There was much discussion among the Glee students concerning the best way to conduct their research. In the end, most of them chose the logical route of a visit to each other's homes. Quinn had made the suggestion, pointing out that since she had been living with Mercedes for the last couple of weeks, she had already learned several new things about her, making her assignment half complete already.
"I should come over to your house," Tina suggested to Finn and Kurt. "Since you guys live together, maybe I can get both of my homework pieces done at the same time. Though, I guess that's probably not fair to you, Kurt."
He smiled at her. "I'm sure I can learn a few things just by talking to you, but if that's not enough, I'll return the favor and come by your place tomorrow."
"Perfect!" she agreed with a sunny smile. "I like this assignment. It'll be fun to learn something new about you guys."
"Mind if I tag along?" Puck interrupted gruffly, directing his question to Tina but looking at Finn. The two had started getting along much better again since their joint efforts at KISS rock, tire-slashing and minimum wage employment over the last several weeks, but they had still not reached their former status as best friends. "I need to get some dirt on Kurt."
He grinned a little at the inadvertent rhyme and Finn chuckled. "Fine by me."
Kurt waited a moment, until it became clear that Puck had no intention of asking for his permission in this. He cleared his throat, raising a deliberate eyebrow when Puck looked his way.
It took a moment, but Puck eventually got the message. Rolling his eyes, he drawled, "May I please come over to the palace, your highness?" Eyes sweeping over Kurt's tight herringbone trousers and gaudy black and white, splash-patterned sweater, he grimaced. "Not sure why I should bother, though. It's not like there'll be anything different than what I see right here."
Blue eyes went cold as Kurt pulled himself up into a haughty stance and crossed his arms. "If that's what you really believe, then you're right. There is no point. I wish you luck completing the other half of your assignment."
Spinning on the heel of one black and white, cross-strapped, Vivienne Westwood boot, Kurt snatched up his satchel and stalked out of the choir room.
"Dude, that was not cool," Finn said, shaking his head. "Kurt is a really good guy when you get to know him, and really surprising sometimes. You should give him a chance."
"He's really nice," Tina said, looking at Puck reproachfully. "And I was starting to believe that you were nice, too. Guess we were both wrong. I'll see you later, Finn."
She also left without a backward glance.
Looking down at the scuffed toes of his favorite Converse sneakers, Puck grimaced. He knew they were right, but old habits died hard. Picking on the gay kid had been an acceptable part of his tough guy M.O. for such a long time that it was hard to remember sometimes that it didn't fit in with his recent effort to become a better person. Deep down, he knew that one of the reasons for his continued strain with Finn was his personal reluctance to set foot in his friend's new home, which he imagined as being decorated in total homo-explosive taste.
Still, he only had to learn three lousy little facts about Kurt, and he really did not want to fail this assignment. It just would not be cool if everybody in Glee thought that Noah Puckerman was the only guy in class who hadn't had the balls to step up to the plate and take a swing.
"I'll talk to him," he grunted, giving in to Finn's pleading look. Sticking his hands in his pockets and squaring his shoulders as though preparing to face an arctic cold-front, he headed out to corner his quarry.
He found Kurt easily. The other boy was at his locker, vigorously slamming books inside its metal confines and throwing replacements into his bag with equal irritation. Anger filled every line of his slender form, and the look he shot Puck when he leaned a shoulder against the locker next to his should have incinerated him on the spot. "Lose your way to the dumpster, Puckerman?"
Puck sighed. Apparently he had really offended Kurt somehow. "Look, I shouldn't have said that. You're not shallow and I'm sure there's more to you than just what you show here at school. I mean, it's not your fault that you always have to be so . . ." he waved his hand in a vague, all encompassing gesture, making a face at the fuzzy patterned garment Kurt wore. A lot of the other boy's wardrobe choices were ugly, in his opinion, but this particular sweater made his hands just itch to throw a Slushie at it.
"Fashionable?" Kurt supplied dryly, raising that contemptuous eyebrow again.
"Yeah . . . I guess. Seriously, Hummel, do you own a mirror?"
Kurt bristled. "Excuse me?"
"Man, you look like Cruella-freaking-DeVille in that thing! You make me want to report you to the ASPCA."
Startled by the outburst, Kurt looked down at himself. "This sweater cost $300, I'll have you know. I fixed cars at my dad's shop every day after school for weeks to buy it." His mouth primmed as he looked over Puck's torn jeans and faded football jersey. "And who are you to criticize? You look like you've been run over by the fashion police."
"Who am I? I'm just a guy with two working eyeballs and a strong stomach," he shot back. Suddenly, he grinned. "Hey, that's something I didn't know about you! You work part time in an auto-shop. Two more facts and I'm golden."
Fingering the edge of his collar, Kurt did not appear to have heard him. A worried frown was creasing the pale skin between his eyebrows. "Do you really think it's that bad?"
To say that Puck was surprised by the question, by the simple fact of the annoyingly self-confident Kurt Hummel being honestly concerned about his opinion, was a decided understatement.
"It's right up there with that multi-colored zebra thing that Mercedes wears sometimes." He shrugged at the instant look of horror this pronouncement brought. "Maybe I just got something against animal prints."
Kurt pondered this for a moment, but then apparently decided that he was not willing to take the chance. Turning back to his locker, he wriggled out of the fuzzy sweater, revealing a long-sleeved white dress shirt underneath. Folding the sweater neatly, he deposited it in his locker and whipped out a long, breezy, blue silk scarf. Puck grinned as he watched Kurt expertly knot it into place around his collar. The scarf had little skulls patterned over the fabric. Weird, but definitely an improvement over that horrible sweater.
"So, it's okay if I come over with Tina this afternoon?" he asked, needing to be sure.
"Yes."
Kurt appeared a little reluctant to issue permission, and Puck couldn't really blame him. It wasn't like he would have been eager to have the other boy over to his house, either. And given their past history, he supposed he was probably dead-last on the list of Glee kids whom Kurt would have considered inviting on his own.
"Great. Where do you live?"
Kurt looked startled. "Finn hasn't told you?"
Puck shrugged. "Never came up."
Reaching for a notebook, Kurt wrote his address down in neatly curved script and handed the page over. "I gave Finn a ride to school this morning, so if you want to take him home with you, he can give you directions."
"What about Tina?"
"She can ride with me."
Puck was interested by the hardening in Kurt's eyes and the firmness in his tone when he said this. He would never have hurt Tina, but Kurt was clearly reluctant to allow his shy little Goth-girl friend to ride with someone he still considered a bully. Apparently, Puck mused, he was not the only one who was having trouble letting go of the mutual stereotype they had always operated under.
"Sounds good," he said, offering a casual wave with the paper he had folded between two fingers. "Guess I'll catch you later."
He smirked, able to see Kurt out of the corner of his eye, watching his departure with a thoughtful frown upon his face.
Maybe this assignment might turn out to be fun, after all.
