XO
Mercedes sat on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table as she read through a copy of People Magazine. She decided to lounge around for the afternoon after spending most of the day being dragged around the various "hot spots" in the city by Kurt and Rachel; with her boyfriend grumbling behind as he was dragged around as well. Suddenly she felt two strong hands wrap around her shoulders. She inhaled the familiar scent of the boyfriend in question
"Yes Noah?"
"What'cha doin' ?" He asked with a smirk and he began to knead her shoulders. She sighed a little but continued to read.
"Reading obviously…why?" she asked without looking up from the magazine. Suddenly she felt the cushion bounce with the weight of a person and she noticed that he had just jumped over the couch to sit next to her.
"Well because we're about to do something really fun." He said with a smile.
"I already told you that we're not having sex yet Noah" she sighed
"Wait what? No, not that. We're gonna go somewhere fun."
"Noah why can't we just lounge around the hotel today? We've already been dragged around the city by Kurt and Rachel for the last two days so I was hoping that we could just chill today." She expressed finally putting down the magazine.
"Well this is something fun that we can do, instead of being forced to have 'fun' with them."
"Well aren't you forcing me to have fun now?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Just get dressed." He said hoping off the couch, giving her a kiss and jogging in the bedroom. Mercedes heaved a deep breath getting off the couch.
"Can I at least know what we're doing and what to wear?"
"No and just dress comfortable" he called out before she heard the bathroom door close and the shower come on.
15 minutes later Mercedes decided she looked good enough to be comfortable for whatever they were doing. She had on a simple loose fitting long sleeved shirt and dark blue skinny jeans accentuated with a pair of her favorite Nike wedge sneakers. After she heard the shower go off, she waited a few minutes then walked over to the door and knocked.
"Hey are you decent? I need to brush my teeth and fix my hair."
"Yeah you can come in" he yelled back.
"I don't mean to barge in but I need my bru—" her words were instantly caught in her throat as she took in the sight before her. Puck was standing there, still naked and drying himself off. She genuinely had no words. She had never seen her boyfriend naked, or any guy up close before really, and she just lost her herself.
"Like what you see?" Puck's words snapped her out of her trance. She looked to see as he showed his signature smirk as he continued drying off.
"I-I-uh-c-can you put a towel on?" she asked looking away to hide the deep blush. "I thought you said that you were decent"
"I am decent" he said as he tied up his towel around his waist. "it's not like I was jacking off or anything". Mercedes curse under her breath as the image popped into her head without warning. "Besides I thought I'd give you a sneak peak at what you're gonna get…eventually" He smirked and left the bathroom closing the door behind him. Mercedes leaned up against the door and closed her eyes letting out a long breathe. "This whole celibacy thing just got A LOT harder" she thought.
Once they both got dressed, they left the hotel and went to hail a cab. After about 5 minutes they finally were able to get one and hopped in. Puck whispered the directions to the driver and sat back as if everything was normal. As the driver pulled off, Mercedes looked over at her boyfriend expectantly.
"So…Are you gonna tell me where we're going?"
"Nope" he answered simply" Oh and put this on" he pulled out a blind fold from his pocket, holding it out to Mercedes. She looked at the rag, then her boyfriend incredulously.
"Oh hell to the no. what the hell is that for?"
"Oh come on, I don't want to spoil where we're going. I know it's weird but just humor me." He put on his best pout that he knew she couldn't resist. She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes.
"Fine…" She said taking the blindfold and putting it about 10 more minutes of the car ride, and Mercedes trying to keep herself from getting car sick, they made it. Puck got out the cab first and ran to the other side to help his still blindfolded girlfriend. Mercedes was instantly struck with the sounds of loud screams and the smells of various foods.
"Alright you can take it off" Puck said after paying the driver. She pulled of the blindfold and after her eyes adjusted to the sunlight , she came face to face with her boyfriend who wore a big grin. "Surprise!" he exclaimed gesturing to the side of him. Confused, she turned and gasped. The sign read "Luna Park Coney Island amusement park". She could see hoards of people and various rides scatted all around. She turned back to her boyfriend still in astonishment. "I remembered you mentioning back when we were booking plane flights that you always wanted to come here ever since you saw that black version of the Wizard of Oz and that Beyoncé video from a few years back. So I figured that since we finally had some time away from Hummelberry we could—" he was instantly cut off by lips connecting into his. But the lips were gone before he really had time to respond. He looked down to see his girlfriend smiling at him with unshed tears in her eyes.
"You're the best, you know that?"
"I've been told that once or twice before" he said with a clear innuendo. She just rolled her eyes
"I'm gonna choose to ignore that because I'm too excited. Let's go!" she exclaimed as she pulled her boyfriend to the entrance. After paying the admission, they walked inside and were struck by all the people, smells of food and bells and whistles of all the many games.
"So what do you want to do first?" he asked looking around at all the many games and vending stations. Mercedes looked around in sheer excitement.
"Everything" was all she answered before dragging him off again.
They were about an hour into playing various games when Puck was locked in a basket ball shooting contest with a 7 year old boy. Mercedes stood on the sidelines marveling at her boyfriend. Puck was running around clearly missing his shots on purpose so that the little boy had a chance to win even though Puck was superior in both height , age and skill. He even helped the boy a few times by picking him up and allowing him a better shot. The sheer joy on Puck's face made Mercedes unconsciously smile. This is the Puck that not many people got to see. The one she considered the true Puck. Noah. Not the badass or the diligent police officer in training but the fun loving guy that she couldn't believe she was with. Even amongst all the pandemonium his face was all that she could see. His genuine smile that made his eyes and nose crinkle and his hearty laugh that she really didn't get to hear until they finally got together. He looked over as the game ended and smiled at her. He high fived the boy before jogging back over to her.
"That kid kicked my ass" he said slightly out of breathe as he put his arm around her shoulder.
"Right, he totally did" she chuckled.
They continued to play games for about another half hour. Puck tried to get her to go on the parachute jump, to which she threatened that " she'd rather drop him out of a plane with no parachute". They ate at the famous hot dog shop Nathans, before deciding to walk along the boardwalk until their food settled. After Mercedes won Puck a teddy bear and taking a bunch of silly pictures in a photo booth, they came upon Puck's main destination. They came up to one of the country's oldest and most iconic roller coasters, the Cyclone. Mercedes looked at him with wide eyes.
"Nope" was all she said before making to walk away. Puck quickly caught her arm and lightly tugged her back.
"Oh c'mon 'Cedes, it's just a roller coaster"
"Yes, the thing you know I hate and am terrified of" she said looking at him with a face that screamed "duh".
"How can you hate something you never tried?"
"You've never tried making out with a guy, but I'm sure you hate the idea" she said crossing her arms.
"Well actually there was this one time…but that's not important right now"
"Wait, what?" she looked at him in shock " you know what, never mind. I'm just not getting on that thing." She made to leave and was stopped yet again. Puck put both his hands on her shoulders and made her look him in the eye.
"Mercedes Jones, you're one of the toughest people I know and I remember you saying riding a roller coaster was on your bucket list. So we're gonna get on this ride and conquer your fear. I'm gonna hold your hand the whole time and if you hate it….you're allowed to make me do whatever you want for an entire week" he finished hoping he'd convinced her. She thought about and , grumbling, agreed to go on. It turned out that roller coasters were actually really fun and as much as she hated to admit it, he was right.
The sun was beginning to set and they knew that they'd have to get back for the "big" dinner party that Rachel was throwing. Puck suggested that they go on the Ferris wheel before they left and Mercedes tentatively agreed as she was slightly afraid of heights as well. They lucked out and got their own car and as they began to rise, Puck looked over and noticed the slight terror in his girlfriend's eyes.
"Hey, you're going to be fine" he said as he reached out and grabbed her hand. She instantly felt her nerves subside despite the slight jolt as they reached the top .
"Wow. It's so beautiful" Mercedes said in awe as she looked out to the sunset over the bay to her left and the city to her right.
"It's not the only thing" she turned just in time for her boyfriend to capture her lips. He raised his hand to cup her cheek as he deepened the kiss. They continued to kiss until they both had to come up for air. They rested their foreheads on each other and just breathed in each other's presence.
"I love you so much" Puck whispered breaking the silence. Mercedes pulled back and looked at him in shock.
"wh-what did you say?"
"I said I love you." He said in a sincere tone. He grabbed her hand and looked her straight in the eyes. "Look, I know you may feel like this is too soon, although we've been dating for almost a year, and you may not feel the same way yet; but that's ok. You don't have to say it back. I just wanted to let you know that in the past year you've taught me more about life and love than anyone has before in my whole life. And I know I told Quinn I loved her way back in high school but that wasn't real love. It was just "you've just had my baby" love. What we have, that's love to me and I thank God, Buddha, Allah, whoever the fuck is out there for it. And you don't have to say it back right now and I don't want you to say it back unless you really mean it, not that you feel pres-" he was cut off by a light kiss that only lasted for a few second, before she pulled away.
"I love you too"
"you do?" Puck questioned with a growing smile on his lips.
"I guess part of me always has since we dated that short time and we bonded while Quinn was pregnant. I mean sure I loved Sam…a lot; but life kept coming between us and over time I realized we didn't have a future. With you I see that future. Maybe our 'happily ever after' isn't set in stone yet, but I willing to keep riding out this fairytale until it ends." She finished rubbing her hand down his cheek.
They looked at each other and instead of kissing they just hugged. Both warm with emotion after confessing the depth of their feeling. Just then the fireworks began to flash in the sky. Bright color illuminating the now darkened sky. They pulled back from their embrace, stealing one more kiss before, before leaning back and enjoying the show…
Your face is all that I see, you give me everything,
Baby love me lights out