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Kurt was a caretaker. Whether it was his dad’s heart, Finn’s cold, or Blaine’s sore throat, Kurt took care of it; he took care of them. But he did not let anyone take care of him. Call it pride or insecurity, but Kurt would rather take care of himself.
Which is why when he woke up with a pounding headache and an unexplainable chill, he tried his best to hide it.
Burt never paid much attention to anything but the newspaper in the morning so when Kurt sat down next to him to eat breakfast, all he had to do was not cough. As he shoveled the cereal into his mouth, Carole entered the kitchen and kissed Burt on the cheek, wishing both of them good morning.
“Kurt, are you alright?” she asked, looking at him as she fished a pan out of the cupboard. “You look a little pale.”
Kurt chuckled nervously. “I’m always pale.”
He cursed internally. His dad was easy but Carole was trickier.
“Are you sure?” Carole asked, clearly not convinced.
“Yup.” Kurt stood up and immediately regretted it as the room started spinning. He grabbed for the kitchen table to steady himself.
“Kurt?” Carole’s voice was worried and his father finally looked up from his paper.
“I’m okay!” Kurt quickly exclaimed. “Just stood up too fast, iron deficiency and all that.” He forced a smile.
Burt and Carole shared a look. “Alright then.” Burt said hesitantly. “Have fun at school.”
“Yeah! See ya!” Kurt rushed out of the kitchen and then leaned against the front door while he waited for Finn. He closed his eyes and breathed through his mouth a few times. You’ll be fine, he thought, you’re barely sick.
Just then Finn came downstairs. It was easy to convince him to drive to school, he would probably do it everyday if Kurt ever let him drive his precious Navigator.
The ride to school was anything but quiet as Finn blabbered on about the “crazy dream” he’d had that night. Kurt leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. Thank god Finn was so oblivious.
~*~
His first classes were a breeze. He had French, which he could do in his sleep (and he almost had to); math, which seemed like child’s play after Dalton; and chemistry, to which he never paid attention anyway.
Lunch, however, was a different story.
He had only barely started on his food when Blaine plopped down next to him in their regular seats.
“Good morning, sunshine.” Blaine happily exclaimed.
Kurt smiled at him. “Good morning, honey.”
Blaine looked at him strangely for a second. “Is everything okay? You look off.”
Damn it, Kurt thought. Bastard knows me too well, he’s gonna figure me out.
“I’m fine.” Kurt smiled, and straightened his back.
“Are you sure?” Blaine continued. “You know there’s no shame in being sick.”
Kurt playfully rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. And there’s no shame asking for help either. You’ve told me a million times.”
“And I’ll keep saying it until you listen.” Blaine looked at him pointedly.
“I have listened! I just never get sick, that’s all.”
Blaine narrowed his eyes.
“It’s true! They accidentally gave me the wrong vaccine once and now my immune system’s impenetrable.”
Blaine laughed. “That’s now how that works.”
“Sure it is.” Kurt was smiling, he felt better than he had this whole morning.
But then-
Kurt could feel it. It was unmistakable. Wet, gross phlegm was leaking from his nose and making its way down to his upper lip.
Kurt could barely stand it. He had to wipe it away, Blaine could notice it any minute.
The thought of wiping his nose with his Marc Jacobs Collection shirt sent shivers down his spine. He grabbed a tissue, pretending to fiddle with it. Blaine was talking about song choices for a glee club assignment, hopefully he was distracted enough.
Kurt turned his head as if to look at something behind him and sneakily stroked the tissue under his nose.
Mission accomplished, Kurt turned his head again, but his smug feeling vanished as soon as he saw Blaine’s face.
“Did you just wipe your nose?”
Kurt paused. “No. My nose was itchy.”
Blaine raised his eyebrows. “So you scratched yourself with a tissue.”
“I can’t touch my face with my fingers.” Kurt tried his best to look appalled. “My finger oil will seep into my skin and ruin years worth of skin care routines. Do you know how much work it takes to have such flawless skin?” Kurt tried to scoff but it turned into more of a cough.
Blaine looked as if he was about to protest so Kurt jumped out of his seat, ignoring the dizziness that came over him. “Oh look at the time, class is starting.” It was partly true.
“Kurt,” Blaine tried.
“I’ll see you at Glee.” Kurt smiled and took off. He pretended not to feel Blaine’s eyes on his back.
~*~
When Kurt sat down for Glee he was utterly exhausted. But as usual he was sitting next to Blaine so he tried to hide it. He had purposefully arrived at the last minute so before Blaine could get a word in, Mr. Schue began his teaching.
“Alright kids,” he clapped his hands together. “Sectionals are just around the corner. Now, your singing is great but a lot of you need to work on our dancing, so that’s what we’ll be focusing on this lesson.”
Kurt felt dizzy. He could not handle an hour of dancing. He was picking his brain for excuses that wouldn’t be too obvious before Blaine piped up.
“Mr. Schue? I don’t think Kurt is feeling up to dancing right now.”
Kurt blushed a hot red. All eyes turned on him.
“Are you okay, Kurt?” Mr. Schuester asked, his eyes full of empty concern.
Kurt put on a forced smile. “I appreciate your concern,” he said with a pointed look at Blaine, “but I’m fine. I feel fully capable of practicing our dance numbers.”
“Great!” Mr Scue exclaimed, the issue already out of his mind. “Let’s head to the auditorium. I think we should practice ABC first and then Control with special attention to the spins.”
His voice faded as he walked away, Glee clubbers trailing behind him.
Blaine stood in front of him and extended his hand. “You coming?”
Kurt ignored his hand and got up. He could faintly hear Mr Schue’s voice from the hallway.
“Now let’s make sure we really put extra effort into our stunts, like Kurt’s split jump.”
Suddenly the room started spinning. Kurt reached for something to steady himself but only caught the air.
“Kurt?” Blaine’s voice felt far away.
The pounding in his head increased until it blocked out all other noise. His vision blurred and the last thing he saw was Blaine’s indistinct figure as he hit the ground.
~*~
When he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was Blaine crouching over him.
“Wha? Wha’ hap’nd?” Kurt mumbled as he dazedly looked around.
“You passed out, that’s what happened. Damnit Kurt I knew you were sick.”
Kurt tried to get up but the room started spinning again.
“No, no. Stay down.” Blaine’s hands cradled him and gently brought him back to the ground. “I’ll call Burt, he’ll know what to do.”
Kurt closed his eyes again. He barely registered the phone call between Burt and Blaine but all of the sudden Blaine’s hands were around him again. “Get up Kurt, I’m taking you home.”
Kurt clumsily got up, hanging on to Blaine for dear life as they slowly made their way to Blaine’s car. Kurt almost fell asleep on the way home but soon enough they were pulling into the driveway and Blaine gently rubbed his arm to wake him. “Come on, let’s go inside.”
Kurt mumbled something intelligible and together they stumbled into the house.
Once inside Blaine made for Kurt’s room but Kurt stopped him. “No, no. I wanna watch a movie.” He started heading for the living room.
Blaine sighed. He knew better than to argue. “Okay, but you’re lying down the whole time.”
Kurt had already stumbled onto the couch when Blaine came into the living room. He fetched a blanket and lay down next to Kurt, draping the blanket over both of them. Kurt immediately snuggled up to him.
“What do you want to watch?” Blaine asked, reaching for the remote.
“I dunno. You pick.” Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine and laid his head on his chest. Blaine pressed a kiss to his hair before turning on Sound of Music, knowing it was Kurt’s favorite.
They watched the movie in silence, apart from Blaine occasionally singing along quietly to the songs. After an hour Blaine could’ve sworn Kurt had fallen asleep but then he suddenly heard a small voice. “M’sorry.”
Blaine paused the movie and looked down at Kurt, stroking a hand through his hair. “For what?”
Kurt fiddled with the blanket, not looking at Blaine. “For not telling you I was sick.”
Blaine’s heart warmed and he couldn’t resist leaning down to kiss Kurt just once, germs be damned. “It’s okay, baby. But next time, tell me before you pass out.” He shuffled down to look Kurt in the eyes. “Let me take care of you. That’s what boyfriends are for.”
Kurt smiled at him before laying his head back on Blaine’s chest. Blaine watched him for a while; watched the steady rise and fall of his chest and the occasional flutter of his eyelids. Then Kurt spoke up again. “Can you turn the movie back on?”
Blaine smiled and pressed another kiss to his temple. “Of course. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Blaine could feel Kurt’s smile on his chest. He turned the movie back on and ten minutes later, Kurt was asleep.