Author's Notes:

SERIOUSLY. You guys rock, hardcore. I woke up to 35 emails in my inbox, most of which were emails about people following the story, adding it to their favorites, or reviewing. Thank you for supporting something that started out as a drabble on a long subway ride home from a performance of In The Heights. I hope to do you all proud.

I hope you enjoy this chapter, which is much longer than the previous one.

Reviews and love are always appreciated.

Finn had been trying hard to make sure the house looked perfect for when Kurt arrived, because his mother had made it quite apparent she wanted to see all the decorations up and the house looking perfect for when they arrived with Kurt from the airport.

"Dude, stop wrapping me in those damn streamers! It was only funny the first time." Finn said glaring at Puck, who had once again wrapped him up in a large amount of pink and green streamers. "Those are supposed to go across the door in some kind of criss-cross form, whatever that means." Finn said pointing to entry way to the dining room.

Puck rolled his eyes and unwrapped Finn from his streamer cocoon before making his way over to the entry way to begin putting the streamers up. Noah Puckerman had once been the biggest stud in Lima, Ohio, considering how very few badass boys originated from the small town. However, since graduating from McKinley near one year ago, Puck had found that being the town badass didn't really move with him as he graduated from high school.

Despite how lucrative his pool cleaning business had once been, Puck realized he needed something more stable when it came to an occupation, so he began to search for other things he could put his badass skills to good use doing. Around that time, Burt Hummel, the father of the lady fabulous Kurt Hummel, was looking for some new help in his shop. Puck knew cars pretty well and being a mechanic would be badass enough to keep his badassness in check, plus it wouldn't hurt his guns either. Initially, Burt seemed a bit apprehensive to hire his son's former tormentor to work in his shop, but Burt saw a bit of himself in Puck, so he decided to give the boy a shot.

After working the shop for five months, Puck had been a huge help for Burt, getting to every ounce of work he placed before him with lightening speed. Puck enjoyed working at Burt's shop, because it gave him an accomplished feeling, like he wasn't just this big fish in the small pond, he actually could do something and feel good about himself. Kind of how he use to feel when he'd give some loser a slushie facial, only better.

Most of the people Puck knew from high school had move to various parts of Ohio to begin school somewhere in the state, with only a handful of them sticking with school and not returning to work low income jobs around Lima. Puck only knew of two people who had made it out of Ohio without the stigma of being a Lima Loser, those two people being Rachel Berry, who went off to some fancy conservatory school in Boston and his boss's son, Kurt, who had gone off to New York.

Puck had to admit, he envied the two of them getting out of Ohio, but really despite how small town it might have seemed, Puck liked being where he was.

"Dude, are you doing anything over there?" Finn said noticing how Puck had been standing there not really moving for awhile. "They are going to be home like any minute." Finn said grabbing the streamers from Puck and pinning them to the front of the dining room in the way his mother had showed him, which only took an hour for Finn to understand.

Puck smiled at Finn, who had run off toward the kitchen to check on the food for the small party that was going to happen to welcome Kurt home after being away.

Working with Burt had given Puck a whole new outlook on his onetime torture victim/Glee Club teammate, for it went to prove that despite being lady fabulous, Kurt knew his way around Burt's shop and was actually a lot cooler than Puck had given him credit for being.

"We're home!" called the cheerful voice of Carole Hummel, breaking Puck's thoughts of how he found Kurt Hummel to be cooler than before. Puck turned to see the front door open as Carole and Burt came inside first, followed by Kurt, who was lugging his big bag into the house weakly.

"Let me get that!" Puck said coming to Kurt's rescue in a sense, by grasping the bag firmly from Kurt's grip to lighten the boy's load.

"Thanks, Noah." Kurt said with a half smile, surprised to see Noah 'Puck' Puckerman so eager to help someone, especially him. Maybe a year had done wonders on his former tormentor.

Puck smiled and nodded, giving Kurt a quick glance over as he pulled the bag in from the front door to the living room. Kurt looked well, which didn't hurt that he had sort of grown into himself during junior year, looking less like an eleven year old milkmaid and more boy-ish.

Puck had to admit, Kurt looked good, very good, actually. Puck shook his head, trying to rid himself of such a weird thought. Kurt looked like Kurt, only he looked sort of tired. Nothing beyond the realm of normal for him, which is what, confused Puck the most. Why did he suddenly find himself thinking Kurt Hummel looked good?

"We better get a move on." Kurt said noticing how Puck had sort of stopped moving and was kind of giving him a weird, uncomfortable glance up and down. "My dad and Carole want to make sure when everyone arrives for this party, everything is perfect." Kurt said knowing deep down that he didn't deserve such a welcome, because he had done nothing to earn it.

"Yeah, you're right, Kurt." Puck said moving the bag completely out of the way before turning to face Kurt once more. Kurt's head titled ever so slightly, glancing at Puck with a weird sort of smile. "What?" Puck said laughing to himself at the ridiculous look on Kurt's face. "I'm still not use to you calling me Kurt." Kurt said having been known as "Hummel" or "Gay Kid" by Puck for almost their entire high school lives.

"Well, things change, Hummel." Puck said with a chuckle as he made his way out of the living room, heading toward the kitchen. Kurt shook his head, beginning to retract his previous thought: Somethings truly never change.