A/N: Meh. So just a quick one-shot. I was bored and in need of Puckleberry.
So it kind of pissed him off when Berry called him Noah. He was a badass; he didn't want that sort of shit getting out. Most of the students of McKinley thought Puck was his real name. He'd never discouraged the nickname, he wasn't even sure when he'd earned it. But he remembered the first time Rachel Berry, that knee socks and short skirt wearing, obsessive, intense Glee freak called him by his given name. Now that shit was fucked up.
He'd never spoken to her before it happened. From what he heard, she had gone to some private music school before coming to McKinley, but it got shut down, and she had been forced to slum it with the rest of the Lima losers. If that wasn't enough for people to torment her, she turned out to be an absolute freak. Like, she'd break out in show tunes in the hallway and give everyone this totally crazy look as though she expected them to praise her or some shit. Yeah, Rachel Berry had been known as the school freak from her very first day at McKinley.
Noah Puckerman, however, was known as a badass by the end of his first week as a freshman. He'd shaved his head into a Mohawk during the summer and he and Finn had been intent on bulking up before their first day of high school. Finn went through some kind of freaky growth spurt and was like huge so he made it onto the football team freshman year. It took Noah longer for his body to fully mature, and he didn't make the team until sophomore year, but he compensated by knowing exactly what to say to all the senior jocks, and how to act. He was badass, he knew that, and started getting into fights and cutting class solely because he knew it was wrong.
What really solidified his place in the social hierarchy at McKinley High, however, was starting the ritual of giving people slushie facials. It made him a legend. Especially since the first slushie facial he ever gave was to none other than Rachel Berry.
It was completely necessary, really. He hadn't even thought about it before he did it. The cup was half-full, and she had just opened her big mouth to blabber on about some gay musical thing and all he wanted was for her to shut up. She gave him a headache whenever she talked, which was often. (Puck had no idea how he spent so much of his time listening to Rachel Berry when they had no classes together.) So he tossed it in her face as he walked past her with Finn, Mike and Matt. An impulse, plain and simple. But it made him a freaking god. So he did it again. It was easy. He didn't even have to look at her. Eventually everyone else picked up the habit.
But then, shit got wacky. Slushie-throwing was fun, just a stupid joke he played on some freaks at school. Then came the pee-ballooning, the egging of people's houses, nailing lawn furniture to roofs, and tossing the gay kid in the dumpster. It never really occurred to him that he was the school bully. He was just riding a wave of popularity and the fear he generated, and he liked it.
Puck had no idea how she even knew what his name was. At first he had been kind of scared she'd been stalking him (not that he'd ever admit that). And then he'd realised that Mr Schue had introduced as Noah when he first joined Glee, and felt like a loser. Well, more of a loser than he had since joining the stupid club. He'd really lowered his standards to try and convince Quinn he'd be a good baby-daddy.
It was a Monday afternoon, and Glee practice had just ended. They had been in the auditorium, working on some number that Mr Schue said they'd be using at Sectionals, but that was just something he said constantly to get them to work harder.
It was nothing really. Except, you know, that Rachel had never spoken to him. Like, ever. Only when he was part of the group.
She said goodbye to gay kid (whose name, he'd learnt, was Kurt), that black chick, the Asian chick and wheelchair kid in quick succession, getting nothing more than a murmured farewell in reply, none of them even looking at her. She walked in his direction, and he could see the look of disappointment on her face. It kind of did funny things to his stomach (something which he'd also never admit).
Looking up at him, she'd given him a bright smile. 'Goodbye, Noah.' He managed a grunt, and she hadn't seemed to notice the widening of his eyes.
He stared after her in complete shock. Had she even realised it was the first time they'd spoken Fuck, why did he care?
It was then he realised he hadn't slushied her in weeks.
What the fuck?
It was the very next week Puck had sat down with his mother and little sister to watch Schindler's List. After that, he'd had the dream, and was completely screwed.
In the week they dated, she still called him Noah. He'd had to resist the urge to glance around to make sure no one had heard, but truthfully, he was a little caught up in her big brown eyes. And shit, could that girl kiss. Like, seriously.
It was kind of a shame to end it, really. But c'mon, she wouldn't even let him touch her boobs. So of course he had to break it off with the crazy chick. (He'd somehow managed to conveniently forget that she had broken up with him.)
After the 'lost week', Puck continued to not-slushie Rachel, and she continued to call him Noah. They entered into an uneasy silent truce, and after baby gate blew wide open, they became almost... friends.
It was on one particular sunny day as they sat on the hood of his truck listening to Bon Jovi and eating ice cream that he realised he was in love with her. He, Noah Puckerman, popular jock/stud (well, not so much anymore after baby gate) was in love with obsessive, crazy, ambitious Rachel Berry (actually, those things were kind of cute now).
It took a full five weeks before he worked up the urge to ask her out (seriously, what kind of badass was he?), but he needn't have worried. She pretty much jumped him.
***
It was a Friday night, and his sister Sarah had just gone to bed. They were sitting on the couch watching some fucked up musical with some chick in it that Rachel seemed to adore, and so he put up with it. It was kind of nice. She was tucked into his side and they shared a same blanket and he was about this close to getting a hand up her skirt.
'Noah?' She sounded nervous, and he looked down at her with concern.
'Sup, babe?'
'I love you.'
It was a bit random, but he could tell she was being sincere. Some weird feeling bloomed in his chest and he hoped to god he wasn't having a heart attack.
Puck chuckled a little and pulled her tighter against him. 'Of course you do.'
She sat up, frowning. It was kind of adorable. 'Is that all you have to say?'
He paused for a moment, just to play with her a little, before smirking. 'I don't know why you need me to say it, Berry; it's kind of obvious I love you, isn't it?'
Rachel grinned a little, ducking her head. 'Can you say it again?'
He rolled his eyes and leant forward, pressing his lips against her soft ones. 'I love you, Crazy.'
She was looking at him as though it was the most romantic thing she'd ever heard, which in itself was kind of sad he supposed. But he couldn't really complain as she launched herself at him and kissed him fully.
Of course, it still pissed him off when she called him Noah in front of other people. He had a rep to protect. But when it was just them, in private, he didn't mind so much.
A/N: *Shrugs* Give me a break it was written at three in the morning! Hopefully it wasn't too horrible for you guys to read. Reviews would be greatly appreciated (and by that I mean loved and cherished).
