Fic: Listen [2/?]
Media: Fic
Title: Listen
Rating: PG
Spoilers (if any): Nope.
Warnings (if any): Nahh.
Word Count:1,601
Beta:dreamerofmonday
Summary: Kurt's suffering from bilateral hearing loss, and it's progressing to a possible danger zone. If that weren't scary enough, he has yet to tell any one of his friends.; AU; Eventual Klaine
Part One
Entering his families home didn't fill him with the warmth it usually did. Kurt usually loved returning home. It was his sanctuary away from the pressures of Dalton's workload, and his place to sleep the hours away. However, today didn't feel like it was going to be one of those days.
His hands were shaking as he pushed to open the front door with his keys, only to pause in the doorway, blocking his father from entering as well.
"Buddy, we got to tell them. Standing out here ain't gonna make it any easier."
His father's rough voice jarred Kurt enough for him to push the door open the rest of the way. Burt grasped his boy by the shoulders and gently guided him inside. Kurt fell into the living room couch without a care to his usual decorum. He had less than a few hours to absorb the news of his defect, and had yet to accept it, let alone grasp how to explain it. Compared to other issues his body could have had, this didn't seem like much of a problem, but it was still scary.
His body was working against him, against all his dreams, and he didn't know if he was ready to adapt as well as he should.
"Kurt?," Carole's tentative voice echoed from the doorway to his waiting ears. He stiffened upon hearing the shuffle of her feet against the carpet, she then sat herself beside him. In a few months, would he be able to hear that? Did it matter?
He wasn't quite sure yet.
"I don't know what to say, how to explain it." Kurt began softly. his eyes were bloodshot, and yet he still felt the tears were ready to erupt again at a moments notice.
"That's why I'm here kid, to help you along" Burt interrupted, he too emerged from the doorway and shuffled to sit on the other side of him.
Kurt's nervous huffs of breath were all they could hear in that silent room for a few minutes, until the loud bang of the door being thrown open and shut drowned the noise out.
"Mom, Burt, I'm home! What'd you call me from practice for? Kurt! I thought you weren't coming home this weekend." Finn entered the room bringing along an elusive ray of sunshine with his smile. He swept Kurt up in a bear hug he had not been anticipating.
"Hey Finn," Kurt greeted despondently.
"Woah, that doesn't sound good." Finn replied nervously as he released Kurt and sat at the last spot open, the armchair.
"Kurt and I, have some news we need to share." Burt breached the subject, as Kurt turned his attention to twiddling his hands about on his lap. He didn't want to focus on this conversation, he didn't want to believe it was happening.
He tried his best to ignore Carole and Finn's sharp intakes of breath, tried to ignore his father asking him to join in and explain. Everything seemed like a white noise to him.
Is this how life would be? Moments of clarity with voices popping into his consciousness, only for this sudden bout of silence to take over.
Finn crouched down before him, acting as he never had before, at least not with Kurt. Not often enough for Kurt to not be surprised by it.
"Dude, you're my brother. So whatever you think I'm thinking, well if it's bad, I'm not. I care about you man, and if I gotta turn down my music for you. If I gotta drive a block away from a construction site so you don't hear the drills, I will."
Kurt released the breath he didn't realize he had been holding, it all sounded like too much to him. It just seemed ridiculous to put his new family through this.
Carole grasped his chin, and gently guided his face up, until he had nothing in sight but the slight smile upon her face and her watery eyes.
"You are our son, and if we gave up our honeymoon for you to be safe, what makes you think that your hearing difficulties could change anything?"
"It's not that," Kurt muttered.
He wasn't afraid of losing his family.
"I'm scared," he spoke so softly, his voice so full of emotion and gravely with the need to force his words out.
He's afraid of all the things he can't say. All the things he loves most. His singing, his friends, his dreams. If this month doesn't go well, if the hearing loss progresses, what can he do? With so many things going wrong, he isn't quite sure if he's willing to try and make it go right.
Suddenly the room seemed so full, the world far too large, and he too small to handle all the things in his mind. He thrusted himself up from the couch, and darted towards his room. He thundered up the stairs, and locked himself within his room.
He enveloped himself within his quilt, and tapped on his iPod station.
The voice of Elphaba from Wicked was fighting to drown out the sounds of his father worriedly knocking of his door. Her high notes, and swooping sounds of sudden tone shifts, blew out the voices of Finn and Carole begging him to talk to them.
For one more night, just one more, he wanted to ignore the issues in his mind. Instead, he just listened to the music. He allowed himself to drift into a dream, where the world seemed so much easier, and he could hear all the sounds around him.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Upon waking in his stiff uniform, and having the sensation of a dry puffy face Kurt realized he couldn't ignore reality. So, instead of wallowing as he had done last night, he had a plan to hopefully shift things back into focus. He showered and dressed casually with an extra pep to his step. Usually it was due to his wearing his lovely designer clothes, but today it was because he felt he had an answer to his problem.
After a stilted breakfast, full of awkward questions and sympathetic looks, Kurt felt it prudent to just get it over with. He set his fork down and sighed.
"I just don't want you guys to treat me any differently. It's going to be hard enough with having to be moved to the front in all my classes. Not to mention, the unknown reaction of the Warblers, it'd just be easier, if we behaved as normal as we could, like the doctor suggested. Can we try that, please?"
He knew his voice was edging more towards begging than the mature tone of calm he had intended, but he needed this. He didn't want anything to change, that dream he had last night felt more than possible. Despite Doctor Hine's incessant need to hammer the point that a change was inevitable towards him countless times, he still felt that behaving as such would hinder his hopes for handling this situation better.
Burt and Carole shared some odd significant look before nodding towards him.
"Fine," Burt said ,"but you can't fault us if we feel the need to note down any evidence of your hearing loss we see."
"I know Dad, I was there when the Doctor asked us to do that too you know," Kurt snapped in response.
"Just because you're having some health issues doesn't mean I can't ground you for the rest of the weekend." Burt replied with a tight smile.
Kurt sagged with relief, at least he knew his father wouldn't treat him like a fragile flower. It's not that he particularly wanted to be forced in-doors, every weekend was his shopping weekend, but his dad tended to get protective in the rare moments Kurt got sick. It reassured him, in his father's case, that the man didn't pause in rebuking him, it meant he was still just a normal kid. His "new" brother on the other hand, now he was definitely more of an issue.
"Finn?" Kurt pinned his stepbrother with a glare and lift of his brow, hoping to get him to agree with silent intimidation.
"I can try, but what do you expect me to say to the rest of Glee Club?"
"I don't"
"What?"
"You are not to say a word to them Finn Hudson, understood?" Kurt growled as he stood and placed his dishes and Finn's in the sink. Obviously, he needed to take a more tenacious approach in regards to getting Finn to see his way of thinking.
"Hey, I wasn't done with that!"
"Well, perhaps if you listened the first time, then you'd still have that third serving of bacon on your plate, wouldn't you?"
"Fine, but you know how Rachel gets, she's scary! She'll know I'm hiding something!"
"Finn," Kurt huffed as he rubbed his forehead, it was throbbing from Finn's lack of comprehension for Kurt's hopes to keep this issue to himself.
"I'll tell them when I'm ready, and not a moment later, got it?" he growled.
"So, I take it you're fine with staying inside today son?" his dad interrupted casually.
Kurt's anger ceased for a moment, clouded by his sudden sense of confusion.
"Why?"
"You're grounded for pressuring your brother, you know he's easily influenced, it's not right to confuse the poor boy even more."
"Damn," Kurt muttered, he knew the intimidation tactics should have been left to a later time, but Finn could just be so annoying sometimes.
TBC.
*nervously twiddles thumbs* Comment? I'd love to know what you think. :D
Notes: Click here for Part Three! Oh lawd, at first I kept getting a 404-error and I thought I wouldn't be able to post, eek!
Thanks again to my beta[dreamerofmonday ],who's continuous amounts of awesome somehow makes my not-so-great grammar look not-so-bad! :D
Title: Listen
Rating: PG
Spoilers (if any): Nope.
Warnings (if any): Nahh.
Word Count:1,601
Beta:dreamerofmonday
Summary: Kurt's suffering from bilateral hearing loss, and it's progressing to a possible danger zone. If that weren't scary enough, he has yet to tell any one of his friends.; AU; Eventual Klaine
Part One
Entering his families home didn't fill him with the warmth it usually did. Kurt usually loved returning home. It was his sanctuary away from the pressures of Dalton's workload, and his place to sleep the hours away. However, today didn't feel like it was going to be one of those days.
His hands were shaking as he pushed to open the front door with his keys, only to pause in the doorway, blocking his father from entering as well.
"Buddy, we got to tell them. Standing out here ain't gonna make it any easier."
His father's rough voice jarred Kurt enough for him to push the door open the rest of the way. Burt grasped his boy by the shoulders and gently guided him inside. Kurt fell into the living room couch without a care to his usual decorum. He had less than a few hours to absorb the news of his defect, and had yet to accept it, let alone grasp how to explain it. Compared to other issues his body could have had, this didn't seem like much of a problem, but it was still scary.
His body was working against him, against all his dreams, and he didn't know if he was ready to adapt as well as he should.
"Kurt?," Carole's tentative voice echoed from the doorway to his waiting ears. He stiffened upon hearing the shuffle of her feet against the carpet, she then sat herself beside him. In a few months, would he be able to hear that? Did it matter?
He wasn't quite sure yet.
"I don't know what to say, how to explain it." Kurt began softly. his eyes were bloodshot, and yet he still felt the tears were ready to erupt again at a moments notice.
"That's why I'm here kid, to help you along" Burt interrupted, he too emerged from the doorway and shuffled to sit on the other side of him.
Kurt's nervous huffs of breath were all they could hear in that silent room for a few minutes, until the loud bang of the door being thrown open and shut drowned the noise out.
"Mom, Burt, I'm home! What'd you call me from practice for? Kurt! I thought you weren't coming home this weekend." Finn entered the room bringing along an elusive ray of sunshine with his smile. He swept Kurt up in a bear hug he had not been anticipating.
"Hey Finn," Kurt greeted despondently.
"Woah, that doesn't sound good." Finn replied nervously as he released Kurt and sat at the last spot open, the armchair.
"Kurt and I, have some news we need to share." Burt breached the subject, as Kurt turned his attention to twiddling his hands about on his lap. He didn't want to focus on this conversation, he didn't want to believe it was happening.
He tried his best to ignore Carole and Finn's sharp intakes of breath, tried to ignore his father asking him to join in and explain. Everything seemed like a white noise to him.
Is this how life would be? Moments of clarity with voices popping into his consciousness, only for this sudden bout of silence to take over.
Finn crouched down before him, acting as he never had before, at least not with Kurt. Not often enough for Kurt to not be surprised by it.
"Dude, you're my brother. So whatever you think I'm thinking, well if it's bad, I'm not. I care about you man, and if I gotta turn down my music for you. If I gotta drive a block away from a construction site so you don't hear the drills, I will."
Kurt released the breath he didn't realize he had been holding, it all sounded like too much to him. It just seemed ridiculous to put his new family through this.
Carole grasped his chin, and gently guided his face up, until he had nothing in sight but the slight smile upon her face and her watery eyes.
"You are our son, and if we gave up our honeymoon for you to be safe, what makes you think that your hearing difficulties could change anything?"
"It's not that," Kurt muttered.
He wasn't afraid of losing his family.
"I'm scared," he spoke so softly, his voice so full of emotion and gravely with the need to force his words out.
He's afraid of all the things he can't say. All the things he loves most. His singing, his friends, his dreams. If this month doesn't go well, if the hearing loss progresses, what can he do? With so many things going wrong, he isn't quite sure if he's willing to try and make it go right.
Suddenly the room seemed so full, the world far too large, and he too small to handle all the things in his mind. He thrusted himself up from the couch, and darted towards his room. He thundered up the stairs, and locked himself within his room.
He enveloped himself within his quilt, and tapped on his iPod station.
The voice of Elphaba from Wicked was fighting to drown out the sounds of his father worriedly knocking of his door. Her high notes, and swooping sounds of sudden tone shifts, blew out the voices of Finn and Carole begging him to talk to them.
For one more night, just one more, he wanted to ignore the issues in his mind. Instead, he just listened to the music. He allowed himself to drift into a dream, where the world seemed so much easier, and he could hear all the sounds around him.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Upon waking in his stiff uniform, and having the sensation of a dry puffy face Kurt realized he couldn't ignore reality. So, instead of wallowing as he had done last night, he had a plan to hopefully shift things back into focus. He showered and dressed casually with an extra pep to his step. Usually it was due to his wearing his lovely designer clothes, but today it was because he felt he had an answer to his problem.
After a stilted breakfast, full of awkward questions and sympathetic looks, Kurt felt it prudent to just get it over with. He set his fork down and sighed.
"I just don't want you guys to treat me any differently. It's going to be hard enough with having to be moved to the front in all my classes. Not to mention, the unknown reaction of the Warblers, it'd just be easier, if we behaved as normal as we could, like the doctor suggested. Can we try that, please?"
He knew his voice was edging more towards begging than the mature tone of calm he had intended, but he needed this. He didn't want anything to change, that dream he had last night felt more than possible. Despite Doctor Hine's incessant need to hammer the point that a change was inevitable towards him countless times, he still felt that behaving as such would hinder his hopes for handling this situation better.
Burt and Carole shared some odd significant look before nodding towards him.
"Fine," Burt said ,"but you can't fault us if we feel the need to note down any evidence of your hearing loss we see."
"I know Dad, I was there when the Doctor asked us to do that too you know," Kurt snapped in response.
"Just because you're having some health issues doesn't mean I can't ground you for the rest of the weekend." Burt replied with a tight smile.
Kurt sagged with relief, at least he knew his father wouldn't treat him like a fragile flower. It's not that he particularly wanted to be forced in-doors, every weekend was his shopping weekend, but his dad tended to get protective in the rare moments Kurt got sick. It reassured him, in his father's case, that the man didn't pause in rebuking him, it meant he was still just a normal kid. His "new" brother on the other hand, now he was definitely more of an issue.
"Finn?" Kurt pinned his stepbrother with a glare and lift of his brow, hoping to get him to agree with silent intimidation.
"I can try, but what do you expect me to say to the rest of Glee Club?"
"I don't"
"What?"
"You are not to say a word to them Finn Hudson, understood?" Kurt growled as he stood and placed his dishes and Finn's in the sink. Obviously, he needed to take a more tenacious approach in regards to getting Finn to see his way of thinking.
"Hey, I wasn't done with that!"
"Well, perhaps if you listened the first time, then you'd still have that third serving of bacon on your plate, wouldn't you?"
"Fine, but you know how Rachel gets, she's scary! She'll know I'm hiding something!"
"Finn," Kurt huffed as he rubbed his forehead, it was throbbing from Finn's lack of comprehension for Kurt's hopes to keep this issue to himself.
"I'll tell them when I'm ready, and not a moment later, got it?" he growled.
"So, I take it you're fine with staying inside today son?" his dad interrupted casually.
Kurt's anger ceased for a moment, clouded by his sudden sense of confusion.
"Why?"
"You're grounded for pressuring your brother, you know he's easily influenced, it's not right to confuse the poor boy even more."
"Damn," Kurt muttered, he knew the intimidation tactics should have been left to a later time, but Finn could just be so annoying sometimes.
TBC.
*nervously twiddles thumbs* Comment? I'd love to know what you think. :D
Notes: Click here for Part Three! Oh lawd, at first I kept getting a 404-error and I thought I wouldn't be able to post, eek!
Thanks again to my beta[dreamerofmonday ],who's continuous amounts of awesome somehow makes my not-so-great grammar look not-so-bad! :D