Work Text:
Puck bonds with a bitch.
He’s the only one not surprised by this.
***
The first time he sees her, he knows, just knows, that he’s her brother. That he’ll never not have someone at his back. That bond isn’t the only reason he joined the Marines, but it was certainly a major draw. (Getting out of Lima was the main reason he even looked at the armed forces; Mr. Schue finally convinced him that he didn’t, actually, have to stay in town and be a Lima Loser the rest of his life.)
He calls her Ruth; her scent name, warm sunny clover field, reminds him of happy things and freedom.
A couple guys in his platoon try to get a rise out of him for naming her that, for being bonded to a bitch in the first place; he tells them to check the Book of Ruth and come back and tell him that his bitch isn’t good enough, that the name isn’t perfect for the one sentient being in his life that won’t walk out on him, won’t desert him when he needs her, won’t let him fail.
***
When he and his buddies go to get their boot scars, a little rowdy, but not drunk, not yet, he makes sure he goes last, taking the time to pull up from the depths of his memory (with more than a little help from the internet) the Hebrew he wants on his skin.
Ruth is perfect, calm and steady at his feet while the tattoo artist does her work. She casts a weather eye down at the wolf, already huge and just eight months old, and asks what else he wants. ‘Nothing,’ he says, checking out her work in the mirror. ‘This is perfect.’
***
Ruth just keeps growing. By the time she’s a year and a half, she’s bigger than all but one of her littermates, and she’s within five pounds of him. Military policework looks to suit her just fine
***
He and Ruth go home, go to Lima, for a visit before they’re posted overseas. Military police duty is mostly routine, but they’re getting posted to Japan, so Puck’s a little excited.
His sister pelts across the parking lot and flings her arms around him before she ever notices Ruth just behind him. He laughs and teases her for not paying attention, she punches him in the arm and tells him he’s a jerk; things are still okay, then.
His mother is nervous at having such a large animal in the house; at least, she is until she finds out her name; the last time Puck saw his mother smile like that was his sister’s bat mitzvah. He feels a little better about leaving her, now that he can leave on good terms.
.***
The next time he and Ruth visit Lima, Finn’s home on leave from the Navy.
“So, that’s gotta be weird for you,” Finn says after the second round of beers. “Girl wolf, breeding, you know.”
“Why would it be weird?” Puck asks. “I got no problem having sex with guys.”
Finn chokes on his beer. “Since when?”
Puck shrugs and finishes his beer, signaling the waitress for another round. “Always, dude. I just didn’t want to deal with all that shit Kurt went through. So I dated chicks, which was also fine, and wasn’t surprised when I got Ruth.”
“Really?”
“Really, dude.” Puck pays for the round; they’ve been paying cash all night. “Best part? Other than Ruth herself, of course? I got to be the one to record the pups’ scent-names. That was... amazing, really.”
Finn taps his beer to Puck’s. “I’m just glad we both got out, you know?”
Puck nods and reaches down to fondle Ruth’s ear. “Yeah.”