And I'd Do It Again

Thanks Shall Be Givin

"How's the sleeping arrangement supposed to work?" Karen Watson asked Mercedes as they cleaned their room for Mike's arrival. They'd finally completed their midterms and were looking forward to some fun.

"I don't know." Mercedes stopped. "Puck already sleeps with me."

"Don't I know it!" Karen said cheekily.

"Stop that!" Mercedes blushed.

"I know he touches you in the night. I know you don't make him stop. I know that when I'm gone, you get it on something fierce!" Karen folded her clothes.

Mercedes hung her head and bit back a smile. "How do you know?!"

"It still smells like sex so strongly!" Karen explained. "Unless you can be in two places at once, you got it on heavy and it stayed in the air."

Mercedes knew Karen was referring to her busy schedule. "Okay, I'm caught. We have sex but only cuz I'm too busy to find a boyfriend and I don't really want one anyway. I have work and school and I have my friends and family. I don't need a man. And he's a pervert who's trying to stay away from other men's wives."

"He's also a good friend." Karen noted nonchalantly. "I see the way you look at him. Like he's your son and you want to protect him from the world."

"I guess I like him a little." Mercedes conceded. "But only a little."

Karen scoffed. "If he ran in here with a scrape, you'd kiss the wound!"

"Shut up!" Mercedes threw a pillow at her friend and roommate. "I would not!"

"You so baby him!" Karen laughed. "I'm surprised you can even have sex!"

"We've always been intimate." Mercedes admitted to the redhead. "After we broke up, we stayed tight. When we needed each other, we were there."

"So you dated?" Karen paused. She didn't know that. "How long have you known each other?"

"Since high school." Mercedes folded Puck's jeans. "When we were freshman, we didn't really interact but we joined the glee club as sophomores. We dated but only for a minute. He was going through something after that so we got closer and that's when we started having sex. He got other girlfriends and I had boyfriends but we always had our special connection. I'll always have his back."

"Wow." Karen was amazed. Their bond was deep. She was glad she agreed to the unorthodox arrangement. "What's your story with Mike? You seem unnaturally close to him, too."

Mercedes shrugged. "I've known him most of my life. He and my friend, Quinn and I grew up together. Since we were three. Things were complicated in high school but we stayed really close, too."

"Was Puck your first?"

Most people wouldn't answer that question but Mercedes wasn't ashamed. "No. Mike was. Well, he and Quinn. We decided to get that kind of stuff out of the way and with friends so it wouldn't be a bad experience. So we started out doing small stuff like making out after sixth grade but by eighth grade had sex. It was a big relief. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything. It's why I'm okay with sex in the first place. My first time was with someone I loved and loved me back."

"So you had threesomes?" Karen laughed. "You're cooler than I thought, Jones!"

"Forget you!" Mercedes threw a pair of socks at the girl. "We did that until our sophomore year. Mike started feeling this girl who I was cool with so I helped him get with her. Quinn had a boyfriend but she cheated on him with his best friend and got pregnant."