Rane Fic

    Reed had been in the hospital before.  Loads of times, actually.  And so no one was really surprised when he had been rushing down the Windsor stairs for some of Kurt's magic cookies and tumbled all the way to the bottom.  
    
    Reed looked around his hospital room.  There were tons of get-well gifts in there: white roses (the usual from the Dalton management), a vase of lilies from Kurt and Blaine, a Harry Potter get well card, which Reed could only assume had come from Blaine, daisies from the Tweedles, and a couple of cards and balloons from Wes and David.  Dwight has even come by and purified the room as he did on each hospital visit, insisting that hospitals were full of restless spirits.  

    But that had all been done yesterday.   Since it was Monday, all the other Windsors were back in school.  Which was why Reed jumped about a foot in the air when the door slammed open.  The first thing he saw was a mass of purple and blue filling the doorway. Then, he noticed the Chuck Taylors and jeans underneath.  
    
    Within a few seconds, the purple and blue cloud was inside the room and there was curly, dark hair and a bunch of daffodils in front of Reed.  

    "Shane?" Reed squeaked.  All the purple and blue balloons were making him feel a bit claustrophobic.  Shane seemed to be debating whether or not it was safe to hug the injured boy.  He eventually settled for clutching his hand like it was a lifeline as his words tumbled out beyond the point of human comprehension.

    "Reed areyouokaydoyouneedanythingwhydidnobodycallmesoonerimean –"

    "Shane," Reed tried to keep from smiling at the younger boy's urgency.  "Calm down."

    Shane finally managed to compose himself.  

    "Reed . . . how the hell did you manage to break  three ribs and an ankle all at once!?"

    "Years of practice," Reed replied calmly.  Shane finally released Reed's hand and moved his own to Reed's face.  

    "Are you really alright?" Shane asked, gray-green eyes searching Reed's own as if hoping to find the answer there.  

    "I'm fine, really," Reed insisted, blushing.  Shane's hand still remained gently on the side of his face.  "I've just got to stay here a few days to recover and then I'll be back at Dalton.  No big deal."

    "No, Reed, it is a big deal; you have no idea how freaked out I was!" Shane exclaimed.  "Not to mention that you have broken bones in four places!"

    "Shane, if you haven't noticed, I hurt myself a lot.  I've been to the hospital dozens of times.  The doctors all know my name."

    "But you haven't been to the hospital since I've known you!" Shane countered.

    Reed stopped.  Now that he thought about it, every time he'd been about to fall, Shane had stopped him.  Among all those crazed hormones on New Year's, Shane had protected him.  

    "If-if I had been there, I could have kept you from falling, Reed!  You wouldn't even be here – "

    Reed stopped him, "Shane, it's alright.  I would have ended up here somehow, and," Reed tinted red, "and now . . . you're here."  

    Shane allowed himself to be reassured with those last few words and glanced down into his lap, trying to hide the grin spreading across his face.  

    "Oh, I, uh," Shane held the flowers out.  "I brought you these." Reed stared at the flowers in his hands.  

    "Daffodils are my favorites . . ." he mumbled, almost to himself, as Shane brightened a bit.  

    "Really?  'Cause I was kinda worried you wouldn't, you know, like them . . ." Reed shook his head, strawberry curls bouncing.  

    "No, I- I love them," he smiled, ducking his head, a little embarrassed.  

    At that smile, Shane's heart started beating so hard that he was sure that it was visible through his hoodie.  God, he loved it when Reed smiled.  

    Reed finally looked around, remembering the dozens of get-well balloons he had brought with him.   He looked questioningly at Shane, who blushed.  

    "Well," he grinned sheepishly, "Blaine told me you liked blue and purple . . ."

    Reed smiled again.  Then, he blinked, realizing how close the dark-haired boy was to him.  He was holding his hand again, and his eyes were just . . . looking, all green and gray and sparkling, full of obvious concern and . . ."

    "Love . . ." Reed whispered to himself, accidentally.  Oh, god.  

    "Did you say something?" Shane raised a triangular eyebrow.

    "Uhm . . . no, "Reed answered, flustered.  "B-but, thanks for . . . this.  The balloons and the flowers and the visiting and . . . everything.  

    "No problem, I mean, I guess the bright side of you being here is that it gives me another excuse to come see you," Shane answered with another of his winning smiles.  

    The two boys lapsed into a comfortable silence after that, just holding hands and sometimes talking.  Neither one knew how long they just stayed like that, but eventually, Reed began drifting off.

    "Hey, Reed?" Shane asked quietly.  Almost asleep, Reed still managed to mumble a half-concious "hm?"

    "When you get better, try not to hurt yourself again."  Reed just smiled as he closed his eyes, hands still wrapped with Shane's.  
    
    He wasn't worried about falling.  

    Now he knew Shane would always be there to catch him.