Chapter 15

This time, no one came knocking on Blaine’s door. He didn’t have to wait long to hear their footsteps on the stairs and their hushed voices in the second storey hallway. But they didn’t stray in the direction of his room. He decided it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; maybe they’d spend some time reflecting on what he had said, instead of ignoring it.

With a sigh, he shrugged out of his Dalton uniform and changed into comfortable sweats. His mind was still occupied by the events of the day and thoughts of Kurt. It had been barely three hours since they had parted, but to Blaine it felt as if a week had already passed since he left that hospital. Suddenly, the house seemed a much, much colder place.

For the next hour and a half he was doing his best to concentrate on his homework, failing nonetheless. Every other minute his hand would wander to his phone, checking if Kurt hadn’t texted or called and he somehow didn’t hear the ringer. Every time he would ponder whether he should call Kurt first, but decided it wasn’t a good idea as long as Kurt was with his dad at the hospital.

He just had the phone in his hand, when it finally rang, almost making him drop it back to the desk.

‘Hello?,’ he said to the receiver without checking the caller ID; he didn’t have to, it could be no one else.

‘It’s me,’ Kurt’s voice sounded weak on the other side of the line.

‘How’s your dad?’

Blaine could hear Kurt sigh heavily.

‘Not bad, I guess. He’s going to have angioplasty first thing tomorrow, then he’ll be coming home.’

It was clear something was on Kurt’s mind, despite the relatively good news.

‘Then what’s wrong?,’ Blaine asked.

Silence fell for a moment, as Kurt was putting his words together in his head.

‘It’s just that- I’m right where I started,’ he muttered into the phone. ‘And now my Dad has to take it easy, and all that, and how is he supposed to? He’s going to start asking questions, he’s going to be all over me for why I ran away… That’s not taking it easy!’ A tinge of desperation coloured his voice.

‘Shh, Kurt, relax,’ Blaine crooned into his cell. ‘I bet he’ll just be happy you’re there.’

Something rustled at Kurt’s end of the line.

‘Maybe,’ Kurt sighed, and jawned. ‘I hope so, but-

‘But?’

‘But I’m still freaking out a little.’

Blaine bit his lip, trying to handle the feeling that came over him; an intense urge to hug Kurt and tell him it was all going to be fine. Not through a phone, but right next to his ear, so he could feel comforted and cared for. And so Blaine himself could feel needed.

‘It’s gonna be fine. And if anything, you know you can count on me, right?’

‘I do. Thanks, Blaine.’

He could swear Kurt smiled a little as he said that.

‘Kurt? Can I ask you something?,’ he said, breaking a moment’s silence.

‘Of course you can,’ Kurt replied with another yawn.

‘That woman at the hospital- Who was she? You seemed upset she was there.’

Kurt snorted.

‘That was Carole Hudson, Finn’s mother.

It took Blaine a second to match the name to what Kurt had told him during his stay at the Andersons.

‘Wait, Finn’s the jock who wouldn’t help you get on the football team?’

‘The very same,’ Kurt sighed. ‘From what I’ve gathered, she started coming around the tire shop and our house when I was gone. It was some sort of single parent solidarity, I guess.’

‘Well, maybe try being a little nicer to her next time you meet. Her son’s a jerk, but she seemed okay.’

Blaine could hear movement in the phone, as if Kurt was tossing in his bed.

‘I know. I was just kinda… surprised,’ Kurt said, a yawn interrupting his speech.

‘You home?,’ Blaine asked.

‘Yeah, home and bed.’

Blaine’s mouth twitched into a fleeting smile. ‘Then go to sleep, you’re exhausted.’

‘True, I am.’ Kurt paused, hesitant. ‘But it feels weird. I mean, I’m alone in the house, and I’ve never slept with no one else around. Except, you know, when I didn’t sleep in a house at all.’

Unlike Kurt, Blaine had known the feeling very well; but he could see how even for him sleeping alone in the house would be tougher now.

‘It sucks, right?,’ he said into the receiver. ‘But you need to sleep. And we’re talking now, so it’s almost like back here.’

Kurt chuckled weakly.

‘Almost. Exactly. Almost. Not good enough.’ He sighed one more time. ‘Goodnight, Blaine.’

‘’Night, Kurt. Call me in the morning, okay?’

‘I will.’

***

Somehow Kurt’s body knew when to wake up. He opened his eyes, instantly alert. Despite his awareness of where he was, it took him a moment to take in the familiar surroundings, before he glanced at the alarm clock by his bed. 6:58 AM. Blaine would be getting up in two minutes. And Kurt had promised to call him.

He stretched in his bed, relishing his freedom to do whatever he wanted, without being watched, but at the same time experiencing a hollow, painful feeling of longing. Having someone to say good morning to after waking up was ultimately something much more pleasant than having the ability to act in an undignified manner.

Kurt peered into the face of the alarm clock until the numbers changed into seven o’clock. Without more delay, he grabbed his cell phone and chose Blaine’s number from his contact list.

‘What?,’ a sleepy voice grumbled on the other end after six beeping signals.

‘Um- You told me to call you in the morning? It’s morning.’

Blaine groaned. Kurt could picture him burying his curly head in his pillow.

‘Right. Sorry, Kurt.’ He paused, apparently trying to gather his thoughts through the haze of being half-awake. ‘You sleep well?’

‘Not really.’ Kurt sighed, going back to the hour he had spent tossing and turning, physically and emotionally exhausted, as sleep kept on alluding him. ‘You?’

‘Same. Now I just need coffee.’

Kurt smiled unconsciously; Blaine really did love his coffee.

‘Sorry I can’t make it for you anymore.’

Blaine chuckled. ‘I’ll manage.’ He hesitated for a second, before adding, ‘Are you going back to the hospital?’

It took Kurt another moment to answer. ‘I am. I guess I’d rather be there, in case…’ He sucked in a long breath. ‘In case something happens.’

‘Everything’s gonna be fine, you’ll see,’ Blaine said as convincingly as he could.

‘I hope-‘

The shrill sound of the doorbell interrupted him, almost startling him into dropping his phone. Kurt frowned; who would be bothering him so early in the morning on the day when his father was having surgery, and not even twenty four hours since he got back to Lima.

‘I gotta go, someone’s at the door,’ he said into the receiver, scrambling out of bed and wincing. He wished he didn’t have to finish talking to Blaine.

‘Sure. And I gotta get my coffee, anyway,’ Blaine replied as reluctantly. ‘Later?’

‘Later.’

Wrapping his arms around his chest to shield himself from the chill that seemed to fill the house outside of his bed, Kurt went up to the front door. He regretted he hadn’t put on any socks; his feet seemed to be freezing, the floor a less slippery skating rink.

Without looking out the small glass panes in the front door, he pulled the handle, and staggered a step backwards as he saw the crowd on the other side of the threshold.

Mercedes was standing at the front, surrounded by the rest of the Glee club. Even people he barely even talked to were there, like Quinn and her sidekicks, or the jocks, some of whom used to toss him into dumpsters. And among them Finn, with his gaze dropped somewhere to the pot plant to the right. Rachel was holding a “get well” balloon in her hand, and while Tina was clutching a small stack of cards full of similar messages. Someone even carried Artie onto the porch in his wheelchair.

‘We thought you could use some support, so we came to take you to the hospital,’ Mercedes said, her enthusiasm and joy at seeing her friend giving way at the sight of his frown.

‘I didn’t- I wasn’t expecting you. Anyone to be honest,’ he mumbled, now folding his arms around himself not for warmth, but to hide his unpresentable attire. No one had ever seen him in the sweats and long sleeved tees he slept in. No one except for Blaine. He never had to worry about what his pajamas looked like, because he hadn’t been to a sleepover since kindergarten. And with Blaine, it was… something else entirely.

‘But you were going to the hospital, right?,’ Mercedes asked cautiously. ‘I assumed, since you’re back…’

‘I was going to go,’ he interrupted her. ‘I just thought I’d go alone.’

‘Oh.’ Mercedes looked about at the others, motioning at them with her head. Mike and Puck leaned to grab Artie’s wheelchair to carry it back down onto the driveway.

‘No, that’s not what I meant!,’ Kurt said, and they froze. ‘I just… I didn’t think you- I didn’t think you would care,’ he finished, his voice trailing off.

Mercedes sent him a comforting smile.

‘Sure we care.’

And before he could do anything else, a group hug swiped him like a wave.