None of them saw it coming. They were too focused on outshining the Warblers to pay any attention to the Styrofoam slushie cup Sebastian had pulled out from a brown paper bag.
Kurt knew it was for him. Who else would Sebastian purposefully try to harm? Kurt threw his arms up over his face, but suddenly felt a set of hands on him. He thought at first that they were going to push him down and then slushie him, but he quickly realized that it was just Blaine. His boyfriend pushed him out of the way, and took the hit instead.
But something was wrong. Blaine fell onto his side from the force of it, and immediately began to cry out. Kurt had never heard him like that, and knew something was terribly wrong.
Time almost seemed to stop for a second as Kurt bent down to help him. He saw the Warblers slip away out of the corner of his eye, and the New Directions all stared at the two of them, shocked. Kurt felt the red slushie syrup bleeding through his brand new pants, but he was too focused on Blaine to care.
He had his arms covering his face, so Kurt couldn't see what was causing him so much pain.
"Blaine," he said softly, taking one of his hands. He reached around Blaine's shoulders and sat him up, but every movement seemed to hurt more and more.
His sobs echoed throughout the parking garage, and Kurt kept trying to calm him down unsuccessfully. His mind was racing, trying to come up with an answer. A normal slushie to the eye stung for a few seconds, but was just fine after a few seconds.
But that obviously wasn't a normal slushie.
"Blaine, let me see," Kurt tried again. He tugged Blaine's hand down from his eye, but his boyfriend pulled away from him, breathing so rapidly Kurt was afraid he would pass out.
"Let me try," Quinn offered. "My dad's a doctor."
Kurt nodded a little, and she bent down in front of Blaine. He leaned his head back on Kurt's shoulder, trying to keep her away.
"It's okay," Kurt told him. "Quinn's not gonna hurt you. We just want you to move your hands."
"No no no," Blaine pleaded, his voice hoarse from crying.
"We need to go to the doctor, then," Quinn told him, her voice still calm and quiet. "If it's your eye then we're going to need to see someone."
Kurt honestly didn't want to go to the hospital. The idea of Blaine being in that amount of pain and messed with by doctors didn't sound ideal. But it seemed to be the only option.
"Puck, help him up," Quinn ordered. Puck took Blaine from Kurt's arms, and then Finn helped his stepbrother up.
"He's gonna be okay," Finn told him, noticing how much Kurt's hands were shaking. "C'mon. We'll take your car."
Puck had to wind up carrying Blaine, due to the fact that he couldn't see and was still in too much pain to even walk. Kurt caught up to them and grabbed Blaine's hand, giving it a small, reassuring squeeze.
"Do you want us to come?" Artie asked, gesturing to the rest of the group.
"I don't know how long it'll take," Quinn told them. "Just… try to call Mr. Shue. He needs to know what happened. We'll let you know when we're out."
The others nodded, and eventually left one by one, even Rachel.
Kurt sat in the back of his own car, and Blaine was by him, huddled against Kurt's chest and crying into his shirt. When Blaine shifted and Kurt saw red against the fabric, he felt his heart leap into his throat. He knew it was slushie, but it must have all gotten into Blaine's eyes for there to still be so much.
"It's okay," Kurt repeated over and over. "Can you blink? Can you see anything?"
Blaine finally took his left hand down from his face, exposing his eye. It was bloodshot and red, but appeared normal. Blaine was able to blink several times without any pain.
"What about your right one?" Kurt prompted. "Try that one." He helped Blaine take his hand away, but as soon as he tried to open his eye, he cried out in pain again.
"Shhh," Kurt soothed, instantly regretting trying to take a look at it. "Blaine, if you cry it's going to irritate it more. Just breathe and don't move your eyes."
It took Blaine minutes to calm down, but it was impossible for him to sit still. He grabbed at Kurt's jacket collar, desperate for some relief.
"How close are we?" Kurt asked Quinn, who was in the passenger seat. Puck drove maniacally next to her, which left Finn squished in the back with Kurt and Blaine.
"Just two miles," she told him. "Keep him calmed down. He can't walk into the emergency room screaming."
Kurt nodded, and as they hit a dip in the road and Blaine howled again, Kurt felt his own eyes well up. He quickly blinked the tears away, and told himself that he would not cry in front of Blaine. Not when he needed Kurt the most.
"It h-hurts," Blaine gasped out, struggling to catch his breath. "It burns, Kurt."
"I know," Kurt said, keeping his arms tight around Blaine. "We're almost there, and they'll fix it. Just try not to cry. That's making it worse."
Blaine held Kurt's hand for the remainder of the ride, occasionally choking up or moaning when he accidently moved his eyes. But finally, finally, they reached the hospital. Puck let the four of them off, and it took both Kurt and Finn to get Blaine out of the car and inside.
"Sit with him," Quinn told Kurt. "I'll sign him in. Puck will be here in a minute."
Kurt nodded and helped Blaine into a seat, trying to keep it together. Finn sat on Kurt's other side, and suddenly pulled out his phone from his pocket.
"Dude, I think my mom's working right now," he told Kurt. "I'll call her, and maybe she can come down here with us."
"Okay," Kurt replied, thankful that Finn thought of that. Having Carole around would be reassuring.
Finn stepped outside to call her, and Kurt turned his attention back to Blaine.
"How does it feel?" Kurt asked, hoping the pain had subsided at least a little bit for him.
"I can't open it," Blaine panicked, breathing quickly again. "It hurts."
Kurt could tell that he was about to cry again, so he quickly tried to hush him. In the bright lights of the emergency room, he looked so much worse.
Kurt wished the slushie had hit him instead.
Quinn returned a moment later and sat on Blaine's other side. "They're not very busy, so they can get him in in just a few minutes. The lady said we don't need to fill out any forms yet, since his medical records are already on file here."
Kurt nodded, thankful for the short wait. Puck came in after that, and then Finn returned. Kurt vaguely heard them all talking, but stayed focused on Blaine, trying to help him in any way he could.
"Are you cold?" Kurt asked. "You can have my jacket."
"No," Blaine moaned, squeezing his good eye shut. "It just hurts, Kurt, make it stop!"
Kurt shushed him and had to remind him to breathe as he got worked up again. Nothing was worse than watching Blaine cry, especially since he was always so levelheaded.
A nurse came out to the waiting room, and Kurt and Finn got Blaine to his feet.
"Kurt," Blaine worried, reaching out for him with the hand that wasn't pressed against his eye.
"I'm right here," Kurt assured him, placing his hand on Blaine's back as they all moved down the hallway towards a tiny exam room. Finn lifted Blaine onto the table, and he immediately turned onto his side, facing Kurt and crying softly again.
Kurt bent down next to his head, brushing his now-sticky hair from his forehead.
"Don't cry," Kurt told him. "It's going to be okay. I'm not leaving, but crying is going to make it worse. Here, hold my hand."
"How did this happen?" the nurse asked, washing her hands and putting on some gloves. She was tiny, probably even smaller than Rachel, but moved quickly to get a good look at Blaine's eye. The room was pretty cramped, so the other three squished in a corner while Kurt stayed by Blaine's side.
"Someone threw a-a slushie at him," Kurt explained hastily, wanting her to be able to fix Blaine as soon as possible. "But something was in it… it wasn't a normal slushie. He said his eye burns a-and it's obviously pretty painful. Please, just fix it."
"Okay, let's take a look," the nurse said, as if slushied patients came in everyday. She looked down at Blaine, concerned. "Honey, what's your name?"
It took Blaine a minute to answer, and even then his voice was shaky and unsteady. "B-Blaine."
"Okay, Blaine, I need to look at your eye for just a minute," she warned him. "Can you lay on your back for me? You can still hold his hand."
Kurt helped Blaine onto his back, and he could see how bad his whole body was trembling. The nurse pulled Blaine's hand away from his eye, and Kurt had to turn his head away when he saw it.
It was tomato red from the slushie, and also the pressure of Blaine's hand on it, but his eye itself was watery and bloody, and Kurt knew whatever had been put in the slushie was meant to do severe damage.
"Too bright," Blaine whined, trying to cover up his face again. Kurt kept a grip on his hand before he could hurt his eye more, and the nurse promptly dimmed the lights.
"There, that should be a little better," she told him. "I'm going to need to get a good look at your eye, so try to open it as wide as you can, and try to hold your head still. Can you do that, Blaine?"
Blaine didn't reply, but Kurt held his shoulder so he couldn't try to move too much.
"Don't touch it," he begged, breaking down. Kurt squeezed his hand gently, and the nurse got some eye drops from one of the drawers.
"I won't touch your eye," she promised, coming back over towards them. "These drops will numb it to take away some of the pain. Just hold your eye open for a few seconds, and these will help you a lot. Okay?"
Blaine stayed quiet, so the nurse went ahead with it. She helped him open his eye, but Blaine fought her as soon as she put the eye drops in. He batted her hand away and keened in pain, crushing Kurt's fingers with his grip.
Kurt's eyes watered up, and he tried to hide it from Blaine that he was crying. He felt a set of hands on his shoulders, and realized Finn was guiding him out of the room.
"No," Kurt begged. "Finn, let go!"
His stepbrother forced him into the hall, and Kurt cried as he heard Blaine through the wall.
"You can't go in there and cry," Finn told Kurt, putting his hands on his shoulders. "If you cry, Blaine's going to cry, and they'll make you leave so he can calm down. My mom's on her way down here, so she can help, but you can't get upset around him. Blaine's gonna be fine, bro."
Kurt sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve, knowing in the back of his mind that he would regret doing it later.
"I'm sorry," he peeped, trying his best to calm down so he could go back in and be with Blaine. "I hate this. I hate Sebastian… I hate the Warblers."
"I know, dude," Finn said, clapping Kurt on the shoulder. "Come on. You look okay now. Blaine needs you, bro."
Kurt nodded, and Finn led him back into the exam room. Blaine's face looked a little clearer, but his right eye was still a watery mess.
"Kurt, don't leave," Blaine pleaded, grabbing his hand tightly.
"I'm not, I promise," Kurt told him. And he meant it that time.
There was a swift knock on the door, and Carole entered quietly. She put her hand on Kurt's shoulder and looked down on Blaine, who had his eyes closed.
"Sweetheart, it's Carole," she informed him. "We're going to figure out what's wrong with your eye and try to fix it. Do you want me to call your parents for you? I'm sure they'd like to know what's going on."
"Can't…" Blaine mumbled. "They're in... Cleveland."
"I gave him a shot of some pain medicine to calm him down," the other nurse told Carole. "It's obviously taken affect."
"I can still call them, even if it takes them awhile to get here," Carole urged. "It'll just take two minutes."
Blaine pointed to his back pocket, and Carole took his phone. "Thank you, honey. I'll be right back."
Carole stepped out again, and the nurse came back up to Blaine's right side.
"I'm going to rinse out your eye, now," she said calmly. "It shouldn't hurt nearly as bad as earlier. In fact, it should start to feel a little better."
Blaine bit down on his lip, and Kurt forced himself to stay calm as she began. She flushed his eye with water, but Blaine suddenly yelled so loudly half the hospital could hear. Kurt saw more blood, and Blaine squeezed his eyes shut tight. His boyfriend bit down on his knuckle, and Kurt's fingers turned purple from how tightly Blaine held on for dear life.
"Stop, stop, stop!" he choked out, even though the nurse had already stepped back.
It was frustrating for all of them. It was frustrating for Kurt to see Blaine in obvious pain, and he felt like they weren't getting anywhere, since Blaine was too hurt to cooperate.
"What the hell is wrong with his eye?" Puck spoke up. Until then, he, Quinn, and Finn had been standing quietly in the corner, but apparently Kurt wasn't the only frustrated one.
"It looks like a corneal scratch," she offered. "But I can't be one hundred percent sure until we flush it out."
Kurt wanted an answer. He wanted to know that Blaine would be okay. He wanted to leave the hospital already, because he hated it, and he was certain Blaine hated it, as well.
The nurse took one last try looking into Blaine's eye, and Kurt looked away while she finished rinsing it, and identified the abrasion.
"It's scratched pretty deeply," she confessed. "We'll do everything we can tonight, but it looks like surgery is unavoidable. Whatever was in that slushie hit him hard."
Kurt mentally checked out after the word "surgery". The thought of Blaine in the hospital again, unconscious, at the mercy of a random surgeon, terrified him. He felt like he was trapped in a nightmare and unable to wake up. This couldn't be happening.
Carole returned to the room as the nurse began some paperwork.
"Blaine, honey, your parents are leaving Cleveland as soon as they can," she reported. "It's going to be okay."
Kurt wanted to tell Carole all about the possibility of Blaine needing surgery, but he could hardly form words. He knew that it could just as easily have been him in that position, and he honestly didn't know where he would be without Blaine.
"Does he need to stay overnight?" Quinn asked the nurse.
"I don't think so, but we need to keep an eye on him for a little bit longer. I'm writing him a prescription for some antibiotic eye drops and a mild pain killer, but he can't leave right now with the level of pain he's in."
"I wanna go home," Blaine moaned, whimpering quietly. Kurt rubbed his back and tried to keep him relaxed.
"Shhh," he said. "We will soon."
The nurse finished filling out the forms, and left momentarily, leaving the five of them and Carole.
"I'm so sorry this happened, honey," she cooed at him, pouring him a cup of water form the sink. "Here, a drink might help. Can you try to blink or move your eyes? That's going to help it."
Kurt helped Blaine sit up enough to drink the water, and he managed to open his eye a fraction, but was in too much pain to do anything else.
"That's okay," Carole assured him. "At least you tried. It'll get better."
"She said it'll need surgery," Finn informed her. She nodded, as if she had known all along, and talked with the nurse privately in the hall once she returned.
Finally, after nearly five minutes, Carole returned. "Blaine, we can go home, honey. I know everyone's tired. You can stay at our house until your parents get back in a few hours. They're letting you go only if I promised to bring you back if it gets worse. But you do need some rest."
"I'll drive you guys back to get your cars," Finn offered to Quinn and Puck. Kurt handed his keys over to his stepbrother, and worked on helping Blaine sit up all the way.
"It still burns a little," he admitted, leaning on Kurt. Carole helped him up to his feet.
"We'll get your eye drops at the pharmacy and give you some pain medicine," Carole told him. "You should be out like a light."
Kurt was suddenly feeling exhausted, too, like all his adrenaline had worn off. Blaine had to wear an eye patch to protect his eye from any infection, so Kurt helped him walk while Carole tried to get him discharged as quickly as possible.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they could leave for real. Finn took Kurt's car, so Kurt sat with Blaine in the backseat of Carole's Honda. Blaine was much calmer than the ride to the hospital, and Kurt felt relieved that it was only a scratch, despite the surgery looming over their heads. Blaine could have easily been blinded by whatever was in that stupid slushie.
Once back at home, Kurt stayed with Blaine on the couch, fussing over everything and trying to make his boyfriend as comfortable as possible. After all, he felt like he owed Blaine big time after what he had done for him.
"How do you feel?" Kurt asked, once he had a chance to sit down for the first time.
"I can't feel anything," Blaine told him, sounding more asleep than awake. "Stay here."
"I am," Kurt promised. "You really scared me, you know." He ran his fingers through Blaine's hair, trying to feel him in the darkness of the living room.
"I'm okay," Blaine insisted. "You get to take care of me now."
Kurt smiled a little. He knew that even once Blaine was feeling better, he would still milk it for as long as possible. But Kurt was willing to take care of Blaine for the rest of his life, because the fact that his boyfriend cared about him enough to take a tampered slushie in his place meant the world to Kurt. And there was no way to repay that.
Author's Notes:
That Michael Jackson episode gave me all the feels, you guys. I knew I was going to have to write about it at some point or another. SO MUCH ANGST.