Klaine Ever After

A Visit from 3 Friends

**•**Ryder's POV**•**

His breathing sucked right now. Literally. He was sucking for breath every time his chest moved up and down and his air in and out. Honestly, it felt like someone was digging nails into his sides, not fingernails, no, but the small, hard, metal, pointy nails. He imagined what it had felt like for Jesus when he was crucified, having nails bored into your palms and feet and then being left to hang there until your very last breath. He sure felt a general estimation as to what Christ endured. It was so unbearable, endless, excruciating, and so... so disappointing.

It was disappointing because he went though this pain and trouble because of a stupid mistake - by another person. He was just driving down the highway, and was planning on being early to meet his girlfriend at the church. Then suddenly this other car on the other side of the median comes barreling towards him and before he had time to react, he was T-boned on his side of the car, sending tremendous pain through his abdomen.

The first thing he thought after the collision was, Her. She was waiting for him, he was going to be late, she would fret and worry and he would be lying there, barely breathing.

Now if only-

Knock! Knock! Knock! "Hey, Ryder!" A familiar voice followed the sound of the knock.

Ryder turned to see Blaine, Sam, and Jake come in the room. Blaine was in his wearing a black dress shirt, white slacks and shoes and a navy blue bow tie with matching suspenders. His black curls were untidy and longer from when Ryder last saw him, some curls just barely touched his eyebrows. Sam looked like he had been sweating and the white dress shirt he was wearing had been unbuttoned a quarter of the way down, exposing chest hair. He wore black slacks and shoes and his usual, wide grin. Jake, of whom Ryder was surprised to see, wore a plain purple T-shirt that hugged his biceps. He, like Sam, wore black slacks and shoes.

"Hey, guys." Ryder addressed his three friends. "I was expecting you to be partying."

Sam looked to the other guys, "Without you? No, I mean we have been partying, but it was time we came to see you too. After all, you were and still are invited so we want to include you to the best of our abilities."

Ryder suddenly felt a little guilty, "Blaine," he said to the newly-wed. "I'm sorry this happened. I feel like crap and I don't understand how... ahh..." He winced as pain poked and prodded at his broken rib again, and he laid his head back on the starch- white hospital pillow. Blaine reached out and grasped hold of Ryder's hand. Finally he felt recovered enough to continue, "And I look pathetic," he gestured at the loose, blue and white gown he was forced to wear. "and I have tubes in my nose, pain in my sides, and an even greater pang in my... Gah!" He grimaced again before finishing his sentence, "heart."

Blaine squeezed his hand and Ryder, feeling the need to rely on someone else's strength, squeezed back. "Thanks for taking the time out of your reception to come here." He told Blaine. "You didn't have to come right now. It's you and Kurt's night. You should enjoy it and enjoy each other."

Blaine smiled and looked down before saying,"I know, man, but I don't really want it to be all about me and Kurt, Kurt and me. No, we invited all these people we love and respect and we want to show them how much they mean to us." He looked at Ryder, tilting his head slightly. "And you are one of those people. Sometimes life just throws us crap like car wrecks, and we are expected to manage them somehow. I believe we have a decision in this world as to how we deal with those situations. Either we can procrastinate and/or complain about them or we can seize them and look at them not as a pain, but as a life lesson or a way to continue to be stronger and more confident in how we carry out or lives, you know?"