Nothing is mine. I just love Puck/Quinn with side orders of Bethangst. I was thinking about them standing on stage behind that curtain, wondering what they were thinking, considering the song fit Puck and Quinn far more in my opinion (but it had to be Finn and Rachel. The show is about them. I get it.) So I wondered how they reacted. Here is the outcome. Enjoy.
They're standing on stage waiting for the curtain to come up. They can hear every note, every word, because Rachel's been meticulous about her enunciation once she found she had the Faithfully solo. Quinn doesn't really think it's fair, this song. She doesn't care about the solos – it's been Rachel's all along, and if they're doing Journey, it's really all Finn. But she doesn't think that this song is fair. Fair on her and Puck.
She doesn't think that it's fair Rachel and Finn are preaching about the place to start a family or what love is supposed to be, when Quinn and Puck are standing right there, pregnant and having some pretty solid issues about love. Finn never loved Quinn. Finn liked her a lot. She'd liked him a lot. They'd worked together well, but it wasn't love, upon reflection. And Rachel and Jesse? Love? Not a chance. That was attraction, based on good looks and talent. Two people who have a couple of things in common does not love make. They knew nothing about one another, including the fact that Jesse was a nasty, dirty spy for the Vocal Adrenaline coach.
And this? What the pair had now? That wasn't love. That was a whole lot of like, based on some serious musical chemistry and both of them wanting what they couldn't have. Maybe it would be love one day, but for now, it was just like.
Quinn and Puck, though. That was something different again. She'd moved into his house, and suddenly realised he was different to what he seemed. He made dinner every Wednesday night, because his mom always took that shift, and lots of Mondays, when she took that one, too. He looked after his sister a lot for the same reason, and, though he'd never let on, he adored the little girl. But because he was Puck, he didn't actually use her real name. He preferred 'loser' or 'lameazoid' or 'Puck junior' when he was in a good mood, and, in general, corrupting his little sister's nature. But sometimes he was sweet. Her morning sickness was pretty awful for a while, and he always had gum and vitamin water for her in his car, and in his locker (he knew quite a bit about taking the taste of vomit from one's mouth, and swore by his, admittedly excellent, method). When she was around seven months along, and restless because she couldn't lie on her stomach, he left the room silently (and thinking he was ignoring her, she became quite agitated), but left the house and dug a big hole in the sandpit his sister hadn't played in for years. When he came and found her, there was a hole in the sand that would fit her bump almost perfectly, so she could lie on her stomach without fear of hurting her baby. And she did so, quite contentedly until it became too dark outside.
Not to mention that the pregnancy hormones often made her a downright bitch, and he sat and weathered the storm of her anger, sometimes throwing it back when she was horridly out of line. He wasn't afraid to hurt her feelings. He knew that, when it came from someone who cared about her, she'd take it better than from someone who'd slushy her. He knew that she was having a bit of trouble being strong, and if he hit her with the insults she copped at school, she'd be better at handling them when they were meant with malice. They knew that once she'd calmed, he'd knock gently on the door with a packet of tim tams as a peace offering, and apologise without really apologising, just trying to explain that very thing.
Sometimes she was afraid she loved him. That wasn't the way her life was supposed to turn out. Half the reason she was giving Beth away was because she was damned sure she and Puck would make a total botch of any kind of relationship beyond what they had, and sometimes he made comments – very intense, Puck-like comments that made her know he wanted more from her. He didn't make them often, in true Puck fashion, but when he did, they just made her want to lock herself into her room and cry.
But the piano started, and Mr. Schuester had put her next to Puck, right in the front row, and she put one hand on her stomach and tried not to cry at the familiar song. Puck grabbed her other hand in silence, still staring forward, not saying a word. Rachel belted out how hard it was to raise a family, and how hard love was, and she tried not to think about how the song went on to talk about two strangers learning how to fall in love again. Puck, with his hand still firmly clasping hers, sensing her tension, rubbed his thumb across her hand, and she tried to gain some composure. He was still staring intently forward, but he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it, before promptly putting it down just before the curtain came up, and the glee club began to sing.