"Finn. What do you think you are doing?"
Kurt's voice was sharp, but he struggled to restrain it. He had promised himself to try and stay calm and have a mature conversation with his brother, but the more he thought about the issue the more angry he got.
He waltzed in and stood in front of the TV screen where Finn was watching a football game that may or may not have been a big deal.
Kurt was well aware that it was an unfair trick, but he also knew perfectly well that this was the only way to truly get Finn to pay attention to what he was saying.
"I'm trying to watch a game here. Or at least I would if you would get out of the way," Finn busted out as he moved to sit at the edge of the couch, trying to look around Kurt in front of the television.
"Well, I am not going to," Kurt snapped, and turned off the TV in one twist of his wrist, causing Finn to stare at him, eyes huge and mouth open in disbelief.
"Don't play dumb with me, Finn. What the hell do you think you're doing talking to Blaine like that?" Kurt crossed his arms over his chest, letting his one foot tap impatiently.
"Seriously, dude. I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't do anything to Blaine," Finn responded, looking genuinely confused at the sudden attack.
"Are you being serious right now? Every time he opens his mouth you are waiting in defense to throw something at him. You're supposed to be our captain, then why are you treating him like this?" Kurt tried his best to stay calm about it, but it was hard when Finn was sitting there so clueless and passive without as much as raising a freaking eyebrow.
"Would you relax a little? I'm not exactly throwing slushies at him or bashing him into dumpsters or anything," Finn defended himself, only to make Kurt throw out a tsk-sound of his tongue.
"You might as well be -"
"What? It's not like I'm bullying him or anything!"
Finn was starting to feel the vibe of a storm coming on too, and Kurt could see that he wasn't planning on letting it slide by as he was watching.
"Well Finn you kind of actually are. Do you even know why he transferred to Dalton in the first place? He needed a place to be safe. And then he finally has the courage to come back out of the uniform and be at a school where not everything is scheduled to be perfect and in boxes, and you just go and treat him like that. I am so disappointed in you."
It wasn't until now that Kurt felt exactly how disappointed he was in Finn. It welled in over him like a wave on a stormy beach, and he got a sudden urge to go over and shake Finn by the shoulders until he opened his eyes.
"New Directions has always been a place where people would go when they didn't fit in anywhere else. A place they could go and feel welcome, and be themselves, despite how much crap they got any other place. We have taken pride in that for so long. You're supposed to be our leader, Finn. Man up and make Blaine feel welcome."
Kurt bit his lower lip, searching Finn's face for a reaction, but he had no idea what was going on behind those furrowed brows of his.
"Blaine seems like a cool guy, and yeah we hung out over the summer and it was all nice. Totally. But then he just comes here from one day to another and thinks he knows everything about how to run a glee club, and acts like he knows the New Directions. Just because he got every solo there was at Dalton it doesn't mean he can strut in here and expect to get every one here too. We had to work our asses off to get where we are now, and so does he."
Finn too crossed his arms over his chest, and presented an expression that made Kurt almost expect him to ring a bell to start the fight.
"Then you better bring it, Frankenteen," Kurt thought to himself.
"I think you should take a step back and listen to what you just said there - cause you actually just walked into glee club two years ago and got all the solos without even lifting a finger. Just because you had the strongest male vocal - and oh yeah; because Rachel wanted to snog you!"
Kurt was done playing nice. If Finn wasn't going to, then he certainly wasn't either. In his opinion there wasn't enough maturity in the world to reach to the bottom of Finn's pighead at this moment.
"Yeah. And didn't you complain about your lack of solos for the last two years? Do you seriously think that you are gonna get anymore solos if Blaine just walks in and thinks he can get all of them? No. You're gonna get none. If Blaine just gets to walk into the choir room with his big Broadway aspiring ego without anyone saying something to him every solo is gonna end up like that role you wanted on West Side Story."
Kurt could see on Finn's face that he knew that he had crossed the line, but now that the battle was on there was no way he would ever come around to admit it and apologize.
"That was a low blow, Finn, and you know it! Don't even drag that role into this, you know perfectly well that I am extremely proud of Blaine for getting that role."
Kurt pursed his lips and shifted to put his weight on the other leg, digging his nails into the tender flesh of the inside of his elbow to stop himself from having a fit.
"I really thought you knew me better than that by now. You know what, Finn? I don't freaking care that I have to share the spotlight with Blaine because he deserves it. He's so talented - and a lot more than many of the people I have heard sing. He is not just a singer, he's a performer, with everything he contains."
"Come on, you're just -" Finn began, but Kurt's lips formed a thin line and he held up a hand to stop him.
"No, you musically incompetent primate, I am not just saying that because he's my boyfriend. You know that he is talented, and you think very much so yourself. Don't think I haven't seen you looking impressed at him whenever he performs. You're just jealous, and scared that he's gonna have all the lead solos with Rachel, and you'll end up being just as neglected as the rest of us," Kurt swung out so fast that he almost wasn't able to keep up with his own words.
"Hey guys. What's going on here?"
Burt Hummel entered the living room, making both of the boys almost stretch their necks in a surprised motion, before they started explaining themselves simultaneously, making themselves incoherent trying to get their point out before the other.
"Hey, HEY! Take it easy. I don't get a word either of you are saying so let's just take it one at a time okay?" Burt looked at them both with a sharp gaze, making them abruptly go silent as if he had pressed a mute button.
"Kurt. Go and sit down next to Finn, then we can hear what he has to say on the case." Burt sat down in his usual chair as he gestured for Kurt to sit down next to his brother.
"But -" Kurt started, only to be stopped by his father's sharp eyes.
"You heard me. You're gonna get your turn, and you are gonna be just as quiet while Finn explains himself, as he will be when you do."
Kurt knew that this was the end of discussion. He shot his dad a glare that he let express as much resentment as possible before he stuck his nose in the air and marched over to sit at the far end of the couch next to Finn, his arms still crossed, his legs now too.
"I was just sitting here watching the game, when Kurt came in here starting accusing me of bullying Blaine. Which I am not. I am just telling him that this isn't Dalton, and that he can't get everything he wants. I didn't do anything, other than my duty as a captain to make the glee club work."
Finn shrugged as if it was no big deal, and he had only asked Blaine to talk nice to other people.
"It's not like he speaks that nicely to people himself. Kurt is just protecting him because they're a couple and he doesn't see beyond that pink love cloud he's on." Finn closed with a cocky sniff.
Kurt pursed his lips and sent Finn a glare that very possibly could have shot toxic darts at him, before he looked to his dad to silently ask permission to speak.
"Kurt. Is that how you see this too?" Burt asked, clearly knowing that this wasn't the case.
"Of course not. Finn is just being his Neanderthal self, acting all primitive because he feels that his leading position is threatened. Blaine hasn't done anything than being optimistic and trying to keep the team together, even though he has nothing to do with the drama that's going on all the freaking time," Kurt snapped, doing a pose to emphasize just how much he wasn't going to look at Finn.
"Since the first day, actually, at the very first glee club meeting that Blaine was at Finn just attacked him out of nowhere, accusing him of setting that ridiculous fire on the piano even though it was Sue's little minions doing it. Finn was there, he saw it. Blaine didn't do anything but perform his introduction number for the school - doing exactly what Finn never had the guts to; a big solo dance number in front of everyone without caring."
Kurt paused to take a deep breath, between his hasty ramble of words so he could take up the pace before anyone could interrupt him.
"And then when I confront him he first acts stupid, then he tries covering it up as if he's doing it out of charity for me because he's allegedly afraid that I'm not gonna get any solos - that's bullshit, Finn. You're just jealous, and that is why you're bullying Blaine. Just back the fuck off. If you can't be a leader for the group without letting your own ways intoxicate your decisions then maybe it's time for us to have a new leader."
Kurt leaned satisfied back, feeling a relief of finally being able to get off his chest what he had wanted to for so goddamn long.
Burt stared from one son to the next, shock painted across his face.
"Is this really true, Finn? Have you been bullying Blaine because you feel threatened by him?"
It was very clear to Kurt that this wasn't going to be let off easily, and he was very appreciative of that.
"It's not like that. There's just been so much taking us apart lately, and I don't want to worry about another thing messing up this group," Finn vaguely tried to defend himself.
"What happened, Finn? I thought you'd completely left all of that behind. You were being the bigger man for such a long time, and then you go treat the new kid like that. The new kid that's your brother's boyfriend, the new kid that is a part of our family. I would've thought you'd know better…"
Burt sounded extremely disappointed, and the strike of that showed on Finn's face instantly. If there was anything that Kurt and Finn feared it was the disappointed voice of their parents. That would always be enough to make them curl their toes and look embarrassed to the floor.
"I - it wasn't like that, okay. I like Blaine. He's cool. This has nothing to do with him being gay or anything…"
"No one said it did, Finn. But it has something to do with him coming to your school to try and fit in and create a life with the boy he loves and you go and make it a sour experience for him, that's what this is about and I won't have it. I don't want Kurt to be nervous about asking his boyfriend to our house because his brother is acting like a jerk to him."
The embarrassment had started to wash in over Finn's face, and Kurt was stealing glances at him out of the corner of his eye, still trying to make a statement by refusing to look directly at him, though unable to hide his curiosity.
"Now before you say anything, and before Kurt starts gloating I wanna emphasize how much this isn't about Blaine being Kurt's boyfriend - this is about me not wanting to see any of you treating other kids like they aren't welcome. Not just in my house, but anywhere you meet them. I've seen what that did to Kurt, and I don't wanna see any person suffer like he did. Do I make myself clear?"
He forced both of them to look at him as he made his eyes meet theirs, letting his bore into the boys' to make sure they had truly understood his point.
"Yeah," the boys muttered simultaneously, as they nodded.
Kurt felt a rush of affection for his dad. He wanted to stand up and go over and hug him for as long as possible, but he didn't. He wasn't sure whether more was to come, so he stayed still waiting for someone else to make a move.
"And with Sue being all over the place these days, and your glee club losing members you should really try sticking together instead of fighting each other. Just a piece of advice. Finn, if I hear that you've acted to Blaine like that again you aren't gonna be happy with what's coming to hit you," Burt warned, looking at Finn, before he turned to Kurt.
"And Kurt, I know he's your boyfriend and all, but you need to let him stand up for himself. He's a smart kid, he should be able to do that," Burt concluded.
"Sure. I'm sorry, dad - I just want Blaine to feel welcome so he don't have to feel like he needs to hide anymore," Kurt mumbled honestly.
"It's not me you should be apologizing to. It's Finn," Burt responded calmly, pointing to Finn at the other end of the couch.
"What? I didn't -"
"Kurt. It wasn't your battle to take on, and you could have handled this a little more maturely than this," Burt argued, making a sour look cross Kurt's face, followed by an honest feeling of guilt.
"Yeah. I'm sorry, Finn. I just - I just want Blaine to be okay," Kurt apologized, chewing on his lip in a desperate hope for Finn to apologize too, or he wouldn't guarantee for the consequences.
"I know. I'm sorry too. It's just really tough to be the leader of the group these days. It seems like it's all falling apart and there's nothing I can do about it. And Rachel's not being any help cause she's spending all her time on the musical. With Blaine."
Finn looked at Kurt with eyes begging for his brother's forgiveness.
"It's not me you should be apologizing to. It's Blaine," Kurt said, an almost identical echo of his dad.
"I know, I'll talk to him tomorrow. I promise."
Finn stood up from the couch, Kurt following his lead, before being surprised by Finn bending down to give him an awkward hug, Kurt not even getting a chance to return it before he let go.
Kurt tripped half-heartedly to the stairs leading up to his room, before he turned to look at Finn.
"Finn - just please try. That's all I'm asking."