Disclaimer and all that jazz in Part 1.

*g*l*e*e*

Kurt's days as McKinley High's only open gay kid were long gone and nowadays people were less intolerant about whom he went to bed with. There were also less disgusted grunts and dark stares floating around whenever he got more affectionate with Noah (mostly because Noah's bad boy attitude was still pretty much intimidating) than when he had exchanged the same small kisses and little touches with Sam in public. It could be a pain, but that was okay; Kurt was not one to let others command his life, and with Sam by his side, it had been like he could have conquered the world.

Then life happened, and joyful and painful experiences both in his past and present had shaped Kurt in harder clay whereas Ben had smoothed out his soul. Still Kurt could finally say he was becoming his own man, bending the world to make it his own personal bitch, and paving his own road to go wherever he chose to.

So why did Noah set Finn on his tail to make sure he didn't go to the lady's room when he took a bathroom break? And why in hell-

"My lips are chapped, Noah!" The grip around his fingers tightened as Noah escorted him faster out of the restaurant. "Mercedes may need my help," he said in a vain attempt at sensitizing his… whatever Noah was.

Noah opened the restaurant door and pulled him into daylight; Finn stayed behind to wait for Mercedes. "She can take a piss just fine without you there to hold her hand."

"We were making plans for a shopping trip, you moron! And, and my lips are still chapped!"

"Not anymore."

Tilting Kurt's head up, Noah spit out the gum he had been munching on to more than swap spit and germs with Kurt; his tongue took its time feasting on everything Kurt's mouth had to offer, from the tiny crumbs of bread pasted on his teeth that the sweet jasmine tea had failed washing out to the last vestiges of the mint he had sprayed in his mouth seconds before getting out of his chair to follow Mercedes to the restroom.

Kurt heard a door open, someone that sounded like Finn gasp something like Jesus, a Mercedes-like-voice squeaking What and the restaurant door banging shut. The people in the street were probably turning their heads and saying obscenities behind their backs, some might even be catcalling, but Kurt really didn't care because Noah was there, tasting like coffee, peppermint gum and something tarter, mustard perhaps, washing out whatever the hell had made Kurt mad at him in the first place.

If it weren't for the firm grip he had on the lapels of Noah's jacket, Kurt would have made a fool out of himself by falling boneless at Noah's feet when he broke the kiss. He couldn't help whimpering when Noah licked the corner of his mouth.

"You taste better than strawberry, princess."

"Huh?"

"Your lip gloss tastes like strawberry, but you taste better."

His mind had been reduced to a quagmire of jumbled thoughts, but Kurt couldn't let such awful mistake go unnoticed. "Lip balm."

"What?"

"Not lip gloss. Lip balm… it's called lip balm."

Noah chuckled low and lazily against his cheek. "You still can think?'

"Give me a minute and we'll even be able to pick up that discussion about I don't know what exactly from where we you kissed it out of me."

"No can do, princess," Noah said before his lips once again took charge of stopping any kind of conversation Kurt could have attempted at restarting.

"Fuck it, man; the two of you are at it again?"

This time Kurt broke the kiss and smiled at Finn and Mercedes, flushed and a little embarrassed, but, quoting Finn in vulgarity, so fucking happy.

"Seriously, dude, you gotta stop. It's like seeing my sister making out with my best friend."

"You don't even have a sister, Hudson. And I am your best friend."

"But you do, Puckerman. Imagine Becky making out with me every five minutes."

"I would have to rearrange your face then, mate," Noah said matter of fact, cracking his knuckles. "Becky knows better than making out with anyone before she turns thirty!"

"See, duh, that's what I'm talking about."

Now that was just too much.

"Get real, Noah; have you forgotten Becky's a sophomore in college? And Finn, for heaven sake, I'm gay, not a girl."

"I know, bro, but you're also the closest thing to a sister I'll ever have, so chill."

There must have been a compliment there somewhere, but in his fogged mind Kurt couldn't really think straight, so he turned to Mercedes, who had been enjoying that nonsensical and totally useless argument far too much.

"Do something."

"But they're so cute." Kurt could still muster an evil stare like no one else, and Mercedes knew better than taking any side that wasn't Kurt's when the diva in him was about to take charge of the situation. "Okay, boys, enough. Puck, back off. For the next couple of hours Kurt is mine, got it?"

And Noah knew better than putting himself between Kurt and Mercedes. "Backing off now, Aretha," he said, letting go of Kurt and taking a step back towards Finn.

"Good. Now my boy and I are going to take a walk around the hood and you guys are going to grin and bear it until we are done, understood?" Mercedes' glare had always been effective to beat up any argument Finn or Noah and sometimes even Kurt could come up with, so they had no other option but follow them to wherever they pleased to go.

And window shopping they went.

*g*l*e*e*

To be concluded in 5c. Thanks for reading.