Catalyst

Chapter 8

By Dani J.

Summary: Kurt and Blaine have decided to just be friends and the dapper boy realized he really missed Dalton Academy so he's gone back. No Klaine-bashing is intended, it just wouldn't have worked for this fic. However, Kurt has an admirer in a new kid… and Puck isn't happy at all but doesn't seem willing to step up.

Disclaimer: I own nothing whatsoever. Blame RM and company for this unfairly attractive and addictive group of characters. Well, except for my cute, original character, Kristopher.

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Last chapter: Puck got up, placed the guitar on the stool and then ran a hand through his hair as he sighed in frustration. Finally, after a long moment of silence, he looked at Kurt, his eyes dark and sad.

"How did you know?" When Kurt looked at him in confusion, Puck blurted out the last thing Kurt would ever have expected to come from him.

"How did you know you were… gay?"

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Kurt stared at Puck, unsure that he had really heard the words. The other boy was looking away from him, out towards the gloomy auditorium and Kurt could swear his face was redder than before.

He cleared his throat and began. "Uhm, I think, in some ways I always knew I was different?" He shook his head and tried again. "Everyone made it clear that I didn't really fit in with other boys, I guess."

He looked away from Puck who was looking distinctly uncomfortable and frowned down at his messenger bag, the strap of which he had been torturing.

"Look, what is this all about, Noah?"

Puck's head came up at the use of his given name. He half-turned towards Kurt but didn't quite meet his eyes.

"Did we make you, uhm, ashamed of being diff_ er, gay… or whatever?"

Kurt snorted softly. "You mean apart from the homophobic slurs, the slushies, the dumpster tosses, that sort of thing? No, I can't say that any of that made me ashamed."

Kurt's voice was so icy Puck feared the step forward they had just taken was being erased by Kurt's growing temper. He could feel the anger emanating from the other boy and he didn't blame him.

Puck turned towards him fully and looked directly into blazing blue eyes.

"What if I told you that I didn't do any of those things because you're… you know, gay?"

Kurt stiffened and the look in his eyes intensified to the point where Puck almost feared being burnt to cinders. He held up his hand in a quick gesture to forestall anything Kurt was about to say.

"Wait! Wait, hear me out, please," he said quickly, his voice low and intense enough that Kurt stopped and waited.

Puck waited to see if Kurt was even calming down a little but when it looked as if the boy was still mad with him, he sighed and scrubbed a hand at the back of his neck. Taking a deep breath, however, he forged ahead. This was probably going to be the most important conversation in his life and he really didn't want to screw it up.

"Kurt, I can't speak for the other guys," ('jerks', Kurt muttered but nodded for Puck to continue) "but I gotta admit that the way you dressed and walked and talked just made me want to mess with you, you know?"

Kurt's lips tightened and he folded his arms across his chest. Staring hard at Noah he said, "No, I don't know. What gave you the right_ what in hell were you thinking it would achieve, 'messing' with me, trying to make me feel like yesterday's garbage?"

Puck winced at the bitterness beneath the anger and he looked at Kurt now, wanting to apologize all over again for more than just his unkind words. Maybe this was what karma meant; the one boy that he had feelings for he had taught to hate him.

He didn't get a chance to say anything as Kurt forged ahead. "Do you know what it's like to grow up feeling persecuted for something you can't help? Huh, you're Jewish, would it be too farfetched to think you can understand what that's like?"

Puck felt his eyes prickle and could almost feel the generations of persecuted ancestors stretching back into time. He looked at Kurt, feeling more ashamed than ever and wishing he was anywhere but here with Kurt looking at him like something he'd scraped from the soles of his expensive boots.

Straightening up from the school he took a step, then another one towards the other boy who was still hugging himself tightly.

"Kurt, please, that's not why we, why I did any of those things." His chest felt tight as he struggled for the words to explain something he barely understood himself.

Kurt watched the struggle on the other boy's face that was now paler than before. He had never seen Puck so serious – almost tortured – and he was beginning to be even more curious to find out what was going on with him.

Puck took a deep breath, able to breathe now because he had noticed a softening in Kurt's face, a hint of curiosity in the beautiful eyes. Beautiful, he muttered, unaware that the word had slipped from him.

Kurt's eyes widened as he heard him and he took a step back, frowning as he watched Puck in confusion.

"What?"

Puck frowned. "What?"

Kurt shook his head and frowned mightily. "What is your problem, Noah? Are you feeling okay?"

Puck looked puzzled. "What are you talking about? Of course, I'm okay…"

Kurt's arms moved so that his fists were planted on his hips. "I don't know what is up with you, Puckerman, but I don't have time for it!"

He spun around and moved away… or he would have if Puck hadn't exclaimed and grabbed an elbow, almost pulling Kurt off balance. Kurt reacted immediately by swinging around and bringing his hand up to slap the tan off the jerk behind him.

Noah's reflexes were pretty good and he brought his other hand up in time to grab Kurt's fist. They stood like that, blue eyes blazing into brown… and the moment stretched. Finally, Puck let go of Kurt's hands and took a step back, both his hands coming up in the universal gesture of appeasement.

"Please, Kurt, I'm sorry! Just… please, don't walk away… please?"

In all the years Kurt had known Noah Puckerman, he had never heard him say 'please' that many times. He rubbed the wrist Puck had grabbed and paused, really curious now as to what was going on with the jock.

"Okay, you have two minutes and then I'm leaving." He sounded a lot harsher than he'd intended but he was just so confused and he was beginning to get a headache.

Noah sighed in relief and dropped his head before looking back up at Kurt.

"I like you."

Kurt waited and waited… and waited some more. When it appeared that the flushed boy in front of him wasn't going to say anything else he opened his mouth but … nothing came out. Then…

"Huh."

Noah's head came up, his brows knitted together in confusion. He hadn't known what to expect but that noncommittal sound from Kurt wasn't it. He took a breath and tried again.

"I really like you, Kurt… really, really like you."

Kurt listened to the other boy's muttering and then slowly it dawned on him and incredulity lightened his eyes before his lips curved into a slightly cruel smirk.

Shaking his head he raised a hand, causing Noah to look at him cautiously. "Uhm, excuse me?"

His voice was about an octave higher than the almost growl that he'd addressed Puck with before that astounding statement.

"Noah Puckerman, what are you? Twelve?!"

The mockery in his voice was probably even more painful than outright disdain would have been to Noah. The sudden pain in his chest was unexpected and without another word he turned around… and left.

Kurt stared after the boy, watching him exit the stage through the wings, the sound of his footsteps fading as he left Kurt standing there.

"Huh."

Kurt shook his head, blew out an incredulous breath and headed back down the steps from the stage, up one of the aisles and then pushed open the auditorium door to the car park. His eyes squinted in the late afternoon light that seemed even brighter after the gloom of the interior. Fumbling for his designer shades (Marc by Marc Jacobs, of course) he shoved them on and then turned towards the car park where his baby was waiting.

"Kurt!"

He turned around, surprised that anyone else was there and then gaped at the vision – wet dream, his stunned mind supplied.

Oh, my!

Posing – he couldn't think of it as anything else – against his machine, Kris looked like every gay boy's idea of what a bad boy looked like. A hot, gay, bad boy, that is and he grinned as he moved towards him.

"Well, am I finally going to be introduced to Elsie?" His voice was unconsciously seductive as he sauntered up, unaware of its effect on the other boy.

Kristopher straightened up from where he'd sat against the bike waiting for Kurt to finish the interminable conversation with the Puckerman jerk. His relief at Kurt's approach mingled with faint arousal and he smirked at the other boy.

Kurt's smile widened as he came to stand beside Kristopher, torn between gazing at the handsome boy and the equally handsome machine. He stroked a hand along one handlebar and then looked up at Kris flirtatiously from over the rim of his dark glasses. "Well, introduce us!"

Kristopher laughed and took Kurt's hand, biting his lip and trying to tamp down on the feelings this boy was raising in him. God, it wouldn't do for Kurt to think he was moving too fast. He'd only just got here but seriously, Kurt pushed every one of his buttons and it was really hard to try and slow things down.

"Well, you already know that this is my baby, Elsie. What I wouldn't mind is an… introduction to your baby," he said, his voice lowering slightly as he played with Kurt's fingers.

Kurt felt the flush rise from his throat up into his face and was glad that the orangey color of the late afternoon light probably camouflaged it a bit. Kris was really sexy and it had been a while since Kurt had had any boy look at him the way Kris did. Come to think of it, Blaine had tended to look at him adoringly, like a little puppy, more than anything else. Pffft, Kurt scoffed, thinking fleetingly of Blaine's flowery protestations of love and feeling more annoyed than anything at the memory.

Now here was this tall, gorgeous guy making it clear that Kurt was very much to his taste and the thought was enough to go to his head. He was by nature a cautious person, so while Kristopher's open attraction to him was a serious ego boost, Kurt wasn't going to let himself get all giddy and foolish.

Tugging his hand away from Kris's, he smirked up at him and then looked away as if considering something seriously. Turning back to Kris he smiled.

"Well, my baby isn't anywhere as fast or sleek as yours but she is the love of my life so far. Hmmm, maybe one day we can… get a coffee… or something," he trailed off, grinning as he watched Kristopher straighten up quickly at the hint.

"Yeah, about that… uhm, when would be a good time to get that… coffee," he murmured, standing a little closer to Kurt than before.

Kurt let the smile slip but kept the pleasant expression on his face. Shrugging the strap of his messenger bag more firmly onto his shoulder, he dangled his car keys before saying, "Well, 'Cedes and I were going to meet up at the Lima Bean later but she had to cancel… family stuff."

Kris got the hint but his eyes were riveted to Kurt's pink lips and he couldn't help wondering when he was going to get a chance at them. It wasn't fair that Kurt should lick them just at that moment because he was sure there was something he was supposed to be asking him but… oh, yeah.

"Uhm, the Lima Bean? Where… exactly?" He paused and Kurt grinned at him before holding out his hand.

"Give me your phone. I'll program in my number and you can call me later."

Kris fumbled in the back pocket of his extremely tight jeans and Kurt held back a little gasp at the sight of the bulge in the guy's jeans. He looked away politely but it was really to give himself time to catch his breath. He didn't think anyone had ever responded so openly, so sexually to him before… in fact, he was pretty sure this was a first.

Finally tugging the phone free, Kris handed it over and smirked at Kurt's flushed cheeks. He was so hot, even when he was being adorable, Kris thought, and watched as he entered his number and actually send himself a text so that he would have Kris's number in return.

When Kurt tried to hand back the phone, Kris held both the phone and the other boy's hand, causing Kurt to tug on it playfully. Really, this flirting thing was a lot of fun!

Suddenly, Kurt giggled as he managed to tug his hand away from Kris but then the other boy slid both hands around Kurt's waist and tugged him forward. Kurt, slightly off-balance, put up a hand to stop himself falling against Kris, ending up with a hand planted on his chest.

Kris smirked down at him and said in a whisper, "You know you're playing with fire, right?"

Kurt's mouth rounded in an 'o' that drew Kris's eyes and he held his breath, wondering what Kris was going to do. He, however, released Kurt slowly and stepped back, letting his eyes run all the way down Kurt's body and then back up to his face.

Sliding the phone back into his pocket, he took out Elsie's key from a pocket of his cropped leather jacket and grinned at Kurt. "I think you like playing with fire, Kurt Hummel…" he murmured and then hopped onto the bike while still staring at Kurt.

Kurt swallowed and shook his head… and then nodded. If he hadn't been slightly dazed by Kris's potent appeal, he would have felt silly standing there. As it was, however, the fact that the other boy found him a turn-on was very heady stuff. Smiling softly, he lifted a hand and waved as Kris, sliding on his helmet, brought his bike to life with its throaty roar and then sped off.

Kurt stood for a moment watching Kris circle around and then head out towards the school's gates, before turning to leave. His heart leapt in his throat when he looked up to see someone watching him… someone who had apparently seen the whole interaction between him and Kristopher.

Noah had wanted to wait to see Kurt get into his Navigator safely; it was pretty late and they – apart from maybe the janitorial staff and a couple of teachers in the staff room – were the only people left on the campus.

He hadn't realized at first that the person leaning against the fancy, extremely expensive motorbike was the Kristopher kid. Now he felt sick after watching the interplay between Kurt and Kristopher. The nausea was something new but he recognized it had everything to do with the scene that had just played out before him.

He had just told Kurt that he liked him… really liked him and what had Kurt done? He had mocked him and then, not a minute later was standing outside flirting with the newcomer. Noah rested his head against the steering wheel of his old truck, his mind stuck on the way Kristopher had pulled an unprotesting Kurt toward him. Yet when he had touched Kurt, the other boy's first reaction had been to slap him.

Well, maybe, he thought tiredly, it was understandable; he had been the one all these years to instigate some of the things that had been done to the little diva. He couldn't blame anyone but himself for his douchey behavior. With his eyes opened to the fact that Kurt was one of the hottest guys in the school – even hotter than some of the Cheerios, even – he now realized he had messed up big time.

Now here was this new kid doing what he had never thought to do; openly pursue Kurt. He, Noah Puckerman was a badass yet he'd behaved like a pussy all this time and just watched Kurt from afar. He really hadn't picked on him because he was gay; he'd picked on Kurt because he couldn't stand to be ignored by him. Kurt made him feel as if he, Noah, was just a peasant who wasn't even fit to be in his presence. When he was younger he had totally hated that feeling of frustration that welled in him when he would see little Kurt on the playground by himself and know that he couldn't go and play with him because the other kids, bigger, meaner kids, would call him names, too.

Noah had wanted to be popular, he didn't think anything was wrong with that and later, in high school, being popular was a way to survive, to be safe. You didn't get picked on if you were popular and you got all the best girls because you were popular and a jock. Grades didn't matter, reports didn't matter, what mattered were the things your bros thought were important… girls and sports. That's it. Anything outside of that and you'd get weird looks that would lead to some really dangerous ribbing and then social banishment if you didn't conform.

Kurt knew all this; Noah couldn't understand why he just couldn't fit in. The singing and dancing bit were different enough to class him as a loser but even as a kid, Kurt used to dress like something out of a magazine. Who came to the park dressed in a sailor suit? Kurt Hummel. Who had tea parties with the little girls in the neighborhood, hollering and screaming blue murder when the boys attacked with their water pistols? Kurt Hummel.

Now Kurt had grown up tall with unusual, beautiful features and, against all odds, confident and sexy. He walked around McKinley High as if he owned the damned place despite the violent shoulder checks into the lockers by the puckheads – hockey players – and the slushies that ruined his expensive clothing. He had even been selected to be a Cheerio at one time by their psycho cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester, and the sight of him in the tight red and white uniform had had more than one guy – and quite a number of the girls – checking out the goods.

Kurt had passed through his Cheerios phase and then left it without a backward glance. A brief side trip to that all-boys school had Kurt returning more confident than ever… and with a boyfriend in tow, to boot. Noah had never liked Blaine, thinking he wasn't good enough for Kurt but he had never voiced his opinion, not even to Finn who was arguably his best friend and Kurt's new stepbrother. Talking of which, he had been so glad when a baby-faced sophomore Kurt had got over his crush on Finn who, despite acting as if Kurt were stalking him, had never actually said no to him before blowing up on him one day at their home. That had not been a good time in any of their lives and Noah regretted not facing Finn down about it.

Noah shook his head, his full lips twisting bitterly as the memories of young Kurt floated across his mind. He realized he was staring back out his windscreen at Kurt, presently still standing where Kristopher had left him and Noah sighed.

Putting the truck into gear, he pulled out of the parking lot without further acknowledging Kurt and drove away. He had seen Kurt hold his hand out for the guy's phone and tap something into it so he knew he had given him his number. That could only mean one thing; Kurt and Kristopher were going to set up a date or something and Noah could feel the bile roil as he tried to suppress the thought.

It was all his fault. It was too late to do anything. He had lost before he'd even started and there was nothing else to do about it.

Kurt watched the old truck sputter its way through the gates of McKinley and then walked slowly towards his baby. The Navigator gleamed in the afternoon light and when he clicked his keychain it chirped welcomingly – at least that's what Kurt liked to think in his fanciful way. Right now, though, his mind was on the two vastly different boys and the way they made him feel.

On the one hand there was Kristopher, an almost stranger who had, in the very brief time he had known him, showed Kurt more interest than anyone ever had in Kurt's short 17 years. Then, on the other hand there was Noah who, from what Kurt was beginning to gather, had layers to him that no one had ever guessed at.

Kristopher was smooth, suave, sophisticated – a poster boy for what a young, gay man in the 21st Century ought to be. He was fearless in what he liked and went after what he wanted. He was talented and he seemed smart. Kurt didn't know anything about his background but it was obvious he came from money; not that that meant a lot to Kurt but it was just a fact added to Kurt's mental dossier on the boy.

Kris wanted Kurt. That fact was so plain you could probably see it from the moon, and Kurt flushed as he remembered the bulge in the front of the other boy's jeans just moments before. He made Kurt feel desirable and Kurt, like all 17-year-olds, was young enough for that to sway him quite a bit.

Noah was sexy, too; Kurt could never in all honesty deny that. Noah was talented – far more so than you would be led to believe from watching Mr. Schue's biased handling of the Glee club. Noah was a troubled youth and his stint in juvie was just one highlight of a years-long career in flouting authority. He wasn't stupid but Kurt always felt he had a chip on his shoulder because of the way his father had walked out on his young family. Kurt used to hear his teachers and maybe once his dad talking about that and Kurt couldn't imagine how he would manage if Burt Hummel wasn't in his life.

Noah said he liked Kurt – and Kurt had no idea what that meant, exactly. Given the fact that the other boy had asked Kurt the 'gay' question, Kurt could only figure that Noah was having confusing, maybe sexual feelings toward him. He could only put it down to a phase, though, because there was no way Lima's famous servicer of lonely, older women and the go-to stud for the Cheerios could be interested sexually in one Kurt Elizabeth Hummel.

Kurt chuckled, the sound bitter even to his ears. If Noah thought Kurt was going to be his obligatory gay-curious experiment, he had another thing coming. He could wait for college to get into that shit, Kurt thought angrily, his cheeks flushing as he thought back to the auditorium and their conversation.

Still, the song – the apology – went a long way to easing the hurt caused by Noah's earlier, thoughtless words. It didn't completely erase it, of course; words hurt worse sometimes than fists and he determined that he would watch himself around Puckerman from now on. He was not going to allow himself to get dragged into any existential crisis that Puck had going on. Let him go to Finn for help, Kurt thought snidely, or, better still, Santana.

He grinned to himself as he pulled into his driveway, glancing down at his bag just as the text alert chirp sounded from his phone. Turning off the engine he grabbed the phone and stared at the notification. Smiling a tad smugly, he thumbed it and read the message from Kristopher:

Kris: Can't wait - say when - soon?

Kurt thumbed a quick reply: 6:30 good?

Kris: Again… can't wait!

Shaking his head at how the other boy was able to convey his impatience to see Kurt in just three little words, Kurt grinned and sent him the address of The Lima Bean. Closing up the Navigator, he almost skipped inside the house, throwing a loud, cheerful greeting to his dad as he dashed down to his room to get ready.

He, Kurt Hummel, had a date with the hottest guy in school and he was just going to have fun and think about nothing else. He wasn't going to second-guess why this new kid was so into him and he definitely was not going to think about Puck sitting in the car park watching him.

Nope… this mini-date was all for fun; it was about time he started living like a teenager and not a middle-aged man worrying about everything, he scoffed at himself. Seize the day, Kurt Hummel, he laughed silently, feeling silly; seize the Kris!

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TBC