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: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the second chapter, I'm glad to see that this fic is being enjoyed.
Season Two Spoilers abound in this story, you have been warned.
"Cuffed" by The Jellybaby Bandit
Chapter Three
The sun had long since dipped below the horizon by the time that the end credits on ANTM rolled signalling that the show had finished. Kurt could have probably gone without watching the show, but the chance to torture the Noah Puckerman - not to mention the chance to get away with it - didn't present itself every day.
'I am nothing if not an opportunist...'
As Kurt fished out the remote from where he'd stashed it down the side of the couch and pressed the mute button however, the soprano voiced the one question that had been bugging him ever since they'd sat down nearly two hours earlier.
"So - exactly how did you know?"
Puck's head snapped up from where the jock had been lightly dozing, his attention span not being sufficiently held by two hours of bitchy models competing against each other even if they were hot.
"Know what?", slurred the jock as he dragged his free hand down his face and tried to ignore the fact he'd been drooling into his shoulder and that there was a tell-tale wet spot on his tee.
"What America's Next Top Model was...", prompted Kurt tilting his head as the jock ducked his head and looked suddenly embarrassed.
It was strange for the brunette to think that Puck could even be embarrassed, after all Kurt had never considered that Puck had actual normal human emotions. For as long as he'd known him, Puck had been the same brash, obnoxious bully - to find that the jock could even comprehend embarrassment was a major revelation.
"Uh...", replied the jock still looking very uncomfortable, "... my Mom works shifts, so I look after my sister a lot?..."
Kurt raised an eyebrow at the way that Puck had worded the statement, almost like he was testing out his response to see whether Kurt was willing to accept the answer or not.
The soprano however was too shocked to do anything but stare dumbfounded at the half-back. Kurt had in one way or another known Puck for years and in all that time, he had never for a moment heard the jock refer to having any siblings. Ever.
"You have a sister?", said Kurt a horrible image of a young girl with massively overdeveloped arms and a mohawk springing into his minds eye.
Puck could hear the surprise in Kurt's tone of voice. It wasn't a shock to the half-back that Kurt didn't know about Sarah. There were very few things in his life that Puck would consider to be worth protecting, family however was definitely one of them, the other was his vintage t-shirt collection.
It had taken a lot of delicate balancing, finding the right level between being a good son and brother, loving his family and maintaining his badass rep. However the jock had had years of practice which meant he had perfected it.
If Puck had to describe it, he'd have likened it to there being two separate Pucks, as schizophrenic as that sounded. There was 'public' Puck, who was loud and brash and essentially the Puck that everyone knew and was in awe of and then there was 'private' Puck, who was considerate and kind and who loved his family deeply. Of course the danger was that if anyone knew that 'private' Puck existed then 'public' Puck would have his rep destroyed, so the jock had protected the separation fiercely.
Seeing that Kurt was still awaiting an answer, the jock replied,
"Uh - yeah, Sarah...", replied the half-back running his free hand over his mohawk but unable to keep the soft smile from appearing on his face, "... she's eight."
"You - you never mention her...", said Kurt softly, suddenly aware that the atmosphere in the darkened den was extremely intimate with nothing but the flicker of the TV screen washing over the pair as they sat side by side on the couch.
Puck considered what to say. If he continued on this line of interrogation then Kurt was bound to find out his secret, that he wasn't as badass as he made out he was.
'That was unacceptable...'
But then again - would it really do any harm? If Puck failed to convince Kurt to stay at McKinley, then they'd likely never see him again or at the very least only sporadically and the jock's secret would be safe.
And if he somehow, Puck did manage to convince Kurt to stay, the brunette wasn't a gossip whore like the rest of the Glee girls, Puck was sure that Kurt would keep his confidence if he asked. The smaller boy just had this air about him that made you want to trust him.
"It's... it's alright...", said Kurt laying his cuffed hand on Puck's thigh which the jock just stared at making no move to remove, "... if you don't want to talk about it."
Puck shook himself from his self-doubt, self-doubt was for pussies as he spoke,
"It's... fine. I just - keep that part private y'know?"
Puck glanced up to meet Kurt's eyes and saw in them a mix of acceptance and surprise.
'Kurt Hummel... meet the real Noah Puckerman...'
Kurt was surprised, and also strangely pleased for some reason, to realise that there appeared to be some previously undiscovered depth to the jock. Perhaps, if Puck wasn't quite so 'Puckish' the weekend chained together wouldn't be a complete write-off after all.
"So what's she like?..", asked Kurt watching as the jock smiled again obviously picturing his sister in his minds eye. Being an only child himself, Kurt had never understood the sibling dynamic, though he had longed when he was younger for a brother or a sister. Kurt remembered vividly a conversation he'd been party to when he was just four years old, when his Mom had sat him down and explained that her sickness meant she couldn't give Kurt a brother or sister to love.
At the time of course, Kurt was too young to truly comprehend and recalled asking,
"If I'm really good and do all my chores and ask Jesus to ask Santa to ask the Stork, would he send me a brother or sister?"
To this day, the soprano remembered the stricken expression on his Mom's face as she'd had to say no.
Puck didn't actually know how to start, where to start. Nobody had ever sat down with him and asked him what Sarah was like, the jock had never let anyone get close enough to him to be able to ask.
Finn knew about Sarah of course, years of his coming round and playing Xbox meant that the Quarterback couldn't help but know. But even with Finn and as close as the pair had been - at least before the jock had slept with Quinn and that friendship had been shot to pieces - it was understood that Sarah was off limits.
Puck cleared his throat as he raised his eyes to meet the brunette's inquisitive gaze,
"She's nothing like me...", the jock couldn't stop the smirk from appearing on his face as he spoke, "... she's small, a midget really, she has this long blonde hair that she insists has to be braided or in bunches and she's smart, like scary, she's-going-to-find-a-way-to take-over-the-world smart. I'm Pinky to her Brain y'know?"
Kurt giggled at Puck's childish but clearly honest assessment of his relationship with Sarah and watched as the jock became more and more animated the longer that he talked. The soprano was gaining an insight into Noah Puckerman that he had never before imagined would exist, never mind be possible.
"She can twist you around her little finger and have you doing anything she wants, just with a fluttering of her eyelashes. She's..."
Puck paused for breath before shutting his jaw with an audible click and fought against the unexpected urge to blush. The jock had not intended to launch into as impassioned an explanation as he had done.
'Stupid Hummel...'
"She sounds adorable...", said Kurt speaking up and allowing the jock to control his moment of embarrassment without comment, "... thank you for telling me about her."
Puck cleared his throat before his mask fell back into place once again and the regular half-back was back in control. Offering the soprano a curt nod, Puck tried to direct the conversation away from the uncomfortable bearing his soul bit they'd been on in the past few minutes.
"So... any fashion-challenged siblings kept locked in the basement Hummel?"
The jock didn't understand what was so amusing about that question as Kurt snorted and began to giggle. Puck huffed and attempted to cross his arms over his chest only for his scowl to deepen even more when he realised he couldn't do so because of the cuffs.
"No... my bedroom is the basement...", said Kurt whilst trying to stifle his giggles which wasn't easy given Puck had tried to cross his arms and had pulled the soprano's hand away from his mouth,"... if anything, I am the sibling locked in the basement - though I'm not 'fashion-challenged thank you very much...'"
Puck was about to reply to the still giggling soprano just as a yawn overtook the smaller boy. The jock fished his cell out of his pocket and checked the time before realising that he must have missed a text coming in. Checking the sender, Puck smirked before putting the cell back in his pocket - he'd deal with that later. For now though the jock had just realised something, something which he could probably use to tease Kurt.
"So... how is this going to work?", asked Puck as he absently scratched his abs through his tee.
Kurt stopped giggling and looked at the half-back while trying to ignore the strip of skin tantalisingly poking out above the jock's jeans.
Mistaking the soprano's silence for confusion Puck clarified,
"Sleeping arrangements Kurt..."
'Oh crap'
Kurt's stomach dropped. The brunette hadn't considered for a second how they were going to deal with sleeping arrangements - after all when someone handcuffs themself to you the last thing you think about is 'who's spooning who?'.
Puck would no doubt have no issues with sleeping in close proximity to another person, after all this was Noah Puckerman they were talking about. Kurt however, had never shared a bed with another person in his life and the soprano had never in his wildest dreams imagined he'd share a bed with Puck first. Well - that wasn't true Kurt admitted sheepishly, he'd had the dreams but that's all they were - he could do without being psychoanalysed thank you.
The only exception Kurt could recall had been when he was little and had developed an irrational fear that Rush Limbaugh was in his closet. On those occasions where it was just too creepy to sleep by himself, despite his Dad's protestations that he was a 'big boy now' and shouldn't be afraid, Kurt would crawl into bed between his sleeping parents.
Thankfully the soprano had grown out of that particular nightmare, somehow the soprano thought his Dad might object if he were to crawl into bed beside him now.
"Uh...", Kurt stalled for time as he tried to figure out what to do, he couldn't very well force Puck to sleep on the floor beside the bed - that would mean his arm would be dragged out into the air and Kurt hated not being completely under the covers when asleep.
'Stupid jock and his stupid handcuffs...'
Kurt sighed and rubbed at his eyes in irritation - there was no easy solution. Resignation in his tone, the soprano mumbled his reply,
"I suppose we'll just have to sleep together..."
Puck snorted at the double entendre causing the soprano to re-evaluate his words and blush deeply,
"Why Hummel..." crowed the jock thoroughly enjoying Kurt's discomfiture, "... chained to me for just a few hours and already you want a taste of Puckzilla... not that I blame you..."
Kurt shook off his embarrassment and wrinkled his nose in disgust at the jock,
"There will be no tasting of anything..."
Puck shrugged off the dismissal with consummate ease as he smirked at the brunette, getting a rise out of Kurt was surprisingly entertaining. It was like a sport that Puck was just very very good at – he should get a medal or some shit – advanced Hummel baiting, it could be an Olympic sport.
Puck watched as Kurt was overtaken by yet another yawn,
"Don't think I'm carrying your ass anywhere if you fall asleep Hummel...", warned the jock, "... I'll bounce you down the basement steps if I have to..."
Kurt had dragged Puck around the house as he systematically switched off all of the lights and then they had descended to the basement. All the while Puck made off colour remarks about their sleeping together, spooning together and so on - it was serving only to make Kurt more anxious the closer to his bedroom he got.
Truly it felt like Kurt was walking to his own funeral. The final march to his doom. The -
"Oh quit being such a chick about it..."
Kurt turned an ineffectual glare on the jock as the soprano realised that he'd been muttering under his breath. Puck just knew instinctively how to get under Kurt's skin and it was really starting to have a profound effect on the brunette's psyche, even after only a few hours. Lord knows what the full weekend was going to do to his sanity.
"Bite me...", snapped Kurt not appreciating the 'chick' comment – the soprano was sick and tired of being lumped in with the girls - he wasn't one and had no interest in being one. It really rankled with him that people assumed just because he liked boys that he'd automatically want to be a girl. He didn't, he quite liked his penis thank you.
Puck quirked an eyebrow at the brunette as his wrist was jerked almost causing him to lose balance and fall down the basement stairs - Puck still had the wherewithal however even as he stumbled to be able to land a final shot,
"I'll only bite if you're a good boy..."
Kurt ignored the small voice in the back of his mind suggesting that maybe he'd like it as he yanked the jock down the last few steps.
"God you're disgusting..."
Puck chuckled as he was unceremoniously dragged into Kurt's bedroom. The half-back glanced left and right before letting out an impressed whistle.
"Swish...", said the jock.
Kurt sat himself down on the edge of his bed and pulled open a drawer before he began to root around in his chest of drawers.
"Ah-hah...", cried the soprano as he pulled out a pair of red satin pyjamas that wouldn't have looked out of place on one of the Kardashian sisters.
Puck just raised an eyebrow at the brunette,
"I am not wearing those..."
Kurt rolled his eyes as he shucked off his shoes,
"They're for me you moron..."
The soprano moved to unbutton his own shirt before pausing in shock as Puck replied chuckling at his rhyming,
"Good, cos Puckzilla likes the breeze, I sleep in the nude dude.."
'Oh God, Oh God, Oh God...'
Kurt's brain had frozen. There was no way, there was just no way that the soprano could possibly share a bed with a naked Puck. Well there was, but that way led madness and sweaty palms and it just didn't bear thinking about. Kurt had never even properly kissed a boy for crying out loud, and now he'd have to share a bed with a naked one? It was too much. It was all just too much.
'No thinking about naked Puck, no thinking about naked Puck - crap I'm thinking about naked Puck...'
Puck watched with no small amount of amusement as Kurt's breathing began to get faster and shallower as the panic set in. There was something extremely satisfying in seeing Hummel all breathless and red in the face, if he had been a chick Puck would have likened Hummel's current state with looking like he'd just been well fucked, but well, Hummel wasn't a chick and the jock really didn't want to go there.
Kurt swallowed around his tongue as he tried to regain his equilibrium and banish the images of naked Puck from his mind's eye. The soprano affected a mockery of a nonplussed expression as he cleared his throat and replied,
"Uh... really?"
Kurt cursed as his voice squeaked belying the cool exterior he'd tried to project.
Puck winked lasciviously at the soprano and sat himself down on the bed beside the smaller boy, their shoulders inadvertently rubbing together.
"I know what you're thinking... you've gone and won the lottery... well it's your lucky day Hummel..."
Kurt flinched at the momentary contact of Puck's shoulder as if he'd been electrocuted by a live wire and jerked to his feet dragging Puck off balance once again. The soprano's mind was working overtime conjuring up images of Puck's naked shoulder rubbing against his own and that was definitely a visual the brunette didn't need.
'Oh God, Oh God, Oh God...'
Puck chuckled at the fully-blown panic that the soprano had descended into. As much as the half-back would have enjoyed prolonging Kurt's suffering, if the brunette were to faint or whatever it'd just be an inconvenience and he was no doubt heavy.
"Hummel...", Kurt was almost catatonic and failed to respond to the half-back's voice, "... Hummel... KURT!"
The soprano jumped and faced the jock who was still sitting smirking from his seat on the bed.
"I'll sleep in my boxers 'K? Don't have a heart attack..."
Puck's voice trailed off as he realised his faux pas and for once actually did feel regret as Kurt's face closed off and his eyes dulled,
"Very funny..."
'Shit Puck, his Dad has a heart attack and you go say that? Idiot...'
"Jeez dude, I'm sorry..."
Kurt shook his head and mumbled,
"Whatever..."
The damage however was done.
Several seconds of uncomfortable silence passed before Puck cleared his throat and spoke again,
"Uh... Kurt?"
The soprano sighed and turned to look at the jock as he shut the drawer he'd retrieved his sleepwear from. The expression on his face was one of weariness,
"What now?"
Puck pushed himself to his feet as he replied,
"I need to pee..."
Kurt's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he realised the predicament. Cuffed together such as they were, the boys couldn't shower alone, or use the bathroom without the other being there to bear witness.
What was going to happen when Kurt wanted to use the bathroom? He certainly had no intentions of going if Puck could see him, not to mention hear him.
A moment of inspiration hit the brunette as he nodded and turned back to the chest of drawers. Pulling open the top drawer Kurt mumbled to himself as he rummaged around,
"C'mon, c'mon, it has to be here... ah hah!"
With a cry of triumph Kurt pulled from the drawer a small black lump of fabric which he laid on the chest top before he returned to rummaging once again,
"C'mon... I know I saw it in here... YES!"
Puck watched on in confusion as Kurt pulled a little yellow packet from the drawer and placed it beside the lump already laid out.
Kurt scooped up both and turned to face the half-back,
"Bottom line, I am not going to the bathroom with you able to either see or hear me..."
Puck rolled his eyes as Kurt pressed the items against the jock's chest leaving the jock with no option but to grab them with his free hand.
"A blindfold?", asked Puck in surprise, "... why Hummel you are kinky!"
Kurt blushed deeply before replying stringently,
"It's a sleep mask not a blindfold and it's for you to wear..., " Puck scowled and was about to object when Kurt interrupted him, "... I'm in charge remember?"
The half-back grumbled and threw the offending piece of elasticated fabric down on the bed beside him. Examining the little yellow packet further Puck couldn't hold back the chuckle as he read the instructions,
"Earplugs Hummel? Exactly how much noise do you make when taking a shit?"
Kurt wrinkled his nose in disgust as the jock chuckled at the brunette who muttered,
"That's just gross..."
"I'm not wearing it...", said Puck resolutely ignoring the gimlet eye from the soprano.
"I'm in charge remember?", replied the soprano.
Puck shrugged off the reminder as he stood his ground,
"I don't care... I'm not doing it."
Kurt sighed and looked disappointed before straightening up and saying cheerfully,
"Alright then, let's go call my Dad, I'm sure he'll be happy to help break these cuffs and we can go our separate ways..."
Puck tried to resist the insistent tugging on his arm as Kurt tried to move them towards the basement stairs, leaning back on his heels like he was in a tug of war. Kurt had called his bluff, and expertly so, leaving the half-back stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"Alright, alright... I give, you win...", the insistent tugging ceased and a smug Kurt turned to face the jock.
"See how much easier things are if you just do what I say when I say it?"
Puck scowled and slipped the mask and earplugs into his jeans pocket - he really needed to pee now and arguing any longer was only going to result in nothing more than a scolding for ruining the brunette's carpet.
"So where's the bathroom?"
Kurt gestured to a door behind the jock which he had not noticed at first. The pair made their way over to the doorway, both trying to fit through the narrow space at once before Kurt hip-checked the larger boy into the door frame and squeezed through.
Puck took in the décor of the well appointed bathroom, marble counter tops, a double sink - wait...
"Dude your toilet's tiny..."
Kurt glanced at the jock's expression and rolled his eyes while stifling a giggle, Puck looked almost human when he was confused.
"That's a bidet Puck..."
The jock looked even more confused at the explanation and it was all Kurt could do not to laugh at the taller boy.
"That French for 'tiny toilet' or somethin'?"
Kurt giggled and pointed wordlessly to the normal sized toilet in the corner behind a waist high screening wall,
"Oh...", said Puck feeling foolish for thinking Kurt had a midget-toilet, "... then what?..."
Kurt reached up on his tiptoes and whispered softly into Puck's ear the mechanics behind the bidet,
"Ewww, that's just gross dude..."
Kurt giggled as Puck dragged them away from the bidet and over to the toilet in the corner as he reached for his flies,
"Blindfold...", prompted Kurt steadfastly staring at the patterned tiles.
Puck paused with his hand on his flies and looked at the brunette in incredulity, surely Kurt couldn't mean what the jock thought he meant.
"You want me to pee while blindfolded? What do you think I am, some kind of circus freak? Wait don't answer that..."
Kurt couldn't help the small giggle that escaped him at the thought as he glanced at the jock and satisfied that he had yet to unzip made eye contact,
"For me not you..."
Puck shrugged unconcerned and unzipped causing Kurt to blush and look away hurriedly. The jock sighed in relief a moment later as a tinkling sound echoed off the tiles.
Given the choice, Kurt would have plugged his fingers in his ears and sang but he didn't have the use of both hands and so couldn't. So he did what any hormone plagued teenager would do, he snuck a glance.
'Holy crap...'
Puck's chuckling caused Kurt's head to snap up to meet the half-back's eyes as the jock asked drolly,
"Holy crap?"
'God just kill me now..'
Kurt ducked his head and screwed his eyes shut in mortification - at least now Puck would likely want to get the cuffs taken off if only to get away from his lecherous staring. He was a freak, a sick freak who stared at boys while they were in the bathroom.
"Kurt? You OK dude?"
Kurt shook his head afraid to speak as his ears picked up on the sound of Puck's fly being refastened. The soprano didn't even pick up on the fact that Puck didn't sound angry.
Kurt cursed the fact that he was handcuffed for the umpteenth time that evening, what the soprano would really have liked at that moment was to be able to run away. Run far far away.
"Hey, don't worry about it 'K?"
Puck laid a hand on Kurt's shoulder and felt the tension in the smaller boy's frame. The half-back had realised early on that Kurt had snuck a look at him and truthfully he didn't really mind. Puck was mindful of the fact that Kurt probably hadn't had the opportunity to see another dude's cock other than in porn movies. Even back when Kurt had been kicker under Coach Tanaka, the brunette had been careful about making sure he was the last into the shower, long after the rest of the jocks had finished.
Puck had always just figured that Kurt must have had a baby cock or something, but now the half-back had to consider that it was probably because Kurt thought the other jocks would object to his presence more than anything else.
The jock understood completely the curiosity and it wasn't as though Puck didn't have plenty to be proud of. So what if Kurt was a dude and he'd snuck a peek at his junk - as long as he didn't try to grab it without permission it was all cool with him.
"Please let me out of the cuffs..."
The voice was so soft that Puck almost missed it and he had to take a second to process it. It sounded so unlike the Kurt Hummel that Puck had come to know since the pair had joined Glee Club. It was just another thing that had changed over recent months, the strong will that had previously typified the brunette had been stomped on leaving behind this fragile shell of a person.
"No. I don't think I will."
Kurt's head was down-turned and Puck was aware from the vibration in his free arm that the smaller boy was on the verge of tears.
"Look at me, Kurt."
Puck knew before he'd uttered the phrase that Kurt would shake his head in the negative. The half-back reached out with his free hand and gently tilted the soprano's face up to meet his gaze. The urge to rub away the tears on Kurt's lashes was overpowering and so that was exactly what Puck did, running the pad of his thumb over the smaller boy's eyelids. Something primal, deep within Puck's chest screamed at him to soothe the smaller boy's pain – and it was definitely pain. Pain of rejection, pain of being different, pain of being hated for something he couldn't control and shouldn't have to apologise for.
"You didn't do anything wrong...", said Puck softly.
Kurt's eyes held a clear doubt about the truthfulness of Puck's statement, the jock wasn't sure however how to prove to the smaller boy that he didn't mind.
"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have... I didn't mean...", said Kurt dropping his eyes unable to meet the jock's gaze. This new Puck had thrown Kurt off balance, the soprano had been sure that he was going to face retribution, not immediate forgiveness.
"Sure ya did...", said Puck cutting the soprano off with a chuckle, "... and it's OK. If I were gay and you were the proud owner of Puckzilla, I'd sure as hell look... I'd not get caught though, dude that's just dumb..."
Kurt's eyes snapped up to meet the half-backs in disbelief,
"Who are you and what did you do with Puck?"
Puck chuckled watching as his carefree stance seemed to be reassuring to the smaller boy. Another yawn overtook the soprano, this time leaving Puck unable to do anything other than mirror the action. Placing a comforting hand on Kurt's shoulder, the jock steered the smaller boy back out in the direction of the bedroom.
"C'mon, let's get ready for bed..."
A/N: OK folks, that's chapter three. I realise that not much in terms of exciting plot is happening, there are no arguments, no murders, etc as in my prior fics. I'm going to be concentrating on developing an attraction between the two boys and the timeframes within each of my chapters is no more than a few hours.
Still, I hope you continue to enjoy. I will update again within about a week.
PLEASE REVIEW
XD