I own nothing Glee related, just using some of the characters
But I hope you enjoy this story!
...
New York was his home now. Lima held a lot of good memories but was also the place where a lot of bad things happened. Every time he comes back here, which isn't often, the nostalgia he feels is a little nerve wracking. He doesn't miss this place at all, but he feels like he should, at least a little. A lot of good happened here that usually out weighed the bad, when he thinks about it, the happy memories always tend to drown out the sad. But this summer, this summer was supposed to be about remembering good parts.
He was glad to be back visiting everybody he loved, for the most part. College and New York had been his whole life for the past couple of years, he loved the sense of freedom he had there, enjoyed his life and the experiences it brought. He even loved most of the new friends he made there, including Elliot and Rodney, two very different but very loud personalities. The atmosphere of New York was exactly the thing he needed to branch out and become the person he always imagined he could be, unbridled and carefree, just focusing on his own future, making himself happy for once.
His dad tried his very best, but in a place as homophobic as Lima, Ohio, Kurt couldn't really be as open, not as himself as he was now, his dad felt awful that he had to move away to another place just to be himself, which he told him not to feel bad for. The fact that a place like Lima offered no retribution for anyone outside of the norm, was terrible. His world had gotten bigger when he left.
Lima was just human based, a few shape-shifters here and there, scattering of Vamps around too, werewolf colonies were very hard to find in a backwards town like Lima, most wolves couldn't stand the abuse that being their kind brought with it. Kurt himself was a werewolf, well half werewolf. His mother was one but his dad is human. After his mother died, he and his father never really talked about the wolf side of his life, Kurt never pushed, it was difficult sometimes for them to understand each other but in the end, they had each others backs, and that was that. Coming home for visits now that he was a stronger, happier, motivated version of himself, was better, because he knew no matter what anybody said or did, that he had a great life waiting for him to return too.
Sitting now in the airport waiting area, with his luggage by his feet and phone in hand, musing about his life, he was brought out of his thoughts by a call of his name.
Kurt lifted his head as he heard the familiar rough voice of his father calling his name, smiling widely as he stood, waiting for the man to get close enough to fling his arms around. Hugging his father close, breathing in his earthy scent with vague undertones of engine oil, Kurt's soul automatically recognized it was home.
"How you doing, kiddo?" his father asked, with a slightly amused voice as he pulled back from Kurt's arms.
"Great, dad, really great." he answered, still smiling widely up at his father.
"That's good, buddy, glad to hear it," his father exclaimed as he clapped him on the shoulder, "so let's get going, Carole can't wait to see you."
Kurt bent down for his big suitcase as Burt grabbed the two smaller bags, they started towards the bright red truck in the parking lot.
Sitting in the truck, as his father drove, watching the scenery flowing by, Kurt got sucked into his own head again.
Finn.
That's what he was home for this summer.
It's been a year since they lost him. A whole year since Carole received the phone call that broke a lot of hearts and shattered a lot of souls. Finn was one of those happy, foolish souls, seeing the good in any bad situation, trying to make the world a better place, one crooked smile at a time. Kurt always admired that about him. His ability to see the good in others was why Kurt had such a huge crush on him when they met. Becoming his little brother, as well as a member of Finn's little pack, was the best thing that had ever happened to Kurt.
Finn was half werewolf and half human just like Kurt, only it was Finn's dad that was the wolf, Carole was sweet and everything, all you could want in a mother, but just like Burt, had no clue when it came to anything about werewolf culture or the need to be part of a group.
Finn wanted to form a 'pack' in his junior year of high school. He had already got a couple of other werewolf guys in mind to build his pack, Noah Puckerman and Samuel Evans.
Kurt never really liked Noah, 'Puck' as he liked to be called, that much. Ever since a little misunderstanding between them in calculus class the year before, Puck has always been a little judgemental when it came to Kurt. Yes Kurt was gay, yes we all know, can we get a life now Noah.
Puck was never outright insulting or abusive towards him, only because werewolves don't pick on their own kind, but in his own way he became intimidating to Kurt. Big, muscly, bad tempered and easily offended, Noah made quite the impact on anybody that knew him, or of him. Kurt just usually tried to keep his distance.
Sam, on the other hand, Kurt liked. No, not like that. Sam and Kurt have never really spoken past pleasant 'hello's' or 'how's it goings?' in the halls of school, but Kurt appreciated that Sam was just an all around good guy.
Contrary to popular human beliefs, werewolves don't spend their evenings hunting rabbits or deer out in the woods, they don't prefer their own kind over others, do not howl at the moon just because, and don't live in caves or dens in the forest. Werewolves really just grow up the same as anybody else, go to school, get hurt, grow up, get a job, have families, normal things. Ok, some werewolves prefer a pack, but it's not in the DNA for all. Pack houses are made specifically for that purpose, kind of like a small mansion with land surrounding it for a pack to live together, but other than that most werewolves just spend their whole lives just like humans.
Finn wanted a pack house, but obviously for a 17 year old teenager, that was impossible. So the next best thing was when Burt and Carole both agreed to convert the attic space into a sort of 'pack den' for Finn and the guys. Plans were rolled out, overseeing the construction went to Burt. Finn, Puck and Sam were the heavy lifters and hard grafters that Burt roped into working on it. But they all came to Kurt when they needed help decorating or designing the space appropriately. Kurt and Finn designed it to a perfect teenage boy's dream, surround sound system, massive T.V, entertainment centre full of games, DVDs and game stations, 3 single beds against one wall, 2 closet spaces for clothes when the guys stayed over, and a huge, comfortable pull out couch positioned perfectly in front of the T.V for game or movie nights.
Losing Finn had been devastating to Puck, Sam and Kurt. Like being drowned in a frozen lake, their blood froze in their veins, hearts skipped a beat for a second, emotions shut down as they took in the information and tried to make sense of it. He meant a lot to all of them, and hearing Carole's heart breaking sobs as she told them, via 3-way phone call, was dreadful. He was their brother, their best friend, their teammate, their alpha.
Kurt snapped out of his deep thoughts with a shudder, remembering the feeling a year ago, now ghosting through him. Carole had wanted them all home this summer, getting together in remembrance of Finn.
Kurt had arrived that Thursday afternoon by plane, Puck and Sam were both driving in later, Puck from his home in Chicago, Sam from his parents place in Kentucky. The silence in Burt's truck was a little deafening, so his father tried to make conversation.
"So, work going alright for you this year? Was your boss alright with you having a little time off?" Burt asked.
"Yeah she told me to take all the time I needed," Kurt answered, as he remembered the look on his boss' face when he told her why he was going home, "she knows the reason, she's actually been pretty great to work for."
"Well that's good," Burt sighed a little in relief, "wouldn't have wanted you to get in trouble for our sake."
"It's no problem, Dad," Kurt said, smiling slightly at his father, "I wouldn't have missed this."
After a little bit of a relieved and comfortable silence, his father started on another topic.
"So, not leaving behind anybody special this summer?" Burt asked, trying to act nonchalant about whatever the answer may be. Kurt just smiled at his dad's attempt to always want in on his personal life.
"Nope, not really, I've had a couple dates but no one special." Kurt replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly.
His father nodded to himself more than at Kurt, and continued on his driving. Kurt thought it was slightly hypocritical of his father, wanting to know if Kurt had anybody back home, but on the other hand, happy that he didn't. Slightly rolling his eyes at his father, he focused on the drive in silence.
Until his phone 'pinged' a new message.
17:43pm New Message From: Noah
nrly thr dnt strt dinnz w/out me!
Kurt rolled his eyes at Noah's slang in his text, 'when will he ever learn to text actual words?' he thought, smiling as he wrote out his reply.
17:44pm To: Noah
Don't worry, we will wait until you and Sam get here
17:46pm New Message From: Noah
GDGD :P c ya sn
Kurt placed his phone back in his jean pocket as his father's truck pulled into the garage next to the house. Kurt climbed out and grabbed his suitcase out of the truck bed, as Burt grabbed his other 2 bags from the back seat, smiling at each other as they made their way to the door. Before they could even reach the front porch step, the door swung open to reveal a thoroughly delighted and slightly teary Carole.
Kurt, upon seeing her there, smiled happily, climbed up the 2-step porch quickly, dropping his suitcase in the entryway and gathered his step-mother into a big hug. She was rubbing her hands up and down his arms, back and then his hair, sobbing a little into his shoulder as she squashed him to her. Burt standing behind them, trying to hold in a round of laughter. She finally let go of him, with one last stroke of his hair, he turned and picked up his suitcase, discreetly wiping his eyes in the process, which Burt obviously caught, if his smirk was anything to go by.
"Oh. honey," Carole said in an emotional voice, "it's so nice to have you back home after so long. How was your flight? Was everything ok?" She asked.
"It was fine," Kurt answered, in a rough somewhat emotional voice himself, "I'm glad to be back." He exclaimed as he started dragging his suitcase towards the stairs, Burt following with the 2 smaller bags.
"Noah said that he shouldn't be long, have you heard from Sam yet?" He asked Carole as his dad placed the bags by his feet and turned to go to the kitchen.
"Yes, he said he would be here in about half an hour." Carole told him, as he started climbing the stairs.
"Ok, well I'm gonna go get my stuff unpacked." He said as she smiled up at him.
"Alright honey, we'll be in the kitchen or the garden when you come down." She said as he nodded at her, she gave him one more motherly smile, then followed where Burt had gone.
Kurt made his way up the stairs, being careful not to knock picture frames off of the walls with the suitcase, while juggling the 2 bags in his other hand. He made his way slowly to the top landing, which at the end had another set of stairs to the space in the top of the house he is trying to get to. Making his way quickly up the second set of stairs, and dumping his things unceremoniously on the floor, swearing to himself that he will pick them up later, he looked around the room.
The pack room is exactly how he remembered. The large window in the side of the roof, making the whole place light and open, the beds lined neatly along one side of the room, the entertainment centre has been dusted and cleaned but never moved around. Everything seems untouched, so surreal. It's a been over a year since he had last been in here.
Everything in the room had memories attached to it. Finn, Kurt, Puck and Sam had spent many, many weekends holed up here with their own refrigerator in the corner, just hanging out, being boys, gaming, watching films, or just general pack bonding things. Kurt wondered around the room, checking out the old pictures on the wall next to the T.V, one picture standing out to him from the rest. Most of the photos around the room are of the boys hanging out or off on adventures, or some old school photos or baby pictures, but the one Kurt was staring at was a huge picture of four wolves, standing in Burt's backyard.
A big dark brown wolf, with a white stripe down his chest, took centre of the photo, a big, hulking, dark grey wolf with a tuft of fur on its head standing to it's left, a light brown wolf, with a white tail and four white paws, stood over the back of the dark grey one, mouth open in a big kind of smile, as much as wolves can smile, and lastly on the right side of the centre wolf, a smaller bright white wolf, with blue eyes, stood staring at the rest with a little admiration. Kurt smiled, remembering the day he was accepted into their little pack, Burt wanted to mark the occasion with a picture, but wolves being wolves, they couldn't ever seem to stand still for a photo.
But the photo showed them as just them, playful bunch of idiots they are.
Kurt wondered over to the beds on the opposite side of the room, standing next to the middle of the three, thinking about the day when they allocated whose bed was whose, that was a big argument, stupid but big.
Kurt sat on the bed, Finn's old bed, centre of the room, centre of everyone's world, he always got the middle bed. Still looking around the room, taking in all the old sights and some of the old smells it still had, as his eyes came to rest on the old worn couch, still comfortable even in it's threadbare state. The couch held the most memorable moments for Kurt.
Finn sitting there, remote in hand, patting the space next to him, Puck on his right, Sam laying on the floor, waving for Kurt to come join them for the film about to start.
Finn holding him close on that couch as he cried about bullies at school.
Puck losing to him at Mario Kart, one of the few victories in gaming he ever had.
It was where he sat Sam down once and told him he had a crush on Finn, Sam just hugged him and swore not to tell anybody.
Where the whole pack fell asleep snuggled together once while intoxicated, a night that left all of their limbs and backs sore in the morning.
The tears snuck up on him.
He didn't realise he had started to cry until something wet landed on his hands, that were settled on his lap. Succumbing to his emotions, he lay down on the bed and started sobbing into the pillows, pillows that used to smell like Finn but now they don't, just another reminder that he is gone.
Over the sound of his own sobs, he never heard the creaks up the steps, didn't hear the hushed voices follow in, but he did feel when the bed dipped on both sides of him as his pack climbed on with him. Two pairs of strong, tanned arms wrapped around him, comforting and safe as he continued to cry.
Puck and Sam.
He had never been more grateful for them until right that moment.
As his sobs quieted, he let out an exhausted sigh, and smiled a little. He looked up at Sam in front of him, and smiled gratefully and a little teary still, Sam smiled kindly back at him, holding him just a little tighter.
"What's with the tears, princess?" came a rough, but friendly voice behind him.
Kurt turned slightly and looked over his shoulder at Puck, who looked a little teary eyed too, smiled at him and shrugged his shoulders a little, in response to the question. Puck smiled at him too, and nodded a little, understanding clouding his big chocolate brown eyes.
Sam leant towards Kurt from his other side and placed a short kiss against his hair.
"Burt and Carole sent us up, they're ready to start setting up for dinner now, are you coming down?" Sam explained, clearing his throat a little against the emotion threatening to come out.
"Yeah they want us all outside." Puck finished for him.
Kurt nodded at them both before sitting up, Puck's arm still around his shoulders. He looked up as Sam stood, and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.
"Well, let's get down there then." He said with a flourish as he stood up from the bed, Puck's arm falling from around his shoulder, Puck and Sam exchanged a look as Kurt started straightening out his clothes and hair.
Puck stood up behind Kurt and yanked him back into his arms by the collar of his shirt, causing Kurt to yelp and stumble back before laughing back at Puck, who was hugging him again. Amused at being manhandled, chuckling as he pushed away from Puck, Sam laughing too as Kurt took one of Puck's hands, squeezing it gently as he shot a grateful look to both of them, silently thanking them for their love and support, they were still pack after all.
Kurt's expression suddenly changed to horror.
"Do I have a red face?" he asked desperately while feeling his cheeks. Sam and Puck just burst out in shared laughter at Kurt and his obsession with his appearance. Kurt smiled back at them as he walked back towards the stairs.
Going down the stairs the boys started make fun of Kurt's question about his red face, good naturedly, Kurt rolling his eyes at their petty attempts to get to him. As they each got to the side of him, Kurt reached out and pinched both of them in their sides.
At their combined yelp, Kurt ran for it, down the stairs across the landing and down the other flight of stairs, Puck and Sam both giving chase all the way through the house to the garden. All the boys burst into the back yard where Burt was setting up the BBQ grill, laughing hysterically and pinching at each other, making Burt and Carole jump a little then laugh amused at their antics. Sam was laughing so much that his sides hurt, so eventually he just stood back and watched as Kurt and Puck's pinch/tickle fight carried on.
Burt, Carole and Sam were all in fits of laughter as Puck managed to wrestle Kurt onto the ground, sitting on top of him as he messed up his hair. Sam knew Puck was in for it when Kurt got up.
Finished messing with his hair, Puck tried to grab Kurt's wrists to pin him down for more payback, when all of a sudden he found himself being rolled, turned, then pinned to the ground by Kurt instead. Puck was a little shocked to find himself on the ground so Kurt used his distraction to pin his wrists down, and as Puck tried to buck him off of him, Kurt then wrapped his very flexible legs around Puck's waist and top of his thighs to keep him down.
"You think messing with my hair is funny, Puckerman?" Kurt sneered down playfully.
Puck tried to buck him off once again, but Kurt just used most of his strength to pull his weight down on top of Puck to keep him there. Trapped and with no way to get out of that hold, Puck looked up as Kurt smiled evilly down at him. Puck swallowed loudly, a little nervous at what to expect, especially as he saw Kurt's eyes flash bright blue, and as Kurt opened his mouth he was greeted with the sight of elongated fangs. Kurt kept smiling even as he stuck his tongue out passed his lips, as he leaned closer and closer to Puck's face. Puck's eyes widened as he realised what was about to happen.
Sam, Burt and Carole were just sitting chatting while watching the boys wrestling on the grass, when they heard-
"GROSS MAN! GET OFF!"
'Yep' thought Sam, trying to hide his grin, 'Kurt's done it again.' Carole was giggling, while Burt just rolled his eyes and went back to cooking.
"EW, EW, STOP DUDE!"
"Don't call me dude."
"Get off!"
"I'm not done."
"KURT!..EW! MAN, COME ON!"
"Apologize for messing with the hair."
"Ok, OK, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! GET OFF!"
Kurt rolled off of Puck and got to his feet with a shit eating grin on his face, as Puck still lay on the grass, wiping furiously at his face with his t-shirt, still quietly exclaiming 'Ew' and 'Gross' while laying there.
Kurt walked smugly back towards his parents and Sam, Burt shaking his head at him, and Carole giggling slightly at the noises of disgust still coming from Puck's direction. They all turned back as Puck got off the ground.
"Not cool, dude, not cool." Puck said gruffly, but the way his eyes were shining in laughter gave away that he wasn't actually mad. Kurt just smiled and shrugged.
"If you boys are done messing around, you can go and get the big table and extra chairs out of the shed and set it up out here on the patio, and Kurt, you can go help Carole carry out the rest of the food." Burt said, while pointing at all of them with his cooking tongs, then turning back to his grilling.
Puck and Sam went to get the table out of the shed, while Kurt headed inside the kitchen with Carole. Sam tried to grab a bread roll from the bowl as Kurt was carrying it to place on the table, but received a slap to the hand from Kurt, so he pouted and carried on back to the shed for another chair.
Everybody gathered around as Burt placed the last of the cooked meat products on the table, Puck and Sam started mentally drooling at the sight of all this food.
Dinner was great that night. And the company even better. Conversational topics changed every few minutes, over the sounds of eating. Everything was on topic, from Kurt's college life, to Puck's work, Sam's parents, Burt's health and politics. After nearly everyone was finished with their dinner, Carole produced two raspberry cheesecakes from the refrigerator, much to Kurt's delight, the smile on his face was testament to that.
Puck and Sam were talking to Burt about how the shop was fairing, pretty well, Burt admitted by the recent stats. He had one of the other guys take over some of the responsibilities so he doesn't have to be there so much, which Kurt and Carole both were incredibly grateful for.
Burt asked about Puck's construction business, the fact that Puck built his business from scratch was incredible, and apparently it was going well.
"It's good, yeah, all the guys on my team are super hardworking so no doubts about meeting deadlines or anything, just finished a few court houses, a bridge and a couple pack houses in Columbus," Puck explained, around mouthfuls of cheesecake, "So It's gonna be easy for them to pick up slack for me while I have some time off this summer."
"You staying here for a while then?" Burt said, looking up from his desert.
"If that's ok?" Puck asked as he sent an amused look around at Carole and Kurt.
Kurt rolled his eyes as Carole started to gush at Puck, picking up one of his hands to coo at him.
"Actually," Sam piped up from the other end of the table, "I was thinking about staying too, I really don't have anything to do over the summer since college let out."
Carole let out a little happy squeal, Kurt is pretty sure if she hadn't been sitting down she would have done a little happy dance at the news.
"Oh that's wonderful news Sam" Carole gushed, barely holding in her excitement, "It would be nice to have a house full again, it's been so quiet without you boys around."
She was trying to hold her tears back, but everybody saw how much this affected her. Burt reached over to take her hand, and they exchanged an understanding and loving glance. Kurt smiled at them both lovingly and reached over to take Carole's other hand.
"You know we'll always come back here when you want us too...Mom."
She looked up at him, stunned when he used that word for her, tears building up in her eyes, she reached over to pull him in to her.
"Thank you, sweetheart." She whispered to him, he hugged her back just as tightly.
After the leftovers were put away and the table and chairs were put back in the shed, everyone started winding down from their busy day, Carole and Burt decided to call it a night. Carole hugged each of the boys fiercely, patting their cheeks and saying again how wonderful it was to have them here. Burt gave each of the boys a pat on the back and he and Carole headed up. Carole shouting down to them on her way, that she was going to cook a nice big hearty breakfast for them in the morning.
Kurt, Puck and Sam went back outside, to sit and chat and just generally spend time together. Kurt sat in between them looking up as the sky darkened and the stars started to come out. Puck put an arm around Kurt, as Sam laid his head on Kurt's shoulder on the other side. All of them just enjoying each others company, in peaceful silence. Still Kurt had to know something.
"Do you think things would be any different if Finn were still here?" Kurt asked quietly.
"Probably." Puck answered, truthfully, "But if not for how we lost him, we wouldn't be as close as we are now."
Sam let out a breathy laugh at that.
"Yeah," he murmured, "maybe it was him that pushed us closer, knowing it was what we needed."
Kurt smiled at that, and rested his head on top of Sam's, while his hand reached out for one of Puck's. Surrounded by his pack, he didn't really feel the sting of loss so much.
"Do you think he would have accepted how close we are, if it happened while he was here?" Kurt asked, quiet voice a little timid. Puck squeezed his hand a little before answering.
"Well, if he didn't, you would have kicked his ass about it, right? he said with a smirk.
Kurt laughed out loud at that, Sam and Puck chuckling along with him.
"Yeah I totally would have." Kurt agreed.
Eventually the weight of the day got to them and they decided to head in to bed too, Kurt making sure everything was locked up tight before following the guys upstairs. The weariness of travelling today catching up to all of them as they climbed the steps to the pack room, Puck trying to stifle a yawn and Sam's eyes drooping shut.
They silently agreed that they didn't want to sleep alone tonight, so they all got changed and climbed into Finn's old bed together, Kurt in the middle with Sam facing him, Puck tucked in behind him. The last thought on all of their minds as they drifted into slumber, was of Finn.
Rude awakenings are always a sure thing when you share a bed with two other men, two men who probably had really good dreams the night before. Kurt awoke to being poked, he found it really irritating as his sleep-fuzzy brain tried to make sense of the world around him as he woke up. He opened his eyes and took in what was in front of him, blonde hair, tan skin, a nicely muscled arm and shoulder, oh..Sam. Then it only took him one more second after that to realise just what exactly woke him. Moving his hips back didn't work as he felt the same kind of thing poke him behind too, how the hell was he going to get out of this predicament.
He ended up doing the only logical thing he could in this situation, he pushed both Sam and Puck out of the bed. Hearing the double 'thud' and the double 'wha?' and two groans of discomfort, finally pulled Kurt's body and brain together enough to manoeuvre himself out of bed and head to the bathroom. Puck was already asleep again as he stepped over him on his way out of the room, Sam was yawning and dragging himself up off of the floor.
Making his way down the stairs, along the landing, passing his parent's bedroom door along the way, hearing his father still loudly snoring away. He thinks a nice hot shower would be really nice this morning, followed by a very strong coffee and a sit down with a fashion magazine, the perfect morning routine in his mind. He suddenly feels glad that he packed his laptop, he can read the fashion blogs online while he sips his morning coffee. His morning already planned out in his head, he steps into the shower to do just as he planned.
Sam gets up from the floor a little dazed, a little confused as to why Kurt pushed him off, but he just shakes his head and shrugs, no one can think that well this early in the morning. He looks over the bed at Puck still sprawled on the floor, snoring softly, laying face down on the carpeted floor. Sam decides to just leave him there as he gets up to get ready for the day.
Once Sam is done he heads downstairs, Kurt is already sitting at the kitchen table, coffee cup in his hand, laptop open on some fashion site. He remembers Finn complaining before about Kurt being an early riser, never letting any occupants of the house sleep past 10 am, he even said that one time Kurt blasted his room with Broadway songs until he got out of bed and escaped to the bathroom. Chuckling silently to himself as he looked at Kurt now, he went and made his own coffee before taking a seat opposite Kurt at the table.
"Morning Kurt." he said quietly, not wanting to disturb Kurt's reading.
"Morning Sam," Kurt looked up at him from his laptop and smiled gently, "What's on your agenda for today?"
"Erm...no idea, maybe we could just all hang out today," Sam replied, shrugging his shoulders, "Be the three musketeers of Lima."
Kurt looked up from the laptop at Sam with an eyebrow raised, mouth twitching into a smile. As he was just about to respond to that, Carole hurried into the kitchen.
"Good morning, sweeties," she said as she walked passed, pinching Kurt's cheek gently as she did, "So what am I making you for breakfast? Anything specific that you want?" she asked, turning to them with a big pleased smile.
"Anything's good Carole," started Sam, "I know me and Puck will eat anything."
"Puck and I," Kurt corrected, "But you shouldn't trouble yourself, mom."
"Oh nonsense, sweetheart," Carole waved him off, "It's no trouble, how about pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon? Sound alright with everybody?"
"Count me in." Sam exclaimed with a grateful smile.
"Do you need any help?" Kurt said, as he made to stand from his seat.
"No, no, stay there honey," Carole pushed him back into his seat, gently, "I can handle this."
"You sure?" Kurt asked as Carole went through the refrigerator and cupboards to pull out everything she needed.
As she nodded at him in answer, and then got to work on breakfast, Kurt gave the back of her head a kind of wistful smile. He was lucky to have a woman like her as his mother, he still loved his own mother, even though it had been 11 years since he lost her, he was grateful he got two very loving mothers in his life. He knows he lucked out in the family department, people that love and accept him without question, that's all that matters.
Puck wondered into the kitchen after the bacon started cooking, obviously following his nose. Kurt smirked up at him as he walked through the door way, still half asleep.
"Following the smell of food, Noah?" he asked as he took another sip of his coffee.
Puck turned to look at Kurt and Sam, as if just realising that they were there, nodded his head slightly, then turned to take a seat at the table too. Kurt and Sam exchanged an amused glance, before picking up conversation.
"So you want to hang around Lima today?"
"Yeah man, it would be cool, with all of us here, maybe see a couple of the sights we used to hang around, or the school or something?" Sam explained, while Carole set a platter of pancakes in the middle of the table.
"Mmm, maybe," Kurt mused, "We could stop by the mall and see a movie or something too?"
"Yeah, that'll be great." Sam said as he piled his plate with food.
Puck was seated with his forehead against the table top, barely conscious, so Kurt got up out of his seat to make Puck a cup of coffee, while Carole dished up some breakfast for him. placing the mug in front of puck's face, Kurt tapped him on the top of his head to try and get some movement out of him. Just as Puck had lifted his head enough for a sip of coffee, Burt strolled through the doorway, dressed and ready for work, he swept passed the boys at the table and gave Carole a kiss on the cheek, before turning and acknowledging the others.
"Morning, boys," Burt said as Carole poured him a coffee, "How did you all sleep?"
As he said this, his eyes shot to Puck in amusement, Puck being extra sluggish at 9am was not a rare thing to witness, but it was still funny.
"We slept fine, dad," Kurt replied, while eyeing Puck trying to eat his breakfast, with his head nearly resting on the plate, "But I think Noah should have stayed there for a little while longer."
Burt chuckled as he sat down with them to eat his own breakfast. Puck looked like he was slowly building energy and waking up properly now, head now upright while he ate his breakfast. Kurt was eyeing him just to make sure his head didn't flop back down into the food.
"You boys got a monthly change coming up?" Burt asked as he got up to place his empty plate in the sink, "You know you shouldn't ignore it just because you're here."
"Oh yeah, I did mine a couple weeks ago." Sam replied, while Puck put his hand up with two fingers held up and nodded his head, signalling that he done it two weeks ago too. Burt then turned his attention to Kurt, who tried not to blush under his questioning gaze.
"And when was the last time you changed, buddy?" Burt asked his son, with an eyebrow raise, as if to say 'Don't you dare lie to me.'
"I..er..." he stumbled out, 'Yeah very eloquent Kurt' he thought to himself, "I can't remember my last change."
But Kurt would never say just how long it has been since he last changed, the disapproving looks from his father were enough to keep that little secret to himself. He knows when his last change was. The change affects every werewolf differently. Full bloodied werewolves don't have to change that often, even though it might be easier for them to do. The more the werewolf DNA gets dampened down, the more often that they have to change, being half werewolf half human, they don't need to change that much, but at least once a month is considered to be best.
Werewolf DNA is very unstable, because of the shifting side of it, especially when it's mixed with other non-shifting DNA, like human. So the changes every month is to keep the neutral balance in the blood. When the blood becomes unbalanced, it usually starts in the personality, slight personality changes. Then illnesses usually tend to pop up, illnesses that the werewolf blood usually deals with, but once the human side becomes the forefront, it opens the body up to all kinds of infections and diseases, that otherwise wouldn't touch a werewolf at all.
He wasn't comfortable at all with his change, because being in New York, and being a very rare colour in his wolf form, seemed to mark danger for him, in his mind anyway. The last time he felt comfortable attempting a change was at least three months ago, maybe even closer to four. There was no way he was going to tell his father that though.
Kurt turned his eyes downwards, as everyone turned to look at him. Even Puck was out of his sleep stupor enough to turn his head to look at Kurt with raised eyebrows. Carole had turned her head from the sink, to look back at him. Kurt felt like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him, face going red under the scrutiny of his pack and his father, lips flattened into a straight line.
"Well, I think you should maybe do that soon then," his father said, as he got up from the table, and gave his son a pat on the back, "just to get it out of your system, right buddy?"
He still had his hand on Kurt's shoulder when Kurt looked up at him and gave a short nod and a tiny ghost of a smile, which looked more like an uncomfortable grimace. Burt nodded back and gave his shoulder one last squeeze before turning to Carole to give her a kiss goodbye, waving at everybody as he left for work.
Puck moved back upstairs for a shower, to make himself more presentable to the world today, as Carole sat down at the table with her own cup of coffee.
"So," Carole started as she sat down, "your father has work, I have my community nurse things to do today, what are you boys up to?" she asked, as Kurt and Sam exchanged a look.
"We don't really know, just hanging out I suppose," Sam answered, "I know Kurt wanted to hit the mall."
As Kurt was about to respond to that a voice rose up for the door way.
"It will probably be another shopping trip or an extremely fashioned related thing, or something equally boring." Puck said from the entrance to the kitchen, smirk evident in his voice and on his face.
"Actually, Noah," Kurt started, "I wasn't planning on either of those but because you obviously want to, then maybe we should." Kurt finished snidely, with a matching smirk on his face, as Puck swallowed loudly, knowing he should kept his mouth shut.
Carole just giggled at the defeated look on Puck's face as the boys went about their business of getting ready for their (shopping) trip to the mall. She wished Sam and Puck good luck silently, as she giggled all the way to get her coat and shoes on and head out the door too.