Disclaimer: I don't own Glee

A/N: Apologies for taking a while again, I've been having an on and off fever all week that couldn't get properly taken care of because of the risk of getting dropped from my sugar showpiece class X.X It's the weekend though, so I'm finally near healthy again (WOOT!) to punch out a chapter :) enjoy!

…

Chapter Twelve

Enter Puck

…

The weekend couldn't pass by quick enough. At first Finn was ecstatic until he realized one thing as he pulled up into the school parking lot. There was a glee meeting and it wasn't only going to be Kurt's presence that would make him uncomfortable, but also Brittany and Santana's, and especially Sam's.

What would he do around the blond anyway? They left off in a quiet end after what they did Friday, but that was it. He was never going to look at him the same way again either. He may have not had a clear view of his body as they had sex, but he definitely knew how it felt. How confusing it felt…

It wasn't anywhere near his feelings for Kurt, but they were there, and he had no idea how to describe them into the right words other than interest. Half of him thought that maybe since any future with Kurt was impossible, then at least there could be one with Sam. The other half thought that was kind of gross.

He was still contemplating in his mess of thoughts when a familiar cheerio parked herself next to him while he was in the middle of getting a few text books from his locker. He almost jumped a foot in the air.

"So how'd it go?" Santana asked innocently, smirking deviously and arching an elegant eyebrow. Although Finn frowned, he couldn't stop the light blush from rising to his cheeks, nor the nerves from rattling up again. He glanced around furtively in case anyone was listening in.

The hall was crowded, but no one, thankfully, was paying any attention to them.

"Why do you care?" he shut his locker a little too loudly and set off for class, hoping the cheerio wouldn't follow.

Santana didn't take the hint and chased after him, "Why?" she was still grinning, but there was a bit of malice in her voice, "I lent you my room I deserve to know the results," she hissed in a whisper.

That made Finn feel guilty, but it still didn't make him want to give a direct answer. "Why do you want to know?" he frowned, "this can't be about you being all nice."

Santana huffed and rolled her eyes dramatically. Finn noted with surprise that Brittany was nowhere in sight. He mildly wondered where the other half of the pair was.

"All right you wanna know the truth?" she muttered under her breath, eyeing a group of students as they passed. "I want to make Brittany happy, and she has it in her head – after you and Sam blabbed about it – that you and Miss Diva would make a cute couple as well as him and Asian boy."

Finn did a double take, almost tripping over his own feet, "you want to set us up to make Brittany happy?" he asked dully. Santana glared back challengingly, but he didn't back down, "bull."

"I'm losing her," she said suddenly, grabbing his shoulder before he could walk away. Finn frowned deeply. "And what makes her happy other than myths and fairytales, is guys groping each other," Finn still wasn't buying it, "look I know it sounds weird to you but relationships don't stay together just by doing nothing, it requires work."

At first Finn was about to make a crack at her definition of relationship when the rest of her comment hit home. That hurt. He was thrown back to thinking about Quinn and Rachel again. "I have class," he said lamely, wrenching his arm from Santana's grasp, "see you at practice."

And of course, he would have gone off to his intended class all cool leaving the cheerio fuming and in the middle of a crowded hallway. But life liked joking with him, so when he turned to leave, he bumped straight into Kurt and Mercedes.

Kurt fell into his best friend's side with a look of surprise before glaring at the person who bumped him. "Watch where you're go – oh Finn it's you," he straightened himself up and dusted off any invisible dust and wrinkles from his expensive clothes, "well, watch where your going, you almost ruined my Valentino shirt."

"S-Sorry," Finn stumbled, taking a nervous glance back at Santana before swerving away from the group.

Santana didn't need any more hints to tell her what just happened. She smirked mischievously and turned to the fashion forward pair. "Kurt, you got a minute?"

The glee diva looked at her skeptically, "hun, if it's fashion advice I don't know how much I can help you with."

"It's not that," she waved him off before realizing what he said, "what's wrong with my clothes?"

…

He had forgotten that he shared a few classes with the very people he wanted to avoid. Santana and Brittany had left him alone though, spending more time to themselves in the other end of the classroom. Finn wondered what Santana was so paranoid for, if she wasn't lying that is, since Brittany seemed pretty happy in their relationship. He wondered what benefit there was in a girl seeing two guys kiss or touch when she couldn't be a part of it herself. Exactly what went through Brittany's head anyway?

The one class he had with Sam went just as breezily as well. When Finn thought about it logically, it made sense. Sam was in his shoes too, he wanted to avoid him as much as possible.

Kurt was another problem. He had no idea what Finn had done and treated him as usual. By planting himself next to him and giving a light commentary about their teacher's state of dress. Weeks ago, Finn would have been fine with this except now he noticed every little thing the shorter teen did, like occasionally squirm in his seat almost teasingly from boredom, tap his pen against his notebook in impatience, huff softly through pink lips…

It was a miracle Finn was able to give cohesive responses to the boy when he asked him something.

Finally glee club arrived, combining all the people Finn really didn't want to see in one room. He was sitting between Artie and Tina when Mr. Schue arrived not looking his usual happy self.

"Figgins has moved our show to the end of February," he announced unceremoniously, grumpily dumping his stack of music notes in the chair he'd usually sit in.

"What?" Rachel's voice rang out among the collective shouts of protest. "He can't do that! We've been practicing like crazy!"

"Is Coach Sylvester behind this?" Puck asked angrily, "he might as well have cancelled the show!"

"Relax," Schue held his hands out commandingly, "we're just going to have to work around this, and it'll give us more time to perfect the show, we still haven't figured out our big ending yet."

Grumbling, the group settled back down. Finn, though, was secretly relieved. Throughout practices he was sure he wasn't doing as well as the others, having been distracted by Kurt. Hopefully by February he'd have gotten over his feelings.

He glanced across the group to the neatly combed head of his almost stepbrother. He was chatting happily with Mercedes, oblivious of the pair of eyes latched on him. Once again he found himself wondering why he became attracted to him so easily. It was totally unfair.

"Stare any harder and even he'll notice," Santana whispered in his ear from above him. Finn bit back a yelp of surprise and whipped around to face her with a glare. She smirked back at him.

He was about to snap back at her if he hadn't noticed Artie giving him an odd look. "What?"

"Were you…" he seemed to think better of it and shook his head, "never mind." For a wild second Finn feared he'd seen him staring too, but forced himself not to worry. At least Artie wasn't making a big deal out of it…right?

Finn started praying to whatever god listening that the teen hadn't seen him staring at Kurt.

"I've got you! Under my skin!"

Finn looked back to the front in surprise; he hadn't heard practice starting already. He watched as Puck danced in front of them with a confident grin. Rachel was swinging in the background with the guitar. Finn noted that all attraction he had to her dissipated. He used to find her hot when she played the guitar. Now it was just…nothing. Just an attractive girl on guitar, that's all. He looked over to Quinn. She seemed passive, but he could see the barely contained hunger in her eyes as she stared at her girlfriend.

Did he look like that when he went out with Rachel?

Better yet, did he look like that now when he stared at Kurt?

Finn flushed.

"So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me," Puck swooned on the spot and…

Finn straightened up with a frown.

Puck was looking at Kurt.

He knew that look.

"I've got you! Under my skin!" Puck continued singing, all the while keeping his eyes on the startled Kurt, "I tried so…not to give in."

Finn's knuckles turned white.

…

If he had the chance he would have pulled Puck aside and demanded answers. Then again, knowing his temper when it came to his traitor of a friend, he'd throw in a few punches before the first question was asked.

As it were, after his performance, Puck nestled himself comfortably between Kurt and a miffed Mercedes, easily pulling him into a conversation which, to Finn's horror, got Kurt enthusiastically engaged. Finn was pretty sure if he stepped in it wouldn't only piss the boy off, but also raise suspicious eyebrows. The last thing Finn wanted right now was everyone staring at him like some sort of psycho who jumped out of the closet.

…No, he wasn't in the closet…

He bit his lip as he anxiously kept throwing glances at Kurt and Puck. The meeting was almost over and they were still chatting away.

Okay, he had sex with Sam, but the whole time it wasn't the blond Finn was thinking of, it was Kurt. He wasn't gay per se, he was just…very attracted to his almost stepbrother.

Though he did consider having something with Sam if it didn't work out with Kurt…

Finn rubbed his eyes tiredly. This was making his head hurt; he didn't know what he was anymore.

"Okay guys, lets take it from the top," Mr. Schue's voice cut through the din of the club.

With some reluctance, the group got up from their seats and took their places in the imaginary stage. Finn was standing behind Tina and was trying and failing to make himself look invisible. A hard task when the only think blocking you side a tiny girl half your size.

The music to It Don't Mean a Thing started up and rehearsal took off from there. As they danced across the room, Finn kept knocking into people, once again distracted by the way Kurt played the piano with fervent gusto.

"Hey," Sam approached him once the song ended, "are you doing all right?"

Finn flinched, guilt washing over him and a light tinge of pink staining his flushed cheeks. "I'm fine," he mumbled shortly, moving to stand behind Artie as the next song started. Sam wasn't convinced, and followed.

"Is it about your crush?" he whispered. Finn tripped over his feet and narrowly miss falling over Brittany.

"Guys focus!" Mr. Schue called out. Finn shot the blond a sharp glare before continuing the rehearsal.

He hadn't expected Sam to corner him after the meeting. Nor had he expected what happened right after that.

…

He had made a beeline for his locker, needing to gather a few books before heading to the parking lot. It was probably his anxiousness to leave that he hadn't noticed the extra pair of sneakers squeaking behind him. So he was scared shitless when Sam leaned against the lockers next his, frowning in concern.

"What's wrong?" was his first question. A stupid question.

Stuffing his books in his bag, Finn shut the door to his locker and breezed past him. Sam wasn't letting him go though, and he grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

"You haven't spoken to me all day, I'm not asking for us to be all mushy or best friends, but if you're freaking out about what we did Friday then say something, because you were seriously fucking up in rehearsals," he was glaring now, a strange and frightening look for the usually calm blond, "and I know this is also about Kurt."

Finn pulled his arm away, "it doesn't matter," he clenched his jaw, images of Kurt directing his dizzying smile to Puck bringing a wave of nausea up his throat, "I'll practice harder in rehearsals."

"Of course it matters," Sam fell into step with him as he went down the hall, "you're more of a mess than I am, people are gonna start to notice."

"I don't care," he shot back, hitching his bag higher. And he really didn't. Not right now at least. The only thing replaying in his head at the moment was Puck easily wooing Kurt through song, and then the two flirting up a storm right after. How could Kurt fall so easily to someone like Puck? He had to have been leading him on; Kurt was too smart for that. He should know not to be interested in Puck, not after what he did!

Sam was still rambling. "I know I'm still new here, but I've been here long enough to know Puck's not right for Kurt, and if it's bothering you enough to screw up practice then get Kurt to see reason or something."

"I can't," Finn grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets. His fingers closed over the familiar iPod, the casing cold against his touch.

"Why not?" Sam huffed. "Do it as a friend at least – "

"I said I can't!"

"Why!"

"He's not looking at me anymore!" Finn exploded, stopping Sam in his tracks. Finn took a few deep breaths, realizing what he'd just said and instantly regretting he yelled it.

But it was true. Kurt had stopped paying him any attention. He stopped a long time ago and he was only now just noticing. Kurt moved on.

He was too late.

Something inside him cracked. Unable to look at the blond any longer, Finn turned away, the rims of his eyes burning bitterly. He spun around a corner to where he knew the closest exit would be, and stopped short.

Down the hall and pressed against the lockers was Kurt, but he hadn't noticed him. He was too busy getting the daylights kissed out of him by Finn's enthusiastic ex-best friend. Finn was rooted on the spot, his ears ringing with every little smack and pop the pair's lips made against each other.

Something inside him shattered.

TBC