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When Puck walked through the apartment door a little after six, Finn was flopped across the couch with a half-drunk beer in his hand and an empty on the floor next to him. The lights were out, and there was no hint of supper cooking - unusual since Finn was the (slightly) better cook of the two, and he usually got home from work a good hour or more before Puck did.
He rolled his head to look over at Puck and hoisted his bottle in greeting. “Babe. We’re getting pizza tonight, and I’m not getting off this couch unless the building burns.”
Puck hung his coat on the hook at the door and dropped his bag on the little dinette table in the “breakfast nook” (really just a weird angled corner where a small laundry closet was wedged between the kitchen and hallway). He grabbed a beer for himself and went to the couch, lifting Finn’s legs so he could slide under and then replacing them across his lap.
“Bad day dude? Did the Kitchen Bitch attack again?” Puck asked, referring to a co-worker of Finn’s who was hyper-vigilant about the state of the staff room kitchen area, and loved to leave nasty notes to anyone who didn’t live up to her expectations.
“Nah, Laura was fine. I haven’t forgotten my Tupperware’s in the sink for a couple weeks now. It was just a long day. Started with Sammy’s dad bitching me out, again, at drop-off this morning for not letting Sammy be a team captain in gym yesterday, even though I’ve repeatedly told him that I rotate captain on a regular basis so everyone gets a chance. Not to mention that Sammy doesn’t even like being a captain - I can see the anxiety on his face every time it’s his turn, and he has a terrible time the rest of the day trying to settle back down.” Finn’s waving his beer around, and he’s got that really hot, earnest look on his face he gets when he’s both concerned and frustrated about his kids. “But no, his dad won’t listen to me when I suggest that Sammy doesn’t like it. It makes me so flippin’ mad. He also asked that I switch to calling him Sam because they’re trying to discourage use of the ‘babyish’ nickname. Umm, he’s six Puck! Six. He is still a baby. He should be allowed to be Sammy for as long as he wants!”
Puck set his beer down and picked up Finn’s left foot. He yanked the sock off and started massaging. “Have you ordered the pizza yet, or do we still need to call?”
Finn let out a low groan as Puck’s thumb dug into the ball of his foot. “I called. Asked for delivery around 7. I got you a Works with extra bacon. Hawaiian for me.”
“Sweet, thanks. Now, I know Mr. Douchnozzle wasn’t enough to bum you out this much. What else happened?”
“Meh, not too much. Nothing too bad anyways. A couple emails from parents wanting to talk. I had to ask for a meeting with Adam’s parents. He’s still biting when he gets angry. I think it’s the split. Hopefully both his mom and dad come, but I can’t see mom showing up. Outdoor recess was cancelled after lunch because of the wind-chill, third time this week. So the kids were rangy cause they couldn’t get out and run and scream their energy off. It’s not too bad for the older grades, but these little first graders need an outlet. I tried to do some motion activities throughout the day to help, and we did an impromptu jazzercise class mid-afternoon to combat the squirmies, but they were wound. Jordan tried so hard to sit, but man Puck, he was up and down in his seat all afternoon and I was ready to pull my hair out. I got him the extra Wiggle Chair to see if that helped, but he was still pretty distracting for the other kids. I think I’m going to re-arrange the room this weekend, and try little pods of desks. If I can put him with Amy, and have them facing away from the table with Everett and Jacinda, I think it’ll work a lot better.”
Puck pulled off Finn’s right sock to continue the massage. “I’ll come in and help you move stuff. We could do it first thing Saturday, then still have time to get to Beth’s hockey game at 11. Or would you rather sleep in and do it after?”
Finn thought it over for a minute. “Are we taking Beth for lunch after the game this week?”
“With Shelby. I thought maybe LuLu’s? Something quick anyways. They’ve got to take off for Columbus right after we eat for some family thing, so I asked Shelby if she wanted to come along and they could leave right from there, rather than waste time taking her home or getting picked up here.”
“Oh, that’s cool. Makes sense. Okay, let’s get up and do it early, then after lunch we could go over to your Mom’s and help her get that stuff out of the attic she was asking you about. Then, we’ll have all day Sunday to be lazy.”
The buzzer rang so Finn swung his legs off the couch to allow Puck up. While Puck let the pizza guy in, Finn broke his vow of not getting off the couch and went to the kitchen for plates, napkins, and drinks. He poured a glass of milk for himself, and got another beer for Puck then took it all to the living room so he could resume his lying-around. Once the pizza was paid for and Puck was back on the couch with him, they both dug into their boxes and Finn resumed his story.
“So it wasn’t all bad today, okay. Last period today was music. You know I’ve been teaching them This Land is Your Land, right? Well, they pretty much have the verses down now, so today I thought I’d work on our Geography a bit too, and have them suggest new places and things, and we could make our own verses about places that were important to them. We got our big map of the US out, and all sat around it on the floor on the reading rug. David wanted to include Disneyland, and Jamie asked for North Dakota where her Gramma lives. The kids all thought it would be cool if we mentioned alligators. Then I asked if anyone knew of a place on the east coast that we could use. So we found the North Arrow and figured out what side of the US was east. Ben wanted us to use Massachusetts because of his grandma. I’m thinking, how the hell am I gonna fit Massachusetts into a song, when I realize that he called it Massa-two-shits. I started to laugh, and he got mad. I explained I wasn’t laughing at his grandma, but that it was a funny word. Then all the kids tried saying it, and it was hilarious. So we decided that since none of us could sing the word, and Ben couldn’t remember the name of the town his grandma lived in, we’d better think of another place. Anna then chimed in to suggest Gotham City, because Batman is extremely important - not just to us, but to all Americans. Ben argued that Captain America was more important, and just as another battle over which superhero was the best was about to start, the bell rang. Thank God. I left them with homework for tomorrow - everyone needs to think of and write down four places that are important to them, two real and two fictional. I’m not sure what lesson I’m going to roll that into, but I’ll think of something by morning.”
They both had been eating while Finn told his music story, and now both pizza boxes were half empty and on the coffee table. Puck grabbed the remote and turned the TV on, then lay back on the couch pulling Finn over on top of him. “It was cold today in the garage. Come cuddle me warm.”
“Hey, I never even asked you how your day was, or gave you a welcome home kiss.” Finn shifted up a bit so he could reach Puck’s mouth, and gave him a long, slow kiss. “There, that’s better. How did your day go? Did you get that part in for the big mower yet?” Puck worked for the city now, maintaining the grass and gardens in Lima’s parks and green spaces during the growing seasons, and switching to equipment maintenance, greenhouses, and snow removal during the winter.
“Yeah, it came in and I got the clutch replaced. The engine sounds good now, so I think I just need to replace the mower blades tomorrow, and I can cross it off the maintenance list. Friday I’m going to take another look at the little Kubota, and then maybe start getting greenhouse #2 cleaned out so we can start the plantings in a week or so. Enough work talk for tonight though. Let’s just veg and watch SportsCenter.”
Finn grunted an agreement as he snuggled further into Puck, reaching over the back of the couch to drag an afghan over them. He shifted around some more, trying to find the magical comfy spot that let them both fit on the couch, but didn’t put Puck in danger of being squished.
“Oof, dude! Watch the knee. Neither of us will be happy if you put my dick out of commission.”
Finn pecked Puck a kiss in apology. “Sorry babe, I’m trying to get comfy.”
“Yeah, I know. You complain about your kids getting the wiggles, I think they’re learning from the master.”