The lucky one
The first person Kurt Hummel ever tells about his new boyfriend is Noah Puckerman. It’s strange, he thinks, because 6 months earlier his only thought about Noah (not puck anymore, now that they were friends) was that he had a nice ass. Now though, Noah was his best friend- they spoke on the phone every night, laughed about the stupidest things and were becoming known for their duets at glee parties- their rendition of A whole new world was almost as good as the classic, apparently. He tells Noah a day after James asks him out, and is surprised at the enthusiasm of Noah’s response. They’d talked about his sexuality before, of course, and Noah had always seemed cool with it, but Kurt had always gotten the feeling that Noah would have been that bit more comfortable if he thought Rachel Berry’s boobs were super hot, instead of Finns broad shoulders. So, when he tells Noah about James waiting outside his house, a rose in one hand and a signed copy of the Wicked soundtrack in the other, he expected at least a moment of awkward silence from the other end of the phone. Instead, he gets:
“And you didn’t tell me this like 5 minutes after it happened because? AS IF YOU DIDN’T CALL ME, BITCH. But seriously, well done dude. Think you can set me up with his sister?”
Kurt laughs “sorry man, I think she’s gayer than her brother. Have you seen her staring at Quinn at the pep rallies?”
“Dude, I’m pretty sure even you stare at Quinn during the pep rallies. And now she’s had Emily and she’s back in shape, she’s hotter than ever. And she’s a lesbian. That's like 5 times the hotness, right there. Fuck man, to think I had them both!”
“I never understood the girl on girl attraction. I mean...vagina is gross enough as it is. Two of them? That’s not double the hotness, its double the icky. Wait, the bell rang, I think its James. See you at glee tomorrow?”
“Hey, you aint leaving till I get to ask that kid his intentions with you.”
Kurt gasps in a mixture of fear and shock. He knows what Noah said to Mike when he and Brittany started dating, and he’s in no hurry for James to go through that. Still, if he doesn’t do it now then he knows Noah will just track the poor boy down after school and threaten him then, so he relents, calling out to James and telling him to come to the phone. He takes the phone, nods a few times, goes deathly pale, agrees to something and then hangs up. He turns to Kurt, and mutters
“So....that does that Noah guy generally threaten people?”
Kurt just laughs and nods, before taking James' hand and leading him out of the house.
He doesn’t tell the rest of Glee club until a week later; James waits for him outside of practise every day (‘I just don’t want you to be alone, babe” he says, and Kurt melts every time), and on one of these occasions he engulfs Kurt in a hug almost as soon as he and Noah have rounded the corner, kissing him so fiercely he thinks his hair may be ruined, before grabbing his arm and dragging him out before Kurt has a chance to say goodbye to anyone.
The next day, he is surrounded at his locker by a bunch of curious (and furious, in the case or Mercedes) glee kids, who demand to know when he was planning on introducing them to his new lover.
He fills them in on the details (and by that he means Noah does, while he follows along and nods) as they walk along to their lunch table; however, the moment he sits down, James whisks him away for a romantic lunch in a secluded spot outside where no one ever goes (well, almost no one, he thinks, when he sees Q.F loves R.B carved into a tree nearby).
These romantic lunches go on for about a month, and it’s not until Noah casually comments that no one sees Kurt anymore that he realises the last time he saw any of his friends outside of Glee was at a party two weeks ago, which he was only at for 15 minutes or so anyway before James came and picked him up for a date. So, the next Monday when James picks him up at his locker to take him out to their spot, Kurt instead leads him towards the table of the glee kids.
When James realises where they’re going he stops and spins Kurt around by the arm.
“Where are we going? Why aren’t you going outside?”
Kurt is shocked by James apparent anger at their lunching destination, but shrugs nonchalantly and says
“I thought we’d sit with my friends today. Noah mentioned that I hadn’t sat with them for a while so I figured we could chill with them?”
He doesn’t know why he makes it into a question, because it’s true, he hasn’t seen his friends for ages and even little baby Emily seems less fond of him these days, but he asks anyway, looking up into James big, blue eyes as they narrow and he says
“Fine. You hang out with your friends. Call me when you decide I’m important enough to hang out with.” He says coldly, walking away before Kurt can say another word.
He joins the glee table, and sits quietly, not saying anything until Mike leans over and says
“We’ve missed you, man. You’re like the glue, you keep us all together. We’re lucky to have you, dude”
It’s not much, but it makes him smile until fourth period, until he sees James again, who just glares and him before striding away.
It’s another week before James will talk to him again. When he does, he forgives Kurt quickly enough (But for what? The thought flashes through his mind before he quickly dismisses it, happy that James will look at him again), but says that he needs to commit more to the relationship if he wants it to work. Kurt nods and promises to do whatever it takes to keep them together because somehow, in these weeks he’s managed to fall completely in love, and he knows (well, he thinks he does) that James is the one, and there’s no point in anything if it’s not him.
It turns out, however, that doing whatever it takes to make the relationship work is not seeing, or speaking to, Noah. This, Kurt reflects, much later, is the beginning of the end. He says no, of course, Noah is his best friend, but that just makes James angrier. He lashes out at Kurt, almost hitting him, before stopping and caressing his cheek softly, while saying “It’s just that he’s in love with you, and I don’t want him to try anything. I love you baby, you know that”
Kurt reluctantly agrees, but thinks quietly to himself that what James doesn’t know can’t really hurt him.
He tells Noah about James’s request the next day at glee, and tells him that of course he won’t cut Noah out; he’ll just have to keep their friendship on the down low until James gets over it. Noah reluctantly agrees, if only for Kurt’s sake, and for the next month their relationship is made completely of fleeting grins, short and quickly deleted emails and the occasional talk at glee.
It’s one of these talks at glee which gets Kurt into the first real trouble he’s ever been in- James comes into glee early one day and catches their high five. He quickly drags Kurt out of the room, but he doesn’t start screaming at him until they reach the car park. He throws him against the car, and slaps him, hard. The screaming continues for a good five minutes before Kurt realises what’s happening. He straitens up and pushes past his screaming boyfriend, meaning to head back to the safety of glee, but James won’t let him leave. He grabs him by the sleeve and smashes his fist into Kurt’s jaw, causing Kurt to cry out and crumple to the ground. A kick lands in his stomach and he doubles over, unable to breathe. He opens his eyes slightly as he hears a yell, and feels a foot barely connect with him again before he hears a thump and someone crashes to the ground next to him.
Soft hands pull him up and sit him down on the group. They stroke his back calmingly and it’s not till he stops sobbing that he hears Brittany’s gentle voice soothing him. He opens his eyes, and sees Finn on top of James, punching repetitively. Noah is standing nearby, restrained by Quinn and Rachel. Mercedes, Tina and the rest of glee are gathered nearby, not sure whether to join Finn, comfort Kurt or to release Noah.
“S-stop.” He croaks out, causing everyone to pause and look over at him, including Finn, a fist raised over James’ bloody nose.
“Stop it, you’re hurting him.” He says it louder this time, looking at Finn. Matt steps forward balling his fists clearly pissed off.
“Hurting him? Dude, he would have killed you! He deserves what he’s getting!” The rest of the glee club nods, and matt steps towards James but is stopped by Finn, who stands up.
“Kurt’s right, if we keep going we’re no better than him. Let’s just...take Kurt back to yours ok Puck? We’ll all stay over, keep an eye on him. His dad doesn’t need to see him like this.”
Noah nods once, and bursts into tears.
Santana and Brittany help Kurt up. It’s not until he passes James car window that he realises how messed up he looks- his eye is already turning a bluey brown and his nose is still gushing blood; James must have hit him more times than he realises.
They arrive at Noahs house and spend a quiet night in, everybody checking on Kurt every two seconds, they go to sleep at around midnight, and as Kurt surveys them all, sitting in the middle of the living room with all his friends surrounding him protectively, Tina on leaning on his shoulder and Quinn asleep in his lap, he thinks that maybe he’s the lucky one, not them.
“And you didn’t tell me this like 5 minutes after it happened because? AS IF YOU DIDN’T CALL ME, BITCH. But seriously, well done dude. Think you can set me up with his sister?”
Kurt laughs “sorry man, I think she’s gayer than her brother. Have you seen her staring at Quinn at the pep rallies?”
“Dude, I’m pretty sure even you stare at Quinn during the pep rallies. And now she’s had Emily and she’s back in shape, she’s hotter than ever. And she’s a lesbian. That's like 5 times the hotness, right there. Fuck man, to think I had them both!”
“I never understood the girl on girl attraction. I mean...vagina is gross enough as it is. Two of them? That’s not double the hotness, its double the icky. Wait, the bell rang, I think its James. See you at glee tomorrow?”
“Hey, you aint leaving till I get to ask that kid his intentions with you.”
Kurt gasps in a mixture of fear and shock. He knows what Noah said to Mike when he and Brittany started dating, and he’s in no hurry for James to go through that. Still, if he doesn’t do it now then he knows Noah will just track the poor boy down after school and threaten him then, so he relents, calling out to James and telling him to come to the phone. He takes the phone, nods a few times, goes deathly pale, agrees to something and then hangs up. He turns to Kurt, and mutters
“So....that does that Noah guy generally threaten people?”
Kurt just laughs and nods, before taking James' hand and leading him out of the house.
He doesn’t tell the rest of Glee club until a week later; James waits for him outside of practise every day (‘I just don’t want you to be alone, babe” he says, and Kurt melts every time), and on one of these occasions he engulfs Kurt in a hug almost as soon as he and Noah have rounded the corner, kissing him so fiercely he thinks his hair may be ruined, before grabbing his arm and dragging him out before Kurt has a chance to say goodbye to anyone.
The next day, he is surrounded at his locker by a bunch of curious (and furious, in the case or Mercedes) glee kids, who demand to know when he was planning on introducing them to his new lover.
He fills them in on the details (and by that he means Noah does, while he follows along and nods) as they walk along to their lunch table; however, the moment he sits down, James whisks him away for a romantic lunch in a secluded spot outside where no one ever goes (well, almost no one, he thinks, when he sees Q.F loves R.B carved into a tree nearby).
These romantic lunches go on for about a month, and it’s not until Noah casually comments that no one sees Kurt anymore that he realises the last time he saw any of his friends outside of Glee was at a party two weeks ago, which he was only at for 15 minutes or so anyway before James came and picked him up for a date. So, the next Monday when James picks him up at his locker to take him out to their spot, Kurt instead leads him towards the table of the glee kids.
When James realises where they’re going he stops and spins Kurt around by the arm.
“Where are we going? Why aren’t you going outside?”
Kurt is shocked by James apparent anger at their lunching destination, but shrugs nonchalantly and says
“I thought we’d sit with my friends today. Noah mentioned that I hadn’t sat with them for a while so I figured we could chill with them?”
He doesn’t know why he makes it into a question, because it’s true, he hasn’t seen his friends for ages and even little baby Emily seems less fond of him these days, but he asks anyway, looking up into James big, blue eyes as they narrow and he says
“Fine. You hang out with your friends. Call me when you decide I’m important enough to hang out with.” He says coldly, walking away before Kurt can say another word.
He joins the glee table, and sits quietly, not saying anything until Mike leans over and says
“We’ve missed you, man. You’re like the glue, you keep us all together. We’re lucky to have you, dude”
It’s not much, but it makes him smile until fourth period, until he sees James again, who just glares and him before striding away.
It’s another week before James will talk to him again. When he does, he forgives Kurt quickly enough (But for what? The thought flashes through his mind before he quickly dismisses it, happy that James will look at him again), but says that he needs to commit more to the relationship if he wants it to work. Kurt nods and promises to do whatever it takes to keep them together because somehow, in these weeks he’s managed to fall completely in love, and he knows (well, he thinks he does) that James is the one, and there’s no point in anything if it’s not him.
It turns out, however, that doing whatever it takes to make the relationship work is not seeing, or speaking to, Noah. This, Kurt reflects, much later, is the beginning of the end. He says no, of course, Noah is his best friend, but that just makes James angrier. He lashes out at Kurt, almost hitting him, before stopping and caressing his cheek softly, while saying “It’s just that he’s in love with you, and I don’t want him to try anything. I love you baby, you know that”
Kurt reluctantly agrees, but thinks quietly to himself that what James doesn’t know can’t really hurt him.
He tells Noah about James’s request the next day at glee, and tells him that of course he won’t cut Noah out; he’ll just have to keep their friendship on the down low until James gets over it. Noah reluctantly agrees, if only for Kurt’s sake, and for the next month their relationship is made completely of fleeting grins, short and quickly deleted emails and the occasional talk at glee.
It’s one of these talks at glee which gets Kurt into the first real trouble he’s ever been in- James comes into glee early one day and catches their high five. He quickly drags Kurt out of the room, but he doesn’t start screaming at him until they reach the car park. He throws him against the car, and slaps him, hard. The screaming continues for a good five minutes before Kurt realises what’s happening. He straitens up and pushes past his screaming boyfriend, meaning to head back to the safety of glee, but James won’t let him leave. He grabs him by the sleeve and smashes his fist into Kurt’s jaw, causing Kurt to cry out and crumple to the ground. A kick lands in his stomach and he doubles over, unable to breathe. He opens his eyes slightly as he hears a yell, and feels a foot barely connect with him again before he hears a thump and someone crashes to the ground next to him.
Soft hands pull him up and sit him down on the group. They stroke his back calmingly and it’s not till he stops sobbing that he hears Brittany’s gentle voice soothing him. He opens his eyes, and sees Finn on top of James, punching repetitively. Noah is standing nearby, restrained by Quinn and Rachel. Mercedes, Tina and the rest of glee are gathered nearby, not sure whether to join Finn, comfort Kurt or to release Noah.
“S-stop.” He croaks out, causing everyone to pause and look over at him, including Finn, a fist raised over James’ bloody nose.
“Stop it, you’re hurting him.” He says it louder this time, looking at Finn. Matt steps forward balling his fists clearly pissed off.
“Hurting him? Dude, he would have killed you! He deserves what he’s getting!” The rest of the glee club nods, and matt steps towards James but is stopped by Finn, who stands up.
“Kurt’s right, if we keep going we’re no better than him. Let’s just...take Kurt back to yours ok Puck? We’ll all stay over, keep an eye on him. His dad doesn’t need to see him like this.”
Noah nods once, and bursts into tears.
Santana and Brittany help Kurt up. It’s not until he passes James car window that he realises how messed up he looks- his eye is already turning a bluey brown and his nose is still gushing blood; James must have hit him more times than he realises.
They arrive at Noahs house and spend a quiet night in, everybody checking on Kurt every two seconds, they go to sleep at around midnight, and as Kurt surveys them all, sitting in the middle of the living room with all his friends surrounding him protectively, Tina on leaning on his shoulder and Quinn asleep in his lap, he thinks that maybe he’s the lucky one, not them.