Fic: Those Old Streetscapes 24/24 (Glee, Puck/Kurt, R)
Title: Those Old Streetscapes 24/24
Fandom: Glee/So You Think You Can Dance
Pairing: Puck/Kurt
Rating: this chapter R; NC17 overall
Word count: 3480 for this part; 125,176 overall
Warnings: Cheesiness. Lack of dance knowledge. Random Cat Deeley fangirling.
Summary: AU. Kurt's a classically trained dancer who has trouble connecting to his audience. Puck's a novice b-boy with loads of charisma and not a whole lot else. When they meet at the New York auditions for So You Think You Can Dance, both their lives change in more ways than they anticipated. AO3 link.
A/N: I'm sorry I didn't get this done earlier, because it seems as though a lot of people could have used some disgustingly romantic fic today. Technically I'm not done with this series, because I have the Will/Finn portion to finish yet. But this is the end of the Puck/Kurt section, which is the part I imagine people care about most, so I'm calling it a victory. \o/
The second his flight touched down at LaGuardia Kurt had his phone out, fingers flying across the keyboard to type two words: I’m home.
He was halfway to baggage claim when he heard the answering beep, and he pulled his phone out and grinned at the new message.
Finally. Come by the studio?
Give me half an hour, Kurt answered, then he pocketed his phone again and went in search of his luggage.
It wasn’t the first time they’d been apart since they moved in together. Will traveled a lot, and there were times when he needed an assistant to travel with him. So Kurt had been to Chicago and Miami and even back to L.A., but he still hadn’t gotten over the thrill of coming home to New York.
Part of it was the idea of calling New York City home; he’d been dreaming about it for so long that it still seemed like a dream most of the time. So it was nice, flying into LaGuardia and hauling his bags to the taxi stand knowing he’d get to stay. But the truth was he could have been coming home to Newark and he wouldn’t care, as long as he was coming home to Puck.
The cab ride into Queens didn’t take long, even with rush hour traffic to contend with. Barely fifteen minutes after they left the airport they were pulling up in front of the studio, and Kurt paid the driver and dragged his bags up the short flight of steps into Mike’s place. It was still hard to believe Mike had used his prize money to open a dance studio in the neighborhood when he could have done anything with his win. He could have used the money to pay for a place in Debbie Allen’s school, or he could have moved out of his parents’ apartment and used the leverage from his win to land a spot in a Broadway show.
But he’d told the press he wanted to open this place to give other kids in his neighborhood a place to go, even if they couldn’t afford dance lessons. Then he’d offered Puck a job, and Puck still made jokes about being the least qualified teacher in the city, but Kurt knew better. He’d seen Puck with the kids he taught, seen him laugh with them and pick them up when they fell, and he’d seen the pride on Puck’s face when one of them picked up a tricky move for the first time.
He watched Puck go from unsure what he was going to do with his life to believing he really did have something to offer. Mike’s studio was still struggling, but the place was always full of students, and they were making ends meet, even if no one was getting rich. And even if he wanted to Kurt couldn’t exactly complain, because Will didn’t pay him much either. But they managed to pay the rent every month, and Beth had everything she needed, so Kurt figured they were doing okay.
He smiled at the thought and set his bags down near the door, then he straightened up and stepped into the studio. He got all of five steps in before he heard a shout, then something was hurtling toward him and he caught a glimpse of unruly curls before he was nearly knocked off his feet.
Kurt’s arms went around Beth’s waist as he caught his balance, holding on tight while she wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed the breath out of him. She was already talking faster than he could keep up with, telling him everything he'd missed in the week he'd been gone. When she finally ran out of breath he laughed and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"I missed you too," he said. "But I brought you something from L.A."
"Babe, you said you were gonna stop spoiling her."
The sound of Puck's voice sent warmth curling in Kurt's stomach, and when Beth's hand pressed against his cheek he knew he was blushing.
"Please; that ship sailed before I entered the picture," he said, turning to take in the sight of Puck smirking at him. His tank top was stretched across his chest, forehead shiny with sweat from the class he'd just finished teaching, and when he leaned in Kurt didn't try to stop him.
He just kissed Puck back, one hand coming up to rest on the back of Puck’s neck and pull him even closer. When he heard Beth giggle Kurt blushed again and pulled back, smiling and running his thumb along Puck's bottom lip before he let go.
"So how's Nigel?" Puck asked, grinning when Kurt laughed.
"As self-satisfied as ever, I'm sure, but I didn't really see him. I spent most of the week in the studio with the contestants."
"Sounds like you had some time to shop, at least."
"There's always time to shop," Kurt answered, smiling and glancing at Beth again. "Speaking of which, I can take this little princess home and let her open her gift if you're still teaching."
"Santana said she'd cover for me when I told her you were back. I'm probably gonna pay for it later, but it's worth it," Puck said, then he reached for Beth and pulled her out of Kurt's arms to set her down on the floor. "So as soon as somebody gets their Dora backpack out of the dressing room, we can bail."
Beth took off immediately, hurtling toward the dressing room without so much as a backward glance. Kurt watched her go, but when she disappeared through the door on the opposite side of the room he turned back to Puck. "Surely she's not that excited over a Hollywood t-shirt."
"First of all, if you think I'm gonna buy that all you got her is a t-shirt, you're dreaming," Puck said, grinning when Kurt rolled his eyes. "Anyway, she's stoked because Ma's taking her tonight. She's been hassling me about how she hasn't seen Beth all week, and you know how she gets when she doesn't get a chance to spoil her grandkid."
"I haven't seen her all week either," Kurt reminded him, glancing toward the dressing room, but there was no sign of Beth yet. "I just got home, Noah."
"I know, babe, and you haven't seen me all week either," Puck said, hands on Kurt's hips to drag him close, and when Kurt realized what he was saying he blushed all the way to the roots of his hair. "Give me a break here."
"Point taken." Kurt slid his arms around Puck's neck and let Puck kiss him again, harder this time. It was completely inappropriate, considering they were in Puck's workplace, but what his students weren't around to witness wouldn't hurt them. “So let’s go home.”
~
It took longer than Puck wanted for them to get back to their place, mainly because they had to stop and drop Beth off first, which meant going in and hanging out while she opened her presents, then listening while Kurt answered all of Sarah’s dumb questions about the new season’s contestants. Finally Puck actually dragged Kurt out of his mother’s apartment, ignoring the apologies Kurt tossed over his shoulder about Puck’s rudeness.
His mother already knew why Puck was so anxious to get Kurt alone; that was the whole reason he’d asked her to take Beth on Kurt’s first night back. And he’d had plans for tonight, but when Kurt ditched his bags right inside their apartment door instead of dragging them to the bedroom and unpacking right away, Puck knew his mind wasn’t on a romantic dinner for two.
So he let Kurt pull him into the bedroom, and he didn’t argue when Kurt started working on their clothes. This was all part of his plan, after all, so if Kurt wanted to change up the order a little, he wasn’t going to bitch about it. Not when it had been a whole week since he'd slid his hands down Kurt's back, pressed his lips to the soft skin just below Kurt's ear and listened to Kurt's little gasp when Puck slid inside him. Like they hadn't done this more times than they could count, and until Puck met him he didn't believe it could feel like the first time every single time.
But it did, and Puck knew he was never going to get enough. He couldn't get enough of Kurt wrapped around him, sweaty and just this side of too hot, fingers tracing random patterns on his chest and pressing little kisses to Puck's shoulder just because he could. He was never going to get enough of pressing his mouth to the red blush that spread across Kurt's chest, and he was definitely never going to get enough of hearing Kurt whisper his name when he came.
He wasn't sure how long they laid tangled in the center of the bed, drifting in and out of sleep in between long, slow kisses. His hand rested on Kurt’s hip, thumb moving back and forth across pale skin, just to remind himself that Kurt was still there.
“When do you leave again?”
At the sound of his voice Kurt shifted, blinking a few times and even that made Puck’s heart skip a beat. “Trying to get rid of me already?”
“Hell, no,” Puck answered, his hand sliding around Kurt’s back to pull him flush against Puck’s chest. “I just want to know how much time I’ve got before you bail on me again.”
He felt kind of bad about putting it like that when Kurt sighed; it was part of the job, and they’d both known that when Will offered it to him. At the time Puck figured he could handle it, but he hadn’t counted on how hard it would be to be apart once they were living together full time. Even taking care of Beth on his own was hard, because Kurt was the one who helped her pick out her clothes for preschool, and Puck never did the voices as well as Kurt when it came to reading her bedtime story. The thing was, they made a good team, and when one of the team was missing it threw off their whole vibe.
Which was the whole reason he’d planned tonight out, because he wanted everything to be perfect. He wanted to get it right, because he could deal with Kurt taking off for a week here and there, as long as he knew Kurt was always going to come back to them.
“Will’s not choreographing again for a couple weeks,” Kurt said, his fingers stroking along Puck’s scalp as he spoke. “He took a detour to Ohio for a few days, and when he gets back to the city we’ll start working on his next show. I won’t have to leave again until the end of the month. Maybe I can cut my trip short next time; he doesn’t really need me for the entire week.”
“Good,” Puck said, leaning in to press their lips together for another soft kiss. “Gets kind of lonely around here without you.”
Kurt sighed again, hands moving on Puck’s skin and sending little shivers down his spine. “I have a feeling I’m going to find out for myself before long. I think they’re going to invite you back to be an All-Star.”
“For real?” Puck said, pulling back to look at Kurt. “When?”
“The schedule’s still tentative, but Will said he overheard some of the producers discussing potential slots and the choreographers they want to work with certain dancers. I’m not sure what we’ll do if Will has to choreograph the same week they want you.”
“Ma could watch Beth,” Puck answered, his hand coming up to catch Kurt’s and thread their fingers together. “Or hell, we could just bring her with us. Sarah’s so into the show now she’d probably pay us to tag along and play nanny for a week. Plus, it would give Ma a break.”
Kurt didn’t look all that convinced, but Puck was pretty sure he could talk his mother into i. Now that she’d been out to L.A. and seen what it was like she probably wouldn’t freak out too much at the thought of Sarah and Beth tagging along with them, as long as Sarah called every day to report in. Besides, Beth was his kid, and if he wanted to take her to L.A. with him and Kurt, there wasn’t a whole lot his mother could do about it. And if it meant he didn’t have to spend another week away from Kurt, he’d make her listen to reason.
Their hands were still entwined, caught between their chests and Puck’s thumb slid along Kurt’s ring finger. When Kurt kind of frowned at him Puck realized when he was doing, and he let go of Kurt’s hand and put a little space between them so Kurt wouldn’t feel his heart racing.
He’d had all this planned out, how the night was going to go and exactly what Kurt’s reaction was going to be. But that had all gone out the window pretty much the minute they got home, and the longer he waited the more nervous Puck got that maybe the rest of it wasn’t going to go the way he’d imagined either.
He leaned up far enough to glance at the clock on Kurt’s side of the bed, and when he realized how late it was he swallowed hard and sat up. “Dinner should be here any minute. I ordered Vietnamese.”
“Vietnamese?” Kurt said, frowning again, but he climbed out of bed after Puck and pulled on a pair of those cotton pajama pants he liked to sleep in when Beth was home to burst into their room way too early every morning.
Puck pulled on a pair of sweatpants and followed the trail of clothes into the hallway, picking up his jeans long enough to pull his wallet out of the pocket before he dropped them again. As soon as he did the buzzer went off, and he pressed the button to let the delivery guy into the building. Once dinner was paid for Puck headed for the living room, hands shaking a little as he lit the candles he’d set on the coffee table that morning and set takeout containers down.
“I got Pho and summer rolls and Bánh cuốn. I remembered how much you dug it on our first date.”
“Our first…” Kurt trailed off, the color in his cheeks turning up a notch or two as he sat down on the couch and watched Puck unpack their dinner. “Noah, what is all this?”
Puck paused long enough to look up at him, and when he saw how nervous Kurt was it made his heart hammer so hard he was positive Kurt would hear it. “You have no clue what day it is, do you?”
For a minute Kurt just stared at him, and Puck almost felt bad for him, because he could tell Kurt was afraid to admit that he had no idea what Puck was talking about.
“Babe, it’s our first anniversary,” Puck said, rolling his eyes and turning back to their dinner. “A year ago you threatened to let Blaine teach you how to kiss, and I figured out that if I didn’t want to blow it completely, I better make my move.”
“You remember that?”
“What, our first kiss? That’s not the kind of thing you forget,” Puck answered, looking up to find Kurt kind of blinking at him again.
“No, I mean you remember the date.”
“Well, technically our actual anniversary was three days ago, but you were in L.A., so there wasn’t much I could do about it on the day. I figured we could just ignore that part and celebrate when you got home.”
Kurt nodded and took the plate Puck pushed toward him, fingers wrapping around the edges just a little harder than strictly necessary. Puck glanced toward the bag he’d stashed at the end of the couch and felt his heart start to flutter again, then he turned his attention back to their dinner.
“Eat before it gets cold, babe.”
Kurt looked like he sort of wanted to argue, but he picked up his fork and piled pork rolls onto his plate before he pulled his Pho toward him. “You know, I’d convinced myself you didn’t think of that first night as a date.”
Kurt was blushing down at his dinner like maybe he was embarrassed to admit that he’d wanted it to be a date. Puck let out a soft laugh, and when Kurt looked up at him he reached across the coffee table and grabbed Kurt’s hand.
“Are you kidding? The first second I laid eyes on you I was crazy about you. If I didn’t have a kid waiting for me at home I would have put the moves on you that night. The only reason I didn’t go for it anyway was because I knew my mom would have given me hell if I stayed out all night.”
It wasn’t a hundred percent true. He didn’t try to hook up with Kurt that first night because he knew exactly what would happen the second Puck kissed him, and he’d known better than to set either of them up for that kind of heartache. But it had worked out all the same, and Puck didn’t necessarily believe in destiny or anything, but he figured sometimes people found each other for a reason.
“Really?” Kurt said, and he sounded so surprised about it, as though Puck hadn’t proved just how crazy he was about Kurt a million times over. As though they hadn’t been sleeping together for almost a year now; as though Puck hadn’t been in love with him for even longer.
He shook his head and let go of Kurt’s hand, pushing himself off the floor long enough to retrieve the bag he’d tucked between the couch and the side table before he left for work that morning. When he straightened up Kurt’s eyes were wide, and Puck’s heart started hammering again when he sat down on the couch next to Kurt and handed it over.
“What is this?”
“Anniversary present,” Puck answered, and if his voice was a little more gruff than usual Kurt didn’t call him on it. Or maybe he didn’t even notice, because his hands were shaking so hard he could barely get the bag open.
Finally he managed it, and when he reached in and closed shaky fingers around the box inside he looked up at Puck again. “Noah…”
Puck rolled his eyes and pulled the bag out of the way, then he pulled the box out of Kurt’s hand and opened it. For a second he just stared down at the set of rings nestled together in the box, then he took a deep breath and looked up.
“Look, I know it’s only been a year, and maybe that’s not a lot of time or whatever, but I’ve been crazy about you since the first day I met you. Beth’s crazy about you too, and I think we make a pretty good team, the three of us. I just figured maybe we should make it official.”
It wasn’t the speech he’d spent the past week planning. Then again, he hadn’t planned on proposing in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, or letting their food get cold while he did it. But Kurt was staring at him with that watery expression that meant he was either really stoked or about to reach into Puck’s chest and pull his heart right out, so the last thing on his mind was dinner.
“What are you saying?” Kurt asked, and for a second Puck thought maybe it was going to be the heart crushing thing, but then Kurt reached out and ran the tip of his finger across the rings. “Are you…proposing?”
“Yeah. I mean, I guess I’m doing a pretty lousy job, but yeah. Marry me, babe."
Kurt shook his head and Puck’s heart took a nose dive straight into his stomach, but a second later Kurt was moving forward and reaching out to rest a hand on the back of Puck’s neck.
“You’re not doing a lousy job," Kurt whispered against his lips. “I love you, Noah. Of course I’ll marry you.”
“Really?” Puck said, pulling back far enough to look at him, and this time it was Kurt who rolled his eyes.
“Yes,” Kurt answered, and Puck knew this was the part where he put the ring on Kurt’s finger and then tried on his own for the hundredth time, but Kurt was kissing him again, and Puck figured maybe his master plan didn’t matter so much anymore.
fin
Fandom: Glee/So You Think You Can Dance
Pairing: Puck/Kurt
Rating: this chapter R; NC17 overall
Word count: 3480 for this part; 125,176 overall
Warnings: Cheesiness. Lack of dance knowledge. Random Cat Deeley fangirling.
Summary: AU. Kurt's a classically trained dancer who has trouble connecting to his audience. Puck's a novice b-boy with loads of charisma and not a whole lot else. When they meet at the New York auditions for So You Think You Can Dance, both their lives change in more ways than they anticipated. AO3 link.
A/N: I'm sorry I didn't get this done earlier, because it seems as though a lot of people could have used some disgustingly romantic fic today. Technically I'm not done with this series, because I have the Will/Finn portion to finish yet. But this is the end of the Puck/Kurt section, which is the part I imagine people care about most, so I'm calling it a victory. \o/
The second his flight touched down at LaGuardia Kurt had his phone out, fingers flying across the keyboard to type two words: I’m home.
He was halfway to baggage claim when he heard the answering beep, and he pulled his phone out and grinned at the new message.
Finally. Come by the studio?
Give me half an hour, Kurt answered, then he pocketed his phone again and went in search of his luggage.
It wasn’t the first time they’d been apart since they moved in together. Will traveled a lot, and there were times when he needed an assistant to travel with him. So Kurt had been to Chicago and Miami and even back to L.A., but he still hadn’t gotten over the thrill of coming home to New York.
Part of it was the idea of calling New York City home; he’d been dreaming about it for so long that it still seemed like a dream most of the time. So it was nice, flying into LaGuardia and hauling his bags to the taxi stand knowing he’d get to stay. But the truth was he could have been coming home to Newark and he wouldn’t care, as long as he was coming home to Puck.
The cab ride into Queens didn’t take long, even with rush hour traffic to contend with. Barely fifteen minutes after they left the airport they were pulling up in front of the studio, and Kurt paid the driver and dragged his bags up the short flight of steps into Mike’s place. It was still hard to believe Mike had used his prize money to open a dance studio in the neighborhood when he could have done anything with his win. He could have used the money to pay for a place in Debbie Allen’s school, or he could have moved out of his parents’ apartment and used the leverage from his win to land a spot in a Broadway show.
But he’d told the press he wanted to open this place to give other kids in his neighborhood a place to go, even if they couldn’t afford dance lessons. Then he’d offered Puck a job, and Puck still made jokes about being the least qualified teacher in the city, but Kurt knew better. He’d seen Puck with the kids he taught, seen him laugh with them and pick them up when they fell, and he’d seen the pride on Puck’s face when one of them picked up a tricky move for the first time.
He watched Puck go from unsure what he was going to do with his life to believing he really did have something to offer. Mike’s studio was still struggling, but the place was always full of students, and they were making ends meet, even if no one was getting rich. And even if he wanted to Kurt couldn’t exactly complain, because Will didn’t pay him much either. But they managed to pay the rent every month, and Beth had everything she needed, so Kurt figured they were doing okay.
He smiled at the thought and set his bags down near the door, then he straightened up and stepped into the studio. He got all of five steps in before he heard a shout, then something was hurtling toward him and he caught a glimpse of unruly curls before he was nearly knocked off his feet.
Kurt’s arms went around Beth’s waist as he caught his balance, holding on tight while she wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed the breath out of him. She was already talking faster than he could keep up with, telling him everything he'd missed in the week he'd been gone. When she finally ran out of breath he laughed and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"I missed you too," he said. "But I brought you something from L.A."
"Babe, you said you were gonna stop spoiling her."
The sound of Puck's voice sent warmth curling in Kurt's stomach, and when Beth's hand pressed against his cheek he knew he was blushing.
"Please; that ship sailed before I entered the picture," he said, turning to take in the sight of Puck smirking at him. His tank top was stretched across his chest, forehead shiny with sweat from the class he'd just finished teaching, and when he leaned in Kurt didn't try to stop him.
He just kissed Puck back, one hand coming up to rest on the back of Puck’s neck and pull him even closer. When he heard Beth giggle Kurt blushed again and pulled back, smiling and running his thumb along Puck's bottom lip before he let go.
"So how's Nigel?" Puck asked, grinning when Kurt laughed.
"As self-satisfied as ever, I'm sure, but I didn't really see him. I spent most of the week in the studio with the contestants."
"Sounds like you had some time to shop, at least."
"There's always time to shop," Kurt answered, smiling and glancing at Beth again. "Speaking of which, I can take this little princess home and let her open her gift if you're still teaching."
"Santana said she'd cover for me when I told her you were back. I'm probably gonna pay for it later, but it's worth it," Puck said, then he reached for Beth and pulled her out of Kurt's arms to set her down on the floor. "So as soon as somebody gets their Dora backpack out of the dressing room, we can bail."
Beth took off immediately, hurtling toward the dressing room without so much as a backward glance. Kurt watched her go, but when she disappeared through the door on the opposite side of the room he turned back to Puck. "Surely she's not that excited over a Hollywood t-shirt."
"First of all, if you think I'm gonna buy that all you got her is a t-shirt, you're dreaming," Puck said, grinning when Kurt rolled his eyes. "Anyway, she's stoked because Ma's taking her tonight. She's been hassling me about how she hasn't seen Beth all week, and you know how she gets when she doesn't get a chance to spoil her grandkid."
"I haven't seen her all week either," Kurt reminded him, glancing toward the dressing room, but there was no sign of Beth yet. "I just got home, Noah."
"I know, babe, and you haven't seen me all week either," Puck said, hands on Kurt's hips to drag him close, and when Kurt realized what he was saying he blushed all the way to the roots of his hair. "Give me a break here."
"Point taken." Kurt slid his arms around Puck's neck and let Puck kiss him again, harder this time. It was completely inappropriate, considering they were in Puck's workplace, but what his students weren't around to witness wouldn't hurt them. “So let’s go home.”
~
It took longer than Puck wanted for them to get back to their place, mainly because they had to stop and drop Beth off first, which meant going in and hanging out while she opened her presents, then listening while Kurt answered all of Sarah’s dumb questions about the new season’s contestants. Finally Puck actually dragged Kurt out of his mother’s apartment, ignoring the apologies Kurt tossed over his shoulder about Puck’s rudeness.
His mother already knew why Puck was so anxious to get Kurt alone; that was the whole reason he’d asked her to take Beth on Kurt’s first night back. And he’d had plans for tonight, but when Kurt ditched his bags right inside their apartment door instead of dragging them to the bedroom and unpacking right away, Puck knew his mind wasn’t on a romantic dinner for two.
So he let Kurt pull him into the bedroom, and he didn’t argue when Kurt started working on their clothes. This was all part of his plan, after all, so if Kurt wanted to change up the order a little, he wasn’t going to bitch about it. Not when it had been a whole week since he'd slid his hands down Kurt's back, pressed his lips to the soft skin just below Kurt's ear and listened to Kurt's little gasp when Puck slid inside him. Like they hadn't done this more times than they could count, and until Puck met him he didn't believe it could feel like the first time every single time.
But it did, and Puck knew he was never going to get enough. He couldn't get enough of Kurt wrapped around him, sweaty and just this side of too hot, fingers tracing random patterns on his chest and pressing little kisses to Puck's shoulder just because he could. He was never going to get enough of pressing his mouth to the red blush that spread across Kurt's chest, and he was definitely never going to get enough of hearing Kurt whisper his name when he came.
He wasn't sure how long they laid tangled in the center of the bed, drifting in and out of sleep in between long, slow kisses. His hand rested on Kurt’s hip, thumb moving back and forth across pale skin, just to remind himself that Kurt was still there.
“When do you leave again?”
At the sound of his voice Kurt shifted, blinking a few times and even that made Puck’s heart skip a beat. “Trying to get rid of me already?”
“Hell, no,” Puck answered, his hand sliding around Kurt’s back to pull him flush against Puck’s chest. “I just want to know how much time I’ve got before you bail on me again.”
He felt kind of bad about putting it like that when Kurt sighed; it was part of the job, and they’d both known that when Will offered it to him. At the time Puck figured he could handle it, but he hadn’t counted on how hard it would be to be apart once they were living together full time. Even taking care of Beth on his own was hard, because Kurt was the one who helped her pick out her clothes for preschool, and Puck never did the voices as well as Kurt when it came to reading her bedtime story. The thing was, they made a good team, and when one of the team was missing it threw off their whole vibe.
Which was the whole reason he’d planned tonight out, because he wanted everything to be perfect. He wanted to get it right, because he could deal with Kurt taking off for a week here and there, as long as he knew Kurt was always going to come back to them.
“Will’s not choreographing again for a couple weeks,” Kurt said, his fingers stroking along Puck’s scalp as he spoke. “He took a detour to Ohio for a few days, and when he gets back to the city we’ll start working on his next show. I won’t have to leave again until the end of the month. Maybe I can cut my trip short next time; he doesn’t really need me for the entire week.”
“Good,” Puck said, leaning in to press their lips together for another soft kiss. “Gets kind of lonely around here without you.”
Kurt sighed again, hands moving on Puck’s skin and sending little shivers down his spine. “I have a feeling I’m going to find out for myself before long. I think they’re going to invite you back to be an All-Star.”
“For real?” Puck said, pulling back to look at Kurt. “When?”
“The schedule’s still tentative, but Will said he overheard some of the producers discussing potential slots and the choreographers they want to work with certain dancers. I’m not sure what we’ll do if Will has to choreograph the same week they want you.”
“Ma could watch Beth,” Puck answered, his hand coming up to catch Kurt’s and thread their fingers together. “Or hell, we could just bring her with us. Sarah’s so into the show now she’d probably pay us to tag along and play nanny for a week. Plus, it would give Ma a break.”
Kurt didn’t look all that convinced, but Puck was pretty sure he could talk his mother into i. Now that she’d been out to L.A. and seen what it was like she probably wouldn’t freak out too much at the thought of Sarah and Beth tagging along with them, as long as Sarah called every day to report in. Besides, Beth was his kid, and if he wanted to take her to L.A. with him and Kurt, there wasn’t a whole lot his mother could do about it. And if it meant he didn’t have to spend another week away from Kurt, he’d make her listen to reason.
Their hands were still entwined, caught between their chests and Puck’s thumb slid along Kurt’s ring finger. When Kurt kind of frowned at him Puck realized when he was doing, and he let go of Kurt’s hand and put a little space between them so Kurt wouldn’t feel his heart racing.
He’d had all this planned out, how the night was going to go and exactly what Kurt’s reaction was going to be. But that had all gone out the window pretty much the minute they got home, and the longer he waited the more nervous Puck got that maybe the rest of it wasn’t going to go the way he’d imagined either.
He leaned up far enough to glance at the clock on Kurt’s side of the bed, and when he realized how late it was he swallowed hard and sat up. “Dinner should be here any minute. I ordered Vietnamese.”
“Vietnamese?” Kurt said, frowning again, but he climbed out of bed after Puck and pulled on a pair of those cotton pajama pants he liked to sleep in when Beth was home to burst into their room way too early every morning.
Puck pulled on a pair of sweatpants and followed the trail of clothes into the hallway, picking up his jeans long enough to pull his wallet out of the pocket before he dropped them again. As soon as he did the buzzer went off, and he pressed the button to let the delivery guy into the building. Once dinner was paid for Puck headed for the living room, hands shaking a little as he lit the candles he’d set on the coffee table that morning and set takeout containers down.
“I got Pho and summer rolls and Bánh cuốn. I remembered how much you dug it on our first date.”
“Our first…” Kurt trailed off, the color in his cheeks turning up a notch or two as he sat down on the couch and watched Puck unpack their dinner. “Noah, what is all this?”
Puck paused long enough to look up at him, and when he saw how nervous Kurt was it made his heart hammer so hard he was positive Kurt would hear it. “You have no clue what day it is, do you?”
For a minute Kurt just stared at him, and Puck almost felt bad for him, because he could tell Kurt was afraid to admit that he had no idea what Puck was talking about.
“Babe, it’s our first anniversary,” Puck said, rolling his eyes and turning back to their dinner. “A year ago you threatened to let Blaine teach you how to kiss, and I figured out that if I didn’t want to blow it completely, I better make my move.”
“You remember that?”
“What, our first kiss? That’s not the kind of thing you forget,” Puck answered, looking up to find Kurt kind of blinking at him again.
“No, I mean you remember the date.”
“Well, technically our actual anniversary was three days ago, but you were in L.A., so there wasn’t much I could do about it on the day. I figured we could just ignore that part and celebrate when you got home.”
Kurt nodded and took the plate Puck pushed toward him, fingers wrapping around the edges just a little harder than strictly necessary. Puck glanced toward the bag he’d stashed at the end of the couch and felt his heart start to flutter again, then he turned his attention back to their dinner.
“Eat before it gets cold, babe.”
Kurt looked like he sort of wanted to argue, but he picked up his fork and piled pork rolls onto his plate before he pulled his Pho toward him. “You know, I’d convinced myself you didn’t think of that first night as a date.”
Kurt was blushing down at his dinner like maybe he was embarrassed to admit that he’d wanted it to be a date. Puck let out a soft laugh, and when Kurt looked up at him he reached across the coffee table and grabbed Kurt’s hand.
“Are you kidding? The first second I laid eyes on you I was crazy about you. If I didn’t have a kid waiting for me at home I would have put the moves on you that night. The only reason I didn’t go for it anyway was because I knew my mom would have given me hell if I stayed out all night.”
It wasn’t a hundred percent true. He didn’t try to hook up with Kurt that first night because he knew exactly what would happen the second Puck kissed him, and he’d known better than to set either of them up for that kind of heartache. But it had worked out all the same, and Puck didn’t necessarily believe in destiny or anything, but he figured sometimes people found each other for a reason.
“Really?” Kurt said, and he sounded so surprised about it, as though Puck hadn’t proved just how crazy he was about Kurt a million times over. As though they hadn’t been sleeping together for almost a year now; as though Puck hadn’t been in love with him for even longer.
He shook his head and let go of Kurt’s hand, pushing himself off the floor long enough to retrieve the bag he’d tucked between the couch and the side table before he left for work that morning. When he straightened up Kurt’s eyes were wide, and Puck’s heart started hammering again when he sat down on the couch next to Kurt and handed it over.
“What is this?”
“Anniversary present,” Puck answered, and if his voice was a little more gruff than usual Kurt didn’t call him on it. Or maybe he didn’t even notice, because his hands were shaking so hard he could barely get the bag open.
Finally he managed it, and when he reached in and closed shaky fingers around the box inside he looked up at Puck again. “Noah…”
Puck rolled his eyes and pulled the bag out of the way, then he pulled the box out of Kurt’s hand and opened it. For a second he just stared down at the set of rings nestled together in the box, then he took a deep breath and looked up.
“Look, I know it’s only been a year, and maybe that’s not a lot of time or whatever, but I’ve been crazy about you since the first day I met you. Beth’s crazy about you too, and I think we make a pretty good team, the three of us. I just figured maybe we should make it official.”
It wasn’t the speech he’d spent the past week planning. Then again, he hadn’t planned on proposing in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, or letting their food get cold while he did it. But Kurt was staring at him with that watery expression that meant he was either really stoked or about to reach into Puck’s chest and pull his heart right out, so the last thing on his mind was dinner.
“What are you saying?” Kurt asked, and for a second Puck thought maybe it was going to be the heart crushing thing, but then Kurt reached out and ran the tip of his finger across the rings. “Are you…proposing?”
“Yeah. I mean, I guess I’m doing a pretty lousy job, but yeah. Marry me, babe."
Kurt shook his head and Puck’s heart took a nose dive straight into his stomach, but a second later Kurt was moving forward and reaching out to rest a hand on the back of Puck’s neck.
“You’re not doing a lousy job," Kurt whispered against his lips. “I love you, Noah. Of course I’ll marry you.”
“Really?” Puck said, pulling back far enough to look at him, and this time it was Kurt who rolled his eyes.
“Yes,” Kurt answered, and Puck knew this was the part where he put the ring on Kurt’s finger and then tried on his own for the hundredth time, but Kurt was kissing him again, and Puck figured maybe his master plan didn’t matter so much anymore.
fin