Trigger warning for cancer, folks. No character death, though! Prompt word: fall.
When Blaine pulled the comb away from his scalp, the teeth were full of black tangles and there was a bald patch on the side of his head.
He bit his lip to the point of bleeding before doggedly pulling the comb through his hair again, thinking Well, I knew it had to happen eventually.
He kept combing and combing, wondering why his vision seemed to be blurring until he saw a figure that must have been Kurt enter the bathroom.
"B? Oh no," Kurt said.
"Could you go get the clippers, please, babe?" Blaine asked, trying to keep his voice steady. "I don't want any uneven spots."
"Of course." Kurt walked rapidly out of the room and returned after a moment brandishing their electric razor. "Do you want to do it yourself?"
"I'd probably just nick myself, and I cannot be both bald and maimed," Blaine said, letting out a weak, watery chuckle. "Can you do it, please?"
Kurt just nodded, taking a seat on the lip of the bathtub and motioning for Blaine to sit in front of him. Once Blaine was in place, he held himself as still as possible as Kurt started shaving his head, hoping the hitches in both of their breathing wouldn't affect Kurt's rhythm too much.
After a few long minutes, the buzz of the clippers faded and Kurt spoke up. "Somehow you're still the most handsome man I've ever met. I'm kind of jealous, honestly."
Blaine couldn't speak, choosing instead to turn around and bury his face in Kurt's shoulder as he cried.
"We're gonna get through this, Blaine. Leukemia's easily treatable, especially since they caught it so early. Everything's gonna be fine, I promise. I swear." Kurt rocked them back and forth on the edge of the tub, tears obvious on the sensitive, unprotected skin of Blaine's scalp.
"It just feels so real now," Blaine managed to say. "I knew hair loss was a side effect of chemo, but I was still kind of hoping it wouldn't happen, and now I'm just gonna be reminded that I have cancer now every time I look in the mirror."
After a brief pause, Kurt spoke up again. "What if I shave my head, too?"
"What?" Blaine asked, stunned into stupidity. "Kurt, no, you can't-"
"If we're both bald, we can just pretend it's the latest trend in men's hairstyles," Kurt said, voice strong. "I mean, yes, we'll know the real reason behind it, but I can't make myself go through my hairstyling routine everyday without you there gelling your curls into submission next to me, B. I can't."
"But-"
"I'm doing it, Blaine. We're a team, remember? If you're going bald, I'm going bald."
"I don't think that's the quote," Blaine said, feeling a small but genuine smile creep onto his face.
"Are you really going to quibble with me right now?" Kurt teased, a matching grin on his own face.
"I love you so much," Blaine said, putting as much force and sincerity behind those five words as he could.
"I love you too, B. I'm never going to let you suffer alone if I can help it." With that, Kurt turned the clippers back on and started shaving his own head, allowing Blaine to help him even out the back when his arms couldn't bend right.
The photo they took of themselves sporting shiny scalps and ridiculous grins afterwards took pride of place on their mantel for years to come, even as their hair grew back and Blaine's leukemia became nothing but a memory.