This one is set during "On My Way", after Kurt talks to the God Squad, after Finn and Rachel talk in the hallway, and before Sebastian's apology.

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. It belongs to RIB, the writers, and FOX.

Nooks and Crannies (a.k.a it's going to be okay)

by HappyValentina

Chapter 2

"Dad, could Blaine spend the night, please?"

The question came just before dinner; Finn and Sam were standing just outside the living room, where Burt and Carole were sitting with Kurt and Blaine, talking.

The question was also accompanied by one of the most painful looks Finn had ever seen upon his brother's face. He had seen that look so many times before; when Finn had called him a horrible word; when Burt was in the hospital; when Blaine was hurt; when he had to leave McKinley. It seemed like all Kurt ever felt was pain.

Finn had seen Kurt wearing that look all day, too, ever since Mr. Schue had broken the news about Karofsky, and it oddly unsettled him. But now he knew why.

As soon as the four boys got back from school, Kurt had sat down his parents and spent an hour telling them everything. Everything he felt he owed telling them, everything that led up to that moment. He told them about an unrequited kiss in the boys' locker room, about a death threat in the school hallway, about a stolen cake topper, about a promise of a secret, about beards and Bullywhips, and about a tearful apology. He even told them about a gay bar, gorilla-grams and a declaration of love.

His parents listened, asking the occasional question, but mostly allowing Kurt to go at his own pace. Burt was clearly doing everything in his power to stay calm, and Carole was rubbing his back soothingly, the same way Blaine was rubbing Kurt's.

And outside, Finn listened too, shaking slightly, his mouth dry, because he never knew, because he had been too angry to realize anything was strange. Beside him, Sam was just as stunned.

By the time he finished, Kurt looked like he had dropped a heavy weight off, but he didn't look relieved at all. Maybe it was supposed to be cathartic, or maybe he just needed to come clean about everything, because it had affected them all at some point; because it shed a light onto what led Karofsky to try something like that.

He wiped away a tear and waited for his father to answer.

"We're... not going to do anything, I promise... I just really don't want to be alone right now," he added in an almost imperceptible whisper.

Finn immediately looked at Burt to see his reaction; there was a mixture of understanding and something like betrayal on his step-father's face. The man let out a long breath and rubbed his face.

"Do your parents know about this?" he asked Blaine.

Blaine shook his head, his face conveying that this was not his idea at all; or at least that's what he seemed to be trying to show Burt.

"I can call them," he replied tentatively, his voice a little hoarse.

Burt glanced at Carole for a split second, silently asking for her input. She merely pressed her lips together and blew her nose noisily into a tissue.

"Your door stays open," Burt finally said to Kurt. "And you call your parents right now," he added toward Blaine.

There was no triumphant look from either boy. Kurt only gripped Blaine's hand tighter.

Burt got up slowly and walked out without another glance at his son. He didn't acknowledge the other two boys standing outside the door either. He went upstairs and didn't come back down until dinnertime.

Finn looked at Sam, and realized Sam looked just as lost as him.

At dinner, everyone was oddly silent. Carole would recently take to making jokes about the small army of men in her kitchen and testosterone levels and growing boys with huge appetites. But no one had much of an appetite now, and no one spoke much either.

Blaine and Carole coaxed Kurt incessantly into eating something, resisting the urge to force-feed him, but eventually gave up because Kurt insisted that he wasn't hungry. It was rather early, but since no one felt like doing much anyway, soon after dinner they all headed upstairs.

Regionals were in two days, and they needed to be well rested and ready for the final rehearsals. Finn tried to focus on that, anything not to think anymore about that thing that he didn't want to think about anymore, but he was unsuccessful at keeping his mind off of it.

Sam looked like he was in dire need of talking about it, though, now that Kurt and the parents were out of earshot, but he probably noticed Finn's tension. They bypassed the video games for the night and went about getting ready for bed.

Finn might have been feeling awkward, standing in the hallway with Sam, waiting for their turn to use the bathroom and brush their teeth. Blaine came out a couple of minutes later, barefoot and clad in Kurt's pajamas, and attempting nonchalance as he said 'goodnight' and walked to Kurt's room, and Finn was so decidedly awkward, that he didn't react in time when Sam rushed into the bathroom ahead of him and closed the door. Finn sighed in resignation, and went quietly to peek inside Kurt's bedroom while he waited for his turn.

Like Burt had ordered, Blaine left the door open and turned off the light before jumping into bed. Kurt was already under the blankets, and Finn almost assumed he had been asleep already, but his brother's voice came as a fine murmur.

"He's going to be fine," Blaine replied to whatever Kurt had asked.

After a pause, Kurt sniffled a little and rolled over and into Blaine's embrace, and Blaine was kissing Kurt's forehead and rubbing his back.

Finn felt a little guilty spying on them. But it made him feel slightly better, as if he were the one being comforted.

After seeing Kurt's reaction to the news, and learning about the extent of his brother's relationship to his former bully, he had been worried sick about Kurt. Because he couldn't understand why he would've kept all that from them, considering how much it hurt them to be lied to like that; and how he hurt himself.

Kurt had kept all that bottled up inside. All this time, he had been going through all that by himself. And didn't that just make everything ten times worse?

Finn jumped when he heard the bathroom door open again, and he leapt back to the middle of the hallway, to pretend he hadn't just been spying on his brother. Fortunately Sam was too busy putting on chapstick, and he didn't notice anything.

"Sam? Sam, are you awake?"

A light snore from the other side of the room was all the response that Finn needed.

Four hours later, and he had not succeeded in staying asleep. He kept waking up, checking the time, freaking out over how tired he'd be in the morning, and then staring at the ceiling for a long time.

There were just too many things in his mind. His head was a muddle of imaginary scenarios, past events, and a lot of horrible words.

Flinging the covers off of himself, he got up and walked carefully to the door. He'd go downstairs and make himself some tea or warm milk, like Kurt always recommended.

As he tiptoed toward the stairs, he glanced inside Kurt's room, and stopped.

Burt stood beside the bed, looking down at the sleeping boys. It was like he was in a trance.

Kurt was fast asleep, with Blaine's arms wrapped up around his chest. Their fingers were intertwined, and Blaine's face was buried against the base of Kurt's neck.

At least they didn't seem to be having trouble sleeping, which was a lot more than he could say for himself. Or Burt.

In the dim light coming from outside, he could barely see his step-father's face. His expression was almost mournful as he reached out and tenderly pushed back the mussed hair falling across Kurt's forehead.

Finn swallowed hard. He wondered how many times Burt had done this, been so worried sick that he would literally watch over his son even while he slept; how many times since Kurt came out; how many since it had been just the two of them.

And he wondered momentarily if Burt had ever done that to him, too.

"Burt," he called out very softly. Burt didn't seem to hear him. Finn stepped into the room gently and approached him.

"Burt," he said again, into Burt's ear. His stepfather flinched. Blaine stirred but didn't wake up.

"Hey, buddy," Burt whispered. Finn had really caught him by surprise.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked.

Burt looked a little lost for a second, like he didn't even know where he was. But he glanced briefly back down at Kurt's sleeping form and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I was just... I just wanted to make sure..."

"He's fine, Burt, come on," Finn said, leading him quietly out of the room. Burt cast one last stare at the bed, and without hesitation, gently closed the door behind them as they exited. Finn was about to remind him of the open door policy, but he decided against it.

Burt didn't protest as Finn led him downstairs. He looked exhausted, but judging from what Finn just saw, he was having just as much difficulty as him to fall asleep. Maybe they could both use a tea.

Burt watched him as Finn went about putting the kettle on the stove.

"What are you still doing up?" he asked. Finn shrugged.

"This whole Karofsky thing is just... I've been thinking about it a lot, and now I can't stop. It's been a long day. But now I can't sleep at all."

"Makes sense," Burt responded with a big yawn.

Finn eyed him sympathetically. He couldn't presume to know what was going through Burt's mind every day. Because Finn was neither a parent, nor a widower, and especially not the widower father of a child who had gone through so much. There were so many things going through Burt's mind, that he couldn't even fathom. There were so many things going through his own, things that he probably wouldn't have thought about if he hadn't suddenly become someone's brother.

Finn fetched some herbal tea from the pantry -he assumed the one called Sleepy Time should do the trick-, and glanced at his stepfather.

"You know, Burt, I gotta say, and please don't take this the wrong way, but that thing you were doing? It's kinda creepy. If he had woken up and seen a person there, he would've woken up the entire house."

There was an eerie silence from the breakfast table. Burt then made a small noise, that Finn wasn't sure how to interpret.

"You wouldn't understand," he said softly. "Not just yet, at least."

"Yeah I get that, but..." Finn trailed off, watching Burt watch the kettle. "Are you... afraid that he might... do something?"

Burt came out of his trance again. "No," he replied immediately, but not too convincingly.

"Kurt wouldn't- I mean, he's not-" He stopped for a moment and looked almost apologetically at his stepson. "I hope not."

Finn suddenly looked thoroughly outraged, and Burt lifted his hands defensively.

"I'm not saying that- I don't know what I'm saying. I just... really want to keep a close eye on him. I know it seemed like I was angry, but I just couldn't believe that he kept all this hidden from me. I thought we had a deal-"

"You know he had his reasons-"

"I know, yeah. I just really, really wish he could just..." Burt's breath hitched in his throat, "be happy."

"He is happy," Finn pointed out a little too loudly, and Burt lifted a finger to his lips. Finn continued in a lower voice. "Look, I know he looked pretty shaken, but we all were. I think he just took it the hardest because of... everything."

He watched his stepfather nodding along with what he was saying.

"You know, if you want me to keep a closer eye on him, I'll do it. We all will. You know we always do. Blaine, obviously, but also Sam and Rachel, and me. Everyone does, all the time. But he's just stressed right now, with Sectionals, and Blaine having been in the hospital, and now this... But he's okay." He looked Burt in the eye. "It's going to be okay."

Burt's gaze fell to the table. The kettle started whistling, and Finn went to turn off the stove. He poured the boiling water into two mugs and carried them over to the table.

"We were so hard on him."

Finn caught on after a seconds, that Burt wasn't talking about Kurt anymore.

"He said he would kill Kurt. It's only normal," he continued, mostly to himself than to Finn. "But Kurt should've told me."

Finn shook his head slowly. "You know how he is. He might have that deal with you, but if he makes a promise, he stays true to it," he said, smiling to himself. He tried not to tell Kurt very often how much he really admired him, for fear that it would go up to his head.

Burt chuckled into his tea. "He's a little headstrong like that," he said.

"I was gonna say that he's got a big heart."

Burt nodded. "Yeah, that too. He gets that from his mom."

Finn smiled, winking at his stepfather. "I think he got it from both of you."

They sat in silence a little while longer, drinking tea and fighting yawns. Finn started to feel a lot more relaxed, and hopeful that they would both be able to sleep soundly now.

Maybe he ought to adopt Rachel's evening tea tradition.

He suddenly remembered that he had yet to tell Burt and his mom that he and Rachel had moved up their wedding date to that same weekend.

Although considering the unsettling events of that day and the overwhelming revelations of that night, he decided maybe it was best to wait until morning.

I'd like to think that, after hearing the full story from Kurt, Burt and Carole decided to come support their kids for the first time. (Because, in my headcanon, or rather, to somehow excuse RIB's lack of continuity, the parents never go to the club's performances because they believe their kids would be embarrassed or something). Another option, though, is that, upon hearing that the Finchel nuptials depended on whether New Directions won or lost, they were there to find out what was going to happen instead of having to wait for their kids to tell them afterwards. Which would also explain why Hiram and Leroy were suddenly there too, seeing as they're all reluctant to have their kids marry. However, they couldn't help get all excited and root for them anyway.

I digress.

Thanks for reading.

-Valentina