big disgrace

Usually, Puck would have gone on acting like Toby was some 'other' in his weird little family tree. The brother of his baby mama, his daughter's uncle, his kid sister's best friend. Always there off to the side, blurred and close but never the focus, bever directly in his line of sight. Not until a couple weeks ago anyway, when he'd woken up hungover as fuck, naked and covered by an equally undressed Toby. Was it any wonder he'd assumed they'd had sex. Suddently this consistant background presence was front and center, and there that tall lanky man remained, even now. With the end credits of Fast Five scrolling along the TV screen, Puck had barely even paid attention and that was genuinely surprising. I mean Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson made his entrance to the franchise in this movie and all Puck could think about was the last time he and Toby were on acouch together. "We'd be more fucked up than last time if we actually drank everytime a one liner was said in that fucking movie. But you've gotta try the apple pie moonshine, shit tastes legit, I promise."

Toby slouched back against the couch with a silent sigh. The space between them felt a lot more than it actually was, a lot deeper than the shadows hiding inside the cushion crevices. It felt awkward. He had really hoped the movie invitation would put him and Puck back at zero. He wanted to rewind them back before the glitter hug at the parade and before the naked version of off-key karaoke. But life wasn’t a stupid VHS tape. Toby lolled his head to the side, looking at puck with his signature lop-sided smile. "Either that, or every time they shifted gears.” Toby tapped his temple with a wink. “See, you fucked up, Puck. You can’t mention apple pie to me and not have me want to taste. I love dessert. I mean, I love food in general, but sweet stuff?” He wiggled. “Ooh, baby.” He then collapsed his fingers in a grabbing motion at his handsome host. “Gimme.”

"Dude you wanna get fucked up with gear shifts you gotta watch the second and third movie. Your skinny ass would definitely need a stomach pump trying to keep up with that shit." Already pouring a shot for his apparent drinking buddy, although he was taking it slow. Didn't want a repeat of last time, if anything was gonna happen he wanted his wits about him. A drunk him trying to make something more happen is, as his sister would put it, not it. Handing the full shot glass to Toby, he smiled a the grabby hands and that shouldn't have been as endearing to Puck as it was. Maybe he had drank more then he thought. Feeling his fingers ghost over Toby's as he tried to make sure Toby had a decent gasp on the glass he felt his body desperate to react and thank fuck he wasn't seventeen anymore and he had more control over his body. Without even realizing his body had moved even closer to Toby's on the couch, effectively closing the gap between them. "It's fucking good right?There's not even a bite to it. Shit is dangerous." Honestly, he was way too focused on memorizing everything about Toby's face as he spoke to even realize he'd said anything.

“You say that like I’ve never played this game with Ali. We’re pros, my dude.” Which was, only partly true. Semi-pros was probably more accurate. Their drinking games mainly revolved around obscure references and how many on-screen deaths there were. Toby didn’t flinch at the bump of their fingers or the warmth that radiated off them. Toby’s personal bubble was excruciatingly small. He had no issue with closeness, much to the annoyance of certain people. He scooted forward to properly take the shot, gently knocking Puck’s knee with his own. He lifted the glass. “Down the hatch.” His usual grimace faded as quickly as the drink fell past his throat. “Ooh shit.” He looked over at puck with exuberant child-like wonder.  “Bro,” he drew loudly, “that was tasty as hell.” He licked his lips. “You’re gonna have to hit me with another one. It’s--” He rolled his eyes at Puck’s warning. “Oh, come the fuck on. There’s nothing wrong with things being dangerous.” He handed over his glass forcefully. He was getting another shot goddammit. “That’s what makes life interesting, Puck. Live a little with me.” He thought for a moment. You know, kinda like last time. But not like last time, because you have AC,” he clarified. Toby cleared his throat. “Should we... Um.” He scratched the back of his neck with anxious fingers. “Should we talk about that night by the way? I know we didn’t do anything, but…”

Fuck, he’d been drinking water when Toby had the fucking nerve to say something as ludicrous as down the hatch, so naturally the next thing out of Puck’s mouth was water. Putting his glass down, he lifted his shirt up to wipe the water from his chin, running it down to his chest as well, before idly taking the empty glass from Toby. “Dude you’re already saying shit like down the hatch, I don’t think you need anymore.” Despite his words his actions said he was totally down with a two shots of moonshine in Tobias Berry, seeing as he was pouring him another as he fucking spoke. “Pretty sure I wrote the book on living a little. Chapter one, Knock up your best friend. Chapter two, get sent to juvie. Chapter three, drop out of high school. Shit, maybe if I’d finished junior year I could write a damn book.” Honestly, he was going to just act like Toby hadn’t brought up the thing Puck had spent weeks trying to forget even happened. Wasn’t that like the unspoken thing? What happens on tequila is forgotten forever and whatever you do remember you pretend you fucking forgot. Did no one tell the kid the rules of Añejo? Handing him his shot and taking one himself, he wiped his bottom lip before clearing his throat. Looking intently at him, Puck tried to read him, figure out if he wanted to say something without actually having to say anything, but he didn’t know the younger man well enough to do all that. Throwing his arm around the back of the couch around Toby’s shoulders, still looking at him. It was like Puck didn’t have that much control over his fucking body and he wasn’t 100% sure where the fuck it was going to take him next and maybe that was his way of living a little. “Sorry can’t remember, what was it that didn’t happen again?” He asked with a slight smirk, looking between Toby’s mouth and his eyes, Puck suddenly knew exactly where his body want to take this.

Toby tossed back his shot before answering, hoping the liquid courage would coat his throat and make everything he wanted to say smoother, sweeter, and more like the taste that was already fading from his tongue  “I know you can’t remember, Puck. That was the whole point of talk--” Toby blanched. Was… Was Puck putting the moves on him? It was all there. The smirk. The arm move. Toby’s pupils dilated. Was Puck looking at his mouth? “Oh God,” he spoke absentmindedly. “I mean, um…” His heart doubled its speed as he forced his gaze away. Why did he suddenly feel like he was 15 again? He didn’t still have a crush on his sister’s baby daddy. That was idiotic. “Aliyah said we…” Toby swallowed and regained his composure. “She said that we were being drunk jackasses and we sang karaoke and shit. Got naked at some point?” Cuddled. “Then we, um. Then we passed out. Nothing happened. But I wanted to make sure you weren’t weird about it, I guess?” Toby laughed nervously. “You know what? It’s fine. Water under the bridge or whatever.” Toby patted Puck’s thigh. “That cool? We good?” He didn’t move his hand.

As the other spoke, Puck looked at him intently, holding back a smile as he recounted their tale all those weeks ago. Once them getting naked was mentioned he could feel the slight pressure from him biting his bottom lip. Honestly it made him think it was kind of a shame they hadn’t made out, would have taken care of some of their current tension, but then that would be so much less fun. A flustered Toby was, kinda hot. Barely even registering what the younger man said before he finally stopped talking, Puck just looked down at the hand resting on his thigh and nodded. There were a couple of way he could probably lead this moment, and he was definitely going to be the leader, which should surprise exactly no one. Option one was to just say, yeah man we’re good, and laugh that shit off and let everything just settle into something normal and expected. Option two though, “Kinda a shame, right? That we didn’t make out, at least. That would’ve made the morning after hangover so much more worth it.” fuel the tension and see where it goes. Clearly, the dude was attracted to him, I mean who wasn’t? and Puck.... Puck would label it healthy human curiosity, after all he just wanted to know what it would be like to make out with Toby, nothing to dwell on there. So he leaned in, maintaining eye contact to see how close the other would allow him to get. When he was so close he could the other man’s warmth, he stopped looking at his lips before looking back up to his eyes, searching for permission.

Toby’s heart continued to thunder in his chest. He thought he had grown out of this feeling years ago. Again, he reminded himself he wasn’t a goddamn teenager with a crush. Puck wasn’t ruffling his hair as he walked past him to get to Lucky. Puck wasn’t playfully punching him in the shoulder. Puck wasn’t doing that nod of appreciation for babysitting on such late notice.. No, this was different. Very different. Puck was looking into Toby’s eyes, into Toby’s fucking soul. “A shame?” he repeated. “I mean, we could have for all we know. I think Aliyah caught the tail-end of our whole drunk singing thing. Maybe we did kiss before she showed up. And we just forgot. Like everything else.” Tobias Berry was on fire. “I don’t know about making a hangover worth it, Puck.” His headache for the entirety of the Pride Parade came to mind. “Though,” Toby laughed to himself. “I’ve actually been told I’m a really good kisser.” He licked his lips unconsciously. “Five star reviews.” Oh God. Was he doing this? Was he actually doing this? “We can make it worth it now,” he spoke quietly. “If you want to.” Eyes closed, Toby neared Puck’s lips with his own.