Title: Five Times Finn Wanted To Step In When The Football Team Was Bullying Kurt (And One Time He Did)
Author: AoiTsukikage
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairing: Finn, Kurt; mostly platonic
Chapter: 1/1
Word Count: Just under 4500
Spoilers: Up to 2x10, so everything.
Summary: What the title says :D
Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own these characters, no matter how sad that makes me. I do, however, promise to return them when I'm done with them. :)
Five Times Finn Wanted To Step In When The Football Team Was Bullying Kurt (And One Time He Did)
1. Sure, he's noticed the kid. Who hasn't, really? And even if he doesn't dress any different than anybody else (really, Finn's entire wardrobe consists of polos and jeans anyway), the way he practically skips down the hall basically outs him to everybody no matter what. And yeah, he's been teased his whole life for always being like a foot taller than anybody in class, so he knows how it feels, but halfway through freshman year when he gets to school and finds some of the other boys picking up the kid and heading toward the dumpster, he thinks that maybe it's high time he does something about it.
Especially since the kid's squawking something awful about somebody named Alexander McQueen (wasn't he like an old movie star? Or was that somebody different?) and his jacket (which is, like, shiny and stuff and looks totally gay) that cost $500, so it's an impulse decision to step in when he does.
"Hey, dudes, lay off him."
"You just want to be the one to chuck him in, don't you, bro?" Puck is, of course, in on it, and the rest of the boys nod their agreement. Finn may not be the quarterback yet, but he's still the tallest guy in the school and has a hot girlfriend, so he pretty much commands respect despite that.
"Nah, you go ahead. Just let him take off the jacket. I mean, I don't wanna hear him whining all day about it," Finn shrugs, and that's pretty cruel of him, really, but his reputation's important to him and at least this way he won't get called out for 'sticking up for the gay kid.'
"Yeah, true. Hand it over," Puck tells him, and the kid quickly shrugs it off and passes it to Finn – directly to Finn, which is kinda weird, but whatever.
Finn doesn't watch the act itself, but he sticks around until the kid has climbed out of the dumpster, covered in trash and dust and with what looked like spaghetti sauce in his hair, and wordlessly holds the jacket out.
The kid snatches it without a word and cradles it to his chest, looking like he wants to say something, but Finn turns around and leaves before he can.
He realizes after that he doesn't even know the kid's name, and feels kinda bad about it, but he makes a point to find out what it is.
Someday.
2. There's only about a month left of freshman year when Puck and Karofsky come up with the idea of pee balloons, and Finn thinks that's pretty gross, but like awesomely gross, because, man, pee balloons.
He has a bit of an issue with the fact that they're planning on ambushing the kid (who, he's learned in the meantime, is named Kurt Hummel) outside of his dad's shop (which just so happens to be named 'Hummel's Tire and Lube', and dude, the guys love to make fun of that one), but he can't really say no because otherwise he might be the one getting the pee balloons thrown at him and…no. Just no.
So it's a sunny day when they park across the street from the garage and wait for Kurt…Hummel, Finn has to remind himself, because calling the guy you pick on every day by his first name doesn't seem right. He comes along eventually, skipping down the sidewalk (Puck likes to call it 'frolicking,' which Finn thinks is awesome, but he only remembers the word like half the time).
They all make sure that Mr. Hummel isn't in sight (they've seen him before and the dude's scary) before getting out of the truck, Finn a little slower because he still thinks drenching somebody with pee is going a little far, but the others don't seem to have the same problems and Puck yells "Heads up, Hummel!" before they throw the balloons.
The kid looks shocked for a few seconds before he looks down, and ew, he's wearing white and now it's like a dirty yellow color and just…Finn can't do it, not with the way Hummel looks like he's torn between throwing up and crying, and he tosses the balloon into a nearby hedge (those people would always wonder what had happened to make their plants die) before they all make a mad dash for the truck, roaring down the street and back toward Puck's house (of course none of them are old enough to drive legally, but that's never stopped Puck before).
But just before he gets into the truck he catches the kid's eye and it makes his stomach drop with something that's probably guilt. Nobody deserves to have pee balloons thrown at them.
Of course, he'll never tell the others that.
3. The last week of the year turns into the official 'Pick on Hummel Week,' and as much as Finn hates it, he still isn't about to tell the guys to lay off.
On the last day of school, though, the entire gang decides it would be a good idea to throw slushies at Kurt and even though Finn's pretty sure at least Chang and Rutherford aren't totally down with the whole bullying thing, neither of them are doing anything to stop it, either, so Finn goes along with them.
At least, until it comes to actually throwing the slushie, and he mimes it and just drinks the whole thing (too fast, because ow, cold headache). He follows the rest of them down the hall, making plans for the summer, before pretending he's forgotten something in his locker (he actually does forget things, like all the time, so they all believe him and take off, promising to call later).
Finn walks back down the halls, finding Kurt where they'd left him, making a mess of the floor and looking like he's crying. And yeah, Finn feels kinda bad, so he puts a gentle hand on Kurt's shoulder, feeling ice and sticky syrup under his fingers, and Kurt flinches away and brings his hands up to cover his face like he thinks Finn's going to hurt him or something. And man, that hurts, even though it shouldn't because it only makes sense that Kurt's afraid of him.
"Hey. C'mon," Finn steers him into the bathroom, and Kurt probably would have protested that too but he stays eerily quiet (and Finn wonders absently when the kid stopped being 'Hummel' and had become 'Kurt,' but it doesn't matter that much).
Kurt's still shaking, his tear-filled eyes looking really, really blue, and Finn's pretty sure nobody's going to come in because dude, last day of school, you'd have to be crazy to stick around, so he isn't worried about that. It's kinda worrying that Kurt doesn't seem to be able to move by himself, so Finn pulls over a chair (why there's a random chair in the washroom he'll never know, but it's always been there) and gets him to sit on it, prompting him to unbutton his jacket and take it off. It's one of those fancy ones again but it's probably ruined, covered in slush, and Finn thinks that maybe Kurt should have kept dressing normally but throughout the year his clothes have just gotten more and more…well, gay.
And it should be really, really weird to wash another guy's hair, especially since Finn isn't graceful at the best of times, but Kurt still hasn't said anything, and even though his eyes are closed now tears still leak out every few seconds.
He's almost finished when the door does open, but it's only Mr. Schuester, and Finn thinks he's pretty cool so he's okay with that.
"Hey, Finn; Kurt. I'm just checking to make sure everybody's gone," Mr. Schue tells them, and Finn nods and tries to get a chunk of particularly stubborn ice out of Kurt's bangs.
"We'll be gone soon, Mr. Schue," he promises. "I'm just helping Kurt clean up. He got slushied pretty bad."
"Yeah, I saw the puddle in the hallway," Mr. Schue sighs. "You're a good kid for doing this, Finn."
"I couldn't not do anything," Finn mutters, rinsing Kurt's hair again and grabbing a few paper towels to try and get some of the moisture out. He's probably doing it all wrong but Kurt still doesn't say anything so he keeps on.
"Drop by the office and let me know when you're done, okay? And Finn, I want that essay on the first day of school, alright?"
"Uh…"
"What you did over the summer?"
"Oh, yeah! That essay! I'll have it, Mr. Schue," Finn nods and Mr. Schue walks back out the door as Finn finishes drying off Kurt's hair the best he can.
He's almost out the door when Kurt's voice stops him, a tiny, "Thank you, Finn Hudson," and Finn feels really bad about leaving again.
"Hey, buddy. You need a ride?"
Kurt nods, looking about ten with his hair dripping and his eyes red, and Finn helps him up and out to the parking lot, calling his mom on the way.
They swing by Mr. Schue's office and he pats Kurt's shoulder and wishes them both a good summer before they leave, waiting in the parking lot until Finn's mom shows up.
His mom has always been awesome about…well, everything, really, so when she starts doing that motherly-cooing thing over Kurt he can tell that it makes the other boy feel better. He's never heard about Kurt's mother, and he doesn't want to ask in case he starts crying again or something, but he's pretty sure she isn't around anymore. There's a kind of awkward silence as they drive across town so he decides to break it, clearing his throat before he does.
"Dude, I'm really sorry about your jacket. I know it's like…Steve McQueen or something and probably costs like a bunch," he stammers.
"Alexander McQueen, Finn," Kurt does this little huffy-sigh thing, but he looks happier at least. "Not that I'd expect you to know that."
"Oh. Cool. 'Cuz I was wondering why some old movie actor was, like, designing things," Finn replies, and Kurt actually laughs at that one, and it feels good, knowing that he made Kurt a little happier.
They drop Kurt off at his dad's shop, and Kurt thanks him and his mom again before stepping out of the vehicle and heading into the garage.
The whole way home his mom doesn't stop smiling, and Finn can tell that she's really, really proud of him for doing what he did.
He only wishes he could be proud of himself.
4. Because of that, when Kurt comes up to him in the fall and asks for tips on getting onto the football team, Finn kinda feels like he owes him and agrees to it (even if it leads to far too many mean jokes on Puck's part about the two of them being an item, and even if he's still a little weirded out because yeah, Kurt deciding to slap his butt in front of the whole school was totally not part of their original choreography). But Finn's still anxious about being in the shower room at the same time as Kurt, because ever since the summer Kurt's looked at him with these doe-eyes and it's kinda freaking him out.
But one day he actually does forget his book in the locker room and goes back to get it, only to find Kurt on the ground with a whole lot of broken bottles around him, looking like he's about to start crying again.
"Hey, dude," Finn says, moving farther into the room and making sure he doesn't step on any of the glass. "Um…"
"Hello, Finn Hudson," Kurt sounds tired, and he picks himself up off the tile and scoops up the couple of bottles that weren't made of glass. "You can leave, you know."
"No, I…I wanna help," Finn leans down and finds a couple more unbroken bottles, which he passes to Kurt. "I know this stuff costs a fortune and how much time you spend on it, so…"
"Really, it's okay," Kurt assures him. "Not the first time, and if nothing else it's a stern reminder for me to leave my most expensive products at home."
"But dude, you shouldn't have to go through this! It's not fair!" Finn protests, not sure where that came from but it feels good to say it aloud.
"Life isn't fair," Kurt says it like he's quoting some movie, and he probably is, but he carefully steps over the glass and puts the surviving bottles back into the locker before locking it tightly. "I'll see you in Glee tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Sounds good, dude," Finn turns to leave before he notices a streak of red on the ground, and he swallows and says, "Um…you're bleeding."
"I know," Kurt sounds dead, like this is normal, and Finn can see that whenever he takes a step there's kind of half of a bloody footprint left behind. "I'll fix it up later."
"Sorry, but we can't really have a winning kicker if his foot's got glass in it," Finn doesn't really think about what he's doing and scoops Kurt into his arms, making the other boy shriek at the unexpected action. "I'm taking you to the nurse."
"At least let me change! I'm wearing a bathrobe!" Kurt whacks ineffectually at Finn's shoulder until he relents and lets Kurt change into more normal clothes…well, normal for him, at least, before picking him up again and carrying him down the hall, Kurt muttering about how embarrassing this is.
Finn hangs around until Kurt comes out of the nurse's office, assuring Finn that it looks worse than it is and that he's fine, really, but Finn insists on carrying him back to the locker room to get his shoes and his supplies.
"Really, I'm lucky that I started bleeding," Kurt's saying. "One of those Neanderthals came up with the brilliant 'truth' that if any of them touched my blood I'd give them AIDS, so they all tore out of there pretty quick."
"Dude, that totally doesn't make sense! You're not even gay!" Finn's feeling pretty proud of himself for that one, but Kurt's looking at him in disbelief, and he has a feeling he's said something stupid again.
"I…know I told you that, but…you didn't believe me, did you?"
"Um…of course not?"
"Oh, Finn," Kurt sighs and leans his head against Finn's shoulder, and yeah, kinda weird, but Kurt weighs like nothing and he really doesn't mind. "Well, whatever your reason, I'm glad you're not running away."
"No way, dude," Finn's pretty sure he's known all along that Kurt was into guys, mostly because of the way Kurt looks at him, but even he's paid enough attention in class to know that being gay doesn't mean you have AIDS or anything. They've reached the locker room by now and he carefully puts Kurt down and offers to carry his bag for him as they leave the school.
It totally gives him a warm feeling in his heart when Kurt tells him that yes, he's okay to drive, and offers to drop Finn off at his place before heading home himself.
That warm feeling is somewhat cooled by the fact that Finn isn't sure if he could ever be that nice to Kurt when the other guys are around.
And he can't help but feel that, somehow, that totally isn't cool.
5. The last day of sophomore year plays out almost identical to the last day of freshman year, and even though Kurt's kinda Coach Sylvester's favourite and that should grant him, like, bullying immunity or something it totally doesn't.
And at least Puck and Matt and Mike aren't bugging Kurt anymore, but between Karofsky and Azimio and a bunch of the other football guys he's got plenty of people who still get off on tormenting him, as bad as that is.
So Finn's heading to Kurt's locker to ask for a ride, because he totally forgot that his mom and Burt are out of town shopping and he has no way to get home otherwise (and he'd go over to Kurt's for a while, but he's still not sure where he and Burt stand. He thinks they're okay, but Burt still scares him like a lot, so he's not chancing that one in case they come home early). He rounds the corner in time to see some of the bigger football players slam Kurt into the lockers so hard that he actually bounces off of them before slumping to the floor, looking dazed.
"Have a good summer, Hummel," Azimio laughs as they all leave, and Finn waits until they're out of sight before moving toward the locker (and resisting the urge to yell at the like fifteen people who watched the whole thing and didn't even try to help).
"Dude, you okay?" Finn extends his hand and Kurt blinks a few times, reaching a hand up to touch the back of his head before he lets Finn help him up, immediately staggering enough that Finn reaches out to steady him. "Wow, they really went all-out, huh?"
"You could say that," Kurt's still looking a little woozy so Finn grabs Kurt's bag and slings the other boy's arm over his shoulders, helping him down the hall and out of the school. "Finn…Finn, I'm okay, really…"
"No way, dude. You have like a con…a con…a head injury," Finn's proud of himself for covering that one up.
"Concussion," Kurt groans, and Finn's now feeling bad for the fact that, even with his…concussion, Kurt's still smarter than he is. "And no, I don't. I've had them before, and if I had one, I wouldn't have remembered what just happened. But, that being said, I don't think I'm up for driving, so how about you take me home?" Kurt reaches in his bag and digs out a keyring, and Finn thinks that Kurt must have hit his head harder than either of them thought.
"Dude. You'd let me drive your baby?" Finn asks, his voice squeaking a little on the end because he's always wanted to drive that thing!
"If anything happens to her, you're paying for it," Kurt replies, dropping the keys in his hand and letting go of Finn in order to lean against the Navigator. "Dad and you mom won't be back for a while," he adds when Finn hesitates, and Finn really hates it when he does that creepy mind-reading thing.
"Okay. Cool," Finn unlocks the SUV and opens the door for Kurt, who gives him a half-smile before climbing into the passenger's side.
They're quiet on the drive back to Kurt's, but Finn's inwardly doing backflips because he's so driving the coolest car in Lima right now - possibly Ohio, and Kurt looks...well, Finn doesn't think anybody can really look happy after being thrown into a locker, but he looks content, and it's a good look on him.
"Dude, I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner," Finn finally says as they pull up in front of Kurt's. "I could've stopped them."
"You did more than anybody else," Kurt reaches over to pat his knee but stops at the last second, drawing his hand back and getting out of the SUV.
Great. Kurt's still afraid of him. And not that Finn can blame him, really; not after what he pulled, but…he thinks on Kurt's last words for a moment and realizes that even if he did more than everybody else, it's still nowhere close to being enough.
And it's high time he changes that.
And One Time He Did:
1. It's lonely now that Kurt's at Dalton, although Finn doesn't really realize how much he misses the other boy until he wants to tell him something really important and he's just…not there. Not that they don't talk, or that Kurt wasn't home for Christmas, but just…sometimes Finn needs to see him in person, and it's kinda freaking him out how much he and Kurt have come to depend on each other in the last year or so, considering where they started.
Which is why, when Mr. Schue assigns some song that they need to learn a waltz for, he ambushes Kurt when he comes home for the weekend and drags him off to the auditorium (partly because he just wants to spend time with him and partly because dancing with Kurt isn't really embarrassing once you've done it in front of your entire family and all of your friends, plus he kinda wants to impress the rest of the club by actually knowing what he's doing when the time comes).
"Okay," Kurt's saying, pacing across the stage before he stops in front of Finn and moves him into position. "It's a little different than what we practiced for the wedding but not much: waltzes are three-count instead of four."
"Huh?"
"Oh, Finn," Kurt sighs. "That Bruno Mars song, count it in your head."
Finn does, and sees where Kurt's coming from. He thinks. "Okay. So it's, like, 1-2-3-4 and then it starts over again, right?"
"Right," Kurt smiles and Finn's happy that he's at least figured something out from being in Glee Club for a year. "But honestly, I don't understand how you can be such a phenomenal drummer and not know the slightest thing about time signatures."
"I just…feel the beat, man. It works somehow, but only when I'm sitting down," he shrugs.
"That makes no sense whatsoever, but I've come to expect that from you," Kurt's not being mean, not really, and Finn just laughs it off. Brothers are supposed to make fun of each other, right? "Okay, so waltzes are 1-2-3, so the style is a little different, but…here," he drags the portable iPod player over and sets it up on top of the piano, hooking up his own iPod and scrolling through until he finds something he likes and presses play. "I know it's classical, but bear with me: it's the best way to teach you."
Finn doesn't really care what the music is as long as he doesn't make a fool of himself, and truth be told it's not as hard as it looks (and Kurt's a pretty good teacher, besides). He runs off to use the washroom at one point, coming back to the auditorium to find Kurt backed up against the piano and circled by some of the football jocks.
"Don't you Neanderthals have lives? It's a Saturday!" Kurt's exclaiming, and he's sacred, Finn can tell (he doesn't know exactly what went down with Karofsky, not that he's here now, but ever since then Kurt's been even more skittish when it comes to being harassed. And he transferred to get away from all of this, so this is totally not cool).
"Picking on you is the most fun we could have on a Saturday, isn't it, boys?" Azimio (and it would have to be him in Karofsky's absence, wouldn't it?) jeers, and while Finn knows he can't stand up to all of them, he's not going to let them threaten Kurt anymore.
"Leave him alone!"
"Protecting the boyfriend, hey, Hudson? Do your parents know what the two of you get up to at night?" somebody calls, but Finn's ignoring the jibes as he heads onto the stage, grabbing Kurt's arm and pulling him close.
"Kurt's my brother now, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to look out for him," Finn says, trying to sound tough (even though he's way outnumbered, and even though the way Kurt's curled into him, face against his neck and one hand gripping his shoulder, isn't really all that 'brotherly').
"So we'll take both you fairies, then! Shouldn't be too hard," Azimio cracks his knuckles and Finn can feel Kurt flinch against him, the shorter boy's breath fast against his skin. Finn closes his eyes and tries to shield Kurt with his body, but the expected pain never comes, and he looks up cautiously to find that the boys are all staring at the auditorium door.
With good reason, too; and Finn never thought he'd be happy to see Coach Sylvester, but yeah, he totally is right now. Except she's yelling at them through a bullhorn and dude, so not necessary, but he only half listens to her go on about 'detention for the rest of your lives!' before asking Kurt if he's okay.
"Fine. Thank you, Finn," Kurt doesn't move away from him, though, and Finn can feel him trembling, so he keeps his arms around him until all the boys have run off and Coach Sylvester comes farther into the auditorium.
"Afternoon, Porcelain; Frankenteen."
Finn groans. Santana must have told her that one, but it does get a laugh out of Kurt so he guesses he's okay with it.
"Thanks, Coach Sylvester," Kurt clears his throat and looks at her, and she nods to him.
"I promised to have your back, kid. And you might not be a student here anymore, but that's not going to change. Okay?"
"Okay," Kurt nods.
"Great. Go back to…whatever it was you were doing. I need to go yell at some more people to make me feel better," she tightens her grip on the megaphone and stalks off, Kurt still laughing as she exits.
"Dude, she's scary."
"She's not so bad," Kurt takes a step back. "You want to practice some more or call it a day? We could hit up that place with the giant televisions and the incredibly unhealthy food for a late lunch? My treat."
"Dude, you hate that place!"
"…I know," Kurt turns and gives him a little smile over his shoulder, collecting his iPod and bag before holding out his hand to Finn.
And Finn takes it, knowing that this is the real thank you for what he's done. He doesn't deserve it, not yet, and not after all the times he's just watched over the years when he could have stepped in, but standing up for Kurt the way he did just feels…right.
And as they walk to the parking lot, still holding hands, he silently vows that he's going to be doing a lot more of that in the future.
Notes:
-I have so many other things to be working on, really, but this idea just jumped at me out of nowhere and so here it is. The idea of Kurt dressing normally comes from 'Ballads,' where in his flashback about first falling in love with Finn he is kind of dressed like everybody else, so my theory is that he just wasn't as confident when he was just starting high school and eventually built up to more outrageous outfits xP
-The pee balloon thing comes from the pilot and still squicks me out. Really.
-Also, it's strange that I totally didn't make the connection from 'Furt' to my other 'Five Times' fic until long after I'd watched the episode, because one of the vignettes in the fic has Kurt and Finn dancing at a wedding (albeit not Burt and Carole's, but a wedding nonetheless). So once I'd stopped squeezing over the show and realized that I thought it was kind of an odd coincidence, because I for one am pretty much awful at predicting where canon's going to go, so knowing I got one thing right (especially when it was really just an overblown 'this'll-never-happen-on-the-show' fantasy in my brain!) makes me happy :)
-That's all for this time! I promise I'll get back to what I should be writing soon… (And don't be afraid to leave a comment/review on the way out!)