Disclaimer: I own the bowl of Reese's puffs in front of me.
AN: two updates in one day! Woot Woot! Reviews will make my finals more bearable. :)
It started off with him just asking her to wear plain sweaters instead of one's with "the stupid animals" on them. She had agreed, even though she loved her kitten sweaters, because she really wanted Finchel to work this time. Soon after she had agreed to wear plain shirts and sweaters, he asked her to wear longer skirts, or 'Just put on some pants for fuck's sake.' Rachel had nodded silently, but then went home and cried. Her skirts were like a part of her. She knew she was made fun of for them, but in a way they made her who she was.
"You know I miss the skirts right?" Puck approached her at her locker one day when Finn wasn't near.
Rachel looked around nervously before responding, "Well I decided it was time for a change," she mumbled quietly before turning on her heel and walking away. Puck watched in pure shock as he watched her retreating figure, what happened to the girl who would have bitched at him for ten minutes about how it was her choice what to wear. Right then and there, Puck decided he would find out what had happened to that confidence.
The Mohawked boy was watching her silently in glee one day, when Mr. Schue came in announcing he had some big solo for the week. Rachel's eyes shone for a second and she was about to pounce at the opportunity, but Finn placed a hand on her thigh. She turned her head to look him in the eyes, and he shook his head silently telling her not to even think about taking the solo. Puck is outraged, but he remains silent because he thinks he is the only one who notices. He isn't, three chairs over a certain blonde haired, green-eyed girl is watching too. She doesn't know why, but she is just as angry.
Usually, Rachel is the last person out of glee. She likes to take the time to carefully put away all her sheet music and make sure everything in the room is in order before leaving. But lately, Finn makes sure she leaves as quickly as he does. So today, Puck and Quinn are the last people in the room.
"She's doing what I did," Quinn said quietly, "You know in middle school, before I realized I didn't have to do everything he told me to."
"So I'm not the only one who noticed that he's making her change?" was Puck's response. Quinn only shook her head no before standing to leave. The blonde had reached the door when she turned to face Puck.
"She doesn't actually love him. She thinks she does and she thinks because she betrayed him she deserves him controlling her." Quinn sighed before continuing, "Look, Puck I know you love her, so just make sure she doesn't fall completely into his trap. It's hard to get out once you're in."
With those parting words, Quinn left the choir room.
…
After 2 months of watching Rachel morph into the mold Finn had made for her, Puck finally snapped. There is like a week left in the school year, and things were winding down from their nationals victory party. Yeah they had one, and everyone knew it was because of Rachel. Apparently, Finn cared enough about winning to let her sing for once. So anyway, shit totally hits the fan as the glee club is sitting around talking about the colleges they will be attending in approximately three months. They go around in a circle, and when it's Rachel's turn to share she quietly says she will be attending OSU in the fall.
"You mean you didn't get into Julliard?" The shock was evident in Mr. Schue's voice as he asked the question. Rachel's face lit up with a smile for a moment, but it quickly faded when she caught the glare Finn was sending her way.
"I got in, I just elected to go to OSU and major in teaching instead," Rachel nervously tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Oh fuck no. This shit stops here," Puck stands up, rage in his eyes, "Rachel why in the fuck are you letting him control you like this?"
Puck didn't even bother letting her reply, because as soon as she opened her mouth he had his guitar in hand. He stood in front of her and began strumming and singing.
Well, she was precious like a flower
She grew wild, wild but innocent
A perfect prayer in a desperate hour
She was everything beautiful and different
Stupid boy, you can't fence that in
Stupid boy, it's like holding back the wind
she let her heart and soul right in your hands
And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans
She never even knew she had a choice and that's what happens
When the only voice she hears is telling her she can't
Stupid boy, stupid boy
Oh
So what made you think you could take a life
And just push it push it around
I guess to build yourself up so high
You had to take her and break her down
she let her heart and soul right in your hands
And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans
She never even knew she had a choice and that's what happens
When the only voice she hears is telling her she can't
You stupid boy
Oh, you always had to be right but now you've lost
The only thing that ever made you feel alive
Yeah, yeah
Well, she let her heart and soul right in your hands
And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans
Yes, you did
She never even knew she had a choice and that's what happens
When the only voice she hears is telling her she can't
You stupid boy, oh, I'm the same old
Same old stupid boy
It took awhile for her to figure out she could run
But when she did, she was long gone
Long gone, long gone
Ah, she's gone
Nobody's ever gonna love me like she loved me
And she loved me, she loved me
God please, just let her know
I'm sorry, I'm sorry
I'm sorry, I'm sorry
Baby, yeah, I'm down on my knees
She's never coming back to me
As the last chords echo through the room her looks Rachel in the eyes. Tears are rolling down her cheeks, and he hopes like hell he has gotten through to her. He only breaks his gaze from her when he hears Finn stomp out of the room. Rachel quickly stands and makes her way to follow Finn out of the room. Puck reacts faster than the rest of the club, and grabs the tiny girls arm before she makes it out of the door.
"Did you seriously not let a thing I just fucking said to you sink into you head," He hisses.
Rachel delicately removes his hand from her arm and looks him in the eyes, "I just need to take care of something Noah," she's smiling softly up at him, and he just nods and lets her go.
"How have I not noticed how much Finn has been forcing her to change?" Kurt asked.
"Simple," a voice came from the back of the room, and everyone turned in shock to meet Quinn's eyes, "None of you noticed because A. you're not in love with Rachel, and B. he hasn't ever tried change you. Unless you know how he acts or notice even the smallest changes in Rachel, it would be almost impossible to notice."
The rest of the club nodded as if it made perfect sense.
"Wait, did you just said we didn't notice because we weren't in love with Rachel?" Mercedes asked, and Quinn nodded in response, "Does that mean Puck is in love with Rachel?"
All the eyes in the room shifted from Quinn to Puck.
"What's everybody looking at me for?" Puck asked as he turned his back to the door he had been watching since Rachel left.
"You're in love with Rachel." Brittney stated it wasn't a question.
Puck ran a hand down his face, "Well, yeah, I mean I kind of thought it was obvious that I was in love with Berry."
The rest of the club went silent at his confession and then they were all staring over his shoulder at the girl standing in the doorway with wide eyes.
"Um Finn asked me to tell you that he quit. Well actually his exact words were 'have fun fucking Puckerman and tell that batch of losers I want nothing to do with them', but in all honesty if you ask me he's the loser here," Puck turned to see Rachel shrug and smile a real Rachel Berry smile. "You really should have said something sooner.
"Yeah, well you seemed pretty smitten with Finnocence. Even when he was trying to change you," Puck scoffed.
"I was never really in love with Finn. I thought I was for a while, but then after we got back together I realized I loved what I thought he was. He loved me though, and it felt so good to feel wanted. Even when he started to try and change me, and please don't point out that he succeeded, I put up with it because I thought I deserved it for betraying his trust. Then one day he told me I couldn't even talk to you anymore. At first I thought it was because we had kissed, but then I realized it was because I was in love with you. I guess Finn noticed before I had come to the realization and didn't want me to go running to you. I was scared that if I broke up with Finn I would be alone, he wouldn't really let me talk to any of the glee club. So I had lost all my friends here and I didn't know you loved me back. So, yes you should have spoken up sooner so I could have told you how much I loved you back," Rachel ranted on, taking a few steps towards Puck as she spoke.
By this point Puck and Rachel had completely forgotten they weren't alone, and the rest of Glee club was watching intently. Seeing how different Rachel was free of Finn's spell, they were kicking themselves for not noticing what was going on. Puck quickly closed the gap between himself and Rachel.
"So you're done with the douche for good,' Puck asked and Rachel only nodded in response. "Good."
Puck lifted his hand and tangled it in her hair. He crashed his lips onto hers. Ignoring the catcalls and wolf whistles, they remained in a lip lock until Mr. Schue cleared his throat loudly.
Puck pressed his forehead against Rachel's and whispers, "Not that I wasn't missing the skirts and all, but why did you change? There's only like 15 minutes left in Glee."
"OH," Rachel looked down at her changed attire, instead of the tight jeans and light pink shirt she had been wearing early, she was now wearing the same outfit she wore the day Puck first got slushied, "After I followed Finn out, he was yelling at me and tell me how 'horrible' you are all and telling me I had to quit with him. I told him that I loved glee and wanted to spend my last few weeks of high school as a part of it and then I told him the only reason I had even followed him out was so that I could break up with him. At first he tried to tell me I wasn't allowed to do such a thing, but then he relented. I thought he was just going to give up and leave, but instead he grabbed a slushie from some freshman and through it me. He has really bad aim though and missed my face and hair entirely. So all I had to do was change my clothes, and I had another pair of jeans and such in my locker, but I missed my skirts," Rachel explained. Upon hearing the Finn has slushied her, Puck saw red. Looking around the room, he saw that Mike and Sam were clearly just a furious about the slushie as he was. Puck caught the dancer and the blonde's attention, and jerked his head towards the door, hoping they would get the message. Seeing Puck's gesture, the other boys nodded and stood from their seats. Noticing the look on Puck's face, Quinn decided it would be a good idea to distract Rachel With out thinking the blonde girl stood up from her seat and walked up to the front of the room. Shocking Rachel, and the rest of the room, she pulled the tiny brunette into a tight hug. Rachel was stiff at first, but slowly relaxed into the hug.
"I'm glad that the real you is back, Rach. I can't believe I am saying this, but I really missed her." Quinn whispered into the other girl's ear. By the time the two girls pulled apart the three boys had already left the room.
"Mr. Schue, May Quinn, Tina, and I go to the teachers lounge for a moment to get something?" Rachel asked sweetly. After Mr. Schue agreed Rachel grabbed Tina and Quinn's hand, and pulled them out of the room.
"So what do we need from the teachers lounge?" Tina asked as the three girls made their way down the hallway.
"The boys will need ice for their hands," Rachel stated simply.
Tine and Quinn stopped in their tracks and stared at each other.
"You mean to tell us the you are perfectly okay with Sam, Mike and Puck beating the crap out of Finn?" Quinn's shock was evident.
"I'm just gonna think of it as compensation for the emotional distress he has caused," Rachel shrugged and opened the door to the teacher's lounge.
The girls were back in the choir room several minutes before the boys. Puck was the first of the three to reenter the room, and when he did Rachel walked up to him and grabbed his hands. A panicked look crossed Puck's features and he braced himself for the chewing out he expected to receive. The look of panic turned to one of shock when he felt the coldness of the ice on his knuckles.
"Wait, so you aren't going to chew me out for using Finn as a personal punching bag?" Puck asks as he stares down at the ice on his hand.
"Of course not Noah! However I am going to yell at you for risking your hands. What if you had broken one! How would you play guitar at graduation?" Rachel chastised clapping Puck on the chest. The glee clubbers broke out into laughter at Rachel's outburst that reminded them so much of the Rachel that had been missing for months.
2 months later, Puck, Quinn, Kurt, and Rachel unloaded boxes into the four bedroom apartment in NYC they had convinced their parents to let them share instead of living in door rooms at their respective schools. Puck, Quinn, and Kurt at NYU. Rachel, of course, was at Julliard. The parents had been reluctant to agree at first, but after a while allowed it. Rachel's dads had made sure the apartment had four bedrooms, so she had no excuse to share a bed with Puck. But hey, every apartment needs a guestroom, and what their parents don't know won't hurt them.