A/N: Hi! First of all, I'd just like to apologize that it's taken me so long to update! Real-life got in the way, and I had to house-sit for my grandma, then I had to travel to England for Glee Live, and then I wasn't feeling great, and it's really just a bunch of excuses, but I'm sorry and I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again. Secondly, thank you so so so much for all the support with this story. The amount of people who have added it to their story alerts is just crazy, and I'm so glad that you're enjoying it! So I'll stop now so that you can read, and I'd love it if you could let me know what you think. Thanks again! :)

Even though his job is mostly pretty fun, there are times when it can be as stressful as fuck, and this is one of those times. Everything just seems to be going wrong, and Puck and Nick have found themselves at a little diner near the studio for a much-needed break. Seriously, Puck is this close to punching someone in the face. On set, a group of idiot assistants managed to break a bunch of expensive lights, and one of Leon's costumes had apparently vanished into thin air or some shit. Plus, one of the stylist chicks is off sick and the make-up trailer is pretty a fucking cloud of that powder stuff and hairspray. In all honestly, everyone is running around fucking batshit crazy, and Puck needed to get away for a bit. It's times like these that he's glad he's mainly a producer, as opposed to the director or some shit. Yeah, he's got a hell of a lot of work to do, but he isn't required on the set a lot of the time, and he loves that. Sure, sometimes he likes to hang out there, see what's going on and get in on the action, but on crazy days like this one he'd rather stay the fuck away.

It sucks though, that on the way to the diner, Nick got a call from some executives from the studio. They obviously didn't call about good news though, because it's ten minutes later and Nick is still on the phone, and Puck's been watching the frown line on the dude's forehead grow deeper by the second.

A pretty redhead brings them coffee, and Puck winks a thank you before she turns to walk away. She blushes and giggles, and he grins at her before turning back to Nick, watching him as he finally ends the call and shoves the phone in his pocket.

"What's going on?" Puck asks, and seriously, the amount of shit that's happening today is fucking crazy.

"It's not good," Nick answers uneasily, and he sighs loudly, attracting the attention of a young family sitting at a table near them. Puck raises an eyebrow.

"Shoot."

"There's no interest in the film. Zero. No buzz at all."

Puck groans and leans back in his chair. "Shit. None?"

"None," Nick confirms with a nod of his head. "Even Perez Hilton, who's fucking in love with you and Leon, says that it sounds like something that's been done a thousand times before. He called it a snooze-fest."

"Shit."

"The guys at New Line are pissed with us for choosing an unknown to write the script."

Puck runs a hand over his head, annoyed. "The script is fucking brilliant."
"Yeah, we know that, but they don't. We just gotta wait until it comes out and then people will see for themselves." Nick sounds uncertain, and Puck shakes his head.

"Nah. No one will go see it if we don't create a buzz beforehand, stupid. What about Leon's crazy fangirls? Those chicks are batshit. The guys over at Paramount pulled in a nice little profit from him last time."

Nick shrugs, picking up his mug of coffee and looking tired. "That's before he got married."

"The fuck has that got to do with anything?"

"His rep's gone down, bro. The fans have lost interest since there's less chance of him sleeping with them, or whatever. They're moving back to Zac Efron. Seriously, don't you read the blogs?"

Puck almost laughs at that, a small smirk spreading out over his face. "No. Those blogs are bullshit."

"Dude, you're in them most of the time. All Perez talks about is how much you sleep around and how awesome your ass is." Nick rolls his eyes and Puck laughs genuinely, a loud bark that carries around the diner.

"S'true though." He says smugly, because even though Perez Hilton or Jared or whoever the fuck was running gossip columns these days were sure as fuck not his type, it's good to know that his ass is still appreciated. Nick leans over and punches him on the shoulder. "Be serious, Puckerman. What the hell are we going to do?"

Puck thinks for a second, leaning back in his chair and taking a long sip of his coffee. "We call Leon and Rachel's publicists. Set up a couple of interviews, tell them to drop hints about the movie, build interest and whatever. We arrange a meeting with the advertisers, help them come up with some campaign thing. Light product placement. Couple of sponsors. I don't want to sell out though. This movie's good enough without that shit."
Nick nods, pulling out his phone again. "Let's make some phone calls."

Puck murmurs his agreement, sipping from his mug. "Nothing major though. I want the movie to spread mostly through word of mouth. Let it stand on it's own, you know."

"Yeah, I know. I'll see what I can do."

It's then that a hot as fuck cougar approaches their table, looking flustered and a little nervous. The guys turn to look at her and she smiles a shy-yet-flirty smile, holding out a napkin and a black pen.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but are you Noah Puckerman?"

Puck smirks. He loves the attention, okay? Whatever. He takes the napkin and pen from the woman and quickly signs his name, smiling at her. "Call me Puck, gorgeous."

… … …

The following day, Puck shows up on set, only because he can't be assed making lunch and the craft services table at the studio is always fucking amazing. He's not supposed to be in today, considering he had a meeting earlier in the morning, but whatever. He likes to see how things are going.

Ben's happy to see him, and high fives him as he walks onto the set, made up to look like a little side street in downtown LA. Ben tells him that they're doing a kissing scene today, and Puck rolls his eyes but talks with him for a moment, discussing angles and lighting, and generally approving Ben's ideas. The guy is a great director, and the film's gonna look amazing.

"Can someone go get Rachel and Leon?" Ben calls out. The set is full of people, but everyone looks pretty busy and no assistants reply immediately. Ben frowns, looking around the room as he mutters to Puck. "Seriously, we have like, twenty assistants running around this set and no-one is even here to help me. Fantastic."

Puck laughs, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Dude, most of them only took the job to perv on Leon and Berry, not to help you out."

"Very true. You mind going for me while I help Paul hide the microphones? They're in the shot."

"Sure thing." Puck nods at the guy and heads out to the parking lot, where row upon row of trailers have been set up. Leon's is one of the first and he knocks on the door quickly, pushing it open and calling in.

"You're wanted on set, man."

He hears Leon's voice reply from somewhere in the trailer, and Puck heads out, closing the door behind him. He heads to Rachel's next, and it instantly pisses him off when there's no reply after he knocks. He knocks on the door a little harder, and he sighs impatiently before letting himself in.

He can hear her singing coming from one of the tiny rooms in the trailer, and the sound makes him want to smile a little. Puck hasn't heard her sing in a long, long time, and he forgot how much he loved hearing it. She's singing some song about pocketfuls of sunshine, and he smirks, shaking his head to himself. Totally Rachel.

He opens her mouth to call her name, but before he can even utter a sound, the bathroom door flies open in front of him and Rachel dances out of the room wearing nothing but white cotton panties and a set of wireless headphones.

His eyes instantly travel over the naked body that he's seen a hundred times before, and it somehow manages to look familiar and new at the same time. She still has that tiny little birthmark on her hip, but the curve of her waist has filled out a little bit more, the arch of her back is a little more defined. Her legs are still long and toned, and his mouth waters a little as his eyes fall on the little dip of her ass, where her panties have ridden down just a little bit.

It should be illegal to look that sexy.

He's momentarily speechless as she nods her head in time to the music, her back to him. She sings louder as she reaches the chorus, moving over to where her outfit is hanging up and moving her hips as she walks. It's so fucking sexy that he's instantly half-hard in his pants, and he coughs deliberately in an attempt to get her attention. She doesn't reply and he sighs, calling her name loudly so that she can hear him over the music. She doesn't, and he rolls his eyes, steps towards her, and pulls the headphones away from her ears and letting them go so that they snap back into pace.

Rachel shrieks, jumping in fright before she grabs the dress and holds it to her body in a weak attempt to cover herself. She's in full make-up, all smoky eyes and pink lips, and Puck can only grin at her as she glares at him.

"What on earth do you think you are doing?" She yells, her face flooding with color. With one hand, the other still clutching the clothes to her chest, she pulls the headphones away from her ears. The whole thing pretty funny, Puck's not gonna lie, and he keeps smiling.

"Well, I was gonna tell you that you're needed on set, but now I'm watching you dance all naked," He says innocently, and he isn't sure if Rachel's face is red with embarrassment or anger. S'pretty funny.

"You're disgusting! Don't you even knock?" Her voice is shrill, loud, and it almost hurts his ears.

"I did!" Puck retorts, leaning against the wall. He can't help the way his eyes move to her collarbone, to her cleavage, almost covered by the costume. He smirks, and looks back up, and he actually finds it kind of sexy, the way she's breathing all heavy and angry and stuff.

"Get. Out." Rachel says lowly, unmoving from the spot. Puck grins, taunting her.

"Why? I've seen you naked before," He replies. "You haven't changed. Still hot."

"There is such a thing as sexual harassment, you know," She answers, the blush on her cheeks turning even redder.

"Alright. Shit. Chill out, I'm going," He gives in and stuffs his hands in his pockets, turning away from her. "Move your ass though. We're ready to film."

He hears her groan softly as he heads back towards the door, and he stops when she calls after him, looking back at her over his shoulder. "What?"

She closes her eyes for a second, and sighs heavily. "Wait. Just wait there."

She disappears back into the bathroom and emerges just seconds later, now wearing the dress as opposed to covering herself with it. He raises an eyebrow expectantly, and she's still blushing, but she walks over to him and turns around, exposing her bare back.

She's still not wearing a bra, and he can't help it if he licks his lips.

"Zip me?" She asks quietly, and he obliges, sliding the zipper slowly up the dress. His hands brush softly over her bare skin as he does so, and his breath catches quietly when Rachel shudders beneath his fingers as they dance over a particularly sensitive part of her back.

She glances back at him and he tilts his head to one side, smirking at her.

"I'm tickly," She offers in way of an explanation, and the corners of her lips are pulling upwards in a small, barely-there smile.

"You always were," He replies easily, and he lets go of her. He steps back quickly, simply because he can't be this fucking close to her right now, when he's still semi-hard and she looks so fucking gorgeous. He's supposed to hate her, and she makes that so fucking difficult. "You ready?"

"Yes." She grabs her phone from the little table and heads over to the door. "Walk me to set?"

He shakes his head, knowing that walking with her means talking to her, and he really doesn't want to do that. Talking will lead to arguing, arguing will lead to bringing up past issues, and he'd rather they stayed in the past. So no, he doesn't want to walk her to set.

"Nah. M'gonna go print off some contracts then hit up the food table."

"Okay," She climbs down from the trailer, moves in the direction of the set. She turns around, walking backwards, shooting him a little wave. "Oh, and I'd deeply appreciate it if you kept what you just witnessed to yourself. I'd like to forget that it happened."

She's blushing again and Puck grins in spite of himself. "That you were dancing around naked? Shit, babe, I won't forget. I'll be reliving that little moment every night when I'm naked too."

She splutters indignantly, her hands flying up to cover her face in embarrassment. "You're disgusting, Noah Puckerman!"

He laughs; she's actually pretty cute when she's all outraged. Whatever.

"Sure am," He agrees cheerfully, and he walks away from her, adding a cheerful whistle just for extra effect.

He knows without looking that she's glaring after him. He can practically feel her murderous stare against his back. He waves over his shoulder.

… … …

Rachel's lips are starting to feel bruised and swollen, and she smiles sympathetically at Leon, who is currently standing beside her, pressing his own lips together. They've been kissing on and off for almost two hours now, because Ben just doesn't seem to be happy with the scene.

It's hot on set; the lights are blinding, the air is humid, and temperatures are high.

She sits down on one of the prop boxes set up in the fake little side street, and yawns tiredly, running her fingers through her hair. She regrets it. The action causes one of the stylists, Lily, to come running over, and immediately start brushing at her hair, tugging at her, and suddenly Rachel finds herself choking on a cloud of hairspray. She coughs and Lily apologizes sincerely, using her hand to fan the air away from her. Rachel smiles tiredly up at the woman, shaking her head in a "don't even worry about it" manner.

"It's hot today," Rachel murmurs as Lily looks for the lip gloss to touch up Rachel's lips.

"I know," The stylist says sympathetically. "I'd hate to be you right now, under all of these lights. We have about eight fans set up in the make-up trailer."

Rachel groans enviously at the mention of a fan. "What are the chances of setting one up for me here between scenes?"

"Ben would kill you," Lily smiles. "It would mess up your hair, and I just got it sitting perfectly."

Rachel sighs and Leon laughs from behind her, nudging her back. "You okay there, champ?"

"Hot," Rachel says pathetically, and he nods in understanding, watching as Lily begins to slick a scarlet-colored gloss over Rachel's lips.

"Holy fucking shit. It's like a sauna in here," A loud voice comes from behind her, where the camera and crew are stationed, and she closes her eyes. Noah is back, and she bites her lip as she hears everyone greet him warmly. Apparently his crude jokes and terrible language are found to be amusing on this set, and he's somehow managed to make friends with everyone. Except her, of course. With Noah, he's either teasing her with awful sexual innuendos, or criticizing everything she does. It's not fair and she hates it, but she's far too professional to make a fuss. Besides, there's a little part of her that hopes that they'll get out of whatever little funk that they're in and become friends again. They used to be close, even before they started dating. He'd made a good friend, and she hasn't forgotten that.

"Rachel!" Lily scolds her for biting her lip and Rachel apologizes sheepishly before Lily adds another coat of gloss. Finally, the girl steps back and examines Rachel closely. "You're perfect. Try not to sweat."

She giggles as Rachel pouts, and grabs her tray, moving to powder Leon's face.

Rachel turns to face the crew, and she feels a little better when she spots several people fanning themselves with spare copies of the script. She's not the only one suffering in this heat.

"Can I have some water please?" Rachel calls out sweetly, flashing one of the assistants a grateful smile. "With a straw or Lily might kill me."

Lily laughs from behind her, and Rachel smiles, resting her head against the wall. She sits up straighter though, when she sees Puck walking towards her, holding a bottle of water. He holds it out to her and she takes it gratefully, watching as he pulls a pink straw from behind his ear and offers that to her too. She accepts.

"Thank you," She says quietly, and takes a long sip from the straw, the ice-cold water providing her with an immediate sense of relief. "Mmmm."

"How long've you been here?" Noah asks her, and she quickly works it out in her head.

"Over two hours now," She says with a tired sigh. "The lighting was a nightmare and we had to make changes to the script, and it's so hot that I could die."

He laughs at that, sitting down beside her and drumming his fingers against his thighs. "Always the dramatic one, Berry."

She smiles. "What have you been doing today?"

"Meetings this morning. Then I had to deal with some contracts and shit. Now I figured I'd stop by again, see how things are going."

"They'd be going much better if the heat wasn't making everyone cranky," She admitted, smoothing out her dress a little.

"Complaining?" He asks her, eyebrows raised. "Missing Broadway?"

She shakes her head. "Not at all. I love it here. I just don't like the heatwaves. I'm a New Yorker, we're not really used to them."

"Hey, so I was watching some of your earlier takes," Puck says, and even though she's not looking at him, she can feel his eyes on her. She rolls her eyes and rests her head against the wall, again, looking up at the ceiling.

"Let me guess. Everything was all wrong."

"Not everything. But you were saying the lines with too much emotion. You gotta detach yourself from the relationship a little."

Rachel huffs in annoyance, tilting her head to face him. "No one else seemed to have a problem with how I said my lines.."

"You guys did the take sixteen times."

"Oh, and that's my fault?" She hisses angrily, and she hates the way he's smiling at her all innocently. He's only saying these things to get under her skin, but he still manages to annoy her. Of course it wasn't her fault. They changed the lighting, the actions, even some of the lines, but the scene just wasn't working on screen. It definitely wasn't just her acting. Of course not. Though maybe he has a point. The scene could definitely be a lot more intense, even sexier, if she were to detach herself, play harder to get.

"M'just doing my job, babe." He says, and gets to his feet, wiping a little bead of sweat from his forehead. She glares at him.

"You do your job, Noah, but please don't tell me how to do mine," She snaps bitchily, despite knowing that she's going to give his advice a try anyway.

He begins to walk away and she crosses her arms in front of her chest, irked.

"And don't call me 'babe'!" She calls after him, because it seems important that she draws up some boundaries between them. She's close to doing something childish like stamping her foot, when he simply spins on the spot and winks at her, before walking over to a pretty blonde assistant, leaning close to whisper something in her ear.

He's such a jerk, that boy.

… … …

Watching Rachel kiss another dude is not fun. And okay, so she's in character and whatever, but still. He hates the way that Leon's hands are ghosting over her hips, inching closer and closer to her ass. He hates the way that Rachel's hands are holding Leon's face to hers. He hates the way that she has one of her legs tangled around his. And he hates that he's being paid to watch this shit.

He watches silently, jaw clenched, as Rachel pulls away from Leon, and shoves him a little, creating space between them. Leon raises an eyebrow and Rachel smirks, resting one hand on her hip.

"This is a dangerous little game you're playing, Zac," She says, and her voice is smooth and sexy, and he feels his pants tighten a little, he's not gonna lie.

"You seemed to be enjoying the game though," Leon retorts, and he takes a step closer to Rachel. Rachel, perfectly in character, takes a step back so that their movements are perfectly synchronized.

Rachel laughs dryly, putting a hand on Leon's chest to stop him from moving any closer to her. "The thing about games, Zac, is that I like to win."

Leon grins at her, his hand covering Rachel's. You could cut the fucking tension with a knife, and Puck hates watching, but he can't look away either.

"I like to win too."

"I'm good at games, though. You don't stand a chance against me." Rachel says, twisting Leon's wrist and shoving his hand away forcefully. It looks impressive, even though Puck knows that Rachel is insanely weak, and had watched as she and Leon choreographed that little move quickly before the cameras started rolling.

"Is that a challenge?" Leon smirks and Rachel tilts her head back with a quiet laugh and roll of her eyes. "Because if it is, we should go back to my place. I have games. Monopoly, Scrabble, Twister..."

Rachel purses her lips and raises her eyebrows. "I've always been a fan of Monopoly."

Leon takes a step closer again, snaking his arm around Rachel's waist. This time, she doesn't pull away. "My car is round the front."

"When I win," Rachel says lowly, letting him lead her along the fake little alley. "You have to do something for me."

"What is that I'll be doing?" Leon asks curiously, and Rachel pats his cheek patronizingly.

"Don't worry, Zachary. You'll find out soon enough."

"And cut!" Ben's voice booms out through the large area, and Puck watches Rachel closely as she breaks character, sliding away from Ben to accept the water that an assistant has raced forward to give her. "Nice work guys. That was perfect. We got it."

He hears Rachel breathe out a sigh of relief, and watches as laughs musically, slapping her palm against Leon's when he offers her a high five.

He can't quite get over how sexy she was in that scene, in her short little dress with her hair slicked back in this hot-as-fuck ponytail. He takes a breath and brushes it off, heading over to the food table for a cookie.

… … …

Rachel calls her boyfriend at 9pm, when she's leaving her trailer and is finally able to go home. Her hair is tied back in a messy french braid, simply to keep the heat away from her neck. Instead of the jeans and t-shirt she'd came to set in this morning, she's changed into a small pair of shorts and a light tank top, because even though the summer sun is setting, she's pretty sure that she's still close to passing out of heat exhaustion. Or something like that.

Nate sounds happy to hear from her, and she clutches the phone tightly to her ear as she walks past the rows and rows of trailers. She misses him. She misses her friends. She misses New York.

It's the first thing she says to him once they've gotten past their 'hellos'.

"I miss you so much."

"Darling, I miss you too. The apartment is too quiet without you." Nate replies, and she can tell he's smiling through the line. "Where are you?"

She hums softly, sadly, basking in the sound of his voice. She's unwilling to admit that she's a little homesick. "About to head home. How is work?"

"A nightmare. I have deadlines coming out of my ears."

"You should take a break," Rachel says hopefully, holding the phone to her ear using just her shoulder as she fishes around in her bag to find her car keys. She's rented a little yellow Volkswagen beetle to use during her time in LA, and she loves it. She smiles into the phone. "Come visit me."

Nate laughs gently. "It hasn't even been a full month yet, sweetheart."

"So?" Rachel's pouting as she reaches the car park, and she pulls her keys out of her bag in triumph. "Does that mean I can't miss you?"

"Of course not," Nate soothes her, and she sighs quietly.

"I miss coming home to you every day," She admits. She sees Noah out of the corner of her eye, a short distance away from her, obviously leaving the studio too. He's holding his phone, texting intently. She turns to look at him, waving her hand in greeting when he looks up at her, and he nods in acknowledgment, despite the distance between them, before he goes straight back to texting. She lowers her voice as she continues speaking, murmuring gently into the phone as she walks to her car. "And I miss having your hands on me. I miss you making love to me, Nate."

She's not lying. She's been feeling particularly restless for the last couple of weeks, and she's resorted to using her own hand late at night when she's thinking of her boyfriend. Still, and she'll never admit it, especially not to Nate, but sometimes she's had to think of Taye Diggs instead, because the image of her boyfriend just wasn't working for her. She can only assume it's a result of distance taking its toll between them. She hasn't seen him in weeks, after all. She doesn't even really remember what he smells like anymore.

"Rachel," Nate warns, his voice stern. "You should really wait until you get home before you say those things."

"No one can hear me," She reassures him, clutching the phone tighter to his ear. "Please come and visit me soon, Nate. Please?"

The man sighs at the other end of the phone, but she can tell that the sigh isn't a serious one. "Soon. Let me deal with all of these deadlines and I'll book a flight, okay?"

Rachel lets out a little squeal, jumping up and down as she reaches her car. "You mean it?"

"I mean it."

She smiles hugely, excited at the thought of a familiar piece of New York spending some time with her in California. LA is nice, but it's not home, and she misses the comfort of the city. "I should go. But I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, my darling. Sleep well tonight."

"I love you."

"You too."

She hangs up then, a little more cheerful now than she was before. She can't wait to go home, take a cold shower, and maybe have a glass of wine or two.

… … …

Puck ends up at a bar, though he only stays for ten minutes. He's a stud, and that's all the time he needs to pick up a chick. Or two, in this case. He didn't even need to order a drink, he's just that good.

So he heard Rachel on the phone in the parking lot. She thought she was being quiet, but seriously, when is she ever quiet? Point is, he heard every word, and he's equal parts jealous and kind of horny.

So maybe he's never gotten fully over her. Whatever. She's a bitch, and he's decided that to get over her he's just gonna have to get under a bunch of other chicks.

And that's how he ends up driving two twenty-one year old girls – a blonde and a brunette – back to a shitty little apartment in downtown LA. The blonde is draped over him the entire car ride, whilst the brunette sits in the backseat but leans forward so that she can whisper dirty things in his ear as he drives.

When they reach the apartment, he has them all naked within seconds, and it pretty much takes no time at all before he ends up lying on the couch, the brunette riding his dick as he licks the pussy of the blonde who hovers above him. He fucks her too afterwards, just in a measure of fairness.

It feels good, to fuck out his frustrations, but he leaves immediately afterwards and doesn't leave them his number. He's not even offended when they don't ask (girls usually do).

He goes back to his place feeling somewhat satisfied and in need of a shower.