Burt glanced up from the screen and nodded. "Sure thing. Just remember it's her room, okay?"

Kurt managed to look thoroughly offended and put his hands on his hips. "She'll love it. I have excellent taste." Glad that his father hadn't questioned the explanation, Kurt added, "I have some homework," before disappearing to head up to his room. There was no sense in pushing his luck.

Excusing himself to Burt, Finn was on his feet and chasing after Kurt the moment his stepbrother left the room. "Kurt," he called out, almost reaching for the other teenager's arm and stopping himself just in time. "Hey, erm, are you okay? Burt was about to send me out to look for you." Finn, not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, was surprisingly quick to realize there was something different about Kurt. Kurt's perfectly coiffed hair wasn't perfect at all. In fact, it reminded Finn of how Quinn's looked after... His gaze narrowed and Finn felt his heart sink as realization dawned on him. "Did you and Blaine...?" Shaking his head quickly, he added, "No, it's none of my business." //So then why is it eating you up inside?//

Kurt's eyes flashed and then narrowed, his chin lifting. "No, it isn't. I don't recall ever demanding details after your dates with Quinn. And I won't." The truth was that there had always been something hurtful about knowing. Even as he'd grown closer to Rachel, Kurt had been careful not to let her say too much. He didn't want to know. Not any of it. "Was there something else? I really do have homework." He didn't, but Kurt was anxious to be free of the awkward moment and the strangeness of being close to Finn again.

Kurt had every right to be pissed off, Finn decided. Not only had he treated him badly, now he was prying into his private life. He sighed and brushed a hand through his hair, completely at a loss over what to say or do to make things right between them again. "Look, I'm sorry. I just want you to be careful, that's all." There was a hell of a lot more to it than that, but Finn continued the pretense of not remembering anything that happened last night. He couldn't let himself dwell on it, otherwise he was sure he'd go insane. A half smile tugged at one corner of his mouth as he added, "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a little over protective."

The words did their job and Kurt let the tension drain from his stance with a soft sigh. "I'm careful, Finn. We're careful. I love him, but that doesn't mean I turn into a complete idiot around him." That wasn't entirely true, but it was close enough. Deciding to try and smooth over any ruffled feathers his attitude had caused, Kurt added, "It's sweet that you care. It's just a bit... strange discussing things like that with you, that's all."

"It shouldn't be," Finn countered, resting one hand on the wall close to Kurt's head. "You can talk to me about anything. Or at least I want you to." His eyes raked over Kurt's face, taking in those full, obviously kiss swollen lips. Suddenly Finn wasn't so sure he wanted to open things up for Kurt to confide in him what had transpired between him and Blaine. It sparked an angry fire deep in his belly. It made him want to punch Blaine's pretty boy face in. "Hey, erm, I-" Finn searched for something, anything to distract himself from the hot pulse of jealousy he was feeling, "-you sure you're okay? It's just... I've never seen your hair like this before." Before he could stop himself, Finn reached out and flicked a strand back into place.

Kurt's eyes widened slightly both in horror at the idea that he looked at all bad and surprise at the casual contact. "Oh... is it really...?" He hurried up a couple of steps to pause at the mirror hung on the landing of the stairs. The sight of his frazzled reflection brought a slight frown to Kurt's face. "Hmmm... it is." He sighed and shrugged, adding quietly, "Guess it's a good thing dad never notices how I look." //And neither does Finn, does he?// "Well, you're welcome to come up with me while I fix this," Kurt offered in the further interest of making peace. "Homework can wait a little while."

Finn should have definitely said no. Returning to the living room and finishing the game with Burt would have been the smart thing to do. But, Finn wasn't known for his smarts. "Sure, cool," he replied, following Kurt to his room. Memories of last night reemerged the instant he stepped over the threshold, and Finn had to avert his eyes from the bed. "You and Mercedes this weekend, huh?" He sat on the edge of Kurt's desk, tossing an imaginary football between his hands. "It's gonna be quiet without you around."

Kurt considered just how honest he should be as he sat down in front of the mirror. The truth was that he was bursting to tell *someone* even if that someone happened to be the person who had sent him crying to Blaine's that morning in the first place. The irony wasn't lost on Kurt, but impulse won out over common sense. "Well... actually... that was a liiiiittle white lie," Kurt confessed as he carefully began putting his hair back into place. He could see Finn's reflection clearly in the mirror and gave a small shrug. "Blaine asked me to stay over, and I thought that dad might be less than thrilled."

Finn's heart sank and he had to pick his jaw up off the floor. "Of course he wouldn't like it!" he all but exploded. "What the hell are you thinking, Kurt? You can't just lie and run off and spend the weekend with Blaine..." Finn towered over his stepbrother, his face red and his body shaking with anger. He kept reminding himself that he was only looking out for Kurt's best interests, but deep down Finn knew jealousy when he felt it, and the spark erupted into a full blown flame.

Kurt was out of his chair in a heartbeat and standing almost chest to chest with Finn. "I can and I will," Kurt answered at once. "I only told you because I thought that you wanted me to be able to talk to you." That had obviously been a stupid idea. He should have called Mercedes or even Rachel and left Finn the hell out of it. "There is absolutely no reason I shouldn't spend the weekend with Blaine. He loves me. That matters to some of us. I shouldn't have to mention this, but since you're behaving this way... I'm sure that you'll be keeping this to yourself unless you'd like your mother to hear about the fact that you spent a tidy little chunk of your savings renting a cheap motel room with Santana. Now, if you'll excuse me," Kurt added in the coldest tone he could muster, "I think I'd rather be alone at the moment."

Kurt's outburst cut through Finn like a knife. He had seen his stepbrother angry before, but nothing quite like this, and it left Finn reeling. "Kurt," he started, only to open and close his mouth like a fish out of water. What the hell was wrong with him? He had no right to tell Kurt what he could and could not do, so why was he bothered with the idea of Kurt and Blaine spending a weekend together? "Fine, do what you want," Finn exhaled, throwing his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. He stalked out of Kurt's room and headed to his own.

Tumbling down onto the bed, Finn threw a pillow across the room. He stared up at the ceiling and tried to calm himself. His emotions raged within him, churned around like the sea in the middle of a hurricane. Why couldn't he stop thinking about Kurt in that way? As much as it pained Finn to admit it, Kurt loved Blaine and they were happy together. He had done the right thing pretending nothing happened the night of the prom. Or at least Finn thought so. Ruining Kurt's happiness was the last thing he wanted to do. Confused more than ever before, he rolled over onto his side and tried to go to sleep.

Later that night, Finn woke from a dream with a gasp. Kurt. Again. He blinked in the darkness of the room, and found himself not only dripping with sweat but also hard as a rock. //Shit! This has got to stop...// Kurt had invaded his sleep for what seemed like the umpteenth time that week. Persistent images of his stepbrother's mouth roaming all over his body left Finn a helpless bundle of need. And the only way he knew to get it out of his system was to take himself in hand. "Kurt," he moaned aloud, stroking feverishly.

***********

To say that he was having a restless night barely began to describe it. Kurt tossed and turned, frustrated with himself for more reasons than he could count. He shouldn't have let Finn get under his skin, but there it was. He should never have tried to offer an olive branch to begin with. The Incident - as he chose to think of it - had left him uncertain and unhappy. And then there was the part of him that didn't care about any of it and couldn't do more than be a bundle of happily excited nerves about the weekend to come.

Ultimately Kurt decided to give up on sleep for awhile and sighed as he pulled himself up out of bed to steal away downstairs for a little therapy session with Ben & Jerry. He was almost to the top of the stairs when he heard his name in Finn's voice. The thing was, Finn's door wasn't open, and it didn't exactly sound like he was being paged. It actually sounded like... //No. Absolutely not. Not after this morning.// If what he thought was happening really was happening, then Finn was full of it. The thought brought a new surge of anger, and Kurt couldn't help creeping a little closer to his stepbrother's door.

With the dream images plaguing his mind as well as the memory of heatedly kissing Kurt the night before, Finn found himself already dangerously close to the edge. His cock swelled in his pumping fist, harder and thicker than ever before. Legs quaking, further tremors coursed up through his heaving chest as Finn's breathing gusted out of him faster and faster. "Kurt," he moaned, vividly imagining it was his stepbrother's hand working instead of his own. "Fuck! Don't stop..." He was too far gone to care that his cries might have been heard by the entire household. What obliterated his senses completely was fantasizing that Kurt's mouth - that full, impossibly soft mouth - had taken him inside. Finn came with an almighty groan, calling out Kurt's name over and over again.

Kurt slumped back against the wall. There was absolutely no denying it. "Oh," he whispered to no one in particular before slipping back to his own room. Kurt was in a state of shock all over again. Finn had meant it. Everything he'd said the night before, he'd meant it. //So why deny it today?// But he already knew the answer to that. Because when Finn was sober, he knew he didn't want to be gay. He didn't want to admit that he could possibly be attracted to another man. Kurt let out a long, slow breath. But it had been *true*. Finn really had wanted him... did want him... Though he was slightly disgusted with himself, the idea was still exciting, still intoxicating. Kurt groaned. Why did things have to be so complicated? He had finally found someone wonderful who truly cared about him, and suddenly Finn Hudson decided to start peeking out of the closet. Frustrated, Kurt flung himself back on the bed and pulled up the covers. He was *not* going to lose sleep over Finn, not after what he'd done.

As it turned out, the vow was as hollow as it felt. Kurt spent most of the rest of the night even more restless as he turned it all over and over in his head. The only thing he was sure of by the time he dragged himself out to the car to drive to school was that he knew exactly what song he wanted to sing at practice that afternoon.