A/N: Although I've been reading fic for a while now, this is my first attempt at writing it! I've had this idea in my head for a few weeks and I decided to see how it played out on paper. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it if you have time :) Also, keep in mind that this is set in their senior year (so basically right now), except Rachel is dating Noah instead of Finn.

One her favourite things about her relationship with Noah is that they don't try to change each other. Both of them have had past relationships that have gone wrong because they felt pressured to be what the other person needed them to be. She and Noah don't do that. They're comfortable and secure enough within their relationship to understand that they're not going to agree on everything. (Some days they don't agree on anything. She thinks that's okay.) She knows he loves her, and she loves him more than she's ever loved anyone else, and that's all that matters.

So when she tells him that he looks like he has a dead rodent on his head and he just laughs, she's not too mad. And when she tells him that she won't have sex with him again until he shaves it, and he rolls his eyes and kisses her, she admits that she would never put them both through that and then lets him take her underwear off. She's not going to force himself to change his appearance just to please her.

Although she might make him put a paper bag over his head next time.

But it becomes almost a running joke within their relationship. Rachel makes comments and tries to bargain with him. She promises baked goods and sexual favours in exchange for him letting her take a razor to his head, and he just laughs and tells her she's cute. (Nine times out of ten she ends up giving him those things anyway. He knows his girl.)

They're lying in his bed one afternoon, her head on his chest and her legs tangled with his. She lifts her head up to kiss him, laughs into his mouth and says, "Noah, I honestly don't understand what is happening with your hair lately."

He grins at her, kisses her for a few more minutes. She makes another comment about him shaving it. He asks her what she'd do if he asked her to change anything about her appearance.

"You wouldn't do that. You love the way I look."

He just smiles and nods when she says it. She is the sexiest girl he's ever laid eyes on. He's glad she knows that. "Yeah, baby. I do."

She moves so she's straddling him, pushes her hair over one shoulder and kisses him all soft and slow, and fuck, he loves her. "Fuck, Rach, you're so beautiful."

"Noah?"

"Yeah, Rach?"

"I love you, too." He didn't say it just then in so many words, but he may as well have. He doesn't throw the word beautiful around lightly. He's only ever used it on her.

And, mohawk and all, she thinks he's the sexiest guy she's ever seen, too.

But when they're sitting in glee club the next day and Mike comments that Puck's hair looks more like a horse's mane than anything else, Rachel kind of snaps.

"I don't want to talk about Noah's hair."

Just must have said it louder than she meant to because the entire glee club turns to stare at her. Noah laughs and tries to kiss her on the cheek, but she pulls away and scowls. She's been in a mood all day. He just laughs again and rests his hand on her thigh. It's not the first time he's seen her like this. He can handle her shit.

Besides, a few minutes later she puts her hand over his and grabs it where it's sitting on her leg, so he thinks she must not be too mad.

He's just heading to meet her at her locker after last period so he can drive her home like he always does when it happens. She's finished collecting everything she needs and turns away, starts walking up the hallway and smiles when she sees him, when out of nowhere, some asshole from the football team comes at her with a plastic slushie cup. Noah feels like he watches it happen in slow motion, watches her face fall as she shuts her eyes and waits for the ice to hit her. The football asshole and his douchey friend are laughing and his girlfriend is standing there dripping with blue slushie and looking just about as upset as he's ever seen her.

And Noah snaps. He charges down the hall and grabs the football player by his collar, shoves him against a locker as hard as he can and stares him down.

"What the fuck, man? What the fuck do you think you're doing hitting my girl?"

Considering the situation, Puck thinks he's remaining pretty calm. He hasn't thrown any punches yet. He vaguely registers Rachel standing behind them, pleading with him to stop, but all he can focus on right now is the dick who thought it was okay to hurt her.

"Whatever, Puckerman," the football player responds. "Don't act like you've never done it. You used to target her more than anyone else."

That's when Noah punches him, square in the jaw, not thinking about the consequences, not thinking about the fact that this other guy has a wingman and Noah's only support is his 5 foot girlfriend who weighs like 30 pounds. All he cares about is inflicting as much pain on this guy as he has inflicted on Rachel.

The football player falls the floor, swearing, and Puck goes to swing at him again before he feels a pair of arms pulling him back and telling him to go to Figgins' office. It's then when he sees Rachel, near tears, the blue ice seeping into her clothes and hair, looking more disappointed in him than he's ever seen her.

Fuck, he's an asshole.

She follows a few paces behind him to the office, listens through the door as her boyfriend sits through a lecture he's probably hundreds of times by now. Noah explains that he was acting in defence of Rachel and Figgins lets him off with a warning and a reminder that "violence is not tolerated at McKinley".

Rachel can only laugh at that.

He steps out of the office and reaches for her, tries to hold her and comfort her and tell her he's sorry, but she pushes him away.

"I only stayed to make sure you weren't going to be suspended. I don't want to talk to you right now. I called my dads and they're coming to pick me up. I'll see you tomorrow."

She turns to walk away, starts speed-walking down the hall and she's halfway out of the school by the time Noah catches up to her, grabs her gently by the wrists and pulls her to face him.

"Baby, I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to punch him. I couldn't help it. You know I can't stand seeing you hurt. I know I need to control my temper. I promise I'll try. Please let me take you home. I just want to make it better."

He's staring into her eyes more intently that he ever has. The way he's holding her, the way he's looking at her, the words he's saying, all of that should comfort her, but she's so mad right now that she really just can't be around him. She knows he loves her, but she can't deal with him right now.

"Noah, you know I hate violence. You heard me telling you to just drop it! All I wanted was for my boyfriend to help me clean myself off and forget about it and all you cared about was seeking revenge! I don't need you to fight my battles for me. I'm perfectly capable of doing that on my own. Just let me go home. I'll see you tomorrow."

She pulls free from his grasp and walks away. He doesn't think he's ever felt worse.

If her dads are shocked to find her sticky and blue, they don't say anything. Perhaps they sense that she's really not in the mood for talking. Whatever the case, she sits in the backseat in silence and feels like a four year old as they drive through the streets of Lima back home. It's the first day since she and Noah started dating that he hasn't driven her home. She hates it.

They arrive at the house and she hops out of the car as fast as she can, runs inside and up to her room without saying anything to her dads, collapses onto her bed, and finally lets herself cry. She's not even crying about the slushie. She doesn't care what the football players think of her. She knows she's better than that, knows that she's going to get out of here soon, move to New York and never see them again.

She's upset because her boyfriend punched somebody, right in front of her, despite her protests. She's upset because it reminded her that her darling boyfriend was the one who used to do the majority of the slushying. She knows he loves her now, and she knows he'd take it all back if he could. She knows he regrets it probably more than he lets on, and he's apologised enough that she knows that he means it. Still, they're memories that she's really tried to repress, and she hates that they were resurfaced this afternoon.

She's pulled from her reverie when there's a light tapping at the door. She doesn't respond, waits for the person behind it to say their name. She has a pretty good guess as to who it is.

"Baby, it's me. Please, just let me in. I just want to make sure you're okay."

She sighs and sits up, goes over to the door and opens it. She gasps loudly when she sees her boyfriend standing there with his head freshly shaved, a hopeful smile playing on his lips, but his eyes still concerned. She wraps her arms around him and he pulls her up against him as close as he can, breathes out her name on a sigh of relief. They stand like that for a while, just hugging, when he can feel her crying against him, and he takes a few steps back, grabs her hands, leads her to the bed and makes her sit down. He sits next to her and looks into her eyes, pushes her hair off her face and tries to smile.

"I love you," he says, because he thinks that this is probably a good time to let her know.

"I know." She's not saying that to be conceited, or to purposely not say it back. It's her way of letting him know that she forgives him, that she loves him too and that she never doubted his love for her. She never would.

"I just… I wanted to do something to cheer you up," he says, that hopeful smile once again playing on his lips.

She giggles. "It worked. You look sexy."

He wiggles his eyebrows at her and she laughs out loud. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

She leans into kiss him, just a quick peck on the lips, then leans her forehead against his and smiles again. His expression changes from relief to sadness alarmingly quickly, and she asks him what's wrong.

"I just…" he doesn't have the words. He wishes he was like her, so good with words, always knowing what to say. He's always been better at showing her how he felt than telling her. She's so perfect. He doesn't deserve her.

"Baby… I'm so, so, so sorry that I ever did that to you. I never want you to look how you just looked before ever again. I swear, it broke my heart. I'm just… I'm so fucking sorry for what I did to you."

She leans forward and kisses him again, because he's right there and she wants to, and if she didn't know him any better, she'd swear he was on the verge of tears.

"I know. It's okay." She says it with such sincerity that he has to believe her.

"It's not okay, Rach. I feel sick when I think about putting you through that."

"I know, Noah. It was a long time ago. You made up for it a long time ago, too. It's okay. It's really, honestly okay." She means it. She loves him in this moment more than ever before, when he's just being himself, expressing what he's feeling.

"Baby…"

"But, I mean, if you wanted to try to make it up for me even more, I have a few ideas…"

She's grinning at him now, the look she always gets when she only wants one thing. He grins back at her and she straddles him where he's sitting, pushing him back so he's laying against the mattress and she's on top of him, looking down on him, and she's got his face in her hands.

"I love you," she says seriously. "I forgave you a long time ago for the slushies. But, I mean, if you want to make up for punching someone in the face right in front of me, I can think of a few things you can do…"

He kisses her before she can finish her sentence.