Title: Phone calls in the Evening
Summary: Kurt gets a phone call from a stranded Puck.
Characters: Kurt Hummel, Noah Puckerman, Beth, Shelby Corcoran
Genre: Pre-Slash, Friendship
Rating: PG
Warnings: Un-betaed
Words Count Chapter: 3759
A/N: This is a fill for a prompt on the puckurt meme!

The night after losing Regionals, the Warblers decides to have a meeting to discuss what has gone wrong, what they were supposed to change and to generally work on a new strategy. Kurt is only half listening to the meeting because Wes and the others in charge of the council, never asks for anyone's opinion unless you are Blaine. So he is thinking about Mercedes' texts about the previous night's New Direction's celebration and daydreaming about going to New York; maybe it wasn't Broadway, but it was still New York and Kurt had really wanted to perform in the City.

He is so caught up in his thoughts, that at first he doesn't notice his phone vibrating in the pocket of his jacket. When the vibrating persists, Kurt frowns and takes out his phone.

He looks for a moment at Blaine who is arguing with Wes about the damn blue piping of their jackets ("We could have won with those!") and, deciding that they aren't going to notice if he leaves, he quietly slips out of the room. When he reads the caller ID on the screen of his iPhone, he furrows his brow in confusion before answering.

"Puck?"

"Hey, Kurt."

The casual tone Puck uses, as if they regularly talk on the phone, surprises Kurt. "Not to be rude, but, why are you calling me?"

There is a pause before Kurt hears Puck sighing heavily. "I need a lift."

"What?"

"A lift. I need to go somewhere and my stupid car died in the middle of nowhere and now I'm stranded."

"Can't you call Finn?"

There is another pause before Puck quietly says, "No."

Kurt looks behind him towards the closed door of the Warblers' council room before starting to head towards the exit. "I'm in Westerville, Puck."

"What? Dude it's like eight p.m. What the hell are you doing there?"

Kurt laughs because really, it is absurd and, truth to be told, he finds most of the Warblers' manners ridiculous. "Do you know how's Rachel? Like when last year she wanted us to practice even though we had all summer before school started over? Well, multiply Rachel for twenty and you have the Warblers."

Puck snorts on the other end of the line. "Man, how can you stand it?"

"I really have no option," he says, before he can remember that he is talking with Puck and he isn't supposed to let something like that slip. He stops walking when he reaches the exit door. He clears his throat nervously before stepping out. "It's raining. Where are you?"

"The last sign I saw was of Richmond."

Kurt puts his iPhone in the pocket of his jacket while he runs across the parking lot to get to his SUV. He quickly gets inside and tries to dry his hands on his pants before taking the phone out again. "Sorry I had to get in the car. So, Richmond? Where the hell are you going?"

Another pause and Kurt really is wondering why, if Puck is so uncomfortable talking about where he is going, he has called him of all people. When Puck finally answers, he gets it.

"Carmel."

"As in Carmel, Indiana?"

"Yeah."

"You were going to visit Beth, weren't you?" Kurt asks, after a few minutes of silence. He turns on the engine and starts driving out of the parking lot. "It's going to take a while. It's a three hours drive so I won't be there for a while."

"It's not like I can go anywhere. This stupid car..." Puck huffs annoyed. "I'll be waiting."

Kurt puts the directions in the GPS of his car and waits for the map to show up. Then, he says "I'm going to take the I-70 West, OK?"

"Yeah that's where I am."

"OK. I'm going to hang up, now. I will call you when I'm almost there."

"Thanks, man."

Before Kurt can reply, Puck hangs up.

The rain is coming down so heavily that it is actually kind of hard to see the road. However, Kurt manages to notice a car pulled to the curb under a streetlight. He parks right behind it and gets his iPhone out. He is about to press the call button when someone knocks on the car window. Looking up startled, he sees Puck. He doesn't pull down the window so the rain won't get inside, but yells, "Get in!"

Puck practically runs to the passenger side and gets inside. "Shit, I was freezing."

"Is that your car?"

"My mom's." He rolls his eyes. "She said that I can't get my own because of juvie."

"Right." Kurt turns the engine back on and starts driving the remaining hour and a half that separates them from Carmel. He turns on the heating so Puck can get warm and turns on the radio to fill the silence. After a few minutes, however, Kurt can't stop himself from asking, "So, do you go visit Beth frequently?"

Puck shrugs. "I babysit for Shelby on the weekends and when I can, I come visit." He looks at Kurt for a moment before talking again. "They don't know, the others in the glee club, I mean. They don't know that Shelby lets me be there for Beth so I didn't have anyone else to call. I'm sorry if I messed up your plans and.."

Kurt glances at him for a moment. "Relax, I won't tell anyone and you didn't mess up my plans." He chuckles. "Actually, you kind of saved me from the boredom of sitting through another council."

"You never seem to be enjoying yourself in that school," Puck casually says. He turns in his seat a little so he can look at Kurt even though Kurt is staring at the road.

"It's an all-boy school. There's no gossiping and all I do is study." He looks at Puck for a moment before sighing. "I actually hate it most of the time. Not like I hated being at McKinley, just in a different way."

Puck nods and doesn't say anything else besides giving indications. When they reaches Shelby's home, a little house with a porch swing and toys scattered on the lawn, the rain is still coming down heavily but Kurt is able to see the curtain moving before the light on the porch is turned on.

"She was waiting for you," Kurt says and glances at Puck to see him nodding.

"Yeah, I called her to let her know that I was coming over. Yesterday was Beth's birthday, you know?"

Kurt nods and smiles. "Yeah, I remember."

"I wanted to come see her but there was that stupid party to celebrate the winning and I couldn't come and I didn't want to have to wait until Monday to see her. While I was waiting for you, I called Shelby and asked if it was still OK to come even though it was getting late." Puck sighs and shakes his head. "She's probably sleeping now but I just want to see her even though she's asleep and won't know that I was here."

Kurt is surprised and not only because he didn't know that Puck was seeing Beth, but because the boy sitting in his car, dripping water from his soaked clothes on his leather seat, looks uncertain and shy but, at the same time, determined to be a good father. For the first time, Kurt wonders what would have happened if Quinn had let Puck keep Beth.

"I'll wait for you," he finds himself saying.

"No way, man. Come on inside, I bet Shelby won't mind. I can't leave you in the car freezing."

"I..." He's cut off when Puck gets out of the car. He frowns and wonders what the hell just happened, but then his door is being opened and cold air hits him making him shiver just as a hand closes around his wrist, tagging him out of the car and under the pouring rain. "Puckerman!" he says indignantly but Puck is already racing up Shelby's driveway, pulling Kurt along inside the house.

Puck shakes his jacket off dripping water droplets on the wooden floor.

"Noah, go in the bathroom and dry yourself off."

Kurt looks away from Puck when he hears Shelby's voice. He has never talked with her but just from hearing Jesse talking about her, he thought that she'd never have such a caring tone. She's smiling at Puck like she's seeing a dear friend after a long time and Kurt wonders how long Puck has been coming to visit.

"This is Kurt, he gave me a lift." Puck gestures in Kurt's general direction before walking away.

"I'm Kurt Hummel," he says, extending his hand and Shelby shakes it with a smile.

"Of course. I saw you with the Dalton Warblers. I didn't come but Rachel sent me a tape." She leads him towards the living room and makes him sit on a comfortable sofa and offers a cocoa that Kurt is happy to accept.

"I didn't know that you and Rachel were still talking."

"We're not close, but she likes to send me tapes to the performances so I can help her. Her fathers taped the whole competition and you were really good but there's a lot you can improve."

Kurt knows that. He's pretty sure that if Warblers miraculously got to Nationals, they would never have won. They're repetitive and he knows that, it's why he sits through the meetings without saying anything.

Shelby leaves him to go in the kitchen to make the cocoa and Kurt stands up and walks over to the fireplace to look at the framed pictures on the mantelpiece. There are a few of Shelby and a cute blond little girl and they look happy. But the picture that really gets his attention, is the one in the corner. There is Puck holding a sleeping Beth looking down at the baby with so much awe and love, that Kurt almost doesn't recognize him.

"She was only a few months old when we took that."

Kurt is startled when he hears Puck's voice. He turns around finding the boy standing next to the sofa, wearing a white undershirt that must have been in the house because it's dry. Beth is in his arms, her little head resting on his shoulder, the thumb of one of her hand in her mouth and the other hand clenching Puck's t-shirt.

Kurt looks curiously at Beth. She's beautiful like Quinn's daughter should be, with soft blond locks falling over her tiny shoulders, but her mouth and eyes are Puck's. Watching the boy holding his daughter, makes Kurt feel strange, like there are butterflies in his stomach and he thinks that it's a stupid cliché but that's the only way in which he could describe what he's feeling.

"Hey, girl," he greets Beth, walking over to where Puck is standing and smiling at her. "You're a very beautiful lady."

Puck grins proudly. "She really is beautiful." Then he looks down at his daughter and tries to look serious. "But you should have been asleep, baby, it's late."

She shrugs her little shoulders and Kurt almost can't believe how adorable she is. "Waiting you," she says, before yawning.

Shelby walks back in the living room with a tray with three cups of steaming cocoa. "What are you doing still up?" she asks Beth.

"She was waiting for daddy," Puck answers for her before walking over to the sofa and sitting down. Beth snuggles up against her father's chest and closes her eyes while Puck picks up one of the mugs. "I'm sorry it's so late," he then tells Shelby. "My car died and I had to call Kurt and wait for him to come from Westerville."

"You could have waited, Noah. It's raining and you shouldn't have driven all the way here."

Puck just shrugs. "I wanted to see Beth because I missed her birthday." He puts down the mug and slides his arms around Beth's small frame to pull her closer to him. "Happy birthday princess, even though it's late," he whispers.

Beth blinks a few times before focusing on her father. She smiles for a moment and then settles down to sleep.

Kurt can't look away from that display of affection. He knew that Puck had really wanted to be a father, but he never really understood how much until that moment. He smiles and goes to sit down next to his friend picking up his own mug.

"You can't drive back to Lima tonight," Shelby says sitting down in the armchair. "Kurt call your parents and let them know you're staying, Noah, do the same. Your mother will probably be worried by now. I only have one spare bedroom, but if you don't want to share the room, one of you can sleep on the couch."

Kurt doesn't say anything because it's not up to him. He's not the one who could feel uncomfortable so he lets decide Puck.

"It's OK, we can share," Puck says before turning to Kurt, "If that's alright with you."

"Yeah, sure. I'll just go call dad."

Shelby shows him where's the spare bedroom and bids him goodnight before leaving him in the room. Kurt sits down on the edge of the bed and wonders if he should sleep on the floor. He takes out his phone and calls Burt telling him about helping Puck to get to Shelby's and that he's spending the night.

"That's OK, I'd be worried to know you out on the road with this weather. Tell Puckerman to bring his car over on Monday and I'll see what's wrong with it."

"OK. Night Dad."

"Good night kid."

He carefully doesn't say anything about sharing the room with Puck because he still doesn't know if he can't share a bed with a boy only if said boy is gay or if he can't share a bed with a guy under any circumstances. But it's not like anything is going to happen with Puck, so he figures out that he's not really keeping something important from his dad.

He's figuring out if he should sleep in his pants even though they're soaked when the door opens and Puck walks inside.

"Hey."

Kurt clears his throat nervously and looks at everywhere but Puck. "I can sleep on the floor or..."

Puck looks at him like he's crazy. "Why in the hell would you want to sleep on the floor?"

"I just thought that I'd make you uncomfortable."

Puck shrugs and walks to the other side of the bed starting to get his jeans off. "It's OK. I won't freak out just because we are going to share a bed. Relax."

"OK." Kurt blushes because he has seen Puck in the showers after football practice, but this is different and he can't help but feel nervous. He gets his jacket off glad that his shirt looks dry enough. His uniform pants are wet though and he just stares at them in silence like he's waiting for them to dry themselves.

When he dares a glance in Puck's direction, he finds the boy standing in his undershirt and boxers and can't help but stare for a moment because everything feels too intimate all of a sudden.

Puck slides under the covers and glances at Kurt. "What's wrong?"

"I just need to use the bathroom."

Puck rolls his eyes when he sees Kurt blushing. "I've seen other dudes naked, you know? It's not a big deal and I promise you that your virtue is safe with me, OK?"

Kurt shakes his head and almost smacks the boy behind the head. "You're such a Neanderthal."

"Go take a piss, so then I can turn off the lights and sleep." Puck turns on his side, facing the wall and Kurt quickly goes into the bathroom.

After he's finished, for a moment, he wonders if he's supposed to search for toothpaste and a toothbrush but then he figures out that it's not really important.

Still feeling nervous, he walks back in the bedroom and slides under the covers turning off the bedside lamp.

"Thank you for coming when I called. You didn't have to," Puck says after a while.

"You're my friend," Kurt simply says and it surprises him how true it feels to say it.

Puck doesn't say anything else and after a while he falls asleep.

Kurt wakes up slowly when an arm brushes against his. He opens his eyes and it takes him a moment to focus on the boy lying next to him. Sometimes during the night, Puck has turned on his other side and is now facing Kurt, his eyes closed and his breath even. Kurt just stares at him for a while unable to look away and trying to piece together this new side of Puck with the ones he is used to. Then he remembers again that he woke up because of their arms brushing together and he feels those stupid butterflies again. He frowns and makes himself turn around. He picks up the phone from the nightstand and sees that it's already eight in the morning. The sky outside is still gray but it's not raining anymore. With a sigh, he gets up and goes in the bathroom to get ready. When he walks back in the bedroom, Puck is awake and he looks at Kurt intensely.

"What?"

Puck's eyebrows furrow and he opens his mouth as if he's about to say something but in the end, he shakes his head and gets out of the bed. "We can have breakfast before leaving. Shelby is a great cook."

"OK." Kurt watches Puck walk in the bathroom and he starts getting dressed. He doesn't wait for Puck before walking out and going looking for the kitchen. He hears singing and follows that voice finding Shelby making breakfast while Beth is sitting in her highchair trying to sing with her mother.

"Good morning."

Shelby smiles at him. "Good morning, Kurt. Slept well?"

"Yes, thank you." He sits down at the kitchen table.

"Noah is a great kid," she says out of the blue. She puts a few pancakes in a plate and puts it down in front of Kurt before filling another plate with waffles. "I don't know how he's at school, but whenever I see him, I can tell that he's still trying to figure out his way around letting people in. When he's with Beth, his guard is down and I can see what a great boy he truly is."

Kurt nods because he has really changed his opinion about Puck and suddenly realizes that he doesn't know anything about him besides the facts that the whole school knows. "I don't really know him."

"I know." She sits down at the table in front of Kurt and starts feeding Beth. "I don't even know why I told you those things but let's just say that I felt it was needed."

"I know a different side of him," he says before taking a bite from one of the pancakes. "The boy holding Beth last night was Noah, and I only know Puck." He doesn't explain himself when he sees Shelby frowning in confusion because he knows that she probably won't get it and a moment later, Puck walks inside the kitchen and flops down on the chair next to Kurt after having left a kiss on Beth's head.

"Morning Shelby."

"Noah."

"Waffles!" Puck says happily before starting to eat. Kurt can't help but look at him with a smile.

They eat breakfast all together and then Puck says that it's time to head back. He's sad when he has to say goodbye, Kurt can tell and they walk back to his car in silence. It's after a while that Puck sighs and looks at him.

"I forgot her present in the car yesterday."

"I'm sure she was just happy to see you."

"Yeah but I really wanted to give it to her."

Kurt bites on his lower lip and tightens his grip on the steering wheel. "I can remind you next time." He doesn't know why he says it but when Puck just sort of smiles at him surprised, he's happy he did. "My dad asked me to tell you to bring your mother's car to the garage. I could give you a lift while you don't get it back."

"That would be great."

Kurt smiles and turns on the radio. From time to time, he glances at Puck and all he can see is the boy who's ready to drive almost eight hours every chance he gets just because he wants to spend sometime with his daughter. He sees Puck holding Beth and he feels that unfamiliar feeling spreading inside him again and all he can think about, is that he really wants to get to know Noah.