Fic: Dresden Hollows 6/7
Six.
The house is a flurry of activity. There are people rushing about with suitcases and phone chargers and picking up packed lunches, care of Jan and Liz. Blaine grabs another of Kurt's suitcases and lugs it out to the SUV. Puck says he feels terrible that he's unable to do it, since his ankle is sprained. Instead he sits in the lounge with Rachel, who has been fetching him ice packs and food for the past few days.
Kurt pops up out of the front seat when Blaine rounds the corner, a wide smile on his face. “I've got our phones and food all in reaching distance,” he informs Blaine, taking a bite of a large, golden apple. “Once we get Artie we'll be all ready to get on the road.”
As though summoned, Brittany comes out of the house with Artie in her arms and plops him in the backseat, Santana following after her with his chair.
“Are you sure you don't want shotgun?' Kurt asks, but Artie shakes his head.
“No, man, I got a lot of sleep to be catching up on. I'm cool in the back.” And he shuffles around and lays himself out across the seat.
Brittany takes a pillow from the floor and slides it under his head, then leans down to land a peck on his forehead. “You gonna be okay without me?”
Artie opens his eyes to look up at her where her face hangs upside down above him. “Yeah, Britts. You go have fun with your new girls.”
She grins down at him, the front of her shirt wriggling as her teacup chihuahua makes a break for freedom and winds up on Artie's face. “Oops,” she says with a giggle, stuffing the dog back inside.
Artie gives Blaine a thumbs up after Brittany runs off and Blaine shuts the door, allowing Artie to begin his nap. Kurt and Blaine lean against the side of the vehicle, watching as the girls finish organizing their car, Brittany's tiny dog running around their feet and yipping.
The drive to Dresden Hollows seems like only yesterday to Blaine, and yet it feels like eons ago in the same instance. He's exhausted all the way down to his bones, but he's still looking forward to the trip ahead of him, and so much time with Kurt.
Blaine watches Kurt's face as he laughs at the girls, Santana cursing the dog and threatening to heave it out the window on the way home. His eyes are vibrant again, his face no longer drawn. He seems to have healed quickly from his ordeal.
“Will you be my Daphne?” Blaine blurts out, realizing how ridiculous he sounds after the fact. Kurt raises one eyebrow, a smile playing about his lips. “Um... on the way up here I was thinking about how we were like characters from Scooby Doo, and I must be Fred since I was the driver, but I didn't have a Daphne. So-”
“Thus was born your very odd question,” Kurt finishes for him with a laugh. “Why of course I'll be your Daphne. I may not be a redhead, but I do believe I have the feistiness of one.”
“That you do,” Blaine agrees with a grin. Kurt leans down and gives him a quick kiss.
“Get a room,” Santana hollers over, just as Jan and Liz exit the house along with Rachel, Puck bringing up the rear, hobbling along on his crutches.
Jan and Liz say goodbye to the girls first, then make their way over. Liz peeks inside to say goodbye to Artie while Jan hugs Kurt, having a hastily whispered conversation with him next to the passenger side door. Kurt's eyes look moist when she gives him a pat on the back and pulls away. Blaine wants to go to him immediately, but she is in front of him now, smiling and opening her arms for a hug.
“It was lovely to know you, Blaine,” she says. “And thank you for helping take care of things while I was unable to.”
“Of course,” Blaine tells her. “It was the least I could do.”
“And look after that one,” she adds, her watchful gaze fixed on Kurt, who is chatting with Santana while trying to fend off the dog. “He seems a bit shaken still.”
Blaine nods and gives her another fleeting hug. “Definitely.”
As she's walking away, he thinks about something that has been niggling at the back of his mind since even before leaving the city. “Jan?”
She turns with an eyebrow raised in question.
“How did Brittany manage to get us reservations on such short notice? Did someone cancel or-”
Jan is shaking her head, a mysterious little smile on her face. “She called and made reservations months ago,” she says, then turns and follows her wife and nephew to the house.
Blaine's eyes find Brittany. She's chasing the dog around the car; it makes three turns before she finally manages to catch it. How did she know? he wonders. Had it been a coincidence, or had she planted the idea in Artie's head about the haunted documentary just so they would make the trip with her? Or maybe she really does have the power of foresight and knew what would happen and who they would meet and- Nah. “Come on, Scooby Doo,” she says, dropping the dog down the front of her shirt and climbing into the backseat of the car.
Blaine turns away to find Kurt smirking at him. “That name was yours, wasn't it?”
“It might have been.”
Kurt giggles and motions to the SUV with his head. “All aboard the Mystery Machine?”
Blaine laughs heartily and opens the passenger side door for him, waving him inside.
“When we get back to New York, will you go on a date with me?” Kurt asks, snapping on his seatbelt.
“I would be honoured,” Blaine says with a smile. He checks his blind spots, adjusting the mirrors, and waits for the girls to pull away in front of them.
“I'll cook for you and maybe we can watch a movie-”
“Great idea. I can bring over The Others, The Shining, Paranormal Activity...”
“Very funny, Mr. Anderson. But I was thinking maybe something romantic as opposed to traumatic.”
“I don't know,” Blaine argues, starting the engine and following at a slow pace behind the girls. “You seemed to kinda like me when there were ghosts.”
“I'm pretty sure I'll like you just as well when I'm not terrified outta my wits. But if things get boring, we can always take a nighttime tour through all of the worst neighbourhoods in New York. I'll make a list.”
Blaine grins over at Kurt and flips down his sun visor. Now that the rain has stopped, the sun has decided to come back with a vengeance.
As they're driving away from Dresden Hollows and Blaine's cell service is reinstated, his phone begins pinging over and over as he receives dozens of text and missed call alerts. He lifts his phone into his eyeline and sees that they are almost all from Cooper.
The last one reads: Geez, Blainey, are you avoiding me or something?
Blaine laughs, Kurt giving him an odd look.
No Coop. I've had no cell service. Honestly. It's a long story. I'll call you when I get home.
And then Blaine turns off his phone. Artie is already snoring away in the backseat, and he and Kurt have hours to get to know each other better without fear of ghostly interference.
# # #
“This is the account of my roommate and best bro, Blaine Devon Anderson.” Artie sits behind the camera in their living room, the late evening sun shining softly through the window at his back. Blaine shifts in his seat. Even so far from Dresden Hollows, he is not completely comfortable talking about all that happened.
But Artie soon has him talking, recounting every odd thing that occurred during their stay, every strange piece of the puzzle. When he gets to the attic incident, he pauses. He knows he has Kurt's permission to tell the story as he remembers it, but something still feels off. Something feels wrong.
“He told us what really happened to her, to Evelyn up on the roof that night. We can't do anything about it now, and the people responsible are long gone, but maybe it was the telling that was important. Maybe now that he's told his story, passed on that terrible knowledge to another soul, he can finally rest in peace. Maybe he can go and find the girl he loved and rest in peace.”
# # #
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The house is a flurry of activity. There are people rushing about with suitcases and phone chargers and picking up packed lunches, care of Jan and Liz. Blaine grabs another of Kurt's suitcases and lugs it out to the SUV. Puck says he feels terrible that he's unable to do it, since his ankle is sprained. Instead he sits in the lounge with Rachel, who has been fetching him ice packs and food for the past few days.
Kurt pops up out of the front seat when Blaine rounds the corner, a wide smile on his face. “I've got our phones and food all in reaching distance,” he informs Blaine, taking a bite of a large, golden apple. “Once we get Artie we'll be all ready to get on the road.”
As though summoned, Brittany comes out of the house with Artie in her arms and plops him in the backseat, Santana following after her with his chair.
“Are you sure you don't want shotgun?' Kurt asks, but Artie shakes his head.
“No, man, I got a lot of sleep to be catching up on. I'm cool in the back.” And he shuffles around and lays himself out across the seat.
Brittany takes a pillow from the floor and slides it under his head, then leans down to land a peck on his forehead. “You gonna be okay without me?”
Artie opens his eyes to look up at her where her face hangs upside down above him. “Yeah, Britts. You go have fun with your new girls.”
She grins down at him, the front of her shirt wriggling as her teacup chihuahua makes a break for freedom and winds up on Artie's face. “Oops,” she says with a giggle, stuffing the dog back inside.
Artie gives Blaine a thumbs up after Brittany runs off and Blaine shuts the door, allowing Artie to begin his nap. Kurt and Blaine lean against the side of the vehicle, watching as the girls finish organizing their car, Brittany's tiny dog running around their feet and yipping.
The drive to Dresden Hollows seems like only yesterday to Blaine, and yet it feels like eons ago in the same instance. He's exhausted all the way down to his bones, but he's still looking forward to the trip ahead of him, and so much time with Kurt.
Blaine watches Kurt's face as he laughs at the girls, Santana cursing the dog and threatening to heave it out the window on the way home. His eyes are vibrant again, his face no longer drawn. He seems to have healed quickly from his ordeal.
“Will you be my Daphne?” Blaine blurts out, realizing how ridiculous he sounds after the fact. Kurt raises one eyebrow, a smile playing about his lips. “Um... on the way up here I was thinking about how we were like characters from Scooby Doo, and I must be Fred since I was the driver, but I didn't have a Daphne. So-”
“Thus was born your very odd question,” Kurt finishes for him with a laugh. “Why of course I'll be your Daphne. I may not be a redhead, but I do believe I have the feistiness of one.”
“That you do,” Blaine agrees with a grin. Kurt leans down and gives him a quick kiss.
“Get a room,” Santana hollers over, just as Jan and Liz exit the house along with Rachel, Puck bringing up the rear, hobbling along on his crutches.
Jan and Liz say goodbye to the girls first, then make their way over. Liz peeks inside to say goodbye to Artie while Jan hugs Kurt, having a hastily whispered conversation with him next to the passenger side door. Kurt's eyes look moist when she gives him a pat on the back and pulls away. Blaine wants to go to him immediately, but she is in front of him now, smiling and opening her arms for a hug.
“It was lovely to know you, Blaine,” she says. “And thank you for helping take care of things while I was unable to.”
“Of course,” Blaine tells her. “It was the least I could do.”
“And look after that one,” she adds, her watchful gaze fixed on Kurt, who is chatting with Santana while trying to fend off the dog. “He seems a bit shaken still.”
Blaine nods and gives her another fleeting hug. “Definitely.”
As she's walking away, he thinks about something that has been niggling at the back of his mind since even before leaving the city. “Jan?”
She turns with an eyebrow raised in question.
“How did Brittany manage to get us reservations on such short notice? Did someone cancel or-”
Jan is shaking her head, a mysterious little smile on her face. “She called and made reservations months ago,” she says, then turns and follows her wife and nephew to the house.
Blaine's eyes find Brittany. She's chasing the dog around the car; it makes three turns before she finally manages to catch it. How did she know? he wonders. Had it been a coincidence, or had she planted the idea in Artie's head about the haunted documentary just so they would make the trip with her? Or maybe she really does have the power of foresight and knew what would happen and who they would meet and- Nah. “Come on, Scooby Doo,” she says, dropping the dog down the front of her shirt and climbing into the backseat of the car.
Blaine turns away to find Kurt smirking at him. “That name was yours, wasn't it?”
“It might have been.”
Kurt giggles and motions to the SUV with his head. “All aboard the Mystery Machine?”
Blaine laughs heartily and opens the passenger side door for him, waving him inside.
“When we get back to New York, will you go on a date with me?” Kurt asks, snapping on his seatbelt.
“I would be honoured,” Blaine says with a smile. He checks his blind spots, adjusting the mirrors, and waits for the girls to pull away in front of them.
“I'll cook for you and maybe we can watch a movie-”
“Great idea. I can bring over The Others, The Shining, Paranormal Activity...”
“Very funny, Mr. Anderson. But I was thinking maybe something romantic as opposed to traumatic.”
“I don't know,” Blaine argues, starting the engine and following at a slow pace behind the girls. “You seemed to kinda like me when there were ghosts.”
“I'm pretty sure I'll like you just as well when I'm not terrified outta my wits. But if things get boring, we can always take a nighttime tour through all of the worst neighbourhoods in New York. I'll make a list.”
Blaine grins over at Kurt and flips down his sun visor. Now that the rain has stopped, the sun has decided to come back with a vengeance.
As they're driving away from Dresden Hollows and Blaine's cell service is reinstated, his phone begins pinging over and over as he receives dozens of text and missed call alerts. He lifts his phone into his eyeline and sees that they are almost all from Cooper.
The last one reads: Geez, Blainey, are you avoiding me or something?
Blaine laughs, Kurt giving him an odd look.
No Coop. I've had no cell service. Honestly. It's a long story. I'll call you when I get home.
And then Blaine turns off his phone. Artie is already snoring away in the backseat, and he and Kurt have hours to get to know each other better without fear of ghostly interference.
# # #
“This is the account of my roommate and best bro, Blaine Devon Anderson.” Artie sits behind the camera in their living room, the late evening sun shining softly through the window at his back. Blaine shifts in his seat. Even so far from Dresden Hollows, he is not completely comfortable talking about all that happened.
But Artie soon has him talking, recounting every odd thing that occurred during their stay, every strange piece of the puzzle. When he gets to the attic incident, he pauses. He knows he has Kurt's permission to tell the story as he remembers it, but something still feels off. Something feels wrong.
“He told us what really happened to her, to Evelyn up on the roof that night. We can't do anything about it now, and the people responsible are long gone, but maybe it was the telling that was important. Maybe now that he's told his story, passed on that terrible knowledge to another soul, he can finally rest in peace. Maybe he can go and find the girl he loved and rest in peace.”
# # #
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