Road To Love: Chapter 10

Kurt smiled in his sleep, cosy and warm in the soft cushions, his dreams filled with hazel eyes and dark curls and sweet kisses and soft moans.

But then he heard his dad's voice calling his name, and he frowned, because it did not belong in these dreams, and its anxious tone made him feel uneasy.

"Kurt, are you okay? Kurt!"

Kurt mumbled in his sleep, annoyed at the interruption. He rolled over onto his side, trying to tune out the noise, but he could feel himself unwillingly crossing the barrier from dreaming to consciousness. He blinked open his eyes slowly, allowing them to adjust to the light. Blaine was sleeping on his stomach next to him, and he looked so peaceful. The events of the previous night came rushing back, and Kurt felt his whole body warming up from the inside as he smiled at the sleeping boy next to him. Then there was a shuffling sound and a soft gasp from the front of the tent.

To say that Kurt was shocked when he turned his head and saw his dad standing in the entranceway of the fort would be an understatement of epic proportions. Burt's eyes were wide with shock as he looked down at Kurt and Blaine, both naked except for the purple blanket thankfully obscuring the lower halves of their bodies from view. Kurt gasped, clinging to the blanket and pulling it further up his body reflexively. Burt's gaze (which had been trained on Blaine's back, Blaine's face hidden from view from the entranceway), suddenly turned to him, expression unchanging. Kurt felt movement to his right, and he looked over in horror as Blaine began to wake up. The implications of their current situation were only just beginning to make sense in his sleep-addled mind, and he realised that his dad was only seconds away from finding out about him and Blaine in possibly the most traumatic way imaginable, for all parties involved.

"Kurt," Blaine mumbled softly, his eyelids beginning to flutter. He rolled onto his back, and Kurt heard his dad let out another gasp of shock. Kurt froze.

Blaine blinked his eyes open, and they immediately landed on the figure in the entranceway. For a few seconds, Burt and Blaine just looked at each other, Blaine's expression a combination of confusion and mild interest. Then suddenly, the situation seemed to click, and his eyes widened in horror. Kurt winced as Blaine let out a loud, high-pitched shriek, and sat bolt upright, mimicking Kurt's actions and pulling the blanket further up his body. He turned to stare at Kurt, and both their expressions said the same thing: Well, fuck.

"Blaine?" Burt hissed, and Blaine turned his head quickly back to Burt, cowering in fear.

"I-I don't-what the hell?" Burt stammered angrily, looking back and forth between Kurt and Blaine, who were both staring up at him, wide-eyed and terrified and feeling very, very small.

"S-sir, it's not what you think, I swear!" Blaine's voice was so quiet that Kurt wasn't even sure if Burt heard him.

"Dad, please, we can explain…"

Burt shook his head abruptly, pressing his hands to his temples and shutting his eyes tightly. "Both of you , just shut up for a second!"

Kurt and Blaine shut up immediately, and Kurt daringly reached out to clasp Blaine's hand in his, knowing how terrified he must feel.

After a few seconds, Burt seemed to regain his composure. He exhaled slowly, and opened his eyes. "I need some time to process this," he said, his voice slow and controlled, and disturbingly calm. "I am going to wait outside while the both of you get dressed. Then we are going back to my house, and we are going to have a lengthy and probably very unpleasant conversation." With a last stony glance at Kurt and Blaine, Burt turned on his heel and left the fort.

The boys sat in silence for a moment, their bodies stiff and hearts pounding.

"Shit," Blaine whispered finally, his voice trembling. "Kurt…What do I do?"

Kurt turned to look at Blaine, and upon seeing his distress, quickly reached out and took his face into his hands, caressing his cheek in a gesture that he hoped was reassuring. He took a deep breath, focusing on keeping his voice even. "Just be honest, Blaine. Don't worry, he's not…my dad's a really reasonable guy, he'll understand." He kissed his boyfriend quickly. "I'm so sorry about this. I love you. Now come on, let's just…get dressed, and get this over with."

Just under an hour later, Burt's car pulled up to the Hudson-Hummel residence. Kurt breathed a sigh of relief, despite the nervous clenching in his stomach.

After he and Blaine had emerged from the fort back at the lake, Burt had politely offered to help Blaine carry some of his supplies back to the car. His seemingly calm tone had done nothing more than frighten Kurt and Blaine further. Kurt thought he would have preferred if his dad had yelled and snarled at them, because at least then he would know where he stood.

They had walked back from the lake to the cars in silence, carrying the bags between them (Blaine said he would come back and take the fort down later). Once they reached the clearing where their cars were parked, Burt had announced that Kurt would be travelling back with him, and Blaine would follow behind in his own car. Neither of the boys dared to argue, and Kurt opted to take the back seat of the car so he wouldn't have to look at his dad's face during the drive. To make matters worse, Burt didn't say a word to him the entire trip back. He didn't turn on the radio, and Kurt was too scared to ask him to, so the car was filled with a heavy silence.

So, when they finally arrived back home, Kurt was feeling claustrophobic and anxious, and he quickly jumped out of the car. Blaine parked his own car across the road, and Kurt clasped his hand when he approached. Burt was already headed inside the house, and the boys followed reluctantly. Blaine was suddenly very grateful for Kurt's hand in his.

Upon entering the house, the boys were immediately faced by a frantic Carole, who rushed into the room. She took at one look at them, her eyes darting down towards their clasped hands, before they were both being pulled into a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you both are okay!" She said as she pulled back, and Kurt silently begged her not to start crying. Thankfully, she didn't, instead ushering them both onto the living room couch before dragging Burt into the kitchen.

Blaine turned to Kurt in surprise.

"Did you tell her about us?"

"No," Kurt said, shaking his head, equally bewildered by Carole's seemingly complete lack of surprise at seeing Blaine and Kurt together. "I didn't say a word, I swear."

A few minutes later, Burt and Carole emerged from the kitchen. Carole placed four cups of tea and a jar of sugar on the coffee table, before sitting down on the couch opposite the boys, next to her husband.

"So…" Burt said, and Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand firmly.

"Blaine, give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire you right now and forbid you from ever seeing my son again."

"BURT!" Carole cried. "What happened to giving the poor boy the benefit of the doubt?"

"Carole, I AM giving him the benefit of the doubt! Here's the part where he explains himself."

"Dad, please," Kurt interjected, his voice strained. "This isn't Blaine's fault!"

"Really, Kurt? It isn't Blaine's fault? 'Cos all I'm seeing right now is an employee who lied to me, snuck around behind my back, and used his position to sleep with you. And, even worse, he convinced you to lie to me, too! Since when do you lie to me, huh, Kurt? You tell me that. Look me in the eye and tell me that Blaine didn't ask you to lie to me."

Kurt felt his eyes pricking with tears. Blaine had asked him to lie to Burt, it was true. But it wasn't that simple.

"Blaine didn't manipulate me, dad! And he mostly certainly was not just trying to get into my pants! For your information, last night was our two month anniversary of being boyfriends, and also our first time, which you so rudely interrupted this morning-"

"-Hey, don't you dare try to make this my fault, kid! How the hell was I supposed to know that? All I knew was that you weren't at Mercedes' house like you said, and all she knew was that you were off with some anonymous boyfriend! I tried to call you and you were completely unreachable, it's a good thing Mercedes' gave me some David guy's number and he was able to tell me where you were, or I would have been completely freaking out. Anything could have happened to you out there, Kurt! What if some violent homophobes came by the lake, huh? What would you have done then? I know that the lake is usually deserted but all it takes is one instance of bad luck, Kurt, so FORGIVE ME for being worried and coming to make sure you were alright-"

"BURT, KURT, PLEASE!" Carole yelled loudly, and Burt and Kurt immediately fell silent, looking at her in surprise. She could be quite loud when she wanted to be.

She took a few deep breaths. "How about we let Blaine explain himself, hmm? Go ahead, sweetie," she said, turning to Blaine expectantly.

Blaine's face was pale, his hands shaking. Kurt squeezed his hand reassuringly. When he spoke, his voice was soft and shaky.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking up and making direct eye contact with Burt for the first time since the horrible incident that morning. "Burt, I…I swear I haven't been taking advantage of Kurt. I would never do that…I love him."

Burt inhaled sharply, and Kurt smiled at Blaine, who continued to speak.

"I'm so sorry I lied to you and asked Kurt to lie to you, I really am. It was wrong of me, and I should never have done it, but I was scared… I was scared that if we told you about us, you would tell my dad."

Burt raised his eyebrows at this. "Are you not out to your parents yet, Blaine?"

"No, I – I am…my mom knows I'm gay, and she even knows about Kurt. My dad knows I'm gay too, but he just…doesn't accept it. He likes to pretend I'm straight and he hates it when I 'dress gay' or listen to 'gay music', and he doesn't like that I'm a member of my school's Glee club…if he can't accept those things, how could he ever accept my boyfriend?"

Kurt could see that Blaine was struggling to talk about his father. He and Blaine had talked about Edward Anderson, briefly, when Kurt had demanded an explanation as to why they couldn't tell Burt about their relationship. Blaine had been reluctant to speak about his father, but he had given Kurt the short version of why Edward couldn't find out about them. That had been enough for Kurt, at the time – he had figured that Blaine would tell him the rest when he was ready. And even though Kurt knew that Burt accepted him, Blaine was his first boyfriend, and he really had no way of knowing how his dad would react to something like that, especially considering the fact that Blaine worked for him. So, because he had been scared of losing Blaine, he had gone along with it – he now realised that he and Blaine should probably have discussed the matter more. That way they could have told Burt themselves, like mature adults, instead of being caught sneaking around like a couple of rebellious teenagers.

"M-my dad is not a bad person, really, he's not," Blaine continued, his eyes on Burt and his tone almost pleading. Kurt wondered who Blaine was really trying to convince – Burt, or himself. A tear slipped from Blaine's eye, running down his cheek.

"My dad's just…old-fashioned, and stubborn, but he loves me, I know he does. He'll come around eventually, but until he does, he can't find out about Kurt and I. He'll do everything he can to keep us apart, and he'll make up some stupid excuse, like I'm too young to date, or I need to focus on my schoolwork. And I can't s-stand the idea of losing Kurt, not n-now, not when I've only just f-found him…"

By this point, tears were streaming down Blaine's face, and Kurt could tell that he was just barely managing to hold back his sobs. Unable to stand it any longer, he pulled Blaine into his arms, holding him close, while his boyfriend sobbed into his shoulder. Silent tears ran down Kurt's face too, his heart breaking at the sight of seeing his boyfriend so upset.

"Never," he whispered softly into Blaine's ear. "You won't lose me. Not now, not ever. I'll never say goodbye to you."

They stayed there like that for several minutes, until Blaine's tears finally subsided and his breathing settled down into an even rhythm. When they finally broke apart slightly, Blaine looked embarrassed at his breakdown, and stared at his lap, avoiding eye contact with Burt and Carole.

When Kurt looked up at his dad and stepmother, he saw that Carole was wiping her puffy red eyes with a handkerchief, sniffling quietly. Burt's expression was difficult to read, but Kurt thought that he looked almost pained, and he was twisting his hands together, a sign which Kurt had learnt meant that he was feeling guilty.

Burt coughed gruffly. "Well, Blaine, Kurt," he said, regarding them each in turn. "I think it is safe to say that you have both misjudged me."

The boys looked at each other in confusion.

"I'm not going to tell your father about Kurt," Burt said, looking Blaine directly in the eye. "Not if you don't want me to."

Blaine's blinked in surprise. "But, I thought…don't you feel, like, obligated to tell him, since you'd want to be told if you were in his place? Parental loyalty, or something?"

Burt shook his head. "It's different," he said. "Yes, I am Kurt's dad, and yes, I would want him to tell me if and when he gets a boyfriend. But in telling me, I can assure you that Kurt would be safe and accepted, as would his boyfriend. I have absolutely no sense of loyalty, or obligation, to a man who won't even accept and support his own kid. And you know what? I don't give a rat's ass, to be honest, if your old man is 'old-fashioned' or whatever the hell you said to try to defend him. Because as a parent, sometimes something unexpected will come up, and you will need to re-think the views that you were raised with. And when that happens, you gotta have the wisdom to know when you were wrong, and the courage to admit it. Because that's what family does. They protect each other, and they love each other unconditionally, for everything, not just the convenient parts."

Blaine stared at Burt in awe, silent tears running down his face once again.

Burt turned to Kurt.

"And Kurt, I'm disappointed that you would think so little of me. Blaine doesn't know me as well as you do, but I want you to know that you can trust me, and you don't have to keep things from me."

Kurt nodded tearfully. "I'm sorry, dad," he said softly, crying tears of joy. He felt so lucky to be blessed with a dad like Burt Hummel. He was ashamed, however, that he hadn't trusted him enough to be honest. He vowed never to make the same mistake again.

"I promise I'll always be honest with you, dad," he said, and he meant it.

"Good. Now come here and give your old man a hug."

Kurt and Burt both stood up, and Kurt threw himself into his dad's arms. Burt hugged him tightly, and Kurt felt safe and loved and so, so relieved. He was so glad that everything was finally out in the open, even though he was pretty sure he was going to be punished.

"Am I grounded?" He asked meekly, his head still buried in Burt's shoulder. Burt chuckled.

"No, you're not grounded. You promised me that you would be honest with me in the future and I believe you. You shouldn't have lied in the first place, but it was a complicated situation and I can see why you did it. Just take this experience and learn from it, okay kiddo?" Kurt nodded, and pulled back to smile at his dad.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Burt said gruffly, ruffling Kurt's hair. He then turned to Blaine.

"You look like you could use a hug too, kid."

Blaine looked up in surprise before he was being roughly pulled to his feet and into a slightly awkward hug. Kurt giggled, and grinned at Carole.

"GROUP HUG!" Kurt yelled, and he and Carole both launched themselves at Burt and Blaine, squeezing them tightly.

"Ahhh!" Burt cried. "I'm being crushed!"

When they pulled apart after a few seconds, everyone was laughing, including Blaine. Kurt's heart warmed as he snuggled up to his boyfriend's side. "See, baby? Everything's going to be okay."

Blaine turned to Kurt with his eyes so full of love and emotion that Kurt almost started crying again. "I love you so much," he whispered.

Kurt smiled. "I love you too." He leaned in to kiss Blaine softly, allowing his lips to linger.

Burt coughed, and the boys broke apart, remembering that they were not alone.

"So, Blaine," Burt said, somewhat awkwardly, "you are welcome to stay for lunch, unless you have to head home."

Blaine shook his head, a shy smile on his face. "No, sir, my parents aren't expecting me until later this afternoon. Thank you for the offer, I'd love to stay."

"It's Burt, kid, not 'sir'. We've known each other for two months, don't get all weird on me now."

Blaine laughed lightly. "Yes, Burt."

"Do you want to watch a movie in my room?" Kurt asked, taking Blaine's hand. "I have RENT."

"Sure," Blaine said, following Kurt towards the door.

"No funny business!" Burt called after them.

"I think we're both still too tired from last night!" Kurt yelled over his shoulder, grinning smugly. Blaine blushed scarlet and gawped at his boyfriend. Did he seriously just say that?

Burt groaned loudly behind them. "Jesus, don't remind me," he muttered, as Carole chuckled next to him and patted his shoulder sympathetically.

Kurt laughed as he pulled Blaine into his bedroom. Blaine immediately settled on Kurt's bed, and Kurt curled up beside him and kissed him sweetly.

"You sure know how to push your luck," Blaine mumbled, pulling back to look his boyfriend in the eyes.

"This may seem traumatic now, but it's actually kind of funny when you think about it," Kurt said with a giggle. "It will be an excellent story to tell the kids someday."

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "Kids, aye?"

"Don't get too excited, I said someday," Kurt said, rolling his eyes. "In the distant future. When we're rich and have been legally married for at least a year."

Blaine laughed lightly, playing with Kurt's hair. "Do you think your dad would say yes if I asked for permission to marry you?"

"Are you kidding? Did you see him today? He walked in on us naked together, and he still ended up hugging you. He's going to be calling you his son in no time."

"I'd be lucky," Blaine said, his voice tinged with sadness. "At least then I'd have a dad who actually cares."

Kurt snuggled closer to Blaine, nuzzling his neck and kissing it softly. "Don't give up hope on your dad just yet," he whispered. "He may surprise you."

"Yeah," Blaine said, his voice flat and doubtful. "Maybe."

"In the meantime, you still have me. Have I mentioned that I love you, Blaine?"

Blaine looked down at his boyfriend curled against his chest, and kissed the top of his head. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

"I ask myself the same thing every day."

When everybody sat down to lunch at the Hudson-Hummel home, Kurt and Blaine were surprised by the lack of awkwardness around the table. Blaine found himself laughing loudly at Burt's jokes on multiple occasions. About halfway through the meal, Finn arrived home from Puck's house, sitting in the seat on Blaine's left and promptly stuffing his mouth full of French fries before he noticed Blaine's presence.

"Oh, 'ello," he said through his mouthful of food. "Blaine, righ'? Not to be rude, ba what're you doin' 'ere?"

"Finn!" Kurt cried, wrinkling his nose in disgust, "how many times do I have to tell you not to talk with your mouth full?"

"Sorry," Finn said once he swallowed his food.

"Finn, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend," Kurt said, smiling at Blaine.

Finn blinked back at his stepbrother for a few seconds, a puzzled frown on his face, before he suddenly clicked.

"Oh my god!" He exclaimed, turning to Blaine with his mouth open in surprise. "You two are…?"

"Yup," Blaine said, grinning.

"You're gay?"

Blaine laughed. "Definitely."

"But…but you're a mechanic."

"Finn!" Kurt snapped. "That's offensive! Stop stereotyping! I work in the garage too, you know."

"Yeah, but dude, that's like, the only manly thing you do."

"Finn Hudson, sometimes I just want to punch you in the face."

"Why? What did I say?"

"Finn," Blaine interjected, "I am no less gay than Kurt. The only criterion for being gay is liking men. Gay men are not necessarily more feminine in their behaviour and interests than straight men."

"Oh…" Finn said, looking embarrassed. "Sorry, dude."

"That's okay," Blaine responded with a shrug.

Finn turned to Kurt. "Kurt, I'm sorry for saying that you're not manly."

Kurt regarded his brother for a moment before deciding to let this one slide. "Apology accepted."

Finn grinned, turning back to Blaine. "So, do you go to McKinley? I haven't seen you around."

"No, I go to Dalton Academy. I board there during the week. It's an all-boys school in Westerville."

Finn frowned slightly. "But that's like, two hours away. How do you and Kurt ever see each other? If you're at Dalton all week, and working when you're here…"

Kurt sighed sadly. "It's hard," he said, "But we'll make it work."

The boys went back to their food, the mood at the table suddenly more solemn than before. Burt regarded the boys carefully. "Maybe we could come up with some sort of arrangement," he said. Kurt and Blaine looked up at him.

"Blaine, you've learned a lot over the last two months. You know pretty much all you need to know about the cars, and if you do happen to have any trouble, Kurt has years of experience under his belt. I think it may be time to unofficially promote Blaine from mechanic's assistant to actual mechanic – which will mean a pay rise, of course."

Blaine grinned excitedly. "Really? Thank you, Burt! Thank you so much!"

"Calm down kid, I'm not done yet," Burt said, chuckling lightly. "I was thinking that if you two were willing, you could both work all day Saturday, and that could be my day off. The thing is, Sundays are usually pretty quiet, which I'm guessing is why you boys cunningly decided to work – or rather, not work - together on that day."

Blaine and Kurt blushed, glancing at each other briefly and trying unsuccessfully to suppress their smiles.

"Anyway, Sunday mornings are the busiest, so I was thinking that you, Blaine, could just come in and help me out until lunchtime, and then you and Kurt can go and hang out or whatever for the rest of the day. With the pay rise, you'll still end up makin' the same amount of money, but with less hours."

Kurt stared at his dad, dumbfounded. "Really, dad?" He asked, excitement bubbling in his stomach. "You would do that for us?"

Burt nodded. "It's hard enough being in a relationship. It's even worse when you barely get time to just be together and enjoy each other's company."

"Thank you," Blaine said softly, a lump rising in his throat. "Thank you so much."

"God, don't you kids start crying again! There have been more than enough tears for one day."

Kurt and Blaine laughed, and turned to look at each other, wide smiles on their faces. Kurt clasped Blaine's hand under the table.

Yes, everything was going to be just fine.