PROMPT: "I never. Rachel finds out that Finn slept with someone when he downs a shot when someone says 'I have never had sex' (he's drunk and just forgets he's lied about it). Puck goes after her when she runs off." Drabblememe.
A/N: So I strayed from the prompt a little but this prompt was more like an inspiration for this one shot to kick start my brain and get my puckleberry juices flowing, so enjoy and tell me what you think. Any mistakes are mine. Oh and I happen to like Finn so don't take the Finnbashing personal its just where the prompt led me.
Disclaimer: I do not own glee, at all, even though I wish I could have Mark Salling all to myself ;)
I Never
Puck hasn't had as much contact with Rachel as he would like as of late. Yeah, he'll admit it the girl's grown on him and, hell, believe it or not he actually likes spending time with her. Even when she talks for fucking ever and makes him watch Funny Girl and RENT like a thousand freaking times and especially when he gets to her to watch Fight Club and pig out on ice cream and junk food, anything other than that vegan shit she's used to.
At least that's how it used to be before Rachel and Finn had a disagreement about the amount of time she was spending with him and he gave her a bullshit ultimatum.
Even after Finn and her started back up their fucked roller coaster of a relationship after nationals and the summer following their junior year Rachel still found the time to come over his house. Whether it was to help his sister out with her dancing or help his mother cook dinner and set up the Jewish mixers at their temple and even dropping by to make sure he was looking at college apllications and just to sit around and maybe play super Mario brothers with him.
It all started about a week after school let out. Him and Lauren hadn't lasted much longer after the nationals debacle. Hell, they'd barely lasted two days into the break. She'd spouted some bullshit line about her reputation and left him hanging just like that. The break up, on top of losing nationals and having every fucking gleek send him a goddamn link on youtube to the "kiss that missed", his summer hadn't started off that well. The only consolation he got was from spamming the comment section of said video with the same line over and over again. "Why is the t-rex eating the jew?"
For those first few days of summer, it was the only thing that kept him entertained, but then came Rachel Berry and her plate of sugar cookies and her fucking 100 watt smile looking at him from behind those big brown eyes and from that point on it was Rachel and Noah against the world. That is until about a month ago when Puck drove her to school one morning after she passed out at his place and Finn flipped shit.
Rachel, being the accommodating (Rachel's been helping him with his vocabulary) girl she is and wanting to desperately make their sham of a relationship work, agreed to stay away from him and Puck has been miserable ever since. Not that he ever lets anyone see that, he's too much of a BAMF for that.
It seems like the only thing keeping his spirits up is the prospects of moving to New York in a few months and seeing Beth. Yeah, Shelby was back for a limited time only, wreaking havoc in almost everyone's lives including Rachel's and bringing his beautiful baby girl along for the ride. What with her second glee club and her blatant disregard of Rachel the entire time she was in Lima. He'll be the first to admit this year has been hectic as shit.
First with Shelby coming back and then with Quinn's fucking bullshit insanity. He used to think Rachel was batshit but Quinn was legit certified psycho when she was trying to prove that Shelby was an "unfit" mother, (given he's still pissed at what Shelby did to Rachel, is it possible to be grateful for and hate a person at the same time?) but despite it all he put a stop to Quinn's plot real quick cause he knows that shit just ain't kosher. His ma taught him better than to pull that with anyone.
So after he told Shelby about the whole thing she picked up and went back to New York knowing it'd be impossible for Quinn to get help and cope with Beth being so close by. So in the meantime Quinn's been getting counseling so she can become a useful member or society and eventually go and visit Beth and Shelby in New York.
They had Blaine's ass transfer to McKinley, which Puck cant complain about, guys knowledgeable when it comes to football and he can sing so he's got to give him props. Then Sectionals rolled around and after a long drawn out mini competition for solos and duets and the reintegration of Mercedes and Santana, and all that nonsense, they won like they always do (cause ND's got swag) and are ready to move on to regional's, then nationals and then hopefully internationals.
So needless to say, everything is a little calmer within the group… until Mike's Christmas party. He figures everything post-Mike's Party was like the calm before the storm, or more like the calm after the other storm that's before the next storm. There's always fucking drama going on and its never ending but for only brief periods of peace.
So all the gleeks wind up going, including him and Rachel despite the fact they don't even celebrate Christmas. He figures free food, gifts and booze so its cool with him. Finn must have asked Rachel to go, either that or Santana fucking dragged her there.
Yeah, the two have apparently grown close since the whole West Side Story production and don't even get him started how many levels of freaky that is, its too many to count. It's their last year together and probably one of the last chances he'll have to hang out with his favorite band of freaks that he's strangely proud to be a part of so he says fuck it. Merry motherfucking Christmas.
Everything is going pretty well, everyone's sipping their eggnog and having a good ol' time. That is until someone, he can't really be sure who, they were all tipsy as hell so there's no way to be sure. He thinks it might have been Artie but who the hell knows. Bottom line, one of the gleeks propose they play "I never." They set up some shot glasses and pour some nog up in those shits and gather round in a circle to embarrass the fuck out of each other. He and Rachel wind up sitting directly across from one another and she gives him a small smile. He nods at her before Santana finishes pouring eggnog in everyone's glasses and holds hers up.
"Okay the rules are clear. Someone says a statement if you've done it you take a shot. Lets get our drink on." she smirks before turning to Puck. "You first, Puckerman."
"I have never had sex." he says, already knowing he'll need to get plastered to stomach watching Finn and Rachel all over each other tonight.
He, Santana, Quinn, Artie, Brittany, Tina, Mike, Finn, and surprisingly a blushing Kurt and Blaine take their shots. Rachel watches and shakes her head in amusement as Mercedes grills Kurt, Santana takes another shot to congratulate the two and Finn grimaces.
They go on for about another twenty minutes until a tipsy Tina stupidly prompts a question that stirs a bout of tension in the group.
"I have never cheated."
Rachel, Brittany, Santana and Quinn take their shots dutifully but when Finn lifts his glass all hell breaks loose and Puck finds himself clenching his jaw in repressed anger immediately jumping to conclusions.
Rachel furrows her brows and turns to Finn.
"You… cheated?" her voice is soft and low and Puck can almost hear the tears coming before anyone can even see them. Somehow he's always been able to read Rachel and right now he knows tears are on the rise.
"Oh shit." Finn mutters obviously too drunk to make excuses or try and cover it up by saying he cheated on Quinn.
The second the words leave Finn's mouth Rachel meets Puck's eyes, tears welling before she turns swiftly and runs out without so much as a second glance. She obviously knows the truth. All the gleeks, even Quinn, watch sympathetically at her figure retreats. Finn looks over at Santana nervously and she scoffs at him.
"Way to go Finn. You definitely just earned douche bag of the year award. Go collect your prize." Quinn says harshly as she leaning back into the legs of Mike's couch.
"Who the hell was it?" Blaine questions harshly and Puck is surprised at the boy's tone and also mentally cheering the kid on.
"Some random cheerio. It was a mistake." Finn mumbles shamefully and Kurt fumes, his nostrils flaring as he stares his step brother down.
"You know, she gave you another chance and you blew it." Kurt tells Finn bitingly and Puck has never been more proud of Kurt.
He shoots Finn a 'you're a fucking douche and this is the last time you'll ever do this to her again' look before taking off after her despite the urge he has to stay behind and teach Finn fucking Hudson a goddamn lesson.
It's snowing out when he pushes through Mike's front door. Rachel never grabbed her overcoat, only the red one she wore underneath the thick plush jacket and all he can think about is how fucking freezing she must be. He wants to say he's surprised at Finn, that he would have never expected this from him but unfortunately he's known all along what a dumb shit Finn is. Never realizing or appreciating what he had. Never knowing how much Puck would have given up to be with Rachel, to be on her arm in front of the entire school. He may not exactly deserve Rachel Berry but he knows Finnesa sure as hell doesn't and he just wishes Rachel could see that.
He squints through the white flurries and into the dark until he sees a red coated girl with long brown hair pass under a street light a few houses down. He immediately sprints after her, almost slipping on patches of ice on his way.
"Yo Berry!" Puck calls out. She stops abruptly and stays facing away from him, rooted to the spot in the middle of the snow showered street.
"What do you want Noah?" she practically whispers as he comes to a stop right behind her.
"You okay?" he asks and okay he knows it's a stupid question but has he mentioned he isn't good with crying women?
She doesn't turn and Puck frowns, putting a hand on her shoulder and gently spinning her around.
"Talk to me, Rach."
"What am I supposed to say, Noah?" she replies, her voice rising an octave. "Am I supposed to tell you how much it hurts? How heartbroken I am?"
Puck furrows his brows, unsure of where she's going with her line of questioning none of which he can actually answer. "I guess. Are you?"
"No! And that's the problem. I'm supposed to be heartbroken, mad with jealousy and hurt but I just feel… relieved." she breathes her voice fogging up the air between them. "This whole time, I've been trying to make us work, to make the two of us fit when the reality is we just don't and I've known this for months and I never did anything about it."
"I thought Finn was your entire world. Your endgame or some shit."
Rachel shakes her head and chuckles bitterly.
"No he's not my leading man, nor do I think he has the capability to be anyone's leading man not with the attention span he posses."
"So you're not upset then?"
"Of course I'm upset, Noah." she replies. "I'm upset because I'm not upset."
"Okay you lost me. Can you try and speak English? That might help me understand your situation better." Puck jokes, trying to ease the tension in the air but knowing he's failing fucking miserably.
"Noah please I'm trying to tell you something deeply enlightening here." Rachel complains lightly and Puck puts his arms up in surrender.
"Alright fine then, tell me, if you don't care about Finn anymore why didn't you dump him months ago?" he counters, beating back the hope he's desperately clinging to, like a pansy ass, but he doesn't even care because they're so close.
"I was afraid. Afraid of letting go of the familiar and afraid of facing what I really want." her eyes drift to his lips and her tongue slides across her lips. "… what I feel." he takes a small step forward, his eyes widening as he realizes what she's trying to tell him. He's waited how long for her to finally admit it, to finally see how much he wants to be with her?
"And what do you want, Rachel?" Puck questions, his voice husky and thick as he ducks his head down so their faces are only a few inches apart and her hot breath if fanning his face. He knows she sees the love and desire swirling in the hazel depths of his eyes because he can hear her breath hitch as she feels the intensity of his stare. And fuck maybe that makes him loves bitch or something but at least he's man enough to admit it.
"This." she replies, surprisingly making the first move by sliding her hand to the back of his neck and pulling him with a force he never knew she had until their lips are crashing together and his arms are wrapped securely around her. There kiss isn't too frenzied but soft and let's just say Rachel Berry never does anything half assed and leave it at that. They finally pull away from each other, breathing heavily as Puck slings his coat over her shoulders to guard her against the cold. Puck looks over at Mike's door a few houses down before he smiles down at Rachel.
"You want to get out of here and go make out?" Puck asks a wicked glint in his eye and a grin breaks out across her features before she nods vigorously.
"Sure." she tells him, grabbing his hand and leading them toward his truck.
"What about your coat?" he wonders, his eyes still lingering on the door wondering about how Rachel feels about leaving the guy sitting inside piss drunk and short a beautiful amazing midget girlfriend.
"Forget about it." she tells him, taking both his hands before turning and climbing into his truck. Puck looks at Rachel sitting in his truck as he pulls his keys out of his jeans pocket and grins broadly. He's finally fucking getting it right, he finally got the girl and he's never letting her go.
"You coming, Noah?" Rachel wonders, peeking her head out the rolled down window. "Or am I going to have to leave without you?" she asks mischievously and Puck immediately jumps into his truck, leaning over and kissing Rachel's forehead.
"I'd never let you leave without me, babe. You're stuck with me for good." Puck tells her, turning to face her and Rachel leans her head on his shoulder and smiles softly.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." she says and he nods, satisfied and happier then he's ever been before starting his car and turning on the heat, not that they need it or anything cause they're two hot Jews who are gonna be together forever. Eat that, Hudson.