(no subject)
~Part One~
The Drumlins Mansion had always been a source of curiosity. It was a house that had been abandoned for many decades. There had been plans for rebuilding and selling the house, but all the plans fell through for one reason or another.
There were rumors that everyone who went in there never came out. Support for these rumors came from the alarming percentage of people in Lima, Ohio who had disappeared over the years. Some people say that inside of the house lives a serial killer who uses the bodies of the people he’s killed to make his furniture. Others say that there are killing ghosts haunting the halls. Crazy Old Man Anderson insists that there are moving statues that can transport you back in time.
With all this in mind, Kurt Hummel stares at the gate separating him from the path that leads to the Drumlins front door.
Kurt heard a noise and looked alarmingly to the left. He let out the breath he’d been holding when he saw that it was just Puckerman.
“What are you doing here?” Kurt asked icily acting as if No-Puckerman’s presence was a nuisance. It really wasn’t. What was a nuisance were the butterflies that seem to take over his insides whenever he came around.
Puckerman smirked and stuffed his hands down his pockets pulling his jeans way below his hipbones, and Kurt was fairly sure that if he looked he would be able to tell if Puckerman was going commando or not.
He was.
Kurt flushed a bit and glared up at Puck whose smirk had grown impossibly larger and much more feral.
Kurt was through falling for his games, “I’m pretty sure you’re not here to inquire after my well being so why exactly are you here?”
He shrugged and leaned against the locked gate, “Finnessa is pretty sure you’re going to see this thing through. I, on the other hand don’t have that kind of faith in you. And I’m not losing a hundred dollars to Satan just because you’re quaking in your fancy designer boots.”
Kurt rolled his eyes and turned back to the house. He sighed resigned to the fact that Puck was doing this with him, “How are we getting inside?”
Kurt didn’t need to look at Puck to see that he had rolled his eyes. He did however jump startled when he felt his hands grip him tight around his waist and hoist him up on the gate. Kurt let out a squeak and scrambled for purchase against the gate before securing his foothold on the bottom row just two feet from the floor.
Kurt didn’t even turn to glare at Puck who had begun climbing on the other side. He just climbed up as fast as he could. He swung his leg to the other side and struggled for a second to get his foot hold. Puck was already on the other side dusting his hands off and smirking up at Kurt.
Kurt ignored him and made his way slowly back down. He jumped down the last few feet and turned to glare at Puck, “A little warning would’ve been nice!”
Puck shrugged again and signaled to the house with his chin, “You ready?”
Kurt huffed but walked down the pathway to the mansion. Puck followed him. Kurt struggled a bit with the door until Puck shoved him aside rudely and kicked the door right off it’s hinges.
Kurt just shook his head, and shoved him back as he walked pass him and into the mansion pulling his flashlight from his pocket as he went.
It was musty and dusty. Kurt felt like if his lungs were filling up with dust just by being there. He coughed and shone the light inside.
There was a huge staircase that broke up into two that lead to the two upper wings of the place. They were standing in the grand ballroom, Kurt figured. There was a door ajar to his left.
Kurt turned to Puck who had picked up the door and had leaned it against the wall beside the entrance, “What now?”
“One hour,” Puck murmured. Then he looked at Kurt and waggled his eyebrows, “Wanna check out the rooms upstairs?”
Kurt snorted and ignored the fluttering in his abdomen, “How about you check upstairs to see if it’s safe and I’ll stay right here until you come back?”
Puck just rolled his eyes and headed over to the staircase hitting his own flashlight against the railing. It flickered for a second before it turned on properly. Puck looked back at Kurt, “Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Princess.”
Kurt wrinkled his nose, “I’ve told you not to call me that!”
Puck sent him a quick smirk and went up the stairs.
Kurt turned around and headed to the entrance. He leaned against the wall and sighed.
It wasn’t that he was afraid. He was feeling a bit sore about the whole thing, really.
The reason Kurt took the stupid dare in the first place was because of Santana’s sneer of derision.
Kurt wasn’t a coward just because he was gay.
Puck being there didn’t change that, but it did make him feel a tad bit safer to have someone with him. Even if that someone was Puckerman.
There was a squeak that had Kurt turning around and shinning the light over to where the door was still open to his left. It looked a bit more ajar than before.
“Puck?” he called out but no one responded. Kurt gripped his flashlight tight refusing to be scared and headed over to the door.
He touched it lightly and it moved back a few centimeters making the same squeak sound. Kurt sighed and pushed the door all the way out, “Are you in there?”
He hadn’t seen Puck walk down the stairs, but it would be like Puck to try and scare him.
He stood in the doorway shinning the light inside to all the corners. It was an empty room with a single window that showed the backyard. The chandelier that hung in the middle was on the floor still attached to the wiring as if someone had pulled it down. The walls were covered in really ugly peeling flower patterned black and white wall paper.
Kurt stepped further into the room to see if there was any place where someone as big as Puck could hide, but there was nothing.
He slowly walked over to where the chandelier was and shone the light in a full circle and nothing. There was no one in here.
Then why did the door squeak?
Kurt turned and noticed that there was a huge gash in one of the walls where the wall paper was peeling and there was something like a black smudge right under it.
Kurt took a deep breath closing his eyes and hoping whatever it was wasn’t blood walked over there. He gripped the peeling paper with two fingers and pulled it aside to reveal the word, BEWARE.
Kurt frowned to himself and grabbed another bit of wall paper and tore it off, THE WEEPING ANGELS.
Beware the weeping angels? Kurt looked at it confused. It made no sense. Maybe there was more to the message.
Kurt tore another piece this time tugging with his whole hand, OH, AND DUCK.
Duck?
Kurt tore another piece, NO REALLY DUCK!
Kurt looked around himself and to the ceiling. Duck from what?
He tugged at another piece and this time his heart leapt to his throat, KURT HUMMEL.
With wide eyes, holding his breath he tore at the paper under his name, DUCK, NOW!
He stepped back and read the whole thing together before he ducked down at the exact second that something crashed through the window and hit the exact spot on the wall where Kurt had just been standing.
He swirled around and looked frightened at the window. He walked slowly over there and looked out shinning his flashlight hoping that whatever it was out there was scared of light.
There was nothing out there.
Just a statue of a weeping angel. Was that what the message meant then? But what could a statue possibly do?
He turned away from it and looked back to the message written on the wall and concealed by wall paper.
He walked back over to it and gripped the last bit that was still hanging from the wall, LOVE FROM THE DOCTOR (1969).
~*~
Kurt had walked out of the room and had stood right by the staircase. By the time Puckerman walked down-more like swaggered down, but Kurt was in shock and in no condition to appreciate it-Kurt had worked himself up so much that he nearly burst into tears when Puck said they couldn’t leave until the dare was up, “Relax Hummel, there is nothing here. There is no need to panic.”
Instead Kurt glared at Puck and snapped, “My freaking name is written on the freaking wall, and it was covered by really ugly wall paper! I think I deserve the right to panic a little!”
He then collapsed on the last step and started to hyperventilate.
Puck had just turned and walked into the room where Kurt had been pointing to. He walked back out looking a bit shocked and held out his hand.
Kurt grabbed it thank fully and let himself be pulled to his feet.
“What now?” Kurt asks turning to look at the door.
Puck was quiet for a second before the sound that had lead Kurt into the room in the first place broke the silence.
They both stared at the door, “How about we come back when it’s daylight?”
Kurt nodded and lead the way out of the mansion and into street.
~Part Two~
Kurt flinched and then glared at Puck as he let the passenger door slam shut.
Puck just gave him the usual smirk tightening his grip on the bolt cutters and turned to walk to the gates where Finn was already waiting.
Kurt was glad that he was here. For one he was a bit scared of the mansion since all of his dreams last night featured him running away from a nameless creature with flickering lights and all of the effects.
So he was a bit jumpy.
For another Puck behaved when he was around.
“Coming Hummel?”
Kurt jumped and turned to walk towards the newly opened gate. Puck was leaning against it holding it open. Kurt could see Finn already making his way down the path and to the house.
Kurt hurriedly followed after him not eager to get left behind with Puck.
Finn was already inside looking around, “This place is huge!”
Kurt made a noise in agreement and eyed the now closed door to his left which concealed the room where he’d found his name.
Puck stepped right next to him, “Okay, you show Finn where your name was written, and I’ll go check upstairs to see if there’s anything weird.”
Kurt made a noise of agreement and headed over to the door. He heard Finn shuffle over to him while Puck’s footsteps pounded up the stairs.
He took a deep breath. There was nothing to be scared off. He touched the door knob and it fell to the floor. Kurt jumped back into Finn at the noise it made when it crashed.
Finn steadied him with a hand at his back, “You okay?”
Kurt nodded and reached a hand out to gently push the door back. The door squeaked noisily, and Kurt slipped inside the room.
The words were still written on the wall in smudged fading black. In the daylight they looked even creepier.
They belonged in the night with all of the scary movie references, but now in the daylight they looked so out of place.
Kurt turned to the window when Finn gasped, “Whoa dude. You weren’t kidding.”
“Don’t call me dude,” Kurt responded automatically before turning fully to give the statue of the angel that was outside his attention.
Was it just him or was it closer than before?
“That is creepy,” Finn said from right behind him making him jump a bit. “I never really liked angel statues.”
“It’s closer than it was last night,” Kurt whispered suddenly sure of it.
Finn patted him on the back, “Sure like the statue moved.”
Kurt was about to respond when there was a knock on the door. Kurt turned automatically and moved to answer. Finn grabbed his elbow, “Are you really going to see who it is?”
Kurt rolled his eyes pulling away, “The door is knocked off it’s hinges. That person did the polite thing when they could’ve walked in anyway.”
Finn nodded, “Be careful dude.”
Kurt resisted the urge to tell him off for calling him dude again, but he just sighed and walked back into the main hall. He walked over to where the sun light was pouring in from outside and found a tall young man standing there. He looked older than Kurt, somewhere in his mid twenties. He was wearing a nice suit and had a bowler hat tucked under his arm.
He stepped forward when Kurt came into view, “Are you Kurt Hummel?”
Kurt nodded his head slowly.
The man nodded his head and held out an envelope. It looked old and written on yellowing paper that looked more like parchment. It was a thick letter, and a bit heavy in Kurt’s hand, but it had his name written across the front in the chicken scratch he had come to associate with Finn’s hand writing.
He looked up at the man suddenly, “What did you say your name was?”
The man shook his head, “I never did tell you my name, but I’m Finn Hudson, III.”
Suddenly there was the sound of crashing glass, and Kurt dropped the letter on the floor, “Finn!”
He ran to the room pushing the door open wide. He looked around but Finn was no where to be seen. He walked over to the window where there was glass all over the floor, and the entire bottom of the window pane was gone.
There was a piece of yellow fabric caught on the ledge.
Finn had been wearing a yellow t-shirt.
Kurt looked up to see that the statue was back to the position where it was last night.
He turned around ran out of the room, “Noah!”
He skidded to a halt by the open door, but the young man-Finn Hudson, III-was gone.
Kurt picked up the letter that was on the floor.
He heard thundering footsteps, and turned to see Puck rushing down the steps, “What happened?”
Kurt gripped the letter tightly in his hands and whispered, “Finn is gone.”
~*~
Dear Kurt,
If you are reading this then it’s probably been a few seconds since you last saw me and went to answer the door, well dude, I’m gone.
I’m not sure how it happened. One second I was right there in the room leaning against the window sill and looking at the words on the wall, the next I’m here in Louisiana, in 1925.
No lie, dude.
I bet you it was the creepy angel statue! Told you that thing gave me the creeps.
Anyway, I’m writing to you to tell you that I’m okay. Of course it took me a while to be okay, and I freaked out the second that I got here, but I met someone.
Rachel Berry, she found me freaking out in the corner of her family’s barn, and she helped me. She believed my story about being from the future, but I think she was just humoring me.
She reminds me a lot about you actually. Not that I would’ve married you, not because you’re gay, but because you’re my brother dude. Marrying you would be like marrying Puck and that’s just gross.
I’m also writing because I want you to tell Mom and Dad what happened. You four (you, Puck, Mom, Dad), are the only people who matter. Oh, and Mr. Shuester. Everyone else you can tell that I got shipped off to military school or something.
Tell Mom that I’m sorry, but I forgot to wash the dishes from breakfast this morning.
Tell Dad that I’m sorry I didn’t always call him that.
Tell Puck that it was me who put his dirty shoes in his locker. Sorry bro, but they were stinking up the whole locker room.
And I’m sorry to you for not always standing up for you.
And don’t blame yourself for what happened. Either of you. It wasn’t your fault.
I was the one who decided to turn my back to the angel statue.
I love you all, now and always.
Your brother, son and friend,
Finn.
P.S: Do you think you could return my MW3 rental? I wouldn’t want to leave behind a debt. Thanks!
~Part Three~
Kurt tapped his fingers against his steering wheel a bit in frustration because what could be taking Puck so long to return a stupid game?
Puck came back out a few minutes later with a stack of DVD’s.
He looked confused.
“It says that I pre-ordered these DVD’s and paid for them by credit card over the phone to pick them up today.”
“But you didn’t?”
Puck shook his head, “Why would I pre-order The Sound of Music?”
Kurt was immediately defensive, “That happens to be a great movie.”
Puck mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, ‘Of course you would’ve seen it.’
Kurt decided to ignore him, and grabbed the piece of paper right on top of the stack of DVD’s.
It listed seventeen DVD’s and said paid by credit card.
There was a also a hand written note right at the bottom, Call Blaine Anderson, and ask him about the Easter Eggs in the DVDs.
It listed the number right after, “Did you see this?”
Puck was reading the back of the Rent DVD. He looked over to the note, “No. Are you gonna call?”
Kurt took one look at Puck and realized that he wanted to watch the movies. He sighed, “I’ll drop you home then call him and meet up with him at the Lima Bean, to see what he knows.”
Puck nodded as though he approved of the plan.
Kurt just rolled his eyes and drove off.
Kurt waited until Puck had entered his house before grabbing his phone.
He dialed the number and waited. The Blaine Anderson person answered after the fourth ring, “Blaine Anderson speaking, how may I help you?”
Kurt cleared his throat, “Blaine Anderson, it’s Kurt Hummel. I’m calling to ask you about the Easter Eggs in the DVDs. It’s for a research paper I’m doing in school.”
Kurt closed his eyes, because that was stupid. Who was going to believe that?
“Film school?”
Kurt groaned but confirmed it.
“How did you get my number?”
Kurt searched for an answer before saying, “I found it on the internet.”
“So you read my blog?”
He sounded so excited when he said it that Kurt just agreed, “Yeah.”
“Cool, do you want to meet somewhere later and I’ll tell you everything I know. I’m kind of at work right now.”
“How about at the Lima Bean at five?”
“That would be great!”
“See you later,” Kurt said before hanging up the phone. He sighed and looked over at the Puckerman household.
He wished he could just walk inside and curl up next to Puck and sleep. He hadn’t been able to sleep well the last two nights. And without Finn’s steady presence, he couldn’t even sleep during the day.
The only other person he felt that safe around was Puck.
Man, he really missed Finn.
He put his car in drive and pulled away from the curb. Maybe he could drive around until five.
Kurt reached to the Lima Bean about five minutes early.
He walked up to the counter and ordered a small black coffee. He usually had one of those espressos that were probably going to turn his thighs to jelly, but were oh so delicious, but today he figured he needed the caffeine.
“Hey listen,” he told the bored looking girl manning the cash register. “If some guy comes asking for Kurt Hummel, send them my way ok?”
The girl nodded slowly, and Kurt slipped her a five. She pocketed it, and gave him his coffee.
Kurt sat down with his drink, and his phone expecting to wait a while, but a few minutes after he had settled down and was playing Angry Birds someone sat across from him.
He looked up to see a boy with a cute smile and copious amounts of hair product in his hair. He was wearing a blazer with the Dalton Academy emblem, and Kurt vaguely remembered him as the cute guy who sang lead in the Warblers the group that beat their Glee Club at Regional’s.
“You know you look familiar,” began Blaine Anderson.
Kurt just smiled at that, “I bet you say that to all the boys.”
Blaine looked away blushing slightly and smiling. Definitely gay, it was good to know his gaydar worked sometimes, Kurt mused.
“But you do know me from Regional’s probably. I’m in The New Directions.”
Blaine nodded his head smiling, “That’s right.”
Silence fell over the table for a second before Blaine cleared his throat, “So you want to know about the Easter Eggs?”
Kurt nodded, “Yes! Tell me what is it exactly?”
“Well I love Musicals, and I tend to watch all the extras in every DVD, and in these seventeen DVDs there is an extra scene where this guy in glasses and this girl who only appears for a few seconds seem to be talking to someone, but you can only hear one half of the conversation.”
He leaned over and pulled out a folder from his bag. He slid it across the table to Kurt, “In there is the manuscript, and the list of the seventeen DVDs.”
Kurt grabbed the folder and opened it. The manuscript was just a couple of pages stapled together. He skimmed over it quickly not bothering to actually read it. He ignored the list of DVDs.
“I can show them to you if you’d like?” Blaine offered. “I’ve got all seventeen DVD’s back at my house.”
Kurt looked up startled.
“It doesn’t have to be now,” Blaine continued hurriedly. “You can keep my number, and we can meet up some other time, and maybe have dinner?”
“Are you asking me out on a date?” Kurt asked feeling a bit pleased but mostly surprised.
Blaine blushed, “Yeah I am.”
“Why?” Kurt asked confused. “You barely even know me?”
“Maybe I would like to get to know you,” Blaine said suddenly eyes all intense.
Kurt smiled and was about to reply when his phone vibrated on the table.
It lit up with the words Sex Shark flashing right on top of a picture of Puck.
Kurt rolled his eyes at that. Maybe he shouldn’t leave his phone alone around Puck.
“I have to take this,” Kurt said standing up. He walked over to an empty table and sat down. He slid his finger across the touch screen to answer, “What?”
“You won’t believe what I just found in the extras of all these DVDs.”
“A guy in glasses and a girl having half of a conversation?”
There was silence, “How did you know?”
“Because that is what Blaine Anderson was telling me. That’s what the note meant by Easter Eggs. I have the manuscript and the list of DVDs. And maybe a date.”
There was some more silence and Kurt had begun to think that Puck had hung up on him when he spoke again, “How can you be thinking about dating with everything that’s going on?”
“The same way you had sex with Amy Mulligan’s mom last night,” Kurt snapped back before hanging up.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes counting to ten. Puck was not going to get in the middle of this, not like how he did with Sam.
Kurt turned back to his table to see that Blaine was gone.
His coffee was still there and so was his bag, but he was gone.
Maybe he went to the bathroom.
Kurt sat down and drank some of his coffee grimacing a bit at the taste. His phone began vibrating in his hand, and Kurt was about to throw it across the room, but it wasn’t Puck. It was an unknown number.
Kurt answered it, “Hello.”
“Hi Kurt,” a raspy voice answered. “It’s Blaine. Think you can meet me somewhere else?”
Kurt stood up grabbing the folder and Blaine’s bag, “Sure I’ll be right there. Where is there?”
“2310 Saint James Place.”
Kurt stopped moving, “But that is Old Man Anderson’s place.”
He heard a raspy cough, “Hurry.”
Kurt hung up the phone and headed to his car.
He reached Old Man Anderson’s place in record time.
Old Man Anderson was a crazy old man who used to run the old Lima Theater.
He was really big with Musicals or so Kurt heard. The place had been closed down for as long as Kurt could remember. But his father had told him that that was where he had taken his mom on their first date.
It was Old Man Anderson who insisted that no one go into the Drumlins Mansion because the statues came to life and transported you back in time.
Old Man Anderson who apparently was actually Blaine, but how was that even possible?
Kurt stood at the stairs on the porch watching the frail old man breath in rattling breaths that seemed to shake his entire chest as he swung on the bench.
“Blaine?” Kurt called.
Blaine turned smiling at Kurt, “Kurt, hi.”
Kurt stepped forward closer to him in the dimming sunlight. The floorboards creaked under his weight.
“You look exactly the same as the day I met you,” Blaine said his eyes unfocused on Kurt.
Kurt smiled softly resisting the urge to cry, “Same day actually.”
Blaine just nodded slowly, “I met someone just like you, you know. Beautiful boy, looked a little bit like you. His name was even Kurt.”
He pulled out a picture from his pocket and handed it to Kurt.
Kurt smiled and nodded his head, “There is a slight resemblance.”
Blaine laughed, “I thought about it you know. Finding you before tonight, and talking to you, but someone told me it would’ve torn a hole in the fabric of time and space itself, and I really couldn’t be responsible for that. Also I had lost my hair.”
They both laughed, and Blaine began to cough.
Kurt waited until he had stopped before speaking, “You would’ve ‘torn a hole in the fabric of time and space’ who told you that?”
“There is a man in 1969. He sent me with a message for you.”
“What man?”
“The Doctor,” Blaine said as if it was something that was obvious, and Kurt figured that it kind of should’ve been.
“What was the message?”
“Just this,” Blaine said smiling again. “Look at the list.”
“That’s it?” Kurt asked not really believing it. “’Look at the list?’ Nothing else?”
“Yes, that’s it. Look at the list. He said you should have it by now. A list of seventeen DVDs. My list.”
Kurt rummaged through his pockets and pulled out Puck’s list since Blaine’s was still in the car.
“I really didn’t know what to do when I got sent to 1969. I did various odd end jobs until I finally got into publishing. Video publishing. Then DVDs of course.”
Kurt looked away from where he had been unfolding the paper, “You put the Easter Egg on.”
Blaine nodded his head, “Funny how that works. Have you noticed what all DVDs have in common yet?”
Kurt shook his head. He still hasn’t seen the list of DVDs.
“I suppose it’s hard for you in a way.”
“How could The Doctor have known I even had a list? I just got this.”
Kurt was confused and he didn’t like it. He sat down next to Blaine.
“I asked him how, and he said he couldn’t tell me. He said you’d understand it one day, but that I never would.”
Kurt smiled at that, “As soon as I understand it I’ll come and tell you.”
“No Kurt,” he raised a hand and brushed Kurt’s cheek. “Beautiful Kurt. We have only tonight. He told me that we would only meet again once, on the night I die. Tonight.”
Kurt grabbed his hand, “Oh Blaine.”
He smiled and squeezed his hand, “It’s kept me going. I’m a sick old man Kurt, and I’ve lived a long life. It was nice having something to look forward to.”
Kurt squeezed back.
“Look at my hands,” Blaine says rubbing Kurt’s hands between both of his. “They’re old man’s hands. How did that happen?”
Kurt finally let the tears drop, “I’ll stay with you Blaine. Okay? I’ll stay right here with you.”
“Thank you Kurt Hummel.”
He leaned back a little and closed his eyes, “I have til the sun sets.”
Kurt stared at the hand in his grasp, and tried not to notice the way the grip loosened.
He finally wiped his tears, and pulled out his phone.
He dialed 911, “Hi, it’s Kurt Hummel. Can I get someone to come down to Old Man Anderson’s place? I was passing by on my way back home, and I found him outside on his porch. I think he’s dead.”
“We’ll send someone right away. Please wait there.”
Kurt hung up the phone and stood up.
He walked over to his car and leaned against the side of the car to wait for the ambulance.
~*~
Kurt thanked the officer for the tissue and wiped at his eyes again. He had just finished giving his statement.
The officer thanked him and let Kurt walk back to his car.
Kurt got in and took a few deep breaths before turning on the engine and driving.
He drove until he reached the entrance of the Drumlins Mansion. He slowed down, and parked right in front.
He pulled out the list that was still in his pocket, and finally opened it and read it.
He pulled out his phone immediately and called Puck.
Puck answered after the first ring almost as if he had been waiting for Kurt to call, “You still on your date?”
Kurt ignored the question, “I finally figured out what all the DVDs have in common.”
“What?”
“Me!” Kurt exclaimed. “It’s the seventeen DVDs that I own.”
“You only own seventeen DVDs?”
Kurt frowned, “Shut up. Listen do you have a portable DVD player?”
“Duh,” Puck said almost offended.
“Then meet me at the Drumlins Mansion, I have an idea.”
~Part Four~
Kurt paced back and forth right in front of his car while waiting for Puck to drive up. He pulled his hand from his mouth where he had been worrying his nails, and waved as Puck rode up on his bicycle.
Puck stopped and set his bike right next to the fence.
He walked over, and usually Kurt would try to avoid looking at the sway of his hips or the way he walked with his chest puffed out as if he needed help to get people to look in that area of his body.
But today there was something that made Kurt look.
“So where are we going to do this thing?”
Kurt felt startled for a second like if Puck could suddenly see into his mind, but then he realized that he was talking about the DVDs and yeah, Kurt should really focus right now.
“Inside,” Kurt said clearing his throat. Puck was smirking slowly at him, and it was doing things to Kurt that it should have no business doing. “In the room where my name was written. It’s the closest to the exit.”
Puck nodded and lead the way. By the time Kurt reached inside, he was already setting up and muttering to himself.
He turned when Kurt entered, and brandished the Rent DVD, “This is the one with the best quality.”
Kurt nodded his head, and watched as Puck placed the DVD in the drive.
The screen was blue for a second before a man with brown hair sticking up and a pair of glasses appeared.
“And there he is,” Puck said as if he was presenting something.
“The Doctor,” Kurt said smiling slightly.
“Who’s the Doctor?” Puck asked looking at Kurt.
“He’s the Doctor,” Kurt said jumping slightly when the man on the TV spoke.
“Yep, that’s me,” the slightly attractive Doctor responded in an English accent.
“Okay,” Kurt replied gulping. “That was scary.”
“No,” Puck says shaking his head. “It sounds like he's replying to you, but he always says that.”
Right on time the Doctor said, “Yes I do.”
“And that,” Puck said rolling his eyes.
“Yep, and this.”
Kurt’s eyes were wide, “He can hear us!”
He kneeled down on the floor just so he could be closer to the man on the screen completely convinced that he could hear them, “Oh my God, you can really hear us!”
Puck sighed exasperated, “Of course he can't hear us, Hummel.”
He turned around and grabbed his bag. He roughly opened it and pulled out a sheet of paper, “Look, I wrote it all down, see? Everything he says: 'Yep, that's me,' 'Yes I do,' 'Yep, and this,' next is…”
Both the Doctor and Puck say at the exact same time, “Are you going to read out the whole thing?”
Puck looked at the screen sheepishly, “Sorry.”
Kurt spared Puck a look before turning back to the screen. “Who are you?” he asked, because even though intellectually he understood what Puck was trying to say, he still believess that the Doctor can hear them.
“I’m a time traveler,” the Doctor responds immediately, and Kurt has to resist the urge to smirk at Puck. “Or I was. I’m stuck in 1969.”
Kurt was just about to ask what does he mean by that when a pretty dark skinned woman appears on the screen, “We’re stuck. All of space and time he promised me now I’ve got a job in a shop. I’ve got to support him!”
“Martha!” the Doctor says exasperatedly. And Kurt has to stifle a giggle.
“Sorry,” Martha says and disappears off the screen again.
Kurt shook his head amused at the distraction, but they still had business to attend to, “1969? That’s where you’re talking from?”
The Doctor nodded his head, “I’m afraid so.”
Kurt shook his head, because this was all impossible, “But you’re replying to me. You can’t know exactly what I’m going to say forty years before I say it!”
“38!” The Doctor says like a woman would dispute her age when she’s actually over 40. It would be so funny, if Kurt’s head wasn’t beginning to hurt.
“Shit! Where is my pen!” Kurt looked over to where Puck was busy looking through his bag. He looked up at the lull and saw Kurt watching him “I’m getting this down. I’m going to write in your parts. Just as soon as I find my pen.”
Kurt ignored him and turned back to the Doctor, “How? How is this possible? Tell me.”
“Hey,” Puck protested. “Not so fast. I have to write it all down. Yes!”
Kurt didn’t look over to him. He was still watching the Doctor intently.
The Doctor sighed, “People don't understand time. It's not what you think it is.”
Okay, if Kurt suspended his belief on what time was then maybe he could understand this, “Then what is it?”
“Complicated,” because of course it was.
“Tell me,” Kurt demanded trying not to roll his eyes.
“Very complicated,” maybe the Doctor himself doesn’t know. Or at least he doesn’t know how to explain it. But Kurt was smart, he could get it.
“I'm smart, and I'm listening,” he said slowly. He hated it when adults pretended that they knew what was good for him. “And don't patronize me because people have died and I'm not happy. Tell me.”
The Doctor just sighed again, but more words than just ‘complicated’ came out of his mouth this time, “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect... but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly... timey-wimey... Stuff.”
Kurt resisted the urge to snort, because that was it?
“It still doesn’t explain how you keep responding to me.”
“Well,” the Doctor says tilting his head a bit to the side. “I can hear you.”
“This is impossible,” Kurt says getting up in agitation. He had to pace, or to do something. Because this was all confusing him much more than it had before, and Kurt really didn’t like it.
“No,” Puck said from where he was sitting on the floor writing in a notebook. “This is awesome.”
“Well,” the Doctor began again. “Not hear you exactly, but I know everything you’re going to say.”
Puck makes some noises over where he’s sitting and Kurt tries to ignore them. He really does, but it‘s Puck, and he just needs to shut up like now before Kurt does something he‘ll really regret, “That part just gives me the creeps you know?”
Ignoring Puck some more Kurt asked, “How can you know what I’m going to say?”
“Look to your left,” he says pointing to the left with his chin, and Kurt turns to look at Puck again.
“What are you doing?” he asks walking over to him and squatting by his side.
“Writing in your parts,” Puck says turning to him, and, wow Puck’s eyes were really pretty up this close. “This way I have a whole conversation. Instead of half of one.”
He finished talking in a whisper, and Kurt might’ve done something he would’ve really, really regretted if it wasn’t for the Doctor speaking up again.
“I’ve got a copy of the finished transcript.”
Kurt stood up and walked over to the screen partly because he still felt like if the Doctor could actually see him, and partly because that was just way too close for comfort, “How can you have a copy of the finished transcript? It’s still being written.”
“I told you,” the Doctor says, and he’s smiling a bit now. “I’m a time traveler. I got it in the future.”
Kurt sighed and resisted the urge to tear at his hair, “Ok let me wrap my head around this. You’re reading aloud from a conversation that you’re still having?”
The Doctor waved his hand, “Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.”
Kurt just sighed shaking his head, maybe he would never understand this.
“What matters is that we can communicate. We’ve got big problems now.”
The way he began to speak made Kurt pay attention suddenly, “They’ve taken the blue box haven’t they? The Angels have the phone box.”
Kurt shook his head, because he didn’t know, “What do you mean angels? You mean those statue things?”
“Creatures from another world,” the Doctor responded solemnly.
“But they’re just statues,” Kurt responded starting to feel a bit scared, because what if they aren’t just statues?
“Only when you see them.”
“What does that mean?”
The Doctor began to speak and his eyes took on this shiny gleam, and Kurt knew that this man was not only a time traveler but like the statues, he was a creature from another world, “The lonely assassins they used to be called. No one quite knows where they came from but they’re as old as the universe. Or very nearly , and they have survived this long because they have the most perfect defense system ever evolved. They’re quantum locked they don’t exist the moment they are being observed. The moment they are seen by any other living creature they freeze into rock. They have no choice it’s a fact of their biology. They’re seen by any living thing they are literally turned into stone. And you can’t kill a stone. Of course a stone can’t kill you either. But then you turn your head away. Then you blink. And oh yes it can.”
Kurt looked up suddenly, and noticed the statue of the angel that was still in the back yard. He motioned to it at Puck, “Don’t take your eyes off that.”
The Doctor was still talking, “That’s why they cover their eyes. They’re not weeping. They can’t risk looking at each other. Their greatest asset is their greatest curse. They can never be seen. Loneliest creatures in the universe.”
He looked really sad, and then he turned his sad eyes right back to Kurt, “And I am sorry. I am very, very sorry. It’s up to you now.”
Up to who? To Kurt? And Puck? What were they supposed to do?
“What am I supposed to do?”
The Doctor looked a little bit more animated that before, “The blue box it’s my time machine. There is a world of time energy in there. They could feed of off it forever, but the damage they do can switch off the sun. You’ve got to send it back to me.”
And once again, intellectually Kurt understood that, but there was still the question of how, “How?”
When the Doctor didn’t respond Kurt moved in closer about to shake the DVD player if that would help, “How?!”
The Doctor was silent for a second before he frowned, “And that’s it I’m afraid there is no more from you on the transcript. That’s the last I’ve got.”
Kurt’s eyes widened and he looked over to Puck who was watching Kurt in shock. What were they supposed to do now?
He didn’t even know where the phone box was!
He opened his mouth to tell Puck this, but the Doctor spoke one more time, “I don’t know what stopped you talking, but I can guess. They’re coming. The angels are coming for you, but listen. Your life could depend on this. Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink! Good luck.”
The screen froze and Kurt almost growled in frustration.
He had nothing to go on! All he knew was that there was an Angel in the backyard. An Angel that Puck was supposed to be watching!
He turned to Puck who was looking over to the open door that lead to the front door, “You’re not looking at the Angel.”
Puck looked up at the shaky quality of Kurt’s voice, “Neither are you.”
They both turned. And there it was.
The Angel.
From the backyard.
Inside of the house.
Arms outstretched.
Hands inches away from Puck’s face.
Mouth full of sharp teeth.
Face twisted in rage.
Both boys scrambled to their feet, and Puck automatically put Kurt behind him, “Don’t take your eyes of off it!”
“What do you think I’m doing?” Puck snapped.
Kurt just let out a shrill laugh and holding on to the back of Puck’s shirt began taking small steps back, “I’m going to try to get to the front door.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Puck says suddenly sounding a whole lot more scared than he was before.
Kurt gulped and resisted the urge to hold on tighter, “And why is that?”
“Because there are three more Angel statues upstairs, and I think I heard them moving,” Puck says calmly like if this was nothing to freak out about.
“And you didn’t think to tell me?” Kurt was not proud at the way his voice screeched four octaves higher than usual.
“Well,” Puck says. “I didn’t really think they were actually going to move. I mean who thinks that? Moving statues that feed off of time energy? What the fuck is up with that shit, man?”
Kurt ignored Puck, “Keep looking at that one. I’m going to turn around and make sure that there are none behind us.”
Still holding on to Puck’s shirt, Kurt turned around slowly.
There was nothing there.
“Okay,” he says suddenly coming to a decision. “You stay watching this one, and I’m going to go see if any came down the stairs.”
Kurt was moving before Puck could protest. He walked through the still open door, and was almost out of the room completely when he heard a noise coming from the side. He turned his head, and there was another door open, light was streaming from it, and Kurt could tell that this was the basement.
He walked over slowly, because suddenly he had a hunch.
If he had stolen a blue phone box, he would’ve kept it in the basement.
“Hey Puck,” he called out. “I think I found the phone box.”
“That’s all great and well, but are there any other angels out there. And I’m beginning to feel uncomfortable, and I think we should just leave.”
Kurt felt something pulsing, and followed his gut instead of Puck’s advice.
Besides it was sort of obvious that they got out of here alive.
He hoped.
They were the only ones with a finished version of the stupid transcript, because he was pretty sure no one was going to come in this house now.
If they died now, the Doctor wouldn’t have been able to tell them anything, then. Which was all still confusing.
Kurt refused to think, that maybe Santana or Mercedes came over to check on them and found the transcript and that’s how the Doctor got it, because that option wasn’t too good for his mental state at the moment.
Kurt stepped on to the stairs, and they creaked slightly. He walked down slowly, ignoring Puck yelling his name, because he had found it, the blue phone box.
It was just sitting there looking all innocent, like a phone box from the sixties, when it was actually a time ship. How was that possible?
Kurt walked forward stepping off the stairs, and slowly approached the box. He put his hand against it, and felt the thrumming energy. It was only when he stepped back, that he noticed that it was surrounded by Angels.
“Shit,” he yelled stepping back and trying to keep his eyes on all three at once. They were more concerned with the machine than him.
But apparently Puck had heard him because suddenly there was a huge warm body mass standing right behind Kurt, “That’s the box?”
Kurt nodded. “And it’s surrounded by Angels,” he says a little bit hysterically. “Where is your Angel?”
Puck spun around.
“Right on the stairs,” he says his voice breaking as he pushed Kurt back into the doors of the phone box.
“Why did you bring it here?” Kurt almost yelled pushing at the phone box and trying to open it.
“You were the one who screamed!” Puck says defensively. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”
“At the cost of your own life?” Kurt asked afraid of the answer. But if he did answer, Kurt never heard it because the lights started flickering.
“No, no,” Kurt muttered, and then his fingers skidded over a key hole. “Shit! If the lights turn off, we’re screwed. And there is a lock on this box!”
Kurt was almost getting a panic attack. He might have started wheezing when Puck thrust something at him, “Here! A key. I found it yesterday when you were showing Finn your name. I didn’t think we’d need it, but I brought it just in case.”
Kurt could’ve kissed Puck if he wasn’t back to back with him and pressed against the box. He settled for groping his fingers unnecessarily while he grabbed the key.
“Besides,” Puck says sounding smug. “I brought my flash light.”
Kurt tried not to laugh as he attempted to open the door.
The lights were still flickering.
They turned off completely the second that Kurt found the key hole.
Puck turned on his flash light triumphantly, and for one second they both breathed in unison.
And then Puck’s flash light turned off.
“Shit!” he hit against the side of the door nearly hitting Kurt’s shoulder and the light turned back on, but the Angels were even closer.
“Open the fucking door!” Puck yelled once his flash light started flickering.
Kurt tried to turn the key, but it wouldn’t budge, “It’s stuck!”
He heard Puck curse some more, and he was pretty sure there was some Spanish in there.
Kurt would laugh at the thought that Puck knew Spanish curse words, and couldn’t speak a lick of Spanish, but he was too busy trying to open the freaking door.
The flash light finally stopped working, “We’re going to die.”
Kurt almost turned in shock, because he could hear the tears in Puck’s voice, but suddenly the key turned and the door opened. Puck had been pushing against Kurt so hard that when their support was moved they both fell inside.
They scrambled in, and the doors closed and locked right behind them.
Kurt pushed Puck off of him standing up first, and he let out a hysterical laugh.
Puck stood up after him, “It’s bigger on the inside.”
Kurt just nodded, and he was about to answer when a sound interrupted him.
Both of them turned to the side where there was a holographic version of the Doctor, “This is security protocol 712. This time capsule has detected the presence of an authorized control disk. Valid one journey.”
Kurt looked over to where Puck was holding one of the DVDs. He opened the box, and the disc was actually glowing.
He looked up at Kurt in shock, and Kurt shrugged shaking his head slowly.
“Please insert the disk, and prepare for departure.”
The holograph disappeared, and Kurt turned to the huge counsel where there was a section that looked like a disc could fit in, “Maybe it goes in here?”
Puck nodded, and made his way over there when the box tilted and they were both thrown to the floor.
“What was that?”
There was movement again and it sent them both crashing into the counsel, “They’re trying to get in!”
“Put the DVD in then Noah!” Kurt screamed covering his head when they were titled again and he almost hit his head against one of the support beams.
He didn’t actually see Puck put in the DVD, but he must’ve because suddenly there were weird noises and the thing inside of the glass case began moving up and down, and there was this whooshing sound.
Kurt resisted the urge to smile, because he was inside of an actual time machine.
He fell to the floor as the Angels tilted the box again, and landed with an oomph.
He smiled over to where Puck was holding on to one of the support beams.
Puck smiled back at him and opened his mouth to say something then the ceiling began to disappear.
“What’s going on?” Puck asked looking up.
“Oh no,” Kurt exclaimed sitting up from his position on the floor. “It’s leaving us behind! Don‘t do this! You can‘t!”
Before Kurt could say anything, Puck grabbed his arm and pulled him until he was once again pressed against Puck’s body.
Puck hunched them over so that he was completely surrounding Kurt.
He was protecting him, and Kurt resisted the urge to shiver, because he knew that they didn’t really have time for this.
If the box was leaving them behind then they were probably going to die. So much for his theory.
He turned his head, and looked at Puck who was looking around himself in shock as the machine disappeared around them and the Angels appeared slowly.
Instead of screaming like Puck looked like he was about to do, Kurt moved the arm that Puck wasn’t holding and reached up and tugged on the back of Puck’s neck.
Puck looked down at him, eyes wide and scared, his mouth already half way open, and Kurt didn’t hesitate. He pulled him down, and kissed him.
Kurt was sort of expecting to be pushed away, but if he was being completely honest with himself, he knew that Puck had been sort of flirting with him for the past couple of weeks.
He just refused to believe that anything would come of it.
It was just some harmless flirting. Mercedes and Sam did to him it all the time, and they were dating each other.
There was nothing harmless about the way that Puck grabbed on to him though. Arms tight around his waist, fingers digging into his ribs. It almost felt like if Puck wanted to tear Kurt apart, but in a good way. In that really good way.
If Kurt was going to die, then this was the best way to go. In Puck’s arms, and finally receiving his first kiss.
Puck kissed him back, licking into his mouth, and sliding until his hands were digging into Kurt’s spine, and he was almost bending him backwards.
And they kissed, and kissed.
And kissed?
Weren’t they supposed to be dead?
Kurt pulled back a bit, “Um Puck?”
Puck continued to trail kisses down his neck, “Yeah?”
“Aren’t we supposed to be dying?”
Puck stopped kissing him, and they both suddenly stood up and began looking at the Angels who were stationary and not attacking them.
“Keep looking at them,” Kurt hissed when Puck made to turn him around again.
“But they’re not moving,” Puck replied.
Kurt looked around them, and deliberately closed his eyes. The Angels stayed frozen.
“He tricked them,” Puck exclaimed laughing suddenly. “The Doctor tricked them into looking at each other!”
Kurt just shook his head, “Let’s just get out of here, before they decide to move again.”
They ducked under one of the arms and walked away slowly still watching them.
It was only when they were up the stairs and Puck had closed the door behind them, that Kurt doubled in half and started laughing.
He laughed until his stomach began to hurt.
He put his hands up to his face, and realized that somewhere in there he had begun to cry.
He would’ve collapsed on the floor, but Puck was suddenly there holding him up.
Kurt grabbed on to him and held on tight trying to contain his sobs against his neck.
They’d almost died.
It was just sinking in that they could have died.
If they had been any slower, they would have died.
If they had been fully standing, they would’ve also died.
Kurt didn’t want to die.
He pulled away slowly and took deep breaths. He hiccupped and wiped his nose on the handkerchief that he had in his pocket.
He looked up at Puck who was still watching him with this intensely weird look on his face, and he gulped.
“Um listen,” he began and cleared his throat when the words came out watery. “About what happened downstairs…”
He never got to finish his excuse/explanation because Puck leaned down and pressed their mouths together softly.
“We’ll talk later, ok?” Puck whispers pressing their foreheads together and sighing against Kurt‘s mouth, “Let’s get out of here.”
Kurt nodded slowly, and exhaled.
~*~
They did talk later.
A little bit. And Kurt had half listened, and when he heard his parent’s door close, he crawled over to Puck and straddled his lap, and pressed their mouths together.
There would be much more time later for talking about the Angels, and everything, but right now all Kurt wanted to concentrate on was how Puck was making him feel.
And not wasting a second of it.
Because they’d almost died, but didn’t and that was worthy of celebration.
Everything else would happen when it happened.
~Epilogue~
One Year Later
They were in London.
Kurt’s graduation present, to travel all over Europe.
It had been a year since the events at the Drumlins Mansion, and Kurt figured that the day was significant.
It was even more significant that they were in London on this particular day, given the fact that the Doctor was an English man.
He had woken up early from a nightmare involving the Angels. Puck had been wrapped around him, so it wasn’t like if he was really scared, but he felt like if he should be downstairs. Puck tightened his hold on him when he moved, but he found it easy to slip away. Puck had always been a heavy sleeper.
He went over to his carry on bag, where he kept his laptop and other electronic devices.
Also tucked in there in a manila folder with the words ‘For The Doctor’ written in Kurt’s handwriting on the front. In the folder there was everything from the list of DVDs that Puck had received at the video store with Blaine’s note to Finn’s letter.
Everything for the Doctor, for the day that Kurt bumped into him, because he had come to the conclusion that the reason the Doctor knew everything was because he had received the information from Kurt himself.
It was only a matter of time, and Kurt had learned to never ignore a consequence.
Which was why he found himself getting dressed, and tucking the folder into the bag he carried with him all the time. He left a note for Puck informing him that he was going to have some tea and scones downstairs in the hotel café, to join him when he woke up.
Kurt walked out the room, and smiled.
He took the elevator downstairs humming lightly to the song playing, and nodded at the blonde woman going inside of the elevator.
He sat on one of the tables outside so that he could see the people bustling about the streets, and ordered his tea.
Kurt enjoyed people watching while he drank tea or coffee. He liked to sit back listening to music, sipping his drink, and seeing the people moving along on a busy street. The nice people, and the good Samaritans, and the bad people, and the people who steal others cabs. And the people walking in and out of shops.
And the people crawling out the back of cabs holding bows and arrows and looking strangely like the Doctor and Martha.
Kurt took one more look at them before hurriedly getting up and running over to where they were still standing.
“Doctor!” he called almost desperately. “Doctor!”
He turned around and smiled, “Hello, sorry bit of a rush. There’s a thing happening, and I’ve got to stop it.”
“Oh my god, it’s really you!”
Kurt felt like jumping up and down and hugging this man who saved his life.
The Doctor looked at him confused, and Kurt was just about to explain himself when Martha interrupted, “Doctor we don‘t have time for this migration starting.”
“Look, sorry. I've got a bit of a complex life. Things don't always happen to me in quite the right order. Gets a bit confusing at times. Especially at weddings. I'm rubbish at weddings. Especially my own.”
Kurt wanted to laugh at that, “You’re a time traveler. I get it. It’s still in your future. It hasn’t happened to you yet.”
“What’s still in my future?” he asked at the same time that Martha walked over and told him they needed to go.
The Doctor continued to look at him, and Kurt’s smile widened. He dug around in his bag and pulled out the folder, “Okay. Listen. One day you’re going to be stuck in 1969. Make sure that you have this with you. You‘re going to need it.”
He handed the folder over to the Doctor, and he took it gratefully.
“Doctor!”
He turned to Martha, “Yeah!”
He turned back to Kurt, “Listen, gotta dash. Things. Happening. Well, four things. Well, four things and a lizard.”
Kurt smiled and shook his head, “Okay. No worries.”
He was glad for this. Glad that he could finally get that weight of off his shoulders. Maybe this was what he needed to finally pull that ring out of his pocket and ask Puck to marry him.
“See you around some day!” he called waving his fingers.
The Doctor turned smiling and then turned back, “What was your name?”
“Kurt Hummel.”
The Doctor tilted his head, “Good to meet you, Kurt Hummel.”
Kurt smiled and felt a presence right at his back. He knew without turning around that it was Puck. He saw the moment that the Doctor saw him, and turned to look at him.
Puck had shaved this morning, finally. It seemed like he was never going to. Not that Kurt minded. He just had beard burn in the most uncomfortable places.
He reached over and threaded their fingers together. He turned to the Doctor smiling again, and feeling so incredibly happy he could burst, “Goodbye Doctor.”
He turned around and tugged Puck along by his hand, “Wasn’t that the…?”
Kurt just nodded and took his seat again smiling lightly and drinking some of his tea, “Yes it was, but look it’s such a beautiful day. We should go see Big Ben, and maybe make out in the Underground.”
Puck just smiled at him and sat down across from him. He kept a hold if his hand over the table and squeezed his fingers.
Kurt waited until they were both calm enough, and his tea was almost done before leaning over and tracing the smooth skin along Puck’s jaw.
Puck stopped chewing on his scone, and smiled.
“So Noah tell me,” he says coyly pulling back and smiling from under his eyelashes. “How do you feel about marriage?”
Puck chocked on his tea, but didn’t run away, and that was progress.
The rest of the day passed by easily. They made out in the Underground, and saw Big Ben, and even took pictures inside of a red phone box, just because.
And if Kurt jumped a bit, and didn’t blink when he was around a statue, well that was just collateral damage.