"This might hurt a little." Rachel told Finn as she prepared to rest the ice-bag onto his face.
Finn smiled and nodded as Rachel leant forward and carefully held the bag onto Finn's face. He winced slightly, though the pain was bearable. After his fight with Puck, Rachel insisted on staying with him to make sure he was OK.
"I still can't believe how hard Noah hit you." Rachel said thoughtfully with a frown on her face.
"Well, I hit him pretty hard too." Finn defended, though he didn't quite know why he was defending the guy that he had been fighting with not ten minutes ago.
"What were you fighting about?"
"Just stupid guy stuff." Finn shrugged off the question. Rachel noticed how he avoided the question and frowned.
"Come on, tell me." She prompted, a cheeky smile on her face.
Finn sighed and looked down. "I was fighting with Puck because he called you desperate." He said.
The smile left Rachel's face and she looked down. "He did?"
"I wasn't going to let him talk about you like that. You're an incredible person and when he said those things about you... I don't know. It made me so angry." Finn looked up at Rachel and caught her eye. Instead of looking upset like he was expecting, she looked...flattered?
"You were fighting for me?" She asked. A small smile playing on her lips.
"Of course." The corner of Finn's lips tugged up into a half-smile. "I'd fight for you any day Rachel Berry."
Rachel smiled and looked down so that Finn couldn't see just how happy she was to hear that. When she felt she was ready, she looked back up at him. She removed the ice-bag to look at the injury. Finn's face was already bruising and didn't look too good.
"Wow, this is a nasty looking bruise." Rachel commented as she reapplied the ice.
"Tell me about it." Finn chuckled.
"Is it weird that I like it?" Rachel asked. "It makes you look like a bad boy."
Finn smiled in amusement. "I might get into fights defending you more often."
Rachel laughed and put her hand on Finn's knee so that she had easier access to Finn's face. Finn looked down at Rachel's hand the moment he felt her touch him. He smiled to himself and put his hand on top of hers. She looked at him and caught his eye. She wanted more than anything to lean in and kiss him, and she would have done if it hadn't been for Quinn.
Finn must have thought the same thing as the next thing he said was about Quinn. "Did you see the look on Quinn's face when she broke up the fight?" He looked down with a hurt look on his face. "Like she resented me for hurting her precious Puck."
Rachel looked down at her hand as she didn't know how to respond. Luckily for her, Finn didn't need her to.
"You know, every time I do something wrong, Quinn will compare me to Puck. She's the only person who acts like Noah Puckerman is perfect." Finn shook his head. "It makes me feel that maybe we should break up so that she can be with him and I can be with-"
Rachel looked up to hear what he would say. When they made eye-contact Finn panicked and hesitated. He finally said, "someone like you."
Rachel smiled and looked at her hand which was still being held by Finn's "What's stopping you?" She asked.
Finn thought for a moment before shaking his head and shrugging. "I have no idea."
Quinn threw the blood-soaked tissue into the toilet and grabbed a fresh handful. She walked over to Puck who was leaning over one of the sinks. "Here." She said, handing him the new tissue.
"Thanks." Puck smiled gratefully and took it, putting it underneath his nose.
"How does it feel?" Quinn asked in concern.
"Hurts like hell." Puck informed her with a casual shrug.
"Do you think it's broken?" Quinn asked as she inspected his nose.
"No." Puck shook his head. "I would have heard it crack." Quinn wrinkled her nose at the thought causing Puck to chuckle slightly.
Quinn leant against the wall as she watched Puck. "Why did he do it?"
"Do what?" Puck asked as he looked at her.
Quinn frowned at the stupidity of his question. "Why did Finn punch you in the face?"
"We were fighting." Puck said with a shrug like it was no big deal.
"Why were you fighting?"
"We had just had an argument that got a little out of hand."
"I don't get it." Quinn said with a frown. "Finn isn't someone who just gets into fights about anything."
Puck shrugged again. "It must have been a touchy subject."
"What were you arguing about?" Quinn asked.
Puck sighed and turn to face her properly. "Maybe you should talk to Finn, your boyfriend, about this."
"Maybe." Quinn shrugged, taking a step towards him. "But I'm asking you."
Puck ran a hand through his mohawk, knowing Quinn would go mad when she heard. "Finn thought there was something going on between Rachel and I."
"So?"
"Well that's it. He threatened me to stay away from her." Puck informed her. "But it's when I implied that she was desperate that he really lost it."
Quinn sighed and looked down. She couldn't believe Finn sometimes. Even though he was dating her, Rachel would always be the most important person in his life. She had to accept that when it came to Finn, Rachel always came first to him.
"He's unbelievable." Quinn said quietly with a small laugh, even though it wasn't funny. "You know how many people talk crap about me on a daily basis? A lot. Do you think Finn cares?"
"You're the most popular girl in school, Quinn, the only reason people say anything bad about you is because they're jealous." Puck countered.
"He's dating me." Quinn said as she looked up at Puck. "He's dating me, and he feels the need to defend other girls."
Puck looked down, unsure of what to say. It was clear Quinn was tired of the way Finn acted, but Puck couldn't exactly tell her to break up with Finn and be with him.
"No matter who he's dating, me or Rachel, he still has his eye on the other."
"He's a guy." Puck shrugged. "That's what guys do. They're indecisive because they want all the girls."
"You know, sometimes I wish Finn was more like you." Quinn blurted out, surprising both Puck and herself.
"W-What do you mean?" Puck asked.
"When we dated, you didn't go after other girls. The only person you would get into fights to defend was me. You made me feel special; whereas with Finn I'm constantly worried that he's seeing Rachel behind my back."
Puck reached over and put his hand on top of Quinn's. He waited until she made eye-contact before saying, "You know Finn's problem? He's in love with two girls. I'm not. When we were dating, I knew that you were special; I knew that you were the only girl I wanted to be with, and the only girl I cared about."
Quinn looked into Pucks eyes and could tell he was being sincere. This was the side of Puck she loved. The one that was sweet and caring and cared about her. She wanted to kiss him so badly, but she wouldn't cheat again. She cleared her throat before speaking.
"I should probably get you a different tissue." She said, puling her hand from under Puck's.
At Glee Club that night, the fight between Puck and Finn was the main topic of conversation. No one knew for sure why they were fighting, and those who did didn't go around telling everyone. Rachel sat on her own at the side of the room watching and Mike and Sam re-enacted what had happened.
She had tried to get Finn to come to Glee, but he had told her he wasn't in the mood. He didn't want to see Puck or Quinn and he definitely didn't want to see them together. Rachel had tried to stay with him but he forced her to go. He knew she loved Glee club and didn't want to be the reason she didn't go. He clearly wasn't aware that Rachel loved Finn more than she could ever love Glee club.
At that moment, all the room went silent. Rachel looked up and saw Puck and Quinn walking into the room. Puck had a few bruises on his face, none as bad as the one on Finn's though. His nose looked pretty messed up, making it look like the fight ended pretty evenly. The pair came in and sat down and before anyone could say anything, Mr. Schuester walked in.
"Right, Guys, shall we get started?" Mr. Schue said as he clapped his hands together.
"But Finn's not here yet." Sam reminded the room.
"He's not coming today." Rachel informed everyone. "He didn't feel like being with some people in the room." Rachel gave a pointed look to Puck and Quinn. Puck didn't look interested, though Quinn looked angry.
"I have to go." Quinn said as she stood up. The room watched as she left, all in a surprised silence.
When Quinn left the room, she leant against the wall and sighed. She had to talk with Finn right now. It didn't take her long to find him as he was routing around in his locker. The moment he saw her he began to walk away like he hadn't noticed her. Quinn felt angry as she followed him, picking up her pace.
"Finn!" She shouted. He stopped walking and turned around. She saw properly the bruise on his face. It was already a dark purple colour and looked sore. "We need to talk."
She walked past him, knowing he would follow and took him to an empty classroom. She opened the door and turned on the light. She pointed as a desk on the front row and instructed him to sit. He did so immediately, like a child scared to be shouted at.
"What happened today?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"I had a fight with Puck." Finn mumbled.
"What were you fighting about?" She asked, though she knew the answer.
"I'm sure Puck's already told you."
"He has." Quinn admitted. "But I want to hear it from you."
Finn sighed and looked down. He didn't know why Quinn had to make things so hard. "I was fighting with Puck because I wanted him to stay away from Rachel."
Quinn looked down and nodded. She didn't know what she expected to happen when Finn told her what he was fighting about, but the fact he didn't even try to make it sound better than it was annoyed her.
"Finn, you do realise that we're dating, right?" Quinn asked.
"Yes, I am aware of that." Finn answered with a small frown.
"Then what does it matter to you if Puck wanted to be with Rachel? Why would it matter if they started dating? Why do you make it so damn hard to be in a relationship with you?" Quinn continued to raise her voice with each question she asked. She was so angry that she didn't know how to cope.
"Puck's a jerk!" Finn told her. "Rachel's a nice girl and he'd treat her the same way he treats every other girl: like she's just an object for his amusement."
"You know something, Finn? Puck is a much better man than you are." Quinn finally admitted. It took a weight from her shoulders to be able to say that to Finn. "When he's with a girl, he's a gentleman. He does whatever it takes to make her happy. Rachel could do, and has done, a lot worse than Noah Puckerman."
"Well, Quinn, if I'm that bad of a boyfriend why are you with me?" Finn asked. It hurt him to hear Quinn imply he wasn't a good boyfriend and that Puck was better than him.
"I never said that! I could have been talking about Jesse St. James for all you know! But the fact that you just assumed I was talking about you says a lot, doesn't it?"
Finn shook his head and looked down. This whole thing was so stressful. "So, what's going on between us? What do we do from here?"
"I'll tell you what we're going to do." Quinn said, placing her hands on her hips. "We're going to go to prom together, win Prom King and Queen, and then we'll talk about where we go from there."
Quinn turned around and walked through the door, slamming it shut behind her, leaving Finn alone in the empty classroom.