Chapter 12

December 6, 2012

"So, I was right about you, princess," the guy smirked and it sent shivers up Kurt's spine.

He remembered his dad's words about slaves – it wasn't illegal to treat them nicely, hence, he wasn't doing anything wrong simply sitting with Blaine in the park. On the other hand, this guy seemed like the type of people who would enjoy hurting others, slaves being the priority. Since they were in a secluded part of the park on a cold winter day, the teen knew they were in a big trouble.

"Hi, Puck," Blaine spoke and Kurt looked at him with disbelief just to see a small smile on the boy's face.

"Hey, Blainers," the guy – Puck – said and walked closer to them, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"You two know each other," Kurt said, not sure if it was supposed to be a statement or a question.

Puck snorted. "No, we are on the first name basis but we don't know each–" he began but cut off himself when he finally got close enough to take in Blaine's appearance. "Who gave you that black eye?"

"I don't–" the slave boy said with uneasiness and Kurt felt like it was his cue to take over.

"It was Finn."

"Finn?"

"Yeah. Big guy, goes to our school, currently dating my friend Rachel," Kurt elaborated.

"I know who he is," Puck said and sat down on the bench nearby so that Blaine was inbetween the two students. "Why did he do this to Blaine?"

Kurt looked down to the ground, not able to look at neither of them. "It's my fault, actually. I gave Blaine my jacket, Rachel saw it, thought Blaine had stolen it and told Finn..."

"Let me get this straight," the boy said, coldness in his strained voice, "that Berry chick is responsible for Blaine's injuries and you still hang out with her? Not cool, princess."

"It's not like I have many options," Kurt said defensively, though he knew that his excuses were worthless. "McKinley isn't the friendliest place."

"You could be my bestie," Puck suggested with a fake laugh. "We could braid each other's hair and shit like that."

"You will not touch my hair and I won't ever come close to that thing on your head, you probably breed lice in there," Kurt retorted angrily.

He could see that Puck was about to respond but before any of them said anything, Kurt heard the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. It took him a moment to realise where it was coming from but one look at Blaine's face said it all – the boy was laughing. Not just smiling or silently giggling, he was fully laughing, big toothy smile on his face. Kurt shared a look with the other guy, who was just as surprised as he was, and they both joined in, not able to resist the contagious laughter. It wasn't that funny but for some reason none of them could stop laughing. Whenever one of them was about to calm down, he would look at the other two and another wave of laughter took over. In the end, they all had tears in their eyes.

"I hope nobody saw this," Puck said breathlessly.

"Would that ruin your reputation?" Kurt teased him, trying to catch his own breath.

"Puck tries really hard to pretend to be a badass but in reality he is a big softy," Blaine explained with a smile.

"One more word and I'll kick your ass," Puck threatened jokingly.

"And I'll pretend to be afraid."

Kurt watched their exchange with a fond smile. He had been so wrong about Puck. He knew better than to judge a book by its cover but he did and he had never been more wrong. He already regretted ever comparing him with his girl friends, especially knowing absolutely nothing about the guy.

"Before I forget," Puck said in a moment, taking something out of his bag. "I brought you today's newspaper. I kind of borrowed it from the library..."

Blaine took the offered newspaper. "Thanks. You know, it wouldn't do you any harm if you ever looked through it."

"Nah, they are pretty boring. I don't care what's happening outside of Lima."

Blaine shook his head and put the newspaper on the bench, first making sure it wasn't wet.

Kurt looked at him curiously. "You like to read?"

The slave nodded. "Unlike Puck, I like to know what's happening. And they kind of keep me warm at night," the boy finished with a blush.

Now that the boy was at ease, it seemed like a good time to ask questions. "Where do you sleep?" Kurt started with the simplest one.

Blaine squirmed uncomfortably. "Some place," he answered vaguely and it occurred to Kurt that for his own safety the boy didn't want anyone knowing where to find him at night when he was most vulnerable.

"No, I mean, do you have a mattress or some blankets?" the teenager rephrased his question.

"I stole a couple of blankets for him when I was working at Sheet-N-Things," Puck said and saw the judgemental look on Kurt's face. "What? My family is broke, it's the only way I could help Blainers. And ever since I got back from juvie, I can't steal as much as I did..."

"You are my friend and you saved my life last winter," Blaine spoke softly. "It's all that matters."

"Except I wish I could help you more," Puck mumbled.

"And I wish you could stay out of trouble for longer than a few months."

"Well, I'm here now," Kurt cut in. "Puck won't have to steal stuff for you anymore because I'm here to help."

Blaine shook his head frantically, looking at him with his big eyes. "No, I know it's cliché but I don't want to be a charity case. Thank you for your good intentions but it's enough that you treat me like a human being."

"It's not a charity case if you are just helping out a friend," Kurt argued.

"Listen to princess, Blainers," Puck nodded in agreement.

"Will you stop calling me that?" the countertenor frowned.

The curly-haired boy laughed at that. "Don't even bother, Kurt, I've been trying for over a year to get him to stop calling me Blainers or pet names. He just likes hitting on people."

"You mean, gorgeous people like princess or you, hottie."

"Do I need to remind you that you are straight?" Blaine asked with a snort.

"I can appreciate a pretty face when I see one," Puck winked at him.

The two of them began bickering and Kurt fell into his thoughts, mostly about Blaine's sleeping arrangements. The blankets Puck had stolen couldn't have been thick since he had to somehow sneak them out and it would have been very difficult to not be noticed with a big blanket under a shirt. Also, Blaine mentioned using newspapers to keep the warmth, which only confirmed Kurt's suspicions. Fortunately, he had an idea.

"Hey, guys, do you think you are going to be here in twenty minutes?" he found a good timing to interrupt their conversation. "I need to go somewhere really quick but I'll come back as soon as I can."

Blaine nodded and Puck looked suspiciously at Kurt. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing much," Kurt shrugged. "Just need to go home for a minute. I'll come back soon."

"I'll walk you to your car," the mohawked boy said and stood up together with Kurt. "I'll be right back, Blainers."

"See you soon," the slave boy offered and opened the newspaper to look for an interesting article to read.

When Kurt and Puck were far enough for Blaine to be unable to hear or see them, the taller boy stopped the countertenor. "I need to have a word with you, princess."

Kurt frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "What is it about?"

"I just wanted to let you know that if you hurt my boy, I will kick your ass back to that European village that you came from."

"I would never hurt him," Kurt defended himself. He did care for Blaine and hurting him was the last thing on his mind.

"You already indirectly did it," Puck said and gestured to the place they came from. "That bruise on his face? It's your fault. I bet there are more under his clothes."

"I didn't mean to–"

"You hang out with that bitch, who told Hudson to beat up Blainers. I don't trust you but for the sake of my friend I'm going to pretend to like you. Just know that I'll be watching you," Puck finished his rant and turned around to leave. "He's been through enough and if you add some shit to that list, I won't hesitate to hurt you. It would be worth going back to juvie."

"You won't have to," Kurt said to Puck's retreating back, "because I won't hurt him. Not again."

"Prove that," the other boy said and disappeared behind the trees.

Just like that Kurt was left with a hanging question – how do you prove that you won't do something bad? First step, do something right.

Trying to block Puck's words, the boy went to his car and drove home. He knew that later that night he would go through each sentence, overthinking it, blaming himself for what happened because what Puck said was true but right now he had a mission to complete and getting lost in negative thoughts was not a part of his plan.

When Kurt got home, he found the house empty just like he expected since his dad was still supposed to be at work. He went straight to the garage where they kept some of the boxes, one of them holding the thing he desperately wanted to give Blaine. It took good five minutes but finally he retrieved one of the sleeping bags that he and his dad bought a couple of years ago for their first (and last) camping trip. It was much too warm to use at home during the sleepovers so he was sure that Burt wouldn't notice it was missing.

The boy was about to leave when he noticed another box, labelled 'Toys.' It wasn't big and it held just a few old toys from his childhood that Kurt didn't want to part with and put them in his room as decorations. He hadn't done it yet in his new room and at that moment he was glad he hadn't because he realised it was time for him to part with one of them.

The teen put the sleeping bag on the floor, opened the box, and carefully looked through the toys it held. Most of them were stuffed toys with an exception of his old power ranger action figures.

The toy he wanted was on the very bottom of the box. Kurt dug through it until he found it – a medium size dark brown teddy bear with a bowtie and a smile. It was very old but still in a perfect condition. Kurt remembered his mother giving it to him when he was having an extensive period of nightmares.

It will protect you at night...

It was perfect. He knew it was silly and a toy couldn't really do anything for protection but the sentiment behind it was beautiful. Not to mention that Blaine probably hadn't had any physical affection extended to him for god knows how long and having something to pull close and snuggle with may be something that he was craving for.

Grabbing both things Kurt left the garage and drove back to the park, hoping that Blaine would still be there even though he took longer than twenty minutes. He wasn't sure how he felt about Puck but he secretly hoped that he was no longer there.

Unfortunately for him, Puck was still there, skipping pebbles while Blaine read the newspaper, his feet on the bench to protect them from the cold ground.

"I'm back," the boy announced and the duo looked up at him. "I brought something for you, Blaine."

"Ku-urt, I told you you didn't have to," the boy bit his bottom lip and closed the newspaper. "You keep giving me stuff and I don't know how to thank you. It makes me feel useless..."

Kurt's face fell. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know I made you feel like this..."

"Put that pride aside, Blainers," Puck rolled his eyes. "If you don't accept help when it's offered, you won't survive this winter."

Blaine blushed at that but said nothing.

"Puck is right," Kurt reasoned and sat down next to the slave boy. "I watched the weather forecast and it's just going to get worse. I can afford to help you and I want to. I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you, especially since I could prevent that. So, please, will you accept my gift?"

Blaine had tears in his eyes and it was obvious that if he tried to talk, they would start running down his cheeks. Trying to keep some pride, the boy nodded and said nothing.

Kurt smiled encouragingly at him and gave him the bag first. "It's a sleeping bag. My dad and I bought it when we decided to go camping one time. To be honest, camping was not for us, we ended up packing up our stuff in the middle of the night and going home. Since I don't think we will ever use it, you should have it."

Since Blaine didn't make a move to take it, Kurt put it on the ground and offered the boy the toy. "I know you don't like people to come too close to you but I really want to give you a hug. So, I thought, if you didn't let me hug you, then maybe you would let Mr. Honey hug you instead? He likes cuddles and I'm sure you could give him that. And if he gets dirty you can always give him to me to wash him."

Blaine took the toy and a smile appeared on his face. "Thank you," he whispered.

"Oh, I'm going to throw up..." Puck complained.

"Behave, Noah," Blaine shot back.

"Noah?" Kurt snorted. "Your name is Noah?"

"Yes, it is, but don't call me that. It's Puck for you, princess," the boy raised his right fist threateningly.

"And it's Kurt for you, Noah," Kurt smirked and gave his full attention to Blaine.

The boy was sitting there, gently running his fingers over the toy's fur. His careful movements told Kurt that the other boy was trying not to dirty the clean toy but still couldn't help but keep touching it. It was endearing to watch him like that.

The silence among them was broken by Puck who came closer to them. "I have to get going," he said. "Business to attend, girls to fuck. I'm a busy man."

Kurt looked at his watch to see that it was probably the time for him to start on dinner. "I'll be going too. Do you want me to give you a lift somewhere, Blaine?"

The boy shook his head. "No, thank you, Kurt. I'll stay here for a bit longer."

"I don't get it," Puck looked at him disapprovingly. "It's freezing here and it's an open area so nothing covers you from wind. You will get sick."

"I walk when I get cold," Blaine said and hugged the toy. "Besides, now I have Mr. Honey to keep me warm."

"You are crazy," Puck shook his head. "See you in a few, man."

"Bye... See you around, Kurt," Blaine said with a smile.

"Yeah, see you around..."

With that Kurt and Puck left the boy alone, walking together in silence. They reached the gates of the park when Kurt decided to ask the other boy a question, despite Puck disliking him.

"What did you mean when you said you would 'see him in a few'?"

"I meant I'll see him in a few days."

"How do you know that?"

"Blaine and I have set days, times and places where we meet every week," Puck explained. "It's not like I could text him to suggest meeting up anyway."

"When is the next meeting?" Kurt asked, hoping to find out when he would be able to see Blaine if he didn't run into him by accident.

Puck snorted. "As if I would tell you. I told you I didn't trust you. Just because you gave Blaine that stuff doesn't mean that your intentions are good. For what I know you may be doing this for the jocks, trying to gather some info about my boy so that they can have their way with him."

"You are crazy," Kurt shook his head and went to his car, Puck doing the same.

As he drove home, the countertenor kept thinking about the mohawked boy. He came off as a typical badboy with criminal record, who also appeared to be protective when it came to people he cared about. He was still quite sceptical about the delinquent teenager but when he saw Finn sporting a black eye larger than Blaine's the following day at school, Kurt knew that Puck was only looking out for his friend.