Questions.

"Puck's the father." Kurt turned at the words, watching Quinn enter the empty music room.

"I'm aware of that." The gleek said, turning back to the piano.

“He told you?”

“No, you told me. When you were talking to Santana the other day.”

“You were eavesdropping?”

“It's hard not to overhear with you two giggling over how amazing he is in bed.”

“Can't wait to find out for yourself?” The cheerleader sneered, taking a step forward.

“I'm sure it's a strange concept, but not everyone wants to sleep with Noah.” Kurt said cooly. “And not all of us believe your little 'I was dunk on wine coolers' bullshit story.” The gleek walked out, leaving Quinn gaping behind him.

XxX XxX

Kurt got hit with fifteen slushies the next day, all from the cheerleading squad. After the seventh one he stopped cleaning himself up, and by the time he walked into the Glee club his hair was a sticky purple mess.

“Slushie wars?” Artie asked, wheeling himself over to where Kurt was sitting. The gleek nodded, sighing and prying his hardened bangs off of his forehead. “Any particular reason?”

“Quinn.” Artie nodded, in perfect understanding. The pregnant ex-Cheerio might not have been queen bee anymore, but that didn't mean her girls had abandoned her completely.

“Whoa buddy, what happened to you?” Finn's hand came down on Kurt's shoulder, his big puppydog face covered in concern.

“Slushie's Mr. Hudson.” Kurt's smile was cold and cynical. “I'm sure you understand.” Just because Finn was as dumb as a tree stump and didn't realize his girlfriend was as mean as an angry wasp didn't excuse him from Kurt's wrath.

Puck stayed quiet, half hiding behind Finn even as he took in the 'damage'. Not that Kurt blamed him, it was one thing to be somewhat friends when they sat next to each other in class, quite another for the jock to express public concern. Especially when rumors spread like wildfire in a school like this.

XxX XxX

Kurt was pleasantly surprised to hear that nearly the entire Cheerio's squad had wound up with a week’s worth of detention the next day. No one had told him specifically, but when nearly the entire student body was talking about how Mr. Schue had flipped his lid, the information was yours for the taking.

Puck ignored him in mostly all of their classes, but once again, Kurt found no fault with his actions. It was only at the end of Glee that the jock approached him, head hung as if he were walking towards an execution. At the other end of the room, Quinn's eyes were hawk sharp, focused in on the jock despite Finn trying to get her attention.

“Hey.”

“Hello Noah.”

“Look...I-”

“Don't. It's not your fault. I'm used to this sort of thing. Now if you don't mind, I must be off. My father has his eye on some jelly filled doughnuts.” Kurt breezed past Puck, who looked like he'd single handedly caused cancer.

XxX XxX

“What's going on with you guys?” Kurt looked up from his locker. Quinn was staring him down, as if he was one of the geeks she could intimidate.

“There is nothing going between Puck and I.” It felt strange to call the jock by his nickname, but calling him by his name would raise nothing but more suspicion.

“Please, he looked like he was about to cry when you left.”

“And this is my fault how?”

“He's different. And I know you had something to do with it.”

“Quinn, what you know about me couldn't fill a postage stamp.” Kurt snarked, looking her up and down. “Your roots are showing and you'll need to buy the next size of pants in about a week.”

XxX XxX

“What's going on with you and Kurt?” Puck jerked back from his locker staring at Quinn like a deer in headlights.

“What?”

“You and Kurt. What's going on?”

“Nothing. I don't even like that little fag. Why?” He felt like cringing at his own words.

“Tell me.” She snapped, Puck backing up a step.

“Back the fuck off.” Quinn whirled to stare at Mercedes, a murderous expression on her face. “Or I will take you down, you fake blonde ex-bitch.” She snapped her fingers at Puck. “You, follow me.” Puck shut his locker, following the brunette

“My boy won't tell me, but there is definitely something going on between you. Now, I really don't care what it is, but if you hurt Kurt, I will break off what makes you a man. Do we understand each other?” Puck nodded, he didn't care what anyone said about men being the stronger species. Girls were really scary.

XxX XxX

It wasn't like Puck was ignoring Kurt, he just wasn't talking to him a lot these days. That didn't mean he was ignoring him right? And Kurt didn't act like he was surprised with Puck ignoring him. It made the jock feel guilty that the gleek didn't expect anything out of him.

Things started to get better around school, people who had ignored him were talking to him again. Even the guys on the football team started to act like they had before all this happened. He didn't talk to Kurt and Kurt didn't talk to him...at all. But it wasn't a bad thing, stuff going back to normal.

XxX XxX

Everything changed one Monday when Mr. Schuester assigned them this stupid love song thing. Sure, it had been hilarious to see Mr. Schue get chased around a piano by Rachel, who seemed to go crazy for a different person every week. But it had pissed him off watching Kurt's face when he'd been paired with Finn. How it lit up, then dropped with Finn's reaction.

Sure Puck knew that Kurt had a crush on Finn, the entire school had to know by now, just from his mooning looks at the jock. It was annoying, kinda liking a guy, and then having that guy kinda in love with another guy who was in love with a girl that you had gotten pregnant and now she wouldn't even look at you twice. Now his head hurt.

XxX XxX

Finn had been acting weird for a couple of days, skittish and jumping at nothing. He seemed to go out of his way to avoid Kurt, abandoning his normal routes whenever the gleek could be seen at the end of the crowded hallway.

From the way Kurt had been acting in class, quiet and gloomy Puck seemed to think the avoidance was a mutual thing. It was weird, he knew something had happened, even Mercedes had commented on it while they were practicing.

XxX XxX

“Dude, what's going on?” Puck waited till after football practice, when Finn had let his guard down.

“What?”

“With you and Hummel. You guys seemed pretty close before this thing.”

“Nothing, there's not thing. What are you talking about, nothing even happened. You're crazy.” Finn had just told Puck everything he needed to know, the stupid kid would babble on when something big had happened. And something big had definitely happened.

XxX XxX

“Soooo...” Puck started off during Spanish, Kurt had shot him a look and Puck dropped it for about five minutes. Then had grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled, passing it to the gleek.

What's going on with you and Finn?

IN SPANISH. PAY ATTENTION!!!!

Why, I'm gonna fail anyway and you speak it like a pro.

Puck, drop it. The jock raised his eyebrows at the note, a quick glance showing him Kurt was looking straight at the board, eyes glittering, though his expression was hard. So this was serious then.

XxX XxX

“What did you do?” Puck pushed Finn up against the lockers. The quarterback was taller, but Puck was broader, had far more muscle built up. Coach Tanaka had made them all stay late to learn a new play, and the result was an empty school, no one to listen in.

“Stop it man, I didn't do anything.”

“Hummel called me Puck yesterday when I bugged him in Spanish.” Finn looked like he was about to swallow his tongue. The quarterback knew about Kurt's weird habit of calling people by their names.

“Stop bugging him?”

“Finn...” There was a definite warning note in Puck's tone.

“I....I....IT'S HIS FAULT!!!”

“WHAT'S HIS FAULT?”

“Kurt was talking about how Quinn was mad 'cause she's a girl and girl's are crazy, and he said it's almost enough to make you quit them altogether and I started thinking maybe he was right. And then I was talking to him about the baby, and how I didn't want her to think I abandoned her and he told me to pretend I was singing to her.....” Finn took a breath before continuing. “And I......I kissed him.” The quarterback whispered the word like someone might Jacob might leap out of thin air with his tape recorder.

“You kissed Hummel?”

“I....I DIDN'T MEAN TO!!! IT JUST HAPPENED!!!”

“Let me guess, you just ran off in a panic and now you can't even look at him?”

“Yeah...” Finn was quiet, not even looking at Puck.

“You're an ass.”

“What? Why?” Puck took his arm off of Finn's throat, glaring up at his friend, then turning and storming out of the school.

XxX XxX

Glee had been weird, all of them singing 'Stand by me' to the Happy Couple. Quinn was smiling and laughing, staring at Puck who avoided her glance. Finn was grinning his big goofy grin, ignoring the fact that Kurt was only lip syncing the words. The gleek's dancing was stiff, though Kurt always seemed a little awkward in his own skin when dancing in a group to something that didn't classify as 'his' music.

The jock waited until everyone had left, until he and Kurt and Mr. Schue were the only ones left in the room. The teacher kept looking between them, not sure what to do. Kurt kept giving him this miserable, pathetic 'please don't leave me alone' while Puck was shooting him a 'can you get out of here...awkward talk coming up that you don't need to be a part of'.

“Well.....lock up when you done here.” Will managed, scrambling for the door, refusing to feel guilt at the absolute betrayal on Kurt's face.

“Sit.” Puck nodded to a chair, Kurt kept standing, staring at the door like someone would burst through and rescue him. “Sit Hummel.” The gleek heaved a sigh and practically threw himself into a chair, Puck nearly smiling at the drama.

“What? What's just so important that you have to corner me?”

“Finn told me.” Kurt flinched so hard Puck felt guilty for a moment. The gleek took a moment to compose himself, hiding his reaction.

“And?” How had Puck not seen that sarcastic sharp tone for what it was? A blind for pure terror.

“Man. I'm not gonna slush you or throw you in the trash.” Kurt was watching him suspiciously and Puck was taken aback. “You still think I'd do that to you?”

“Why are you so concerned about Finn?”

“I’m not concerned about Finn you stupid...Arrrgh.” If Puck had hair he would have been tugging it out of his skull.

“If you're just going to call me names I'm leaving.” Kurt sniffed, standing up, his knuckles white against the strap of his bag.

“Dammit... Kurt.” Puck took a breath before he did something he'd seriously regret later. “I get it, the entire school gets it. Everyone knows you're in love with Finn.” Shit, wrong thing to say. Kurt went white, his knees buckling and sending him sprawling onto the chair still behind him. He was shaking as Puck slowly approached him.

“Don't.” The gleek flinched away like he'd just avoided a straight armed punch directly to the face. “It was him, I didn't do anything. He just grabbed me.”

“Jesus...Kurt. Calm down.”

“Don't...don't... I won't. I won't do it again.”

“Hey...hey… I'm not mad. Okay, well maybe a little, but not at you.” Kurt was still shaking, his eyes dark and terrified, watching Puck's every movement like a terrified animal. Tears were sliding down his cheeks, and Puck would bet every penny he had that the gleek didn't know he was crying.

Fuck. How did he deal with this? Puck slid to his knees, looking up at Kurt. He tried to make his face as comforting as possible, though with what he knew about comforting people he might have looked like someone had just told him Santa wasn't real.

Oh fuck this. The jock leaned forward, grabbed Kurt's arms and tugged him off the chair, trapping him in a somewhat forceful hug.

“DON'T!” Kurt was struggling against him, and dammit, the kid was strong for being that skinny. “LET ME GO!”

“Hummel, stop kicking me. This is your own fault.”

"Oh yeah, My plan to make Finn hate the sight of me, yeah, worked perfectly."

“Dammit, you were fucking bawling. I was feeling like some sort of ogre.”

“I was not crying. And you are an ogre.”

“Yeah yeah, insult me more. I fucking deserve it.”

“LET GO!!!”

“No.”

“LET GO!!!”

“Not happening.”

“LET GO!!!”

“No.” Kurt went limp just long enough for Puck to start worrying. The jock had assumed Kurt cried like he did everything else, with drama and noise. But the only noises coming from him were these weird little whimpers when he wasn't gasping for air. Kurt was shaking so hard it felt like he would fall apart, like his tiny little dancer's body couldn't handle this much grief unless Puck kept a good grip on him.

He was so out of his depth here, had no idea what he was doing. There was a vague memory of his mother holding him like this after his Dad has skipped out on them. She hadn't said anything, just held him, humming a song and rocking.

The jock took a breath, hating that he had no experience with real grief, other than his mother crying all over him when she drank too much. He started swaying, just tiny little movements that felt better than just holding still.

XxX XxX

“Can you let go now?” Kurt's voice was scratchy, and Puck was surprised to realize he had started humming Metallica's 'Nothing Else Matters' sometime in the half hour he'd been holding onto Kurt. The jock loosened his hold, Kurt sliding out of his arms limply before the gleek caught himself.

His eyes were red, and he was still sniffling lightly, hiccupping every now and again. But he looked better, calmer then he had in years. Even with Kurt's smooth emotionless I'm-better-than-you-mask Puck had always seen something just beneath the surface. Maybe that's what had made him pick on the gleek so much, wanting to see that mask crack, wanting to see anything but his sneer.

“Better?”

“I was fine before.” A tiny bit of a sneer worked into Kurt's congested voice.

“Sure you were.”

“What was that...about?” Kurt seemed suspicious still, and it kinda hurt to know the gleek was always expecting a hidden blow. Ms. Pillsbury's words from earlier that year flashing though his mind. Right now he still thinks you're one of the jocks and he'll be expecting slushies and being thrown in the dumpster around every nice thing you do for him.

He hadn't believed her before, thinking that Kurt would get over it, get over being bullied for near five years. Yeah, it sounded stupid now, thinking about it. Like anyone would just get over being treated like garbage. He was surprised Kurt didn't have a free standing appointment with a therapist three times a week

“Finn told me...” Fuck this was hard, how did you tell someone you were kinda crushing on them, especially when that someone would never believe you. Stupid everything.

“Yes, we've been over that.” Kurt had found a pack of tissue's in his bag, blowing his nose in a dainty and yet incredibly loud way.

“I....”

“You...?” The gleek was looking at him pointedly, eyes still red from sobbing against Puck's chest.

“I....umm.”

“What? For god’s sake, just spit it out.” Puck had never been all that great with words, instead choosing to just lean over and press his lips against Kurt's. He pulled back, looking into the gleek's stunned blue eyes.

“I...kinda like you.”

“Why?”

“I don't know.” This time it was Puck rolling his eyes. “You're really sarcastic and girly, and you don't listen to any good music. But...you're kind of awesome. And you stood up for me when no one else would. You yelled at a teacher.”

“But...you've ignored me for the past three weeks.”

“I was...I dunno. It's weird okay.”

“Okay.” Kurt still looked stunned.

“I started thinking after Finn told me he kissed you.” Okay, maybe this wasn't so hard, he knew Kurt wouldn't laugh at him, if only for the crushing fear of being beaten. “And...I started thinking that....when all this is over. This whole school bullshit.” Puck took a breath. “You'll be one of the guys to get out of this stupid little town, and...” The jock made a motion with his hands, not sure how to put it.

“I'd find someone?” Kurt said after a few moments, taking pity on Puck's inability to put emotions into words.

“Yeah....and, it really pissed me off.”

“Why? I mean, you're Puck. Everyone wants to be you.”

“Yeah, I'm awesome.” The jock scoffed, glaring up at the ceiling. “School's all about being the cool kid, if you're not at the top of the food chain it sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.” Kurt's voice was quiet.

“I never really had a reason to see that all this stupid fake popularity contest shit for what it really was.”

“So...what does that mean?”

“I like you.” Puck punctuated his words with a smacking kiss, this one not leaving Kurt looking any less stunned.

“But...”

“You think I haven't tried rationalizing this?” Puck thought Kurt would have freaked at that, but the gleek seemed to relax a little more.

“So...what now?”

“I dunno.” Puck glanced at the clock on the wall, it was a little later then he'd thought. “Should probably get going, your Dad's probably getting worried.” The jock stood wincing as feeling returned to his legs, he offered his hand to Kurt who hesitated before taking it. Puck pulled the gleek to his feet, a little surprised at how little he weighed.

“He does that a lot...worry I mean.” Kurt still looked nervous and Puck didn't even think as he moved to cup the gleeks face, pulling Kurt in close for a gentle kiss. The gleek was on his toes by the end of it, hands gripping at Puck's wrists, eyes squeezed tightly shut.

XxX XxX

A/N: Yes, I am a horrible Bitch, I know this. Flail at me all you want, but I needed this up before the weekend as I'll have no time to write. SO THERE!!!!