Anticlimax
I miss you.
Locker room, eight o'clock. They've just lost their first game of the season, but one look at Finn--at that dazed and distant widening of his eyes, the one he always gets when he's drowning, choking--and Puck knows he's more concerned about Rachel Berry and Team Finn than he is about how much they suck.
Distracted as he is, Finn's bound to get a little sluggish, not that Puck blames him when it's halfway his fault that his world's caving in; but that doesn't mean he ought to stop trying, and it doesn't stop him from fumbling with the soap and staying longer in the showers till it's just the two of them alone. He thinks up a wisecrack about Berry's T-shirt, thinks again. It'll just drive Finn further, and anyway, Puck's one to talk: he used to be her boyfriend, too.
They used to share everything, lend everything, an honor-code give-and-take: lunch money, test answers, that feeling of family that's missing when you don't have a father. But somewhere along the way came sports and popularity and girlfriends and mine-not-yours, and now Finn is with Rachel and Puck is with Quinn and he stole her from him. All he really wants is his best friend back, but he and Quinn are having a baby and it's so damn scary that he's forgotten how to fight for what he really wants.
It's all too--not perfect, God no--too anticlimactic. The bomb drops, they have the big blowout, they come out of sectionals on top, and then--that's it? They all pair off and go their separate ways?
"Is there something you wanted?" asks Finn, snapping him out of his reverie, as they're toweling dry.
Realizing he's been staring at Finn, he thinks up a way to play it off, thinks again. This is Finn he's talking about. "I know you don't want to hear it, but I've got your back, dude," he answers, looking him straight in the eyes.
Finn can't fight the innate--like muscle memory, riding a bike, he flickers with something like gratitude before he can hide it, and they're FinnandPuck again for a split second. Maybe they're broken, but they still have their moments.
The next day, he tells Quinn she's getting fat in the hopes she'll have enough and give up on him and he can do this on his own like he deserves. She doesn't.
A/N: Reviews appreciated! Hope you enjoyed. ;D
