A/N- Love this chapter : )

P&B Chapter 6

(Blaine)

Wednesday and Thursday went by without too much excitement. I wanted to, but I never went through with my parent's advice of questioning Kurt. Instead, I just sat back and watched him closely. Something was definitely up with him. He seemed to always be smiling to himself, and he swore that Kurt seemed to be, well,reminiscing.

Why is he always smiling these days? It's definitely not because of me. So I just watched. I didn't know how much more of this I could take, though. These past few days, when I realized something was definitely wrong, had been absolutely terrible. I was going to find out what was up, and I was going to find out soon.

So not much progress was happening in the Kurt department. I was slowly getting into the swing of McKinley, making quite a few friends, but ultimately really becoming immersed in the Glee group, and starting to feel a part of the family. The best of my new friends? Santana and Brittany. But I was friends with everybody. Artie and Mike both quickly became attached to me when they found out another glee kid had joined their advanced math class, and gladly had me join their study group. Having another mind to work through the problems and understand things helped to contribute to Artie's, Mike's, and my own best math grades ever (98% overall in the class). Tina was shy at first, but after sitting next to her one day during lunch and coaxing a conversation out of her, she began to be good friends with me too. I didn't talk much with Quinn, but I certainly didn't feel any hard feelings for or from her. Like I said, I was quickly becoming a part of the family, with everyone accepting me right on in.

Including Puck. Since my little realization of this little crush I seemed to have, I only really talked with Puck once between Wednesday and Friday morning. It happened during Thursday's lunch period.

Although all the glee kids usually sat together, my main friend group usually consisted of Kurt, Mercedes, Rachel, and Finn (if he talked loud enough). But on Thursday, Kurt had to skip lunch (he said he was going to talk with the English teacher, I wasn't so sure), so everyone kind of got moved around a bit. I ended up sitting facing Rachel and Finn, with Mercedes on one side, and Puck on the other.

I told myself to calm down and not make a big deal out of anything. I didn't like having a crush on a straight guy, it was just depressing. So I remained quiet for most of the lunch, only listening to the conversation. I noticed how relaxed Puck was, looking at how his amazing figure just sloucheD comfortably, and that just made the muscles in his arms show even more… His arms. I mentally slapped myself and stared down at my food.

Finn and Puck had just finished up their conversation about Friday's first home football game when Puck turned his attention to me.

"Are you always so quiet when you eat? You've said hardly anything for the past ten minutes. And everyone's been saying you're fun," he teased.

"I… I wasn't trying to be quiet. Nobody invited me into the conversation." God that was a stupid thing to say. Invited into the conversation? Why do I have to be so awkward?

"Well now you're invited in," Puck smiled again, totally unfazed by the odd answer. "You going to our game tomorrow?"

At this, I give him a huge grin. "Of course, I may not be able to play very well, but I do love watching you guys play football."

Puck widened his smile and laughed before saying, "You probably don't realize how creepy that sounds, do you?"

I think this over and realize what he meant. Puck, Finn, and Rachel all laugh quite hard at the look of shock that crosses my face.

"Relax dude, I was only kidding." Puck gives me a punch on the shoulder and I start laughing with the rest of my friends. The punch wasn't hard or anything, but I wasn't too used to being "play punched". I decided I didn't mind it.

Rachel then decided she wanted to change the conversation from football to Tuesday's duets.

"Can I just say that your guys' duet this last Tuesday was phenomenal? I always thought that I would be a part of all the best duets sung here, but you two proved me wrong. How did you do it?"

I turn to a smiling Puck, who shrugged and said, "I guess our voices just really mesh together. Plus that guitar and piano thing we had going was the shit."

I'm grinning as I look back at Rachel. "Yeah, I don't think I've ever sang a duet that well before."

She catches my hidden insult, and she gasps. Dramatically she turns her head to the side and waves her hand at me. "Away with you."

We all laugh some more as the lunch bell rings and we start getting up and taking our trays back. So I guess we're friends now, huh? That was actually the best lunch period I've had here yet, I thought as I exited the cafeteria

(BREAK)

Calm down Blaine, just please don't faint. It's not even your turn yet. It was Friday afternoon and I had just stepped into the waiting tent outside of the gymnasium. I was currently freaking out, because in a few minutes, they would call my name. Seeing as it was the first Friday of the school year, I had found out that that meant it was time for the McKinley High 33rd Annual Blood Drive. I had never given blood before, and was not looking forward to it. Needles were not my best friend, and neither was blood.

Why am I doing this? Ugh I should have never signed up for this. I, of course, already knew my answer. Kurt had made a big deal about it on Wednesday to pretty much anybody who would listen, and had made it his personal goal to get as many people signed up as possible. I must have been a piece of cake to him. All he did was ask with those pleading eyes and I caved. He's probably laughing about it right now.

I looked around the room and didn't see any of my friends in the waiting tent. I looked again desperately, this time spotting Santana in the far corner. I walked over to her and sat down next to her. She had a magazine out and in front of her face (which was why I couldn't see her the first time) and had one of her legs crossed over the other one. She looked up as I sat down.

"Hey honey. You look kind of pale."

"Oh shut up. This is my first time."

"So you're actually giving blood? I thought you had the brains like me and realized you could say you're going to give blood, and just wait here. It's kind of funny watching all these people freak out. I saw this one freshman actually throw up. Pathetic huh?"

I sighed as I registered just what it was she was doing here. Go figure. "Wow Santana, I should have figured. Now stop talking to me. I don't want to open my mouth."

She laughed viciously at this before returning to her magazine. I watched as people got their names called, and left the tent. I waited patiently for about fifteen minutes, before "Anderson, Blaine" was called. I smiled at and followed an elderly women out of the tent, into the gymnasium, and toward one of the many desks all set up on the far side of the Gym. I sat down opposite her before she attacked me with a barrage of questions, ranging from if I had had a cold in the past week, whether or not my family had a history of any diseases, or if I was sexually active. The lady had smiled and nodded my way when I told her no to that last question, and I couldn't help but feel that these questions were getting a tad to personal.

After the questions, she poked my finger and tested my blood for various diseases or infections. She smiled and asked if I was ready, and with a shaky sigh, I told her yes. She beckoned with her hand and we started walking together to the other side of the gym.

"Good. Now, here's how this is going to work. I'm going to gently open your skin and put a needle into one of your arm veins. Blood will slowly be pumping out of your arm and into the bag at the end of the connected tube. Most patients take about 3 to 7 minutes to fill up their bag. And while your bag is filling, the school has supplied student volunteers who will talk to you and relax you during the collection time. At the end, I will take everything out, patch you up, and have you wait over at those tables for about twenty minutes just to make sure you're at 100%. Then you may go and rejoin your classes for the remainder of the day." She smiled at me as we arrived at one of the recliner-esque blue chair/bed things. Do these things even have names? I found himself asking as I climbed onto it. Why do I even care? I know, because I'm rambling. Why, why, why WHY did I sign up for this?

"Ok now lay back and relax sweetie," the lady said as she pulled my sleeve up above my elbow. "I said relax. I can't poke you until you calm down."

"Umm," I needed to stall, "don't I need one of those talker people before we start?"Really Blaine? You don't even want a person to stand over you while you're freaking out. It'll just be awkward and uncomfortable. They'll be like "so what are you interested in" and I'll be all like, "Go away, I'm going to faint."

My nurse looked flustered as she realized they were short a volunteer. She motioned over to a fellow nurse, pointed at me, then the empty space where a "comforter" should stand, and the other nurse nodded. She walked over to one of the tables where you wait your twenty minutes, and starts talking to a group of people. I look around the table to see if there's anyone I recognize, and I think my heart skipped a beat when I make eye contact with one - Noah Puckerman. The football player flashes a smile and stands up, turns to say something to the nurse, and walks my way.

This is going to be really, really embarrassing. I quickly try to do damage control, and I turn to my nurse.

"Do I have to have a talker? I think I can go without one!"

She looks over at the boy walking toward them and frowns "Do you two not like each other? We can get you a different talker, but you do need one."

I give Puck a frustrated look before turning back to the elderly lady beside me. "No it's fine. I just don't want to embarrass myself." Puck arrives and looks down at me happily, a huge grin on his face.

"Hey dude, I'll be your talker."

I stop for a second to look at Puck. I can't help but to be momentarily paralyzed by him. He's your friend. He's always going to be just that. Nothing more, and hopefully nothing less. Whether it's because of the boy standing over me or because of the needle that's about to piece my skin, I take a calming breath before smiling back.

"OK, but don't make fun of me, I'm kind of freaking out right now. First time and all…" I turn to the nurse and tell her I'm ready.

Puck smiles and says, "Agreed, but only if you don't faint. If you do, then you'll probably look back at now and realize it's what destroyed your high school career. Because I will be making fun of your ass every chance I get."

I laugh at this and momentarily forget where I am and what I'm doing here. Wow he's good at this calming thing. But the alcohol being rubbed over my arm brings me back to reality, and the smile we were sharing falls off my face as I look back down at my arm. I breathe in and out slowly as I watch the nurse bring the needle closer and closer to my arm.

"Oh for god's sake look at me instead." Puck says as he grabs and squeezes my hand.

Everything.

That's what I feel as I realized Puck is holding and squeezing my hand and I look back up into his eyes. A current is rolling through us, and for a long time my mind is just numb as I feel wave after wave of feeling rolling through me.

I can barely register what he's saying as he takes his hand away and shakes his head with a laugh; looking at me with true amusement in his eyes.

I slowly realize a number of things. A, the tube's already in my arm and is collecting blood, and I hadn't even realized a thing. B, I just felt something I've never, ever, felt before, and that scared me. And C, Puck was laughing at me.

"You said you wouldn't make fun of me if I didn't faint." I garbled out, a little dizzy from all the emotions, and the fact that I realized blood was draining out of me.

"You should have seen your face when I grabbed your hand. Pure shock." He claps me on the shoulder. "Didn't I tell you? Sexuality issues are for losers."

Amusement and laughter works its way through my cloudy mind and reaches my mouth, and pretty soon I can't stop. He's laughing pretty hard to, but the nurse who is examining my bag of blood shushes us and says that all this movement isn't good. I surprise myself at looking down at the bag and not feeling to horribly queasy at the sight of this. Puck was really good at this talking thing. I don't know how I decided it so fast, but I decided then and there that Puck meant what he said. He was fine with me being gay, and he had even teased me about it a couple of times. Well, if he wants to joke around, then I might as well have some fun too.

I smile back at him and laugh a little, "Well, yes, I was a little shocked. I just had a," (I lift my hand that's not being drained and gesture quotation marks) "'stud' grasp my hand and give me permission to stare at him. I was a little taken aback."

Puck hears what I had to say, lets it register, and (whoa) starts blushing. He smiles and shakes his head. "No need for the quotation marks bro, it's my concreted status."

"Along with being a badass?" I question him, not able to keep that dumb smile that seems to be plastered unto my face since Noah Puckerman grabbed my hand.

He blushes even more at this before shaking his head and laughing at me again. "Hell right I'm a badass." Not with that blush on. God he's adorable. Guess he's not that ok with come-ons from another guy though, he looks like an apple. A really, really sexy apple that is.

The nurse decides to fill me in on how I'm doing, "OK, Blaine, looks like only a few more minutes. I have to say, for being so nervous, you're doing all this extremely well."

Feeling relived I smile up at the ceiling. "Yeah well I'm doing a lot better than I thought I was going to," I turn to Puck, "Thanks to you. No offense though, but I wouldn't have pegged you as the volunteering type."

He gives a rough laugh at this before throwing a dirty look around him. "Then you pegged me right. I have to do this for my community time. The school was looking for volunteers and at least this way I get out of class. Better than highway clean-up during my own time."

Puzzled at this, I repeat "community time?"

Puck shrugs and simply says "Yeah, I have to do 50 hours since I got out of Juvie." Seeing the shocked and questioning look deepen on my face, he adds "I tried to steal an ATM machine. I was really drunk."

"Tried to steal an ATM machine," I repeat again. I had heard of him doing a lot of stupid stuff but that really put the icing on the cake.

"Yeah and I was really bored that night."

"Bored…."

He smiled and said, "First, don't repeat anything I say this time. And second, yeah, there's a good reason behind that but I'll have to tell you another time."

"Alright then I'll hold you to that. Juvie huh? Oh well, mistakes are lessons learned right? Now you know not to steal ATM's. I personally haven't learned that lesson yet, but someday I'll have to."

He can't quite decide how he wants to take my comment. Both anger and amusement fight to take him over, with the latter wins out.

"I'll get you back for that Anderson, you better watch your back," He says through gritted teeth, but the threat kind of dies instantly; he sounds to hilarious trying to be intimidating when really he's holding back laughter.

Anderson? God, since when did my own last name sound so hot?

He fills my momentary silence with a question. "So, you still coming to the game tonight? You can't pass up the opportunity to see all us guys sweaty and practically falling over one and other."

"OK, I didn't realize what I was saying when I said that! What I meant to say is I like watching football. Period. Don't care if it's guys or girls!" I protest, embarrassed that he remembered my slip up at the lunch table the day prior.

"Whatever dude, I thought it was funny. Now you gonna be there or not?"

"Of course I'm still going. Kurt, Rachel, and Mercedes all want to go, so I'll just tag along." The reminder of Kurt makes me flustered, and I can't help but to get angry and frustrated as I am reminded of my current situation. Blaine, you are not in a good relationship if the thought of your boyfriend gets you mad and frustrated!

Puck notices the change in my attitude, and he frowns slightly. "Something wrong between you and Lady Face?"

I smirk at the name but it doesn't stay on my face for long, soon I am frowning again before returning Puck's (pretty intense) gaze. "He's hiding something. I think he might be seeing, or at least thinking, about somebody else. And he's acting pretty damn annoying on top of it. I just don't know why."

Puck's frown deepens and I can tell that he's visibly shocked at the news. He switches from standing to leaning on my bed chair thingy. I realize that I just voiced a pretty big secret to him and I'm about to clarify when I look into his eyes. He seems to be looking off at the wall behind me, and I can almost see that he's exploding with thoughts right now.

"Puck," His eyes snap down to mine and I can see him coming slowly back to reality. "What are you thinking?"

He shrugs. "I can't believe he would cheat on you. I mean everybody thinks you guys are like a couple made in heaven." He seems closed off all of a sudden, and I can't help but wonder why.

"Ok but remember that these are just my suspicions. I don't know anything for sure, I'm still watching." He nods at this and looks away. "Also, please don't say anything to anyone about what I just said to you. That was strictly friend to another friend."

He hops off my bed chair thingy and smiles down at me. "Dude I would never. And I'll be on the lookout too from now on. Extra set of eyes to watch the halls." He punches my non-blood-giving arm playfully and looks down at my bag. "You're done."

"I'm done?" I follow his eyes to my arm to see that the lady is about ready to remove the tube from my arm. "Oh I'm done!" I give the nurse many thank you's as she finishes up and bandages my arm. I make sure to tell her I almost didn't feel a thing (even though that was a lot more my talker's fault then hers) and tell her I hope to see her next year. Puck and I are walking to the waiting table when I here "Puckerman!" being called from the distance. We both turn to see a rather stern looking young nurse pointing at a new donor a few feet away from her. Puck mouths "no" and points to me, but the nurse shakes her head and points back at the patient. He says no again and turns us both around as we continue our walk back to the waiting tables.

"You really should go. She might not count your volunteering time if you refuse to cooperate now. Besides, I see Quinn over there and I can just talk to her."

He looks back at me and sighs, nods his head and stops walking. I stop too and turn toward him with a smile. "You really did make that a piece of cake Puck. Thank you…you're going to be a really good friend."

"My pleasure Anderson, but don't get to soft here. I'll…" he stops, looking like he doesn't know what he wants to say. "I'll see you around." He gives a nod and turns to walk away, but I stop him as I say "Oh, and good luck tonight, I'll be watching you."

He cocks his face to the rights so I can see the right side of it, and gives me a pretty damn flirtatious wink. He then continues to his next donor, this time unstopped by me.

I watch him walk away for a few seconds before I too make my way to my destination. So put Mr. Noah Puckerman down as one of your new best friends, alongside Sans and Britts. That's a pretty damn good catch Blaine.

A/N – So, this chapter's thoughts? What did you think about the whole blood drive idea? I was pretty proud of myself lol