The rumors have changed, but I still felt like writing this, so… yeah…

I was walking to my room when I heard it.

Crying.

Coming from Kurt's room.

Now, when it came to my brother, crying coming from his room wasn't usually cause for alarm because it generally meant that he was watching one of those sad movies that always confused me and sometimes made me feel guilty for not crying, too. But this crying was different. The last time I'd heard Kurt cry like that was… well, never, actually.

It sounded like someone had ripped out his heart and stomped on it and then threw it against the nearest wall. It made me slightly uncomfortable because I didn't handle feelings well, but mostly it made my own heart ache for my brother, which obviously meant that I had to go talk to him.

"Kurt?" I asked hesitantly, pushing his door open a crack, and was shocked to find that he was alone. Shouldn't Blaine have been in there with him, rubbing his back and making all the other boyfriends in the world look like complete jackasses? "You okay?" That was a stupid question, even for me. Anyone with the ability to hear could tell that Kurt was not okay.

"Go away, Finn," he said, his voice muffled due to the fact that it was full of pillow.

"Nope. Not till you tell me what's up."

"Go. Away," he practically growled, turning over to glare at me. But the glare lost its fire from behind puffy, bloodshot eyes. I was almost knocked off my feet – never in all the years that I'd known him had I seen Kurt so… so messed up. His skin was red and blotchy and his hair was sticking in all kinds of directions. His clothes were horribly wrinkled, but even that wasn't what shocked me the most.

No, the worst part was that he didn't seem to care.

"Kurt, you're starting to scare me, man. And I'm not going anywhere until you give me some friggin' answers. What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On?"

Kurt sat up and locked his bloodshot blue (or were they green? Or gray? I never could tell) eyes with mine. "Fine. You want answers. How's this for an answer? He cheated on me."

I froze – surely I'd heard him wrong. Because it sounded like he said that Blaine cheated on him. But Blaine would never do that because Blaine was so freaking perfect that sometimes it actually pained me to be in the same room as him. Not to mention the fact that Blaine looked at Kurt like he was a god or something, like there was no one else in the world. "What?" I eventually choked out, still not believing a word of it.

"Blaine. He fucking cheated on me." Kurt's voice cracked and he started sobbing again. I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I sat on the bed next to him and wrapped my arms around him, letting him cry into my shoulder.

"Wanna tell me what happened?" I asked soothingly, rubbing circles in his back the way my mom did way back when I was little. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to," I added hurriedly when all he did was cry harder.

"It was Sebastian. He kissed Sebastian," Kurt choked out. "I told Blaine over and over that he wasn't a good guy, that he didn't want to be just friends, but he didn't listen to me. I thought it was because he was just too nice for his own good, you know? But I guess it was because… because…" He couldn't even get the words out and started crying again, clinging to me like I was the only solid thing left in the world, like he would just float off if I wasn't anchoring him down.

"Uh, Kurt? How did you, you know, find out? Did you, like, see them…" I really hoped it wasn't that because I knew what it was like to see the person you were with being intimate with someone else (even if Sam and Quinn hadn't been doing what I thought they were) and it hurt like hell.

Kurt shook his head. "Jeff texted me saying that he saw them. But Jeff isn't usually a reliable source, so I called Thad, who said he saw it, too. Said he tried to warn Blaine, but he wasn't listening." He took a shuddering breath that I could feel in my own chest. "What did I do wrong, Finn? I mean, I thought things were going great. I gave him everything, even my fucking virginity, and he goes and does this to me? What did I do to deserve this, Finn? Haven't I suffered enough?" I didn't know what to say to that, so I did the only thing I could think of – I held him tighter, letting him cry himself dry. Eventually, he quieted, slumping against me. "Thank you, Finn," he said softly, his voice barely even there. "But could you please leave now? I really think I need to be alone."

"Yeah," I said, standing, suddenly feeling awkward again. I watched Kurt reach under his pillow and pull out what I recognized to be one of Blaine's Dalton sweatshirts. He buried his face in it and curled into a ball. I stood there until his breathing even out, which always meant that he had fallen asleep, then I crept out of the room, softly closing the door behind me.

Walking to my own room, I thought that Blaine Anderson was going to pay for what he did to my brother.

…

"Where's Kurt?" my mom asked as I came into the kitchen to grab something to eat quick (I was notorious for leaving with barely enough time to get myself to school). "He's usually gone by now."

"I uh… I don't think he's going to school today," I said, grabbing a couple of granola bars from the cabinet.

"Why?" Burt asked. "Is he sick?"

"Uh…" I froze. I wasn't sure if Kurt would want me to tell what Blaine had done to him. But both Burt and my mom were waiting for an answer and I was a terrible liar, so I said, "He just… he needs to be as far away from Blaine as humanly possible right now."

"Did they have a fight?" my mom asked, looking concerned.

"It's a bit worse than that," I admitted.

"Worse… how?" Burt demanded, making me freeze again. "Finn… what are you not telling us?"

"Uh… BlainecheatedonKurtyesterday," I said all in one breath, hoping that would get me off the hook.

"What, sweetie?"

Damn. Apparently not.

"Blaine… he – he… cheated on Kurt yesterday." I quickly filled them in on what Kurt had told me last night. "He's pretty much a mess. He cried himself to sleep and when I went to check on him this morning, he was dead asleep, clutching some sweatshirt of Blaine's."

"Oh, my…" my mom said, covering her mouth with her hand. Burt wasn't saying anything, but I had a feeling he and I were on the same page.

"Yeah, I really just think he needs to take a day or two off to think about things and, you know, try to get over it." Fat chance of that happening, though. I'd been cheated on twice and I still had the scars. It was a pain that never really went away.

Both of my parents nodded and I checked my watch, realizing I should have left five minutes ago. I said a hurried goodbye before rushing to my truck, glancing at Kurt's drawn curtains before pulling out of the driveway.

…

Blaine was extremely lucky he was a junior, which meant that we had no classes together and he could delay running into me. But we had glee after school and unless he bailed, he was going to have to face me there. And knowing Blaine and his passion for music, he would be there.

And, in what was a rare occurrence, I was right – peeking into the choir room, I saw Blaine sitting in the corner of the top row next to Rachel, though he wasn't talking to her. In fact, he looked kind of upset, which pissed me off because he had no right to be upset when Kurt was home crying his eyes out and clutching his sweatshirt like a life preserver, especially since it was all Blaine's fault.

I walked into the room with my back straight and my head held high, ignoring Puck calling out a greeting or Mr. Schue asking me about how I thought we should deal with the Warblers for Regionals. Screw the Warblers, I thought, only an ex -Warbler on my mind at that point.

"Hello, Blaine," I said, surprising myself when I was able to keep my voice steady when all I really wanted to do was strangle him with that damn bow tie of his. "What's up, buddy?" What pissed me off almost as much as the fact that he broke my brother's heart was the fact that we were just starting to make progress and I thought I'd found a true friend in him.

Guess I was wrong.

"I'm not in a really good mood right now, Finn. Can you please just leave me alone?" he said, his voice weary. He wasn't in a good mood? What about my poor brother, who probably couldn't even cry anymore because he'd run himself dry? But, of course, he'd done the worst thing a person could do besides, like, murder, so what did he care if Kurt was a terrible mess?

"Oh, you're not in a good mood? What about Kurt, huh? Or did you notice that he isn't here?" By now, everyone was staring at us, probably wondering what the hell was going on. Now, I'll admit, this wasn't the way I had wanted to go down. I had originally wanted to take Blaine aside and ream him out in private (to protect Kurt, of course. I wasn't sure if he wanted everyone knowing just yet) but then I'd seen him and his damn depressed face and I just let my instincts take over. And my instincts told me to cause Blaine as much pain as he'd caused Kurt. "Do you even know long I held him last night while he cried? Do you even fucking care?" I didn't care that I had just sworn in front of a teacher, not even when Mr. Schue started to talk.

"Uh… Finn? Blaine? Care to explain what going on here? What's wrong with Kurt?"

But neither of us listened to him. Instead, we glared at each other, neither willing to back down.

"Don't talk about things that you know nothing about, Finn," Blaine said, his voice dangerously low. He narrowed his eyes and I suddenly remembered what he'd said to me about having taken up boxing and starting a Dalton fight club. But I shook those thoughts from my head when I remembered that I was at least seven inches taller than him and about twice as wide and could easily crush him if it came to that.

"I think I know a lot more than you think I do."

"Oh, really?" He crossed his arms over his chest and I was reminded of why I'd had problems with him in the beginning of the year. He was just so damn high and mighty all the time, like because his parents had a ton of money and he was some big hot shot at some stupid ass private school. And now he apparently thought that that gave him the right to screw around with any guy that came his way.

Well, he screwed around on the wrong guy.

"Yep. Called your friend Thad and everything." The night before, I'd snuck back into Kurt's room and stole his phone to call this Thad guy that he'd said he'd talked to earlier to see if I couldn't get details that Kurt hadn't let me in on. According to the Warbler, he and that Jeff guy had gone into their choir room to ask Sebastian a questions about Regionals and he'd found the two of them in there, making out, with Blaine pressed up against the wall. Thad said that Blaine noticed them standing there and pushed Sebastian away, claiming the age-old "this isn't what it looks like" before pretty much running out of Dalton.

"I tried to warn him, Finn," Thad said.

"I know."

"How's Kurt?"

"Not good."

"How the hell could you do that to him? Like, seriously. Kurt doesn't trust a lot of people, but he trusted you and for you to go and do… that to him is just… well, I really want to punch your face off right now."

"Finn!" Rachel exclaimed, sounding shocked. I briefly wondered why, but then I remembered that she was friends with the little traitor. "What's gotten into you?"

I stared at Blaine for a long moment, debating. I could go back to my original plan and take Blaine into the hallway or I could pull a total dick move and announce to the entire club what he did. As much as that little shoulder angel guy told me not to, I couldn't help but listen to my shoulder devil (who looked and sounded a lot like Kurt. Weird) and pull a dick move. "What's gotten into me is that this douchebag," I jabbed my finger towards said douchebag, "freaking cheated on my brother yesterday and I was up half the night, holding him while he cried." A strange look crossed Blaine's face – it almost looked like guilt.

Good. He should feel guilty.

"What?" Rachel said softly.

"Blaine cheated on Kurt," I repeated and watched Rachel turn to look at him, a look of horror on her face, before she got up and moved to sit next to Tina. "With that Sebastian dude from Dalton."

"What the hell, dude?" Puck demanded, glaring at Blaine.

"Is this about last year, man?" Sam asked. "Because I swear to God, nothing happened between me and Kurt."

Blaine sighed, shaking his head. "It – it wasn't like that," he said softly, retreating into himself the way I knew he did when he didn't want to deal with things.

"Oh, puh-lease," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "That is the oldest lie in the book, Hobbit. I should know," she added with a shrug. "I used it all the time."

"So are you going to tell me why you did it?" I pressed, causing Blaine to snap his eyes up to look at me. "Why did you choose now to decide that you didn't love Kurt? Why did you wait until he was in too deep to get out to do this?"

"Don't ever say that I don't love Kurt," Blaine practically growled and I was almost knocked off my feet. I'd seen Blaine angry before – hell, he'd admitted he fantasized about punching my face off – but this was a whole new level of anger I didn't even know a body that small could conjure up.

"Well, you obviously don't," I countered, regaining my balance. "When you cheat on someone, that's worse than a stab to the heart because it says 'hey, guess what? There's someone else in this world who can give me what I want. I don't need you anymore'." Artie and Sam were nodding along with my words and Quinn, Rachel, and Brittany were looking ashamed.

"I DIDN'T CHEAT ON KURT!" Blaine exploded in a voice that no one knew he was even capable of.

"Stop lying," I told him. "Two of your friends saw you…"

"You want to know what they saw?" Blaine said, fire behind his hazel eyes. "They saw Sebastian kissing me. I tried to shove him off of me, but he's a lot bigger than me and he had me pinned against the wall. I told him that I had a boyfriend that I loved more than anything, but that didn't seem to bother him. Said he always gets what he wants, even if he had to take it by force. I didn't want to kiss him – I don't want to kiss anyone who isn't Kurt."

Everyone's faces were softening, believing every word of Blaine's story. While it did sound plausible, I also knew that Blaine was a really good actor, so I held my ground, knowing that I had to be strong for Kurt. "Yeah, that's a nice story and everything, but I'm still not convinced."

"You want convincing?" Blaine stood and walked towards me, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Well, first off, he's the background on my phone, but that's not what I wanted to show you." He tapped the screen a few times, then handed it to me. "There – if that doesn't convince you, then I don't know what will."

My eyes scanned the conversation that pulled up, which was between him and Kurt. They were talking not about what they were going to do that weekend like most high school couples, but what they were going to do five, ten years down the road. But the bulk of the conversation was centered on what they were going to do next year after Kurt graduated and Blaine was still in high school. Doesn't matter, Kurt had written in response to Blaine's argument that there was a possibility they'd live in different states. A couple hundred miles isn't going to change how I feel about you.

The rest of the conversation was so sugary sweet, I was actually tearing up, which I ended up blaming on my allergies (no one had to know that I was allergic to dogs, though). There was no way Blaine would ever do anything to mess up what he had with Kurt, especially for someone as sketchy as Sebastian.

"I gave him a ring for Christmas, Finn," Blaine said and for once, he actually sounded his age, if not younger. "A promise ring because he's the only guy I ever want to be with." He looked up at me with sad, wide eyes. "Please, Finn. I need you to help me fix this. I can't lose him."

"Okay," I agreed.

…

"Kurt?" I said softly, peeking into his room. The mass under the covers in the middle of the bed didn't move. "You awake, buddy?"

"Mmmm," came the reply, which I assumed to be a yes.

"Well, sit up. There's someone here to see you." Kurt sat up, probably wondering who could possibly want to see him in his current state.

Upon seeing Blaine standing next to me, hands shoved awkwardly in his coat pockets, Kurt promptly said, "Go away."

"Kurt…" he started.

"No, I don't want to freaking hear it, Blaine. Just… just get the hell out of my room."

Blaine looked like Kurt's words had torn his heart out. I knew I had to do something. "Kurt," I pleaded. "Just hear him out, okay? Trust me… we had this whole thing backwards. Please?" He looked at me and must have seen some kind of sincerity in my face because he sighed and ran a hand through his already messed up beyond belief hair.

"Fine. You have five minutes."

I took that as my cue to leave and slipped out of the room, going to my own room to start on the massive piles of homework I had.

…

Three hours later, I got hungry and started towards the stairs to find something to eat. On my way down, I paused in front of Kurt's door, which was only open a crack. Unable to help myself, I peeked inside and saw Kurt curled into Blaine's side, with Blaine's arms wound tightly around him like he never wanted to let him go again. I smiled, praying to Grilled Cheesus that Blaine never did anything to screw this up again.

Because Kurt was happier with him around. And when my brother was happy, then so was I.

Cheesy ending alert! But I don't care because I had a lot of fun writing this. I realize that I made Finn sound smarter than a lot of people tend to, but I felt it fit the story :)

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