Chapter 4: Interruptions

Today, everyone in my life is a cockblock. FML

"Kurt…"

The lips on his abruptly stopped moving, and Finn opened his eyes to see Rachel staring at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

"Finn…did you just call me Kurt?"

"Uh…no?" Finn offered feebly. He really needed to get better at lying. Rachel pulled back and just looked at him, her expression unreadable. As scary as she could be when she was loudly and enthusiastically expressing herself all over the place, not being able to see her emotions written all over her face was absolutely terrifying. Finn scrambled to find a suitable excuse for why Kurt's name had come out of his mouth while they were making out.

"Kurt…told me I needed to be home early. Needs my help with something for, uh…Glee club. I just remembered." He waited anxiously, not quite meeting her gaze, hoping she'd buy it. Luckily for him, Rachel's perceptiveness was immediately derailed by the mention of Glee.

"Something for Glee club? I thought you were my partner for this week's assignment?"

"Right…I am. But, uh, it's not for this week's assignment. It's something Kurt wanted to ask Mr. Shue about for Regionals. Uh, I can't really talk about it, Kurt asked me not to."

"But we're co-captains, Finn! We can't have members running secret agendas under the table and attempting to undermine my—I mean, our—roles as leaders within the group! I can't believe you would help him take a solo from me." She crossed her arms, looking furious and petulant and adorable. For some reason, Finn didn't feel his heart flip at the sight like it usually did. He thought of the way Kurt would jut one hip out and cross one arm over his body, cradling his elbow in his hand as he tapped his chin with a slender forefinger. And…there was that flip he'd been missing. He stood abruptly.

"Rachel, I gotta get home. We'll talk about this more later, alright?"

"Finn! Come back here. I will figure out what you two are planning, Finn Hudson, you just wait!"

He barely heard her. He was already down the stairs and heading toward the front door, waving to Rachel's dads as he went and hoping fervently that Burt wouldn't decide to come home early from the tire shop today. He had some definite rule-breaking in mind.

Earlier that week…

Finn thought his heart must have stopped beating. He opened his eyes to find Kurt staring at him, looking terrified. Slowly, he pulled away and sat up, tugging at his shirt where it had ridden up and pulling a pillow into his lap as inconspicuously as possible. He felt Kurt do the same beside him, but he didn't dare to look at him for fear he'd laugh—or worse, cry. He tried to meet Burt Hummel's eyes, but found he couldn't do it and stared at his feet instead.

For his part, Burt just stood in the doorway, wishing to God he had knocked first, not sure which boy to yell at first or whether he should be yelling at all. He just stared, taking in his son's ruffled hair, flushed face, open shirt…and a tiny, tiny smile that was twitching at the corner of his mouth. He felt trapped suddenly, and not at all like a grown man with two teenaged sons. He wanted to run away, and he wanted to shake them both till their brains rattled. What the hell am I supposed to do with this? He thought helplessly.

Finally, he took a deep breath, and spoke.

"Kurt…Finn…you wanna tell me what I walked in on just now?"

"Uhh…" Finn's usual level of eloquence decided to make an appearance, and he cursed silently. Just a few minutes ago he'd been able to tell Kurt what he was thinking, how he was feeling…but now? Faced with Burt's completely justifiable question he had no idea what he could possibly say.

"Dad," Kurt spoke up. "It's not…what it looks like." He seemed to realize just how unhelpful that statement was as it came out of his mouth, and his voice trailed off at the end, sounding very small. Finn wanted to reach over and grab his hand, nudge his shoulder, something to show his support…but with Burt standing there he was terrified to even look at him.

"What does it look like, Kurt?" Burt sounded a little less flustered, and a little more angry. Both boys' faces screwed up in similar grimaces. Here it comes.

"Because not long ago Finn was freaked out about sharing a room with you, and now I come downstairs and find the two of you…just…what the hell is going on?"

"Dad, please don't be mad," Kurt said hurriedly, worried as always about his father's heart. That spurred Finn into action; at the moment he wasn't sure if Burt was going to treat him like his stepson or like the guy he just caught making out with his son, but regardless, Burt was still the closest thing to a father Finn was ever going to get.

"Burt…I know this looks bad. And I know you're confused…I mean…I'm confused. I don't really know what happened, and I don't know how this'll change things, but…I just really like Kurt. Like…more than you should like your brother."

Burt opened his mouth, then shut it. A hundred possible responses all seemed inadequate to express his confusion. He looked between the two boys, trying to make sense of it, and that's when he noticed something new.

While Finn was speaking, he'd moved unconsciously closer to Kurt. He wasn't touching him at all—for which Burt was eternally grateful because really, there's only so much a guy can take at a time—but he was leaning toward him, shoulder almost brushing his, and his head was turned slightly toward Kurt as if just waiting for the smaller boy to need him for anything. Kurt, likewise, was angled slightly toward Finn, delicate features, so like his mother's, fighting against an affectionate smile. Despite the awkwardness of the situation, he looked relaxed…something Burt didn't see from his son very often, even at home.

His sighed, and tried to quiet his brain, which was currently running through all the many ways this was a bad idea, and all the different awkward conversations this was going to require in the future. He fixed his eyes on the two of them and tried to keep his expression as serious as possible without letting any anger seep in.

"Okay. I'm going to go upstairs, and talk to Carol. I want you boys to stay down here. I'm gonna leave the door open, and it better stay that way. We'll call you up in a few minutes, and then we're all gonna have a talk about what's going on and how we're gonna handle it as a family." As he said this last part, he fixed his eyes particularly on Finn, trying to let him know that they were still a family, even if things just got a lot weirder than he ever expected.

"Okay…cool," said Finn.

"Sounds reasonable," said Kurt drily, although he clearly was not happy about the door being left open. Burt gave him an eyebrow raised in warning, before he turned to go.

"Hey Kurt," he said when he was on the stairs, "make sure your clothes are all on when you come upstairs, alright?"

Kurt blushed to the roots of his hair, and Finn had to stifle a snigger because, really, this was the worst possible time to act like Kurt's idiot brother instead of the guy who'd taken his clothes half off in the first place, wasn't it?

They both sat absolutely still, waiting until Burt was definitely gone before they moved or said anything. When they were sure he wasn't going to pop his head back in the doorway, they turned very slowly to look at one another…and Kurt burst out laughing.

"Dude! This is so not funny," Finn said, but he was smiling a little anyway. For Kurt's part, he was completely cracking up. He collapsed onto the bed, peals of laughter pouring from his mouth until he was gasping for breath. Finn watched him, smile growing but bewildered as to how Kurt could possibly find this so hilarious.

"Kurt…c'mon man, calm down. At least explain to me what's so funny so I can be laughing too."

At that, Kurt sat up and fixed Finn with a grin that was almost evil, and a glint in his eye that spoke volumes of mischief. He looked like an imp. Not that Finn knew what an imp was.

"My father just caught me making out with a boy," Kurt said simply, quietly, and full of meaning. "I feel positively cliché. I feel like…like such a…such a teenager." He sounded giddy, and for the life of him Finn couldn't understand why. Wasn't getting caught making out by your parents supposed to be embarrassing and awkward beyond all belief?

"You're…happy about that?"

Kurt grinned wider and leaned over, tucking himself neatly into Finn's lap. Finn wrapped his arms around Kurt's smaller frame automatically, without even thinking. It was just the natural thing to do. He rested his cheek on the top of Kurt's head and listened to him explain.

"Yes, I'm happy about that, Finn," Kurt said patiently. "I'm over the moon. Think about it: everyone gets caught making out by their parents at some point, right? Everyone brings home someone their parents find totally unacceptable for one reason or another. Everyone has to sit down and have an awkward talk with their parents about rules for having guests over, and keeping the door open, and things like that."

"Yeah," said Finn, still not understanding. Kurt shifted in his arms to look up at him.

"Everyone," he said pointedly, "Except me."

Then Finn got it. Oh wow. Kurt was sixteen—soon to be seventeen, actually—and he had never had the talk with his dad, or had awkward moments caused by having boys over…not because his dad was exceptionally uninterested in his son's life, or because Kurt was especially crafty and sneaky…but because there had never been any boys.

Finn felt the need to hold Kurt just a little bit tighter.

"I'm glad it was me he walked in on you making out with," he said huskily against Kurt's hair, and Kurt huffed a laugh at the ludicrous statement, but he returned the embrace, because he understood. He closed his eyes and just rested there, his mind reeling with the incredible strangeness of this situation and the inexplicable joy it brought with it. He knew what came next would be really awkward, but he was more than prepared to just deal with it if he could keep holding onto Finn like this every day for the rest of…however long.

He lost track of how long they had been sitting there, just wrapped up in one another and enjoying each other's company in silence, when he heard his father nervously clear his throat from the direction of the stairs. He opened his eyes and looked to see his dad standing at the foot of the stairs, one hand still on the railing, looking at the two of them with the strangest mix of emotions on his face. Then he looked beyond his dad to see Carol, standing just over his shoulder, and he felt a sudden wave of affection for his stepmom as he registered her posture: she was standing with one hand over her heart and a besotted look on her face. She could have been watching Titanic or looking at kittens. He smiled at her and looked up at Finn, only to find that Finn hadn't noticed his mom's expression because he was too busy staring down at Kurt. He hadn't even heard Kurt's dad clear his throat.

Kurt's smile widened as he gazed at Finn, and he thought that maybe the coming awkwardness was really going to be worth it.

"Okay boys," said Burt finally, breaking through their happy bubble and causing both boys to turn to look at him with apprehensive expressions. "Let's get upstairs. We need to have a talk and lay some ground rules."

Finn arrived home to an empty driveway and sighed his relief against the steering wheel before parking and tearing into the house, bypassing his usual stops—living room, kitchen—to make a beeline for the room he still shared with Kurt. Although Burt had made it clear that they would be getting their own rooms in the very near future, for now he had no choice but to allow the two of them to continue to share. He wasn't happy about it, though, and if he were able to read Finn's mind this very minute, he would probably make him sleep chained to a fence in the back yard for the duration of high school.

Bounding down the stairs two at a time, Finn grabbed the top of the short banister at the bottom and swung himself into the room, eyes falling on Kurt, who was sitting cross-legged on his bed doing his homework. Finn just let his eyes roam over him for a second: he was in the kind of outfit that made Finn want to start kissing him and never stop, a long, asymmetrical top that was beige and sheer and fell over his hands just the littlest bit, a black sweater that fell below his hips, and a pair of impossibly tight jeans that made Finn ache just to look at them—in all the best and worst ways. Finn thought he recognized this outfit, actually. If nothing else, he definitely recognized the adorable, boyish innocence of it, and he wondered if it were on purpose or if Kurt could possibly be unaware by this point of how helpless Finn was against him.

His long legs crossed the room in a couple of quick strides, and he just kept going when he got to the bed, crawling onto it and sliding Kurt's homework carefully to the side before laying him backwards and settling on top of him, pressing a hungry, desperate kiss against his mouth that made Kurt's fingers clench around his shoulders even as the rest of him melted into the bed beneath them, forgetting he had been doing anything else as he surrendered to the kiss. Finn shivered as he felt Kurt's hands release his shoulders only to skim up the sides of his neck and face before moving back to bury themselves in his hair. His own hands were doing a fair bit of wandering themselves; they moved against Kurt's back, pulling him closer and then upright, giving Finn room to slide them down and under the hems of the various layers. It was amazing how, with his eyes closed, he could just feel everything that much more. He felt the roughness of denim, the slightly silky feeling of the tan undershirt, and then the smooth warmth of Kurt's bare skin. He felt the boy in his arms shiver at the touch as he ran his hands up his back and pressed even closer to him than before. He opened his eyes and looked down at Kurt's face, eyes closed and mouth slightly open in a tiny smile. He looked completely blissful. Finn leaned in for another kiss…

...and Kurt's phone started blaring on the bedside table.

"Ugh, hang on," he said exasperatedly. "That's Rachel's ringtone." Finn's eyes widened.

"Uh, yeah. About that…"

Finn quickly explained about the situation with Rachel as the phone continued to wail repeatedly—what sounded like an actual recording of Rachel singing "I Was Born To Entertain." By the time he was done, Kurt was looking up at him with a mixture of horror and…a tiny bit of hurt.

"Okay. I'm going to run interference with a crazed Rachel Berry while you sit here, cool off, and figure out how exactly you're planning on dealing with your girlfriend in the future." With that, he turned away to answer the still-ringing phone, and Finn flopped onto his back, staring up at the ceiling and feeling the dread curl up in his stomach.

Not only did it not look like he would be kissing Kurt senseless anytime soon…he was beginning to realize just how complicated his life was about to get.

Author's Note: Sorry this has been so long in coming! Real life, other WIPs, and general lack of inspiration got in the way. Thanks so much to all the people who have been leaving me reviews and waiting so patiently for an update! Hopefully, I can update again soon. Not really sure where this story is going from here, though. It wasn't supposed to be very long, but there's Rachel, and Burt's rules, and Finn's continuing uncertainty about the exact nature of his sexuality and his feelings for Kurt to deal with, so...yeah. Maybe six to ten chapters, total?

- The Raisin Girl