Hello, my darlings :)

I hope you all had a wonderful week. Thank you for commenting on the previous chapter.

There's a little warning for this chapter, since Cooper gets chemo in this one. There's nothing too descriptive, but I thought a little heads up wouldn't hurt.

Thank you to Christine for her help with this chapter :) She rocks.

Enjoy!

The alarm went off on Monday morning long before the sun had come up to bathe the buildings of New York City. Blaine reached to turn it off blindly, face still glued to his pillow. He stayed there, simply breathing in and out.

Cooper had to start another round of chemotherapy today.

Since his brother had been diagnosed, Blaine had been divided between fear and hope. He had spent most of his free time reading up on the subject – he could probably write his own book on acute leukemia at this point. He knew what Cooper's odds were, despite not being a fan of statistics. He knew he was on phase three, and that there could still be a fourth one with further examinations and treatments. He knew everything, and still, he felt absolutely useless.

He couldn't do anything to help his brother.

It required a lot of effort, getting out of bed that morning. Blaine wasn't sure he was ready to face the day. And then he scolded himself: what did he have to complain about? It was Cooper who was suffering, who had to fight this disease. He only had to come along for the ride and be supportive. He didn't have to be in pain, to have powerful drugs shot through his system; he didn't have to lose his hair, didn't have to lose weight.

He wished he could take all of Cooper's pain, absorb it, keep it away from him. He would gladly feel it all, just to spare his big brother.

Blaine knew he couldn't hide away in his bed for the rest of the day, so he pushed the blankets away and padded into the bathroom to take a quick shower. As he stood under the hot spray, he closed his eyes and was shocked that the first image that appeared behind his eyelids wasn't something related to Cooper. It was Kurt's face.

From the moment he had met him, there had been something about Kurt... something electric, magnetic, that kept pulling him towards him. Blaine was usually a compassive person and didn't like to see others in pain, so he attributed his interest in Kurt to his suffering for his father's condition. Hospitals could be such lonely places despite being so full of people, and Blaine knew how difficult it was to roam the hallways by yourself while you awaited good news that sometimes didn't come. But now...

But now maybe his interest had to do not only with compassion but with attraction, as well.

Blaine wasn't blind – he had noticed right away how beautiful Kurt was. He had taken one quick look into his blue eyes and felt his heart skip a beat. But as soon as Kurt told him he had a boyfriend, Blaine rejected every single thought he could have possibly had that involved the two of them together in any capacity that wasn't friendship. He wasn't the kind of guy who played games like that.

But it didn't mean his heart hadn't skipped more than a beat the previous day when he had shown him the flowershop. He had never met a guy who showed interest in something he loved as much as he loved the flowershop. It wasn't only his job – it was his grandmother's legacy. But Kurt had looked at every single flower and found their beauty. He had stood in the middle of his little private paradise and looked completely at home.

This was Blaine's luck: he finally found a man who made his stomach clench in anticipation whenever he knew he was about to see him, a man who could disarm him with just a smile, a man who seemed to be everything he had ever dreamed... only for him to be taken. Blaine was starting to think, after dating for so long, that he was doomed to be alone.

Still, an unrequited crush was a great distraction. He would let his heart ache for Kurt as long as it was needed. As long as it helped him not lose his mind about Cooper.

By the time Blaine was showered and dressed and standing outside his building, it was still too early to go straight to the hospital. Cooper would most likely still be asleep, and he didn't want to disturb him – the longer Cooper slept, the less time he would have to worry and freak out before the doctor came to fetch him for his chemo.

So at the last moment, Blaine decided to make a quick detour, and instead of heading towards the subway, he headed towards the flowershop.

They would all need something bright and beautiful to cheer them up today.

Bouquets in hand and after leaving a note for Annie with a few reminders for the day, Blaine made one last stop at a coffee shop before he finally headed to the hospital. By now, the sun was actually out in the sky, even if it was still a little pale, and by the lack of heavy clouds, Blaine guessed it would be another nice day. He wished he could take advantage of it – maybe prepare a picnic, or even just take a walk around with Cooper, who he knew was tired of being locked up in the hospital. But as Blaine had learned, life wasn't always what you wanted it to be, not even what you hoped it would be. Sometimes, it was challenging and difficult, and so, so exhausting. Sometimes there wasn't time for picnics and enjoying the sun – sometimes, all you had time for was fighting to make it one more day.

When Blaine got out of the elevator on their floor, the first thing he saw was Kurt sitting on the floor outside his father's room, laptop on his bent knees, yawning at the screen. It looked like he hadn't slept enough again, the dark marks under his eyes were getting more and more pronounced.

Kurt looked up just as Blaine stopped next to him, his eyelids dropping a little. "Hey you. Good morning."

"Morning, Kurt," Blaine said, and unhooked one of the coffee cups from the paper tray to hand it to him. "Latte?"

"Oh, my hero," Kurt grabbed it greedily and immediately took a sip. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," Blaine smiled down at him. He gestured at the laptop. "Changed offices for a while?"

"Yes." Kurt let his head rest on the wall behind him. "I get so sick of staring at the same horrible walls, but I don't want to go too far away in case my dad needs me."

"Well, I think I might have a solution for that. May I?" Blaine pointed at the door to Burt's room.

Kurt nodded curiously and then got up to follow him inside.

"Hold this, please," Blaine told him, and handed him the other two cups and two of the bouquets he was carrying.

Kurt accepted them, a bit at a lost, but when he saw Blaine head towards the window and grab some of the spare glasses from the side table, his face softened. "Oh, Blaine."

"Just thought you might appreciate having a pop of color in here," Blaine said as he walked to the bathroom to get enough water to fill the glasses. "I'm going to bring you some better vases later, but these will do for now."

"You really shouldn't have," Kurt whispered. He went after Blaine when he walked back towards the window and watched him work for a few seconds. "They're so beautiful."

"I thought they might cheer up your dad when he wakes up," Blaine murmured. He arranged three little glasses with freesias. The flowers were all different colors mixed together – white, yellow, light purple, pink, red... they immediately made the room look different. "Plus, these smell amazing, so..."

Blaine took a step back to admire his work once he was done, and then glanced at Kurt to see what he thought. His eyes were now a little misty, like he was holding back tears, but he was smiling. He leaned, smelled the flowers and let out a pleased sigh.

"You're amazing," he said, coming back towards Blaine. He leaned in and pressed a swift kiss on his cheek. "What would I do without you?"

Blaine ignored the way his stomach swooped, and simply smiled back at him instead. "I'm glad you liked them. See you later?"

Kurt handed him the cups and the rest of the flowers, as he nodded. "Of course. Tell Cooper I'll come see him, please."

"I'm sure he'll love that," Blaine said, and with one last smile, he left the room.

He tried to ignore how his whole body kept tingling from the quick and innocent touch of Kurt's lips to his cheek. It would only get him in trouble.

Cooper sat in an armchair, as a nurse proceeded to hook the IV to his arm. He took a quick look, but immediately glanced away. His blue eyes found Blaine sitting right next to him.

"One more round," he said, sounding resigned.

"This is the lucky one," Blaine replied with a confident smile. "I can feel it."

Cooper winced as the needle slipped into his vein and let his head fall against the back of the couch. "God, I hope you're right," he muttered miserably.

Blaine reached out for his hand and gave it a firm squeeze.

For most of the afternoon, Cooper slept. He was always entirely spent after chemo, so Blaine let him rest, but didn't leave his side. Kurt showed up with a late lunch soon after they were back in Cooper's room, and they ate quietly as not to disturb him.

It wasn't until late afternoon, just as Blaine was considering making a quick coffee run, that Cooper woke up. He was pale, and immediately reached for Blaine, wordlessly asking him for help.

Blaine was sad to notice he didn't need his brother to say a single thing. He knew exactly what he needed. That's how normal this whole thing had become. That's how much the illness had taken over their lives.

He helped Cooper out of bed and gently guided him to the bathroom. As soon as Cooper's bony knees hit the floor, he leaned into the toilet and began vomiting violently, his whole body spasming with the force of it.

"It's okay," Blaine murmured, as he let himself fall beside his brother. He put one hand on Cooper's forehead to support his head, and wrapped his free arm around his waist. "It's okay, Coop."

There was plain misery in Cooper's face as he kept retching until he was breathless. When it looked like he was done, Blaine tried to help him back to his bed, only to have to rush back for another wave of nausea. Blaine held him and watched him, and did his best to fight the tears clinging to his eyes. He hated seeing his brother like this.

Please, he thought, a prayer he hoped someone was listening to. Please, please, let him get better. Let this be the last step. Let this be the end of his suffering.

He held on to Cooper a little tighter.

It was already dark outside when there was a soft knock on the door and Blaine looked up to see Kurt peeking into the room. Cooper was asleep again, once more exhausted. It had been a difficult day for him, and there were so many more of those on the horizon...

"Hey," Kurt murmured in a low voice, not wanting to wake him. "How's he doing?"

Blaine opened his mouth to reply and discovered no words were actually coming out. He closed it again, firmly, when he realized there was a sob trying to claw its way up his throat instead.

Kurt's face softened, probably because he noticed the absolute misery painted on Blaine's own. He came into the room and grabbed Blaine's hand, and only then, feeling the warmth of Kurt's hand in his, did he notice his fingers were freezing cold.

"Come on," Kurt whispered, pulling on his hand, and though Blaine tried to resist, because he didn't want to leave Cooper alone, Kurt insisted. "Come out to the hallway with me, come on."

Too tired to fight him, Blaine allowed Kurt to pull him outside. He had barely made it out the door, when Kurt was wrapping his arms around him, hugging him tight enough to make him breathless.

Blaine was shocked for a second, but then he clung to Kurt with all his strength, his face falling into the crook of his neck. He tried to breathe in and out steadily, but found himself unable to. There was an ache located in his chest, and he couldn't get rid of it.

Kurt's hand travelled up his back, and his fingers dug into his spine on their way, as if trying to massage the knots away. Then he placed them at the base of his hair and left them there, sending shivers all over Blaine. He didn't say a word – he just held Blaine, no questions asked, until Blaine was ready to pull away.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, wiping the tears away from his face hastily.

"It's alright," Kurt said with a small, encouraging smile. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

"It's just been... one hell of a day." Blaine sighed and leaned against the wall.

"How's Cooper doing?" Kurt asked, an edge of concern in his voice.

"Well... not great," Blaine admitted. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling tired deep within his bones. "Chemo is hard on him. On everyone, I think."

"So I've heard," Kurt said, and then they were silent for a few seconds. Kurt's eyes were intent on him, searching, but for what, Blaine couldn't say. "And how are you?"

"I'm fine," Blaine replied. Kurt arched an eyebrow at him, making him chuckle bitterly. "Okay, I'm not fine. But that's not what's important now."

"Don't say that," Kurt said, reaching out for his hand. Blaine let him take it, feeling a bit numb. "Of course it's important. Because you are important."

Kurt's words sent warmth down into his stomach, but Blaine didn't let himself dwell too much on it. Kurt used the hand he was holding to pull Blaine into another hug, and this time Blaine sunk gratefully into it, and as he wrapped his own arms around him, he wished he never had to let go.

It was Kurt who pulled away this time, after a few minutes of holding Blaine tenderly. He gave him a quick smile, and said: "I'll go get you something to eat, okay? I'll be back in a minute."

"Sure, thank you," Blaine said.

He watched Kurt walk down the hallway towards the elevator, resisting the urge to ask him to come back and hold him some more. When he was in Kurt's arms, it felt like nothing could go wrong, and Blaine was as confused as he was terrified of it.

He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts and went back into Cooper's room.

Raise your hand if you want to hug all these poor boys.

Hope you liked the chapter despite how sad it was.

I'll be seeing you all again on Wednesday.

Love,

L.-