Author's note: This is the first oneshot that I've actually finished. Hooray. I'll get back to that other one. Once again, please give me any constructive feedback you have. Any. I'll take it all. I want to improve.
This fic was inspired by the song Nightcall by Kavinsky. It's a good listen, I recommend it.
And of course these characters are not my own. I'm just playing with them.
Finn rubbed his eyes and looked at his alarm clock.
12:32am
Jeez. He'd only been asleep over an hour. Why was it so hard for him to get some shut eye tonight? Maybe it was stress from work. With winter coming, there were more people coming in every day to get check-ups and tire chains and so on. Or maybe he just had to go to the bathroom. That must be it.
Finn roused himself from bed lazily and shambled over to the bathroom in the dark. It'd been quite some time since he had lived with anyone, but the silence of living alone still felt foreign sometimes.
Finn flushed the toilet and turned the bathroom light off on his way out. About to turn towards his bedroom, he heard the phone ring.
Who would even? It's the middle of the night...
He turned on the lamp and picked the living room phone up on the fourth ring.
"Hello?"
"Finn?" The voice sounded familiar, but different.
"..Puck?" The nickname he hadn't called the guy in years was somehow the first thing to leave his mouth.
"Yeah. I-do you have time to see me? It's urgent." The signal was poor, lots of static, but he heard the desperation in his voice loud and clear. It was not only unusual to hear him sound like that, but it was unusual to hear from him at all.
No one had seen or heard much from the guy since the end of high school. Santana said she thought she had seen him playing at a bar in Columbus a year ago, but couldn't be sure.
"I'll be outside your house in five. Please. Just-just see me, man." The line went dead.
Finn hung up the phone and walked to his room. He pulled on some jeans and grabbed a hoodie. He laced up his work boots and walked out the door, keys and cell in hand. He honestly didn't know what to expect. The last time they spoke didn't exactly end on the best of terms.
It was the night Rachel had broken up with him.
"Finn, I know something is going on!" Rachel huffed and stormed towards the door.
"Rach, please. There isn't anyone else! I swear."
Rachel, doorknob in hand, turned and looked Finn directly in the eye. She looked hurt. Her disappointment was crystal clear. "You're a fool if you think that I haven't learned by now. You have lied to me too many times before. I know that look... I hope you just have more honesty with them than you ever did with me. We're done, Finn. Over. Don't you think for a second you'll get me back again."
The door was shut in his face before he had time to repsond.
He hit the door with an open hand. Fuck. His feet brought him back to his room in the basement, where he found himself flipping through the contacts in his phone. He hit talk.
Brrrr-brrrr-brr-
"Yeah dude?"
Finn hadn't noticed the tears running down his face until he found it hard to speak.
"Can I come over?"
"Finn, what happened man? You sound like you just got your nuts slammed in a do- Wasn't Rachel supposed to be there tonight? Yeah. You know what, I'll come pick you up."
click
Finn looked at the screen of his phone and pocketed it. He put on some slippers, grabbed a couple beers from the fridge (Burt wouldn't miss them,) and walked out to the porch.
Finn saw a motorcycle waiting outside. Sitting on it was a familiar figure, staring directly at him. Waiting.
Finn walked up to the man, who took off his helmet, revealing a ruffled and somewhat flattened mohawk. Puck handed him the helmet.
"Put it on, and hold on tight." He nodded behind him.
Finn positioned himself on the motorcycle, and awkwardly placed his hands on Puck's torso. Puck grabbed his hands, and wrapped them around him, effectively pulling Finn closer, so his head was right next to his own, almost over his shoulder.
"Lean with me, but try to stay centered otherwise. Don't loosen your grip."
They started off down the street, picking up speed as they exited the neighborhood.
On the highway it was darker. Wind whipped through Finn's hooded sweater. He was grateful for the helmet. Puck was wearing only a wife beater with his jeans. What was he thinking? It couldn't have been more that 40 degrees outside.
Questioning his friend's sanity didn't distract him from the oddity that it was that he was even here in the first place.
Finn couldn't even tell which direction they were going.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see when we get there. Not too much farther."
"You know I have to ask. Why are you here?"
"I wanted to apologize."
"It's been five years."
"I hope I can make it up to you."
They'd been cruising along poorly lit roads for about an hour when they pulled into the parking lot of a small motel. Puck shut off the engine. Finn pulled his helmet off, and stepped off the bike, setting the helmet on the back. Puck was just staring at him from the bike. Finn started to feel uncomfortable.
"What?"
"The light-" Puck nodded towards the lamp that was lighting the parking lot "-I like the way you look under it. I just want to absorb this."
Puck got up and started making his way towards one of the rooms, pulling out a key. He turned to look at Finn before opening the door and letting them both inside.
It was a bit warmer than inside than it was out. The room was small. The bed looked unused and the only personal items Finn could see was a Polaroid camera and a flannel shirt of Puck's. Finn stood awkwardly in the middle of the room while Puck leaned against the door.
"Okay, really, why are we here? You can't just show up aft-"
"I don't want you to ever think that I didn't want you."
Finn immediately shut his mouth and stared at Puck.
"I was already planning on leaving when you told me. I didn't want to be stuck in that town. The idea of having something to stay for scared me. It was the worst decision I ever made." Puck didn't break eye contact with Finn. "I know how you felt about me was real. It was more real than anything I had ever felt from anyone before... Jesus, Finn. It scared the crap out of me. There wasn't anything I wanted more. But I couldn't risk hurting you. We were fresh out of high school. You had just gotten out of your relationship with Rach-"
It was Finn's turn to interrupt Puck.
"You know that's why she dumped me, right? Because she knew I had feelings for someone else. I know you know, because I know what happened that night. I know what happened that night had been building up for months. You know it too."
"I don't expect you to forgive me. I know what I did was cowardly, and selfish. I can't forgive myself for leaving you. I just wanted to show you how sorry I am. I thought you deserved to know that I didn't mean to hurt you, that I would never have been ashamed to be with you. I never stopped loving you."
Finn sat down on the end of the bed.
"I spent five years wondering what the hell happened to you."
Puck took a couple steps towards Finn. Finn stood up, grabbed Puck's shoulders and slammed him back against the door again.
"You broke my heart..." He took a deep breath."But I can't pretend I'm not relieved to see you back. You fucking asshole."
Any response Puck would have had was muffled with a kiss.
Puck whimpered and kissed back harder, moving Finn towards the bed with him and pushing him down on it.
Finn looked up at Puck from the bed.
"Noah, I never stopped loving you either."
Sunlight was streaming in through the thin curtains in the room. Finn opened his eyes and remembered where he was. He smiled.
"Noah?"
He turned over. The bed was empty. Finn sat up and reached over the edge of the bed to grab his phone out of his jeans.
October 9th, 9:28am
No missed calls
The shirt was still hanging on the chair next to the table. Maybe he went out to get food.
Finn pulled on his jeans and stepped outside to get some fresh air. Puck's motorcycle was gone. He must have gone for breakfast. Puck couldn't function without a good meal in the morning.
The air smelled fresh. Nice. There were lots of trees surrounding the parking lot. It wasn't as overcast as it had been the day before.
Finn noticed the newspaper sitting at his feet outside the motel room door. He bent down and picked it up, unfolding the front page.
The Athens Messenger
What? Where the hell was he? Athens was like 3 hours away from Lima.
He looked at the headlining story.
Seven killed in motorcycle accident just outside of Athens.
Finn scanned the rest of the article.
... motorcycle driver swerved out of control, hitting the car head on... bodies yet to be identifed...
No. He checked the date on the newspaper. It was dated October 8th. Well then it couldn't be.
Finn walked to the main office. He stepped inside and approached the counter. The man behind it eyed him warily.
"You look like you just woke up. Did you pay for a room?"
"Er. I was just wondering if you had today's copy of the paper."
"Yeah, and feel free to answer me when you're done with it." The man handed him the paper and gave him a hard look.
Finn flipped through to the obituaries. His heart stopped in his chest.
Noah Puckerman
No.
How could he have been dead? He was in that motel room with Finn last night. He came back, they talked, they kissed, they... No. He pulled out his cell and dialed Noah's number.
I'm sorry, this number has been disconnected...
He ran back to their room. The shirt was still there. He walked closer to the table. The camera was gone, but in it's place was a picture. He picked it up and turned it over.
It was of him and Noah, last night. Laying in bed. Puck's arm was around Finn. He was half asleep curled into Puck's shoulder, his face pressed into Noah's neck. Puck was smiling into the camera. Scrawled in pen underneath the photo was one word.
Goodbye.