If there was one thing Rory understood, it was sadness.
Being distanced from his friends and family was one thing, but feeling as if he had no real friends, not back home and not even in Glee Club, was a completely different story. Mixed with the usual longing emotions, when it came down to it, Rory was extremely lonely.
The Irish teenager couldn't imagine anything worse than feeling like he did. Day in and day out, there was no escape from the relentless waves of isolation coursing through his body. It got to the point where he was sure he'd never find someone who could fill the hole he felt inside.
With no hope of a better tomorrow, Rory often found himself contemplating the benefits of ending his own life. If he was always going to feel so miserable, he couldn't see a reason why he should let himself suffer. He started daydreaming about the different ways he could kill himself, but when it came to actions, something kept Rory from going over the edge.
It wasn't until word spread of another student's attempted suicide did Rory realize that he didn't truly want to die, he just wanted the negative feelings to go away. Seeing the other students so affected by just the possibility of losing a student most of them didn't seem too fond over made the Irish teenager realize that no matter what anyone has going on, every life was precious.
Rory tried to push the thought of the suicidal student out of his head - after all, that could be him they were all talking about - but he was soon faced with the situation becoming a Glee Club matter. Schuester approached him with a great idea to make the terrible situation a bonding experience, and when he asked Rory what was something he hadn't tried before, Irish teenager lamely responded, "taste peanut butter" in an attempt to hide his embarrassment of the first thing that popped in his head: he had never experienced kissing someone, at least not romantically.
Sure Rory has had crushes before, from an exhausting attraction to Brittany and then the train wreck that was his short-lived relationship with Sugar; Rory was done with American women. But seeing his crush on that blonde kid Sam didn't lead anywhere either, maybe the problem wasn't the people Rory liked - maybe the problem was just him.
The teacher snapped Rory's attention back to the real reason for Shuester's question: a lesson. And with that, the Irish teenager put on a brave face and pretended that his problems were easy enough to be cured with something as simple as peanut butter.
The lesson did do its trick, he had to say. The following week, every time Rory's dark thoughts would start clouding his brain, he would think of the things he hadn't done yet, the things he wanted to do, see, and experience. Just thinking about what could be created a little bud of hope inside of him, a hope that one day he would find someone who understood how he felt; one day he hoped to find someone who would make all those negative feelings subside.
An idea came to him from overhearing Kurt talk about going to visit the boy who tried to kill himself, whose name Rory learned was David Karofsky. If anyone could relate to Rory's pain, being pushed so close to that edge, it was surely him. The prospect of finding someone who not only would understand how he felt, but would also possibly ease those negative feelings was almost too much for the young boy to handle. He found himself absolutely giddy with excitement.
Of course that did nothing to ease his nervousness the next day when he found himself outside David Karofsky's room at Saint Agnes Hospital. After seeing a doctor leave the room, Rory took that as a sign to enter and with a deep breath, he pushed the door open to find himself face to face with a burly, dark haired teenager who towered over Rory's average stature. What shocked the Irish teen wasn't the sight of the other boy, but more of the fact that he was in the middle of getting dressed and was standing in front of Rory with only a pair of jeans on.
With a yelp, he rushed out the room and slammed the door behind him. 'Way to make a first impression,' Rory scolded himself, trying to steady his now quickened heartbeat. When he finally felt like his heart had calmed down, the other boy opened the door and Rory found himself flush red all over again.
He was surprised to find the other boy's face mirrored his blush.
"Errr... Sorry," Rory started at the same time the Karofsky boy said, "Sorry about that."
With a nervous laugh, the taller teenager walked back into the room. "You can come in now, you know."
Rory followed him and sat down in an empty chair, watching the other teenager gather his belongings before sitting upright on the bed.
"Are you a friend of Kurt's?" He questioned with gentle eyes looking over the Irish boy.
"Oh, yes!" He replied with a start, realizing he didn't introduce himself yet. "I'm Rory. Rory Flanagan."
"Nice accent." His smile looked genuine as he outstretched his hand for Rory to shake. "I'm Dave. But I bet you knew that," he added with a shy chuckle.
His laugh eased a bit of the tension and Rory quickly shook his hand in response. "Yeah, Kurt told me about you. I thought I'd stop by, if that's all right." A slight shrug of Dave's shoulders didn't deter the other teenager. "Here, I brought you these. My Mum always makes them for me when I'm feeling... sad." Rory handed over a plastic container filled with pastries.
Dave gave a small smile as he took the offered gift, opening the lid to peer inside. "Oh, look at the mini-cupcakes!" He picked one up to examine it and Rory couldn't help but laugh.
"It's called a fairy cake. I hope it tastes all right. I'm not much of a baker..."
Dave responded with a simple, "Let's find out." As he handed Rory one and held his up. "What should we toast to?"
"Happiness?" Rory supplied.
"Happiness in the form of cake!" Dave echoed, holding his pastry up to Rory's before devouring the whole thing in one bite.
Rory suppressed a laugh as he bit into his own cake, surprised how well they ended up turning out.
"Thanks." Dave mumbled, looking down at his hands.
"For the cakes? It was no big deal, really," Rory responded, a bit confused.
"No. Well, yeah, those too. But I meant for coming here. You didn't have to." Dave looked up and smiled at the smaller boy.
Rory grew quiet for a minute, before finally saying, "I figured you could use a new friend, especially one who knew how it felt. And no one should have to suffer through that. No one should have to be alone."
And with that statement, Rory and Dave found themselves more at ease with each other, talking about football, singing, dancing, movies, and everything else they could think of before Dave's father came to collect his son from the hospital.
From that day forth, Rory found himself wondering how he could have ever felt so low in his life that he thought he was alone. There were so many possibilities for making relationships that could last. He just needed to meet the right person first and he was so grateful to have found that person in Dave, even if the circumstances for them meeting wasn't ideal. Looking back, those terrible events leading up to that fateful day was the greatest thing to have ever happened to him.