chapter five
chapter one
chapter two
chapter three
chapter four
“This is where we live,” Kurt proclaims as they pull up to the house, the gravel rustling beneath the wheels.
“It’s very nice,” Blaine smiles.
Finn opens the car door before the engine stops, slipping out and running round to let them out. Kurt climbs out, takes Blaine’s hand, holds it for a moment before encouraging him outside. Blaine is tentative, a little lost, the first nervous steps of an animal meeting the world for the first time and overwhelmed by everything bright and new.
He stares above him.
“You okay, Blaine?”
He doesn’t answer.
Instead, without warning, he grabs Kurt by the hand again, his grip too tight, takes him into hold and begins to dance wildly, energized by the new sun. And he’s laughing and spinning and running and laughing and it’s all Kurt can do to keep up with the music playing in Blaine’s head. Blaine hums something unfamiliar, unknown, maybe a new masterpiece if only…
And they’re close and kissing under the depths of the afternoon.
-
They go inside, and Kurt lets Blaine get settled on the sofa before his family join them. Carole’s confined herself to the kitchen, busying herself. Her absence doesn’t go unnoticed.
“I’ll be back in a few moments,” Kurt whispers, kissing Blaine on the cheek before standing up and leaving.
Blaine’s now left alone with people he doesn’t even know, not really. They stare for a few moments, a pause settling in the air between them.
“So, Blaine, tell me about Kurt,” Burt says in an attempt to cut the silence.
“He’s my husband, and he’s beautiful, and I love him more than anything else,” Blaine tells him and Finn, and in that moment, Burt’s sure that he’s never heard anyone be so sure of anything else in his life. And Blaine’s smile, the glow of his eyes, reassure him that it’s completely true, and if Blaine knows anything, it’s of love, and the love he has for Kurt.
There’s something very sweet about it, Burt thinks.
-
“Carole, what are you doing?”
She looks up at Kurt from where she’s been sorting through their drawer of cutlery.
“Making some food for you all. You’ve not been eating properly for weeks and how you’re going to get a decent meal when you’re - looking after Blaine, I don’t know. So I might as well take the chance while I’m here to help you out a bit.”
She turns her attention back to sorting through the drawer.
“Is that it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is that the only reason? Helping out a bit?”
“Yes.”
She’s going through the fridge now. She takes out bottles of milk, a yogurt, an old pot of jam.
“It’s all out of date. I don’t know what I’m going to use to cook with. I’ll have to try the cupboards, see what’s in there - ”
Oh.
Something shatters in her throat.
“Carole, are you alright? Hey, hey, come here. It’s okay. What’s wrong?”
“I’m worried about you. Both of you. I’m scared. I don’t know what’s happened to Blaine, and I don’t want to know, but Kurt - how are you going to cope? You can’t do this by yourself and Blaine’s got no family left to help out. And I know I’m your stepmom, and you’re as good as my own son, but what does that make me to Blaine? I’m just the old, useless stepmother-in-law, and I’m nothing. I can’t help. I just wish I could do something for you both.”
Kurt holds Carole as she cries into his shirt, and something about her seems a lot older, like the weight of years has been forced onto her. He assures her that he’ll be fine, that he’ll cope, that it’s okay.
“I’m sorry, Kurt. What must you think of me now, eh?”
“I love you, Carole.” Kurt kisses her forehead before they break apart, passing her a tissue from the box on the table.
“Thank you. You go back into the living room now. I’ll make a start on some food with what I can find.”
-
In the end, she manages to make some kind of pasta dish with the things she finds in the cupboards.
They’re sat at the table eating, and it feels almost like a normal family as they laugh and sip water and compliment Carole on her cooking.
“What’s in this, Carole? I might have to make this myself at one point!”
“In the sauce? I used those tinned tomatoes you had, with some basil from your little herb windowsill, a bit of garlic and onion, and then that aubergine you had in the fridge and the olives in the cupboard. And yeah, I think that’s about it!”
“I’m very impressed,” Burt tells her, leaning over and patting her shoulder.
But there’s something a little wrong about what she’s just said, and it takes a moment to register. Blaine really hates aubergine.
Whenever they go out to restaurants, Blaine always sighs when the most appealing dish somehow contains it. Kurt remembers one time when they’d ordered the same fish thing, and how they managed to have aubergine in that when it had no place at all. Somehow, they never went back to that one.
“Blaine, are you enjoying your food?”
“It’s delicious, Kurt.”
There could be many reasons for this. Maybe Carole’s cooked it nicely. Maybe it’s lost in the other things. But what is probably the most likely cause in this case is that the virus has gone and messed up Blaine’s ideas of taste as well.
-
In this case.
What does that make Blaine now?
-
Finn’s agreed to sleep on the sofa, and Kurt’s shown Burt and Carole to the guest bedroom, kissed them goodnight.
And now it’s just him and Blaine, who’s standing in his bedroom as a tourist in a foreign, far-flung country, staring around, taking it in.
Then he’s walked over to the bed and jumped to sit on it.
Then jumped back off again.
So that he can jump on to his feet and bounce.
“Hey Kurt, this is fun!” Blaine shouts as the springs of the bed groan beneath him. “You should come and join me!”
Kurt stares for a moment. Blaine, achingly childish, bouncing on his furniture and oh God he’s going to break it soon enough but laughing and waving and bright-shining.
And then he joins in.
-
They collapse on the bed laughing in each others’ arms and kiss before falling asleep.
-
Blaine sleeps for hours, deep into the next day.
-
It’s not until about 2 o’clock that he comes downstairs to find all of the others sitting in the living room, drinks in their hands. The pamphlets about care options are on the table.
“Kurt! It’s good to see you again!”
Blaine takes Kurt in his arms once more, spinning him around and holding close.
“You’ve got friends with you, Kurt. Hello Kurt’s friends!”
“Hi there, Blaine,” Finn waves.
-
The next day, a letter arrives through the door inviting them to the Neuropsychological Clinic of New York, 280 Madison Avenue, Suite 1402, New York, New York 10016 and to phone in to speak to Professor Buckham about confirming the time.
Kurt phones, books an appointment for two weeks time.
-
The day after, Finn, Burt and Carole return home.
-
Finn and Kurt share an awkward hug, the press of their bodies not quite right, but still comforting and warm and safe.
-
Carole whispers that he’ll be okay as he kisses her cheek, to call if he needs anything, to talk, advice, whatever.
-
He doesn’t exchange any words with his father, other than a soft goodbye in a hug that’s a little too tight.
-
As the car pulls away, Kurt waves, and Blaine jumps up and down, shouting goodbye to the world for people he doesn’t even remember any more.
chapter six