Will Schuester was proud of himself.

He knew that Kurt had been very unhappy with the previous week's glee assignment; he had felt alone, misunderstood and, most of all, unchallenged. He had kept that in mind when he decided to launch a second duet contest.

"Like last time, the winners will win a dinner for two at Breadstix, since you all seemed so eager to win. But there's a twist: the teams can only consist of two boys or two girls. Same-sex couples, basically." There was very little complaining among the glee clubbers as the teacher explained the assignment. Will looked at Kurt; the gay teenager was staring at him with a mix of suspicion and amusement.

"I am NOT singing a love song with another dude!" Puck protested.

"A duet doesn't have to be a love song, Noah. You have many options; there are duets that are not ballads. You can also modify a normal solo song and turn it into a duet. You can split the vocals of a song sung by a band. There are many possibilities; be creative!"

As Mr. Schue was explaining the details of the duet contest, Finn had a brilliant idea: he would team up with Kurt. The boy was crazy talented; the jazz song he did for the first duet contest had been really awesome. They would win that thing for sure, and Rachel wouldn't be able to talk him into losing, since they couldn't be partners. He would go to Breadstix with his almost-step-brother, who would probably leave half of his plate, and Finn would get one meal and a half! The jock was very pleased with his plan, and tried to catch Kurt's attention with a discreet 'pssst!'. When the shorter boy looked in his direction, he pointed back and forth between them both, explaining his idea with a thumb up. His hopes were crushed when Kurt clearly mouthed 'no' and looked away. The disappointment was mixed with confusion and sadness caused by the rejection. Why didn't he want to sing with him?

"I'll give you a few minutes to form your teams, and then we'll practice our number for Sectionals."

Quinn turned to Mercedes. "Honey, I have two words for you: Spice Girls."

The sassy girl grinned. "Oh, you're good!"

Kurt walked quickly to Artie and sat next to him. "Would you like to team up with me? With my talent and your soulful voice, we will destroy the competition. And I'll give you my dessert at Breadstix."

The wheelchair-bound boy smiled. "You've got a deal, Kurt."

"Hey… I wanted to sing with you…" Finn said to Kurt after lowering himself to his level.

"Out of the question." Kurt didn't even look at the taller boy.

"Why not?" a sheepish Finn asked.

"Because every time you actually take the time to interact with me, which really doesn't happen that often, I end up feeling bad about myself. And anyway…" Kurt said icily, a hostile gleam in his eyes, "…the football team could hear about you singing with the gay kid, and you'd take so much crap that you would have to leave the glee club. Now, we wouldn't want that, would we?"

Finn had a chill as Kurt threw his exact words right back to his face. "Dude, harsh…" Artie said tentatively.

"Whatever. Do you have any song ideas?" Kurt asked, no longer paying attention to Finn.

The poor boy went back to his seat, stunned. He barely heard Puck when the mohawked boy asked him to be his partner, and grumbled an answer without really understanding the question.

"Cool. But I warn you: we'll sing something super manly."

"Huh?" Finn uttered, finally acknowledging the presence of his friend.

"Dude, what is your problem?"

"I dunno…" Finn answered, once again losing himself in his thoughts. "That is the problem."

"So, who are you teamed up with?" Finn later asked Rachel while she was taking books from her locker.

"Tina. She didn't seem so eager to work with me, though. Maybe she was simply intimidated by my sheer talent."

Finn didn't move after Rachel had closed her locker door. "Can I ask you a question?"

The young girl was surprised to see how tense her boyfriend looked. "Of course. You know you can always talk to me."

"I think Kurt hates me. Why do you think that is?"

"That's a biggie…" Rachel cautiously commented. She paused for a moment, carefully choosing her words. "I don't think he hates you. He's just protecting himself."

"From what? From me? Why?" Finn asked, seriously puzzled by Rachel's declaration.

"You weren't very nice to him during the first duet contest… Maybe he still resents it."

"Yeah, he made that pretty clear…" Finn said, shivering as he remembered Kurt's icy retort. "But there's gotta be something else."

"Kurt's been very lonely lately, and no one's been there for him. And he probably expected you to be more of a friend to him than you have been."

"But… that's how it's always been! He helped me a lot last year when I went through the baby drama and stuff, and if he ever had a problem, I'd be there for him for sure. He just had to ask."

"He shouldn't have to, sweetie. From what I understand, it's probably a matter of time before you guys officially become step-brothers. You should have seen that he needed someone to talk to."

"I'm a guy, Rach. I don't see things like that."

The girl rolled her eyes. "That's right, you are such a boy. But I still love you."

Finn smiled as his girlfriend gave him a small kiss on the nose. "Anyway… Maybe there's something I don't know. He seems very distant, but I have to agree that he's particularly distant with you."

"So, what should I do?"

"I don't know… I think you kind of need to figure this out on your own."

Finn made a face. "You don't want to help me?"

"It's not that! It's just that your relationship with Kurt has been rather… peculiar since last year. I don't have all the answers."

The jock sighed. "You're right. I guess I have to solve this myself."

As soon as he got the chance, Finn went straight to Ms. Pillsbury's office. Rachel had been right, but it couldn't hurt to ask for a little bit of extra help.

"My relationship with Kurt kind of sucks right now and I want to figure out why."

"What makes you say that?" Emma asked.

"He refused to sing with me for the second duet contest. I think he hates me. He wasn't like that last year… I acted like I didn't notice, but I saw the way he looked at me. And… I know it sounds kind of corny, but I kept these looks like trophies in my heart. It made me feel good inside. It made me feel loved. I mean, Quinn never looked at me like that when we were together. And Rachel… Before I really got to know her, she could be kind of creepy. So was Kurt, in the end, but at first… it was sort of nice."

Finn blushed deeply as the words escaped his lips. He had never verbalized these thoughts before, and now he was pouring his heart out to Ms. Pillsbury, of all people.

"And why do you think he hates you now? Something must have happened."

"I dunno… I was kind of a jerk to him for the first contest."

"I think there's another reason."

Of course there is, Finn thought. He remembered the incident in Kurt's basement like it had happened yesterday. Kurt had gotten beyond creepy, that was for sure, but still, he didn't deserve the insults the jock had professed. But Finn had never talked about it to anybody. And so far, he had always thought that Kurt had kept it a secret as well. Did Ms. Pillsbury know about it? Finn looked at the red-headed lady suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember the last time you came to see me?"

"Yeah, that… that was when I went all crazy about… grilled cheesus." Looking back, Finn was really ashamed that he had been so dumb, and he flushed as he recalled those events.

"Yes, and you asked it three things…"

"Yeah… That we won the football game, that I would get to touch Rachel's boobs and that I'd be the quarterback again."

"Precisely. And what was happening to Kurt at that time?"

"Huh…" It took a few seconds for him to remember. "Burt had a heart attack."

"Exactly… Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Finn was thoroughly confused. "Not really, no."

"Your friend Kurt was going through something very hard, and you, when you thought you had a direct connection to God, asked for things that only benefited you."

Finn gasped. He had never seen things from this angle, and it horrified him. "I'm a monster!"

Emma smiled compassionately. "No, you're not. You're just selfish. But don't worry; many teenagers are."

The poor boy looked really dejected.

"You know what the good thing is, though?" Ms. Pillsbury asked.

"Is there one?" Finn asked back sarcastically.

"The real monsters are people who hurt other people on purpose without thinking of the consequences and without feeling guilty. You obviously feel bad about this, so it proves that you're a good person, Finn. Now you just have to show that to Kurt."

"You're right." A glitter of hope lit his eyes. "I'll show him what a good friend I can be!"

"That's the spirit!" Emma answered, pleased with herself.

"Thanks a lot, Ms. P!" Finn said before leaving the guidance counselor's office.

Finn wanted more than ever to sing with Kurt. His reasons were now completely different, though; he wanted to take this occasion to do some bonding with him. The jock seemed very excited when he entered the school gym. Artie was already there, lifting weights.

"Hey, Finn, how's it going?" Artie greeted.

"Artie, you have to let me sing with Kurt for the duet contest!" Finn asked right away.

"B-but I already said yes to him… and we already have a song…"

Finn's heart sank. "Really? What is it?"

"Meet Me Halfway, by the Black Eyed Peas. Kurt will be the Fergie to my will.. It's kind of… weird. Cool, but weird. I just hope he won't dress like her."

"Please, buddy? It's really, really important… And you'd be singing with Puck, and I know you guys have gotten close recently…" Finn said with a pleading voice.

"I… guess…" Artie mumbled. "But why is it so important to you?"

Finn looked down. "I've been such a crappy friend to Kurt lately… and I wanna make it up to him."

"Okay, then… but on one condition."

Finn looked back up at his friend. "Sure! Anything!" he said eagerly.

"YOU have to tell him we switched partners."

Finn gulped. "I can do that."

Finn couldn't find the courage at school to go to Kurt and tell him that they would sing together. Fortunately, he would have a perfect chance later that night, when he and his mom would go to the Hummel house for dinner. At least Kurt wouldn't have the chance to murder his almost-step-brother in front of their parents.

He knew the other boy would be very pissed, but it was worth it. Kurt would be a lot less angry once Finn would agree to do anything he wanted, and let him decide of all the details of their duet project. Reputation be damned, Finn would do whatever was needed to get back in Kurt's good graces. The shorter boy was just that important.

He was still quite apprehensive as Carole rang the doorbell and Burt opened the front door to greet them. Kurt was standing in the hall, and his face was impossible to read.

"Hey, Kurt…"

"Good evening, Finn Hudson."

Better get it over with. That way, Kurt would have the whole dinner to stop being mad at Finn.

"I have something to tell you."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, uhm…" Finn was fidgeting uncomfortably, his eyes riveted to the carpet. "I exchanged partners with Artie for the duet contest. You and I are gonna be singing together."

Finn was expecting a blowout. A major one. He was waiting to be yelled at, called names, and possibly slapped or punched.

…But nothing happened.

He dared to look at the shorter boy, who was simply glaring at him.

"Congratulations, Finn Hudson. Once again, you've had it your way."

"You don't understand, Kurt! I really, really want to sing with you!"

"Why?" Kurt asked, his voice getting louder, which got him a worried look from the parents whom so far had been kissing and ignoring the teenagers. "So you can protect Artie's precious reputation like you protected Sam's?"

"No! Artie has nothing to do with it! I just want to do this with you!"

Kurt narrowed his eyes. "Again… why?"

"Because… I don't know…" This whole argument was making him uncomfortable. "Because you're my friend and I like you?"

The shorter boy snorted. "You'll have to do better than that."

Finn sighed. "Look, I know I've been a really crappy friend to you lately… But I want to make things right. I want us to be closer."

Kurt finally seemed to believe him, and his expression softened. "You mean that?"

"Yeah, of course I do. And you'll have full artistic control over our duet. I'll agree to anything you want."

Finn didn't like that strange sparkle that lit up in his friend's eyes. Kurt walked up to Finn and lightly poked the taller boy's chest with his forefinger. "Anything I want?"

The jock gulped. "Y-yeah."

Kurt then had a wide smile that looked kind of devilish. "All right, Finn Hudson. We'll sing together."

Finn grinned. "Awesome!"

"Now, I hope you're hungry. I've made barbecue chicken."

"Oh, I love you, man!" Finn blurted, before blushing deeply when he realized what he had said.

But Kurt simply smiled. "They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach… I guess that's true." His statement was accompanied by a friendly pat on the jock's shoulder, thus eliminating all potential weirdness.

After an uneventful dinner during which Burt and Carole flirted outrageously, the teenagers went downstairs to Kurt's bedroom. The fashionable boy was the first one down the stairs, and suddenly turned around to face the jock.

"I know what song we'll do for glee."

"Okay…" Finn replied, fearing the worst.

"It's from Danish pop duo Junior Senior."

"O-okay…"

"It's gay. Really, really gay."

"Uhh… right…"

"It's called Move Your Feet. And yes, there will be dance moves involved."

Much to Kurt's surprise, Finn's face suddenly lit up. "Hey. I know that song! It's in Rachel's Dance Dance Revolution game!"

"You… know the song?" Kurt asked, disappointed that his evil plans of revenge were falling flat.

"Yeah, it's got that cool animated video with a squirrel in it! Rachel made me play with her so I would improve my dance skills. It didn't help much, but it was kinda fun."

"How nice…" Kurt muttered.

"That's the perfect song for our duet! I'll be Senior and you'll be Junior! How cool is that!"

Kurt was surprised by Finn's enthusiasm, but couldn't help thinking that it was quite endearing. "Yes, Finn. It'll be awesome."

They made some dance moves up for a while, and practiced singing the song a couple times. Kurt's part was consisting of about eight words repeated over and over, but he put a lot of energy in it, and the result was pretty good.

"We should wear costumes as well. What do you think?" Kurt asked his friend.

Finn frowned. "What would a 'senior' costume be, exactly? Like, old people clothes?"

Kurt chuckled. "Of course not. I simply thought that you could dress up as the 'cool' guy. The clothes you wore when we did the boys mash-up last year would do the trick."

"That would be nice. And what will you wear?"

"I'll dress as a kid, meaning I'll wear clothes that are too big for me. In any normal circumstances I'd be mortified to be seen in public in clothes that don't fit me, but in the context of the duet contest I'm willing to make an exception. So I'd like you to lend me the red t-shirt you wore when we first did Don't Stop Believin' in the auditorium, a pair of denim shorts and a baseball cap."

Finn laughed. "You are gonna look so good."

"Oh yes, I'll be quite a sight to behold."

Finn sat down on the couch. "It's still early, and I don't think my mom will be ready to leave anytime soon, so do you wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure. Any suggestion?"

"Anything non-musical."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Harry Potter?"

"Sure."

Kurt popped the DVD in the player and started the movie. He then sat down as far away from Finn as he could, at the very end of the couch.

"Dude, are you scared of me or something?"

"Huh?"

"You're sitting so far away!"

Kurt took a second to choose his words. "I'm just being cautious, I guess."

"Why?" Finn asked.

"I'm glad we're on speaking terms again, and I don't want to freak you out like…"

"Like last year?" Finn finished.

"…Yes."

Finn shifted on the couch so he was facing the other boy. "We've never really talked about it since it happened. I guess now would be a good time…"

Kurt paused the movie and faced Finn as well. "You're right. I've been a coward, I gave you the cold shoulder rather than talking it out with you."

"No, that's not what I meant. I was a perfect asshole that day, and I was even more stupid to think that dressing up in a red shower curtain would solve everything. 'Cause it obviously hasn't."

"The word you used that day was bad, Finn, but the way I've been with you before that was just as bad. I put undue pressure on you, and I tried to turn you into something you're not. And for that, I'm really sorry. I had a huge crush on you, you see…" A blush crept his way to Kurt's cheeks. "…and it kind of blinded me. I was oblivious to the consequences of my action, and it nearly destroyed our friendship. I will never do that again, I promise."

Finn had a crooked smile. "I can't really blame you for having a crush on me. I mean, I am irresistible."

Kurt burst out laughing. "I'm so glad we have gotten to the point where we can joke about it!"

Finn laughed as well. "So am I."

Kurt pressed the play button, and the movie continued.

"You're still sitting so far away, dude."

Kurt frowned and looked at the other boy again. "What are you expecting, exactly? That I put my head on your shoulder?"

Finn answered the most unexpected of all answers. "I wouldn't mind that, actually."

Kurt's jaw dropped. "I'm a guy, Finn."

The taller boy simply shrugged. "That's irrelevant."

"I am aware of that. I didn't think you were."

"Well, believe it or not, but I love to cuddle with people I care about. There's absolutely nothing sexual about it."

"Does it mean that you care about me?"

Finn smiled and rolled his eyes. "Well, duh. I may look like the guy who likes everybody, but there aren't a whole lot of people in my life who really made an impact, who really matter. There's only four, actually: my mom, Mr. Schue, Rachel and… well, you."

Kurt smiled. "Thank you. The feeling's entirely mutual, and my list is even shorter: my dad, Mercedes and you. You're the only two people in glee club I've ever opened up to."

"I feel special."

"You are special, Finn."

The taller boy motioned with his hand for Kurt to get closer. "So… come here."

Kurt tentatively scooted over the couch and Finn put his arm around the shorter boy's shoulders, who relaxed and nuzzled into the jock's side.

"Is it awkward to you?" Finn asked.

"It surprisingly isn't. It actually feels very nice."

"Same here."

"Thank you."

Finn chuckled. "No problem, dude."

Kurt sighed contently, frowned just the slightest bit, and inhaled deeply.

"Is that new cologne I smell on you?"

"Yeah, it's a gift from Rachel for our six-month anniversary."

"I like it. It suits you. What is it?"

"HUGO by Hugo Boss."

Kurt whistled in admiration. "The girl has good taste."

"Of course she does. She's my girlfriend."

"My, my, Finn Hudson. Keep going like that and your ego will soon reach the size of Coach Sylvester's."

Finn laughed. "I still have a long way to go."

They remained silent for a while, watching the movie and enjoying their newfound complicity. After everything their friendship had been through, they had finally reached a comfortable zone.

"I missed you, you know…" Finn whispered.

"I missed you too, Frankenteen."