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Noah Puckerman never thought he would be so relieved to be back on U.S soil the moment his feet got off the plane. The first breath of fresh U.S air was so good, his back straightened, his pounding head cleared and his beating heart fluttered. His legs were still stiff after sitting in such a cramped space for so many hours, but now that didn't matter.
"Let's go Puckerman!" Captain Mike Chang's voice came to Puck's head.
Puck, as he had been nicknamed around their Platoon - was a thickly set male with a head that had been stripped of its Mohawk - had been a constant companion by his side through their tour of Iraq and as Mike peered into the slightly taller male's dark eyes which held excitement over being back home Mike knew that even if any of them in the Platoon held differences with each other, they would all keep in contact with each other; war is war, when you're out there, you have to put your differences aside and work together. War held no patience for the squabbles of men.
"Going to go see your boy?" Mike asked his fellow airman as they walked through the terminal together side by side, the loud ruckus making the soldier almost yell to be heard as a crying Asian, black haired petite woman nearly knocked over her son who could be heard crying.
Puck smiled; though the army still held the notion of Don't Ask, Don't Tell Mike had enough balls to ask after finding Puck's journal where he had kept numerous letters to his boyfriend - which he couldn't send for security reasons - and a photograph of the two; Kurt Hummel was fifteen in the picture, Puck having been sixteen in the picture.
It had been on their second anniversary, and Kurt had just been told that Puck had enlisted in the Air Force, they were sitting in Lima General Park, sitting by the lake with Kurt sitting cross legged whilst Puck's long legs framed him. They were both crying.
"Yeah," Puck said, his deep voice making him smile; they had all changed. "I'm surprising him, he doesn't know I'm coming home today so I'm going to see him at Dalton Academy," Puck grinned widely, his brown eyes crinkling with the force of it. He was honestly happy for his Captain; they had been through so much together it was hard to think of him as anything but a brother.
"I hope you two have a wonderful reunion, but I gotta go man," Puck said as a small Asian little girl carrying a white stuffed animal bunny came racing towards Mike. "My mom and little sister are here!"
The little girl, Puck knew, had to be Sarah Chang, Mike's little sister that Puck adored, the tall thin, brown skinned, brown haired woman was Ruth, who smiled at Puck politely before tugging her son into her arms as little Sarah wrapped herself around his left lower leg. Guffawing, Puck clapped his fellow soldier on the shoulder, making Mike grin before waving to the rest of his Platoon who let out hearty yells as they saw the tall, muscular figure of the Captain.
"Stay in touch Puck!" Mike yelled as Puck walked out of the airport, he raised a fist in the air as he exited, his hear thrumming as he realised he would soon be seeing Kurt for the first time in ten months. He didn't care if he didn't have a ring, when he saw him, he was getting down on one knee and asking him to marry him.
It was Valentine's Day and Puck was thankful for that especially. Fate couldn't have picked a better day for him to return home. He would sing a song to Kurt, present him with flowers and ask him to marry him, ring or not. Puck adjusted his red beret on his shaved head and exited the airport, hopping into his military black Jeep J8, and drove to Dalton Academy.
On his way to the school, he stopped by a local floral stand less than six blocks from Dalton and bought a bouquet of Kurt's favourite flowers, long stemmed purple Dianthus caryophyllus. The woman behind the flower counter stand approached the Airman and smiled.
"Would you like me to arrange those in a certain way Sir?" she asked politely.
"Yes ma'am. Tie a rainbow ribbon around the flowers please." Puck requested very politely, handing the woman a gay pride LGBT rainbow ribbon.
"I will do that Sir." The woman complied as she took the large bouquet to her stand as Puck followed her and she tied the rainbow ribbon perfectly around the flowers, making a perfect tie. "There you go Sir, anything else?" she asked once she was finished.
"Yes ma'am, please add this note and this military ring into the flowers." Puck added, handing the woman a small but fancy white notecard with fancy cursive writing on it and a black and silver Air Force Daniel's Jewellers ring.
The woman looked at these two items with curiosity in her eyes. She then realized this Airman was gay and he was obviously planning to propose to his boyfriend.
"Oh, I see you are planning to surprise a special boy."
Puck smiled. "He is a special boy."
"That's so sweet. I raised my grandson his whole life and just a year ago, he told me he found a boyfriend. I knew all along he was gay and I will always love him no matter what." She smiled.
"That's great ma'am." Puck smiled back to her. "Thank you for your help." Puck paid the woman for her services and for the bouquet.
"Go surprise your special boy." The woman smiled as she watched Puck leave the flower stand and get into his Jeep.
Puck put the flowers beside him on the seat and left the flower shop, driving up the few remaining blocks to Dalton Academy.
(Dalton Academy)
All of the Dalton Academy Warblers knew that Kurt Elizabeth Hummel had a picture of a handsome Airman soldier in his Dalton Academy Dorm room, they just didn't know who it was. Not even Blaine Anderson (Kurt's undisputed best friend) knew who the soldier was. All Blaine could glean from the photo was that the man was an Airman of a Platoon which was currently touring in Iraq.
It was now Monday, and it had been ten months exactly since Kurt had last saw Noah Puckerman; he didn't even know if his boyfriend was alive, the army had established that soldiers weren't allowed to send letters home just in case of a security breach that had happened only once before two years before Puck's Platoon had landed in Iraq. Military personnel simply could not disclose their locations to their families and it always caused more heartache every time.
The Warblers were currently in their choir room, and all was silent as they waited for Thad Harwood, the third council member to arrive. Wes had forgotten to get the music sheets from the music room and since Thad was already there, he would pick them up and meet the others in the choir room.
Kurt sat on the left brown leather sofa with Aaron Page and Trent Nixon beside him, feeling despondent but hid it well. He just wanted the school day to end so he could curl up in bed, sobbing over a movie while wearing one of Puck's shirts as a bed shirt and wearing a pair of Puck's old to small boxers that Kurt had nicked to fit him. He missed his boyfriend terribly. Kurt thought of Puck and saw him smiling at him in his mind.
He wandered what Puck was doing right now. Was he asleep, dreaming of him? Was he out on the battlefield under a spray of metallic spurs that would cut through skin as easily as a knife as blood fell to the sandy floor as his platoon followed closely behind him? Had he been shot? Was he even alive?
Face paling dizzyingly fast, Kurt shook himself back to his normal colour before his fellow Warblers suspected something was wrong with him; he could not afford to let himself think like that, he couldn't allow himself to think that Puck would not be coming back. As Puck left on the military plane, he had promised Kurt he would come back. He promised he would come back.
But Kurt held no allusions; he knew that not every soldier came back.
Looking at Carole, his new stepmother and Finn Hudson, he knew better than to think Noah Puckerman would be coming with 100% positivity; Finn's father and Carole's late husband, Christopher had too been a soldier, a career his son was following, that had been called to duty in Iraq; two years later, Carole had received a black letter of mourning telling her and the unborn Finn that Christopher had been killed in action.
Thad entered the room and closed the door behind him, handing the music sheets to Wes as he took his seat on the other side of the Asian. Kurt tried to focus his attention on the meeting before Wes banged his gavel and annoyed him to the point of yelling, so he just tried to make it seem like he was paying attention.
Outside, Noah Puckerman parked his military Jeep and got out, pocketing his keys and adjusting his red beret. He was moments away from seeing Kurt again. Puck wanted to hold Kurt, kiss him, carry him to their room that they shared, and just keep him for himself. Kurt was just so sexy that Puck wanted to take Kurt into a room and have him for himself, and he planned to do just that.
Puck entered the school and into the front office. He came face to face with a good Ohioan lady in her mid-fifties behind the front desk. She was a short, plump woman wearing a soft purple blouse.
"Hello officer." The woman greeted, seeing Puck was a military associate.
"Hello ma'am. May I please visit the Warblers?" Puck asked, not really feeling like being told no.
"I love military so yes you may." It was clear that the woman who ran the front desk, Mrs. Jes (as her name tag showed) loved military so she didn't ask the Airman to sign in.
"Thank you ma'am." Puck thanked her politely. "Where may I find the Warblers?"
"Go down the hallways until you see Warbler Hall. The Warblers are in there." Jes answered.
"Thank you ma'am." Puck excused himself politely and went on his way to the Warblers' choir room.
Dalton was a very nice school, Puck had to admit as he walked down the hallways silently, occasionally looking at his surroundings as he walked. With its 1800s paintings and wooden decor, Puck thought it was walking into the set of Dead Poet's Society, one of Kurt's favourite movies. He held the bouquet of one dozen, long stemmed purple Dianthus caryophyllus tied with a gay pride ribbon and a hidden surprise on his arm with his guitar in the other with his bag slung over his back.
After walking down the assigned directions, Puck finally found a door that said Warblers on it down a block reserved only for Warblers just as Jes had said in the office. Surely Kurt was in there. He had joined the Warblers just after he deported. Kurt transferred to Dalton not just because of the bullying but because going to school without Puck was unbearable.
Puck stopped in front of the door that said Warblers on it, and listened for a few moments. From what he heard, they were discussing something about serenading someone in public. Apparently they took image and tradition very seriously around here. Puck's heart fluttered when he heard Kurt's voice, and that was his cue to knock. The door was opened by a young brunette boy, Brock Baker. He was younger than Kurt, about old enough to be a tenth grader, and he stepped aside to let the Airman in.
Kurt was standing when the Airman entered, and he completely froze. No, that wasn't- it couldn't be - could it? The tall, muscled figure of a man was too good to be true. That voice sounded too good to be true. It belonged to his boyfriend, but it really couldn't be him, could it? The Warblers looked on in confusion but watched amused as Kurt shakily walked to the Airman.
There, standing a few inches from him was a handsome soldier still in a clean, polished U.S Airman uniform with a red beret on his head, complete with a smile. A rucksack was tossed over his shoulder and a guitar behind him. Noah Puckerman stood before him in all his glory.
As he was allowed to process this sight, tears sprung up in his glassy eyes; it had been far too long. No longer able to keep it together or keep at lease a shred of decorum, an almost sobbing Kurt found himself flat out running to the taller man, launching himself up into the air where he found his thin arms around Puck's neck, head buried in his chest and long, slender legs wrapped firmly around Puck's waist. He didn't know what he was saying, all he knew was that he was babbling Puck repeatedly.
Kurt finally regained enough sensation of his legs and got off. Puck handed Kurt the flowers he brought for him and Kurt took them happily.
"Hey beautiful." Puck spoke, kissing Kurt's tear stained cheeks.
"You're home." Kurt said softly, hardly believing that his beloved boyfriend was home. Puck looked so handsome, even without his Mohawk, and he just had this newfound confidence to him.
As Kurt sobbed into the Air force uniform adorning his boyfriend, he felt muscular arms - more muscular than the last time they had held Kurt - clinch themselves tightly around Kurt's waist, holding him up as he felt his hair dampen as Puck cried silently into Kurt's hair.
"Kurt," Puck whispered lovingly into his sobbing boyfriend's ear, stroking a hand through the boy's hair, messing it up without complaint which was a shock to the watching Dalton Boys. "I love you," He whispered lovingly, making the boys- who could hear because of the vastness of the wooden room - smile sappily. Kurt grinned, cheeks still damp with tears and he rested his hand on Puck's sharp and defined jawline.
"I love you too," Kurt replied.
He was home and nothing else mattered to any of them. Puck then gestured to the Dalton boys, asking them silently to help him.
The Warblers took their poised positions when a song began playing. Puck released Kurt and opened his guitar case, putting the guitar strap over his shoulder. He began singing "Running Home to You" by Grant Gustin on his guitar with the Warblers on background vocals.
Can't say how the days will unfold,
Can't change what the future may hold
But, I want you in it
Every hour, every minute
This world can race by far too fast
Hard to see while it's all flying past
But, it's clear now,
When you're standing here now
I am meant to be wherever you are next to me
Puck was singing about the loneliness and heartbreak he felt when he was apart from Kurt. His world was bleak and colourless without him and he wanted Kurt to know that. Stroking the flowers with his soft fingers, Kurt noticed that Puck had put a note into the middle of the bouquet of flowers.
All I want to do
Is come running home to you
Come running home to you
And all my life I promise to
Keep running home to you
Keep running home
To you
Those lyrics that Puck sang told Kurt that for the last ten months, all Puck wanted to do was run home to Kurt and capture him, to kiss and love him to no end. Kurt knew that and blushed as a happy tear fell down his face.
And I could see it
Right from the start
Right from the start
That you would be
Be my light in the dark
Light in the dark
Oh, you gave me no other choice
But to love you
All I want to do
Is come running home to you
Come running home to you
And all my life I promise to
Keep running home to you
Keep running home
Home to you
Can't say how the days will unfold
Can't change what the future may hold
But, I want you in it
Every hour, every minute
A round of applause followed after the song, and Kurt applauded too. What Puck did next was not expected from neither the Warblers or Kurt. Puck held Kurt close to him and held his hand in his, and the Warblers watched.
"Kurt, look at the note I had put into the bouquet for you." Puck said as Kurt used his free hand to get the note out from in between the flowers. It was a small but fancy white notecard with fancy cursive writing on it. A few but loving words were on the notecard. It asked "will you marry me?"
Kurt looked at his boyfriend in shock as the Warblers saw what was written on the notecard and a few gasps followed this.
"Will you marry me, Kurt Hummel?" Puck asked, presenting a military ring in his hand. He had taken it out at the last minute. Kurt could not contain the smile on his face and more happy tears fell.
"Yes, I'll marry you Puck." Kurt answered once he found his voice. Another round of applause followed but with cheers and fake wedding bell noises.
Puck slid the military ring onto Kurt's right hand, and the two kissed. The Warblers were having a hay day watching a real live scene out of a sappy romantic movie.
Holding each other in vice like grips, Puck and Kurt only gave the Warblers a sideways glance before kissing again, followed by more applause. Puck was home and had run home to Kurt. Everything was going to be okay now.