The first time Kurt met Death was on the playground. Death was there for the flowers Kurt was picking, he explained.
Kurt had offered to put the flowers back in the ground (Death had assured him that while it wouldn't help it was a very nice thought) and then told him that he should probably add some sparkly glitter to his cape.
IT'S NOT A CAPE. Death said. IT'S A CLOAK.
"What's the difference?" Kurt asked.
A CAPE IS SHORTER, AND DOESN'T COVER THE ENTIRE BODY.
"Oh." Kurt considered that. "So your knees would be showing."
AND CONSIDERABLE MORE THAN THAT.
Kurt nodded, contemplating the horizon as he mulled over this new information. "That makes sense then, that you wear a cape. I think most people don't want to look at skellingtons unless they're the ones in the doctor's office or in the haunted houses. But only on Halloween." He added quickly. "Otherwise only in doctor's offices." He looked up and down at Death. "Are you from a doctor's office?"
I AM NOT.
"Oh." Kurt looked crushed at his script being so utterly denied. But, as small children do, he rallied quickly. "You probably just don't remember." He said patronizingly. "I don't remember being born either, it's okay."
I REMEMBER EVERYTHING. ESPECIALLY THOSE THINGS WHICH HAVE NOT YET HAPPENED.
Kurt cocked his head to the side. "But if you 'specially remember stuff that hasn't happened, then doesn't that mean you don't really remember the stuff that has? People only have so much room in their brains. Daddy says that memories are like closets, and can only store so much stuff. He says that whenever he forgets to bring home the milk."
Death nodded. BUT I REMEMBER EVERYTHING. AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO A DOCTOR'S OFFICE.
Kurt looked aghast. "But what if you get sick?"
I NEVER HAVE. PERHAPS I CANNOT GET SICK. Death bowed his head, and Kurt felt very sorry for him. Being sick was awful, but it also meant ice cream, and having your mommy sing to you and pet your hair. Maybe Death didn't have a mommy to pet his hair.
"I can pet your hair." Kurt offered.
Death cocked his head to one side consideringly. BUT I HAVE NO HAIR TO PET.
"I can rub your head if you're bald, that's what Mommy does to Daddy."
I HAVE NO HEAD.
"Did you lose it? Mommy says that she'd lose her head if it wasn't attached to her shoulders." Kurt glanced around him, as if hoping to have somehow missed a disembodied head during their talk.
I HAVE A SKULL INSTEAD. Death offered, after a moment of watching Kurt scrutinizing the grass.
"Oh, okay then. I can rub that." Now that the idea was in Kurt's head, there was no way he was leaving without rubbing Death's skull. Death didn't quite know what to do with this sudden course of action. Death didn't often come face to face with determined 5-year-olds and their skull-rubbing tendencies. Humans were so very confusing.
Death sighed, and it was a gust of music and dying men's rattles and the echoes of screams into the night.
"You should brush your teeth." Kurt said.
Death gave up, and bent so that Kurt could remove his hood and rub soothing circles onto the skull there.