I do not own Glee or any of its characters, as much as I'd like to. This is my first time publishing anything, so please be gentle! Any feedback or constructive criticism is welcomed. I was inspired to write this after re-watching The Quarterback, so this is set after that. It is/was never my intention to offend or hurt anybody while writing. Please enjoy!
Chapter 1 – The Army
After Finn's memorial with the Glee club, Puck enlists in the Army. At first he said it was to honour Finn's death, which wasn't even a lie. They only spent a couple months together in college, but Finn talked his ear off about wanting to re-enlist. He wanted to avenge his father's honourableness discharge, because you know, it's his dad and shit, and it doesn't matter. It was important to Finn, so it's important to him, OK? He didn't expect to stay enlisted for three years or to complete two tours in Afghanistan. Somewhere in between basic training and being deployed, he realised that he belonged there. His time in LA hadn't worked and as fun as College was with Finn, he knew he wouldn't be going back. There weren't many options at that point, because he sure as hell wasn't going to bum around his mom's house in Lima.
During his tours, he kept in contact with a few friends. Quinn would send him letters sometimes, talking about Yale and her new older boyfriend, some up-and-coming big shot Doctor. Puck decided to bite away his jealousy and be happy for her. He got a few letters from Santana, Mike, even some of the girls he hooked up with back in LA, and god was he thankful for the pictures they included. Hey, it was three years with a bunch of dudes, and you don't mess with girls in your platoon, because they're fucking scary. When he was caught looking at one of them, he couldn't walk straight for a week after she kneed him in the balls.
He thought about Beth a lot. Whenever he was patrolling some dead end town and saw kids running around, or when he missed home, he thought about what she was doing. Because the kid was four when he signed up. She's walking and talking, even dancing. Shelby sent him some pictures and videos of her. His favourite was the ballet dance recital with her front and centre, dancing her heart out, big smiles and all. This probably should have made him feel like a pussy, but he was nothing but proud. She was sporting bright blonde hair and huge hazel eyes, just like when she was a baby. Spitting image of Quinn, but he could see his smile in her face. When a night was particularly hard, he would dream about visiting her in New York when all this shit was over.
His mom sent him a letter every week, talking about Sarah and her job, about town gossip and how proud she was of him. Sarah sent him report cards and test grades, making good on her promise to not become a fuck up like him. Even Jake sent him some shit, talking about Marley or Glee club. One letter that Jake sent included some pictures, a few people he recognized, most he didn't. They all looked like kids to him and he wondered how he ever felt like a man before this. There was one of Tina and Artie, some of the newer glee kids decorating for Christmas, and one of Rachel on stage.
He heard about her big Broadway debut. His mother didn't let a letter go by without mentioning how great she was doing. Apparently sold out shows and adoring fans were a good thing. In the picture Jake sent, she was on stage with short hair and a huge smile, obviously relishing in the spotlight. He would be happy for her if he wasn't so dumbstruck by the similarity in her and Beth. Rachel looked completely different, of course, brown hair and eyes and everything. But their smiles were the same, big and confident. The kind of smile that made other people smile back. He doesn't know why, but he sticks her picture on the wall beside his bunk, in between a picture of Beth and a picture of Sarah.
He starts writing Rachel after that, at first just trying to get information about how Beth was doing. Shelby hadn't sent a new letter in a few weeks and it was hard not to worry. He's surprised to hear that she visits Shelby every weekend for brunch and babysits often. She sends him a couple of her own photos of the little girl, many of them with Rachel. One of them has Beth on stage with Rachel, both of their hands in the air and smiles even higher. He pins that one up too. Eventually it's a regular thing; they send letters back and forth almost every week. Rachel tells him about her show closing and her very mature decision to finish school before perusing another demanding role. He tells her about the lousy food and some of the friends he made. Sometimes they talk about high school and how much they miss it. How much she misses Finn. How much he misses slushies. Most times he's telling her stories about his platoon, even a few serious ones. She mostly talks about how much she misses being on stage.
One of the hardest things about being in his platoon was the lack of privacy. It wasn't anything new to him, just intensified. Sarah was always poking her nose where it shouldn't have been, like in his closet where he stashed his porn collection and whiskey. His mom also had a no locked doors policy in place after Quinn got knocked up, so walk ins happened on the regular. He got better at hiding his alcohol and even better at hiding his hook ups. Bunking with 20 other men was something new altogether though. Moments alone were rare, so he savoured them when he could. When he knew that everyone was asleep, he grabbed his stash of pictures from inside of his pillow and tried to make out which one to grab. He picked one randomly, because really, he couldn't see anything but her legs and smile, and that's good enough. When he makes it to the bathroom and flicks on the light, leaning his back against the wooden door, he realises he grabbed a picture of Rachel. Specifically, one of the many she sent of her beach vacation she took with Shelby and Beth. Her posing like a pin-up model in a black bikini, smile wide and eyes bright.
He figured it was pretty fucked up and that he should probably go back and find a different picture. So when he starts to stroke himself underneath his sweat pants, he figures he should stop thinking all together. That works for all of a minute before he's thinking about their brief time dating. It wasn't the first time memories of her on top of him have made an appearance in his spank bank and he's sure it won't be the last. 'Cause that girl was all hands, lips, teeth, and nails when it came right down to it, and that was when she was like, sixteen. He tried to imagine her now, on top of him, loose curls and dark eyes. Now, when she's not a shy sixteen year old virgin that's afraid to ask for what she wants. He could almost hear her voice, asking him to touch her, begging him to slip his finger into her. It takes him all of three minutes to fall apart.
He doesn't let her know this in his next letter, or the next dozen. He does his best to push those kinds of thoughts away when he gets another minute alone and sometimes it works. Most times it doesn't.
Three years go by like that. And yea, he managed to get Finns dad an honourable discharge after making his case in front of some military officials. Beth gets older and his friends were moving on with their lives. Mike and Tina were getting married, Jake was in Lima University on a football scholarship, and Sarah was starting her tenth year of high school at McKinley. Quinn was also married with a kid on the way, last he heard. Santana and Kurt were both working at a fashion magazine company. Rachel was finishing school and taking the summer to really explore her options. She's offered him Kurt's old room for the summer, so he can see Beth and find a job. Which is how he ends up knocking on a too-big door and feeling the weight of his bag on his shoulder.
"Rachel, did you invite a hunky homeless guy over tonight?" Santana yelled once she opened the door and examined him. "Can we share him?"