Disclaimer: I do not own Glee

Chapter 2

Kurt hated waking up to a coughing fit.

They happened all of the time, but it made him so much more tired throughout the day, and he couldn't afford to be tired today. It was Friday, and he wasn't excited in the way Rebecca Black was when she wrote her awful song, but he was actually looking forward to this day, and he didn't remember the last time he was excited to wake up.

He sat up slowly, then allowed the smile to fully appear. He felt like a little kid who was going to a theme park for the first time in his life; he was so excited. A day out...

Of course, his dad had told him to keep his cell phone on him at all times, and if he got too dizzy or tired to call him and he'd come pick him up; they'd pick Kurt's car up some other time. He'd made the promise quickly, way too excited to think about them fully.

Yawning and stretching, Kurt leaned over and grabbed his phone to check the time.

6:24. So he had plenty of time to get ready, and also stop by McKinley to pick up some homework from his English class.

He looked in his notifications and noticed he had a text from Blaine.

Happy morning! Happy morning! Wake up, you sleepy head! You can sleep...well, later, you can sleep later. I'll see you soon! - Blaine

Smiling, Kurt replied with a 'good morning to you too Mr. Sunshine' before shaking his head and laughing. He and Blaine had been texting non stop since they'd gotten each others numbers and while Kurt could say that even though it had only been two days, he felt like he knew Blaine Anderson really well. What scared him was the fact that he'd gotten to know him over text. Seeing him in person was a completely different matter.

Would Blaine like him once he got to spend more than a few minutes with him in person? Would they click like they had over text?

Shaking his head, he decided not to think about it. He placed his legs on the side of his bed and stood up, stretching once more before picking his robe up, wrapping it around him and heading upstairs.

His dad was already in the kitchen, eating his normal breakfast that made Kurt want to gag. When he entered, Burt looked up and smiled. "Morning, kiddo. What's the plan for today?"

Kurt opened the fridge and pulled out the orange juice carton. "I'm meeting him at the cemetery, then taking him to Katie's Cafe, and then we'll go from there."

"Okay, just keep me updated on this, okay? I want to know where you are if anything happens."

If Kurt had been a normal teenager without a failing heart, he would have been angry that he had to update his dad on his location, but he smiled instead and nodded. "I will. Oh, I'm going to pick up the English homework I would have been missing if I had gone on that field trip as well. Might as well get a head start on it, right?"

Burt finished his breakfast and stood up. "I'm heading off to the garage, and I'm going to be working late tonight, so don't wait up for me." He drew off. "Think you'll be tired tonight?"

Kurt let out a sigh. "It's inevitable, actually. I've never had an entire day out since this happened, so it'll be hard, but I think it'll be worth it."

Burt smiled at him with soft eyes. "I'm proud of you, Kurt."

Kurt looked up quickly before he walked over and hugged his dad tightly. "I love you, Dad."

His dad was everything to him. He'd been there for him when he was first diagnosed, and there when they'd had their first scare. He'd gone with Kurt to every single doctors appointment, and had stayed the night at the hospital when the tests took longer than planned.

He was Kurt's lifeline.

His dad hugged back just as tight and placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head. "I love you too, bud."

Kurt wasn't sure or not if he actually heard his dad sniff as he pulled away, but he didn't look up to check. "I'm going to go get ready for the day."

"I'm heading to the garage. Call me later?"

"Of course."

[*]*[*]

McKinley was very different when the halls were empty.

All Kurt could hear was the tapping of his feet on the floor, and the consistent beating of his heart. He'd been in empty hallways before, but for some odd reason, everything seemed louder and slower, and he felt as though he'd been walking forever but not getting anywhere.

Goddammit, he was already tired.

It was only eight thirty in the morning. He shouldn't be this tired! Kurt shook his head and looked at the door in front of him before knocking. He waited a few seconds before opening the door and stepping inside slightly.

The class was quiet, with the students taking either a test or a pop quiz, but his teacher wasn't in the room. A black girl, who he recognized as a member of the Glee club, was sitting closest to the door, so he walked over to her and whispered, "Excuse me, but do you know where Mrs. Larson is?"

She glanced up at him, then replied, "She had to run out to make some copies of the assignment."

"Oh, so it's a handout today? Do you know when she'll be back? I need to leave soon, and I was hoping to get the assignment."

The girl frowned for a second, before she reached into her bag and pulled out a few papers. "Here, you can take mine; I'll get a new one when she gets back."

"Thank you," he said, taking the paper. "I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"Mercedes."

He smiled at her. "I'm Kurt. I just wanted to let you know that your performance the other day was really good. I hope you guys get to go to New York."

With that, he turned and slipped out of the room and began heading towards the entrance. He was halfway there when he found himself being shoved against a row of lockers. He gasped, stunned, and turned his head to the right to see the big form of Karofsky walking away. Kurt blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of the shock that came from the fact that he'd just been shoved into a row of lockers.

And it had hurt too.

Rolling his shoulders, he straightened up and headed out of the building.

His shoulders were still sore when he pulled up to the cemetery an hour later, but he ignored it and got out of his car. He pulled out his phone and dialed Blaine's number.

"Hey, I'm here."

"Hey, I'll be there in a minute. I... I kind of got lost."

Kurt tried not to smile.

He failed at not trying.

"You got lost..."

"Well, more like I got distracted by the amazing types of cows you have here. No, actually, I had to get the oil changed at a garage, but my dad only let's us go to one type of garage, so I had to drive around for a while to find it. But I'll be at the cemetery-"

There was a honk behind him, and Kurt turned around to see a mustang rolling up to park beside his car.

"- right now."

The car parked next to his stopped and the engine shut off; Blaine opened the door and stood up, calling, "Hey, Kurt. Sorry I'm late."

Kurt shook his head and greeted him with a smile. "No, it's okay. Do you want to head out?"

Blaine nodded, then glanced at their cars. "Do you want to drive, or do you want me to?"

Kurt held out a hand to his car. "Why don't you get in? I know where we're going so..."

"Sounds good."

They got into Kurt's car, and he pulled out then headed for the cafe.

He didn't really know what to do in this situation. He'd never been in it before. He'd never had someone who wasn't his family member in his car, and it was weird. Did he talk first, or did he wait for Blaine to start up a conversation? He bit his lip and he begged the light he was stopped at to turn green. Finally getting worked up because of the silence, he opened his mouth-

"So, where do you go to school?"

Kurt looked over at Blaine through the side of his eye; Blaine was leaning slightly on the door, with his elbow propped up, and he was turned slightly so he could see Kurt, his eyes looking straight at him.

"Oh... I got to McKinley High."

Blaine's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "That's where the New Directions Glee club is, right?"

Kurt nodded; the light turned green and he pressed on the gas. "Yeah, that's the name of the club. I kind of wish I was in it."

Blaine seemed to perk up a little. "Oh, you sing?"

Kurt shrugged. "A little," he said stiffly. "Not much though. I don't think I'm that good..."

Blaine let out a little chuckle. "Oh, don't say that. I doubt you're bad."

Kurt cleared his throat. "So, do you sing?"

Blaine laughed. "Yeah, I'm in the Dalton glee club. They're called the Warblers."

"Like the bird?"

"Uh-huh."

"Huh..."

And then he had ran out of things to talk about. God, why was he such an socially awkward person? And, before he knew it, he'd blurted out: "So, have a girlfriend?"

Blaine sat up straight suddenly. "Why do you ask?"

Oh no... He'd said something wrong. Oh, this was not good, not good at all. He curled his shoulders in slightly, making himself look smaller than he was. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked that; just forget about it."

"No, no, it's okay! I was just wondering why you asked is all."

Kurt still kept his shoulders hunched in. "I-I just was wondering if you had a girlfriend, because it seemed really odd that you'd ask a complete stranger to show you around Lima... because, if you had a girlfriend, she would have been the better candidate..."

He wasn't making sense, and why did he have to be such a blabber mouth?

This was one of the things he hated about himself. Sure, he was gay, he could deal with that; in fact, he didn't mind that he was gay, but – He didn't have friends, and he didn't know how to act around them. And this guy was fucking hot, and he was just making a huge fool of himself.

"No, I don't have a girlfriend. Aren't my type, you know?"

Oh.

Oh.

Oh my fucking god...

Kurt let a small smile slip onto his lips. "Oh...yeah, I know what you mean..."

And had he just told Blaine that he was gay too?

Wow, he was just on a roll with the whole awkwardness thing today.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Kurt flushed. "Um...no."

"Ah, me neither."

"Oh..."

What was he supposed to say to that?

He pulled into the cafe parking lot and stopped the car, but didn't bother to open the door. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "This was a really awkward way to begin the day, huh?"

Blaine suddenly let out a long laugh that had Kurt staring at him in shock. "It was, but hey! We got a lot of awkward things out it it: we're both gay and single! I wonder what other awkward things will come out of today?"

Kurt laughed, then got out of his car. "Hungry?"

"You bet."

The cafe wasn't as crowded as it normally was, but to be honest, Kurt was rather glad about that. He was already feeling tired, and it was still early in the morning; he felt like his legs were coated in cement, and that he had to wind himself up just to keep looking happy – even if Blaine was totally cute and fun to talk to, it was taking a lot out of Kurt just to keep up with him.

"Uh, they have you sit yourself, and then they'll send someone over to us, so... Do you want a table or a booth?"

Blaine let his eyebrows furrow as he thought. "I think a booth. They're more comfortable."

"I'd have to agree, and these seats are really nice as well, for a small cafe."

Blaine ended up picking a booth in the corner, away from the majority of the people in the cafe. Kurt settled in on one side and watched as Blaine slid in easily to the other and pulled out a menu. "Hmm... do you have any recommendations?"

Kurt picked up his own menu. "Well, it really depends on what you're looking for and what type of food you want for breakfast."

"I feel like totally being a kid at the moment and having something with either pancakes or waffles."

Kurt flipped the menu over a page and then reached over and did the same with Blaine's. He pointed to an item near the bottom right and said, "I think this one is the best in terms of taste, actually. I think you'd like it."

Blaine stared at it before he nodded his head and closed the menu. "Okay, I'll get that."

Thirty minutes later found them sitting and laughing together as they ate, discussing Broadway musicals and the latest fashion designs that had come out. Kurt had long since finished his meal and had placed his empty plate to the side. "So, your favorite musical is..."

"Hands down Avenue Q."

"Oh, really? I've never seen it performed anywhere, but I've heard the music. Let me just tell you, I can't listen to any music that resembles Sesame Street without laughing now."

Blaine took his napkin and wiped off his lips. "Oh, I know. I sing it all of the time, and it drives my parents crazy. They yell and tell me that I'm ruining parts of my little brother's childhood or...whatever it is that they say. It's usually something along those lines."

Kurt hummed. "So you have siblings?"

"Yeah, an older brother, and twin younger siblings. A boy and a girl, and they can be the most annoying little things at times, but they're a lot of fun." His face went serious; Kurt noticed how his eyebrows became even more rectangular when he was serious and had to restrain himself from laughing. "They also teach how to have a lot of patience too."

"How old are they?"

"My older brother, Wendell-"

Kurt raised an eyebrow and Blaine pointed a finger at him. "Don't judge."

"I'm totally not judging."

He was.

"Well, Wendell is in his third year of law school; he's planning on taking over the family law firm for my dad. Katie and James are five."

Blaine picked up his knife and fork and set them down on his plate, then pushed it aside. "Do you have any siblings?"

Kurt shook his head, suddenly wondering what it would be like to have siblings. Would it be fun? Or would he be constantly irritated by them? "No, I'm an only child."

Blaine leaned his chin against his palm. "Lucky..."

"Oh, I'm not sure..."

Kurt moved to the right a bit, so that he could lean up against the wall and not have to keep himself up. "So your dad is a lawyer? That must be a blast."

Blaine shook his head. "It's not, trust me. Everyone wants me to go to law school like my brother and then help out with the firm. It's a family firm: Anderson Law, and it's just something that I don't want to do."

Kurt nodded. "I totally understand. My dad owns a garage, and even though I love to help him fix cars when I can, I don't want to take it over."

He didn't say that he loved to help out when he was strong enough to work on them, because, even though he and Blaine got along really well (they had clicked together, and, if he was honest, it kind of scared him how well they got along after only knowing each other for two days), he didn't think he wanted for Blaine to know about his health issues.

"What do you want to do with your life?" Blaine asked, leaning back against the booth. "That is, if you don't mind my asking?"

Kurt shrugged and opened his mouth, then promptly shut it again. Did he know what he wanted to do with his life?

Underneath the table, his hands decided to twitch, and he laced them together and gripped them tightly, then bit his lip as he thought. He- he hadn't really thought about it before, actually. He didn't exactly know how much longer he had to live, and he knew that he couldn't travel far in case something happened and he wasn't able to reach his doctor but-

"I don't know, to be honest. I have goals, yes, like going to see a Broadway performance, I've got this cheesy dream of having a romantic dance underneath the rain, and I really want to see the ocean but other than that... I don't really have a plan for my life."

Blaine, he noticed, was watching him intently, his head cocked slightly to the side and his mouth open a little. "No," he finally said. "I totally get it. I don't really know what I want to do either, but at the moment, I don't really care. I'm just enjoying life, right?"

"...right."

Kurt cleared his throat, trying to think of something else to talk about. "What time did you say you had to pick up your dad?"

Blaine glanced down at his watch. "At one, so in about three or so hours."

Kurt pulled out a twenty dollar bill and placed it on the table. "Well, then lets get started on the wonderful Hummel Lima Tour, Guaranteed to make you bored, really fast."

Blaine let a laugh ring out, then stopped once he noticed the twenty on the table. "You are not paying for this."

Kurt was already halfway out of his seat. "Why not?"

Blaine pulled out his own wallet, picked up Kurt's twenty and placed his own down in his place. "Because," he said, holding the twenty out for Kurt to take. "I am the one who asked you to show me around, so I'm going to be the one paying."

The way he said it made no room for arguments. Reluctantly, Kurt took back his twenty. "Are you sure you don't want to go into law? You have an amazing lawyers voice."

Blaine shrugged and stood up. "Got it from my dad."

"Well," Kurt said as they made their way out to his car. "He taught you very well."

After much debate, Blaine eventually picked the park with the small pond and the ducks to visit. They stopped by the bread store and bought a loaf (Blaine insisted on paying – again), then the next thing Kurt knew, they were sitting on a bench by the water, idly tossing bread crumbs to the ducks and watching the ducks fighting over what they'd tossed.

"I like ducks," Blaine said randomly, tossing another bit of bread at the nearest duck; it hit the duck on it's head and bounced off. The duck looked up at the sky, as if wondering where the bread had come from, then leaned down and quickly snatched it up. Kurt had to laugh.

"I can see why. They are kind of entertaining."

"That they are," Blaine said, tossing another crumb.

Sighing, Kurt leaned his head back against the bench top, closing his eyes and letting the wind blow over his face and through his hair. Kurt could honestly say that he didn't remember a time when he was this relaxed since he'd learned about his heart.

The feeling was amazing.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt Blaine grab his hand and pull him up from the bench slowly. "Blaine, what are you doing?"

Blaine smirked at him, then began to lead him down to the pond. "I have a sudden feeling to act like a five year old, and so that's what I'm going to do," he said.

When they arrived at the edge of the pond, Blaine slipped off his shoes and stepped into the water. Kurt stared at him and rolled his eyes. "Wow, Blaine. Your inner child comes out a lo-"

He was cut off as water suddenly hit his face. He gasped in shock and stumbled back a step. "What was that?"

When he opened his eyes, Blaine had an adorable puppy look on his face. "Come play with me?"

He held out his hand.

Kurt just stared at it, thinking. He'd never done this before. Would it get his blood pressure and heart rate up too high? Would he get dizzy quickly? Would he black out? Would he...enjoy it? He glanced back up at Blaine's face, which was hopeful, then back down to his outstretched hand.

In that split second, Kurt decided that he wanted to have fun, his heart issues be damned.

He slipped his own shoes off, then reached out his own hand and grasped Blaine's and allowed himself to be pulled into the water.

For the next fifteen minutes, as he was splashed and drenched, Kurt felt like a regular teenager for the first time in two years. He didn't worry about his heart rate, or his blood pressure, or any of that. He was having fun, and as he laughed and let Blaine pull him into a hug, he couldn't have been more grateful for those fifteen minutes.

Still laughing, Kurt pulled away from the hug and glanced over to where the bench they'd been sitting on was. He giggled at the site he was given. "Look," he said, pointing.

The ducks were sitting on the bench with the bread loaf, staring at them.

"They're judging us, Kurt," Blaine whispered in his ear, and Kurt giggled again.

Then he shivered.

"Cold?" Blaine said, while taking his jacket off and slipping it on Kurt's shoulders.

"Thanks," he muttered, slightly confused but grateful nonetheless. Now that the fun had worn off, he could feel how tired he was, and he shuddered thinking about how much longer the entire day was. He wanted to spend more time doing fun things with Blaine. Stupid faulty heart...

Two hours later found Kurt waving goodbye to Blaine at the cemetery and two hours and fifteen minutes later found him laying on the couch, exhausted but happy. Throughout the day, he'd felt himself getting more tired, it getting hard to breathe, but he wanted to be with Blaine and have fun, so he pushed through it. It left him panting by the time he got home, but it had been so worth it. Not necessarily hungry, he grabbed the blanket laying on the back of the couch, draped it over him and turned on the TV. He never managed to actually fall asleep, but he was able to drift in and out until he heard the door open and his dad walk in.

"Hey," his dad said in a whisper. "Tired?"

Kurt sat up slowly and nodded. "Very." Then he looked at his clock to check the time. "You're home later than you had planned."

Burt sat down next to him on the couch and removed his hat. "I ended up talking to someone at the garage longer than I thought." He then turned a stern gaze on Kurt. "You never told me where you were."

Kurt's eyes widened and he bit his lip. "I'm sorry! I was just having fun and-"

Burt let out a laugh. "It's okay, kiddo. You had fun, and nothing bad happened so it's all okay." Then he frowned. "You did have fun, right?"

Kurt smiled up at him, then laid back down. "Best day of my life so far."

"That's good. So, your doctor called me today, and they've scheduled an MRI next Monday to see how things are going. Do you want to stay home from school the entire day, or do you want to go and then I'll just check you out when you need to be there?"

"I'd like to go. I need to turn in my English assignment anyway so why not?"

"Sounds good. You can go back to sleep. I'll wake you up when dinner is finished."

Nodding, Kurt let his head hit the pillow, and he closed his eyes, dreaming about ducks, ponds, and pancakes.

On Monday, his English professor decided on having the class do a joint project that would be worth a quarter of their grade. He had ended up walking in late, due to not sleeping well because of not being able to breathe well, and after being told what the project was, found himself being partnered with Mercedes, the girl who'd given him his assignment the previous Friday.

"Hello," he said, greeting her with a small smile.

She stared at him, then, nodded at his attire. "I love the shirt. Marc Jacobs, right?"

Kurt grinned, knowing that they'd get along just fine.

These few days were turning out to be the best he'd ever had.

Author's notes: So, just so people know, I'll be updating weekly. And:

HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS THEY LOVE EACH OTHER. Well, we all knew that but... Still.

Let me know what you guys thought of this chapter, please!

*scampers off to watch the I love you clip forever*

Lots of love,

UO