Glee Fic: The Happiest We've Been in Awhile - Ch. 18
Title: The Happiest We've Been in Awhile
Chapter: 18/19
Show: Glee
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Puck, Tina, and the rest of the gleeks
Summary: Puck tried to explain that Tina was just a girl from Glee. That up until they were paired together for a ballad, they barely said more than two words to each other; that between her stoic stares and fishnet gloves, she kind of freaks him out.
Spoiler Warning: not much...this is set sometime after Ballad.
Chapter 18: No One Belongs Here More Than You
“Has the smoked cleared?”
Quinn smiles a little as Tina regards her, leaning against the door to Sara’s room, her hand clutching the doorknob. Tina meets her gaze, looking from her cautious expression and thinking that for someone so determined to be seen as intimidating, she’s pretty innocent.
“They’re talking. Figured I’d follow your lead and give them some space.”
Tina nods, turning back to Sara.
“Tina,” she says quietly, glancing around the pink walls before back at her. “Can I talk to you?”
Before she can respond, Sara looks up from her book.
“Do I have to go away again?”
They both smile a little and Quinn leans forward.
“It’ll just be a second, sweetie. I promise.”
Tina can’t help but do a double-take, trying to figure out which is the real Quinn-the beauty queen in the cheerio uniform or the girl with her hair down and a maternal air to her voice. She watches as Sara hops away and Quinn slowly eases herself into a sitting position on the bed.
“I know what we did was wrong,” she starts softly, and Tina’s debating if she even wants to hear this.
“But I thought I was doing what was right at the time…I wanted my daughter to have a good father. I wanted my boyfriend to love me. I wanted so many things, I got caught up in it all.”
Quinn toys with a loose thread on the floral comforter before looking at Tina with a sad smile.
“Look, I know if the roles were reversed I’d think you have no right to be sitting here telling me what to do…” she sighs, crossing her arms in front of her.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that boy cares about you, Tina. At first I thought the world really was rearing on its axis, but I’ve never seen his face light up that way over anyone-even me.”
Tina’s sure she’s doing a bad job at hiding her surprise.
“I’m not saying you have to completely forgive him,” she says resolutely now, fixing her with a serious gaze. Tina doesn't speak, doesn't tell her she already has, doesn't tell her that's not the part she's uneasy about. “Just take this from someone who knows-think about what you may lose if you don’t.”
~
After finally being able to breathe again, finally being able to wash the slushie goo off his face, he finds Tina on his porch bench a little while later, a colorful book in her lap as Sara flips happily through the pages.
“Hey monster, can you go inside for a sec?”
She pouts.
“Why’s everybody bossing me around today?”
He laughs and then fixes her with a pointed, mock-serious look.
“I think Mom needs a hug.”
She beams, already clambering down from the bench to accomplish her new mission.
Tina stands up to face him, also laughing as Sara flies past her and back into the house.
Before she can do much else, his arms are around her.
Although her breath immediately catches in her throat, she feels her arms automatically wind around him as she’s enveloped in his embrace and she feels him exhale a breath he had been holding.
She hears a quiet mumble of thanks into her shoulder, but it was so inaudible she thinks she might’ve just imagined it.
She pulls back to look at him.
“Is she okay?”
He’s looking down and studying the black nail polish on the fingers of the hand she has left resting on his chest. He looks back at her, reflexively licking his lips, and she remembers to ignore how lightheaded him being this close makes her feel.
“She will be.”
She gives him a tightlipped smile and sighs. She feels his hands easily rest at her hips and with a fleeting thought, she wonders if she can even be mad at him now if she tried. She looks him over for a moment, his expression a lot more at ease than before. She feels herself exhaling a calm breath and it's then that she realizes she's proud of him.
“How about you?” she asks, tapping her fingers to some imaginary beat.
“It’s getting there,” he almost laughs before fixing her with a smirk. “You?”
She nods with a small smile and she notices how his gaze keeps flickering from her eyes to her lips. She tries her best not to blush.
“Puck?”
He basically grunts at her, not really listening as he moves towards her.
“Wait-”
She thinks of Quinn and baby names and as much as she wants it to, she doubts this can work.
“You’re going to be a father, Puck,” she reminds him. He stares at her. “I think it’s time I went home.”
His expression gives way to yet another scowl.
“I just…could you wait?” he grumbles half to himself in frustration.
She sits and he does the same. He’s staring at the planks of wood and he seems to be struggling with what to say.
“This shit doesn’t make anymore sense to me than it does to you…”
He tells his shoes. She smiles.
“How eloquent. Do tell me more.”
She’s giggling and he’s glaring.
“It’s like…I’m…less fucked up when you’re around.”
“Um…you’re…thank you?”
He scowls again and it’s really not helping her laughter.
“Just stay,” he murmurs instead of scowls and she seems to instantly sober.
And then, another teasing smile is back on her lips.
“I’m sitting right next to you.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“I know no such thing. What do you mean, Puck?”
She crosses her arms, leaning back and regarding him with mock wonder.
“Do you have to make this so fucking difficult, Tina?”
She smiles again. He knows she’s doing this on purpose, knows that he owes for her always taking the lead-even if that does make him sound even more like a wuss.
And then after a moment of him glowering towards the ground, “Yes.”
“…Yes, you have to make this difficult? Did it really take you that long to answer that?”
“No,” she says, staring at him seriously now. “I meant that yes, I can stay.”
He pauses and looks at her like he’s trying to figure this out-figure out if she means it, figure out why he’s hoping like hell that she does.
Before he can say anything else her hand reaches up and soon her fingers are tracing feather-light patterns above his eye. His bruise has healed and she smiles that half-smile for a second before it fades.
“How do we know this is going to work?” she asks, like it’s some sort of science experiment.
He shrugs, but he’s secretly wondering the same thing.
“We don’t. You want it to, right?”
She doesn’t have to say anything to answer that one, but she looks back up at him, biting on her bottom lip again in hesitation.
“What about the baby?” she blurts out in a whisper, and he blinks at her.
“Wow you really know how to kill a mood,” he says, recovering, and she rolls her eyes and waits for an answer. “Quinn’s leaning towards adoption…I told her I got her back either way.”
“Does she need a place to stay?”
“My mom was ready to give her a room, even wanted to talk some sense into the fucktards she calls parents, but she said no. Said somebody already offered her a place.”
“Who?”
It’s his turn to smirk now.
“Kurt.”
She stares.
“What?”
He laughs.
“Yeah…I don’t know how that shit happened either,” he admits, shaking his head and stretching an arm out on the back of the bench behind her.
She leans back too, staring at the mailbox across the street.
“Same could be said for us.”
He doesn’t disagree. He starts to think they’ve settled this, when:
“What about the other girls?” she asks suddenly.
“What?” he asks, retracting his arm and turning to stare at her.
She merely sweeps her legs underneath her, sitting up and using her fingers to tack off a list.
“Quinn, Santana, Rachel, that redhead from your history class, whoever else is on your panty-raid list-”
“Do you really think I’d be sitting here with you, asking you to stay like a pansy if any of them meant anything?”
“You tell me.”
She sits there calmly and he ducks his head to think to formulate an honest answer for her.
“I thought I wanted Quinn,” he starts in a low voice and she has to lean towards him to catch it all. “I never planned to split like my douche of a dad did…”
She nods like she’s analyzing every word.
“Maybe it was the chase or temptation or whatever…”
He grunts, irritated at himself again.
“I don’t know how to explain any of this crap…I just…” he sighs now, and she turns to look at him. “Fridays with you…”
She instantly smiles and decides to be merciful.
“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you’ve grown pretty fond of me, Noah Puckerman.”
Or not.
“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that, right?”
She wants to bicker right back, but she can’t argue with the way he’s looking at her. She can’t read the expression but it made all the air vacate from her lungs, and not necessarily in a bad way. One of her hands reaches itself out to rest under his chin to get him to look up at her.
“You look scared, Puck,” she says, as if this whole thing fascinates her.
He scowls but doesn’t move away from her touch.
“What about Abrams?” he suddenly counters.
She drops her hand from his chin, and it finds his hand instead.
“He’s my friend,” she shrugs, staring at the ground a little before looking back at him. “I have a feeling he always will be…”
He looks away again, wondering why this whole thing sounds like some formulaic legal agreement.
“But you,” she continues. “You’re-”
He doesn’t let her finish.
One of his hands cups under her chin, instantly quieting her as the other weaves itself into her hair as he pulls her in for a kiss. She smiles into it and she finds that it’s gentler than what she would’ve expected. It’s soft. Calming. And yet it manages to leave her feeling breathless all the same. He pulls back to smirk at her.
“Yeah, you too.”
She laughs a little in relief. She moves to stand and he looks up, a little confused.
“We should probably save Quinn from an awkward conversation with your mother before she kills us both.”
Before she touches the doorknob, she turns back to him, leaning against it before arching an eyebrow and fixing him with a curious smile.
Her hands reach up, one coming to rest on his shirt collar and the other cupping his cheek. She smiles at him for a moment before she pulls him in for a quick kiss. Then she pulls back with a laugh. He takes one look at the knowing smile on her face and narrows his eyes in skepticism. It’s her turn to smirk as he leans back a little and she laces her fingers together behind the back of his neck.
“Still scared?”
She surprises a laugh out of him as he shakes his head and brings his hands to rest at her hips.
“Shitless.”
Her smile stretches into a grin.
“Sounds like a personal problem.”
~
Hopefully that came out okay. I still don't know what genre this really falls under haha.. Annddd, there's an epilogue to come. Reviews are love :]
Epilogue
Chapter: 18/19
Show: Glee
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Puck, Tina, and the rest of the gleeks
Summary: Puck tried to explain that Tina was just a girl from Glee. That up until they were paired together for a ballad, they barely said more than two words to each other; that between her stoic stares and fishnet gloves, she kind of freaks him out.
Spoiler Warning: not much...this is set sometime after Ballad.
Chapter 18: No One Belongs Here More Than You
“Has the smoked cleared?”
Quinn smiles a little as Tina regards her, leaning against the door to Sara’s room, her hand clutching the doorknob. Tina meets her gaze, looking from her cautious expression and thinking that for someone so determined to be seen as intimidating, she’s pretty innocent.
“They’re talking. Figured I’d follow your lead and give them some space.”
Tina nods, turning back to Sara.
“Tina,” she says quietly, glancing around the pink walls before back at her. “Can I talk to you?”
Before she can respond, Sara looks up from her book.
“Do I have to go away again?”
They both smile a little and Quinn leans forward.
“It’ll just be a second, sweetie. I promise.”
Tina can’t help but do a double-take, trying to figure out which is the real Quinn-the beauty queen in the cheerio uniform or the girl with her hair down and a maternal air to her voice. She watches as Sara hops away and Quinn slowly eases herself into a sitting position on the bed.
“I know what we did was wrong,” she starts softly, and Tina’s debating if she even wants to hear this.
“But I thought I was doing what was right at the time…I wanted my daughter to have a good father. I wanted my boyfriend to love me. I wanted so many things, I got caught up in it all.”
Quinn toys with a loose thread on the floral comforter before looking at Tina with a sad smile.
“Look, I know if the roles were reversed I’d think you have no right to be sitting here telling me what to do…” she sighs, crossing her arms in front of her.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that boy cares about you, Tina. At first I thought the world really was rearing on its axis, but I’ve never seen his face light up that way over anyone-even me.”
Tina’s sure she’s doing a bad job at hiding her surprise.
“I’m not saying you have to completely forgive him,” she says resolutely now, fixing her with a serious gaze. Tina doesn't speak, doesn't tell her she already has, doesn't tell her that's not the part she's uneasy about. “Just take this from someone who knows-think about what you may lose if you don’t.”
~
After finally being able to breathe again, finally being able to wash the slushie goo off his face, he finds Tina on his porch bench a little while later, a colorful book in her lap as Sara flips happily through the pages.
“Hey monster, can you go inside for a sec?”
She pouts.
“Why’s everybody bossing me around today?”
He laughs and then fixes her with a pointed, mock-serious look.
“I think Mom needs a hug.”
She beams, already clambering down from the bench to accomplish her new mission.
Tina stands up to face him, also laughing as Sara flies past her and back into the house.
Before she can do much else, his arms are around her.
Although her breath immediately catches in her throat, she feels her arms automatically wind around him as she’s enveloped in his embrace and she feels him exhale a breath he had been holding.
She hears a quiet mumble of thanks into her shoulder, but it was so inaudible she thinks she might’ve just imagined it.
She pulls back to look at him.
“Is she okay?”
He’s looking down and studying the black nail polish on the fingers of the hand she has left resting on his chest. He looks back at her, reflexively licking his lips, and she remembers to ignore how lightheaded him being this close makes her feel.
“She will be.”
She gives him a tightlipped smile and sighs. She feels his hands easily rest at her hips and with a fleeting thought, she wonders if she can even be mad at him now if she tried. She looks him over for a moment, his expression a lot more at ease than before. She feels herself exhaling a calm breath and it's then that she realizes she's proud of him.
“How about you?” she asks, tapping her fingers to some imaginary beat.
“It’s getting there,” he almost laughs before fixing her with a smirk. “You?”
She nods with a small smile and she notices how his gaze keeps flickering from her eyes to her lips. She tries her best not to blush.
“Puck?”
He basically grunts at her, not really listening as he moves towards her.
“Wait-”
She thinks of Quinn and baby names and as much as she wants it to, she doubts this can work.
“You’re going to be a father, Puck,” she reminds him. He stares at her. “I think it’s time I went home.”
His expression gives way to yet another scowl.
“I just…could you wait?” he grumbles half to himself in frustration.
She sits and he does the same. He’s staring at the planks of wood and he seems to be struggling with what to say.
“This shit doesn’t make anymore sense to me than it does to you…”
He tells his shoes. She smiles.
“How eloquent. Do tell me more.”
She’s giggling and he’s glaring.
“It’s like…I’m…less fucked up when you’re around.”
“Um…you’re…thank you?”
He scowls again and it’s really not helping her laughter.
“Just stay,” he murmurs instead of scowls and she seems to instantly sober.
And then, another teasing smile is back on her lips.
“I’m sitting right next to you.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“I know no such thing. What do you mean, Puck?”
She crosses her arms, leaning back and regarding him with mock wonder.
“Do you have to make this so fucking difficult, Tina?”
She smiles again. He knows she’s doing this on purpose, knows that he owes for her always taking the lead-even if that does make him sound even more like a wuss.
And then after a moment of him glowering towards the ground, “Yes.”
“…Yes, you have to make this difficult? Did it really take you that long to answer that?”
“No,” she says, staring at him seriously now. “I meant that yes, I can stay.”
He pauses and looks at her like he’s trying to figure this out-figure out if she means it, figure out why he’s hoping like hell that she does.
Before he can say anything else her hand reaches up and soon her fingers are tracing feather-light patterns above his eye. His bruise has healed and she smiles that half-smile for a second before it fades.
“How do we know this is going to work?” she asks, like it’s some sort of science experiment.
He shrugs, but he’s secretly wondering the same thing.
“We don’t. You want it to, right?”
She doesn’t have to say anything to answer that one, but she looks back up at him, biting on her bottom lip again in hesitation.
“What about the baby?” she blurts out in a whisper, and he blinks at her.
“Wow you really know how to kill a mood,” he says, recovering, and she rolls her eyes and waits for an answer. “Quinn’s leaning towards adoption…I told her I got her back either way.”
“Does she need a place to stay?”
“My mom was ready to give her a room, even wanted to talk some sense into the fucktards she calls parents, but she said no. Said somebody already offered her a place.”
“Who?”
It’s his turn to smirk now.
“Kurt.”
She stares.
“What?”
He laughs.
“Yeah…I don’t know how that shit happened either,” he admits, shaking his head and stretching an arm out on the back of the bench behind her.
She leans back too, staring at the mailbox across the street.
“Same could be said for us.”
He doesn’t disagree. He starts to think they’ve settled this, when:
“What about the other girls?” she asks suddenly.
“What?” he asks, retracting his arm and turning to stare at her.
She merely sweeps her legs underneath her, sitting up and using her fingers to tack off a list.
“Quinn, Santana, Rachel, that redhead from your history class, whoever else is on your panty-raid list-”
“Do you really think I’d be sitting here with you, asking you to stay like a pansy if any of them meant anything?”
“You tell me.”
She sits there calmly and he ducks his head to think to formulate an honest answer for her.
“I thought I wanted Quinn,” he starts in a low voice and she has to lean towards him to catch it all. “I never planned to split like my douche of a dad did…”
She nods like she’s analyzing every word.
“Maybe it was the chase or temptation or whatever…”
He grunts, irritated at himself again.
“I don’t know how to explain any of this crap…I just…” he sighs now, and she turns to look at him. “Fridays with you…”
She instantly smiles and decides to be merciful.
“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you’ve grown pretty fond of me, Noah Puckerman.”
Or not.
“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that, right?”
She wants to bicker right back, but she can’t argue with the way he’s looking at her. She can’t read the expression but it made all the air vacate from her lungs, and not necessarily in a bad way. One of her hands reaches itself out to rest under his chin to get him to look up at her.
“You look scared, Puck,” she says, as if this whole thing fascinates her.
He scowls but doesn’t move away from her touch.
“What about Abrams?” he suddenly counters.
She drops her hand from his chin, and it finds his hand instead.
“He’s my friend,” she shrugs, staring at the ground a little before looking back at him. “I have a feeling he always will be…”
He looks away again, wondering why this whole thing sounds like some formulaic legal agreement.
“But you,” she continues. “You’re-”
He doesn’t let her finish.
One of his hands cups under her chin, instantly quieting her as the other weaves itself into her hair as he pulls her in for a kiss. She smiles into it and she finds that it’s gentler than what she would’ve expected. It’s soft. Calming. And yet it manages to leave her feeling breathless all the same. He pulls back to smirk at her.
“Yeah, you too.”
She laughs a little in relief. She moves to stand and he looks up, a little confused.
“We should probably save Quinn from an awkward conversation with your mother before she kills us both.”
Before she touches the doorknob, she turns back to him, leaning against it before arching an eyebrow and fixing him with a curious smile.
Her hands reach up, one coming to rest on his shirt collar and the other cupping his cheek. She smiles at him for a moment before she pulls him in for a quick kiss. Then she pulls back with a laugh. He takes one look at the knowing smile on her face and narrows his eyes in skepticism. It’s her turn to smirk as he leans back a little and she laces her fingers together behind the back of his neck.
“Still scared?”
She surprises a laugh out of him as he shakes his head and brings his hands to rest at her hips.
“Shitless.”
Her smile stretches into a grin.
“Sounds like a personal problem.”
~
Hopefully that came out okay. I still don't know what genre this really falls under haha.. Annddd, there's an epilogue to come. Reviews are love :]
Epilogue