Chapter Two.
AN: I know the formatting of this story is messed up and I'm really sorry. When I try to fix it, it deletes paragraphs of writing so I hope you bear with it! Thank you for reading!
When Kurt got off the bus, he marched inside wondering why on earth he'd agreed to invite Finn over for dinner.
He supposed though, it was better then him hanging out at Rachel's house.
"Dad!" he called out and Burt Hummel grunted from his place on the lounge.
"My friend is coming over this afternoon to work on a glee assignment. And they'll come to dinner tomorrow with Mercedes" He said.
"Sure. I'm always glad to uh, meet your friends"
"Thank you dad" He said happily and went to his room and collapsed on the bed.
He sat up to look at his clock. It was fifteen minutes until football practice ended, so he stood up preparing to raid his walk-in closet.
He ended up picking out a black and red pinstripe suit and white shirt with an undone bow-tie slung around his neck.
Kurt Hummel would never feel over-dressed.
He powdered his face quickly when he heard the knock on the door, then dashed upstairs to answer it. He inhaled before letting it swing open.
Finn was still in his jersey, and when he caught sight of Kurt his face blushed red.
"Hello" Kurt breathed.
"Uh, hi. I didn't really.. get dressed up" Finn struggled.
"It's okay. You look fine" Kurt replied beaming admiringly at Finn.
He gestured behind him for Finn to follow, "My room is down there. You can leave your things there"
Finn nodded, only too glad to slip down the stairs to Kurt's bedroom.
'Finn Hudson' Kurt thought dreamily, 'Is in my bedroom'
"Dad. My friend, Finn, is here" he called.
Burt sat up straight, "Wait, what? Your friend is a guy?"
"Yes" He said slowly.
"Look Kurt. I'm not really..comfortable with you being down there alone with another guy"
"Dad, we're going to be singing show tunes. Plus, Finn is totally straight" Kurt said secretly hoping his last point was a lie.
As Finn crept back up the stairs, Kurt glided his pale hand in his direction.
"Dad this is Finn. Finn this my father, Burt"
"Good to meet you, Burt" Finn said, extending his hand for Mr. Hummel to shake.
Burt took it and nodded, "Well uh, have fun singing and whatever"
Kurt grinned at him and led Finn back down the steps to his room.
"Um. Nice room by the way" Finn said awkwardly.
"Thank you. Anyway I have burnt copies of As long as you're mine. One for you too. The first has vocals and the second is instrumental."
He brought up the lyrics on his laptop and passed it too Finn.
He knew the song off by heart anyway.
"So I'm doing.. Fie...yerro's part right?" Finn said staring at the lyrics with his mouth open slightly.
"Fiyero's. Yes. Fiyero was with a girl, when he realized he was in love with someone else. Someone a little... different" He said with quiet symbolism.
"Oh.. okay then" Finn whispered uneasily.
Kurt pressed play on the CD player and as the familiar tune started to play Kurt recited Elphaba's part. When Finn joined in, the original Fiyero seemed was boring to Kurt.
He almost forgot to start singing again when they'd reached the chorus, but remembered, his high soprano voice blending in with Finn's in just the wait he'd hoped.
When they'd finished, Kurt stared, "You give Norbert Leo Butz a run for his money you know?"
Finn smiled, "I have no idea who that is but thanks... Well that was pretty good."
Kurt sighed, "Yes.. We are going to win that competition" He declared, pretty sure that he was right too.
"You think so?"
"I know so" He glanced at him, "Combined with your idea about the stage.. it will be amazing"
"Yeah it sounds fine" Finn said.
"Do you want to run through it again?" Kurt asked.
"Not really.. to tell you the truth I'm still kinda tired from football practice. Can we take a break?"
"Of course" Kurt sat on a chair besides where Finn had sat on his bed.
"Oh, that's what I was meaning to ask you. Tomorrow Mercedes is coming over for tea, and dad said you could come. We can go for a night-swim and although the chlorine content is just terrible for my hair and face, I can fix it. And it will be worth it.."
Finn smiled, "I'd really love to. But I'm seeing Rachel tomorrow."
"Don't you worry about Rachel. I spoke to her already and she said you could come to dinner with us instead."
"Oh cool" He said, "Well I'll come.. What time do you want me to get here?"
"Whenever you want. Mercedes is coming after school but Dad isn't serving tea until later"
"Okay.. Well I'll see when I can come then" He smiled lazily.
"Sounds good" He said returning the smirk.
"In the meantime, lets practice your song again"
"Our song" Kurt corrected quietly.
The next day dragged on longer then usual.
Kurt kept daydreaming during his classes. In Spanish, Mr Schuester asked him a question and he actually answered with, "Finn"
Mr Schuester had stared at him and the other members of the class had laughed as he turned his head around anxiously to make sure Finn wasn't in the room.
When he wasn't, he apologized and said that he was just thinking about his fish, Fin, and had accidentally said it out loud.
And when the school day had finally passed, Mercedes and he had caught the bus again. He barely even registered what they talked about on the way home and Mercedes would burst out laughing at him every time he kept a head in the clouds expression on his face.
"Kurt, you need to wake up!" she giggled, "You're head over heels"
"I know", He said as their stop came into view, "I can't help it"
"Of course you can't" She said with a happy shake of her head as the bus doors creaked open and they made their way to Kurt's house.
He looked sideways with a superior blink as he made sure he wouldn't be trampled by a car and lose his brand new jacket, then they crossed the road.
He reached for the handle and opened it then turned to Mercedes, "Well, what shall we do until Finn gets here?" He asked, smoothing his hair.
"Not sure." She smiled, "What do we normally? Raid your clothes and bake cookies that taste like we've cooked them four hours longer then we were meant to"
"What can I say?" He said with a smoldering wink, "My clothes were more important"
She sighed, "Oh Kurt"
"Good afternoon Dad" He called over his shoulder and went down the steps to his room and tapped his foot on the ground, "What should I wear now?"
"You don't need to get changed Kurt"
"But I did yesterday"
"Well you don't need to today"
"Okay.." He said, "Oops. I think I just spill invisible tomato sauce on my clothes. I'll have to get changed"
"If its invisible it won't be a problem" Mercedes said tauntingly.
"But if it sets into the material I won't be able to wear this again" He murmured.
"I think you'll be fine"
He unwrapped the scarf from his neck and laid it on his bed, "Fine" He said defeated, "Then what do you propose we do?"
"Why don't we just chat?"
"Just chat." He laughed, "We've heard that before. And we know it means gossip and if it means gossip then you've chosen to speak to the right guy"
"If its gossip you want then that's what you'll get" She said with a half-smile.
"Okay. Lets start from where we left off. Rachel Berry. I'm sorry but who wears khaki knit sweaters nowadays?"
"I know. And Quinn doesn't appear to be getting the help with choosing her clothes she should be getting. I feel sorry for her. Shes obviously clueless about covering her baby bump."
"I told her my recommendations but she paid me no mind" Kurt said innocently.
"I know. I don't get Puck either. He's done jack to help her. I know shes tryin' to be all independent but he out of all people should know that's not what she really wants" Mercedes said, "Even in glee he's kinda zoned out all the time"
"Plus he hasn't even been dating Santana or anyone else since everyone found out about him being the father." Kurt brought up.
"I know. I think he really cares about Quinn."
Kurt snorted, "Do you think so?"
"I do." Mercedes replied.
"Finn has been a little out of it too I suppose. But do you blame him. His best friend and his girlfriend... Actually I haven't spoken to Finn today. I'm not even sure what time he's arriving"
"Maybe you should call him" Mercedes suggested.
"Yes.." He said with a smirk, "I will"
He stood up and picked up his white i Phone from the dresser, then scrolled through the contacts until he saw Finn's picture.
He saw Mercedes listening intently as he pressed the call button and waited for the ring.
It rung precisely five times before Finn answered.
"Hello?" He said.
"Hi Finn. It's Kurt" He said into the receiver.
"Uh hi. What's up?"
"Oh, I was just wondering what time you were going to come over?"
"Come over?" He hesitated, "Is that still..happening?"
"Yes." Kurt replied frowning, "Why wouldn't it be?" He laughed with a false care-free nature
"I'm with Rachel at the moment. She said that you told her to tell me that you had to cancel at the last minute"
"Oh.." Kurt said quietly, "Yep.. Can I please talk to Rachel for a minute?"
"Sure.. I guess" Finn said.
When a voice answered him next, it was Rachel's, "Hello Kurt"
"Hi Rachel. Want to tell me whats going on?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said and he could imagine that she'd shake her head so her hair flicked over her shoulders when she said that.
"Oh I think you do" He said coldly, "Finn was invited to visit my house this afternoon before you lied to him."
"Oh. You mean kind of like how you lied to Jacob. Did you really think he'd take your side Kurt? Over mine?"
"It doesn't matter whose side Jacob is on Rachel."
"Well he proved to be somewhat helpful in getting Finn away from you. Did you actually think that just because he was dim you could use him into falling for a stupid idea like yours?
Well I'm not dim and I saw through it"
Kurt laughed at this, "Well you must be to think that I'd believe that. Jacob didn't help you.
Why would he? He wants you for himself. He wouldn't assist you in getting Finn back. So in this case, he most certainly is on my side."
"Whatever Kurt. Finn is here with me. Someone who actually cares about him and doesn't want to change him. He's not with you. So deal with that."
"Put Finn back on the phone" He ordered.
"Make me" She said quietly and hung up the phone.
He breathed deeply, convincing himself not to call her back and demand that she put Finn back on. But there would be no point. She was right after all. Finn wasn't with him so she'd won this one.
"What happened?" Mercedes asked sweetly.
"Rachel happened" He said irritatedly.
Mercedes groaned, and thankfully didn't ask for details.
"Just know that she is a cow and that Finn isn't coming" He said.
"So what?" Mercedes said cheerily, "Who is she to stop us from having fun?"
"You're right." He said smiling a little, "Are you up for burning cookies?"
After dinner, Mercedes ended up staying over for a sleepover, which wasn't that common but it was obvious his father appreciated it a lot more with him having a girl over then a guy.
They had two mattresses set up and a tray of burnt cookies they'd covered in pink and blue icing. But they realized after eating them, the icing did nothing for how they tasted.
They had a pajama fashion show where Kurt sported his brand new pink ones and used his bedroom as the catwalk. Mercedes followed in her more normal flannelet purple ones.
But who was Kurt to be normal?
When they were both on the mattresses eating burnt cookies Kurt straightened Mercedes' hair, "So what exactly did Rachel say?" She asked him.
"Well.. Not anything intelligent." He smiled and when she rolled her eyes he continued, "She tried to tell me that Jacob had sided with her and told helped her get Finn 'back' but I know better then that. As if he'd want her to spend a night with Finn"
"I know.. Wow. I don't get her sometimes"
"I do." He said and she frowned with a confused look on her face, "She just wants Finn. Like me"
They stayed silent for a minute and Kurt finished by pulling her hair up into a side ponytail.
She smiled understandingly as he packed it away and dropped back onto the bed.
"Thanks for having me over. You're being so much better about this then I'd be"
He shrugged his eyes misty, "What am I supposed to do? Go over there? Call him?"
"Go to sleep" She said, "We can deal with it together tomorrow"
"Yeah" He said and exhaled.
"Good night Kurt" Mercedes laid down on her pillow and let her eyes slip closed.
"Night Mercedes" He said letting his chest rise and fall with his silent breathing. He concentrated on it and until he fell asleep, letting himself forget the day's events.
~
When he opened his eyes again, Mercedes was still asleep. Her hair still looked elaborate he noticed with a pleased smirk.
He got up, and walked out of his room. His father was up and eating his breakfast.
"Hi dad" Kurt said smiling.
His dad looked up and examined his clothes, "Yeah.. Hey Kurt"
"How are you this morning?" He asked.
He nodded pausing again to look at Kurt's pajamas, "I'm fine"
"That's good" He said still grinning despite his father's wide-eyed glances at the pink clothes that he wore.
"Where.. Uh, when did you get those?" He said picking at the pajamas lightly.
"A few days ago."
"Okay then.."
Kurt waited quietly then walked over to the bench to get he and Mercedes breakfast.
He wasn't in the mood to cook anything more then toast so that's what he made as he yawned.
"How about we go pajama shopping on the weekend Kurt?"
"Whats wrong with what I have on?"
"Oh nothing. Forget I mentioned it"
He nodded and buttered the toast and placed it on the table and ate his and Mercedes appeared at the top of his staircase.
"Hi Mr. Hummel" she greeted and sat down next to Kurt and took the plate off him.
"Morning Mercedes" Burt said.
Kurt looked up, "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah I did"
"What are we going to do about Finn?"He asked.
"Not sure.. Buuut it's a weekend so we could work that"
"How so?" He asked.
"We could invite him out somewhere" She said squinting.
"Like?"
"The park?"
"Eugh.. No"
"The shops?"
"Oh. How I wish"
"Ice skating?"
He clicked, "That sounds perfect." He said contemplatively.
She took a bite of her toast, "That way Rachel isn't around and it would just be the three of us. But I could invite Tina so you can talk to Finn alone"
"Yeah" He said, "Is it too soon to call him?"
At this statement, Burt got up and left the room.
"I don't think so" She said, "I'll call Tina while you're ringing him"
"Sure"
Mercedes stood up with her phone as Kurt crossed his legs and dialed Finn again.
"Hi" Finn said and Kurt felt a shiver run down his spine at his voice.
"Hello Finn Hudson"
"Kurt?"
"Yes" He laughed.
"Oh.. I thought you might have been my auntie"
"Why how flattering.. Mercedes and I are going ice skating and Tina is coming along. I thought you'd like to come along too. Just to make up for last night's.. misunderstanding."
"Yeah I'm sorry about that. Rachel was really upset that she heard you wrong"
"I bet she was" Kurt said.
"Anyway, yeah I'll come. Is it the rink kinda near that guy who works at Wal-Mart?"
"I...don't know. It's near our school"
"That one! Okay" Finn replied.
"We'll meet you there in half an hour" He smiled.
"Alright. See ya Kurt."
"Bye Finn" He chirped and hung up his phone then went out to Mercedes.
"He's coming" He declared.
"So is Tina"
"Well I'm going to get ready" Kurt said over his shoulder and dashed downstairs to his closet.
He opened it with a sigh then flicked through the coat hangers commentating in his whether he wanted it or not.
Until he reached a beige Marc Jacobs jacket.
Well, Marc Jacobs had never let him down before.
He picked out matching pants in a lighter hue then swiftly dressed and buttoned his jacket up to the top.
"Good" He whispered to his reflection then went to see what his best friend was wearing.
She had a black dress with tights and a denim outer bordered with fake fur.
"Nice Kurt" Mercedes said.
"You too" He said with a flick of his head.
"We'd better start moving. You don't have a car anymore so we'd better get going"
"You're right, Oh how I miss my baby. I wish I'd asked Finn for a ride."
"Whatever. Lets go"He nodded.
It was a rare day when it wasn't raining in Lima, Ohio.
Today wasn't one of those days.
He fetched two umbrellas from the door and passed one too Mercedes.
She agreed to have the black one when he had his large red one.
He never would understand why it was questioned to have a designer umbrella.
Kurt opened the umbrella and twirled it around on his shoulder with a sidewards grin.
When the were outside, Mercedes opened hers too and they posed under them, their umbrellas just overlapping.
A passer-by stared at them as he walked across the asphalt.
"We're just that cool" Mercedes called.
They stopped posing then, with laughter, so that they'd make it there on time.
And once Kurt was past the protection of his roof, he checked regularly in case his outfit was getting soaked.
They walked at a steady pace, but still fast enough to get there in the twenty five minutes they had left.
"It's so gloomy out here" Mercedes mentioned, "Lucky we'll be inside"
"Yes, I'm excited." He half-smiled.
"Me too. Even if its cold. It can't be worse then out here" She said with a shiver.
The ice-skating rink was coming slowly into view.
Kurt had been there several times but wasn't great.
He hoped that he wouldn't get too distracted by Finn and embarrass himself as they opened the doors and laid down their umbrellas.
Kurt almost got into an argument with the person at the door for telling him too put his umbrella outside but Mercedes dragged him away and allowed the nervous staff girl to take it.
Tina was the first too see them as Kurt pushed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and looked around coolly.
"M-Mercedes! Kurt" She called waving a hand covered in a fishnet glove.
"Hey Tina" Mercedes said, hugging her.
"H-Hi guys. Finn is already here. I'm not sure where he went though. We should go pay I guess" Tina's stuttering had improved rapidly, Kurt noted, as they followed her mop of black hair.
Finn wasn't at the counter but he rushed over to them from the bathrooms.
"Hi guys" He said and Kurt's heart fluttered.
"Hello" Kurt said.
"Hi. I haven't paid yet but we can do that now I guess"
The four of them went to the counter and started picking out notes from his bag.
"Why are you here?" He heard Finn ask quietly to the person at the register.
Kurt nodded his head up in surprise at Finn's tone. And there was...
Quinn Fabray.
She was wearing a loose fitting shirt that clung to her large stomach.
He noticed that she looked bigger then how he remembered, but what surprised him more was that she had the badge to work there.
"I needed a job" She explained biting her lip, "To pay the bills. They let me work here after school and on weekend" She tucked a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear.
"Right. The four of us" Finn said as they each passed her the money.
She stamped each of their hands gently and Finn walked hurriedly away from her to the skate hire. Tina and Mercedes followed but Kurt offered her a sympathetic look after darting after him. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl. Finn would be his soon anyway.
When Kurt reached him, Finn passed him a pair of skates for him too try on.
And Kurt sat down by the side of the rink and Finn joined him shortly afterward with a pair of his own.
"Sorry. It must be hard always having to see her" He said pulling his original shoes off.
"Yeah. I'm getting over it"
"You don't need to be ashamed, Its okay to be upset about it."
"Okay" He said with a shrug.
"But forget about it now, because this will be fun" Kurt said pushing his foot into the skate. Finn actually smiled, "Thanks"
Kurt tied up its laces, "Its a perfect fit" He said.
"Uh, good"
"I haven't done this in a while" Kurt laughed as he stood up and stumbled over to the start of the ice.
Finn followed him, "It's all good. I'll help you out."
"Really?" He breathed.
"Why not?" Finn said.
"Thank you Finn"
Kurt let his left foot slide on the ice and he guided himself along the wall until he had both feet stable on the floor. Finn followed, slightly more easily, but still with the wobbles of adjusting to the slippery ground below him.
"Just do a lap holding the wall so you get used to it" Finn said, on his other side, not needing the wall.
Kurt obeyed him and did a lap with Finn following.
"Now see if you can go without this time"
Kurt nodded and slid away from the wall, letting his body flow into the unnatural rhythm of swaying to move.
By the end of the second lap he was building up a bit more confidence.
"Now try going a bit faster" Finn suggested, keeping up with Kurt's pace.
He moved his legs faster and they moved steadily around the rink.
"Thanks." Kurt said to Finn, "Do you come here a lot?"
"Not really. I used to when I was a kid though. Its kinda always been easy for me"
"It would be. You're very good with sports" Kurt acknowledged.
"..Yeah" Finn said.
Kurt looked at Finn instead of where he was going.
"It's nice to just relax.. without all the pressure" Finn muttered.
"What kind of pressure?" Kurt asked.
"Well football and glee.. and Puck and Quinn. It's just kinda over the top. Especially when I thought I had it bad before"
"That's awful.. But I'm glad you're relaxed"
"Yeah we really have to practice our duet too I really love your song, but maybe we could start with that then break into another song. That'd be kinda cool"
"Yeah it would.. But what other song?"
"Not sure, we'll have to think about that" Finn said.
"I'll try and think of something" Kurt promised.
"Same" Finn said.
Kurt smiled at him his head on an angle then he heard Mercedes' yell his name.
"Kurt!" She cried.
He turned just in time to see the back wall he was about to collide with.
He reached out towards Finn, as he toppled towards the ice and remembered gasping, "Oh god no. Not these pants"
He landed on his knees and Finn grabbed his hand to try and pull him back up but lost grip.
Kurt stayed on the cold ice and Mercedes helped him up all the way.
"Are you okay Kurt?" She laughed.
"I am fine" He said with a groan, "My pants are wet. They can only be hand-washed you know?" But he was interrupted when Finn's hand clasped his shoulder.
"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.
Kurt nodded slowly and out of the corner of his eye he saw Quinn from the sidelines, "Do you need help?" She called.
"We're fine" Mercedes said back.
"Are you sure?"
"She said we're fine!" Finn shouted from the back wall with Kurt.
"It's okay. Lets keep talking about those songs" Kurt suggested guiding Finn away from Quinn's gaze and giving him an unneeded push to start him off.
They did a couple of dozen more laps before the session was over and Kurt made his way home with Mercedes.