12: PERSPECTIVE

Finn arrived home, and immediately ran into Burt in the kitchen. Um. Awkward.

"Uh... hi," he said.

Burt was clearly not following the International Rules of Awkward, because he shrugged in a distinctly non-awkward way. "Hi," he said.

"...Hi."

Burt caught his eye, and then he started following the rules.

Finn shuffled on the spot, shifting weight from one foot to another. He didn't even know how to ask this, but... "Are you mad at me?"

Burt frowned. "About making Schuester think I'd been..." Burt trailed off, and Finn nodded. Burt shook his head. "Nah."

Okay, Finn couldn't quite believe that. "Really? I was kinda an idiot."

"You made a mistake," said Burt, which Finn was pretty sure was the tactful way of saying 'yes, you are an idiot'. "And no, the conversation you had with your teacher – can't have been the smartest decision you've ever made, but, well, you're a kid. A freaked out kid trying to deal with something way to big for you on your own, and doing your best. I mean, you were just trying to protect your best friend; there's not much that could have made me resent you about anything where that was what you were trying."

Finn nodded. It made sense, in a strange, vaguely agist kind of way. "Okay. Cool," He said. "...This is kind of an anticlimax."

Burt shrugged. "Oh well. I think the real climax happened with poor Puck, so..."

Finn cringed a little. "Yeah. It's just... fuck, I feel so bad for him, you know? I knew about this for a year, and it doesn't mean... I feel like I didn't do enough to help him before, uh, shit got all complicated again. And then I feel like I went about everything wrong and told too many people... given I did promise to tell like, no-one. So basically, I suck."

"Finn, please stop blaming yourself. You're just making me kind of uncomfortable," said Burt. Finn cocked his head to the side. Huh? "Look, Finn – maybe you could have gone about this better. I don't know. We'll never know; you didn't go about all this a different way. From the looks of things right now, kid... you did get that man out of his house. You're allowed to be proud of that, you know?"

Finn blinked. Okay. It did sort of sound like Burt was praising him for something he should have done anyway and hence didn't really deserve praise for, and it wasn't just him; it was Kurt and a whole bunch of coincidences that kind of happened in his favor, but... "Uh... Thanks, I guess."

Burt nodded. "You're welcome. Even if you don't actually believe me."

They returned to awkward.

"Uh... I think I'm going to go see Puck," said Finn. "He probably needs me – his mom wasn't being so great about the whole thing this morning, you know?"

Burt nodded. "I know. Probably a good idea."

Finn started heading for the door.

"Finn?"

Finn turned back to his stepfather with a confused look. "What?"

"Just... tell him we're all here for him if he needs it, okay? The whole family. I don't trust that woman to help him out through this and he's gonna need a real family to help him right now. So whatever he needs... we're gonna be there."

Oh. Finn felt a slight sense of relief, like some kind of pressure had been lifted from him. He didn't have all Puck's burden on him or something. "Uh... thanks."

Finn rang the doorbell waited awkwardly at the Puckermans' front door. He wasn't that sure Puck's mom would be pleased to see him. He wasn't that sure Puck would be pleased to see him. He was a little terrified Mrs. P would have been lying about kicking Hugo out, and the dude would be there, waiting for revenge on Finn... and doing whatever he could to get it on Puck.

When the door swung open, it was Ms. Puckerman, which could have been worse and better. "What do you want?" she said. She was red-eyed, and basically looked like she hated the world right now.

This wasn't off to a good start. "Um," he said. "Could I talk to Puck – please, Ms. P?"

There was a pause as she just stared at him angrily. Then he heard Puck's voice. "Mom?"

Mrs. Puckerman looked over her shoulder back at Puck, before giving a frustrated sigh. "Your boyfriend's here," she muttered, brushing past him and leaving him alone with Puck. There was an awkward moment.

"...So, she's not taking this all that well, huh?"

Puck snorted. "Understatement of the century, Hudson," he said. "She's mad at me for everything, I think. Like I took him away from her or something."

Finn stepped inside. "Dude, the guy's a fucking child molester and she's mad because she lost him? And she's blaming you for it all? What is wrong with your mom, man?"

Puck shrugged. "She's just nuts like that," he said. "Come on, let's go up to my room."

Puck headed for the stairs and Finn followed him, going up to his room. Puck sat on the bed and Finn sort of lingered standing up.

"So... are you okay?"

Puck shrugged. "Sorta, I guess. I mean, much as I can." Finn winced a little, stepping back. Puck gave him a look. "Dude. Sit, you dumbass."

Fuck. He didn't want Puck thinking he was uncomfortable with everything or anything. "Or, er, sorry," he said, sitting next to Puck. "It's just... I dunno. I thought you might be mad at me."

Puck raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Finn shrugged. "Well, you did make me promise to never tell anyone, like, ever... and I kind of completely ignored that. So you could be pissed about it."

"It was Hummel who brought me into the whole school thing, not you."

"After I told him; that doesn't really work."

Puck shrugged again. "Whatever."

"Plus, I tried to tell your mom before all... that didn't really work out, but given how freaked you were at the idea of her finding out, I possibly shouldn't. But, you know... I expected her to help."

Puck shook a little, and then Finn realized he should not have been reminding Puck of how much his life sucked right now and he should not have been trying to convince Puck to hate him. He was really dumb sometimes. "hey – Hey man, you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you all, uh–"

"It's cool, Hudson, chill," said Puck, even though the look on his face seriously said something else – however, Finn didn't know how to say that without being a douche. So he let it slide. "I guess I just sort of expected her to do that too... and, you know, I wouldn't tell her because I didn't think she deserved all that."

Finn frowned. He couldn't quite remember if Puck had told him that before or not, but... "She totally let you down, huh?"

"I guess it wasn't all her fault."

"...How the fuck could it possibly not be her fault?"

"She has issues!" Puck said, which wasn't really as excuse. "I mean, she's being a crazy bitch about all this, but – you know, with everything she went through that's to That Douchebag... I think I can get her being all clingy over the one guy who kind of kept showing up? I mean, I'm still pissed, but..."

"...Wait, you think this is about your dad?" Finn asked. "'Cause, yeah, it sucks he ran out and everything, but it's not really an excuse for letting your boyfriend molest your son, you know."

"Whatever," said Puck. "Would you stop telling me what to think? I don't need that shit."

Oh, yeah. Even if he thought Puck was being crazy about his mom... it was probably not a good idea to tell him what to do. Oops. "Oh. Uh, sorry."

"It's cool," said Puck. "I mean, you have a point – this shit she's doing can't be good for me."

Finn nods along. "So, uh... do you know what's going to happen now?"

Puck inhaled. "Well, uh, we've kicked Hugo out. He showed up like an hour ago; Mom had his stuff out there and told him to fuck off – yeah, I was kind of worried she wouldn't actually do it too, but... she did. I mean, she's not happy but... Sarah's confused as fuck. I don't wanna tell her what that fucker did to me; don't want her to have to understand that, but – I don't know, she's just freaking. I think she liked him, you know? I feel bad for doing this to her."

Finn cringed. "Dude, you know it's not your fault, right?"

"Yeah, I know Hudson, but still."

Fuck. Finn really didn't have a clue what to do with all this. Then he got thinking, and... "So... Hugo didn't do anything to Sarah?"

"Nah," said Puck. "Believe me, son of a bitch would be full-blown dead if he tried anything with her."

"He should be dead for what he did to you," said Finn, which – he wasn't really planning on saying and it comes out really angry, but he means it all. Because how could someone just do that to Finn's best friend? It's not fair.

"You can try if you like, man; just don't make me come with you. I am totally cool with just pretending the guy doesn't exist."

Finn cringed. Because really, Puck spent ages pretending the guy just didn't exist and Finn spent all that time worrying his head off about how to, well, protect Puck, even if Puck would probably punch him for making him sound like a girl or whatever. Puck was sort of dumb like that. But Finn figured not wouldn't be a good idea to say any of that to Puck's face, so he doesn't. "Well, uh... I guess it's most important you're okay with everything and all. So... no cops?"

"No fucking way, man," says Puck. "They'd never believe me."

"You don't know that."

"I do. Plus, Mom wouldn't take it well – I mean, she was freaked by the idea of having to do something legal 'cause Hugo'd want his stuff but; she'd never let me..."

"You don't have to like, do shit to keep her crazy selfish bull happy or whatever."

"Yeah, but I don't want to do any of that either, so whatever."

Okay, yeah, that sort of made sense. To Finn, he didn't really get why Puck was so dead-seat against actually getting Hugo put behind bars – he wanted the guy to have to pay, and as much as he'd like to, actually killing the guy would also be illegal and Finn had no idea where he was. But, Finn figured Puck would have his reasons for doing what he was doing – and, after all the fucking time he'd been ignored about what he wanted, Finn was not doing that to him again.

He kind of figured something there: he'd never know what Puck was thinking. What this did to him. The trauma and nightmares and issues and everything. Finn didn't really know anything – he wasn't Puck. He just had to do his best.

"Alright," he said. There was an awkward pause. "Listen, dude... if your mom's being weird, you wanna stay with us for a while? I mean, I haven't actually asked anyone about that, but Burt said I should tell you our whole family unit is here for you and everything, so..."

Puck blinked. "...Yeah. Thanks," he said. Finn nodded, and it was all kind of awkward again. "...Okay, this is gonna be the gayest shit ever but fuck it."

And suddenly Puck's hugging him, and Finn hugs him back more on instinct than anything. It's not hard to figure out, though – for all his badassness or whatever, Puck's gone through something horrible and needs Finn to comfort him. Like he did the first time he even told Finn. So Finn does it, and hopes it'll help.

"Thanks," Puck mutters.

Finn's not entirely sure what he mean, but he says "You're welcome," anyway. "Love you, bro."

It really is the gayest shit ever. "Love ya too, you pussy," says Puck, before pulling back.

"Come on, lets get out of here," says Finn. He stands up and Puck follows him out.

"You know, he didn't really do anything this time," Puck says when they're half-way down the stairs.

Finn frowns. "But you're still glad he's gone, right?"

"Well, yeah," says Puck, and – okay, that was kind of obvious. "Thanks. You know, for helping."

Finn knows he can't take credit, but he's just glad Puck feels better now.