(Author's note: For Pinn Week, Day 3: College. -amy)
Noun:
1. Doing the right thing all the time, even when nobody is watching.
2. The state of being whole and undivided: "territorial integrity".
There were few things in his life about which Puck had regrets. He wasn't going to apologize for his piercings or tattoos, he didn't feel bad about cutting his dad out of his life, and no matter the way it had played out, he couldn't regret making Beth.
But he did kind of regret all those years of skipping class and blowing off assignments. Not for himself - he wouldn't have learned anything if he'd been forced to do them, and it would have just pissed him off and taken time away from actually important things, like sleeping and making out - but for Finn. Finn had always been the digilent one, the hard worker, seldom anxious about grades, but wanting to please the teacher and do his best.
And now, he was sleeping off hangovers during class and leaping down the slip-n-slide in the dorm hallway. Puck wasn't sure if he should be pissed or proud that Finn had suddenly turned into a taller, dorkier version of him, but it was sure as shit not going to keep him in school. There was only one adult he trusted to help him navigate this kind of situation, and his name wasn't Will Schuester.
He showed up at Hummel Tires and Lube unannounced, hanging out in the waiting room until he caught Burt's eye. Burt didn't look unhappy to see him, at least.
"What can I do for you, Puck?" Burt asked, wiping his hands on a rag.
"It's Finn," said Puck. "He's not doing so well in school, which is total B.S. He's not as stupid as he thinks he is." He shook his head irritably. "Listening to myself, I sound like every obnoxious grown-up who ever told me I was wasting my life. Finn's gonna get mighty sick of me nagging him, mighty fast. I need some advice."
Burt was watching him with increasing bemusement. "Huh," he murmured. "Well... all right, I'm as invested in keeping Finn in school as anyone. First of all, Finn cares about rules. He needs to hear that what he's doing is not okay, from someone he respects. That'll get him to sit up and pay attention when nothing else will."
Puck nodded, leaning on the counter. He felt like he should be taking notes. "Then what?"
"Then... well, I never went to college, but I would guess there are a lot of distractions around him. Shiny ones."
"With boobs," Puck agreed. "Yeah."
"So," Burt went on, "eliminating some of those distractions would go a long way toward helping him focus."
Puck brightened. Pulling focus was definitely his superpower. "Thanks, man," he said, shaking Burt's hand. "That helps a lot."
He figured moving into Finn's dorm room and giving him a stern talking to was a good first step, but knowing the kind of shit he'd always pulled, himself, when he'd attempted to avoid doing something, it wasn't going to be the last step. Finn had agreed readily enough that he would try harder, attend class and make an attempt to give school his best shot - which was kind of rewarding all by itself, that Finn would be willing to consider that he was smart enough and good enough, just because Puck told him he was. But the distractions were still distracting.
Puck knew how to handle this. He needed to be more distracting than the distractions.
The first attempt fell flat. Puck acquired, through channels undisclosed, two tickets to a monster truck rally that happened to fall on the day before Finn's first test in biology. He gave him plenty of days to get excited about it, but Finn still spent his evenings flirting with the co-eds down the hall instead of hitting the books.
The morning before, Puck gave him a regretful sigh. "Guess you can't go to that rally, huh?"
Finn spooned several enormous spoonfuls of eggs onto his plate. "Why not?"
"Because you haven't done dick to get ready for your bio test."
Finn didn't even look concerned. "I'm totally going to ace that. What time do you want to head out?"
Puck wasn't going to resort to nagging. They went to the rally, which was awesome. The test came and went, with no word from Finn about the results. Finally, Puck asked him about it point-blank. "How'd that biology test on Wednesday go?"
"Oh," said Finn, making a face, "I can make up for it with the next one."
Logic clearly wasn't going to prevail here. Puck needed another approach. It was time to eliminate the competition for Finn's attention, so he would have no choice but to study.
This time he set up shop in Finn's dorm room on Friday night, when Finn was usually finding a cozy corner to talk and snuggle with one of the girls on the floor. When Finn and the girl of the week stumbled in around nine, Puck was there, his feet propped up on the bottom bunk, tapping away on his laptop. He gave her a smile, ignoring Finn's clear time-to-leave-now eyebrow signals.
"Hey there," he said jovially. The girl smiled back, sitting down beside him.
"This is Nicole," Finn said. "And we were just -"
"What're you working on?" she interrupted, nodding at his computer.
"My screenplay. I just came back from Los Angeles." He waved a casual hand. "It'll be a big hit someday, but I couldn't stay away from my inspiration."
Finn's eyebrows crawled down to make a nest just above his nose. "Your... what?"
"Lima, of course. Write what you know." Puck beamed at Nicole.
"You guys have known each other a long time," she said.
"Yeah." The eyebrows were developing sharp edges. "We're practically brothers."
"Oh, Finn," Puck said, chuckling. "That's funny."
Puck wasn't sure when Nicole ended up leaving, but at some point he looked up from his computer to find Finn glaring at him. "What the fuck was that for? Random practical joke? Like, let's see how fast we can cockblock Finn tonight by pretending to be his boyfriend?"
"Hey, I didn't say it, you did." He stretched casually, glancing at where his watch would be if he wore one. "And look, it's only nine-thirty-seven. You've got plenty of time to finish your history paper."
Finn's expression wavered on the edge of outraged for several long seconds before he sighed, sat down at his desk, and opened up his notebook. He worked for an hour and a half, and he barely looked up from his work that entire time. But when Puck closed his computer and stood up, cracking his neck, Finn held out one long arm.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Hey, I don't have any homework to finish."
"Neither do I," Finn shot back. "Not anymore. But I think if you're gonna control my life by keeping me from seeing girls, I think it's only reasonable payback for you to miss out on it too."
Puck considered this, then shrugged. "Fair enough. Netflix or Wii?"
They ended up splitting the difference, starting with Kickass, and when Jordan and Kelsie came in around midnight to invite them down to their room for blender drinks, they could barely stop arguing long enough about whether Big Daddy or Hit-Girl was cooler to give them a thanks-but-no-thanks. When Finn had to pause in the middle of their Punch-Out marathon to walk off a charley horse in his calf, Puck didn't bother to close the door before offering to massage it out for him.
"Fuck," Finn whined, wincing at Puck's thumbs digging in between the layers of muscle.
"Don't be such a baby, Hudson," said Puck. "Tell me it doesn't feel better to get it over with and know you don't have to worry about it all weekend."
Finn bore Puck's vicious ministrations in silence for the next twenty seconds. Then he caught his gaze. "Tell me you're talking about the homework."
"Of course. Of course, I am." He shook out his hands, backing away from Finn, and picked up the Wii controller. "You ready for another round?"
They got their second wind a few minutes later, but it only lasted another hour before they were both cracking huge yawns. Finn reached out and turned off the television. "I'm freaking gonna sleep through breakfast."
"Lunch can be breakfast. And then you can do biology notes and those translations for Spanish, and I'll destroy you in Round Three. Te voy a fucking golpear."
Finn almost smiled, shaking his head, but he didn't say anything, and they were both snoring five minutes later.
Puck kind of wished he had been wearing a watch, because all he knew when Finn woke him up, kneeling over him, was that it was dark. And he was hard, and Finn was more hard, and he wasn't trying too hard to keep it away from him. He could hear Finn's breathing, heavy and hot and a little too fast.
"You chased that girl away."
"Nicole," Puck said. "Yeah, sorry, she had a great rack."
"Whatever. And yeah, she did, but... it was for me? To - take care of me?" Finn shifted his leg down the outside of Puck's, leaving a trail of glistening sensation that made him choke back a noise.
"You needed it. You were turning into - into me, Finn. And - fuck."
"I know," he said, almost apologetically, "I know, this is, and I can't - I just have to -"
The kiss was brutal, and so necessary and perfect that Puck had no idea why they hadn't started the evening with one just like it. Though he doubted they would have gotten to the Punch-Out marathon if they'd gone for the making out first. Finn leaned all his weight onto Puck, and Puck held him up with no trouble, letting one hand wander down to tuck in between them and grip Finn's cock. He gave Finn a little shove when he heard him moan, dumping him on one hip beside him on the mattress.
"Of course you can." He could barely let go long enough to find access into his pants, pulling back on the elastic of the flannel waistband. "Any fucking time."
Finn wasn't quiet, and he was a little useless in the middle of things, his own hand doing little more than wandering aimlessly over the back of Puck's neck, clenching into a fist each time Puck's fingers slowed down. But that was all cool, and Puck found himself a little disappointed when Finn threw his head back and gasped out several random syllables before coming in his pajamas. Because now it would be over, and Finn would likely freak out and tell him to pack his shit and go home. He kissed him through the climax, until long after it mattered, just because Finn was still letting him.
"You," said Finn at last, into the skin of his jaw.
"Yeah." Puck tried not to sound so glum. "Me."
"But this is okay, right?"
He sounded so desperate to hear the answer that Puck stifled his sigh and said, "Yes. This is so okay. I mean, everybody already thinks we're gay, anyway. We might as well enjoy it."
"Okay." Finn's enormous hands rested on Puck's chest, then moved gradually lower, pausing at the waistband of Puck's boxers only briefly before shoving them down. Puck wriggled them off his legs, feeling a little light-headed.
"And... this is your idea of enjoying it?" he added, doubtfully.
"Oh... yeah," Finn breathed.
The gratitude in his voice was the most fucking amazing thing Puck had ever heard. He cupped Puck in his hand. Finn's fingers were so goddamn long they curled under Puck's balls at the same time his thumb swiped over the head.
"Really?" Puck had to ask.
Finn kissed him this time, their lips loose, skimming over every inch of skin they could reach with their mouths. "Any fucking time."
Puck wondered if he needed to ask Finn not to tell anybody how quickly he came, but he decided it didn't much matter. They could be this kind of honest with one another and it would be perfect and easy and a hell of a lot better than a night with Nicole or any one of a hundred other random chicks. This was Finn, and his leg was warm and his breath smelled like potato chips and his contented sigh when Puck came into his stroking fist was the hottest thing in the world.
"You can stay here," whispered Finn. "There's room. You don't have to go."
Puck was pretty sure he wasn't going to freak out, but he decided to reserve judgment until the morning. He tightened his arm around Finn's back. "It was my plan," he agreed. "And no regrets."