Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or Untitled.
Note: Just a quick-ish oneshot before I start to write "Hallelujah". Rated T for dark themes (aka character death). The main pairing is Kory (Kurt/Rory) because it's appealing to me and Blaine is boring this season. Please leave a review.
"Honestly, Rory, you just don't get it, do you? I love you, but I don't want to be in a long-distance relationship," Kurt explained for the umpteenth time. "You're going back to Ireland soon, and while I still want to be with you, I don't think I could handle the emotional upheaval of not being able to hug you…to hold you…to kiss you…"
"But Kurt," the Irish boy blinked his puppy-dog eyes. "I love you."
"I know," Kurt sighed. "And I know this is your first relationship and all, and believe me, I don't want it to end either, but you have to understand where I'm getting at here…"
"No, I don't understand," Rory shook his head furiously. "Why can't you stay with me, even when we're going to be apart? I can…I can go to University here soon…or you could study abroad in Ireland…please…please, don't leave me."
Kurt felt hot tears spring to his eyes. He touched Rory on the forearm gently, breathing deeply before forcing himself to look into the boy's blue-green eyes. "I have to," he whispered. "Maybe we'll find our way back to each other in the future, but for now…"
"I hate you," Rory hissed, pulling away from Kurt's touch. "I hate you!"
"Rory, I'm so sorry," Kurt whispered. "Forgive me for this…"
"No," Rory backed away, heading towards the door. "No, Kurt. I can't." He turned on his heel and bolted out the door towards the driveway.
He never knew it would hurt this much, but the pain was nearly unbearable…
"Hey," Kurt found Rory standing by his car, drenched by the downpour of cold rain, his clothes clinging to him, hugging him. He put his hand on Rory's back. "Hey," he said again, a little louder, so he could be heard over the near deafening rainstorm. "At least let me drive you back to Brittany's," he said in a low voice, just loud enough for Rory to hear him. The dark-haired boy sniffled miserably, and opened the car door, slowly getting in and closing the door behind him, staring blankly through the windshield, watching the raindrops do their suicide runs down the glass. Kurt slipped into the driver's seat, handing the younger boy a tissue. "Here," he said quietly. He flinched a little as Rory snatched it out of his hand, and Kurt realized he couldn't tell if those droplets on the pale boy's face were from the rain or from his own tears. "Are you okay?" He finally asked. The boy ignored him, continuing to stare out the window, his expression unreadable, and it made Kurt very uneasy to watch the normally happy, smiling boy act this stoic and emotionless. "I'm so sorry," he said again, to no answer.
Kurt began to shake, but out of fear or regret or rage, he did not know. "Please, baby, speak to me," he begged. "At least let me know what you're feeling right now."
"I never thought you would do this to me," Rory finally said in a low voice.
"Rory, I-" Kurt began to say, but Rory cut him off.
"Forget it, Kurt. I gave you everything. I gave you everything," Rory said, his hands and his voice shaking with anger and betrayal. "And you treat me like shit."
"Excuse me?" Kurt shrieks. "I treat you like shit?"
"I gave you my first kiss, my first relationship…I gave you my goddamn virginity, Kurt, and you just…end it like this, with no hope of us ending up together in the end?" Rory viciously smacked the glove compartment and was happy that his pain was able to transfer from that of emotional to that of physical.
"Oh, Rory," Kurt breathed. "I had no idea…why didn't you tell me I was your first kiss?"
"I didn't want you to think I was inexperienced," Rory felt the heat rise to his cheeks.
"I never did," Kurt murmured. "Not for one moment."
"Please," Rory choked out through the tears that were coming to his eyes. "Just take me back to Brittany's house so I can wallow in my own heartbreak and sorrow."
"And I thought Rachel was overdramatic," Kurt muttered, but jammed the key in ignition and backed out of the driveway. They drove in awkward, uncomfortable silence, the silence that accompanies a couple that has just broken up but is forced to share a car home from the date. "At least tell me we're still friends," Kurt said softly after awhile.
"I don't know," Rory said honestly. "Are you still friends with your ex-boyfriend?"
"Well, yes," Kurt was taken aback by the question. "Blaine and I are friends. Tina and Artie were still good friends after they broke up over a year ago. Puck is fond of Rachel, even though they only dated for maybe a week. He's also fond of Quinn, and they had a baby together."
"Wait, Quinn and Puck had a baby together?" Rory asked in disbelief. "Why didn't I know about this before?"
"No one really mentions it," Kurt admitted. "They gave her up for adoption. Her name was Beth, and Rachel's biological mother adopted her."
"Oh, right, I sometimes forget that Rachel has two dads," Rory said quietly.
"Anyway," Kurt went on. "It's entirely possible to be friends with your ex."
"Okay," Rory said in a small voice. "Kurt," he sighed. "I still will love you."
Kurt looks over at the smaller boy. "I'll still love you, too." The two boys looked into each other's eyes for a moment, wondering if there was still time to salvage the relationship.
"Kurt, look out!" Rory screamed, pointing at something over Kurt's shoulder, and then for him, everything was black. The last thing he remembered was Kurt's beautiful blue-grey eyes boring into his soul with love and compassion.
If only he could do that moment all over again, to leave a minute sooner or a minute later that night. Screaming, people were screaming, Rory was screaming and Kurt couldn't help him or comfort him, because he was clawing his way back to consciousness…
"Rory," Kurt's eyes fluttered open. "Rory!" He tried to sit up straight, but found that he was restrained somehow. His head throbbed as he tried to catch his bearings. "Where am I? God, my head hurts," he moaned.
"Kurt Hummel? Can you hear me?" A man asked from his left.
"Of course I can," Kurt answered, annoyed. "Where the hell am I?"
"Do you remember what happened?" The paramedic asked him.
"Yes," Kurt nodded. "I was driving with…oh my God," he tried to sit up again, but was pushed back down by the medic. "Where's Rory?" He asked again. "Where's my boyfriend?" He stumbled over the last word, remembering in a jarring train of thoughts that he had broken up with Rory, and that this was Ohio, after all; being gay was not looked fondly upon.
"Um, well," the paramedic looked over at the female medic that was in the ambulance with them. "Well, the thing is, Kurt…"
"Where is my boyfriend?" Kurt demanded. "You'd better tell me right now!"
"We can't," the female medic spoke up. "We're not sure ourselves. He was taken in an ambulance before you."
"Well, am I at least going to be okay?" Kurt hesitantly asked.
"You may have a concussion," the male paramedic admits. "And your right leg is broken, and you have several cuts and bruises. But otherwise, you should be fine."
He wished he could erase that night forever, to write a new one instead, but he couldn't; it was already much too late.
Rory Flanagan was fast fading away by the time he reached the emergency room. He was barely conscious as the ER staff rushed around him, trying to save his life. Various images and thoughts breezed through his mind like a speeding train. Kurt, kissing him for the first time. Kurt, telling him that he loved him for the first time. He and Kurt tangled in the sheets, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking. Kurt, breaking up with him…without realizing it, a tear rolled down Rory's cheek. He felt his breathing slow down substantially, and he realized that he was most likely going to die, and he wasn't going to be able to see Kurt one last time. What a terrible way to go, he thought sadly, thousands of miles away from family and friends, and on the heels of a breakup with your first love. His breaths were coming further and further apart, and he closed his eyes, waiting for angels to swoop down and carry him into the gates of Heaven. The last thing he heard was what he thought to be Kurt's voice, calling his name softly as he drew in his last breath.
How could this happen to me?
"Rory," Kurt sits up suddenly against the wishes of the ER staff. "Rory!" He started breathing heavily, feeling as if a piece of his heart was ripped out of his chest. "He's dead, isn't he?" He implored of the nearest doctor. "Rory, he's dead." The doctor averted his gaze. "Tell me the truth," Kurt begged. "Just…please, just say it."
"He passed away just a few moments ago," the doctor finally admitted.
"Thank you," Kurt said quietly, tears streaming down his face, his breaths coming in sobs as he realized what their last words to each other had been.
"Were you close friends?" The doctor asked sympathetically as she held out a tissue for Kurt to blow his nose and to dry his tears.
"He was my…boyfriend," Kurt held the tissue, his hands shaking. The doctor, to his surprise, leaned down to hug him.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "But just so you know," she sniffled, "a few moments before he died, he was smiling. Perhaps he was thinking of you," she offered.
"You don't get it," Kurt murmured. "We…see, he is…was…a foreign exchange student from Ireland…staying with one of my friends from our Glee Club…and he was about to…to go back soon. So I told him I wanted to…to break up…since we'd be very far apart for an unknown amount of time…and he was…quite angry at me…" He began to tear the tissue to shreds. "His last words to me were 'I will still love you'."
Seriously, how could this happen to me?
Burt and Carole Hummel ran into the ER and embraced their son. "Kurt, how could this happen?" Carole sobbed and shook with relief as she saw that her step-son was relatively okay.
"Don't scare me like that," Burt gently admonished him. "But Kurt…I don't know what I'd do if I'd lost you. You're all I have left of your mother."
Finn dashed in just then, having parked the car. "Kurt," he nearly collapsed with relief as he saw that his brother was fine. "Oh, God, Kurt, I'm so glad…"
"Kurt, what's the matter?" Carole asked concernedly as she saw that Kurt was staring blankly ahead at the wall and the tissue that was hacked to shreds in his lap.
"Yeah, where's Rory?" Finn looked around the room.
"He's dead," Kurt said, his voice hollow and sounding strange to his ears.
"No," Finn rushed to his step-brother's bedside, kneeling down to meet Kurt's eyes with his own. "Kurt, that's not true! Rory's fine, he is!"
"No, Finn," Kurt said in that same flat voice. "He's gone. I felt it."
"I'm so sorry, honey," Carole held him tightly. "I know how much you loved him…"
"Yeah, that sucks, son," Burt said around the lump in his throat, unsure of what to say or how to comfort his child. He didn't admit it aloud, but he had grown fond of the well-mannered, even-tempered, sweet-natured Irish boy.
It was a mistake, a stupid, silly, foolish mistake…
"Let me see him," Kurt begged the kindly doctor. "Please…before you…do anything…just let me see him…once last time."
The doctor paused at first, but then took pity upon the heartbroken and grieving boy in the bed. "Sure," she said finally. "I think he would've liked that." She helped Kurt into a wheelchair and brought him over to the bed where Rory still lay, being unhooked from the machines that attempted to save his life. "I'll let you have a moment," she closes the curtain around the small area for privacy.
"Oh, baby," Kurt whispered as soon as she had gone. "Baby, I'm so sorry. I somehow feel as if this is all my fault…if only I hadn't broken up with you tonight…if only it hadn't been raining…if only I hadn't insisted on driving you home…if only we'd left a minute earlier or a minute later…if only I'd been paying attention…" he broke off into a low, keening moan. "Rory, baby, I love you, I still love you, I always loved you, and I always will love you. I'm so sorry…so sorry…I hurt you, and now you're dead…" he managed to move himself closer to the broken boy's still, lifeless body. He reached over and held Rory's hand tightly. It was cold and hard, not soft and warm, like Kurt was used to, like he was so familiar with. He pulled himself up, limping on his broken leg. He leaned down and gently pressed his lips to Rory's, like in a fairytale. But unlike in a fairytale, the princess wouldn't wake up when the prince kissed her. Kurt at first wasn't sure that he had been Rory's first kiss…but now, now he was sure he was Rory's last.