Help Somebody
Title: Help Somebody
Chapter: 1/1
Warning: Slight spoilers for Funk.
Pairing: Puck/Rachel
Summary: Fictable prompt #25 - Devotion. Four times Puck sticks up for Rachel and one time Rachel sticks up for Puck.
Word Count: 5,403
Disclaimer: Don't own.
She's playing a tinkly little melody on the piano in the choir room when Puck comes in to get his guitar. His case is mysteriously sitting right next to her, which is clearly not where he left it. They're both still wearing their costumes from their kick ass performance that totally scared the hell out of those douches from Carmel. He's ditched the chains, though, 'cause that shit was heavy. He takes a second to try and figure out if her shorts are even covering her ass.
Barely. Just barely.
So he walks over and sits down to her left, and yeah, he thinks she looks pretty hot with her hair spilling down her back under that hat.
"Hey," he says as she presses the keys.
"Hi."
"Still all depressed and shit?" he asks.
It's been days since that whole incident in the parking lot. That doesn't mean it doesn't still piss him off to think about it. Yeah, that's the kind of shit he used to do, but he'd never get a group of people and attack a girl like that. That shit is just not cool, even if it was just eggs. Plus, Rachel's a vegan (which he thinks is really effed up, but whatever). He knows how seriously she takes that stuff.
She doesn't answer his question, so he hits a note he knows will clash with the ones she's playing. She jumps a little, looks over at him like she's actually offended by what he's done.
"Talk to me," he finds himself saying. He's never said those words to anyone. He's certainly never wanted to.
"I thought we were okay," she admits quietly.
"You kidding me? We were awesome!"
"No." She shakes her head. "I mean Jesse and I." He lets out a breath. He's really fucking sick of hearing about that guy. "He came back and everything was fine, and...This is just...breaking my heart."
"You didn't love that guy," he states. No way she loved that kid. Puck starts plucking out a bassline on the lower keys, one that matches what she's playing. She hasn't noticed yet.
"I thought I did. Doesn't that mean anything?"
"Whatever," he mumbles.
She brings both hands up onto the keys and begins playing some classical piece, and he stops playing so he can listen to her. She's really good. He took a few years of piano before switching to guitar. That's how he's so awesome at reading music. He wants to ask her what song this is, but that just seems like something he shouldn't (wouldn't) do. Sometimes he can ignore that (his mom says he's changing or something) but right now, he's sticking with the fact that, despite what he may or may not feel for this girl (really, he has no clue what it is), he just doesn't care that much.
"You were going to beat him up," she says quietly as she plays.
"Yup."
"Why?"
"Because!" he nearly shouts. He keeps losing it around her. About her. She stops playing. He misses it. (Shit. What's going on with him?) "Because a, it's what I do. And because b, that dick deserves it. And because c, no one fucking messes with you and gets away with it." Shit. What'd he just say? "You know. 'Cause we're on the same team and whatever."
That little smile on her face lets him know she's totally on to him. Shit.
Thing is? He doesn't know what she's onto. It's not like he like, wants her or whatever. He just doesn't want anyone else to have her. And he doesn't want anyone to hurt her at all. And if he gets to spend a little extra time with her, that's cool, too. And maybe, every once in a while, he'll get the urge to kiss her or whatever. But that's totally normal. (He's not really sure about the rest of it.)
"Right. Because we're on the same team," she says.
"Come on. You'd beat someone up for me," he says, smirking at her as he bumps her shoulder.
"No, I wouldn't," she laughs. She wipes her cheek with the back of her index finger and he realizes she started crying sometime after he sat down. "I would most likely give them a stern talk regarding whatever it was they did to hurt you, but..."
"Whoa," he says, holding up his hand. "Hurt me? No."
The thing with Rachel is that she's the one person who knows he's not invincible. Everyone else can assume all they want and talk shit behind his back, but Rachel's the only one he's ever really shown any emotion to.
"Of course," she says, laughing quietly. She sniffles a little bit and he finds himself draping his arm lazily over her shoulder so his hand is dangling in front of her. He doesn't even bother to try and cop a feel. (That's not to say he doesn't want to.) "But I would defend you if you needed me to."
"Yeah?" he asks, his brow raised.
She shrugs her shoulder, but not to get him to stop touching her. "We are teammates after all," she says.
She's teasing him. He knows it. He kind of likes it.
He looks at her, then down at his guitar case. He wonders how long she's just been sitting here waiting for...
"Were you waiting for me?" he asks, smirking slyly as he pulls his arm off her.
"I was..." She turns to look at him, shrugs her shoulder again. "I don't know what I was waiting for."
He gets up, pulls her up by the elbow and most definitely looks up her shorts when he bends down to pick up his guitar case. (Pink panties under her red shorts. Awesome.)
"You were waiting for me," he says. Even if that's not what she was doing, he's going to pretend. "Come on. I'll drive you home."
"You don't have to do that," she insists. He rolls his eyes and starts walking toward the door. "But since you're offering, I accept."
The way she chirps a thank you at him as she hops out of his truck definitely doesn't make him actually smile.
... ...
So he's actually kind of getting used to wearing ties for glee performances. He doesn't hate it. He can totally make ties look cool and sexy and stuff. Also? He basically loves the way every woman within view of him look at him like they want to grab him and do unspeakably dirty things to him. So there's that.
They're at Regionals in their dressing room, which is kind of misleading because it's not like he actually gets to watch the girls get dressed or anything. It's basically just a place with a bunch of mirrors and whatever so the girls can fluff their hair for like, the four millionth time, and the guys can stand around and pretend they aren't totally bored.
The only girl he doesn't see is Rachel, and he assumes it's just because she's got some crazy, obsessive compulsive pre-show ritual that she's got to go through or she'll, like, fall off the stage or something. Chick is nuts.
When she walks into the room, he's pretty sure everyone takes notice.
She looks gorgeous.
Her hair is all shiny and big and held in place by a little headband that matches her dress, which fits her like a freaking glove. And her legs...God, her legs.
Finn gets to her before Puck can. Story of his life. (Except for, you know, 'Sorry I took your girlfriend's virginity and she's currently about two seconds away from popping out my bastard spawn'.)
He smiles at her, and she smiles back as she talks to Finn. He wonders if that might mean something.
When he steps out into the hall, he notices two kids in bad costumes from some rival school. They're total losers, he can tell. He's just waiting for one of them to dare to look him in the face so he can do something to terrify them, because that's just the way he rolls, okay?
But then as he's walking past, he hears a little of their conversation. They're talking about Rachel.
They're talking about how hot 'that lead from Mckinley' is.
Puck isn't super pissed (seriously, she is pretty hot; no crime in appreciating that) until he hears one of the kids say he's going to try to get front row seats for the New Directions performance so he can see up Rachel's dress. That's basically the moment Puck straight up loses his shit.
He turns sharply, steps forward and backs the little fucker up against the wall. He puts his fist against the wall, right next to the kid's head, and smirks when he sees the terror in the little jackoff's eyes.
"Watch your fucking mouth," Puck growls.
He doesn't know where this is coming from. He'd probably do the same thing, try to see up her dress. Shit, he has done that. A hundred times. But he and Rachel are like, friends or something.
"I...I was..."
Puck rolls his eyes. "You were just being a little perv. Keep talking about my girl that way and I'll beat your ass so hard you won't be able..."
"Noah?" Rachel says. Dammit. When'd she show up? "Are you ready? We're just about to warm up."
He backs away from the little bastard and winks, just because. When he turns to Rachel, he holds out his arm for her, and she literally beams before looping her arm through his. And yeah, this is the kind of shit they used to do when they were dating and haven't done since. But whatever. He's going for effect, alright?
"Let's do this, babe."
So yeah, he just totally made it look like she's his girlfriend, even when she's circling around try number two (or whatever) with Finn. It's just that 'my girl' sounds a lot more threatening than 'the female lead of my show choir.' Come on.
He doesn't really know what it means, but he doesn't think he even needs to be with her to stick up for her. It's just something he does without having to feel like it's his job. He still does, though.
She doesn't even let his arm go as they walk into the room, despite the glares they're getting from Finn and Santana. Whatever. He's not going to explain anything to anyone. He can't even explain it to himself.
... ...
He doesn't really know what the hell's going on, but Finn and Rachel are sitting on opposite sides of the room, avoiding one another. Finn won't talk to Puck about what's going on. They're friends again, but apparently that doesn't quite extend to actual relationship talks yet. Puck doesn't really care anyway. Part of him wonders if there's still a little distrust there and Finn just doesn't want Puck around the girls he's into. Whatever.
So if Finn's not going to talk to him, he'll get Rachel to explain this shit.
She leaves practice right away, and by the time he's in the parking lot, she's already pulling away in her little silver hybrid. Shit. He really wants to know what's going on. Maybe he's just nosy.
Or maybe it's the fact that since she and Finn started 'dating' or whatever the fuck they're calling it, Puck has been kind of...Well...He hates it. Seriously. He's never honestly understood what jealousy felt like until he had to watch Finn and Rachel kissing (something he tried never to witness again).
He has no idea when he started wanting Rachel so badly. Really, he doesn't. Yeah, he hung out with her a few times and did little favours for her (not of the dirty/fun variety, but that's okay). He's driven her home a few times, and there was that whole incident where he accidentally volunteered to accompany her on guitar for some song. (He was half asleep and she said his name and he said 'yeah', and he ended up in the choir room with her for three hours, working on some not-entirely-sucky pop song to present to the group the next day.)
And now he's parking in her driveway as she fits her key in the lock of the front door of her house. He fucking followed her home like some weird stalker. Which he's not, for the record.
"Hey," he says, tucking his hands into his pockets as he approaches. She looks surprised, but she smiles.
"Would you like to come in?" she asks. Uh. Yeah? "My dads won't be home for an hour, but they don't mind if I have friends over. Just...boys have to stay in the living room."
He laughs as he kicks off his shoes. "Don't worry, babe. I'm not going to seduce you."
Her cheeks flare red and she turns away from him. "Would you like something to drink?" she asks over her shoulder. He answers no, then sprawls out on the sofa and waits until she comes back into the room with a big glass of water in her hand. "So what brings you here?"
"You and Finn are barely talking."
"Yes, well," she says stiffly.
She doesn't finish her sentence, and it freaks him the fuck out.
"What'd he do?"
She scoffs and turns to look at him. "He slept with Santana," she says bitterly.
His brow furrows. "Everyone's slept with Santana. What's the big deal?"
She doesn't seem to appreciate the question.
"He lied to my face. He told me he didn't go through with it," she explains. "I am so...I'm done with him."
Puck laughs and shakes his head. He'll believe that when he sees it. "Okay."
"I am! Every guy I've dated has just been such a...a...jerk!"
"Hey!" he says, offended. "Not all."
"Please," she mutters. She looks at him pointedly and he wonders if he really didn't treat her well. When they were dating, he treated her like gold. Before and a little while after? Not so much. "All."
Shit.
"Would it make any difference if I like, apologized or something?" he asks. "For being a dick so much?"
She smiles a little bit, then looks down at her lap. "It might."
So he apologizes, but thinks twice before giving her, like, a list of the crappy stuff he's done to her. After all, it's been a long time since he did something assy. Sometime after Sectionals or something. He still likes to push her buttons and try to get her all riled up, but that's all in good fun. He doesn't like, actually try to make her cry or anything, or use her face as target practice for the Slushie Throwing Olympics.
So when they're in practice next and she's trying to sing with Finn and Finn's trying to get her to make eye contact and talk during every break, Puck decides he's had enough of this shit.
"Mr. Schue?" he asks. The entire room turns to look at him. He never really says much in practice. "This isn't working."
"I agree," Rachel pipes up.
"Guys, we have to have this song ready for our concert in a couple weeks. We just have to work harder," Mr. Schuester says.
"No, we just need to replace Finn on lead vocals. With me," Puck says. He crosses his arms as Finn glares at him. Everyone seems completely shocked. "What? I can do it. And I'll actually be focused on getting it right, not making lame apologies."
Mr. Schuester tries to keep the piece as Finn's face hardens even more. "Okay, let's just..."
"I think it's a great idea," Rachel says, sticking her nose in the air a little as she turns her back on Finn. "I'd love to sing with Noah for a change."
Schue agrees, which is actually almost surprising, since he like, worships Finn for some reason, even though Puck thinks he's the better singer.
And you know what? He kills it. In a good way. He fucks up the choreography a couple times because it's his first time running through it, but his voice and Rachel's together? Magic. Fucking amazing. The way she's like, beaming at him lets him know she's pretty happy about this whole thing. And when he spins her without almost ripping her arm out of the socket (a la Finn), she smiles so big he's not sure how she's still singing.
"Thank you for saving me," she says afterward as they pack up their music. Almost everyone else is gone; Finn left first.
"Didn't," he shrugs. "I'm just sick of being in the background."
She laughs a little bit, walks backwards out of the choir room. "Sure," she says, this little smile on her face.
He thinks she understands him way too well for them not to be dating. He's going to try really hard to fix that.
(The not dating thing. He doesn't mind that she understands him.)
... ...
He doesn't really want to be at this party, but it's the beginning of the summer and some people are taking off to camp (Brittany and Santana) or to visit family in Asia (Mike) or working their asses off (himself, Matt). He figures one last night of fun before he's too exhausted to function after long work days isn't the worst thing. He kept his job at Sheets 'N' Things, despite the fact that he can't tell whether or not Crazy Terri wants to bang him or beat him with a curtain rod. He needs the money, okay? So he'll be working there, and on his 'off days', he'll have his pool cleaning business.
He's not even one beer into the evening when he sees something he doesn't like whatsoever.
Rachel's leaning up against a wall with that fucktard Shane Webb all up in her space. She's smiling, but as Puck looks a little closer, he can tell she's tense. Her shoulders are raised a little, like they get when she's on edge, and Shane is definitely standing way too close.
He's not going to do anything stupid. He's not going to march over there and do something that'll piss Rachel off, like grab her by the arm, throw her over his shoulder and carry her out of the party. (That's pretty much exactly what he wants to do, however.) What the fuck's she doing talking to Shane Webb anyway? Dude's a third string JV quarterback. No game whatsoever.
But he keeps his eye on her as he talks with Mike. Dude's going away for a month, so Puck's like, actually trying to pay attention. Really, he is. But then he sees Rachel put her hand on Shane's chest when he leans in too close. Buddy doesn't back off, and his hand curls around her waist, pressing himself against her. Puck sees Rachel squirm and try to shove at the dude, and before he knows what he's doing, he's walking towards where she's standing.
"Shane, I really..." she's saying.
Puck pushes the idiot away and tucks Rachel behind him protectively, where she grabs a fistful of his shirt.
"Back the fuck off, man," Shane says, straightening out his douchey polo shirt.
"Actually, I think it's you who needs to watch yourself. She's obviously not interested," Puck says. Mike's by his side now, arms crossed and staring the asshole down.
"Could have fooled me," Shane says, taking another look at Rachel. His eyes roam over her body and Puck clenches his fist. "She's practically begging for it."
When Puck throws punches, he uses the entire force of his body. It's like a swing in baseball; there's no power if you don't use everything you have. And what's the point of half-assing it?
So when Shane stumbles back against the wall, clutching his face, Puck finds himself smirking. That was a good one.
"What the fuck?" Shane shouts. "What's your problem?" Puck just stares the kid down. Really? Stupid questions don't deserve answers. "Whatever. I'm done with this glee club bitch."
He tries to walk away, but Mike surprises everyone by grabbing the front of the dude's shirt, slamming him against the wall, and leaning in really close. Puck keeps Rachel out of the way, his arm out a little bit to keep her from doing something stupid like trying to make everyone get along.
"Get the fuck out of my house," Mike says seriously. He shoves Shane one last time before letting him go, and everyone watches as the guy slinks away towards the front door.
Puck realizes Rachel's still holding onto him, so he turns around and looks at her. She's a little shell-shocked, but otherwise okay. He sets his hands on her cheeks, tips her face up so she's looking at him.
"You okay?" he asks quietly as the crowd disperses. She nods, so he gives Mike the 'it's all good' look and Mike nods once and walks away. "You want me to take you home?"
She can't seem to speak, so she just nods her head again. She clears her throat and lets him wrap his arm around her shoulder. He waves to Matt and Mike, who are standing on the other side of the room, and they just smile tensely back. He wonders if everyone just knows he's going to take care of Rachel, even if sometimes he doesn't realize he is until it happens.
"You're shaking," he says once they're outside. He walked, since he'd intended to get pretty drunk. He doesn't see her car around, so he starts down the sidewalk in the direction of her neighbourhood. "Rach."
"Sorry," she says, shaking her head a little bit. "I don't even know why I was talking to him, and then I couldn't get away, and..."
"I know." He's not going to admit he was watching them, but whatever. "Guy's a complete asshole."
"I'm embarrassed," she admits softly as she looks at the sidewalk.
"What? Why?" he asks, stopping in his tracks. She shrugs her shoulder. He's pissed off. "You didn't do anything wrong." He doesn't know what to do to comfort her, really, so he just pulls her into a tight hug. "Don't worry about it."
"I have terrible instincts," she says, and she's laughing a little bit, so he smiles as he pulls away. She links her arm through his, her hand on his bicep, and he doesn't mind. (At all.) "And how is it that you're always around to help me out of these situations?"
He chuckles and looks over at her. "Guess you're just lucky or something."
They're pretty quiet the rest of the way to Rachel's house. He's happy she doesn't live far from the party, because his hand is fucking killing him and he needs to get home and put some ice on his knuckles immediately. He notices, when they get there, that there's only one light on in the house. He assumes at least one of her parents is home home. (What? He's gotten good at observing these things when he's taking a girl home. It's important to know what you're walking into.)
"Come in and I'll get you some ice," she says. He furrows his brow questioningly. How did she know? "You've been wincing the entire walk home."
"I don't wince, babe," he says, smirking at her. He leans his arm against the door frame as he stands in front of her, hoping he's not pushing the limits, considering what she put up with already tonight. "But yeah, ice would be awesome."
She laughs a little and pushes open the door, then tells him to head up to her room while she tells her dads he's over and whatever else. So he lays down on her bed when he's in her room, because where else is he going to sit? And he knows from experience that her bed is super comfortable. His hand is all red and angry, and one of his knuckles is split. That's probably going to suck for his baseball game in a couple days, but whatever. Totally worth it to protect this girl.
He's never cared about a girl so much before. Especially one he wasn't having sex with.
"Here," she says, walking into the room. She's got two glasses of soda, some popcorn, and the bag of ice on a tray, and she sits down next to him on the bed. She takes his hand, looking at it before pressing the ice to his skin. "This looks disgusting."
"That's what it looks like after you punch someone."
"You didn't have to do that," she insists. She's still got his hand in hers. He doesn't know what that's about, but he doesn't mind much, so he doesn't say anything.
He laughs a little. "It's not like I minded. I haven't punched someone in way too long." She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "Anyone who treats a girl like that deserves to get the shit beaten out of them."
He's pretty surprised when she leans over and kisses his cheek, her hand on his shoulder. She's blushing when she pulls away, biting her bottom lip. She lets go of his hand and straightens out her skirt on her lap.
"Thank you," she says quietly.
"Rach, if you wanted to kiss me, you just had to say so," he tells her cockily.
But seriously, she doesn't even have to say anything. She can just, you know, jump him. He'd totally be okay with that.
She swats at his chest and asks if he wants to watch a movie, so the end up sitting together on her bed with some not-super-sucky romantic comedy playing.
She doesn't really kiss him until like, a week later, but it's still pretty awesome anyway.
... ...
Their first week back to glee club in the fall, Mr. Schuester is going about certain members not committing the way others are, and he shows the club the list of people who want to audition to become new members. There's no cap on how many members glee club can have, but Mr. Schue says they need to have committed members.
When he calls out Puck as one of the ones who needs to step it up? That shit isn't cool. Puck did everything he could last year to defend this club, and this is the thanks he gets? Fuck that noise.
"So what? You're kicking me out?" Puck asks angrily. His arm is around the back of Rachel's chair, and he's a little afraid to look at her, just in case there's steam coming out her ears or something.
"No," Mr. Schuester replies calmly. "I'm going to ask a few of you to re-audition."
"This is horseshit!" Puck claims.
He doesn't know what Rachel's doing when she stands up and marches to the front of the room to stand right in front of Mr. Schue.
"This is horribly unfair, Mr. Schuester, and you should know that if this is an exercise in group unity, you're failing," Rachel states seriously, hands on her hips. Puck loves her a little more when she gets like this. It's totally hot.
"Rachel..."
"However," she says, cutting Mr. Schuester off and turning towards the class. "You should all begin preparing yourselves for Noah's audition. It's going to be fantastic." She turns back to Mr. Schuester again. "You should be ashamed of yourself," she states. Puck almost jumps up and tells her to shut her mouth before she gets suspended for back talking a teacher. "Glee club is about coming together as a group and finding joy in music. You're insistent on separating us, pitting us against one another."
"Rachel, that's not..."
"I'm not finished," Rachel says. Puck laughs. He's not the only one. He and Artie share a look, both of them thinking how nuts this is. "I'm going to help Noah with his audition. In fact, if any of the other members who are on the proverbial chopping block would like my help, I'm more than happy to offer my time and services."
She flips her hair and heads for the door.
"We're not done rehearsal," Mr. Schuester says. It's clear he's pissed, but Puck doesn't give a shit, his girl is so badass. It's totally sexy.
She turns around again once she's standing in the doorway. "Well, we don't even have a set roster. How on earth are we supposed to work out harmonies and choreography if you're just going to cut members and replace them with new ones?" she asks. "Seems like a waste of time to me." The students in the room all smile. Sometimes her crazy pays off. "Come on, Noah. We have work to do."
He's not really a fan of being bossed around or told what to do, but this? This he can handle. He's pretty sure this is going to be the most epic of all her epic storm outs.
So he follows her into the hall and grabs her by the hips as soon as they're in a quiet space.
"You're fucking hot when you get like that," he murmurs into her ear. Her back is pressed against him and he's trying really hard not to tuck his fingers into the waistband of her skirt. She gets all weird about 'doing stuff' on school grounds. "Thanks, Rach."
"He can't do that," she says seriously. She turns around and he grins at her as she gets all pissy. "It's completely unfair, especially to you and Artie! I mean, Santana...well, she really doesn't carry her weight. That's not to say she shouldn't be in the group, but it's not..."
"Rachel," he laughs. He leans down and kisses her, then weaves their hands together. "It'll be fine."
"Of course it will. I'm going to coach you. Your audition will be impeccable."
He lets her pull him towards the door to the parking lot, but he's not going to let her turn him into someone who practices all the time and never does anything else.
"Can we fool around first?"
Chapter: 1/1
Warning: Slight spoilers for Funk.
Pairing: Puck/Rachel
Summary: Fictable prompt #25 - Devotion. Four times Puck sticks up for Rachel and one time Rachel sticks up for Puck.
Word Count: 5,403
Disclaimer: Don't own.
She's playing a tinkly little melody on the piano in the choir room when Puck comes in to get his guitar. His case is mysteriously sitting right next to her, which is clearly not where he left it. They're both still wearing their costumes from their kick ass performance that totally scared the hell out of those douches from Carmel. He's ditched the chains, though, 'cause that shit was heavy. He takes a second to try and figure out if her shorts are even covering her ass.
Barely. Just barely.
So he walks over and sits down to her left, and yeah, he thinks she looks pretty hot with her hair spilling down her back under that hat.
"Hey," he says as she presses the keys.
"Hi."
"Still all depressed and shit?" he asks.
It's been days since that whole incident in the parking lot. That doesn't mean it doesn't still piss him off to think about it. Yeah, that's the kind of shit he used to do, but he'd never get a group of people and attack a girl like that. That shit is just not cool, even if it was just eggs. Plus, Rachel's a vegan (which he thinks is really effed up, but whatever). He knows how seriously she takes that stuff.
She doesn't answer his question, so he hits a note he knows will clash with the ones she's playing. She jumps a little, looks over at him like she's actually offended by what he's done.
"Talk to me," he finds himself saying. He's never said those words to anyone. He's certainly never wanted to.
"I thought we were okay," she admits quietly.
"You kidding me? We were awesome!"
"No." She shakes her head. "I mean Jesse and I." He lets out a breath. He's really fucking sick of hearing about that guy. "He came back and everything was fine, and...This is just...breaking my heart."
"You didn't love that guy," he states. No way she loved that kid. Puck starts plucking out a bassline on the lower keys, one that matches what she's playing. She hasn't noticed yet.
"I thought I did. Doesn't that mean anything?"
"Whatever," he mumbles.
She brings both hands up onto the keys and begins playing some classical piece, and he stops playing so he can listen to her. She's really good. He took a few years of piano before switching to guitar. That's how he's so awesome at reading music. He wants to ask her what song this is, but that just seems like something he shouldn't (wouldn't) do. Sometimes he can ignore that (his mom says he's changing or something) but right now, he's sticking with the fact that, despite what he may or may not feel for this girl (really, he has no clue what it is), he just doesn't care that much.
"You were going to beat him up," she says quietly as she plays.
"Yup."
"Why?"
"Because!" he nearly shouts. He keeps losing it around her. About her. She stops playing. He misses it. (Shit. What's going on with him?) "Because a, it's what I do. And because b, that dick deserves it. And because c, no one fucking messes with you and gets away with it." Shit. What'd he just say? "You know. 'Cause we're on the same team and whatever."
That little smile on her face lets him know she's totally on to him. Shit.
Thing is? He doesn't know what she's onto. It's not like he like, wants her or whatever. He just doesn't want anyone else to have her. And he doesn't want anyone to hurt her at all. And if he gets to spend a little extra time with her, that's cool, too. And maybe, every once in a while, he'll get the urge to kiss her or whatever. But that's totally normal. (He's not really sure about the rest of it.)
"Right. Because we're on the same team," she says.
"Come on. You'd beat someone up for me," he says, smirking at her as he bumps her shoulder.
"No, I wouldn't," she laughs. She wipes her cheek with the back of her index finger and he realizes she started crying sometime after he sat down. "I would most likely give them a stern talk regarding whatever it was they did to hurt you, but..."
"Whoa," he says, holding up his hand. "Hurt me? No."
The thing with Rachel is that she's the one person who knows he's not invincible. Everyone else can assume all they want and talk shit behind his back, but Rachel's the only one he's ever really shown any emotion to.
"Of course," she says, laughing quietly. She sniffles a little bit and he finds himself draping his arm lazily over her shoulder so his hand is dangling in front of her. He doesn't even bother to try and cop a feel. (That's not to say he doesn't want to.) "But I would defend you if you needed me to."
"Yeah?" he asks, his brow raised.
She shrugs her shoulder, but not to get him to stop touching her. "We are teammates after all," she says.
She's teasing him. He knows it. He kind of likes it.
He looks at her, then down at his guitar case. He wonders how long she's just been sitting here waiting for...
"Were you waiting for me?" he asks, smirking slyly as he pulls his arm off her.
"I was..." She turns to look at him, shrugs her shoulder again. "I don't know what I was waiting for."
He gets up, pulls her up by the elbow and most definitely looks up her shorts when he bends down to pick up his guitar case. (Pink panties under her red shorts. Awesome.)
"You were waiting for me," he says. Even if that's not what she was doing, he's going to pretend. "Come on. I'll drive you home."
"You don't have to do that," she insists. He rolls his eyes and starts walking toward the door. "But since you're offering, I accept."
The way she chirps a thank you at him as she hops out of his truck definitely doesn't make him actually smile.
... ...
So he's actually kind of getting used to wearing ties for glee performances. He doesn't hate it. He can totally make ties look cool and sexy and stuff. Also? He basically loves the way every woman within view of him look at him like they want to grab him and do unspeakably dirty things to him. So there's that.
They're at Regionals in their dressing room, which is kind of misleading because it's not like he actually gets to watch the girls get dressed or anything. It's basically just a place with a bunch of mirrors and whatever so the girls can fluff their hair for like, the four millionth time, and the guys can stand around and pretend they aren't totally bored.
The only girl he doesn't see is Rachel, and he assumes it's just because she's got some crazy, obsessive compulsive pre-show ritual that she's got to go through or she'll, like, fall off the stage or something. Chick is nuts.
When she walks into the room, he's pretty sure everyone takes notice.
She looks gorgeous.
Her hair is all shiny and big and held in place by a little headband that matches her dress, which fits her like a freaking glove. And her legs...God, her legs.
Finn gets to her before Puck can. Story of his life. (Except for, you know, 'Sorry I took your girlfriend's virginity and she's currently about two seconds away from popping out my bastard spawn'.)
He smiles at her, and she smiles back as she talks to Finn. He wonders if that might mean something.
When he steps out into the hall, he notices two kids in bad costumes from some rival school. They're total losers, he can tell. He's just waiting for one of them to dare to look him in the face so he can do something to terrify them, because that's just the way he rolls, okay?
But then as he's walking past, he hears a little of their conversation. They're talking about Rachel.
They're talking about how hot 'that lead from Mckinley' is.
Puck isn't super pissed (seriously, she is pretty hot; no crime in appreciating that) until he hears one of the kids say he's going to try to get front row seats for the New Directions performance so he can see up Rachel's dress. That's basically the moment Puck straight up loses his shit.
He turns sharply, steps forward and backs the little fucker up against the wall. He puts his fist against the wall, right next to the kid's head, and smirks when he sees the terror in the little jackoff's eyes.
"Watch your fucking mouth," Puck growls.
He doesn't know where this is coming from. He'd probably do the same thing, try to see up her dress. Shit, he has done that. A hundred times. But he and Rachel are like, friends or something.
"I...I was..."
Puck rolls his eyes. "You were just being a little perv. Keep talking about my girl that way and I'll beat your ass so hard you won't be able..."
"Noah?" Rachel says. Dammit. When'd she show up? "Are you ready? We're just about to warm up."
He backs away from the little bastard and winks, just because. When he turns to Rachel, he holds out his arm for her, and she literally beams before looping her arm through his. And yeah, this is the kind of shit they used to do when they were dating and haven't done since. But whatever. He's going for effect, alright?
"Let's do this, babe."
So yeah, he just totally made it look like she's his girlfriend, even when she's circling around try number two (or whatever) with Finn. It's just that 'my girl' sounds a lot more threatening than 'the female lead of my show choir.' Come on.
He doesn't really know what it means, but he doesn't think he even needs to be with her to stick up for her. It's just something he does without having to feel like it's his job. He still does, though.
She doesn't even let his arm go as they walk into the room, despite the glares they're getting from Finn and Santana. Whatever. He's not going to explain anything to anyone. He can't even explain it to himself.
... ...
He doesn't really know what the hell's going on, but Finn and Rachel are sitting on opposite sides of the room, avoiding one another. Finn won't talk to Puck about what's going on. They're friends again, but apparently that doesn't quite extend to actual relationship talks yet. Puck doesn't really care anyway. Part of him wonders if there's still a little distrust there and Finn just doesn't want Puck around the girls he's into. Whatever.
So if Finn's not going to talk to him, he'll get Rachel to explain this shit.
She leaves practice right away, and by the time he's in the parking lot, she's already pulling away in her little silver hybrid. Shit. He really wants to know what's going on. Maybe he's just nosy.
Or maybe it's the fact that since she and Finn started 'dating' or whatever the fuck they're calling it, Puck has been kind of...Well...He hates it. Seriously. He's never honestly understood what jealousy felt like until he had to watch Finn and Rachel kissing (something he tried never to witness again).
He has no idea when he started wanting Rachel so badly. Really, he doesn't. Yeah, he hung out with her a few times and did little favours for her (not of the dirty/fun variety, but that's okay). He's driven her home a few times, and there was that whole incident where he accidentally volunteered to accompany her on guitar for some song. (He was half asleep and she said his name and he said 'yeah', and he ended up in the choir room with her for three hours, working on some not-entirely-sucky pop song to present to the group the next day.)
And now he's parking in her driveway as she fits her key in the lock of the front door of her house. He fucking followed her home like some weird stalker. Which he's not, for the record.
"Hey," he says, tucking his hands into his pockets as he approaches. She looks surprised, but she smiles.
"Would you like to come in?" she asks. Uh. Yeah? "My dads won't be home for an hour, but they don't mind if I have friends over. Just...boys have to stay in the living room."
He laughs as he kicks off his shoes. "Don't worry, babe. I'm not going to seduce you."
Her cheeks flare red and she turns away from him. "Would you like something to drink?" she asks over her shoulder. He answers no, then sprawls out on the sofa and waits until she comes back into the room with a big glass of water in her hand. "So what brings you here?"
"You and Finn are barely talking."
"Yes, well," she says stiffly.
She doesn't finish her sentence, and it freaks him the fuck out.
"What'd he do?"
She scoffs and turns to look at him. "He slept with Santana," she says bitterly.
His brow furrows. "Everyone's slept with Santana. What's the big deal?"
She doesn't seem to appreciate the question.
"He lied to my face. He told me he didn't go through with it," she explains. "I am so...I'm done with him."
Puck laughs and shakes his head. He'll believe that when he sees it. "Okay."
"I am! Every guy I've dated has just been such a...a...jerk!"
"Hey!" he says, offended. "Not all."
"Please," she mutters. She looks at him pointedly and he wonders if he really didn't treat her well. When they were dating, he treated her like gold. Before and a little while after? Not so much. "All."
Shit.
"Would it make any difference if I like, apologized or something?" he asks. "For being a dick so much?"
She smiles a little bit, then looks down at her lap. "It might."
So he apologizes, but thinks twice before giving her, like, a list of the crappy stuff he's done to her. After all, it's been a long time since he did something assy. Sometime after Sectionals or something. He still likes to push her buttons and try to get her all riled up, but that's all in good fun. He doesn't like, actually try to make her cry or anything, or use her face as target practice for the Slushie Throwing Olympics.
So when they're in practice next and she's trying to sing with Finn and Finn's trying to get her to make eye contact and talk during every break, Puck decides he's had enough of this shit.
"Mr. Schue?" he asks. The entire room turns to look at him. He never really says much in practice. "This isn't working."
"I agree," Rachel pipes up.
"Guys, we have to have this song ready for our concert in a couple weeks. We just have to work harder," Mr. Schuester says.
"No, we just need to replace Finn on lead vocals. With me," Puck says. He crosses his arms as Finn glares at him. Everyone seems completely shocked. "What? I can do it. And I'll actually be focused on getting it right, not making lame apologies."
Mr. Schuester tries to keep the piece as Finn's face hardens even more. "Okay, let's just..."
"I think it's a great idea," Rachel says, sticking her nose in the air a little as she turns her back on Finn. "I'd love to sing with Noah for a change."
Schue agrees, which is actually almost surprising, since he like, worships Finn for some reason, even though Puck thinks he's the better singer.
And you know what? He kills it. In a good way. He fucks up the choreography a couple times because it's his first time running through it, but his voice and Rachel's together? Magic. Fucking amazing. The way she's like, beaming at him lets him know she's pretty happy about this whole thing. And when he spins her without almost ripping her arm out of the socket (a la Finn), she smiles so big he's not sure how she's still singing.
"Thank you for saving me," she says afterward as they pack up their music. Almost everyone else is gone; Finn left first.
"Didn't," he shrugs. "I'm just sick of being in the background."
She laughs a little bit, walks backwards out of the choir room. "Sure," she says, this little smile on her face.
He thinks she understands him way too well for them not to be dating. He's going to try really hard to fix that.
(The not dating thing. He doesn't mind that she understands him.)
... ...
He doesn't really want to be at this party, but it's the beginning of the summer and some people are taking off to camp (Brittany and Santana) or to visit family in Asia (Mike) or working their asses off (himself, Matt). He figures one last night of fun before he's too exhausted to function after long work days isn't the worst thing. He kept his job at Sheets 'N' Things, despite the fact that he can't tell whether or not Crazy Terri wants to bang him or beat him with a curtain rod. He needs the money, okay? So he'll be working there, and on his 'off days', he'll have his pool cleaning business.
He's not even one beer into the evening when he sees something he doesn't like whatsoever.
Rachel's leaning up against a wall with that fucktard Shane Webb all up in her space. She's smiling, but as Puck looks a little closer, he can tell she's tense. Her shoulders are raised a little, like they get when she's on edge, and Shane is definitely standing way too close.
He's not going to do anything stupid. He's not going to march over there and do something that'll piss Rachel off, like grab her by the arm, throw her over his shoulder and carry her out of the party. (That's pretty much exactly what he wants to do, however.) What the fuck's she doing talking to Shane Webb anyway? Dude's a third string JV quarterback. No game whatsoever.
But he keeps his eye on her as he talks with Mike. Dude's going away for a month, so Puck's like, actually trying to pay attention. Really, he is. But then he sees Rachel put her hand on Shane's chest when he leans in too close. Buddy doesn't back off, and his hand curls around her waist, pressing himself against her. Puck sees Rachel squirm and try to shove at the dude, and before he knows what he's doing, he's walking towards where she's standing.
"Shane, I really..." she's saying.
Puck pushes the idiot away and tucks Rachel behind him protectively, where she grabs a fistful of his shirt.
"Back the fuck off, man," Shane says, straightening out his douchey polo shirt.
"Actually, I think it's you who needs to watch yourself. She's obviously not interested," Puck says. Mike's by his side now, arms crossed and staring the asshole down.
"Could have fooled me," Shane says, taking another look at Rachel. His eyes roam over her body and Puck clenches his fist. "She's practically begging for it."
When Puck throws punches, he uses the entire force of his body. It's like a swing in baseball; there's no power if you don't use everything you have. And what's the point of half-assing it?
So when Shane stumbles back against the wall, clutching his face, Puck finds himself smirking. That was a good one.
"What the fuck?" Shane shouts. "What's your problem?" Puck just stares the kid down. Really? Stupid questions don't deserve answers. "Whatever. I'm done with this glee club bitch."
He tries to walk away, but Mike surprises everyone by grabbing the front of the dude's shirt, slamming him against the wall, and leaning in really close. Puck keeps Rachel out of the way, his arm out a little bit to keep her from doing something stupid like trying to make everyone get along.
"Get the fuck out of my house," Mike says seriously. He shoves Shane one last time before letting him go, and everyone watches as the guy slinks away towards the front door.
Puck realizes Rachel's still holding onto him, so he turns around and looks at her. She's a little shell-shocked, but otherwise okay. He sets his hands on her cheeks, tips her face up so she's looking at him.
"You okay?" he asks quietly as the crowd disperses. She nods, so he gives Mike the 'it's all good' look and Mike nods once and walks away. "You want me to take you home?"
She can't seem to speak, so she just nods her head again. She clears her throat and lets him wrap his arm around her shoulder. He waves to Matt and Mike, who are standing on the other side of the room, and they just smile tensely back. He wonders if everyone just knows he's going to take care of Rachel, even if sometimes he doesn't realize he is until it happens.
"You're shaking," he says once they're outside. He walked, since he'd intended to get pretty drunk. He doesn't see her car around, so he starts down the sidewalk in the direction of her neighbourhood. "Rach."
"Sorry," she says, shaking her head a little bit. "I don't even know why I was talking to him, and then I couldn't get away, and..."
"I know." He's not going to admit he was watching them, but whatever. "Guy's a complete asshole."
"I'm embarrassed," she admits softly as she looks at the sidewalk.
"What? Why?" he asks, stopping in his tracks. She shrugs her shoulder. He's pissed off. "You didn't do anything wrong." He doesn't know what to do to comfort her, really, so he just pulls her into a tight hug. "Don't worry about it."
"I have terrible instincts," she says, and she's laughing a little bit, so he smiles as he pulls away. She links her arm through his, her hand on his bicep, and he doesn't mind. (At all.) "And how is it that you're always around to help me out of these situations?"
He chuckles and looks over at her. "Guess you're just lucky or something."
They're pretty quiet the rest of the way to Rachel's house. He's happy she doesn't live far from the party, because his hand is fucking killing him and he needs to get home and put some ice on his knuckles immediately. He notices, when they get there, that there's only one light on in the house. He assumes at least one of her parents is home home. (What? He's gotten good at observing these things when he's taking a girl home. It's important to know what you're walking into.)
"Come in and I'll get you some ice," she says. He furrows his brow questioningly. How did she know? "You've been wincing the entire walk home."
"I don't wince, babe," he says, smirking at her. He leans his arm against the door frame as he stands in front of her, hoping he's not pushing the limits, considering what she put up with already tonight. "But yeah, ice would be awesome."
She laughs a little and pushes open the door, then tells him to head up to her room while she tells her dads he's over and whatever else. So he lays down on her bed when he's in her room, because where else is he going to sit? And he knows from experience that her bed is super comfortable. His hand is all red and angry, and one of his knuckles is split. That's probably going to suck for his baseball game in a couple days, but whatever. Totally worth it to protect this girl.
He's never cared about a girl so much before. Especially one he wasn't having sex with.
"Here," she says, walking into the room. She's got two glasses of soda, some popcorn, and the bag of ice on a tray, and she sits down next to him on the bed. She takes his hand, looking at it before pressing the ice to his skin. "This looks disgusting."
"That's what it looks like after you punch someone."
"You didn't have to do that," she insists. She's still got his hand in hers. He doesn't know what that's about, but he doesn't mind much, so he doesn't say anything.
He laughs a little. "It's not like I minded. I haven't punched someone in way too long." She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "Anyone who treats a girl like that deserves to get the shit beaten out of them."
He's pretty surprised when she leans over and kisses his cheek, her hand on his shoulder. She's blushing when she pulls away, biting her bottom lip. She lets go of his hand and straightens out her skirt on her lap.
"Thank you," she says quietly.
"Rach, if you wanted to kiss me, you just had to say so," he tells her cockily.
But seriously, she doesn't even have to say anything. She can just, you know, jump him. He'd totally be okay with that.
She swats at his chest and asks if he wants to watch a movie, so the end up sitting together on her bed with some not-super-sucky romantic comedy playing.
She doesn't really kiss him until like, a week later, but it's still pretty awesome anyway.
... ...
Their first week back to glee club in the fall, Mr. Schuester is going about certain members not committing the way others are, and he shows the club the list of people who want to audition to become new members. There's no cap on how many members glee club can have, but Mr. Schue says they need to have committed members.
When he calls out Puck as one of the ones who needs to step it up? That shit isn't cool. Puck did everything he could last year to defend this club, and this is the thanks he gets? Fuck that noise.
"So what? You're kicking me out?" Puck asks angrily. His arm is around the back of Rachel's chair, and he's a little afraid to look at her, just in case there's steam coming out her ears or something.
"No," Mr. Schuester replies calmly. "I'm going to ask a few of you to re-audition."
"This is horseshit!" Puck claims.
He doesn't know what Rachel's doing when she stands up and marches to the front of the room to stand right in front of Mr. Schue.
"This is horribly unfair, Mr. Schuester, and you should know that if this is an exercise in group unity, you're failing," Rachel states seriously, hands on her hips. Puck loves her a little more when she gets like this. It's totally hot.
"Rachel..."
"However," she says, cutting Mr. Schuester off and turning towards the class. "You should all begin preparing yourselves for Noah's audition. It's going to be fantastic." She turns back to Mr. Schuester again. "You should be ashamed of yourself," she states. Puck almost jumps up and tells her to shut her mouth before she gets suspended for back talking a teacher. "Glee club is about coming together as a group and finding joy in music. You're insistent on separating us, pitting us against one another."
"Rachel, that's not..."
"I'm not finished," Rachel says. Puck laughs. He's not the only one. He and Artie share a look, both of them thinking how nuts this is. "I'm going to help Noah with his audition. In fact, if any of the other members who are on the proverbial chopping block would like my help, I'm more than happy to offer my time and services."
She flips her hair and heads for the door.
"We're not done rehearsal," Mr. Schuester says. It's clear he's pissed, but Puck doesn't give a shit, his girl is so badass. It's totally sexy.
She turns around again once she's standing in the doorway. "Well, we don't even have a set roster. How on earth are we supposed to work out harmonies and choreography if you're just going to cut members and replace them with new ones?" she asks. "Seems like a waste of time to me." The students in the room all smile. Sometimes her crazy pays off. "Come on, Noah. We have work to do."
He's not really a fan of being bossed around or told what to do, but this? This he can handle. He's pretty sure this is going to be the most epic of all her epic storm outs.
So he follows her into the hall and grabs her by the hips as soon as they're in a quiet space.
"You're fucking hot when you get like that," he murmurs into her ear. Her back is pressed against him and he's trying really hard not to tuck his fingers into the waistband of her skirt. She gets all weird about 'doing stuff' on school grounds. "Thanks, Rach."
"He can't do that," she says seriously. She turns around and he grins at her as she gets all pissy. "It's completely unfair, especially to you and Artie! I mean, Santana...well, she really doesn't carry her weight. That's not to say she shouldn't be in the group, but it's not..."
"Rachel," he laughs. He leans down and kisses her, then weaves their hands together. "It'll be fine."
"Of course it will. I'm going to coach you. Your audition will be impeccable."
He lets her pull him towards the door to the parking lot, but he's not going to let her turn him into someone who practices all the time and never does anything else.
"Can we fool around first?"