Noah doesn't understand what it is about Kurt that he likes so much.

But Kurt is his best friend.

It may have been Finn once upon a time, but it had taken Kurt all of a week to take his place.

He doesn't like football. He makes fun of Noah just as much as Noah makes fun of him. He has the nerve to prefer Pop to classic Rock and claims to still appreciate it. And yet Noah would much rather spend time with him than with Finn. It might have something to do with the fact that Kurt has never left him hanging. He never hesitates to come to his defense or put some loser talking crap about him in his place. Finn has never done that.

And while some people might believe that Finn was just too stupid to understand what was going on, Noah knew better. While Finn was earnestly an Idiot, the guy used it to his advantage. Just like he used his height. Or that a lot of girls liked his whole good guy persona. Stupid did not immediately rule out cunning.

That was something Kurt would never believe. He valued intelligence. It was why he made Noah study and do homework. It made his Ma go gaga over him. As far as his mother was concerned, Kurt was the best thing to ever happen to him. A great influence.

He was pretty sure mister Hummel felt exactly the opposite about him. Fortunately Kurt didn't really have any other friends. This meant Kurt fought for him. He got to stay over all the time. He has a lot of fun for the rest of the year.

He really is a bad influence on Kurt though. Awful, really. He keeps getting him into fights.

Not that Kurt seemed to mind.

By the time eighth grade rolls around, they're basically Kings of the school. Not because everyone likes them. But because they're far too scared to mess with them. Noah really likes it. He can be a complete dick to pretty much anyone and they won't give him shit. Not that he does it much. Kurt gets really bitchy about it.

But that's funny more often than not, so Noah doesn't complain.

Finn does though. All the time. Not about not picking on losers, some part of Finn is genuinely nice enough that he doesn't really like picking on people anyway. So no, what Finn complains endlessly about is Kurt.

And that shit just didn't fly. It might have been another thing, if Finn actually had the balls to insult Kurt to his face. Mostly because Kurt wouldn't hesitate to kick his ass. He was sort of awesome like that. Oh no, Finn only ever complained when Kurt wasn't around to hear. Which meant that, more often than not, Noah kicked his ass.

Not seriously, Finn was his bro when he pulled his head out of his ass. But Finn did go home with bruises he could have avoided sometimes. He was just lucky that it was totally on the down low.

So imagine his surprise when he found out Kurt knew about it.

xXx

"It bothers him that I'm gay" Kurt tells him as Noah rubs his rib gingerly. Finn was making some serious progress if he had gotten in a solid hit like that. Or maybe serious luck. He did still tense up before a fight. No matter how much Noah told him it was best to be loose.

Kurt followed his advice.

"Bothers who?" he asks suddenly, head snapping up. It had finally dawned on him what Kurt had said. And more importantly, what it might mean. No way someone was giving Kurt shit about liking guys. If anyone was, well, they weren't going to recognize their face in the mirror the next day.

"Finn. Who else do you beat up on a regular basis for me?" Kurt asks tilting his head with a smirk, "I mean , you only ever need to beat up anyone else once. Unless I get to them first."

Noah has to smile at that. He knows Kurt can handle himself. He did teach him everything he knew about fighting. And while Kurt probably even enjoys it, there is no doubt about the fact that Noah does like defending him. He likes their relationship that way. Its all give and take.

"He needs to learn to shut his trap." Noah grumbles, "Wait! When did you tell him you were gay?"

"I didn't have to," Kurt says, bored, "It's like I came out of the womb with a sign; clearly a fairy."

Noah frowns at the way he says it, " Don't put yourself down man. You're way too badass to be a fairy, you're just gay."

Kurt gives him a ghost of a smile, "Just like that?"

Noah nods vehemently, "Just like that. You nearly dislocated the shoulder of the last guy who called you that remember? God, that dude could cry!"

Kurt snorted. In that prissy way he did. Admittedly it was the only snort Noah had ever heard that sounded polite. Kurt was talented like that.

"We're getting really good at running away. We didn't get caught by the cops that time. Admittedly, it was very impressive that we could hear him even when we were three blocks away."

"It's not running away." Noah says. He never ran away.

Kurt smirks at him, "Forgive me, we're getting better at our strategic retreats."

Noah decided to let the mocking tone go. Strategic retreat sounded much better. And like something a Badass like himself would actually do.

"It's weird though, Finn is suppose to be the nice one, shouldn't he not have a problem with you liking the home team?" It really did puzzle him.

"Well, I think Finn believes I have a crush on him," Kurt made a long suffering face.

Noah smiled, "Maybe you should tell him just how much of an idiot you think he is. And what a complete turn off it is."

Kurt seemed to consider it, "It is bad enough that I used to have a crush on him."

Noah choked, and began to cough. "You WHAT!"

Kurt sighed, "Relax, will you? This was long before I found out how empty the space between his ears was."

All Noah could do was gape at him, "Dude! you liked Finn? FINN!"

Kurt flushed with shame, "Like I said, bad enough it happened. Please never bring it up again. I was just infatuated with his height. Is liking tall guys so wrong?"

"Uh, yeah! At least when they're Finn!"

Kurt covered his face with his hands, "You're never letting me live this down are you?"

Noah smirked automatically. It was his natural reaction to having found blackmail on Kurt. He was utterly unashamed of liking things most boys their age balked at. Like fashion magazines, and musicals. Eventually the amusement won over the shock.

"Never." Noah swore, carefully ignoring a niggling that was almost like jealousy.

Nah, couldnt be. Maybe Finn had hit him harder than he thought.

XxX

So writing Puck is a lot harder than writing Kurt... Oh well, still I think it would detract too much from the story of their romance if it was all Kurts POV. So I'll alternate them. I'll warn you now however that Puck chapters probably won't be as long as Kurt's.