We'll paint the grey clouds with pretty rainbow hues (+ coda), Finn/Kurt, PG-13
Title: We'll paint the grey clouds with pretty rainbow hues (And we'll brush the gloom away)
Author: Merle
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairing: Finn/Kurt, Puck/Quinn, Baby Drizzle (Melody)
Word Count: 2740
Spoilers: For the first 15 episodes
Disclaimer: The title is a line from the song Tomorrow is Another Day from the movie The Rescuers. Glee belongs to FOX. Finn and Kurt belong to each other. At least in this story.
Warnings: future!fic, kid!fic, angst, and heaps of schmoop to make up for it
Summary: Their last year in high school is coming to an end when Quinn and Puck return to Lima.
A/N: This is the sequel to my story A whole new Epiphany, and it probably wouldn't hurt to read that one first. Feedback is appreciated!
Their last year in high school is coming to an end when Quinn and Puck return to Lima.
It’s frightening, and slightly surreal; but most of all, it’s awkward: the two of them standing in the middle of the Hudsons’ living room, warily eyeing the chaos of cookie crumbs and school books, Finn’s old action figures and Kurt’s Barbie dolls spread out all over the carpet.
The Rescuers is on, because Melody loves it, and because it’s one of the few Disney movies that don’t give Finn a headache. (“It’s a classic,” Kurt had said, “and romantic in a non-tacky way.” And, more quietly: “I used to watch it with my mom all the time.”) Melody is curled up in a heap of cushions on the floor, eyes glued to the television, and Finn is sitting on the couch, staring up at the two people that once were so close to his heart, and wishes his mom was home.
But his mother is over at Burt Hummel's house, washing his curtains in exchange for the repairs he did on her car. They always do things like that, returning each other's favors, neither wanting to owe anything, even if they are practically related by now. Very early into the weird arrangement they are reluctant to call family, Kurt had told his father in no uncertain terms that he was not, under no circumstances, allowed to date Carole Hudson. Burt Hummel had promised, while trying to hide his smile, but the warning wouldn't have been necessary: they are not interested in each other that way, and in fact, sometimes it seems as if they are not interested in dating at all, content with what they have. They play cards, sometimes, or buy groceries together; and once in a while they go catch a movie or dinner; but more often than not, they all end up at the Hummels' place, Burt and Finn following the game in the living room, Kurt and Carole watching an old movie downstairs, while Melody sleeps in the former guest room turned nursery, stuffed bunny in her arms, thumb in her mouth.
“What are you doing here?” Finn asks finally, and Puck shrugs and pushes his fists into the pockets of his baggy jeans. The mohawk is gone, replaced by a short buzz-cut that makes him look like a soldier on leave, older and harder than Finn remembers him.
“We wanted to see our daughter,” Quinn says, and somehow she makes it sound like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“I don't get it,” Finn says, and he knows he must sound bitter. Once, Kurt told him how he used to think that Finn didn't even know what bitter was, back then, when everything was different; and Finn looked back and thought it probably was true. These days, though, the taste is a little bit too familiar.
“Why now?” he asks. “You were gone for two years, Quinn. You left her on my door step and disappeared, and now you suddenly remember that you have a child?“
“I did what I thought was best for her,” Quinn says angrily, and Finn remembers that voice, reproachful and self-righteous, how guilty it made him feel, and how much of a loser.
He wonders where all the feelings went he had for her. He's seen her on TV, once or twice, during the last two years: she had a couple of guest roles, a patient in the eighth season of Grey's Anatomy and Eliot Spencer's shoplifting niece on Leverage, and Finn managed to feel almost happy for her. But seeing her now feels very much like watching her on TV - as if she's a stranger, not the girl he used to love, a long time ago.
“You did what was best for yourself,” he answers, now angry himself. “You always did. And somehow, we all still felt bad for you and tried to help you out, but you just ran away and left us to pick up the pieces.“
Quinn clearly didn't expect that, and it gives Finn a feeling of grim satisfaction to see the shock in her eyes. Finn is not the boy she left behind anymore, either, and he wants her to know it, too.
“I wasn't ready-,” Quinn starts, but Puck puts a hand on her arm before she can finish her sentence.
“Quinn,” he says quietly, squeezing her arm, and tilts his head towards the floor, where Melody has stopped watching the movie a while ago, and is now staring at them with big, blue eyes. Finn is glad that Puck stopped their fight before they started to yell. It's not as if she's never seen people fight, but most of those arguments were about petty things, like laundry and homework and, once, about this guy Kurt met at the public library. Finn went out, that night, determined to get drunk and forget, but he made Matt turn around the car before they'd even left the street. Matt laughed at him and called him names that would have bothered Finn only two years ago, but he didn't complain, just dropped him off at Kurt's place and gave him a wave before driving away.
The fight ended in apologies and kisses, like all the others did. Finn doesn't think there will be a lot of apologies today.
He turns towards Melody, to see if she's upset, but Puck surprises Finn by crouching down on the carpet first, smiling at the little girl.
“Hey, sweetie,” Puck says softly, giving a silly little wave. “I’m Puck.”
Melody giggles, obviously charmed, and waves back. “Puck,” she says, “hello Puck.”
There are some things, Finn thinks with resignation, that will never change. One of them is that the women in his life will always be drawn to Puck's handsome face. But Melody looks so adorable in her eagerness that he has to grin against his will, and even Quinn is smiling as she gathers the courage to kneel down next to Puck.
Melody looks at her curiously. “Who are you?” she asks, pointing a chubby finger at her, and Quinn’s laugh sounds almost like a sob.
“Hello Melody,” she says. “I’m your mom.”
Melody frowns, tilting her head in a gesture that she has undoubtedly picked up from Kurt.
“Mama?” she asks, obviously confused, and Quinn nods quickly.
“Yeah, your mama.” She holds out a hand to the child, hesitantly, but Melody is not looking at her anymore. Instead she turns her head around, searching for something, for someone.
“Mama?” she calls, and “Mama!” again, impatiently, and just like that, Finn knows that there's no way this is going to end well, and he hates himself a little for being so scared of the confrontation that's about to come.
Finn can already hear Kurt's steps on the stairs, and for a second he actually wishes that Kurt had had taken up Artie and Tina on their offer to go the mall. But he knows that it wouldn't matter if Kurt was at the mall, or his father's garage, or on the moon: because as soon as Melody calls for him, he comes running, whatever he's doing, wherever he is.
“What’s up, baby?” Kurt say. “Is Daddy being mean -” He stops abruptly, two steps into the room.
“Noah,” he says flatly, “Quinn. We didn't know you were coming.“
“Hummel,” Puck says, slowly, surprise clear in his voice. “We didn't know you'd be here.“
He looks like he wants to say more, but Melody is already flinging herself at Kurt, hugging his legs; and Kurt ignores Puck's stare, ignores Quinn's strangled noise, in favor of the child at his feet. He bends down to sweep her up from the floor, struggling a bit until he has got her settled on his hip. She’s been getting kind of heavy for him, lately.
“Mama, look! Puck is here!” Melody stage-whispers, as soon as she's made herself comfortable in his arms, and Kurt chuckles dryly, pressing a kiss to her cheek, making her giggle in delight.
“So you like Noah Puckerman, little lady?” he asks, voice oh so carefully casual and light. “Well, I don't blame you, he's quite handsome. But don't fall for him, sweetie, he's already taken.“
“What is going on here?”
Quinn's voice is sharp when she asks, and only then Kurt raises his head to meet her eyes, jaw set, chin raised defiantly. To everyone else, he might seem calm and confident, but Finn knows him well enough to notice the cold sweat starting to stain the neck of his shirt; the faint tremble in his arms, and he realizes that he's never seen Kurt that close to freaking out.
When it becomes clear that Kurt is not going to say anything, Quinn says: “Finn?”, hesitantly, almost pleadingly, and Finn can hear what she doesn't say: Please, tell me this isn't what it looks like.
He wants to say: What, did you think I'd stay alone for the rest of my life? Did you think nobody else would want me?, but he swallows it down, and tries to catch Kurt's eyes. Kurt is avoiding his glance, though, his face hidden in Melody's curls, in a way that is clearly deliberate; and Finn wonders what Kurt thinks he's going to do: if he thinks that Finn is going to turn away, forget the last six months, the last two years the moment Quinn enters the stage again.
But Finn couldn't forget even if he tried, and why would he want to, anyway? He suddenly feels the urge to tell Kurt that he remembers, everything: remembers how scared they were that night when Melody wouldn't stop screaming, and Finn's mother laughed at them and told them that she was just teething, remembers how he went to three supermarkets to find the cereal that Kurt liked and how, when he got back, exhausted and empty-handed, Mr. Hummel smiled and patted him on the shoulder and told him he was a good man. He remembers the first time they had sex, and that they were both so nervous that they almost gave up halfway through.
In the end, it's not even really a choice, not quite a conscious decision when he crosses the room, reaches out to take Melody from Kurt's arms.
“Here,” he says gently, “let me take her. She’s too heavy for you.”
Kurt doesn't protest, lets her go without complaint. Finn lifts her up easily, cradling her in one arm, and with his free hand reaches out to brush away an errant strand of hair that is curled up against Kurt's cheekbone, pushes it back behind his ear. It's not much, as far as declarations go, but it's intimate enough, and there's no mistaking the intention.
Kurt looks up at him then, eyes wide and surprised, and Finn can't help but smile, because suddenly he's overwhelmed by this feeling of gratefulness that doesn't leave room for any resentment he still feels towards the woman that once was his girlfriend or the man that was his friend.
When he finally turns his head, Puck is staring at them with a mixture of surprise and something that looks a lot like respect. But when Quinn raises her eyes to meet his, they are full of tears and regret.
“I told her it was a bad idea,” Puck says later, when he's sitting with Finn on the porch behind the house, beer bottle dangling loosely between his fingers.
Quinn is back at the hotel, claiming tiredness and a headache, and Finn is glad that his mother came home in time to give her a ride.
Finn and Puck started drinking the moment the door fell shut.
“I knew it was a mistake,” Puck says, and Finn raises his eyes from the ground to look at his face.
“But you came anyway,” he says slowly, and Puck sighs and nods and picks at the sleeve of his shirt with the fingers of his unoccupied hand.
“She wanted to see her so badly ...” he breaks off and huffs a laughter. “You know, we wouldn't even know what to do with a child. We are both working all the time, and we've just managed to finally get our shit together. I really don't know what we were thinking. We don't belong here anymore.”
There's a creak when the back door opens, and they look up to see Kurt step onto the porch, looking tired and pale in the fuzzy shine of the back porch light.
Finn lifts an arm, inviting him closer, but Kurt stays where he is, arms wrapped tightly around his chest.
“Did you get her to fall asleep?” Finn asks finally, and Kurt nods, but he's looking at Puck, unreadable expression in his eyes.
“Are you going to take her away?” he asks, voice so brittle that it's on the verge of cracking.
“What?” Puck asks, puzzled frown on his face.
“Are you going to take her with you?” Kurt repeats, despite the effort the words so clearly cost him. “Is this why you came?”
He looks defiant and resigned at the same time, the way he looked at Finn and Puck every morning before school, knowing what was about to happen, refusing to let it break him - and Finn realizes suddenly that Kurt is not just scared of losing Finn. He's terrified of the idea that he might lose Melody, and if Finn hadn't been sure before that they are both in this for the long haul, he would be now: they are a family, plain and simple, and nobody is going to take that away from them.
He's sure that the epiphany must show on his face, but it doesn't matter, because nobody is looking at him. Kurt is still staring at Puck, but it's the expression on Puck's face as he looks up at Kurt that catches Finn's attention, makes him think of the way Puck used to look at Kurt when they were all still in Glee.
In the beginning, he frowned at him like a little boy would stare at a caterpillar, with fascination and incomprehension, but already trying to come up with ideas how to use this strange creature for his childish, cruel pleasures. It changed over time, replaced by a look of unwilling respect and almost-fond tolerance, although the incomprehension lingered.
The look he gives him now makes that time seem eons away: what remains is this expression of barely conceiled gratefulness, a hint of humbleness that looks so foreign on Puck's face, and Finn gets that, maybe for the first time, their roles are reversed, and Puck knows it, even if Kurt isn't able to understand.
“No, Kurt,” Puck says slowly, “we are not going to take your child from you,” and Kurt sags against the door frame in relief. He's trembling.
“Thank you,” he breathes, but Puck shakes his head.
“No, thank you,” he says, “for taking such good care of her.” And then he raises his bottle, as if to pay a tribute, and says:
“And now get your ass over here and have a beer with us before I have to check if my balls are still there.“
Kurt laughs shakily. “You know, I was going to ask Who are you and what have you done with Noah Puckerman?, but now I see that you haven't changed at all.”
He carefully lowers himself onto the sweater that Finn, with great foresight, has already spread out on the floor; and takes the bottle that Puck offers, gingerly raising it for a first sip.
“I don't even like beer,” he says, pulling a face.
Finn smiles. “I know,” he replies, and gently nudges Kurt's leg with his toe.
After the second beer, Kurt is relaxed enough to lean his head against Finn's shoulder, and there he falls asleep not half an hour later.
Puck stares at them, eyes heavy-lidded and dark, and Finn silently dares him to say something stupid, but Puck just gives him a half-smile that looks almost sad.
“Finn Hudson,“ he says, “you are a lucky guy.”
And Finn blinks down at the chestnut-colored head resting in the curve of his neck, thinks of another mop of hair bedded on a pale pink pillow upstairs in the nursery, and says:
“I know. Believe me, I know.”
Title: Coda to: A whole new Epiphany and We'll paint the grey clouds with pretty rainbow hues
Author: Merle
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairing: Finn/Kurt, Melody, Burt Hummel, Carole Hudson, Rachel Berry
Word Count: 750
Spoilers: For the first 15 episodes
Disclaimer: Glee belongs to FOX. Finn and Kurt belong to each other. At least in this story.
Warnings: future!fic, kid!fic, schmoopiness and cake
Summary: The week after the Ohio State Senate finally legalizes gay marriage in 2025, they drive down from Columbus to Lima for the weekend.
A/N: This is a coda to my other stories in the Melody!verse: A whole new Epiphany and We'll paint the grey clouds with pretty rainbow hues (And we'll brush the gloom away), so you should probably read those first. Feedback is appreciated!
The week after the Ohio State Senate finally legalizes gay marriage in 2025, they drive down from Columbus to Lima for the weekend. Those two events have nothing to do with each other, and the new law is the last thing on Finn's mind when he pulls into Burt Hummel's driveway, slightly worn out by Kurt and Melody's respective choices of music.
“Did you hear?” Rachel asks cheerfully, when she drops by for coffee that afternoon. “My dads are so excited! They are going to get married first thing next week.”
“Yes, we heard,” Kurt replies, beaming at her in the affectionate way he never quite managed while they were still in school. “It was about time that the rest of the country caught up.”
Finn just nods, not sure what they expect him to say - Kurt was always more political, if in a weirdly detached, depreciatory kind of way, as if he didn't understand why people would waste their time fighting wars when they could just as well go shopping instead. The enthusiasm he shows now is unusual, but Finn figures he's trying to be nice for Rachel's sake.
Soon enough, the conversation moves on to other topics, the Glee club at Melody’s high school and the rumor that Santana cheated on her husband with the pool boy, who is said to be a junior at McKinley High (oh, how history repeats itself). But when Kurt gets up to re-fill the ravaged cake plate, Melody leans forward, the strands of her blue dyed hair brushing the table cloth, that fake-innocent, too smart look on her face that is 80 % Kurt, 10 % Quinn and 10% Mercedes.
“Does that mean you’re finally going to propose to Mama?” she asks, and Finn chokes on his fork of oreo cake.
“Uhm, what?” he asks, dumbfounded, dimly aware that everyone is staring at him expectantly.
“Yeah, Hudson,” Burt Hummel chips in, a hint of challenge in his voice. “When are you going to make an honest man out of my son?“
Finn blinks slowly. When he opens his eyes again, the others are still waiting.
“I - I don't think Kurt really cares about that,” he says hesitantly. “He never even mentioned it.“
“Well” Rachel says smugly, “apparently he did promise Mercedes that she could be his maid of honor if you'd ever manage to pull your head out of your ass and get down on one knee.“
“He - what?” Finn asks. He has the dim feeling that he's missing something important here - or worse, that he's been missing something important for quite a while.
“Come on, Finn,” his mother says indulgently, shaking her head. “He's been waiting for years.“
“Uhm,” Finn makes, blinking once more. “I think I'm gonna go talk to him.“
“You do that, son,” Burt nods gravely, and their eyes follow him when he pushes back his chair and stumbles towards the kitchen.
Kurt is busy arranging thick slices of carrot cake on a glass platter, frowning in concentration, and Finn takes the opportunity to just watch for a moment. He's wearing white linen pants and a green, frilly silk shirt that does amazing things to his eyes, and Finn has enough practice by now to be able to read his outfit as “understated to please his father, less scandalous and far more tasteful than anything Rachel might wear, but extravagant enough to honor the special occasion.” Finn wonders why he didn't see this before.
Eventually Kurt looks up from his task and smiles at Finn, widely and happily.
“Hey,” he says, sounding amused. “Did Melody tell you to propose to me?“
Finn raises his brow. “Apparently everyone knows that you have been waiting for me to ask you. How come I'm the only one who didn't know?“
Kurt smirks. “Because you can be kind of oblivious sometimes, no offense.” And then, more seriously. “And because I didn't want you to think that you had to.“
“And you are kind of stupid,” Finn says, stepping forward to pull Kurt into his arms. Kurt squeaks, dropping the last slice of cake rather unceremoniously on the table, but then he melts into Finn's embrace. Finn presses his nose against Kurt's hair, inhaling the dear, familiar smell of expensive shampoo and too much lacquer.
“What do you say, mama,” he murmurs, swaying gently, “want to get married?“
He feels rather than hears Kurt laugh against his neck. “Yes. Yes, I think I would like that.“
And that? That is like a whole new epiphany, all over again.
Author: Merle
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairing: Finn/Kurt, Puck/Quinn, Baby Drizzle (Melody)
Word Count: 2740
Spoilers: For the first 15 episodes
Disclaimer: The title is a line from the song Tomorrow is Another Day from the movie The Rescuers. Glee belongs to FOX. Finn and Kurt belong to each other. At least in this story.
Warnings: future!fic, kid!fic, angst, and heaps of schmoop to make up for it
Summary: Their last year in high school is coming to an end when Quinn and Puck return to Lima.
A/N: This is the sequel to my story A whole new Epiphany, and it probably wouldn't hurt to read that one first. Feedback is appreciated!
Their last year in high school is coming to an end when Quinn and Puck return to Lima.
It’s frightening, and slightly surreal; but most of all, it’s awkward: the two of them standing in the middle of the Hudsons’ living room, warily eyeing the chaos of cookie crumbs and school books, Finn’s old action figures and Kurt’s Barbie dolls spread out all over the carpet.
The Rescuers is on, because Melody loves it, and because it’s one of the few Disney movies that don’t give Finn a headache. (“It’s a classic,” Kurt had said, “and romantic in a non-tacky way.” And, more quietly: “I used to watch it with my mom all the time.”) Melody is curled up in a heap of cushions on the floor, eyes glued to the television, and Finn is sitting on the couch, staring up at the two people that once were so close to his heart, and wishes his mom was home.
But his mother is over at Burt Hummel's house, washing his curtains in exchange for the repairs he did on her car. They always do things like that, returning each other's favors, neither wanting to owe anything, even if they are practically related by now. Very early into the weird arrangement they are reluctant to call family, Kurt had told his father in no uncertain terms that he was not, under no circumstances, allowed to date Carole Hudson. Burt Hummel had promised, while trying to hide his smile, but the warning wouldn't have been necessary: they are not interested in each other that way, and in fact, sometimes it seems as if they are not interested in dating at all, content with what they have. They play cards, sometimes, or buy groceries together; and once in a while they go catch a movie or dinner; but more often than not, they all end up at the Hummels' place, Burt and Finn following the game in the living room, Kurt and Carole watching an old movie downstairs, while Melody sleeps in the former guest room turned nursery, stuffed bunny in her arms, thumb in her mouth.
“What are you doing here?” Finn asks finally, and Puck shrugs and pushes his fists into the pockets of his baggy jeans. The mohawk is gone, replaced by a short buzz-cut that makes him look like a soldier on leave, older and harder than Finn remembers him.
“We wanted to see our daughter,” Quinn says, and somehow she makes it sound like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“I don't get it,” Finn says, and he knows he must sound bitter. Once, Kurt told him how he used to think that Finn didn't even know what bitter was, back then, when everything was different; and Finn looked back and thought it probably was true. These days, though, the taste is a little bit too familiar.
“Why now?” he asks. “You were gone for two years, Quinn. You left her on my door step and disappeared, and now you suddenly remember that you have a child?“
“I did what I thought was best for her,” Quinn says angrily, and Finn remembers that voice, reproachful and self-righteous, how guilty it made him feel, and how much of a loser.
He wonders where all the feelings went he had for her. He's seen her on TV, once or twice, during the last two years: she had a couple of guest roles, a patient in the eighth season of Grey's Anatomy and Eliot Spencer's shoplifting niece on Leverage, and Finn managed to feel almost happy for her. But seeing her now feels very much like watching her on TV - as if she's a stranger, not the girl he used to love, a long time ago.
“You did what was best for yourself,” he answers, now angry himself. “You always did. And somehow, we all still felt bad for you and tried to help you out, but you just ran away and left us to pick up the pieces.“
Quinn clearly didn't expect that, and it gives Finn a feeling of grim satisfaction to see the shock in her eyes. Finn is not the boy she left behind anymore, either, and he wants her to know it, too.
“I wasn't ready-,” Quinn starts, but Puck puts a hand on her arm before she can finish her sentence.
“Quinn,” he says quietly, squeezing her arm, and tilts his head towards the floor, where Melody has stopped watching the movie a while ago, and is now staring at them with big, blue eyes. Finn is glad that Puck stopped their fight before they started to yell. It's not as if she's never seen people fight, but most of those arguments were about petty things, like laundry and homework and, once, about this guy Kurt met at the public library. Finn went out, that night, determined to get drunk and forget, but he made Matt turn around the car before they'd even left the street. Matt laughed at him and called him names that would have bothered Finn only two years ago, but he didn't complain, just dropped him off at Kurt's place and gave him a wave before driving away.
The fight ended in apologies and kisses, like all the others did. Finn doesn't think there will be a lot of apologies today.
He turns towards Melody, to see if she's upset, but Puck surprises Finn by crouching down on the carpet first, smiling at the little girl.
“Hey, sweetie,” Puck says softly, giving a silly little wave. “I’m Puck.”
Melody giggles, obviously charmed, and waves back. “Puck,” she says, “hello Puck.”
There are some things, Finn thinks with resignation, that will never change. One of them is that the women in his life will always be drawn to Puck's handsome face. But Melody looks so adorable in her eagerness that he has to grin against his will, and even Quinn is smiling as she gathers the courage to kneel down next to Puck.
Melody looks at her curiously. “Who are you?” she asks, pointing a chubby finger at her, and Quinn’s laugh sounds almost like a sob.
“Hello Melody,” she says. “I’m your mom.”
Melody frowns, tilting her head in a gesture that she has undoubtedly picked up from Kurt.
“Mama?” she asks, obviously confused, and Quinn nods quickly.
“Yeah, your mama.” She holds out a hand to the child, hesitantly, but Melody is not looking at her anymore. Instead she turns her head around, searching for something, for someone.
“Mama?” she calls, and “Mama!” again, impatiently, and just like that, Finn knows that there's no way this is going to end well, and he hates himself a little for being so scared of the confrontation that's about to come.
Finn can already hear Kurt's steps on the stairs, and for a second he actually wishes that Kurt had had taken up Artie and Tina on their offer to go the mall. But he knows that it wouldn't matter if Kurt was at the mall, or his father's garage, or on the moon: because as soon as Melody calls for him, he comes running, whatever he's doing, wherever he is.
“What’s up, baby?” Kurt say. “Is Daddy being mean -” He stops abruptly, two steps into the room.
“Noah,” he says flatly, “Quinn. We didn't know you were coming.“
“Hummel,” Puck says, slowly, surprise clear in his voice. “We didn't know you'd be here.“
He looks like he wants to say more, but Melody is already flinging herself at Kurt, hugging his legs; and Kurt ignores Puck's stare, ignores Quinn's strangled noise, in favor of the child at his feet. He bends down to sweep her up from the floor, struggling a bit until he has got her settled on his hip. She’s been getting kind of heavy for him, lately.
“Mama, look! Puck is here!” Melody stage-whispers, as soon as she's made herself comfortable in his arms, and Kurt chuckles dryly, pressing a kiss to her cheek, making her giggle in delight.
“So you like Noah Puckerman, little lady?” he asks, voice oh so carefully casual and light. “Well, I don't blame you, he's quite handsome. But don't fall for him, sweetie, he's already taken.“
“What is going on here?”
Quinn's voice is sharp when she asks, and only then Kurt raises his head to meet her eyes, jaw set, chin raised defiantly. To everyone else, he might seem calm and confident, but Finn knows him well enough to notice the cold sweat starting to stain the neck of his shirt; the faint tremble in his arms, and he realizes that he's never seen Kurt that close to freaking out.
When it becomes clear that Kurt is not going to say anything, Quinn says: “Finn?”, hesitantly, almost pleadingly, and Finn can hear what she doesn't say: Please, tell me this isn't what it looks like.
He wants to say: What, did you think I'd stay alone for the rest of my life? Did you think nobody else would want me?, but he swallows it down, and tries to catch Kurt's eyes. Kurt is avoiding his glance, though, his face hidden in Melody's curls, in a way that is clearly deliberate; and Finn wonders what Kurt thinks he's going to do: if he thinks that Finn is going to turn away, forget the last six months, the last two years the moment Quinn enters the stage again.
But Finn couldn't forget even if he tried, and why would he want to, anyway? He suddenly feels the urge to tell Kurt that he remembers, everything: remembers how scared they were that night when Melody wouldn't stop screaming, and Finn's mother laughed at them and told them that she was just teething, remembers how he went to three supermarkets to find the cereal that Kurt liked and how, when he got back, exhausted and empty-handed, Mr. Hummel smiled and patted him on the shoulder and told him he was a good man. He remembers the first time they had sex, and that they were both so nervous that they almost gave up halfway through.
In the end, it's not even really a choice, not quite a conscious decision when he crosses the room, reaches out to take Melody from Kurt's arms.
“Here,” he says gently, “let me take her. She’s too heavy for you.”
Kurt doesn't protest, lets her go without complaint. Finn lifts her up easily, cradling her in one arm, and with his free hand reaches out to brush away an errant strand of hair that is curled up against Kurt's cheekbone, pushes it back behind his ear. It's not much, as far as declarations go, but it's intimate enough, and there's no mistaking the intention.
Kurt looks up at him then, eyes wide and surprised, and Finn can't help but smile, because suddenly he's overwhelmed by this feeling of gratefulness that doesn't leave room for any resentment he still feels towards the woman that once was his girlfriend or the man that was his friend.
When he finally turns his head, Puck is staring at them with a mixture of surprise and something that looks a lot like respect. But when Quinn raises her eyes to meet his, they are full of tears and regret.
“I told her it was a bad idea,” Puck says later, when he's sitting with Finn on the porch behind the house, beer bottle dangling loosely between his fingers.
Quinn is back at the hotel, claiming tiredness and a headache, and Finn is glad that his mother came home in time to give her a ride.
Finn and Puck started drinking the moment the door fell shut.
“I knew it was a mistake,” Puck says, and Finn raises his eyes from the ground to look at his face.
“But you came anyway,” he says slowly, and Puck sighs and nods and picks at the sleeve of his shirt with the fingers of his unoccupied hand.
“She wanted to see her so badly ...” he breaks off and huffs a laughter. “You know, we wouldn't even know what to do with a child. We are both working all the time, and we've just managed to finally get our shit together. I really don't know what we were thinking. We don't belong here anymore.”
There's a creak when the back door opens, and they look up to see Kurt step onto the porch, looking tired and pale in the fuzzy shine of the back porch light.
Finn lifts an arm, inviting him closer, but Kurt stays where he is, arms wrapped tightly around his chest.
“Did you get her to fall asleep?” Finn asks finally, and Kurt nods, but he's looking at Puck, unreadable expression in his eyes.
“Are you going to take her away?” he asks, voice so brittle that it's on the verge of cracking.
“What?” Puck asks, puzzled frown on his face.
“Are you going to take her with you?” Kurt repeats, despite the effort the words so clearly cost him. “Is this why you came?”
He looks defiant and resigned at the same time, the way he looked at Finn and Puck every morning before school, knowing what was about to happen, refusing to let it break him - and Finn realizes suddenly that Kurt is not just scared of losing Finn. He's terrified of the idea that he might lose Melody, and if Finn hadn't been sure before that they are both in this for the long haul, he would be now: they are a family, plain and simple, and nobody is going to take that away from them.
He's sure that the epiphany must show on his face, but it doesn't matter, because nobody is looking at him. Kurt is still staring at Puck, but it's the expression on Puck's face as he looks up at Kurt that catches Finn's attention, makes him think of the way Puck used to look at Kurt when they were all still in Glee.
In the beginning, he frowned at him like a little boy would stare at a caterpillar, with fascination and incomprehension, but already trying to come up with ideas how to use this strange creature for his childish, cruel pleasures. It changed over time, replaced by a look of unwilling respect and almost-fond tolerance, although the incomprehension lingered.
The look he gives him now makes that time seem eons away: what remains is this expression of barely conceiled gratefulness, a hint of humbleness that looks so foreign on Puck's face, and Finn gets that, maybe for the first time, their roles are reversed, and Puck knows it, even if Kurt isn't able to understand.
“No, Kurt,” Puck says slowly, “we are not going to take your child from you,” and Kurt sags against the door frame in relief. He's trembling.
“Thank you,” he breathes, but Puck shakes his head.
“No, thank you,” he says, “for taking such good care of her.” And then he raises his bottle, as if to pay a tribute, and says:
“And now get your ass over here and have a beer with us before I have to check if my balls are still there.“
Kurt laughs shakily. “You know, I was going to ask Who are you and what have you done with Noah Puckerman?, but now I see that you haven't changed at all.”
He carefully lowers himself onto the sweater that Finn, with great foresight, has already spread out on the floor; and takes the bottle that Puck offers, gingerly raising it for a first sip.
“I don't even like beer,” he says, pulling a face.
Finn smiles. “I know,” he replies, and gently nudges Kurt's leg with his toe.
After the second beer, Kurt is relaxed enough to lean his head against Finn's shoulder, and there he falls asleep not half an hour later.
Puck stares at them, eyes heavy-lidded and dark, and Finn silently dares him to say something stupid, but Puck just gives him a half-smile that looks almost sad.
“Finn Hudson,“ he says, “you are a lucky guy.”
And Finn blinks down at the chestnut-colored head resting in the curve of his neck, thinks of another mop of hair bedded on a pale pink pillow upstairs in the nursery, and says:
“I know. Believe me, I know.”
Title: Coda to: A whole new Epiphany and We'll paint the grey clouds with pretty rainbow hues
Author: Merle
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairing: Finn/Kurt, Melody, Burt Hummel, Carole Hudson, Rachel Berry
Word Count: 750
Spoilers: For the first 15 episodes
Disclaimer: Glee belongs to FOX. Finn and Kurt belong to each other. At least in this story.
Warnings: future!fic, kid!fic, schmoopiness and cake
Summary: The week after the Ohio State Senate finally legalizes gay marriage in 2025, they drive down from Columbus to Lima for the weekend.
A/N: This is a coda to my other stories in the Melody!verse: A whole new Epiphany and We'll paint the grey clouds with pretty rainbow hues (And we'll brush the gloom away), so you should probably read those first. Feedback is appreciated!
The week after the Ohio State Senate finally legalizes gay marriage in 2025, they drive down from Columbus to Lima for the weekend. Those two events have nothing to do with each other, and the new law is the last thing on Finn's mind when he pulls into Burt Hummel's driveway, slightly worn out by Kurt and Melody's respective choices of music.
“Did you hear?” Rachel asks cheerfully, when she drops by for coffee that afternoon. “My dads are so excited! They are going to get married first thing next week.”
“Yes, we heard,” Kurt replies, beaming at her in the affectionate way he never quite managed while they were still in school. “It was about time that the rest of the country caught up.”
Finn just nods, not sure what they expect him to say - Kurt was always more political, if in a weirdly detached, depreciatory kind of way, as if he didn't understand why people would waste their time fighting wars when they could just as well go shopping instead. The enthusiasm he shows now is unusual, but Finn figures he's trying to be nice for Rachel's sake.
Soon enough, the conversation moves on to other topics, the Glee club at Melody’s high school and the rumor that Santana cheated on her husband with the pool boy, who is said to be a junior at McKinley High (oh, how history repeats itself). But when Kurt gets up to re-fill the ravaged cake plate, Melody leans forward, the strands of her blue dyed hair brushing the table cloth, that fake-innocent, too smart look on her face that is 80 % Kurt, 10 % Quinn and 10% Mercedes.
“Does that mean you’re finally going to propose to Mama?” she asks, and Finn chokes on his fork of oreo cake.
“Uhm, what?” he asks, dumbfounded, dimly aware that everyone is staring at him expectantly.
“Yeah, Hudson,” Burt Hummel chips in, a hint of challenge in his voice. “When are you going to make an honest man out of my son?“
Finn blinks slowly. When he opens his eyes again, the others are still waiting.
“I - I don't think Kurt really cares about that,” he says hesitantly. “He never even mentioned it.“
“Well” Rachel says smugly, “apparently he did promise Mercedes that she could be his maid of honor if you'd ever manage to pull your head out of your ass and get down on one knee.“
“He - what?” Finn asks. He has the dim feeling that he's missing something important here - or worse, that he's been missing something important for quite a while.
“Come on, Finn,” his mother says indulgently, shaking her head. “He's been waiting for years.“
“Uhm,” Finn makes, blinking once more. “I think I'm gonna go talk to him.“
“You do that, son,” Burt nods gravely, and their eyes follow him when he pushes back his chair and stumbles towards the kitchen.
Kurt is busy arranging thick slices of carrot cake on a glass platter, frowning in concentration, and Finn takes the opportunity to just watch for a moment. He's wearing white linen pants and a green, frilly silk shirt that does amazing things to his eyes, and Finn has enough practice by now to be able to read his outfit as “understated to please his father, less scandalous and far more tasteful than anything Rachel might wear, but extravagant enough to honor the special occasion.” Finn wonders why he didn't see this before.
Eventually Kurt looks up from his task and smiles at Finn, widely and happily.
“Hey,” he says, sounding amused. “Did Melody tell you to propose to me?“
Finn raises his brow. “Apparently everyone knows that you have been waiting for me to ask you. How come I'm the only one who didn't know?“
Kurt smirks. “Because you can be kind of oblivious sometimes, no offense.” And then, more seriously. “And because I didn't want you to think that you had to.“
“And you are kind of stupid,” Finn says, stepping forward to pull Kurt into his arms. Kurt squeaks, dropping the last slice of cake rather unceremoniously on the table, but then he melts into Finn's embrace. Finn presses his nose against Kurt's hair, inhaling the dear, familiar smell of expensive shampoo and too much lacquer.
“What do you say, mama,” he murmurs, swaying gently, “want to get married?“
He feels rather than hears Kurt laugh against his neck. “Yes. Yes, I think I would like that.“
And that? That is like a whole new epiphany, all over again.