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“Can you help me with this?” Finn asked; the icy blue fabric hanging off either side of his neck.
Kurt looked up at the taller man once he’d finished tying his blue dress shoes. He smiled at Finn as he stood up, his hands coming around to flip up the collar of the shirt. His hands tangled slightly in the longer hair at the nape of the best man’s neck. “You should have let me give you a trim yesterday,” he murmured.
Finn tried not to groan at the sensation of Kurt’s hands in his hair, or the way it felt when the groom began to button up the three buttons he’d left undone on his shirt. “You were busy; we both were,” Finn offered as an explanation. “It’ll be fine.” His gaze was focused on something across the room, and not how beautiful his step-brother looked.
Kurt finished tying knot in the fabric, his hands coming back up to smooth the collar of Finn’s shirt back down. His hands followed the fabric down his chest, finally giving two pats just over the taller man’s rapidly beating heart. “All done. And you look so handsome,” the groom said with a smile.
For a minute or two they just stood there, staring at each other. Kurt must have seen something in Finn’s eyes, because his head tilted slightly as if he was trying to figure out some puzzle. Then he rose on tiptoes and pressed a chaste, brotherly kiss to Finn’s cheek. “Thank you for being here with me today. I’m not even nervous at all.”
Finn exhaled sharply; he wasn’t sure what exactly that meant. Was it a bad sign that Kurt wasn’t nervous? And what did his lack of nerves have to do with Finn being there. He offered Kurt half of a grin. “Where else would I be?” he voiced although his head reminded him he’d rather be anywhere but here. But it’s not like he could say no to Kurt; he never really could. Not when he asked him to be his best man; not when he called him brother.
**
The hall was decorated with silver, white, and an ice blue. Hundreds, if not thousands of white flowers; roses, carnations, lilies, daisies, and mums, lots of blue fabric and ribbon, with silver accents such as the vases for the flowers, candlesticks, and framed photos of the happy couple all throughout. Kurt had really done a great job, and Finn couldn’t help but smile as he looked around. Tables sat along the edge of the hall, and the chairs were currently arranged in rows, the guests all seated and waiting, where the dance floor would later be. Behind where the wedding party and officiant would stand, was the head table. It was perfect; well, almost. Finn knew he should be paying more attention to the actual ceremony, and not miss his cue, but it was hard to focus and not feel his heart constrict. But apparently someone was on his side as he looked up at the exact moment Blaine shifted more towards him, hand outstretched, palm up, for the ring.
He felt his eyebrows furrow as he remembered which pocket held which ring, and pulled out the right one, placing it in Blaine’s palm. Finn let out a deep breath and blinked his eyes, feeling the stinging prick of tears about to fall. He didn’t want to cry, instead turning his head slightly and squeezing his eyes shut. If he hadn’t been so focused on crying, he might have missed what happened next, but again, maybe someone really was looking out for him.
“…Do you Finn, take Kurt?” asked the officiant. Even though the crowd had been quiet before, it seemed even quieter now, save the pounding of his heart. Without a second thought, Finn stepped around Kurt, putting a hand on his arm. His hand slid down Kurt’s arm as Finn stepped between Kurt and Blaine, until Finn’s larger hand bumped Blaine’s out of the way.
“Hey,” Blaine began to protest as Finn gave Kurt’s hand a squeeze and the quiet gave way to nervous laughter.
“I do,” Finn said, surprised a little at how loud and sure his own voice sounded. The nervous laughter had switched to loud gasps of surprise and he could hear chairs scrape against the floor as people stood up. There was some applause, and a familiar voice that yelled “Go Hudson!” which made him smile.
Kurt however was not smiling and so Finn tried hard not to smile either. The other man looked a little like a fish, his mouth opening and closing, but words not coming out, his head tilting, the same way it had earlier, as if Kurt was considering the same puzzle. But he hadn’t let go of Finn’s hand, so Finn thought maybe that was a good thing.
The officiant seemed to recognize his error and seemed sheepish. “Should I restart?” he asked. He looked from Kurt, to Finn, and then to Blaine.
“Finn,” Blaine said sternly, but Finn didn’t even acknowledge him. “Kurt,” he tried.
That seemed to spurn Kurt into action. “Give us a few minutes?” he said softly to the officiant before turning to the crowd. He chuffed out a nervous laugh of his own. “If all of you don’t mind giving us a few minutes…” he trailed off, not waiting for anyone’s response before he started to pull Finn back towards the room where they’d gotten ready.
Finn grinned, until he realized Kurt’s other hand had reached out and tangled with Blaine’s and the other man was being pulled along with him. He tried not to look over at Blaine, tried not to feel guilty about what he had done. It wasn’t easy exactly, but it also wasn’t hard to remember all the times Blaine had screwed up, all the times and ways he’d hurt Kurt. Not that Finn was perfect. He knew he wasn’t. But he also knew Kurt never expected him to be. And that somehow made it okay.
Finn felt Kurt gently push him into a chair outside the room. “You; wait here,” he said, as if Finn were some over grown puppy. But since it was Kurt’s wedding day, he didn’t say anything and only nodded, scowling as the other two men disappeared into the room together. He tried to listen but they apparently were keeping their voices low, or they weren’t talking. Finn tried very hard not to think about that .
Cooper appeared in the hallway. “Everyone’s going a little nuts out there,” he explained. “What exactly was that all about?”
Finn shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t have an explanation; at least not one that Kurt didn’t deserve to hear first, and not Blaine’s brother. “They’re in there,” he nodded towards the closed door. It felt like they had been in there forever, but Finn rationalized it had probably only been a few minutes.
“I guess that’s a good thing,” Cooper acknowledged as he took a seat beside Finn.
Finn closed his eyes, hoping Cooper wouldn’t ask him anything else, or hit him, or something.
They both stood up as they heard the knob twist and the door open. Blaine marched out, purposefully, but not happily. For a second, Cooper looked torn between going after Blaine, or confronting Kurt. Finn glared at the elder Anderson brother before he stepped into room and shut the door. Kurt was standing with his back to him, arms obviously crossed in front of him, judging by the pull of his jacket, and staring out the window.
“Kurt,” Finn said softly, wanting to make sure the other man knew he was here.
Kurt held up a hand. “I don’t want to know what that was all about Finn,” he said softly.
Finn didn’t let Kurt’s words stop his advancement into the room.
“Just, thank you.”
“Thank you,” Finn echoed with a chuckle. “Why are you thanking me? I interrupted your wedding.” He was now within touching distance of Kurt but he didn’t reach out, not yet.
“Thank you for having the guts to interrupt my wedding,” Kurt whispered. “I should haven’t let it get this far.”
Finally, Finn let his arms wrap around Kurt, pulling him until they were flush against each other. “I saw my chance and I took it,” he whispered. “It was my last chance, as best as I could tell.” He hooked his chin over Kurt’s left shoulder. “It’s been so hard, standing beside you, being your best man; but I couldn’t say no to you.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Kurt choked out between soft sobs.
“I thought you were happy,” Finn countered. “I didn’t want to ruin that.”
“So you ruin my wedding instead?” The sobs were now interspersed with chuckles.
“I thought we had a moment,” he shrugged. “When we were getting ready; and I thought, maybe you weren’t quite so happy.” He chuckled. “Or maybe I’m just a jerk.”
“I’m always happy with you,” Kurt whispered, turning in his arms. He cradled the left side of Finn’s face in his hand. “Even if we’re not together, I’m happiest with you.” His eyes scanned Finn’s face. “So does that little interruption mean you maybe want to be my jerk.”
Finn nodded. “Anything; as long as I get to finally do this.” He brushed his nose against Kurt’s before tilting his head enough to brush their lips together softly.