I feel I must admit that this chapter and the last are very filleresque. I've received a couple complaints to that effect, but I can't apologize. You see, this fic is completely completed, and I can see the whole thing. Pacing-wise, this is an important calm before the storm. Both chapters are absolutely necessary for character development, and both introduce some subtle plot needed for the flow of the whole story. I do apologize that this means you get two updates where it doesn't feel like much is happening, but I promise you, a lot is. And next chapter (which I will post on Tuesday), Sam returns. As the lyrics of For Your Entertainment say: "No escaping when I start/Once I'm in I own your heart/There's no way to ring the alarm/So hold on until it's over..."

Kurt needs this calm.

Anyway, that being said, for this chapter, if you've somehow missed Greased Lightnin', you need to watch this video: h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v = F e S K y i K l x r Q

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How Things Work

Solos

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Finn had told Kurt that Rachel once compared herself to Tinkerbell—I live for applause—and Kurt had to admit, he fully understood the sentiment. When the auditorium echoed with the clapping of the six girls, Mr. Schu, and Miss Pillsbury (once again the 'celebrity' judge), Kurt had to laugh, taking his bow with all of the guys on stage.

Santana was the first to pierce the happy bubble. "That's a Cheerios routine. They didn't come up with it."

Immediately, the footballers were protesting, coming to the front of the stage and loudly deriding any accusations of cheating. Puck was the most vocal of the four: "Dude, you think I'd ever dance like a cheerleader!"

"Kurt?" Mr. Schu was frowning at him, the sole Cheerio among the males. "Did you steal a Cheerios routine?"

"No, Mr. Schu," Kurt said, shaking his head and stepping forward. "We stole the song and let the routine inspire us, but I'd say at least ninety percent was our own invention. And the costumes are from our mash-up last year, so you could argue that the Cheerios lifted them from us." He smoothed his hand over the black leather. "We can't help it if we're too fashion-forward..."

Mercedes cracked up in the audience, and Kurt grinned at her.

"Yeah, Mr. Schu," Artie said, rolling up beside Kurt. "Just because the girls are afraid that their lack-luster performance of Whenever, Wherever can't possibly measure up to the sheer awesome factor that is the six of us in leather doesn't mean we should be accused of cheating."

"Besides," Finn said, "we just took the song to make up for all the times Coach Sylvester leaked our songs. And Kurt already had the music."

Mr. Schu looked down at the girls, spreading his hands. "What do you think, ladies?"

"I can approve of revenge tactics," Quinn said, tugging gently on one of her curls.

"We're not on the ground so much," Brittany agreed with a nod. "It's different."

"All right then. The boys' number can stand." Mr. Schu clapped his hands together, heading up to the stage. "And I've got our set list for Sectionals. Stop me if it's too juvenile... but after Brittany and Santana's first performance this year, I've been thinking Disney."

Rachel squealed, leaping to her feet. "Disney music has some of the best songs! I mean, just look at all the films that were adapted to Broadway! Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid...!"

"Disney?" Puck was looking skeptical. "Really, Mr. Schu? Isn't that a bit... girly?"

"Disney has plenty of masculine songs," Kurt said, turning to Puck with a scowl. "I'll Make a Man Out of You, from Mulan, Go the Distance, from Hercules, Prince Ali from Aladdin..."

"Kurt's right," Mr. Schu said, stepping up to the boys. "But I'm thinking we focus more on their achieving your dreams songs. A very motivational, uplifting melody. We can start with When You Wish Upon a Star, one soloist, front and center."

Kurt rolled his eyes as Rachel clapped excitedly. Three guesses who gets that role.

"We'll then bring the rest of you into A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, and finish strong with Go the Distance. What do you think?"

"I love it!" Rachel announced, but all the girls were nodded and smiling along with her enthusiasm.

"It does sound very positive," Artie said. "Though a bit... mmm... juvenile probably is the right word."

"So you guys'll just have to rock it." Mr. Schu grinned at them. "We don't want this to sound like we just lifted them straight from the movies. You think we can do this?"

"Yeah!" Mike punched the air, earning him strange looks from the rest of the club. "What? I like Disney..."

Amid the laughter, Rachel flew toward the stage, her mouth working a mile a minute. "Mr. Schu, I've got some great ideas on how we can arrange the songs, and I know just how to sing my solo-"

"Whoa, hold on a minute there, Rachel," Mr. Schu said. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I don't think you should sing the first solo here."

"Wait... what! How can you do this to me?" Rachel gaped up at the teacher. Mr. Schu gave her a shrug.

"If we're going to clear Nationals this year, we need to hold some of our secret weapons in reserve, right? And shock them with other secret weapons."

"Do we have other secret weapons?" Tina asked. "Rachel's our star."

"Ah," Mr. Schu said, holding up a finger, "but we do have other secret weapons. For example... we have a national-champion vocalist in our club." He swept his arm over to Kurt. "How about it, Kurt? You want to open Sectionals for us?"

"M-me!" Kurt's eyes were wide as he stared at Mr. Schu, pointing uselessly at himself. "You want me to sing the solo? You never give me solos!"

"I don't?" Mr. Schu asked, frowning at Kurt. "I could have sworn you've had solos before..." Kurt frowned a little back, shaking his head. Sure, he'd sung solos before, but never because Mr. Schu gave them to him. "Well, you'll have a solo now. I think you're ready for this. What do you say?"

Kurt smiled a little. "I love Pinocchio. Let's do this."

.

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Hummel Tire & Lube was the best place to go in Lima if you needed work done on your car. It was not, however, the cheapest. Not the sticker price, at least. The owner was known to give big discounts though, if he knew you, and Puck figured being in Glee with the owner's son and sorta-stepson was enough to knock the price of an oil change down to something his pocket could handle.

Puck parked his car outside the shop and wandered in, hands in his pockets, looking around with interest. Finn had taken to working here over the summer and really liked it, but Puck had always used Jiffy Lube in the past. There was music playing from somewhere, quiet but recognizable—Greased Lightnin', from Grease. Figured that Kurt Hummel's auto shop would be playing Broadway tunes.

And speaking of Kurt Hummel, there was a definitely small mechanic managing to dance from underneath a car. Dance and sing. Puck crouched down a little to look at the boy lying on a creeper, working on the underside of a Toyota.

"With new pistons, plugs, and shocks, I can get off my rocks! You know that I ain't braggin', she's a real pussy wagon—Greased Lightnin'!"

Puck stepped back as Kurt rolled out and bounced to his feet and executed a pirouette before quick-stepping over to a shelf to grab at some of the parts, examining them with an expert eye, still singing along to the music.

"Greased Lightnin', go Greased Lightnin'!"

He clearly didn't care that he wasn't alone (Puck wouldn't dance in public unless it was very well rehearsed) or that the other mechanics would glance over his way occasionally. At least they didn't look ready to take their tools to the back of Kurt's perfectly-coiffed head. That would rather put a dent in Puck's plans for a discount oil change.

"You are supreme, ah ah, the chicks'll cream, ah ah, for Greased Lightnin'!"

"You do realize that all this talk of pussy and cream has nothing to do with cats, right?" Puck asked, creeping up behind the dancing mechanic.

Kurt yelped, spinning so fast he nearly hit Puck with the wrench in his hand. "Puck! What are you doing here!"

"Junior!"

"It's okay!" Kurt called back, raising the wrench. "He's Finn's friend, it's cool."

The big guy who had called out frowned a little but gave a nod, turning back to his car. Puck frowned at Kurt. "What was that all about?"

Kurt's face went blank as he gave a shrug. "Karofsky came by this summer to get some work done. Um. Bad-mouthed me to my dad. Got kicked out. Now they're all wary of anyone in a letter jacket getting too close to me."

Puck frowned at Kurt, sensing there was more to the story than what Kurt was saying, but he shrugged and let it slide.

"So... what are you doing here?" Kurt asked, tucking the wrench into his toolbelt and adjusting his gloves. "Finn's at home, I think. With Rachel?"

"What would you say if I said I came here for you?" Puck asked with a leer, just to see if he could get Kurt to react.

Sure enough, the mechanic's cheeks, already a little flushed from his dancing, turned a few shades darker, but he brushed his bangs to the side and lifted his chin, settling one hand on his hip. "I'd say you were out of luck."

Puck grinned, giving a jerk of his head toward where he had parked. "Needed an oil change. Figured I could sweet-talk the owner into a discount. Or maybe his little 'Junior...'"

Kurt rolled his eyes, shaking a finger at Puck. "You only get to call me 'Junior' if you've worked here at least a year, so don't even start. But I might be nice and authorize a discount anyway. Where'd you park?"

Puck led Kurt to the car, watching as Kurt popped the hood with a frown. "Still hot—you just got here? We don't do hot changes: oil burns aren't fun. When do you need her done by?"

"I was hoping tonight..."

Kurt was eying Puck in a way that made him shift awkwardly. "You ever changed your oil before?"

"Nope." Puck shrugged. "Figured it was overdue."

Kurt rolled his eyes, closing the hood. "Let's get 'er in on a jack, let her cool off about ten minutes, and I'll teach you how to do it."

"Wait, what am I paying you for, then?" Puck asked, tossing his keys from hand to hand.

Kurt just shrugged. "I'd feel silly charging you for something so simple. Ten bucks, and you'll know how to do it yourself in the future."

Puck grinned, dropping his keys into Kurt's outstretched hand. Jiffy Lube charged his mom thirty when she got her oil changed. "Sounds more than fair!"

Kurt pulled Puck's car into the shop, expertly positioning it over one of the lifts, and beckoned for Puck to follow him into a breakroom. "Thirsty?" he asked, offering Puck a choice of sodas from the fridge. Puck took a Mountain Dew and watched Kurt sip from a bottle of Diet Coke.

"You're allowed to just take breaks?"

Kurt smiled wickedly. "My dad owns the place. I'm allowed to do whatever I want." He shrugged, some of the evilness fading away. "Besides, I'm about an hour overdue for a break anyway."

"Enjoying performing too much?" Puck teased, laughing when Kurt actually stuck his tongue out in response.

"It's my day to choose the music, though they have to preapprove it first. Grease is a thousand times better than my dad's Mellencamp crap."

"Mellencamp's better than Disney." It was fun to bait Kurt, really, it was. Puck liked riling others up, and he had discovered that Kurt, when outside the school grounds, was surprisingly easy to annoy. All he had to do was put his shoes on the couch or insult his tastes and the smaller boy would start getting huffy and offended. But he could play along, too, unlike, for example, Quinn in the grips of baby hormones (but really, that fat chick joke was hilarious!), or Santana most of the time.

"Please. Mellencamp had one thing to say, and only one, and he clearly hadn't done a good job saying it if he had to rephrase it so many times. Disney's songs, on the other hand, span so many genres and are relateable on a much broader scale. There is no comparison."

"You're just saying that because Schu finally gave you a solo, and it's Disney."

"I would happily sing Mellencamp again if it meant I'd get a solo," Kurt admitted. "Mr. Schu means well, but his blatant favoritism is... tiring, at times."

"You don't need to tell me about it," Puck said, rolling his eyes. He'd been quite surprised at his own solos at Regionals last year. "But Finn and Rachel have the best voices, so..."

Kurt huffed a laugh, shaking his head. "Please. You could out-sing Finn any day, if you actually put some effort into practicing." Puck looked up at the other boy, watching as Kurt quickly averted his eyes. "Er... but don't tell Finn I said that. He does have a really good voice. Yours is just... it's a touch stronger."

"Course it is," Puck said with a smirk. "I'm a stud. Finn's just wholesome. I'm definitely the stronger one. Just check out these guns..."

Kurt rolled his eyes, standing up again. "I meant stronger vocally. Now come on. Your car's probably cool enough to work with now, and it'll take at least twice as long to show you how to change your own oil as it would be to do it myself."

"Maybe you should just do it yourself," Puck said, following Kurt back into the shop. "I mean, I break things. I don't fix 'em. What if I break it?"

"If you manage to break your car doing a simple oil change, the sort of which I've been doing since I was nine," Kurt answered over his shoulder, "I'll fix the whole thing, free of charge. But don't take that as a challenge. I'd much rather see you do something right."