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Despite having lived near the water’s edge since graduating from college, Dave rarely went close enough to it to interact with it of his own accord; when he would have something to do with the expanses of blue water, it was usually at someone’s prompting - usually Kurt, or Blaine, or Finn, or one of the other ex-gleeks he’d ended up befriending – and, for whatever reason, Puck never failed to show up, no matter how busy or far away he was.
Dave would hate him for it, if only he could convince himself that he would happily go along with the others if Puck wasn’t a guaranteed show.
Which was how Dave found himself on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, reclining in one of the chairs on the deck next to Kurt as they watched several of the other guys fighting over the fishing poles; it wasn’t often Dave agreed with Kurt about sports, but when it came to fishing Dave had to concede the point. There wasn’t much interesting about a sport that required you to do nothing for a good 95% of the time, just for brief moments of excitement.
It was, however, a good time to enjoy the fact that he was friends with quite a few attractive people, and, apparently, was also a good time to release his inner Sebastian; he didn’t often scope, but with how often Sebastian liked doing it, it was hard to not get influenced by him, for good or bad.
“You are aware that if you stare like that any harder Puck’s going to spontaneously combust, right?”
Dave startled, not realizing that he’d been staring solely at Puck for the past couple of minutes, and then shifted his gaze toward Kurt. The other man was watching him, eyebrow raised, eyes unimpressed. Clearing his throat, he said with feigned confidence, “Thanks Mister Scientist, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Kurt laughed. “Really, David? Not even going to deny it? What has Sebastian done to you?”
Dave blushed, his gaze returning to the group fishing. Puck was moving away, presumably for a break. Dave watched him leave for a moment before saying, “You know, just because we work together doesn’t mean he’s done anything to me. Puck’s hot, I’m not blind. What’s the point in denying it?”
Kurt shifted in his chair, but Dave didn’t look back toward him. He clicked his tongue. “Now I know Sebastian’s done something to you. Just last week I couldn’t get you to admit that you had a thing for Puck, and now you’re all ‘he’s hot, so what?’! You can’t possibly have changed so quickly without Sebastian’s influence, Mister ‘I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about’.”
The corner of Dave’s mouth lifted as he looked back at Kurt and deadpanned, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just because I said he’s hot doesn’t mean that I have a thing for him. Give me a little credit, dude- I’m not nearly stupid enough to fall for Noah Puckerman, no matter how hot he is.”
“Glad to know I’m good enough for the spank bank, but not good enough to be dating material. Really does a man’s ego good,” a voice drawled from behind them as hands landed on the backs of their chairs, drawing their attention up. Puck stared down at them, smirking. “You guys talk like my ex, you know that?”
Dave froze, his face reddening. At his side Kurt snorted. “Please refrain from comparing us to that woman. I swear you only dated her so the two of you could revel in the fact that your tastes were the same.”
“Hey, it’s not often I find a hot woman who finds cougars as sexy I as do,” he said. His gaze flicked to Dave’s burning face, and added, “Not often I find a woman who likes Bear Cubs like I do, either.”
Kurt smacked Puck’s hand off his chair as Dave’s eyes widened. What the other man said didn’t register; all Dave could think about were the words Puck said, the casual tone he’d used, the fingers that tickled the back of his head…
He’d really been lying about not having a thing for Puck, huh.
--
They’d stayed out on the water a few hours longer before deciding to return to land. The fishing crew hadn’t had much luck; in the end only Blaine was able to catch anything, and even then it was only enough for a couple of them. Figuring they could try again the next day, they split up into their various groups and left, leaving Dave and Puck alone.
Puck slinked an arm around Dave’s shoulders. “You live around here, right? Wanna get your butt kicked at CoD?”
Dave scoffed, his cheeks reddening at the contact. “Please, dude. You couldn’t beat me at CoD even if I were blindfolded with my hands tied behind my back.”
Puck ducked his head so he could lock eyes with Dave, and raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t know you were into kinky shit. Not saying I’m not down for that, but I figured you’d be hard to convince, considering you learned romance from Kurt of all people,” he said, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
He shrugged Puck’s arm off his shoulder, flustered. “I wasn’t talking about that, you bastard! We were talking about CoD, not-”
“Why not both?” Puck questioned, his arm falling to wrap around Dave’s back. Locking gazes with Dave once more, he said, “The whole package. CoD, sex, the whole nine yards of romance shit I’m sure you’d gotten stuffed into that head of yours…how about it? I know you’ve had the hots for me at least twice as long as I’ve had the hots for you.”
Dave licked his lips, embarrassment and uncertainty clouding his mind. “Dude, is this a joke? I know what you said with Kurt earlier, but no offense; aren’t you straight? I’ve never seen you dating a guy.”
Puck scoffed. “Man, my boy Kurt really holds his cards close to the table, doesn’t he? I tell him all kinds of shit to see if he’d tell you, and then he doesn’t. I’m not joking, Karofsky. I know you want this- you just gotta take it. I’m not going to refuse, dude.”
Dave hesitated for a moment before he reached his hand up and curled it behind Puck’s neck to slowly pull him in. When their lips touched, soft and hesitant, far more than what Dave expected coming from Puck, he knew.
Puck was serious, and hadn’t been joking about having a thing for him, too.