A/N: Chapter contains character under the influence of drugs and vague hints at an overdose and rehab.
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An hour later found Kurt hurrying his boys into the house as the clouds opened suddenly and drenched them with cold rain. Kurt flung the blanket they'd used for their picnic over the still recovering Finn and ordered him into the house first while he and the others grabbed their things before following Finn. Kurt had noticed the skies beginning to darken but the weather hadn't mentioned expected rain so he'd let the boys keep playing. That was a mistake.
Puck seemed to be the worst off, shirt soaked so badly that it clung to his built frame and the wet denim that encased his legs had to be uncomfortable. Kurt sent him directly upstairs to shower and change into dry clothes. Thanks to the blanket, Finn seemed mostly dry but Kurt sent his brother to his room anyway to rest. He was pretty certain Finn would fall asleep the second he crawled into bed and if he was right, he'd let Finn sleep until dinner. A little extra rest would help Finn's recovery and Kurt wanted all his boys healthy for the coming weekend. He had a surprise in store for them.
His other three boys were a little wet, as was he, and he ordered them all into dry clothes. Jeremiah would be staying in one of the guest bedrooms, the one Kurt kept a few spare outfits for each boy in case of emergencies, as there was no way Kurt was letting him dash across the lawn to the pool house in the downpour. If the rain stopped before dark, he'd let Jeremiah go back to his house.
After he changed, Kurt went to check on Finn, who was sleeping, sprawled over his blankets. Kurt carefully pulled the blankets from under him and tucked him in, brushing his fingers gently through his brother's hair before feeling Finn's forehead for his temperature. It felt cool. Then he headed to Puck's room to make sure his soaked boy had followed orders and had taken a shower and changed.
Puck thought of himself as a grown man who didn't need to be taken care of, and had for as long as Kurt knew him. He suspected it came from his father abandoning him and his mother checking out of reality so often, leaving Puck to take care of his little sister. Puck had been the man of his house since the age of ten so it was hard for the boy to admit when he needed a little help.
Kurt had expected to lose touch with Puck almost immediately after they left high school, they never did have much in common, but to his surprise they stayed in contact. Mostly it was Puck e-mailing or calling every so often to check up on Finn and Kurt would ask Puck how he was doing during the call. Puck always said he was fine, he was playing guitar in a band and they were starting to make a name for themselves in the bar scene in Cleveland. He never made it to Los Angeles like he'd planned but he seemed alright with his life. He was a good actor.
He still could remember every detail of the night Puck showed up in his doorstep. Kurt had been upstairs with Blaine, about to reward his boy for being good when they'd attended Rachel's show the night before. Rachel had a tendency to brag about her success and look down on Kurt's because his success wasn't in Broadway or on stage and, since Blaine knew how much it bothered him, his boy tended to get mouthy whenever Rachel was around. He'd heard Finn's pounding footsteps running up the stairs but hadn't given much thought to them, his brother didn't talk much but he could still be loud, but a minute later there was a frantic knocking at the bedroom door.
Kurt had pulled the door open and his brother had almost fallen into the room. Finn had immediately grabbed Kurt's hand and led him downstairs to where the front door was wide open and Puck was on his hands and knees, puking on his welcome mat.
He'd sent Blaine, who'd followed them, and Finn to their rooms and ordered them to stay in them. He hadn't wanted them to witness Puck in that condition, even though he'd had no idea at the time that Puck wasn't just sick. He'd helped Puck to the one bedrooms in the ground floor, the room Kurt used for his parents when they visited, and he managed to strip Puck of his clothes and forced him into the adjoining bathroom for a shower.
Kurt had had to get into the shower with Puck to help the rebel stand. He'd just held him for what felt like hours, murmuring soft words of comfort, until he looked down to see recognition in Puck's eyes. Then they dried off, got into some clean clothes, and Kurt tucked Puck into bed.
Drugs, he found out the next morning when the boy was alert enough for a conversation. The band Puck had been playing with used recreationally and the drummer had gotten Puck addicted. It was to the point where Puck didn't get paid for their gigs, his share went straight to the drummer to pay for his drug habit.
Puck had arrived with, literally, only the clothes on his back, but Kurt had still searched every seam of those clothes to make sure Puck hadn't brought drugs into his house. Luckily for the boy, the only drugs Puck had were the ones making their way out of his system.
His first instincts had been to get Puck cleaned and into a rehab program and help the boy get on his feet wherever he wanted. The rehab had happened, with Kurt visiting whenever he could, but when it came time for Puck to leave the program, after months of hard work, Kurt couldn't bare the thought of the boy moving away and finding himself right back with the wrong crowd. Not when he had plenty of room to spare and he'd been wanting to find someone who could give him a little help with watching Finn when he had to go into work. Who better than his brother's one time best friend?
It hadn't gone as easily as Kurt planned. Puck had regular meetings with a counsellor, and every so often Kurt attended one of those meetings where Puck would safely discuss if all his needs were being met. Puck still had a temper, he still thought of himself as the man of the house and a bad-ass, and his will often clashed with Kurt's orders, as well as antagonizing Blaine about how well Blaine followed those orders. Kurt had almost admitted defeat and had been looking into other options for Puck, believing he and a misguided sense of gratitude was what was keeping Puck from moving on and truly healing. He'd thought if he could find Puck the perfect place to live, the boy could finally heal, even if it would be hard for Kurt to let him go. And he would have let him go. If he hadn't found Jeremiah.