Puck was sitting on his favorite stool at the bar, nursing a Jack on the rocks. Someone sat on the empty stool next to him, but Puck ignored them.

"All alone again, huh? Or is that squirrel living on your head company enough for you?"

"I'll feed it to you if you don't shut up and wipe that smile off your smug face, Smythe."

"Feisty. I like that," Smythe said, tipping his glass of snobby scotch that was probably older than him.

"What are you doing here? Tired of being hit on by drag queens twice your age?"

"Tired of seeing Lady Hummel with his trophy boyfriend, actually."

"What, did you finally find someone who could resist your charms?"

Puck had to fight the urge to barf as he said that – though vomit on his shirt would probably get that insufferable grin off the dude's face; his clothes looked like they cost more than Puck earned in one summer.

"I'm still working on it, actually. Summer is coming to an end, and Princess won't be in Lima much longer. Then it's open season."

"Good luck with that," Puck said with sarcasm that Smythe seemed to ignore.

"How bout I buy you a drink? A real one, none of that American crap you seem to enjoy."

Puck shrugged and downed the rest of his drink. Free booze, no point in refusing. Smythe ordered some Glenn something or MacWhatever, which was, as Puck had guessed, older than they were. He nodded at Smythe as a silent thanks and tasted it, taking a smaller sip than usual – he knew the shit was expensive so he intended to make it last. He'd never admit it to Smythe, but the stuff was great. There was actually some worthy taste after the familiar burn. He always used to chug Jackie D. like water, fighting the burn, but never tasting it.

"Not bad," he condescended, and Smythe chuckled.

"Admit it. You can never go back to that vile stuff after that."

"Don't have a choice. It's the only thing I can afford."

"My treat, then."

Puck scoffed.

"Do you think I need your charity, Prep Boy?"

"It's not charity. I just can't stand to see another human being drinking that shit. I just want to educate you so you can know good scotch when you taste it."

"You know that much about it?"

"I'm kind of a connoisseur."

"Alright then. Enlighten me," he agreed, rolling his eyes, but whatever, it was still free booze.

Smythe grinned cockily and fed him some shit about some old-ass Scottish town and oak barrels or something.

They finished their drinks and Smythe ordered another round, from a different bottle. Again, he told Puck all about it, and Puck forgot it all instantly – except that this one was only twelve years old.

"You see, the thing that pisses me off about Hummel is the way he holds Blaine on such a tight leash. Never letting him out of his sight, parading him around like some prize puppy. Like, let the guy breathe a little, you know?"

Apparently Smythe had decided that the Scotch Jedi training had to be accompanied by some therapy shit in which Puck had to listen to him. Plus, Hummel and his boy were kind of his friends now, so it was weird, but whatever, Smythe was paying so Puck might as well shut up and listen for once.

"And I can't even text Blaine without him getting all upset because Kurt will be pissed, although I know for a fact that Hummel had a texting affair with this annoying Chandler guy, because I was the one who set it up."

Puck's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe Smythe went that far, but he was quite impressed.

"Dude, you're super evil. That's some epic-level of badassness."

"I don't know about badass, but yes, I'm quite cunning. It didn't work, though. From what I heard, Blaine forgave him and was the one who apologized. I've never seen someone so whipped."

"Tell me about it. I haven't hung out with my best bro in months. His girlfriend dominates the shit out of him and he actually has to ask for her permission every time he wants to set foot out of the house."

"That's whipped alright."

"She even tricked him into actually proposing to her!"

Smythe looked at him in disbelief.

"Luckily she's leaving for New York with Hummel in a few weeks, so that kinda put the whole wedding thing on ice."

Puck didn't know why, but he felt like he could confide in Smythe. The guy was admittedly a huge douche, but Puck felt like they clicked on some level. He could relate to what Smythe was living, and the scotch was, of course, fucking awesome.

They talked a bit more, and now Puck didn't mind, especially when Smythe ordered a couple more drinks and Puck realized that they were both starting to be drunk.

"Can I be really honest, actually?" Puck's words were a bit slurred, but he was sure he wasn't that drunk, so why was he about to say that? And to Sebastian Smythe above all!

Sebastian nodded and Puck started telling him, even though he didn't know why, when he couldn't even admit it to himself about three hours before.

"I think I know why the way Berry controls Finn pisses me off so much."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow, pushing him to continue, but something in his eye told Puck that somehow he already knew.

"I think maybe I want Finn and I to be more than just bros."

Sebastian smirked and shot him a look that could mean nothing else than "well, duh."

"I mean, I've known him all my life, and we experimented and shit when we were kids. I kinda miss that, you know? When it was just him and me, no girls to mess that up."

"It seems like we both have the same problem, my friend. We want someone we can't have and they are whipped beyond repair."

Puck sighed and drained his scotch to the last drop.

"I'm gonna head home now," Puck said, standing to his feet.

He was now regretting opening his heart to Smythe and he didn't want to stick around any longer. As he passed the door, he threw one last glance at Sebastian, slouched on his bar stool, all arrogance gone from him.

xxxx

A few nights later, Puck was sitting on his stool, alone with his glass of Jack again. Soon enough, a familiar voice ordered drinks and a glass of scotch was placed in front of him. Puck and Sebastian sat there drinking for a while, their silence only broken when Sebastian ordered more rounds. After a few drinks, Puck could finally bring himself to glance at Sebastian. Once again, he looked glum, allowing himself to look weak only when he thought no one was watching.

"So, got anywhere with Anderson?" Puck asked, trying to break the ice.

Sebastian shrugged and stared at his drink.

"He and Hummel went camping for the weekend and according to their facebook updates, they're more in love than ever."

Puck clapped him on the shoulder.

"Sucks, bro. Wanna get wasted and forget about it?"

Sebastian raised a hand to call the barman and Puck stopped him.

"We're not gonna get plastered on your billionaire shit. Bring us a pitcher of beer," he said to the barman.

Sebastian smiled at him and it was so different from his usual smirk that he looked like a whole other guy. They clanked their glasses together and Puck was surprised to see that Sebastian could chug pretty well for a rich dude. They emptied pitcher after pitcher and by the end of the night they were laughing their asses off and could barely walk to leave the bar.

xxxx

For the rest of the summer, they hung out together a lot. At first, they just ran into each other at the bar – Puck was actually hoping Sebastian would be there; he was sick of drinking alone – but then they exchanged phone numbers and made plans for Friday nights. They even reached the point where they could invite each other over.

It started with some videogame talk, and Puck invited Sebastian over to play a new game he just got. And then Sebastian mentioned his mint-condition vintage N64 and Puck practically jazzed himself, so Sebastian invited him over.

xxxx

Summer eventually came to an end. Kurt and Rachel left for New York and Puck and Sebastian couldn't have been more thrilled. For a while, they hung out a lot less. Sebastian was focussing on wooing Blaine, and Puck was spending a lot of time with Finn. He even took a job at Burt's garage so he'd see him more often.

Puck realized one day that he hadn't seen Sebastian in weeks. He was at the bar with Finn, drinking beer after a rough day at the tire shop. Puck caught himself looking at the stool where Sebastian used to sit and its emptiness made Puck ache inside a little. Trying to come to terms with the fact that he was actually missing Sebastian Smythe, he downed his beer and tried to remind himself that he was with Finn and that was all he'd wanted for so long.

But Finn was going on and on about how much he missed Rachel, it was sickening. Puck thought he was gonna barf if he had to listen to anymore of this crap – and he didn't want to show he was jealous either – so he went to the bathroom. Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he sighed and texted Sebastian, trying to convince himself that they were bros now, so it was totally natural to miss him.

Wanna grab a beer tomorrow night?

He stood there, waiting for an answer, for a few minutes, and pretended he didn't care when his phone stayed silent. Sebastian's answer finally came an hour and a pitcher of beer later.

Can't. Hanging out with Blaine.

Puck pocketed his phone angrily. He was getting nowhere with Finn, but apparently everything was A-okay with the hobbit so Sebastian was blowing him off. Puck downed his beer and chuckled as Finn tried to follow him. Despite his height, Finn had always been a lightweight when it came to drinking, so it was always hilarious when he tried to drink as much as Puck. By then, Finn's words were slurred and didn't make much sense.

"You know what, man? Fuck this. I'm sick of always waiting for her." Finn draped himself over Puck's shoulder. "You – you're my bro, dude. You'll never leave me. I – I love you, man," he sighed.

Puck chuckled. "Okay, you've had too much. Come on, I'll take you home."

"Do you love me, Noaaaaah?"

"Course I do, you're my bro. Now come on."

Finn could barely walk by himself and Puck had to support him. It was kinda hard to have Finn all against him and do nothing about it, but Puck wasn't about to take advantage of his drunk best friend. However, if Finn muttered something about a "kiss goodnight" and tried to kiss him, Puck did nothing to stop him.

xxxx

Puck texted Sebastian a few more times, but Sebastian never agreed to hang out, and eventually he even stopped answering. Puck shrug it off and tried to forget by getting Finn incredibly drunk – drunk enough that he forgot about Rachel and they even made out, but Finn passed out right in the middle of it and didn't remember it.

Months passed, and soon it was summer again. Blaine graduated and he and Finn could finally move to New York. Puck never talked about it, because he didn't want to think about Finn leaving. He was slowly realizing just how much he needed him in his life. The last night before Finn left, he invited Puck over to play videogames. Puck went with two bottles of Jack. Finn was home alone and Puck surprised himself hoping something would happen.

They sat down and Finn popped a disk in his console. Puck didn't even notice what game they were playing. He soon dropped his controller on Finn's bed and sighed.

"Fuck, man, Imma miss you so much..."

"I know, dude. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to go. New York is scary, man."

Puck opened a bottle of Jack and handed it to Finn, opening the other one for himself.

"I know I can't convince you to stay, but can we at least get wasted so I forget that you're leaving?"

"Sure thing," Finn grinned and took a big gulp from his bottle.

They drank and talked about the good old days in middle school, before Finn was the quarterback dating the head cheerleader, and before Puck was that dude who screwed all the cheerleaders and the MILFs. Back when they were just Finn and Puck.

"Man, those were the good ol' days," Finn sighed. Everything was way simpler back then."

"Fuckin' A, dude," Puck agreed, taking a gulp from his half-empty bottle.

"Let's pretend none of this stuff happened, okay? Let's just be Finn and Puck, and nothing else matters or exist, alright?"

"Deal." Puck felt a burst of hope pass through his chest, and subtly leaned closer to Finn.

"I mean, you're like the only one who gets me, y'know?"

Puck nodded, noticing how Finn's words were slurred. They were now dangerously close to each other, but Puck didn't know who had moved. He was staring intently at Finn's lips, so inviting and mesmerizing. Suddenly these lips were on him and he forgot everything else – Finn leaving, Rachel, Sebastian – and just lost himself into Finn. This time, Finn didn't pass out. In fact, he was very much into it, kissing, licking and biting wherever he could reach. Puck moaned under his touch, needing more. He pulled at the hem of Finn's shirt and took it off, reveling in the glory of Finn's body, warm and sweaty against him.

"I want you so much," Puck moaned, working to undo Finn's belt buckle.

Finn sat up, startled.

"What are we doing?" he said, panicked.

"What we should have done long ago."

"I can't do this again – I – "

"Again? It's the first time!"

"I – you have to go."

Grabbing his bottle of Jack, Puck left the house with a broken heart and the bluest balls he ever had. Finn left the next day, without so much as an explanation or a goodbye text.

xxxx

Life without Finn wasn't so different. Puck still worked with Burt, so at least he got news once in a while, although he couldn't tell if it was a bad thing since it hurt so much. He still got drunk, but emptying bottles alone didn't fill the emptiness inside of him. One night, sick of his bottle of Jack and his kitchen counter, he decided to go out to the bar again.

He climbed on his usual stool and ordered a beer. Like clockwork, as if nothing had changed, a familiar figure took place on the next stool ten minutes later.

"Hobbit finally let you off your leash for one night?" Puck snarled, without a look.

"It didn't work out with Blaine."

"And here I was, thinking you were ignoring me because you were too busy fucking."

"Look, this little alliance of ours had only one purpose: to get what we wanted from Blaine and Finn, and I was doing fine, so I didn't need you."

"Which is why you scored so well with Anderson?"

"Whatever, scotch?"

Puck shrugged, but still downed his glass gratefully.

"For the record, it didn't work with Hudson either. I was this close to closing the deal but he freaked out, saying he couldn't do this again. Go figure."

"The same thing basically happened to me with Blaine."

"Weird."

They drank in silence for a while. Puck felt comfortable, almost relieved – it had been weeks since he had felt this good. They soon got back into their old habits of drinking and playing videogames together. For a while, they even stopped talking about Blaine and Finn.

One day in late October, though, Puck logged on to his laptop and what he saw made his jaw drop. He grabbed his phone at once and dialed the now-familiar number.

"Dude," he said as soon as Sebastian picked up. "You won't believe what I just saw on facebook. Blaine Anderson is now single."

For a moment, Puck couldn't hear a thing at the other end. Then, the distinctive sound of Sebastian's MacBook being turned on, and after a few clicking sounds, a low chuckle.

"Want me to come over?" Puck asked.

"Sure."

Puck could almost see Sebastian's shrug as he hung up; he realized he knew the guy better than he thought. He got there as fast as he could. As soon as Sebastian opened the door, Puck pulled him close into a tight hug.

"Congrats man! We have to celebrate!"

"Perfect Dark and scotch?"

"Sounds awesome!"

They got up to Sebastian's room and Puck marvelled once again about the mint-condition of the vintage N64 console.

"So," Sebastian said as they started playing, "I was thinking I'd go to New York, casually run into Blaine, go out for drinks for old times' sakes, use a little of New York in Fall's romance to woo him, and BAM!"

Puck nodded absently.

"Hey, what's going on, man?" Sebastian asked. "You just got killed three times in a row!"

A wave of bitterness washed over Puck. He knew it would always come to this: one of them would get what they wanted, and their "alliance" would be useless. Puck knew, but he couldn't help wishing their friendship was real. He slapped a smile on his face, for the sake of his bro, and helped him devising sickenly sweet plans to win the hobbit's heart. He went home feeling empty again, and didn't try to contact Sebastian for a week. The aching was only aggravated when he realized Sebastian wasn't trying to contact him either.

Until a week later. He was working on a car at the garage when his phone rang. He answered without looking at the caller ID, and the ache seemed to be soothed as soon as he heard the familiar voice.

"Hey, it's me. I thought you'd like to know that Rachel is now single on facebook, which means – "

"Holy shit."

Puck couldn't believe it. He couldn't realize that what he had wanted for so long was within his reach. He knew he just had to go to New York and spend some time with Finn to finally make it come true.

"Okay, so I'm thinking we go to New York next month, for Christmas. I'm sure they'll both buy into this romantic New York Christmas crap and then – score!"

Sebastian was still talking and Puck suddenly felt relieved. They were back in action – together – and he wouldn't get left behind. Sebastian met him after work with a pair of train tickets. They spent the night drinking scotch and devising plans to woo Finn and Blaine.

xxxx

Two weeks later, Puck was checking facebook on his phone when he scrolled down an update with an insane amount of comments, which made him pay attention.

Finn Hudson is in a relationship with Blaine Anderson.

Paralyzed by shock, he clicked to read the comments. Half of them were "Congrats!" or "aww 3" and the others were all along the lines of "WTF?"

Puck couldn't even begin to process what was happening. He threw his phone on the floor, ignoring it as it kept buzzing for half an hour. He eventually fell asleep, trying to numb all the pain and questions building up inside.

Two hours later, the sound of his bedroom door closing woke him up. He didn't have the strength to look up, but the faint scent of scotch and expensive cologne told him that Sebastian was now lying down right next to him. Closing his eyes, Puck fought to forget.

xxxx

Days passed.

Weeks passed.

One in a while, Puck resurfaced from his numbness, wondering why Sebastian was still sticking around now that all hope was gone. They didn't talk about Finn or Blaine anymore. Actually, they didn't talk much. But they spent so much more time together now. Puck figured maybe they needed each other to get through this. They kept going to the bar, drinking scotch, or maybe beer on nights when they really felt like getting drunk.

This was one of these nights.

Empty glasses and pitchers were piled up on the table and their mutual mutism was coming to an end. They were laughing at something Puck couldn't remember and Sebastian was leaning dangerously close to him. His neck was inches away from Puck's face. His skin looked so inviting, warm and sweaty. Puck couldn't stop himself. He put one hand on Sebastian's thigh, the other pulling him closer, and he latched himself unto Sebastian's neck. He licked and kissed every inch of skin until a satisfying moan came out of Sebastian's throat, and he felt a hand grabbing his mohawk. Sebastian pulled him away, and for a second, Puck thought he had made a huge mistake, but Sebastian pulled him close again to kiss him sloppily.

"Okay, let's go back to my place," Sebastian said, pulling away just as Puck was getting into it.

They hopped in a cab, getting dirty looks from the driver because they could hardly keep their hands off each other, drunkenly stumbling out of the cab after Sebastian threw a crumpled up twenty at the driver. Even though they could hardly walk straight, they ran as fast as they could up the stairs to Sebastian's room.

Sebastian closed the door behind them as Puck tried to take off both their shirts at the same time. Sebastian pushed his hands away, taking off his own shirt while Puck tried not to stare so much. Sebastian walked towards him with a predatory smirk on his face and pushed Puck down on the bed. If Puck had been any less drunk, he'd definitely have felt weird. This was not the way things usually went for him. He was used to fucking virgins or kinky submissive MILFs. Either way, he was the one who always did all the work. Even in his deepest fantasies, he dominated the shit out of "leading man" Finn. Sebastian was making him feel like he never did before: losing control, submitting to him, but also weirdly comfortable, as if somebody was finally taking care of him.

Sebastian's mouth was hot on him, hungry for more. Puck was now shirtless and he couldn't remember when he'd taken it off – Sebastian's tongue on him made him forget everything else. Puck needed more – he grabbed Sebastian's face to kiss him, hooking his legs around Sebastian's waist to get some much-needed friction. Sebastian's length was hard against his, and Puck nearly came apart on the spot. He hadn't had the heart to try to bed a girl ever since he'd gotten hooked on Finn, and it had been months since he had gotten anything more than his right hand.

Kneeling above him, Sebastian made quick work of Puck's pants which went flying across the room, soon followed by his boxers. Sebastian smirked.

"Not bad, Puckerman! This much to drink and you can still get it up?"

"So can you, apparently."

Puck wasn't in the mood for Sebastian's petty banter. He needed him naked against him, stat. Kneeling next to Sebastian, he undid his fly and discovered with a grin that Sebastian was also an adept of going commando.

"Are you gonna keep staring at it, or are you gonna do something about it?"

Puck pushed Sebastian down on the bed and tore off his pants, his dominating side coming back with Sebastian's sarcasm. Sebastian's smirk turned into a moan when Puck's mouth slid over his dick. Puck had gotten enough blow jobs to know what worked and what didn't, so he sucked Sebastian off expertly. The moans and groans Sebastian let out were immensely satisfying. He had finally let down his better-than-you facade, and Puck could tell he was really letting himself go. Sebastian's hands suddenly gripped Puck's head almost painfully and he moaned Puck's name. His cock throbbed in Puck's mouth and he cried out as he came down Puck's throat. Puck swallowed, smirking at Sebastian who lay spread eagle on the mattress, his chest heaving as he struggled to breathe. Sebastian's eyelids were drooping.

"Hell no, you're not about to fall asleep on me and let me finish alone, Smythe!"

"Fuck me," Sebastian breathed out, his eyes still closed.

"You serious?"

"Fuck me," he insisted, half-whining.

Puck chuckled and opened a drawer of Sebastian's night table. He quickly found lube and a condom, which he put on quickly. He coated his fingers in lube and brought his hand down to Sebastian's entrance. The first finger slipped in easily; the second one followed at once. He was about to insert a third one when Sebastian pushed him away.

"Fuck me already! What do you think I am, a virgin?"

"Aren't we desperate..." Puck smirked, enjoying the power finally retrieved.

He pulled his fingers out and Sebastian gasped at the sudden loss. Squeezing lube in his palm again, Puck slicked his cock and teased Sebastian's entrance, enjoying his impatient whining. At Sebastian's insistence, Puck pushed in, burying himself all the way into his tightness.

Puck almost came on the spot – he'd never experienced something so tight – the surprise made him still. Sebastian moaned, urging him to move, digging his heels into Puck's back. Puck let out a breathy moan and kissed Sebastian, licking his way to his sweaty neck. He slowly pulled out of Sebastian and slammed back in, satisfied by the way Sebastian screamed and bit Puck's shoulder.

Puck loved how he could turn Sebastian into a messy pile of moaning and begging, so different from his usual cocky self. Puck was slamming into him at a quicker pace now. He needed some release, and so did Sebastian, judging by his screams of harder, faster. Puck gripped Sebastian's cock and the simple touch made him come, spilling himself over both their stomachs. Puck felt Sebastian's ass clench around his cock and the increased tightness brought him over the edge.

Screaming Sebastian's name, he released his load, his arms giving out under him. He fell on Sebastian and they stayed there, chests heaving together, for a long time, eventually falling asleep.

They didn't talk about it the next day. They never would, even if it happened every time they were drunk in the following months, and one day, it happened even though they were sober.

Puck woke up the next day and looked at Sebastian, still asleep at his side.

Maybe that's what happiness was.