Puck wants you to review! Or he would if her were real. Just go with it. Don't ask questions.
School is starting for me. Today. Expect updates not to be daily anymore. I had hoped to finish writing this before the semester began. :(
Puck: Come Home With Me
The papers said Banks was dead, but Kurt had never called. Puck didn't know what to do with himself, so he continued living out of his mom's car and trying to find Kurt. It sucked ass, but it was better than running back home now that he had found and lost Kurt again.
He fidgeted in his seat and smiled apologetically at the older woman next to him when he bumped her elbow. In trying to find Kurt, Puck had realized that the boy's goal in life was pretty much to come to New York and become a star on Broadway. So he'd begun looking for him in plays and musicals, mostly in smaller theaters because no one would have heard of Kurt yet. Puck searched for anyone with the names Kurt, Alex, or Alexander and used his mom's credit card to buy tickets for the shows he hoped to find his friend at.
Puck wanted to tell himself 'maybe this time,' but it seemed unlikely. It was too good a part. Not the lead because Kurt simply wasn't masculine enough for most male leads, but still a good part. Still, Puck wasn't ready to risk not finding Kurt because he had underestimated the boy's talents. Because even if no one had heard of him, Kurt was damn good. And Puck was desperate. He would try everything he could think of.
The musical started, and some girl sang something about something. Puck didn't pay attention. Someone joined her onstage with a stupid costume on, but Puck couldn't even tell from this distance if it was a girl or a guy. It'd be tall for a girl, but hey, some girls were tall.
When the second person started singing, it sounded like a girl, but Puck knew it wasn't. It was Kurt. He had too crappy a seat for a decent look at the boy's face, but Puck was certain. He had found Kurt. Now how the hell was he going to get backstage? And what the hell had convinced Kurt that Hood was a cool last name?
Through the rest of the musical, Puck fidgeted and bumped the elbow of the woman beside him. She seemed pretty annoyed by it at the end, but he dashed off almost before the curtains had closed. He needed to find Kurt.
There was a guard or security personnel or whatever blocking the way to getting backstage, and Puck, for once, couldn't flirt his way through. He cursed and waited outside near the parking lot instead. If he was lucky, he wouldn't miss Kurt. If he wasn't lucky… well, Puck hoped he hadn't used up all his luck in getting away from Banks.
He hadn't. Kurt was leaving on foot with an auburn-haired woman. Puck hurried to catch up to them.
"Kurt, wait."
The countertenor turned stiffly, and the woman with him looked confused. Oh, yeah, she would know him as Alexander.
"Why did you stay here? I told you to call me so I could take you back home." He held up both hands in a gesture that he hoped made him look harmless because Kurt seemed ready to bolt.
"Are you that fucktard Robbie?" Whoever she was, Kurt's new friend positioned herself between the boys from Lima. At least he'd found someone who would protect him.
"Hell no." He'd have laughed if it weren't so scary a thought that it left him scowling fiercely instead. "I'm Puck. Robbie is… long gone." What had Kurt told her? Something, obviously, but not the truth.
"It's okay, Meg," Kurt said, sounding resigned. "Puck's okay." He turned to Puck then. "It's cold here. Come one, we'll talk at Meg's place, if that's okay." She nodded but definitely continued giving Puck the stink eye.
Meg's apartment was small but clean. It looked like the kind of place Kurt would be comfortable in, but before the Kurt took over and redecorated phase. Kurt sat on the big brown couch, and Meg lounged over the rest of it. Puck sat on the floor because he didn't feel much like standing.
No one spoke for a while. Eventually, Meg cut through the silence with a frown. "I'll go first then. Two questions: Who's a Puck, and why do you know Alex as Kurt?"
"I'm a Puck." That much was pretty obvious. "I go to school with Kurt, and that's his real name, by the way. I still don't know what the hell is up with the other."
She looked to Kurt for confirmation, but the countertenor stayed quiet and studied his nails.
"Fine," Puck said, "I'll go next then. Same question as before: why didn't you call me and come home? Your dad's a mess, you know. Everyone is."
Kurt didn't answer.
"You sure you're not his boyfriend?"
Puck frowned and scratched maybe a little too hard at the back of his neck. "I'm straight. And painfully single. The guy he told you about wasn't his boyfriend either. Just a sick freak who took Kurt who knows where."
Kurt made a strangled sound, but he shouldn't have worried so much; Puck wasn't about to say more than that.
Meg caught the warning as easily as Puck had though. The way her eyes narrowed and darted back and forth between the boys from Lima made it obvious she had caught on in a big way. She knew Puck knew more than she knew about what Kurt knew about Banks. Though she didn't even know his name was Banks. She had asked about Robbie. It still made Puck kind of want to puke that Kurt called the man that. It was a fucking pet name, however the countertenor tried to explain it away.
"If Alex isn't his real name, then his ID is fake. So how old is my baby-faced roommate?" It was a surprisingly practical and simple question. But maybe this Meg was just smart enough not to dive in with 'so what form of abuse has my roommate suffered?' or 'where does he live?'
"Seventeen."
"Puck!"
"And he just proved me right." He smirked. "What does the ID say?"
"Twenty-two."
"Meg!"
"I see what you mean by proof. He's so… bad at hiding indignation."
Puck chuckled. "And you believed it, the ID?"
"Apparently not. How old are you?" It was just flirty enough that she was probably trying to get more information out of him. Fine, she could have it.
"Same age. We're classmates."
"Where at?"
"High school." He held up his hand. "You'll have to ask Kurt for the rest. He's already giving me a fucking convincing death glare." Puck didn't know her well enough to trust Meg with the information she'd need to stalk them home either. And they were going home. He just hadn't figured out how to convince Kurt of that just yet.
Meg nodded and turned back to the silent boy beside her. "Alex, is your name really Kurt?"
"My name is whatever I tell people to call me by. But, yes, the one my parents gave me is Kurt." He crossed his arms and legs in a way that looked defensive.
"Why did you change it?" Puck was glad Meg had asked; he wanted to know too.
"Because I decided the old one didn't fit right anymore." Kurt looked uncomfortable. He even looked a little scared. Puck wanted to stop it, to make his friend feel better, but he couldn't. He wanted to know, and he felt sure that Kurt would only come home after Puck had learned enough to argue him into it.
"Because of what Robbie did to you?" Meg's voice, playful before, had turned softer than silk. The sound of it had a delicacy to it that Puck couldn't quite grasp.
Kurt nodded and pulled his knees up. His shoes were on the couch, but Meg didn't say anything. When Kurt spoke, his voice was even quieter and more fragile than Meg's. "Because of what he made me."
"I've only known you for just over a week," she said as she moved over on the couch to put an arm around Kurt. "But I know you're a good person." There was more to the thought, but she didn't say it. Puck didn't know why until he realized maybe she knew too little to realize the rest.
He finished it for her: "Whatever he tried to make you, he failed." Kurt had said Banks forced him to have sex with someone before, but Puck could tell Kurt hadn't wanted to. Something told him Banks had wanted more than grudging obedience from Kurt. The thing he would have changed Kurt into would have wanted to tie Puck up and screw him against his will.
Kurt glanced at Puck but pulled his eyes away to stare at a spot of nothing on the floor. "Maybe I'm not what he wanted, but I'm still not the same."
"Do you love your dad?"
"What?"
"Do you lo—"
"Of course I do." Kurt frowned. "What does that have to do with anything?
Puck turned to Kurt's roommate. "Does he still sing, and is he maybe a little arrogant about just how good he is?"
"Yup, but he's good enough to get away with it too. Unless the neighbors are trying to sleep. Then nothing's good enough." She rolled her eyes in what had to be exasperation at her neighbors.
"And I know he's only been here since Monday night or Tuesday morning last week, but he's been a good friend to you, hasn't he?"
"Yeah, um, that's a rather specific timeframe."
Puck sighed. Kurt offered no answer, so the jock went on. "I helped him get away, but we got separated. That's why he was supposed to call me. I've been trying to find him since then."
Meg poked Kurt on the arm. It didn't look forceful, but she kept doing it in a way that had to be annoying. "You shouldn't worry people like that. What would you have done if I hadn't found you?"
Kurt shrugged.
"I see. Your master plan astounds me, kid. Do your parents have any idea where you are?"
"Wait, wait, wait," Puck cut in. "I wasn't finished. I was making a point. Kurt, some things about you may have changed, but that's what people do. Things happen and they change. The parts that matter and make you who you are though, they're the same. Okay, point made. Carry on. Oh, and no, no one knows where he is."
"So you get away from the guy who dragged you around the country, but you don't even let your dad know you're alive?" Her voice should have sounded angrier based on the words, but mostly she sounded sad.
"He probably guessed by now."
"How?" Oh, yeah, she didn't know about the, uh, body.
"I sent something like a letter."
"About that," Puck ran a hand over his mohawk. "They could think it was me. I did sort of leave a little before that happened, and, um, I haven't exactly called anyone either. And where else would I have been going but to find you?"
"To join the circus." It wasn't the best insult Kurt had ever sent Puck's way, but everyone had a bad day every once in a while. Kurt's days had been mostly bad for a long time now.
"Wow, so you're both adolescent morons who have left your families to suffer without even a hint as to whether or not you're alive?"
Puck nodded. Kurt stared at the wall.
"Why didn't you go home?" Meg's voice had gone soft again. "Is it the same reason you changed your name?"
Kurt nodded without bringing his eyes to hers.
"I don't know your family, but I bet they'll accept you no matter how you think you've changed. They'll just be glad to have you back, especially if they're even a little like your friend here."
"The lady's right," Puck added.
"Don't call me a lady; it makes me feel old."
She looked about twenty-seven, which was a lot older than a couple of teenagers. "How old are you?"
She shoved her chin up and stared down her nose at him in an obvious parody of high societal behavior. "It's rude to ask a lady her age." She paused and cocked her head. "I just did that didn't I?"
Puck chuckled. "So can I call you a lady now?"
"Have at it, whippersnapper."
He turned back to Kurt to find the countertenor was trying to hide the beginnings of a smile. "Come home with me, Kurt. Please."
"Puck's right, you know. You should go home. But if you don't, you'll still have someplace to stay." Meg smiled encouragingly. Puck was beginning to think if things didn't work out with Quinn… that way led dangerous thoughts. He avoided them for the moment.
"You don't understand. Neither of you does. You can't."
"We could if you told us the parts we don't have yet. But I swear to you, it won't change you for the worse to go home. And even if you leave, I'll still be here. You can come back here as easily as you can go back there. Wherever there is."
"Ohio."
"No wonder you stayed."
Kurt smiled a little. "It makes a difference that you don't know. What if I slip? What if someone finds out? What…" he turned away.
"No one will care. No one who matters." Puck believed it, and he tried to pour that belief into his voice. It came out sounding choked with it.
"It will! You don't understand. I can't live there again. It won't work."
"You don't know until you try." Meg had way better control of her voice than Puck did. It was perfect.
"I do know. You're the ones who don't."
"Then prove it." Puck stood up and brushed off the seat of his pants. "You can't convince us by telling us what's wrong, so convince us by completely and utterly failing at living at home."
Kurt scowled. The expression looked foreign on his face. "Fine. I will. And then I'll run away from Ohio and never look back because you were all too stupid to leave me alone." His voice echoed the harshness of his words, but Puck didn't care. He was bringing Kurt home.
~.x.~
Um. I worry it might seem like this was too easy, and now Kurt is going home too quickly after everything that's happened. But he does want to go home; he just feels like he can't so much that he refuses to admit even to himself that he wants to be home again.
Bye, Meg! I liked you, but you're a two-chapter girl, I guess. For now anyway, mwahahah—ahem, sorry.
I'm not sure it makes sense in text, but when Puck says 'body,' all he means is 'body.' The police have kept the rest of it under wraps so far.
Please review! You can tell me if you assumed Puck knew everything about Rob's death. Because that would be helpful, actually.
