Chapter 5 – Ghosts That We Knew

Kurt was on cloud nine. He's finally doing what he's wanted to do for years. There was only one problem, it didn't feel completely right.

"Mmph." Mr. Perry quickly broke the kiss and threw himself into the door, his green eyes abnormally wide.

Kurt sat there heartbroken.

"I-I'm so, so sowwy." Kurt whimpered, shooting out of the car and running inside.

Mr. Perry froze for a few seconds before rushing inside, following Kurt. He ran to the front door only to find it locked. He banged loudly on the door.

"Kurt? C'mon, let's talk about this!"

"No! Weave me awone!" Kurt yelled from the other side of the door.

"Kurt! Let me in now!" Mr. Perry ordered.

Kurt stood still at the sound of his teacher's voice. He started shaking and collapsed on the door.

"Kurt?" Mr. Perry asked, softer than before.

Kurt just started bawling his eyes out.

Mr. Perry strained to listen but could easily hear Kurt's cries.

"Kurt?"

Kurt tried to respond by just ended up whining loudly.

"Kurt, please." Mr. Perry begged, leaning heavily on the door.

Kurt just sobbed.

"Fine. I'll talk to you later." Mr. Perry whispered and slowly walked to his car and drove off.

Kurt heard he teacher walk away and drive off. He sighed and went upstairs to change in sweatpants and one of his dad's flannel shirts. Again.

He went to the kitchen, grabbed some Cookie Dough ice-cream, curled up in front of the TV and cried. He managed go through half the ice-cream in less than 10 minutes and another 10 minutes later, the ice-cream was all gone and Kurt was passed out on the couch, spoon halfway in his mouth and glasses barley on his nose.

Soon after, Burt arrived, carrying a small basket with a blue blanket inside. He entered the living room and found his son sleeping with ice-cream all over his mouth and nose. He placed the basket down and sighed heavily. He grabbed a yellow blanked off to the side and wrapped Kurt with it and sat down next to him.

Kurt felt himself being surrounded by something and jumped awake. He looked around and saw his dad sitting next to him.

"Kurt, this is the second time this has happened. Can you please tell me what's wrong?" Burt looked so sad, it broke Kurt's heart even more knowing that he did that to him.

"I-I can't, Daddy." Kurt looked away from his father's eyes.

Burt took a deep breath. "Fine. Anyway, I got you something to make you feel better."

Burt reached over to grab the basket and sat it in Kurt's lap.

"W-What is it?" Kurt asked, examining the basket carefully.

"Well, lift the blanket and find out." Burt smiled slightly.

Kurt lifted the blanket and gasped. Inside was a small kitten, no more than a week old. It was black with white feet and had big, light blue eyes. It looked up at Kurt up and yawned, its pink tongue curling up in its little mouth.

"Daddy, it's so cute!" Kurt squeaked, hugging his father tightly.

"She." Burt corrected hugging his son just as tight.

"What's her name?"

"That's up to you, buddy." Burt said as they parted.

"Weally?" Kurt asked, his eyes shining with excitement.

"Really." Burt said, laughing at Kurt's enthusiasm.

"Hmm," Kurt thought as he stroked the cat's silky black fur. "I think I'll name her... Cyan."

"Like her eyes?" Burt wondered.

"Yep!" Kurt said proudly.

Cyan meowed softly and blinked her big blue eyes tiredly. Kurt cooed, he picked her up from the basket and sat her in his lap. She stood up to stretch her tiny legs and curled back in Kurt's lap, purring.

"Aww!" Kurt squealed.

"I'm gonna head upstairs and set a bed up in your room, 'Kay?"

Kurt nodded as Burt got up and left.

Kurt stayed seated and petted the tiny cat softly, smiling widely when she purred louder. He sat there for five minutes, staring at the precious little ball of fur in his lap.

Burt soon returned and announced that everything was set for Cyan and that he was heading out to buy a collar for her. Kurt just waved him off and kept looking at Cyan.

"Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur. Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr..." Kurt sang over and over until Burt arrived.

"I didn't know what colour to get, so I just got a blue one. If that's all right?" Burt asked, handing Kurt the collar.

"It's bwilliant, Daddy." Kurt said as he took the collar from Burt.

Kurt softly wrapped it around Cyan's neck and buckled it up.

"Perfect." Burt smiled.

"Yeah, thanks again Daddy." Kurt looked up at Burt and smiled widely.

"I'm gonna start dinner now." Burt clapped Kurt on the shoulder and walked to the kitchen.

Kurt picked Cyan up and took her upstairs. He sat her down on his bed and left the room, closing the door on the way out. When Kurt started walking down the stairs, he heard a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" Burt yelled out, moving towards the front door.

Kurt shrugged and continued walking down the steps. As sons as he was on the last step, he heard Burt yell out,

"Marcus!"

Kurt froze for a second then ran back upstairs, into his bedroom and slammed the door shut. Cyan's head popped up from where it was tucked up with the rest of her body. Her eyes wide and frightened.

"No, no, no, it's okay, Cyan. Don't worry." Kurt moved towards the bed and held the scared little kitten close to his chest and rocked her softly.

Kurt heard murmurs from down stairs and suddenly, footsteps made their way up. Kurt instantly panicked. The footsteps got closer and closer and soon, there was a knock at the door.

"Kurt?" A soft voice asked from the other side of the door.

Kurt sighed, he placed the kitten back on the bed and made his way over to the door and opened it.

"Yes?"

Mr. Perry stood there with a small smile on his face.

"Hey."

"Hello." Kurt replied stiffly.

"I just wanted to know if you were alright."

"I'm fine."

"Cool, cool." Mr. Perry looked around the room and his eyes fell upon Cyan's sleeping form. "Aww, who's this little guy?" He moved past Kurt and sat carefully on the bed.

"Girl. Her name's Cyan." Kurt said, following the teacher.

"Beautiful name." Cyan's white paw landed on top of Mr. Perry's hand that was close by. "Well, aren't you a little cutie."

Kurt chuckled softly.

Mr. Perry picked Cyan up. "How old is she?"

"About a week." Kurt crossed his arms tightly.

"Adorable." Mr. Perry sat Cyan back down on the bed and got up. "Alright, we need to talk about what happened in the car."

"Can we not." Kurt whined, hiding his face on the bed.

"Yes, we have to. Kurt, what you did was extremely inappropriate. I won't tell anyone, of course, but I just need to know why you did it?" Mr. Perry pleaded.

Kurt felt tears build up in his eyes. He didn't want to tell because it was so embarrassing for him. He just wanted to keep it a secret and let the ground swallow him up.

"Lemme tell ya a story. Back when I was... 12? Yeah, yeah, 12, anyway. When I was 12, I had the biggest crush on my teacher. His name was Brent Dejon."

Kurt looked at him, his blue eyes big and wide behind his glasses.

Mr. Perry chuckled and continued. "He came half way through the year 'cause my current teacher, Miss. Kerr, was going to Africa to teacher there for a while. He was probably, I dunno... 26? Something like that. He was tall, white and had his share of love handles - in a good way!" Mr. Perry quickly added. "Black hair, blue eyes with a tiny ring of yellow around the pupil, and a short, well-trimmed beard. His smile was small yet sweet. He was also kinda shy, he had a bit of trouble connecting with some of the other classmates. He was more open and free with me and a couple of my friends. He had an abnormal voice and laugh, but I think that's what I liked best about him..." Mr. Perry dreamily said and drifted off.

Kurt clapped his hands in front of his face.

Mr. Perry jumped slightly. "Thanks for that, carrying on, he, uhh, he always made me feel special and – and... wanted, I guess. The point is, it's perfectly natural to feel this way among others. Hormones are a real bitch, I'll tell you that."

Kurt quietly giggled behind his hand.

"So you you're gay." Kurt stated.

"I just love how that's what you took from the story." Mr. Perry answered with a small smirk.

Kurt blushed and looked away.

Mr., Perry laughed. "As a matter of fact, I'm not gay, just bi."

"Weawy?" Kurt asked, sitting there shell-shocked.

"Yep. Proud of it too."

"So, what did you do 'bout your cwush on Bwent Dijon, is it?"

"Dejon," Mr. Perry corrected. "And what I did, well, it was probably the stupidest thing I coulda done."

"What did'ya do?" Kurt asked, leaning forward and adjusting his glasses.

"I... I brought two of my friends along, terrible mistake, and made my way over to his classroom. It took me a while to go up but before I could go inside and talk to him, one of my idiot friends went up, knocked on the door and yelled out his name. He came out as I ushered my friends away since they weren't making it any easier and gave him a letter/poem thing for him that explained that I had a crush on him. When I handed it to him, he said that it was really sweet of me and then... I have no idea what happened next 'cause I ran away." Mr. Perry finished.

"Well that's better than what I did." Kurt said, looking down at his hands and blushing.

"Never regret anything because at one time it was exactly what you wanted." Mr. Perry announced and tapped Kurt's nose lightly.

Kurt smiled slightly and looked up.

"There's that smile." Mr. Perry whispered. "Have you told your dad that you might be gay?"

Kurt opened his mouth but Burt came bursting through the door.

"Hey, Marcus. You staying for dinner?"

Mr. Perry straightened his shirt and stood up.

"Why thank you, sir Burt." He bowed down a pretended to tip his hat.

Burt just chuckled, leaving the room and muttering, "Crazy, crazy man.", on his way downstairs.

Mr. Perry turned around to see Kurt laughing in the bed.

"Your such a dork." Kurt giggled when he got up to breathe.

"The Dork-A-Tron, at your service." Mr. Perry bowed once more and Kurt erupted into more laughs.

Kurt flopped down on the bed, laughing, and knocked the sleeping kitten, who was off to the side.

"Ohh, sowwy, Cyan." Kurt picked the kitten up and stroked her fur until she fell back asleep.

"Marcus! Kurt! Dinner!" Burt called from the kitchen.

"Race ya!" Mr. Perry smirked and ran to the door.

Kurt quickly yet carefully sat Cyan down and raced downstairs. Mr. Perry had already got a head start but Kurt soon caught up. The wedged themselves down the hallway and almost pushed each other down the stairs. Kurt managed to get off the steps first and bolted to the dinner table where Burt was setting the table. Kurt garbed a seat and sat down, smiling when Mr. Perry come after him, slightly puffed.

"I win!" Kurt declared smugly.

"I'm 30 and you're 15, I'm allowed to be a bit slow."

"More like a wot swow." Kurt mumbled.

Mr. Perry just stuck out his tongue.

"What were you too doing?" Burt asked, looking between the two.

"Wacing!" Kurt exclaimed. "And I won!"

"I swear you're a complete man-child." Burt said to Mr. Perry.

Mr. Perry just stuck his tongue out at him.

Burt sighed and grabbed the plates.

"Ooh, what are we having?" Mr. Perry wondered.

"Mac and cheese." Burt replied.

"Yes!" Both Kurt and Mr. Perry cheered.

Burt just sighed and muttered something, probably about Mr. Perry's childishness.

Dinner went pleasant until Burt asked a simple question,

"So, what were you guys talking about up there?"

Mr. Perry stopped in mid-chew and Kurt choked on his mouth full. Burt rubbed Kurt's back as he coughed and Mr. Perry looked over at Kurt with concern.

"You okay, honey?" Burt asked softly.

Kurt nodded and went to grab a glass of water.

"So, uhh, what were you doing up there?" Burt said again.

"We... uhh... we... we're just talking about my stupid crushes throughout my life! Ha! That's what we were doing. Yep." Mr. Perry answered, nodding his head.

Burt looked at him weirdly. "Oh-Kay. Well, who were they?"

Mr. Perry froze.

"You don't have to tell me, I'm just... curious." Burt quickly added.

"No, no, no, it's fine. Anyway..." Mr. Perry broke into the same story that he told Kurt.

At the end of the story, Burt looked at Mr. Perry with a weird expression on his face.

"You're gay." He was bluntly.

"Why is that the thing people take from my story?" Mr. Perry questioned, completely ignoring Burt's question.

"But you are gay?" Burt repeats.

"I'm bi."

An awkward silence settles in the room. Kurt slowly started shaking from his spot in the kitchen, hoping that Burt's reaction is a good one.

"That isn't a problem, is it Burt?" Mr. Perry asks, silently hoping the same thing as Kurt.

"No! no, no, I – uhh I-I just..." Burt sighed deeply. "I just never could have guessed that you would be... bi." Burt finished.

"Nobody really does." Mr. Perry said quietly, looking over at Kurt then back at Burt.

"Hey, I don't really care that you're bi, you have been from the first time we met and your still you. I love you like a brother and I always will. This changes nothing."

"Thank you, Burt. This means so much to me." Mr. Perry peered back over to Kurt who was crying silently.

"I think I best be off." He announced and got up, hugging Burt and Kurt on his way out.

Burt and Kurt cleared the table in silence. Burt watched Kurt, he looked at his face and noticed the tear tracks.

"Hey," He wiped Kurt's face free of tears. "What's this about?"

"Nothing," Kurt quickly dismissed. "I'm gonna go to sweep. Night Daddy." He kissed Burt's cheek and practically ran upstairs.

Burt counted to three then headed up to Kurt's room. He walked right in and saw Kurt half-way changed in just his skinny jeans.

"Ahh!" Kurt screamed and covered himself up.

"Sorry!" Burt walked out and closed the door, leaving his hand on the handle.

A few moments later Kurt was fully dressed and allowed Burt to come in again.

"Sorry about that, kiddo."

"It's fine, Daddy."

"I just wanted to know if you were alright."

"I'm okay."

"Good." Burt turned and went to walk out but Kurt's soft voice stopped him.

"Daddy?"

Burt turned around and looked at his son. "Yeah?"

"I-I just wanted to say..." Kurt's eyes started to water and get red and puffy. "T-That I-I'm... gay."

"I know."

"You know?"

"I've known since you were three, all you wanted for your birthday were a pair of sensible heels."

Kurt blushed and looked down at his feet.

"I can't say I'm completely in love with the whole idea, but if it's who you are, nothing I can do about it. Like I said with Marcus, I love you just the same." Burt placed a hand on Kurt's shoulder and looked into his eyes as he spoke.

Kurt broke and fell into his father's arms and sobbed. Burt just held his crying son, whispering comforting things in his ear and rubbing his back softly.

A few minutes later they finally parted.

"You okay, baby?" Burt asked.

Kurt nodded and wiped his eyes. "Thank you, Daddy."

"You're welcome." He hugged Kurt once more and went out the door but stopping on his way out. "You sure, right?"

"Yeah, Daddy. I'm sure."

"Just checkin'. Night."

"Night Daddy," Burt nodded and left the room.

Kurt squeaked and flopped down on the bed, just missing Cyan, and smiled into his pillow.

"Oh Cyan, everything worked out just perfectwy. I'm so wucky." He whispered to the kitten.

Cyan just blinked up at him.

Kurt chuckled and tucked himself into bed and closed his eyes.

12 years earlier.

Burt had just picked up Kurt from per-school and started driving back home.

"So, baby boy, what do you want for your birthday?" Burt asked his three year old son.

Kurt's birthday was coming round the corner and Burt and Elizabeth had planned everything out to the last detail. Well, Elizabeth planned everything, Burt just pretended to help.

"Centh'able heels!" Little Kurt screamed from the back seat.

Burt turned the wheel left before quickly changing it back, earning him two flip offs and beeped horns.

"What?" He asked Kurt stupidly.

"Centh'able heels, like Mommy!" Kurt smiled widely.

"A-a-are you sure you want that, I mean what about a cool truck or something like that, aye?" Burt suggested.

"No! I want centh'able heels!" Kurt demanded.

Burt stuttered out a response and accidentally said yes.

"Yay!" Kurt bounced around in his car seat and hummed happily.

"Oh damn it." Burt whispered.

The rest of the ride went rather well, Kurt squeaking every now and then and Burt swearing to himself, but other than that, perfectly fine.

Later that day, Kurt announced what he wanted for his birthday to his mother.

"Daddy said I could get centh'able heels for my birfday!"

"Sensible," Elizabeth corrected.

"Senth'able." Kurt tried and cried out in frustration when he couldn't get it right.

"Baby, why don't you and Daddy get you tucked into bed while I clean up, okay?"

"Okay!" Kurt chirped and ran towards his bedroom.

"Liz –"

"- Not now Burt."

Burt sighed and followed Kurt. He's never once won an argument against his wife and he didn't think he ever would.

When Kurt got all tucked in Burt headed back to the living room where Elizabeth was sitting there looking more tired than anything.

"Liz I know I shouldn't of said yes, it's completely wrong for a boy to wear girls clothes, I'll tell him in the morning that –"

"- No! Burt, I cannot believe you just said that!" Elizabeth interrupted loudly.

"What, what did I say?" Burt said defensively.

"It's not wrong for a boy to wear girl clothes or vice versa! You of all people should know that, I've been wearing guy's clothes for as long as I can remember. Look at me now!" She was right

She was dressed in a blue unisex sports shirt and men's black shorts.

Burt looked his wife up and down. "That's different."

"How?" She screeched.

While Burt and Elizabeth argued, Kurt wandered over to the hallway that was connected to the living room and hid behind a wall, holding his blue stuffed penguin tightly in his left hand. He was able to see and hear his parents but they couldn't see him. He cowered in fear as his mother's and father's voices rose.

"- So what if he does happen to be gay, huh? What will you do then, stop loving him?" Elizabeth's voice carried out.

"I-I-I don't know... I could never stop loving him, he's my son, our baby. The only one were gonna have... I could never..." Burt trailed off.

After Kurt was born something had happened to Elizabeth and she had to have surgery. End result, she can never have any more children. When they got the news the decided they would put all of their love into Kurt and care for him, not matter what the cost.

"Then you're going to have to grow up and accept Kurt for who he is, whatever he turns out to be. Gay, straight, bi whatever, all we need to is love Kurt 'cause if he is gay, he's going to get so much hate from the world especially in Lima and we can't give up on him, okay?"

"... okay." They hugged and kissed.

"Eww." Kurt cringed, screwing up his nose and tightly closing his eyes.

The adult's turned to see Kurt standing there in his baggy purple pj's and scrunching his face up at them. Burt laughed and went to pick Kurt up.

"What are you doing up, Munchkin?" He rubbed his nose against Kurt's.

Kurt shrieked and giggled as he answered. " I heard woud noises and was scared."

Burt looked guiltily at Elizabeth who smiled warmly and kissed his temple then Kurt's.

"Let's get you to bed." Burt carried Kurt over to his bed and settled him in, Elizabeth following closely behind.

The following day, Burt took Kurt to the mall and got him a pair of pink, sparkly sensible heels.