Title: And In the Dark, I Can Hear Your Heartbeat
Rating: NC-17
Fandom: Glee
Words: 373
Characters: Puck, Quinn
Summary: "And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat.
But then it stopped and I was in the darkness,
So darkness I became."
-Cosmic Love, Florence + The Machine
They don't speak on Graduation Day.
Their eyes meet from under their tasseled caps and all that's needed is in their gazes. They walk in their separate lines, him in his crisp red robes next to some manly field hockey player. She practically floats down the aisle in clean white, such a blur of pale gold and happiness, it's easy for him to envision it as an entirely different event entirely.
Neither of their parents bother to show up, further cementing their destiny as failures. They hover around the gym, being pushed into pictures with people they never really belonged with in the first place. Eventually they find their way to the choir room, there are still bits of sparkle and glitter lying on the ground from their bon voyage party.
They meet tentatively on the piano bench, they just sit. And he starts to play, she doesn't recognize the melody and he doesn't sing, the anonymity of the situation makes it easier, more painless. They sit and let the soft notes hang in the air, mixing perfectly with the sadness and regret that's been lingering there for years.
They turn to each other, and there is a crash of sound from the keys as he's pushed against them. It's so different from their first time, her only time. He pulls at the seam of her dress while she pushes him against the bench, climbing on top of him, her legs twisting desperately around his waist. It isn't perfect, it's messy and hot and over entirely quickly. It's exactly what they've always been though, so angry and broken and jaded and unable to let go. They pull their clothes back on shyly afterwards and spend a long time stealing sheepish looks at each other.
Finally, he walks towards her. He cradles her face in his hands, she bites her lip. She can read the words in his eyes. He kisses her temple and it takes everything to choke back tears now. They lean forehead to forehead, and she watches the way his eyes close and she can barely breathe. He's never cried before. She squeezes his hand quickly and then he pulls away.
This is goodbye, and they can't even form the words.