#puckurt

The non-existent relationship between Kurt Hummel and Noah Puckerman has always been fascinating to me - and not because of any romanticized bully-victim trope, but because of the profound fragility underlying both characters, despite their contrasting appearances.

disclaimer. this isn't a really well thought out analysis post or anything, this is just me talking. I wanted to be brief and not include a bunch of lists of episode evidence (like yes girl we've seen the fucking show!....….or have we because you can ask a question about glee and get 6 different answers) but no matter how much I tried to cut out I just couldn't omg…it Needs to be there for my own peace of mind and to provide context and set up. however I divided it up for easier reading.

Table of Contents

Puck and Finn’s Friendship

Puck and Finn and Single Moms

How That Reflects During Quinn's Pregnancy

Some More Comparisons

Kurt and His Dad

Kurt and Finn

Kurt and Puck

Puckurt

I know Puckurt tends to shock most new glee fans, and I get why. Puck is understandably an uncomfortable character for a variety of reasons, Puck and Kurt don't really interact much once you look at the show as a whole, and if you want a bully x victim ship (which most people don't), Kurtofsky is right there. But I guess because I lurked on livejournal, the ship’s never surprised me because I knew it used to be the most popular Kurt ship of season 1. Back when Kurt had basically had no other options lol but because of that, I had wanted to give it a chance and think about how it could actually work instead of just dismissing it. They have some pretty interesting parallels despite their lack of actual interactions within the show, and through this post it’s grown on me, in a specific way that starts with Finn.

Puck and Finn’s Friendship....

Okay, admittedly…Puck and Finn's friendship probably isn’t even top 50 most interesting things about glee. In fact, I feel a little guilty even writing about it right now. Surely, the world needs one more post about Finn outing Santana or the Funny Girl feud instead…

Previously, to me Puck and Finn always seemed like two typical straight guy bros who are mostly only friends because the show says they are. We don't know how long they've been friends (at least I don’t think we do? I could be wrong), or why they stay friends despite Puck's constant betrayal. Finn doesn’t really forgive Puck in season 1 but they seem to get along fine in Funk, and in season 2 they decide to put aside their differences in the Sue Sylvester Shuffle, but the scene is pretty short and Finn is still pretty hesitant about them going back to being friends. And so even their reconciliations aren’t really a big deal, which almost feels a bit lacking considering how great the backstabbing is treated. In my opinion, they don't even really have much chemistry when they do get along, especially compared to Jake and Ryder who I thought made a much more believable frenemies pair. But when I was doing a rewatch of glee in 2024, I was surprised by how much more their relationship stood out to me. Though there are other reasons independent of Finn as to why Puck acts the way he does, and why he orbits Finn so heavily (like he joins Acafellas because he thinks it'll attract older women, not because of Finn specifically who was invited by Will), he spends a lot of season 1 being kind of obsessed with Finn…resenting him, stealing his love interests (even though again, he doesn’t necessarily date Rachel because of Finn), and fighting him at the drop of a hat.

But what caught my attention the most was in Ballad when Puck tells Mercedes, "It's not fair! Finn gets everything. He gets the sympathy, he gets the girl." And that got me thinking about how much that everything might have encompassed.

Because really, from Puck's perspective, he and Finn aren't too different. They're both popular and on the football team. They both bullied the losers of the school. And they both know what it's like not to have a dad.

(Fun fact: while I need to read them myself and I wouldn’t necessarily consider what happens in the glee books canon, Finn and Puck apparently met when they were kids playing on opposing little league teams. They got into a fight and then Carole bought them ice cream afterwards. That seems incredibly fitting lol and I’ve always thought it wouldn’t be too crazy to say Puck and Finn were childhood friends. They have that "we've been around each other for so long that even though we might not get along anymore, we might not even like each other anymore, of course we're still friends. Because we've been friends forever" vibe to them. Since iirc none of it is actually confirmed within the show, I don’t want to hinge this entire post on a headcanon, but I think that adds an extra layer to the following, if Puck had grown up seeing how Carole treated Finn vs how his parents treated him.)

Puck and Finn and Single Moms…

In the Pilot, we learn that Finn's never met his dad, he and his mom are close, and that he wants to make his mom proud after everything she's done for him. When younger Finn plays the drums, Carole's on the phone, frantically trying to switch shifts so she can go to one of Finn's cub scout events. In Wheels, Finn nonchalantly mentions Carole gets past due notices all the time like it’s not a big deal to him, most likely because Carole shoulders these responsibilities by herself and doesn’t make Finn feel like he has to worry about bills and things like that. In Ballad, though she's clearly shaken up too, when Finn cries after singing to Beth's sonogram Carole hugs him and tells him things are going to be okay. In Yes/No, Carole admits she lied about how Finn's dad had died because she had wanted to wait until he was ready. In The Sue Sylvster Shuffle, she goes to his championship game, and in Home, she attends parent teacher conferences, which is where she meets Burt. Clearly, Carole worked hard to be an active presence in Finn's life, and so he wouldn't have to deal with a lot of disappointment. And though we see her break down in front of Finn after Darren leaves her, it seems like Finn tends to have disconnect with his mom’s emotions (like with that past notice line) given that even after this he still kind of idolizes Darren and he didn’t understand she was ready to move on in Home because he felt he wasn’t ready for that just yet.

In contrast, though Puck's mother apparently still washes his hair in Laryngitis, a pretty clingy and overbearing thing to do, she's much harsher on her son and did little to show support throughout his life. In Silly Love Songs, Puck wonders if he likes Lauren so much because her constant insults remind him of his mom. He slept with older women, particularly mothers, from a young age. In Props after his fight with the hockey team, Puck tells Coach Beiste a reason why he feels so worthless is because his mom never attended a single one of his football games or choir competitions. In Ballad, he and his family are having their yearly rewatch of the Schindler's List on Simcha's Torah. And though Puck acknowledges it's not the most normal tradition, he and his sister (who's terrified of the movie and runs screaming) do it for his mom. Still, she tells him he's "no better than them, Noah," because he's not dating a Jewish girl. Even if Puck's mom doesn't realize it, even as she’s berating him, Puck feels like he's responsible for his mom's happiness in some way, and her criticism plays a part in why he decides to date Rachel later in that episode.

On top of that, Puck's dad walked out on his family when he was 10, and when he was around, he was abusive. There are a couple of times during the show that Puck talks about how much it hurts that he doesn't have a support system and that he doesn't believe anyone cares about him, like in Never Been Kissed and Props, and it’s why he lashes out and acts up so much. Though don't get me wrong, Puck was still extremely immature even in the classic teenage boy way that Finn was, it’s clear he felt like he had to be tough and take care of himself because nobody else was going to.

How That Reflects During Quinn's pregnancy...

While both Puck and Finn fumbled trying to prove to Quinn what great dads they'd be (after all, even when she briefly considered it she still didn't feel any of them were capable of raising Beth in the end. and they were all 15-16 anyway so of course they weren't ready), and they both acted selfishly, knowing Quinn didn't want to keep the baby but continuing to treat her as if she would (and I don't think this is talked about enough!!! most people focus on Quinn lying to Finn but both boys continually trampled over her wants the entire time!), I think this difference in Fuck’s upbringings were most obvious during Quinn's pregnancy.

Though Finn gave Quinn his baby blanket, sang to Beth's sonogram, and said it hurt to imagine her growing up thinking he never cared about her when he would spend the rest of his life thinking about her, much like with his mom he didn’t really have much awareness of Quinn’s emotions during her pregnancy. He spends most of it thinking about himself. When Quinn gets an ultrasound in Throwdown, Finn tells Will he feels like he has all the stress but none of the control. In Vitamin D, it's about how tired he is because of Quinn's pregnancy. In Ballad, the reason he decides to tell Quinn's parents she's pregnant is because he feels bad about keeping it a secret. And in Wheels, it's about how much pressure he's under because he has to find a way to make money. Puck even calls him out for this in the episode, saying Finn has made everything about how he feels when he should be thinking about how hard things are for Quinn. I don't think Finn was necessarily babied by Carole, I don’t think Carole was a bad mom, but because Carole made an effort to be a good mom and treated Finn like her son (and not a stand in for a boyfriend or the cause of all her problems), he grew up feeling much less pressure to step into the father role or to take on responsibility. He was allowed to just be a kid, Carole clearly handled the hard stuff– even emotionally like the true cause of Finn’s father’s death, and so he had a much more difficult time tangibly helping Quinn or being empathetic to her struggles.

(And I’m sure he still felt like "the man of the house", he probably said this exact phrase in an episode and I’m just blanking, and I feel like this is the angle they had wanted to go with in the pilot, but I don’t think they actually followed through with it. I think Finn is closer to Rachel in this way, where even though Rachel grew up without a mom, she was never expected to take on a motherly role herself. Finn feeling like the man of the house =/= him having to be his own dad)

Puck wasn't perfect either, and his immaturity showed throughout like when he thought Jackie Daniels would be a good baby name or when he sexted Santana right as Quinn was starting to consider keeping Beth, but in Wheels he took a much more active approach trying to help her get money. He gives her the $18 he had left over from his pool cleaning service (and though he spent most of his paycheck on childish things like nunchucks, he points out it’s $18 more than Finn), he spikes the cupcakes so more people will buy them, tells Finn he needs to try harder and do more than just complain, and he tries to take the club's funds for the baby. In Hairography, he steals a book on how to raise a baby with a budget for Quinn and tells her the decision to keep Beth is hers. Even though he tells Quinn he won't be loyal to her, he's adamant that he won't be a deadbeat like his own dad, and when Quinn tells him he should be happy that he won't have to raise the baby because then he can "go be a rockstar", he realizes that his dad choosing himself over his family is something he doesn’t want to repeat, and he offers up a more sincere baby name. Of the two, the show sets up that Puck was more proactive about wanting to be there for the baby, because he has first hand experience being neglected and had more “real world” experience, especially compared to Finn who was a lot more naive.

Some More Comparisons…

Puck and Finn are also contrasted in Mash-Up, when all the football players need to choose between glee or football. Puck and Finn start to be on the receiving end of the harassment they used to dish out, and when Finn gets slushied, he follows Emma’s advice to wear sunglasses indoors so he can seem cooler. When Puck gets slushied, he sincerely apologizes to Rachel for doing it to her, and when she tries to tell him it's okay, he says it isn't, that nobody should feel that way. I think that's so interesting, that when faced with the same problem, Puck was quicker to put himself in the shoes of the people he's slushied in the past and apologized to Rachel, while Finn just wanted to make sure it never happened to him again. He even lets Kurt slushie himself for his sake. Though Puck was going to choose football so he could avoid more harassment, he ultimately puts glee and all it represents first, while Finn wanted to cling to the safety of his popularity as much as he could and was the only one to choose football. And it’s only until Finn talks to Coach Tanaka that Ken finally relents and reschedules football practice, which is completely different to how Ken treated Puck in Acafellas, where he threatens him if Puck messes with the group. Of course Puck wasn’t there for that (but I think he’d know Finn was the reason why the glee club members could rejoin the team), but it wouldn’t be too far fetched to say that was a common experience, of Finn perhaps getting preferential treatment that contributed to Puck’s outburst in Ballad. People listen to Finn, but not Puck.

During Puckleberry's last conversation that episode, I think it stung even more that Rachel, like Quinn, breaks up with him because of Finn. Not even because he was madly in love with Rachel, but because Finn gets everything, even when he doesn’t try. Finn can abandon glee and still have Rachel, still have Quinn, but Puck stands by glee and “gets” neither. (Of course, he’s not owed either of them either, I’m just saying what Puck might have felt because of this. Rachel is also right, girls don’t like Puck because he’s a jerk!)

Of course, Puck also cared about his popularity and clearly didn't give a shit about Jacob Ben Israel's feelings in Laryngitis, but Puck's surprising ability to empathize (at least. with other glee club members) shows up again in Grilled Cheesus, when Puck tells Finn he prayed for Kurt's dad because he knows what its like not to have a dad, "you know?" And Finn just stares at him silently, clear guilt on his face. Because he does know, it's what he and Puck have in common, having a deceased parent is what he has in common with Kurt, Kurt and Burt are, according to him, his family and yet…it didn't (and doesn't, even after that interaction) cross his mind to pray for Burt.

Kurt and His Dad…

Speaking of Kurt, Kurt is the only other member in the glee club who grew up in a single parent household. But unlike Puck and Finn, Kurt had to grow up without his mom, which changes the role that was left behind and the responsibilities he felt like had to take over.

In 2009 when Burt comes down the stairs to Kurt's room, Kurt automatically assumes he's being asked to start dinner. It not only shows how distant their relationship is, that Kurt thinks the only reason Burt would come down to talk to him is for him to make dinner, but also what Kurt is most likely responsible for around the house. In Wheels, Kurt feels like he needs to protect Burt from the harassment he faces, and it’s only in Laryngitis that Burt tells Kurt his only job is to be himself.

Even in small ways, we see the ways Kurt takes care of Burt that paints a picture of the dynamic they have. In Wheels, when Burt is pissed off from the phone call and can barely work the coffee pot, Kurt automatically steps in to fix it for him. In Home, he doesn't let Burt have a cookie because it's not organic and he says in voiceover that he always comes along with Burt to parent teachers nights to act as a translator (vs Finn, who doesn't go with Carole) as if he doesn’t trust Burt to be able to handle these things himself. In Grilled Cheesus and Duets, he takes care of Burt's health, bringing him healthy food and making sure he has a napkin tucked into his shirt.

And while it's normal for parents to compare their kids to them, it's telling in Wheels, when Burt says Kurt's a lot like his mom and in Sexy, tells Blaine that Kurt gets his empathy and kindness from her. Projecting Kurt's mother onto him, reaffirming Kurt is his mother…

This is where I think Puck and Kurt are a bit similar, but in opposite ways? lol They both felt like they had to grow up fast, but while Puck felt like he had to be street smart, Kurt felt like he had to be responsible and take care of Burt. But like Puck, Kurt was still a child and wasn't 100% mature (that's why he even thinks it's a good idea to set up Burt and Carole. Obviously it's not a good idea, because it's supposed to show how naive Kurt really is).

Though the audience tends to think of Burt and Kurt's relationship as perfect and Burt as extremely supportive, that wasn't always the case. Like Carole who put in the effort to be there for Finn, I don't think Burt was a bad dad. He tried and changed and grew and that's why his character is so great, but that growth had to have a starting place. Before Kurt came out, it was clear they had a much more distant relationship. In Laryngitis Burt tells Kurt he knows they don’t ever really talk about their feelings and in 2009 it’s clear when he’s talking to Emma that he doesn’t think he understands Kurt very well, and it’s evident when he’s completely surprised that Kurt might be suicidal. In Preggers, he tells Kurt he's not in love with the idea of him being gay, in Wheels, he says he's not ready to talk about boys, and even in Laryngitis when he’s trying to make Kurt feel better, Burt basically confirms that Kurt is not the son he imagined having. Even though we know Burt loves Kurt unconditionally, season 1 Kurt isn't so sure, and it's why it took so long for Kurt to come out. It’s also why he becomes so insecure so fast when Finn and Burt start getting along. Finn did in one dinner what Kurt felt like he couldn’t do his entire life: connect with Burt.

Kurt and Finn...

I think Furt's relationship is so misunderstood and people tend to confuse the timeline of how long Kurt even had a crush on Finn which in my opinion shapes how people perceive Kurt like you really do need to understand the sequence of events…but I'm going to try to keep it brief lol The most relevant episodes for this post:

In Preggers, Finn helps Kurt join the football team. Despite their one on one interactions, Kurt doesn't really flirt with Finn in this episode, too preoccupied with his main goal: making Burt proud.

In Ballad, we learn Kurt's liked Finn since they met (and so in a Puckurt way, I think it'd be so interesting for that to make Puck feel bitter in some way. Of course he makes fun of Finn using Kurt, but much like how Rachel dumped him for Finn, I can see Puck wondering why even Kurt would choose Finn over him?) because Kurt thought Finn was nice. Finn made the bullying Kurt received, bullying that made Kurt contemplate suicidal thoughts, a lot more bearable.

When Finn and Kurt try to practice for their ballad assignment, Finn says he can't focus. He opens up to Kurt about how much Beth means to him, and Kurt is genuinely moved by how much Finn cares about her. Finn wanting to be a good dad is a trait Kurt would obviously find admirable given his relationship with Burt, and I think this is the moment his crush really starts to deepen. Especially because Finn allows Kurt to touch his shoulder, something no other guy would have let Kurt do before this. All of this is cementing Finn as a good guy to Kurt.

While Kurt tries to flirt in this episode, he and Finn have genuine moments of connection too. For one, despite the fact that it had a negative effect on Quinn (to put it lightly...), Finn felt Kurt's advice to sing about his feelings, both to Beth and Quinn’s parents, did help him feel better about things. When Kurt comes over to Finn's house to help him figure out what to wear, they bond over what it's like to have a parent that passed away. When Kurt talks about his memories of his mom like her smell, Finn tells Kurt that maybe he's lucky he never knew his dad.

That's another difference between him and Puck. Puck knows exactly what kind of guy his dad is, he got to experience first hand all the neglect and disappointment. All Finn can really do is imagine, and because of Carole's lie, he got to have this fantasy of him. His dad, the war hero. And obviously, he's not actually lucky that he's never met his dad (and Kurt seems to think the statement isn't true too, giving Finn a guilty look like he's not sure what to say and like he realizes that even in this situation, they can't relate 1:1) his grief would be real and that would still be hard to deal with, him never getting to know his dad would be a completely different kind of hurt from Puck's (like Kurt's is from his) so it's hardly comparable, and it sounds like his dad was still a good guy because Carole says he was so much more than the last few months of his life, but that kind of lie protected him of having to possibly deal with more complicated feelings about his father.

In Home, Finn finds out that Carole and Burt are dating because of Kurt and he's not happy about it, especially as his mom starts getting rid of all his dad's old stuff, again because of Kurt. In order to calm Finn down, Kurt sings A House Is Not A Home. Though Kurt intends for it to be a love song (and it ends up being an incredibly vulnerable performance for him that he has to end with his back turned to everyone else so they don’t see him cry, because it reveals how lonely Kurt has been, and how desperate he is for love), interestingly enough, the song does speak to Finn. He really seems to think about the lyrics as Kurt sings, and he takes the song sheet back home and sings it to his father’s chair.

During their first dinner as four, Finn starts to warm up to Burt when they realize they have a lot in common. However, seeing Finn and Burt get along makes Kurt instantly jealous and insecure, and by the end of the night, he's done with his crush on Finn. Back in his room, he rips off the paint swatches off his wall. He’s done playing house with Finn because his actual home with Burt feels like it’s on shaky foundation (and Finn’s about to tear down a load bearing wall). While Finn is genuinely upset that his mom is moving on from his dad, Kurt uses his mom's passing to try and guilt trip Burt, which Burt sees right through. I find this kind of fascinating?, that Kurt’s mom doesn’t really play a factor at all despite the fact that her death would have been more recent for Kurt, and Burt hadn’t seemed to date like Carole did. Daddy issues 2 strong I guess…

Later in the episode, Kurt asks Finn to help him break up their parents. Finn agrees, but when his mom talks to him about how they have to move on, and when Finn talks to Burt, he backs out of the plan and even lets Burt sit in his dad's chair ver. Kurt however, ends the episode distraught, upset as he watches Finn and Burt bond.

But while Kurt's crush on Finn is gone by the end of Home and Finn continues to be a threat in Laryngitis, its in Theatricality Kurt starts to realize…he might not even like Finn as a person. When Finn asks why Kurt has to make such a spectacle of himself, Kurt is genuinely disgusted. It's why he wasn't flirting with Finn when he tried to wipe the makeup off Finn's face. Not only was Kurt starting to find Finn cowardly, Kurt trying to wipe Finn's makeup off because he thinks Finn can't do it himself is much more reminiscent to how he treats Burt than how he treated Finn when he was actually trying to flirt in Ballad or Home.

Meanwhile, Finn is facing the growing pressure of all the changes he’s experiencing like having to move in with the Hummels, he’s starting to be bullied even more by Azimio and Karofsky, and he’s still grappling with his choice to be in glee, which threatens his masculinity which is why the whole kiss vs gaga thing happens. While Kurt might not have a crush on Finn in this episode, Finn doesn’t really know that.

And when Finn uses a slur, Kurt realizes the guy he idolized for being nice really is just like everyone else. Before Burt comes in, he's more disappointed than surprised (and, again, Kurt tries to protect Burt and Finn by trying to sweep it under the rug, saying Finn didn't "mean it like that", so as not to jeopardize Burt's relationship with Carole). Even though they make up by the end of the episode, their relationship stays tense into season 2.

In Duets they directly disagree about if Kurt should sing with Sam, and giving up the duet only exacerbates Kurt’s loneliness. In Grilled Cheesus, Kurt doesn't feel like it was pertinent to let Finn know about Burt's heart attack because Burt's not Finn's dad, and when Finn said he thought they were family he shakes his head. I don’t think Kurt would care Finn didn’t pray for Burt using Grilled Cheesus because he clearly didn’t think it worked (though I also don’t think he’d see it as Finn being respectful towards his wish for no prayers like I’ve seen some people say either lol, he still basically let half the club into Burt’s hospital room to pray for him), but I think he definitely felt upset about Finn thinking he counts as Burt’s son when Finn, in his eyes, can afford not to care about Burt (enough not to pray to Grilled Cheesus, who he genuinely believes grants him all his wishes) the way Kurt has had to. In Furt, Finn puts popularity over helping Kurt, and Kurt is clearly annoyed and awkwardly stiff when he has to teach Finn how to dance for the wedding and judges him when Finn asks if they can close the door. They really only make up after Finn sings Just The Way You Are.

Kurt and Puck…

Okay Puck and Kurt don't really have a lot of moments where they directly interact in the show. Puck bullied Kurt and they never really even make up. Puck calls Kurt his boy once he transferred out, wishes he could have jumped in when Karofsky started fighting the other glee guys but couldn't because he was on probation, cried during the Klaine duet lol, and was part of the anti prom, but Kurt never really seemed to care about Puck. He isn't (and wouldn't have wanted to be) included when the other guys hang out or when they try to help Puck pass his test, and one of their only and last interactions is during the Quarterback when they fight over Finn's jacket. It’s clear Kurt never changed his opinion on Puck.

However, there are times where their storylines take place in the same episodes and so they end up connected by the main theme of it. In Preggers, they’re both hiding something (Kurt being gay from his dad, Puck being the father of Quinn’s baby from Finn). In Wheels, they both lose out on something they want because of prejudices (though obviously on different scales) even though they proved themselves able to do what it is (Kurt can hit the note, but he can’t have the solo because then his dad will be burdened by the homophobic bullying Kurt gets. Puck does try to provide money for the baby, but Quinn admitting Puck is the father would be bad for her reputation so she can’t). In Never Been Kissed, they both feel like they have no support systems and they just want someone who actually cares about them (and Kurt finds it in Blaine and Puck finds it in Artie). I’m sure there’s more but you get the gist…

Okay wtf does all of this have to do Puckurt…

Now that I've established all that, I know Puckurt doesn’t have a lot of canon basis. But I think they have enough interesting parallels for something, and I can see Puckurt being the most compelling around season 1 to 2, because of their strong connection via shared themes and Finn. I feel like this part would be best done in bullet points…

Puck's most interesting relationships are with the people who make him examine his actions and change, like Rachel, Artie, and Lauren, and I think Kurt would have fit into that.

That being said. I think their relationship would be most interesting if 1) they enabled each other’s worst qualities or 2) if Puck enabled Kurt’s worst, while Kurt actually inspired some change in Puck. I just think it’d work best if it was allowed to be messy and not just “and then Puck said sorry and they lived happily and healthily forever after”

Like I mentioned, it would be interesting for Kurt having a crush on Finn to be another bitter reminder to Puck about how everyone likes Finn more.

But once Kurt’s feelings on Finn sour, Puck would probably find it refreshing that Kurt is finally another person who sees Finn for what Puck sees him as: just some guy who's kind of an asshole.

They would bond over a resentment towards Finn not having to grow up faster and how he doesn't have to really think twice about his relationship with Carole. I think they'd also judge him for being more cowardly and for having a victim complex (despite popular opinion that Kurt had a huge victim complex…girl have you seen Any scene Finn’s in. Kurt sucks it up way more than he does 😭).

Finn is also naturally liked in a way that neither Puck or Kurt get to be, because people instantly judge them and won't give them a chance (and like to be fair. Puck is menace lmao). From their perspective, why is everything so easy for Finn? Why is everyone so nice to him?

But even despite all of that, they also wouldn't actually hate Finn…it's why Puck always goes back for forgiveness and considered Finn in his future plans when he wanted to go to LA, and Kurt would never be able to forget that Finn's kindness made things more bearable for him. Finn will always be Puck's best friend and Kurt's Superman, and so their feelings for Finn would be complicated. And I know I've sounded pretty harsh on Finn in this post, but really I don't think he was a bad guy!

One scenario I can imagine prior to Kurt’s crush on Finn being gone though is Puck trying to come onto Kurt, just to see. Obviously the resident gay kid would also be into him, right? But no. Kurt would not be. And I think much like with Rachel, Puck would pull the “whatever I didn’t even want you anyway + ur ugly and also ur gay” card once he’d be rejected.

I can see their relationship being kind of like that one text post that's like "aren't you tired of being nice haven't you ever wanted to go apeshit". Of course Kurt isn’t “so kind he would never even THINK to hurt someone 🥺” levels of nice (and while I don’t think saint kurt is as popular in the fandom as nonKurt fans I’ve seen over the years think…yeah I do cringe a little when I come across Kurt fans who make it sound like he was just this bland, nice sweetheart the whole time. we freaking love you mean ass Kurt), but because Kurt didn't really have a lot of power against the people who’d harass him, he kind of just had to let it happen and usually all he could get in would be a snarky one liner. He never really got to express pure anger in s1-2, really, except in Rose’s Turn. He had a lot of pent up feelings that he wasn’t allowed to feel or say sucks (because people expected him to let stuff roll off his back) and he was responsible because he didn’t want to cause problems for Burt, so I think Puck would encourage him to just let himself BE angry, in ways that probably aren't very healthy or productive. I think full on bad boy/skank Kurt is not realistic, I don’t think he’d go that far and completely change who he is because he’s truly a NERD at heart. He irons his socks, he has a strong moral compass, and when Will told the boys to sit down in Funk he’s the only one to ran to his seat♥️, and so I think the things he’d do to express his anger would still have to be realistically Kurt-like.

There's no other way to say this. but Kurt would appeal strongly to Puck's mommy issues (critical, hard to please, nags and when he thinks someone can't do something themselves, he condescendingly does it for them, which is so Puck's mom washing his hair), and Puck to Kurt’s daddy issues (maybe less so than the former. But the way Kurt was moved by Finn describing what he thought about Beth, he’d feel some kind of Freudian way about Puck wanting to be a good, present dad.)

Both desperately wanted to avoid becoming Lima Losers, but Puck almost didn't graduate despite that being the thing he looked forward to the most and Kurt, who spent so many years dreaming of New York to escape the small minded people of Ohio, got rejected from his dream school. They didn't show Kurt crashing out over that enough TBFH and I can imagine a Puckurt situation where they both break over not being able to prove people wrong and becoming exactly what they feared.

The closest in ship comparisons that come to Puckurt are probably Kurtofsky and Kurtbastian, since they all kinda embody the bully x bullied trope. but I think the difference between Puckurt and Kurtofsky is Kurt would most likely always regard Karofsky with pity (or sympathy, if you want to be nicer) in their relationship because of Karofsky being closeted and attempting suicide when he was outed. They have a more complicated/nuanced relationship as bully/bullied than Puckurt do in my opinion, because Puck bullying him wasn’t really personal (and even in Puckurt, I’m not too drawn to the idea that Puck was bullying Kurt specifically because he had a crush on him. Not because that’s evil and toxic because I actually enjoy that in Kurtofsky lol but because then yeah, that’s just Kurtofsky and if I want to ship Kurtofsky, I’d just be shipping Kurtofsky. Puckurt should have its own dynamic! Which is why most of my feelings on Puckurt take place after Puck’s joined glee vs before). I think part of the appeal of Kurtbastian for its shippers is that they'd eventually get over Blaine and see each other as equals and their jabs at each other would be more lighthearted and affectionate.

In comparison, I don’t think Kurt would feel all that sympathetic towards Puck, and I don’t think he’d see himself as an equal to Puck either. Despite Puck’s higher social status, I think Kurt would see himself as above Puck in most other aspects (taste, intelligence, class). And because Puck would not be explicitly gay (I imagine his sexuality would just be “anything that moves”), Kurt would feel less connected to him to feel that level of sympathy (Kurt is someone who feels more deeply for people he can see himself in). If anything…Puck would be able to empathize with Kurt more than Kurt would to him…Or at least it would take a LOT for Kurt to warm up to Puck (but I think he would eventually once he realized just how much Puck’s parents suck. I can’t see that Not pulling at his heartstrings. At the very least, I think Kurt would think of Karofsky as someone who is fragile, and he wouldn’t think Puck is fragile? Hm I’m gonna have to think on this more). I think Kurt would see him being with Puck to be his rock bottom.

I also really like the idea of the two of them scheming to try and get Finn and Quinn to break up and it blowing up in their faces lol

Andddd WHEWWW!!!! We are done with Group 1, Round 1! That's 128 ships in total! And that's only 1 out 16 total groups! (After round 8 it will be 32 and then 16 total for each group instead of 128, but still!) So prepare for a longgg, firece competition! So as usual with my polls, you will have 1 week to vote, and the winners of this round will move onto the next round, Round 2, next week, so have fun and vote to your hearts content! And see you next week for round 2!

Have some fics that employ the 5 + 1 formula.

5 Times Barry Caught Len Doing Good Things and 1 Time The Whole World Saw (AO3) - "Leonard Snart is not a good guy, damn it, and he would appreciate Barry Allen stopping insisting that he is."

Five Times Mick and Len Met the Leverage Team (Plus One Time They Hung Out) (AO3) - “Len,” Mick says. He has that long-suffering ‘you’ve got to be fucking kidding me’ tone of voice."

Someday You're Going to Realize (that I'm passing you by) (AO3) - "Or: 5 Times Tony Stark Didn’t Need the Avengers and the 1 Time He Really Didn’t"

Thank you for calling... (AO3) - "Five times Gotham vigilantes called customer service, and one time the customer service rep called them."

If Murder Was a Meet Cute (AO3) - "The five times Red Hood aka Jason Todd caught Danny Fenton committing a crime, and the one time the criminal wasn’t Danny."