Written for the prompt: Now that Finn is living with the Hummels, Puck is over there a lot and Burt takes an interest in his well-being. Burt puts Puck over his knee for winding up in juvy. Finn approves.
It's two Friday Night Dinners before Burt remembers to ask. "I haven't seen Puckerman around the last few weeks," he says as he helps himself to Kurt's special potatoes. "What's he been up to?"
He looks up just in time to see Kurt and Finn trade glances. He looks at Carole, who has also noticed.
"Boys?" he prompts. "Where's Puckerman?"
Kurt takes a big bite of chicken and Finn glares at him. "He's, uh, he got in trouble. Not allowed to go out," Finn says, finally.
"Grounded?" Burt asks.
"Something like that," Finn says.
It's clear there's something they aren't telling him, but he gets distracted by Kurt coughing on the mouthful of chicken and resolves to follow up later.
Later turns into the next Saturday. He and Finn have taken over the living room for a football game. Finn's been distracted all afternoon, though, and Burt isn't surprised when he turns to him during a commercial.
"You haven't asked about Puck since dinner last week," he says, a look of determination on his face.
"Is he still grounded?" Burt asks. "What happened?"
"He wasn't exactly grounded," Finn says. "I didn't lie," he adds quickly. "I said it was something like that. And it was."
"What was it?" Burt asks patiently.
Finn takes a deep breath. "He was in juvy."
Burt feels his mouth drop open in shock. Puckerman wasn't maybe the best kid around, with the drinking and all, but juvy? "What the hell?" he asks. "Finn! What the hell happened?"
Finn was looking at his hands. "He, uh, stole an ATM?" he says.
"He stole an ATM," Burt repeats, mind reeling at the thought. How did someone even do that?
"Yeah, drove into the store to steal it. That's not the bad part, though," Finn says.
"Are you kidding me?" Burt asks, fear clenching his stomach. "Did he hit someone?"
"No, no," Finn says quickly. "He wouldn't hurt anyone. I mean, that was all he did. It's just now, he's out. And it's like he's proud of it. He keeps bragging and I guess I'm glad he did okay in there and didn't get killed or anything, but that's just such a stupid thing to be proud of, you know? I don't get it. His parole officer came to school yesterday and he got real mad and I just don't want him screwing up again, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," Burt says, but Finn continues on like he hasn't heard.
"So I thought, like, Kurt said one of your big no things was breaking the law," Finn says, avoiding his gaze. "And you already, you know, this summer when we were drinking downstairs."
"Whoa, Finn," Burt says. "That was - you were in my house, disrespecting my rules. This is not me, this is his mom, here."
"But you like him," Finn says. "He's practically family and he listens to you. His mom can't help, she doesn't try anymore. And I don't think Mr. Schue can do much because he's a teacher and there's a lot of us. But maybe you could. His mom didn't mind last time, right?"
No, she hadn't. She'd been pretty grateful, even, especially when the kid had behaved a little better for her. Burt rubs his hand over his eyes and thinks. He remembers himself in high school, how much like Puckerman he had been, and how he could have landed in juvy, too, if his dad hadn't been around to knock sense into him.
Puckerman had spent a lot of time there over the summer, and he'd really grown to like the kid. Immature, yeah, but he'd always seemed solid. Burt had promised that he wouldn't hesitate to chase him down if he screwed up again, but really, even if he'd noticed within days, it'd taken him weeks to ask why he wasn't around. What else had he missed? He couldn't help feeling like he'd let the kid down in a big way, and he knew Carole would feel the same.
He opens his eyes and sees Finn watching him, nervous and hopeful and worried. "I'll call his mom, okay?" Burt says and relief breaks over Finn's face. "I'll help however I can, I promise."
Finn nods. "Thanks." He relaxes back into the couch like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders and Burt is more than a little pleased at the trust Finn has for him now. He hopes that this works.
~~~~~
As promised, he has called Leah Puckerman. She alternates between calling Noah a good boy with tears and a no-goodnik with anger, talking about washing her hands of him. She sounds overwhelmed and scared and thankful for the support she admits she wouldn't take before. They agree that Noah will come over the next day and from there, they'll see what happens.
Puck does show up the next day at the appointed hour. Carole and Kurt have gone on a mall expedition that will last until dinner, and Finn is with Rachel, so the house is quiet. Burt could see what Finn meant about his attitude - Puck is all swagger and almost vibrating when he gets there, trying to show off how much he doesn't care at all.
He leads him into the living room and sits down on the couch. Puck hesitates when Burt doesn't give him any directions, but finally sits down on the chair across from him. The silence stretches on - Burt isn't above using some head games on the kid. Get him off balance, realize he's not the one in charge here.
"So, we doing this?" Puck asks finally.
Burt pauses just long enough to get him a little twitchy. "Tell me what happened."
Puck snorts. "Don't you know? Isn't that why we're here?"
"I heard," Burt says. "But I want to hear it from you."
"I lifted an ATM," Puck says. He straightens his back. "Got caught, went to juvy, got out."
"So, why'd you do it?"
Now it's Puck's turn to be silent. "Noah?" he prompts, but there's still no reaction.
"I heard your parole officer was at school Friday," Burt starts and doesn't miss how Puck tenses immediately.
"Look, kid, I'm on your side here." Burt leans forward. "I just want to figure out what happened. How do you go from stupid kid stuff like drinking and pranks to, what, a felony? Stealing all that money. What happened?"
"What do you care, anyway?" Puck asks. "It doesn't matter. Let's get this over with." He starts to stand up, but Burt moves quickly to push him back down.
"I care because you came as part of my new family," Burt says. "I care about what happens to you."
"Didn't see you on visiting days," Puck challenges him. "Didn't see any of you."
"The boys didn't tell us where you were," Burt says carefully, knowing that learning he and Carole hadn't asked would hurt him badly. "I found out yesterday. I don't know why they didn't go."
Puck considers this. "So this is what you'd do with Kurt? All this talking crap and everything?"
"Damn straight," Burt says. "Only he'd be expecting the belt after this, not just my hand." Puck flinches. "This is serious, Noah. I never want to use it on him, or you or Finn, but if that's what it takes to show you how serious this kind of behavior is, I will."
"I'm not going back there," Puck says, folding his arms tightly.
"Good," Burt says. "I want to know why you thought this was a good idea so I can help you make a better decision next time. That's how you stay out."
He sees Noah considering this, and decides to give one last push.
"I've got all day and night, kid," Burt says. "If you want to draw this out until the others get back, that's your call."
Puck glares at him. "Fine, whatever," he snaps. "I did it for Beth, okay?"
Burt thinks quickly. "That's your kid?" he asks.
"Yeah," Puck says. "Ms. Corcoran lets me see her sometimes, if I want. Quinn, too, but she doesn't go. Ms. Corcoran said I could bring her toys or whatever. And I know she's okay, but I want to try to help out, you know? With money. Quinn said babies are expensive."
"They are," Burt says. "So why did you think that stealing it was a good idea? What happened to the money from pool cleaning?"
Puck shrugged. "I used it all up couple weeks ago. I needed a vasectomy. But then there wasn't time to clean any more pools, so I had to think fast."
Burt feels his mouth drop open. "You had a vasectomy? Do you know what that means?"
"Means no more kids," Puck says. "Used my brain, see?"
"Most sixteen year olds would just stop having sex for awhile," Burt says, still taken aback. "That's...we'll talk about that later. But now it's really obvious that you have no sense of consequences. Your intentions are good, kid, but you've got to start thinking about what your decisions mean to other people, and even yourself, later."
He leans forward and meets Puck's eye. "Until you can think about the long term ones yourself, coming here for punishments is going to be your short term consequence," Burt says. "Maybe that will get you thinking. Understand?"
"Yeah," Puck says. Burt raises his eyebrows at him. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Now come over here," Burt says.
Puck stands and, like last time, pushes his jeans down before laying himself over Burt's knees.
Burt knows that he needs to show Puck that this is serious, something much more serious than drinking beer in the basement. He rests one hand on Puck's tense back and brings his other down with a sharp smack. Puck jumps, but Burt keeps him steady as he snaps his hand down hard several times in a row.
"F-," Puck gasps out, stopping himself just in time as Burt lands down a few more smacks.
"Here are some of the things wrong with your plan to steal the ATM," Burt says as he keeps up the steady swats. "How do you think Ms. Corcoran would feel if she found out where the money came from? Do you think she would like buying things for her kid with stolen money?" He punctuates that with a low smack near his thigh.
"Oh," Puck groans. "I don't-ow-know."
"No?" Burt asks, landing another swat low on the other side. "C'mon, think. She'd be upset, Noah. She'd be mad, and she wouldn't trust you to see the baby anymore. Is that what you want?"
"No-oh!" Puck yelps as a sharper smack lands, and he bites at his lip.
"Is that the kind of thing you want Beth hearing about in ten, fifteen years?" Burt continues, targeting his sit spot with a volley of spanks and Puck kicks out with a grunt.
"Do you want her knowing her dad was in jail, couldn't be trusted? Being embarrassed by you, or worse, thinking it was okay for her to do, too?" He lands half a dozen firm swats on the back of his thighs in quick succession.
"No!" Puck yells. "Ow, oh, damn it," he swears as he tries to squirm away from the unrelenting swats and Burt holds him firmly in place.
"Good, 'cause you're better than that, kid," Burt says and feels Puck tremble under his arm. "You are. And somehow, I'm gonna show you. Hear me?"
"Ye-yeah," Puck gets out, and it's shaky like he's near tears.
Burt figures the kid isn't going to be able to concentrate on listening much more, and focuses on tanning his ass. He methodically covers every inch of his rapidly reddening skin with a heavy hand until Puck is gasping out sobs with each new swat.
Burt finishes with several hard slaps on Puck's thighs and rests his hand on his lower back. "It's done," he says, and rubs his back gently until Puck's sobs settle into deep, shuddering breaths.
"Okay," Burt says, patting his back. "Go find your corner now. I'll get you when your time is up."
Puck slowly pushes himself to his feet and winces. "Yes, sir," he says hoarsely, his eyes almost as red as his backside. He shuffles off to the corner and Burt gets up to find his work binder.
Fifteen minutes later, he goes back into the living room. Puck is leaning into the corner, head bowed down.
"All right, kid," Burt says. "Come here." He waits for Puck to tug up his jeans and meet him by the couch.
"Here's the thing, Noah. I get why you wanted the money, and I've been there. I can sympathize. But God, kid, you were an idiot," Burt says honestly. Puck snorts.
"I mean it, that was probably the dumbest thing you could do, outside of actually robbing a bank," Burt says. "You said you don't want to go back there, right?"
Puck nods.
"Then you've got to promise yourself that you're not going to do something like that again. No stealing, no law breaking. Don't just not get caught, don't do it," Burt says, seriously. "It's not worth it. If you want to be someone for that little girl to look up to, you've got to make better decisions. Do you get me?"
"I - yeah," Puck says. He glances down. "I, uh," he swallows hard. "Burt, it was real bad in there."
"Yeah?" Burt says, reaching out for Puck's shoulder.
"Yeah. I know I told Finn and everyone that I was badass and took charge, but truth is, I was nothing in there." He looks at Burt. "I'm not like them. Not mean like that."
"No, you're a pretty good kid," Burt agrees. "I meant it before, you're better than that. And I've got an idea for how you can come up with some money."
"Yeah?" Puck says, looking interested.
"I got some spare hours free at the tire shop," Burt says. "Not a lot right now, only about ten hours a week. But you can earn money all year, and if you work hard and learn it, you can get your union card in a few years. Then you'll have a career, if you like it."
"Really?" Puck asks, looking torn between hope and doubt. "I mean, I got a record now. That's a problem, isn't it? And I've got to do community service for six weeks."
"The boss cleared it," Burt says dryly. "We can work around your schedule, with football and glee, too. You interested?"
"Yeah, I am," Puck says. "Thanks." He reaches out to shake Burt's hand but changes his mind and steps forward for a one armed hug. Burt wraps his arms around Puck and squeezes.
"It's my pleasure, kid," he says, running his hand over Puck's mohawk affectionately. "What do you say, wanna check it out now?"
Puck grins, looking like a load has left his shoulders. "Yes, sir."
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