(Author's note: We're working our way through writing our OT3-Kurt Big Bang, which is set about a year or two into Dave and Puck's relationship. It'll be ready for public consumption later this summer; we'll be sure to post a link to it here. Enjoy! -amy and Penthea8)

The first thing Puck said when he walked through Dave's door was, "Dude, do you know about this thing I got in the mail?"

"I might," Dave said, taking the envelope Puck was brandishing at him. It was addressed from UCLA. "Is it from the math department?"

"It's from this guy, Vincent somebody. Isn't he your friend?" Puck seemed more annoyed than Dave would have expected, given the topic.

"Yeah, he's the one I told you about, who does the undergraduate research project." Dave watched him pace the room restlessly. "What's the problem? You like math, you're always doing extra work just for fun. I figured this was right up your alley."

"I like the math just fine. But this isn't just math. They want me to write a paper, and talk about shit in front of a panel of professors and students, and -" He shook his head emphatically. "No way."

Dave wasn't sure if he could convince him, or even if he should, but he knew that reaction - that automatic I can't - and it wasn't about not wanting it, not really. "Hey. Hang on a second." He put out a hand, and Puck stopped his pacing, letting Dave pull him in close. Puck was scowling.

"First of all - you don't have to do this, so don't freak out. He's the one who suggested it to me, when he heard about... well, when I told him you like math." Dave didn't think Puck needed to be distracted by the word genius or talent here, no matter what Dave thought. "Second, if you want to do it, it's not as hard as you think. You're being way too hard on yourself. You've made it through college this far, and don't tell me you've never written a paper before."

"No," Puck said, "but I've sure as hell never done one by choice. It's like... intentionally eating kale or something."

Dave kind of liked kale, but he didn't need to belabor that point. "You're not alone in this," he insisted. "Whatever you're worried about, it's not going to be as bad as you imagine."

Puck actually glared at him, and Dave stepped back a little. "That's easy for you to say," he said. "You can write things that make sense. You've never had a professor tell you might as well drop out of school because your grammar and spelling looks like it was done by a third grader."

Dave didn't know that professor, had no idea who it might be, but for one crazy second he wanted to hunt him down and hurt him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I know," he mumbled. "Wouldn't it be nice to prove him wrong, though? Nobody cares if you can write for this, or how much help you need with the spelling, or whatever. Not if the ideas and the math are good."

But Puck was just getting more agitated. "Dude, I can't," he said, gritting his teeth. "You don't get it. I'm just a loser. I've always been a loser, and I always will be."

"No." Dave cut him off. He wasn't going to get anywhere with reason, and sure, Puck might get mad and it might end up worse, but he'd take that chance. He put his arms around him. "Maybe people told you that, so what, they don't know what they're talking about."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Puck shot out. "You think you know what I can do, but you're just - "

"You know what? Just stop." Dave knew he was probably stepping over some line, and he wasn't even actually angry with Puck. He was so damn angry with the rest of the world, though, for doing this to his boyfriend. "That's just...fuck everyone who ever told you that." He took Puck's wrists and held them. Puck took a sharp, quick breath. "Babe, breathe. You're okay, but you're not going to listen to wherever that is coming from, all right?"

Puck let out the breath he was holding, looking startled, like he hadn't realized he'd stopped. He blinked, and stared at Dave. For a moment, Dave wasn't sure what he was going to do - yell at him, or start to cry, or turn and run. But then he relaxed his shoulders, and nodded, silently, just bowing his head and accepting Dave's words.

Dave loosened his grip and ran his hands up Puck's arms to his back. Puck let himself be guided closer, but he didn't say anything, or raise his head, so Dave held him, hoping the silence and the light, steady weight of Puck leaning against his chest just a little, meant that they were okay. "I love you," he murmured against Puck's skin, not really caring if he could tell what he was saying, "I don't care about any stupid papers, babe. You're my perfect, amazing boyfriend, and I only told Vincent to send that invitation because I know how good you are, and I'm...so damn proud of you, okay?"

Puck looked up. "Really?" he asked, sounding skeptical, but his eyes were open and vulnerable and hopeful.

Dave opened his mouth to say something, but he had no idea what to do with all those feelings, he wasn't even sure what they were, and definitely not what they were doing making him want to wrap his smart, capable fighter of a boyfriend in his arms and keep him safe there forever. Puck would roll his eyes at him, maybe say something about not being a fucking girl, but the way he was looking at him right now, Dave almost thought he might still let him do it. "Yeah, really, " he finally managed to choke out, still staring into Puck's eyes.

A faint smile crossed Puck's face, and Dave felt his shoulders drop and his breathing even out. "I guess I still think I'm somehow getting away with something here," he said. "There's no way anybody should have let me into college to begin with, not with my high school GPA."

Dave shook his head. "But this isn't about high school anymore, babe. You're here, and you're doing well. Really well. And I'm your teacher, so I should know." Puck laughed at that, and relaxed a little further. Now he was resting his head on Dave's shoulder. Dave ran a hand over his neck. "I'm so proud of you," he said again.

Puck sighed. "Is it okay that I think you're an idiot for thinking that?"

"Think whatever you want; I know I'm right." He kissed Puck's cheek. "So would you let me help you put some of your ideas together and send them in?"

There was a long pause, during which Puck burrowed in a little deeper into Dave's arms. Finally, he said, "Yeah, okay."

Dave tightened his grip. "Thank you," he said. "I know it's not that easy, so...thank you for trusting me." He kissed Puck's temple, then pulled away, smiling. "This is going to be great."

After that conversation, though, Dave realized how much it had been bothering him. He stewed about it for a few hours before picking up the phone and calling Elliott.

"How was the conference?" he wanted to know. "Your kids did fine. We had a good time making group multiplication tables."

"And...then from what I've heard, Puck cornered you and got you to try to explain continuous symmetry groups? I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

"Is that the guy with the shaved head? No, he's got a lot of good ideas."

Dave thought that was an understatement, but he ignored it and went on. "Yeah, that's kind of the thing... he's doing this undergraduate research project, and... well, I'm thinking he might need some outside support."

"Outside support?"

"Yeah. Someone to assist him. Besides me." Because I'm the one he's sleeping with. Dave thought the words as hard as he could, but there was no way he could say them out loud. "Do you think you can help me out with this?"

Elliott paused. "Yeah, Dave, of course." He cleared his throat. "So this student, Noah...?"

"Puck."

"Right. Puck. Your class isn't very big, is it?"

"Just eighteen?"

"Mmmm." He paused again. "Well, I was thinking you might still need some help with grading those final exams. Like, maybe it would make sense for me to do some of them. Just in case... you get overwhelmed, you know?"

Dave felt a ridiculous flood of relief at the suggestion. Elliott had managed to solve his problem without jeopardizing either of their positions - well, any more than he already was jeopardizing his own, anyway. Never mind that he didn't know how he was going to look Elliott in the eye again. "Yeah. That would be great. Really great. Thanks... for thinking of me."

"Hey, what are friends for?" He heard Elliott laugh. "And maybe I've had that experience once myself. It's... overwhelming, I know, and you might feel a little guilty? For... not being able to keep up with your grading, right?"

Huh. "A little bit, maybe." Okay, more than a little, and now that he'd been caught, even by someone who apparently was completely on his side, it was harder not to think about it. "Yeah, I mean...I think I'm doing okay, but I have some students...like Puck, I really don't want to mess things up with him, you know?"

"Yeah, I got that. Some students are special, I know. You're paying attention to what they need, academically. Right?"

"Academically. Yeah. Actually..." Dave was probably just digging himself deeper, but Elliott had been so understanding, and he really didn't want to risk having to do this again with someone else. "Okay, I probably shouldn't ask you this, but - Puck, right? He's doing that research thing. And he needs someone to walk him through the steps, help him do a literature review, put together a presentation. And I - I'm going to be helping him too, of course, but I think..."

"Dave. It's fine. I'm happy to advise him in that process. You don't have to worry about it."

Dave stopped himself. Elliott was right, there was no reason to try to explain. "Yes. Thank you. So...I'll tell him that. When I see him."

"In class." His voice was teasing, and Dave felt himself flush.

"Uh, yeah. In class."

Dave was surprised to find Connor sitting next to him when he looked up from his crossword. "Hey," he said. He still felt a little uncertain about how he should behave around Connor, considering he was Puck's ex-boyfriend (and apparently, until recently, a convenience), but he figured he should at least be polite.

"Don't mind me," said Connor. "Puck and I were going to talk business before heading to band practice."

Dave nodded at the junior karate class in progress. "I was just waiting for Beth... she's been wanting to go on a bike ride."

Connor smiled a little. "Seems like you guys are getting along pretty well, huh?"

"I think so," Dave said. They watched as Beth did an awesome roundhouse, and Connor made a shout of approval. She grinned over at them, and waved at Dave. He waved back, awkwardly.

"She's a great kid." Connor stretched out his legs. "Between her and my nephews, I'm pretty well set for uncle status." He glanced over at Dave. "How about you? You want kids?"

Dave paused, staring at his hands. "Uh..."

"Because I know Puck, and he totally needs a guy who'll spend time with his kid. Last thing he should have is somebody who'd rather be out partying or something."

Dave laughed. "Yeah, at least I can say that, I'd definitely not rather be out partying." He shook his head, following Beth with his eyes as she kicked her way across the room. "I don't know about wanting kids, but it's pretty awesome having her around."

Puck gathered the kids together into two rows, had a few quiet words with them, and they all bowed, turning their fists over with one hand on top, the way he'd seen Puck do during his own practice sessions in his backyard. He was calm and friendly to the kids as they left, giving them high-fives, but the expression on his face as he approached Dave afterward was anything but calm.

"Somebody complained," he said grimly. "Apparently we're not very subtle."

"Somebody -" Dave went cold and queasy before he even knew exactly what he was afraid of. Then he figured it out, and it hit like a second, stronger wave. He would lose his job. Everyone would know. Why had they gone to Puck, though, if he was the one in trouble? "Wait, who? Another student?"

"No - a parent, here at the school." He snorted. "They seem to think it's not an appropriate learning environment for their sweet little darling."

Oh. Dave stood very still, waiting to feel a little calmer before he tried to respond to that. That was still bad, but...well, for Puck, maybe it was actually worse? Dave probably shouldn't mention that he'd misunderstood.

"What, because you're gay?" Connor said incredulously.

"I guess. It was the fact of me plus another guy, I think." Puck wouldn't look at Dave.

Connor started laughing. "Uh, jeez. They just haven't been paying very close attention around here, have they? Because there was you and me, and there was you and -"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Puck said, glancing around the dojo. "Tone it down, man."

Connor's laughter cut off abruptly. "Yeah, that's the answer," said Connor, looking quizzical and a little hurt. "More hiding. That doesn't sound like you. Since when do you listen to what anybody else tells you what to do?"

At that point, Beth came dashing over and slung her arms around Puck's waist, grinning at Dave. "Didja bring your bike?" she said immediately.

"Of course," he said, smiling back. "Did you? Because I think I heard something about going for a ride together later."

"Hey, kiddo." Puck lifted her up by her two arms and she shrieked as he swung her around. "Me and Dave are in the middle of this conversation, okay? Can you go take off your gi jacket and your belt and stick them in my bag? I'll drive them home for you."

"'Kay." She sped off as quickly as she'd arrived. Puck sighed.

"A two hour workout and she's as energetic as ever."

Connor nudged his shoulder with his fist. "You're looking pretty spry yourself there, grandpa." But Puck just twisted away from Connor's touch, his face troubled. It could have been nothing, but Dave didn't think so, and judging from the expression on Connor's face, he didn't think so either.

"Whatever, man," Connor muttered. "I'll meet you at Finn's. See you, Dave."

"Yeah, see you." They watched him go as the students milled around, gathering their

things and bidding farewell to Puck and each other on their way out the door. Beth was occupied playing with one of her classmates.

Dave touched Puck's shoulder and looked pointedly at the closed office door. He left his hand there for a moment, steering Puck towards it. Maybe the gesture was too intimate to be completely safe, but nobody would probably notice, and, well, the complaint had already been made. Puck got the hint and walked in front of him into the office, and Dave closed the door behind them.

"What was that all about?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not fucking okay," Puck snapped. His hands clenched and unclenched as he paced the small office. "I'm pissed. I mean, I'm a good teacher. These kids are getting exactly what they signed up to learn. What the hell does it matter who I'm fucking?"

"It's Lima. Not everyone wants their kids around a gay teacher. It sucks, but...you knew that, right?" Dave still felt a little responsible. Of course Puck knew what it was like, but he hadn't had the experience of having a boyfriend, or actually being out in any real way, in that environment. Dave had, involuntary as it might have been. "I'm sorry, though. I should have said something. Been more careful, maybe. I just thought...well, you live here, and you know what it's like. I guess I thought you didn't care." He looked at Puck, wondering what he might be thinking. "But you do? Or you're afraid of what might happen?"

"I don't care. I don't." Dave thought it sounded a little like Puck was trying to convince himself of something. He hesitated, then looked up at Dave, his brow furrowed. "But I thought you did. I mean... don't you?"

Dave moved closer and placed his hands on Puck's upper arms. "Babe, everyone in Lima who knows me at all knows I'm gay. Hell, even those who don't...they don't remember my name, but they know the story. I'm worried about you. " He let go of Puck and ran a hand through his hair. "And, okay, I'm worried about being your teacher, because I'm breaking a few important rules doing that, but I'm getting Elliott to grade your exam. In just a few weeks, the semester is over, and we won't have to think about that anymore."

"Oh." Puck blinked. "That's - uh, that's a good idea. I guess I didn't think about that." He moved a few inches closer to Dave, as though he were missing the broken contact, not quite touching him, but almost. "So what do you think I should do about things here at the school?"

"This will be fine. You're doing a good job here. So if you're okay with people knowing about us, you can talk to those parents and tell them that, yes, you have a boyfriend, but that doesn't change your standards or how you run your classes. And we'll be as careful around here as we need to not get in trouble." Dave shrugged. "Maybe a few of the worst ones might leave, but that wouldn't be so bad, would it? It sucks for the kids, I guess, but it's not really your fault."

Puck nodded. "Yeah. I should probably call them back, or something."

"Yes. But right now, I think you have a daughter waiting for you. And me." Dave pushed away from the desk he was leaning on. "Ready to go?"

Puck opened the door and stepped outside, then instantly froze. He turned to Dave. "That's them," he said quietly. "Didn't want to wait for me to call, I guess."

Dave held on to the door. Okay, that was maybe not ideal, but they'd have to face them eventually. "The ones over there?" he asked. They were an ordinary-looking couple, not that much older than them, probably, adjusted for Lima parents married before they were twenty. The woman looked vaguely familiar. "Didn't she go to McKinley or something?"

"Dayna Ingersoll," Puck said. "She was a couple years ahead of us. Pretty much what it looks like."

Beth provided a moment of distraction by running over and informing them that she'd put her things in Puck's bag, and she was ready, and could they go? "Just a moment," Dave told her. "Those people want to talk to your dad, and I think we should wait for him."

"You don't have to wait," Puck said. His face was grim. "This is my business. I should take care of it."

"It's about me too, isn't it? I'll stay, if that's okay with you."

Dave had no explanation for the flood of relief he felt at Puck's red face and sheepish, grateful smile. He didn't take his hand or touch him in any way, but Dave was certain neither Dayna nor her husband could have missed the intimacy in that expression.

"Okay," said Puck, quietly. "Yeah. Stay."

Dave watched in silence, fielding Beth's questions and attempts to do a handstand against the wall while Puck spoke to Dayna and Mr. Dayna, whose name turned out to be Hank. He looked more uncomfortable than upset, but Dayna's mouth was a thin, grim line, and she kept glancing at Dave. He wasn't sure what to do with that, so he looked back and tried to let as little as possible show on his face, because it was easy to guess that anything that did would be used against him, no matter what it might be.

"I heard you had a concern," said Puck.

Dayna looked uncertain, being put on the spot, but she didn't back down. "Jamie came home with stories he'd heard from Beth about you and your..." She floundered, glaring at Hank.

"Dave, right? Dave Karofsky?" Hank tried a friendly smile.

"That's me." Dave smiled back as best he could. Beth hung on his back, and he hoisted her up onto his back.

"Why is Jamie's mom mad at Dad?" she whispered in Dave's ear.

"Um." Dave was not ready for this, but here he was anyway. "Sometimes people just get mad for their own reasons," he mumbled. He wondered if he should be taking Beth away from this situation, but so far, everyone seemed to be behaving themselves, and he really didn't want to look like he was running from anything.

Puck was making an effort to stay polite. "Isn't Jamie enjoying class? He's done a good job; he pays attention and -"

"Yes," she said tightly. "He pays attention. He knows just what's going on."

"Just what do you think is going on?"

She gave him a pointed stare. "You know what I mean. Jamie's only seven. He doesn't need to hear about - there's no need for him to learn about -"

Puck waited for her to stumble to a halt. He seemed completely at ease as he nodded at her. "So, Dayna, tell me... do you know about Sensei Owen's girlfriend? Like, all the stuff they do in bed together?"

Dayna turned pink, and Dave murmured, "Puck..."

"No, it's okay." He held up a hand, not looking away from her. "Do you?"

"I hadn't heard..." she began stiffly, and Puck interrupted.

"No. Of course not. It's personal. Just like my relationship with Dave is personal. I don't make it my students' business, any more than Sensei Owen does."

Hank stepped forward, a hand on Dayna's arm. She was speechless. Dave wondered if the tremble in her hand was from rage or embarrassment. He figured either one would be justified, but he felt a sense of vindictive pride at Puck's words.

"I think what Dayna's saying, Mr. Puckerman, is that she'd rather - we'd rather - that Jamie not learn about things like that until he's older."

"Things like that."

Puck's echo of Hank's words were mild, but they gave Dave a sick feeling in his stomach. This was about to get a lot worse. He could see the desperate appeal on Hank's face.

Dave wasn't sure if he sympathized, or if it was just pity, but he and Hank did have a common interest in keeping this from blowing up completely. He stepped forward too, hoping the sight of him with Beth would calm Puck down more than it might provoke Dayna. "I think the point here is, I am going to be around occasionally, but like Sensei Puckerman told you, you can be sure that class won't involve the details of his or anybody else's personal life." He looked at Puck, who was staring at Dayna, who was staring back.

"Honey," Hank murmured, tugging on her arm. She gave a short sigh and turned away. He relaxed and smiled apologetically at Dave.

"Sorry," he mouthed as they walked toward the door.

Beth hopped from one foot to the other. "Can we get our bikes now?"

Before answering her, Dave turned to Puck and put a hand on his arm. "Is that okay? We'll take the bikes back to Shelby's house, and you'll meet us there?"

Dave could feel him trembling, but he nodded. "Dave?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," he said softly. "For staying. And... just, thanks."

Dave tightened his grip on Puck's arm for a moment, then let go. "Of course I stayed."

A ghost of a smile appeared on his face, and he gave Beth a wave. "You listen to Dave, okay? No stupid stunts on the way home. Don't drive like your dad."

Dave tried to step back and let Puck and Elliott handle the paper writing, but he couldn't avoid seeing some of what Puck was working on. Sometimes he asked for help, and sometimes he just sat there with a notebook - easy to tell from Dave's because his were always the ones with blank pages, while Dave used graph paper, so there was no excuse to pick one up and look through it. So he was a little surprised when, that evening, Puck handed him one of those spiral notebooks and asked, "Will you take a look at this?"

Dave put down the book he was reading. "Yeah, of course. What is it?"

Puck shrugged. "Just some proofs, I was wondering if you could see if it makes sense to you, or if I need to make anything clearer." Dave took the notebook and opened it. He didn't actually know any of the details of this stuff, but he guessed that meant if he could follow it, it was well written. "What's a braid group again?" he asked.

"What it sounds like. Like...braiding hair. It's kind of a generalization of the symmetric group?" Dave smiled. "I don't think I know how that works, actually. Only theoretically. But, yeah, okay, braiding, I remember. Vincent showed me this thing with knots, I don't think it's that different."

"Really, you've never...?" Puck looked amazed. "No, I guess you don't have any sisters."

Dave shook his head. No sister, no daughter, no girlfriends unless you counted Santana in high school, and she sure as hell never asked him to braid her hair. He kept reading, thinking about Puck and Sarah, back when Puck might have been doing that for her, but soon he was absorbed in the math. It all looked right, and even better, it was actually interesting.

"Did Elliott talk to you about trying to publish this?" he asked.

Puck shrugged, avoiding Dave's eyes. "I guess."

Dave hid his smile. He knew Puck well enough by now to understand what this meant. "Did he tell you what you needed to do in order to get it ready?"

Puck poked at the notebook with his pencil, scowling. "It's just a bunch of ideas, nothing solid."

"Okay, but they're good ideas. It's a start."

"I just can't stop thinking about what happened this afternoon," Puck burst out. The pencil rolled across the table and stopped a few inches from Dave. "I didn't know what to do; I was just so mad."

"Yeah, I could tell." Dave picked up the pencil. "She really was awful. I don't blame you. I mean, yeah, maybe you shouldn't have said all of that, but she deserved to hear it."

"It pissed me off. I can take it, usually, but it hit me differently today, you know? It's like, all I could see when I looked at Dayna was, is this the kind of life I want for Beth? This sack of lies? If I'm in Lima, she's going to have to live with people talking trash about her dad all the time." He twisted his fingers together. "Because of who I love. Because I love you."

Dave nodded. "I know. It's not all like that, but, yeah, there's a reason I was happy to leave." He smiled a little and tossed the pencil back on the table.

"Yeah, but I can't do anything about it anyway, because Shelby's there, and Sarah and my ma are there, and there's not much I can do about it." He blew a breath out of his nose. "And you're here. And... I just want to be here, too."

Dave got up and walked around the table to Puck and sat down next to him. "I love having you here. But, yeah, they need you too." He turned and put his arms around Puck, pulling him into a tight hug. "You're doing your best with what it is, babe. For you, and Beth, and everybody. It's just hard. But you're amazing."

Puck looked surprised, then pleased, and he grinned at Dave. "Yeah? You think so?"

"Of course I do."

Puck cocked his head, pulling back far enough to look at him. "What about you? What do you want? I mean, at some point you're going to be done with school, here. You want to stick around? Columbus, whatever?"

Dave sighed. "All I know is I'm not going back to Lima. I mean...sure, I wouldn't mind staying in Columbus, but really, I might have to go wherever I can get a job." Until a few months ago, he hadn't thought of that as a problem, because what was there that he wanted in Ohio, that he couldn't find somewhere else?

Puck nodded, looking away. "I guess I knew that. I'm - well, I'm sorry for making it more complicated."

"You're not - okay, I guess you are." He sighed again, but he was smiling. "It's just...different. To have someone I'd want to stay for. But it's not a bad thing." Dave reached out and took Puck's hand. "It's really good. And we have a few years, anyway, before I'm going anywhere."

"You think..." Puck squeezed his hand. "You think we'll still be doing this, in a few years?"

"I -" Dave looked down. "I don't want to freak you out, and, I mean, nobody knows the future. But - I think we could, yeah."

Puck's smile grew, until he grabbed Dave in a brief, enormous hug. "Yeah," he said. "I think we could, too. And it doesn't freak me out at all. I just... " He rested his hands lightly on Dave's hips, looking thoughtful. "Did you ever work on a jigsaw puzzle without having a picture of what it will look like when you're done?"

Dave smiled. "No, actually, I always used to have the picture on the box in front of me so I'd know how to do it right."

"Yeah, me, too. Except sometimes, me and Sarah, we lost the box. I kind of feel like that. Like, we have all these pieces - you, and me, and your job, and the dojo, and Beth and Shelby, and - everything. I just don't know how to put them together to make... the thing they're going to make yet." Puck shrugged, laying his hand on Dave's chest. "But it seems like, maybe, they're supposed to go together. Like they're all part of the same puzzle, and someday... someday it'll be complete."

"Yeah, I know. And actually...I think I might want to try it without the picture this time. Because I kind of feel like maybe I had the wrong box, before. And I'd break the pieces, trying so hard to make them fit, and still be mad that I could never make it look like it was supposed to." He placed his hand on top of Puck's. "So, yeah, I think it's better this way."

Puck smiled hopefully. "You think with some of my pieces and some of your pieces, it'll all fit together somehow?"

"Yes." Dave smiled back. "I think it might."

Dave didn't think much more about that conversation until he woke up two nights later to find Puck sitting up in bed, his arms around his knees, staring at the wall.

"Babe?" He rolled over to touch his arm. "You okay? What's going on?"

"The picture. On our box." Puck wiped his nose with his hand, and Dave realized his cheeks were wet with tears. He sat up and put an arm around Puck's shoulder.

"What do you mean, our box?"

"Our puzzle. I mean, my puzzle. The one we're building together, with no picture." He turned his head to face Dave, his eyes glistening in the faint light from the window. "I saw it. In my dream, I saw the picture. The whole thing."

Dave was a little surprised, and it was the middle of the night, but this seemed to be important. "Really?" he asked softly, running his hand down Puck's back and up again. "So what did it look like?"

Puck hesitated. Then he laughed, scrubbing his wet cheeks with his palms. "I thought you said you wanted to try it without the picture this time."

Dave laughed and shook his head. "Yes, I guess I did. Okay, don't tell me."

"No... okay." Puck returned his gaze to the wall, lapsing back into silence. Dave didn't think he'd ever seen him look quite so perfect and beautiful as he did at that moment, but he wasn't going to interrupt to say anything.

"The garage had two cars," he said finally. "There were hooks on the walls with two big bikes and one small one. There was one of those door flap thingies for the cat to go outside. You kept yelling at the kids to stop slamming the door when they went in and out."

Dave smiled, watching him. "I was yelling, huh?"

"Not like you were mad. Just... you know, reminding them. 'Cause they know the rules. Sometimes they just forget them." Puck's eyes flickered to Dave, then back to the wall. "They had duffel bags, backpacks, something, and they were dressed in their gis and belts."

"Orange belts," Dave guessed. Puck shot him an offended look.

"Dude. My kids? Purple belts at least." His smile slipped off his face, and he waited at least a minute before saying the next part. "I... wasn't there."

"What do you mean you weren't there. Then how do you know what it looked like?"

"I don't know. You were there, and... uh, some kids." He thought about it. "But yeah, I guess I must have been there, because I saw everything. I just don't know what I looked like."

"I'm sure you looked as perfect as always." Dave smiled. "A little older, maybe, with all those kids. But don't tell me you think I'd raised a couple of purple belts all by myself." He leaned over and kissed Puck's cheek. "We'll find out, okay? If it's really our box...we'll get there."

Puck smiled back. He looked like he might have some response to that, but in the end, he just nodded.

"So do you think you're ready to go back to sleep now? Because it's still three thirty." Dave rubbed Puck's neck a little. Puck nodded again, and Dave lay back down. "Okay, come here," he said, stretching his arm out across the bed.

There was something about the way they fit together when Puck lay against him like that, with his cheek on Dave's chest and one arm flung casually over Dave's middle. He considered this sensation for a long, silent moment, feeling Puck's back rise and fall under his hand.

"My dad and I did jigsaw puzzles sometimes," Puck said. "I don't remember much, but I remember that. I must have been six or seven. He had a killer laugh. When we finished a puzzle, he'd give me a big high five and it was, like, the best feeling in the world."

"It does feel good," murmured Dave, "when you find a piece that fits." He pressed his lips against Puck's head. "Now go to sleep, babe; we have a class in the morning."