He hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but he didn't want to interrupt his son's conversation either, so he waited outside the door until they had finished. Why was Blaine talking about chemotherapy? Burt listened more intently and could pick out the soft sounds of Kurt crying. And when their conversation ended (thankfully, not on such a depressing note as it was began) Burt couldn't bring himself to go inside Kurt's room. His son had obviously been through a lot with this kid and they were working it out.

But this whole mess made Burt's head reel as he lay awake that night in his bed, mind wandering far too much for his to get any rest. How long had these two known about this? How long had they been hiding all this pain and tears and fear? As he finally drifted to sleep, Burt made a promise to himself to talk to his son about this the next day.

Kurt woke up late the next day. Well, not too late, but late enough. He had put off his shower, which he usually takes before bed, for that morning, but there wasn't time for that anymore. It was 15 to 5 and if he wanted to be at school on time, he had to leave at 5. Today was one of the few days Kurt thanked his father for sending him to a private school with a uniform, he wouldn't have to spend forever trying to pick out the perfect outfit and then a backup outfit just in case he got slushied.

He quickly used a wet clothe to wash himself a bit (because he's Kurt Hummel and going to school without a shower was like going to school without your pants to him), he put product in his hair, not bothering to coif it with hounds of hairspray as he usually does, and then pulled on his uniform and jogged quickly down the stairs with his bag over his shoulder. Carole chuckled softly as he ran into the kitchen where she was making lunches for her, Burt and Finn.

"Someone's in a bit of a rush this morning." She teased as he hurried around the room, grabbing a quick breakfast he could eat on the way to school.

"I woke up late, and I have to stop for coffee for me and Blaine on the way to school." He told her, putting the food items into his satchel. "Oh, speaking of Blaine. Can you whip up one of those heavenly breakfast sandwiches you make sometimes? Blaine loves them and I want to cheer him up a bit." Carole smiled at him in response.

"Of course I can, sweetie. Do you want me to make you one too?" She asked as she pulled the ingredients from the fridge. Kurt just shrugged and told her he didn't care, as long as Blaine had one. Before long, Carole was handing him a Tupperware with 4 little packages inside of it.

"Give this to him too, alright Kurt?" She said, handing her step-son another container, this one filled with grapes, strawberries and blueberries. "He looked a bit pale yesterday, I don't know if it's just the seasons change or what, but I went to boarding school growing up too, I remember how hard it is to fit food into the equation when you're surrounded by school and friends all day everyday." Kurt paused, biting his lip before taking the fruit and putting it in his bag. He hated not telling her the truth. But he had to respect Blaine's wishes. Blaine would tell them when he was ready. And he would have to do it soon, if they wanted Kurt to be there at his appointments later that week.

"Thanks Carole." He told her with a small smile. "I'm sure he'll really appreciate this." He said honestly before putting the containers into his bag and leaving the house.

Blaine woken up a few hours past midnight in a cold sweat. He was breathing heavily, heart beating far too quickly. He tried to slow his breathing, shut his eyes tightly, trying to remember his dream, but came up short handed. He just wanted to sleep, but he knew he couldn't, so he got up and walked out of his bedroom to the living room. He turned on the TV, volume on low so it wouldn't wake David's family and he made a cocoon of blankets for himself on the couch.

He didn't know how long he had been there for, just watching the images on the screen passing, never actually paying enough attention to what exactly they were, but he knew it was peaceful. He was calm, his heart stopped raising, his breathing returned to normal. When his alarm went off hours later, he groaned as he turned off the TV and stood up, going to take a shower.

"Blaine," David called down the stairs about 20 minutes later when he was in the process of tying his tie for school. "Do you want a lift to school, or are you driving there yourself?" Blaine licked his lips.

"Well, I have soccer practice tonight." He responded, "So unless you're willing to wait at school until 8, I think I'll decline your offer." He responded. He heard David sigh.

"Why do you talk like that?" He asked, coming down the stairs to talk probably with his friend. Blaine shot him a bit of a glare when he jumped on to the couch with his shoes on.

"Talk like what?" Blaine snapped, pulling his jacket over his uniform. David shook his head pursing his lips before responded.

"Talk like you're a teacher at our school instead of a student. I think I'll decline your offer. Seriously, what the hell, Blaine? You're 17, not 40." Blaine scoffed, getting annoyed at his "best friend". He grabbed his backpack and gym bag before stomping out of the apartment without another word. David stared after his best friend in shock.

Kurt parked his car haphazardly in the student parking lot before throwing his door open and running out of the car to where he knew Blaine was waiting for him in the student library and cafe for breakfast. "Hi, hi! I'm so sorry I'm late!" Kurt called to his boyfriend when he spotted him in the corner in a leather seat. Blaine gave him a small smile as he handed him his hot beverage and the containers of food from Carole.

"Hey, thanks Kurt." Blaine said lightly, taking the containers. "Mm, candy cane white hot chocolate. God, this is so good." Blaine moaned, taking a large sip of his drink. Kurt chuckled, sitting beside Blaine as they waited for the first bell to ring.

"Oh, these are from Carole. She said something about how she used to go to boarding school and remembers that she used to forget to eat or something. She's worried about you, Blaine." Kurt told him. Blaine sighed, closing his eyes as Kurt spoke. Blaine liked Carole, he really did. She was a sweet woman and had only ever been nice to him since the first day she had met him. She did not want to worry her. But he knew the truth would cause her even more concern and grief than just believing he wasn't eating well.

"Tell her I said thanks and I really appreciate it." Blaine told his boyfriend and he took out a breakfast sandwich to eat. "Oh my god! These are heavenly!" Blaine groaned, taking a larger bite. Kurt giggled, earning him a glare from Blaine. "Sush you, you should be happy I'm eating right now." He told Kurt in a playful tone. Kurt's smile faltered. How could Blaine joke about this so calmly?

"I-I have to go. I just remembered that I have a test in chem today and I have some questions for my teacher. I'll talk to you later, alright?" Kurt said quickly, standing from his seat. Blaine shot him a confused gaze.

"O-okay. Soccer practice starts at 6 today, meet me by my car and we can go out and get a quick dinner together?" He asked in a hopeful voice. Kurt licked his lips and nodded.

"That sounds lovely, Blaine. I'll see you in Latin." And with that, Kurt was gone. Blaine sighed, going back to his breakfast while he pondered what had set his boyfriend off.

Kurt gave Blaine a soft, distracted smile when he entered their Latin class that day, but otherwise ignored his boyfriend. If Blaine doubted that something was wrong before, he didn't anymore. He tried to pass Kurt a short note, asking him what was wrong, but Kurt brushed it off, responding with a short 'I'm trying to pay attention to the lesson stop passing me notes'. When the bell rang to signal the end of class, Kurt stood up quickly, bolting out of the room before Blaine even collected his books.

"Is something wrong, Kurt?" David asked, slipping into the spare seat beside him in the dining hall at lunch that day. Kurt sighed, pushing his salad around on his plate.

"It's nothing, David." He mumbled, still not bring food to his mouth. David watched him for a moment before sighing.

"Kurt, you know that I know about Blaine. I know how hard it can be to come to terms with your best friend dying. I can't imagine what it's like for you, being his boyfriend-"

"David. Stop." Kurt cut him off. It was only now that David noticed that his blue eyes are shining with unshed tears, his voice sounding shaken. David bit his lip. Kurt was breaking. He was piling this all up inside, he probably hadn't even told anyone how this was affecting him. This was killing him.

"I just want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here. And so is my family and Wes and I'm sure that Blaine's parents wouldn't mind if you called them up. They've been through this before. Twice. They might have some advice on how to deal with it." Kurt look up at David with his tear filled eyes.

"Thank you."

Blaine stood outside of his car after the end of the school day, his winter jacket wrapped tightly around his body as he waited for Kurt to appear. What had he done wrong? Why was Kurt ignoring him? Would he even come today? His thoughts were interrupted by a set of hand on his face and a pair of lips on his. When he was released, he found a smiling Kurt.

"Hey there stranger." Kurt told him with a teasing smile. Blaine gave him a small smile.

"Mm, we better get out of here before my boyfriend gets here." Blaine joked, leaning in to kiss him. Kurt chuckled against his lips, hands wrapping around Blaine's neck.

"Let's get to dinner." Kurt opened Blaine's car door. Blaine smiled, blushing briefly. How did he get so lucky? Kurt got into the driver's side of Blaine's car, taking them to a restaurant a few blocks away from their school. "Come on, mon cheri, we're on a deadline!" Kurt told him. Blaine rolled his eyes with a smile, exiting the car and following Kurt into the restaurant where they were seated quickly.

"How's your stomach? Do you want something light?" Kurt asked his boyfriend, "I mean, you have a two hour soccer practice after this." Blaine smiled at him, nodding.

"That sounds perfect, Kurt." Blaine told him. Kurt smiled before looking through his menu for his own meal. Blaine and Kurt shared their dinner, Blaine had an Italian wedding soup, Kurt a grilled chicken salad.

"Can we have the check?" Kurt asked the waiter when they had finished. "And quickly, we're in a bit of a rush." The woman nodded at him with a smile.

"Of course sir." She responded, walking in the direction of the bar. Blaine moved around so he could pull his wallet out of his back pocket.

"Ah ah ah, don't you dare, Anderson. Dinner's on me. Consider it an apology for ignoring you today." Kurt interrupted, giving the waitress a fifty when she returned. After receiving the change the couple exited to Blaine's car.

"Speaking of," Blaine called after Kurt. Kurt didn't pause or turn around, he only hummed in response as he unlocked the doors. "Why did you ignore me today? Did I do something wrong?" Blaine asked, turning Kurt before he could escape inside the car. Kurt adverted her eyes to the asphalt. "Kurt, please, just tell me." Blaine begged, taking Kurt's soft hand in his, stroking his thumb across Kurt's knuckles.

"I'm sorry, Blaine." Kurt mumbled, still not meeting his eyes. "It was stupid. Can we just forget it happened?" He looked up at Blaine for a moment. Blaine gave him a concerned look.

"Please, I just want to know. We've only been dating for a short time, we can't start our relationship by keeping secrets with each other." Blaine responded. He gave Kurt's hands a reassuring squeeze. "Please, Kurt. You can trust me." Kurt lifted his eyes to the sky.

"Oh God, please not the puppy dog eyes." Kurt muttered. Blaine lifted a hand to Kurt's cheek, moving his face down so he was looking at him.

"Kurt. I need you to be honest me. About everything. Please, just do that for me." Blaine pleaded. Kurt nodded quickly.

"Alright, I will." Kurt told him in a breathy mumble. "I'm terrified, Blaine." He admitted. "I'm so scared about what is going to happen. To you, to us. And I really don't want to find out." Kurt sniffed. "Just hearing you joke about it earlier, it made me scared. How could you be so indifferent about this?" Blaine sighed, moving closer to his boyfriend, bringing his hand up to caress Kurt's cheek in comfort.

"That's because this is my third time going through this, Kurt. Granted, I don't remember the first time, but I do remember the last. I almost gave up that time, Kurt. I understand that I can die. But I also understand that if I focus too much on the bad I will break. If this is what ends me, I don't want it to be in defeat. I want to live stupidly, be naive and a stupid idiot. I want to get into stupid fights with you and not have any regrets. I know this is difficult to deal with. But I'm here, you can talk to me about it. I don't give a crap if you think I'm too fragile for you to burden me with your feelings about this. I'm not, and it's not a burden. I need to know how you feel. I need to know how you're coping and if you're not coping, I want to be the one there to piece you back together." Blaine told him. He watched as his thumb traced Kurt's cheekbone before leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to Kurt's forehead, then his temple, his cheekbone, his nose and lastly, the corner of his mouth. "Promise me you'll be truthful to me about this. Please. If the cancer doesn't kill me, seeing you bottle this all up inside will." Blaine breathed against Kurt's moist lips.

Kurt swallowed before nodding, eyes closed as he took in the proximity of his boyfriend. The feeling of his warm breath on his skin, his cold hand on his cheek, his body pressed flush against him. "I promise, Blaine. I'll always tell you how I feel, if not only so you do the same."