Chapter 7: Home Again

Wow I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated this. You have my sincerest apologies. This chapter isn't much. pretty much just a filler filled with lots of sugary sweet friendship-y goodness. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Don't own glee.

Kurt was still sleeping when Finn and his father got home within minutes of each other.

"Kurt!" Finn shrieked after he removed his sneakers and placed his backpack by the front door.

"Finn hush! Kurt's napping," Carole reprimanded as she entered the entryway drying her hands on a dish towel. As Burt stood beside Finn, Carole couldn't help but noticed the excitement in Burt's eyes.

"Sorry Mom," Finn mumbled.

"It's okay sweetie. Well boys, dinner is pretty much ready. Burt, would you like the honor of waking Kurt up while Finn and I get the food on the table?"

"I'd love to," he replied as he gave his wife a brief kiss before bounding upstairs to his not so little boy.

Burt sat on the edge of his son's bed, gently brushing Kurt's bangs out of his face. Kurt slowly began to awaken, his eyes fluttering open to lay upon his father. A smile started to spread its way across his face. Before Burt knew what was going to happen he found his arms full with his son.

"Dad..." Kurt sighed.

"Hey bud, I've missed you," Burt's throat thick with tears.

"I've missed you too. I'm so glad to be home."

"It feels good to have you under this roof again. It's not the same without you here." Burt pulled back to get a good look at Kurt. "Is everything okay kiddo?"

"Yes and no."

"Care to explain?"

"Well the good news is that I've made some really good friends. Nick and Jeff have been incredible these last couple of days."

"That's great Kurt. I'm glad you're making good friends. Now what's the bad news?"

"Blaine and I had a fight I guess. I'm not too sure. One minute we were fine and the next he wouldn't talk to me. He hasn't spoken to me since other than a text I got before I feel asleep after he apparently inquired to Jeff about where I was."

"Wow. You really have no idea why he'd be mad at you?"

"No clue. Oh well I'm not going to worry about it now, that's why I came home. I just needed to get away. Plus I missed you of course. Though I do feel pretty bad about up and leaving the guys. They actually freaked out because they thought I was leaving for good." Kurt couldn't help but chuckled as he remembered his friends' reactions to leaving.

"They sound like decent guys Kurt. Hey that gives me an idea."

"Hmm?"

"Why don't you see if they want to stay over for the weekend? Since they didn't want you to go and you miss them, it couldn't hurt to ask."

"Are you serious? I figured you'd want to spend time as a family."

"And we can do that. Kurt I would love to meet the guys that were able to be there for you when I couldn't be."

"Oh dad! Thank you, thank you, thank you," Kurt gushed while giving his father a brief strong hug before reaching over to grab his phone.

"It's no problem son. I'll head downstairs to let Carole know you'll be down in a few so you can call them up. Oh, and you may want to hurry. Finn's pretty anxious to see you." Burt got up and left to give his son a little privacy. When his phone was done turning on, Kurt looked to find that he had three new texts all from Blaine. He purposely ignored them all before opening a new text to send to Jeff.

TO: Jeff

FROM: Kurt

Hey Jeff. I have a question for you.

To: Kurt

From: Jeff

Hey man. What's up?

To: Jeff

From: Kurt

What do you and Nick have planned for this weekend?

To: Kurt

From: Jeff

Nothing other than sit around campus insulting each other. Our usual thing.

To: Jeff

From: Kurt

As entertaining as that sounds, would you two maybe want to come spend the weekend here? If it helps, you can insult each other all you want to here too.

To: Kurt

From: Jeff

Wow man, would your folks be okay with that?

To: Jeff

From: Kurt

Totally. I was talking to my dad about you and he suggested it.

To: Kurt

From: Jeff

Awesome. That sounds fun. Nick is already packing actually. Lol. He's really missed you.

To: Jeff

From: Kurt

He is such a dork. Haha.

To: Kurt

From: Jeff

Haha don't I know it. Just text me your address and we'll be out of here in about 20 minutes. And don't worry we won't tell anyone where we're going.

To: Jeff

From: Kurt

Sounds good. Thanks Jeff. I guess I'll see you guys soon then.

Kurt quickly sent a text containing his address to Jeff and then checked his reflection in his mirror before going downstairs to join his family at the table. It really did feel good to be home again.

*GLEE*

The Hudson-Hummel family dinner was a merry affair. They took the time to share what's been going on (minus the Blaine situation), to tell jokes, and basically catch up with each other. Everything was going great until Finn reached out to go for a third helping and Kurt had to slap his hand away to keep him from getting more food.

"Ow, dude! That hurt!" Finn whined. Kurt may or may not have smacked him a little harder than he meant to.

"Don't call me dude," Kurt glared, "besides you can't eat all of dinner."

"But why not?"

"Because I have friends coming over and they need to eat too. You can wait until after they're done before eating any left overs if there are any."

"What friends?"

"You'll meet them when they get here."

"But Kurt..." Finn began before the sound of the doorbell cut him off.

"I'll get it!" Kurt jumped out of his seat, beyond excited that his friends were here. "Carole, would you please keep an eye on your son until I get back?"

"Yes Kurt. Now go, your friends are waiting." That being said, Kurt all but ran to the door and threw it open with a smile spread across his face.

"Kurtie!" Nick squealed, quickly pulling Kurt into a hug.

"Hi Nick. Jeff, get your butt in here." Jeff mock saluted him then gave him a quick hug. "How was your guys' drive? I hope you were able to find it okay."

"Yeah it wasn't bad. Although I did have to listen to Nick talk nonstop the entire way here. I seriously entertained the idea of stuffing him in the trunk so I could have some peace and quiet."

"Aw. Well that sound like a rough ride. Have you two eaten dinner yet?" Receiving two shakes in the negative he continued, "excellent! Your right on time. I even threatened Finn to make sure there was enough food. Follow me boys." Kurt, with Nick and Jeff trailing behind him, made his way back to the dining room. All eyes settled on them when they entered.

"Guys this is my family: my dad Burt, my freakishly tall stepbrother Finn, and my beautiful stepmother Carole. And guys, these are my two best friends. The blonde is Jeff and the hyper, bouncing one would be Nick." They all exchanged pleasantries and smiles. Kurt reclaimed his seat in the middle chair on his side of the table while Jeff sat to his left and Nick to the right.

Jeff cleared his throat, "first I just want to say thank you for welcoming us into your home. Second I want to apologize in advance on Nick's behalf for anything he may do."

"Dude!" Nick exclaimed. Kurt couldn't help but giggle. He looked up to see his dad's eyes sparkling with amusement. Kurt patted Nick's shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile making the excited Warbler grin goofily.

"Boys, it's a pleasure to meet you. Any friends of Kurt's are always welcome in our home. We're glad to have you. Now why don't you fill up a plate before Finn eats everything." Jeff and Nick filled their plates full, still managing to leave a small portion left over for Finn to inhale. With the way he was eating you'd think he'd never had food a day in his life. That boy really needed to be taught some etiquette. Throughout their meal Nick would randomly lay his head against Kurt's shoulder and sigh in contentment. Burt must have noticed because he asked, "Nick are you okay? You keep sighing like there's something wrong. Do I need to take you to the hospital?"

"Oh, no. No, not at all. I'm fine. I'm just glad to be around Kurtie again. I missed him."

"Nick, you saw me a couple of hours ago," Kurt pointed out, purposely leaving out that he felt the same way.

"I know. It was just too long."

Jeff chuckled and rolled his eyes, "see what I've been stuck with? I swear if you do this again, I'm stashing Nick in your car so you'll be stuck with him."

Everyone, except for Nick, laughed. Kurt gently smacked Jeff on the arm, "be nice. You know you'd miss little Nicky."

"Ugh, fine. But if I have to go to therapy later on you're totally paying for it."

"Yeah, yeah, okay."

"Um guys? I'm sitting right here. I can hear everything you just said. Why does nobody want me?" Nick pouted. Kurt and Jeff exchanged a look before dissolving into giggles.

Grabbing Nick's hand and giving a gentle squeeze Kurt cooed, "aw Nicky you know we love you. Now finish your dinner so I can give you guys a quick tour and then we can get your things settled. They can stay in my room with me, can't they dad?"

"Um..." Burt looked at Carole, unsure of how to answer.

"Please daddy? It's not like anything's going to happen. I swear."

"He's right sir. You have my word that nothing will happen. We would never hurt Kurt," Jeff spoke up.

"See. Besides, dad, they're straight. If they were gay, I think they'd be dating each other."

"Kurt I'm going to pretend like you didn't just say that. Sir he was right though, Nick and I are both straight."

"Okay. I have to ask, staying with him won't make you..." Burt trailed off uncertain if he should continue.

"Dad!" Kurt exclaimed.

Jeff placed a comforting hand on top of Kurt's before turning to look Mr. Hummel in the eye. "I'm going to assume that you were going to ask if us staying in Kurt's room would make us uncomfortable?" At Burt's nod he continued, "if you're asking because you think we'd be uncomfortable just because Kurt's gay, you are deeply mistaken. Why should Kurt's sexuality be a problem? It's part of who he is. It's a part of what makes Kurt Kurt. To me, reacting based solely on the fact of someone being gay would be like shunning someone because of the color of their skin. Whether you're gay, straight, black, white, disabled or anything, it doesn't define you. It's merely a small piece to the puzzle of who you are."

The entire room was dead silent. Each person was trying to take in all of what Jeff had just said. Finn, as per usual, had his typical confused look. Carole had a few stray tears roll down her cheek, a small smile placed on her lips. Nick sat patiently smiling like a fool because he agreed wholeheartedly with Jeff. He couldn't have said it better himself. Burt, eyes glistening with unshed tears, looked at his son's friend with respect written on his face. Kurt, however, wasn't able to hold it together. He was quietly sobbing, feeling so many emotions that he didn't know where to begin. Since coming out he's had to deal with males being afraid to tough him and some barely able to tolerate breathing the same air as him. He's always been ridiculed because he'd rather be with another male instead of girls. Nobody seemed to realized that he didn't choose his sexuality. Why would he purposely choose something that constantly gets him harassed? Yet here sat two amazing men who have given him a gift he's always wanted. They couldn't care less if Kurt was gay just as Kurt could care less if someone were straight. The fact that he is accepted for all that he is simply overwhelms the young man. Kurt dabs at the tears on his face with his napkin before glancing first at Nick then to Jeff. "Thank you," he whispers very softly. When two sets of arms wrap around him, he relaxes into the embrace feeling like he's never felt before. A throat clearing makes the three boys turn their focus to the elder Hummel man.

Burt starts to speak but has to clear his throat again to get past the tears. "Jeff, I must say I wasn't expecting you to say that but I'm glad you did. Nick is that how you feel too?"

"Absolutely sir. I couldn't have said it better. Kurtie is just Kurt. When I think about Kurt, him being gay doesn't even cross my mind. I love him. He is who he is and I love that about him."

"Okay Kurt they can stay in your room. You got some really amazing friends here. And boys, like I said before, you're always welcome in our home."

"Thanks daddy. Can we be excused? I want to show the guys around," Kurt asked.

"Go for it."

A/N: Well there you have it. I would love to know what you think. I'm thinking that the next chapter will be all about the boys' weekend. I would love to get your opinion on what you would like to see them do. So please review letting me know of an ideas. Until next time...