Finn woke up slowly to the sound of the shower roaring in Kurt's bathroom. He stayed in his warm bed, letting wakefulness tug at him until he finally felt too energetic to stay still any longer. He sat up, faced with the tux he and Burt had gotten a couple days before.

Today was the big day: Junior Prom! He was more anxious than excited about it. Quinn was turning the whole thing into a big campaign, rather than a day to dance badly and laugh with his friends. He also had to sing for Mr. Shue's prom band agreement. At some point the dance had become more of an obligation than a rite of passage for him. It wasn't all bad, though. He got to go tux shopping with Burt, which had turned into a great time to bond with his stepdad. He would still get to be with his friends after he finish handing out the Queen Quinn stickers to potential voters. Even though Quinn was kind of scary-obsessed over getting crowned, he was still lucky to have such a pretty, popular girlfriend. Yeah, things were good.

He staggered into his bathroom to quickly brush his teeth. As he stood in front of the mirror, Finn heard his stomach growl. He was kind of hungry. It had been like ten hours since he last ate.

Finn ran downstairs to the kitchen. At first he grabbed two apples from the fruit bowl and put them on the kitchen counter. He could eat them later, but he really wanted meat. He opened the fridge and grabbed the container of leftover lasagna from the top shelf. He let the fridge fall closed as he went across the room to get a fork. There was no point in heating the pasta up in the microwave; cold food was delicious. He just shoved fork fulls into his mouth and let his tongue roll over the bits of sausage in the sauce.

Kurt came down as he ate. Finn tried to hide the Tupperware container, but Kurt just rolled his eyes. The other teenager, with his hair still wet from his shower, grabbed one of the apples Finn had left out.

"Hey, I was gunna eat that," Finn said through the pasta already in his mouth.

"Well, you were busy contaminating the leftover lasagna with your spit, so now I'm taking it." Kurt shrugged, "seriously, you better finish that. I'm not eating after you." Kurt walked out into the living room where their parents were. Finn heard Kurt ask if Burt was ok.

"Actually, Buddy, I think we really need to talk." Burt raised his voice to address Finn, "Can you come in here, Finn? This concerns you too."

Finn brought the lasagna with him. He sat next to his mom, but against the arm of the couch. Mom looked angry and serious. Finn hated that look; it almost always meant that he was in trouble.

"Apparently yesterday something happened. Lima was on the news." Mom's face scrunched into a frown, "Boys, someone from your school named Jacob Ben Israel killed himself. And he sent a bunch of tapes to a news station." She looked into Finn's face. He probably didn't look too sad. He was a little shocked about Jacob, but he didn't know the kid so what was he supposed to feel? She reached for the remote, "I think you both should just watch this."

The video played. Finn wasn't sure if he should stare at the video or his mom's reactions to it. There, on screen, was him picking on kids. It's not like his mom wouldn't recognize him, even if the news people had blocked out his face. He saw himself throwing slushies and standing around while the guys hurt people. Of course, most of the videos were of other jocks. Still, had he really done it that many times? It hadn't really seemed like so much at the time, but the reporter lady made all the bullying seem all violent.

Oh no. That was him tossing Kurt into a dumpster. He glanced over to Burt, who turned at the same time toward him. Burt's eyes were so intense that Finn just turned back to the screen. The news story wasn't even that long. He looked to his mother beside him. He was definitely in trouble.

Burt sighed. "Neither of you told us about this. How often does this kind of violence happen at McKinley?"

Finn and Kurt remained quiet for a while. Finn felt the pressure of the unbroken silence, and his mom stared at him. "I mean, I guess it happens sometimes. But mom, I stopped doing it. I know that looks really bad, but I haven't done anything like that at all this year."

"Finn, why would you hurt them to begin with? I've always raised you to respect people." Carol stared at her son stonily, demanding an answer.

"I don't know, mom. It's just, everyone else was. But I stopped. I wore a shower curtain and got slushied and stood up for Kurt. I haven't really done anything to anyone in a long time, right Kurt?"

"Yes. Carol, don't be too angry with Finn. He was usually kind of nice about it." Finn hadn't actually looked over at Kurt after the tapes played. He had been so concerned about what his mom would say. Now that he had his eyes on Kurt, felt his heart drop. Kurt was sort of crushed in on himself. He stared at the armchair fabric, avoiding looking up at his father. His arms were sort of out in his lap, with one arm crossing his chest and rubbing the other one. He looked toward Finn, but not in Finn's eyes. Finn could see his eyes becoming shiny with tears, but Kurt looked like he was trying to shove his emotions back and pretend to be normal. Finn could see his hand tighten around his arm.

"What? He didn't look like he was being nice, Kurt. How long have you been hiding this? I thought you were okay." Burt wasn't yelling, which should have put Finn at ease. It didn't. Burt was talking quietly to Kurt, crouching a little in his seat to try to catch Kurt's eyes.

Kurt's eyes met his father's, and he sat up a little straighter. "I am okay. It was just bullying. I can handle it." His voice was quiet, with a forced nonchalance that didn't hide the undertone of pain.

"No you can't." Burt reached out and grabbed Kurt's hand, "And you don't have to. What's happening at that school is a joke. This is illegal, Kurt."

"Not when you're the only out gay kid in this whole bigoted town." Kurt pulled his hand away. "Not when you're a loser. Dad, this is just how my life was for a while. No one cared."

"We would have cared." Carol said hesitantly.

The room became silent as everyone reeled in their emotions.

"It's just, it wasn't always that bad. In elementary school they just thought I was weird. Than in junior high they realized what 'gay' meant, and suddenly they had a label to taunt me with. Then the jocks grew muscles and started driving trucks, and they needed the power trip." Finn saw him start digging his nails into his outstretch arm again. Kurt's voice trembled. "I don't know when it went from people calling me names to people throwing me in dumpsters. By the time I realized that I was drowning it felt like it was too late to ask for help." Finn watched Kurt sink into the armchair. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to let them make me think this was normal."

"It's not your fault; it's there's. No kid should be facing this at school. I can't believe this was allowed to happen is a school. Kurt, you're so strong, but you need to talk to me if something is happening to you. I want to be there for you." Burt's eyes stayed on Kurt, waiting for his response.

"I won't let it get like that again." Kurt said. He looked tired. Burt turned his gaze to Finn, who had been watching the father and son the whole time. Finn swallowed hard. This was going to turn back to him now, wasn't it?

"And what were you thinking? What went through your head when you decided it was okay to act this way?"

"I don't know. It's just… I was the quarterback. I had to have the cheerleader girlfriend and the tough friends or I lost everything."

"Everything?" his mom's voice was harsh. Her eyes looked at him sadly. "Finn, you lost something when you did this: integrity, trustworthiness, compassion." Woe. Those were some big words from Mom. He got the idea. He messed up, and she was disappointed.

"I said I didn't do it anymore, not since sophomore year. I just never really thought about how much the bullying did to other people. For the jocks it's something that happens really fast. We laughed then we forgot about it. But when I first got slushied, it felt really bad. It hurt, like the coldness and the stickiness. But it was embarrassing too. People laughed at me for days, and they made jokes. I never thought I hurt people like that."

"So, you really don't do it anymore?"

"No, mom. When I joined Glee, I started getting to know all the people we called losers. Mom, they're awesome. So, I stopped. And it was hard, because the other guys became really mean. They pushed me around and called me-" he looked between Burt and Carol. "…bad stuff. But I started getting better."

Carol pulled him closer to her on the couch. Now that he had convinced their parents that he wasn't a psycho, he looked up to the screen. It was paused on a slushie attack. He used to do that. So many of the friends he had now had accepted him without hating him over bullying them. Kurt was even his brother now. They did brotherly things like drinking warm milk together and singing. He was lucky.

He looked over at Kurt, who had rediscovered his interest in the arm of his chair. "I'm really sorry, Kurt. What I did then, it was never ok. You don't deserve that."

Kurt looked startled. His head jerked up and he let out a shuttered breath as he stared at Finn thoughtfully. "You never really apologized for all of it before." His voice was quiet. Finn's eyes locked with Kurt, and he could see Kurt's approving smile. "I already forgave you. But, thanks. It's nice to hear you really say it."

Carol wiped her eyes, and Burt cleared his throat.

Carol clapped her hands. "Ok, so me and Burt already talked before you both woke up. This family has to change, because this can't happen again. You both will tell us what's actually happening at school."

Burt nodded. He gruffly added, "Kurt, don't think I would hesitate to put you back in Dalton if I thought you were unsafe. I would find a way. There will be no more bullying or silent martyrdom. Finn, you either. I want my kids being treated with respect."

Carol nodded. "Finn, you've grown so much. We aren't going to take away any privileges, but if we ever see you treating someone like that again it will be dealt with." She gave him a practiced, fear-inducing glance.

"We're having dinner as a family tonight, and for the foreseeable future. Get use to this face, boys, because it's getting even more involved in your lives." Burt finished. They were really well prepared. It was intense, like tag team parenting.

Kurt sighed. Finn wanted to argue, but his objections died in his throat. By silent agreement, the Hummel-Hudson family broke apart to their separate places to think. Finn went to his room, and everyone left the living room. To Finn, it felt like the television was toxic. But good, too. He hadn't even realized that he had been carrying around guilt over his past bullying, but he felt better now that it was out there.

Finn got a text message from Puck: "can i com ovr 2 yur plce?"

"yeah, dude. it's hevy here tho"

"Ma's freaked abt news. c u soon."