Found Out
Burt was waiting in his truck outside of the elementary school to pick up Kurt. Today was the first day of fifth grade for his son, and Burt had decided to start picking him up from school more often since he figured that next year Kurt would be too "cool" for his dad to pick him up. He wanted to spend as much time with his son as he could, even if he felt awkward about his, well, gayness. He had started going online and researching how to raise a kid when you suspected they were gay and how to offer support and such since, without Kate, he didn't know if he could do it. Basically all he could find out was to always be there for him. He had also read that he should not force him into coming out or even imply that he knew he was gay; just accept him for whatever he was. Because he might not be gay…Burt snorted in his car; there was a bit too much evidence for him to believe his son was straight.
Finally kids started filing out of the building, laughing and talking to each other, discussing their summer vacations, and just seeming happy to be around each other again. Then Burt spotted his son walking out the double doors. Now, normally Kurt was alone, since he mainly stuck to himself and tried his best to stay away from the bullies, but, this time, there was another person with him. Burt saw that it was a girl that was actually shorter than Kurt—that was really little, since Kurt was small and most girls were hitting their growth spurts at that time—and had long brown hair flowing past her shoulders. She wore a yellow sweater with a cartoon cat drawn on with the word, in a font so large Burt could read it from where he was parked in the car line, "Purr-fect" and a short plaid skirt with white, knee-length socks. Burt could see her mouth moving a mile a minute and couldn't help but chuckle at Kurt's exasperated expression as he tried to rid himself of her. Finally he stopped at the bottom of the steps and found his dad in the line of cars. He turned to the girl and said a very quick goodbye (and quite possibly a fashion critique, as the girl stopped talking and looked down at her outfit, comparing it to his dress pants, striped button-down shirt, snazzy tie, and dress shoes). Kurt practically ran to his dad's car.
"Drive, now," he said in a way that sounded serious, scared, and still a bit threatening. Kurt was quickly buckled in and Burt wasted no time in pulling away from the school.
"Make a new friend there, Kurt?" Burt asked with an amused smile.
"Hardly," Kurt said, wrinkling his nose in distaste. Before Burt could ask for any more information he continued, "She's a new girl who decided to attach herself to me like a leech. God, her fashion sense couldn't be any worse! And she would not shut up!" Burt struggled to hold in a laugh since he knew that Kurt could easily be accused of that any day.
"What's her name?"
"Rachel Berry. It even sounds sickening," his son answered with a shudder. "Apparently she's lived here her whole life but has been homeschooled until this year. And she says she's been professionally training for Broadway her whole life. And this is the year we start doing choir! She's going to get more solos than me." Kurt pouted with his arms across his chest.
"Hey, kiddo," Burt said, "You know that the choir teacher only gives one solo per person per concert. That's how it's been since this school's been here; this Apple kid won't get more than you."
"Berry, dad," Kurt corrected, but he had a small smile on his face.
"So, what were you two talking about just then?" Burt asked, happy he could cheer up his son.
"Oh," Kurt said, biting his lip slightly, "She was just saying that I could come over sometime and see her house and meet her family…"
Burt thought it was odd for the fifth grader to insist that others met her family, but he assumed she was just socially behind her peers because of homeschooling. It didn't explain why Kurt seemed a bit nervous all of a sudden, but he let it slide. He turned on his left-turn blinker and waited for the cars to pass so he could turn into the shop's driveway. "That's nice of her," Burt said as he watched the traffic.
"Yeah, but her family sounds…interesting," Kurt stated, his eyes looking down at his lap. Burt mumbled a "hmmm" and Kurt looked up at him as if he wanted support for what he was about to say, "Well, she doesn't have a mom, but that's because she never had one…but she has two dads that she says act like a mom and dad to her."
Burt's heartbeat was almost twice as fast as the blinker at this information. It was nice to know that there was a gay couple in Lima, but how was he supposed to respond to that? He didn't think he should say that he would be okay if Kurt wanted something like that in his future since he wasn't supposed to put his kid into a box, but what could he do? He ended up nodding in what he hoped was a non-judgmental way as he finally made the turn. It didn't seem to work, since Kurt started staring at his hands on his lap again, looking shy and nervous.
"Yeah…she said that I reminded her of them in a good way," Kurt said in a voice so soft and unsure it almost broke Burt's heart. He knew that this Rachel kid knew about his son's…differences and still be willing to be his friend.
"She…she seems nice, kiddo," Burt said as he pulled into his parking space, "Maybe you should spend some more time with her. Her, um, dads, sound nice, too." He looked up from the steering wheel and saw Kurt smile a bit before he wrinkled his nose, no doubt thinking of her fashion sense.
Burt wanted to say more and wish he could, but he didn't know what to say, so he smiled at his son and got out of the car. Kurt soon followed him out and Burt gave him a hug. "Still had a good first day?" he asked.
Kurt gave an even bigger smile, "Yes, it was great!" The two walked into the garage and received multiple greetings from the workers. Kurt greeted everyone back and went to his dad's office to start on homework. Burt went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face, praying he could have Kate's love and strength.
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A/N: The idea of writing a young Rachel and young Kurt's opinion on her was too grand of an opportunity to miss. Ha XD. And I definitely plan on writing a companion piece to this chapter, about Rachel and Kurt meeting for the first time, especially since I think Rachel is probably the first one to really know Kurt is gay out of all the kids.
I'm going to go into this in further detail in my next chapter, but I need something Burt and Kurt would both be around for—whether it's watching a movie or TV or just them going out to dinner or something—that might cause a hormone charged Kurt to get a bit excited. The awkwardness of Burt seeing his son get an erection is too much for me not to try to write...but I'm weird like that. Also, feel free to send me prompts on stuff you'd like to see in here, either stuff you made up that's after this point in Kurt's life or something on the show.
But, just so you know, I already have the next chapter ready to go up (and a good amount of what's the last chapter written), but I want to wait a bit now to see if any ideas come in.
And thanks to everyone who has put this on your story alert, I feel so loved! I wouldn't mind some reviews, though ; )
Thanks and much love!
~xLessxThanx3x
