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Brothers and Bandages
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Summary: Five times that Kurt had to patch Finn up and one time Finn returned the favor.
Rating: PG-13 (or the site equivalent), for some extremely slight gore… really, it's nothing.
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Family, Friendship
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, not even a little. Just playing.
Timeline: Pretty random. I'm somewhat careful to keep from mentioning anything that might date it too much. After the Hudmel joining though, and before Kurt left McKinley.
A massive final thank you to everyone who has read, put this on a favorite's list and/or left feedback. The response has been great. Thank you so much!
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Chapter Six: Returning the Favor
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Finn, Carole and some of the other New Directions had forgotten that it wasn't just Karofsky that was the problem. In Finn's head, Karofsky was kind of like Darth Vader: totally evil but, possibly, with a core of good. They could either break into that core of good (unlikely) and Kurt wouldn't have to worry about him anymore or they could find a way to get rid of him and Kurt wouldn't have to worry about him anymore (only slightly more likely).
That wasn't really taking into account, though, all of the other guys standing behind Karofsky. Maybe some of them were like Finn himself, kind of just going along for the ride and ignoring they way that their stomach twisted, but that wasn't the case for all of them and Kurt knew it. There had been plenty of times that the others had done awful things to him and Karofsky hadn't been anywhere around.
So the look of shock on Finn's face, there for only a split second, when he finds three of the other guys from the football team throwing him down onto the ground with Karofsky nowhere in sight is kind of pathetically endearing in a way that only Finn had mastered.
Finn just kind of lunched forward and the head guy, Dean Carter, matched him, already talking. If the cut above his eye and his bruised wrist didn't hurt so much, Kurt might have snorted at the patented vitriol coming out of Carter's mouth. Honestly, couldn't they ever come up with anything more threatening than the 'us vs. them' garbage that was inevitably followed up with a nice heaping side of homophobia? It had passed sad years ago and had been steadily working its way though pathetic ever since.
Finn didn't listen long. He just grabbed the back of Carter's neck and pulled him in for what Kurt thought, only for a split second, was going to be a kiss. That would be a fun way to get any football neanderthal's attention, but probably ultimately a bad move. Either way, Kurt wasn't sure how he'd feel seeing Finn kiss some guy. Too weird, on so many levels.
Luckily for everyone, Finn didn't kiss Carter. He just got close enough to say something that Kurt didn't catch. Too bad… with the way Carter paled, it had probably been pretty good. Finn was occasionally surprising like that.
Carter sneered at Finn, but he waved his cronies away and left the hall without even looking back at Kurt.
It almost felt anit-climactic.
"What did you say to him?" Kurt asked the very second Carter had turned the corner.
"Nothing." Finn said, sounding a little distracted. "Come on."
His long legs cut the distance between them in seconds and Finn reached down a hand to haul Kurt to his feet, although it probably wasn't much of a haul on Finn's part considering their relative sizes.
"Come on where?" Kurt asked, a little surprised when Finn didn't let his hand go. "Are you holding my hand?"
Finn didn't answer. Or at least, he didn't answer Kurt's question. He had one of his own, "Is that first aid kit still in your car?"
Kurt had always kept a basic first aid kit in his car because it made his father feel better. After the "pebble incident" though, he'd traded in for what had to have been the industrial model. Kurt was pretty sure he had enough gauze in that thing to pack a gunshot wound and that wasn't even taking into consideration all of the other obscure medical supplies jammed in to every available bit of space. "Of course I do."
"Good." Finn answered shortly, slipping out one of the doors to the parking lot that wasn't generally watched. He kept holding Kurt's hand as he pulled him to the car and let it go (finally) to open the trunk. "Sit."
Sure it was his own car, but his pants were a wool blend and sitting on such a dirty…
Finn saw the hesitation and cut him off, "Seriously, Kurt?"
Still, he just grabbed the first aid kit and closed the trunk again, opening the passenger door in back and gesturing to the seat. "Sideways." He directed. "I guess the trunk is a little dirty and you do ruin enough pants for me so… compromise."
Kurt was a little touched. Finn so rarely understood his dedication to fashion. He sat down and briefly grinned at Finn. Now they were almost evenly matched, height-wise, which was a rare treat outside of staircases.
Finn opened up a little packaged sterile wipe and took only a second to warn him before gingerly swiped at the cut, "Gonna sting. Bleach, remember?"
Kurt couldn't bring himself to return that grin. It was all too eerily similar and he couldn't handle the reversal of positions. "Aren't you going to ask what happened?" He asked, a little more nasty than Finn probably deserved.
"Seems a little obvious." Finn answered, "If you want to tell me, though, you can. Dean's a dick." That last bit seemed to be tacked on as if to give Kurt an out.
Kurt took it, "He is a dick… so how could you have known what to say to get him to leave like that?"
"I am the captain of the team," Finn answered, "Part of that is knowing how to push everyone, but it only really works for some guys."
"Peons like Dean and not the real degenerates like Karofsky." Kurt summed up, a little bitterly.
Finn didn't say anything, but he didn't really have to. Karofsky sucked… what more was there to say? A lot of sentences that started with I would or I wish or That jerk weren't going to solve anything. They weren't even really going to make anything better. Strangely enough, this time, having Finn with him was making it better. Maybe it was because they were brothers and it was still kind of a novelty or maybe it was because Finn had once been part of the cause of his torment and now he was cleaning up after it, completely on his side, that made him feel better, but it didn't really matter. Kurt felt any residual anger bleed out of him.
"Well, I don't think it's going to scar…" Finn said, smirk turning a little vicious, "Receeding hairline or not."
"I knew this was too sweet to last." Kurt groused, "So really, what's up with your Florence Nightengale impression?" Finn looked confused so Kurt elaborated with a sigh, "A nurse, Finn."
"Um, I thought it was more of an impression of you." Finn said, gently applying the butterfly bandage over the cut with fingers that should have been too big and cumbersome to pull it off, "I mean, if I can come to you then why can't you come to me?"
There was nothing to say to that, honestly. It was so… Finn and good and made him feel like a real brother. Sure, there was a side helping of How could I have been attracted to a boy that I react to roughly the same way that I do for puppies sitting next to ducklings while still finding him a little densely impossible? but that was really just par for his life course.
"Hey," Finn cut in suddenly, "Do you want me to go around telling guys that you saved… um, what was it? A box of kittens?" Finn's scrunched his face up trying to remember, "Yeah, a box of kittens from a fire. 'Cause, bro, I totally will. Get you some points, right?" Finn waggled his eyebrows ridiculously.
Kurt shoved Finn back so he could jump down, "Oh my God, Finn."
"What?"
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I really hoped you all enjoyed the story!
Please, as a parting gift, let me know what you thought about the story. Would you like to see any more from me about our Hudmel boys? Any and all feedback (well, any and all constructive feedback!) is so beyond welcome and appreciated!
Thank you again for all of the reviews/comments/additions to favorites/alerts list!