Title: Hello, Goodbye
Characters: Burt Hummel and Paul Karofsky with mentions of Dave Karofsky and Kurt Hummel as well as others.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, the creators of Glee.
Spoilers: Extremely spoilery for 3x14 On My Way.
Warnings: mentions of suicide and homophobic language
Summary: Paul Karofsky calls Burt Hummel for support after Dave's attempted suicide.
Sometimes Burt Hummel had to stop and wonder how the lives of his children and their peers had gotten so dramatic. He and Carole, along with Hiram and Leroy, had been trying to convince Finn not to marry Rachel before they even graduated from high school. They were too young, it was too much commitment, but nothing they were trying was convincing them that marriage was going too far too soon. And then to make all their lives even more serious, Dave Karofsky had attempted to commit suicide. (Again, too much commitment for someone so young.)
They had been eating dinner when both Kurt and Finn's phones had gone off, alerting them to a group text message. "Oh my god," Finn had exclaimed while Kurt sat there shocked, jaw dropped, the color draining from his face before he pushed himself away from the table and ran to his room.
"What is it, honey?" Carole had asked and Finn told them what he knew: that Karofsky had tried to kill himself and that Karofsky was gay. Dinner forgotten, Burt had followed Kurt who eventually told him everything. About the bullying, the confrontation and kiss, the death threat, the real apology, the prom, the gay bar, the declaration of love, and the missed phone calls. Burt held his tongue through the story, not commenting on the secrets Kurt had kept about the time last year that was hard on all of them or the knowledge that Kurt had a fake I.D. and had used it to go to a shady gay bar. He listened and tried to reassure Kurt that there what happened was not his fault though he knew his son would carry the guilt of not answering Dave's calls.
It was so difficult for him to watch Kurt cry; no matter how impossible he knew it was, he just wanted to hide his son away and keep the bad things from hurting him. At the same time, he was struck by the good person Kurt had grown to be. Burt was so proud of him. He was such a compassionate, forgiving person. Much more forgiving than Burt was himself though Karofsky's actions made more sense now that he understood what had been behind them. After all, they were just kids. Almost adults, but still kids.
The phone rings briefly and he hears Carole in another room answer it and speak to the caller briefly before she moves towards Burt. Carole peeks through the partially open door to Burt's office and says, "Sweetie, I think you should take this call." Burt nods, trusting his wife's judgement and picks up the phone on his desk.
"Hello?" he says.
"Is this Burt Hummel?" the caller asks.
"Yes, who is this?"
"It's Paul Karofsky."
"Oh," Burt says and gets up to push the door shut. "How are you doin', Paul?"
A brief, humorless laugh, "Not so good, Burt." Paul pauses for a moment, "Burt, I need your help. I just... I don't know what to do and you're the only person I could think of who I could talk to who knew anything about this stuff."
"Whatever you need, Paul. I'm here and Carole's here."
"Thank you."
"No reason to thank me. Why don't you tell me what happened? I've heard some things but I don't know what's actually true."
"Yeah, the truth has a way of getting distorted the more people talk," Paul said, pausing briefly before telling the story. "Last week, David came home from school and he was upset, really upset. He wouldn't tell us what was going on and he closed himself off in his room. Things had been getting better for awhile. He was less angry, more relaxed. His grades were great. And then it was like he was shutting us out again. So we went to talk to him. Made him tell us what was going on.
"He didn't want to tell us, but he showed us his computer. What those awful kids were saying to him on Facebook. My wife," Paul voice is choked with emotion, "she asked Dave why they were spreading such awful lies. He said that they weren't lies, that he was gay and she said, 'my son is not a disgusting sodomite,' and she went to call our pastor. She went to go get some pamphlets for some camp. Said he was diseased and needed to be cured."
"Jesus," Burt says.
"His face, Burt. He was so crushed. He ran to his room and then Sharon and I fought. I couldn't believe the things she was saying. Things she was saying about her son. Our son. I couldn't even look at her anymore. She went to go stay at her sister's. I went up to David's room to tell her that she was gone but he barely said a word to me. I told him that I loved him and that we'd talk the next day when I got home from work."
"Where's your wife now?" Burt inquired.
"Still at her sister's. I'm divorcing her. I don't want her around my son, spreading her hate." Paul's voice was bitter and full of malice.
"You're a good father."
"David needs me. Now more than ever."
"He does," Burt agreed. "Then what happened?"
"I came home from work earlier than usual. I didn't want David to be alone for so long. I was at the foot of the stairs when I heard a... thump," Paul's voice hitched and Burt could hear that Paul was crying now. "I ran up the stairs and saw him. Hanging... I can't get the image out of my head. I close my eyes and I see him like that. I got him down; I don't know how. He was breathing but it was shallow. I remember screaming for help, screaming at Dave to wake up. The rest is a blur. The ambulance, the hospital waiting for them to tell me something."
Paul cries and Burt holds back his tears, "I can't even imagine how awful that must have been."
"He's my boy, Burt," Paul says desperately. "How could my little boy want to do that to himself? I can't stop remembering little moments from when he was a kid. The time we went to get ice cream when Mom was out-of-town. Him coming home all scuffed up from sports but he was so happy. I think of those moments, his innocent, toothy grin and then I see him the way I found him. It's just so much but I have to be strong for him and I feel so alone right now. So lost."
"Like I said, I'm here. Carole's here. And Kurt's here for Dave. I think he's going to visit him tomorrow."
"That's good. Dave needs a friend. And thanks again."
"Like I said, no need to thank anyone."
"I just... what happens next? I need to show David that he's not alone. That I'm there for him. That I don't care that he likes boys as long as he's happy. That I would be ruined if he tried to leave me like this again."
"Tell him that. Tell him you love him and that you support him. That you don't care that he is gay. Tell him to talk to you if things ever get bad again. Try to get him in therapy."
"Yeah," Paul says. "What did you do when Kurt came out?"
"Well, I had the advantage of knowing before Kurt did so it didn't come as a shock," Burt says warmly. "I told him that I love him no matter what and that I've always known. That I was proud of him for telling me."
"I guess I sort of suspected about David," Paul says. "I never really voiced that but there was something more going on with the trouble between David and your son. I just couldn't quite put my finger on it."
"Yeah. Kurt finally came clean with what happened there. He's been so upset about it all this week."
"Dave came clean with me too. You know he says he loves Kurt?"
"Yeah that's what Kurt said. Kurt has a boyfriend though," Burt says. "But I hope they can be friends anyways. Love is such a misleading thing when you're young."
"Or when you're old."
Burt laughs, "True... Listen, you call me whenever you need to. And when Dave feels up to it, maybe you two can come over for dinner some night?"
"Yeah, that sounds good."
"And don't forget that you have to have The Talk with Dave again. That's never fun."
"Oh, Jesus. It was bad enough the first time."
"No kidding. Kurt covered his ears and made nonsense noises to try to stop it. But I did find some boy in his bed so it needed to happen."
"They weren't... doing things, were they?"
"Oh god, no. Blaine had been drunk and Kurt insisted that he spend the night instead of driving home. But, yeah, I might be really protective over my son."
Paul laughs and echoes Burt's words back to him, "You're a good father."
"I hope so."
"Thanks for the talk. I'll let you know about the dinner thing."
"No problem. I'm here anytime you need to talk."
"Thanks, Burt. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye, Paul."