He casts a wary eye on his surroundings. Really, this would be the last place he expects himself to be but his daughter needs new school clothes and they had just moved here from Los Angeles and he really is a good dad (even if shopping isn't really his forte) and...long story short, it means a whole afternoon spent in the fourth circle of Hell.
Also known as Lima Mall.
Just then, he feels a small tug on his hand and looks down at the brown eyes of his tiny daughter.
"Daddy, let's go. We have a very full schedule ahead of us and we should have been at the store ten minutes ago."
He chuckles lightly. "Don't worry about it, Rachel. We have plenty of time."
She, in turn, gives a startlingly adult-like huff of exasperation and a roll of her eyes, and Leroy Berry is tempted to laugh out loud. Sometimes, she reminded him so much of Hiram's mother, it was insane. With an amused smile on his lips, he starts walking. "Come on, Princess. I wouldn't want to disturb your schedule."
They are about to enter the store Hiram was very particular that they go to, Rachel skipping lightly beside him, when pandemonium strikes. There are raised women's voices, some shouting and he looks up just as a six year-old boy with a mohawk and no pants on tears out of Children's Place screaming "I'm Puckasaurus!"
This time, he cannot help it. He laughs out loud, a big booming laugh that startles his daughter, who is fixed to his side, staring with wide eyes at the little hooligan (a word she learned from her other daddy, thank you very much) currently weaving his way around surprised shoppers.
Leroy is still laughing when the boy careens into his legs. Letting go of Rachel's hand, he reaches out to steady the kid. Laughing hazel eyes grow wide when they look up at the tall black man currently holding him.
"Easy there, kid. Are you okay?" he asks kindly, still stifling some of his laughter.
The little boy is saved from responding by a shrill shout. "NOAH ELIJAH PUCKERMAN!" cries the incensed woman approaching them and waving a pair of jeans like a red flag. "I have half a mind to put you in time out until puberty!"
The still pantless Noah Elijah Puckerman hides behind his legs instead, apparently considering Leroy a more than effective barricade against his raging mother. But before the boy had squirmed away from his hold to hide, Leroy had caught a glimpse of the mischievous glint in Noah's eyes. Oh, this boy was definitely a handful.
"I'm so sorry," the woman apologizes as she nears them. "He's not usually like this. Well, actually, he's always like this but—"
"It's fine," Leroy interrupts with a smile. "I'm Leroy Berry."
"Aviva Puckerman," she replies, shaking his hand. Noah peeks from behind Leroy and she narrows her eyes. "And that little devil there is my son, Noah."
"I figured," Leroy says drily. "This is my daughter, Rachel."
Noah's head whips around to stare at the little girl he hadn't noticed before then. Decked out in pink cotton and shiny shoes, Rachel steps forward at the mention of her name. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she says with a winning smile and a little curtsy.
"Well, aren't you just the most precious thing?" she coos. (In the background, Leroy can hear Noah snort.) By the way her hands are clasped to her heart and the stars in her eyes, it's clear that Aviva is completely taken in with his daughter. Her son, on the other hand, is studying Rachel with a fascination previously reserved for lizards and toy guitars.
"Are you new here, Leroy? It's a pretty small town and I don't think I've seen you or your beautiful daughter around before."
"Yes, my partner Hiram and I just moved here from California." Leroy waits for the disgust or censure on Aviva's face but all he can see is a friendly curiosity. He decides he likes this woman with her frazzled air and kind face.
At that moment, Aviva must have realized that her son was still prancing around half naked. "Noah, put your pants on!" she hisses.
With a put-upon sigh, he obeys, grumbling all the while. Once he is appropriately clothed, Rachel approaches with a practiced smile on her face.
She sticks her hand out. "I'm Rachel."
Noah stares at the hand and the girl it's attached to in confusion. "I'm Puckasaurus."
"You can't be Puckasaurus. You're Noah. Your mom just said so."
Said boy shakes his head vehemently. "Nuh-uh. I'm Puckasaurus and I'm awesome."
"There is no such thing as a Puckasaurus. I know because my dad says I know lots," Rachel retorts.
He crosses his arms. "Is too. And you don't know anything. You're just a stupid girl."
With a stamp of her Mary Jane-clad foot, Rachel glares at him with as much venom as can be contained in a 6 year-old body. "I am not stupid! You're stupid! You're, you're…infoorating! And I'll have you know that I'm going to be a big star which is better than being a dinosaur that doesn't exist and my dad says I can sing really, really well and my voice can make your ears bleed! So there!"
There is a look of awe on the little boy's face. "Dude, you can do that? That's awesome."
"Um, thank you?"
Before Rachel actually goes through with the 'making your ears bleed' promise, Leroy claps his hands. "Okay, who wants ice cream?" With a significant look towards his daughter, he continues. "I think we all deserve some dairy right now."
They end up at an ice cream parlor around the corner from the mall. Aviva and him have been talking like old friends and he has just finished telling her about the job offer from Lima Hospital and the challenge of uprooting their whole life from Los Angeles. The children have been necessarily distracted with sundaes (strawberry for Rachel; rocky road for Noah).
Aviva is in the middle of telling him about her husband who was in a rock band and constantly on tour when Leroy realizes that at that moment, he's supposed to be knee deep in girly school clothes.
He turns around to his daughter, expecting another impassioned lecture about the importance of schedules, when he sees that Rachel has been talking Noah's ear off for the past few minutes.
"…and Daddy says I have a lot of potential for ballet but Dad says that my true calling is singing, which I fully agree with because I think music expresses so much more emotion. Don't you think so, Noah?"
Noah looks up from his ice cream. "I think you're weird," he says blandly and Rachel's face falls. "But I like you anyway."
She beams at this. "I like you too. Even if you have an unfortunate habit of going around with no pants and T-Rex underwear."
The little boy rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Dinosaurs rock. Wanna see if we can get more marshmallows?"
Rachel's eyes light up. "Okay!"
Hand in hand, they scamper over to the counter as Leroy watches them. He shakes his head. He has a feeling he's going to be seeing a lot of this boy.
The feeling of a small body bouncing off his legs brings Leroy out of his thoughts. He tilts his gaze down and meets a familiar pair of hazel eyes.
"RAWR! RAWR!"
His eyebrow quirks as he picks up the giggling (roaring) 3 year-old boy in the dinosaur costume. "And who, little man, are you supposed to be?"
"Rawr! I'm Puckasaurus!"
A deep laugh from behind makes him turn around and see a grown-up Noah Puckerman leaning against the doorframe, watching them. The little dinosaur's eyes light up when he sees him.
"Daddy!" He gives Leroy a serious look, a carbon copy of his mother's own look. "Down, Grampa, down."
Noah fixes his son with a stern gaze. "What do we say, Levi?"
"Pease?"
Leroy chuckles lightly and puts his grandson down with a gentle pat on the butt. Levi runs a few circles around his father, stumbling slightly over his long green tail, before getting tired. Still, he doesn't stop his roaring.
The two men watch the boy pad off to find his mother. "So, whose idea was it to dress him up like that?" Leroy starts.
Noah smirks. "Believe it or not, it was all him. Kid's obsessed with dinosaurs right now."
Patting his son-in-law on the shoulder, Leroy laughs. "Like father, like son."
There is a moment of silence as they each go over the past in their heads, at childhood friendships, high school drama, and the long, roundabout way life had taken them. They are interrupted by a loud crash and Rachel's screeching.
"LEVI!"
Noah's eyes bug out and like a flash (or a young father with a very active, mischievous son), he is off towards the source of all the commotion. Leroy merely shakes his head in amusement and helps himself to the Halloween candy.
Like father, like son indeed.