FIC: Can See Its Beady Eyes
Fandom: Glee
Pairing: Gen but with mentions of Klaine
Rating: 15
Word Count: 4,596
Disclaimer: Fiction. As in: "An imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent actuality but has been invented."
Warnings: Disturbing subject matter. And attack with heavily implied homophobia. Seriously, this is dark but I don't want to give away anything else.
Authors Note: Okay, so yeah, I'm playing around in the darker end of the pool again. Sorry. Oh yeah, and the title comes from Radiohead's 'Street Spirit'.
Summary: A terrified phone call leads to a frantic run through the forest.
“Kurt!”
Finn mentally thanked Coach Bieste for their increased training program including the hundreds of laps she made them do as he ran through the trees. But even with the extra training he wasn’t as fast as the others and Sam, Puck and Mike were still in front of him; not far but enough to make Finn worry even more. He hadn’t been the one Kurt had contacted when he’d needed help and he wasn’t going to be the first one when they found him now. Sure he was faster than Rachel and Quinn who he could hear calling for his step brother behind him, but he wasn’t out front leading the charge as he should be.
Finn watched as Mike leapt over a tree trunk and as followed Sam who had split further left from the group. It wasn’t dark yet and he knew that they needed to cover as much ground as possible but Finn didn’t like the idea of someone going off on their own, it just wasn’t safe. He wasn’t happy leaving Rachel and Quinn behind but they couldn’t keep up and he wouldn’t, he couldn’t, slow down. He spared a quick prayer to the hope that if the two of them were to run into someone out here that person wouldn’t attack a girl. Of course these were the same people who had attacked Kurt so who knew what they were capable and willing to do. Not that Kurt was a girl and not that he couldn’t take care of himself, Finn knew from living with him that Kurt was a lot tougher than he looked, but most of their group thought of Kurt as almost an honouree girl. He’d even asked Blaine if this was why he was attracted to Kurt only to be rebuked with a rather irate although impeccably polite “I’m gay and therefore I am attracted to men, and I’m very very attracted to Kurt. So what possible reasoning could you use for your belief that I see him as a girl?” As he continued to run Finn tried to push away the knowledge that were Kurt not quite such a complicated mix of masculine and feminine they’d probably not be running through a forest to find him.
Movement to his right caught Finn’s eye and he nearly tripped over his feet as he pulled to a stop for a better look. There was definitely movement over there and whatever it was had apparently also been noticed by Puck as he instantly changed directions and charged on through the trees. With an actual destination in front of him, as opposed to directionless running, Finn picked up his speed. As he started to catch up to Puck he noticed that his former best friend was still clutching his phone in his hand even though the line had gone dead before the car had stopped. For a moment Finn wondered if he’d still be holding his if it had been his phone.
~~~~~~~~~
When he, Puck and Mike had decided to go to the mall to pick up the new Guitar Hero Finn had thought that he was in for an afternoon of Doritos, light competition, and the chance to improve his friendship with the other guys. Puck and Finn were slowly pushing their way back to a friendship and Mike had been so caught up with Tina recently that he hadn’t spent much time with anyone else. Kurt was on a shopping date with Rachel and their parents were out with each other, so the boys had the giant TV all to themselves. But they’d gotten bored with the games they had and decided to chip together to get a new one. Bumping into Kurt and Rachel should have been an inevitability but it had still taken Finn by surprise and by the time he’d worked out what was going on the three other boys had abandoned ship and he was stood alone with Rachel and an awkward conversation. He never thought that the appearance of Sam and Quinn would be a relief but when Sam had called out to them Finn had smiled overly warmly at the couple and jogged over to them.
He had been in the middle of a weird and uncomfortably polite conversation with Sam, Quinn and Rachel when Puck and Mike had come tearing past them towards the carpark. Mike had yelled that Kurt was in trouble but hadn’t stopped running as Puck talked frantically into his phone. Finn couldn’t work out how they would know Kurt was in trouble and he didn't apart from the fact that they should have been with him at the time. Kurt had left with them, so why had he been on his own?
His thoughts hadn’t stopped him, Rachel, Sam and Quinn from running to catch up with their friends. The discomfort of the conversation was forgotten in an instant, Rachel and Finn both yelling to know what had happened and what did Mike mean Kurt was in trouble, because something had to be seriously wrong for Puck and Mike to be running that fast. Even though they’d all arrived in different cars, coincidence leading to their meeting in the mall, they all piled into Mike’s car and tore out of the carpark. It was only once they started driving that they realised they had no idea which direction to go in.
Once the car was moving Finn realised that the person Puck had been talking to on his phone all this time was Kurt; promising him they were coming and trying to get as much information as possible. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot Kurt could tell them and he was panicking too much to be able to relate any information he might have. Puck had gotten more and more worried as Kurt had started making less and less sense, his panic overriding everything else, and Finn had grabbed the phone from him and started trying to calm Kurt down. Any lingering resentment at not being the one Kurt had called had lessened when Kurt had relaxed fractionally the minute he heard his voice.
Finn knew that Kurt needed focus in stressful situations otherwise he floundered so he focused him on helping them find him. And he knew that Kurt would put up a far stronger fight to help those he loved than he ever would for himself. So Finn pulled every dirty trick he could think of - from how much Burt wouldn’t survive losing Kurt to what it would do to Blaine - and finally focused Kurt on the idea that by helping himself he was helping those he loved who needed him. With a surprising amount of calm Kurt explained that after Mike and Puck started discussing the merits of the different Mario games he left them and headed back to his car to drop off the clothes he and Rachel had already purchased. But he’d never made it to the car as he’d been grabbed in the carpark and shoved into the trunk of a car; but that was about all he knew.
Sam had suggested that Kurt try and listen for sounds as they were driving that might indicate where he was like in the Robert Redford film Sneakers but the more Kurt listened the less he could make out. The disorientation was getting to him and no matter how hard Finn tried he couldn’t stop the growing terror in Kurt’s voice. He was panicking, really panicking, and Finn hated it but couldn’t help but hope that this would turn out to be just a really shitty prank. It wouldn’t be the first time a prank had perhaps gone too far; the pee balloons had been, on reflection, a horrible thing to do but even when they’d been at their worst they never wanted to actually scare Kurt. Karofsky had been the only person Finn knew of who’d deliberately tried to terrify the other boy but he’d been a lot less angry since he no longer saw Kurt each day. Finn remembered being out with Kurt and Blaine and being surprised when he’d seen Karofsky notice them and simply turn around and walk away without Kurt or Blaine even knowing he was there. But this whole situation felt too cruel to be a normal teenage prank.
As the car Kurt was in bumped its way over train tracks everyone in Mike’s car had breathed a small sigh of relief. There was only one set of tracks in town and they were, unbelievably, heading straight towards them. Quinn had thanked God for sending them in the right direction but Finn had felt it was more likely Kurt’s mother, or even his own father, that was looking out for them. He didn’t want to believe it was luck because that meant it could run out, but after the Grilled Cheesus incident he wasn’t ready to put all his faith in a God whose presence he questioned and Kurt didn’t believe in at all. But he definitely sent thanks to someone because not only did the train tracks mean they were heading in the right direction and not that far behind, but also that there was, in Finn’s mind, a stronger possibility that the people who had grabbed Kurt were probably just going to dump him out of town as a joke. And while the whole thing was incredibly mean this type of prank meant that Kurt would end up relatively unhurt and Puck, who had grabbed the phone back from Finn to promise Kurt that he would beat the crap out of whoever had done this, tried to reassure Kurt of this. Puck had continued to talk to Kurt until the car Kurt was in stopped moving and he was pulled from the trunk. The sound of the phone hitting the ground could be heard and then there was nothing.
It was only a few minutes later that they’d seen the Ford sitting at the side of the road next to the small forest on the outskirts of Lima. Jumping out before the car had properly stopped Finn ran over to the other car. He couldn’t understand why the car was still there and Kurt wasn’t. After they’d worked out where Kurt was being taken Finn had been so sure that they’d see Kurt stood at the side of the road, pissed off and a little scared and bitchy as hell, but there. But here they were and yet there nothing apart from the car. Finn looked around frantically for something, anything, that might tell him where Kurt was but it was just them and the car and the growing pit in Finn’s stomach. Puck and Sam ran into the forest shouting Kurt’s name while the rest of them started looking for anything that could help. It was Rachel who found Kurt’s phone next to the back of the car on the ground. As she held the smashed remains out to him Finn could tell she was trying not to cry. Not knowing what else to do Finn had followed his friends into the forest.
~~~~~~~~
Finn could hear shouts coming from up ahead, people yelling something, but he couldn’t make out the words. If gaining a direction to run in had made Finn run faster, hearing it was the correct one caused him to almost slow down. And this had to be the correct direction because who else would be out there? But if these were the people that had Kurt it meant that he was running directly into danger. Finn wanted to be a leader, and he was a good guy no matter what mistakes he made, but knowingly running into danger wasn’t something he was used to. Forcing himself to speed up as opposed to slow down Finn thought about the danger he’d be saving Kurt from and how cool the heroes always were in films. He wanted to be that cool, that heroic, he always had done. What surprised him was that the desire to make sure Kurt was safe was actually a stronger motivator than his desire to be cool. His need to be popular had always overruled everything before, it’s what had pushed him to some of his least shining moments, but for once it was coming secondary. If people were yelling up ahead then something was going on, and if that something involved Kurt and people who had grabbed him from the fucking mall there was no way that something was anything good.
Finn winced as ahead of him Puck tripped over a tree trunk and went down hard.
“FUCK!”
The cry of pain nearly caused Finn to stop and help but Puck motioned for him to continue moving so he ran past. The yelling stopped as soon as Puck had cried out but as he got closer to where it had been coming from Finn could see movement in the trees. Not on the ground but up in the trees. For a second Finn worried that they were running towards hunters who were after a bird or something but why would hunters have been making all that noise?
“KURT!!”
He got no response.
As he got closer to the area Finn’s worries about hunters were well and truly put to rest as he began to make out exactly what it was he’d spotted. His brain stopped thinking about anything as it struggled to deal with what it was seeing but his feet continued running.
“Jesus Christ!”
Sam’s voice cut through Finn’s stuttering thoughts and made him aware that the others, and not just Puck, were close behind him. Finn wasn’t sure that it would matter that they were all there. He didn’t think that they would ever be able to get to Kurt fast enough and no matter how fast he ran Finn felt as if he never got any closer. It was like those dreams where you’re always out of reach of what you’re trying to get to but where Finn usually dreamed of boobs that got further and further away from his hands and it was frustrating, this time it was his brother and it terrified him.
Finn couldn’t contemplate how anyone could do this. He didn’t want to. Kurt was a little different and Finn wouldn’t deny that at times it made him uncomfortable. But he was still someone Finn cared for deeply and even if he hadn't, he was still a person. He was a person with a family and friends who loved him, who went to school and was part of The Warblers, who played computer games when he was bored, who spent at least 30 minutes each night planning the next day’s outfit, who liked his toast only lightly toasted so that it stayed at least partially soft, who had a boyfriend who loved him. And to think that the fact that Kurt had a boyfriend as opposed to a girlfriend had been enough of a reason for someone to grab him, stuff him in the trunk of a car, and then string him up in a tree in the forest where it was unlikely anyone would find him made Finn want to throw up, scream at the world, and punch someone all at the same time. He couldn’t understand it.
Finn and Puck ran up to Kurt as Mike and Sam ran to where the rope was knotted around the tree.
“Dude grab his legs!”
Finn wrapped his arms around Kurt’s legs at the same time Puck did and together they lifted him up trying to loosen the pull of the rope around his neck. Kurt had been pulled far enough off the ground that even Finn could only get a good grip on his shins and while this meant he could lift Kurt enough that the rope was no longer strangling him he needed Kurt’s help to do it. He needed him to keep his body as straight as he could and Kurt, while still conscious and fighting, was weak enough that he was unable to be much help. Finn was relieved when Puck unwrapped his arms from Kurt’s legs and tried to help him keep his body upright but he wasn’t as tall as Finn and he was struggling to reach high enough to be of much use.
Finn was glad that Kurt was still awake, still alive, but in his terrified state Kurt was fighting both the rope and them and it was making keeping him steady that much harder.
“Kurt, man it’s us. You’ve gotta stop moving, you’re making it worse!”
Puck tried to reason with Kurt but nothing he said was registering and Finn wondered if Kurt could even hear them.
From the time they had lost contact with Kurt to this moment had felt like hours but it must have only been minutes. It had felt to Finn like they had been running through the forest for a life time but it can have been only minutes, maybe even seconds, which meant that the people who had done this, the people who had hung Kurt from a fucking tree, must still be around somewhere. And Finn wanted to worry about Rachel and Quinn who had yet to appear in the clearing they were in but Kurt was still struggling to breathe. Finn could hear him frantically trying to taking in breaths, even though the pressure around his neck had been reduced. Finn needed to get him down now, nothing else mattered anymore.
“Sam?”
“We’re trying man but we can’t undo the knot!”
“Fuck this shit! Mike, there’s a knife in my pocket.”
Finn watched as Mike ran over and shoved his hand in Puck’s back pocket, pulling out the flick knife. Running back to Sam it was only a few seconds until they cut through the rope and Finn and Puck gently lowered Kurt to the ground. He was shaking and his hands, which Finn could now see were bound, were still gripping tightly onto the rope around his neck. His face was bruised and blood was trickling down his forehead but his eyes were open, terrified, and trying to look everywhere at once.
“It’s just us Kurt, you’re safe, you’re safe.”
Finn tried to keep his voice as gentle and reassuring as possible but as when Puck had spoken Kurt didn’t appear to hear him. Finn tried to remove the rope from around Kurt’s neck - it was both incredibly disturbing to look at and he worried that it was still affecting Kurt’s breathing - but every time his hands moved towards Kurt’s neck he flinched away. Finn really needed to find some way easing Kurt’s fear because he needed to remove the rope and get them the hell out of the forest and to a hospital. This was so much more than he could handle and he really wanted his Mom and Burt.
“Dude, this shit is so fucked up!”
Finn looked at Puck who was staring at Kurt with the same look of horror and lack of understanding as he guessed was on his face and knew that he’d be no help. Any plan he’d made in his head on the journey from the mall had consisted of ‘1) - get to Kurt’ and ‘2) - beat up anyone messing with Kurt’. His plan had never included the idea that something serious would have happened, that there would be any need for a plan after getting Kurt back with them and therefore safe.
Finn found himself wishing Kurt’s boyfriend was there as Blaine always seemed to have an endless reserve of calm and logical thinking. But if Blaine had been there this would probably have never happened in the first place as the two of them would have been together and therefore harder to grab. Either that or they’d both be in trouble because while Blaine was perhaps not as ‘visibly’ gay the two of them together were very obviously in love. And if people were willing to do this to one gay kid what would they be willing to do to two? And Blaine was tiny, smaller and softer than Kurt, and about as threatening. No, it was good that Blaine wasn’t here because Kurt was going to need him and if he were dealing with his own attack he wouldn’t have the resources to spare.
The sound of footsteps approaching caused all four boys to turn to face the direction they’d come from. Finn and Puck instinctively closed in around Kurt a little tighter and Sam and Mike tensed ready for a fight.
Finn had never seen Mike fight but he bet he was squirrely and Sam had muscles to spare so Finn hoped that they’d be able to do most the fighting because he did not want to leave Kurt alone. And he didn’t want Puck to be the only one handy in the fight; because Puck was good, probably better than he should be, but Puck was also angry and Finn knew from experience that he got stupid and reckless when he got angry. At least Mike had Puck’s knife, and Finn really didn’t want to think about when and why Puck had taken to carrying a knife, because Mike was far less likely to end up accidentally killing someone with it than Puck was. Finn wanted to protect Kurt any way possible but he didn’t want Puck going to jail because of it.
The four boys froze as they waited for whoever it was to appear through the trees. Finn didn’t know if everything had gotten quieter or if the sound of his own heartbeat and breathing had gotten louder but they were all he could hear.
When Quinn came tearing through the trees, Rachel’s hand held tight in her own, Mike had to quickly reach out to stop Sam from launching himself on them by mistake. Finn’s relief at seeing the girls was short lived as both took in the scene around them and Rachel’s sobbed cry sent his attention back to Kurt.
He moved out of the way as Quinn knelt next to him and quickly took in the situation. Kurt was close to hyperventilating and they needed to do something about it now but he had no idea what.
“Sweetie look at me. Kurt it’s just me okay, focus on my voice.”
Finn watched as Quinn gently took Kurt’s face in her hands and leaned over so that he could only see her.
“That’s it, come on look at me. You need to breathe slower, come on breathe with me. You remember that lamaze class you came to with me and Mercedes, let’s do it like that okay, just like that. “
Finn stared at Quinn in wonder as her words began to take effect on Kurt. He and Puck glanced at each other as their ex managed to do what neither of them had using a method she’d learnt while pregnant. The pregnancy, Puck and Quinn, Kurt’s bullying, Rachel kissing Puck, him kissing Quinn.....when did everything get so complicated?
“Daddy! Daddy they....we need help Kurt’s been hurt....”
Finn glanced over his shoulder at Rachel and saw her stood frozen looking at the group on the ground, talking into her phone to one of her fathers. As he turned back to Kurt Finn tried to remember which of them she called Daddy but couldn’t. It had been a few months since they’d broken up and he was drawing a blank but the word Daddy brought Finn’s thoughts into sharp focus. He had to call Burt. He had to call Burt and tell him that someone had grabbed his son and tried to kill him. Someone had wanted to kill Kurt! They wanted him dead. This wasn’t humiliation, this wasn’t teasing, this was attempted murder. And for what? Why? Could it really be just because he fancied the same sex? Was he that threatening to people? Because Kurt and Blaine, they were two of the least threatening people Finn had ever met.
“Who the hell would do this!!?!?”
Finn hadn’t meant to speak out loud but the look that Puck was giving him let him know that he wasn’t the only one whose brain couldn’t quite comprehend what had happened.
“Daddy says that we need to get to the hospital. He’s going to call ahead and let them know we’re on our way and he’s also calling the police. He said that some of us should stay so that when they get here they know exactly where the...where the crime scene is and that I’m to give whoever stays my phone so he can keep contact with them and let them know what’s going on. Dad is driving out here now to wait with them and then drive them home. He’s also calling Mr. Hummel. Finn I know you probably wanted to speak to him yourself but Daddy said that you need to stay with Kurt and not worry about anything else.”
“Does your Daddy have anything else he needs us to do because that’s a lot of instructions from someone who’s not even fucking here.”
“Puck!”
“No Quinn he’s right, but I just.....I don’t know what to do and my father’s do and Daddy’s really good with this sort of thing and he’s had experience although not something quite this....this awful but I just.....I just.....”
“Rachel please stop. I’m sorry I yelled, I was wrong, you did good.”
Kurt was breathing more normally now and he was beginning to focus on the actual people around him. When Quinn moved away from him Finn watched as he looked around, taking in everyone there. When Kurt’s eyes landed on him Finn tried to smile reassuringly.
“Finn?”
“Hey bro.”
Kurt wasn’t fine, Kurt wasn’t anywhere near fine. But he was here and alive and talking, everything else could wait until they were better prepared to deal with it. Rachel was right, they needed to get Kurt to the hospital; Finn needed their parents and more importantly Kurt needed his father. Scooping the smaller boy into his arms Finn started back to the car trying to be as quick and gentle as he could. He heard Kurt mumble something into his chest and lent down to hear better.
“What was that?”
“I said, if Blaine sees you doing this you’re going to give him a complex, he can’t lift me at all.”
Kurt’s voice was rough and sounded painful and Finn hoped that it hadn’t been damaged permanently.
“Well then I’m going to have to make sure I pick you up around him as much as possible. It’ll be a great way of showing him I can totally take him if he hurts you.”
“Please don’t.”
“Aww come on, you know you want me to. I really like Blaine but I never got to do the whole ‘you hurt him, I hurt you’ speech. It’ll be fun. And dude, those eyes of his, they’d be huge scared, I bet they’re like saucers.”
“Have you been checking out my boyfriend Finn Hudson?”
Finn wasn’t sure Kurt should be speaking as much as he was but the banter kept the other thoughts at bay. If Kurt wanted to act like nothing unusual had happened Finn would give him that. Soon enough they’d have to deal with what had happened but for now if Finn could give him a distraction he would. He’d not been there before but he’d be there now, after all, they were family now.
Pairing: Gen but with mentions of Klaine
Rating: 15
Word Count: 4,596
Disclaimer: Fiction. As in: "An imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent actuality but has been invented."
Warnings: Disturbing subject matter. And attack with heavily implied homophobia. Seriously, this is dark but I don't want to give away anything else.
Authors Note: Okay, so yeah, I'm playing around in the darker end of the pool again. Sorry. Oh yeah, and the title comes from Radiohead's 'Street Spirit'.
Summary: A terrified phone call leads to a frantic run through the forest.
“Kurt!”
Finn mentally thanked Coach Bieste for their increased training program including the hundreds of laps she made them do as he ran through the trees. But even with the extra training he wasn’t as fast as the others and Sam, Puck and Mike were still in front of him; not far but enough to make Finn worry even more. He hadn’t been the one Kurt had contacted when he’d needed help and he wasn’t going to be the first one when they found him now. Sure he was faster than Rachel and Quinn who he could hear calling for his step brother behind him, but he wasn’t out front leading the charge as he should be.
Finn watched as Mike leapt over a tree trunk and as followed Sam who had split further left from the group. It wasn’t dark yet and he knew that they needed to cover as much ground as possible but Finn didn’t like the idea of someone going off on their own, it just wasn’t safe. He wasn’t happy leaving Rachel and Quinn behind but they couldn’t keep up and he wouldn’t, he couldn’t, slow down. He spared a quick prayer to the hope that if the two of them were to run into someone out here that person wouldn’t attack a girl. Of course these were the same people who had attacked Kurt so who knew what they were capable and willing to do. Not that Kurt was a girl and not that he couldn’t take care of himself, Finn knew from living with him that Kurt was a lot tougher than he looked, but most of their group thought of Kurt as almost an honouree girl. He’d even asked Blaine if this was why he was attracted to Kurt only to be rebuked with a rather irate although impeccably polite “I’m gay and therefore I am attracted to men, and I’m very very attracted to Kurt. So what possible reasoning could you use for your belief that I see him as a girl?” As he continued to run Finn tried to push away the knowledge that were Kurt not quite such a complicated mix of masculine and feminine they’d probably not be running through a forest to find him.
Movement to his right caught Finn’s eye and he nearly tripped over his feet as he pulled to a stop for a better look. There was definitely movement over there and whatever it was had apparently also been noticed by Puck as he instantly changed directions and charged on through the trees. With an actual destination in front of him, as opposed to directionless running, Finn picked up his speed. As he started to catch up to Puck he noticed that his former best friend was still clutching his phone in his hand even though the line had gone dead before the car had stopped. For a moment Finn wondered if he’d still be holding his if it had been his phone.
~~~~~~~~~
When he, Puck and Mike had decided to go to the mall to pick up the new Guitar Hero Finn had thought that he was in for an afternoon of Doritos, light competition, and the chance to improve his friendship with the other guys. Puck and Finn were slowly pushing their way back to a friendship and Mike had been so caught up with Tina recently that he hadn’t spent much time with anyone else. Kurt was on a shopping date with Rachel and their parents were out with each other, so the boys had the giant TV all to themselves. But they’d gotten bored with the games they had and decided to chip together to get a new one. Bumping into Kurt and Rachel should have been an inevitability but it had still taken Finn by surprise and by the time he’d worked out what was going on the three other boys had abandoned ship and he was stood alone with Rachel and an awkward conversation. He never thought that the appearance of Sam and Quinn would be a relief but when Sam had called out to them Finn had smiled overly warmly at the couple and jogged over to them.
He had been in the middle of a weird and uncomfortably polite conversation with Sam, Quinn and Rachel when Puck and Mike had come tearing past them towards the carpark. Mike had yelled that Kurt was in trouble but hadn’t stopped running as Puck talked frantically into his phone. Finn couldn’t work out how they would know Kurt was in trouble and he didn't apart from the fact that they should have been with him at the time. Kurt had left with them, so why had he been on his own?
His thoughts hadn’t stopped him, Rachel, Sam and Quinn from running to catch up with their friends. The discomfort of the conversation was forgotten in an instant, Rachel and Finn both yelling to know what had happened and what did Mike mean Kurt was in trouble, because something had to be seriously wrong for Puck and Mike to be running that fast. Even though they’d all arrived in different cars, coincidence leading to their meeting in the mall, they all piled into Mike’s car and tore out of the carpark. It was only once they started driving that they realised they had no idea which direction to go in.
Once the car was moving Finn realised that the person Puck had been talking to on his phone all this time was Kurt; promising him they were coming and trying to get as much information as possible. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot Kurt could tell them and he was panicking too much to be able to relate any information he might have. Puck had gotten more and more worried as Kurt had started making less and less sense, his panic overriding everything else, and Finn had grabbed the phone from him and started trying to calm Kurt down. Any lingering resentment at not being the one Kurt had called had lessened when Kurt had relaxed fractionally the minute he heard his voice.
Finn knew that Kurt needed focus in stressful situations otherwise he floundered so he focused him on helping them find him. And he knew that Kurt would put up a far stronger fight to help those he loved than he ever would for himself. So Finn pulled every dirty trick he could think of - from how much Burt wouldn’t survive losing Kurt to what it would do to Blaine - and finally focused Kurt on the idea that by helping himself he was helping those he loved who needed him. With a surprising amount of calm Kurt explained that after Mike and Puck started discussing the merits of the different Mario games he left them and headed back to his car to drop off the clothes he and Rachel had already purchased. But he’d never made it to the car as he’d been grabbed in the carpark and shoved into the trunk of a car; but that was about all he knew.
Sam had suggested that Kurt try and listen for sounds as they were driving that might indicate where he was like in the Robert Redford film Sneakers but the more Kurt listened the less he could make out. The disorientation was getting to him and no matter how hard Finn tried he couldn’t stop the growing terror in Kurt’s voice. He was panicking, really panicking, and Finn hated it but couldn’t help but hope that this would turn out to be just a really shitty prank. It wouldn’t be the first time a prank had perhaps gone too far; the pee balloons had been, on reflection, a horrible thing to do but even when they’d been at their worst they never wanted to actually scare Kurt. Karofsky had been the only person Finn knew of who’d deliberately tried to terrify the other boy but he’d been a lot less angry since he no longer saw Kurt each day. Finn remembered being out with Kurt and Blaine and being surprised when he’d seen Karofsky notice them and simply turn around and walk away without Kurt or Blaine even knowing he was there. But this whole situation felt too cruel to be a normal teenage prank.
As the car Kurt was in bumped its way over train tracks everyone in Mike’s car had breathed a small sigh of relief. There was only one set of tracks in town and they were, unbelievably, heading straight towards them. Quinn had thanked God for sending them in the right direction but Finn had felt it was more likely Kurt’s mother, or even his own father, that was looking out for them. He didn’t want to believe it was luck because that meant it could run out, but after the Grilled Cheesus incident he wasn’t ready to put all his faith in a God whose presence he questioned and Kurt didn’t believe in at all. But he definitely sent thanks to someone because not only did the train tracks mean they were heading in the right direction and not that far behind, but also that there was, in Finn’s mind, a stronger possibility that the people who had grabbed Kurt were probably just going to dump him out of town as a joke. And while the whole thing was incredibly mean this type of prank meant that Kurt would end up relatively unhurt and Puck, who had grabbed the phone back from Finn to promise Kurt that he would beat the crap out of whoever had done this, tried to reassure Kurt of this. Puck had continued to talk to Kurt until the car Kurt was in stopped moving and he was pulled from the trunk. The sound of the phone hitting the ground could be heard and then there was nothing.
It was only a few minutes later that they’d seen the Ford sitting at the side of the road next to the small forest on the outskirts of Lima. Jumping out before the car had properly stopped Finn ran over to the other car. He couldn’t understand why the car was still there and Kurt wasn’t. After they’d worked out where Kurt was being taken Finn had been so sure that they’d see Kurt stood at the side of the road, pissed off and a little scared and bitchy as hell, but there. But here they were and yet there nothing apart from the car. Finn looked around frantically for something, anything, that might tell him where Kurt was but it was just them and the car and the growing pit in Finn’s stomach. Puck and Sam ran into the forest shouting Kurt’s name while the rest of them started looking for anything that could help. It was Rachel who found Kurt’s phone next to the back of the car on the ground. As she held the smashed remains out to him Finn could tell she was trying not to cry. Not knowing what else to do Finn had followed his friends into the forest.
~~~~~~~~
Finn could hear shouts coming from up ahead, people yelling something, but he couldn’t make out the words. If gaining a direction to run in had made Finn run faster, hearing it was the correct one caused him to almost slow down. And this had to be the correct direction because who else would be out there? But if these were the people that had Kurt it meant that he was running directly into danger. Finn wanted to be a leader, and he was a good guy no matter what mistakes he made, but knowingly running into danger wasn’t something he was used to. Forcing himself to speed up as opposed to slow down Finn thought about the danger he’d be saving Kurt from and how cool the heroes always were in films. He wanted to be that cool, that heroic, he always had done. What surprised him was that the desire to make sure Kurt was safe was actually a stronger motivator than his desire to be cool. His need to be popular had always overruled everything before, it’s what had pushed him to some of his least shining moments, but for once it was coming secondary. If people were yelling up ahead then something was going on, and if that something involved Kurt and people who had grabbed him from the fucking mall there was no way that something was anything good.
Finn winced as ahead of him Puck tripped over a tree trunk and went down hard.
“FUCK!”
The cry of pain nearly caused Finn to stop and help but Puck motioned for him to continue moving so he ran past. The yelling stopped as soon as Puck had cried out but as he got closer to where it had been coming from Finn could see movement in the trees. Not on the ground but up in the trees. For a second Finn worried that they were running towards hunters who were after a bird or something but why would hunters have been making all that noise?
“KURT!!”
He got no response.
As he got closer to the area Finn’s worries about hunters were well and truly put to rest as he began to make out exactly what it was he’d spotted. His brain stopped thinking about anything as it struggled to deal with what it was seeing but his feet continued running.
“Jesus Christ!”
Sam’s voice cut through Finn’s stuttering thoughts and made him aware that the others, and not just Puck, were close behind him. Finn wasn’t sure that it would matter that they were all there. He didn’t think that they would ever be able to get to Kurt fast enough and no matter how fast he ran Finn felt as if he never got any closer. It was like those dreams where you’re always out of reach of what you’re trying to get to but where Finn usually dreamed of boobs that got further and further away from his hands and it was frustrating, this time it was his brother and it terrified him.
Finn couldn’t contemplate how anyone could do this. He didn’t want to. Kurt was a little different and Finn wouldn’t deny that at times it made him uncomfortable. But he was still someone Finn cared for deeply and even if he hadn't, he was still a person. He was a person with a family and friends who loved him, who went to school and was part of The Warblers, who played computer games when he was bored, who spent at least 30 minutes each night planning the next day’s outfit, who liked his toast only lightly toasted so that it stayed at least partially soft, who had a boyfriend who loved him. And to think that the fact that Kurt had a boyfriend as opposed to a girlfriend had been enough of a reason for someone to grab him, stuff him in the trunk of a car, and then string him up in a tree in the forest where it was unlikely anyone would find him made Finn want to throw up, scream at the world, and punch someone all at the same time. He couldn’t understand it.
Finn and Puck ran up to Kurt as Mike and Sam ran to where the rope was knotted around the tree.
“Dude grab his legs!”
Finn wrapped his arms around Kurt’s legs at the same time Puck did and together they lifted him up trying to loosen the pull of the rope around his neck. Kurt had been pulled far enough off the ground that even Finn could only get a good grip on his shins and while this meant he could lift Kurt enough that the rope was no longer strangling him he needed Kurt’s help to do it. He needed him to keep his body as straight as he could and Kurt, while still conscious and fighting, was weak enough that he was unable to be much help. Finn was relieved when Puck unwrapped his arms from Kurt’s legs and tried to help him keep his body upright but he wasn’t as tall as Finn and he was struggling to reach high enough to be of much use.
Finn was glad that Kurt was still awake, still alive, but in his terrified state Kurt was fighting both the rope and them and it was making keeping him steady that much harder.
“Kurt, man it’s us. You’ve gotta stop moving, you’re making it worse!”
Puck tried to reason with Kurt but nothing he said was registering and Finn wondered if Kurt could even hear them.
From the time they had lost contact with Kurt to this moment had felt like hours but it must have only been minutes. It had felt to Finn like they had been running through the forest for a life time but it can have been only minutes, maybe even seconds, which meant that the people who had done this, the people who had hung Kurt from a fucking tree, must still be around somewhere. And Finn wanted to worry about Rachel and Quinn who had yet to appear in the clearing they were in but Kurt was still struggling to breathe. Finn could hear him frantically trying to taking in breaths, even though the pressure around his neck had been reduced. Finn needed to get him down now, nothing else mattered anymore.
“Sam?”
“We’re trying man but we can’t undo the knot!”
“Fuck this shit! Mike, there’s a knife in my pocket.”
Finn watched as Mike ran over and shoved his hand in Puck’s back pocket, pulling out the flick knife. Running back to Sam it was only a few seconds until they cut through the rope and Finn and Puck gently lowered Kurt to the ground. He was shaking and his hands, which Finn could now see were bound, were still gripping tightly onto the rope around his neck. His face was bruised and blood was trickling down his forehead but his eyes were open, terrified, and trying to look everywhere at once.
“It’s just us Kurt, you’re safe, you’re safe.”
Finn tried to keep his voice as gentle and reassuring as possible but as when Puck had spoken Kurt didn’t appear to hear him. Finn tried to remove the rope from around Kurt’s neck - it was both incredibly disturbing to look at and he worried that it was still affecting Kurt’s breathing - but every time his hands moved towards Kurt’s neck he flinched away. Finn really needed to find some way easing Kurt’s fear because he needed to remove the rope and get them the hell out of the forest and to a hospital. This was so much more than he could handle and he really wanted his Mom and Burt.
“Dude, this shit is so fucked up!”
Finn looked at Puck who was staring at Kurt with the same look of horror and lack of understanding as he guessed was on his face and knew that he’d be no help. Any plan he’d made in his head on the journey from the mall had consisted of ‘1) - get to Kurt’ and ‘2) - beat up anyone messing with Kurt’. His plan had never included the idea that something serious would have happened, that there would be any need for a plan after getting Kurt back with them and therefore safe.
Finn found himself wishing Kurt’s boyfriend was there as Blaine always seemed to have an endless reserve of calm and logical thinking. But if Blaine had been there this would probably have never happened in the first place as the two of them would have been together and therefore harder to grab. Either that or they’d both be in trouble because while Blaine was perhaps not as ‘visibly’ gay the two of them together were very obviously in love. And if people were willing to do this to one gay kid what would they be willing to do to two? And Blaine was tiny, smaller and softer than Kurt, and about as threatening. No, it was good that Blaine wasn’t here because Kurt was going to need him and if he were dealing with his own attack he wouldn’t have the resources to spare.
The sound of footsteps approaching caused all four boys to turn to face the direction they’d come from. Finn and Puck instinctively closed in around Kurt a little tighter and Sam and Mike tensed ready for a fight.
Finn had never seen Mike fight but he bet he was squirrely and Sam had muscles to spare so Finn hoped that they’d be able to do most the fighting because he did not want to leave Kurt alone. And he didn’t want Puck to be the only one handy in the fight; because Puck was good, probably better than he should be, but Puck was also angry and Finn knew from experience that he got stupid and reckless when he got angry. At least Mike had Puck’s knife, and Finn really didn’t want to think about when and why Puck had taken to carrying a knife, because Mike was far less likely to end up accidentally killing someone with it than Puck was. Finn wanted to protect Kurt any way possible but he didn’t want Puck going to jail because of it.
The four boys froze as they waited for whoever it was to appear through the trees. Finn didn’t know if everything had gotten quieter or if the sound of his own heartbeat and breathing had gotten louder but they were all he could hear.
When Quinn came tearing through the trees, Rachel’s hand held tight in her own, Mike had to quickly reach out to stop Sam from launching himself on them by mistake. Finn’s relief at seeing the girls was short lived as both took in the scene around them and Rachel’s sobbed cry sent his attention back to Kurt.
He moved out of the way as Quinn knelt next to him and quickly took in the situation. Kurt was close to hyperventilating and they needed to do something about it now but he had no idea what.
“Sweetie look at me. Kurt it’s just me okay, focus on my voice.”
Finn watched as Quinn gently took Kurt’s face in her hands and leaned over so that he could only see her.
“That’s it, come on look at me. You need to breathe slower, come on breathe with me. You remember that lamaze class you came to with me and Mercedes, let’s do it like that okay, just like that. “
Finn stared at Quinn in wonder as her words began to take effect on Kurt. He and Puck glanced at each other as their ex managed to do what neither of them had using a method she’d learnt while pregnant. The pregnancy, Puck and Quinn, Kurt’s bullying, Rachel kissing Puck, him kissing Quinn.....when did everything get so complicated?
“Daddy! Daddy they....we need help Kurt’s been hurt....”
Finn glanced over his shoulder at Rachel and saw her stood frozen looking at the group on the ground, talking into her phone to one of her fathers. As he turned back to Kurt Finn tried to remember which of them she called Daddy but couldn’t. It had been a few months since they’d broken up and he was drawing a blank but the word Daddy brought Finn’s thoughts into sharp focus. He had to call Burt. He had to call Burt and tell him that someone had grabbed his son and tried to kill him. Someone had wanted to kill Kurt! They wanted him dead. This wasn’t humiliation, this wasn’t teasing, this was attempted murder. And for what? Why? Could it really be just because he fancied the same sex? Was he that threatening to people? Because Kurt and Blaine, they were two of the least threatening people Finn had ever met.
“Who the hell would do this!!?!?”
Finn hadn’t meant to speak out loud but the look that Puck was giving him let him know that he wasn’t the only one whose brain couldn’t quite comprehend what had happened.
“Daddy says that we need to get to the hospital. He’s going to call ahead and let them know we’re on our way and he’s also calling the police. He said that some of us should stay so that when they get here they know exactly where the...where the crime scene is and that I’m to give whoever stays my phone so he can keep contact with them and let them know what’s going on. Dad is driving out here now to wait with them and then drive them home. He’s also calling Mr. Hummel. Finn I know you probably wanted to speak to him yourself but Daddy said that you need to stay with Kurt and not worry about anything else.”
“Does your Daddy have anything else he needs us to do because that’s a lot of instructions from someone who’s not even fucking here.”
“Puck!”
“No Quinn he’s right, but I just.....I don’t know what to do and my father’s do and Daddy’s really good with this sort of thing and he’s had experience although not something quite this....this awful but I just.....I just.....”
“Rachel please stop. I’m sorry I yelled, I was wrong, you did good.”
Kurt was breathing more normally now and he was beginning to focus on the actual people around him. When Quinn moved away from him Finn watched as he looked around, taking in everyone there. When Kurt’s eyes landed on him Finn tried to smile reassuringly.
“Finn?”
“Hey bro.”
Kurt wasn’t fine, Kurt wasn’t anywhere near fine. But he was here and alive and talking, everything else could wait until they were better prepared to deal with it. Rachel was right, they needed to get Kurt to the hospital; Finn needed their parents and more importantly Kurt needed his father. Scooping the smaller boy into his arms Finn started back to the car trying to be as quick and gentle as he could. He heard Kurt mumble something into his chest and lent down to hear better.
“What was that?”
“I said, if Blaine sees you doing this you’re going to give him a complex, he can’t lift me at all.”
Kurt’s voice was rough and sounded painful and Finn hoped that it hadn’t been damaged permanently.
“Well then I’m going to have to make sure I pick you up around him as much as possible. It’ll be a great way of showing him I can totally take him if he hurts you.”
“Please don’t.”
“Aww come on, you know you want me to. I really like Blaine but I never got to do the whole ‘you hurt him, I hurt you’ speech. It’ll be fun. And dude, those eyes of his, they’d be huge scared, I bet they’re like saucers.”
“Have you been checking out my boyfriend Finn Hudson?”
Finn wasn’t sure Kurt should be speaking as much as he was but the banter kept the other thoughts at bay. If Kurt wanted to act like nothing unusual had happened Finn would give him that. Soon enough they’d have to deal with what had happened but for now if Finn could give him a distraction he would. He’d not been there before but he’d be there now, after all, they were family now.