[Glee fic] It's No Big Deal (1/1)
.-.-.
It finally arrived on Puck’s doorstep today. He’s already been waiting for it to show up for three weeks, and he was getting a little worried it wouldn’t turn up on time.
It’s no big deal, really. Just something that he knows she would like. She told him once at a Glee party, when everyone around them had either left or passed out, and she sat there with her legs tucked underneath her, her arms waving animatedly and her small smile lighting up her face. Not that he noticed or anything.
But, yeah, it finally arrived and he’s so fucking glad, because it took him such a long fucking time to track down. If anyone asks, he doesn’t really care. Nobody needs to know that he practically spent a month glued to his computer trying to find it, (because seriously, there was no fucking way he’d find it in a bum town like Lima). Or that when he finally did, he was up for almost two days straight making sure that no fucker tried to buy it out from under him.
It’s really no big deal.
.-.-.
He gets his sister to wrap it. For a ten year old, she’s pretty good at that kind of thing. So, now it’s sitting on his bed wrapped in dark purple wrapping paper with a bright pink bow on top. The brat tried to convince him that it should all be pink, because that is Rachel’s ‘signature colour’ (whatever the fuck that means) but there’s no way in hell he’s gonna be seen walking in with something bright fucking pink.
No. Way. In. Hell.
He hears the doorbell ring downstairs, followed by the excited scamper of boots. Yeah, he knows about his sister’s little (huge) crush on his best friend, but he figures as long as Finn remains oblivious, and she stays ten, then he doesn’t have to worry about it. (And he’s gonna make sure everything stays that way. For every guy. Not just Finn.)
Puck throws a quick glance at his clock, and realises that Finn’s early, which is unusual. But whatever. The chatter gets closer as Finn and Becca head for his room, so he’s not surprised at all when she shouts unnecessarily, “Noah! Finn’s here!”
“Yeah, I have ears, midget, now scram.”
“Puck...” Finn says jokingly, shaking his head, but Puck pretends not to hear him as he glares menacingly at his sister’s defiant stance.
“I said beat it!” He growls, and motions threateningly. She lets out a small squeak before she runs out the door, which Puck closes loudly behind her. “Yo.” He greets Finn casually.
Finn shakes his head again, but doesn’t mention anything about Puck’s actions; he’s long given up trying to understand Puck’s ‘tough love’ approach to his younger sibling.
“Hey.”
Puck rolls his eyes at Finn’s awkward stance. “What’s up with you?”
Finn’s head whips towards Puck’s before he says uneasily, “What do you mean?”
“Dude, you have that constipated look on your face, which usually means you want to ask me something.” Puck replies casually, grabbing his football before taking a seat on the edge of his bed. “And if it’s ‘can you use the toilet’, you can use the one downstairs next to the laundry, but make sure you flush it properly this time.”
“Don’t be an ass.” Finn scowls, shuffling from foot-to-foot. Puck tosses the football in the air a couple times, before the shuffling starts getting annoying.
“Dude! What?”
“Fine.” Finn says exaperatedly. "What did you get for Rachel?”
Puck’s eyes Finn sceptically. It’s extremely strange for Finn to be asking this about his own girlfriend. “Why?”
“I, uh, I’m not too sure about mine, and I just wanted to check.”
Puck rolls his eyes this time and sighs, not liking where this conversation is going. “Why? What did you get her?”
Finn’s eyes light up as he pulls out a small rectangular box from his jacket pocket. “It’s really cool. It’s a clock-pen. You can, like, tell time while you’re writing.”
Puck groans, because it’s fucking lame, but since Finn got over the whole baby thing, he’s vowed that he was gonna be a better friend this time around, which means... well, it means he can’t let Rachel’s boyfriend give her a fucking clock-pen for her birthday.
“Dude. That’s so fucking lame.”
Finn grins sheepishly. “I thought it was a good idea at the time. But then as I was driving over here, I remembered last year and I had second thoughts.”
Puck groans again as he remembers Finn’s present from last year. A magic eight ball. Which Finn also ‘thought it was a good idea at the time’.
“Man, I thought I told you to think about what you'd like, and then buy her the opposite.”
“Yeah,” Finn chuckles nervously, “I kinda forgot.”
“Dude, you’re just lucky that I’m the awesome guy that I am.” Puck replies as he picks up Rachel’s present from his bed and hands it to Finn. Finn gives him a confused look, and Puck has to resist rolling his eyes for the third time in the space of ten minutes. “We’ll swap okay. Berry’d probably like this better coming from you anyway.”
Finn’s face perks up as they exchange presents. “Thanks man! You’re the best.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
“So, what’d you get?”
Like Puck said, it’s no big deal really. And if he felt any reluctance handing over the present, he’s become kind of an expert at not showing it.
.-.-.
“Here, Rachel.” He grumbles as he shoves the small box into her hands. He tries not to groan as he meets Finn’s eyes across the group and he sends him a cheery thumbs-up.
“Why thank you, Noah.” She grins before she slowly begins to unwrap the gift, taking her time to peel the wrapping paper perfectly. In true Rachel fashion, she’s standing surrounded by all the Gleeks, a plastic tiara sitting happily on her head, as they each take turns in presenting her with gifts. It really seems like she was just born to be the centre of attention, and he can tell by the way her eyes dance from person to person that she’s absolutely loving it.
“Wow,” she says when she finally slips the paper off and gets a look at her gift, but he sees her smile falter momentarily while she examines the present. “It’s...”
“It’s a clock-pen!” Finn finishes excitedly, and Brittany gasps a surprised “cool!” from her spot next to Santana.
“Yes, I can see that, Finn.” She turns back to face Puck, her bright smile returning. “Thank you, Noah. I love it.” She says graciously, and Puck again finds himself fighting the urge to roll his eyes. Sometimes, Rachel’s acting is brilliant. And other times... it’s just... not.
“Yeah, whatever.” He replies, faking disinterest before moving to get some more food.
“I think it’s really cool.” Finn chips in again. “And look,” he says, grabbing the box and taking the pen out. He holds it up and starts pretending to write in mid-air. “You can check the time and write at the same time.”
The entire group laughs and Brittany lets out an awed ‘Wow’, as Rachel runs her hand down Finn’s back trying to curb his excitement.
“Yes, I agree. It’s a lovely gift.”
This time, Puck can’t stop himself from rolling his eyes as she beams fondly up at her boyfriend.
So. Freaking. Adorable.
Not.
.-.-.
Following tradition, Finn’s present is last, and even though Puck knows it’s not his gift anymore, he still holds his breath as Rachel slowly unwraps it.
Her face grows slack as the rest of the group collectively gasp. Her hand trembles slightly as she runs it over the cover of an original vinyl of Barbara Streisand and Judy Garland’s rendition of ‘Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again’.
“Wow,” she says breathlessly. “I...I’m speechless.”
“You like it?” Finn asks nervously, studying her face carefully.
“I...I love it.” There is awe in her voice, like she can’t really believe what she’s actually holding.
You see, on that late, slightly drunken night, Rachel revealed to Puck that one of her biggest flaws was her impatience. And really, that was nothing new to him, but still, he remember the way her face momentarily crumpled as she recounted the story about how this was one of her favourite songs.
She told him about the vinyl copy her dad owned when she was young, and how she used to sing day in and day out, but because she was so short, she always had to rely on her dad to reset the needle on the record player. One day, she was too impatient to wait for her dad and tried to stand on her tiptoes to reset the player herself. But she was simply too short, and she had accidentally knocked the player over, breaking the player and shattering the vinyl record.
The player, of course, could be repaired, but the record was lost, and in this day and age, finding another original copy was extremely rare.
“There’s nothing quite like listening to two of the greatest female singers of all time on the truest and most authentic music medium of any generation,” she had whispered with such regret and longing it even made his breath hitch.
“How ever did you find it?” Rachel’s voice cut through Puck’s thoughts, bringing him straight back into the Berry’s living room.
“Err...” Finn panics, shooting Puck a quick look. “eBay.” Finn recites as he watches Puck mouth the answer to him.
“I...” Rachel tries again, but she loses her train of thought midsentence. When she finally manages to tear her eyes away, she looks up at Finn with tears in her eyes. “You have no idea how much this means to me.” She whispers, wrapping her arms around him. “Thank you so much.”
The group collectively ‘aws’ around the happy couple, while Puck ignores the sharp pang at the bottom of his stomach as Finn shoots him another thumbs-up.
Whatever. It’s not like it’s a big deal, or anything.
Really, it’s not.
.-.-.
The party starts to wind down after that, and they all take turns to leave.
Puck’s one of the last out the door, and he gives Rachel a small pat on the shoulder as he gruffly mumbles “happy birthday” again. He moves to leave, his hand ghosting down her arm as he turns, but Rachel catches it and holds him there.
His gaze meets her for the first time for what feels like the entire night, and he knows he should feel self-conscious or whatever, but everyone’s gone and Finn’s sitting on the couch in the living room off to the side, blissfully watching TV while he waits for his girlfriend to finish playing the perfect hostess.
“Thank you for your present, Noah.” She whispers, grasping his hand a little tighter than necessary for a clock-pen.
“Er... no worries.” He mumbles again, shooting her a weird look. “It’s no big deal.”
She squeezes his hand lightly before she says, “No, it is a big deal.”
Puck looks away, unable to stand the intensity of her gaze. “Yeah,” he replies breathily. “I know.”
She knows.
He also knows that if he doesn’t walk away right now, he’s gonna do something really stupid, like kiss her or something. And that’s just bad. Especially with her boyfriend sitting less than ten feet away.
This time, he gives her hand a small squeeze before untangling them. He lets go, softly wishing her another happy birthday before making his way down her drive way to his truck.
He doesn’t look back to see her watching him. He’s too busy trying to convince himself that it is, in fact, not a big deal. Which is really fucking hard.
(Especially, since it is.)
It finally arrived on Puck’s doorstep today. He’s already been waiting for it to show up for three weeks, and he was getting a little worried it wouldn’t turn up on time.
It’s no big deal, really. Just something that he knows she would like. She told him once at a Glee party, when everyone around them had either left or passed out, and she sat there with her legs tucked underneath her, her arms waving animatedly and her small smile lighting up her face. Not that he noticed or anything.
But, yeah, it finally arrived and he’s so fucking glad, because it took him such a long fucking time to track down. If anyone asks, he doesn’t really care. Nobody needs to know that he practically spent a month glued to his computer trying to find it, (because seriously, there was no fucking way he’d find it in a bum town like Lima). Or that when he finally did, he was up for almost two days straight making sure that no fucker tried to buy it out from under him.
It’s really no big deal.
.-.-.
He gets his sister to wrap it. For a ten year old, she’s pretty good at that kind of thing. So, now it’s sitting on his bed wrapped in dark purple wrapping paper with a bright pink bow on top. The brat tried to convince him that it should all be pink, because that is Rachel’s ‘signature colour’ (whatever the fuck that means) but there’s no way in hell he’s gonna be seen walking in with something bright fucking pink.
No. Way. In. Hell.
He hears the doorbell ring downstairs, followed by the excited scamper of boots. Yeah, he knows about his sister’s little (huge) crush on his best friend, but he figures as long as Finn remains oblivious, and she stays ten, then he doesn’t have to worry about it. (And he’s gonna make sure everything stays that way. For every guy. Not just Finn.)
Puck throws a quick glance at his clock, and realises that Finn’s early, which is unusual. But whatever. The chatter gets closer as Finn and Becca head for his room, so he’s not surprised at all when she shouts unnecessarily, “Noah! Finn’s here!”
“Yeah, I have ears, midget, now scram.”
“Puck...” Finn says jokingly, shaking his head, but Puck pretends not to hear him as he glares menacingly at his sister’s defiant stance.
“I said beat it!” He growls, and motions threateningly. She lets out a small squeak before she runs out the door, which Puck closes loudly behind her. “Yo.” He greets Finn casually.
Finn shakes his head again, but doesn’t mention anything about Puck’s actions; he’s long given up trying to understand Puck’s ‘tough love’ approach to his younger sibling.
“Hey.”
Puck rolls his eyes at Finn’s awkward stance. “What’s up with you?”
Finn’s head whips towards Puck’s before he says uneasily, “What do you mean?”
“Dude, you have that constipated look on your face, which usually means you want to ask me something.” Puck replies casually, grabbing his football before taking a seat on the edge of his bed. “And if it’s ‘can you use the toilet’, you can use the one downstairs next to the laundry, but make sure you flush it properly this time.”
“Don’t be an ass.” Finn scowls, shuffling from foot-to-foot. Puck tosses the football in the air a couple times, before the shuffling starts getting annoying.
“Dude! What?”
“Fine.” Finn says exaperatedly. "What did you get for Rachel?”
Puck’s eyes Finn sceptically. It’s extremely strange for Finn to be asking this about his own girlfriend. “Why?”
“I, uh, I’m not too sure about mine, and I just wanted to check.”
Puck rolls his eyes this time and sighs, not liking where this conversation is going. “Why? What did you get her?”
Finn’s eyes light up as he pulls out a small rectangular box from his jacket pocket. “It’s really cool. It’s a clock-pen. You can, like, tell time while you’re writing.”
Puck groans, because it’s fucking lame, but since Finn got over the whole baby thing, he’s vowed that he was gonna be a better friend this time around, which means... well, it means he can’t let Rachel’s boyfriend give her a fucking clock-pen for her birthday.
“Dude. That’s so fucking lame.”
Finn grins sheepishly. “I thought it was a good idea at the time. But then as I was driving over here, I remembered last year and I had second thoughts.”
Puck groans again as he remembers Finn’s present from last year. A magic eight ball. Which Finn also ‘thought it was a good idea at the time’.
“Man, I thought I told you to think about what you'd like, and then buy her the opposite.”
“Yeah,” Finn chuckles nervously, “I kinda forgot.”
“Dude, you’re just lucky that I’m the awesome guy that I am.” Puck replies as he picks up Rachel’s present from his bed and hands it to Finn. Finn gives him a confused look, and Puck has to resist rolling his eyes for the third time in the space of ten minutes. “We’ll swap okay. Berry’d probably like this better coming from you anyway.”
Finn’s face perks up as they exchange presents. “Thanks man! You’re the best.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
“So, what’d you get?”
Like Puck said, it’s no big deal really. And if he felt any reluctance handing over the present, he’s become kind of an expert at not showing it.
.-.-.
“Here, Rachel.” He grumbles as he shoves the small box into her hands. He tries not to groan as he meets Finn’s eyes across the group and he sends him a cheery thumbs-up.
“Why thank you, Noah.” She grins before she slowly begins to unwrap the gift, taking her time to peel the wrapping paper perfectly. In true Rachel fashion, she’s standing surrounded by all the Gleeks, a plastic tiara sitting happily on her head, as they each take turns in presenting her with gifts. It really seems like she was just born to be the centre of attention, and he can tell by the way her eyes dance from person to person that she’s absolutely loving it.
“Wow,” she says when she finally slips the paper off and gets a look at her gift, but he sees her smile falter momentarily while she examines the present. “It’s...”
“It’s a clock-pen!” Finn finishes excitedly, and Brittany gasps a surprised “cool!” from her spot next to Santana.
“Yes, I can see that, Finn.” She turns back to face Puck, her bright smile returning. “Thank you, Noah. I love it.” She says graciously, and Puck again finds himself fighting the urge to roll his eyes. Sometimes, Rachel’s acting is brilliant. And other times... it’s just... not.
“Yeah, whatever.” He replies, faking disinterest before moving to get some more food.
“I think it’s really cool.” Finn chips in again. “And look,” he says, grabbing the box and taking the pen out. He holds it up and starts pretending to write in mid-air. “You can check the time and write at the same time.”
The entire group laughs and Brittany lets out an awed ‘Wow’, as Rachel runs her hand down Finn’s back trying to curb his excitement.
“Yes, I agree. It’s a lovely gift.”
This time, Puck can’t stop himself from rolling his eyes as she beams fondly up at her boyfriend.
So. Freaking. Adorable.
Not.
.-.-.
Following tradition, Finn’s present is last, and even though Puck knows it’s not his gift anymore, he still holds his breath as Rachel slowly unwraps it.
Her face grows slack as the rest of the group collectively gasp. Her hand trembles slightly as she runs it over the cover of an original vinyl of Barbara Streisand and Judy Garland’s rendition of ‘Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again’.
“Wow,” she says breathlessly. “I...I’m speechless.”
“You like it?” Finn asks nervously, studying her face carefully.
“I...I love it.” There is awe in her voice, like she can’t really believe what she’s actually holding.
You see, on that late, slightly drunken night, Rachel revealed to Puck that one of her biggest flaws was her impatience. And really, that was nothing new to him, but still, he remember the way her face momentarily crumpled as she recounted the story about how this was one of her favourite songs.
She told him about the vinyl copy her dad owned when she was young, and how she used to sing day in and day out, but because she was so short, she always had to rely on her dad to reset the needle on the record player. One day, she was too impatient to wait for her dad and tried to stand on her tiptoes to reset the player herself. But she was simply too short, and she had accidentally knocked the player over, breaking the player and shattering the vinyl record.
The player, of course, could be repaired, but the record was lost, and in this day and age, finding another original copy was extremely rare.
“There’s nothing quite like listening to two of the greatest female singers of all time on the truest and most authentic music medium of any generation,” she had whispered with such regret and longing it even made his breath hitch.
“How ever did you find it?” Rachel’s voice cut through Puck’s thoughts, bringing him straight back into the Berry’s living room.
“Err...” Finn panics, shooting Puck a quick look. “eBay.” Finn recites as he watches Puck mouth the answer to him.
“I...” Rachel tries again, but she loses her train of thought midsentence. When she finally manages to tear her eyes away, she looks up at Finn with tears in her eyes. “You have no idea how much this means to me.” She whispers, wrapping her arms around him. “Thank you so much.”
The group collectively ‘aws’ around the happy couple, while Puck ignores the sharp pang at the bottom of his stomach as Finn shoots him another thumbs-up.
Whatever. It’s not like it’s a big deal, or anything.
Really, it’s not.
.-.-.
The party starts to wind down after that, and they all take turns to leave.
Puck’s one of the last out the door, and he gives Rachel a small pat on the shoulder as he gruffly mumbles “happy birthday” again. He moves to leave, his hand ghosting down her arm as he turns, but Rachel catches it and holds him there.
His gaze meets her for the first time for what feels like the entire night, and he knows he should feel self-conscious or whatever, but everyone’s gone and Finn’s sitting on the couch in the living room off to the side, blissfully watching TV while he waits for his girlfriend to finish playing the perfect hostess.
“Thank you for your present, Noah.” She whispers, grasping his hand a little tighter than necessary for a clock-pen.
“Er... no worries.” He mumbles again, shooting her a weird look. “It’s no big deal.”
She squeezes his hand lightly before she says, “No, it is a big deal.”
Puck looks away, unable to stand the intensity of her gaze. “Yeah,” he replies breathily. “I know.”
She knows.
He also knows that if he doesn’t walk away right now, he’s gonna do something really stupid, like kiss her or something. And that’s just bad. Especially with her boyfriend sitting less than ten feet away.
This time, he gives her hand a small squeeze before untangling them. He lets go, softly wishing her another happy birthday before making his way down her drive way to his truck.
He doesn’t look back to see her watching him. He’s too busy trying to convince himself that it is, in fact, not a big deal. Which is really fucking hard.
(Especially, since it is.)