All the best cowboys have daddy issues...

[jewhawk]

Who? Puck and Santana
Where? Puck's house, then Santana's house
When? A few weeks after the black eye incident. Saturday morning, around 11
Rating: R is the most likely choice...

Comments

[iwannabedirty]

Santana was still a little iffy about Puck. He'd gotten her Breadstix the night he apologized, so they were supposedly cool. But what he'd said about Brittany was uncalled for, inexcusable and just generally pissed her off. Still, he had manned up and apologized, so she was just snappy some of the time, and Brittany as a topic was completely off-limits.

She'd woken up ridiculously early, 8 a.m., having heard Miguel just come in from wherever he'd been last night. She'd been half out of bed to go hiss at him and tell him how stupid he was, but it seemed her papa had beaten her to it, because she'd heard him lecturing Miguel in Spanish and it had kept her awake. She'd waited until all was quieter again before waking up to help her mama make breakfast. Miguel, unsurprisingly, didn't look too happy, and she fought back snickers while he glared at her. Idiot. He was older, shouldn't he know better?

She planned to go work out after breakfast and was about to go upstairs to get her gym bag when the doorbell rang. "I've got it!" she called out, and ran to open it, surprised to see Puck standing there. "Oh, hey. Uh, you know it's before noon, right? Why are you awake?"

[jewhawk]

"My... Chava woke me up this morning," he said, looking down at his feet. "Guess who skipped town again?" The boy's hand involuntarily went to his mohawk, as he stood there, still on the porch, wondering how this was going to go. He couldn't blame Santana if she shut the door in his face. Last time she tried to be nice and comfort him, he'd taken a cheap shot at her best friend, and ended up with a black eye.

But here he was, standing there in front of the only person he really felt like he could trust, no matter what, hoping she'd take him in one more time.

[iwannabedirty]

Santana bit back a sigh. She'd actually been hopeful that Mr. Puckerman would stick around and prove to Puck that he could be a father and actually wanted to be. Apparently, she'd been wrong. She eyed Puck warily, wondering why that brought him here. When he'd come over the day his father showed up, he'd gotten drunk and earned himself a black eye the next day at school when all she'd tried to do was comfort him and assure him things were going to be alright.

"Are you gonna be a little bitch again if I let you in?" she asked bluntly. She didn't want to deal with him if when she next saw him he'd be talking about Britt and STDs. He'd be getting himself two fresh black eyes if that was the case.

[jewhawk]

He really couldn't blame her for the question. "No, San... I swear. I won't." He looked up at her, dark eyes begging her for something he wasn't even sure he could put a finger on. He just needed somewhere to go... Somewhere that he knew he'd be understood.

And while he and Santana certainly weren't known for having the most healthy or functional of relationships, they got each other. There was a level of understanding between the two of them that was just... He couldn't explain it, but he knew it was there.

[iwannabedirty]

Santana sighed. "Get back in your truck," she said. "You're driving me to the gym." Her tone was commanding, not questioning. Dealing with him was not going to change her day's plans. "I'll be out in five."

[jewhawk]

Despite how much he hated being told what to do, Puck knew better than to mess with Santana when she got that no-nonsense thing going on, and he nodded. Turning on his heel, he headed back to the truck, climbing in and waiting for her. This was irritating, but he was in no position to bitch about it.

[iwannabedirty]

Santana knew Puck would be less than pleased to be treated as her personal chauffeur, but she was still ticked at him and being cautious around him. He knew very well getting into her good graces was going to take more work than a simple apology. Even if Brittany had been disappearing on her, a lot, Santana loved her and she wasn't going to take anyone saying something bad about her. She never had, as Puck was well aware.

Grabbing her gym bag and a coat, she made sure to take the card with the number of Lima's cab service and a wad of cash with her in case Puck pulled another disappearing act. She called out goodbyes to her parents, gave her sister a hug and smirked at her brother, before moving out to the car and sliding into Puck's passenger seat.

[jewhawk]

Puck cranked the truck, and immediately remembered he'd forgotten to turn his radio down when he'd parked, thanks to the extremely loud voice of Eminem from the speaker. Ironically enough, it started up in the middle of "Cleaning Out My Closet" with the lyrics:

Cuz he split,
I wonder if he even kissed me goodbye.
No I don't.
On second thought,
I just fuckin' wished he would die.

"Shit, sorry," he said, reaching across to turn the radio down. "So... uh... How's life?" He wasn't really ready to start talking much about his dad just yet.

[iwannabedirty]

Santana raised an eyebrow at the lyrics blasting out of the truck's speakers. Well, if that wasn't perfect timing. It sounded like exactly what Puck would be thinking of his father right now. But, of course, he was avoiding the topic. He'd done it last time, too. Or tried to.

"Life's fine. Miguel got his ass chewed out by Papa this morning," she said, another amused smirk spreading across her lips. She loved her brother, but he was a goddamn moron.

[jewhawk]

He laughed just a little at that. "What did he do this time?" he asked. Miguel was a senior, and Puck thought he was pretty badass, even if he did stay in trouble all the time. He and Puck had that in common.

The song changed to some Theory of a Deadman song on the mix CD Puck had in, and he was kinda glad... He didn't feel up to discussing his dad, and the pissed off Eminem song, while exactly what he was thinking, wasn't something he really wanted to talk about yet.

[iwannabedirty]

"Stayed out all night," Santana reported. "He said he'd be back around 2, didn't get home 'til 8." She had no idea what he'd been doing, but she could hazard a guess. And it really wasn't something she wanted to think about.

[jewhawk]

Puck's mom had given up on him coming in at any kind of curfew, so he didn't really get why a senior would get in trouble for that. "Your bro's a badass," he finally said, smirking at her as he turned the truck down the road where the gym was.

[iwannabedirty]

Santana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Don't tell him that. He doesn't need his ego any more inflated." When they finally pulled into the gym's parking lot, she slid out of the truck and tried to quickly make her way inside, so she wouldn't freeze her ass off.

[jewhawk]

Puck followed her inside, wondering why exactly he was agreeing to more or less be her little lap dog for the day. But fuck it, he'd do what he needed to. He really hoped nobody he knew would see him trotting along after her into the gym.

[iwannabedirty]

Santana wasn't exactly trying to turn Puck into a lap dog. She'd wanted to go to the gym, and she figured it was just as easy to listen to him whine and bitch about his daddy at the gym as it would be to listen to it at her house. "Meet you out there?" she said, nodding toward the separate locker rooms. "Don't you have a locker here?"

[jewhawk]

Puck did have a locker, but he really wasn't planning on doing any non-sexual cardio today... And he didn't really expect any of the sexual kind with Santana for a while yet, anyway, so... Laziness had kind of been his plan. But he figured if he was working out, at least it wouldn't look like he was following San around like a puppy.

"Yeah... I'll be out in a sec." Getting ready to work out consisted of taking off his jacket and putting it in his locker, since his rapid exit from the house had left him still in sweats and a ratty t-shirt with the sleeves cut off.

He came back out and found Santana again. "Ready?" he asked.