A/N: This chapter is huge. Well, far bigger than any of the other chapters for this story, at least. A few things before the actual story - this should cover pretty much everything that happens in 'Original Song' after Pavarotti's death (see previous chapter). That's also kind of the reason why this chapter is so long. I can only hope that the characters don't seem very OOC (especially slightlyphilosophical!Finn), and that the story actually makes some sense and isn't too chaotic. Anyway. In my mind, Regionals (and Sectionals, for that matter) starts in the morning, so the results come somewhere in the middle of the afternoon at the latest, thus giving Kurt and Blaine enough time to get back to Dalton and bury Pav right afterwards (because honestly, whenever one of our pets died, we'd bury it the same day, and not several days later, so I'd say it's about time). Since 'Special Education' just happened to be on tv here last night, there are a few references to Sectionals in here that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise (and honestly, I felt so bad when Blaine handed Kurt Pav). Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter!
When Finn got home that evening, he was still high on adrenaline from winning Regionals. He, like many of his team members, couldn't believe that they had done it – they'd beaten the competition and they were going to Nationals. It was unbelievable. Earlier that night, there had been a small victory party at Rachel's place. Her fathers had been so proud and happy that they had allowed their daughter to throw a party.
Obviously, they had no idea what had gone down the last time she had done that.
Nevertheless, there had been no alcohol this time, and it wasn't even needed – everyone was drunk with happiness already, and it had made Finn forget about what he'd heard in the green room earlier that day. Now that he was home, those thoughts hit him like a truck again.
He had heard it from Rachel – heck, everyone in the greenroom had, as she had screamed so loudly and excitedly that everyone attending Regionals must've heard it – who had just been filled in by an equally excited Mercedes, who had confronted Kurt about the matter only a few minutes earlier.
Yes, when Rachel had screamed, "He kissed him?" at the top of her lungs, while grinning like mad, even Finn could do the math and figure out that it must have something to do with his stepbrother and, most likely, Blaine.
Which was actually a little weird – he didn't think Rachel was all that happy that he, Finn, was about to start dating Quinn again, but she was happy that Blaine was now apparently dating someone else? Finn would never understand girls.
But while he was happy for Kurt that his unrequited crush was no longer unrequited, he was also a little angry. Why did he have to hear this news from Rachel (and Mercedes)? Why couldn't Kurt tell him? They were brothers, right? And didn't brothers tell each other everything? He had thought that, because they were brothers, they would share everything.
Clearly, Kurt didn't think that was so.
Was it because Kurt somehow didn't want Burt to know just yet (Finn didn't really see why – Burt didn't hate Blaine, right?), and he was afraid that Finn might tell him? Since he was a brother now, was he no longer a friend? From what he saw all around him, siblings didn't necessarily have to be that close, and most of them didn't share much. But none of the people Finn knew had gotten a sibling the way he had, and none of them were as close in age as he and Kurt were. Plus, none of the others had actually known each other before becoming siblings.
So had he been pushed out of the friend-zone and into the family-zone, and did those two exist, for Kurt at least, without overlap? But hadn't Kurt been the one who had insisted on those talks every now and then, with a glass of milk accompanying them, to hear what the other had been up to lately? Finn frowned; his head was starting to hurt. The best thing he could think of right now was just confront Kurt and ask him why he had had to find out about something as big as this from his ex-girlfriend.
He was about to head upstairs when he heard sounds coming from the kitchen – their parents weren't home, or so Finn assumed. Kurt's car had been the only one in the driveway when he'd arrived. Secretly hoping that Blaine wasn't here as well and that those two weren't doing… things in the kitchen, Finn quietly walked towards the source of the sound.
He even recognised the sound as a song now – it was their version of Empire State of Mind, which they'd sung at the beginning of the school year, after hearing that… Nationals would take place in New York. Huh. Finn hadn't even thought about that song when they'd won, or during the victory party. He wouldn't have put it past Rachel to play that song on repeat.
Instead, he mused, as he heard the song start over, it seemed like Kurt was playing the song on repeat. Which didn't even make any sense, because he hadn't won.
True enough, when he stuck his head into the kitchen, Kurt was sitting at the table glumly, a glass of milk in front of him. His phone, which was playing the song, was lying on the table somewhere next to him.
Finn tried to sneak in without being noticed – sure, he wanted to confront Kurt about the whole Blaine issue, but it looked like that was the last thing on his stepbrother's mind right now. Unfortunately (or not), his sneaking around skills weren't all that good, so he figured he shouldn't have been too surprised when Kurt whipped his head around and stared at him for a couple of seconds.
"Finn," Kurt greeted him, sounding a little surprised. "I didn't – hear you come in. Or – expect you home already, actually."
Finn gestured towards the phone, and Kurt raised an eyebrow. "I think the music's too loud for you to hear anything," Finn therefore said, perhaps a little too loud as well. "Why are you listening to that song anyway?" he asked curiously, before he could stop himself. "Isn't that majorly depressing for you right now?"
One look at Kurt's face told him that he was right for once. "Maybe that's why I'm listening to it," Kurt replied, turning back to the table again and stopping the song. "I don't know. I guess… I really wanted to win this. And we didn't."
Yeah, Finn didn't think this would be the right time to run through the house, cheering at the top of his lungs because New Directions had won Regionals.
"They didn't even name the runners-up, did they?" Kurt asked, and Finn was about to answer when Kurt continued. "I suppose I'm a bit of a masochist." Upon seeing Finn's confused face, he added, "Never mind. I don't know why I was listening to that. Maybe to remember the old times when we thought everything was going to be great and everyone was going to love us, and we'd get a lot of new members this year, and we would all be going to New York, as a team."
Finn nodded. "Yeah, I know. Those things didn't really come true, right?"
"You want some milk?" Kurt asked, possibly to distract himself.
Finn shrugged and sat down. "Sure."
"And of course I'm happy for you guys," Kurt told him as he stood up. "I'm so… proud of you that you managed to win, but – I suppose it's times like these that it's so glaringly obvious that I'm really no longer part of New Directions, no matter how much we all pretend I still am." He sighed, and asked, in a slightly less emotional tone, "How was your party?"
"Pretty tame, compared to the last one," Finn replied with a lopsided grin.
"You just spazzed out and ran around the house screaming for a couple of hours?"
"Pretty much." A silence. "So what did you do?"
Kurt handed him a mug and sagged down in his chair, for once not seeming to care about what that would do to his outfit. "Everyone was… disappointed. Some were angry, others were just… very passive about the whole ordeal. We got back at Dalton and everyone went their own way. Nothing special." He paused for a moment before adding, "We went to bury Pavarotti, Blaine and I. We figured it was about time."
Finn nodded quietly. He remembered how awful he had felt the previous year, when they'd lost Regionals. They'd been so sure that they were going to win, that they'd beaten Vocal Adrenaline… and then they hadn't. And Figgins had almost disbanded New Directions – but for some reason, he'd given them another year all of a sudden. Now they'd won Regionals, so they'd get another year, right?
"We buried him on the outskirts of the Dalton grounds. That seemed like the most appropriate thing to do," Kurt continued.
Not knowing what to say to that, Finn just blurted out, "Why didn't you tell me about you and Blaine? Why did I have to hear it from Rachel?"
Kurt's eyes went wide as saucers. "W-What?" he stumbled. Within half a second, however, his facial expression was normal again. "I wasn't aware that you were interested in that, Finn. And what do you mean, you heard it from Rachel?"
"She shouted it across the greenroom when Mercedes told her. And of course I'm interested. I've always wanted to play the intimidating, overprotective older brother."
Kurt groaned. "Please tell me this isn't happening. She shouted it across – so everyone knows now?"
"Yes," Finn replied, somewhat smugly.
"So let me guess, all the other Glee guys are already waiting for Blaine to do something wrong so they can… stand up for their own, or how would you call it, just like you've always done?"
Finn wasn't sure if Kurt was being sarcastic again, so he decided to just ignore the final part of that question. "Yes, they are," he confirmed. "The girls too, by the way." As Kurt rolled his eyes, Finn realised something. "Wait! You still didn't tell me why you didn't tell me!"
"You would just let it slip to my dad," Kurt replied, confirming what Finn already suspected. "I didn't want him to find out that way."
"Then just tell him," Finn told him, not understanding what could possibly be so difficult about that.
"I'm still waiting for the right moment," Kurt said in a tone that indicated that the subject what hereby dropped. For now.
"You also didn't tell me that you got a solo for Regionals," Finn accused him.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Well, of course not. You're the competition. Besides, neither did you." Finn tried to come up with a good (and hopefully smart) comeback, but then Kurt continued speaking. "Of course, I could've known – Rachel would've thrown a fit if she hadn't gotten a solo again, and naturally, if she has the female lead, you get the male lead."
"Exactly," Finn quickly agreed before Kurt could say anything else. "And I didn't even know you were auditioning for a solo. I could've helped you."
Thankfully, Kurt refrained from saying anything to contradict that last statement. "I wasn't auditioning," he told Finn with a small smile. "Blaine was going to sing everything again, of course, but apparently he listened when I told him that is was like the Warblers were all about him. So he told the council he wanted to sing a duet – with me. No auditions, nothing."
Finn was a little confused. "He can just tell them that and they agree with him?"
Kurt nodded gravely. "All the Warblers worship him. It's quite… disconcerting. Of course, some of them disagreed at first but in the end, they were all in favour of his proposal."
"Well," Finn said, shrugging, "at least you did get a solo out of it."
"True," Kurt admitted, but then his face fell again. "But I can't help but think that we would've had a better shot at winning if Blaine had just sung everything. The judges were so… conservative, they must not have liked a duet between two boys very much."
While that might be true, Finn wasn't going to say that out loud. "You were awesome, Kurt. Really. I think you almost brought Puck to tears. Puck!" When Kurt merely raised an eyebrow at him, probably seriously doubting Finn's mental health, Finn added, "Just ask Rachel. She was right next to him." Then he wondered if Kurt was even on speaking terms with Rachel – after Rachel's party, he wouldn't be surprised if they weren't; they could both be immensely stubborn, after all – but Rachel had seemed genuinely happy for Kurt when she heard about him and Blaine, right?
"Mercedes told me that Puck got a little teary by the Hipsters' performance at Sectionals, so I'm not sure if that's a compliment. But, I'm just relieved it went alright," Kurt said. With a wry smile, he continued, "Turns out the Warblers are almost just as bad as New Directions when it comes to competition preparation. We had two days to prepare and perfect that duet!"
"So did we," Finn replied. "But we're used to it by now." Suddenly feeling curious, he asked, "Did Blaine say why he wanted to sing that song with you?"
It could've been him, but Finn thought Kurt definitely started glowing when he asked that question. "Apparently it was just an excuse to spend more time with me," his stepbrother gushed – it made Finn feel slightly uncomfortable. "And that's when he kissed me."
"Just like that?" Finn didn't even know why he asked – he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Kurt seemed to think the same thing.
"Yes, Finn, just like that. But I doubt you want to hear the rest of the story."
"Right, of course. No, I don't. No. Sorry." In his attempt to hastily get the words out of his mouth, Finn may have stumbled once or twice.
Kurt just shrugged. "That's fine. I would prefer to talk about it with the girls anyway. They are far less awkward."
Finn knew that he was currently being offended, but secretly, he was glad that he didn't have to hear about the kiss – and what happened beforehand and afterwards – in full detail. He wasn't homophobic or anything (at least, he tried with all his might no to be), and while he was mostly used to his stepbrother's sexuality, things like this still made him uncomfortable. Just like how Kurt could get all squeamish when Finn and the other Glee guys would brag about their girlfriends' bodies.
"You have to tell Burt soon," he just warned Kurt in reply, and Kurt pulled a face, probably realising that they were back where they'd started.
"I suppose I have to," he conceded, glancing at the door nervously, as if expecting his dad to come in all of a sudden. "Some time."
"Soon," Finn repeated, and Kurt looked up at him, annoyed.
"Stay out of my business, Finn Hudson," he told him in what should probably be a threatening way. It just didn't come across that way.
Taking a sip from his milk, Finn smirked slightly. "Hey, if you don't want to tell him, that's fine with me. But don't blame me if you don't and you have Blaine over one day and your dad walks in on you, not expecting anything – "
"Alright, alright, I get it," Kurt grumbled, still trying to stare Finn down. "I'll talk to him. Soon."
That must've been the first argument Finn had won in these past months they'd spend as stepbrothers. He considered it a great victory.
"Why did you use original songs, though?" Kurt suddenly asked; that question really seemed to bother him. "Surely there must've been suitable songs for you?"
"Rachel's idea," Finn replied, and it appeared that Kurt already expected that answer. "Coach Sylvester was awful this week. She put dirt in Santana and Brittany's locker, threw sticks at Mercedes in the hallway… and she forged a letter from My Chemical Romance – we were planning on doing Sing for Regionals."
Kurt couldn't help but smile a little wryly at this. "She's crazy," he muttered, shaking his head. "It's horrible that she did those things. So you just wrote your own stuff after that letter?"
Finn nodded. "Rachel started weeks ago, actually. It wasn't much, at first – songs about her headband and stuff like that."
Kurt grinned at this. "Do you still have that song?"
"She probably put it on the internet?" Finn said in reply, and Kurt seemed to cheer up at least a little. "I think she wrote some more songs, but in the end…"
"She wrote Get it right?" Kurt guessed, and Finn nodded. He still wasn't sure about what he'd felt during her performance at Regionals, but Quinn hadn't looked happy.
"We all wrote Loser like me together. Well, except for Rachel. And Quinn came in somewhere halfway."
"So that was what she meant by having to go compose…" Kurt mused out loud. Then, he turned to Finn with an accusing look in his eyes. "You did know what that was about! I asked you, but you said you didn't know!"
"What?" Now, Finn was confused. He had no idea what Kurt was talking about.
"When Blaine turned out to be gay – thank God – she said she had to compose, and that having a gay boyfriend was song writing gold or something along those lines. I asked you what she meant, and you said you didn't know!"
"Oh." Now Finn remembered. "Well, you're the competition now. I couldn't tell you what we were doing. They would've killed me!"
Kurt just shot him a wounded look. "I could've kept it a secret!" he protested. "If you'd told me that it was confidential and about Regionals, I wouldn't have mentioned a thing to the other Warblers!"
"You didn't tell me about your solo either," Finn said, realising now that that subject had been forgotten rather quickly earlier on.
"That's because you can't keep things like that a secret," Kurt pointed out. "Besides, what does it matter? You beat us anyway." And gone was the slightly happier Kurt; he was once again replaced by a more sullen version of the boy.
"I did keep the thing about our original songs a secret," Finn reminded him, and Kurt groaned – Finn liked to think that it was because he couldn't keep up with Finn's logic, but knowing Kurt, it must be something else entirely.
"Your choreography wasn't as good as usually, though," Kurt rapidly changed the subject. "It wasn't bad or anything, just… not as good. You were great at Sectionals, but now…"
"We knew what we were going to do for Sing," Finn responded. "But then we got that letter, and we had to write songs within a week, and practise those, and also the choreography?"
"You'll need to do better at Nationals," Kurt told him, and with that, his face fell again, and he sighed. "Anyway, Vocal Adrenaline will most likely be there, and even if they're not, there will be other teams who have gotten that far and you can't just… expect to win because you wrote your own songs."
Right. Finn had almost forgotten about the fact that they'd have to face Vocal Adrenaline at Nationals, but of course, they were probably still alive and kicking just like New Directions. That was something Mr Schue had not mentioned yet.
"Maybe we can get the Warblers to help us out there," he joked, and Kurt gave him a pointed look – Finn wasn't sure what he was trying to say, though. "Your choreography was a whole lot better than at Sectionals."
"Thank you, Finn," Kurt said somewhat proudly. "You should see some of those guys sometimes during impromptu performances at Dalton – they're really talented. But the council didn't want to do that for the competition. I think they were afraid that it'd become much too chaotic."
"And that's not really your thing." Finn smirked. It had taken him a while, but it seemed like Kurt was feeling more and more at ease at his new (well, new…) school and with the other students.
"Not quite," Kurt confirmed, pulling a face. "Hey, was there any juicy green room drama going on this time?" He sounded much too eager, Finn thought.
"Compared to all the previous competitions? No, not really," he replied, and Kurt actually looked disappointed. Though, he had admitted to missing the New Directions drama at various times already, so maybe that wasn't too strange.
After another short silence, during which Kurt put his glass and Finn's mug in the sink, he asked, "What about the other songs? Or did you only write one song?"
Finn grinned. "I didn't write much, but the others did. We could check YouTube if they're on there already?"
"Tell me about them first," Kurt instructed him eagerly. "Were they really bad?"
"Most of them were pretty funny, actually," Finn admitted. "I told you about My headband already – I think it must be online somewhere, because Brittany told us that it's her favourite song of all time." Kurt just looked confused and slightly disturbed by this. "And then… Rachel wrote about being an only child. It was better, but that doesn't say much."
"Was Rachel the only one who wrote songs?"
Finn shook his head. "No, she just had a head start. Santana wrote a song for Sam, called Trouty mouth. He didn't seem to like it a lot – he interrupted her at some point, and he forbade her to sing it again later on."
"Trouty mouth?" Kurt asked disbelievingly. "Seriously? Poor Sam…"
"Everyone else loved it, though," Finn said, unable to hold back his laughter.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "I bet you did."
"Puck sang a song for Lauren," Finn continued, trying to get his mind off of the Trouty mouth debacle. "He called it Big ass heart."
"That does sound like Puck," Kurt commented, smiling a little. "Did she like it?"
"I think she did," Finn replied. "And Mercedes sang something too. Do you want to hear now, or do you want her to tell you all about it?" Judging from the grin on Kurt's face, Finn guessed that his stepbrother wanted to know all about that song right at that moment.
"Now," Kurt demanded, and Finn hoped he wouldn't have to deal with an angry Mercedes later, for telling her best friend about her song already.
"So she didn't tell you about the original songs either?" Finn asked suspiciously. Kurt shook his head impatiently, so he quickly went on. "It was called Hell to the no, and it involved her tots." As expected, Kurt chuckled at first, but when he heard about the tots, he groaned.
"She'd better be taking good care of herself," he muttered, more to himself than to Finn. Trying to crack a smile, he added, "Can we go see if we can find those songs on the internet? I could use a laugh."
"You have no plans with Blaine tonight?" Finn asked suspiciously. Burt may not have been home, but Finn just wanted to be sure.
Kurt shook his head somewhat sadly. "I believe there's a 'sorry-we-didn't-win' sort of party going to happen at Dalton tonight, but I opted out of it. I didn't feel like going, and I'd either have to drive home in the middle of the night, or I'd have to stay there, in someone's room… dad wouldn't have approved."
"Then let's watch," Finn said with a dopey grin. "I'll race you." With that, he was gone, Kurt's indignant shouts following him as he sprinted up the stairs.
A/N: So... what do you think? If you have any comments or questions, please let me know in a review! Also, if you have any suggestions for what these two could possibly discuss, don't hesitate to leave a review as well! :D