Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: My friend and I both posted prompts on the Glee Fluff Meme on LJ, which turned into a competition to fill each other's prompts by the end of the month. So many thanks to AluraEmbrey for being my lovely prompter and beta. 3

In the kitchen of the Hummel-Hudson household, Finn was currently psyching himself up for the biggest moment of his life. Okay, no, it wasn't the biggest moment of his life. It probably wasn't even the biggest moment of his week. Either way, he was in the moment and he was psyching himself up for it. Downing the rest of his milk (cold), he slammed the glass on the counter and took off up the stairs.

This wasn't so hard, he could totally do this. Easy.

He stopped outside of the door and raised his fist, preparing himself. Deep breath Hudson, you got this.

Knockknockknock

"Who is it?" Came the reply only a second later.

"It's me." Well, that wasn't a very good descriptor, but considering the only other guy it could be was Burt, and he didn't sound anything like Burt, he felt semi-confident that his identity had been made clear.

"Finn, you better be missing a limb or on the verge of death." Came Kurt's shrill voice from the other side of the door.

It was midterms at Dalton and for the past week Kurt has done nothing but inhale coffee and study the functions of DNA polymerase and the significance of the Sengoku Jidai. All on top of Warbler's practices and the long commute from Westerville to Lima. Needless to say, Kurt was at the end of his rope when he demanded that no one in his family bother him for any reason less than death or a state of national emergency.

"Um, no. But it is kind of an emergency." He yelled through the door, which honestly he felt kind of stupid doing.

"What kind of emergency, Finn?" Came Kurt's exasperated tone. Really, an emergency for Finn was when there wasn't enough cereal left in the box to fill the bowl.

"A fashion emergency." Was the hesitant reply.

There was the sound of chair scraping over carpet, then a few moments later Kurt's bedroom door flew open. "As glad as I am that you finally realized that superhero t-shirts aren't a fashion forward, exactly what makes you think now is a good time to ask for my help?"

Kurt's eyebrow was in a high arch that looked like it was about to reach his hairline. Finn tried to avoid his gaze as he said, "Well, my mom's best friend's cousin's daughter is having this octillion ball ("Cotillion, Finn."), and I'm invited. It's suppose to be really formal, and I kind of don't have anything to wear. Except, you know, some of my old glee stuff and the suit from my Uncle Eli's wedding, but I think it's too small by now. Plus, I don't really think that camo print is really-"

"Finn, please stop." Kurt held his hand out in a stop gesture and his other hand was massaging the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath before continuing, "Okay, when it is?"

"Um, this Saturday."

"You do realize today is Thursday, right?"

Finn nodded and Kurt had this look like he was going to run into Finn's room and tear apart all his clothes. In all honestly, considering the way he had been bagging on them, he wouldn't put it past the guy.

"We'll go tomorrow after school. But you owe me, and I mean it." Kurt sighed, thinking, if this is what it's like to have a brother, I need to ask for a refund.

"Thanks, man, you're the best. Like, ever."

Insert Kurt's big sigh, but barely concealed thoughtful smile here. "Yeah, I know."

Friday afternoon, Kurt picked Finn up after school, since New Directions still had to meet frequently for Glee practice. The Warblers were only meeting up twice a week to keep up vocals and schedule impromptu school performances as opposed to the intense five practices a week they were pushing right before regionals.

Finn climbed into the Navigator and looked nervously at Kurt. "So like, you know what you're doing, right?"

Kurt lifted an eyebrow and gave his step-brother a serious bitch-face. "You do know who you're talking to?"

"Right, okay. Sorry." He mumbled apologetically. Kurt pulled out of the parking space and wondered what had Finn so wounded up.

After a few minutes of arguing over which station to listen to, a near miss with what Kurt swears was a blind squirrel and another fight over '80's rock versus '90's rock later and they had finally arrived at the only mall in Lima.

"I didn't know Lima's mall had formal clothes and stuff."

"They do when you know where to look." Kurt quipped as he got out of the car.

Finn nodded, mostly understanding what Kurt was saying as they walked into the mall. Finn had been to the mall numerous times on numerous occasions but hadn't really noticed the "classy" stuff as Kurt put it. Mostly he just got whatever looked comfortable, as opposed to Kurt who got whatever looked the most brightly colored and sequined. Well, in Finn's opinion at least. He knew it was supposed to be fashionable, but none of the mannequins he ever saw wore the types of things Kurt did. Whatever, Finn wasn't even going to pretend he understood fashion. That was, after all, why he enlisted Kurt.

"Alright, so what kind of event is this for again. You were rambling the other night and I think I was still reciting the Bill of Rights in French when you knocked."

"It's a coming out ball for one of my mom's, co-worker's daughter or something. Actually, I think the only reason I was invited is because she has a crush on me. The daughter. Not the mom. Because that would be gross and I'm not into that like Puck is." At this point Kurt had to cringe. He wanted to interject, saying he got the point but Finn trampled on anyways in his size thirteen shoes.

"I don't really know what a coming out ball is anyways. Do you know what it is? Wait, coming out, like does that mean she's gay? Or a lesbian, right, because she's a girl? Did you have a ball when you came out, because I don't think you did? Unless you didn't invite me, which dude, totally not cool- Wait, is that why she asked me to come, because I have a gay brother? So does that mean she doesn't have a crush on me? What happens at these balls, do I have to come out too, because I'm not gay? Not that there's anything wrong with it. But like I said I-"

"Finn!" He snapped his mouth shut and looked at Kurt who was rubbing the bridge of his nose again and looking like he was trying to gather all the patience he could muster. " A coming out ball isn't to come out as gay. It's for girls to come out to society as a woman. It's a coming of age thing in some societies, so please, for the love of all that is fashionable, calm down."

Finn looked down kind of embarrassed. "Oh." Then looked up and added thoughtfully, "So she does have a crush on me? Because she's kind of cute."

The shorter boy stopped walking and pointed to a store with men's suits on display. "Just get in the store, Finn."

Kurt shook his head and wondered just why, exactly, he had agreed to this. And really, wasn't Finn dating Quinn right now? He'd have to text Mercedes and ask her on the details of the latest New Directions drama, clearly he was behind again. He may be at a different school, but he was still trying to stay in the loop. There just wasn't enough juicy secrets at Dalton to satisfy his inner gossipy girl.

"Okay, Finn, come over here so I can get your measurements?" He asked, walking up to the taller teen who was currently looking at a cummerbund like it was going to eat him.

"Um, sure." He said kind of unsure of what to do. He stood on the little platform as Kurt took out some measuring tape and a pad of paper. He started measuring from his shoulder, across his back, his torso, and every other which way.

It was kind of weird, like he was one of those girls on those fashion runways shows Kurt was always watching. Like star treatment right? That was always cool. Kurt's touches were feather light and he hardly felt them through the fabric of his shirt, and after a while he got use to them in general and stopped feeling so uncomfortable and just went with it.

Kurt stood up and after jotting down a few things on the pad and started walking. Finn just continued standing where he was, not quite sure where exactly he was supposed to go or what he was supposed to do.

"Are you coming or not?" Kurt called over his shoulder.

Finn quickly scrambled off the small platform and took off after Kurt. "Coming! I'm coming."

A little boy with his father snickered at that. Finn stopped to look at the kid. "What's so funny?"

"You are!" He yelled before cackling again. Finn stood there with his goofy, confused expression on his face, and Kurt swung in to the rescue.

"Cheeky little brat, aren't you?" He muttered, shoot the kid a glare before ushering Finn towards the line of suit ensembles.

"I still don't get it."

"Don't think too hard, Finn." Or ever. The last thing he needed was for Finn to get what the kid was saying and go into a fit of gay panic or something in the middle of trying on suits. "Which do you like better, the charcoal or the arsenic?"

Finn stared at the two suits, not really catching the difference in the shading. "Um, does it matter. I mean, they're both gray." He said awkwardly holding up one sleeve. He could tell by the 'Did-you-seriously-just-go-there' look on Kurt's face that he had said the wrong thing. "Um, I mean arsenic. That sounds like a badass color, right?"

"We're going for class, not badass." He said, putting down one of the jackets and handing one to Finn to try on. "But yes, it is."

Kurt directed the gawky teen's body as he tried to decide what would be the best fit and color for him. He kept having Finn try on random pieces only occasionally commenting on things with "now that's classic Tom Ford" or "that clashes horribly with your skin tone" and even once saying "I wonder if I add sequins" which was met with a firm rebuttal by Finn, "I know where Burt keeps your baby pictures and I will show them to Blaine."

After what felt like hours of trying on clothes, Kurt settled on a suit that both complimented Finn's skin tone and accentuated his figure, making him look suave and classic.

"Is that it?" Finn asked hopefully.

"Of course not." And there Kurt went crushing all of his hopes and dreams of getting out of here at a decent hour and curling up with Left 4 Dead and a nice cup of warm milk.

Kurt walked over to a display with a bunch of ties and started pulling out random ones. Well, they probably weren't random, but they appeared random to Finn. But then he remembered how upset Kurt got earlier over him lagging behind, so he quickly tried to get across the store too. The thing was, Finn being the tall guy he was, didn't bother to look down and see the small stack of boxes piled in front of him. And really, who left random piles of boxes where customers were walking?

Point was, stack of boxes went tumbling down, along with the Jolly McKinley Giant. He tried to stand up at quickly as possible and brush it off, but only succeeded in getting tangled up with the contents of the boxes. He rolled over, trying to get a grip on one, but another one fell on top of him. Well crap, how many of these things were there?

"Finn! What are you doing?" Kurt screeched running over to where Finn was scrambling, trying to push off of whatever was beneath him.

"Sir, what are you doing?" Asked the store clerk who was giving him a very suspicious look.

Finn stopped moving and looked down at what he was tangled in. He visibly paled, then after a moment, turned bright red, flushing all the way to his ears and down his neck. On hand was resting on a breast, the other on the crotch, and with the way he was moving - Oops.

The boxes were apparently full of naked mannequins. Who knew?

The store clerk very politely asked them how they would be paying for the damages, before not so very politely throwing them out of the store after Kurt handed over his credit card.

"This is so putting me back on getting that new Armani design." Kurt glared up at Finn, and shook his head. "You owe me big."

For the second time in less than 24 hours Kurt wondered exactly why people ever wanted a brother. Seriously, Rachel Berry, being an only child would be lovely right about now.

"So where are we going next?" Finn asked, though there was an edge of despair in his voice. Kurt would show him despair.

"Accessories, straight ahead." The two headed into another men's store (seriously, he didn't know there were this many in Lima) and Kurt proceeded to drag him around displays and not so delicately pull ties around his neck. Finn was seriously missing Kurt's gentle touches all of a sudden.

"Dude, are you trying to kill me?" He asked, pulling Kurt's hands away from his neck.

Kurt paused for a moment, which was kind of really creepy, before shaking his head and reaching out for Finn again. "It's a tie, calm down."

"Dude, if you're still mad just say it, you don't have to - Ow!" He yelled when one of Kurt's knuckles flew into his eye. His hands shot towards his face while Kurt's hands finally disappeared from his neck. Instead they held onto his shoulders and started pulling at his hands.

"Oh my gosh, Finn I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-" Finn had been struggling, trying to get away from Kurt. Which would have worked if they both hadn't fallen over and tumbled into the wall, knocking over the display and sending various things tumbling down around them.

The store clerk, which looked scarily a lot like the one at the last store, looked down at them expectantly. Kurt once again held out his credit card before turning to face Finn. "At this rate, I'm never being allowed in the mall again."

After getting kicked out of the fourth and last men's store in Lima, the boys finally had everything they needed, and really were on a probationary period with the mall. "Just don't start a flash mob or something." Kurt begged when they finally left the security station.

"Can we go home now?"

Finn had been wanting go home for hours now. If it wasn't absolutely necessary, he would have left after the incident with the parakeet (which was never to be spoken of again), but he didn't. Kurt had forced him to trudge onward. The thing was, it wasn't Finn who finally gave in, it was Kurt.

"How about some Orange Julius before we leave?" He suggested because he knew Kurt secretly really loved the stuff no matter how many times he objected to the calories.

"Sure." He sounded resigned, but the small hint of a smile gave him away.

The boys had just settled into one of the metal chairs in the food court with their drinks and set their bags on the table beside them when they heard a voice yell out from by the escalators.

"Hey look, it's the town gays. Shopping for prom dresses, Hudson?"

Both boys froze on the spot as a masculine voice drifted over to them. Kurt bolted upright in his chair, slipping on his 'I'm-so-much-better-than-you' face as he watched Azimio and a few of his jock friends act out a very over exaggerated and flamboyant version of what appeared to be shopping for dresses.

Kurt sighed. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be tormented daily for his sexuality. Almost. Worriedly he looked over at Finn. The other boy was red in the face and his eyes were narrowed in a menacing glare. Kurt could already tell their small brotherly bonding moment was over. He was getting horrid Lady Gaga flash backs and-

"In case you didn't notice, these are designer suits. Unlike you, we've got class, instead buying clothes off the clearance rack at Wal-Mart."

That was the perfect Kurt retort. Only thing was, it didn't come from Kurt. The boy in question was staring up at Finn with wide eyes. In his head, Finn should be wearing a red shower curtain right about now. This just was not real.

"Whatever homo, I'm not interested in wearing clothes made by the oppressors of my people. Enjoy your fruity drinks, fruits!" He jeered, trying not to seem fazed by Finn's comment. Soon enough the jocks moved on to wherever it was jocks went to when not tormenting losers.

Kurt's eyes were practically bulging in disbelief as he started at Finn. "What the hell was that?"

Finn shrugged, an embarrassed smile on his face. "I dunno, something you would say, I guess."

"You know they wont let you live this down at school, right?"

"I'm the most popular guy in school, they can do what they want." He shrugged before adding, "Besides, I'll always have your back." He was just so earnest in the way he said it, that Kurt couldn't help but smile brightly at him.

If this was what it was like to have a brother, he didn't think he'd mind too much.