Would You?

All previous disclaimers apply.

Author's Note: This feels very OOC to me on so many different levels, but please forgive this fact. And it's kind of short, but please forgive this as well! Please let me know what you think if you have a moment. Thanks so much, faithful readers, for sticking with this story this long! Happy reading! T.H.


"What the hell do you think you're doing, Puckerman?"

Puck jerked back in surprise when his locker door was slammed nearly on his face just before his first class the next day. Kurt had texted early that morning that he was going to be late coming into school because of an annual doctor's appointment for allergies and Puck had tried not to be too disappointed. They hadn't even gotten their customary afternoon together yesterday. Burt had put his foot down, figuring out what all of Kurt's "study groups" actually were and Kurt had had to go into the shop and work with him until closing, then there was homework to be done so they hadn't seen each other since school let out the day before. After a couple of days of spending so much time together it was hard. Puck didn't want to admit it, even to himself, but he missed Kurt. And he could have used him now when suddenly Mercedes was backing him into the wall with fury across her normally amiable features. He held up his hands in an effort to ward her off before he thought about the fact that it made him seem like he was actually afraid of a girl. (Which he totally wasn't, but, damn, Mercedes looked pissed!) When he did finally realize what he was doing he cleared his throat and crossed his arms before leaning back against the wall in what he hoped was a casual, uncaring way. Mercedes stepped right up to him and poked him hard in the chest. He fought down his natural reaction to rub what he was sure was going to become a bruise and simply looked back at her with what he hoped was an unimpressed expression.

"What the fuck, Aretha?" He asked mildly, bordering on bored.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with Kurt?" Mercedes hissed. He was glad she was keeping her voice down. They were getting enough attention just by her pushing him into a wall.

"What do you mean what am I doing?" Puck asked, keeping his voice just as low, "I thought it was pretty obvious. I'm dating him."

"No, Puckerman," She poked him hard in the chest again, "You're fucking with him twice a week. There's a big difference. I don't know what little game you've been playing at the past week, but you better stop! You're getting his hopes up and he's too fragile right now for you to break his heart!"

"Fragile?" Puck scoffed. He wanted to yell, but satisfied himself with an angry near whisper instead, "Have you ever actually met him, Mercedes? Kurt is the fucking strongest person I've ever met in my life. He doesn't need you to fight his battles for him. If he didn't want me to be doing what I'm doing he'd tell me and have nothing more to do with me. You know it and I know it. So, what the fuck is really bothering you?"

"Really bothering me?" Mercedes huffed indignantly. Puck kept his laugh behind his teeth, wisely he thought, as Mercedes looked like she could cheerfully murder him at any moment, "You're what's really bothering me, Puckerman! You fuck him twice a week for months and don't even look at him any other time and now all of the sudden you want to be the perfect boyfriend, taking him on picnics, meeting his dad, getting ready to come out of the closet with him. Yeah, I've noticed your little PDAs the past couple of days. I want to know what the hell your angle is and if it isn't making my baby the happiest boy on earth I'm warning you to stop now. Cause if you hurt him in any way I will kill you."

"You sound like a broken record. And you're his best friend, not his mother," Puck rolled his eyes, but softened when he saw the look on her face. Shit. The only reason she was doing what she was doing was because she cared about Kurt and she was genuinely concerned that he was going to hurt him beyond what she could help him heal. He stood up straight and took her arm. She protested with a squawk as he led her around the corner to a less populated hallway.

"What the hell, Puck?" She pulled her arm away.

"Look," He ran a hand over his Mohawk. The only way to get her off of his back was going to be telling her the complete truth. And that was uncomfortable as hell. "I…I've been an ass. To everyone. I admit it. And I've hurt Kurt a lot in the past few months. You're his best friend and I know he probably tells you everything so you know better that most what an asshole I am. But…" He took a deep breath, "Fuck, this is harder to say than I thought it would be. I'm trying not to be who I was, Mercedes. There's no angle here, okay? Everything I've been doing…I'm doing because I want to be with him. I want to make him happy, okay? Fuck! I…I'm in…I'm kind of crazy about him." He winced inwardly when he still couldn't say those stupid, fucking three little words out loud. He had kept his eyes firmly glued to the ground as he said his little speech and finally looked up at Mercedes when he had finished. She was looking back at him with shocked eyes.

"You seriously mean it, don't you?" She asked on a whisper, unable to force anymore sound out of her tight throat. He nodded and looked down at his shoes again.

"I really mean it." He leaned against the wall.

"What the hell brought this on?" She asked.

"Woke up," He muttered. He was surprised when that seemed to be enough for her and even more surprised when she put her arms around him and hugged him, despite the fact that his arms were crossed across his chest.

"What the hell?" He asked, pulling away quickly.

"He told me that you'd changed. I didn't really believe him. I'm glad to see it's true. But, seriously, you ever hurt him and I'm going to bust you up. That boy would die for you and if you betray that trust…" She let the threat hang there and Puck swallowed hard. He wouldn't be surprised if Mercedes grew up to be a psychologist. She knew that it was far more effective to let him imagine what she would do to him than it was to actually threaten something concrete. He seriously got the vibe that the last threat wasn't anything physical at all and it was scary enough to think of her beating on him. (Which she probably could and he would never actually admit to anyone out loud.) He really didn't want to think about what she could do if she declared psychological warfare.

"Got it," He said, then because he didn't want her to think that she'd scared him at all, he added an asshole smirk and a little salute before he turned his back on her and sauntered –yes, sauntered- away. He could practically hear her eye roll before she headed the other direction and grinned all the way to class. He was bored until lunch when he saw Kurt for the first time all day, sitting at the glee table, laughing over his salad with Mercedes and Artie and, obviously, saving him a seat. He smiled as he grabbed a coke from the vending machine against the wall and made his way over to him.

"Hey, babe," He put a hand to Kurt's shoulder as he sat down, "How'd your appointment go?"

Kurt looked at the hand on his shoulder in disbelief for a moment before he turned confused and hopeful eyes on Puck. When Puck simply moved his hand to the back of Kurt's neck and began to rub comfortably the hope and confusion blossomed into a joy that spread across Kurt's face like the sun was rising. Puck grinned back in response and couldn't help but lean in for a quick, chaste kiss before he settled back into his chair and looked around for a moment. He almost frowned. He had basically just outed himself, kissing Kurt and all, and no one even really seemed to notice. That was the bad thing about sitting at the glee table, he supposed. No one was looking at them because no one really wanted to be them or see what they were doing so that they could emulate it in the hopes of being cool. It looked like he was going to have to be a little more obvious with his next attempt. He smiled. He had the perfect place. And maybe it was a little bit of a shit plan guaranteed to get him slushied, thrown in the dumpster, beat up, or all three tomorrow but the only thing that really mattered would be that Kurt would appreciate it. Satisfied with himself he turned back to the gleeks.

Tina looked shocked her mouth hanging open, her eyes wide, as she looked at the couple. Artie was trying to look surprised and failing miserably, but luckily no one was looking at him anyway. Mercedes was beaming at them. Rachel looked slightly confused and slightly amused by what she had just seen. Mike and Matt, who had taken to sitting with the gleeks long before he even had just looked plain confused. Brittany and Santana never sat with them anyway and even when they found out he wasn't expecting any shit from them. They'd been together longer than he'd been with Kurt. And, even if they were bitches at times, they were not hypocrites. He trusted that they wouldn't have anything to say. He was kind of regretting that Finn and Quinn weren't there, but knew that they had an appointment with the baby doctor during lunch today. Finn had been telling everyone. It would have been much easier for them to see than for him to have to explain later, but he just shrugged it off, physically and mentally. He was going to have to man up, that was all. He was a badass. It shouldn't be that hard.

"My appointment was fine," Kurt finally answered, turning back to his salad and pushing a cherry tomato toward Puck with his fork. Puck opened his mouth and Kurt rolled his eyes, but stabbed it with his fork and fed it to him anyway, "I had to get my first shot today and I hate them, but my allergies won't be nearly as bad and I won't feel like I have to cry every time I step onto the football field anymore."

"You have to get shots?" Mike asked with a shudder, "Man that sucks! I hate needles!"

And with that the spell was broken. Everyone began talking again. For possibly the first time Puck felt a true connection with the people he was sitting at the table with. He had always known, internally, that they were much better people than he had ever tried to be, but this just proved it to him. Fifteen seconds of uncomfortable shock and disbelief was all it had taken before they had all decided that it just didn't matter. So he and Kurt were together. So what? For them it was just another little quirk of their already strange little group. God, he was turning into such a chick! Here he was, fighting the stinging sensation at the back of his eyes that he knew was going to be tears if he let it just because the glee club had proved to be what he had always known they were. Loyal and true friends. Fuck, he had been such an asshole and all they did when he revealed that he was dating one of their most beloved, the one everyone wanted to protect, was accept them both? He was glad for their friendship and acceptance, but something just wasn't adding up. He realized what it was as he walked away from Kurt's classroom after dropping him off and Rachel was suddenly at his side.

"Is this serious, Noah?" She asked. He grimaced but managed to hold back his glare. Really the only ones he wanted calling him Noah were his mother and Kurt, but allowances had to be made for Rachel. He didn't want to make her cry and anything less than yelling at her wouldn't get through. So the only thing to do would be to grin and bear it, "I know that a lot of boys and girls experiment in high school and college. It's healthy. But, if it is only experimentation, I think you should stop it now. Kurt doesn't need to be anyones experiment, especially in Lima. He stands to lose so much more than you if you decide that being with a boy is not what you want after all."

"Look, Berry," He stopped and turned toward her, "I appreciate that you're just trying to protect Kurt. Really, I do. But, frankly, our business is none of yours."

"Noah…"

Damn. She was tearing up, "But just to put your mind at ease…it's not an experiment. I know what I'm doing and what I want. So does Kurt. Okay?"

Her tears dried up in an instant and she grinned, "Okay! I can set up a meeting between you guys and my dads if you ever want to…"

He stared at her for a moment, disbelieving, then simply turned on his heel and walked away. It was better than being tempted to smack her after all. He braced himself for Tina's waning when he saw her approach him after the next class, but in a way she was the easiest of all.

She simply stopped in front of him, her head cocked to the side as she studied him for a moment, "Just between us, Jock…are you really crazy about Kurt?"

He couldn't help but smile at her frankness, "Just between us, Goth Girl…yes."

She nodded, "Good," and they grinned at each other, an understanding between them. He shook his head, baffled, as he walked to the locker room to change for football. He never thought he would feel the most comfortable about Tina approaching him. And he never, ever thought he would be uncomfortable around Matt and Mike, but when they approached him in the locker room he felt something up his spine akin to fear, though he would never admit it.

"So..." Mike's arms were crossed, "You and Hummel…"

"Yeah me and Hummel," Puck lifted his chin and sneered, "Problem?"

"No, man…" Mike held up his hands," No problem. It's just…"

"You screw up a lot, man." Matt said pointedly, "Don't screw this one up." Matt never said much, Puck mused, but when he did it was always poignant.

Puck nodded and smiled a little when Kurt walked into the room, "I don't intend to," He said quietly. The two nodded and moved to their own customary changing spots.

"I don't intend to," Puck whispered to himself as practice was winding down and Kurt started heading for the locker room, his fifteen minutes early as was customary. Puck took a deep breath and began to walk toward him. Kurt gave him a strange look, but he just smirked and continued on the way to the locker room with him.

"Puckerman, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Tanaka called out, "You still have fifteen minutes left."

"Just being fair, Coach," Puck called back to him, "Hummel showers fifteen early because he's gay. Figure it's only right that I shower fifteen early too." He shrugged casually and began to move toward the locker room again.

"Ha ha. Very funny, Puckerman. Get your ass back out here."

"What? You need proof?" Puck shrugged, "Fine."

He looked at Kurt for approval for a second as he set his hand to Kurt's waist. Kurt gave approval by stepping up to him. Puck angled Kurt's chin up with his free hand and fit their mouths together. It wasn't a hot kiss, it wasn't vulgar. It was just a kiss like any boy would give the person he loved. They didn't even use tongue, but they were both blushing when they pulled apart.

Puck looked back at Tanaka and the rest of the team, all of them, including Finn, standing with their mouths open in shock. "I'm gay for Hummel, Coach. I'll shower with him."

He held Kurt's hand as they turned to walk to the locker rooms again. Neither of them would say it but he knew that they were both feeling the tension as they walked. He was almost afraid that someone would throw something at their retreating backs. But, then the Cheerios, led by Santana and Brittany, began to cheer and whistle and catcall. Kurt grinned at him and Puck felt his stomach do a flip that wasn't entirely unpleasant.

"Yeah," He held his head up high and grinned at Kurt, "We totally got this."

He heard the sound of female giggling that he was sure only he could hear and for the first time since all of this had started felt right and happy when he simply threw back his head and laughed along.