Fic: Day of Silence, Finn
Prompt: Kurt gets the Glee club to participate [in Day of Silence]. Day of Silence, for those unaware, students going all day without speaking to memoralize/draw attention to others in the past who have been bullied, judged for their sexuality, or generally never had their voices heard. Would love to see how the gleekers are affected by the experience.
Genre: Angst like woah/friendship
Rating: T, bordering on M for sexual harassment
Disclaimer: Not mine!
Enjoy!
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Finn talked about Day of Silence with his mom the day before.
It wasn't because he wanted her to talk him out of it or anything - not that she would - he just liked talking about important stuff with his mom. Admittedly he hadn't gone to her right away about Quinn and the baby, but that was different. He hadn't known what to do about anything then.
So the two of them sat down and talked it all over. Kurt was practically family, the two of them agreed, and Finn wanted to do everything he could to support his new brother. His mom had liked that, he could tell, and she told him she was proud. That made him smile. He loved making his mom proud.
"You do know the rest of the basketball team will give you a load of crap about this, right?" His mom gave him a reality check, having heard all about the stupid pranks those idiots liked to pull.
"Yeah," Finn shrugged it away. "Can't be worse than what they've done before, though. I'm good." He could deal with paintball guns. He could deal with a defaced yearbook picture. He could deal with the rest of the school not thinking of him as the star anymore. His friends were worth that much, and family was worth even more. Kurt was both, so he was extra-special.
But Finn was still a little bit fidgety when he arrived at school the next morning. He caught a glimpse of Rachel pressing a washcloth to Jesse's cheek in the hallway and panicked, doing a double take and staring openly at them. Sure, Jesse was a glee kid like them which meant he was game for a slushie in the face, but Jesse had the cool factor on his side. People liked him, so nobody messed with him. But had someone really beaten him up, and this early in the morning?
Oh. Rachel removed the washcloth and Finn saw a white square sticking to Jesse's cheek. That's right, Rachel had said something about getting fake tattoos for today. She had one on her cheek already, he noticed.
While he was definitely relieved that Jesse was not hurt, Finn still couldn't shake his uneasiness. He passed Mercedes on his way to first period, and they greeted each other with a strained smile and a nod, nothing like their usual very vocal greetings.
Finn usually didn't talk during class and by now his teachers knew not to call on him. He usually didn't know the answer and would either gape up at them until they called on someone else or he would make up an answer. Making up the answer only worked in math class, though, because it was the only class where there wasn't a definite answer. Today was no different. Finn sat in class and pretended to pay attention and didn't talk and didn't get called on.
Then he got to Spanish class.
Mr Schue was doing the Day of Silence with them, and Finn wasn't sure how this was going to work. Mr. Schue taught Spanish, which meant he usually spent the entire class teaching them how to pronounce their new vocabulary words correctly and listening to them parrot the words back. But today Mr. Schue was sitting behind his desk rather than standing at the front of the room. He was smiling, though, so obviously things weren't going too badly.
Normally when they had a substitute, Mr. Schue would leave a video for them to watch. Nobody would pay attention to it; they would text under the desks instead. Finn figured that something like that was going to happen today, but then Mr. Schue was standing at the front of the room motioning for quiet. He pointed to the board, and Finn noticed that the entire chalkboard was covered in both English and Spanish words. So he began reading.
You may notice that some people, including myself, are not speaking today, so on the board is your assignment. Translate the following paragraph and turn it in when you are done. You may talk quietly amongst yourselves when you have finished the assignment.
Crap. Finn sucked at this kind of thing. But he dutifully pulled out his Spanish book, resigning himself to having to flip through the Spanish/English dictionary for the remainder of the class. Most of his classmates had pulled out their books as well, but Finn noticed that Quinn and Kurt were both scribbling away, obviously both knowing enough Spanish to translate on their own.
It was weird, being in the same classroom as Mr. Schue and not hearing him talking. The classroom was silent, which meant that everyone wanted to get this assignment over with, and Finn didn't hear anyone texting. It was weird. Normally Mr. Schue's classroom was lively and fun, but today it was just dead.
But soon enough people were finishing and the low buzz of conversation filled the classroom. Finn tried to concentrate on the words in front of him, tried to remember which verb ending meant what, but he was distracted when his pocket started vibrating.
He tugged his phone out of his pocked while he looked around the room, trying to see if someone in here had just texted him. He couldn't tell if Quinn or Kurt had their phones out, but he knew both were done with the assignment. But they probably weren't texting him. They weren't the type to interrupt him if he was still working. It was probably Puck being stupid.
But when he flipped his phone open, he saw Kurt's name. Frowning, he pressed the button to accept the text and was bombarded with a giant message. That was weird. But as he read through it and realized it wasn't Kurt saying hi or asking him a question, he started to notice similarities between what the text said and what he had written on his paper.
Oh, duh. Kurt had just texted him the English translation of the paragraph. Finn wasn't sure why Kurt of all people had just done that - the other boy hated cheating - but he was grateful. Finn glanced over at him, grinning and receiving a small smile and a wink in return. He copied down what the text said, realizing that Mr. Schue had translated an explanation of what Day of Silence is. That made sense.
He still pretended to flip through his book as he wrote - he wasn't that stupid - but he still finished not long after. And what was he supposed to do now? He couldn't talk to anyone and Quinn and Kurt didn't sit next to him anyway. So Finn let his eyes wander around the room, pretending to be interested in the posters on the wall.
That got boring really fast, so Finn started eavesdropping on the girl sitting to his right.
"I didn't know Mr. Schue was into this sort of thing," the girl was saying. The girl sitting next to her nodded in agreement, adding, "I'm surprised Figgins gave him the okay."
Finn looked down at his paper, reading over the translation again. He could understand that it was surprising to some people that Mr. Schue would do this. He himself probably would have been shocked if he hadn't known about it. But it was for a good cause and it comforted him to know that the girls continued their conversation, saying how brave it was to do something like that in Lima. His chest swelled slightly, knowing that these girls thought what they were doing was brave.
But then he heard what the boy to his left was saying.
"Didn't know our Spanish teacher was a fag."
Finn's eyes darkened and locked onto the boy speaking. He didn't know who exactly the other was, but he instantly decided that he didn't like him.
"I know, who'd have thought?" another boy answered. "Everyone knows he left his wife, but I guess now we all know why."
"That's disgusting."
"He shouldn't be allowed to teach here."
"People like him are the reason kids shouldn't get close to their teachers. Did you know there was a rumor he was snooping in the showers earlier this year?"
"I bet he'd get fired for that if Figgins knew."
"We should go talk to him. I don't want to learn from a fag who's probably checking out my ass every time I walk into the room."
Finn knew he shouldn't let what those guys were saying get to him. They didn't know what they were talking about and they were just trying to flatter themselves in some sick, twisted way. Being gay didn't mean you took advantage of kids. Everyone with a brain knew that. And who cares why Mr. Schue left his wife? If it made him happier, then nobody should think twice about it.
But try though he might to calm himself down, Finn was still pissed. Nobody talked about Mr. Schue like that while he was around. Mr. Schue had stuck up for him and helped him when he didn't know where else to go, and not to mention he was a great teacher. So Finn stood up, walked in front of the first guy's desk, and punched him square in the nose.
He never got to punch the other guy, though, because almost instantly a pair of hands grabbed his arm and turned him around, forced him away from the other boy, and suddenly Finn wanted to shrink down into the floor, because it was Mr. Schue and he looked disappointed. Finn hated that look and he almost started speaking just to Mr. Schue could know why he had done it, but then he remembered he wasn't supposed to talk.
Mr. Schue led Finn up to the front of the room, only letting go of his arm when he had put several feet and a row of desks between Finn and the other boy. Then he sat down and started to write a note. Finn could feel the entire class staring at him and could hear the boy he had punched yelling something, but he didn't turn around to look and Mr. Schue didn't stop writing.
After he finished writing the note, he handed it to Finn, who saw that it was addressed to Principal Figgins. His stomach flipped and he looked at Mr. Schue again, making eye contact with the man and begging him to understand. He could see an apology in Mr. Schue's eyes, could tell that he knew Finn wouldn't have done it without a reason. That was good enough, so Finn left the room and headed for Figgins' office.
As soon as Figgins looked up and saw just who had entered his room, he let out a groan.
"Not you too," the older man looked so miserable that Finn wanted to say something to make him feel better, to tell him how sorry he was. "I just finished talking with Miss Berry and Mr. Abrams."
Wait, Rachel and Artie had gotten into trouble? Finn wanted to ask why, but he bit his tongue, holding out the note and sitting down opposite his principal. He fidgeted while Figgins read the note. It felt weird not being able to speak in his defense.
"This note says you punched another boy in class," Figgins said sternly. "In Mr. Schuester's class, no less. I understand that the lot of you glee kids aren't talking today, but I am going to need an explanation." There was a pause, and Finn wondered if he was going to have to talk to get himself out of trouble. But then Figgins flipped Mr. Schue's note over and pushed it towards him, choosing a pen and handing it to him as well. "Just write down what happened and we'll deal with this tomorrow."
Finn's meeting with Figgins was short and painless and he was feeling pretty good for someone who had just been sent to the principal's office by his favorite teacher. He knew the school would probably call his mom and that he'd have to go back tomorrow and probably get detention at some point, but it felt good not having to talk. He was grinning on his walk back to Spanish class and, when the bell rang on the way, made sure to smile at Kurt when the other boy passed him in the hallway. He ducked into Mr. Schue's room quickly to grab his backpack and then walked off to his next class as if nothing had happened.
He hadn't counted on the guy he had punched wanting to get back at him.
Finn had managed to almost forget about Spanish class by the time lunch came around, and he was making his way to the cafeteria when two guys that used to play football with him came over to him. One put an arm around his shoulders and started steering him in the other direction. Finn made to shrug him off, but the other guys said, "Not today, Hudson. We want to talk to you."
Finn doubted very much that the two guys wanted to talk, but there really wasn't much he could do to shake them off. They were both shorter than him, but he knew from football practice that both of them knew how to tackle and how to make it really hurt if they wanted to. So he walked with them, hoping that whatever was about to happen would be over with quickly and wouldn't hurt.
It was pretty stupid of him not to at least try to take on the two of them out in the hallway where someone probably would have found them, because he was being ushered into the locker rooms and about half of the football team was waiting for him. The guy he had punched was there too. It made Finn feel a little better to see that his nose was all sorts of shades of purple.
"So, Hudson, you and the rest of homo-explosion aren't talking today."
He had wondered when Karofsky was going to show up, and speak of the devil, here he was. On any ordinary day he would have yelled at the other to can it, to leave him alone, but he held back. He was supposed to be silent. He was doing this for family.
"Why is that, huh?" Karofsky took a couple steps closer and Finn was reminded that he still had those two other guys on either side of him. "Is it because your little group of fags somehow got it into their heads that you're special? Because nobody punches my brother and gets away with it."
Shit, that guy was Karofsky's brother? Finn's face paled. He hadn't even known Karofsky had a brother. But then again, the two of them had always butted heads and had never had a normal conversation, so it wasn't surprising that Finn didn't know that.
"Have at it," was all Karofsky said, then the two guys on either side of Finn grabbed hold of his arms, pulling him back against the wall, and Karofsky's brother was grinning and walking towards him so slowly that Finn wanted to yell at him to just punch him and be done with it.
"You know, I'm not entirely sure why you punched me in the first place, Hudson."
Oh, so they were going to do it this way. He was going to talk first, try to get under his skin, then beat him up. Perfect.
"I didn't even say anything to upset you." There was an oh-so-obviously fake sigh, then he continued. "Ah well, I suppose all secrets have to come out eventually, and you getting pissed because I figured out yours is completely understandable."
Wait... what?
"So why did you really join the stupid glee club? Was it really because you like to sing or was it because you're a fag just like Schuester?" Karofsky's brother lowered his voice, and Finn could feel everyone in the locker room leaning in closer so they could hear better. "Tell me, Hudson, are you the top or the bottom?"
Finn closed his eyes when he saw that, finally, he was about to get hit. A fist collided with his jaw and it took every ounce of self-control he had to not shout in pain. And then there was laughter and he opened his eyes just in time to watch the fist hit him again.
"He's the bottom!" Karofsky shouted from across the room. "A real man wouldn't close his eyes and just take it. Is this what you look like when Schuester's fucking you?"
Finn started pulling against the two idiots that were holding him against the wall. He wanted to rip Karofsky's face off and then shove it into his brother's mouth. He wanted to make sure that every single person in this entire locker room wouldn't leave until he had gotten in a good blow. This was humiliating. None of it was true, but it still hurt.
"Oh no, I think this is what he looks like!"
There was more laughter. If looks could kill, every person in the locker room would be dead by now.
"Come on, Hudson, just tell us if you're the top or the bottom," one of the other boys was saying in a sickly-sweet voice. "That's all we want to know. Just tell us and we'll forget this ever happened."
No. There was no way these bastards were going to get a single word out of him. That was what they wanted, wasn't it? They wanted to get him to talk, to make him so angry that he would forget why he was staying silent. It wasn't going to happen. Finn grit his teeth and started them down, telling them wordlessly that there was absolutely no way he was going to let them win.
"He's not gonna tell us," someone else said, shaking his head. "He's probably too embarrassed that we found out about him."
"Oh, he doesn't have to tell us," Karofsky was walking towards him again, and the menace in his face raised goosebumps all over Finn's arms. He could feel the back of his neck prickling and he knew that he did not, under any circumstances, want Karofsky to keep talking.
"Why don't we just look for ourselves?"
Oh shit. Oh shit shit shit. He tried to pull out of the two guy's grasp again.
"Come on, Hudson, you like this," Karofsky was taunting him, the wicked smile on his face making Finn wonder how they were ever teammates in the first place. "You know you do." And then Karofsky reached out, grabbing hold of the waistband of Finn's pants. Finn turned his face away, having no idea what Karofsky was going to do to him, but he knew that he didn't want to watch. He pulled against the other two again, but they just held on tighter, pressing his arms against the wall so tight that he couldn't feel his fingers.
He wondered if they had ever done this to Kurt. Had the smaller boy, who was so easy to grab hold of, been pushed roughly up against the wall and had to listen to taunts like this? Had Karofsky - or someone else, it didn't matter who - ever played with the button on Kurt's pants, unzipping the zipper so slowly that the noise was deafening?
"Flip him around," Karofsky told the two holding him, and Finn panicked. He wasn't stupid. He knew that boys could get raped too and he knew that these guys in the locker room were certainly angry enough to do it. But... they wouldn't. Right? He closed his eyes, feeling another two sets of hands close around his arms, feeling them turn him roughly and slam him back into the wall. His cheek was pressed against the cool tile and he could still feel Karofsky's hands right where he didn't want them.
"Moment of truth, Hudson," he could feel Karofsky breathing in his ear. "You gonna fess up to what Schuester's been shoving up your ass, or are we gonna have to look and see for ourselves?"
Every part of Finn was screaming for him to just tell them something, anything to get these bastards off of him. Anything to make Karofsky let him go. But Finn just swallowed loudly, breathing rough and ragged, biting his tongue so hard that he swore he tasted blood.
He could hear the clock ticking somewhere in the locker room, its sound swallowing him and making him aware of just how long a second could be.
The cold air was biting when Karofsky pulled his pants down, boxers following to leave his naked form for everyone to see. Finn squeezed his eyes shut so tight that no light could get in, so tight that had he not been painfully aware of his surroundings, he could have been anywhere. He tensed, waiting, wondering what they were going to do to him.
The clock still ticked. The hands on his arms were still tight. The air brushing over skin that it should never touch was prickling and biting.
But nothing happened.
He started counting along with the clock.
He found himself wishing for the second time that if they were going to do something, they would just do it and get it over with.
Still, nothing.
His arms were released and he heard heavy footsteps for the door. His arms fell, numb, to his sides and he turned back around, pants tangled at his ankles and causing him to fall over. His chin hit the corner of one of the benches and he tasted blood, but there was nobody there. They had all left.
Finn flexed his fingers, regaining the feeling in his limbs, and slowly picked himself up off the ground. As soon as he had enough feeling in his fingers, he pulled his pants up, hiding himself from view. The warmth of his boxers had never felt more welcome; his clothes had never felt more like a sanctuary than they did right now.
Finn stopped on his way out to take a long drink of water at the water fountain. He swished the water around in his mouth, spitting it out and then sticking his face in the way of the spout, completely drenching his face and hair.
When he finally came out of the locker room, he didn't know where he was supposed to go. Was it still lunch time? Had he missed any classes? He started for the cafeteria, thinking he should check and see if anyone was still there.
But then Kurt came bursting out of a door to his left, fingers tightening around Finn's arm and eyes spilling over with tears. Finn pulled away automatically, afraid to have someone holding his arm so tightly. But it was just Kurt, a completely disheveled Kurt with tear trails all over his cheeks and his eyes swollen and red. So Finn pulled him unceremoniously into a hug, holding the other boy close, knowing for the first time the sort of hurt that he had been put through.
When Kurt pulled away and took his hand, Finn didn't protest. He let Kurt pull him over to his locker and he didn't try to stop him when he pulled out a tube of Neosporin and dabbed it on his chin. He let Kurt put a yellow band-aid over what had to be a cut.
And if people stared at the pair of them when Finn put an arm around Kurt's shoulders and escorted him to his next class, Finn didn't pay them any attention. He was going to protect Kurt no matter what, even if he couldn't protect himself.
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Intro | Artie | Brittany | Jesse | Matt | Mercedes | Mike | Puck | Quinn | Rachel | Santana | Tina | Will | Kurt (1) (2)
Genre: Angst like woah/friendship
Rating: T, bordering on M for sexual harassment
Disclaimer: Not mine!
Enjoy!
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Finn talked about Day of Silence with his mom the day before.
It wasn't because he wanted her to talk him out of it or anything - not that she would - he just liked talking about important stuff with his mom. Admittedly he hadn't gone to her right away about Quinn and the baby, but that was different. He hadn't known what to do about anything then.
So the two of them sat down and talked it all over. Kurt was practically family, the two of them agreed, and Finn wanted to do everything he could to support his new brother. His mom had liked that, he could tell, and she told him she was proud. That made him smile. He loved making his mom proud.
"You do know the rest of the basketball team will give you a load of crap about this, right?" His mom gave him a reality check, having heard all about the stupid pranks those idiots liked to pull.
"Yeah," Finn shrugged it away. "Can't be worse than what they've done before, though. I'm good." He could deal with paintball guns. He could deal with a defaced yearbook picture. He could deal with the rest of the school not thinking of him as the star anymore. His friends were worth that much, and family was worth even more. Kurt was both, so he was extra-special.
But Finn was still a little bit fidgety when he arrived at school the next morning. He caught a glimpse of Rachel pressing a washcloth to Jesse's cheek in the hallway and panicked, doing a double take and staring openly at them. Sure, Jesse was a glee kid like them which meant he was game for a slushie in the face, but Jesse had the cool factor on his side. People liked him, so nobody messed with him. But had someone really beaten him up, and this early in the morning?
Oh. Rachel removed the washcloth and Finn saw a white square sticking to Jesse's cheek. That's right, Rachel had said something about getting fake tattoos for today. She had one on her cheek already, he noticed.
While he was definitely relieved that Jesse was not hurt, Finn still couldn't shake his uneasiness. He passed Mercedes on his way to first period, and they greeted each other with a strained smile and a nod, nothing like their usual very vocal greetings.
Finn usually didn't talk during class and by now his teachers knew not to call on him. He usually didn't know the answer and would either gape up at them until they called on someone else or he would make up an answer. Making up the answer only worked in math class, though, because it was the only class where there wasn't a definite answer. Today was no different. Finn sat in class and pretended to pay attention and didn't talk and didn't get called on.
Then he got to Spanish class.
Mr Schue was doing the Day of Silence with them, and Finn wasn't sure how this was going to work. Mr. Schue taught Spanish, which meant he usually spent the entire class teaching them how to pronounce their new vocabulary words correctly and listening to them parrot the words back. But today Mr. Schue was sitting behind his desk rather than standing at the front of the room. He was smiling, though, so obviously things weren't going too badly.
Normally when they had a substitute, Mr. Schue would leave a video for them to watch. Nobody would pay attention to it; they would text under the desks instead. Finn figured that something like that was going to happen today, but then Mr. Schue was standing at the front of the room motioning for quiet. He pointed to the board, and Finn noticed that the entire chalkboard was covered in both English and Spanish words. So he began reading.
You may notice that some people, including myself, are not speaking today, so on the board is your assignment. Translate the following paragraph and turn it in when you are done. You may talk quietly amongst yourselves when you have finished the assignment.
Crap. Finn sucked at this kind of thing. But he dutifully pulled out his Spanish book, resigning himself to having to flip through the Spanish/English dictionary for the remainder of the class. Most of his classmates had pulled out their books as well, but Finn noticed that Quinn and Kurt were both scribbling away, obviously both knowing enough Spanish to translate on their own.
It was weird, being in the same classroom as Mr. Schue and not hearing him talking. The classroom was silent, which meant that everyone wanted to get this assignment over with, and Finn didn't hear anyone texting. It was weird. Normally Mr. Schue's classroom was lively and fun, but today it was just dead.
But soon enough people were finishing and the low buzz of conversation filled the classroom. Finn tried to concentrate on the words in front of him, tried to remember which verb ending meant what, but he was distracted when his pocket started vibrating.
He tugged his phone out of his pocked while he looked around the room, trying to see if someone in here had just texted him. He couldn't tell if Quinn or Kurt had their phones out, but he knew both were done with the assignment. But they probably weren't texting him. They weren't the type to interrupt him if he was still working. It was probably Puck being stupid.
But when he flipped his phone open, he saw Kurt's name. Frowning, he pressed the button to accept the text and was bombarded with a giant message. That was weird. But as he read through it and realized it wasn't Kurt saying hi or asking him a question, he started to notice similarities between what the text said and what he had written on his paper.
Oh, duh. Kurt had just texted him the English translation of the paragraph. Finn wasn't sure why Kurt of all people had just done that - the other boy hated cheating - but he was grateful. Finn glanced over at him, grinning and receiving a small smile and a wink in return. He copied down what the text said, realizing that Mr. Schue had translated an explanation of what Day of Silence is. That made sense.
He still pretended to flip through his book as he wrote - he wasn't that stupid - but he still finished not long after. And what was he supposed to do now? He couldn't talk to anyone and Quinn and Kurt didn't sit next to him anyway. So Finn let his eyes wander around the room, pretending to be interested in the posters on the wall.
That got boring really fast, so Finn started eavesdropping on the girl sitting to his right.
"I didn't know Mr. Schue was into this sort of thing," the girl was saying. The girl sitting next to her nodded in agreement, adding, "I'm surprised Figgins gave him the okay."
Finn looked down at his paper, reading over the translation again. He could understand that it was surprising to some people that Mr. Schue would do this. He himself probably would have been shocked if he hadn't known about it. But it was for a good cause and it comforted him to know that the girls continued their conversation, saying how brave it was to do something like that in Lima. His chest swelled slightly, knowing that these girls thought what they were doing was brave.
But then he heard what the boy to his left was saying.
"Didn't know our Spanish teacher was a fag."
Finn's eyes darkened and locked onto the boy speaking. He didn't know who exactly the other was, but he instantly decided that he didn't like him.
"I know, who'd have thought?" another boy answered. "Everyone knows he left his wife, but I guess now we all know why."
"That's disgusting."
"He shouldn't be allowed to teach here."
"People like him are the reason kids shouldn't get close to their teachers. Did you know there was a rumor he was snooping in the showers earlier this year?"
"I bet he'd get fired for that if Figgins knew."
"We should go talk to him. I don't want to learn from a fag who's probably checking out my ass every time I walk into the room."
Finn knew he shouldn't let what those guys were saying get to him. They didn't know what they were talking about and they were just trying to flatter themselves in some sick, twisted way. Being gay didn't mean you took advantage of kids. Everyone with a brain knew that. And who cares why Mr. Schue left his wife? If it made him happier, then nobody should think twice about it.
But try though he might to calm himself down, Finn was still pissed. Nobody talked about Mr. Schue like that while he was around. Mr. Schue had stuck up for him and helped him when he didn't know where else to go, and not to mention he was a great teacher. So Finn stood up, walked in front of the first guy's desk, and punched him square in the nose.
He never got to punch the other guy, though, because almost instantly a pair of hands grabbed his arm and turned him around, forced him away from the other boy, and suddenly Finn wanted to shrink down into the floor, because it was Mr. Schue and he looked disappointed. Finn hated that look and he almost started speaking just to Mr. Schue could know why he had done it, but then he remembered he wasn't supposed to talk.
Mr. Schue led Finn up to the front of the room, only letting go of his arm when he had put several feet and a row of desks between Finn and the other boy. Then he sat down and started to write a note. Finn could feel the entire class staring at him and could hear the boy he had punched yelling something, but he didn't turn around to look and Mr. Schue didn't stop writing.
After he finished writing the note, he handed it to Finn, who saw that it was addressed to Principal Figgins. His stomach flipped and he looked at Mr. Schue again, making eye contact with the man and begging him to understand. He could see an apology in Mr. Schue's eyes, could tell that he knew Finn wouldn't have done it without a reason. That was good enough, so Finn left the room and headed for Figgins' office.
As soon as Figgins looked up and saw just who had entered his room, he let out a groan.
"Not you too," the older man looked so miserable that Finn wanted to say something to make him feel better, to tell him how sorry he was. "I just finished talking with Miss Berry and Mr. Abrams."
Wait, Rachel and Artie had gotten into trouble? Finn wanted to ask why, but he bit his tongue, holding out the note and sitting down opposite his principal. He fidgeted while Figgins read the note. It felt weird not being able to speak in his defense.
"This note says you punched another boy in class," Figgins said sternly. "In Mr. Schuester's class, no less. I understand that the lot of you glee kids aren't talking today, but I am going to need an explanation." There was a pause, and Finn wondered if he was going to have to talk to get himself out of trouble. But then Figgins flipped Mr. Schue's note over and pushed it towards him, choosing a pen and handing it to him as well. "Just write down what happened and we'll deal with this tomorrow."
Finn's meeting with Figgins was short and painless and he was feeling pretty good for someone who had just been sent to the principal's office by his favorite teacher. He knew the school would probably call his mom and that he'd have to go back tomorrow and probably get detention at some point, but it felt good not having to talk. He was grinning on his walk back to Spanish class and, when the bell rang on the way, made sure to smile at Kurt when the other boy passed him in the hallway. He ducked into Mr. Schue's room quickly to grab his backpack and then walked off to his next class as if nothing had happened.
He hadn't counted on the guy he had punched wanting to get back at him.
Finn had managed to almost forget about Spanish class by the time lunch came around, and he was making his way to the cafeteria when two guys that used to play football with him came over to him. One put an arm around his shoulders and started steering him in the other direction. Finn made to shrug him off, but the other guys said, "Not today, Hudson. We want to talk to you."
Finn doubted very much that the two guys wanted to talk, but there really wasn't much he could do to shake them off. They were both shorter than him, but he knew from football practice that both of them knew how to tackle and how to make it really hurt if they wanted to. So he walked with them, hoping that whatever was about to happen would be over with quickly and wouldn't hurt.
It was pretty stupid of him not to at least try to take on the two of them out in the hallway where someone probably would have found them, because he was being ushered into the locker rooms and about half of the football team was waiting for him. The guy he had punched was there too. It made Finn feel a little better to see that his nose was all sorts of shades of purple.
"So, Hudson, you and the rest of homo-explosion aren't talking today."
He had wondered when Karofsky was going to show up, and speak of the devil, here he was. On any ordinary day he would have yelled at the other to can it, to leave him alone, but he held back. He was supposed to be silent. He was doing this for family.
"Why is that, huh?" Karofsky took a couple steps closer and Finn was reminded that he still had those two other guys on either side of him. "Is it because your little group of fags somehow got it into their heads that you're special? Because nobody punches my brother and gets away with it."
Shit, that guy was Karofsky's brother? Finn's face paled. He hadn't even known Karofsky had a brother. But then again, the two of them had always butted heads and had never had a normal conversation, so it wasn't surprising that Finn didn't know that.
"Have at it," was all Karofsky said, then the two guys on either side of Finn grabbed hold of his arms, pulling him back against the wall, and Karofsky's brother was grinning and walking towards him so slowly that Finn wanted to yell at him to just punch him and be done with it.
"You know, I'm not entirely sure why you punched me in the first place, Hudson."
Oh, so they were going to do it this way. He was going to talk first, try to get under his skin, then beat him up. Perfect.
"I didn't even say anything to upset you." There was an oh-so-obviously fake sigh, then he continued. "Ah well, I suppose all secrets have to come out eventually, and you getting pissed because I figured out yours is completely understandable."
Wait... what?
"So why did you really join the stupid glee club? Was it really because you like to sing or was it because you're a fag just like Schuester?" Karofsky's brother lowered his voice, and Finn could feel everyone in the locker room leaning in closer so they could hear better. "Tell me, Hudson, are you the top or the bottom?"
Finn closed his eyes when he saw that, finally, he was about to get hit. A fist collided with his jaw and it took every ounce of self-control he had to not shout in pain. And then there was laughter and he opened his eyes just in time to watch the fist hit him again.
"He's the bottom!" Karofsky shouted from across the room. "A real man wouldn't close his eyes and just take it. Is this what you look like when Schuester's fucking you?"
Finn started pulling against the two idiots that were holding him against the wall. He wanted to rip Karofsky's face off and then shove it into his brother's mouth. He wanted to make sure that every single person in this entire locker room wouldn't leave until he had gotten in a good blow. This was humiliating. None of it was true, but it still hurt.
"Oh no, I think this is what he looks like!"
There was more laughter. If looks could kill, every person in the locker room would be dead by now.
"Come on, Hudson, just tell us if you're the top or the bottom," one of the other boys was saying in a sickly-sweet voice. "That's all we want to know. Just tell us and we'll forget this ever happened."
No. There was no way these bastards were going to get a single word out of him. That was what they wanted, wasn't it? They wanted to get him to talk, to make him so angry that he would forget why he was staying silent. It wasn't going to happen. Finn grit his teeth and started them down, telling them wordlessly that there was absolutely no way he was going to let them win.
"He's not gonna tell us," someone else said, shaking his head. "He's probably too embarrassed that we found out about him."
"Oh, he doesn't have to tell us," Karofsky was walking towards him again, and the menace in his face raised goosebumps all over Finn's arms. He could feel the back of his neck prickling and he knew that he did not, under any circumstances, want Karofsky to keep talking.
"Why don't we just look for ourselves?"
Oh shit. Oh shit shit shit. He tried to pull out of the two guy's grasp again.
"Come on, Hudson, you like this," Karofsky was taunting him, the wicked smile on his face making Finn wonder how they were ever teammates in the first place. "You know you do." And then Karofsky reached out, grabbing hold of the waistband of Finn's pants. Finn turned his face away, having no idea what Karofsky was going to do to him, but he knew that he didn't want to watch. He pulled against the other two again, but they just held on tighter, pressing his arms against the wall so tight that he couldn't feel his fingers.
He wondered if they had ever done this to Kurt. Had the smaller boy, who was so easy to grab hold of, been pushed roughly up against the wall and had to listen to taunts like this? Had Karofsky - or someone else, it didn't matter who - ever played with the button on Kurt's pants, unzipping the zipper so slowly that the noise was deafening?
"Flip him around," Karofsky told the two holding him, and Finn panicked. He wasn't stupid. He knew that boys could get raped too and he knew that these guys in the locker room were certainly angry enough to do it. But... they wouldn't. Right? He closed his eyes, feeling another two sets of hands close around his arms, feeling them turn him roughly and slam him back into the wall. His cheek was pressed against the cool tile and he could still feel Karofsky's hands right where he didn't want them.
"Moment of truth, Hudson," he could feel Karofsky breathing in his ear. "You gonna fess up to what Schuester's been shoving up your ass, or are we gonna have to look and see for ourselves?"
Every part of Finn was screaming for him to just tell them something, anything to get these bastards off of him. Anything to make Karofsky let him go. But Finn just swallowed loudly, breathing rough and ragged, biting his tongue so hard that he swore he tasted blood.
He could hear the clock ticking somewhere in the locker room, its sound swallowing him and making him aware of just how long a second could be.
The cold air was biting when Karofsky pulled his pants down, boxers following to leave his naked form for everyone to see. Finn squeezed his eyes shut so tight that no light could get in, so tight that had he not been painfully aware of his surroundings, he could have been anywhere. He tensed, waiting, wondering what they were going to do to him.
The clock still ticked. The hands on his arms were still tight. The air brushing over skin that it should never touch was prickling and biting.
But nothing happened.
He started counting along with the clock.
He found himself wishing for the second time that if they were going to do something, they would just do it and get it over with.
Still, nothing.
His arms were released and he heard heavy footsteps for the door. His arms fell, numb, to his sides and he turned back around, pants tangled at his ankles and causing him to fall over. His chin hit the corner of one of the benches and he tasted blood, but there was nobody there. They had all left.
Finn flexed his fingers, regaining the feeling in his limbs, and slowly picked himself up off the ground. As soon as he had enough feeling in his fingers, he pulled his pants up, hiding himself from view. The warmth of his boxers had never felt more welcome; his clothes had never felt more like a sanctuary than they did right now.
Finn stopped on his way out to take a long drink of water at the water fountain. He swished the water around in his mouth, spitting it out and then sticking his face in the way of the spout, completely drenching his face and hair.
When he finally came out of the locker room, he didn't know where he was supposed to go. Was it still lunch time? Had he missed any classes? He started for the cafeteria, thinking he should check and see if anyone was still there.
But then Kurt came bursting out of a door to his left, fingers tightening around Finn's arm and eyes spilling over with tears. Finn pulled away automatically, afraid to have someone holding his arm so tightly. But it was just Kurt, a completely disheveled Kurt with tear trails all over his cheeks and his eyes swollen and red. So Finn pulled him unceremoniously into a hug, holding the other boy close, knowing for the first time the sort of hurt that he had been put through.
When Kurt pulled away and took his hand, Finn didn't protest. He let Kurt pull him over to his locker and he didn't try to stop him when he pulled out a tube of Neosporin and dabbed it on his chin. He let Kurt put a yellow band-aid over what had to be a cut.
And if people stared at the pair of them when Finn put an arm around Kurt's shoulders and escorted him to his next class, Finn didn't pay them any attention. He was going to protect Kurt no matter what, even if he couldn't protect himself.
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Intro | Artie | Brittany | Jesse | Matt | Mercedes | Mike | Puck | Quinn | Rachel | Santana | Tina | Will | Kurt (1) (2)