Title: I Can't Take One More Sleepless Night (Without You)
Category: Glee
Genre: Humor/Romance
Ship: Puck/Rachel
Rating: PG-13/Teen
Prompt: Puckleberry, sleepless. by bewolke-cx7171
Word Count: 945
Summary: "I can sleep just fine. I'm not the one in here wearing nothing but socks and checking the clock every five seconds."
I Can't Take One More Sleepless Night (Without You)
-1/1-
Rachel had been twisting and turning all night long. But there was absolutely no comfortable position in this giant, empty bed of hers. She tried lying on her back; on her side; with her feet in the air; hanging off the bed; with her head at the end; without blankets; with extra blankets; turning the pillow over; getting rid of the pillows; without clothes; with one of his shirts; with just socks because her toes got cold; and nothing worked. She tried warm milk; reading; counting sheep; focusing on her breathing; thinking of nothing; listening to music; ear plugs; and still, she was wide awake.
She checked the clock again and groaned.
She had to be up at 7am and it was now 3:27. She was going to be exhausted and cranky and the day would, of course, drag on, just to make it that much worse.
She flopped onto her stomach and blew out a long, exasperated breath.
"What are you still doing up?"
"Noah?"
Her voice was far too muffled by the pillow under her face however, so it mostly just sounded like a weird grunting noise.
He sat down on her side of the bed and dropped an arm over her waist.
She rolled onto her back, tucking her arms beneath her head, and pouted at him. "I can't sleep."
He half-smiled. "I can see that."
She rolled her eyes. "I have to be up in…" She glanced at the clock again and whined as it hit 3:30. "Three and a half hours… Ugh…"
"So what's up, Princess?" he wondered, raising a brow. "You're usually out like a light."
"Yes, I am. It's something I'm quite fond of." She nodded thoughtfully. "In fact, I'd list it in my top twenty things I appreciate about myself."
He blinked. "Okay, and…?"
"You weren't here," she said, frowning. "I've apparently gotten very used to you taking up entirely too much of my bed, hogging the blankets, and being my own personal heater… Speaking of, why are you here?"
He laughed shortly. "I dunno… I was bored. And I kept thinking about how your sink was leaking the other day and it might flood and that'd be a pain in the ass, so…" He turned his eyes off. "Thought I'd come check on it. Y'know…" He smirked. "'Cause I'm a badass boyfriend and everything."
Rachel stared at him, unconvinced. "You couldn't sleep," she decided.
He scoffed. "I can sleep just fine. I'm not the one in here wearing nothing but socks and checking the clock every five seconds."
Rolling her eyes, she leaned up on her elbows. "You missed me," she accused, smiling.
"It was one night…" He shrugged. "Not even. It was like—" He looked at the clock and then counted back. "Yeah, six hours."
Smug now, she shook her head. "You're used to having me in bed too. So you couldn't sleep without me there. And when you're bored, your wind wanders, so you thought of the sink. That or you needed a reason to come over." She snapped her fingers. "I bet you were going to fix it and then use the excuse that you were tired and the drive home was too long, weren't you?"
He pursed his lips. "Whatever. Move over." He patted her hip and nodded his head.
Rachel grinned knowingly as she rolled over, taking his side of the bed and resting her head, with what she was sure to be seriously messy hair, in her hand.
Puck stripped off his shirt and jeans and she wasn't the least bit surprised to see he'd gone commando beneath. She quite appreciated the view, in fact. He climbed into bed and dropped his head back to the pillow. His arm was flung back over her head and she took it as the invitation it was, crawling in close and resting herself against his side. As her head landed on his shoulder and her arm wound around his firm, bare waist, she yawned. Nuzzling her nose against his neck, she brought the sheet up around them and hummed.
"I missed you too," she told him.
"Bed was cold… and empty… and the fuck did it get so big anyway?" he wondered.
She chuckled lightly. "You know, this really just proves my point…"
His thumb rubbed circles on her shoulder. "Yeah, fine, we'll move in together…"
She grinned widely.
"But we're finding another place," he said seriously. "Somewhere neutral. So it's not yours or mine, but like, ours…"
Rachel lifted her head to look up at him, and when his eyes met hers, she nodded. "I think that's a great idea."
"Good." He leaned down and kissed her, nipping at her lip lightly. "Now go to sleep. You gotta be up in less than three and a half hours."
Lips pursed, she ducked her head back down to his shoulder and sighed. Inspiration struck a moment later, however, and she shook his chest. "Hey, you know what always makes us sleepy?"
"Sex and cold pizza?"
She raised a brow, smiling.
He laughed. "I love you," he said, before rolling her onto his back and sliding between her thighs.
Victory!
She only got two hours of sleep, but she still felt like she made progress. And yes, she was cranky and irritated the next day. Until she and Noah sat down and looked at real estate, and then she couldn't help but feel like it was worth it. Progress was important. Maybe even a little bit more than a good night's sleep. Seeing as this progress would hopefully lead to far fewer sleepless nights, however, she figured it was a pretty good deal.
[End.]