Kurt was letting his father down. As much as Burt told him otherwise, Kurt knew it was true. The knowledge of it hurt him more than anything else. There were certain expectations that came with being the Prince of McKinley - the future King - and Kurt knew he was disappointing everyone by growing up to be exactly the opposite of what they expected. Being the son of such a well-loved King was a lot of hard work as it was, but Kurt felt like he'd only made it harder for himself by coming out.
His father had taken it well – or at least as well as could be expected for a King who had just found out that he would likely not get a biological heir to the throne after Kurt – and had told Kurt that he loved him regardless, standing by him when a servant from within the castle leaked the information to the townspeople. However, that didn't stop many of McKinley's residents from whispering and making jokes about it. They never did it to his face, but whenever Kurt journeyed into the town - normally to visit his favourite dressmakers – he could see it on their faces; they would stop talking to stare at him or turn to each other and whisper, their eyes still directed at him as they did. He could hear them mutter stupid phrases as he passed them. He once even heard someone mumble that it was more like having a princess than a prince and maybe it would be worth locking him in a tower so they didn't have to be ashamed of him anymore.
It was a lot worse since that stupid Prince Charming had become famous. It was bad enough that Kurt couldn't meet everyone's expectations anyway without having someone so, fucking, perfect to compare him to on everybody's mind. So what if he had a good body and never lost his temper at anyone? Kurt had perfect hair, but no-one seemed to acknowledge that. Kurt knew exactly how to dress for any occasion and was more than proficient at the piano, but apparently that didn't matter to anyone. Not even the fact that he'd successfully set up a Glee Club within the castle, allowing anyone and everyone, regardless of their position within the town, join. But no. All of that was worthless when it was compared to Charming's supposedly "heroic" rescue of Princess Snow White.
Charming was not as amazing as everyone thought he was, though. He'd started out as a regular kid, just like Kurt. It just happened that, after managing to rescue Snow White, the media seemed to completely overlook that fact. Charming's town was only two away from Kurt's so Kurt had known him before he was famous. Kurt knew him as a skinny, pimpled thirteen year old mouth-breather who constantly teased him and no amount of good publicity would ever make him forget it.
Kurt sighed as he walked through the grounds of King Burt's castle. The castle was famous throughout the land for its incredible gardens; a wide array of tropical flowers and fruits covering them, creating a sea of colours that Kurt could happily spend hours just gazing at, wondering what life was like in the countries they'd been shipped from. Each garden was entirely surrounded by giant bushes that their gardeners would shape into magical creatures so was private and perfect and one of the few things that Kurt enjoyed about being a Prince. The best part about it was it led directly to the stables where Kurt's horse, McQueen, was kept. Kurt spent every opportunity he could at the stables. It was his own personal sanctuary; the only place where he could go where no-one judged him.
Kurt walked into the stable and saw McQueen instantly turn his head at hearing Kurt's rustling. McQueen neighed loudly and trotted over to Kurt, nuzzling his head against Kurt's cheek. Kurt laughed and gently stroked McQueen's mane, appreciating the feeling of the soft hair against his cheek.
Kurt had been given McQueen for his thirteenth birthday – "a present to celebrate you becoming a man," his father had said at the time – and Kurt had fallen in love with him instantly. He was caramel brown, so well behaved and, quite honestly, Kurt's best friend. Whenever Kurt had a problem, or was upset about something, he turned to McQueen.
"I mean really," Kurt said, looking McQueen in the eyes as he stroked his muzzle. "If all it takes is rescuing one stupid girl who got herself into a bad situation to make people like you, I could do that!" Kurt smiled when he saw McQueen nod. He wasn't sure if the horse understood what he was saying or not, but he always seemed to and his responses were just further proof of that. McQueen always knew exactly when to nuzzle against Kurt's face to comfort him. There had even been times when McQueen had seen Kurt crying, usually after particularly bad instances of teasing from the other boys in the village, and licked his face to try and get rid of Kurt's tears and make him giggle at the same time.
"All they ever want is a hero." Kurt continued and McQueen knew that he was referring to Charming. Kurt was always talking about Charming. McQueen hatedCharming almost as much as Kurt did, mostly because of how upset he seemed to make Kurt. "Charming isn't a hero," said Kurt, confirming McQueen's suspicions. "He probably didn't even rescue Snow White on his own. He almostdefinitely had those seven dwarves help him, I'm sure of it." Kurt sighed and turned to grab a brush from the shelf. He giggled when McQueen did a happy trot around him; he loved being brushed and, considering Kurt found it so relaxing, it happened quite regularly too.
"It's just not fair, McQueen." Kurt sighed again, running the brush along McQueen's side. "I'm sure I could be just as strong as any other Prince and just as smart, or heroic. If they just got to know me, I'm sure the townspeople would like me. Just because I'm gay doesn't mean that I'm any less of a Prince – any less of a man – than I was before." Kurt ran his hands along McQueen's sides, trailing them after the brush, remembering how it was before he came out. Everyone had been able to tell that he was slightly different from other Princes, but they still had so much faith in him; so much hope. The townspeople used to be so much kinder to him when they thought that he was straight. Why was it that something as trivial as who he fell in love with could change that? "I can do everything Charming can!" Kurt said defiantly. "I could save a princess if I wanted to. There's that stupid girl that managed to get herself locked in a tower that everyone's talking about at the moment. I could totally rescue her…" Kurt trailed off as if deep in thought and continued to brush McQueen in silence.
Kurt didn't say any more to McQueen the whole time that he was there, choosing to leave approximately ten minutes later, as soon as he'd finished brushing McQueen's hair and then rushing back to the castle.
He'd heard about the Princess a few days earlier. Apparently, all the Princes from the surrounding kingdoms were rushing to her rescue at that very moment. However, no-one had asked Kurt to go. At the time he hadn't cared; it wasn't as if he wanted to marry a girl anyway, so why would he want to go through all of that trouble when he wouldn't get anything at the end of it? However, as he brushed McQueen, he realised that it wasn't just because he was gay that they hadn't asked him to go; it was because they thought he couldn't do it. Every time he was in the room, everyone at the castle avoided the subject and Kurt knew why now. They all thought that the nasty names that people had called him were true and they assumed that he wouldn't be able to get the Princess if he went after her, seeing it as pointless to even suggest it.
Ever since the realisation, he'd had anger bubbling underneath the surface of his skin. Kurt's mind swam with the repetition of, it's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair. Kurt decided he was going to do something about it; he had to do something about it. He would show them; he would show everyone. Kurt was strong, he was smart and he knew how to ride a horse. There was no reason why he couldn't go and get that Princess and enjoy the glory from it afterwards.
Kurt marched through the castle and directly into Burt's bedchambers. It was far too early for the King to be awake but Kurt didn't care.
"Father!" Kurt said, shaking Burt's shoulder to wake him up. "Father!" Kurt repeated when Burt didn't move.
"What?" Burt mumbled sleepily into his pillow. "M'not getting up yet."
"You don't have to get up," Kurt said directly, "I just thought you should know that I'll be leaving to save Princess Rachel today. I wanted to say goodbye." Kurt paused dramatically for a few moments, waiting for Burt's reaction. After a few seconds of silence, Burt chuckled into his pillow and clutched it tighter.
"Ok, son. You go do that." He said, trying to placate Kurt.
"You don't think I'm going to go, but I am!" Kurt said, raising his voice slightly to try and show Burt how determined he was.
"Ok, Kurt," Burt smiled. Kurt turned and started to walk away. "See you at dinner!" Burt called after him. Kurt frowned. Burt was talking to him like he was a three year old telling him that he was going to run away. That pissed off Kurt even more than any of the insults the townspeople threw his way. His father, out of everyone, was supposed to believe in him and instead he was patronising him!
Kurt spun around and placed his hands on his hips.
"You think I can't save her!" He said, raising his voice slightly in frustration. He heard Burt grumble and saw him roll over in bed and sit up. Burt sleepily glanced over to him and patted the side of his bed, trying to prompt Kurt to go and sit by him. Kurt huffily crossed his arms and looked away.
"Kurt…" Burt said, a hint of warning in his voice. Kurt glanced over to him and Burt patted the bed harder than before. Sulkily, Kurt rolled his eyes and walked over to Burt's bed, plopping himself down on the edge. Kurt slumped his shoulders and played with his fingers as Burt gazed at him for a few seconds.
"Kurt, look at me," Burt said softly, smiling when Kurt did as he was asked. "You know that I think you can do anything you want to do-"
"Then why didn't you ask me to go and rescue the Princess?" Kurt said, whining slightly.
"Because you like boys!" Burt exclaimed. "Why on earth would I want to send you to go and rescue a girl you'd be expected to marry when I already knew you wouldn't want to?"
"I could still save her!" Kurt said defiantly.
"Of course you could, Kurt. But why would you want to?"
"To show everyone that I can be the Prince that they want me to be; or to show them that it doesn't matter that I'm gay…" Kurt said, looking back down at his hands sheepishly. They were really selfish reasons to want to save the Princess, he knew that, but at least she would get rescued. He was fairly certain that none of those other buffoons would actually manage to save her so he saw it as a win-win situation. She got to be rescued and he got to show everyone how much of a man he was.
"I'm not sure if those are the best reasons to be risking your life, Kurt." Burt said seriously. "You know that anyone who matters won't care about you being gay."
"Well that's just not true!" Kurt snapped. "The townspeople matter and they care about me being gay!" Kurt took a deep, steadying breath. There was no way he was going to get his point across if he was yelling. "One day, I'm going to be King and I'll be a damn good King too. And the reason I'll be a damn good King is because I care about each and every one of those townspeople, even if they hate me. So they matter to me. How am I supposed to lead them if they don't have faith in me? How am I supposed to be a good King if I haven't done everything I can to show them that they can rely on me; that they can put their lives in my hands and I'll treat them well? It's not as if you'll be around to help me…" Kurt bit his lower lip to try and keep it from trembling at the thought. He hated talking about what would happen when he became King, because he knew that he would become King the day his father died, and he didn't want to have to deal with that yet; it was too painful.
Burt watched his son for a few seconds before making a decision and calling for his Head Servant, Lucian.
"Yes, sir?" Lucian poked his head around the door of the bedroom and smiled brightly. For an old man – who had been Burt's Servant, and best friend, for many years now – he was very energetic and always presented them with a smile.
"Ready Prince Kurt's horse for him," Burt said, not taking his eyes off of Kurt. "He'll be leaving to save the Princess today and will need it to be prepared for a long journey." Kurt's eyes brightened and he turned to his father, practically jumping on him to hug him.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Kurt grinned, squeezing Burt tightly. Burt chuckled as his son thanked him again.
"That's ok," Burt said, fondly before adding, "although, if you get injured in any way, or put yourself into any unnecessary danger, I will kill you!" Kurt pulled away and Burt noticed that, despite his laughter, he had tears in his eyes. Not out of sadness, but rather appreciation that he was finally getting the chance to prove himself.
"I'll be safe, I promise." Kurt smiled broadly, his eyes twinkling.
Kurt thanked Burt again and rushed out of the room to collect all the things together that he'd need for his journey. As soon as he left, Burt threw back his bed covers, realising that, if his son was about to leave for such a life-changing journey, now was really not the time for him to be sleeping. He called for Lucian again and asked for him to arrange his clothes for the day; he was going to need to be dressed quickly so that he could prepare for Kurt's departure.