The next morning, Finn woke up feeling a little groggy, but no less tired than he would do any morning. He noticed the bathroom door was closed, and Kurt's bed was empty. He walked over to the bathroom lazily and knocked on the door. "Kurt, c'mon! I need to get ready for school!"

"Kurt left about ten minutes ago," said the voice from the bathroom, and it took Finn a moment to put the pieces together.

"Ben, c'mon! I need to get ready for school!"

"You'll just have to wait a second," Ben replied, and Finn heard the sink run. The door opened and Ben stepped out.

He was wearing skinny jeans and a loose shirt, as well as a dark blue hoodie that Finn was sure he'd seen Kurt eyeing in Gap (when shopping trips with Kurt were that boring, he tended to remember details). He stood in Ben's way for a second, and was treated to an inquiring eyebrow in return. "Are you going to let me pass, or…"

"Umm, I kind of wanted to say that…" the eyebrow remained firmly raised. "You look, ummm, you look nice. Today." Finn himself was wearing a Power Rangers t-shirt and boxer shorts, so he didn't believe that the sentiment would be returned.

Instead, Ben just smiled. "Thank you. Now, I'm really hungry. Do you mind?" Finn nodded and moved out of the way. As soon as he was in the bathroom, Ben sighed. "This," he told nobody in particular, "might prove to be difficult."

Sam walked into school the next day both nervous and excited. He wasn't sure of what would become of him and Ben – the way he'd pulled away from their almost kiss made it clear to him that there was something wrong that Ben wasn't telling him. Probably to protect him.

The thing is, he didn't want to be protected. He wanted to be loved.

He'd never questioned the feelings that he had for Ben – they were there and he accepted them. Hey, maybe everyone had been right when they'd thought he was gay. Maybe he'd just missed something.

As he walked past the library (on his usual route to his locker), he noticed that there was nobody else there, and that there was only one person using one of the computers. He decided to walk in to see who it was and, lo and behold, it was Ben.

"Hey!" he went over to see what Ben was doing, and noticed he had a web page open – lyrics to a song. "What's The Wolf, by Miniature Tigers?"

The page shut quickly.

You moved up close, I could feel your sweat
I kissed you on your neck and you got wet

"Nothing," Ben replied coolly. Just a song I was thinking about singing for glee club." Sam leaned towards him, and Ben tensed, moving his head up so that Sam managed to place a kiss on his neck. Sam looked up at him inquisitively. "Ummm... I have a cold."

He coughed.

Fakely.

"Okay..." Sam was a little confused (and a bit hurt) but decided not to show it. "Want me to walk you to your locker?"

"Why, how gentlemanly of you!" Ben said, gushing theatrically, and Sam put his arm out, which Ben entwined his with.

This was going to be a good day.

It was already lunch, and nobody had said a word to either Sam or Ben unkindly. It was suspicious to both of them, but they let it happen because they liked being left alone to bask in their happiness.

Everybody's looking at you like they want to

Ben made his way to his locker, and Sam leaned against it. "What?" he asked the football player, who was wearing an expression that was either contentment or wind.

"I just love that nobody's decided to try anything."

"Like that would work. They're all too afraid of –"

"I'm not that scary! I mean, I am kinda strong..." he took the opportunity to flex his bicep.

"I was going to say that they're afraid of me, dear."

Sam gave him a look.

"What? I can be pretty damn terrifying when I want to be."

"Yeah right." At that point, they were both greeted by the sight of one Noah Puckerman making his way towards them. "Hey, Puck," said Sam, still engrossed in their almost-argument.

"Hey dudes. Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure, Puck. What's up?" Ben asked, slamming his locker shut.

Everybody's looking at you like they want to

"I was kinda wondering if I could talk to you... alone."

"I'm sure whatever it is you want to ask me you can ask with Sam around," Ben said.

"Not really..."

"Okay. Fine. Lead the way." As they started to walk off, Sam grabbed Puck's arm.

"If you even lay a –"

"Sam! It's fine. I've got this one," Ben said, pacifying his murderous boyfriend. Although flattered by the attention, he was kind of worried that Sam would punch Puck's lights out.

Everybody's looking at you like they want to
Like they want to go home with you

They walked slowly into the janitor's closet. Puck turned the light on and shut the door. "I don't like you with that guy," he said, breaking the silence.

"I'm sorry?"

"I don't think he's good for you."

"Still not following you."

"You should break up with him."

"Whoa, whoa." Ben took a step back. "You want me to break up with Sam because you don't think he's good for me? Since when have you even talked to me? And since when do you think I want your opinion?"

Puck seemed taken aback by the numerous questions posed at him. "I... I like you better... with me."

"Sorry?"

"With me!" Ben was silent. "Since that time you kissed me... I couldn't stop thinking about you. Sure, maybe I wasn't as obvious as Blondie or the Big Friendly Giant –"

"The Big Friendly Giant?"

Puck just rolled his eyes. "I might not have been as obvious, but I still have kind of a thing for you."

"So, in other words, you want to get into my pants."

"Ummm..." he hadn't thought about that. "Maybe."

"This can very easily be solved," Ben said.

"Can it?"

"Certainly." With that, he pulled Puck into a kiss. The moment their lips met, Puck's mind was filled with images – wolves, corpses. Murders and death. It was horrifying, and he pulled away quickly. His eyes were wide, and he looked dazed. Any attraction he'd had for the new kid has clearly gone away. Ben's eyes blazed a brilliant yellow.

"Run along now, Puckerman." And he did.

Sam watched as Puck tore out of the janitor's closet, and sprinted down the hall faster than he'd ever seen him run in practise. He waited until Ben stepped out of the closet a moment later, and grabbed his arm. "Why did he run so fast?"

"Told you I had it."

The pair turned to walk into the cafeteria, and was greeted with the sight of Karofsky and Azimio, holding slushies. "Hasn't Evans here told you about the rules of McKinley, New Kid?" he sneered, confidently.

"As a matter of fact," Ben said, "he didn't need to." Without anyone noticing, Ben plucked the two slushies out of their hands in a flash. He handed one to Sam. "Thanks for these – I didn't expect anyone to buy me a slushy, though I did want to try one."

Karofsky looked at him stunned.

"Which rule were you referring to?" he asked innocently, as he took a sip of the slushy. Karofsky looked at Sam desperately – and he just took a sip of his and smirked too. He gathered up all of his confidence (since when did scrawny gay kids scare him?) and said:

"You can't just walk around here like fags all the time."

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" Ben asked sweetly, twisting the topper of the slushy cup.

"I said, you can't just walk around here like fags all the time!"

"Like what?" Ben challenged, pulling the top off.

"LIKE FAGS!" As he finished shouting, he was met with a splash of ice cold on his face.

He, Karofsky, the biggest bully in the school, had just been slushied. It was embarrassing, to say the least.

Sam was laughing his ass off, and took Ben's hand. "Let that be a lesson to all of you," Ben told the pair of bullies. "Nobody messes with me or my boyfriend and gets away with it."

They walked over to the trash can, and Ben threw the empty slushy cup in the bin. "Such a shame," he told his boyfriend. "It didn't taste half bad." Sam offered his straw, but Ben shook his head. "You enjoy, sweetheart. Now, who's the badass?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "You're the badass," he volunteered begrudgingly.