I can't, right now. I just. I'm a mess. RIP Cory, you're a true inspiration.

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i.

Oh, I hear the quiet now
of paper airplanes falling down ...

Ma and Dad just had a big fight that went on for days when Dad finally decided that they need to move, said something about how this "fucked-up place is the reason why we're in this mess in the first place" and that's how Puck finds himself in Lima, Ohio - kinda just standing there, you know, not really knowing what to do because the kids here are all super weird and keep giving him strange looks and psh, whatever, I'm still cooler than you.

So he sits there at the lawn just stares at up ahead 'cause Dad has been out since yesterday's dinner and Ma can't stop crying at the kitchen and Puck really doesn't want to see that.

"This town sucks," he kicks a pebble by his shoe, grumbles some more and looks up ahead.

The neighboring kids never really do anything crazy (of course they haven't! They didn't meet him yet, those bastards) and Puck just sits there like an idiot and he's wondering why he's actually doing this. He means, is he just pretending to wait on Dad because he wants to see if anybody dare to talk to him, or is he just really avoiding the whole thing off - the fact his family is "fucked-up" and upside-down.

Whatever.

He doesn't care, he tells himself. He's going to grow up and forget all of these. It's too messy.

"Hey." A voice squeaks and Puck lifts his chin up and he tries not to cringe at this skinny kid in front of him; pale skin and messy hair. Well, someone looks like a complete snot. The skinny kid brushes the back of his neck almost nervously.

Puck acknowledges him by nodding. "Yo."

"I'm Finn. Finn Hudson."

"That's cool. Hudson - like the car," Puck only knows that because Uncle Stefano is crazy about cars. He stands up, wipes dusts off on his pants and faces the Finn kid again. Oh. The dude's taller by a few inch. Puck guesses he's not that bad after all. "Puck."

Finn kinda frowns a sad one. He looks sorta pathetic. "Is that your real name?"

"What." Puck glares at him really hard; people really shouldn't question his name. Noah's too boring (obviously it's Ma's idea to name him such a lame name) and Puck's super cool, has a dangerous edge (Dad says so). "You gotta problem with that?"

"Uh, n-no!" Finn stammers and Puck smirks at that, feeling all proud. Dad would be proud too. "It's just - that's a weird name for a boy, but you know - it's kinda cool too."

"Of course it's cool. Not like your boring-ass name."

Finn gasps very dramatically, "You cursed!"

"Yeah, so what." Puck snarls at him, "You never heard it before?"

"Doesn't your parents get mad at you when you cursed."

"Nah. My Ma's really cool. Dad cursed like his life depended on it - so s'not like it's anything new," Well, that's a lie. If Ma ever finds out he cursed, she'd butcher him on the spot. But the Dad part is true though. Dad cursed like it's a legit English vocabulary or something. Puck eyes Finn in front of him, trying to figure out if he can see through Puck's facade.

"Woah. That's really cool, I mean - " Finn stammers again and brushes the back of his neck. Puck lets him. "I know it's bad, but it's not like a lot of parents allow their children to say... bad words. I know my mom will go mad if I say one bad word."

"Well, that's just the life for you - so suck it up." Puck tells him, trying not to comment what a boring life Finn must have. "So, like, do you do anything around here? 'Cause this town kinda sucks and I'm about to snore my head off."

Finn glances around, then shrugs helplessly. "I don't know. We never do anything big. It's Lima." He says like everyone should know that. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well," Puck's mind starts to reel. He gazes at his house for a second before stepping closer to Finn. "Where's the closest K-mart?"

And with that, begins the Adventure of a lifetime with Puck and Finn as best friends. (Finn doesn't argue that Puck's name is before his, and that's always a good sign. Always.)

.

Puck starts school soon and Finn doesn't ever leave his side, ever - which sometimes are more annoying than ever, but it's okay really, Puck will tolerate.

Dad and Ma doesn't fight as much, well not right now, but Puck still prefers going over to Finn's because Carole really doesn't mind all that much and she's almost always out at work and they almost always have the house all to themselves. So, Puck's really excited because he's going over to Finn's this evening and they're going to finish the drum-set they've been building for the past week - it was really cool!

There are still a few moments before class ends and Puck's very boring so he starts tugging on this girl's ponytail and she always sneers and asks him to stop in the most weird way possible and Puck just couldn't stop. Puck recognizes the girl from the Jewish Community Center that Ma drags his ass to every week, and it's not really Puck's fault that he fairly remembers the chick: she's got this nose the size of a really big chili and is really proper and sings all the dang time!

But she does has the curliest of hair though - it usually doesn't show if she lets her hair down, but when it's in a ponytail, it curls by the end and it really is soft.

"For the love of God, Noah!" The girl glares really hard that Puck thinks her eyes are going to come out of her sockets. He tries not to acknowledge how cool that image is.

"Don't call me that." Puck glares back, sneering. Girl never gets the memo: Noah doesn't exist!

"Puck is a ridiculous name!" Berry - that's her surname - crosses her arms over her chest.

Puck snorts, "That's a really ridiculous dress."

Berry gasps, looking down at her dress and frowning all over the place. "My Aunt Carla bought it at Puerto Rico. It's hand-sewn and all."

"I'm sure that means like it's expensive or something, but nobody really cares." Puck points out and then feels someone poking his rib. He turns to his left to see a frowning Finn. Now, what's his problem?

The school bell rings before Puck or Finn could say anything and everyone - particularly Puck - rushes quickly out from class because FREEDOM! and he can feel his fingers itch to play the drum-set. Then he pulls to a stop and realizes Finn's not anywhere near him, so Puck glowers at the lockers and wait by the door patiently. He makes it a priority to tug Berry's ponytail for the last time when she walks through the door and humor himself when she turns to send him her infamous glare.

When Finn (of course he's the last one out the door) walks out, Puck snaps. "Dude. Did you forget we have a drum-set to finish!"

Finn shakes his head and blinks awkwardly. "It could wait, couldn't it?"

"No, it can't. Remember I have to catch up to Naruto at five. You know my Ma's gonna snatch the TV if I don't get there first!" Puck points out seriously, pulls on the sling of his bag and turns on his sneaker. He can hear Finn's paddling behind.

"Y-yeah, of course. Uh, dude - can I talk to you about something?" Finn sounds hesitant.

Puck shrugs his shoulder and glances around once they're outside, trying to identify their bus. "You sound serious. You're not running away from home or anything, are you?"

"NO!" Finn yelps and Puck snickers - he knows Finn wouldn't do that. Hudson loves his mom too much to leave her, even if he's broken to many pieces. That is something Puck finds really good in Finn, really rare. Finn looks around too, "It's just - about the girl."

"Girl? Which one?" Puck's now giving him an eye.

"The, uh, the one you keep tugging her hair. Rachel." Finn points to their bus and nudges Puck - they walk to it. "Rachel Berry."

"Whats up with her?" Puck gazes at Finn's face, trying to read something. "You like her?"

"N-no! No, I don't." Finn says, and it's not exactly a surprising answer. Barely anyone would 'fess up on liking the chick. Berry's not very popular and always getting picked on. Mainly because of the nose, and the fact she doesn't have the ability to stop talking. "I just - can you like, I don't know, lay it off. She doesn't really do anything to you, you know."

Puck now stops in his track, stopping Finn with him too. "Are you suggesting I'm bullying her?"

"I - uh - no?"

"C'mon, Hudson - spit it out. Don't beat around the bushes - s'annoying as hell."

Finn sighs out really loud and Puck just cringes. "I don't like you disturbing her. She's okay, you know. She even helped me the other day when I can't get this one Math question wrong and she doesn't even tell me I'm dumb or anything. I think she's cool."

"Dude, I was just playing with her. She's always annoyed with me when we talk - you do know we're in JCC together, right?" Puck starts to walk again now, not taking a chance to wait on the late bus.

Finn now looks like he's thinking really hard - he really shouldn't do that: Puck thinks he might blast his head off or something. "That's the club your mom participated in, right?"

"It's not a club, you moron. It's a community of some sort - for Jewish." Puck takes a step on the bus and snarls at the driver. It's just safe to assume Puck and Mr Jefferson have some history that hasn't been pretty for both parties. "Have you even been listening to what I've been telling you?"

Finn looks bashful. Puck rolls his eyes. "Anyway, Berry and I know each other - or better yet, our parents know each other. What I'm tryin' to say is, Ma will peal my eyes off if I ever hurt Berry. She adores her like crazy. So don't worry if I'll ever touch a finger on your secret crush."

"She's not my secret crush!" Finn squawks like a duck, now blushing up really sorta prettily.

Puck snorts. "Whatever. I could care less."

Finn grumbles something about "not my secret crush" but Puck just ignores him and concentrates on glowering at the nerds who's occupying their (Puck and Finn, not the nerds) unofficial seats and smirks very, very wide when the nerds scrambles to sit elsewhere. Finn sighs because there's a part of him that wishes his best friend isn't much of a bully - and Puck doesn't know if it's possible, but he smirks some more.

.

Ma and the Berry parents are talking outside the center when Puck and Berry are asked to "play nicely" at the playground.

Berry doesn't look too happy and Puck nearly wants to say that, "hey, you're not the only one" but doesn't and concentrates on the swings instead. Ma really likes the Berrys and they do bake the best muffins Puck's ever tasted, so Puck doesn't really give a damn that they're gay or anything. (Dad doesn't like them though - they're one of the many things Ma and him fight about.)

Berry's swinging on the swings next to him and she looks very sad with her eyes and for one second, Puck allows himself to care. Then, the conversation with Finn stings his mind and he looks at Berry carefully. He nudges her shin with his sneakers lightly, "Berry."

Berry huffs and chooses to ignore him.

"Hey, Berrryyyy!" he tries again. Puck frowns when there's no result. "Hey. Talk to me. C'mon. I'll even let you call me Noah today - but just like, for today only."

She opens her mouth and Puck smiles, but then she shuts it. Puck glares slightly. "Berry!"

She just huffs some more and crosses her arms over her chest. Puck twists his mouth and bites his inner cheek and then sighs out, "Fine. Rachel."

Berry's eyes twinkles - actually twinkles! - and she has the biggest smiles and says, "Yes, Noah? You know, you should really start addressing someone by their given name as it is rather more appropriate..." and then she goes on and on about how surname serves as just surnames and blah, blah, blah and Puck swears he almost dozes off.

Puck waves his hand quickly, "Yeah, yeah, nice speech there - but I didn't call your name for that."

Berry frowns for a moment, "You call me because?"

"Do you and Hudson have anything going on?"

"W-what!" Berry's now as red as a tomato. Puck just cringes hard. Gross! "Wh-why would you say anything like that? Finn Hudson and I are two very separate person who just happens to go to the same school together and have the same three classes and in one of them, he even coincidentally being seated next to me and - "

"Woah, woah - you're gonna run out of breath there, Berry." Puck stops, then brushes his hair. "I mean, Rachel. It's just a question."

Berry now plays with the hem of her dress, "Why are you so curious?"

Puck sighs and kicks dirt, "It's just the other day when I was playing with your hair - "

"Yeah, what's wrong with you? I put so much effort on putting my hair that way and it takes me more than - "

"Hush, Rachel! I'm talking!"

Rachel looks shameful, looking down, "I apologize. Lots of people have reminded me before how I could rudely interrupt someone and talk to no ends, and I do admit it's such a bad habit I must quit but I just can't seem to shake it - "

"Woah!" Puck exclaims, now standing up. "Look, maybe we should do something about that speech-capability of yours!"

Rachel just blinks up at him, mouth agape. Puck sighs again, grabbing on her swings. "Anyway, as I was saying - and if you interrupt me again, so help me God I'll chop all off your hair instead of playing with it - " Rachel gasps dramatically, now touching her braids, " - don't even think of objecting to anything. You need help listening, so I'm tellin' you: listen!"

Rachel grumbles and frowns again. "...Fine."

"Good. After that, Finn asked me to stop bothering you because he thought I was bullying you. But really, I just like feeling your hair. It's so soft - it's sorta creepy, I know, but I can't help myself."

"Finn Hudson worries that you, uh, would bully me?" Rachel now looks amazed, eyes twinkling again.

Puck tries not to barf at her shoes. "Do you like him or something?"

"N-no!"

"Are you sure?"

"Ye-yes! Of course!"

"You're not so good at lying, Berry."

"Noah!"

"I'm sorry - Rachel! Whatever. It's still your name."

"It is not - "

The conversation pretty much stops there when Ma calls after them and Berry Parents wave Young Berry over. Puck doesn't wait for Young Berry to stand up as he quickly jolts to his Ma. Grabbing Ma's hand, mumbling out his goodbyes to the Berry Parents, Young Berry finally stands by Berry Parents. Ma looks down at him, "Aren't you saying anything to Rachel, Noah?"

Puck looks at the person in question. "Hurm. Bye, Rachel."

Berry smiles her Berry smiles, "I'll see you in school, Noah."

"And Finn too." Puck points out lamely, teasing.

Berry turns a thousand shades of red. "Noah!"

Puck snickers and thinks of how the day turns out not so bad after all.

Author's Note: just drabbles and snippets of how Puck sees Finn, and their friendship. I throw in Rachel because she's (obviously) a big impact to Finn's life. Therefore making this some kind of Puck-Finn-Rachel friendship, pre-teen addition or something. So, I don't know how I'm doing with this - I hope it's good enough. This will come out in three-part, at least, I think. Thank you for the read.