A/N: I probably should apologise for the cliffhanger LOL but it just seemed like a good place to stop (and have you wonder what's going to happen next!) Thanks for all the lovely reviews and new story alerts. This story is very dear to me so it's encouraging to see people are reading it.
The Road Less Travelled
Chapter 11
Kurt was standing on the pavement outside his flat. He was in his sweatpants and t-shirt, having quickly put on some trainers and a coat; he had grabbed his wallet, keys and had headed out.
Dave was still at the other end of the phone. Kurt had told him to keep talking, despite Dave's continued assurances that he was fine now and would not do anything to harm himself.
Kurt normally didn't believe in taking taxi's when there was an adequate public transport system to take advantage off or the good old fashioned method of walking to use, but these were exceptional circumstances. He had told Dave to hold the line while he would quickly call a taxi and was frantically scanning the road for it to make an appearance.
"Seriously, how long can it possibly take?" he huffed more to himself than into the phone. "Dave you're still there aren't you?"
"Yes…" Dave's voice cracked. He had calmed down considerably but all that crying had taken a toll on his voice.
After what seemed like forever the cab finally pulled up and Kurt quickly jumped in giving the driver the address of Dave's hotel and urging him to hurry up. He was sure he heard the guy mumble a 'where's the fire' under his breath.
Dave's hotel would in fact have been within walking distance but Kurt felt, rightly or not, that every minute counted.
The drive hardly took five minutes, and Kurt lost count of the amount of times he had asked Dave whether he was still on the line.
He rushed into the hotel lobby and headed straight for the lift, thankfully the guy at the reception didn't even bother to look up from whatever it was that he was looking at on his phone.
"Dave, it was room 408 wasn't it?" he asked while he continuously pressed the button, as though that could make the lift move any faster. Dave just huffed some sort of confirmation in return and Kurt hoped that that was because he was getting tired rather than because of him actually having taken something.
The lift door opened and Kurt raced down the corridor following the signs for Rooms 400 – 412.
"I'm here," he said into the phone and knocking on the door at the same time.
He heard some shuffling through the phone and then a short while later the click as the door unlocked and opened.
Kurt stared in disbelief at the man before him. Dave was wearing boxer briefs and a vest and under any other circumstances Kurt probably would have marvelled at the sight of such a nice specimen of man. Instead his eyes immediately went up to look into Dave's eyes. They looked tired and bloodshot. His face was haggard and he looked as though he had just run a marathon.
Kurt felt a pang in his heart looking at the broken man in front of him. He moved into the room and closed the door behind him. What could he possibly say that would make the pain he could so clearly see in Dave's face go away? There were no words; he had a feeling that anything that he could say would just sound hollow.
No, words weren't any good but he could show him that he cared, that Dave was not as alone as he thought he was. He closed the distance and placed his arms around Dave's middle, pulling him into a hug as best as he could.
At the contact, Dave immediately let himself be pulled into the hug. He melted into Kurt's touch and in return placed his arms around the smaller man and placed his face on his shoulder. Tears were starting to fall again and soon he was outright sobbing and feeling weak, he was slowly sinking to his knees.
Kurt didn't let go but followed him down and if anything tightened his embrace. He hoped this was what Dave needed, just to be able to let it all out. He placed one of his hands in Dave's hair and stroked it over and over again and telling him that things would be ok.
He had no idea whether that was the truth or not but somehow felt that that was what Dave needed to hear.
Kurt started to rock them from side to side, as Dave's tears kept on falling, his other hand moving up and down Dave's back. "Shhh" he said soothingly.
As he sat there, feeling Dave hold on to him for dear life, Kurt could feel anger rising inside him. At what specifically he couldn't even tell. He was angry at the world, society, people, traditions, doctrines which could convince someone like Dave that it would be better to fight who you are, to look for the perfect prescriptive way one was supposed to live their life.
He had the result of just such thinking wrapped up in his arms, having tried and failed and seemingly having nothing left.
They must have stayed like that on the floor for what seemed like hours.
He had no idea how but he eventually managed to move them over and up onto the bed. Their arms were still wrapped around each other and Kurt had gone back to gently stroking Dave's hair.
Dave had closed his eyes and his breathing started to even out. Kurt was holding him and stroking him and let the occasional "Shh" slip out, although they got quieter the more Dave seemed to calm down.
Finally Dave's body relaxed as he went off to sleep. Kurt didn't dare to move not wanting to risk waking Dave up. One of his arms was trapped under Dave's body and he could feel it go numb but he just chose to ignore it and he eventually managed to drift off to sleep as well.
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Kurt woke up first. He opened his eyes to be met with the sleeping face of Dave mere inches from his. He could still see the dried tears on his cheek but other than that he looked peaceful.
By the way the light was just lightly illuminating the room Kurt judged that it was still fairly early. He desperately needed the toilet. He managed to detangle himself carefully from Dave and tiptoed into the bathroom. On the way back from the bathroom he quickly grabbed his phone to check the time. It was 6am, which meant that he really needed to head home and get ready to leave for work.
He looked over at the sleeping figure on the bed and made a decision there and then that he did not want Dave to wake up to an empty room. He decided to do something he had never done before, to take a sickday when he was actually anything but. He pulled up the school contact information and left a message saying that he was extremely sorry but he had come down with a bug and could not come in today. The way his voice sounded they would probably believe him.
Just as quietly and carefully as he got off the bed, he went back, lying down on the same spot as before, his face facing Dave's, he was looking at him and wondering whether his world would look brighter today somehow than it had last night, and if in fact there was anything he could do to brighten it.
Kurt had given things a lot of thought while he held Dave last night. He had no idea what he could offer the man in terms of help, his situation was so foreign to Kurt, who never struggled with his identity and it almost felt like they had been round that same mountain together before. But this time Kurt was older and wiser, he finally realised that there was no point to tell someone to be comfortable and just get on with it, life was more complex than that.
The deeper issues of why Dave felt like he did needed addressing and also the fact that he was scared for good reason. There was no telling how his wife would react if or when she found out the truth. In the end after his thoughts had been going round and round in a loop, he had come to the conclusion that maybe all Dave did in fact need was someone to listen, to smile at him, a shoulder to cry on and a place where he could drop the mask until he had it all figured out.
Kurt had decided last night that he would try and be that person. Dave had come to him for help and that must have not been easy for him to do.
Kurt smiled to himself as he looked at the still sleeping figure curled up so close to him and couldn't help but let his hand ghost over Dave's cheek to swipe at those dried tears. He could feel Dave stir at the touch and quickly removed his hand.
Dave let out a moan and stirred again. He opened his eyes and before he even knew where he was he was met with a pair of beautiful blue eyes looking right back at him. The same eyes that used to haunt him in his dreams, now looking at him with nothing but warmth in them.
Kurt felt a smile creep over his face. "Hey" he said in an almost whisper.
"Hey" Dave whispered in reply, not moving his gaze away and a small smile ghosting across his lips in return. It slowly all came back to him. The way he had cried and Kurt had held him and comforted him until he fell asleep and how good it felt to have someone there, no questions asked, no mask to uphold.
"Thanks" he murmured. It was such a simple word. Hardly enough to convey everything that he was feeling at the moment, but somehow Kurt seemed to understand.
Kurt smiled in return. Their faces were so close their noses were almost touching. Kurt thought this must be the first time he actually noticed how beautiful Dave's eyes were. Brown but not quite brown, a bit of green dotted around in between.
They kept looking at each other. They both could feel their respective body heat intermingle. The peace and quiet was the opposite of the cries and tears but a few hours ago.
Without much thought Kurt again brushed his fingers over the dried tears on Dave's face. Dave didn't flinch away but instead leaned into the touch, his eyes not leaving Kurt's.
Kurt placed a gentle kiss on Dave's forehead. The gesture was meant to be one of comfort but before he knew it he leaned in again and kissed Dave's cheeks, where the trail of the tears was still visible.
Again Dave didn't pull away, if anything Dave moved his face closer to Kurt's. His eyes were closing and his breathing was picking up.
Kurt kept on placing little kisses all along Dave's cheeks and jaw before the last one found Dave's lips in a gentle kiss.
A/N 2: This chapter was mainly Kurt's POV, for the simple reason that I believe that the state Dave was in, he wouldn't really be thinking much at all, he just needed to get out his emotions.
Oh, and sorry for another cliffhanger but I had to cut somewhere or this would have turned into a monster of a chapter. I will be going on holiday soon, and although I will bring my laptop with me, please forgive me if it takes a bit longer to update! And as always I love to hear what you thought of the chapter.