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“Medic! We need a medic!”
There was a flurry of commotion on the football field after a particularly violent scrimmage. The blitz had come out of nowhere and Dave had found himself on the receiving end of a tackle he hadn’t expected. Like a domino effect, once the wall had been breached, the opposing players piled on top of him. It happened so fast and he blacked out the moment he hit the turf.
Although all other players either popped right back up to their feet or had been helped up by another player, Dave remained prone on the turf. One of his teammates rushed over to check on him and after a gentle shake of his body with no response, the referees were alerted to stop the clock so Dave could get the medical assistance he needed.
He wasn’t moved from where he laid; everyone was afraid he could’ve suffered an injury and moving him without proper support would’ve made it a lot worse.
His helmet had slipped off in the middle of the scrimmage. When the medics checked his pupils with a flashlight, they called for an ambulance. The game was put on hold until the paramedics could get there, football players from both teams looking on worriedly.
“David! Dav-- Is he okay?! What’s going on?!” Dave’s boyfriend came rushing down from the bleachers, wide-eyed and pale as he pushed his way through the crowd of athletes to get to where Dave laid still.
Coach Beiste looked up from where she was kneeling beside Dave. “Paramedics are gonna be here soon, punkin-- we’ll know more once they get here,” she coaxed, trying her best to alleviate the panic bubbling up in the young man.
Kurt shook his head. “Why isn’t he waking up?” He turned his attention from Coach Beiste over to Dave, placing a hand on his forehead. “Sweetheart, please wake up,” he urged, though he received no response.
Dave didn’t wake up until just after the paramedics arrived and loaded him into the ambulance. His consciousness seemed to come back as if from nowhere, as he blinked awake. He was groggy and when the paramedics spoke to him, the words sounded garbled and he didn’t answer immediately.
“David, honey, you’re okay--” Kurt said, partly as a reassurance for David and partly out of relief. He reached between the working paramedics to take his boyfriend’s hand into his own.
“Wha--” Dave tried speaking. His voice came out thick, like he’d just woken up from a deep slumber.
A paramedic shined a light in his eyes and Dave squinted against it. “Sir, do you know your name? Do you know where you are?”
Dave grimaced as paramedics worked over him and his head was pounding so much that he didn’t really want to answer. “David. Football.” His answers were short and seemed to satisfy the paramedic who had asked. When he looked around at his surroundings, he realized that maybe his second answer was wrong. “Not football..?”
Kurt gave his hand another squeeze and his gentle voice seemed to cut through the commotion easily as Dave honed in on it. “We’re about to leave McKinley; they want to take you to the hospital because you were unconscious for… well, long enough for these guys to show up.”
Dave frowned. “Head hurts,” he complained, his hand gripping weakly to return Kurt’s hand squeeze. “Want to go home.”
“I called your dad; he’s meeting us at the hospital. They’re going to make sure you’re okay before we get you home, okay?”
Luckily, Dave’s condition didn’t seem to worsen after he got to the hospital. His scans showed that he had a mild brain injury that needed to be monitored closely and he wasn’t to play any football until he was fully recovered. The doctor even OK’d for him to take a few days off at school because any cognitive activities-- including schoolwork-- could put a strain on his condition.
Dave had thought that meant vegging out and playing video games all day instead but his father limited his TV time as well. “You should be resting,” he insisted, so Dave took a nap instead.
“You’re sure you’re feeling okay? You were just at the hospital yesterday,” Kurt said with his brows knitted together out of concern. He’d come straight from glee rehearsal over to Dave’s house to visit him.
“I feel fine; I took some medicine for my headache but it’s like yesterday didn’t even happen,” Dave replied with a confidence that seemed to put most of Kurt’s concerns to rest.
Kurt sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over to run his fingers through Dave’s hair as his eyes quickly scanned for any hints of discomfort or really any reason for him to worry. When he saw that Dave truly was perfectly fine, he let out a small breath of relief and smiled. “Okay, I believe you.”
With Dave’s father out a bit, Kurt stepped into the role of caretaker rather easily and whipped up a hearty meal with whatever he could scrounge up in the Karofskys’ kitchen. Even with Kurt keeping a watchful eye on him for the rest of the day, Dave truly did seem like he was doing a lot better.
So much better, in fact, that when Dave went in for his check-up at the hospital a few days later, his doctor cleared him to go back to school and back to football practice as long as he felt alright. Both his father and his boyfriend had their concerns when it came to football since he was just in the hospital a little under two weeks ago so Dave promised he would sit out of actual practice for at least the next week while opting to only watch after doing a few laps around the field.
“Hey, are you ready for our date?” Dave asked as he approached Kurt at his locker, fresh from a shower in the boys’ locker room after his daily afternoon jog.
Kurt blinked, having been in deep conversation about song selections for their next glee club competition with Rachel when his boyfriend had approached them. Rachel quietly said her goodbyes to give the boys privacy and Kurt smiled despite the look of confusion on his face. “You have a date planned today for us?” he asked as he gently closed his locker.
Dave nodded with an excited smile. “Yeah, we were going to the movies after school today, right?”
“I thought we were going tomorrow,” Kurt said as he pulled out his phone to double-check the date.
“No, we said Thursday.”
“Tomorrow is Thursday, honey,” Kurt’s expression softened as he corrected his boyfriend. “B-but we can still go out together if you’re not doing anything today!”
Dave scrunched his brows together. He must’ve just gotten his days mixed up. “Well now I feel dumb,” he chuckled, only slightly embarrassed. “I was wondering why they didn’t have fish sticks in the cafeteria today.”
Kurt shook his head as he placed a gentle hand on Dave’s arm. “You’re not dumb; people get their days mixed up all of the time. The last time I missed Friday Night Dinner with my dad because I thought it was Thursday-- oh boy, did I get a good talking to from him,” he chuckled along with Dave to keep the conversation light as they began walking down the hall together.
It had been such a small thing-- a common brain burp that could’ve happened to anyone-- that Kurt didn’t think twice of it when it happened.
The following day, Kurt noticed something was amiss right from the start of the school day. When he saw Dave coming down the halls, he noticed the visible scowl he was wearing on his face. It gave him flashbacks to 10AM slushies and being shoved into lockers-- Dave looked like he was just about ready to start throwing punches if someone so much as looked at him the wrong way.
“Hey, you okay?” Kurt asked, having rapidly approached Dave until they were standing together in the hall.
“... Headache,” Dave grumbled under his breath only loud enough for Kurt to hear with the background noise of bustling students at a dull roar.
As Kurt looked his boyfriend over, he noticed the way Dave squinted his eyes like the boring fluorescent lights above them were too bright for him and maybe he was even being overstimulated from their surroundings. Thinking quickly, Kurt grabbed ahold of Dave’s hand and made a beeline for the choir room. No one would be there this early.
When they got to the room, Kurt immediately flipped the lights off in hopes that it might make Dave feel just a little better. “I think I have some ibuprofen in my bag, but the school nurse might have some, too…” he spoke mostly to himself as he started rummaging through his messenger bag.
Dave plopped himself down on one of the chairs, screwing his eyes shut tight. “I already took some,” he announced, dropping his backpack onto the floor with a sigh.
“Maybe I should take you home; you don’t look well,” Kurt said as he knelt in front of Dave.
“No, hey, I’m fine-- c’mon, it’s just a bad headache.” Dave leaned forward and smiled, though Kurt could tell immediately that he was forcing himself. “I just need to take it easy and I’ll be fine. Walk me to my first class?”
Although Kurt wanted to protest, he felt that arguing might just make Dave’s headache worse so he relented for the time being. Instead, they walked to Dave’s class together and he gave Kurt a quick peck on the lips before he got settled at his desk. As Kurt stood in the doorway of the classroom observing Dave from a distance, he could see from the way his brows pinched together that his headache still hadn’t abated.
After their first class, Kurt managed to peek a glance at Dave down the hall chatting it up with some of the other jocks and had to assume he was feeling better-- at least well enough to carry a conversation about some video game with which he wasn’t familiar. It gave him just enough reassurance to go the rest of the morning without worrying too much.
At lunchtime, however, Dave was nowhere to be found. When Kurt didn’t see Dave at their usual table with the rest of the glee club, he went searching. At first he checked their go-to spots like the choir room and the staircase near the courtyard, but no such luck. Then he peeked into the nurse’s office but there was just some kid with a bruised knee.
It wasn’t until Kurt decided to venture into the boys’ locker room that he found that Dave’s headaches might be the least of his worries.
“There you are,” Kurt sighed with relief as he found his boyfriend changing out of his regular clothes and into his athletic clothes. He looked like he was getting ready for his afternoon jog. “What’re you doing in here..?”
Dave glanced up at Kurt and flashed a smile. “Hey, I guess I’m a little early--” he looked back into his locker to pull out his favorite sweatshirt with the cut-off sleeves. “Did practice get cancelled or something and I didn’t get the memo? Usually the guys are pouring in here after the bell’s rung to start getting ready…”
Kurt didn’t follow at first, quiet as he tried to decipher what it was that Dave was getting at. “David, it’s not time for football practice yet; it’s barely even noon,” he said.
“What? No, I just came from history class-- that’s my last class of the day then school’s out. I saw everyone in the halls getting ready to leave.” Dave threw the other boy a confused look.
“Everyone’s in the cafeteria; it’s lunchtime…”
Dave’s confused expression only intensified at the information as he closed his locker and walked around the row of lockers to look up at the wall clock. Like Kurt said, it was barely past noon. “I, uh… I don’t know what happened-- I must’ve gotten mixed up…”
Kurt walked over with his brows still scrunched together as he tried to figure out how his boyfriend could’ve gotten the time of day so mixed up. “Wait, so did you just come from your history class or were you in calculus?” he asked, wondering to himself if Ms. Hagberg had just let a confused student sit in the wrong class for nearly the past hour.
“... I don’t remember now,” Dave replied. He still looked very confused and borderline distraught as he struggled to recall where he had just been minutes ago.
“Okay, hey--” Kurt spoke with a quiet and coaxing voice, wanting to keep Dave calm as he reached out and placed a hand on his arm. It was one thing to forget what day it was but it was deeply concerning for someone to forget what time it was or what they were just doing. “You know what, let’s forget about class and football practice for now; I think I should take you home.”
Dave frowned. “Home?”
Kurt nodded. “Yes; I think maybe we need to tell your dad and call your doctor. This could be because of your head injury.”
“But they cleared me; I’m fine. My doctor even said I could start playing football again, too.”
“I know, but your doctor doesn’t know about this; it could be a new development and I think it’d be better if they knew. Besides, football might make things worse right now.”
Dave pouted, not particularly happy with the prospect of further delaying his return to the football field, but relented since Kurt was so worried. “Alright, fine.”
Feeling at least a tiny bit triumphant, Kurt began leading the way out of the locker room with Dave’s hand in his own. He would take Dave back home and make sure he was tucked into bed for some much needed rest. Once they were at home, Kurt could see about possibly contacting Dave’s doctor or if his condition worsened, maybe they could go to an urgent care clinic.
“You really don’t have to take me home, though,” Dave tried to protest one final time as they made their way out to the parking lot. “I can manage just fine.”
Kurt shook his head. “I’m sure you can but I’m not taking my chances; I’d feel a lot better if I just took you home myself and made sure you were okay.” He still spoke with that tone of finality like his decision wasn’t about to be swayed.
When they made their way to the parking lot, Dave stopped in his tracks and seemed to stand still for a moment, staring straight ahead with a blank expression.
“What’s wrong?” Kurt asked, growing more so worried for his boyfriend’s sake as he searched the taller man’s eyes for any further neurological symptoms.
“I… I’m not sure,” Dave blinked, though he didn’t seem to break his focus on whatever it was he was looking at. “Everything looks… weird?”
Kurt turned his head to look in the same direction as Dave, though nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The parking lot was full of cars with hardly anyone wandering around. Mostly everyone was already settled with their lunches somewhere and anyone who’d gone off-campus for lunch was long gone by now. “Weird how?” he asked.
Dave shook his head and seemed to break his line of sight of whatever it was he was looking at, apparently deciding that however weird it might’ve been that it wasn’t cause for concern. Instead, he brought his hand up to his head and scowled. “I don’t know but my headache is back,” he complained.
“I have some ibuprofen in my car,” Kurt offered, tugging on Dave’s hand to lead the way to where his car was parked.
When they both got into Kurt’s car, Dave let out a little breath though it was difficult for Kurt to tell if it was out of relief or exhaustion. Either way, it only reinforced Kurt’s decision in taking Dave home.
Kurt gestured to the glove compartment before turning the volume on the radio all the way down for his boyfriend’s benefit. “I have a thing of it in there,” he told Dave. He backed out of the parking stall with practiced ease and kept his focus on what was in front of him. “When’s the last time you took some?”
The sound of the glove compartment opening registered with Kurt but with no verbal response from his boyfriend, Kurt quickly glanced over in his direction. “Hon?” When they came to a red light, Kurt fully turned his attention towards him. “David.”
Dave had had the bottle of painkillers in his hand but he was staring blankly at it-- the same absent expression he’d had just a moment ago out in the parking lot except now he wasn’t even speaking.
“David!” Kurt called again, this time reaching over the middle console of the car to gently shake his arm.
Dave immediately snapped out of his daze, his eyes shooting up to look at Kurt. “Y-yeah, what? What is it?” he said.
Kurt’s frown deepened as his concern for Dave grew. “I was talking and you were like, ignoring me. Are you sure you’re feeling okay besides your headache? Do things still look weird?” he asked, looking back to the road as the traffic light turned green. He was starting to think going straight to the hospital might be the best call here.
“Yeah… yeah, I’m okay. I just…”
“Just what?” Kurt asked as he looked at the road expectantly, waiting for the rest of Dave’s sentence.
The rattling of pills in its bottle dropped onto the floor of the passenger seat and Kurt glanced over. The feeling of dread rose in his chest just like the night Dave had gotten hurt on the football field. Dave wasn’t looking at him and his whole body started convulsing like an electrical current was running through him from head to toe.
“David! ” Kurt all but shrieked, glancing between his boyfriend and the road in a panic before pulling over to the side of the road as soon as he could and turning on his hazard lights. “David, oh my god--” he gasped as hot tears suddenly sprang to his eyes and he undid his seatbelt to shift his body towards Dave. He reached over and grabbed one of Dave’s jerking arms, not expecting him to feel quite so rigid.
The way Dave shook was unlike anything Kurt had seen before in person but he’d seen enough primetime medical dramas to identify a seizure.
Just as quickly as Dave had started convulsing, he stopped. As if whatever force was making him shake so violently suddenly disappeared without another thought. Dave was so still that the dread in his chest tied itself into a knot. “... David?” he called out with a quavering voice. Reaching over, he hovered his hand over his boyfriend’s mouth and let out a sigh of relief when he felt a hot breath come out of Dave’s mouth.
Kurt quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed 9-1-1, pressing the phone against his ear and letting his tears fall freely down his cheeks. “H-help… I need help, please,” he sobbed.
Kurt wasn’t prepared to watch his boyfriend being loaded onto an ambulance for the second time in only so many weeks. He felt helpless, unable to help in any way except staying out of the paramedics’ way. He wondered if Dave was scared-- if he knew what was going on around him or what had just happened to him even though he was unconscious.
When they got to the hospital, he had calmed down enough to call Dave’s father and inform him that Dave had had a seizure. He also called Finn to let anyone who asked know what had happened and that he’d be skipping glee club rehearsal for that day.
When Kurt entered the emergency room in search of Dave after having parked his car, there was a moment when he couldn’t find him. Suddenly, there was a commotion and he followed the sounds to see a flurry of doctors working around Dave’s convulsing body. Another seizure.
Kurt looked at his phone; this was Dave’s second episode in less than a half-hour.
“What’s going on-- why is this happening again?!” Kurt asked with a voice loud enough that he hoped that one of the many medical staff could answer him.
A resident ushered him away from the area, walking him over to a quieter space to ask him a few questions. Kurt recalled the injury on the football field two weeks ago, Dave’s headaches, his forgetfulness and how he’d just checked out right before the first episode in the car.
“Everything was fine until this morning--” Kurt interrupted himself. “No, wait, yesterday he forgot what day it was. I didn’t think it was anything but--”
“It might not be,” the resident told him but they noted it down regardless. “A neurologist will be here soon and she can do a memory check. She’ll most likely want to do some imaging of his head so you can take a seat and wait while we figure out what’s going on with him, okay?”
Sitting in the waiting room was excruciating. Every minute ticked by agonizingly slow and Kurt was so nervous it looked like he had restless leg syndrome. What if this was Dave’s life now? If he had to quit football because he was at risk for these episodes-- it’d make him so sad. What if the next time he had an episode he was the one behind the wheel?
Kurt screwed his eyes closed, trying to shut out any negative thoughts. There was nothing he could do about those things right this second.
At least when Dave’s father arrived at the hospital, he didn’t have to wait alone anymore. He had to explain yet again what had happened and doing so was akin to reliving everything all over again. If only he’d been more insistent on having Dave go home in the morning-- or if he’d paid better attention yesterday-- then maybe none of this would’ve happened.
If only he’d insisted that they looked harder at his scans-- double-checked them, even. If only he had worried more when they were at the hospital, maybe Dave wouldn’t have had those seizures. Someone could’ve done something to prevent this from happening… Something could’ve been done.
As Kurt cried quietly in the waiting room, wringing his hands together over and over again, he thought about how he wished he knew what he could’ve done to prevent all of this from happening.