Friends With Benefits
A Glee Fan Fiction
Chapter 36
A/N: I get it-you guys aren't happy with the way the story is going. Well, as I've said before because of my hate-reviews, sometimes, I just start writing and I don't know what's about to happen-the words just come without my control. I'm sorry if you don't like it-I probably wouldn't either if I was just a reader, but if you're upset with the plot line, it's going to get better, I promise. Just stick with me here.

"We need to talk," Puck sighed as he glanced up at the scrawny boy who had approached him, an angry hint to his voice. Kurt Hummel was standing before him with his arms crossed and a glare on his face to match the scowl that his mouth had formed. "And I know we aren't friends and all that, but it's about Rachel, and I know that you care about her," He said.

Just as Kurt had assumed, that did grab Puck's attention. He studied Kurt, raising his eyebrows and nodding for him to continue. Kurt slid into a seat across from Puck in the cafeteria-after Puck had made his date with Brittany, he'd left her to go and sit by himself in a back corner table, where he could freely watch every move Rachel made so he could see exactly what was going on between her and Finn-because even if she wanted them to act as if they'd never been together-he would never stop being jealous of her. After all, the slushies had begun because he hadn't wanted a single person to be able to date her. Apparently, though, that plan had backfired, because nobody seemed to care that Rachel had once been marked a loser in such an obvious and cruel way.

"What about her?" He wondered, leaning back on the two back legs of his chair and crossing his arms.

"She didn't break up with you because you were talking about how no guy could just be friends with a girl, without having perverted thoughts. She broke up with you because she was afraid," Kurt blurted.

"Afraid? What the hell was she afraid of?" Puck asked, raising his eyebrows as he propped forward, leaning forward against the table as he looked at Kurt suspiciously. "And why are you helping me? I was a jerk to you, and I've been a jerk to Rachel since the break-up. So why are you helping me?" He wondered, trying to figure out why anybody would help him without some sort of ulterior motive. After all, he was Noah Puckerman-the school's jerk and the idiot who had broken Rachel Berry's heart of gold on her first real run in the dating world, and nobody would ever let him forget that.

"Unlike you, I'm not all bad and I don't only look for the bad in people-and don't say that's a lie, because you've done with with every single person in this school since day one, even Rachel. You've just had a harder time finding her faults-but she has many, and I'll give you a well organized list if the need ever arises for that," Kurt answered briskly. "But, she was afraid of how strongly she felt about you. Rachel's a young, naive girl who believes in fairytales-and she was afraid of you being her prince," Kurt explained.

"She was afraid of me? What, did she think I was going to hurt her? She knows I'd never do that! I love her!" Puck announced, shock filling his face as he stared at the scrawny boy sitting across from him. "And if she's afraid...well...what can I do to fix it?" He asked Kurt, his voice soft.

"That's exactly what she's afraid of-how much she loves you. She's afraid that you're not everything she's built you up to be in her head, and she's afraid that you don't feel the same way about her, which is absolutely ridiculous, because we all can tell how into her you are. After all, you have a special Rachel look and an even more special Rachel smile-don't deny it and don't get all embarrassed-it's one hundred percent true and you know it!" Kurt said.

"I wasn't going to deny it, Hummel-I love her, and I'm not afraid to admit it. And I'd rather die than hurt her. It's been the worst months of my life since we broke up. It's been exactly five months, today, since the last time she's been my girlfriend. Five months and a day since the last time we've kissed and five months and-"

"I don't want to hear about your sex life with Rachel," Kurt cut him off.

"You know, you sort of grow on people, Hummel," Puck told him, finding himself chuckling at how very red Kurt's face got, no matter how aloof he tried to remain when stopping Puck from talking about his sex life.

"Yeah, well, you do too, I guess-then again, so does cancer," Kurt shrugged. "Oh, but, by the way-just a little helpful advice-if you want Rachel back, you probably shouldn't meet up with Brittany tonight," He warned, pushing his chair back and about to stand up to leave Puck alone, once again.

"When I said I'd hit that...well, I meant with my truck," Puck rolled his eyes. "Now, what am I supposed to do to convince her that I'm not going to hurt her?" Puck asked.

"Dude, we're talking about Rachel here-what the hell do you think you're supposed to do to make her listen?" Kurt asked, shaking his head as he walked away, allowing realization to dawn on Puck after a few moments thought.

"Damn, I'm an idiot," He said, shaking his head.

"Rachel, I need to talk to you," Puck said, entering the choir room during her free period. She was alone in there, sitting at the piano and tapping a few notes repeatedly, as if trying to come up with some song that she knew, but not well enough to play the whole thing by heart.

"I don't mind you talking so much, as long as you don't mind me not listening," She smirked at him as he took a seat besides her on the piano bench. She moved farther away from him, shaking her head as she stared at him in disgust.

"It's really important-it's about us," He told her.

Rachel turned and stared at him in disbelief. "I have to admit-I'm a little impressed. I've never me such a small mind inside such a big head before," She said, shaking her head. "There is no us anymore. We broke up, alright? We broke up because you think you're always right and you know what everyone's like, just because that's what you were-and are-like. Well, some guys have class and matters. Not every guy in the world is a total pervert, alright, Puckerman? And I hate to admit that I was actually starting to really, absolutely fall in love with you, because now I know that I was only setting myself up for heartbreak and disaster!" She said in that Rachel Berry rant type of way that he found one hundred percent adorable.

"Okay, so I get that you don't want to talk to me, and that's okay-I understand and I accept that. But I know a way that you will listen to me, because it's just wired into you to watch and listen whenever anybody's performing, especially when it's meant and dedicated to you," He told her, standing up and grabbing his guitar from where he stored it in the choir room. "So, I got a song all ready for you," He smiled as he started to strum the notes.

"I am insensitive, I have a tendency to pay more attention to the things that I need/Sometimes I drink too much, sometimes I test your trust/Sometimes I don't know why you're staying with me/I'm hard to love, hard to love/I don't make it easy/I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood/I'm hard to love, hard to love/You say that you need me/I don't deserve it, but I love that you love me good," He sang, strumming the guitar as he walked around the piano so that he could stand right in front of her, looking down at her as he played each note and sang along.

"I am a short fuse, I am a wrecking ball/Crashing into your heart like I do/You're like a Sunday morning full of grace and full of Jesus/I wish that I could be more like you/I'm hard to love, hard to love/I don't make it easy/I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood/I'm hard to love, hard to love/You say that you need me/I don't deserve it but I love that you love me good-love me good," Rachel rolled her eyes and stood up, about to walk away as he began that second verse, but he followed right along with her, not leaving her side, even as she entered the hallway and started walking towards her locker. He kept on playing and he kept on singing. He didn't care what anybody said and he didn't care what Mike or Sam or Artie would do to him. All that he could remember or think about were Kurt's guarantees that Rachel did, in fact, still love him.

"Give you've given me a million second chances/And I don't ever wanna take you for granted/I'm just a man-I'm just a man/Hard to love, hard to love/Oh, I don't make it easy/And I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood/I'm hard to love, hard to love/And you say that you need me/I don't deserve it but I love that you love me good/Hard to love, hard to love/Oh I don't make it easy/And I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood/I'm hard to love, hard to love/You say that you need me/I don't deserve it but I love that you love me good/You love me good," He finished the song, looking up at her with a small, sad smile on his face and eyes full of a sad type of honesty she rarely ever saw from him.

"Meet me in the auditorium after glee, today, alright? We'll talk then-but don't mention it to anybody," She hissed before turning around and running off.

Puck didn't care where she was going. He was one step closer to get his girl back, and that was all that mattered to him. And, just in case she didn't want to listen to his words, he had another song up his sleeve, all ready to serenade her with in order to win her back. Because that was all he really cared about.

Rachel Berry had her solo for the first day of Glee all picked out. She'd been working on it all summer. And now, she was all set to perform it. She grinned at Mercedes before squeeze Sam's hand. She turned around and winked at Finn before standing up and breezing by Quinn and Santana. She tapped Artie's shoulder gently as she walked by, giving Mike a thumbs up as she stood in the center of the room, smiling reassuringly at Tina, before embracing the warm smile Kurt had flashed at her. And then she shared a small little look with Puck as the music began and she started to sing.

"They all lives happily, happily, happily ever after/The couple is happily leaving the chapel, eternally tied/As the curtain descends there is nothing but loving and laughter/When the fairy tale ends, the heroine's always a bride/Ella the girl of the cinders/Did the wash and the walls and the winders/But she landed a prince who was brawny and blue eyed and blonde/Still I honestly doubt that she could have ever done it without that/Crazy lady with the wand," She began, leaning against the piano with her thin in the palm of the hand. As she finished that part, though she pushed off it before crying in outrage, "Cinderella had outside help!" And then she resumed singing, each note perfect and flawless.

"I've got no one but me/Fairy godmother-godmother-godmother, where can you be? I haven't god a fairy god mother/I haven't got a godmother/I have a mother-a plain, ordinary woman/Snow white was so pretty they tell us, that the queen was insulted and jealous/When the mirror declared that Snow White was the fairest of all/She was dumped on the border/But was saved by some men who adored her/Oh I grant you they were small/But there were seven of them-practically a regiment/I'm alone in the night/By myself not a dwarf not an eld, not a goblin in sight!" She continued to sing, pacing the area in front of her fellow glee club members as she sang, before stopping and crossing her arms, pouting as she spoke. "That girl had seven little men working day and night, just for her," and then she went back to her song.

"Oh sure the queen gave her a poisoned apple-even so/ She lived happily, happily, happily ever after/A magical kiss counteracted the apple eventually/Though I know I'm not clever, I'll do what they tell me I hafta/I want some happily ever after to happen to me/ Rapunzel had platinum tressed/That were double the length of her dresses/She was kept in a tower for years by a wicked old witch/ Til one night in despair down/She scrambled by letting her hair down/That's what I call quite a switch," She continued to sing, stopping a yanking at a strand of hair as she spoke. "I wonder...no-it'll never hold," She shook her head as she quickly got back into character and resumed her solo.

"I'll be finished before I begin, and besides/ I don't want to get out-I want to get in! I want to live happily, happily, happily ever after/I want to walk happily out of the chapel eternally tied/For I know I'll never life happily ever after til after-I'm a bride/Then I'll be happily, happy-yes happily happy/And thoroughly satisfied!" She finished the song with a cross of her arms and smirk-a secretive wink aimed right at Puck who smiled back.

And then she was greeted by the familiar sound of applause that she hadn't heard in months.