A/N: Hey there :) Sorry I haven't posted anything until now. I actually had a story planned out that I could focus on for this summer, but I got a job and that ruined my plans *sad face* Oh, and thanks to everyone who reviewed Goals That Needs Gold Stars because it really did mean a lot to me that I could be successful in the glee!fandom. Here's a random, fluffy!oneshot that popped into my head after reading something from Love Gives Me Hope. Ship: Puck/Rachel Rating: T for language and a little light making out Word Count: approximately 2900 + Suggested listening: When It's Time by Green Day. Hence, the title. Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.
Title: When It's Time
"Sarah, go to sleep!"
Noah Puckerman was lying down on the couch with his muscled arms wrapped around his girlfriend Rachel Berry.
It was the summer before Puck's freshman year of university and Rachel's senior year at William McKinley. He got a free ride to New York University – going for a major in music while Rachel (of course) auditioned earlier on for the same school during her junior year and earned an early admit and a full scholarship for herself as well.
"But I'm not tired, Noah! Besides you aren't sleeping yet, and Rachel is still here," his younger sister countered, trying to keep droopy eyes open.
"That's bullshit. It's really late, Sarah. Even Rachel's sleeping over because her dads don't let her drive home at one in the morning!"
Rachel turned her head towards her boyfriend's body and patted his cheek gently, "Noah, it's your last weekend before you leave Lima. I'm sure Sarah is just trying to spend as much time as she can with her big brother before he leaves. She's not going to see you until November, Noah."
Puck looked down at Rachel's pleading eyes, watching them intently as if her eyes spoke to him and then looked at his sister on the other couch, who nodded her head fervently in agreement. His girlfriend's eyes always had some affect on him; it went from doe eyed and innocent when they were just hanging out, to intense and flaring when she was focused and determined during glee club, to smoky and hooded during hot sex (by the way, the sex was always hot).
Puck sighed then moved around Rachel to get off the couch. He squatted in front of his sister and gripped her shoulders.
"Squirt, we have phones. And mail. And they invented something called a computer a few years ago, remember? I'll call you every damn week if you want me to. I'll miss you too, okay?" He was serious through most of it, even looking into his sister's eyes. But that last part? He felt a little too pussy and was compelled to look elsewhere and say it more quietly.
"What did you say?" Sarah asked him with a sniffle.
"I said I would call you every week."
"No, after that," she pushed, a smile lilting on her face.
"I said I'll miss you," he mumbled softly.
"Rachel, did you hear that? I think he said he learned how to whistle!" she mocked him, earning a giggle from Rachel.
"Christ," he grumbled, "I said I'll miss you too! Geez Sarah, you're making me look like a damn pussy!"
Sarah and Rachel laughed at Puck's discomfort at his confession. Rachel got up from the couch and kissed him on the forehead on her way to the kitchen, "You're not a pussy, Noah. I think it's cute!"
Puck watched Rachel's tight ass as she went, then looked back over at his sister. "Look what you did, she called me cute. She never calls me cute. Hot and sexy, yes, but never cute," he jokingly blamed her. Sarah shook her head at her brother and rubbed an escaping tear away.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
She nodded her head, but tears continued to leak out of the corners of her eyes.
"Then why are you still crying?" Puck pried. One thing that he couldn't handle was watching women cry. He hid when his mom was crying over his dad leaving, he ignored texts and phone calls from the girls he used to fuck around with because they got over emotional, but he hated seeing his sister upset (shut up, it's a sibling thing).
Sarah's eyes slowly lifted to meet her brothers.
"Because then Rachel won't come here anymore," she whispered, sniffling lightly.
"What?" he whispered back, thinking that he didn't hear her properly.
"Rachel won't be around the house when you're gone," she reiterated, "You won't be living here next year. Rachel's almost ALWAYS here and when she is, we hang out and she helps me with my singing. She acts like a big sister."
Sarah sniffled and continued, "I was planning to join the junior talent show this year, Noah. Rachel won't have a reason to be here since you won't be here, so who'll help me?"
Puck was speechless. He had no fucking idea that his sister made a strong sisterly bond with his girlfriend.
Just as he was scrambling for words, he noticed Rachel standing at the entry way of the living room with her eyes tearing and her hand to her chest.
"Oh, Sarah," Rachel launched herself at Sarah, "I'm honoured you think of me as your big sister. And I'm not just here for Noah, I'm here because I like hanging out with you too. You know, I'm an only child. I've never had a little sister to give makeovers to or play with. Even if Noah wasn't here, I would still visit often and help you prepare, that is, if you want me to?"
Sarah nodded profusely, "You're pretty much family, Rach. Ma adores you, I love you, and we can even have girl sleepovers when Noah is gone!" Rachel laughed at Sarah's sudden excitement.
"I love you too, Sarah," Rachel offered, touched that the little girl thought so much of her. She looked into Sarah's droopy but bright eyes and decided that one thirty in the morning was too late an hour for a nine year old.
"You look very tired, Sarah. How about I help you get ready for bed and tuck you in?" Rachel offered. Sarah nodded, took Rachel's hand and padded up the stairs.
Puck rubbed his face gruffly.
Jesus Christ. Why did Rachel Berry have to be so easy to fall in love with?
Puck was lying down in his bed contemplating his relationship with Rachel. He knew that he was fucking whipped, for damn sure. He remembered the first time he told her that he loved her: it was during a glee club rehearsal and he'd been teaching her how to play guitar. The fact that she was interested in something that he loved doing confirmed that he was shit faced in love with her. So just before they started practice, he surprised her by playing Green Day's When It's Time: one of his favourite songs that expressed his feelings in a badass, rock 'n roll kind of way (the Billie Joe Armstrong way).
He loved her because she learned loosen up when she was with him. On Matt's birthday, Rachel had taken the initiative to have the glee club over at her house for his surprise birthday while her dads were in Maine to visit some relatives. The party was great and everyone was more than surprised when Rachel emerged from the basement with a few bottles of vintage wine in her hands. It turned out that she definitely wasn't a lightweight: Rachel knew how to drink and knew how to hold down her liquor better than Finn, Mike and Santana.
Yeah, she was still "drunk as a skunk" and he found it funny as hell and fucking adorable. The next morning, she escaped with a migraine that lasted the morning. He thought she was fucking lucky, because that day, he was in the bathroom from when he woke up until early on in the evening.
He loved her because she encouraged him to do better in school. He reminded her that he though school was for suckers, but she countered back telling him that making money was for everyone. Puck hadn't entered a math classroom since his freshman year, so the look on his teacher's face? Fucking priceless. And as it turned out? He wasn't as lost as he thought he would be. With Rachel's help, he caught onto it fairly quickly and passed the class with a smooth final average of eighty-seven.
Without a doubt, he wanted to keep their relationship going even if he was in New York. Hell, it was because of her that he was there! If that meant going as long as three months until the next time he saw her to have sex, so be it. She'd told him to have fun at the parties and to use his discretion. When he asked her why she wasn't bringing up him meeting other girls, she whipped around to face him and said, "Noah, I know you'll be surrounded by more attractive females that probably have bigger breasts than I do or have more experience than me, but I trust you, and if we didn't love each other this much, we would've agreed to take a break while you're away."
Her trust? Something that took him six months to earn, and something that he wasn't planning on breaking anytime soon.
He loved her even more now that he knew that his sister was so attached to her. He loved his sister. Hell, he pretty much helped raise her. Puck knew that she craved another woman figure since his mom was working a lot and probably wouldn't be able to give her good advice about boys or fashion. Bringing a girl home to his sister was like a test for the girl. The only other girl he brought home was Santana, and she was unfortunate enough to face the wrath of Sarah "Samurai Princess" (thanks to Mike and Final Fantasy) Puckerman.
So bringing Rachel home and being given the Sarah Stamp of Approval? Fucking meant the world.
He knew six months into their relationship that she would be it for him, but he was just trying to look for the right time. Her dads loved him (probably not at first – the first time they caught them making out on the couch, her dad ran to the kitchen to fetch the hidden taser gun) and trusted him enough to be safe and use protection and not break her heart (because they made it clear that he messed with Rachel, her dads were much worse!). They loved him enough that they were going to help him move his shit into his dorm, and for Rachel's sake, stay a week in New York to enjoy all that it has to offer. His mom loved her (hell, she used those baby making generators with Puck and Rachel's pictures to predict how her grand Jew-baby would look like).
But most importantly, he loved her. A lot. As in enough to give her a drawer for her crap and to have some of her musical shit in his car.
What scared the shit out of him though, was that usually, he'd be running and screaming bloody fucking murder if his mother brought up his wedding to a nice Jewish girl, but with Rachel, he learned to not mind it overtime…
"I'm sorry I took so long," the girl in question interrupted. He glanced at his bedroom doorway to see her leaning against the door in his grey pullover sweater and a pair of black short shorts.
He motioned her to come over to the bed, and made room for her so she could slide in nice and close beside him.
"It's alright. I guess the kid was more attached to you than we thought," he mumbled, burying his face in her floral scented hair.
"She's a beautiful girl, Noah. I do love her, and it really meant something that she thinks of me as her sister."
"I know it did, baby," he answered, "So why were you held up?"
Rachel sighed, "Well after I got her ready, we were sitting in her bed and we were just talking about boys, about you…"
"Wait, you were talking about me? Baby, I really wish you weren't trash talking me!"
Rachel patted his cheek lightly and answered, "She was asking about my feelings for you, if I loved you and of course I said yes. And she wanted me to tell her about how we got together, so I did, and after, she told me that she wanted to be just like me when she's older; to be talented, successful and in love."
Puck chuckled, "Wow, even talking about other people, you still find a way to fucking stroke your ego, babe."
This time Rachel slapped his cheek gently, then playfully kissed it. She removed the sweater to reveal a simple white tank top, snuggled under the sheets and waited for him to turn off his bedside lamp to cuddle next to her boyfriend.
"Noah?" Rachel whispered after a few seconds of settling in.
"What, babe?"
"What do you want to be when you're older? How do you see yourself in five to ten years?" she asked earnestly.
Puck craned his neck to look at his girl. Her forehead was illuminated by the moonlight coming through his window, and her big brown eyes were looking at him innocently, expecting an answer.
"Seriously, babe? You pick now to act like Miss Pillsbury?" he asked her incredulously.
"Noah, I'm serious!" she pouted, "Answer my question!"
Puck resigned. The pout/demand combination always reeled him in. The pout was something he found adorable (and compelled him to do something) and the latter he just found sexy as hell.
"I'm still thinking. I want to hear yours first, so I can get an idea," he offered.
"In five years, I hope to be on Broadway with roles lining up for me as soon as I finish at Tisch. It may be a little too early on in my career to win a Tony, but I'll still work toward it and if it did happen, I would love that. And maybe, I could even be with someone I really love," she answered happily, "I told you mine. Now tell me yours."
"In five years, I want to be doing something that makes me happy. Like…something that makes me wake up every morning and be like, 'Wow, I fucking love my job!' I wanna do something that lets me retain my stud status. I like music, and I've dabbled in writing," he said.
Rachel gasped, "Noah! You never told me that you actually tried it! When I suggested it, you pretty much laughed in my face and told me that 'no way in fucking hell were you going to write some pansy ass tunes'!"
Puck laughed at Rachel's spot on imitation of him.
"But in all seriousness, Noah. I'd love to see your songs when you're ready to share them."
"Thanks, babe. I'll keep that in mind," he answered as he manoeuvred himself over her and started nipping at her throat. She gasped at the feeling and turned her head to give him more access.
"Noah," she moaned, "I'm not finished talking yet."
Puck groaned and rolled on to his side, "Baby, I don't want to talk. I need action!"
Rachel laughed at her boyfriend's "silliness" and kissed him softly on the lips. Before he could deepen it, she pulled away and cuddled next to him again.
"You didn't tell me the plans you have in terms of romance! I told you mine!" she reminded him.
"Really, Rach? You stop me from fooling around to ask about that?" he asked a bit peeved (he could totally be at second base right now).
"How about you answer my question first, and then we can fool around for another half hour?" It was all about compromise with his girl.
"Fine," he huffed. "I want to be your husband."
He didn't mean for that to come out. Puck was just so sexually frustrated that the truth just leaked right out of him.
"Noah, the crickets outside drown you out. I couldn't hear you," Rachel prodded, moving herself closer to him.
"I said I wanted to be your husband! Fuck, Rachel! I really don't feel like a badass tonight, you're making me feel like a huge fucking chunk of cheese!" he confessed loudly.
Rachel gasped and sat herself up. She reached over Puck to turn the lights on, and then straddled him to make sure she had his undivided attention.
"Are you proposing to me, Noah?" she asked, still surprised.
"Yes. And no. Fuck, even I don't know," he tried to decide. He looked into her eyes and saw the slight disappointment.
Holy shit, she wants me to propose!"Look, Rach. We're both really young. Hell, you haven't even turned seventeen yet! But you know that I love you. I love that my family loves you and that you love them just as much. I love how simple our routine together is and I love how there are small things about me that no one else knows; like the fact that you can come completely undone when I kiss your pulse points."
She started blushing at his observation, which made him chuckle under her and stroke her cheek, "I don't plan on losing you soon, or anytime in the future, because I know that you're fucking it for me."
Rachel nodded in agreement, then bent down to kiss him again. "I love you so much, Noah," she mumbled.
"I love you too, Rach," he mumbled back. Just as he was about to slip his tongue through her full lips, she pulled back and looked down at him again.
"So it's a promise?" she asked him.
"It's a promise until I can buy you a rock to put on your finger," he confirmed.
"Okay!" she smiled at him, satisfied with his response.
"Thank fuck. Can we fool around now, baby?"
A/N: A friend of mine recently made me (forced me) to listen to that song on her iPod. I found it cute, then she told me that Billie Joe Armstrong wrote it for his wife when they were young, and then that added to the cuteness! By the way, I have a twitter and a tumblr account linked on my profile. If you have one of them (or both), please be my guest to follow. It's always a party talking glee or whatever else! Speaking of which: Mark Salling's Higher Power? It's a really sexy song. If you haven't heard it, go listen! Oh yes, and prompts: I want to try. If anyone has one, please PM me and I'll try my best to do it justice. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW. It'll make my eyes feel better (since I contracted pink eye on BOTH eyes. They were pink and puffy for a really long time!).