Disclaimer-I do not own Glee

Thanks for reviewing everyone

Chapter 16-Tonight

When Kurt woke up the following Saturday, it was with a peculiar feeling in his stomach, chest and head. He didn't feel ill, just odd in a way that he couldn't explain.

As he climbed out of bed, he accidentally knocked the photo frame off of his bedside table. He quickly bent down and picked it up to inspect the damage. Luckily, the frame was still in tact, and the photo of himself and Noah was still in mint condition.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he placed the photo back in its rightful place, his finger momentarily running over the image of Noah before his hand dropped to his side.

Turning away, Kurt headed straight upstairs to join his dad for breakfast, the growling of his stomach in dire need of satisfaction. He attempted to cook pancakes but his mind was elsewhere and he only snapped out of his daze when the fire alarm signalled.

Burt gently pushed Kurt out of the way and disposed of the burnt pancakes before turning off the alarm. The older Hummel then guided his son to a seat before fixing each of them a bowl of cereal.

They sat opposite one another at the table, with Burt fixing Kurt with a concerned gaze as he munched on his breakfast, and Kurt doing his best to avoid his dad's eye as he pushed his food around, watching the flakes turn soggy as they drowned in their milky prison.

As the silence stretched between them, Kurt wondered how long it would take for his dad to break it and ask what was wrong. However, as time passed on and Burt's bowl emptied, Kurt realised his dad was waiting for him to speak first.

Though he was thankful that his dad wasn't pushing him to talk, Kurt almost felt it would be easier to speak up if his dad interrogated him. From where he sat looking at his untouched breakfast, despite his aching hunger, Kurt just couldn't find the words he needed to express himself. Normally, he was very talkative, but on this morning conversational techniques seemed to have deserted him.

When his belly emitted a loud roar, he finally lifted a spoonful of soggy cereal to his mouth and swallowed it down. Soon enough, his bowl was empty and he wordlessly placed it in the kitchen sink before washing up. His dad joined him and dried up.

After everything had been washed and cleaned, Kurt headed down to his basement to shower and dress. Upon returning upstairs, he found his dad seated in the living-room watching the sports channel. Silently, Kurt sat down with him.

At first, Kurt sat on the opposite end of the sofa, but when his dad switched channels on to a drama series Kurt adored, he slowly edged closer. By the time the episode finished, Kurt was curled against his dad's side with his head resting on Burt's shoulder.

"Dad?" Kurt asked as he kept his eyes focused on his nails.

"Yeah, kid?" Burt replied gently giving Kurt's shoulder a little comforting squeeze.

"I…" Kurt trailed off not sure what it was he wanted to ask or say.

He thought about asking his dad for advice about Noah, but as accepting as his dad was about his sexuality, he wasn't entirely convinced that he was ready to have such a discussion about boys. The brief talks they'd had when Kurt was dating Sam were one thing, but to ask about love and such was quite another. Even if Kurt was straight and Noah was a girl, or if he himself was a girl, he still didn't think his dad would be much help right now. He doubted there was any appropriate advice anyone could give to help him with his situation. This seemed to be one of those things he'd have to deal with himself.

"Nothing." Kurt finally settled on saying.

"Liar." Burt replied fondly with a hint of a chuckle in his tone.

Kurt grinned slightly and looked round to face his dad. His dad grinned back at him, but Kurt saw the look in his eye that showed he was slightly hurt by Kurt's decision not to tell him what was going on. He felt guilty, but at that moment in time, Kurt simply wasn't ready to talk to his dad.

As the next show came on, a reality talk show that Kurt enjoyed but knew his dad despised, Kurt picked up the remote control and flicked back to the sports channel. He wasn't interested in the basketball game at all, but as his dad had sat through one of his T.V shows, Kurt felt it was only fair to watch a game with him.

When the game ended, Burt got up and announced he was heading to work. Kurt asked if he needed any help today and after a moments thought Burt nodded to him and they left together.

There were a lot of customers that day so Kurt always had plenty to do. He enjoyed it, working on the cars helped take his mind off of Noah, off of everything. As he inspected countless engines and changed multiple tyres, all his teenage problems seemed to melt away leaving him with a feeling of peace.

Oddly enough, it seemed that getting his hands dirty and working to the bone relaxed Kurt far better than any deep body tissue massage ever had.

At lunch time, Kurt and Burt sat down together with a sandwich and cup of coffee each. The two sat and discussed different car types and they laughed heartily with one another as they made fun of Sandy Ryerson who had been in that morning.

After their break, the two Hummel men resumed work. In the early afternoon, Mr. Schue turned up in his beaten-up old car. Kurt rolled his eyes wondering what had taken the man so long to finally bring his car in for inspection.

For months, Kurt had looked his teacher's car over with a mechanics eye just itching to fix the scrap of metal up. So he was more than delighted when his dad nodded for him to tend to Schue's car whilst he spoke with another customer.

Most people would bring their cars in, talk to Burt for a few minutes then leave with plans to return later, but occasionally people would stay. Mr. Schue turned out to be one of those people. He watched Kurt work, clearly impressed with his students' knowledge and ability.

"Wow, Kurt, I had no idea this would be your kind of thing." Mr. Schue told him.

"Yes, most people are shocked when they find out." Kurt admitted. "It seems everybody assumes the gayest boy in all of Lima can only participate in activities that meet peoples' expectations of the gay stereotype."

"I'm sorry." Mr. Schue apologised looking ashamed and uncomfortable. "I didn't mean to…"

"Forget it, its fine." Kurt interrupted shaking off the man's apology. "I'm more than used to it, believe me."

"Right, so… how bad does it look?" Mr. Schue asked patting the car in indication and effectively changing the subject. "Do you think you can fix her up?"

"Never fear, Mr. Schue." Kurt smiled. "Make-over's are my specialty, be it on cars or people."

Taking up a wrench, Kurt got to work and talked Mr. Schue through what he was doing each step of the way. After about five minutes, it became patently clear to Kurt that Mr. Schue was one of those men who liked to think he knew a lot about cars, tools and mechanics but really knew nothing at all. In fact, Kurt was sure that most of the damage to Schue's car had been made by the man himself from attempting to repair it singlehandedly.

The way Mr. Schue made suggestions also made it apparent that the Spanish teacher was completely inept when it came to cars; he clearly had no idea what he was talking about. Still, Kurt humoured him and remained polite and managed to hold in his laughter.

At some point, Mr. Schue seemed to realise himself that his knowledge in the field of car mechanics was virtually non-existent, so he struck up a conversation about Glee instead. He asked for Kurt's opinion on songs they could possibly perform at Sectionals. The group already had a few ideas in mind but there was still a lot of debate about their final selection.

Mr. Schue kept not-so-subtly hinting that he really wanted Kurt and Noah to perform a duet but Kurt chose to ignore the hints and keep suggesting songs that would be great for Mercedes.

"Kurt, you do understand the main point of Glee club don't you?" Mr. Schue asked him rhetorically. "Glee is about searching yourself for all those thoughts and feelings you're too scared to show or don't know how to verbalise and then expressing them through song and dance and unleashing all that energy and all that emotion onto the audience. It's about showing what's in your heart and soul. In Glee club, I don't want you to hide who you truly are or what you're feeling, I want you to show it and show it proudly."

"Would you care to be more specific about what it is you are trying to tell me?" Kurt asked not sure that he really did want to know.

"Come on, stop torturing yourself with thoughts of 'what if's' and wondering what could be." Mr. Schue said. "Just be brave and tell Puck how you feel."

Kurt's eyes widened considerably but Mr. Schue just smiled at him kindly.

"Is it really that obvious?" Kurt squeaked out.

"Sure is, kid." Burt answered as he wandered over and helped Kurt replace Mr. Schue's windshield. "And your teacher's right, you should tell him how you feel."

"As easy as you two make that sound, it's really not." Kurt replied. "In your old age I think the two of you have forgotten the terror that comes with the prospect of facing rejection. Besides, we're talking about Noah Puckerman, who is not only the boy I'm hopelessly in love with, but he's also my best friend meaning our friendship is at risk if I choose to tell him how I really feel and then of course there's that little detail about him being completely and annoyingly straight."

The two older men shared a look with one another before Burt patted his son on the back and Mr. Schue offered his student a sympathetic look.

After having Noah be brought up in conversation, Kurt found that he couldn't rid his thoughts of the other boy. Even throwing himself into finishing off Mr. Schue's car didn't help. Still, he worked hard and greatly improved his teacher's vehicle almost beyond recognition.

He stayed in the garage and helped his dad out for an hour or two longer before heading back home for a much needed shower.

After washing away all the oil and grease and getting rid of the smell of tyres from his skin, Kurt stepped out of the shower stall and towelled himself dry. Hearing his cell-phone ring, he quickly padded into the main part of his bedroom and picked it up. Looking at the caller ID, he found that it was Noah and as always, his heart fluttered a little.

He answered the phone and the sound of Noah's voice sent a wave of calm over him. That calm soon eradicated as his mind processed the words his friend was actually saying. Somehow, as soon as Kurt heard the word 'alcohol', he just knew this day would end in disaster. Despite that, Kurt found himself agreeing to the plan for the members of the Glee club to all meet up on a field not far from Santana's house and hang out and drink.

Hanging up the phone, Kurt's eyes moved to land on the photo of himself and Noah. Picking it up, he looked down at the image of Noah's handsome face for a long while and quickly came to a horrible realisation. Placing the photo frame back down, he now knew why he'd woken with such an odd feeling in his stomach, chest and head.

"Tonight." Kurt spoke out loud. "It's going to be tonight."

Although he couldn't explain it, he simply knew that tonight would result in him admitting his feelings for Noah, and as horrifying as that notion undoubtedly was, it didn't stop him from rummaging through his wardrobe, determined to look his best.

To Be Continued

Please Review

Love and Hugs, IceQueenRia xxx