Kurt stared at himself for several minutes in the mirror, taking in his appearance. He looked almost the same as he had last October when his attack happened, but now it was February and he felt like a completely different person. To be quite honest, he was.
Blaine opened the bathroom door and came in, looking sleepy. "You ready for school?"
"No." Kurt frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. By now people would know without a doubt why Kurt had disappeared from school so long. One of two things would happen: either everyone that knew him would make a big fuss over him going back to McKinley or they would act as if nothing had happened. He really didn't know which of the two was worse. He really didn't feel like having Blaine and Burt multiplied by ten, but if nobody even noticed… well, that would hurt his feelings.
Blaine put his hands on Kurt's shoulders and kissed his cheek. "Today will go by very fast, my love. And when you get home you'll take a nice nap and by time you wake up I'll be back from classes."
Kurt grunted and sighed. "I don't want to go back."
He felt Blaine's hand squeeze his shoulder. "You've got to go back. Your make up work is all done, you're medication free, and all of those expensive clothes in your closet are going to waste while you lay around in my $10 pajama pants… It's time to start your life again."
"I'm not ready for things to go back to normal." Kurt whispered, still staring at himself in the mirror. He closed his eyes when Blaine kissed his cheek again. "It just… I don't know."
"I thought you would be ecstatic to go back now that you know you're good to join New Directions again, Kurt… and if Karofsky sends one look your way, text me and I'll round up every graduated Warbler within a 100 mile radius and we'll kick his ass."
"Curse words sound so funny coming out of your mouth, Blaine." Kurt sighed softly, but he was smiling a bit.
"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you?" Blaine questioned, kissing his shoulder.
"I've been fine to drive for two weeks. I'll be just… fine." He was now not focusing on himself in the mirror but a very sleepy looking Blaine.
Blaine rested his head on Kurt's shoulder, having to lean up a bit to do so, and looked in the mirror too. "We're such an adorable couple."
"You're so conceited." Kurt laughed and leaned back against him. "But I guess we kind of are."
"You'll be fine, sweetie. I promise. I'd offer to take you for ice cream after I get home but you don't like junk food." Blaine mimicked his voice quite well and grinned.
"I might be able to be talked into an ice cream… possibly. Depending on how bad today goes, I guess. Why are you pouting?"
"I was hoping to wake up early enough to mess up your hair before you fixed it." Blaine admitted, sliding his arms around Kurt's thin waist and rocking him gently. "It's okay. There's always tomorrow morning."
Kurt closed his eyes and relaxed in his arms, wanting nothing more than to get back into bed and fall asleep with him. Blaine hummed quietly in his ear, lips brushing against his skin.
"Kurt, it's time for you to go!" Burt called from downstairs.
He held back a sigh when Blaine's arms moved from his waist and the humming stopped. "Don't make me go."
"You've got to, babe. You can't hide in here forever. The longer you wait, the harder it will be." Blaine whispered.
"Alright, alright." Kurt nodded and turned to face Blaine.
"You will be perfectly fine. You'll sit in classes, you'll eat lunch with Mercedes and Rachel where you three will no doubt talk about boys that are not me, and then you'll sit in more classes, and then you'll go to Glee Club where everyone will shower you with love, affection, and attention—something we both know you crave, so don't even act like you don't want it." He smiled and cupped Kurt's face in his hand. "And I'll be home probably an hour after you. And we'll go get some ice cream—not the nonfat stuff, either. Real ice cream.— and then we'll both do our homework together."
"You're forgetting the other big one." Kurt sighed.
"What?"
"The college talk. Applications are due in two weeks and we still keep putting off what we want to do…"
"We'll talk about it over the ice cream. We'll walk around downtown with our ice cream and talk about it."
Kurt's eyebrow arched. "We'll walk outside with ice cream in the middle of winter in Ohio?"
"… Yeah, I didn't think that through very well… we'll get an ice cream and eat in inside. Then we will go and get coffee." His eyes lit up. "Or maybe hot chocolate! And then we will walk around downtown and talk it over drinking our coffee. We'll be very cute all bundled up."
"Okay, I have to go." Kurt kissed him quickly. "I'll see you tonight, Blaine."
"Have a good day, Kurt. Don't worry about stuff." Blaine kissed him back. "I love you."
"I love you too." Kurt smiled, kissed him one last time, and headed off to school.
…
Kurt had barely opened his locker when he was attacked. Well, he thought he was attacked. It turned out that Tina was just very happy to see him. "Kurt! I knew you were coming back today so I wore these shoes for you. Do you like them?"
She extended her leg out to reveal bright purple converses.
Kurt laughed and moved to hug her. "I love them!"
"I've missed you so much! I can't wait for glee club today. It hasn't been the same without you. We need someone to fight for our rights to solos now."
"Well I'm back. Again. I think I've left and come back more than Rachel did way back when New Directions first started up." He joked, grabbing two books out of his locker. His eyes scanned the small picture of him and Blaine from Kurt's eighteenth birthday party. They were seated outside in the back yard at a table and Blaine's arms were around Kurt's waist. The two boys, oblivious to the fact that a picture was being taken, smiled at each other in this goofy and loving way. It was Kurt's favorite picture. Not his favorite picture of them, but his favorite picture ever. He had never seen a picture cuter than that one.
Tina's eyes went to the picture as well—it was kind of hard not to when Kurt was paying so much attention to it— and she smiled. "That's a really cute picture of you two, Kurt!"
"Thanks." Kurt tore his eyes away from the picture and back to his friend. "I'd been looking for it. I forgot I had it in here."
"Kurt, it's just so good to see you!" She suddenly exclaimed again and hugged him around the middle, squeezing him tightly. "I'm so glad you're back and okay. We've all been really worried."
He pulled away and flashed an adorable smile. "It's nice to be back… I guess… I have to get used to all of this again. It was kind of nice doing all my school work while watching Project Runway reruns. I better get to class though. AP French 2."
"Fine. But New Directions after school today. Don't forget, Hummel!" Tina pointed a finger at him and then waved happily. "I'll see you later!"
Okay, Kurt thought. That could have been worse. It could have been much worse.
…
Blaine went into the bedroom expecting to see him working on homework but instead found him fast asleep in bed and hugging Blaine's pillow. Kreacher, as Kurt had named their puppy, was also asleep and sprawled over Kurt's feet. Blaine climbed into the bed and kissed Kurt's cheek. "Babe?"
"Mmmh, you're home?" Kurt asked, eyes still closed.
"Yeah. We got out a little late today. I figured you'd be up by now. How was school?"
"New Directions threw a little party. We didn't even sing. Everyone sat around, ate cookies, and talked… it was nice. Mercedes and Rachel got me caught up on all the New Directions drama during lunch, too."
"New Directions drama is always juicy." Blaine said quite eagerly.
"And you try to act like drama doesn't interest you." Kurt moved his legs from under his puppy, leading to a series of barks—barks which would have been much more threatening if he were not a very tiny puppy. "My puppy is so cute." Kurt reached down and scooped the puppy up, cradling him like it was a baby.
Blaine smiled, rubbing Kurt's shoulder. "I'm glad you like him, Kurt... even if he constantly tries to get in the middle of us when we're sleeping."
"It's because he loves us." Kurt said, squeezing his puppy. The dog just yipped playfully. "Kreacher loves his Kurt and Blaine, doesn't he? Oh yes he does."
Blaine rolled his eyes and stood up. "C'mon. Let's go have a date night and discuss our future." He put emphasis on the last two words in an attempt to make it sound scary but that attempt failed.
"I'm so scared." Kurt mock gasped, but he got out of bed and slipped into a pair of boots.
"You've got to tell me all the New Directions drama on the way. Does it concern Brittany? She's my favorite, you know. I kind of want to just adopt her." Blaine, who still had his jacket on, tossed Kurt's jacket at him. "I really like Santana too."
"Brittany and Santana graduated with Finn, Puck, and Quinn last year. And surprisingly, the gossip isn't too fruitful. Then again, school has only been back in session two weeks. Give it time." Kurt said as he tugged the jacket on, sending his poor puppy into a frenzy. "I'm going to come back, you silly thing. We're just going to get ice cream."
"I want hot chocolate. And a cookie. And maybe a muffin too."
Kurt picked up the puppy again and said, with a very serious expression, "And this is why Blaine will die when he's forty. He will be a fat old man who dreams of the days when he used to be under 400 pounds." The dog licked him on the face, tail wagging. "But that's okay. He's going to be a big fancy lawyer so he'll leave us all kinds of money. We can go to the opera every night with my new boyfriend named… well, I'll work on picking out his name later."
Blaine rolled his eyes. "Because your idea of unhealthy snacking is disgusting peanut butter and celery doesn't mean I'm going to get up to 400 pounds. And plus, Kurt, you ate quite a lot of cheesecake during November and December."
"I was eating my cheesecake while you were eating your Cool Ranch Doritos, Spicy Nacho Doritos, Honey and BBQ Fritos, chips and salsa, cherry pie almost obsessively, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's, Long John Silver's—."
"Fast food is all I ate when I was at UK, Kurt. When you're in college it becomes a way of life."
"No. You were like that at Dalton too. I saw that stash of junk food." Kurt accused, pointing a finger at him. "And can we, for a moment, talk about how disgusting pig skins are?"
Blaine put his hands on his shoulders, turned him around, and walked him to the stairs. "You eat your rabbit food and I'll eat my junk food."
Kurt turned around when they got to the stairs. "My dad ate a lot of fast food before his heart attack… and I don't want to have to go through anything like that again. Ever." He said softly, looking in his eyes.
"Kurt, I'm not even nineteen for another two months. I'm not going to have a heart attack any time soon." Blaine touched his face. "But if it makes you feel better I'll only get a cookie."
The younger boy sighed. "If you have a heart attack, don't expect sympathy. All you're going to get is a big, fat I told you so."
"I would expect no less from you." Blaine laughed. "Now let's go talk college and commitment. Something every male in the world dreads."
They made their way outside, Kurt locking the door, and got into Kurt's Lincoln Navigator.
"This is such a big car for someone so tiny." Blaine said cheerfully as he buckled his seat belt.
"Funny. Mercedes says the same thing about yours." Kurt grinned as he started the car. He knew this conversation wouldn't go over well with Blaine.
"I am not tiny." The older boy scoffed.
"You are an inch and a half shorter than me." Kurt pointed out, mainly to get a reaction out of his boyfriend. It worked.
"I am not. That thing lies. It lies. I am older, I weigh more, and therefore I am taller."
"No. You are older and you weigh more but you are not taller."
"You know what? You can buy me two cookies for that statement."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Do you really want ice cream and hot chocolate, Blaine?"
His boyfriend didn't answer for several minutes. Kurt expected him to be pouting, but he looked very thoughtful when Kurt finally glanced over. Clearly he was contemplating if he could sacrifice one for the other.
"Oh, you do. Alright, fine. I bet Easter was your favorite holiday when you were little, wasn't it?"
"Every holiday was my favorite holiday when it came around." Blaine grinned. "But I did get a whole lot of candy at Easter. I always got one of those huge Hershey Bars. The $40.00 ones? I was a very hyper child."
Kurt could picture a little curly headed Blaine running around on a sugar rush, hauling around a huge Hershey Bar everywhere he went. It was very cute. He hopped out of the car and grabbed Blaine's hand as they walked into the ice cream shop. "Can I have one scoop of mint chocolate chip? And he wants raspberry vanilla." He said to the bored looking teenage boy that was behind the counter.
"I haven't had ice cream in months!" Blaine said excitedly, taking a seat as they waited.
"Yes. That happens when it's winter." Kurt laughed.
"I can't help it that I'm slightly odd, alright?" Blaine ruffled his hair and grinned before going to get their ice creams.
"You did not mess up my hair in public, Blaine Anderson!" Kurt exclaimed when he got back. "We had an agreement!"
"Relax. It looks fine." Blaine held out his ice cream and, after he took it, straightened Kurt's hair. He let his hand linger there, eyes peering into Kurt's. He loved Kurt's eyes. He had never seen anything quite like them. They were gorgeous. He pulled the seat so it was next to Kurt's and not across from him, mostly so he could press closer to the boy, and gave his boyfriend another cute grin.
The younger boy just shook his head after rolling his eyes. "Okay, okay. I'd love to stare at that smirk all day but I think we need to have that serious discussion we're supposed to be having. What are we going to do after this summer, Blaine?"
Blaine tried to not pay attention to Kurt eating his ice cream—did Kurt know he was eating it that naughtily? No, he clearly didn't— and focus on college. "Well… where do you want to go?"
"I think… I think I want to go to the school in Columbus that I talked about… it's still close. A two hour drive from home… and if you still wanted to… you know… live together…" Kurt looked down, almost like he was embarrassed or afraid Blaine would say no.
"Of course I do, silly. I've gotten way too used to living with you to go back to Kentucky to an empty apartment." Blaine leaned against Kurt. He had been hoping, praying really, that Kurt would stay close by so they could do something like this. What would he have done if Kurt decided to go all the way to New York? Blaine was realizing that he liked quiet places as opposed to big and busy places like New York.
He couldn't help but think that one day, when Kurt wanted to move to New York or California, that the two would run into some problems. Perhaps it was the fact that his entire life his parents and grandmother had carted him off to expensive towns and countries. Every moment was going, going, going. But in Ohio and Kentucky, you could sit down outside and breathe. Blaine liked no-stress situations.
Nonetheless, his heart seemed to swell three times its size when he thought of living alone with Kurt. It was going to be absolutely perfect. They could worry about the possibility of moving away after college in four years when it happened. "We'll find a place in the middle. Cincinnati maybe? And I'll schedule my classes with gaps so I can work at the library between classes and try to work at the bookstore like two days a week or something… we'll find a nice apartment."
"You really want to move in with me?" Kurt sounded both shocked and thrilled. His blue eyes lit up happily as he stared at his boyfriend.
"I already live with you, Kurt." He laughed quietly. "I don't think it will be that much different living on our own. I mean we'll have bills and stuff but… but I've got some money saved up. And your dad gave me a little extra money for in case this happened… I don't know how I'd survive if I had to move back to Lexington and live without seeing you every day."
Kurt gave him an adorable smile. "Okay. Good… because I don't think I can sleep without you… I'm so glad dad hasn't made you move into the guest room."
"Me too… I don't know how I'd get to sleep without you all snuggled up… although I think Kreacher would quite like if I was moved into the guest room. Then he'd have you all to himself." Blaine smiled back at him.
"Do you think we'll be okay? Do you think it will be different?" Kurt asked timidly.
"I think it will be better… this time we kind of had to live together under…" He paused, not quite sure how to say what he wanted to say. "Well, because of a bad situation… if we move in together, it will be because we're both sitting here, right now, and making the decision. We're planning for it and making the commitment to each other. Because we want to."
Kurt leaned back against Blaine. "It's exciting, isn't it? My heart is pounding. Should my heart be pounding? Should I be nervous? Yeah, I should be nervous."
Blaine smiled and kissed his cheek. "I don't think you need to be nervous… We live together fine now. I think that we'll both have to have jobs to get by comfortably, but I think we can handle that. I think we'll be okay. Is that what you want to do or is that what you feel obligated to do?"
"I don't want you to give up UK and I really don't… want to go to New York or California right now. Maybe later… CCAD looks like it will be good. I think I'd like to go there." Kurt finished off his ice cream and ruffled Blaine's hair. "I mean… if you want to live in Lexington again, you definitely can. I don't want to, like, tie you down or anything. But I'd really like to live with you… Alone with you. If we lived at home now you'd have to drive 4 hours to and from… that's out of the question. If we lived half way between UK and CCAD it'd be an hour and a half either way."
"I would definitely love to live with you, Kurt. You just have to live with my OCD cleaning and organizing habits." Blaine finished off his own ice cream and nuzzled Kurt. "I don't think I want hot chocolate anymore."
"I was kidding about you getting fat." Kurt nudged him. "You're tiny."
"I'm not tiny." Blaine muttered under his breath, scowling.
"That look isn't very dapper of you, either."
"I don't understand why everyone calls me dapper." He frowned.
"Have you ever burped at a table?" Kurt arched his eyebrow, smirking.
"Of course not, that's gross." Blaine's face screwed up in disgust.
"Have you ever walked around your house in your boxers?"
"No one wants to see all that."
"I could go on with examples of things that make you dapper, Blaine, but I won't. Suffice it to say you are a very dapper human being. It's how you were raised. I think it's cute. You're so elegant."
"You've never seen me play soccer." Came the pouty response. "I'm a beast."
"I'm sure you are, dear." Kurt said in an off-hand voice, patting his head.
"No. It's not fair. You're trying to stereotype me into the perfect gay boy." Blaine sat up. "I am so not the stereotypical gay boy."
"Your favorite words are so and totally, Blaine."
"The three best schools for soccer wanted me. Ooh, I know what's not dapper! Wes, David, and I snuck out of Dalton once and—." Blaine trailed off.
"You're lying." Kurt said instantly. "You only ever skipped class once, to come confront Karofsky with me."
"We did! We snuck out to see Muse! They were in Cincinnati and we totally drove there. It was amazing. We only stayed for their show though. They were opening for My Chemical Romance. Although I swear Gerard Way winked at me as we were leaving because we passed their bus. Swear it. David says I was drunk though, so who knows." Blaine shrugged. "Yeah! Drinking is very un-dapper, Kurt!"
Kurt tilted his head. "How often do you drink?"
"I haven't gotten drunk since that whole Rachel fiasco… but I've never been shy about drinking. I don't drink around people I don't know though. Well, I knew you at Rachel's party… Usually I just drink when Wes, David, and I go to parties. David never drinks and he keeps us in line. Wes is the drinker. I don't know what it is. But he gets wasted. It's really funny, actually. Because once he met this girl and—yeah, you won't like this story." Blaine trailed off, but had a smirk on his face.
"Maybe you aren't as dapper as I thought." Kurt snorted. "Does this story end with 'and then he got laid'?"
"Possibly." Blaine said slyly.
Kurt just rolled his eyes. "So was Rachel's party the worst you've been?"
"Not by a long shot." Blaine shrugged. That had been a rather tame time for drunken Blaine if you took into account various stories Wes and David had told him in his past. "David'll tell you all about it. He loves a good laugh at 'un-dapper Blaine.'"
"Not by a long shot? That night was pretty bad. You kept sputtering nonsense out and vomiting all over the place. And you tried to kiss me."
Blaine's eyes widened and the color drained from his face. He didn't know this. What had he done? This was not good. Blaine tended to make a fool of himself under the influence of alcohol. "Oh god. What did I do?"
Kurt looked rather amused. "You were just drunk, Blaine."
"No. We were arguing after and you never told me what I did. You have to tell me."
"It was very entertaining. Well, parts of it. When you weren't throwing up or whining that you were dying."
"Oh god." Blaine covered his face.
"It was very cute when you tried to kiss me though."
"Why? What did I do?" He moaned, covering his face. Not good, not good, he thought. I am never drinking again. Never.
"You serenaded me with The Man I Love. Well, tried to. You didn't really know the words."
Blaine let his head fall into the table. "I'm never, ever, ever drinking again."
"And then you tried to kiss me but really you just smacked your nose against my cheek and fell asleep." Kurt laughed and ruffled his hair. "And then the next Monday you were going out on a date with Rachel Berry."
Blaine looked up, cracking one eye open. "I love you?"
"I love you too, Blaine." Kurt bent down and kissed his forehead. "C'mon. Let's go home."
"You're not going to harass me about kissing Rachel, are you?" Blaine whined, hesitantly standing.
He couldn't tell if Kurt was annoyed or not, but he generally did get annoyed when talking about his and Rachel's drunken kiss. Blaine really wanted to know what he had drank to get him tipsy enough to make out with her.
In the beginning, she had been nice enough. As time went on, though, Blaine began to think she was kind of obnoxious and rude. Not in the cute way that could Kurt be, either. According to Kurt, she had to grow on you.. Blaine, like most boys his age, didn't have that kind of patience. Blaine didn't mind only seeing her once every few weeks Unfortunately if she and Finn were dating, she'd be around a lot more than that. Blaine wasn't looking forward to it.
"I haven't decided."
"Please don't tell Wes and David I did that either. The serenading you with Ira Gershwin. They won't let me live it down. If they find out about this, I may as well run off to England and change my name."
"I won't tell Wes and David. I did tell Mercedes though." Kurt went very quiet.
"What?" Blaine looked around. "What?"
"Is David dating anyone?" Kurt asked, quite eagerly.
"Yeah." Blaine said, not putting two and two together. "I mean, it's not serious. He's still a little heartbroken after Sarah cheated on him with that guitarist. He's dating this new girl named Mary, whom Wes hates. I haven't gotten to meet her yet. She's apparently very… Wait, why?" He looked at Kurt, eyebrow arched. He didn't like the eagerness in Kurt's voice. Usually that type of voice led to drama.
"Nothing." His boyfriend chirped, dragging him out to the car. "Nothing at all. So David doesn't really like her?"
"No. She likes to have a lot of sex. She sounds like a bit of a slut, really. He was telling me—yeah, another story you probably don't want to hear."
Kurt nodded and opened the car door for Blaine, positively beaming.
"You know what? I don't even want to know. Don't even tell me what you're up to because I just don't want to know." Blaine hopped into to car. "Not even a word."
***WBUCT***
"Blaine… Blaine, it's too hot to be this close." Kurt moaned, half asleep. But that statement didn't make sense. It was the beginning of February. He definitely knew that Blaine was pressed close, face buried in his neck, and that he was burning up. Kurt kicked the blankets off, thinking maybe he'd feel cooler, but Blaine shivered. "Blaine?"
Kurt forced his eyes open and looked around. He felt very cold everywhere but where Blaine's body was pressed close. Not only that, but Blaine was burning up. Kurt sat up quickly and shook him gently.
"No." Blaine whimpered, voice raspy, as he tightened his arms around Kurt's waist.
"Sweetie, open your eyes. Come on." Kurt leaned over him, brushing his hair out of his face. He could easily tell that Blaine was sweating and his stomach twisted. "Blaine, come on. I want to make sure you're okay. Blaine?"
Blaine burrowed his face in Kurt's side. Kurt could even feel the heat radiating off of his boyfriend even through his heavy t-shirt. There was no question about it. Blaine had a fever.
Kurt slid out of Blaine's arms and padded to the bathroom, grabbing the thermometer out of its usual space in the back of his drawer. He dipped it in alcohol to get any germs off of it and then went back into his bedroom.
"Hey, baby." Kurt whispered, kneeling down. Blaine was laying, eyes half open but still asleep. "Blaine, come on. Wake up for me, baby." He touched Blaine's rosy cheeks. Blaine opened his mouth, closing his eyes back. Kurt slid the thermometer in. "Close."
Blaine obeyed, letting out a little whine.
Kurt watched, eyes wide, as the number started off at 99.8 and only continued to rise. After a minute, it finally stopped. "It's 102.6. I'm getting my dad."
"No!" Blaine yelped, suddenly much more awake.
"Yes. You're sick." Kurt spoke firmly, standing up. "Close your eyes. I'll be right back."
Blaine looked like he wanted to argue, but his eyes slowly shut. Kurt quickly rushed to his dad and Carole's room. The door, as usual, was left slightly ajar in case Blaine needed to get them to help Kurt for anything. Funny how it was being the opposite way, Kurt thought to himself. He crossed to his father's side of the bed and shook his shoulder. "Dad… Dad, wake up."
"Kurt?" Burt asked gruffly, still half asleep.
"Dad, Blaine's really sick. He's got a bad fever." Kurt whispered, trying to not wake Carole.
It must not have worked, though. "Blaine's sick?" Carole asked, sitting up before Burt had even completely opened his eyes.
"He's burning up and his temperature is 102.6… He was fine earlier."
Burt sat up himself and then stood, grunting. "I'll go check on him. I think we're out of Tylenol so I'll probably have to go and get some."
Kurt nodded and followed his father anxiously back to his bedroom. Blaine was fast asleep again, sweating and every so often letting out a harsh cough.
"Well that doesn't sound good." Burt muttered, feeling his forehead. He shook Blaine very gently. "Hey, bud, wake up for a minute."
Blaine just kind of whimpered.
Kurt scooted Burt over and shook him. "Wake up so Dad can figure out what's wrong, Blaine."
Carole made her way into the room with a bottle of water. "Blaine, sweetheart, I brought you some water. It'll help cool you off."
Blaine opened an eye, squinting as if a bright light was going to hurt him even though the room was almost completely dark.
"Here, sweetie." Carole sat next to him on the bed. "Sit up and you can have it."
Blaine heaved himself up and it seemed to be taking a great deal of effort. Carole opened the bottled water and handed it to him. "Drink that, okay? You'll feel better."
He drank a tiny bit, wincing, and eventually gave up after attempting two sips.
"Does your throat hurt?" Carole asked.
"Yeah." He rasped, nodding. "And my head. And my side."
"Hold your head up." Burt said, leaning over. When Blaine did so he felt Blaine's neck. "His lymph nodes are swollen. I bet he's got strep. Kurt, you need to go take some Vitamin C, wash your hands, and stay in the living room."
"I'm not leav—."
"I don't want to get you sick." Blaine coughed. "Go. I'm fine."
"But I want to be—."
"Kurt, you can't get sick. You need to go sit in the living room." Burt said firmly.
Carole stood. "Come on, sweetie. Your father will take care of him. Let's go make you a bed on the couch."
Kurt leaned over towards Blaine.
"Kurt, I'm sorry, but you need to go. I don't know how Strep will affect your lung if you catch it." Burt said, holding out his arm. "I'll come tell you how he is in a minute."
"Fine." Kurt stormed off, Carole following after.
"Alright, kid." Burt sighed. "How bad do you feel on a scale of 1 to 10?"
"Twelve." Blaine coughed.
Burt stood. "Alright. Out of bed. We'll go to the emergency room and they'll be able to get you on antibiotics sooner. Let's get you up."
Blaine moaned a bit.
"Where are your shoes?" Burt asked, scanning the floor. "Ah, here they are. No way those are Kurt's. Good." He put them at Blaine's feet. "Just slip those on and—well, this jacket is Kurt's but that's okay. He won't mind. Good boy." He helped Blaine into Kurt's jacket and Blaine shivered. "Do you want some more water for the ride?"
Blaine shook his head and slowly made his way out of the room. He wouldn't have drunk it anyway. Swallowing hurt.
"It's got to be Strep, but I'm going to take him down to the ER. They'll be able to give him some medicine now. Otherwise none of us will get any sleep." Burt told Carole. "Kurt, no. You're not going."
Kurt opened his mouth, but Carole interrupted.
"He probably should, Burt. So they can give him something to ward it off if he's come into contact with it. Which he probably has."
Burt sighed. "Fine. Go get another jacket."
Kurt ran up the stairs and back down in record time, sliding into his Sperry's. "Okay. I'm ready."
Burt helped Blaine out to the car, getting him settled into the passenger seat. "Doing okay there, kiddo?"
Blaine nodded and turned his head as he coughed, not wanting to cough on him.
Burt did his seat belt up and got into the car. Kurt got into the back seat, watching Blaine anxiously. Blaine's head lolled back against the seat, his mouth opened, and he fell asleep. The ride to the hospital was silent bar the occasional cough or two from Blaine, which always then prompted a moan or whimper. Kurt bit his lip, watching how much Blaine was shaking. He hated that he was in the back seat and couldn't stroke his hair or squeeze his hand. He hated that Blaine felt this bad. He'd been just fine when they'd gone to bed four hours before.
Burt pulled into a parking spot close to the front, as it was midnight and very few people were at the hospital. He then got out of the car and went to help Blaine. Kurt closed the car door behind them and held the hospital door open.
"I'm going to sit you down over here and go talk to the lady, okay? Kurt will be here with you."
Blaine nodded, shuffling closer to Kurt.
"You must feel bad if you aren't telling me to go away." Kurt whispered, stroking his hair.
"My everything hurts." He whispered hoarsely. He felt awful. Absolutely awful. He knew he should have told Kurt to not sit so close him, but it made him feel better to have Kurt there. His eyes closed and he took deep breaths.
"The doctor will give you some medicine soon, honey. You'll feel better soon."
Burt came over with a clipboard and papers.
"I'll do it." Kurt reached over and took the clipboard. Blaine had filled it out for him three months ago. Blaine had taken care of him for months and months. It was Kurt's turn to take care of Blaine now. He filled out everything he already knew and then softly asked Blaine the questions he didn't know. Blaine rasped out answers, voice quieter with each word.
"Do you want me to get you some water, Blaine?" Burt asked as he took the clipboard back from Kurt.
Blaine nodded, head falling onto Kurt's shoulder.
Burt stood and made his way to give the receptionist the paperwork and to get Blaine some water.
Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine and rocked him slowly, kissing his curls. "It shouldn't be long. The waiting room is practically empty. We'll get you some medicine and you'll feel loads better."
"I'm sorry." Blaine rasped out into his shoulder.
"For what?" Kurt pulled back to look at him.
"I didn't mean to get sick." He whimpered.
"No one means to get sick, kid." Burt came up and extended a small paper cup to Blaine. "You have nothing to apologize for."
Blaine drank the contents of the up and, after setting the cup down, allowed Kurt to pull him close. He had half dozed off when someone finally called him back. Kurt helped him back into the bright room, ruffling his curls as they walked. Blaine let out a yawn and cringed at the light. He wanted to be back in Kurt's room in total darkness. Yes, that's what he wanted. Not another hospital. Especially not when he was the one being looked over.
"Okay we're just going to do a strep test and see how that shows up, because it sounds like that's what you've got." The nurse said cheerfully. "Open up."
Blaine did as told after turning away to cough.
"Uh, you should probably test my son too." Burt said gruffly, sitting down. "There's about a 150% chance he's got it too."
"Of course." She smiled and swabbed Blaine's throat, making him cough even more. "I know, I know, honey. It's awful, isn't it?" She patted his knee and carefully put the swabs up in a small bag. "We'll get you feeling better in no time, sweetheart. You handled that test better than the last person who was in here. He kicked me."
"How old was he?" Kurt asked curiously, hand going back to Blaine's hair.
"Twenty three." She rolled her eyes. "Okay, your turn. Open up."
Kurt opened his mouth and let her swab the back of his throat, making a funny face when she pulled the swab out. A doctor walked in. "Blaine Anderson! Look at you, all grown up!"
Blaine stared at the person blankly, feeling too bad to respond.
"You look just like your dad. I remember when you'd come here after school and go around singing to all the patients. Word on the street is now you sing at school and King's Island."
Blaine continued to stare at the person like he was insane. He certainly didn't feel good enough to carry on a conversation with someone he didn't know. Did he know this person? The last time he'd gone to work with his father was when he was, like, nine.
"Alright, those tests will be done in a few minutes. I'll take a look and see what's going on, okay?" The doctor went over and washed his hands. "Are you still at Dalton?"
Blaine sent Kurt a rather pathetic look and then shook his head.
"Oh! UK, right? I remember your father saying something about it. He wasn't too pleased you turned down Duke, was he? I never really saw you going away for a sport though. Sports should be fun, not your life." He listened to Blaine's breathing. "Well we all told him to let you go where you wanted. What do you major in?"
"English." He rasped, too tired to launch into the fact that he was taking a break. He really just wanted the guy to shut up. He didn't feel good. He wanted medicine and to go home. With Kurt. And curl up with ice cream… and maybe die.
"Oh? Do you want to teach?"
Blaine looked pitifully at Kurt again, who was stroking his hair. It hadn't even dawned on him that this might get back to Blaine's father. Then again, the doctor didn't seem to find it strange at all or to care. "He wants to go to law school." Kurt said for him. "And he likes Frankenstein."
"Yes, he used to bring that book after school. We enjoyed having him around before his mother got a chance to pick him up. All the girls loved his massive head of curls." The doctor laughed. "Now open up, Blaine. I'm gonna take a look and see what we've got here."
Blaine did so, leaning against Kurt.
"Oh yes, that is most definitely Strep. And you weren't feeling bad before today?"
"A little tired. I thought it was allergies or something." Blaine whimpered. "Am I going to die?"
The doctor laughed loudly. "You always were rather dramatic any time you came down with anything. Even a cold. No, you won't die. You'll get some medicine, some of that cough syrup you hate, and orders to stay in bed for at least 3 days." He looked to Burt. "I'd advise not giving him a bell in case he needs anything."
"Oh god." Blaine moaned, burrowing his face in Kurt's shoulder. "Don't. I can't handle it. No more embarrassing stories. I've met my quota for today."
The doctor laughed again. "You always did have a lot. But let's get you in a chair so I can see if Kurt's caught it yet. Although he looks completely fine."
Kurt took Blaine's place on the bed and Burt let him have the chair. His eyes kept slowly closing and then opening very quickly.
"He had surgery on his lung a few months ago. Will that cause any problems?" Burt asked as the doctor peered into Kurt's mouth.
"You've got the spots. We'll get you some medicine and hopefully head off the symptoms. And that shouldn't affect his lungs at all. He may cough a bit but he's got nothing to worry about. He may not even show symptoms with any luck. He appears perfectly fine now and has no fever at all. I'll still put him on some antibiotics and give him some cough medicine in case he needs it." He looked to Kurt. "Now if you start feeling very sore in your chest, though, it may not be a bad idea to go to the doctor to make sure. But it sounded fine to me just now."
Kurt nodded and hopped down, going over to Blaine and kissing the top of his head.
"I gave you Strep." Blaine whimpered.
"I'll forgive you this once." Kurt smiled at him.
"I'm dying. I am. I can see the white light."
"That's because your eyes are closed and you're looking at the ceiling, baby."
Burt shook his head at the two, surprised at the role reversal. It was strange to see Kurt taking care of Blaine the way that Blaine had taken care of him since October. Then again, Kurt had always taken care of him when he was younger, so why would he not take care of Blaine too? It was another thing to show how compassionate his son was.
The doctor wrote them off prescriptions and handed them to Burt, breaking his thoughts. "The 24 hour pharmacy is on the third floor. It should only be about a ten minute wait, if that."
Burt nodded. "Thank you very much."
"Feel better, Blaine. And I hope you don't get to feeling too bad, Kurt." The doctor said as he left.
"Kurt, you get him out to the car and I'll go get these filled. Blaine, what's your birthday?"
"April 3rd." Kurt answered before Blaine got the chance. "Come on, let's get you to the car."
"'S cold outside." Blaine mumbled as Kurt got him up and led him out of the room. Kurt didn't have to help him way too much, but did have to help him into the car.
"Ow, Kurt, I hit my head."
"I told you to duck. Duck doesn't mean look up abruptly." Kurt responded, easing him into the seat.
"'m just gonna lay here." Blaine sprawled out across the back seat.
"I can't help but think this is an attempt to get sympathy so I won't make fun of you for serenading me that one night." the younger boy teased, climbing into the floor of the car.
"'S not. I don't… I don't feel good. And I'm dying."
Kurt smiled and ran his fingers through his boyfriend's curly hair. "Well we'll get you home and back to bed in no time at all." He whispered. "And I'll even get you some ice cream tomorrow morning. We can both watch Tangled and pretend to not cry. Well, I'll bawl. You'll pretend something is in your eye."
Blaine let out a soft snore, curling into himself. Kurt sighed a bit and stroked his hair. His hair was damp due to all of the sweating and he most definitely still had a fever. "Poor thing…" he whispered as Burt got into the car.
"Alright, I'll get you two home. Hopefully you won't end up needing this cough medicine. The mailman won't think it's so cute this time around." Burt joked.
Kurt didn't even dignify that with a response.
***WBUCT***
"I want your anti-strep super powers." Blaine moaned the next evening, sending a glare in Kurt's direction. His voice was still rather hoarse but he didn't feel as though he was dying anymore. He was very sure Burt's soup was helping with that. "Your dad could have gone to work. You're not even feeling sick."
"Dad is worried about you. I told you he adores you." Kurt said, squeezing his leg. "Throat feeling any better?"
Blaine took another sip of his vegetable soup and nodded. "Yeah. This is delicious."
"Thank you." Burt said happily, coming in. "Kurt's never liked it very much."
"Are you crazy?" Blaine dropped his spoon in the bowl and stared at the younger boy in shock.
Kurt simply shrugged. Vegetable soup had never been his favorite. He preferred bean and bacon soup much more.
"Alright, here's your medicine." Burt said, handing out a pink pill to both boys. "Remember what time it is because this is when you have to take them tomorrow."
Kurt checked his phone. "Seven. Got it. Thanks, dad."
Burt ruffled Blaine's hair. "You feeling okay, kid?"
Blaine, who wasn't used to being treated this way when he was sick, nodded almost bashfully. "T-thanks."
"Don't even try to thank me. Carole is bringing some ice cream home on her way in from work. And some more cough drops. You go through those like they're candy. You know you're only allowed so many per hour, right?"
Blaine waved his hand in a careless way, reaching for his bag of cough drops and rasping, "There's not enough medicine in these to do anything."
"Just let Kurt know if you need anything, alright? I can run down to the store and get anything you need too, or call and have Carole pick it up."
"He'd love some celery and peanut butter." Kurt chirped, squeezing his leg.
Blaine shot him a look and then quickly shook his head.
Burt laughed a bit and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
"Your family is so nice, Kurt…" Blaine whispered after several seconds of staring at the closed door, looking down at his hands. "I mean… my parents took care of me when I was… well, before I was twelve. After that it… I don't know. Here's a pill, go to bed, don't wake us up if you need us."
Kurt's stomach knotted in the way it always did when Blaine talked about his family and he squeezed his leg again. No one should have treated their sick child like that. Blaine had awful parents. Even if his father was a doctor and likely knew nothing serious was wrong, people needed comfort when they were sick. They needed hugs, kisses, and cuddles. They needed to be cared for and to know someone was there no matter what time it was.
"It's just so different from my family. I'm not used to it." Blaine coughed a bit and leaned against Kurt. "I didn't think families like yours were… real. I don't know… I mean, even when you're perfectly healthy, your family is still really close. You four have an amazing bond."
Kurt put his finger under Blaine's chin and tilted his head upward, meeting his eyes. He wished he knew what Blaine was thinking. He knew he was probably sad and that was the last thing he wanted. Blaine was too sweet to be sad. "My family really cares about you too, Blaine. They love you."
"No, they—." He tried to look down.
"Blaine, when are you going to get it through those curls and into that thick head of yours that you are part of this family now?" Kurt whispered, leaning over so they were still face to face.
"It's just different." Blaine whispered. "I'm used to handling everything on my own… I don't think I know how to do this."
Kurt's heart broke in two and he kissed Blaine quickly. He didn't know how to be cared for? That was horrible. He really, really, really hated Blaine's family. All of them. They really didn't know how good of a person they had in their lives. Countless times Kurt would sit and wish that he'd known Blaine all his life. He's spent seventeen years of his life without Blaine next to him. Entirely too long. But, he often thought, if they had known each other previously they may not have been as close now. He would trade nothing for what the two had now.
"Well you never have to handle anything on your own again. I'll teach you how to let people take care of you. We're here for you… I'm here for you."
Blaine looked at him, mouth open a bit, speechless.
"You don't have to say anything." Kurt kissed his forehead. "In fact, you shouldn't. It hurts your throat… but really, Blaine… you're part of this family now. For as long as you want to be… which hopefully will be forever."
He felt Blaine throw his arms around him, pulling him close. Kurt returned the hug, kissing his cheek. "We're here for you, Blaine. Okay?"
Blaine nodded into his shoulder, letting out a strange noise that Kurt hoped wasn't a sob. He stroked his boyfriend's hair and whispered soothingly to him.
"Now I'm going to show you how to let someone take care of you." Kurt whispered, scooting over once Blaine had looked up. "You're going to let me help you lay down, alright?"
Blaine nodded and allowed Kurt to get him into a comfortable lying position in the middle of the bed.
"Okay. I'm going to go and get you some orange juice. You're going to lie here," Kurt reached for the remote control and placed it on Blaine's stomach. "And you're going to watch TV until I get back. Don't pick anything depressing though. You have to watch something that will make you laugh, okay? Otherwise it won't help you feel better."
Another nod. Kurt felt himself smiling.
"Are you comfy?" Another tiny nod as Blaine pulled the covers up to his chin.
"Alright. I'll be right back with your juice."
"What are you going to do when you get back?" Blaine's voice came out raspy again.
"I'm going to let you lay your head on my chest and stroke your hair while you watch TV until you fall asleep. And when you fall asleep I'm going to stay here until you wake up and then I'll repeat the process."
Kurt saw the corners of his mouth curve upward in a very small but noticeable smile. "Okay. What do I do?"
Kurt smiled, not able to even describe how happy that tiny smile made him. He must have been doing something right to make Blaine smile. "That's the joy of being sick. You do absolutely nothing while everyone caters to you and loves on you and lets you know how special and adorable you are. Well, I'll probably be the only one letting you know how adorable you are, because it'd be weird coming from anyone else." He bent down and kissed Blaine's forehead. "Do you want anything else while I'm down there? Celery perhaps?"
Blaine let out a tiny whine and shook his head. "Want the puppy."
"Okay. I'll bring the demon puppy up. Anything else? Anything at all?"
"No, but thanks." He gave Kurt another small smile. "I appreciate it."
"Well I appreciate you." Kurt kissed him quickly. "I'll be right back, babe."
Blaine nodded and turned on the television as his boyfriend left the room. Maybe being sick and letting someone take care of you wasn't as bad as he thought.