Chrysanthemums

Chapter 1

Glee club, run by William Schuester, had just ended when the door opened, a man walking in the room. As the students looked over they froze, stunned. They all recognized him.

Blaine Anderson, the glee club's co-director, looked up and nearly dropped the sheet music he was holding in shock.

William just grinned. "Are my eyes deceiving me, or did Kurt Hummel just walk back into this choir room?"

"How many Diva-Offs have you had this year?" Kurt returned, smiling. They hugged each other, laughing.

"What brings you here?"

He shrugged. "I was in town, so I decided to visit my favorite teacher. I see the slushee issue has been resolved?"

William laughed. "So many of your rises to fame helped that. I believe Rachel was asked for beauty tips after a show and she made a joke about slushee facials, and of course, the mass media got infuriated at the school."

"Wait, you went here? And you were here when the slushee machine was here? Did you know my dad?" a boy who looked too young to be anything but a freshman asked excitedly. He had curious brown eyes and brown hair, and Kurt tried to think of who he reminded him of.

"I might have, you look familiar. What's your name?"

"Max Karofsky."

Kurt's expression froze, face paling. It was the last answer he expected. "I'm sorry, Dave Karofsky has a son? Who's in glee club? I...?"

"So you know him!" he exclaimed. "Were you friends? Weren't you on the football team too? What did–"

"We were acquaintances," Kurt interrupted. "I was on the football team, but I was the kicker, and I was only on for a few weeks. I didn't know him all that well."

Kurt would be questioning whether he was his biological child, but it was obvious just by looking at him. Besides, he remained the only one who knew Dave Karofsky was gay.

"Alright, you guys should probably get going, it's late," William said. Kurt shot him a grateful look.

The students filed out of the room, and as soon as they were gone, Kurt looked at William in shock. "He has a son? And he's in glee club? And he's– he's nothing like him?"

"It shocked me at first too," William said, nodding. "He must have changed a lot to raise a kid like that. Oh, where are my manners– Kurt, this is Blaine Anderson, he's the glee club's co-director."

Kurt shook Blaine's hand, raising an eyebrow. "Co-director? I wouldn't exactly say that job has the best history, good luck."

Blaine frowned but shook his hand. That didn't seem like the most respectful thing to say.

Kurt didn't seem to notice, looking around the room. "You know, he was right. The show never goes on, in a straight path. It certainly does go all over the place."

That confused Blaine further. Did he know him?

William chuckled. "He knew a lot more that we gave him credit for, that's certain."

"Oh, I always gave him plenty of credit. Sometimes it seems like he knew it was going to happen, the way he made Rachel let go of him and follow her dreams, made sure we all lived up to our potentials and shrugged it off when we asked him what his plan was..."

His expression softened and he set his hand on Kurt's shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked softly. "I haven't seen you since the whole accident, you completely disappeared."

Kurt turned around to face him, smile back on his face. "I'm fine. I just needed some time, you know, to process. But what's been going on here?"

William clearly wasn't fooled but he didn't press. "Well, to answer your question from earlier, we actually haven't had any diva-offs this year. It's a lot easier without Rachel and Mercedes."