Musketeers and Friends

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing here.

Summary: They've always been friends, ever since they were little. They were the Three Musketeers. So, when one makes a life-changing decision, the other two are there to comfort her. Rachel/Puck/Tina friendship.

My first attempt at writing a Glee fic, so be kind please.

This popped into my head and it wouldn't necessarily go away until I put it down, so here we go. I hope that you enjoy this!

It all started back when Rachel was four and Tina was three. They first met while at an early spring picnic at their Temple and it was an almost instant friendship. Rachel had been planning a performance and Tina had been nearby (Tina was always the bashful one, even at a young age). Rachel, being the bold one that she always was, had invited Tina to join her and the young Asian girl had accepted after a few moments.

Not many people knew that Tina was actually Jewish, but with a last name of Cohen-Chang, she had to be and, given that her mother was Jewish, it made sense that she was as well.

Their friendship at that young age was simple. Rachel was the one who was the born and bred performer. She loved the spotlight, just as much as Tina preferred to stay in the background and sing back-up. They balanced each other out well enough. One was bold and the other was reserved. It was a good friendship. Even at that age, Rachel recognized that Tina had the one thing that she didn't have – style. Tina could dress them in very distinct ways while Rachel could choreograph and arrange musical numbers to her heart's content.

And it was one such performance, about six months after Rachel and Tina began their friendship that Puck – Noah to them – arrived on the scene.

A few young bullies (a trademark of the New Direction's future tormentors) started to harass the two of them as they rehearsed some Broadway number in the park during another Temple-sponsored event (a number from Cats, if Rachel's infallible memory proved to be correct, which it usually was). At age four, their taunts were not very original, but stung nevertheless.

It was Puck who came to the rescue, staving off the bullies and earning the love, respect, and friendship of both Rachel and Tina. Upon asking why he had helped them, Puck had replied that they "were cool because they sounded pretty awesome, even if they were stylized cats."

That was how Puck became a member of their group, their friend, and their third Musketeer.

When they were in elementary school, before Puck went out for sports teams, they were inseparable. They would play together, sing together, study together. They were the best of friends. By the time they got to middle school, when Puck became a jock, Tina developed her "stutter," and Rachel started to get really bullied for being special, it looked as if their friendship could have been torn apart forever.

But it didn't.

Even though they only met in secret or at Temple events, they were still the Three Musketeers. Rachel and Puck were there when Tina discovered her distinctive style and got bullied for it, just to remind her that she was special. Tina and Rachel were there for Puck every time he got into a fight with his mom and needed somewhere to crash that wasn't his home or when Zizes broke up with him, an act that had really devastated him. Puck and Tina were there for Rachel whenever she felt less than nothing and needed them to pick her up.

True, they put on an act at school, at least until Glee Club broke down the social barriers of the group, but that was all it ever was – an act.

Once the New Directions became like family, they added a few more to their mix. Mike, by virtue of his relationship with Tina, was cautiously welcomed in. The Asian duo's relationship was beyond belief strong and Mike got along with Rachel and Puck very well. Kurt came along, not long after, once he and Rachel realized that they were kindred spirits. Blaine was only welcomed, however, due to his relationship with Kurt. They all saw how much closer Finn and Blaine had become after Sectionals – and the fact that the Three Musketeers had to break it to Kurt that Blaine was very attracted to Sebastian.

While that didn't break up Kurt and Blaine, it did show Kurt that he had friends to fall back on, if Blaine ever broke his heart.

And, even later, when David Karofsky got out of the hospital and transferred back to McKinley, he joined their group because, as a friend to Kurt (and, by extension, Rachel), he needed friends who would support him and Rachel and Kurt, out of all of the New Directions, knew best what it felt like to be persecuted for being gay. Puck never had a problem with David – the two could match each other, blow for blow, on any video game. Tina warmed up to the gay jock soon enough, especially after he divulged his love of cooking, something that Tina had in common with him.

But Tina, Rachel, and Puck were still the closest of friends, despite everything that they had been through.

Ask any set of parents and they'd tell you where any one of the three would be on a free evening – together (usually at Rachel's, since she was the only one of them who was an only child and had free reign of her house) singing, studying, and playing video games.

Tina and Rachel were honors students and Puck was near the top of every class, though he kept that on the down-low because he wanted to protect his reputation. The three of them could throw together a beautiful solo, duet, or trio at the drop of the hat. Puck was the best with instruments out of the three of them, while Rachel knew everything about arranging and vocal ranges and Tina could choreograph and create outfits like it was no one's business.

To top it all off, Puck wouldn't tell anyone, but Tina and Rachel were the best gamers he had ever seen, though their skills had been honed through many evenings with him. Not even Finn knew that Rachel could handily beat him in any Xbox game, because he, in his lovably dim-witted ways, thought that Rachel, as a diva and future Broadway star, would not know the first thing about playing video games.

It wasn't until the very end of the great Rachel-and-Finn relationship drama series that he found out that Rachel, at her core, was a gamer. That had been the final straw for him because, in his own mind, video games were the one thing that had separated him from Rachel, that he was good at and not her. And, after their aborted wedding (which Rachel had called off, when she didn't feel right about not having Quinn there and, upon later contemplation, realized just how stupid she was being) and the news of Quinn's accident and subsequent paralysis had hit the New Directions, Rachel had asked for more time to consider jumping into marriage. Finn had played the loving boyfriend, but everyone (including Rachel) could see that he wanted to marry Rachel because, as Puck had put it, she was his meal ticket out of Lima.

And that's when it had come to a head and Rachel realized that she needed to free herself of this one burden.

He had been putting too much pressure on her to have a second go at a wedding and she couldn't handle it. Rachel knew that she had to call it off, but she had been dragging her feet because a part of her still was naïve and in love with Finn – that is, until he said opened his mouth and said something monumentally stupid,

" We should just get married and be done with it," he said, as he plowed his way uncouthly through Call of Duty, "because, let's be honest, the chances of you making it big in New York are one in a million."

One?

In a million?

Rachel felt anger swell up inside of her at his casual dismissal of her life-long dreams.

She growled and picked up the spare controller, cutting away from the level that Finn was on, earning a yell of annoyance (because, honestly, didn't she know that this was the level to beat). Rachel navigated the menus of Call of Duty and quickly found the multi-player setting. She looked at him.

"If you can get more kill-counts than I can in a ten minute game," she said, in a neutral tone, "then I'll consider marrying you before I go to New York and make it big."

"Rachel!" he exclaimed, trying to act completely surprised. She knew he was not a very good actor because she saw the way his eyes flashed with certainty in his victory.

Which is why, ten minutes later, he realized that all those hours of assuming that she sucked at video games was a lie, when he ended with a measly three kills (she was feeling charitable, in the end) to her (shockingly low) fifty-two.

Rachel didn't bother saying anything else. She threw the controller down onto the cushion next to her, rose, and walked out of the room, as Finn sputtered angry statements at her. She heard his accusations of being a bitch and a whore, that she didn't love him, that she had never loved him, that she was sleeping with Puck, which would account for the amount of time she was spending with the mohawked jock.

It was that last bit that really pissed her off.

She rounded on him and said, in a level tone, "You listen to me, Finn Hudson, and you listen well. I may have been foolish to love you with everything in me, once upon a time, but I've grown up. I've realized that, while you were my high school love, you are not the kind of person that I want to have in my life – to be in a relationship with – and I hate that I've only just realized that in the last few weeks." Her eyes flashed with anger. "How could you not want me to succeed and how could you not respect my wishes to reconsider rushing into marriage?"

"Oh come on!" he exclaimed. "Not that again. You needed time. I gave it to you, but four weeks is enough! Make up your mind already, Rachel." Finn crossed his arms and tried to look intimidating, which he failed miserably at. "It's me or New York."

"Then I choose New York."

"What?"

"A good boyfriend would never ask his girlfriend to give up on her dreams," she retorted. A memory crossed her mind. "Tina and Mike taught me that."

"What do Tina and Mike have to do with any of this? They're not even that good friends with you."

And that was where she snapped.

"So the fact that Tina and I have been friends for almost fourteen years means nothing?" Rachel asked. "And that we've been best friends with Noah for almost as long? That's why I've been hanging out with him so much. He's one of the best friends I've ever had."

"Huh?" Finn just wasn't getting it.

"Look, Finn, I'm sure you'll make a great husband to some girl, but you're not my great husband," she said. "I need someone who'll be there for me, no matter what, and support my dreams, just like I'll support his."

"So this is it?"

"Yes, Finn, it is."

With that, Rachel turned and walked out.

It didn't take her long to come across Kurt, who, in his own way, knew what had gone down between Rachel and Finn. He merely grabbed her arm and steered her outside to his car, driving her home, where an expected Tina and Puck were waiting outside, video games and junk food snacks in tow because, as both knew, Rachel could not deny herself junk food when she was upset.

Kurt left Rachel in the very capable hands of her two best friends, knowing that, come Monday, when they all entered the choir room, Rachel would be happy and laughing, sitting between Tina and Puck. Mike and David (who had, after some coaxing, had joined the New Directions) would be behind the three. Kurt would take his spot beside David and in front of Blaine, adding to the honor guard protecting Rachel.

He knew that, while he, David, and Mike might not be a part of the Three Musketeers, they all knew what no one else in the New Directions had quite grasped yet.

And that was that Tina, Rachel, and Puck were the best of friends and that they would stay that way for the rest of their lives.

So, what do you think? Good? Bad? In the middle? Please review and let me know how I did!

Anyway, I just wanted to get this out because it was on my mind and I wanted to share it with everyone.