May 13, 2012, 8:04 p.m.
Struggling: Chapter 9
T - Words: 1,850 - Last Updated: May 13, 2012 Story: Closed - Chapters: 27/? - Created: Apr 12, 2012 - Updated: May 13, 2012 739 0 0 0 0
Just as Kurt was reading the third chapter of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, he heard a small voice say "Oh, damn. I forgot."
Turns out it was Carole saying it. Joey had fallen asleep against her and she had no way of getting up. "Kurt? Kurt?" Carole softly said, not wanting to wake the brothers up.
Kurt looked up from his iPhone, a questioning look in his face. "Hmm?" he hummed quietly.
"In my bag, over by Blaine's desk, there's a packet of brown syringes in a Ziploc bag. Those are antibiotics, amoxicillin. It's for his possible infection. But it's an oral medication. I forgot to give it to him before I gave him the fever reducer. Try to give it to him, now?" Carole asked him.
He nodded and tried getting off the bed without jostling the mattress too much. Kurt did as Carole said and retrieved the bag of the light brown tinted syringes. Kurt looked over at Carole for confirmation, she nodded. He then got back on the bed and took one out. It was a small syringe with a thick liquid inside; since it wasn't an IV syringe, it just had an open end that was covered with a removable cap. "Flavored?" He inquired. She nodded. Before he took the cap off of the syringe, he gently shook Blaine somewhat awake. "Hey, it's me. Can you try to wake up a little bit? For me? You need to take some more meds." He whispered gently in his ear while massaging his scalp.
Blaine stirred a bit and his eyes opened a centimeter. "Mmm….ye-ah, I'm… getting, there." He said quite sleepily.
"I'm going to put something in your mouth, okay? It's just another med, but it's flavored…" Kurt looked at Carole as she mouthed, "Strawberry." "It's a strawberry flavored; but I need you to swallow this and then just a sip of water, and I'll let you go back to sleep, okay?" Kurt slung his arm over the mound of pillows Blaine was resting on and rubbed his arm; he was still quite hot from his fever, and also his skin was shining from the sweat his fever was making his body produce.
"Mm, o-kay." Blaine's eyes slipped back down as he opened his mouth about an inch wide. Kurt slipped the uncovered syringe end into his mouth and slowly pushed down the plunger. He could see Blaine slowly swallowing the medicine and sighing before he swallowed the next mouthful. Once done with the medicine, Kurt took out the empty syringe out and reached for the cup of water he had set on the nightstand; he slipped the straw between Blaine's lips, encouraging him to take a few sips before he went back to sleep.
Blaine obliged, nearly drinking half the cup before mumbling "I love you, Ku-rt" and promptly fell asleep, lightly snoring.
Kurt smiled, kissed his temple and leaned into the mound of pillows his boyfriend was sleeping on. He set the cup back on the nightstand before he noticed that Blaine was lightly shivering, his shirt still off. Kurt had seen him without a shirt before, when they were changing out of their gym uniform. The thing that disturbed him the most was his scar. How did I not notice that? I mean, I did see him fooling around with Wes and David when we had to play that horrible game of who can withstand the most snowballs thrown at you in the cold in shorts… but how did I not see this? He lightly ran his fingers over the horrid scar tissue. Kurt then remembered that he was still shivering. "Carole?" Kurt called quietly. She looked up as she was smoothing Joey's black hair away from his tear-streaked face. "He's shivering; do you think I can cover him up with a heavier blanket than this sheet?" He waved his hand over the thin white blanket.
Carole looked conflicted; she didn't want to wake Joey up, but she also wanted to check Blaine's temperature to see if the fever reducer was working. She gently shook Joey awake and murmured something in his ear. He got up with her help and walked back over to his sleeping bag where he curled up into a small ball. Kurt's heart hurt for the younger boy, wishing he didn't have to go through with this. Carole tucked Joey in and lightly kissed him on the forehead before walking over to Blaine's nightstand where she had set up all the medical supplies Blaine would need if he woke up. She took the thermometer and inserted it the crook of his arm and waited for the monitor to beep. When it did, she smiled. "Kurt, it's 102.1. His temperature is finally going down. I think it'll be alright if you got another blanket for him. But you might want to wipe his skin up with warm water a bit; it's covered in sweat. And get him out of those jeans? I should get going, it's already twelve and my shift at work starts at two." Carole told him as she tidied up the nightstand and checked that his IV bags were all right. She also disconnected his ibuprofen bag. "I told Mairead how to change his saline bag when it gets empty so you won't have to, alright? And you know my numbers, Kurt. I want you to call me if Blaine's temperature gets too high, again." Carole gathered up her bags and kissed Kurt before quickly, but quietly, walking to the door.
"Bye… Mom. I love you." Kurt said slowly, adjusting to calling her mom. Carole stopped and looked back, tears in her eyes. She walked back to the bed when Kurt was getting off the mattress. He hugged her tightly and she hugged back tighter. "I love you too, Kurt." Carole said tearfully, it had taken her weeks to get Kurt to finally call her by anything else but her first name.
She kissed him one last time. "Oh, sweetie. I love you, too. I'll have Finn call you to check with you later today. I know you miss him when you're here at Dalton." Carole let go of Kurt and walked out the door.
Kurt went to the window where he could see Carole getting into her somewhat-new 2004 Honda Accord Kurt and Burt managed to fix for her after the wedding but before he transferred to Dalton. She waved him a good-bye with a smile as she backed up, Kurt waved back. He turned back to his sickly boyfriend who was fast asleep. As Kurt smoothed his hair back, Blaine moaned slightly and leaned into his hand. Kurt smiled and kissed his cheek before getting him a pair of sweatpants and towels to clean his skin of the feverish sweat that had built up over the past two days. Kurt found what he needed: a pair of his favorite cobalt blue sweatpants with the Dalton insignia on the pocket, a bowl which he filled with warm water, several towels, and a heavier fleece-lined blanket in his closet with a huge Gryffindor symbol.
He had to make several trips over to Blaine's bed to drop off the supplies before making one last trip into his dorm room, where Mairead was sleeping. The door was unlocked so he quietly peeked in before entering. Mairead was a messy sleeper, the covers completely messed up and the pillow on top of her head. Kurt could hear her murmuring some words in a foreign language; he didn't know what it was. He quietly padded his way over to his dresser and took out a comfy t-shirt and a pair of his own Dalton sweatpants, but in black instead of blue. Kurt took one last look at Mairead before going back to Blaine.
Blaine's IV hand had slipped off the bed and was hanging on the side when Kurt reentered the room. Kurt quickly, but quietly, walked over and gently put his hand back on the bed. Kurt then went into the bathroom to change out of his expensive black Jacob Alexander designer jeans and canary yellow Marc Jacob jacket, the same jacket he wore when Karofsky shoved Kurt into the locker after he shoved Blaine into the fence the day before.
Kurt shuddered at the thought of Karofsky. He hoped he would never see him again. Once he changed into his shirt and pants, he returned to the room, turned down the thin blanket, and started to take the cloths off of Blaine's skin that Mairead and Carole put on to bring his fever down. Blaine responded slightly by moaning when the first cloth was removed, Kurt murmured soothing words to him. After he heard Blaine's breaths deepen, indicating he was deep into his sleep again, he continued taking off the warm and wet towels. He then dipped a clean towel into the bowl of warm water and washed Blaine's skin of sweat.
"I love you, Blaine," Kurt whispered to him as he continued wiping his skin. "And…I don't know what I'm even talking about. But… no, you probably won't even remember what I'm about to say… but I want to…" Kurt sighed, feeling silly. Talking to my unconscious boyfriend is… kinda awkward. He thought. He finished washing his chest and arms before taking the bowl of water and the towels back into the bathroom and leaving it there.
Blaine was shivering again when he got back. Kurt bit his lip, knowing that he would… have to change Blaine out of his jeans quickly and into his warm sweatpants. If talking to him is awkward… oh help me, Gaga. Kurt took the sheet he removed and covered Blaine's chest with it. He then got on to the bed and then quickly unbuttoned Blaine's pants, not wanting to think about what he was doing. He eventually got Blaine into the sweatpants without thinking too much. Kurt sighed; finally done with his most awkward moment, ever, with Blaine. But he was sure there were more to come in the future.
Kurt unfolded Blaine's warm Gryffindor blanket and covered him with it, leaving only his neck and head exposed. He went into the bathroom one last time to wet one last ice cold towel and put it under his neck. Blaine mumbled something when Kurt lifted his hand off of the side of his head to let him rest on the pillow. Kurt looked at Blaine's face; he looked so peaceful even with the large white bandage and bruised nose. It reminded him of the first time he had slept with Blaine, when he was drunk from Rachel's alcohol party. Albeit he breath stunk, but he looked so relaxed, like nothing in the world could bother him.
Kurt made up his mind; even though it was only about 2:45 in the afternoon, he was going to sleep with his boyfriend. He made sure that his phone was on the lowest volume setting possible without waking up either boys on each of his sides, slid under the humongous blanket, gently slid his hand into Blaine's open right hand, and drifted off to sleep with sound of his boyfriend lightly snoring beside him.