David's parents came home on Saturday night.
His grandma had broken her wrist and they had picked her up from the hospital and brought her home with them for a couple of weeks. Since she was living by herself, David's grandfather had passed away two years ago, she would need some help around the house.
And since the drive to and from her house would be too long to do every day, they decided that she could just stay in the guestroom for as long as it would take her hand to heal.
This also meant that the house was crowded.
There was a needy older lady there, and an even needier younger sister – so David was itching to get back to Dalton. His mother had, of course, noticed and so she patted his shoulder and gave him a peck on the cheek when she said:
"Darling, don't worry – we won't have you around longer than absolutely necessary. You can leave tomorrow morning, bright and early. But only after you had some breakfast with us. You'll be back with your friends by 5 the latest."
David had smiled at his mother then and survived the night and even the next morning before he was speeding back to school.
He was mildly worried about Blaine the whole time he was going. He received only very sporadic text messages and his call last night hadn't been neither answered nor returned.
On his way back he talked to Wes and agreed to meet up to get some coffee along their way, since they were both somewhat close to school.
They were chatting away, walking to their rooms when Liam approached them.
"Hey, David; Wes. How's it going? Was Blaine alright last night?"
"Uh hi… What do you mean...alright? Why? What was wrong with him?"
David's worries increased tenfold and Wes beside him was looking anxious as well.
"Well, weren't you there last night? I saw him coming in and going to his room. He was in bad shape, it seemed like. Even ignored me calling his name. But I thought you were here, so I didn't stop him. Looked like he just wanted to crash."
David didn't answer and walked away. At least Wes remembered to reply and said:
"Thanks Liam. Blaine was coming down with a cold and we both had to leave for the weekend. I'm going to make sure David doesn't smother him with hugs now. I'll talk to you later."
"Ah… ok. Sorry I didn't check on him then. I really thought he was taken of. Ehm… would you mind telling him that I still have his notes and that I'll bring them over tonight if he's feeling ok."
"Sure thing, dude. And no worries." Wes answered while already trying to catch up to David, who had just disappeared behind the next corner.
He heard the other boy mumble something that sounded somewhat close to shouldn't have left… that stupid idiot… and some other remarks about Blaine's height.
They made it to the room in record time and David didn't waste any seconds, after his shouts to Blaine weren't answered, to open the door.
They expected a lot, but they surely didn't expect to see a very panicky Kurt next to a sweaty and only semi conscious Blaine, who really did not look good at all.
David was hit with stale air and the obvious lack of oxygen when he stumbled into the room.
He looked at Kurt, who looked like he was trying very hard not to cry or hyperventilate, and said:
"Kurt? What the hell is going on?"
Kurt tried to get up from Blaine's bed and then seemed to change his mind, taking one of Blaine's hands in his.
"I ….uh… I don't know. I just got here. And … he… he just… won't wake up. I don't know what's going on. He was under a lot of blankets and he's…. I mean... he's shaking. I think he has a fever."
Kurt looked back down to the smaller boy, brushing away some of his damp curls and wincing when he noticed, just how hot Blaine was.
He returned his attention to the others. Wes was making his way over to Blaine, crouching down on one knee and feeling his forehead softly, while David just looked shocked and somewhat frightened.
"He didn't reply to any of my messages and I thought it was because of yesterday. But…. He seemed just fine to me. He was all smiles and stuff."
That seemed to break David out of his trance.
"What do you mean, yesterday? Did you come back from Lima?"
"Eh… no… I asked Blaine to help me find some costume ideas. He came to the mall."
"What?" David was getting louder now, while Wes was still trying to coax Blaine out of his sleep.
"You're saying you spent the day in the mall…with Blaine? All day?"
Kurt only nodded; he didn't seem to understand.
"You have got to be kidding me! Kurt, didn't you get anything we were telling you? How could you be so stupid?"
Kurt didn't have a clue what was going on, or why he was being yelled at but he certainly wouldn't just take someone shouting at him – not if he could help it.
"David, what are you even talking about? It's not like I forced him to go shopping. He could have said no if he wasn't feeling well."
They were both fuming by now so Wes interrupted:
"Guys, I really don't think this is the place to do this. Take it outside. Blaine doesn't need to worry about you killing each other in his room. Go… speak outside and I'll see what I can do here."
His hand never left Blaine's arm and he only spared the others a second of his attention before turning back to the other boy, mumbling sweet, calming nothings.
But David shook his head:
"No, we can do that later. We have to take of him first."
"Well, that's what I'm trying to do. But it's not going to help when you two can't even look at each other. David, Kurt doesn't know what you're talking about, so take him outside and explain. And I expect to see both of you getting along when you come back. Stop being ridiculous, we obviously have more important things to worry about."
Wes answered quickly which in turn had Kurt and David stomping outside and the latter was trying to calm himself enough to not continue yelling. Apparently Kurt did the same:
"David, I'm sorry, but I really don't know why you're getting so angry at me. And I'm worried about Blaine… so if we could keep this brief…"
David replied softly:
"Ok… we …. Kurt, we really like you. But sometimes you really are an inconsiderate ass."
When Kurt looked like he wanted to cut in, David continued:
"No, let me finish. I should have told you all of this way earlier and now you're just going to have to listen. I know you care about Blaine and I know how much he cares about you. I also know that you haven't had it easy at your old school and that coming to Dalton was hard for you. Blaine took care of you as he takes care of everybody. He puts the needs of others before his own. He always does that. And maybe you couldn't have known… but I thought you knew….I think…. We told you. Maybe not in so many words, but I thought you understood."
Kurt visibly gulped at that and still wasn't entirely sure where this was going.
"Kurt… Blaine…- he stresses. Ok? He can't deal with stress. Not when it's so much that he has to ask for help. It crushes him sometimes. It's the same every fucking year. But it's different as well. Sometimes he just forgets to eat, or he doesn't sleep…sometimes he won't talk. But there is always some sort of destructive coping mechanism.
We always try to catch it on time, but we've never made it so far. When you came along… he… he was happy. You make him happy Kurt. But he also worries so much about you. About what you think of him. About you not having even more burdens to carry with you.
He doesn't like to feel like people have to take care of him. So we just make him take care of himself. It took us a long time to make him do what we say…. But he does now.
Kurt….I'm gonna say this again, because I don't want you to get me wrong.
We love you and we love having you here….but … you need to be more considerate. I know you've been all over the place with your play and Warblers and solos and all that…but you need to look around every once in awhile.
You knew that Blaine wasn't 100%... you knew it, because we told you. We don't lock him up for no reason. There's no way you couldn't have seen that he was getting a cold. Right?"
Kurt didn't know what to say. This was all so much. Had he really been this blind? This self absorbed? Has this been going on for long?
He knew that lying was the worst thing he could possibly do right now, so he just nodded.
"And still you ask him to drive out to Lima to spend the whole day at the mall? Didn't you think for one second, that that could be bad idea?"
"I…uh… yeah. He… was dizzy. I wanted to make him stay at my place. But he…. He insisted on going back. I am sooo sorry David! I can't believe I was such a horrible friend. I just really enjoyed spending time with him and…. I …. You're right, I was thinking about my play and my feelings… and myself…. I am so sorry. I really didn't mean to."
Kurt started to openly cry now and David heaved a sigh. He didn't want to crush the kid, but he had to hear it from someone. Especially after what happened to Blaine.
"It's alright Kurt. I know you care and I know you care about Blaine.
I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner. We just thought that Blaine doesn't like people to know… but you're more than just any random person to him, so I should have told you. He's just…. He's really bad about taking care of himself.
His past… it isn't entirely nice and some people made him think badly about himself. Wes and I and the Warblers have been pretty good about kicking that out of his system… but he just can't deal under pressure. "
"Well… now that I know – maybe I can help you. Maybe I can help him. I mean two extra eyes might do the trick."
"Yeah… that would be nice. He listens to you, you know."
Kurt smiled at that and David added:
"Let's get back… maybe Wes got him to wake up and we can bring him to a doctor."