He's barely been at the house (it's not home, not yet, home is his old basement), for an hour when there's a frantic non-stop knocking on his front door. No one else is in so Kurt has to reluctantly drag himself off of his bed and go down to open it.

One look through the peep hole - a new habit that he doesn't want to over analyse too deeply - turn his look of irritation and mild nerves into concern as he wrenches the door open.

Quinn is standing on the other side, shivering in the rain, in a soaked through Cheerio's uniform, perfect ponytail lopsided with strands on loose hair sticking to her neck and face. He's opening his arms to her before he can think too hard about it and she practically face-planted into his chest.

Shutting the door with one arm, the other stroking back her hair, Kurt ignores the damp seeping through his shirt and rubs both hands up and down her back to try and stop her violent shaking. He didn't see her car, and based on the lack of jacket but school bag clutched in her hands Kurt's starting to think she must have walked here and left in a hurry; she doesn't live that far from his new house but still, it's pouring down out there.

"Quinn, honey..." He doesn't know what to say. Sure they've been growing closer since mid-way through her pregnancy and ever since the start of Junior year and his upped bullying she seems to see him more, he classes her as a friend now and he's pretty sure she does the same. He thinks he has Puck to thank for that. Another odd new friendship.

The blonde cheerleader pulls back, wipes her face angrily and Kurt's almost horrified to see tears leaking past her eyes. "I thought it would be better." She doesn't offer anything else before she starts to cry softy, throwing herself back into the circle of his arms again.

Kurt may class himself as an honorary girl but this is something he doesn't know how to handle, comfort he can do when it's something small. But this is a crying teenage girl and he's never had experience with this kind of thing so he's a little bit lost and, if he's honest, slightly terrified. The return of Quinn's shivering, goose bumps popping up all over her exposed skin, is what snaps him into action. He may be a bit shit at comforting a sobbing girl but he's had years of practice at looking after someone. Gently wrapping one arm around her shoulders Kurt guides her over to the stairs and leads her to his room where he leaves her standing awkwardly dripping over his carpet while he digs through his closest for something warm for her to wear.

He comes back out with a clean towel, a plain black t-shirt that doesn't fit him anymore and some well worn sweat pants and a hoodie. He leaves the room while she changes, leaning against the wall. Quinn slowly opens the door, lip bit and bloodshot eyes on the ground while she sniffs. Kurt's pretty sure his heart cracks a little bit at the sight so he takes her hands, steps inside and locks his door - another new habit, this one brought on by living with Finn - before pulling her over to sit on the end of his bed.

Quinn doesn't look at him but does lean into his side; head tucked onto his shoulder, feet curled underneath her while her fingertips hold the hoodie sleeves above her hands slightly. He's not much bigger than she is but he can't help but notice how tiny she looks curled up in his clothes as he wraps one arm around her again, the other reaching for her hands. They sit in silence while she plays with his fingers.

"I thought it would be better," she's mumbling, only her head's position against his neck allows him to hear her without straining, "I though moving back in and having him gone would make it all better. She said we'd turn the spare room into a nursery and I thought 'I can do this, I can be a mom if my mom helps me'." She snorts and attempts to wipe away more tears leaking steadily but in silence from her eyes.

Kurt keeps quiet, only tightening his arms a fraction and leaning his head against hers. "I love my mom, I do but I...I don't trust her. I haven't since they kicked me out Kurt...

"About what sweetie?" She's let go of his hand so he goes back to stroking her now down and wet hair, brushing it back from her face with his fingers.

"My dad's back."

Kurt again keeps quiet, deciding to let Quinn tell him in her own time. "He's back and he's hanging around the house, either inside arguing with my mom and making her revert back to how she used to be or he's outside in his fucking car and I can't deal with it Kurt. He just..." she looked up at him, green eyes glassy and wide, "he looks at me like I'm nothing, like I'm not his child. I was getting Beth's car seat for Puck to take her in and I could hear him muttering about me being a whore."

Kurt's fists clenched as he tried to ignore the rage building up inside, "What did Puck do?"

She sniffed and cuddled closer, mumbling "Nothing, he wasn't there yet. I don't want to go home, I don't want to see him and I don't want him near my baby."

"What do you want to do? You can sleep here tonight; I'll dry your uniform and take you to school tomorrow." He'd dropped a kiss to her hairline before he noticed, pulling back quickly with a blush - he wasn't even like this with Mercedes when they were close.

Quinn is nodding against his neck, sleeves coming up again to wipe away the last tears, "I just don't want to think about it anymore."

Kurt frowns as he looks around his room for inspiration before his eyes land on the price list on his desk; he's been thinking about this for a while now, Puck had given him the booklet with prices and information the other month, he's pretty sure it would count towards a distraction.

Slipping out from Quinn's arms he moves towards his closet again, this time digging towards the back for a pair of old grey skinny jeans that feel more like they're attempting to suffocate him nowadays before he throws them towards the girl on his bed, along with a military style jacket from early on in Sophomore year. "Put those on."

"Why?" But she's already tugging of the sweat pants and pulling on the jeans. Kurt doesn't answer but grabs a cotton pad, dabs some cleanser on it and goes over to gently wipe off all remains of smudged mascara.

"We're going somewhere to distract you." he says and he pulls on his own dry black henley to replace the one soaked through from the rain water on Quinn and her tears. He tugs on his white DMs, grabs essential items such as his phone and wallet and stuffs them all into his jackets pockets after he's pulled it on.

Quinn is pulling on the jacket and grimacing at her tennis shoes. After picking one up and checking the size he darts into his closet where he's sure Tina left a pair of shoes the other month, sure enough there is a pair of black combat style ankle boots shoved in the corner that he hands to Quinn, offering up Tina's name as explanation at her raised eyebrow.

He waits for her by his bedroom door, letting her link their arms together as they trudge downstairs and out into the rain to where Kurt's parked. Once they're inside he hands Quinn the leaflet and smirks at the almost wistful look she gets.

"What are you getting done?"

Kurt shrugged, eyes on the road but mulling it over in his head; truth be told he wants a lot and it's hard to pick where to start. "I don't know yet, I'll decide when I get there."

By the time they pull up outside the tattoo and piercing parlour Kurt's narrowed it down to a few choices, that he runs past Quinn as they step into the shop and look around. There's no one at the desk right now so they wait over by one of the display cases to look over the photos of different piercings.

"Hey! How can I help?" It's a girl who steps out from behind a curtain under the 'staff only' sign. She doesn't look much old than them, but her bare arms show the beginning of a sleeve on one and a twisting Ivy vine on the opposite wrist. Bits of metal and colourful plastic are dotted around her ears and face, visible from the tied back jet black and blue streaked hair. It's the smile that makes Kurt look down quickly before making his mind up.

"I wanted to start stretching my ears. And maybe get a nipple piercing done too."

Quinn looks impressed, almost as if she thought he would chicken out, her eyes stay on his nervous but excited face before she steps up to counter and adds "I'd like to get a helix done too."

The girl smiles, introduces herself as Amber and asks if they'd like to get them done separately or in the same room so they can be together. When they answer together she nods and slips away for a moment to get everything ready while Kurt browses the different stretchers, plugs and tunnels with Quinn's input. He decides to buy a few with left over money and get the rest online.

Fourty-five minutes later the two teens walk out with newly decorated bodies, Kurt's ears and right nipple burning lightly, the nipple more than his ears, and Quinn holding a bit of cotton wool to the hoop in her right cartilage to stop the blood flow - Kurt has some gauze tapped over his nipple to do the same. They're still grinning when they get back to Kurt's empty house and change into sweats to lounge about it.

At school the next day they walk to their few shared classes with arms linked, smiling like they have a secret that only they're allowed to know, much to baffelment of McKinley High and the Glee Club. Puck is the only one who notices the metal and how Kurt keeps rubbing his chest and grimacing, offering a high five to both and a promise that they take him next time. Because he'd warned Kurt, this kind of thing is addictive. The fact that Kurt's already thinking about a few more additions only proves him right.