fic: stitches
continuing to repost stuff! :D
Title: Stitches
Author: veritty
Fandom: Glee
Characters/Pairing: Finn&Kurt friendship/pre-slash, Carole
Rating: G
Word Count: ~1860
Disclaimer: Glee belongs to FOX.
Spoilers: Happens mid- and post-"Theatricality". Filling in the blanks.
Summary: Finn really can't sew and he wants to sleep very much, but he knows what he has to do.
A/N: Yeah, it was supposed to be a drabble or something like that. It figures. I started it way back right after Theatricality, but I'm slooooow. Plot-bunny by the awesomest ever allesodernichts; thanks for encouraging too. ♥ Hope you all enjoy it!
Stitches
Finn's not exactly sure how he came to sewing at 4 AM in the morning. But here he is, and by now the only thought his sleep-depraved brain still can process is that he is much like Rachel's dads in that way.
Um. In not-being-able-to-sew way.
So let's back up a little.
~~
You say you feel so empty
That our house just ain't a home
But I'm always somewhere 'round
And you're always there alone
Finn thinks that the lyrics are kinda appropriate. Really appropriate, especially the line about houses and homes. It reminds him of what Kurt sang some time ago. Kurt's not exactly alone: he's got the awesomest Dad in the world (maybe except Finn's, but he'll never know), he's got Mercedes and everyone in the Glee club actually does like him. Finn still remembers that auditioning stuff when everyone actually seemed to be on Kurt's side (probably just in spite of Rachel, but still). The way he acts, the way he looks, however… Finn can't be sure.
When this morning Puck asked Glee guys to lean him some back vocals in the song he wanted to sing - he hesitated, - for Quinn, Finn thought that… okay, maybe someday he could forgive him. And then he looked through the lyrics and asked Puck to give him the lines that kind of stood out for him.
Now he can't help looking at Kurt while he sings.
Finn craves Kurt's forgiveness, but while he looks sad and, Finn thinks, understands that these lines were for him, Kurt doesn't spare him one glance afterwards.
He feels empty himself now and walks home slowly. He doesn't do it often - it's a bit too far for regular walks, especially in the morning, - but today he feels melancholic and… generally like walking.
Finn isn't very good at thinking. Meaning, he can think too much, and then he feels bad about everything. For a long time. But right now he knows he should think about what happened. Hard. He already did, he did it a lot.
He understands how it was completely wrong to say things like this. He never wants to hurt anybody and he feels so awful for causing so much pain. He sees it in Burt's eyes, he sees it in Kurt's and he almost can't understand how his unintended outburst could have caused people to hurt this much. Almost.
His mother knows. He did as told and left last night; she stayed. Today she came in the morning to drive him to school and calmly informed him that today she'd spend the night there too and he'd have to come home alone. Finn still doesn't know if she'll come in the morning.
He is different. He is sorry. He wants everything to be okay and everyone to feel good.
But he can't find a way to make Kurt understand this.
~~
Finn spends his whole evening wallowing in his misery. It's probably not very healthy, but he can't stop. He tries to do homework and fails. He doesn't have enough focus for video games either - imagine that. Finally it's 11 PM and while usually Finn is still very much awake at this time, today he just wants… actually, he doesn't want anything and doesn't know what to do with himself.
So he goes to the shower.
It's a familiar sight, welcoming, too, but something stirs inside of him, some memory he can't quite place. This bright red, this material…
Thing is, Finn did some research. He only had a vague idea about Lady Gaga, and with the way Mr. Schue's been excited, well… He wanted to understand which band would pass as guy version of her, you see. To do that, he had to know more about Gaga herself.
And he does remember that dress - shiny, bright, the exact red of their shower curtain.
He wants Kurt to understand. He wants Kurt to see that he is not a coward. And that he's not afraid of what people think of him. And that he is different.
~~
So that's what brings Finn to an early morning with his fingertips full of tiny cuts.
By the way, he actually sews now, so maybe he can sew?..
Finn hisses when the needle bites him again. And again. Yeah, he really can't.
He wants to sleep very much. He feels like that time when he was tired every day after playing too much video games because of his never-ending stress - the time ex-Mrs. Schuester gave him that vitamin drug. Only worse. So, so much worse.
He's already drowned about five, or maybe fifteen cups of crappy coffee and right now he feels kind of dead. Like, really dead. Not alive, that's for sure.
~~
And right about time he's about to just drop on the floor, there's a sound of the door opening and Finn only has time to think "oh, crap". He turns around to find his mom in the doorway, staring at him, her expression unreadable.
Finn looks at her, looks endlessly, his eyelids closing and his hands hurting, and he doesn't know what to say. "Hey, I plan on showing at school in a Lady Gaga dress and I thought our red shower curtain would make a good one"?
"Mom, it's… it's for Kurt."
She still looks completely bedazzled, but not actually disapproving.
"I mean, not the dress. It's just, I have to. I have to show him that I'm really sorry and that I'm not a coward and I wanna show him-- I, I have to stick up for him", he pauses and then adds with determination, so she won't get him wrong, "I need to. Every time anything happens to him."
Carole frowns her brow, but then her expression eases and she smiles a little. "I still don't quite get where our shower curtain stands in all of this, but… okay."
~~
She helps him finish it without asking him for details - except the picture of that dress. No 'why's or 'really's or 'WTF's.
What is completely amazing is that they finish it in time. Well, it depends on what counts as 'in time': Finn misses three classes and doesn't even think about this. Carole doesn't question him. It's okay.
And she does most of the work, but that's because Finn's hands are not really good for anything. Probably won't be for weeks.
Before they go, Carole ruffles his hair a little (tiptoeing to do that). "You always have to be good in the end, huh?"
It's true.
~~
She gives him a ride, because let's admit it - while he wants to show Kurt that he doesn't care, he is not ready to walk around town like this. Not to mention the season being too hot for shower curtains.
Finn decides that he is going to come to the Glee practice first. And then he'll go visit the jocks and tell them to stop picking up on Kurt and everyone else from the Glee club. It's a brilliant plan he doesn't think too much about.
~~
Fortunately, he hears something in the hallway. Finn flinches unconsciously. It's the same hurt-angry tone Kurt used at him yesterday.
So he goes towards Kurt's voice and then he forgets everything he wanted to show him, because the only thing he really wants is to protect him.
And the rest is history.
~~
Afterwards, Finn is really happy that they don't have any more classes. Some parts of the dress were sewn right on him, so he imagines it being quite hard to pull it off. Certainly not in the school bathroom. He probably doesn't have any spare clothes, too.
"Finn? I think you need a ride." Kurt is close to giggling, as far as Finn can tell. He grins.
"Yeah, I probably do. Thanks, man."
It's still the fourth period so there isn't anyone in the hallways, thank god. Finn almost feels like he cheated, like Kurt shouldn't have forgiven him so easily. But Kurt walks down the hall, radiating the same confidence he shows everywhere, he isn't sulking or giving him a silent treatment or a cold shoulder, and it's nice. Finn decides not to question that.
And then he forgets about everything because despite Kurt's car being amazingly big and everything, he somehow manages to get stuck.
(Before starting the engine, Kurt spares one look at Finn who is fumbling with his freaking dress, trying to get it all in the car and not leave some parts of it on the ground - for whatever reason. And he wants to be at least a little angry at Finn - which he hardly managed to do yesterday, - or angry at himself for being that persistent and kinda freaky and generally not what he would expect from himself, or at least feel nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing.
He only feels smitten once again.)
~~
Kurt doesn't ask him for directions. It's how they both end up in Hummels' house, Kurt talking to his father in quiet tones upstairs, Finn trying to get out of the dress in the basement. Which is back to its grey colour scheme.
After some time Kurt comes down, with scissors, and tells him that they won't need a shower curtain anymore, certainly not this one, and if they do, he can help them buy a good one.
Finn doesn't know if it means that he and his Mom are living here once again, but he's a little bit afraid to ask. And it doesn't really matter.
Kurt, it seems, is scared of something too, because he is very fast - too fast - with tearing the red monstrosity apart.
"Whoa, man, slow down." Finn pulls his hands up in the air in defeat.
Kurt frowns at that. "Finn. What the hell happened to your hands?"
Something did? But Kurt's not waiting for the answer when he says, "Oh my god. You should… I can…" He reaches out as if to take his hand, examine it closely, but freezes half-way. Finn registers something like fear, and embarrassment, and sorrow flickering in Kurt's eyes. "Uh. I'm sorry, I just. Sorry." Just like that, he rushes upstairs.
His hands, actually, are hurting way more than he thought they would. Too much to put bandages on them - or something. Sure, Finn had a lot of traumas as a child (also his whole youth), most of them not that bad, but they did hurt. He was the kind of kid that was always running around being awkward and clumsy. But he doesn't know how to put stitches on his fingers when he can't use his hands.
Kurt comes back some time later, calm and collected, but Finn is observant this time. When Kurt glances at his hands, he sees that look from before. Finn hates to think that he put it there.
He coughs. "Um, Kurt? I think I need help. Would you stitch them? Please."
Kurt's face is filled with incomprehension, and wonder, and confusion, and hopefulness, and these are just the words that Finn (somehow) knows to name. He nods.
fin
Title: Stitches
Author: veritty
Fandom: Glee
Characters/Pairing: Finn&Kurt friendship/pre-slash, Carole
Rating: G
Word Count: ~1860
Disclaimer: Glee belongs to FOX.
Spoilers: Happens mid- and post-"Theatricality". Filling in the blanks.
Summary: Finn really can't sew and he wants to sleep very much, but he knows what he has to do.
A/N: Yeah, it was supposed to be a drabble or something like that. It figures. I started it way back right after Theatricality, but I'm slooooow. Plot-bunny by the awesomest ever allesodernichts; thanks for encouraging too. ♥ Hope you all enjoy it!
Stitches
Finn's not exactly sure how he came to sewing at 4 AM in the morning. But here he is, and by now the only thought his sleep-depraved brain still can process is that he is much like Rachel's dads in that way.
Um. In not-being-able-to-sew way.
So let's back up a little.
~~
You say you feel so empty
That our house just ain't a home
But I'm always somewhere 'round
And you're always there alone
Finn thinks that the lyrics are kinda appropriate. Really appropriate, especially the line about houses and homes. It reminds him of what Kurt sang some time ago. Kurt's not exactly alone: he's got the awesomest Dad in the world (maybe except Finn's, but he'll never know), he's got Mercedes and everyone in the Glee club actually does like him. Finn still remembers that auditioning stuff when everyone actually seemed to be on Kurt's side (probably just in spite of Rachel, but still). The way he acts, the way he looks, however… Finn can't be sure.
When this morning Puck asked Glee guys to lean him some back vocals in the song he wanted to sing - he hesitated, - for Quinn, Finn thought that… okay, maybe someday he could forgive him. And then he looked through the lyrics and asked Puck to give him the lines that kind of stood out for him.
Now he can't help looking at Kurt while he sings.
Finn craves Kurt's forgiveness, but while he looks sad and, Finn thinks, understands that these lines were for him, Kurt doesn't spare him one glance afterwards.
He feels empty himself now and walks home slowly. He doesn't do it often - it's a bit too far for regular walks, especially in the morning, - but today he feels melancholic and… generally like walking.
Finn isn't very good at thinking. Meaning, he can think too much, and then he feels bad about everything. For a long time. But right now he knows he should think about what happened. Hard. He already did, he did it a lot.
He understands how it was completely wrong to say things like this. He never wants to hurt anybody and he feels so awful for causing so much pain. He sees it in Burt's eyes, he sees it in Kurt's and he almost can't understand how his unintended outburst could have caused people to hurt this much. Almost.
His mother knows. He did as told and left last night; she stayed. Today she came in the morning to drive him to school and calmly informed him that today she'd spend the night there too and he'd have to come home alone. Finn still doesn't know if she'll come in the morning.
He is different. He is sorry. He wants everything to be okay and everyone to feel good.
But he can't find a way to make Kurt understand this.
~~
Finn spends his whole evening wallowing in his misery. It's probably not very healthy, but he can't stop. He tries to do homework and fails. He doesn't have enough focus for video games either - imagine that. Finally it's 11 PM and while usually Finn is still very much awake at this time, today he just wants… actually, he doesn't want anything and doesn't know what to do with himself.
So he goes to the shower.
It's a familiar sight, welcoming, too, but something stirs inside of him, some memory he can't quite place. This bright red, this material…
Thing is, Finn did some research. He only had a vague idea about Lady Gaga, and with the way Mr. Schue's been excited, well… He wanted to understand which band would pass as guy version of her, you see. To do that, he had to know more about Gaga herself.
And he does remember that dress - shiny, bright, the exact red of their shower curtain.
He wants Kurt to understand. He wants Kurt to see that he is not a coward. And that he's not afraid of what people think of him. And that he is different.
~~
So that's what brings Finn to an early morning with his fingertips full of tiny cuts.
By the way, he actually sews now, so maybe he can sew?..
Finn hisses when the needle bites him again. And again. Yeah, he really can't.
He wants to sleep very much. He feels like that time when he was tired every day after playing too much video games because of his never-ending stress - the time ex-Mrs. Schuester gave him that vitamin drug. Only worse. So, so much worse.
He's already drowned about five, or maybe fifteen cups of crappy coffee and right now he feels kind of dead. Like, really dead. Not alive, that's for sure.
~~
And right about time he's about to just drop on the floor, there's a sound of the door opening and Finn only has time to think "oh, crap". He turns around to find his mom in the doorway, staring at him, her expression unreadable.
Finn looks at her, looks endlessly, his eyelids closing and his hands hurting, and he doesn't know what to say. "Hey, I plan on showing at school in a Lady Gaga dress and I thought our red shower curtain would make a good one"?
"Mom, it's… it's for Kurt."
She still looks completely bedazzled, but not actually disapproving.
"I mean, not the dress. It's just, I have to. I have to show him that I'm really sorry and that I'm not a coward and I wanna show him-- I, I have to stick up for him", he pauses and then adds with determination, so she won't get him wrong, "I need to. Every time anything happens to him."
Carole frowns her brow, but then her expression eases and she smiles a little. "I still don't quite get where our shower curtain stands in all of this, but… okay."
~~
She helps him finish it without asking him for details - except the picture of that dress. No 'why's or 'really's or 'WTF's.
What is completely amazing is that they finish it in time. Well, it depends on what counts as 'in time': Finn misses three classes and doesn't even think about this. Carole doesn't question him. It's okay.
And she does most of the work, but that's because Finn's hands are not really good for anything. Probably won't be for weeks.
Before they go, Carole ruffles his hair a little (tiptoeing to do that). "You always have to be good in the end, huh?"
It's true.
~~
She gives him a ride, because let's admit it - while he wants to show Kurt that he doesn't care, he is not ready to walk around town like this. Not to mention the season being too hot for shower curtains.
Finn decides that he is going to come to the Glee practice first. And then he'll go visit the jocks and tell them to stop picking up on Kurt and everyone else from the Glee club. It's a brilliant plan he doesn't think too much about.
~~
Fortunately, he hears something in the hallway. Finn flinches unconsciously. It's the same hurt-angry tone Kurt used at him yesterday.
So he goes towards Kurt's voice and then he forgets everything he wanted to show him, because the only thing he really wants is to protect him.
And the rest is history.
~~
Afterwards, Finn is really happy that they don't have any more classes. Some parts of the dress were sewn right on him, so he imagines it being quite hard to pull it off. Certainly not in the school bathroom. He probably doesn't have any spare clothes, too.
"Finn? I think you need a ride." Kurt is close to giggling, as far as Finn can tell. He grins.
"Yeah, I probably do. Thanks, man."
It's still the fourth period so there isn't anyone in the hallways, thank god. Finn almost feels like he cheated, like Kurt shouldn't have forgiven him so easily. But Kurt walks down the hall, radiating the same confidence he shows everywhere, he isn't sulking or giving him a silent treatment or a cold shoulder, and it's nice. Finn decides not to question that.
And then he forgets about everything because despite Kurt's car being amazingly big and everything, he somehow manages to get stuck.
(Before starting the engine, Kurt spares one look at Finn who is fumbling with his freaking dress, trying to get it all in the car and not leave some parts of it on the ground - for whatever reason. And he wants to be at least a little angry at Finn - which he hardly managed to do yesterday, - or angry at himself for being that persistent and kinda freaky and generally not what he would expect from himself, or at least feel nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing.
He only feels smitten once again.)
~~
Kurt doesn't ask him for directions. It's how they both end up in Hummels' house, Kurt talking to his father in quiet tones upstairs, Finn trying to get out of the dress in the basement. Which is back to its grey colour scheme.
After some time Kurt comes down, with scissors, and tells him that they won't need a shower curtain anymore, certainly not this one, and if they do, he can help them buy a good one.
Finn doesn't know if it means that he and his Mom are living here once again, but he's a little bit afraid to ask. And it doesn't really matter.
Kurt, it seems, is scared of something too, because he is very fast - too fast - with tearing the red monstrosity apart.
"Whoa, man, slow down." Finn pulls his hands up in the air in defeat.
Kurt frowns at that. "Finn. What the hell happened to your hands?"
Something did? But Kurt's not waiting for the answer when he says, "Oh my god. You should… I can…" He reaches out as if to take his hand, examine it closely, but freezes half-way. Finn registers something like fear, and embarrassment, and sorrow flickering in Kurt's eyes. "Uh. I'm sorry, I just. Sorry." Just like that, he rushes upstairs.
His hands, actually, are hurting way more than he thought they would. Too much to put bandages on them - or something. Sure, Finn had a lot of traumas as a child (also his whole youth), most of them not that bad, but they did hurt. He was the kind of kid that was always running around being awkward and clumsy. But he doesn't know how to put stitches on his fingers when he can't use his hands.
Kurt comes back some time later, calm and collected, but Finn is observant this time. When Kurt glances at his hands, he sees that look from before. Finn hates to think that he put it there.
He coughs. "Um, Kurt? I think I need help. Would you stitch them? Please."
Kurt's face is filled with incomprehension, and wonder, and confusion, and hopefulness, and these are just the words that Finn (somehow) knows to name. He nods.
fin