AN: Thank you for your nice reviews, and thank you to all of those who subscribe to alerts or have made this a favorite – thank you for enjoying my selfish rewriting!
And please remember, English is not my mother tongue, but I really appreciate feedback on both language and grammar, not only the content.
Disclaimer: As usual, I own no fun.
The rest of the weekend is spent working on their respective English papers. Kurt had been by himself in his room typing, but just before dinner Blaine had entered, wondering if they maybe could help each other. He was stuck with writer's block, and needed a pair of fresh eyes to criticize the paper, and hopefully give some pointers for further progress. Kurt had willingly read through Blaine's paper, as had Blaine done with his. After carefully noting down pointers for the other to continue with afterwards, Blaine had answered the text from Wes and confirmed they would indeed join them for dinner.
Kurt has been sitting idle by his laptop the rest of the evening; working, deleting, editing, reading, looking for quotes, thinking, typing some more, never feeling completely satisfied with the result. He needs a break, and decides to make some coffee in the commons room.
There, sitting in the couches, are Wes, David, Nick and Jeff chatting animatedly about something and whatnots.
"Double-oh, come join us!" Wes exclaims eagerly. "You have been very anti-social all day."
Kurt is tired, his eyes hurt, his brain is boiling, and his mood isn't at his best. It takes time to finish his paper, as he can only type with one hand. He just wants some really strong coffee to help him put in some more hours on the paper, but hesitantly obeys Wes' request after he's started the coffee maker brew his liquid salvation.
Nick and Jeff are wrapped around each other in a chair, making out. Kurt doesn't know if it's his foul temper for this evening that shines through or something else, but he finds himself being utterly bugged by them.
"You are so sickeningly adorable, Noah would choose you as the human couple to bring for his second Ark," Kurt mumbles a bit sour.
"And hence ensue the extinction of the human beings?" Wes worries.
"No stress," says David. "They'll just have to date Miss Monkey, and initiate the evolution again".
Nick and Jeff finally look up, both with big eyes.
The coffee is done, and Kurt pours the ever so important liquid in two big mugs, before heading back to his room. He leaves one mug on his desk, and heads for the bathroom to offer his neighbor on the other side the other mug. They never use the main doors to their rooms when visiting the other, but quickly fell into the habit of entering through the bathroom.
"Hey Blaine, how's it going? I have coffee."
His neighbor has turned the office chair around, and is sitting with his chest pressed against the back of the chair, chin resting on the top, feet wrapped around the sole foot of the chair, and his hands lazily slumped on the keys on the laptop. He's in his pajama pants and a t-shirt that looks painted on over his shoulders and back, Kurt notices. His eyes lands on the small stripe of bare skin on his lower back were the t-shirt has crawled up from the waistband. Kurt swallows. It feels so… intimate to see it.
Blaine twirls around in the chair to face Kurt.
"Thank you," he says and gratefully accepts the mug. "I'm going to proof read this once more, and then I can e-mail it and go to bed. How about you?"
"I still think I lack some edge in the analysis, so I'll probably put in some more hours' effort before I give up."
"Don't push yourself too hard, what I read before dinner was a good paper," he says and takes a sip of the mug.
"Yeah? Well, good isn't good enough."
"Just don't push yourself too hard."
"Blaine, I've been here less than a week, and I need to catch up. It'll be fine; it's just a bit rough the first weeks, especially with one arm in a cast. You said it yourself earlier, it's difficult to transfer mid-semester."
Blaine puts down the coffee and gets up from the chair.
"Yes, I know exactly how exhausting it can be, that's why I worry about you."
He puts his hands on Kurt's shoulders.
"Promise me you won't push yourself too hard? And remember to use us if you need any help; we Warblers stick up for each other."
"Thank you, Blaine, I really appreciate it. But don't worry, I'll be fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I want to go back before my coffee gets cold"
"Yeah, of course. Good night, Kurt."
"Good night, Blaine."
Blaine yawns and stretches, arms raised over his head. He'd been sitting up way too late with the paper. As he always did after rough study nights, he had started the morning with a hot shower to loosen up his stiff and sore muscles after sitting cramped up in front of the computer for so long, and then a cold shower to make sure his brain fully woke up. He'll just do the final adjustments on his tie and blazer, before he'll get Kurt to join him for breakfast. He hasn't heard anything from the boy or noticed him in the bathroom, but maybe he had opted off the shower to sleep longer this morning?
He peeks into Kurt's room, and calls for the boy. No answer. Blaine steps into the room, and then he sees his friend hunched over the desk.
"Kurt, wake up!" Blaine gently shakes the boy, who's wearing the same sweatpants and long sleeved t-shirt as when he had gotten Blaine coffee, so he must have been sleeping over his laptop the entire night. "Kurt, you have to wake up, you have classes in an hour!"
Kurt bolts up. "What?" He's looking confused at Blaine. "What happened?"
"You must have fallen asleep while typing."
Kurt looks at the laptop screen. "Oh my god, I have like two pages of qwerty, an unfinished conclusion, and…" He glances at his cell phone. "…and this must be sent within 15 minutes. I'm dead. I'm dead, Blaine."
Kurt gets up from his chair, pacing back and fro in the room, hand tugging at his hair and the cast held protectively against his stomach.
"I think I'm going to throw up, this isn't happening…"
"Calm down, Kurt, this isn't doing you any good," Blaine says while deleting all the excess letters Kurt's head has been typing during his sleep. "Come here, sit down, and wrap up a conclusion."
"I don't remember what I wrote, I don't know what my conclusion is, I'm going to fail my paper," Kurt burst out hurriedly. Blaine grabs him by the shoulders, and forces him to sit down in his chair.
"Focus, Kurt. You're smart, you know what you where discussing in this paper if you let your brain calm down, and I am confident you have the conclusion in the back of your mind. All you have to do is get it out and down on the screen," he says, and starts massaging the boy's shoulders to make him relax. Kurt closes his eyes, hand resting on the keys, and he starts typing.
"You have got to breathe," Blaine leans in and whispers in his left ear. Kurt's neck turns to goose bumps, but at least it makes him let out the air he didn't know he was holding in.
It's clumsily to type, but two minutes before deadline Kurt finishes a sentence and declares he's done. A quick e-mail is typed, the paper attached, send-button clicked, and his assignment is officially done.
"Congratulations!" Blaine shouts, and twirls Kurt around in his chair. "We have half an hour before classes. I'll run down and grab you some breakfast, while you get dressed. Do you need any help with that?"
"It's my first day in uniform, and I suspect both the buttons in the shirt and the tie can be a bit difficult, so…"
"Don't worry, I'll be back."
True to his words, after fifteen minutes Blaine is back with a yogurt, two apples and coffee for Kurt. He helps him finish getting dressed, and then they jog to classes.
"How long did you sleep tonight?"
"I remember noticing the clock was more than five, so I must have fallen asleep some time after that."
"So you haven't slept more than perhaps two hours tonight? This will be a rough day."
"Yeah, I know. I'll have to put my trust in coffee to stay awake. How about you? Did you get your paper in and some proper sleep?"
"Hmm, oh, yes, fine," Blaine answers absentmindedly. He's pulled out his cell, vigorously texting.
Blaine was right; the day had been rough for Kurt. Rough, but also bizarre. He had shared first class with Blaine, and tried to salvage his cup of coffee for as long as possible, but it didn't last more than 25 minutes, even with small sips and a lot of inhaling the smells in between the sips. The last half of the lesson he'd spent trying any trick in the book to stay awake – pinching himself, sitting up straight in the chair, holding up his eyelids, learning to write with his left hand, studying the various greetings and drawings on his cast, trying to focus on the teachers monotonous speech, and thinking about designs for new uniforms at Dalton. At a point, the teacher's voice had seemed to fade away, Kurt had been resting his head just for a little while, but bolted upright by the sound of Blaine's really loud and really weird sneeze. Kurt was grateful for the awakening.
While walking down the hallway to find the room for his next class, Wes and David had passed him, both bearing a cup of coffee.
"Here, you look like you need these," they had said and given him both cups. Confused, but grateful, he had clung to the cups during class, and managed to stay awake.
When he came to his third class, three boys he recognized as Warblers had brought him coffee, before sitting down by their desks. There wasn't any time to explain before the teacher came and started the lesson.
The lesson was a double-hour, and in recess Kurt hurried out to the men's room, 'cause he really needed to pee after all that coffee. When he came back, three new cups of smoking hot coffee awaited him on the desk, and one of the Warblers winked to him. "Thank you, I guess," he said a bit confused. He pulled out his cell, snatched a quick picture of the three cups and sent it to Blaine. Do you know anything about this? He didn't get any reply, but he knew Blaine wouldn't text during class, and would get an answer later on.
Finally it's time for lunch, half of the day is successfully gone without Kurt falling asleep, he's actually feeling quite awake and good, skipping into the cafeteria. He slides into what quickly had become his usual seat next to Blaine, and is startled to see at least a dozen cups of coffee on the table in front of him.
"I told you we Warblers look out for each other," Blaine says with a wide grin, looking rather pleased with himself.
"Oh my god, are you trying to poison me or something?" Kurt burst out, giggling.
"You are awake, aren't you?"
"You bet I am!" Kurt answers with big eyes.
"How many cups of coffee have you had," David asks, seeming a bit concerned.
"Including this?" Kurt asks and finishes one of the cups in front of him. "Ten."
"Maybe that's enough for today?"
"Maybe that's enough for this week?" Wes suggests.
"Yeah, maybe this got a bit out of control," Blaine agrees, and hands out the rest of the cups to the various Warblers sitting around them, except for two cups Kurt is possessively clinging to. Kurt is still giggling, trying to dry of his happy laughing tears.
"We have the last three classes together, so I'll be able keep an eye on him," Blaine offers to David, who is seemingly worried about their hyperactive latest recruit.
"I don't know if we want his bouncing energy at Warblers' meeting today, or if he should be tied to his bed to calm down," David says as Kurt almost runs to the salad bar, jumping around and playfully gathering the ingredients he wants for today's salad.
"We'll see how he is when we get there," Blaine answers. The three of them are watching Kurt, who has come back as quick as a hurricane. His feet are dancing under the table, he's humming to a tune they don't recognize, and he eats his lunch while bobbing his head from side to side in a rhythmical pattern.
Lunch is over, and Blaine grabs Kurt's left arm, trying to maneuver him in the direction of their next classroom. Kurt states he has "a capital idea", and tries to jump up the stairs with only one leg. Despite his cheerleading background, his dance skills and general outstanding body control, this is not the best day to approach stairs in interesting ways. Luckily, Blaine is still holding his arm, and thus prevents him from falling and breaking any more bones.
"I'm psyched about having English," Kurt says happily.
"So I see," Blaine smiles amused.
"Aren't you?"
"Not as much as you, apparently."
They find their seats, but when Kurt starts rocking the chair, balancing it on two legs, while moving his upper body to a beat only he can hear, Blaine decides to pull their desks closer together, so he hopefully can maybe prevent him from falling off the chair or something. It's not an easy task. He ends up grabbing the boy's left hand with his own left hand, so he can calm down the boy and taking notes with his right hand. Some time during class their fingers end up entwined as Blaine tries to get a better grip on his untamed neighbor, and it makes Kurt sit completely still for the rest of the hour, but with a slight blush on his cheeks. They don't let go until they have to get up and walk to their next class.
In biology, the teacher has given the students assigned places. Kurt is seated right in front of Blaine, so he scoots his desk as close to Kurt's chair as possible to make him sit still and not jump around with the chair. Luckily Kurt is able to keep quiet, but he has a lot of excess energy in his body. Blaine can see him twitch and rock on the chair, sitting crossed legged and stomping his foot. Blaine leans more over his desk, resting his left elbow in front of him, and as discrete as possible he gently rubs his thumb low on Kurt's shoulder blade. The change is as effective as if he had turned on a light switch. The boy in front of him stills immediately. First, he tenses, but it doesn't take long before he relaxes, lowering his shoulders and leaning back as much as possible. Blaine just hopes he won't fall asleep.
Biology is also a double, so the next hour continues the same way – but now Blaine is seriously worried Kurt might fall asleep. That's why he's poking the boy between his shoulder blades once in a while, between the gentle rubbing, to make sure the boy is awake, and still sitting fairly nice and calm in his chair.
When the teacher dismisses the class, Kurt jumps up from the chair like a rocket. He spins around, almost knocking Blaine's head with his cast.
"You're close!" Kurt says shocked, with huge eyes, but then a big grin takes over.
"Do you want to lie down in your bed, or are you up for Warblers' meeting? Wes and David totally understand if you need to sleep."
"Nah, is cool, I'm dapper Warbler, I attend meetings," Kurt says, pretending to give off a serious expression, but cracking up with giggles and narrow eyes. Blaine thinks it's a bit cute, how the otherwise well-mannered, slightly restrained, protective, polite, articulated and mature eighteen year old man transforms to a happy, playful, loose, rambling boy after a couple of liters of coffee.
Blaine has mass-texted the Warblers again, to alert them that Kurt's coffee emergency is over, so they enter the practice room without more caffeine being offered.
Today it's just a meeting, for information and planning, and no actual singing practice. Blaine finds place in a couch for both of them.
David begins the meeting with his usual motivational speech, as Sectionals are coming up and they need to perfect their set list. It is decided that auditions for the last solo will be held on Wednesday, and those interested should inform the council with their preferred solo-song before midnight next day.
It's easy to notice the coffee is wearing off of Kurt, and how exhaustion has caught up with him. His body is completely still, a huge contradiction to the bouncy Kurt they've seen all day. He doesn't speak either, just sits calmly and absorbs the information given by the council. If Blaine had looked more closely at the boy, he might have noticed how heavy his eyelids are, how his head is resting on the back of the couch, and how his body has sunk down.
"Lastly, the Council wants to give you a heads up about the upcoming Christmas ball. The administration has asked the Warblers to accommodate at least 30 minutes worth of entertaining. That means at least ten songs, so suggestions are appreciated. The Council will welcome solos, duets, group numbers and numbers done by all of the Warblers. But do not let the thought of the Ball cloud our preparations for Sectionals," David warns. Wes bangs the gavel on the Council's table, and the Warblers are dismissed.
"Kurt?" Blaine gently pushes Kurt, who has started to lean down a little in the couch.
"I'm not sleeping, just resting like a lot…" Kurt mumbles.
"The meeting is done; you can go to your room and rest more there."
"Capit'l idea…" Kurt mumbles again, but he gets up from the couch, swaying slightly against the door. Blaine grabs his own satchel and Kurt's as well, as he apparently forgot it, before catching up with his tired neighbor.
"I'll walk you to your room, in case you start sleep walking."
They arrive the dorms safely, and Blaine makes sure Kurt is OK before leaving him to go back for dinner. Kurt is too tired and has no appetite in his coffee-filled stomach to join him. Before crash landing in his bed, he decided to let his iPod play randomly from his playlists, hoping to be inspired for his solo audition. The first verse of the second song isn't even done, before Kurt has disappeared to deep sleep.
The showering he managed without a hitch, not even a single wet drop of water on the cast. But washing his hair in the sink is still a pain. With only his left arm available, he's making a big mess with the water, not making his hair moist enough, and splashing water all over the place – himself included. He curses under his breath, before giving it another try. He screams in surprise when his head touches the tap handle, moving it to entirely cold water.
"Kurt, are you OK?" he hears Blaine on the other side of the door.
"Yes," Kurt answers angrily, "I'm just being clumsy!"
"Can I come in?"
Kurt takes a look at himself in the mirror and studies the wet surroundings. Luckily he had slipped into sweatpants and a t-shirt after the shower.
"I guess."
His words are hardly out before Blaine has come through the door, anxious to see what's wrong. His worried expression is soon replaced by laughter.
"Staging a wet t-shirt contest, are we?" he smirks.
"Yes, and I am winning," Kurt replies with a grin, standing up straight and showing off his wet mess.
"Would you like some help? With your hair, I mean?" Blaine asks and blushes slightly.
"I hate to be so dependent on help for such basic things, but it seems like I'm not getting the hang of it yet. Would you mind?"
"Of course not, I offered, didn't I? Let's find some towels to clean up this mess, and then we'll work on your hair. Do you have the bottles you need here," he asks while drying up the water on the floor and around the sink. Kurt shows him his bottles, pointing out the shampoo and the conditioner.
Blaine adjusts the temperature of the water, before carefully leaning Kurt towards the sink. Kurt bows to get his head under the water, letting Blaine soak his hair. When Blaine seems satisfied, he gently pushes Kurt's head up to start lathering the shampoo.
"You know, this kind of remind me of the slushies from back on McKinley."
"Oh," Blaine says surprised, "I didn't mean to wake up your bad memories."
"It's OK, it's kind of not a bad memory. We would often help each other clean up after the slushies, washing each others hair in the sink as good as we could. Glee kids stick together as well, not only the Warblers", Kurt laughs lightly. "But I must say," he adds, "your shampooing is giving the memory a new and better dimension, I could really get used to this," he sighs.
"I'm glad," Blaine says, trying to concentrate and not enjoying it too much. "I didn't know my guitar fingers had other skills," he laughs a big strained.
"What, your fingers are also piano fingers," Kurt interrupts. "Multitasking fingers!"
They both laugh heartedly, until Kurt must keep his mouth and eyes closed while Blaine rinses off the shampoo.
There's no time for breakfast this morning either, and the boys breaks into an easy jog to get in class in time. They pause by their lockers to get their books, before they have to go separate ways to different classes. As Kurt is about to leave, Blaine grabs his arm and stops him.
"You know… I'm glad I made you laugh this morning. It's nice to see you in a good mood after all that happened. You're strong, you're a fighter. They can't beat you. I see you standing proud and tall; I hope you see how strong and victorious you are."
Blaine gives his arm a quick squeeze, before running off to class, leaving Kurt dumbstruck. It suddenly dawns him, which song should be his audition number.