Disclaimer: I don't own Glee
Summary: Finn notices a change in his feelings for Kurt after a weird band session and freaks out. Unfortunately, Kurt has moved on, at least Finn believes so. Finn/Rachel eventual Finn/Sam eventual Finn/Kurt Sam/Mike oh and bottom!Finn
A/N: This is my first Glee fic so…my characterizations won't be spot on. Actually, they're way off the spot. I wrote this fic with the mindset of completely messing around with the characters, not just Finn and Kurt. So far each chapter is inspired by random music I've been listening to. Also, this fic takes place after the Rocky Horror episode, all future episodes are ignored in order for this fic to work.
Enjoy the read!
...
Chapter One
Of Powerman 5000 and A Little Bit of Swing
...
He wasn't sure how it all led to this, but he still couldn't get over how weird the current scene before him was.
It was after school when Mr. Schue suggested they take a break from glee practices, and have a jam session to cool off their nerves from the upcoming nationals. Normally this wouldn't be unusual for anyone; they often did this when the stress was high. Some would go to the auditorium and belt out their frustrations, and others like him and Puck would stick around in the classroom and play a few songs off the drums and guitar. Sam was the newest addition to their little sessions, but that wasn't unexpected.
What was really unexpected, impossible, and outright otherworldly was his girlfriend standing by Kurt and Sam donning a Les Paul. The guitar wasn't the weird part; Artie often brought his guitars to glee club through careful smuggling to protect them from Azimio and his gang. What was weird was that Rachel was going to play it.
He had no idea she could play guitar.
Really.
…Should he have?
Maybe she was in one of those moods where she felt she had to impress someone, and ultimately failed or succeeded. Finn really hoped she'd succeed. Dealing with an emotional and embarrassed Rachel was not fun times.
"So…what are we playing?" Puck tried not to look pointedly to glee's two drama queens, but the problem with trying was that for a person like Puck, you'd usually fail.
He couldn't help himself. Watching her hold Artie's precious Les Paul was terrifying. "Can you...play guitar?" did that sound bad? He hoped it didn't. He'd never hear the end of it…
His wonderful-beautiful-oh-she's-so-pretty girlfriend turned to him with a smile. That's a good sign right? "I'm somewhat decent, Sam's been teaching me, I wanted to expand my artistic abilities to musical instruments in order to really flesh out my resume when I try out for colleges."
That made sense in a Rachel Berry way.
"Oh."
Suddenly she looked hot holding that Les Paul.
Wait a minute.
"Sam taught you? Why didn't you tell me? Or you dude?" he turned to the sheepish blond, images of his girlfriend and another guy meeting behind his back making him jump to conclusions.
"She wanted to keep it a secret," he shrugged, taking a careful step away from the drummer.
"I wanted to surprise you," Rachel added sweetly. "Now I can have jam sessions with you!"
So there was an ulterior motive. That was so like her too…
"Oh," he settled down, quickly forgiving her. It was Rachel, she does things like this. She wasn't the type to cheat on him either.
There was that one time with Puck, even though they weren't together at the time.
And that other time with the music video…
He eyed Sam furtively. The guy wasn't the type to steal a friend's girl right?
Feeling eyes boring into his neck, Sam turned to him and gave him a somewhat flat 'this is awkward' smile. Yeah, Sam wasn't like Puck…
"What are we playing?" Puck repeated little irritably, "my shift starts in a few hours, and I wanna grab lunch before I go." He eyed Kurt suspiciously, "Better not be some girly Taylor Swift song."
Kurt rolled his eyes, walking up to the mic stand. "Fortunately for you, I just want to vent a little bit of anger that I'm sure would be more fitting with a rock song," he looked at the three confused teens a little shyly, a light blush tinting his cheeks. "Are you familiar with Powerman 5000?"
Sam and Rachel nodded while Puck and Finn shared a look of confusion. "The weird guy with the spiky hair and robot costumes?" Puck hazarded.
"Yes," Kurt said dully, "I'm guessing you've never heard of their music?"
"I've heard some of their stuff," Finn defended, "I just don't know the names…and I didn't know you listened to them."
"Only when I'm frustrated enough," Kurt shrugged, "Rachel was the one to introduce me to their music, actually."
"His fault," she pointed to Sam when Finn and Puck turned to her, "most of the songs I learned on guitar are Powerman 5000."
Sam turned red, "I like playing their music…and Limp Bizkit…"
Finn turned sharply to his girlfriend, "you can play Limp Bizkit?"
"Okay fine, Powerman 500 – 5000 – whatever!" Puck said, checking his watch, "what song?"
"Free?" Kurt suggested. Finn was about to say he didn't know that song, but the short teen caught him, "you said you heard some of their music, just play along in a steady beat, you'll catch on quickly, and Puck…" he eyed him hesitantly, "just play along with whatever you feel is right, we're not performing in front of an audience anyway." He nodded to Rachel who was busily adjusting her strings.
And this was where Finn's hell began.
Sam and Rachel started off with a hard riff, a pause, another riff in a lower note, a pause and then another lower riff. It was repeated several times. Finn got himself into beat pretty quickly and joined in, faintly recognizing the song. Even Puck invented a few bass notes on the pauses.
He listened closely to the music jumping off the guitars and suddenly Kurt shouted, "let's go!" It startled the drummer into looking at his direction, almost losing his rhythm. Kurt merely nodded to the music, not realizing he made someone almost fuck up.
Biting his tongue in concentration, Finn refocused as Rachel changed the rhythm to a more constant wave of notes. He almost messed up again. He never knew how good a chick looked with a guitar. She may have been in the 'grandma' clothes, but with the Les Paul in her hands she was a completely different person. Like a punk girl with a granny style, but at a higher level of awesome.
And the way her fingers slid over the neck of the guitar. Her brows knitted, eyes half lidded…and the way she'd occasionally bit her lip in an effort not to miss a note. She wasn't really moving, but that posture…with her one foot tapping to the beat as her knee bumped rhythmically against the other…
"Everybody needs to start their own fire!"
He glanced to Kurt, surprise washing over his face. He was so used to the other teen's regular singing that this was a bit…different. He sounded manlier, if such a thing could be applied to Kurt.
The brunette clutched the mic stand, mouth so close to the microphone he was practically kissing it. "Everybody needs a riot of their own!"
As Kurt continued singing, Finn's eyes drifted back to his girlfriend. She was bending over a bit now, completely lost in the music. He had a very nice view of her ass and whether it was intentional of her or not, he missed a beat. The song lost it's somewhat strong rhythm for a second, but he quickly restored it, blushing redder than a tomato. Maybe it was a bad idea that Rachel played with them.
He realized there was an uncomfortable tightening in his pants.
Yep, it was definitely a bad idea.
"Living so free is a tragedy! When you can't..be what you want to be!"
Finn looked back at Kurt. Of course! He was the perfect distraction!
Rejuvenated, Finn kept his eyes on Kurt as he yelled out the lyrics with growing passion, one arm swinging and pointing to the phantom audience as if he were telling them off, his leg tapping in beat with the music.
Finn secretly sighed in relief as the tightening in his pants subsided. For a while things seemed to work fine, and he found himself relaxing and getting into the song. It was turning into just another fun jam session, and when it was over he'd take Rachel away on a date or something.
Then Sam and Rachel hit slower notes, quieting the song. Kurt held the mic stand as if it were a lover; running is hand slowly up and down the metal pole. There was something about the way his body arched into the mic stand with his tight shirt, and slim jeans that got Finn feeling weird.
It didn't last long. The song returned to its original pace and Kurt was rocking out again.
Pretty soon the song ended. Rachel beamed at Finn expectantly, but all he could do was give her a shocked look. It must have been satisfying because she hurried around the drum set and gave him a quick kiss.
Rachel and guitars. A dangerous combination, but too good to pass up.
"You should do this more often," he said as Rachel took off the Les Paul. Her smile widened, and she almost dropped the guitar.
"Dude I've never heard you sing like that," Sam said, completely dumbfounded. Kurt gave a small smile and went to the nearby chair for his jacket.
"Definitely better than the creepy country thing you did last time," Puck muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Thank you," Kurt nodded in agreement, "but as fun as that was, I've got all my aggression out. My preferred singing style is the one you're all used to hearing, I'm not changing it anytime soon," he looked at his watch as he slipped his jacket on. "I have to go make dinner for dad," he mumbled before looking up, leaving the classroom, "see you all tomorrow for practice!"
A pregnant silence followed his exit. They hadn't expected him to rush out so quickly. No one but Rachel really moved to put away the equipment and pack their things up.
"Is it just me, or did Kurt seem kind of cool when he was singing that song," Puck said aloud. Sam and Finn glanced at one another.
Yes. He kind of really did.
Rachel turned to them indignantly, "what about me?"
...
After a romantic trip to the mall, buying Rachel whatever she wanted to prove that she was the most stupendous woman in the world and that she really was an awesome guitarist, Finn finally got home around seven in the evening. He was tired, there was homework to be done, and he was starving.
His mother and Burt looked up from the TV as he passed the living room. They were cuddled up in the sofa under a knitted blanket watching some family feud show. After much contemplation between the two adults, and a thorough renovation on one of the unused rooms, Finn and his mother moved back into the Hummel residence. Burt was still a bit guarded around Finn when the subject or presence of Kurt came up, but things seemed to be flowing better than they had the first time the Hudson's moved in.
He waved a hello at them, not pausing in his trek to the kitchen.
What was he hungry for? A hot pocket? Grilled cheese? What?
There was a plate of rice and chicken in the microwave. That was easy.
Not two seconds after he opened the microwave door that his mother's voice called from the living room.
"Eat at the table! I don't want to find pests in your room!"
Finn froze at the door and returned to the table, not having the energy to argue. He was hungry, wherever he ate didn't matter as long as the food got in his stomach. He dumped his bag on the bag on the floor and flopped on the nearest chair. A home cooked meal…man this was going to be good.
He started on the chicken, so lost in finally eating that he didn't notice the distant singing at first.
"Makes no difference if that rhythm's sweet or hot…"
"You're aiming too high, try this one…"
Finn twisted around to the door that led to the basement. Normally he would hear Kurt's singing, he was a perfectionist, and it had taken Finn a while to get used to the constant yammering. The one thing he was grateful for was that his room was far away from the basement, so if Kurt sang well into the midnight in the dead silence, he couldn't hear him.
Whoever was singing now, was definitely not Kurt. It sounded like someone hitting puberty.
Carole entered the kitchen with the intent on getting a glass of water. Her son turned to her about to ask something, but she already figured it out.
"Kurt brought a friend over to help his singing," she explained. Finn still looked confused. "It's one of your friends from glee club, his name's…Mike?"
"Mike?" he repeated with raised eyebrows. Mike was downstairs taking singing lessons from Kurt?
Yes, that made sense. Mike was a terrible singer and who better to teach him than Kurt? Because Finn would have been a shit teacher if the tall teen had asked him.
"Channel that confidence from your dancing…"
"It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing…"
Finn and Carole raised their eyebrows. That was a huge improvement. His mother smiled and went to grab a glass of water.
"He's gotten a lot better," she said with a hint of relief, "he's been here since four and he hasn't had any improvement until now. Kurt's a good teacher!" She filled the glass with water and turned to leave the kitchen, "wash your plate when you're done, sweety."
"Don't mean a thing, all you gotta do is sing…"
Taking a final glance at the door to the basement, Finn returned to his dinner.
...
It didn't strike Finn until the next glee club meeting that Mike could have gone to Tina to help him with his singing. She'd been helping him with his confidence so far, and that duet they did was pretty cool, plus wasn't she his girlfriend or something? Finn thought she'd be a little pissed when she found out her boyfriend went to Kurt for advice instead of her, but when Mike stood up in front of the class and belted out the famous swing song she was the loudest one clapping.
"How…?" Rachel frowned next to him as she clapped with the rest of the group. The blushing Asian rubbed the back of his head and gave an awkward bow before going back to his seat. Mr. Schue clapped him on the shoulder, completely impressed.
"Kurt was helping him out yesterday," Finn explained, a little amused at the threatened look on his girlfriend's face. He mentally hoped she wouldn't start tricking Mike into believing club meetings were being held at mine fields or something.
"Oh…well…he did a good job," she shrugged, failing to sound genuinely happy for the boy.
Smiling, Finny kissed her on the cheek, "you're still the best singer, don't worry."
He'd never admit it, but he couldn't help but feel a little threatened as well as he watched Mike sit by Kurt to thank him. Maybe Rachel was rubbing off on him.
TBC
