Puck has no idea why Brittany and Artie break up. He'll hear the gossip sooner or later - he always does - but he doesn't care enough to ask any questions. He walks into glee one day and Artie's got the sad puppy look on his face and Brittany is sitting across the room with Finn and Mike Chang. Puck decides that he's going to stay out of all of it, so he takes a chair on the top riser by himself and spends the hour zoning out on Schue's lecture to the point that he literally has no clue what it was about when the bell rings.
This goes on for three days, till he has to ask Artie for help with his geometry assignment. Artie tells him what happened, how he called Brittany stupid but didn't mean it the way she thought and now they're broken up. He keeps his thoughts to himself, because Artie is his bro, but Puck thinks she's probably right to leave the guy. He doesn't think Artie meant it in a mean way, but he doesn't think that Artie ever totally appreciated Brittany for what she is beyond the outside stuff, like how she's smoking hot. So, you know, good for her for standing up for herself or whatever.
He's treated some girls pretty badly in the past. He knows that. He used Santana (though, to be fair, she used him too), he tore Rachel down constantly for years, he got Quinn pregnant, and he went after Lauren in kind of the worst way ever (and he's totally made up for that shit). But the thing is, he's grown up, and he's made his peace with each of them or whatever. Maybe that doesn't give him the right to judge - in fact, he knows it doesn't - but he's always thought that Artie was kind of condescending to Brittany. Just because she would pet a rabid possum instead of running from it doesn't mean that she doesn't have shit going on in her head. It might not make sense to anyone else, but that doesn't make her stupid.
Instead of commenting when Brittany sits next to him in rehearsal the next day, he just gives her a nod and goes back to playing Angry Birds on his phone.
"Dance with me, Puck!"
He doesn't have time to think before she launches herself into his arms, all bright fabric and blonde hair and giggles. If he didn't know better, he might think she was drunk. Except if she was drunk, she'd probably be trying to take off her dress or something, or at least her shoes.
Whatever.
"Sure, Britt," he answers easily, setting his hands on her waist. She loops her arms around his neck, and he wonders when the last time they danced like this was, instead of just doing choreography for glee club. Middle school dances were always like this, or at least ended up like this at some point, with her pressed up against him as they swayed to some stupid song.
"Is Lauren going to come and squeeze me to death for dancing with her man?" Brittany asks.
Puck stares down at her at her for a second, trying to decide whether she's joking or not. He can't tell. "Nah, it's cool. She's in the bathroom."
"Awesome." She takes another step forward and lays her head on his shoulder, her hand coming up to toy with the collar of his shirt.
"Why did you tell Artie no?" he asks. He doesn't get it, because even if he picked a weird song, the guy's heart was in the right place. Puck thinks that should count for something. (Then again, he has a history of poor song choice, so maybe he doesn't know anything.)
She pulls back to look at him. "So I could do this. Dance with everyone," she clarifies, seeing the look on his face. "I just wanted to have fun."
"He loves you, you know."
Brittany nods. "I love him, too. But I don't have to be with him just because I love him. I love Santana and I'm not with her. I love Lord Tubbington, too." She shrugs her shoulders.
Puck really, really wishes that he didn't know the cat's name, because the conversation has officially taken the Brittany-weird turn that conversations with this girl always take.
He just nods his head, because he figures that, cat aside, what she says makes sense. At the end of the song, she presses her lips to his quickly, then runs away to do some ridiculous dance with Blaine and Kurt.
Lauren goes to a three-day wrestling camp after the end of school, comes back with even more attitude, and dumps Puck flat on his ass.
Literally, because they're sitting side-by-side on the bench on her mom's front porch and she pushes him off it when he asks her, 'What the fuck's that shit about?'
Whatever. He doesn't need a girl on his arm, even if she is cool as hell. And the thing is, for all of Lauren's talk about how she knows she's hot, Puck pays more attention than he used to, and he knows that she's insecure and shit. He's starting to think that all girls are, which is pretty fucking stupid if you ask him, and he doesn't really want to deal with it right now. It's easier to be single.
Mike Chang throws a party that weekend, the first real party of the summer, and everyone and their mother show up. It's almost impossible to walk through the house without grab-assing everyone you go by, which is equal parts awesome and terrible for all the reasons you'd imagine.
He's out on the back deck, sitting on the railing and drinking Natty Ice from the can, when Santana comes walking towards him. "Where's the hippo?"
He rolls his eyes because the name-calling got old months ago. Plus, she's drunk, so it isn't even a creative insult. "We're done," he answers shortly.
"About time," she says meanly, leaning against the railing next to him. He basically ignores her, even when she lays her hand high on his thigh, her fingertips just grazing his cock through his jeans. "Wanna fuck?"
His brow is furrowed when he looks down at her. "Seriously?" Everybody thinks Puck doesn't notice shit, but he knows the Karofsky thing was a big act and some shit's been going on with her and Brittany. He doesn't really want to get wrapped up in that drama.
But he legit can't remember the last time he got his dick wet.
She shrugs and lets her hand slip a little higher. "Sure. It's been a while since I've gotten off on anything but my own hand."
Okay, so that's hot, even if he doesn't want it to be, and she's wearing these tiny black shorts that kind of make him crazy. And fuck, he hasn't had anything but his hand for a while either, so why not?
He drains the last of his beer and slips off the railing, catching her wrist in his hand. "Let's go."
They fuck in Mike's older brother's room, and it feels awesome and doesn't mean anything more than that, in the good, easy way. He's pretty sure they aren't going to keep up like this, the way they have in summers before, but it's cool. He and Santana are bros and he thinks he's sort of missed her while he was with Lauren.
Of all the things he gets dragged into doing for his sister when his mom has to work, picking her up from Girl Scouts is one of the worst. Her troop leader flirts with him like crazy, and even if he wasn't off cougars he wouldn't be into it because she is not hot. Fuck, chick isn't even pretty. Then here's the whole room-full-of-little-girls thing, and having a sister is bad enough with all dealing with all of her squawking little friends.
He gets there early because Abby always rats him out when he's late, and it's not worth listening to his mom bitch. There are a bunch of moms standing there waiting, so he stands at the back of the little group and tries to blend in. (Sometimes the 'hawk bites him in the ass.) He almost jumps out of his skin when someone pinches his ass. He's relieved when he looks over his shoulder and sees Brittany.
"It needed pinched," she tells him with a shrug. He'd question it, but it's usually better to just go along with whatever Brit says.
"Are you a girl scout now?" he asks.
"My sister is. They asked me not to come back after I suggested that we sell kisses instead of cookies."
He has no fucking clue what to say to that, but Abby saves him from answering when she runs up and flings herself at Brittany. It's kind of weird because he didn't even know Abby knew who Brittany was, and now the girls are hugging each other like best friends or whatever.
"It's Fabulous Abulous!" Brittany exclaims, and Abby giggles like a fool.
Fuck, he needs to get out of this room. He's the only dude here and there's all of this giggling and chattering going on, and he can seriously only handle so much of this. A little blonde girl with crazy long legs comes running up grabs Brittany's hand, and Puck thinks he's got his answer to how Abby knows Brittany. Awesome, because now he doesn't have to ask. "Are you ready?" he asks his sister.
"Can we order pizza for dinner?" she asks. She still has her arm around Brittany's waist.
He shrugs. "Whatever. Let's go."
He juts his chin at Brittany while Abby makes a big scene of telling her and her sister goodbye, and nothing sounds as good as it does when they walk out of the building, even though it's just the sound of not two dozen little girls and their moms.
He doesn't exactly know how he got here, flat on his back with Brittany grinding her hips into his while she puts her tongue in his mouth, but he's finding it really fucking difficult to give a shit.
One of the football guys throws a party to celebrate the end of two-a-days (Coach Beiste likes to "separate the chaff early"), and Puck's completely wasted before it's even dark outside. Then Brittany shows up in these super-tiny shorts and they're doing shots of peach schnapps in the kitchen and then her tongue is in his mouth and she's got her fingers on his belt buckle.
So that's how he got here. But it still doesn't make sense.
He's had Brittany before, yeah, back when they were freshman and he and Santana decided that they should, like, share her or whatever, but that was a long time ago. A lot of things are different now.
But then she kisses up his throat and along his jaw to his ear and whispers, "I want to lick you like a popsicle," and he's done thinking.
Puck goes to Artie's later that week to play Halo. He's only half-paying attention to shooting dudes in the head when he says, "So, you and Brittany..."
He sees Artie shrug from the corner of his eye. "Everybody knew we wouldn't last. Look at her." He pauses to concentrate on the complicated shit he's doing in the game. "I'm sure she and Santana are together right now."
"Yeah," Puck agrees, because that's actually probably true. And it would be so easy to leave it there, but he's trying not to be such a shitty friend, like he was to Finn. "I had sex with her on Friday night."
Artie pauses the game - which sucks - and turns his upper body slowly to face Puck. "Seriously?"
"Dude, I don't even know what happened," Puck says quickly, and that's not a complete lie. "I was wasted." And maybe it's not a good excuse, but it's an honest one. If he'd been sober, he probably wouldn't have slept with Brittany at all.
Artie just looks at Puck for a minute, then shrugs his shoulders. "I don't think she was ever really mine, you know?"
Puck nods, because that actually makes sense, and it's awesome that Artie isn't pissed off and trying to punch him in the face or roll over his foot or whatever. He just un-pauses the game and they go back to what they were doing before.
He wakes up on Saturday morning when the doorbell rings and his sister goes screaming past his room and pounding down the stairs. He's been up early all week for football practice, and it honestly pisses him off that he's getting woken up at - he glances at his alarm - 9:17 a.m. He pulls the comforter up over his head to block out the light and, hopefully, the sound, because he knows what the hell's going on. His mom has to be at the hospital at noon and Abby has some friend over for the day. Puck has to make sure they don't burn down the house or leave the house until the girl gets picked up. But he has a couple of hours before his mom leaves, and he wants to make the most of them.
By sleeping.
He's totally not impressed when he hears his door push open. "Out," he growls from under the blankets.
He's even less impressed when the blankets are jerked off his body without warning, exposing his naked ass to the room. He sits up to glare, expecting to see his mom, and he's totally surprised to see Brittany standing at the foot of his bed with her eyebrows raised and a smile on her lips.
"You need pajamas, Puck."
He rolls his eyes and gets up out of bed, grabbing a pair of sweats from the back of his desk chair and pulling them on before he turns to look at her. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I dropped Kayla off to play with Abby," she answers. He assumes Kayla is her sister; he never paid attention to her name before. "I wanted to say hi."
He narrows his eyes at her. "Hi, Britt."
She walks around the end of the bed to stand in front of him, skimming her hands up his chest until she's tracing a fingertip over his cheek. "You have a line from your pillow." She leans forward to brush her lips over it, and this is the weirdest way he's been woken up in a while, not that he cares when she presses her lips to his and slips her tongue in his mouth.
Her hands are skimming over his body as they kiss, and it feels kind of awesome, her fingertips and her palms sliding over his shoulders and down his arms, then back up around the back of his neck and down lower. Brittany's just a touchy-feely girl; it's like she has to be touching someone all the time, and she's always been like that.
He wraps his fingers around her wrists when she slips her fingertips under the waistband of his sweats. She pulls back and leans her forehead against his. "Sorry." He just shakes his head at her; no way she has to apologize for waking him up when he gets that out of it.
"You wanna hang out for a while?" he asks. He's not going to have sex with his mom and their sisters in the house, but he's not above closing the door and making out until his mom goes to work.
She shakes her head. "I'm going shopping with Santana." He nods. "I'll be back later though." She kisses him again, curling her tongue around his before she pulls away. "Bye, Puck!"
He doesn't understand how she can just turn and walk away like it's nothing when he's standing here half-hard, but whatever.
Rachel's dads go out of town so she has the glee club over for a pool party. She insists that she doesn't want any alcohol at her "gathering," which everyone but Finn ignores the hell out of, though none of them are getting quite as fucked up as they did the last time they were here. Quinn doesn't bother to show up, but Kurt brings Blaine, which is a way better deal if you ask Puck.
Shit gets a little weird when Santana walks around the side of the house with Jesse St. James on her arm. Finn and Rachel both start acting weird, and Santana and Jesse both look fucking smug. Brittany comes to sit beside Puck on the edge of the pool, letting her feet dangle in the water like his, the corners of her mouth turned down just a little as she folds her hands in her lap.
"'Sup, B?"
She shakes her head a little. "That's weird," she says, her eyes on Santana and Jesse, who are standing on the edge of the deck and talking with their heads close together. "She's doing it because I don't want to be with her."
He glances over at Brittany, wondering if all those rumors about Santana being all Melissa Ethridge were true. "Why don't you want to be with her?"
"She's my best friend," Brittany says quietly. "I love her. But I like boys, too." She shrugs her shoulder. Her eyes are still on Santana. "I don't think she knows what she wants."
This is like super heavy, especially for Brittany, and it's kind of weirding him out. He nudges her with his elbow. "You wanna get drunk and find someone to play Chicken?"
She looks over at him and her face changes completely, lights up as she nods her head.
They end up doing vodka shots with Finn and Rachel (who are both still all weird about Jesse being there). Between Finn's drunken stumbling and the fact that Brittany has a good five inches on Rachel, she and Puck kick ass once they finally convince Rachel that playing Chicken is a good idea.
Really, all Puck cares about is the fact that Brittany doesn't look like someone kicked a puppy any more.
The girl doesn't have a mean bone in her body; any time she's done anything to hurt another person, it's been because she was coerced by Santana or Coach Sylvester. It isn't a coincidence that she's the only member of glee club who's never been slushied. She really just wants everyone around her to be happy, and it makes it really hard to be anything but nice to her.
She swims over the where Puck's standing in the water talking to Finn and drapes herself over his back, her legs coming around his waist. "Can I go home with you?" she asks against his ear. He nods. "Now? I'm really tired."
It's a ten-minute walk from Rachel's to his place, but it takes twice as long with Brittany when they're both drunk. The house is silent when they get there, and Brittany disappears into the bathroom to get out of her wet bathing suit, reappearing in his room just a few minutes later with a towel wrapped around her body.
"Can I borrow this?" she asks, catching the sleeve of the tee shirt he's wearing between her fingertips. He just grins, tugs it off, and takes the opportunity to look at her body when she drops the towel to pull it over her head. There's nothing about that body that isn't fucking gorgeous.
They make out a little bit, but that's all because Brittany whispers against his lips that she's tired and asks if he'll play with her hair until she falls asleep.
He doesn't even want to say no.
"Are you fucking Brittany?"
"Are you fucking St. Twat?" Puck fires back. Santana totally just invited herself into his house and up to his room. He was just laying here minding his own business, and she's got her bitch face on. Fuck her for showing up here and asking that question.
She glares at him. "That's none of your fucking business."
"Neither are me and Brittany." He rolls his eyes at the incredulous look on her face. "Look, she needs a friend right now because you're freezing her out," he says bluntly. "And no, it isn't any of your fucking business that we're fucking." He means that, but it's honestly easier to answer her question than not. He isn't stupid.
She takes a step closer to where he's sitting on the bed and locks eyes with him. "If you hurt her, I will tear off your dick with my bare hands and shove it so far down your throat you choke on it, Puckerman."
"Fine," he says simply. He just goes along with it for a few reasons, including the fact that even though Santana makes empty threats all the time, he knows that she really does love Brittany, whatever weirdness is going on between them right now. That entitles her to be protective of the girl.
She nods her head and leaves the room without another word, slamming the front door on her way out like the bitch she is.
center*/center
He doesn't know exactly what Santana says to Brittany, but things change with Brit after that conversation. (Or, you know, Santana's violent threats against his junk. Same difference, really.) She's just around more, but not in the crazy stalker way that makes Puck feel like he needs to hide. Brittany's a little weird, yeah, but she's super-sweet and a blast to hang out with. She says the most hilarious (completely fucking random) shit, and he doesn't even mind how touchy-feely she is.
Puck never realized that Abby and Kayla, Brittany's sister, were such good friends, but apparently they were in the same class this year at school and they hit it off. They're both in a swimming summer league, and Puck gets roped into going to one of their meets when both girls, Brittany, and his mom gang up on him in the Puckerman kitchen one morning.
So that kind of sucks about Brittany, just a little bit, that she gets along with the women in his house. Except it doesn't really suck at all that Abby thinks she's God's gift and his mom thinks she's the sweetest girl on the planet or something. And, you know, she might be right.
He draws the line at sharing a car with his mom and the little girls, so he and Brittany drive together to the public pool two towns over. She sits in the middle seat of his truck with this little purple plaid sundress on over her black bikini, singing along with the radio, chattering about nothing, and cracking him up.
She's definitely cheering louder than anyone else in the little crowd once the swim meet starts, and Puck has to admit that the look on Abby's face when she looks over and sees her family and Brittany sitting there is pretty good.
After the meet is over and Puck and Brittany are walking back to his truck, she takes his hand, weaving her fingers together with his. She gets into the truck on his side, and as soon as he's got the door shut, she's kissing him, the collar of his tee shirt in her fist as she licks into his mouth. "You're, like, the best big brother, Puck."
They end up at a party because it's a Saturday night, and Brittany sits in his lap while he plays poker with some of the guys from the baseball team. She's playing with the hair at the nape of his neck, which reminds him of the ties of her bikini top at the back of hers. He bows out of the game and they drive out to some random back road to have sex in the bed of his truck, which isn't as dirty as it sounds. He's got a sleeping bag spread out, and it's actually kind of nice, the sound of her breathing together with the chirping crickets and how they're both slicked with sweat when they come.
They're sitting in her living room one night watching a movie when her parents come home and find them. They aren't even doing anything. Puck's sprawled out and Brittany's got her head in his lap. They're watching iAlmost Famous/i, though they're both dozing off; it's late and they spent the day at the lake with Mike and Tina. Brittany doesn't even look up, but Puck looks over at the door and catches her dad glaring at him before her mom pulls him away.
"Uh, baby," Puck says quietly. Brittany turns so she's looking up at him. "Does your dad, like, hate me?"
"Yeah."
He stares down at her with wide eyes. "Why?" And why the fuck are they hanging out here if her dad hates him? They usually hang out at his place, but Puck thought that was just because his mom was gone so much.
"Quinn, mostly. And Santana's said some stuff."
He curses under his breath. Fucking Santana.
"It's okay," she says, reaching up and brushing her fingertips along his jaw. "I told him that you're like a Pound Puppy."
Puck has no idea what that means.
But she's smiling up at him, and her dad walks by to go upstairs just a minute later and doesn't even say anything, so apparently it's good.
She drives them to Coldstone one night just as the sun's going down. She says she'll die if she doesn't get strawberry ice cream with gummy bears and rainbow sprinkles and whipped cream. He buys her the biggest size, and when they walk out of the shop, she hands him her car keys like he knew she would.
"Try it," she insists when he stops at a red light. He's been questioning how gummy bears in ice cream could possibly taste good since she told the guy behind the counter that she wanted them. She offers him a huge bite that has about three candies in it.
"It doesn't suck," he admits after he's managed to swallow.
"Whatever," she says around a mouthful of ice cream. "You suck. My ice cream is awesome."
He isn't at all surprised when they get back to her house and she hands him the cup, still half-full, and tells him that she can't eat any more or her brain will freeze solid.
And yeah, gummy bears in ice cream don't totally suck.
It isn't until two weeks before school starts that Puck realizes that he hasn't slept with anyone but Brittany basically all summer, which makes sense when he thinks about how much time they spend together. She and her sister are at the house all the time, and Abby and Kayla are old enough to keep themselves occupied so Puck can mack on Britt. They've ended up together after basically every party he's been to this summer, even the ones he didn't drive her to, which he doesn't hate. Seriously, the girl is sexy as hell and totally willing, and she has this habit of rubbing his earlobe gently after, which totally puts him to sleep.
It is weird how much they actually sleep together, but his mom loves her and her parents don't really seem to care that they spend the night together a couple of times a week. (Apparently her dad has decided not to hate Puck.) Plus, it's summer, so naps are totally a regular part of his schedule, and they're better when Britt's with him. She like, wraps herself around him, one leg hitched up over his and her fingers skimming at his ribs, and he likes it more than he's willing to admit.
Mercedes has an end-of-summer barbecue for the glee club when her parents go out of town. Puck brings both the liquor, because he knows everyone expects it, and Brittany, because she did that really cute thing where she bites her lip when she asked him if he would give her a ride.
They all sort of learned their lesson after the Ke$ha assembly thing, so no one gets too crazy with the drinking. Like, Rachel isn't hanging on Finn and Brittany isn't tearing off her clothes and Santana isn't weeping about anything. (Mercedes is totally giggling like a fool though, standing in the kitchen talking to Sam and holding his hand, and when did that happen?)
He sits down at the picnic table next to Brittany, who is having a weirdly intense conversation with Rachel about eggs and chickens, and he knows it's bad news when Brittany cries, "Okay!" when Rachel suggests that Britt go vegan with her. He knows Rachel explains things really well, but Brittany is not going to give up all the shit she eats. Besides, he doesn't totally understand how drinking milk that comes from a cow is terrible, even if he gets where Rachel's coming from with the meat thing and the egg thing. (Except there's no way he'd ever give that shit up.)
Later, Artie's manning the grill (which is unexpected and awesome) and Brittany comes up to get a hot dog. Puck is seriously counting down the seconds until he hears Rachel's anguished cry of Brittany's name. Her eyes are all huge and she looks like she could cry. "Brittany, I thought you were going vegan with me!"
Brittany finishes chewing the bite of food in her mouth and looks at Rachel like she's stupid. "Rachel, it's okay. Hot dogs totally aren't made from dog." Puck cannot help the laugh that comes out of his mouth. "No puppies were harmed."
Rachel opens her mouth to say something, but she stops when she sees Puck's glare. He knows it isn't the point, but Brittany's not exactly wrong, and Rachel has to know that the vegan thing isn't going to stick. The whole thing's just going to end up making Britt feel bad, so he's glad when Finn comes over and puts his arm around Rachel's shoulder and whispers something in her ear as they walk away.
Puck drapes his arm over Brittany's shoulder and presses a kiss to the top of her head while she takes another bite of her hot dog. "You're awesome, baby." She grins up at him as she chews, then hip-checks him gently before walking away to go stand with Santana and Quinn across the patio.
He pretends that he can't see the way Artie's looking up at him like he knows something Puck doesn't.
Brittany comes up to him at his locker before first period on the first day of school, and he just has to look at her for a second. She's wearing these little white shorts (that he loves) with a loose blue tank top (that he can totally see down the front of) and these high-heeled sandals that have laces up to her knees (which make her legs look even more awesome). She looks hot, so that's what he tells her, even though he definitely notices the way her tank top makes her eyes look even more blue than they already do.
She slides her hand around the back of his neck and kisses him gently. "Thanks, baby."
He's sitting next to Mike in Spanish when it kind of hits him all at once that he and Brittany are in an actual relationship. They're having sex, yeah, but they hang out all the time and talk and shit. Like, he knows that nothing makes her happier than dancing and seeing the people around her happy, and he thinks it's awesome that it's just that simple for her. And he's told her some stuff too, like how he really doesn't care where he ends up or what he does as long as he never, ever turns into his dad, a deadbeat who leaves his wife alone with two kids and no money.
It's really fucked that the most normal relationship he's ever been in is with Brittany, but it's totally the truth.
He catches her after school when they're heading to glee rehearsal. "Hey, baby." He slides his arm around her waist and pulls her around the corner, and once the choir room door is out of sight, he tugs her against him and kisses her quickly.
"Hi." She leans back against the wall and takes both of his hands in hers, smiling at him and waiting like she knows he has something to say.
"Be my girlfriend." He doesn't really think before the words are out of his mouth. They're stupid, but honestly, getting right to the point can't be a bad thing.
Her smile gets bigger and she tugs on his hands a little until he gets the hint and leans into kiss her. "Okay," she murmurs against his lips. She pushes him away after a moment and bounces a little. "Buck!"
"Huh?"
"Our couple name! Brittany and Puck make Buck!"
His eyebrows come together as he takes a step back and pulls her away from the wall, lacing their fingers together as he leads her back around the corner to the choir room. She look way to excited about this. "No, baby. No couple name." Seriously, he fucking hates that stupid shit.
She pouts a little as she chooses a seat next to Tina. "But I like it."
Fuck. He's totally going to let her use that stupid name.