This chapter was hard to write, but definitely necessary for what I have planned.
Thanks for all the support! Hope you enjoy!
Still don't own Glee, my petitions for that are being blocked.
When I told Blaine about Karofsky he suggested we visit him. There was a reason he yelled at Azimio to stop. Maybe this would give us a reason why.
That idea scared me. After all he's done, visiting him voluntarily is the last thing I wanted to do. Blaine's cute begging face could make me do just about anything, though. Damn my weakness.
It took an hour to drive to the hospital in Lima. The knot in my stomach grew tighter every minute.
A nurse reluctantly brought us to Karofsky's room. "You have twenty minutes before visiting hours are over."
Karofsky wasn't expecting Blaine and I to pay him a visit. It didn't look like he was expecting anyone other than his parents. His father looked up at me with recognition. His eyes were dark from lack of sleep. "Oh, Kurk?"
"Kurt. Ah, we came to visit Ka-Dave." I'd called him by his last name so many times, it didn't seem right to do it now.
Karofsky tensed and visibly sunk into the bed. His head was heavily bandaged and the bleep of his heartbeat resounded through the room.
An awkward silence followed for a moment.
His dad was the one to break it. "I guess I'll leave you three alone." He got up and lumbered out of the room, closing the door behind him.
I sat down in the chair his dad left, Blaine settling down next to me.
"Why did you stop them?" Karofsky stared at the ceiling. "Why not just let Azimio beat the crap out of me?"
"I had to." His answer was choked.
"Why?"
"I don't know." He huffed. "I just didn't want-I don't know." He let out an exasperated sigh. "H-How do you stand it? How do either of you stand it?"
"What?"
He looked at me, his face on the verge of tears, and snapped. "You know what."
"Well it helps when you have friends who like you no matter what your preference is." He shook his head.
"But how do you stand it?" He stared for a moment then turned back to the ceiling. "I hate myself for this. The only reason I'm here is because I missed."
"Missed?"
His voice lowered to a whisper. "I couldn't hold the damn gun steady..." He swore under his breath and roughly wiped a stray tear off his face.
My good eye widened and Blaine spoke up. "It's not your fault you are who you are. It's no one's fault. It's just something you need to accept."
"I don't know if I can do that. I'd lose my friends... my dad too probably."
"If they were really your friends this wouldn't matter to them." I felt sorry for him despite everything. It's hard not to when the guy considers Azimio a friend. "And who knows? Your dad could be okay with it. He seems like he cares about you."
"He knows something's up. I don't give a shit about my classes anymore. I don't even like football..." He swallowed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kurt." My mouth nearly dropped. Not just from the apology, but from him using my actual name. "I've been such an idiot. I only did all those things to stop from doing them to myself."
"You can't keep all your feelings bottled up. That just makes you snap. Well, I guess it's too late for that, but," Blaine pulled out a scrap of paper and scribbled our numbers on it. "Just talk to us when it gets to be too much. We don't want to see you in here again." Karofsky took the paper hesitantly.
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Because we've been through this too. It'll be all right." Blaine was a much better comforter than I could hope to be.
"Sorry, what's your name?"
"Blaine. It was nice talking to you Karofsky." They shook hands.
"I like Dave better." It seemed appropriate. He was a different person now, I'd rather call him a different name.
The door opened and a nurse popped her head in, a fake smile on her lips. "Visiting hours are over."
I looked back at Dave who was analyzing the scrap of paper.
"Hope you feel better soon." I got up to leave and Blaine followed. His dad passed us and gave a nod, headed for the seat again.
"Wait." I turned back. Karofsky-no-Dave, was almost smiling. "Thanks."
Thanks for reading! I'll be updating as soon as I can.