“Wake up, sleeping beauty,”

Kurt snapped to attention with a gasp, peeling his head off of the tabletop and blinking furiously as he regained consciousness from his brief nap. Ren stood on the other side of Vogue’s lunchroom, pouring himself a cup of coffee with a knowing grin on his face.

Kurt frowned. “Sorry…”

This wasn’t the first time Kurt had dozed off during his lunch break. In fact, his stolen naps were quickly becoming a habit over the past few days. Kurt wasn’t akin to breaking office rules, but he just couldn’t help it. As much as he would deny it, schoolwork was beginning to take its toll on his sleeping patterns.

“Just don’t let Carla catch you sleeping on the job,” Ren chuckled, but Kurt didn’t find the humor. He simply sunk down in his chair, aimlessly drawing circles on the tabletop with his finger. Ren took a seat across from the slender brunette. “Listen, Kurt. If this internship is too much with school—“

“No!” Kurt seethed, bringing his hand down hard on the plastic table. Ren froze with concerned eyes as Kurt heaved a sigh. “…I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m just sick of everyone asking if I’m okay—I’m an adult now. As such, I am fully capable of looking out for my own wellbeing.”

Ren nodded. “I’m just worried about you, that’s all. This is the third time this week that I’ve caught you napping in here.”

“And it won’t happen again,” Kurt added quickly with a brisk nod. “Promise.”

Ren cast a skeptical glance toward Kurt’s drooping eyelids before returning to a grin. “Well, I have some news that might perk you up.”

Kurt’s eyebrow rose. “Do tell.”

“Every year the Vogue Company throws a gala for all its employees,” Ren announced, chuckling at the way Kurt straightened up as soon as he heard the word ‘gala’. “And, you know, interns are invited as well—“

“I’ll be there!” Kurt squealed in happiness, clutching his fists together from excitement. “I just can’t resist the opportunity to attend the same party as nearly all of my fashion heroes!”

“Great,” Ren confirmed, sipping at his coffee. “It’ll be in February—around Valentine’s Day.”

Kurt turned to Ren with wide, hopeful eyes. “Do you think I could invite Blaine? I’ll bet he’d love to come with me.”

Ren placed his coffee cup on the table carefully with a slight frown tugging at his lips. Kurt didn’t seem to notice how his entire back straightened as soon as Blaine’s name was mentioned. “Oh…I don’t know how strict they’ll be about guests…”

“It’s only one more person,” Kurt tried to convince. “He won’t be any trouble.”

Pleading ocean eyes met Ren’s chestnut ones. With a sigh, Ren forced a smile. “I suppose it’s okay.”

Kurt could hardly contain his shrieks of excitement as he bounced in his seat, already planning out sample outfits for the occasion in his mind. Ren, still appearing a bit miffed, gently rose from his chair. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work… See you around, Kurt.”

Before the slender brunette could spout his goodbyes, the soft tune of his ringtone broke out through the room. He answered without glancing at the screen, still giddy and smiling from the good news. “Hello, Kurt Hummel speaking.”

“I know it’s you, man, that’s why I called,” Finn’s deep and youthful voice said through the phone. Kurt rolled his eyes at his stepbrother’s perpetual dimwittedness.

“Oh, Finn, one day you’ll be as important and successful as me and you’ll be forced to answer the phone in a much more intelligent manner than ‘sup’,” Kurt grinned ruefully as he leaned an elbow against the table.

“Dude, don’t you just get coffee and stuff?”

Kurt’s eyes narrowed. “Not the point.”

“Mom and Burt want to know when your spring break is,” Finn continued. “And they want to know if you’re coming home or not.”

Kurt’s free hand shot up to his temple, rubbing carefully. He had completely forgotten about his previous promises to return home for spring break—the promises he had made before getting the Vogue internship. “It’s hard to say, Finn. I’m completely overwhelmed at work and I really can’t afford to take any days off. And now Blaine and I have to take care of Rachel moping around the apartment like a child which, honestly, is like a second job…”

“Wait…moping?” Finn’s voice sounded stricken with concern. “Why is she moping? Is she sad or something?”

“Moping is usually the act of a saddened individual, yes,”

Finn mumbled something to himself that didn’t quite sound like comprehensible words through the phone. “Well…what happened?”

Kurt sighed, prepared to recite the abridged version of Rachel’s sob story. “Her big Broadway audition turned out to be a big scam by some smooth-talking numbskull who swindled her out of $10,000. Now she’s broke, depressed, downtrodden, scarred for life and—apparently—quite delusional. She claims she never wants to sing again, but I bet it’s only a matter of time before she starts belting out 'Evita' in the shower again—“

“It was a scam?” Finn demanded in what sounded like a growl. “This punk just took her money and left her hanging?”

“Terrible, isn’t it?” Kurt frowned. “I really do feel bad for her.”

There was silence on the other end and then a strange, muffled noise that Kurt could have sworn sounded like a cross between a roar and a groan. The slender brunette blinked. “…Finn?”

“Uh, Kurt, I…” Finn sounded harsh and slightly out of breath. “I’m gonna… call you back…I just—“ Another strange noise that Kurt made out as a frustrated, ‘shit’. “—talk to you later!”

Finn practically screamed his final words before he hung up, causing Kurt to wince and pull the phone away from his ear. He glanced down at the phone that had now returned to its home screen.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have mentioned anything to Finn.

Kurt returned to the apartment that evening only to find a distressed Blaine sitting at the kitchen table, a mug half full of coffee lingering by his hands. The curly haired boy looked up as soon as he heard Kurt close the door behind him. The slender brunette leaned against the doorway with crossed arms, flashing his troubled boyfriend the most gentle of grins.

“Rachel’s locked herself in her room,” Blaine explained, lines of worry already etched across his forehead.

Kurt paused for a moment. “And you’re complaining because…?”

“She refuses to come out and I can hear her crying in there…I just wish there was something I could do,” Blaine muttered a bit miserably. Kurt sighed and took a seat at the table across from Blaine, leaning forward the slightest bit.

“You can’t fix everything,” He reminded him dolefully. His lips slowly twisted upward into a small smile. “Although, I must say, intense compassion is one of your many attractive qualities.”

Blaine shrugged, looking away into his coffee mug. “I just hate seeing her like this.”

“I know,” Kurt agreed softly, nearly a whisper. “Me, too.”

“And she made me watch ‘Funny Girl’ with her all morning,” Blaine continued with a bit more exasperation. “I wouldn’t normally oppose, but it started getting annoying after the seventh time around.”

Kurt pursed his lips in sympathy. “You’re a strong soul, Blaine Anderson.”

Blaine took a generous gulp of his coffee, looking ever so horrified. “I can never listen to ‘My Man’ the same way again…”

“On a brighter note, I have exciting news,” Kurt interrupted, once again bouncing in his seat and grinning with unrivaled enthusiasm. Blaine continued sipping his coffee, but raised an eyebrow from behind his mug in a silent inquiry. “You and I are going to attend the—wait for it—Annual Vogue Gala!”

But the look on Blaine’s face was not what Kurt had expected. He expected his boyfriend to jump out of his chair and smile a smile so wide that it couldn’t fit on his face. The two would hold hands, hug, and spend the rest of the night exchanging outfit options as they slowly dozed off together on their shoddy mattress. Instead, Blaine scrunched up his face in what Kurt prayed was not apprehension.

“I’m assuming Ren will be there, too?”

The standoffishness of Blaine’s tone sent Kurt’s mood on a downhill plummet. The slender brunette huffed and leaned back in his seat, away from his perturbed boyfriend. “Blaine, if you mention him one more time then—I swear—all of your hair gel will be confiscated.”

Blaine attempted to look taken aback. “I just asked a simple question—no need to be so drastic.”

“I have every right to be as drastic as I please because you are being completely ridiculous,” Kurt countered feistily. He gingerly pushed a piece of hair out of his eyes that had fallen out of its rightful place during his huff of indignation. “Ren’s presence should have no influence on your presence. I want you at that gala with me—if force and bribery are necessary, so be it.”

Blaine didn’t move—still unconvinced. Kurt tried a different tactic.

“You’ll get to wear a custom-tailored designer suit,” Kurt sang, a wide grin spreading across his face.

Blaine couldn’t repress his chuckles from the adorably hopeful expression on his boyfriend’s face. With a soft smile tugging at his own lips, Blaine leaned his cheek against his hand, staring into the unknowingly breathtaking eyes of Kurt. “Alright, fine—how can I say no to that argument?”

Kurt squeaked happily and quite literally leapt out of his chair. He pranced over to Blaine and threw his arms around the dark haired boy who was still chuckling. “Just you wait—it’s going to be fabulous! You’ll get to meet everyone from work and—“

A loud, brisk knock at their door interrupted Kurt’s train of thought. The two boys froze, shared a look, and then glanced toward the clock. It was nearly nine in the evening—it was much too late to be expecting visitors. Regardless, Kurt made a dash for the front door just as the visitor banged against it again, this time with much more force. Blaine stood and followed after Kurt.

“Coming! Hold on,” He called out. Kurt swung the door open and nearly jumped backward from the sight. “Um…Finn?”

There, in the doorway, stood Finn Hudson. The tall jock towered over the two stunned shorter boys, panting heavily with flushed cheeks. Water from the tiny snowflakes of outside glazed over his short hair and periodically dripped down to the floor below him. His jacket was zipped up all the way to his neck and a single backpack—stuffed to the brim—was slung over his brawny shoulder. Finn had a strange look of dazedness and determination written across his face as he stood before the couple—a look that often accompanied Finn’s more mature side. Subtly, a tentative and sheepish smile tugged at the taller boy’s lips as he shifted his weight back and forth.

“…hey, guys.”

Kurt blinked furiously. “Finn?”

The lanky teen shifted his eyes to the side uncertainly. “I know this is kind of…weird…”

“What are you doing here?” Blaine wondered, clearly the most articulate of the three.

“Kurt told me about Rachel,” Finn admitted after an uncomfortable pause. He gawked downward at his large feet. “I couldn’t help it…I just needed to make sure she was okay…I hate that she’s unhappy and I’m so far away from her.”

“You packed your bag, bought a plane ticket, and hiked to our apartment to see Rachel in less than ten hours?” Kurt cried incredulously. “What is wrong with you?”

Finn’s expression dropped under Kurt’s critical tone. “I know it sounds crazy…”

“Do dad and Carole know you’re here?” Kurt demanded.

“Uh…well, sorta,”

“Sort of?” Kurt folded his arms tightly across his chest, glowering gravely. “Either they do or they don’t.”

“Okay, then no—they don’t,” Finn answered hurriedly. “But I’m already here, so…”

Blaine stepped forward and grabbed Finn’s thick upper arm to pull him into the apartment, taking in his wet and shivering form. “Finn, come inside. You must be freezing.”

“Uh,” Finn tripped into the room, glancing sideways at Kurt who was muttering under his breath—something along the lines of ‘stupid…so stupid’. “Thanks, dude.”

“I’m assuming you didn’t think this whole thing through, did you?” Blaine asked calmly, leading the jock toward the futon and taking his bag from him.

Finn opened his mouth to reply, but Kurt beat him to it. “Of course he didn’t.”

“Well, you’ll have to stay here, then,” Blaine concluded definitively, motioning for Finn to remove his jacket. Finn complied and Blaine hung the dripping article of clothing on the coat rack.

“Excuse me?” Kurt shot panicked looks back and forth between his stepbrother, who was now sitting wide-eyed on the futon, and Blaine who carefully took a seat beside him. “Rachel’s going to rip us to shreds when she finds out we’re letting Finn stay here.”

Blaine shrugged. “We don’t really have a choice.”

Kurt suddenly felt very defenseless against Blaine—whose soft hazel eyes looked more like a lost puppy than usual—and Finn’s relentless stare of pathetic forlornness. As much as Kurt tried to stay rigid, he could feel his stubbornness quickly fading away into nothing. Finn was family—and he really didn’t have any other place to stay.

“You’re right. Finn stays,” Kurt agreed with a sigh, clearly to the surprise of both Blaine and Finn. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you about the wrath of Rachel.”

Finn’s unexpected visit undoubtedly brought along unexpected emotions—particularly from Rachel. When she tiptoed out of her room to grab a new box of Kleenex and saw a wet and bewildered Finn sitting on the futon with Blaine and Kurt, it was nearly impossible to tell if she started crying or screaming first. A few pillows were thrown and, at one point, the television remote. But the fury ended when Rachel retreated back to her room, refusing to come back out until he had left the apartment.

“Honey, I really hope you don’t mean that,” Kurt attempted to reason with Rachel as he spoke into her closed wooden door. He quickly shot a glance behind him at Finn and Blaine who were still situated on the futon, listening intently to the conversation. Kurt swallowed, bracing himself for the hysteria that was bound to pursue once he told Rachel the truth. “Because Finn was planning on staying at our apartment.”

There was silence on the other side of the door. After a few agonizing moments of Kurt thinking Rachel must have jumped out of her window, he knocked again. “Rachel? Are you—“

The door swung open and Rachel stood in the doorway mere inches away from Kurt. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying and her long, brunette hair was untamed and wild. Fuming, she released a breath that sounded more like a growl. Kurt instinctively took a step back from her horror movie-esque appearance.

“What?” She shrilled. Blaine quickly jumped up from the futon and fumbled over toward Kurt, clearly concerned for the safety of his boyfriend.

“It’s only for a couple of days,” Blaine explained democratically, lowering his voice so that Finn was no longer a part of the conversation. “Just until Finn is ready to go home.”

Rachel shook her head violently. She didn’t seem to care whether or not Finn overheard their conversation. “I refuse to sleep under the same roof as Finn Hudson.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit overdramatic—even for you?” Kurt placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling contritely. “You can just lock yourself away in your room until he leaves if that pleases you. Besides, he’s my stepbrother—I can’t just throw him out on the street.”

“And he came all the way over here just to make sure you’re okay after everything that happened,” Blaine added, placing his reassuring hand on Rachel’s other shoulder. “The least you could do is offer him a place to stay.”

Rachel’s jaw fell open incredulously as she glared daggers at Blaine. “Wait…Finn knows about what happened?”

Kurt shrugged sheepishly as Rachel’s scrutinizing eyes landed on him. “I might have mentioned it to him on the phone…”

Again, Rachel growled and shook her shoulders so that Blaine and Kurt’s comforting hands fell limp to their sides. She looked back and forth between her two roommates, feeling increasingly more ganged up on. “I didn’t want him to know!”

Finn blinked from his spot on the futon. “Um… I can still hear everything you guys are saying.”

“Just talk to him,” Kurt ordered sternly, ignoring his stepbrother’s previous comment. He lightly stuck his hip out and crossed his arms tightly across his chest like he always did when he wanted to appear defiant. “He’s really worried about you, Rachel.”

“Worried about me?” Rachel forced a laugh, high-pitched and deranged. “Finn doesn’t care about me—he never has!”

With that, Rachel rushed back into her room and slammed the door shut in Kurt and Blaine’s faces. The three boys stood motionless as they heard broken, choked sobs ripping through Rachel’s chest from the other side of the door. Finn released a loud breath and sunk down into the cream futon. Blaine’s eyes darted around the room anxiously until they landed on Kurt’s. His boyfriend was giving him a look—a look that Blaine understood clearly even though no words had been spoken.

“I’ll go make some coffee,” Blaine announced suddenly, dashing off toward the kitchen. Kurt turned on his heel to face his stepbrother who had now flopped across the futon with his arms outstretched and his long legs dangling uselessly off the edge.

“She really hates me, huh?” Finn mumbled miserably. Kurt sighed and slowly approached the futon.

“If there’s one thing we both know about Rachel it’s that she loves the drama,” He offered a tentative smile at Finn, but he didn’t appear to share the amusement. Kurt motioned for him to make room on the futon so Finn sluggishly shifted his position until he was sitting upright, slouching pathetically. “In all honesty, Finn—how many times over the course of your two’s mottled relationship has she angrily slammed the door in your face, declaring she never wanted to see your face again?”

Finn actually took a moment to consider the rhetorical question. “There was that time I accidentally sat on her favorite hair clip…”

“My point is,” Kurt interrupted fluidly, taking a seat beside his stepbrother on the futon. “She’ll come around. She always does.”

A groan escaped Finn’s lips as he leaned his head back to stare at the chipped ceiling. He let his hands fall lifelessly into his lap like an impatient child. “Well, what am I supposed to do now?”

“Stay with us,” Kurt answered immediately, nodding definitively at a dismal Finn. He shot a quick look over toward Rachel’s locked door. “She has to come out of there eventually—and when she does, you two will sort out all of your issues.”

Blaine cautiously hovered by the living room entrance with two mugs of coffee, waiting for some sort of indication that he was allowed to enter again. After shuffling back and forth aimlessly for a few moments, the curly haired boy gently cleared his throat. Kurt and Finn turned their heads toward the wary grin of Blaine who simply shrugged once and held out one of the mugs. “Coffee?”

“Yes, please!” Kurt replied, positively beaming as soon as his boyfriend had entered the room. He jumped up from his seat and approached Blaine in a spritely manner, taking the mug that had been offered to him. “You’re the sweetest.”

Blaine smiled dopily as he took a sip of his own coffee, playfully bumping Kurt with his hip. His eyes flickered toward Finn. “There’s soda in the fridge if you want some, Finn.”

“No, thanks, man. I’m cool,” Finn sighed. He turned around to stare at Rachel’s unmoving bedroom door. “I think I’ll just go to sleep…I’m pretty tired.”

Blaine chugged down the rest of his coffee and scurried off into the other room. “I think we have an extra blanket around here somewhere.”

Kurt glanced at his stepbrother over the rim of his coffee mug that he held near his lips, watching the tall jock’s expression drop as Rachel’s muffled sobs could be heard in the silence. Yes, Finn was a dope. Yes, sometimes he made Kurt want to slap some sense into him. Kurt was well aware of all these things. And, yes, Kurt knew that Finn was irrationally in love with Rachel. He could see it in the way he gaped at her door, praying for her to come out. Most of all, Kurt knew from the way Finn willingly put his life on hold to see her—to make sure she was okay. Kurt tried to imagine what he would have done if he were in Finn’s position and Blaine in Rachel’s. He would travel across the entire world to make sure Blaine was safe.

“Sorry, bro,” Finn mumbled apologetically, suddenly turning his attention toward his stepbrother as he fidgeted with his fingers. “I didn’t mean to bother you or anything…I just needed to see—“

“I know,” Kurt responded softly and with the utmost sincerity toward his stepbrother. The brunette was surprised at how naturally the words poured out of his mouth. “It’s alright, Finn.”

It was nearly midnight in the bustling city, but Finn couldn’t get to sleep. He sat on the futon with a small, embroidered blanket—that barely covered a quarter of his bulky frame—lying across his lap. The television flashed colors across the dark living room, mumbling at a low volume that could not be comprehended. Finn blinked slowly, unfocused from the late-night television, but still too wired to fall asleep.

A low creak caught Finn’s attention, causing the tall brunette to glance over his shoulder toward the cause of the noise. Rachel tiptoed out of her room, bundled up in her favorite polka-dotted night robe and fluffy slippers. Her hair was much more disheveled than usual and, even in the poor lighting, Finn could tell her round chocolate eyes were red and irritated from crying. Finn and Rachel’s eyes met like two deer caught in headlights.

“Hi,” Finn whispered, watching somewhat cautiously to make sure Rachel didn’t throw anything else at him.

“Hello,” Rachel replied, much to Finn’s surprise. Her voice was breathy and choked.

There was another beat of silence that pierced both of their hearts until Finn began, “So I wanted to—“ at the same time Rachel started, “What are you—“

“Sorry,” Finn muttered into the quiet. “You go.”

Rachel swallowed, narrowing her gaze. “What are you doing here, Finn?”

Normally, this would be the perfect opportunity for Rachel to reprimand Finn with her patented ‘no-nonsense’ tone, complete with a lip pout and hands placed firmly on her hips. That’s why Finn knew something was very wrong when Rachel’s question came out much more hurt and defeated than he expected. The jock’s mouth opened slightly.

“I came to see you,” Finn finally answered, feeling his cheeks burn with heat. “I know you’re mad at me and stuff, but when I found out about that guy scamming you I just—“

“You need to leave,” Rachel stated with more force. “It’s none of your business.”

As much as it pained him, Finn knew Rachel was right. Her business stopped being his when he broke up with her. However, that didn’t diminish the intense fury that bubbled up in Finn’s chest whenever he thought about what he would do to the guy who hurt Rachel if he ever saw him…

“Kurt told me you don’t want to sing anymore,” Finn began calmly. Rachel simply nodded. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Rachel instinctively took a step forward, but stopped herself before she got too close to Finn. “What’s the point if no one will take me seriously? What’s the point if people will just use my talent against me? I don’t want to get hurt anymore.”

“But…” Finn opened and closed his mouth in a few futile attempts to formulate the proper response before speaking, soft and intense. “…you’re a singer, Rachel. It’s what you do.”

Rachel could feel another thin layer of tears coat her eyes.

“I’m not good with this kind of stuff, but you have to know what a beautiful voice you have,” Finn went on with more conviction. “It’s the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard in my life and if you don’t sing anymore, you’ll be taking away this…gift that you have. Don’t let this one thing ruin your career. The world deserves to hear you sing, Rachel.”

More silence followed Finn’s words. Rachel looked on, unbelievably, at the boy who still made her heart pound against her chest. The tears were about to stream down her face again so she twirled around and covered her mouth. “Thank you, Finn, but…I can’t.”

With that, she disappeared inside her room once again, closing the door shut behind her. And Finn simply watched.