As quick as it came, the summer was gone.
The boys had learned that they would be in the same first grade class, under the care of Ms. Whitacre. Neither knew much about her, honestly, but they'd heard that she could be kind of strict. They were somewhat excited to be in the same class, but it also made things a little harder for them, because Dave would be expected to be cruel towards him all day, everyday. That is, until they found themselves in Mrs. Whitacre's class, without the rest of Dave's friends. Even better, they had been seated in alphabetical order and found themselves sitting next to each other.
"Does this mean we get to talk to each other?" Kurt whispered to Dave. Even though class hadn't yet started, he was trying to be careful about Dave's reputation. Dave would lose his friends if they thought he was talking to Kurt, and Kurt didn't want that to happen.
"I think so." Dave said, shrugging as he glanced around the room. He was sure that Kurt's grin mirrored his own. Maybe this year wouldn't be nearly as hard as they had thought.
While their relationship at school was a little freer than it had been the previous year, they still had a bit of a strain when it came to the cafeteria at lunch time and playing outside at recess. They could tell that their teacher was incredibly confused about the whole thing, because while she often had to tell them to be quiet during class, they didn't interact much during lunch or recess. And if they did, Dave was mean to Kurt.
It wasn't the perfect friendship, but it worked for the two of them. Kurt had a quick temper that matched Dave's, but they handled it in different ways. Kurt was more passive aggressive, while Dave flung hurtful words and sometimes hit things. He kept good on his promise to never hit Kurt, though sometimes Kurt was pretty sure that he deserved to be hit.
Their favorite time of the day was, oddly enough, quiet time. After recess, the teacher would turn off the lights, play some classical music, and make them put their heads down for nearly ten minutes. It was just after recess, and Kurt was usually a little agitated with Dave. As soon as their heads were down and the music was playing, Kurt always heard a soft, "I'm sorry." He usually smiled into his arms and pressed his shoulder against Dave's to say that he was forgiven.
It had never really occurred to Kurt or Dave that they might be jeopardizing Dave's friendships by not being discreet in their own class, seeing as many of the girls from their kindergarten class were also in their first grade class. He knew that he was supposed to be keeping it all a secret, but when his friend Hannah approached him and asked, "Are you friends with Dave?" the only answer he could come up with was yes. He didn't really know how to explain it, and he knew she saw what was going on at lunch and recess. They all did. How did he explain that in here, he was Dave's friend and out there, Dave was his bully?
No one ever told, though. Kurt felt like it was some secret that no one outside of his class knew. He was amazed by the class's ability to keep hush about it, but then maybe it wasn't a big gossip topic. At least, he never really overheard anyone talking about it. He did know that some of the girls completely disapproved, but he simply told them that it was his friendship and it was none of their business. He was making more friends this year, still all girls. Kurt thought it would be nice to have another guy friend, but at the same time, it would feel odd to have a guy friend that wasn't Dave.
"Kurt, please settle down." Ms. Whitacre said to the antsy Kurt.
Kurt did his best to stand still and he heard Dave, who was in line behind him, whisper, "C'mon Kurt. We're almost there."
"How do you know?" Kurt whispered back, not daring to look back at Dave.
"'Cos I remember from when we went past it that one time we had to take that note to Mr. Burrous." Dave answered.
Kurt scrunched his face, trying to remember the way to Mr. Burrous's room. Mr. Burrous was a fifth grade teacher, and so his room was across the school. Past both of the cafeterias and almost straight through the hall.
"It wasn't by his room." Kurt mumbled.
"No. It was in that other hall by the art room."
"I don't remember." Kurt sighed.
"Kurt, David. You're holding up the class. If you don't stop the talking, I'll send you back to the class room and you won't get to go to music."
Kurt and Dave both straightened up quickly, pressing their lips tightly together and looking straight ahead. Satisfied, Ms. Whitacre allowed the class to move forward. Dave wasn't all that excited over the idea of going to music class to begin with, but he knew that Kurt was overly excited about. Kurt was all about the music, he'd discovered. He was already taking piano lessons, and Dave sometimes liked to listen to him play. When the teacher had announced that they'd be going to music class on Thursday, Kurt hadn't been able to shut up about. it. Dave wasn't going to ruin this for him now.
Ms. Whitacre allowed the girl's line to go in first, the girls filling up the first and half of the second row of the chairs. She allowed the boys to enter then, and after the seats in the second row were filled, Kurt, Dave, and the rest of the boys headed for the third row. Ms. Whitacre stopped them, clucking her tongue and telling the music teacher that if she wanted to keep her wits about her, she wouldn't let Kurt and Dave sit together. A couple of girls in the front row giggled, and Dave threw an angry look in their direction, while Kurt stared up at the music teacher with a pleading look. She considered the two for a moment before saying, "We'll let them this time and see how it goes. If they misbehave, I'll separate them."
With that, Ms. Whitacre left the room and Kurt and Dave took their seats next to each other on the top step. The teacher started off the lesson by telling them that she was Mrs. Watkins. She loved music, loved kids, and had a daughter in opera. Kurt beamed at the news, and Dave shook his head while sticking out his tongue in disgust. Who would like opera music?
Kurt and Dave tried their best not to talk to each other during the lesson, but it was proving impossible, as Dave had noticed that Hannah kept staring at Kurt. He gestured for her to turn around and look forward, but she just shook her head and stuck her tongue out at him. Kurt clearly didn't notice any of it, as he was so engrossed in what the teacher was saying. Dave nudged Kurt and Kurt tried to wave him away, shaking his head. Dave rolled his eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh.
"Is there a problem, David?" Mrs. Watkins asked, stopping in the middle of her lesson to look at him. She didn't look upset, just amused.
"Well..." Dave said, looking over at Hannah. The entire class was staring at him, and if he had wanted Kurt's attention, he definitely had it now. He felt silly as he said, "Hannah won't stop staring at Kurt."
"Nuh uh!" Hannah yelled, her face turning bright red, and Dave could swear he saw Mrs. Watkins lips twitch. "You're a liar, Dave!"
Dave glanced sideways at Kurt, who was staring at Hannah now. She turned forward, trying to hide her face from the rest of the class. Dave knew that Kurt believed him, and he wondered what Kurt was thinking.
"You must have been looking her way to see her staring at Kurt." Mrs. Watkins pointed out and it was Dave's turn to be embarrassed.
"I was looking out the window!" Dave said, the heat creeping into his cheeks. He was not staring at Hannah Kelley. Kurt was looking at him now, his lips pressed tightly together. Dave had no idea what that meant. Some of their classmates were giggling and Dave wanted to groan as he realized they were all going to think that he liked Hannah now. He put his head down.
"Well, class," Mrs. Watkins smiled. "I would appreciate it if you would all face forward and pat attention to me."
That was the end of that. Hannah avoided looking over in Kurt's direction, not that Dave knew because he was avoiding looking in her direction as well. When they were released from class, it was lunch time, so Kurt and Dave really didn't have much time to chat. However, the buzz going around the lunch room was that a new love triangle had formed between Kurt, Dave, and Hannah. Kurt avoided looking over in Dave's direction from his seat with the girls from his class.
At recess, Dave was approached by a girl in the other first grade class. Santana, wasn't it? She was a little Latina girl with long glossy black hair that stretched down to the middle of her back. Dave found this impressive, as it took his hair a while to grow enough to cover the top of his ears. Did girls hair grow faster, he wondered. He hardly heard a word she said until she asked, "Aren't you mad at Kurt for taking your girl?"
"Who cares about that little creep?" One of Dave's buddies said from behind him.
"Yeah, who cares." Dave echoed his friend.
"But I thought you guys were friends." Santana persisted.
"Yeah right," Dave's friend snorted. "Who would be friends with that little faggot besides girls?"
Dave curled his hands into fists, resisting the urge to turn and punch his friend in the face. He didn't know what a faggot was, but it sounded bad and he didn't like hearing his best friend called something like that. Santana stared open-mouthed at the other boy, and then all of a sudden, there was someone shouting, "Eric said a bad word!"
The teacher came over, questioning the trio before dragging the three of them off to the principal's office. Dave didn't even understand why he had to go along because he didn't even say the word, and if he wouldn't have gotten in trouble for it, he would have punched Eric right in the face because not only did he call his friend a really bad name, he'd gotten him into a whole bunch of trouble. Enough trouble that his father had been called in from work, and his dad wasn't going to like this one bit. He sat in the main office next to Santana, just outside the principal's office while Eric was inside with the principal.
"I thought you guys were friends. That's what all the girls from your class said." Santana said, swinging her legs.
"Well, they were wrong." Dave frowned, looking the other way. Santana didn't say anything else after that, fixing her attention on the receptionist in the office. Dave looked around the main office, trying to find something to entertain himself as he waited. He didn't have to wait long before his father was coming into the office, checking himself in and taking a seat next to Dave. He didn't say anything to Dave, only sat there next to him. Dave didn't like that. He wished his father would say something.
The door to the principal's office opened and Eric and his father came out, taking seats on the other side of the room. Dave went inside, surprised to find both Kurt and Burt also sitting in the office. Burt and his dad nodded, acknowledging each other as they took their seats at the request of the principal. Dave nervously glanced at Kurt, finding that Kurt wasn't looking at him, but at his hands in his lap.
"Sorry to call you in, Mr. Karofsky. We're trying to clear up something with the children. Today at recess, either Eric King or your son called Kurt a terrible name." Mrs. Abbott said, looking at Dave's father.
"What was the name?" Dave's father asked.
"Faggot." Mrs. Abbot said, clearing her throat and shifting in her seat. Paul's head snapped down to look at Dave, his eyebrows shooting up. "Do you know where he might have heard this word?"
"N-no." Paul said, shocked. "I've never used that word, and I can assure you that my wife never has, either. Do you even know what that word means?" He asked, looking down at Dave. Dave shook his head, not looking at his father.
"Eric says that you said it." Kurt said not looking at Dave, his voice small. Dave was pretty sure Kurt didn't know what the word meant either, but if it was enough to get sent to the principal's office over, it was definitely bad.
"I didn't!" Dave said, looking at Kurt in frustration. "He said it! Ask Santana or Rachel! They heard!"
"There were other people around?" Paul asked, looking at Dave.
"Yeah. Jimmy and Santana and that annoying Rachel girl." Dave answered, looking at the principal.
"Santana is outside the office now, so we can ask her in a moment. But you say that Eric said it and not you?" Mrs. Abbott asked.
"Yes!" Dave said, his voice rising.
"Dave." Paul said, a warning tone in his voice. Dave immediately clamped his mouth shut.
The four of them were sent out of the office, and they took the seats that Santana and her father had previously occupied. Eric sat across the room with his father, staring at Dave. Dave was too angry to look over at him, but he also refused to say much to Kurt or Burt. He hardly spoke to his own father. It was fine, seeing as Burt and Paul did enough talking for the four of them. Eventually Rachel and Jimmy were called in with Santana, and it seemed like hours before they were all released and the boys and their fathers were called in.
"Well," Mrs. Abbott began, once they were all seated. "Eric and Jimmy have both said that David was the one to say the word, while Rachel, Santana, and Dave all say that it was Eric. Frankly, I've seen the way that Dave behaves in class, and I don't believe that he would call Kurt something like that. So, I'm going to have to believe that it was Eric. For this, you will have lunch detention with me for all of next week."
"Will that be all?" Eric's father asked, and when Mrs. Abbott nodded, they all stood at once, looking around at each other. Eric and his father left first, hurrying from the room. Burt nodded at the principal, giving her a quick thank you as he led Kurt out of the room. Dave followed them, Paul right behind him. School was set to release in just an hour, so both Burt and Paul decided to pull the boys out for the rest of the day and the four of them went to grab something to eat.
As they were sitting at a table in Dairy Queen, Dave was working up the courage to ask his father what the word meant. Burt and Paul were talking about some sports game while Dave and Kurt sat silently eating their ice cream. Kurt still hadn't said anything to Dave, and Dave worried that Kurt was mad at him. He wished he could read Kurt's mind.
"Dad?" Kurt finally asked, looking up at his dad. Burt and Paul both stopped talking, turning their attention to Kurt.
"Yeah, son?" Burt asked.
"What's a..." Kurt hesitated, swallowing hard before he finished the sentence. "Faggot?"
Burt looked at Paul, and the two of them stared at each other for a long moment. Neither of them really knew how to answer the question, and Burt felt a little guilty thinking about it because he remembered using the word when he was younger. He could tell from the look on Paul's face that he felt the same. Burt slid his chair out a little so that he could pull Kurt into his lap.
"Well." Burt sighed, searching for the right words. "It's a mean word that mean people use for boys who 'like' like other boys."
"But I don't like other boys." Kurt protested.
"That might be so, Kurt," Paul said, wrapping his arm around Dave who had leaned into his father. "But sometimes they use it to insult boys who are a little girly."
Kurt looked from Paul to Burt for confirmation, and his father looked a little sad as he nodded in agreement. Kurt looked down at his hands, his brows furrowing as he thought about it. Dave was angry again, his teeth clenched as he found himself wishing that he really had punched Eric while they were outside today.
"But David," Paul said, looking down at his son. "I don't ever want to hear that word again, and I don't think that you should be playing with those boys anymore, either."
Dave felt mixed emotions as he nodded and looked down at his hands. Right now, he really didn't want to be around those boys anyway. But would the rest of the boys still want to hang out with him if he couldn't be around those two? He hoped he wouldn't lose all of his friends just because of this. But he also felt a kind of weight lifted as he realized that he had a legitimate reason to not be around them. He could simply tell them that he wasn't allowed and that would be it. In their world, parent word was law. If your parents said you couldn't play with someone, that was it. You didn't question it and you definitely didn't go against it or you ran the risk of being grounded from playing with anyone at all, and no one wanted that.
After they were finished eating, Dave felt a wave of relief as Kurt asked his father if Dave could come over and play. He had really been thinking that Kurt was mad at him, but if Kurt was wanting him to come over and play, then he couldn't be, could he? Paul nodded and told Dave to be home by dark. Dave assured him he would and waved goodbye as he climbed into the passenger seat of Burt's truck. Kurt sat between them, keeping as quiet as he had been for most of the day. When they got to Kurt's house, the pair of them went into the backyard and climbed into the treehouse as Burt explained to Elizabeth what the meeting had been all about.
"Why won't you say nothing?" Dave asked Kurt, finally prodding.
"Do you think I'm a... that word?" Kurt asked uncomfortably. Dave blinked, not really believing that Kurt was seriously asking him this. He might have said some mean things about Kurt over the last year, but he'd never meant any of them. Dave hadn't even called him that name. Why was he being asked this?
"No!" Dave said, incredulous.
"But I like girly things." Kurt pointed out.
"But Eric was just being mean." Dave said, shaking his head.
"So you like playing with me?" Kurt asked, tracing the boards in the floor.
"Yeah. You're my best friend." Dave told him.
"I am?" Kurt asked, snapping his head up to look Dave in the eyes. Dave cocked his head, confused at Kurt's reaction. As he thought about it, he realized he'd never called Kurt his best friend before, but he couldn't deny it either. Kurt was his best friend, and Kurt should know that. He spent more time with Kurt than anyone else.
"Duh." Dave said, rolling his eyes as he grinned. A slow smile spread across Kurt's face, and he looked back down, picking up one of his little toy soldiers and toying with it. Having made Kurt smile, Dave, for the first time all day, actually felt good about something.
Things were considerably easier for Dave once he told Eric and Jimmy that he wasn't allowed to hang out with them. For Kurt, however, things had only gotten worse. Eric and Jimmy blamed him for the loss of their friend, and so the bullying grew worse. Dave didn't even have much to do with it anymore, but he didn't really get involved, either. Not that Kurt expected him to. Even if he wasn't friends with Eric or Jimmy anymore, there were still a few other of his friends that wouldn't like him being friends with Kurt.
So while Kurt spent a lot of time with Dave, he worked to build up his other friendships with girls as well. He had even started playing with that Santana girl from the other first grade class, though Kurt thought she could be a little bossy. Well, more than a little. She was a lot bossy. Both she and Kurt didn't really like each other all that much, but they had a mutual friend, Brittany. Brittany and Santana were pretty much inseparable, so if he wanted to be friends with Brittany, he had to get along with Santana as well. Two for one kinda deal, even if you really didn't want the second one.
Of course, the whole Hannah ordeal hadn't gone away like he'd thought it would. His dad had said if he didn't like this girl, just tell her so. So he had done that, but Hannah was so insistent on becoming his girlfriend. He'd even been trying to steer her towards Dave, because he kind of thought Dave liked her a little bit, but she wouldn't budge. She was constantly bugging him during recess. She actually kind of made the bullying worse, because she was always trying to stick up for him when Eric and Jimmy started, and they would then continue to ridicule him for having his girlfriend fight his battles for him. He was getting so sick of it. He hated school, even if he did get to be in class with Dave.
Even at home, he couldn't catch a break. Ever since the bullying thing had come to light, his parents were always asking him whether or not he had trouble at school that day. He always had trouble at school, but there was no way he was telling either of them that. He didn't want to cause any more problems than he already had, and bringing his parents into it was sure to make the bullying worse. He'd found that out a long time ago, when he'd tried to tell a teacher. So for now, he was just stuck here.
With winter came indoor recesses, and while some teachers chose to let their kids play together in one classroom, Ms. Whitacre seemed to prefer to have her kids just play in her room. While it was a little irritating to some students who had friends in other classes, Kurt and Dave enjoyed it because they could play together without any real problems. Some days they liked to play checkers. Sometimes they sat and read something together. On occasion, Kurt brought his soldiers from home and hid them in his desk until recess. Then, of course, there were the days when they played house with some of the other kids.
They never seemed to play the same role twice in one week, always trying to come up with some different story. Hannah and Brittany were frequent players in their games, and Hannah always did whatever she could to play opposite Kurt. Especially if Kurt happened to be playing the dad that day. Brittany, bless her soul, always managed to snag that part, and Hannah just ended up being a daughter or something. Until Brittany ended up being out sick, and Hannah ended up playing the mother. She was insufferable and bossy, and there were several times Kurt just wanted to smack her, but his dad taught him better than that.
"Kurt." She said in a harsh whisper, looking nervously at their audience. Kurt just raised an eyebrow, and she gave a small smile before saying, "The dad always kisses the mom goodbye before he goes to work."
Kurt gave a small squeak, looking nervously at the rest of the kids. He looked hopeful at Dave who could only shrug. They both knew that it was true. They'd seen their mothers kiss their fathers before they headed off to work. But Kurt did not want to kiss Hannah. Not here, not now, and besides, he'd never even kissed anyone before, so why should his first one be a girl he didn't even like?
"No." Kurt said flatly, before saying brightly, "See you after work!" He skipped off to a desk, pretending to open up a briefcase and starting paperwork. Hannah only scowled at him as their audience giggled.
"That's not fair!" She called after him. Kurt looked up at her in surprise. This was clearly not part of the game. He frowned at her as she marched over to him with her hands on her hips. "Mommies and daddies kiss before they go to work, and you're going to kiss me, Kurt Hummel!"
"I am not!" Kurt said, standing up. He glared at the giggling audience, which just made them giggle even more, before he turned his gaze back to Hannah. "I don't want to kiss you, Hannah." The group gasped then, obviously surprised by this revelation.
"Well you have to! It's part of the game!" Hannah pushed.
"I can't." Kurt said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Why not?" Someone in the audience asked, and Kurt frowned, looking to Dave for help. Following his gaze, the rest of the group looked expectantly at Dave.
"Because he already has a girlfriend." Dave said, shrugging. Another gasp from the group, and Hannah was standing there gaping at him with her mouth hanging open.
"Who?" The group asked.
"Brittany." Dave answered, and the rest of the group began looking around for her. Kurt couldn't thank Dave enough. They'd probably have to explain all of this to Brittany tomorrow, but at least they could say this now so he didn't have to kiss Hannah.
"But I thought..." Hannah nearly whined. She looked between Kurt and Dave before turning back to Kurt with tears in her eyes, yelling, "I hate you Kurt Hummel!" She took off to the little library in the corner and hid behind one of the bookshelves. A couple of girls threw dirty looks at Kurt before following her, and the rest of the group erupted into giggles. Dave came over to Kurt, grinning, and Kurt just giggled and thanked Dave.
"I should have known it was you two." came a sigh from behind the boys. They both turned and looked up to see Ms. Whitacre standing there, looking down at them. "Go flip your cards." Knowing that it was pointless to argue, the two of them went to the back of their classroom and flipped their cards. Hannah peered out from behind a bookcase and stuck out her tongue at the both of them before slipping behind it again.
At dinner that night, Elizabeth brought Kurt's note from his teacher about having his card flipped. Kurt sank down in his chair, and Dave had to cover his mouth to keep from giggling. Burt raised an eyebrow at Kurt after reading over it. "So what'd you do to get your... card flipped?" Burt asked, looking back at the note. "What does that even mean?" He asked, shaking his head at Elizabeth.
"They have this system where each kid has a number of cards. It always starts on green. The first offense earns yellow, the second is red, and the last is black. For each flip, you lose a little bit of your recess. If you get yellow, you lose half of your recess. If you get red, you lose your whole recess. If you get black, you get sent to the principal's office and lose all of your recess for the week." Elizabeth explained before taking a bite of her mashed potatoes.
"Sounds complicated." Burt said, rolling his eyes before looking over at Kurt. "So what'd you do to get your card flipped?"
Kurt and Dave exchanged looks, and Kurt almost slapped Dave because he knew he was going to be laughing at any minute. Instead, he opted to kick him under the table before looking nervously at his father.
"Well?" Burt asked.
"It was all Hannah's fault." Kurt stated matter-of-factly.
"Is that so?"
"Uh-huh. We were playing house and I was the dad and Hannah was the mom and Dave was the kid."
"Weird set-up, but okay. What happened?" Burt said, and Dave did let out a giggle now. Burt got the idea that Dave was also somehow in on it, especially if they'd been playing together. He looked at Elizabeth who just smiled behind her napkin.
"Well the dad was supposed to go to work so I left the little house area and Hannah started yelling at me 'cause I didn't kiss her and I didn't want to kiss her and I told her so." Dave burst into giggles, and Burt was doing his best not to smile now, but it was damn near impossible. Elizabeth was already hiding her face. "It's not funny Dave, shut up."
"What happened after that?" Burt asked, willing his voice to stay normal.
"She stormed over and told me that I had to kiss her, but I told her that I couldn't and Dave said it was 'cause I already had a girlfriend."
"A girlfriend, really?" Burt asked, raising an eyebrow and looking down the table at Elizabeth, who seemed just as curious as he did.
"She's not really my girlfriend, Dad." Kurt said, rolling his eyes.
"So you lied?" Elizabeth asked, and Kurt bit his lip as he nodded. Oops. Probably shouldn't have told them that part. "You know better than that."
"Well, hon, he said this girl wouldn't leave him alone otherwise. Maybe a little lie like that wouldn't hurt." Burt shrugged.
"Well, who did you say was your girlfriend? What did she have to say about it?" Elizabeth asked.
"Oh, Brittany doesn't know yet. She wasn't there today. We're gonna tell her tomorrow." Dave explained.
"So you caused a ruckus over a kiss, huh?" Burt asked, grinning.
"I didn't wanna kiss her!" Kurt said, as if this should be the most obvious thing in the world.
"You're so much like your mother." Burt smiled, shaking his head.
"Burt!" Elizabeth laughed, throwing a dinner roll at him.
"Hey!" He laughed, ducking. The boys were giggling, watching Kurt's parents go back and forth, throwing rolls at each other. "It's true. I thought you were never going to let me kiss you."
"Yeah, well all that waiting paid off, didn't it?" Elizabeth smiled, nodding towards Kurt. Burt stared at Kurt for a moment, his smile widening as he nodded in answer.
"It really did."
Dave was confused. Earlier in the day, he'd received a note that he was to go home with Kurt after school. Not that he didn't like that, because he probably would have just gone home to ask if he could go to Kurt's anyway, but he wasn't used to being told to go straight to Kurt's after school. Something was off, and he didn't like it. Burt was home when Kurt and him got to Kurt's, which wasn't normal. He and Elizabeth were sitting in the kitchen, talking in hushed tones while the boys sat in the living room, watching television. As much as Dave liked Scooby-Doo, he couldn't bring himself to pay attention.
They'd been here for a couple of hours already, and still, Dave had no idea what was going on. He knew there was something going on, because he'd heard his name come up several time in the conversation. As far as he could tell, it was something to do with his dad, but he had no idea what happened other than that. He thought he heard something about the hospital, but that couldn't be right because if his dad was in the hospital, his mom would have told him.
"What's the matter, Davey?" Kurt asked, nudging Dave in the side. Dave couldn't help but smile. Kurt only ever called him Davey when he wanted to cheer him up. Or when he was sick. When he was sick and had to stay in bed, he always called him Davey.
"Nothing." Dave sighed, looking back at the television. He knew Kurt probably didn't believe him, but he pretended to be into the cartoon, even laughing when Shaggy and Scooby took off to hide, as usual. Unconvinced, Kurt turned back to watch television.
When he'd told Burt and Elizabeth that he needed to go home because it was starting to get dark, Elizabeth told him that she'd spoken to his mother and that he would be staying the night with Kurt for the night. While this was cause to be a little excited – and he was excited over staying the night with Kurt – he still couldn't help but be a little worried. He hadn't heard from his mom or dad at all today, and he still couldn't get the thought of the hospital out of his head. There was something wrong, and he hated that neither of the adults would tell him anything.
"What's wrong with my dad?" He finally asked as Elizabeth was tucking the two boys in. Burt was putting a movie into the DVD player, and he straightened up, his eyes on Elizabeth.
"Why do you think there's something wrong with your dad?" Burt asked, coming over to stand at the foot of the bed.
"'Cause I heard you guys talking a little bit earlier." Dave said, looking up at Burt. Burt and Elizabeth exchanged looks for a long moment before Elizabeth let out a soft sigh and sat down on the bed next to Dave, putting an arm around him. Burt sat down next to her and Kurt slid between the two so he could climb into Burt's lap. Burt wrapped his arms around Kurt and Kurt rested his head on Burt's chest, looking at Elizabeth and Dave.
"Your dad was in a car accident." Elizabeth explained. "So your mom has been at the hospital with him all day today, and she decided she wanted to stay the night with him. She thought you would rather spend the night with Kurt than go sleep at the hospital."
"Is he okay?" Dave asked, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Yes, of course, honey." Elizabeth said, smoothing his hair back. "He just needs to stay there for a couple of days so that the doctors can make sure that he's completely healthy. He broke his arm, though." Elizabeth said.
"Is he gonna have to wear a cast?" Dave asked as she kissed his forehead.
"I think so." Elizabeth answered. "Maybe he'll let you sign it." Dave's expression brightened considerably at the thought of being able to sign his dad's cast. Maybe his dad would let him draw something on it.
"We're gonna take you to see him tomorrow, 'kay kiddo?" Burt said. "For now, you two need to get to bed. I put in Aladdin for the two of you to watch." He reached out to ruffle David's hair before nudging Kurt off of him. Kurt reluctantly climbed out of Burt's lap and slid down to the head of the bed to slip beneath the covers. Dave followed Kurt's lead and climbed beneath the covers next to Kurt. First Elizabeth and then Burt gave them both kisses on the cheek and told them goodnight before they headed out of the bedroom, turning off the light as they went.
"You okay, Davey?" Kurt asked, cuddling closer to Dave.
"I wanna see my dad." Dave almost whined. He covered his face, not wanting to cry, but not really being able to help it. Kurt wrapped his arms around Dave, and Dave calmed a little bit. Kurt always made him feel better, and he didn't really have to do much of anything.
"He's okay, Davey. We're gonna go see him tomorrow and then soon you'll get to go home and then you'll have to help him do lots of stuff because he won't be able to use his broken arm." Kurt explained. Dave knew he didn't really have any experience with broken arms, but it seemed reasonable enough. Dave cuddled closer to Kurt, sniffling.
"I'm glad my mom let me stay the night with you." Dave said quietly.
"Me too. And we get to watch Aladdin." Kurt pointed out, gesturing to the TV. "The genie's your favorite." Dave looked over at the TV, smiling. The genie was his favorite, after all. He gave a little giggle, nodding in agreement.
"Yeah, you're right, Prince Ali." Dave said, giggling.
Paul turned out to be just fine. He'd escaped the nasty accident with just a broken arm, and everyone was grateful for this. Burt grumbled non-stop about teenage drivers who drove way too fast on slick roads, especially during the rainy season. Elizabeth just rolled her eyes, but let her husband complain. She remembered the days when they were just teenagers and Burt drove a little fast, and she said as much. Burt would then proceed to rant about how he was much more careful than most of the young brats on the roads these days, and she would just laugh, shaking her head.
Kurt loved to watch the two bicker. He always knew when they were seriously fighting and when they weren't, and more often than not, the play-fights ended in a kiss, and Kurt always thought it was so sweet. Dave often told Kurt that he wished his own parents were more like Burt and Elizabeth. Kurt sometimes felt bad when Dave said that, because he knew that Dave wasn't as close with his parents as Kurt was with his own. He'd almost bet that Dave was closer with Kurt's parents than his own.
The last few months of first grade went by rather quickly. Dave spent a little more time at home, helping his dad out whenever he'd let him. Even if they weren't close like Kurt and his dad, Dave loved his dad more than anyone else. So he spent whatever time he could with him, and though Kurt missed him, he thought it was good that Dave and his dad were together so much. Kurt even went and played at Dave's house more often, which Dave's mom didn't seem to like too much, but Paul didn't really seem to mind at all. Whenever they spent the night together, it usually ended up being over at Kurt's.
The boys were just ready for the school year to be over with. During the last month of school, their parents had been discussing the possibility of renting a cottage together at a nearby lake. They wanted to rent it for the duration of the summer, using it whenever they had the free time. Kurt and Dave kind of worried about how their parents would do living in a small cottage together, but once they found out that they would be sharing a room, all worries were completely forgotten. They would be spending a lot of a summer by a lake, sharing a room, and Paul was even talking about bringing their camping gear along for the boys to spend some nights out in a tent if they wanted. Their own little camping trip by the lake.
When the parents finally agreed on a cottage and decided that renting it out for the summer was a good idea, the boys were eager for school to be over so that they could just go already. Even Burt and Elizabeth were more than a little excited over the idea. Burt and Paul talked about fishing and taking the boys for hikes, while Elizabeth and Katherine discussed the cottage and room arrangements and everything else that was coming with the summer vacation.
As soon as school let out on the last day, both boys raced out to the pick-up area, bouncing and talking excitedly as they waited for their parents to pick them up. When they finally spotted Elizabeth's jeep, the teacher had to keep them from charging off in that direction. It took a moment to get their focus, but when she finally did, she told them, "Even though you guys were a handful, and you couldn't pay me to do it all over again, I enjoyed having you two in my class. I hope you two enjoy your summer, because I know I'll be enjoying mine."