FIC: What's the point of being Popular (if you can't do what you want?), 5/??
Title: What’s the Point of being Popular (if you can’t do what you want?) (2/??)
Pairing,Character(s): Sam/Puck (getting there)
Rating: I feel like I should up the rating for child abandonment and stuff... call it M?
Spoilers: Puck and Sam return to school after a rough summer.
Summary: The school year gets started and Sam is going quietly insane.
A/N: If you haven't read Overstreets 'gay waffles 'verse' - well, get to it; I noticed some similarities between scenes from this chapter and that verse, no thieving intended (if anything it's tribute). Thanks for the feedback so far!! Uni has gone back now so updating is obviously less frequent, but I'm still working away :)
------------------Chapter 5---------------------
Puck figured if someone had asked him before, he would’ve said waking up with a dude in his arms would be, firstly, awkward as hell, and secondly, a highly unlikely scenario for the Puckasaurus to work himself into.
He woke gently, opening his eyes to see Sam still sleeping a few inches from his face. Sometime during the night they’d pulled apart a little - the guy put off a lot of heat - but he noticed their legs were a little tangled and Puck was happy to see that Sam’s breathing was deep and regular. He also noticed he didn’t feel awkward in the slightest.
A couple of summers earlier, Puck had put in heavy curtains so only a couple of orange steaks of sunlight broke into the room. Everything seemed to glow a little in the dim half-morning light. Puck wasn’t in a hurry to wake up and get himself out of bed, and he really didn’t want to mess up Sam’s sleep, so he lay still to think for awhile.
Might get up and make some actual breakfast in a bit...
Breakfast was a rarity in the Puckerman house, partly because Puck’s mom worked such irregular hours. Sometimes Puck’s sister would guilt him into making her some pancakes or eggs and bacon. When Puck had someone to cook for he found he didn’t mind it. So long as they were suitably complimentary he was cool with feeding people.
He felt peaceful. He wasn’t really sleepy at all; it’d been awhile since he slept next to someone, and somehow sharing his bed with Sam made Puck feel content. A lot of the restlessness he’d been feeling over the past week was easing... though when he thought of Quinn, Puck still had no idea what do to.
Sam looked really nice asleep. Puck watched how his eyes moved a little under their lids. The guy had really nice, kinda long eye lashes and his two-tone hair was messy and going in every direction. Puck resisted the sudden urge to run his hand through it... he shook himself a little. He definitely didn’t want to send Sam the wrong signals.
Scratch that. It wasn’t about his signals; Sam had way too much going on in his head right now to let something stupid like Puck being overly-affectionate mess up his thinking.
Still, Puck wondered where the idea that he might want to be closer to Sam could have come from... he’d never even thought about it before. Hell, he’d never really acknowledged that it was possible for someone like Sam to even be gay. The only gay guy he’d ever knowingly come in contact with was Hummel.
And SAM being gay... it was pretty out of the blue. Puck hadn’t really taken the time to think about what Sam had told him, he’d been pretty preoccupied. In the face of what had happened to Sam obviously it was kinda unimportant, but Puck got a little squirming feeling in his stomach when he thought about Sam being interested in other dudes. Like... excitement. Kinda jealousy. Puck hadn’t felt that way before... and now, being in bed with Sam... maybe Puck was the one who needed to make sure his thinking didn’t get too messed up. Just because he was helping Sam out didn’t mean he could take it further, even if he wanted to. Which he didn’t. Except, he still kinda wanted to run his fingers through Sam’s hair - it looked soft and Puck remembered that the guy smelt awesome. Okay, Puck thought, THAT’S not weird at all.
Gingerly he started to untangle himself from Sam, who made a pretty adorable little angry sound, scrunching his face a little. Puck smiled and made sure Sam was properly covered up, and pulled the curtains fully shut, which made it like nighttime again. Puck knew how exhausting emotional shit could be, and he wanted Sam to sleep for as long as possible.
Plus, it would give him a chance to impress if he had time to cook a killer breakfast before Sam woke up for real.
Wait, Puck back-pedalled in his head a little bit. SHOW OFF, not impress. Who the hell do I need to impress? I’m freakin Noah Puckerman.
#
Puck went all out with breakfast. He was hungry, plus he wanted Sam to feel... like, cared for. Whatever.
He left most of the stuff under the grill so that it’d be warm whenever Sam woke up. Puck figured if the guy was still sleeping in an hour he’d take him breakfast in bed. Puck didn’t think Sam would read into that, the dude was cool.
Puck filled his plate with a couple of eggs, some bacon and three sausages, plus some toast, and sat at the table in the living room. He was pretty happy with his effort - damn good way to start a weekend. Puck knew there would be a lot to process over the next couple of days but somehow he felt that it’d be alright. He didn’t think long term like his mom, but he figured so long as Sam could stay for awhile stuff would sort itself out okay.
He took a big gulp of orange juice and hacked into his breakfast. After a few bites he had a thought and dumped his cutlery. Puck grabbed his english book from his pack at the door - he’d been getting really into it, and he needed something quiet to concentrate on while Sam was snoozing away, so reading had narrowly won out over TV for probably the first time ever.
He brought another forkful of toast and egg to his mouth. Spending the day lazing with Sam wouldn’t be half bad, actually... and they had already said they should study together, so why not make some progress with that? Puck had gotten the impression that Sam had been really into the idea, but also sort of knew it was pretty unlikely to go ahead. Plus, Sam had expected Puck to be vicious when he came out, so the guy had probably thought that once Puck knew he was like, more twizzler than wafer bar, the odds of them sharing a study sesh were pretty much nil.
Puck grinned. So much for Sam’s expectations. Puck knew he needed help knuckling down and studying just as much as Sam did.
It didn’t take Puck long to polish off his food and he grinned to himself again as he snatched up his book and flopped onto the couch to wait for Sam to get up.
#
It was like twenty minutes later that Sam shuffled down the corridor still wearing Pucks singlet and track pants. Puck looked up from the couch and flashed him a smile - it was weird, but also really sort of awesome to see Sam wearing his clothes.
“Smells good...” Sam said hopefully, rubbing his eyes and patting his hair, which was still sticking out in a way that Puck thought was pretty hilarious.
“Grab a plate dude, the stuffs under the grill - I made a bunch, I figured if I was hungry you’d be famished.”
“Mhmm...” Sam shuffled around a little and fixed himself a plate and brought it over to the couch. He sat with his breakfast perched on his lap and dug in wolfishly. “Puck this is amazing,” Sam made an appreciative noise around his mouthful “I haven’t had a breakfast like this since...for ages.”
Puck figures Sam means, like, since before the motel. He’s cool with avoiding that, he’d had a good morning so far. Puck also figured that if Sam was going to make happy noises like that every time he cooked, he might not mind making an effort now and then.
He kept reading in a companionable silence while Sam munched down. He’d cooked mushrooms, but there weren’t many so he’d left them for Sam. Puck was glad he did because Sam mumbled about how awesome they tasted. “Really love mushrooms.” He mumbled quietly. He’d glanced at Puck and then kept going with his meal; Puck felt like Sam had shared like, a secret with him. He felt... he didn’t know. Intimate? Whatever, It felt good.
After awhile Sam started finishing up - the guy had inhaled the food. Sam leaned into Puck’s shoulder a little. “Whacha reading?” He said with a sort of mischievous smile. Food had clearly put him in a happy mood.
“English text. Ender’s game.”
Sam made a strangled sound. “I’m up to the bit where he’s in the arcade room thing... It takes me ages, I have to read most bits twice.” Sam looked on over Pucks shoulder for a second before shifting his gaze back to his own hands, jittery in his lap. Puck closed the book and leant quietly back into Sam’s side. The couch was already pretty worn down so sitting in it side by side made the bottom sag a little, pushing them together. Puck felt like it was acceptable not to keep his usual distance. Sam was biting his lip a little as a few moments of silence passed.
“I could read it out to you, if you wanted.” Puck made his offer quietly. He was distinctly aware that this wasn’t something he would ever normally have said... he wasn’t sure why it was okay now, but it was.
Sam sat watching his hands for another few seconds. Puck felt his heart hammer away as he waited for Sam to respond...
“Yeah... I mean, if you want, I’d actually really... I mean, that would be killer.”
Puck grinned a little and pushed back on Sam a little and Sam nudged him right back. Riffling through the book Puck found the spot around about where Sam was up to and got him to point out exactly where he should start from.
“Right, you comfy man?”
Sam shuffled down a little and gave a sound of agreement, and Puck started out. He did his best to give the characters voices the way they sounded in his head, but he wasn’t sure if Sam chuckled because he liked it or because Puck sounded a little silly.
Either way, Puck had the guy laughing. He chucked another point on his PUCK vs. UNIVERSE tally.
#
Sam and Puck hung out together at Puck’s house for the day, reading and chatting and laughing together a whole bunch more than Puck would’ve thought possible given what had happened the day before. He could tell from the way Sam filled silences quickly and avoided too much eye contact that the guy was on edge, but all things considered Sam was coping okay. For now, anyway.
It was mid-afternoon when Puck relayed his conversation with Ma Puckerman the night before, cutting it down to the verdict: Sam was crashing with him for a few weeks while things settled, and then they’d all sit down and talk about... like, the future. Puck tried to gloss over that part; he barely had a handle on his own immediate schooling let alone his future.
Sam had taken it quietly; he made noises about not wanting to be a burden or whatever, but they both knew that he didn’t have anywhere to go, and Puck realised he wanted Sam around. The dude could do hilarious impersonations and once you started to recognise the voice he used when he was making a movie reference it was easy to play along, even if you had no idea what the hell he was talking about.
They dragged some blankets out from Puck’s closet when it started getting dark - Puck was planning on ordering in some pizza, but first they were gonna start up a movie marathon. It was just like hanging out with Finn used to be, except Sam was like... a lot more alert. Puck was enjoying not having to do all the thinking.
All in all, Puck felt fairly gracious when he let Sam pick the first flick. Puck had settled himself on the couch, and he considered making popcorn while Sam was crouched on the floor going through the DVD collection, but Puck figured if they wanted some after dinner that would work alright. Plus, Sam’s back made an awesome shape when he was bent down like that - Puck had to ruffle his blanket and shift himself around to distract himself from looking any lower. He still needed to process a lot of stuff that chilling with Sam was bringing up.
Finally Sam picked the Terminator- Puck figured that Sam was trying to guess at what Puck would like to watch, and Puck thought that was pretty cool.
Sam stood up and wrapped his blanket around himself and looked around for a second, apparently unsure where he should sit, but there was only one couch and plenty of room - Puck motioned next to him with his face and Sam flushed before dropping down next to Puck.
Puck was aware that things could get a little awkward if the tension built up, but he was enjoying the movie and he still felt pretty in control of the situation. He was no stranger to using tension to his advantage.
A couple of times Puck got really distracted; he kept noticing how intensely Sam reacted to the films. The guy would jump and cringe and squirm even though Puck was sure he must have seen the movies before... Puck found it endearing. He’d never been able to get completely into a movie like that. He resisted the desire to get closer to Sam and cuddle the guy. He was Noah Puckerman; cuddling was supposed to be the furthest thing from his mind. (On the other hand, Sam was a dude - so clearly a lot of Puck’s priorities were shifting around).
#
After two pizzas and all the terminator movies Puck owned, in order, Sam was yawning like a bitch and Puck was having trouble holding it together as well. He announced to the room that it was time for bed.
He grabbed the remote and clicked the TV off before taking the empty pizza boxes to the kitchen and dumping them on the stove. Puck had been really warm in his blanket so he tried to keep it wrapped pretty tight, but as they shuffled down the hall he realised he’d have to brush his teeth anyway, so he bit the bullet and bunched the blanket up and threw it into his room so it landed on his foam pad, still in place and unused from the night before.
Sam looked a little uncertain.
“Toothbrush?” Puck watched as Sam’s eyes flicked to his bag and back to where Puck stood in the doorway. “Haha it’s cool, we have a couple spares.” Puck led Sam into the bathroom and grabbed two packs from the cupboard and held them up for other boy to inspect. “Red or Blue?” Puck grinned.
Sam couldn’t help but return the smile. “Red dude. Thanks.”
It was kinda nice, standing next to each other brushing their teeth. Puck usually welched on the job so having Sam standing there sort of spurred him on to spend a proper amount of time on it, but he still finished up before Sam did. He figured it was a good idea to give the guy a couple of minutes to himself, so he shuffled into his room and pushed the door so it was mostly shut and dug through his drawers to find some shorts to wear to bed. He changed quickly and briefly debated whether he could ditch his shirt now or after the light was off - he decided to wait. He didn’t want to make Sam uncomfortable.
Sam came back in a second later and looked at the bed, then at where Puck stood on the foam mat. Puck couldn’t help but laugh.
“Get in there buddy, maybe after tonight we can start flipping for who gets the bed, but for now it’s all yours.”
Sam didn’t put up too much of a fight, which Puck was thankful for because he probably could’ve been convinced to switch if Sam had pushed too much, and it would’ve made him feel like a douche.
Puck flipped the light off as Sam bundled into the bed and Puck stripped off his shirt before laying down on the mat and turning on his side, pulling the pillow down so it supported his face better.
He wondered briefly if he should say goodnight, but after a couple of seconds it felt like the silence was pressing in on him and he didn’t want to be the one to break it. There was a narrow strip of light coming in under his doorway - he’d left the hall light on for when his mom got home, since his sister wasn’t around tonight - but his eyes hadn’t quite adjusted yet.
Sam turned over a couple of times before sitting up a little and ditching the singlet Puck had given him - It must’ve been pretty warm in the bed and Puck already knew that Sam put off a massive amount of heat, so he couldn’t blame the guy. After that Sam seemed to lay on his back and stare at the blank ceiling while Puck lay on his side facing the bed. For some reason he could get the idea of a shirtless Sam Evans, in his bed, out of his head.
Puck felt like time was slowing down, or he was speeding up. He wanted to say something to break the tension in his chest but he didn’t know what he could say. He twisted a little to shuffle his blanket around; he felt really uncomfortable. Not so much because of the thin foam mat, though yeh, it was a bitch - he was having an intense urge to go over and hug Sam. He felt weird and excited at the thought but he tried to put it out of his head. He took a deep breath and pushed it out quickly, trying to relax. Above him, Sam shifted around again.
Sam spoke up, and Puck felt a massive rush of relief. He’d thought his chest was going to burst.
“Back at my house I had this set of glow-in-the-dark planets,” Sam sounded like... sad. “My mom hated them because she said they’d take the paint off the ceiling, but they were so awesome to stare at every night.” It was the first time Sam had mentioned his family.
“I had like, a bunch of little stars on my ceiling when I was a kid.” Puck was just talking out into the darkness. “I think my sister still has them up there; I used to have her room.”
They lapsed into silence again, but it didn’t have time to build up again like the first time, because Sam spoke out, “Puck, I know how this must sound really... I just, do you think... maybe you could hug me again?” He said it in a really small voice, like he thought he was asking Puck to stab himself with a fork or something. Like it’d be a pain in the ass for Puck. It took about two seconds for Puck to be up off the mat and at the side of the bed.
“Let me in there big guy.” Puck sort of grinned in the dark, feeling giddy. He jumped into bed with Sam and quietly wrapped his arms around the other boy. It felt completely natural. In seconds they settled into an incredible like... meld. Puck felt totally comfortable, and he could feel the gentle rise and fall of Sam’s breathing against his chest. His own heart was hammering.
It took him a second to register that they were both shirtless, their skin pressed against each other. It felt there were sparks passing between them. Sam’s skin was smooth and really warm and the guy was built.
Sam sighed a little, he sounded happy, like, content. Puck smiled in the dark.
“Dude I can’t say thank you enough, like... I can’t believe you didn’t freak out yesterday, and now... I just really needed a hug.” Sam had his arm across Pucks chest, but he kept it still. Puck thought Sam might be worried about crossing a line. He knew exactly what that felt like - but he also felt like he was pretty in control. He slid his hand up and gently took Sam’s in his, twining their fingers together and giving Sam a light squeeze around the shoulders.
“I’m good for a hug anytime bro.”
And then Puck turned a little toward Sam and gave him a proper, full on embrace. He couldn’t help but breath Sam’s scent in deeply as Sam’s arms closed around his chest and gave him a squeeze. It was like Sam never wanted to let go; like he felt safe and secure in Puck’s arms. Puck’s heart gave a flutter and he felt the distinct urge to hold Sam like that for as long as he could.
They lay there like that for a few minutes before Puck started pulling away and Sam flipped around so he had his back to Puck, who smiled to himself again. The guy wanted to spoon.
Puck was cool with being the big spoon, but he found himself wondering if he could try being the little spoon with Sam sometime over the next little while. His heart gave a funny jump at the thought.
Puck really didn’t want to think about why his brain told him to kiss Sam’s shoulder softly before falling asleep, but he ignored it. That really would be crossing a line.
Pairing,Character(s): Sam/Puck (getting there)
Rating: I feel like I should up the rating for child abandonment and stuff... call it M?
Spoilers: Puck and Sam return to school after a rough summer.
Summary: The school year gets started and Sam is going quietly insane.
A/N: If you haven't read Overstreets 'gay waffles 'verse' - well, get to it; I noticed some similarities between scenes from this chapter and that verse, no thieving intended (if anything it's tribute). Thanks for the feedback so far!! Uni has gone back now so updating is obviously less frequent, but I'm still working away :)
------------------Chapter 5---------------------
Puck figured if someone had asked him before, he would’ve said waking up with a dude in his arms would be, firstly, awkward as hell, and secondly, a highly unlikely scenario for the Puckasaurus to work himself into.
He woke gently, opening his eyes to see Sam still sleeping a few inches from his face. Sometime during the night they’d pulled apart a little - the guy put off a lot of heat - but he noticed their legs were a little tangled and Puck was happy to see that Sam’s breathing was deep and regular. He also noticed he didn’t feel awkward in the slightest.
A couple of summers earlier, Puck had put in heavy curtains so only a couple of orange steaks of sunlight broke into the room. Everything seemed to glow a little in the dim half-morning light. Puck wasn’t in a hurry to wake up and get himself out of bed, and he really didn’t want to mess up Sam’s sleep, so he lay still to think for awhile.
Might get up and make some actual breakfast in a bit...
Breakfast was a rarity in the Puckerman house, partly because Puck’s mom worked such irregular hours. Sometimes Puck’s sister would guilt him into making her some pancakes or eggs and bacon. When Puck had someone to cook for he found he didn’t mind it. So long as they were suitably complimentary he was cool with feeding people.
He felt peaceful. He wasn’t really sleepy at all; it’d been awhile since he slept next to someone, and somehow sharing his bed with Sam made Puck feel content. A lot of the restlessness he’d been feeling over the past week was easing... though when he thought of Quinn, Puck still had no idea what do to.
Sam looked really nice asleep. Puck watched how his eyes moved a little under their lids. The guy had really nice, kinda long eye lashes and his two-tone hair was messy and going in every direction. Puck resisted the sudden urge to run his hand through it... he shook himself a little. He definitely didn’t want to send Sam the wrong signals.
Scratch that. It wasn’t about his signals; Sam had way too much going on in his head right now to let something stupid like Puck being overly-affectionate mess up his thinking.
Still, Puck wondered where the idea that he might want to be closer to Sam could have come from... he’d never even thought about it before. Hell, he’d never really acknowledged that it was possible for someone like Sam to even be gay. The only gay guy he’d ever knowingly come in contact with was Hummel.
And SAM being gay... it was pretty out of the blue. Puck hadn’t really taken the time to think about what Sam had told him, he’d been pretty preoccupied. In the face of what had happened to Sam obviously it was kinda unimportant, but Puck got a little squirming feeling in his stomach when he thought about Sam being interested in other dudes. Like... excitement. Kinda jealousy. Puck hadn’t felt that way before... and now, being in bed with Sam... maybe Puck was the one who needed to make sure his thinking didn’t get too messed up. Just because he was helping Sam out didn’t mean he could take it further, even if he wanted to. Which he didn’t. Except, he still kinda wanted to run his fingers through Sam’s hair - it looked soft and Puck remembered that the guy smelt awesome. Okay, Puck thought, THAT’S not weird at all.
Gingerly he started to untangle himself from Sam, who made a pretty adorable little angry sound, scrunching his face a little. Puck smiled and made sure Sam was properly covered up, and pulled the curtains fully shut, which made it like nighttime again. Puck knew how exhausting emotional shit could be, and he wanted Sam to sleep for as long as possible.
Plus, it would give him a chance to impress if he had time to cook a killer breakfast before Sam woke up for real.
Wait, Puck back-pedalled in his head a little bit. SHOW OFF, not impress. Who the hell do I need to impress? I’m freakin Noah Puckerman.
#
Puck went all out with breakfast. He was hungry, plus he wanted Sam to feel... like, cared for. Whatever.
He left most of the stuff under the grill so that it’d be warm whenever Sam woke up. Puck figured if the guy was still sleeping in an hour he’d take him breakfast in bed. Puck didn’t think Sam would read into that, the dude was cool.
Puck filled his plate with a couple of eggs, some bacon and three sausages, plus some toast, and sat at the table in the living room. He was pretty happy with his effort - damn good way to start a weekend. Puck knew there would be a lot to process over the next couple of days but somehow he felt that it’d be alright. He didn’t think long term like his mom, but he figured so long as Sam could stay for awhile stuff would sort itself out okay.
He took a big gulp of orange juice and hacked into his breakfast. After a few bites he had a thought and dumped his cutlery. Puck grabbed his english book from his pack at the door - he’d been getting really into it, and he needed something quiet to concentrate on while Sam was snoozing away, so reading had narrowly won out over TV for probably the first time ever.
He brought another forkful of toast and egg to his mouth. Spending the day lazing with Sam wouldn’t be half bad, actually... and they had already said they should study together, so why not make some progress with that? Puck had gotten the impression that Sam had been really into the idea, but also sort of knew it was pretty unlikely to go ahead. Plus, Sam had expected Puck to be vicious when he came out, so the guy had probably thought that once Puck knew he was like, more twizzler than wafer bar, the odds of them sharing a study sesh were pretty much nil.
Puck grinned. So much for Sam’s expectations. Puck knew he needed help knuckling down and studying just as much as Sam did.
It didn’t take Puck long to polish off his food and he grinned to himself again as he snatched up his book and flopped onto the couch to wait for Sam to get up.
#
It was like twenty minutes later that Sam shuffled down the corridor still wearing Pucks singlet and track pants. Puck looked up from the couch and flashed him a smile - it was weird, but also really sort of awesome to see Sam wearing his clothes.
“Smells good...” Sam said hopefully, rubbing his eyes and patting his hair, which was still sticking out in a way that Puck thought was pretty hilarious.
“Grab a plate dude, the stuffs under the grill - I made a bunch, I figured if I was hungry you’d be famished.”
“Mhmm...” Sam shuffled around a little and fixed himself a plate and brought it over to the couch. He sat with his breakfast perched on his lap and dug in wolfishly. “Puck this is amazing,” Sam made an appreciative noise around his mouthful “I haven’t had a breakfast like this since...for ages.”
Puck figures Sam means, like, since before the motel. He’s cool with avoiding that, he’d had a good morning so far. Puck also figured that if Sam was going to make happy noises like that every time he cooked, he might not mind making an effort now and then.
He kept reading in a companionable silence while Sam munched down. He’d cooked mushrooms, but there weren’t many so he’d left them for Sam. Puck was glad he did because Sam mumbled about how awesome they tasted. “Really love mushrooms.” He mumbled quietly. He’d glanced at Puck and then kept going with his meal; Puck felt like Sam had shared like, a secret with him. He felt... he didn’t know. Intimate? Whatever, It felt good.
After awhile Sam started finishing up - the guy had inhaled the food. Sam leaned into Puck’s shoulder a little. “Whacha reading?” He said with a sort of mischievous smile. Food had clearly put him in a happy mood.
“English text. Ender’s game.”
Sam made a strangled sound. “I’m up to the bit where he’s in the arcade room thing... It takes me ages, I have to read most bits twice.” Sam looked on over Pucks shoulder for a second before shifting his gaze back to his own hands, jittery in his lap. Puck closed the book and leant quietly back into Sam’s side. The couch was already pretty worn down so sitting in it side by side made the bottom sag a little, pushing them together. Puck felt like it was acceptable not to keep his usual distance. Sam was biting his lip a little as a few moments of silence passed.
“I could read it out to you, if you wanted.” Puck made his offer quietly. He was distinctly aware that this wasn’t something he would ever normally have said... he wasn’t sure why it was okay now, but it was.
Sam sat watching his hands for another few seconds. Puck felt his heart hammer away as he waited for Sam to respond...
“Yeah... I mean, if you want, I’d actually really... I mean, that would be killer.”
Puck grinned a little and pushed back on Sam a little and Sam nudged him right back. Riffling through the book Puck found the spot around about where Sam was up to and got him to point out exactly where he should start from.
“Right, you comfy man?”
Sam shuffled down a little and gave a sound of agreement, and Puck started out. He did his best to give the characters voices the way they sounded in his head, but he wasn’t sure if Sam chuckled because he liked it or because Puck sounded a little silly.
Either way, Puck had the guy laughing. He chucked another point on his PUCK vs. UNIVERSE tally.
#
Sam and Puck hung out together at Puck’s house for the day, reading and chatting and laughing together a whole bunch more than Puck would’ve thought possible given what had happened the day before. He could tell from the way Sam filled silences quickly and avoided too much eye contact that the guy was on edge, but all things considered Sam was coping okay. For now, anyway.
It was mid-afternoon when Puck relayed his conversation with Ma Puckerman the night before, cutting it down to the verdict: Sam was crashing with him for a few weeks while things settled, and then they’d all sit down and talk about... like, the future. Puck tried to gloss over that part; he barely had a handle on his own immediate schooling let alone his future.
Sam had taken it quietly; he made noises about not wanting to be a burden or whatever, but they both knew that he didn’t have anywhere to go, and Puck realised he wanted Sam around. The dude could do hilarious impersonations and once you started to recognise the voice he used when he was making a movie reference it was easy to play along, even if you had no idea what the hell he was talking about.
They dragged some blankets out from Puck’s closet when it started getting dark - Puck was planning on ordering in some pizza, but first they were gonna start up a movie marathon. It was just like hanging out with Finn used to be, except Sam was like... a lot more alert. Puck was enjoying not having to do all the thinking.
All in all, Puck felt fairly gracious when he let Sam pick the first flick. Puck had settled himself on the couch, and he considered making popcorn while Sam was crouched on the floor going through the DVD collection, but Puck figured if they wanted some after dinner that would work alright. Plus, Sam’s back made an awesome shape when he was bent down like that - Puck had to ruffle his blanket and shift himself around to distract himself from looking any lower. He still needed to process a lot of stuff that chilling with Sam was bringing up.
Finally Sam picked the Terminator- Puck figured that Sam was trying to guess at what Puck would like to watch, and Puck thought that was pretty cool.
Sam stood up and wrapped his blanket around himself and looked around for a second, apparently unsure where he should sit, but there was only one couch and plenty of room - Puck motioned next to him with his face and Sam flushed before dropping down next to Puck.
Puck was aware that things could get a little awkward if the tension built up, but he was enjoying the movie and he still felt pretty in control of the situation. He was no stranger to using tension to his advantage.
A couple of times Puck got really distracted; he kept noticing how intensely Sam reacted to the films. The guy would jump and cringe and squirm even though Puck was sure he must have seen the movies before... Puck found it endearing. He’d never been able to get completely into a movie like that. He resisted the desire to get closer to Sam and cuddle the guy. He was Noah Puckerman; cuddling was supposed to be the furthest thing from his mind. (On the other hand, Sam was a dude - so clearly a lot of Puck’s priorities were shifting around).
#
After two pizzas and all the terminator movies Puck owned, in order, Sam was yawning like a bitch and Puck was having trouble holding it together as well. He announced to the room that it was time for bed.
He grabbed the remote and clicked the TV off before taking the empty pizza boxes to the kitchen and dumping them on the stove. Puck had been really warm in his blanket so he tried to keep it wrapped pretty tight, but as they shuffled down the hall he realised he’d have to brush his teeth anyway, so he bit the bullet and bunched the blanket up and threw it into his room so it landed on his foam pad, still in place and unused from the night before.
Sam looked a little uncertain.
“Toothbrush?” Puck watched as Sam’s eyes flicked to his bag and back to where Puck stood in the doorway. “Haha it’s cool, we have a couple spares.” Puck led Sam into the bathroom and grabbed two packs from the cupboard and held them up for other boy to inspect. “Red or Blue?” Puck grinned.
Sam couldn’t help but return the smile. “Red dude. Thanks.”
It was kinda nice, standing next to each other brushing their teeth. Puck usually welched on the job so having Sam standing there sort of spurred him on to spend a proper amount of time on it, but he still finished up before Sam did. He figured it was a good idea to give the guy a couple of minutes to himself, so he shuffled into his room and pushed the door so it was mostly shut and dug through his drawers to find some shorts to wear to bed. He changed quickly and briefly debated whether he could ditch his shirt now or after the light was off - he decided to wait. He didn’t want to make Sam uncomfortable.
Sam came back in a second later and looked at the bed, then at where Puck stood on the foam mat. Puck couldn’t help but laugh.
“Get in there buddy, maybe after tonight we can start flipping for who gets the bed, but for now it’s all yours.”
Sam didn’t put up too much of a fight, which Puck was thankful for because he probably could’ve been convinced to switch if Sam had pushed too much, and it would’ve made him feel like a douche.
Puck flipped the light off as Sam bundled into the bed and Puck stripped off his shirt before laying down on the mat and turning on his side, pulling the pillow down so it supported his face better.
He wondered briefly if he should say goodnight, but after a couple of seconds it felt like the silence was pressing in on him and he didn’t want to be the one to break it. There was a narrow strip of light coming in under his doorway - he’d left the hall light on for when his mom got home, since his sister wasn’t around tonight - but his eyes hadn’t quite adjusted yet.
Sam turned over a couple of times before sitting up a little and ditching the singlet Puck had given him - It must’ve been pretty warm in the bed and Puck already knew that Sam put off a massive amount of heat, so he couldn’t blame the guy. After that Sam seemed to lay on his back and stare at the blank ceiling while Puck lay on his side facing the bed. For some reason he could get the idea of a shirtless Sam Evans, in his bed, out of his head.
Puck felt like time was slowing down, or he was speeding up. He wanted to say something to break the tension in his chest but he didn’t know what he could say. He twisted a little to shuffle his blanket around; he felt really uncomfortable. Not so much because of the thin foam mat, though yeh, it was a bitch - he was having an intense urge to go over and hug Sam. He felt weird and excited at the thought but he tried to put it out of his head. He took a deep breath and pushed it out quickly, trying to relax. Above him, Sam shifted around again.
Sam spoke up, and Puck felt a massive rush of relief. He’d thought his chest was going to burst.
“Back at my house I had this set of glow-in-the-dark planets,” Sam sounded like... sad. “My mom hated them because she said they’d take the paint off the ceiling, but they were so awesome to stare at every night.” It was the first time Sam had mentioned his family.
“I had like, a bunch of little stars on my ceiling when I was a kid.” Puck was just talking out into the darkness. “I think my sister still has them up there; I used to have her room.”
They lapsed into silence again, but it didn’t have time to build up again like the first time, because Sam spoke out, “Puck, I know how this must sound really... I just, do you think... maybe you could hug me again?” He said it in a really small voice, like he thought he was asking Puck to stab himself with a fork or something. Like it’d be a pain in the ass for Puck. It took about two seconds for Puck to be up off the mat and at the side of the bed.
“Let me in there big guy.” Puck sort of grinned in the dark, feeling giddy. He jumped into bed with Sam and quietly wrapped his arms around the other boy. It felt completely natural. In seconds they settled into an incredible like... meld. Puck felt totally comfortable, and he could feel the gentle rise and fall of Sam’s breathing against his chest. His own heart was hammering.
It took him a second to register that they were both shirtless, their skin pressed against each other. It felt there were sparks passing between them. Sam’s skin was smooth and really warm and the guy was built.
Sam sighed a little, he sounded happy, like, content. Puck smiled in the dark.
“Dude I can’t say thank you enough, like... I can’t believe you didn’t freak out yesterday, and now... I just really needed a hug.” Sam had his arm across Pucks chest, but he kept it still. Puck thought Sam might be worried about crossing a line. He knew exactly what that felt like - but he also felt like he was pretty in control. He slid his hand up and gently took Sam’s in his, twining their fingers together and giving Sam a light squeeze around the shoulders.
“I’m good for a hug anytime bro.”
And then Puck turned a little toward Sam and gave him a proper, full on embrace. He couldn’t help but breath Sam’s scent in deeply as Sam’s arms closed around his chest and gave him a squeeze. It was like Sam never wanted to let go; like he felt safe and secure in Puck’s arms. Puck’s heart gave a flutter and he felt the distinct urge to hold Sam like that for as long as he could.
They lay there like that for a few minutes before Puck started pulling away and Sam flipped around so he had his back to Puck, who smiled to himself again. The guy wanted to spoon.
Puck was cool with being the big spoon, but he found himself wondering if he could try being the little spoon with Sam sometime over the next little while. His heart gave a funny jump at the thought.
Puck really didn’t want to think about why his brain told him to kiss Sam’s shoulder softly before falling asleep, but he ignored it. That really would be crossing a line.