Title: You Give Me Hope (But I'm Still Hopeless)
Category: Glee
Genre: Romance/Humor
Ship: Puck/Rachel
Rating: PG
Prompt: "Could you be less of an addiction?" by suilestrange – Tumblr
Word Count: 1,087
Summary: "I don't know if I need psychiatric help or if there's a Berry-holics group meeting I might be able to hit up, but something's gotta change…"
You Give Me Hope (But I'm Still Hopeless)
-1/1-
Puck didn't know how he found himself here again. Guitar in hand, strumming the beat to a song he couldn't even name, but knew the notes to like the back of his hand. 'Cause she printed off sheet paper for him and made him memorize them. He started to wonder when it was exactly that he turned into her go-to practice partner. He didn't remember signing up for that duty. In fact, he remembered promising he'd stop spending time with her that wasn't required. But then, Finn was out of the picture again, so he should be free to pursue her if he wanted to, right?
He sighed, brows furrowed as he looked up and found her sitting just to his left atop her naturally pink bed, her bare thigh touching his, lips curled up at the corners as she smilingly watched him play his guitar.
"You have such a way with the guitar, Noah…" Rachel said, in that wistful tone of hers. Big brown eyes rose up and met his and for a second, he just plain forgot to breathe. She tucked her hair behind her ear and wondered softly, "Could you teach me?"
First thought?
Nobody touched his guitar.
Second thought?
Teaching her meant putting his arms around her. Awesome.
Third thought?
She should not be biting her lip like that when they were as close as they were on her bed…
He hopped up and away from her like he'd been scalded, eyes darting around for an escape. "Uh, y'know what? I think that's enough practice for today…"
Confused, she stood up after him. "But… You only just got here…" She grinned widely. "And I made snacks! Mini peanut-butter and jam sandwiches… I even cut off the crusts because I know you don't like them." She fairly bounced on the tips of her toes. "And I picked up some orange soda; I know that's your favorite." She waved a hand. "I won't be having any. That stuff is awful for your vocal chords, but since I knew you'd appreciate it regardless and pay no heed to my warnings, I picked up a bottle anyway… Oh, and I baked sugar cookies." She beamed.
He blinked at her. "Seriously?"
Her smile slid away. "I… I'm sorry?"
Sighing, he shook his head and slunk back onto the bed. "You are being way too nice…"
Her lips pursed. "I hadn't realized I was usually mean…" She shifted away from him, folding her hands in her lap. "I simply wanted to make your visit here comfortable… I know Finn wasn't always at ease. It wasn't that he disapproved of my dads so much as that he never knew how to refer to them and so tried to avoid it, but…" She shook her head. "Look, Noah, i—if I've offended you somehow, please tell me… Because I only wanted you to know how much I appreciate all the extra time you've been spending with me…" She frowned sadly. "I know some of the other gleeks think I'm a burden and come up with excuses so they don't have to partner with me, but whenever I ask you, you always seem so enthusiastic…"
Yeah… See, here was the thing, when Rachel asked him for things, 'yes' came out of his mouth before his mind had time to process. Maybe it was her Bambi eyes or that giant smile of hers or maybe a combination of both mixed with that really awesome scent of berries and cookies that she legit always smelled like… He didn't know. But as soon as, "I need you assistance—" or something like it came out of her mouth, he was like an eager little puppy dog ready to help her dominate the damn world.
'No' was not in his vocabulary. At least not when it came to her.
"I'm not offended…" He rolled his eyes. "But this…" He motioned between them. "You being all nice and girlfriend-y…" He shook his head. "You can't do that."
Her nose wrinkled. "Why not?"
"Because we're not together…" He stared at her seriously. "And you need to stop making me think we could be…" He threw his hands up. "Seriously, could you be less addictive? Even just a little… Gimme some time to screw my head on straight; get back to basics; stop chasing after really bouncy, show-tuney tail…" He nodded. "'Cause I can't remember the last time I wanted anybody who didn't talk about Broadway and the Tony's and there's a good chance something is seriously wrong with me… I don't know if I need psychiatric help or if there's a Berry-holics group meeting I might be able to hit up, but something's gotta change…"
She stared at him a long second before finally her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest petulantly. "No."
He snorted. "No?"
Shrugging, she repeated, "No!"
Staring at her searchingly, he asked, "No you can't be less addictive or…?"
"No, I won't stop doing nice things for you. No, I won't stop asking you to practice with me. No, I won't stop being less addictive or—or let you 'get back to basics,' as it were." She even used finger quotes. "If I have to stop being so fantastic, then you have to stop being so wonderful and sweet and charming!" She stabbed her finger into his chest. "And don't you dare accuse me of giving you false hope in us being together! If anything, I've made it abundantly clear that I want this friendship to flourish into something much deeper!" Her eyes widened for emphasis. "So, as I said— No!"
His mouth opened and then closed and then finally, he just laughed. "All right…"
Dubiously, she raised a brow. "All right, what?"
"All right, let's see where this is headed…"
She grinned slowly. "Really?"
He tugged on her hair affectionately. "Yeah…" Chucking her under the chin, he added, "Now where's my snacks, woman?"
She pursed her lips at him but moved to go get him the tray of food she'd promised. And 'cause he was, well, him, he slapped her butt on the way by.
He caught her glaring at him over her shoulder, but he also saw the smile twitching at her lips.
They did very little practicing after that. Instead, they shared her snacks and spent a few hours talking about nothing and everything and then returned to their favorite time-waster of making out.
As it turned out, giving in to Rachel was a pretty sweet deal.
[End.]