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Finn's practicing his solo when the car door opens, and he grins around the line someone that I would live for too when Kurt raises an eyebrow at him.
"Sorry," he says, and he feels himself blushing, but he's not sure why, because Kurt's heard him sing a million times. "Just practicing my number for the show. I haven't had a lot of time lately."
Kurt purses his lips and makes that weird humming noise he does when he thinks he knows something, but he's not planning to share with the class. Finn tries not to let it get to him, but it never worked all that well in high school, so he's not surprised it doesn't work so great now.
"What?"
"Nothing," Kurt says, then, "try going a little softer at the end."
"Will says Perchik's, like, totally happy," Finn says, frowning when Kurt sort of smirks at him. "He says I should really play that up."
"Sure, that's the traditional approach." Kurt shrugs as he reaches for his seat belt, and now he's not even looking at Finn, but he can still feel Kurt judging him. "But when you let your voice go a little softer you gain a sense of wonder without losing the happiness. I've heard you do it a hundred times. It might work better for you than the traditional approach."
When Kurt looks up again Finn expects to see him still smirking, but he's just smiling now like he really thinks it's a good idea. "Just a suggestion. Try it out with Schue, see what he thinks."
"Yeah, maybe," Finn says. He reaches for his keys and turns on the ignition, frowning at the road as he pulls away from the curb.
It's the first conversation they've had since Finn walked in on Kurt and Puck in what looked like a pretty intense liplock the day before. He spent the rest of the night trying not to look at Kurt or Puck, and when Kurt finally came down to their room they didn't say much more than 'goodnight' before Finn climbed into bed and pretended to be asleep.
And he doesn't want to think about Kurt like that, because it's his brother, and that's just weird. But he can't stop thinking about the way Kurt and Puck looked at each other, the way Puck's hand cupped Kurt's face in the seconds before Finn opened his mouth and interrupted them. He never would have believed it -- didn't, really, even after he heard Puck say the words over the phone -- but now that he's seen them together, it's pretty obvious that whatever they've got is for real.
Puck's still the same guy, still way too smooth and kind of a dick when he wants to be, but he's also in love with Kurt Hummel, and there's probably nobody on the planet who would have predicted that. Finn sure as hell wouldn't have made the call, and even though she seems to think it's the best idea she's ever heard now that it's happening, he's pretty sure Quinn never would have called it either.
Finn rolls to a stop at a red light, hands gripping the steering wheel a little tighter than strictly necessary. He forces himself to relax, flexing his fingers against hard plastic before he glances over at Kurt.
"So you and Puck...you're really solid."
It's not a question. Anybody can look at them and see it's true, like Finn can look at his mom when she's with Burt and know that however much she loved his dad, Burt's probably the great love of her life. He was kind of a dick about it when he was a kid, but he's pretty happy for her these days. It helps that Burt's a pretty awesome stepdad.
Kurt just shrugs, but he's doing a lousy job of keeping the stupid grin off his face, and it makes Finn feel a little better. A little less dumb, anyway, because if love can make Kurt let down his guard enough to look that goofy, nobody's immune.
"How'd that happen? If you don't mind me asking."
For a second Kurt doesn't answer, but Finn can tell it's just because he's trying to decide what to say. The light turns green and Finn rolls forward with the traffic while he waits for Kurt to spill, turning on his signal when he reaches the corner.
"I guess when you see someone from your past it can go one of two ways. Either you pretend you don't recognize them and you go on with your life, or you stop and you say hello, you ask how the other person's doing, and sometimes you discover that you have more in common than you might have realized."
"So you stopped to say hello to Puck?"
Kurt blushes then, but he's smiling too, the same smile Finn saw last night when Puck laughed at his joke about the homosexual agenda. "Actually I pretended I didn't even see him."
"Yeah, I guess Puck's not going to let anybody get away with ignoring him."
Kurt makes a noise that Finn would call a snort on anybody else, and for awhile they ride in silence. He's almost to the shop when he works up the courage to open his mouth again, heat spreading up his neck and across his face before he even gets the words out.
"So...uh...how'd you know?"
"Know what?" Kurt asks, but as soon as he looks at Finn his eyes narrow and his mouth forms a tight line. "Oh, no. You can't be serious. After all the trauma you put me through in high school, you want to have a sexual identity crisis now?"
"Listen, Kurt, I'm sorry..." Finn begins, because yeah, he's said it before, but in some ways he was as big a dick in high school as Puck. Bigger, maybe, because he acted like he was cool with Kurt, but he freaked out at the first sign that Kurt might be into him.
Kurt just waves away his apology like he doesn't have time for Finn's bullshit, and Finn figures that's fair enough. But he still wants to know the answer, so he pulls into the shop parking lot and turns off the engine, but he doesn't get out of the car.
"I cannot believe Noah was right."
Finn doesn't have to ask about what; this all started with Puck and his stupid theories in the first place. He tells himself all the time that if it wasn't for Puck he never would have noticed Will's smile or his dimples or the way he looks at Finn like he's the most interesting person Will's ever met. Sometimes he even believes it, but most of the time he's pretty sure it just would have taken him longer to end up exactly where he is.
"Tell me about it," he says, and when he laughs it sounds like somebody else is making the noise.
Kurt lets out one of those sighs that tells Finn he's tired of being right about everything all the time, and Finn can't really argue there either, because Kurt must have seen something in him way back in high school that wasn't a hundred percent straight.
"Look, just because you're a little...confused about Mr. Schuester doesn't necessarily mean your whole life's been a lie. We all get confused. Some of us just figure it out a little sooner than others."
"Really? Because you never seemed confused to me. Not about that, anyway."
"I had my moments."
That's all Kurt says, but Finn can tell there's a story there, just like he can tell Kurt's not going to spill any embarrassing details. He's not even sure he wants to know, because he's already got the image of Kurt and Puck burned into his brain, and he's not sure how much more he can take.
"So how do I get...you know...unconfused?"
Kurt glances in the direction of the shop, and when Finn follows his gaze he sees Burt watching them from the office window. Not that it matters if he's late for work, because he's going to die of embarrassment before he ever gets out of the car.
"It's called the internet, Finn. Surely you've heard of it."
"Yeah, I mean I've googled it," he says, blushing so hot he's pretty sure Kurt can feel it from the passenger seat. "But it's not exactly...I mean, a guy could hurt himself trying some of that stuff."
A short, surprised laugh escapes Kurt's throat, and he claps a hand over his mouth to hide his grin. And it's not funny, except that it kind of is, so Finn laughs too, shaky and a little -- okay, a lot -- embarrassed.
"Dude, it's Lima. You know I don't exactly have a lot of options here."
Kurt concedes the point with a slight nod. "Look, just...try not to freak out about it. For the most part it comes pretty naturally. If you want to figure it out eventually, you will."
Which is, like, the worst advice ever, but Kurt's looking at his watch, then looking over at the shop again.
"We should get in there before Dad strains something."
"Yeah, sure," Finn says, pocketing his keys before he reaches for the door handle. "Listen, Kurt...thanks."
"I'd say it was my pleasure, but..." Kurt flashes a smile that sort of looks like it hurts, and yeah, Finn knows the feeling. So he grins and lets Kurt climb out of the car and head into the office, following at a distance so he won't blush and ruin whatever story Kurt comes up with for Burt about why they were sitting in his car for so long.
He doesn't really feel any more prepared to face Will than he did when Kurt got in his car. He still doesn't know what the hell he's doing, or even if he wants to do it. But if it means there's a chance somebody might look at him the way he's seen Puck and Kurt look at each other, he's willing to give it a shot.