7) 'Punks' on Campus
David realized that something was up as soon as he stepped out of the main building on his way to the Warblers hall. The mass of boys exiting the building had slowed to a near standstill, small groups instantly turning to each other whispering and gesturing sharply towards the edge of the parking lot. Curious, David craned his neck and shifted through the crowd until he had a better view.
It was a punk.
Well, that was the word that instantly popped into David's head when looking at him anyway. David had no idea what this guy was doing on Dalton's campus, he certainly didn't fit in.
The boy in question was leaning casually against the most beaten up pick-up truck David had ever seen, the paint was so faded, chipped and covered in dirt that he could only guess that it had once been red. And the boy himself was even more out of place here than his car was in the lot filled with shiny Porches and Mercedes. His baggy jeans were ripped and full of holes, his shirt a slightly dirty looking white T with the sleeves ripped off to show his muscled arms. Big and fit, the guy looked tough and that look was only emphasized by the mohawk that decorated his otherwise bare skull. The slight frown on his face and the way his hands were jammed in his pockets as he slouched there, projecting cockiness and a general sense of 'give me a reason and I'll beat the shit out of you' didn't help either.
Yeah, classy rich boy this guy was not. So the question was what is he doing here? Guys like that didn't just wander onto the grounds of an upper-class private school for no reason. It was also obvious that he wanted to be noticed. Between his location and distinct difference in appearance (both which just screamed notice me! on a campus like this, though David was sure this guy would have been spotted pretty quick even if he had tried to put on a uniform, the mohawk was kind of obvious) word of his presence would be traveling around the school in seconds.
David really hoped the guy wasn't here to cause trouble, though he sort of doubted they'd be that lucky. It wouldn't be the first time the overprotective boyfriend or brother of a girl one of the Dalton boys had met while out on the town had come by to 'show the rich punk not to mess with their girl/sis.' He just hoped that campus security got here before a fight broke out. Looking like he did, this guy was probably a hot head, and if he got set off he might do some real damage before he was stopped.
While many of the boys were lingering around the doors of the school, obviously willing to wait to find out what was going to happen, a few continued on their way to their cars or the other buildings nearby. They all gave the punk a wide birth, eyeing him warily just in case, but his eyes passed dismissively over each of them. Disregarding them as not being whomever he had come here for.
David debated, rocking back-and-forth on his heels. As one of the Student Council members it was his job to act in situations like this. Should he call campus security before this guy could start something? But what if he was mistaken? Appearances weren't everything and the dude hadn't actually done anything wrong yet. David didn't want to jump the gun if the guy was just giving someone a lift or something. He had just decided on going over to attempt to talk to the guy (to better determine his intentions and hopefully not get beaten up in the process) when all of a sudden the punk pulled out of his slouch, eyes locked on a figure that had just exited the building.
"Yo! Princess!"
David turned to see that the person the punk had so rudely called out to was none other than Kurt Hummel, Dalton's newest transfer and shiny new warbler. Knowing what he did of the reasons for why Kurt had transferred in the first place David felt a ball of ice form in his stomach. Was this one of the jerks who had chased the boy out of his old school? Had one of them actually followed the slight countertenor here just to continue the torture? Ice quickly started to turn to the fire of anger on the younger boy's behalf only to have it stifled as he took in Kurt's reaction, or rather, lack there of. The slight boy didn't seem scared at all, confused yes, but there wasn't a hint of fear as he approached the large intruder with barely a pause.
"Noah?* What are you doing here?"
Well it seemed like Kurt knew this dude, somehow. Were they friends? David was surprised, the guy looked like a badass, just the type of guy who would have made Kurt's life hell, not someone he'd imagined the other boy hanging out with. But there was Kurt, calling the kid by his first name.
"Sup Hummel." The mohawked boy, Noah, looked lost for words now that the fabulous countertenor was actually there. "I'm just," he shrugged and ran one had over his strip of hair, "um, just checking up on ya."
"What do you mean 'checking up on me'?" Kurt's voice had lowered the tiniest bit and a hand was situated on his jutting hip. That line and the lift of one of Kurt's delicate eyebrows had the other boy all but tripping over his own tongue to explain. It was actually kind of amusing, watching someone who was obviously a 'badass' so quickly reduced to verbally fumbling over himself by someone as tiny and unthreatening as Kurt.*
"Nothin' bad or anything. Just you know, making sure that the dudes here are treating you right. I know this place is supposed to be safer for you an' all but it's still full of boys. Yeah, on one hand it could be like your gay Hogwarts heaven but what if one of 'em just tries to use you and then hangs you out to dry? And this is some stupid rich punk place or something so what if they get on you for not being enough like them? Just 'cuz they aren't allowed to hit you doesn't mean they can't pull shit. I know your good with the verbal warfare crap but guy like this, rich dudes, their like raised in it or something so if it gets nasty it'll probably be like really nasty. So just…ya' know… if they start getting up on you, for anything, just let me know and I'll put 'em straight for ya the old fashioned way." He shrugged one of his muscled shoulders to emphasize his point. "Your still one of us you know, even if you did have to leave, so I'm just say'in that I've got your back. If you ever need anything just give me a call and I'll take care of it."
Kurt just stood there blinking for a moment. David (as well as many of the other boys who'd stuck around to watch the show) was extremely surprised by the turn of events that had transpired. This punk had come here to offer to defend Kurt from them! Really? Who did this guy think they were? Ok, so Kurt had obviously had bad experiences that he'd been forced to transfer here in the first place and yeah on some level it was kind of nice in a way, the guy (Noah) was obviously looking out for his smaller friend, but then why hadn't he done that before-"That's…kind of sweet actually." His train of thought was interrupted by Kurt's response. "Thank you Noah. However it is entirely unnecessary and I most certainly will not have you going back to Juvie just because of some ridiculous attempt to 'save' me."
Wait, did Kurt just say this guy had been to Juvie! As in like prison? Why did Kurt even know this guy! David and just about every boy in the area subconsciously leaned backwards as that realization (and the understanding that if any one of them did actually hurt Kurt, not that they would but still, would be on the bad side of this large punk who had already been to prison) registered.
Kurt and the other boy (Noah) just stared at each other for a while before Noah (and that name just didn't quite seem to fit with this criminally inclined punk in David's head) nodded slightly in acceptance. "I know you're good at looking after yourself, you're like a freakin' Ice Queen. But you got shaken way worse than usual and I don't want one of these preppy little punks taking advantage of that." He glanced around the crowd again. "Speaking of preppy punks, where's that curly headed limpet of yours? Isn't he like permanently attached to your hip or something?"
Kurt flushed red and glared. "Blaine is not a limpet and despite popular opinion we don't spend every waking moment together." Noah responded with a smirk. "That's not what Finn says." Kurt huffed and opened his mouth to respond when-speak of the devil- Blaine appeared.
"What's going on? Who is-? Oh hi Puck. What are you doing here?" Blaine casually slid into the place beside Kurt, standard charming smile in place. A sudden tension filled the air around the small group. Puck (now that sounded more like it), had pulled himself to his full height, so he towered over the smaller boy, with his muscled arms crossed over his wide chest. He was leveling a weighty, judging, look at Blaine who was either trying to deflect it with his smile or just outright ignoring it.
Finally a hissed "Noah!" from Kurt had the much larger boy turning his attention away from Blaine and back to the person he had come to see.
Puck looked the countertenor firmly in the eye. "Don't let them get the better of you just because their fancy. You never let us change you. Don't let them." Another brisk nod and then he turned and hopped into his battered truck and took off leaving a stunned (and still slightly horrified) audience in his wake.
"Hey do you think that was Kurt's boyfriend? Or maybe like ex-boyfriend or something?" David jumped (biting his lip to contain the startled shriek) as Tent commented next to him. When the hell had he gotten there? David just glared at his fellow warbler as he tried to calm his racing heart and subtly sooth his bitten lip with his tongue.
"Oh come on! At the very least it means that Blaine totally has a rival for our dear little Kurt's affections. That guy was really pulling out the overprotective 'get your hands off my man' vibes."
"You're crazy Trent. Your lack of a girlfriend is making you see things."
"Oh you're just saying that because you don't want to admit that you and Wes are harboring years of unrequited lust for each other that you try to cover up with your particularly flaming bromance."
"For the last time me and Wes are not lusting after each other. He has a girlfriend. So do I. One that I care for very much. You're just crazy."
Trent waved his hand as if to brush the comment away. "Psssh. You'll realize the truth someday David and then you'll look back on this moment and see just how totally right I was."
David just rolled his eyes and decided to ignore the insanity that was Trent, casually joining the crowd of boys that was finally moving again now that the show was over. He had a warbler's rehearsal to get to.
x x x x x x x x
Note: Timeline-wise this is just after sectionals. When watching the Warblers perform you can see that Kurt looks slightly out of step with everyone else and seems far more subdued than normal and that glance at Puck's face we see has him looking pretty pissed about something. Taking my author's license I've decided that Puck was worried about Kurt (as well as feeling a bit guilty over him leaving) and so he drove out to Dalton to make sure everything was ok.
In this story their will only be Puck/Kurt friendship (though if PuckxKurt fans want to make more out of it that's fine.) I'm a Kurtsie myself so I ship him with just about anyone (under the right circumstances) but lately I've really like the idea of Puck really trying to be a better friend (almost big brotherly) to Kurt after Kurt was forced to leave so that's what I'm trying to explore a little bit here. (Even if I do have others imply that they have more going on ;) cue the drama!)
As for any future wavid scenes…well we'll just see where this story leads. (Though I'm going to guess at a lot of implied stuff while they vigorously hold onto their girlfriends ;) )
(*1) I've always seen Kurt as someone who calls others by either their first name (if he likes them) or their last (if he doesn't or is angry). I don't remember Kurt ever calling Puck by his nickname on the show (though I might be mistaken) only by his last (when Puck was still bullying him) and then he just sort of stopped addressing him as Puck 'glee'd up' and (kinda) reformed. So now that they're friends I'm having Kurt use Noah's first name, as sort of a symbol of the change (and 'cuz I like it darn it!). In my mind Kurt is one of a very small number of people who Puck allows to use his first name, the others being Rachel (as a fellow Jew), his mother and his little sister.
(*2) Obviously David has yet to see Kurt 'diva out' let alone get angry because we all know that Kurt can be very scary if you get on his bad side.
