Fic: Seven Days Later 1/?
*hides under table*
Title: Seven Days Later 1/?
Rating: PG-13
Pairings/characters: established Puck/Kurt, Kurt. Finn, Burt, and a few others for now.
Warnings: not so far...
Summary: When Puck goes missing for a week, his surprising return also brings along some terrible news.
Day one, Kurt had been infuriated and humiliated. He should have known Puck wouldn’t show. Of course the jock wasn’t going to come out to the school, it was social suicide. Not even if he’d sounded so sincere the night before, insisting that he was proud that he was dating Kurt and that everyone should know it.
Now Kurt was left feeling like a complete moron while his supposed boyfriend- ex-boyfriend, he corrected himself- acted like a complete coward, not even showing up for school.
Kurt stayed as quiet as he could the rest of the day, knowing he would take his anger out on anyone he spoke to. He’d already snapped at Finn earlier when the boy wondered out loud if Puck was sick. Now that they were friends again, he actually noticed when Puck was absent.
“You think he might be sick?” Finn asked as he walked over to where Kurt was pulling books out of his locker.
“How the fuck should I know?” The acid tone and unusual curse had Finn backing up a step, hands raised in a placating manner.
“Woah. What’s the matter, Kurt? Did Puck do something to you? I thought you guys were getting along.”
“Oh yeah, we were getting along just fine.” Kurt snarled, slamming his locker shut before stalking off. Finn stood there, watching the smaller boy with a look of confusion.
Not even Mercedes could get Kurt to open up, no matter how hard she tried. Finally she let him be and instead began planning how she would rip Puck’s balls off in the most painful way possible for whatever he’d done to her best friend.
Day three, Kurt’s fury had turned into worry. Where the hell was Puck? No one had seen or heard from the Jock since he’d left Kurt’s house on Sunday night. Finn had even stopped by the other jock’s house but said no one had been home.
Rumors were starting to spread around the school, each more ridiculous than the last, but Kurt ignored them all, a feeling of dread settling in his stomach. Every night since he and Puck had gotten together two months ago, they would have a text conversation before going to bed, even when they were arguing, there would be some form of communication. But there was nothing, and no matter how many times Kurt checked his phone, there were no new messages there to reassure him. The same went for every other member of glee club.
After school, Kurt tried calling Puck’s phone. He and Quinn were the only ones in the choir room, when she saw who he was calling, she looked at him with sad eyes her voice a worried whisper, “It won’t work. I tried that yesterday.”
Kurt ignored her and dialed anyway. There was no ring on the other end, simply a computerized female voice kindly informing him that the number was no longer in service. Kurt hung up slowly, the cold feeling in his stomach spreading out into the rest of his body.
Quinn rested a hand on his arm and they shared a look, no words needed to acknowledge the concern they both felt.
By day seven, it was Monday again and still no sign of Puck. Glee club was barely functioning, everyone too worried about their missing member to focus. Rachel had stopped in the middle of a solo, quietly walking back to her seat and staring blankly down at her sheet music, lip trembling. Finn walked around looking lost and depressed. He drove to the Puckerman household everyday after school and it was always the same, no one home.
Even Karofsky had demanded to know where Puck had disappeared to, looking pissed when Finn said he didn’t know.
If the rest of them looked bad, Kurt was beyond hope. He dressed himself on auto-pilot, not caring if he matched or not. He barely ate and couldn’t remember anything that happened in his classes. The only reason he still came to school everyday was to see if Puck had returned. He hadn’t.
Burt had never seen his son look this bad, it was too much like when his wife died. He knew that mohawked kid his son was dating had done something, but what could be this bad? Had they broken up, and did Burt need to go get his shotgun? Finally, he broke down and decided to ask Finn if he knew what was wrong with Kurt. He knew Finn hadn’t known the two were dating, but he might know if they’d had a fight. (Burt was pretty sure the boys thought he didn’t know either, but he wasn’t blind. Or deaf.)
He corned his step-son after school, taking a moment to watch the boy stare despondently out the kitchen window. As a matter of fact, Burt realized, Finn had been acting depressed for a while as well. What the hell was going on? He didn’t know but he was about to find out. He took a step forward and leaned against the doorway, effectively blocking Finn’s escape.
“So,” he started, catching Finn’s attention. “Did something happen at school? Have people been picking on Kurt again?”
Finn stared back for a moment with a pained expression before slumping into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. He buried his face in his hand and mumbled something Burt couldn’t hear. Now twice as worried, Burt slid into the chair next to the boy, gripping his shoulder in comfort, “What was that, son. I couldn’t quite hear you.”
Finn looked up and Burt was alarmed to see they were shining with unshed tears. Finn’s voice wavered when he spoke, “Puck’s gone missing.”
Burt sat back in surprise, “What do you mean missing?”
Finn stared down at the table, “He never came to school last week. No one’s seen him since he left our house on Sunday night. I keep going by his house but no one’s there, not even his mom or sister. He just- he just disappeared.”
Burt tried to wrap his mind around the information, after a few long moments, Finn dragged himself out of the chair and up to his room. A hopeful little voice in the back of his mind wondered if the family has simply gone on vacation, in the middle of the school year, without telling anyone. It wasn’t even close to convincing. He knew the Puckerman kid didn’t have that kind of money, and he wouldn’t have left without a word to either Finn or Kurt.
It explained Kurt’s behavior though, it had to be killing him that his boyfriend, (no matter how Burt felt about that) was nowhere to be found. Burt couldn’t imagine how it would feel if Carole went missing, it would be like losing his wife all over again. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad had happened to Mohawk- Puck, he corrected himself- But had no idea how to help.
He wished Carole was here, not out of town on a business trip, leaving him with no one to confide in. That did give him an idea though, had anyone contacted the police?
He was reaching for the phone when the doorbell rang.
Part 2- http://grimcognito.livejournal.com/4628.html