Welcome to the Glee Angst Meme again! You know how these things work. You can come here and prompt your most angsty prompts, and write stories filling those angsty prompts to let our characters suffer
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When they were at the little formica table waiting for what Finn had promised was really good Jewish deli food, Puck started the conversation with a casual, "So your stepdad owns a garage?" He wanted to hear more about Finn's family, especially Kurt, but was picking up that asking directly wouldn't be a good idea.
"Yeah, it's cool. For a while I thought I'd work there after school, but then I picked this." His face shadowed again briefly. "The station outsourced the motor pool stuff to him since he can do it cheaper and he's not that far from the station."
Puck looked suspiciously at his pastrami sandwich when it arrived. The rye bread looked like somebody had dyed Wonder Bread brown and they'd forgotten the mustard. One bite confirmed the worst. The pastrami tasted like random ends of meat that had been given a quick salt rubdown, not good cuts off the belly that had been lovingly bathed in spices that included salt. Reminding himself that there were sacrifices with leaving New York and LA, he continued eating as Finn started asking questions.
″So why did you want to come to Lima?″
″I'm my kid sister's guardian and I wanted her to grow up someplace smaller than New York, Chicago, where we'd lived before. It was fine when she was smaller but now that she's 10, someplace where we could afford a house and there'd still be something of a local music scene and so on sounded better.″ He fished for his phone, telling himself that it was only so that his new partner would know what she looked like in case he ever ran into her. Otherwise, it was just too grandparent to show people photographs. ″This is Sarah.″
Finn actually grinned at the photo. ″She looks like she's a handful,″ he said, with the kind of admiring tone that made Puck think that he and Hudson might end up bros.
″She's a total badass. All girl, too. I sometimes call her Princess Badass.″
Hudson grinned again. ″I like it. Hey, let's change the tire, get to the garage, then head out to the high school.″
At the garage, Puck waited with the car and Finn emerged a moment later with an older man. Puck noticed that his clothing hung loosely but had the characteristic bulges of having fit somebody larger. It was usually the sign of a trauma or an illness; somebody who had deliberately lost weight usually got new clothes but somebody who had lost weight for other reasons often didn't care or unconsciously found their older clothing comforting. ″Burt, this is my new partner, Noah Puckerman. Noah, this is Burt Hummel, my stepdad.″
″It's a pleasure to meet you, sir.″ Puck noticed his firm grip and direct gaze.
″Good to meet you, Noah. We'll have that tire changed out for you in just a few minutes. Coffee?″
″That'd be great.″ Puck felt more than a twist of envy at the undemonstrative but obvious affection between them. It clearly didn't matter that they were a stepfamily instead of related by blood.
There was a coffee machine with a half-full pot on a battered table in the back. Finn got cream and skim milk out of a refrigerator next to it. Burt took the milk and two packets of stevia, which Puck didn't recognize but guessed was a sweetener, and he and Finn took cream and sugar. The coffee was unexpectedly good, dark, full-bodied, and with exactly the right acidity and bitterness.
″So are you settled in, Noah?″ Burt asked.
″My little sister and I are in Oakfield apartments. It's got a pool and is near the park, so she's in heaven,″ he answered. ″If everything works out, we'll start looking at houses.″
″I just remembered, a high school friend of mine just got her realty license. I can get you her number,″ Finn offered.
″That'd be great.″
He looked around casually and noticed a slender figure sitting at a computer at the other end of the back of the garage. Almost as if he were aware of Puck's gaze, he looked up for an instant, gazed around incuriously, and then returned his attention to the computer. But that moment of seeing his face, even from the distance, was enough for Puck to recognize the boy from the photograph. Kurt Hummel.
He had no idea why he wanted the young man to come over so badly but he did. However, Kurt stayed there at the computer, looking as remote as if he were thousands of feet away and Puck were looking at him through a telescope.
"Yeah, it's cool. For a while I thought I'd work there after school, but then I picked this." His face shadowed again briefly. "The station outsourced the motor pool stuff to him since he can do it cheaper and he's not that far from the station."
Puck looked suspiciously at his pastrami sandwich when it arrived. The rye bread looked like somebody had dyed Wonder Bread brown and they'd forgotten the mustard. One bite confirmed the worst. The pastrami tasted like random ends of meat that had been given a quick salt rubdown, not good cuts off the belly that had been lovingly bathed in spices that included salt. Reminding himself that there were sacrifices with leaving New York and LA, he continued eating as Finn started asking questions.
″So why did you want to come to Lima?″
″I'm my kid sister's guardian and I wanted her to grow up someplace smaller than New York, Chicago, where we'd lived before. It was fine when she was smaller but now that she's 10, someplace where we could afford a house and there'd still be something of a local music scene and so on sounded better.″ He fished for his phone, telling himself that it was only so that his new partner would know what she looked like in case he ever ran into her. Otherwise, it was just too grandparent to show people photographs. ″This is Sarah.″
Finn actually grinned at the photo. ″She looks like she's a handful,″ he said, with the kind of admiring tone that made Puck think that he and Hudson might end up bros.
″She's a total badass. All girl, too. I sometimes call her Princess Badass.″
Hudson grinned again. ″I like it. Hey, let's change the tire, get to the garage, then head out to the high school.″
At the garage, Puck waited with the car and Finn emerged a moment later with an older man. Puck noticed that his clothing hung loosely but had the characteristic bulges of having fit somebody larger. It was usually the sign of a trauma or an illness; somebody who had deliberately lost weight usually got new clothes but somebody who had lost weight for other reasons often didn't care or unconsciously found their older clothing comforting. ″Burt, this is my new partner, Noah Puckerman. Noah, this is Burt Hummel, my stepdad.″
″It's a pleasure to meet you, sir.″ Puck noticed his firm grip and direct gaze.
″Good to meet you, Noah. We'll have that tire changed out for you in just a few minutes. Coffee?″
″That'd be great.″ Puck felt more than a twist of envy at the undemonstrative but obvious affection between them. It clearly didn't matter that they were a stepfamily instead of related by blood.
There was a coffee machine with a half-full pot on a battered table in the back. Finn got cream and skim milk out of a refrigerator next to it. Burt took the milk and two packets of stevia, which Puck didn't recognize but guessed was a sweetener, and he and Finn took cream and sugar. The coffee was unexpectedly good, dark, full-bodied, and with exactly the right acidity and bitterness.
″So are you settled in, Noah?″ Burt asked.
″My little sister and I are in Oakfield apartments. It's got a pool and is near the park, so she's in heaven,″ he answered. ″If everything works out, we'll start looking at houses.″
″I just remembered, a high school friend of mine just got her realty license. I can get you her number,″ Finn offered.
″That'd be great.″
He looked around casually and noticed a slender figure sitting at a computer at the other end of the back of the garage. Almost as if he were aware of Puck's gaze, he looked up for an instant, gazed around incuriously, and then returned his attention to the computer. But that moment of seeing his face, even from the distance, was enough for Puck to recognize the boy from the photograph. Kurt Hummel.
He had no idea why he wanted the young man to come over so badly but he did. However, Kurt stayed there at the computer, looking as remote as if he were thousands of feet away and Puck were looking at him through a telescope.
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Hugs for Burt and Kurt, and Puck and Finn for good measure.
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