Work Text:
Whole story’s in Kurt’s POV
Whenever we had to do assignments in pairs for glee club, I'd stick with my usual partner, Rachel, thinking that breaking our successful duo would just be an awful decision that would lead to neither of us achieving anything. Even if we've never been competing before, Rachel and I always found a way to make sure we were la crème de la crème, THE stars, the one you couldn't possibly take your eyes off.
Now that you know just how intense we both were when nothing was on the line, imagine how thrilled we would have been if there was a competition. That week, our assignment was to write original songs in pairs, so far it sounded easy, but I wasn't thrilled. Not even the slightest excited. Rachel and I could do wonders, but since she was too sick to show up to school, I didn't have a partner. I asked if I could go over to her place to practice and we could perform it when Rachel would feel better, but Mr. Schue didn't even let me finish my sentence, telling me it would only be a good thing for me to ”switch things up”.
The only answer I could give to that statement was an eye roll. It didn't do anything but made my stubborn teacher smirk before sending me back to my seat.
”But Mr. Schue, who will I even work with? Everyone is already in pairs?”
I cut him off as he tried to explain the details.
”Not everyone,”
He looked at me before lowering his eyes to another guy in the front row who was sitting alone as well.
”No! I refuse to work with Puck, we are nothing alike, it's going to be a disaster!”
I yelled, getting up as my ”partner” added;
”For once I can agree with him, that's just setting us up for failure.”
He crossed his arms on his chest, but we both knew it wouldn't change a thing. Even if we smashed our chairs on our teacher’s head, he would still stand by his decision.
”I’m sure you two will find a way to create something great. Besides, it's a competition, Kurt, you love competing, this is the perfect opportunity!”
He said pulling the two of us aside as everyone else was leaving the room.
I knew creating something with Rachel would have been easy because our mind worked the same way, we could have inspired ourselves by watching musicals all weekend, find theatrical lyrics that still had a deeper meaning and we would have blown everyone off their feet. The thing was, I wasn't with Rachel, and even if I didn't know Noah very well, I could already tell that my plans would not work with him. I thought about doing the project alone, but got that idea turned down as well.
There were better things to do on a Friday night than invite over the guy I got along with the least to try to bond enough to make our ideas work together. I was sitting on my bed, trying to prepare pens and markers for our brainstorm later, knowing very well that the storm would end in a cyclone with two minds that were so opposite, when I heard the doorbell.
I waited for my father to open the door since I thought it wasn't worth getting up, he eventually came down to the basement where my room was located.
”Let’s get this over with.”
Noah said as he threw his bag on the floor and took his guitar out of its case.
”If we want to win, we'll have to work hard. We need to figure out a topic that inspires enough both of us so we can create something better than the others.”
I waved my hand for him to sit on the little corner of my bed that wasn't already covered with loose sheets of paper.
”Topics, huh? We can write a song about music since it's pretty much the only thing we have in common?”
He asked playing with the end of my pen before I snatched it out of his hand and said;
”That's not how we will win! We need something better, a story to tell, a message to get across. Take this seriously will you?”
”I am trying but this is boring, Kurt. I think we should try to get along first and then we can think about the song. Wanna go for a bite?”
He was so careless it starter to make my blood boil. I tried not to get too intense about this but he was pushing my patience a little too far.
”This isn't how we will win, Puck!” I yelled getting up from the bed, looking in his deep brown eyes.
”I'm just trying to help. I want to win this, together.”
He said softly placing a hand on my shoulder, trying to get me to calm down, but I quickly pushed him away. There was still something in the way he talked that made me want to give him a chance.
”I will get dinner with you but don't expect me to pay and we have to be back by 8 to work on our song. Do we have a deal?”
I asked.
”Works for me.”
He offered me a hand to get up, but I refused it. I still felt the need to be professional with him, thinking that none of this was friendly. I was just going to get dinner to help us get to know each other. It wasn’t because I wanted to, but because we needed to, I tried to convince myself.
--
He got me to open up a little, I told him about things I might have never got the courage to tell Rachel or Mercedes. I thought he wouldn't care anyway if I rambled on about the same old drama all evening and my secrets would be safe because he probably wasn't paying attention to what I was confessing. He could be a great friend if he wasn’t so...
I was running out of excuses to dislike him. He did listen to me talk patiently without saying a thing. I didn't realize that he wasn't doing it at all for our project, but because he actually wanted to know.
”Can I ask you one more thing? Do you hate me?”
Noah asked sipping on his coffee, sitting in front of me, unable to stay still as he kicked my feet every once in a while under the table.
”I don't hate you, I just don't like you, but I will eventually have to learn to like you a tiny bit so we can work together.”
I said while adding the fifth dose of sugar to my coffee.
”You don't have to like me, you could love me and that would work too.”
He mumbled. I decided to pretend I didn't hear anything instead of asking for explanations. I regretted my decision for a few seconds, I would have liked to know his motive for saying it, but I didn't want him to imagine anything.
He couldn't know that those words had the same impact on my heart as an arrow passing right through my chest. I kept telling myself that I reacted that way only because it's surprising to hear that from someone you barely consider an acquaintance.
I was aware that having feelings for someone like him couldn't mean anything good. He broke so many hearts its impossible for him to even keep track of them, he played with so many people’s emotion and messed up so many minds. If he wasn't such a player, I might have been a little more interested.
It's not like he was a bad person and saying he wasn't attractive would be lying. He had been nothing but sweet to his recent girlfriends for all I've seen and actually made me wish a couple of times I had a boyfriend as caring as him, but I pushed the thoughts of anything going on between us away.
First of all, we were nothing alike, then there's the fact that he was most likely straight and even if he was to ever catch feelings for me, he would have never come out scared it would have ruined his precious reputation.
But then again, he was never one to talk about himself much, even if it was obvious he was struggling, he would have never wanted attention drawn to him. I couldn't really know who he really was behind the bad boy mask he kept hiding behind. Just that night, he showed me another side of him that I didn't hate.
”Why don't you ever talk about yourself?”
I broke the silence and took him by surprise.
”I don't know, why are you asking?”
He asked pushing his coffee away and focusing on my eyes.
”No reason.”
I looked down at my now frozen coffee.
”You actually care, don't you?”
He asked forcing me to lift my eyes up. I could see past the arrogant smirk, there was a little spark in his eyes that wasn't from the bright lights of the little café.
”No, I don't. It's just for the sake of the song I asked.”
I tried to convince him but it was hard when I tried to convince myself at the same time.
”Lie all you want, I know you're going to give up soon.”
I decided it was best not to answer. If he wanted to play the mysterious game, he would have to do it by himself because it was starting to drive me crazy. I knew the best thing to do was brush off the slightest attraction I developed for him.
On the way back home, I wasn't even listening to him, not that I didn't care, I just couldn't get my mind off even for a minute.
”Am I really that boring?”
Noah asked, raising his voice so I could hear him but still with the same caring tone he's had with me all day.
”It’s not that, I just can't focus on anything right now.”
I tried to cover up.
”It’s about the song?”
He said as he parked the car.
”Which song?”
I zoned out for a second before adding;
”Ohh, yes, the song. Of course, that's what I'm worried about, what else?”
”What else?”
He asked.
”You can tell me what else when you are ready, until then I'll be waiting.”
I froze, not knowing how I was supposed to answer. What did he even mean by that? I thought at first that he was just playing me, trying to get me to like him just so he could add one more name to his broken hearts book. After thinking about it a little while, I realized that maybe I got it wrong. I always saw the good in people, why didn't I want to see the good in him? Maybe I was scared that he actually had some good in him?
He got out of the car before I could place a word, waiting at the door for me to unlock it so we can get back to my room.
Down in the basement, he sat on my bed as if he was at home, leaving me almost no space but this little spot right next to him. Talking to him in this position was a bit uncomfortable because of how close we were. I could see deep into his eyes and smell his perfume, inches away from him.
There was a part of me wanted to lean over and kiss him but my mind kept telling me that it wasn’t a good idea. At some point, my heart agreed, but it felt so right it almost couldn't be wrong.
”Can you tell me more about yourself? I think that it could help you know... For the song.”
I tried to play it cool.
”Well, I can tell you one thing.”
Noah said, taking a deep breath, looking in my eyes.
”By now I'm pretty sure you know. I am not the guy everyone thinks I am because of what they’ve been told, and it sucks because there are people like you that don't want to look past it and might be missing on a lot.”
That look in his eyes made my heart flutter. I’ve never seen him like this around other people, but once I got a glimpse past the walls I put up, he was a totally different person. Or he was a pathological liar, but at this point, I felt I could trust him.
”Care to tell me more about who you really are?”
I placed my hand on top of his.
”I would but I thought you said you didn't care.”
He said playfully with the same old arrogant smirk, that I started to think is adorable.
”Well, I've changed my mind, tell me.”
I admitted, trying to hold back my idiotic smile.
”What do you want to know?”
He asked.
”How about everything?..”
It was already getting late and our assignment was due on Tuesday, we didn’t have much time left to write and practice an original song, but I didn’t care. I thought that if we didn’t write anything that night, we could always try again the next day. I wanted... no not even wanted... needed to know everything there was to know about him.
That why we stayed up until 1 am, talking like we've always known each other. He would tell me a story that would bring up another and instead of asking him to leave, I begged him to stay every time. My dad was already asleep and he didn't mind him staying since for him, Noah was just an annoying douche bag I went to school with. For once, I was grateful for his bad reputation since it wouldn't attract any attention from my dad. Me liking someone like him was not very likely if the only thing you knew was rumours. He wasn't such a jerk and I wasn't so judgmental, we were actually very alike.
I spent hours, laying on my bed, staring at him with heart-shaped eyes while he opened up about everything he didn't want others to know. He could make me laugh until I cry but the next second made me shed a tear of sadness. We didn't have the same hobbies and interests besides music, but our connection was deeper than that. We were alike on things that mattered, and that's what made it so easy to be around him.
”Weren’t we supposed to write a song tonight?”
He asked.
”We were, but I felt there were more important things for us to do.”
I leaned closer to him. Nothing else mattered as he stole my first kiss. A consensual robbery that chased away any doubt still left in my mind. I was still shocked by all I learned that night, but knowing just how perfect we were together, it did not surprise me to fall in love so quickly.
”Not that I don't like this but, we really should be trying to find inspiration for the song now, you know?”
He said after pulling away.
”I already know what it's going to be about.”
I placed both of my arms around his neck, not able to stay away much longer. He looked at me with a mix of confusion and kindness. How could someone that seemed so careless turn out to be so affectionate?
”We pretty much have a whole story written for us.”
I whispered, breath taken by his charm. I always told myself I wouldn't be one of those cheesy romantic, but he made me want to be for him.
”Does this mean that we are done for today?”
He asks, still neither of us looking away from each other’s eyes as if we were children on the playground trying to win a staring competition. I never won any of those because I thought that looking in someone's eyes was boring, but looking in his wasn't.
”Only if you promise that you will come back tomorrow. We still have to write that song in case you forgot.”
I said.
”Is it weird that I don't want to leave?”
”Well... I mean, you don't have to. You can sleep here, it's not like my dad would care.”
I moved my hands to his shoulders, giving him irresistible puppy eyes.
I most certainly did not want him to leave. I wanted to be with him until the sun came up and fall asleep in his arms when we should be waking up.
”Are you sure? I don't want to rush things. If we take things too fast it might ruin everything.”
He tried to explain but I cut him off.
”Noah, I agree we shouldn't rush anything but for now, I love you and I want you to stay.”
He laughed at me.
”So much for taking things slow, but it doesn’t matter. I love you too, Kurt.”
We shared a quick kiss before he got up to grab a pile of blankets from my wardrobe.
We laid down together and got back to talking. Sharing stories and kisses until the night was over, not thinking about the future and living for the moment. Enjoying every minute we had together because time seemed to pass by quicker when I was next to him.
The next day, we wrote our song in an hour. We put both of our minds to work and came up with a masterpiece worthy of victory. Not only did we win, but by the way we sang the song together with such a strong bond, people caught on we were not friends, we were never. He went from a stranger to a soulmate, in only one incredibly long night
”Are you going to miss your precious reputation, after all?”
I asked him after we performed.
”The only thing I want people to be saying about me is that I'm yours and that will never change.”
Our names were associated with one another for the rest of our high school years and after. Everyone knew that even if they tried to get between us, nothing would tear us apart. What we had was magical, it was all I've read about in books when I was a kid; fairytale romance. One story that would end with our lives but our love would never die.