fic: comic-con
Title: Comic-Con: Lima, Ohio Style
Chapter: 1/2
Author: lifeawakening
Pairing Rachel Berry/Santana Lopez [Pezberry]
Rating: PG
Words: 5,481
Summary: In all honesty, I have NO idea of where this came from. It honestly just... came to me. It's set in the same secretnerd!universe as my fic You Have No Faith. You know, like a spin-off of sorts. You don't necessarily need to read it to understand this story, just know that Santana's nickname for Rachel is Yoshi. This is what happens when Comic-Con comes to Lima. Part one? Preperation.
Warning: You're about to enter a universe of very nerdy things. Trust me, it'll be a thousand times worse for the next chapter.
“Yoshi,” Santana greeted as she slammed her locker shut. She took in Rachel’s wide eyes and sighed, “What’s wrong now?”
“Nothing is wrong, Santana. In fact, everything is perfect. Finn told me the best news in English today,” Rachel blurted, rocking on the heels of her feet in excitement.
Santana donned a glare as she plucked Rachel’s books from her arms and began walking towards glee with her. “Did he finally get a girlfriend? Because if he did, I’m going to assume that she’s ugly, but at least he’ll stop humping your leg whenever you’re around.”
Rachel shot Santana a disgusted look but chuckled, “Sadly, no. However, this news is equally as good, potentially better. Guess what is coming to Lima, Ohio for the first time ever!”
“Uhm, the Hair revival?” Santana questioned halfheartedly.
Rachel paused in the hallway as her eyes clouded over, “You know Hair closed it’s revival in June, Santana. That’s not funny.”
Santana sighed under her breath as they continued walking, “Sorry Rach, I just can’t think of anything that spectacular that would be coming to friggan Lima.”
Rachel took a deep breath and beamed. “I‘ve got two words for you Santana Lopez: Comic. Con.”
Although she would never admit to it later, Santana dropped the books that were in her hand when she heard Rachel’s news.
“No.”
They paused at the door to the choir room as Rachel turned her eyes up to Santana’s. “What do you mean, no? Santana, I thought out of everyone that you would be most excited for-”
“That’s exactly it, Berry!” Santana hissed through clenched teeth, eyeing the hallway, “You know I love that shit, and so do Puck, Q, and B. But I can’t have everyone knowing that I’m a goddamn closeted nerd! My reputation would be hosed.”
Rachel’s shoulders dropped. “You thought the same thing when we came out as a couple, but nothing bad happened then! In fact, we became quite the power couple, if I might add.”
“And you will,” Santana grumbled. Not that she didn’t love being Rachel’s girlfriend - hell, they’d been together for five months now - but there were things that Santana never wanted the entire school to know about. They are as follows: her sex life, her extensive book collection, her private life with Rachel, and her closeted nerd side.
“Santana, you have got to be kidding me. The one thing that you practically live for is coming to Lima, Ohio. Nothing comes to Lima. Plus, you’re dating someone who is also incredibly into those things.”
Santana smirked, “Are you nearing your point, Yoshi?”
Rachel sighed in exasperation, “That itself is exactly my point. You’re honestly going to tell me that you are not going to go to Comic-Con with me?”
Santana shrugged, honestly apologetic, “I’m sorry, Rach, but I’m not going. There’s just some things that I want to keep private, and there’s no way in hell anyone would have respect for me after seeing me go to Comic-Con in like a Goku costume or something.”
Rachel shrugged as she pulled her books back from Santana’s arms. “Fine, keep the “fear”, that you call respect, from our peers. Just know that you’ve lost a hefty amount of respect from me.” Rachel turned on her heel and pushed through the choir door, hell bent on getting her girlfriend to go to Comic-Con with her one way or another. Her fingers itched to pull the pens from her backpack and begin brainstorming.
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During glee that day, Santana (and everyone else) had been waiting for the bomb to drop. Rachel had lost two solos to Mercedes and hadn’t even batted an eyelash, far too preoccupied with writing something down in her notebook. However, after glee that day, the club made idle conversation with each other as usual. Santana threw disguised worried looks to Rachel throughout all of glee, but waited until after to nonchalantly figure out if she’d upset the girl too much earlier. She turned to talk to Rachel, who was helping Brittany and Quinn highlight their parts for their next musical number.
Ever since Santana and Rachel started dating, Rachel had started getting along with the jock members of the club (much to Santana’s displeasure). Rachel got up before Santana could reach her, however, and nudged in next to Santana and smiled up at Puck. “Guess what news I heard today?”
Puck cocked a questioning eyebrow at Santana over Rachel‘s head. She gave him a confused shrug in return. “What did you hear today, Berry?”
“Comic-Con is coming to Lima. I’m sure you’re well aware of what exactly Comic-Con is, Noah.”
Santana went rigid as she realized what Rachel was doing.
Puck’s eyebrows shot up as he put his hands on Rachel’s shoulders. “Are you serious? You can’t be serious.”
Rachel arched an eyebrow and shot back, “Oh, I’m serious. And one of my fathers has incredible pull on the Lima Convention Panel, which means…” she trailed off, throwing her gaze from Puck, to Quinn and Brittany, who had joined the conversation with wide eyes.
Quinn’s eyebrows shot up. “Can you get us tickets, Berry?”
Rachel threw a smug gaze back to Santana before returning it to the group in front of her, “Of course, Quinn. I can, and will, get tickets for everyone in glee club.”
Puck and Brittany high-fived as Quinn smiled brightly at Rachel. From across the room Finn chimed in. “Wait, Rachel are you serious?”
Artie and Tina’s voices sprang up from behind Rachel. “You’re getting us tickets to Comic-Con?”
“Comic-Con?” Matt and Mike echoed while high-fiving.
It took another five seconds for the entire club to blow up in excitement. Even Kurt, who was busily planning on how to make a Catwoman costume (when Santana heard this, she was wracked with violent shudders) and how to compile enough leather for said costume.
Puck threw his arms around Rachel and muttered “thank you” over and over again until Santana physically threw him off.
“Rachel,” she hissed into the shorter brunettes ear as she wrapped her hand around her bicep, “what in the hell are you pulling?”
Rachel’s innocent eyes scanned Santana’s face before she muttered, “I’m not sure what you mean, Santana. I was merely offering my friends the chance to go to Comic-Con with me since my girlfriend doesn’t want to risk her reputation by going.”
Quinn scoffed as she pushed past Santana on her way out, “Seriously, S? You’re putting your reputation before Comic-Con and Rachel? Way to be a crappy girlfriend.”
Santana’s glare was cut off as Puck appeared next to Rachel, “Wow, babe. You’ve sunk to a new low. That’s cool though,” he smirked as he threw an arm over Rachel’s shoulders, “I’ll take care of your girl while we’re there. Hey Rach, I was thinking about going as Wolverine. Could you help me out with my costume?”
Rachel beamed up at her fellow Jew, “Of course, Noah! However, have you thought about going as Goku from Dragon Ball Z instead? I feel the outfit itself has great potential with your built physique. I could even make it for you!”
Puck’s eyebrow shot up in thought. “Holy shit, Berry,” he mumbled, “that’s even better. I’ll call you so we can get together and plan. Thanks again for this, seriously.”
The rest of the club left with similar gratification and plans being made. Then it was just Santana and Rachel. Rachel slowly put her sheet music into her backpack, now very much doubting the brilliance of her previously well thought out plan. She zipped up her backpack, stood up, and turned to the door. She gulped when she saw Santana standing there, staring at her, with her arms folded across her chest.
Rachel steeled her shoulders and walked up to her girlfriend, keeping her head held high. “Thank you for waiting for me. I am now ready to go home.”
Santana kept completely calm, not moving a muscle. Rachel’s shoulders dropped minutely. “I’m not sure if you heard me, but I’m ready to go home. It’s been a long day and I have much to do.”
Santana stood as still as a statue, staring Rachel down. Rachel’s shoulders dropped down a little further. “Intimidation will get you nowhere, Santana. I regret nothing.” The feisty brunette folded her arms over her chest, mimicking Santana’s position, and returned the Cheerio’s glare.
Three minutes passed before Santana took a steadying breath. “Fine.”
That was all Rachel needed to hear. Her smile lit up her entire face as she wrapped her arms around her bullheaded girlfriend’s waist. “Thank you, Santana. I know how hard it is for you to back down in a fight,” she mumbled against the girl's neck, “so I promise you that I will make this up to you.”
Santana lightly pushed Rachel off and nodded towards the door with a frown etched onto her face. “Yeah, you will. And if Puck so much as touches you I swear-”
“That’s completely irrelevant now because you’ll be there!” Rachel squealed excitedly. She pulled Santana toward the parking lot, rambling on about costumes and tickets while Santana checked out. Rachel’s crazy was contagious, Santana thought, it just had to be, because she was almost beginning to look forward to this future display of public humiliation. Maybe she was even a little bit excited, it was her thing, after all; and it did seem to make Rachel’s smile even brighter. Not that she cared about that kind of shit, though.
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Various members of the glee club lounged around Rachel’s house two weeks before Comic-Con. Santana rolled her eyes for the tenth time as she sat cross legged on Rachel’s bed, desperately trying to explain to Brittany who exactly Sailor Moon was.
“Look, she’s a sailor scout, okay? Like, the leader. She’s a total moron though so I don’t know if you want to be her,” Santana mumbled, suddenly cocking an eyebrow as she pondered the irony of what she just said.
Brittany chewed on her thumb nail as she stared at the picture of the anime girl on the laptop screen in front of her, “She seems complicated. Can’t I just go as a Power Ranger?”
Rachel glided into the room at that moment, stealing Santana’s retort. “No, Brittany, you cannot be a Power Ranger. Artie and Tina have already chosen them.”
Behind Rachel followed Tina and Artie, clad in pink and red spandex jumpsuits, respectively. Rachel smiled primly at them before turning to Santana, “What do you think? Of course, they’re obviously works-in-progress but I feel like they have potential. We just need the emblems and a few other diminutive details.”
Santana cocked an eyebrow as Artie and Tina struck fighting poses, modeling for the room. “Shouldn’t Tina be the yellow one?” Santana questioned, turning her devilish gaze to Rachel.
Rachel closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers while Quinn spoke up. “Santana, stop being a bitch. We’re not telling you to go as Speedy Gonzales now, are we?”
Rachel and Puck made it to Santana’s side in record time as she spit out something about Quinn going as Juno. “Look,” Rachel cooed, sitting at Santana’s side on her bed while gripping her hand tightly, “I understand that you think this entire thing is… well…”
“Bullshit?” Puck offered as he leaned against a bedpost with his arms folded across his chest.
Rachel huffed, “For lack of a better word, yes. But this is really important to me, because I know that it’s really important to you. Our friends are dorks; that’s been established. But I’m begging you Santana,” Rachel whispered, ignoring the way Santana’s eyebrow cocked suggestively, “please, just lighten up. They’re not as nerd cool as you. Pity them. Help them. But please, just try to be nice. These are our friends, and I don’t want you to ruin this experience for them.”
Santana sighed and rolled her eyes, but nodded nonetheless. She met Puck’s eyes and shot him a death glare as Rachel kissed her cheek and jumped off of the bed. Santana smirked as she watched Rachel approach Quinn, rambling on about the potential of a Juno costume.
“What are you staring at?” Santana snapped at Puck, who was still in the same position.
The boy shrugged, “I think it’s nice that she’s going through all of this crap for you. Makes me jealous.”
Santana sneered, “Regretting being a douchebag to her?”
Puck smirked, “Only every day. Any idea of who you’re going as, yet?”
“I have some ideas,” Santana allowed, “but I don’t know for sure. Apparently Rachel has some ideas for my costume as well, but I’m smart enough to not ask about them. Apparently she thinks she gets to go as something other than Yoshi.”
Puck’s chuckle was cut off as a small hand wrapped around his bicep and pulled forcefully, “Noah! What are you doing making idle chit-chat? I need to get you fitted for your orange jumpsuit! Come on.”
Puck threw pleading eyes to Santana as Rachel hauled him from the room. She merely waved her fingers in return. Once the door slammed shut behind them, Mercedes piped up from next to Quinn. “Who in the hell taught her how to use a sewing machine, anyway?”
Kurt cowered.
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“Brittany, please sit still,” Rachel chastised the squirming girl for the twelfth time that half hour, “I’m so close to finishing your giant bow. Then we’ll be just about done.”
Santana leaned over Rachel’s shoulder to inspect Brittany’s outfit as the brunette sewed away. “I can’t believe you actually made this.”
Rachel scoffed as she held the leftover material between her teeth, “Your lack of faith is disturbing.”
Santana cocked an eyebrow at her girlfriend’s back before turning back to the rest of the room. She watched Mercedes add the final stitches to Kurt’s all-leather Catwoman costume. All. Leather. “Hummel, I can’t believe you’re actually going as Catwoman.”
Kurt smiled smugly back at her. “Please, I’m pulling this off better than Michelle Pfeiffer ever did. It gives me an excuse to wear an all leather suit; hello, childhood dream. Besides, at least I know what I’m going as.”
Santana raised her eyebrows in disgust, “Okay, I know who I’m going as. The question is, who in the hell are you supposed to be, Mercedes?” she questioned as she turned and gave the girl a once over.
The diva turned and gestured broadly to herself. “Are you kidding me right now? I’m Wonder Woman!” Everyone in the room shared doubtful looks as she continued. “I’m the successful, 21st century version of Wonder Woman. You know, I added some of my chocolate thunder to her costume. I’m damn wonderful.”
Santana took in the long pants on Mercedes and sighed, shaking her head. Lynda Carter would sob if she saw that, Santana thought as she turned to Puck. She eyed his costume and nodded appreciatively, “I see my girlfriend managed to actually make you look like Goku.”
Puck flexed his bicep and waggled his brow. “I know, right? She’s a God damn master at this shit. Who knew Berry was such a nerd?”
Rachel threw Puck a look over her shoulder as she patted Brittany’s bow. “There! You have become Sailor Moon, Brit. Minus the boots, of course, but I’m saving those for the day of.”
Brittany squealed as she jumped up and ran to the full length mirror in the closet. Santana made her way back to Rachel and rested her head on the girl’s shoulder. “You did great with her costume too. Aren’t you glad you didn’t have to do Kurt’s?” she asked quietly.
Rachel glanced over her shoulder deftly, bumping noses with Santana and smiling softly. “I’m immensely grateful that he wanted to sew his own costume, yes. Plus the fact that it’s completely leather; think of the cows that had to die for that. It’s unbearable to even think about.” She felt Santana nod against her shoulder and smiled to herself. She loved her girlfriend, even though every tender moment she saw from Santana was only in private.
“So…” Rachel drew out, slightly nuzzling her nose against Santana’s cheek, “Almost everyone has their costume ideas by now, which is relieving, seeing as how we only have a week now.”
Santana nodded again as she snuck her hand into the back pocket of Rachel’s Capri shorts. Rachel bit her lip as she watched Tina sew on the cuffs of Artie’s Power Ranger outfit. “Are you ready to tell me who you’re going as?”
Santana smiled coyly as she trailed her eyes around the room, judging each costume silently. “I’m not going to tell you, Rachel. You’ve done a great job with everyone so far, you know, but they’re still all losers. None of them can pull off the personalities. Except maybe Puck.”
Rachel sighed. “You’re changing the subject, but I agree. Oh!” Rachel abruptly pulled away from Santana, causing her girlfriend to growl low in her throat, as Quinn walked through the doorway to Rachel’s room.
“Quinn, you’re finally here!”
Quinn nodded as she set her bag down and pushed her hair out of her face. “Yeah, sorry I’m late, but coach made me stay after to train some freshmen.” Quinn caught Santana’s glare and rolled her eyes. “I see you didn’t give your girlfriend her rabies vaccination today.”
Rachel laughed as she forced herself to not turn around to face Santana. “She gets jealous easily, you know. Now, about what we talked about last night…”
Quinn rolled her eyes again, and Rachel wondered silently if they would ever stick like that some day since she did it so often. “Yes, I’ve made my decision, you can stop bugging me at home now.”
“You two talk outside of school?” Rachel heard Santana bark from behind her.
Ignoring the remark, Rachel urged Quinn on. “So, who are you going to go as, Quinn?”
“Ash.”
Santana barked out a laugh, “From Pokemon? Are you serious, Q?”
Quinn met Santana’s stare and replied, “Yes, I’m serious.”
Rachel practically danced with excitement. “Well, I - wow Quinn, that is a wonderful choice. He was a major childhood crush of mine, and I’m extremely interested to see how you’ll pull off the hair. Do I get the honor of creating the costume for you?”
Quinn nodded absently while she pulled some material from her backpack, “Yeah, actually, I was hoping you could. I’ve got some stuff here, I’m not sure if it’ll work…”
Their conversation died off as the two girls left the room. Santana stood in the middle of the room, fuming, while the rest of the glee club snickered.
“I think Quinn just stole your girl, Santana,” Mercedes stated.
“After she practically jizzed her pants on the spot,” Puck added as he desperately tried to keep his pointy wig in place. “Who knew she was so into Pokemon?”
Santana cracked her neck and mumbled, “I knew this damn thing would be a bad idea. Bougie ass, Quinn…” Santana started plotting ways to A) kill Quinn and B) get Rachel to stop thinking about Ash/Quinn and start thinking about Girlfriend/Santana. This whole Comic-Con thing was supposed to be Santana having a great time anyway, courtesy of her girlfriend.
It wasn’t until Rachel came back into the room, demanding that she was going to Comic-Con as Misty, did Santana put her plan into action. She grabbed Puck by the ear as he jumped on Rachel’s bed, making flying gestures. “I need your help, come on.”
---------------------------------------------------
“Rachel, stop walking,” Santana bit out as she caught up to the brunette in the hallway. Rachel turned, clutching her books to her chest, and smiled up at the taller girl.
“Hello, Santana. I haven’t seen you much today, where have you been?”
Santana scanned the hallway for teachers before grabbing the straps of Rachel’s backpack and pulling her towards the art room.
“Santana!” Rachel sputtered, desperately trying to fight against Santana’s grip, “Have you lost your mind? I’m going to be late for English!”
Santana rolled her eyes as she pushed Rachel towards the doorway, “I already talked to Quinn, she’s going to take notes for you. Come on, I have something for you.”
----------------------------------------------------
During lunch that day.
“Juno,” Santana snapped, sitting down with her water bottle next to Brittany and across from Quinn. Quinn arched an eyebrow as she let Santana continue. “You need to back the hell off of my girlfriend.”
Quinn actually laughed, hard. “I’m sorry, excuse me? You think that I’m flirting with Berry? When did this happen?"
Santana glared, “Are you always going to play stupid with me? She practically flailed over you the other day at her house.”
“Look, I can’t help it if your girlfriend thinks I’m hot shit, Santana,” Quinn snapped back, adding an eye roll for good measure. “But rest assured, she is all yours."
Santana smiled as she knocked Quinn’s water bottle out of her hand. “Good. Did I ever formally welcome you back to the Cheerios?”
Quinn watched her water bottle roll across the table. “No, but I’m going to assume this is my welcoming back. Did I ever tell you that you’ve gone soft for Berry?”
Santana smirked as Brittany clapped her hands together, “I did! I was the one who told San she loved Rachel.”
Santana sighed before turning back to Quinn. “We’re done here then. Oh, by the way, you’re going to take excellent notes in English for Rachel today, since she won’t be there. I‘ll owe you, okay?”
“Santana!” Quinn called as Santana turned away from the table. She paused as Quinn continued. “I’m really glad that you’re happy with her.”
Santana glared at Quinn over her shoulder, “And I’m glad that you’re back. Color code your notes, that’s how Rachel does hers.”
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“Do you think she’ll color code the notes?” Rachel asked hopefully.
Santana shrugged nonchalantly, “If you’re lucky. I doubt it though. Anyway, I have something more important than color coded notes.”
Rachel stared at her English room doorway longingly over her shoulder before she grudgingly followed Santana into the art room. “Did you paint me a picture?” she asked through a hopeful smile.
“No,” Santana replied, disappearing behind a table behind Rachel. The brunette tapped her foot impatiently, starting to think her girlfriend had gone crazy, when she felt a heavy weight land on her head.
She hesitantly reached up and felt velvet under her fingertips. “Santana… what is on my head?”
Santana’s cheerleader skirt swished behind her as she bent over and picked up the full length mirror that she’d stolen from the drama club. “Your costume.” She held up the mirror in front of Rachel and smiled at the gasp.
“How in the world did you come about having possession of a giant Yoshi head?” Rachel asked as her fingers lightly skimmed the nose of the headgear.
Santana smiled smugly as she leaned down and fastened the strap under Rachel’s chin. “I have pull in the AV club, and they know where to get the good stuff,” Santana stated with a shrug, resting her hand on top of the Yoshi head that was perched on Rachel’s head.
Rachel sighed as she smiled at Santana through the mirror, “I’m assuming that you have the rest of the costume.”
Santana waggled her eyebrows. “Of course I do, that’s why you ditched class.”
“Why you kidnapped me, you mean.”
“Yeah, same thing. I need to make sure the costume fits since we only have a few days now,” Santana stated while disappearing, then reappearing with a large green costume that she handed to Rachel.
Rachel stared with raised eyebrows. “I’m sorry, you actually expect me to wear this? I was planning on going as Mis-”
“No, you weren’t. I’m not letting you go as like, Quinn’s bitch,” Santana snapped, rolling her eyes.
Rachel planted her hands on her hips, “Excuse me, Santana?”
Santana stared hard at Rachel while biting her lip fiercely.
“Don’t you think that you can get away with using that type of language around me. You know, I’m your girlfriend, not your-”
Santana’s body erupted into laughter as she bent over, placing her hands on her knees. Rachel’s mouth snapped shut as she glared at Santana. “I’m sorry Rachel, it’s just… you’re trying to be intimidating when you’re like, 4 feet tall with a giant Yoshi head on top of your head,” Santana reasoned, trying not to laugh harder at Rachel’s indignant look.
“Hilarious, really, Santana. Are you done yet?” She asked, tapping her foot angrily, avoiding her own reflection because she knew it’d make her smile as well.
“Yeah, yeah I’m done,” Santana said while patting her stomach, “Oh that was good. Okay, try this on. Please?” she added, stopping Rachel as the girl’s mouth opened in protest. “For me? Just try the costume on.”
“I don’t see why you’re jealous of Quinn, you know… but I’ll try it on nonetheless, love,” Rachel responded, placing a chaste kiss on Santana’s lips. She ducked her head and smiled as she rolled her eyes, handing Rachel the costume.
“I told you not to call me crap like that, Rachel.”
“You know,” Rachel began, shimmying her way into the Yoshi costume, “I always wondered why you gave me the nickname Yoshi.”
Santana watched Rachel struggle with the costume with a smile. “Easy. You’re short, and you had always made me kind of sick, so I associated the color green with you. Once I actually started liking you, the similarities between you and Yoshi started piling up. Short, green, big nose… you know.”
Rachel stopped pulling up the costume as her hand flew to her nose. “I’ll have you know that my nose is not that big. Besides, I’m proud of it. It’s my physical tribute to Barbra.”
Santana rolled her eyes and tugged on the tail of the costume, “You actually do the costume justice, Rachel. It looks cute as hell. How about letting me give you a physical tribute to me?”
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“All right people, line up!” Rachel yelled over the chatter of the glee club, clapping her hands. “I need to make sure everyone’s outfits are adequate.”
The club rolled their eyes good naturedly as they lined up in Rachel’s room, complete with costumes. Rachel, in her Yoshi costume, stood in front of Puck. She smiled at her handiwork. “You really are Goku, Puck. I think your costume might be my favorite so far,” she said, smiling at the boy’s outfit and moving on to Finn. “I’m proud of you for coming up with your own Indiana Jones costume, Finn,” Rachel admitted, smiling fondly at the hat on his head.
Finn grinned goofily back at her, “Thanks, Rach. I’m really glad you like it. He was always my favorite dude when I was growing up.” Rachel smiled at Finn and shook her head.
“How cute, move on,” Puck snapped in place of Santana, who wasn’t present at the moment. Rachel smiled and moved to Matt and Mike, who were both wearing matching stormtrooper outfits.
Rachel ran her hand over the hard plastic of Mike’s helmet. “How you two came about these outfits, I will never know. They’re perfect though, good job guys.”
Mike smiled under his mask. “Thanks, Rachel. We’ve wanted an excuse to wear these things ever since we got them a year ago.”
Mercedes snorted from next to Matt. “Why do we have to pass inspection, Rachel? This isn’t a big deal, it’s Comic-Con.”
Everyone but Kurt turned their glares onto Mercedes as Rachel moved to stand in front of her. “I understand that this isn’t your thing, Mercedes, but this is a big deal to the rest of the club, and especially to me and Santana. Besides, I made half of these costumes, I need to make sure they’re perfect. Nothing I do is adequate.” Rachel eyed Mercedes’ outfit and smiled, “But I do love yours. I don’t personally like Wonder Woman’s new look, but I think you pulled it off perfectly.” Mercedes actually returned Rachel’s smile as she moved to Kurt.
Kurt held his chin high as Rachel tilted her head back. “Although your outfit appalls me because it’s made entirely of leather,” Rachel started, pushing on through Kurt’s heavy sigh, “I have to admit, you pull off Catwoman perfectly, Kurt.” The boy shrugged as Rachel moved on.
She smiled down at Artie’s red Power Ranger costume, and then at Tina’s pink one. “Do you guys like them?” she questioned hopefully.
Artie dusted some imaginary dirt off of his shoulders. “Hell yeah, Rachel. They’re perfect.”
Tina nodded. “I agree. I feel like I could take over the world in this thing,” she added, smoothing out her dinosaur emblem, “Besides, Power Rangers were one of the first things that we had in common,” she finished, sending a small smile to Artie.
Rachel nodded softly and moved on to Quinn. Rachel grinned and Quinn smiled back as she did a twirl, “What do you think? I think the hat is my favorite part.”
Rachel smiled broadly. “I love it. I think I tailored your outfit perfectly. Not that it was particularly difficult,” Rachel allowed, “but still, it looks amazing, Quinn. Why Ash, though? I never got to ask.”
Quinn shrugged, tugging on her red cap, “Because he was the best and I always wanted to be him when I was younger.”
Quinn beamed at herself in the mirror that was across the room while Rachel moved on to Brittany. Rachel gave her a once over and then did a quick double take. “Brittany… your costume is still perfect.”
Brittany scrunched her eyebrows together, “Is that bad?”
“Well, no,” Rachel said slowly, “I just thought that something would go wrong. I’m sorry for doubting you though, Brittany, it must just be the pessimist in me.”
Brittany smiled brightly, waving a bare hand, “It’s not problem, Rachel!”
Rachel closed her eyes and moved on, pretending that she hadn’t seen that Brittany had lost the gloves that Rachel spent five hours making.
Rachel stopped in front of where Santana should have been. Placing her hands on her hips, Rachel pouted. “Has anyone seen Santana? I haven’t seen her all day and we need to get going.”
Puck smirked from the other end of the line, “She’s here, Berry. Her and her entrances,” he said through his smirk.
Rachel turned and looked toward her bedroom door where a black figure stood. The club gasped and Mike and Matt shared another round of high fives. In walked Darth Vader, breathing heavily, and heading straight for Rachel.
“Oh my God,” Kurt muttered. Quinn and Puck shared a smile as Rachel slowly retreated.
Darth Vader stopped inches from Yoshi, and Rachel waited on bated breath.
“Yoshi, I am your Mario.” The room endured a beat of silence before everyone erupted into laughter.
Rachel’s small smile slowly broke out into a full grin as she ran her hand over the chest plate on Santana’s costume. “How did you get this?” she breathed.
Santana reached up and pulled off the helmet, shaking her sweaty hair from her face. “I told you, I have pull with the AV club.”
Rachel ran her fingers over the face of the helmet and smiled knowingly up at Santana. “I knew this whole thing meant a lot to you.”
Santana rolled her eyes but tugged on the front of Rachel’s costume with one gloved hand. “Yeah, well. I figured since you went through such trouble to get me there, I would take advantage of it. Besides, no one will know it’s me with this thing on,” she finished with a shrug, gesturing to the helmet under her arm.
Rachel leaned up and kissed Santana quickly before patting her arm, “Whatever you say, Vader. You are the boss.”
Santana turned to face her fellow gleeks. She let her eyes roam over Matt and Mike, who were shooting each other with their fake guns, to Tina who was sitting on Artie’s lap as they wheeled his wheelchair in a circle, yelling something about Megazord. She watched Brittany and Mercedes argue over whose tiara was better and she watched Quinn chuck toy Poke balls at Puck, who deflected them while yelling “Kamehameha!”
Finally, her eyes landed on Kurt and Finn, who were battling each other with their whips. Her eyebrows raised in shock as Santana looked back to Rachel. “Dating you has ruined my life.”
Rachel’s mouth formed a straight line as she nodded slowly. “Possibly, but was the life you were living before me, worth living? Doubtful,” she finished as Santana opened her mouth to reply.
Santana grumbled as she grabbed onto Rachel’s Yoshi tail. “Come on, Yoshi. Let’s go make asses out of ourselves.” Her excited smile betrayed her bitter tone.
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TBC