Freshman year, when the football team enjoyed throwing water balloons at Rachel Berry's house (Hey, she was lucky there was just water in them.), the fact that Don had lived right next door had been really convenient. Now, it was just weird for Puck to drive down her street and turn into Don's driveway instead of hers. The fact that it was weird was extra fucking weird.
At the beginning of senior year football season, he had realized that now that they weren't just blindly following Karofsky's or his own lead to torture Gleeks, that some of the football players were still good guys. There were a good five or six on the team that weren't in Glee, but he could see still being friends now that they no longer delighted in the daily slushy facials. He sometimes had to remind himself that punching them in the face for their past actions would be stupidly hypocritical, considering he used to be a lot worse than them, but other than that, hanging out with them was a fun, mindless distraction from the pressures of school and glee and the looming college shit. That's how he found himself spending this Friday night at Don's about to engage in "bro night", which mostly consisted of video games, beer, and talk about who they had slept with lately. Mindless, but entertaining.
The only problem was lately he hadn't really slept with anyone new because he had been so busy trying to keep Rachel busy, because he knew, if she didn't keep busy, she would get upset about the second demise of Finchel that had occurred over the summer. She needed a friend, and for some fucking reason, he was being that guy. He knew he wouldn't do it for anyone but her, but he honestly felt like shit whenever he saw her looking upset, which is how he found himself asking her to come hang out the first day back to school when she walked into Glee looking like all the puppies in the world had died.
Puck wasn't as stupid as people thought he was. He knew why he wouldn't do it for anyone but her. The Lauren fling had long since fizzled out, and he wasn't stupid enough to deny that he was so far gone for his Jewish American Princess that if she asked him to go shopping with her while wearing high heels and playing harmonica, he wasn't positive he could say no. However, he wasn't going to take Finn's leftover pieces of her anymore, so he knew he had to wait until she was fully herself again and over the giant before he could make a move and offer her the Puckzilla.
It was around midnight and he had just finished his second beer when he heard the sirens. Everyone in Don's bedroom whipped their heads towards the window to see at least three firetrucks speeding down Don's street to turn into Rachel's driveway.
"Cool!" He heard one of the other football guys mutter excitedly, but Puck wasn't thinking the same thing at all. Before he could even process what was happening, he was on his feet and running down Don's stairs towards his front door, his friends staring stupidly after him. He kept running until he was out the door, across Don's lawn, and standing in front of Rachel's house, watching smoke pour out of her bedroom window.
Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! The same thoughts kept running through his head. I can't-If she's-And she'll never-and I can't-Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!
"Fuck!" He finally voiced his opinions on the matter at hand as he stared helpessly at the house.
"Noah?" He heard a quiet voice behind him, and for a second was afraid he was imagining it, but when he turned around and saw her face behind him, he let out the biggest sigh of relief he'd ever let out and ran towards her, picking her up and spinning her until he was out of breath. Even after he put her down, he held her tight against his body, almost as if to make sure she was still standing next to him and breathing.
"Wr Yu Dg Hr?" He heard muffled words trying to escaper her mouth as her face was still crushed into his chest. Laughing he pulled back, so that they were facing each other.
"What are you doing here?" She repeated, understandably this time.
"Oh uh…I was at Don's. We heard the trucks and I-" All of a sudden, his eyes wandered from her face and he saw what she was wearing. It was one of his old baseball t-shirts that he had lent her one day when they had gotten caught in the rain on the way to his house. The sight of his too-big t-shirt on her was adorable, but was very confusing paired with a hot pink plaid skirt she was wearing beneath it. Rachel noticed his confused gaze at her outfit and blushed.
"Oh, well I was in pajamas when the fire uh…started…and I had to run outside really quickly, and since I didn't particularly like the idea of having to run outside without bottoms on, I pulled on the closest thing to me, which was the skirt I wore to school today." Puck knew he eventually would have to ask how the fire "uh…started…", but he was a little focused on what she had just said at the moment.
"Rach, you mean to tell me that you wear my t-shirt to bed without anything underneath it." He enjoyed that image.
"Noah!" She smacked his arm. "I wear underwear! And a bra…sometimes…" Sometimes? His spank bank loved that one. "I'm sorry, did you want your shirt back?"
"Only if by back you mean me getting to take it off you when you're only wearing underwear underneath it." He winked at her and she giggled and blushed a bit more. The yelling of some firemen running past him brought him back to what was going on and away from that image unfortunately. "So…what happened?"
"Uh…" Rachel stared at her feet. "I decided today at school while I was watching him try to covertly pick his nose while Mr. Shuester gave him feedback on his solo that I am most definitely over Finn." Puck's ears definitely perked up at that. "So, I thought in one last act of closure, I would burn the Faithfully sheet music that I have had framed on my wall for the past year." Puck could now see where this was going... "I put some paper in my garbage can and used a match to light it and then I threw the sheet music in before I realized I didn't grab water to put it out with, and by the time I got back from getting cup from the kitchen, it had gotten a little out of control…."
"A little?" Puck teased.
"Okay, a lot. Pyrotechnics are apparently not my area of expertise." She looked displeased with herself, as if she should have been a master of pyrotechnics, because she thought she should be a master of everything.
"Babe, next time you need heat, just call me." She rolled her eyes at him.
"Noah, that does not even make any sense since I didn't need heat. I did, in fact, need fire." She crossed her arms. "If you're going to be lewd, at least have it make sense please." He laughed.
"Sorry, being scared half to fucking death that you were dying in a fire has put me a bit off my game." He smiled and she dropped her arms.
"You were really that worried?" She looked up at him cautiously.
"Of course." He smirked. "If you were dead, who would help me with that Glee assignment we have due Monday?" Her face fell.
"Oh…" She shifted, looking down. "Well of course, I mean, nobody else quite has my musical range or patience with you and I can see why you would need me in that regard."
"Rachel," He lifted her chin so she was looking him in the eyes. "I was kidding. I was scared out of my fucking mind because if I lost you, I would literally have to throw myself in a fire to put myself out of my misery." Her face lit up.
"And people say I'm the drama queen." She teased, poking him in the chest.
"Maybe you're rubbing off on me." He shrugged.
"Would that be so bad?" Her voice was soft again as she looked at him expectantly. When he shook his head no, still keeping his eyes locked with hers, she rose up on her toes to kiss him gently on the mouth. Before his penis started thinking for him, he pulled away. He wanted her, but only if he could actually have her.
"Why now?" He asked her, and she knew what he meant.
"Because when the fire started, and for half a second I was worried I might not get out, you were the only person I wanted there with me." She spoke passionately, like she always did, and Puck felt something warm settle in his chest. "And the thought that the last boy I'd kiss before I died would be Finn and not you was just plain yucky." She giggled again as she reached for his hand, and then just patiently waited for his response.
He thought for half a millisecond (probably less) before reaching down so their lips met again. There were still sirens all around them, and he knew all of his football buddies could probably see him from their window, and that Rachel's fathers, who were currently talking to the fire department, would be breaking them up at any moment, but in that moment, all he cared about was this, the fire between them.