“Hey sleepy head” Kurt chuckled as he watched Blaine's eyes flutter open softly, those long dusky eyelashes spreading over the angry dark circles beneath his eyes.

“Hm Kurt?” Blaine mumbled as he shifted further into Kurt’s embrace. Blaine looked even younger than usual curled up into a foetal position sleeping against Kurt’s chest. Blaine shuffled around a little as he began to wake up more and looked right up into Kurt’s eyes with a smile gracing his rosy lips.

“How are you feeling honey?” Kurt questioned leaning down and placing a sweet kiss on Blaine’s lips.

“Better, I guess.” Blaine replied before clearing his throat from the gruffness from sleep, though he looked unsure as he sat up slowly. Thankfully, the universe seemed to be on his side as he managed to make it up right without his stomach throwing a fit and sending him dashing back to the bathroom.

“I think you need to go to the doctors, Blaine, or at least see the school nurse. Don’t think for a second I haven’t realised you’ve spent the morning throwing up, and that it’s the reason you’ve missed out dates this week.” Kurt shook his head at the expression on Blaine’s face; he could practically feel the guilt radiating from his boyfriend. “It’s not your fault you’re and this can’t be just midterms like you’ve been telling me all week, you don’t get this sick from stress.” Kurt pulled his boyfriend in beside him now that he had managed to stay sitting upright.

“I don’t want to be a hassle to them Kurt, it’s probably just a little flu or something.” Blaine sighed, finally admitting defeat, but it seemed Kurt wasn’t taking it.

“Blaine, you have no other symptoms of flu, no cough or cold, just this sickness and tiredness that I'm sure has been going on for almost a month now.” Kurt face Blaine with that look that simply said “Don’t even try to deny it because you and I both know I know you inside out.” Blaine couldn’t help the drawn look that crossed his tired features.

“Honey, I know you don’t want to bother people or be a hassle but that’s what the nurses and doctors are there for so that if there is something wrong they can fix it and then it’s better for everyone; especially my hair less I pull it out in worry and we don’t want that do we?” Kurt tried to inject a small slice of humour and a small smile tugged a Blaine’s pursed lips.

“No we don’t” Blaine couldn’t help a full grin from breaking out. “Though, just for the record, I’d think you’re beautiful with or without your hair.” Blaine leaned in and placed a lingering kiss on Kurt’s lips, bringing his hand up and resting it on Kurt’s cheek.

-

“Okay Blaine, that’s enough distracting, I know what you’re trying to do here.” Kurt smirked lightly as he pulled away from Blaine’s kisses. A loud laugh followed as Blaine put on a pout that resembled an adorable kicked puppy. “Come on, at least see the school nurse today and I promise to stop bugging you if you do, for the sake of my hair Blaine.” Kurt raised his eyebrows giving a look that said no argument could be won over this.

Blaine sighed heavily, he really didn’t want to be a hassle, and he never even thought there could actually be something wrong with him. Having been so caught up in the stress of approaching midterms Blaine had barely room for thought of his health. He always did get too stressed and maybe that was now taking a toll on his body. Yes, that was it, defiantly just the stress getting to him. Dalton’s school nurse would proclaim the teachers worked them too hard and that he needed to eat well and get some sleep and then he would be fine.

With this thought in mind Blaine was feeling nonchalant about the visit to the on-site doctor’s office. “Okay, okay just let me take a shower and get dressed.” Blaine tried to put a smile on his face but could just tell Kurt knew it was forced, Blaine just felt too tired to smile right now. He stumbled through his morning routine, despite already being half dressed for the day he really needed to freshen up and put his head on straight. 

The two boys walked hand in hand through the halls of Dalton Academy, this was the only place in Ohio they felt safe to do so without the fear of angry slurs, or worse. Blaine could feel Kurt’s worried gaze trained on him but Blaine refused to meet his eyes until they arrived at the office. Blaine gave over his name to the receptionist with a polite “good morning”. Just a few minutes later the nurse called his name. “Blaine Anderson?” A tall but plump woman called out and Blaine stood before tugging Kurt where their palms were still connected; moulded perfectly together in a way that was so very much home. “Come with me?” Blaine mouthed to the taller boy and Kurt nodded with a reassuring smile, though Blaine was almost certain it held more worry than assurance.

“Come right this way Blaine” The nurse said with a warm smile as the two boys approached her. She let them down the corridor from which Blaine could see into several small rooms which appeared unoccupied, and a couple of others that had doors shut.  “My name’s Ms Keller how about you take a seat up on the bed Blaine and your friend can take the seat beside you.”

Blaine did as asked and sat up on what was in fact a much more comfortable hospital bed that didn’t require him to lie down flat for which he was glad as some days sitting up brought a new wave of nausea.

“So you brought your friend here with you, does that mean you don’t like hospitals sweetheart?” The nurse enquired as she pulled a trolley of needles and other odd looking objects towards him.

“Oh, no, Ms Keller, I just, well, Kurt, my boyfriend, he was worried about me, wanted me to come get checked out.” Blaine’s voice wavered with hesitance but Kurt took his hand and gave it a tight squeeze.

“Well it’s lovely to meet you both.” Keller gave them both soft smiles before turning back to Blaine. “So, what seems to be wrong, can you tell me your symptoms before I take all of your vitals?” She asked kindly before picking up a pen and a chart.

Blaine cleared his throat looking anxiously at Kurt, who gave him a nod of encouragement, before beginning. “I’ve been feeling really tired lately, it’s been perhaps a month now that I’ve just been sleeping through everything, even our dates.” Blaine added the last with a guilty flicker of his eyes to Kurt who rubbed his thumb soothingly over the back of Blaine’s hand. “Also, starting maybe a week or so ago I keep getting nauseous and sick, especially in the mornings.” Blaine finished, not being able to keep from glancing at the worried look on Kurt’s face.

“Okay Blaine, well it sounds like flu but since you have had it for a few weeks rather than just a few days I'm going to run some tests, but you don’t seem to have the symptoms all the time as in right now you don’t seem to have a cold or cough or any of those symptoms am I right?” Keller replied. Blaine nodded “yes” and watched her pick up a few of the items from the trolley. “First I’d like to take your temperature then your blood pressure and have a little look at your throat too if that’s okay with you?” The nurse explained as she picked up an in-ear thermometer and placing it in Blaine’s ear before pressing a small button and then removing it then writing a note on the paper she had taken down Blaine’s symptoms on. She did the same again, taking his blood pressure with a cuff around the top of his left arm before writing the result on the chart. “Okay can you open up for me?” Keller asked lightly taking a close look into Blaine’s mouth with an instrument he assumed to be some sort of magnifier.

Nurse Keller took a few moments to study the results on Blaine’s chart before looking up again. “Well Blaine it seems you don’t particularly have any of the symptoms of usual flu, your blood pressure is a little low and temperature is slightly raised but with no cause for concern. I’d like to run a blood test just to be safe but I'm fairly sure this is all just caused by stress as you have no real symptoms of specific illness as any kind of infection should present with a much higher temperature than you are running.” She took out a needle and swab to run across the inside of Blaine’s left elbow before inserting the needle. “Sharp scratch” Keller warned before slowly pressing in. Blaine repressed a shudder, he wasn’t scared of needles per say but hated the feeling of the knowledge it was inside of him.

“Okay, all done.” Keller smiled reassuringly as she put the vile of blood in a clear plastic bag and writing on it. “This will take a couple of days to come back with the results so until then I’d advise you get plenty of sleep, eat healthily and try not to worry so much.” Her eyes flickered to Kurt for a millisecond as her last order. “I know it’s almost midterms for you boys but try to have a calm down every night before you sleep when you finish studying. The teachers here work you poor boys too hard sometimes.” She sighed with a disapproving shake of her head. “Go on you too, relax today will you? Your blood results should be back on Monday and I will give you a call.”

“Thank you Ms Keller.” Kurt replied as he helped his boyfriend hop down from the bed.

“Thank you.” Blaine added with a small wave as they left the room.

Kurt and Blaine spent the rest of the day relaxing as advised by Keller. They relaxed in Blaine’s dorm as his roommate was only a week day boarder at the school. They lay snuggled together on Blaine’s bed watching all of the musicals they could find in Blaine’s collection with the shorter boy drifting to sleep every now and then tucked safely in Kurt’s warm embrace.

As promised Blaine’s phone rang as soon as classes were over on Monday afternoon with the results of his blood test. “Hello Blaine, it’s Ms Keller, your blood work is back and we have the results here now though I’d like you to come in to talk about them if you are free now that classes are over?” The Nurse asked in a rush sounding a little flustered.

Blaine nodded before remembering Ms Keller wouldn’t be able to see, “I can come down now, sure.” He replied with a hint of worry in his tone for the first time. So far Blaine had been able to ignore any part of his brain that was telling him it was anything more than stress induced sickness, even though a small part had been nagging away trying to get him to listen to tell him there was something else. Now it was all but confirmed, he was sure that if his bloods were clear Ms Keller would have no problem telling it over the phone the way she had so readily assured him at the clinic.

All of Blaine’s thoughts turned to Kurt. Even in this moment when Blaine was so suddenly consumed with worry all he could think of was the boy he loved. Kurt had been so worried over Blaine being sick, even if he did just suspect flu, but Blaine knew it was because of Burt Hummel’s history of illness, most especially after his heart attack, even though Blaine knew it stemmed right back from the loss of his mother at such a young age. Blaine certainly didn’t want to worry his boyfriend any more than was necessary and Kurt would only be left in the lurch if Blaine were to tell him the results were back and he needed to go and talk about them as there was no way Kurt would be able to get to Dalton on a Monday evening under Burt’s watch so he would only be waiting and wondering.

Blaine walked alone to the clinic alone, wringing his hands and ignoring that nag of fear in the back of his head, trying so valiantly to fight it. This time, on entering the clinic, Ms Keller was waiting beside the reception desk for him with a strange smile rather than the warm motherly one she had held on his previous visit. “Blaine sweetheart Come right this way.” She said in lieu of greeting. The anxiety present in Keller’s tone induced the return of Blaine’s nausea ten-fold, causing him to considerably lag behind the nurse as they walked down the corridor to her consult room as he tried to choke back the feeling of bile rising in his throat.

“Take a seat Blaine.” Nurse Keller indicated the chair opposite her desk as she sat behind it taking out a file of papers. “How are you feeling today Blaine?” She asked with the motherly smile returning to her face.

“I- still nauseous and tired and I threw up again this morning.” Blaine sighed tiredly, the worry exhausting him.

“Well, what I’d like is for you to speak to Dr Fraser who has kindly come across from the Westerville medical centre to explain what was found when the clinic ran your blood work if that’s okay with you?” Blaine nodded dumbly as Nurse Keller spoke; her reassuring smiles did nothing for the state of his nerves and thus his nausea.

After a quick phone call and just a few moments wait that seemed to drag on for eternity a tall middle aged man entered the room with what the two medics had clearly rehearsed as their reassuring smiles. Blaine was even more on edge than ever, feeling as though they were trying to prepare him for the worst by somehow attempting to lull him into a false sense of security.

“I’d like to ask you a couple of questions before we get started, just to see how much you already understand of this, if that’s okay?” Dr Fraser asked with purpose. Blaine thought he might just walk out if another person asked him something to do with the word ‘okay’ so he merely nodded before the doctor carried on. “Have you ever heard of the ‘carrier gene’ Blaine?” The boy in question simply shook his head in puzzlement. “It is quite a common gene which is a part of the male reproductive system, it allows for not only the production of sperm but also that of an egg. The egg is released in a similar way to sperm during sex though instead it will travel from ovary glands located near the prostate and down a canal which connects to the anus to allow for fertilisation…”

Blaine’s brow furrowed more and more as Doctor Fraser explained the concept of this so called ‘carrier gene’. Trying to take in all of this new information was overwhelming as Blaine’s brain processed the reason behind the need for this to be explained to him. It was something Blaine has mildly heard of in passing, not to any real extent but the fact that people theorised males could perhaps have something like this.

Fraser clearly noticed Blaine had spaced out and stopped talking, the silence bringing Blaine out of his wandering thoughts as he tried to find any snippets of memory of hearing these theories in the news or reading articles online. Needless to say he was coming up blank as his brain refused to process much more.

“I see you may have guessed by now that what I am leading up to say is that you are pregnant Blaine.” Doctor Fraser said softly, watching for Blaine’s reaction, seeing if he had returned from where he was lost in thought.

“I'm- I'm pregnant?” Blaine repeated the words in a whisper. He could hardly believe them, though that nagging in the back of his mind finally rejoiced at his realisation and eventual acceptance.

Doctor Fraser nodded. “Yes that’s right, your bloods are completely clear of infection but we are positive you are in fact pregnant, and if it’s alright with you it would help to do an ultra sound today here and we can work out how far along you are though by the sounds of your symptoms and blood test results it is more than likely round the two month mark.”

“That’s- Yeah.” Blaine was speechless; he couldn’t process everything the doctor was telling him.

“Can you lift up your shirt for me Blaine...”

“This is going to be cold…”

The doctor’s voice was nothing but a faint echo in the back of his mind as Blaine tried to explain it to himself.

He was two months pregnant, there was a two month old baby growing inside his stomach right now, a little life was being created right beneath his Dalton blazer, a life that was part his and part Kurt’s. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine he would ever be able to have a child that was truly the biological product of his and his partners love. Blaine Anderson was barely seventeen and pregnant.

Doctor Fraser took the ultrasound probe and placed it gently against his abdomen and moved it around for a few moments on the screen that had been pulled over in the time that he had been lost in thought. “There’s your baby Blaine, it looks like you’re ten weeks along. In male pregnancy symptoms tend to develop slower starting with the exhaustion you were feeling. Your body will adjust slowly where as a woman’s would do so very fast. This is nothing to worry about as the gene means your body is fully equipped to deal with a baby. You are early on so no need to make any fast decisions but I’d like for you to come to an appointment at the Westerville medical clinic in two weeks’ time where I will be your OBGYN as I specialise in male pregnancy. I’d like you to take this folder of information with you to have a read over. Would you like a print out of your scan today?”

Blaine could only nod dumbly at the doctors’ words as he thanked the two medical staff taking the folder and photo.

A small tear traced down Blaine’s rosy cheek as he thought of Kurt and the small life growing inside of him.