Ummm so I just now noticed i kinda screwed up the order of these. oh well the prompt didnt' say it had to be in order. Right?
II.
"Wait. Puck said what?" Kurt's voice rose to near screech levels as he grabbed Mercedes's arm to keep from falling over.
School was over for the day, and Matt had come by to pick up his homework and see how the special performance for Quinn and Finn had gone. Matt had thought the idea sounded a little cheesy when Mike told him about it, but it was a nice thought. If it wasn't for that stupid spider, he would have been glad to join in. He couldn't imagine what either one of them was going through right now. Matt could admit some days he had trouble remembering where he put his socks away. Taking care of a baby was just beyond his comprehension at this point.
Honestly, even though he knew it was her choice to have sex, Matt felt sorry for Quinn. Sure he knew Finn was freaking out big time over the entire situation. For one thing his friend's nervous babbling (a tried and true sign Finn was on the verge of a mental breakdown he could not afford) had increased tenfold. But Finn was treated with respect by the other jocks. It was apparently some strange mark of manhood to "knock a girl up" as Azimio had so eloquently put it.
Matt had never claimed to understand how the teenage male mind worked. He just kind of went with it some days.
But Quinn had been laughed at. Ok yeah the irony of the President of the Celibacy Club getting knocked up wasn't lost on Matt, but Santana was a part of that club. And Puck. Like Quinn and Finn were the only ones in there ignoring the celibacy part? In fact, as far as Matt was concerned, the only one who was actually practicing celibacy was that creepy Jacob Ben Israel, which wasn't by choice. Everyone is school knew if Rachel gave Jacob just the slightest hint of interest Jacob would be a former member of the Celibacy Brigade two seconds later.
Plus Coach Sylvester had kicked her off the Cheerios in a public and humiliating fashion. Which had spread through the school like wildfire. Matt probably had heard three different versions of the story before lunch the next day. Apparently being quiet meant people thought you just loved to listen to gossip. Matt wouldn't wish that much speculation and whispers on his own worst enemy.
"You heard me." Mercedes tried to motion to Kurt to keep his voice down, but Matt could clearly see it was too late for that. Rachel, Santana, Brittany and Puck had already left the choir room. Finn and Quinn had long since left. But everyone else had stayed behind. And everyone had heard Kurt. Even Mike, who usually pretended to at least ignore gossip outright, had turned to see what was going on.
"No. You are lying. Lima did not turn into the new setting of General Hospital without me knowing about it. I need details and you're going to tell me." Kurt declared as he sat down firmly in one of the chairs. He crossed one leg primly over the other and waved his hand. "You better start talking and fast."
"Kurt." Mercedes hissed, tilting her head to indicate the rest of the room who had abandoned all pretense of leaving. "I told you this was a secret."
"Then you shouldn't have dropped such a major newsflash on me in the choir room Mercedes." Kurt said simply. "Besides. They're all glee. They're going to find out sooner or later. I mean if Puck told you of all people. No offense my dear but you two aren't going to be registering for Kate Spade china patterns anytime soon."
Matt had to smile a little at Kurt's point. He wasn't positive but he was willing to bet big money there were no bigger gossips in the school than the kids in glee. The second Santana found out whatever it was Puck told Mercedes, Matt could guarantee it would be all over the school before Mercedes stopped talking. After all that was how everyone found out Quinn was now living with Finn.
"You might as well tell us." Artie said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Kurt is clearly going to tell us if you aren't."
With a defeated sigh, Mercedes sat down next to Kurt. "Fine but this doesn't leave this room. You hear me?"
As everyone promised to not say a word, Matt just nodded. He was probably best known as "that mute football player". No one had ever come to him looking for gossip.
"When I met up with Puck to talk about our duet, he was all agitated. More so than usual. And I mentioned us all doing something for Quinn and Finn to let them know we got their backs and he said he was the father of Quinn's baby. "
It was a tired cliché but sometimes Matt realized the clichéd response was the best one. He felt his mouth drop open and he staggered to a seat. He wasn't blind; he had known Mercedes had some major news just by the way she was twitching all during practice. But this? He hadn't expected this. Puck was the father? Puck? Matt wasn't sure which was more unbelievable. The fact Puck, who had taken to pounding on his locker door like AC Slater to open because he couldn't remember the combination, was going to be a father or the fact Puck had slept with Quinn Fabray, the most unattainable girl in school and said nothing about it.
Although hearing Mercedes's news did make certain things make sense for Matt now. The way Puck kept glaring at Finn for no real reason during practice. Why he kept seeing Quinn and Puck in furious hushed conversations in empty classrooms. Puck's sudden interest in legitimate employment. The fact Puck and not Finn was the one beating up the football players who said less than flattering comments about Quinn in the locker room. Although Matt had chalked that last one up to Finn being less than observant at the best of times.
He was so busy musing over everything that suddenly made sense that he almost missed the next thing Mercedes said. "I told to keep quiet and not tell anyone else."
Wait. What? Matt shot a confused look in Mercedes's direction. Granted he didn't know her well but she had always struck him as someone with a pretty good grasp on reality, her somewhat questionable taste in neon colored clothes aside.
"Quinn chose Finn to be the father for a reason. And Finn's willing to do it. I don't think Puck should open his mouth and make things worse. We can't tell anyone about this. It's for the best everyone thinks the baby's Finn's."
Really? Matt had to shake his head to make sure he was hearing her correctly. Was the choir room secretly a doorway to crazy town and he didn't know it? Finn about killing himself with worry about a baby that wasn't even his was for the best? What rabbit hole did he just fall down?
He could understand Quinn not exactly wanting anyone to know about Puck being the father. Finn at least had the reputation of being a nice guy. He was the quarterback. If Matt was to look up "All American Boy" in the dictionary, Finn's picture would be right there. In contrast, Puck's would be next to "swaggering braggart with an attitude problem". Being Juno come to life wasn't a great thing, but at least if the baby was Finn's, a girl could sleep at night that the guy would do the right thing and stand by her.
Except the baby wasn't Finn's. And Matt had a strong feeling that Puck was willing to do all those same things if Quinn would give him a chance. At least that what the other boy's actions seemed to say. Not to mention, if the baby came out looking like Puck that might be pretty hard to just hand wave away. Finn might cheat off Brittany, but even he would notice if the baby came out with a Mohawk.
And if Puck was spilling this to Mercedes, a girl Matt had heard Puck call a loser more than once just the other day, then clearly it didn't matter what Quinn wanted. Puck was going to tell someone until the truth came out. In fact Matt was willing to bet Puck had counted on Mercedes telling Kurt, in the hopes of Kurt making a mad dash to tell Finn the truth. It actually wasn't that bad of a plan. Except Puck clearly thought he was dealing with people on planet Earth. Not these freaks who were clearly agreeing with Mercedes' decree to keep quiet. Even Kurt was nodding! Kurt! They honestly thought if they just kept quiet everything was going to be fine?
He thought they all liked Finn, almost to the point of worshipping him. And they were going to let him freak out, stress out his mom (And Mrs. Hudson was nothing but all shades of awesome as far as Matt was concerned. She made the best cookies ever) and maybe ruin his chance to get out of this town because Quinn didn't want to deal with the consequence of sleeping with the McKinley Man Skank? Matt still felt sorry for how she was being treated and would hate the way everyone would single her out for slutty behavior, but that didn't mean he had to agree with this.
This was wrong. It was mean. And more than a little cruel.
"I mean it's Puck." He heard Tina explaining. "What he's going to do? Teach the kid how to score beer off the suckers at the 7-11? The proper way to toss a Slushie for maximum soaking?"
Ok true, Matt admitted. Puck didn't have the most stellar track record in the world but a guy could change. And wasn't Quinn giving the baby up for adoption? Why would what criminal tricks Puck may possibly teach a child that Quinn wasn't planning on keeping even a consideration in this argument? However judging by the way the rest of the room was nodding their heads in agreement with Tina; clearly logic had flown right out the door. He wasn't about to argue with them. It would do no good, he could already tell that. They barely remembered he was in glee most days. Probably the second he walked out of the room, they would forget he and Mike also knew this news. When team meetings were held about this (and the second Rachel sniffed this out that was so coming) his opinion on the matter wouldn't be asked. In fact he bet if he spoke up right now, they would probably ask when he had come into the room and how much he heard. As it was the fact was the three different times he heard about Quinn getting kicked off the Cheerios, they were all from fellow glee club members who didn't seem to remember he had been in the room at the time.
It was impossible he was being too hard on them. Maybe it was just the after affects of that stupid spider bite. The doctor had said things might feel off for the next week or two. He had thought he felt well enough to come back to school but maybe he was wrong. Clearly if this was as crazy as this was sounding to his own, recently drugged up mind, then someone who hadn't been under a doctor's care recently would have said something. Clearly not Tina or Kurt but Artie or Mike at least. Mike had always been sensible to a fault. And Artie wasn't shy about voicing his opinion. If it really was crazy, Artie or Mike would certainly have pointed it out.
He'd give it a week. One week. Let all the drugs run out of his system. If it still sounded crazy, then he would tell Finn himself.