A/N: So, while trying to inspire myself for this chapter, I re-read through the entire story up 'til last chapter. (And of course noticed every little mistake and contradiction) and then when that didn't work, I went through and read all the reviews. That, did work. I can't thank everyone enough for the continued support and patience as I slowly type out Blaine and Puck's story here. That's what really makes me want to continue writing this randomness, even when I'm ready to throw in the towel due to writer's block. Some of you (you know who you are) have been incrediblysupportive in your reviews or for a very few of you, in our PMs. So I would like to take a second and be ultra-cheesy and thank the following people: (I hope I spell everyone's usernames correctly) PmYuna, Southern Hemmy, .Vita . Amore. Riso, damonia cassandra, EagleGirl1202, Frelise, PoliVamp, PCJC24, SimplyHappy. I think that's all of you, if I forgot someone, I am sincerely sorry. Also, thank you to all who have favorite and alerted, as well. Always appreciated.
P.S. Don't worry, this story is nowhere near done, since I know that may make it sound like it's coming to a close soon. And I still have a few surprises and turns up my sleeve. Trust me, Blaine got a phone for a reason, there's someone I want to contact him because I want to write them into the story in an unforeseeable way and completely out of character. Now…onto Chapter 29, yes?
"Everything okay in there, Noah?" Will questioned, as Puck came immediately back into the room. Unfortunately, they'd all heard Blaine's outburst, and after several minutes of silence from the kitchen, Will had suggested Noah go make sure everything was okay.
"What? Oh, yeah. Fine. They're just, um, y'know, talking," Puck said in a rush.
"Okay," Will said slowly, giving Puck a strange look, but letting the subject drop.
Blaine hobbled in a few minutes later, and gave a small wave, while stealthily avoiding eye contact with Puck. "I'm gonna hit the sack, I'm beat," He told everyone, turning around as fast as his injuries and the crutches would allow him, and made a hasty retreat into the safety of his Puck-free room.
He stripped back down to his boxers, wincing every time he moved, and was about to get into bed under the covers, when there was a knock at the door followed by the creak of it opening.
"Hey, Schue asked me to deliver bedtime medica-," Puck stopped in his tracks, thrown off by seeing Blaine practically naked for the second time that night. "Shit, sorry. Uh, here," he threw a handful of pills on the bed. "Painkillers, anti-depressants, sleeping pills, and some sort of pill that helps suppress dreams and nightmares for the PTSD," He gave a rushed out explanation of what they were, before bolting back out of the room calling, "Night!" Over his shoulder.
"Thanks, Kurt. 'Cause things weren't already awkward enough around here," Blaine grumbled under his breath, sitting on his bed and twisting open the cap to a bottle of water. Even something as simple as that was proving difficult right now. Everything hurt, and he wasn't used to doing everyday tasks with his left hand. He was insanely jealous of Lefties and ambidextrous people right now.
After fumbling for a few seconds he managed to get the water open, and swallowed a mouthful of it combined with a handful of pills. Setting the bottle back on his nightstand, he crawled under the covers and was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.
"Noah, can I talk to you a second before I go?" Kurt bombarded Puck the second he stepped out of the bedroom.
Puck sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Fine. Outside," He hissed, heading towards the front porch without giving Kurt a chance to respond.
Kurt rolled his eyes and followed Puck outside, coughing delicately in response to the cigarette Puck was puffing away on angrily.
Now it was Puck's turn to roll his eyes as he fixed Kurt with a glare. "What? Haven't done enough damage for the night?"
"Well excuse me, but are you seriously trying to deny that there's…something…going on there?"
"Yeah. 'Cause there ain't."
"Bullshit, Noah. Maybe everyone else is too dense to notice it, but either something happened or someone said something, or-."
"Nothing happened," Puck vehemently denied through clenched teeth.
"Something happened," Kurt countered, placing one hand on his hip, and attempting to stare Puck down.
And that's exactly how everyone found them, in the middle of some weird, staring contest, when the door opened and everyone came out onto the porch.
"Are we interrupting something?" Santana asked, raising her eyebrows.
"No," They both chorused immediately, but the annoyance that was evident in both boy's voices made it sound a lot more like 'yes'.
"O-o-okay," Santana replied. "Well, we're all heading home, I'll talk to you tomorrow, Puck," She placed a quick kiss on his cheek as her and Brittany headed towards their car.
Everyone said their goodbyes quickly, sensing the tension, and Finn told Kurt, "Rachel and I will be in the car when you're ready," Before the pair scurried off.
"I'll leave the back door open," Will told Puck, as he went in the house, flicking the porch light on as he went.
Puck flicked his cigarette into the front yard, turning back around to face Kurt again. In a tired voice he pleaded, "Look for once, can you just stay the fuck out of something that doesn't concern you?"
"It does concern me, Noah. Blaine's my best friend, and he's been through hell and back recently. And now, what? You've decided you have a boy-crush? Last I checked, you were both pretty adamant about being straight. Not to mention you're, well…," Kurt trailed off when he saw the barely concealed rage in Noah's eyes.
"Not to mention I'm what?" Puck asked menacingly, daring Kurt with his eyes to finish the sentence.
"Nothing. Never mind. Just think with the head attached to your neck for once, okay? I don't want to see Blaine hurt again. And I don't really care to see you hurt, either. I'm going to go out on a limb here and make the assumption that while nothing has happened yet, you're both having some feelings you aren't entirely comfortable with. So just keep in mind, I've been there. I consider you just as much a friend as I do Blaine, differences aside. So if you find yourself needing to talk to someone, once you decide to be honest with yourself, that is, you have my number." Kurt studied Noah for a second, before shaking his head somewhat sadly, and heading towards the car where Finn and Rachel were making out (Gross.) without another word and without giving Noah time to process and reply.
Puck watched Kurt leave, and then sat on the top step, leaning against the white vinyl siding of the house. "Dammit," He cursed out loud to himself. Was it really that noticeable that Kurt was picking up on it? He was pretty sure that meant he had no hope of hiding his confusing feeling from anyone else, then. Which also meant that Blaine had probably picked up on it. Of course, now that he thought about it, Blaine had seemed just as embarrassed by what Kurt had said. And Kurt had said the tension was between them, not just one-sided. So, did that mean Blaine was having the same conflicting feelings he himself was harboring at the moment?
He was entirely too tired from the day to concentrate on all this, but he was also wanting to make sure Blaine was completely asleep before he went in to the room. He just wasn't sure he could face him right now.
The screen door whined, and Puck turned around to see Mr. Schue sticking his head out it.
"Noah, I'm about to head to bed. You coming in?"
"Yeah," Puck sighed, rising from his seat on the steps, and following his teacher into the kitchen.
"Good night Noah," Will smiled at his student, wondering yet again what exactly had transpired in the kitchen to change everyone's attitudes so drastically in a matter of seconds.
"Night," Puck muttered a reply, opening up the fridge and grabbing a cold piece of pizza which he began to thoughtfully chew on.
Puck took as long as humanly possible, showering, brushing his teeth, shaving, hell he even flossed. When he could finally put it off no longer he headed toward the bedroom, sending up a silent request that Blaine was out and would stay that way all night.
He opened up the door as quietly as possible, and stuck his head in, whispering "Blaine," as he did so. He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding when there was no reply, and snuck the rest of the way into the room and to his bed on the far side. He stopped at the foot of the bed, and relaxed when he heard the even breathing coming from the bed next to his, signaling his roommate was out cold.
Stealthily, Puck stripped down to his boxers and climbed in between his sheets. He was just starting to fall asleep, his mind in that weird, half-asleep mode where you can hear things going on around you but can't move or respond, when Blaine began to stir.
It started out seemingly harmless, as if he was just readjusting his body, trying to get comfortable. A slight moan escaped his lips, though, and it certainly wasn't one of pleasure. Puck could feel his brain trying to rouse him, but his body was intent on fighting waking up completely tooth and nail. So by the time Puck was able to pry his eyes open and fumble out of bed, Blaine was in a full on flashback, tossing and turning in ways that made Puck have no doubt his body would feel it come morning.
Rubbing his eyes, Puck stumbled through the dark until he was by Blaine's bed. "Blaine," He whispered, placing a hand on the other boys shoulder. "Blaine!" He repeated louder, when he showed no signs of waking.
"No, please, I'm sorry, please," Blaine pleaded, jerking away from the hand on him that he thought belonged to Jimmy.
"Blaine! Wake up! Snap out of it!" Puck gripped his shoulder harder, and shook as gently as he could.
Blaine's eyes slowly opened, but it didn't seem to pull him out of it. He looked right at Puck, and in the faint moonlight that shone through the window, Puck could see it in Blaine's eyes that he wasn't seeing Puck for Puck. Slowly backing off, and raising his hands in mock surrender, Puck began to speak in a soothing tone to the other boy.
"Blaine, it's me, it's Puck. Whatever you think you're seeing right now isn't real. I'm real. Me. Noah Puckerman." He waited a minute and the only response he got was a slight whimper and shake of the head, as Blaine slowly sat up and scooted farther away, placing more space between the teens. "Blaine?" Puck questioned softly.
"P-puck?" Blaine said, sounding unsure, as if he was trying out saying a new word in an unfamiliar language for the first time.
"Yeah, Blaine, I'm right here. It's me, Puck," He took a tentative step toward Blaine. Then another and another, until he was right next to his bed again.
Blaine continued to stare at him, biting his lip, and Puck stood still again until he could see he recognition slowly begin to dawn in Blaine's eyes. He waited another minute until he was sure Blaine was seeing him for him, and then he reached his hand out ever so slowly again until it was resting on Blaine's hand which was clenching the sheet cover.
Puck felt a spark of electricity as he gently squeezed Blaine's hand, and tried not to think too much about what it meant. Blaine's hand underneath his trembled ever so slightly, but released it's death grip on the sheet, and they stayed like that, Puck towering over Blaine, his hand on top of the other boys for quite some time.
The trembling slowed until it stopped completely, and Blaine's ragged breathing began to even out once again, the fear and terror gone from his eyes. Out of nowhere, Blaine turned his hand, so that the boys were touching palm to palm, and then gripped it into a hand hold, tugging Puck towards the bed.
At least that was what Puck hoped he was trying to convey, because Puck's body had begun to climb into bed with the other boy without his brain's consent. Puck settled down next to Blaine, and in a synchronized motion, as if they had done it a million times, as if their bodies were used to each other's, Blaine curled up into Pucks open arms, and Puck arms circled around Blaine, pulling him in close.
As Blaine began to completely wake from the foggy haze of his flashback, he started to notice that right there, laying in a bed next to Puck, in his arms, he felt like he'd finally found the home he'd been searching for his whole life. He didn't care how little he knew about the guy holding him, only that nothing had ever felt more right in his life.
For the second night in a row, Blaine and Puck lay in the same, small bed together. Every time Blaine began to tremble or get fitful, Puck was right there, calming him with a soft voice, brushing his thumb along the back of Blaine's good hand, reminding him where he was, keeping him grounded.
In the early dawn, Blaine turned around as best he could, pressing his face into Puck's chest, and Puck could feel the moisture from recently shed tears making a slow sideways trail down his chest.
"Shhh," Puck said gently, tightening his grip on Blaine as tight as he could without causing him pain. "You're safe now. No one's ever going to hurt you again. I promise."
Blaine drew in a tattered breath and spoke against Puck's chest. "What does this mean?"
Puck didn't need to ask Blaine to elaborate on the question. He knew exactly what Blaine was getting at.
"I don't know, and right now I don't care. All I know is you need me, I want to be here for you, and it feels right holding you in the night," Puck gave an answer more honest than he'd even admitted to himself before that point.
Without thinking about his next move, Puck placed a gentle kiss on the mop of curly hair under his chin. Blaine's only response was to try and move even closer towards the body he was pressed against, snuggling into Puck and falling into a deep sleep, feeling completely safe and secure for only the second time in his life.
A/N: Ick, fluff. I hate writing fluff and I suck at it. But I hope those of you who have been pushing for more fluff between the boys are satisfied, because I miss my angsty goodness. But don't fret, I promise I'll continue to throw little fluffy bits of cotton candy sweetness in here and there.
