Disclaimer: Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy and Fox.

A/N: Thanks to kyuubi_paw for being amazing. She is so busy so she does what she can to this fic. Other mistakes are mine. Anyway, I did a book cover for this fic. Err... I was bored, I guess. Check it out, the link is in my profile page. This fanfic is for audaciously in Finn/Kurt Fic Exchange Fest. Her prompt was Finn tries to woo Kurt. He fails miserably at it, but Kurt thinks his attempts are endearing anyway.

Courting Kurt Hummel

Note: I started writing this story a week before the back nine was broadcasted. By the time Home episode is aired, I was already half-way through this fic and I'm too bloody lazy to change everything. So, I'm sorry but you guys have to ignore back nine.

It starts as innocent, seriously. At first, it was all about imagining how Quinn's breasts would look like under her bra and slowly it develops into pondering over the size of Rachel's breasts and man, if only he could have his hands on them. Then, shit happened and Drizzle wasn't his. How pitiful his life has become when the only salvation he has is having Kurt to listen to his stupid woeful bitching. At least Kurt doesn't mollycoddle him like his mom did after he told her what happened. She was pissed but she treated Finn like an M67 frag grenade that is ready to explode. It was hell those times and Finn fervently wishes he has those weapons in Halo 3, maybe the Spartan Laser, and lasered Puck in the head.

They won Regional but life still freaking sucks. His daily mantra – every day is a sucky day, unless he catches a glimpse of those legs under the super mini skirt that Rachel usually wears to school and when he hangs out with Kurt, even just for a little while.

Yeah, Finn Hudson hangs out with Kurt Hummel.

It's weird but it's the truth.

If someone told him this six months earlier, he will deem the person as loco in the head. Kurt and he are both so different in all aspects that it's totally odd they just click like that. Even though he lost his asshole best friend and his girlfriend and especially what he thought is his baby, but isn't, he gains something in this tragic drama, Kurt and he form some kind of a friendship that Finn never thought would happen between the two of them.

Then, everything changes.

He isn't quite sure how it happened but it was one of those days that his mom really wakes up (not just wakes up and kisses him on the cheek before going back to her bedroom and doze off) and prepares breakfast. She was singing along to Frankie Valli's Can't Take My Eyes of You and that song actually glues into his head like a piece of bubble gum that is stuck under your shoe and even though you try to get rid of it, it won't get off. He hates oldies songs because they are just… old. And oldies are for old people and he's not old.

He tries to hum any random Avenged Sevenfold's tune but Pardon the way that I stare, there's nothing else to compare, keeps escaping from his lips when he starts to think of a song. He wonders why the singer has to be sorry when he stares at some hot chicks. It doesn't make any sense. He should feel lucky.

Unlike himself, he's surrounded with a bunch of girls who cheated (Quinn), a drama-queen (Mercedes), who stutters (Tina; but ever since Sectional she hasn't been stuttering a lot), as dumb as him (Britanny), is sneaky (Santana), and… a little bossy (Rachel).

However, Finn doesn't like being single. Because being one means no one to love you as much as you love them back. Yeah, he has his mom to love him and he loves his mom a lot too but that kind of love is different. He likes having a girlfriend.

Rachel can be the perfect girlfriend for him because she has nice legs and big boobs and he knows that she worships every ground that he walks but… Rachel doesn't give him the challenge. She's kind of easy. And easy is boring.

"I wonder how you can survive without having a… erm… a… uh- boy… friend?" Finn asks, a little too awkward for him because this is like the first time he asks Kurt something that is related with the other boy's sexuality.

Kurt raises his head and looks at Finn as if he just asked something dumb. Maybe it is a dumb question. Finn starts to get embarrassed. Seriously, he should think before he says something as darn stupid as that.

But Kurt thinks otherwise. His response was a small shrug but his face flushes bright red as he tells Finn, "What guy in Lima would date me? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only gay guy in this bigoted town. Minus Rachel's two gay dads, of course."

What the hell does big-guh-tid means? Never mind. But what had really caught Finn's attention is Kurt's little confession. This is the first time Kurt admits to him that he is gay and it surprises himself that he didn't even flinch or feels awkward around Kurt after that.

But that little confession makes Finn a little curious. Okay, maybe not a little, but… damn, he is very curious.

So he starts to pay more attention to Kurt. Every time he catches himself staring at the other boy, he feels a little guilty during the first few days because he just feels like he is betraying Rachel (but that doesn't make any sense because Rachel isn't his girlfriend). Then, when weeks turn to a month, Rachel is slowly disappearing from his mind. And every time his mother sings Unconditional Love, Eternal Flame, Unchained Melody, Love Me Tender and all that old love songs in the morning as she prepares breakfast, his mind would wander towards Kurt and then he gets embarrassed because this is so not him.

When he shares classes with Kurt or when they are in the same room during Glee, he would tell himself that he is so not staring at Kurt's lips when he smiles, or that his ears so not perks up when he hears the other boy laugh that silly laugh of his that Finn comes to associate as 'cute' (see, he even starts thinking crap stuff like cute laugh, adorable smile, and damn, even pretty freckles, for Christ sake!), or that his belly so not doing the stupid flip-flop sensation that makes him think whether he is on the verge of a bowel movement or he has a goddamn crush on a dude!

Oh god.


How to tell your gay friend, who thinks you are not gay but is secretly gay for him, that you have a crush on him?

Finn spends two crazy weeks trying to sort out his feelings – eight days in shock and freaking out, and even suffers a meltdown that one time when he witnesses Kurt wearing a pair of tight leather pants that highlights the curve of his ass, and after that, four days comparing between Rachel and Kurt;

1. Rachel has boobs. Kurt doesn't (but he has nicer ass to look at than Rachel's – no, Finn does not stare at Kurt's ass).
2. Rachel is hot. Kurt is cute (but kind of sexy in his own gay way).
3. Rachel is bossy. Kurt is less bossy (and has a cool sense of humor while he usually goes blank when Rachel tries to tell him some jokes).
4. Rachel couldn't bowl. Kurt does (and he is super amazing in it!), surprisingly.
5. Rachel is useless when it comes to cars. Kurt isn't and he could even repair Finn's car without charging a fee!

How awesome is that. Well, not exactly for free, as long as Finn lets him choose their Friday Night Movie, which becomes a weekly thing for them. Of course, he would have to watch movies like My Fair Lady or The Prince and The Showgirl – like his mom has a thing with ancient songs, Kurt has a thing with ancient movies.

He stops listing it down after number five. He knows that the more he writes them down, the list will eventually turns into The Bashing Rachel List or The Adoring Kurt List.

And the next two days he spends in denial (after he concludes Kurt has the whole package that Rachel doesn't, even though Kurt is a dude).

But that's over and he is finally succumb to this… crushing-thing on a dude.

Anyway, Regionals has passed. The shock in everyone still hasn't dissipated yet that New Direction actually beat Vocal Adrenaline and is heading to Nationals. Mr. Schue tells them that their practice is going to be more intense than usual.

Finn doesn't mind intense because he's used to that in football. However, the intensity of their practice is almost to the border of madness. Mr. Schue keeps yelling at him. Man he's scary when he's mad. So while he has to memorize the steps, he has to avoid looking at Kurt, who actually stands right in front of him. He knows that he will be distracted, gosh, he can even smell Kurt's perfume.

Suddenly, he steps on someone's foot – Mercedes, of all people. She bawls like a crazy hag right into his throbbing eardrum. And the practice ends with almost everyone (including Rachel) glaring at him, except Kurt, who just sends him a sympathetic smile.

Kurt is sweet like that.

"I don't know if I can handle it all. Mr. Schue is a monster."

Kurt laughs, "He's kind of overwhelmed that we are going to Nationals."

Finn huffs, "But he doesn't need to go Sparta on us!"

"Hmm… he'll be back to being the good ol' Mr. Schue when he's done being shocked," he tells Finn as he turns on the DVD player and presses the 'open' button.

"Swo wha ar we waceng chunite?" Finn asks as he chews into his lasagna.

Kurt peers at him with a grimace-look. "That's so gross, Finn. Don't speak with your mouth full."

Finn quickly swallows his food and repeats his question, "So what are we watching tonight?"

It's Friday night and they are doing their weekly Movie Night at Kurt's place this time. Mr. Hummel isn't around since he has guys' night in the Bowling Alley and will only be back after ten. This time it's Kurt's turn to choose the movie, so he knows it's going to be another old movie.

"Giant!"

Finn raises his eyebrow. It doesn't sound like the usual chick-flick ancient movies that Kurt normally would watch.

Kurt goes to sit on the couch and declares loudly, "James Dean is fascinatingly hot!"

They have been comfortable around each other that it's normal for Kurt to tell Finn who is hot as easily as Finn listing his favorite food to Kurt.

Throughout the night, it's hard for Finn to really pay attention to the movie because his gaze would always wander to Kurt. He is only aware of James Dean since Kurt squeals loudly when he first appears to the screen. "Oh, my Jim Stark," Kurt sighs dreamily.

Finn points out, "I thought he's Jade Pink."

"Jett Rink. Nah, I kinda zone out into his other character in Rebel."

Their conversation ends there with the occasional noises from Kurt as he gushes every time James Dean appears, including that one scene where he look terribly dirty with mud or oil or whatever that blackish stuff all over his body. Finn, on the other hand, has to repeatedly check himself that he isn't staring at Kurt for too long like a hunter that ready to snap up his prey.

Besides, who can resist that? Kurt looks so adorable with that long-sleeve shirt that hugs his body in all the right places and he's wearing plaid pants. For a guy to wear plaid pants is just wrong but Kurt is the exception of everything, including – yeah– the plaid pants. And now he's biting his nail… or is he sucking his finger?

Then Kurt turns his gaze to him and asks, "Okay, tonight you're acting peculiarly odd. What's the matter?"

"I just wonder what kind of guy that turns you on," Finn suddenly blurts out without thinking.

And it takes him a moment to finally realize what had he just uttered.

God, he wishes to excuse himself and write his obituary.

"Wh-what?" Kurt almost squeaks.

Finn yelps in panic, "N-nothing! I j-just… you know, curious! But if you don't want to tell, it's cool, I mean, it's not that it's important for me to know because it doesn't really matter. I mean not that it isn't matter because it's regarding to your, you know, being-"

Finn stops himself. Damn, he is rambling again and it's embarrassing when he rambles because it's so not cool. But a small smile stretches across Kurt's lips and Finn takes comfort from that.

Sigh. Wouldn't it be just super amazing if Kurt has a crush on him? Honestly, sometimes he thinks that Kurt, maybe, likes him, only when he innocently flirts with Finn, but there are times that Kurt totally treats him like a friend and nothing more. Unlike Rachel, even though more than once she tells him that they are friends, her forehead is stamped with 'I'm your future wife, idiot! So let's elope!'

"I don't mind telling you, if you really want to know about it," Kurt's shy voice interrupts his thought. His face starts to flush slightly and Finn couldn't resist looking at his reddening skin and ooh… he spots one lonely freckle right above his upper lip. And now his belly is making that stupid sensation again!

"Uh- yes!" At least he still could control his voice because his pants are a little tight for him now. He squirms but manages to look like he's just shifting his legs.

MailmanMailmanMailmanMailman-

"Mailman."

Kurt blinks at him, "What?"

Finn almost chokes. "Nothing. You were saying?"

"I haven't started saying anything yet."

"Oh. Sorry."

Kurt rolls his eyes but laughs at him, nonetheless. He reaches for the remote and press pause. "Give me a sec to think. Do you want to know as in, like-" he makes a hand gesture in the air, "-general?"

Finn shrugs his shoulders. "Anything, as long as you're alright with it."

"Hmm… well, I know it's cliché but I like if my man would occasionally give me flowers. I love stargazer lily."

Finn nods his head dully. Okay.

"And he can dance with me under the moonlight to Gloria Estafan's 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me'."

Finn knows that song. It is one of his mom's favorite. And the dance? Like waltz kind of dance? Kurt's foot is totally gonna be murdered by his giant foot if he is going to attempt dancing with Kurt.

"Then he would purchase that one classic Tiffany & Co. pendant as a gift."

…uh-huh. Another nod from him as he wonders whether he has to fly all the way to New York just for that. He isn't sure about stuff like this but he is aware of its existence due to Kurt's obsession over that one particular movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's. That chick in that movie is hot, though.

"I love truffles. He should buy me truffles but the gesture will be more appreciated if he bakes them for me."

Finn has to grin at that. He's totally baking that for Kurt! Besides, they sound delicious.

Kurt sighs as he sprawls into his couch. "But you know, that kind of guy doesn't exist in Lima. It will even be a miracle if he shares the same air as me. So I stick to the unpretentious ones for now. Tall, lean, broad-shoulder, well built…" then he blushes, his teeth sinking right at his bottom lip, turning his already pink lips into a deeper shade of red. Finn isn't really aware what he is doing but he is conscious enough that Kurt's face is starting to get closer to his and… he quickly snap from– whatever he is going to do! What the heck is wrong with him? He seriously needs self-control over himself. This is just getting ridiculous.

"…athletic."

Finn blinks at him. He could literally hear the gear in his head move.

Tall.

Lean.

Broad-shoulder.

Well built.

Athletic.

Finn's head is ringing with alarm. This is bad! Hell bad! All the jocks in McKinley are tall, lean, broad-shoulder, well built, and athletic!

Oh my god!

Every jock in McKinley is Kurt's potential future boyfriend!

Puck. Mike. Matt. Karofsky. Roman. Justin. Lucas. Casey. Dave. Jack. Bob. Patrick. David. Zack. Nate. Peter. Chuck. Andrew. Tommy. Ben. Kevin. Shane. Kane. Vick. Milo. Andy. Max. Nicky. Josh. Leo. Jared.

Finn nearly hyperventilates as he keeps listing all the tall, lean, broad-shoulder, well built, athletic dudes in his school. These people are Finn's rivals.

"You're okay, Finn?" Kurt asks him, slightly choking in his words as if there is something that stuck in his throat. Finn promptly turns to look at him and is taken aback at the alarmingly pale feature of the other boy. Finn feels slightly weirded out because he thinks that the question itself should be pointed at Kurt instead.

"I- I am. Are you alright? You look so pale," he stated.

Kurt scowls at him as he purses his lips together. "You were breathing abnormally like you are in asphyxiation or something like that. Were you- are you… is there something on your mind?"

Finn wants to say no but if he does, he will never know whether he has the chance to… you know, with Kurt. Maybe there is someone already who caught the other's eyes. Maybe that's it – that's why Kurt never really shows he has a thing towards him except… well there are times that Kurt would harmlessly flirt with him but that doesn't mean Kurt likes him, right?

"Do you like… like someone?"

Kurt raises his eyebrow at him.

"Like like?"

"Yeah, like, you know, like."

Kurt snorts at him. "Honestly, how old are you, Finn?"

Finn frowns at him as he gets a little confuse why on Earth would Kurt asks him his age. Isn't it obvious? They share Spanish class together. "You know how old I am."

Kurt shakes his head with an amuse smile on his lips. "Never mind."

It takes a few long moments until he meekly nods his head, as if Kurt is a little hesitant whether he should response to his previous question. His pale face gradually tinted with red and with that simple head gesture and Kurt's flushing skin, it breaks Finn's heart like someone has just torn, not broken, but torn his heart like a piece of love letter with its content of unrequited love. God, is he turning into a hopeless romantic poet or something?

"But he doesn't know that I like him," Kurt mutters under his breath, as if those words aren't meant for Finn to listen.

His heart stutters when his brain finally works out what Kurt had just uttered. Those are just the right words that he needed to hear because… this is it! The guy, whoever the hell he is, does not know that Kurt likes him and now is his chance to do something before that darn dude knows.

Suddenly, he starts to feel very giddy. Because this is something new, he never done this before. Usually, girls throw themselves at his feet. But this one person- him- Kurt, is an exception.

Finn must have him, regardless of the cost.


The next day, Finn rummages the store room to find the cookbook that he is sure his mom hadn't given to the garage-sale five years ago. Ten minutes after that, he gives up because he finally realizes he doesn't know what exactly a truh-ful is.

He opens up and types 'truhful' in the search engine.

Did you mean truthful?

Finn tries again.

Did you mean trifle?

Did you mean treflé?

Did you mean trefoil?

Finn almost wanted to bash his head to the laptop, or more like bashes the laptop to his head.

He reaches for his phone and instinctively presses his speed dial number one.

"Hello."

Shit. Of all people, why does he call Puck? And why is Puck still in his speed dial? Note to self; remove Noah Puckerman from his speed dial list.

"Err. Wrong number." He snaps his phone shut and his finger presses speed dial number two.

Finn gets a heart-attack when it quickly hits him the person he is calling now. "No! No! No! Not K-"

"Hello, Finn Hudson," he hears his sweetheart's- no- not his sweetheart yet, but his future sweetheart – voice.

"Uh. Eh. Hey. Hi." Finn greets him a bit gawkily.

"What's up?"

"I… nothing. Just calling to say hi."

"Oh. Miss me?" Finn gasps and stifles his embarrassment with a cough. And he swears he could hear the smile in Kurt's voice.

He wonders if he should answer that… truthfully. "… maybe, yeah, I am." Okay, that's just half of the truth. He misses Kurt, a lot, even though they just had spent time together last night. And this time, Finn could hear something, like someone is choking on the other line. Finn has to bite his cheeks as he suppresses a smile until he realizes that Kurt isn't there to see him.

Hey, this is sort of fun. But he can't waste anymore time. He has only today and tomorrow to nail this truh-ful business.

"Erm, how do you spell truh-ful?"

"Truffle? T-R-U-F-F-L-E."

"Thanks, Kurt. You're a lifesaver. See you on Monday."

Before Kurt could say anything in the other line, Finn ends the call and hastily types 'truffle' in the search engine.

He is absolutely certain that Kurt's truffle is not an edible, ascomycetous- whatever that means – fungi. Heck, Finn is quite surprise that fungi can be eaten. He wonders if they tasted like mushrooms. So Finn sticks to the one that still sounds edible but better.

A candy made of soft chocolate, shaped into a ball and dusted with cocoa, or sometimes a three-layered cube of light and dark chocolate.

Yummy.


Only God knows where the cookbook is so Finn ends up googling the recipe. Now he's in the supermarket and looks so lost as he reads the words that he had written not so long ago. Where the hell can he get a vanilla extract?

"Hey, Finn. What a pleasant surprise to see you here."

Finn twists his head to the side and sees Rachel standing in her splendor… super mini-skirt. Her brown eyes are shining brightly with a wide smile on her face. She looks like she is looking at Santa Clause, well, she always looks at Finn like he is the Father of Christmas. All bright and happy and full of dreamy stare, like as if he could make her wish come true. Maybe she is looking at Finn as a fairy godmother.

Finn imagines himself wearing a gigantic poofy dress with a magic wand. He shudders at that thought.

"Hi, Rachel."

"What is that?" She asks as she leans her head to see the piece of paper that he is currently holding.

"A recipe. Do you know where I can get vanilla extract?"

A few minutes later, Finn fervently wishes that he could just turn back the clock and not tell Rachel that he is baking truffles. At least he doesn't tell who he's baking it for. He may be dumb, but he's not that dumb. She lectures him about a zillion things that he couldn't really understand but then, her lecture gets scarier.

"For at least twenty years, diabetes rates have been increasing substantially. Did you know that there are twenty four million people with diabetes in the United State alone? There is also another estimation that fifty seven million people who suffer from pre-diabetes. They even term pre-diabetes as the America's largest healthcare epidemic. These people suffered vision abnormalities, even some contracted with kidney disease due to urination abnormalities. That is one of the reasons I bake my cookies and my muffins with just a little bit of brown sugar. Since you are baking truffles, you have to limit the usage of sweetener, depending on the condensed milk and the-"

Finn cannot listen to her anymore. This is just… too traumatic for him. What if he makes a truffle that will make Kurt turn into a diabetic? He will never forgive himself if that happened.

He comes to a conclusion, in the end. He is not going to use the sweetened condensed milk. Maybe he will just add a drop or two of vanilla extract. To hell with one tablespoon.

Next day, Finn spends the whole Sunday concocting his non-diabetic truffle. He has been tasting too much of them that he isn't sure whether they tasted horribly bitter or his tongue is the one that tasted like shit.

He has already added five drops of vanilla extract whilst he refused to use the sweetened condensed milk. Yes, he buys it even though he wouldn't be using it.

He looks around the kitchen. It looks like a war zone and he has no doubt that if he leaves all the mess, his mom will get a heart-attack. He rubs his eyes with the heel of his hand and musters the last energy he has to clean up the kitchen.


"You look like hell," his mom tells him as he walks around the house like a lost zombie.

He mumbles, "Not 'nuf sleep," as he pulls the door of the fridge and looks at the retarded-looking truffles. They may not look edible but they are edible. He just hopes it is his tongue's fault that they taste shitty. Other than that, they still taste bitter, but not as bitter as the first batch that he baked. Finn wonders if truffle is meant to taste like that. Kurt doesn't look like the type of person who eats bitter chocolate. But it seems that he does and he probably eats them just to avoid from contracting diabetes like other millions of people in America.

He eats a lot of sweet stuff and ponders to himself if he has pre-diabetes. He shakes his head. Better to not think stuff like this, it's just scary.

He arrives in school thirty minutes later and hopes to catch Kurt before their first class. God, now he is nervous. What if Kurt doesn't like the truffles? What if Kurt was just joking around about liking a dude who would bake him truffles? What if Kurt-

"Morning, Finn."

Finn snaps from his thought and looks quite surprise at the fact that he is standing right in front of the ever immaculate Kurt Hummel. He is gathering some books from his locker.

"Uh- hey Kurt, morning."

Kurt pushes the door of his locker before he turns himself to fully look at Finn in the eyes. "So you didn't reply my messages yesterday."

"What? You sent me a message?" Finn quickly grabs his cell phone from the pocket of his jeans and realizes that he has eight messages; one from Puck – he was probably wondering why did Finn call him that Saturday, whoa, five messages from Rachel, and two messages from Kurt. It hits him that he hasn't been looking at his cell phone the whole of Sunday. Hell, he doesn't even have the slightest urge to kill some Nazi Zombies yesterday.

"You must be so engrossed with that game of yours… Call of Honor?"

"Duty. Call of Duty. And no, I was baking."

Kurt stares at him something akin to curious. "You were baking?"

Finn takes a deep breath to calm his already rattling heart that is beating in a rate like repeatedly firing bullets from an M1897 Trench Gun. "Yeah. I was baking fo- for you." He puts out a small cute container with floral prints on its transparent cover. He bought it on the same day he bought the ingredients at the supermarket. Rachel thought it was for his mom and thinks it is sweet of him.

Kurt's jaw hangs open as his eyes widen at the container that Finn holds out for him. He gasps before one of his hands comes up to cover his mouth.

He tells Kurt, "I baked some truffles for you."

"Am I thinking what I think you are thinking?"

Finn frowns. Kurt is thinking what he thinks Finn is thinking? Does that even make any sense? Man, he is so confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"You bake me truffles."

"Yeah. I did."

"You asked me how to spell truffles."

"Uhuh. I had a hard time on that."

"I told you that I like a guy who gives me truffles, preferably that bakes them for me."

Finn flushes brightly and gives a bashful grin. "And I baked them."

Kurt takes the container. He looks at it for a while before he raises his head and asks, "Finn, do you… like me?"

At that instant, Finn thinks that his heart is going to explode from both excitement and anxious. He opens his mouth to response but nothing comes out. He tries again.

"Uh- I- I…"

His gaze falls to the container in Kurt's hand. "I think you should try one."

No, he is not trying to avoid the question. He is just too nervous to admit that he likes Kurt. Besides, they are doing this in the school hallway where everyone can see them. This is just too public for Finn and he isn't ready yet to admit his feelings in front of people. Damnit. He feels so stupid, actually. Why didn't he plan this properly?

Fortunately, Kurt is a little distracted with his request as he looks at the container right away. "Oh, sure."


"Are you trying to poison him?" Mercedes yells at him in a way that terrifies Finn to the core. This feels like the first time he played Fatal Frame and he almost peed in his pants when the first ghost appears at the stairs. Yeah, Mercedes is the ghost and Mercedes makes him feel like he should soil his pants right there and now.

"Do I look murderous enough to poison him?"

"Actually, you look stupid enough to poison him!"

The school doctor glares at them and tells them to get out and go back to their classes. Mercedes crosses her arm angrily as she ignores the doctor and continues to fume at Finn. "I swear if Kurt still isn't well when he wakes up, I'll hit you with my car, Finn Hudson!"

Finn winces at that terrifying statement because even though he thinks that Mercedes wouldn't do that, her looks tells him that she is quite homicidal enough to run him over with her car.

He tries to defend himself. "I don't even know he will black out by eating the truffles."

Before Mercedes could lashed out more of her vicious speech, both of them are roughly pushed out from the infirmary. "Go to your classes now! When your friend is awake, I'll tell him to go rest at home and you both can visit him there." Then the doctor slams the door at their faces.

"I know that you two have been close these past few months but if you hurt him-"

"I never meant to hurt him. And I never want to see him hurt. I do care about him, more than you ever believe."

Mercedes tilts her head to the side, as if she is considering something in her mind, her eyes looking at Finn in disbelief.

"You like Kurt?" She bluntly asks.

Why does she have to hit the bull's-eye? Man, this is totally embarrassing. He hasn't even planned to declare his feelings for Kurt to the public and people are already starting to pick up bits and pieces. He wants to roll his eyes because seriously, he has no freaking time for this. Finn sighs heavily before he tightens his hold on his shoulder bag and turns away from Mercedes.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm going home to kill myself."


Okay. So he failed in his first attempt to woo Kurt Hummel. He roams his eyes over his bed to search for his cell phone and find the little object peek out under his pillow. He pulls it out and look at the screen to see three more new messages; two from Rachel, and one from Kurt. He reads Kurt's.

The nurse told me to go home. Heard from Mercedes you decided to go back and butcher yourself. Reply this so that I can be sure you haven't kicked the bucket yet.

Finn has to smile at Kurt's message. Even though it's not a love message or something, it is still a message from Kurt and it always make Finn feels good inside. He suddenly has the itch to listen to Kurt's voice. He calls him. The flutter in his stomach starts to go mad when he listens to the ringing.

"Hello."

Gosh, his knees are shaking.

"Hi, Kurt. How are you?"

"My tongue is kinda dead."

"I'm so sorry. Was it so bad? The truffle, I mean."

"It was… well, bitter but they aren't nasty at all. I love them."

"But you fainted."

"Oh, god. That's totally embarrassing for my part. Let's pretend it never happened."

"You passed out after that one bite from my truffles."

Finn can hear a soft sigh at the end of the line, "My taste-buds aren't used to that extreme flavor. So my brain instantly short-circuited. Just forget about it, okay." A short pause. Then, Kurt's timid voice fills his ear, "But I am grateful for the truffles. They are lovely. Thank you, Finn."

Oh, damn. His phone almost slips from his hand just at that lovely sound. "I- uh- yeah, sure. You're most welcome, Kurt."


Finn passes the living room to go into the kitchen and hopes there are leftovers from breakfast. He knows that his mom is probably back in her room to sleep because when he arrived back home an hour ago, the house was quiet. But he stops half-way when he realizes there is someone in the living room. There are voices coming out from the TV and he can hear the sound of sobbing. He steps into the room and calls out, "Mom?"

His mom is surprised to see him there at ten in the morning when he is supposed to be in school. She quickly wipes away her tears and asks him, "Why are you here?"

"Mom, are you crying?"

Carole bites her lips as she flushes brightly, "Oh, it's nothing."

Finn turns his gaze to the TV and watches a girl hug an older man as they both are crying in front of the camera.

"I can't believe my little girl is all grown-up. I miss you so much," the man practically weeps all over the girl's shoulder, which Finn assumes is his daughter.

"The Locator," Finn mutters the name of the show as it dawns on him why his mom cried in the first place.

Carole explains, "She spent eighteen years searching for her father."

"I watched that one episode which she spends forty-one years finding for her daughter that she gave away when she was nineteen," Finn tells his mom.

Now when he thinks about it, will Quinn's baby try to finds her biological parents when she realizes that she is adopted. It still hurts him that Drizzle isn't his.

"Are you skipping school?"

Finn opens his mouth to reply but his mom cuts him off, "And I hope you have a very good reason for this or else I'm taking away your Wii, the wires for your computer and that laptop of yours."

"Err… I poisoned someone."

"What?"

"He's okay. He told me his… uh- taste-buds, I think that's what it's called, went short-circuit. Or is it his brain?"

His mom peers at him with a frown, "Who is this poor boy that you poisoned?"

"I didn't poison Kurt. It's the truffles' fault!"

A flash of realization passes through Carole. She says her comment casually, "Oh, that! I thought you had a new love interest and you are giving those truffles for that girl… what's her name? Rachel? Didn't know you're giving it to a guy."

Finn almost chokes at his mom's statement. His face suddenly heats up and wonders if he should respond to that. He remains silent which makes Carole even more curious with his weird antics these past few weeks.

"You've been not yourself lately."

Finn swallows. "What do you mean?"

"Do you like someone right now? Is it Kurt?"

First it was Mercedes, and now his mom. Next thing he knows, his crush for Kurt will be on the school blog while Kurt will still be a little oblivious with his feelings. Finn should have sucked it up and told him his feelings but noooo… he chickened out and told the boy to eat his goddamn hazardous truffles. He swears he will never bake anything for Kurt, for risk of killing him.

"You're okay that I like a dude?"

Carole quiets for a little while. "It's a shock. I mean, I never would have thought that you might bat for the other team. You're in your teen years and you're probably confused."

Finn shrugs. "It's just him. He's different, mom."

"Does Kurt make you happy?"

"Very."

His mom nods his head, her eyes shines with compassion. "Bring him home. I would love to meet him."

"Well, the thing is, we're still not… together yet. He doesn't know how I feel."

"Oh. Are you sure he's… you know, gay?"

"He is. He has a crush on one of the boys in school. I just hope I get there before whoever this damn dude snatches him up."

Carole gives him a small pat on the shoulder. "Don't you worry, honey. Just remember that not every guy in your school is gay. This guy that Kurt has a crush on might be straight and probably has a girlfriend."

Finn grins at his mom because it certainly boosts up his courage to make Kurt his at all cost. Except the Tifanny & Co. pendant that Kurt wants so much. Kurt has to wait for that. "Thanks, mom. You're the best."

"I'm always the best. But you," she points her finger to him. "You have to go to school tomorrow! I don't want to see you skipping another day, you hear me, young man?"

Finn gulps in fright. "Yes, ma'am."


He checks his messages that he didn't get the chance to read yet. Seven messages from Rachel are somewhat frightening. She sounds like she is desperate to have a friend. He reads all of the seven messages and corrects himself. Actually, she really needs a friend.

Somehow, Finn pities Rachel. He isn't sure whether the problem lies with her attitude that the world revolves around her, flipping out whenever someone steals the spotlight. Or maybe it's just the fact that others never let her get close enough to become friends with them. Maybe it cuts both ways.

He opens a new message and texts her. He hopes this will make a difference.

He parks his car and squints his eyes at the sun that is shining high above the sky. School has just finished an hour ago and Finn is currently stepping into Rachel Berry's porch. Before he could ring the bell, the door opens promptly and in front of him stands Rachel with the biggest grin he has ever seen.

"Finn! I'm so ecstatic that you came."

"Yeah. Uh- me too, I guess." Finn lets himself be pulled into the house by Rachel.

"I baked some chocolate cookies just for you."

"Erm… I could maybe take two or three of your cookies or I might catch that disease that you were telling me the other day."

"Silly. You won't get diabetes by eating my cookies."

Finn just shrugs his shoulders. He still believes at the prospect that he might get diabetes. Rachel's lecture still gives him nightmares. They arrive in the living room and he could see several picture frames of Rachel and her two gay dads. But most of the pictures are Rachel with her tutus.

"My dads are at work. I didn't see you in school today."

"I skipped school."

"What? That is a detestable thing to do. Once you start missing school, it will eventually become a habit. You will eradicate your future-"

"Rachel, please. I'm here because I really need you to give me that lesson." Finn gives her his most endearing puppy eyes that he is damn convinced will melt Rachel's heart into a mush. He doesn't plan to stay longer at Rachel's house because even though his plan is to at least try to show to Rachel that he came into her house as a friend, at the same time, he isn't quite comfortable being alone with her. God knows she might try to molest him or something. He wonders how he could find Rachel so attractive last time and right now she just freaks him out.

In fact, he could just bail out from there and forget the whole thing. He could ask his mom to teach him how to dance. But Rachel is good in dancing because she's a ballerina and every ballerina can dance, even the kind of dance that he is asking for Rachel's help.

"Look, I'm your friend. And you're my friend. Friend helps each other, right?"

Rachel narrows her eyes at him, as if she is trying to see something that she misses, something that Finn isn't telling her. He wonders if this is a good idea, letting Rachel help him.

"Just friends?" She cuts his thought.

Finn nods his head. "Yeah."

"Why is it so essential for you to learn this dance? Are you doing this for someone?"

Oh well, here it is. It is better to be up front with her. At least, she would know that he no longer holds any interest towards her.

"I like someone."

She blinks at him, as if something just clicks in her mind. "So you plan to dance with this person."

Finn nods meekly. "Yeah."

A smile appears on her lips but she looks slightly sad and not happy at all, that Finn kind of freaks out – …just a little. He imagines that if he had to tell Rachel the truth, she will get mad and scream and cry and throw heavy things at him and do a voodoo doll of him and stick some pins into him and torch him. But this… this is just something unexpected. She just stared at him like he had stolen her candy or something like that.

"Okay. But with one condition."

Finn gulps but quickly nods his head. He is still afraid that Rachel might just crack apart and go off her rocker at any moment. Besides, that particular big flower vase standing right next to Rachel looks rather heavy and dangerous. Finn is at a disadvantage. He may have long legs to flee but there is a possibility that the vase might hit him before he could reach for the door.

"Tell me who this person is. If it's a secret, I swear I won't tell it to anyone. Besides, we are friends. Friend doesn't tell their friend's secret, right?"

Finn breathes; this is it – the moment of truth. "Uh… it's… err…"

Heck, what is wrong with him? Can't he just say Kurt freaking Hummel?

Rachel asks, "Kurt Hummel?"

Finn gasps. Woah. Is Rachel a psychic or what?

Rachel's demeanor changes abruptly after she witnesses Finn's obvious non-verbal response. "I knew it!"

"How- how- did- how-"

"It's just so obvious."

"And you're cool with… this?"

She heaves a sigh. "I may be lying to you if I say I'm quite pleased with you liking Kurt. Seriously, Kurt Hummel? He detests my choice of wardrobe especially at every skirt and blouse that I wore to school! And even though he has been slushee on the face more than me, people are gravitating towards him. He has friends rooting for him. Mercedes, Tina, Artie, and there are even one time where Brittany and Santana went for a manicure session with him! And now… you like Kurt. He gets you. While here I am…" Rachel shakes her head.

Finn isn't sure what to say to that. Rachel's speech was just too overwhelming.

After a few seconds of pause, Rachel pats Finn's arm with a smile on her face, as if assuring him that she's okay with the whole liking-Kurt-thing. "You've been looking at Kurt all doe-eyed for a month! It was quite outlandish at first 'cause I just couldn't believe that you would turn gay. However, there's no need for you to be concerned, Finn. If any homophobe tries to hurt you two, I swear I'll kick their asses and give them a lot more than a piece of my mind. I live with two gay dads and I totally understand your predicament."

Finn gets dizzy with this piece of information. He has been giving Kurt the moon eyes? For a month? Who else have seen him acting like a sick puppy in love? Oh, gosh… all his friends in New Direction? No wonder Mercedes is so quick to put the pieces together. Then his mom who realized from his weird antics and now, Rachel. But what really hits him is the fact that Rachel is sort of cool with him having a thing for Kurt. Seriously, no voodoo doll? No hitting him with the giant vase?

"Stop looking like I am going to murder you with my vase. Now let's go to my room and we'll start with the dance lesson." Rachel grins brightly at him and pulls him by the arm to her room.


Dance lessons with Rachel Berry is the most frustrating thing he had ever done in his life. Finn always thought that fighting the Archvile in Doom is the most frustrating moment of his life. Heck, he practically snapped his keyboard into two after he fought for the zillionth time just to destroy that damn thing. It drove him insane! Even Puck learned to curse in the most colorful language because of that monster! And they were only ten when they played that ancient game.

Fortunately, he gets the hang of it after stepping on Rachel's feet repeatedly for two hours. "I think I could do it."

"You should be. My poor feet are suffering with this torment in your attempt to woo Kurt. You two owe me!"

Finn smiles. "You know, you can be a cool friend when you're not being bossy and all high and mighty."

He mentally curses himself when he realized what he has just uttered. He is going to be killed by Rachel Berry. Here and now.

"So is this one of the reasons why you aren't attracted to me anymore?"

Finn blinks at her. "I guess…" he shrugs as he fidgets with embarrassment. He still isn't comfortable enough to talk about his feelings but he thinks Rachel deserves an explanation of his sudden preference for a dude. "Kurt has always been there for me. He's so cool and amazing and nice and… I don't know how it happened but I really like him."

It was unexpected to see Rachel beaming at him and suddenly cooing at him, "Aww, that's sweet."

God, he can never understand girls. But he's glad that Rachel knows the truth. At least, she will stop looking at Finn like he's going to be her future spouse or he is Cinderella's fairy godmother.


He gets out from Rachel's house fifteen minutes later, pondering over the possibility of the existent of stargazer lily. The weird thing is, his mind keeps on wandering to Mrs. Puckerman's garden. Puck's mom has a very unhealthy obsession over gardening, other than her obsession of lecturing at Puck that he should get a Jewish wife.

To be honest, Finn no longer feels any adverse emotions towards his ex-best friend. They are still friends but they are not as close as before. There are a few times that Puck comes up to him and asks him, "So you're gay now?"

He has been asking that same question once every month. At first, he is pretty pissed at such ridiculous harassment that he would usually retort with a screw you or something along that line.

But ever since he started crushing on Kurt, and the question is posed to him by Puck, he would get flustered and flail around while droning over some stupid stunts that he watched in Youtube and Dude, you so have to check it out.

He looks at his cell phone and thinks it's time for him to pop by his one-time best friend's place.

He calls Puck.


"Explain to me again why the sudden interest for my mom's stupid garden."

"I just want to see around if your mom grows stargazer lilies."

"And if she does?"

"I thought maybe I could ask for some. I can pay her."

Puck laughs mockingly at him. "I thought you knew how obsessed is my mom with her garden. She is fucking stingy over her flowers. There was one time when Mrs. Liam asks for the seeds for her lily. Then on the same day, she adds a huge amount of laxatives into her tea."

Finn pales. "S-so what happened to her after t-that?"

Puck smirks at him. "She suffered three days of constant diarrhea. It was so bad that Mr. Liam had to send her to the hospital."

Oh my god. Now Finn finally understands where Puck got his malevolence streak from. They say it runs in the family and Finn believes it whole-heartedly after listening to Puck's story. He turns his gaze to Puck's little sister who is currently killing her teddy bear with a toy knife. Since Drizzle is Puck's, does that mean Drizzle is going to turn evil?

"Hey! Don't destroy that teddy bear! That's your damn birthday present that I gave to you last year. I won't buy you another one!" After he yelled at his little sister, he turns back his gaze at Finn.

"C'mon, before my mom arrives and find out some missing patch of flowers in her garden."

They stroll around the garden for a while until Puck asks him how a stargazer lily looks like.

"I have no idea," Finn replies.

His head whirls Finn's way. "What? So we are prowling blindly?"

"I'm not prowling!"

"We are! If my mom finds out you are going to steal her flowers, she'll roast you alive. What is so important with this stupid stargazer? You got a new chick or something?"

Finn swallows and mulls over if it's a good idea if Puck knows the truth. He mentally shakes his head. Unless he wants to be called several homo nicknames, he'd better shut his mouth.

Since neither knows what the hell a stargazer lily does look like, they go to Puck's room and google it. As they wait for the page to load, Finn minimizes the page and sees something on the desktop.

"Dude, you have BioShock."

Puck grins when he sees the impressed look on Finn's face. "Wanna do some test-drives?"

It feels like the old days and even though Finn tries to ignore it, he couldn't help but miss the times when there weren't any girls involved and just the two of them, cheering for each other while combating with the boss of the game. But a lot of things had changed. Besides, he doubts Puck may willingly accept his sudden sexual orientation.

Finn groans, "Fighting two 'Big Daddy' is a pain in the ass."

"Wait till you meet Rosie. She's one damn tough bitch!"

Finn stretches his limbs and kinks his neck before his gaze rest at the clock on the wall. "What time will your mom be back?"

Puck looks at the clock and pales, "Anytime from now."

"Shit!" Finn jumps up from his seat and stumbles down the stairs with Puck scurry along behind him.

The next five minutes were chaotic. Finn even mistakenly plucked a small patch of orchids and in return he received a hard shove from Puck. When they finally found a whole patch of white stargazer lilies, Finn feels like on top of the world because – finally! Something is right! If he going to end up stepping on Kurt's toes the rest of the night, this flowers shall be compensation. Before he could have his hands on them, Puck stands between him and the flowers, his gaze appearing to be glaring but at the same time imploring to know what the hell is going on.

"Care to tell me about this chick?"

Finn rolls his eyes at Puck before he shoves him away but his ex-best friend stands firm on his ground.

"Look, I know we have not been on the same patch since the whole fucking Baby Drama. I screwed up a lot."

"Yeah, you did. Do you know how crappy I feel after all of that? We're just friends like how we are this past few months, okay. No bro or 'you're my boy' or all the bullshit thing between us like we used to be. Just friends."

Puck looks at him, like really looks at him for the first time, and Finn feels a little uncomfortable being under his gaze because it's like both boys finally see where the other stands. He just offered to be friends and not more than that and all Puck has to do is take it or leave it. They never really talk about this but now it's finally out in the open, maybe both boys can finally find a closure to their friendship.

Puck breathes out. "You've changed."

"I'm still me. I'm just growing up, Puck."

When Finn gets into his car at long last, flowers in the backseat, Puck leans on the door of his car so Finn has to roll down the window and wait for him to say something.

"So… you're really gay, huh?"

Finn wants to roll his eyes but at the briefest moment, his heart stutters.

"I've been waiting for you to admit it but it's either you don't trust me enough, or because we're not as close as before. Maybe it goes both ways. So, okay, you're not exactly straight. You've been acting like a love-sick puppy around that gay-kid."

So even that is apparent to Puck. Oh gosh, does that mean the whole school knows of him has a thing for Kurt Hummel? It's a miracle that the Jew-fro hasn't posted anything to the school blog yet.

"It's a wonder that he's blind with the way how you behave around him. And you're blind with the way how he acts around you. Honestly, you're both are bunch of idiots."

What? He's blind with the way how Kurt acts around him?

How did Kurt acts around him? As far as he knows, Kurt is always smiley-face and listens with whatever things that he talk, even the stupid jokes which he's always laugh at and it feels nice because Quinn always scoff at his lame attempt.

"I just want to know, just that fag? Or anyone with a dick is your thing now?"

"Do I look like I want to jump on you and rip your clothes like a sex-addict maniac?"

Puck shrugs his shoulder. "Hey, I'm cool if just the fag-kid is your cup of tea. I'm just glad to see that you moved on. Just so you know, I'll be there to kick these bullies' asses. I don't freakin' care what you are going to say after this but," a small pause before a small smile forms on his lips. "You're still my boy, Finn."

To be frank, it is a pleasant surprise. He suddenly feels relieved with the whole thing of himself being attracted to Kurt. Even though the first time he finally relented to his shocking sexuality preference, there is also the weight of people that he cares (although he tried to deny it again and again, Puck, other than Quinn, is one of those people that he still secretly cares). Puck is the final straw and he is pleased with the turn of the situation.

"Thanks, Puck."

Puck grins at him, "Dude, you're not the only one who is doing the grow-up thing."

Maybe… after all, their friendship can still be salvaged.


It's already dark when Finn arrives at Kurt's house. He usually gets very hungry during this time of hour since the last time he eats something when he was in Rachel's house. However, he is already too distracted with his own anxiousness. His stomach is too busy feeling the butterflies fluttering inside his intestines rather than grumbling for food.

He knocks on the door and only then he realizes that he doesn't exactly plan this well enough (just like he doesn't plan properly during the time he gave the truffles to Kurt) and wonders if he should give the flowers first or Puck's mom's stargazer lilies can wait until everything is settle. Still, even if he does plan to give the flowers first, they are inside the car and he has to rush back just to get them. Sigh.

Before he could make up his mind, the door is open and Kurt is standing with an annoyed-gaze. Oh gosh. What had he done to deserve that kind of look from Kurt? Has it finally hit the other boy that Finn might tried to kill him with the truffles?

"I'm sorry about the truffles. I swear I didn't try to poison you."

Kurt crosses his arms. "If you come here to apologize about the truffles, I swear I will stab you with a blunt object."

Finn gulps and shakes his head quickly. "No. That's not it."

"So?" Kurt looks more exasperate and Finn is freaking out because never once Kurt is ever infuriates at him, except that time when Finn accidentally spill sauce to Kurt's designer-brand scarf.

"Did I catch you at the wrong time?"

"Apparently, yes. Do you know what night is tonight?"

Oh. He gets it now. Kurt must be watching something on TV and he has disturbed him in the middle of a show.

"Gossip Girl?"

"The Bachelor!"

Finn exhales, a hoarse whistling sound wheezes out from him. Is he willing to wait for a stupid match-making show? If he doesn't do it tonight, he will never have the guts to do it. But then, Kurt is already annoyed at him because he had just interrupted him from his weekly dose of The Bachelor.

"Guess I'll just wait until the show wraps up."

Suddenly a loud roar of noise comes from behind Kurt, as if the noise of a cheering crowd from a live game. Both boys realized that Burt Hummel must have change the channel since Kurt isn't there watching his show.

Kurt raises his hands and grimly tidying his hair which is already neat enough. "I think I can watch the re-run," he says dismally.

"I'm sorry."

Silence falls on them immediately.

Times like this he would curse himself for being incompetence. He isn't flair enough to ask Kurt out without being clumsy or making a fool of himself.

"I- uh- bring you…"

What is the wrong with him?

"-I want to take you out."

"Now?" Kurt asks him, a little bewildered at the impromptu invitation.

"I hope you don't mind. But yeah, right now. We can go to dinner together. I know a place where they serve this amazing fruit salad. You love salad, don't you? They mix these fruits with, I'm not sure what it is, but I think it is whipped cream or something and they taste great. My favorite would be the cheese dip. It's heaven."

God, this is embarrassing! Finn manages to stop himself before he drones on and on over some food because seriously, this isn't the time for him to ramble about cheese dip and heaven in front of Kurt.

Before Kurt could say anything, Finn pulls him out from the house, but not before shouting out, "Mr. Hummel, I'm bringing Kurt out for a while. I promise to bring him back before his curfew."

When they are already inside the car, Kurt snaps out from his shock and realizes that he is going out, with Finn, in his shirt and long pants that aren't ideal to be wear for anywhere but home.

"Finn, I need to get back inside to change."

"We won't be going anywhere where everyone will be looking at you."

He starts the engine of the car and drives away.

"You will be looking at me."

"You look fine."

"I never step out from the house looking like a housewife going through a midlife crisis."

Finn frowns. "You don't look like you're going through a midlife crisis. And you're a dude. Not a housewife."

Kurt rolls his eyes at Finn. "It's a figure of speech." He sighs, before he asks, "I don't feel comfortable in this."

"You know what I see? A guy who looks great in his shirt and long pants even though you think of otherwise."

"I don't think. It is a fact that these should only be worn at home."

"Honestly, Kurt, you're beautiful."

What the fuck? Did he just… Of all things, he just had to say that. He could feel himself heats up profusely.

"What are you trying to do, Finn?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you… I don't- I- you- what-"

Wow. The ever eloquent (he learns that word from Kurt) Kurt Hummel actually stammering his words? Just wow.

"Kurt?"

"You're… I think you're… I don't know, but, I just think that you're trying to play with my feelings."

What? Did Kurt just accuse him of… something? Finn really wants to look at Kurt but he can't because he is driving and he needs to pay attention to the road. Enough once he ran into the mailman. No way is he going through that again. He doesn't want them to end up in an accident and get wounded or worse, get killed. His ghost will never rest in peace.

"I don't understand," He tells Kurt.

"Finn, you've been acting strangely."

How many times have he been hearing that same statement today? Okay, so yeah, he has been acting strangely because he is in love with Kurt Hummel! Love makes him act like a ten year old girl with a stupid crush! His body has a mind of its own. He couldn't control how to behave around the other boy. Kurt is like… a black-hole, and he is the star. And he doesn't mind getting sucked in and lost in Kurt's universe.

Since Kurt doesn't get any response from Finn, he continues to speak, "You are a great friend, Finn. I just… don't want to get hurt."

He feels like he has just been slap in the face. "Am I hurting you?"

"You act like you like me and I know that's an absurd indictment because you're not that. I know. And the way how you've been around me lately gives me this stupid hope which drives me crazy and I hate myself for this. This whole thing pains me."

Okay, that's it. This is getting out of control and if he doesn't stop the car, they both might get into an accident. He parks the car at the side of the road before he turns to Kurt.

"What have I done to hurt you? All I did is being your friend. And being your friend is hurting you? I don't get you. You- you-" Finn slams his hand on the dashboard which results Kurt to jump from his seat.

Finn turns off the engine and gets out from the car to steam off the anger that is sizzling inside him.

Meanwhile, Kurt gets out from the car and tries to walk closer to Finn.

"Just stay where you are, Kurt Hummel. Don't you dare go near me. What you told me inside the car is just ridiculous."

"You have no idea what I feel about you!"

"What do you feel about me? Do you hate me?"

"I like you, Finn."

"Well guess what, I like you too! A hell lot more than you think. Did you know that I've been harboring this feeling for you and today I wanted to tell you that…" Finn closes his eyes as he slams his hand to his forehead, trying to squeeze in the hurt.

Does love have to hurt this much? This is the worst feeling ever. Hell, finding out that Quinn and Puck cheated on him and the fact that Drizzle isn't his didn't hurt as much as this. He waves his other hand in the air, "Never mind. Guess we will never work out."

Kurt is confused as well as feeling awfully guilty.

He doesn't mean to hurt Finn but it seems that he has done the deed and he seriously hates himself more. He also feels that he has missed something in their conversation, that maybe his opinion about Finn's intention has been misjudged.

His heart aches as he mentally curses at his own stupidity. He turns around to look away, feeling even more remorse at the situation. As soon as he does that, his gaze immediately falls on something at the backseat of the car.

White stargazer lilies.

"Kurt."

He spins around and sees Finn watching him

It quickly falls on Finn that as soon as Kurt's back is facing him, the other boy will definitely sees the flowers in the car. He completely forgets of the flowers' existent. He witnesses Kurt becomes tense and he knows that Kurt knows the truth; his feeling, his adoration and affection towards the other boy.

Now that Kurt has turn back to look at him, he waits.

Kurt's eyes are wide open. "How? Since when?"

"I don't know how it happened. I'm not sure when exactly it started but yeah, I like you. Puck said I've been like love sick puppy around you and Rachel said that I've been giving you the moony eyes. She was surprisingly cool about it. Mercedes even ask me today whether I like you after threatening me that if I hurt you, she will run over me with her car."

There is this long pause between them. It feels like a lifetime to Finn. There is the looming possibility that he could be rejected and if that happen, it's official. He is the biggest Lima Loser and he will live alone for the rest of his life and be old and by the time he is ninety, he will be like that demented old lady living with three hundred cats. Yeah, he can see himself; ninety, and maybe diagnosed with Alzheimer, with three hundred cats.

A small chuckle snaps Finn from his thought. A smile stretches across Kurt's lips. He strides towards Finn and wraps his arms around the taller boy. "I'm so sorry," his voice muffles into Finn's chest.

Finn hugs him tighter to his chest. "Forgiven. So… do you like me? You don't hate me?"

"I like you too and I would never hate you, Finn Hudson."

"What happen to that guy that you have a crush on?"

"He reciprocates my feelings."

"What?"

Kurt laughs at Finn. "It's you. It has always been you. You reciprocate my feeling."

It takes Finn a few seconds to finally grasp that piece of information. Oh, so that what Puck means. He thought it was just his imagination that sometimes he realizes Kurt stares at him from across the room or when Kurt sings a song, especially a love song, his gaze will always be on Finn. Why has he been so blind?

Oh my god!

They totally dig each other!

They hug for a few long moments until a song filters into his mind and he remembers the dance. Yeah, he could do that now.

"Wanna dance?"

"But we don't have music."

"I can hum. Too bad there's no moon tonight."

"Oh screw the moon."

Finn has to laugh at that and presses Kurt closer to him.

Finn is humming to the song that Kurt has told him about two nights ago and not long after that, Kurt chuckles.

"You got the wrong pitch there."

Finn shrugs his shoulders as he smiles sheepishly. "Wish I could sing it for you but I don't really know the words."

Kurt smiles and sings softly;

Hold me, hold me,
Never let me go until you've told me, told me,
What I want to know and then just hold me, hold me,
Make me tell you I'm in love with you…

Through the song, their dance gets slow and then they just stopped in their steps as Finn's nose is inches away from Kurt.

Slowly, Kurt leans upward while Finn closes his eyes when suddenly something wet drops on his eyelashes. He quickly pulls away and raises his head to the sky.

"Shit!" Finn curses.

"Ah! I just had Miracle Broth on my skin this evening!" Kurt wails while Finn tugs him along as they quickly run towards his car.

By the time they are inside the car, it is already drizzling heavily. The raindrops fall on the windowpane, before sliding down the glass. It is the only thing that Kurt pays attention to as Finn drives them back to Kurt's house. Thoughts of bringing Kurt out to eat have been completely forgotten. No words are spoken as both boys are lost in their own thoughts.

A few minutes later, they arrive right in front of Kurt's house.

Kurt shifts uncomfortably in his seat before he opens his mouth to say something. "So, I think I should go. See you in school." His hand reaching to the handle of the door and right away, Finn gets out from the car and run under the gradually light rain to go to Kurt's side of the car.

Finn pulls the door and takes off his jacket to cover Kurt's head from the rain.

When they step in front of Kurt's front door, Kurt turns to look at him. They stay like that for a while, not moving, as if waiting for one of them to say something or maybe, do something.

Finn starts with an apology, "I'm sorry."

"Why?"

He responses awkwardly, "All of my attempts... didn't really turn out right."

Kurt places his hand on Finn's chest and a grin stretches along his lips. "I don't think so. What you did is sweet."

"Oh."

"Hmm."

"So..." Finn smiles. "We're together, right."

"Yeah."

"I'm your boyfriend."

"And I'm yours."

"We're dating."

"Undeniably."

"Cool."

"Yeah."

"Can I… k-kiss you?"

And Kurt pulls Finn down, close the gap between them and kiss.

END.

Atsu Tenshi


Note: With the epilogue, this story was officially more than 13k and I thought, screw it! I'm gonna cut that whole mambo-jumbo thing and just end it here. Now I shall hide in the corner and kill myself, literally.