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: Well it's been a while since I focused on NDNB – what with being sick and being caught up with UA and it's new shiny newness. I have to say though that coming back to this story has been like revisiting an old friend.
Chapter 37
'Shit shit shit shit shit...'
By the time Burt pulled the Navigator to a stop in the garage back at the Hummel house, Kurt's nerves were completely shot.
The entire ride home, Kurt had been trying to work out a way – a non-explosive torrent of abuse way – to tell Noah that Finn was coming over.
Thus far the brunette had failed miserably. And now he was plain running out of time.
"Uh – Dad... we'll be in in a minute..."
Kurt reached out and snagged Noah's hand preventing the jock from unhooking his safety belt. The older Hummel raised a single questioning eyebrow at the soprano before nodding in acquiescence and heading inside.
"Are you OK?"
The question seemed to Kurt to be the easiest way to ease into what was going to be a very uncomfortable conversation at best – painful at worst.
"Peachy..."
Noah's tone of voice left Kurt in no doubt that the half-back was still worked up – with good reason given the days events – but Kurt knew that his time had run out.
"I – uh... I... you remember that call I took earlier? At the restaurant?"
Kurt flinched as the jock's face went slack as Noah drew up his defences, clearly sensing something unpleasant was about to happen,
"Yeah..."
Kurt gulped before plowing on, it was too late to turn back, even if he had wanted to.
"Well – it was Finn."
"OK."
Kurt sat slackjawed for a moment before recovering himself – that was not the response the brunette had been expecting – not in the slightest.
"OK?"
The half-back shrugged before framing his reply,
"Finn called you and you talked to him – where's the fire?"
"Well – uh – y'see I sort of told him he could come over tonight."
At first Kurt thought there was a cat somewhere in the Navigator before the soprano realised that the growling was actually coming from his boyfriend.
"No."
Kurt's eyes widened in shock at the vehemence behind the one word spat out of the jock's mouth.
"No what?"
"No – just no! N-O – No!"
"I just want to hear him out that's all...", defended the brunette trying manfully to make the half-back see things from his perspective, "... Finn feels really bad about what happened."
Puck snorted – half in anger and half in wry amusement – as he tried to work out exactly how to make Kurt understand how totally not alright with this plan he was.
"I bet he feels bad about it – but only because you turned him down."
The jock watched as Kurt ducked his head in acknowledgement of the truth of the statement – if Kurt had said yes to Finn and taken up with him there was absolutely no doubt that any feelings of guilt would not be an issue.
"That's not fair..."
Even to Kurt's ears the denial sounded hollow.
"I don't care. If he comes over I'm not letting him in the house."
Kurt's upset bubbled up into momentary anger at Noah's point blank refusal to even discuss the matter.
"You don't get a choice in the matter - it's not your house! You can't decide who does or does not come in."
The moment the words left Kurt's mouth, the brunette knew he'd fucked up. Noah's angry expression disappeared in a split second to be replaced with a calm mask.
"I see – sorry – I thought I was wanted around here. Guess I was mistaken."
"Boys, boys, boys, we like boys in cars
Boys, boys, boys, buy us drinks in bars
Boys, boys, boys with hairspray and denim
And boys, boys, boys, we love them, we love them..."
"No-..."
The door to the Navigator slammed shut behind the jock leaving Kurt sitting in the back seat cursing himself. The brunette grabbed uselessly at his cell, digging it from the front pocket of his waistcoat before checking the screen.
'Great... Mercedes...'
Now just wasn't the time to get into any kind of conversation with the girl – Kurt winced knowing the fallout from ignoring his friend would be massive – but the brunette had no choice and as he pressed the 'ignore' button, the cell fell silent.
As much as he loved Mercedes, Kurt had more important things that he had to focus on right now. What he'd said to Noah, had been a momentary lapse – but it had been a momentary lapse which had hurt Noah in probably his most tender spot.
'Just as he was starting to feel like he belonged... you're an idiot Hummel...'
Kurt quickly unhooked his own safety belt and hopped down from the Navigator. He had to fix this now before Noah could get it into his head that Kurt had been serious about what he'd said.
He needed to fix it before Noah left him. Because Kurt knew that was a definite possibility. If Noah truly felt like he wasn't wanted – either by him as a boyfriend, or by him as a pseudo-stepbrother it didn't matter – then the jock was liable to do something rash.
Like leave.
Kurt quickly pushed open the separating door between the garage and the main house, just as he heard the loud slam of the basement door in the distance. The brunette winced realising the true depth of Noah's anger – the jock would have never slammed the door for fear of raising Burt's ire unless he was seriously pissed.
Kurt broke out into a jog as he quickly moved down the hallway intent on following the half-back and making things right – by whatever means necessary.
"Kurt!..."
Kurt halted with his hand on the door leading to his bedroom as his Dad's voice sounded from the direction of the foyer.
"Door!"
Kurt sighed as he headed off in the direction of the door – whoever it was Kurt would just have to get rid of – the longer Noah was left on his own the longer the jock would have time to stew.
'Stewing is bad...'
"Dad?"
Kurt rounded the corner and looked curiously at the man who was standing imposingly in the doorway with his arms crossed over his broad chest.
"Who is it?...", Kurt came to a stop at his Dad's side and saw for the first time who was waiting and his heart dropped, "... Finn – you're early."
Finn was standing with his hands planted in the pockets of his jeans as he scuffed the toe of a worn sneaker against the porch decking. The Quarterback's brown eyes shot up from examining the decking in minute detail at the sound of Kurt's voice and their eyes met for a second before Finn looked away sheepishly.
"Uh – hi – yeah traffic was light..."
Kurt was aware of Burt still standing protectively like some kind of guard dog and the brunette felt the need to placate the man,
"It's OK, Dad – go watch your shows and I'll make dinner in a little bit OK?"
The older man didn't let up on the intimidating Dad shtick as he nodded reluctantly before leaving Finn with a final comment,
"You know where I am if you need me."
Kurt smiled softly knowing that his Dad was just being his usual overprotective self – it had taken a lot for the older Hummel to trust Noah like he did – other random guys just weren't on the agenda. One of the side effects of Kurt being bullied was that Burt didn't trust Kurt's safety around jocks.
"You'd better come in."
Kurt stepped back and allowed Finn to shuffle over the threshold and into the house. Despite everything Kurt felt bad for the Quarterback having come to appreciate the sheer weight of expectation everyone had put on him – Glee, the football team, Quinn – it was mind boggling actually that the jock hadn't flipped out sooner.
Kurt closed the front door with a click and turned to the silently standing Quarterback. As the brunette led the way down the hallway he felt he should at least warn Finn as he called over his shoulder,
"Just so you know – Noah's downstairs."
Kurt kept walking but soon became aware of the fact that the Quarterback's heavy footfalls were no longer shadowing him. Turning around, Kurt saw that Finn had indeed stopped following him and was looking between the soprano and the door leading to Kurt's bedroom with dread.
"Uh – maybe I should come back y'know later... like when Puck's out of state or somethin'..."
Kurt rolled his eyes at the larger boy who was suddenly showing a yellow streak a mile wide – something that the brunette found extremely unattractive.
'Finn Hudson unattractive – who'da thunkit?'
"Noah lives here now Finn. If you want to talk then you need to suck it up."
Kurt watched as Finn seemed to have a silent conversation with himself before shakily nodding his head and straightening his posture.
"OK – sorry – you're right."
Kurt nodded and turned back to grip the door handle. The coming confrontation was inevitable but it didn't mean Kurt was any more glad to be getting it out of the way. As far as the brunette was concerned they could have put this off until the end of time and he wouldn't have minded.
'No such luck though...'
Kurt and Finn descended the stairs into the bedroom and the first thing Kurt saw was Noah, sitting Indian-style in the egg chair in the corner with a glower on his face and headphones in his ears.
Kurt's attempt to make eye contact with his boyfriend proved to be unsuccessful as the jock resolutely stared into middle distance and refused to acknowledge anyone. Sighing in resignation, Kurt moved to take up a seat on the couch and motioned to Finn to ignore Puck and take up the seat opposite him.
"So..."
Kurt waited patiently for Finn to talk – after all he was the one who'd wanted to do so – it was only fair that he be given the opportunity. The brunette could see however that Noah's presence was having a disquieting effect on the Quarterback who kept nervously glancing in the half-back's direction.
Kurt turned to address his boyfriend, staring at the jock long enough for the half-back to pull a single bud from his ear. It wasn't a resounding success but it was progress at the very least.
'At least he's listening...'
"You can go sit with Dad if you want to – I know how you feel about this..."
Noah's tone of voice as he responded hurt Kurt immensely – there was sarcasm sure – but there was also pain.
"As if I'm ever going to leave you alone with him again. Fool me once..."
Finn ducked his head at the jock's harsh statement before seemingly getting a grip of his nerves and meeting Noah's hostile gaze.
"Go ahead Finn – you wanted the chance to talk – so talk...", prompted Kurt ignoring the glare from Noah.
"I – uh... ah – Hell I'm sorry!...", said Finn with exasperation, "... I made a mistake and I did something that I'm not proud of."
Kurt's face fell momentarily as the thought crossed his mind that Finn probably was more sorry about the fact that it had happened at all – rather than that he'd kissed someone with a boyfriend. The thought made the brunette sad but confirmed every self-doubting moment he'd ever had about himself and his unrequited crush on the Quarterback.
"Not... not that I didn't want to kiss you Kurt..."
Finn's head snapped up to meet Noah's angry gaze as the half-back literally growled like a jungle cat in warning. Kurt knew it was completely inappropriate but he couldn't help the shiver of pleasure that ran through him at the jock's possessiveness.
'I love him so much...'
"I did want to but I know now that I was being selfish to think you'd just drop Puck for me. I've been confused and I expressed that confusion in the wrong way. So I wanted to say I was sorry. To both of you."
Finn sighed in exasperation and rubbed at his eyes in agitation,
"Everything has just been so hard lately. Juggling things with Quinn, the baby, Glee, Football and holding down a job too. I knew about your crush on me..."
Kurt blushed and ducked his head trying to will his skin not to flush a bright magenta,
"And then to make things worse I start to develop feelings for another guy? And not just any guy, but a guy that I knew was gay and that had a crush on me? I guess – I guess I felt used y'know – by Quinn and by Puck. I was the fall guy – the idiot who didn't know his girlfriend couldn't be pregnant with his baby and just accepted her word for it.
Finn looked up and met Puck's gaze as he held out his hands in supplication,
"What I did though wasn't cool – it made me as bad as you for sleeping with Quinn behind my back. I forgive you for that by the way..."
Kurt couldn't hold in the giggle that escaped him seeing Noah's stunned expression and half-open mouth.
"I'm uh – I'll let you schmush my face up if that's what it takes to prove to you that I mean what I'm saying."
The Quarterback paled and flinched a moment later as Puck cracked his knuckles menacingly. Kurt however just snorted in amusement at the pair, knowing that Noah despite the act would never truly do such a thing.
"I don't think that will be necessary...", said Kurt aiming a faux-warning glare at the half-back and revelling in the momentary eye contact, "... as long as we're clear that what happened before can never happen again?"
Finn looked relieved as he nodded emphatically,
"Yeah – totally – I promise never to kiss you again Kurt!"
The soprano smiled at the Quarterback – even through everything a sense of innocence always permeated Finn's demeanour – he was like a big kid and it never failed to make Kurt smile.
"Alright then – well thank you for that."
Finn glanced at Puck hoping to see some kind of reaction from his former best-friend to his heartfelt apology. The Quarterback's shoulders slumped however as the jock remained seated, his expression stony.
"I – uh – should go..."
Kurt's heart went out to the Quarterback who was clearly missing his best-friend. If Kurt managed to repair his own relationship with Noah, he decided he'd see what he could do to try to rebuild those bridges.
Kurt got to his feet and smoothed out the material on his trousers,
"I'll show you out..."
Kurt led Finn back up the basement stairs in silence – though Finn had made his apology there was still an unspoken tension between the pair – the brunette hoped that the uncomfortable feeling would dissipate in time.
"He still hates me doesn't he?"
Kurt glanced back over his shoulder to see the downtrodden expression on Finn's face,
"Just give it time...", counselled Kurt, "... I'll work on him 'K?"
Finn's expression was one of surprise and gratitude and just reaffirmed Kurt's belief that Finn had never meant to hurt anyone – he'd just gotten all mixed up.
"It's the final countdown
The final countdown
The final countdown
(The final countdown)
Ohh ho ohh..."
Kurt giggled at the Quarterback's ringtone – it was just 100% Finn – while the jock rummaged in his jeans pocket before withdrawing the wailing cell. The brunette watched as Finn looked at the Caller ID before blushing and pressing the 'ignore' button.
Kurt raised a questioning eyebrow at the blushing Quarterback seeking an explanation while the jock tried unsuccessfully to appear nonchalant.
"I'm sort of - well meeting someone...", admitted Finn looking sheepish.
Kurt couldn't help but smile in return seeing Finn's apparent bashfulness – obviously there was more to the statement than the Quarterback was willing to admit.
"Oh? Who?"
Finn's smile seemed to slip off of his face as he tensed slightly and looked decidedly reluctant to reveal his secret. Finally however the Quarterback's shoulder slumped and he replied, defeated,
"Uh - Justin."
Kurt's heart clenched at the reminder of his ex-boyfriend and of how hurt he had been.
"Oh...", Kurt cursed himself as his voice cracked slightly, the brunette still felt guilty and ashamed somewhat at the way things had turned out, "... I didn't know you were friends?"
Finn shrugged as he pocketed his cell again,
"We weren't - at first. But we got talking when I went with him to the hospital...", Finn's eyes met Kurt's as the Quarterback's lip twitched, "... guess we have one thing in common - our taste in men..."
Kurt giggled softly realising that Finn wasn't holding grudges - it just wasn't like Finn to do so - the Quarterback didn't have a vindictive bone in his entire body.
"So where are you going?...", asked Kurt as he opened the front door and the pair stepped out onto the porch.
Finn turned back to Kurt and a smile blossomed on his face,
"Oh we're going to hit the arcade and blow my $100!"
Kurt raised an eyebrow knowing Finn's family weren't the richest - a $100 was a lot to spend in an arcade,
"$100?"
"Oh yeah - remember that dude at school?...", said Finn as he bounced from toe to toe like an excited puppy, "... the one with the dirty coat that smelled like a boozy weekend? Well the dude gave me $100 to answer some questions for him. It was easy money Kurt. You should have stuck around - maybe he'd have paid you too!"
Kurt got a sinking feeling in his stomach the longer Finn talked - people did not approach school kids and pay them for information - not normal people anyway.
'Finn... what have you done?'
"Questions? What kind of questions?..."
Kurt surprised himself by the light and cheerful tone of his voice. The soprano knew that if Finn thought he'd done something wrong that he'd most likely clam up, and Kurt needed the information.
"Oh just basic stuff, about school and my friends and stuff. I mean really easy stuff Kurt. I can't believe he offered to pay me!"
Kurt wasn't able to maintain his smile as his gut twisted itself into knots over his realisations. If what he thought had happened was what actually had happened, then this could be bad for Noah. Really bad.
"This is important Finn - what kind of stuff did he ask about your friends?"
Finn paused and looked quizzically at Kurt for a moment before replying,
"Just usual stuff y'know, who my friends were, what they were like, you, Puck, Quinn y'know..."
'Oh God...'
Kurt's heart was beating a mile a minute as he fought against the rising panic in his chest. The brunette had to tell someone -
'Dad... he'd know what to do...'
Kurt nodded shakily before back-pedalling over the threshold of the house and hurriedly muttering a goodbye and slamming the door in the jock's confused face.
Kurt tore through the house in search of his Dad, finding the older Hummel in the kitchen with his head and shoulders deep inside the refrigerator.
"Dad!"
"Aaaaarrrggghhh!"
'CRASH'
Burt jerked upwards in shock at the unexpected cry from the worried soprano, his head connecting solidly with the roof of the refrigerator and scattering jars and bottles all over the shelving below. Kurt winced as a jar of pickled onions slipped from the top shelf and fell in slow motion before shattering into a sticky mess on the tile floor.
"Oops..."
Burt turned to look at the soprano, a hand pressed protectively against the bump on his skull which was throbbing intensely.
"Oops? I was only looking for a beer Kurt - I wasn't going to ruin my appetite..."
Kurt ignored his Dad - realising that the older man clearly thought his earlier cry had been an admonishment - in favour of grabbing a cloth and beginning the task of mopping up the spillage.
"Someone has a guilty conscience...", the brunette teased.
Burt grumbled as he stepped on an onion which squished between his toes,
"Oh for the love of...", Burt hopped around on one foot as he shook off the remnants of the onion and grimaced.
The older Hummel smiled in thanks as he accepted a second cloth from Kurt and ran it over his slimy foot, "... so has your friend left again?"
Kurt turned to face the sink as he swallowed thickly around the lump in his throat and proceeded to rinse out the cloth. The brunette wanted to tell his Dad what Finn had said, wanted to blurt it all out in a stream of consciousness just to relieve himself of the burden – the overwhelming pressure – but the words just would not come.
"Kurt? Son? What is it? Did that boy, Finn, do something? Did he hurt you?", asked Burt the concern clear to hear in his voice.
Kurt found himself nodding before his Dad had finished his litany of questions and so when Burt interpreted the brunette's response he assumed Kurt was agreeing with 'had Finn hurt him' and not 'had Finn done something'.
"I'll kill him. Nobody lays a hand on my boy."
Kurt shook himself before hurriedly correcting his Dad, the soprano's voice was thick with emotion,
"No – Dad, Finn didn't hurt me. He just told me something bad is all... something I think you need to hear."
Burt looked at once both relieved and concerned at his son's declaration but experience meant that the older man knew what to do in situations such as this.
Kurt watched on impassively from his seat at the breakfast table as his Dad moved from kitchen island to stove and back again, the clinking of bone china, the hiss of the kettle and the ticking of the wall-mounted clock the only things to breach the silence.
So many thoughts were going through the soprano's mind at that moment. What did Finn tell the guy in the trench-coat? What else did trench-coat ask that Finn didn't tell him about? Who was trench-coat working for? What did he want? What was going to happen on Monday?
'Should I tell Noah?'
That was the big question. Did Kurt tell Noah that something may be up? That something might be about to shatter the perfect dream of one big happy Hummel-Puckerman family? Could Kurt even bring himself to do that? Noah had tried to hide it from him of course – it wasn't badass – but the soprano could tell that Noah was searching for somewhere to belong.
Kurt couldn't help the slight happy feeling at the thought of Noah being officially in his life.
'Maybe we'll be married one day? Who knew?'
That however was a decision that was a long way off in; and it certainly wouldn't be happening in Ohio unless there were major changes to legislature anyway.
Kurt's daydream was brought to an abrupt end by the arrival of the tray filled with cups and saucers and a big pot of tea.
Tea. It had been Kurt's Mom's drink of choice when he was little – the brunette supposed that he might have influenced that slightly considering the amount of times that his Mom's drinking of tea seemed to coincide with one if his own tea parties.
Still – if his Mom hadn't come to the tea parties – little Kurt didn't have any friends to come in her place. It was a sad indictment actually.
"So?"
Kurt looked up from his teacup at the sound of his Dad's voice. Without realising it, the brunette had poured and fixed himself a cup of the steaming hot liquid by muscle memory and had then proceeded to try to stare it into submission.
"Just take your time..."
Kurt smiled softly – his Dad always knew the exact words to say to set his nerves at ease – the smile however didn't last as the soprano collected his thoughts.
"Finn mentioned something as he was leaving tonight...", Kurt raised the cup to his lips and took a sip of the scalding hot liquid, "... someone was at school today. I mean, I saw him myself but I didn't think anything of it – I mean they let maintenance guys and substitute teachers and all sorts in during the day y'know?"
Kurt looked up to see his Dad waiting patiently, his own cup of tea sitting in front of him steaming and untouched. Despite all the times they'd been through this ritual since his Mom had passed away, his Dad still hadn't developed a taste for hot tea.
"He asked Finn a bunch of questions – questions about Noah."
Kurt watched as the expression on his Dad's face became one of concern at the implications.
"Do you know what kind of questions?"
Kurt nodded and took another sip of his tea – allowing the warmth of the liquid to spread from his centre and outwards before replying,
"General stuff but mostly about Noah's past – his friends, his habits – Finn didn't realise I don't think that anything was wrong when I asked him about it. The guy paid him Dad! $100!"
Burt nodded and reached across the table to place a strong hand on top of Kurt's own fidgeting limb, instantly stopping the tiny tremors passing through the soprano's body.
"It'll be OK. I'll take care of it."
The elder Hummel spoke with such conviction that Kurt didn't doubt for a second that his Dad would make things right. His Dad had always made things right.
Kurt nodded shakily and set his teacup back down on it's matching saucer and pushed it away from him.
"Go take care of Noah – that's your job now. Let me handle everything else 'K?"
Kurt smiled and got to his feet, though his heart ached thinking of the potential pain to come for the half-back,
"Thanks Dad..."
Burt however didn't reply as the older man had already crossed to the phone and was punching in a number. All became clear to Kurt a moment later however as his Dad began to speak,
"Ray, it's Burt – no, no everything's fine – something came up though..."
Kurt remained standing by the breakfast table as he listened as Burt and Ray discussed events and a plan was formed.
"Hold on – Kurt?...", the brunette snapped out of his daydream – he was doing that a lot lately – at his Dad's voice, "... can you get your friend Finn to come to see Mr Michaelson tomorrow?"
Kurt pulled his cell from his pocket before tapping out a quick message – thirty seconds later and a response came in from the Quarterback.
"Finn says he'll come round after breakfast."
Burt relayed the information to Ray and plans were made for the group to meet up at Mr Michaelson's office on the Saturday morning to go over matters. Kurt meanwhile put his cell to his ear and checked his voicemail – predictably it was Mercedes.
"Kurt get your ass out bed and your lips off of Puck and answer your damn phone for a sec will ya? Listen – some sleazy ass white dude has been going round school asking questions – about Puck. Don't worry I didn't say nothing and Mr Schue chased him off school grounds when I realised what was going down. But you need to call me back boo. Don't make me come over there and whip your lily white ass..."
Kurt saved the message in case he needed it later and snapped his cell shut, glancing to his Dad and getting his attention he waited for the older man to put the phone to his chest,
"He talked to more than just Finn – that was Mercedes – whoever this guy was, he tried to speak to her too."
Burt just nodded before relaying the additional information to Ray and ending the call, setting the handset back in its cradle to charge.
"Don't worry Kurt, we'll take care of this – whatever this is – tomorrow."
Kurt nodded and slipped his cell back into his pocket. He'd call Mercedes back later but for now the brunette knew that his emotions were running too high.
'Plus I have to smooth things over with Noah...'
The thought jarred Kurt back into motion – Noah had been left to stew in his own angry thoughts for much longer than the brunette had ever intended. Kurt prayed that events hadn't kept him away too long.
Saying goodnight to his Dad – and adding that he didn't really feel like eating anymore, a sentiment that the older man echoed – Kurt made his way back towards the basement stairs.
Noah was gone.
The chair was empty, the headphones left sitting on the cushion in place of the half-back. Kurt slumped against the wall by the stairs in despair as the tears began to well up in the soprano's eyes.
'He's left me...'
Kurt's legs gave out from under him as the brunette slumped to a seated position on the bottom step, his breath coming in short pants as Kurt tried manfully to avoid hyperventilating.
'Oh God – he's left and he hates me and...'
"Kurt?"
Puck had been so angry, for so long, that not getting angry now just never occurred to him.
His Ma was out on a bender – he got angry – his sister was taken away from him – he got angry – his Ma died – he got angry.
So when Kurt had slipped – Puck knew that the brunette hadn't really meant what he'd said – the half-back's first response was to get angry.
Puck had sat in that fucking uncomfortable egg chair for the whole time Finn was there. The jock had put a pair of headphones in but they weren't attached to anything, he'd just tucked the end into his jeans pocket.
So Puck had heard everything that Finn had said about his confusion and his regret. And the more the Quarterback had talked, the more Puck realised – he forgave him – he forgave Finn for kissing Kurt.
Puck knew exactly what Finn was talking about when he had said he was confused and that he was under a lot of pressure. The jock had been under the same pressures himself so he understood. And Puck accepted, that if it hadn't been for Kurt he would have most likely crumbled.
'Or worse...'
People in glass houses and all that shit the jock supposed. Puck had after all slept with Quinn and gotten the girl pregnant – the half-back figured that giving Finn a little leeway wasn't completely unreasonable.
Puck had remained seated as Kurt had lead Finn back upstairs – the jock had purposefully ignored all of the looks, bar one, that Kurt had sent to him – yeah, he might know that Kurt didn't mean what he said, but it didn't mean he wasn't pissed at him.
The jock decided that he'd wait until Kurt apologised to him. And then and only then would he forgive Kurt – after of course, he'd exacted his revenge on the brunette – maybe he could get a little punishment into the bargain. Punishment was always fun.
'Maybe I can get Kurt in that basque again...'
Puck smirked to himself as he settled in to wait for Kurt's return.
What the jock had expected would be just a couple of minutes before Kurt returned, stretched to five and then ten before Puck realised that maybe Kurt had given up.
Maybe the soprano had decided that their relationship wasn't going to work out? Maybe he was upstairs right at that very moment with Mr H? Maybe they were going to send him to live with his Dad after all?
The thought filled Puck with dread – and not many things ever had filled Noah Puckerman with genuine dread – well, except the moment a chick ever mentioned the word 'late'.
'Shit if that ain't the scariest word in the world...'
All of the water that Puck had drunk with lunch was starting to get to the jock and Puck could feel his bladder starting to send out signals that indicated he needed to take care of some business.
Groaning as he stood and stretched out his aching legs, Puck shuffled off to the bathroom.
Puck shut off the faucet and dried his hands on one of the admittedly, very soft, towels by the sink before leaving the bathroom. What the jock saw upon entering the bedroom was not what he'd been expecting.
"Kurt?"
Kurt's head had snapped up and in that moment any pretense Puck had previously held of holding back his forgiveness of the soprano evaporated.
"Oh Kurt..."
The jock quickly crossed the distance between them and dropped to his knees in front of the crying Kurt.
"I'm sorry...", Kurt's voice was small and miserable, "... just please don't leave..."
'Leave?'
Puck rolled his eyes – he wasn't going anywhere – Puck thought Kurt understood that by now. The half-back reached out with the pad of his thumb and gently brushed away the tears on Kurt's face, smiling slightly as Kurt purred at the contact.
"I'm not going anywhere...", reassured Puck seeing the colour staring to return to Kurt's face, "... unless you're right there with me."
Puck leant in and gently teased Kurt into a slow kiss – borne more of out reassurance than passion. The jock slipped his hands around Kurt's waist and lifted the smaller boy, who automatically wrapped his legs around the jock's waist without breaking the kiss.
Stumbling the pair headed for the bed in the middle of the room, all thoughts of teasing and apologising forgotten. Everything had boiled down to one simple truth as far as Puck was concerned. Kurt was unhappy – he was unhappy.
And Puck didn't want to be unhappy.
Kurt whimpered with loss before a moment later yelping as Noah practically threw him onto the bed before the jock launched himself down after the soprano.
Kurt could feel Noah's mouth and teeth as they worried at the skin on Kurt's neck and in the hollow of his collarbone – the one place guaranteed to reduce Kurt to a puddle of goo.
"God! Noah...", panted Kurt as the brunette became aware of Noah's hand slipping down to cup his straining erection through his trousers, "... more!"
Kurt growled as Puck's hand immediately disappeared from applying it's delicious pressure to the soprano's cock, drawing an amused chuckle from the half-back.
"Someone's a little impatient..."
Kurt wasn't going to take this teasing lying down – he'd been punished enough – now it was Kurt's turn to be in charge. The brunette hooked his legs around Noah's waist before rolling them over and leaving himself in the dominant position astride the jock's waist.
Kurt could feel Noah's straining erection as it snaked its way down the leg of his trousers – the brunette wanted it – but he wasn't sure how Noah would take it if he admitted it.
"Kurt?"
The brunette jumped at the reminder from Noah that he was supposed to be doing something – since rolling them over Kurt had yet to move and it had obviously concerned his boyfriend.
"I want you."
Puck grinned up at the brunette and thrust his hips upwards,
"I want you too."
Kurt shook his head – the jock wasn't understanding,
"No. Noah – I want you."
Kurt's heart clenched as Puck's expression went slack before he replied in a monotone voice,
"Oh."
Kurt's face showed hurt at the half-back's less than enthusiastic response to what Kurt had thought would have been a major thing. The brunette supposed when you'd slept with as many people as Noah had in the past that one more person wanting to have sex with you wasn't all that exiting.
'Still... some kind of reaction would have been nice...'
Puck didn't know what to think. Kurt wanted to fuck.
'No... not fuck – Kurt wanted to make love...'
Puck had always claimed that there was no difference between 'fucking' and 'making love'; that it was all sex and that all sex was the same.
Knowing and admitting that he was in love with Kurt however; Puck realised that sex wasn't just sex anymore. And if anything, when Kurt admitted what he wanted to do, the jock was a little apprehensive.
Would he be enough?
'Performance anxiety... who would ever have thought...'
Before Puck could form a coherent response to Kurt's announcement, the jock saw his boyfriend's expression fall as the smaller boy slipped from his lap and sat on the end of the bed.
"Kurt? It's not that I don't want to..."
The brunette didn't turn to look at him as Puck queried his sudden shift in mood.
"It's OK – I'm sorry, I should have realised – we don't..."
"Tomorrow...", Puck smirked as Kurt's baby blues darted up in shock to meet his own hazel eyes in shock at his statement, "... this is all so sudden – but tomorrow if you still want to..."
The jock left the statement open ended and it was barely a half-second before the jock's lap was once again filled with squirming soprano as Kurt laid kisses all over Puck's face.
"Thank you. Thank you. Love you Noah, thank you."
Puck pulled his head back and paused for a moment as he gazed into Kurt's eyes, as if gauging if the brunette truly wanted what he'd said he wanted. The jock could see nothing other than the same emotions in Kurt's eyes that Puck himself felt.
"Love you too Spider Monkey."
The remainder of the evening the two young teen lovers entertained themselves. Neither contemplated surfacing for dinner distracted such as they were.
Long after the sun had slipped beneath the horizon and the moon had risen, Kurt snuggled up to Noah's chest, using the jock's hard pectoral as a pillow. The soprano had contemplated telling Noah about what both Finn and Mercedes had said but decided instead to keep Noah in the dark. There was no point in worrying him until they established whether there was truly something to worry about.
"Noah?", asked Kurt in a small voice as he placed his ear to the jock's chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart.
"Whuzzat?"
Kurt giggled softly, a sleepy Noah was one of the most adorable things that the soprano had ever seen in his entire life.
"We have to go see Mr Michaelson in the morning to talk about Monday."
Noah who was already half into dreamland mumbled his response,
"'K – sleepy now. Love you Kurt..."
A/N: Another chapter down – it's been a month since I updated this story, events in my life have just overtaken me of late. I apologise for the extended delay, but I assure you all that however long it might take me to update, that I eventually will. This story will not end up being abandoned.
PLEASE REVIEW PLEASE REVIEW PLEASE REVIEW.