Textual Error

Burt had not meant to read the text. In fact, if asked, he would have said that he had no idea how to retrieve texts from Kurts phone. He did say that repeatedly the next day. However, it had been a pure accident that he had picked up the phone and caught the button which displayed the incoming text. The phone was not locked as Kurt had been using it just before he had heard the oven timer 'ping' and had thrust it down on the sofa on his way to check on dinner.

So Burt picked it up awkwardly as it slid between the cushions and inadvertently clicked to open the new message, which nearly gave him another heart attack. He read it through twice, thinking he had made a mistake, but no plain as day it said: "Can't believe what happened last night, did I dream it? Blaine".

Carole came home to the enticing smell of dinner cooking, and the less welcoming sound of Burt shouting. It was not possible to make sense of the words, but then Kurt's voice came clearly ringing into the hallway,

"He kissed me, Dad, nothing more, I would've told you at dinner, but it's hardly the kind of thing I was going to text you about." Carole let a small smile creep across her face, but then quickly wiped her expression clean before she entered the fray. At a guess, Blaine has realised his feelings for Kurt, which had been obvious to the more impartial onlooker for a while. Burt, however, had a certain blind spot where his son was concerned and she had let him continue to be pleased that Kurt had a friend at Dalton, waiting to see how things developed.

At that moment Finn came down the stairs from his room and looked at his mother with curiosity,

"Did he just say what I thought he said?"

"Something about being kissed was all I heard."

"Wow. Blaine do you think?" alright, so Finn was not as blind as Burt. Or maybe he was privy to more information from Kurt that their parents. Carole decided unashamedly to probe a little further, hoping to be able to calm the situation quickly. With Finn, the best way to get information was to ask subtly, going round the houses would only confuse things.

"Why? Do you know something?"

"Just they're forever together, all Kurt talks about is 'Blaine said' and so i can't see him wanting anyone else to kiss him. And that didn't sound like Kurt was pissed about it. By Burt's reaction, but not the kissing thing." Carole let the language pass and marvelled how Finn had learnt to read Kurt's mood so well. Having a brother had benefited both boys in so many ways.

They entered the room to find Kurt with his hands on his hips, glaring at his father.

"Hey, dude, what's all this about kissing? Do I need to go and sort out some guy at Dalton?" Kurt looked disconcerted and a blush stole across his cheeks.

"No, it's fine. Dad just decided to read my texts..."

"Hey, I told you, it was an accident"

"and totally misinterpreted it. "

"Yeah, but, dude, you were the one who mentioned the kissing." Kurt took a deep breath and looked around at his family. The blush showed no signs of subsiding.

"OK. At lunchtime, when we were at Warblers practice..."

"You go round kissing at practice…"

"No, Finn, I was going to tell you all the whole strong, seeing as waiting 'til dinner isn't going to work."

"Oh, right, but I don't see..." Burt lost patience. "Just tell me what's been going on."

"I was. We were planning our songs for Regionals and Blaine suggested a duet." Kurt lowered his eyes shyly before looking up with excitement "He wanted to sing it with. So when he came to suggest we practised, I asked him why. And he said…he said, well…" Kurt fidgeted awkwardly.

Carole took pity on the poor lad and interjected quietly, "He'd realised he had feelings for you?" Kurt flashed her a surprised but grateful glance.

"Yes. And then…"

"Then he kissed you, I suppose", added Finn

"Yes."

"And you kissed back?" continued Finn

"Yes"

"Oh, Sweetie, that's lovely" Carole went to hug her stepson, but was forestalled by Burt who approached his son cautiously.

"Ok, but that was it?"

Kurt sighed, "More or less."

"What, more or less?"

"Dad! We talked some more, practised the song and…" Kurt's blush increased

"You kissed some more, eh, dude? So you two are going out now?"

"Yes and yes." At that moment there was another 'ping' in the kitchen and Kurt slid out of the room quickly leaving his family looking at each other with a variety of expressions.

Burt was the first to speak turning to Carole with a quiet "I don't know if I'm ready for this."

"No parent ever is" Finn looked confused "But Kurt's had a crush on Blaine ever since they met and the guy is gay, weren't you expecting it? I mean they do all this holding hands and I have never voluntarily held a guys hand in my life – well except Kurt's when he gets all excited and drags me off somewhere, but that's different. The two of them keep looking at each other, all doe-eyed and it's like when Puck watched Zizes when she wasn't sure she liked him. Like someone had put a doughnut in front of them but they couldn't eat it." Trust Finn to equate everything to food, thought Carole, before she noticed that Burt still looked uneasy. The last thing Kurt needed was to feel any discomfort from his father.

"Burt, it's been pretty clear for a while that those two were getting close."

"But, I thought, hoped, that he was just a friend and Kurt needed a friend like him."

"Oh, I think that's why it's taken so long for Blaine to realise. He could see Kurt needed him to be a friend and I think he suppressed anything else, but obviously something changed."

"You have to give the kid credit for all he's done to help Kurt."

"Maybe not."

"Burt! How can you say that, when only last week, you were saying how much happier Kurt been. "

"That was before he kissed Kurt" Burt had a stubborn look on his face, but Carole was confused as she had expected him to be more accepting, if not exactly over the moon that Kurt was embarking on his first romantic relationship. Finn spoke before she had decided how to handle this new unexpected Burt,

"Am I missing something? Blaine's kissed Kurt, Kurt's happy about it, they're both gay and people were expecting it, so where's the problem?"

"Because he was the one who suggested I talk to Kurt about sex" blurted out Burt "A week ago, the guy wanted Kurt to be better informed about things like that and then he kisses him." Carole gasped, but it was drowned out by the sound from the kitchen doorway.

"What? Dad, did you just say that…" Finn took a step back as if to remove himself from an impending fight and muttered "Oh, crap." Carole took charge before things could esculate.

"Kurt is dinner ready?"

"Another ten minutes. But Dad…"

"Before you say anything Kurt, I suggest we all sit down and talk about this," Carole glanced at her stepson and swallowed a smile "Yes, I know that's the last thing you want to do, but we need to clear the air. Finn, you can come back, you're not avoiding this."

"But Mom, I need to…"

"Dinner will be ready soon and you can't absent yourself just because it gets awkward." Carole was hoping Finn's easy acceptance of Kurt's new relationship would help matters and decided that the embarrassment factor for both boys was outweighed by the need for Kurt to feel they were on his side.

Burt slowly sat down and the others followed, but they refused to look at each other and there was no sign of anyone speaking. Carole sighed and decided that she would need to break the ice and try to steer the conversation a little. Before they got married, she had read a book on stepfamilies, but it had not quite covered getting your husband to accept your stepsons boyfriend.

"OK. Lets establish the facts first. Burt, you said Blaine came to see you?"

"Yeah, he said he'd tried to talk to Kurt, but Kurt wouldn't listen," he looked suspiciously at his son. Kurt glared at his father but was quick to defend Blaine,

"It wasn't like you think Dad, Coach Sylvester told us that the Regionals judges are looking for" Kurt swallowed "more sexy songs. So" he continued quickly to prevent his father interrupting "the Warblers performed for the girls from a nearby school to see if they thought we were sexy."

"You had girls come to Dalton?" asked Finn, "Hot girls?"

"You're asking the wrong guy Finn, but the whole usual mix." He laughed slightly "Blaine got two phone numbers afterwards, which I let pass, 'cos he said I looked like I had gas pains when I tried to do sexy faces."

"That's harsh. Show me."

"Finn! To be fair, he was right, I admitted I, well, I think I said I have no more sex appeal or knowledge than a baby penguin."

"So he decided to "show you" did he?"

"No, Dad, not like that. I said I didn't know anything about, um sex and when he offered to share what he knew – tell me what he knew, Dad, not, err, um, you know, well I just said I preferred romance, like in the musicals." Burt looked at his rosy-cheeked son and realised how naive Kurt could be. Most teenage boys educated themselves, even before the internet, but Kurt took avoidance to a whole new level. Maybe Blaine had been right about a few things. A small voice in his head was angry that this boy knew his son better than he did but a saner one pointed out that Blaine had found their conversation as awkward as he had.

"He said he was concerned that you would go to a party some time, have a few drinks and then get some time, have a few drinks and then get with some guy without knowing enough to keep you safe." Burt took a deep breath and looked Kurt straight in the eye. "Sorry, Kurt, I shouldn't have said anything. Blaine was concerned about you and I'm glad he came to me about it. I just, I suppose I felt I should have known, but like you, I buried my head in the sand and ignored to issue. I'm sorry I read you text and I'm sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion."

Kurt smiled at his father, "I understand; especially now you've told me about last week. It was probably one of the most awkward times of my life, but well, being and ostrich never works out well." Finn looked confused,

"An ostrich, is that like Brittany calling you a dolphin?"

The other three laughed and the tension broke. Sometimes Burt wondered whether Finn did it deliberately.

Carole followed Kurt into the kitchen, knowing the other two would not step foot in there while they were cooking.

"You alright, Kurt?"

"Yeah, I suppose I expected Dad to be wary, but it makes sense now."

"I did wonder what had happened as something was obviously on his mind. Well, I'm happy for you, and Finn just said how much he was expecting it."

"Did he?"

"You two have been following each other with your eyes ever since you met. Blaine may have been oblivious and I imagine from the talk with your Dad that he was, otherwise he would have kept well out of it, but it was clear to everyone else."

Kurt rolled his eyes, "lovelorn little Kurt, eh? People will think he's sorry for me."

"No, it was clearly mutual. In fact, he was the one who always grabbed your hand, and he watches you with a dreamy look on his face. If you ask him if he thinks you're sexy you may be surprised at his response." Kurt blushed again,

"He told me my 'sexy' faces looked like 'gas', Carole. Not sure I want to go there again."

"Kurt, you were probably trying too hard." She stepped back and looked appraisingly, "you dress well, you have a good figure, and you carry it confidently. You're also a lovely person and that shows through. I can't see why you think you're not sexy. Do you find Blaine sexy?"

Kurt wriggled and kept his eyes on the salad he was preparing "Yes."

"When? No, silly question, when do you find him most sexy? When he was singing that song?"

"No. I suppose," Carole wondered how long she had before dinner burned as Kurt had drifted into a reverie, presumably picturing Blaine in his head. Suddenly he turned to face her,

"It's a confidence thing partly, isn't it? And being comfortable in your own body I suppose, I just, well, I've never felt attractive to anyone before. Blaine has those girls giving him there number and…" Carole could not help herself "What did he say?"

"I never asked, 'cos we got into the gas pains thing, but they looked disappointed so I presume he told me that he wasn't interested. I don't know if he said anything more." Carole decided to change tack as she thought Kurt had got the message that she wanted,

"And, Kurt, the romance thing? Well, being physical with someone can be romantic, if it's the right person. You just have to go at your own pace. I bet when he kissed you, you didn't go 'ew, leave me alone'" Kurt's neck was bright red and his head bent right over the tomatoes, but Carole was pretty sure he matched their colour.

"It's alright, you don't have to answer that. Now, I'll get Finn and your Dad to set the table while you dish up."

Kurt suddenly spun around and enveloped Carole in a hug "Thank you"

"That's alright, I'm just glad you're happy. And you can talk to me anytime, OK? Your Dad tries hard, but I'm not sure he or Finn would be keen to talk about romance. They will, however, be pleased to know that the food is ready. So, I suggest you splash some cold water on your face or Finn'll be teasing you about blushing again and that already spoiled one mealtime this week. I'll give you a minute while I remind Finn again to wash his hands."

Kurt smiled as Carole left the kitchen. Sometimes his stepmother could help in ways his Dad could not. Then his thoughts turned inevitably to Blaine, and…but he came back to reality as he heard Finn say his name and he hurriedly finished his chopping before his stepbrother come barrelling into the kitchen.

"You OK?"

"Yes thank you Finn."

Finn fidgeted and looked away "and you know the whole sexy thing. Well, obviously I can't say, but Santana said…"

"It's okay Finn, your Mom and I talked and," he smiled slightly "I think I know who else to talk to about it."

"Who, oh, yeah, well…"

Kurt put a finger on Finn's lips and hugged him, "I appreciate it, but not a conversation I intend having with my brother, go eat." As ever, Finn was easily distracted by food, but Kurt smileds as the bigger boy left the room. Bless him, he tried.