A/N – a response for Small Town Girl 2014's lyrics challege. Influenced by Taylor Swift, Mine. Probably not really what you were expecting, but I have come to find that surprises can be quite lovely...
The problem with Noah Puckerman was that he had his own personal Great Wall of freaking China protecting his heart. He learned early on in life that people can not be trusted – in his world, love was not unconditional or guaranteed from anyone. Harsh lessons for a young boy, lessons that were carved into his heart and left to scar.
He didn't really mean to, but by the time Puck reached high school he'd cultivated a persona so crude and cruel, that not feeling anything for anyone was easy – no-one wanted him to. He had few expectations to live up to, and thus he didn't disappoint people. All he was good for was a few hours of fucking (and, yes, he was damned good at that).
He was very careful – he never let any of the girls/women/cougars think there was any feeling behind what they were doing. He never opened himself up to caring, wanting or needing (he was also pretty good at lying to himself – god knows the baby mama drama cut him deep. Though that was less about Q. and more about that first heartbreak of his dad leaving him).
Puck made it through most of high school without questioning his theory on love. He never felt that he was missing out, he never thought that he might be wrong. Until he started to be friends with a certain midget brunette with more passion and positivity than he'd ever seen contained within one person.
Rachel Berry believed in love. She believed in epic romances, triumph over tragedy, and happily ever afters. She believed that every person deserves to be loved, and is capable of love. She had faith in the power of the heart to overcome obstacles, adversity, and age-old scars of past experiences.
Rachel had never really been one for patience, but she is just a little bit psychic – she knew Noah didn't see himself the way she did. She recognised that she'd have to work on getting him to let her in. She saw when he slipped and let out a kind comment, or stood up for her, walked her to class, offered her a ride. His facade was slipping more and more often, and the more Rachel saw of Noah, the more she knew he was someone worth trying for.
By the time Puck realised he cared about Rachel - that he had feelings for her, that he wanted to spend more than a few hours in a cheap motel room with her - he was so used to feeling cared for in return that he wasn't scared. He didn't retreat. He went with it – following the lead of a beautiful girl with a beautiful heart, who he was lucky enough to call his (and the real kicker was, she thought she was pretty damned lucky to call him hers).
It wasn't all peaches and cream. There were moments of frustration, times when neither of them could see the light at the end of the tunnel as they struggled through the early years of the rest of their lives. Noah's reaction when they first fought was to brace himself for a good-bye, but it never came. Rachel taught him the art of making up, the lightness that comes with having no regrets, no secrets, no resentments.
Rachel gave Noah a framed verse from a poem for his birthday one year. She thought he'd appreciate the sentiment.
'They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had, and add some extra just for you'
Noah laughed, and hung it in the living room of their tiny New York apartment.
Every day Noah tells her that she is the best thing to ever be his. Every day Rachel kisses him, and thanks him for looking past his father's mistakes and giving love a shot.
Poem: Philip Larkin 'This be the verse' (an excerpt)