GLEE: In Good Health and Good Time

[jooseboxx]

Title: In Good Health and Good Time [part two]
Rating: R



Sectionals is in Cincinnati, and for the first time ever, his dad and Richard pull Sarah from school for the day and drive through so that they can watch the competition. They don't go the original song route again, Rach is working on one song for Nationals (if they get there) and they'll do covers for the rest of the competition.

Schue felt it was high time he let them get more involved in their planning; more accurately with the combined power of Blaine, Kurt, Rachel and Santana, Schue didn't have much option but to give them more control. Kurt and Rachel are opening their set with 'Fly Me to the Moon', a few weeks of laughing and joking around with it as an idea just sort of snowballed until Brittany was arranging them all in sets to dance around while Kurt and Rachel sang. And neither Rachel or Mercedes pitched any kind of diva fit when Blaine was given 'Moondance' as the solo while they all worked on 'Come Togethe' for their group number. Mike and Britt went crazy with the choreography on the group number while Santana and Puck snickered behind their hands at the carefully planned arrangement of their set list. It's just another adrenaline rush and since Invitationals was a total walk in the park, it feels like their first actual competition of the year. Which naturally gets Rachel fired up.

She spends five minutes agonising over the quality of their performance after watching the other groups perform and biting her nails that Puck and Kurt just kidnap her while Blaine stands guard.

"What is wrong with you?" Kurt seriously is as lost as Puck in this one, because they're well-rehearsed and it's fresh for them, it's not the same old routine of reworked songs and Mr. Schue's musical fetishes because they've got a different dynamic now. But Rachel still seems worried.

"What if we weren't good enough, what if they vote for the other teams? What if we don't get to Regionals or Nationals? This is it, this is our last chance, if we fail now then we--" Kurt slaps Rachel across the face.

"Dude! Chill." She's a little stunned and there's a red mark starting to come up.

"I didn't hit her hard."

"Man, you don't hit her at all." Rachel's already starting to tear up. "Go get her a bottle of water, yeah?" Puck gets one of the cool gel packs to place against her cheek while Kurt throws his hands up in the air to go and get the bottle of water. "Y'okay, Rach?"

"He didn't really hit me very hard." Puck honestly doesn't get it; Rach gets hysterical sometimes and Kurt slaps her, Kurt gets hysterical and Rach slaps him. He knows that Blaine hates it about as much as he does, but they just do it and apparently 'it's a thing' or whatever. Puck thinks it's stupid.

"Are you gonna calm down about this whole thing?" She nibbles her lip and that's enough of an answer. "Seriously, we were great, there's no way we won't go through. It's not even gonna be like last year with that bullshit two people winning thing, because we rocked and they can't not vote for us. So, take a pill and cool your crazy for a bit."

And Puck's right, they do win, and they are through to Regionals, and Rachel just laughs with him and hugs his waist while the group jumps around and celebrates. It's backstage, in the halls that lead to the dressing rooms that Puck is attacked by his littlest terror throwing herself at him. He's pretty lucky that the mesh bandage thing is sturdy. She's got her usual battle cry of 'Noah' as she flings herself at him, which is mostly just his warning to catch her.

"Jeez, kid, what are you eating?" She's still small enough that she can perch on his hip and cling to his neck, but it's getting to the point where she's far too heavy for him to keep up. And it's not even like she's a heavy kid, she's a freakin' stick insect or something.

"Noah, don't you dare give her a weight complex, she's not even nine yet." Rachel just bats at his arm and Sarah lights up.

"Your song was really great Rach, you and Chocolate Thunder are awesome."

"Sarah, what've we said about things you hear at home?" It's too late now though, because Mercedes is totally glaring at him and Santana is laughing.

"’M sorry. Chocolate Thunder and Satan and Frankenteen and Trouty Mouth are just our names and I'm not meant to repeat them." She's grinning because she knows exactly what she's doing. "Can we go for ice-cream? Dad and Daddy are talking to someone from like, an old group of theirs or something. I was told to find you and stay outta trouble."

"I'm gonna drown you in the bath."

"I will never wash again." She goes completely limp in his arms and Puck's sure he's going to drop her, he still can't help but laugh at her antics. He's seriously throwing out Lilo and Stitch when he gets home because this is totally where she gets it from. "Bye Rachel, bye Quinn, bye collective losers." Puck's totally getting points from Quinn and Rach for them not being in the collective loser part, but he's totally going to catch slack from the others.

"You are so dead when we get home." He just takes his bag from Rachel, because they're staying the night in Cincinnati with Richard's brother's family so that they can meet Puck and Sarah, and heads out to the main hall to get her a damn ice-cream. "So what's with the brat routine?" Since she's totally just playing it up for the crowd or whatever.

"I thought you might've missed it?" And yeah, sometimes she's so nice it's really weird, but no, he didn't miss it. "Can I have a strawberry one?" So, they get ice cream and sit to wait for Dad and Richard to finish up talking to whomever. Except they don't, instead their dad sort of appears looking around and acting all shifty and really it's not good for him because he kind looks a bit demented when he does it.

"Okay, you're about to meet Richard's old boss and her husband, I warn you now she's very opinionated." Sarah just turns to Puck with a frown.

"What does that mean?"

"Means she's nuts." No one gets the chance to tell Puck off for the remark, not when Richard comes walking towards them with a fake smile on his face, and that's the first time Puck's seen it, and this woman with buoyant blond hair and a fat little man coming alongside him. "And has big, big hair."

Mrs. Hammerman, who was Richard's boss with the company before they moved, insisted on them going out for dinner together. She just had to get to know Richard's new family. Mr. Hammerman, who Sarah said looked like that Fat Controller from her old Thomas the Tank Engine cartoons, barely said anything but nodded along whenever his wife said a thing. Halfway through dinner, Puck can see the tension starting to build on Richard's face and Mrs. Hammerman's comments start to get more and more mean-spirited. Not towards Richard or their dad but in regards to 'single mothers' and 'narrow-minded old goats' which doesn't take a lot of detective work to figure out what the hell she's saying.

"Sarah, finish up your dinner. We're gonna get a cab to Kevin and Alice's place Dad." Richard shoots him an apologetic look, and his dad just nods. They've addressed this, they've gone over it a few times just because Dad is insecure about the whole thing, and Puck's let go of the anger --all of it, towards his dad, towards his ma, towards his nana, it's gone. He's done with it. And sitting there listening to this opinionated woman wasn't doing him any favours.

"Oh, but we haven't had dessert yet, Noah. Why don't you stay a little longer?" She seriously was demented.

"I'm sorry, but my single mother and narrow-minded old goat of a grandmother raised me to be polite in the company of older women. I'm just about to lose patience and not bother biting my tongue, so I'm gonna go." He's pretty proud of himself for not exploding at her, because his mother wasn't a saint or anything, but she tried damn hard with what she had. Sarah puts her knife and fork down and slides out from the table.

"Just so you know, my mama might not've loved my daddy, but my mama loved me and Noah, and you don't know shit." Brat moments aside, Sarah is the most awesome little sister ever.

They get to Kevin and Alice's place to a frown and questions. All they need to do is mention Mrs. Hammerman and it's like everything is explained. Richard and Dad come back sometime around midnight, tired and drained and Sarah's sleeping on the couch already. Puck feels the need to apologise for leaving them with the witch, but really, he wasn't willing to sit there and listen to that from a woman who didn't know anything.

"Before you start," Richard just holds up his hand, his other linked with Dad's and the both of them smirking at him, "there have been times we've both wanted to say something to that woman. So thank you."

"However," they're heading up the stairs towards the bedroom that they're sleeping in when his dad turns back to him. "Stop teaching your sister how to swear."

"Dude, I did that when she was five." There is literally no going back for them there.

#

They have a Puckerman and Berry Hanukkah. It's possibly the first time they've actually had a big cooked dinner for the holiday, but Dad Berry and Richard went nuts on the cooking (because Richard may not practise a faith, but he's very fond of Jewish food) and they could probably live off the leftovers for the next few weeks.

And the Berrys are pretty cool too --Puck's gotten to the stage where he's down with Rachel, she doesn't drive him to the brink of homicidal behaviour anymore and they can work with each other pretty well. Besides, she's not as crazy as she was two years ago and he's not as much of a douche as he was two years ago either.

So they spend most of winter break hanging out --while their classmates all celebrate Christmas, Puck and Rachel take Sarah to Winter-Land in Columbus and she learns how to skate and ski, they build a snow fort in Rachel's yard and Sarah demands that they make a snow village in their own yard, complete with Mr. and Mrs. Snowman and child. It's probably a little weird, how much time he spends with his supposed best friend's girlfriend, but he's pretty sure that Rachel would claim him as her friend before Finn got a chance to argue and really, it's not that big a deal.

He goes to a party with Rachel, Blaine, Kurt and Mercedes before New Year. He's pretty sure it's Britt's idea --a party on the thirtieth of December would just be a party if it were anyone else, but when it's Brittany, it's a pre-New-Year's-Eve Eve party. There are plenty of opportunities for a legit New Year's Eve party to go to, even a few that Rachel and the glee kids would be welcome to, but Richard has some tradition thing that he wants to do and Puck's fine with that --it's sort of a big deal, because it's his first New Year with his dad since he was seven and it's the first year without their ma, so yeah, he's gonna be home for it, what of it?

The fact that when Rachel says she'd like to go home, Puck grabs his jacket, says goodnight and walks her out gets more gossip than the fact that he doesn't show up to any parties the following night anyway.

"You and Rachel?"

"What?" Quinn comes by the house on the fourth of the month. They're back in school in three days and she's working on some craft thing but needs some help with the technical aspects, so he's doing a little makeshift welding while Quinn sits and pets Mitzy in his room --with the door open, because his dad isn't that much of a push over.

"What's going on there?"

"We're friends." Rachel is possibly the first time he's ever actually been friends with a girl. And as much as he might protest the fact, it probably started after she dumped him in sophomore year. So yeah, there was a 'him and Rachel' to the extent that they hung out and he got her to watch lame dubbed over Japanese films and she made him sit through a few musicals that didn't suck. He was trying to teach her the rules of football through each of the games he had to watch the team play but not participate in --he'd never looked forward to the end of football season so much-- while she got him to work on actual scales and shit for singing and taught him a few baking recipes that didn't include weed.

"Just friends? Cause, really, I think Finn thinks otherwise." And Puck couldn't really gauge how Quinn felt about that from where he was sitting and how she was sitting with Mitzy. "I kind of overheard him telling her to stop seeing you." Puck puts down the stuff he's doing for her and turns to face her. Because Rachel pretty quickly turned into his best friend, and it was entirely probable that she was more his best friend than Finn had been. Yeah, him and Finn were cool, they were friends, but they'd never be best friends again. You kind of can't go back when you get a guy's girlfriend pregnant.

"What did she say?" Rachel's been by just as often as before, and he hung out at her place just two nights ago, so either she's told Finn where to shove it, or she's agreed and then just not told him when her and Puck were hanging out. Which is a little badass and a little crazy, because it'll explode in her face.

"I'm not sure if she said anything, because I left. And I know you like her," he's about to shoot her down in flames when she holds up a hand, halting him, "don't argue with me. I know you better than you think I know you. You like Rachel. It's the reason you stick up for her, even when she's not around, it's the reason you rebuilt her patio decking with animal friendly chemical finish, it's the reason you do any song with her just because she asks you to play, it's the reason why you have her over for dinner every week and you go to hers every other week." And honestly, he hadn't noticed he did all that. He was sort of just used to her being around and helping with Sarah ever since the crash and that was probably where it stemmed from.

"Shit," because he'd just gone and developed fucking feelings for another of Finn Hudson's fucking girlfriends. "What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I want a girl he's not dating?" Quinn and Mitzy just give him this look of sympathy and he has to force himself not to stab his eye out with the stanley knife next to him.

#

Realising that he has feelings for Rachel just makes shit awkward. Like his mother's birthday wasn't awkward enough.

He and Sarah are sitting at the kitchen table with cake and party hats, because Sarah insisted, when their dad walks in and just stares. It really is the type of scene that would justify stopping and staring. Sarah set the table for three, Puck's not sure if it's for their dad or the ghost of their mother. She made Puck bake a cake and ice it with Happy Birthday over the top and a few balloons and he'll forever deny being able to not only bake a cake, but ice and decorate it too. He only does this shit because Sarah is freaking demanding and it's important to her.

"What're we doing?" Dad drops his coat over the back of the living room couch and comes into the kitchen to have a little look. Puck just gives him the 'don't ask too many questions' look while Sarah beams at him.

"We're having a birthday party for Mama. She'd be thirty-five today." And Puck had been aware of this before his sister woke him up, pouting at him and wearing the paper hat. He'd been aware of the looming date for the last week and a half and really, he'd never envisioned this being how he spent it.

"But, Mama can't blow out her candle."

"I know, I'll do it for her, and I'll make a wish. And then that wish has to come true because it's the only present Mama can really have." Puck is ready to protest, he is, because Sarah makes the dumbest wishes ever and he can totally picture another awkward talk with Coach Beiste or Coach Sylvester or Mr Schue or hell, even Principal Figgins, just to try and get Sarah to believe her wish came true and that their ma's birthday is complete. He doesn't get the chance because she's right in there, blowing out the candle and he's fairly certain from the grin on her face that he's screwed.

"What did you wish for?" Dad sits down at the table, taking the seat that had been left out and Puck figures since Sarah isn't complaining, it was left there for him.

"I don't know if I should tell you, because then it might not come true." They'd never really done the whole 'don't tell what you wished for thing' because Sarah wasn't good at keeping things to herself. "Okay, I'll tell you. I wished that Noah and Rachel would get married and have babies. Because that's what Mama always wanted."

"Sarah," seriously, he's totally screwed. "You can't go wishing for things like that." Number one, because it's stupid. Number two, because Rachel is dating someone else. Number three, because it's stupid. "Rach and me are just friends, we're not getting married or having babies. She's dating Finn, remember? You like Finn."

"Nu-uh. Finn's a big doofus and he shouted at Fang." Puck even finds himself looking at Fang, as if for confirmation from the dog before he realises what the hell he's doing. Its nuts, because the dogs are pretty much family and stuff, so Sarah tends to think of them as her little brother and sister, even though Fang could practically swallow Sarah. "Rachel can't be with Finn because he's not Jewish."

"Sarah, kiddo," they've totally waited far too long to do the religion talk with Sarah, but Puck always figured that'd come after the birds and the bees talk, and he's already decided that Sarah's not getting that one until she's twenty-five. Maybe even thirty. "Being Jewish isn't a reason for your brother and Rachel to be together, just like not being Jewish isn't a reason she shouldn't be with Finn." Thank you, Dad. Even if Finn is terrible for Rachel, it's not because he's not Jewish and it's got nothing to do with Puck being jealous. Nope. Not at all. "Look at Richard and I, Richard isn't Jewish, but I still love him very much."

"Well, yeah. But Mama wanted Noah to be with a nice Jewish girl, and Rachel's the only nice Jewish girl that I like. So he's gotta be with her."

"Oh, sweet mother of Moses. Sarah, Rach and I aren't dating, she's with Finn, we're just friends, don't make wishes like that." She just glares at him and he glares right back. "Ma always wanted you to stop wearing nail polish 'cause you're too young. You gonna do that too?"

"No, cause I'm old enough now!"

"Not what Ma said. So, you still wear nail polish, Rach and I are just friends and everything moves on." Yeah, his ma was never happier than when Puck 'fessed up to dating Rachel for all of a week. And yeah, she was disappointed when Rach dumped him, but she got over it. He's pretty sure that his ma always wanted him and Rach to at least be friends, because before him and her had their 'little falling out' (he called her crazy and she pushed him out of a tree, proving his point, and stopping them from talking to each other for six years) he wasn't half as bad as he was afterwards. Rachel might've been a bit of a good influence (apart from that whole pushing him out of a tree) or something.

So Sarah eats her cake and stops with the 'Rachel and Noah' thing and goes to play with Fang in the yard before Richard comes in from work and they order in dinner, as has become the Sunday night ritual. He clears up her mess of birthday crap, well aware of his dad just sitting there watching him. He waits for it though, rather than encourage the old man to voice his opinion sooner.

"You know, you were fairly adamant about you and Rachel's relationship being platonic." And yeah, he probably was a little too repetitive or whatever, but being smacked with a clue by four courtesy of Quinn Fabray and then having his nose rubbed in it? Not fun. "You sure there's nothing there?"

"Dad, could we not rehash this crap? Rach and I dated, didn't work out. She's nuts for Finn, she's always going to be nuts for Finn, I'm just her friend." It's totally not his fault that his dad can read into that, totally nothing to do with his wording or slumped shoulders or the fact that he really doesn't need to be reminded that once again, the girl he wanted picked Finn. "Just leave it, yeah?"

So it doesn't get mentioned again, not even when Rachel comes over the following week with red rimmed eyes, crying at Puck until he gets her some water, or the week after that when she's in the stands at the first baseball game of the season, cheering with his dad, his sister and Richard, or the next day when she's back over at Puck's house, telling him all about Finn's big apology and how they've made up. He just gets more sympathetic looks and Mitzy draping herself over his lap (apparently dogs can tell when their owners are upset) and Sarah frowning all the time because Rachel keeps talking about Finn.

Puck really wishes he could stop falling for Finn Hudson's girlfriends.

#

"So, you've been avoiding us."

"No I haven't." It's the weakest argument ever, because yes, he has. It's not that he doesn't want to hang out with Kurt and Blaine, but sometimes they're just so coupley it makes him want to beat himself in the face or puke all over their shoes. It's not exactly conductive to a healthy friendship. But the thing is, if Quinn can figure out that he likes Rachel, Kurt and Blaine probably already know too. Which sucks for him just a little, because Kurt likes playing match maker.

"Yes, you have. But it’s okay, you can make it up to us." Kurt's good at not really giving him much of a choice; really, Richard is good at that too, so it might be a gay thing, or just a 'fashionable man' thing, because sometimes, it's scary when Richard pulls a Kurt. "There's a party, next Saturday, but it's sort of a jocks' party thing."

"You want to crash a jock party?" Puck doesn't get how this is him making it up to them.

"No, don't be obtuse, that is the highest form of rudeness." Of course, how dumb of him. "We were invited, Finn sort of got it okayed or whatever, but the point is that we've been invited to a jock party and we sort of want to go." Blaine's nodding with Kurt and Puck is still waiting for the punch line.

"And I am making it up, how?"

"By coming." Something that Puck's noticed is that Kurt starts the argument, or the suggestion, or even just the conversation, and Blaine takes over to make the point or get to the good bit or just explain what the hell Kurt just prattled on about. It's like they've been married for fifty years already. "You see, Finn and Mike and Sam will be there, sure, but they've all got their girlfriends," oh yes, thanks for that reminder, "so it's probable that they'll be distracted."

"And you want me there so that if it looks like the jokes on you I can beat the pulp out of someone?" Really, it's not so much a favour as potential stress relief. "Yeah, why not? I'm not doing anything that weekend. Maybe I can get Lauren to come too."

"Oh, absolutely," Kurt genuinely seems keen on the idea which Puck figures should be his first clue that something is seriously going on here. "The combined presences of Zizes and Puckerman and we'll be safe as houses." It's not even the alluding to Puck and Lauren being like protectors or anything that makes Puck think he's been duped. It's the shared grins between Kurt and Blaine and that smug little look Kurt gets in his eyes when he's plotting something.

Puck's beginning to think he should've kept on avoiding them.

#

They still go to the party, Puck convinced Lauren to just go with him and stop being such a worrier --she seemed to think people would think they were back on if they showed up together, and he wasn't all that bothered, because she was badass and a great friend so screw everyone else. Lauren was dead on point, since not even twenty minutes after he showed up with her and Blaine and Kurt, Santana had him cornered in the kitchen of the house.

"Are you seriously back with the big white rhino?" Santana hadn't chilled on the names recently, not that Puck would've expected her to.

"Pack it in with that shit, San. What do you care anyway? Far as I heard, you weren't doing dick anymore." She glares at him, even as he reaches around her to grab two cans of soda, because he's not drinking and neither is Lauren.

"Don't you dare start with that," and Puck's possibly the only person who is aware that Britt and San are trying that whole 'dating' thing, as much as Brittany actually commits to one person, although Santana probably stands the best chance of keeping Britt if she comes out of the closet sometime soon and just enjoys herself. "Just because you've gotten all mellow and shit doesn't mean I won't end you."

"Whatever," he just walks away from her, because Santana is so hard to deal with these days. It's like all this repression is just winding her up like a little cog and she's getting ready to explode all over the place like last year just before Sectionals. Puck just hopes she's not gearing up to explode any time soon.

He spends the entirety of the party with Lauren, chilling at the back of the kitchen with her, occasionally having a thumb war and just shooting the breeze. He doesn't care what people say or think, he's past all that --pretty much when he came out of juvie and was declared a lost cause he stopped worrying about what these losers thought of him. Kurt and Blaine just sort of flit around before realising that jock parties are just lame and average parties. So he leaves with Lauren and the little queens and spends the rest of his Friday night beating Richard at Halo.

"Party not that good?"

"Nah," the only plus side of playing with Richard is that the guy at least knows to keep moving and actually shoot. His dad does one or the other. "Kinda lame, but whatever. Just went there for Kurt and Blaine."

"Did you take that girl you like?" For some reason, his dad and Richard are all for him dating, even if he's not too bothered about it.

"I went with Lauren, she's my ex. Dude, you have a grenade, use it." Both of his parents, which is what he views them as, have met his exes (Santana included, for all that she is sort of an ex) and they seem to think that Puck doesn't have too bad taste in females, even if they can't actually nail down his type. Puck doesn't actually have a type though, so they'll be doing that for a while.

"Lauren's the wrestler? You and her thinking of trying again?"

"No, we're just friends." It's like his mantra lately, but he is genuinely just friends with the three girls that are most prominent in his life, even if he sometimes wishes it wasn't the case. "She's pretty chill, and totally badass."

"What about Quinn, or Rachel?" Puck's starting to think that Richard's been talking to his dad about this.

"Rach is dating Finn, and we're just friends. And Quinn and I work better as friends. When we dated we just argued and shit, its better without that crap getting involved." When he blows up Richard's head for the ninth time in the hour, he puts the controller down. "What's with the love life interrogation?"

"It's not an interrogation, it's just, well. You don't date. It's been five months and you've not gone out with a single girl. We're just wondering." His dad and Richard both know that he's straight, that he's definitely not gay or bi or whatever. But it's not like he's been out with hordes of girls. It's not even like he's all that bothered.

"I dunno, just not too bothered, I guess." For one thing he's slept with just about every girl in their school, and that's not really what he's even looking for right now. He's getting to grips with this relationship thing, and Lauren proved he could do it, even if they turned out to be better friends than boyfriend and girlfriend. She still rocked his world in more ways than one.

"So, it'll be a solo Valentine's Day for you?"

"Yeah. I guess. You and Dad doing that romantic crap?" He still manages to get either of them a little awkward when they talk about their relationship, seriously, old people blushing is just insane sometimes.

"We um, we have a table booked, yes."

"You want me and Sarah to find somewhere else to stay?"

"No, actually, your grandmother is coming through to stay for a while."

"Nana Connie? Seriously? She's staying for a few days? How long?" He does realise that he's excited about his grandmother visiting, but his grandmother, on his dad's side, is all kinds of epic and he hasn't seen her in forever. Mostly because Nana G was just always around and Nana G and Nana C just didn't get along.

"For a week, you think you and Sarah can handle your dad and me taking a weekend to ourselves?"

"Are you kidding, take the whole week!" So Nana Connie is coming to stay for the second week in February while Richard whisks his dad off for a Valentine's weekend to spoil each other and both Puck and Sarah are ten thousand times okay with this.

#

They're all gearing up for Regionals, even though they know that Schue will just change his mind right before the competition and they'll have something else to do. Everyone is planning what they'll be doing for Valentine's Day; Rachel expects Finn to do something special, Tina and Mike are having some dinner date without Mike's mom, Sam's taking Mercedes bowling, Santana and Britt are doing some super covert thing while Artie has a date with some girl from the A/V club.

Everyone is a little shocked that Quinn has no plans.

"Well, I would've, if someone didn't blow me off." Puck just smirks at her, because she'd proposed them doing an anti-Valentine's thing, and normally Puck would be all for it, but his nana is there and he's spending as much time as he can with her. Which he knows Quinn understands she's just poking fun. "And for an old lady. My ego is so bruised."

"You know I love ya, Lucy Q," he gets smacked in the arm for using her real name, which he's only allowed to bust out once in a blue moon and even then she'll get pissed off if he implies anything behind it. "But someone got in there first."

"Cougars again, Puck? Guess there's no changing." Finn just shrugs at him and Rachel frowns at him while the others just glance away.

"No, dork face. My nana's visiting. Dad and Richard are going off to get some lovin' so me and Sarah get Nana for a week. It's like an epic deal."

"Nana Connie is up? Way to hold out, Puckerman!"

"You never said anything." Rachel seems a little dejected or some shit that he didn't tell her.

"Okay, what's so special about Puck's grandmother?" Blaine is obviously confused.

"Puckerman's grandmother is like the most badass woman alive. Nana Connie is epic. She made it out of Poland with her eldest daughter strapped to her back, sneaking past German soldiers and fuck knows what else. She can swear in like nine languages and totally makes the most epic desserts ever. Like, banquet for the President shit." Santana is literally gushing about his nana, and yeah, she's all awesome and stuff, but no one is cutting in on this.

"Don't even, you are not swinging by, you are not dropping in, you are not just in the neighbourhood. I will drown you in the pool, I swear to Moses." Quinn was the only one he told about his Nana coming. She'd asked him out and he'd told her he would but Nana C was up and she totally got that he wanted to chill with the woman he barely got to see and she was cool. Santana would totally just insert herself in there. "I will tell her about venereal diseases and other things if you push this."

"Alright, alright. But come on, one night, just one. I'll even clean up. Please?" She's being nice, which is never something you can pass up when it comes to Santana, so he caves.

"Fine, one night. You can come for dinner. No other swing bys." Of course conceding to that in the middle of glee means that before he knows it Britt and Quinn are coming too, and Blaine's never met his nana so he's invited and Kurt by default which means Mercedes and Sam come and then Artie and Tina and Mike and Rachel is of course invited because she knows his nana which means Finn's to come and before he knows it the entire glee club are invited to dinner with him, his sister and his nana.

"Sweet holy, you fiends just infest things. Yo, Schue, you wanna invite yourself too?" Thankfully, Mr. Schue doesn't invite himself, but Puck makes a point of getting Lauren to come over as well, even though she's not part of glee anymore.

#

Explaining to Nana Connie that everyone wants to come and see her goes down pretty well. Since she starts making enough food to feed an army, Puck's pretty sure she's all for meeting his little 'glee family', even if she does already know most of them. They packed off Richard and their Dad that day following school, Richard leaving Puck the keys to the beamer and making him swear that there would be no repeats of the seven-eleven drama. Puck swears blind that he'll treat the car like his guitar, it's good enough for them.

San, Britt and Quinn roll in like the unholy trinity they once were and instantly turn on the cuteness. Puck gets to mess around with the dogs out in the back yard while the girls chat since the poor saps aren't getting walked until later. Fang is mostly okay with all the people in the house, but Mitzy is like attached to Puck's hip when they go back inside when the guys get there. It means he can't get anything done because he's constantly tripping over this massive chocolate lab that's right under his feet.

"Noah, sweetie, give that to Rachel, she knows what to do." So Rach helps out his nana while Puck stands in the corner with Mitzy and the guys all crowd around the table to listen to Nana Connie tell them about her bridge partner and his gambling habits and how she's about to go loan shark on his ass.

"You can't do that to Pedro, Nana." Puck could barely move from the corner, since Mitzy had pushed herself up on her hind legs to stand herself up against his chest, "You live together, that's like turning yourself in to the IRS."

"Oh, don't you get me started on them, bubbala." He gets a wooden spoon shaken in his face, Nana giving him one of those pointed looks. "Now, Santana," somehow, the woman always pronounced San's name with a Spanish accent and Puck never really questioned it. "Are you and my bubbala still,"

"No, Nana Connie," Puck was suddenly very interested in getting Mitzy something to eat, completely ignoring this conversation. Santana could explain why they weren't dating, and then hopefully explain why they were better that way. Honestly, Nana Connie might be the only person in the world who believed that him and Santana were good with each other. "We're just friends." Seriously, how the hell did he end up 'just friends' with so many chicks?

"Well, that's something, I suppose."

"Nana, don't start, don't start this whole thing like Ma." He just shakes his head, getting a screwed up face from Sarah while Nana Connie sighs slightly.

"Bubbala, you have to think about settling down, at least having a serious relationship with a nice girl, look at Rachel and Finn," he'd really like not to actually. Rachel ducked her head as his eyes just sort of darted towards her before flicking away. He wasn't exactly sure what to say about that, or how to derail the conversation.

"Noah's just enjoying the single life, Nana," weirdly, it's Quinn that interjects, "you know how it is, focusing on school and sport, he's better waiting until college to find the girl for him, it gives him time to get his head down in high school." There was definitely something a little odd about Quinn Fabray backing him up on something as weird as his love life with his nana. But then, she was more than aware that he sort of (more than sort of) had feelings for Rachel. Maybe it wasn't that weird.

"You kids decided on colleges yet?" It gives everyone a chance to tell his nana what their plans are for after high school, Tina, Artie and Blaine still have another year to go, but they all know exactly what they want to do too. Santana’s all about law, surprisingly enough, and Britt sort of wants to do something involved in fashion or at least in the industry, Quinn's still set on her real estate life, Kurt hasn't decided between fashion designing or Broadway yet, Finn's hoping for a football scholarship somewhere, Mike just wants to dance, and Nana already knows about Rachel's Broadway dream. "Oh, you'll be absolutely wonderful dear, I can't wait until I get to take a little trip out to see you, shinning bright on that big stage." Rachel blushes slightly, moving towards the fridge and bumping Puck's shoulder slightly as she goes. Nana Connie had always been so sure of Rachel, even when Puck and her weren't friends, she'd do things like sending Puck stuff to give to Rachel or whatever.

With the Jewish community being so small in Lima, it wasn't like it was a surprise that Nana just ended up playing grandmother to a few of the other kids -she even did it with Jewfro. Puck just dealt with it at this stage.

He eventually coaxes Mitzy upstairs, shutting her up in his room to sleep for a while with Fang to give him a chance to help out with his nana. It turns it's a pretty okay afternoon, bleeding over into the evening when Sarah starts demanding that they sing some of their songs so that Nana Connie can hear them.

"Alright, amuse yourselves," Puck has to concede to the dogs just before dinner time, getting up from the living room where Blaine and Kurt were currently singing for Nana and Sarah, "I'm gonna walk Mitzy and Fang." He presses a kiss to his nana's cheek, not even bothered about who was around and what they thought. He figures a half hour walk with the dogs might help clear his mind a little.

"Can I come?" Rachel's already got her jacket on and holding Mitzy's leash in her hand (Rach is familiar enough that Mitzy is cool with her) and Puck figures he's not getting that space to clear his head at all. Nana's already pushing them out the door with the dogs, telling them it's fine. The labs are just happy to be out, and Puck and Rachel get as far as the park before they even exchange a word. "They're very lovely." Puck just nods, he knows that Rachel adores the dogs, Richard's been talking about breeding them maybe, and the possibility of little lab puppies just sent Rachel into this high pitched squeal fest when she heard.

"Yeah, sorry about earlier, Mitzy is just a fuss about people. Didn't mean to invite you over and then make you do all the work." Rachel just smiles and shakes her head.

"It's okay, you know I don't mind." Crazy thing is that she doesn't, weird chick.

They spend some time playing with the dogs, letting them run around a little bit. Fang is a total dork and runs after anything, even if you don't throw something, and it doesn't take long for the pair of them to be sniffing around trees and chasing each other. Rachel sort of snags his fingers in a light grip to lead him over to a bench, sitting down and then shuffling in closer to him. February is still a little cool, so he sort of figures that's why she leans in against him, so he's okay putting his arm around her shoulders to try and help her heat up.

"Finn and I broke up." This is the first he's heard of that, which is strange because he's decent friends with Kurt now and Kurt lives with Finn, so you'd think it might come up. "We haven't told anyone yet, but we both agreed. We aren't going to work out, there's no point in prolonging the agony." He's fairly certain this might have something to with whatever their Valentine's day plans were meant to be --he's sure that Finn probably didn't think whatever his plan was through and highlighted the fact that they just weren't in it anymore. It sucks a little, because it is just two days before Valentine's, it'll be the second year in a row that Rachel's just been dumped or broken up with right before the day.

It gives him a bit of a problem. Because Rach is Finn's ex. She's also technically his ex, so like Finn shouldn't have dated her if they stick to 'bro-code' but Puck's pretty sure that 'bro-code' no longer applies when you get your best friend’s girlfriend pregnant anyway. Not like he's going to make a move on Rach or anything, he shouldn't, right? Because she's his friend and if he fucked that up it'd suck. But he's kind of sure he's a little in love with her, maybe more than a little, which means just being friends sucks a little too.

"You could probably come out with us." He's not sure how this nonchalant approach could work, on one hand he feels a little shit about Rach being on her own another year, on the other, he still doesn't want to share his nana with anyone but Sarah. Rachel's different, yeah, and not just because he's into her, but because of how well she knows his nana, how well Nana C knows Rachel too.

"Oh, Noah, that's sweet, but I don't want to intrude on your plans." Puck just shakes his head a little, because it's not like they've got some intricate thing set out.

"Rach, we're going for dinner and then coming home to watch a movie. It's not like we've got a table booked or anything." The whole point was just to spend the weekend together, and then when Dad and Richard came back from their getaway, they'd go out as a family and have a night with the five of them, Nana wasn't going home until Thursday, it was only Friday, there was plenty of time. And Puck didn't exactly mind sharing his Nana with Rach. And yeah, it might partially be because of his feelings for her, but he doesn't exactly feel like analysing that, ever, and he's not telling her anyway, so why would it even matter?

"You really wouldn't mind?" Puck just shakes his head and smirks at her, because even when he did mind her being around, she was still always around. Why would he mind now?

#

It isn't surprising how easily the weekend goes; Nana C always has her organisational skills down to a T, which is probably why shit just works for her. Sarah's kinda thrilled when Rachel shows up at their house with three Valentine's roses, one for each of them and dog treats for Mitzy and Fang. Puck would be more worried about Sarah's near hero-worship of Rachel if Nana weren't the exact same. So they head out for dinner, Nana making comment on Puck's driving with every single turn that he takes, making Sarah grin and Rach just hide a smirk behind her hand, because usually, Puck would complain about the side-seat driving, but the hell is he saying anything like that to his nana.

Sarah gets to pick where they eat, which ends up being some little pasta place just past the mall. It's decent and quiet, so they get to eat in peace without the usual spotting everyone else stuff that would've happened at Breadstix or at the mall itself. Rachel and Sarah spend most of the night gushing about some comedy movie, which means that's the film they get to watch later and Puck's not really too fussed.

"So," he's in the kitchen at home, heating up some popcorn and getting soda for Rach and Sarah when Nana corners him, "Rachel's lovely."

"Oh, don't you start too." He's pretty sure he's had enough of people telling him things he already knows. Like how Rachel is really smart, she is, he knows that, she's also fairly funny and decidedly talented and Jewish is a bonus too. She's attractive and friendly and Sarah approves, and Richard approves, and Dad approves and Nana thinks she's a Goddess, but really, Puck knows all this. She's his best friend, it's not like he can't see it.

"I'm just saying, you know, if you wanted to maybe see about finding that girl before college, there's one right there." Nana bumps his hip with hers, making his laugh slightly despite the situation. "And I think she might like you."

"She does, Nana, as a friend." He really hates that he has to stress this point repeatedly. "She's still technically Finn's girl, and she might always be Finn's girl and I'm not ruining two friendships just because everyone likes to point out how awesome Rachel is. I know, okay. She's brilliant, Sarah loves her, she actually gives a damn and Ma always had this crazy image in her head of me gettin' married to Rachel and poppin' out a bunch of Jewish grandbabies someday." And really, Puck's not overly adverse to it. He's not saying he's envisioning him and Rachel all shacked up in the big city, but yeah, he could see it, maybe. She's intense about everything, but she actually pushes him to push himself, she's loud and obnoxious, but she doesn't put up with his crap and calls him on bullshit when she sees it. And yeah, they only dated for a week, but he was pretty into her that week, and he wasn't exactly thinking on breaking up with her like he said, and for real, she made a plain white nightie look sexy. Why the hell wouldn't he want to hit that?

"Honey, that Finn boy is not the one for her, not at all." Nana petted a hand at the back of Puck's mohawk, pulling the strands at the end slightly and he knew she was trying to make a point, getting him to pay attention to her. "Mark my words, she'll spend her days unhappy with that boy. He's not like you, Noah, he's happy here."

It means Puck spends the rest of the night trying to figure out just what the hell he was meant to do. Because yeah, he was fairly certain him and Rach stood a pretty good chance of lasting out, she'd been pretty constant in his life since the start of year that he wasn't sure there was a side of her he hadn't seen, and vice versa. There was something about seeing the worst in people and still being able to care, right? But even if she was single, it didn't mean she was emotionally available. It didn't mean she was interested in him like that either.

But he watches the way she plays with Sarah, the way she makes his little sister feel important and special, and he knows how that works, because when she's honestly interested, Rachel just focuses every ounce of that intense craziness on one thing. Sarah loves that, genuinely. She's all about being noticed, she's always vying for someone to just listen to her and not treat her like a kid, and Rachel does that. It's the way Rach is always respectful and polite to Nana C too; she remembers all Nana's friends names, asks after Pedro, who Rachel knows is Nana's live in boyfriend, even if they are way too old for Puck to honestly consider them that. He prefers to call them co-habiting old people, thank you very much. And Rachel just glances over at him sometimes, she looks at him and there's just something there that makes him wonder, makes him think that maybe he needs to stop talking himself out of things and just go for it. But something holds him back; maybe it's Finn, maybe it's Rachel, maybe it's himself, but there's just this thing that tells him, just maybe, things are better this way. What if he's reading it wrong? What if she's still waiting for Finn to realise he's missing the best thing in his life? What if he ruins everything?

He'd rather have her as just a friend than lose her completely. Even if it does hurt like hell.

#

Turns out that competition for Regionals includes Vocal Adrenaline this year. It sends Rachel into a twirl, she's all about practice and rehearsal and anytime Schue even suggests taking a break from practising their numbers to do a 'weekly assignment', Rachel gets this homicidal glint in her eyes that both scares the hell out of Puck and turns him the fuck on. He's moderately worried at these times, but it's just another aspect of Rachel's crazy intensity that he totally digs. They're doing another round of auditions for a solo at Regionals, but this time it's the club that's going to judge things, but they all know that they're doing 'Take Me or Leave Me' for their duet, and Mercedes and Rachel have it down pat. There's minimal choreography to learn for it, mostly it's Mercedes and Rachel twirling around and partially acting on stage while the rest of them work out a routine in the back, and it's actually kind of fun because Britt totally told Mr Schue that this was her gig and he had to deal.

They do the auditions in the auditorium one afternoon, just all of them sitting in the seats while the others belt out a song. Mercedes does a Mariah number and Puck will forever deny knowing it, Kurt does Celine, and is fucking amazing, Rachel pulls her Babs, which is really great, there's no denying it, but Puck's pretty sure that Kurt's is a little better than hers just for effect. At least until Santana comes on. And he's pretty sure that Finn and Sam are squirming in their seats a little.

"Holy smokes, she's found her stiffy song." Quinn snorts beside him but doesn't argue. For real, if they do that at Regionals there's no way the guys in the audience aren't going to be at half-mast before she's reached the end of the first verse. Puck's not sure what Blaine sings, he's still too caught up in Santana's smoky voice and that awesome version of 'I Put a Spell on You' and he's pretty sure the guys are too. He's not even sure where Brittany is, but there's a good chance that she's wherever Santana is and she's getting rid of the tension that Sam and Finn are feeling right then.

They wait for everyone to get themselves back together and the singers come back to the stage, sitting on the edge while the others huddle around.

"So, what does everyone think?" Mr Schue looks enthusiastic and Puck's not sure if it's because he's not the one having to make this decision or if it's because the songs blew him away or if it's just because Miss P finally put out or whatever. Britt is the only one on the stage who didn't sing a solo, but there's no one who's about to tell her off from the way Santana's arm is around her waist in the possessive way.

"I think everyone was great," Rachel interjects almost immediately, and Puck can see the others gearing up for her argument on why she should do the solo, "but Kurt, you were amazing and I honestly think you did the best." Kurt blushes, like actually blushes and Puck just word vomits without stopping himself.

"I think Santana should do it." So, he's not exactly mister opinion in glee, he's aware, and usually his input is of the less than useful sort. But he can see the surprise on Santana's face, and the shock on Kurt and Rachel's while Mercedes and Blaine just, sort of, stare at him. And yeah, maybe Kurt and Rachel and Blaine are closer to 'friends' with him than Santana is right now --him and Santana, they're like bros, only she's a chick, and they used to have sex a lot. But whatever. "Um, was anyone else in the room when she sang? Because, for real, open with that and they'll be completely blown away." There's no way Vocal Adrenaline could smack something out as good as that, none at all.

"Puck's got a point," Quinn just smirks and it's pretty clear that the others think hell just froze over. "Yes, everyone was great, we know that everyone is great, but we want something that Vocal Adrenaline cannot reproduce themselves. That's it." There were nods from Tina and Mike, Sam and Finn still shifting somewhat uncomfortably while Brittany beamed at Santana. "Nothing Vocal Adrenaline do will come close to that."

So it's pretty much agreed that Santana is going to seduce everyone at Regionals with her sex voice and then they'll do the Liz Phair song that Kurt literally squeals about in excitement and then Rachel and Mercedes are going to get their RENT on. It's the first time they've had a set list nailed down early enough that they can work on it constantly without Schue throwing something else in the works. But legit, Puck's sure Rachel would kill him if he suggested it.

"Was Santana better than me?" He's a little surprised by the question really, driving her home because her exhaust bust and Richard was cool with him taking the Camry for school and shit. "I mean, you and Quinn both thought she was the best."

"It's not that she was better, Rach, it's just different. You and Kurt and 'Cedes, you can belt out those show tunes like no one else, and Blaine's pretty good at those upbeat pop things, but Tana," Puck shakes his head, because he's never heard Santana pull off show tune and she hates pop, but the girl is a fucking fire cracker with a jazz number, "she kills that smoky, scratchy voice stuff. Seriously, those douchebags aren't gonna know what hit them when Santana hits that out the park at Regionals."

"Mr. Schue wants her to open." He's not sure where this is coming from, because she was all about nailing Vocal Adrenaline to the wall, no matter the course they took. He gets that she's still occasionally insecure, but it's never about her talent, she's never been in the least bit insecure about her voice. And this year, it totally feels like the club is way better held together, like they actually mesh better. Rachel should know that they appreciate her talent now, between her friendship with Kurt and Blaine, her not so vicious feud with Mercedes which actually turned out to be more of a bonding than anything else, he figured she'd get it now, that they did like her, they need know they needed her.

"Yeah, and you and 'Cedes are closing. What's up, Rach?" He pulls up to the curb beside her house, parking the car and killing the engine so she knows he's not going to let her jump out and just ignore the conversation. He kind of hates when she gets all down on herself and stuff. She's fiddling with the hem of her skirt, knees pressing together as she purses her lips, clearly warring with herself on telling him what's really bothering her. "Look, it's tactics, okay? Quinn and me, we know game play, football and cheerleading, it's about being better than the others," although Puck wasn't a hundred percent sure cheerleading counted when Sue was like a military strategist or something, "and this is just good game play. Santana has them eating out the palm of her hand to start, we blow them away with the ensemble and then you and Mercedes leave the lasting impression with the duet. We're gonna win this thing like this."

"I'm not sexy like her." She just blurts it out and now he's starting to worry if this girl even looks at herself in the mirror.

"What?"

"Santana, I don't have that sex appeal. Everyone always wants to see that, even on Broadway." Rachel is possibly the only person who doesn't know she's gorgeous. That and blind monks.

"Rachel, you're sexy. Not in the same way as Santana, maybe, I mean," Puck sighs, hating that this is the conversation he has to have with Rachel. "Santana's overtly sexual, right?" That was definitely the phrase she'd used once upon a time, 'overtly sexual', she'd called him that before the crash and stuff, when he was banging every girl in school or whatever. He figures it applies to San as well. "She's right out there with her body and that's cool, for her." It wasn't like Puck hadn't taken notice of it. "But you, jeez, Rach, you're sexy in this subtle kind of way. Like when you bite your lips, or run your hand through your hair." She can do the most basic of things and he's caught himself watching her with a stutter of breath in his chest. That just how fucking hot she is. "Your legs are amazing and your skin is pretty flawless. And you know for a fact that you can get anything you want just by batting your eyes, I've seen you do it." She's done it to her daddy with the big Bambi eyes and gotten the extra two days onto a Streisand marathon, she's done it to Schue to stop the nonsense attempt at bonding them with the football team this year, she pulled it on Finn one time at the mall, and Finn had to excuse himself to the bathroom because the guy popped a boner the second she started nibbling her lip --she can go from cute, innocent little thing to sultry, dark eyed vixen with one move and how does she not know that's sexy?

"You...you really think I'm sexy?" He thinks she's just about everything that means perfect and that is the biggest problem in his life right then. He's doing good at school, he's got a fairly great spot on the baseball team, he's pretty sure the glee club is solid this year for Nationals, home is pretty much stress free, and he's not freaking out over probation rules or community service or an upcoming baby. His life pretty much settled. Apart from the fact that he's ass over elbow for this girl.

"Rach," he doesn't even want to play it off, make some lewd comment that would convince her he thought she was sexy and they'd move on, because they both know that he's not exactly picky about looks. "You're one of the hottest girls I've ever known. Probably seen. And it's not just your looks, okay? Santana can't fake a warm heart, she can't fake listening and caring, she can't fake adoring little puppies and small children. She doesn't care the way you care, and that just makes you sexier." The only person Santana can truly care about looks to be Britt. And that's cool and stuff, for Santana. But Rachel wasn't like that, and Puck sort of dug the way that she cared so damn much now. She wasn't little miss self-involved like she'd been at the start of glee, and he figured that was because she actually had friends now.

"Noah," she glances at him, almost shyly and fuck, even that's hot, before pushing some hair behind her ear and nodding, "thank you." He's not sure why he's being thanked, but whatever, if she feels better he can cope with having to say all the mushy shit he really didn't want to have to say. She leans over to kiss his cheek before climbing out of the car and Puck just sits there, skin tingling lightly until she turns back to him. "You and Sarah are still coming over for taco night, right?"

"Yeah, wouldn't miss it." Taco night is just because her dads are going out of town and Rachel hates spending the whole night in the house by herself, so him and Sarah agreed to a 'dinner and random movies after' night, just to keep her company, even though she was more than welcome to spend a night at their house. "Need me to pick you up tomorrow for school?"

"If you don't mind." Like he ever minds anything for this girl.

"No worries, I'll see you at half seven." He waits until she's pranced up her driveway, turning back to wave to him as she sticks her key in the lock and pushes the door open, before he drives off. He's so totally whipped for this girl and she doesn't even know it.

#

Taco night turns into just him and Rachel though. Sarah comes down with some tummy bug or something, probably the food she had at school because she was enthusiastic that morning when they'd picked up Rachel before dropping Sarah at school. But by the time Puck gets in from baseball practice, Sarah's curled on the sofa watching SpongeBob and trailing her fingers over Fang's back where he lies on the floor in front of her. He just gives her hair a small ruffle, promising to bring back sugar cookies for her and tell Rachel she's sorry. In his mind, it's not a huge deal, just him going to Rach's house. Yeah, he gets that his sister and Rachel are pretty good friends, Rachel is what Sarah aspires to be --only less talkative and with a badass streak to match her brothers, so he figures it'll just mean a night when he drops Sarah over at Rachel's when she's feeling better so she can feel like she didn't miss out.

When he explains it to Rachel, she's nothing but understanding; she's already got a pot of chicken soup started and the tupperware box ready for Sarah's share of the cookies before the tacos are even finished. It's way cool that, even though she's a vegan, she still provides meat for him. Quinn had her vegetarian stage in freshman year, making Finn cut out meat to support her, which meant that Puck had to stop eating meat at lunch, and Santana and Britt had to join in too. It ended after two months, and honestly, Puck wasn't sure if he was closer to killing Quinn or if Santana was. While she cooks, she keeps up this running commentary that he's already more than used to, it stopped being 'annoying' ages ago, now it's just kinda adorable how she can go on and on about everything and nothing.

Conversation with Rachel is still shockingly easy. He found that out when he first dated her; they could talk, she wasn't all show-tunes and Broadway stars, it didn't make his head hurt just to listen to her. She liked animated movies, not just the ones with songs in them, although nothing could beat vintage Disney and Puck had found he didn't mind admitting that he watched that stuff with Sarah. Rachel didn't really talk about sports, and that was fine with Puck, he got enough of that talk with the guys at school, so just shooting the breeze about music, animation and shitty YouTube videos was fine with him. And the making out, he really liked that. Being just friends with Rachel isn't too different; they talk about music and animation and shitty YouTube videos, go out to the mall with Blaine and Kurt sometimes, hang out at her place or his place, walk the dogs and he's working on playing guitar again, so he does that with her too. He just doesn't get to make out with her while they're just friends.

Platonic relationships are kind of weird.

Weird because he's totally at ease with Rachel, and he's pretty sure she is too, more so than she ever really was with Finn, that he saw. With Finn he'd always sort of believed that Rachel was putting up some kind of front, like she was still acting through the relationship. She wasn't exactly tense, but she never really just let go and just be. But he's noticed that she does that fine with him, or with Kurt and Blaine. So it's like comfortable, but weird that she trusts them that much, but not her boyfriend. He still needs to remind himself that they've broken up, since she's just carefully placed in this section of his brain with 'Finn's Girl' just to stop himself from repeating sophomore year all over again. It carries over past dinner, past the tacos and conversation that is just so fluid he can't even remember what they started talking about, it carries over into curling up on her sofa, DVDs littering the room and the television lit up with the starting sequence of Shrek; because that's what she wants right now, all those 'happily ever after' stories. He's got an arm around the back of her shoulders, resting on the back of the sofa while she's curling in against his side, legs drawn up under herself and a blanket thrown over their laps. It's that comfortable way again, where he's completely relaxed and at peace. There's no need to talk through the movie other than to laugh at the jokes, or when she half sings along with the music. They work their way through the whole Shrek franchise, because Rachel has a weird affinity for Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas singing, and she likes the idea of perfect happiness not meaning being the beautiful princess, but what other people see as different.

Puck thinks she might be relating a bit too much to an animated film about ogres, but there's no telling her that.

Rachel falls asleep against his shoulder somewhere between Shrek trying to fix the world and the credit roll in the fourth movie; her head is pillowed on his shoulder, her arm wrapped around his waist and her legs pressing against his thigh and hip. Puck's found that Rachel can't actually sleep with people in her company unless she's relaxed. There was one time they did a glee-sleepover at Brittany's house, with everyone, and Rachel had twitched the whole night because she wasn't entirely sure about being defenceless in a room with Quinn and Santana at the time. Puck couldn't really blame her.

He tries to focus on the end of the film, to at least watch that rather than watch her but she just snuggles into his chest and Puck finds it too hard not to run his hand over the bare patch of skin on her shoulder, drawing little patterns and just smirking at how utterly adorable she is. For all that she complains about her nose, Puck’s not sure he sees what she’s on about. The way she looks so peaceful, with her full lashes resting against her cheeks, her lips just slightly parted, her nose is kind of perfect on her face. Then again, he finds it hard to really find anything at fault with her, appearance wise more than anything probably, so maybe it’s just him. When she starts to stir, he realises that he’s been staring at her like some creeper while the DVD menu played in the background.

Part Three