No Stars (Puck/Rachel)
Title: No Stars
Category: Glee
Genre: /Angst/Romance
Ship: Rachel/Puck
Rating: T
Warning(s): Language
Word Count: 1,297
Summary: When the love of your life shows up at your door in the middle of the night, no matter how tired you are, you open the door. Written for the Puck/Rachel Drabble Meme.
Author's Note: This is my very first Puck/Rachel fic, in fact my very first Glee fic! It was a little weird writing these characters, and I'm not exactly sure I did them any justice, so bear with me. It's also not a drabble, because I really can't do them, I try but then BAM! Plot that needs more words to be explained. I fail at drabbles, it's a truth about myself I've come to accept, lol! Please let me know what you think, I'm interested in feedback on my characterizations.
When the love of your life shows up at your door in the middle of the night, no matter how tired you are, you open the door.
It’s been a day. Not an especially unusual one, just another day, which is part of the problem. She woke up at exactly 5:30 in the morning, ate her egg sunny side up on toast, and was out the door by 6 on the dot.
She arrived at McKinley and parked in her designated spot at 6:15, was at her locker, and being slushied by 6:30. It was fruit punch, her least favorite flavor because the stains were the hardest to get out.
She was in the bathroom changing her outfit by 6:45, just in time for first bell at 7. The school day went by the same as usual, her classes filled with the groans and whispers of students as she answered yet another question. The snickers in the hallway as she walks by with her head held high. The eye rolls of her fellow gleeks, the slushie at 2:30 in the afternoon as the jocks are on their way to practice.
Glee Club too is the same old, same old, with the other members and Mr. Shuester trying to take solos that were rightfully hers. The snide remarks she heard from the Cheerios as she protested quite vehemently Tina being given the solo for Rolling in the Deep.
This is why she found herself wandering around Lima at 11 at night, deep in thought without a clue as to where she was headed. She wasn’t particularly concerned about her safety, as most people in her neighborhood still left their front doors unlocked when they went out.
Still, she knew there wasn’t really a point to her wandering around the darkened town, and knew her father’s would be quite put out if they were to check on her in the night and to find her bed completely empty, but she had to get out of her room.
Shortly after she had finished her nightly rituals and had laid down to get her nine hours of beauty sleep, she had felt the oddest sensation, like something was pressing down on her chest. Turning on the lights had not helped the feeling, and as she glanced around her pink, frilly room, she realized what the emotion was. It was the feeling of being trapped.
So she left, and walked aimlessly down the sidewalk, no destination in mind, it being too filled up with thoughts of the future, and the present, all jumbled up together in a big mess that she couldn’t begin to sort out.
Without even realizing it, she found her feet slowing, until they halted her. She looked around, and was surprised to see the familiar well-worn house that was the residence of the Puckerman’s.
~*~
Puck cursed as he dropped the jar of pickles, startled by the knock on the door. Luckily, the glass didn’t break, just made a loud crack that had him cursing even more, praying his ma didn’t hear him. She would kill him if she found him having another late night snack. The woman kept going on and on about how bad it was for you. He personally felt that going hungry was even worse.
He set the jar back on the counter and ambled over to the door, opening it a crack. “Fucker, don’t you know it’s 11 at night,” he snarled out, fully expecting to see a dopey Finn on his door step, and was shocked to see Rachel Berry standing there instead. He lowered his voice even more. “Rachel, what’s the matter? Is everything alright?”
She seemed to waffle back and forth, hesitant about something, before giving him a bittersweet smile that was a poor copy of the usual blinding one she gave out on a daily basis. “Noah, will you come for a walk with me?”
If it had been anyone else, a random Cheerio, Santana, or even Finn, his best friend since first grade, he would have told them to fuck off, but this was Rachel Berry, and despite what his report cards said, he wasn’t stupid. He knew that when the love of your life shows up at your door in the middle of the night, no matter how tired you are, you open the door.
“Yeah, alright,” he muttered, and slipped out the door, closing it quietly behind him. They began walking up the street, and more out of habit than anything else, he offered her his arm, which she took with a shy smile, leaning into him as they walked along the sidewalk.
“You gonna tell me what’s up Berry?” He asked, hoping he sounded casual, while inside he was freaking out. He had been watching Rachel lately, and knew that something was up. She put on a good show, like the award winning actress she was going to be, but he could tell that something was wrong.
“Nothing Noah.” She replied, and he snorted in disbelief.
“Nothing my ass, you showing up at my door at 11 at night is something. Hell, you showing up at anytime is a big deal, so spill Rachel.”
She laughed, a full throated laugh with a tinge of sadness that ate at him. “While it is true that due to our previous antagonistic relationship I normally avoid your place of dwelling like the plague, I admit that I don’t know how I ended up her, my feet just took me.
He sighed, rolling his eyes to Jew God, praying for patience. “Speak English Rachel, and get to the point, tell me what’s really wrong.”
She too sighed, and it sounded so heavy, like she was burdened by so much. “Noah, do you ever feel… trapped?” She whispered. “Like you’re stuck here in Lima, forever, and no matter how hard you try, you’ll never get out, and people will just laugh at you for even trying?”
“’Course I do,” he replied easily, “But you shouldn’t feel that way. You got more talent in one pinky than half the people in this Podunk town.”
“I will concede to this fact,” she said, still sounding sad. She stopped walking, and he followed suit, and they sat down on a park bench, looking up at the stars twinkling, neither of them talking.
“Did you know that in New York, you can’t see the stars?” Rachel said suddenly, her voice coated in sadness. “Because of all of the lights in the city, it makes it impossible to see the stars.”
Puck shifted uncomfortably. This shit wasn’t what he was good at. He wasn’t really good at giving women comfort outside the bedroom, but he knew that there was something wrong with Rachel Berry doubting herself.
He picked up one of her hands in her lap and gave it a gentle squeeze, causing her to look up at him questioningly. “You say there are no stars up there? Well you need to hurry up, it sounds like they need you in New York City more than they do in Lima.”
She blushed, and he chuckled because it was just so cute, and he knew he was really in love because he, Noah ‘badass’ Puckerman was using the word cute.
“C’mon Berry,” He said, standing up and holding a hand out to help her up. “I’ll walk you home, it’s late out.”
So they walked back to her house, once again arm in arm. Puck smiled at Rachel chattering at his side a mile a minute, knowing that things were back to normal. Normal was good. He would revel in the peace and quiet of it until they shook things up the next day when he walked into Glee with his arm draped around his girl.
Fin.