A/N- Written for this prompt from Princess Ellie Hummel: ...or maybe one where Carson finds out about Kurt being bullied and how bad it is...
Pairings: Small mentions of one-sided Kurt/Finn (remember, this is set in what would have been the first season)
Warnings: Some bullying, course language
Before Elizabeth Hummel died, she had her then eight-year-old sons each promise her something. She'd had Kurt promise to never stop being proud of who he was, no matter what anybody else thought of him, and to never change himself for other people. In turn, she had Carson promise to always protect Kurt, like an older brother should (even if that brother was only older by four minutes), because she knew some people may not like Kurt for being proud of who he was, and that Carson didn't care what anyone other than his twin thought, whereas Kurt was much more affected by disapproval.
Both boys took their promises very seriously. As he grew older, Kurt never stopped proudly donning his flamboyant outfits, never stopped fighting tooth and nail for the obvious talent in his unique singing voice to be recognized, and never let the harassment of his close-minded peers change him. And Carson, for his part, did everything in his power to ensure Kurt was safe from homophobic bullying. Carson had dirt on almost every person in the school (he always said that if you didn't have dirt on someone, you just weren't digging deep enough), so most people were unwilling to bully Kurt in front of him, and since Carson rarely left Kurt's side, Kurt managed to avoid the worst the bullies had to offer.
Until the twins got to high school, that is. In high school, they took different level classes – Carson was better at school in general but worse in math, and Kurt took more art electives – and so they saw each other less. Sure, they still walked to and from school together, and had the same locker due to a computer error that Figgins had been unwilling to fix, and ate at the same table during lunch, but they didn't often see each other in class or when walking between classes. Kurt had to face those times alone. The bullies immediately took advantage of this, shoving Kurt into lockers, throwing slushies at him in the halls, whispering horrible threats as they passed him, and shooting spitballs at him in class (really, spitballs? He knew the jocks were stupid, but he didn't know they were sp unimaginative as well).
Still, it wasn't like they were putting him in serious danger. But he knew that his protective twin would lose his shit if he found out about the bullying, and Carson had enough to worry about already, so Kurt kept the harassment a secret from his twin. After all, it was nothing he couldn't handle.
In sophomore year, the twins stopped walking to and from school together because Carson was busy working on the school newspaper that no one even read (Kurt always bought a copy to support his brother, of course). That's when the dumpster tosses and after school harassment started. Kurt just thanked his lucky stars (whose numbers seemed to be dwindling) that he got home early enough to take a shower before Carson or his dad got home, because he really had no idea how he would explain away the stench of urine and three-day-old meatloaf surprise.
So far he'd managed to keep the brunt of the bullying a secret, but he knew that wouldn't work forever. And so he wasn't completely surprised, only mortified, when he was being lifted into the dumpster before school for the umpteenth time, and he heard a voice only slightly deeper than his own yelling, "What the hell do you think you're doing with him, you troglodytes? You better get your disgusting hands off of him and get back to your disease-riddled whores before I make you regret the day you dared venture out of your caves!"
Noah Puckerman, who had a hold on Kurt's upper body, turned a fraction to face the angry Hummel twin currently charging toward. "Oh, homo number two's finally made his appearance. It's about time you joined your brother in the dumpster. I'm sure Kurt was getting lonely without you there to fuck him."
Kurt and Carson both turned several shades of red, but for very different reasons. "That's hardly–" Kurt began, but was quickly cut off by Carson.
"Where the hell do you get off talking about my younger brother like that?" he demanded, shoving through the circle of jocks to stand straight across from Puck. He looked absolutely murderous. "And what do you mean 'it's about time'? Exactly how long have you plebeians been using my brother as practice for your future careers?"
Puck actually looked surprised that Carson hadn't known, and another jock cut in to answer. "Dude, we've been throwing the fairy in the dumpster every morning since the beginning of the year. Where the hell have you been?"
Carson was silent for thirty long, agonizing seconds. When he finally spoke again, his voice was calmer, but much more threatening. "Ok, this is what's going to happen," he said lowly. "You low-life leeches are going to put my brother down and walk away from this dumpster without another word, and then I am going to make your pointless existence a living hell until I see fit to stop. Got it?"
Puck shared a look with the other jocks before shrugging his shoulders. "Fine, we'll put him down." And he proceeded to let go of Kurt's upper body, with the boy holding his legs following at a slower pace, causing Kurt to hit his head on the cement. Carson rushed over to cradle his brother's head, uncaring of the comments the jocks made about the action. "Later, homo twins. Guess we'll just have to toss you twice tomorrow, Kurt."
"Like hell you will!" Carson yelled after Puck's retreating form, before turning back worriedly to his brother. "Are you okay? How hard did you hit your head? What's our birthday? How many fingers am I holding up?"
Kurt pushed Carson's hand out of his face and sat up. "I'm fine," he insisted, brushing specks of dirt off of his outfit. "It's not like they haven't done worse before." When he realized what he'd just admitted, Kurt froze, before desperately trying to backpedal. "I mean, I've hit my head falling a couple times, and – not that they – and then lockers – but it wasn't–"
"Kurt," Carson said gently, but with an undercurrent of steely determination in his voice, "I'm going to take you home now, because you clearly need to rest, and when we get there, you're going to tell me everything you've been keeping from me up till now, sparing no details."
"B-but what about school? And glee club?" Kurt tried.
"This school is a joke, and same goes for Glee club – we only have nine members, three of them are only there because Sue Sylvester wants them to spy. And I have the strangest feeling that Finn isn't exactly a willing participant either. Now, come on, I'm driving."
After they got home and Carson got Kurt situated resting on their bed with an ice pack against the bump on his head, Kurt finally told Carson about all the bullying he'd faced since they'd started at McKinley. Carson was horrified. Kurt had been facing all of that alone? Why hadn't Kurt told him? Why hadn't Carson noticed? How could he have been so self-centered as to not even notice that his own twin was suffering so much?
When Kurt finished his emotional admission, he finally broke down crying, and it about broke Carson to see his brother looking so hurt and vulnerable. He had let this happen. He had broken his promise to their mom. He hadn't protected Kurt. He had failed Kurt as an older brother.
But that was about to change. Nobody hurt his baby brother and got away with it. Those meatheads were about to get some payback – Hummel style.
~O~O~
"You want me to what?"
Carson smirked at the horrified jock in front of him. "You heard me."
"Dude, I can't join glee club!" Puck insisted. "I'm the biggest badass in this school. Nobody would take me seriously anymore if I started singing and dancing or some shit like I was in high school musical."
"I'm sure whatever retribution you receive from the student body for joining glee club will not be nearly as bad as their inevitable reaction if I just happened to give Jacob Ben Israel this envelope containing pictures of you playing dress up with your little sister. You look lovely in that dress and tiara, Puckerman – I never knew pink was your color. And sparkly heels, too? That's dedication."
Puck made a grab for the envelope, but Carson snatched it out of his reach. "Oh don't even try. Even if you managed to get this away from me, do you really think I don't have several copies at home? So, your choice: glee club, or Pretty Princess Puck going public?"
Puck growled under his breath. "Finally, I'll join your fucking club," he grumbled, turning on his heal and stomping down the empty hallway.
Suddenly remembering they needed twelve members to compete, and figuring they could do with a spare, Carson yelled after the jock's retreating form, "Be in the choir room at four and bring two other guys with you or these pictures will be all over the school by tomorrow morning!"
He simply smirked when Puck flipped him off without giving him a second glance. Stage 1 of Carson Hummel's Ultimate Revenge Plan, complete.
~O~O~
Kurt stared in confusion at the jocks' tables across the cafeteria from the table where all the less popular glee clubbers sat. "I wonder why Puck, Mike, and Matt all suddenly decided to join glee club?"
"Maybe they realized how superior our extracurricular was to theirs," Rachel suggested, earning eye rolls from both Tina and Mercedes.
"You realize this means that more than half our club is made up of popular people, right?" Artie pointed out. "That shit ain't normal. There has to be something going on that we don't know about."
"M-maybe it's a p-plot to bring d-down the g-glee club," Tina suggested meekly.
"What do you think, Cars?" Kurt asked.
Carson just shrugged. "Maybe Rachel's right." The shock of Carson agreeing with Rachel effectively stalled conversation for the remainder of lunch, and the topic wasn't brought up again.
~O~O~
Stage 2 of Carson's plan involved infiltrating the boy's locker room. He shuddered just thinking about it. He hadn't been there since he'd talked his way out of gym class in the first semester of freshman year. But he'd tough it out for Kurt's sake.
And so it was on game day that Carson found himself sneaking into the boy's locker room with a large bottle of novelty itching powder, which he liberally applied the to the dryers where the uniforms and jock straps were being kept warm before the chilly night game (they couldn't even play without cuddly, warm uniforms and they called him a pansy?). It only took a few minutes, though he had to turn the laundry be hand to make sure it was thoroughly coated. He was sure his hand was going to be itching like crazy later, but the jocks would have it so much worse.
An hour later, he sat in the stands with Kurt, waiting for their glorious football team to make their appearance. It was a cold night, and he was even colder because he'd wrapped his jacket around Kurt after he couldn't hide his shivering (those designer sweaters were not built to withstand the cold). Normally, Carson wouldn't bother putting himself and Kurt through this for something as asinine as a high school football game, but he just had to stay and see this game unfold. That would teach those idiots not to mess with his little brother. And if they thought he was done with them, well, they had another thing coming…
He was brought to the present by a light smack on his left hand, which had, at some point, gone back to scratching his right. "Stop that," Kurt chastised. "You've been scratching that hand for the last half hour. You're going to rub the skin raw."
"Sorry," Carson mumbled, eyes momentarily shifting from the field to his twin's face to give him a sheepish smile. "I don't even realize that I'm doing it."
Kurt focused a scrutinizing stare on his brother's angry red hand. "Have you come into contact with any strawberries today and not told me about it?" he asked suspiciously.
"No, I swear, I've stayed away from anything even vaguely strawberry-related," Carson promised. Kurt still looked doubtful, but luckily a voice came over the speakers just then to loudly introduce the two teams of sweaty, brainless boys who would be running up and down a field attacking each other in pursuit of a lemon-shaped ball for the next few hours. Carson smirked when he noticed all the Titans running awkwardly onto the field, no doubt already feeling the effects of his little prank.
It was clear within the first few minutes of the game that this was not McKinley's day. The players were fumbling and tripping and dropping the ball all over the place, and the crowd couldn't seem to figure out what was going on.
"What is up with our team today?" Kurt asked after watching ten minutes of gameplay that even he realized with pitiful. "They're absolutely dreadful. And they're all scratching their crotches even more than usual."
Carson shrugged. "It's not like they've ever been good," he pointed out. "And we've never gone to a school football game. For all we know, this could be how they always play."
Kurt regarded the field with a troubled expression on his face as a player outright threw the ball down to start scratching madly at his stomach. "Did they all get infected with some sort of locker room rash? Staph infection? Because it seems like the scratching just keeps getting worse."
"Maybe they have fleas," Carson joked, trying to hide the downright glee he felt watching the suffering Neanderthals.
Right he said this, several players on the sidelines dropped to floor and starting rolling around on the grass, clawing at their pads in an attempt to reach their itching skin. Kurt watched in shock for several minutes, along with several other spectators. Finally, he tore his eyes away from the sight and turned to his brother. "Let's go home," he mumbled. "I don't want to stick around just to watch them make them fools of themselves."
"Are you sure you don't want to stick around," Carson asked, furrowing his brows. "I would think you'd want to watch to watch the jocks who abuse you daily embarrass themselves."
Kurt sighed, "Yeah, that just doesn't sound appealing right now. And anyway, we need to get you home and take care of that hand. You're scratching it again." When he looked down, Carson was surprised to find that he was, indeed, scratching his red right hand again. Those things had a mind of their own.
It was a shame that he didn't get to stick around and watch the spectacle unfold, but what Kurt wanted, Kurt got. And so Carson allowed his twin to grab his left hand and pull him away from the stands to their car, not even fifteen minutes into the game.
~O~O~
"Ugh, I am so not looking forward to the pep rally tomorrow," Kurt complained loudly to table full of gleeks. "I just know that the football team is going to be obnoxious and yell profanities during our performance – again."
"It's not our fault those fools don't know a great voice when they hear it," Mercedes said after swallowing a mouthful of tots. "They should count themselves lucky that they can listen to us now before we're famous and charging hundreds per ticket."
"Yeah, I don't think they see it that way," Artie sighed.
"I j-just hope they d-don't th-throw things at us again," Tina said quietly.
"Of course they won't be throwing food at us," Rachel assured confidently. "My voice will be so amazing they'll be rendered speechless and unable to do anything accept applaud and beg me for an encore." The table gave a collective eye role.
"Maybe they'll just be too distracted by their bleeding eardrums after you've finished screeching your way through yet another 80's power ballad, hobbit," Carson interjected.
Kurt hit him lightly on the arm. "Carson, be nice," he reprimanded quietly. "These are our friends."
"I'll be nice when they realize you're the most talented person in the club and you get a real solo," he muttered back, earning a grateful smile from his twin. "And they're your friends. I'm just here for you." Kurt rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to retort, but was quickly drawn into a conversation with Tina and Mercedes about the hideous "90's-inspired" flannel trend sweeping the school ("Some fashions don't deserve a comeback").
It was true, though, that Carson didn't really consider the members of the glee club to be his friends. His only friend was Kurt – and maybe the lunch ladies. And that friendship made what he had planned for today tremendously easier to pull off.
He realized what he was doing was completely immoral, not to mention more than a little illegal, but it wasn't like the lunch ladies were going to tell – they hated the jocks too. And in any case, Carson was perfectly willing to break the law for Kurt. And what exactly had he done that could easily get him expelled?
He'd convinced the lunch ladies to put laxatives in the football players' food.
Yeah, okay, that was bad, even for him, but anyone who hurt Kurt had it coming to them. And he had a very specific reason behind this particular act of revenge – the laxatives were slow-acting, but long-lasting. Essentially, the football players, who were the main hecklers at glee club performances, were all now guaranteed to be out sick the day of the pep rally. And then Kurt could sing his little heart out without fear of violent retribution. Carson had seen how Kurt came alive on stage, but he hadn't had that same air of excitement and joy about him for a while now. And he'd be damned if anyone made Kurt feel bad about himself at the pep rally. As long as he had anything to say about it (and he did), Kurt would be fucking glowing on that stage, like he was meant to.
And so Carson grinned viciously as he watched the disgusting sacks of meat stuff their faces, unaware of the laxatives they were delivering to their intestines. The only people who hadn't had the drugs slipped into their food were Finn, Puck, Mike, and Matt. He'd wanted to (especially for Puck, the walking penis, and Finn, the unworthy object of Kurt's affections), but the club unfortunately needed the boys for the pep rally performance.
"I'm only saying that we should simply recycle all sheet music with songs that don't compliment my voice," Rachel was arguing loudly to a very pissed off Mercedes. "It's not like we'll be singing them anyway, as no member of the club can match my level of vocal prowess, and at least this way they'll be put to use."
Then again, maybe joining glee club was punishment enough.
~O~O~
The next morning Kurt came running over to their shared locker with 100-watt smile lighting up his pale face. "Carson! Carson! Did you hear?" he yelled excitedly, skidding to a stop in front of his amused twin.
"I hear a lot of things," Carson replied. "You're going to have to be more specific."
"Okay, you're never going to believe this, but… almost the whole football team is out sick today!" he burst.
Carson put on his best innocently curious face. "Really? Well isn't that a pleasant coincidence?"
Kurt nodded eagerly. "And you know what this means?"
"What?"
"It means that we'll get to perform without being booed from the get-go!" Kurt started jumping up and down excitedly. "My outfit isn't going to be ruined by flying drinks! I'll actually get to hear myself sing! And Mercedes can belt out her ending notes without being interrupted by vulgar insults! Oh my god, Carson, this is the best day ever! I have to go tell Artie and Tina!"
With that said, he quickly hugged his brother and ran off down the hall in search of his friends to share the good news. Carson smiled at his brother's retreating form. He hadn't been this happy and carefree in months, Carson realized.
Yeah, totally worth illegally drugging nearly the entirety of the football team for.
~O~O~
A week later, with all the jocks back at school and back to their old ways, Carson decided he wasn't quite done exacting his revenge yet. Those jocks would look back at the day they had ever dared touch Kurt and cry with regret.
With his objective in mind, Carson confidently approached the locker of a particularly aggravating student he didn't normally associate himself with. "Jacob," he said, slamming the locker shut and smirking evilly at the frightened boy. He held up a pair of Rachel Berry's gold star underwear (it was like she was just begging for him to make porn star jokes). He preferred not to think about what he'd had to do to get his hands on the pair of underwear, or that he was currently holding something that had once touched Rachel Berry's nether regions (he'd boil his hands later). "I believe we had a deal?"
~O~O~
"Have you seen the videos Jewfro has been posting recently?" Mercedes asked after school a few days later, standing by Kurt's locker as he reapplied his hair spray (his perfect hair didn't just happen, you know).
Kurt scoffed. "No, I never go on Jacob's site, especially considering that there are several posts on yours truly. I don't want to support that kind of gossip mongering. I much prefer the actual journalism Carson practices in the school newspaper."
Rolling her eyes but otherwise ignoring Kurt's endorsement of his twin's paper (a common occurrence for the proud brother), Mercedes brought the page up on her phone and handed it to Kurt. "Well, you might want to see these."
The next few minutes were spent in relative silence as Kurt scrolled through the videos. They all involved hidden-camera footage of jocks doing embarrassing things, such as dancing and singing with mops or giving a strip show to their mirror or, in one video that actually physically hurt Kurt to watch, crying their eyes out. After he'd gotten to the end of the videos and reached a post promising that more were coming soon, he looked up from the phone with flaming eyes. "Who is responsible for these?" he demanded.
Mercedes looked puzzled. "I don't know. But why are you upset? Don't you hate the jocks? They're jerks to us."
"Yes, but nobody deserves that," Kurt said stubbornly. "I'm going to talk to Jacob."
He found the weasely boy by his locker. "Who's your connection?" he yelled.
"Wh-what?" Jacob stuttered.
Kurt stepped closer threateningly. "Who's giving you those videos? Tell me now or I swear to god, Jacob, I will make designer coats outs of your hair."
Jacob gulped. "I really don't think I should–"
"Tell me."
"It was Carson!"
That stopped Kurt dead in his tracks. "You're kidding, aren't you? Don't lie to me, Jacob. That's not funny."
"I'm being honest!" Jacob insisted. "Carson got me a pair of Rachel's underwear so I posted the videos he gave me, no questions asked. That was the deal!"
Kurt was stunned. His brother, his twin, was a part of this… this heinous act of bullying? "I need to go," he whispered, before running out of the school.
Carson saw him pass, and reached out for him, wondering what was wrong. Kurt's nostrils flared when he saw who was holding onto his arms. "Get off of me," he spat, yanking his arm away. "I really don't want to see you right now."
"Wh-what?" Carson stuttered, taken aback at the venomous tone his sweet brother's voice had taken on. "Why?"
"I know," Kurt hissed.
"Know what?"
"I know that you're the one responsible for the videos on Jacob's site. I can't believe you're working with that roach to humiliate people!"
Carson stared at his brother, dumbfounded. "You're angry about the videos?"
"Of course I'm angry!" Kurt yelled. "What you did was bullying, Carson, plain and simple."
"I was only getting them back for all the shit they'd pulled on you!" Carson argued.
"You're mad at them for bullying me so you sink down to their level?"
"No! I was just defending you! Why do you even feel bad for them? They're horrible people, and they don't deserve your sympathy."
"I know that! But right now, you're just as bad as them in my eyes."
With one final piercing glare, Kurt left the school, headed who knows where, leaving Carson alone and even more bewildered. He sank down against the lockers and ran his hands through his already messy hair. That wasn't what he'd been hoping for at all, to say the least. He'd expected that if and when he told Kurt about the things he'd done to get revenge, the kind boy might lightly chastise him, but would ultimately hug him and thank him for what he'd done. He hadn't expected Kurt to be so angry. Why did he care so much about these boys who had only ever tormented him? Was he really just that good of a person? If he was, Carson was going to submit his name for sainthood.
After spending what felt like hours in the empty school just thinking, Carson finally pulled himself off the floor and decided to go looking for Kurt. Maybe the boy would be calm enough to talk to him now. And they obviously needed to have a conversation.
Their car was still in the parking lot, but other than that the lot was empty, which meant Kurt had had long enough to walk pretty far if he'd wanted to. Carson sat in the driver's seat staring blankly at the steering wheel for a few minutes, trying to figure out where Kurt might be, when it suddenly hit him. He sped all the way to the cemetery, and was not surprised at all when he found Kurt kneeling silently over their mother's grave. He always came here when he needed peace and quite and time to think.
"Hey," Carson said gently, and Kurt opened his eyes but didn't look up from the white lilies laid on the gravesite. "I just… I wanted to say that I was sorry."
"Are you?" Kurt asked, his voice barely audible.
Carson stared at his brother and scratched at the back of his neck, pausing before admitting, "Not for posting the videos. I'm sorry I upset you, but I stand by what I did. They had it coming."
"Do you even hear yourself right now?" Kurt suddenly yelled, jumping to his feet and facing his brother, his cheeks red and his eyes blazing. "'They had it coming'? That sounds just like what the jocks say when they justify bulling me. 'He chose to be gay, so he had it coming.' I suppose next you're going to say they were asking for it?"
"I did this because they're such assholes to you!" Carson retorted. "And I still don't get why you're defending them! You can't honestly tell me you care about their feelings."
"Only as much as I care about any human being's feelings."
"Then why are you on their side?"
"I'm not on their side! I'm on the side against bullying!"
"They wouldn't be giving you the same thought if the roles were reversed!"
"Don't you think I know that, Carson? That's why we're above them! That's why we can't ever stoop to their level! Because first it starts with bullying and revenge, and then we just keep dragging ourselves down until we're just as pathetic as them and we never get out of Lima!"
"Is… is that why you're freaking out about this?"
"Yes! I don't want you hitting rock bottom like they will as soon as they graduate, Carson. We're both better than that. We have futures outside of this place."
"But they hurt you, Kurt." Carson's voice cracked. "They bully you constantly and it's only been getting worse and you expect me to do nothing about it? I already failed you once when I didn't notice it in the first place." Aaand, the truth comes out.
"You didn't fail–"
"Yes I did! I failed you, and I failed mom because I didn't keep you safe." Carson's eyes dropped to the ground, filling with shameful tears. "I fucking suck at being a big brother."
He felt familiar arms wrapping around him and the comforting scent of lilac and sandalwood enveloping him. "Carson, you are the best big brother I could ever ask for, even if you're only older by four minutes. You are so sweet and caring and protective – I hid the bullying from you because I knew you'd worry yourself sick over me."
"I should have noticed even if you were trying to hide it."
"You were busy with the paper."
"That's no excuse! You're my twin! How could I not notice? I already knew I was selfish but you're supposed to be the exception! What the fuck is wrong with me?"
"There's nothing wrong with you! And don't call yourself selfish. You want selfish? Look at Rachel, or Finn, or even Mercedes."
"And I'm sure all of them would have picked up on the bullying quicker than I did."
"Carson! Stop beating yourself up about this. I don't blame you at all."
Carson looked up and gave Kurt a watery smile. "That's because you're a better person than I'll ever be."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "As if. You were willing to steal a pair of Rachel Berry's underwear for my sake."
Carson shuddered. "Don't remind me."
Kurt laughed. "See? That's a good brother, right there."
"So you're not still angry with me?" Carson asked hopefully.
"As long as you promise to have Jacob take down the videos."
"But I want to hurt them," Carson growled. "I want to hurt them like they hurt you."
"You can hurt them, when we're both out of here and successful and rich and living in the big city, and one of them comes crawling into your corner office – with mahogany and leather detailing and floor-to-ceiling windows – begging for a job, and you rip up his application right in front of him. Until then, just console yourself with the knowledge that we have a future, while they bully people because their best years are over after high school, and they know it."
"I love it when you show your cruel side," Carson said. "It reminds me how much we actually have in common. You just have better self-restraint."
"Just remember that we are so much better than them."
"I know you are," Carson hedged.
"And I know you are."
Carson sighed but smiled, hugging Kurt tighter. "I love you, Kurtsie."
"I love you too, Cars…. But probably not enough to touch Rachel Berry's underwear."
"I told you not to remind me!"
A/N2: Okay, so to be honest, I've sort of had a HORRIBLE day - my face is still red from crying :P - and I didn't really want to bother posting this, but I decided I ought to. So if you could take one second to review it would honestly make my day a whole lot better :)
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