Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 62nd cycle. Now cycle 63!

"Without You"
Rachel/Puck, Rent cast & crew
Project No Day But Today series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

They'd gone to Breadstix that night, just the two of them, in hopes of having an evening just to themselves, without one person or the other calling on them about something to do with the musical. That was the intention, but whether they'd meant to or not, they would start talking about it when it was just the two of them, too. They would discuss the latest vlog, think of what they might do for the next one, reflect on how many days there were left before the premiere, even if it was still a while away…

"Hey, you alright?" Puck had asked after a while of them sitting and eating in silence.

"Yeah, it's nothing," she insisted at first.

"Doesn't look like nothing," he wouldn't let it go. She didn't want to say it. "You're not breaking up with me, are you?" he asked, and she looked up immediately.

"What? No, of course not," she shook her head. "Why would you think that…"

"I don't know, you just look kind of…"

"What?"

"Sad," he finished, and she sighed. "Rachel, what's going on?" She had her lip sucked in like she didn't think she should speak, but he waited.

"What if this is all we've got?"

"What do you mean?"

"The musical, you and me," she explained, but he still didn't understand. "We got together because of the musical, and it's all we ever really get to talk about anymore. What happens when it's all done and we don't have it anymore?"

"Rachel," he frowned, taking her hand from across the table. "If there's one thing I know, it's that I didn't fall for you because you were going to play Mimi, or because you were putting together the musical."

"No, I guess not," she breathed.

"I fell for you because you're beautiful, and kind of crazy, and you're brilliant, and my kind of crazy," he listed off, and it got her smiling. "The musical, yeah, it helped, but only because it gave me a reason to look at you long enough to realize it. That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Would you have wanted to be my girlfriend if not for this?"

"Maybe not. Is that bad?" she slowly asked.

"Things happen for a reason, that's what I think. And we started this musical, you and me, and it got us to where we are now. Are you happy with me?"

"So much," she smiled, and he smiled back at hearing it.

"Maybe we only have the musical to talk about right now because that's what's on our mind and we're dedicated to it. That's where we need to be. But it's true, we should have more than that. Now we know, so we can be more careful not to let ourselves get sucked in to all that all the time."

"We can do that. So we'll be alright after it's done?"

"More than alright. You're not getting rid of me so easy, Rachel Berry," he vowed, which made her laugh. "Alright, let's finish up here, then we're going to do something."

"What?" she asked.

"No, no, it's a surprise. But we are not going to mention that thing that we do with those people in that place, got it?"

"What thing?" she played along, so well that he was nearly fooled.

After they'd left the restaurant, they had walked across the mall to get ice cream. As they got closer though, they ran into a pair of girls from school who had 'somehow' heard about the musical and wanted to know if they could audition. Puck had rightly called them on the fact that what they really wanted was to be in the vlog so they could be seen. Rachel had told them they would let them know if they had any openings and they left it at that.

"That's what it's going to become, isn't it?" she sighed as they'd reached the ice cream stand.

"If it was the other way around though, wouldn't you do the same?" he asked, and she gave him a look. "It's true though."

"Probably, but that's beside the point."

"It's done now, so the topic is going back in the no-talk vault," he handed the money to the girl at the cash register. "Door's locked, key is in my stomach."

"That's a visual, but alright," she chuckled as they walked away.

Puck had been more than dedicated to make this happen, so much that when he'd spotted Tina and Mike somewhere across the way, he'd pulled Rachel into the nearest corner he could find so they wouldn't be seen.

"What are you doing?" she asked, making sure neither of them had spilled ice cream in the process.

"If they see us, they'll want to talk."

"They're our friends, that's normal."

"Yeah, but it'll end up back on you-know-what," he pointed out.

"But if it happens like that, it's not our fault," she assured him. "It's fine."

"No, it's not," he shook his head, looking back at her. "I don't want you to ever have to think the only reason we spend time together is because of this musical. I want you to know it's because you make me happy, and I like my life the way it is when I'm with you, and I love you. Not because of the musical," he looked her in the eye, and rather than bursting into tears she had stood on her toes and kissed him.

"Message received," she promised, pulling back to look at him. "And I love you, too." He smiled; she squeaked.

"What?" he asked.

"You just dropped ice cream down my back."

"Sorry," he pulled away, moving to take a look. "Hang on, I got it," he wiped the back of her shirt. "So what do you want to do? Do we go see them, or…" She gave him a grin.

"No… Let's just run."

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!