Chapter 2- Haven't You Noticed Me Drifting?


Every single day of his life, Kurt has had to spend valuable time evaluating the life choices of Noah Puckerman. After Quinn's sophomore year slip up, Santana's frequent hook ups with the brute, his poor treatment of Kurt himself and sweet Brittany, he had been forced to play the defensive for a while. Once he understood Noah Puckerman, he could begin to pick him apart slowly but effectively. And Kurt definitely planned to.

The first straw was Santana. He messed around with her constantly and still treated her like a piece of garbage. Kurt knew, even before their friendship that Santana Lopez was worth much more, but she refused to believe it. Her sleeping with Puck meant that nobody shoved their suspicious and curious noses into her business. Admittedly, Santana gave back as good as she got and more so, but Puck went to her for sex when he couldn't get anybody else. Kurt vowed to never have his girls treated as a last resort. They weren't girls who were relied upon for a quickie in the janitor's closet. They were respected, fierce women. Puck treated Santana like a whore and capitalised on her doubtfulness about her sexuality, although he didn't know it. They used each other, but Puck always bragged about doing Santana in some random place and used it to gain a plethora of high-fives from the school's most conceited jock species.

Then the second straw was Quinn. That was the obvious. The pregnancy. Puck had feelings for Quinn, which Kurt could understand and accept, but he went about dealing with them in the wrong way. He could've bought her dinner. He could've serenaded her in Glee Club. No. Instead, he used her body weight insecurities as a fucking play. He got her drunk and told her that she wasn't fat and bingo. Puck had unlocked the secret to having sex with Quinn. Without protection. Kurt had stressed this point enough, but Puck had never understood the meaning of it. He slept around with older women before Quinn, so who knows what she might've caught. At Kurt's insistence, Quinn had been getting yearly tests from her doctors. Quinn, whilst sobbing, had assured Kurt that Puck that usually used protection, apart from the time they had slept together, of course. Still, Quinn had wholeheartedly been tested, afraid of Puck lying to her and causing a potentially worse result than her pregnancy.

The third straw was Brittany. Chronologically, she was the first straw, but Kurt only found out about it after Quinn's conception of Beth. Puck used Brittany to feel better about himself, much as he did Kurt. Brittany used deceptive methods around people to get them to leave her alone. She appeared intellectually incapable around others so that they would underestimate her and make it easier for her to protect her friends. Whenever something evil happened, nobody pointed the finger at "sweet, simple, innocent Brittany". She was actually more cunning and thoughtful than she let on to anybody. Puck bullied Brittany about her intelligence and, although it wasn't actually a reflection of her actual intelligence, she took it to heart as a dig at her personal insecurity. Although she wasn't dumb, she didn't get straight A's like Kurt, Quinn and Santana. Sometimes, she felt lesser than her friends, despite their insistences that academic intelligence meant nothing if you weren't a good person. Puck made sure that Brittany knew that she wasn't smart. He spread a rumour that she had brain damage and everybody had believed it. Due to the persona that she had presented to the world, they had no reason not be. Santana had tirelessly defended her, to no avail. Even Santana's threats could not distract the student body. This had hurt Brittany, and resulted in her spending nights in Kurt's arms, sobbing about how she didn't think she was smart enough to graduate, but Kurt assured her that since her interests did not lie within the realms of academics, she didn't have to apply to college to study them. He talked to Brittany about dance schools and helped her look a few that seemed promising. Brittany suddenly had a new plan of attack, and Puck had used that as ammunition. He had said that dance schools were an escape route because "she knew she couldn't graduate being dumber than sand."

Brittany had ignored him, but years of absorbing criticism had left her with a heavy weight pressing against her heart. She bottled everything in and soon it had to come out. This played on Brittany's mind and caused her to lose focus in school. Kurt tutored her in her weakest subjects, Chemistry and Algebra, and she had taught him some things in Biology, her favourite class. Brittany loved animals, and thus her Biology grade was at a constant A. Even Puck couldn't make her feel bad about that.

The fourth straw was Puck's treatment of Tina. The two had barely interacted in Glee Club, so it was a surprise to everyone when Tina arrived at one of Kurt's sleepovers raging about an "arrogant misogynist pig such as Noah Puckerman.

"He can go and die in a hole somewhere because I am so done with his shit!" Tina raged, slamming Kurt's basement-now-bedroom door in a frenzy of anger. Santana, looking up, cocked an eyebrow, severely impressed with the girl's use of invective. Kurt smirked, bemused as to who she was talking about, but please nonetheless. Quinn and Brittany exchanged a concerned glance with each other.

"Come here, T." Kurt beckoned her over and she sunk into his arms gratefully, finding comfort there. She held back sobs as Kurt asked her what was wrong.

"That arrogant misogynist pig! I hate him, Kurt. I'm usually a calm person. I don't hate many people but him I could gladly hit in the balls with a machete." She seethed. Kurt smirked once more, now gleaning the identity of her discussion.

"What's Puckerman done to you, baby?" Kurt stroked her hair soothingly as she released a few sobs, making Quinn wince. She knew only too well what the damage from a Noah Puckerman attack can do to somebody.

"Well you know that painting I've been working on for that national art competition?" With their nods, she continued. "Well the biggest cretin of the century decides to fucking slushy it. The ice and the liquid didn't react well with the ink and the acrylics and it's completely ruined. I've been working on it for five months and it was so close to being complete! This was the only thing my mother has been proud of me for and it's gone. I hate him, Kurt." Tina explained, looking thoroughly downcast. Kurt's face contorted into that of a ferocious demon for a second, before it reverted back to its composed state. Santana did not miss this flicker and she made a mental note to analyse it later on.

"Oh honey, I know how much effort you put into that. It was extraordinary. Don't worry about Puckerman, though. I'm waiting for the right moment and I'll be sorting it out." He patted her hand.

"What are you planning?" Quinn interjected, curious.

"You'll see. Though I'll require your assistance closer to the time."

Ever since that day, Kurt had been waiting for the perfect opening into the destruction of Noah Puckerman.

Kurt himself had been the last straw. Puck's incessant bullying of the only gay kid in Lima had been the breaking point. Kurt had dealt with it for most of his life and he had just instinctively learned to swat him away and ignore him. But, sometimes, what Puck does is impossible to ignore. Sometimes Kurt can't brush him aside with an impeccably timed insult. Sometimes the things Noah Puckerman says can't be retracted with a half-hearted apology in Glee Club. Quinn, Santana, Tina and Brittany all think that Kurt can take whatever Puck does with a pinch a salt, but when walks into Glee Club looking thoroughly upset and furious, they know Puck's gone in too deep and that Kurt's on the warpath.

"But Kurt, what did Puck actually do?" Tina asks, walking quickly to keep up with Kurt's pace.

"Oh, it's nothing. You'll find out later." Kurt bit his lip, trying to maintain his composed mask. Noah Puckerman had crossed many lines with his most recent act of viciousness. There were certain boundaries of bullying and Noah Puckerman had crossed them all. It was entirely verbal, but his words made Kurt feel even more inferior and more useless than he usually did around the jocks. Public humiliation was not lost on his recent endeavour either, as all of the jocks began to agree and the threats bounced around the locker room like excited children hyped up on sugar at a birthday party.

Kurt and Tina carried the pizza and drinks into Kurt's basement, the latter trying his best not to cry. He had been holding it in all day, and a hug from Tina had almost released all of his feelings but had held them all back. He hated being vulnerable around people, even his best friends.

Quinn, Brittany and Santana were already there, knowing that something was wrong. They're best friend intuition told them as much. Brittany was silently seething, rocking back and forth in a foetal position on the floor. She knew something really terrible must have happened for Kurt to be that upset over the phone. Brittany just knew when he was trying his best not to sob. She automatically blamed Noah Puckerman, the primary source of hate in all of their lives.

When they were settled, they all looked at Kurt expectantly.

"Kurt, I'm getting worried. What has he done to you?" Brittany said, her concern evident in her tone.

Kurt closed his eyes and exhaled shakily, not ready to tell the story. "He…he used to be just a bully. Now he's a monster. You know that jock mentality where if one thinks something, they all agree and support each other? It's really a bitch.

"Yesterday, after Cheerio practice, you know since Figgins made that big stink about you guys smuggling me into the girls' locker rooms even though I'm a hero in there? I'm being forced to change with the boys as 'no exceptions shall be made for any students' even though I'm not welcome in there. Well," Kurt wiped a stray tear from his face. Quinn made a sudden movement to go and hug him, but Santana pulled her back.

"He needs this." She whispered.

"Puck didn't like my sudden appearance in there when the entire football team was changing. This blonde guy came over to talk to me and I've never seen him before in my life but apparently I lured him over to 'molest and convert' him. He dragged the guy away and shoved me against a wall. I hurt my back but he seemed to enjoy that. He told me that I shouldn't be trying to turn the football team because they all hate me. The blonde guy seemed to want to help, but the other jocks had him pinned against a locker and they were whispering against his ear. And then…" Kurt broke off. Tina rubbed soothing lines up and down his back, encouraging him.

"You're in a safe place, Kurt. You can tell us."

"He-He said that all of the guys should get together and…and rape me because apparently it's a lesson that I need to be taught. I need to be t-taught how forcing myself on somebody feels. Why do they think that I'm a r-rapist?" Kurt's gates broke. He began to cry. Brittany launched herself at him, nestling his head into her neck and stroking his hair softly as he sobbed. Quinn looked sympathetic but knew that Tina and Brittany could comfort him better than she could. Santana sat trembling with rage. She would need to sort Noah Puckerman out in a way that he would never be able to recover from.

She looked once at Quinn and that was all that they needed to do to concoct a vicious plan that was very Regina George-like. Strip away Puck's resources. Everything he used to make himself popular and feared would be gone.

Noah Puckerman was going down for making her best boy cry and saying such a foul thing. The five would address it later, but Kurt needed time to cry about it. He hadn't let himself show any signs of weakness in front of the jocks because of obvious reasons, but now he could let himself cry and break down now that he was around his girls.

Santana smirked slightly as she thought of what the quintet had in store for Lima's resident badass. It was not going to be pretty.


Author's Note: The title of the chapter comes from lyrics from 'Falling' by The Civil Wars from their album, Barton Hollow. Listen to it right now!

I'm planning this story to be really slow before the action kicks in, so I need to build the friendships up and add things about the characters that are relevant to the plot.

Based on my writing, there's no real question as to who the blonde boy is, but what is his story?

Yes I know what Puck said to Kurt was awful and pretty OOC but this is an AU story where Puck is a complete and utter monster if you haven't already guessed. But brace yourself for the explosion, it's not going to be pretty.

Thank you so much for the response to the first chapter and review my lovelies! x