A/N: The title for this story, as well as all chapter titles, comes from the "death cab for cutie" song "I Will Follow You Into the Dark". If you know the song-don't worry, no one dies. The titles are taken out of context; I just liked the imagery of the song, and the sentiment is definitely one the boys share for each other. And if you don't know the song- run, don't walk to youtube/napster/rhapsody/your music-listening venue of choice, & find it. Listen & love it! Seriously, one of my all-time favorite songs.

One last thing: I've never had migraines, but my mom has, and I've gotten a ulot/u of feedback from people who have them, which has influenced the upcoming events in the story. I am also not a nurse, but! I do work with them, & I can't help but adding little dashes of that secondhand knowledge to the story.

Now, please enjoy, & let me know what you think!

Ironically, Kurt hadn't had any issues with his health when he first started at Dalton. Normally a robust and healthy boy (no matter what his thin physical appearance might imply), he rarely caught colds, and hadn't had either the flu or a stomach virus in years. He thought it might have to do with getting tossed in dumpsters so often - his body had built up a healthy immunity to all those germs.

While he did sometimes get migraines, they usually didn't occur until he was already at home in the evening - tiredness could be a trigger, he knew. But during the entire stressful week of having Pavarotti die, and getting ready for Regionals (and then losing Regionals, which was a whole different kind of stress), nothing had happened. And then he was able to relax and really think about all that had occurred. He realized that he was happy with his life now.

Despite no longer being a competing choir, the Warblers still held practice, and it was actually a lot less constrained and regimented now. Some of the boys even broke out into spontaneous song, and while none of them were up to par with Rachel or Mercedes or his own diva-ness, it really did remind him a little of New Directions. And of course, he was able to really focus on the fact that he had a boyfriend. It helped that Blaine would meet him for lunch and they would hold hands under the table, and share secretive glances with each other. It wasn't all that different from when they were just friends, except the glances had a whole different meaning. And at the end of the day, either after classes or after Warbler practice, they'd head out for coffee, and again hold hands. They even ended up making out in Blaine's Mustang a couple times. It was great.

It was so great, Kurt should have realized something was going to happen. He was usually an excitable boy, but there was a different feeling to this. Of course, since nothing even remotely like this had ever happened to him before, he paid little attention to the fact that he was practically bouncing as he walked, or that a silly grin seemed to be permanently plastered onto his face.

Five days after Regionals, the Warblers had a short meeting scheduled before school let out for the weekend. Kurt was pleased to see Blaine moving toward him as he made his way from History, his last class of the day, to the practice hall. Blaine grinned at him and, once Kurt reached him, he slung an arm around his shoulders. This was all fairly normal behavior for him - what was new was that now, Blaine used that arm around Kurt's shoulder to pull him close and give him a lingering peck on the lips. "Hey, gorgeous," he greeted.

Kurt grinned. "Ooh, gorgeous. I like that one." Blaine, for some reason, had decided that Kurt needed a nickname. A couple nickname, that only Blaine called him. Kurt thought he was being ridiculous, to which Blaine had retorted that he knew Kurt secretly loved the idea. Kurt had rolled his eyes, but when he didn't verbally contradict him, Blaine had grinned smugly and said, "Uh-huh. That's what I thought." So, for the last week, at odd intervals (always when they were alone, which Kurt was thankful for - he knew the Warblers and their other schoolmates wouldn't make fun of them, but he would be so embarrassed if Blaine said anything in front of them), Blaine would use a different, fairly generic, nickname. 'Baby' had been first, which Kurt had shot down right away. 'Sexy' had actually been one of the first, to which Kurt had narrowed his eyes at Blaine and said, "I'm not sexy, remember? Baby penguin?" Blaine had raised a considering eyebrow at that, and Kurt had pointed at him menacingly. "If you call me penguin, or baby penguin, I will physically hurt you."

"Gorgeous. Okay, I'll mark that one down for later consideration. I've got about half of my list left, though," Blaine told him, grinning cheekily, which made Kurt laugh. It surprised him how much there was to still learn about Blaine, even though they'd known each other for months already - like the fact that Blaine made lists. He liked making lists. It was almost a compulsion for him, a way to keep everything organized. Which, thinking about it, made sense. Blaine adored being organized, in a way that was different than Kurt's own manic-neatness. He could sort of understand now how Blaine hadn't realized Kurt was in love with him; it hadn't fit into his plans, it wasn't on any of his mental lists, so he hadn't seen it.

They reached the practice hall, and Kurt took a seat on one of the sofas, tossing his bag down by the arm, out of the way. Blaine plopped down beside him, crowding him against the arm so they were pressed together from shoulder to hip to knee. Blaine grinned at him again, and winked, before turning toward the front of the room, propping his left elbow, opposite Kurt, on the back of the couch. His entire posture and demeanor said Nothing out of the ordinary going on. Nope, nothing to see here. Which was nice, because Kurt was pretty sure every time they were together, his own demeanor said, OH MY GAGA, I'M WITH MY BOYFRIEND, in big flashing neon lights.

While the council (and Wes in particular) seemed to have loosened up a little now that they weren't competing, they still took themselves a little too seriously for Kurt, who started to let his mind wander. They were discussing a field trip to a local Long Term Care facility (Kurt thought Blaine had been joking about that, but apparently not) and what songs would be appropriate to sing to senior citizens. At least they were trying to be polite to their audience - they didn't think singing about putting 'your hands on me in my skin tight jeans' would be the right thing to do. Kurt wasn't so sure - he'd known some old folks who were even more perverted than the average teenage boy.

He didn't even notice anything was wrong until Blaine put his hand on Kurt's knee and whispered, "You okay?" Kurt glanced at him in confusion and Blaine nodded to Kurt's hands. He'd started absently rubbing at his left hand with his right, without realizing it. Now that he was paying attention, he realized his left hand and partway up his arm was tingling, like his arm had fallen asleep and was just now waking up, with that uncomfortable pins-and-needles feeling.

Pushing away an uncomfortable feeling of foreboding, Kurt gave a small chuckle. "Apparently I'm so bored my hand fell asleep," he joked. A few seconds after he'd spoken, though, he knew it was much more serious than that. The strange tingling had moved completely up his arm to his shoulder, and now the left side of his face and his lips were tingling, too. He'd never had his face fall asleep before, but he recognized the sensation from something else. It was part of an early warning sign that he should have been paying closer attention to. "Actually..." He wasn't sure what he was going to tell Blaine, but he didn't get a chance, anyway. Their whispered conversation hadn't gone unnoticed by the council.

"Something you want to share, Blaine, Kurt?" David called out, not unkindly. Everyone knew they were dating, despite being fairly discreet about it, so the council usually left them alone if they whispered occasionally during practice - especially now with the pressure of competition no longer weighing on them - but they did get a slight reprimand if it was obvious they weren't paying attention. Thankfully, it was usually David who called them on it, because Wes and Thad weren't usually quite as nice.

Kurt looked at the head table and shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said politely, "but I'm not feeling well. I need to go see the nurse. I'm sorry for interrupting the meeting." He ignored Blaine's surprised and confused look, not wanting to draw any more attention to himself than necessary - he'd already drawn more than enough attention, anyway. He hated people knowing he was sick or injured, they always fawned over him and offered him sympathy that, to him, felt an awful lot like pity, which he couldn't stand.

He stood up and reached for his bag, swinging it up to settle on his shoulder. Unfortunately, that was as far as his plan of a graceful exit got, because as he straightened up he was hit by a wave of dizziness that had him reaching out to grip the arm of the sofa in a subtle attempt to keep his balance.

Blaine was standing by his side by the time the vertigo passed, one hand at his elbow to steady him. "Come on, I'll take you to the nurse." Kurt shot him an exasperated look that he hoped Blaine interpreted as I'm not a child, I can take care of myself. However Blaine took it, his response was, "David and Wes can fill me in on the meeting later. Come on."

Kurt didn't protest, partly because he'd already made enough of a spectacle in front of the other Warblers, and partly because he really did need to go see the nurse, the sooner, the better. He surreptitiously checked his watch, trying to calculate just how much time he had. The warning signs usually hit about half an hour before he had to worry, but it was an hour's drive home, and he wouldn't be able to drive once it started.

"You're not gonna throw up, are you?" Kurt glanced over at Blaine in confusion. He recognized Blaine's tone of voice - it was the one he used when he was uncomfortable with something, and any minute now he was going to start babbling. Kurt usually found the babbling amusing and sweet, but his euphoric Blaine is my boyfriend! mood was swiftly dissipating as the tension mounted in his body at what was about to happen. The apprehension of the migraine was almost as bad as the attack itself. Or at least, he always seemed to think so at the time - it was always actually worse during the migraine, he just didn't like remembering it.

"Do you have a problem with vomit?" Kurt asked, instead of answering.

Blaine shrugged jerkily, staring straight ahead and barely even glancing at Kurt. "It's... yeah, kinda. Doesn't everybody? I mean, it's not really a fun thing to do, or hear, or-" Blaine did look at him, then, and the worried look on his face almost made Kurt laugh, despite his own worries. "You're gonna puke, aren't you?"

Kurt snorted, rubbing absently at his lips, which were beginning to feel normal again. "It's possible. Hopefully not, though." Blaine gave him another confused look, but they'd rounded the corner and there was the nurse's office. The nurse was just leaving, too, her key ring out as she began to lock up the office.

"Wait!" Kurt threw up a hand to signal her to stop, and began running forward. He stumbled a little as the change in speed made him a little dizzy, but at least he'd gotten her to stop. He came to a halt in front of her, Blaine ever-present at his side. "My name's Kurt Hummel," he explained, "I have some medicine locked in the medicine cabinet, the Dean said because it was prescription it had to be locked up on school grounds."

The nurse looked from Kurt to Blaine for a moment, but nodded and pushed the door back open. "Come on in," she called over her shoulder, "and I'll look up your chart."

Kurt groaned. "Look, it's Imitrex, it's not like I'm gonna be selling it on the street or getting high on it, or anything. I just need to take it now, so it can start to take effect soon."

The nurse turned from where she'd found the chart labeled with Hummel, Kurt E. on the side, and gave him an unimpressed stare. "Mr. Hummel," she stated in a voice that matched her look, sounding like she was lecturing a slow child, "Whatever the circumstances, I have to look at your chart, and sign out the medication, so that I do not get fired for stealing meds. Give me two minutes, and I'll get your medicine to you."

Kurt pressed his lips into a thin line, but suppressed all but the smallest of groans. He started drumming his fingers on his thigh impatiently, and started slightly when Blaine reached down and wrapped his fingers around his other hand. When he glanced over, Blaine still looked a little worried, but he smiled reassuringly at Kurt all the same. Kurt managed a small smile in return, and squeezed Blaine's fingers. He knew Blaine didn't like seeing him upset or in pain, and whenever anyone was hurting, physically or emotionally, Blaine wanted to find something to do to help. So Kurt knew this was going to be really hard for him to see, because there was absolutely nothing Blaine would be able to do. But he was so glad he wasn't alone right now.

Kurt swayed to the side far enough to lightly bump shoulders with Blaine. "Thank you. For being here right now."

Blaine leaned over and gave him a chaste peck on the cheek, which still managed to make Kurt color slightly. "I wouldn't be anywhere else," Blaine whispered back.

The nurse cleared her throat and held out a plastic cup with a blue and red pill in it, and a small cup of water. Kurt took the med cup and tossed the pill back dry, then handed the empty cup back to her. "Thanks. I can't drink water now, I'll just throw it back up." He felt Blaine's hand twitch, but when he looked, his face showed nothing but concern.

"Are you going to be able to make it home, or should I call your father?" the nurse asked.

Kurt ran through his mental calendar. His dad would still be working at the garage. Carol wouldn't be off work until seven. He barely even thought of Finn before discarding the idea - there was no way he was spending an hour-long car ride with Finn while he had a migraine. Finn thought silence needed to be filled, either with singing or talking.

He'd just decided to tell her he would call his dad - he knew his dad would take off early if he needed to, and this was definitely what Kurt considered a family emergency - when Blaine spoke up. "I'll take him home." Kurt turned to look at him in surprise, but Blaine just smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

To Be Continued...