I own neither Dalton nor Glee. These lovely characters belong to CP Coulter.
Happy reading!
Justin got the call two hours after it happened. Not from the hospital, but from the twins, who sounded unusually distraught. This would have been enough to scare Justin, but the words 'Charlie,' 'paintball cannon,' and 'hospital' had given him a minor heart attack.
It took him 15 minutes to get to the hospital. On a good day, the hospital was about 30 minutes away. If his head hadn't been busy with twelve other things, maybe Justin would have stopped to wonder how he hadn't been pulled over. But this was not among the thoughts that Justin was dwelling on.
Instead, Justin was silently praying to a God he had never bothered to believe in. He imagined Charlie with brain damage, and dreaded the idea of his best friend never graduating. He imagined Charlie with memory loss, and teared up at the idea of his best friend forgetting he had ever existed. He imagined Charlie never being able to walk again, and thought back to playing soccer with him with the fondness you would give the memory of your wedding day. He imagined Charlie dead and his mind went blank. He went back to questioning his previous religious choices.
By the time Justin was standing outside of Charlie's hospital room, he had planned five brutal ways to murder the twins. All but one included the paintball cannon, and he could probably only avoid jail time in two of these.
He had sped to the hospital, verbally assaulted a nurse to get Charlie's room number, and ran up the stairs to get to where he was standing. But now, as he stood a few feet away from the door, Justin couldn't move. The second he entered the room, Charlie's injuries would be real. He replayed the fears that had plagued him on the drive over. This only paralyzed him more.
Maybe Justin would have stood outside Charlie's door for hours. Maybe for the rest of the night. Maybe he would have found the courage to go in by himself. Instead, David, going to get coffee for the boys in the hospital room, entered the hall to find the Justin Bancroft statue.
"Hey," David added an awkward smile. "We were wondering when you'd get here."
As Justin blinked and seemed to regain control of his body, David realized that Justin had been standing there for a while.
"Justin, are you okay?"
"I – is he?" Justin choked out.
"He'll be fine. He's…black and blue…but he'll be fine. Go in and see for yourself." David gestured to the door with one arm, and used the other to push Justin along.
If Justin had been any of the other Dalton students in Charlie's hospital room, he might have noticed Charlie's face light up when he came into the room. In fact, only the twins noticed this, and their silent knowing exchange went unnoticed as well.
Justin didn't even notice that there were other people in the room. His eyes traced over the boy in the bed. One of his legs had a small cloth bandage around the shin, and the other a thick cast. His left arm was in a sling, but didn't appear to have a matching cast. He wore a colorful cervical collar and an equally colorful black eye.
It was at this point that Justin noticed Charlie was also wearing an endearing smile and that Charlie wondered if Justin was ever going to address him.
"Don't I get a hello, or a get well?" Charlie asked the stunned boy, before deciding to push his luck. "Or a pip pip cheerio?"
"I – Did you really just make that joke? How high are you on painkillers?" Justin laughed, finally lured out of his shock.
"Very," Charlie grinned. "I'd say you should try it, but they're only masking about a third of the severe pain I'm in right now."
"Chaz…" Justin's eyes fell back into the panicked expression they wore seconds earlier. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"They happened." Charlie rolled his eyes and glared at the twins. "But I was indulging them, so it's my own damn fault."
Justin's eyes darted to the twins, and then to Wes and Blaine, as if he had just realized there were other people in the room.
Recognizing Justin's unintentional expression as accusing them of intruding, the twins hatched a new scheme.
"Mad Hatter is taking too long with our coffee," Evan spoke up.
"We should go get it ourselves," Ethan added.
"Rabbit?"
"Hare?"
The twins looked at the other Windsors expectantly and the boys followed obliviously.
As the door closed, Justin pulled a chair up to Charlie's bed and leaned his arms against the edge.
"You look like I'm in a coffin," Charlie smirked.
"I thought you might be dead. Or you wouldn't remember me. Or –"
"Of course I remember you, Mark," Charlie deadpanned.
"Justi-" Justin stopped himself as he realized he was the victim of a joke. "Seriously, you are way too happy for someone who is in a hospital bed with a broken leg and a neck brace."
"Relax, Justin," Charlie reached a hand out to rest on Justin's arm. "My leg will heel, and the brace is just a precaution. They were worried about paralysis or something –"
"Paralysis?" Justin would have moved his arms in panic, for added effect, but he liked the feeling of Charlie's hand. "Chaz, how are you not freaking out? What if you can't play sports again?"
Justin was clearly not meant to console anyone.
"It's probably the painkillers," Charlie laughed. "Or maybe the fear hasn't sunk in yet. Come back tomorrow; I'll freak out with you then."
Justin smirked and absentmindedly shifted so that he was holding Charlie's hand. It felt so natural, he didn't notice until he caught Charlie staring at their hands. He thought about releasing Charlie's hand, but it felt so right that he ignored it instead.
"So shall I murder the twins for you, or what? What exactly happened?" Justin looked back to Charlie's eyes, which were still stuck upon his hand.
"Just a paintball fight. I fell down the stairs and crashed into half of the things in the room," Charlie explained in a faint voice that suggested his mind was otherwise occupied.
"They called and…" Justin's voice trailed off before he spoke again. "I thought you were dead."
Charlie didn't respond.
"Chaz," Justin asked, dwelling on Charlie's intent gaze. "How badly do those painkillers affect your judgment?"
"I don't know," Charlie's eyes furrowed, and drifted slowly up to Justin's face. "Why?"
"I'm trying to decide if I should kiss you." Justin voiced the thought as immediately as it came to him, and equally as quickly regretted it.
Charlie grinned, "And how does this decision depend upon how high I am?"
He had never thought of Justin like that. The thought had simply never occurred to him. But the suggestion had him blushing and grinning before he even needed to ask himself what he wanted Justin to do. He did not need to decide that he wanted Justin to kiss him, because the decision seemed to be made in his mind without any processing necessary.
"I'd spend the rest of my night wondering whether you would have done the same thing if you weren't doped up on painkillers."
"I would."
"And what exactly would that action be?" Justin leaned, ever so slightly, in toward Charlie.
"I would wonder how I could wrap my arms around your neck when I only currently have the use of the one."
Justin's eyes performed a brief three-act play. First they darted to Charlie's injured arm and swelled with sadness. Then they darted back to Charlie's glowing eyes at the realization of what he had just said. Finally, they locked on to Charlie's lips, which were wearing a smirk and waiting patiently for Justin to make good on his promise.
And without wasting any more time, Justin did. If his head hadn't been busy with twelve other things, maybe Justin would have stopped to wonder when exactly he had fallen for his best friend. But this was not among the thoughts that Justin was dwelling on.
Instead, Justin was savoring the feeling of Charlie's lips against his. He imagined what they would taste like when they weren't swollen and slightly bloody. He imagined doing this on his bed, where he could properly pull Charlie on top of him and continue this process much less inhibited. And just as he imagined Charlie pulling him closer, Charlie wrapped his uninjured arm around Justin's neck and slowly ran it up through the boy's hair.
Justin gasped and accidentally pulled away from the kiss.
"When did I fall in love with you?" Charlie whispered.
Justin's mouth twitched before he gathered the courage to respond, "Chaz, I think I'm in love with you too."
A few days later, Charlie would tell Justin that he owed this declaration to the painkillers. 'Who says I love you after their first kiss?' he would joke. He wouldn't say that he still meant it, but as they boys smiled with their eyes locked, both would realize that he didn't need to.