7Don't Give Up
Summary: Puck walks in on possibly the most horrific moment of his life...a broken Santana. So he fixes her. Pucktana friendship. A ridiculous amount of swearing, so this is more of a high T, possibly M.
Puck was on fire.
The drama that was Glee Club seemed to be calming down. He had a girlfriend (Lauren...most of the time). He had his best friend (Finn). His boy (Kurt) seemed to be getting closer and closer to finally getting some from that other gay boy (Blaine). The pain in his ass (Rachel) was getting a lot less whiney. Lady Lips (he still couldn't think the name, the rat bastard) had stopped talking so much. The girl he eternally pined (Quinn) was pissing him off so fucking much that he felt he was finally moving on. Life was good.
Until he heard the crying.
FML.
The sniffling was coming from an empty classroom. Puck looked at the room number and thought it looked familiar...Oh yeah. His math class. Right. He'd been there once or twice.
He quietly pushed open the door, peeking his head in to see who was crying and if he should leave the poor girl, find someone to comfort said girl, or laugh at the pansy boy who was crying – unless it was that Larry Stewart kid because Puck was 99% sure the kid was in the closet. He saw a long mane of dark hair cascading down and around the girl's face, accompanied by a slim, dark skinned figure. He recognized her...
Oh holy fucking Father. It was Santana fucking Lopez.
Puck contemplated closing the door and going to find Brittany to comfort the stoic ex-cheerleader, but decided against it, because that would mean he would have to risk getting caught skipping class.
Silently, Puck walked into the room, his hands in his pockets.
"Um...Santana?" he asked. Her head jerked up and her eyes widened as she took in who had found her in her rare state of vulnerability. And vulnerable she was. Puck was getting more and more uncomfortable by the moment. He was used to the kick-ass take-no-prisoners Santana, the one who would kick his ass if he wasn't over at her place in five minutes – even though he lived on the other side of town – because she was horny and she needed her "friend" right fucking now. He was used to the Santana who had catfights with girls for looking at her the wrong way, who used and abused boys like they were nothing more than her shoes. This Santana had tear tracks streaming down her face, bloodshot eyes; her chest was heaving and he could see heartbreak written all over her slouched figure.
Puck knew he didn't love Santana and he never did. But they had been friends for years and "friends" for almost as long. The romantic inside him cared for her and wanted to go out and punch whatever guy she was currently dating for hurting her like this. Then there was his knowledge of abuse victims. Generally, cougars were just super horny but there were a few that turned to him because their husbands were...monsters, to say the very least. He'd seen his fair share of abused women and it pissed him off. Most of these women were tiny, not able to defend themselves, and very innocent. When it came down to it, Santana could be pretty emotional. If someone was hurting her...
"Get the fuck out of here Puck," Santana hissed at him, her head falling back into her hands. Puck sat down next to her instead.
"What's wrong?" he demanded. "Who did this to you? Whoever he is, I'll kill him," Puck promised. Santana gave a bitter laugh.
"Yeah right."
"I will. I don't care who the fuck it was. Lady Lips, Mike Chang, Finn, Karofksy, Azimio...hell, I'd possibly beat Kurt to a pulp for you...maybe...he's kinda small..." Puck stopped talking, realizing he was rambling. "Come on Santana, who did it?"
"Just go away," she whispered hopelessly, and the sound made Puck ready to kill someone. "I'm fine, okay?" she tried to shout. It came out a whimper. She grabbed her bag and made to leave. Puck beat her to the door and held it shut, trapping her. "Puck, get the fuck out of my way!" she snarled.
"What happened?" Puck demanded again. "Santana..." Puck struggled to reel in his temper. "Santana," he started again, softening his voice, "who hurt you?" Puck tried to be as gentle as he could. Santana stared into his eyes and he hoped that she could see the concern he felt towards her.
She broke. It was the only way he could describe it. Her body just gave out as she threw her arms around his abdomen and sobbed into his shirt, her cries racking her skinny body, her breaths coming in haggardly. Puck wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close.
"It's gonna be okay Santana," he crooned over and over, hoping he was right about his words.
Oh yeah. Whoever broke Santana was going to die.
Puck walked into Glee Club, searching the faces of the guys for any sign of the hurt they caused Santana. He found nothing – well, that wasn't entirely true. He found a confused look on Lady Lips' face, a sad one on Finn's, a deliriously happy one on Mike Chang's, and a rather inappropriate one on Artie's. He couldn't tell just yet...
Puck sat down in his and Lauren's usual spot, waiting for his girlfriend to get to Glee Club. After a few minutes, he saw Santana walk in, her head held down. Brittany, in her usual bubbly attitude, got up and yelled, "SANTANA! COME SIT HERE NEXT TO ME!" Puck breathed a sigh of relief. Santana would be safe with Brittany. Brittany would make it all better because that was just what Brittany did to Santana and –
Santana didn't even look at Brittany. She just sat down next to Puck and stared at the floor.
WTF?
Puck stared at his ex-"friend", completely perplexed. She just stared at the ground. Brittany sank back into her chair, a confused and upset look on her face.
"Santana-"
"If you do not talk to me once during the meeting I will tell you afterwards," Santana whispered fiercely. Puck nodded and shut his mouth. Lauren walked in a few moments later. She took one look at Santana and glared at Puck. Quickly, he got up to explain.
"What is she-"
"Someone did something to her. I have no idea what, but she needs my help," Puck told her. She stared at him for a second, not believing him. Lauren looked over at Santana and eventually her normally hardened look softened.
"Okay. I believe you. I'll sit on the other side." Puck smiled and took her hand. Lauren sat next to him. Santana stared at the ground some more. Puck worried.
"What's wrong?" Puck demanded the moment they got outside of earshot of everyone. Santana turned to him.
"I'm...I'm...well, I mean..." Puck was, yet again, at a loss for words. Santana fucking Lopez was stuttering. Stuttering!
"What is it?"
"I told Britt that..." her eyes welled up with tears yet again. Puck worried some more, but he thought maybe he was catching on.
"Told Britt what?"
"I lo...I loved her," Santana sobbed. "She said...she said...she said..." Santana tried to get her words out. "She said she loved me too but...she...she...she..." Santana could speak no more it seemed. She wiped her tears off of her face.
"She said she loved Artie more?" Puck offered. Santana simply nodded.
"I can't believe her...I...I...I...I..." Santana sobbed more and Puck put his arms around her again.
"It took a lot of guts. After what happened to my boy, I could understand you being scared fucking shitless," Puck said to her. Santana nodded against his chest.
"Do you...care?"
"If I call Kurt 'my boy' and he's the girliest fucking guy ever...?" Puck pointed out. Santana let out a watery chuckle, but quickly continued to cry. Puck thought some more. He couldn't believe Brittany would say no after Santana confessed she loved the girl. Getting Santana to admit she had any type of feelings beside paranoia and sexual frustration was like pulling teeth. Brittany had to have known how big of a step that was and to say no? Puck shook his head. Maybe the blonde girl was more oblivious than he thought.
"I'm sorry Santana, I'm so sorry," Puck whispered against her hair.
"I...I...I don't...I don't...I don't know what to...to do..." Santana choked out. Puck's thoughts turned back to Quinn, the Quinn he loved last year. Puck felt that his worst mistake was letting her push him away during the summer. He should have gone over every day, just to prove he wasn't going anywhere. Could that apply here?
"Don't give up."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"Don't give up...I won't. Cripple boy better watch out 'cuz Santana's bouts to get her flirt ons."
Okay, so I have always thought that Puck would swear a lot when he was happy or really pissed off. Same with Santana. Which is why the f-bomb is there for every other word...I hope you guys liked this. I really like this. I find the idea of Santana/Puck friendship to be pretty interesting and I may write another about them, depending on whether you like this.
This is also the first time I ever wrote Puck when he wasn't pining for/making out with Quinn, so I hope I did him justice.