Fic: Are We Going Down or Will We Fly?
Title: Are We Going Down or Will We Fly?
Characters / Pairings: Kurt/Blaine if you squint
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 2.06
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. If you see a name you don't know, its probably mine.
Summary: Slightly different take on a certain scene in "Never Been Kissed."
There are some days when you just know everything isn’t going to go according to the plan in your head. Then there are days that are blown wide open by the sheer amount of craziness that surrounds you.
Will wasn’t sure how this day was going to be categorized yet, but he knew it would end up in one of those categories. His fifth period class was going smoothly, his students hunched over their desks, writing furiously on their tests. He looked back down to his own desk and swiped the red pen through question number four before correcting the answer for the poor student that had missed it.
The opening of the classroom door caused a few students to look up in curiosity, but a quick snap of his fingers sent them back on task. He turned toward the interruption, intent on chastising them for causing a distraction but stopped short at the sight of a pale face and wide, confused eyes. He quickly guided the obviously shaken student outside and made sure the door closed behind them before giving them his full attention.
“What’s wrong?”
“It....I...He pushed him..and I...” The girl was shaking so hard she couldn’t form a coherent thought, and Will knew that if he was going to get anything at all out of her, he had to calm her down. Grasping both of her shoulders, he gave her a gentle shake, which seemed to give her a little bit of focus.
“Just calm down. What’s your name?”
“A-Annie. I just stood there.” God, she was shaking.
“Stood where. What happened?”
“H-He pushed him. And I just stood there. I couldn’t do anything. And there’s blood. He hit the l-lockers. Hard. I can’t. I couldn’t. He’s hurt! Please. You have to. You have to come.”
She pulled from his grasp and grabbed his arm, eyes wet with tears. Will let her drag him down the hall, still processing her words.
“Blood? Who pushed whom?”
“I,” she gasped, and for a moment he thought she was going to be sick. “I don’t know his name. He had on a letterman jacket. Must play football. He pushed that one kid. I’m new. I don’t know anyone’s name, but he always hangs out with the black girl, and the boy in the wheelchair.”
Kurt. Dear, God, she was talking about Kurt. Bleeding? Lockers? What had happened?
“Kurt?”
She stopped, turning to him so fast that her ponytail whipped around the hit her in the face.
“Is that his name? The boy with the mohawk...”
“That’s Puck,” he told her. She couldn’t keep describing everyone.
“Puck. He told me to come get you, but I wanted to know his name.” She had started walking again, and Will had to jog a little bit to keep up with her fast pace. He had just caught her and was about to grab her shoulder and stop her, but then they turned the corner. The sight that greeted him was sure to stick with the Glee instructor, but at the moment all he could do was stare at the sheer, destruction, that had taken over McKinley High School.
Puck had Karofsky against the lockers on the far side of the hallway and was talking to him in low, dangerous tones. He accentuated his points with shoves into the unyielding metal behind him every now and then. Karofsky, for his part, wasn’t fighting back. Just staring at the floor in front of the lockers opposite him. The same floor that was smeared with blood and books and Kurt’s iPhone.
In the middle of it all knelt Finn, blood soaking through the knees of his jeans as he leant over the prone figure on the floor.
Leaving Annie standing at the end of the hall, Will ran over to Finn and skidded to a stop beside him before falling to his own knees. It wasn’t until he looked down into the ashen face of Kurt Hummel that Will fully grasped what Annie had tried to explain to him. Slight tremors coursed through his body as he reached out, stopping just short of touching. He looked over at Finn, who was alternating between soft, careful pats to Kurt’s cheeks and gasping out the shorter boys name in some vague hope of rousing him.
“Finn. You have to calm down.”
The boy shook his head so hard that Will heard his neck crack.
“No. No, he won’t wake up. Why won’t he wake up?”
“Finn,” Will said as he turned his body to grab at Finn’s hitching shoulders. “Finn. You have to calm down and call for an ambulance, okay? You go stand over there by Annie, and you call an ambulance. I’ll wake Kurt up.”
Finn took in a deep breath and stared up at his teacher before scrambling to stand and dig his phone out of his pocket. Will glanced over his shoulder at his retreating form, just to make sure he was following orders, before focusing completely on the boy in front of him.
Suddenly, the medical training Figgins had forced the faculty to take made total sense. He reached out and placed two fingers against the pulse point in Kurt’s neck, breathing a sigh of relief when he felt a strong pulse threading against his skin. Moving his hand to Kurt’s cheek, he gave it a gentle slap and was rewarded with a slight wince. He refrained from shaking the teenager, knowing that if he had a concussion it would only make it worse. He shifted on his knees, grimacing at the stickiness of the blood on his pants.
“Kurt?” He spoke directly at him in a calm, measured tone. “Kurt. I need you to open your eyes.”
His eyes flicked to Kurt’s hand when he saw movement, and blinked at the fingers that twitched toward the boys phone.
“You want me to call someone. You have to open your eyes and tell me. Tell me what you want, Kurt.”
Kurt’s face scrunched up in a grimace before his eyelids fluttered and Will found himself staring into pained blue eyes. Another sigh of relief forced it’s way from his lungs as he moved to frame the boy’s face with his hands. Kurt frowned in confusion before twitching his hand toward his phone again.
“Do you want me to call someone? Your dad? Don’t move your head,” he said as Kurt attempted to shake in the negative. “Talk to me. Who do you need?”
The breath he took in was ragged and shaky, but the one word that escaped Kurt’s lips was clear.
“Blaine.”
Will wondered briefly who Blaine was, and why Kurt wanted to call him instead of his father, but then he heard Finn say Burt’s name in the background, and figured it was taken care of. He leaned over Kurt to grab his phone and scrolled through the contacts until he found Blaine’s number. He hit the send button and prayed that he’d pick up, not wanting to tell the hurt boy in front of him that he couldn’t get through.
“Kurtsie! It’s Wes. Blaine is busy right now, can he call you back?”
Will took a breath. “Wes? This is Will Schuester from McKinley High? I really need to talk to Blaine. Please.”
The hesitation on the other end of the phone almost made him snap, but then he heard Wes yelling for someone. He glanced back down at Kurt to find him gazing at the phone in his hand.
“Just one second, sir. He’s right here.”
Will could hear the phone being handed over and a hasty explanation before a new voice sounded in his ear.
“Hello? Mr. Schuester?”
“Is this Blaine?”
“Yes. It is. Is Kurt okay? Why do you have his phone?”
The sound of a door slamming and engine starting cut through the phone before the sound got kind of echoey and he figured he’d been put on hands-free.
“Are you driving?”
“Yes. But that isn’t important. Is Kurt okay? Can I talk to him?”
That forced another glance at Kurt, who tried to reach up for the phone, but Will shook his head and put it on speakerphone instead. He chanced a glance at Puck and saw that he still had Karofsky against the lockers, but was looking back at him now.
“I put you on speaker. I don’t know how much he’s going to be able to talk, but I guess you can try.”
Finn interrupted here to let him know that the ambulance was on its way and sharp intake of breath and a few muttered curses broke over the line.
“Ambulance? Kurt? What happened?” Blaine’s tone had gone from concerned to slightly panicked.
For his part, Kurt furrowed his brow in confusion before glancing to the lockers beside him.
“Lockers?”
“Lockers? Did you fall into them? Get pushed?”
“Pushed.” Short. Precise. “My head hurts.”
“Yes. I’d imagine it does. Does anything else hurt?”
“No. I’m tired.”
Blaine exhaled loudly and it took him a moment to answer. Will watched Kurt watch the phone.
“I know, but I think you may have a concussion. Mr. Schuester? Do you know how hard he hit his head?” Will started, not expecting to be spoken to.
“I wasn’t here when it happened, Blaine. But he’s bleeding and he had blacked out for a little while. I managed to get him awake just before calling you.”
There was another hesitation and Blaine went over that information. Will tapped his fingers against Kurt’s cheek to get his eyes back open and was rewarded with a sleepy gaze trained on him. “Stay awake.”
“Okay. Okay, Kurt? I need you to stay awake. How can we keep you awake?”
Kurt mumbled something unintelligible and it took a sharp “Kurt!” from the phone to get him speaking clearly.
“What?”
“I need to know what to do so you won’t go to sleep. Tell me, please.”
Kurt sighed and closed his eyes again briefly. “I don’t know.” He suddenly jerked and his eyes brightened just a little bit. “You could sing.”
“Sing? That usually puts people to sleep.”
Finn burst into the conversation again. “Yeah. But not Kurt. It’s like, he gets so into the song that he can’t relax enough to fall asleep.”
There was a muffled conversation on the other side of the line and it occurred to Will that Blaine wasn’t alone in the car. He once again mulled over who these mystery people were before a strong, clear voice broke through the phone.
“Caught in the middle of a crossfire.
Lost my balance on a high wire.
Trying to figure out what to do.”
Looking back down at Kurt, he noticed his eyes once again trained on the phone and a small half-smile playing at his lips. Suddenly, he didn’t care who Blaine was as long as he kept singing.
“Pushed to the edge of my reason.
Everywhere around me is treason.
I don’t want to do that to you.”
Two more voices joined the first.
“Kamikaze airplanes in the sky.
Are we going down or will we fly?
This could be a shipwreck on the shore.
Or we could sail away forevermore.
This time, its sink or swim.
Sink or swim.”
The sounds of running footsteps alerted the gathered few to the arrival of the EMTs and a few police officers, who shooed Puck away from Karofsky and took over keeping the larger boy there.
The singing cut out and Will took the phone off speaker, answering Blaine’s questions about what was happening.
“The ambulance is here. They’re checking him out now.”
A shaky sigh. “Okay. Do you know where they’re going to take him?”
“Well, there’s only one hospital in Lima, Lima General.”
“Okay. We’ll meet you there.”
“Okay. How will I recognize you?”
A slight chuckle is heard before Wes’ voice is back. “Sir, I’m not sure you could miss us.”
Then nothing. Will stared at the phone in his hand for a moment before turning and following the EMTs out to the parking lot. And then to the hospital.
**********
Almost two hours later, Will was sitting in the waiting room at Lima General. Burt Hummel had shown up not long after the ambulance and was currently stationed in the chair next to his son's bed. Will stared at the pair through the glass window of Kurt's room and thanked whatever deity was responsible for giving Kurt someone like Burt as a father.
He turned and headed back toward the waiting room, glancing at the entrance in the vain hope that someone who might possibly be Blaine would enter soon. It had been a long day, and Will was tired, but wanted to be there when Kurt's mysterious friend showed up. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but three boys in matching blazers and gray pants weren’t it. One of the boys, shorter than the other two with dark hair, caught his eye and headed toward him. Will stood to meet him.
“Are you Mr. Schuester? I’m Blaine. How’s Kurt.”
The questions came rapid fire, and one of the the other boys put a calming hand on Blaine’s shoulder.
“He’s going to be okay. They’re keeping him tonight, just as a precaution, but he’ll be back home tomorrow. He does have a mild concussion, so he’s slightly out of it.”
Blaine ran a hand through his cropped hair. “Can we see him?”
Will looked at them. All earnest faces and worried eyes. He nodded. "His dad is with him, so it isn't my decision, but i'll..."
"Blaine," interrupted Burt. "You break any speed limits getting here?"
Blaine grinned. "Only the ones that didn't matter."
Burt shook his head, amused, before slinging an arm around Blaine's shoulders and leading him down the hall to his son's room. Upon entering, Blaine immediately headed to the bed and placed a hand on one of Kurt’s arms. The other two held back a bit, standing at the foot of the bed. Will watched the interaction with curious eyes, wondering how these boys had met one another. He was startled from his thoughts by a quiet voice.
“Hearing a song in your laughter.
A melody I chase after.
No one else has done this to me.
Take a deep breathe.
No more time left.
This is what I thought I wanted.
Why am I afraid?”
Will smiled at the emotion in the boy’s voice, and quietly retreated from the room. As he headed back to the waiting room to gather his things, he realized two things. Kurt finally had someone to climb the hill with, and that today was firmly categorized in column two.
Characters / Pairings: Kurt/Blaine if you squint
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 2.06
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. If you see a name you don't know, its probably mine.
Summary: Slightly different take on a certain scene in "Never Been Kissed."
There are some days when you just know everything isn’t going to go according to the plan in your head. Then there are days that are blown wide open by the sheer amount of craziness that surrounds you.
Will wasn’t sure how this day was going to be categorized yet, but he knew it would end up in one of those categories. His fifth period class was going smoothly, his students hunched over their desks, writing furiously on their tests. He looked back down to his own desk and swiped the red pen through question number four before correcting the answer for the poor student that had missed it.
The opening of the classroom door caused a few students to look up in curiosity, but a quick snap of his fingers sent them back on task. He turned toward the interruption, intent on chastising them for causing a distraction but stopped short at the sight of a pale face and wide, confused eyes. He quickly guided the obviously shaken student outside and made sure the door closed behind them before giving them his full attention.
“What’s wrong?”
“It....I...He pushed him..and I...” The girl was shaking so hard she couldn’t form a coherent thought, and Will knew that if he was going to get anything at all out of her, he had to calm her down. Grasping both of her shoulders, he gave her a gentle shake, which seemed to give her a little bit of focus.
“Just calm down. What’s your name?”
“A-Annie. I just stood there.” God, she was shaking.
“Stood where. What happened?”
“H-He pushed him. And I just stood there. I couldn’t do anything. And there’s blood. He hit the l-lockers. Hard. I can’t. I couldn’t. He’s hurt! Please. You have to. You have to come.”
She pulled from his grasp and grabbed his arm, eyes wet with tears. Will let her drag him down the hall, still processing her words.
“Blood? Who pushed whom?”
“I,” she gasped, and for a moment he thought she was going to be sick. “I don’t know his name. He had on a letterman jacket. Must play football. He pushed that one kid. I’m new. I don’t know anyone’s name, but he always hangs out with the black girl, and the boy in the wheelchair.”
Kurt. Dear, God, she was talking about Kurt. Bleeding? Lockers? What had happened?
“Kurt?”
She stopped, turning to him so fast that her ponytail whipped around the hit her in the face.
“Is that his name? The boy with the mohawk...”
“That’s Puck,” he told her. She couldn’t keep describing everyone.
“Puck. He told me to come get you, but I wanted to know his name.” She had started walking again, and Will had to jog a little bit to keep up with her fast pace. He had just caught her and was about to grab her shoulder and stop her, but then they turned the corner. The sight that greeted him was sure to stick with the Glee instructor, but at the moment all he could do was stare at the sheer, destruction, that had taken over McKinley High School.
Puck had Karofsky against the lockers on the far side of the hallway and was talking to him in low, dangerous tones. He accentuated his points with shoves into the unyielding metal behind him every now and then. Karofsky, for his part, wasn’t fighting back. Just staring at the floor in front of the lockers opposite him. The same floor that was smeared with blood and books and Kurt’s iPhone.
In the middle of it all knelt Finn, blood soaking through the knees of his jeans as he leant over the prone figure on the floor.
Leaving Annie standing at the end of the hall, Will ran over to Finn and skidded to a stop beside him before falling to his own knees. It wasn’t until he looked down into the ashen face of Kurt Hummel that Will fully grasped what Annie had tried to explain to him. Slight tremors coursed through his body as he reached out, stopping just short of touching. He looked over at Finn, who was alternating between soft, careful pats to Kurt’s cheeks and gasping out the shorter boys name in some vague hope of rousing him.
“Finn. You have to calm down.”
The boy shook his head so hard that Will heard his neck crack.
“No. No, he won’t wake up. Why won’t he wake up?”
“Finn,” Will said as he turned his body to grab at Finn’s hitching shoulders. “Finn. You have to calm down and call for an ambulance, okay? You go stand over there by Annie, and you call an ambulance. I’ll wake Kurt up.”
Finn took in a deep breath and stared up at his teacher before scrambling to stand and dig his phone out of his pocket. Will glanced over his shoulder at his retreating form, just to make sure he was following orders, before focusing completely on the boy in front of him.
Suddenly, the medical training Figgins had forced the faculty to take made total sense. He reached out and placed two fingers against the pulse point in Kurt’s neck, breathing a sigh of relief when he felt a strong pulse threading against his skin. Moving his hand to Kurt’s cheek, he gave it a gentle slap and was rewarded with a slight wince. He refrained from shaking the teenager, knowing that if he had a concussion it would only make it worse. He shifted on his knees, grimacing at the stickiness of the blood on his pants.
“Kurt?” He spoke directly at him in a calm, measured tone. “Kurt. I need you to open your eyes.”
His eyes flicked to Kurt’s hand when he saw movement, and blinked at the fingers that twitched toward the boys phone.
“You want me to call someone. You have to open your eyes and tell me. Tell me what you want, Kurt.”
Kurt’s face scrunched up in a grimace before his eyelids fluttered and Will found himself staring into pained blue eyes. Another sigh of relief forced it’s way from his lungs as he moved to frame the boy’s face with his hands. Kurt frowned in confusion before twitching his hand toward his phone again.
“Do you want me to call someone? Your dad? Don’t move your head,” he said as Kurt attempted to shake in the negative. “Talk to me. Who do you need?”
The breath he took in was ragged and shaky, but the one word that escaped Kurt’s lips was clear.
“Blaine.”
Will wondered briefly who Blaine was, and why Kurt wanted to call him instead of his father, but then he heard Finn say Burt’s name in the background, and figured it was taken care of. He leaned over Kurt to grab his phone and scrolled through the contacts until he found Blaine’s number. He hit the send button and prayed that he’d pick up, not wanting to tell the hurt boy in front of him that he couldn’t get through.
“Kurtsie! It’s Wes. Blaine is busy right now, can he call you back?”
Will took a breath. “Wes? This is Will Schuester from McKinley High? I really need to talk to Blaine. Please.”
The hesitation on the other end of the phone almost made him snap, but then he heard Wes yelling for someone. He glanced back down at Kurt to find him gazing at the phone in his hand.
“Just one second, sir. He’s right here.”
Will could hear the phone being handed over and a hasty explanation before a new voice sounded in his ear.
“Hello? Mr. Schuester?”
“Is this Blaine?”
“Yes. It is. Is Kurt okay? Why do you have his phone?”
The sound of a door slamming and engine starting cut through the phone before the sound got kind of echoey and he figured he’d been put on hands-free.
“Are you driving?”
“Yes. But that isn’t important. Is Kurt okay? Can I talk to him?”
That forced another glance at Kurt, who tried to reach up for the phone, but Will shook his head and put it on speakerphone instead. He chanced a glance at Puck and saw that he still had Karofsky against the lockers, but was looking back at him now.
“I put you on speaker. I don’t know how much he’s going to be able to talk, but I guess you can try.”
Finn interrupted here to let him know that the ambulance was on its way and sharp intake of breath and a few muttered curses broke over the line.
“Ambulance? Kurt? What happened?” Blaine’s tone had gone from concerned to slightly panicked.
For his part, Kurt furrowed his brow in confusion before glancing to the lockers beside him.
“Lockers?”
“Lockers? Did you fall into them? Get pushed?”
“Pushed.” Short. Precise. “My head hurts.”
“Yes. I’d imagine it does. Does anything else hurt?”
“No. I’m tired.”
Blaine exhaled loudly and it took him a moment to answer. Will watched Kurt watch the phone.
“I know, but I think you may have a concussion. Mr. Schuester? Do you know how hard he hit his head?” Will started, not expecting to be spoken to.
“I wasn’t here when it happened, Blaine. But he’s bleeding and he had blacked out for a little while. I managed to get him awake just before calling you.”
There was another hesitation and Blaine went over that information. Will tapped his fingers against Kurt’s cheek to get his eyes back open and was rewarded with a sleepy gaze trained on him. “Stay awake.”
“Okay. Okay, Kurt? I need you to stay awake. How can we keep you awake?”
Kurt mumbled something unintelligible and it took a sharp “Kurt!” from the phone to get him speaking clearly.
“What?”
“I need to know what to do so you won’t go to sleep. Tell me, please.”
Kurt sighed and closed his eyes again briefly. “I don’t know.” He suddenly jerked and his eyes brightened just a little bit. “You could sing.”
“Sing? That usually puts people to sleep.”
Finn burst into the conversation again. “Yeah. But not Kurt. It’s like, he gets so into the song that he can’t relax enough to fall asleep.”
There was a muffled conversation on the other side of the line and it occurred to Will that Blaine wasn’t alone in the car. He once again mulled over who these mystery people were before a strong, clear voice broke through the phone.
“Caught in the middle of a crossfire.
Lost my balance on a high wire.
Trying to figure out what to do.”
Looking back down at Kurt, he noticed his eyes once again trained on the phone and a small half-smile playing at his lips. Suddenly, he didn’t care who Blaine was as long as he kept singing.
“Pushed to the edge of my reason.
Everywhere around me is treason.
I don’t want to do that to you.”
Two more voices joined the first.
“Kamikaze airplanes in the sky.
Are we going down or will we fly?
This could be a shipwreck on the shore.
Or we could sail away forevermore.
This time, its sink or swim.
Sink or swim.”
The sounds of running footsteps alerted the gathered few to the arrival of the EMTs and a few police officers, who shooed Puck away from Karofsky and took over keeping the larger boy there.
The singing cut out and Will took the phone off speaker, answering Blaine’s questions about what was happening.
“The ambulance is here. They’re checking him out now.”
A shaky sigh. “Okay. Do you know where they’re going to take him?”
“Well, there’s only one hospital in Lima, Lima General.”
“Okay. We’ll meet you there.”
“Okay. How will I recognize you?”
A slight chuckle is heard before Wes’ voice is back. “Sir, I’m not sure you could miss us.”
Then nothing. Will stared at the phone in his hand for a moment before turning and following the EMTs out to the parking lot. And then to the hospital.
**********
Almost two hours later, Will was sitting in the waiting room at Lima General. Burt Hummel had shown up not long after the ambulance and was currently stationed in the chair next to his son's bed. Will stared at the pair through the glass window of Kurt's room and thanked whatever deity was responsible for giving Kurt someone like Burt as a father.
He turned and headed back toward the waiting room, glancing at the entrance in the vain hope that someone who might possibly be Blaine would enter soon. It had been a long day, and Will was tired, but wanted to be there when Kurt's mysterious friend showed up. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but three boys in matching blazers and gray pants weren’t it. One of the boys, shorter than the other two with dark hair, caught his eye and headed toward him. Will stood to meet him.
“Are you Mr. Schuester? I’m Blaine. How’s Kurt.”
The questions came rapid fire, and one of the the other boys put a calming hand on Blaine’s shoulder.
“He’s going to be okay. They’re keeping him tonight, just as a precaution, but he’ll be back home tomorrow. He does have a mild concussion, so he’s slightly out of it.”
Blaine ran a hand through his cropped hair. “Can we see him?”
Will looked at them. All earnest faces and worried eyes. He nodded. "His dad is with him, so it isn't my decision, but i'll..."
"Blaine," interrupted Burt. "You break any speed limits getting here?"
Blaine grinned. "Only the ones that didn't matter."
Burt shook his head, amused, before slinging an arm around Blaine's shoulders and leading him down the hall to his son's room. Upon entering, Blaine immediately headed to the bed and placed a hand on one of Kurt’s arms. The other two held back a bit, standing at the foot of the bed. Will watched the interaction with curious eyes, wondering how these boys had met one another. He was startled from his thoughts by a quiet voice.
“Hearing a song in your laughter.
A melody I chase after.
No one else has done this to me.
Take a deep breathe.
No more time left.
This is what I thought I wanted.
Why am I afraid?”
Will smiled at the emotion in the boy’s voice, and quietly retreated from the room. As he headed back to the waiting room to gather his things, he realized two things. Kurt finally had someone to climb the hill with, and that today was firmly categorized in column two.