let's go on this way

Their relationship is one that is built on a type of honesty.

They know who the other is - faults and all - and accept them regardless. Love them regardless.

They are opposites in many ways.

He's the popular boy with (seemingly) no ambition that attracts girls like a magnet. She's the outcast, driven and determined, that repels people without even trying.

It's because of their differences, they fight. Constantly.

But it is because of the way they are so closely matched (same stubbornness, same battle wounds, similar cracks in their hearts) that all of the fighting doesn't matter - they come back together time and time again.

---

Puck believes most of their fights begin because she is annoying. And unmanageable.

And also, because she refuses to put out. If he's told her once, he's told her a thousand times, getting laid is the best way to be less uptight.

Rachel believes most of their fights begin because he is obnoxious. And cocky.

And also, because he says the most vulgar things to try to entice her to sleep with him. If she's told him once, she's told him a thousand times, profanity is not the way to get her into bed.

---

For nearly every asshole thing he does, Rachel forgives him.

He says the meanest things to her to lash out. He says the crudest things to her to push her away when he thinks she gets a little too close. And yes, he can act like a complete and utter jerk.

But he also does the sweetest things to make up for all of the bad things. Like plays guitar to any stupid pop song she wants to practice. Or watches her favorite musicals with her. Or holds her hand in the hallways. Or defends her when some other asshole is pushing her around or teasing her.

It's because of those things, she sticks by him. Asshole and all.

Because he may not be perfect, but he's hers.

And because she's certainly not perfect either and he still wants to be with her.

---

By January, they've been dating for five months.

No one thought they would last, so they surprise everyone, when they still show up to school hand-in-hand five months later.

To celebrate their anniversary (and triumph!) Rachel bakes Puck cupcakes. Decorated with pink icing and red heart candies.

"What's this for?" he asks when she pops up at his locker, the tray of cupcakes in her hands. "Is it my birthday?"

She rolls her eyes. "Your birthday is in August, Noah," she deadpans.

"Right. It's not… your birthday is it?"

"Are you serious. I cannot believe you don't know what today is." The whine in her voice alerts Puck to the fact that he's either going to get a lecture or they're going to get into a fight - or both. "It's our anniversary."

His brow furrows. "Of what?"

Her eyes widen and she literally gasps. Puck thinks she's dramatic enough to make a damn good actress (he'd never tell her that, though, it would go straight to her head and he'd never hear the end of it).

"We've been dating - officially - for five whole months. I absolutely cannot believe you forgot." She pauses and reconsiders. "Actually. I can. You're such an insensitive jerk, Noah Puckerman."

She pushes the tray into his hands and darts down the hallway to class.

He thinks he saw tears in her eyes. Fuck.

---

Rachel doesn't talk to him for the rest of the day and that's how he knows she's really upset.

At glee, when she's forced to breathe the same air as him, he tries to talk to her, but she ignores him easily enough.

So, he sings to her the kind of sappy song he knows she loves.

But, when he's finished, and she still doesn't talk to him, he knows he's screwed.

---

After practice, he has to race after her and manages to catch her in the parking lot. He grabs her wrist and spins her towards him.

"I'm sorry, okay?" he tells her quickly. "I forgot and I'm sorry."

Much to his surprise, her lips curve up into a broad smile and she throws her arms around him. "That's all I wanted to hear," she tells him, her breath warm against his neck.

Puck realizes, in that moment, that Rachel Berry will always be a mystery to him.

---

"Noah," Rachel says to him one afternoon in that tone of voice that makes him know she's about to ask for something he wont want to give her.

He sighs, heavily. "What now?"

"The Valentine's Day dance is coming up…"

"No. Absolutely not. I do not do dances, Rachel. Not even for you."

"Please?" she begs, jutting her bottom lip out.

"No," he tells her again, resolute.

He's sitting on the edge of her bed, so she straddles his lap and loops her arms around his neck. "Pretty please?"

"No amount of cockteasing is going to get me to agree to go to some lame dance with you."

She scraps her fingers at the back of his neck and looks down at his shoulder instead of his eyes. "It's just that I was thinking… We've been together for nearly six months and Valentine's Day would be the perfect day to consummate our relationship."

He quirks up an eyebrow. "Consummate? Like do it? Finally?"

She bites her lips and nods.

Puck laughs and runs his hands down her sides, making her shiver. "Baby, I'll do you right now if you want. We don't have to go to some lame dance."

"Noah!" she groans, burying her head in the crook of his shoulder.

"Sorry. I'll consummate you right now."

She peeks up at him. "You're not using that word correctly," she tells him.

"Whatever."

"It's just. I want our first time to be… perfect."

He sighs, lacing his fingers in her. "Okay. If that's what you want."

"Does that mean you'll go to the Valentine's Day dance with me?"

He sighs again, heavier this time and rolls his eyes so she knows she's won.

Although, if he's going to be getting laid, he's the one who won this round.

But he thinks he would have said yes regardless. Because it's Rachel and she can talk him into just about anything.

He's so whipped.

---

Naturally, when Brittany's parents go out of town, she throws a party.

And naturally, Puck drags Rachel to it even though she does not want to go ("High school parties are so abhorrent, Noah, really," she told him, "It's just an excuse to get drunk and hook up." "Exactly," he told her, eyes shinning. "I am not going with you. Call me when you need a designated driver." "Can't you just act like a normal teenager for once?").

It's just as horrible as Rachel assumed it would be. Crowds of familiar faces, loud, tasteless music, and the smell of alcohol permeating throughout the entire house.

Puck manages to get her to drink two beers - even though she reminds him after every sip that it tastes disgusting and is absolutely horrendous for her vocal chords.

He is not surprised that all it takes is two beers to get her shit faced. And he is happily surprised when she turns out to be a happy, very horny, drunk.

When she's downed her two beers, she yanks on his hands and pulls him up off the sofa, telling him that he has to dance with her.

She presses herself close against him, grinding slowly which is in complete defiance of the fast music thumping throughout the house.

"Rachel," he stutters, holding onto her hips to still her movement. "You got to stop that or else…"

She looks up at him with wide, wild eyes and just grins. She grinds against him again before she takes his hands and pulls him in the direction of the stairs.

They enter a bedroom and she's all over him. Grinding, kissing, her hands fumbling for her skin beneath his shirt. They've done this dance a hundred times, but there is something more insistent about her actions.

Rachel plops down onto the bed ungracefully (the alcohol has thrown her off balance) and easily lifts her dress up over he head, so she's in nothing more than a pair of panties.

Puck knows this is dangerous, but growls low in his throat when he sees her and pounces on her.

Their mouths are everywhere, their hands sliding anywhere they can reach, and their hips rock together in a way that makes them both moan.

When she's unbuttoned his jeans and reaches inside to grab his cock, stroking in the rhythm she knows he likes, Puck's mind becomes clearer and he knows exactly what she's planning to do.

Especially when she uses her feet to push down his jeans and boxers and she's rolling beneath him. She even gasps, "Puck."

He's so close to where he wants to be. Can feel her heat radiating from her and if he could just hook his fingers in her underwear and if he thrust his hips just slightly, he'd be home.

But instead, he manages a ragged breath and sags down on top of her, stilling their movements completely. "Rachel," he whispers, licking at her collarbone.

"What?" she asks, her voice laced with lust.

"We can't do this."

He looks up at her, eyes blown and lips swollen and he knows she wants this. But he also knows not like this or she will regret it.

"What are you talking about?" She rolls her hips and he groans. "Just do it already."

He grabs her hips to hold them in place, his fingers digging into her flesh. "No. This isn't…" He blows out a frustrated breath and doesn't know who he's turning into. "This isn't how you wanted it, remember?"

"I want you," she coos, running a hand up his chest.

And he almost gives in.

"Fuck. I want you, too. But I want you to be sober the first time you experience my fucking amazing skills."

He says it just like that, laced with profanity, because it makes him feel better about turning his hot (and horny!) girlfriend down for sex. The first time in his life he's ever done such a thing.

She looks at him confused, blinking rapidly trying to process what he's telling her, but finally it registers and she smiles. "You really do love me, don't you?"

"Shut up."

He kisses her to make sure she wont say another word and she moans when his tongue slides against hers.

"I'll still you get you off, though, baby," he tells her cockily, dipping his hand into her underwear.

---

As far as plans go, Rachel knows a good one when she sees it.

And her plan to consummate her relationship with Noah on Valentine's Day is going perfectly (save for the almost-disastrous night of Brittany's party which would have ruined everything).

She has her dress picked. Her shoes are to die for. She made Puck rent a suit and convinced him that he has to buy her a corsage - a red rose to match her dress.

Her dads will be in Columbus as per their usual Valentine's Day weekend, so she and Puck will have the entire house to themselves. She has her playlist with romantic songs perfect for the occasion, candles placed strategically around the room, and is just waiting for the day-of to buy the red rose petals she plans to scatter across her bed.

In regards to being a responsible young adult, she's been on the pill for three months and has condoms stashed in bedside table (because a girl can never be too careful, you know. She does want to end up another Quinn. You can get rid of a baby, but stretch marks and a flabby stomach are forever).

So, yes, everything is going to according to plan and Rachel just knows it's going to be perfect.

---

When the big day finally arrives, nothing goes according to plan.

Because she wakes up sick. Itchy throat, running nose, pounding head.

She manages to pull herself out of bed long enough to take a swig of cold medicine before promptly falling back asleep.

The only thing that wakes her, hours later, is the insistent knocking on the front door. She drags herself out of bed and she knows she looks like death, so she doesn't even bother looking in the mirror.

It is only when she pulls open the door and finds Puck in a suit and corsage in his hands, that she remembers.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asks, looking her over.

"I'm sick," she rasps.

She sees his face fall and she realizes he's upset because he thought he was going to finally get lucky tonight. She rolls her eyes and puts her hand on the door, ready to shut in his face.

He reaches out and she thinks it's to push his way through the door, but instead he places his hand on her forehead. "Well. You feel hot," he tells her stepping inside. "Come on, let's get you back to bed."

Puck scoops her up gingerly in his arms and carries her back upstairs to her bedroom. He tucks her in and brings her orange juice and even more cold medicine.

"Just rest," he tells her. "I'll stay here with you."

"Sorry I ruined our night."

He smiles. "You didn't."

Glancing at the bedside table, she notices the corsage. "You actually brought a corsage."

"Yeah," he smirks.

"It's the wrong color," she tells him.

"I know."

---

When she's recovered, after a week, they get into a huge fight.

They're at his house, while his mom's at work and his sister's spending the night at a friend's house.

So, it's just the two of them, alone. It doesn't take long before they're making out on the couch. But when it gets too cramped with their bodies tangled together, Puck suggests they move upstairs to his bedroom. She tells him no.

"What the fuck, Rachel?" he hisses, frustrated.

And then it all kind of escalates from there. She calls him an insensitive jerk that only has one thing on his mind. He calls her uptight prude that needs to get over herself.

When they are done screaming at one another, their chests heaving as they try to catch their breath, he tells her calmly, "You know, it's never going to be perfect. Life isn't perfect."

She storms out without another word.

---

Three days later, he shows up on her front porch with a candle he stole from his mom and a flower he picked from her front yard.

"I'm sorry. It should be everything you wanted it to be."

"No, you're right, it's not going to be perfect. You know what I've learned?"

"Huh?"

"It doesn't have to be perfect to be right."

She pulls him into her for a kiss. "My dad's are away on business," she whispers against his mouth.

He offers her up the supplies he brought with him. "I know. I thought I'd try to make it as perfect as I could."

---

Rachel cries when he enters her the first time.

He whispers sweet things into her ear, wipes her tears away with his thumb, and moves as slowly as he can.

It's not at all how she imagined it would be.

She expected it to hurt (it did) and she knew it wouldn't be as gratifying to her the first time around (it wasn't) but the connection she feels with him is beyond anything and she knows she made the right choice with Puck (especially because after he comes inside of her, he does everything in his power to make sure she does the same and employs his tongue and fingers to do the job).

And when they lay in a boneless heap on her bed, he pulls her against him and whispers "I love you" and Rachel doesn't think anything could ever be more perfect.

---