II

~ Times Square ~

Kurt woke up groggily to the sight of the sun's golden rays filling his room and the sounds of busy traffic and birds singing in the distance. He had not slept well. He had assumed that the night would have been over before he knew it and that he would have overslept by hours due to the traveling he'd undertaken the previous day. He guessed, however, that becoming accustomed to the continued noise of the city that never slept was going to be harder than predicted. In fact, he'd not expected it to be an issue. Damn.

Planning to explore his apartment as well as the local area, which had been nothing but a blur of lights the night before, Kurt slowly rose from his bed and opened the windows to air out his room. It was the start of September and the month was blooming with a temperature that was increasing in heat every minute. He'd researched on the Internet prior to leaving Lima that the heat could rise all the way up to a scorching one hundred and two degrees at this time of year if New Yorkers were unlucky enough. In any case, Kurt was going to have to seriously consider slapping on the sunscreen. Resembling a baked tomato was a look best left to the cook books.

After he had showered and dressed himself in a pair of blue Catalina skinny jeans, a classic rose-pink fitted polo shirt and white flip flops, Kurt began to unpack everything into his new world. Though many considered unpacking a menial nightmare of a job, he didn't share that view. He believed it to be refreshing as it meant the start of something clean and new and, in his case, a new life. After an hour of shifting furniture, moving around various items of decorative art and placing the final touches to everything else, Kurt let out a contented sigh as he stood in the corner of each room to view his handiwork. God, I'm good!

Everything was neatly yet efficiently positioned in its designated area and he couldn't help but marvel at it all. He'd had it all done and dusted within an hour which made it his second real accomplishment in New York so far, the first being that he'd not been robbed as yet. Yes, those crime statistics could overwhelm anyone but he wasn't going to become one of them, no way. Snapping out of his self-complimentary daze when one of the sun's rays hit him square in the eye, Kurt winced before turning away from the light. God damn it, I can't lose my sight so early on in the game, he thought as he pulled on his thin cream-colored cardigan, snatched up his keys and exited the building. I need all five of my senses plus my sixth if I'm to make it here.

By the time Kurt had descended his apartment building's stairs onto the pavement outside, the New York sun was blaring heavily down on the city below. A slight breeze, however, offered everyone natural air conditioning, a respite from the heat and as Kurt made his way towards the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in Central Park, he thanked God that he'd remembered to drench his skin in SPF one million sunscreen before stepping outside. With his coloring, he wouldn't be surprised if people were to mistake him for a human reflector. Thankfully, the walk wasn't too long, considering his apartment was located on the upper west side but he was grateful that it allowed him to stretch his legs.

The park itself was beautiful. It was brimming with wildlife, the lake was fully stocked and nature itself looked as if it hadn't even been touched by the city encircling it, let alone the human hand. Kurt glanced around as he wandered through the park in the direction of Times Square whilst attempting to take as much of it in as possible. He noticed groups of families and friends sitting down and enjoying picnics in the shade. He noticed bread being thrown to the ducks from the hands of little ones, and he came across couples sharing treasured, intimate moments on benches, their kisses reminding him of his own love life, or rather, its absence. Back when he was attending Dalton Academy, a private school an hour's drive away from Lima in Westerville, he'd entered a light relationship with one of his fellow glee club mates, Blaine Anderson.

Blaine was handsome, well-groomed, had a great voice and was only one step away from becoming the ultimate gentleman. They'd never gone beyond kissing which in itself turned out to be awkward, considering it felt to both of them as if they were kissing their sibling. Kurt ultimately blamed it on the fact that they had too much in common with each other. They shared the same tastes in music, film and anything else where difference in choice should have come in. In fact, it sounded so ideal on the outside that breaking it off between them had sounded at first like a bad idea. However, in the end, it wasn't meant to be.

Unbeknownst to them, their relationship had categorized itself more on the friendship line than the sexual one since day one and, as a result, it had all gone downhill from there. After the discovery, both Kurt and Blaine had decided to remain friends – which wasn't that much of a disappointment to either of them, except, in a way, it was for Kurt. It was the realization that he was single again, alone again and without anyone to be affectionate with that got to him. It was a sad feeling and it didn't help matters that, within as little as a month after their breakup, Blaine had already begun dating fellow Warbler member Sebastian Smythe. Can't I catch a break, he'd wondered. No? Okay, then.

Now, as Kurt approached Times Square, he stopped and viewed the magnificence of it all. The billboards, the lights, the atmosphere and the sheer life it all exuded. It was just breathtaking. Yes, the Broadway theaters were a few seconds' walk away across the sea of yellow cabs and yes, the reminder of his rejection letter flashed repeatedly in his head, but what should have made him spin around and flee the scene hadn't. Kurt just couldn't bring himself to falter. Just the exciting prospect of now living and working in New York City was enough to lift his spirits as high. As it turned out, the community theater was just a little farther away from his current location, so he was appreciative that his work experience and dream job weren't separated by miles of land. However, just as he was about to travel farther into the square, a flash of blinding light caught his eye.

A few miles away, seemingly situated in the financial district of the city was one of the highest skyscrapers in the area. The building itself, from the distance and point of view Kurt was at, looked as if it were made entirely of glass. The sun's rays seemed to reflect elegantly off its surface and, like a prism, scattered the light for miles around in a light rainbow of color. Scrap Times Square. This was the ultimate breathtaking sight. Crap! If only I'd brought my camera along, Kurt thought as he silently cursed himself. So many sights to record, too little equipment on hand. He stole another glimpse at the splendor of the building but this time, narrowed his eyes. Along its side Kurt could make out large metallic letters, which seemed to descend like ominous gods toward the ground, but what they spelled out eluded him. The distance was too great.

"Excuse me," Kurt said as he approached an elderly woman throwing breadcrumbs on the ground, the food being gobbled up by a small group of pigeons that had come flocking over for breakfast. Looking up from the feeding, the woman raised her eyes to meet his in curiosity as he continued. "Hi, I was wondering if-"

"I'm not giving away my bread to people, young man. So unless you learn to grow wings and fly, beat it!" The woman glared as Kurt stood shocked at the surprising and rude response he'd been given. All elderly people he'd met previously in his life had been nothing but polite and hospitable, but this old woman, well, she was nothing short of a nasty piece of work. "I can see why you're after my babies' bread, seeing as you're thin as a string, but stuff yourself with someone else's grub, pretty boy!"

"I don't want your 'grub'. I was actually about to ask you what that building was over there," corrected Kurt as he pointed to the glass-like structure in the distance. Relaxing slightly, the woman stopped throwing the breadcrumbs and followed his arm towards the building. "I've never seen it before and I wondered if-"

"Don't tell me – you're a tourist… Well, that's the Puckerman Tower. It even says so on the side; what, are you illiterate?" The woman scoffed but Kurt ignored her in favor of analyzing what he'd just heard.

Puckerman. The name sounded familiar. Well, of course it does, went his brain as it racked his mind to snap back into reality. The Puckerman Corporation was one of the largest conglomerates in the world. You'd have to be living under a rock or have a severe case of extreme narcissism to have not heard of the name.

"Thanks," Kurt replied, quickly walking away from the old hag as she resumed feeding her so called 'babies' but not before she threw him an annoyed look behind his back. Thankfully he didn't notice. Who would want to see her face for much longer?

As Kurt made his way back to his apartment, his attention returned once again to Puckerman or, rather, The Puckerman Conglomerate. The corporation practically owned its own version of everything and had made its name as well as its billions in the fashion, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, entertainment, military and auto industries and that was only the tip of the gigantic iceberg. What was impressive was that, not only were they well respected for kick-starting a struggling economy and saving many from destitution, but they had only come onto the scene 40 years ago. In that short space of time, not only had they managed to dwarf many successful companies the likes of Exxon Mobil, Walmart and Vitol in terms of revenue and employees but as a result, they had managed to bring the whole world down to their feet. In a non-evil way of course, Kurt added internally.

News of the company and its various high-profile accomplishments as well as its recent activity would regularly appear on TV and in the papers. However, it wasn't so much the company that the media really seemed to focus their attention on, but the actual family itself. Thomas Puckerman, the founder of the company or the 'genius in the iron black suit' as he was most commonly referred to by many, had been known for being a ruthless businessman and not a kind-hearted soul. He had been hated and feared by many of his rivals as they battled one another for the top spot, a spot he later won and would have enjoyed if he hadn't died in the gruesome car crash of 2002. Kurt had only been eight at the time and had had his eyes shielded by his shocked father when horrific images of the accident surfaced on the news. Management, it was later released, had been given to Mr. Puckerman's associates who, up until this day, ruthlessly ruled the company.

Thomas's wife, Emily Puckerman, unlike her husband, didn't know squat about business. In fact, she had once been a beauty queen, competing in notable competitions nationally including the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss America beauty contests, before the up and coming businessman had proposed to her back in the early Eighties. Kurt had seen footage and images of the enchanting and magnificent Plaza wedding on the internet and by God they didn't describe it that way for nothing. It literally looked like something out of a fairytale and it should have done, considering Puckerman had spent an absolute fortune on the day: twenty five million dollars. I mean, seriously, where do these people get their money from? There's got to be some sort of tree out there dishing it out!

While Mrs. Puckerman continued to live a life of luxury and pleasure, her children Noah, Jake and Sarah Puckerman were all still in school. Sarah was ten years old, meaning she had unfortunately only known her father a few months after her birth before his death. Jake was fifteen and was at the moment attending high school in the city and, finally, Noah was twenty and was currently studying part-time at Harvard University, though what he was studying eluded Kurt. Most likely business, he pondered. It was a safe enough assumption. Following that, it was suspected that once Noah graduated, he would become the CEO of the company and take up his father's place, but Kurt didn't know for sure. Nothing apparently had been set in stone. However, Sarah and Jake, because of their young ages, didn't really capture the media's attention unlike Noah. If Kurt had a dime for every time he'd read or seen stories and pictures on the topic of the Puckerman scion, he'd swear he'd be as wealthy as the family itself.

Noah Puckerman was a very handsome, tanned, athletic young man who was notorious for his over-indulgent lifestyle as well as his promiscuous behavior with various high-profile women, with some more notable than others. The legendary stories of his escapades and frequent visits to the Hamptons where all-night parties and other questionable activities would take place were the talk of the town and, as a result, he was often nicknamed by the press, 'The Party-Rocking Puckerman' and 'The Sleepless Badass Badboy.'

Kurt had to snort in derision as he turned onto his street. What a ridiculous name to be referred to, he thought as he remembered how Noah's parties were reputed for making Satanism look like a bar mitzvah, whilst their hunky host chased every single orifice no matter where it was on the body. I mean, Kurt sneered, it's bad enough the media naming you 'New York City's ultimate resident womanizer' before they start nicknaming you other ludicrous titles. People need to get themselves a life!

Superstar where you from, how's it going?
I know you got a clue what you're doing
You can play brand new to all the other chicks out here
But I know what you are, what you are, baby...

Britney Spears' 'Womanizer' popped into Kurt's head as he walked down his street, a little hop in his step. He'd seen the music video and the artist's low-energy performance of the song more than one hundred times and had practically learned the moves from it instantly, recreating some of them as he journeyed.

Look at you getting more than just a re-up
Baby you got all the puppets with their strings up
Faking like a good one but I call them like I see them
I know what you are, what you are, baby...

Kurt really had to compliment Britney on this tune. It was 2008's girl anthem with a great hook, melody and empowering lyrics, and he could remember some of the more lady-killing jocks at his school not being at all impressed with the single when it was released. Could this song really be any more suitable at this moment, he thought as he began climbing his apartment steps, his light dancing never ceasing even when the risk of falling increased. Oh I don't think so!

Womanizer, woman-womanizer, you're a womanizer,
Oh womanizer, oh you're a womanizer, baby
You, you, you are, you, you, you are
Womanizer, womanizer, womanizer...

As he entered his apartment building and checked his mail, one of his neighbors passed him with a small smile on her face before continuing to walk on. Back in Lima, if he was heard singing a very feminist song then not only would he have received a set of strange looks but most likely a beating as well. He'd had to keep his mouth shut, eyes alert and ears pricked at all times in that town, and if you didn't have peripheral vision at your disposal, you were nothing more than easy prey. Simple. However, now that he was in the city, it seemed like an ordinary thing to do, there was nothing strange about it. New York had seen it all. My love for this place is definitely growing…

Boy don't try to front I know just what you are-are-are
Boy don't try to front I know just what you are-are-are
You got me going, you're oh so charming
But I can't do it, you womanizer...

Kurt made his way up the stairs to his apartment door before letting himself in, dumping some his mail on the hall table as he did. He didn't know whether he wanted to shower or not. Spending time in the fresh air as well as doing some light exercise had done him good but due to the heat, his body had begun to show light beads of sweat across his forehead as well as other areas, and sweat was just not a look he rocked. Finally deciding on a relaxing rinse in the bathtub, he continued singing under his breath, his voice coming out as a breathy whisper more than anything else.

'Womanizer' just seemed to be a perfect route for his annoyance for the media's obsession with Noah Puckerman. They were just obsessed with every single measly footstep he took and if they continued they'd no doubt end up killing him somehow, just like his father, and just like every other celebrity victim of the camera. No greater lie other than 'the camera is your friend' could ever have been fabricated in these circumstances. Though it still didn't eliminate the source of the paparazzi's attention, and how he wielded it recklessly with his large, tanned hands. We all know what you are, Mr. Puckerman...

Boy don't try to front I know just what you are-are-are
Boy don't try to front I know just what you are-are-are
You say I'm crazy, I got your crazy
You're nothing but a Womanizer

As Kurt fell lazily onto his bed, the afternoon air wafting in through the windows, he pondered what the Big Apple had in store for him. He'd possibly try and find the filming locations for the Sex and the City TV series and perhaps try and spot himself a celebrity. After all, who knew what he would discover in the vast city of opportunities. There was even the chance of meeting the Puckerman tycoon himself, though the probability of such an event happening was as likely as Kurt touching water only for it turn into gummy bear juice. Never going to happen, Kurt thought as he stared once more at the ceiling, his senses overcome by the smell of fresh linen and summertime, a fresh apartment and a fresh set of opportunities waiting like delectable Easter eggs in the concrete jungle that was the city. Bring it on, New York...

~ PLEASE REVIEW ~

(But if you wish to criticize, may it be constructive. I'm not going to learn from my mistakes and improve if you vent.)

Author's Note: I've written the entire story already, giving me plenty of time to tweak anything I'm not totally happy with and to ensure good continuity. It also made sure I completed the story and I must tell you that the chapters do gradually increase in length over time. However I will not be releasing the story all at once. I want to accumulate readers and reviews so I'll be releasing each chapter gradually so that any last minute changes can be made.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the characters from Glee since I don't own the show. I'm not earning money from this and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. I mean only to please whoever stumbles upon my Love Story.

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