"Kurt!" Finn called as said boy walked towards his car. Kurt simply ignored him as he picked up his pace, not really wanting to face Finn at that moment. As Kurt was about to open the door, he felt Finn turn him around and pin him against the car. He bit his tongue to keep himself from crying out. "Kurt, listen to me!" Finn growled. "What do you want, Finn? If this is about last night then consider it forgotten. It was a mistake. End of story. Now can I just go home?" Kurt asked, suddenly feeling irritated at the gigantic teen, who looked rather shocked. "You're willing to forget about it just like that?" he asked, his tone disbelieving.
"Yup. Now let me go," Kurt said, brushing off Finn's hands and getting into his car. "Wait! How can you be so calm about this?" Finn asked, his voice hysterical, "I freaking kissed you!"
"You did what?" a voice that made Kurt freeze asked. They turned to see Karofsky looking at them with a fire burning in his eyes, looking extremely pissed. 'Not good, not good' Kurt thought, panicking.
"None of your business Neanderthal. What are you even doing here?" Kurt bit out, shoving Finn away from him.
"I got this, Kurt. Back off Karofsky, he doesn't want to talk to you," Finn said, moving back to Kurt's side, trying to protect him.
"I think the fairy can speak for himself. Ain't that right?" Karofsky sneered, turning to Kurt, who simply glared at him. "I said, back off," Finn demanded, shoving Karofsky, causing him to stumble a few steps back. "Oh, you wanna go, Hudson? Alright then," Karofsky called as he charged Finn. "Stop!" Kurt yelled as he stepped in between the two boys. Karofsky managed to stop seconds before colliding into the feminine boy. "Kurt, are you crazy? You could have gotten hurt!" Finn scolded as he shook Kurt hysterically. Karofsky scoffed, glaring. "If you are so worried about the fairy here getting all roughed up, then why can't you protect him when he's being hurt right under your nose!" he growled, poking Finn in the chest. Kurt paled and shot Karofsky an 'are you out of your mind' look that he didn't miss.
"Look, why don't you just let me talk to Hummel in peace, alright?"
"Why should I?" Finn countered.
"Finn, just leave. I'll talk to you when I get home," Kurt said, his tone firm with a note of finality. Finn looked at him helplessly for a minute as Kurt gave him his famous 'bitch please' look, complete with his arms crossed and his hip jutted out in a way that made Karofsky cough uncomfortably as his ears tinted pink. "Fine," Finn grumbled, walking away, giving Karofsky and 'I'm watching you' gesture. "You totally have him whipped," he chuckled.
"Look, what do you want? And what the hell was that with Finn! I kept your secret, you have to keep mine," Kurt growled angrily. "I will when you tell me your secret," Karofsky countered, taking a step forwards. "You want to know so bad?" Kurt asked, "Then fine, but if you tell anyone, I'm outing you, Neanderthal," he hissed. The bully simply nodded and waited for Kurt to continue. "My uncle isn't fond of 'fags' and he's making sure I know it. That's all there is too it, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go make Finn let go of that stupid incident," he finished, about to get in his car when Karofsky stopped him.
"You make it sound like he's just yelling at you! It's worse than that! He's hurting you! No matter what you want me to think, you and I both know that this is a big deal and I'm not letting this go!" He yelled, his face an inch away from Kurt's, his breathing heavy from all the yelling. Kurt looked at Karofsky with wide-eyed terror suddenly seeing him morph into Chris.
He could hear Chris's voice rage around him like a tornado, not even forming words, just a loud roar of ferocity ringing in Kurt's ears. "No. No. Nononononononono," he chanted to himself, covering his ears as he slid down the side of his car trembling violently. Karofsky looked at him, startled at the boy's breakdown. "Kurt?" he whispered softly, reaching a hand out, but Kurt squeezed tighter into himself. "No! Don't hurt me; don't hurt me, stop…" he cried, his words, almost incoherent through his tight sobs.
Not knowing what to do, he panicked and wrapped the sobbing boy in his arms. Kurt froze, going limp in his arms. "It's okay, it's okay," he whispered into his ear, feeling Kurt relax ever so slightly, which was a good sign. "D-Dave?" he whispered, his voice small. Karofsky felt his heart leap into his chest when Kurt said his name. "Y-yeah," he whispered back, hugging the boy tighter.
"Why did you help me?" he asked after a moment of silence.
"You looked like you were going insane. It scared me," he replied, knowing that wasn't the answer he wanted.
"You know what I mean," Kurt replied, his tone accusing, "You've been beating on me since middle school. Why do you suddenly care about my well-being?"
"Don't make me say it," Karofsky pleaded softly, "I'm not ready yet."
Kurt sighed, subconsciously snuggling deeper into Karof- no, Dave's arms, causing him to blush scarlet. "Thanks," he whispered, giving him a grateful smile. "N-no problem," he said, coughing in an embarrassed manner, and then turned serious,
"This proves it Kurt. You need to see someone about this guy. You can't just let him hurt you like this, it's not right." Kurt's smile disappeared instantaneously.
"You didn't have a problem with it," he said softly, anger seeping into his words as he wriggled himself out of Dave's arms. "Kurt-," Dave began, but was cut off with a flick of Kurt's hand.
"See you at school, Dave," he quipped, getting into his car. Dave stood there, the roar of the engine drowning out the sound of his heart breaking as Kurt drove away angrily.
GLEEGLEEGLEEGLEE
"Now are you going to talk to me?" Finn demanded as Kurt stormed into the house, not taking notice to the boy's obviously foul mood.
"You know what, Finn? Fine, I will talk. What do you want to talk about?" Kurt snapped, twirling on his heel so he was facing Finn, arms crossed angrily and eyes burning with fury.
Taken back by his stepbrother's attitude, Finn was momentarily stunned speechless, but quickly gathered his wits. "The kiss. We can't just act like it didn't happen."
Kurt sighed with annoyance. "Are you still worried about that? I know you didn't mean for it to happen. It's just stupid hormones. It didn't mean anything to you or me, so yes, Finn, we can act like it didn't happen," Kurt replied, rolling his eyes.
"B-but…" Finn stuttered, not believing Kurt's reaction, "It didn't mean anything to you?"
"Were practically brothers now! That would just be weird, so can you please just forget it?" Kurt pleaded, exasperated with the teens stubbornness.
"Okay," Finn agreed after a moment of silence.
"Finally!" he cried, throwing his hands in the air dramatically and going downstairs.
"…. I can't believe he didn't feel anything," Finn muttered, his pride hurt.
GLEEGLEEGLEEGLEEGLEE
"So, who wants to try out for the solos?" Mr. Shue announced in a rather annoyed tone, unhappy with the rebellion that Noir had started. He glanced to the girl, who was still drawing in the back, completely isolated from everyone else.
The only ones who raised their hands were Kurt, Mercedes, and Rachael. The pair glared at the Jewish girl with determination in their eyes. "What solos do you want to try out for?" the teacher sighed, knowing that the trio would probably manage to rile things up even more.
"Angel's part of Cover You," Kurt announced.
"Seasons of Love," Mercedes followed.
"Both," Rachael stated confidently.
"I'm sorry, Rachael, but I think it would better if you laid off the solos for a while," Mr. Shue said, hoping to let the girl down gently. "But-!"
"Rachael!" he snapped, silencing the stunned girl.
He sighed into his hands before asking, "What about the other part of Cover you? Anyone interested in that?"
Silence enveloped the room before Puck spoke up. "I'll do it."
"Are you sure? Do you even know what the song is about?" Kurt asked dubiously.
"Yeah, I know, princess," Puck smirked, not noticing the small flinch Kurt gave at the nickname, "but I think it's time to show how badass I am at solos."
The club rolled their eyes at his ego, but chuckled anyway.
"Well since no one else wants to try out, congrats guys, you all have your solo of choice," Mr. Shue announced, relieved there was no fight.
After practicing the songs a few times, Mr. Shue had to admit that Noir was right about Kurt and Noah; their voices blended together in the song beautifully and Mercedes belted out her notes with more passion and heart than Rachael ever could.
"See you guys tomorrow!" he called as the students left the room, "Noir, can I talk to you?"
The fatigue hat-wearing girl eyed him with curiosity as she made his way towards him, reminding the man of a wary cat. "I wanted to talk to you about yesterday," he began, "I have to admit, you were right about those two."
"You don't like me very much, do you?" she asked, her tone light and amused, but her face revealing nothing. Mr. Shue was slightly caught off guard by the accusation, but nodded carefully before explaining. "I didn't like how you took control of things so quickly and I thought I knew what was best for the group, but now I know that the kids deserve a chance to be heard. I'm just sorry that you had to be the one to make me see it."
"No problem," was all she said before giving him a small smile and walking out the door.
