Read it on my AO3! : https://archiveofourown.org/works/19449763
Blaine gets sick; Kurt goes overboard trying to take care of him because it reminds him of the months leading up to his mother’s death. Dalton!Klaine
-
Groaning as he slowly drifted awake, Blaine squinted at the white light piercing through the blinds of his bedroom. He took one shallow, ragged breath before his lungs choked up and he began to cough helplessly. Wincing a little, he reached over to his bedside table and fumbled around for the box of tissues kept there. Uncoordinated fingers pattered blindly against the cool surface, but he couldn’t quite get to it from his current position buried under the thick duvet. Huffing an annoyed breath, he wriggled a little further to the edge of the bed and stretched his arm taut, eyes still closed as he tried his best to grab it- until, suddenly, he had lent too far over and managed to flick the box off of the edge, whining as he heard it unceremoniously land on his bedroom floor.
His movement caused Kurt to stir. Tightening the grip around his waist a little when he felt Blaine move to slide out of bed, his brow furrowed gently and caused his nose to crinkle in a way that would have made Blaine’s heart flutter had he been able to open his eyes.
“Where ‘re you going?” He muttered, caught halfway between awake and asleep.
Blaine sniffed. “Sorry, just dropped something…” He coughed again, the sound ringing loudly in the open room. Kurt blinked awake, nearing complete consciousness in a few seconds and shuffling closer to Blaine’s side of the bed.
“Blaine? Are you okay?” He placed a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder, feeling the clammy skin and gasping softly. “Oh my gosh, you’re burning up- you must be sick!”
“It’s nothing bad, honestly,-” Blaine began, but was cut off as Kurt’s cool hands began pressing all over the nape of his neck and cheeks and forehead, leaning into the welcomingly cold touch.
“No, no, Blaine, you’ve definitely got a fever…” Kurt was now sat up on his knees, crawling over to brush the curls back from his face. His eyes flickered rapidly from one area of concern to another- his dark circles, rosy cheeks, and overall sickly complexion. His heart rate began to pick up rapidly. “You look terrible.”
Laughing breathily, Blaine rubbed his itchy nose with the back of his hand. “Geez, that’s just what I like to be told by my boyfriend first thing in the morning.” His voice was nasally, his throat sore and dry. “Come on, we need to get ready for school.” He made a start to clamber out of bed, when he felt a surprisingly strong grip on each arm pulling him back.
“No way, Mister,” Kurt said sternly. “You can’t risk making yourself any worse. We’re staying here so I can look after you.”
“Kurt…” Blaine sighed. “You can’t miss school because of me . Go, I’m sure I’ll be okay after a day of rest. Plus, I need somebody to borrow notes from, and you’re the only person in all of my classes.”
“Not a problem, I’ve got us covered.” Kurt was frantically tapping away on his phone, texting their classmates. “Wes for History, David for English, and Hunter for French.” He dropped the phone on the sheets and hopped out, moving around to Blaine and gently laying him back down to tuck him in. “There, that’s better,” He mumbled to himself. Blaine looked up through sleepy eyes, confused but not completely hating all of this extra attention.
“Okay, I’ll go and get you something to eat. Are you comfortable? Do you need another blanket? Extra pillows?” He reached behind his head to fluff up the ones he was currently resting on. “Should I get the fan? You’re still pretty hot.”
Blaine smirked. “You really think so?-” His flirting was interrupted by an untimely sneeze, which he just about managed to cover with his hands. Kurt jumped to action immediately, retrieving the lost tissue box from the carpet and whipping one out, using it to pinch Blaine’s nose, rubbing it carefully. Blaine scoffed, blushing and turning his head away a little. “I’m okay, Kurt. I think I can blow my own nose.” He chuckled.
Kurt frowned, before remembering he had promised them both breakfast. “Back in a sec.” He said, quickly pushing back the stray curls kissing Blaine’s skin before pulling on the Dalton sweatshirt he loved to steal from him ( ‘It smells like you…’ He admitted when questioned by Blaine ) and disappearing downstairs.
-
Jumping a little when he hears the door kick open, Blaine wakes again, having briefly dozed off in Kurt’s absence. His head feels like it’s packed with cotton wool, somehow heavy and light at the same time- however, he doesn’t have much time to think about it before he feels something freezing being pressed to his temples, causing him to let out a small moan of content as he allowed his eyelids to flutter shut.
“You poor thing…” Kurt whispered, kneeling at his bedside and daintily brushing the cloth across his slanted cheekbones, collecting droplets of sweat. Blaine peeked out of the corner of one eye, glancing over at the tray Kurt had brought back with him, laden with enough medical supplies to put the local drugstore to shame.
“What’s all this?” He croaked.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Kurt turned to his little station. “Just some Tylenol, some Vaporub, ice water, tea with honey and lemon, and french toast. Homemade, duh.” He chuckled, popping two pills from their packet and handing them to Blaine.
He sat up, blinking as the room around him blurred at the edges, swallowing the tablets with a gulp of water. Kurt pushed the blankets back under his ribs as he lay back, smoothing down the rumpled sheets before pulling the plate holding their food onto his knees and cutting the French toast into small, bite-sized pieces.
“Open up,” He said, pointing a fork with a cube of toast speared on it towards Blaine.
“Hey, I can feed myself, you kno- Mmf!” Blaine was only half sat up before Kurt took the opportunity to stuff it into his open mouth, smiling as he watched him chew.
“Wow, ‘s good!” Blaine said through a mouthful of warm, syrupy cinnamon. “You made this in 10 minutes?”
“Trust me, it’s the least I can do.” Kurt grinned down at his lap, cutting up more little pieces to feed to Blaine, who begrudgingly allowed him to do so.
“This is much more than I would ever expect you to do, Kurt. You really didn’t have to. Thank you.” Blaine sank into his pillow, holding back a sniffle so Kurt wouldn’t dive back in with another tissue… Not that he wasn’t grateful, he thought, it was just a little much. He shouldn’t be weirded out by what was actually a very considerate act of kindness when he was in such a vulnerable state, but he could also feel the nervous energy radiating off his boyfriend, which worried him a little. More than a little, really.
“Okay, I went through your DVD collection and picked out a couple of your favourites to pass the time. Which one first- the Aristocats or the Sound of Music? ”
Blaine hummed. “The Aristocats.”
Kurt nodded in agreement, climbing back into bed and popping the disc into Blaine’s laptop. He slid an arm back around Blaine’s shoulders, tangling fingers in his thick, un-gelled curls and massaging his scalp. Blaine purred and snuggled into Kurt’s shoulders, smiling as the opening theme played.
-
An hour or so later, the movie credits began to roll. Blaine glanced to his right and found that Kurt had fallen asleep, nose buried in their shared pillow and his arm still draped around him. Feeling a twinge in his belly, he realised that he needed the toilet. Badly. But, his clingy boyfriend wasn’t likely to let him brave the ten-second journey alone, so he would have to be sneaky. Blaine shifted out of Kurt’s grip, slowly and painstakingly, trying not to squirm too much. He managed to replace himself with the pillow he was laying on, stifling a giggle when Kurt enveloped it in a hug before wandering out into the hallway to go to the bathroom.
“Blaine?” He heard Kurt call as he finished up his business and washed his hands.
“Here!” Blaine replied, breaking out into a coughing fit again as he stumbled back into the bedroom.
“You should have woke me up if you needed something!” Kurt scolded, up out of bed in seconds to lay Blaine back down. “Does your chest hurt? I can make some more tea, if you give me a minute. I went through the medicine cabinet, but I couldn’t find any cough syrup, do you want me to go and buy some? Hold on, let me get my coat-”
“Kurt, please, calm down,” Blaine grabbed his boyfriend’s hand, trying his best not to sound so hoarse in order to be taken seriously. “I promise you, I’m alright. I can make it to the bathroom without you, I’m not a baby.” They last sentence came out a little harsher than he intended, and he regretted it almost as soon as he said it.
Kurt’s cheeks flushed bright pink, his hand wriggling free from Blaine’s- hurt now twisting in his stomach alongside panic. He felt his throat cramp, and tried to swallow it back before Blaine noticed, but he was too late.
“Oh, Kurt, I- I’m sorry,” Blaine stammered, sighing. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done today. It was so kind of you to stay off school to be with me, and the food you made was amazing. It’s just that you seem to be going sort of… Over the top, I guess?”
Surprised by how little it took to push him over the edge, Kurt’s gaze fell down to his fidgeting hands, blinking rapidly to dry his eyes. Blaine cautiously laced his fingers with Kurt’s, checking to make sure the touch was welcome, and reassured when he felt Kurt squeeze back.
“It’s okay. I mean, it isn’t, but I understand.” Kurt began, hyper-aware of the way his skin prickled with goosebumps at the discomfort blooming in his chest whenever he was forced to speak about this.
“Talk to me.” Blaine spoke quietly, calmly. He ran his thumb across Kurt’s knuckles like the ivory keys of a piano, looking up at him with a warm, concerned gaze.
Kurt took a deep, shaky breath in.
“When I was younger, and my mom got sick, I used to think it was all on me to help her feel better.” He picked at the tassels of the knitted throw he had pulled across their laps earlier.
“It was fun, at first. Playing her little nurse.” A sad half-smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. “I thought it was just like all the times I’d caught a cold. That it was something that could be fixed with chicken soup and a Disney movie. So, everyday, I would go into her room and do all of the things she did for me when I was ill.” He felt warm, salty tears drip onto his and Blaine’s fingers, running through the crevices like a river descending the mountains.
“But, obviously, it was much worse than that. She stopped playing the game after a while, when things started to get really bad. I tried to sneak into her room when I thought my Dad wouldn’t notice, but she wasn’t even awake most of the time I managed to get past him. I just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her alone to struggle, I wanted to make sure she had everything she needed…”
Blaine’s head was filled with heartbreaking images of a tiny, eight year-old Kurt curled up at his mother’s side, trying his best to nurse her back to health. Braiding her hair off of her face, and patting her brow with a cool cloth, and giving her warm tea to sip through a straw, reading aloud from the books he’d borrowed for her from the school library... He couldn’t believe he’d been so inconsiderate and ignored what was the painfully obvious reason for Kurt’s irrational behaviour.
Fearing he wouldn’t be able to find exactly the right words to comfort his boyfriend, Blaine pulled Kurt into his arms, letting him slump down and bury his face into his chest, breathing in the deep, herbal aroma of the vaporub he’d insisted on applying to him earlier. Snaking his arms around his back, Blaine rubbed his palms flat against Kurt’s trembling shoulder blades.
“I’m sorry,” Kurt turned his head to the side, rubbing his nose with the tissue that Blaine handed to him. “I didn’t mean to make this all about me, or anything. I just… I don’t really talk about it anymore. A lot of people don’t know what to say, so I figured it would just make things less awkward if I keep it to myself.” He brushed the stray tears away from his eyelashes. “But I guess now you know why I get so crazy whenever someone I love is sick…”
Blaine’s heart swelled in his chest at ‘love’ , but he decided to save that conversation for another time. He hugged Kurt tighter, pressing his cheek into his (for once) unkempt hair.
“I’m really glad you told me about this. I’m proud of you for opening up, and honoured that you trust me enough to be so vulnerable.” Blaine patted his back and pulled away from the hug with a soft, genuine smile. “But, I promise you I’m going to be okay. I only have a cold, and it’ll almost certainly be gone by the end of this week. You don’t need to miss out on your life to wait for me to get better.”
Kurt nodded timidly, smiling as he felt Blaine kiss the top of his head.
“I’ll still be here for you every day after school. Then, we can watch as many movies and eat as much french toast as your heart desires.”
Kurt laughed, Blaine’s soothing words taking the edge off of his frayed nerves. He sank back into his embrace, overwhelmingly grateful that he had such a kind, understanding boyfriend.
“I do, however, draw the line at helping me in the bathroom.” Blaine said. “And blowing my nose for me.”
Kurt rolled his eyes, muttering something about how he’s ‘Seen much more private things’ than Blaine with a runny nose, causing Blaine’s fingers to scribble around his lower ribs, finding his tickle spot.
“Okay!” Kurt gasped, squirming and shoving his hand away. “I’ll lay off a little bit…”
“Thank you.” Blaine smiled, snuggling back down into his blanket and pulling the laptop back over towards them. “Want to make a start on the Sound of Music?”
Kurt smiled and nodded. “Sure. Oh! You’re due to take more medicine, hold on,” He reached across Blaine and grabbed the packet of Tylenol, passing him two more film-coated pills with a glass of water. “Also, I’ve got this really great chicken soup recipe I’ve been working on, and now seems like the perfect opportunity to test it out. If we relocate to the living room, I can keep an eye on you whilst I make us lunch?”
Blaine grinned, shaking his head fondly, unreasonably smitten with his sweet, overprotective boyfriend. “That sounds great, Kurt.”
Kurt clapped his hands, hopping up and pressing a kiss to the tip of Blaine’s nose and picking up his tray, bouncing out to the kitchen with a blanket-clad Blaine trailing close behind him.
