Shades of Cool

The first time she sees him is at a little dive bar just off campus. He's up on a makeshift stage in the back corner playing the guitar and singing with this raw intensity that she totally understands because it's the same way that she sings. There are a few guys up on stage with him; some gargantuan on the drums, a curly haired guy with fuzzy eyebrows playing another guitar and some blond guy with the largest mouth she has ever seen on bass. There is a tore up sheet hung up behind them with the words "Young Blood" spray painted across it. She assumes that is the name of the band.

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones. Enough to make my systems blow.

If it wasn't for his voice she would probably be totally put off by the mohawk and his abundance of tattoos and piercings. And while she has to admit that she doesn't typically listen to this type of music she finds herself captivated by him and his voice and the way he seems to be staring at her, singling her out of the crowd.

The song ends and suddenly she realizes that she has lost track of her rowdy roommate that dragged her here in the first place. She looks around the crowd but cant find her anywhere and her first thought is that when she was five and got separated from her daddies at a theme park she just sat down in the middle of a busy walkway and waited for them to find her. She doesn't want to sit on the floor here and risk getting squashed by the moshing mob, but she figures the principal of staying put will work, so she just stands there and watches the rest of the bands set and waits for the girl to find her.

Three songs and one encore later Santana finds her watching the guy pack his guitar away.

"Rachel, what the fuck? I thought you were going to be my wingwoman tonight, not drool over some punk douchebag." She complains. "I hate it when this dick is here. He makes it harder to find questioning girls when their all fawning over him. And it isn't like he'll give any of them the time of day."

"He comes here often?" Rachel asks her, not really paying attention to the rest of her friends mini rant.

"Did you listen to anything I just said? Forget him Rach, he's a total prick. Not worth your time at all." Rachel hears what the girl is saying, she really is, her brain just isn't comprehending it.

"Do you know what his name is?" She asks and Santana sighs exasperated.

"He goes by some lame ass nickname. It's, like, Puck or what the fuck ever." Santana waves her hand as if shaking off the stupidity of his douchebaggy nickname.

"Puck? Like the fairy?" Santana has a good laugh at that.

"Oh my god, yes. That is exactly why they call him Puck. He's a fairy Rach." She laughs some more and Rachel even laughs a bit too, even if Santana is kind of making fun of her and her love of classic literature.

"Who the fuck are you calling a fairy?"

Her first thought is that his voice is beautiful even when he is talking. Her second is that she is going to have to turn around and face this beautiful sounding, slightly pissed off man and try not to make an utter fool of her self. It's not an easy feat.

"Um, not you. Obviously…" Rachel starts as she turns around and takes him in up close for the first time. "You're very… manly…" she trails off awkwardly as she obviously checks him out. She can see that he has tattoos all across his chest, down his arms and up his neck. He has stretchers in his ear that are big enough for her to stick her finger through, an eyebrow piercing and a nipple piercing that stands out against his thin shirt. When she finally makes eye contact with him she sees that he has these brilliant green eyes and then she notices the smirk on his face. She was totally caught checking him out.

"Yeah?" He asks, cocky. "You like what you see?" Rachel huffs at his question.

"It doesn't matter what I think. You obviously have a very high opinion of yourself."

Puck laughs. "You got that right baby. I mean, what's not to like?"

"For starters, your name. Then there is your cockiness. And your smirk, I don't appreciate it." Rachel says, listing the reasons while ticking off her fingers.

"You don't like my name? It isn't like people pick their own names. That's no reason not to like me." He was right, but she couldn't let him win lest she see that maddening smirk again.

"I doubt your parents named you Puck."

"What if they did?"

Rachel took a moment to ponder his quick comeback. "Well, then that was very unfortunate and I'm sorry."

Santana was watching their exchange slightly amused but more so annoyed.

"You don't really believe him, do you? He's totally messing with you."

"No I'm not. It's my name." Puck tried to argue but after Santana fixed her angry glair on him he backtracked. "Well, its part of my name."

"Alright, what is your name? You're real one this time." Rachel asked him only a little peeved at being messed with. She couldn't stay angry with him when he smiled at her like he was right at that moment.

"Nuh-uh. You first babe."

"Don't call me 'babe'. And I asked first, so it is customary for you to answer first."

Puck was amused by this short little lady with the loud and indignant voice. In fact, he hadn't been this amused by anything in a long time.

"If you want me to stop calling you that you gotta tell me your name, babe." That smirk was going to drive her insane, she was sure of it. She could tell that he very much enjoyed riling her up.

"Rachel. My name is Rachel Berry." She huffed out, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"Nice to meet you, Rachel Berry." Puck said as he turned to walk away, guitar case in hand.

"Wait! You didn't tell me your name!" Rachel shouted at his retreating figure.

"Catch you on the flip side babe." He said as he continued walking away, leaving a fuming Rachel and bored Santana in his wake.

A/N so hey, writer of "Halloween" here (I know, I need to update that eventually. It's just such a depressing story). Anybody want some more punk!puck? I have a few ideas already for this. I saw one of those punk edits of Mark Salling and got all kinds of feels. So I put my music on shuffle and started writing. The song Puck was singing is Radioactive by Imagine Dragons (but who doesn't know that?) Anyways, let me know if y'all want more of this.