(oneshot) "Making Amends." - R

Title: Making Amends.
Author: digitalchoco
Fandom: Glee
Rating: R
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Puck, Kurt, Quinn, Mama Puckerman, Schue, Karofsky, Azimio, Kurt/Puck (onesided)
Genre: Drama, supernatural, pre-slash
Word Count: 5046
Warning: A few bad words get dropped, but that’s about it.
Spoilers: Spoilers up to “Never Been Kissed”.
Disclaimer: I do not own these hot tamales, I just like playing with other peoples toys. No profit, just me and my lovely sick, twisted mind.
Summary: Puck gets a second chance to make amends.
 

A/N 1: The Djinn in this story is more similar to the Djinns from the TV-series Supernatural, with a few modifications on my part. I am fully aware that Djinns doesn’t appear in Jewish mythology. 

A/N 2: Le sigh, I should so not be doing this. But it’s so much more fun than essays on Druidism.
 

Going to the dog park to pick up chicks had always been a safe bet. It always worked, especially when he could borrow Mrs. Wallace’s Shih Tzu. Sure, it was a lame dog that sort of looked like a mop, but it was a chick magnet. Puck had tried Mr. Jefferson’s Irish wolfhound (seriously bad ass dog), but that had made everyone think their dog played the role of lunch snack and they had made sure to keep their distance to him. With this wuss of a dog, the girls would be swooning in no time, plus, Mrs. Wallace paid him to take Edelweiss (now that’s not cool at all) for a walk, so he got sex and money for barely no effort at all.

As Puck settled on his usual bench he took his time eyeing the park for possible hook ups. So far, there was a cute blond by the fountain and a smoking hot brunette playing fetch with a German Shepherd. When the latter looked his way, he grinned and cocked one eyebrow, you know, getting his game on. However, the brunette didn’t seem to really notice him. In fact, it felt as if she looked straight through him. So not cool. Sure, Puck had gotten rejected before (and FYI, it was a rare phenomenon), but that was kind of harsh. There hadn’t even been an ounce of interest, it was as if she hadn’t even seen him. The sullen feeling quickly disappeared when he saw this dark beauty walking straight toward him though. She was quite tall, with long legs fitted in a pair of slim, black jeans. Her skin tone was quite dark, like chocolate, and her hair was jet black coifed in wavy curls. She sat down next to him, adjusted her navy blue top. He was just about to say something witty when she spoke.

“Hello, Noah."

Puck frowned. How the hell did she know his name? Pretty much everyone but his Ma called him Puck, and he was sure he’d never seen this woman before in his entire life. She looked at him, smirking. “Yes, I know your name. In fact, I know much more than that. I know everything about you, Noah Oshri Puckerman.” Okay, this is kind of starting to creep him out. No one knows about his Yiddish middle name, it’s fucking lame and not bad ass at all.

“Who the hell are you?” The way with which he looked at her now was nowhere near the almost devouring one he’d had before. He was starting to get kind of suspicious. Like, some random chick shows up and says she knows everything about him? Yeah, that’s enough to raise a lot of suspicion.

“I am Djinn,” she replied with a coy smile.

“Jen?” Her dark eyes narrow at the name and Puck instantly gets the feeling that she’s not someone he wants to screw with, even though she’s just a chick.

“No. Djinn. D-J-I-N-N,” she snaps, pulling a hand through her hair as she mutters to herself. “Adolescents are very moronic these days, it’s so annoying.”

“Dude, is that even a name?” Much like Hummel, she apparently doesn’t appreciate the nickname.

“You’d better start showing me some respect, Noah. First, call me Djinn. Second, do not use such a despicable cognomen. Third, get that damn gum out of your mouth.” The look she throws him almost makes him oblige.

“’s my gum, I’ll do whatever I want with it.”

Djinn closes her eyes, as if to control herself. “Fine,” she mutters. “Even in a situation like this you continue to be cocky and arrogant.” She turns to him. “Luckily, I’m here to give you a second chance, Oshri.”

What the hell is she talking about? Her name is weird, she’s totally hot but she’s a bitch too, and she says she knows everything about him. On top of that, she wants to give him ‘a second chance’. “A second chance at what? And seriously, stop calling me that.”

“Do you know what Oshri means?”

“No? I only know, like, three Yiddish words, and it’s not like I can say ‘em.” She’s definitely weird, but something compels Puck to stay. She creeps him out completely but he sits still anyway, not moving an inch.

“Oshri means ‘my happiness’. Your mother gave you that name because you were her happiness.” Djinn snorts, obviously amused by something. “She should’ve named you ‘damn little devil’ instead.”

Puck just frowned at her. He had no idea of what the hell she was talking about. “Why’s that?” he asks. He’s so not getting this.

“You haven’t exactly been her happiness lately, Oshri, or anyone else’s either, for that matter.” She throws him a dark look.

“What do you mean?”

“Is your head seriously that thick?” She looks at him, apparently expecting an answer Puck can’t give her. “Stealing an entire ATM, joining a fight club, getting a teenager knocked up? Not even the trip to juvie rings a bell?” Djinn sighs heavily, get up and starts pacing. Puck can’t help but check her legs out again, and it takes him a minute to realize that hey, she’s pacing through Edelweiss.

“What the hell are you doing?! How are you doing it?!” He frantically tugs at the leash, but the Shih Tzu just sits there, lazily looking around. Djinn laughs.

“How am I doing it? I told you, Oshri. I am Djinn.”

“And what the fuck is that, what does that mean?!” How could Edelweiss just sit there, that crazy bitch is walking straight through her!

Djinn stops pacing, one foot disappearing into Edelweiss’ body. “That means that this is not the real me. This is just a form, a shape.”

“What’s your real… shape then?” Puck asks. He can’t tear his eyes away from the point where Djinn’s calf merge with the dog. It’s so absurd, so bizarre (even though Puck doesn’t use those exact words in his mind, it’s more like “Fuck, fuck, fuck, what the fucking hell?!”), he just can’t stop looking.

“This park is not big enough to contain me, Oshri!” Djinn laughs. “The Mojave desert would be a more fitting place for me to show my true self, but you can never see it, it would destroy you.”

Puck just stares at her, not believing a word she’s saying. “Look, I don’t know who the hell you are, but I’m not staying here another damn second.” He tries to get up, but something is holding him back. He can’t move his body. No matter how hard he tries, he just can’t get on his feet and walk away. Nobody seems to notice them, not the pretty blond or the hot brunette or even the homeless man looking for today’s newspaper. Only Djinn is looking at him, her eyes practically sparkling with glee. Wait, they actually are sparkling. Tiny, almost electrical jolts of flames break out from her eyes. He lips are stretched in a wide grin.

“I am going to give you a second chance, Oshri. I am going to give you a gift. You will have this gift one day only, and if you don’t use it to make amends, there won’t be a third chance,” she said, placing her index and middle finger on his forehead.

“Get off me!” Seriously, he had never been more scared in his entire life, and the second she touched him, it felt as if his head was on fire. “Fucking let me go!”

“Learn your lesson, Oshri.”

Everything went black.

-*-

When his alarm clock rang, Puck bolted out of the bed, panting heavily as if he had participated in a marathon. When he recognized his own room, the old laptop on the desk, the guitar in the corner, he relaxed a little. It had been a dream. A lousy, damn dream that unfortunately had gotten the better of him. On the up side though, for the first time in two years he wasn’t late for school!

Puck used this unexpected time to take a long shower, washing the sweat off his body. That had been a seriously fucked up dream. His head throbbed with a dull sort of pain and he make a mental note to nick a few painkillers before going to school. After getting dressed (opting to go commando) he went downstairs to get breakfast. There was a note on the table and he immediately recognized his Ma’s handwriting. “Had to take the early shift down at the hospital. Sarah is at a friend’s, remember to lock the door, Noah!”

It sort of felt nice having the whole house to himself. He appreciated the silence, and as he made breakfast (sugary cereals his Ma hated and toast), he vaguely thought about the dream he’d had. It was kind of hard to stop thinking about how the bitch’s leg had, like, merged with Edelweiss. There was this strange urge inside him that wanted to see the Shih Tzu and make sure it was whole without having an extra, very human, leg stick out from its back. He ignored it and turned to get the painkillers instead.

As soon as Puck had gotten into the car, he tried booting up the radio. It had its own personality, only working when it saw fit, and today was apparently one of the bad days. Puck muttered and cursed, but just decided to ignore it and drove to school.

The first thing he noticed when he stepped inside McKinley was that damn, why was everyone being so freaking loud today? It was almost as if they were screaming, and the pills he had taken for his headache didn’t do anything to help numb the pain. It got even worse when he bumped into a blond Cheerio he’d been getting it on with a few times. He could hear her voice so clear, too clear, and what she said made his jaw drop completely.

“Well hello there, Puckerman. Looking like a wreck today. What did you do last night, have an orgy? I know you’re pretty much a whore and all, but you’re kind of hot. Yeah, totally hot. I guess that justifies my actions.” She gave him a seductive smile before continuing down the hall. Had she just said that to him? He should give her a mix of grape and orange slushie right down her slutty little uniform, but he just decided to let it pass for now.

Puck got through first period avoiding all kinds of contact with the other students. As soon as they touched him, he felt like their voices got louder. They were still just talking, you know, but the volume was crazy. He had no idea of why it happened and it put him in a terrible mood, making him snap at almost everyone who dared to approach him.

It wasn’t until he met Quinn that he figured it out.

“Hey Puck,” she smiled as they met in the corridor.

“Sup Quinn,” he muttered back while running a hand over his semi-shaved head, eyes closed as he tried to shut everyone else’s voices out.

“Are you okay?” The second she laid her hand on his arm, he could her them. Her thoughts, man.

“I don’t even want to touch him, but I guess I have to. He does look like hell, but he deserves it. I mean, he hasn’t seen the way my stomach looks after carrying his baby. I’m so ugly.”

“What did you say?” He stared at her, almost couldn’t believe his ears. There was no way she could have said that to him, Quinn would never admit out loud that she was ugly.

“I said; are you okay?” She looked at him suspiciously, fingers squeezing his arm. Her thoughts got louder in his head, he almost thought it was going to explode. He couldn’t possibly fit both his own and her thoughts in there.

“What is with him today? Is he hung over or something?”

“I’m fine, Quinn,” he managed to mutter, quickly retreating to the bathroom. As soon as the connection was lost between them, her thoughts disappeared into the massive stream of the other student’s. It wasn’t as loud in the bathroom, almost normal. Puck quickly splashed a generous amount of water in his face, anything to help numb the pain.

It had been real.

Jen or John or whatever had been real. There was no other explanation to this weird shit, it hadn’t been a dream. He was actually hearing peoples thoughts, and it felt private and intimate and just too much. He wasn’t supposed to hear them, it wasn’t any of his business, but he couldn’t stop it. If this ‘gift’, as Djinn had put it, was going to last all day, he’d just have to figure out how to survive without losing his mind. There hadn’t been any real way of separating his thoughts from Quinn’s, the confusion had even stunned him. What he should do is go home and avoid every single person that wanted to talk to him.

There was just one problem. Djinn had said that this was his second chance, his opportunity to make amends. She had said there wouldn’t be a third. What would happen if he didn’t do what she’d told him? The thought made him go cold and he angrily kicked one of the stall doors before turning around, staring at his reflection. That Cheerio had been right - he did look like a wreck.

Second period was Spanish. Puck decided to arrive fashionably late (he was still a bad ass, remember?) and was happy to see that his regular spot in the back wasn’t taken. He was just about to walk to the back when Mr. Schuester’s hand landed on his shoulder.

“How about Puck giving us an apology for arriving late? In Spanish of course.” The teacher was smiling warmly, but Puck knew better, because he heard.

“… and how am I supposed to give her that kind of money and still be able to live properly? I can’t believe Terri has turned into something like this, she used to care about others and now she wants the apartment, too? I’ll be lucky if I don’t have to sell the car in order to get through this damn divorce…”

“Get off me!” That had been way too private. Quinn’s and the Cheerio’s thoughts had been pointed toward him, it hadn’t been that bad, but hearing about Schue’s money problems? No way!

“Puck, are you alright?” The teacher looked at him with the concern he always showed for his students and especially for the Glee club.

“I’m fine,” Puck stiffly replied and took his seat. Schue gave him an odd look, but continued the lesson. Finn, sitting on his left, leaned closer.

“Dude, what’s up?” For once, Puck wished the moron could keep his big mouth shut.

“Nothing, Hudson, just… not in the mood right now, man,” he muttered back, and getting through Spanish was a pain. He could hear this low murmur of thoughts around him, but he couldn’t single them out unless he had any physical contact. That was nice and all, but his head was aching so badly and he really just wanted to yell at them to stop thinking, but that would be a little suspicious.

So Puck fought through Spanish without really listening to a word of what Schue said. He had to figure out what this whole ‘making amends’ thing was all about. It wasn’t like he could de-preg Quinn or fix Schue’s marriage, in which he’d had no part in destroying. He didn’t have a freaking time machine, you know, so how the hell was he supposed to fix stuff?

Maybe he should just start by apologizing to Quinn. It felt like a step in the right direction. When he thought about it, he realized he had been kind of an ass. Okay, he had been an extremely big ass. An apology might work.

When the bell rang he was the first one to dart out of the door, his mind set on finding Quinn. It proved quite hard, though. The hall was crowded with people and the steady stream of thoughts instantly went louder and he deeply regretted every time he had wanted to be able to read other people’s minds.

Puck didn’t find Quinn. He did, however, run into someone else. His attention was on finding the blond and he wasn’t really paying attention to where he was going. Turns out Hummel wasn’t either. They collided quite forcefully, the soprano grabbing a tight hold of his arm in order not to fall. Books were scattered all over the floor, but Puck couldn’t concentrate on anything but what he heard.

“Oh dear Gaga, not Puckerman. He’s going to shove me against the lockers for running into him, I’m sure of it. My back is already bruised from Karofsky, this is going to hurt… Stay strong Kurt, remember he’ll be fetching you coffee in a hopefully not-too-distant future…” Puck saw Hummel close his eyes, waiting for a shove that never came. Distant memories of various jocks violently pushing him against the lockers flew through both of their minds, and that was a new one. Memories.

Even though the sound of Hummel’s thoughts were overwhelming, it wasn’t nearly as shocking as hearing the mood. And yes, he was sort of hearing the mood in these thoughts, he couldn’t quite put his fingers on it, but everything was already fucked up, right?

Hummel was scared. Even though the exterior showed a fierce, bitchy little gay kid, the inside was nowhere near that.

“What is taking him so long, can’t he just go ahead and do it already? Is he waiting for someone? Not Karofsky I hope, I would prefer Azimio over him…” What the hell? Hummel preferred Azimio over Karofsky? Something was not right here, and for the first time that day, Puck wanted to continue listening. However, he couldn’t just stand there, and neither could Hummel.

“You dropped your books.” As soon as Puck shrugged the boy’s arm off him, the thoughts melted together with everyone else’s, disappearing completely. Hummel’s eyes snapped open, staring at him. He had no idea the kid actually was this scared, and feeling like that every single day? Man, that must really suck. Puck actually felt compassion for him, and that felt kind of weird. Kurt had always been strong, he hadn’t cared no matter what they had thrown his way, but now, Puck actually knew it did affect him, and pretty badly too. Hummel bent down to pick up the books, and as Puck squeezed past him, he let his hand fall on the boy’s shoulder. There were no thoughts, just a wild array of emotions such as awe, confusion, thankfulness and a jittery feeling which made Puck frown a little. He could almost feel it in his own body through Kurt, how he warmed up, his heart beating, brain overanalyzing everything and then…

“His hands are so soft.”

Shit. Hummel totally had the hots for him. Puck stared down at the boy who gathered his books and took off. No fucking way. Hadn’t Hummel learned from the Finn dilemma? Sure, they were getting along just fine now that they were sort of brothers, but still. Wow. He had definitely not seen that one coming. Sure, Puck was a stud, he knew he could make all the girls at McKinley swoon in a matter of seconds, but Kurt? He must be really good then.

When he turned around to keep searching for Quinn, he ran into yet another person. This one almost knocked him off his feet though, it was a much more massive body, and, well, there was just more of it, to be honest.

“Sup Puck,” Karofsky said once he had managed to save the bright pink slushie he was holding.

“Hey Dave, you seen Quinn?” Puck replied, not thinking twice about putting a hand on the jock’s shoulder. He seriously needed to know if Karofsky was the dumb ape he appeared to be.

Once again, these thoughts overwhelmed him and took him completely by surprise.

“Where the hell did that little faggot take off to? Damn, I was having such a nice view of his ass.”

What the fucking hell?

Puck stared at Karofsky, completely dumbstruck. He vaguely heard the jock reply to his question, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. And then, again, memories.

They had kissed. No, correction, Karofsky had kissed Hummel. This memory was so strong Puck almost could feel Kurt wriggle in his arms, desperately trying to get away. He could feel panic so strong it made his legs weaken. Karofsky was… he was fucking gay. And judging by the panic Puck felt through him, he didn’t like it one bit.

It was suddenly easy to understand why Hummel preferred Azimio’s torment over Karofsky’s. Who knew what the idiot had done more than just kissing him?

“You seen the fairy? I’ve got a surprise for him.” The jock nodded toward the slushie.

Puck hadn’t been prepared for the sudden rage that erupted inside of him. Gay or not, Karofsky was a damn slime and you just didn’t do that sort of stuff to a person. He violently pushed the jock against the lockers, staring furiously into his eyes.

“You leave Hummel the fuck alone, you hear me? I’ll chop your fucking balls off and feed them to you if you don’t,” he threatened, and the thoughts that went through Karofsky’s mind were too fast to catch up on. He could sense the confusion, the slight thrill of being so close to another guy, but the strongest feeling was the fear. The one Puck had been after.

“Dude, what the hell?! Just let me go!” Karofsky broke free, gave him a weird look before continuing down the hall. Puck stared after him, feeling the boiling rage slowly settle again.

-*-

It wasn’t until just after lunch that he finally found Quinn. She was talking to Santana about something Cheerio related. Puck asked if he could borrow her for a second. The Latina rolled her eyes, but turned to her locker instead. Puck motioned for the blond to follow him, which she did although she didn’t look happy about it.

When they were sort of alone (there were a few dweebs talking down the hall, nothing to worry about though), Quinn looked at him. “What do you want, Puck?”

He didn’t exactly know how to say it. It wasn’t really stud like and bad ass to apologize, he rarely did it, so when he finally opened his mouth, it was a quick string of words. “I’m sorry I got you knocked up. I should’ve been more responsible, you know, used a condom and that stuff. I just hope we could be, like, friends or something.”

Much like when Puck had been messing around inside Karofsky’s head, Quinn seemed dumbstruck. He didn’t blame her, he would react that way too if he saw himself apologize for something.

“I… Thanks, Puck.” There was a tentative smile on her lips, but her eyes were shining. It was easy to see she appreciated it, and it created this surge of warmth inside Puck, although he would never admit it.

“So, we cool? 

Quinn laughed and nodded. “Yeah, Puck, we’re cool.”
 

-*-
 

Puck spent the entire day being nice to people. When he had settled for just looking menacingly at Jacob Ben Israel instead of throwing him into the dumpster (he had to keep up appearances, you know), the dweeb looked as if he was about to throw himself on his hands and feet and kiss his shoes.

At the end of the day, Puck was waiting in the parking lot, standing next to a big ass Navigator he knew belonged to Hummel. He made sure he wasn’t seen, standing by the back of the vehicle, until he heard someone approach and unlock the car.

“Sup Hummel.” He made sure Kurt knew he was there before stepping closer. The boy’s eyes narrowed suspiciously and Puck totally understood why. Since when had he waited for the gay kid just to make friendly conversation? Never, duh.

“What do you want, Puck?” Hummel looked as if he didn’t give a damn, but Puck knew he did. He knew he was scared, and he knew about… about that other stuff too.

“Has Karofsky messed with you today?”

“… No, not since second period.” That suspicious look turned into a glare. “Why are you suddenly interested in the life and doings of the resident homo?” Good one.

“Good. I know he’s an ass, and I know I’m an ass too, but when he does something, tell me, alright?” It was small, the tiny sparkle of hope that was lit in Kurt’s eyes, but now that Puck knew it would be there it was easy to spot. However, Hummel obviously couldn’t accept this unexpected help straight away.

“Why should I do that? You’ve never cared about it before,” he said, tentatively watching Puck.

“’cause he’s giving you more shit than the rest of us?” Puck replied. “’s not fun to watch, dude.” Kurt’s eyes narrowed at that, and for a second he almost looked exactly like Djinn. “But that’s not why I’m here, really. I kinda wanted to apologize. You know, for throwing you into the dumpsters and all that.”

“And throwing pee balloons at me.”

“Yeah, that too.”

“And nailing the lawn furniture to my roof.”

“Hey, don’t do that, I’m trying to be nice here!” Puck threw his hands up, watching as the corners of Kurt’s mouth twitched, holding back a smile.

“Apology accepted, Neanderthal. Now if you excuse me, I have to go. Enjoy your weekend, Puck.”

“Yeah, you too, Hummel.”

As Puck passed by to get to his own truck, he put one hand on Kurt’s shoulder. 

“I guess Puckerman’s not rotten to the bone.” That single thought made Puck smile.

-*-

The day was coming to an end, but he wasn’t done yet. There was still one thing he needed to do, and he hoped his Ma would be home. When he pulled up outside their house, he was happy to see her beat up old car standing on the driveway. When he entered the house, he could smell food. It made his stomach rumble happily, but he had his mind set on one thing only.

She was standing by the stove when he entered the kitchen. “Hi Noah,” she smiled, pulling a hand through her brown, although greying, hair. Her face turned concerned soon, though. “Are you not feeling well?” Puck figured he must look like hell. His headache had only gotten worse through the day, and he had spent the entire European History class sleeping in the nurse office. She hurried to his side, putting one hand on his forehead.

“…and the bills have to be paid by tomorrow, and I have to make sure Noah does his community service as well. Why does he always get in trouble, I swear, he’ll go out tonight even if he’s sick…”

He knew his mother had suffered a lot because of him. The one he really needed to apologize to was her. This was, after all, the woman who put up with all his shit. She had been furious when he had knocked Quinn up, but had still offered to let her live with them when her parents had kicked her out. His mother had even forgiven him for crashing her car once. She had put up with every loud night when he had messed with his sister, hell, she had even picked him up at various locations when he had been too drunk to get home. She often complained and threatened, but it was all empty talk. Others would just have given up and kicked him out but not his Ma.

“Do you need any help with the dinner?” Her eyes widened, and then narrowed in suspicion as she removed his hand from his forehead.

“What do you want, Noah?” Puck really couldn’t blame her for asking. “I’m not buying you alcohol. Or other stuff for that matter.”

“Nothing, I just wanted to help. You look tired,” he honestly replied, smiling a little. She hadn’t been expecting that. “I figured since you’re doing so much for me, I should, like, make amends or something.” 

She looked at him, still a little suspicious. “I’m impressed, Noah. Why don’t you watch the food while I get your sister?” Puck nodded. He wasn’t exactly a master in the culinary arts, but hey, who couldn’t cook spaghetti?

His mother made her way to the hallway, but stopped in the door. “Noah?” There was a short silence. “Thank you.” Then she disappeared to get her coat. He could hear the door open. “And don’t burn anything!” 

“What does this thing do?” he yelled back, just to mess with her. He could hear her laughing before the door closed.
 

-*-
 

“I have to say I’m impressed, Oshri.” Djinn casually strolled with him in the dog park. “I thought you would take off and use your gift to mess with people, but I guess I was wrong.”

Puck snorted. “You threatened me. What was I supposed to do?” he muttered. Despite the good stuff that had come out of Djinn’s gift, she still scared the crap out of him and he didn’t really appreciate her ‘company’. 

“Would you have listened if I hadn’t?” she asked.

“… Touché.” Djinn laughed.

They didn’t speak for a while, just walked. Puck couldn’t help but wonder when she would disappear. He had done what she asked for, shouldn’t she just go poof now or something?

“You want me to leave,” she stated.

“Yeah, like, a lot.”

“Then I’ll leave.” Puck frowned at how easily she obliged. He had expected a fight or something, she was, after all, a chick. They were just hard to get, you know? “Don’t make me come back.”

“Don’t worry about that.” 

As soon as she disappeared out of his dream, it turned normal. No one was walking through the damn Shih Tzu, chicks were digging him, and everything was back to normal.

 

Notes:

-*- Whew! This kept me busy, but I like Djinn. If it was possible, I would name my future kids Djinn. But I hate kids, so that won’t happen.

-*- Reviews are L-O-V-E!