Chapter Eight

No one chose to mention the confrontation with Blaine during dinner that same evening. The quartet of Hummels and Hudsons enjoyed their pizza and made light conversation, intentionally ignoring the obvious elephant in the room. Finn looked utterly confused (even more so than usual) after they'd left the school. He didn't feel comfortable asking what had gotten Burt so riled up. Kurt chose to remain quiet about the situation because he felt almost guilty about the whole thing. Blaine had looked terrified when Burt had advanced upon him.

Subconsciously, Kurt had a nagging feeling that there may be more to the curly-haired boy underneath his tough exterior.

Kurt did feel slightly out of place momentarily when Burt and Finn were engrossed in football talk. Burt told Finn that he would get some tickets to the Reds game and Finn was ecstatic, having never seen an NFL game live before.

Kurt couldn't help but feel envious about how genuinely interested Burt was with everything Finn had to say. Kurt sighed as he tried to remember the last time his father paid that much attention to any of his stories. Although, he could vaguely appreciate that his father would relate more from to a football story than anything he'd read in Vogue. But it still hurt, as much as he hated to admit it. He tried to bring up the fact that Carole was wearing some new designer jeans (complete with a waistband that fell below her belly button) but Burt unconsciously changed the subject back to sports and continued on his quest to win Finn over.

Aside from that, the evening went very well. Burt and Carole seemed to get along like long-lost friends. Even Kurt and Finn had some decent conversations – much to Kurt's approval. They discussed Glee club and talked about the songs that they would be singing to each other the following Thursday. Kurt chose not to tell Finn the exact song he'd finally chosen to sing it him. He wanted it to be a surprise. He'd taken Blaine's inadvertent advice and decided to serenade Finn with a love song.


The days leading up to Thursday involved Kurt spending every waking moment perfecting his song selection.

Kurt had set the alarm on his iPhone forty-five minutes early Thursday morning so he could do a more extensive moisturizing routine and ensure that his hair was perfectly coiffed. He chose his favorite outfit – an ensemble from Alexander McQueen's fall line, and doused himself in his favorite cologne. He felt ready to take on the world.

His classes seemed to drag on, until finally the buzzer rang to signify the end of his Spanish class. It was time.

Kurt sat in the choir room anxiously tapping his toes as the remainder of the students piled in. Mr. Schue had listed the pairings on the whiteboard in order of who would sing first, and Kurt was excited to see that he and Finn were to be the last pair to sing their chosen songs.

He's saving the best for last.

Finn entered the classroom and took a seat next to Kurt, whose eyes widened in surprise.

"H-hey Finn." He stuttered before he convinced his brain to catch up. "I had a great time last night."

No one noticed the look of shock and confusion that Puck sent Finn upon hearing this.

"Yeah. Me too, Kurt. Your dad is really cool."

Kurt smiled. "They are really great together aren't they?"

Finn looked suddenly uncomfortable, as though the light bulb has just turned on inside his head. "Wait. You don't think she… like likes him, do you?"

Kurt grinned a toothless grin. "Of course she does! It was an instant connection."

"That's impossible."

"Finn, when are you going to learn that nothing is impossible when it comes to love?" Kurt said with a dopey smile. "Haven't you noticed anything different about your mom? New clothes, new makeup. A haircut that doesn't look like it was styled by the Amish? Who do you think pretty-woman'd her up?"

Finn's face rapidly paled before developing a slightly green tinge.

"Has she started selling the furniture yet?"

Finn looked horrified. "Yeah, she just got rid of her old bedroom set and she tried to sell my dad's chair but I stopped her." Then he looked at Kurt, confused, "H-how do you even know that?"

"People our parent's age don't wait around for love to bloom." Kurt said, adding with a lustful gaze, "They know what they want."

Kurt moved his chair closer to the quarterback and said, "I guess you and I will be roommates with mom and dad cohabitating upstairs by midterms."

"No way" Finn shook his head and pushed his chair in the opposite direction.

Kurt put his hand on Finn's thigh, "Give in to the inevitable Finn. We can re-decorate our room together."

Finn's eyes widened and he looked like he was about to say something more when Mr. Schuester entered the room and announced that they would be starting the performances soon.

Kurt smiled at Finn before crossing his legs and turning in his chair, once again facing the front of the room.

Kurt hardly noticed the rest of the group singing their songs, instead choosing to stare at the goofy grin on Finn's face as he watched Puck sing an awkwardly inappropriate ballad to Mercedes. Finn continued to look extremely uncomfortable every time he caught Kurt staring at him. But, being the sweet and innocent guy he was, he only forced an awkward smile towards the other boy and turned his attention back to the front of the room. Kurt didn't seem to notice the uncomfortable tension in the air.

The remainder of the class was spent listening to discomfited renditions of classic love songs, including a very heartfelt ballad performed by Santana to Brittany and some gushy love song between Mike and Tina.

Finally it was time.

Finn started things off by singing the song he and Kurt had chosen in the auditorium. As he finished the final lines of 'I'll Stand by You', he gave a seemingly innocent and very brief hug to Kurt who flushed a furious shade of red as the remainder of the class applauded his performance.

"Great job with that song Finn. I know you were having a tough time with this assignment." Mr. Schuester acknowledged, giving the hefty teen a pat on the shoulder. "Kurt, you're up. Last but not least! What have you got for us?"

Kurt let out a large breath as he stood up and walked to the front of the classroom.

"What we all need right now is to explore the idea of a sense of place, and how, if we find that place within, we will get that happy ending." Kurt sent another lustful stare towards Finn, who suddenly looked like he wished the floor would open up and swallow him.

Kurt handed Mr. Schuester a stack of sheet music then strutted over and snobbishly told the pianist to play the song in B-flat and then positioned himself directly in front of Finn, who was sitting in the front row.

As he sang 'A House is Not a Home', Kurt looked deep into Finn's eyes, completely oblivious to the awkward and uncomfortable look that was clearly written all other the other boy's face. As the song progressed, Kurt began to notice the awkward stares from around the room and it seemed to suddenly dawn on him that Finn was not enjoying the song. At all.

Kurt finished the song and received brief, forced applause, which he didn't even perceive. He turned away from the remainder of his classmates as a lonely tear found its way down his porcelain cheek.


Kurt rushed out of the choir room as the buzzer rang just moments after his performance. He had no desire to see or speak to Finn at that point. He felt like such a tool.

What was I thinking? Of course Finn isn't attracted to me! He's not even gay!

Several more tears were slowly streaming down his cheeks as he quickly made his way through the corridors towards the exit where he would find his car parked outside.

This is a disaster! Why did I even try? I feel like such a loser. Stupid Blaine and his stupid ideas and his stupid curly hair and that stupid dumb grin and his stupid…

Kurt was obviously distraught and not paying attention to where he was walking, so as he came around the corner, he let out a surprised "Ommmphh" as his body slammed into a much harder, more compact one.

"Oh jeez! I'm sorry; I wasn't watching… oh, hey Kurt." Blaine said as he caught Kurt before he could smack into the wall beside them. "How was Glee?"

Kurt looked up as he regained his balance and narrowed his eyes at the boy standing across from him. He didn't say a word.

This is your fault.

Blaine noticed the glare as well as the red puffiness of Kurt's eyes. "Kurt, are you ok?"

Kurt suddenly threw all caution to the wind and pointed a finger right in the boy's face. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He sneered.

Blaine looked confused and frightened at the same time. "Kurt, I…"

"No." Kurt cut him off. "I talk. You listen."

Blaine's jaw snapped shut.

"You set me up." Kurt said, backing the smaller boy towards the wall. "You did that on purpose!"

Blaine shook his head, having no idea what the taller boy was referring to, but not wanting to risk the chance that Kurt might actually slug him one. He looked insanely pissed off about something.

"You told me to sing to Finn." Kurt shoved the other boy against the wall now and looked down at him, still wagging the finger in front of his pale face. "I trusted you."

Blaine closed his eyes and released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he pieced together what must have happened. "Kurt, I…"

Again, he was interrupted.

This time Kurt lost all sense of control and grabbed the smaller boy by the shoulders and shook him. "YOU DID THIS TO ME!"

Blaine winced and tried to shrug away.

"Did Karofsky put you up to this? He did, didn't he?" Kurt exclaimed, grabbing the boy's arms hard enough to leave bruises.

Blaine shook his head, but he couldn't contain the tiny whimper that escaped from between his lips.

The painful sound was enough to shake Kurt from his bout of temporary insanity and he immediately released the slender boy from his grasp.

Blaine fell to the floor and scooted himself backwards, away from Kurt, hugging himself with a cradled left arm, wincing with each painful inch.

Kurt's stomach dropped as he finally realized what he'd done.

"B-Blaine, I'm sorry." He started, as he took a step closer to the frightened boy still curled up on the floor of the hallway. "Please, I-I don't know what I was doing… I'm sorry."

Blaine looked up at him from where he sat on the floor, tears freely flowing down his cheeks. "D-don't t-touch me." He stuttered shakily.

Kurt felt his face get hot with shame. He'd never laid a hand on anyone before. He, of all people, knew what it was like to be picked on and tossed around like a piece of garbage. He felt sick to his stomach with guilt.

"Blaine, please. You're hurt." He could feel tears prickling at the corners of both his eyes.

The shorter boy shook his head and picked himself up off the floor. He winced as he attempted to straighten out his posture, setting one hand on the cold brick wall in support and closing his eyes momentarily to contain the nausea that threatened to make itself present.

Blaine re-opened his eyes and looked at Kurt, with tear-stains still predominant on his flushed cheeks. "I thought you were different than them."

He then unsteadily shuffled his way past Kurt, still holding his abdomen with his right arm and disappeared down the hallway with a pronounced limp, leaving Kurt standing there alone in disgrace and disbelief.


Author's Note:

Angsty angst...

Let me know what you think... What do you expect is going to happen next?

Thanks for reading {and for your reviews ;) }

- RH