Set in season 3, around the time Mercedes leaves Glee. Except she doesn't. And Kurt is the one who feels sick. Only it's not over-working himself that's causing it. So what is causing it? And is Kurt ok? Why is he quiet and secluding himself?
It was one of those days. One of the bad ones where he wasn't feeling so well. Honestly he hasn't been feeling well for the past few months; they've been a bad few months due to some life altering news recently coming to light. He hasn't told anyone, at least anyone at school. He hadn't even told Finn, even though he wanted to so bad. But they had to wait for some more information. He wanted to wait for more information. But, that wouldn't stop him from getting sicker. They got a call from the doctor yesterday and they told him the bad news. It was like, now that it was official, he felt more sick. They planned to talk to a specialist the next morning, learn more about what it was and what they could do to fight it.
Kurt got out of his dad's truck, walked over to the driver's side to say goodbye for the day. Kurt was slow and careful with his movements. He didn't want to drive his car since he was feeling so tired. Also his dad said he couldn't. Burt could tell that he wasn't feeling well, more so today. To say that Burt was scared was an understatement. He didn't understand what it was that was plaguing his son, he didn't know everything about it, but it gave him a terrible feeling.
"Call me if you need to come on home okay, kiddo?" Burt asked, raising his eyebrows to say that he would take him back home now if he didn't say yes.
"I will, dad I promise. But, I think I'll be okay." Kurt adjusted his bag on his shoulder and grimaced at how much heavier it felt. As usual, it didn't go unnoticed by his father.
"How are you feeling, honestly?" Kurt looked at his dad, he couldn't lie to him. Especially not about this.
"I'm a little tired, but I'll take it easy today." His dad just looked at him skeptically.
"Dad, the doctor said as long as I take it easy I could go back to school. I already had to lie to everyone at school about why I wasn't here on Friday. And I miss Glee, dad. I promise if I feel even the slightest bit worse, I'll call you." Burt still had a skeptical look on his face but he caved.
"Alright, call me. I'm taking your word for it." Kurt gave him a small smile, and reached up through the window to squeeze the part of his father's arm that was hanging out.
"Thanks, dad. I'll see you later tonight."
"You mean after school right? Remember I'm off today."
"But, we have Glee right after school. We have a competition coming up soon! I can't miss another practice. And Blaine is gonna want to come over tonight." Kurt's voice went up a little higher as he finished talking.
"Kurt, I know that it's important, but the doctor said for you to take it easy. Don't you have dancing practice, too? I don't want you over exerting yourself when your'e-" Burt stopped in his tracks. They still had a hard time saying it out loud. Kurt looked to the ground.
"I just want you to be safe." Burt did want him to be safe, but he also knew that Blaine wouldn't be able to meet him today. Or any other day after today.
"I will, dad. I am. I'll talk to Mr. Schue about booty camp. What about Blaine? I haven't had a date night with him for like a week, and he's gonna ask if he can come over." Burt felt incredibly guilty at the sound of his son's voice. He hated hearing disappointment in Kurt's voice. He thought about his question, hard.
"Are you up to it? If he notices that your'e not feeling well, are you ready to tell him?" Kurt had forgotten about for a split second. He really wanted to see Blaine. Wanted to cuddle up to him and let him say that everything was going to be alright. But, at the same time, he didn't want to burden Blaine.
"I don't know." For a moment they were both silent.
"How about this; if you feel alright at the end of the day, he can come over." Kurt thought about his father's suggestion. It seemed pretty reasonable to him.
"Deal?" His dad asked. Kurt couldn't but smile at the face his dad was making.
"Deal." He said.
"Have a good day, kiddo. I love you." Kurt looked at his dad and smiled. His dad didn't express that a lot. So he took it.
"I love you, too." With that Burt watched his son walk slowly into the school. After he was sure he was safely inside, he drove off.
Kurt started walking to his locker and once there he started opening it to get his books for first period. He was having trouble with it today, for some reason; it wouldn't open. He put the code in and it was right, but it just wouldn't unlock. He tried again and with his exhaustion and not feeling well, Kurt got frustrated.
"Ugh!" He growled. Mercedes and Rachel heard his frustration as they were walking towards him at his locker. They stopped for a second and looked at each other at hearing the growl from Kurt. They immediately put on their gossip ears.
"Whoa there. What did the locker do to you?" Mercedes asked with a slight smile on her face. Rachel gave a small grin. Kurt looked at the duo surprised. He thought they would've already been in class by now. He should've known that they would wait for him, they have the same first period, they usually did wait for each other.
"Oh, I-the stupid thing won't open." Mercedes walked up to the locker, entered the code and it opened the first time she tried it. Kurt stared at the door like it was an alien.
"How-how did you-uh-never mind. We're gonna be late for class." Kurt grabbed his books quickly and shut the locker door, hurrying down the hall towards math. Rachel and Mercedes followed close behind.
"So, how's your Aunt?" Mercedes asked. Kurt was full of confusion at the question.
"What? My Aunt?" He asked.
"Yeah, you know the Aunt that got sick so you had to stay home and miss glee club." Rachel said in her usual tone. Mercedes elbowed her in the side. Kurt had almost forgotten that was what he told them when they asked why he wasn't at school on Friday.
"Oh yeah, she's-she's doing good. A lot better now."
"I'm glad she's doing better, Kurt. How long of a drive was it again?"
"Two hour drive. And my Aunt has my uncle with her. Her doctor said that she should wait a little while before she has visitors."
"I totally get that. When my grandma was sick, they said that people coming to see her would just make her sicker. So we had to wait like two weeks before we could see her." Listening to Mercedes talk about her relative really stuck to Kurt. He felt bad before about lying to her about Friday, but now he was feeling incredibly guilty. Mercedes and Rachel are his best friends. He absolutely hated lying to them.
Before anyone said anything else, they arrived at class and hurried to their seats. They would've been late if they had chatted any longer. The class wasn't very long, maybe 45 minutes. But for Kurt, it seemed to last for hours. The class couldn't be taking longer. Kurt ached everywhere, his stomach churned at the breakfast that he had had earlier that morning. Just when Kurt thought he might call his dad, the bell rang. Kurt shot up from his seat to gather his things, and he immediately regretted it.
Pain shot through his left side, and he had stopped what he was doing and stood still for a minute. He had to wait until the feeling passed, or at least calmed to an ache. Thankfully he was in the back of the class so no one saw what happened. He was glad that Rachel and Mercedes were concentrated on their recently assigned project.
They rest of the day went by slowly. He kept getting aches and pains all over, and it didn't help that his friends were starting to notice that he was being quiet. He was mostly worried about Blaine finding out. He was scared to tell him. For many different reasons. One he wanted to know everything he could about his condition so that he could actually explain it to him. He wasn't afraid that Blaine would leave him, quite the opposite in fact. He was afraid that Blaine wouldn't leave him. He didn't want Blaine to go through weeks and weeks of hospitals and tests, and treatments. He deserved better than that, better than Kurt.
Said boyfriend walked up to him giddily, with a big smile on his face, clearly excited to see him. Kurt had been truly grateful and ecstatic when Blaine told him that he had transferred to McKinley. He felt a little better knowing that Blaine was there, so close to him now. But, now that Kurt knew what was making him sick, he worried that he might not want Blaine there. He didn't want Blaine to feel obligated to take care of him. But then, wasn't that what boyfriends, or spouses were meant to do? Take care of one another? Kurt's condition was different though. Not only would Kurt be suffering, but Blaine would be too.
"Hey! Missed you this weekend. How's your Aunt?" Kurt felt a mental fist connecting with his gut with such force that he gasped as Blaine's question. Of course, being the silly git that Blaine is, he giggled thinking he had just startled his boyfriend.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Blaine playfully pushed his shoulder lightly into Kurt's and gave his usual dashing smile. Kurt couldn't help but return it, nobody could.
"No it's okay. Just feeling a little tired, that's all. We were at the hospital for hours, and then it was another two hours drive there and back. We had a late dinner, which made my skin care routine late." Kurt lied about his skin care routine. Well, he was late when he thought about getting to it, but he had felt too exhausted and stressed out that he didn't do it last night. He had to do a double load this morning.
"Aw, well maybe, I could come over tonight? We could just relax and watch Moulin Rouge, or maybe Phantom of the Opera? You seem like you could use a cuddle night." The offer was very tempting, and Kurt almost accepted it. He remembered what his dad had said, and he wasn't sure if he would feel up to it later.
"Yeah, definitely." Kurt said before realizing he had said it. He really hoped that he felt better later today.
"I'll just call my dad first. Make sure he's okay with it. He's been kinda out of it the past few days." Kurt let that last bit slip. His dad was feeling out of it because of Kurt's illness. Luckily, Blaine took it as a symptom of what was going on with Kurt's Aunt.
"Totally understandable. Is she doing okay, though?"
"Yeah, she's doing better. They said she has chronic pneumonia. Said it'll take a while to go away completely, but she's already showing signs of improvement." God, Kurt hated lying, especially to his boyfriend and his friends. He'll be glad when he can tell them the truth. Only he can't tell them. Just then the bell rang for Lunch time. Kurt was silently thanking whatever higher power was there that he was literally saved by the bell.
Kurt was sort of quiet at lunch, attempting to stay in the conversations going on around him and trying to eat something. But, his stomach just wasn't sure if it could handle food with the aches plaguing his body. Thankfully no one seemed to notice that he barely ate any lunch and had hardly said anything in their conversations. Luckily, it wasn't too long before the bell rang yet again for next period. Kurt was overjoyed that he had a free period after this next class. After that it was time for Glee club. He could just sit in the choir room and make up last Friday's work that he missed.
His Spanish class with Mr. Schue, seemed to take forever. But, eventually the bell rang and it was time for his free period. Kurt decided, though, to go up to Mr. Schue and tell him about his appointment in the morning. He walked up to his teacher's desk after everyone had gone.
"Hey Kurt, how's your Aunt doing?" Why was everyone asking him that?
"She's doing better Mr. Shue. Thank you for asking."
"Of course. So what can I do for you?" He asked with a friendly smile. He was glad Mr. Schue was their teacher. He was such an understanding and wise teacher. Yet still young and made some mistakes too. If he wanted to see Blaine he needed to tell Mr. Schue. He could trust Mr. Schue with his secret, right? There was no way that he would be able to participate in booty camp today. Maybe he could do lessons later when he it was just him and Mr. Schue, or Mike. He needed to tell him. That way someone on staff would know what was going on in case something happened. He decided then that it was a good idea.
"Mr. Schue, can we talk in your office, please?" Mr. Schue looked at his young, talented student quizzically. He had a feeling that something was up. He listened intently and noticed Kurt's tired expression.
"Yeah, of course. Go on ahead, I'll be right behind you." They exchanged smiles and Kurt left the room. The teacher looked on after his student and worry began to build up in his stomach. He hadn't seen Kurt like this since...well, since the days where Karofsky bullied him. He knew that something was up, he just hoped that it was something Kurt could over come.