A/N: Prompt:"With enough time eventually we all see what was right in front of us and realize no matter how long it took, it was worth the wait."
Rachel Berry has lived in New York City for the last four and a half years. She attended NYU, attaining a degree in Theater, and is now working as a waitress at an upscale restaurant in SoHo. Her roommate is Santana Lopez, who is now attending law school at Columbia and a law assistant at some high profile law firm. They weren't friends before living together. Rachel had a great apartment, but her roommate wasn't staying after graduation, so she needed a new roommate and put up a listing on craigslist. That's how Santana and Rachel became roommates and formed a strange and unlikely friendship.
Santana is what society would call a slut. But neither Rachel nor Santana thought that was fair. They both find that it is completely ridiculous that a girl is called a slut for having sex with multiple partners, but when it's a guy it's just considered normal. However, they both have very different ways of expressing their view on the matter. Rachel just refrains from calling anyone a slut. Santana says it's her own personal duty to sleep with as many people she can and if someone calls her a slut she just flips them off and says they just wish they were her, but it's hard to when you're so naturally hideous.
Rachel first meets Noah Puckerman after his night with Santana. She sees him sneaking out of her bedroom and laughs because she knows for a fact that Santana would have preferred if he left right after the night before. Her laugh catches his attention and he looks like he's been caught robbing the apartment, so Rachel just laughs a little more.
She decides to break the tension and introduce herself, "Hi, I'm Rachel, Santana's roommate".
He smiles and does the same, "Puck".
"Well, Puck, it was nice meeting you. I'm sure I won't be seeing you again, so I wish you well in all your future endeavors".
Puck thinks that his is one of the weirdest conversations he has ever had and the only response he can come up with is, "Yea, you too". Then he sends her a nod and walks out the door.
Rachel locks up behind him and thinks to herself, in only a way Santana would say, that she has gone done herself good.
Finn Hudson is Rachel's boyfriend of about eight months. They met one night out, he bought her a drink, and wasn't sleazy. That very fact is the reason she gave him her phone number. He called her the next day and asked her to dinner. He was the perfect gentleman and continues to be perfectly perfect. She's pretty sure he loves her and she's pretty sure she might be able to love him if she really tried.
She wants to love him because he is everything she pictured when she dreamt up her dream man. He's handsome, has a good job, and is responsible. He treats his mother well, but not in the creepy Mama's Boy way that means you're just like his mother but will never be as good as her. So, she's got this guy who's completely into her and she just doesn't feel it. But she stays with him hoping that time can change that.
Rachel thinks Puck is the most typical guy she's ever met in her entire life. He's good looking and knows it. And let's you know it. He's a self-proclaimed "bad boy" and has no interest for anything serious. He has a job, but no career. He likes sports, beer, and big boobs.
Rachel thinks he's funny though. Probably because he is so typical. So, they become friends which you would think is weird (and it is) but it works.
They meet again one night at the bar 10 blocks from Rachel and Santana's apartment. Puck works as the bartender and Rachel learns this is where Santana picked him up 3 weeks ago. She sees him when she orders the first round of drinks. They end up talking for a while because it's not that crowded. She learns that his real name is Noah, which she likes much better and tells him that. He just moved to New York a month ago with his band hoping it's easier to make it here than where he's from. He says he's from Bumblefuck, Nowheresville which she learns is actually Old Saybrook, an extremely small town in Connecticut. She thinks it sounds like a delightful place to live.
By the end of the night, Rachel realizes that Santana had left with some guy and Puck offers to walk her home. He's not about to let a girl walk home by herself and she's not going to pretend it's safe for a girl in her early twenties to be walking alone. Honestly, she could have taken a cab but it was perfect walking weather, he offered, and she really didn't want to waste the money on a three minute cab ride.
After the night at the bar, Rachel and Puck become real and actual friends. The first time Puck hangs out at her apartment, he's a little weirded out because he, you know, slept with her roommate and snuck out the next morning. But Rachel reassures him not to worry and that if he didn't sneak out, Santana would have kicked him out.
He still feels a little weird, but it disappears when Santana comes home. She just looks at him trying to figure out why he looks familiar and when it comes to her she just smirks and tells him that he was fun then goes into her room.
Rachel introduces Puck and Finn. She's not exactly sure what's she expecting, but it's not this. They legitimately love each other. She doesn't really understand why this bromance bothers her so much, but she just pushes it to the back of her mind. Maybe part of it is that fact that this makes her even more frustrated with her situation with Finn. Puck is extremely good looking, she's not going to pretend that he's not and they're been hanging out together. A lot. But Finn doesn't go into any jealous rages or question her at all about her relationship with Puck. There really is nothing more than friendship going on, so there is no reason for him to question her, so this fact just makes him even more perfect. And she still doesn't love him.
Rachel gets her first big break, getting cast as a townsperson in Les Mis on Broadway. She is so completely excited and grateful. If her sixteen year old self heard those thoughts, she would say that being in the background is nothing to be excited about. But after some growing up and a year in the real world, she knows that this is big.
Puck, Finn, and Santana take her out to celebrate and to get thoroughly drunk. They all point out that she is going to be so busy with rehearsals and performances that she should get in a time of complete debauchery.
They've all told her how proud they are of her, but when Puck tells her later that night at the bar there's something different that happens to her when he says it. She doesn't think about it much because she's drunk and chalks it up to a "I'm one step closer to my dreams" high she's been experiencing all day.
Puck's band has been playing gigs pretty regularly, but up until now, they've only done covers. Tonight's show is the first show where they felt good enough to play their own stuff.
Rachel tells him after that he was completely amazing and that to never forget that. He doesn't know why, but her saying that means more than anything else that happened that night.
Rachel and Finn break up. Finn's job transfers him to Chicago. He wants to try to do long distance, but Rachel knows it won't work for various reasons. One, after being together over a year she still doesn't love him like one should if they're the love of their life. Two, she's already so busy with performing that it just wouldn't be fair to either of them. Finn understands and she thinks they might be able to be friends after this.
Puck is more upset over the breakup than she is. She says she's fine, but he still comes over with a container of chocolate ice cream and a movie saying it's to cheer her up. But she knows it's really for him because he knows her favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip and right now they're watching I Love You, Man.
She tells him he can still be friends with Finn. His family actually lives in New York, so he will be back occasionally. Puck seems happier after that but tells her no matter what, she's his best friend and if he needs to punch Finn because of anything, he'll do it.
Everyone expects Puck and Rachel to get together once Finn leaves for Chicago but they don't. The truth is they're best friends and at this point in their lives that's all it is. They're old enough that being just friends isn't awkward or weird, but young enough that they really aren't ready for the "end game" kind of romance.
They're also both pretty busy so neither of them even have it in their minds to have a serious romantic relationship with anyone. Rachel moved up from just a townsperson to the new understudy for Éponine which means that she gets to perform as a lead on Broadway at least once or twice a week. They're mostly the matinee shows, but it's still a step. Puck still works at the bar part time, but they also gave his band a standing gig on Friday's. He's also gotten some session work playing guitar for studios. So, yea, neither of them gives it any thought.
Maybe it's because they really are just friends. Maybe it's because they are basically in a relationship, minus the sex, and don't noticed because they don't have to share their time with other significant others.
Puck learns it's the latter when Rachel starts dating some 32 year old. He likes to call him Asshole, but Rachel calls him Paul.
Rachel is confused as to why Puck hates Paul so much. They seem to have a lot of things in common so she has no idea why he seems to have such distain for him. She asks him about it one day and he just tells her the way he smiles freaks him out and that people shouldn't smile that much all the time. Rachel reminds him that Finn used to smile all the time and he loved Finn more than she did.
That's when Puck realizes that he's completely ass backwards in love with Rachel Berry.
Rachel feels something completely different with Paul than what she felt with Finn. He's just so different than anyone she's ever dated and it's sort of thrilling for her. She's not sure if Paul is the love of her life, but right now she's having fun figuring it out.
Puck decides to just let this relationship of Rachel and Paul play out. He needs the time to make sure of what he really feels.
He quickly realizes that he definitely does love Rachel in more than a friendly way. He also realizes that there's a huge possibility that Rachel could get serious about Paul, and get serious a lot sooner than he thought.
Rachel and Paul have been dating about two months and things are going really well. When Rachel tells this much to Puck, he decides he needs to tell her how he feels.
So as they're hanging out one night at her apartment watching some stupid show that she loves and he (not so) secretly loves as well, he just tells her how he feels. She is caught off guard and tells him he's probably just confused. They're best friends and she's dating someone new and he's not used to sharing her.
He laughs and says that's what he thought at first and it hit him like a fucking tow truck, but he knows for sure that he is one hundred percent in love with her.
Rachel is completely speechless which is surprising because Puck doesn't think she's ever stopped talking since he first met her. So he just moves closer to her on the couch, snakes his hand around the back of Rachel's neck, and pulls her in for a kiss.
That's when Rachel realizes she is completely and utterly in love with Noah Puckerman.
He pulls back and when he opens his eyes he sees that Rachel is smiling and thinks that must be a good thing. She says they're both stupid, should have done this sooner, and now has to break up with a perfectly nice man. He just laughs and she kisses him the second time.
A couple hours later they're laying in Rachel's bed naked, which Puck says is how they should always be. She tells him he better not sneak out in the morning. He tells her there's no way in hell he's missing out on morning sex. Then he adds that he, you know, loves her so that's really not an option.