Author's Note:
Okay, so I never thought I'd write for couples other than Klaine but I had the idea of using this song and these were the characters that fitted so…
I'm British so I apologise if I've mixed Britishisms and Americanisms together. I must admit it took quite a bit of restraint on my part to type "Mom" instead of "Mum"!
The song is "And Your Bird Can Sing" by The Beatles. Obviously, I own neither it nor Glee.
Hope you enjoy please let me know if you liked it and how I can improve.
He should have known she wouldn't come back to him. After all, he's just a Lima Loser. He never went to LA. He wanted her to be able to find him again and there was enough business here cleaning pools. And he was a little scared of the world outside, but that's something he never consciously acknowledged. He's doing all right for himself, still living with his Mom and sister but that's because he likes taking care of them and he's got no one particular to move out for.
But she's moved on.
First it was Yale, her big fancy university that made everyone so proud of her. He was proud of her too. But after a couple of months he barely knew what she was talking about half the time people, places, concepts that were beyond him. They still had that connection though.
Then she graduated. Well, those of the Glee club who had gone to college all did and they all came back to Lima over the summer. One last summer together. They'd done similar things ever since the end of high school but there was a sense of finality this time. Everyone knew (but no one acknowledged) that a new chapter of their lives was starting and their friendships would never quite be the same again.
Puck was the only one that attended every single party they threw. He and Quinn struck up their relationship again over those months. For old time's sake, on her side anyway and he let her think that that was what it was for him too.
Then autumn came and she left to go travelling for a little while she wanted to see more of America before deciding where to settle down. She sent a few postcards although they got more perfunctory after the first month or so.
And then came the invite to Kurt and Blaine's New Year's Eve/belated flat warming party and Burt offered him a ride to New York so he figured he might as well go along. And she was there. With Rachel. Rachel had an Off-Broadway role, Quinn had found a job as a psychologist and they were planning on moving in together.
He hadn't seen that one coming. I mean, he's known that Quinn and Rachel had had something during the second summer after graduation he'd noticed the looks after one particular party. But he'd always thought that Quinn would come back for him and they'd leave Lima permanently together.
He's not angry, deep down he's always been resigned to the fact that he's not good enough for her, not good enough for anyone who has what it takes to leave Lima behind.
So, when someone in the (very small) group of partygoers still awake hands him a guitar in the early hours of the morning he takes it and sings:
You tell me that you've got everything you want You say you've seen seven wonders and your bird is green When your prized possessions start to weigh you down When your bird is broken will it bring you down You tell me that you've heard every sound there is
And your bird can sing
But you don't get me, you don't get me
But you can't see me, you can't see me
Look in my direction, I'll be round, I'll be round
You may be awoken, I'll be round, I'll be round
And your bird can swing
But you can't hear me, you can't hear me
The others join in and he starts to feel that maybe he can move on. He's spent so long waiting for her to help him leave his small town. Well, maybe it's time he tried it himself.
It's a couple of months before he acts on that thought and buys a ticket to LA but that's where it starts.