"Constant"

xxx

"Berry?" Puck asked incredulously. "What does Berry have to do with anything?" Lauren sighed and slammed her locker shut, causing Puck to jump slightly.

This caught him off guard because that jump represented weakness, and Noah Puckerman was not a weak-ass. No. He was a fucking badass.

A fucking badass with fucking guns. Not some whiny weakling who jumped at the sound of a locker slamming. Especially when said locker had been slammed by the one and only Lauren Zises. His apparent girlfriend.

"Listen, Puckerman. I'm not stupid. Rachel Berry is a constant in your life. You can't deny that." She said, turning to face him. Puck frowned and shrugged.

"So? Rachel and I have known each other since we were in diapers. Her dads go to the same temple as me and my family." He said casually. Lauren snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Face it, Puckerman. I need a man who caters to me, myself and I. Having Berry around would just ruin both my and your chances of us ever being together seriously. I'm a girl who needs to be looked after and fed. If I don't, I become cranky. The last time that happened, someone was sent to the ER." She said before looking at Puck.

"What I'm saying here, Puckerman, is that it's either her or me." She said, and with that, she turned around and left, fake-lunging at several, already terrified, students. Puck let out a breath and ran a hand through his Mohawk.

He needed to speak with Rachel.

xxx

What she said was true. Rachel Berry was a constant in his life. She was there when he got his first Mohawk. She did however, and he quote, say it was 'an inappropriate hairstyle, especially for someone his age to bear on his head.'

They were six.

She was there to give him sugar cookies when his dad walked out on them. He threw them on the ground and stormed upstairs, only to come back down two minutes later to apologize and clean-up, eating half of them, stating that they haven't reached their five-minute expiration because the germs were still too scared to come out of their hiding places. Rachel rolled her teary eyes and explained to him that the rule stated that it was 5 seconds.

But when did he ever follow the rules?

She was there to hold his hand when he got his first injection, promising to never say a word to anyone about his momentary lapse of weakness. She was there to scream at him when he tackled his very first nerd, saying that it was hardly fair because he was so much bigger than them.

She was also the first person he ever slushied. He never slushied her again.

She was an important figure in his messed up life, which made him damn well confused as to why he was walking to her locker that very same day Lauren confronted him to talk to her about never speaking to her again.

It was like a bath of cold water when she looked at him, those doe-brown eyes wide and innocent. He thinned his lips and continued walking to her.

"Noah, glad to see you. I was just about to go looking for you. You see, I believe you know that my dance class has been moved to Thursdays and Fridays, but my instructor seems to have caught this horrible bug, resulting to him being sick. So, I'm here to inform you that you could just take me home right after school today and tomorrow. My dads and I are having Tofu tonight, though I think they still have the lamb chops I bought for them. If you would like, I could call them in advance and ask them to set up for a fourth party tonight. I do believe-"

"Rach." Puck cut in, taking her forearm gently. Rachel stopped talking and turned to face him with a slight frown.

"I wasn't finished." She said before opening her mouth once again. "Let me finish, Noah. You know how I don't like being interrupted. As I was saying-"

"No, Rachel. I have to talk to you about something." Rachel's face fell slightly, before looking back up at him, show-face dead-set. She timidly tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear before looking at him straight in the eye.

"It's okay, Noah. I know what you're going to say." She said and looked around, noticing the people filing in and out of the hallway. She grabbed his sleeve and tugged him to the nearest empty classroom.

"Lauren talked to me this morning." She explained. Puck shoved his hands in his pockets and let out a breath.

"'m sorry, Berry, but-"

"No need, Noah. I understand." She said, looking down. "Well, actually, I don't. I honestly don't understand how you can throw away our years of friendship for a girl you've only known for a few months." She muttered.

"That's not fair, Berry, and you know it." Puck said, running a hand through his hawk once again in aggravation. Rachel took his hand gently and looked at him.

"Noah, why are you doing this? Why her?" Puck looked at her and turned away.

"Rachel, don't do this."

"No, Noah, you know the way I feel about you. About us. I've been blinded by Finn and by Jesse, I just…"

"Rachel, stop." Rachel inhaled sharply at his tone. Puck groaned in irritation.

"You think this isn't hard for me? You think this is easy? Rachel, you have been a constant in my life ever since day one. I'm fucking terrified of what might happen if we stop talking. But, I can't keep waiting for you, Rach. I can't keep waiting for that time when you'll be over Finn and just want me-"

"I do want you, Noah!" She said with certainty.

"You said that the last time, and look where that left us?" He said harshly. Rachel shook her head.

"So what? You're just going to cut off all contact with me because Lauren Zises told you to?" She asked in disbelief. Puck grabbed her hands.

"I have to learn how to live without you, Rachel." He said viciously that it caught Rachel by surprise, emitting a small gasp.

"I can't expect you to be with me forever. I can't keep dreaming that someday, you would just be mine and mine alone. I can't just be friends with you Rachel. I love you. Which is why, I can't handle it if you don't fucking love me back." He said and cursed under his breath. Rachel looked at him, suddenly a loss for words.

Noah looked at the ceiling in frustration. He had several more things to say, but his mouth didn't seem to want to move anymore. He looked down to find Rachel glaring up at him. He raised a brow. Why was she mad? She wasn't suppose to be mad.

"Fuck you, Noah Puckerman." She said, poking him on the chest with that tiny finger of hers. And damn, it kinda hurt. But what threw him off the most was that she actually cursed. Rachel Berry never curses.

"E-Excuse me?" He said cautiously. Rachel thinned her lips as she continued to unflinchingly hold his gaze.

"I said, Fuck you, Noah. Who are you to say that I don't love you?" She said, poking him a couple more times that he was sure there would be a bruise later. Noah wasn't able to say anything anymore. It was like his mind wasn't functioning. Did he just hear her right? Did she just say that…

Before he could ask, Rachel threw her arms around his neck and kissed him firmly on the lips. Puck stumbled backwards a bit in surprise. That was until he realized that Rachel Berry. The girl he loved. Was kissing him.

So he did what any other man in love would do. He kissed her back.

It was a sweet kiss. Something Puck wasn't very accustomed to. But it was if he didn't want to hurt her. That if he squeezed to hard, he would break her, or she would disappear.

Rachel pulled away and looked at him. Her cheeks slightly flushed from the kiss.

"Noah, I love you…" She said to him. "Please… pick me." She asked quietly. Noah was silent for a while before allowing a small smile to spread on her face.

"Babe, I will always pick you." He said before pausing. "On one condition." Rachel raised a brow. "What?" Noah smiled cheekily and wrapper his arms around her waist.

"Say 'Fuck' more, it's fucking sexy."

A/N: Yeah. I was in the mood for a little Puckleberry. I'm taking a short (long) break from my dramione fanfics. If you guys haven't noticed, this is my first Puckleberry fic. You know, just in case you guys didn't know.

REVIEW PLEASE!

Love

Ren