Hello everyone! Enjoy!

Chapter 6

The next morning, Puck woke up with a splitting headache. He couldn't remember much of the previous night which he certainly didn't mind. He knew that whenever he got drunk like that, it was for a good reason. It usually meant something happened that he didn't want to remember so he drank enough to forget.

Puck felt his head ache even more when his cell phone started ringing. He groaned before finding it and answering. "What?"

"Well good morning to you too," his mother said on the other end. "You're hungover, aren't you?"

"Maybe why?"

"I wanted to come by and check on you to make sure you were alright with processing everything you found out last night. But judging by the fact that you're hungover I'd say you're not doing a very good job."

Bits and pieces from last night came into Puck's mind. When he remembered his father's announcement, he frowned. "Well how else am I supposed to feel with finding out that my father is some king of some made-up country and that my mother lied to me about it my whole life."

Maria sighed. "Just let me in and I'll explain everything."

He rolled his eyes at the fact that his mother was already there before buzzing her in. After a moment, she walked in with Sara behind her. Immediately, Sara ran over to Puck and hugged him.

"She insisted on coming to make sure you were okay," Maria explained.

He looked at his sister. "I told you I'm fine."

"I'm no expert but I don't think hungover means you're fine," Sara replied.

He smirked. "Hey sometimes being hungover means that you just had a really great night."

"Noah," Maria reprimanded. "That is not a good thing to teach your sister. She's only eleven."

"Hey she might as well learn now."

"We need to talk about what happened last night."

"What happened was that I found out you lied to me my whole life. I mean did it ever occur to you that I might want to know where my father was?"

She nodded. "I know and you have every right to be upset. But you were so young at the time, you wouldn't have understood. And the last thing I wanted was for you to be raised in the kind of environment your father was raised in. His mother wasn't a nice woman and she would've made everything ten times harder. Being a prince at that age would've been too much for you, especially given how rambunctious you were."

"So you just kept it a secret and let him leave us behind."

"Noah even if his father hadn't died, James still would've left. I'm not royal and his mother wasn't too fond of the fact that we were together let alone had a child. I wasn't good enough and the fact that I refused to raise you in Meldovia made it that much easier for him to leave."

Puck shook his head in frustration. Hearing all of this made last night real and he wasn't sure if he could handle it becoming real. "If you wanted me to have a normal life, why are you telling me now?"

"Your father refuses to have any more children," she shrugged. "Despite his mother's beliefs and disapproval, he claims it wouldn't be fair to you, even if it was for the good of the country. Apparently, he had a vasectomy some time ago. Because of that, you're the sole heir to the crown and someone needs to be prepared to take over one day."

"Honestly, I would've rather him had another kid," he muttered as he sat on the couch. "I'm not going to just pick up and go to some country I had no idea existed until yesterday. I have a life here."

"I'm not expecting you to. I told your father the decision is completely up to you. You can refuse the crown and continue with your regular life. The country will just be left without a ruler but that wouldn't be your problem."

Puck went silent for a moment before looking at Maria. "What do you think I should do?"

She thought for a moment. "I think you should do whatever you feel is right for you. But I also think that you should talk with your father first before deciding anything. He can answer any questions you have better than I can."

He sighed and nodded. As much as he hated it, he needed to talk to James about everything. Even if it was going to make him angry enough to spit to talk to the man who left him years ago.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After his hangover was taken care of, Puck went to meet James at the hotel he was staying at. He told himself not to let his father get him worked up but he knew it was going to be easier said than done. James was the one sore spot for him growing up and he hated that it's still the case at twenty-one years old.

When he found his father at a table in the hotel restaurant, Puck took a deep breath before walking over to him.

James smiled when he noticed Puck. "Hey you made it."

"Well you dropped a bomb on me yesterday," he said, sitting across from him. "I deserve some kind of answer."

"You're right, you do. I want to answer any question or concern you have."

"Why didn't you take me with you? You just left with no second thoughts or anything."

"I did have second thoughts. I wanted to bring you with me but your mother insisted that Meldovia was no place for either of you and she was right. My mother was not very thrilled about my having a child out of wedlock and I was forced to make a choice between you and your mother and the throne."

"And like any good parent you basically said fuck us," he glared. "You chose them over us. Over me. Mom was right, you would've left even if your dad didn't die."

James frowned. "Eventually I would've had to. Your mother refused to come and she refused to let me take you by myself. As much as I didn't want to, I had no other choice but to leave."

"So why tell me some bullshit lie that you would start spending more time with me if you were just going to leave?"

"Spending time with you was always in the plan. But becoming king had me busier than I expected and by the time I truly got the hang of things, too much time had passed for me to come back like nothing happened."

"And yet that's exactly what you choose to do now."

"Because the time has come for you to become part of Meldovia. I will not be around forever and you're at an age where you need to become educated on the ways of the country."

Puck sat back in his chair. "So you expect me to leave my whole life. My mom, Greg, my sister, my friends for you?"

"I wouldn't think of it to be for me. I would think of it to be for a country of people needing your leadership. Look I know I have no right to ask this. But I want to make up for not being there all this time."

"Yeah a good way of doing that would be a car or a house. Not a country," he said before getting up. "Find someone else."

"Noah," James called as Puck walked away but Puck kept walking. He had heard enough and he wasn't about to sit around and listen to anything else James had to say. He just wanted to go back to his life before his father interrupted it.

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As he played basketball with Mike and Finn later that day, Puck couldn't stop thinking about what James was asking of him. He hated the thought of helping his dad but he also knew that his decision to not take the throne wouldn't just affect him but it would also affect an entire kingdom.

"So you're really not going to do it?" Mike asked bringing him out of his thoughts.

"No I'm not doing it," Puck replied. "It's insane."

Finn shook his head. "But you've been wanting to see your dad since he left. Now you would actually be around him a lot more and you'd be helping him."

"I stopped wanting to see that man a long time ago. Besides he's the one that left, why do I have to do him a favor? And why are you trying to get me to agree to it?"

"Come on, you're acting like there aren't perks to being a prince. The big thing would be the princesses lined up for you," the taller man smirked.

"That's about the only perk."

"No it's not," Mike said. "For as long as we've known each other, you've always wanted to do something with your life so you don't end up like the loser everyone thought you'd be. Now you have the chance to be that person."

"By becoming prince of a country I never heard of?" Puck raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn't matter. You'd be in a position of power. You would have the power to make a difference. Who wouldn't want that?"

"Except to do it I'd have to leave everything behind. That includes you guys and my family."

"We can always come visit. If you're not going to do this for your dad, do it for yourself. Make this into something you want."

He sighed. Mike was saying everything he knew made sense. As much as he hated his dad for leaving, part of him knew he should at least try it to see if he could do it.

"So do we have a place to vacation to?" Finn smirked.

"Yeah I guess you do. Unless I kick your ass in this game," he replied, making a basket.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'll come back with you," Puck told James the next day.

His father's jaw dropped. "Really? What changed your mind?"

He paused. "I've been to juvie before. Did you know that?"

"No I didn't. For what?"

"Theft," Puck shrugged. "I was stupid and thought I was cool but I was really just an idiot. After that everyone always thought I wouldn't end up anywhere in life. None of them thought I'd graduate high school but I proved them wrong. I want to keep proving them wrong and if that means accepting this responsibility then I'll do it."

"Wow. I don't know what to say except for thank you."

"I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for me. I may be going back with you but that doesn't mean I'm suddenly welcoming you back in my life with open arms. As far as I'm concerned, you're still the father who abandoned me. That's not going to change."

James frowned at this. He really wanted to reconnect with his son but clearly they were going to have to work their way to that. While he wanted to fight him on this, instead he nodded. "Okay deal."

Looks like Puck is going to Meldovia. Next chapter he meets Rachel in an interesting way. Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)