Fic: Curdle (Finn, Puck) PG-13 (10/12)
Title: Curdle
Author: hyperemmalawlz
Fandom: Glee
Chapter: 10/12 (probably)
Characters/Pairing: Finn, Puck, ensemble
Word Count: 2500
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "I don't need help," Puck had said, even when he turned up bleeding and almost-crying on Finn's doorstep at 2 AM. A year later, he still needs the help -- and Finn is still slightly incompetent.
Spoilers: Up to 1x22, "Journey."
Warnings: Swearing, discussion of child molestation, sexual references.
Author's Notes: Written for the glee_angst_meme, the prompt: "Puck's mom has an on again off again boyfriend who abuses him sexually. Now they're on again and said boyfriend has moved into their house. After the last time they broke up, when Puck thought he was gone for good, he told Finn about the abuse."
10: THE PATRON SAINT OF...
Puck jumped a little as the door to Figgins' office swung open. It was quiet in there, okay? He wasn't a pussy.
Mom walked in coolly, appraising the (kinda random, admittedly) selection of people there. She sighed. “Noah, what did you do?” she asked. “Why am I here?”
“Ms. Puckerman, your son has not done anything. This time,” said Figgins, giving Puck a warning glance. “Please, take a seat.”
“Where?” she asked, and immediately Mr. Schue stood up to offer his chair. She took it, sending a look at Puck. He shrugged back at her. He couldn't explain this to her. Okay, someone was probably going to soon, but - as long as he lied, things would be fine. And he had to get his lie on for a second, so he'd rather not be first to explain.
Be cool, he told himself. It'll be fine.
“So what is this about?” she asked. “Noah?”
“Weird shit,” he said flippantly. “Don't ask me.”
He vaguely wondered if acting like that would blow his cover. Wasn't he meant to be pissed as all hell for Finn's sake; think he was the one in trouble; want to kill Burt Hummel? Yeah, that thing. Oh well. Hopefully, Mom wouldn't notice.
Puck frowned. Somewhere he knew he was being stupid. Why the hell was he covering for the douchebag who had made his life hell since he was a kid? And why was he letting Finn's stepdad, who was nothing but an awesome guy, pay for it?
No. He wasn't doing it for Hugo, the little son of a bitch. Mom. It was about her. He loved her, but her whole life had been nothing but stress and he knew that - she hadn't exactly done a great job hiding it. Nana had always acted like Mom wasn't good enough; especially not good enough of a Jew, just 'cause she couldn't be bothered eating pork (when Puck's mom told him it was a good idea to do something for their religion, he did it). She'd done her best to take care of him as a kid and now Sarah, but they were damn crazy and she was doing it alone (Puck always did his best to take care of his little sister). And that brought him to the fucker himself, Daddy Dearest who ran out as soon as he got bored, and stranded Mom with this shit. Left her wide open and vulnerable for a creep like Hugo to snare.
Hugo might have been a bastard to him, but at least he had the excuse that he wasn't related to Puck or anything. He had a reason not to care too much about Puck in particular. Dad didn't have that excuse, and really when you went back to it all this shit was his fault.
If he told Mom, she'd freak. She'd go all overprotective on him. She'd feel guilty for letting that douchenozzle into their house, and Puck can't do that to her. She deserves better. The one thing about him, his mom and his sister - they're not always perfect, but they protect each other. It's her protecting him versus him protecting her. She's done enough. It's his turn.
Okay, yeah, it seems unfair to let Burt Hummel carry the can, but - it wasn't like anything that bad was going to happen, right? The cops couldn't do anything to him without some kind of proof, which they wouldn't have because, y'know, it wasn't true. Finn would be able to convince them all of what he knew, so it wouldn't be like Carole would dump Burt or anything... Finn just couldn't prove it, so nothing would happen to Puck. Win-win.
Principal Figgins sighed deeply, looking Mom in the eyes. “Ms. Puckerman, there have been rather severe accusations leveled today. Particularly at your current boyfriend... Hugo Ravirez, I believe his name is?”
“Yes,” said Mom. “What accusations?”
“Ms. Puckerman... Mr. Hudson and the younger Mr. Hummel over there,” he gestured towards Finn and Kurt, “have accused your partner of... inappropriate behavior towards your son. Sexual abuse, to be specific.”
Mom looked back at Finn, some unrecognizable emotion flooding her face. Finn shuffled a bit uncomfortably, but he didn't avoid her gaze. Puck so didn't get it. Then Mom turned back to Figgins. “That's absurd. My boyfriend would never do such a thing.”
Figgins sighed. “We know you'd like to believe so, but it is our duty as educators to examine all factors when it comes to a student who may be in that sort of situation.”
“Please, sir, look at the context for all this,” Mom pleaded. “Both these boys have deep-seated issues with my son. Finn... Noah slept with, impregnated and stole his girlfriend. Kurt... Noah spent a lot of time bullying him. Does it sound entirely implausible that they might collaborate, making this accusation to damage our family for revenge? Now, I am never going to argue that my son is perfect... but he does not deserve that. And my boyfriend, a perfect innocent, certainly does not.”
Finn looked mad. Like he was struggling to say something, but before he could, Mr. Schue burst in. “With all due respect, Ms. Puckerman, I'm fairly certain that if Finn and Kurt are lying, that is not why.”
Mom blinked. “What do you mean?”
Schue just pursed his lips, and Figgins sighed again. “Ms. Puckerman,” Figgins said, drawing her attention back to him, “We are all in this office for a reason. Yesterday, Mr. Schuester came to me informing me of a very disturbing conversation he'd had with one of his students... Finn Hudson. He said Mr. Hudson had reported that a 'friend' was being sexually abused by his mother's boyfriend, who they had recently started to live with, and asked for advice. Mr. Schuester thought this was a veiled reference to Finn himself, being aware of the boy's family situation - also having recently moved in with his mother's boyfriend. We called the family in here to ask, and they denied it. It was Kurt Hummel who said Noah was the friend Finn was referring to, to which Finn agreed. We invited Noah here to ask as well, and he reacted badly to the accusation, but denied it. So we believed we needed to confer with you.”
“I know this must be difficult for you, but have you noticed... seen or heard... anything that could make you suspicious of Hugo's conduct towards your son?” Mr. Schue asked. “Anything at all? Please, Ms. Puckerman; we need to know.”
Mom shook her head certainly. “I've never heard anything like this before.”
“You lying bitch!” burst out Finn, which shocked everyone. “I told you about this, you... and you thought I was lying to get back at him about babygate, and just fine, but you know this happened so don't act like you have no clue.”
“Wait, you did what?!” Puck yelled, standing up to face him. Right now, he didn't even care if he was screwing things up, because... Finn gave him his word not to tell anyone. Especially her. How could he just go back on that?
The anger faded from Finn's face, and he looked... uncomfortable. “Look, man, I'm sorry,” he said. “I knew you were gonna be pissed, but... I was scared, and I was worried about you, and I didn't know what to do so yeah, I went to her. I expected her to something for you. She kind of didn't, but...”
“Noah, he's lying; sit down,” ordered Mom. Puck did so, but saw how damn unfocused her eyes were.
Fuck.
Mom looked back at Figgins. “I can assure you, there is nothing happening to my son. I would never permit that to happen; I would notice. Especially if I was pre-warned, thanks to any circumstance, like Finn over there is claiming - even if I didn't believe him at the time, it would make me paranoid, which I am not. I am inclined to agree with Mr. Schuester about what's going on - this boy has been abused, and is trying to deflect attention. I'm not sure if he's claiming this to try and get everyone to believe him even though he knows it's a lie, or if the trauma has caused him to form delusions, but...”
“You're still lying!” Finn yelled. “You know, when you said all that crap about me being a selfish brat who was making it up, I thought you actually believed that. And it freaked me out because I didn't know what to do to help him if you weren't on my side, but... don't you pretend I'm just crazy! You've got to realize this - if I was making it up back then just to piss him off, there'd be no reason for me to go to Mr. Schue. And I would not bother leaving out my name if I didn't mean...”
“Finn told me about everything the day he confronted Ms. Puckerman,” Hummel adds. “He told me how she had denied and disbelieved him. To me, it seemed like it was most likely strong denial - something I am certain of now.”
Finn winces. “Puck, dude, help us out.”
Puck's head hurt. He looked back over his shoulder at Finn. The dude was capable of many things - banging his head on twenty percent of doorways without trying; passing English last year despite spending most of it thinking Tom Robinson was half-bird; probably hitting some higher notes than Puck, 'cause Finn's voice was weirdly high when he sung - but lying was not one of them. And from the look in his eye... Finn couldn't be making this up just to screw with him.
Which had him thinking about his mom. She knew. Or at least, she had reason to suspect. Because Finn had told her. And Puck would kick his ass for that later, but... He always thought, if she ever found anything out she'd freak. She'd do anything she could to protect him, and she'd feel bad. So it was up to him to make sure she never found anything out.
But now she'd found something out; she'd abso-fucking-lutely found something out, and... she didn't really seem to care. She wanted to keep pretending it was nothing, even though things must have been sliding into place about now. There would be no reason for him to have that talk with Schue if he was lying to her that time; no reason to have that talk with her if he was lying to Schue that time. And Puck was pretty damn certain Finn wasn't lying to him.
And really, if she had proof now and she still refused to believe it... who said she hadn't had proof all along?
She looked at him with a vaguely irritated, or maybe desperate look. “Puck, please stop listening to them. This is clearly not about us; we're the scapegoat.”
“It's true.”
Everyone stared when he blurted that out. “Pardon?” asked Figgins.
“You fuckers heard me,” said Puck. “It... It started when I was like twelve. He'd touch me and shit. I didn't want to tell Mom 'cause... well, I thought it would fuck with her head. They were always breaking up and getting back together again... He never took it all the way. Then it kind of seemed like they'd broken up for good, and he... did what he hadn't. That was when I told Finn. Then, about a year later they were back together again... and he wasn't doing anything, but Finn was freaking out and I guess... I don't know.”
Puck was trying really hard not to sound like a weepy little girl, but from the looks on everyone's faces he was kind of failing.
Except Mom. “For god's sakes, Puck, don't,” she said. “Don't cover for him.”
Puck flinched. “Uh, I'm not. That would be really fucking stupid, so... I won't. You don't want to believe me.” He swallowed hard. “I always thought you'd been through enough for our sakes. I shouldn't tell you, because of everything it'd take out of you to do this protecting me thing. But right now... you really don't give a fuck, huh?”
“God!” Mom said, standing up out of her chair. “This isn't happening. Hugo is a good guy - I love him. Your father was a bastard of all sorts, but I learned my lesson from that; I would recognize another bad boyfriend and not let him into our house. Stop trying to wreck this for me, Noah!”
That made Puck feel worse on a whole new level, and he couldn't begin to put why into words. Luckily (and weirdly), Kurt went and did it for him. “So, what? Your son's safety is less important than your pride?”
Mom didn't answer that one, and then Hummel Snr. stepped forward, glaring. “Damn straight,” he said. “You know, your son just almost got me into a lot of trouble, aiming that accusation when he knew it was a lie. I have good reason to be mad at him. But you know what I see here? I see a scared kid who finally came out with all that happened. And you're his mom; it's your job to deal with it and make him feel okay. So fucking get over yourself!”
“Everyone, settle down!” Figgins calls. “But I agree to an extent. Ms. Puckerman, if this is your reaction to your child confessing to...”
There was an awkward pause as Mom looked around at everyone in the room. Puck wanted to believe the defeated look in her eyes was her accepting what happened - then he could go crazy and feel bad like he'd always expected to. But he knew her too well (she was his mom, after all). That look in her eyes was... pragmatic, he guessed.
“I'm sorry,” she said. “It's just...” she bit her lip. “Are you sure, Noah?”
“Well, yeah. It's... kind of hard to remember that one wrong.”
She sighed and squeezed his shoulder, just a bit too tight. “Do you want to go home? If that's alright with the school, Principal?”
“Under the circumstances, I believe that would be acceptable,” Figgins says.
Puck raised an eyebrow. “Isn't he there?”
Mom shook her head. “Work. We'll... collect his stuff, kick him out. It'll be okay.”
“I know that,” he said. “But... okay, yeah, whatever.”
She sighed and started leading him out of the room. Despite himself, he looked over his shoulder at everyone.
Finn mouthed “Sorry,” at him.
Puck wasn't really sure if he ought to be.
Author: hyperemmalawlz
Fandom: Glee
Chapter: 10/12 (probably)
Characters/Pairing: Finn, Puck, ensemble
Word Count: 2500
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "I don't need help," Puck had said, even when he turned up bleeding and almost-crying on Finn's doorstep at 2 AM. A year later, he still needs the help -- and Finn is still slightly incompetent.
Spoilers: Up to 1x22, "Journey."
Warnings: Swearing, discussion of child molestation, sexual references.
Author's Notes: Written for the glee_angst_meme, the prompt: "Puck's mom has an on again off again boyfriend who abuses him sexually. Now they're on again and said boyfriend has moved into their house. After the last time they broke up, when Puck thought he was gone for good, he told Finn about the abuse."
10: THE PATRON SAINT OF...
Puck jumped a little as the door to Figgins' office swung open. It was quiet in there, okay? He wasn't a pussy.
Mom walked in coolly, appraising the (kinda random, admittedly) selection of people there. She sighed. “Noah, what did you do?” she asked. “Why am I here?”
“Ms. Puckerman, your son has not done anything. This time,” said Figgins, giving Puck a warning glance. “Please, take a seat.”
“Where?” she asked, and immediately Mr. Schue stood up to offer his chair. She took it, sending a look at Puck. He shrugged back at her. He couldn't explain this to her. Okay, someone was probably going to soon, but - as long as he lied, things would be fine. And he had to get his lie on for a second, so he'd rather not be first to explain.
Be cool, he told himself. It'll be fine.
“So what is this about?” she asked. “Noah?”
“Weird shit,” he said flippantly. “Don't ask me.”
He vaguely wondered if acting like that would blow his cover. Wasn't he meant to be pissed as all hell for Finn's sake; think he was the one in trouble; want to kill Burt Hummel? Yeah, that thing. Oh well. Hopefully, Mom wouldn't notice.
Puck frowned. Somewhere he knew he was being stupid. Why the hell was he covering for the douchebag who had made his life hell since he was a kid? And why was he letting Finn's stepdad, who was nothing but an awesome guy, pay for it?
No. He wasn't doing it for Hugo, the little son of a bitch. Mom. It was about her. He loved her, but her whole life had been nothing but stress and he knew that - she hadn't exactly done a great job hiding it. Nana had always acted like Mom wasn't good enough; especially not good enough of a Jew, just 'cause she couldn't be bothered eating pork (when Puck's mom told him it was a good idea to do something for their religion, he did it). She'd done her best to take care of him as a kid and now Sarah, but they were damn crazy and she was doing it alone (Puck always did his best to take care of his little sister). And that brought him to the fucker himself, Daddy Dearest who ran out as soon as he got bored, and stranded Mom with this shit. Left her wide open and vulnerable for a creep like Hugo to snare.
Hugo might have been a bastard to him, but at least he had the excuse that he wasn't related to Puck or anything. He had a reason not to care too much about Puck in particular. Dad didn't have that excuse, and really when you went back to it all this shit was his fault.
If he told Mom, she'd freak. She'd go all overprotective on him. She'd feel guilty for letting that douchenozzle into their house, and Puck can't do that to her. She deserves better. The one thing about him, his mom and his sister - they're not always perfect, but they protect each other. It's her protecting him versus him protecting her. She's done enough. It's his turn.
Okay, yeah, it seems unfair to let Burt Hummel carry the can, but - it wasn't like anything that bad was going to happen, right? The cops couldn't do anything to him without some kind of proof, which they wouldn't have because, y'know, it wasn't true. Finn would be able to convince them all of what he knew, so it wouldn't be like Carole would dump Burt or anything... Finn just couldn't prove it, so nothing would happen to Puck. Win-win.
Principal Figgins sighed deeply, looking Mom in the eyes. “Ms. Puckerman, there have been rather severe accusations leveled today. Particularly at your current boyfriend... Hugo Ravirez, I believe his name is?”
“Yes,” said Mom. “What accusations?”
“Ms. Puckerman... Mr. Hudson and the younger Mr. Hummel over there,” he gestured towards Finn and Kurt, “have accused your partner of... inappropriate behavior towards your son. Sexual abuse, to be specific.”
Mom looked back at Finn, some unrecognizable emotion flooding her face. Finn shuffled a bit uncomfortably, but he didn't avoid her gaze. Puck so didn't get it. Then Mom turned back to Figgins. “That's absurd. My boyfriend would never do such a thing.”
Figgins sighed. “We know you'd like to believe so, but it is our duty as educators to examine all factors when it comes to a student who may be in that sort of situation.”
“Please, sir, look at the context for all this,” Mom pleaded. “Both these boys have deep-seated issues with my son. Finn... Noah slept with, impregnated and stole his girlfriend. Kurt... Noah spent a lot of time bullying him. Does it sound entirely implausible that they might collaborate, making this accusation to damage our family for revenge? Now, I am never going to argue that my son is perfect... but he does not deserve that. And my boyfriend, a perfect innocent, certainly does not.”
Finn looked mad. Like he was struggling to say something, but before he could, Mr. Schue burst in. “With all due respect, Ms. Puckerman, I'm fairly certain that if Finn and Kurt are lying, that is not why.”
Mom blinked. “What do you mean?”
Schue just pursed his lips, and Figgins sighed again. “Ms. Puckerman,” Figgins said, drawing her attention back to him, “We are all in this office for a reason. Yesterday, Mr. Schuester came to me informing me of a very disturbing conversation he'd had with one of his students... Finn Hudson. He said Mr. Hudson had reported that a 'friend' was being sexually abused by his mother's boyfriend, who they had recently started to live with, and asked for advice. Mr. Schuester thought this was a veiled reference to Finn himself, being aware of the boy's family situation - also having recently moved in with his mother's boyfriend. We called the family in here to ask, and they denied it. It was Kurt Hummel who said Noah was the friend Finn was referring to, to which Finn agreed. We invited Noah here to ask as well, and he reacted badly to the accusation, but denied it. So we believed we needed to confer with you.”
“I know this must be difficult for you, but have you noticed... seen or heard... anything that could make you suspicious of Hugo's conduct towards your son?” Mr. Schue asked. “Anything at all? Please, Ms. Puckerman; we need to know.”
Mom shook her head certainly. “I've never heard anything like this before.”
“You lying bitch!” burst out Finn, which shocked everyone. “I told you about this, you... and you thought I was lying to get back at him about babygate, and just fine, but you know this happened so don't act like you have no clue.”
“Wait, you did what?!” Puck yelled, standing up to face him. Right now, he didn't even care if he was screwing things up, because... Finn gave him his word not to tell anyone. Especially her. How could he just go back on that?
The anger faded from Finn's face, and he looked... uncomfortable. “Look, man, I'm sorry,” he said. “I knew you were gonna be pissed, but... I was scared, and I was worried about you, and I didn't know what to do so yeah, I went to her. I expected her to something for you. She kind of didn't, but...”
“Noah, he's lying; sit down,” ordered Mom. Puck did so, but saw how damn unfocused her eyes were.
Fuck.
Mom looked back at Figgins. “I can assure you, there is nothing happening to my son. I would never permit that to happen; I would notice. Especially if I was pre-warned, thanks to any circumstance, like Finn over there is claiming - even if I didn't believe him at the time, it would make me paranoid, which I am not. I am inclined to agree with Mr. Schuester about what's going on - this boy has been abused, and is trying to deflect attention. I'm not sure if he's claiming this to try and get everyone to believe him even though he knows it's a lie, or if the trauma has caused him to form delusions, but...”
“You're still lying!” Finn yelled. “You know, when you said all that crap about me being a selfish brat who was making it up, I thought you actually believed that. And it freaked me out because I didn't know what to do to help him if you weren't on my side, but... don't you pretend I'm just crazy! You've got to realize this - if I was making it up back then just to piss him off, there'd be no reason for me to go to Mr. Schue. And I would not bother leaving out my name if I didn't mean...”
“Finn told me about everything the day he confronted Ms. Puckerman,” Hummel adds. “He told me how she had denied and disbelieved him. To me, it seemed like it was most likely strong denial - something I am certain of now.”
Finn winces. “Puck, dude, help us out.”
Puck's head hurt. He looked back over his shoulder at Finn. The dude was capable of many things - banging his head on twenty percent of doorways without trying; passing English last year despite spending most of it thinking Tom Robinson was half-bird; probably hitting some higher notes than Puck, 'cause Finn's voice was weirdly high when he sung - but lying was not one of them. And from the look in his eye... Finn couldn't be making this up just to screw with him.
Which had him thinking about his mom. She knew. Or at least, she had reason to suspect. Because Finn had told her. And Puck would kick his ass for that later, but... He always thought, if she ever found anything out she'd freak. She'd do anything she could to protect him, and she'd feel bad. So it was up to him to make sure she never found anything out.
But now she'd found something out; she'd abso-fucking-lutely found something out, and... she didn't really seem to care. She wanted to keep pretending it was nothing, even though things must have been sliding into place about now. There would be no reason for him to have that talk with Schue if he was lying to her that time; no reason to have that talk with her if he was lying to Schue that time. And Puck was pretty damn certain Finn wasn't lying to him.
And really, if she had proof now and she still refused to believe it... who said she hadn't had proof all along?
She looked at him with a vaguely irritated, or maybe desperate look. “Puck, please stop listening to them. This is clearly not about us; we're the scapegoat.”
“It's true.”
Everyone stared when he blurted that out. “Pardon?” asked Figgins.
“You fuckers heard me,” said Puck. “It... It started when I was like twelve. He'd touch me and shit. I didn't want to tell Mom 'cause... well, I thought it would fuck with her head. They were always breaking up and getting back together again... He never took it all the way. Then it kind of seemed like they'd broken up for good, and he... did what he hadn't. That was when I told Finn. Then, about a year later they were back together again... and he wasn't doing anything, but Finn was freaking out and I guess... I don't know.”
Puck was trying really hard not to sound like a weepy little girl, but from the looks on everyone's faces he was kind of failing.
Except Mom. “For god's sakes, Puck, don't,” she said. “Don't cover for him.”
Puck flinched. “Uh, I'm not. That would be really fucking stupid, so... I won't. You don't want to believe me.” He swallowed hard. “I always thought you'd been through enough for our sakes. I shouldn't tell you, because of everything it'd take out of you to do this protecting me thing. But right now... you really don't give a fuck, huh?”
“God!” Mom said, standing up out of her chair. “This isn't happening. Hugo is a good guy - I love him. Your father was a bastard of all sorts, but I learned my lesson from that; I would recognize another bad boyfriend and not let him into our house. Stop trying to wreck this for me, Noah!”
That made Puck feel worse on a whole new level, and he couldn't begin to put why into words. Luckily (and weirdly), Kurt went and did it for him. “So, what? Your son's safety is less important than your pride?”
Mom didn't answer that one, and then Hummel Snr. stepped forward, glaring. “Damn straight,” he said. “You know, your son just almost got me into a lot of trouble, aiming that accusation when he knew it was a lie. I have good reason to be mad at him. But you know what I see here? I see a scared kid who finally came out with all that happened. And you're his mom; it's your job to deal with it and make him feel okay. So fucking get over yourself!”
“Everyone, settle down!” Figgins calls. “But I agree to an extent. Ms. Puckerman, if this is your reaction to your child confessing to...”
There was an awkward pause as Mom looked around at everyone in the room. Puck wanted to believe the defeated look in her eyes was her accepting what happened - then he could go crazy and feel bad like he'd always expected to. But he knew her too well (she was his mom, after all). That look in her eyes was... pragmatic, he guessed.
“I'm sorry,” she said. “It's just...” she bit her lip. “Are you sure, Noah?”
“Well, yeah. It's... kind of hard to remember that one wrong.”
She sighed and squeezed his shoulder, just a bit too tight. “Do you want to go home? If that's alright with the school, Principal?”
“Under the circumstances, I believe that would be acceptable,” Figgins says.
Puck raised an eyebrow. “Isn't he there?”
Mom shook her head. “Work. We'll... collect his stuff, kick him out. It'll be okay.”
“I know that,” he said. “But... okay, yeah, whatever.”
She sighed and started leading him out of the room. Despite himself, he looked over his shoulder at everyone.
Finn mouthed “Sorry,” at him.
Puck wasn't really sure if he ought to be.