Chapter 18

December 9, 2012

It took twenty minutes for Puck to show up. In the meantime Kurt managed to calm Blaine down marginally so even though he was still crying, at least he wasn't trying to escape anymore. The boy curled up in the corner of the room and no amount of persuasion was enough to make him lie in the bed. It was weird since the slave was still calling Kurt 'Master' but didn't follow his pleas to go back to bed. In the end, the countertenor threw the duvet over Blaine's body and sat down in front of him, making sure not to crowd his personal space.

After Blaine started talking, he also began coughing violently since his throat was put to work. Kurt tried to coax him into drinking some warm herbal tea that Burt had made after the incident, but his words were met with apologies, followed by pleading and then more tears. Kurt was at a loss and just sat there watching the pale bruised boy shiver under the duvet while waiting for Puck to show up. Kurt released a sigh of relief when he heard the doorbell ring and he figured the mohawked guy finally came over. His guess was proved to be right when Burt came into the room with the boy following him.

"Need anything?" Burt asked and Kurt shook his head while Puck took into the sight in front of him. "I'll go call Carole."

The man left and Puck sat down next to Kurt. "Hey, Blainers. How are you?"

If it wasn't for Blaine's eyes that widened with fear, Kurt would have thought that he hadn't heard the question. Yet another coughing fit took over and Puck looked at Kurt with concern.

"He has it bad, doesn't he?"

Kurt nodded. "If he continues coughing like this soon we will see his lungs coming out of his mouth. Though it's not like I didn't see that coming. You can't expect him to wake up completely healthy after what he has been through."

"Right..." Puck uttered disappointed. "Blainey, do you remember me? The guy 'with the weirdest hair you have ever seen'? Puckerman."

Blaine shook his head, his eyes filled with sorrow. "Don't, please, don't..."

"What is he asking for?" Puck frowned.

"I have no idea. He already asked to let him go, to not hurt him, and to not punish him..." Kurt said and rubbed his face. "Urgh, I hate this."

"Calm down, princess," Puck said and reached for Blaine's shoulder to give him a friendly reassurance.

At least that was what he was going for but it startled the boy so much that he screamed and tried to get further into the corner.

"Whoa!" Puck raised his both hands in defence. "Can he not recognise me?"

"I don't know. He definitely doesn't recognise me. I thought it was because he hadn't known me for long but now... I think he might have a fever so he doesn't really understand his surroundings right now."

"Okay... So what do we do now?" the boy asked.

"I don't know," Kurt felt utterly helpless. "I need him to drink this tea and then go back to bed. He really needs a lot of rest now if we want him to get better."

Puck was silent for a moment. "Order him," he finally said.

Kurt looked at him as if he was crazy. "What do you mean 'order him'?"

"Blainers thinks you are his master so give him a direct order to drink tea and go to bed," Puck just shrugged.

"Wait, you are seriously suggesting that I treat Blaine as a slave?" Kurt's eyes widened. "You must be out of your mind. Aren't you supposed to be his friend?"

"I am his friend and that's why I think you should do it. He needs to get better and if this is the way to do it, then so be it."

"Fine," Kurt said even though he still disapproved the plan. "Blaine, I order you to slowly drink this tea."

For a few moments nothing happened and Kurt was about to point it out to Puck but then Blaine lowered the duvet and two shaky hands made their way to the mug that was extended to him. Still snivelling the boy brought the drink to his mouth and took a tentative sip.

"I can't believe I just did it," Kurt shook his head, feeling sick of his action.

"At least it worked," Puck said watching Blaine's every move. "When he finishes order him to go to bed."

"I don't like this."

"You don't have to like it."

They sat in silence, the only noise being Blaine's small sips and coughing that seemed to be getting worse with every minute. When the boy was halfway through the drink, he started to sway a little and Kurt noticed that the boy would soon doze off. He took the mug out of Blaine's hands right in time as the boy slid down the wall to the side, his eyes closed.

"Did he just fall asleep?" Puck laughed.

"I hope so. If not, then he fainted," Kurt said and stood up. "Help me put him in bed."

Together the two boys laid Blaine on the electric blanket and covered him with the duvet. Kurt touched his forehead to find it burning.

"He has a fever just as I thought," he announced to Puck, who was sitting by his desk. "This must be the reason he's acting so weird."

"Do you have anything to check his body temperature with?"

"Yeah, in the bathroom," Kurt said and went to get a thermometer. He also grabbed a small towel. "Do you think we should put cold compresses on his head? It always helps with fevers."

Puck looked at Kurt as the boy placed the towel on the bedside table and put a thermometer in his mouth. "You just spent a whole night trying to warm him up and now you want to cool him off? I don't know about that..."

"We have to do something. My dad is going to bring some medicine later but for that we will need Blaine to be awake and if the fever gets worse he may not..."

"Fine, do what you think is best."

Kurt nodded and went to wet the towel in a cold water. "I will only put it on his forehead. I have no idea if it's going to help though."

"You won't know unless you try."

"Boys?" they heard Burt's voice from downstairs. "I'm going to a drugstore."

"Okay!" Kurt acknowledged his dad's words and put a compress on Blaine's head. "Let's hope for the best."

"I don't think he can get any worse," Puck snorted.

"Don't jinx it," Kurt snapped at him, finding absolutely no humour in the situation.

"Come tomorrow to my place around four," the other boy said out of nowhere.

"What for?" Kurt frowned confused. "I don't want to leave Blaine alone. I'm not going to school so I can be with him and my dad won't be home until after work. I don't want him to attempt to escape again if he is left alone."

"You could lock him up?" Puck suggested.

"He tried to jump out of the window," Kurt reminded the other boy.

"True... You see, I'm meeting a few friends and I need you to be there."

"Why?"

"I like you and I want to hang out with you," the boy said with a laugh, obviously not believing his words either.

"Really?" Kurt asked sceptically. "Since when are we such great friends?"

"Fine, I invited some friends who may help us to get back at Hudson and you should be there. I won't tell them about Blaine, I will just tell them that Hudson did something 'very, very bad'," Puck explained.

"Noah, you can't go after Finn. If he finds out we saw what happened to Blaine and took him in, my dad will go to prison. I can't risk it. I do want him to get what he deserves but not at such price."

Puck rolled his eyes. "I'm not dumb. I may be stupid but when it comes to revenge I know how to do stuff. That's why I formed an awesome squad. Since you are close to the Hudsons, I need you there as well."

"You suddenly trust me enough to let me into your elaborate plan?"

"You literally saved Blaine's life," Puck shrugged. "Right now you are holding a compress to his head and a thermometer in his mouth playing Kurt Nightingale and ignoring the awful smell in this room. So I may not trust you all that much but let's just say you went from my bad books into my mediocre books."

"What does it take to get into your good books?" Kurt genuinely smiled for the first time in what seems a very long time.

"Don't push it," Puck grimaced. "So, are you in?"

Kurt looked down at Blaine, who was mumbling something around the thermometer. "I'm in but only for as long as nobody knows it's about Blaine. Even Finn can't find out why something is done to him. Also, my dad has to know."

Puck doubted it was a good idea. "Is that necessary? He probably won't like it."

"I'm not doing it without him knowing about the plan, whatever it is," Kurt persisted. "If it goes wrong he may go to prison so he has a right to know. Not to mention he already told me we would find a way to get back at him so he may help us."

"Wait a sec, papa Hummel wants to get back at Hudson?" Puck's eyes widened.

"Well, I wouldn't say he would be an active participant but he won't stop us."

"An adult, who wants to punish a teenager..."

"No. An adult, who saw a beaten up boy left to die and wants justice," Kurt corrected him. "Blaine is a slave so of course police would do nothing. If we do nothing, nobody will. So, as long as our plan doesn't involve any bodily harm, my dad should be fine with it."

"No bodily harm, understood," Puck nodded. "I wasn't planning to do that anyway because look how it ended the last time."

Kurt looked at Blaine at those words. "You know, it's not your fault," he said. "It was me who got him into this."

"I may have blamed you at first but it would have happened anyway," Puck said, spinning a little in his chair. "It was a matter of time only."

"Maybe but it doesn't make me feel any better."

"I know," the other boy sighed. "I couldn't fall asleep last night thinking what if I hadn't punched Hudson that day at school."

"Blaming ourselves or each other won't help," the boy decided. "We need to focus on Finn right now because he is the main reason Blaine is in my bed with," he quickly checked the thermometer that had just beeped, "almost one hundred nine degree..."

"Holy shit..." Puck stared at Kurt in shock. "He needs proper medical care."

"Yeah but all he is going to get is 'Kurt Nightingale'," the boy frowned and turned the towel over. "I'm doing all I can."

"I know, I know, but it doesn't make the situation any less frustrating," the boy said. "Is there anything I can do to help? I'm feeling useless..."

Kurt thought for a moment. "I don't need any help here right now."

"I could go google something maybe?" Puck offered hopefully.

"You know, what you could do?.." Kurt said slowly, an idea forming in his head. "I'm sure Blaine had some belongings in the factory. You should go and get them if Finn didn't take them. Maybe Blaine will feel more at ease when he sees things that belong to him?"

"Yeah, makes sense," Puck nodded and stood up. "I'll come back as soon as I can. Call me if there are any changes."

"Sure," Kurt said and went to the bathroom to wet the towel again when he stopped himself.

"When we found him, Blaine had a teddy bear in his arms but the head was missing. Could you look for it as well? It's dark brown."

"Yeah, I remember," Puck nodded. "I'll see if I can find it. Later."

"Bye," Kurt said and went into the bathroom, hoping that his dad would come back soon with medicine.