Arthur Charles Abrams, "Artie" (sg_artie) wrote in supergleerpg, @ 2011-11-16 18:08:00 |
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Entry tags: | !type: thread, -2011: november, character: brittany pierce, character: castor stuart, character: rachel berry, former character: melody koenig, wanted character: artie abrams, ~complete |
The One Where Artie Gets Hurt
Who: Artie and Melody, plus appearances by Castor, Brittany and Rachel
What: Dance rehearsal for McKinley High dance club's The Nutcracker
Where: Various parts of school
When: Wednesday, November 16 (after school)
Note: The hallway leading to the nurse's office is now a power-free zone until Thursday afternoon, thanks to the unsuspecting Melody!
"Everyone please help me welcome our last-minute replacement for Logan, Artie Abrams."
Artie gave a wave as he stretched his thin legs on the barre. He was naturally flexible, probably because he was so thin, and was able to contort his limbs easily. If it hadn't been for Logan Cunningham's serious case of rubella, he might have never found his way to the McKinley dance club's production of The Nutcracker. (Seriously, what was with these hippie parents not vaccinating their kids?)
Now, Artie was going to make his debut onstage in just a few weeks, dancing a small role in the classic ballet. He sent a grateful smile at Brittany, glad that she'd been able to tell him about this wonderful opportunity. The coach announced that it was time to begin warm-ups, and Artie found a spot on the floor to join in.
Melody was excited about doing The Nutcracker for dance. Since she was so new to the field, she didn’t know many of the more famous ballets, but she’d seen this one on TV almost every holiday season since she could remember. She wasn’t good enough to get any important parts, but she was part of the chorus in both acts, playing first an angel and then one of the soldiers.
Technically speaking, she hadn’t yet told her parents about the performance, since they were wary about her going out for the swim team and dance during the same semester, but she hadn’t had any heart problems for years and they couldn’t keep her cooped up forever. Maybe she’d give them their tickets the night before so they wouldn’t make her back out and ruin the whole show when a replacement had to be found. Hmm, it was something she’d have to ask her brother about.
Melody noticed Brittany’s boyfriend, Abel or whatever the coach said, had joined them today to take Logan’s place. She hoped he was nicer than Logan had been, because he was pretty mean for a guy who did ballet. Artie, in turn, noticed Melody because she looked far too tiny to really be in high school. But then, in ballet, a lot of the girls were tiny. It made it easier for the boys to lift them. The teacher began pairing the students up to do just that.
"Artie, we'll pair you with Melody since you two are the closest in height," she said, as the students immediately paired off, as they'd been practicing for weeks. "The steps are easy to pick up. Just follow Melody's lead."
As the other guys took their partners by the waist, Artie approached the girl called Melody. He wished he'd been paired with Brittany, but he knew that she was much too tall to be his partner. He probably wouldn't have even been able to lift Brittany, although she most definitely could have picked Artie up. She'd done so before! He smiled ruefully at Melody and stuck out his hand. "Hi," he said. "I'm Artie, and I'll try not to drop you."
“Hi,” Melody replied (Artie was his name, not Abel), shaking the boy’s hand. Her palm was sweaty with nerves, she was sure, but she hadn’t had time to sneakily wipe off the sweat on her practice clothes. Melody really wasn’t used to dancing with boys, much less boys who belonged to her friends/mentors. Artie wasn’t even that intimidating, but Melody didn’t know him at all and that made her very nervous. “Um, I’m Melody. It’s n-nice to meet you, Artie.” (She made sure to repeat his name because her father said that was the best way to remember someone’s name and not embarrass yourself later by forgetting.)
"Likewise," he said, concealing his slightly disgusted reaction to her damp palm.
“Thanks for trying not to drop me,” she added as they found their positions in the group and the music started. “I don’t like falling. But-” Melody gave Artie an awkward grin, “I don’t suppose there’s many people who do.”
"No, falling isn't the top of my list of activities," he said, thinking of all his recent falls. He was naturally a bit clumsy, maybe even as a direct result to his limited experiences with walking, but all that clumsiness never caused him problems. Every bruise, every cut just faded away to nothing in a matter of minutes. Maybe he was slightly less careful than most people would be because he knew there'd be no consequence.
Melody had to focus on the steps for a few minutes, until the coach stopped them to talk to some of the other dancers. Hoping that if she got to know Artie a little better, she wouldn’t be so nervous around him, Melody asked, “So, did Brittany ask you to fill in? I bet you two dance together all the time, huh?”
Artie, who had his hands on her waist in preparation for a practice lift, nodded enthusiastically. "Now that I'm able, it's one of our favorite activities." He bent at the knees and hoisted her into the air slightly. "Up you go!"
Melody wasn’t expecting the lift and she just barely managed to tense her core in time to keep her balance while Artie lifted her. Unfortunately, while she was focused on not falling, she forgot to keep her feet pointed and totally kicked Artie in the upper leg. At least she hoped it was his upper leg and not his crotch or something. Oh, God!
"Ughhh!" Artie let go of her and stumbled back a few paces, grabbing onto his upper thigh where she'd given him a hard blow. Luckily, even if she left a mark, it wouldn't hurt for very long. Straightening up, he limped slightly towards her.
“I’m so sorry!” Melody cried, glad that Artie was just limping a little and not curled up in pain, even if he did look sort of frustrated with her. God, Melody felt like it was her first day or something, when she’d been practicing dance since the beginning of last year.
"We could try that a little slower next time," he suggested, smiling to show her that he was alright. Geez, why did he have to get the nervous, klutzy one? He tried not to show his annoyance with her. "And maybe move away from the others a bit. Here..." He pulled her by the hand so that they were in the back of the room, near the barre.
“Yeah, getting away from the others sounds good,” she agreed.
They tried the lift again when the rest of the class came to it and Melody was so proud of herself for doing it well (or at least without injury to anyone) that time. She smiled at Artie in triumph as they went through the next few bars, dancing pretty well together now that the worst of her nervousness faded. But then, the coach called for them to take it again from the top.
Okay, Melody could do this. It was just a lift. She’d done it once, she could do it again, right? They came to the lift, Melody made sure every muscle was in place as she helped Artie get her airborne, and then everything went wrong.
Melody went a little bit off balance just as one of Artie’s hands at her waist slipped and, by reflex, she held on tight to Artie’s shoulders to keep from falling. Unfortunately, since Artie wasn’t as big as Logan, this move did very little to save Melody and instead, sent them both falling sideways, right into the barre. Despite how flexible the wood of the barre was, Melody’s brow bashed into it and split, bleeding profusely right away and giving her a killer headache. She also landed on her hip and the side of her arm and groaned as they both started to ache while she pulled herself up.
“Artie, are you okay?” she asked, looking over at her dance partner, who didn’t seem to be faring much better.
As Melody made contact with her head, Artie had done his best to stop it, with little success. Instead, his shoulder also plunged into the barre and split open, blood spilling out. He crumpled gracelessly onto Melody and then slumped off of her, lying on the floor, his knees instinctively curling into his chest as he assumed the fetal position. Seriously, with their combined clumsiness, they were gonna need a lot of practice! He groaned as Melody asked him if he was okay. Okay didn't involve getting kicked and then speared by a wooden barre. He realized all at once that they were both bleeding, and that an offending metal screw sticking out of the barre was to blame. "We should sue the school," he muttered, staring up at it and clutching his upper arm.
“Ow, ow, ow,” Melody said under her breath, pressing her hand against the cut on her forehead. Oh, this was going to look fantastic in all the pictures her mother liked to take around Christmastime. “We should,” she agreed with Artie, wanting to stand up, but not really having it in her at the moment. Instead, she leaned over to have a better look at Artie’s injury, wondering just how much she would have to grovel and apologize before she felt better. She failed to realize that she was dripping blood until some of it had already fallen on her dance partner.
“Oh, I am so, so sorry,” she cried, pressing her hand harder against her head as she tried to stop the bleeding. Crap, she was going to need stitches, wasn’t she? “Are you going to be okay?”
Not if you're HIV positive, Artie didn't say. He was terribly grossed out by the fact that he'd just witnessed her bleeding head drip all over his own open wound. She'd noticed, too, and was probably mortified so Artie managed not to say anything that would make it worse. Actual progress, he'd made some. "You don't look so good yourself," he said, motioning to her head. Groaning again, he scrambled to his feet. He took off a sock and applied pressure to his arm, replacing the shoe on his sockless foot.
We'll be going to the nurse now," Artie announced to the room. And avoiding all moves that require me to pick her up again.
There was a moment where Brittany almost went to see that Artie was alright; she still got that little worried way when things happened to him. But it was just a little injury, right? He’d be fine, because he healed so it wasn’t like she needed to baby him. And he’d make sure Melody got her head checked, that she was okay, because that was the guy that Artie was. Britt just gave a small nod -half to herself, half to Artie and carried on practicing. She’d get filled in later, surely.
Castor had been fighting with his cape for ages. That was pretty much the entirety of his practicing so when Melody and Artie had their rather horrifying accident, it was hard for him to hide the strangely blank look on his face. He was so used to blood anymore that it didn’t even matter and while he felt some concern for the two, they seemed to have everything perfectly in hand. The show must go on... He’d check on Melody later maybe but Artie... Well, he’d probably check on Artie too, knowing him.
Rachel winced as the loud crash echoed through the room, and she was surprised to see Artie and the girl that had saved her from Jadyn, Melody, sprawled on the ground. Wait, had they been working on this ballet together the whole time, and she’d never notice? Oops. She felt bad, but the Sugar Plum Fairy was a very demanding role. It couldn’t be helped if she didn’t notice every chorus member that crossed her line of sight. Still, Artie was her friend, and Melody had saved her life. She’d be sure to visit them later. The very extensive first aid kit that she kept in her car would surely be able to help them, in some way.
Melody felt so bad that she hoped the ground would just open up and swallow her whole. The coach should have known to keep her on the sidelines, not partner her up with someone who could be injured (which was anyone, really). See? This was why Melody's main sport was swimming. There was much less chance of injuring someone else. Sure, she still had to be careful jumping off the block and making turns, but those moves were easy. Dancing was something else altogether.
Following Artie to the nurse's office, Melody tried to think of some way she could make it up to him. Maybe she would ask Brittany, since she didn't know Artie except as Britt's boyfriend. Looking behind her, Melody also noticed she was leaving drops of blood in her wake, all along the hallway. Gross! Artie would've been dripping, too, but he held the sock to his bicep, probably not a very sanitary move in hindsight, but did it matter when he was a supernatural healer? Artie thought not. It'd be nice if he could pass his ability along to poor Melody, though. (And to Jon and Ava and countless others, while he was at it.)
"Oh, man," Melody said as they approached the nurse's office at the end of the hall. "I think I might need stitches! Have you ever had them?"
At the question, Artie grimaced. It was partly due to his arm, which was still throbbing and evidently taking much longer to heal because it was such a deep gash, and partly because of the reminder. The enormous scar on his back had long since vanished, thanks to his miraculous gift, but some wounds never did heal. Artie still carried the wound of the accident; the memories he could recall still haunted him.
"Once," he said, simply, averting his eyes to the locker. He didn't know if Melody even realized he was that wheelchair kid. Thanks to his ambulatory legs, his lack of glasses (well, he occasionally wore fakes for fun), and his stylish Kurt-esque wardrobe, Artie Abrams was virtually undetectable as having once been that dorky wheelchair kid. "When I had surgery as a kid."
Melody knew better than to ask why Artie had surgery, so she told him, "I had a bunch of surgeries when I was really little, on my heart. I don't remember those stitches, but I still have the scars." Smiling a little at their similar histories, Melody rubbed up and down along her breastbone and the scar that was always hidden there, behind her clothes.
"Wow..." Artie glanced sideways at her as they walked together. He wondered how she was able to participate in athletic activity if she had a bad heart. Well, perhaps the surgeries had fixed it.
"Anyway, I hope this doesn't hurt too much when they fix it up," Melody shrugged, glad she wasn't feeling dizzy or lightheaded or anything. Getting a concussion wouldn't have been fun at all and might have even kept her out of the show, if she couldn't practice enough before opening night (and oh, man was she going to need the practice!)
"I hope so, too, for your sake," he said, sympathetically, saying nothing of his situation. He wasn't going to have that problem, afterall. With his good arm, Artie opened the door for Melody as they arrived at the nurse's office. "After you."
Even though she wanted to let the nurse fix up Artie first, since it was her fault they fell, Melody allowed the woman to see to her first. Apparently head wounds were more critical than arm wounds, even though Melody kept telling the nurse she felt fine. You know, except for the throbbing headache where she’d been hurt. “Is it going to need stitches?” she asked the nurse, briefly wondering if looking more bad ass by having stitches in her face would make that one girl, Faith, finally leave her alone.
“No, I don’t think so,” the nurse replied, pouring more peroxide on the wound so Melody couldn’t help but gasp and try not to whimper. “I’ll just glue this shut, a few butterfly bandages, and you’ll be good to go home.”
“Home?” Melody said, looking past the nurse over at Artie, “but what about the rest of the day? Practice?”
The nurse tutted and said, “No more for you today, little miss head wound. I’ll call your parents and you can go home and get some rest.”
“But...” Melody started to say, but then she realized that no one asked to stay at school longer than they had to be there, if given this good of an excuse. And she really didn’t want to look all desperate and weird in front of Artie. “Yeah, I guess my head does hurt,” she nodded as the nurse finished patching her up and then went to take care of Artie.
"Um, I'm fine, really, I'm sure I'm fine," Artie fumbled with his words, taking a step back towards the door as the nurse approached him. But the sock he'd been holding to his arm was soaked in blood now, and as he turned his body to conceal the wound, he examined it himself first. To Artie's complete and utter horror, fresh skin hadn't even begun to grow back this time. What he was now looking at was a bloody, disgusting open gash on his arm.
"Uh, yeah, just-just fine," he stammered, still shielding his arm from their view by turning away. The nurse blinked in confusion and continued to approach, her brow furrowing. Artie knew she didn't recognize him, didn't realize that he was the kid who used to roll by her office frequently, on a bad week, for medication to help his leg spams.
"Young man, let me see," insisted the nurse. She was better than the blind old bat they'd had during Artie's first year of high school, and certainly more qualified than Terri Schuester, but Artie had wanted to have nothing to do with medical professionals ever since healing from his spinal cord injury.
"No, no thanks, I was just... walking her down." He backed away further still. "I'll be going now."
And out the door he went, but he didn't get far. Maybe it was the profuse bleeding, maybe it was the sickening realization that it wasn't getting better, but whatever the reason, Artie felt faint. He collapsed in a heap just a few feet from the door.
Melody gasped when she heard what could only be Artie collapsing in the hallway. The nurse gave a little cry as she went to check on him, leaving Melody free to slip off of the fit she'd been told to stay in, and gawk over the nurse's shoulder at Artie. Wow, that was a lot of blood soaking the sock next to his arm and oozing onto his shirt. Okay, and the sight of the blood was doing funny things to her stomach. Funny, throwing-up sort of things. Barely able to hold back, Melody made it to the little bathroom in the nurse's room in just enough time to heave into the toilet. So gross!
The worst part of it was that this was all Melody's fault. Utterly. Completely. How could she be stupid enough to think that she could be a dancer? First Brittany had turned her ankle while she practiced with Melody, and now Artie was passed out in the hallway because of an injury that she had given him. God, if she had a superpower, like people kept whispering about, it was probably making the people around her so clumsy that they injured themselves. Well, that and noticing stupid conversations that no one else seemed to remember. How freaking useful.
Their nurse hadn't seen this much action since the last time Sue Sylvester overworked half of her Cheerios into dehydration. She tended first to Artie, retrieving heavy bandages for his arm and some saltine crackers and water to bring him back to life. As she grabbed these things to take into the hall with her, she called to Melody, "Glad you found the toilet, dear!"
Melody croaked some sort of reply at the nurse before rinsing her mouth out and thinking it was a good thing her parents were going to come get her out of school. Throwing up was her least favorite activity.
A few moments later, the nurse led a sickeningly pale Artie back into her office and instructed him to lie down, hold his arm still, and keep eating those crackers. She wasted no time in calling an ambulance, much to Artie's dismay. All the while, he kept wondering when he was going to produce another miracle for all to witness. When... or perhaps, if. He tried to be rational. A broken wrist had taken an hour to heal. Maybe that was all he needed, an hour...
"I'm a healer," he whispered to Melody, as she lay down on the other table beside him.
Artie's whisper surprised Melody, mostly because even though he was being nice, taking her to the nurse's office, Melody was pretty sure he would never want to talk to her again. Then, she finished digesting what it was that Artie had said and she just had to ask, "What does that mean? You want to be a doctor or something?"
The nurse was still on the phone with the dispatcher and had her back to her two patients. Artie licked his dry lips nervously, wondering why he'd chosen to talk about this now. Maybe because, if worse came to worse, he'd need the petite blonde to sneak him out of the hospital.
"It's a super power," he explained, staring seriously at her. "I heal from any injury. Like, for instance, I broke my wrist and it healed within an hour on its own. And..." he scanned down his body, eyeing his legs. "... I had a spinal cord injury and was in a wheelchair for eight years, but I'm not anymore."
Melody's eyes went wide as she suddenly placed Artie. "You were the boy in the wheelchair! Wow! And now you're not!"
Artie nodded, wearily. "And now I'm not..." He'd been trying to sit up, but despite the package of saltines he nibbled, he still felt faint. He rested his head against the paper-covered pillow.
Looking over Artie, at his wounded arm, she asked, "Do wounds always bleed that much before they heal? 'Cause that's a lot of blood you've lost there. At least, it looks like a lot." Melody got a little queasy again, but she didn't feel so bad that she had to puke again, thank God.
"No... but I've never cut myself this deeply before..." His eyes fluttered closed. Sleeping until the ambulance arrived seemed like a good idea to him. "... so maybe it takes longer in that case." And when it did happen, how to explain it? He was going to be in the care of a doctor again, something he'd been avoiding for the past few months. But he was too tired to really worry about it.
Melody watched as Artie dropped off to sleep, turning her eyes toward the ceiling and wondering why everyone seemed to have a superpower but her. Sure, they tried to hide it, but Melody knew from Jacob’s blog that it wasn’t just Artie who’d developed these powers. Maybe she was just doomed to be ordinary, which wasn’t that bad, was it? At least she was still alive, something that was very touch-and-go when she was a baby, according to her parents and doctors and everyone.
The paramedics showed up before Melody’s mom, so she watched them get Artie up and out of the nurse’s room, giving her unlucky dance partner a wave goodbye.