Wow, this is an amazing episode. One of my favorites of the season, for sure. And lots and lots of stuff with Blaine and Kurt! Which, for our purposes here, is really the most important thing.
A quick heads-up before we start. In my mind, Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' is a fantasy of Blaine's, so it won't be included as an actual performance in this chapter... but hey, that explains Kurt in the leather jumpsuit, right? ;) Oh, Blaine.
Aaaand, finally, I am absolutely not a doctor, so I tried to gloss over the details of what exactly is wrong with Blaine's eye. Just pretend that it makes sense, okay? Thanks.
(I do not own Glee or any of the characters, dialogue, or songs from the show. It's all just for fun!)
BLAINE
"Admit it, wonder twins," Santana said to Kurt and Blaine as they walked down the stairs after school, "the only reason why the New Directions beat the Troubletones at Sectionals is because that pervy clown judge was freakin' high as a kite."
Blaine rolled his eyes.
"And we did Michael Jackson," Kurt added. "You guys didn't. But that was, like, weeks ago. Why are you still obsessing?"
Thank you, Kurt, Blaine thought.
"One word, Kurt," Mercedes explained. "Michael."
"Guys, fear not," Blaine said. "The world tour of the Cirque de Soleil tribute show, Immortal, to Michael Jackson is coming to Columbus in June. We should all go!"
He stopped walking and turned to face the group.
"You don't get it," Mercedes said, pointing a teasing finger into Blaine's chest. "I don't want to see the spectacle that is Michael. I want to be the spectacle."
"Hey guys, everything okay?" Mr. Schu asked as he passed by.
"Look," Mercedes explained. "We love being back in New Directions, but we hate that we missed our one chance this year to do Michael."
"Yeah, I get it," Mr. Schu replied. "You know, I've been thinking a lot about Regionals... and maybe we can do Michael again."
"Well I, for one, know exactly what song we should start Michael week with," Blaine said.
"We already did Thriller," Mercedes commented.
Blaine rolled his eyes. "I know," he said. "I was there. No, I'm thinking... Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," he clarified.
"With you in the lead, I'm guessing," Santana guessed.
"Obviously," Blaine scoffed.
Kurt reached up to scratch his face in an obvious attempt to hide a smile.
"And we could all wear different iconic Michael Jackson outfits," Blaine mused. "It would be amazing."
He could see the whole thing in his head, and he hoped they could make it as amazing as he imagined that it could be.
"We have a wall of lights," Kurt suggested.
"Yeah..." Blaine said, lost in thought about the potential performance.
"Well, don't get too carried away just yet," Mercedes said, patting Blaine's shoulder. "We've got to convince the others first."
KURT
"I'm definitely getting a solo for Regionals," Artie said the following afternoon after school as he, Blaine, Kurt, Rachel, and Santana hung out in the Lima Bean. "MJ is mine, and I will not be sharing this time."
Everyone laughed.
"Okay, favorite Michael Jackson memory... go!" Blaine said.
"When I was one, my mom showed me the VHS tape of his Motown special," Artie said. "And when he did the moonwalk across the stage for the first time in history I uttered my first words. 'Hot damn'."
"I owe the King of Pop a deep debt of gratitude," Kurt chimed in. "He's the first one to pull off the sequined military jacket, long before one Kurt Hummel made it iconic."
"I have to be honest," Rachel said, "I never really got him."
Everyone turned to look at her in disbelief.
"And we are no longer on speaking terms," Artie scolded.
"No, I think he's an amazing performer," Rachel clarified, "but I never really just... got what he was about."
"Rachel, he was best friends with Liza Minnelli and Liz Taylor," Kurt reminded her.
"All I'm saying is that I– I just, I haven't connected with him the way I have with the likes of Barbara or either of the Stephens," Rachel backtracked.
"Sondheim, Schwartz," Rachel clarified.
"I'd throw this mocha in your face, but it's not nearly scalding enough," Santana said.
"Okay, well just... since you guys are so jazzed about him, I think it's a good idea for Regionals," Rachel gave in.
"That might not be the best idea," Sebastian interjected, walking up behind Artie. "Hey Blaine, hello everyone else."
"Does he live here or something?" Kurt asked. "Seriously, you are always here."
Sebastian ignored him.
"Why don't you think that's a good idea?" Artie asked, and Kurt wished he had laid some ground rules with every member of New Directions that included "rule number one: no talking to Sebastian Smythe".
"Because we're doing MJ for Regionals," Sebastian explained. "You see, Warblers drew first position. So, as soon as I heard what your plan was, I changed our set list accordingly."
Kurt was immediately on guard. Did Sebastian have a spy at McKinley? Maybe he was paying off one of the band members...
"I'm sorry," Rachel said, "how did you hear?"
"Blaine told me this morning," Sebastian said, glancing Blaine's way. "I just called for a tip on how to get red wine out of my blazer piping and he would not stop going on about it."
All eyes were suddenly on Blaine, and he looked like he wanted to sink into his chair and die.
"I may have mentioned it," Blaine admitted.
"How often do you talk?" Kurt asked critically.
"Oh my god!" Sebastian exclaimed, "Hey Kurt! I didn't recognize you... you are wearing boy clothes for once!"
"Alright, twink," Santana snapped, jumping to her feet. "I think it's time that I show you a little Lima Heights hospitality."
Kurt was vaguely aware that Rachel was speaking to him, something about their inability to steer clear of show choir terrorists, but he tuned her out. He needed to hear what Sebastian was saying.
"Unless you want to join your relatives in prison, that's probably not the best idea," Sebastian countered. "You see, my dad is sort of what you'd call a State's Attorney. But if you had a piñata you wanted delivered, I bet he could make sure that got to them."
Santana had nothing else to say.
"Alright," Sebastian continued, "so here's what you guys should know. I am captain of the Warblers now, and I'm tired of playing nice."
"You've never played nice," Kurt snapped.
As usual, Sebastian ignored him.
"You cannot just steal our theme!" Rachel said sharply. "We've already got ideas and plans for our set list!"
"Well that's quaint," Sebastian spoke down to her. "We, on the other hand, already have one of our numbers completely prepared."
"Oh please," Santana said. "You're just saying that to scare us."
Sebastian shrugged. "Why don't you come down to Dalton and see for yourself?"
The group was silent, and Kurt didn't dare look at Blaine. Instead, he kept his eyes on Sebastian as the tall Warbler looked at Blaine.
"What do you say, Blaine?" Sebastian asked. "For old times' sake?"
KURT
As Kurt stepped out of the car in the parking lot at Dalton, an unanticipated rush of nostalgia settled into his chest. He felt Blaine's brief touch on his back as they headed toward the building where the Warblers always practiced, and he knew Blaine was also thinking about their time here together. It felt good to have Blaine by his side as they walked down the beautiful hallways to where the Warblers were waiting.
"Hey, man!" Sebastian greeted Blaine and ignored the others as they walked into the room where the Warblers were warming up. "Have a seat... you're right on time."
As if that was their cue, the Warblers began a familiar Jackson 5 song, and Kurt hopped onto the arm of one of the couches – near where Blaine decided to stand – to watch.
"When I had you to myself I didn't want you around. Those pretty faces always make you stand out in a crowd. Someone picked you from the bunch. One glance is all it took. And now it's much too late for me to take a second look..."
Despite his best efforts to remain completely cynical, Kurt found himself enjoying the performance. He had never thought that he missed Dalton, especially now that Blaine was at McKinley. But, as he watched the Warblers do their thing in the familiar room, he realized that maybe he did miss it. A little.
It wasn't until the second chorus that Kurt realized what this was actually all about. It wasn't about just showing off, although that was part of it. It was about reminding Blaine of what he had left behind. What he was missing.
"...I want you back."
As the song ended, Sebastian looked to Blaine.
"That was great, guys," Blaine said kindly.
"Whose side are you on?" Artie snapped from across the room.
Blaine turned to look at him, but Sebastian spoke before Blaine could.
"Blaine was a Warbler," Sebastian said calmly.
"Well he's not now," Kurt snapped. "And you can't have him back."
"And he's clearly irreplaceable," Artie insulted, "because you suck without him."
Kurt would've laughed, but he was too annoyed.
The Warblers were silent.
"And whose fault is it that we lost the irreplaceable Blaine Anderson?" Sebastian asked, moving to stand directly in front of Kurt. Kurt bristled and stood up, but resisted the urge to snap back at him.
"Just stop," Blaine stepped between them with a wave of his arms. "I made the decision."
Sebastian stepped forward so that he and Blaine were almost chest-to-chest, and Blaine stepped back until he ran into Kurt and had to stop. Kurt glared at Sebastian over Blaine's shoulder.
"And why," Sebastian asked darkly, "did you choose to abandon your team and a high quality education?"
"You don't know what you're talking about," Jeff said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him, and he looked like he regretted his words as Sebastian's eyes fell on him.
"Oh really?" Sebastian smirked, stepping away from Blaine so he could position himself better in front of the Warblers in the room. He focused on Jeff. "You mean I don't know that you almost made it to Nationals last year with Blaine as your lead? Or that you were among the very top contenders to go to – and maybe even win – Nationals this year until Blaine decided to take his talents elsewhere? Or do you mean that I don't know that he was emotionally beaten down all summer by his precious boyfriend –" he motioned in Kurt's direction, "who, by the way, was also a Warbler for about five minutes before deciding that he was too good for all of you – until Blaine was convinced to abandon you to go tend to Kurt's every whim."
"That is not –" Blaine started.
Sebastian turned on him, and Blaine stuttered into silence at the intensity of his glare. Kurt was not so affected.
"If you think for one second that you know what's in Blaine's mind," Kurt said, placing a gentle hand on Blaine's arm from behind so the other boy would stay where he was, "you need to think again."
"And you think you do?" Sebastian retorted.
"Certainly not," Kurt said coolly. "But I'm not the one making a scene right now."
"Guys, come on," Blaine interjected, pulling out of Kurt's grip to step forward into the center of the room. "Enough."
"I don't know," Santana said. "I'm enjoying watching Kurt bitchslap this boy into his place."
Sebastian turned to look at her for a moment, but Blaine was ready to leave.
"See you at Regionals," Blaine ended the conversation, and Kurt felt a smug sense of satisfaction as Blaine grabbed his hand to lead him out of the room.
BLAINE
"There has to be some kind of show choir competition committee we can complain to," Tina whined as they walked into glee club the next afternoon.
"I know, it sucks, guys," Blaine countered. "But it's not the end of the world. Heck, you had your set list stolen the day of the competition at Sectionals and you pulled that one off, right?"
"Well they can have our Journey and our Dreamgirls," Artie said, "but pilfering my Michael? Uh-uh, that's another level. Not okay."
"I'm not exactly comfortable having this conversation with Blaine in the room," Puck said. "Clearly 'once a Warbler, always a Warbler'."
"Uh, what?" Blaine asked, twisting around in his chair to look at Puck.
"Dude, you told them what we were gonna do," Puck accused. "You're like a modern-day Eggs Benedict. He's on notice as far as I'm concerned," Puck said to the group.
Blaine turned back around and crossed his arms unhappily. He knew he shouldn't have told Sebastian about their set list, but he was annoyed that some of his new teammates seemed to think there was a chance that he had done it on purpose to hurt New Directions.
"We should all be on notice," Finn came to Blaine's defense. "I mean, next to Vocal Adrenaline, the Warblers are the best glee club in the state. And for a lot of us this is our last shot at a championship, so... we should stop complaining about the Warblers and figure out how to beat them."
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Finn," Mr. Schu said as he entered the room. "I'm less worried about our set list right now and more interested in getting in the right mindset to crush those guys. Which is why our lesson for the week is... 'What would Michael Jackson do?'."
"He'd fight back," Finn said. "He'd say 'Regionals is ours. MJ is ours. And if they want it, they can prey it from our sequined, gloved hand.'"
"Straight up," Artie approved. "In 1983, MTV said they wouldn't air his Billie Jean video. What'd he do? He fought back. They aired it, and the Thriller album sold an additional ten million copies."
"That's right," Mr. Schu said.
"I know what Michael would do," Blaine offered as an idea suddenly flashed into his mind. "I think he would take it to the streets."
The other students seemed to like that idea, but they all had enough sense to pretend to be only mildly interested until glee practice was over and Mr. Schu left the room.
"Okay," Blaine said as everyone gathered around to hear his idea. "With the Warblers it's all about discipline. Sebastian invited us to watch them perform at Dalton to mess with our heads."
"I know what I'd like to do to their heads," Puck pouted.
"So," Blaine ignored him, "what we need to do is show them that they haven't rattled us."
"They have rattled us," Tina objected.
"It doesn't matter," Blaine said. "They don't know that. What we need to do is draw them to a neutral location and show them that we won't back down so easily..."
BLAINE
"Honestly, gel head," Santana said to Blaine as they leaned on a pillar in an empty parking garage in Westerville the next evening, "I'm shocked that you thought of this. This whole black leather, badass thing is not your usual, vibe."
"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Santana," Blaine said vaguely.
She turned her head to look at him and shook her head. "How am I turned on right now?" she mused.
Blaine raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged noncommittally.
The sound of footsteps interrupted their conversation, and they both put their hoods up as the Warblers approached.
"Well," Sebastian said as the group came to a stop in front of Blaine and Santana, "we're here."
"We've got something to settle," Blaine explained. "Both of us want to use MJ, but only one can."
"We're having a Jackson-off, Nick at Night," Santana explained. "Winner gets the King of Pop for Regionals."
"What, us against the two of you?" Sebastian sneered. "Do you really think you're that bad? Is that what they teach at that little public school of yours?"
"It's time to see who's bad," Blaine replied.
Santana snapped her fingers, and the rest of New Directions came around the corner to join them. Blaine was happy to see a hint of surprise on Sebastian's face.
As the Warblers began to sing, Blaine knew that his plan was going to work. He and the Warblers had done this song the year before. They had ultimately abandoned it after a few weeks, but Blaine remembered the choreography. He had had taught New Directions some of the steps earlier in the afternoon, and he hoped that it would catch the Warblers off-guard.
Blaine had considered singing the song as a solo, as a way to remind the Warblers what they were missing, but he had opted for just a few lines instead. He knew they remembered. They weren't as good without him.
"Well they say the sky's the limit, and to me that's really true. But my friends you have seen nothing. Just wait 'til I get through..."
As the song reached its last section, a flash of brown caught Blaine's eye in the crowd of boys. A paper bag. As Blaine watched the Warblers hand it off a few times until it reached Sebastian, he knew it wasn't going to be something pleasant. He was reasonably sure that it wasn't a gun or some other weapon, but he kept his eyes on it anyway.
As soon as Sebastian's hand emerged from the bag with a slushie cup, Blaine knew what was about to happen. Kurt was standing right in front of Sebastian.
All Blaine could imagine was Kurt being humiliated in front of all of his current and former classmates, and Blaine moved without actively making a decision. He shoved Kurt out of the way, and in the process he took most of the red slushie to the face.
He felt to the ground as the result of the momentum from jumping in front of Kurt, and by the time he hit the ground he was in agony.
Blaine had been slushied before. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but this was something else. His right eye felt like someone had plunged a steak knife into it. Everything else in the world faded away, and all Blaine's mind knew was that something was seriously wrong.
KURT
"Blaine!" Kurt dropped to his knees by the other boy, who was writhing and crying out in pain. Kurt raised his voice so Blaine would hear him. "What's wrong?"
Kurt could feel the other members of New Directions staring down at them, wondering why Blaine was making such a big deal over a slushie to the face. It had happened to every one of them, and it never warranted this kind of reaction. But Kurt knew that Blaine would never make a scene like this without a serious reason.
"Blaine," Kurt stressed, rubbing Blaine's arm in an attempt to encourage him to relax.
"My eye," Blaine managed to choke out through clenched teeth.
"Dude, it's just some ice and a little artificial color," Sam mumbled, his voice intensely skeptical. Kurt snapped his head around to glare at him, and, as he turned his attention back to Blaine, he realized that the Warblers were gone. He felt a surge of rage as he considered how fondly Blaine thought of his former classmates. How fondly he felt about some of the Warblers. Kurt pushed the emotion to the back of his mind. He would call Sebastian later. Or maybe he would drive to Westerville and let them all have a piece of his mind. Later.
"Can you sit up?" Kurt suggested, "Here, I'll help you..." He reached under Blaine's shoulder and helped him sit up. Blaine was no longer making any noise, but Kurt could tell that it was only because he thought he was embarrassing himself. Once he was upright, Blaine drew in a shaky breath before finally releasing his face so Kurt could look at him. Kurt leaned forward and examined Blaine's eyes, trying to ignore the fear written all over Blaine's face.
Blaine's right eye was red and pouring tears. He couldn't stop blinking, and Kurt could see the muscles in his neck and face straining as Blaine attempted to control the urge to squirm in pain. Kurt wanted to scoop him up in a hug, but he knew that Blaine was attempting to hold it together. So, instead, he stood up and tried to exude confidence for Blaine's sake.
"We're going to the hospital," he said to Blaine and the others as he helped Blaine to his feet. When Blaine didn't protest, Kurt felt like his blood had turned to ice. He turned to look at Rachel. "I'm just going to take him in his car," he informed her, hoping that she would understand his desire to go alone.
He was relieved when a spark of comprehension flashed in her eyes. "Finn and Sam can hitch rides with the rest of us," she said authoritatively. She turned to Blaine and opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but she decided against it and simply reached out to brush some of the red ice out of his hair. Blaine was breathing hard. Kurt met Rachel's gaze for a moment, and he hoped that he was doing a better job of hiding his anxiety than she was.
Not daring to look at any of the others out of fear that they would look skeptical or annoyed, Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and pulled him off in the direction of Blaine's car. Blaine followed silently, his hand tightly clenching Kurt's. By the time they reached Blaine's car and Kurt turned to Blaine to ask for his keys, Blaine's other hand had returned to pressing on his eye.
"Let's take your jacket off," Kurt assessed gently. "We can put it at your feet on the rubber mat so the red dye doesn't get all over your car."
Blaine's stoic expression didn't flicker as he allowed Kurt to remove his jacket – only removing his hand from his face long enough to slip his arm out of the sleeve – and help him into the car. As Kurt hurried around to the driver's side door, he realized that his hands were shaking with adrenaline. Blaine's silence told Kurt that Blaine was really scared. And that scared Kurt.
As he glanced over to make sure Blaine had put on his seatbelt, Kurt started the car. He drove to the exit of the parking garage before realizing that the only hospital he knew of was too far away. In Lima.
"Turn right," Blaine's voice cracked as he gave the instruction. Blaine directed him onto the Interstate and told him their exit number, and they fell into a nervous silence. Kurt could hear Blaine's heavy breathing, and he wondered if Blaine was crying or just trying not to. Kurt tried to focus on driving instead of all the other things that were crashing around in his mind.
Despite his best efforts not to think too much, Kurt felt a new sensation filling up his already emotional brain. Guilt. Sebastian had been throwing the slushy at him. And Blaine had pushed him away and taken the attack for him.
"Does it still –?" Kurt started.
"Yes," Blaine said abruptly before Kurt could finish the question. His voice was tense, but not angry. Kurt spared a glance at the other boy, and the Blaine met his eyes only briefly before looking away.
Kurt desperately wanted to ask if Blaine could actually see out of his eye, but he knew better than to voice such a concern. He wanted to ask a million questions. How much did it hurt? Was it getting any better? Did both of his eyes hurt or just the right one? Did he think he was going to be okay? Kurt chewed on the inside of his cheek to keep himself from spewing out every worry and question in his mind.
It felt like a decade had passed by the time they finally arrived at the emergency room. Blaine had his seatbelt off before Kurt had even stopped the car, and was halfway to the door of the hospital by the time Kurt had finished parking and jumped out of the car to rush after him.
"Hey," Kurt said as he caught up with the other boy in the entryway to the hospital, "I'll call your parents, okay? Don't worry about anything."
Blaine nodded, and for a moment he stopped walking to turn and look at Kurt... as well as he could when his hand was clamped over his right eye and his left eye was clearly irritated.
"I love you," Blaine said, and the desperation and fear in his voice sent another wave of cold pulsing through Kurt's veins. He knew what Blaine meant. I'm really scared.
Kurt reached out to cup Blaine's sticky cheek in one of his hands. "I love you, Blaine," he said forcefully. "I'm right here. It's gonna be okay."
The corners of Blaine's mouth twitched upward briefly and he reached up with his free hand to grasp Kurt's hand on his face.
'I'm sorry, may I help you?" the receptionist's brisk voice interrupted, and Kurt was snapped back to the reality of the emergency room.
"Um, yes," Kurt said. "There's something in his eye."
BLAINE
"...so, you'll need to schedule the surgery for as soon as possible. Preferably sometime this week. And no rubbing it, no matter how much it hurts or itches. No submerging your face in water. And try not to get water or soap in your eye when you shower or wash your face, okay? You don't have to wear the eye patch when you're fully awake, although I recommend it just to be safe, but definitely wear it when you sleep so you don't inadvertently rub at your eye."
Blaine nodded, feeling so relieved that his eye was numb that he didn't care what he had to do next.
"I'm going to write you a prescription for some painkillers," the doctor continued. "It's better for your eye than a constant stream of numbing drops."
Blaine nodded again.
"And that's it!" The doctor said kindly. "After the surgery and a short recovery period, you should be back to normal in no time."
"Thank you, doctor," Blaine's father spoke up. After a round of handshakes, Blaine found himself suddenly alone with his parents.
"Here," his mother said gently, holding out a bag of clothing, "we brought some clothes for you. Get changed and we'll go home, okay?"
"Wait," Blaine stopped them as they turned to leave the room, "I want to see Kurt."
His parents exchanged what Blaine assumed they thought was a subtle glance, and his father nodded reluctantly. "We'll send him in."
Blaine tore the hospital gown off and pulled the red Buckeyes shirt that his parents had brought for him over his head as soon as his parents closed the door behind them. He stood up on shaky legs to finish getting dressed, and had just settled back down on the edge of the bed to put on his shoes when there was a soft knock at the door.
"Blaine?" Kurt's voice was timid and hopeful as he cracked opened the door.
To Blaine's surprise, his voice failed him entirely. He felt as if someone had shoved a large ball of paper into his throat as the familiar sound of Kurt's voice made him feel a rush of comfort.
Kurt's head appeared around the door, clearly confused by the silence. When he saw Blaine, his face relaxed with relief. He hurried into the room and closed the door gently behind him.
"I'm so sorry, Kurt" words started tumbling out of Blaine's mouth before Kurt was halfway across the room. "I just didn't want you to ruin your clothes and be embarrassed in front of everyone. I'm so sick of people putting you down and I had no idea that it was– that he would– I–"
"Blaine, Blaine," Kurt shushed him quietly. "It's okay. We can talk about it later. It's okay. I'm okay. Come here..." Kurt pulled Blaine to his feet and yanked him into his arms in a tight hug. Blaine turned his head so that he could rest the uninjured left side of his face on Kurt's chest and burst into tears.
Kurt didn't say anything right away – he just held on tightly as Blaine cried – and Blaine thought his sudden tears had probably caught the other boy off-guard. It even surprised Blaine a little; he hadn't felt like crying at all until Kurt had walked through the door.
When Blaine's sobs trailed away to quiet sniffling and hiccupping, Kurt released him, and Blaine suddenly wanted to say everything.
"I can't believe they would do this," he said. "How could they? You were a Warbler, Kurt. I don't understand why they don't feel protective of you when you were a Warbler just as much as I was, and –"
Kurt reached up and put his palm over Blaine's mouth, silently asking him to stop talking.
"I don't know," Kurt said quietly. "But that's not important right now, okay? You need to get home and you need to rest. It's been a long night."
"How are you going to get home?" Blaine worried.
"I'll take your car," Kurt said. "Your parents said it was okay. We'll figure out how to get it back to you soon... you won't be able to drive while you're on pain medicine, anyway."
Blaine nodded.
"Thank you," he said. "For not panicking."
To his surprise, Kurt laughed. "For not outwardly panicking, you mean."
Blaine smiled. "Yeah," he agreed.
"I'm coming by tomorrow immediately after school," Kurt said. "And I'm bringing ice cream and large print magazines and blankets and everything that you need to be a properly cared for half-blind person."
Blaine rolled his eyes, and it felt so weird when his eye was numb that he made a mental note to try not to do it again until his eye was healed.
Kurt kissed him gently on the lips, carefully avoiding his patched eye, and Blaine wrapped him into another hug.
"Alright," Kurt said as Blaine squeezed him. "We should go. You need to sleep."
"I don't want to sleep without you," Blaine pouted.
Kurt kissed the side of his face. "I'll see you tomorrow," he reminded Blaine. "And until then you can text me all night long if you want to."
KURT
"How is he?" Rachel asked immediately when Kurt arrived to glee practice the following day. "Is he okay?"
"Uh, it's his right eye," Kurt recalled. "The doctor says that his cornea is deeply scratched and he has to have surgery."
It sounded so ridiculous that Kurt was having a hard time really comprehending that it had actually happened.
"In all my years as a teacher and a student," Mr. Schu said, "I have never known a slushie to do that kind of damage."
"That's 'cause it wasn't a normal slushie, Mr. Schu," Finn spoke up. "There was stuff in it. Rocks or something. He wanted to do that damage."
To me, Kurt thought. He wished Sebastian had hit him instead of Blaine. He hated being at McKinley without Blaine, and the knowledge that Blaine was lying in bed, probably in a fair degree of pain, made Kurt feel a horrible mixture of rage and sadness.
"Well, unless you have proof that he tampered with the slushie, the police aren't interested in getting involved," Mr. Schu explained.
"Sebastian is evil," Kurt fumed. "He needs to be expelled."
"Look," Mr. Schu said. "Figgins and I spoke to Dalton's headmaster. They're opening up an investigation. So guys, I'm telling you, please let the system handle this one."
"No," Artie said.
Everyone turned to look at him, surprised by the force of his disagreement.
"Dalton's old school, Mr. Schu," Artie explained. "They're not going to turn their back on one of their own. We need payback."
"An eye for an eye," Mike said gravely.
Kurt agreed. He wanted to drive to Dalton and rip out both of Sebastian's eyes for causing Blaine so much physical and emotional pain.
"No!" Mr. Schu scolded. "I have a zero tolerance policy for violence of any kind. That's not how we do things."
"No," Artie retorted. "We sing. And that's all we ever do."
"Do you want to get disqualified from Regionals?" Mr. Schu asked.
"I don't give a damn about Regionals!" Artie shouted. "What do you expect from us? We're people. I know the rest of the world might not see us like that, but when they tease us and throw stuff at us and toss us in dumpsters and tell us that we're nothing but losers with stupid dreams, it freakin' hurts. And we're supposed to turn the other cheek and be the bigger man by telling ourselves that those dreams and how hard we work make us better than them? But it gets pretty damn hard to feel that way when they get to win."
"I get how upsetting this is for you..." Mr. Schu started.
"No!" Artie yelled. "you don't! And don't give me any of that 'it gets better' crap because I'm not interested in it getting any better. I want it to be better. Like, right now. I want to hurt them the way they hurt us. No, worse. I want them to feel my pain. Because, frankly, that's all I have left to give."
The silence was deafening.
"Artie," Mr. Schu said quietly. "Take a break. We'll be here when you get back."
Artie didn't move.
"Artie?" Mr. Schu called to him. "Artie?"
"I think I better roll away," Artie said, and he turned and wheeled himself out of the room.
"But Blaine's going to be okay, right?" Tina asked.
Kurt shrugged. "Physically," he replied.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur, and Kurt was relieved when he finally made it to his car so he could go see Blaine.
Blaine's mother met him at the door, and she explained to him that the pain medicine was making Blaine a little loopy, but that the day had been pretty easy for Blaine. He wasn't in much pain. Kurt was relieved.
Mrs. Anderson gave him permission to go up to Blaine's room, and he rushed up the stairs with a bunch of stuff in his arms. When he knocked on Blaine's bedroom door, there was no answer, and when he knocked a second time and Blaine still didn't reply Kurt decided to just open the door.
Blaine was sleeping, but not peacefully. He was lying on top of all of his blankets but he was still covered in a light layer of sweat and his breathing was heavier than normal.
Kurt set down his bundle and sat down on the edge of the bed. He reached out to squeeze Blaine's shoulder.
"Blaine?" he called quietly. "Blaine?"
Blaine shifted under Kurt's touch and his eyes fluttered open.
"Hey," Kurt said.
Blaine blinked a few times and tried to sit up, but Kurt pushed him back down onto the bed.
"No," he instructed, "take your time waking up."
"I don't know why I'm so tired," Blaine moaned. "I've just spent the whole day in bed."
Kurt smiled at him. "How do you feel?" he asked.
Blaine considered the question for a moment. "Weird," he finally answered. "The painkillers make me feel weird, but my eye doesn't hurt too much."
Kurt sighed. "I'm so sorry," he said quietly.
Blaine slowly sat up and reached over to grab one of Kurt's hands.
"Don't be sorry," he said seriously. "It's not your fault."
Kurt couldn't agree, but part of his brain knew it was true.
"I brought you some stuff," Kurt said, releasing Blaine's hand to go pick up his bundle by the door.
"Kurt, I have blankets," Blaine giggled as Kurt pulled a red and black blanket from the bottom of the pile.
"Yes," Kurt allowed, "but this is my blanket and I like knowing that it'll be here with you when I'm not."
He showed Blaine the other things: some magazines, a giant chocolate bar, a small container of Blaine's favorite hair gel, a little bottle of bubbles, and a "get well" card that Kurt had filled with silly little drawings and words of encouragement.
"Thank you," Blaine said as Kurt unscrewed the lid on the bubbles and blew a bunch into the air so that they floated down around Blaine's head. "Thank you so much, Kurt."
Kurt tightened the lid back onto the bottle and set it on Blaine's nightstand before he crawled into the bed and wrapped his arms around Blaine. It felt so good to be here. To know that Blaine was okay.
"I missed you today," Kurt admitted as Blaine relaxed into his embrace.
The two of them spent the rest of the evening watching reality television and chatting about insignificant things when Blaine wasn't drifting off to sleep.
Blaine was sound asleep when it was time for Kurt to leave to go home, so he gently slipped out of Blaine's grip and grabbed a notepad off Blaine's desk.
Sleep well! Text me or call me any time, day or night. I love you! Kurt.
He left the note on the bed beside Blaine, and he made sure Blaine was covered by his blanket before he slipped quietly out the door and headed back to Lima for the night.
KURT
Kurt went to see Blaine every afternoon, but during the day he felt detached and distracted by the lack of Blaine's presence. As he sat alone in an empty classroom during lunch one day, he decided to make a list of ways that he could get back at Sebastian. Bleach his uniform. Find out if he had any allergies and feed him something that would give him a terrible rash. Drug him and dye his hair pink in the bathroom at the Lima Bean...
"Hey, what're you doing?" Santana's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Trying to keep the flames from shooting out of the side of my face," Kurt replied.
"Well, that outfit isn't helping," Santana commented as she sat down across from him.
"I agree with Artie," Kurt explained. "I'm tired of being stepped on all the time. I take a lot of crap from a lot of people, but I refuse to take it from Sebastian the criminal chipmunk. So, I've been sitting here for the last hour, making a list of ways to get back at him."
"Well, today's your lucky day," Santana said, "because Auntie Snix just arrived on the Bitchtown express. Now, my suggestion is that we drag him, bound and gagged, to a tattoo parlor for a tramp stamp that reads 'tips appreciated' or 'congratulations, you're my thousandth customer'."
"After what he did to Blaine, I really wanted to hurt him," Kurt admitted. "But I can't. I've fought against violence at this school for too long. I have to take the high road."
"You know what, Prancy Smurf? I respect that," Santana said. "You're probably right. I want to go to a college that isn't a FEMA trailer in a prison yard, so let's take the high road. We're not going to beat Sebastian by playing dirty. But we are gonna beat him."
"How?" Kurt said unhappily.
"Remember what Blaine said?" Santana asked. "Before he got that slushie tossed in his face? The Warblers are smart. So, if we can't respond to violence with violence, let's respond with our brains."
"I don't think I'm ready to be face-to-face with Sebastian again," Kurt admitted.
"You leave that to me," Santana said, and she reached out to pat his hand affectionately before she sprung to her feet and walked quickly from the room.
KURT
Kurt could feel his soul dying of boredom inside him in Mr. Schu's Spanish class the following day when the teacher suddenly called his name.
"Kurt," Mr. Schu said, "your dad wants to talk to you."
Kurt left all of his belongings on the desk and rushed out into the hallway, terrified of what Burt pulling him out of class might mean.
"What's wrong? Is Blaine okay?" he asked as he saw his father waiting for him.
"He's fine," Burt reassured. He stepped forward and held out an envelope. "The mail came."
Kurt snatched the letter and knew what the return address would say before he even looked at it.
"NYADA."
He had hardly thought about NYADA since Blaine's injury, so he just gaped at the letter for a moment.
"Well," Burt said, "open it already!"
"Not here," Kurt said. "Come on..."
He couldn't find a room that felt like the proper place for such a monumental moment. He felt exposed and terrified, and he just wanted a safe place to open the envelope and face the probable rejection inside.
"Dude, this is like the fifth room we've been to!" his father said as they walked into the choir room. "What's wrong with the library or the lunch room?"
"None of those felt right," Kurt said. But this room did feel right. He was safe here. He turned to look at his father. "This is it, Dad. This is one of those crossroad moments in life. Whatever is in this envelope is going to determine whether I go right or left."
"I'm here, no matter what it says," Burt said. "Okay?"
Kurt nodded and turned around – he couldn't handle his father's gaze as he opened the letter. He ripped open the envelope and pulled out a single sheet of paper.
"Dear Mr. Hummel..." he read, trying not to panic and misread anything.
We are pleased to inform you...
He was a finalist.
They were saying yes. Giving him a chance. A chance to fight to get out of this town and to find a place where he could shine.
"What?" Burt asked as Kurt turned back to face him. "What?"
Kurt felt tears pooling in his eyes. "I'm a finalist."
Burt let out a cry of joy and rushed forward to scoop Kurt up into a hug.
"Dad!" Kurt laughed as Burt twirled him around, "your heart!"
"Screw my heart!" Burt shouted. "You did it! You did it, Kurt! Oh man, oh... who's gonna tell Blaine?" his father released him but stayed right in front of him. "You've gotta let me do it."
"Dad, are you crying?" Kurt gasped.
"You beat them all," Burt said fiercely. "They threw everything at you. They tried to beat you down, but you know what? You are unstoppable, Kurt. I am so proud to be your dad. They can never take this away from you. Right now, in this moment, on this day, you won."
They both laughed, and Burt crushed Kurt in another hug. "Way to go, dude," Burt said. "Way to go."
As his father hugged him, Kurt thought about what this could mean for him. He could actually move to New York City. He had a future.
"Let's call him," Burt said excitedly as he released Kurt.
"What?" Kurt asked.
"Blaine," his father reminded him. "Here, I'll..." he pulled out his phone.
"No!" Kurt cried, "we can't call him! Dad!"
The bell rang to signify a class change, and Burt laughed. "Okay, okay! I'm a little overly excited. You're right. You feelin' okay?"
"What?" Kurt laughed. "Are you kidding? I want to audition for the finalist panel right now!"
Burt scrutinized his appearance. "I think you look terrible. Like you might faint at any moment."
"Wha – oh," Kurt realized. "Oh. Yeah, I mean, I might faint or something."
"That settles it!" Burt clapped his hands once in confirmation. "You go wait in the car and I'll grab your stuff and check you out."
Kurt threw his arms around his father for a moment. "Thank you, Dad," he mumbled into Burt's shoulder. "Thank you so much."
"I'm so proud of you, Kurt," Burt said seriously. "Now let's go and tell Blaine."
As Kurt exited the choir room, he remembered Rachel. So, instead of heading for the car, he turned and ran down the hallway toward Rachel's locker.
"Rachel!" he cried as he approached her. "Rachel!"
He rushed up to her, not even sure what he was saying. "Oh my god, I got it! I got my NYADA letter! I got– I'm a finalist! I'm a finalist!"
"You did?" Rachel laughed. "You did? That's so great!"
"What did yours say?" Kurt asked, absolutely sure that if they accepted him as a finalist that they would've accepted Rachel too.
Rachel's eyes filled with tears. "I didn't get one," she said.
"Oh," Kurt said. "That doesn't mean anything... that just means they haven't sent it yet."
Rachel leaned back against the row of lockers. "I didn't even make it to the finals," she said, devastated. "I knew it. I– I had this weird feeling in my stomach all week long."
"Rachel," Kurt said softly, not sure what to say, "don't be stupid."
"Stupid?" Rachel replied. "Stupid is watching all of your friends make plans for their future and realizing that you have none at all. No plans, no college, nowhere to go. All I have here is my boyfriend and... and I have no idea what I'm doing!"
She lost it completely, and Kurt didn't know what he could say to make her feel better. He knew that there was still a chance that her NYADA letter was just a day or two behind, but even the possibility that she wouldn't be a finalist made Kurt feel almost guilty for getting his letter.
He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, trying to comfort her without words.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed into his shirt. "I'm so sorry. I'm really h– happy for you. I'm just –"
"I know," Kurt rubbed her back. "It's okay, I know. Shhhh..."
When she pulled away, her eyes were red and puffy but she looked like she was feeling a little bit better.
"It's okay," she said, and Kurt wasn't sure if she was talking to him or to herself.
He nodded. "You're getting in, Rachel," he said. "I'm not letting you give up."
She nodded. "See you at Blaine's later," she said as she closed her locker.
Kurt smiled slightly, remembering their plan to surprise Blaine with some of the Michael Jackson that he was missing in glee club.
"Okay," he said, and he wanted to hug her again but she turned around and rushed away.
With a heavy sigh, Kurt made his way out to his car to find his father waiting for him.
Some of Kurt's excitement returned as he saw that Burt was still nearly bouncing around with joy.
"Ready to go?" Kurt smiled at him.
"You know what?" Burt said calmly. "You go. I'll hear the story of his reaction later."
"No," Kurt said. "No, Dad, you can come! He'll love to hear it from you."
Burt laughed. "You know, I bet he would. But he'll love it even more when it's coming from you, Kurt." His father's eyes filled with tears again, and Kurt felt moisture returning to his own eyes. "That boy loves you," Burt said seriously. "He loves you more than anyone else except me. And I don't know his plans, but it's not a stretch to imagine the two of you taking New York by storm together as soon as he can tear his graduation cap and gown off and jump on a plane a year and a half from now."
Kurt stepped forward, threw his arms around his father, and couldn't hold back his tears. He felt overwhelmed. He felt a huge amount of joy at the chance to make his dreams a reality, but he also felt fear of the unknown mixed with sadness when he thought about the fact that he wouldn't be able to hug his father like this forever. He always said that he couldn't wait to get out of Lima, but he knew there were things here that he would miss more than he could presently comprehend.
On the drive to Blaine's house, Kurt started to imagine audition songs and outfits, and the drive felt shorter than ever.
When he reached Blaine's house, Kurt resisted the urge to thunder up the stairs and fling Blaine's door open. Instead, he crept up the stairs and down the hallway to knock gently on Blaine's closed door.
"Yeah?" Blaine's drowsy voice floated through the door.
Blaine looked confused and sleepy as Kurt cracked the door open, but he woke up a little when he saw that it was Kurt.
"Kurt!" he smiled.
"Hey," Kurt returned the grin, slipping into the room and closing the door gently behind him.
When he turned back to face Blaine, he couldn't hold back his excitement any longer. He ran the few steps to the edge of the bed and threw himself face-down onto the mattress beside Blaine.
"I'm a finalist!" he screamed into the quilt. Almost instantly, he felt Blaine's weight collapse on top of him, laughing at Kurt's dramatic announcement.
Kurt squirmed under Blaine until his was lying on his back, staring into Blaine's exposed eye, which was glimmering with tears. It felt wonderful to cry so hard about something so good. Kurt reached up to grab Blaine's face gently in his hands, and he pulled Blaine down into a kiss.
"I told you so," Blaine rolled off to lie on his side, resting his head on his hand as he looked at Kurt. "I told you so."
Kurt exhaled loudly. He rolled onto his side to face Blaine, and noticed that Blaine was adjusting his eye patch. Some of the joy drained out of Kurt at the sight.
"Are you okay?" Kurt asked, sitting up.
"What?" Blaine looked momentarily confused before realizing what Kurt was talking about, "Oh, yeah. Just making sure it doesn't slip off. Don't worry about it."
Kurt was worried about it, but he said nothing.
"Kurt," Blaine said happily. "You're a NYADA finalist."
"Yeah," Kurt breathed.
They looked at each other for a moment until Blaine grabbed one of Kurt's hands and squeezed it tightly.
"I'm so proud of you," he said sincerely.
"Thanks," Kurt managed out as tears filled his eyes again. He was certain that he had never cried so many tears of happiness before in his life.
He told Blaine the story of his father coming to tell him at school, and he explained that Rachel's letter hadn't come yet, but he didn't mention Rachel's little meltdown.
"She's definitely going to be a finalist too," Blaine said casually, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Kurt nodded.
"Come here," Blaine said, extending his arms. Kurt crawled across the bed and settled into Blaine's embrace, happy to just relax and be around the other boy.
They snuggled on the bed for more than an hour – Blaine fell asleep for about fifteen minutes before waking up and apologizing profusely until Kurt made him swear not to apologize again – until Kurt glanced at the clock and realized that Rachel and Finn would probably arrive soon.
"I brought some new magazines," Kurt said, gently pulling out of Blaine's arms so he could hop off the bed. He grabbed a random magazine and settled down into the chair beside Blaine's bed to read to him.
"...Miss Jolie said that, after a dramatic directorial debut, she expects her second feature to have far more honey than blood."
When Rachel and Finn pushed the door open, Kurt was glad to see that Rachel looked perfectly calm. She had recovered from the initial shock of Kurt receiving a letter when there wasn't one waiting in her mailbox too.
"Hey!" Blaine said, delighted. "Hey guys!"
"We brought you, um, chicken noodle soup," Rachel said. "I know it's not used to typically help eye injuries, but we figured it couldn't hurt."
"And I brought you a couple of eye patch-featuring flicks from my collection," Finn explained. "We've got, uh, Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides, Valkyrie, and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow."
"Aww, thank you guys," Blaine said as he took the DVDs from Finn. "Aw, that's so amazing. It really means a lot to me that you'd come by to check up on me."
"However," Blaine added, "I cannot let a single moment pass without first," he reached into his bedside table for some plastic champagne glasses, "raising a zero-calorie toast to one Mr. Kurt Hummel, aka NYADA finalist!"
"Yayyyyyyy," Blaine said as he poured some soda into the glasses. "Cheers."
Kurt was torn between wanting to burst out laughing and wanting to tell Blaine to stop.
"So, Blaine," Finn changed the subject, "uh, when's the surgery?"
Blaine sighed heavily. "This week," he said. "Honestly, I'm terrified."
"Don't sweat it, dude," Finn reassured him. "You'll heal up good as new."
"Yeah," Rachel said, "and there are tons of legendary performers who only had one eye. Sammy Davis Jr., Colombo."
"And Stevie Wonder," Finn added. "He did pretty good with no eyes at all!"
"You guys," Blaine said, reaching out to hold Kurt's hand, "I'm really upset that I'm missing Michael week. It just totally sucks."
"Well," Finn grinned, "that's why we figured we'd bring a little bit of Michael to you."
"Yup," Rachel agreed as she took a pitch pipe from Finn and blew into it to give Kurt his first note.
"Blaine, the two of us need look no more," Kurt sang, "We both found what we were looking for. With a friend to call my own I'll never be alone. And you, my friend, will see you've got a friend in me."
As they sang, Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand and looked like he didn't know what to make of the sweet song from the trio. By the end of the song, Blaine looked like he wanted to burst into tears.
"T–thanks guys," he choked out, squeezing Kurt's finger as he looked at them. "I– just... thank you so much."
BLAINE
"No way," Blaine gasped as Kurt told him about singing Black or White to the Warblers earlier in the afternoon. They were both leaning against Blaine's headboard, and Blaine's head was resting on Kurt's shoulder.
"They came up to dance with us," Kurt explained.
"They did?" Blaine asked.
"Not Sebastian, of course," Kurt elaborated, "but the rest of them."
"That's great," Blaine said. He wondered if maybe they were sorry for what had happened. He knew he was in no condition to call them – he had just taken his pain medication and he felt particularly out of it – but, eventually, he knew that he had to confront the Warblers about what had happened. He couldn't understand why they hadn't even stayed to make sure that he was okay. He hadn't been okay. Blaine hoped that one day they would be able to tell him something that would ease the sharp sense of betrayal that was lodged in his chest.
Kurt made a noncommittal sound. "They left pretty quickly after that, but at least Sebastian knows we're not interested in sinking to his level."
"I'm sorry I trusted him," Blaine said. "You knew..."
Kurt nudged his shoulder so Blaine would sit up and look at him.
"Don't get jaded, okay?" Kurt said gently. "The way you trust people... it's sweet. You're sweet, Blaine. And that's a good thing."
"And being cynical is your thing," Blaine teased.
"Yes," Kurt allowed.
"You're the best," Blaine sighed happily. He felt so much better when Kurt was around.
Kurt laughed. "Well, thank you. You're not so bad yourself... I think I'm developing a thing for pirates seeing you with that eye patch every day."
"Argh!" Blaine did his best pirate impression, and Kurt laughed even harder.
"I should go," Kurt admitted when they had calmed down. "It's late."
"Nooooo..." Blaine groaned.
"I have school in the morning," Kurt reminded him.
"I hate school," Blaine pouted.
Kurt shook his head. "You do not."
Blaine groaned in defeat. "Okay, I know. I'll miss you, though."
Kurt smiled gently. "I love you." He leaned over to tip Blaine's chin up and kiss him. "I'll be back tomorrow."
"Love you too," Blaine grinned at him. "Goodnight."
"'Night," Kurt said as he reached the door. He blew a kiss and disappeared.
Kurt closed the door behind him, and Blaine sighed. He climbed out of his bed and plopped down into his desk chair to check the Internet to see what had been happening in the world while he was stuck at home. But, as soon as he powered on the computer, he heard a commotion in the hallway.
"No!" Kurt's voice was muffled through the wall, but still distinct. "No. I said no! He needs to rest, and you are not going –"
"But his mom said –"
As Kurt cut the other boy off, Blaine jumped out of his chair and ran to the door. The combination of his medication and the sudden physical activity made him feel lightheaded, but he grabbed the doorknob and wrenched the door open anyway. The voices fell silent at the sound, and he stumbled into the hallway.
"You should not be out of bed!" Kurt admonished.
"Hey," Nick said nervously from behind Kurt. He motioned at Jeff, Trent, and David standing behind him. "I wanted– we. We wanted– wait, are you–"
"Thanks guys," Blaine choked out, realizing as he opened his mouth that he was crying. Kurt turned to the Warblers and said something about medication and emotions before hurrying to Blaine's side.
"I don't want to lie down," Blaine preempted Kurt's demand with a defiant pout, but he was secretly glad when Kurt wrapped an arm around his waist so he could lean on him a little. He felt simultaneously delighted and sad and exhausted as he looked at the hopeful faces of his friends from Dalton.
He could feel Kurt's stern expression without even turning to look at the other boy. He sighed in defeat. "Fine. But only if they can stay."
Kurt nudged his hip in the direction of his bedroom. "Okay, but only for a little while."
"Yes sir," Blaine said happily. The next thing he knew, he was tucked back into his bed, leaning against the headboard with Kurt's blanket over his legs. Nick and Jeff were sitting on the edge of his bed, David had grabbed the desk chair, and Trent was sitting in the chair beside the bed. Kurt had climbed onto the bed to sit beside Blaine. Blaine reached over and grabbed Kurt's hand, feeling suddenly self-conscious about everything that had happened.
"Hey, man," Nick broke the silence, "we're really sorry."
"Monumentally sorry," Trent added. "We had no idea Sebastian was planning to slushie you. We should've –"
"He wasn't going to slushie me," Blaine snapped, trying to force his brain to catch up with his emotions as he felt a sudden rush of rage. "He was going to slushie Kurt."
Kurt squeezed his hand. "Blaine, don't –"
"No," Blaine argued, "Kurt was a Warbler! How could Sebastian do something like this? How could you? You should have stood up for him!" Blaine's injured eye burned as his eyes filled with tears again.
"Please, Blaine," Kurt said quietly. "The medication is–"
"The medication doesn't make me a different person!" Blaine shouted, feeling as if his mouth was forming words without any input from his brain. "I'm just– I feel –" His brain wouldn't cooperate enough for him to explain how he felt, so he settled for a noise of desperation as he angrily wiped the tears from his exposed eye.
"We're scared of Sebastian."
The words fell out of Jeff's mouth, and everyone in the room turned to look at him.
Blaine hoped that Kurt was making mental notes as the Warblers explained how the vibe had changed since Blaine left, because he was starting to feel really, really out of it.
"... and he's not usually so mean when it's just us," Nick explained.
"I feel so betrayed," Blaine admitted without his brain's consent.
Silence.
"We felt betrayed when you left us," Trent admitted quietly. It was more of a confession than an accusation, but Blaine's chest constricted painfully at the memory.
"I know," he said. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm so happy in New Directions, but I was happy at Dalton too... and I miss you guys. But I love my new friends."
He wasn't sure how he was managing to express himself so succinctly, and he wondered briefly if his brain worked better when he was high.
"And now it's like I can never absolutely belong anywhere," he finished.
"Blaine..." Kurt said.
Blaine looked at Kurt and hated the sadness that he saw in Kurt's eyes.
"I belong with you," Blaine decided.
Kurt leaned in and kissed him, and the familiar action made Blaine feel a little better.
"Thanks for coming by, guys," he said to his friends. "It means so much that you came to make things right."
KURT
The next day at school, Kurt was lost in thought about Blaine and his surgery, set for the following day, when someone tapped him on the arm and he turned to find Rachel standing beside him.
She didn't say anything at first, but Kurt looked down and saw that she was holding a NYADA letter in her hands.
"Is..." Kurt said, "is that the...?"
"My NYADA letter finally came in the mail," Rachel said, "and, uh..."
Kurt wanted to die. She wasn't a finalist. What was he going to do?
"...and I'm a finalist," Rachel breathed. She looked up at Kurt, and he could see the hope and joy and excitement in her eyes that he had been feeling since he had opened his letter. "I'm a finalist! I'm a finalist!"
Kurt laughed as she threw herself into his arms. "Oh, congrats!" he said happily.
"Thank you," Rachel said as she stepped back from the hug.
Kurt thought about their future. In New York. He would get to go there with Rachel and Finn, and Blaine would be there a year later... things were going to be perfect.
"Have you told Finn yet?" Kurt asked, excited to hear his step-brother's reaction.
To Kurt's surprise, Rachel's face fell into an expression of uncertainty.
"Uh, Rachel?" Kurt asked.
"No," Rachel said quietly. "Not yet."
Kurt wasn't sure what to make of that, but he didn't want to press her for information if the answer might be something like "we're fighting" or "I'm thinking of breaking up with him". This was a happy moment.
"You need to text Blaine and tell him, at least," Kurt pretended to scold her. "He's going to flip out, and he needs some good news to take his mind off of his surgery tomorrow."
KURT
Later that evening, Kurt didn't realize that he had fallen asleep in Blaine's bed until his phone vibrated in his pocket and startled him awake. As his mind clambered into consciousness and his hand dug into his pocket for his phone, he noticed Blaine.
Blaine, who had been sleeping properly on the other side of the bed before Kurt had fallen asleep, had moved over and curled up against Kurt's chest. His face was pressed into Kurt's shirt, and Kurt could only see his patched eye. He smiled at the sight, glad that Blaine seemed to be sleeping soundly. Blaine's pain medication made him both overly emotional and prone to wild dreams, and he hadn't been sleeping well.
Kurt held up his phone with one hand, looking at the text message on the screen. It was from his father.
I'm going to assume that you have lost all track of time. How's Blaine?
Kurt smiled fondly. Burt was so worried about Blaine; he had even volunteered to go down to Dalton and yell at the headmaster on Blaine's behalf. "That Sebastian kid's not the only one with a powerful father!" he had shouted at nobody in particular.
Clutching his phone so he wouldn't drop it on top of the sleeping boy, Kurt sent a reply.
Loopy and exhausted and nervous about tomorrow. I'll text when I'm leaving sometime later.
As Kurt stuffed his phone back into his pocket, Blaine sighed heavily and nuzzled his face into Kurt's chest. The movement displaced the strap of his eye patch, causing it to slip up on his forehead, and the strange feeling woke Blaine up. He reached up to fumble with the strap, but Kurt stilled his hands so he wouldn't accidently poke himself in the eye in his half-asleep state.
"Kurt?" Blaine's voice was groggy and confused.
"Hey," Kurt said softly, pulling the eye patch off so Blaine would stop trying to fix it.
"Is it time for school?" Blaine blinked, trying to force his medicated brain to wake up when his exhausted body clearly wanted him to stay asleep.
Kurt smiled at him. "No, honey, it's not time for school. Let me put this back on and you can go back to sleep," he held up the eye patch so Blaine could see it. Kurt noticed that Blaine's injured eye was still irritated and red, but Blaine didn't seem to be in any pain. Kurt was glad that the medicine was helping.
"I feel weird," Blaine admitted as he struggled into a sitting position. Kurt helped him with a steady hand on Blaine's elbow, feeling a surge of guilt and sadness at how vulnerable Blaine looked.
Kurt ran his hand affectionately across Blaine's cheek. "It's the medicine," he reassured.
Blaine sighed heavily. "I know," he said quietly as Kurt replaced his eye patch. When he finished, Kurt leaned forward to kiss Blaine's forehead.
"Time to go back to sleep," he encouraged gently.
His phone vibrated in his pocket again, and after he tucked Blaine back into his bed he pulled the phone out to find another message from his father.
I know that's code for "I want to stay the night", even if you didn't mean it that way, so ok. He'll feel better having you there in the morning anyway.
Kurt smiled widely, grateful that his father trusted him so much.
"I love when you smile like that," Blaine's sleepy voice floated to Kurt's ears from the bed. "With your teeth."
Kurt stretched his mouth into the biggest smile he could manage, exaggeratedly showing off as many of his teeth as he could, and Blaine smiled back at him.
"Well I love when my dad agrees to let me spend the night with you," Kurt said, walking over to sit down on the edge of the bed beside Blaine. Blaine's visible eye brightened considerably at the idea.
"Will you stay and go with me to the hospital tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.
Kurt made a show of rolling his eyes. "No, of course not. It's not like we had already planned for me to meet you there before the surgery or anything."
Blaine made a noise that sounded like he was trying to laugh but was too exhausted.
"Let me just change into some pajamas," Kurt grabbed his bag from the floor near the doorway. "Be right back."
Kurt changed as fast as he could, grateful that he had thought to pack something to sleep in and a change of clothes just in case. When he returned to Blaine's room, he was not surprised to find Blaine asleep again. He stood in the doorway for a moment, just watching Blaine sleep. Then, he pulled a stack of greeting cards from his bag – he had completely forgotten that the members of New Directions had given him cards to give to Blaine – and he quietly moved around the room, setting the cards up on Blaine's dresser and nightstand so he would be able to see them in the morning when he woke up.
When Kurt finally climbed into the bed, Blaine didn't even seem to notice, so Kurt stayed on the other side of the bed and watched Blaine's chest rising and falling until he drifted off to sleep.
Holy crap, this is a long one. The next one is going to feel suuuuper short in comparison, I'm afraid.
Yeah, in this version they sang "Blaine" instead of "Ben". I understand why they didn't change it in the episode (copyright issues, probably), but I like to think that's what happened.
I have to say, I was having major sympathy pain when Blaine's eye was scratched... I had eye surgery once, and one of my eyes wasn't healing properly at one point after the surgery (it's fine now!) so it hurt like CRAZY. And then they gave me some numbing drops and that moment when it went from PAIN to NUMB was pretty much the best moment of my life. So I can't even imagine how much a serious scratch like Blaine's would hurt. OUCH.
Also, Blaine was too adorable when he was high, wasn't he? He was SO delighted to see Rachel and Finn, gosh. BE CUTER, BLAINE. IF YOU DARE.
And I had to have the Warblers come to apologize... I mean, there is no way sweet Trent would've just let it go! They love Blaine! So now we can rest easy knowing that Blaine and the Warblers are still friends.
Blaine's not in the next episode (Darren was doing Broadway, YAY!), so I'm stopping here just before Blaine's surgery so there's some stuff to talk about during 'The Spanish Teacher'...