AN: this is part of a personal challenge/project filling all the prompts of past Kadam weeks, and posting one every day from March 28 to May 8th, 7 prompts per year 5 previous rounds (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 last two managed by vcg73) the first week of May 2-8 will present to you the offering for the Kadam Week 2021 you can search for more on tumblr
This is the offering to Kadam Week 2015 prompt 1: Baby Pictures
He knew it, or better he should totally have known that before, after all he had been spared before the wedding... There was no chance he would be spared forever...
In fact all things considered his dad had been rather merciful...
Or as he loved to claim it was more a fact he had honestly forgot where Kurt himself had hidden the photo albums with his baby pictures...
There had been a lot of those, all prior to the age of eight...
They were after all his mom's domain, she was the photographer in the family, and while Kurt was still little the basement in their old home used to be a black room for his mom...
Which was exactly why once she died and the place had been cleared out Kurt begged his dad to allow him to move down there.
Arguing it would be easier to soundproof it and prevent Burt from being kept awake by tip tapping exercises in the evenings, or being woken up early by the morning vocal exercises that Kurt executed before going to schools.
Kurt had taken charge of the baby pictures album, and the many other things connected to his mom, early on, a little bit was to spare his dad the pain, a little bit was to make sure that they wouldn't disappear or get damaged in a moment of grief...
Because sure he was only eight at the time, but he still remembered his mom telling him how grief could make people do things that they would come to regret...
And Kurt didn't want to risk losing the happy memories of his mom...
In complete honesty though the biggest betrayal came from Carole. She had been the one who actually said it was ok for Kurt to have around the house pictures of his mom.
That she wouldn't feel threatened by having a reminder of her, as long as they didn't build a shrine, for neither her of Finn's dad.
As they were both passed and in the past, memories to remember the good times with.
Which is how he disclosed exactly where the album was stored, forgetting about the fact that it meant all his baby pictures were in there as well...
And true true, he supposed it was fair that Adam too had the chance to see those.
Especially since Diane actually hadn't even waited past the first occasion to show them to Kurt. The first time Kurt went to Essex to meet the rest of the family, there she was sharing those pictures...
So technically Kurt had seen the embarrassing baby pictures when they were together for little less than a year, and three years after that Adam still hadn't got that kind of 'ammo' against Kurt, not until today...
The fact was that Carole could be as sneaky as only a mom could be she had started easy sharing pictures of her boys.
And that plural should have clued Kurt in that he would be included.
By now, while he never used the word mom, the tone in which Kurt pronounced Carole was exactly the same... The first time Burt realised that he had teary eyes, the funny part, Carole had realised it long before any of her three boys actually did...
So the first pictures were from last year vacation, in those there were all of, as Kurt and Adam had dropped in for a visit at the same time as Finn. And Carol still preferred analogical photography, since it made her feel less old using a film, and holding on to the excitement of having to wait till it was developed before seeing the results.
Then she slowly tracked back in time and took out the pictures of her and Burt's wedding day... And Adam had been such an enthusiastic audience, super excited to see what his husband had been able to do back in high school, that when he commented on how young both Finn and Kurt looked back then, both siblings had been rather outraged and Finn blurted out "Hey Kurt was the one who looked like he was in eighth grade during his junior year not me"
To which Kurt promptly quipped back "That might have been true back then but as I've told you for years, my moisturising routine is paying off... And you're looking like an old prune now that yore past twenty five to the point that you used to look young in high school."
Adam simply snickered at the exchange, mostly because he was the only one except for Kurt himself, knowing that through the years, what was initially a rather lengthy daily routine, had become a lot lighter and a quicker once every few day affair, just enough to get some pampering and not throw away years of work.
Not that Kurt had ever admitted it was because Adam liked more snuggling and nuzzling his face on Kurt's products free skin, even if Adam had his suspicions given the time the regime started to ease up...
The one official admission that Kurt had been willing to divulge, once Adam had asked about it, was that nowadays Kurt had less need for 'me time' than he had when it all started.
Which was still a thought able to melt Adam's heart a little, especially considered that it had happened barely within a month of them living together...
As a result of the bickering of the two siblings, in an apparent attempt at trying to soothe Finn's ruffled feather, Carole then took out the pictures from eighth grade...
Finn's were in the appropriate year dedicated album, Carole like many other moms had been very invested in taking as many pictures as he could...
Fort Kurt, there were a lot less...
Burt had once confessed to Adam that he couldn't bear taking up a camera for years after Kurt's mom's death.
It wasn't until he had to convert to a smartphone because normal cell phones were no longer a thing, that Burt had started again taking pictures.
But at that point Kurt was already in New York, twenty one and living with Adam...
Sort of a little too late for taking pictures of his son, who now had a different man rather than his dad to take picture of him...
Which was both good, because at least Burt could still see how happy his son was, and sad because of all the time he had lost in grief, not seeing what was in front of him then...
And Kurt hadn't realised that Carol had added all the pictures that portrayed him since she came into their family, in the remaining space of the big photo album that also contained all the pictures his mom took...
That was why when he realised it he said surprised to Carole "Oh I didn't know you had added them to that album" to which of course Burt patted Kurt's back with a grin "I suggested that kiddo, that way all your pictures are in there."
Which sounded safe enough, if it wasn't for the fact that his dad was grinning too amused by it. The simplicity of the sentence had way more ramifications, and when Kurt realised that he paled slightly.
It was at that point that he tried to close the subject or at least change its focus on Finn...
"Oh but I'm sure no one wants to get that far down to memory lane, I mean, doesn't Finn have some other pictures of him we could check instead?"
It didn't matter that Kurt was now a professional actor, on his second big show on Broadway, half a dozen off Broadway productions. When Carole and the most important men in his life, all three of them, chuckled at his words, he did blush embarrassed.
Especially when Finn retorted right away "I'm sure your husband would rather see your naked butt instead of mine"
And Adam, his loved husband, who was in that precise moment seriously risking of getting very acquainted with the couch for the foreseeable future, quipped, wiggling his eyebrows with a rather salacious grin on his face "Indeed I do..."
Which totally provoked another round of laughters, this time tough Kurt joined in half resigned to his fate.
It wasn't like the baby pictures were that tragic or even that embarrassing... Though Finn had his almost trademarked confused look when going back they saw pictures of the ballet recitals and a couple of ballet class "You did ballet with a tutu and a tiara?"
Kurt couldn't suppress another amused chuckle "No Finn, we're all having a collective hallucination, seeing a picture of a six years old me at the recital showcase of my toddler ballet classes..."
Finn huffed playfully offended "Jeez, I just meant I never knew you did ballet lil bro"
At that Kurt outright snorted and pointing to said picture said "Sure Finn, as if I didn't have enough of a target pained on me already by the time we were in high school... What do you think would have happened if the puckheads or freshman you and Puck had even thought something like that had really happened?"
To his credit, Finn's expression turned into a scowl and then into a deeper frown "That wouldn't have been good... " then he looked up hopeful at Kurt "Guess it is a good thing we grew up right? We, we're no more that bad are we?"
Kurt's face softened into a kind smile "You both did a lot of growing during the years, most of us truly did. You're not that boy anymore don't worry Finn you're my brother."
Peeking at Adam, he only was met with a mouthed Adorable. Kurt went resting his head on Adam's shoulder, his arms wrapped around Adam's waist. At that Adam whispered in Kurt's ear "Nice form darling" provoking a giggling "Why, thank you dear" from him.
Another picture that brought a big smile on both Kurt and Burt's face was one of Kurt being photographed mid step during a tip tap routine.
It was a picture that gave the perfect materialisation of a moment frozen in time. Kurt's little arms flayed out to keep the balance, his tongue poking from his parted lips and a bright look of concentration and happiness shining in his eyes, soft looking hair caught in motion.
Adam commented softly "I can see the poking tongue when in deep concentration started early on" gently teasing about a habit he had helped Kurt overcome during his freshman year in Nyada, to avoid receiving performance critiques during dancing midterms... because in Ms July's kind words If you think you can stop doing it when you'll land a gig then you shouldn't do it in front of me, and if you don't think you can stop doing it then you shouldn't be in here at all.
Kurt chuckled as they both recalled the same tirade before shaking his head softly "That was probably the very beginning of it, I recall exactly how enchanted I was by Fred Astaire, how I wanted to be able to do it just like he did, so I had to concentrate because I recall I wanted to be just as fast and it was way harder than he movies made it look like "
Burt chuckled, "It was a nightmare I had to share with the guys at the garage..."
Kurt huffed offended "Oh come on dad I wasn't that bad to be called a nightmare I got pretty fine at it near the end..."
Burt laughed earthly "You danced just fine kiddo, even your mom said so, and she knew a lot more than me on all that stuff... " then he turned toward Adam and continued "No the true nightmare was that for a kid so small Kurt could go on for hours... like literally two, two and a half hour of incessant tip tapping ... after two days I hid at the garage every time I knew Kurt would train, when the guys dared to call me a coward for that I simply invited Kate to bring Kurt there and show the guys how good he was..."
Kurt frowned "I remember that, are you telling me they said I was good to make me stop?" Burt shook his head smiling "No kiddo, they really thought you had talent even back then, but they also stopped calling me a wuss for choosing to work during your training... To be fair after Kate was gone it was how you got the basement, even if to be honest in that first few months, while we were doing the renovations, having you training at the garage was a blessing, at least that way we all knew exactly where you were and we could concentrate on the jobs that needed to be done."
One picture that Adam found very surprising was of a four years old in coverall with Kurt name written in shiny swarovski sitting on the hood of a 1954 teal coloured Mercury Monterey Sun Valley, surrounded by Burt and other four guys all in similar coverall grinning openly and posing in front of the Hummel Tires & Lube.
Burt sounded extremely proud when he said "That was the first restoration project we did on a car that sweet and Kurt helped, as well so he deserved to be shown as part of the team of mechanics who fixed that old lady"
Kurt chuckled softly and grinning teasingly at Adam he said "That was a classic for the saying you'll never forget the first time... those lazy bums sent poor lil me under the car to tell them the status of the project, because it was easier than having to constantly put it on the lift and off the lift since it was an in between jobs kind of project..."
One of the last pictures they looked, it was a birthday one, a cake with a 4 candle was forgotten on the table in the background.
While as the very focus of the picture was Kurt sitting on the floor. A shoebox next to his socked foot, one of the red ballerina shoes covered in glitter was being proudly worn on the other foot. As the other shoe was raised in front of the face of a very excited and smiling toddler, intently presenting it as if it was Cinderella's slipper to the person behind the camera.
Burt leaned forward to look at that picture, tears shining in his eyes "Gosh I could never forget that birthday. Kate and I had quite a fight over that year's gift, Kurt was three when he had come to us saying that all he wanted for his birthday was a pair of sensible heels.
I wasn't the best of men when I was younger, I had few years to grow accustomed to the idea, or at least trying to grow past all I believed as the dumb jock I was as kid.
For months after Kurt's request I refused to indulge the search, then after christmas that year Kate took me to task. She said that I could choose to be a stubborn mule, or I could get my head out of my ass and do my job as a parent. Love my kid for who he is and not for who I think he should be..."
Kurt went and hugged Burt in silent support and sign of affection as Burt tried to get past the lump of emotion in his throat and then continued
"After that picture was taken, and four hours later Kurt was begging to be allowed to go to bed still wearing those shoes... Kate asked me if I thought my pigheadedness would have been worth it, to never seeing Kurt as excited and happy as he had been that day.
One of the last things Kate said to me before leaving us was to always remember that birthday. Every time things would get rough. Every time I wouldn't have a clue of what my son wanted from me. Every time I couldn't understand what Kurt was talking about. All I had to do was remember that day and ask myself if the position I was defending was something I was doing for my son, or if it was just me being a numbskull."
Kurt had tears in his eyes as he hugged Burt once more "I didn't know that"
Burt simply shrugged and hugged back his son "Not exactly the kind of stories you'd want your kids to know while they are growing up kiddo. But you've a family of your own now, not much else your old dad can do except being here now..."
After that the album was put away and when Finn realised there were no more photos to be shared he asked suddenly "So the rumour about the tiaras collection was a lie?"
Burt laughed and patted Finn on the back with humour "Oh no that collection truly existed, I think it has at least the tiaras from each year of ballet showcases."
And Kurt continued "I even posed with each one of them, and it ended up including my prom queen crown as well... But gladly this time we were looking through the baby pictures, and you saw already the only ballet recital one..."
Adam raised an interested eyebrow, though he waited until they were both behind closed door. Adam was all wrapped around Kurt, when he whispered in his husband's ear "I would have loved seeing you wearing those tiaras or the crown... I could even promise to never laugh at how young you might have looked at the time you took them."
Kurt turned into the embrace and kissed Adam languidly, his arms resting around Adam's neck. As they separated to catch their breath Kurt whispered with a teasing grin on his lips "I could find the pictures for you as those were jealously hidden. Or... I could give you a private show wearing only the crown.."
Adam barely said back breathlessly "I'd love to see that even more... But only if I'm also allowed to touch." then without giving Kurt the chance to quip back, he resumed the kissing gently pulling Kurt toward the bed.