"…And when you're done with that, go ahead and forward me the agenda for next week's meeting," Isabelle finished. Kurt looked up from his iPad to his boss, a little overwhelmed by the list of tasks she had just given him. He loved every minute he spent at Vogue, but there were some days he felt like he just couldn't handle it.
"Got it," Kurt said with a forced smile, pushing the lock button on the device and turning in the office doorway to go back to his desk. "I'll try to have this all done by lunch."
He sat back in his own chair, setting the iPad on a stack of papers he needed to sort through. Kurt hated himself for getting behind on his work, and it was only Tuesday.
Before he did anything, though, he took three Advil for his headache. He meant to take something for it hours earlier, but got so busy with everything else he had to do.
No matter how diligently Kurt worked, he wasn't able to finish everything he had to do, and left work with files to be sorted and dozens of emails to return, but was determined to get caught up that evening.
Well, until he forgot he had a three-hour shift at the diner and then a night class at NYADA. He was still so frazzled and distracted that he managed to spill three drinks and mix up two orders, barely earning any tips at all. During his drama lecture on Shakespeare, Kurt had to settle on recording the lecture to listen to it later, while he still tried desperately to get caught up on his work from Vogue.
On top of everything, his headache never went away.
Wednesdays were always rough on him. The exhaustion from the previous day had set in, and the knowledge that there were still two days left of the week depressed him.
"What time did you get home last night?" Blaine asked. They were still in bed, spending their last few minutes together before they both had to get ready for their days.
"Almost one, I think," Kurt mumbled. He still couldn't hold his eyes open. Blaine squeezed his arm and kissed his cheek before climbing out of bed.
"I'll shower first so you can stay in bed a little longer."
"Don't use all the hot water," Kurt grumbled, before dozing off for a few more sacred minutes.
The entire day he felt like a literal piece of crap. Even though she didn't outright say it, Kurt knew Isabelle was frustrated that he hadn't gotten everything done from the previous day.
"I'll finish that today, I promise," he told her, already having to hurry back to his desk to answer a phone call.
He didn't finish. Kurt spread out all of his work, thinking he had a full day to complete it all. However, when Blaine texted him at 12:47 saying "where r you?" Kurt remembered: on Wednesdays he left the office at lunch to go work a full shift at the diner with Blaine. He was now behind and late for work.
"Stupid new schedule," Kurt muttered, throwing his coat on and hurrying to the subway station. His shift started at 12:30, only making him forty-one minutes late.
"Strike one, Hummel," his overweight, always-grumpy boss, Mr. Erikson, told him. Kurt apologized rapidly as he buttoned his uniform polo shirt and jumped in to take orders.
Being constantly busy had made Kurt forget about his headache, for a time. But three hours into his shift, he was definitely feeling it again. This time it brought along nausea and occasional chills, making Kurt go from mildly uncomfortable to plain miserable. He took a break twice on the remainder of his shift to go be sick in the bathroom, something no one wanted during their first few weeks at a new job.
"Hey, you look really bad," Blaine said bluntly. He pulled Kurt aside as he came out of the bathroom the second time. "Do you feel okay? Do you need to go home?"
Kurt waved him off. "I'm fine. Nothing's wrong, I promise."
Blaine frowned, but seemed to accept his answer. For the last few hours of work, Kurt made every effort to appear fine, even though his head, and now his stomach, were both killing him.
That evening, Kurt made himself eat dinner. He knew Blaine was watching him closely, looking for any sign that something was wrong. Kurt managed to hide his symptoms well, and even threw up in the bathroom without Blaine noticing.
All throughout the night, Kurt tried unsuccessfully to sleep. He was hot one minute, cold the next, and then he was just too sick to sleep, constantly kept awake by the threat of needing to throw up. Next to him, Blaine slept like a baby, and Kurt was almost tempted to wake him up, but knew what the consequences would be if he admitted to being sick: Blaine would force him to stay home the next day, possibly even go to the doctor, and not let him do anything productive until he was one hundred percent better. So, he decided against it.
Thursday was the worst day Kurt had had in a long time. He was weak, disoriented, couldn't go more than a half-hour without throwing up at least a little bit, and still had to hide it all from Blaine. He worked like a dog that day, from eight in the morning until midnight at his NYADA class, Kurt gave everything his best effort, despite the state he was in. And no one seemed to notice.
Kurt thought Thursday was bad, but Friday was the icing on the cake. Kurt could tell how feverish he was just based on how quickly he heated up after putting on his jacket, which was never a good sign. The smell of the coffee in the office kitchen sent him running for the bathroom, and if he stood up too quickly, he needed at least several seconds to recover.
"Kurt, come in here please!" Isabelle hollered. Their desks were no more than twenty feet apart, yet he still struggled to take each step. His head pounded in his ears, his stomach flipped nervously. Kurt was honestly afraid of getting fired after the poor job he had done that week.
"Yes?" he asked, trying to sound eager for whatever task she gave him.
"You seem a little run-down this week," she told him, sounding genuinely concerned. "Is everything okay with you and Blaine? Are you getting enough sleep?"
The idea of sleep made Kurt happy, and he yawned. "Blaine's fine, I'm fine. Just tired…"
He moved his hands to rub his eyes, and lost his balance slightly. Kurt tried to recover, but his headache became overwhelming, and his vision slowly faded as his knees gave out beneath him.
"Kurt? There you go, open your eyes."
Kurt gazed up at the bright lights of the office. His head felt like it was splitting in two, and his stomach even worse than that. He moaned, just slightly. He couldn't let anyone know he was sick.
"Can you hear me?"
That voice belonged to Isabelle. She was on Kurt's right, holding his hand. He panicked, unsure what had happened.
"I-I need to finish," he managed to get out. His teeth chattered from his chills, and he attempted to sit up, but Isabelle stopped him.
"You're not going anywhere," she ordered. "Here, I'm going to help you up. Don't try to do anything on your own, just let me help you."
That was easier said than done for Kurt. He allowed Isabelle to walk him to the couch in the corner of her office, and she made him take a drink of some water.
"I'm going to call Blaine," she told him. "He can come take you home. I'm not letting you leave on your own like this."
Kurt nodded, accepting his fate, but still grateful for Isabelle's kindness. He could hear Blaine's panic on the other line, even though Isabelle tried to reassure him.
She hung up, but still wouldn't let Kurt get up to continue working.
"You look like you haven't slept in weeks, and you fainted for goodness sakes! I'll get you some more water. You need to just rest, sweetheart. Hear me?"
Kurt nodded slowly, struggling to hold his eyes open. He was just ready for Blaine to take him home, not even caring if it meant being babied to death all weekend.
"Here you go," Isabelle said softly. Kurt forced his eyes open, and she had a Styrofoam cup of water for him, which she helped him hold. "Kurt, how long have you been feeling sick?"
"Just a few days," he confessed without thinking. He suddenly straightened, realizing what he had said. "I mean, no, not that long. I'm okay, really."
Isabelle took his water and set it on the table next to him. Kurt allowed himself to lie back down, his head on the armrest, his arms tight around his stomach.
"You don't look okay," was all she replied with. Kurt shivered, and forced himself not to throw up again. Not in front of his boss. He curled up tighter and squeezed his eyes shut, trying hard to forget the fact that he just collapsed in front of her.
"Kurt? Honey, it's just me. Can you wake up?"
"He's been asleep for about twenty minutes. I didn't know if it was a good idea to let him sleep or not because he passed out, but he was completely wiped out."
Kurt opened his eyes at the sound of his fiancé's voice, and Blaine immediately sat down next to him.
"You're really sick, aren't you?" Kurt just laid his head on his shoulder. "Let's go home. You'll feel better once you've had some medicine and a nap."
Kurt let Blaine help him up, and Isabelle said something to him about feeling better and not coming back to work until he was sure he could do it. They took a cab back to the loft, Kurt dozing on Blaine's shoulder the whole way.
"I wish you would've told me you felt bad," Blaine said, wrapping his arm around Kurt. "I could've helped you before it got to this point."
"Sorry," Kurt mumbled. He wrapped his arms around Blaine's bicep and tried not to focus on his horrible headache and nausea. He only threw up once when they got out of the cab, and once more when they made it to the loft. By that point he felt like passing out again, just because of how miserable he felt.
"No, stand up," Blaine told him, having to hold him up when his knees trembled. "You need to be in bed. I'll bring you some mouthwash to rinse out your mouth, but you shouldn't be standing. Do you want anything else right now?"
"Don't leave," Kurt choked, barely above a whisper. Blaine quietly reassured him as he led Kurt to their bed. Kurt vaguely remembered changing into pajamas, and then Blaine bringing him everything he could possibly need, finally lying down next to him.
"You go to sleep," Blaine told him. "I'll be right here when you wake up."
It felt like seconds later he was opening his eyes. Blaine remained by his side, as promised, and smiled when he saw Kurt was awake. His headache was still present, but had dulled slightly, same with his stomachache.
"How do you feel?" Blaine asked. "You slept for five hours."
Kurt rubbed his eyes and turned over onto his back. "Not as deathly. What time is it?"
"Almost five. Do you feel like you could eat something?"
Kurt nodded without thinking, but then regretted it. Well, until Blaine brought him some homemade soup and insisted on feeding him. That wasn't so bad, until he saw what was coming.
"Honey, you can't just try to cover it up whenever you're sick. Did you enjoy passing out in Isabelle's office?" Blaine asked.
"No," Kurt peeped, accepting another bite of soup.
"Getting that phone call from her scared me half to death. You could've just told me something was wrong when I asked you at work the other day."
"I will next time," Kurt assured him, even though he hoped there would never be a next time. Passing out at work once was humiliating enough. As much as he hated letting everyone see him in his weakest moments, Kurt supposed he could make an exception, just for Blaine.
Author's Notes:
Well I'm finally done with school and able to write again! I would've posted this earlier, but since we've moved and haven't had wifi for three whole days, it had to wait a little bit. On the bright side, though, no internet gave me plenty of time to write!
On another note, the title of this one comes from Grouplove's new song. If you go listen to it I'll probably love you forever since it's so perfect. The end.