Bruises on His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.

Chapter 1: Puck's Black Eye

Noah Puckerman sat on Kurt Anderson's bed as Kurt used makeup to cover up his black eye. Noah watches his son, Junior, playing with Kurt's daughter, Tracy. Then Noah sighs and says, "The first time Quinn hit me was when Rachel won her first Tony. I stupidly fell for the 'I'll never do it again' line when we got back together. After Junior was born, it didn't matter what I did. Quinn would hit me if I looked at another girl for two seconds."

Noah flinches as Kurt touches a tender spot. Then he continues, "Tonight. When Junior tried to save me, I knew I couldn't let him go through the same stuff I did. Always running to your house to get away from that hell." Soon, Quinn calls Noah on his cell, and Kurt can tell Noah doesn't want to answer it.

Noah looks at his face in a mirror covered in an orange color corrector and then glances at Junior. He sighs heavily and then answers the phone, saying, "What do you want from me, Quinn? I quit the Navy like you wanted. I moved to New York like you wanted." He pauses to let Quinn speak.

Then he yells, "You've said that before and hit me again! I won't put Junior through that again! He is three years old and spent his whole life watching me get the crap beat out of me! I watched my mom go through hell before she finally got the nerve to kick Dad out! I'm never going back to that!" He ends the call as Kurt's parents, Burt and Carole Hummel, enter the apartment.

Noah soon has Burt follow him to a guest room. He looks at a family photo of Burt with Finn and Kurt. Then he says, "I'm sure you've seen the bruises on my face when I would come over to your home after Finn moved in."

He takes a deep breath and continues, "My dad would come back drunk begging for Mom to take him back before beating the crap out of her. I tried to save Mom so many times I lost count, Mr. H. I don't want Junior to go through that."

Noah rubs his wrists and Burt notices the scars. Noah sighs and says, "When Quinn was six months pregnant with Junior, I couldn't take her abuse anymore, and tried to slit my wrists. She told me she wouldn't hurt me again. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker."

Noah looks away and continues, "I bullied Kurt because my dad was homophobic. Plus, I had a reputation to protect."

Burt chuckles and whispers, "I'm the one who gave you Elizabeth's diary and that was her photo album."

Noah chuckles and says, "I figured that out when I read something about something she called Burtzilla. By the way, that was written inside the album."

Burt hands Noah a business card and says, "This is a friend of mine. Puck, we've known about Quinn abusing you for a while."

Burt hands Noah a drawing of two stick figures being yelled at by a witch. Above the witch is written, "Mean Mommy." Noah knew Junior sent Burt pictures but never knew what they were of because they were already in an envelope.

Noah soon screams, "Why didn't I leave when junior was born?" and breaks down.

Burt hands Noah a photo from his wallet. Noah notices it was a picture of Burt as a teenager with bruises on his face. Burt takes a deep breath before saying, "Kurt doesn't know about this. I showed Finn this after he and Carole moved in. I was thirteen in this picture. My dad was an alcoholic until I was fifteen. He stopped drinking when I met Elizabeth. I keep this photo as a reminder of why I became a bully. Like you, I earned a reputation as a badass in school and picked on gay kids to please my dad."

Noah chuckles and asks, "What did you do to make Elizabeth fall in love with you? She called you a Neanderthal and a pest until the day after you streaked through the school only wearing your football jersey."

Noah whispered, "It sounded like the moment she saw your butt, her feelings changed. Like Kurt, she mentally berated herself for weeks about her feelings until the day you fixed her car."

Burt chuckles and whispers, "I fell for her before that and disabled her car, knowing she would have to take it to the shop to be fixed."

Noah can tell Burt wants to ask him something as Kurt yells, "Dad, don't go there! Puck is straight!"

Burt and Noah chuckle. Then Noah whispers, "Junior isn't."

Kurt enters the room as Burt leaves and asks, "How do you know that Junior is gay?"

Noah whispered, "He calls you Pretty Kurt and talks about finding a husband, not a wife."

Noah exits the room and continues, "His first crush was Jason Momoa. I tried to get him to like girls, but he likes guys like Blaine now." Noah chuckles as Junior blushes.

Kurt says, "I didn't know I liked guys until I was thirteen. Finn was my first crush, but Blaine was the first guy I fell for when we met."

Noah elbows Kurt and adds, "If it weren't for me, you two might never have met."

Kurt sighs as he hears Blaine yell, "Quinn, Puck's face was covered with bruises! How can you say you love and treat him like a punching bag?"

Then Carole yells, "You knew about Puck's dad hitting him! Now, you do the same thing! Are you crazy?" Noah heads to Tracy's room as Carole ends the call and lies on her bed crying as Junior and Tracy lie beside him. Before, Junior sings along with, "Nothing's Gonna Harm You" from Sweeney Todd.

Junior yawns as he tells the others, "Daddy sang that to me every night after mean Mommy scared me. Mean Mommy spanked me a lot when Daddy was gone and called me a faggy baby. What is a fag?"

Burt knelt beside the bed and said, "That's a mean word people use to hurt people like Tracy's parents."

Junior cries and says, "Mommy called Daddy that too. But I know he likes girls because he says liking boys is wrong. Mommy hates Daddy because he told me if I still liked boys when I was older, he would help me find the right boy." Soon, Junior is asleep and Burt storms out.

Chapter 2 will be up soon.