Disclaimer: I do not own Glee but wouldn't that be awesome if I did?

When in juvie there's no one to have your back, you're on your own. Puck learned that quickly and adapted, as he is apt at. He learned to watch people and get in their heads – to see their self-image and vulnerabilities. Naturally, when he got out he applied this new skill to his everyday life as a second nature type of thing.

Within seconds of seeing Berry he could see that she genuinely thought well of herself – she carried herself tall and proud and real. She wasn't just obnoxious, she was proud and had confidence in herself. It was kinda hot. Then, Finn would walk up and Rachel would…shift. There was no other way to describe it. Some of her confidence left her and she appeared to almost shrink. Puck frowned before turning to Finn.

Finn was not proud, real, or confident. He looked awkward and slouched – a sure sign he felt some kind of middle ground between "I'm hot stuff" and "I'm just a background color, please don't look at me." Guess that's no real shock, he thought to himself as he walked by, unnoticed. He spotted Artie talking to Tina and Mike and lounged against some lockers, just looking.

Tina was proud, but subdued. She kept to the side lines but still had a strong presence. She shifted her center of gravity towards Mike – like that big guy in juvie did towards the kid he practically adopted. No one fucked with that kid, because if you did the big guy would shank you. Mike seemed to be proud, but was clearly hiding behind Tina; he stood one step too close to be romantic. Interesting. Artie was harder to read – after all, he's in a wheelchair, so Puck moved on. He's pretty sure he already knew Artie enough to piece together that he's insecure in himself – who wouldn't be when their legs didn't work?

He made use of his newfound skill all throughout the day. Quinn and the new kid were a disaster waiting to happen – Quinn's pride and confidence in herself were both fake and she relied too much on him. He had confidence but no pride, which made Puck think he's hiding something.

"Hey Puck, did you know that Panda Bears are just fat, cute humans?" Britney said and Puck blinked at her because what can he say to that? Brit's, like, adorable and reminds him of his sister – thus the reason he's never actually had sex with her, just watches her and Santana make out. So, he didn't say anything in response, just nodded and looked vaguely interested. She smiled at him.

Reading Britney was interesting. She's proud but has no center of gravity – she's just kind of there, lost like. There was a kid at juvie like that – he almost killed one of the guards Puck's first night because he wanted their badge. Puck's fairly sure he shouldn't have been in juvie but rather a hospital. It makes him worry about Brit a little, this comparison he sees.

Then Santana walked up and linked their pinkies together and like magic Britney gained a center of gravity in Santana. She shifted toward the Latina cheerleader and became more alert and warmer, if that's possible. Not that big of a shock, but it's still interesting. Santana, though, now there's a shock. She reminded him of Quinn – her confidence was forced just like Quinn's – but there's something…dangerous about her when she shifts closer to Britney. Like…not confidence so much as "this is my most important thing: fuck with it and I will fuck with you."

Puck's favorite time quickly became a tie between Glee Club – because it's Glee club – and lunch hour because that means he can use his newfound skill.

XXX

Hummel was interesting to look at. Not like that, of course, but in a reading people way. He had so many layers it hurt Puck to even try to read him, but he tried anyway because he's always liked a challenge.

The first layer of Hummel was proud, strong, confident, and cocky. It's such a good layer Puck almost left it at that, but then came that mash-up meeting where the guys had to do girl songs and a crack in that layer appeared.

The second layer of Hummel was broken. Exhausted and broken. His center of gravity was nonexistent. Something about this Hummel's self and stance and eyes reminded Puck of the kid that killed himself in juvie by eating his writs – scariest thing Puck had ever seen in his life. He thought for a second about going after Hummel and telling him not to look so broken, then dismissed the idea because really? Hummel was probably just making too big a deal about stuff.

He dreamt that night of Hummel eating through his wrist and handing his gnawed off hand to Puck.

XXX

Hummel watching became his new thing, which he thought was a little weird because really? He's not gay, so why the fuck did he even care about this little fruit?

(He refuses to think about the time after giving Beth up when he came into the Glee Club, just to cry, and saw Hummel already there holding a handmade baby outfit and crying for him.)

He notices things about Hummel he never did before. When walking down the hallways, his first layer is up but now that Puck knew it was there, he knew how to look past it. And Hummel was petrified walking down these halls – he's tense and clutches the shoulder strap of his bag like a lifeline, his eyes dart around like a wild animal that's cornered or that guy that got jumped in juvie and had to go to the hospital. It makes him uncomfortable because before New Directions he was an asshole, yeah, but he wasn't actually out to make Hummel feel…unsafe.

Puck expected Hummel to feel safer around Mercedes, at least, but if anything he seemed even more wary. And after watching from afar he realized why: Hummel was taking up Tina's position as protector; the girl probably doesn't even know that Hummel was living in such a state of mind. He decided to test that theory so he walked past them and delivered a suitably offensive, but passably funny, gay joke. Hummel turned red and looked pissed and Mercedes' mouth twitched like she wanted to smile but instead she leveled an unimpressed look on Puck. He walked on and didn't hear them talk about it. Theory proved: Hummel doesn't tell her jack. Interesting.

XXX

Lunchtime has rolled around once more and Puck can't help but look mostly at Hummel, because something is up with that kid. He was all broken and exhausted and now he's all giddy and…something. It's kind of like the air one gets when they get laid but not as sexual? God, what the fuck does that even mean? He shakes his head, concentrating on Hummel Watching From A Distance – yes, it's gotten so important he capitalizes it in his thoughts.

He's all giddy, talking to Mercedes, who looks like she's pissed at him which seems to be her set attitude around him lately. He vaguely wonders what happened between them, and then decides that he doesn't care.

Karofsky walks by and says something and then, what the fuck? He winks at Hummel and Hummel…looks like he wants to cry, hide, throw up, and scream all at once. Jesus the kid looks fucking terrified at worse and massively uncomfortable at least – surely this will get Mercedes' attention.

Mercedes gets up on the table with a sign reading "TOTS" and starts a riot and Puck can't fucking believe this. Her boy is terrified and she's more concerned about food? Are you fucking…Whatever, Puck could care less. So Karofsky winked at Hummel, who cares? Hummel was always bullied mercilessly by that guy, so he should be used to it.

(He refuses to think about the fact that Hummel has no muscles and can be easily overpowered. He also doesn't think about how Santana, after sleeping with Karofsky, told Puck that he was too keep Britney the fuck away from him.)

Hummel's terror walking down these hallways is at an all time high. Mercedes isn't walking with him, no doubt bitching at Sue about her tots or something, and the boy is freaking out. He clutches the shoulder strap of his bag for dear life and the three times that Puck has caught sight of his eyes he sees that they are hyper-alert. And without Mercedes he doesn't have a center anymore, making him look even more vulnerable.

Karofsky walks down the hallway and Hummel, if possible, manages to look more wary and terrified. He somehow manages to always keep at least five people between them, on all sides. It's impressive for all that Puck thinks its overkill.

XXX

Puck lounges against some lockers as Mercedes and Hummel talk; he can hear Hummel telling her something about substituting him for a boyfriend and Puck expects Mercedes to snap at the boy, because that's a fucked up accusation. When she agrees with him and leaves, he looks at her with an expression of hurt and betrayal. Shit, he expected her to deny the accusation, not agree with it. Hummel reminds him so much of Britney, alone without Santana, that he almost goes over to…what? Talk to him? He doesn't know, but he does move closer.

Then Karofsky comes and snaps Puck out of it, so he leaves quickly. He has to think about things, if Mercedes and Hummel are in a rut that might have higher repercussions on Sectionals – he has to decide if he should get Berry involved or not. He's halfway to his car when he realizes he forgot his guitar in the band room/choir room/the-room-that-is-Glee-Club-while-at-school. (He doesn't care what the room is outside of the time slot of glee.)

"Hey, Puck." Santana's voice – and not just any voice that's her "I'm bored and horny, let's fuck" voice. He turns around to look at her. False confidence and something like hurt show in her body language.

"Santana." He replies, looking at her. He doesn't want to have sex with her if she's feeling like crap, there's just something not right about that.

"B ditched me, so you wanna go back to your place and have some fun?"

"How 'bout we go round my house and you and my little sister play Barbie's?" Puck would never have uttered that if there was any chance of anyone hearing. His sister and Santana liked to hang out together when he and Santana were done, so that somehow turned into them creating an epic world of Barbie where every girl was secretly a CIA agent or an Assassin. And so what if sometimes when he invites Santana over it's just so his sister can play with her and they don't do so much as sext each other? Santana looks at him then shrugs and says she's all for it.

It's a good thing his sister likes Santana or he'd have to come up with a reason he didn't want to do her. A reason unrelated to thinking about Hummel and why he's so terrified and no one seems to give a rat's ass.

XXX

He forgot that he forgot his guitar. How the fuck was that even possible? He didn't even realize he had left it in the Glee room until after Santana had eaten dinner with them and went home.

(He refused to remember that part of the reason was because he had been roped into playing with his sister and Santana and that they had so much fun they forgot the time and that turned into Santana staying over for dinner. Nope, that didn't happen. Everyone in school knows that he and Santana only hang out to screw each other. Yep. That's it.)

And now he went through the whole school day not knowing if his guitar was in good hands or if it was stolen or –

Karofsky was in the Glee room.

"What are you doing in here?" Puck snaps, because there was his guitar and he will fuck Karofsky up if he's thinking about taking the guitar. The bigger guy scurries out of the room and if Puck isn't wrong he leaves looking rushed but…smug? There's something sinister in the air but Puck shrugs it off because he needs his guitar.

There's a rustle from a nearby supply closet and Puck narrows his eyes as he goes over to it. He almost gets smacked in the face when the door flies open and a warm body smacks into him and he goes stumbling back a few steps. Hummel.

With messed up hair, a few of the buttons on his vest thing ripped open and a black eye. He looks about ready to cry and Puck is frozen. He stares stupidly, even as Hummel gasps a few times – beginning stages of hyperventilation? – and rushes away, out the door. And things are falling into place.

Karofsky winking at Hummel.

Karofsky slamming Hummel into lockers and looking at him with this demented smirk that somehow looked like a leer.

Hummel walking around terrified of the jock.

Hummel coming out of a supply closet looking wild and terrified and seconds away from collapsing in a sobbing heap, clothes and hair ruffled, and leaving in a panic.

Karofsky was sexually harassing Hummel – that's why the sick fuck was franticly smug when he left. Puck got his guitar and started for his car. He needed time to think about this.

XXX

Puck walks through the next day in a haze – he didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Every time he closed his eyes he remembered how Hummel looked terrified and close to tears with a black eye. At the time, he couldn't figure out what it was about that expression that made him jump to "sexually harassing" as opposed to just "bullying" but sometime around 3 in the morning he remembered.

Last year, before Quinn and New Directions, there had been a party – one of those "School is back up, let's drink!" things. Puck had been pleasantly buzzed when Britney came up to him – her shirt was wrinkled and a little ripped and her hair was loose from the pony it had been in earlier. Her eyes were just like Hummel's – terrified and holding back tears, glassy like. Of course, no black eye, but the expression was the same.

"Some of the football players won't leave me alone and I already said I didn't want to give them head. They won't leave me alone." She had whispered. Puck had been buzzed, so all he did was give her his keys and let her drag him out of the house with her to his car. If he had been sober he would have busted some skulls. They didn't have sex, but he ended up sleeping next to her in her bed, after she cocooned herself in blankets.

He remembers that the next day Santana somehow found out what happened – she hadn't been at the party because she was doing some family thing – and she was pissed. She sent two of the guys to the hospital and gave the last to Sue – he transferred the second she let him out of her office. The whole school knows the only reason Santana wasn't expelled or suspended was because of Sue, thus the reason Puck wasn't shocked to discover that Santana was spying on New Directions on Sue's orders.

Remembering that night and realizing that Hummel looked just like Britt…it pissed him off; sexual violence was wrong. Sex was there to make people feel good; it was there to be mutually fun. It wasn't supposed to be forced or violent or hurt and bringing violence into sex or sex into violence was insulting to the act itself.

So, he decided to do something about it. He wasn't sure what, but he was going to do something.

He first thought he should tell Mercedes, then she walked into Glee Club and sat across the room from Hummel and he realized that they still weren't okay – this weird distance they've had all year is still prevailing and, from looking at Mercedes, seems to be getting worse. Then he thought about telling Berry…until she walked in and the top of her shirt was covered in slushy and she looked a little less proud of herself. Not completely crushed, but somewhat like how she is around Finn – the comparison doesn't help Puck's mood. He may not like Berry or anything, but she was alright and if Finn was bringing her down…then that wasn't cool.

It also wasn't cool that no one seemed to notice that Hummel was wearing sunglasses – yellow tinted, but still sunglasses to hide behind. They hid the black eye almost perfectly, Puck can still see it, but that's because he's looking for it.

Maybe Mr. Schue? He watches Mr. Schue to see if that's an option and it becomes quickly apparent that it is not. Mr. Schue and Hummel don't mix – at all. Mr. Schue just ignores him and when he's "open" he's not open to Hummel – he faces and smiles at everyone else, but doesn't pan the complete way out to Hummel. Now that Puck's thinking about it, that doesn't shock him much: Rachel is the diva and Finn is the school son and everyone else belongs in his school kid category. But Hummel is more like "friend of my kid" then "kid" to Mr. Schue and it shows. And if Mr. Schue gave a rat's ass, he probably would have said something about the shades Hummel is wearing, huh?

So, he comes to the conclusion that he might have to do something about it, because he is the only one who knows right now, so it's up to him. He looks sideways at Hummel to see him texting and he looks relaxed and not worried. He turns back to where Mr. Schue is saying something about feelings and expressing yourself with music. He turns back to Hummel to find him tense and alert once more and Hummel crosses his arms – a sure sign of closing himself off – and his phone is away.

People start to leave and Puck realizes he has no idea what Mr. Schue just said and fuck there goes Hummel, but he's gotta stay here and talk to Mr. Schue because he totally wasn't paying any attention.

"Uh, Mr. Schue? Hey…uh, I kinda was off in the clouds and didn't hear a thing you said, did you give us an assignment?" He asks awkwardly because Mr. Schue is the only teacher he actually respected and finding out that he completely didn't care about what Hummel was going through depressed him.

"Yeah, I noticed you seemed distracted. What's up?" And he looks open and concerned and everything about him is screaming that he wants to listen and be there and why isn't he asking Hummel what's wrong, because there is clearly something wrong with the boy. He's being sexually harassed by a football jock that's, like, five times bigger than he is!

"It's not that big a…imworriedabouthummel." He mutters at the end and Mr. Schue leans forward and probably only catches one word from that.

"Kurt? What, are you guys having problems?" He's confused and you've got to be kidding, he's confused?

"I'm worried about Hummel, okay? The kid's gotten way jumpier and I think one of the jocks is sexually harassing him. There." He ends defensively because he's a badass, he doesn't worry about people.

(Unless they're his sister or Britney or Quinn or his mother or in the Glee Club or Mr. Schue or…never-mind.)

"Puck…I realize that High School is a confusing time and that you might be wondering about things, but you don't need to manufacture reasons for why you just spent the last hour staring at Kurt." Mr. Schue says and he sets a hand on Puck's shoulder and looks understanding and what is going on? "Look, why don't you talk to Emma about this? She's very understanding…"

Puck doesn't actually listen past that because he's trying to figure out what Mr. Schue is saying. He got the part where Mr. Schue didn't believe him – which is ridiculous because now that Puck knows it's happening it so, so painfully obvious – but the rest of it is a complete mystery. He briefly remembers that therapist they made him see in Juvie; the idiot was trying to say some bullshit about how Puck "acted out" because he didn't have a good male role model and his mother wasn't providing him with enough whatever. It pissed him off because his mother, while not the most demonstrative or involved, was his mother and she loved him. She was doing her level best with him and his sister and how dare that jackass try to say otherwise?

Oh. Mr. Schue is doing that – making assumptions based on nothing. Puck hates it when people try to get in his head…

Puck thinks over what Mr. Schue said to him and suddenly it hits him. Mr. Schue thinks he's gay. For Hummel. And he's trying to cover it up by making up some reason for the staring.

"Dude, I'm not gay!" He interrupts because Puck likes girls and boobs and sex with girls. He's not gay. "I'm serious! Hummel's being sexually harassed, can't you see that? It's right in front of your faces; didn't you see that black eye he had today?"

"Puck, accusing someone of sexual harassment is serious. You need proof. Now, I know that Kurt goes through some hardships while here, but he's a strong person, he can get through it. I didn't see a black eye on him, but I was rather distracted by teaching. Kurt's smart – he knows he can come to me or Emma if things get bad. Your assignment for this week is to sing something that describes how you feel this week in anything – academic stresses, home situations, personal feelings of expression. It's very general." Puck nods because he knows a dismissal when he hears one so he turns to leave. At the door he turned around, because he had to leave with a parting shot, he had to. And this needed to be said.

"If I had come to you and said that I thought Berry was being sexually harassed you would have at least asked by who. And you would have asked her about it and asked to know what brought me to that conclusion. But, hey, she'd your diva and Hummel's just background, so I guess he doesn't matter much, huh?"

He left with a bad taste in his mouth.

XXX

The next day in Glee, Berry – of course – has a song prepared and sings like the diva she is. Something about everlasting love and some shit, she was singing at Finn the entire time so Puck felt like he was getting a cavity by the end of it.

Tina and Mike came down and preformed a half talking half singing all dancing number about strength and trust and it was way better than Berry's song. The fact that Mike was able to twirl Tina into his arms and the number ended with her legs around his waist and back arched was just a consolation prize.

Hummel texted the whole time, fingers glued to his phone and there was something off about him. Puck was looking hard, trying to figure it out, trying to read him because Hummel was doing that layer thing and it was confusing.

His lower lips trembles when Mercedes comes up and belts out a song about independence and standing up for yourself and she looks at Hummel while singing. Puck wanted to snap at her that she's being a bitch and can't she, can't anyone see, that there is something severely wrong with Hummel?

When the club lets out Hummel is out the door faster than you can say his name and Puck feels like cursing, because doesn't that kid know that groups are always your best bet? Going through hallways alone is just plain stupid. Puck learned that in juvie – crowds are your friend.

(Unless you get shanked in a crowd, in that case you were doomed from the start because you obviously pissed off the wrong person.)

And as he was casually looking across the parking lot to ensure Hummel's car was gone – it was – he came upon an idea. Not just any idea, but a good idea. Hummel had to know someone had his back; he had to know someone was paying attention to him. And Puck knew how to do that.

He'd sing him a song. It was perfect, it was genius, it was the best plan ever.

XXX

It was the worst plan known to man and it was fucking stupid to boot. He spent hours, hours, going through his ipod then youtube searching for the perfect song. He'd find a good song talking about outrage over sexual harassment – or outright abuse in many cases – and it either would be from the victim's perspective or from a lover's perspective. And both were wrong. He really wanted to do "Just Four" by Nickelback, until he actually listened to the lyrics and realized that if he sang that to Hummel he might as well say he's gay for him and save himself the trouble. And Puck was not gay. Especially not for Hummel.

When he finally found the perfect song – it was still from a victim's perspective but with some pointed looks and altering of some words he might be able to turn it into a "this is how you feel and I feel for you" type-a thing – he had to search like hell to ensure they were still a Jewish band. They had a member that could pass as Jewish and at that point it was good enough for him. The rest of the day was spent frantically re-familiarizing his fingers with some of the guitar chords because he used to play the song quite a bit when it came out.

And now here he was, in Glee Club, watching Santana and Britney end a number about god only knows what because Puck certainly wasn't paying any attention. He looks over at Hummel again – he's attached to his phone, what a shock. Whatever, it obviously makes him feel safe so Puck supposes that's totally okay.

Mr. Schue walks up and promptly takes Hummel's phone from him and Hummel jumps up, trying to grab it back.

"Kurt, you can get this back after Glee; I think it's very rude that you were texting or whatever when Santana and Britney were singing." And Mr. Schue has that 'I'm disappointed in you' voice and his expression is hard. Kurt takes a few quick, low gasping breaths and it sounds like the beginnings of hyperventilation – Puck can't help but think about the time when Hummel came tumbling out of the supply closet in this very room sounding like that and looking worse for wear. Hummel still has the black eye, but its fading and he's wearing long pants and sleeves so Puck has no idea if he's bruised, but Puck can see that there's something wrong with his fingers. He doesn't know what it is, but there's something off about them.

Hummel sits down quietly and stares at his lap. Puck thinks he hears Quinn and Mercedes have a hushed conversation, but he doesn't hear any of the words.

"Okay, so, who's up next?" Mr. Schue asks, turning back out to the rest of the club, once again shutting Hummel out and Puck stands up before he can lose his nerve. Because he's a badass and he doesn't feel embarrassment.

"I changed a few of the nouns to fit this assignment better." He stated before handing Brad a copy of the sheet music and looking at the band to ensure they know what they're playing. They nod at him.

Crawling in your skin
These wounds they will not heal
Fear is how you fall
Confusing what is real

He was kinda freaking out about how to change the song and make it sound natural, but because the lead singer sings slowly it's easy to change out all the "I's" for "you's".

There's something inside you that pulls beneath the surface
Consuming

Confusing
This lack of self-control you fear is never ending
Controlling

You can't seem

Hummel looks up and Puck catches his eye, holding his gaze as if to say 'Yes, I'm singing about you, to you.'

To find yourself again
Your walls are closing in
(without a sense of confidence and I'm convinced that there's just too much pressure to take)
You've felt this way before
So insecure

Artie breaks in with a wonderful rap that causes Puck to look away from Hummel and back at the rest of New Directions. Oh, look, shock. Blind idiots.

Crawling in your skin
These wounds they will not heal
Fear is how you fall
Confusing what is real

He doesn't scream like the original lead, but he still has everyone's attention. Probably because everyone grew up with this song and to hear it being sung mellow and void of screaming is a unique take on the iconic song.

Discomfort, endlessly has pulled itself upon you
Distracting

Reacting
Against your will you stand beside your own reflection
It's haunting how you can't seem...

And Hummel is looking at him and Puck can see a few tears roll down his face. And he seems froze there, staring at Puck with a peculiar expression – a cross between hope and utterly broken. It's disturbing to look at, so he turns back to his guitar.

To find yourself again
Your walls are closing in
You've felt this way before
So insecure

Even to Puck the song sounds strange without that line of rap in it, but Artie doesn't break in to sing it this time and Puck looks back up at Hummel to see he is still sitting there, frozen, with tears rolling down his face. Puck is oddly reminded of that Queen from the show his sister used to watch in Japanese – the Queen who had her daughter and almost son-in-law killed in front of her eyes; strong but just this close to breaking completely.

Puck ends it there as per Glee Club tradition of cutting songs down in size. No one claps or even speaks. Mercedes and Quinn are looking at Hummel while the rest of the members can't seem to decide who to look at – Puck or Hummel. Mr. Schue is looking at Hummel with an expression akin to guilt, which makes Puck want to scream 'I told you so!' Berry looks like someone had slapped her and Santana is whispering to Britney, who was looking more and more sad as seconds passed. Even the band kids were just standing there uncomfortably and usually they seemed like robots – just there to be used but without any actual feelings.

No one could really find anything to say, so Puck just grabbed Hummel's phone from where Mr. Schue had placed it on the piano and gave it back to him. He sniffed as he took it, looking up and mouthing 'thank you' to Puck. Britney jumped up the second Santana stopped whispering and rushed over to Hummel, sitting down next to him and holding his hand. Hummel visibly calmed himself down, breathing deep a few times and wiped his face before patting Britt's hand.

Puck mentally nodded – Hummel was a martyr, class A. He couldn't stand to see people worried about or over him. So…he supposed that meant he'd have to deal with this Karofsky problem himself. After all, Hummel was part of New Directions and Puck doesn't let people fuck with his group members. They're a team.

XXX

If someone had asked Puck what he thought he'd be doing today he probably would have said school stuff and nothing interesting. He would not have thought that at any point he would have Britney crying behind him, Hummel crying into his shoulder, (And wow, Hummel isn't so tiny after all, they're nearly the same height, he wonders why he never really noticed that?) and Karofsky on the ground with Santana driving her fist down into his face over and over again.

If someone asked him afterwards how he managed to get both Britt and Hummel to the parking lot he would have no choice but to tell them it was divine intervention because he has no clue how he managed it himself. But, eventually, Hummel and Britney are both leaning on his shoulders crying and clutching at his shirt and Puck can't help but think he just gained two younger siblings.

He's still not completely sure about the details of what just happened. From what he can gather Karofsky had escalated things – he had gotten his hand down Hummel's pants when Hummel was finally able to scream and that brought Britney and that's where things get fuzzy.

"What happened?" Finn asks frantically as he runs across to them from who the hell – oh, Berry's with him, they were probably in his car.

"Kurt, Britney?" Berry asks, kneeling down to their level. Hummel is calming down or at least from the amount of gasping and sniffing that's what it sounds like – Hummel's standard 'I'm trying to calm myself down through sheer force of will'.

"Karofsky attacked them. Well, attacked Hummel and Brit was just…there. Apparently." Puck said. Hummel pulled away from him, whipping at his face. Berry turned to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He did this weird aborted flinch.

"Kurt, are you alright?" Berry asked, looking him over and biting her lip. Hummel fumbled in his pockets and pulled out his phone. He dialed – well, no he looked up a number from his contacts and clicked on it, but that is dialing nowadays – and held the phone up to his ear. Berry and Finn looked at him worriedly.

"Blaine, Blaine, can you come here, please?" Hummel starts to cry again a little, nothing huge like before but still crying. "You remember my address, right?" He nodded a few times and made agreeing noises and then hung up.

"I want to go home, now."

XXX

Blaine was from Dalton. This immediately made Puck weary because the last guy from a rival school, who was also from the rival glee club, ended up breaking Berry's heart and egging her. And Hummel didn't need that shit right now.

Then he saw the two of them together and that worry was pretty much gone.

Blaine, when Finn had opened the door to admit him and told him that Hummel was downstairs, looking like a demonic force of hair gel and rage. When Hummel came up the stairs from his room, because he had heard the doorbell, the demonic expression was gone in an instant and Blaine had Hummel in his arms and they were sickingly cute. Worse than Berry and Finn. Worse than Berry and Jesse even, and Puck didn't think that was possible.

They vanished downstairs and the remaining members of New Directions in the house shifted awkwardly. Santana, Artie, Mike, Tina, and Sue (Puck wonders if perhaps he spends too much time with Mr. Schue because he never calls her "Coach Sylvester" mentally, it's always "Sue") were at the police station filing a complaint against Karofsky for attempted rape (of Hummel) and assault (of Britney). Hummel's dad was on his way home and Puck felt like this particular series of events was done with.

"Well, since Kurt has his boy, uh, his friend over with him I'm sure he'll be fine on his own." Sam says awkwardly. Berry frowns from her place on the couch and Quinn smacks Sam upside the head.

"We're not leaving him. Not again."

Puck supposes this is what it feels like to have a big family.