Disclaimer: I am a sad, poor person with nothing to their name.

Puck had to say that staying over at Harry's for the night was one of his better ideas. The guy was freaking awesome!

After they got tired of amusing themselves with the soccer ball, Harry already had his neighbor over so Sarah could play with the goofiest golden retriever puppy. And then there was the food. Harry not only made kosher, but blintzes. Blintzes almost as good as his nana makes.

"Oh God, Harry." Puck moaned biting into the cheesy goodness. "We only get these on holidays."

"Oh." Harry frowned, "But that's okay right? You're allowed to have them during the regular year? I wasn't sure, but I learned how to make these when I was little because my cousin tried it at a friends' house and really liked them."

"Its' fine," Puck assured him, "it's just that no one is willing to go through the effort of making them except on holidays."

"Oh, good." Harry passed a bowl of tzimmes (stewed vegetables) over. "I made the matzo balls completely vegetarian. I wasn't completely sure about meat broth and cheese."

"It's probably ok. Mom doesn't seem to care." Puck shrugged, took a tentative bite of the matzo ball in the small bowl the soup was served in, then promptly stole several more. Harry was a really good cook. "Are you going to be a chef or something?"

"What?"

"The food's freaking awesome."

"It's really good Harry," Sarah piped up. "I don't usually like matzo balls, but yours are really good."

"Thank-you."

Puck didn't say that Sarah didn't like his mom's matzo balls because the woman always made huge balls that never soaked in all the liquid from the canned soup stock and were dry. Harry had small matzo balls and actual vegetables in the soup as well.

After an afternoon spent in his house, Sarah had warmed up to the Brit, regaling him with stories from the week long summer camp she just came back from. She even expressed interest in Teddy, who was feeling a bit better and was willing to sit in his chair at the table while Harry and, for a few tries, Sarah fed him. He only endeared himself to her more when he allowed her to trounce him at snakes and ladders by looking the other way when she cheated a bit and then read to her from a weird book of European fairy tales. Normally Sarah was too old for that stuff, but since Harry was reading to Teddy anyways it wasn't like she was losing any face for listening. Puck wouldn't admit it, but he was stuck on the same page in his sports illustrated for an hour.

"Do you want to sleep in the same room or you can use mine?" Harry offered when Sarah was getting ready for bed.

"Where will you sleep?" Because, honestly, Sarah kicked in her sleep.

"Teddy's got a bed in his room. It's comfortable enough."

"Are you sure?" He didn't want to kick anyone out of their own room.

"Of course, I just changed the sheets, so the bed's clean." Harry smiled, "Do you have anything to sleep in?"

"I'm good in my shorts." He half expected the guy to offer him pj's or something, but he just nodded. "Are you just going to read again?" It was only nine and there was no way he was going to bed this early.

"You play poker?" Apparently Harry heard the JUST very clearly.

"I've played," Puck didn't say that he was a bit of a card shark. "Bets?"

"Loser makes breakfast." Green eyes twinkled. "I've got eggs and sausage in the cold-box er-the fridge."

"No way man," Puck led the way back to the kitchen after saying goodnight to his sister. "Pancakes." He didn't know what the guy put in them, but they were better than he'd ever had. And whatever that syrup was, imported crap from the looks of it, it was awesome.

It didn't take long for Puck to realize that he was very likely cooking breakfast in the morning. If he wasn't the one dealing half the time, he'd be sure that the guy was cheating. No way was anyone that lucky that often. If Puck got two pair, Harry got a pair and a three of a kind. If Puck managed four of a kind, Harry got a Royal flush.

"Fuck being a chef," Puck said after he lost half of his remaining toothpicks. "You could make millions in Las Vegas. And it's a night job, so you could hang with your kid during the day."

"Nah," Harry shrugged as he starting shuffling the cards to re-deal. It was pretty awesome to see. He did that flicking the cards from one hand to another, the spreading the cards out on the table and turning them over and this weird double fan that was probably only to show off a little. "I'd probably have a winning streak for about two hours before losing everything."

"Pff. As if. You probably count cards or something." Which would totally explain Puck's losing streak and Harry's skills.

"No," Harry laughed when Puck said so. "I'm just really lucky with cards. It got so no one would play with me."

"That sucks dude."

"I've never been so good at things like chess or board games. So I played those things a lot."

"Are you, uh, going to work or anything? Like ever?"

"Probably," Harry shrugged. "I'm upgrading through correspondence right now. Next year I'll take a few classes online. School's not really my thing, but neither is sitting around doing nothing."

"So you, like, didn't do so good in school?" Puck could relate, though mostly it was just him not bothering to try.

"I did alright," Harry was quiet for a minute. "You won't let this get around?" Puck nodded. "You know the terrorist bombings and all that back in the U.K?" Puck nodded. He'd not really paid attention to it, but it was on the news and stuff. "My school was rich and preppy. We were the last place to get hit before they got the guy in charge. But they're rebuilding the school now. A bunch of my friends are taking a year off and going back next year or going to a new school this fall for their last semester, but I figured I might as well just do it while I'm over here."

"Shit." And Puck had just thought the guy dropped out to take care of his baby when the momma didn't want him. Now it looked like she probably was dead or something. He was curious, but unlike most of the rest of the kids he knew, Puck didn't pry where he knew he wasn't welcome. Best to change the subject.

"So…" think Puck, think! "What's up with you and Hummel?"

"Sr. or junior?"

"Either."

"They're my friends. Good people. They've been helping me out a lot."

"But you know that Hum-er Kurt is like in love with you, right?" Shit. Way to switch the subject Puck. Now the guy was probably going to go all weird or something.

"I think Burt's talked to Kurt about that."

What?

"What?"

"I'm a dad," Harry shrugged. "And even if I was interested in dating, which I'm not, he's really not my type."

"Cause he's a guy."

"Because he's high maintenance." Harry corrected with a grin, "All the girls I've dated were athletic and really into doing dangerous stupid stuff. Like me. Kurt doesn't like to sweat or get dirty. I bet if a teacher yells at him he does what he's told to do. I managed to get the most detentions ever recorded in my fifth year, and I know a pair of twins who spent their schooldays testing out pranks that they later sold in their prank shop. I don't mind the singing and dancing, but I've got two left feet and I'm pretty close to tone deaf."

"So you don't care that he's a guy." Puck said, "just that he's a prissy guy. Er… you never said anything about dating guys… are you…?"

"I had a bit of a crush on my best mates' older brother once." Harry kept his eyes on Pucks, "I'd still be tempted if he showed any interest."

"So you're…bi?"

"If you need to call it something, I guess."

"And you're attracted to reckless jock types."

"Noah," Harry smirked a bit. "If you're asking if I'm interested, do it when there isn't your sister upstairs and a sick baby in the house."

Puck swallowed deeply a few times until he noticed Harry's smirk getting wider. "You dick! You just said that to freak me out."

Harry laughed before sobering up a little. "Not about the crush on Charlie though."

"It's fine. The Puckmeister is too macho to care about you fantasizing about some other macho dude. He was macho, right?"

"Think dragon handler."

"Dragon Handler?"

"This is Ohio, right. Bull Rider? Lots of muscles. And he works with dangerous animals."

Puck decided not to tell him that most Bull Riders weren't really that muscular, but he got the picture. "What kind of animals?"

"Dragons. He's working on a reserve in Indonesia right now. Has to be really fit because the suckers are really fast for short bursts of time."

"Dude," Puck whistled, thinking what he knew about Komodo dragons. Don't they spit acid or something? The guy probably had one of the deadliest jobs on the planet.

Things couldn't be left just like that. Puck, conceding the game, forced Harry to go find a picture of this god among men.

"This him?" Puck asked, looking at the picture of a redheaded family. "The guy in the middle?" He had long hair, earrings and a scarred face. Like he'd been bit. The girl next to him was hot, though. Hotter than hot. If she ever came to visit his friend, Puck would be hard pressed not to try and do her. Harry was in the photo, with his arm around the only girl besides the bride and the mum. He looked really happy and a lot younger, even though it was probably from last year.

"No, that's Bill. He was a treasure hunter of sorts in Egypt for a while, but now he works for a bank." Harry pointed at another man on the opposite side of the picture from where Harry was standing with the girl. "That's Charlie."

The red headed guy was shorter than Bill, but definitely much more muscular. He looked like he should be on the cover of playgirl or something. Even from the distance the photo was taken, Puck could see serious muscle definition. "Dude, I don't know if this counts as a crush worthy of making you gay. I'd do him and I get more action than anybody."

Harry just laughed.

Author's note: New chapter this week. As promised. To those waiting for Secret Strength to continue, I've finally got an idea for the next chapter that works. I just have to get it written.