Spoilers through "On My Way."
I saw a post on tumblr asking for someone to write Kurt and Paul meeting in the hospital after Dave's suicide attempt. This is what I came up with. It's short and spur-of-the-moment.
~.x.~
Every time Paul closed his eyes, he saw it again. The first thing he'd seen was his son's silhouette through his closet door, a chasm in the light of David's room. His memory saw it in pieces. Dave's dress shoes hovering above the floor, turning in the air. The tie, perfectly tied the way Paul had taught David to do it when he was still a boy getting ready for his aunt's wedding. The leather of the belt digging into the flesh at his son's neck, and how it had resisted when Paul fought to remove it. His hands still shook when he thought about it.
He opened his eyes quickly and faced the pale glare of hospital lights and the bland decorations of hospital waiting rooms. It stank of disinfectant and despair. Dave would live, but still the hospital felt like failure. Paul should have seen it coming. He should have been there, should have realized…
"Mr. Karofsky?" Paul almost mistook the voice for female for a moment. It was a boy though. Kurt Hummel, who David had bullied so severely he transferred to another school.
That was when Paul should have known. He knew Dave wasn't acting like himself. He knew he was bullying the only out gay student at his school. There were signs. So many signs.
"Are you okay, Mr. Karofsky?" Tears shone in the corners of Kurt's red, puffy eyes, but his voice was clear and strong.
"Yes, Kurt, thank you." He tried to offer the boy a smile, but it wouldn't come. Paul hoped his expression looked less a grimace than it felt.
"I…" Kurt blinked away the wetness in his eyes. "I knew. About Dave. I… I should have been there for him. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." His skin alternated patches of bone-white and bright pink, and the tears returned to his eyes, only this time a few made it down his cheeks, following the dried paths of previous tears.
"Kurt, God, don't blame yourself." Paul rested a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "It's not your fault."
For a moment Paul tried to close his eyes to his own guilt, but he found only his son's feet in the air, not falling back down.
"I'll be there for him now though, Mr. Karofsky, I promise I will." Kurt had a determined look to him, and honestly Paul wondered where Kurt found the strength.
"I appreciate it Kurt, and I'm sure Dave does too. But you don't have to, especially not after what he's done…" Paul couldn't say it. He knew David hurt Kurt, and he knew someone else had hurt David the same way. In Paul's mind, that hurt felt like the leather strap and metal buckle of a belt strapped to a solid beam of wood and the softness of a neck.
"I don't care what he's done," Kurt's voice shook this time, but in that moment Paul loved Kurt almost as he loved his own son. "No one should have to feel like…" Kurt wrapped his arms around his torso, pulling in on himself. He took a deep breath and pulled himself together visibly. "Dave and I are friends now, and I'm going to be a good friend to him."
A moment passed before Paul found his voice. "Thank you, Kurt."
Kurt nodded as if in answer and offered a sad smile before he walked away. Paul still couldn't smile in return, not until he had seen David home and smiling again. He felt better though, knowing his son had a friend who supported him.
His phone rang again. That would be David's mother. Paul hit ignore and promised himself he would make sure David knew had had at least one parent who supported him too.