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6
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A rhythmic beep interrupted the deepest sleep Kurt had memory of experiencing, especially in recent history. He was kind of annoyed at the beeping for interrupting his sleep. He had been sleeping better since what he dubbed as the Cheesecake Conversation but it still wasn't great sleep.
Then he was surprised he could even hear the beeping over the intense argument taking place feet away from him. There were four voices. He recognized them all. One voice didn't say much but did add to the fight on occasion.
He squinted and opened his eyes to put the faces with the voices and wanted to see the body language too. Why were they in his room fighting? Why was there a beeping? Was his alarm messed up and had beeping now instead of the music that typically woke him up? Nobody noticed as the beeping changed pattern, not even Kurt, who suddenly couldn't hear it anymore.
Sebastian was furious, that was the first thing he'd noticed. The second was that there were two girls standing between him and Sebastian, looking tiny against Sebastian's fury hut holding their own. They were blocking his way closer, Kurt realized with a start, they were acting like a wall. Their combined voices were louder than the others in the room. Elliott was off to the side, closer to a window and looked incredibly tired. Maybe he needed the kind of sleep that Kurt had been pulled out of.
Elliott's eyes flickered over to Kurt on the bed while the other three stared each other down, still arguing but Kurt wasn't listening to their words. They were making wild gestures too. Elliott offered him a small smile, looking suddenly more awake and pleased by something. He started to make his way over and the girls moved for him, which seemed to make Sebastian angrier.
Some kind of alarm bell went off in Kurt. He wanted to see Elliott and talk to him but knew in this moment it was a mistake. There was something more important, something more pressing and vital. Then he opened his mouth while his eyes remained on Elliott. "Sebastian?" He croaked out and frowned at his voice and the lack of power in it.
Elliott froze and then gave a small nod of acceptance. The pleased look only dimmed slightly but then was back in full force.
Sebastian shoved his way through the two girls, literally shoved them apart with his hands as he was no longer able to be held back at Kurt's call. They were too shocked to do anything anyway, but even if they hadn't been, Sebastian would have been able to push through, the fact they were such small females wasn't a factor. He'd have been able to push through Finn and Puck at that moment. Kurt called for him, wanted him, sought him out and needed him and that was enough to make Sebastian stronger than the strongest human.
His hands were gentle though as he slid both of them around Kurt's closest hand. Kurt blinked a few times, he didn't sleep on his back, why was he on his back? Why were all four of them in his room anyway? Why did the room seem so much bigger than either his or Sebastian's? It didn't look right, it was too white. He still wasn't putting anything together, he just knew he needed to say Sebastian's name, needed him by his side more than anyone else.
Elliott urged the other two out of the room. They ignored him for a moment to each squeeze his leg in turn and promises to return. Elliott gave him another small nod and then followed after them. Kurt frowned more and shook his head. "Return?" His eyes moved finally to Sebastian's and was startled to see tears in his green eyes.
"Kurt, what do you remember?" Sebastian held his hand even tighter in his grasp.
"About what?" Kurt shook his head, trying to clear it, it was very foggy and didn't seem to be getting any better the longer he was awake. He closed his eyes briefly. "Groggy."
"Yes, ok, sleep some more." Sebastian leaned over him and kissed his forehead and started to move back.
Kurt's hand fluttered in his and squeezed what he could. "Don't go."
"Never." Sebastian agreed.
The next time he opened his eyes, his dad was in the room talking with a man in a white coat and Sebastian was still at his side, holding his hand. Though Sebastian was asleep this time. "I wish we'd caught it sooner but in this case it's a surprisingly quick and easy fix of the major issue. There will be a little longer recovery period than if we'd found it right away." The doctor paused and cleared his throat. "It would have been missed on routine exams. His symptoms would have raised a few flags but they'd have gone down the wrong path for awhile. It unfortunately had to get to this point for us to run the tests we needed to."
"So nothing he could have done differently? That we could have done?" Burt asked, not blaming anyone, just wanting to know if there was something they should be aware of.
"Not really. It might have been caught with a sharp PCP but a lot of them would have gone down a lot of different paths first. Maybe those would have happened upon something to make them think to test for it sooner. He will have to be more conscious of making sure he gets a check up at least once a year from now on. Others could get away with less frequent visits. My recommendation is actually every 6 months to check for resurgence."
"Just a surgery?" Burt checked. "He's so small, surgery just seems so massive, like the instruments are bigger than him. My own surgery was a task and seemed imposing. For my son to go through something like that-" He shook his head as if it was too much for him to go on.
"I see this often with parents." The doctor reached out and squeezed Burt's shoulder. "He's not that small little kid you've raised anymore. He's a grown adult and isn't as small as you think. He's underweight right now but hopefully after surgery he'll put the pounds back on and will look healthy and a force to be reckoned with." Kurt looked frail? Kurt had always looked frail and his dad had always been protective of him but had never outright treated him as small and weak, even if he worried about it at times. "What you've told me about your own surgery was a very rare complication. Kurt's a lot younger than you were when you had surgery. The cancer... you pulled through that gracefully and quickly and are keeping up on your own appointments. With that family history, he should be going in yearly anyway."
Rachel had said so too and he hated that she was right about it.
Burt nodded, he would encourage Kurt and ask for updates from now on. He turned his head to look over his son, trying to see him as something other than the little boy he'd raised. He saw that Kurt was awake and looking at him and he tried to smile in reassurance. "Oh, hey bud." He nodded for the doctor to come with and he put a hand on Kurt's arm. "Everything's ok, he was just going over prognoses."
Kurt nodded, he still didn't really know what was going on, but he was starting to piece it together and read between the lines. "So... surgery?"
Sebastian stirred and seemed to flinch at the word. Kurt squeezed his hand and Sebastian blinked at him for a moment before squeezing his hand back. He looked a little startled at seeing Kurt's dad so close too. "What did I miss?"
"Rachel called." Burt explained, looking at Sebastian with hard eyes but there was something else in there too. "We were just starting to explain it to Kurt. The doctor recommends surgery." He looked at the doctor. "And that's it? The problem's gone?"
"The cause will be gone, yes." The doctor nodded. "The problem will resolve over time and conscious effort. This shouldn't reoccur but you'll still need frequent check ups for awhile and then 6 months to a year annually after that."
"Great." Kurt didn't have time or money to fit that into his life now too.
Sebastian scowled at Kurt's dry response. "I'll pay for it and make sure he gets to all the appointments." Then he looked to the doctor with a more neutral expression, ignoring Kurt's argument about the money. "Surgery is the best option? Isn't that a bit invasive?"
"The alternative is far more taxing on the body. There's no targeted way to apply chemo or radiation. The tumor is in a spot where we can remove it safely and not affect the other organs around it. Yes it is an invasive procedure but recovery is relatively quick and the risk is low." All eyes turned to Kurt to see if he was understanding. "Of course the final decision is Kurt's."
He blinked slowly. He'd missed a lot of the conversation apparently but he had started to figure it was something like that with all the conversations he'd heard over the last day in the moments he was awake. "Tumor?" He checked, hearing it said out loud and confirmed was a totally different story than thinking it.
"It isn't cancerous, thankfully, but it is pressing on other vital organs and has been causing a lot of your symptoms which led into other symptoms and problems. Removing it will be a big step in the right direction to getting you back to a healthy state physically, mentally and emotionally."
"Is it a big one? Has it been growing? Any idea when it started?" Kurt had suddenly so many questions and he struggled to sit up. How long had he been sleeping? In this bed? How did he get here? He remembered shopping with Rachel and... a lot of loud noises. "Did I collapse at the shop?" It was his favorite boutique and he would never be able to go back there if he collapsed within it's walls.
"On the street heading for coffee, actually." Sebastian spoke and his voice was gravelly as if he had strained it and hadn't used it much since. Kurt looked to him for more information. "That's all I know, Rachel was sobbing hysterically about it when I first arrived. I only overheard it as she was telling Elliott and Santana. That quickly changed when they saw me." He was very angry about all of that and what had gone down. Kurt would need to get to the bottom of that later.
First he had a decision to make and they informed him about what they suspected about the growth of the tumor and what would happen if they didn't do it. "How urgent is this surgery?"
"You collapsed, Kurt!" Burt was the one shouting it but Sebastian looked as if he was trying to say the same thing, just struggling with it, struggling with putting words to what happened and actually saying them, couldn't get them passed his throat or lips.
Kurt squeezed Sebastian's hand, wanting to pull him into his arms and reassure him, comfort him but unable to right then. Then he wondered why that was and decided he was going to anyway. His dad and the doctor were kind of in the way but he tugged on Sebastian's arm. Sebastian didn't budge but when Kurt started to work on getting out of the bed, Sebastian bent. Sebastian moved forward, letting Kurt move him closer but was unprepared for Kurt using his other hand to grab his shirt and pulling him into the bed with him.
Burt let out a sound of concern and the doctor cleared his throat, a little uncomfortable. "The bed will hold both of them." He tried to reassure Burt. "And he's not injured in any way, being in his bed won't hurt him." There was a couple of lines attached to Kurt's far side, mostly to monitor and an IV drip supplying him with nutrients but there really wasn't much wrong with him other than the tumor and malnutrition.
Burt grumbled but he didn't fight his son's desires. He was holding Sebastian's suddenly trembling form against his chest. "Dad- please- we'll talk later." Kurt said over Sebastian's head and Burt frowned but gave a firm nod and walked out with the doctor, closing the door behind them. They were definitely going to talk about the stranger in Kurt's bed later.
"Hey." Kurt whispered against Sebastian's hair. "I'm the one with the tumor, why are you so affected?"
Then there was a loud sound and then Sebastian was sobbing against Kurt's chest. Kurt floundered for a moment, not expecting such emotion out of Sebastian but after an initial struggle, set about comforting and soothing him. It was a nice distraction actually for Kurt who was still reeling with that word and what it meant. Tumor? Him? He should have known something like that would crop up, he always got the short end of the stick.