Author's Note:

This is again from Blaine's point of view. And you're probably going to be angry with him…

This chapter is unbetaed, because let's face it, I'm unable to get the new chapter written in time to let my wonderful beta hkvoyage have a look at it before it's update day again… Instead, I write and write and write and then post the chapter in the nick of time. Yeah, time management is not my forte.

Thank you so much to everyone who sends me feedback - you're wonderful and you spur me on to keep writing :-)

Chapter 10: Rotten Timing

A month later, Blaine was staying with the Hudmel's again to celebrate Christmas, and he loved how at home they made him feel.

When he and Kurt arrived, Carole served them soup with home-made croutons for them to warm up and to tide them over until dinner, and then led them to the Christmas tree, encouraging them to add more decorations. Apparently, that was an old tradition, and Kurt started hanging ornaments in the tree while keeping up a running commentary about who had bought or made them and what made them special. There was an empty perfume bottle that had been Kurt's mother's, with a blue silk ribbon tied around it. Next to it was a child's hand-print on a round piece of clay. Not Kurt's, but Finn's, apparently.

"I still can't believe Finn ever had such tiny hands," Kurt said. "The guy was huge. He grew like a weed all through middle school and high school. Like he drank Ent-draughts every day."

Then there were three adorable Christmas angels made of clothes pegs.

"I started making those when I was five," Kurt explained. "With my mom. We made one every year. Until she died."

There were several popsicle stick ornaments with a picture inside, and Blaine smiled when he recognised Burt and his late wife on their wedding day, Kurt's mother looking heavily pregnant, Burt with a baby in his arms, and then a much younger Kurt, his grin showing gaps where his milk teeth had fallen out.

Blaine helped hang everything in the tree, and then draped a piece of left-over tinsel around his neck and batted his eyes at Kurt. "How do I look?"

"Like you're about to hop onto a Pride Parade float. Come and help me make Christmas cookies?"

Blaine grinned ear to ear and followed Kurt to the kitchen.

K&B

During their vacation, Kurt took Blaine to several curse breakers, asking them to break the dog spell. Blaine's hope that someone would be able to help him melted away bit by bit when one after another, they all proved useless, and even scared of Alexei.

Blaine hadn't really counted on his curse being broken, ever, so he dealt with the disappointment way better than Kurt, who recounted their appointments to Burt and Carole, and raged about every curse breaker who'd sent them away, calling them cowards and incompetents.

Blaine's attempts to pacify Kurt had no effect whatsoever. Quite on the contrary, it made him even angrier that Blaine was resigned to live his life waiting for the next dog phase to hit, and he glared at Blaine ferociously and stomped off to his room.

A few days after Christmas, Kurt was suddenly gone. Burt wouldn't say where to, but his shifty eyes and restless energy made Blaine anxious. A day and a half passed without any news from Kurt, and Blaine took to hovering around Burt, so intent on ferreting out the truth that he didn't notice turning into a dog until Burt gasped and pointed at him.

Blaine, who was sitting at the kitchen table, about to grab his fork and knife to tuck into his dinner, looked down and saw that he had paws again. With a sigh, he jumped off the chair.

"You… You really are…" Burt stammered, grabbing his heart.

Blaine hastened towards him and nuzzled his leg. Please calm down. Please don't have a heart attack. Ugh, why is Carole at the hospital right now?! We need her here!

Burt took a few deep breaths in and out, drank some water, and then patted Blaine on the head. "I'm fine, bud. No need to look so worried. You just gave me a scare, is all."

Blaine nodded.

"You're gonna need your collar, right? Kurt put it in the hallway. Just a sec."

Burt put the collar on Blaine, and then scratched his head, thinking hard. "Oh, and dog dishes! Kurt bought some, but where did he put them?"

Burt started to look for the dog dishes, and Blaine followed him. In the end, it was Blaine who found them, in the pantry, the same place where they kept them at home.

Burt was just filling one of the dishes with water for Blaine when the phone rang. Burt dropped the dish in the sink, splattering water everywhere, and ran to pick up the phone.

It proved to be Kurt. He told his dad not to let Blaine eat lasagne, and Blaine eyed his untouched plate mournfully. The alternative Kurt proposed was yummy too, though, and it took only half a minute for Blaine to wolf it all down. He looked at Burt. Could he persuade him to give him some more food? But Burt looked white as a sheet and scared, so Blaine moved closer to Burt and pricked up his ears to listen to the phone conversation.

It proved to be about Blaine's dog spell. Kurt had gone to see someone who could tell him how to break the curse. Apparently, it would take a kiss. True love's kiss. And Blaine only had two more years to make that happen, or he'd have to live out his life as a dog.

And then Kurt said two things that shook Blaine to the core. The man he'd gone to see was Alexei! And the man Blaine had to fall in love with was Kurt!

Reeling inside, Blaine plopped down on his belly.

Wow. Kurt always zigged when Blaine thought he would zag, but this was unexpected to a whole new level. Kurt was so brave to face Alexei. And this really went above and beyond what their friendship demanded.

Blaine had to face it: he'd vastly underestimated the depth of Kurt's feelings for him. All this time, Blaine had treated it like a mild crush, and teased Kurt about it every now and then. But Kurt's actions proved that it had to be more. So much more.

Burt pronounced Blaine an idiot, and he had a point there. Kurt defended Blaine, though, seeming so resigned to his love being unrequited that it smote Blaine's heart.

When Kurt hung up, Burt let out a deep sigh, and then stepped on Blaine's tail when he turned to go back to the kitchen. Blaine couldn't help howling in pain and curling into a tiny ball.

"Sorry, sorry!" Burt said. "I didn't see you there!"

Burt crouched down. "You okay?"

Blaine whimpered.

"You heard everything?" Burt asked.

Blaine nodded.

"Good. Seems like it's up to you now, bud. I know you can't hurry love or however that song goes, but I'm telling you I can see you guys being happy with each other. What you have with Kurt is special. It's more than just friendship, no matter how hard you try to kid yourself. So stop holding back, okay? What are you waiting for? Your Prince Charming? I'm telling you, my son is worth a dozen princes. And he loves you. The thing is, he's willing to wait for it. He's not going to push. But you need pushing, am I right or am I right? You don't see what's right in front of you. And those two years are going to be over in a flash, and then you'll be a dog and Kurt will be alone and you'll both be unhappy."

Blaine hung his head and sighed deeply.

Burt patted him on the head again. "So I'm going to tell you something you need to know. Love isn't a flash of lighting, telling you that this is the One. Love is something that has to grow, that you have to build. Like friendship. Like trust. You need to work on it. You need to be there for each other. You have to choose each other, over and over again, each day. You have to work as a team. You have to be open and honest. Be their strongest supporter, their confidant, their shoulder to cry on, their rock. If you can do all of that, I'm pretty sure that deeper connection will come, if it isn't there already. Give it a chance. An honest chance. Okay?"

Blaine nodded.

Burt shook his head. "Kurt's always been stubborn. Once his mind is made up, it stays made up. So when he told me he was going to live with a guy much older than him, I was scared. Yes, you're only sharing an apartment, nothing going on, bla, bla, bla… He can say that 'till he's blue in the face, but I can tell that it's more. At first, I was scared you were taking advantage of him. Now I'm scared that you'll keep stringing him along until your human days are over."

Blaine looked up at Burt and softly nudged his knee.

Burt removed his cap and ran a hand over his head. "Yes, yes, you can't force it, I know, and you're a good guy, I guess. But I'm worried about my son. If he's fool enough to spend money he doesn't have to travel across the world and go see a dangerous guy about your curse, then what else is he gonna do before your time runs out? He's gonna get himself killed! And all for nothing, if you don't get a move on. So please get over whatever hang-ups you have. Sort yourself out. And be there for Kurt. Don't close yourself off. You can do this. I know you can. Together, you'll figure it out."

Burt gave Blaine one last pat on his shoulder and then left for work, without Blaine this time, stopping halfway out the door to say over his shoulder, "Oh, the door to the back yard is never locked, so if you need to… go outside, you always can. You can reach the handle, right?"

Blaine was off like a shot to try it, and found that he could open the door. He slipped into the garden just long enough to do his business and then hurried inside again, out of the cold.

He'd barely slept the night before because he'd been worrying about Kurt, so he went to the living room to take a nap. He debated sleeping on the sofa, but decided against it, and just curled up on the rug in front of the wood stove.

He slept like the dead until he was woken up early in the morning by Carole gasping loudly and then saying, "Blaine?!"

He got up and trotted over to her, nuzzling her leg until her stiff stance loosened and she reached down to pet him.

"I know you said you turned into a dog from time to time," Carole said. "But seeing it for real… Gosh, it gave me quite a fright. I'm going to head off to bed. Go back to sleep, honey. Goodnight!"

When Kurt returned later that day, he looked exhausted and sad. Burt enveloped him in a tight bear hug and whispered fiercely in his ear. Blaine wished he could do the same, but he had to make do with putting his head on Kurt's knee as soon as he sat down with a sigh.

Kurt looked at Blaine with a barely-there smile. "Hey…"

"I'll heat up the rest of the lasagne for you," Burt offered, but Kurt shook his head, claiming he wasn't hungry, just tired.

Burt looked like he wanted to protest, but Kurt was gone before he could get a word out. Blaine hesitated, but then climbed the stairs to Kurt's room, nudging the door open. He found Kurt in the bathroom, applying face cream and crying soundlessly.

Blaine was with him in a flash, nuzzling Kurt's legs and whining.

Kurt looked down in surprise, and reached down to pet Blaine, lightly scratching under his chin. "Don't worry. I'll be fine tomorrow. I'm just… tired and moody."

Blaine stayed close to Kurt until he was ready for bed, and followed him into the bedroom, fully expecting Kurt to snap at him that he wasn't to jump on the bed.

He didn't, though. He got into bed, sighed deeply and then said, "All right, I guess just this once you can come up here and cuddle me. Maybe it will take my mind off things so I can get some sleep."

Blaine hesitated, cocking his head to the side, but Kurt only had to pat the space next to him on the bed once for Blaine to jump on it and cuddle up to Kurt, who put an arm around Blaine, mumbled a goodnight and was out like a light.

It took Blaine a bit longer. He studied Kurt's face, lax in sleep, and hiding those striking eyes, but no less lovely with his long lashes curling over his cheeks. Blaine's last thought before drifting off was, "I could get used to this."

K&B

They returned to New York two days later.

After the close shave they'd had the last time they came to Ohio, Kurt had looked into getting an assistance dog certificate online, and had bought one that said Kurt suffered from epilepsy. It didn't sit right with either of them to deceive people like this, but there was no denying this was by far the easiest solution. So this time, instead of Kurt driving all the way home, all they had to do was cancel Blaine's plane ticket and warn the airline that Kurt would be taking his service dog with him.

A further advantage of this was that they were first on the plane and then first off at arrival. No-one had questioned Kurt at all, though one of the stewardesses had mentioned she had never seen a Portie as a service dog before. "But I can see he's well-trained. Good boy!"

Once they were back home, Kurt threw himself into his work, walking dogs from sunup to sundown and in the evening working on his assignments for school until he fell asleep with his head on his laptop keyboard.

Then, Blaine would paw at him until he woke up with a start and plodded off to bed. Blaine took advantage of Kurt's loosened rules about dogs on the furniture, and cuddled up to him in bed.

As soon as Blaine had turned back into a human, he asked Kurt why he was taking on so many dog walking assignments. Kurt mumbled something about bills to pay, but refused to accept any money from Blaine.

Blaine was quite sure these bills had something to do with Kurt going to see Alexei, and felt guilty. Travelling to Russia must have set Kurt back a cool grand at least, Blaine estimated, so he wired a thousand dollars over to Kurt's bank account without saying a word about it to Kurt. After all, those expenses had been made to help him, so it was only right that Blaine foot the bill.

In addition to that, he made sure that Kurt got fed at regular intervals, and he nagged at him to go to sleep at a decent hour, promising Kurt a back rub if he went to bed right that minute.

Kurt's eyes went wide the first time Blaine proposed this, but then he shrugged and headed to his bedroom, where he flopped face-down on his bed with a groan. That was invitation enough for Blaine, who set to work.

Kurt had a nice back, he thought, digging his fingers into Kurt's neck to massage the tension out. Wide shoulders, muscles for days, and would you look at those biceps, yum!

He moved on to Kurt's spine, exerting pressure with the palms of his hands, and Kurt moaned when he reached his lower back, and slurred, "Yeah… Right there…"

Halfway through, Blaine felt Kurt going lax, and when he checked, he found Kurt fast asleep, his face serene. Blaine smiled and continued the back rub until he'd worked out a few more knots. Then he carefully extricated the comforter from under Kurt. As he was tucking him in, though, Kurt suddenly turned on his side and threw an arm over Blaine. Blaine tried to get out from under Kurt's embrace, but Kurt only tightened his grip and whined, struggling to open his eyes.

Blaine didn't want Kurt to wake up again – he needed all the sleep he could get – so he wriggled out of his pants, stripped off his sweater and polo shirt and slipped under the covers, too. He smiled when Kurt buried his face into his chest and hummed happily. Maybe Kurt would freak out the following morning, but for now, he was content, and getting a good night's sleep. That was the main thing.

Kurt did startle when he woke up, but he said nothing. He just blushed and got out of bed with his eyes averted. That night, though, he readily agreed to another back rub, taking his pants off first this time, "'cause they're so uncomfortable to sleep in." And so it became a habit for Blaine to sleep in Kurt's bed, holding him in his arms. Blaine, who'd always been a cuddle bug, loved this new arrangement, and Kurt's shy smile every morning when he opened his eyes seemed to indicate he did, too.

Blaine had been sleeping in Kurt's bed for about a week when he woke up one morning sweating like a pig. And no wonder. Kurt was lying on top of him, fast asleep, sniffling and red-cheeked and… burning up!

"Sweetie, wake up," Blaine urged Kurt, who made a disgruntled noise and turned onto his other side.

Since that left Blaine free to get up, he slipped out of bed and checked his medicine cabinet for a thermometer, vitamins and fever reducers, and then went to the kitchen to make tea with honey.

When he arrived back in the bedroom, Kurt was thrashing about wildly, clearly having a bad dream. Blaine put the tray on the desk and tried to soothe him, but got a kick in the gut for his pains, and then one of Kurt's flailing arms hit him straight in the eye, and he saw stars. Ow, that hurt!

Blaine stepped back, out of Kurt's range, and waited for the nightmare to pass.

Suddenly, Kurt's alarm rung, and Kurt shot up, bewildered and disoriented. Blaine was quick to silence the alarm, and offered Kurt a fever reducer and a glass of water, but Kurt looked right through him, eyes glassy, and started to babble about wasps, swarms of wasps coming right at him. He pointed at the wallpaper, which had black and yellow polka dots on it.

It had seemed such a cheerful wallpaper, back when Blaine was redecorating his apartment. Now, he cursed it, and put his arms around Kurt to soothe him. Kurt shivered, and then started to point and babble again.

"All right, let's get you to my bedroom," Blaine decided. "No wallpaper there, I promise you."

He wrapped Kurt into the comforter and carried him bridal style to his own room. Then, he went back for the tray, and managed to make Kurt swallow a fever reducer with some water before he flopped over and went right back to sleep.

Blaine took Kurt's fever, and the result made his eyebrows go up. 103 degrees!

"I need to call a doctor," Blaine said to himself. "And I need to call the dog walking agency to tell them Kurt is ill."

It was only half past five, but Blaine left a message on the dog walking agency's answering machine, and another on the answering machine of his primary care physician. He also sent an e-mail to Paula explaining that Kurt was ill and he needed to stay at home and take care of him.

He decided to take a vitamin supplement himself so as not to get sick, and to make chicken soup for Kurt and a cooked breakfast for himself while he waited until he could contact his doctor again, and go buy more medicine for Kurt.

Once the soup was simmering on the stove, he started on his breakfast. He was flipping the bacon in the pan when he felt it. That first prickle, that meant he was turning into a dog again. He cursed loudly, switched off the stove and sprinted to the bathroom to pee.

Blaine hadn't used his emergency button since Trent had left –he'd never had to – but now he pushed it with all his might, and kept pushing it every five minutes, hoping and wishing that Trent would still have the alarm app installed on his phone and notice that Blaine needed him.

It took until eight o'clock before someone came, and when they arrived, it wasn't the person Blaine was expecting.

Knock-knock-knock.

"Blaine? Blaine, are you there? Let me in, please."

Blaine recognised Paula's voice, and barked.

"Oh, Blaine! I came here as fast as I could because I knew something like this might happen. And now it already has. Can you open the door?"

Blaine spied the keys on the side table, and tried to grab them, feeling like a toddler again because everything was too high up for him and difficult to reach.

He managed to grab the keys, but upended the table in the process, and it fell on him. Ow, ow, ow!

He howled with pain, and got out from under the table as fast as he could.

"Are you okay?" Paula yelled.

Blaine gave a short bark, and then took the right key into his mouth, jumped up so that he stood on his hind legs, and tried to fit the key into the lock. It was harder than it looked, and standing on his hind legs was tiring. After a while, when he noticed the only thing he managed to do was scratch the door with the key, he whined and dropped back on all four legs.

"You can't open it?" Paula asked. "Okay, I have to go to Parson's now or I'll be late, but I'll be back after my class, and I'll bring a locksmith with me."

Blaine barked again to show that he understood.

"Will you be okay until noon?" Paula wanted to know. "I mean, food-wise, and for… other stuff."

Before Blaine could answer her, he heard someone running down the hall and stopping in front of his apartment. Keys jingled, and a moment later, the door opened. Trent had come!

Paula looked on as Trent crouched down and threw his arms around Blaine, and then she said, "Well, I guess your friend will look after you, then. Be careful hiring a dog sitter, though. If they're from the same agency and they find out Kurt is living with you, he might be out of his job soon. Have your friend call or mail me if you need me, all right? I need to run now, bye!"

Blaine's tail was wagging like crazy, and he put his front paws on Trent's shoulders, which was the closest to a hug he could get in this form.

"It's so good to see you, even as a dog," Trent sniffled. Wait, why was he crying?

"I thought…" Trent continued. "When you didn't contact me at all anymore… I thought you wanted… nothing more to do with me. And I can't blame you… after everything I said. But I missed you. I missed you so much."

Trent hiccupped and fished a hanky out of his pocket to dry his tears. He smiled and showed Blaine the monogrammed initials. "It's yours. I kept it. After… You know. It reminded me of you. I wish you could talk back. I want to know what's going through your head right now."

A loud coughing came from Blaine's bedroom, and Trent's head snapped up. "Who's that?"

Blaine tugged at his sleeve, and Trent followed him. "So you ARE living with Kurt? Wow! And he's ill? Well, that's rotten timing… Does he have medicine? Does he need tea? Or soup?"

Now Blaine tugged Trent towards the kitchen, where the soup and Blaine's breakfast were still on the stove.

"Right." Trent ducked into the pantry for the dog bowls and dog food. "I'll fill your bowls with food and water, and then I'll eat that cooked breakfast before it goes to waste. How long does this soup have to cook? An hour?"

Blaine shook his head.

"More? No? Half an hour, then?"

That was close enough, so Blaine nodded, and Trent switched the stove on. "High? All right."

Trent took the bread and the butter out of the fridge and ate. "I'm glad you had something to eat for me, I ran here as soon as I was up and dressed. You sent so many messages that I was worried sick. Your mom is going to be worried as well, hang on, I have to call her."

Blaine ate his dog food, drank some water and then lay down with a happy sigh. Trent was here. Everything was going to be all right.