Title: Everything Is Falling Apart
Pairing: Kurt/Blaine, with Rachel/Puck and Rachel/Kurt, Mecedes/Blaine friendship.
Rating/Warnings – T for language.
Summary: Kurt and Blaine were the go-to couple for stability, which is why no-one saw it coming the day it ended.
Spoilers: Not really, you know that Klaine happened and the circumstances around that, you're good.
Disclaimer: Glee doesn't belong to me.
Authors Note: This is the start of my new fic featuring Klaine. So far I have about six chapters that just need editing before they get posted, so hopefully there should be regular updates on this. For those of you still waiting on A New Direction, its the next thing on my list, i'll get back to it I promise!
Chapter One – The Beginning of The End.
For the kids in Glee Club, having relationships and keeping them going was a complicated deal, with everyone breaking up and making up and dating new people ever other week. The choir room was a hot bed of racing hormones, 'I love you' one minute and 'I hate you' the next, not to mention the occasional punch up just to keep everything interesting.
Which is why they all looked to the most unlikely source when it came to how to maintain a relationship, Kurt Hummel. He was the one who had been in a long term, happy, committed relationship for any great amount of time. Kurt and Blaine had been together for six months, they were the happy-go-lucky, hold hands and kiss when no-one, or everyone, was looking couple. Which is why no-one saw it coming the day it ended.
It was a normal Friday afternoon to start with, the glee club doing their assignments for the week ,with their usual performances, when things had escalated between the two boys. Mr Schue had gone to see Coach Beiste about something, and a fight had broken out between the two boys and to give them some privacy everyone had been banished to the corridor outside and the doors had been shut.
The fact the doors were shut was making everyone twitchy because the past few days something between the two boys had been off. No-one could pinpoint it exactly just that there was a lot more sniping and tense silences rather than laughter and teasing. Of course every couple argued, that was natural, but this felt different somehow. Heavier if that was possible.
Puck was sat on the floor by the door, with Rachel sat quietly next to him and around him everyone else was either sat or standing in small groups talking quietly. He looked over at Rachel and raised an eyebrow. "Do you think they're going to be much longer? I mean how much can there be to fight about? They are one of the happiest couples we know normally, they see each other every day." Rachel looked at him and shook her head.
"Something is wrong, they're too quiet, too withdrawn. Kurt won't talk to me, and every time I try to mention it to Blaine, he changes the subject." She was biting her lip and looked slightly pale. He shuffled over and pulled her into his arms, kissing her gently. They could all hear the sounds of what was clearly an argument going on in the room behind them, but nothing distinct.
"C'mon Rach, this is Kurt and Blaine we're talking about here. They'll be fine." Just as Rachel opened her mouth to respond, the relative silence was shattered with a shout.
"Oh my god, I am so sickof discussing this." Puck looked at Rachel.
"Was that Blaine?" He murmured gently and she nodded, pushing herself to her feet. Puck followed and grabbed Rachel by the arm, shaking his head when she went to move toward the door. "Not a good idea, in the middle is the one place you never want to be in an argument, trust me." He kept his voice low, not wanting to be overheard.
"Well, there's a shock." Kurt shouted back. "Is there anything you DO actually want to discuss with me, because right now it feels like the only time we talk is when we're fighting."
The door swung open and Kurt was stood there, he gestured for them all to come in. "Since the only volume we can have conversations at right now is decibels equivalent to a rock concert, having you out here is a tad ridiculous no?" Rachel looked at Kurt and caught his eye, but he just shook his head. Puck held his arms out, stopping everyone from going into the room.
"This is not the conversation you want to be having in front of an audience dude." He said quietly. "Go back in there and talk to him." Kurt laughed but it came out more like a sob.
"You know," He said just as quietly, "Its really hard to have a conversation when the other person won't TALK!"
Kurt bellowed the last word as he turned to face Blaine. Although they couldn't see Kurt's face, Blaine was red faced and clearly on the verge of tears. Kurt held up a hand as the other boy went to talk. "Blaine, I love you." Blaine's head snapped up as he stared at his clearly upset boyfriend. "You are my best friend in whole world, and these past six months have been amazing. These past couple of weeks however, something has been wrong. I know it, you know it, even if you won't admit it to yourself or to me."
Kurt stopped talking and walked over until he and Blaine were face to face. Blaine was crying, but making every effort to ignore it and act like he wasn't. "You see, the one thing I have always been able to count on is the fact that we talk everything out. If we have a problem, we work through it. And you not being willing to talk to me is like a slap in the face. I can't..."
Kurt's voice trailed off, and Rachel walked over to the two boys and stood behind Kurt, lightly rubbing his back. She felt him shudder and as his shoulders shook she realised he was crying. Nobody was expecting the next words to come out of his mouth however. "I can't do this any more. I'm so sick of feeling like I'm the only one who's fighting for this relationship. We're done." With that Kurt picked up his bag and ran out of the room. Rachel looked at Blaine who'd sank into a chair with his head in his hands. "Blaine, stay here." She nodded at Mercedes, who was arguably closest to Blaine besides Kurt, who went over and put her arms around him and as Rachel turned and took off after Kurt, knowing exactly where he'd gone.
Rachel ran down the corridor her shoes echoing sharply in the silence of the halls. Not for the first time was she glad that Glee rehearsal happened after school, much less chances of a sneak slushie attack. She went straight into the girl toilets, knowing Kurt would be in here, it was his favourite place to hide.
As she pushed open the door the first thing she heard was the sound of sobs. She rushed in and locked the door behind her, ensuring they wouldn't be disturbed. She walked over to Kurt, who was crammed into the corner, his back to the wall, his face in his hands. She knelt in front of him, prising his face away from his hands. "Kurt, sweetie, you need to try and calm down. Seriously, you're going to make yourself sick." She stood up and grabbed some paper towels, running them under the cold water and bringing them back to press against his flushed cheeks.
Kurt sniffled then took a deep breath, visibly getting himself under control. He sat there for a minute, then sighed and tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling. Rachel was relieved that the sobbing had stopped but he was still crying, his shoulders shaking. She held out her hand. "C'mon, we're getting out of here. You're coming home with me." Rachel said firmly and Kurt took her hand and she pulled him to his feet. Once he was steady, she pulled him into a hug, stretching on tiptoes to put her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry Kurt." She said gently.
Still not having said a word, Kurt stepped back and disengaged from the hug and grabbed his bag throwing it over his shoulder, then he wrapped his arms around his waist and walked out the bathroom. Rachel sighed and followed him out. As they walked up the corridor, Rachel could feel Kurt getting more and more tense, so she stopped in front of him and looked up at him. "Just stay here okay, I'll be back in a sec." She ran up to the choir room and skidding to a halt, taking a deep breath and walking through the door. She looked around and Blaine and Mercedes were gone. She looked at Noah, who was sat gently strumming his guitar. Everyone else was sat around talking and waiting for Mr Schuester to arrive. He looked up at her. "Where is.." She gestured to the two empty seats.
"Mercedes took Blaine home." Noah said with a grimace. "He wouldn't have been any use here for the rest of Glee anyway." She nodded and grabbed her bag, then stopped in front of him.
"Can you give Kurt and I a ride to my house? I know we had plans for later this afternoon, but I don't want Kurt to be alone, not when he's like this. I'd normally just get the bus home, but I really don't want to. Not with Kurt so upset."
Nodding Puck stood up and slung his guitar on his back and picked up his backpack. "C'mon, lets go get Kurt, actually hang on a sec." Puck walked over to Finn who was sat talking to Artie. "Finn?" Puck said, and the other boy looked up. "Can you do me a favour and tell Burt that Kurt is with Rachel and he'll be home later?" Finn nodded, then Puck had a sudden thought. "Don't tell Burt what happened okay? Let Kurt tell him when he's ready." Finn looked slightly confused but nodded anyway.
"Will do dude. Tell Kurt I'll see him later at home." Puck nodded and with a wave to the rest of the room, Puck followed Rachel out of the room.
Kurt was still stood where she left him, looking calmer now with only the occasional tear slowly trickling down his face. Puck walked up beside Kurt and sighed, gently putting his hand on the other boys shoulder. "Come on dude, lets get you and Rachel home before someone sees you and I get an automatic detention for being in the vicinity of a crying Kurt Hummel." Kurt nodded and smiled tremulously as he walked along beside Puck. Rachel slipped her hand into Kurt's and walked along beside him, not knowing what to say.
When they got to the car, Puck stopped in front of Kurt and sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to get up in your business, but Kurt, Bla.." He trailed off at the look on Kurt's face when he mentioned the other boy. "He loves you. That much even I can tell." Kurt nodded and got in the car without saying a word. Puck looked at Rachel, who just shrugged. She didn't know what to say, or how to help. Feeling helpless wasn't a sensation she was used to. She got in the truck slid into the middle and Kurt slid in from the other side. Once he was buckled in, he slid down in the seat slightly and leant over putting his head on her shoulder. She looked down at him and the tears had finally stopped, and he was sat with his eyes closed. She sighed and Noah looked over at her and she just bit her lip, not knowing what to say.
A few minutes later they were pulling up outside Rachel's house and for once she was glad neither of her dad's were at home. She got out the car after Kurt and walked around the drivers side as Puck wound the windows down. "Are you heading back to school?"
Puck shook his head.
"Nah, I'm gonna head home, get some studying done." At Rachel's look he laughed. "Or play some Xbox, whatever. Call me if you need anything okay?" She nodded and leant in for a quick kiss, smiling when Noah groaned. Pulling back, not wanting to rub her relationship in Kurt's face she smiled at her boyfriend. "Talk to you later." Then grabbing her bag of Kurt, led the way up the drive as Puck pulled away with a beep of his horn and a wave.
She let them both into the house, then relocked the door and headed straight upstairs. She led Kurt into her bedroom and as they dropped their bags Rachel nudged Kurt over to the bed. Rachel pushed Kurt gently and he sat down then shifted until he was lying on his side curled up in a ball, his back to Rachel, his knees tucked practically up to his chest.
Rachel bit her lip as she looked at the boy, normally so brash and confident lying there broken and obviously heartbroken on her bed. "Do you want to talk about it?" She said, gently rubbing his back.
Kurt took a deep breath and turned over so he was facing Rachel. "I don't know what to say, honestly. This wasn't exactly how I'd imagined my afternoon going, you know."
Rachel sat closer and Kurt curled toward her, his head by her hip. Rachel reached down and pulled Kurt's head into her lap, gently stroking his hair. "The stupid thing is, I tried to stay calm and let Blaine have his space. We don't always have to talk over every little issue we have, that's fine. But this is something bigger, I can tell. I've known something was wrong for a couple of weeks. He was quieter and slightly withdrawn but I just put that down to stress, I mean hell we've all been stressed lately. Except every time I mentioned it, he got defensive and shut down. He kept insisting their was nothing wrong, that he was fine, and the more he insisted he was fine the more I just knew there was something he wasn't telling me."
Kurt stopped and wiped at his eyes angrily. "You know, I'm aware of the fact that I have a flair for drama, but this isn't my imagination. I'm not being paranoid and I'm not stupid. Before we were ever a couple we were friends. He's..." Kurt stopped and then sighed, shrugging a shoulder. "My best friend. I know Blaine, I know his moods and the way he works. I tried talking to him, he didn't want to know. I've racked my brains trying to come up with ideas to get him to open up but everything I tried he just shot me down and insisted there was nothing wrong he was just tired, or had a lot of homework or one of the hundreds of excuses he came up with."
Rachel looked at Kurt and sighed. "Okay, playing devil's advocate for a minute, isn't it possible that he just has a lot on his mind and is stressed?" Kurt nodded in agreement.
"Oh there is every possibility that's what it is, but what is frustrating and hurting me is the fact that he wouldn't just tell me that. Not only that but he physically threw up barriers between us as well. We haven't spent any time just the two of us and in fact in the past week or so, the only time I've really seen Blaine is in school. I've tried being patient and giving him room but I am so sick of feeling like I'm the only one who is fighting for this relationship. I'm not going to try and force Blaine to be with me when he clearly doesn't want to be. I hadn't planned on doing anything drastic today, but suddenly mid-argument it hit me. I just thought, fuck it, if he's not going to bother why should I?"
With that he turned his face into Rachel's lap and she felt the tears soak her skirt. Rachel sighed and just kept stroking Kurt's hair, she felt totally out of her depth here. Kurt took a shuddering breath and resumed talking, but Rachel wasn't sure if he was talking to her or himself.
"I remember the first time I ever saw him, standing on the stairs at Dalton. I was there partly because Puck had suggested I go spy on the Warblers, but also because I wanted to get a look at another school and they way it worked, see what made it different. I very obviously didn't fit in and, although I didn't know it, Blaine, Wes and David had instantly figured out why I was there. He was so charming and polite and I went back a couple of days later to talk to them and even though I thought they were going to beat me up for spying, they told me I'd been so bad they found it endearing."
Even being so sad the memory still had the power to cause Kurt to laugh, and it made Rachel feel slightly better. "Then over coffee I poured out my heart to Blaine, and he told me I needed to have courage and stand up for myself. That may have backfired slightly, but the advice was sound. God, all of this feels like it happened in another life now. I can't believe its only been just under a year. Blaine and I became such good friends so fast, it was like I'd always known him, and I went so long with my feelings for him, not really believing he would ever feel the same."
Kurt paused and took a deep breath, the look on his face was torn between smiling and tears and it made Rachel's heart ache to see her best friend so upset. "Then the day he told me he had feelings for me and we kissed for the first time, it was perfect. I just looked at him and I just knew that he was going to be in my life forever. I haven't gone more than a day in that entire year without talking in some way to Blaine. He's my best friend, and never in my wildest imaginings could I ever have imagined a day where he wouldn't let me be part of his life. It hurts so much, my heart just aches, and I feel sick and I want to scream but mostly now, I feel like I can't breathe." He buried his face in his hands and let the tears flow and Rachel bent over him crooning gently her tears falling into his hair. She'd never seen him like this and she was determined to help him get back on track with Blaine if it was the last thing she did.