and picking up strains of conversation without pause.
Like with the Warblers the night before, Blaine had noticeably perked up around Tina and Sam. His muscles seemed looser, his voice stronger, and his energy level higher. Kurt couldn’t take his eyes off him.
Of course, even friend-boosted energy levels weren’t enough to fight his body’s need for healing sleep, and Blaine soon drifted off, still leaning against Tina, leaving the rest of them to speak in hushed voices.
The rest of the day passed in a blur as Blaine was taken for several rounds of tests during the afternoon. They also scheduled surgery for his knee on Monday to repair the torn ligaments. The doctors been most concerned with the swelling in Blaine’s brain when he’d first been admitted, but now that his recovery prognosis was good, it was time to start dealing with his other injuries.
Cooper, Kurt, Sam, and Tina sat together in the waiting room while the doctors ran their tests, and Burt joined them after lunch. It was such a different mood from the last time that Kurt had sat in the waiting room that the light conversation between his companions took him off-guard more than once.
At one point, Sam and Cooper even ended up in an accent contest with Tina serving as judge. And it was then Kurt realized that Blaine’s friendship with Sam and Tina actually made a whole lot of sense.
Once the tests were finished hours later, a nurse took them back to Blaine’s room but warned them that he was likely going to sleep the rest of the evening. After checking to see that Blaine was indeed sleeping off the afternoon’s events, Sam and Tina headed out, promising to return soon. Cooper, Kurt, and Burt stayed until visiting hours ended at eight before heading back to the Andersons’.
On Sunday, Finn and Carole arrived mid-morning. Carole immediately set to fussing over a blushing Blaine while Finn gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder. Kurt rolled his eyes and Blaine met his gaze, amusement evident on his face. They fell into easy conversation as Blaine dozed on and off.
It was early afternoon when there was a knock on the door and Sebastian entering moments later. Finn stiffened and Sebastian froze, his hand still on the door handle, when he saw who was present.
“What are you doing here?” Finn demanded, his eyes narrowed.
Kurt looked curiously between Finn and Sebastian. Did Finn not know that Sebastian had been the one to find Blaine? Kurt could’ve sworn they’d told him. But if nothing else, Kurt would’ve thought Finn, as acting leader of the glee club for several months, would’ve been aware that Blaine and Sebastian were friends. But then again, Finn wasn’t the most perceptive of people and it wouldn’t have been something Blaine would’ve broadcasted to the members of New Directions.
Well this might get interesting in a hurry.
“Down boy,” Sebastian retorted, shutting the door and squaring his shoulders to face the room.
“Remembering the last time you put Blaine in the hospital?”
Sebastian flinched.
“Finn,” Burt said sharply. “Enough.”
Finn shut his mouth, but glared at Sebastian, who had yet to move from the doorway.
“I can come back…” he said hesitantly, glancing around.
“Bas,” Blaine said tiredly, having been nodding off when Sebastian arrived. “Stay. Please.”
Kurt turned to Blaine in surprise. Bas? He glanced over at Sebastian, who hadn’t seemed surprised by the nickname and instead just looked uncomfortable. Kurt couldn’t help the sense of petty satisfaction he got from the tension in Sebastian’s shoulders; it seemed he wasn’t as aloof as he liked to pretend when it came to others’ opinions about him after all.
“I’m going to get coffee,” Finn muttered, rising from his seat and brushing past Sebastian, shoulder checking him as he went, out the door.
Sebastian clenched his jaw but said nothing, simply taking Finn’s vacated seat. Blaine nodded at him. “Thank you,” he murmured.
“The things I do for you,” Sebastian muttered.
Blaine chuckled and the corner of Sebastian’s lip quirked upward.
“What was that was about?” Cooper asked.
Kurt sat up a bit straighter in his seat; he remembered sitting in the Lima Bean with Rachel when Sebastian had presented the photoshopped pictures of Finn in the first place. He inclined his head at Sebastian. “Yes Bas. Do tell.”
Sebastian glared at him. If looks could kill…
Well, if looks could kill, Kurt would’ve reduced Sebastian to nothing but ash a hundred times over the previous year, but that was neither here nor there. Kurt was enjoying seeing Sebastian squirm, though.
“Guys, leave it,” Blaine said. He was blinking heavily, fighting his body’s need to sleep. “It’s in the past.”
Apparently more in the past for some than others. But Kurt supposed Blaine was right; Sebastian had never published the pictures. While Finn had every reason to be furious, Blaine deserved to have the people he cared about surrounding him…
No matter how much the rest of them might dislike certain people Blaine cared about.
It was going to be a long day.
-----
The Anderson house felt empty that night, with Burt having gone back to Lima with Finn and Carole for his treatment the next day. Cooper was moving around somewhere upstairs and Kurt sat on the couch in the living room, nursing a cup of tea and surfing through the channels in a vain effort to find something to take his mind of things.
“Sunday night television sucks,” he grumbled.
After a few more minutes of aimless flipping-how many channels did the Andersons have, anyway?-Kurt did a double take when he realized he’d just passed a channel with Blaine’s name on the screen. He flipped back to CNN, which had a reporter standing outside what looked like Westerville Memorial and a banner across the bottom of the screen reading “Hate crimes in America: The Blaine Anderson case.”
“Oh my god. Cooper!” he yelled, voice raising an octave, “there’s something you need to see!”
He heard Cooper’s footsteps thundering down the stairs before he saw the older man appear in the doorway. “What the prob- Oh shit.”
“-rson is in stable condition after several days when his prognosis was uncertain,” the reporter was saying. “Authorities are investigating the case as a hate crime. Three men have been charged with felony assault and, under the Matthew Shepard Act, could face ten years in prison if convicted.”
“Thank you, Melissa,” the desk anchor said before turning to face the camera. “The Blaine Anderson case took on national prominence when it was discovered that Anderson is a family friend of Congressman Burt Hummel, who is a staunch supporter of gay rights and has an openly gay son himself. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more.”
Kurt turned the television off and turned to Cooper, whose face had gone blank. It was an expression that could be masking any number of emotions, but considering Cooper’s protective instincts that had come out since he’d arrived, Kurt was willing to bet it was anger.
“Cooper?” he tried tentatively.
Cooper opened his mouth but he shut it when his back pocket started ringing. He cursed under his breath and pulled out his phone. His eyes widened when he read the caller ID.
“It’s my mother.”
tbc..
Previous chapter | Next chapter
Author: purplehrdwonder
Rating: R
Genre/pairing: Mentions of Kurt/Blaine and one-sided Sebastian/Blaine
Characters: Blaine, Kurt, Sebastian, Burt, Cooper, various Warblers, Tina, Sam, Finn, Carole
Word count: 4,220
Warnings: Homophobic language, mostly off-screen violence
Spoilers: Through 4x10
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
Summary: When a hate crime leaves Blaine in the hospital and re-opens old hurts he'd thought buried, Kurt and Sebastian grudgingly work together to look after him, neither trusting the other not to hurt Blaine further.
Chapter 9
Burt and Cooper left at a quarter until six after making Kurt promise not to let Blaine push himself too hard with his Dalton friends; he’d already pushed himself talking to the police, and any extra exertion was likely to push back his recovery. If it were up to Kurt, he would’ve let Blaine sleep on and hoped that the other boys would just leave.
But it wasn’t up to him-and damn Sebastian for knowing just how to push that button; once Blaine had been on board with the idea, no one was going to refuse him-so Kurt woke Blaine up at five till; the other boy wanted to be moderately coherent when the Warblers arrived. It took Blaine a while to shake off the bleariness from medication-induced sleep even at the best of times, and the morphine was really doing a number on him.
Though considering the extent of his injuries, that was probably for the best.
There was a knock on the door promptly at six, and Blaine, who was slowly coming out of his grogginess, perked up when Sebastian entered, followed in by David, Thad, Trent, Jeff, and Nick. They were all out of their blazers, but that didn’t stop Kurt’s hackles from rising as the door shut behind them. He didn’t think he’d ever shake the memory of those same boys walking away while Blaine was crying out in pain on the ground of a parking garage.
And Blaine hadn’t even been their intended target.
“Hey Killer,” Sebastian greeted, interrupting Kurt’s reverie. “Bringing the party to you, as promised.” He glanced toward Kurt, obviously amused at his presence. “Kurt.”
Kurt pursed his lips, thinking of Sebastian’s smirk in the hallway earlier, but said nothing. Instead, he scooted his chair closer to Blaine’s bed. Sebastian rolled his eyes and moved aside so the other Warblers could step further inside the room.
There was a brief moment when shocked silence descended over the Warblers as they took in Blaine’s small, battered form-the cast, the bruises, the bandages, Blaine’s pallor. It was obvious hearing about Blaine’s injuries hadn’t prepared them for seeing them, which Kurt could sympathize with, but the moment was quickly broken.
“Hey Blaine!” David said, smiling widely as he stepped up next to Sebastian.
“It’s good to see you,” Thad added.
“You look good,” Trent said hesitantly.
Blaine laughed quietly, wincing as his ribs probably ached. “No I don’t.”
“You look alive,” Sebastian pointed out, a haunted look crossing his face so quickly that Kurt might’ve thought he’d imagined it had he not seen Sebastian at the hospital the night Blaine had been attacked.
Blaine’s expression fell and his gaze dropped. “Yeah.”
The Warblers exchanged nervous looks as the mood in the room turned somber. Kurt was debating whether or not to break in and spare them or let them stew in their juices for a bit longer when Nick broke the silence.
“Well, this wouldn’t be a Warbler party without a bit of singing, would it?” he asked with a mischievous look.
Blaine looked up and glanced between the Warblers curiously. “What?”
“You know party rules, Warbler Blaine,” David teased.
And then they started humming. After a few introductory bars, the group started singing:
Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin’, “Don’t worry about a thing,
“‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
Blaine’s eyes widened momentarily, but a surprised grin spread across his face as they kept going. Sebastian took over the next verse.
Rise up this mornin’,
Smiled with the risin’ sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin’ sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin’, (“This is my message to you-ou-ou”)
Blaine laughed, his good arm wrapped gently around his midsection in support, as Sebastian and the other Warblers started dancing around the room, trading off lines. One by one, they came over to the bed and clapped Blaine gently on his good shoulder. Kurt was pretty sure he saw Blaine’s bottom lip trembling as Jeff stepped back into the casual formation so they could finish the song.
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, oh no!
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
Blaine hiccupped a final laugh when the hums faded into silence and applauded the best he could with one arm in a cast and the other hand with splinted fingers. Despite his lingering grudge, Kurt found himself applauding as well, though more for the happy look they’d put on Blaine’s face than anything.
“Bob Marley, guys? Really?” Blaine asked, amused.
“Shut up, you love it,” Jeff retorted with a smirk.
“I do,” Blaine agreed softly.
A feeling Kurt couldn’t quite describe settled over the group at that-a measure of understanding passing between the Dalton boys, past and present, Kurt supposed. He felt suddenly like an outsider, intruding on something special that only true Dalton boys could understand. Because, Kurt knew, the blazer had never fit him the way it had Blaine.
Oh, Kurt owed a lot to his brief time at Dalton-he’d found sanctuary, found himself again, and even found love in those precious months-but he’d never belonged; McKinley had always been his home, so when the opportunity presented itself to transfer back, his only hesitation had been leaving Blaine behind.
The moment passed and Sebastian moved to take one of the free chairs. The other five made to fight for the three remaining chairs. Trent commandeered one of the chairs in a surprising show of quickness. Nick ended up in the second chair with Jeff perched in his lap, and David won the game of musical chairs for the last one, leaving Thad to lean against the wall with a pronounced pout. Blaine grinned as he watched his friends, and Kurt didn’t have it in him to say anything when Blaine’s eyes were crinkling up happily like that.
Kurt had missed that expression more than he could put into words.
God, he wanted nothing more than to kiss Blaine right then-his entire being ached with the sudden desire-but he restrained himself; it wasn’t his place. Even if Blaine had remembered that Kurt had come home that week to talk about their relationship, they hadn’t actually resolved anything.
"What… What do you want from me, Kurt?"
"I was finally moving on, only to have it all thrown in my face tonight."
"I just… I can't do this right now, Kurt."
Kurt suppressed a flinch at the memories, and glanced over at Blaine, who had been pulled into some meaningless stream of conversation with the Warblers. Kurt couldn’t bring himself to follow the conversation, though he recognized some of the names being thrown around either from talking with Blaine or his own time at Dalton. Instead, he focused his attention on Blaine, watching as he came alive around his friends. There was a light behind his eyes that Kurt couldn’t remember seeing in a long time.
A stomach-turning thought hit Kurt then; had he taken that light from Blaine when he’d pushed his boyfriend to transfer to McKinley?
Kurt knew now, months after their breakup and a lot of introspection later, that he’d been heavily focused on his own problems senior year, content to have Blaine at his side but not particularly thinking about how Blaine might be missing Dalton and the Warblers. Blaine had gotten along with the other members of New Directions for the most part, but he hadn’t been close to anyone outside of maybe Mike.
Blaine had never complained though, and it hadn’t occurred to Kurt that he might have felt isolated-not until he saw the difference in Blaine around his friends, anyway. It was a jarring revelation that left Kurt feeling nauseous.
After a few attempts at pulling Kurt into the conversation were rebuffed, the other boys simply stopped trying. Every now and then, Kurt would glance up from Blaine to see Sebastian looking at him, an unreadable expression on his face. He’d just raise an eyebrow when Kurt glared at him before turning back to the conversation.
Kurt realized after a few minutes that Warblers hadn’t once commented on the weakness of Blaine’s voice; in fact, after their initial hesitation at seeing Blaine looking so fragile, they’d recovered remarkably well and were acting as though nothing was wrong.
It was exactly what Blaine needed.
But about half an hour into the visit Blaine started flagging. Kurt was actually surprised he’d lasted that long after his trying afternoon, but the Warblers had seemed to give him some newfound energy. Sebastian seemed to have noticed as well as he pushed himself to his feet.
“Well, we should probably get going.”
Blaine blinked heavily. “I’m sorry, guys. I don’t mean to-” He yawned. “-fall asleep on you.”
“Blaine,” David said easily as he rose along with the other Warblers. “It’s fine.”
“You just need to focus on getting better,” Thad agreed.
“We’ll be back. It’s Spring Break and everything,” Nick said with a wink.
“Hell, you won’t be able to get rid of us,” Jeff added, elbowing Nick in the side.
Trent reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. He hesitated before handing it to Kurt, who looked at the scrawled Blaine on the front curiously.
“It’s a card, signed by the other Warblers,” he explained. “And some other Dalton people.”
Blaine swallowed shakily, glancing between the envelope and the Warblers. “Thanks guys,” he whispered as Kurt opened the envelope and handed the card to him. He traced a hand reverently over the front, as though he couldn’t believe someone would care enough to do something like that for him.
“Once a Warbler, always a Warbler, right?” Sebastian asked.
Kurt wanted to make some kind of nasty response to that about loyalty and slushies, but Blaine’s lip twitched and he nodded back at Sebastian. There must be some joke there that Kurt wasn’t aware of.
“We’ll see you later, Blaine!”
“Sebastian,” Blaine called quietly. “Wait.”
The other boy glanced back at the other Warblers, who were already in the hall but watching the exchange with varied levels of curiosity, but came back over to the bed. “Yeah?”
Blaine yawned again, but he shook his head when Sebastian looked like he was about to protest. “It’s fine. Just.” He took a breath before continuing. “I hear you found me. After,” he said haltingly.
Sebastian lost a bit of color at that, but he nodded. Kurt wondered, not for the first time, how exactly Sebastian had found Blaine in that parking lot. His imagination would likely be creating scenarios for the rest of his life as he thought about it, but they would never compare with the real deal.
“I did,” Sebastian managed to reply.
“They told me that you…” Blaine’s eyes drooped shut but he forced them open again. Stubborn. “That you probably saved my life.”
“Blaine, I-” Sebastian seemed startled, and more than a little uncomfortable, to have the subject broached.
“Thank you,” Blaine murmured, reaching for the other boy’s hand. Sebastian let him take it, watching with no small amount of wonder as Blaine squeezed it briefly before letting go.
Something wrenched in Kurt’s chest at the sight and he had to look away.
He only looked up once the door had been shut behind Sebastian, putting a barrier between them and the Warbler whirlwind. Kurt turned to Blaine, who had opened the card and was peering inside.
“There’re so many,” he murmured in awe, looking at all the signatures and notes.
Kurt raised an eyebrow, pushing aside those jealous feelings with as much force as he could muster and glanced at the card in Blaine’s lap, which was nearly solid with handwriting. Even now, nearly two years after Blaine had left the school, his legacy lived on. It wasn’t surprising; Blaine had been one of the most popular kids at Dalton, and being his best friend and a Warbler had put Kurt on top of the food chain at Dalton almost immediately after his transfer. It had been a dizzying climb up the social ladder. Blaine, after all, was uniquely talented as a performer-the Warblers knew it and had continued trying to woo him back to Dalton even a year after his transfer.
But more than that, Blaine was a genuinely good person.
“You have a lot of people who care about you,” Kurt said, nudging him gently.
Blaine looked over at Kurt and gave him a wan smile. Kurt reached out for Blaine’s hand and squeezed it gently as Blaine’s eyes fluttered shut. Kurt, his heart aching, stroked the back of Blaine’s hand with his thumb as the other boy’s breathing evened out in sleep.
-----
Sebastian looked up from the book he was reading at a knock on his door. “Come in,” he called, fairly certain as to who would be bothering him the Friday night of Spring Break. Most of the campus had emptied out that day as students went home, but there were still a few boarders, like Sebastian, who were staying for break.
A moment later, the door cracked open and Thad’s head peered into the room. “Hey.”
Sebastian nodded in greeting-not surprised in the slightest at his guest-and put his Kindle down. “Coming to try to get me to socialize?” he guessed. He’d ended up skipping the Warbler gathering once they’d gotten back from the hospital.
Thad stepped into the room and shut the door behind him before shaking his head. “Nah. I don’t think a lot of the guys are in a partying mood after all.”
Sebastian raised an eyebrow as his phone beeped with another text demanding that he join the party. The remaining Warblers had commandeered the senior commons and were blasting music that echoed through the empty hallways. As an RA, Thad was technically supposed to be in charge, but it looked like he had as much interest in joining the fun as Sebastian did.
“None of the seniors are in the mood,” Thad corrected.
There it was. Seeing a good friend laid up in the hospital in the wake of a hate crime tended to kill any joyful mood. Blaine had been in good spirits, though, enough so that there were moments that it was easy to forget they weren’t just hanging out at a Warbler get-together. But Blaine’s voice had been strained and his eyes glassy and distant.
And then there were the injuries themselves. Sebastian had been more prepared than the other Warblers, who’d been remarkably silent on the side back to campus from the hospital, for them. Blaine was normally a ball of charisma and energy-he seemed to take up far more space in a room or on stage than his compact size allowed-but seeing him looking so small and fragile, no matter how much he’d improved since being admitted, was hard.
Yet, all Sebastian could think about was the feel of Blaine’s hand taking his and squeezing it as he whispered his thanks. He’d felt Blaine’s hand in his own more than once before from various handshakes, but there had been something intimate about that specific touch that left Sebastian’s skin tingling and his pulse pounding.
Fuck.
“Sebastian?” Thad asked with a frown.
Sebastian blinked, shaking himself. “Yeah, sorry. Did you have something in mind then?”
“Seniors-only movie night?”
Sebastian opened his mouth to decline, but there was something in Thad’s look (and the lingering feeling in Sebastian’s hand) that had him changing his mind. He threw his legs over the edge of his bed and got to his feet. Forgetting everything for a few hours didn’t sound like a bad idea after all.
“Sure.”
-----
When Kurt walked into Blaine’s room Saturday morning, Cooper was already there, but he wasn’t alone. Tina sat next to Blaine on his bed, one leg curled up under her and the other on the floor for balance. Blaine was resting his head against her shoulder as he smiled blearily at something Sam, who was sitting at Blaine’s feet on the bed, was saying. A wave of jealousy crashed through Kurt at the sight as he remembered the pictures in Blaine’s room, but he tamped down on it as he shut the door behind him.
“Hey Kurt!” Sam greeted with a wave.
Cooper also lifted his hand in greeting, though they’d already seen each other that morning.
“Kurt,” Tina said, though her tone was cooler. Kurt raised an eyebrow, but she just stared at him levelly as he took a seat at Blaine’s other side. Kurt filed that reaction away to think about later.
“Hey you,” Blaine murmured, turning his head to glance at Kurt through half-lidded eyes.
Warmth blossomed in Kurt’s chest at the look; it was one Kurt had seen in private countless times, a sleepy contentment present most often when Kurt returned to bed after cleaning them up after sex. The first time he’d seen it, Kurt was sure he’d stopped breathing for a moment at the sudden understanding of how deeply he loved Blaine. The look had never stopped making his heart flutter, and for so long after their breakup, he’d been sure he was never going to see it again. The world felt like it was righting itself with that look on Blaine’s face again.
Then Blaine blinked and the hospital room came back into focus.
“Hi,” Kurt replied breathlessly, heart still hammering.
Blaine, oblivious of Kurt’s revelation, just smiled before turning back to Tina and Sam.
Kurt couldn’t help notice how easy Blaine, Sam, and Tina seemed around one another; he knew they’d gotten close in the last months, having seen the pictures on Facebook and heard about some of their antics from the occasional phone call or text message. It hadn’t seemed like an obvious trio at first to Kurt, but seeing them together now, it made sense. They slotted together effortlessly, finishing each other’s sentences and picking up strains of conversation without pause.
Like with the Warblers the night before, Blaine had noticeably perked up around Tina and Sam. His muscles seemed looser, his voice stronger, and his energy level higher. Kurt couldn’t take his eyes off him.
Of course, even friend-boosted energy levels weren’t enough to fight his body’s need for healing sleep, and Blaine soon drifted off, still leaning against Tina, leaving the rest of them to speak in hushed voices.
The rest of the day passed in a blur as Blaine was taken for several rounds of tests during the afternoon. They also scheduled surgery for his knee on Monday to repair the torn ligaments. The doctors been most concerned with the swelling in Blaine’s brain when he’d first been admitted, but now that his recovery prognosis was good, it was time to start dealing with his other injuries.
Cooper, Kurt, Sam, and Tina sat together in the waiting room while the doctors ran their tests, and Burt joined them after lunch. It was such a different mood from the last time that Kurt had sat in the waiting room that the light conversation between his companions took him off-guard more than once.
At one point, Sam and Cooper even ended up in an accent contest with Tina serving as judge. And it was then Kurt realized that Blaine’s friendship with Sam and Tina actually made a whole lot of sense.
Once the tests were finished hours later, a nurse took them back to Blaine’s room but warned them that he was likely going to sleep the rest of the evening. After checking to see that Blaine was indeed sleeping off the afternoon’s events, Sam and Tina headed out, promising to return soon. Cooper, Kurt, and Burt stayed until visiting hours ended at eight before heading back to the Andersons’.
On Sunday, Finn and Carole arrived mid-morning. Carole immediately set to fussing over a blushing Blaine while Finn gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder. Kurt rolled his eyes and Blaine met his gaze, amusement evident on his face. They fell into easy conversation as Blaine dozed on and off.
It was early afternoon when there was a knock on the door and Sebastian entering moments later. Finn stiffened and Sebastian froze, his hand still on the door handle, when he saw who was present.
“What are you doing here?” Finn demanded, his eyes narrowed.
Kurt looked curiously between Finn and Sebastian. Did Finn not know that Sebastian had been the one to find Blaine? Kurt could’ve sworn they’d told him. But if nothing else, Kurt would’ve thought Finn, as acting leader of the glee club for several months, would’ve been aware that Blaine and Sebastian were friends. But then again, Finn wasn’t the most perceptive of people and it wouldn’t have been something Blaine would’ve broadcasted to the members of New Directions.
Well this might get interesting in a hurry.
“Down boy,” Sebastian retorted, shutting the door and squaring his shoulders to face the room.
“Remembering the last time you put Blaine in the hospital?”
Sebastian flinched.
“Finn,” Burt said sharply. “Enough.”
Finn shut his mouth, but glared at Sebastian, who had yet to move from the doorway.
“I can come back…” he said hesitantly, glancing around.
“Bas,” Blaine said tiredly, having been nodding off when Sebastian arrived. “Stay. Please.”
Kurt turned to Blaine in surprise. Bas? He glanced over at Sebastian, who hadn’t seemed surprised by the nickname and instead just looked uncomfortable. Kurt couldn’t help the sense of petty satisfaction he got from the tension in Sebastian’s shoulders; it seemed he wasn’t as aloof as he liked to pretend when it came to others’ opinions about him after all.
“I’m going to get coffee,” Finn muttered, rising from his seat and brushing past Sebastian, shoulder checking him as he went, out the door.
Sebastian clenched his jaw but said nothing, simply taking Finn’s vacated seat. Blaine nodded at him. “Thank you,” he murmured.
“The things I do for you,” Sebastian muttered.
Blaine chuckled and the corner of Sebastian’s lip quirked upward.
“What was that was about?” Cooper asked.
Kurt sat up a bit straighter in his seat; he remembered sitting in the Lima Bean with Rachel when Sebastian had presented the photoshopped pictures of Finn in the first place. He inclined his head at Sebastian. “Yes Bas. Do tell.”
Sebastian glared at him. If looks could kill…
Well, if looks could kill, Kurt would’ve reduced Sebastian to nothing but ash a hundred times over the previous year, but that was neither here nor there. Kurt was enjoying seeing Sebastian squirm, though.
“Guys, leave it,” Blaine said. He was blinking heavily, fighting his body’s need to sleep. “It’s in the past.”
Apparently more in the past for some than others. But Kurt supposed Blaine was right; Sebastian had never published the pictures. While Finn had every reason to be furious, Blaine deserved to have the people he cared about surrounding him…
No matter how much the rest of them might dislike certain people Blaine cared about.
It was going to be a long day.
-----
The Anderson house felt empty that night, with Burt having gone back to Lima with Finn and Carole for his treatment the next day. Cooper was moving around somewhere upstairs and Kurt sat on the couch in the living room, nursing a cup of tea and surfing through the channels in a vain effort to find something to take his mind of things.
“Sunday night television sucks,” he grumbled.
After a few more minutes of aimless flipping-how many channels did the Andersons have, anyway?-Kurt did a double take when he realized he’d just passed a channel with Blaine’s name on the screen. He flipped back to CNN, which had a reporter standing outside what looked like Westerville Memorial and a banner across the bottom of the screen reading “Hate crimes in America: The Blaine Anderson case.”
“Oh my god. Cooper!” he yelled, voice raising an octave, “there’s something you need to see!”
He heard Cooper’s footsteps thundering down the stairs before he saw the older man appear in the doorway. “What the prob- Oh shit.”
“-rson is in stable condition after several days when his prognosis was uncertain,” the reporter was saying. “Authorities are investigating the case as a hate crime. Three men have been charged with felony assault and, under the Matthew Shepard Act, could face ten years in prison if convicted.”
“Thank you, Melissa,” the desk anchor said before turning to face the camera. “The Blaine Anderson case took on national prominence when it was discovered that Anderson is a family friend of Congressman Burt Hummel, who is a staunch supporter of gay rights and has an openly gay son himself. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more.”
Kurt turned the television off and turned to Cooper, whose face had gone blank. It was an expression that could be masking any number of emotions, but considering Cooper’s protective instincts that had come out since he’d arrived, Kurt was willing to bet it was anger.
“Cooper?” he tried tentatively.
Cooper opened his mouth but he shut it when his back pocket started ringing. He cursed under his breath and pulled out his phone. His eyes widened when he read the caller ID.
“It’s my mother.”
tbc..
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