Cadenza
By: RavenHeart101
Summary: Summer camp is something that Puck always dreaded. When he accidentally signs up for a football and music camp he's stuck sharing a room with the one person everyone else seems to hate. The gay kid from Marion Middle School.
Disclaimer: I am gladly NOT Ryan Murphy. Song credit goes to LeAnn Rimes and Reba McEntire. I do not own "When You Love Someone Like That".
Warnings: Slash (male/male), swears, homophobia, mature themes, gay bashing/bullying, parental issues, sexual situations, sex, substance abuse on minors, smoking with minors, ect.
A thanks to those who reviewed: Kimmi G (Welcome! :D Enjoy your stay. Oh yay reviews. I love reviews!), PmYuna (Puck... needs to learn something. But I honestly don't think we can blame him for everything. I mean, yeah he's made some stupid mistakes but he's in a tough place.), CanAnyoneHearMe (You're all kinds of awesome. Yeah no kissing or smut in this chapter either... Juvie will still happen. I gots that plot bunny all under control.), omgbelle (You are so very welcome. Thank you for the review!), JMR (so is that a no to there being any other way to contact you to give you advice? I really do feel bad... :/), Aledda (Oh Blaine's going to have a few moments coming up where he's just done with Puck. He'll still love him, yes, but he's just going to sort of give up on him believing that there's nothing for him there.), AshtrayTragedyM.D (Welcome to you too! :D Omg do it! Write one! And I inspired you? OMG YAY!), Frelise (It was? Well then... I'm glad you liked it. :D), SebastianWinters (You are my Tumblr love. Co-dependency is something for both of us.), and .Riso (I'm so sorry your screen name got cut off in my last one of these. I'm so confused over that because I had typed out the whole thing... You are the only person to comment on tired!Blaine! Tired!Blaine is me. :D).
A:N – Those of you on tumblr miss my liveblogs of writing this. I think it gets pretty damn humorous.
This Chapter: Blaine's trying to sort his own feelings out when Kurt comes calling for help after Finn calls him a "fag" and Noah gets offered an ultimatum by Quinn: pick either her and their child or Blaine.
Wes knew something was going on the moment Blaine tripped over Trent at Warbler's practice.
It was pretty common for Blaine to do something clumsy (he was pretty damn clumsy after all) but it never seemed to happen when he was dancing. It was as though he got so into the music that nothing bothered to interrupt him. It was like he was some otherworldly mirage and the world would spot him and stop turning because he was in control.
Wes knew his friend well enough to know that it was simply the only time that he felt as though he were in control.
He sighed and placed his books down on the hardwood table in the Freshmen Commons, dropping down on the couch beside Blaine and taking the moment to stare at his friend in wonder. His finger was trailing down the text in front of him at a rapid pace, his eyes following suit. His hands were shaking a bit but they always shook a little. His bottom lip was pulled into his mouth and was currently being chewed on as a runaway curl fell against his forehead that was creased in something a kin to wonder.
It was safe to say that midterms at Dalton had Blaine freaking out.
And that was understandable and all because midterms at Dalton had everyone – including the janitors and teachers and catering staff and vending machines – under a lot of stress and, consequentially freaking out. Warbler practice was used as a massive study group. Teachers handed out as many passes as they could for the library. The janitors were on constant patrol of every open room for trash and vomit and everything else that came with over stressing oneself. The catering staff had meals out 24/7 – enough for every student. The vending machines were on a constant hold, especially the ones with the energy bars and gatorade and chocolate and comfort food.
So Wes didn't blame Blaine – who had been there for less than a year and was there under less than desirable circumstances – for stressing out more than most freshmen.
But Wes knew Blaine. And he knew that Dalton midterms weren't what was taking over more than half his stressing time.
That wasn't to say that Wes knew him well enough to know what it was that was taking up more than half of his stressing time.
"Are you okay?" Wes nudged his shoulder with his own, frowning when all he received was a grunt in response.
Blaine turned a page in his text book, his highlighter taking his lip's place in his mouth as his eyebrows furrowed and confusion covered his face at the words that were in front of him. Wes rolled his eyes, placing his hand smack in the middle of the words and forcing Blaine to look towards him. "Wes." Blaine's voice held a warning tone but Wes didn't think much of it, watching as his friend heaved in a deep breath and turned a look of utter frustration and constraint on him.
Wes was impressed. Blaine was usually one to not even let the slightest bit of annoyance show without having a tooth pulled. Actually, Wes was pretty sure even that wouldn't make annoyance show when it came to Blaine. He was pretty sure that the only way to get Blaine to admit to feeling anything besides happy-go-lucky would be to do something immensely gruesome like throw out all of his socks or something. "Blaine." Wes smiled cheekily at him. "Now that we're acquainted I think you need to tell me what's going on with you."
Blaine rolled his eyes at him, and Wes could have sworn he saw a small smile pull at the corner of his mouth but he wisely said nothing as Blaine pulled his text book out from under Wes's hand. "Nothing's going on with me."
He went back to reading. Or tried to anyway. Wes lunged for the book, but Blaine pulled it out of his way quickly, the elder boy smacking his head onto the table with a loud clang. The other boys in the Freshmen Commons turned to look at him, some even hissing out a sharp "shh" before turning back to their work.
Blaine stared at him in shock for a moment, his mouth twitching and annoyance quickly being replaced with concern. God that boy was too good for his own... well for his own good. "Ow." Wes moaned against the wooden table top, glancing up only to see Blaine purse his lips in an effort not to laugh. "Damn it this is your fault."
"How is it my fault?" Blaine asked dryly, a small hint of restrained laughter to his voice. "You're the one who decided it'd be fun to lunge at my book."
"You're the one who made me."
"How did I make you?" The smile was fighting to break out across his face and Wes, even though his head really did hurt like hell, felt a small sense of accomplishment.
"One, you refused to tell me what's going on with you. Two, you pulled it out of my way."
"One, nothing's wrong. Two, you lunged at it."
"Point is, that it is entirely your fault."
"Point is that you're an idiot who calls me clumsy but instead of lunging for a book gets a face full of table."
Wes didn't really have a response to that besides the fact that his head hurt after slamming it into a table. And he was about to start whining until Blaine told him what was going on with him when Blaine's phone vibrating against the wood loudly broke through their conversation.
Once again everyone turned to look at them and send them dirty looks.
For some reason Blaine never seemed affected by those looks. As much as Wes hated to admit it, it was probably due to the time he spent as a student in Marion High.
"Kurt!" Blaine sounded surprised, but not really all that angry over the fact that his study time had been interrupted. He sounded happy and peppy and joyful (and any other synonym for happy that Wes could think of) and... well and then he sounded concerned. "Wait, what? Kurt slow down."
He stood up from the table, shooting Wes a look that clearly told him to stay where he was, his book falling from his hand and onto his empty chair as he left the room.
Wes furrowed his eyebrows, sitting up straight in his chair and whipping his phone out of his pocket to send a quick text to David to text Lily about what was going on with Blaine. If anyone could get to him it was going to be either Lily, Danielle, Greyson, or, dare he say it, Puckerman.
And, with every fiber of his being, Wes was not calling Puckerman.
Quinn sat back against Puck's headboard, her ankles crossed over one another and her long blonde hair tossed over her shoulder as she ran her brush down the long locks. She rested her free hand on her ever growing stomach, sighing nearly silently when she felt a flutter against her hand.
She glanced out the window, noting how Puck still sat in his car in the driveway, his phone pressed against his ear firmly, a small smile over his lips. It was a tender smile – the kind of smile that Puck only wore whenever he thought something was worth adoring. The kind of smile he had worn when performing "Beth" to her earlier that day.
They had been thinking over that very name for weeks now, but Quinn hadn't been really planning on naming their daughter Beth. She wasn't entirely sure if they should even have that choice – sure they were the blood parents but they weren't the ones who were going to be raising her.
But she had agreed when she had seen that look on Puck's face. That complete and utter adoration.
She hadn't expected it.
Quinn let the hair brush fall from her hand, feeling the tears begin to prickle at the corner of her eyes. She wasn't sure if what she felt for Puck was love, but she knew it was something. It was her own version of that tender smile that almost always spread over her face when she thought of how much Puck was trying for her and their daughter.
Quinn knew that was largely because of who Puck had been confiding in. Blaine Anderson.
She had only met him a few times, whenever Puck took her out to Breadstixs and insisted that they drive all the way to Marion instead of going to the one placed near them in Lima because he got a sizable discount at the one in Marion. And she had to admit that it did make quite a dent in their dinner bill whenever they went to the Breadstixs in Marion instead of Lima. But something just didn't sit right with her.
It wasn't that she thought Blaine was a bad person. In fact whenever Quinn had spoken to him he had seemed like a pretty good guy – a great guy even.
It wasn't that he was gay. Quinn didn't care much for sexuality. She was friends with Kurt. She thought Rachel's dad's were adorable. To be honest Quinn envied lesbians and gays simply because they didn't have to worry about getting thrust into the situation she was in at that moment. Plus, God never said that there was anything wrong with being gay.
It wasn't that he was rich. Quinn had plenty of money herself in a trust fund her grandparents had left to her. And money wasn't everything.
It was that he somehow managed to steal all of Puck's adoring and tender looks from her the moment he walked through the door.
It was that there seemed to be something else going on between Blaine Anderson and Puck and...
It wasn't that Quinn hated the idea of them dating.
She just didn't understand why they couldn't wait to screw around until after she had had her baby.
Then Blaine could have Puck all to himself. But, until then, Quinn needed all the support she could get. And she couldn't very well get the support she needed if Puck was off calling Blaine or visiting Blaine or fucking Blaine for all she knew.
And she knew what she had to do. It didn't matter if she wanted to do it or not. She had to do it.
The door the the truck slammed shut and Quinn began to cry.
The door slammed shut behind them, Blaine only pausing a second to notice how Kurt's eyes were rimmed in red and his hands were shaking and his hair was in a state that Blaine was pretty sure even his father wasn't allowed to see before they were hugging and Kurt was crying into his shoulder. Blaine, obviously, knew the whole story to what had happened ever since Kurt had called him after the incident, but that didn't mean that he had to be used to the idea.
Kurt was so strong. He was supposed to be so damn strong and yet the same shit that Blaine had had to put up with was happening to him.
It was like someone had it out for them.
It seemed as though no matter how freaking hard the two of them tried to be happy someone had to come and rip out from underneath them. And Blaine was pissed and he was hurt and he honestly just wanted to be crying with Kurt but that would defeat the whole purpose of comforting wouldn't it? More to the point, Kurt didn't even know what was going on between Blaine and Noah and Blaine was more than okay with keeping him from knowing.
It wasn't as though Kurt wouldn't be there for him because as much as Kurt was a drama queen he actually, shockingly, knew when to shove his drama to the side and be there for someone.
But what was going on with Kurt was serious heartbreak that he had accidentally gotten himself into. It wasn't as though Kurt had purposely fallen in love with Finn. It wasn't as though he had purposely acted like and idiot. Things like that just happened sometimes.
Well it was either that or Blaine was just scared of admitting that he was as much in the wrong as Kurt was.
"I don't know what to do." Kurt whined into Blaine's neck, neither of them pulling away from the other because there was just something grounding about someone who understood.
Blaine didn't honestly know what to tell him. "I want to help you Kurt, really I do. But I don't know how to do that when every choice I make seems to just make things worse for the situation."
"For what situation? You don't have anything to do with what's going on with Finn."
And no... Blaine didn't. Not directly at least.
A few tears fell down his cheeks but Blaine refused to acknowledge them. "Blaine...?" Kurt's voice was rough with tears and Blaine could feel his own throat clogging but he didn't want to say anything. He didn't want to put his problems onto Kurt so he didn't. He, instead, pulled Kurt over to the keyboard he had sitting in his bedroom corner and sat Kurt down on the folding chair he had pulled out before.
"I know Country's not your thing but this is honestly the only song I can think of to help you right now." Blaine pulled the music out of the folder he always kept near the instrument.
Kurt stared at the extended sheet music with apprehensive eyes before putting his hand over Blaine's and smiling at him with even more tears glinting in his eyes. "To help us both you mean."
Blaine simply smiled at him, refusing the acknowledge how much his heart was pounding in his chest and that small ache in the bottom of his stomach begging to be noticed.
"Puck? Can I talk to you?"
"Yeah. What's up, Q?"
"What's going on with you and that Blaine's guy?"
A deep breath, panicked and measured. "Nothin'. We're just friends."
"I think it was me, I guess I did something wrong. I tried too hard. Wanted too much. I guess that's why it's gone." Kurt started out, his voice ringing clear and stirring an all too familiar emotion in the pit of Blaine's stomach. "I lost my pride, I fought and cried. I felt like a little kid. What's wrong with me? Still can't believe... I did the things I did."
"I couldn't change him... He was gonna break my heart. I saw it coming. Yeah... I knew it from the start." Blaine's voice was haunting, Kurt's head flying up to gaze at him and his eyes taking in the way Blaine's face scrunched up to fight back the tears threatening to fall. He squeezed the hand in his tighter, ducking down to find his eyes only for Blaine to rush to keep their gazes from meeting.
"Don't lie to me." Angry. Hurt.
A pause. A long pause. "He's my best friend, Q."
"He's always there. Always taking up your time." Another pause and a breath heaved. Deep and in control. Noah always envied how she could do that. "I need you Puck. Our baby needs you."
"It aint right, it just aint right... Don't tell yourself that it was you. You followed your heart... gave it your best. There's nothing more you can do." Blaine seemed adamant about getting this part across to Kurt, his face showing a sort of emotion that Kurt could only account to experience.
"Guys like him are like the wind. And you know it's just too bad... They blow in and out again and never know what they had." Kurt stole the line from him, sending his friend a small smile to tell him that it was okay. He squeezed his hand, happy when Blaine squeezed back.
"Quinn... I thought we were giving her up?"
"We are. But I still need you, Puck. I need you and you can't ditch me because this is more than half your fault."
"More than half? I'm pretty damn sure you consented."
"I was drunk."
"And I have a fucking shitty life but I don't use that for an excuse."
"Look that's not my point!" Hands thrown up in surrender. Blue eyes shining in fury. "You need to make a choice, Puck. Either me and Beth or Blaine. Because you can't have both."
"Oh we've all loved and lost. It's happened to us all." Blaine threw the paper onto the ground, leaning forward to grip both Kurt's hands in his own, losing himself in the music for the first time that evening. It was the most organic and real and out-of-this-world thing that Kurt had ever witnessed.
"I hear what you're saying but I feel like the only one." And Kurt did feel like the only one. Not so much any more but he had at the beginning.
"You might feel right but you're not... You're alright." Blaine reassured, a small smile curling at his lips.
"I'm alright..." Kurt agreed. "You're okay." And he took the part of reassuring this time, smiling back, both their eyes sparkling in tear.
"I'm OK." Blaine assured.
They both heaved in a deep breath, hitting the high note spectacularly. "You're gonna make it anyway."
"Hey." Happy. As usual whenever Noah called him.
"I had to choose." Bland. Dry. Sad on the other end.
Confusion. "Had to choose what?"
"I had to do right by her. I haven't done right by her yet. I had to. And I am so sorry."
"Noah what's going on?" Worry.
"I can't call you again." And then Noah was hanging up and he wasn't Noah anymore. Noah was gone and with Blaine because Noah didn't know how to survive without him.
The phone broke to shards when it hit the wall.
When you love someone like that, when you give what you can't take back. When you love with all your heart and soul, it's so hard to let it go. When you love someone like that...
A: N – Don't hate me... -hides-
Next Chapter: Quinn goes into labor. Cammi goes into labor. After a long talk with his best friends Blaine decides to screw it all and demand that Noah tell him what's going on and tell him how he feels. Noah's trying to avoid him. Sometimes the universe has a cruel way of making people talk.
AND BECAUSE I KNOW ALL OF YOU CARE I STARTED A NEW BLUCK/PLAINE/ANDERMAN STORY CALLED "HAPPILY EVER AFTER". CURRENTLY IT IS ONLY ONE CHAPTER BUT I'M PLANNING ON WRITING MORE SOON. GO READ IT!
And the capital is just to get your attention. Did it work?