Once again, massive amounts of hugs and kisses to all of those who have reviewed, PMed, and alerted this story. For a very recent first timer, I'm totally amazed by the amount of alerts on this story. The number is HUGE to me (but what would I know!), and a secret to you! Mwahahaha!
Ok, I'm just going to say it... Not very impressed with this week's episode! That's all I've got to say! *hides head and crawls under a rock!*
This chapter was meant to be Burt's, but Finn came in and pinched it from right under Burt's nose!
Chapter 4 – Finn's not finished!
The Hummel-Hudson house wasn't one that you'd want to visit. Not that week anyway. Tensions were riding at an all time high. Finn was almost the invisible man, choosing to spend most of his time either with Rachel or at Puck's house. Carole had tried talking with him about the situation on more than one occasion, as had Burt. Both had no success. Kurt and Blaine had kept a low profile each time they knew that Finn was in the house. Or likely to be in the house. Or likely to be near the house. They came in, grabbed a couple of drinks and some snacks and scurried off to Kurt's room. It was definitely not the way either Burt or Carole envisaged their home to be.
As the week wore on though, Finn began to take notice of some things. He watched Kurt and Blaine during every glee club each rehearsal. Sure, sometimes they sat together, but a lot of the time they didn't. Very rarely, Blaine would reach out and grab Kurt's hand, but most of the time he didn't. Kurt and Blaine had agreed to sing 'Perfect' to try to help Santana, a song that spoke loud and clear about the battles both of them had faced and conquered. Blaine grabbed Kurt's shoulders with affection at the end of the song. Finn knew that if it were he and Rachel singing, she would have expected at least a peck on the cheek, but Kurt didn't.
Finn watched them at the lockers, Blaine had that look on his face again, dreamy and lust filled. Like he just wanted to kiss Kurt there and then, but he didn't. He watched as they walked, engrossed in private conversation, through the hallways. Kurt 'accidently' bumping his shoulder into Blaine, two free hands brushed against each other quickly. It was as if they wanted to grab each other's hands, but they didn't.
Later in the week, Finn was in town to get new football boots. He passed the Lima Bean and saw Kurt and Blaine inside. He watched through the window as they collected their coffee and walked to a table. Blaine sat straight down, Kurt pulled out the chair and started to move it closer to Blaine, but he didn't. Finn shook his head and walked away, Burt's words from Saturday were echoing in his head. "They can't go out and act as any more than friends. Stop and think about the consequences for them if they did!" Finn wondered about the truth in Burt's statement. What would happen if Kurt and Blaine just acted normally? What was the big deal? Santana and Britney held hands, even before they were officially together, no one cared. In fact, in the eyes of most of the guys on the football team, the two girls were even hotter than before.
As Finn walked back to his house, he was aware of the fact that he already knew the answer. Santana wouldn't have the same problems as Kurt, sure there'd still be issues for her to face, but they'd be different issues to Kurt's. They would be hers and hers alone. The girls in the glee club were all perfectly fine with Santana's sexuality. And the boys? Well, the footballers thought Santana and Britney were 'hot'. After all, what straight teenage boy didn't have a fantasy about two girls together? Two boys though – different story – that was just...well, eww! There weren't too many teenage boys who found that hot. And less still who would actually admit to it! *
The girls at school had always accepted Kurt, the boys never did.
Even when all hell broke loose the previous year, Sam and Mike stood up to Karofsky on Kurt's behalf, but none of them were really friends with him. They protected him because he was a member of the glee club, and they didn't want to see one of their own hurt. Come to think of it, Finn thought, Kurt didn't have any male friends. Kurt's friends consisted of Mercedes (most of the time!), Rachel (when she wasn't being selfishly self-absorbed), and Tina, Britney and Santana blew in and out of Kurt's friendship circle like leaves on a winter breeze.
Finn arrived back home, grabbed himself a mug and set about preparing some warm milk. Before Blaine had made his move on his stepbrother, Finn and Kurt would often share deep and meaningful talks over a cup of warm milk, normally they ended with Kurt bemoaning the fact that Blaine was a god and would never see him in that way. Finn missed those days in some respects. He was happy for Kurt, happy that Blaine had woken up to his stepbrother's charms. Finn knew that he'd been hostile toward Blaine at times. The truth was, he felt threatened. Here was this guy who had a meteoric rise through the ranks of the Warblers, on Finn's turf. Finn knew that Blaine was a better singer than him, so he'd gone out of his way to make sure that Blaine knew his place. And that place was on the bottom, as the new kid. The one that had to earn his stripes.
Finn heard the front door open. He then heard the laughter of his stepbrother and Blaine coming through the door before he saw the boys in question. As Kurt and Blaine entered the living room and saw Finn sitting there, the laughter ebbed away immediately, only to be replaced by awkwardness.
"Right," said Kurt brusquely to Finn, "we'll just grab something to drink and then we'll get out of your way." As the two boys started to make their way toward the kitchen, Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and gave it a quick squeeze of solidarity.
"Do you have to?" Finn asked, genuinely wanting to talk with the pair.
Kurt looked at Blaine. Blaine shrugged his shoulders, not caring either way. As long as he was beside Kurt, he couldn't care less whether they were hanging with Finn, at the Lima Bean together, or sitting in ringside seats at a circus! Obviously he had a preference – his first choice was always to be alone with Kurt – talking about whatever they felt like or, more importantly, doing whatever they felt like!
"What do you want, Finn?" Kurt asked suspiciously.
"I don't know," replied Finn honestly, "I just thought we could hang out for a bit. You know, just three guys hanging out." He looked at the pair of lovebirds as they had a quick, but silent conversation with each other. It was like they could read each other's minds or something.
"Fine," said Kurt at last, "we'll just grab some sodas, and then we'll 'hang out' as you so eloquently put it, Finn." Kurt said making air quote motions as he looked in disdain at his stepbrother.
Less than two minutes later, the three boys were together in the living room. Finn sat in Burt's chair, whilst Kurt and Blaine sat close together on the sofa, not too close – just close enough.
"I've been watching you two all week, " Finn said, then he saw Kurt's left eyebrow and Blaine's right one both rise up their foreheads in unison. "not in a creepy way!" he added quickly, "And I've seen how careful you both are all the time." He paused to collect his thoughts properly. "But I want to know, how do you do it? Don't you two ever stop thinking about this stuff?" he asked genuinely interested in how Kurt and Blaine could monitor themselves all the time.
"It's not so much that we think about it all the time," Blaine tried to explain, "it's more just the way it is." He looked at over and took Kurt's hand gently in his own. "We're used to it, Finn," Blaine stated bluntly, "and if never letting our guard down is the price we pay so that we can be together, then it's easy to do." Finn looked at Kurt and Blaine with his eyes and his mind (for the first time) wide open. "We don't want either of us to ever be in harm's way again. We've both been through enough." Blaine finished as he lifted Kurt's hand up and gave it a soft kiss.
Kurt kept hold of Blaine's hand and pulled it up and over his head, so it was now around Kurt's shoulders. He slid down in the sofa a little and leant against Blaine, placing his hand on Blaine's knee. Finn watched the simple action. It was something he and Rachel did anytime they sat together. Something he never thought about, and after what he'd noticed during the week, there was something comforting for Finn to see Kurt and Blaine relax with each other like they were doing right now. It was different to the couple that he had virtually stalked during the week. They were uptight, stiff and formal to the point of being annoying. But the Kurt and Blaine that sat on the sofa in front of him? They were normal, Finn suddenly realised.
"I'm sorry I was an ass the other day," Finn apologised to the pair, "I'll leave you guys alone on Saturday night. As decided by the 'rents."
Kurt looked at Finn, and pursed his lips tightly.
"Listen, Finn," Kurt said, "We really do appreciate the offer, both from Carole and Dad, and now from you, but...," he looked up at Blaine who simply shrugged one of his shoulders, "we kind of feel like we're some sort of weird charity case." Kurt confessed. He and Blaine had discussed little else during the week, and had gone backward and forward so many times, they had both started to feel dizzy.
"How would you feel if everyone in the house was changing just so that you and Rachel could get some time alone?" Kurt asked his stepbrother, "It just sort of feels...fake, and kind of like we have to be all cute and gooey with each other." Finn looked from Kurt to Blaine and back again, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"And to be told that by your parents..., well isn't that just a little bizarre?" Kurt questioned.
"Well, you know what Kurt," Finn answered as honestly as he could, "maybe it is. Maybe it is odd for to be told to go be romantic with each other. But you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Isn't that the point? To have the chance to do what you feel like, regardless of what the stinking world has to say about it? And honestly, the two of you aren't exactly run of the mill, are you?" Blaine looked affronted, was Finn insulting them again?
"What I mean is that, you two don't do things the way everyone else does." Finn tried once more and, judging by the look he got back from Kurt, misspoke once more. He pushed his hand up through his hair, searching for the right words to come.
"Listen, you guys both like going on picnics, you like shopping together, you like watching the same stupid musicals." Finn tried valiantly to explain.
"Your point being, Finn?" Kurt demanded.
"The point is that in most straight relationships, there's usually only one person that wants to do that sort of stuff," Finn said, deciding to be just plain blunt. "With Rachel and me, well, that's obviously her. I just go along with it to make her happy...But with you two, it makes you both happy. Doesn't it?" He asked pointedly.
"Of course it does, Finn," Blaine answered for both of them.
"Look, the way that I see it is that Mom and Burt are just giving you something that you'd both enjoy, and something that you don't have at the moment, so why wouldn't you take it?" Finn looked at them in disbelief before continuing, "you know, when I had Rachel over here while Burt and Mom were away, I did all that stuff. I cooked, I tried to be nice and romantic, but it was just so hard. The whole time, I just kept sweating and thinking about all the things I got wrong. Then I was worried that I was sweating too much, and that just made me sweat more. Then I couldn't figure out how to stop sweating, so I was worried that I was too stupid for her, and well, that made me..."
"Sweat even more." The three boys finished in unison, Kurt screwing his nose up in distaste.
"But you two...you two would both actually enjoy something like that." Finn said convincingly, "I'd rather take Rachel out and buy her a romantic meal – I don't sweat half as much then." Finn watched as Kurt and Blaine conducted one of their silent conversations again.
"Don't think of it as charity," Finn said earnestly, "think of it as a gift. One that's being given freely and willingly, from your whole family."
Kurt stood up and dragged his huge stepbrother off his chair and into a hug. Blaine watched from the couch, wondering what on earth he'd done to end up wrapped up in a family like this one.
"I love you, Kurt," Finn said, letting his emotions for his over emotional stepbrother shine through.
"I love you too, dork," Kurt replied, pulling himself out of the hug.
"Nice," Finn laughed as he started heading up to his room, "Real classy, Kurt."
* Before anyone fires off a flame thrower in my direction, I'd like to take a moment to explain the remarks about Santana and Britney. This actually came from a chat with my son about a situation at his school. He had said that there were no gay kids at his school, "except for the lesbians"! Apparently, there are a few lesbian couples out at school, and it's considered to be no big deal. They don't cop any insulting remarks and, like in the story, the boys all think it's HOT! Any boy that is even suspected of being gay, however...that's a different story. And yes, I did explain to him that in his school (pop. 1800), there may be no 'out' gay boys, but he can rest assured, there's a few in the closet at a school that size! And yes, we did have the gay vs lesbian talk.