Three Glee Drabbles
In the vaguest sense of the word, they're very drabble-y.
Title: Curtains
Characters: Rachel Berry, Noah Puckerman, Jacob ben-Israel
Rating: T
Warnings: Jacob is a creeper.
Spoilers: None.
Summary: Jacob is a creeper.
Notes: Based on A Softer World: 239 comic.
Disclaimer: Do not own Glee. Do not own A Softer World.
Rachel Berry liked to walk around her house in her underwear, when it was late at night. She also had the tendency to keep her curtains open.
Jacob ben-Israel knew this, because he watched her. It was an accident, really. He’d been riding his neon-orange Razor scooter past her house for the twelfth time one night - did you know she had dogs? Did you know that they can run really fast? He knew that now. Anyways, he’d been going past, at around eleven at night, leaning against the tree across the street, gazing up at her window when he saw her.
She was walking around her room, wearing nothing but a bra and underwear. They were a pastel yellow. He knew, because he had binoculars. He liked to bird-watch. And Rachel-watch. It was a hobby, like collecting stamps or stealing the gum Rachel conscientiously threw away in the trash when she was done with it. He had a Rachel shrine. He got the idea from “Hey, Arnold!” when he was a kid.
She went down the stairs, and he saw that she was wearing a pair of knee-socks still. Sky-blue knee-socks. He was in love.
He watched her wander around her house a little while longer, and his love grew and grew.
He loved her so much; he wanted to shout it from the rooftops.
But then… he figured she would probably hear him, and start closing her curtains at night, or start wearing clothes around her house, at the very least.
He couldn’t have that. So he kept quiet.
Noah Puckerman still found out. He lived down the street from Rachel.
She started wearing clothes and closing the curtains at night. She even went with Kurt to the mall and bought new curtains, really thick ones.
He was thrown into the dumpster before and after school, even during lunch, for a month. Each time, Puck said it was because ‘you’re a creeper, ben-Israel. It’s sick.’
The last day, he finally asked what it would take for it to end. (They’d started throwing milkshakes and Slushies in with him. It was costing him a lot of time and money to wash his clothes.)
“You don’t look at my girl ever again, ben-Israel. You don’t look at her, you don’t smell her, you don’t sense her. She doesn’t even exist to you anymore, asshole. If I find out you even glance at her out of the corner of your eye, you’re in hell for the rest of your natural-born life. Now get the hell out of here.”
If you asked him after that day who Rachel Berry was, he’d say that he had no idea, and to his knowledge, no such person existed.
Chocolate and red corn-syrup are both really hard to clean out.
~~~~~~~~~
Title: Clautophobia
Characters: Noah Puckerman, Rachel Berry, Schuester.
Rating: T.
Warnings: Noah likes to swear. A lot.
Spoilers: None? Back nine?
Summary: Who knew that Noah Puckerman has phobias?
Notes: Based on A Softer World: 238 comic.
Disclaimer: Do not own Glee. Do not own A Softer World.
They’re stuck. In an elevator. How does this even begin to happen?
He’s already really pissed. Sure, he’s a pretty badass dude, but he has his phobias, and one of them happens to be claustrophobia. And getting-stuck-in-an-elevator-phobia. Whatever the hell that one is really called, it doesn’t matter, is still freaks him the hell out. He's watched "You've Got Mail" with Finn, and they knows that shit happens for real.
And what the hell is this all about? He’s stuck in an elevator, with, of all people, Rachel Berry? What the fuck? He figured that if God ever decided to screw him by making him get stuck in an elevator, he’d at least be cool and stick him in with, like, Carmen Electra or Megan Fox or that chick from Underworld.
“Kate Beckinsale.” A tiny voice rings out in the space. Rachel is sitting opposite him in the elevator. He’d closed his eyes and started breathing slowly to try and calm himself down.
His eyes snapped open. “What?”
“Kate Beckinsale. She’s the actress from Underworld. I assume you didn’t realize that you were speaking aloud. Sorry, Noah, but we’re stuck in an elevator, and I’m not Carmen Electra, Megan Fox, or Kate Beckinsale.” She didn’t sound pissed. Which was weird, ‘cause any of the other girls - minus Brittany - would probably get upset if he’d even said anything like that. Santana probably would’ve punched him in the stomach and gone Matrix Kung Fu on his ass.
“Uh… thanks.” He shut his eyes again. Breathe. In, out, in, out. They’d be out soon.
The silence falls over them again, which is… weird. Nice, but weird.
“You okay?” He asks. She may irritate the hell out of him sometimes, but she’s still his friend. Don’t tell her that. No idea what kind of crazy that statement will unleash, and he wants to be in L.A. - or China, shit - before she even hears that.
“I’m perfectly fine, Noah. I just happen to be uncomfortable. We were planning on visiting Mr. Schuester in his new apartment, however, not getting stuck in an elevator.” She sounds irritated.
He smiles. She brought cookies for this visit. For once, he came on time, and she was already in the elevator when he got in. He figures that the rest of them had to climb the stairs about - he checks his watch - twenty minutes ago.
“Stuck. In an elevator. Like the fucking Jonas Brothers. I can’t decide if this is heaven or hell. The walls keep closing in and we’re running out of space.” He shifts in his corner, uncomfortable. He looks at Rachel, a box of cookies in her lap. Delicious, delicious cookies. And she’s wearing one of those awesome skirts he likes. Yum. “But you’re pretty cute.”
She rolls her eyes. “Really, Noah, must you objectify me? We’re stuck in an elevator for who knows how long, and you’re… you’re ‘checking me out’.”
“Hey, hey, hey. That’s my coping mechanism, girl. That’s how I keep going. I make the best of things. We make the best of things.” He moves into a crouch and sort of crawls across the elevator and sits down next to her. “Give me a cookie.”
She shakes her head. “Noah, I made these cookies especially as a home warming present. We cannot eat them. We’ll be out of here soon.”
Four hours later, they finally get the doors to the elevator open, stuck between the fifth and sixth floor. Of the twenty-four cookies she brought, sixteen are gone.
Noah jumps down from the lifted elevator and hands Schuester the box. “Sorry. We ate some. Didn’t know how long we’d be here, ya know?”
Before Schuester can say anything, he’s gone back to the elevator, helping Rachel down.
“Come on, midget.” He glares at a young volunteer who was checking Rachel’s legs out. “Time to go home. We’re taking the stairs.”
She hugs Schuester, says something about visiting again sometime, and walks away with Noah.
They’re holding hands.
~~~~~~~~~
Title: Happier
Characters: Santana Lopez, Finn Hudson, Brittany, Kurt Hummel, Mercedes Jones, Rachel Berry, Noah Puckerman.
Rating: T+
Warnings: Possibly controversial content below the cut. Probably want to check the linked image first.
Spoilers: Back nine.
Summary: Santana is not ready for this kind of commitment.
Notes: Based on A Softer World: 87 comic.
Disclaimer: Do not own Glee. Do not own A Softer World.
"We shouldn't be doing this." Rachel says from the back seat. They're piled into Kurt's SUV, Kurt driving, Mercedes riding shotgun, Santana, Finn, and Brittany in the back seat, Puck and Rachel in the last row.
"Whatever, Berry, pass the Captain over." Santana says, taking off her seatbelt. She leans over the back of her seat and grabs the bottle and tips it back. They've been driving for a few hours, going home from Santana's appointment at the nearest clinic, and she's just happy to be able to drink again.
Brittany takes another bottle from her bottomless bag - 2 liter of Coke, half empty or half full - and another bottle of Captain Morgan. She mixes the two together, and they take turns passing it around. Puck is tipsy already, but Rachel is surprisingly lucid when she's tipsy. Whilst Puck has his mouth on her neck, she's talking philosophy with Finn, and Mercedes and Kurt are laughing from the front seat.
The two of them are the only sober ones, but it's summer, so it probably won't stay that way for long. Finn is singing along to the playlist Kurt made for this trip especially - a little Black Sabbath, some Zeppelin, mostly classic rock and some dance music to get them into the party mood. Everyone is surprised by his knowledge of Lady Gaga lyrics - so he doesn't speak French, he can still pronounce the words - and ask about it.
"I made him help me rehearse." Santana says. She's dancing, missing her giant bow hat, and she really really wants to be in the middle of a dance floor with strobe lights around her. Maybe leave late into the night with Finn, go home, have some fun, sleep until noon, remember very little of it in the morning. She wants to forget that this ever happened and just have fun.
She's a senior now - Finn, Brittany, and Puck, too - so she has another year left come August. She knows she's not ready for that kind of commitment. She loves Finn, she does, but... it's one of those things. She can't do that, can't make the same kind of sacrifice Quinn made. So she nipped it in the bud, and now she's trying to escape the emptiness she feels.
They go back to Finn and Kurt's house - a place to crash, since Carole and Burt are on their honeymoon until next Thursday - and watch movies and she cries drunkenly at random scenes in one of them. She thinks on it later, and it was probably Lord of the Rings, but whatever. All she can remember is Finn wrapping his arm around her, holding her close, and whispering in her ear, "Someday, mama. Not now, not tomorrow, but some day, it'll happen for us."
She takes him home, and they just hold each other, even after they fall asleep.
END
Well, that happened. I'm trying to write more, so I guess I'll be doing quite a few more prompt-based drabbly things. A Softer World happens to be one of my favorite webcomics, so a lot will be based on those. Woo!