A/N: OK guys, here's the next chapter! First I need to say that I have no clue about Ohio geography, mainly because I don't even live in America, so if anyone has a clue about Ohio geography and I suck really badly in that department, I am sorry. Also, I slowly but surely remove Blaine from this story now, because he won't have a function either way. So he won't come with Kurt to the Night of Neglect, he won't serenade him on the stairs when Kurt transfers back, he won't go to prom with him, he won't transfer to McKinley and so forth and so forth. Damn, I get a little sad or emotional now…! Whatever; let's just say that Kurt and Blaine remain good friends, but we won't see more of Blaine in this story. Don't get me wrong! I really like Blaine but there shouldn't be any Blaine in a proper Puckurt Fanfiction.
Also, I watched the winter finale, and I am a mess right now, not even joking. For those of you who thought otherwise, I like Karofsky and the episode was extremely moving. It had me thinking of all the suicide victims due to homophobic bullying out there. I wrote most of this chapter before I had watched the episode, so I had to do a lot of editing on this after I watched it. I was supposed to have Karofsky in this and make something Puckurt-centric of the hallway scene between Karofsky, Kurt, Blaine and Santana in "Night of Neglect", but I didn't because I don't want to portray Karofsky negatively at the moment. It wouldn't be appropriate, so I will just have the apology scene in "Prom Queen" instead. I am not saying one should never write him in a negative light ever again, because everything's legal in Fanfiction world, but I couldn't see myself doing it right now.
So there! Enjoy!
Taffy! Out of all the lame, Mary Sue-ish stuff Mr. Schue had tried to make them do over the past two years… this must've been the and most lame and insane idea Puck had ever heard. He liked the dude, that wasn't it. Mr. Schue was pretty much the only teacher Puck could actually stand, but he had some really ridiculous ideas sometimes.
Seriously, how had he even managed to come up with that idea? How did he think selling taffy so they could afford going to Nationals would work? The Glee club consisted of the biggest losers of the entire school. When they had been going door to door from classroom to classroom Christmas caroling, people had yelled that they'd rather be learning and had started hating the holiday because of them.
Shit escalated further when the so-called "Brainiacs" all of a sudden decided that oh! They needed money too! For some lame trip to Detroit where they would be participating in some lame, nerdy competition. Why the hell should they bother? It wasn't their fault that the school sucked and that the school board at some time back in 1739 or something had decided to spend all the money they ever had on the most exclusive auditorium of a public school ever instead of spending them on things that were somewhat more necessary.
Oh yeah, he was Jewish, he knew something about economy. And speaking of stereotypes! Mr. Schue's next quote blew it: Apparently he could understand why Tina, Mike and Artie where a part of "The Brainiacs", but he couldn't for the life of him comprehend why Brittany was.
"Why? Because Mike and Tina are Asian and Artie wears glasses?" Puck prompted, his usual not-able-to-contain-himself-tone present in his voice.
Mr. Schue had no proper answer for that. Got him! OK, fine, the teacher might have had a point, but that didn't change Puck's encouraging satisfaction of being able to dumbfound him even if it was just for a second.
As you may or may not understand by now, Puck was in a very bad mood that day, and that was all thanks to one specific Gargler at Dalton Academy, whom Puck would have loved to spend every minute of every day with, but couldn't, because some specific football player named Dave Karofsky had fucked up everything. Yes, he was still under the belief that Karofsky really wasn't a bad guy, but he really messed up his plans, that was for sure.
He needed to get Kurt back to McKinley one way or another! He just had no clue whatsoever how he was supposed to do that.
Later that week, Mr. Schue came up with another, slightly better idea for them to raise money for the Brainiacs; he suggested nothing short of a so-called "Night of Neglect". Puck had no clue what he meant, but according to Rachel it meant performing songs by neglected artists. Apparently they were gonna invite Sunshine Corazon, the incredibly talented chick from Vocal Adrenaline whom Rachel was retarded enough to send to a crack house, making her feel unwelcome in the New Directions, to sing as well. Apparently, she had hundreds of Twitter followers and could get all of them to come.
The week went by slowly. Very, very, very, not to mention very slowly, before the day before the big day was finally there. Normally, Puck wasn't the kind of person to care for stupid performance show stuff like that, especially not when the only purpose they again tortured themselves by performing in front of an entire audience, was because of three nerds and a blonde who sometimes happened to find herself troubled by remembering how old she was.
But Puck was looking forward to the "Night of Neglect", because of one person, and one person only. Kurt Hummel. Of course he had said yes when he was asked to come. As shocking as it may sound, it wasn't Puck that invited him in the first place this time. Someone actually had the balls to invite him to something besides him, Rachel and Mercedes. This time Santana, out of all people, had been the one to invite him.
He had no clue why whatsoever. He couldn't even think of one good reason why Santana would even bother letting her mind drift to Kurt's existence, but he had a vague feeling she was onto something as well. Something that had to do with getting Kurt back to McKinley. One could wonder what she would gain from getting him back. Seriously. There was the prom queen reason, of course, but no one would vote her from prom queen for getting the resident queer back to where he belonged.
There also was the chance of winning Nationals. That was a good, yet very vague point. Sure, Kurt was ultra-talented and they definitely had a better shot at winning Nationals with him back on the team, but even if they won Nationals, Puck doubted most of the school would even care. It would make the New Directions feel better about themselves, but physically, out here in the real world, they would still be the same losers they were when they left for New York.
So even though Santana wasn't even consciously sure why she was the one inviting Kurt to the Night of Neglect, Puck knew Santana very well. Actually, he might have been one of the people who knew her the best at this school, second after Brittany of course. And he knew that the reason why she invited Kurt was because she wanted him back, and there were only one reason why she wanted him back, and Puck didn't really know why but he had a feeling that reason revolved around Brittany. Santana and Brittany had definitely been going at it for a while now.
Seriously, he'd had sex with both of them at the same time, and many times they had paid way more attention to each other than any of them did to him. He ended up having to finish himself off, while they were too busy scissoring. Not cool, no matter how much of a hot sight it had been.
The day before the Night of Neglect, Puck decided to surprise his boyfriend by showing up outside his school and just take him for a ride. They hadn't met since Regionals, even though they had definitely kept in touch. Puck felt a little sad but the past week had been a blur, and Kurt had had a lot of schoolwork to do.
Now, that explained Puck's bad mood over the past week!
So he showed up outside Dalton Academy at three-fifteen sharp. He had put his radio on and it was playing some weird up-beat short-lived tune that wouldn't be remembered in one week. He didn't bother to turn it off. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He knew Kurt had probably driven to school today, but hell, then he would get up freakishly early on Monday just to drive him to school. Wow, was he whipped or what?
He sat there for a few more minutes. Damn, it was hard pointing out anyone in this ridiculous crowd of uniformed people. They all looked like twins. Like a bunch of twins, whatever that is.
But of course he could point out his boyfriend. He stepped out of the car when he saw him coming out of the ginormous building that was supposed to be a school.
"Kurt!" he shouted as casually as he could.
Kurt reacted instantly, and looked across the field, towards the parking lot. Puck swore he could see his smile widen even from his distance. The boy was coming towards him, practically running.
Before Puck could comprehend what had happened, he was surrounded by the embrace of the most beautiful, wonderful person he had ever met. Kurt kissed his neck softly, his arms wrapped around him. Puck wrapped his arms around his torso, holding him still.
"Nice to see you too," Puck grinned, and Kurt finally put his arms down.
"Puck…," he said, apparently, a little off guard, - "What are you doing here?"
Puck shrugged. "Intending to spend some time with my boyfriend, if he doesn't mind?"
Kurt shook his head in disbelief. "Of course not… I just didn't expect you to show up… I mean, screw that! What did you have in mind?"
Now it was Puck's time to be caught off guard by his boyfriend's ever-developing adorableness (was that even a word?). He had to pull himself together for a few moments before saying: "I don't know, thought I just could take you out for a ride."
Kurt smiled at this and shrugged. "Sounds… amazing, really. Where did you plan on going?"
Puck frowned. "You don't have your car here?"
Kurt shook his head. "No, my dad works late on Fridays, so he drove me. Guess we could use the bonding times that we have."
Puck nodded, and just simply said the only word he could come up with without sounding totally lame: "Cool."
They got into Puck's car and drove out of the parking lot, when Kurt said: "You still didn't answer my question."
"What question?" Puck prompted.
Kurt giggled and rolled his eyes at the same time and it was so adorable Puck had to contain himself not to crash them both into a three due to his eyes' priority of Kurt instead of the road.
"I asked where you were planning on going," Kurt repeated and Puck almost slapped his forehead. He totally remembered that, now that it was brought up. He thought. Whatever?
"Oh," he laughed, - "I don't know… Thought we could just drive somewhere or nowhere."
He rubbed Kurt's leg. "I just wanted to talk, and see you. It's been such a long while."
Kurt let out a happy sigh before he rested his head on Puck's shoulder. "It's sweet of you," he said.
They drove for a while, but they weren't heading for Lima again. They were driving through Westerville.
"You're quiet today," Puck said silently, glancing shortly over to Kurt. The boy hadn't said anything since they got in the car and they had driven for almost ten minutes.
"I am?" Kurt asked.
Puck just nodded, adding a short break before saying: "Yeah… Something bothering you?"
He looked at his boyfriend again, for a little longer this time, before paying attention to the road again.
Kurt shook his head. "No, not really." He shrugged, - "Just a little tired, I guess."
"I don't believe that," Puck said simply, not caring about pushing further, knowing that Kurt would open up soon enough either way.
"I just miss you guys," he said simply, - "Easy as that. No big deal."
Puck inhaled deeply, before letting the breath out again. "I get it," he said, - "I would love to have you back at McKinley."
He hesitated for a moment, not really sure if he should say what came into his mind: "Look, I know we have this secret romance going on, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't protect you if you came back to McKinley."
Kurt looked at his boyfriend and smiled vaguely. "I know," he said silently, - "I just don't want to get you in any trouble."
Puck rolled his eyes. This boy was too good to be true. "Don't worry. I'll live."
"No you won't," Kurt said immediately, pulling himself back in, - "I mean… Yes, you will, I know, but I don't want you back at Juvie…" He hesitated before stating: "Not only because I would miss you even more than I do now, but…"
He hesitated again when Puck grabbed his hand and wrapped it in his own, gently caressing it with his thumb.
Kurt continued: "But I know you didn't have the thrilling time in Juvie that you tried to make us all believe."
Puck scoffed, but he didn't let go of the boy's hand. He shook his head, not able to comprehend where the guy was coming from with all this. "Baby," he said, giving Kurt a short-lived glance again, - "You went through fucking hell by the time I returned from Juvie and you still bothered how I'd been doing there?"
Kurt shrugged. "I don't know, I just know…"
He knew that sentence didn't make any sense, but he didn't bother fixing it. Kurt let out a sigh before he looked at Puck. Even though his boyfriend was staring blankly at the road Kurt knew he was paying attention. Kurt didn't let his eyes leave the boy beside him as he said: "You know, it wouldn't hurt if you tried to open to up to me a little as well… I won't think less of you if you do."
Puck lowered the speed and tightened his grip on Kurt's hand. Noticing there wasn't much traffic, he allowed himself to look at Kurt a little too long. Their eyes met and Puck said in a voice just a little more whispered than what was necessary: "I'm in love with you."
He let his hand leave Kurt's and stroked his cheek before paying attention to the road again. Kurt grabbed Puck's hand and wrapped it in his again, bringing it up to his lips in the process.
"I am in love with you too," he said, and Puck was able to hear the smile in his voice at the statement.
After having driven for a few minutes more, Puck took a turn and drove his car into a narrow highway. "Puck?" Kurt asked, leaving a pretty, little laugh in his voice.
"Hm?"
"Where are we going?"
"The lake, baby," Puck answered.
"The lake?" Kurt asked.
"You heard me," Puck confirmed, - "There's a lake nearby somewhere. It's nice, real romantic and stuff now that it's sunset and there's hardly anyone there. My dad used to take me there when I was little, before Sarah was born. Before he decided it was all too much having two kids and just decided to leave his family the fuck behind…"
He tightened his grip on Kurt's hand as well as his grip on the steering wheel. Not tightly enough to hurt but enough for Kurt to understand the seriousness of the situation.
Kurt just nodded. "I sort of get it," he said, pausing before asking: "How old were you when Sarah was born? … When your father left…?"
"Eight," Puck answered. I'm eight years older than Sarah."
Kurt nodded. "Go figure," he said, and Puck gave him a questioning look as if asking what he meant.
"I just mean," Kurt said, - "I was eight years old when my mother died. I get what's it's like to lose a parent."
"Well, you have every reason to be upset, your mother fucking died on you when you were too little to manage a living without her. And that wasn't her choice! Wasn't it a damn accident that killed her off or something?"
"Yeah, car accident," Kurt confirmed, a little pleased Puck remembered from their night after Rachel's party.
"Damn straight," Puck said, - "Car accident, so you have every fucking right in the world to be upset or cry over her loss. No kid deserves to live without its mother. Not his mother. Without a father you can cope, but your mother is a bigger part of you…"
Kurt cut him off, trying to keep a caring but firm tone: "I think you're wrong about that, Noah," he said.
"How come?" Puck asked, deep down inside admitting that he had hoped Kurt would say that.
"My mother didn't leave on purpose. Your father did. And in some way that must've been worse… I mean, you were abandoned by someone very close to you when you were very little," he stroked Puck's hand comfortingly before continuing: - "One you trusted, one you thought would always be there… He left you all behind, leaving you to take care of your mother and sister all by yourself…"
Puck nodded. "You're right," he whispered, almost inaudible, - "You actually get it. My mom's a fucking nerve-wreck, I'm telling you. You've met her. She can't even take care of herself, let alone Sarah or me. She never could, especially when dad ran away."
He took another swing, drove a few meters and they approached a small parking lot that looked abandoned.
"Have you been here since you went here with your dad?" Kurt picked up the courage to ask.
Puck shook his head and looked at Kurt as he parked his car. "No," he said with a small smile, getting out of the car. Kurt followed him and they started walking. Kurt wasn't sure if he was imagining stuff but he thought he could smell water, and if he was right, it wasn't that far away.
"Can I tell you something?" Puck asked, - "Or are you tired of hearing of me and my life and my family and shit because I totally get it if you are."
Kurt shook his head. "No," he said, taking Puck's hand, - "Absolutely not. You can tell me anything."
Puck nodded before stating: "You know the reason I got into Juvie, right?"
Kurt had to laugh. "Yes," he said.
"You don't think that was a totally douchy thing to do?" Puck asked.
"Well, if anything, it was more hilarious than douchy," Kurt commented, - "Sorry, what were you gonna say?"
Puck laughed with him. "No," he said hesitantly, - "You see the reason why I ran off with the ATM was because my family needed the money. Simple as that… I know it isn't a good excuse or whatever, but that's the only reason why I did it. The pool-cleaning business just wasn't enough."
They walked in silence for a while before Kurt pulled his boyfriend's hand to his lips in a gentle kiss. "I get it, Puck," he said, - "I completely understand why you did it."
Puck looked at him before he kissed him quickly on the cheek. They walked in silence until they finally caught glimpse of the water that lay blue and sparkling in front of them. It was sunset now and Kurt swore to himself that he had never in his life experienced anything more romantic than this. Puck seemed to notice and he leaned down and whispered in his boyfriend's ear, even though they were all alone: "Like it, baby?"
Kurt could just nod before he threw himself into Puck's arms and gave him a smashing kiss on the lips that Puck was more than happy to return.
Puck had to chuckle at his boyfriend's excitement. They walked further towards the water until they approached a small area of sand that could remind them of a beach if they tried really hard to make it look like one.
They walked down to the "beach". Kurt took off his Dalton jacket and made some sort of a blanket for them to sit down on. Puck took off his jacket as well, just to give them more space. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful his boyfriend looked, sitting there with the dimmed sunshine illuminating him, throwing a beautiful light to his pale features. His shirt was for whatever reason buttoned open, revealing some of his collarbone. To put it the true Puckerman style: The dude looked fucking hot.
At that moment, Puck had to admit he was confused what the hell was happening to him? Not the gay or bi or pan or whatever thing, but the compassion and caring thing. Because no matter how hot and sexy and drop dead gorgeous his boyfriend looked right now, it wasn't in his mind to just jump him immediately, as one maybe should think it would be, knowing Noah Puckerman.
It wasn't that he didn't want to. Hell, if there was no doubt they both wanted to go that way, they would have been screwing right there on the beach by now, but for whatever reason, Puck's compassion for the boy out-conquered the lust. He didn't want to hurt him more than what had already been done. He was there to make all the wounds heal.
Still, he reached over to pull his boyfriend closer, letting him rest against him as he said: "You know…" He hesitated, - "Whenever you feel ready to take… things… further, just tell me, OK?"
Kurt stiffened a bit in his arms but he stayed still. "I'm sorry Puck, but we will have to take things really slow here. I don't…" He stopped, before adding: "I don't know how long it will take, but I am only asking you to be patient. I'm sorry, I know it's hard but…"
Puck cut him off, stroking his arms lightly as he said: "Hush baby, it's not hard. Don't be sorry. I just needed you to know that it's not that I don't want to be with you that way, because I really do. I want that when you're ready… OK?"
Kurt nodded and relaxed in Puck's embrace. They sat there for a while before Puck spoke again: "It wasn't all that great you know."
When Kurt looked questioning, Puck continued: "In Juvie, I mean. I said that it was great and all, I know, but I'll be honest with you."
"It sucked?" Kurt guessed, giving Puck a small grin.
Puck looked at him before letting out a somewhat cold-hearted chuckle. "Yeah, that's one way to put it," he said, before stating: "Look", claiming Kurt's attention, - "I have no idea what you're going through with all that… What that… What he did to you."
"The rape," Kurt confirmed, flinching ever so slightly at the word, - "You can say it, your tongue won't explode."
Puck chuckled and pulled his boyfriend into his lap, hugging him from behind. "Like I said," he said, - "I'm not saying that I in any way can relate to what you're going through in that department, but I know what was going on there. One guy came to lunch one day right after having been showering, and he was a total mess. A few minutes later this really enormous, big, scary guy came in and the other guy just flinched, like… violently! He never said anything about what had happened but fuck, we all knew…"
Kurt sat back a little, so that he could look into Puck's eyes. His boyfriend had a mortified facial expression at the memory, and he had told the story in that usual badass-tone of his, that he always got when he was telling something heavy. Not that it was a façade he put on, it was totally him all along. The badassness was a big part of him after all, he was just a much kinder badass than he would let on.
Puck looked straight at Kurt for a second before burying his head in his hands. "And to think," he said, lifting his head again, his eyes having gone darker, - "That someone ever did that to you…"
He shook his head in disbelief, and Kurt noticed that his voice had gotten a much darker tone. It didn't scare him, as it would a year ago. It only served to comfort him and make him feel protected. Not that Kurt was the one who needed to feel protected by anyone, but the only person he could actually stand trying to help him or protect him, was Puck.
Kurt gave him a small smile, and then leaned back into his boyfriend's arms. "I will be OK," he said after a long break.
Puck shook his head. "Still…," he said, - "It's so unfair. That guy in Juvie… That was nothing. It didn't mean shit to me…"
He thought for a moment. "OK, that came out wrong. But it didn't mean anything to me personally. I didn't know the guy and he probably was a jerk… But you… I mean… What's the worst thing you've done in your life?"
Kurt shrugged. "It just…," he began, his voice almost a whisper, - "It doesn't work that way."
"I don't give a shit," Puck said, - "I only give a shit about you."
As stupid as Puck's quote sounded, Kurt found some sweetness in it and touched his hand gently, feeling Puck shivering slightly behind him.
"What that bastard did…," Puck said, - "I would give anything to have him never see the sun again."
He turned Kurt around to look at him, letting himself get lost in the beautiful, blue eyes that looked green in the light of the sunset. "You are the sweetest, most beautiful, compassionate and innocent person I've ever met, Kurt," he said, - "I can't handle anything bad happening to you."
Kurt smiled and squeezed his hand. A content silence appeared between them, before Kurt finally asked: "When did this conversation become me opening myself up to you again?"
Puck shook his head. "Man, you're right," he said, - "I guess I'm not really good at opening up to people."
"Neither am I," Kurt said, noticing the hesitant disbelief in his boyfriend, - "Not when it comes to other people than you."
Puck laughed and nuzzled his boyfriend's neck for a second. When they had been sitting there on the beach for a while and the sun had almost come down completely, Kurt prompted: "Wanna swim?"
Puck just looked at him, and Kurt turned around just to enjoy the confusion on the mohawked boy's face. "What the fuck?" was the only coherent thing coming out of him at that moment, - "Dude, it's April… And not some sunny southern April, really, shitty despite the sun Ohio-April. No way I'm swimming!"
"Well," Kurt said, rapidly getting up from Puck's lap, standing in front of him, shading the tiny bit of sun that was left, stretching before saying: "I am."
By that he suddenly unbuttoned his shirt completely, feeling overly exposed for a second, remembering the last time he undressed in front of anyone that way, but that thought was gone before it had even made its way through his system.
Puck had no way of thinking at that moment, because he was suddenly lost in the incredible, bold beauty and hotness combined in the boy who was his boyfriend. He didn't remember ever having seen Kurt shirtless, but judging by the tight shirts the boy had been wearing on a daily basis since the first time Puck had even seen him, the boy had been gaining some serious muscle through the past year. His body was fit. Not really big muscles of course, but they were definitely present and Puck loved what he saw.
"Holy everything, you're so fucking hot…"
Kurt looked down on him as he took off his shoes, before a chuckle escaped him. "Changed your mind about the swimming?"
Puck thought for a second, before he threw off his T-shirt. "Hell yeah!"
PKPKPKPKPK
The night of neglect practically became a totally disaster, as Puck had predicted from the beginning. Really, he had. No he wasn't being clever in the aftermath, he'd had the gut feeling right from the start. The famous 600 followers of Sunshine Corazon never arrived and as a matter of fact neither did Sunshine, the only audience they had was a group of so-called "hecklers" that Sue Sylvester had managed to unionize. The only good thing about the whole situation was Kurt and the fact that Mercedes' diva-personality faded later that night, making Sandy Ryerson, creepy dude he was, pay for everything they needed.
But now, even though he knew he had been planning getting Kurt back for a while now, it was definitely time to get a talk with Santana and get him back where he belonged for good.
A/N: Reviews are highly appreciated! I will try to have a new chapter up by Sunday!