I do not own Glee or the characters Kurt Hummel and Dave Karofsky.
Synopsis: Kurt has graduated from Dalton, Dave has graduated from McKinley. Both of them have thought about the other over their two years separation, Kurt spending it in Chicago and Dave in Iraq. After a brutal attack Dave wakes up in a VA hospital close to home and is surprised to find Kurt Hummel walk into the room the very day he wakes up from a coma.
A/N: This will be out of both characters eyes but starts with Dave's back story, yes Davey joined the army and this starts out as a Karofsky in pain fic. It will take a little while to get to the fluff. You will see the writing changes with each PoV, Dave is more ignorant while Kurt will be more frivolous. It is still written in third person, though.
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Dave's eyes opened wide, the first sensation to hit him was the pain from the light, it was all too bright and he couldn't understand who would be shining a light directly in his face like that, was it another of Wrezneski's idiotic pranks? He reached out to push the fucker aside but no one was there, in fact his hand didn't move at all when he willed it to. Dave found himself strapped to wherever he was and the first real thought that came to his mind was fear, Fuck they got me!
No one scouts for sport stars in Lima, with a failing football team and a hokey team that was equally as bad Dave Karofsky's future wasn't exactly a shining beacon of hope. So far in the closet that he had himself believing that the boy he kissed, Kurt Hummel, somehow made him attracted to the boy and that he wasn't gay, not exactly. Dave was convinced he wasn't even gay, that somehow Kurt and his lady face was the only thing he was attracted to Kurt with his 'gay feelings'. So what is a man with no prospects and enough denial for the whole town of Lima to do?
"Dave you need to get out of my house." His father announced only five days after graduation. It surprised Dave, not fully really, that his father could be so blunt. His father was a blunt man, telling him there was no Santa Clause at four and even admitting to him in his freshmen year that he never wanted a child. There was no true fear or animosity between father and son, worse than that there was nothing there at all, indifference between the two.
"What…Dad I need to get out? Why?"
"Yes Dave you need to get out, you are eighteen and it is about time you go out on your own. Now I have prepared a little money for you to hold you over but you need to get a job and get moving on with your life." His father placed six hundred dollars in a neatly stacked and rubber banded bills in front of him and turned away. That would be the very last time he spoke to his father, he didn't fully regret it either. Though he thought of him often and realized maybe he didn't fully feel indifference for the old man.
Dave lived with his best friend Azimio for only two months. The two of them rented out an apartment together and for a month it was the best time of his life. He partied almost every day with friends, drinking freely because the eighteen year olds both looked well over twenty one. After a while Dave couldn't help but feel like he was missing out on something, as if he was just…stuck at where he was.
The last month was horrible, Azimio ended up getting a girl pregnant and she moved in with them. The girl was a neat freak and hated to party so everything changed. Dave couldn't handle her attitude and found himself wondering why anyone would ever want to marry a woman, especially a pregnant one.
After a week of utter hell he found himself standing in front of the local army recruit station and enlisted on the spot, what else was he going to do with his life? Anything had to be better then the anger, sadness and especially the frustration he felt in Lima. There would be no girls in the army (though there were, Dave figured them to be lesbians because they acted more like a guy then Kurt Hummel ever did). He also figured that the Army's strict policy on gays coupled with the training would beat any homo thoughts he had for Hummel out of him. At the very least going over to Iraq would make it so he would never have to see Kurt Hummel ever again. If he didn't have to see his father or the bitch Azimio was playing baby daddy with then that would just be an added bonus.
Look at where it ended you up, Karofsky! He thought as his eyes adjusted to the light. He was just starting to realize the light was faint, not bright and angry like he thought. The gentle hum of the machines pumping into his body, the beep of the heart monitor, the gentle glow of the light above him and the straps holding him down were suffocating. If he didn't have a tube down his nose to breathe for him he would feel like he is suffocating at least.
He laid there for what had to be hours with no company but someone next to him, a guy about his age who was hooked up to as many tubes as he was. The dude was sleeping, or was it a coma? Is that what I was in, a coma? Did I look like…like that?
Dave's heart began to race, the beeping on the monitor doubled in speed. A year in Iraq and he is in a hospital, unable to move. Oh god, he couldn't feel his legs.
The door swung open and he screamed, at least he did in his head. He closed his eyes tight, only opening them enough to have a small sliver of sight. Dave didn't know where he was, for all he knew he could be held by the enemy.
To his surprise Mercedes Jones from high school walked in and didn't give him a single glance, she walked over to his roommate and began to look his body over. Dave didn't know what she was doing; she wasn't dressed like a nurse or a doctor. She moved her hands over his arms, checking his skin over. She slowly brought his arms up and down, slowly and carefully stretching the muscles in his arms and his legs. She didn't say a word as she did this and Dave couldn't help but stare at her in an odd fascination.
After twenty minutes she sat down on the chair across from the guy's bed, "Well baby it's been fifty three days now since you been here. I won't say it's easy it's…" She lowered her eyes in shame, "It's really hard I…"
"Mercedes! I swear I get lost every time I come up here!" A voice called out from the hall, loud and boisterous. Dave eyes widened in horrific excitement as Kurt Hummel walked through the door and directly over to Mercedes. Kurt looked even better then he did in High School, slightly taller and lither, the self proclaimed pear hips were gone and the tight pants he wore were perfectly taunt on his bubble bu…rear end. Dave was surprised that Kurt looked as if he was almost republican in his attire, it was the first time he saw Kurt in an outfit that didn't scream "Queen!" as he sashayed into the room. Just a polo and simple jeans.
Mercedes smiled meekly, "He just won't wake up Kurt I don't know what to do."
"Mercedes the doctors said it would take time, I can't imagine how hard it is." He spoke in the most comforting way he knew how.
There was an awkward silence that even made Dave a little awkward and he was basically a vegetable lying in bed. Thoughts of Kurt filled his head and suddenly he forgot where he was, forgot about the struggle of the past year. Forgot about his father and Azimio knocking up a random chick. It was like he was back in high school all over again, the tears in his eyes began to burn.
Kurt looked down on Mercedes sitting there so broken then looked back to her husband, Warren. He thought the two couldn't be any different and he wasn't even thinking about the color of their skin. Mercedes had attitude in spades, Gaga bless her but Kurt noticed how hard it was for her to find a boyfriend. She met Warren at the end of senior year and she said it was love at friend sight; Warren was a dork and totally not her type. At least that was what Kurt thought. The two of them ran off to Vegas and got hitched before he was sent off to Iraq.
A year later and he is in a coma for two months with little hope of recovery. Kurt felt guilty suddenly for all of the frivolous things going on in his life. As if his problems weren't worth worrying about. He also felt pride for Mercedes sticking with Warren even when he was in a coma with little prospect of waking, he never realized she had that strength in her.
As he wondered if he could ever do such a thing for a boyfriend he looked over to the other patient in the room and suddenly froze on the spot. Karofsky was lying there, pale and unmoving. He had more tubes in him then Warren did, more wires and it looked like he lost half of his body weight from high school. Warren looked like a skeleton after two months so Kurt could tell Dave hadn't been here as long.
His eyes were open though, those terrifying eyes that always had such an odd mixed emotion when they looked at Kurt back when he was at McKinley. He could never read Karofsky's eyes but now they looked older, in pain and he could clearly see the tears in them falling down his cheek.
"Karofsky…" Kurt whispered.
Mercedes looked up to him, "Boy what you talking about?" She followed his line of vision to the other patient, it took her a little longer then Kurt to realize who it was. When she saw his eyes open she was angry, why did he get to wake up and not Warren? Warren was so gentle, Karofsky was tantamount to a monster from a children's story who was evil for no reason at all. Her mother's voice echoed in her head telling her it was God's will, all of the sudden she had the urge to not go back to church until Warren woke up.
"That is frickin Dave Karofsky!" Kurt called out and then smiled. "Mercedes you think I could run home and grab my stage make up and do him up in, I do not know, one of those trashy queens from Drag race? Or is that too cruel? I guess he is in the army now so…oh I know! Aheda Lettuce! He will look good in green and it would match whatever green the army uses for their camo!" Kurt was lost in thought once again. He could see Karofsky graduating from video games and doing the real thing, over there fighting the war against the Ay-rabs. He shook his head at the racist innuendo and mentally slapped himself.
"Kurt he's awake, this is the coma wing. You should go get someone." She said coldly.
Kurt looked over to Karofsky, "After what he did to me maybe we should just let him lay there for a little while longer."
"Kurt!" Mercedes admonished him. "I know you hate him but you aren't cruel."
Kurt sighed, "Girl you know me too well. I still think I have enough time to grab the makeup, at least when he looks in the mirror he doesn't have to stare at that scraggly beard…if I didn't hate him I would gladly trim it for him. He kind of looks like the unibomber" With that Kurt turned and looked at Dave for a few moments as he walked out of the room. If you trimmed the beard it would frame his face nicely, as long as his hair was done up better then the scraggly mess it was. The weight Dave lost made him look more handsome, too. His face was thinner and his body pretty muscular compared to the pudgy guy he used to be in high school.
As Kurt walked out of the room to find a nurse or doctor he stopped for a moment, realizing this was the first time he looked at Dave Karofsky and wasn't afraid. It had to be the tubes and how vulnerable he was, it couldn't be because of that stirring he got in his stomach when he looked at Dave's…handsome….face.
"No, not at all!" He whistled as he walked down the hall towards the nurse's station.
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A/N: So what do you think? Review! I always thought the army would do Dave some good, get out his frustrations (thought being around a bunch of guys would bring up other frustrations). I also believe it would be a good starting point for a Kurtofsky relationship that might work: a hurt Dave who you can't really fear anymore and a Kurt who might want to take care of him when he realizes he is just a big teddy bear now. There will be a few original characters, mainly background friends for Dave fro the army and people who work in the VA Hospital. There won't be any main OC, people from McKinley and Dalton might show up if people like the fic enough for me to continue it! Thank you for reading.