Puck/Kurt story: Change 1/?
Because people seemed interested in this being continued, I've decided to give it a go!
Title: Change 1/?
Author: grimcognito
Rating: R (language and dark themes)
Character(s)/Pairing(s): pre-slash Puck, Kurt, Sarah, Mercedes
Genre: Angst, family
Warning: discussions of suicide, transgender issues (highlight to see last warning, slight story spoiler)
Spoilers: none if you’ve seen Glee at all
Disclaimer: I own nothing but this plot.
Author Notes: Um, in this story, the official Glee meetings are on Thursdays. Just so no one is confused about random time skips. And thanks to my amazing beta nonexistantpup !
Summary: When Puck’s sister tries to commit suicide, he decides that it’s time to change his act.
Word Count: 1926
Prologue
The next day was Friday and Kurt pulled into the school parking lot, making sure all of his valuables were in his bag, and that it was securely zipped shut. He took a deep, centering breath, mentally preparing himself for the day and the likeliness of making an acquaintance with the contents of the dumpster.
He pulled the handle and stepped out of his car, standing proud and walking toward the school entrance. As he approached the dumpsters, he was alarmed to see more jocks than usual.
On most days there were only two or three of them; today there were five, all huddled in a circle around someone. The jocks moved in unison, reaching into the circle, knees bent before heaving their arms upward.
Kurt felt his jaw drop open in shock as he saw Puck’s body, minus his letterman jacket, emerge from the huddle and become airborne. The teen flailed his arms a bit before curling up as tight as he could.
Kurt’s eyes followed his path. The sheer height the jocks had managed to fling him to was terrifying, but not nearly as much as the fall that followed it. Kurt was afraid the mohawked teen would hit the side of the dumpster and seriously hurt himself. He gasped a relieved breath when it didn’t happen, immediately followed by a wince as he heard the impact Puck’s body made with the contents of the dumpster.
Kurt had been thrown in the same dumpster countless times, but never so violently. It only took one jock to toss him in, but all five of those jocks had been in on throwing their teammate. Seeming unconcerned with any possible injuries, they laughed and shoved each other before walking away.
Kurt wasn’t the only one who’d seen what happened, a crowd of students having stopped to watch the spectacle, but he was the only one who over ran to help. Peering over the side of the dumpster, he saw Puck slowly pushing himself upright.
The other teen managed to stand, groaning as he rubbed his shoulder with his back to Kurt. Kurt opened his mouth to speak when Puck gripped the side of the dumpster, hauling himself out in one smooth movement and landing on the concrete with just a hiss of pain. He leaned over and grabbed his backpack, only noticing Kurt when he straightened up again.
Kurt looked into Puck’s dark eyes. “Why did they do that?”
Puck stared back, face expressionless. “I came out.”
Then he turned and walked away, ignoring the stares that followed him all the way into the school. Kurt stood there, gaping until Mercedes walked up to him and slid her arm through his. “What’s up Kurt? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
Kurt turned to her, blinking and began walking to his locker, “You won’t believe what I’m about to tell you.”
He didn’t catch sight of Puck for the rest of the day, but he heard plenty of rumors flying around about McKinley’s stud actually being a homo, as well as quite a few more insulting terms he didn’t want to think about.
When he arrived to the choir room for practice, as it had become habit for everyone to meet afterschool to rehearse or simply gossip, Puck was nowhere to be seen. Kurt assumed the jock had skipped out, unable to take any more. He couldn’t blame him, Kurt had felt the same way on more than a few bad days, but he’d thought that the other boy would have been brave enough to last through at least one full day.
Apparently, Puck wasn’t as unbreakable as he tried to pretend he was.
Kurt regretted those thoughts about ten minutes later, when Puck walked in, arm slung around the shoulders of a younger girl. She looked to be about twelve or thirteen, with long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and dressed in loose, dark colored clothes.
Kurt didn’t have the heart to think anything mean spirited at her complete lack of a fashion sense when he saw the barest edge of a bandage under her long sleeves. He swallowed hard; this had to be Puck’s little sister. She looked pale and withdrawn, dark circles under her eyes. Puck’s expression dared anyone to even try messing with her, at least, until he looked at his sister, then his eyes became soft and sad.
They moved to the front of the room, everyone’s attention already on the two. Puck looked around as if to make sure everyone was present. “Guys, this is my sister, Sarah. She’ll be staying with me after school for a while. I’m not gonna tell you why, but-“
Sarah cut him off, looking up to meet people’s eyes, “I’m on suicide watch.”
Puck pressed his lips together and tightened the arm around her shoulders. She stood tall and refused to look ashamed. Kurt had to admire her bravery.
Puck continued his interrupted speech, “She’ll be with me for a while, so you’ll be seeing her around a lot. Be nice or I’ll kick your ass.”
With that, he led her up to the back row, sitting just a few seats down from Kurt. He then proceeded to point out each glee member and list their names for his sister. She nodded and leaned against her brother, hands resting lightly on her lap. As the rest of the teens began to move around, Kurt went along with everyone else as they introduced themselves to Sarah and began working on various songs and choreography.
They hadn’t gotten an official assignment from Mr. Shue, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t make up their own. Kurt was running through his playlist for something to try out, headphones in but not actually listening to anything yet, when he heard Puck and his sister having a low conversation.
“Hey, dudette, you know you can talk to me, right?”
Kurt had to keep himself from making a face at the terrible nickname, and pretended to choose a song, leaning back and closing his eyes as if trying to memorize lyrics.
Sarah’s answer was soft and barely made it to Kurt’s ears, “I don’t even know where to start.”
Puck’s voice was warm and encouraging in a way Kurt had never imagined it could be, “Well, then let’s start with how you, uh, feel about, um, everything I guess?”
There was a soft huff of a laugh at Puck’s awkward attempts, but when she answered, Sarah’s voice was sad and weary, “I don’t think you’d understand. Do you have any idea what it’s like to live a lie that the rest of the world thinks is truth? I spend every day wearing clothes that I feel awkward and out of place in, I have to do this stupid long hair every morning, I have to pretend that I care about whatever the rest of the girls are talking about. I can’t join football, or just go wrestling and get all gross and sweaty hanging out with boys without someone assuming I’m crushing on one of them.”
There was a pause for a small sniffle before she continued.
“I told Laura, you remember Laura right?” she asked, going on after an affirming noise from Puck, “I told her because she was my best friend, and what did she do? She went and fucking told everyone. Now I can’t walk down the hall without someone calling me She-Man Sarah. The teachers don’t try to stop them, they just pretend they don’t hear it.”
Her voice was angry and Kurt was pissed as well. He was pretty sure he knew what her secret was, realizing that she probably had it even worse than he did as an openly gay boy. He couldn’t fathom what it would be like to live in the wrong body. And by the furious snarl he could hear, he figured Puck wasn’t too happy with what she was telling him.
“Who?”
That one question wasn’t just asking for names, it was asking for addresses and coffin sizes.
“Nobody, everybody. It doesn’t matter because you’d end up in jail before you got half of them.”
There was some mumbling about half you don’t have to worry about but Puck seemed to settle down just a bit.
“The thing is, Noah, there’s no way to explain what it’s like to be this way. How uncomfortable I feel in my own body.”
There was a long moment of silence before Puck replied, speaking as if he was thinking over each word, “Then I guess I’ll have to find out.”
They lowered their voices once more, and Kurt was left to his burning curiosity.
…………………….
Monday morning, Kurt was chatting with Mercedes as he gathered his books from his locker when the constant chatter of students died out into silence. Kurt turned, trying to figure out what could possibly shock a hallway of teens into stillness.
Mercedes caught it first, whispering a shocked, “Jesus Christ.”
Kurt followed her eyes to the end of the hallway, not seeing anything out of the ordinary at first and was about to ask his best friend what the big deal was when a student in front of him shifted just enough to reveal Puck.
Kurt’s mind stuttered to a halt, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. It was Puck for sure, striding down the hall as if nothing was amiss, but what was truly brain-breaking was what the jock was wearing.
A dress.
A fitted jean dress that buttoned from neck to waist with short sleeves, the hem barely reaching his knees. As Puck came closer, Kurt’s brain nearly derailed a second time when he saw Puck’s legs. His smooth, shaved legs and the shoes decorated with flower designs.
As they passed, Puck nodded to Kurt and Mercedes and kept walking. When he turned the corner, it was still quiet in the hall, so everyone heard the wet splash and Azimio’s smug cry of,
“Morning faggot!”
This was quickly followed by Karofsky’s “Dressing up for your boyfriend Puckerman?”
The hall exploded into noise, students not bothering to whisper at this new development, some discussing it excitedly while others were obviously disgusted by it.
Kurt and Mercedes turned toward each other, thinking the same thing, a mixture of WTF? and holy shit!
Kurt remembered Puck’s words from the conversation he’d overheard, ‘Then I guess I’ll have to find out.’
He clutched Mercedes’ arm, “I think I know what’s going on.”
“Then you’d better explain fast because I’m not sure my mind can handle that image.”
The bell rang and he tugged her toward their first class, dropping his voice to a whisper, “I think Puck’s sister is transgendered, a boy in a girl’s body. I overheard her talking with Puck and she told him he wouldn’t understand what it was like for her. Something about having to wear the wrong clothes all the time and feeling awkward in her own body.”
Mercedes shot him a strange look, “So he’s humiliating himself to make her feel better?”
Kurt shook his head, “No, I think he’s trying to understand what she’s going through.”
Mercedes sat in her usual seat once they reached the classroom, looking thoughtful as Kurt slid into his chair next to her, “That’s actually kind of sweet, in a really weird way. He has to realize that he’s going to be washing slushie from his hair until he graduates. He’ll never recover his reputation from this.”
Kurt stared solemnly at his best friend, “I think that’s the point.”