I did not realize it had gotten this long until I uploaded it on here.

Oops?

Puck.

Somewhere, Puck was glad to have Finn back as his best friend.

While playing Halo and Call of Duty with Mike and Artie was cool an all, they hadn't been friends since they were six years old. Sometimes, he'd say something that he thought was funny, but they wouldn't laugh, because they simply didn't get the reference.

Puck himself would never admit it, but these were the moments that made him miss Finn.

As soon as he'd slept with Quinn, he'd known it wasn't fair to Finn. He'd known that Finn was bound to find out, even if Quinn had tried to hide it.

There were some things he hadn't expected, though.

Falling in love with Quinn was one of them.

He'd always known he had some sort of feelings for her, but for years and years, he had dismissed it as merely being attracted to her because she was hot.

But when she became pregnant with his child, pretending it was Finn's for months until Rachel opened her mouth about it, he'd become immensely jealous. Every time Quinn let Finn put his hand on her belly, all he wanted to do was push Finn away.

But he knew it was his own fault and Finn was only being used by Quinn to save what was left of her reputation.

He'd hated Finn for being so close to Quinn.

And he'd hated Quinn for lying to Finn.

Most of all, though, he'd hated himself for screwing up both of their lives.

But in the end, it had all worked out, and Puck had somehow managed to get his best friend back, which he secretly thought was a miracle in itself.

And this weekend, they had planned some game marathon, which meant that Puck was currently standing at the front door, waiting for someone to open up.

He frowned as he rang the doorbell for the third time, wondering if he'd gotten the time wrong.

But when he checked the text he'd gotten from Finn, it clearly said 10 o'clock. By now, it was 10:20 and there was no sign of Finn anywhere. Puck groaned in annoyance and looked around him, noticing that the only car present was Kurt's Navigator.

All of sudden, the door behind him was flung open and he jumped, turning around. He came face to face with Kurt, who quickly told him to come in and make himself at home, before scurrying off towards the living room, presumably to pick up the phone.

Puck managed to catch Kurt's side of the conversation, as he hung up his coat and almost fell over as he jumped on one foot, while trying to take his shoe off the other foot.

'Kurt Hummel speaking.'

A small pause.

'Puck's already here, Dad.'

Another pause.

'…Keep him entertained. What is he, five?!'

Puck couldn't help but chuckle.

'Okay, fine, but I still don't think it's a good idea. See you tonight. Bye.'

Puck heard a click, followed by footsteps and seconds later, Kurt reappeared in the doorway, beckoning for him to come into the living room.

Puck, however, hesitated. While he came over here a lot lately, he barely ever saw Kurt, unless he just so happened to pass the living room on his way to the kitchen or his way in or out. Or at lunch and dinner. Never at breakfast, though. Not that he'd ever bothered to ask why, but he wondered if Kurt ate at all in the morning sometimes.

'Puck?'

'Huh?' Puck shook his head, only then remembering that Kurt had asked for him to come to the living room. He scraped his throat and walked into the living room, sitting right next to Kurt on the couch.

'Would you like something to drink?'

'Nah, thanks. I'm good.'

He saw Kurt nod out of the corner of his eye.

'So… Where is Finn, actually?' Puck turned his head, just in time to see Kurt roll his eyes.

'He managed to wait until this morning to mention that something was wrong with his car. And since my Dad's planning on giving the bumbling idiot a summer job at the garage, he figured Finn could come with him to watch. Even though I warned them it'd take too long and they wouldn't be back before you came here. Not that they ever listen to me when I say such things.'

Kurt had muttered the last part rather irritable, but, although Puck normally ignored the fact that he heard certain things, he couldn't help but wonder why Kurt had sounded a little…

Hurt?

And as far as he knew, they were alone anyway.

'Dude?'

Kurt sipped the tea he had in his hands. Puck hadn't even noticed it, but when he saw Kurt glancing at him in a questioning manner, he decided to ignore it.

'Are you okay?'

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

'Yeah… Why?'

'Because you don't sound like it.'

There was a tone of finality in Puck's voice. Kurt frowned angrily and for a moment, Puck thought it would be a good idea to hide, before Kurt started throwing things.

Instead, the entire room was completely silent, while Puck watched Kurt's angry frown morph into a very sad look. Tears were glistening in his eyes.

But that wasn't the only thing the boy with the Mohawk noticed. The longer he looked at Kurt, who remained silent for a long time, the more things he noticed that just weren't quite right.

For one, Kurt was still wearing his pyjamas and thick socks that weren't matching. Puck had heard from Finn that Kurt was always the first one dressed in the house. And Kurt had always kind of given Puck the feeling that he frowned upon people who wore things that didn't match, style wise or colour wise.

The only time Finn had ever seen him still wearing pyjamas or mismatching things was when he was sick, or when Finn just happened to run into him when he was making his way to the bathroom, or when he was incredibly upset.

So Kurt wearing his pyjamas, along with a bathrobe and mismatching socks wasn't all that good a sign… At all.

Next to that came the fact that Kurt looked quite miserable, and not just because he seemed sad.

His skin was very pale, much more so than usual. There was absolutely no sign of colour on his face and his lips were almost as white as his skin. He had dark circles under his eyes, indicating that he'd barely slept. His hair was a mess and looked like Kurt hadn't washed it or hadn't even bothered to somewhat style it in any way. It stuck out in all directions.

And then there was the fact that Kurt had tucked his legs underneath him, shoulders hunched as he stared at the wall.

Kurt, at least the Kurt he knew, always made it a point to sit upright and had his nose tilted up in the air, not in an arrogant way, but a confident one.

But now, even that was missing.

'You're sick, aren't you?' Puck said without thinking, when it became clear that Kurt wasn't going to answer him.

He had not expected Kurt's chin to wobble and for a stray tear to roll down his cheek, though.

'I w-woke up this m-morni-ing feeling a-awful. When I came downstairs, m-my fathe-er had alre-ready promised Finn to- to take him to the-the garage today. He w-was very exci-ted about it. So ex-excited tha-at he didn't notice I was sick.'

Puck frowned as he rubbed Kurt's back, hoping to console him at least somewhat.

He'd gotten to know Burt and how fond he was of Kurt, so for him, of all people, to not notice he was sick came as a big surprise.

'Where were Carole and Finn in all this?'

'Oh please. As if Finn would notice I was sick unless I puked all over his shoes like what happened with Miss Pillsbury, remember?'

Puck winced and snorted at the same time, not really giving a damn about how weird that might look. He did remember what had happened with Kurt being drunk in school.

He'd found it hilarious, really.

Next to that came the fact that Kurt was right. If one could describe Finn in a nutshell, the word that came to mind first was oblivious.

Carole, however…

'And Carole?'

'She got some emergency at the hospital, so she was long gone before I even woke up.'

'She'd have noticed, though, being a nurse and all. Don't you think?'

'Yeah. I think she would have.'

They sat in silence for a while.

'Do you want some soup? I make a mean chicken noodle soup, you know?' Puck boasted.

Kurt just chuckled softly at the way Puck had waggled his eyebrows.

'That'd be nice.' Kurt said, following it by a whispered 'Show-off'.

'Hey! I heard that!'

But he grinned at Kurt, before patting his back one last time and getting up, making his way towards the kitchen.

'Just pop in a movie or something, alright?' He said over his shoulder, disappearing into the kitchen and missing Kurt's smile. He did hear him get up and open some drawer.

When Puck came back, Kurt had gotten himself a blanket and a trashcan, probably in case he started feeling nauseous. It looked comfortable, but he noticed Kurt was looking at him, so, balancing the tray with the bowl of soup with a spoon in it, he walked over to him, setting the tray down on the coffee table, next to Kurt's empty mug.

'Thank you.' Kurt said quietly, but he smiled at last when he tasted the chicken noodle soup.

'You're welcome, dude.'

For a while, it was silent as Kurt started the movie.

'So… The Avengers, huh?'

Kurt grinned.

'Yeah.'

'Never pegged you as the action movie type. No offense, dude, but you seem more like the Sound of Music kind of guy.'

Kurt sighed deeply, nodding.

'A lot of people assume that, but, although I do appreciate a good musical once in a while, it's absolutely not the only thing I watch.'

'I see. Well, good choice on the movie anyway, dude.'

'Thank you… I guess.'

'Hey, where's Blaine, actually? I kind of figured he'd be here to use his hobbit-powers to nurse you back to health?'

'Yeah… You see… He kind of… doesn't know I'm sick.'

Though Kurt had mumbled this as soft as he could, Puck still picked it up and turned to him with an eyebrow raised. Everybody who knew Kurt and Blaine, or either one of them, knew that they were practically inseparable, at least when it came to being sick or hurt.

When Blaine, for example, had been stuck at home with his cornea scratched, Kurt had been there literally everyday until his surgery.

So why, pray tell, was Kurt the one sitting alone with his boyfriend not even knowing he's sick?

'How come he doesn't know, then?'

'Didn't tell him…'

'Why not?'

'Why are you suddenly so interested?'

'Because when his eye was hurt…'

'Okay, okay. I get it. But he told me yesterday that Wes would be coming over.'

'Who's Wes?'

'A friend he knew from Dalton. But he already graduated and decided to go to law school on the West Coast somewhere, so they barely ever see each other, unless he comes to Lima to visit his family.'

'So you'd have felt guilty if you'd only let him know you were sick?'

'No. I'd have felt guilty because I know he'd have shoved Wes to the sideline to come and take care of me and I can't let him do that to Wes.'

Puck was silent for a while, knowing Kurt had a point but still not exactly agreeing with Kurt being home alone while sick. Kurt was right, though. Blaine did seem like the kind of guy to do that just for Kurt. That was just the kind of people both of them were.

So, instead of arguing, he merely nodded, already forming a plan in his head.

An hour later, Puck was watching the end of the Avengers, having turned off the sound a long while ago, as soon as Kurt decided to fall asleep about twenty minutes ago.

He wasn't sure if this could have just been a ten-minute-long nap, but he didn't want to take any risks waking the boy up.

Kurt had left his phone on the coffee table.

Puck got up very carefully, so as to not wake Kurt up by accident, grabbed the phone and tiptoed off to the hall, already looking through Kurt's contact list.

So if Kurt woke up to Blaine brushing his hair out of his face, Wes standing a little further away, but looking almost as concerned as Blaine did, Puck would forever claim that he had nothing to do with it.

But as he walked upstairs with a profusely apologizing Finn right after him, he couldn't help but feel relieved that Kurt was in good and caring hands, instead of on his own.

Not that he'd ever admit that. He had a badass reputation to uphold, after all.

Because I'm absolutely convinced Puck has a really soft side as well.