#202 – Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure

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Title: Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure
Author: persephone_20
Rating: PG
Fandom: Glee
Characters: Puck, Finn and Rachel.
Spoilers: Events in the most recent episode Funk get referenced but not explicitly stated.
Notes: X-posted to gleefic

After it happened, Rachel said very little at all. In fact, the sentence where she described what Jesse and the other members of Vocal Adrenaline had done to her was probably one of the shortest she had ever said. Mercades immediately put an arm around Rachel. Puck immediately felt very defensive of Rachel. It would occur to him later to ask himself 'What the fuck?' but right then, it was just about instinct and response.

He didn't need to look up to Finn to know what expression would be on his face. Years of friendship--didn't matter that they weren't friends right now--told him that Finn's responses and his were very similar most of the time. Unfortunately for him, Finn was usually both more honest about it and faster in his response time. Apart from crime. When it came to delinquency, Puck had shown Finn everything the other boy knew. When the two boys looked at one another, they knew without speaking that it was time to put some of that learning to good use.

They had to pay back the damages. Finn completely freaked out talking about it in Figgins' office, but Puck kept it cool. Of the two of them, he always kept it cool.

Out in the hallway, after Miss Corcoran had left, and Mr Shue had left them with a half-hearted scolding about private property, Puck felt fairly sure that he knew the reason why Rachel's mum hadn't pressed charges.

Of course, Finn was a little slower in getting it. The taller of the two, Finn stood in Puck's way before the two of them could part ways without really acknowledging each other, like they'd been doing for months. Puck could have gotten around him without too much trouble but, on this occasion, he chose not to. He'd ask himself about that too, later. It's not like he hadn't known what was coming.

"I know why I did it," Finn asked, having looked around first to make sure no one was gawking in on their conversation. "But why did you?"

Puck shrugged his shoulders. It probably looked the same as normal, but Puck thought it felt a bit flat. Finn wouldn't notice. "It's an excuse for vandalism, right?"

"Right." Finn narrowed his eyes at Puck, as though he could tell there was something that his former best mate was hiding, but not quite sure what it was. "Vandalism. Nothing to do with Rachel."

"Nothing." That time Puck swore that there was nothing different from the usual way he would have uttered that word, but this time Finn picked up on it.

"You're lying."

"Am not." That came too quickly.

"Aren't you? Alright, so why didn't you slash the tyres on that St. Martin guy last year when he tried it on with Santana?"

"Santana's a big girl," Puck said with a sniff. "She can take care of her own shit."

"And you don't think Rachel can?"

Puck raised his eyebrow. He thought they both knew the answer to that.

Finn turned his head, changed the tack of the conversation. "I'm just saying, hands off. After Quinn... Rachel's had enough bad luck with guys. She doesn't need you too."

"Counting yourself in that number, bro?" The look Puck shot Finn was pure bravado. Finn hadn't forgotten about Puck getting Quinn pregnant. Vandalising a bunch of cars wasn't going to suddenly make everything okay between them. It sucked more than Puck could say right then.

"I'm just saying leave her alone." And just like that, their history was right up in their faces again. Finn shook his head and turned away, leaving Puck standing alone in the corridor.

**

For a while, the interaction with Finn in the school hall took the memory of Rachel's face out of his mind's eye. It wasn't until the end of the school day that he thought about Rachel again. Thought about her, and damn near ran into her.

She was sitting on the steps outside of one of the less used exits to the school. Her back was to him and, for a while, Puck paused to watch her without her knowing.

Usually so straight and proud, Rachel's back was hunched. It was clear that she held something in her hand as, as she reached up to blow her nose, it became clear what that something was. All those tears that she had quietly held in side during the glee club meet up, and the rest of the day at school, were being expelled privately in her own company, or so she thought.

Puck would have thought she would have been more theatrical about it. Instead, what he was seeing in front of him hurt something inside a little bit.

"Come on, Rachel. This guy's scum. He's not worth this."

She'd turned around by his last sentence, and her eyes were wide with surprise and unshed tears. Her eyes were red rimmed and a bit blood shot from the crying. Although Puck would never have admitted it, he thought she still looked beautiful, despite that.

For a moment, they each stayed where they were, neither one making the first move or seeming to know where to go from here. At least, Puck thought, the surprise of it had stopped her tears for now. Apart from one quick wipe of her eyes, there'd been no evidence of her crying since he'd spoken.

When the suspense between them threatened to become awkward, Puck pushed himself to make the first move. Well, are you a man, or aren't you?

He summoned that Sweet Caroline charisma as he walked down the steps to sit beside her. "Did you hear, we slashed their tyres."

A small smile cracked at that. Nothing huge, but it was something. "Yeah. I heard my mum's not pressing charges. That was... nice of her."

"Yeah... It was."

And just like that, he ran out of things to say. There was a reason why he wasn't that one people chose to talk to when things went bad. Ruthlessly, he pushed thoughts of Quinn aside.

In a moment, it became clear that it didn't matter if he didn't have anything more to say. She did. "I thought he loved me." And then, as she spoke, a second thing became clear. Puck might have been anyone either in the school, or out of it. Rachel wasn't talking to him, she was talking her way out of herself. "I thought that his love for me was stronger, but now it seems clear that hatred is by far the longest pleasure and his loyalty to his own school choir is stronger than anything he truly felt for me."

If she was trying to find a way out of herself, Puck thought that was something he could actually help with. When she finally stopped to take a breath, he leaned towards her and tilted his lips against hers. Apart from a muffled 'humph' as surprise caused her to exhale some breath, she didn't make another sound.