Enjoy!
(I own nothing but the story.)
The New Directions boys loved to do things together. They loved to play video games, eat pizza, go bowling and just do pretty much everything together whenever they had free time and weren't with their girlfriends. Well, almost all of them. Kurt Hummel never really showed an interest in anything they did so they didn't typically invite him to things...until this one time.
One day, during one of the game nights they were having at Finn's house, Sam brought up a fun idea.
"Hey! I just thought of something. We have 4 days off in two weeks for the end of term. Let's go on a camping trip."
"That sounds like a great idea. I haven't gone camping in years." Mike chimed in.
"Um...that sounds a lot of fun but doesn't most camping involve hiking to get to the site? It's physically impossible for me to hike. And I feel like it would be a buzzkill if you had to spend your time carrying me." Artie said looking down at his wheelchair.
"We'll find a campground that we can drive to. No hiking. Come on, Artie. We don't want you to miss it." said Puck.
Artie smiled at the thought of them wanting him to go enough they were willing to help him out.
"Okay!"
They all got to work on planning the campout that was coming up in just 2 weeks so they needed to make sure they had everything and that things were planned accordingly.
"What are you doing?" Kurt asked, breaking them out of their trance.
"We're going camping during the long weekend and we're just planning it right now." Sam explained.
"Oh, yeah? With everyone or just the guys?" he asked.
"Just the guys. We need more guy time." Puck exclaimed.
"Oh...well, have fun." Kurt replied almost somberly before leaving the family room and heading in the direction of the kitchen.
"What the hell was that?" Puck asked.
Finn knew. He knew how Kurt put on a tough exterior but knew how lonely he was. He could see it all the time when they were at home and away from school. He also knew that because he wasn't a girl, he couldn't fit in completely with them but because he was gay, he couldn't fit in with the guys either. He was friends with the entire glee club but there wasn't anyone he could really relate to. And that had to be hard on him. Finn could see it in moments like these.
"Hey, guys. Why don't we invite Kurt?" Finn asked.
"What? But Kurt won't want to go camping, will he? He's all about not ruining his hair and his moisturizing routine. Do you really think he'll want to break that just to go camping?" Sam asked.
"We won't know until we ask him. He is one of the guys after all."
Finn looked at all the boys in the group and they all nodded their agreement. Even if he said 'no' Finn knew that the gesture would be overwhelming enough for him.
"Hey, Kurt! Come in here." Finn called.
They only had to wait a few moments before Kurt appeared in the family room with an apple in his hand.
"What?" He asked.
"Do you want to come camping with us? It's a guy thing after all. And without you, our group isn't complete." Finn smiled.
"You've never invited me to anything before. Why would this be any different?" Kurt looked at them questioningly.
"Bro, you're the coolest one out of all of us. Who's going to do the 'Single Ladies' dance at the campfire if you're not there?" Puck called out.
"No one even if I do come. No one else will see that dance the rest of my lifetime."
"Ah, come on, Kurt. We'd love for you to come." Mike smiled.
Kurt sighed and smiled.
"Okay. I'll go. It does sound fun after all." Kurt smiled at walked away.
"That was easier than I thought." Finn exclaimed.
Two weeks later found Puck, Artie, Sam, and Mike in the driveway of Kurt and Finn's at 7 in the morning. The campsite was a few hours away and they wanted to get an early start so they could beat traffic. Finn came trudging and yawning outside with a few pancakes in his hands.
"G'morning." He grumbled.
"Hey! You excited?" Puck exclaimed.
"How can you be this excited in the morning?" Finn asked in between yawns.
"Are you kidding? I haven't gone to bed yet! I'll sleep in the car."
"Speaking of 'car'; where's Kurt? We can't exactly leave without him since we're taking his car." Artie asked.
They had decided taking Kurt's car was the better option since his Navigator would not only hold all of them, but all of their things as well.
"He's still doing his hair. He should be done in a little bit." Finn replied.
"Doing his hair? Dude, I like Kurt and think he's really cool but...we're going on a camping trip. If he's doing his hair right now, what's going to happen this weekend?" Sam asked.
"He's had 2 weeks to plan. I'm sure he's thought of everything."
They stood on the driveway only a few minutes more before Kurt came out with a cup of coffee in one hand, his keys in the other and his duffle bag thrown over his shoulder.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road!"
Puck couldn't help but notice Kurt's attire. He wasn't wearing his usual tight pants and shirt with a scarf and boots. He was wearing basketball shorts and a faded T-shirt with a pair of Nike's. It was strange to see Kurt wearing something that most people would consider "normal".
They packed up the rest of the things they needed in the trunk, making sure to leave plenty of room for Artie's wheelchair, before setting off. They had only been in the car for no longer than 20 minutes when he saw Finn and Puck both asleep against the windows. Sam and Artie were listening to music with headphones in their ears while Mike was talking into his phone quietly, presumably talking to Tina. Kurt sighed and turned on his own music, making sure to keep it low enough that he wouldn't disturb anybody.
They arrived at the campsite at half past 10; an hour later than expected. They set back their time and hour when Finn and Puck had insisted they stop by McDonald's and get some breakfast. Kurt rolled his eyes at the thought of eating something so greasy but ordered himself a hash brown anyway.
After they parked and unloaded everything, Artie wheeled himself to the pile of things next to the trunk.
"I don't know how much I can do to help you out since the only means I have is my arms but as I have no feelings in my legs, I can put a lot of things on my legs without it hurting."
Puck put as much as he could on Artie, mostly consisting of the food, and told him that the table wasn't that far from where he was. Sam volunteered to go with him and push him so he didn't accidentally wheel into a river or something else.
Puck and Finn volunteered to do the heavy lifting but when Finn couldn't pick up one of the camp chairs, he looked around, as if hoping the trees would have the right answer.
"Maybe...maybe you and I could come back and we could carry it together?" Finn asked Puck.
"Come on. It can't be that heavy." Puck teased. He leaned forward and tried to pick it up. But the beads of sweat that started beating down his face showed he couldn't do it. "Um...why don't we lift it and have Artie put it on his legs?"
"Oh, for goodness sake." Kurt pushed both of the aside and grabbed hold of the chair, lifting it effortlessly. "Just lift with your legs." He rolled his eyes and walked away leaving a shocked Finn, Puck and Mike behind him.
"I meant it when I said I hadn't been camping in years!" Mike yelled as he looked over the tent instructions. "I don't understand how this is supposed to be done."
"Here, Mike. Let me take a look." Artie said.
Mike handed him the instructions as he looked them over. They all watched him as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"What? This doesn't make any sense."
"That's what I said! We told Puck and Kurt we'd have it done before they got back from finding firewood and and that was 20 minutes ago. We're nowhere close."
"Then what are we supposed to do? They'll be back any minute now." Sam asked.
"Uh...it looks like we're too late." Finn pointed to the clump of trees leading into the forest as they saw Puck with a few sticks in hand and Kurt with an armful heading back to the site.
"What the hell, guys? You said you'd have it set up." Puck said.
"Tell you what, if you understand these instructions, we'll get it set up quick." Artie said, holding out the instructions.
Puck set the sticks down next to the fire pit and grabbed the papers from Artie. There was silence from everyone as they watched Puck, showing he clearly didn't understand either.
"Oh, let me."
Kurt threw down the stick and ripped the paper out of Puck's hands.
"Dude, why'd you make Kurt carry all the sticks? That's so not cool." Finn noticed.
"Are you kidding me? He carried all the one's he found. He told me to find sturdy sticks that weren't wet. That's all that I found. When we met back up, that's what he had." Puck fired back.
"What about this doesn't make sense.? It seems pretty clear to me." Kurt explained, not looking up from the packet.
Kurt enlisted the help of Mike and Sam to follow his instructions and after he gave them the final one, they all looked at the 10 man tent standing before them.
"Damn, Kurt. How'd you do that?" Puck asked.
"I read the instructions." Kurt rolled his eyes.
Kurt grabbed his duffle bag and headed into the tent to find his place.
"I call here next to place furthest from the door!" He called out to them.
Everyone followed suit and grabbed their bags to choose where they wanted to sleep. As they all started arguing over who got the door, they heard even more shuffling. They all turned to look over at Kurt who was setting up the pad he brought to sleep on. He pulled his pillow out of the bag and put it on the pad but away from the fabric of the tent. He reached into the duffle bag once more and pulled out his sleeping bag and a blanket, placing it under the pillow. Once he was satisfied with his set up, he turned to everyone else to see them staring at him; a fact he hadn't noticed before.
"What?" He asked confused.
"Um...what up with the pad and pillow?" Artie asked.
"To sleep? Did you guys not bring any at all?" He questioned.
"Well, I mean, we brought our sleeping bags but we didn't bring anything else." Sam responded.
"Okay. It's not like you were required to but I just didn't want to be laying on rocks and sticks all night. But if that's what you guys want to do then go for it." Kurt shrugged and laid on his pad, putting his hands behind his hand and relaxed.
Everyone turned their attention towards Finn who had his mouth all the way open and looking just as confused as everyone else.
"Uh," Finn cleared his throat. 'Uh. I think that Artie should be next to the door. You know...to have better access in case he needs to...go to the bathroom or something."
Everyone, still in a little bit of shock all murmured their agreement.
Everyone had agreed they wanted to go fishing just for fun. They had food for the whole weekend (and a little extra in case Finn got hungry) but if they caught any, they were going to eat it.
They got their fishing gear together and walked the half mile to the riverside, Puck and Finn carrying Artie along in their wake. When they arrived, Sam and Mike where struggling to keep their worms on their hook while Kurt was sitting in a camp chair, fishing pole in the water already.
"What? Did you help him or something?" Puck whispered to Sam.
"No! He just set up his chair, grabbed a worm and chucked the line into the river. I had no idea Kurt was going to know how to camp." He whispered back.
After a few times of Kurt asking if everyone needed help, they were all standing by the river with their poles in hand, talking and making jokes.
"Hey, Kurt! Come over here and join us!" Finn yelled.
Kurt just looked in his direction and shook his head, turning back to the river.
"I thought coming with us was going to make him more comfortable talking to us. I guess we were wrong." Mike shrugged his shoulders.
Only a few hours had passed with no luck of catching any fish before they decided to head back to the site and start getting ready for dinner.
"Kurt! We're heading back. Come on!" Puck shouted.
They watched as Kurt brought his line back to him and leaned over to fold up his chair and pick up...
"No way!" Artie shouted.
Kurt walked over to them with his fishing line and chair in one hand and the 7 little fish on a hook in the other.
"Woah. Kurt! You caught all of those?" Sam said, mouth agape.
"Yeah." Kurt said. "Of course."
"But..but...but how? We didn't catch anything." said Finn.
"Oh, geez, Finn. Everyone knows that noise will scare all the fish away. Why do you think I didn't come hang out with you?" Kurt said smugly before turning and heading back to the site.
The 5 boys left behind looked at each other and in a defeated sort of way, headed back to the site.
The boys started getting the fire wood ready in the fire pit while Finn and Kurt prepared the fish and food for dinner.
"Damn. I forgot matches." Puck realized. "How are we supposed to start the fire?"
They all looked at Puck and watched as glanced up to the porcelain boy at the table, laughing at something Finn said.
"Do you think he knows?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. Honestly, at this point, I wouldn't be surprised."
All the boys looked nervous, as if they were afraid their lack of knowledge on how to start a fire without matches somehow hurt their manhood.
"Hey, Kurt?" Mike asked meekly.
Kurt turned to Mike with a smile on his face, still not done laughing over what Finn said.
"Yeah?" He giggled.
"Um...we...we forgot matches...and...do you...well...do you know how to start a fire without them and can maybe help us out?"
"Yeah. Of course. Here, Sam. Take my place." Kurt wiped his hands on a paper towel.
Artie and Puck watched in amazement and silence as they watched Kurt rub two sticks together, causing a spark to hit the fire pit and watched as the first few flames turned into an orange vortex. Kurt looked satisfied and turned to Mike.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?" He smiled.
"No. No, thank you." Mike watched as he walked away. "Not yet anyway." He muttered under his breath.
Dinner was delicious. Kurt seasoned the fish just right which didn't surprise anybody as Kurt was a really good cook. They told stories, played Truth or Dare and discussed all the thigs they had to do to beat Vocal Adrenaline at Regionals.
When the fire started dimming, and the yawns started, Kurt was the first one to stand up.
"Well, I'm going to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow." He put his plate on the table and zipped the tent up behind him. All the boys immediately turned to Finn.
"What the hell man? You didn't tell us he knew how to do all this." Sam yelled in a whisper so Kurt couldn't hear.
"I didn't know! We haven't gone camping at all since my mom and Burt got married. And to my knowledge, they didn't go before. What's wrong with him knowing all of this anyway?" He pushed back.
"Nothing is wrong with it. And if he weren't here, we wouldn't be sleeping in a tent! That's not the point. The point is that now we all look like a bunch of idiots who can't figure out how to camp."
"What do you think he's going to do? Tell everyone?"
"No. But now our manhood is definitely taking a hit." Puck interjected.
"Whatever. You guys are ridiculous. I'm going to bed."
Finn took his place in the tent next to Kurt who was already curled up and asleep and it didn't take long before Finn heard everyone else entering the tent. He saw as they all adjusted their sleeping bags to the edge to the tent to avoid kicking each other at night.
"Goodnight, guys." Finn whispered in the darkness as they all whispered back.
Sam woke up in the morning, not because the sun was slowly entering its way into the tent, but because he noticed that his sleeping bag was wet. He immediately shot up.
"What the hell?! My bag is soaked," He shouted out, getting the attention of everyone else as they started to stir awake. "Did it rain last night or something?"
"It's the morning dew. It'll dry soon." Kurt spoke up from his place in the tent. He was already dressed for the day and was sitting on his pad. "That's why I intentionally made it so my pad wasn't next to the fabric."
Everyone turned their attention towards Puck who was groaning and rubbing his next.
"That was the most uncomfortable night ever. There were rocks everywhere under me and every time I got comfortable, the sleeping bag would come off me and I would realize I was freezing." He moved to stretching his arms above his head.
"Me too. I was freezing last night." Came Artie's voice.
They all uttered agreements of discomfort and coldness as they looked over at Kurt was still sitting on his pad but this time was looking at them with a small smirk.
"What? It's not my fault you were unprepared." He winked.
That was the system for 3 days. They would all do something, they would struggle, they would look to Kurt and he would get it no problem. They woke up cold, wet and sore while Kurt was trapped between his blanket and pad.
Having not gotten a lot of sleep the 5 boys weren't upset to start heading home. Kurt drove due to being the most rested and the fact that he would never let anyone else drive his 'baby.' Everyone took naps on the way back to the Hummel-Hudson residence and when they finally arrived, Kurt called to the back to wake them up and immediately got out to start unloading the trunk.
The second they got out of the car, they could immediately smell each other and see how dirty they were. Kurt, while dirty, didn't seem to mind. He was just humming and emptying the trunk. When the last of the bags had been removed, he grabbed his duffle bag and turned to the boys.
"Well, boys! I had a great time! Thanks for inviting me. See you tomorrow at school!" He made a move to walk away but was stopped when Puck grabbed his elbow.
"Wait a second Kurt. I have to ask; how do you do it?"
"Do what?" Kurt scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.
"The whole camping stuff. I mean, no offense, but you aren't the camping type. But you were absolutely prepared. You brought no jeans, which all of us did, you knew how to fish, set up the tent, start the fire. You knew about the morning dew and the sticks and rocks under the tent and were prepared to sleep with it. I just don't understand...how?"
Kurt looked at the other glee club boys and saw them all waiting for the answer. He knew he could go on a big rant about how he used to go all the time when he was younger but he didn't feel like that would interest them. So, he just decided to sum it up for them.
"Have you met my dad, Burt?" He smirked and walked away.
I hope you all understood the reference there at the end. When Burt ties Sam's bow tie and when Sam asked how he learned to do it, Burt just goes, "Have you met my son, Kurt?" And Sam needs no explanation. I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review! I just wanted to let everyone know that I have a lot of story ideas and I will be starting on a multi chapter here shortly but my teaching schedule is a little wacko so I'll write when I can! :) Peace and love! xoxo