Odds And Ends
Disclaimer: More than ever, I'm sure that Glee's in the right hands.
A/N: I thought I'd never get this one out! I'm sorry for the delay but my computer went on strike this weekend:/ I hope you like this enough to forgive me!
A/N2: 'First Time'. What can I say? The hype was true, it really was one of the best Glee episodes yet. I thought it was beautifully shot, as well as brilliantly written and acted. And the storylines were pure Glee – tear-jerking, jaw-dropping, smile-inducing and smart:) The episode proved that Glee can still bring it if it wants:) And reminded me why I love this show so much. And why Chris Colfer needs to get an Emmy, like really.
Ok, now that I've gushed enough, I hope you'll enjoy my Furt spin on it:)
Hyper Highs And Lima Lows
"Dude, your phone's ringing," Puck whispered, flashing Kurt a quizzical glance.
Kurt gave him the side-eye and turned back to watch the rehearsal. They were in the right wing of the stage and it gave him a perfect view of Blaine, who was currently killing 'Something's Coming'.
"For, like, the fifth time," Puck added pointedly.
"I'll take it in a moment," Kurt hissed, his glance glued to his boyfriend.
"You said that the last five times," Artie countered from Kurt's other side.
"One. Minute. Guys," the countertenor enunciated. "You're going to distract Blaine."
"If there's something distracting him, it's the incessant sound of your phone, Kurt," Artie pointed out. Kurt was already opening his mouth to retort but the boy in the wheelchair raised a warning hand. "Don't make me give you the director 'tude, Krupke."
Kurt rolled his eyes but reached for his phone. Seeing the caller ID, he frowned. Then he glanced back at Puck and Artie, who were eyeing him expectantly, and he turned around to answer the phone.
"Um, hello?" came from the other end.
"Don't you 'hello' me, Finn Hudson," Kurt hissed into the phone. "What's going on? You know I'm in dress rehearsal and as I recall I strictly forbid you to call me unless the house was burning. So I better hear some sirens soon."
Standing a couple of feet away, Puck and Artie exchanged amused glances. Their expressions sobered once they heard Kurt utter in genuine horror, "What? Where?". And then he was jumping off the stage.
"I'll be there in ten!" he said into the phone, rushing off towards the exit.
"Kurt, you're coming up in ten!" Artie called after him. "As in on the stage! Where do you think you're going?"
"It's an emergency!" Kurt threw over his shoulder, disappearing behind the door.
"That house better be burning!" Artie said darkly after him and glanced up at Puck, who was trying to hide a smirk.
"Wipe that smug expression off your face, Puckerman," he snapped. "You're stepping in for him," he added categorically.
Puck's face fell.
Artie grinned. "Now that's more like it."
XxXxXxX
"Finn!" Kurt called in panic, bolting down the stairs into the Hudmel house basement. "Finn, where are you?" he yelled as he frantically looked around, straining his eyes to pierce the dimness in the room.
"Here!" came a disembodied voice from somewhere to his left.
Kurt blindly groped for the light switch. Having found it, he flicked the light on and whirred around, taking in the sight before him with wide eyes. Any snarky comments or angry reproofs he might have had died on his lips.
"Oh God, Finn!" he exclaimed, rushing over to where his brother was lying under a heap of crates with only his feet visible from under the mess.
A weak grunt came from under the heap and Kurt dropped to his knees before Finn, not caring he was polishing the basement floor with a 400 dollar pair of Versace jeans. He'd freak out over it later. Right now there were other more freak-out-worthy things.
"Are you hurt?" he asked, all blood draining from his face.
"I…I'm fine," came a stuttered reply. "I'm just stuck. Can you get me out?"
Kurt considered the heap in front of him and got back to his feet. "I'll try."
"But watch out for my drums!"
Kurt rolled his eyes at Finn before realizing the other boy couldn't see it. Still, it made him feel better. "Yes, because you may be injured under a heap of heavy objects but I should first and foremost take care of that abomination you call an instrument," he drawled. "It's encouraging to know you know your priorities."
"Dude, do you know how much they cost?"
Kurt shook his head but went on to moving the boxes without another word. They weren't this heavy, mostly some old car parts and flotsam and jetsam left from the move but Finn managed to lodge himself under almost all of it and Kurt could see how it was impossible for him to get out on his own. After several minutes of silent work, he was all sweaty and covered in dust but he could at least see Finn at the very bottom. He sighed in relief and wiped his clammy forehead with the back of his hand.
"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked, concern in his voice.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
Kurt nodded. "In that case-" he said and reached into the back pocket of his jeans for his phone. "Just one shot." He smiled evilly and snapped a photo.
"Not funny, dude!" Finn protested and tried to get up but one of his legs was still trapped and he lost balance, falling back onto his behind.
"Well, it's a little funny, you have to admit," Kurt said with a chuckle as he pocketed his phone and moved the last box holding Finn down. He reached out a hand and the other boy took it with a pout. Kurt gave him a scrutinizing gaze. "Why didn't you just call the shop? It's much closer than McKinley and Dad's there right now. He'd have been here in no time."
"I…don't know," Finn admitted, pushing a hand through his already disheveled hair. "Haven't thought of that, I just…thought of you."
Kurt tried to hide a soft smile fighting its way onto his lips but failed. "Will you stop with the brotherly adorableness? I can't bite your head off when you say things like that."
Finn grinned at him.
The smaller boy rolled his eyes. "And I really want to bite your head off," he said, emphasizing his point by putting his hands on his hips. "You called me out in the middle of dress rehearsal, Finn. I didn't get to play my part, I missed most of Blaine's performance and Artie's probably devising very elaborate ways of skinning me alive."
"Um, sorry?" Finn offered meekly. "You'll see Blaine perform on the opening night, though, right? And don't worry, I'll protect you from Artie."
The smaller teen huffed. "You'd better focus on protecting yourself from me," he said menacingly and glanced around the basement, which was thrashed and it wasn't just the boxes. It looked like a tropical storm swept through it. Twice.
"What happened here?" he asked, grinding his teeth when he saw his last-season clothes he'd put away for storage strewn around like cheap rags.
"Uh, nothing?" Finn tried.
Kurt glared at him. "I'm sweaty, I'm covered in dust and I'm angry so you'd better not try my patience, Finn Hudson."
Finn swallowed. "I was looking for candle sticks."
"And you had to turn the whole basement upside down? These-" he pointed an accusatory finger to his left, "-are state-of-the-art, five-hundred-dollar-worth slacks!" He gasped. "And that's my favorite McQueen sweater lying on that greasy, old car battery!" He looked back at Finn with a murderous gaze. "I swear, you're like a trained ape! Only without the training!"
Finn looked back at him, unfazed by his glare. "Dude, if they're worth so much, why do you keep them in the basement?"
"They're last season," Kurt said as if it was the most obvious explanation in the world. "And that's not the point. The point is, why the hell you would need candle sticks and what made you think they're in the basement."
Finn shoved his hands into his pockets. "Um, I couldn't find them anywhere else."
"Did you try, oh, I don't know, the silver cabinet?"
"The what?"
Kurt took a deep breath and counted to ten. Then he started up the stairs with Finn in his wake. He stopped in front of a cabinet in the leaving room and reached inside, taking out two silver candle sticks.
Finn reached his hands out to take them but Kurt held them close to his chest. "You're going to clean up the mess you made in the basement?" he asked suspiciously.
The taller boy rolled his eyes. "Of course, dude. Burt would have my skin for a new cap if I didn't. First thing after I finish the pound cake," he promised. "Now give me the candlesticks."
Kurt blinked. "I'm not sure I heard you right. Pound cake?"
"Yeah."
"Let's forget for a moment that you can't cook and are banned from the kitchen because I first need to ask you what the hell is going on!"
Finn shrugged. "Rach is coming over."
"But why are you cooking?"
"Rach is coming over."
Kurt huffed. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Rach is coming over and I'm cooking for her!"
The smaller boy goggled at him. "What? Why? You want to poison her?"
"Dude, I can make a damn good cake!" Finn protested, his tone hurt.
"Good for what? Quick and painful death?"
Finn scowled and using Kurt's bewilderment, snatched the candle sticks from his grasp. "Thanks for these and for getting me out from the basement," he said in a hurt tone. "You can go now."
Kurt scoffed. "And leave you in the kitchen unsupervised? No way."
The taller boy rolled his eyes and headed for the kitchen with Kurt following close behind. His jaw dropped when he took in the sight before him. The kitchen was perfectly clean, there was something cooking on the stove and the ingredients for a pound cake were laid out neatly on the table. Finn consulted a scrap of paper he took out of his pocket and went on to whip up egg whites. Kurt stared.
"Who are you and what have you done with Finn Hudson?" he finally uttered.
Finn smiled. "Mom set everything up before leaving for work and she left me step-by-step instructions," he explained, waving the scrap of paper. "I told you I can do it."
"While I'm still far from convinced, I have to say I'm impressed," Kurt admitted, leaning against the doorframe. "So, what's the occasion?" he asked casually.
"No occasion," Finn replied evenly but by the way he turned his gaze down, Kurt knew something was up.
"Come on, I promise I won't tell anyone."
Finn quirked an eyebrow.
"Ok, maybe Blaine," the countertenor conceded. "But he already knows you wore a red shower curtain dress complete with make-up and glitter. What can be worse than that?"
"Dude, you told him that?"
Kurt shrugged. "I tell him everything. And that's not the point. So?"
Finn sighed. "It's Rachel. She said she's…ready."
"Ready? For what?" Kurt said with a frown and then it dawned on him. "Oh. Oooooh," he said, eyes widenind in understanding.
"Yeah," Finn said going purple and went back to whipping the eggs. "You got it out of me, you can go tell Blaine now."
Kurt shot him an incredulous glance. "Sweetie, I'm not going to tell him anything about this unless you want me to. That's…that's private, between you and Rachel."
Finn looked up at him. "Really?"
"Of course. I'm kinda honored you trust me enough to tell me. I'm not going to betray that trust. And it's a really big step. I'm happy for you," he finished with a smile.
The taller boy returned the smile. "I love her but I'm really nervous. I mean, my first time was so crappy and it's gonna stay with me forever. So, I want to make everything perfect for her, you know."
"That's very sweet of you, Finn," Kurt decided. Then he started rolling up his sleeves. "So, how can I help?"
"Dude, you really don't have to!" the taller boy said. "I don't want to mess up your performance and the show! You've got rehearsal, maybe you can still make it back in time."
"Oh, I'm not doing this to help you," the countertenor said wryly. "I just want my kitchen to see another day."
Finn grinned. "You're the best. Even when you're doing your sarcasmy thing," he said. "But seriously, I've got everything covered."
Kurt raised an eyebrow at him, crossing his hands. "Really? So you know all about folding cloth napkins, scented candles, setting the dinnerware properly-"
"There's a special way to fold napkins?"
XxXxXxX
Kurt slipped through the door, exhausted and feeling like an emotional wreck. It had taken every ounce of his will and strength to not go after Blaine when they left Scandals and the ride back home alone had been the hardest thing he had to do in a long while. But Blaine's behavior had been completely unacceptable and it was the right thing to do. Little as he wanted him to leave, and for all his love for Blaine, Kurt knew he was in the right. He felt like he finally really understood his dad's message of "You matter, don't throw yourself around". It was a painful lesson but he knew he deserved better and he wasn't going to settle for anything less.
Anything. He felt a new wave of anger surge through him as he thought of Blaine's conduct the entire evening – abandoning him to dance with that smarmy slimeball who was clearly not harmless, getting drunk and most of all, thinking it was ok for their first time to be a sloppy quickie on the back seat of a car, and crushing Kurt's romantic soul in the process. And if that wasn't enough, he guilt-tripped Kurt for saying no and then left him behind, just like that.
Kurt let out a furious growl and kicked the dresser. Hearing a rustling from the couch, he whirred around in shock. It couldn't be Dad or Carole, they were on a two-day canvassing trip up the district, so that only left one person. That, or the old lady from next door that Finn had this irrational fear of, was finally making an appearance. He swallowed and crossed over to the living room to see Finn poke his head from over the backrest and blink at him drowsily.
"Kurt?"
"Yeah," he replied darkly, standing over him. "What are you doing here?" he knew he sounded snappish but in his current frame of mind, he really couldn't help it.
"Dude, you didn't think I'd just go to sleep when you were out alone to a gay bar after curfew, did you?" Finn asked incredulously. Then he lowered his gaze, starting to fidget with his thumbs. "I was waiting here in case you know, you needed some backup or something." He smiled sheepishly but Kurt's expression remained set. "And you took Mom's Volvo. She'd kill me if anything happened to that car."
Kurt didn't smile. He crossed his arms and stared Finn down before saying flatly, "I wasn't alone. I was with Blaine."
"Yeah, cuz he's so big and burly and all," the taller boy shot back with a scoff. "If something came down, you would have to protect him."
"I don't need to be protected, Finn! I can take care of myself just fine without you so just drop it."
"Dude, don't bite my head off! I'm sorry for caring, won't do it again!"
Kurt's expression changed and he muttered a repentant 'Sorry' before sinking onto the couch next to Finn. The taller boy let him have his silent moment but remained close by, their knees touching lightly and Kurt took comfort in the closeness, even though he wouldn't admit it.
After a couple of minutes, he felt Finn's gangly arms wind around him and push him up against his chest. He didn't resist, burying his face in Finn's shirt and inhaling the all-too-familiar scent of the other boy. It felt safe and peaceful. Then Finn bent his head and brushed a kiss over his temple.
His heart warming without Kurt really meaning or wanting it to, he pulled back and looked over at his brother. "What was that for?"
Finn shrugged. "You just looked really sad," he explained like it was the most natural thing in the world, for him to be casually affectionate with Kurt.
The countertenor trailed a finger absently along his chin, sighing. "Did I?"
Finn nodded. "Yeah, sometimes when you think really hard about stuff you get this sad look on your face."
Kurt let a small smile ghost over his lips. It was touching to know that Finn paid such close attention to his facial expressions. And rather funny. It still sometimes took Kurt by surprise what a long way his stepbrother had come since they first started spending time in Glee club together. They were as different as two people could be and yet at the end of the day Kurt knew that Finn would be there for him. Always. Just like now.
He shook his head self-deprecatingly and locked gazes with Finn. "I bite your head off, I snap and bitch at you and you hug me. You must be the best brother there ever was, Finn Hudson. Or a masochist."
"I hope you remember that when I tell you about the washing machine incident."
Kurt paled. He had left his newest Balenciaga jeans in the washing machine…
"What incident?" he asked icily.
"Punk'd!" Finn chuckled. "Nothing happened, dude. I promise, I was just teasing." Kurt looked unconvinced so he raised his right hand and declared, "Scout's honor."
"You're not a scout," the smaller boy pointed out, trying to keep the smile off his face.
"Glee honor, then."
"Fine," Kurt conceded, give him a light punch in the arm. "Still, not funny, Finn Hudson."
"Whatever. You totally laughed, dude."
Kurt rolled his eyes but let Finn press him back against his side. They stayed like that for a while until the taller boy started fidgeting.
"So, um, I saw Blaine didn't walk you up…" he began uneasily. "Did you guys have a big fight or something?"
"Big? No," Kurt replied casually. "It was a mega fight."
"Oh. I…I'm sorry."
"No need. I dealt with it." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "But it was hard, Finn. So hard. Blaine's behavior was…unacceptable. And that new Warbler, Sebastian, tried to steal him away and was on my case the entire evening."
Finn straightened up. "You want me to beat him up for you? It's kinda my job to put in place jerks who act up or don't get how awesome you are."
Kurt let out a teary chuckle. "Thank you but no, Knight Finnegan. There will be no beating up."
"You sure?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes." He glanced at Finn, wondering how much he wanted to tell him. The taller boy gave him a timid smile, and his eyes showed nothing but sympathy and concern. Kurt sighed. He could never resist Finn's soulful, puppy-dog face. "And besides, as fun as it would be to see Sebastian beaten up to a pulp, he's not the real problem."
The taller boy furrowed his eyebrows. "Blaine?"
Kurt folded his hands in his lap and focused his gaze on them. "Yeah. Blaine."
"What did he do?" Finn asked quietly but Kurt noticed the way his fists clenched tighter with each word.
"Nothing," he assured him, putting a hand over one of Finn's fists and trying to get him to relax. "He just made me remember that Kurt Hummel is his own person and doesn't settle. He knows what he wants and sticks up for it. I'll never be a gay bar superstar-"
"Dude!" Finn exclaimed in horror.
Kurt stared him down and continued, "I said, I'll never be a gay bar superstar. And that's ok because I'm happy with being a hopeless romantic who wants his field of lilacs."
"A what?" Finn blinked. "And why do you need a field of it?"
Kurt blushed a little realizing what he had just almost given away to Finn. He just wasn't ready for that conversation with his stepbrother and doubted he ever would. For once he was actually thankful for Finn's cluelessness.
"Never mind," he said quickly and racked his brain for something to put Finn off scent. His eyes brightened and he shot the other boy a quizzical glance. "And I think you owe me some news. How did dinner with Rachel go? It's been two days and you've been awfully quiet about it."
Finn averted his gaze. "It was great."
"Once more, only with less feeling," Kurt said, arching an eyebrow.
The taller boy shot him an ungrateful glance and pushed a hand through his hair. "I don't wanna talk about it, really."
"What is it? Didn't she like the pound cake?"
"We didn't get to the cake. She left before."
"What do you mean, she left before dessert?" Kurt asked bewildered. "What did you do, Finn? You were both so psyched about it and I personally made sure the décor and dishes were perfect…oh no, you forgot to tell her about the venison stew, didn't you?" he realized, his face falling, and Finn's guilty look said it all. "You fed your vegan girlfriend Bambi," he uttered, not sure if he was more appalled or amused.
"Dude, I couldn't even remember the name of that dish!" the taller boy said defensively. "When I realized it, it was too late anyway so I went with it. She thought it was meat substitute," Finn recounted with a half-smile. Then his face sobered. "Anyways, that's not why she left."
"What was it, then?"
"When we got to the...snuggling part," he stammered, "-she let it slip she just wanted to 'get it over with' so that she could act better," the taller boy said in a choked voice. "It totally gutted me. She tried to apologize but I told her to leave me alone and she drove home."
"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry," Kurt said. "But unfortunately, I'm not all that surprised."
"Love sucks," Finn decided, crossing his hands. "And it hurts worse than anything in the entire world."
Kurt sighed. "I know. I guess that's the price for it also being the best feeling in the world."
They sat in silence, with their thoughts somber and hearts half-broken but the comfort of the other sitting a heartbeat away made it better. It was enough.
XxXxXxX
Kurt couldn't get the grin off his face. Seriously, it was starting to really annoy him but there was nothing he could do about it. Ever since he left Blaine's, he felt like he was walking on sunshine. Yeah, just like the song. Gah. I'm turning into a total sap, he thought wryly as he snuck along the pathway to the Hudmel house. Finn would be proud. Thinking of Finn led him to wonder how that interview with the football recruiter went. The other boy had been so excited about it and Kurt wished he'd been there for him, what with the parents away in Tucson for the weekend, but after the opening performance and his talk with Blaine things turned out…differently. He made it a point to ask him the first moment he saw Finn today…which turned out to be a lot sooner than he had expected.
The moment he got to the door and reached out for the doorknob, it moved and the door swung open to reveal Finn. And Rachel. With their tongues down each others' throats.
Once Kurt got over his initial shock, he put on a scowl, grade three. Rachel was still out of his good books for how she had behaved towards Finn earlier. "When you're done with the tonsil hockey, I'd like to go in."
Rachel yelped and pushed Finn away, which made him stumble onto the dresser and knock over Carole's Chinese vase. The three of them stared in horror as it rolled over the edge and fell to the ground with a loud crush.
Kurt crossed his arms and looked at the both of them. "Well, at least this time it's something ugly."
Rachel recovered first but there was still a deep blush on her face when she said a timid 'hi' to him. Then she looked back to Finn, who still seemed to be unable to form a coherent sentence, and smiled. "I'll see you Monday, ok?"
Finn nodded weakly and both boys watched her stroll down the path and drive off. Once she was out of sight, Kurt closed the door and looked back at his stepbrother.
"Having a sleep-over, Finn?" he asked teasingly and was rewarded with a deeper shade of red growing on the other teen's face.
Finn sat down in one of the armchairs in the living room and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. When he finally met Kurt's gaze, his eyes were brimming with so many conflicting emotions that the smaller boy could hardly wrap his head around it. He knew something important had happened…and that he was probably wearing the very same look on his face.
"We did it," he said simply.
Kurt sat down opposite him. "That's- I'm happy for you," he stuttered, not sure what to make of Finn's unreadable expression. "Should I be happy?"
"Yeah. I mean, thanks."
"What's wrong, Finn?" he asked. "You wanted this for so long and I thought you'd be bouncing off the walls and burning the house down, not silently brooding in the living room."
"Everything's fine." The taller boy shook his head, his eyes tinged with slight sadness. "I…I am happy."
"Tell that to the expression on your face," Kurt countered, raising an eyebrow at him.
"It's nothing," Finn said quickly. "I mean it about being happy, Kurt," he emphasized, looking him in the eye. "It was incredible," he added with feeling and it was the first time Kurt saw a spark of excitement in the other boy's eyes. "With Santana, it was just about losing the v-card, you know, but Rachel…" He smiled to himself. "When you're with somebody you love, that's just…it blows your mind away."
Kurt returned the smile because he understood. Oh, how he understood. He was still deep in Blaineville when he realized Finn was speaking again.
"Huh? What?"
Finn gave him a quizzical glance. "I asked: where were you the whole night?"
Kurt tried to put on a neutral expression before he spoke. "With Blaine."
"Oh, you had one of your girls-night musical sleepover things again?"
The countertenor's voice was dripping ice when he spoke. "I'm not ten, I don't have sleepovers. And it wasn't a girls night because I am clearly not a girl, Finn."
"Dude, I know you're not a girl and you're not ten but that's what you always do with Blaine!" Finn exclaimed defensively.
Kurt crossed his arms. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"I- Nothing!" the quarterback stuttered in bewilderment.
Kurt narrowed his eyes at him. "You think I can't do things with my boyfriend other than hold hands and sing show tunes?"
"What? No! I'm sure you do plenty of interesting stuff-" he ploughed on, feeling he was only digging himself a deeper grave, "-mud masks and uh, shopping and…" he trailed off weakly.
Kurt drew his lips in a thin line and his gaze hardened as he looked at the other teen. "So, in a nutshell, you think we're a pair of twelve-year-old girls with the emotional range of tea spoons, who braid each other's hair and make big eyes at each other."
"No way, man!" Finn objected. "Your hair's way too short for braids, even I know that." If looks could kill, Finn would be a miserable pile of ash on the floor right now. "Why are you getting so worked up about this, dude? I didn't mean anything wrong, only that you're the romantic type that holds hands and wants to be serenaded and-"
"I had sex!" Kurt burst out angrily, not being able to stand this any longer. It was enough that Finn thought he was basically a girl with boy parts but that he wasn't mature enough…
Finn blinked and Kurt could almost see the cogs and wheels turning in his head. "What?"
"You heard me," the smaller boy replied, crossing his hands.
The quarterback choked a little. "You're not joking," he said weakly, staring at his brother with wide eyes.
"No," Kurt confirmed and sighed. "And yet you still think I'm some starry-eyed naive school boy who's not mature enough to actually do it, do you?"
"Dude, you're the most mature teen I've ever met!" Finn hedged. "That's why I was so disbelieving!"
"Oh?"
"I mean, it's such a big step that means so much and you're so careful and private and innocent...that's why I never thought you'd um, do the deed in high school," he finished, an interesting shade of red going way up to the tips of his ears.
"I did it exactly because I know how much it means," Kurt replied, relaxing because really, nothing Finn did today could make him angry for long. "When I saw him on that stage yesterday, he took my breath away," he continued, staring absently ahead. "And then he apologized for the bar melt-down and it was the sweetest apology I've ever heard and in one moment, it all clicked. I knew." He turned to meet Finn's gaze. "You know what it's like, don't you?"
"Yeah. I do." The taller boy nodded in understanding. "And uh, I'm really happy for you, too, Kurt."
They sat in silence for a while, each engulfed in their own thoughts until Finn turned towards him with an inquisitive glance.
"So, um, how do you feel?"
Kurt gave him the side-eye. "This is about to get much more awkward, isn't it?"
"I don't think it's possible, dude," Finn replied with a lop-sided smile. "But if you don't want to talk to me about it, it's totally cool."
"You're my brother and one of my closest friends. Why wouldn't I want to talk to you about it?"
Finn's face brightened. "Really?"
"Yes, well, that, plus everyone else is still asleep and you happen to be around," the smaller boy said wryly.
"It's so good to know I mean so much to you," Finn huffed.
Kurt chuckled and ruffled his hair affectionately. "It was perfect," he said. "Like nothing I've ever experienced before. And now I feel like I'll never touch the ground again-" he looked at Finn, only to see the other boy was looking ahead with an absent expression on his face. "-because I bought myself a pair of shoes with tiny golden wings that make me float in the air like Peter Pan."
"That's great," the taller boy mumbled.
"Finn." Kurt nudged him in the side.
The other boy's head snapped up. "Huh? What?"
The countertenor narrowed his eyes. "Just because I'm on cloud nine, doesn't mean I don't notice things anymore. What aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing," the other teen replied quickly. Seeing Kurt wasn't going to back down, he shrugged. "I'm just thinking and stuff. Me and Rachel…it's all I ever wanted and I'm trying to wrap my head around it."
"Extracting any information from you this week is worse than pulling out teeth with bare hands!" Kurt exclaimed in exasperation and gave him a measured glance. "You know you can trust me, Finn," he said, narrowing his eyes. "This has something to do with yesterday, doesn't it? Why did you agree to go the whole way when just a couple of days ago you told Rachel no? What changed?"
Finn stared at him because Kurt was doing it again. He had this ability to see straight into him – he could cut right through all the lies and nonsense Finn would build up around himself, and Kurt could just destroy it, with a look or with a few well-placed words. This talent made him an indispensable friend but sometimes was also incredibly irritating.
"Nothing!" he repeated stubbornly.
"Not going to work, Finn Hudson," Kurt stated. "The sibling/friend thing? It works both ways. So talk to me."
"I don't want to talk about what a complete and utter failure I am, ok!" Finn burst, his voice suddenly choked. He felt angry tears in the corners of his eyes.
Kurt's expression softened as he watched the change in Finn – his suddenly hunched shoulders and his eyes brimming with defeat.
"What happened?" he asked in a stern voice, ready to kill whoever had caused this.
Finn wiped back the tears with the back of his hand and looked away. "The football recruiter happened," he said in an emotionless voice. "He told me I'm not good enough. That I reached my ceiling! I was so stupid! I didn't even take off my uniform cuz I was afraid I'd miss him and he was only after Shane. Shane! He didn't even consider me!"
Now he was full-on bawling but he didn't care anymore. Rachel managed to get his mind off of this and made him feel better but now that she was gone, the fear and the feeling of defeat were back with a vengeance, looming over his head like angry harpies.
"What am I supposed to do now?" he asked in anguish. "This was my dream! My only hope to get out of this loser town and be someone and now it's all over! I'll never get out! You and Rachel are both going away and I'll stay here alone. I'll always be a Lima loser!"
"Finn." Kurt said softly, his heart breaking for the other boy. He looked so vulnerable that Kurt could barely stand to look at him. "Finn," he repeated more forcefully when there was no response. "Finn!"
"What!"
"Look at me," Kurt ordered. When the other teen refused to, he put his hand under his chin, forcing his head up. "Look. At. Me."
Huffing, Finn finally let their gazes lock.
"You're an idiot," Kurt stated.
Finn glared. "And that's why I don't tell you things."
Undeterred by his expression, the smaller boy stared him down and continued, "But you're also one of the most talented and bravest guys I know. You don't need to leave Lima to be someone because you already are."
"Dude-"
"But I know you will anyway because you're great, Finn. You're unique and special, I wish you could see that more," Kurt continued softly. "You always tell me how much you've changed because of me but I think I never told you how much I've changed because of you," he said and was met with Finn's surprised glance. "You taught me about loyalty and friendship, Finn. You showed me what it means to be brave. I can safely say I'm a better person for knowing you and I'm proud to be your brother," he stated, brushing a soft kiss over his temple. "This isn't the end, Finn. It's just a small bump on the road that will only make you even stronger and better. There are other schools with football teams and other music schools than NYADA, and if that doesn't pan out, you'll find something else and you'll rock at it. I know you will."
Finn sniffled but Kurt was relieved to see at least that broken look that was killing him was gone from the other boy's eyes.
"But without football or Glee…what am I?"
Kurt wrapped his arms around him. "You are my talented, brave, well-meaning brother," he whispered into his ear.
Finn stayed silent for a while. "I think I got snot all over your fancy shirt."
Kurt chuckled and gathered him even closer. "Yup. Definitely my brother."
So, I hope you liked this! It was quite an emotional journey not only for the boys but for me as well, and I really hope I did good! Drop me a line if you think I did, even if it's just to say 'It was ok.' or 'It didn't suck that bad.' Your feedback is priceless and makes me a better writer!
Hugs and until next chapter!
