Finn woke to his alarm clock blaring in his ear. Its volume turned to up to maximun was the only way the sound could wake the sleeping giant. He groaned, hitting the button the top of the clock to turn off the alarm, and then remembered something. He smiled. Kurt was going to school with him today. Today Kurt would get to experience his first day of school in months. He got ready quickly and almost ran into Kurt's room.
"You awake, buddy?" He looked around, not seeing his smaller brother around the room. Kurt walked back into the room, wearing a baby blue button-down with a white tie. He wore white pants and his hair was brushed, his bang parted to the side, just so, so that the bald spots were not visible. Finn beams. Kurt hadn't gotten to dress up in a while.
His little brother's legs tremble with every step as he makes his way to Finn, and Finn ties to mask the worry in his eyes. School requires a lot of walking. There are crowded hallways and if someone bumps into Kurt he'll probably fall right to the ground. Finn bites his lip and tries to ask as inconspicuously as possible, if Kurt will have trouble walking.
"So..you gonna be okay walking around all day?"
"I should be. I might be late to a few classes but it'll be alright." He gives Finn a smile.
"You know, my friends Tina, Artie, and Mercedes are in your grade. You might have some classes with them. Don't worry, they're nice." Kurt giggles. Kurt's eyes really lighten up a room when he smiles. The room is filled with the musical quality of his brother's laugh.
"I would hope so. I wouldn't want you having any mean people as friends, Finny." Finn laughs, too. It's hard not to.
They walk to the table together for breakfast. Kurt is cautious, still adjusting to walking. He sits down shakily, nearly falling into the chair at the moment of sheer weakness he has in between sitting and standing, when his gravity is thrown behind him. Finn straightens him out. He takes a piece of toast and nibbles at it, toying with the egg on his plate. He's not a very hungry boy. Very thin, very lithe. Finn packs away seconds and thirds, staring at Kurt in disbelief when he realises that he is still on the first plate. He whispers pointedly.
"Kurt, you only weight ninety-two pounds. Will you do Finny a favor and eat your whole plate?" Kurt pouts.
"But Finny, that's a lot of food.."
"Fine. Two pancakes, and a strip of bacon, and most of the eggs."
"Alright, for you, Finny." he smiles, his face crinkling in an adorable expression. He eats in small bites, but they have time. When he is finished, Finn pecks his forehead and says he is proud. Kurt giggles at the bit of runny egg yolk on his brother's face. He removes it with a wet tissue. Finn carries the dishes to the sink.
Carole bids her boys goodbye with kisses on the cheek (or in Kurt's case, all over his face). Kurt nearly trips on his way out of the parking lot. Carole gives Finn a questioning glance before hesitantly turning to drive away.
Finn holds Kurt's hand on the way in, hoping to guide him to his new homeroom. His brother hangs behind just slightly because the pace Finn is going is too fast for him. Finn slows down and they walk side by side. They pass the principal's office because Carole got everything set up over the phone with him last night.
When they find his new room, Finn stops Kurt before he heads into the door and kisses his forehead.
"Have fun," he says "Be careful walking okay, little buddy? If you need help, ask Tina, Mercedes, or Artie, okay? If you see me in the halls, feel free to tap me on the shoulder, too. See you later." Kurt smiles and nods, and walks into the room, hoping the shaking of his knees isn't too noticeable. He goes up to the teacher, a balding man with glasses who looks fairly gruff.
"Hello, sir.." Kurt shyly states from the front of the desk. The man, however is scrolling on his computer. The mant grunts in acknowledgement.
"You the new kid, eh? Wright!" he calls out.
"Here!" A flustered looking boy exclaims, looking surprised. Must have been caught in the middle of something. His friends giggle at him as he blushes.
"Mhmm, gotcha..Well, sit near the front, next to Addison. Addison! Stand up." A red-headed girl in an atrocious canary-yellow sweater stands up, flipping her hair.
"Thank you, sir." Kurt says, receiving another grunt in response. The man gets out of his chair and stands in front of the class.
"Okay, homeroom. We have a new student. His name is Kurt Hummel." He motions to Kurt's seat with his hand. Everyone stares at Kurt. He gives a little wave.
"Alright, that was enough of an introduction." The man sighs and sits back down. Kurt decides that the man is rude. A few girls and two guys go up to him.
"Hummel? That sounds sort of familiar. Do you have a brother?" Kurt stutters.
"W-well, um, yes, but his last name is different. Finn Hudson." The girl who asked the question tilts her head, surveying Kurt.
"Hudson's your brother? Well, stranger things have happened.." she mutters, walking away. Kurt doesn't know whether or not to be insulted. He expected some bullying to come. He didn't forget his past school experiences.
Homeroom is short, a few minutes in the beginning of the day, usually spent talking to other students or reading. The first bell rings, and Kurt checks his schedule. His first class is English, his favourite subject. Next is Biology, accompanied by History. He doesn't have physical education. His mother wouldn't allow it. It wasn't safe.
He walks out of homeroom and tries to find Ms. Arnold's room. His legs are still not his friends, and they wobble more the longer he stands still. He starts walking, hoping to find someone who can help him. An Asian girl with blue highlights walks past him, struggling to keep up with a boy in a wheelchair with glasses. She keeps tripping on her long black skirt.
"Hurry up, Tina! We'll be late to English!" Tina. The names strikes a chord. It's familiar. My friends, Tina, Artie, and Mercedes. Oh. Finn's friend? What if she's not the only Tina?
"I know, Artie! I keep stepping on my skirt, and if I rip this lace-" Artie. This couldn't be a coincidence, could it? Kurt hurries, as well as he can, to the Asian girl. He comes up beside her, his soft voice barely distinguishable above all the other voices in the hallway.
"Um, excuse me. I'm sorry, but could you..Ms. Arnold's room...I- I don't know the way." Tina smiles.
"Oh, sure. You must be new. I'm Tina. I have her class next, too. Come with me, as long I stop tripping on this skirt.." Kurt smiles, not at her trouble, but at her facial expression.
"You know, I think I have a pin for that." Tina looks hopeful.
"Really?"
"Yeah." Kurt reaches into her pocket and draws out a pin. He gets on his knees and chooses piece of the skirt and pins it. It's just above her ankles and it still looks great. Tina smiles.
"Thank you...What is your name?"
"Kurt. Hummel. I mean..my name is Kurt Hummel." Tina almost laughs at how adorably exasperated he sounds.
"Thank you, Kurt. Let's go." says Tina, offering her hand to Kurt, who takes it willingly. Tina break into a run, which is really hard for Kurt, but all the same, he manages to hang only a few inches behind her. The walk into the room hurriedly, so that Ms. Arnold doesn't notice them. Kurt flails for a moment, not knowing where to sit. Tina motions desperately to a place near her and Artie. Kurt hurries to it.
Ms. Arnolds turns to the class, and Kurt catches her eyes.
"Ah, ladies and gentleman, it seems we have a new student. This is Kurt Hummel. He will be joining us from now on. Please do be kind to him." She walks over to his desk, and bends down to greet him. She leans forward, smiling.
"It's very nice to meet you, Kurt." Kurt blushes, trying to respond, but no words come out. Ms. Arnolds walks back to the front of her room, writing the word, Symbolism on the board. Students sigh and one girl in the back looks excited.
Kurt hears Artie and Tina talking behind him.
"Alright, if Arnolds misinterprets another one of H.G. Wells' works. I'mma be outta here." Tina giggles.
"At least it'll be better than that one time she read us an Edgar Allen Poe poem and everyone was convinced that the guy was an evil, bird-worshipping stalker."
"I'm just sayin', a whole poem about a raven, something's up."
"Oh, Artie.."
Kurt fought back laughter as Ms. Arnolds wrote down names of famous authors.
After class, Tina sought out Kurt, Artie by her side.
"Hey, Kurt!" she called out. Kurt spun around, surprised.
"Yes, Tina?"
"Oh, hi. I just wanted to know if you needed some help around the school." Kurt smiled.
"Oh, yeah. That'd be nice. My brother didn't have a lot of time to walk me through the high school experience this morning. I mean, I haven't attended any sort of school for a few months, but.." He stopped, hoping they hadn't heard the last part of that.
"Oh? Who's your brother?" said Artie, wheeling by Kurt's side. He internally celebrated. They hadn't heard.
"Oh..just.." he wondered if Finn would want them to know he was his brother. "Finn Hudson." Artie and Tina exchanged surprised looks.
"Finn never told us he had a brother." Tina said, slightly angry at Finn. "We gonna have a talk about this with him later." Artie quipped, jokingly cracking his knuckles. Tina giggled at the serious expression on his face.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Kurt. You certainly seem..smarter than your brother..and," she said, taking a step bac to examine Kurt's outfit. "You dress better, too." Kurt's grin widened.
"Oh, I love fashion. I used to track it religously, but well, I sort of lost track.."
"I've got a bunch of fashion magazines hidden under my bed. You should come over and check 'em out sometime." Tina grinned, eyes lighting up at the mention of fashion. Artie, however, looked rather bored. He nudged her arm.
"What? Oh! We've gotta hurry to Science! Nice meeting you, Kurt." She waved before running.
"You seem nice, Kurt. I can use proper grammar by the way. I sort of have an inner rapper, if you will. See you later." he bid Kurt goodbye, wheeling himself in Tina's direction.
Kurt just smiled. School was going quite nicely.
And then a rather burly looking boy with a football team jacket slammed him into a locker.
A/N: So I haven't really said anything yet. I thank everyone who has read the story. I really appreciate it. I don't have an established schedule yet for updates so I suppose the best thing to do would be to add this story alerts. Thank you to everyone who had reviewed and favourited this story! And those who have already added it to story alerts.