DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee, nor do I own any of the characters or anything else that has to do with Glee. That is all owned by Ryan Murphy and Fox. I make no money from this whatsoever. There is absolutely no copyright infringement intended. Thank you.
NOTES: Hey guys! You may have realized that I have been making Kurt the littlest of the group in this fic. In my mind, I'm not actually changing anything physically. Everyone still looks the same from the episode. I knew that Kurt was an older member of the group, but I didn't realize it had been confirmed that he was older than Finn. When Finn talks about Kurt being his "little brother," he literally is meaning littler, not younger. Kurt just humors him. Just know that I'm taking artistic license here. Thank you for reading!
Operation: Brothers
Once the Warblers had finished performing Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," Finn turned to Kurt quickly.
"Ok," said Finn over the cacophony of cheers. "Let's go before anyone-"
"Hi!" Finn was interrupted by an Asian boy. A Black boy came to stand beside him. Blaine quickly ran up to join them.
"You guys! This is Kurt," Blaine pointed to Kurt looking at his friends who were smiling at him indulgently. "He's new here, and this is…" Blaine trailed off, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck and looking properly abashed. "I'm sorry. I didn't even get your name."
"Yeah, you seemed a little distracted," snarked Finn, speaking of the smaller boy's earlier concentration on only his little brother. Blaine blushed and Kurt gently smacked Finn in the stomach.
"I apologize for Finn. He's my big brother. He can be a little protective at times."
The other boys smiled sweetly while Finn grumbled.
"I'm Wes," said the Asian, who stuck his hand out for the boys to shake.
The other boy, "David," did the same.
The brothers shook them.
"It's funny," stated David, eyes narrowed on Kurt. "I work in the main office in my spare time and I haven't heard anything about any new mid-year transfers, yet Blaine says you're new here?"
"Oh! Well, I'm not actually, technically yet new here." Kurt stuttered out, trying to sound as educated about his situation as possible. "My mom sent me here to check out this school because she and my father are thinking of transferring me."
"Ah," David nodded and looked to Wes. "I see." Both boys looked skeptically at each other and turned to Blaine who was frowning at Kurt's body language.
Kurt smiled abashedly down at the floor. "I apologize for giving the impression that I'm new here."
"Our headmaster is a stickler for the uniform, so…" Wes trailed off.
Kurt laughed stiffly. "Right."
"It's fine." Wes stated gently. "We just wanted to make sure you hadn't actually come here to spy."
The three Warblers laughed and Finn and Kurt joined them awkwardly.
"What would we spy on?" asked Finn as confusedly as possible.
"Glee club," Blaine stated simply.
"I hadn't realized that glee clubs needed such protection," Kurt answered innocently, widening his eyes in fake shock.
"Oh trust me," Wes shook his head. "Some show choirs can be quite unstable sometimes."
"Would you guys like to go get some coffee?" asked Blaine nicely, with his eyes only on Kurt.
Finn tried to look apologetic. "Actually, we really have to get go-"
"That would be lovely! Thank you!" interjected Kurt. Finn's head snapped over to his brother.
"Great!" Blaine exclaimed excitedly and Finn's head snapped back to him. Blaine looked like he was going to grab Kurt's hand once more, but decided against it once he saw Finn's scowl. "Follow us!"
The Warblers walked ahead of them and Finn turned to look at Kurt again.
"That would be lovely? Thank you? What are you doing?"
"What?" Kurt questioned innocently shrugging his shoulders. "I'm interested to know what other sorts of information they have."
"They already suspect something is off about us!" Finn whisper-screamed as they followed a distance behind the boys who appeared to be whispering to each other. Blaine kept looking back at them. "If they're leading us to a gym full of dodge ball-throwing army brats, I can only do so much."
Kurt gulped looking away from Finn's serious demeanor. He honestly hadn't given it much thought, but now that Finn mentioned it, he was beginning to doubt his decision. He had no reason to fret though, as they quickly came upon the dining hall where Kurt eyed that espresso machine earlier. His mouth watered.
"Blaine," Wes interjected when they arrived at the café. "Why don't you and Kurt go pick our table and David, Finn and myself will go get us some coffees."
Kurt immediately went off with Blaine to search for a seat as Finn watched on in uncertainty.
Wes interrupted Finn's staring. "You know, Finn, if it weren't for Kurt, I'd think you guys were here to actually spy on us."
"Yeah," said David, still looking after the two who had just found a table and sat down. "You're a really good brother, coming all this way to check out the school with him and everything."
Finn looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"All this that you're doing for Kurt," David supplied. "I mean, it's painfully obvious that the boy gets bullied."
Finn looked even more concerned as to where their conversation was heading. "…It is?"
"Yes. Surely you've noticed it? I mean, you're here."
Finn shook his head.
"Just...look." David pointed to the table whilst looking at Finn confusedly.
Finn turned and looked back through the doors of the dining hall at Kurt who was smiling softly at the boy in front of him, but his eyes kept shifting away and looking around. It was as if he was waiting for his happiness to be crushed by some unknown being at any moment.
"Let's see if Blaine tries to initiate contact," said David, standing at attention.
They waited for a moment before Blaine glanced down and reached for Kurt's hand only for Kurt to pull back immediately as if his hand had been burned. Kurt tried to play it off like it was nothing and Blaine sat up straighter, trying not to look disheartened.
"Mmm," Wes hummed and David nodded at him. "The bullying at your school has gotten physical."
"No," Finn shook his head in denial. "No. Kurt's always been like that. He's never liked being touched. He's never been that much of a touchy-feely person."
"...Finn?" asked Wes hesitantly. "Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps Kurt's always been like that because he's always been bullied?"
Finn just kept shaking his head and looking at Kurt.
"It's quite obvious," continued Wes matter-of-factly. "The boy looks like he hasn't gotten a wink of sleep in months. He's too pale and too skinny for his age."
"Lord knows what sorts of bruises his clothes are hiding, maybe even cuts. The boy isn't doing well," remarked David, shaking his head. David turned to Finn then and asked bluntly, "Has Kurt ever outwardly displayed any signs of depression or expressed any thoughts of suicide?"
At the word "suicide," Finn's face blanched and he turned from studying Kurt to look at the other boys in pure horror. Wes and David looked to each other curiously before turning back to Finn, narrowing their eyes and crossing their arms.
"Let me see if we understand this correctly." David took a deep breath. "Finn, did you guys actually come here to see about Kurt getting an immediate transfer?"
Finn looked away from Kurt to his shoes and shook his head at the floor.
"Oh my God," stated Wes incredulously. "You actually did come here to spy on our glee club, didn't you?"
"Kurt said it was a stupid idea," Finn tried to justify it. "He didn't really want to do it."
"And he didn't," answered David with a nod and a soft smile. It all made sense now. "Not really, but I guess as soon as he checked our website and saw the zero tolerance bullying policy, he decided it didn't sound like too bad of an idea."
Wes was shaking his head, arms crossed, with a look of agitation on his face. "Are you guy's even brothers?"
"Step-brothers," answered Finn proudly, glad to get away from any drastic talk of Kurt killing himself. "Well, almost anyway. Our parents aren't married, but we're thinking any day now that his dad is going to pop the question, but we're as good as brothers."
"Are you?" questioned Wes honestly. "You stick up for him when your football friends are tormenting him in the hallways? Locker checking him? Throwing him into dumpsters?"
Finn glared at the boys and moved to finally make his way into the dining hall. One of the boys behind him muttered something about hitting a nerve, but Finn didn't care. He turned to the table where Kurt and Blaine were still sitting and they appeared to be exchanging phones.
"Come on, Kurt," Finn flinched when he realized how right the other boys were. Kurt had jumped as soon as he heard Finn's loud voice. He lowered it and stated simply. "We have to go. Dad's expecting us home in time for dinner."
Kurt and Blaine both stood up. Kurt moved around the table to walk towards Finn, only to have Blaine reach out and gently touch his forearm. Kurt tensed up and Finn saw that too. His eyes had been opened now and it was as if he couldn't close them anymore. It was all so obvious now that it had been pointed out to him. How could he have been so blind?
"It was lovely to have met you, Kurt. I look forward to seeing you again, especially if you do decide to transfer here."
Kurt nodded and said "You too, Blaine," before moving towards the door where Finn was holding out his arm telling him to come on. He laid his hand on Kurt's upper back gently to guide him to the exit, but he felt Kurt's back muscles tense at his touch as well. Finn pulled his hand away immediately.
"Good bye, Kurt." Wes smiled gently at the boys walking by them to leave.
"We look forward to seeing you perform at sectionals," answered David with a big smile on his face.
Kurt looked at Wes and David in confusion, before glancing back at Finn who shook his head and continued walking towards the exit.
"Or sooner," responded Wes, "if that is what comes of this little spying mission, of course."
Kurt took a deep breath before walking after Finn. He caught up with him further down the hallway and they exited together. Both remained quiet.
Kurt and Finn had both entered Kurt's Navigator and were well on their way home before Kurt couldn't take it anymore and broke the tense silence.
"Please say something."
Finn turned his gaze from the windshield over to Kurt, before looking away. Speaking to his lap, Finn said "Like what? What do you want me to say, Kurt? Would you like me to say that I don't feel totally betrayed right now? That I feel like I went into a situation that I felt completely ready for? Because I don't. I don't feel that way at all." Finn turned back to look at Kurt, who kept face forward, driving. "How could you do this?"
Kurt sighed deeply and opened his mouth. "Finn-"
"No!" Finn interrupted petulantly. "We went in there with me thinking we were there to spy. Remember? Our big badass brotherly bonding mission? But no, you had a different plan altogether. You-"
Finn was cut off as Kurt swerved his vehicle abruptly, pulling it to the side of the road. Putting it in park, Kurt turned the car off and turned to his almost-stepbrother, desperate gleam in his eye.
"Look, it was my intention to spy at first, but when I was looking at their website last night, I saw that they had this zero-tolerance harassment policy and it sounded too good to be true. I mean, an all-boy's school with absolutely no harassment at all? Having gay boys and straight boys walking along the halls together in perfect harmony? It sounds like a complete fantasy; a utopia, even."
Kurt turned to look back out of the windshield, deflating a little as tears started to well in his glasz eyes.
"And it was. I still can't believe I'm not dreaming right now. I mean, you and I talked to a number of straight guys who shook my hand and talked to me like a normal human being. And to talk to an openly gay guy in the middle of Nowhere, Ohio who actually had straight guy friends who love him for him and don't care that he's gay?
"Wait. Just to be clear, that lead singer dude is gay?"
"Cheesus, Finn!"
Finn was silent for a moment before he saw that Kurt wasn't going to continue. Opening his mouth carefully, because he really didn't want to piss Kurt off, he said "The glee guys love you. They don't care that you're gay."
Kurt snorted.
"The glee guys don't love me, Finn. They tolerate me. Just yesterday, Artie made the stereotype that I wanted to wear a gown during our mash-up. Mike never talks to me. Barely a year ago, Puck was throwing me in dumpsters and Sam, although he is quite kind to me, has been warned away from me, by hmm? Who was that again? Oh yeah! You."
Kurt turned to look at Finn now with anger, frustration and desperation in his eyes.
"And while we're on the subject of you, let's have a little look at you too. Do you want to know why I had my little crush on you last year, Finn?"
Finn just stared at Kurt. He didn't open his mouth because he knew he was about to be told anyway.
"I had a crush on you because you were the nicest guy I had ever met." Kurt laughed at the sentence he just uttered. His tears were freely falling now. He turned back to look out the windshield once more and continued. "Which is so unfathomably ridiculous due to the fact that the only nice thing you ever did for me was tell Puck to have some control while shoulder checking me into a locker...and hold my designer jackets and school bag before your fellow jocks threw me in the dumpster."
Kurt turned again to look at Finn.
"That was why I had a crush on you. Because although you still bullied me, you did it the least amount compared to all the other guys at school and in my warped little mind that meant something to me. But now? Going to Dalton has made me realize that there's a whole other world out there."
Still looking at Finn, Kurt deflated again. His voice was small as he continued in his speech.
"The glee guys don't see me as a boy because I'm gay and like boys. The girls don't see me as a girl because I am, in all actuality, a boy. I don't fit in anywhere, Finn. All I want is to have a place where I fit; where I belong." Kurt took a deep breath before letting it out and saying in a gentle voice, "And I think Dalton might be that place."
Finn gasped. "Dude, no! You can't just-"
"You're right!" Kurt interjected before Finn went off about abandoning glee. "I can't and there's no way I ever could because it costs a lot of money for one to be able to go to Dalton; money that Dad does not have. So, don't worry. I won't be leaving McKinley and I won't be leaving glee. I'll just do what I always do to survive high school: make it work."
Kurt's tears really started to fall then. He just clutched the steering wheel and stared out of the windshield before he heard a seat belt unbuckle and then felt his own being unbuckled too. He turned to Finn wondering what he was doing before he felt two strong arms wrap around him. Kurt tensed for a moment, but then fell further into his almost-stepbrother's arms and wept for what he knew he would never have, listening to Finn's soft voice telling him to let it all out and that everything would be OK.