Life's a Song 3/?
Part Three
Suddenly, the library's double doors burst open. Puck hissed out a curse and moved the hand burdened with the stake so it was behind his back; stepped closer to Kurt and gripped his arm.
"Come on," he urged and tugged and started to walk. The smaller teen didn't pull away from the hold or protest. He just followed docilely.
As they walked he noted that Puck had a very small ax tucked into his back pocket. He wondered just how many weapons the football player was in possession of.
When they reached the Navigator Puck stopped and eyed the vehicle before turning to Kurt. He relinquished his grip on the other teenager and held his hand out. His fingers were wiggling in a gimme gesture. "Dude," he said. "Give me your keys."
Kurt blinked.
"Look, you want to know what the hell is going on and I want to get the hell away from here before anyone notices the delinquent with the ax or before anymore baddies miss their friend and come looking. And you're obviously pretty freaked-"
The soprano pointed at the ground. "I dropped them when he jumped me. There."
Puck made a pleased sound and bent to retrieve the keys while Kurt went around to the passenger side. He waited and watched as the football player opened the back door and placed his stake and ax and the books Kurt had left sitting on the driver side down before closing the door and climbing up into the driver seat.
The jock reached over to pop open the passenger side door and the soprano climbed in himself; stared as Puck started the engine.
For a brief second Kurt considered protesting; demanding that he drive because this was Puck of all people and because it was his car and because his dad would absolutely flip if he let anyone who wasn't insured drive it.
But his former tormentor was right. He was freaked out -- confused and scared and definitely not willing to wait around to see if any of the exploding man's friends would show.
The vehicle pulled smoothly out of the parking spot and away from the library.
"What..." he began when they had reached a red light, Puck gripping the steering wheel with one hand and fiddling with the radio knob with the other. "What just happened? You know what that was? What just happened?"
He paused. The football player had settled on a radio station Kurt wasn't familiar with that was playing a song he wasn't familiar with. The light they were still waiting on turned green and the larger teenager hit the gas.
"That guy...he just attacked me," he continued and Puck nodded.
"Yeah. I saw that. It sucks and all but...it happens." He shrugged and Kurt gaped.
"It happens?"
"Well, yeah. But that was kind of strange," amended the jock. He shot a pointed look out the window and at the sky. "For one thing it was still early...the sun hadn't gone down completely yet..." Puck trailed off at that and grinned. "That's what made him explode like that, you know. The sunlight. I pulled down his stupid hood. Well that and the stake I jammed into his heart from behind. It isn't usually as intense."
Kurt was still trying to digest all of that when the other boy went on.
"And the fact that he was trying to take you somewhere was pretty weird, too. Unless he just meant he was going to take you to a nearby alley and drain you or something. That makes sense."
Drain me.
"So that man...was a vampire?"
They were passing the school; Kurt granted it a look. It was a collection of vague, mostly square shapes in the rapidly darkening night.
"Well. Yeah."
Kurt took a deep breath and fought the urge to be angry, the urge to say something biting. He didn't deserve that tone, a tone that suggested that maybe Puck felt sorry for him or thought he was hopeless or stupid or both. He had every right to be confused and scared and generally freaked out. Even so...he held his tongue. Because the football player had just saved his life. And because he had something more important to focus on, a problem to solve and keep him anchored.
"Dude...listen. I know it's insane but try not to freak out too much."
Silence.
Kurt stared out the passenger side window, realized they were heading toward his house. For a crazy moment he wondered how Puck knew where he lived. Then he remembered Finn and the Xbox 360 and the fact that his former bully had been over just about every week since his father and Carol had started dating.
The diva shifted in his seat as they came to a stop at another red light. "This..." He trailed off and cleared his throat. It was difficult to get the words out, hard to wrap his tongue around what he was trying to say.
Because, yeah, he wasn't exactly used to chatting with Noah Puckerman period much less about things like vampires. Things like...whatever in the hell the freakishness Lima was caught up in was about.
"The vampire. Does that have anything to do with everything else that's going on?"
Puck didn't answer right away. The Hummel household came into view and the Navigator rolled slowly into the driveway. The jock parked and shut off the engine before turning to look at Kurt. "What do you mean?"
He seemed suddenly more serious. He was sitting up straight, muscles tense and intimidating and the soprano had to make an effort not to look away from the dark eyes boring into his own.
He waved a hand. "Everything else that's going on. You know. The...singing and dancing."
As if in disbelief, Puck slowly shook his head. Kurt noticed the larger teenager was gripping the keys in his hand so hard his knuckles were white. "You...noticed that?"
The diva took in a deep breath and nodded. From the corner of his eye he saw the curtain that hung in the living room window fluttering -- he watched it for a moment and it fluttered again. Probably the air conditioning, then. He was positive that if his father or Finn or even Carol had seen him sitting in his Navigator with Noah Puckerman through the window they would have been standing in the driveway in about two seconds flat demanding to know what was going on.
The football player broke the awkward silence with a snort. "Of all the..." He seemed to catch himself, stopped for a moment before speaking again. "You noticed that? This shit has been happening since before the end of the school year and no one, not even the fucking baddies I've questioned have had a clue what-"
Kurt cut in. "Baddies?"
"You know, vampires and all."
The diva sputtered. "And all? What does that-"
"Look, it doesn't matter okay?" Puck took a deep breath; seemed to finally realize the keys he was holding were digging into his flesh and handed them over. "Like I said before, try not to freak out too much. I'll take care of it. It's what I do, okay? I'm badass. Just tell me...how did you notice?"
Kurt took the keys and shrugged. "I don't know. I...well. I didn't notice right away. I noticed when I came back from visiting my grandmother -- I went for a week after school let out. She lives a few hours away."
"And what? When you got back you just knew what was going on?"
He shook his head. "No. I thought about it when I was there. Like, while I was still at my grandmother's I thought about what was going on here and just sort of suddenly...realized it was strange."
The soprano watched as Puck worked at his bottom lip with his teeth. "Okay," he said after a long moment. "Okay." He was staring intensely; Kurt followed his gaze and realized the larger teenager was focusing on the hand he was gripping his thigh with. The hand was shaking, looked pale and startlingly small in such close proximity to Puck's own broad palms and long fingers.
The soprano abruptly stopped gripping his own leg and made a fist in an effort to stop the shaking. He had a reason and a right to be scared. He was scared. But that didn't mean he wanted to or thought it was okay to look weak in front of Puck.
The jock's dark eyes met his own. "It's cool," he said after an uncomfortable stretch of quiet. "I'll take care of it. I mean...maybe your noticing the crazy shit that's going down means something. It gives me something to work with." He shrugged and shifted in his seat, pulled at the door handle and the door popped open but he didn't move to get out. His gaze darted again to Kurt's still slightly shaking fist -- almost too quick to notice before going back to his face. "I know all of this is some crazy shit and you're freaked and all, dude. But I kick serious ass, you don't have to worry."
Is he...trying to comfort me or something?
Flummoxed by such a thought Kurt simply nodded and moved to stare at the keys he was holding, the keys he was holding in the hand that Noah Puckerman didn't seem strangely fixated on. "Okay," he replied. "That's good. Because everything is really weird right now and...I'm glad you're going to take care of it. And thanks for earlier. For saving me from that vampire."
The football player did an awkward sort of turn-and-reach in his seat. He grabbed his ax and then hopped out of the vehicle. "See you around, Hummel. I'm going to hoof it. I call it patrol, gives me a chance to mingle with the darker side of Lima if you know what I mean." He snapped his door shut and started down the driveway.
Kurt was frozen for a second. Then he forced his own door open and stepped out. "Wait!" he called. Because he couldn't help it. He didn't exactly like Puck but the guy had just finished saving his life and apparently dealt with things like vampires on a regular basis and was now going to attempt to stop whatever this singing and dancing strangeness overtaking Lima was. He didn't like the fact that the jock was dealing with it all on his own, wanted to at least know why the other teenager thought he had to.
"Puck," he said when the boy had turned to look at him. "Why do you do this? Fight vampires and...all? How did you even find out about this stuff being real in the first place?"
The teenager was already on the sidewalk, cast mostly in shadow but Kurt could hear the grin in his words. "Let's just say it...runs in the family."
The diva was still turning that around and around in his mind as the jock walked away. He reached a corner and turned, disappeared from sight.
Kurt snapped the ajar passenger side door of his Navigator shut and walked up to the front door, turned the knob and walked inside.
-----
Finn was still sprawled on the living room couch. A few feet in front of him the coffee table was littered with fun sized candy bar wrappers, empty soda cans and what looked like Cheeto crumbs. Kurt's dad was on the recliner, a controller clutched in his hands and a look of intense concentration on his face.
"Shoot her, shoot her!" cried Finn and Burt was mashing buttons and nodding. There was a scream and then the screen went dark before a bloody GAME OVER flashed.
"Hello," said Kurt. He watched the GAME OVER slowly drip and swallowed hard. He was glad Burt was playing with Finn. After being attacked by a vampire he wasn't really in the mood for any gory Xbox 360 games. "You guys having fun?"
"Yeah," muttered Burt. "But there's so many damn buttons and this witch or whatever she is won't die..." He trailed off and shook his head before starting again. "You okay, son? Have fun at the...library?"
Kurt nodded. "Yeah. Fun."
Finn sifted through the pile of wrappers and crumbs. He found an uneaten Snickers and, looking triumphant, leaned back into the sofa.
Burt leaned forward in his seat. "I forgot to tell you earlier. We saw your old coach, Tanaka, at the restaurant this morning while I was paying. You and Carol and Rachel had already walked out. He asked about you. Said to tell you hello."
Kurt nodded again. He was still staring at the fake blood on the screen. It had stopped dripping, was frozen in place and the diva's stomach was turning. He felt sick. Wanted to be away from the living room suddenly, wanted to be away from Lima and vampires and creepy singing and dancing. "Oh, that's nice. I think I'm going to go call Mercedes now. You guys have fun."
Burt leaned back but Finn shot him a narrow eyed look as he rushed passed the couch. He ignored the tall teenager and made it to the door that led down to the basement, closed it behind him and hurried down the stairs.
He rushed to the bathroom -- fell to his knees in front of the toilet, pushed up the lid and gagged. But that was all. He didn't vomit, just sort of made a gagging sound in his throat. His stomach was turning and he was suddenly sweating and he felt sick, felt like he should be in the middle of being sick, but nothing was happening.
He waited a few minutes before standing. He moved over to the sink and ran the water, rinsed his face and his mouth.
He turned off the light and left the bathroom. Walked over to his bed and fell into it; stared up at the white ceiling.
So. The spontaneous show tune crisis wasn't in his head. And his research hadn't been helpful at all. And vampires were very, very real. But that was all okay because Noah Puckerman was secretly a defender of innocents.
Right. Great.
Kurt groaned, roughly grabbed the afghan that was folded at the foot of his bed and spread it over himself. Pulled it up over his head.
"No!" came Finn's muffled cry from upstairs. "Burt, you have to stake the vampires. With something wooden. A wooden stake, that's the only way you can kill those things!"
Still covered with the afghan, the diva fiddled with the chain around his neck and barked out a harsh, short laugh.
Suddenly, the library's double doors burst open. Puck hissed out a curse and moved the hand burdened with the stake so it was behind his back; stepped closer to Kurt and gripped his arm.
"Come on," he urged and tugged and started to walk. The smaller teen didn't pull away from the hold or protest. He just followed docilely.
As they walked he noted that Puck had a very small ax tucked into his back pocket. He wondered just how many weapons the football player was in possession of.
When they reached the Navigator Puck stopped and eyed the vehicle before turning to Kurt. He relinquished his grip on the other teenager and held his hand out. His fingers were wiggling in a gimme gesture. "Dude," he said. "Give me your keys."
Kurt blinked.
"Look, you want to know what the hell is going on and I want to get the hell away from here before anyone notices the delinquent with the ax or before anymore baddies miss their friend and come looking. And you're obviously pretty freaked-"
The soprano pointed at the ground. "I dropped them when he jumped me. There."
Puck made a pleased sound and bent to retrieve the keys while Kurt went around to the passenger side. He waited and watched as the football player opened the back door and placed his stake and ax and the books Kurt had left sitting on the driver side down before closing the door and climbing up into the driver seat.
The jock reached over to pop open the passenger side door and the soprano climbed in himself; stared as Puck started the engine.
For a brief second Kurt considered protesting; demanding that he drive because this was Puck of all people and because it was his car and because his dad would absolutely flip if he let anyone who wasn't insured drive it.
But his former tormentor was right. He was freaked out -- confused and scared and definitely not willing to wait around to see if any of the exploding man's friends would show.
The vehicle pulled smoothly out of the parking spot and away from the library.
"What..." he began when they had reached a red light, Puck gripping the steering wheel with one hand and fiddling with the radio knob with the other. "What just happened? You know what that was? What just happened?"
He paused. The football player had settled on a radio station Kurt wasn't familiar with that was playing a song he wasn't familiar with. The light they were still waiting on turned green and the larger teenager hit the gas.
"That guy...he just attacked me," he continued and Puck nodded.
"Yeah. I saw that. It sucks and all but...it happens." He shrugged and Kurt gaped.
"It happens?"
"Well, yeah. But that was kind of strange," amended the jock. He shot a pointed look out the window and at the sky. "For one thing it was still early...the sun hadn't gone down completely yet..." Puck trailed off at that and grinned. "That's what made him explode like that, you know. The sunlight. I pulled down his stupid hood. Well that and the stake I jammed into his heart from behind. It isn't usually as intense."
Kurt was still trying to digest all of that when the other boy went on.
"And the fact that he was trying to take you somewhere was pretty weird, too. Unless he just meant he was going to take you to a nearby alley and drain you or something. That makes sense."
Drain me.
"So that man...was a vampire?"
They were passing the school; Kurt granted it a look. It was a collection of vague, mostly square shapes in the rapidly darkening night.
"Well. Yeah."
Kurt took a deep breath and fought the urge to be angry, the urge to say something biting. He didn't deserve that tone, a tone that suggested that maybe Puck felt sorry for him or thought he was hopeless or stupid or both. He had every right to be confused and scared and generally freaked out. Even so...he held his tongue. Because the football player had just saved his life. And because he had something more important to focus on, a problem to solve and keep him anchored.
"Dude...listen. I know it's insane but try not to freak out too much."
Silence.
Kurt stared out the passenger side window, realized they were heading toward his house. For a crazy moment he wondered how Puck knew where he lived. Then he remembered Finn and the Xbox 360 and the fact that his former bully had been over just about every week since his father and Carol had started dating.
The diva shifted in his seat as they came to a stop at another red light. "This..." He trailed off and cleared his throat. It was difficult to get the words out, hard to wrap his tongue around what he was trying to say.
Because, yeah, he wasn't exactly used to chatting with Noah Puckerman period much less about things like vampires. Things like...whatever in the hell the freakishness Lima was caught up in was about.
"The vampire. Does that have anything to do with everything else that's going on?"
Puck didn't answer right away. The Hummel household came into view and the Navigator rolled slowly into the driveway. The jock parked and shut off the engine before turning to look at Kurt. "What do you mean?"
He seemed suddenly more serious. He was sitting up straight, muscles tense and intimidating and the soprano had to make an effort not to look away from the dark eyes boring into his own.
He waved a hand. "Everything else that's going on. You know. The...singing and dancing."
As if in disbelief, Puck slowly shook his head. Kurt noticed the larger teenager was gripping the keys in his hand so hard his knuckles were white. "You...noticed that?"
The diva took in a deep breath and nodded. From the corner of his eye he saw the curtain that hung in the living room window fluttering -- he watched it for a moment and it fluttered again. Probably the air conditioning, then. He was positive that if his father or Finn or even Carol had seen him sitting in his Navigator with Noah Puckerman through the window they would have been standing in the driveway in about two seconds flat demanding to know what was going on.
The football player broke the awkward silence with a snort. "Of all the..." He seemed to catch himself, stopped for a moment before speaking again. "You noticed that? This shit has been happening since before the end of the school year and no one, not even the fucking baddies I've questioned have had a clue what-"
Kurt cut in. "Baddies?"
"You know, vampires and all."
The diva sputtered. "And all? What does that-"
"Look, it doesn't matter okay?" Puck took a deep breath; seemed to finally realize the keys he was holding were digging into his flesh and handed them over. "Like I said before, try not to freak out too much. I'll take care of it. It's what I do, okay? I'm badass. Just tell me...how did you notice?"
Kurt took the keys and shrugged. "I don't know. I...well. I didn't notice right away. I noticed when I came back from visiting my grandmother -- I went for a week after school let out. She lives a few hours away."
"And what? When you got back you just knew what was going on?"
He shook his head. "No. I thought about it when I was there. Like, while I was still at my grandmother's I thought about what was going on here and just sort of suddenly...realized it was strange."
The soprano watched as Puck worked at his bottom lip with his teeth. "Okay," he said after a long moment. "Okay." He was staring intensely; Kurt followed his gaze and realized the larger teenager was focusing on the hand he was gripping his thigh with. The hand was shaking, looked pale and startlingly small in such close proximity to Puck's own broad palms and long fingers.
The soprano abruptly stopped gripping his own leg and made a fist in an effort to stop the shaking. He had a reason and a right to be scared. He was scared. But that didn't mean he wanted to or thought it was okay to look weak in front of Puck.
The jock's dark eyes met his own. "It's cool," he said after an uncomfortable stretch of quiet. "I'll take care of it. I mean...maybe your noticing the crazy shit that's going down means something. It gives me something to work with." He shrugged and shifted in his seat, pulled at the door handle and the door popped open but he didn't move to get out. His gaze darted again to Kurt's still slightly shaking fist -- almost too quick to notice before going back to his face. "I know all of this is some crazy shit and you're freaked and all, dude. But I kick serious ass, you don't have to worry."
Is he...trying to comfort me or something?
Flummoxed by such a thought Kurt simply nodded and moved to stare at the keys he was holding, the keys he was holding in the hand that Noah Puckerman didn't seem strangely fixated on. "Okay," he replied. "That's good. Because everything is really weird right now and...I'm glad you're going to take care of it. And thanks for earlier. For saving me from that vampire."
The football player did an awkward sort of turn-and-reach in his seat. He grabbed his ax and then hopped out of the vehicle. "See you around, Hummel. I'm going to hoof it. I call it patrol, gives me a chance to mingle with the darker side of Lima if you know what I mean." He snapped his door shut and started down the driveway.
Kurt was frozen for a second. Then he forced his own door open and stepped out. "Wait!" he called. Because he couldn't help it. He didn't exactly like Puck but the guy had just finished saving his life and apparently dealt with things like vampires on a regular basis and was now going to attempt to stop whatever this singing and dancing strangeness overtaking Lima was. He didn't like the fact that the jock was dealing with it all on his own, wanted to at least know why the other teenager thought he had to.
"Puck," he said when the boy had turned to look at him. "Why do you do this? Fight vampires and...all? How did you even find out about this stuff being real in the first place?"
The teenager was already on the sidewalk, cast mostly in shadow but Kurt could hear the grin in his words. "Let's just say it...runs in the family."
The diva was still turning that around and around in his mind as the jock walked away. He reached a corner and turned, disappeared from sight.
Kurt snapped the ajar passenger side door of his Navigator shut and walked up to the front door, turned the knob and walked inside.
-----
Finn was still sprawled on the living room couch. A few feet in front of him the coffee table was littered with fun sized candy bar wrappers, empty soda cans and what looked like Cheeto crumbs. Kurt's dad was on the recliner, a controller clutched in his hands and a look of intense concentration on his face.
"Shoot her, shoot her!" cried Finn and Burt was mashing buttons and nodding. There was a scream and then the screen went dark before a bloody GAME OVER flashed.
"Hello," said Kurt. He watched the GAME OVER slowly drip and swallowed hard. He was glad Burt was playing with Finn. After being attacked by a vampire he wasn't really in the mood for any gory Xbox 360 games. "You guys having fun?"
"Yeah," muttered Burt. "But there's so many damn buttons and this witch or whatever she is won't die..." He trailed off and shook his head before starting again. "You okay, son? Have fun at the...library?"
Kurt nodded. "Yeah. Fun."
Finn sifted through the pile of wrappers and crumbs. He found an uneaten Snickers and, looking triumphant, leaned back into the sofa.
Burt leaned forward in his seat. "I forgot to tell you earlier. We saw your old coach, Tanaka, at the restaurant this morning while I was paying. You and Carol and Rachel had already walked out. He asked about you. Said to tell you hello."
Kurt nodded again. He was still staring at the fake blood on the screen. It had stopped dripping, was frozen in place and the diva's stomach was turning. He felt sick. Wanted to be away from the living room suddenly, wanted to be away from Lima and vampires and creepy singing and dancing. "Oh, that's nice. I think I'm going to go call Mercedes now. You guys have fun."
Burt leaned back but Finn shot him a narrow eyed look as he rushed passed the couch. He ignored the tall teenager and made it to the door that led down to the basement, closed it behind him and hurried down the stairs.
He rushed to the bathroom -- fell to his knees in front of the toilet, pushed up the lid and gagged. But that was all. He didn't vomit, just sort of made a gagging sound in his throat. His stomach was turning and he was suddenly sweating and he felt sick, felt like he should be in the middle of being sick, but nothing was happening.
He waited a few minutes before standing. He moved over to the sink and ran the water, rinsed his face and his mouth.
He turned off the light and left the bathroom. Walked over to his bed and fell into it; stared up at the white ceiling.
So. The spontaneous show tune crisis wasn't in his head. And his research hadn't been helpful at all. And vampires were very, very real. But that was all okay because Noah Puckerman was secretly a defender of innocents.
Right. Great.
Kurt groaned, roughly grabbed the afghan that was folded at the foot of his bed and spread it over himself. Pulled it up over his head.
"No!" came Finn's muffled cry from upstairs. "Burt, you have to stake the vampires. With something wooden. A wooden stake, that's the only way you can kill those things!"
Still covered with the afghan, the diva fiddled with the chain around his neck and barked out a harsh, short laugh.