I guess it's sort of a future fic because Kurt isn't graduating this year, but I was just inspired. And, I honestly only meant for this to be a short drabble, not this ficlet that just kept writing itself.
And, for the record, the title is a play on Maroon 5's lyric from Nothing Can Last Forever, even though the song has nothing to do with the oneshot. Okay?
Disclaimer: I only play with the character that RIB created.
"Kurt, can you come here for a minute?" Burt asked from the den as Kurt breezed by on the way to his room after a long day at McKinley.
"Hey dad," Kurt said, popping into the room, where the air conditioner was on to counteract the humid June afternoon, "What do you want?"
"I have your graduation present," Burt said, shifting behind the desk, where he was balancing the Hummel Tires and Lube books.
"I told you that you didn't have to get me anything," Kurt said, flushing from head to toe as his dad stood up.
"I just... Carole and I thought this would be best," Burt said, suddenly embarrassed as he rummaged through the small 'junk' closet off of the den. He pulled out a lavishly wrapped box containing the present.
"Should I open it now?" Kurt asked, as Burt settled the box into his son's arms.
"Yeah, go ahead," Burt said, settling back into the desk chair, as Kurt plopped into an arm chair in the corner.
Kurt carefully pulled the tape loose, instead of tearing into the paper like a seven year old on Christmas morning. Well, Finn did that last Christmas and he was seventeen at the time. Regardless, Kurt had always been a tedious present opener. He just thought about the effort that people put into wrapping the box, and didn't want the hard work to go destroyed.
"It was just something I pulled together," Burt gruffly said from behind his desk, as Kurt slide the box from the paper.
"I'm sure it's lovely," Kurt said, appeasing his father with kind words, even though he had no clue as to what was in the box. He pulled the lid off, opened the tissue paper, only to reveal a couple of old shirts.
It took all of Kurt's effort to not frown at the old shirts, until he actually pulled them out to realize that they were all sewn together. It was a quilt. His father had made him a quilt from mementos in his life.
"It's just, you're going to NYU in the fall, and I didn't want you to forget where you're from," Burt said, letting emotion seep into his voice as Kurt's eyes instantly welled with tears.
"I'd never forget," Kurt managed to hiccup out, walking around the den desk to hug his father with the quilt still clenched in his grip, "Help me spread it?"
Burt replied wordlessly as he stood up. The two of them pulled the corners of the quilt taut before letting is drift to the floor, so Kurt could really take in all that this quilt meant to him.
"Is that one of Rachel's horrid reindeer sweaters from previous years?" Kurt asked, his voice twinging with a laugh.
"I didn't think you'd want to forget that one," Burt replied with a short laugh as Kurt almost gave into the overwhelming urge to roll himself up like a burrito in his graduation present.
"I spy Mercedes' Technicolor zebra shirt that started out friendship and the logo part of my old Dalton blazers," Kurt said, as Carole joined them in the room.
"Do you like it?" Carole tentatively asked, knowing that she had been a driving force behind getting the idea planted in Burt's head and pulling it all together.
"I love it," Kurt replied with a smile, trailing his fingers over the worn material of his football jersey from his stint as the McKinley kicker, and right next to it was a WMHS practice cheerleading shirt.
"I'm glad," Carole said, throwing her arms around Kurt and Burt.
"What's that white piece?" Kurt asked, puzzled as to how a piece of white silk was relevant to his life.
"It's from your mother's wedding dress," Burt replied, his voice wavering the tiniest bit. Kurt choked back a sad noise.
"I got your dad to donate one of his flannels to the quilt," Carole whispered in Kurt's ear like it was some kind of conspiracy causing Kurt to bubble over with laughter.
"Is that one of my old onesies?" Kurt asked, staring down at the white cotton with a sewn banana with the saying 'go bananas!' below it.
"I picked it out," Finn said, clambering into the room, almost tripping over the material.
"I spy my Winnie the Pooh baby blanket and Sam's target T-shirt," Kurt said, his eyes scanning every inch of the quilt as his heart swelled.
The doorbell rang from the front door, as Finn instantly perked up, "I'll get it."
"Thank you, honey," Carole said, as Finn left the door wide open.
"It's kind of small, but I figure you could add onto it, or put more pieces on the back," Burt said, knowing that seventeen years of life in one quilt was pretty amazing, but his son would have far more many memories than just these.
"And, I made sure that the sewing job can easily be taken apart, so you can switch out things that are no longer signifigant," Carole added, as Finn walked back into the room trailed by Blaine.
"Hey," Kurt softly said, as Blaine sidled up to Kurt's free size, lacing their fingers together.
"Hey yourself," Blaine cheesily said, making Kurt smile so wide that it almost hurt his face, "Have you found which part is mine?"
"You put something in here?" Kurt asked, knowing that all of the material was familiar to him. He frowned at the quilt, carefully going over each square and matching it with a memory.
"Or, you can add onto the back," Burt reiterated, as Kurt leaned down to flip it over, getting a hand from Finn at the task.
"Is that you beloved Katy Perry concert shirt?" Kurt asked in disbelief, instantly recognizing the only quilt piece dead center.
"You're worth it," Blaine joked, as Kurt honest to God giggled. It hardly fazed him that his dad was in the room as he shamelessly giggled.
"Hey boys," Carole said, looking to Finn and Burt, "Can I have some help for dinner?"
"I guess so," Burt grumbled, giving a harsh protective look over his shoulder as he exited the room. In his haste to deliver his message, he missed Carole's conspiratorial wink back at Kurt and Blaine.
"So, why is yours the only one on the back?" Kurt asked out of sheer curiosity once they were alone, as he crouched down to be near the fabric that distinctly smelled like home.
"Well, Carole said that mine should be on the back because I'm a new chapter in your life," Blaine said, settling next to Kurt on the quilt covered hardwood floor in the den, "It's like the pre-Blaine era is on the front and our lives together are on the back."
"I should bake Carole a cake or something," Kurt mused, his fingers working a pattern over the Katy Perry shirt front.
"I should get some of that cake because I told her that I intend on making this something long term and she came up with the rest," Blaine said, licking his lips in the middle of his confession.
"I think she'll get a slice," Kurt said, resting his forehead against Blaine's curled around his boyfriend's contribution to his quilt.
"And, if I eat the rest of the cake by myself imagine how fat I'll get," Blaine teased Kurt's obsession with keeping his intake of sugar down, "Will you still love me then?"
"Who said that I loved you now?" Kurt bantered with a loving smile that spoke the truth as he thread his fingers with Blaine's.
"Hey," Finn bursted into the room, successfully popping the romantic bubble that had enveloped Kurt and Blaine, "Burt wanted to know if you would make that Oreo cake thing that you've made before."
"Only if I get some help from Blaine," Kurt said, smiling as sweetly as he could to enlist his help.
"Is this my cake for being awesome?" Blaine said, as Kurt stood up from his soft quilt that was just a few inches short of being able to stretch the entire length of his body.
"Only if you're awesome enough to share it with everyone," Kurt shamelessly flirted, completely forgetting Finn was in the room as Blaine nuzzled his head in the crook of Kurt's neck, until Finn awkwardly cleared his throat from the doorway.
"Sorry," Blaine apologized, following Finn out of the room as Kurt gathered the quilt built from memories in his arms.
"I'll be down in a second," Kurt said, gesturing to the bundle in his arms as Blaine nodded before trotting down the stairs after Finn.
Kurt walked to his room, spreading the quilt onto of his fashionable and coordinated bedspread. Family and friends were always in fashion, he quickly decided, putting the finished side of the quilt up towards the ceiling. He ran his fingers over the ridges where it had all been sewn together, letting his fingertips read the memories within the pieces like Braille.
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