AN: This story idea has been rattling around in my head for a little while. It's set during "Theatricality" and basically answers the question: Just how did Finn make that Gaga dress himself?
A friendship fic featuring Tina, Kurt, Finn. With a small cameo by Artie. Enjoy! And please review :)
Kurt kneaded the plush velvet throw blanket he'd draped oh-so-casually over the chaise in his room. His mind was numb, almost completely unable to process what had just happened.
Did my dad just throw Finn out? Where is he going to go?
It seemed illogical that Kurt would be concerned with the whereabouts of someone who had just moments ago, called him "faggy" via the lamp Kurt had lovingly picked out.
Kurt threw himself on his bed, face down and sobbed quietly into his pillow. Faggy. Faggy. Faggy. He couldn't stop replaying the word in his head and he couldn't stop picturing Finn's narrowed eyes, Finn's red, angry face.
And oh, his dad. Kurt's heart swelled with emotion as he replayed his dad's words in his head. This is our home. He is my son. A few weeks ago, Kurt wasn't so sure his dad would have yelled at Finn – Finn was the son his dad had always wanted right? It turns out that blood is thicker than water, and though Kurt knew it wasn't always easy for his dad to relate to him, he always tried his best.
Thing was, as much as Kurt knew Finn shouldn't have said the word he did, and as much as he loved his dad for defending him and throwing Finn out…Kurt couldn't help but feel just the teeniest, tiniest but of guilt tugging at his heart.
Thing was, Finn wasn't wrong. He was wrong about the lamp – it was très chic, but what did Kurt really expect from a lug-headed jock, anyway? But Finn wasn't wrong about Kurt's motives for getting their parents together. And Finn wasn't wrong about the way Kurt had stared at him.
And now that Kurt's senses and wits were slowly coming back to him, he knew that as much as Finn was the bad guy, he himself wasn't…totally without fault. He was still angry at Finn for sure, and if anything, this…incident…jolted Kurt awake and dissipated any fantasies he held of him and Finn together.
Kurt sighed and heaved himself upright. Dragging his feet, he crossed the room and found his phone on his dressing table. Scrolling through the few contacts he had in there, he contemplated who to call. He had to get out of here. His dad was upstairs, watching a game and silently fuming. He couldn't talk to his dad…couldn't admit to his dad just yet that Finn, while totally out of line, was truthful about Kurt's crush on him.
Kurt's finger paused on "Mercedes." After a few moments of hesitation, Kurt kept scrolling. He loved the girl; she was fun as hell, and an amazing bargain hunter…but not what he needed right now. She was loud, opinionated, boisterous. He needed something…quieter. He kept scrolling.
Finally, his finger landed on the last name in his phonebook. "Tina." I'll call Tina. I just need someone to listen…and hold my hand and tell me everything is going to be OK. And maybe let me binge on Twizzlers tonight if I do an hour on the elliptical every day for a week. Tina always has the best junk food.
Tina was surprised to hear her phone ringing so late. Usually, that meant one person, and right now said person was in her kitchen, rooting through her pantry trying to locate the Oreos for their movie date night.
She reached for her buzzing phone on the coffee table. Kurt?
"Hey, Kurt. What's up?" Tina said cheerfully into the phone.
"Hey. Hey, Tina." A small, tentative voice answered her.
Tina, completely caught off guard by the diminished voice on the other end, repeated, "Kurt? Kurt? Is that you? Are you OK?"
"Not – not really." Kurt answered, "Can—would—do you mind if I come over? I…"
"Are you hurt? Are you alone? Do you need me to come get you?" The panic started rising up in Tina's throat, her voice getting higher and higher in pitch.
"No, no. I can make it there on my own. And you should probably stop shrieking, unless you want all the neighborhood strays howling at your front step." Kurt's dry voice came over the other end.
Tina let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding. Kurt wasn't OK— that much she could tell…but at least he was more Kurt-like. "Oh my god, Kurt. You had me seriously worried! Yes, come over, come over. Do you want me to call Mercedes?"
"N—no. Just you." Kurt's voice was sad again.
Tina paused. Something must really be wrong. "Oh…OK. I'll be here. You can spend the night even, if you want. My parents are away all week." Tina replied, the concern creeping back into her voice.
"I'll be there in five." With that, Kurt clicked his phone shut. He grabbed the lamp right out of the socket, stuffed it in his Prada carryall along with his Brooks Brothers pajamas and torn Lady Gaga outfit – that cretin Azimio had put a good rip in the side. He quickly swept an array of beauty products off his dressing table into his bag and zipped it up.
Tina wasn't wholly surprised that Kurt, seemingly in crisis, had called her. Tina was quiet. And quiet people usually made the best listeners – whether they wanted to be listening or not. She had what Artie called "the face that cares." Once people (even strangers) got past the streaked hair and safety pins and realized that she was about as intimidating as a Muppet Baby, they would just open up to her. Word vomit all over her. People on buses, people in the mall food court, people sitting in the park. Quinn. Hell, Santana even – when she thought that Brittany was going to be made head cheerleader instead of her when Quinn got kicked off the squad.
Santana would probably deny it to her grave that she had ever confided in Tina, though, so don't bother double-checking that one.
Tina's very strict, but very absent, parents had told her from a very young age: "Children are meant to be seen and not heard, dear." And so Tina had trained herself never to offer her opinion, but only to listen. And to observe. Only after she joined Glee did she start to open up and speak her mind too, but Tina was still a good listener.
"Tee – I found the Oreos. Girl, do you have to keep them buried all the way in the back? Also, your pantry? It's like World War III in there." Artie came rolling back in, the prized blue and white package in his lap.
"You have to go." Tina said, suddenly.
"What now?" Artie said, completely caught off guard. He twisted his finger around in his ear, making sure that there wasn't a buildup of wax that was stopping him from hearing her right.
"You—you have to go." Tina repeated, her words coming out in a rush. "Kurt's going to be here any minute now, and you probably shouldn't be here."
"I think I'm missing a piece of the puzzle here, Tee. Are you cheating on me with Kurt? Because I'm pretty sure he's gay." Artie said.
Tina rolled her eyes. "No, you ass. I am not cheating on you with Kurt. He called…and he sounds upset. I think he needs a girl's night. Let's face it, Artie. I love you like crazy, but you have a nasty habit of putting your foot in your mouth."
Artie huffed, pretending to look offended. "I can do a 'girl's night.' I give good advice."
"No, you really don't. Just go. Take the Oreos. I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow." Tina winked suggestively, leaning down and kissing him full on the mouth before he could protest some more.
"I'm holding you to that, woman." Artie grinned. "Tell Kurt I hope everything's OK, and I'll see you tomorrow." He turned and wheeled down the hall, grabbing his backpack from the entryway. Tina followed him, and gave him one more kiss goodbye before opening the door for him.
Twizzlers. I think I have some in the pantry somewhere…
Tina yanked the door of the pantry open and winced when a box of pasta fell off the top shelf and landed squarely on her toe. Yikes. I need to clean before my parents come home.
Half an hour later, Kurt was sitting on Tina's couch, methodically funneling Twizzlers into his mouth. He still hadn't said anything, and this was starting to worry Tina. She didn't want to pry though. She knew he'd talk when he was ready.
Wordlessly, Kurt unzipped his carryall and pulled out the top of his Lady Gaga costume.
"Azimio tore a hole in the side of it when he shoved me into the lockers."
"Give it to me; I'll fix it." Tina took the shiny blue and silver top from Kurt's hands and crossed over to a folding table in the corner that was cluttered with bottles upon bottles of nail polish, spools of thread and her sewing machine. She was a pretty good seamstress, if she said so herself. It had been her idea to transform the dull black Forever 21 dresses using giant white bows for their "Hello, Goodbye" number. And she'd made Quinn's pink dress for Gaga, too – fitting that belly was not easy.
Tina's sewing machine was humming away when Kurt finally spoke up:
"My dad kicked Finn out."
"Wh-what?" Tina stopped what she was doing suddenly, and she felt the needle prick her finger. She stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked on it to stop the bleeding.
"My dad kicked Finn out…because…because he caught Finn calling me 'faggy'."
"Oh. My. God. Finn said what?" Tina came and sat back down beside Kurt on the couch. "I—I can't believe it! What an asshole. And…and I really thought he was different." Tina enveloped Kurt in a tight hug.
"That's what my dad said." Kurt said, tears welling up in his eyes again. "Though Finn wasn't really directing it at me. Not really. He—he didn't like what I'd done with the room. I tried going for Moroccan-chic because I thought Finn would like it, but then he said that I'd never tried to even get to know him, and that all the drapery was making him uncomfortable – that I was making him uncomfortable. And that he knew I had a crush on him—he knew the real reason why I set up his mom with my dad."
Kurt's words tumbled out; he wasn't even sure he was making sense anymore, but Tina was nodding, so that was a good sign right?
Kurt reached into the bag and pulled out the lamp, gripping the base so tight that his knuckles turned white. "And then he called this lamp 'faggy,' and my dad walked in, and he yelled at Finn. For—for saying that word, for—for basically calling me…you know." Kurt had already said the word too many times; he couldn't bring himself to say it anymore.
Tina took the lamp from Kurt, placed it on the ground and patted his hand. "It's OK that you're mad, Kurt. You have every right. Finn shouldn't have said that."
Kurt burst into a fresh round of tears. "That's just it. I'm mad, yes. But he's…Finn—he was also right. I did…I did…think that maybe, if our parents got together, then he'd maybe…see—see me and that…maybe he'd like me." Kurt's voice got quiet at the end of the sentence and he buried his face in his hands.
"God. It sounds like the plot of some cheesy made-for-TV ABC Family movie starring Hillary freakin' Duff." Kurt pounded his fists against the side of his head. "I am such a fucking idiot. And now I've gone and ruined my dad's happiness too. I am on a fucking roll here."
"Hey. Hey. Kurt. Listen to me. You're not an idiot. You're a gay teenage boy in the most closeted, bigoted town in America. We all have stupid crushes. We all make fools of ourselves because our hearts won't obey our heads. Thing is, most of us have it easier because we have crushes on people of the opposite sex who are also heterosexual." Tina said.
"Finn fucked up big time, OK? Maybe he was feeling really uncomfortable because he knew you had a crush on him, and his mom was moving in with your dad, and he didn't know how to deal with it all. And I know he's had a really shitty year. That doesn't excuse what he said," Tina continued. She slung an arm around Kurt and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.
"But I know…I know why you feel guilty. When…when I told Artie about faking my stutter and he ignored me for weeks, I was so mad because I thought that's all I was to him – a walking disability. But I also felt so guilty, because my actions, my lie, caused that reaction. So, I get it."
Kurt wrapped his arms around Tina's neck and mumbled "thanks" into her shoulder.
"Hey, look. You'll work it out with Finn. And your dad will work it out with his mom, too. It's good to get it all out in the open, even if the process sucks." Tina handed Kurt a couple of tissues. "Ice cream? And Sex and the City?"
Kurt's smiled a small smile. "I'm going to be so fat. But OK."