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"I don't see what else we could have done," Mike points out, and the others make sounds that indicate they agree except.
That except is pretty fucking loud. It has been since Burt (his new dad) flung that accusation at him ("What the hell have you been doing while this is all going on, huh?") and the rest of the Glee Club dressed him down for it ("Where were you?" "It shouldn't have gone down without you, Finn") and even though Finn thought he'd kinda made his apologies at the wedding, when all the feel-good was in the air and he'd made it as public as possible that he wanted to be there for Kurt, none of that seems to count now. Kurt hasn't really even talked to him since the wedding and there's a big empty spot in the choir room that doesn't smell like weird unisex cologne anymore and everyone's tense as hell wondering how to fill it when they don't want to. They resent having to.
And Finn can't help but feel like he'd missed his chance to be a leader and be a brother and prevent that loss from happening. He's sure that Burt looks at him sometimes and wishes that Finn could've stepped up and saved them the money it's costing to send Kurt to that Dalton place; he's pretty sure Mr. Schue's long harried sighs are brought on by wondering how he's gonna make up for not having Kurt's voice in their songs anymore. And try as he might, nothing that Finn does now can really make up for … any of it, really.
Seeing Dave Karofsky's smug face in the hall makes Finn start grinding his teeth so hard he sleeps with his mouthguard in these days. He can't just haul off and beat the crap out of the guy, even if he does deserve it and he should be the one exiled, not Kurt. That would just cause more problems, more disappointed looks and sighs, and Finn's had as much as he can take of fathers who thought he was a good buy but turned out to be a lemon.
He doesn't realize it but he's stalking around with his hands in fists more often than not. It's only when he's putting gas in his mom's car that he realizes, because as he's standing there breathing in the fumes he spots Dave's dad pulling into the parking spot and going inside. He's alone and Finn stands holding the gas nozzle, heart starting to pound against the trammel of his ribcage, a screen of red coming down behind his eyes, and when he sees Dave's dad — Paul, that's his name, Paul Karofsky — come out of the gas station holding scratch-off lottery tickets Finn leaves his mom's car and strides over.
"Hey," he says, and the man looks up from unlocking his car. There's nothing, no recognition, and that makes Finn's lip curl because this hump doesn't even know the connection, he's blissfully unaware, he gets to be ignorant to who else is caught up in the net of Karofsky's bullshit. "Yeah, hey. I'm Finn Hudson. I'm Kurt's brother, you know, Kurt Hummel?"
The penny drops and the mildly alert and guarded look on Paul Karofsky's nondescript face turns into one that's actively concerned. "Did something happen to him? Your brother, I mean—"
"You mean on top of what already happened? What your shithead of a son did to him?" Finn crowds in closer and feels the pleasure of Paul Karofsky starting to almost cower against his car. He's an ordinary guy who didn't want any trouble and by all accounts, his mom said, seemed genuinely distressed by what Dave had been doing, but Finn doesn't give a shit about that. If Paul Karofsky was such a fucking mensch then he should've kept his damn son out of their school instead of dropping him back in so he could carry out his threats. "Something happened to him all right. He had to leave his school, and his friends, and everyone he wanted to be around and go off to some hoity-toity mansion school that's costing my parents an arm and a leg, but it's the only place he's safe because Dave's not there."
"Look, Finn." Paul Karofsky's looking around now, maybe hoping someone else will show up and intervene, and that's fine and dandy by Finn because he wants this guy scared and feeling threatened. "I feel god awful about what happened between Dave and your brother, but I can't do more than discipline him for what he's done. The school board decided he was allowed back, and I give you my personal promise that Dave's going to be better, he promised me he'd be better."
"Maybe I need a promise too," Finn says. Paul Karofsky blinks, and starts, "—I'll tell Dave to talk to you," before Finn cuts him off.
"That's not gonna hack it." Finn's been looking around too, and there's nobody paying attention so it's the easiest thing in the world for him to grab Paul Karofsky's flannel shirt with both hands and haul him away from his car, into the gas station bathroom only a few feet away. Paul Karofsky's not a lightweight but Finn's not the star quarterback for nothing, and it feels good as fuck to be having the fight that he's been cursing himself for missing out on in the locker room.
Not that Paul Karofsky has any idea how to fight back. There's a tinge of mingled pity and disdain in the back of Finn's mind, that he seems completely at sea for how to react to a teenage boy his son's age manhandling him into a dingy station bathroom and locking the door behind them, but that tinge is easily drowned out at the thought of the terror this guy's asshole son put Kurt through. And that said asshole son is paying absolutely zip for it. None of that is fair and what Finn's about to do won't even the odds but it's something.
"You're gonna suck me off and you're gonna swallow and that's gonna be the promise I get," Finn says, with his forearm hard against Paul Karofsky's chest as he holds the man against the cinderblock wall. He watches the information click, and he watches Paul Karofsky sag, and he realizes that maybe this isn't the first time something like this has happened to the guy, that maybe he's got a long-ago history of getting thrown in dumpsters and locked into port-o-potties and whatever else his shitstain son is now doing and yeah, yeah it's not like Finn's had a vested interest in stopping Dave or other Titans from being bullies before now but there's a point where a person can change, isn't there? And he's changing, he's doing his fucking best to change, because he can't keep being a lemon Lima loser for the rest of his goddamn life and letting down everyone he loves.
Paul Karofsky doesn't say anything but his face and his body keep sagging and crumpling until he's dropped heavily down to his knees, one first and then the other. Finn could stop this and unlock the door but it's like that red haze has spread to everything, like any moment he's about to hear sirens and enter the bad version of Silent Hill all blood and rust and disturbingly sexy monsters, only he's the monster in this scenario if you look at the pain on Paul Karofsky's face. "But you deserve it," Finn says, opening his jeans and getting his dick out. If the statement doesn't make much sense it doesn't matter, not really, it all ceases to make sense the same way that Dave Karofsky sailing freely down the halls at McKinley doesn't make sense while Kurt's vanished. The blowjob's not a good one but that also doesn't matter because they both know that isn't what this is about. Finn's not gonna cum despite what he'd said. He makes a few desultory thrusts until he feels like he might wanna barf if it keeps going, so he pulls out of Dave's dad's mouth and grimaces at the slack way Dave's dad's lips gape open like some ugly fish in the middle of dying.
But Dave's dad should be happy, Finn thinks as he zips up and unlocks the door. Because when you think about it, he's done what he needed to do for his son. He's been a good dad there on his knees on the piss- and mud-stained concrete floor. Dave's dad has done more than his son can ever achieve.
Finn doesn't look behind him once he shoves out of the bathroom past the man kneeling in the dim light, squinting as he heads inside to pay for his own gas. On the way back out he notices the scratch-off lottery tickets scattered on the ground by Dave's dad's car and picks them up, fanning them out in his hand first and then snapping them back together to pocket as he goes over to replace the nozzle on the gas pump. He'll give them to Burt, when he gets home, keep one for himself. Maybe one of the tickets will cover the cost of Dalton tuition. Maybe they'll get lucky.