A/N: Wow, thanks for all the feedback! I was gone and now I'm back. I'd talk about my trip, but I'm sure none of you care (and no, I'm honestly not saying that so you'd pity me and ask about my trip, which was lots of fun, by the way!).
Here's another Dani Shot!
(I'm so tired by the way, guys. So tired. So sorry if this is bad. Which it is. Yeah.)
They were five minutes into Glee rehearsal when Puck's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He ignored it and continued pretending to listen to whatever it was Mr. Schue was saying. The phone continued before stopping; only to continue again.
During the beginning of the fourth call, Puck finally decided to check his phone. 'Mom' flashed across the screen and he frowned in slight confusion before getting up and walking off the risers.
"—so I really think that that song selection will be—uh, Puck? Could you sit back down? I'm still—"
"Important phone call," Puck interrupted, stepping outside the room with a backwards glance.
"…Right," Mr. Schue muttered awkwardly as the door shut close.
Flipping the phone open, he said, "Hey, mom."
"Noah, you've got Glee today, right?" she asked, sounded rather stressed.
"Yeah," Puck answered, his frown deepening. "Why? What's wrong?"
"One of my co-workers got into a tiny car accident—she's okay, but her car's wrecked—and my boss needs me down there as soon as possible," she said quickly.
He blinked. "Yeah, okay. What does that have to do with—?"
"I need you to look after Dani because the Rosenbergs aren't home and I can't drop her off at a friend's house because I don't have time."
"I can't skip Glee," Puck blurted without quite realizing what he was saying. Fuck my life. And Glee, he thought half-heartedly.
"Oh, I know," she said with a small laugh, "But since your school's on the way to work, I'm dropping Dani off. She'll just sit in the back and watch your rehearsal. That's not a problem, is it?"
He thought of Rachel and Dani's freakishly close relationship. "Actually, Mr. Schue doesn't like dis—"
"Great, Noah! I'm just about to pull into the school. Come meet her at the front door!" And with that, the phone clicked off.
"Dammit," he muttered, thinking about the situation. There was no way to lie about Rachel and Dani's insane love of each other. He remembered back to how he'd worked so hard to hide the fact from Matt, Mike, and Finn; only to have them love the fact that Rachel was Dani's babysitter. And then there was Mike and Rachel's bizzaro friendship that came out of it (that still annoyed him at times). So maybe he'd made the whole thing into a bigger deal than he should've, but shit, he had a rep to protect. After a moment of inner turmoil, Puck finally came to the conclusion of: Fuck it.
He quickly sent Rachel a text saying Outside. Now.
He waited for about a minute before the door opened next to him and Rachel poked her head out. "Yes?" she whispered.
"Dani's coming to our rehearsal," Puck muttered. "Come with me to meet her at the door." He started walking down the empty hallway.
Rachel blinked a few times in confusion before it dawned on her. "Oh," she murmured, "Well, how are we going to hide it from the other Glee Clubbers?" She toddled after him.
He sighed tiredly and rolled his eyes. "Let's just tell them. I mean, it's not that big a deal now, right? Matt and Mike and Finn know," he said, shrugging. "I just wanted to tell you. So you have time to prepare a speech or whatever when or if they attack us with questions about the whole thing."
She beamed at him. "Thank you, Noah. That was very thoughtful of you," she said, placing a small hand on his arm.
He froze for a split second before turning the corner. "Whatever," he muttered.
She looked at him. "No, I'm serious. The fact that you chose to simply tell everyone instead of considering to go forth with some insane scheme and lie so—"
"Rachel! Noah!" Dani yelled, launching herself at Rachel in a form of a tackle-hug, as Puck finally reached the front door and let her in. He waved at his mother, who had waited until Dani was inside, before she drove off with a little wave of her own.
"Oh!" Rachel exclaimed, almost thrown off-balance. "Hello!" she laughed as she righted herself.
Puck rolled his eyes and led the way back to the choir room.
"Noah!" Dani called once again as she let go of Rachel and ran to her older brother. She caught up with him and latched onto his leg, sitting cross-legged around his shin and foot.
Puck continued walking despite his sister slightly weighing him down. "Off, punk," he said half-heartedly.
"No!" she chirped brightly, holding on tighter.
He rolled his eyes again but continued on his way as Rachel followed, laughing.
"How was your day at school, Dani?" she asked lightly.
Dani made a face and said, "Boring! But I finally got my multiplication tables down! Thanks to you, Rachel!" She smiled at her happily. "Do you wanna hear?"
"No," Puck said flatly.
She looked up at him with a glare." 'Snot my fault you hate math and numbers so much!" Her glare hardened as she said, "'Sides! I was asking Rachel, not you."
He fought the urge to roll his eyes a third time and leaned down to pick her up by her backpack as she let go of his leg. Bringing her up to his eye level he said, "Listen up, midget, when you're sitting in on our practice, don't move, don't talk, don't touch or break anything. Just sit and watch, got it?"
She appeared thoughtful for a second. "Why?" she finally asked.
"I'm not playing this game with you," he said in a monotone.
"Why?"
"Shut up."
"Why?"
"Dani, seriously. I'll drop you on your dumb little head."
"Why?"
"'Cause you're fucking annoying."
"Why?"
"I dunno. You're damn good at it, though."
"Why?"
Puck didn't answer as he opened the door to the choir room. All eyes whipped to the little girl that he held up by backpack. Rachel stood a few feet behind them.
Mr. Schue was the first to speak. "Um, Puck? Who is that?"
"Hi!" Dani said brightly, smiling happily, loving all the attention she now held. "I'm Dani! Noah's sister." She gave a tiny wave.
Nearly everyone in the room blinked.
"Tiny-Puck! Hey!" Mike greeted excitedly, waving.
She waved back with just as much fervor. "Hi, Changster!"
Kurt blinked in confusion. "She's your sister?" He looked at Puck's ever-present scowl and Dani's bright, adorable smile. "I don't see it," he said flatly.
"I hear that a lot," Dani smiled.
Tina chuckled a bit. "How did you end up with such a sister?" she teased lightly as Puck's eye twitched.
Dani's eyes widened as she looked at Tina. "Wow," she breathed in wonder. "I like your blue hair! Izzit real? It's so cool!"
"Yes, it's real," she laughed. "I like her. She's cute."
Tina's comment made Dani's smile widen. "Thank you!" She turned to Puck. "I like the Asian girl," she whispered loudly. "What's your name, Asian girl?" she asked loudly as she turned back to face Tina.
Laughing again, she replied, "Tina Cohen-Chang."
"You've got two last names?" she asked, jaw dropping. "I've only got one. How lame is that?"
A series of chuckles and laughs sounded around the room.
Mercedes raised an eyebrow. "As adorable as she is, why is she here?"
Puck looked at Mr. Schue and sighed. "My mom's got an emergency at work or whatever and there isn't anyone that can watch the little brat. So either I go home to do some dumbass babysitting or she gets to sit in."
Mr. Schue smiled warmly at them. "That doesn't sound like a problem." He looked at Dani and asked slowly with a bright, cheerful smile, "Would you like to sit and watch?"
She eyed him warily. "Have I got a choice?" she asked sassily, raising an eyebrow.
He hesitated as Puck chuckled at him. "Uh, did I do something wrong?" Mr. Schue whispered.
Puck smirked proudly. "You treated her like a little kid."
The teacher appeared more than confused.
"She/I hate(s) that," Puck, Dani, and Rachel all chimed in, smirking.
"Oh," he said, turning pink. "Sorry about that."
"S'okay, teacher-man." Dani raised her arms up and dropped to the floor, leaving Puck with just the backpack. She grabbed Rachel's hand and said, "Come sit with me!" They went to sit in the back next to Mike, with Dani on Rachel's lap.
Artie frowned. "Wow. Dani makes friends fast," he muttered in confusion.
"Actually, Rachel watches me after school a lot," the little girl said, starting a game of rock, paper, scissors with Mike.
"Like a baby-sitter?" Mercedes asked, eyebrows shooting upward.
Dani wrinkled her nose. "Gross. I'm not a baby." Her rock beat his scissors. "Yeah! Again!" she cried happily as they started another game.
"I'll beat you this time, Tiny-Puck," Mike muttered dramatically.
"Basically, yes," Rachel said curtly while ignoring the two's antics.
Suspicious glances were cast between Rachel and Puck as he walked across the room and threw the small blue and purple backpack into the corner of the room.
"Don't let your imaginations run wild," Puck said flatly as he took the seat next to Rachel.
Kurt turned around in his seat to face Puck and Rachel. "And how long has this been going on?" he asked, eyebrow raised elegantly. He leaned forward slightly, curious and needy for some juicy gossip.
Puck shrugged. "I dunno. A few weeks?"
Rachel nodded. "That seems about right," she said lightly.
More raised eyebrows and low murmurs as Puck deliberately chose to ignore everything and Rachel focused her attention on brushing Dani's hair with her fingers while smiling at her and Mike.
"Ha! In your face!" Mike snickered, as his paper covered Dani's rock.
"Two out of three, Chang! Two out of three!" Dani muttered darkly, eyes narrowing into slits.
"Winner takes all," the Asian muttered, nodding dramatically.
Dani blinked in confusion. "Takes what?"
He paused. "I dunno," he finally said, shrugging.
They both raised their fists for one last battle before they tied as Mr. Schue cleared his throat and all attention was on the man with the curly hair at the front of the room. "Right!" he said, clapping once. "Enough distractions. Let's get to it!"
"That was so cool!" Dani gushed while leaving the choir room. She was sitting on top of Mike's shoulders, waving her arms around wildly. "Your voices sounded so good!"
Mike grinned. "Thanks, Tiny-Puck!"
Puck and Rachel, who were walking side by side in front of Mike and Dani. "Aw, thanks, Dani," Rachel said over her shoulder, smiling brightly. "It was cute when you tried to join in. But I suppose it was for the best when Mr. Schue politely asked you to just sit and watch instead of actually participating," she added apologetically. She turned to Puck and frowned. "Why do you look…well, you look angry half the time on a normal day, but what's wrong now?"
"Santana thinks I'm fucking you," he growled quietly so his sister and friend wouldn't hear.
Rachel's eyes widened in alarm. "Excuse me?" she squeaked.
Puck rolled his eyes. "She doesn't buy the whole 'baby-sitting act'. That's what she said, anyway."
She worried her bottom lip as her eyebrows furrowed. "Well, don't let what Santana says or thinks bother you. It's not worth it," she said firmly.
"I know that," he muttered, shrugging a single shoulder. "It's still fucking annoying, though."
She sighed and patted his arm consolingly. "It's okay, Noah. We both know that that would never happen, and that's what really matters; not what someone else thinks."
"I guess," he said sullenly.
Rachel smiled tentatively before turned around to see Mike and Dani pulling faces at each other. With a giggle, she said, "Aren't they cute?"
Without looking back, Puck said in a flat, dead tone, "Fucking adorable."
She rolled her eyes but said, "No need to be sarcastic."
"Dani's still an evil, midget-sized brat and Chang's just…super weird…and mentally, he's like a three year old," he said, shrugging.
"I suppose," Rachel murmured lightly.
They started walking in silence, not knowing the intense scrutiny they were under.
"Mikey—"
"Don't call me 'Mikey'. I'm not five," Mike whined.
Rolling her eyes, she huffed, "Fine. Mike, look at 'em." She pointed ahead and put her elbow on his head as she put her chin in her hand.
"Ow. You've got a pointy elbow," he muttered.
"Shush."
Mike blinked as he watched Rachel laughing at something Puck said. She shook her head and then immediately looked guilty afterwards; as if she shouldn't have laughed but had anyway. Puck smirked, and said something, probably making fun of her for laughing, that made her look even guiltier as she blushed. Then she said something that made Puck shake his head but widen his smirk.
Mike sighed. "They're so into each other."
"We need to do something," she muttered dramatically, squinting at the pair in front of her.
"Like what?"
She pursed her lips and thought for a few moments. Leaning down to whisper mischievously in his ear, she said slowly, "I think I've got a plan."
"Dude. I want in."