Gives Me Hope
I wrote this as a response to a Gives Me Hope-inspired prompt I found over at glee_fluff_meme.
Enjoy!
Finn was walking down the halls by himself, completely immersed in a daze. And for once, no one tried bothering him.
The jocks stopped slushie-ing him after he busted Karofsky's face, and Rachel laid off his case after he firmly (but as kindly as he could) told her to give him some breathing room for a bit. He wasn't sure what he wanted from life, now that he found out that Quinn-the ex-girlfriend he loved and trusted and thought he was having a baby with-screwed around with his former bro. He knew Puck was notorious for sleeping around with anything that gave him a second glance, but he thought that Puck would have more respect.
Obviously he was wrong, and now he felt so distanced from his peers, and his mother… his mother constantly shot him pitying looks when she thought he wasn't looking, and he'd had more of her famous snickerdoodles than he could recall.
Mr. Schue was the only other person he could stomach willingly talking to. Mr. Schue pretty much knew where he was coming from, and his Spanish teacher let him hang out after glee was done, let him vent and cry and (involuntarily) break one of his desks. Mr. Schue'd made him fix it once he cooled off, but that's besides the point.
He walked in on a mandatory assembly, choosing one of the seats near the back exits, and hunched over, using his Letterman jacket like a turtle would use its shell.
Finn dozed for a bit, only little bits and pieces of what Principal Figgins was ranting on about wending into his brain, but when he heard a slight commotion a few rows in front of him, he cracked open one eye to quietly observe.
It was the usual Kurt-versus-jocks deal, with all of them surrounding a very tense soprano in his seat, right in the middle of the row. Kurt said nothing, even as Karofsky and Werner, the closest next to him, shoved him back and forth like a ping-pong ball. Karofsky knocked into Kurt so hard that the boy's sparkly little beret-thing flew off his head and landed into the row behind him.
Finn looked around, ticked off that none of the teachers were picking up on this. Seriously, it wasn't like the jocks were keeping their comments, or their laughter, hushed.
Kurt grunted in surprised pain when Werner took his large, callused black hand and thumped him on his shoulders, making Kurt ram forward into the back of the next seat. Several other people nearby giggled behind their hands. Finn growled to himself. That was enough.
"Hey, Karofsky!" He shouted. Finn ignored Figgins' agitated reprimand from the stage, as well as everyone else's eyes locked onto him as he stood from his seat. "Quit pickin' on Kurt, man. The fuck has he ever done to you?"
Karofsky sneered, standing up as well. "He probably looked at me whenever we changed in the locker rooms."
Finn smirked. "Karofsky, I'm into dudes, and I would never look at your fat ass."
There was an awkward silence before several of the gleeks from across the auditorium hooted and clapped, spurring everyone else into a cheering frenzy. Brittany even did half of an ad-libbed cheer before Coach Sylvester yanked the blonde back down into her seat.
Kurt was looking at him gratefully, and it was different from that time when Puck shoved him into a locker those years ago. There was that lack of adoration, the kind of devout gleam you see in crazed religious peoples' eyes. He found himself smiling slightly in return before he walked out of the auditorium to the soundtrack of catcalls and fading applause.
Later on, right before glee, Finn caught his ex-best friend approaching him. He fleetingly thought about casually turning and walking off in the other direction, but Puck had that determined look in his eyes that Finn recognized from the huddles during the games they won. He stood stock-still, watching blankly as the mohawked jock came to a stop in front of him.
"Hi."
Finn just stared hard at him, unrelenting as he folded his arms across his chest. He flexed his muscles and smirked at the slightly intimidated shuffle it caused.
"That was pretty cool, what you did for Kurt today." He said, and Puck sounded honest, much to Finn's surprise.
"What happened to you always bullying Kurt? And why are you even talking to me?" He asked harshly, only feeling a twinge of guilt at Puck's wince.
"Look, man," Puck murmured. "I know we're still not cool, but-. Look, I'm just really… grateful." He seemed to briefly debate over something, before, "You protected him when I wouldn't, even if it was my job. And that's opened my eyes, because…"
Finn was completely thrown when Puck fondly gazed over at Kurt, where the diva was laughing along with Mercedes and Tina over something Artie said. "Because I have responsibilities, not just to Quinn's baby." He shot a nervous look at his ex-best friend. "And… and I want to make sure Kurt's okay, you know? So just… thanks."
When Finn saw Puck and Kurt walking down the hall together the next day, hand-in-hand with Puck shouldering a glowing Kurt's messenger bag, Finn thought he could never feel more satisfied.
He struck up a conversation with Rachel when the girl gave him a halfhearted greeting in passing, returning her smile as she talked about plans for glee.
"Hey Finn," She asked suddenly. He nodded. "Are you gay? I mean, the assembly yesterday…"
"No." Finn said honestly. "No, I'm not."
Rachel eyed him pensively for a moment, a smile tugging at her lips. "You, Finn Hudson, are amazing. Don't let anyone ever tell you different."
For the first time ever, Finn found himself helping out with laundry when he got home from football practice.