When they met

Eight year old Noah sat on a bench under a tree next to his teachers Ms. Newman. It was recess time, but he had to sit with his teacher for the first ten minutes, reflecting over "what he did wrong." Apparently calling kids who wore glasses "four-eyed freaks" wasn't a nice thing to say. Whatever, he thought to himself, the truth hurts sometimes.

It was at that moment that his life would ultimately change forever. While he tuned out his teacher's lecture on the importance of respecting his fellow students, he scanned the playground for something interesting to look at. Noah noticed a boy who looked his age, but hadn't seen before, playing football with some of the kids in his class. Noah himself was a star athlete, or so he liked to think, but the way this kid could throw a football was amazing. The ball would spiral perfectly through the air and land in the out stretched arms of his intended target.

"Who's that kid?" Noah inquired, interrupting whatever nonsense his teacher had been saying to him

She looked startled for a second, but looked to the direction the young boy was pointing towards.

"That's Finn Hudson, and today is his first day. He's in Mrs. Hayweather's class, though," Ms. Newman replied, turning to look at her rebellious pupil.

Noah was constantly causing trouble in her class, but the twenty five year old teacher had a suspicion he was just seeking attention and truly was a good kid deep down. From what she had overheard him saying a few months ago to one of his classmates, his mom had just had a baby and his dad had "left to become a rock star for a few months." She really felt sorry for the child, who also happened to be one of her brightest students. He seemed to believe his dad was going to become famous and take him on the road with him one day.

Suddenly, she had an idea. Maybe Noah just needed a friend to help him out. He didn't seem to have many. Most either avoided him or were friends with him so they wouldn't get beaten up.

"Hey, Noah, sweetie. How about I cut you a deal?"

The tanned boy looked up, his eyebrow raised, giving her what she could only describe as a look of apprehension and a slight bit of fear.

"I'm not writing apology letters again, Ms. Newman. My hand still hurts from the last ones you made me write."

"Yeah, well, you hurt a lot of people when you tried to ride your bike through the cafeteria in the middle of lunch. But that wasn't what I wanted to ask you about. How about I let you off your timeout early, if you go over and make friends with Finn?"

Noah looked across the playground to the field where the new kid was currently running to the makeshift end zone, the ball tucked perfectly under his arm. He figured talking to this kid couldn't be too bad. Besides, he needed a quarterback who had some skill. Dave Karofsky just plain sucked.

"No other catch?"

"Nope, just be nice," she answered him, slightly surprised. She knew Noah hated being in timeout, but he also wasn't the friendliest of students either.

"Okay, sweet. Thanks Ms. N," he said as began heading towards the field.

As he approached the edge of the playground, he watched as Finn scored another touchdown. The brown-haired boy was in the middle of a high five with some kid when Karofsky ran up behind them, slamming into Finn's unprepared body. The blow knocked him to the field, where he smacked his face on the dirt.

Noah could feel the heat rising in his cheeks as he became angry. What was wrong with that kid? Seriously, even Noah would never attack someone who wasn't facing him, let alone not prepared for a fight. It was such a wussy think to do.

The young Puckerman ran the remaining distance to the field, where a group of students was gathering around Finn and Karofsky. The new student had picked himself up off the ground, with the help of Noah's friend, Mike Chang, and clearly was trying to keep the tears from spilling down his cheeks.

"Aw, are you gonna cry new kid? You're such a baby!" Karofsky taunted.

Noah stormed up behind Finn, pushing his way through the crowd.

"What did he do to you, Karofsky?" Noah yelled. "The only baby around here is you. You aren't even man enough to hit him while he's looking."

Noah watched in satisfaction as Karofsky's faced turned a brilliant shade of red. Before the larger boy could retort, Mr. Thompson, the meanest teacher at their school, approached the group of boys.

"Any problem here, lads?" Mr. Thompson asked, focusing his glare on Mike.

"Uh...no sir, we were just taking a break from football," Mike managed to stammer out.

"Good. Now head back in, boys, recess is almost over. "

Most of the students began following the older teacher towards the school. Noah hung back to talk to Finn.

"You okay man?" Noah asked the boy.

"Um, yeah, thanks. You know, for standing up to that kid for me, and all," the smaller boy mumbled.

"Anytime, dude," Puck grinned, as he tossed his arm around the other boy's shoulders. "Plus, I wouldn't want Karofsky to beat up my new quarterback."

The two smiled at each other, and continued their walk to the school.

From behind the large oak tree on the edge of the playground a young teacher stood, smiling at what she had just accomplished. Sometimes all you needed was a person to lean on.

When they bonded

Finn Hudson walked into school on June 20, feeling an abundance of mixed emotions. It was Father's Day and also the last day of school. His mom wouldn't let him skip today like she usually did, because she said it was "important for him to see his friends one last time before summer started." It wasn't like he wouldn't see them over the summer, but his mom just didn't seem to understand that.

See, Finn didn't have a father. Sure, he used to, just like every other kid. But his dad had died when he was very little, and he never had a chance to really meet and talk to his dad. Finn figured it was probably better this way, because how could he miss something he'd never known. But it was still depressing to see all his other friends hanging out with their dads today at school.

Since today was the last day of school, and all their tests and grades were done, his teacher Mrs. Hayweather, decided that all the fifth grade classes would have a "Bring Your Parents to School Day." Everyone knew it was supposed to be "Bring Your Dad to School Day," but because of him and Noah, who didn't have dads, the teachers agreed moms should come to.

Finn knew Noah, his best friend, had a dad. But he was never around because he was off being a rock star, according to what the Jewish boy had told him. Finn, however, thought it sounded fishy. He'd never met Noah's dad, and their house had no pictures of him. Finn believed that Mr. Puckerman was probably in the CIA or something, and Noah just couldn't tell him that. He didn't want his dad to get stolen by masked men or anything, like they'd seen many times in movies.

The morning flew by, thankfully, and soon it was time for recess. Finn loved recess time the most, because it was the only time, besides lunch, that he got to hang out with his best friend in school. His mom told him to behave himself as he ran off to go find Noah, and she joined Mrs. Puckerman on a bench under a tree.

Finn found Noah in their customary spot on top of the monkey bars. They usually met here to decide what game they wanted to play (usually football or soccer), and sometimes just stayed there to talk.

He climbed his way up the monkey bars, and sat a few feet away from Noah. Finn didn't say anything, for he really had nothing to say. Today sucked and both boys knew it.

"So your dad didn't come today?" Finn decided to ask after five minutes of silence.

"No, but it's just because he's busy. I think he's recording an album," Noah responded quickly.

Finn looked up towards the sky, watching a plane fly by.

"Have you talked to him since he left?"

Finn noticed out of the corner of his eye, a frown starting to form on Noah's face.

"No, but he's just busy, I told you that," Noah insisted.

Finn paused, thinking of how to reply. He didn't want to hurt his best friend's feelings, but even he knew most people who join bands still talk to their family.

He decided good friends are honest with one another. That's what his mom always said.

"I think he lied to you, I don't think he's off making music-"

Finn was surprised by how scary Noah's glare could be.

"Dude, I think your dad's a spy."

Noah's face immediately softened, and he started laughing. Finn frowned, wondering how his dad possibly being in immense danger was so funny.

Noah stopped laughing, and patted Finn on the shoulder.

"That'd be cool. Hey, wanna go play a prank on our moms? We should sneak up and scare them."

The two of them jumped off the monkey bars, and took a wide path around the playground to come up behind the bench their parents were sitting on without being seen. They grinned at each other as they crouched directly behind their own parent. Noah began counting down from three, so they could both shout "boo!" at the same time. Noah paused, though, when he heard what his mother was saying to Finn's mom.

"Honestly Carole, I feel so bad for Noah. He still believes his dad is out becoming a rock star and is going to come home at any moment, even though we haven't heard from him in two years. I don't have the heart to tell him that he's not coming back."

Finn's eyes widened as he listened to Mrs. Puckerman's confession. So much for his theory of Mr. Puckerman being a spy.

Finn was startled out of his thoughts as he heard Noah get up and scream, "HOW COULD YOU LIE TO ME! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LOVE ME!"

The two parents turned around, shocked, as Noah ran off towards the school.

"Finn, what were you guys doing?" his mom started.

Finn didn't reply, and went to chase Noah. He knew where he'd be hiding. They often would decide on a time during recess where they would leave to go to the bathroom, and then they would meet in the media center bathroom just to hang out. No one ever went in there, and Finn wasn't really sure why his school seemed to be collecting books, anyways.

He walked into the bathroom, expecting to hear Noah screaming and punching things. Finn noticed that's what he usually did when he was mad. It kind of scared him, so he just usually stood back, making sure Noah didn't seriously hurt something, and definitely not himself. He was surprised to hear what sounded like muffled sobs coming from the end of the bathroom. Finn crept quietly to the end of the sinks to see Noah sitting on the floor with his knees pulled to his chest and his head in between his legs, and deep wrenching sobs coming from his body.

Finn immediately dropped to the ground and pulled his friend into his lap. He didn't even stop to think what he was doing, and began rubbing circles on his back. Finn didn't know what to say; how could you comfort someone who held hope for two years that his dad would come back, only to have it completely crushed in less than a minute. So Finn did the only thing he could do, and used his actions to convey what he couldn't say with words. He pulled the boy farther into his lap, so Noah was essentially sitting on him. Noah's head rested under Finn's chin, and his sobs seemed to lessen.

After twenty minutes, Noah's tears had finally stopped. Finn thought the boy had fallen asleep until he heard Noah mumble, "I hate Father's Day."

Finn understood. He ran his hands through Noah's dark hair, and whispered, "Me too," before falling asleep, holding onto his best friend with all the strength he had.

Author's note: I actually really like this story. I'll continue if I get enough viewers who want me to :)