Corresponding episode: Rumours
Mildly graphic (medical, not sexual)
AN: Did you know doesn't publish stories unless you enter the chapter in "manage stories" ? Yeah? Well I forgot. That's why this and the last one took so long.
For those that asked, the story I asked about either was "Want Me" (story number 6935216/1/ ) by Mark Ash. Good story, check it out (too bad it's "dead," no longer updating).
xoxoxo
Yes, it had been absolutely hilarious to watch Finn blow up at Sam after the McKinley Muckraker came out. What hadn't been so funny was the second edition. "What Former Jock is Battling a Monkey on His Back?" David just let his head hang between his knees as the other gleeks accosted him over the latest article.
"Dude! It totally makes sense: you being sick all the time, giving up sports,joiningglee? What the hell else could it be?" Puckerman stood in front of David, hands on his hips, feet shoulder width apart in a power stance, bent slightly at the hip so he could look down at David. "Look, dude. I've been there; I know what it's like. You've always been totally straightedge. I get it. You're in over your head and can't handle the shit you've gotten yourself into. I know a couple guys who can help you mellow as you get back on the narrow."
Dave shook his head as he slouched back in the chair. "I'm not on any fucking drugs, okay? I'm not on any sports because I hate being friggin' catcher every year for the baseball team, I'm still getting over that flu shit I had a few weeks ago, and all of you joined glee and I doubt any of you are on drugs." David gestured around himself to the other members of New Directions. Kurt sat in the last row, on the other side of the room from him. David wasn't sure whether to be pissed Kurt wasn't sticking up for him, or glad that Kurt wasn't. After all, if Kurt always stood up for David, it would start to look suspicious to the other singers. "Why is it you can all be in glee, no problem, but the second I join, I've gotta be on drugs or something?" David stood up, shoving his hands into the pockets of his letterman. Throwing a final "fuck you" over his shoulder, he walked out of the rehearsal room.
Kurt, an arm laid across his lap while he examined the nails on his free hand stated point blankly "He's not doing drugs."
Santana rolled her eyes. "Bullshit. I've seen that boy popping enough pills that Lindsay Lohan would accuse him of having a problem. That boy be doing some serious shit and if he doesn't get his act together, he's going to be doing some hard-time."
Kurt raised his eyebrows in a bitchy-nonchalant sort of way, kind of saying "is that so?" to Santana. "Ever consider that they're antibiotics of some kind? After all, he wasn't taking drugs, got sick. Now he's taking drugs and he's not sick. Sounds a bit cause and effect-ish to me."
"Oh-puh-leeze. Even Skittles don't have that many colors in the rainbow. Dave's got his paws on the good shit and like Puck said, he's been such a good little boy scout for so long, treating his body like it's the goddamned Mount Olympus of temples, that he has no idea how to handle it."
"Besides, he is still sick. I heard him throwing up in the bathroom after lunch yesterday." Everyone looked at Mike. Mike had been one of the least-inclined to listen to the rumors going around, so it was interesting to the group that he was siding with Puck and Santana.
"And he looks pale…and gaunt lately. Don't drugs make your skin sallow?" Kurt's eyes went wide as he looked at Rachel. It was okay for Santana and Puck and Mike to comment on David's peculiarities lately, because they weren't a threat. They couldn't care less what happened to other people. Rachel on the other hand would likely get her bird-beak in where it didn't belong and just peck around until she found a nice juicy worm.
Mercedes turned in her chair next to Kurt to face him. "He's yourfriend, Kurt. I know you want all of us to play nicey-nice with him, but none of us are as comfortable talking to him as you are. You need to go up to him, lay down the facts, and tell that boy to get help. I know we all prefer this David to the Karofsky that used to terrorize us, but the fact is, if he's literally killing himself to be a better person, I think we'd all be willing to take a slushy or two if it just meant he was okay."
"What facts, Mercedes? You're all just throwing around circumstantial evidence. David is not doing drugs."
"Here, listen to this." The members of New Directions all looked over at Tina as she read from her phone. "Signsofdrugabuse." Kurt rolled his eyes. They would not let this go.
Changes in appetite or sleep patterns
Engaging in secretive or suspicious behaviors.
Sudden change in friends, favorite hangouts, and hobbies.
Unexplained change in personality or attitude.
Sudden mood swings, irritability, or angry outbursts.
Periods of unusual hyperactivity, agitation, or giddiness.
Lack of motivation; appears lethargic or "spaced out."
Appears fearful, anxious, or paranoid, with no reason.
"All of these fit David. Almost ever since he joined glee. " Mike nodded along with Tina as she passed her phone off to Artie so he could look at it.
"Yeah, he left the baseball team right before he joined glee. And Az and Strando haven't talked to him in weeks." Finn was looking Kurt dead in the eye. Apparently every gleek had made up their mind about David and felt the need to bring Kurt over to their way of thinking.
"Fine, I'll talk to David, but only so it'll shut you all up." Kurt stood and marched out of the choir room. Quinn followed Kurt out, catching up to Kurt's longer strides once they were around the corner.
She grabbed onto his messenger bag, forcing him to stop and face her. "You and I both know what they printed about me and Sam isn't true. We both know that the Muckraker is just trying to destroy us from the inside out." Kurt nodded, glad someone was finally willing to listen to reason. "But Kurt, even you have to admit, there really is no other explanation. He needs a friend right now, Kurt. Helphim."
Kurt bit on his lower lip and shook his head, looking up and away to try and stave off the tears. But then he relented, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to compose himself, he nodded. "You're right, Quinn. He does need help. But not for the reasons everybody thinks."
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David was in the bathroom off of the auditorium. It was out of the way, so almost no one ever went in there. His stomach had already been feeling queasy when he saw what that damned newspaper had to say and listening to all those high and mighty assholes tell him he "had a problem" had just made it worse. His morning sickness, hormones and low self-esteem were at the moment bubbling up through his esophagus and emptying into the ceramic bowl in front of him (along with most of what he had eaten that day). He felt a small hand rubbing delicately up and down his back, then a soft voice murmured, "God, I do not miss this."
David shot up like a bolt and turned around to face Quinn; Kurt stood a few feet behind her, his head down, a look (of guilt? of shame?) on his face. "I'm sorry, David. I needed someone to talk to. Someone who would understand. Someone who had been there."
David didn't know what to say, what to think. But Quinn saved him from having to say anything. "It's okay, David. I won't tell anyone. I know what you're going through. And I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Besides, I think it's kind of cute. Like BeautyandtheBeast, almost." David looked between Kurt and Quinn, confusion spelt out across his features.
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"So she thinks you're the dad?"
Kurt and Dave were sitting in the auditorium, as per usual, although it wasn't third period. It was well after school had released for the day. "I needed her to know, you know? I just…I'm so sorry, Dave. I had to tell someone. Not…a doctor: some sterilized, PhD who only sees us as specimens for a dissertation. A real person. But at the same time, I couldn't tell her about the party." Kurt let out a chuckle. "I value my life far too much to risk telling anyone about that."
"You could have said the dad was anyone, or that you didn't know."
Kurt resisted the urge to shrug and ran his fingers through his hair instead. "The doctors both think I'm the dad. Hell, I'm so used to them talking to me about "our future concerns and responsibilities" that I sometimes have to remind myself that I wasn't exactly there for the conception."
David forced himself to smile and reached across the armrest to take Kurt's hand. "Maybe not, but you've been there a hell of a lot more than many dads these days. And you're welcome to be there as long as you want." Kurt wrapped his free hand around their entwined fingers, smiling softly to himself. He could sense, more than see, David move closer. When he looked up to face David, he was surprised with a warm moisture pressing against his lips. Thisisit…myfirst,realkiss.
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"David, I've heard a lot of concerning rumors going around lately."
David sat in front of Mr. Shu's desk, staring at the cutout of a G-clef on the wall. GoddamnedBerry,ithadtobeher. "Yep. There are a bunch going around." David licked his lips and avoided looking at Mr. Schu, instead, eyeing all the different decorations and pictures on the walls.
"I just want to hear, fromyou, that they're just that. Rumors." Will had his hands folded patiently on his desk. David had always been a tricky kid to work with. He thrived on positive reinforcement, yet, at the same time, it could be hard to tell what David would consider positive. He had praised David in front of his peers in Spanish class a week ago for correctly naming all the countries with Spanish as the official language, yet instead of pleasing David, the poor boy had turned beet red and nearly started crying. Will decided to avoid putting any spotlight on David in the classroom for the foreseeable future.
What Will didn't know, was that David hadn't even been listening to the praise. He had been looking at a picture of a horse, dressed up in some frilly outfit for a festival that Mr. Schu had on the wall. The picture had reminded Dave of an ASPCA commercial where they were showing two possible fates for baby animals. The poor horse foal was shipped to some third world country where it was worked to death and sold as meat. David had tried so hard not to cry at the memory of the commercial that he had turned red from the effort. He hated these stupid hormones. The stupidest shit made him want to start crying and half the time he couldn't even figure out why!
"I swear to you Mr. Schu. The worst "drug" I have ever done is Budweiser. I don't ever even drink hard alcohol."
Mr. Schuester nodded, believing David's honest-sounding pledge. "Okay, David. Get back to class."
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"Here."
Puck didn't even bother to wait around to see if David looked at the flyer he had given him. But David did look, out of curiosity, of course. He nearly cursed under his breath when he saw the "Narcotics Anonymous" title at the top of the flyer. It had obviously been ripped down from some church or temple bulletin seeing as a corner was ripped off and there were still un-bent staples in the other corners. David balled the flyer up in his fist and stood, facing the New Directions. "I am not on any fucking drugs! Okay? I'm sick and I'm taking meds for that."
Rachel shook her head, a look of sympathy on her face. "The first step is admittance, David. You don't have to admit it to us, but at least to yourself."
David pulled out one of the chairs from the first row and sat down on it, his legs splayed on either side of the chair-back. "I am not a druggy." David took a deep breath. "I didn't want to tell any of you this, but" Kurt sucked in his breath in anticipation. "when I got sick a few weeks ago, I went to the doctors."
Oh,deargod. Kurt thought. Finn will tell Dad and then Dad will flay me alive!
"I have an intestinal disease that makes it difficult for me to digest food. That's why I throw up a lot. My body rejects a lot of what I try to eat." Intestinaldisease? Kurt sighed in relief. "The medication is mostly to help me keep food down and to supplement the nutrition I'm losing from not being able to eat a well-balanced meal." David paused to gauge their reactions.
"I'm tired because I'm up all night trying not to throw up or fighting off hunger pangs. That's also why I look weird. I gave up sports because I can't get my calorie intake up high enough to sustain me playing anything. Even before I went to the doctors I was feeling exhausted all the time. I joined glee because, without sports, I don't have any friends or anything to do. I got bored and figured if I was going to take a dive-bomb on the McKinley High pecking order, I may as well at least have fun doing it. Any other questions?"
One-by-one, the gleeks apologized. A few of the girls (Tina, Quinn, and Mercedes) actually got up to hug David. Puck had the decency to keep his mouth shut and just looked ashamed of himself. Mr. Schu patted David on the shoulder and gave him his best encouraging smile he could muster.
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Kurt was half asleep in bed when he heard his phone vibrating. Rolling over he picked it up. Groggily sliding the unlock button, Kurt groaned out "Hello?"
"I took your advice."
Kurt recognized David's voice on the other end of the line. And despite the ungodly hour, he sounded wide-awake. "Which advice?"
"I called a rape hotline."
Kurt felt as though a weight had been lifted, not from his shoulders, but from his chest. It was as thought a vice had been choking his heart: seeing David in so much pain and him refusing almost any offers of help. It was such a relief to Kurt that he was not only accepting help, but actively seeking it out.
xoxoxo
I think "Rumours" may well have been the worst episode of the season, but am rather proud of myself for what I was able to get out of it.