Kurt stood there with his blue eyes wide as plates. “Oh, my gosh… Are you serious?” His eyes went from the dangling keys in front of him to the woman that was now speaking to him. “Yes, I’m serious, Kurt. You and your boyfriend need some serious relaxation time alone, after all you guys had been through. And what better way than to go away together this holiday weekend? Mi casa es su casa…” She smiled at him and next that happened, Kurt was half tackling her in a strong hug, bouncing on the spot, saying ‘thank you’ a dozens of times. It was Tuesday, the day before the long holiday weekend started and they were having a sort of pre-Thanksgiving brunch at Vogue; and now Kurt couldn’t wait to run to Sebastian’s place and tell him the good news.
Sebastian was sitting on the couch next to Cassie, a large bowl of popcorn between them as they watched a marathon of LOST. They were up to the second season and Sebastian had already started complaining about how confusing it was, but secretly he loved it. “So,” Cassie popped a couple of bits of popcorn in her mouth, “are you and Kurt doing anything for Thanksgiving? I doubt you’re seeing your parents.” He laughed, “I haven’t spent Thanksgiving with my parents since I was 14. So, no. But,” he shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe just hang out. We don’t really have any plans. You?” She nodded, “yeah, I’m spending it with Brad. He’s in town, and since our parents can’t come out. Brother, sister dinner. You and Kurt can join us if you want?”
Sebastian had finally - finally - got the all clear from his doctor’s to walk without the crutches. Of course, that meant he had to sit there in an office and listen to them explain what it meant, and what he had to do, and how he still had to turn up to physical therapy once a week, and still had to use his crutches if he felt like he needed them. He just nodded and smiled, resisting the urge to jump for joy. But soon enough, he was out of the office, crutches in his hand, but not actually using them to walk. He wouldn’t be allowed to drive until he retook a driving test, so he hailed a cab, went back to his apartment and dumped the crutches in his closet (hoping never to have to use them again) got changed and then, before he could change his mind, caught another cab to Kurt’s apartment. The two of them had actually been going well for the past month. Cassie teased him about it, but he knew she liked having Kurt around every so often, and he knew she was happy that he finally admitted it. He took in a breath and knocked on the door.
Kurt had just pulled the second of two trays of cupcakes he had baked that Saturday afternoon. He had spent most of the day cleaning his apartment and doing laundry. He ate lunch real quickly, and then started to bake the cupcakes which he intended to bring Sebastian later on. It had been a month since they finally admit they wanted to be exclusive, but they weren’t boyfriends yet; and almost two months since they admitted to have certain feelings towards each other. Talking about baby steps. But he didn’t mind going slow, it was actually a nice change of pace. When he turned the oven off and was about to get change to go to Sebastian’s place, there was a knock on his door. Curious as to who that might be, he went quickly and opened it, not even half expecting who was there when he did it. “Sebastian? What a great surp—” He looked down at him, and then up. And down again. “Oh my god… Oh, my god!!” He started bouncing on the spot, clapping his hands.
Sebastian: Text: Hummel, I know we haven’t really spoken the past two weeks but can we catch up tonight? I’ll buy the drinks.
Kurt: Text: I’ve been busy, sorry. Yeah, sure. Where?
Sebastian: Text: I wasn’t asking for an explanation, I was just stating a fact. And the bar on West? 7pm.
Kurt: Text: Whatever. Ok. See you.
Sebastian was sitting on the couch, watching some bad western flick from decades ago because there wasn’t really much else on. He wasn’t particularly paying any attention to it though, he was just waiting for Kurt to bring home the food because he was starving. He’d skipped lunch because he really hadn’t felt like it at the time. He’d had his therapy session today - not physical therapy either. The kind they try to get you to talk about your feelings which Sebastian wasn’t keen on but it was part of the program. He usually sat there silently, shrugging along with the questions asked of him, gaining several sighs from the person asking him. And afterwards he just hadn’t felt like eating, so he’d snacked on some potato chips half way through the afternoon but it wasn’t exactly fulfilling. He reminded himself to give Kurt some money to cover the takeout, and also some of the other takeouts he’d bought during the week. He heard the lock click and sighed in relief. “Please have food,” he called out.
Kurt had picked a good amount of Tai food, even if he had joked about bringing him sushi. He opened the door and found Sebastian already waiting for him. “No, I bring you the gift of my soothing presence. Of course I brought food. Tai, I hope you like it.” He walked to the kitchen table and started to empty the bag on it. He had had a long and hard day, so he was looking forward to some food, a relaxing shower and a good night of sleep. It was Friday evening, and even if he didn’t have to work the next day, he had a lot of things to do with his day.
Guess who gets stuck with the Grinch for another seven days?
Nah, I’m kidding. Physical therapy is going well, slowly but good. I’ve no doubt he’ll be chasing me out of the apartment in no time.
Sebastian sighed after hanging up the phone, looking around the apartment. He needed to clear up the cereal but he just wasn’t in the mood for it now. He figured he could get back to it in fifteen, twenty minutes, but for now he was still starving. He went into the kitchen, ignoring the crunch of the cereal under the wheels, and opening the fridge. He grabbed out an apple, and a chocolate bar. They each contridicted each other, but they were both quick and easy so it would do. He went back in the living room, watching the television while he ate the apple and chocolate. After finishing them, he resigned his avoidance of cleaning up the cereal, picking up a dustpan and broom, attempting to sweep it up.
Kurt paid the cab driver and stepped out of the taxi in front if Sebastian’s apartment building. On his hand, he carried two re-usable bags filled with two containers each, and one hand he carried a tray from the coffee shop place with two smoothies. He walked into the building and got into the elevator, up to where Sebastian’s place was. The stubborn man he was, Kurt was determined to help his… friend, him out; even if he was pretty sure it would come back to bite him on the ass. He walked up to the door to his apartment, which he remembered from him mentioining sometime, and after taking a huge breather, he knocked on the door.
Coma. Stable, but in a coma. The words that he heard from the other side of the phone when Cassie finally brought herself to calm down and explain, were still ringing into Kurt’s brain, as he ran from his apartment to the hospital Sebastian was in. He couldn’t be bothered with taking a cab, too much traffic. The images of the wrecked car were burned inside his brain, as he ran as fast as he could towards the hospital. When he got there, he gave Sebastian’s name to the nurse at the counter, and she told him that only family were allowed with him. Needless to say, that cause him to put on the biggest possible bitch face he had on his repertoire, but he huffed ‘ok’ and sat at the main lobby, to try and see if he could find out anything further. That was when he saw Cassie. They met, talked, had coffee and Kurt had to swallow a lump when the reality of how sick he was sank in.
For the next two days, Kurt would come and go from the hospital, using his lunch hour to go there and he ate at the visitors lounge at the hospital. When he asked once again about his condition, and the nurse told him that he was well enough to have a few visitors, he ran upstairs and found the room quickly but stopped on the spot when he saw that Cassie was there with him. He took two steps back and went to the other side of the hall and sat by the stairs. He had seen the girl was crying, bitching to Sebastian, telling him to wake up, and he decided not to interrupt that moment between friends.
From that day on, and for the next two weeks, it became Kurt’s routine to spend whatever time possible at the hospital. Even at nights, when he would sleep for brief periods at the ER’s waiting room. It dawned on him that no one came to visit Sebastian, only Cassie and him. And it pained him. It pained to understand, somehow, the hardness of his heart. He never give anything because no one ever had give anything to him, so fair is fair. Kurt took upon himself to not leave him alone. Whatever happened, Kurt didn’t like the idea of Sebastian being alone, and he thought that being there for him, was just a little something he could do.
So it was, when the final days of that second week were coming to an end, Kurt fell asleep for a little while on his usual chair at the ER’s waiting room, when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.
“Mr. Hummel… Mr. Hummel?”
Kurt blinked his eyes open. “Yeah…?” Then he recognized the male nurse who Kurt had told him to please let him know of any change. He stood up as if he was on a spring, eyes widened in fear. “What? What happened?”
“You should come with me, please…”
Kurt had decided to stay home for the rest of the afternoon, mainly because there was a meeting of the main people at Vogue, which meant that all the interns and other employees were off for the day. He had gone out only to go to the coffee shop, only to find his coffee paid for and a very Sebastian-like note attached to it. It still made him chuckle every time he thought about it. He took a long shower and slipped into his silk pajamas (he still wore them from time to time), then sat on the couch, tablet in hand, to sort out his schedule for the following week, plus he needed to mail a couple of designs to the office for them to have them first on Monday.
Leave it to the ever trust worthy server to go down when you need it the most. He groaned at that and sat the tablet aside, willing to take a ten minute or whatever break until the server was up again. He grabbed the remote to the TV and started to shuffle through the channels, trying to find something with which he could kill some time. He stopped at an undetermined station because of the perfume commercial that was on, he loved that one. Not so much as the commercial was over, a woman’s face appeared on the screen.
“In local news, a terrible accident ocurred today on the streets of Manhattan. Apparently, a speeding truck, which also had no breaks functioning, slammed into several cars that were waiting for the green light to move on…”
Kurt kept on watching, his eyes side at what he was looking at, then the woman gave the queue to her collegue on the scene to talk next.
“Thank you, Claire. “We’re live at the scene where just a while ago, the ambulances took several of the injuries to different hospitals, but as you can see behind me, this car here suffered the harder hit to the side…”
Kurt’s eyes widened.
“… The victim from whom we don’t know the name, was pulled out of the wreck with weak vital signs…”
He felt his heart clenching inside his chest. It hurt.
“… and we still don’t know…”
Tears were falling from his eyes, his shaky hand over his mouth as the initial shock sank in. The news man didn’t know the name, but Kurt immediately recognized the car, or what was left of it, from its plate. NYS-123. He knew it by heart. He had worked on that car. He had rode in that car.
It was Sebastian’s car.
Snapping out of it, Kurt grabbed his phone and dialed Cassie’s number, which he had from the time they met each other at the clothes store.
“H-Hello…?”
“Cassie, this is Kurt.”
“Oh… Kurt…”
“Which hospital is he in?”
“Kurt…”
“Where is Sebastian, Cassie?”
It had been a week since the Sex in the City marathon fiasco, and it had been that long since Kurt last saw Sebastian. After his half alcohol-induced attempt to get the man to have sex with him, it turned out to be a surprise to see how whole… and different Sebastian was. They gave each other hand jobs back when they were younger at Scandals over a much higher amount of alcohol. In the end, Kurt was grateful about the way things went down. Something inside his mind kept on telling him that sleeping with Sebastian wouldn’t be the smartest move of all; and Kurt had already done several dumb stuff in his own spare time.
But truth to the matter, Kurt missed the big log. He missed their banter, their teasing, their bitching to one another. Their daily coffee. It was funny the things you come to miss. And what was also truth was the fact that Kurt had deliberately avoiding the coffee shop during that whole week. He needed some time to let his pride heal, for he was sure it would be bring down by Sebastian’s comments the next time they met. Then, after a week, Kurt headed to the coffee shop as the same time as always. Time to grab the bull by the horns.
But much to his surprise, or not, Sebastian wasn’t there. Kurt waited at their usual table for a while, finger drumming the table slightly, until he realized he wasn’t coming. He sighed and stood up. That was it, he thought as he headed to the queue for the counter so he would order his usual coffee. When he arrived to the counter and spoke to the barista, the girl behind it smiled at him. “Actually sir, your coffee is already paid for.” Kurt blinked. “What? What do you mean paid? Paid by who?” The girl motioned him to the side where his coffee would be given to him, and he stood there waiting for an answer. When his coffee arrived, their was a little envelope attached to it. Kurt frowned and took both things back to his table. There he sat down and opened the envelope, almost fearful that it was a bomb thing; and what he read on the note he found inside was much more disturbing than a bomb.
Told you the next coffee was on me.
See You around, Hummel.
P.S. The car is working smoothly, but if you tell anyone I told you this, I will of course deny it.
Kurt’s eyes were fixed on the note and before he knew it, a soft giggle escaped his lips.
Fucking asshole.
