Chapter 6 – Rebellion

Kurt glances down at his clipboard, slowly pretending to re-appraise the guest list for the wedding, a collection of names that he's basically committed to memory. "Hey, Dad?"

Burt looks up, a little concerned at the tone. "Yeah, kiddo?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the wedding."

"If this is about Finn…"

"It's not," Kurt says hurriedly, not wanting to dwell on his almost step-brother for any quantifiable amount of time. "I wanted to let you know that I have a…date."

Burt's eyebrows shoot up to his hairline and Kurt's a little put off at the surprise on his face. He knows that he's just caught off guard that Kurt's mentioning a date for the first time, but he can't quell the embarrassment that creeps up his body. "A date date, or like a friend-date?"

Now this is a question that Kurt doesn't really have a real answer to. He knows that Jesse's posing as his boyfriend for the purpose of the wedding and showing his family a thing or two, but Jesse's place in Kurt's life is very much undetermined. His feelings for Jesse are confusing him more and more each other and he knows that a conversation with the other man is imminent.

"A date date, Dad."

"Why is this the first I'm hearing of this?"

Kurt folds his arms. "Let us not pretend that it's not still awkward territory. You were so great when I came out but my having a boyfriend is unprecedented and new ground for us."

"Well," Burt clears his throat, "I won't lie and say that I'm thrilled to hear you're dating, but I'm happy you've found someone in this town. What's his name?"

"Jesse."

Burt frowns. "That St James kid? I thought he was a…you know what."

"It's not him. He's not in Glee, Dad." Kurt smiles lightly as he prepares his rehearsed explanation for how he and Jesse had met. He reckons that 'he was running from a crime scene and broke into the Den' won't go down so well with Burt. "I had some trouble in the Den and went to a hardware store while I was shopping in Dayton. He works there and asked for my number." It isn't the best, but it's a familiar enough topic to Jesse that he could improvise if he needs to during dinner.

"How old is this boy?"

Kurt barely refrains from grinning as he prepares his latest answer. "Twenty-one."

Burt's eyes bulge. "Kurt!"

"What exactly is the issue? He's not that much older."

"He's in college!"

Kurt rolls his eyes. "Jesse didn't go to college. He wanted to work to look after his family."

Burt gives the boy a few points for that, he supposes, but still isn't happy. "I don't like the idea of you dating a guy so much older than you. Is he taking advantage of you?"

"No, Dad. We haven't had sex if that's your real question."

Burt stiffens a little but manages to swallow his emotions. Kurt almost smirks at how unsubtle his father is. "Okay. Good."

"He's a really great guy, Dad, and I really like him. The age doesn't matter to me and I'm eighteen. It's all very juvenile at this point, anyway."

"So obviously he's coming over for dinner so I can meet him and ask him what he's doing with an eighteen year old."

"You will do no such thing," Kurt barks. "You will be nice and ask him questions just like you would if Rachel came over for dinner."

"Watch your tone, Kurt," Burt mutters dangerously, even though he knows that Kurt is right on the money about the double standard between Kurt's new boyfriend and Rachel. Burt wants to protest that he knows Rachel and…well, he doesn't necessarily like her but Finn does and that's what's important. "I've only just heard about this kid and I'm supposed to believe you're close enough to invite him to your old man's wedding? I want to meet him."

Kurt's hands traces over the line Kurt Hummel + guest on the guest list with a small smile. "Of course. I've already asked Jesse and he's happy to come over one evening after I'm done with Glee. He even offered to cook."

"He did?"

Kurt rolls his eyes. "I don't know why you're imagining that I'm dating some good for nothing burnout with a face tattoo, but you need to reset your expectations. Jesse is the kindest person I know."

Burt drags a hand down his face. "I guess I don't have much choice in this, do I?"

"Nope," Kurt all but squeals as he reckons with what comes next.

"You don't have to sound too happy about it," Burt grunts but a smile comes through.

"I'm just excited, Dad. I…he makes me happy. It's still early on, but I'm at my happiest when I'm with him. He makes trying to survive in this wicked little town a little easier."

Burt raises a brow. "Dramatic, but fair. I'm happy for you kiddo. Well, as happy as I can be about you dating someone older than you."

Kurt gives Burt a quick hug before turning back to his checklist. "Thanks, Dad. I'll organise a dinner date with him."

Burt watches as Kurt leaves the room, knowing that something's off about the whole situation. His inner paternal instincts are yelling at him, telling him that something's wrong and to keep a close eye on the whole situation and on Kurt in particular.

As soon as the doorbell rings, Kurt has a bad feeling about this whole thing. The dinner, inviting Jesse to the wedding, the whole thing.

"I'll get it!"

Kurt smoothes down his outfit, pretending to be nervous for the prying eyes of his family, even though he is a little nervous, though not for the reasons they think.

When he opens the door and sees Jesse there, all of his fears evaporate. Jesse's fully committed to the bit of meeting his boyfriend's family for the first time. He's holding a bottle of wine and a bouquet of flowers, grinning as he sees Kurt. He's even dressed up.

Jesse looks over Kurt's shoulder and sees Burt, Carole, and Finn peering from behind the door and smiles. He leans in and kisses Kurt on the cheek.

"Hey you," he mutters, realising just how much he's going to have to put on a performance. Not that he doesn't care about Kurt a great deal, but he's never really been anyone's boyfriend, he doesn't really know how to be one.

Kurt closes the door behind him and grins as he gives Jesse a one-armed hug. "I missed you."

Kurt doesn't know whether he's saying that for the bit or not, but he'll ponder on that later.

"Are these for me?"

Jesse smirks. "Actually no, I brought these for Carole. You hate flowers."

Kurt nods. "You remembered."

"Of course I did."

They must have been staring into each other's eyes for a second too long because Kurt hears Burt cough from down the hall. They both turn to the family and Jesse makes a motion to go over to them.

He hands the flowers to Carole. "They're daisies. My mom recommended them, I'm pretty hopeless with flowers but she insisted."

Carole beams and takes them. "Thank you so much. It's really nice to meet you properly."

Kurt makes a note to investigate her word choices later. "Let's get the horrible formal introductions out of the way. Carole, this is Jesse Pinkman, Jesse, my stepmother Carole. And my stepbrother Finn and my dad, Burt."

"It's nice to meet you all. Thank you for having me to dinner tonight."

Finn just nods awkwardly but Burt steps around Carole and offers his hand.

"Good to meet you, kid."

Jesse smiles and hands Burt the wine. "Recommendation from a friend, wasn't sure what wine you guys might like."

Burt surveys the wine and nods. "Red's good. Why don't you come into the living room while Kurt and Finn help Carole with the food."

Carole grins. "You mean while Finn and I help Kurt with the food?"

"Semantics," Burt calls after them as Finn and Carole walk into the kitchen. Kurt lingers for a second. "Kurt, I'm not going to shoot him in the living room. Not before dinner, at least."

Jesse at least has the grace to look scared, even if he can tell an empty threat when he hears one. "Yeah, Kurt, we'll be fine. I know you're desperate to micromanage the food preparation."

Kurt rolls his eyes. "This was a bad idea," he says, but he's smiling at least as he walks into the kitchen.

Burt turns to Jesse with a glare. "You seem to already know my son pretty well."

Jesse nods. "He's a really great guy, Mr. Hummel."

"He's also seventeen."

Jesse frowns. "Uh, he's eighteen, sir."

"He told you about his repeat year?" Burt wonders with a little surprise. Only a few of Kurt's classmates actually know about that.

"He's told me a lot, Mr. Hummel."

"Call me Burt, okay? I figure if you're gonna be my son's date to my damn wedding, you'd better call me by my first name."

Jesse nods. "Okay. Burt. Kurt's…I was surprised to be invited to the wedding, if I'm honest with you."

Burt chuckles. "I know my son can get ahead of himself sometimes."

"Oh, no it's not that. I just…it's still fairly early days for us. I care about Kurt a great deal, but I wanted to double check with you that it was okay that I came. After all, it's your day. If you're not comfortable having me there…"

"Oh you're good," Burt smirks.

"Good at what exactly?"

"Scoring points with the whole honourable thing. This not your first meet the parents dinner?"

"First one that counts," Jesse lies. "And, with all due respect, I'm not point-scoring. I told Kurt the same thing when he asked me, that it meant nothing if you didn't approve. Because then what would be the point in me going?"

"Okay, that's fair. Sorry."

"I don't blame you, Burt. I know you're probably wondering what I'm doing dating an eighteen-year-old, believe me, I asked myself that too. But I really hope I can win you over, Burt, because I don't think I could stay away from Kurt even if I wanted to."

Jesse's a little afraid at how little he has to try to sell that "lie". It comes out naturally because he believes it.

Dinner's a surprisingly normal affair, and exactly what Kurt and Jesse expected from the whole endeavour.

Obviously, Burt's on them like a bloodhound, questioning them about their meet cute, going so far as to ask what type of fix to the Den Kurt was looking for. Kurt's lucky that Jesse swooped in and saved the day by creating a fake wall-hanging issue for one of Kurt's movie posters.

"…and then I saw how little he knew about anything that was going on around him, in terms of DIY at least, I could tell he was smart about other stuff. And then we got to talking some more about his Den, then about just…other topics, and I could see how interesting he was. Don't get a lot of people like him around town."

Kurt grins. "Perfect, just like we rehearsed it."

That garners laughs around the table about Kurt's orneriness, but it's really just a secret in-joke between Kurt and Jesse.

"Doesn't it bother you that he's still in high school?" Finn gets out with a mouthful of food. It's the first time Finn and Jesse have properly addressed each other and Kurt's more than a little nervous. Jesse's estimation of Finn is in the gutter and Finn hates every trace of Kurt being happy apparently, so this can only go disastrously, right?

"Finn!" Carole admonishes but Jesse shakes his head.

"It's fine. A friend of mine asked me the same thing. The difference is with you guys is that I can reply with this: does anything about Kurt strike as you high-school?"

The three of them shake their heads in unison while Kurt preens at the maturity compliment.

"He's…more than I ever expected."

Jesse once again doesn't have to lie here, and he's really racking up statements that don't include any sort of lie - he knows he should probably unpack that somewhere along the line, but who's got the time? Kurt, probably, is his answer to that.

Kurt reaches out and grabs his hand, thumb rubbing over the back of it. "I feel the same way."

Jesse leans over and kisses the skin there - probably overdoing things just a tad, but he's nothing if not committed to the bit. "I'm so glad you're addicted to buying movie posters for the Den."

Kurt smiles as Burt chimes in. "So Jesse, what would you be doing if he wasn't?"

Jesse shrugs. "Either hanging with some buddies or working probably."

Burt nods and Kurt knows that he's trying his hardest to be unimpressed, but his reluctance gives out in the end. "Kurt says you skipped out on college to look after your family."

"That's really kind of you, Jesse," Carole adds and Kurt beams.

"It's the least I could do, really," Jesse says smoothly.

"You hear that, kids?" Burt points his fork at Kurt and Finn. "Look after us."

Kurt rolls his eyes. "Yeah yeah, alright, Dad. Don't act like you wouldn't flat out refuse the help."

"And I passed that one down onto you, so good luck with that, Jesse. He's a stubborn one."

Kurt levels his gaze and his father and the weight of the last few weeks settles over him like a dust cloud, stinging his eyes and throwing him off guard. "I sure am."

Jesse immediately notes the sadness behind the words and one glance at the rest of the family tells him that none of them did.

And Jesse gets it.

Not that he didn't before, but seeing the way that Kurt interacts with his family and the way he poises himself around them, he understands the disconnect. The understands the way Kurt feels. Jesse doesn't believe they're bad people, he just doesn't think any of them really get Kurt. Not that he gets Kurt in the way that Kurt wants to be gotten, but he's a damn sight closer than the rest of them.

And if some guy who stumbled upon Kurt because he was fleeing the scene of a crime can connect with Kurt more acutely than his family, then it explains why Kurt is the way he is - so closed off, so guarded. Jesse slowly taps Kurt's foot under the table. The boy looks up and shoots him a smile.

"Can I ask you something?"

Jesse's eyes narrow slightly. "That's never a question that ends well."

They're sitting on opposite ends of the Den, which happens to be small enough that they're still within 'inside voice' distance in case someone were to overhear them.

Once Jesse had left, Kurt had whispered to him that he should do a false exit and meet him behind the Den once he's shaken off the questions from his family members. Jesse had been happy to do so, wanting to make sure that they hadn't given Kurt too much of a hard time.

"It's not that serious. I just…I want to know that if things were different, would you still hang out with me?"

"If what was different?"

Kurt smiles. "If I really had met you at a hardware store in Dayton."

Jesse shrugs. "Probably not."

"Oh."

"No, no, not because of you," Jesse gapes, realizing he's said the wrong thing. "But because…Kurt, I'm a very self-centred person. The whole reason we know each other is because I wanted money and to feel like I was doing something that gave me power."

Jesse sighs, wondering how to word it exactly. "I'm not a lot of things, not in the way you are."

"I don't understand."

"You've got so much going for you, man. You're smart as shit, talented, you've got money and common sense and you're destined for so many things. I don't…I don't got any of that. I could've done better in school, sure, but I wasn't interested in it. Instead I sell drugs. That doesn't exactly scream bigger and better things."

"Bet you're making more money than your classmates though," Kurt points out.

"Sure, I guess, but I risk going to jail every fucking day. I can't see myself settling down or starting a family or any of that shit. I…Kurt, tonight was the most normal I've felt in such a long time. Sitting down for dinner with you and your family, even if we were lying through our teeth about how we know each other. It was something I never really thought I'd get to do. My own parents don't think much of me."

"Then they don't really know you."

"Neither do you."

"I know enough," Kurt smiles sweetly. "You've said some very nice things about me tonight but I still don't get why you stick around. I'm not cool or even really living in the same world as you, not really. I'm in my junior year of high school fighting with my homophobic stepbrother and trying to keep the jocks off my back. You're…actually out in the world. Even if you are making and selling drugs, you're doing something."

"You have a weird opinion of me, dude," Jesse mutters. "For the record, you are the only person I've ever met who has never judged me. Fuck, the first time we met I told you I might've killed a guy. I told you I shot someone and you still looked at me like I was worth something. God Kurt, didn't that freak you out?"

"Yes," Kurt nods, "but I saw past that. Despite what you might want the world to think, there's a scared kid inside you just waiting until it's safe to come out. I want to be that safe place for you. I don't think you have a lot of those."

"Safe places? You're right about that."

Kurt smiles at him. "Consider me one of those, whenever you need. I…"

Whatever Kurt is about to say next is drowned out by Jesse's phone buzzing. He lets it ring out.

"You can take that if you want."

Jesse grimaces. "This is my burner. If it's Walt, he calls once, I don't pick up, he calls again for three rings and then hangs up, then when he calls again, I know it's him."

Kurt nods as the phone buzzes again, briefly this time. "Probably not the best in case of an emergency."

"Let's hope we don't have any of those then," Jesse chuckles as the phone buzzes again.

Kurt watches as Jesse takes the call, a sinking feeling in his gut telling him that whatever is happening on the other end of the line isn't good at all.

Jesse's face drops like an anchor, any sense of lightness about their evening gone with the twitch of his lips. "And…you're sure?"

Jesse flinches and holds the phone a distance from his ear, but Kurt still can't quite hear what's going on on the other end of the line. He just knows for sure that it's going to change everything.

"Okay. Thanks. Bye." As soon as Jesse hangs up the call, the phone clatters to the floor of the Den and cracks into small pieces. It's one of Jesse's cheap burner phones so the damage to the material isn't worth considering, especially not when Kurt sees the haunted look on Jesse's face.

Kurt stands immediately, hands moving to Jesse's face, holding it between them, staring into the sunken eyes desperately, as if begging Jesse to come back from somewhere far away. "What happened?"

Jesse's lips quivers and he clears his throat; a hoarse, ragged sound that must feel painful to Jesse because even Kurt almost winces.

"Darius…the guy I shot…he's…he's dead."