Chapter 2: Learning to Deal
Rachel, being Rachel, made a chart. She was very organized and meticulous so that things like that came to her like second nature. Puck and Finn just sat back and rolled their eyes at one another.
"But, honey, we got this," Puck argued. Rachel shook her head and stamped her tiny foot. Finn loved it when she did that. She was so adorable.
"Puck, seriously? How can I go on dates with you both at the same time?" Puck shrugged and grumbled to Finn.
"It was working just fine."
"Oh, really? So you don't mind never kissing me? You want to just continue on as before? The only real difference being that I now know what you two are up to?" Puck shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"Well…I would like to kiss you." He glanced at Finn. Finn frowned.
"I guess we never thought about that part. I mean, of course I want to kiss you. I think about it all the time."
"Well, if you had individual dates then you could kiss me. I refuse to make out with one of you while the other has to sit there and watch. That's just mean." Both boys frowned. They hadn't really thought about each of them kissing Rachel. Puck looked at Finn.
"Maybe we could do individual dates," he muttered. "I still think we should do the other dates too."
"Of course we should. You boys have decided that you both want me. That means you have to be able to deal with each other. I refuse to only see one of you on Valentine's Day or other major holidays. That, too, is just mean. Would either of you like to be the one sitting at home on Valentine's Day?"
"No." They muttered in unison.
"Good." She smiled at them angelically. "I'm glad we could all see eye to eye. Finn you get Saturday nights and Puck you get Sundays."
"What about Friday nights?" Finn asked, confused. Puck and Rachel stared at him for a minute. Puck cleared his throat.
"Dude, it's Shabbat," he explained finally.
"Oh. Okay." Finn flushed in embarrassment. Sometimes he forgot about the fact that both Puck and Rachel were Jewish.
"I picked Sundays for Puck because that isn't a special night for us. I thought it would work out that way. We can hang out as a group on Fridays before sunset." Rachel had really carefully considered everything. It was sort of amazing.
"Well, wait. What about school?" Finn asked.
"What do you mean?" Rachel was genuinely confused.
"Who gets to hold your hand? Whose jacket are you going to wear?" Puck knew exactly what Finn was asking because he wanted to know the same thing.
"Nobody. School is the same as before." Both boys looked irritated at that, and Rachel threw up her hands. "What exactly are we supposed to do? I wear Puck's jacket, but hold hands with Finn? I switch days of hand holding and jacket wearing? You guys, I would look like the slut of the universe. Do you know what would happen?" Both boys had the grace to flush because they knew exactly what would happen.
Thus began what Rachel privately thought of as "the Great Deceit" and the boys referred to as "Dealing". No one really knew what was going on, except Kurt, and by extension, Blaine. Finn and Puck were seriously annoyed that Kurt had known all along what was going on. Kurt loved his brother, though, and didn't care as long as he was happy. Well, and Rachel, too. He adored her. He mostly tolerated Puck, who was actually happy with that.
Everyone was used to Finn and Puck moving around Rachel like satellites around a planet. No one really noticed the subtle changes because many of them had taken place months earlier. Rachel always sat between Puck and Finn. One of them usually slung an arm on the back of her chair. Not around her shoulders, but along the back of the chair. They decided that was safe enough, and because they switched off who did it—they thought everyone would just assume it was some kind of friend thing. Actually, nobody really noticed. Back when they'd first started doing it, Rachel assumed it was a friend thing. It was just Puck, Finn and Rachel. Back when the whole Jesse thing went down Puck and Finn had gone ballistic when anyone even breathed wrong near Rachel. It was understood that to fuck with Rachel was to take on both Puck and Finn. A couple hockey players had tried to slushie Rachel right after the whole Rachel Omelet fiasco. Everybody thought that when Finn pulled Puck off the hockey player he was waling on—that he was trying to break up the fight. Then Finn hauled back and started beating the shit out of the guy. No one ever slushied Rachel again. It was too dangerous.
Because Rachel had been so emotionally fragile at the time, she hadn't noticed that the slushie facials stopped happening. She hadn't known about the epic beat down, either. Finn and Puck were a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them.
So they continued as they had before, and nobody noticed the subtle shifts in their body language. Nobody knew that outside of school the boys would each take a hand and walk with her through the park. Nobody knew that they would cuddle on the couch with Rachel in the middle and watch movies. Nobody knew that she would be kissing Finn on Saturday nights and Puck on Sunday afternoons. After a while, Rachel didn't care what nobody else knew because really, it wasn't any of their business. After a while, Rachel had other things to worry about.
Puck was definitely more aggressive when it came to physical intimacy. He would whisper naughty things in Rachel's ears while his hands roamed as far as she would let him.
"C'mon, baby," he murmured in her ear. His fingers slid under her shirt and stroked her belly as he kissed her. She sighed against his lips as Puck's fingers traced lazy circles against her skin. His fingers slid further up her ribcage, tracing the line of her bra. She wriggled against him, which he took as an open invitation. His hands slid behind her back, and faster than she thought possible her breasts were suddenly free. When she gasped in surprise, Puck's tongue slid in her mouth and danced with hers. His fingers teased her nipples to erect points. She was enjoying everything he was doing, but it felt like too much, too fast. She kissed him for several more minutes, and he gently kneaded her breast. She squirmed against him, and he laughed against her neck. Then he gently nipped her shoulder. She squeaked. He'd never done that before. It hurt, but only a little bit. It also felt really, really good. All of it felt really, really good. She sat up, her breathing slightly erratic.
"Wait." She gasped out. Puck stilled and pulled back. He was aggressive, but he never, ever pushed Rachel into doing something she wasn't comfortable with.
"What's wrong, baby girl?" Whenever they were alone, or whenever it was just the three of them, Puck called her by all kinds of endearments and pet names. It was one of the things she loved about him.
"I just…I liked it, Noah, please don't misunderstand." Puck felt a silly smile forming on his face. She only called him Noah when they were alone and getting fairly intimate. Otherwise she called him Puck. Or if she was seriously pissed off at him, Puckerman. "I just…I need to stop now."
"Of course." He kissed her forehead, and moved a little farther away from her. He was dying, yeah, but he wasn't an asshole.
"Thank you, Noah."
"Anything for you, shorty."
The next Saturday couldn't have been more different. Finn just didn't push at all. He liked holding her, and he liked kissing her. He figured if Rachel wanted something different, she'd add it to the schedule or something. His kisses were different, too. Gentle, sweet, loving. Rachel always felt totally adored when Finn kissed her. Somehow, even when he nibbled on her lips it was gentle. Rachel loved kissing Finn, but she wanted to feel his hands on her, too. She pulled back from him.
"Stop." Finn looked surprised.
"Did I hurt you?" Rachel couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her. Finn couldn't hurt her if he tried. He was always so careful with her. Rachel wondered sometimes if it was because he was so big he worried about squishing her. Out of nowhere, Rachel suddenly recalled what Finn asked when she told him she was dating someone else. "Do I know him? Is he bigger than me?" At the time, the only thought in her head had been how could anybody be bigger than Finn? He's like 6'3"!
"Finn you could never hurt me." Her chocolate eyes were filled with trust and love. Finn's heart swelled in his chest. She always made him feel so good, so special.
"Well, what is it?" Rachel started blushing.
"I…I want you to touch me." She wouldn't look at him, she just started to take off her shirt. Finn's eyes widened when she was sitting in front of him in just her bra. Then his face darkened. His thumb stroked her collar bone over to her shoulder.
"What's this?" A small fading bruise marked her golden skin. She glanced at her shoulder and her blush darkened.
"A bite mark." He had to strain to hear her whisper. His fingers tightened spasmodically around her shoulder. She could see the anger tightening his jaw and she grasped his face in her tiny hands.
"Hey! What's wrong?"
"He bit you?"
"It didn't hurt," she confessed shyly, looking up at him through her lashes. "It kind of felt good. I kind of wondered what it would feel like if you did it." Finn swallowed hard. "I also want to know what it would feel like if you touched me."
Finn wasn't totally thrilled with what that meant. Puck had touched her. He closed his eyes and laid his head against the wall. This was harder than he thought. He felt Rachel move on the bed. Then she was pressed against him with her little hands stroking his face, his shoulders, his chest. He knew she was trying to soothe him, comfort him. He brought his hands up to stroke her back. Touching her was always comforting to him. His eyes opened and he stared at her. She'd taken her bra off too. She was laying there in his arms, naked from the waist up. She smiled up at him.
"I love you." She looked so serious when she said it. "I want you to touch me. I want your hands on my…me," she finished shyly. He nodded slowly.
Rachel would never get over how different her boys were. Finn touched her slowly, reverently, like she was glass. His fingers were feather-light on her skin. She shivered when his fingertips grazed her nipple. His hand stilled and he watched her face—worried that he'd done something wrong. She smiled up at him and pulled his face close to hers so she could kiss him. He looked into her face. Now he was the one who looked serious.
"You are so beautiful." His voice was thick with emotion. The smile curving her lips widened. As Finn grew more confident that he wasn't going to hurt her, his caresses grew bolder. He grew brave enough to trail kisses down her chest and capture a nipple between his lips. He began to suck on her nipple and she went crazy under him. Her fingers tangled in his hair and she began to squirm, moan and pant under him. He pulled back and stared at her in awe. Her eyes were heavy lidded and filled with desire.
"Why'd you stop?" She was pouting. She couldn't help it.
"Did you do that for him?" He couldn't help himself. He had to know. She shrugged and blushed.
"He didn't do that. He just touched me." Finn could not help the flash of satisfaction that coursed through him.
"Oh."
"Finn?" She looked at him with those eyes, and he knew what she was really asking.
"Sorry." He settled back down on the bed and began paying attention to her breasts again. He figured out that he could really make her crazy if he pinched one nipple and rolled it between his fingers while he suckled the other one. She was making noises he hadn't realized were possible. The little panting breaths were what really killed him. He nuzzled her neck and kissed her lips.
"Finn, baby?"
"Hmmm."
"Would you bite me?" She whispered in his ear. He pulled back and glanced at the faint bruise on her shoulder.
"You want me to?"
"Other shoulder. It felt really, really good. Please?" Finn sighed and lightly nipped her shoulder. She gasped in pleasure, her eyes rolling back a little. "Harder." Finn complied, and she moaned. Finn decided it was possibly the best night of his life so far.
Monday morning Finn arrived at school to find Puck waiting for him, which wasn't too unusual. Except this morning, Puck took a swing at him. Finn ducked reflexively.
"Dude! What the hell?"
"You fucking bit her!" Puck tried to swing again, and Finn dodged him again.
"So did you!" Puck pulled himself up self-righteously.
"Dude, I nipped. Very lightly. You full on bit her." Finn wasn't watching out this time and Puck clocked him.
"Son of a bitch!" Finn tackled Puck and soon they were trading punches on the school lawn. Unfortunately for them, Rachel found them before a teacher did.
"Stop it!" She was screeching at the top of her lungs as she ran toward them. She launched her self in the air and landed on Puck's back. She was screaming in his ear and he was trying to shake her off and not hurt her at the same time.
"Ouch! Rachel, stop! You're gonna get hurt. Watch it!" She hopped off his back and smacked him upside the head.
"Have you lost your damn mind!" She screeched in his face. She was so enraged all she could see was a red haze. She whirled on Finn, who was on the ground with a split lip and a black eye. She sucked in her breath, and had to do everything in her power not to throw herself on him and start crying. She turned back to look at Puck who had a nasty bruise on his cheek.
"Rachel, you don't understand" Finn tried and then winced because his ribs hurt. Rachel threw her hands up in the air.
"Oh my god! You are both crazy! I can not believe this!" She stomped off toward the school. Mike and Sam came up, and helped Finn to his feet.
"What's going on?" Sam looked at the two normally inseparable best friends who were both staring after the tiny brunette.
"We are in such deep shit," muttered Finn.
"With Rachel? I have never seen her like that," Sam sounded impressed, "she was like a tiny ninja flying through the air. It was ten kinds of awesome!"
"It was a something leap. It's ballet," muttered Puck running a hand over his Mohawk. Finn was right. They were totally screwed.
"Still. It was badass." Mike nodded in agreement with Sam.
"Totally."
"C'mon Finn. We gotta do damage control. Like now." Puck was worried about what the tiny brunette was doing.
"She is really pissed right now, Puckerman. Maybe we should let her cool off?" Finn was a little scared of their tiny ninja at the moment. He had never seen anyone fly through the air like that in real life. If she didn't love Puck, like he knew she did, she probably would have seriously injured him. Puck snorted.
"Oh, yeah. Cuz that worked so well last time." Puck's voice dripped sarcasm. Finn knew what he meant. Last time, she'd grabbed Jesse just so she wouldn't have to deal with them.
"Fuck my life." Finn groaned.
"Tell me about it." They turned and headed into the school. Sam and Mike were left looking at each other.
"What the hell just happened?" Sam gestured to the lawn, which showed evidence of the boys rolling all over it. Mike shrugged.
"I have no freaking clue."
Rachel was hiding in the girl's bathroom because it was the only place the boys couldn't go. She was gasping for breath and crying as she pulled out her phone and speed dialed Kurt.
"Rachel?" Kurt was so confused. It was Monday morning and Rachel never called during class. Then he heard her sobbing on the other end of the line. "Honey?"
"F-f-f-finn," she gasped into the phone, and then started crying again.
"Okay. Well he's not dead, is he?" Wrong question. She seemed to be crying harder, if that were possible. "Jesus, he isn't dead, is he Rachel?"
"N-n-n-no."
"Okay. Um. Well, he'd never break up with you. So that's not it. If he did something stupid, you'd be pissed, not hysterical. So honey, I'm stumped. Did he do something?"
"N-n-n-no."
"Rachel. I'm trying to be a good friend long-distance. You know I love your diva ass, but I honestly can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on."
The bathroom door opened and Mercedes came into the bathroom.
"Rachel honey, those boys are looking everywhere for you and they are freaking out majorly. I think Finn's hyperventilating."
Rachel peeked out of the stall to see if Mercedes was by herself. She was.
"D-d-d-don't…" Rachel started crying again. Mercedes' face softened in sympathy.
"Oh honey, I got your back, don't worry. You can stay in here." Rachel wordlessly held out the phone to Mercedes.
"Hello?"
"Oh, thank goodness! Mercedes what the hell is going on? She is absolutely hysterical, all she can do is cry into the phone. All I know is that Finn's not dead."
"Kurt? Oh my god, Kurt, you should have seen it! Puck and Finn were beating the crap out each other right on the school lawn when our diva comes running up and, I shit you not, does this flying ninja kick thing through the air. She was screaming like a banshee in Puck's ear, trying to get him off Finn. Then she started yelling at both of them. I swear I have never seen two huge football players look more like naughty little boys in my life. They both looked like they wished the earth would open up and swallow them."
"Okay, wait! Back up, Puck and Finn were fighting? Each other? And Rachel caught them?"
"Yeah! And then she did this awesome Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon move and landed on Puck's back."
"Okay, Mercedes. Give the phone back to Rachel." Kurt knew she was back when he could hear the shuddering gasps in his ear again.
"Honey, don't you dare leave that bathroom. I am on my way. I am going to kill them both myself. They won't need to worry about it. Now, sweetie, give the phone back to Mercedes." Rachel wordlessly handed the phone back to Mercedes.
"Kurt?"
"Mercedes, listen. Do not leave Rachel. I'm serious. Do not leave her alone. Do not let the boys near here. Stay there. I am on my way. Right now." Mercedes had never heard Kurt be so serious and so angry at the same time.
"Okay, Kurt. No worries. I got this." Mercedes was true to her word. She stayed with Rachel for the hour it took Kurt to break several vehicular laws and get to McKinley High. He swept into the girls bathroom like he had every right to be there. He was still in his Dalton Academy uniform. Rachel was on the floor with her arms wrapped around her middle.
"Where are they?" He bit out.
"In class, I got my girls doing Finndar and Puckwatch."
"C'mon Rachel, we're leaving." Kurt hustled Rachel out of McKinley and took her home. He made her change into her jammies, which consisted of boy shorts and a spaghetti strap tank top. Kurt's eyes widened at the very clear bite mark on Rachel's shoulder.
"Rachel, honey, is there something we need to tell Kurt?" Rachel realized where he was looking and blushed.
"I asked him to do it," she whispered.
"Which one, honey?"
"F-f-finn." She started crying again. Great. This was going nowhere fast. He was going to have to spearhead this himself. He looked at her clock radio. Perfect. It was lunch time. He pulled out his phone and speed dialed Finn.
"Kurt?" Finn's voice was stressed, but Kurt had spent all morning dealing with a hysterical Rachel.
"Have you lost your damn mind? I just really want to know." Kurt could not help himself. He'd wanted so badly to be calm and rational and he'd ended up screaming at his brother through the phone.
"Oh my god, Kurt, did you talk to her, where is she, we can't find her anywhere, and Kurt, she is so pissed at us right now." Finn was babbling. Mercedes was right, he did sound like he was hyperventilating.
"I have been dealing with her all morning." Kurt bit out into the phone. "She was so hysterical that all I could figure out was that you weren't dead! Mercedes had to tell me what happened. So again, have you lost your damn mind?"
"I didn't do it, Puck started it. I had to defend myself! I couldn't just let him beat the crap out of me."
"Uh-huh."
"Kurt, I'm serious."
"Whatever. I want both of you here. Now." Finn was completely confused.
"Dalton Academy? No, Kurt, we gotta find Rachel. We have to." Kurt could hear the desperation in Finn's voice.
"No, you idiot. Once I figured out that you and Puckerman were single-handedly destroying my best friend I broke several laws to come get her. We are at her house. You will both come and deal with the mess you've made. Now."
Puck was standing impatiently next to Finn listening to half of the phone conversation, shifting from foot to foot. They had to find Rachel. Soon. Finn hung up his phone.
"She's at home. Kurt says we both have to come. Now." Puck nodded. They both went and got into Puck's truck because they both knew Finn shouldn't drive at the moment. "He said…he said she's been hysterical all morning. Crying." The boys both felt guilty as hell. Puck felt worse though because he'd started it. He'd seen that bite mark on Rachel's shoulder and he almost lost it. Obviously, it wasn't a big deal to Rachel because she didn't say anything about it.
They both sat outside Rachel's house for a couple minutes, afraid to go in. Kurt texted Finn who showed the message to Puck.
Now, damnit!
The boys sighed and entered the house. They dragged their feet up the stairs and went in Rachel's room. She was huddled in the middle of her bed making these gaspy, shuddering breaths that just ripped Puck and Finn's souls apart. Kurt was standing next to the bed glaring at both of them. He pointed to Puck.
"You. Why?" Puck had the grace to look ashamed.
"Rachel, he bit you." Kurt snorted.
"So what?" he asked.
"Rachel, honey, he hurt you." Kurt snorted again.
"Rachel, tell him." Kurt's voice was soothing, encouraging. Rachel looked at Puck with the most anguished eyes. She turned her gaze to Finn and then back to Puck.
"I asked Finn to do it. You did it and I liked it so I asked Finn to."
"But, baby, I just nipped you. Really lightly. That is a full on bite mark." Rachel blushed.
"Finn is always gentle," Rachel corrected Puck with a shake of her head. "I had to ask him to bite harder. The first time it was almost too gentle. He only did what I asked him to do. And I liked it." She blushed even harder.
"The real problem is that you could have solved the problem by asking her yourself. Instead of trying to hurt each other. You guys can't do that without killing her. Look at her. That is what happens when you two fight." Kurt was so angry with both of them he wanted to smack them both.
They swarmed the bed and sandwiched her between them. They just laid there holding her for a couple hours. Kurt waited downstairs while they talked to her.
"You two. I love you both so much," she started gasping again and they stroked her arms. "You can't…you can't get jealous if he touches my ass or he touches my breast or one of you gets to suck my toes. I can't do this. I can't. It hurts too much." Puck and Finn stared at each other. Finn saw that Puck was stroking Rachel's hair gently. Puck saw that Finn had his fingers interlaced with Rachel's. Puck pressed a kiss to Rachel's forehead. Finn didn't care. He just wanted Rachel to be happy again. He brought up their interlaced fingers and kissed her hand. Puck didn't care. He just wanted her to stop hurting.
"I love you, Rachel." Puck whispered in her ear. He cleared his throat and looked into those pain-filled eyes. "I love you. It's my fault. I got jealous. I'm sorry to both you and Finn." Finn shrugged.
"I love you, too Rachel. I got…I got jealous too. But you made it not matter because it's not about one or the other of us being better or more or whatever. It's that each of us gives you something different." Rachel smiled and touched his split lip with her fingertips.
"That's it, Finn. I love you both because you each give me something completely unique. I'm not a battleground. There is no winner. If one of you loses, we all lose." She glared at both of them then. "You can not fight each other. Ever. Again." They both promised her that it would never happen again.