Friday night dinners were enjoyable, to a point. Kurt would've rather been out at the movies with the rest of New Directions, but his dad and Carole were strict about him and Finn staying in and spending "quality time" with each other.
"Can I go to Sam's house after dinner?" Finn asked. School had barely been out for two weeks, and everyone was already itching to see each other. Sam had gone to the movies with the rest of the group, but had invited Finn to come over once it was over, since he was stuck at home having dinner.
"Where's Puck?" his mom asked. "Is he not in town?"
"No," Finn told her. "He went camping with some guy from football camp and his parents. I wanted to go, but I don't have any camping things."
Kurt shuddered at the thought of camping. His dad had taken him a few times when he was younger, before his mom died, and it was awful. He'd gotten sunburned and had been eaten alive by bugs. His dad loved the outdoors, but Kurt would rather stay inside and do some online shopping, or anything really besides fishing and hiking.
"You've never been camping?" his dad asked Finn. "I'd love to take you sometime. Me and Kurt used to go when he was little. Remember that, buddy?"
"Yeah Dad, I remember," Kurt said, and took a bite of his food. If his dad was going to take Finn camping, Kurt wanted nothing to do with it. He tried to stay out of the conversation.
"We could go next weekend," his dad went on. "Ever since Kurt's gotten older he hasn't wanted to go. It's just an idea, you don't have to, but it'd be a lot of fun."
"No, no, that sounds awesome," Finn said, smiling and looking at Kurt, who didn't seem to share his excitement.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea, honey," Carole said. "Pass me the pepper, please." Finn handed his mom the pepper shaker and went on discussing their camping plans. Kurt remembered when he used to be jealous of his dad spending so much time with Finn, but it certainly didn't bother him anymore.
After dinner, Kurt helped Carole with the dishes and then went to his room. He turned on his TV and texted Blaine, who he hadn't seen since he'd gotten back from New York City for Nationals. Finn had abandoned the idea of going to Sam's house, distracted by the idea of an actual camping trip. Kurt heard him and his dad talking and going out to the garage to dig around for camping gear, and Kurt was very glad he hadn't gotten swindled in to going with them.
Little did he know, that was about to change. His dad barged into his room half an hour later, and paused Kurt's TV.
"Dad!" he said. "I was watching that."
"Sorry," he apologized insincerely. "Listen, bud. I really think you need to go along with Finn and me next weekend. You both only have one year left until you're off to college, and if you go to New York like you say you want to, we'll hardly get to see each other. This trip will be really fun, for all of us. I know you hated it when you were younger, but I think you'll have a lot more fun this time around."
Kurt had been conned into too many things by his dad before. He drew the line at camping. There was no way he was going on a trip with his dad and Finn just to sleep in tents and not have proper hygiene for a week. No way.
"You know how I feel about camping," Kurt told him. "I'm not going. You couldn't pay me to go. Just go have a good time with Finn. I'm perfectly content with staying here with Carole. Now can I have my remote, please?"
"Kurt, you can enjoy the outdoors for two days. Forty-eight hours. I promise we'll make it enjoyable. Finn agreed with me that it'd be good for all of us. I'm not going to debate this with you. You'll survive in the woods for a weekend."
Kurt couldn't believe what he was hearing. His dad was not just going to force him into wasting his precious summer vacation out in the Ohio heat.
"Dad, this isn't fair!" Kurt argued, getting upset. "Why are you forcing me to go?"
"Kurt, for all the years I've sat through Sing Along Sound of Music with you, you can do this for me and your brother," his dad told him. Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Okay," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'll go with you and Finn, if that's what'll make you really happy. But I'm not going to enjoy it."
His dad didn't seem to hear what he was saying, he just seemed happy Kurt had agreed. He tossed his TV remote back to him and clapped him on the back.
"I promise we'll have a good time, kiddo. It means a lot to Finn to finally have a dad and brother to do things with. We'll go to Academy tomorrow and get the things we'll need. You'll have fun with the shopping. Okay?" his dad said.
Kurt nodded slowly, realizing what he'd gotten himself into. He would go camping, but he wasn't going to have fun, no matter what. He only agreed to please his dad, and he instantly regretted it, but there was no going back.
After his dad left him alone, Kurt didn't bother finishing his TV show. He had to tell Blaine what he'd just gotten himself into. He called his boyfriend to tell him the news.
"Hello?" Blaine answered, surprised that Kurt had called him. They had just been texting, but Kurt couldn't tell him everything in a text.
"You'll never guess what just happened," Kurt told him, sounding as unenthusiastic as possible.
"What?" Blaine asked anxiously.
"Finn was being an idiot at dinner and brought up the subject of camping around my dad. My dad loves stuff like that, going fishing and all that. Now my dad is taking Finn camping next weekend, and they're both making me go along," Kurt complained. "It's completely nuts! It'll be horrible."
Kurt waited for Blaine to agree with him, but he didn't.
"My dad used to take me and my brother camping when we were way younger. I think Cooper was eight and I was five. It wasn't so bad, but I can see why you don't want to. Did you try to talk to your dad about it? He probably wouldn't make you go if you just tried to talk to him," Blaine suggested.
Kurt knew his dad had already made up his mind. Unless he wound up in the hospital somehow, the plans were set it stone.
"I'll just go," Kurt sighed, accepting his fate. "You could come, too. If you liked it when your dad took you you'll love my dad's idea of camping."
There was a pause. Kurt knew it was wrong to drag Blaine into it too, but he couldn't last the whole weekend without him. Blaine would make things about ten times more enjoyable.
"Um, I mean I guess…" Blaine said. "This sounds like a family trip though. I don't want to intrude on you and your dad and Finn. If it's okay with your dad I'll go if you really want me to."
Kurt smiled to himself. His dad probably would've been okay with Blaine going, but Kurt decided not to say anything. If Blaine just showed up, his dad wouldn't send him away.
"I'll ask him," Kurt lied. "If you go, maybe it won't be hell."
"Oh, stop," Blaine teased. "It won't be that bad. I'll go with you and we'll have a good time. Go talk to your dad."
"Okay," Kurt agreed, even though he still had no intentions of doing it. "I'll talk to you later. I love you."
"I love you, too," Blaine replied. Kurt smiled as he hung up. He still hadn't gotten used to someone other than his dad telling him that they loved him. Kurt wasn't afraid to say it back to Blaine, because he was one hundred percent sure that he did love him, and after Blaine had said it to him that day in the Lima Bean, they had said it to each other much more frequently.
Kurt tried not to think of everything that could go wrong with the camping trip, but it was unavoidable. Sunburns, bug bites, and excessive sweating made him want to go hide out at Blaine's house until his dad and Finn returned, but Kurt knew he couldn't get out of it anymore.
Author's Notes:
Yay I finally posted something! I wrote this a few weeks ago, and this is the first chapter of three parts. I know this first part is a little boring, but I promise it'll get better soon! I'm planning on updating my other stories soon, too, so thanks for being patient with me!
