Blow Away With This New Sun
A/N: So this came about after rewatching season 2 and being extremely disappointed that Quinn and Puck didn't get a storyline at all :( So this is sort of what I think could have been happening with them throughout the season!
Title from Mumford and Sons song I Will Wait, which is all I listened to while writing this and is my new Quick song.
There is some swearing in this, just a heads up!
Disclaimer: Glee would be pretty different if I owned it, lemme tell ya.
It ends during the summer.
Puck had hoped it would last. But he's not naive. He may be an idiot, but he's not naive.
He never tells Quinn how much it breaks him that she wasn't willing to give it a shot.
They had sat on her back porch swing while the sun was setting and she had explained it to him. How she needs to "rehabilitate her image" and "make it like last year never happened" and "forget everything."
He knows the truth, though. Knows that its too hard for them to be together, at least now, because now it feels like something is missing. Something will always be missing when it comes to them. Beth. He knows that its so difficult for Quinn to be with him when she's not here. He just wishes Quinn would talk to him about it, wishes she would realize that they need each other right now more than ever. Maybe she does realize it. He doesn't say anything, though. Just listens to all the things she's leaving unsaid.
"I'm sorry, Puck," she had sighed, "But...what we had, whatever it was, its over now."
He had nodded and shrugged like he didn't care.
But he did.
He tries not to look at her in Glee club. He really does. But he knows Quinn, and knows what she wants right now, and knows soon enough she'll lose the dresses and be back in a Cheerio's uniform.
And, as good as she looks in the uniform, because, really, she looks damn fine in the uniform, it just isn't her. Quinn is soft, pastel colors and flowing dresses and small, ballet flats and happy, honest smiles and long, honey colored hair that flows down her back in curls or waves or whatever sort of style she has it in that day.
So he does look at her in Glee, and tries to memorize the way her long blonde curls bounce when she nods along to whatever Mr. Shue is saying and the way she's wearing her emotions on her face, smiling openly at the other members of the club and laughing at something Kurt has said.
God, she really is beautiful.
They've only been back a few days when, sure enough, he turns the corner and there she is, strutting down the hall in her uniform with renewed confidence, turning heads just like she used to. She barely spares him a glance, but for that second their eyes meet he sees it, hidden beneath the superiority and smugness in her gaze; regret. He turns and walks away from her, and wonders what she regrets.
He finds out later that from Mike that Quinn had told Coach Sylvester about Santana's surgery. He makes a joke about wishing he hadn't missed the cat fight between the two of them, but he feels empty inside.
Because for a second, the briefest of moments, he had thought that maybe, just maybe, she regretted leaving him.
Maybe he is naive.
Rachel is singing something to Finn. Its a love song, and it sounds vaguely familiar, but he can't quite place it. He listens to the words though, and they hit him pretty hard. He looks back at Quinn, briefly, and she's looking at the floor. He turns back to the front and listens to Rachel as she sings.
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
The rest of the girls are providing backing vocals when he feels a light, barely there brush of fingertips on his shoulder. He looks back again, and there's Quinn, looking right at him, singing softly.
You are the only exception
Puck holds her eyes for as long as he can, but she lowers her gaze back to the floor. As he turns back around in his chair, he can't help the soft smile that crosses his face.
And I'm on my way to believing.
Puck isn't the smartest. He does a lot of stupid things, and he knows this about himself.
But one night he pushes to far, and gets sent to Juvie.
He doesn't like it there at all, for a lot of reasons. For one, the people are way more badass than he is, and that sort of freaks him out. The food is awful, too.
Mostly he hates it because she's not there.
He wonders how much things'll have changed in his absence. Would she even still be a part of the New Directions? She doesn't need them anymore, now that she's back on top.
The thought of Glee without Quinn terrifies him.
Not that he'd ever tell anyone that, though. Of course not.
Puck tries so hard to get out of juvie early for a few reasons. The people scare him and the food is awful.
But mostly because he misses her.
When he gets back, though, she's sitting next to Sam, chairs pulled close and Sam is looking at her like she hung the moon. Puck understands the look, is quite familiar with it. Because he looks at Quinn the same way. He and Quinn lock eyes for a half of a second and in that moment he knows.
He's lost her.
He pretends he doesn't care, because if theres one thing Puck is good at, it's pretending.
It's the morning of Kurt's dad's wedding and the breath is knocked out of him when he sees her.
He doesn't exactly want to talk to her again, to open up that just barely healing wound, but he approaches her anyways.
"Hi." His voice is soft and quiet in the otherwise empty dressing room.
He sees her stiffen a bit, then she tosses her hair over her shoulder and turns to him, arching an eyebrow. "Can I help you, Puckerman?"
He ignores the coolness of her tone. "You look nice."
Quinn closes her eyes for a few seconds while she takes a deep breath. "Thank you. You're not so bad yourself."
"I miss you in dresses."
"Don't." He ignores her.
"And your hair down. You always look so nice when its down."
"Don't. Puck, don't." Her tone is desperate, pleading.
"And it'd fall down around your shoulders in all those curls you used to do, and you looked so beautiful like that, all...I dunno, innocent." He doesn't know where all this is coming from, but he figures its too late to stop now.
"You can't say things like that. I'm with Sam now." Quinn snaps, but he can see the vulnerability in her eyes. It makes him feel good, powerful, like he used to.
"Not officially," Puck reminds her, and smirks when she arches her eyebrow. "And besides," he takes a step closer to her. "Being with someone didn't stop you last time."
The power of the slap whips his head to the side, cheek already stinging. When he looks up, she's just slipping out the door, not even giving a backwards glance. He sighs, goes to the mirror, and straightens his tie, cursing at his own stupidity.
Quinn and Sam dance with each other at the wedding, and the next day at school they walk around holding hands, and she's got a fucking golden promise ring on her finger.
She deserves better than him, anyways.
Lauren is a good distraction.
Its not that he doesn't like her, because, he totally does. She's badass, even more so than him, and she did sort of rock his world in Seven Minutes In Heaven.
So he woos her. And he wasn't lying when he said it was the best part of his day.
But he can't deny that when Quinn and Sam are singing at Sectionals together - or when Sam serenades her with Justin Bieber or when Finn and her both suspiciously get mono and it turns out she cheated on Sam with Finn (maybe some people don't learn from their mistakes) or when she and Finn campaigned for Prom King and Queen and he had to look at those stupid fucking posters in every goddamn hallway - Lauren is a good distraction.
He can't help but wish she was a great one.
To say he's surprised when Quinn knocks on the window of his truck after Jean's funeral would be an understatement. He rolls the window down, taking in the tear tracks on her face, and sighs. "What's up?"
"I need a ride. I was hoping maybe you could help me out." It looks like it physically pains her to ask, and he debates - just for a moment - leaving her there, stranded.
He sighs, nods, and watches as she walks around the front of his truck, gets in, and slams the door closed with more force then necessary.
They drive in silence for awhile, until Puck can't take it anymore. "So...you okay?"
She snorts and wipes at her eyes dejectedly. Its a few moments before she speaks. "Puck, can I ask you something?" Her voice is small and hesitant, and he nods automatically. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, before saying, "Do you think I...feel things?"
Puck looks over at her. "What kind of question is that?"
"Finn broke up with me. And he asked me if I feel anything anymore. I just…" She trails off, then blinks back more tears and shakes her head. "Never mind. It was a stupid question."
Puck doesn't say anything, just drives into the nearest parking lot, turns the truck off, and turns to Quinn, holding his arms out.
"What are you doing?" She asks suspiciously, but he just beckons her with his hands. She eyes his outstretched arms for a moment, before leaning across the console. He meets her halfway and tugs her into his arms, holding tight. She melts into his embrace, wrapping her own arms around him, her head nestling perfectly into the crook of his neck.
"Quinn, I know we haven't talked at all this year, but I still really care about you. I tried to stop caring, but I just freaking can't. And Finn's an idiot. Of course you feel things. And sometimes you feel so much you just pretend you don't care at all because its easier that way." Quinn pulls back a bit, but Puck just tightens his arms around her, clinging to her and not even caring, because it had been so long since the last time he held her, and he didn't know when he'd get this opportunity again. "No, don't even try to deny it. I know you, Q. You're tough when you need to be." He thinks for a moment. "No, you're tough all the time. You're the strongest person I know. You sort of amaze me." Quinn sniffs a bit and burrows her face into his neck. "Shit, I dunno. I'm not great at the whole 'comforting' thing."
Quinn is quiet for a minute, before she takes a shuddering breath and says quietly against his neck, "Thank you, Puck."
"Anytime," he says, and means it.
They sit quietly for awhile, wrapped in each others arms, and Puck can't remember the last time he felt so at home.
They pull back at the same time, smile at each other, and drive the rest of the way to Quinn's in silence. When they get there, though, she quietly says, "Thanks again, Puck. For everything"
She goes and opens her door, and is just about to step out when she stops, leans over, and quickly kisses him on the cheek.
Then she's gone, closing the truck door behind her and disappearing into her house.
Helping Finn try to get Rachel back in New York made Puck realize just how much he lost when Quinn ended things between them. He's still with Lauren at this point, and he does like Lauren, but its not the same.
He doesn't love Lauren.
And he really, really does love Quinn.
When she comes back to the hotel with a new haircut, he's the first one who notices.
He slips up behind her among the chaos of the New Directions, wraps an arm around her waist, says softly in her ear, "I like the hair, Fabray. It suits you."
She leans into him subconsciously, like her body can't help but react that way to his touch.
"Thank you." She smiles at him, rests her hand on where his is placed on her hip, and he smiles back.
And it feels a hell of a lot like a new beginning.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to drop me a review, it would be much appreciated! :)