By the sixth grade, Kurt Hummel had gotten used to his mother not being around. His father had filled in as best as he could, going above and beyond what many other father usually did. Kurt was used to having his father show up at every single on of his chorus concerts, cheering and clapping incredibly loud whenever Kurt would snag a solo, which was quite often. He showed up at parent-teacher conferences and Bring Your Parents to Breakfast day, often rescheduling his work hours to do so. Kurt was very grateful for all that Burt did but he was unaware that his father was only trying to fill in the massive gap that his mother had left with her passing. He never saw it as Burt filling his mom's role, only as Burt being a great dad.
During the first month of sixth grade, Kurt saw that he was vastly different from the other boys in ways that he hadn't really paid attention to before. Between the summer of 5th and 6th grade, most of the boys in his grade seemed to have attended some sort of sports camp , either baseball or football, and they all seemed to bond into separate cliques based on which sport themed camp they had attended. Kurt however, had begged his father to let him audition for a small supporting role in a musical at the community theater in the next town over. Kurt snagged the role, and had spent his summer between rehearsals and spending time in his father's car shop.
Another difference was that Kurt seemed to miss the mass memo to grow that apparently all of the other boys in his class had received. Kurt was the smallest and shortest boy in his grade, and since he had no other guy friends to hang out with, he was often picked on at school. Nothing major, it was only 6th grade after all. A few of the bigger guys called him pipsqueak or told him that he threw like a girl during gym. Kurt didn't think much of it, he knew that he was small and seemed unathletic to those boys; they hadn't seem him spend his whole summer working on dance routines.
Middle school, unlike elementary school, required that you had to audition for a place in the chorus. Membership was always so low, however, that it was guaranteed that if you tried out you had a place in the chorus. It was simply a formality. Kurt tried out with a piece that he sang over the summer and had blown the chorus teacher, Miss Pernd, out of the water with his vocal abilities. She assigned him a solo part in the upcoming Back to School concert.
Kurt was ecstatic and rushed to tell his father when he got home.
"Dad, Dad! I got the solo part for the first concert of the year!"
"Oh really, sport? That's great. When is the concert?'
'Next Friday. 7 o'clock. Can you make it?" Kurt knew that his father liked to work later on Friday's in order to have more free time on the weekends.
Burt bit his lip thoughtfully, and then nodded his head. "Of course. I'll just have to put in some extra time on Thursday or Saturday. Wouldn't miss it for the world, son."
Kurt jumped up and down excitedly and then rushed to his father to hug him. "Thanks, Dad. It always helps me to look out and see a familiar face in the crowd."
Burt patted his son on the back, laughing. He hugged Kurt back tightly, and then released him. "Now go do you homework son."
Kurt smiled up at his father and then ran upstairs to his room.
The Thursday before the concert, Miss Pernd had made the entire chorus stay later after school to get in some extra practice before the concert. After practice was over, Kurt had to wait for his father to get off of work before he could come pick him up. He was standing outside on the sidewalk next to the parking lot when Miss Pernd walked y to get to her car.
"Kurt? Is that you? Why are you still here?"
"I'm just waiting for my Dad, Miss Pernd. He should be here any minute now."
"Are you sure Kurt? Do I need to call or give you a ride?"
"No ma'am, it's fine. He just had to work a little later today."
"What about your Mom, could she pick you up?"
Kurt frowned and shook his head "no" quickly. "No. Uhm.. she can't." Kurt never felt comfortable telling other people, especially teachers, that his mother had died. Most of the teachers knew, it was a smaller town and news traveled fast, but Miss Pernd was a newer addition to Lima.
"Alright, Kurt. Just making sure. Speaking of your Mom and Dad, you only asked for one ticket for the concert."
Kurt stared down at his feet. He knew Miss Pernd was only asking out of curiosity and trying to make polite conversation but she was making Kurt extremely uncomfortable.
"I uh.. It's for my Dad."
Miss Pernd looked very surprised. "Really? Your Dad is coming?"
"He tries to come to all of my performances."
Miss Pernd's shocked expression stayed plastered to her face. "That's nice of your father. Coming to performances is something mothers usually do."
Kurt nodded, and saw his father's truck pull into the parking lot. "That's my Dad, Miss Pernd. See you tomorrow."
Kurt waved and rushed around to meet his father. He jumped into the truck and his father drove off.
Burt noticed that Kurt was unusually quiet on the drive home, but said nothing. He knew that Kurt would say something to him eventually.
Just as Burt suspected, in the middle of dinner, Kurt blurted out, "Dad, why do you always come to my performances?"
Burt looked at him quizzically, unsure of what this conversation was leading to. "Cause I want to. I come out and support you. I thought you liked that?"
Kurt sighed. "I do, it's just… Never mind."
"Hey Kurt, come on. You can tell me. What's going on?"
Kurt put his fork down and looked at his father from across the table. "Isn't it something that mothers usually do?"
Burt's face fell and he pursed his lips. He wanted his response to Kurt to be as good as possible.
"Yes Kurt, yes it is. I know you might bring this up someday, although not about this." Burt sighed and cleared his throat. "You remember that summer you made me sit around and have tea parties with you?"
Kurt nodded, he remembered. Kurt had spent several weeks of that summer hosting tea parties in the backyard that he made his father attend.
"Well, that's something that mothers usually do too." Burt refrained from mentioning that that was something that mothers usually did with their daughters, but he knew that Kurt was special and he was completely okay with that.
Kurt opened his mouth to speak but his father held up a hand silencing him as he went on.
"I've done a lot of stuff with and for you that a mother usually does. I know that it may be a bit unorthodox but I just didn't want you to feel left out. I could never replace your mother, but I didn't want you to feel…left out. I've read you bedtime stories and tucked you into bed, taken countless pictures of you that are sure to be embarrassing when you get older, let you cry on my shoulder when you were having a bad day, taken care of you when you were sick, and a whole lotta other things that people think that a mother usually does."
Kurt was silent for a moment before he whispered, "But I don't have a mother anymore."
Both Kurt and Burt were teary eyed, neither wanting to delve too deep into this subject.
Burt hung is head. "No," his voice quivered, "No, you don't. And I've tried to make up for that. I don't want you to miss out on anything just because she's not around anymore."
"I know, Dad. Thank you. I just never really thought about all of the things that you were doing as mom things. I just thought of them as dad things."
"And you should, because I do them. There is nothing wrong with that."
Kurt lips curled upwards into a smile, his eyes watery. "Thank you."
"No problem, son. I love you."
"I love you too, Dad."
They both finished their meals in silence, neither on acknowledging the fact they knew the other was crying.
The next day, at the concert, Burt was one of the first to arrive at the concert. He cheered the loudest stood on feet clapping after Kurt finished his solo. Kurt beamed at his father, he was proud of both of them.
After the concert, many of the parents went back in to the chorus room to pick up their kids.
"Hey! Great job, kid!" Burt said enthusiastically as he gave Kurt a high five.
"Thank you, Dad!" Kurt was still excited from being onstage, it always gave him such an incredible rush.
"Ahhh, you must be Mr. Hummel!" Miss Purnd swooped in shook hands with Kurt's father.
"Call me Burt. Miss Purnd, right?"
"Yes, yes. Lovely to meet you. You have quite the young star on your hands here. His talent is beyond anything that I have ever seen in this town."
Kurt blushed, but Burt looked very happy about the compliment for Kurt. "I know. I'm very proud of him."
"So I've heard. Kurt tells me that you come to pretty much everyone of his performances?"
"All the ones that I can manage. Though I can't recall the last time I missed one.."
Kurt rushes off in the other direction and talks to another member of the chorus, leaving Burt and Miss Purnd alone.
"If you don't mind me asking, why isn't Mrs. Hummel as supportive as you?"
"Uhm," Burt scratches his head slightly confused and unsure of how to reply. "Mrs. Hummel has been gone for quite sometime now I'm afraid.."
"Divorce?" whispers Miss Purnd, leaning in so others won't overhear.
Burt shakes his head solemnly. "Uh.. Death."
Miss Purnd looks immediately apologetic and frowns. "I'm so sorry to hear that. It's just, Kurt never seemed to mention or hint to anything of the sort. I'm so sorry." She frowns again sadly, looking at Kurt who is engrossed in a conversation with another chorus member.
Burt's mind begins to click together some of the pieces from their conversation last night.
"Kurt doesn't like to talk about it much and I try to fill in as best I can."
Miss Purnd nods. "That's very understandable." She looks up at him before saying with strong conviction, "You are doing a very fine job with Kurt, Mr. Hummel. Most fathers would be put off by the…talent that Kurt has and wouldn't be so accepting and supportive. You're doing an excellent job raising him."
Burt looks perplexed for a moment, and then seems to understand what Miss Purnd is trying to say. He nods. "Thank you. I appreciate that."
Miss Purnd walks away to talk with another parent as Kurt walks over to his dad, wrapping his arm around Burt's waist.
"What did she say to you, Dad?" Kurt muses as they begin to walk out of the chorus room and into the empty hallway.
"Just telling me what an amazing performer you are. Like I didn't already know."
Kurt just laughs and leans closer into his father. "What's for dinner tonight?"
"I think I'll take you out to Breadsticks. You deserve it after that incredible show tonight."
"Cool!"
Burt smiled down at his son. He knew that taking his son out for a congratulatory dinner after his concert was something that a mother usually did, but he didn't care. All he could think about was how proud he was of his son for doing what he wanted to do and excelling at it.
Kurt smiled up at his father. He knew that his dad didn't have to be so supportive of him and come to his performances, but he was happy that he did.