Ficlet: Folding Socks
Title: Folding Socks
Author: weathersings
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Someone pukes
Spoilers: up to 3x05
Summary: Becoming a family is hard, but sometimes it can be extremely rewarding. Kurt and Carole interact while Kurt is sick, and Carole happens upon something intriguing.
Word Count: ~1900
A/N: This is just a little part of my head canon. How I feel Kurt and Carole would interact given certain situations. Also, does one actually fold a sock? Or just ball them up? Or tie them together? I don't even know. But we're folding them here.
Kurt snuffled quietly in his sleep as Carole moved about his bedroom, collecting dirty tissues and organizing piles of magazines. He had been feeling sick for a few days now, but as soon as Carole had seen him that morning, she sent him back upstairs to go to bed. There was no way she was letting her boy go to school when he felt badly enough to not even reprimand Burt for having an extra pancake at breakfast. Kurt had trudged reluctantly back upstairs and burrowed under his comforter, pulling it over his head so only his messy hair poked out of the top of it, and Carole had shipped Finn off to school before calling in sick at work herself. She had the feeling that after having to take care of himself for so many years, Kurt could use a day of being taken care of while he felt so bad.
Carole finished putting things away on Kurt’s desk and moved over to his dresser to start putting away the clothes he had left in his laundry basket the previous night. She reprimanded herself because she should have noticed that if Kurt couldn’t even be bothered to put his clothes away after he took them out of the drier, he must have been feeling really awful. Carole made a mental note to stop by the pharmacy later and pick up some flu medicine so that Kurt would have something to take when he woke up.
Kurt’s phone buzzed where he had set it on his nightstand. Carole moved over to it and read the message that had come in on the home screen. From Blaine, of course. Hope you feel better, love. I’ll try to stop by after school if you’re feeling up to it. <3
She smiled and turned the volume completely off on Kurt’s phone. He would see the texts from his friends eventually and he didn’t need to be woken up until he had slept for a bit longer. She reached out and smoothed her fingers gently over Kurt’s soft hair, smiling when it stuck up slightly. Kurt murmured something unintelligible and rolled over under his covers, turning towards her. He started to snore quietly and Carole made another mental note to pick up something for his congestion as well.
Carole went back over to Kurt’s dresser and began to match up his socks so she could put them away. She hoped Kurt wouldn’t feel awkward about having his step-mom touching his underwear, but she also thought he would feel better if his room was a bit cleaner when he woke up. She envied Kurt’s meticulous organization system and knew how much he hated it when things got even a little bit out of order. As she set down the last pair of socks, Carole reached forward to open the middle drawer where Kurt kept his socks. She reached to shuffle the contents to the side to make room for the pairs she was about to put away and her hand bumped into a sharp corner as she did so.
Carole frowned, wondering why Kurt appeared to be hiding something in his sock drawer. She picked up the currently square-shaped sock and reached to pull out the box that was wrapped inside of it. Carole gasped loudly and turned quickly to make sure she hadn’t woken Kurt up, setting the sock down on top of his dresser and turning the box over in her hands to read the label. Oh.
Well. At least Kurt was a bit more creative than Finn, who just hid his condoms in his nightstand and hoped no one would be looking there for anything. She knew Kurt and Blaine were having sex, she had known for a while. Neither of them had ever told her directly, but she had seen how they acted around each other after the musical ended, and she had assumed. The ease with which they moved around each other and how loving they were hadn’t surprised her, and she was happy for them. She had never talked about it with Burt, but she assumed that he at least thought Kurt was having sex, if Kurt hadn’t told him already. But then again, maybe he hadn’t; there were a lot of things that Kurt was willing to talk to his father about, but maybe his sex life wasn’t one of them. It most likely wasn’t.
She opened the box and peered inside, taking note that out of the twelve condoms the box was supposed to have inside, only four were left. She wondered how they were finding the time to have sex so often before she realized just how much she and Burt were out of the house for campaign business. She set the box down on top of Kurt’s dresser and reached back inside the drawer, feeling around through the sock bundles before she found another secret sock. She pulled it out and tipped it upside down over her hand, wondering what else Kurt could possibly be hiding. A bottle of lube that was nearly finished fell out of the sock and into her hand. Carole blushed bright red and slid the bottle back into its sock before setting it back inside the drawer. She knew the logistics of gay sex and knew that that was a necessary part of it, but actually seeing the bottle embarrassed her and she knew Kurt would be even more embarrassed if she knew he had seen. Carole shook her head slightly to clear it and began to pile the freshly laundered socks into Kurt’s drawer, making sure the secret sock was hiding at the back like it originally had been.
“Carole?”
She turned around to see Kurt pulling himself up out of his cocoon of blankets looking bleary-eyed and a bit confused. He fell heavily back against his fluffy pillows and sighed. She walked over to him and sat on the edge of his bed, reaching out to lay her hand over his forehead. He was hot, but not dangerously so. Kurt smiled as she cupped his cheek gently before sitting back up.
“How are you feeling, honey?”
“Mmm, bit better,” Kurt said quietly. “My head hurts and I can’t breathe very well. Really nauseous too.”
Carole rubbed gently against Kurt’s thigh through his comforter. “Do you think you need to throw up?”
“Not yet…” Kurt drifted off, letting his gaze wander about the room. His eyebrows knit together in a frown as he looked at his dresser. “Were you putting my socks away?”
Carole hesitated for a moment before responding.”Yeah, I figured you’d feel a bit better when you woke up if your room was cleaner.”
“Yeah, I… yeah. Thank you, I-“ Kurt stopped talking abruptly, his eyes growing wide as they fell on something over Carole’s shoulder. Kurt gasped and then lurched forward, flinging himself out of bed and into his tiny bathroom, where Carole could hear the distinct sounds of him throwing up. She turned to look for what could have possibly set Kurt off like that and started.
She had accidentally left the box of condoms out on top of the dresser, and Kurt had seen them.
“Kurt? Kurt!” Carole hurried to follow him into the bathroom, finding him slumped on the floor next to the open toilet, his forehead pressed into the tile of the wall. Carole reached over him to flush the toilet and then moved to moisten one of his washcloths in the sink. She knelt on the floor and dabbed gently at Kurt’s sweaty forehead before leaning forward to press a kiss there. “You okay, sweetie?”
“I feel digusting,” he murmured, letting his head roll against the tile. “Carole… You were in my sock drawer. I…”
“Yeah, honey.” Carole sat back on the small rug on the floor of the bathroom. “But I shouldn’t have been snooping like that. I’m sorry.”
“No, it… It’s not your fault.” Kurt coughed heavily into his hand for a moment before speaking again. “Who hides things in their sock drawer, honestly. It’s the first place people look.”
Carole chuckled. “Actually, I think Finn trumps you on that one.”
“His nightstand?”
“Of course. Where else? Come on, honey, let’s get you back in bed.”
Kurt allowed Carole to pull him up off the floor, but he slumped against her as soon as they were both standing. She helped him back into his room and helped him lay back against his pillows, bringing the comforter up around his shoulders. Carole crossed over to Kurt’s dresser and opened the sock drawer, scooping the condom box off of the top of it and back into the drawer where she had found it. She turned back to Kurt to see him with his arm flung over his eyes as he sighed heavily.
“Are you going to tell my dad?”
Carole smiled, sitting down on the edge of Kurt’s bed again. “No, I don’t think so. I think your dad assumes you’ve started having sex, but I don’t think he wants to know for certain. Keeping him in the dark is probably better for his stress levels. I’ve known for a while though.”
“You… you knew? About… Really?” Kurt frowned at her.
“Yeah, it was just the way you two were acting. I mean, you were attached at the hip before, but now you just seem so tuned into each other. So I assumed.” Carole smiled, pausing as Kurt reached for a tissue. He blew his nose rather loudly, balling up the tissue and throwing it into the wastebasket. “Was it around the time of the musical?”
Kurt looked up at her quickly, making eye contact briefly before looking away out of his window, where a light snow was beginning to fall.
Carole smiled at him, reaching over to rub his shoulder before standing up. “Mind if I finish putting away the rest of your laundry? Promise I won’t go snooping anywhere I don’t belong.”
“Yeah, sure. Thank you.” Kurt settled back against his pillows and closed his eyes. “Hey, Carole?”
“Yes, Kurt?” He didn’t reply right away. Carole folded another undershirt and placed it into the dresser before Kurt continued.
“It’s really nice… It’s nice having a mom around,” Kurt said quietly.
Carole almost dropped the shirt she was folding. She turned back to Kurt and watched him for a moment as he picked nervously at his pajama shirt. She walked over to the bed and leaned over to press a gentle kiss to the top of Kurt’s hair. As she moved to pull away, Kurt wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tight hug, his face pressed into the crook of her neck.
“I love you, Kurt.” She pressed another kiss to his cheek and then pulled away, moving out of Kurt’s embrace.
“I love you, too.” Kurt looked at her for a moment, his eyes soft, before smiling slightly and sliding back down into his blankets and closing his eyes.
“Yell if you need anything, sweetheart. I’ll be downstairs.” Carole picked up the empty laundry basket and walked out of the room. She paused in the hallway and turned back to look at Kurt one more time. He had already drifted off, his mouth open slightly as he clung to the comforter around his shoulders. Carole smiled.
Maybe she would put Kurt’s laundry away for him more often from now on. She closed the door and started downstairs, smiling to herself as she went.
Author: weathersings
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Someone pukes
Spoilers: up to 3x05
Summary: Becoming a family is hard, but sometimes it can be extremely rewarding. Kurt and Carole interact while Kurt is sick, and Carole happens upon something intriguing.
Word Count: ~1900
A/N: This is just a little part of my head canon. How I feel Kurt and Carole would interact given certain situations. Also, does one actually fold a sock? Or just ball them up? Or tie them together? I don't even know. But we're folding them here.
Kurt snuffled quietly in his sleep as Carole moved about his bedroom, collecting dirty tissues and organizing piles of magazines. He had been feeling sick for a few days now, but as soon as Carole had seen him that morning, she sent him back upstairs to go to bed. There was no way she was letting her boy go to school when he felt badly enough to not even reprimand Burt for having an extra pancake at breakfast. Kurt had trudged reluctantly back upstairs and burrowed under his comforter, pulling it over his head so only his messy hair poked out of the top of it, and Carole had shipped Finn off to school before calling in sick at work herself. She had the feeling that after having to take care of himself for so many years, Kurt could use a day of being taken care of while he felt so bad.
Carole finished putting things away on Kurt’s desk and moved over to his dresser to start putting away the clothes he had left in his laundry basket the previous night. She reprimanded herself because she should have noticed that if Kurt couldn’t even be bothered to put his clothes away after he took them out of the drier, he must have been feeling really awful. Carole made a mental note to stop by the pharmacy later and pick up some flu medicine so that Kurt would have something to take when he woke up.
Kurt’s phone buzzed where he had set it on his nightstand. Carole moved over to it and read the message that had come in on the home screen. From Blaine, of course. Hope you feel better, love. I’ll try to stop by after school if you’re feeling up to it. <3
She smiled and turned the volume completely off on Kurt’s phone. He would see the texts from his friends eventually and he didn’t need to be woken up until he had slept for a bit longer. She reached out and smoothed her fingers gently over Kurt’s soft hair, smiling when it stuck up slightly. Kurt murmured something unintelligible and rolled over under his covers, turning towards her. He started to snore quietly and Carole made another mental note to pick up something for his congestion as well.
Carole went back over to Kurt’s dresser and began to match up his socks so she could put them away. She hoped Kurt wouldn’t feel awkward about having his step-mom touching his underwear, but she also thought he would feel better if his room was a bit cleaner when he woke up. She envied Kurt’s meticulous organization system and knew how much he hated it when things got even a little bit out of order. As she set down the last pair of socks, Carole reached forward to open the middle drawer where Kurt kept his socks. She reached to shuffle the contents to the side to make room for the pairs she was about to put away and her hand bumped into a sharp corner as she did so.
Carole frowned, wondering why Kurt appeared to be hiding something in his sock drawer. She picked up the currently square-shaped sock and reached to pull out the box that was wrapped inside of it. Carole gasped loudly and turned quickly to make sure she hadn’t woken Kurt up, setting the sock down on top of his dresser and turning the box over in her hands to read the label. Oh.
Well. At least Kurt was a bit more creative than Finn, who just hid his condoms in his nightstand and hoped no one would be looking there for anything. She knew Kurt and Blaine were having sex, she had known for a while. Neither of them had ever told her directly, but she had seen how they acted around each other after the musical ended, and she had assumed. The ease with which they moved around each other and how loving they were hadn’t surprised her, and she was happy for them. She had never talked about it with Burt, but she assumed that he at least thought Kurt was having sex, if Kurt hadn’t told him already. But then again, maybe he hadn’t; there were a lot of things that Kurt was willing to talk to his father about, but maybe his sex life wasn’t one of them. It most likely wasn’t.
She opened the box and peered inside, taking note that out of the twelve condoms the box was supposed to have inside, only four were left. She wondered how they were finding the time to have sex so often before she realized just how much she and Burt were out of the house for campaign business. She set the box down on top of Kurt’s dresser and reached back inside the drawer, feeling around through the sock bundles before she found another secret sock. She pulled it out and tipped it upside down over her hand, wondering what else Kurt could possibly be hiding. A bottle of lube that was nearly finished fell out of the sock and into her hand. Carole blushed bright red and slid the bottle back into its sock before setting it back inside the drawer. She knew the logistics of gay sex and knew that that was a necessary part of it, but actually seeing the bottle embarrassed her and she knew Kurt would be even more embarrassed if she knew he had seen. Carole shook her head slightly to clear it and began to pile the freshly laundered socks into Kurt’s drawer, making sure the secret sock was hiding at the back like it originally had been.
“Carole?”
She turned around to see Kurt pulling himself up out of his cocoon of blankets looking bleary-eyed and a bit confused. He fell heavily back against his fluffy pillows and sighed. She walked over to him and sat on the edge of his bed, reaching out to lay her hand over his forehead. He was hot, but not dangerously so. Kurt smiled as she cupped his cheek gently before sitting back up.
“How are you feeling, honey?”
“Mmm, bit better,” Kurt said quietly. “My head hurts and I can’t breathe very well. Really nauseous too.”
Carole rubbed gently against Kurt’s thigh through his comforter. “Do you think you need to throw up?”
“Not yet…” Kurt drifted off, letting his gaze wander about the room. His eyebrows knit together in a frown as he looked at his dresser. “Were you putting my socks away?”
Carole hesitated for a moment before responding.”Yeah, I figured you’d feel a bit better when you woke up if your room was cleaner.”
“Yeah, I… yeah. Thank you, I-“ Kurt stopped talking abruptly, his eyes growing wide as they fell on something over Carole’s shoulder. Kurt gasped and then lurched forward, flinging himself out of bed and into his tiny bathroom, where Carole could hear the distinct sounds of him throwing up. She turned to look for what could have possibly set Kurt off like that and started.
She had accidentally left the box of condoms out on top of the dresser, and Kurt had seen them.
“Kurt? Kurt!” Carole hurried to follow him into the bathroom, finding him slumped on the floor next to the open toilet, his forehead pressed into the tile of the wall. Carole reached over him to flush the toilet and then moved to moisten one of his washcloths in the sink. She knelt on the floor and dabbed gently at Kurt’s sweaty forehead before leaning forward to press a kiss there. “You okay, sweetie?”
“I feel digusting,” he murmured, letting his head roll against the tile. “Carole… You were in my sock drawer. I…”
“Yeah, honey.” Carole sat back on the small rug on the floor of the bathroom. “But I shouldn’t have been snooping like that. I’m sorry.”
“No, it… It’s not your fault.” Kurt coughed heavily into his hand for a moment before speaking again. “Who hides things in their sock drawer, honestly. It’s the first place people look.”
Carole chuckled. “Actually, I think Finn trumps you on that one.”
“His nightstand?”
“Of course. Where else? Come on, honey, let’s get you back in bed.”
Kurt allowed Carole to pull him up off the floor, but he slumped against her as soon as they were both standing. She helped him back into his room and helped him lay back against his pillows, bringing the comforter up around his shoulders. Carole crossed over to Kurt’s dresser and opened the sock drawer, scooping the condom box off of the top of it and back into the drawer where she had found it. She turned back to Kurt to see him with his arm flung over his eyes as he sighed heavily.
“Are you going to tell my dad?”
Carole smiled, sitting down on the edge of Kurt’s bed again. “No, I don’t think so. I think your dad assumes you’ve started having sex, but I don’t think he wants to know for certain. Keeping him in the dark is probably better for his stress levels. I’ve known for a while though.”
“You… you knew? About… Really?” Kurt frowned at her.
“Yeah, it was just the way you two were acting. I mean, you were attached at the hip before, but now you just seem so tuned into each other. So I assumed.” Carole smiled, pausing as Kurt reached for a tissue. He blew his nose rather loudly, balling up the tissue and throwing it into the wastebasket. “Was it around the time of the musical?”
Kurt looked up at her quickly, making eye contact briefly before looking away out of his window, where a light snow was beginning to fall.
Carole smiled at him, reaching over to rub his shoulder before standing up. “Mind if I finish putting away the rest of your laundry? Promise I won’t go snooping anywhere I don’t belong.”
“Yeah, sure. Thank you.” Kurt settled back against his pillows and closed his eyes. “Hey, Carole?”
“Yes, Kurt?” He didn’t reply right away. Carole folded another undershirt and placed it into the dresser before Kurt continued.
“It’s really nice… It’s nice having a mom around,” Kurt said quietly.
Carole almost dropped the shirt she was folding. She turned back to Kurt and watched him for a moment as he picked nervously at his pajama shirt. She walked over to the bed and leaned over to press a gentle kiss to the top of Kurt’s hair. As she moved to pull away, Kurt wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tight hug, his face pressed into the crook of her neck.
“I love you, Kurt.” She pressed another kiss to his cheek and then pulled away, moving out of Kurt’s embrace.
“I love you, too.” Kurt looked at her for a moment, his eyes soft, before smiling slightly and sliding back down into his blankets and closing his eyes.
“Yell if you need anything, sweetheart. I’ll be downstairs.” Carole picked up the empty laundry basket and walked out of the room. She paused in the hallway and turned back to look at Kurt one more time. He had already drifted off, his mouth open slightly as he clung to the comforter around his shoulders. Carole smiled.
Maybe she would put Kurt’s laundry away for him more often from now on. She closed the door and started downstairs, smiling to herself as she went.