Within a few weeks of Warbler rehearsals Kurt felt like he'd known these boys forever. As soon as he got home to visit his Dad for a weekend he was chattering on about his new friends.
"-and then Nick asked me to join their guys night! It's on Tuesday after practice and I'm so excited! I think he's actually going to use this time to ask Jeff out, finally, and I can't wait!"
He didn't notice the pure happiness on his father's face as he watched his son glow. He didn't want to interrupt Kurt, but he did have to talk to him about something.
"I'm so happy that you're having such a great time at this school, Kurt. If I had known it would be this good for you, you would have never stepped foot in McKinley. Now, there is something I wanted to talk about. As you know, Carol and I have been seeing each other for a little bit. Well, we decided that it was also time for you and her son to meet. We're actually having dinner tonight, at our house. Her son is about your age, so maybe you'll find something to bond over. How does that sound?" Kurt grinned.
"That's good! Even if it's pretty early on to know... It might be nice having a brother. Though, I do have about a million brother figures over at Dalton now!" Kurt laughed."What time will they be here? I'll cook!"
With a grin and short chuckle, he clapped Kurt on the shoulder.
"I was hoping you'd say that. They'll be here at around 5. If I cooked, I would probably end up poisoning Carol and her poor kid."
"That you would, Dad. That you would."
...
By the time 4:30 rolled around, Kurt was getting a bit nervous as he stirred the contents of one of the pots on the stove.
By the time 4:45 rolled around, the food was being set and Kurt was kind of freaking out.
'What if the son is the kind that sees me as girly, and decides I'm not brother material?'
'What if he's homophobic?'
'What if he doesn't like me and ruins the relationship? Dad hasn't been this happy in so long...'
After the last dish had been set, Kurt dashed off to clean up very quickly. He was still in his bathroom when he heard a knock on the front door. He was quick to finish and rush upstairs as he heard his father greet the guests. He smiled brightly, invitingly, as he entered the room, only for the smile to drop as he saw the boy standing by Carol. Burt turned and grinned towards his son.
"Kurt, this is Finn Hudson, Carol's son."
Kurt's brain short-circuited as he stared at the boy. Finn. Finn Hudson. He had been a part of the group of neanderthals that made his life at McKinley a living hell. He's gotten countless slushies from the boy, and even he wasn't innocent in the dumpster tosses and a few locker checks when his buddies were around.
How hadn't he made a connection in the last names?
"Kurt? Buddy?"
Not even hearing his father's voice helped as his breathing picked up. His chest burned, and all he could feel was the cold ice of slushy dropping down his face. The hard press of metal lockers against his side. The stench of dumpster and piss. He remembers a doctor talking to him about this when he was in the hospital...
A panic attack. Kurt was having a panic attack.
Kurt scrambled to go backwards, to get away from him. He wanted to go back to Dalton. He wanted to curl up with Jeff and watch movies. He felt himself being pushed down onto the couch and he tried fighting the hands touching him.
'Let go! Let go let go LET GO' his mind screamed. He could barely hear the soft feminine voice trying to talk to him. Eventually the voice seemed to give up, and instead he felt his head being pushed between his knees, which had been brought to his chest. He heard the same side voice coaching him through breathing, until he could finally recognize the voice as Carol's. He then felt her hand stroking his hair.
"There we go. That's it, honey. Just keep breathing slowly. It's okay." After a while, Kurt slowly uncurled his body.
"Kurt, what the hell happened?" His father's voice came. Kurt couldn't look at him. Instead, he locked eyes with Carol, hoping she would be able to see what he was trying to tell her. It took a minute, but eventually her face fell and her voice shook.
"Honey, I'm so sorry." Kurt shook his head, his own voice quiet.
"You didn't know."
"Okay, what the HELL am I missing?"
Thankfully, Carol answered for him, as Finn stayed quiet from where he stood.
"My son....my son was one of his harassers." The woman stood slowly from where she was knelt In front of Kurt, turning to her own son.
"Finn, how could you?" Said boy looked down, clearly embarrassed.
"I don't know. At first, I kept telling the other guys to stop. But then they started calling me gay and crap! And saying I was his boyfriend!"
"So you thought that was a good enough reason to hurt my son?" Kurt's watery eyes looked up towards his dad at how much disgust his voice.
"You thought that was a good enough reason to hurt anyone?"
"N-No sir. I was stupid. I didn't want to hurt him. I-I was a coward, and I no longer stay in that crowd, I swear on it. I swear on my life."
Kurt saw the conflict in his father's eyes as he looked between Finn and Carol. Saw the heartbreak as he tried to decide whether or not he could stay with this woman.
Kurt couldn't do that to him.
Kurt stood and put a hand on his father's shoulder.
"It's okay, Dad. He...he was one of the nicer ones. I...I could almost tell he didn't really want to do it. It's okay." Next, he turned to Carol.
"I promise this won't get between my dad and your's relationship. Besides," Kurt added "I'm at Dalton now. Everything's okay."
Burt sighed sadly as he looked to his son.
"Are you sure about this, Kurt? I wouldn't want you to-"
With a reassuring smile, no matter how forced it was, Kurt lead them to the kitchen table.
"Come on, the food is getting cold."
...
"So you just... Forgave him?"
The following Monday, Kurt was curled up on Jeff's bed with him, burrowed into the warm side of his best friend. He shrugged.
"No. Not really. But I'm not going to let my Dad throw away the first woman he's loved since my mom died, just because her son was a dick to me. It's okay. He claims everything's changed, but even if it hasn't I'm still here most of the time anyways. I'll never really have to see him."
Jeff squeezed Kurt tighter with a sigh.
"Have I told you how much I loved you, Kurt? You're such a sweet guy. You're probably the best guy I could've chosen as a best friend." Kurt blushed, pushing at his shoulder.
"Oh, so it isn't because I let you go on and on about your crush on Nick?" Jeff squawked, reaching for a pillow. But Kurt was quicker. Before he knew it, Jeff had a face full of pillow and was sprawled on the floor, Kurt crying from laughter on Jeff's bed.