Kurt's guilt ate at him that night, so much so that he couldn't sleep even when Blaine rolled against his back and began snuffling soundly.  That boy would have a fierce hangover tomorrow, and it would all be Kurt's fault.   What's more is that Kurt had promised to try and be around more, but with the deal he was working on brokering, the same deal he had been gone the whole weekend for, he didn't know if he could make that promise a reality.

He had two feuding families who, in a credit to their organizations, were trying to invest together to try and cease the back and forth hostilities they had been engaging in for years that was leaving them short on manpower and money.  If they had come to him with open arms and heads full of common sense the deal would have been finalized by now, but because of their hesitations, endless questions, and random worries about the other side, Kurt had been spending a lot of time mediating arguments, explaining and re-explaining how the investment would work, and otherwise entertaining the two sides together to try and make them more amicable towards one another.  It was a big deal, and while Kurt lived on big deals, it was also one that had great political value to him.  It would position him as the finance manager of finance managers for the criminal minded.  Anybody who was anybody would seek him out to do their business.

Truth be told though, he wasn't sure exactly why he was going after the deal so fiercely.  He had lots of money, and the power really didn't impress him because there wasn't much he could do with it more than he didn't already do.  If he was more trusting he supposed he could extend the business, hire some lackeys, and have more time to himself - but to do what?  He had given up his interests so long ago they were foreign to him.

… and he was so damned scared of investing more time and energy into Blaine, regardless of the promise he had made.

Kurt was downright terrified of caring for anyone anymore, and he knew it.  He had lost his mom, then his dad, then all the friends he had and the life built up in Ohio.  He was all too aware of how quickly things could come tumbling down and the safest thing he could do to protect his heart was not to put it out there.  Then of course, there was the fact that the only reason he had Blaine snuggling in against him at all was because he had illegally purchased him.  Kurt knew the instant that Blaine was offered freedom, he would run for it.

But he had still promised.

With a sigh Kurt tried to shift a little, uncomfortably wedged on the edge of the bed with Blaine drooling now against his back.  It might have been nice if Blaine was doing this sober, but stinking of alcohol and body odor, as well as being so damned clingy made Kurt feel claustrophobic in his position.  He had had his driver rush home when he decided to check in on his home camera feeds on his phone and saw Blaine stripping and singing into his bottle on top of the couch.  It wasn't fast enough to stop Blaine from falling over, but hopefully he had saved Blaine from alcohol poisoning.

Kurt reminded himself to lock up the alcohol tomorrow.

Sleep did come finally, and it was the sounds of groaning interspersed with the undeniable sounds of upchucking into the toilet that Kurt awoke in the morning.  He rolled his eyes, sat up, and grabbed the aspirin from his bedside drawer, stepping into the bathroom where Blaine was hunched over the porcelain and hugging it tightly.

“Can I get you anything?”

The response Kurt got was a gurgle, a glare of reddened eyes, and a look of surprise as nausea took Blaine over once more and made him turn his head to empty the next batch of stomach contents into toilet.  

“Okay.  I guess I'll make my own breakfast then.”

“Fizzy pop….”

Kurt stopped, holding one foot up ready to leave as Blaine spoke, and turned his head Blaine's way.  “Fizzy pop?”

“Helps my stomach….”

Kurt nodded, going down the stairs and to the kitchen to check for anything carbonated before realizing he had ordered nothing of the sort for groceries.  Shoes were slid on, and before Kurt realized it, he was paying for a bottle of soda down the street at a convenience store and rushing back into the apartment to pour Blaine a glass of it.

Blaine hadn't moved, and when Kurt went back into the bathroom, he had to help tip the glass to Blaine's lips to help him drink it.

“Thanks…”  Blaine murmured after he had drank the whole glass.  “My mom used to get me pop whenever my stomach hurt… it helped…”

“Aspirin on the counter here for you…”  Kurt said quietly, thinking back to how his own mother had always rubbed his belly when he had a sour stomach.  “... otherwise you should probably just sleep it off.”

“Mmmhmm…”

Kurt gave Blaine his space for the rest of the day.  He ate a bowl of cereal for the first time in a long time, cleaned up the mess Blaine had left in the living room, and when he went back upstairs, with Blaine having tucked himself back in bed, Kurt cleaned the bathroom to bring down the smell of vomit.  

Then he watched Blaine sleep for an embarrassingly long time, mapping out his face and comparing it to the one in his memory.  He hadn't known Blaine had such thick curls when he met him, but it now made sense that he would have gelled them down given how unruly they were.  He also seemed smaller, but Kurt presumed that was just because Kurt had grown much more than Blaine had.  If it hadn't been for his cell phone buzzing in his pocket to interrupt him, he might have never stopped staring.

“Yeah… yeah…. no…”  Kurt muttered to the voice on the other end, his assistant, and sneaking more peaks at Blaine, who had blinked his eyes open to the sound of Kurt's voice, “You know what?  I need a day.  Cancel it….. Yes I'm serious…. Do it.”

With that he turned off his phone, tucked it back into his pocket and looked Blaine's way once again, “Feel better?”

“I feel like shit.”  Blaine groaned, holding up a hand to block the sun coming in from the window.  “... but I don't have to puke anymore…”

“Are you hungry?”

To that Blaine nodded and Kurt pulled out his phone, looking over his list of commonly ordered from restaurants, “Burgers… pizza… thai… chinese.... italian…”

“Burgers.  The greasier the better.”

Kurt let himself smirk a little.  It had been awhile since he had been as hungover as Blaine was now, but he remembered his desire for gross, stomach swelling foods when he had been in Blaine's place.  Stepping out of the room he made the order and then called the lobby to let his guys know to pay for and bring the meals up before walking back in on Blaine who was trying to curl back up.

“You need to shower.”

“Don't want to.”

“You stink.”

“So?”

“So the sheets now stink the same as you and I don't want to sleep in them tonight.  Get up, shower.  You'll feel better.”

Kurt felt like a parent scolding a child, and just like a child Blaine got himself up and skulked off to the bathroom, allowing Kurt to change his bedding - something he hadn't done for himself in ages.  The shower ran so long that the steam crept out over the top of the door leading into the bathroom and Kurt wondered if the whole building would soon be out of hot water.  Eventually Blaine emerged, pruney and wrapped in a towel - Kurt's cue to leave him alone again so he could get dressed.

They ate their lunch watching a show on TV that Kurt had randomly selected, and while Blaine watched it, Kurt watched Blaine - just as he had at the theater.  He needed to figure out how to make Blaine want to stay of his own accord.  He needed to know how to make Blaine really want him, and not just as a way to get out of his entrapment.  

“Do I have something on my face?”  Blaine chirped at one point, and Kurt found himself caught in the act, briskly turning his face back to the screen.

“No.  Zoned out.”

“You're always zoning out in my direction.”

“Coincidence.”

“Doubtful.”

Kurt took in a deep breath and let out an equally long sigh.  “I took the day off.  Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“The police station.”

Kurt rolled his eyes.  “Besides that.”

Blaine shrugged his shoulders up once.  “I don't know.  Anywhere.  I'm sick of being stuck in here.”

“We could go shopping, or to a movie, or -”

“The zoo.”

Kurt's eyebrows shot up as he regarded Blaine curiously, waiting for him to laugh as if it were a joke, but the laugh never came and Blaine looked back at him solidly.

“The zoo?”

Blaine nodded.  “I don't want to sit around any more than I already do, I don't need any more clothing - especially since you're the only one seeing it, and I've never been to the zoo.”

In truth, Kurt hadn't either, but the thought had never hit him that he might want to.  “Okay.”

He left Blaine to call his chauffeur to let him know the route and also informed his guards below before going upstairs to change into a more casual outfit.  All the while his mind raced, trying to plot out if Blaine had an edge to his zoo idea, if maybe there was something Kurt was missing that would allow him to escape or alert someone to his situation - but nothing came to mind and that worried Kurt more than if he could fathom something.

They left, with the usual escorts, and arrived at the zoo where Kurt bought tickets for four - himself, Blaine, and his two on duty guards.  Blaine was bouncing on his toes at this point, and it wasn't until he rushed ahead to look at the penguins that Kurt realized just how boyish Blaine was.

“They're so much more adorable in real life!”

That statement alone calmed Kurt's nerves, and he escorted Blaine from cage to cage, pen to pen, and each area of the zoo where Blaine was equal parts excited and in awe of each animal, reading aloud each information plague so Kurt didn't have to read it himself, and even talking to some of the animals who didn't even seem to care for his existence.  

“I always wanted a pet growing up… but my mom was allergic…”  Blaine admitted when they were watching the lion yawn before them. “... but now I think that was just an excuse not to have something else to care for.”

It was that admission that prompted Kurt to inform the driver to make a pit stop on their way back to the apartment, pulling up at a pet store and nodding towards Blaine as he looked back at Kurt questioningly.

He might not know how to make Blaine like him, but at least Kurt could get something for Blaine that would make him understand that he cared for him.