Finn's not stupid.

OK, every once in a while he may act a little stupid, but that doesn't mean he actually is. Completely anyway. It's more like a selective stupidity, like when it comes to Algebra and pregnancies and backstabbing so-called friends. But honestly? He's actually really smart when it comes to the whole emotional side of things.

At least, that's what Rachel told him last time she let him touch her boobs. Which: hell yeah.

Anyway, he's not stupid, which is how he knew that letting Sam and Kurt duet together would be a bad idea. After all, Sam was a lot like him. They're both quarterbacks, popular, fairly good singers, and dated the head cheerleader. And Finn doesn't know exactly how the whole gay thing works, but he's pretty sure Kurt has a type. And Sam? He's that type.

So when Kurt jumped at the opportunity to sing with Sam alarm bells went off almost immediately. And once Finn realized that no, they did not mean he was hungry again, he knew that he had to stop this. Because last year, when this had happened, it hadn't ended well. In fact it had ended with him losing half his social standing in the school, getting kicked out of Burt's house, and Kurt crying in his basement.

Having been there and done that, Finn really didn't want Sam to have to go through all of it. Not that Sam would be moving in to Burt's house, because that would be weird, but all the other stuff. It had sucked for him, and it had also sucked for Kurt, so really, stopping this whole duet thing before it could happen was the best course of action.

Or so he thought.

Now he gets it though. Rachel had practically drilled it through his head.

"Honestly, Finn, do you have any idea how lonely it can be to know you don't have a shot with anyone at this school? My two gay dads talk all the time about how isolated and alone they felt in high school when they couldn't do any of the things all the other kids took for granted. All he wanted was to sing a duet like everyone else in the club, and you took that from him."

She'd then stormed out of the choir room in one of her patented diva-outs as Artie had dubbed them, but when he tried to joke about what a drama queen he had for a girlfriend, but the bespectacled boy who had heard the entire conversation didn't look at all amused.

"You should really apologize, Finn. I know you meant well but Kurt's having a rough time lately, would it kill you to have a little tact?" With that Artie wheeled himself out of the room leaving Finn standing dumfounded in his wake.

Because honestly, had he really said anything that bad? He didn't think so, anyway. Kurt had been kind of creepy the year before what with setting up their parents and everything, and for all he knew Sam could end up being more like Karofsky and less like Finn and beat the crap out of Kurt when he realized what was going on.

And that? Was really not OK.

Really, he was just trying to protect his almost step-brother, and at the same time maybe keep Sam's reputation from falling so low he'd quit the glee club to save it. Killing two birds with one stone, and all that.

Still, a nagging feeling of guilt tugged at the back of his mind when he saw Artie wheeling himself alongside Kurt that afternoon gesticulating wildly while telling some insane story, and Kurt just stared blankly ahead.

He looked so...lonely.

All right, he vowed, he'd apologize tomorrow. No big deal, he'd just catch Kurt between classes, offer a quick 'sorry, dude' and then things would go back to normal, no one would be mad at him anymore, Rachel might let him touch her boobs again, and Kurt would start being happier. Killing a bunch of birds with that one awesome stone.

Kurt was avoiding him.

All day, every time he would normally run into the smaller boy, he seemed to be just disappearing around a corner, or being whisked into the bathroom by Tina. After third period, Finn's pretty sure he saw him purposely antagonize Azimio to get a slushie tossed in his face. Not once before lunchtime did Finn get anywhere within ten feet of him.

After his lunch period, Finn's energized by a sizable helping of sloppy joes and headed to sixth period French, which he shared with Kurt, a few minutes early, determined to get this out of the way. He even sat in the front row, where he can't hide his cell phone, because Kurt likes to be able to see the blackboard clearly.

And then he waited.

And waited.

The bell rang, and Kurt still hadn't shown. The classroom filled up with chatting students, and Finn shrugged off his sweatshirt and put it on the seat beside him to save it. Still no Kurt.

Fifteen minutes after class began, Kurt finally strode through the door and handed the professor a note. Lunch detention with Mr. Schuester ran late, he claimed. Finn furrowed his brow; Rachel had been meeting with Mr. Schue all last period to discuss their latest glee club assignment's relevance to Sectionals, which she would remind anyone who would listen (pretty much just Finn) was in just six and a half weeks.

She hadn't mentioned anything about lunch detention.

He tried to push the thought to the back of his head though, and when the teacher nodded her acceptance he gestured eagerly at Kurt to sit next to him. Kurt caught his eye and Finn grinned widely, pleased to finally be able to put all the awkwardness left over from the previous year behind them, once and for all.

And then Kurt walked purposefully to the back of the room, taking a seat next to freaking Azimio.

That's when Finn started to get seriously confused.

Because this is Azimio, the guy who not three hours ago ruined that weird military jacket made by some guy whose name Finn has heard enough times to start tuning out when it comes up in conversation.

Was Kurt really that mad at him?

This was so not how the day was supposed to go.

The sloppy joes turned unpleasantly in his stomach.

That night he twisted and turned all night long, and it wasn't just because he ate a pint of ice cream before going to bed.

Rachel was still pissed at him, Kurt was ignoring him, Artie kept shooting him disappointed glares, and his mom had yelled at him for forgetting to take the soup off the stove on time. (Though that had been really cool; he never knew it was possible to make tomato soup explode. It looked like some classic battle scene had taken place in their kitchen.)

Even glee club had sucked. Kurt didn't look at him once, and Finn had totally forgotten about the assignment he was supposed to have ready for that day. Mr. Schue had just looked at him frustratedly and told him to make sure it was prepared for Thursday.

He rolled over in his bed again, wishing not for the first time that it was big enough to accommodate his size. Maybe he should just let Kurt be for a few days; this should all blow over eventually.

After all, Rachel always forgave him after a few days of puppy dog eyes, and Kurt and Rachel were an awful lot alike.

Yeah, that'd work. He'd just be really, painfully nice to him for a few days, and then Kurt would let him off the hook.

Within five minutes he was snoring serenely.

The next day, he ran ahead of Kurt before school and opened the door for him. The other boy looked perplexed, and quickly hurried off to Mercedes locker with a muttered "Thanks." Finn smiled. Smother him with kindness.

In his quest to be the perfect gentleman though, he started to notice something weird.

At first he was pretty sure it was just his imagination. Like when Kurt left Mercedes and she looked after him, her mouth twisted into a small frown. But that would be strange, because why should she be upset? Maybe they'd just had a fight, he reasoned.

Except when he next managed to sneak up behind him to offer to carry his bookbag, he overheard him talking to Artie.

"No, I just have to go to the bathroom. I'll meet you in class, OK?" Artie looked concerned, but didn't put up a fight, and Kurt headed off in the opposite direction of the boys restroom.

And finally, in the cafeteria line when Finn was loading up on french fries, he caught Sam approach Kurt out of the corner of his eye, which was kind of surprising in and of itself. He was too far away to be able to hear their conversation, but Sam seemed to be talking really close to his ear, and the whole time Kurt was avoiding his eye and looking for an escape.

And now that was just plain weird.

Because he remembered these conversations he used to have with Kurt. He remembered that deer in the headlights, I-want-out expression. But he always remembered it on him.

And he associated that touchy-feely, wide-eyed face with Kurt, not Sam. What the hell was going on here?

The rest of the day he studied Kurt carefully. He watched him as he sat in their French class, ignoring the presence of those around him, staring at the sentences on his paper. He watched him as he nodded absently when Artie tried to engage him in some good-natured freshman hazing, watched as he smiled weakly at Mercedes mocking the fashion choices of their peers. But all the while his eyes were somewhere else.

Kurt was practically radiating sadness and loneliness; Finn didn't see how he could have missed it before.

Well duh, he wasn't looking. He had been too wrapped up in his own problems to even acknowledge what was going on in his friends life. He'd been too obsessed with glee club, with ensuring their success, with his own master plan to even realize what it was doing to the people he cared about.

He wondered if this is what Rachel and Kurt felt like all the time.

That was no more though; he was going to make it up to Kurt. How? The same way every one in this school dealt with an issue that was facing them.

He was going to use this as his weekly assignment for glee club.

(Take that stone, you stupid birds that just won't die.)

Finn went straight home after football practice that day, not even stopping when he saw Rachel eyeing him hesitantly from the other end of the parking lot. Apparently she was ready to forgive and forget, but Finn had seen Kurt walk straight through a sea of people to get to his Navigator and leave school alone, and he wasn't letting anyone distract him from his new mission.

Besides, there would be plenty of time for boob gropage after he finished his awesome plan and he was the hero again. Rachel would probably come running into his arms, her too-short skirt whisked up by the wind and...

Mailmanmailmanmailman...

Yeah, this was a good plan.

The first thing he did when he got home was run straight for the computer. He'd had this problem before, and luckily this time he knew how to solve it. It was just like Mrs. Schuester (or did she change her name after the divorce? Who knows) had told him, all he had to do was type in the words he wanted into iTunes and they would come up with the song for him.

He'd tried to think of one himself, but scanning his iPod library none of the songs listed really jumped out at him as 'Sorry-I-made-you-dump-that-guy-you-have-a-crush-on-for-a-duet-and-now-you're-moping-around-school-all-alone-and-sad-and-also-I-didn't-mean-it-you're-not-really-creepy-all-the-time' kind of music.

As he'd learned when he'd accidentally knocked over Puck's fishbowl onto his cat's head when he was supposed to be housesitting, there were some things they apparently did not make Hallmark cards for. Or songs.

Deciding to widen the possible results, he simply inputted 'Sorry' into the search bar.

Loads of stuff came up. Finn grinned. This was going to be even easier than he thought. He played the first song, by Buckcherry.

Sorry I'm blue

Sorry about all the things I said to you

And I know, I can't take them back

Perfect! Finn couldn't believe it was actually that easy-

I love how you kiss

I love all your sounds

And baby the way you make my world go round

On second thought maybe not. He didn't have a problem with Kurt being gay, but he was pretty sure that would be sending some serious mixed signals, and that was a path he didn't want to go down. The second listed song was by Madonna, which was awesome, because Kurt loved Madonna. He even did that really weird video with Ms. Sylvester last year. Finn shuddered at the memory, then played the song.

I don't wanna hear, I don't wanna know

Please don't say you're sorry

I've heard it all before

And I can take care of myself

I don't wanna hear, I don't wanna know

Please don't say 'Forgive me'

I've seen it all before

And I can't take it anymore

It was...weird. Actually sounded like something Kurt should be singing to him. Briefly he wondered if he should suggest it, but then he listened to the lyrics again and decided he probably didn't want to be putting those negative thoughts in his head. Yeah, definitely a bad idea.

He skimmed through the next few songs. Evidently there were a lot of different things people could be apologizing for, and this wasn't nearly as helpful as he'd hoped. He tried really hard to find a way in which the Guns N'Roses song could possibly apply to the situation because he knew he would sound really freaking awesome singing it. Finally when he got to the middle of the song he had to give up that pipe dream.

You talk too much

You say I do

The difference is nobody cares about you

Again, not really the message he was going for in this apology. And also: how exactly was that an 'I'm sorry' song? That was just misleading, he thought with a pout. He listened to a few more duds, and his stomach grumbled. This whole apology through song thing was harder than he thought. He wondered if he should call Rachel; she must be really good at this stuff by now.

Just before he was about to give up and make himself a sandwich he stumbled onto the solution to his problems. Daughtry, he saw. Mr. Schue had totally told him that Daughtry was in his wheelhouse (whatever that meant) last year, he could so do this, and he'd sound really good doing it too. He listened to the lyrics, they were pretty good. Not a perfect match or anything, but they'd get the message across. He printed out the lyrics (he thought about looking up the sheet music, but that had never been a problem in the past; the band must have, like, an encyclopedic knowledge of music) and shut off the computer feeling pleased with himself. This time tomorrow everything would be back to normal and Rachel Berry's boobs would be running at him, bouncing...

On second thought, he decided to order a pizza.

Finn was not stupid. This much had been established. But his plans sucked.

There was simply no denying this fact.

Watching as Kurt stormed furiously out of the choir room, followed by Artie (only after punching Finn in the arm with a 'Way to go') and Mercedes and trying his best to ignore the death glare his hopefully not ex-girlfriend was sending him, he decided he would have to just accept it.

A master manipulator Finn Hudson was not.

He really didn't get what had happened though.

Everything had been going fine at first. He'd spent the morning practicing in the choir room, memorizing the lyrics and everything. Around lunchtime he realized that whenever Rachel tried to apologize to him she always had a really nice (if sometimes a little revealing, but no one seemed to mind) speech prepared, so he ran off to the library to work on one of his own.

He wasn't that great with words though, so he's not sure if it's really exactly perfect. But it's the thought that counts in these situations, and besides, Kurt never seemed to mind when he was less than elegant. Or eloquent? Whatever. He said he found it charming.

Of course, he had said that like a year ago, before everything went down...but it probably hadn't changed. He pocketed the sheet of notebook paper with the hastily scribbled speech on it and hoped that Kurt would properly appreciate that he'd given up his dessert to do this.

When he got to the choir room that afternoon he was starting to get a little nervous, but that was normal for him before a performance so he didn't think much of it. Kurt came in and sat in the back row, as he'd been doing more and more often lately, and didn't look at any of his teammates. Mercedes shot him a worried glance from her spot next to Quinn, and Finn tried to smile reassuringly at her when he caught her eye. After this, everything would be good again.

She didn't look all that reassured, mostly just a little pissed.

"All right guys," Mr. Schue said, clapping his hands together. "Let's get today started. Now I thought we'd begin with a new word of the week: jazz."

As the rest of the room broke out into dismayed cries Finn raised his hand as he'd seen his classmates do so often. If he was doing this, he was going to do this right.

"Yes Finn," Mr. Schue said pointedly, ignoring the other students speaking out of turn.

"Mr. Schue, if I may," Finn mimicked carefully, earning himself a confused and slightly concerned look from Rachel. Schue motioned him to continue. "I've prepared a song for our last assignment."

"Of course! Sorry Finn, I must've forgotten you hadn't performed yet. Go right ahead." Mr. Schue immediately went to go sit next to Kurt, who gave him a slightly scathing look when he thought he wasn't looking.

Finn went nervously up in front of the class. No big deal, he thought to himself. Just one song, then everything's better again. He pulled out his notes.

"Um, so I wanted to sing this song as a sort of apology. Er," Finn squinted; his handwriting was really hard to read, maybe his teachers had a point. Well, might as well do this on the fly. "Well I think I did something kind of mean. See, last week when we were doing our duets assignment, Rachel and I really wanted to make sure that Sam would stay in the club, so we threw the competition, for the good of the club."

The group broke into indignant shouts, and Rachel's eyes widened impossibly, but Finn pressed on. "Yeah, so when Sam and Kurt decided to work together, I thought that'd be a really bad thing, because Kurt had a crush on him, and if the rest of the jocks found out then they'd make Sam's life a living hell and he wouldn't want to be in the club anymore. And last year when Kurt was into me, he went overboard, and wouldn't take no for an answer, and I didn't want that to happen to Sam."

Finn looked over at Kurt, who was staring at him in something that kind of resembled horror. Well, Finn reasoned, he hadn't gotten to the apology, so he was probably still mad. Something gnawed at his stomach but he pushed it away; this had to work.

"Anyway, I get that that was wrong now; because Kurt seems really lonely, and I didn't want to make him feel like he couldn't hang out with any of his friends, all I meant was that maybe for a little while he shouldn't call so much attention to Sam. But I get that's not cool and he can do whatever he wants, so I'm singing this song...to say that. Yeah. Sorry man." Finn grinned sheepishly and motioned for the slightly shell-shocked band to start playing.

Will you listen to my story?

It'll just be a minute

How can I explain

Whatever happened here never meant to hurt you

How can I cause you so much pain?

When I say I'm sorry

Will you believe me?

Listen to my story

Say you won't leave me

When I say I'm sorry

Can you forgive me?

All the words I come up with

They're like gasoline on flames

There's no excuse, no explanation

Believe me if I could undo what I did wrong

I'd give away all that I own

When I say I'm sor-

The music abruptly stopped playing and Finn looked back at Brad to see him staring at something behind him, looking vaguely terrified. Finn followed his gaze to where Kurt was suddenly standing directly in front of him swinging his hand and-

Ow.

"What the hell, dude?" he demanded, holding his nose. Mr. Schue was standing now, but made no move to intervene.

"What the hell? What the hell is you just made a fool of me in front of all of my friends! What the hell yourself, you insufferable, self-involved asshole!"

Finn stared at him slackjawed. This was not at all what was supposed to happen. "No, man, that's not what I was-"

"And for the record, I did not have a crush on Sam, here," Kurt continued, still shouting. The rest of the club was staring at him, awed. "I thought for a moment that maybe, just maybe there was someone else in this entire freaking school that was like me. And yes, I let that thought get the better of me and control my actions, so sue me. I was hardly sexually harassing him in the hallway. And while we're on the subject, I never did that to you either. I admit I went overboard in my," he struggled for a moment before continuing, "in my affections last year. But you never once said no to me, so stop playing the innocent victim. You want everything to go your way, but you never once want to actually work for it, or do anything that will jeopardize your position as the saint of the school. And then you stand up here, singing a freaking love song to me, mocking me, what the hell do you expect?

"So no, Mr. Finn Hudson," he spit the former term of endearment out bitterly. "For once I have absolutely no interest in listening to your damn story. Grow up."

With that he slung his messenger bag over his shoulder and stomped out, followed immediately by Artie and Mercedes and Finn just stood there vowing to leave all future plan-making to the more experienced glee schemers.

"I think Hummel's pissed," Puck said with mild interest.

"Wait, you're the reason Kurt dumped me as a duet partner?"

"You guys are actually so arrogant that you thought there was no way anyone else could win that competition unless you threw it? Seriously?" Clearly the sting of losing out on Breadstix hadn't faded for Santana.

"I-um," Finn stuttered uncomfortably.

"I think that's it for today, guys," Mr. Schue said, finally stepping in. "See you all tomorrow." He looked at Finn with a mixture of sadness and disappointment. It somehow managed to hurt more than anything Kurt had said.

The rest of the students filed out the door, most shooting Finn annoyed or confused (Brittany) looks as they left. Finn stared at his shoes.

"Oh Finn." He looked up; Rachel was still sitting in her seat, looking at him with a slightly condescending but mostly kind expression.

"You really do try hard, and your heart's always in the right place, but you do have an overwhelming tendency to make a mess of things."

"Um, what?"

"I think you should go talk to Kurt," she said as she stood and put a hand on his shoulder.

He stared at her incredulously. "I don't know if you just saw that Rachel, but I really don't think he wants to talk to me right now. Or ever."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Honestly Finn, he's mad at you right now. And has every right to be, you just aired all your dirty laundry in front of everyone."

"But you do that all the time! And no one ever seems to mind-"

"But he doesn't hate you," she steamrolled over him. "He's hurt and confused and feeling lonely."

Finn groaned. "I know that, that's why I did this! Because he was walking around school all sad, and I wanted to cheer him up and make sure he knew that I didn't think he was a bad guy and that I was OK with him doing whatever he wanted with Sam, or whoever."

Rachel smiled sadly. "Yes, but Finn, this wasn't about you."

She pecked him on the cheek and then walked out the door, leaving Finn to mull over that last confusing statement.

He really wished he hadn't skipped dessert.

Two hours later he rang the doorbell at the Hummel house then buried his sweaty hands in his pockets.

"Finn," Burt said gruffly as he opened the door. "Kurt's not feeling so hot right now-"

"I know," Finn said quickly.

Burt stared at him closely. "Of course you do," he muttered.

"Can I talk to him?" Finn asked, shifting back and forth awkwardly on his feet.

After a long moment of contemplation Burt answered, "He's in the back with his friends. I'll be in the kitchen, watching." Finn nodded, then pushed past him and went towards the backyard.

Kurt and Mercedes were sitting on the lawn on either side of Artie, who seemed to have sacrificed his coat to protect Kurt's pants from grass stains. They were talking, and Kurt was even smiling slightly.

"Um, hi," he announced his presence. All three of them turned to look at them at the same time. Mercedes looked murderous, Artie looked surprised and wary, and Kurt just looked tired. "Could I talk to you Kurt?"

"I think you've done enough talking for the day," Mercedes started, pulling herself to her feet using Artie's armrest, but Kurt cut her off.

"Leave it, 'Cedes. I'll meet you guys in the kitchen, you can get a head start on those cookies. Sugar free though, you know my dad will try to sneak some when I'm not looking." Mercedes raised her eyebrows at him, but after a quick whispered conversation she began pushing Artie's chair back towards the house.

When she passed him she gave Finn a cool once-over; judging by the cold chill that went down his spine Finn was pretty sure she could work for the mafia or something one day. Maybe she already did. The mental image of Kurt and Mercedes as the crime king and queen of Lima almost made him snicker, but the real Kurt standing in front of him with a frown and his arms wrapped around him sobered him immediately.

They stood in silence as the screen door clicked closed. Kurt didn't meet his eyes.

"Uh, Rachel said this wasn't about me," Finn offered up. No answer. "And you said that I was self-absorbed, so I think maybe she was right." Nothing. "Was she?"

Kurt sighed, then sank back to the ground on Artie's coat. He gestured for Finn to do the same. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, I just lost my temper. I know you weren't trying to hurt me."

"No, I really wasn't, I swear I wasn't trying to mock you or anything like that," Finn said eagerly.

"I know," Kurt replied, holding up a hand to stop Finn's rambling. "But you getting up there and saying all that stuff about last year, that was humiliating. I've apologized to you for how I behaved and I'll do it again, but saying that in front of everyone was uncalled for. I never told people what happened in my basement last year."

Finn nodded, he got that. He was out of line, he shouldn't have talked so much. That's probably what happened when you use Rachel Berry as your role model: some overshare is bound to come out.

"Look, about Sam, I really am sorry about the way I acted. I was just worried about how everyone would react, and I know you don't have that problem, but I wanted him to be in the club and I didn't want anything to screw that up. I'm sorry I made you feel bad about yourself."

"I know you didn't mean to. But Finn? That was the last time I will ever compromise myself in order to make you or someone else feel better. You're right that there are homophobic bullies in our school, but I will not change myself to better accommodate them. They aren't worth it. And if we're going to be friends, you're going to have to accept that."

Finn nodded vigorously, this conversation was going way better than he'd expected it to. He hadn't heard Kurt refer to him as his friend since...since sometime last year actually.

"I do, and you're right. I'm not good at that, I like it when people like me, you know?" Kurt snorted and Finn felt like he was left out of a joke, but he decided to ignore it. "But I can't make you feel the same way. And if any of them give you trouble, let me know. I mean, you're almost my little brother now, and no one messes with that."

Kurt rolled his eyes, but Finn could detect some affection there. And the good, brotherly kind, not the other kind. "I know this was a terrible idea, but I just wanted to make you feel better. You've been all depressed all week, and I know I'm the one who caused it, and I just wanted to say sorry." Kurt was staring at him, slightly amused. "What?"

"You really think you telling me not to duet with Sam is why I've been upset?"

Finn shrugged. Well, yeah. What else could it be? Kurt actually laughed then.

"Finn, I've been depressed since my dad had a heart attack and almost died. I've barely been sleeping with all the work around the house, helping out at the garage, trying to cook meals and pay bills and keep up with homework." Finn felt his eyes widen; he was burnt out after half his homework and some x-box. "And yes, I was upset at what you said and you could have been more tactful in how you said it, but more than that I was upset because you were right."

"Huh?" Finn was pretty sure this whole day had proven to him that he was wrong.

"You were right. The world doesn't accept me for who I am, they won't want me duetting with another guy. That's a fact, and as much as I try to change it, the Karofsky's and Azimio's will still hate me for who I am. So yes, I've been stressed and depressed. But it wasn't about you, not really. You're just a part of the bigger problem here."

So Rachel was right after all. But still... "I don't want to be part of the problem, though," he said unsurely. Kurt smiled, surprisingly warmly; Finn realized he's only been on the receiving end of cold smirks lately.

"Then don't be," he answered simply. When Finn still looked concerned he continued. "How about this: if you say something that hurts me, then I'll tell you. And if I do something that makes you uncomfortable, you tell me. We'll try just being honest with each other."

"I can do that," Finn said, relieved.

"Good. Now onto more serious business: why on earth did you think you would be able to earn my forgiveness with a Daughtry song?"