Matchmaking or How Finn Hudson Decides that Puck and Kurt are Kind of Soul Mates
Title: Matchmaking or How Finn Hudson Decides that Puck and Kurt are Kind of Soul Mates
Author: ordinaryxday
Rating: PG
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Puck, Kurt, Finn, Rachel, Puck/Kurt, Finn/Rachel
Genre: Romance, Humor
Spoilers: General S2
Word Count: 5,034
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee nor do I own the characters. I own absolutely nothing.
Summary: Finn’s always been able to read Puck’s mind and with his ability to now also read Kurt’s, he’s put two and two together and decided that the two kind of belong together.
Author Notes: This is my first, well, first posted story for this fandom. This just kind of wrote itself and I’m hoping that it sounds as okay to other people as it did to me.
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Finn likes to think of himself as being rather smart when it comes to reading Puck’s mind. He’s always been able to know and just sense whatever was going on inside his friend’s head, right from that first moment they met in first grade. He still remembers seeing Puck, hunched over his shoes in the corner of the playground, and just knowing that his fellow classmate needed some help with the laces on his new shoes. Okay, yeah, he was muttering things to the laces that were full of words that Finn knew he was never, ever,, going to be allowed to say and it was kind of obvious that he needed help but whatever. Finn likes to think that he just knew because he could, and still can, read Puck’s mind.
So, naturally Finn knows early on that Puck on the inside is an entirely different person from Puck on the outside. He knows that what goes on inside Puck’s mind is confusing and, more often than not, entirely disconnected from anything going on in the real world. So, when Finn begins to realize that Puck’s maybe keeping secrets from everyone, most importantly from him and even more importantly huge secrets , he makes it his mission to get to the bottom of whatever is fogging over his friend’s mind.
When he figures it out, two weeks later and one week into summer vacation, Finn is kind of freaking out himself. He knows that Puck is also freaking out, he can see it in his eyes and he knows because he can, you know, read his mind. But Finn’s too freaked out to say anything and he just waits another three days for Puck to come to him, while they’re both drunk, and mumble something about maybe being into dudes or something. He goes on to freak out for awhile longer as the two of them stumble back to the Hudmel household. Puck shuts up when he pukes on the front lawn and Finn just awkwardly pats him on the back and tells him that it’s okay and that maybe they’ll talk more when he’s not so goddamn drunk.
Finn doesn’t bring up the matter for another two days and when he does, he makes sure to be surrounded by video games and junk food. His mom and Burt are away for the weekend and Kurt’s out doing something with Blaine or someone, he can’t really remember, so there’s no one else there to overhear or anything and he knows that that’s how Puck will want it to be. And when Finn asks him about it, Puck almost gets up and leaves but instead settles for sighing deeply and answering Finn’s questions with the shortest answers he can possibly come up with.
Finn knows that he’s really great at reading minds, especially with all this gay stuff, when he notices Puck checking out Kurt as the shorter boy joins the two of them at the end of the night for some horror marathon that’s playing on one of the movie stations on the tv. And in that moment--well, in the moment that follows when Kurt shoots a glance at Puck out of the corner of his eyes--Finn knows that he has to do something to get the two of them together. Because they’re, like, totally soul mates or something.
So that night, while Finn is mindlessly pressing buttons on the controller in his hand, he comes up with a plan. One that includes talking to both of them and making sure to force the two to spend as much time together as physically possible until they just have to get together. He pauses the game and then shuts it off all together to fall down across his bed. Sleep is kind of important considering that he has such a big task ahead of him and such limited time to complete it.
---
Finn decides to start off his plan by trying to talk to Puck about the gay stuff…again. They’re just sitting on the back deck, doing not much more than absorbing the sun, at the Hudmel house casually talking about everything and anything that comes up. Until Finn brings up the gay thing and then Puck closes up his mind and Finn has to try extra hard to break through that barrier to get inside his friend’s head.
He starts the breaking down with an odd, misplaced statement about Kurt and Blaine and how, you know, hard it must be for the two of them to be dating and dating each other. Puck just raises an eyebrow and avoids saying anything as Finn continues on with a remark about how Kurt can do so much better than that short kid.
Finn can’t help but smile, on the inside of course, at the way Puck’s fists clench at the mention of Blaine’s name and he wants to push a bit further, just to see how far Puck will let him go. So Finn adds on a comment about how Blaine is nice and all but just doesn’t seem like Kurt’s type and Kurt seems to be the kind of guy to like more of a, you know, masculine guy. Not that Blaine isn’t obviously a guy but he’s kind of almost exactly like Kurt. He only shuts up when Puck asks him if maybe he is the one with a weird crush on Kurt because, as Puck so kindly reminds him, that would be fucking freaky considering that they are brothers. Or, step-brothers or…whatever.
But then Finn plays the sentence back in his mind and realizes that Puck said something about him being the one with a weird crush on Kurt. And as his brain is playing the line over and over again, he realizes that that kind of makes it sound like Puck is the one with the crush on Kurt. Which is kind of obvious, considering just how much he checks out the smaller boy, but still, it’s not like Puck’s ever said it aloud before or anything like that. So Finn just smiles and nods and casually asks Puck if maybe he has a weird crush on Kurt. He gets, rather rudely, told off and is left alone on his back porch knowing that Puck totally has a weird crush on his little step-brother.
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Finn manages to score some one-on-one time with Kurt the Friday night following his talk with Puck. He hadn’t made any further progress with Puck so he decides to just go ahead with the next step of the plan and talk to Kurt. Their parents have decided, after the now normal family Friday dinner, to go out on a date of sorts which leaves the two of them home alone. Rachel is busy doing something and Puck has to get up early and actually go to temple with his mom and nana and sister and stuff so he isn’t allowed to come play video games and spend the night. But Finn is kind of okay with that, with being left alone with Kurt. Because really, what better time than the present to ask his brother about his best friend and his feelings for said friend.
Finn likes to think that the two of them have gotten rather close. Sure, they’ve dealt with their fair bit of issues and stuff in the past but ever since officially moving in and the wedding and everything Finn feels like they’ve been able to put the past behind them. And if you ask him, he thinks that having a little brother - it doesn’t matter that Kurt’s older, he’s still smaller - is kind of awesome even if he is as bitchy and high-maintenance as Kurt is. Then again, he is dating Rachel Berry and he manages to put up with her high-maintenance attitude and Kurt is nowhere near as bad as Rachel.
So he likes to think that he’s gotten to know Kurt pretty well. Between the family dinners and the time spent hanging out around the television, they’ve actually started talking and having this totally awesome brotherly bond between the two of them. Finn’s also discovered that Kurt is better than him in video games, sometimes even better than Puck, and that makes Finn all kinds of frustrated and proud to call Kurt his brother. So naturally, like with Puck, Finn’s also convinced that he can kind of read Kurt’s mind. Not as well as Puck’s but still pretty well. And Finn can tell that Kurt kind of digs Puck because if he didn’t then Finn wouldn’t have started this matchmaking business in the first place.
So that Friday night, after their parents have vacated the premises, Finn gives Kurt an idiot grin as he watches the smaller boy collapse onto the loveseat and sigh. He’s been watching tv for the past forty minutes or so while Kurt was on the phone with Blaine, just waiting for the two of them to hang up so he could start questioning Kurt about Puck. He is about to give up, and maybe fall asleep, when Kurt makes his entrance into the living room.
Finn doesn’t even have to say anything and Kurt’s talking to him. Going on and on about Blaine and how he really wishes they had just stayed friends because now they’ve messed up any chance at getting that friendship back because they just broke up and--wait. Finn makes Kurt stop and repeat the last part, the part about breaking up, and he can’t help the dopey smile that spreads like wildfire across his face. Kurt just made this matchmaking thing so much easier on him.
Finn decides to be a good big brother and listens to Kurt vent for a good twenty minutes. When Kurt pauses for air, and not because he’s done, Finn squeezes in an offhand comment about how he kind of misses Puck. He doesn’t really miss Puck, he did hang out with him only a few hours ago, but he notices the way Kurt’s cheeks gain a bit of a pink colour and how the comment causes him to stumble over his words. He nods his head in agreement and mumbles something about video games and Puck and something.
Finn decides that he’s on the right track and presses a bit further, saying something about how the next time Puck comes over Kurt should join them in their video game night because, now that Blaine is gone, he needs some fun times with friends. Kurt says something about Puck not really being his friend and Finn frowns a bit. His frown lifts when he sees Kurt’s face though, all flushed and stuff from just the mere mention of Puck’s name.
He grins at that, ignoring the look Kurt gives him, because he knows that Kurt is totally into Puck just like Puck is totally into Kurt. Now all Finn has to do is actually get them together.
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Finn puts the next part of the plan into action the very next night. He thought about waiting longer but realizes that the sooner it happens the sooner he can get back to worrying about other things, like his own life and his own relationship. He tells Puck to come over in the afternoon, after he’s done his Jewish stuff, and tells Kurt to keep his own afternoon free for hours upon hours of video games and junk food. His brother is okay with that plan because really, since breaking up with Blaine last night he doesn’t have anything to do except shop and he doesn’t need anymore clothes.
When Puck comes over around three, Finn makes Kurt answer the door. He says he has to get this one game, that he maybe kicked under the couch on purpose, free from the dust under the furniture and pouts until Kurt pulls himself off of the couch and answers the door. When Finn looks up again, he sees the two of them walk back into the room. Kurt’s saying something about Blaine, breaking up, video games and Finn and Finn knows that his plan is going fantastically. They all grab their controllers and collapse onto the floor, and across the entire couch for Finn, and start their afternoon of video games.
Around six-ish, Finn only knows the time because his stomach is rumbling and telling him it’s near suppertime, he pauses the game and stretches his arms above his head. He announces that he’s famished, Rachel used that word the other night at supper, and asks the other two boys if it’s okay if he runs out to get some frozen pizzas or something. They’re both in the middle of protesting the game pausing, declaring first that Finn’s pausing because he was losing and then arguing over who was winning, when the word pizza enters their brains and they shut up. Finn takes the silence, and their nods, as an okay for him to leave.
He takes his time at the grocery store, debating between the meat-lovers or just the plain pepperoni pizza, thinking that if the two boys really have a problem with each other Kurt would phone him…or maybe just strangle Puck. The idea of Kurt strangling Puck manages to take over Finn’s brain and he decides that if Kurt does kill Puck then this matchmaking thing really won’t work. He grabs both pizzas, and some ice cream, and hurries back to his house and all but rushes into the living room fully prepared to stop the death from happening.
His jaw drops when he notices the two of them sitting on the floor, just like he’d left them, playing Mario Kart on the N64 that they must have dragged out of Kurt’s closet. He’s kind of shocked, that they’re still alive, and kind of annoyed, because Kurt’s never let him play on his Nintendo, but then he realizes that Kurt’s letting Puck play his Nintendo and that must mean something, right?
He clears his throat and holds up the pizza before telling the two of them that because he bought the meal, they’ve have to cook it. He watches as they pause the game and stand up to grab the bags right out of his hands. He hears them talking, about the video game, as they go into the kitchen. Finn knows he should go and eavesdrop, just to make sure his plan is working, but Kurt’s video game console is sitting right there and Kurt’s too busy in the kitchen to tell him not to use it.
He all but throws himself over the couch and grabs onto the controllers, restarting the game so that he’s racing alone. He loses himself in the game, ignoring the clanging and cursing coming out of the kitchen. He barely registers his mom coming home and asking him what exactly is going on in the kitchen. He mumbles something about Puck and Kurt, and he might have combined their names a bit, and pizza. His mom just stares at him before exiting and shooing the other boys out of the kitchen.
They’re both laughing when they come back into the living room and Finn grins. His plan is so working.
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The next step of the plan is getting them alone for longer than a half hour and maybe getting them alone, alone, with no one else in the house. It’s a Thursday night and Puck’s over for another night of video games. He’s bringing along all of his old N64 games because Kurt’s finally agreed to let the console stay out in the living room and they’re going to have a night of playing the games of their childhood and eating until they can’t possibly eat anymore.
Well, Puck and Kurt are going to do that. Finn’s going to leave in an hour or so to go to Rachel’s house because he purposefully double-booked himself just so Puck and Kurt will be forced to spend some time alone. They’re settled into their spots, on the couch and floor, and are happily yelling at tv while they race each other, because Mario Kart is always going to be their favourite game. Finn forgets about Rachel until his phone rings loudly and he answers it to hear her, too-loud voice, telling him that they’re going to be late for the movie if he doesn’t get to her house now.
Finn stands up and apologizes to the two of them. He tells Puck that he’s more than welcome to stay and that he’ll be back after the movie is over. He watches as his friend just shrugs and Kurt flips through the controls to set the game onto two player instead of three. Once Finn is satisfied that Puck, or Kurt, won’t bolt the minute he’s gone, he exits the house and quickly drives to pick up his girlfriend.
Three hours, and one horrible movie later, he enters back into the living room to find Kurt mindlessly flipping through the channels. He asks where Puck is, hoping that he’s just in the bathroom or something, and is greatly disappointed when Kurt says that he left shortly after he had gone to Rachel’s. Kurt goes on to say something about things just feeling weird and leaves it at that.
Finn just mumbles under his breath and knows that he’s going to have to try harder and that maybe, just maybe, he’ll have to include Rachel in his next plan.
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Finn wasn’t going to use Rachel in his matchmaking plan, namely because he wants to take all the credit and because Rachel does have a huge mouth when it comes to secret stuff, but he realizes that he can’t do this alone. So he enlists the help of Rachel, making sure to clamp his hand heavily over her mouth the minute she starts talking about her dads, and makes her swear that she won’t tell a soul about what’s going on. He takes all of ten minutes to explain what he’s done so far, leaving out the mind reading bit, and quickly gets her started on brainstorming their next idea.
Between the two of them, okay, mainly Rachel, they come up with an idea of a double date of sorts. They can’t really call it a double date because they’re the only two dating but it’s what the plan is labelled in Rachel’s pink striped journal. They put the next step of the plan into action by taking out their cellphones and calling their friends, Finn calls Puck and Rachel calls Kurt.
Finn had left the room the minute Puck picked up so he didn’t hear any of Rachel’s conversation but he knows that she’s asking Kurt to come bowling with her this afternoon because he’s asking Puck the same thing. When his friend questions him on exactly what his motive is, and reminds him that he does have a girlfriend, Finn stumbles over his words and says that they might be meeting up with Rachel. He thinks that he’s blown the plan but is happily smiling when Puck agrees to coming as long as he has a ride.
He knows that Kurt has also agreed by the way Rachel grabs onto his hand and squeals, there’s no better word for it, something about how cute they’re going to be. Finn has to ask her to clarify on who is cute and makes a face of disgust when she answers with Puck and Kurt. But then he realizes that yeah, besides the fact that one is his brother and one is his best friend, they would look good together. Because that is the entire point of this matchmaking thing, the fact that they just fit.
Finn pulls into the bowling lane’s parking lot four minutes after six and pulls Puck into the building quickly so that the mohawked teen doesn’t recognize Kurt’s vehicle parked five spots down from his. Puck makes some sort of comment about Finn needing to touch him and smirks as they walk inside and Rachel practically throws herself at the freakishly tall teen. Finn makes some sort of noise and awkwardly wraps his arms around his girlfriend as he watches Kurt and Puck and out of the corner of his eyes.
The two of them are rolling their eyes, clearly knowing that something is up, and Finn almost lets out a whoop of joy when Puck leans closer to say something into Kurt’s ear. He forgets about his joy when they both stare at him and laugh because he’s never liked people making fun of him and he especially doesn’t want his little brother and Puck making fun of him. He steps back from Rachel and jerks his head, hopefully in a way that doesn’t attract attention, towards the duo standing to their left. She just grins and grabs onto his hands before leading him to the shoe counter and later to the far lane.
The other boys follow behind, talking about some video game loud enough for Finn to hear. They make sure to loudly discuss how horrible Finn is at the game and play innocent whenever Finn turns around to make a comment. The four of them quickly settle into their bowling and spend the rest of the hour cheering, and taunting, each other until the game is over and Finn is complaining about losing. They share a pizza--well, the boys share a pizza and Rachel opts for a salad--and talk about anything and everything that comes to mind.
By the end of the night, Finn’s pretty happy with how things played out. He noticed Kurt blushing a few times when Puck leaned in a bit too close and totally noticed, with a disgusted look across his face, that Puck was checking out Kurt’s ass whenever he went to bowl. He thinks that maybe the plan is working when Puck gets into his truck and demands to know what the fuck is up. Finn stutters and mumbles as Puck accuses him of setting him up with Kurt and half-heartedly demands that Finn stop.
Finn ends the discussion by asking him if he’s upset because it’s Kurt or if he’s upset because Finn can read his mind and just knows. He gets a weird look from his friend and quickly learns that it’s not because of Kurt that it’s just because.
Finn’s still thinking about what the because means as he’s trying to fall asleep later that night. He sends a text to Puck, asking about the because, and falls asleep before he can get an answer.
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Finn’s all but given up on his plan by the time the weekend is over. On Tuesday night he invites Puck over for video games but swears up and down that he won’t try anything more with him and Kurt. Puck tells him that he doesn’t care and that he’s going to kick his ass at any game they play tonight and Finn just lets out a sigh of relief. He doesn’t even invite Kurt down for their video game marathon, thinking that if Puck and Kurt really do belong together then he’ll just find his own way down here.
He settles into a game of Halo with his best friend and is almost in the lead when his phone starts to ring. He answers it, one handed, and whines into the receiver as he hears his girlfriend all but demands for him to come over and take her out for supper because they haven’t been out in forever. He reminds her about the bowling and she tells him that that doesn’t count because it wasn’t for them. He sighs in agreement and turns to Puck to apologize and that he really needs to go and he totally wasn’t planning on this happening.
Puck just waves him away and Finn yells out to Kurt that he’s leaving and Puck’s in the living room playing video games. He doesn’t stick around long enough to hear the answer because Rachel sounded pissed on the phone and Finn really doesn’t want to get on her bad side. He doesn’t even think about how this is totally going to work out for his plan because this wasn’t a part of the plan and all he can really think about is Rachel and how upset she’ll be if he doesn’t get to her house right now.
----
Back at the Hudmel house, Kurt gracefully makes his entrance into the living room before falling down onto the floor next to Puck. He grabs for Finn’s forgotten controller and proceeds to beat Puck in the video game, shutting the console off before the other boy can whine too much about losing. He suggests watching tv, there’s a marathon of old zombie movies playing on that one movie station, and goes to find snacks as Puck tries finds the channel and make himself comfortable on the couch.
Puck clears his throat the minute Kurt sits down and turns towards the smaller boy, “Is it just me or has Finn been trying to get us together for, like, the entire summer?”
Kurt just laughs in response and nods his head, “It’s not just you. I could see right through it the moment he started telling me how much he missed you just to see how I’d react.”
Puck just stares at Kurt blankly before breaking out into his own bout of laughter and shaking his head, “Didn’t take Hudson for being into this gay matchmaking shit.”
“I think Rachel’s in on it too,” Kurt adds, “Did you see how she acted during bowling last week? I felt her eyes on me, and you, for pretty much the entire night.”
Puck grins and nods in agreement as he finally finds the right movie channel. He turns his attention towards the tv and the two stop their conversation to focus on the zombie massacre going on in front of them. They don’t say anything for a good half hour until Puck’s hand brushes up against Kurt’s as they’re both reaching for popcorn and he mumbles a sorry before starting to move his hand back.
Kurt just takes a deep breath and reaches out to grab onto the other boy’s hand, lacing their fingers together before smiling softly at their hands and saying that it’s okay. He counts to ten before he dares to glance up at Puck and is pleasantly surprised when he’s met with a shy smile coming from the other boy. They turn their attention back to the movie and spend the next two hours gradually moving closer and closer as the movie ends and another one starts.
By the time the second movie has started all thoughts of zombies have been banished in exchange for Puck’s lips on top of Kurt’s. The opening credits are still rolling by the time the kissing has gotten heated enough to turn into making out and the first character hasn’t even been killed yet by the time Puck’s positioned himself on top of Kurt. Because hey, if this is what Finn wanted then why not take advantage of that. Because, you know, they both kind of want this too.
----
Finn’s in a weird mood when he gets home. Dinner with Rachel was nice but, then again, Rachel was extra annoying tonight so it meant limited making out and he ended up going home shortly after dinner is over, declining Rachel’s request for him to stay and watch a movie. He’s on his way up the stairs when he hears noise coming from the living room and walks over to check it out.
“No way, zombie movie marathon and I had to miss it because Rachel wanted supper?” he moves to throw himself down on the couch when he stops and actually looks at the people on the couch, “Uh…guys…”
He tries to exit the room but manages to trip over the coffee table due to his hands covering his eyes because, hello, Puck is totally on top of his little brother right now and they are definitely not paying any attention to the movie. Or to the fact that he’s in the room, that is, until they hear the crash and Puck pulls away from Kurt’s mouth with a groan.
“Seriously? You spend the last few weeks trying to hook us up and then ruin the moment when it actually does happen?” Puck sounds pissed off but Finn knows, through his mind reading, that he’s not really upset because if he were then Finn would be a lot more scared for his life than he is right now.
He actually starts to feel the fear when Kurt glares up at him and echoes what Puck had just finished saying but in a more, Kurt-like fashion.
He’s about to respond, to both of them, when Kurt just makes an irritated sounding sigh and wraps his arms back around Puck’s neck. The words catch in Finn’s throat as he watches the two of them start to kiss again and he can’t help but feel a tad jealous that they’re making out on the couch and he barely got to do that with Rachel who he’s been dating for what seems like forever now.
When they pull away from each other, and Puck gets off his little brother, they tell him that he’s allowed to join them for the rest of the marathon and they promise that they won’t get all gross on him. Finn agrees but still sits on the loveseat and sends cautious little glances towards the duo every few minutes.
He’s really into the movie when he hears Kurt groan and is quick to toss a pillow at Puck’s head when he realizes that they’ve resumed their previous positions. He plays the role of the overprotective big brother and the grossed-out best friend for the rest of the movie marathon.
Even though, you know, his plan totally worked and he managed to get Puck and Kurt together before the end of summer. He mentally congratulates himself because he is so the greatest matchmaker out there.
Now he just has to get used to the making-out.
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Author: ordinaryxday
Rating: PG
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Puck, Kurt, Finn, Rachel, Puck/Kurt, Finn/Rachel
Genre: Romance, Humor
Spoilers: General S2
Word Count: 5,034
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee nor do I own the characters. I own absolutely nothing.
Summary: Finn’s always been able to read Puck’s mind and with his ability to now also read Kurt’s, he’s put two and two together and decided that the two kind of belong together.
Author Notes: This is my first, well, first posted story for this fandom. This just kind of wrote itself and I’m hoping that it sounds as okay to other people as it did to me.
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Finn likes to think of himself as being rather smart when it comes to reading Puck’s mind. He’s always been able to know and just sense whatever was going on inside his friend’s head, right from that first moment they met in first grade. He still remembers seeing Puck, hunched over his shoes in the corner of the playground, and just knowing that his fellow classmate needed some help with the laces on his new shoes. Okay, yeah, he was muttering things to the laces that were full of words that Finn knew he was never, ever,, going to be allowed to say and it was kind of obvious that he needed help but whatever. Finn likes to think that he just knew because he could, and still can, read Puck’s mind.
So, naturally Finn knows early on that Puck on the inside is an entirely different person from Puck on the outside. He knows that what goes on inside Puck’s mind is confusing and, more often than not, entirely disconnected from anything going on in the real world. So, when Finn begins to realize that Puck’s maybe keeping secrets from everyone, most importantly from him and even more importantly huge secrets , he makes it his mission to get to the bottom of whatever is fogging over his friend’s mind.
When he figures it out, two weeks later and one week into summer vacation, Finn is kind of freaking out himself. He knows that Puck is also freaking out, he can see it in his eyes and he knows because he can, you know, read his mind. But Finn’s too freaked out to say anything and he just waits another three days for Puck to come to him, while they’re both drunk, and mumble something about maybe being into dudes or something. He goes on to freak out for awhile longer as the two of them stumble back to the Hudmel household. Puck shuts up when he pukes on the front lawn and Finn just awkwardly pats him on the back and tells him that it’s okay and that maybe they’ll talk more when he’s not so goddamn drunk.
Finn doesn’t bring up the matter for another two days and when he does, he makes sure to be surrounded by video games and junk food. His mom and Burt are away for the weekend and Kurt’s out doing something with Blaine or someone, he can’t really remember, so there’s no one else there to overhear or anything and he knows that that’s how Puck will want it to be. And when Finn asks him about it, Puck almost gets up and leaves but instead settles for sighing deeply and answering Finn’s questions with the shortest answers he can possibly come up with.
Finn knows that he’s really great at reading minds, especially with all this gay stuff, when he notices Puck checking out Kurt as the shorter boy joins the two of them at the end of the night for some horror marathon that’s playing on one of the movie stations on the tv. And in that moment--well, in the moment that follows when Kurt shoots a glance at Puck out of the corner of his eyes--Finn knows that he has to do something to get the two of them together. Because they’re, like, totally soul mates or something.
So that night, while Finn is mindlessly pressing buttons on the controller in his hand, he comes up with a plan. One that includes talking to both of them and making sure to force the two to spend as much time together as physically possible until they just have to get together. He pauses the game and then shuts it off all together to fall down across his bed. Sleep is kind of important considering that he has such a big task ahead of him and such limited time to complete it.
---
Finn decides to start off his plan by trying to talk to Puck about the gay stuff…again. They’re just sitting on the back deck, doing not much more than absorbing the sun, at the Hudmel house casually talking about everything and anything that comes up. Until Finn brings up the gay thing and then Puck closes up his mind and Finn has to try extra hard to break through that barrier to get inside his friend’s head.
He starts the breaking down with an odd, misplaced statement about Kurt and Blaine and how, you know, hard it must be for the two of them to be dating and dating each other. Puck just raises an eyebrow and avoids saying anything as Finn continues on with a remark about how Kurt can do so much better than that short kid.
Finn can’t help but smile, on the inside of course, at the way Puck’s fists clench at the mention of Blaine’s name and he wants to push a bit further, just to see how far Puck will let him go. So Finn adds on a comment about how Blaine is nice and all but just doesn’t seem like Kurt’s type and Kurt seems to be the kind of guy to like more of a, you know, masculine guy. Not that Blaine isn’t obviously a guy but he’s kind of almost exactly like Kurt. He only shuts up when Puck asks him if maybe he is the one with a weird crush on Kurt because, as Puck so kindly reminds him, that would be fucking freaky considering that they are brothers. Or, step-brothers or…whatever.
But then Finn plays the sentence back in his mind and realizes that Puck said something about him being the one with a weird crush on Kurt. And as his brain is playing the line over and over again, he realizes that that kind of makes it sound like Puck is the one with the crush on Kurt. Which is kind of obvious, considering just how much he checks out the smaller boy, but still, it’s not like Puck’s ever said it aloud before or anything like that. So Finn just smiles and nods and casually asks Puck if maybe he has a weird crush on Kurt. He gets, rather rudely, told off and is left alone on his back porch knowing that Puck totally has a weird crush on his little step-brother.
-----
Finn manages to score some one-on-one time with Kurt the Friday night following his talk with Puck. He hadn’t made any further progress with Puck so he decides to just go ahead with the next step of the plan and talk to Kurt. Their parents have decided, after the now normal family Friday dinner, to go out on a date of sorts which leaves the two of them home alone. Rachel is busy doing something and Puck has to get up early and actually go to temple with his mom and nana and sister and stuff so he isn’t allowed to come play video games and spend the night. But Finn is kind of okay with that, with being left alone with Kurt. Because really, what better time than the present to ask his brother about his best friend and his feelings for said friend.
Finn likes to think that the two of them have gotten rather close. Sure, they’ve dealt with their fair bit of issues and stuff in the past but ever since officially moving in and the wedding and everything Finn feels like they’ve been able to put the past behind them. And if you ask him, he thinks that having a little brother - it doesn’t matter that Kurt’s older, he’s still smaller - is kind of awesome even if he is as bitchy and high-maintenance as Kurt is. Then again, he is dating Rachel Berry and he manages to put up with her high-maintenance attitude and Kurt is nowhere near as bad as Rachel.
So he likes to think that he’s gotten to know Kurt pretty well. Between the family dinners and the time spent hanging out around the television, they’ve actually started talking and having this totally awesome brotherly bond between the two of them. Finn’s also discovered that Kurt is better than him in video games, sometimes even better than Puck, and that makes Finn all kinds of frustrated and proud to call Kurt his brother. So naturally, like with Puck, Finn’s also convinced that he can kind of read Kurt’s mind. Not as well as Puck’s but still pretty well. And Finn can tell that Kurt kind of digs Puck because if he didn’t then Finn wouldn’t have started this matchmaking business in the first place.
So that Friday night, after their parents have vacated the premises, Finn gives Kurt an idiot grin as he watches the smaller boy collapse onto the loveseat and sigh. He’s been watching tv for the past forty minutes or so while Kurt was on the phone with Blaine, just waiting for the two of them to hang up so he could start questioning Kurt about Puck. He is about to give up, and maybe fall asleep, when Kurt makes his entrance into the living room.
Finn doesn’t even have to say anything and Kurt’s talking to him. Going on and on about Blaine and how he really wishes they had just stayed friends because now they’ve messed up any chance at getting that friendship back because they just broke up and--wait. Finn makes Kurt stop and repeat the last part, the part about breaking up, and he can’t help the dopey smile that spreads like wildfire across his face. Kurt just made this matchmaking thing so much easier on him.
Finn decides to be a good big brother and listens to Kurt vent for a good twenty minutes. When Kurt pauses for air, and not because he’s done, Finn squeezes in an offhand comment about how he kind of misses Puck. He doesn’t really miss Puck, he did hang out with him only a few hours ago, but he notices the way Kurt’s cheeks gain a bit of a pink colour and how the comment causes him to stumble over his words. He nods his head in agreement and mumbles something about video games and Puck and something.
Finn decides that he’s on the right track and presses a bit further, saying something about how the next time Puck comes over Kurt should join them in their video game night because, now that Blaine is gone, he needs some fun times with friends. Kurt says something about Puck not really being his friend and Finn frowns a bit. His frown lifts when he sees Kurt’s face though, all flushed and stuff from just the mere mention of Puck’s name.
He grins at that, ignoring the look Kurt gives him, because he knows that Kurt is totally into Puck just like Puck is totally into Kurt. Now all Finn has to do is actually get them together.
-----
Finn puts the next part of the plan into action the very next night. He thought about waiting longer but realizes that the sooner it happens the sooner he can get back to worrying about other things, like his own life and his own relationship. He tells Puck to come over in the afternoon, after he’s done his Jewish stuff, and tells Kurt to keep his own afternoon free for hours upon hours of video games and junk food. His brother is okay with that plan because really, since breaking up with Blaine last night he doesn’t have anything to do except shop and he doesn’t need anymore clothes.
When Puck comes over around three, Finn makes Kurt answer the door. He says he has to get this one game, that he maybe kicked under the couch on purpose, free from the dust under the furniture and pouts until Kurt pulls himself off of the couch and answers the door. When Finn looks up again, he sees the two of them walk back into the room. Kurt’s saying something about Blaine, breaking up, video games and Finn and Finn knows that his plan is going fantastically. They all grab their controllers and collapse onto the floor, and across the entire couch for Finn, and start their afternoon of video games.
Around six-ish, Finn only knows the time because his stomach is rumbling and telling him it’s near suppertime, he pauses the game and stretches his arms above his head. He announces that he’s famished, Rachel used that word the other night at supper, and asks the other two boys if it’s okay if he runs out to get some frozen pizzas or something. They’re both in the middle of protesting the game pausing, declaring first that Finn’s pausing because he was losing and then arguing over who was winning, when the word pizza enters their brains and they shut up. Finn takes the silence, and their nods, as an okay for him to leave.
He takes his time at the grocery store, debating between the meat-lovers or just the plain pepperoni pizza, thinking that if the two boys really have a problem with each other Kurt would phone him…or maybe just strangle Puck. The idea of Kurt strangling Puck manages to take over Finn’s brain and he decides that if Kurt does kill Puck then this matchmaking thing really won’t work. He grabs both pizzas, and some ice cream, and hurries back to his house and all but rushes into the living room fully prepared to stop the death from happening.
His jaw drops when he notices the two of them sitting on the floor, just like he’d left them, playing Mario Kart on the N64 that they must have dragged out of Kurt’s closet. He’s kind of shocked, that they’re still alive, and kind of annoyed, because Kurt’s never let him play on his Nintendo, but then he realizes that Kurt’s letting Puck play his Nintendo and that must mean something, right?
He clears his throat and holds up the pizza before telling the two of them that because he bought the meal, they’ve have to cook it. He watches as they pause the game and stand up to grab the bags right out of his hands. He hears them talking, about the video game, as they go into the kitchen. Finn knows he should go and eavesdrop, just to make sure his plan is working, but Kurt’s video game console is sitting right there and Kurt’s too busy in the kitchen to tell him not to use it.
He all but throws himself over the couch and grabs onto the controllers, restarting the game so that he’s racing alone. He loses himself in the game, ignoring the clanging and cursing coming out of the kitchen. He barely registers his mom coming home and asking him what exactly is going on in the kitchen. He mumbles something about Puck and Kurt, and he might have combined their names a bit, and pizza. His mom just stares at him before exiting and shooing the other boys out of the kitchen.
They’re both laughing when they come back into the living room and Finn grins. His plan is so working.
------
The next step of the plan is getting them alone for longer than a half hour and maybe getting them alone, alone, with no one else in the house. It’s a Thursday night and Puck’s over for another night of video games. He’s bringing along all of his old N64 games because Kurt’s finally agreed to let the console stay out in the living room and they’re going to have a night of playing the games of their childhood and eating until they can’t possibly eat anymore.
Well, Puck and Kurt are going to do that. Finn’s going to leave in an hour or so to go to Rachel’s house because he purposefully double-booked himself just so Puck and Kurt will be forced to spend some time alone. They’re settled into their spots, on the couch and floor, and are happily yelling at tv while they race each other, because Mario Kart is always going to be their favourite game. Finn forgets about Rachel until his phone rings loudly and he answers it to hear her, too-loud voice, telling him that they’re going to be late for the movie if he doesn’t get to her house now.
Finn stands up and apologizes to the two of them. He tells Puck that he’s more than welcome to stay and that he’ll be back after the movie is over. He watches as his friend just shrugs and Kurt flips through the controls to set the game onto two player instead of three. Once Finn is satisfied that Puck, or Kurt, won’t bolt the minute he’s gone, he exits the house and quickly drives to pick up his girlfriend.
Three hours, and one horrible movie later, he enters back into the living room to find Kurt mindlessly flipping through the channels. He asks where Puck is, hoping that he’s just in the bathroom or something, and is greatly disappointed when Kurt says that he left shortly after he had gone to Rachel’s. Kurt goes on to say something about things just feeling weird and leaves it at that.
Finn just mumbles under his breath and knows that he’s going to have to try harder and that maybe, just maybe, he’ll have to include Rachel in his next plan.
------
Finn wasn’t going to use Rachel in his matchmaking plan, namely because he wants to take all the credit and because Rachel does have a huge mouth when it comes to secret stuff, but he realizes that he can’t do this alone. So he enlists the help of Rachel, making sure to clamp his hand heavily over her mouth the minute she starts talking about her dads, and makes her swear that she won’t tell a soul about what’s going on. He takes all of ten minutes to explain what he’s done so far, leaving out the mind reading bit, and quickly gets her started on brainstorming their next idea.
Between the two of them, okay, mainly Rachel, they come up with an idea of a double date of sorts. They can’t really call it a double date because they’re the only two dating but it’s what the plan is labelled in Rachel’s pink striped journal. They put the next step of the plan into action by taking out their cellphones and calling their friends, Finn calls Puck and Rachel calls Kurt.
Finn had left the room the minute Puck picked up so he didn’t hear any of Rachel’s conversation but he knows that she’s asking Kurt to come bowling with her this afternoon because he’s asking Puck the same thing. When his friend questions him on exactly what his motive is, and reminds him that he does have a girlfriend, Finn stumbles over his words and says that they might be meeting up with Rachel. He thinks that he’s blown the plan but is happily smiling when Puck agrees to coming as long as he has a ride.
He knows that Kurt has also agreed by the way Rachel grabs onto his hand and squeals, there’s no better word for it, something about how cute they’re going to be. Finn has to ask her to clarify on who is cute and makes a face of disgust when she answers with Puck and Kurt. But then he realizes that yeah, besides the fact that one is his brother and one is his best friend, they would look good together. Because that is the entire point of this matchmaking thing, the fact that they just fit.
Finn pulls into the bowling lane’s parking lot four minutes after six and pulls Puck into the building quickly so that the mohawked teen doesn’t recognize Kurt’s vehicle parked five spots down from his. Puck makes some sort of comment about Finn needing to touch him and smirks as they walk inside and Rachel practically throws herself at the freakishly tall teen. Finn makes some sort of noise and awkwardly wraps his arms around his girlfriend as he watches Kurt and Puck and out of the corner of his eyes.
The two of them are rolling their eyes, clearly knowing that something is up, and Finn almost lets out a whoop of joy when Puck leans closer to say something into Kurt’s ear. He forgets about his joy when they both stare at him and laugh because he’s never liked people making fun of him and he especially doesn’t want his little brother and Puck making fun of him. He steps back from Rachel and jerks his head, hopefully in a way that doesn’t attract attention, towards the duo standing to their left. She just grins and grabs onto his hands before leading him to the shoe counter and later to the far lane.
The other boys follow behind, talking about some video game loud enough for Finn to hear. They make sure to loudly discuss how horrible Finn is at the game and play innocent whenever Finn turns around to make a comment. The four of them quickly settle into their bowling and spend the rest of the hour cheering, and taunting, each other until the game is over and Finn is complaining about losing. They share a pizza--well, the boys share a pizza and Rachel opts for a salad--and talk about anything and everything that comes to mind.
By the end of the night, Finn’s pretty happy with how things played out. He noticed Kurt blushing a few times when Puck leaned in a bit too close and totally noticed, with a disgusted look across his face, that Puck was checking out Kurt’s ass whenever he went to bowl. He thinks that maybe the plan is working when Puck gets into his truck and demands to know what the fuck is up. Finn stutters and mumbles as Puck accuses him of setting him up with Kurt and half-heartedly demands that Finn stop.
Finn ends the discussion by asking him if he’s upset because it’s Kurt or if he’s upset because Finn can read his mind and just knows. He gets a weird look from his friend and quickly learns that it’s not because of Kurt that it’s just because.
Finn’s still thinking about what the because means as he’s trying to fall asleep later that night. He sends a text to Puck, asking about the because, and falls asleep before he can get an answer.
-------
Finn’s all but given up on his plan by the time the weekend is over. On Tuesday night he invites Puck over for video games but swears up and down that he won’t try anything more with him and Kurt. Puck tells him that he doesn’t care and that he’s going to kick his ass at any game they play tonight and Finn just lets out a sigh of relief. He doesn’t even invite Kurt down for their video game marathon, thinking that if Puck and Kurt really do belong together then he’ll just find his own way down here.
He settles into a game of Halo with his best friend and is almost in the lead when his phone starts to ring. He answers it, one handed, and whines into the receiver as he hears his girlfriend all but demands for him to come over and take her out for supper because they haven’t been out in forever. He reminds her about the bowling and she tells him that that doesn’t count because it wasn’t for them. He sighs in agreement and turns to Puck to apologize and that he really needs to go and he totally wasn’t planning on this happening.
Puck just waves him away and Finn yells out to Kurt that he’s leaving and Puck’s in the living room playing video games. He doesn’t stick around long enough to hear the answer because Rachel sounded pissed on the phone and Finn really doesn’t want to get on her bad side. He doesn’t even think about how this is totally going to work out for his plan because this wasn’t a part of the plan and all he can really think about is Rachel and how upset she’ll be if he doesn’t get to her house right now.
----
Back at the Hudmel house, Kurt gracefully makes his entrance into the living room before falling down onto the floor next to Puck. He grabs for Finn’s forgotten controller and proceeds to beat Puck in the video game, shutting the console off before the other boy can whine too much about losing. He suggests watching tv, there’s a marathon of old zombie movies playing on that one movie station, and goes to find snacks as Puck tries finds the channel and make himself comfortable on the couch.
Puck clears his throat the minute Kurt sits down and turns towards the smaller boy, “Is it just me or has Finn been trying to get us together for, like, the entire summer?”
Kurt just laughs in response and nods his head, “It’s not just you. I could see right through it the moment he started telling me how much he missed you just to see how I’d react.”
Puck just stares at Kurt blankly before breaking out into his own bout of laughter and shaking his head, “Didn’t take Hudson for being into this gay matchmaking shit.”
“I think Rachel’s in on it too,” Kurt adds, “Did you see how she acted during bowling last week? I felt her eyes on me, and you, for pretty much the entire night.”
Puck grins and nods in agreement as he finally finds the right movie channel. He turns his attention towards the tv and the two stop their conversation to focus on the zombie massacre going on in front of them. They don’t say anything for a good half hour until Puck’s hand brushes up against Kurt’s as they’re both reaching for popcorn and he mumbles a sorry before starting to move his hand back.
Kurt just takes a deep breath and reaches out to grab onto the other boy’s hand, lacing their fingers together before smiling softly at their hands and saying that it’s okay. He counts to ten before he dares to glance up at Puck and is pleasantly surprised when he’s met with a shy smile coming from the other boy. They turn their attention back to the movie and spend the next two hours gradually moving closer and closer as the movie ends and another one starts.
By the time the second movie has started all thoughts of zombies have been banished in exchange for Puck’s lips on top of Kurt’s. The opening credits are still rolling by the time the kissing has gotten heated enough to turn into making out and the first character hasn’t even been killed yet by the time Puck’s positioned himself on top of Kurt. Because hey, if this is what Finn wanted then why not take advantage of that. Because, you know, they both kind of want this too.
----
Finn’s in a weird mood when he gets home. Dinner with Rachel was nice but, then again, Rachel was extra annoying tonight so it meant limited making out and he ended up going home shortly after dinner is over, declining Rachel’s request for him to stay and watch a movie. He’s on his way up the stairs when he hears noise coming from the living room and walks over to check it out.
“No way, zombie movie marathon and I had to miss it because Rachel wanted supper?” he moves to throw himself down on the couch when he stops and actually looks at the people on the couch, “Uh…guys…”
He tries to exit the room but manages to trip over the coffee table due to his hands covering his eyes because, hello, Puck is totally on top of his little brother right now and they are definitely not paying any attention to the movie. Or to the fact that he’s in the room, that is, until they hear the crash and Puck pulls away from Kurt’s mouth with a groan.
“Seriously? You spend the last few weeks trying to hook us up and then ruin the moment when it actually does happen?” Puck sounds pissed off but Finn knows, through his mind reading, that he’s not really upset because if he were then Finn would be a lot more scared for his life than he is right now.
He actually starts to feel the fear when Kurt glares up at him and echoes what Puck had just finished saying but in a more, Kurt-like fashion.
He’s about to respond, to both of them, when Kurt just makes an irritated sounding sigh and wraps his arms back around Puck’s neck. The words catch in Finn’s throat as he watches the two of them start to kiss again and he can’t help but feel a tad jealous that they’re making out on the couch and he barely got to do that with Rachel who he’s been dating for what seems like forever now.
When they pull away from each other, and Puck gets off his little brother, they tell him that he’s allowed to join them for the rest of the marathon and they promise that they won’t get all gross on him. Finn agrees but still sits on the loveseat and sends cautious little glances towards the duo every few minutes.
He’s really into the movie when he hears Kurt groan and is quick to toss a pillow at Puck’s head when he realizes that they’ve resumed their previous positions. He plays the role of the overprotective big brother and the grossed-out best friend for the rest of the movie marathon.
Even though, you know, his plan totally worked and he managed to get Puck and Kurt together before the end of summer. He mentally congratulates himself because he is so the greatest matchmaker out there.
Now he just has to get used to the making-out.
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