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escritoireazulSo thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sotto_voice, I've now seen the promo for next week's new episode. You, too, can watch it or check out the important image from it (I bet you can guess what the image is, but I will not spoil). Check it out. I am simultaneously giddy beyond belief and terrified, because there is only one thing keeping me watching the show right now and I do not trust them not to fuck it up, because they fuck up everything else.
So basically, I am trying to finish all the stories before next week's episode, just in case I break up with Glee. Again. It is not going to happen.
Title: Lay Your Hands Upon Me
Author: escritoireazul
Written for: This prompt in the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
glee_fluff_meme: (summarized from a long prompt) Puck gets equal-opportunity cuddly when he drinks. Picture Prompt from "Blame It On the Alcohol"
Spoilers: Through "Blame It On the Alcohol"
Rating: 13+
Word Count: 2900+
Author's Note: This is a transformative work of fiction for the television show Glee. In addition to the cuddling, there's underage drinking, greco-roman wrestling and girl bonding.
Summary: It's not really a surprise that Puck's an equal-opportunity cuddler.
Tina slumps against Lauren with a breathy little moan. “Oh, that’s hot,” she says, and she’s not wrong. Despite herself, Lauren moves her arm so that Tina is sprawled comfortably against her side; not because they’re friends, shut up, but because she’s protecting her up-close-and-personal view.
And Puck curled up around Mike, whose legs stretch out behind her and Tina, close enough she can hear his jeans rustle even over the whoops of the others as Mercedes and Artie kiss, is a view worth protecting.
It’s no surprise that Puck gets cuddly when he’s drunk. He’s pretty damn cuddly sober; sometimes, for a sex-crazed bad boy, he’s downright mushy. So yeah, Puck getting cuddly and clingy while drunk? Not a shock.
It’s not even really a surprise that he’s not picky about whom he cuddles with, and not even in the Warm body? Puckasaurus is so there kind of way. More like he appreciates the beauty in everyone. And okay, maybe Lauren’s pretty drunk too, to have that thought. It’s still truth. Puck’s an asshole and a bully. There’s no getting around that. It’s okay, she is too. But just like he’s an equal opportunity asshole -- dude, he fucked his best-friend’s girl. And got her pregnant. And then fooled around with the next girl -- he can find something he likes in just about everyone. Case in point: Berry. Lauren gets the Quinn thing, because Quinn is freaking hot, but somehow Puck even manages to like Berry.
So yeah, an equal opportunity cuddler while drunk: not a surprise.
What is, and what really shouldn’t be, is how damn hot it is to watch Puck and Mike cuddle where they’re sprawled against each other. How did she not anticipate the hot? Puckerman is smokin’ and Mike’s got those abs that just don’t quit. Of course this is two hot things that are even hotter together. God. But somehow, she’s never really thought about Puck all curled up with a dude.
No way she’s unseeing that now, though, not with them so goddamn hot right in front of her and Tina so giggly and appreciative.
And then -- Lauren thanks god for awkward geek parties and alcohol and couple drama and spin the fucking bottle because and then -- Mercedes spins and lands on Puck. She’s laughing and grinning so hard she almost misses, but somehow they manage it, even with Mike still laying against Puck. After, Mercedes falls back, sparkly and giddy and fun, and Puck sort of leans over Mike, making them both bend weird, so he can give the bottle a little spin. It wobbles around, his angle wasn’t great, and when it stops, it’s sort of pointing right back at him.
He grabs Mike’s face, squishing his cheeks a little, and buzzes a kiss right at the corner of his mouth. Tina grabs Lauren’s hand; she’s got really sharp nails, but Lauren doesn’t mind a bit of pain, especially not when Puck’s being so noncha-fucking-lant about kissing a dude and now she’s imagining all sorts of sexy, naughty things.
Goddamn alcohol.
Mike drops his head against Puck’s chest. “Spin for me, baby, please,” he mumbles, bumping his leg against Tina and subsequently against Lauren too.
“Right.” Tina drags it out, grabs the bottle, and gives it the most half-assed turn Lauren’s ever seen. As little as it’s turning, she doesn’t even wait before crawling into Mike, her hands on his face, pulling him up into her kiss. Puck still has his arms draped around him; he leans back a little until he can grin at Lauren and she slips, just for a second, and beams back at him.
So Rachel’s house-party-gone-wrong-or-maybe-very-very-right is the first time she watches Puck and Mike sprawl all over each other, but it’s absolutely not the last.
#
Lauren's not even really sure how they all end up together the next time. It's not her plan, more's the pity, but she's not going to complain, either. She’s got a meet she’s kinda nervous about -- the guy who took second to her last year will be there and though she hasn’t faced him yet this season, rumor has it he’s even bigger now. He was hard enough to throw around at state. If she loses to him now, she loses some of her edge -- and she slings her stress around with sharper, meaner words than normal, lashing out at anyone who dares breathe near her.
Puck doesn’t even flinch when she tears into him for really horrible things he’s done. Like touching her hair, or trying to kiss her, or not paying attention in class, or bumping his hand against hers on the way to the choir room.
Or, hell, daring to lean in close and smile and tell her she’ll kick ass. Totally deserved her fury with that one.
But he just laughs and slips in fast to glance a kiss off her mouth -- even that kind of backfires for her, because damn, if she can’t stop him, how’s she going to win, but she tries to shove away that thought and just enjoy his cheek -- and promises he’ll see her later.
So she’s not surprised to see him in the stands, and wouldn’t have been even if he hadn’t said anything, because he’s shown up to practices. Hell, no one comes to watch practice. She is a little surprised to see Tina and Mike with him, the three of them slouching between the benches so their legs are up and their backs are sorta supported. Tina’s got her phone out, but she’s listening pretty hard to whatever Mike is saying.
The meet begins and Lauren’s thoughts tunnel down into one thing: the win.
Almost she loses to Bobby. There’s a moment where she slips on an arm throw and he gets the upper hand, pressing into her. Terror ratchets through her -- it’s stupid, because everyone loses sometimes, but she’s suddenly certain she’ll never be recruited if she ever, ever fails -- and she can see how he’s going in for a bodylock, and she knows what throw he favors out of it, and how he’ll pin her after they hit.
Hold the phone. She knows what he’s going to do. She can see it, every move he’s going to make, because she’s been studying him for two years now, picking him apart until she can map his weak points with her eyes closed.
She thinks all those things very, very quickly, but her body is moving before she’s even settled on what she needs to do. Push into the bodylock to urge him forward, clamp the left arm, step in deep with her lead leg, and then the rush of it, loading him on her hip and pushing through. They hit the ground hard and she surges against him, locking him into place.
When the ref calls it, she doesn’t even hear him at first over the pounding of her heart as her fear drains away, leaving her shaking and fierce and strong. She hauls herself up; next to her, Bobby does the same. He’s breathing hard and sweat drips into his eyes. He dashes it away quickly.
“Good throw,” he says.
It takes her a second to find her words, she’s been so deep in her own body. “Thanks.” It’s almost a groan. She’s going to feel this later, the mistake and the tightness of her fear and pushing herself so damn hard to get out of it.
“It’ll go different at state.” He grins a little, and it doesn’t sound like he’s trying to intimidate her, just sharing his confidence in himself.
Laughter bubbles up and she tilts back her head. Her hair’s matted and sweaty at the back of her neck where short bits have come out of her tight braids. “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that.”
“I’ll be there.” He sways toward her a little, so subtle she’s not really sure she actually sees it. “You better be ready.”
“Bring it, tough guy.”
He snorts a laugh and she heads back to the bench and her water bottle and towel. She can almost feel the weight of Puck’s gaze on her, and sure enough, when she looks up into the stands after she slurps a drink, she catches him watching her, all cocky and shit with his arms hooked on the bench behind him and his mouth twisted into a smirk.
She can practically hear his praise, and she’s looking forward to putting his mouth to good use later.
#
Tina and Mike are still hanging around with Puck when Lauren gets out of the locker room after her shower. She pulls her hair back in a messy bun at the nape of her neck, and it’s a cool, damp knot against her skin.
“You kicked ass, babe.” Puck slings his arm across his shoulder. Brave boy, the way she’s been attacking all day. She leans into him, slipping her fingers just under the waistband of his jeans. His skin is ridiculously smooth there and she trails one nail across it, curling her finger into the small of his back.
She can feel him go all tense, but his expression doesn’t change.
“That was amazing,” Tina says, her hands clasped together in front of her dark skirt. “I had no idea you could throw people!”
Lauren laughs a little. She’s glad Tina smiles, because she’s not actually laughing at her. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Tina tilts her head, looking thoughtful. “Can you teach me some of it? It looks even better than football.”
She can feel the stupid grin break across her face. She spends most her time with boys, but that’s just because there aren’t a lot of girls in wrestling or at the garage where her mom works or in the AV Club. She wishes there were though. Glee has been an experience. Not a completely bad one, either.
The best part -- well, okay, that’s been Puckerman, not that she will ever tell him that. Very close second was walking onto the football field with Tina and Mercedes and even Berry. There was a moment, striding forward in the most badass of power walks, that she was so ready to kick ass and take names and to do it surrounded by the girls. God, it felt good.
So now she doesn’t even try to hide her grin. “Yeah, I can do that. There’s a lot of strategy to it, too. It’s not just about being bigger and badder.”
“Cool.” Tina does an excited little shimmy.
The moment of silence that follows isn’t even awkward, just the comfortable pause in the conversation that happens between friends.
“So we need to celebrate your win,” Puck says.
She knows better, she does, but she’s feeling too good to stop herself, so she arches her eyebrows and digs her nails into his back and smarts off, “What do you have in mind, Puckerman?”
He clutches at her shoulder, but his voice is pretty steady when he says, “Pizza and a movie at Tina’s.” But there’s a smirk curling up his mouth. She knows how they'll be celebrating later.
“Yeah, okay.” She’s nodding a lot and she’s not even sure why except that energy’s still bubbling inside her. “That sounds fun.”
#
It’s so much more than fun. Tina’s parents aren’t home, and girl’s got an impressive collection of music. They don’t even make it to the movie for awhile. Tina puts on some music Lauren doesn’t recognize, but that’s all power chords and wailing violins and dramatic piano runs. Not that they pay much attention. First they argue over what to get on the pizza, then they start talking video games -- Lauren’s not played much, but some of them sound pretty badass -- and music and all sorts of shit.
After the pizza finally arrives, Puck starts to look a little secretive. If Mike and Tina notice, they don’t let on, but Lauren calls him on it.
“Puckerman.” She arches an eyebrow. “Why are you so fidgety?”
He's sitting on the coffee table in front of her, and he leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. She has to stop herself from staring at his hands, the way his fingers are splayed. Okay, so she’s still a little worked up from the win. Focus, Lauren.
The angle of his body and the way his arms are draped on his legs sort of perfectly frames his button fly and she has to force herself to look away. Not quite what she should be focusing on, but goddamn, he’s hot.
“I’ve got hard cider,” he says, “and some beer.”
Mike frowns. “What about Mr. Schue’s pledge?”
Puck lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “Hey, I asked what would happen if we fell off the wagon. Besides, this is nothing like that party. We don’t have to get drunk.”
“I want a cider,” Tina pipes up. She thrusts paper plates at them and napkins, drops onto the couch next to Mike, and looks at Puck expectantly. “I’m not going anywhere. I think it’s fine.”
Lauren nods. “Yeah, me too.” She moves to the floor in front of the couch so she can stretch because sure enough, she’s starting to feel sore. It has nothing at all to do with sitting closer to Puck's legs. Really.
Mike doesn’t really look convinced, but Puck grabs the drinks from Lauren’s car -- she doesn’t even know when he put them there -- and they settle down to dinner. They don’t get drunk, there’s not really enough alcohol for that anyway, even if Mike refuses to drink because he takes his pledges seriously. Which is kind of cool in its own way.
But the beer’s good and the cider’s even better. Tina sips her cider slow and regales Lauren with how she pretended to be a vampire to scare Figgins into letting her dress how she wants. It’s a story Lauren’s already heard, but she laughs anyway and lets Tina have her moment. It’s even better getting it straight from her anyway, because she puts an excellent spin on Figgin’s sheer terror -- I thought he was going to start sacrificing students to me to make me go away and Lauren laughs Jacob Ben Israel makes a good victim and Tina, with an eyeroll, I forgot you were to blame for all that . . . but oh, Figgins was hilarious. -- and then launches straight into an epic story about going to motocross with Brittany.
Dude, the glee girls are way more badass than Lauren ever thought. She feels a little starry eyed from the awesome while she listens to Tina talk about Brittany’s wild race. Puck gets up for a refill and when he comes back, he drops onto the couch closer than ever to Mike.
Even though Mike’s stone sober this time, he just grins when Puck slumps against him and puts his arms along the back of the couch. Tina is curled against him one side, Lauren sitting at her feet, turned sideways so she can see them, and Puck slips his arm behind Mike, tucking their bodies together.
Tina tilts her head toward Lauren and grins bright and wide. Lauren bumps her elbow against Tina’s leg, almost giddy from it, because damn, yeah, it’s even more hot mostly sober.
“We should actually watch a movie,” Tina says when she finishes her story. She nudges Lauren a little. “Why don’t you put something in?”
There are so many ways she can answer that, but finally she decides to play it straight. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Tina twists her empty bottle. “How about The Dark Knight? I’ve been on a comic book movie overload lately, I just can’t get enough.”
“What a waste of Babs,” Mike groans. “They could have done so much with that.”
“I know, honey.” Tina pats his knee and lifts her face to him for a kiss. Lauren’s not really sure what they’re talking about -- superhero comics have never been her thing -- but she’s game. She puts in the movie, gets fresh drinks for everyone, even Mike’s soda, and goes back to her spot on the floor. Her shoulders throb and she presses the unopened bottle to her right shoulder, hoping the cold will help.
“Are you sore because of wrestling?” Tina asks.
Lauren nods. “Sometimes you can really feel it later.” She squints. “You’re not changing your mind, are you?”
She giggles no and scoots a little closer. “Come here. I’m pretty good at this. Aren’t I?”
“Oh yeah.” Mike’s quick to agree. “I wouldn’t have made it through Coach Beiste’s training camp without her. Some days I didn’t think I could lift a fork, but after a Tina massage, I was up and dancing again.”
“He’s pretty good at sucking up,” Lauren teases. Tina slaps her shoulder lightly, and sets into the massage. Her hands are delicate, but she digs in hard, not afraid to make it hurt like so many people are, and it feels so good Lauren swallows a groan.
“Hot,” Puck mutters. From the corner of her eye, she sees him sprawl a little more across Mike, resting his head on Mike’s chest. Mike drops his arm across Puck’s back, and she can’t really tell if he’s doing it because he’s a cuddler too or if he’s afraid Puck’s going to tumble off the couch, even though she’s pretty sure he’s not that drunk.
Tina hits a really sore spot and Lauren jerks forward, then forces herself to push into it. There’s a giggle from behind her, and Tina leans forward so she can murmur in Lauren’s ear. “Speaking of hot, we should invite Sam next time. Puck’s a little bit obsessed with his mouth. I bet we can do something with that.”
Lauren lets out this shocked little laugh and then twists until she can grin conspiratorially up at Tina. “Now that,” she says and leans harder against Tina’s leg, “sounds like a plan.”
“What does?” Mike asks, but Tina just smiles, her face alight with anticipation.
sotto_voice, I've now seen the promo for next week's new episode. You, too, can watch it or check out the important image from it (I bet you can guess what the image is, but I will not spoil). Check it out. I am simultaneously giddy beyond belief and terrified, because there is only one thing keeping me watching the show right now and I do not trust them not to fuck it up, because they fuck up everything else.So basically, I am trying to finish all the stories before next week's episode, just in case I break up with Glee. Again. It is not going to happen.
Title: Lay Your Hands Upon Me
Author: escritoireazul
Written for: This prompt in the
glee_fluff_meme: (summarized from a long prompt) Puck gets equal-opportunity cuddly when he drinks. Picture Prompt from "Blame It On the Alcohol"Spoilers: Through "Blame It On the Alcohol"
Rating: 13+
Word Count: 2900+
Author's Note: This is a transformative work of fiction for the television show Glee. In addition to the cuddling, there's underage drinking, greco-roman wrestling and girl bonding.
Summary: It's not really a surprise that Puck's an equal-opportunity cuddler.
Tina slumps against Lauren with a breathy little moan. “Oh, that’s hot,” she says, and she’s not wrong. Despite herself, Lauren moves her arm so that Tina is sprawled comfortably against her side; not because they’re friends, shut up, but because she’s protecting her up-close-and-personal view.
And Puck curled up around Mike, whose legs stretch out behind her and Tina, close enough she can hear his jeans rustle even over the whoops of the others as Mercedes and Artie kiss, is a view worth protecting.
It’s no surprise that Puck gets cuddly when he’s drunk. He’s pretty damn cuddly sober; sometimes, for a sex-crazed bad boy, he’s downright mushy. So yeah, Puck getting cuddly and clingy while drunk? Not a shock.
It’s not even really a surprise that he’s not picky about whom he cuddles with, and not even in the Warm body? Puckasaurus is so there kind of way. More like he appreciates the beauty in everyone. And okay, maybe Lauren’s pretty drunk too, to have that thought. It’s still truth. Puck’s an asshole and a bully. There’s no getting around that. It’s okay, she is too. But just like he’s an equal opportunity asshole -- dude, he fucked his best-friend’s girl. And got her pregnant. And then fooled around with the next girl -- he can find something he likes in just about everyone. Case in point: Berry. Lauren gets the Quinn thing, because Quinn is freaking hot, but somehow Puck even manages to like Berry.
So yeah, an equal opportunity cuddler while drunk: not a surprise.
What is, and what really shouldn’t be, is how damn hot it is to watch Puck and Mike cuddle where they’re sprawled against each other. How did she not anticipate the hot? Puckerman is smokin’ and Mike’s got those abs that just don’t quit. Of course this is two hot things that are even hotter together. God. But somehow, she’s never really thought about Puck all curled up with a dude.
No way she’s unseeing that now, though, not with them so goddamn hot right in front of her and Tina so giggly and appreciative.
And then -- Lauren thanks god for awkward geek parties and alcohol and couple drama and spin the fucking bottle because and then -- Mercedes spins and lands on Puck. She’s laughing and grinning so hard she almost misses, but somehow they manage it, even with Mike still laying against Puck. After, Mercedes falls back, sparkly and giddy and fun, and Puck sort of leans over Mike, making them both bend weird, so he can give the bottle a little spin. It wobbles around, his angle wasn’t great, and when it stops, it’s sort of pointing right back at him.
He grabs Mike’s face, squishing his cheeks a little, and buzzes a kiss right at the corner of his mouth. Tina grabs Lauren’s hand; she’s got really sharp nails, but Lauren doesn’t mind a bit of pain, especially not when Puck’s being so noncha-fucking-lant about kissing a dude and now she’s imagining all sorts of sexy, naughty things.
Goddamn alcohol.
Mike drops his head against Puck’s chest. “Spin for me, baby, please,” he mumbles, bumping his leg against Tina and subsequently against Lauren too.
“Right.” Tina drags it out, grabs the bottle, and gives it the most half-assed turn Lauren’s ever seen. As little as it’s turning, she doesn’t even wait before crawling into Mike, her hands on his face, pulling him up into her kiss. Puck still has his arms draped around him; he leans back a little until he can grin at Lauren and she slips, just for a second, and beams back at him.
So Rachel’s house-party-gone-wrong-or-maybe-very-very-right is the first time she watches Puck and Mike sprawl all over each other, but it’s absolutely not the last.
#
Lauren's not even really sure how they all end up together the next time. It's not her plan, more's the pity, but she's not going to complain, either. She’s got a meet she’s kinda nervous about -- the guy who took second to her last year will be there and though she hasn’t faced him yet this season, rumor has it he’s even bigger now. He was hard enough to throw around at state. If she loses to him now, she loses some of her edge -- and she slings her stress around with sharper, meaner words than normal, lashing out at anyone who dares breathe near her.
Puck doesn’t even flinch when she tears into him for really horrible things he’s done. Like touching her hair, or trying to kiss her, or not paying attention in class, or bumping his hand against hers on the way to the choir room.
Or, hell, daring to lean in close and smile and tell her she’ll kick ass. Totally deserved her fury with that one.
But he just laughs and slips in fast to glance a kiss off her mouth -- even that kind of backfires for her, because damn, if she can’t stop him, how’s she going to win, but she tries to shove away that thought and just enjoy his cheek -- and promises he’ll see her later.
So she’s not surprised to see him in the stands, and wouldn’t have been even if he hadn’t said anything, because he’s shown up to practices. Hell, no one comes to watch practice. She is a little surprised to see Tina and Mike with him, the three of them slouching between the benches so their legs are up and their backs are sorta supported. Tina’s got her phone out, but she’s listening pretty hard to whatever Mike is saying.
The meet begins and Lauren’s thoughts tunnel down into one thing: the win.
Almost she loses to Bobby. There’s a moment where she slips on an arm throw and he gets the upper hand, pressing into her. Terror ratchets through her -- it’s stupid, because everyone loses sometimes, but she’s suddenly certain she’ll never be recruited if she ever, ever fails -- and she can see how he’s going in for a bodylock, and she knows what throw he favors out of it, and how he’ll pin her after they hit.
Hold the phone. She knows what he’s going to do. She can see it, every move he’s going to make, because she’s been studying him for two years now, picking him apart until she can map his weak points with her eyes closed.
She thinks all those things very, very quickly, but her body is moving before she’s even settled on what she needs to do. Push into the bodylock to urge him forward, clamp the left arm, step in deep with her lead leg, and then the rush of it, loading him on her hip and pushing through. They hit the ground hard and she surges against him, locking him into place.
When the ref calls it, she doesn’t even hear him at first over the pounding of her heart as her fear drains away, leaving her shaking and fierce and strong. She hauls herself up; next to her, Bobby does the same. He’s breathing hard and sweat drips into his eyes. He dashes it away quickly.
“Good throw,” he says.
It takes her a second to find her words, she’s been so deep in her own body. “Thanks.” It’s almost a groan. She’s going to feel this later, the mistake and the tightness of her fear and pushing herself so damn hard to get out of it.
“It’ll go different at state.” He grins a little, and it doesn’t sound like he’s trying to intimidate her, just sharing his confidence in himself.
Laughter bubbles up and she tilts back her head. Her hair’s matted and sweaty at the back of her neck where short bits have come out of her tight braids. “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that.”
“I’ll be there.” He sways toward her a little, so subtle she’s not really sure she actually sees it. “You better be ready.”
“Bring it, tough guy.”
He snorts a laugh and she heads back to the bench and her water bottle and towel. She can almost feel the weight of Puck’s gaze on her, and sure enough, when she looks up into the stands after she slurps a drink, she catches him watching her, all cocky and shit with his arms hooked on the bench behind him and his mouth twisted into a smirk.
She can practically hear his praise, and she’s looking forward to putting his mouth to good use later.
#
Tina and Mike are still hanging around with Puck when Lauren gets out of the locker room after her shower. She pulls her hair back in a messy bun at the nape of her neck, and it’s a cool, damp knot against her skin.
“You kicked ass, babe.” Puck slings his arm across his shoulder. Brave boy, the way she’s been attacking all day. She leans into him, slipping her fingers just under the waistband of his jeans. His skin is ridiculously smooth there and she trails one nail across it, curling her finger into the small of his back.
She can feel him go all tense, but his expression doesn’t change.
“That was amazing,” Tina says, her hands clasped together in front of her dark skirt. “I had no idea you could throw people!”
Lauren laughs a little. She’s glad Tina smiles, because she’s not actually laughing at her. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Tina tilts her head, looking thoughtful. “Can you teach me some of it? It looks even better than football.”
She can feel the stupid grin break across her face. She spends most her time with boys, but that’s just because there aren’t a lot of girls in wrestling or at the garage where her mom works or in the AV Club. She wishes there were though. Glee has been an experience. Not a completely bad one, either.
The best part -- well, okay, that’s been Puckerman, not that she will ever tell him that. Very close second was walking onto the football field with Tina and Mercedes and even Berry. There was a moment, striding forward in the most badass of power walks, that she was so ready to kick ass and take names and to do it surrounded by the girls. God, it felt good.
So now she doesn’t even try to hide her grin. “Yeah, I can do that. There’s a lot of strategy to it, too. It’s not just about being bigger and badder.”
“Cool.” Tina does an excited little shimmy.
The moment of silence that follows isn’t even awkward, just the comfortable pause in the conversation that happens between friends.
“So we need to celebrate your win,” Puck says.
She knows better, she does, but she’s feeling too good to stop herself, so she arches her eyebrows and digs her nails into his back and smarts off, “What do you have in mind, Puckerman?”
He clutches at her shoulder, but his voice is pretty steady when he says, “Pizza and a movie at Tina’s.” But there’s a smirk curling up his mouth. She knows how they'll be celebrating later.
“Yeah, okay.” She’s nodding a lot and she’s not even sure why except that energy’s still bubbling inside her. “That sounds fun.”
#
It’s so much more than fun. Tina’s parents aren’t home, and girl’s got an impressive collection of music. They don’t even make it to the movie for awhile. Tina puts on some music Lauren doesn’t recognize, but that’s all power chords and wailing violins and dramatic piano runs. Not that they pay much attention. First they argue over what to get on the pizza, then they start talking video games -- Lauren’s not played much, but some of them sound pretty badass -- and music and all sorts of shit.
After the pizza finally arrives, Puck starts to look a little secretive. If Mike and Tina notice, they don’t let on, but Lauren calls him on it.
“Puckerman.” She arches an eyebrow. “Why are you so fidgety?”
He's sitting on the coffee table in front of her, and he leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. She has to stop herself from staring at his hands, the way his fingers are splayed. Okay, so she’s still a little worked up from the win. Focus, Lauren.
The angle of his body and the way his arms are draped on his legs sort of perfectly frames his button fly and she has to force herself to look away. Not quite what she should be focusing on, but goddamn, he’s hot.
“I’ve got hard cider,” he says, “and some beer.”
Mike frowns. “What about Mr. Schue’s pledge?”
Puck lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “Hey, I asked what would happen if we fell off the wagon. Besides, this is nothing like that party. We don’t have to get drunk.”
“I want a cider,” Tina pipes up. She thrusts paper plates at them and napkins, drops onto the couch next to Mike, and looks at Puck expectantly. “I’m not going anywhere. I think it’s fine.”
Lauren nods. “Yeah, me too.” She moves to the floor in front of the couch so she can stretch because sure enough, she’s starting to feel sore. It has nothing at all to do with sitting closer to Puck's legs. Really.
Mike doesn’t really look convinced, but Puck grabs the drinks from Lauren’s car -- she doesn’t even know when he put them there -- and they settle down to dinner. They don’t get drunk, there’s not really enough alcohol for that anyway, even if Mike refuses to drink because he takes his pledges seriously. Which is kind of cool in its own way.
But the beer’s good and the cider’s even better. Tina sips her cider slow and regales Lauren with how she pretended to be a vampire to scare Figgins into letting her dress how she wants. It’s a story Lauren’s already heard, but she laughs anyway and lets Tina have her moment. It’s even better getting it straight from her anyway, because she puts an excellent spin on Figgin’s sheer terror -- I thought he was going to start sacrificing students to me to make me go away and Lauren laughs Jacob Ben Israel makes a good victim and Tina, with an eyeroll, I forgot you were to blame for all that . . . but oh, Figgins was hilarious. -- and then launches straight into an epic story about going to motocross with Brittany.
Dude, the glee girls are way more badass than Lauren ever thought. She feels a little starry eyed from the awesome while she listens to Tina talk about Brittany’s wild race. Puck gets up for a refill and when he comes back, he drops onto the couch closer than ever to Mike.
Even though Mike’s stone sober this time, he just grins when Puck slumps against him and puts his arms along the back of the couch. Tina is curled against him one side, Lauren sitting at her feet, turned sideways so she can see them, and Puck slips his arm behind Mike, tucking their bodies together.
Tina tilts her head toward Lauren and grins bright and wide. Lauren bumps her elbow against Tina’s leg, almost giddy from it, because damn, yeah, it’s even more hot mostly sober.
“We should actually watch a movie,” Tina says when she finishes her story. She nudges Lauren a little. “Why don’t you put something in?”
There are so many ways she can answer that, but finally she decides to play it straight. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Tina twists her empty bottle. “How about The Dark Knight? I’ve been on a comic book movie overload lately, I just can’t get enough.”
“What a waste of Babs,” Mike groans. “They could have done so much with that.”
“I know, honey.” Tina pats his knee and lifts her face to him for a kiss. Lauren’s not really sure what they’re talking about -- superhero comics have never been her thing -- but she’s game. She puts in the movie, gets fresh drinks for everyone, even Mike’s soda, and goes back to her spot on the floor. Her shoulders throb and she presses the unopened bottle to her right shoulder, hoping the cold will help.
“Are you sore because of wrestling?” Tina asks.
Lauren nods. “Sometimes you can really feel it later.” She squints. “You’re not changing your mind, are you?”
She giggles no and scoots a little closer. “Come here. I’m pretty good at this. Aren’t I?”
“Oh yeah.” Mike’s quick to agree. “I wouldn’t have made it through Coach Beiste’s training camp without her. Some days I didn’t think I could lift a fork, but after a Tina massage, I was up and dancing again.”
“He’s pretty good at sucking up,” Lauren teases. Tina slaps her shoulder lightly, and sets into the massage. Her hands are delicate, but she digs in hard, not afraid to make it hurt like so many people are, and it feels so good Lauren swallows a groan.
“Hot,” Puck mutters. From the corner of her eye, she sees him sprawl a little more across Mike, resting his head on Mike’s chest. Mike drops his arm across Puck’s back, and she can’t really tell if he’s doing it because he’s a cuddler too or if he’s afraid Puck’s going to tumble off the couch, even though she’s pretty sure he’s not that drunk.
Tina hits a really sore spot and Lauren jerks forward, then forces herself to push into it. There’s a giggle from behind her, and Tina leans forward so she can murmur in Lauren’s ear. “Speaking of hot, we should invite Sam next time. Puck’s a little bit obsessed with his mouth. I bet we can do something with that.”
Lauren lets out this shocked little laugh and then twists until she can grin conspiratorially up at Tina. “Now that,” she says and leans harder against Tina’s leg, “sounds like a plan.”
“What does?” Mike asks, but Tina just smiles, her face alight with anticipation.
