Important Information - Starts between Heart and On My Way, completely AU from there. I've used the events from Dance with Somebody as a springboard though, so Kurt is flirting with Chandler already. Essentially, this is a Plaine reimagining of the second half of season 3. It's going to be ~15 chapters long, and I should hopefully be putting a new chapter up every 2 to 3 days.
Disclaimer - I own no characters, recognisable plot features or songs.
Word Count - 2357
Chapter - 1/15
Warnings - eventual sexual content, language, mentions of: suicide/bullying/abuse. Please don't proceed if any of these issues disturb or upset you.
Eventual Pairings - Plaine, mentions of: Kurtofsky, Brittana, Tike, Finchel, Pucktana friendship and Bike friendship.

There are steps, between breaking up with one love and falling for another, which every man must complete.

Phase 1. The Break Up.

Step 1. Realising that person is not your world.

At 11.31pm on a Friday night, the last person Blaine Anderson expected to see on his doorstep was Noah Puckerman. Yet there he was, holding a six-pack and smirking. Blaine blinked, so not prepared for company. He'd already removed his gel, for heaven's sake, he was not for public viewing. Blaine knew his eyes were red-rimmed, skin blotchy, and he had never wanted to slide under a rock and hide more.

It didn't help that Puck looked as he did every day; like the Sex God he professed to being. Blaine tried not to huff, but good God he did not need this right now.

"Evening." Puck greeted, darting around Blaine into the hall, oblivious to the ex-Warbler's state. "Sweet pad, Anderson." Blaine winced uncomfortably as the jock admired the entrance hall, before spinning to grin at Blaine. "I brought beers."

"Puck, what are you even doing here?" Blaine asked, thanking every deity he could think of that his parents were away at a conference. They had met Puck once, when he'd agreed to give Blaine a lift to a New Directions event, and he was immediately declared non-desirable. The nipple ring, visible through his thin wife-beater, hadn't helped.

"Rachel phoned me about the big gay glee break-up. Said she and Mercedes were heading round to Kurt's to cheer him up, and I thought, hey, who's cheering Anderson up?" Puck asked. Blaine sighed. Of course everyone knew about he and Kurt, secrets were a mythical creature at McKinley. "So, here I am, with a shit-ton of alcohol and a copy of Die Hard, willing to fake interest while you cry about Lady-Lips."

"…Thanks? Puck, I really just want to mope right now. It's been a long day, and I don't have the energy to be nice or polite or social. You don't have to be here." Blaine stated. Puck made his way into the kitchen, whistling at its modern décor, before turning to face Blaine.

"Listen up, Tiny Tim, I do have to be here." Puck stated, glaring a little at the shorter boy. "I know I'm not all that, but I'm all you've got right now. Do you know how many members of glee are going to side with Kurt? In the big gay divorce, you've won me, maybe Mike, and that's about it. There are a lot of fence-sitters, but Kurt's definitely taken Mercedes, Rachel, and Finn. And, okay, there'll be a fresh bunch of chipper glee recruits in September, but you've got to survive until then with the brat pack glaring at you."

"We've said we're not going to make people pick sides…"

"Well then, Curly, you clearly have no idea how break-ups work." Puck rolled his eyes. "They're messy, and people get hurt, and everyone chooses a side. Okay, maybe in 5 or 6 or 7 months time, you might be okay with letting Kurt&Co back into your life, but by then you'll probably be dating some hot piece of ass who wont want your first boyfriend floating round."

"That's so not true." Blaine argued back. He leant against the counter, frowning at Puck. "You and Finn have stayed friends with Rachel and Santana and Quinn and –"

"- and you and Kurt weren't Finchel or Puckleberry or any of the other stupid bed-hopping couples that float around McKinley. You two were together for a fuck of a long time, so you don't get to 'stay friends'. You get to sit on the opposite sides of the choir room with your respective sets of supporters and glare. Without me, dude? Your side would be hella empty." Puck argued, and Blaine fell silent. "You've won me now, Anderson. I come with a no-return policy that's very hard to get out of."

"I've won you?" Blaine hopped onto the kitchen island, legs dangling as he glanced at Puck. His lips quirked up, in spite of the heartache. "Puck –"

"Don't go getting all mushy on me." Puck raised an eyebrow, dumping the beers on the counter. "You're a bro now, Anderson, don't think you can get out of it." Blaine watched silently as Puck began opening drawers, looking for the bottle opener. "And, as your bro, it is my job to cheer you the fuck up."

It would have almost been sweet had it not been for the obscenities. Blaine walked around the breakfast island, dipping into the one draw Puck hadn't tried and grabbing the bottle opener. Steeling himself mentally, Blaine attempted to grin at Puck, handing over the bottle opener. "What's the harm in one beer?"

"That's what I like to hear!"

Blaine wasn't quite sure what had happened between 'one beer' and 'several shots of unidentifiable alcohol', but he was sure it wasn't good. He wasn't even sure where the unidentifiable alcohol had come from, but it went down smoothly, and that was all that mattered. Somehow, the topic of conversation had got onto Kurt, and though he wasn't yet a weeping hysterical mess (score one to Blaine), Puck had somehow managed to make him start venting. He avoided the big arguments, but Blaine revealed the silly things that had slowly dug into his psyche, annoying him beyond belief.

"And, you know what else? Bronzer in the lotion. I hated the bronzer in the lotion thing, you know?" Blaine growled from his sofa, cradling another beer between his slightly shaking hands. "And his stupid perfect hair. You know he didn't use product, and it still looked like that? It takes me half an hour, half an hour, to get my hair half decent, and there he was, just looking like that." Puck was strewn across the other sofa, nodding at the right times but not saying all that much. His jacket had been discarded carelessly across the back of the couch, and every time he stretched Blaine could see a little bit of lower ab. Not that he was looking, like, at all. "I'm being a bad person, aren't I? I shouldn't be bitching about him –"

"If you think Porcelain isn't doing the exact same thing across town, you didn't know him at all." Puck replied whilst slinging back his beer.

"Maybe that was the problem." Blaine replied morosely, emotions veering due to the liquor in his stomach and the ache in his chest. "I wasn't attentive enough. I didn't listen to his needs, and now he's left me for brighter pastures." Puck quirked an eyebrow, swigging his beer again. "What?"

"You've spent the last 20 minutes whining about him. Sounds like you're better off without him, dude." Puck was more attentive than people gave him credit for, and beneath the tiny complaints, he could see the bigger picture. "From the sounds of it, the sex was shit."

Even drunk, Blaine had the dignity to flush tomato-red. "No it wasn't!"

"Oh, it totally was." Puck smirked, sitting up a little straighter. "What was wrong? You both wanna top? Or the other way round?"

"Shut. Up." Blaine moaned into his hands, wincing as Puck laughed. "That wasn't the problem, anyway. We, ahem, switched."

It was Blaine's turn to laugh as Puck scrunched up his face, taking a moment to erase all thoughts of Kurt as a sexual being from his mind. "So what caused the Big Gay Divorce, Dr Phil? I know you two didn't break up because of some bronzer and hair product."

"Honestly? It's not been right for a while." Blaine stated, staring into his glass. "Flirting was fun, and the first kiss was beautiful, but we peaked there; we were just coasting, not progressing. I don't think Kurt's heart was in it, it was just mine, and I love him, I do, but one person isn't enough, you know? Everything after the kiss was nice, but there wasn't enough emotion behind it from him, not really. And let's face it," Blaine laughed a little bitterly, wiping his brow. "How many people are lucky enough to find their soul mate in their first partner? The sex was…okay. I just don't think sex can be all that good without real, romantic love from both partners backing it up." Blaine stated. Puck stared back blankly with raised eyebrows.

"You have definitely been fucking the wrong people, Anderson." Puck smirked. "Come on, let's get you to bed."

"If you think I'm that easy just because I'm single, you've got another thing coming." Blaine muttered back as Puck helped him off the sofa.

"That's what they all say." Puck teased, throwing Blaine's arm across his shoulders. "Now, which one's your room?"

"First door at the top of the stairs." Blaine replied, letting Puck lead him through the house. "You're staying."

"Am I now?"

"If you get in a car now you'll end up in a ditch somewhere or in a police station with a DUI to your name." Blaine collapsed onto the bed, lying face down, limbs splayed. "The guest beds aren't made." Blaine stated as he mashed his face into the pillow. "Just sleep here, the bed's big enough for two."

"I've known stronger, straighter men than you feel powerless to the pull of the Puckster, Anderson." Puck teased, taking off his shoes and belt and climbing in anyway. "No funny business, I know how you gays are."

"No funny business, I know how you sex sharks are." Blaine snapped back. He glanced at Puck through hooded eyes, watching the self-affirmed sex God climb into his bed. Heavens, if Kurt could see me now…

"So, you gonna tell me who broke up with who?" Puck interrupted Blaine's train of thought, rolling over to face the ex-warbler. "Rach was pretty vague on the phone, and you've not specified all night…"

"I don't know." Blaine answered honestly, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. "I think he broke up with me, but I didn't really fight for the relationship like he wanted." Blaine glanced at Puck again, who seemed more interested than he had all night, and he sighed. It felt almost nice to get this off his chest. Puck was right; Kurt had more pull in the New Directions; aside from Mike, all of Blaine's friends were better friends with Kurt. He had no Warblers left, no close friends outside McKinley. There was no one to hear his side of things, except his newfound comrade, so he let the words jumble out. "It's been coming for a month, but things started coming to a head around Valentines. He had been flirting with someone else over text, someone I don't even think he's all that interested in. He wanted to look for a spark, something to get passionate about, and it makes sense, because that's how I felt about Sebastian." The words spill out, and Blaine winces. "I wasn't cheating with Sebastian, I wasn't responding to his advances, the way Kurt responded to this guy's. I didn't push him away, though."

"And what a fantastic decision that turned out to be."

"I know, I know. He was a horrible person, I get it, but he was different. Interesting. Not Kurt." Blaine sighed, rolling back onto his stomach and glancing at Puck nervously. This was a very stereotypically girly conversation about feelings and emotions, and, well, none of those things were exactly Puck's strong points.

"Yeah, I get it. Quinn was interesting. Santana was interesting. Unfortunately, Quinn turned out to be batshit insane, and Santana turned out to be a lesbian." Puck shrugged. "You want a speech about how there are plenty more fish in the sea or shit like that? Because there are, you know. Tons and tons of gay shiny fish, all waiting for you to go find them, and okay, they're mostly not in Lima, but if you want dick, it's out there, man."

"I don't need a speech." Blaine stated, shaking his head. "It's just… I uprooted my whole life for Kurt, you know? I left Dalton for him, I came to a school where I risk being bullied for him, and I wore more gel because he preferred it. All my friends at McKinley are his friends really." Blaine sighed. "What am I meant to do, when everything we built, everything I am now, has been torn down and stripped away?"

"You take what's left, and build something new." Puck replied, and Blaine stared, frowning at the boy sceptically. "Dude, like I said, you've got me. Most of the guys on the football team have accepted you as a bro, and they're not gonna ditch you. Okay, Finn might, but Kurt's his stepbrother, he has to take his side. Santana and Brittany are my girls; they'll side with you, and fuck the rest of them. The sun does not set just because Kurt broke up with you." Puck finished, and Blaine smiled, ever so slightly. "I repeat. You're my bro now, Anderson, we're going to take life's lemons and make you one fruity-ass cocktail. Now go to sleep, it's well past bedtime for you Shire folk."

"Night, Puck." Blaine stated, sneaking a quick glance at Puck before he continued. "Thanks, for everything..."

"Don't mention it. Night, shmuckums." Puck smirked, rolling over to face the wall.

"Oh, fuck you." Blaine muttered, rolling over himself and trying to get some sleep.

In fairness to Puck, he hadn't made the morning anywhere near as awkward as he could have. Aside from some very on-the-wire jokes about Blaine's sexuality, he'd been almost friendly.

School a few days later had been awkward, especially when confronted with Kurt's angry, tear stained face at Glee rehearsals (so much for the easy break-up they'd promised one another), but having Puck on his side really did help. As Puck had predicted, a lot of the Glee club were Team Kurt, but, as much as it hurt that some of his closest friends in Glee were now glaring at him, Blaine wasn't as alone as he thought, and he had Puck to thank for it.

Having someone to give him the occasional lift home who, instead of standing around waiting impatiently for Blaine to finish sparring, taped up his own knuckles and threw a few punches, was nice too. Yes, overall, having Puck as a friend wasn't half as bad as he'd initially feared.

So, there you have the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, reviews are welcome and encouraged.