He can't help the smile that flickers across his lips when he hears Rachel say, "No one should be alone on Christmas Eve, Mr. Schue."
(No, really, he can't. He would've prevented it if he could've, given the all-too-knowing, what-the-hell look Santana sent his way afterwards)
At 10, Schue shoos everyone out, telling them to get back to their families. After a few hugs from the girls(and Kurt, but he doesn't count) and nods from the boys, they all filter out of the complex.
Their laughter and small talk seems impossibly loud with the stillness of the snow. Brittany giggles and wags her tongue out at the flurries and everyone joins to "humor" her, as Rachel puts it(but Puck suspects that she misses just being a kid as much as any of them).
All of the Glee kids(save for Artie, who needs extra room for his wheelchair) pile into Rachel's dads' SUV.
Puck can't help but notice that no one sits in the front seat with her. Going there would, however, be far too conspicuous. Finn sort of forgave him without really questioning it, but seeing his ex and the guy she cheated with sitting next to each other may stir up some things that Puck doesn't really want to risk.
So he goes into the back, squeezed in between Finn and Santana, which isn't totally pleasant, because a) he's still kind of not talking to her, given that she's upped the ante on Rachel cruelty, and b) they're both shooting cow eyes/daggers at each other and it's just awkward.
"It must be hard for Mr. Schue," Brittany interjects suddenly, as everyone was quiet in the car, save for the softly playing Christmas music, "to not have a family. Since he thought he was going to get one with his crazy wife, the nurse lady that gave us the happy drugs."
Quinn stiffens, and her eyelashes flutter shut and she looks down at her hand, entwined with Sam's. Her boyfriend lets her head burrow into his neck and can feel hot tears against it, but doesn't say anything. Puck clenches a fist, and Rachel locks eyes with him in the rearview mirror, biting her lip so hard she's afraid she'll draw blood. Even Finn can pick up on the social faux pas, the raw pain that her words incite, and a look of indigestion appears across his baby face.
Kurt and Mercedes merely fidget in their seats, and Santana clacks her tongue against the roof of her mouth.
"Yes," Rachel says softly, "it must suck."
Brittany hums, but stops when she finally picks up on the tension around her.
"Did I say something wrong?" she asks, her brow furrowed adorably.
"No, Britt," Santana says, "just what no one else had the balls to."
Then they stop at the stepbrothers' house, the GPS informing everyone that they've arrived at Destination 1. Rachel says "bye" to Kurt, who returns the sentiment, and says the same to Finn, who merely glares in return.
Brittany and Santana slide out of the car when Rachel stops at Santana's McMansion. Puck knows the amount of time it takes to scale the gutter next to Santana's bedroom window(… in boxers more times than not, unfortunately). Brittany whispers sorry before she walks away, and Rachel assures her she has nothing to be sorry for. Santana just rolls her eyes.
Quinn and Sam are the next stop, since she lives in the same rich neighborhood. "Thank you, Rach," Quinn says softly before she leaves. Sam nods at her and bumps fists with Puck before he joins her, saying he'll catch him later. They walk up to the large, dark, empty house, still holding hands. Puck's pretty sure he should feel something about this, but he doesn't really feel anything at all.
Rachel eases into the driveway of a ramshackle, two-story boardhouse. "Bye, Diva" Mercedes says as she grabs the leftover plate of cookies. Puck sticks his tongue out at her for ignoring him, and she sticks hers out right back.
"Do you want shotgun?" Rachel asks as she pulls the shift in reverse.
"Hell yeah I do!" he replies with a furrow in his brow(she doesn't want to smooth it out. She DOESN'T. Shut up) and a smile.
She keeps her foot on the brake until he swings into the passenger seat, and then eases out of the driveway.
His house isn't too far from Mercedes', just a couple blocks, but she idles across from his house and turns the ignition off.
She leans over him a bit to look out of his window and squints at the TV playing through the living room window.
"Aladdin," she says when she pulls back, "does she watch it a lot, your sister?"
"Yeah."
"It was my favorite, because-"
"-of the badass magic carpet and the fact that he can dance?"
"I wouldn't put it quite like that, but, yes, more or less. How did you-"
"Little sister. What else?"
"Touche," she says with a laugh.
She looks at the dashboard with her hands in her lap. It's too quiet, but he doesn't want to ruin it, and also sort of wants to win whatever game she's playing. Eventually, though, sitting with a silent Berry(he's pretty sure this is a first for her- like, ever) gets too weird for even him, so he says, "So…there a reason you're kidnapping me a few yards from my house?"
"Oh," she says, her head snapping up, "right."
She begins to toy with the car keys with shaky fingers.
"And that would be…"
"Um…can I ask you something?"
That doesn't sound good.
"…I guess," he drawls.
"So…at sectionals, you said that you kind of like me."
"Yup," he says, popping the 'p' with an intense emphasis.
Crap…is, she, like, in love with him or something? This has the potential to get really awkward.
"Why?"
"Umm…because I did?"
"No, I mean…why do you kind of like me?"
"The hell kind of question is that?"
"I just…I don't…understand. I mean…I'm not…I'm not a good person," she ends up whispering, finally looking at him with wide, earnest eyes.
"And…what makes you say that?"
"I don't know. Finn agreed that I wasn't a good person, but said that he likes me anyway, which, clearly, isn't true anymore. And…I'm selfish and diva-ish and loud and…I used you to make Finn jealous, and I cheated on him, and both those things were horrible things to do to either of you."
He can see her clench her teeth, and then her jaw, shut. She stares straight ahead again. Snow collects on the windshield wipers.
"…Kay. Well, aside from all that, you lead, you don't apologize for who you are, and you don't take bullshit from anyone. Except…Finn."
"What?"
"Yup. So you sit on that for a while," he says, patting her tiny, soft("manhands"- please. He really hates girly pettiness sometimes, especially since most of it seems to be directed at those who don't deserve it) hand in what she thinks is a rather condescending manner, "but in the meantime, I gots to get home. So. If you would oblige…"
She blinks, but reverses and drives into his driveway anyway.
Before he can get out, she says, "Noah."
"Mmm?"
"Thank you."
"S'no problem, Berry," he says.
She watches him, loping towards his back door, not looking back at her. She wonders how it's possible that he can say as much as she does with half the words.
But she(not for the first time) chalks up Noah Puckerman's actions to the mysteries of life, and heads home.
Time is supposed to heal all wounds, and that's kind of true. Over break, Rachel sometimes finds that she forgets that she and Finn have broken up, even sometimes that they were together at all in the first place.
This, however, is probably because she doesn't see him every day.
When she gets back to school, she believes that old adage to be pure and utter(and this is saying something, coming from a girl that believes such language to be crass and unnecessary) shit. How can time heal all wounds when you are faced with the one who cut you open every day?
It doesn't, in any case, and she hurts every time Finn ignores her.
She's thankful that she knew, in her heart of hearts, that her period of being clean and un-sticky was too good to last.
But when Karofsky and some of the beefier football players loudly croon "Suh-LUUUUTTT," behind her back after the blue ice has fully drenched her, she thinks this may be the worst slushying ever.
(And coming from her, that's REALLY saying something).
As she goes to her locker in silence, not even bothering to wipe the sugary drink from her eyes, she hears a slam of the lockers and a low timbre, and then heavy, pounding footsteps.
She's just finished her locker combination when she feels a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm not a slut, you stupid oaf. I've made out with a grand total of three boys, so if you would kindly-"
"I would NEVER call you that."
She spins around.
"Noah…what? I don't-"
"You're coming with me."
She grabs her plastic bag filled with clean clothes and closes her locker door.
"And, what, exactly, are we doing?" she says, huffing a little as she tries to keep up with his long, fast strides.
"I'm paying a freaking debt. Hurry up."
She sighs, but keeps following, because it's not like she can go to class when she's covered in slushie, anyway.
"This is the boy's locker room, Noah," she says when they have apparently reached their destination.
He rolls his eyes at her, grabs her arm, and pulls her in.
"Noah!" she hisses indignantly, "there may be boys in a state of undress in there! I can't just-"
"God for-fucking-bid," he says with a smirk, "you catch someone in a state of undress. Jesus."
She yanks her arm away when they reach the first row of lockers.
"Seriously, No-"
"Seriously, Rachel? Fourth period is Beiste's break, and she always makes a latte run, hangs out in the Teacher's Lounge, and then does weights. No one has P.E. this period either, so just…relax. Kay?"
Apparently he doesn't need an answer.
She watches as he turns to the windowed office, fiddles with the lock, and twists the door open.
"Aren't you on probation?" she asks wryly as he pulls out a wheelie chair and pushes it past her to the sink.
"Aren't you, like, covered in slushie?"
"I thought you were going to be nice to me," she says when he more or less pushes her onto the chair and grabs a towel.
"This is me being nice. Consider yourself lucky," he says, turning on a faucet and testing the water temperature with his hand.
"This isn't going to work," he announces, getting up, "you have too much hair to fit in the sink. And your head's too big."
"I do appreciate your intent, Noah, but why don't you leave so I can shower? I'm going to be changing anyway."
"I know you've got perfect pitch, Berry, so how are you still deaf?"
"What?"
"I don't like being in debt," he says, with a bit more force than she thinks is strictly necessary.
"It's really okay…"
"It's really not," he says, and before she's fully aware of what he's doing, he scoops her up from the chair and walks her over to the showers.
"Take off your shoes."
"You can't be serious."
"Fine," he says, shucking off his own, along with his jeans and t-shirt. She gulps when he's left standing in front of her in black boxers slung low on his hips.
"Really, this is-"
He only smirks as he twists the water behind.
The at-first cold water is such a shock to her system that she finds she can't even scream.
Once it warms to where it's set, she sputters "You- you- I cannot-"
"C'mon," he says with a shrug, and despite herself, she finds her eyes trailing over how the water glides over his spectacularly carved chest, "it's a win-win. You get the slushie rinsed from your clothes, and it doesn't matter that they're wet, because you were gonna change anyway. You get a sight most girls would pay to see, and…"
He darts behind her to the soap dispenser on the wall and begins lathering the soap in his hands.
"…my debt is paid."
And with that, he turns her around and begins massaging her scalp with the soap.
"This is highly inappropriate," she says rather half-heartedly, because he's honestly really good with his hands(like she didn't know this already).
"Oh well."
When her hair is sufficiently clean, he steps back. She turns around and stares at him again, and, of course, the smirk is back.
"Don't seem too bothered about seeing me in a state of undress," he says cockily.
She's honestly mad that he affects her this way, that he's so smug, that he would say that and that he's just so casual about the whole thing. She's so mad that she really can't be held accountable for her own actions.
So she looks him in the eyes as she peels off her soaking wet sweater, and doesn't break eye contact all the way up and as she throws it at him. Annoying, he catches it(stupid athlete reflexes, probably), but he doesn't break the stare either. She feels a little accomplished, though, when she sees that his eyes have darkened to a forest green.
"Debt paid," she says in a low voice.
And with that, she ducks out of the shower, grabs her bag of clothes, and escapes into a stall to change.
"I've got some bad news," Schuester tells the Glee club the next day, his hands clasped.
He rarely sounds this solemn, so everyone stops talking and waits for whatever news he has. If they bothered to look at Puck, they would see that his is the only expression not expectant.
"It seems that Karofksy and a few other football players are…out of commission."
"What a shame," Puck can't help but drawl.
"Yes, it is," Schue says angrily, "given that that means there aren't enough of the team for McKinley to actually make it to playoffs this year."
Well, fuck.
Please tell me you didn't harm those boys.
Apparently Rachel can also text from her pocket. As if she wasn't annoyingly talented already.
No one expects him to follow the rules, or cares, so he texts back in the open.
Didn't lay a finger on them.
Oh.
He can't resist adding,
Probation's a bitch, but I still got connections.
"Where are you going?" Puck overhears Mike ask his girlfriend as everyone's packing up.
"Ballet lessons," she says, "with Rachel. And then tae-known-doe with you. Remember?"
Oh, he is a brilliant, brilliant guy.
He books it out of there to tell Beiste about his plan.
Rachel, as he very well knows, refuses to be bad at anything. After many, many practices, the date of the big game is upon them.
It all seems to go by in a blur, cliché as that is, but the moment that stands out most in his mind afterwards isn't when they officially win by a landslide.
No, the moment that stands out most is when she runs to him after their win, tackles him, and whispers something in his ear that he's been dying to hear.
He says yes because, contrary to popular opinion, he's not an idiot.
So they're official now, and if anyone has anything to say about it…well, just don't. Karofksy's still in the hospital, remember?
-fini