Author's Note: So I lied. Regionals isn't yet, it will be next chapter. I forgot some other stuff needed to happen AND I wanted some more Kurt and Finn bonding time. Hope you guys don't mind! Here is the latest chapter! Please enjoy and review because that inspires me to write! And special thanks to my awesome beta!
~Chapter Twenty-Nine~
For the first time in a very long time, Blaine felt at a loss. He could not, would not, allow the Warblers to trick Kurt into performing with him at Regionals. It angered him that they even considered such a heinous idea but it just went to show how desperate they were.
Blaine knew the members of New Directions, some more than others. He shuddered a bit remembering his little run-ins with one Rachel Berry. And it would be unwise of him to underestimate their talents. The Warblers could lose to The New Directions. They could lose everything and be done with competition for the season.
But more importantly than that was Kurt. Blaine couldn't stand knowing that Kurt was angry with him. It made his stomach churn, his head throb, and his heart beat at erratic intervals. He couldn't concentrate. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't force himself out of bed at a decent hour. His oiled up curls were proof of that. And now people were starting to notice.
Blaine refused to feel bad that Dimetri got expelled. The hoodlum had it coming. But it wasn't his doing. If it had been, he would certainly want to take the credit for it. But convincing Kurt of that would be impossible.
Granted, it was his own fault for how out of hand he let things get. He should never have tried to come between Kurt and his boyfriend. He should never have let Kurt get a boyfriend period. Blaine would be a much better candidate to take care of Kurt.
Tightening his grip on his shoulder bag, Blaine held his head high. He pushed his way into the library and scanned the room. A few students lingered about but for the most part it was pretty empty save for Kurt who sat alone at one of the round tables. He held a pencil in his hand and he tapped out a rhythm against the page as he read.
Blaine took a deep breath. He needed to stop being such a coward. He'd given Kurt ample time to cool off. An entire weekend plus two days to be exact. He trudged forward, suddenly feeling like death march music played behind him. He approached the brunette and waited a beat. When the countertenor made no move to acknowledge him, he cleared his throat. "Mind if I sit down?"
Kurt flipped the page a little too forcefully then replied with a terse. "Yes."
Rolling his eyes, Blaine seated himself anyway. He eyed the text book. "Ah… World War II, fitting." He idly tapped his fingers on the edge of the table. "Can I talk to you about something?"
"I don't know if you can. I would assume your vocal chords are working properly." He answered just as flippantly.
Blaine bit back down a not so friendly retort. "May I then?"
Kurt finally brought his steely eyes up to meet Blaine's. He pursed his lips and then raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Thank you." Blaine replied, not really sure if he meant it or not. He jerked himself upright, setting his shoulders. "First of all," He spread his hands, "despite popular belief, Dimetri's expulsion was not my doing." Unfortunately. He added to himself. "I just … wanted you to know that."
Kurt crossed his arms across his chest. His brow went down but his lips remained just as tight.
Blaine took that as a sign he should continue. "Second of all, I would like you to reconsider performing at Regionals."
He barked out a laugh at that. It was so loud that the librarian actually shushed him. Wincing apologetically in her direction, Kurt leaned forward. "Why on earth would I do that?"
Blaine dropped his eyes to his still drumming fingers. He swallowed hard. "Because," he paused, "There is no one else I want to sing with, but you." He kept his eyes down so he wouldn't have to see Kurt's reaction. "And I know things with the Warblers have been rough on you. They live in this privileged bubble and can't see past their noses. I'm not going to lie; I used to be like that to…"
Kurt settled back into his chair, eyes still bright with irritation.
"Until I met you." Pressing his lips together, Blaine wasn't sure if this train of thought would help his cause or hinder it. "You've helped me open myself up to-"
The brunette actually rolled his eyes. "Why don't you stop trying to placate me and say what you're really after? I know as well as anyone that the Warblers have a variety of equally deserving voices at their disposal. Why does it have to be me?"
Blaine snapped his mouth shut. Didn't he hear him? "I just told you."
"Why even have dual leads? Hmm? You've done a superb job leading the Warblers to this point. Why not just pull something out of your repertoire?"
"Kurt!" He couldn't hide the irritation in his voice any longer. "You're not even listening to me."
His lip curled into a snarl. "I've done all the listening I can take. I have no desire to sing with the Warblers for Regionals, least of all with you."
Rubbing circles at his temples, Blaine sat for a moment. "I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to fight anymore."
"Well." Kurt started gathering his things. "Then stop trying to talk to me."
Without checking with his brain first, Blaine's hand shot out across the table and clasped around Kurt's thin wrist. "Please, Kurt," He implored. "I know you hate me, but can't we just-"
"I don't hate you." He snapped, wrenching himself away. "But I certainly don't like you right now."
"Then this will be the perfect song." He replied, reaching into his bag with shaking fingers. He found the sheet music and passed it over to the other boy. "This is the song the council chose. I think the lyrics speak for themselves. The only one I can sing it with is you."
Kurt let out an exasperated breath, but he took the music and read through it quickly. To an ordinary eye, his expression wouldn't have changed. But Blaine caught the slight softening of his features.
"And I don't think I have to remind you that Nationals are in New York City this year."
Letting the pages slide through his fingers, Kurt closed his eyes.
"If we can just … " he sighed, hating the uncertainty in his own voice, "If we can just set aside all the animosity for now. Then …" he trailed off with a sigh. "We can give the Warblers a real chance at winning."
Kurt sat silent for a long moment. "I don't know Blaine."
"Don't do it for me. Do it for the team. Do it for the opportunity." He pressed his lips together. "You've always wanted to sing lead for a competition."
The countertenor still didn't look convinced.
Raking a hand down the front of his face, Blaine almost gave up entirely. "Will you just think about it then? Let me know what you decide?"
"Fine." Kurt replied, like Blaine just thoroughly put him out a great deal. "I'll think about it. But I'm not promising anything, and you need to find yourself a back-up in case I decide I can't stand to be on the same stage as you."
That hurt. Almost like a slap to the face. Actually, it brought back unpleasant memories from when Kurt had physically assaulted him. "Fair enough." He forced a smile. "When can I expect an answer?"
"Monday." Kurt replied tartly. He zipped his bag closed a little more forceful than necessary. "I have to go home again this weekend, so it's not like I'd be able to practice anyway."
"Home? Again?" Blaine frowned. "Is everything okay?"
"Oh. It's wonderful." Kurt replied, sarcasm dripping from his words. "My father thinks I am rebelling and wants to keep a closer eye on me."
An uneasy smile tugged onto Blaine's face, but it didn't meet his eyes. "Well that's good though. Your father is paying attention to you again. Right?"
Narrowing his eyes at him, Kurt leaned forward again. "If by paying attention you mean forcing me to spend the entire weekend working at the garage and listening to John Mellancamp then yes."
He winced. "Oh."
Kurt glared down at his phone, willing it to ring. When it did, he almost fell over off his bed. Unfortunately, it wasn't the caller he was expecting, but a small smile appeared on his lips anyway.
"Hi Finn." He answered, a little breathless from his near fall.
"Hey!" His brother paused. "Are you at school?"
Kurt frowned and flopped back on his pillows with a sigh. "Yes Finn, where else would I be?"
"Could you like … come meet me in the parking lot?"
Blinking, he sat back up so quickly he got dizzy. "Here? At Dalton?"
"No! Dude, at McKinley." He paused again. "Yes at Dalton."
He scrambled off the bed and searched for his shoes. "Is something wrong? Is Dad okay?"
"Everything is fine." He replied, trying to be soothing. "Just come down here."
His heart beat a little faster in his chest. "Where are you?"
"Next to your car. And hurry up, it's cold out here."
Kurt quickly hung up with his brother and blinked at his phone for a moment. This was … well odd. Finn never made house calls before. He shrugged into his coat and padded quickly out of the dormitory and towards the parking lot.
He caught sight of Finn's lanky form leaning against his Navigator and sped up a bit.
Finn smiled in greeting, moving forward to engulf him in a quick hug. "Hi!"
Kurt laughed. "Hi. What are you doing here?"
The taller boy shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I missed your visit last weekend, so I decided to come make it up to you."
"Make it up to me?" Kurt repeated, blinking at his brother like he had six heads. "What are you talking about? I wasn't home for a pleasant visit. And you do know I will be home again … Friday." Being that it was Thursday, Kurt could not figure out what his step-brother was doing.
Finn sighed. "Okay look. I overhead your Dad talking to my Mom about the stuff you talked about and I just wanted to come by and see if you were okay." He hung his head a bit.
Kurt formed his lips around the word before he said it. "Oh." He blinked rapidly a few times. "That's very sweet of you."
Exhaling in relief, he added with a playful smile. "Just don't tell the guys. They think I'm on a date with Rachel. Oh and don't tell Rachel because she thinks I am out with the guys."
"Okay." He replied with a laugh. "But why are you lying to everyone?"
Finn made a face. "Rachel said something like conspiring with the enemy or something. I don't know man, everyone has been acting weird. I'm not going to rock the boat."
"Well you can tell Rachel I'm not the enemy any longer. I quit the Warblers."
Stunned into silence for a moment Finn frowned. "Why'd you do that?"
"Long story." He mumbled, rubbing his left temple. Apparently just the sound of Rachel Berry's name brought on a headache.
"Well you can tell me all about it then." His brother replied with a cautionary nod, then he nodded again with more confidence. "Yeah, ee can go have dinner or something. My treat."
Kurt wrapped his arms around himself, suddenly unsure. Finn's acceptance of him, and brotherly concern still baffled him. While it warmed and comforted him, he still waited for the pivotal moment when Finn would remember the animosity he once felt for him. Being brothers was still new to both of them, and Kurt couldn't afford to let his guard down now. "That's nice and all. But you do realize it's Thursday? And if this was really about what I said over the weekend, wouldn't it make more sense for you to come Monday?"
"Hey." Finn interrupted his thoughts. "What's with this?" he waved a hand indicating Kurt's tense posture. He laughed. "You're giving me that look. You know, the one you always gave Puck before he tossed you into a dumpster."
"Well." Kurt deadpanned. "That used to be you too."
Finn was taken aback by his words. "Dude, I've apologized for that, multiple times." He started to flail around. "What the heck man! What else do I have to do to get through to you? You can't just keep shutting me out." He let out an exasperated breath. "I thought we were a family now, aren't you supposed to trust your family?" He gestured helplessly towards Kurt. "I get that I burned you before. I'm a teenager, I screw up. It's kind of a rite of passage or something." His next rush of words came out almost choked. "But that doesn't mean I'm ever going to stop trying to make it up to you. You're my brother. And I don't give a shit that it hasn't been that long. I'm here for you and I'm not going anywhere. And besides, I couldn't do it any sooner with Glee practice and stuff. You know that."
Kurt's eyes widened to what felt like half the size of his face. "Oh god… " he moaned, hand coming up to his mouth.
"No!" Finn all but shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Don't you dare start crying again. Makes me look like I threated to drown your puppy or something."
"I don't have a puppy." Kurt mumbled, cocking his head in confusion. "What?"
"Gah!" The giant of a teen groaned shaking his fists at the sky. "I can't take the tears man. It's just like with girls, you try to say something, you know meaningful and stuff and then they start to cry. Then if you hug them then people glare at you like it's your fault or something. When it was your fault but not for what they think it is. And then they start making up all thing stuff about what you did to make the girl cry! I swear after you left over break, your Dad sat me down for this interrogation thing. Like on Law and Order where they sit you in a room and just stare at you."
Kurt blinked again. Thoroughly confused. Indignation about being compared to a girl fired up in his stomach, but then the absolute adorableness of his brother's state of distress made him want to coddle him and pet his hair. "Oh Finn." He shook a bit. "Finn."
"What?" He yelped. "What did I do?"
He laughed. It started as a tiny little giggle, and then it bubbled into a full blown, doubled over would be on the ground if it wasn't so dirty hysteria. Once he started, he couldn't stop.
Finn's hands open and closed like he didn't know what to do with him. "Hey \… it's not that funny."
"You-" Kurt gasped, "Puppies- and..." he fell into another fit of giggles. "Puppies Finn? Really?"
"Would you rather I said kittens? Or pot belly pigs? But honestly, dude. I think you'd find pigs too messy."
"It doesn't matter how messy they are if you drown them." Kurt replied, finally able to contain his laughter. His insides still clenched though.
"Drown the little pot-belly pigs? How could you even say that? They are so cute, and little. And real smart too. Like smarter than the hamster Puck's sister had, the one that kept running in the wheel. I mean come on he wasn't going anywhere and he did it night after night."
Kurt clamped his mouth shut. He regarded his brother with wide eyed wonder.
"And like his little face got all scrunched up and his beady little eyes looked like they wanted to pop out of his face. And I tried telling the little guy that it was useless. Then I think he got out one night and chewed through their alarm system and electrocuted himself. Oh wow … maybe I should use hamsters instead of puppies, that's traumatizing." He cast Kurt a wry little smile, dimple showing.
Then Kurt lost the fight and fell into another fit of laughter.
An hour or so later, Kurt found himself seated at a booth at Olive Garden with Finn. It was dinner time rush, but neither of them were in much of a hurry. As long as they got out by 8, Finn would have enough time to get home by curfew.
After they ordered, Finn took a long sip from his coke and regarded him. "So, how's Dimetri?"
Kurt felt a little pang in his chest. He dropped his eyes to where he played with the straw wrapper in front of his glass. "I don't know." He answered softly. "He called last week, to say he was at his Aunt's house for now and that was it."
Frowning, Finn asked. "Have you tried calling him?"
"I texted him a few times. I don't know if his phone is still working or not. He called me from a house number."
"And nothing huh?" Finn nodded taking another sip of soda. "Guess he really meant it when he said he was giving you space."
Kurt wanted to slump under the table. "Guess so." He mumbled back.
"I can teach you how to box, if you want to go after Blaine again."
He smiled. "Thanks but I don't think that's necessary. He got my point."
"Poor guy." His brother murmured, more to himself than to Kurt. "You know he went to Mercedes?"
Kurt blinked. "What?"
"Yeah man. Rachel was you know going on and on about something the other day. And I guess she overhead Mercedes talking to Tina about it. Blaine went to her for advice, for you know wooing you or something."
He frowned. "Mercedes never mentioned that to me."
"I guess she wouldn't. You were happy with Dimetri at the time."
Ripping the straw wrapper into dozens of tiny pieces Kurt fell silent. He didn't know who to be angry at anymore. All he knew was that he was angry. "Remind me to tell her to mind her own business next time."
Finn chuckled. "Girls."
Kurt raised his brows in agreement and gestured with his chin to him. "What about you? What's going on with Quinn and Rachel? I assume if you are telling people you are on a date with Rachel you decided you liked her?"
"I don't know man." He shrugged. "I think I am going to go at it alone for a while. They are great and all but they are both too needy."
"Isn't that the point? Don't you want to be with the person who needs you most?"
He made a face. "No dude." He grinned. "That's the worst you can do."
Kurt cocked his head. "Really?"
"Yeah." His brother sat up a little straighter. "Like, you got Quinn right? Quinn says she needs me because she wants to be popular and stuff. Then you have Rachel who says she needs me to challenge her vocally or whatever. But neither of them ever asked me what I need. There is something to that. I think."
Pursing his lips, Kurt folded his arms on the table in front of him. "That might apply to you but I don't think that really applies to my situation."
Finn shook his head while he took a long sip that emptied his glass completely. "It's the same, you are just thinking it rather than them saying it."
Kurt frowned. "Care to elaborate on that?"
"Well." Finn gestured towards him. "You think Blaine needs you because you are best friends, right? Because he was there for you when you needed someone, so you feel like you owe him for that."
Kurt slumped a bit more. It sounded rather pathetic when worded like that.
"And Dimetri." Finn sighed. "His life is crappy and he says you make him happy. So then you think the only way he can be happy is if you stay with him."
"Oh." Kurt breathed out.
"When the truth is, they will both be fine. I mean they might bitch and moan about it for a while, like Rachel and Quinn are doing but in the long run they will be okay. Move on."
Kurt let all that sink in. He tapped his fingers idly on the table top.
"It's actually pretty cool."
"What is?"
His brother grinned at him. "Here you thought you'd be alone forever. Now you have two dudes who care about you and are fighting over you."
Blinking, Kurt sat up a little straighter. Finn was right. Perhaps he was looking at this whole situation all wrong. He had two boys fighting over him. He had two amazingly attractive and talented young men fighting over him.
Dimetri had his anger issues and Blaine had his jealousy issues. But he couldn't say either of them was insincere with their affections. Both of them behaved childishly about certain things, but then again so had Kurt.
"Seems to me like you ought to think more about who makes you happy, than who needs you the most." Finn added with a shrug.
"Yeah… "Kurt concluded out loud. "Wow, Finn. I don't care what anyone says, you really do have a deep character."
Finn's smile fell. "Was that an insult?"
