A/N: Well, I hope you were as all blown away by the superbowl Glee episode as I was. I mean they did a fantastic job of "Thriller" and "She's Not There", and Rachel and Puck's version of "Need You Now", OMG. Of course, they had to ruin it by throwing in the bit about Rachel trying to get Finn back. But we can't deny the moment they had when singing it. Or on the football field. SO HAHA. Puckleberry lives on! And without further ado,

Thank you to my wonderful reviewers,

Also, as another note, sorry if the people that have favourited my story are getting a bunch of emails. I've made a couple minor edits to chapter two, so I've had to do some swapping stuff out and all that jazz. Sorry to raise false hopes. This chapter is for real.

And onto the next chapter.

Fake It Until You Make It

Rachel opened her eyes and let out a low groan when she did such. Her head was pounding; it felt like there were little dancers stomping around in her brain. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"Ah, you're up," a familiar voice whispered from across the room.

"What the hell am I doing here?" Rachel whispered from the bed, covering her face with her hands.

"You would be the type to take me home and take advantage of me," She growled.

"Whoa Berry, do you even know what you're talking about?" Puck asked, shaking his head.

"Oh really? This sounds so typical. You were probably out with Finn. Then you came across me, I collapsed on your shoulder, drunk, and you took me home and fucked me," Rachel said.

"No wait, that's wrong. You took me to a hotel and fucked me, because you don't even own a fucking house," Rachel snapped, attempting to sit up.

"Rachel, really. I may have sex on a regular basis, but I would never, NEVER rape a girl!" Puck snapped.

"And for your information, this is my fucking apartment!"

"Lower your voice," Rachel said, flailing her arm in his direction.

"I'm sorry, I'm out of line in saying that," she groaned.

"Damn right you are," Puck snapped, pushing himself off the doorframe and approaching the prone female.

"I brought you—" Puck trailed off.

"Noah, do you have food?" Rachel asked, her hand flying to her mouth as the smell reached her from across the room. Bile rose in her throat.

"Whoa Berry, you going to be okay?" Puck asked, looking with concern at the female. The brunette shook her head and struggled out of the bed, running through the bathroom door and throwing herself over the toilet. Puck shook his head. The throwing up was the worst part of being absolutely drunk. That and the horrible hangovers. He placed the food on the floor and entered the bathroom, kneeling beside the retching girl and gathering her hair at the nape of her neck with one hand and rubbing her back with the other.

"Go," Rachel said, flailing her arm in the direction of the door.

"Not happening," Puck said with a chuckle. Rachel retched another time, before taking a deep breath.

"I think I should be alright now," She said, sitting up.

"You sure?" Puck asked, his eyes fixing on Rachel's.

"Yeah. Do you have a toothbrush and toothpaste?" She asked, making a face. Puck nodded and stood up to go back into his room, digging around his duffel bag for his spare package of toothbrushes.

"And Advil?" Rachel groaned from the bathroom.

"I'm not a woman Berry, I don't own Advil, I have no use for it," Puck said, tossing the female the toothbrush.

Rachel took a long look at the man in front of her while she brushed her teeth. He had grown up, that much was obvious. His face wasn't so young anymore, and the infernal mohawk he had once grown didn't exist, instead, his hair was extremely short, a look that Rachel found more attractive. His dark eyes were on her, concerned, swimming with some unknown emotion. His body was muscular, more so now than when they were in high school. If he thought he was badass then, he looked more badass now. The girl shook her head with a tiny smile before spitting the toothpaste foam in the sink.

"How much did I drink last night?" She groaned as she gulped a mouthful of cold water from the sink.

"You might want to call Santana and ask her, I was only there for the last ten minutes of the evening when you flipped the bartender off for not serving you anymore alcohol," Puck said with a short laugh.

"Really?" Rachel said, her hand flying up to cover her eyes.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. But why did you take me home?" She asked, collapsing back on the bed.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before Berry, and I took you home because you weren't speaking intelligently, so I wasn't able to understand your speaking," Puck said, placing the bag of food on the bedside table.

"Do you want to eat?" He asked the girl

"What is it?" She asked, eyeing the bag with distrust

"I don't know, some vegan crap that I picked up from a store around here. Some sort of warm veggie type wrap thing," Puck said. Rachel smiled

"Awww, you actually cared!" She crooned.

"Well, lets see, I've got a hung-over Broadway star in my bed, I've got to feed you somehow, and I think you'd be adverse to having eggs, especially since that Jesse St. James incident," Puck said, Rachel laughed.

"And here I had almost forgotten about that! Now hand me the food and no one gets hurt," She said.

Rachel was surprised at how easy it was to bond with Noah. It was weird, she hadn't seen him in years, and now they were sitting like old friends. She knew it wouldn't last long; he was humouring her while she wasn't feeling well, and he would go back to being his perverted self. Plus he was still a womanizer. Once a player, always a player, that's what Santana always told her.

"What time is it?" Rachel asked Puck. The man glanced at his cell phone.

"Twelve o'clock," he said

"Oh shit! I've got to get home, my movers are coming soon," Rachel said, jolting out of the bed and slipping her feet into her shoes.

"What do you mean?" Puck asked

"I'm moving into a new apartment today," she said, grabbing her purse from the nightstand and flying out of the bedroom door. Puck followed her as she skidded to a halt, looking around the living room of the apartment. She whirled to face the man,

"What the hell are you doing in my apartment?" She snapped, glaring at him.

"What do you mean your apartment?" Puck asked, furrowing an eyebrow.

"This is my apartment, I just started renting it. I'm supposed to move in today," she said, her hands on her hips.

"This is my apartment, I paid to rent it as of last night," Puck said, a smirk tilting the corner of his lips. He knew what was going on. Rachel Berry was his roommate. Oh the irony. The prudish girl had no clue what was coming to her (no pun intended).

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. There's got to be a mix-up in rentals! There's no way you can pay four thousand dollars rent a month." Rachel snapped, gnawing on her lower lip.

"Well Berry, we could always make the most out of being roommates," Puck said, sneering at the woman and waggling his eyebrows. Rachel's jaw dropped open as she searched for the words to say. Puck just chuckled,

"What, cat got your tongue?" he asked

"In case you didn't remember, you said you wanted a roommate. At least that's what the woman at the counter said,"

A look of realization flickered across Rachel's face, replaced with a furious glare.

"Okay, here's how this goes, I have my room, and you have yours. I will furnish the place and we'll split on groceries. You don't have any right to bring your fuck buddies home. Now if you'll excuse me, I have stuff to go move into this apartment," She said, her voice tight with barely concealed fury. She spun on her heel and stalked out of the door, slamming it behind her.

Puck laughed. Literally, gut wrenching, peeing your pants laughed. He could not get over the fact that little Miss Berry was his roommate. This could not be anymore perfect then it already was. He shook his head as he turned back to his room, closing the door, and walking to his bathroom. Now was when the fun began.

Rachel stormed up the stairs to her apartment, leading four baffled movers up the stairs behind her.

"This is my apartment," she huffed, throwing the door open.

"Everything that is not in boxes is furniture, I need it all moved," She snapped.

"And where are you moving to?" One of the men dared to ask. Rachel glared at him

"You're moving it to the penthouse suite in Archstone Apartments. Make sure you make the moving as loud as possible. If you steal anything from me, I will murder you. I need to leave now because I have plans. If my stuff is not delivered by five o'clock this evening, I will call your company and complain. I'm a single woman; I really don't have that many things that need to be transferred. Just close the door behind yourselves when you're done," Rachel snapped. The men stared at her blankly, before nodding.

"Good," Rachel said, gathering her hair into a low ponytail and marching out the door. She yanked her cell phone out of her purse and dialled Santana's number.

"Hello? This is Santana, if you're Rachel Berry, start talking now, if you're not, please leave me alone," the sleepy voice groaned from the other end of the phone.

"Santana, Noah Puckerman is my apartment roommate. And I went home with him last night and don't remember anything!" Rachel said, her voice nervous.

"Okay Rach, just give me a minute, I need to put my clothes on. I'll meet you at the Starbucks on me street in fifteen okay. Don't panic. And whatever you do, don't start crying," Santana said, her voice concerned. Rachel nodded, forgetting that it couldn't be heard over the phone.

"Rachel, hun, come on," Santana said, her voice soothing.

"See you there," Rachel said weakly. Santana let out a long sigh of relief.

"All right Berry," the Latina said.

"Bye," Rachel whispered, closing her phone. She walked down the street, staring at the ground. She couldn't remember anything except a rendition of "Stuttering", and getting in a cab with Noah. She tried to blink away the tears that she felt welling in her eyes as she turned onto the street that Santana lived on. The Starbucks was only a few metres away, but that felt like miles. She was overtired and overstressed, and on top of that, had broken up with her fiancé, and consequently moved in with one of the biggest perverts she knew. Today was not her day. She finally got to the Starbucks and saw Santana holding two caramel macchiatos, sitting on a chair on the patio. The Latina set down the drinks and waved at the other girl. Rachel smiled weakly and made her way over to her friend, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

"You cried didn't you?" Santana asked, handing Rachel one of the coffees. Rachel shook her head,

"Almost," she muttered. Santana rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Of course you wouldn't listen to my advice. Now tell me, what's wrong? Why are you over here nearly in tears instead of yelling at the men who are moving everything out of your new apartment?" Santana asked, propping her chin up on her elbow and staring at her friend.

"Noah," Rachel said flatly. Santana sat back in her seat.

"Like Noah, Puck Noah?" Santana asked incredulously, her dark eyes wide. Rachel nodded.

"Okay, now I'm worried. What did Puck do? And what the hell is he doing in New York?" Santana asked.

"I think he moved out here, seeing as he is my new roommate in my new apartment. And what did he do? He took me home from Planet Rose, and I don't remember anything before or after that except for us singing," Rachel said, attempting to keep her temper in check. Santana slammed her hand on the table.

"Okay Rach, I'm going to remove my filter again. I fucked Puck many, many times in high school, but he would never rape someone. He probably took you home to take care of you," Santana said coolly. Rachel looked apologetic,

"I know, that's the same thing he said," she said.

"But I now have to live with him…" Rachel trailed off as she saw an elated grin on Santana's face.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Maybe now you'll finally get laid! You can't live in the same quarters with someone as hot as Puck without anything happening," Santana said with a laugh. Rachel shook her head,

"I don't do one night stands San, you know that," she said dismissively, taking a sip of her coffee, relishing in the warmth and the taste.

"I know Berry," Santana said with a smirk.

"Now what's the real reason you called me for?"

Rachel just looked at her, confused.

"Berry, you don't just call me nearly in tears because you got drunk, slept in some guys bed, and found out you're rooming with him," Santana said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and leaning forward.

"I don't know. I just feel torn up about the Finn thing," Rachel said with a sigh.

"Well no shit Berry, if my fiancé told me he'd been cheating, I'd be pretty torn up too. Not that I'd ever get engaged," Santana said with a laugh, Rachel's lips quirked at the corners.

"Now look at that, we've got a smile!" Santana exclaimed. Rachel shook her head, and looked down at the table, a smile spreading across her lips.

"Now the faster we get you over that stupid ex of yours, the more smiles we get!" Santana said, draping her arm around her friend's shoulders.

"Now lets go for a walk, maybe have a late lunch," Santana said. Rachel nodded and stood up, linking her arm into the Latina's.

"Thanks Santana," Rachel said.

"Hun, it's my job as your best friend to make you happy," the Latina said, pulling her friend into a hug. They walked down the sidewalk, Rachel still amazed by the sights of the city, even though she had lived there for three years. Something still took her breath away.

Puck, Archstone Apartments, 2:00 PM

Puck had been startled by the knock at the door, and he pulled it open.

"Hello?" He asked the three men standing in front of him.

"We were hired by a Miss Berry, we were told this was her new address," one of the men said. Of course. Berry did say she was going to have the place furnished, and it wouldn't make sense for her to go out and buy a bunch of furniture for an apartment at once.

"Yeah, right. Just put it all in the living room," Puck said, gesturing his hand in the general direction.

"I'm sorry, we can't do that sir. You see Miss Berry has given us specific instructions. There are boxes that are labelled, and they each need to be placed in the correct room. Then all the furniture can be unloaded in the living room,"

Puck ran a hand across his face. Of course Berry would make it as complicated as possible. He felt sorry for the men; she had probably threatened them too. That would explain why they were standing just outside of the door, meek smiles across their faces.

"Of course. Well, come in and I'll show you where everything goes," Puck said, leading the three men inside. After a brief tour, Puck went down to help the men move everything. Moving a couch in an elevator was much more difficult than it looked, and it had taken all four of them. But finally the moving job was done.

"So that's everything then?" Puck asked

"There's just the matter of payment, Mr—?" The man trailed off.

"Mr. Puckerman. And I do believe you should be talking to Rachel…I mean Miss Berry about that. She should be home at any minute," Puck said with a smile. The three men stood in an awkward cluster by the door, casting glances at Puck every few minutes. Finally one of the men spoke, at the same time the door swung open and Rachel came barrelling in.

"I assume Miss Berry is your fiancée?" the man asked.

"Hell no!" Rachel and Puck exclaimed at the same time. The man flushed, and ducked his head, obviously unaccustomed to such outbursts.

"Sorry, I need to pay you right? Gosh, I should have paid you before I left my other apartment. I hope you haven't been here long. God knows, we don't have any food, or any place to sit, and Noah here isn't the best at being a host," She said, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder and giving him a triumphant smile.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Puck pondered this question while he watched Rachel sign a cheque and hand it over to the guys. They all nodded as she thanked them profusely and sent them on their ways.

"You scared them quite nicely Berry," Puck said with a smirk.

"Shut up and help me move the furniture," She snapped, attempting to push the couch across the room.

"Berry, you won't be able to move that. It took four of us just to get it out of the moving van," He said he approached her slowly.

"That's why I was asking you for help!" She growled

"Now if you would stop talking so much, and would instead aid me, this could go much faster, and we could actually have time to relax,"

Puck rolled his eyes and walked to the other end of the couch, lifting it slightly and dragging it. The look that crossed Rachel's face was priceless. Her face lit up, her eyes were sparkling, her smile was brilliant, and something about her had changed at that moment. It was like she thought she was moving the couch all by herself.

"Berry, you know I'm the one doing all the work right?" He asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at the girl. The light left her face and she was frowning again. Maybe it had been better to leave her with her moment of fame within the household, as short as it was.

"So where do you want this?" Puck asked.

"Right…here should be fine," Rachel said, letting go of her end of the couch with no warning. It was weird that someone so tiny was actually able to lift the couch, albeit not very much. Puck would've thought her arms would break off. He smirked at the though, ignoring the fact that Rachel was staring at him, arms crossed over her chest and her tiny foot tapping the ground.

"Noah," She snapped. The man shook his head, jolting himself out of his thoughts.

"What?" He asked

"Well aside from wondering what you find so amusing that you are standing there chuckling at me with a goofy expression on your face, I was wondering if you could relocate all the furniture in the room to the places that direct you to, since you seem to think I'm so incapable" She said with a slight frown. Puck rolled his eyes; of course she would shirk the duty off on him.

"You know, you could just say 'move the furniture for me'," Puck said with a smirk.

"Is that a yes or a no Noah?" She asked, her eyes flashing with annoyance. She couldn't have been that mad yet though, she hadn't referred to him as Puck. She did that when she was really mad, and it hadn't happened yet.

"Sure Berry, I'll move the furniture for you," He said, moving on to a leather chocolate brown winged chair.

"Where do you want this?" He asked.

"Oh, that's my chair. That can just stay there. You can move the coffee table to the middle of the room, and the loveseat and the chair around in, but not too close to the couch," She said, nodding. She closed here eyes for a minute, and Puck took the opportunity to study her. She hadn't changed out of the jeans she had worn the night before, but she did wear a baggy black New York University hoodie. The outfit, combined with her hair pulled into a loose, curly ponytail was nearly irresistible. The outfit was adorable, and still somewhat stylish, the skinny jeans offsetting the hoodie.

"So Rach, did you go to NYU?" He asked as he pulled the loveseat around the coffee table and setting it up directly across from the couch. She shook her head,

"No, I didn't actually go to school," She said. Puck nodded and let the conversation drop. For a while, the only sound that filled the apartment was the moving of furniture. Rachel tipped her head back and let out a deep sigh.

"I have to go unpack my room. We can do the kitchen tomorrow," she said, walking towards her room. Puck nodded and turned back to the living room. Everything had been moved into place and she hadn't commented. His phone rang, the noise loud in the silence.

"Hello?" He said, not recognizing the number.

"Hi Puck," the voice on the other end of the phone definitely jogged his memory.

"Ah, Satan, how are you?" He asked, mock innocently

"I'm wonderful, even more so now that I know you're rooming with my best friend," Santana drawled.

"And how are you,"

"Wait, you and Berry are best friends? And you're happy I'm rooming with her? I'm fine," Puck said distractedly.

"Yes. Yes. And good! What are you doing in New York, Puckerman," Santana asked.

"I got accepted on a trial basis into Julliard," Puck said,

"And I'm working on getting a recording contract,"

"That's fantastic. So here's something for you to consider. Rachel doesn't do one-night stands. And she just broke up with Finn. So be careful with her," Santana said coolly.

"What do you mean?" Puck asked

"You know exactly what I mean. Don't think I didn't see it in high school when you still stared at her after you broke up, or after you sang Need You Now together. You can't fool me Puck. You've had feelings for her for a long time. And now I'm telling you to be careful. And nice," Santana trailed off, and Puck could hear the tapping of a keyboard.

"Right. Duly noted Satan. Anyhow, what are you doing out here in New York?" Puck asked, plopping down on the couch and swinging his legs up onto the piece of furniture.

"I write a column in the New York Times. Don't tell Berry, it's entirely about being best friends with her. Actually it's entirely about her. But that's beside the point. I'm working on a novel too," She said with a smirk.

"Oh, who knew you actually had brains behind that sexually driven exterior," Puck said with a snort.

"Hew, watch that mouth Puckerman," Santana snapped.

"You know, you're nicer than you used to be," Puck said

"It's cause Berry got to me, look, I've got to go, but I'll talk to you later," Santana said.

"Okay, bye," Puck said into the phone as the dial tone sounded. He shook his head. Santana was still as brusque as ever, but she had become nicer.

Rachel pulled her clothes out of her boxes furiously, tossing them into piles, dresses, tank tops, t-shirts, skirts, jeans, shorts. Everything she owned was in piles. Her bed had been made up, her sheets were white, and her comforter was a dark purple. Her pillowcases were white with gold stars on them, still her signature symbol. It wasn't finished, but it was looking more like home. Her books were sitting in boxes by the bookshelf, and a small box of pictures and trinkets was sitting by shelves that Rachel was planning to put up when she got a chance. The organization of her clothes allowed her to think about Puck. He was annoying sure, but he was attractive. He had been hot in high school, but his high school self had nothing on this Puck. He was also less crude, but who knew how long that would last. She didn't even know where he got the money to pay for half the apartment, it's not like he had the opportunity to get rich over the last three years. She shook her head. Her thoughts shouldn't be on a man she hadn't seen in years, her thoughts should be on the man she had been in love with, the man that she had just broken up with.

Rachel tossed her clothes down in aggravation and stood up. She dug through her box of books and picked one out, it was Wicked, how fitting that she would be reading the book that she had recently gained one of the starring roles in. She grabbed the script for the play and padded into the living room, her socked feet making no noise on the hardwood. Puck was sitting on the couch, looking extremely relaxed, his head tipped back and his eyes closed. Rachel smiled as she sat in her chair and curled her legs beneath her, opening the book and beginning to read.

Puck's eyes flickered open when he heard the rustling of pages; Rachel was curled up in the wing-backed chair reading a book. He craned to see the title, Wicked; of course she would be reading something a musical was based on. He laughed softly, but the woman didn't even look up from the pages, so he studied her. Her hair was falling in front of her face, obscuring her eyes from him. One of her fingers was gliding along what Puck assumed was the line she was reading. She reached to the side and she picked up a dog-eared booklet. The title across it was the same as the book, except it looked like a script. He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow, why would she be reading the script.

"Noah, though you may think I'm attractive, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop staring at me while I'm trying to read," She snapped, looking up from her script, her eyes narrowed.

"Why are you reading a script?" Puck asked

"Why are you living in New York?" Rachel retorted.

"Okay, we're going to play it like this then?" Puck asked.

"Look, you may think that you should be the one asking me five thousands questions, but you're wrong. You moved into MY apartment, into MY city, to ME home in a cab, I deserve to be asking you what you're doing here. I haven't seen you in years and suddenly you're in New York, living with me, and going out with my ex-fiancé to help him get over me," Rachel stopped to take a breath, but Puck held up his hand.

"Look Berry, I know okay. I dropped off the face of the planet after we graduated. You can't say I didn't have reason, everyone thought I was going to be a Lima loser,"

"No. Not everyone thought that. I always knew you would succeed Noah. You dropped all contact with us. I even talk to Quinn now. And I mean, look at me and Santana, we're best friends. I never thought you would be a Lima loser, you're too talented," Rachel said, glaring at the man sitting across from her. Puck opened his mouth, and then shut it again.

"Look, Rach, the reason I'm here is because I got accepted into Julliard on a trial basis. That means that if I take my school seriously, I get to stay with a full scholarship. One screw up and I'm out," Puck said, propping his head up on his hand and staring at the floor.

"That's fantastic!" Rachel said, her voice laced with excitement. Puck looked up at her. Her face had lit up again, her eyes bright, her smile huge.

"Thanks," Puck said

"But how did you get in? Your marks were terrible," Rachel asked

"I sent them a demo. Now tell me all about what you're doing now," Puck asked, wanting to divert the topic from himself.

"I'm. I'm…um, I'm playing Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked," She said with a shy smile. Puck's jaw dropped, so she had made it to Broadway. He knew it would happen, he just thought it would've taken a few more years.

"Holy shit!" Puck yelled, jumping off the couch and sweeping Rachel into his arms, squeezing her close to him. He ignored the way his heart rate picked up when her face nuzzled into his shoulder.

"Language, Noah," she muttered into his neck.

"Well, it's a bit too exciting not to swear, babe," He said with a laugh as he set her back on the floor.

"That's way to exciting to not celebrate, have you told anyone yet?" He asked. Rachel shook her head,

"Come on Berry, when did you find out?" Puck asked her, staring at her incredulously.
"I found out yesterday, but there was a bit much on my mind, so I forgot to tell anyone. You know, breaking up with your fiancé does that to you," Rachel said shortly.

"Whoa, sorry Berry. Call Santana, and Kurt, or I don't know, anyone!" Puck said, tossing the girl his phone.

"Noah, I have a phone, I'll grab it. It's too late to go out now though isn't it?" Rachel asked, peeking over her shoulder when she was halfway down the hallway.

"Berry, it's seven o'clock at night, the night doesn't start up for another two hours. Come on, it'll be fun!" Puck said. Rachel rolled her eyes,

"Fine," Rachel said, proceeding to her room and picking up her cell phone. She dialled the familiar number of Santana,

"Hey San," Rachel chirped into the phone,

"What's up?" Santana asked, her voice wary of her friend's excitement.

"Well, we're celebrating the fact that I got the role of Elphaba in Wicked, so meet at my place and we'll go out. I'm calling Kurt, and I'll see if Brittany, Quinn and Sam are available for the evening," Rachel said.

"All right Rachel, I'm liking this mood of yours," Santana said, Rachel could hear her smile over the phone.

"Good," Rachel said, hanging up.

A/N: Yet again, I apologize to all the people who have this story on alerts, you've probably got like three or four story alerts about chapters two and three. I apologize, I was working on some stupid formatting issues. But this was a real chapter.

Hope you liked the extremely mild Puckleberry-ness.

Stay tuned for next chapter, there's going to be a PARTAY!

Thanks again to my faithful reviewer.

BelladonnaFlames