Title: Wear All Your Lies
Rating: R
Characters: Noah 'Puck' Puckerman, Lauren Zizes, ensemble
Pairing: Lauren/Puck
Warnings: Mentioned substance abuse
Spoilers: References to 2.18, Born this Way
Disclaimer: Not mine. No money. No affiliation.
A/N: from the
glee_angst_meme,
prompt hereSummary: Puck's shirt said 'CRACK BABY'.
Most of the shirts were pretty obvious. Puck knows that Quinn's first shirt said 'Nose Job', until Lauren pulled her poster thing and then Quinn got all sentimental or something and came in with her 'Lucy Caboosie' shirt. Mostly, people just needed to know why the hell she didn't use Lucy as her name. All the while, Puck felt his heart hammer in his chest.
They were laughing at Finn's shirt and how they sort of matched with Mike's shirt and that Sam's little nickname was sticking. It was all so unsurprising. Lauren poked his side after Brittany had proudly showed off her shirt.
"What're you hiding, Puckerman?" Which inevitably pulled attention to him and fucking shit why had he decided to do this? They were only missing Rachel and Santana, but it didn't really matter either way.
"Yeah, come on Puck, we've all aired our dirty laundry." Dirty laundry his ass -needing glasses wasn't a big thing, having brown eyes wasn't a big deal, choosing not to wear a weave, what the fucking fuck. Puck must've been running on a high or something, the breaking into the school and Lauren's good mood with the Prom thing and Rachel's flash mob, good fucking God what was he thinking?
"Dude, come on." His chest tightened and Puck just took a breath before pulling the zipper down on his hoodie and shrugging it off. And the silence rang so loud in his ears.
"Wha-" There is was, in big black letters over his chest. CRACK BABY. He should've gone with WHORE. "Puck, man, is,"
"Are you seriously asking that question?" Maybe he'd taken the assignment a little too seriously, maybe he'd read a little too far into what Schue was saying -but everyone knew that Miss P. wasn't meant to have GINGER on her shirt when Schue was giving them their demonstration. So Puck went for it.
It wasn't like people knew, it wasn't like it was that big a deal -his Ma had some issues, she worked past them after his Dad bailed on them, Sarah wasn't like that, Sarah was a triumph or something, some sort of testament to her willpower to not be a bad parent. Sarah didn't spend the first six months of her life in a hospital incubator being weaned off cocaine, Sarah wasn't small enough to fit in one of the doctors hands, Sarah wasn't like Noah.
"Figured it explained a few things." Which wasn't necessarily true either but what the hell -he got twitchy sometimes, he'd smoke pot once in a while but don't dare suggest anything stronger. He was a little surprised when Lauren's hand slotted into his, squeezing slightly as she tangled their fingers together. It was support he didn't even realise he needed.
"It's just, I mean, wow man that's like," It's like far too honest if he's really thinking on it. But that's the point, isn't it? Schue wanted them to come up with something that made them who they were that they shouldn't be ashamed of. Kurt's was the only one that Puck really thought was just as on point as Puck's was. They were born like that, there was nothing to be done about it -Lauren could mellow out, Artie could get corrective eye surgery, Mercedes could buy some damn hair. But Kurt was gay and Puck was born addicted to cocaine. Shit happened.
"Everything else seemed a little obvious." Like the slutting around and the bullying and the punk ass hair. "Look, it's there, it's fact, can we all stop staring at me like I have an extra head? All things considered I came out of it with my looks intact." And maybe that was where the vanity came from but screw them.
People started shuffling around and heading to the auditorium where they were performing once Berry got there and Puck started to follow -wondering if he should change his shirt before Schue saw it- when Lauren pulled his hand to stop him.
"You're braver than they give you credit for." She had this almost smile on her face, and he knew it was because she actually saw something in him, that she'd figured she wasn't wasting time with him, and that just made him smile a little.
"Or stupider." Really, he didn't care much, because Lauren scoffed -just like she scoffed at everything- and pulled him in for a kiss. And hell yes, if being honest got him some sugar then fine.