AN: This is a companion piece to my story "Sweat" from Puck's POV. You do not have to read that one to understand this, though! Please note that this goes somewhat AU early in the season; in keeping true to "Sweat," which was written in September, everything that aired after that is not a part of this story.
This story never would have happened if it weren't for all the wonderful readers who reviewed, favorited, and alerted "Sweat." When I wrote "Sweat" it was for me, and I posted it on whim. A million thanks to the early reviewers who left such kind words and who asked for this story to be written!
When I sat down to write this story, I thought it would come as easily as the last. It turns out Puck had a lot longer to go to get to the same place, so this will be a couple of chapters; I have 6 written and am nearing the end. This is pretty epic for me as I usually write one-shots, and sometimes it went on hold for weeks at a time. Each time I got stuck, I would be inspired to keep at it by the readers who continued to find "Sweat" and tell me how much they enjoyed the story, and how much they wanted more.
I hope that this lives up to your expectations!
Disclaimer: Glee and its characters do not belong to me.
Chapter 1
"The wheelchair kid is right, that Rachel chick makes me want to light myself on fire but she can sing."
It pains him to say it, but Puck knows that Rachel is the best of them. If he wasn't actually enjoying being a part of Glee (and he is, it isn't just that chicks and cougars alike dig guys who can sing, although his stock has gone up significantly between winning at football and performing) he'd revel in Rachel Berry's self-imposed exile from the group she helped make great and not say a word. There is nothing he can think of that would make him happier than the see her face crumble every day when she watches the Glee kids. The sad truth, though, is that he loves singing, and he knows that if they can't win, Figgins will shut down the club.
The thing is, Puck hates Rachel Berry. He doesn't put her down to make himself look better and keep the social hierarchy in place, like the Cheerios, and he isn't jealous of her relationship with Finn like Quinn is (ok, just a little). He isn't even like those weird religious kids who hate her because of her two gay dads.
Puck has despised Rachel Berry since the sixth grade.
He was always a neat kid—not freakishly neat, he just liked things to be in their place and showered every day and didn't wear clothes from the dirty hamper. Not a big deal. But Rachel Berry, she just had to butt in where she wasn't welcome.
One day at lunch someone asked to copy his homework, and he pulled out a folder—homework on the left side, handouts and notes on the right—and passed the assignment over. When the kid doesn't have a pencil, he reaches in his backpack and grabs one out of the side pocket—sharpened, because he hates dealing with the noise and the mess of classroom pencil sharpeners.
No one noticed or cared if he took a little more care with his things than other kids. Not until Rachel Berry.
After watching the homework exchange, she leaned over from her table and spoke—loudly—to him. "You know, Puck," she said in her annoying, bossy, in-everyone's-business voice, "Your obsessive neatness probably stems from your need to control your surroundings as a result of your unfortunate family situation."
Puck was frozen. Did she just call his family situation unfortunate? The girl with the two gay dads who help nurture her stupid obsession with everything her, and his situation is the strange one? Tons of kids have deadbeat dads.
The silence was broken by some whispers and giggles, and Puck just knew that everyone was cataloging his "obsessive tendencies" and judging him and it was all because of stupid Rachel Berry.
His right hand moved almost before he could think and there were chunks of dark brown, Coke flavored slushie all over her face and ugly sweater. People laughed—some of the guys were actually howling—and others patted him on the back and Rachel Berry looked crushed. No one remembers what she said to him.
After that, Puck slushies Rachel Berry once a week.
Finn has been Puck's best friend since he was eight. They were both in the "Special Care" after school program, which is a just a fancy way their school had for labeling kids that needed extra tutoring to keep up. Puck was already a year behind other kids his age, and the teacher called his mom and told her that if he didn't get some extra help, he might be held back this year.
Puck's problem is letters.
He doesn't know why, but he just can't get them in the correct order. He struggles with every assignment, and works at it on Monday and Wednesday afternoons in SC classes. Every time he thinks he has it, the teacher gently corrects him and shows him which letters are out of place. He begins to despise the words—"out of place"—and his desire to make sure every single letter is in place translates to first his lunch bag, then his backpack, and finally his bedroom.
His letters continue to be in the wrong place.
Finn isn't like him. Finn letters are just fine, it's his "reading comprehension and verbal skills" that need work. Since they have different "needs" and different teachers helping them, Finn and Puck don't end up talking until one afternoon when the fire alarm goes off.
They end up standing next to each other on the playground as fire fighters inspect the school, and Finn starts talking to him. He learns Finn's opinion of lunch that day (the pizza that tastes like cardboard is gross but he loves the chocolate milk pouches) what he wants to be when he grows up ("A delivery man, or maybe a plumber!") and then Finn tells Puck about his family. When finds out Finn doesn't have a dad, either, he decides they should be best friends. When he tells Finn so, Finn shrugs and says, "Sure."
After that, when they're waiting to be picked up after SC ends they wait together and talk. Finn's mom is always on time; Puck's only shows up when she's single and sober enough to remember.
Mrs. Hudson starts driving him home, at first to his house and then to Finn's place to hang out. He thinks she's awesome and starts to wonder why his own mom doesn't act like her. He knows that dead is different (better) than gone, but he decides that maybe being a single-mom isn't a good enough excuse.
Puck gets really good with letters, but Finn is still struggling and he doesn't want to leave him in SC alone. It's difficult to purposefully put things in the wrong place when he knows where they belong, but he does it for Finn.
One day while they're waiting for Mrs. Hudson to drive up Finn tells him that he's "graduated" from SC classes and doesn't have to go anymore. Puck's letters are perfect for the next 6 classes and Mrs. Wilkinson tells him that he doesn't have to come anymore, either.
Ever since they became friends, Puck has seen his role as Finn's unofficial protector. He beats up anyone who makes fun of Finn. It earns him the reputation of a bully, but he doesn't care. It's worth getting his reputation and his clothes messed up for his best friend.
Puck also does his best to make sure Finn never feels stupid. He remembers how bad it felt before he got the letters in the right place and he won't ever let that happen to Finn. If Finn says something dumb he pretends it makes sense and tries to subtly correct him. When they get their report cards and Finn does much worse than him, Puck asks him for help studying and they slowly learn it all together.
When Finn starts acting weird, Puck notices. Finn gives him a bullshit excuse about missing football because his mom is having her prostate removed (what kind of excuse is that, Puck wonders, before forcing himself to pretend to believe it) and Puck follows him to find out the truth.
What he finds is the worst betrayal he can imagine.
This is worse than when Finn spilled soda pop all over his bedroom, or kicked mud at him during practice, or even when he started dating Quinn Fabray after Puck told him that he thought she was hot.
Finn is hanging out with Rachel Berry.
Puck goes into his room and pulls out his stack of scrap paper. He rips the paper in the perfect little squares as he fumes. He is still angry.
He goes on a brutal run for two hours, but still cannot being himself to forgive Finn. His best friend, his brother he thinks sometimes, and he can't understand why.
Why Rachel Berry? That girl who mocked him in front of everyone, who took his neatness (he'd always be proud that he had everything firmly in its place, before) and made it something bad and different. Made him different, made him feel out of place among his peers.
He has never been that jealous of Finn before. Sure, he's the golden boy. No one cares that he doesn't have a dad or that he's not that smart, teachers like him, the guys look up to him, the girls all flirt with him and Quinn Fabray is dating him. It might sting a little, to see his best friend getting everything he wants, but he believes that Finn deserves it, all of it. He thinks Finn deserves more than him and he's been grateful for the past ten years that Finn hasn't figured that out.
But now, knowing his best friend ditched him for Rachel Berry—for the first time, Puck hates him a little.
He slushies Rachel twice that week and feels a little better.
It gets worse. Finn refuses to drop Glee—to drop Rachel Berry. He's got this whole new group of friends in the Glee Club now, and not a single day goes by when Puck doesn't see him chatting it up or walking to class or laughing with Rachel Berry.
When Rachel Berry joins the Celibacy Club he is stunned, but thinks it's nothing less than justice that she gets paired with that nerdy hornball for the balloon exercise. He wonders if she thought she could strut right in and take Finn away from Quinn the way she's done to him.
When Rachel Berry gives her little speech about girls wanting sex too and struts out of the room in a skirt that isn't half as short as Quinn's, Puck watches Finn's eyes watching her.
The Glee Club performs in front of the school.
Puck knows he isn't the only one hoping for them to fail horribly, for the club to die a swift death, and for Finn to come to his senses. He's destroying to fragile hierarchy that rules the school and everyone knows it.
He's surprised to hear a single voice cheering when Figgins makes his announcement—he wonders who it is, did she just say "Glee kids hooray"?—but from where he's sitting he can only see the top of a red head.
He forgets about it as soon as the music starts. Berry's skirt is actually tiny this time, and Finn is all over her. Finn is on stage dancing with, rubbing on, and thrusting at Rachel Berry and it is killing Puck. Worse, they're actually good, which means Finn won't leave the club and will continue hanging out with them, with her, instead of with his best friend.
When they're done and most of the school—even the rest of team—is on their feet, cheering, Puck sits and thinks about how he's just lost his best friend to Rachel Berry and how no amount of slushies can fix this.
Chapter 2 Preview:
He thinks that this is wrong and he shouldn't be kissing his best friends's girl, but it feels so good to get the prize for once and he remembers Finn fake banging Rachel fuckign Berry on stage in front of the whole school and he pulls Quinn in closer and deepens the kiss.
Should be posted sometime next week!