Title: Timeless Love
Author:
Characters: Kurt, Puck
Pairing: Puckurt
Word Count: 2210
Warnings: Swearing
Spoilers: Er... season one to be safe.
Summary: When they were nine, Kurt's best friend wrote something down on a piece of paper, and told Kurt that he couldn't read it. He said Kurt'd have to wait.
Disclaimer: I do not – and never will – own Glee.
A/N: Unbeta'd, so I'm sorry for any mistakes. The song is I Was Made For Lovin' You by KISS.
Before Puck comes along, back when Noah is just Noah, and he has thick, curly hair, not some stupid Mohawk, Kurt remembers being best friends with him. Their moms work together at Lima Memorial, and the women have been friends for years. To Kurt, Elizabeth Puckerman is Aunt Liz, and to Puck, Katherine Hummel is Aunt Kate. They're so close that they're basically family.
Kurt's mom dies when they're eight. Kurt remembers becoming really clingy after she passed away. Always wanting to hug Noah and hold his hand and kiss his cheek. Noah didn't seem to mind, though.
Noah's dad leaves not long after that, and Noah cuts his own hair using the old shaver his dad left behind. That stupid Mohawk is born, and despite how silly he looks, Kurt kisses him on the cheek, and tells him it's nice, that he did a good job. He doesn't want them to fall out, after all.
He remembers when they were nine. Noah has just started to become friends with Finn and Santana and Quinn, but he still makes time for Kurt and their all-night cartoon marathons.
"Noah," Kurt begins, frowning at the other boy, who was frantically scribbling on a small slip of paper. "What are you doing?"
"I'm writing a note."
Kurt sighs, shaking his head. "I can see that. I mean, who are you writing a note to?"
Noah finally finishes his notes, folds it in half, and looks up at Kurt. "You."
"Why can't you just tell me what it says instead of writing it down?" Kurt asks, his frown still in place. His hand's on his hip, like his mommy used to do when his daddy was being silly.
"You can't read it. Not right now. Not for a while," Noah tells him. "You can read it some day."
"But..."
"Puck! You coming?" Santana calls from somewhere on the other side of the playground. Kurt thinks that while the girl's pretty, she's a bit mean, and he doesn't really like her. She's Noah's friend, though, so he's not going to say anything.
"See you, Kurt," Noah says, smiling, though, to Kurt, it doesn't really look like a smile.
That's the last time Noah speaks to Kurt civilly. The next day, he comes in to school and tells everyone to address him as Puck. His reign as the school's tyrannical bully starts then, too, when his new hobby is beating up the losers.
Kurt's included in that category.
"Kurt, come on, please," Puck begs, his hand gripping Kurt's wrist tightly.
"Go find someone else to annoy, Puck," Kurt sneers, pulling his wrist to try and free it from Puck's grasp.
"Kurt, just hear me out," Puck says, dark eyes locked with Kurt's, pleading for a chance. Kurt looks away, pretending to study the poster on the wall behind Puck's head, because he's unable to look into those eyes any more.
"No."
"Please." Puck's voice is quiet, unsure, anxious, but Kurt's not going to fall for it. No way. He's better than that. He's not going to let Puck humiliate him.
Kurt lifts his leg, aiming his knee in the direction of Puck's groin, causing the other boy to loosen his grip slightly. Kurt is able to shake him off, and as he fixes his hair, he tells Puck, "No, Puck. I don't want anything to do with you."
He shoulders his satchel, and turns away from Puck, not even chancing a glance at the jock's face. Kurt's in the process of walking away when he hears Puck speak again.
"Kurt, I just want one fucking date."
He freezes, stock still, at the words. He wants them to be sincere, he really does, but Puck's known for being a 'wham, bam, thank you, ma'am' kind of guy, not a relationship kind of guy. He shakes his head, and keeps walking, not saying a word in reply to Puck's statement.
"Kurt, please!"
Kurt ignores the calls of his name as he disappears around the corner, heading towards his last period class, English Lit. He doesn't know Puck's angle, and he isn't sure that he wants to know. For sure, it'll only cause him pain and heartache, and he just can't deal with anymore of that, not after Finn.
Kurt knows that Puck doesn't actually like him. This whole thing is either a) an attempt to humiliate him by making him think Puck is actually gay or bi or whatever, and then throwing it all back in his face in front of the whole school, or b) Puck trying to get some action, since none of the cheerleaders or MILFs want to go near him in case he knocks them up like he did with Quinn.
Puck is one of those macho, straight-as-an-arrow jocks, the kind who live to humiliate and bully kids like Kurt, who're outcasts and losers. He could never want Kurt. Never.
"Okay, guys, Puck's got a song he wants to perform before we start," Mr Schue announces
"I'm doing another song by a Jewish artist," Puck says, as he walks to pick up his guitar, not making eye contact with anyone. "It's for someone I love."
Puck doesn't say anything more as he sits down on the stool in the middle of the room, guitar cradled under his arm. Brad starts playing in the background, and Puck strums the guitar gently, the chords he's playing melding perfectly with the piano.
"Tonight, I wanna give it all to you. In the darkness, there's so much I wanna do," he sings. Kurt doesn't recognise the song, but that isn't really a surprise. He and Puck have dramatically different tastes in music. It's a romantic song, though, that much he can tell. It's also perfect for Puck's voice, and Kurt's glad he's not standing, because he's sure that he would be all weak at the knees and falling over if he was. "And, tonight, I wanna lay it at your feet, 'cause, baby, I was made for you, and, baby, you were made for me."
The song continues on, and Kurt would have to be blind not to see the effect it's having on the girls in the room. Quinn's staring googly-eyed at Puck, and Santana looks like she's about to jump his bones right there and then, in front of the whole Glee Club, the band, and Mr Schue. Mercedes is sighing dreamily, and swaying side to side, while Tina's checking him out when Mike's not looking. Rachel's got her crazy-eye thing going on, eyes never leaving Puck, and it's really scary. Like when she was obsessed with Mr Schue.
(Brittany is scribbling away in her notebook. From what Kurt can see, she's writing about sharks or dolphins or something, and he just shakes his head in amusement, and turns his eyes back to Puck.)
The guys are all watching Puck, too, and the effect is rather different. Finn and Mike are glancing between Puck and their girlfriends, annoyance clear in their eyes. Kurt doesn't know if it's because they think he's singing to Rachel and Tina, or it's because the girls are checking him out. Probably both. Artie's looking confused, eyes flickering around the room at the girls, trying to work out who he's singing to. Kurt is stuck between watching the boy singing, or trying to figure out who his love interest is, and decides to stick with the first.
"I was made for lovin' you, baby. You were made for lovin' me." Puck's eyes suddenly lift from the guitar, and he's looking straight at Kurt. Singing to Kurt.
He should have known that Puck would do this. He wanted to date Rachel (though Kurt has no idea why anyone would want to do that), so he serenaded her. He wanted to date Mercedes, so he serenaded her. He wanted to be a part of Quinn and the baby's lives, so he serenaded her. He really should have expected this.
"And I can't get enough of you, baby. Can you get enough of me?"
Kurt knows that everyone's now staring at him, instead of each other or Puck like they were before. He's too caught up in the song to do anything other than stare unblinkingly into Puck's deep hazel eyes. His brain's telling him to stop falling for Puck's tricks, but his heart's saying the opposite, and he keeps staring at Puck, eyes locked together.
"Oh, I was made, you were made. I can't get enough." Puck's voice is gentle as he finishes the song, his voice barely a whisper as he sings the last line. "No, I can't get enough."
Kurt's not normally spontaneous or impulsive. Everything he does has to be organised, with lists and maps and plans, but this time, he's just going to go for it. Even if Puck's not sincere about this whole relationship thing, Kurt's not going to get another chance of a boyfriend – or, at least, the pretence of one – any time soon. Plus, Puck – Noah – is probably the best looking boy in the school, and there are hints of the old Noah, the one who was his best friend, coming through the bad-boy Puck routine.
He's already a bottom of the pile, sub-basement loser. He doesn't have much else to lose if it doesn't work out, does he?
Their relationship, surprisingly, goes well. They argue a lot, but they always have, even when they were little. (Kurt remembers being four or five, and not speaking to Noah for two days because Noah didn't want to play with his dolls.) Puck holds his hand and kisses him in the corridor, uncaring of everyone else's opinions. Despite Kurt's protests, he carries his books to and from class, even shouldering Kurt's bag on occasion.
When Homecoming comes, Kurt wears Puck's second jersey, and Puck's got his garter around his arm. They go to the dance together, and Puck holds him close on the dance floor as they slow dance, surrounded by their supportive friends.
Kurt, for the first time since his mom died, is truly happy. He hated being alone, being lonely, and having Noah by his side, holding his hand and telling him that he loved him, makes him feel so incredibly happy that it physically hurts sometimes, his chest tight because he's so in love with Puck and so loved by him.
Their two year anniversary comes around quicker than either could have possible imagined. It's just after Nationals during their Senior year, and they blew everyone out of the water. They're all running on a high, constant smiles and happiness, and Kurt's never felt better.
"Happy anniversary, baby," Puck whispers, wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist from behind.
Kurt spins around, and his face is lit up in a smile. "Happy anniversary," he repeats. Puck kisses him gently, tongue exploring Kurt's mouth, and when he pulls back, Kurt whispers, "I love you," against Puck's lips.
"I love you, too," Puck says softly, hand cupping Kurt's jaw as he kisses him again. "I've got something for you."
"I thought that we were going to exchange gifts later." Kurt's nose wrinkles as he looks up at Puck in confusion. He is sure that that's what they decided. He vaguely remembers discussing it last week, but they were making out at the same time, so he could be wrong.
"No, no, you need to see this now. You've waited long enough."
Kurt grows even more confused at Puck's words. His confusion does not ease when Puck slips a piece of paper from his back pocket and hands it to Kurt. It's a tiny slip of paper. The edges of the paper are dog-eared from, what Kurt assumes, constant reading and rereading. The fold down the middle isn't straight. Instead, there are various lines down it, from Puck folding it, and refolding it, and refolding it.
"What is this?" Kurt asks, because Puck's just watching him, not saying another word.
"I wrote this nine years ago," Puck tells him, thumb stroking Kurt's cheek gently. "When we were nine. Do you remember? Just before I became a huge jackass."
And Kurt does remember. Puck wrote the note, telling Kurt that it was for him, but refusing to let him see it. Telling him that he could read it 'some day'.
"I don't..."
Puck laughs softly. "Just read it." Kurt is still confused and rather worried, but when Puck tells him, "It's okay, it's nothing bad, I promise," he feels better, so much better, about the note.
He does as he's told, long fingers cautiously opening the worn piece of paper, and flattening it out in his hand. As he reads the word scribbled in Puck's chicken scratch handwriting, the tears start flowing, making silvery tracks down his face, and Puck engulfs him in his strong arms, holding him against his chest.
'I already know you're the one,' the note says. 'I'll love you forever, marry me?'