To say Puck and Rachel hadn't planned on hanging out together was an understatement, hanging out with each other was pretty much the last thing they thought they'd end up doing over their summer vacation. Yet here they were spending pretty much all their time together.
It was mostly due to boredom, but also because they were both sort of lacking in the friendship department. Not to mention a lot of the Gleeks had gone away with their families or were at summer camps. Finn and Quinn were still together meaning Puck didn't get to spend time with his 'number one bro' and well, Rachel had completely given up on Finn and didn't want anything to do with him outside of Glee Club.
After spending a few days by themselves they were completely and utterly bored, not even Rachel's strict vocal exercising could keep her entertained enough. She was becoming restless and her dad's were already tiring of her sitting around the house with what they called bouncing leg syndrome.
She decided to go for a walk in the park not too far from her house, and that's when she bumped into Puck.
He was tossing a football back and forth with a girl who appeared to be his sibling; Rachel smiled and quietly approached them.
"Hi Noah" she said nervously, he turned around and greeted her with a smile.
"Sup, Berry. You want in?"
Rachel bit her lip and considered turning down the invitation, purely because it would show a side of her that hadn't really been seen by anyone else, she shrugged her shoulders before offering him a smile. She threw her jacket to the ground before offering up her hands, "let's play".
Puck took it upon himself to try and challenge the two girls, and while Jenny, his sister, was younger than Rachel by four years they were almost the same height.
He didn't go easy on them, grinning as Jenny held up her hands to regain her breath.
"You know what Puckerman, how about you get a sweat on?" Rachel said bounding over to take the ball from his hands.
"Alright" he said jogging back to near where Jenny was, Rachel shook her head.
"Go longer" she urged as she passed the pigskin between her hands and he scoffed.
"Please"
Without warning Rachel threw her arm back and sent the ball launching through the air, Puck gaped slightly before racing after it, he jumped and it sailed past him still. He picked the ball up in complete shock and headed back to the girls, his sister was sat in the grass laughing at his expression.
"How the hell do you know how to throw a spiral like that?" he asked.
Rachel chuckled, "there's a lot people don't know about me, Noah"
"Can you receive as well as you toss?" he smirked at his double entendre.
The brunette rolled her eyes. "I'm going to ignore your obvious attempt at sexual connotation seeing as your kid sister is metres away from us, and maybe. Care to make this interesting?" she smiled; she never could pass up the opportunity for a wager.
"Always, Berry. If I win you gotta stop calling me Noah"
"Done deal, and if I win?" she asked.
Puck looked thoughtful for a second. "If you win I'll never tell Quinn about your crush on her"
Rachel felt like her jaw was going to hit the floor.
"What?" she squeaked. "That's ridiculous! We hate each other, I, you-" She grew flustered and Puck smirked at the reaction he was getting out of her.
"You need to work on those acting skills, babe"
Rachel glared and folded her arms. "Fine, but if I win I want you to run around the park with me on your shoulders"
Puck laughed at her childish side coming out to play. "You got it, Jen you ready?"
Jenny grabbed the pigskin and tried hold back a laugh at the sight of the pair, both with determined expressions as they readied themselves to run.
The first throw didn't go too far out and Puck caught it way too easily. The second was a little further and Puck almost pouted as Rachel just beat him to the catch. The third was a throw to almost rival Rachel's and the pair chased down the ball like their lives depended on it. They both descended on the ball at almost the same time and before they knew what was happening Rachel had jumped onto Puck's back to make up for the height disadvantage and they both had a hand on the ball at the same time.
Rachel dropped to the ground still clinging to the ball and Jenny was all but peeing herself as she rolled around on the ground clutching her side at the sight of her older brother and his much shorter friend in a face off over a damn football.
"I had it first"
"We touched it at the same time!"
"You wouldn't of if you hadn't jumped on my back!"
"Quit being a sore loser"
Jenny couldn't believe that as an almost thirteen year old she was having to be the voice of reason.
"Guys, call it a draw" she told them calmly as she yanked the ball away from them.
"But what about the wager?" Rachel pouted and Jenny smiled but rolled her eyes.
"Call him Puck, he'll keep your secret, everybody wins and we take the fabulous kid sister for ice cream?" she suggested.
Puck chuckled and ruffled his sister's hair slightly, "you got it Jen, you feel like some ice cream, Berry?"
"Do they have Vegan ice cream?"
"I'm sure they do, but you'll just have to come with us and find out" he winked and Rachel smiled following them to Puck's truck.
They did have Vegan ice cream, and it was the best Rachel had ever had.
After that day they were pretty much inseparable. They'd played basketball and Rachel was pretty good on the court too, and Puck wasn't complaining at the sight of her legs in the shorts she chose to play in. She was a gracious loser too, and she didn't cry like he'd thought she might when he accidentally knocked her and she fell,ending up with bloody knees.
They tried baseball, Rachel was a great pitcher but for some reason she just couldn't bat. She chose to watch as Puck and Jenny alternated batting and she cheered them on enthusiastically waving imaginary pom poms.
"I thought you had a thing for cheerleaders I didn't know you wanted to be one" Puck called out jokingly. That was the first time he saw Rachel Berry flip the bird.
They fell into a nice routine. Alternating between houses for meals, the Berry men grew fond of Puck now they realized he wasn't trying to get into their daughter's pants and Rachel had quickly gotten close with Puck's mom, Dana, the fact that Rachel was also a Jew was merely a bonus.
"I swear I'm never gonna get the hang of this" Rachel sighed as Puck beat her yet again at Guitar Hero, she swore her fingers were going numb they'd been playing that song for so long. Dragonforce, she hadn't heard of them.
"No giving up fellow hot Jew, you'll get the hang of it, I'm just an expert" Puck smiled as he shrugged out of the guitar strap.
"I think I might have better luck playing a real guitar" the brunette said as she threw herself back on Puck's bed.
"That can be arranged, but not right now. We gotta eat, mom's cooking and is demanding you stay to try it. I gotta say hanging with you has definitely got me back in her good books and Jen enjoys having you here too"
Rachel smiled as his honesty, she'd become really fond of the Puckermans too.
"I love being here. I never thought we'd end up spending time together like this but I'm glad we are, we've got a good thing going here Puck"
"We sure do, and I like knowing I'm not doing it to get in to your pants. Not that I'd be opposed-" Rachel gave him a playful smack, "but I like this. We're sort of..bro's"
She raised an eyebrow, "bro's?"
"Yeah! You're a girl yet you don't suck all the fun out of the stuff I like doing like playing sports and shooting people up on my XBOX. On top of that I've found out you're a fucking awesome cook, your dad's actually like me AND your bi so we get to talk about hott chicks all the time!"
The brunette chuckled.
"Yeah, you're right, we're bro's"
"Actually, we're not"
Rachel frowned, "you can't just take it back!"
Puck laughed. "We can't officially be bro's until you give me a fist bump"
Rachel narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "that sounds suspiciously dirty,Puckerman,I swear-"
Puck grabbed her fist and closed it before showing her how to bump it with his.
"I'm not completely x rated y'know, that's your own mind at work. That was a fist bump, you got it?"
Rachel nodded before doing it again by herself this time.
"So we're officially bro's now?"
"Yep. I never thought I'd say it but Rachel Berry, you're my number one bro"