Disclaimer: I do NOT own rights to any of the characters from Glee. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: I went to see Inception tonight after work instead of coming home diligently, forgetting to eat dinner and writing the next chapter of this story. As I start to write this it's just after 9pm GMT and I'm not sure if my one update a day rule is going to be intact or not. We'll see.
Chapter 36 – Oh my GAWD!
The assembled audience sat frozen for a moment before Mercedes was the first to react to the soprano's rather rushed exit. With an apologetic glance to Matt who looked awful that he had assisted in causing Kurt such pain, and without a by your leave to Mr Schue, she had gone after her fleeing friend.
"Well that was interesting..." drawled Santana with a cruel smirk on her face.
Getting to her feet she made a point of smoothing out her Cheerios outfit and brushing off some invisible lint. It was clear that she was very happy with how the day had turned out.
"Well, now that that's over I have better things to be doing."
"Why do you have to be such a bitch Sanny?..." asked Brittany as she too got to her feet.
Santana simply stared at the blonde as if seeing her for the first time, her face slack with shock. The blonde had never said a mean word to anyone about anything in her entire life before. Except for Rachel of course but that was different.
The blonde just stared at the girl with her hands on her hips, as the assembled gleeks all held their breath for the inevitable explosion. Recovering herself and closing her dropped jaw with an audible click, Santana was primed to fire back when she was interrupted. By Mike Chang of all people.
"Uh... Britt?...", turning to the tall boy at the sound of his voice, the blonde shot him a coy smile that caused him to stammer, "...y-you ready to go?"
Taking up the football player's hand and lacing their fingers she replied,
"In a minute sweetie, I have one thing I have to do first."
Looking back at Santana there was no trace of any anger, any pain or any sadness on the blonde's face,
"I wanted to thank you Sanny."
The Latina looked confused, very confused.
"You... you're welcome?", she offered suddenly very unsure of herself. The random turn the confrontation with the Dutch girl had taken had thrown her completely.
The Latina's confusion became true bewilderment when the blonde giggled and there was the first hint of bitterness laced in the girl's voice,
"If I had wasted any more time on you, I would have missed out on Mike here...", she held up their joined hands as the Asian boy simply stood there looking slightly uncomfortable at being used as a prop but also rather elated to be holding the girl's hand at all.
A momentary flash of guilt crossed Santana's face, which she quickly smothered before slipping her mask back into place. Brittany continued on regardless however,
"He's much better suited to me I think. So... no hard feelings 'K?"
Santana didn't have the wherewithal to form a reply at that moment so Brittany shrugged deciding that the conversation had run it's course. Tugging on the footballer's hand she announced loudly to the room,
"Bye guys we'll see you later... c'mon Mike... I want to go make out some more before I have to go home."
Without a backwards glance to the stunned Cheerio, the blonde breezed from the room with a bewildered but also excited jock following in her wake.
The rest of the gleeks stared after the exiting pair before Rachel piped up,
"Well I think they make a cute couple..."
"Oh who cares what you think Barry Streisand...", snapped the clearly shaken Latina, "... Puck, we're leaving..."
Getting to his feet as the girl stormed from the room, Noah didn't move to follow. Instead he offered an apologetic shrug to the remaining members of the club before exiting the room and heading in the opposite direction to his girlfriend.
"What just happened? I thought Puck was with Kurt?", asked a clearly confused Finn.
The rest of the group just looked at the clueless Quarterback as Quinn patted him on the arm,
"Don't worry yourself about it sweetie."
Rushing from the Choir Room, Mercedes spotted a familiar mop of brunette hair entering the women's bathroom. She made to follow but paused for a moment to lean against the wall as she listened to the confrontation taking place between Britt and the Psycho back in the Choir Room.
She couldn't help the wide smile on her face as she listened to Brittany lay the smackdown on her former partner.
The blonde's relationship with Mike was relatively new, but Mercedes through Mike had been aware that the quiet dancer had been carrying a torch for the blonde Dutch girl for a while. As it turned out Brittany herself had known of the jock's romantic interest but because she had been with Santana, she'd never done anything about it.
The public break-up with the Latina Cheerio however had given Mike the impetus to step up to the plate and he'd called round to Brittany's house on the afternoon of the day she had stayed home from school.
He'd been so genuinely concerned for the girl's welfare that she had broken down in floods of tears when he'd first hesitantly asked how she was doing. He had then proven over the course of that afternoon just what a good guy he was, by sitting with her on the porch as she had cried herself out on his shoulder.
Their first kiss had surprised had Brittany just as much as it had surprised Mike. She had just finished crying and was sitting with her head bowed in misery, when she'd felt gentle fingers brush along her jawline.
When she'd looked into Mike's eyes she had seen the depth of compassion there and when she'd leaned in towards him and gently pressed her lips to his they had both been blown away by the frisson of electricity their contact brought.
They had sat for the rest of the day and well into the evening just talking after that and found that their personalities seemed to mesh well. Mike was naturally quiet and shy and Brittany was effervescent and chipper and between them they struck a happy balance.
As the sun had gone down and the stars had come out, Mike had haltingly worked up the courage to admit to his feelings for the girl and to ask her out. And that as they say had been that.
Mercedes grinned unashamedly as the blonde left the room dragging a clearly lovestruck Mike behind her like a puppy on a lead.
'Poor guy doesn't know what he's gotten himself into'
She had just pushed herself off the wall and was about to go tend to Kurt when Santana came charging out of the door and with a glare to the girl stalked off down the corridor without a backwards glance.
Just a moment later Noah came slinking out of the room and seeing that Santana had disappeared around the corner without checking to see if he was following, he asked Mercedes,
"Girl's bathroom?"
She'd nodded at him before tilting her head in the direction the soprano had gone,
"I'll keep watch for your pet psycho..."
"I owe you one Aretha." he said as the girl fired back,
"You owe me two... and I still want to see you in those leather pants again..."
He couldn't help the smile on his face as he realised that Aretha and he might just be on their way to being friends.
Stopping outside the bathroom Noah pushed open the door and entered before letting it slip shut behind him.
Kurt was standing with his back to the door at the sinks, with his head bowed and his eyes closed. The knuckles on his hands were white as he gripped the edge of the counter in a death grip.
His small voice pierced the silence,
"...'cedes, I'm not sure how much longer I can do this..."
Noah didn't answer, he simply crossed to behind the brunette before wrapping his arms around him from behind and resting his head on the boy's shoulder.
"I'm sorry Kurt."
The soprano froze realising that the body embracing him and the voice that had addressed him, was not Mercedes as he'd assumed.
"Why are you sorry?", he asked unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
Noah sighed before he reached to loosen Kurt's grip on the edge of the counter and turned him around in his embrace to face him.
"I'm sorry that you seem to be the one taking all the shit here."
Kurt looked defeated and his shoulders were slumped. Noah loved the fire in the brunette and it worried him to see that he was truly unhappy.
"It's not your fault. It has to be this way..."
"It's not my fault I know that... but it doesn't... maybe we'd be better off..."
A sharp pain in his shin let him know that his ill chosen words had been correctly anticipated by the brunette.
"Don't you dare think about being noble Noah Puckerman."
Grimacing at the pain in his shin from where the brunette had landed a fairly solid whack, he answered the boy,
"Owww... I hope you realise that I bruise like a peach...", before he became serious once again, "... I'm sorry I haven't been smart enough to figure a way out of this yet."
Kurt aimed a half-hearted glare at the jock before his lips twitched slightly, letting Noah know he wasn't truly mad at him.
"I hate this...", exclaimed the brunette dashing at the tears on his lashes, "... I'm emotional and weepy and it's playing havoc with my make-up."
Noah couldn't help the rumbling chuckle at the truly indignant expression on his boyfriend's face.
"God I love you."
The resultant silence in the room was deafening. Both boys simply stared into each other's eyes as they took stock of the jock's unintentional declaration.
"You... you love me?"
Kurt's voice was timid and his expression was one of disbelief mixed with hope as his brain tried to process what Noah had just admitted to. Noah's brain meanwhile was moving a mile a minute as he tried to work out what had possessed him to admit to the boy, in a school bathroom, that he loved him.
'Candles... dinner... Eiffel tower... nah, Noah Puckerman prefers toilet roll... disinfectant and the smell of urine..."
"I... I..."
Kurt's face fell slightly as Noah tripped over his words.
"It's OK if you... if you didn't mean it like that..."
Noah felt awful for causing the brunette to doubt himself.
'I love Kurt Hummel... yeah it feels right...'
"I love you Kurt Hummel. Yeah I really do."
There. He'd said it again and the brilliant smile that blossomed on the brunette's face was reward enough for the simple phrase.
"I... I love you too Noah." said Kurt as if testing the phrase out to see how it felt. Seemingly satisfied Kurt nodded once before raising up on tiptoes to press a kiss to the jock's lips.
The kiss wasn't passionate, it wasn't demanding and it wasn't rushed. Both boys poured their respective feelings into the action however reaffirming their mutual feelings.
Finally breaking the contact due to lack of oxygen, Kurt leaned his head against Noah's chest as he listened to the steady thump of the jock's heart.
"Dum dum... dum dum..." he muttered, "... who'd have thought such a simple sound would be so relaxing?"
Noah chuckled again at the brunette,
"And I suppose if I were to listen to your heart it'd be like listening to the soundtrack to Guys and Dolls?"
The smaller boy just rolled his eyes at the boy before replying,
"That's not what I meant and you know it. I... I feel safe in your arms Noah. I feel loved."
"You are loved Princess." he confirmed to the brunette before placing a kiss on the top of the other boy's head.
The pair stood in silence for a minute or so before Kurt's worried voice asked,
"Noah... what are we going to do?"
"I... I don't know Princess...", admitted the jock as he squeezed the boy in his embrace slightly, "... but I'm not letting you go. Not now. Not ever."
The moment was broken by a vibrating in Noah's pants pocket. The jock's breath caught in his throat as he felt Kurt shift slightly in his embrace before nimble fingers plucked his pink cellphone from his pocket.
"Down boy..." giggled the brunette as she checked the message. Heaving a sigh he looked up to Noah,
"Santana wants to know where you are..."
Noah grimaced realising that the moment was now well and truly over as he replied,
"Tell her I'm in the girl's bathroom with my boyfriend and that she can go to Hell..."
The resultant burst of laughter from the smaller boy was exactly what he'd hope for to lift the tense atmosphere that had settled over the room.
"I don't think that would be the best idea Noah. As big as your cock is..." the brunette rolled his eyes at the smug expression the admission brought to his boyfriend's face, "... I don't think it'd stretch all the way from Utah, so I'd rather keep it local if you don't mind."
Noah just raised an eyebrow at the boy before he asked,
"Feeling a little frisky are we Princess?"
He was surprised when the boy blushed and looked away before he nodded and bit his lip.
"I'm... uh I'm not ready yet for... y'know... but I think maybe soon?"
Noah was truly shocked by he soprano's admission. He'd always been conscious of the fact that he was vastly more experienced than his smaller boyfriend and for that reason he'd been very careful in making sure that he'd been comfortable with the pace their relationship had developed.
"Is... is that OK?", said a small voice, reminding Noah that he had yet to respond.
Clearing his suddenly tight throat, Noah replied,
"Whenever you want to... I'll be ready. But not til you want it OK Princess?"
Kurt just snuggled back into his embrace and nodded against his chest,
"Thank you."
Noah squirmed as he felt another vibration, this time repeating against his stomach as his cell rang in Kurt's hand.
"You'd better answer her... she'll only come looking otherwise."
Taking the cell from the brunette's outstretched hand, Noah disengaged from the embrace before pacing to the other side of the bathroom, snapping open the cell he snapped,
"What?"
Clearly that was not the best way to answer the phone to Santana as Noah was forced to hold the receiver several inches from his ear for several seconds.
"OK already... I'll see you out front."
He didn't say goodbye to the girl before he snapped the cell shut again. Santana wanted Puck, she'd get classic Puck. With an apologetic glance to Kurt who had been watching the exchange with curious eyes he said,
"I... uh, I better go..."
Nodding in acceptance, Kurt asked,
"Will you come over tonight?"
Kurt thought about it before replying,
"I'll tell Santana we're working on our Glee project."
"OK. I love you."
"I love you too Princess. Bye."
Turning and leaving the bathroom he winked at Mercedes before strutting down the hallway as the girl entered the bathroom.
He had just turned the corner when he heard a female squeal of delight followed by the words,
"Oh my GAWD!"
By the time he'd calmed down an insanely hyperactive Mercedes and dropped her off at home in his new baby, Kurt was dead tired.
As Lola pulled into the drive, Kurt noted that his Dad's truck was back and that the lights in the house were on. Killing the engine, Kurt picked up his bag and hopped from the car.
He couldn't help running a hand along the lines of the bodywork and admiring the way the early evening sunlight reflected off the silver paint. He really did love his new baby.
Entering the hallway Kurt's nose twitched as he picked up on the aroma of garlic and tomatoes. Tossing his bag by the door and ditching his keys and cell on the table, he padded through to the kitchen.
"Hey Dad..." he offered to the man who was standing with his back to the door stirring a pot of spaghetti sauce.
"Kurt!"
The man abandoned his sauce in favour of crossing the short distance between them and giving his son a hug which his son returned gratefully.
"How was Columbus?" he asked as he stepped over to the stove to rescue the pot of boiling water which was in danger of bubbling over.
"Oh...uh, it was good... got what I wanted to do done... sorry about the short notice."
Kurt's brow furrowed as he picked up on the fact his Dad was acting rather shifty about his whole visit to the state capital.
"So why were you there?" he pressed, whilst his Dad sat at the table and he took to stirring the sauce before it burned. His Dad may well be an OK cook but Kurt just had a flair for the art which meant the older man deferred to his son in the kitchen.
"Just sorting out some stuff... garage stuff... very boring."
Burt had always been an absolutely terrible liar and Kurt was pained to find that his Dad was trying to lie to him now. Not wanting to be the cause of an argument between them however he decided to let it go.
"That's good. So will you be going back again soon?", he'd tried to keep his voice light but he'd seen his Dad's shoulders tense as he'd worked out that his son hadn't bought his cover story.
"Nope. It should all be sorted out now."
Dishing up the spaghetti and sauce into two bowls, Kurt sat himself down opposite his Dad as the pair tucked in in silence.
"So how is everything with you? How is Noah?"
Burt watched as his son set his fork down beside his plate before he replied without raising his eyes from the table,
"Uh... Noah and I... we sort of stopped seeing each other."
"Oh... why?"
"Just... it wasn't working."
Kurt had always believed from an early age that his Dad was incapable of realising when he was dissembling, simply because the older man had never called him out on it in the past.
"That's crap Kurt and you know it. I saw the way you two looked at each other... it... it reminded me of the way your Mother used to look at me."
Kurt's head snapped up from his examination of the tabletop to look into his Dad's eyes. Realising he owed his Dad an explanation he tried to frame his words as best he could,
"Noah's uh... Mom... didn't take too kindly to her son seeing another boy..."
"I know.", said Burt.
Kurt simply stared at his Dad in complete shock, the fork in his hand with pasta wrapped round it long forgotten.
"You know?", asked Kurt almost afraid of the answer.
"Your friend Quinn told me."
"Oh."
'Need to kill Quinn then...'
As if reading his mind Burt added,
"Don't blame your friend though, she was just concerned."
"Oh... I won't blame Quinn... I'll just sneak into her house while she's asleep and replace all of her clothes with polyester..."
Burt's deep laugh lifted the slightly tense atmosphere for a moment before he became serious again.
"Thank you for being honest with me son."
"Sorry Dad... I just... it hurts..."
Standing from the table, Burt rounded the table to place a comforting hand on the brunette's shoulder as he leaned into the touch.
"You need anything you let me know."
"I will Dad... I promise."
The emotion of the moment was clearly making the older man uncomfortable as he cleared his throat,
"OK then. Deadliest Catch is coming on. You... you going to be OK?"
Nodding his head, though he still had tears in his eyes Kurt replied,
"Yeah. Don't worry about me."
"I can't help worrying about you. You're my son and I love you.
Smiling Kurt answered,
"I love you too Dad."
Standing from the table Kurt cleared his plate and his Dad's as the older man headed to the den and to his favourite show.
"Oh... Dad?"
The man poked his head back out into the hallway to look at Kurt.
"There's uh... there's a chance I might be taking part in a Glee performance on the last day of semester... would you... would you like to come?"
The older man seemed to be genuinely touched that his son had thought to ask him,
"Get me a ticket and I'll be there.", he said with a definitive nod.
"Thanks Dad... oh and Noah will be over later to practice for Glee... don't give him a hard time... please?" said the brunette before turning back to the washing up.
Burt didn't offer a response to that as his son clearly didn't want to discuss it. Retreating back to the den he fired up the TV and settled in for the evening.
Noah arrived at the Hummel's at a little after 7. Knocking on the door, he was startled when Burt answered the door rather than Kurt.
"Noah."
The man's voice was cold which surprised Noah unless...
'Did Kurt tell him we broke up?'
As if reading his thoughts Burt answered,
"Kurt told me you two stopped seeing each other."
Nodding Noah ran his hand through his mohawk.
"Yes sir... it was... complicated."
"Kurt's in his room..." he said before leaving the door open and wandering back towards the den.
Closing the front door behind him and breathing a sigh of relief that the older man hadn't killed him, Noah quickly moved to the basement stairs and down into Kurt's bedroom.
The brunette was lying on his front on his bed, a magazine in front of him and his iPod headphones in as his legs obviously kicked in time to the music.
The smaller boy jumped slightly as Noah sat on the edge of the bed and ran a hand down the length of the boy's back, coming to rest cupping the boy's ass cheek.
Plucking the earphones out, Kurt smiled up at the jock,
"Hey... I didn't hear you come in."
"Hey... your Dad let me in."
Clearly the expression on Noah's face was indication enough that something had happened with his Dad.
"What did he do?" he asked rolling his eyes in exasperation.
"Oh... nothing. You told him we broke up though right?"
"Oh, yeah... forgot about that." said Kurt with chagrin.
Rolling over and sitting up Indian style Kurt reached a decision.
"I want to go out Noah."
"Oh? I thought we were already..."
"Not go out silly... I want to go back to the jetty to practice."
Considering the brunette's suggestion, he realised that there was no way he was going to be able to deny the boy, especially when he fluttered his eyelashes and pouted prettily.
"OK... OK... jeez, put away the pout."
Leaning down he stole a quick kiss from the boy before standing up and offering the boy his hand.
"Well c'mon then Princess... let's go."
Leading Kurt up the stairs still holding onto his hand, he paused to wait in the hall while Kurt let his Dad know he was heading out.
The boy came back blushing slightly and shook his head before he picked up his cell and keys and they headed out.
The drive up to the country club was pleasant, the sun had yet to set completely and it was unseasonably warm for the time of year. The pair had driven the entire way with their hands clasped over the centre console which had caused some initial problems when Kurt had wanted to indicate.
A short time later the 'vette pulled up beside the path down to the water and the pair got out and walked down to the end of the wooden walkway.
Settling themselves down with their legs dangling over the edge, Kurt wasted no time,
"OK... well I have a few songs that I think might work. Seeing as there's a chance of at last part of a solo I think we'll have to work hard on this project now."
Noah couldn't help but smile at the soprano's enthusiasm for all things Glee.
"OK... let me listen to what you've got."
Taking the iPod from Kurt he popped the earpiece in and pressed play. Several minutes later he looked at the boy with both scepticism and some approval.
"Some of them I like... some of them not so much."
"Well what did you like and what didn't you like?" asked Kurt clearly interested to hear his boyfriend's opinion.
"Well I liked 'All of Me' that was kinda cool, sort of like Sweet Caroline which I totally rocked..." Kurt just rolled his eyes before indicating to the boy to continue, "... I didn't like the Phil Collins stuff... seriously Kurt what is that even doing on your iPod?"
They had worked diligently long after the sun had disappeared below the horizon and the moonlight bathed each of them as they debated the pros and cons of particular musical styles and song choices.
Checking his watch, Noah was shocked to see that it was after 1am and though he was loath to do it he had to stop Kurt.
"It's getting late Princess... we should be getting back."
Kurt pouted before he conceded the point and they packed up their belongings to make the journey home.
Sitting outside the Hummel house, the pair took the chance to share some tender kisses in the darkness,
"Kurt... Kurt... I... I need to go..."
Kurt was busy licking and nipping at the jock's neck and jaw and growled in annoyance as the boy's words sunk in.
Sitting back and pouting he replied,
"Pooh..."
"I'll see you at school Princess, and we can practice again tomorrow..." he said with a leer.
Perking up at the thought, Kurt gave the boy one final kiss before Noah hopped out and climbed into his own truck.
Kurt crossed the yard and stood in the doorway watching as Noah pulled away from the curb and his tail lights disappeared around the corner.
Yawning, Kurt locked up the house before completing his skincare routine in record time. Throwing on his pyjamas and crawling into his inviting bed he couldn't help but smile.
'Noah loves me.'
By the time Noah pulled up at home, the lights were all extinguished and Quinn had probably been asleep for hours.
Letting himself in quietly, Noah toed off his sneakers before stretching and scratching his midriff through his tee. Not bothering to switch on any lights, Noah waited in the kitchen until his eyes adjusted to the gloom.
Wandering past the fridge, he saw the outline of a note pinned up and pulled it down.
Opening the fridge and using the light of the tiny bulb to illuminate the note his stomach dropped.
"Your Mom called. She'll call back.
Your stalker girlfriend called. I told her to fuck off.
Q x"
Dreading what his Mom could possibly want and chuckling at the frank admission about Santana Noah climbed the stairs, got changed into his pyjama pants and slipped into his bed.
Lying in the dark he considered the events of the day and for the most part they brought a smile to his face. The overwhelming thought that soothed him as he fell asleep was,
'I love Kurt. And he loves me. Totally a badass...'
A/N: OK, that was actually rather easier to write than I thought it'd be.
I have provisionally pencilled in three, maybe four more chapters before this story comes to an end.
Thanks for all the reviews with suggestions of how to kill Santana and Lilith. I shall take them under advisement. I am leaning towards having them strapped to a rocket and fired into the sun at this point.
PLEASE REVIEW.