Hi everyone! This is my first Glee story, but I couldn't resist Puckleberry. I definitely don't own Glee. Anyway, this is just a oneshot, so enjoy!
Bleachers
Bleachers are certainly an unlikely choice for the scene of a romance. They aren't glamorous or beautiful, their sharp, defined lines and unforgiving edges don't appeal to most people, and they can't even be considered a comfortable place to rest. Cold, harsh metal held together by screws that overlook a football field that, as McKinley High students grudgingly admit, has hosted a rather pitiful number of wins and even worse, an unfortunate slew of losses. Quite honestly, they are probably the last place you would expect an epic romance to occur.
Of course, it's quite fitting that Noah Puckerman and Rachel Berry's romance would be hosted in an unexpected place, seeing as the romance itself was unexpected. Though in the beginning, even they didn't realize the significance these bleachers would come to hold. In fact, at the start of the relationship, the very place was a cause of heartache, sorrow, and the ever-pressing question – what if?
The bleachers hosted their first significant Puckleberry event sophomore year, when they were the scene of the couple's first break-up.
"I hope you didn't choose glee over football because of me," she says in a soft voice.
"Why?" he asks, because honestly, that seems like exactly the type of gesture dramatic Rachel Berry would love.
"Because I don't think this relationship is going to work out," the words cut him, but he scoffs.
"That's cool, I was gonna break up with you anyway."
He ignores her when she says, "No you weren't," even though she's right. After a few more words are exchanged, the conversation comes to a close.
"I hope we can still be friends," she says, again in that soft voice.
Before he can stop himself, he speaks sharply, trying to cause her the same pain she caused him. "We weren't friends before," and then he's gone.
For a long time after that, he comes to the bleachers to be alone, when he needs to think. More often than not, his time there is spent silently pondering Rachel Berry, and the end to their brief relationship, the end that occurred on these very bleachers. He hates them, because they're the scene of that break-up, the first one he ever had where he wasn't the one ending the relationship but rather the one being dumped. He can't quite figure out if it's the being dumped he dislikes, or just being dumped by Rachel Berry. There's a sneaking suspicion that it's the latter. Part of him is drawn to the silver benches, though, because they remind him of her.
As junior year drew to a close, and senior year began, he found himself spending increasing amounts of time on the empty bleachers, and even more time thinking about Rachel Berry.
One day he's reclined on the hard bench, when suddenly the object of his thoughts is standing right in front of him.
"Hello, Noah," she says softly. He merely nods in her direction. She takes a seat next to him, and neither one of them speaks.
Finally, he mumbles, "What're you doing here?"
"I come here to think, sometimes," she says, and he nods because he's been doing the same thing for over a year. It's silent again after that, and neither one speaks again, content to sit on the uncomfortable bleachers in comfortable silence. They don't ever talk about it, but all of a sudden the bleachers have become their place. More often than not, both Rachel and Puck are sitting side by side on the bleachers, sometimes talking, but mostly just sitting in silence. Eventually, their relationship extends outside of the silver bleachers, but they do still spend time there, just the two of them.
It's one of these times, when they're sitting silently, each lost in their own thoughts, that he realizes something. He doesn't hate the bleachers anymore. In fact, the time he spends sitting on them with Rachel have become the favorite part of his day. It's as if nothing from the outside world can penetrate the sanctuary they've created in the stands surrounding the football field. Of course, he still looks back on their break up with sadness, but he realizes something else. They needed to break up. She was still in love with Finn, he was torn up about Beth, and neither one of them was really invested in their relationship. Their short-lived relationship ended before it had really began, but only because the other option was that it continued, but eventually ended on a much more final note.
It was almost as if the bleachers knew they were destined to break up, destined to end, if only so they could have a second chance, a real chance. It's with that thought that he breaks the silence.
"Hey, Rach?" he says suddenly.
"Hmmm?" she says, turning towards him.
"Will you, uh… will you go out with me?" he asks. Her brown eyes widen in surprise and she stares at him for a few moments, while his heart beats nervously in his chest. Finally, her face breaks into a grin and she nods.
"Cool," he says, and they both fall silent again, content to sit together the way they always have. Secretly, he thanks the bleachers for giving him a second chance.
In a stroke of brilliance, he plans their first date to be a picnic on the football field right in front of their bleachers. He sets up dozens of candles, cooks all of her favorite foods, and brings his guitar to serenade her with Sweet Caroline, which he has dubbed their song in his head. It's a huge success, and Rachel seems to understand without asking the significance of their unorthodox location. He's glad she sees the bleachers the same way he does.
It's a few months before the bleachers see another significant Puckleberry moment. After a football game that had the rare outcome of McKinley winning, they are sitting in the bleachers, which have long been empty, everyone leaving for victory parties. He's got an arm around her shoulder, and she has a football in her lap, the one that he caught to score the winning touchdown and then pointed to her in the crowd with, sending a clear message to everyone.
"Thank you for the touchdown, Noah," she finally says, breaking their customary silence.
He shrugs. "Everything I do's for you," he says. "I love you," he adds without thinking. Her eyes widen in surprise, and he panics, opening his mouth to try and take it back but she speaks before he can get anything out.
"I love you, too," he says softly, and his face breaks into a stupid grin and he kisses her, silence falling again.
Another few months after that, on their six-month anniversary, another relationship milestone is passed in the presence of the seemingly insignificant bleachers. Noah recreates their first date, and much to his surprise, it ends with them making love for the first time under the bleachers that have become theirs.
It isn't until afterward that Rachel starts babbling about how they could have been caught, and she can't believe that she had sex in a public place, and how could he have let that happen!
"I have to say, I never expected to lose my virginity under the bleachers at my high school," she muses, and he panics, thinking that she regrets what just happened. He wants to kick himself for not making it more special, but then she starts speaking again, much more softly this time. "I'm glad that our first time was in such a special place, though, Noah," she whispers, and he couldn't agree more. "Even if that place was under the bleachers," she adds as an afterthought and he can't help but laugh.
They come back to the bleachers on graduation day, prepared to say goodbye to the place that had somehow become theirs. The usual silence envelops them, but this one is tinged with sadness at the end of this chapter of their lives.
"I never thought I'd say it," Rachel whispers, "but I don't want to say goodbye to these bleachers…. I think I'll miss them the most."
Noah nods in agreement. "You know why I love this place? It's ours," he says simply. "We've had our ups and downs (this was certainly true, besides the sweet moments they had shared on the bleachers, they had also been host to several screaming matches), but they were ours. All those other couples, they have the choir room and the auditorium and Breadstix, but this," he says, gesturing to the bleachers surrounding them, "This is pure, unadulterated Puckleberry territory."
She allows herself a moment to register shock that he knows the world unadulterated, never mind how to use it in a sentence, and then nods in agreement. "I know. I just wish we could leave our mark," she muses softly.
He's a step ahead of her though, pulling out a pocketknife and moving to carve into the metal. She lets out a half-hearted, "Noah," but her heart isn't in it, because even though it's vandalism, it's sweet. Besides, they've already graduated, so what's the worst that could happen?
He works for a few more minutes, and then presents his work to her with a, "There!" She looks at his handiwork. There is a heart with the words "Rachel and Noah" engraved inside. Underneath that, much smaller, is a sentence written in Noah's untidy scrawl.
This will forever be Puckleberry territory.
She can't help but laugh at that, but then her eyes fill with tears and she buries her face in Noah's shoulder. They have their final glee meeting in about five minutes, but neither one wants to leave. Finally, they get up and start the walk back to school. Rachel turns to look at the bleachers one last time, and Noah says, "Hey, Rach. No matter what happens, these bleachers will always be ours." With that, they both bid goodbye to their bleachers, and continue to the school.
Six years later, once she's finished with Julliard and he's done with NYU, and she's finally cast in her first Broadway play and he's starting to make waves at the recording studio where he got an internship, he takes her back to the bleachers and proposes. She, of course, says yes, and thus, the bleachers are the site of the most important Puckleberry moment yet.
When she tells other people the proposal story, everyone seems to find it odd that Noah chose their old school bleachers to pop the question, but no one understands how important the bleachers are to them, and she couldn't be more happy with his venue choice.
Three years later, they're home for Christmas, and they visit the bleachers for old time's sake. They look softer covered in snow, and it's here that she tells him that he's going to be a father. He's ecstatic, and she realizes she could have never imagined being this happy.
Ten years later, when the football team is actually winning games, some wealthy patron donates a ton of money to renovate the stadium, and the bleachers are going to be demolished. Noah buys a plane ticket, pays off construction workers, and cuts out the piece of bleacher that he vandalized on his graduation day.
He brings it home, and they hang it above the mantle in their New York apartment, right above her Tonys and his Grammys, the words as clear as they were nineteen years ago, to remind them of where they started, a piece of the scene of their epic romance.
Some people find it odd that they hang a piece of old bleacher in their otherwise impeccably styled penthouse. Because bleachers are certainly an unlikely scene for a romance. For most couples anyway. But for Rachel and Noah, the bleachers will forever be Puckleberry territory. Forever theirs.