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When they got back to the house, Finn and Puck were playing video games Wes and Miranda were watching them on the sofa, and David and Mercedes were chatting at the dining table.
Carole smiled at them. "Welcome to madhouse central." She pointed at Mercedes and Puck. "They arrived about ten minutes ago hinting about blueberry pancakes."
Kurt took his grocery bag to the kitchen and said, "I'd better get started then. I think it'll take about half an hour to get everything cooked."
"Can I help?" Mercedes asked as she saw him go by.
"Not after the last time," Kurt said. To the room at large he asked, "Who wants blueberry pancakes?"
Everyone other than Finn shot a hand up.
Carole and Kurt went to the kitchen and Blaine followed with the other bag of groceries.
"Is there anything I can do?"
Kurt peered at him. "I don't know. Is there?"
"I aced my organic chem final," he said seriously.
Kurt pulled out several bowls. "Triple recipe in the biggest bowl. Halve the melted butter, and add two egg whites to the one whole egg per recipe. Make a plain recipe in one of the smaller bowls. Use skim milk." He made a shooing motion and took out two frying pans before getting to work cutting the sausages into smaller chunks.
Carole got everyone organized for rearranging the living room, having Finn and Puck get more leaves for the table, and getting the others to set it.
As he made the batter, Blaine watched Kurt work in shifts with the sausage, putting the done ones onto warm plates and into a warm oven.
"Could you find out from Carole how many want poached, and how many want scrambled?" Kurt asked.
When he came back with the answer, an electric griddle had been set up and the first pancakes were browning.
***
Twenty minutes later, everyone was seated around a laden breakfast table.
Burt eyed the blueberry pancakes. "How many of these am I allowed to have?" He looked between Carole and Kurt.
Carole said, "As many as you like, if you don't add butter," and Kurt nodded his agreement.
Kurt said, "The paler sausages are chicken apple. The others are soy chorizo. I can make toast if anyone wants it."
David and Wes looked at their plates which were stacked high with pancakes, poached eggs, and sausage, their cups of coffee and their glasses of juice and then looked at each other. It was David who said, "Why would we need it?"
Wes echoed, "And where would we put it?" He reached for the cherry jam and spread some on his pancakes.
A few minutes into the meal, Burt cleared his throat and said, "So, Mercedes, Kurt mentioned a 'usual round of slushies' from school. Did that ever happen to you?"
Mercedes took a sip of her juice to wet her suddenly dry mouth. "Yeah. I never got it as much as Kurt or Rachel -- I think she may have had the most slushies ever, but then the jocks never dumpster girls -- but, yeah, everyone in the glee club has been hit at least a couple of times."
Carole looked at Finn. "You've been hit with slushies?"
Finn looked uncomfortable. "Once or twice. Right after I joined the glee club and all that stuff with Quinn last year." He glanced at Kurt who was concentrating on his breakfast. "Not like some of the other kids."
"What about you, Puck?" Burt asked.
"Dad, everyone in glee club has been hit by a slushie or two."
Puck took a deep breath. "That's actually kind of why I came by this morning. I can only stay out of juvie by going to these anger management meetings, I mean, I even have to get a signature to show my probation officer."
Miranda's head shot up. "Would anyone mind if I take notes? I'm doing my senior thesis in Anthropology, and I think your high school would count as an interesting tribe."
Puck said, "I'm cool with it."
The others just sort of nodded and she went to get her notebook. "So, if I understand this, there are levels of bullying and slushies is… what? More acceptable than some of the others?"
Finn thought about it. "I guess… I mean, Mercedes is right. There are certain things we just didn't do to girls."
Burt and Carole glanced at each other, then turned to Finn.
He seemed to realize what he'd said, especially when he saw the Dalton kids, other than Kurt -- who continued to find his food absolutely fascinating -- staring at him too.
"I never slushied a girl either," Finn said.
It was Puck who rescued him from the silence. "See, this anger management book says we need to make amends. We can't just say 'sorry' -- well, we can, but we have to mean it. And we're supposed to try to make things better, so I actually came over here to talk to Kurt. I know I'm still paying off Vocal Adrenaline's tires, but when I've finished that, I thought maybe I should pay your dry cleaning bills from my Sheets 'n' Things job."
This time all the attention went to Kurt.
Blaine asked, "How many slushies did you get that Puck thinks he needs to pay your dry cleaning?"
"No, dude, it wasn't the slushies, I mean, yeah, them too, but I think the dumpster tosses were probably more what needed extra cleaning. And I've already talked to Artie. He said we're cool because I only porta-pottied him once and we're friends now."
Burt put down his silverware, loudly. He glared at Kurt, and then turned to Puck. "So how often did you throw my son into a dumpster?"
"Well, there was that week I was sick last year, so even if Kurt got tossed, I don't think it counts for the amends. I mean, it's not on me."
"No, Noah, it isn't. May I call you Noah?" Kurt asked.
"Why?"
"Because I think I can forgive Noah. Puck might take awhile." Kurt finally met his eyes, and Puck thought it over.
"Makes sense. Sure. Now, how much do I owe you?"
Carole had continued staring at Finn, but now she looked at the rest of the table. It seemed strange that Miranda was still taking notes. She said, "I'd like to hear the answer to Burt's question. How many times?"
"Noah and the other jocks who joined glee stopped. The others continued. I'd say Puck was responsible for about sixty last year."
"Don't forget eighth grade. I got you most days then, too."
Kurt sighed. "Have you ever heard the expression, 'When you find yourself in a hole, you should stop digging?'?"
Puck saw the expression on the faces of the adults and the Dalton boys and said, "Oh. Well, if I'm going to make amends, I should do it right."
"Let's just make it seventy-five total, all right?" Kurt said.
Mercedes shook her head. "No, if he wants to get it right, and I think he does, then you can't keep low-balling it like that. At least a hundred over the two years. You were the only one they did every day. Jacob Ben Israel only got it when he did something to piss them off. You got it for being… you."
Carole turned to her son. "Where were you, Finn, when this was going on?"
Kurt said, "He was nicer to me than the other jocks. He didn't call me names, and … he was kind."
She sized him up shrewdly. "So he never helped Puck? Because I know they were close for a long time."
"Yeah, Finn would let him take off his jacket or scarf or hold his homework so it didn't get messed up. He was good to Kurt."
"Noah, not helping," Kurt said.
Kurt finally looked around the table and realized that Blaine was being held in his seat by David and Wes. He put his hand over his boyfriend's. "I'm safe, now."
Blaine nodded, and the others relaxed their grips on his shoulders.
Miranda looked up from her notebook. "So, there's Rachel who got slushied a lot. Why?"
"She's annoying." Puck shrugged. "And she didn't seem to want to fit in. Like Kurt. We'd dumpster other guys, if they bothered us or something, but they'd get it once and take the back way in or beg us to stop or something. Kurt walked in the front door every day. He never changed how he looked or what he said. The only times he asked for anything it was to make sure his homework was okay or that he got to wear a new jacket again."
"And now I get to wear a uniform to school. On the plus side, no one ever threatens my homework." Kurt tried to lighten the atmosphere. "More coffee anyone?"
Mercedes brightened. "Sounds good."
Puck said, "And I still need to know about that dry cleaning. It's amends."
"Let's say, six hundred." It was Kurt's turn to shrug.
Puck looked at him shrewdly. "Let's say three thousand. I'm assuming you set it low, and then my Nana said that when it's a moral obligation, a good Jew has to give back twice as much as he took. So three thousand."
Kurt swallowed. "Dad, would you mind giving me a hand in the kitchen?"
Burt nodded and followed him.
***
Blaine poked his head in and actually got the fresh pot of coffee ten minutes later. The two Hummel men were in some deep discussions, and the breakfast table had lightened up quite a bit since they left. Miranda was still asking Finn and Mercedes questions about bullying, but it's so clearly statistical analysis that no one was uncomfortable.
"Blaine, would you ask Carole and Finn to come in here?" Kurt smiled reassuringly and Blaine just nodded in response.
Carole went to the kitchen with a stack of empty plates, and five minutes later, all four of them came back out.
Burt said, "So, Puck. You want to make amends, and you owe my kid. All right. Kurt told me you have some talent with your hands, so rather than work at Sheets 'n' Things he suggested you might want to come apprentice at the garage. It's serious work. I wouldn't even put you in for an apprenticeship for a month while I see if you're reliable. After that, well, it'll take time to get your union card, but once you have it, it's a good living. We can talk about how much comes out of your paycheck to cover Kurt's old dry cleaning fees. How does that sound to you?"
Puck just stared first at Burt then at Kurt. "You suggested this, Kurt?"
"Yeah. I can only work on the weekends I'm home. You don't have my qualifications, but Dad really needs someone fairly junior at this point. He's got a couple of journeymen working for him, but Hummel's is a union shop. We need to train people, too."
Finn said, "I already tried working in the garage. I broke things. I mean, I can help in the stock room, but I'm not all that good with cars."
Puck stood up and offered his hand to Burt. "I'll take it. No pay for the first month or whatever."
"You'll get paid, but it won't be at a union rate. After that, we'll put you in at an apprentice rate and start training you right. If you pass, great. If you don't, at least you've tried and earned more than you'd get at that mall job." Burt was gruff, but he shook Puck's hand.
***
Mercedes and David wandered off for a walk around the block while Wes, Puck, and Finn did the dishes. Miranda joined them in the kitchen still asking questions for her anthropology paper, much to Finn's and Puck's bemusement.
Blaine went downstairs with Kurt and began packing his bag; there was probably more kissing than packing going on until Wes called down to ask if he was ready to go.
Between them, he and Kurt got all three bags up to the front door. Wes grabbed his, and they all went out to the car where David and Mercedes were waiting with Miranda.
David kissed Mercedes on each cheek and then gave her a quick peck on the lips. She looked shy and delighted at the gesture and then said to Kurt, "I'll call you when I get home," and walked to her car.
Wes said, "Hurry up you two."
Blaine threw his bag in the trunk. "It's New Year's Eve on Friday. I'm only in the weekday performances at King's Island, so I'd be free then, unless you already have plans?"
"A DVD marathon of New Year's themed movies was about it. You guys could join us. I'd invite Mercedes for David. They seem to get on."
"They do, but, let me call you later in the week. I think the DVDs sound great, but maybe you could come to Cincinnati."
Kurt nodded. "Whichever."
Blaine put his hand on Kurt's chin. "I'm going to kiss you now."
"Oh, good." Kurt leaned in, and they kissed gently.
"Is your Dad going to kill me?"
"I'll stop him." Kurt smiled.
Blaine got in the car, and Kurt shut the door for him.
When he got back in the house, Burt said, "We have a lot of talking to do. You should have told me about this bullying."
"I didn't want to worry you, Dad."
"It's what fathers do. And Kurt? I like your boyfriend."
Kurt's face lit up. "So do I."