Disclaimer- I own nothing.

Kurt Hummel was anything but weak, despite the presumptions of others (such as one Noah Puckerman). It was quite the opposite. Just because he wasn't a six-foot-three monster like his stepbrother Finn, didn't mean he wasn't. What Kurt didn't have a physically powerful physique, didn't mean he wasn't strong. Could one of the baboons on the football team have the strength to face the bullying that Kurt put up with on a daily basis? I think not.

That was why Kurt didn't want anyone, including Finn, to know exactly what had happened with one David Karofsky. It hadn't been fun; in order to get Kurt to kiss him, Karofsky had punched Kurt several times, resulting in several bruises all over his body.

Kurt had come home that day wearing pitch dark sunglasses and some oversized gym clothes he had found in the lost and found. It figured that not one person in his family had noticed that these weren't the clothes that Kurt had left the house in. Kurt had always suspected that he was the only one who truly appreciated his own killer fashion sense.

The next day, Kurt looked all over his room, searching for an outfit that covered every one of his ghastly bruises. For once in his life, Kurt wasn't even taking fashion into consideration. Not one of Kurt's form-fitting sweaters would do the trick this time. He eventually selected some old clothes of Finn's that Kurt hoped his stepbrother would not notice missing. For the finishing touch, he put on a pair of his stepmother, Carole's, tinted sunglasses. Kurt decided the outfit was complete and took a look in his humongous vanity mirror. Finn's large sweatpants were obviously about eight sizes to big. The baggy letterman jacket he had selected looked uncharacteristically Kurt, and the sleeves were much too big. At least the sunglasses looked like something Kurt would wear, although they were a tad bit girly for his own taste.

Kurt gave himself one last look over before climbing into his sleek black car. When he arrived at school, the warning bell had rung. Kurt sprinted to his homeroom, where the teacher hadn't even noticed that Kurt was several minutes late because he was too consumed in his fitness magazine, which was ironic because he must have been about sixty years old and he was far from in shape. The class had been assigned to "talk amongst themselves about yesterday's assignment" which was their teacher's code for "just leave me alone". Finn leaned over towards Kurt, whom he sat right next to, because the homerooms had been assigned by alphabetical order of last names. He held out a small slip of paper out to Kurt, which Kurt warily snatched out of his hands.

The note read, in Finn's almost unreadable, if slightly girly, handwriting, "P.S. Dude, I don't know if this is some kind of crazy fashion statement, but you're wearing my clothes. Also, I'm not just talking to you because you always seem kind of angry with me when I talk to you at school."

Kurt shook his head. Sometimes Finn's dim-wittedness surprised even him. Kurt responded to the note in his own elegant script. "Sorry, I guess I should have asked you first. I'm wearing them because I just felt like wearing something comfortable today. Is that a problem for you?"

Finn almost immediately shoved a small slip of paper back into Kurt's hands. Kurt unfolded it even more carefully this time. "I know about Karofsky, Kurt."

Kurt's eyes widened in surprise. How could Finn possibly have found out? Kurt quickly threw the note in the trash can and resorted to actually speaking to Finn. "How?"
Hissed Kurt.

Finn shrugged, his eyes falling on his girlfriend Rachel. "I, I don't know. A little duck told me?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "The correct expression is 'A little birdie told me'. It's not a duck. How did Rachel find out?"

"How do you know that she was the one to tell me?"

Kurt chose not to dignify this with a response. "So what if Karofsky hit me? It doesn't affect you. Let me deal with this on my own, Finn. I'm tired of everyone, including you, acting condescendingly toward me. I can take care of my own problems, thank you. I don't need anyone's help. Especially not yours."

Kurt looked up and for the firs time he noticed the hurt in Finn's eyes, which quickly turned to anger. Finn whipped the sunglasses off of Kurt's head, revealing not one, but two black eyes. Finn gasped.

"He did this to you?" asked Finn, speaking softly.

Kurt simply nodded, trying to hold back tears. "I'm strong enough to handle this. I'm strong enough to handle this," chanted Kurt inside his own head.

Finn narrowed his eyes. He stormed out of the room. This wasn't the most logical idea, as Finn was alone and hadn't thought this through beforehand. Kurt ran after him."Finn!" he shouted. "Get the hell back here!"

Finn ignored him, storming towards Karofsky, who was standing next to his locker in the basically empty hallway. This was not an odd occurrence, as many of the football players didn't even attend classes.

Finn ran towards Karofsky and quickly pinned him against his own locker. "What the…" shouted Karofsky, surprised and angry. "Get off of me!"

Kurt watched from the back of the hallway, safely watching. He heard Finn telling Karofsky off for what he had done to Kurt. Kurt couldn't let Finn fight his own battle for him, he just couldn't. If Finn got hurt defending Kurt, it would be worse than if Kurt had hurt Finn by himself. Caught up in the moment, Kurt rushed over to Finn's side. By himself, Finn was pretty evenly matched with Karofsky. But with the help of Kurt, it would be no problem.

Karofsky broke free of Finn's grasp. Within about ninety seconds, he had Finn on the ground and was choking him. Scared for Finn's safety, Kurt jumped into the fight. He was just a bit nervous, as Kurt hadn't been involved in a fight since he was in kindergarten and Santana Lopez thought she was entitled to the princess shoes. Well, Kurt showed her otherwise, and he was fairly confident that he could do the same to Karofsky. Kurt took a swift punch at Karofsky's head. He successfully hit him. Both Karofsky and Finn looked up, surprised to even see Kurt involved in a fight.

Karofsky wasn't going to let himself be beaten by a five foot ten boy who looked to be about ten years old, especially in his oversized outfit. He attempted to punch Kurt , but missed. Before he knew it, a tiny fist had hit him in the side of the head. Before any of the boys realized what was happening, Karofsky had fallen to the floor.

Kurt looked down at Karofsky in amazement, for the first time realizing that he was responsible for what had happened. "Let's get out of here," said Kurt, speaking to Finn but looking at Karofsky.

Once Finn and Kurt were safely in their bedroom at the Hummel-Hudson home, Finn felt safe enough to acknowledge this amazing feat. "You have a mean right hook," said Finn.

Kurt smiled, pleased with his accomplishment. "Thanks. And thanks for trying to defend me."

"Yeah," said Finn, suddenly lost in thought. A few seconds later, he beamed at Kurt. "You didn't need it, though.'

"I need you, though," said Kurt. "You're the best stepbrother a guy could ever ask for."

Kurt was proud of what both he and Finn had done. Not just because he had proved that he was strong enough to take care of himself, but because he and Finn had done it together.

"Brothers?"

"Brothers."