Being stuck in bed made Blaine pretty cranky, it turned out. The doctors didn't want him doing anything strenuous, which his family interpreted as basically meaning they wouldn't let him go anywhere but home and a doctor's office. Now that the surgery was over, he wasn't scared, just bored of watching TV and tired of his mother babying him all the time. She made him lunch but he complained that he didn't want soup and then got mad at her when he accidentally spilled it over his comforter because his peripheral vision was so off. "Why didn't you just make a sandwich or something!" he'd snapped, irritated to have hot wet liquid on his bed and pajamas. She'd tried to help him clean up but he shooed her off, saying he could do it himself. His eye alternated between itchiness and soreness, neither of which was a picnic to deal with. He just wanted life back to normal.

Despite a solid pep talk from Kurt the night before, Blaine'd nearly had a complete panic attack in the chair before the surgery, calmed only by the drugs that kept him awake but very woozy while it was going on—and thinking about it still sort of freaked him out. Whenever he thought of it he tried to think good thoughts, like that Kurt would be coming by later, anything he could think of to look forward to. Kurt had come over every afternoon since his injury, bringing homework and gossip to entertain his boyfriend. Truth be told, though, it was getting hard to hear stories of what had been going on in school and in Glee that he was missing. This week sucks.

He heard footsteps coming up the stairs and thought it was probably his mom trying to get him to take the damn eyedrops again. He'd refused them in the morning, and then again an hour earlier. He was being way pushier with her than usual, and she was giving him a wide berth. He would never dare take that tone with his mom normally, and if he was honest he'd say that she would probably never let him get away with it usually. But as much as he felt ridiculous wearing that stupid eyepatch, he hated taking it off more, and today he just wasn't in the mood. He knew his eye still looked pretty swollen and gross, and even a little bit of light kind of hurt, making him want to squint. He had seen Kurt, and both of his parents, shudder the first time they saw him like that, and he knew they felt sorry for him. While in theory the medicine was helping and his eye would feel better a few minutes after taking it, the initial moment of trying to keep his eye open, feeling the drop hit his eyelid, a soggy-stingy feeling overtaking his already tender eye… it was all just torture. "It's my eye, if I don't want to take it, I shouldn't have to take it," he'd told her. Exasperated, she had tried to negotiate with him, but he held his ground, saying she couldn't make him and that she should leave him alone. He wanted to take a nap, he'd said, even though he was the opposite of sleepy. He just didn't want to deal with people today. She'd finally given in and let him be.

There was a quiet knock at the door. "Come in," he said, preparing mentally for his mom's arguments—and then was pleasantly surprised to see it was Kurt and Rachel. "Oh. Hey, you got here early today."

Rachel nodded. "Parent teacher conferences today. Got out early, no Glee. But the marching band was selling candy for some fundraiser though, so we brought you some."

"Oh right, I forgot about all that." Blaine smiled. He was living in such an alternate timeline now—was it a Thursday? Not being at school made him lose track of these things. But candy did sound nice right now.

"How are you feeling?" Rachel asked.

Blaine groaned. "I've had better days."

There was the sound of a car iginition starting outside Blaine's window. "Your mom said she's going to the library." Kurt said.

"Oh good, she's driving me crazy," Blaine said, chewing on his chocolate.

Rachel and Kurt exchanged glances.

"She mentioned that you were… kind of having a hard time today." Rachel offered, gentle.

Blaine scowled. "She treats me like a baby."

"Well, maybe she ought to." Kurt muttered.

Blaine looked up. "What?"
"Because from what I'm hearing you've been acting like a brat." Kurt said simply, seating in the armchair next to Blaine's bed.

Blaine was caught off guard and looked from Kurt to Rachel and back again. "I'm not—she's just… overprotective is all."

"She said you wouldn't take your medicine."

Blaine sighed. Why'd his mom have to go and blab about that? "It's not a big deal," he defended.

"You were barely conscious when the doctor was explaining all the medications, Blaine—I'm pretty sure your mother knows better than you do about how often you have to take it," Kurt argued.

Blaine scowled. "I'm fine. It doesn't hurt nearly as much as yesterday."

"You think that's maybe because you had your eyedrops yesterday?" Kurt asked incredulously.

"I don't like them," Blaine pouted. Maybe it was childish, but he didn't care right now.

"Tough." Kurt retorted, firm. "The doctor says you need them, you take them Blaine."

Rachel was uncomfortable and was trying to think of a way to change the subject. But Blaine was getting irritated with Kurt's bossy tone.

"You don't know what it's been like—"

"And that gives you an excuse to be a jerk to your mother?"

"What? I haven't been—"

"She took off work to take care of you—" Kurt pointed out.

Blaine groaned. "I don't need a babysitter, it's not like—"

"God you're so stubborn sometimes." Kurt shook his head. "If you don't do what the doctor says exactly, your recovery time is going to be longer. And you could risk infection—you want to end up needing surgery again?"

"That's not going to happen. And I don't know what my mom told you, but I'm not 4 years old, it's my body." Blaine sulked. "Since when are you a doctor?" he added, sarcastic. Kurt shouldn't be taking his mom's side, he reasoned. He should be comforting him or something. What the hell?

Kurt stared at Blaine. There was a pause before the words came, slow and quiet. "Young man. You do not get to talk to me like that," he said.

Blaine blinked. He stole a glance at Rachel and then back at Kurt, his face warming. "I—umm—" he sputtered. He couldn't believe Kurt was calling him "young man" here—now, while he was injured, and in front of Rachel.

"Do I let you be fresh with me Blaine?" Kurt asked, cold.

Blaine fidgeted in his bed.

"Kurt—I—I didn't mean—"

"Because that sounded pretty fresh to me."

Blaine looked at his hands. "… sorry," he said.

"Is that how you've been talking to your mom today?" Kurt pressed.

Blaine rubbed his hand against the back of his neck. "…We-ell, um…"

"Keep in mind that I just talked to her downstairs before she left, so you might want to be careful about fibbing on this one, Blaine."

Blaine's jaw dropped open.

Rachel felt sorry for Blaine and thought it was probably time to get out of there. "I should go," she said, picking up her purse.

Kurt ignored Rachel and leaned in towards Blaine. "We've talked about your bending the truth before now, haven't we, young man?"

Blaine was outright blushing now. "K-kurt…." He pleaded.

"Haven't we?"

"We-ell, yes, Kurt—but—"

"You finding it embarrassing to get scolded about this?" Kurt asked, patronizing.

Blaine frowned. He couldn't believe Kurt was making a thing about all this, and now. "…yeah," he spat.

"Yet you didn't find it embarrassing to talk like that to her, or to me? Why weren't you ashamed of yourself?"

"It wasn't— Kurt." Blaine sputtered, exasperated. "Rachel is—" Blaine gestured his head in her direction.

"Rachel's aware of our arrangement, I'm not concerned about it." Kurt responded, dismissive.

Rachel hung by the door, unsure what to say or do.

Blaine felt weak. "Y-you're not?"

"No. Frankly I'm far more concerned about your behavior right now young man."

Blaine didn't know what to say. Kurt cleared his throat. "Rachel and I came over here to cheer you up, Blaine, but what I'm hearing is that that's not the kind of attention you need right now. I think someone is in need of a reminder about their manners, " he spat.