http://rockstarwarbler.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] rockstarwarbler.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] slidingmoments2012-03-23 01:13 pm

"I've got nowhere left to hide, it looks like love has finally found me."

Who: [livejournal.com profile] rockstarwarbler, [livejournal.com profile] justbeingaqueen, [livejournal.com profile] jewhawk and [livejournal.com profile] usedtohaveabs (posting order)
What: Double date... and then some.
Where: Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, Miami Lakes
When: Thursday night
Rating: Leaving it open for now

It was true, Blaine really was like a dog with a bone. Once he decided he was going to try and nudge Puck into Quinn's direction, hopefully without either of them realising, he wasn't going to give up on the idea. And really, a double date had to be fun, right? Blaine always wanted to get a boyfriend so he could double-date with his BFF and patience really wasn't his virtue. Why wait on something like that? For some reason, though, when he suggested it to both Puck and Quinn, neither of them protested. It might have been because he worded it in a way like he was going to surprise Kurt and that both their BFFs should get along, right? Maybe they didn't actually realise he was setting them up on a date? That didn't matter. Blaine could still work with this.

But Kurt had been the one to very reluctant agree. Blaine told him he wanted to take him out for another date, but that it was going to be 'a surprise'. Kurt didn't seem into the notion, and he didn't seem a fan of surprises, but Blaine reassured him with would be fun and he would love it. Though, maybe he missed that mark because now they were all seated at the quaint little table for four in the restaurant waiting for their huge main course to arrive, Kurt was sitting back in his seat and eyeing Puck and Quinn across the table, cool blue eyes sliding back and forth between them before they locked back on Blaine's face wordlessly.

Blaine just grinned and took Kurt's hand on the table, giving it a squeeze. "I love pizza! Do you love pizza? There is nothing better than it, I swear. It smells amazing." Okay, so maybe he was somewhat oblivious to the discomfort Kurt was feeling right now. It was a double-date with their best friends! That just equalled fun in Blaine's mind, and it would be even moreso when they went bowling afterwards. Who didn't like bowling?

[identity profile] justbeingaqueen.livejournal.com 2012-03-26 01:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Kurt was so stunned to hear Blaine's voice that he very nearly passed out. His legs too that jelly feel to them and almost gave out from beneath him, but it was only the sheer mess he was in that kept him on his feet, or he knew Blaine would break into the cubicle to check on him. It took a few moments to pull himself under control, and some toilet paper wiped away the mess over his hand and on the seat. Breathless, he shoved the seat cover into the bowl and them flushed as much of the evidence away as he could. His throat was burning and he could still taste blood, and he could only imagine he looked atrocious. Red, blotchy, leaking out of places he really didn't want his boyfriend to witness. He wiped his nose and mouth on some toilet paper, and with absolute fear bolting through him, he opened the cubicle door.

If he hadn't at that point, Blaine would have been relentless like he always was. Kurt swallowed heavily, but it was painful and he still hadn't quite caught his breath, but he wiped at his mouth with the wad of toilet paper and forced himself to meet Blaine's concerned gaze. "Dinner's... not agreeing with me so well," he offered, but the words sounded empty to his ears because he knew that although they had an element of truth to them, they were also a blatant and distinct lie. Blaine had nearly caught him and Kurt had no idea what he would have done if he had. He was overwhelmed with paranoia then that Blaine was going to know just from looking at him. He was going to see the fat, and put it all together. So, Kurt just broke the gaze and moved over to the sink to turn the tap on and shoved his hands underneath it to scoop some water up to his lips to rinse his mouth out.

That was when everything apart. He heard Blaine comment from behind him on something, and then just as he was turning around to see what, he was met with the sight of Blaine grabbing his jacket from where it was draped over the toilet roll dispenser. It was like it all happened in slow-motion. Blaine got a little enthusiastic with the grab and the next thing Kurt knew a plastic bottle was flying from the pocket and when it crashed into the nearby wall. It split open and sent the pills flying everywhere, the bottle rolling back to land right near Blaine's foot and Kurt felt like the whole ground was suddenly torn out from under him.

[identity profile] jewhawk.livejournal.com 2012-03-26 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Without even knowing why, Puck reached out to put an arm around Quinn, giving her shoulders a warm and gentle squeeze as he did so. "It's messed up how his brain does that to him," he said softly. "It breaks my heart for the guy. He's too small as it is already... Blaine thinks he's just naturally really slender, but that's not... It's not natural. He's too thin... You take one look at him, and it's like he's gonna blow away in a freakin' wind or something."

Running his hand over his close-cropped hair, Puck met Quinn's gaze, shaking his head. "Blaine won't turn his back on him. If anything, he'll just fight that much harder for him. He's fucking nuts about him, Quinn. I just... I don't know how to get that through to Kurt, and honestly, I don't know if we can... If this illness is so strong that he can't even hear normal conversations, then how in the world are those voices gonna shut up long enough for anyone to get through to him if they're talking about the illness?"

"As small as he is, he makes Blaine look less thin, and B's in really good shape. I just don't... What can we do, Quinn? Seriously? I feel like we should do something, but nothing I can think of would work."

[identity profile] usedtohaveabs.livejournal.com 2012-03-26 03:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"He hears. It's not like he's completely oblivious to everything else. In fact, it's the opposite. He is super aware of everything around him so he can been up the mask. I know it seems really strange to wrap your head around, but it all makes entirely perfect sense to Kurt. Everything is controlled. When it's not, that's when he flips out." Quinn gestured to Kurt's place setting where everything was where it needed to be in his ritual. "That's why I've been so surprised he's let Blaine in. Blaine's so spontaneous and vibrant, he probably plans very little about himself. He's the opposite of Kurt. And as sweet and lovely as he is, I think Kurt's mind is flipping out a little with it because he doesn't know how to take Blaine. He's trying so, so hard. He wants it to work, but the illness is a constant demon for him. It's something he is always fighting and trying to knock him down."

The more time that ticked over, Quinn was thinking the worst, and she was grateful of the connection when Puck put his hand on her arm, so she offered him a small smile at it. "He's been well, believe it or not. About a year now without problems and he was back on track with his weight, but he's fallen off the wagon again. He had some assholes at school trying to tear him down, and it's just been a lot of little things that have built up. He needs professional help. Holly will make him go to back to his therapist, and Kurt will be obedient with it. He might need to go back on medication. He takes anti-anxiety medications that help tone the voices down when he gets really bad. But we just need to catch him before he gets to the point that he's lost too much weight and needs hospitalisation to feed him. That's happened. A couple of times now."

"I think what we do depends on what happens in the next few minutes," she murmured with a sigh. "Blaine is probably going to need you either way. Whether he's in there catching Kurt at it, or if Kurt is about to try and pull the plug to protect the secret when he realises how close he got to being caught."

[identity profile] justbeingaqueen.livejournal.com 2012-03-26 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
The shock, the hesitation... Kurt's mind immediately absorbed it and mashed it up to spit it out the other side of his brain as disgust, regret, second-thoughts. As quickly as these few moments were passing, it was enough for Kurt to think Blaine was absolutely horrified by the pieces of the puzzle he was putting into place and Kurt felt like he was standing in the edge of a cliff and about to be shoved off. Shit, he had come to care deeply about Blaine, and maybe even more. He had wanted to tell him so many times, and so many times it had been on the tip of his tongue to reveal the whole thing so he didn't have the burden of carrying it around with him. Quinn, Mercedes, Holly... they had all practically begged him to tell Blaine that he was sick, and Kurt knew he was sick. That was the hard part.

But he didn't want Blaine thinking he was a mental case. He didn't want Blaine to realise what a terrible burden he had taken on with all this, and that everything he believed Kurt to be was just a farce. He was really an ugly, fat, boring, waste of space, and it was only a matter of time before Blaine discovered that. And now was that time. Then to top all of that off, he was absolutely mortified at not just nearly being caught in the act, but Blaine discovering the laxatives. Blaine was far from stupid, Kurt had come to learn that. He might seem innocent about some things and wore his heart on his sleeve, but he wasn't stupid and now that he just a few small signs to work with, he was connecting all the dots very rapidly.

Kurt snatched his jacket roughly out of Blaine's grip and pulled it on, wrapping it tightly around himself like a shield. "What do you want me to say?" he sneered. "It's not my fault you were too stupid to realise how fucked in the head I am. I warned you. I warned you over and over again, but you just wouldn't let up! Well, I don't want this! I don't want you in my face or my business! I know what you really think about me anyway! Everyone thinks it! I tried to make this work, but it's not! You're too intense for me and you're not my type. I don't need you! I don't need anyone! It's over! I never even wanted you to start with, I just agreed to get you the hell out of my face!" So, apparently the best way he felt to deal with his boyfriend finding out his deepest secret was to completely kick him in the nuts. But that didn't matter, because Blaine would be way better without him anyway. As much as it killed like all fuck to lose Blaine just when he was feeling like he was maybe falling in love with him, this had to be done for Blaine's sake.
Edited 2012-03-26 15:52 (UTC)

[identity profile] jewhawk.livejournal.com 2012-03-26 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"I just... I can't wrap my mind around it. I don't think he's crazy. Trust me, I've seen a lot of people struggle with illnesses in my job... Not that one specifically, but I've seen people with major depression who hurt themselves, or people who hear voices claiming to be God telling them to do really horrible shit. I've seen all that... But nothing like this. It's horrible. Kurt's awesome, and I'm not much of a judge of male hotness, but my BFF seems to think Kurt is the very epitome of it." He sighed softly, seconds seeming to pass like hours as they waited.

"It's shit like this that makes me regret the guy I was before... Before Blaine and everything else. You gotta wonder who you set off by treating them like shit... If they ended up in a situation like Kurt's. If they're okay now. It sucks... I guess it's like any illness, sometimes it comes back and rears its head, but it sucks that they can't just leave him alone." With a deep breath he looked at Quinn. It had only been a few minutes, but it felt like forever. What the hell was going on in there?

"Do... Do you seriously think he's gonna dump Blaine?" Puck asked, preparing himself for the worst, and not even sure totally that he knew what the worst was. "It's gonna break his heart... I've never seen him like this before. I don't... How do you help somebody deal with something like that?"

[identity profile] usedtohaveabs.livejournal.com 2012-03-27 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
Quinn smiled softly, albeit sadly, as she lowered her gaze with a small nod. "Kurt's beautiful. I mean that literally. He's not some ripped, muscular tanned shiny dude with huge white teeth that chicks drool over in pornos... or gay guys. He's beautiful. There's no denying he effeminate, he always has been. When he's well, he's just got all these gorgeous features that make this package of a person who has this presence about him, but you can never quite put your finger on why. He can't see it, though. At all. What we see is not what he sees when he looks in the mirror. I really though Blaine might be the shining light at the end of the tunnel that could maybe help Kurt fight this, even for good. That he could feel that someone cares for him unconditionally."

"But he has just kept slipping and slipping. Blaine's right there, but he will not, for some unknown reason, reach out to hold onto him. He's keeping him at arm's length, and I don't even know if Blaine realises that. Kurt's making all the right noises, and trying to make it work, but... I don't know..." She toyed with her fork for a moment, falling quiet to try and gather her thoughts.

She met Puck's gaze and swept some loose strands of hair from her face. "I hope Kurt relents and tells Blaine the truth if he gets caught, but Kurt might find it easier to just slam the brakes on the whole relationship thing than cope with letting someone into the bulimic fort he has built around himself. The battles we had to fight to get him to even let us in are notorious. He was at a point he would rather let himself be in an horrific mess before letting us help him. Blaine's going to have to fight like we did, I think. But even then, that's a lot to expect of him, or to hope he will want to do. Just because he adores Kurt and obviously cares about him extensively, doesn't mean he is going to want to deal with fighting through all of Kurt's walls. And I have a feeling Kurt might make that choice for him."

[identity profile] justbeingaqueen.livejournal.com 2012-03-27 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
Kurt had never given his heart to anyone in the past to risk having it broken... until now. And if this was what it felt like, he never wanted to do that again. It felt like a physical and crushing pain in his chest, and he slumped against the wall, sinking down onto the floor beside the row of sinks where he drew his knees up and covered his face in his hands when tears came before he had a chance to stop them. It was the right thing to do. It had to be the right thing to do. Blaine was too good a person to need to deal with all his shit, and if hurting him to get him to stop wanting Kurt was the only way to do it, it had to be done.

But Kurt felt sick and devastated as he watched the door swing shut in Blaine's wake. It felt like a piece of him was being torn away, and it was only at that moment that he realised how deeply he had come to feel about Blaine. It had been a subtle transition the more and more time he spent with Blaine, the more and he had come to adore him, and adore those fluttery warm feelings in his stomach whenever they spent time together. He actually thought Blaine was an amazing person, and too good to be true, and most days he hadn't understood how he got so lucky to have a guy like that who actually wanted to spend time with him. He spent a lot of moments just watching Blaine and listening to him quietly. But Blaine didn't know the real Kurt, at least, so Kurt thought, and this was some sort of skewed way of saving him.

That didn't mean it didn't hurt, because it did. It was one of the worst pain Kurt had ever experienced, and now it was setting in, he didn't know how to make it stop. Eating. Eating would help it stop. Ice cream and chocolate. He could go out there and eat all that pizza, and surely it would help ease this horrible pain a little? It wasn't like he had to stay thin. It didn't matter if he got fat anymore. He was always going to be alone anyway. Even now, barely a couple of minutes after Blaine was gone, Kurt missed him, and a crushed sob echoed off the tiled walls of the bathroom. He wanted the pain to stop, and eating was the only way he knew it would.

[identity profile] jewhawk.livejournal.com 2012-03-27 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
As they continued their conversation, Puck could feel the love between fag and hag, just from the way Quinn talked about Kurt. But even as he listened to her, Puck was distracted by his worries about Blaine. The two of them met each other's eyes as she explained how hard a fight it was going to be to get Kurt to let Blaine in, and part of Puck wanted to suggest that Blaine just pull the plug now and cut his losses. But he knew better, and in the end, if he could find a way in, Puck knew that Kurt was what Blaine truly wanted. And even though it would hurt like hell to watch Blaine struggle through it, if Kurt gave him the chance, Puck believed that Blaine and Kurt could be really happy together.

Or at least he did before his best friend was coming back to the table and looking like hell. It was a stunned moment when Blaine paid the bill and dashed out the door. With a groan of concern, Puck pushed up from the table with an apologetic look at Quinn before he headed out the door after his friend. Blaine had gotten a hell of a head start in the time it had taken Puck's brain to catch up with what had just happened, but Puck managed to keep up with Blaine, and he sat down next to his friend on the sidewalk. "Hey... Hey..." he whispered comfortingly, his hand rubbing Blaine's back as he wrapped his other arm around Blaine's chest.

Blaine was hurt, and as much as Puck knew that Kurt hadn't done it out of spite, but because of an illness that wasn't his fault, part of him was fucking furious. Nobody hurt his boy like this and got away with it. "Hey, B... I'm here, man, okay? I'm so sorry, Blaine."

[identity profile] jewhawk.livejournal.com 2012-03-27 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
With one arm around his friend, Puck discreetly fired off a text to Sebastian and Jeremy. While Puck would have killed for Blaine in a heartbeat, he wasn't totally confident in his skills as an emotional support system, which sucked, if he were honest, because Blaine was always his emotional support. Still, he kept his arm around Blaine and rubbed gently at his friend's shoulder.

"Blaine..." Puck said, his tone soft and comforting. "Dude, I don't think he really meant it. He's sick, B. He's really fucking sick, and he's talking out of the sickness... At least I'm pretty damn sure that's what it is."

As the couple stopped to look at Blaine, Puck shot them the BFF death glare of doom as if daring them to say a fucking word. He was pissed off and hurt on Blaine's behalf, and he was itching to go for a fight on the other man's behalf at this point. And since he knew he couldn't take it out on Kurt? He'd be glad as hell to bitch out random passersby. "Shit," he said under his breath. "Quinn was right. Goddamn."

[identity profile] jewhawk.livejournal.com 2012-03-27 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
The way that Blaine's sobs wracked his body tore Puck apart inside, and he shook his head, hating this whole situation and what it was doing to Blaine. He reached into his own jacket pocket, recovering a pack of Kleenex he hadn't taken out since the last time he'd had a cold, and handing them off to Blaine. With soft comforting sounds, he ruffled Blaine's hair with his hand.

Puck nodded slowly, feeling like an epic dick for not telling Blaine what he knew. "I... I did, but Quinn made me promise not to tell... She said it was Kurt's thing to tell, and she was right. I don't understand it either, B, but Quinn says it's like... Kurt has voices in his head telling him that he's fat... They tell him to eat, and then tell him he has to get rid of it or he'll be fat and disgusting... Q said... She said that it took forever for her and Mercedes and Holly even to begin to break through the walls he put up around himself. It's not personal, man... It's the illness talking. Hey!" he interrupted, catching Blaine's chin in his hand to force him to look him in the eye. "You listen to me. You're fucking incredible. You're the best friend I've ever had, and yeah, you're a short ass, and yeah, sometimes you're a pain in the ass, but that's what makes you the awesome dude I'm best friends with. So don't let Kurt's illness make you think less of yourself, dude. That's not Kurt. That's a fucking voice that's telling him he doesn't deserve you."

[identity profile] jewhawk.livejournal.com 2012-03-27 12:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah," Puck replied softly. "It's bulimia... He's had it since high school, and he was doing a lot better until some dudes started acting like assholes and making him feel like crap about himself. B, you're not stupid. Kurt's been practicing hiding this from people since he was 15, B. Look... People who are sick sometimes say things they don't mean, and I don't believe... Not even for a minute... that Kurt doesn't want you." This was a fucking mess. How was he supposed to convince Blaine of this? And in the long run, did it even matter whether or not Kurt wanted him if he wasn't going to let him in? "He's scared, B. He's fucking terrified that he's not good enough for you. Or anybody for that matter."

"I don't know, Blaine," he admitted, shaking his head with sadness, This was a fucking mess, and as Puck met his best friend's gaze solemnly, it felt like a knife was being twisted in his chest. "Listen, dude... I know you wanna help him. And maybe that'll end up being a good thing in the end, but... Right now, I think you need to maybe talk to Quinn and Mercedes. Not right this minute, but soon. They're the ones who know this thing... Way better than either of us. They've been dealing with it for years. They might have some... I don't know, some idea as to what we can do."

[identity profile] jewhawk.livejournal.com 2012-03-28 03:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"B, look at me," Puck said, turning to face his friend full on. "Do you trust me? Because I'm telling you the truth. Even Quinn said it... That she was afraid Kurt would push you away because he wants to let you closer, and that scares him... Look, I don't know everything. I really don't, and maybe you're right, and Kurt just doesn't want you, but I don't believe it. Blaine, you're a good person... A great person, actually, and you mean the frickin' world to me. And I know that the kind of person you are is gonna do whatever it takes to help make Kurt happy, even if that means letting him go, but I'm not sure if that's where you need to be right now."

"Okay," he said finally. This wasn't the time or place to keep trying to reason with the heartbroken man in front of him. For now, he just needed to let it go and let Blaine have his time to recover and yes, even grieve, because in his eyes, he'd lost everything, and that was heartbreaking for anyone. "Come on, buddy," he said, standing and dusting off his pants before reaching out to help Blaine up. "Let's go home."