Burt's Stamp of Approval
Title: Burt's Stamp of Approval
Fandom: Glee
Written: January, 2011
Rating: PG-13
Words: 2300
Summary: It was a wonder Burt hadn't made a grab for the steak knife when Finn had run in one day to tell him that Kurt had a boyfriend. Well, maybe he did reach for the knife, but he did manage to listen as Kurt tried to explain just why this guy was worthy.
Notes: Written for the glee_rare_pairs fic exchange for isarn
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Burt Hummel considered himself a very understanding and reasonable man.
He lets Finn stay out past his curfew on weekends when there’s a football game on and he sometimes slips an extra twenty into Kurt’s wallet for no good reason. He always lets each boy tell his side of the story if there’s an argument, passing judgment that is always fair. He’ll listen to excuses when it comes to rule-breaking, considering for mere seconds to let whichever boy off before telling him off.
Which is why Burt did not immediately reach for a steak knife when Finn burst into the kitchen after school one day, panting and exclaimed, “Kurt has an asshole dickface for a boyfriend!”
Okay, maybe he did reach for the steak knife. But then Kurt came running in after Finn, face completely red and yelling in indignation, and Burt remembered his promise to hear both sides of the story. So he calmly put the knife down, gestured for the boys to sit, and then sat across from them, gesturing for Kurt to quash what he undoubtedly knew Finn had said.
“He’s not an asshole,” was the first thing out of Kurt’s mouth. “Yes, he has a rather colorful personality, but he’s a wonderful guy and I’m lucky to have someone like him.”
“No, he is an asshole dickface!” Finn insisted. “He threw eggs at Rachel!”
“Excuse me?” Burt straightened in his seat.
“That was last year!” Kurt argued, face flushing again. “And besides, you’re not exactly innocent when it comes to egging either, Finn.”
“Fine, then, he’s a soulless automaton,” Finn decided, crossing his arms and looking like that settled the matter. “And an asshole dickface.”
“Kurt,” Burt turned to his son for proper explanation, “who are you even talking about?”
“Jesse St. James,” Kurt said immediately, and Burt definitely didn’t like the way his son’s face lit up when he said the name. “And yes, I will be the first to admit that he’s less than perfect and that it would definitely do him some good if he turned down the ego a few notches and wore something that wasn’t black or made of leather, but that’s beside the point. The point is that he loves me and I love him.”
“Hang on, love?” Burt raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been seeing this boy how long exactly? And what was all that about throwing eggs? I don’t like the sound of that.”
“He throws eggs and crushes souls and breaks hearts,” Finn said before Kurt could answer. “So he’s a terrible person and you should hunt him down with a shotgun before he breaks Kurt’s heart.”
“That’s nice,” Burt acknowledged that Finn had spoken, but held up a hand to silence him, turning back to Kurt again. “Continue, Kurt.”
“I’ve known him since last year,” Kurt’s cheeks were still flaming with color. “Admittedly we were not together then, but ever since he came back from LA he’s been nothing but wonderful to me. Officially we’ve been together for a week.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Burt began ticking off the information on his fingers. “His name’s Jesse, you’ve known him for roughly a year, you’ve been dating him for a week, he threw eggs at Finn’s girlfriend -”
“Ex-girlfriend,” Finn grumbled.
“- he’s got an inflated ego, and he was in California for some reason?” Burt finished. “And you expect me to believe that you love him and for me to be okay with you dating him?”
“Um, yes?” Kurt asked hopefully. “I wanted to tell you about him before Finn found out, but someone doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.” He looked pointedly at Finn, who looked confused, pointing at his closed mouth.
“Well, I expect to be introduced to him soon,” Burt nodded once, then got up from the table and dropped the subject.
It would have been easy for Burt to just forget about this Jesse kid, but he kept thinking about what Finn had said. Regardless of how Kurt had insisted that Jesse was a good guy, Burt was suspicious. Sure, he knew that kids were stupid and did stupid things, but he didn’t want some stupid kid who did stupid things dating his son. Especially when those stupid things included throwing eggs, and, if Finn was to be believed, manipulating Rachel Berry and breaking her heart.
And Burt actually liked Rachel, so he was having a hard time believing that his son would be willing to overlook something like that. Maybe Finn was exaggerating again.
But that Friday night, when a large group of Kurt and Finn’s friends seemed to magically appear in the kitchen, Kurt shot Burt a meaningful and almost pleading look. It was a look that said, Yes, the boy holding my hand is Jesse but please don’t say anything because I’ll introduce him to you later.
The Hummels were very good at telepathic communication.
Burt stood in the doorway and started at Jesse nonetheless. The boy was nowhere near as tall or wide as Finn, but he was definitely bigger than Kurt. He carried himself confidently, never stopping himself if someone started talking over him and never stopping if he talked over someone. He wasn’t exactly loud, but his voice definitely carried, and the way he kept brushing his hair back made Burt think he wanted people to notice it. He looked older than the rest, too, though it was definitely hard to say with this particular group.
Even though there were things Burt didn’t like about the boy, even though he was just looking and hadn’t even spoken to him, he found there were things he liked. Jesse always turned his head to listen to Kurt when he spoke and kept a constant hold on his hand. His eyes seemed to light up whenever he’d look at Kurt, and when he smiled at him his entire persona seemed to change.
The kids migrated downstairs to the basement, so Burt settled down in the living room, watching a football game and half-listening to the shouts coming from downstairs. He heard singing for a few minutes and wondered if they’d popped in a movie musical. But then there was no more singing, just laughter and more shouting, and Burt decided that they were just having some fun.
He didn’t bother watching the clock. Carole joined him on the couch when she came home from work, but didn’t linger for very long. She’d had a long day at work and needed rest, so she’d traipsed upstairs to go to bed. Burt continued half-listening to the rowdy teenagers downstairs, debating with himself as to whether he should go down and tell them to shut it.
The noise swelled, so Burt turned around, but it was only because the door had opened. He recognized Rachel, watched as she shut the door carefully.
“Things winding down?” he asked her, even though the noise suggested nothing but the opposite.
“I think so,” she shrugged. “Most of us have curfews; mine’s just the earliest.”
“Drive safely,” he told her, and she nodded, giving him a small wave as she headed to the door.
“Thanks, Mr. Hummel.”
He went back to half-listening to them while watching TV, not really paying attention to who all came up from the basement. He listened to the noise die down, heard the footsteps and the door opening and closing, but nobody else came in to say anything to him and he didn’t turn around. He started when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.
“Finn!” he was surprised, and the boy grinned at him sheepishly.
“I’m driving Artie home,” Finn told him. “We kind of forgot he was supposed to hitch a ride with Sam.”
“Sure, sure,” Burt nodded. “You need to take mine, or is your car okay?”
“Oh no, mine’s fine,” Finn assured him, and Burt turned in his chair, spotting Artie waiting in the hallway, an almost embarrassed look on his face.
“Well then, you drive safely,” Burt repeated what he had told Rachel. “And if you boys stop for burgers or something, call me so I don’t worry.”
“Will do,” Finn promised.
Burt let them go, reveling in the silence behind the noise the TV was making. He started counting the minutes, wondering when Kurt’s music would start up. Even though it was late, Kurt liked to play music while he cleaned up after having his friends over, always careful to keep the volume high enough to drown out everything else but low enough that it would be barely audible if the door to his room was closed.
Ten minutes passed, and there was no music.
Burt leapt out of his chair, putting two and two together and getting something around four. His son’s room was silent and Finn had left. That meant privacy. And Burt had no way of knowing whether this Jesse kid had left yet.
He opened the door at the top of the stairs, listening for any sort of noise from below. The lights were dimmed but still on, and he heard soft music playing. Walking carefully down the stairs, Burt peered around the wall, more than a little nervous as to what he was going to find.
Instead of anything he had expected, he saw Jesse and Kurt slumped on Kurt’s bed, Kurt’s head resting on Jesse’s chest. Their fingers were laced together and Jesse’s other hand was moving slowly up and down Kurt’s arm. Their eyes were fixed not on each other, but on the television in the corner, which was where the music was coming from. As Burt watched, still half-hidden on the stairs, Jesse started singing quietly along, Kurt chiming in after a few words. When the verse ended, they looked at each other, Jesse bending a little to kiss Kurt.
Normally Burt would have stormed down the stairs and pulled this boy off his son, but he found that instead of anger, he felt happiness. Sure, it was strange thinking of his son actually being with someone, but they both looked content, blissful even, and who was Burt to blunder in and ruin their moment? He retreated back up the stairs, deciding that he would leave the blundering up to Finn when he returned.
Jesse became a regular fixture in Kurt’s room after all of his and Finn’s parties. Burt actually paid attention now, always noticing that Jesse would either come up long after the others or not at all, Burt going to bed for the night before he had left. One morning Burt had gone down to ask Kurt to give him a little time in the garage and he’d been met with the sight of Kurt curled up in Jesse’s arms, both fast asleep. And fully clothed, his papa-bear subconscious had reminded him.
Part of him wondered if he was giving Kurt too much freedom, letting him have his boyfriend over all the time without being supervised. But the other part of him felt pleased that they were here rather than somewhere else like a cheap motel. He had no idea just how far their physical relationship had progressed, the only difference being that Jesse seemed to have gotten into the habit of keeping his arm around Kurt’s waist rather than just holding his hand.
It surprised him, then, the night that Jesse had come up and instead of quietly leaving, had asked him for a few minutes of his time.
“Of course,” Burt switched the TV off, gesturing for Jesse to sit down.
“Thanks,” Jesse sat at the opposite end of the couch, turning so he was facing Burt. “I just wanted to let you know that whatever you may have heard about me, it doesn’t change how I feel about Kurt. I love him.”
“Those are strong words,” Burt reminded the boy.
“But I mean them,” Jesse promised, his eyes wide and locked with Burt’s.
“How old are you?” Burt found himself asking.
“Nineteen.”
“You’re out of school, then,” Burt registered this new information, not having been prepared to find out that there was an age or a school gap between his son and his boyfriend.
“I go back to UCLA in the fall,” Jesse explained. “And I know that long-distance relationships can be hard, but I’m willing to do it if Kurt is.”
“Are you sexually active?” The words came out of Burt’s mouth before he could stop them. He was too curious to feel as if he was prying. Yes, that was his son’s business, but he wasn’t about to let this go unchecked any longer.
“No,” was Jesse’s answer, to which Burt raised an eyebrow. “I know we’ve been down there alone together quite a bit, but Kurt’s not ready. We haven’t even touched each other below the waist.”
“But you have before.” Burt wasn’t asking.
“Not with Rachel, if that’s what you mean.” Damn, it was like this kid could read his mind. “No, I’m not a virgin, but your son is and he’s not ready to lose that. I would never pressure him into anything he doesn’t want. Just because I want something doesn’t mean I should have it, especially if it can’t be given without a second thought.”
Burt was struck with just how confident this boy must be, to feel comfortable admitting to a boy’s father that he was lusting after his son. But Jesse had put it in such a way that Burt didn’t even worry about it. It mattered, of course it did, but it only became a big deal if Jesse was to follow through on those impulses.
“Thank you for talking with me,” Burt said gruffly. Jesse shook his hand, the look on his face unreadable as he left the room. Burt turned to watch him go.
Damn it. He actually liked this kid.
Fandom: Glee
Written: January, 2011
Rating: PG-13
Words: 2300
Summary: It was a wonder Burt hadn't made a grab for the steak knife when Finn had run in one day to tell him that Kurt had a boyfriend. Well, maybe he did reach for the knife, but he did manage to listen as Kurt tried to explain just why this guy was worthy.
Notes: Written for the glee_rare_pairs fic exchange for isarn
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Burt Hummel considered himself a very understanding and reasonable man.
He lets Finn stay out past his curfew on weekends when there’s a football game on and he sometimes slips an extra twenty into Kurt’s wallet for no good reason. He always lets each boy tell his side of the story if there’s an argument, passing judgment that is always fair. He’ll listen to excuses when it comes to rule-breaking, considering for mere seconds to let whichever boy off before telling him off.
Which is why Burt did not immediately reach for a steak knife when Finn burst into the kitchen after school one day, panting and exclaimed, “Kurt has an asshole dickface for a boyfriend!”
Okay, maybe he did reach for the steak knife. But then Kurt came running in after Finn, face completely red and yelling in indignation, and Burt remembered his promise to hear both sides of the story. So he calmly put the knife down, gestured for the boys to sit, and then sat across from them, gesturing for Kurt to quash what he undoubtedly knew Finn had said.
“He’s not an asshole,” was the first thing out of Kurt’s mouth. “Yes, he has a rather colorful personality, but he’s a wonderful guy and I’m lucky to have someone like him.”
“No, he is an asshole dickface!” Finn insisted. “He threw eggs at Rachel!”
“Excuse me?” Burt straightened in his seat.
“That was last year!” Kurt argued, face flushing again. “And besides, you’re not exactly innocent when it comes to egging either, Finn.”
“Fine, then, he’s a soulless automaton,” Finn decided, crossing his arms and looking like that settled the matter. “And an asshole dickface.”
“Kurt,” Burt turned to his son for proper explanation, “who are you even talking about?”
“Jesse St. James,” Kurt said immediately, and Burt definitely didn’t like the way his son’s face lit up when he said the name. “And yes, I will be the first to admit that he’s less than perfect and that it would definitely do him some good if he turned down the ego a few notches and wore something that wasn’t black or made of leather, but that’s beside the point. The point is that he loves me and I love him.”
“Hang on, love?” Burt raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been seeing this boy how long exactly? And what was all that about throwing eggs? I don’t like the sound of that.”
“He throws eggs and crushes souls and breaks hearts,” Finn said before Kurt could answer. “So he’s a terrible person and you should hunt him down with a shotgun before he breaks Kurt’s heart.”
“That’s nice,” Burt acknowledged that Finn had spoken, but held up a hand to silence him, turning back to Kurt again. “Continue, Kurt.”
“I’ve known him since last year,” Kurt’s cheeks were still flaming with color. “Admittedly we were not together then, but ever since he came back from LA he’s been nothing but wonderful to me. Officially we’ve been together for a week.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Burt began ticking off the information on his fingers. “His name’s Jesse, you’ve known him for roughly a year, you’ve been dating him for a week, he threw eggs at Finn’s girlfriend -”
“Ex-girlfriend,” Finn grumbled.
“- he’s got an inflated ego, and he was in California for some reason?” Burt finished. “And you expect me to believe that you love him and for me to be okay with you dating him?”
“Um, yes?” Kurt asked hopefully. “I wanted to tell you about him before Finn found out, but someone doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.” He looked pointedly at Finn, who looked confused, pointing at his closed mouth.
“Well, I expect to be introduced to him soon,” Burt nodded once, then got up from the table and dropped the subject.
It would have been easy for Burt to just forget about this Jesse kid, but he kept thinking about what Finn had said. Regardless of how Kurt had insisted that Jesse was a good guy, Burt was suspicious. Sure, he knew that kids were stupid and did stupid things, but he didn’t want some stupid kid who did stupid things dating his son. Especially when those stupid things included throwing eggs, and, if Finn was to be believed, manipulating Rachel Berry and breaking her heart.
And Burt actually liked Rachel, so he was having a hard time believing that his son would be willing to overlook something like that. Maybe Finn was exaggerating again.
But that Friday night, when a large group of Kurt and Finn’s friends seemed to magically appear in the kitchen, Kurt shot Burt a meaningful and almost pleading look. It was a look that said, Yes, the boy holding my hand is Jesse but please don’t say anything because I’ll introduce him to you later.
The Hummels were very good at telepathic communication.
Burt stood in the doorway and started at Jesse nonetheless. The boy was nowhere near as tall or wide as Finn, but he was definitely bigger than Kurt. He carried himself confidently, never stopping himself if someone started talking over him and never stopping if he talked over someone. He wasn’t exactly loud, but his voice definitely carried, and the way he kept brushing his hair back made Burt think he wanted people to notice it. He looked older than the rest, too, though it was definitely hard to say with this particular group.
Even though there were things Burt didn’t like about the boy, even though he was just looking and hadn’t even spoken to him, he found there were things he liked. Jesse always turned his head to listen to Kurt when he spoke and kept a constant hold on his hand. His eyes seemed to light up whenever he’d look at Kurt, and when he smiled at him his entire persona seemed to change.
The kids migrated downstairs to the basement, so Burt settled down in the living room, watching a football game and half-listening to the shouts coming from downstairs. He heard singing for a few minutes and wondered if they’d popped in a movie musical. But then there was no more singing, just laughter and more shouting, and Burt decided that they were just having some fun.
He didn’t bother watching the clock. Carole joined him on the couch when she came home from work, but didn’t linger for very long. She’d had a long day at work and needed rest, so she’d traipsed upstairs to go to bed. Burt continued half-listening to the rowdy teenagers downstairs, debating with himself as to whether he should go down and tell them to shut it.
The noise swelled, so Burt turned around, but it was only because the door had opened. He recognized Rachel, watched as she shut the door carefully.
“Things winding down?” he asked her, even though the noise suggested nothing but the opposite.
“I think so,” she shrugged. “Most of us have curfews; mine’s just the earliest.”
“Drive safely,” he told her, and she nodded, giving him a small wave as she headed to the door.
“Thanks, Mr. Hummel.”
He went back to half-listening to them while watching TV, not really paying attention to who all came up from the basement. He listened to the noise die down, heard the footsteps and the door opening and closing, but nobody else came in to say anything to him and he didn’t turn around. He started when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.
“Finn!” he was surprised, and the boy grinned at him sheepishly.
“I’m driving Artie home,” Finn told him. “We kind of forgot he was supposed to hitch a ride with Sam.”
“Sure, sure,” Burt nodded. “You need to take mine, or is your car okay?”
“Oh no, mine’s fine,” Finn assured him, and Burt turned in his chair, spotting Artie waiting in the hallway, an almost embarrassed look on his face.
“Well then, you drive safely,” Burt repeated what he had told Rachel. “And if you boys stop for burgers or something, call me so I don’t worry.”
“Will do,” Finn promised.
Burt let them go, reveling in the silence behind the noise the TV was making. He started counting the minutes, wondering when Kurt’s music would start up. Even though it was late, Kurt liked to play music while he cleaned up after having his friends over, always careful to keep the volume high enough to drown out everything else but low enough that it would be barely audible if the door to his room was closed.
Ten minutes passed, and there was no music.
Burt leapt out of his chair, putting two and two together and getting something around four. His son’s room was silent and Finn had left. That meant privacy. And Burt had no way of knowing whether this Jesse kid had left yet.
He opened the door at the top of the stairs, listening for any sort of noise from below. The lights were dimmed but still on, and he heard soft music playing. Walking carefully down the stairs, Burt peered around the wall, more than a little nervous as to what he was going to find.
Instead of anything he had expected, he saw Jesse and Kurt slumped on Kurt’s bed, Kurt’s head resting on Jesse’s chest. Their fingers were laced together and Jesse’s other hand was moving slowly up and down Kurt’s arm. Their eyes were fixed not on each other, but on the television in the corner, which was where the music was coming from. As Burt watched, still half-hidden on the stairs, Jesse started singing quietly along, Kurt chiming in after a few words. When the verse ended, they looked at each other, Jesse bending a little to kiss Kurt.
Normally Burt would have stormed down the stairs and pulled this boy off his son, but he found that instead of anger, he felt happiness. Sure, it was strange thinking of his son actually being with someone, but they both looked content, blissful even, and who was Burt to blunder in and ruin their moment? He retreated back up the stairs, deciding that he would leave the blundering up to Finn when he returned.
Jesse became a regular fixture in Kurt’s room after all of his and Finn’s parties. Burt actually paid attention now, always noticing that Jesse would either come up long after the others or not at all, Burt going to bed for the night before he had left. One morning Burt had gone down to ask Kurt to give him a little time in the garage and he’d been met with the sight of Kurt curled up in Jesse’s arms, both fast asleep. And fully clothed, his papa-bear subconscious had reminded him.
Part of him wondered if he was giving Kurt too much freedom, letting him have his boyfriend over all the time without being supervised. But the other part of him felt pleased that they were here rather than somewhere else like a cheap motel. He had no idea just how far their physical relationship had progressed, the only difference being that Jesse seemed to have gotten into the habit of keeping his arm around Kurt’s waist rather than just holding his hand.
It surprised him, then, the night that Jesse had come up and instead of quietly leaving, had asked him for a few minutes of his time.
“Of course,” Burt switched the TV off, gesturing for Jesse to sit down.
“Thanks,” Jesse sat at the opposite end of the couch, turning so he was facing Burt. “I just wanted to let you know that whatever you may have heard about me, it doesn’t change how I feel about Kurt. I love him.”
“Those are strong words,” Burt reminded the boy.
“But I mean them,” Jesse promised, his eyes wide and locked with Burt’s.
“How old are you?” Burt found himself asking.
“Nineteen.”
“You’re out of school, then,” Burt registered this new information, not having been prepared to find out that there was an age or a school gap between his son and his boyfriend.
“I go back to UCLA in the fall,” Jesse explained. “And I know that long-distance relationships can be hard, but I’m willing to do it if Kurt is.”
“Are you sexually active?” The words came out of Burt’s mouth before he could stop them. He was too curious to feel as if he was prying. Yes, that was his son’s business, but he wasn’t about to let this go unchecked any longer.
“No,” was Jesse’s answer, to which Burt raised an eyebrow. “I know we’ve been down there alone together quite a bit, but Kurt’s not ready. We haven’t even touched each other below the waist.”
“But you have before.” Burt wasn’t asking.
“Not with Rachel, if that’s what you mean.” Damn, it was like this kid could read his mind. “No, I’m not a virgin, but your son is and he’s not ready to lose that. I would never pressure him into anything he doesn’t want. Just because I want something doesn’t mean I should have it, especially if it can’t be given without a second thought.”
Burt was struck with just how confident this boy must be, to feel comfortable admitting to a boy’s father that he was lusting after his son. But Jesse had put it in such a way that Burt didn’t even worry about it. It mattered, of course it did, but it only became a big deal if Jesse was to follow through on those impulses.
“Thank you for talking with me,” Burt said gruffly. Jesse shook his hand, the look on his face unreadable as he left the room. Burt turned to watch him go.
Damn it. He actually liked this kid.