Fic: Gotta Catch 'Em All [Glee; Rachel/Quinn, Santana/Brittany, Puck]
Title: Gotta Catch 'Em All
Fandom: Glee
Pairing: Rachel/Quinn, Santana/Brittany
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 4k
Summary: The next time it happens, it being one of Quinn, Santana and Puck's super secret nerd meetings, Rachel decides something has to be done.
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
Notes: This one took me forever because everyone was asking for more Rachel Berry which I wanted to do but you guys, Rachel voice is HARD. IDK, she is just hard for me to write for some reason. So, I apologize for any OOCness that is contained within (beyond, of course, the fact that I have made them all gigantic nerds...) SHUT UP.
Rachel and Quinn's Apartment, 5AM
The next time it happens, it being one of Quinn, Santana and Puck's super secret nerd meetings, Rachel decides something has to be done. Really, she'd like to think that her girlfriend actually wants to spend time with her on a day off, but...
Quinn sneaks out again, mumbling something about cylons and someone named Laura, that would concern Rachel if she wasn't watching her girlfriend try, rather unsuccessfully, to hide the duffel bag full of DVDs and action figures she's carrying around the room. She doesn't understand why Quinn feels the need to keep sneaking out; it's not like her geekiness is a big secret anymore. Cat's kind of out of the bag on that one.
But, lo and behold, it's another Saturday, the fifth of July to be precise and Quinn is sneaking out of their apartment at some ungodly hour. Rachel really wants to get out of bed and confront her girlfriend, but they were at Puck's last night until really early this morning for his Fourth of July party and the pounding in her head is keeping her in bed. She doesn't know how Quinn is doing it, she definitely drank more than Rachel last night, but her girlfriend has always had way more luck with hangovers than she has.
So she lets Quinn leave, and fakes sleeping when the blonde presses a lingering kiss to her forehead. She hears the door open and close, and lets a long sigh out as her head presses further into the pillow. Looking at her cellphone lying on their bedside table, she makes a mental note to call Brittany as soon as she wakes up.
Brittany and Santana's Aparment, 5AM
Brittany rolls over, waking up when she feels Santana leave the bed, and pouts at the empty space her girlfriend leaves next to her, curling herself around an abandoned pillow. "Why are you awake?"
"Don't worry about it, babe," Santana replies, leaning over, and kissing Brittany on the forehead. "Go back to sleep."
She considers following directions but curiosity gets the better of her. Plus, she sleeps better when Santana's there. "Where are you going?"
"Out."
"Out where?"
Santana's throwing some things in a duffel bag, but Brittany can't make out what they are in the darkness. "I have to go do something."
"What time is it?" She squints at the clock next to their bed.
"Five."
"Come back to bed," Brittany invites, pulling back the covers, and putting on the most appealing expression she can muster half-asleep and groggy.
"I gotta go, Britt," Santana answers, but not before hesitating a moment at the look on Brittany's face. "I'll be back later, okay?"
"When later?"
Santana rolls her eyes. "Later, later."
"Santana," Brittany whines. "It's Saturday," she continues. Aren't they supposed to be together and do like, coupley things? That has to be a rule somewhere.
"Hey," Santana whispers, coming to sit next to Brittany and leaning over her. "Guess what?" She can almost see Santana's eyes darken as their faces move closer together, and a small smile creeps across her girlfriend's face. It's Brittany's favorite smile. It's the smile that, when they were still in high school, used to mean let's go make out in the janitor's closet or my parents aren't home this weekend or I love you but no one can know. Brittany loves this smile. It's like her secret Santana smile.
She feels her face make a similar expression as she asks, "What?"
"I love you," Santana answers before pressing their lips together for a long moment.
Brittany lets her go after that.
--
The phone vibrating on the table wakes her up around 10. "Hello?"
"Brittany, it's Rachel."
"Hi, Rachel."
"Hi, is Santana there?"
"You called my cell phone."
"I know."
Brittany pauses and wonders when Rachel got so dumb. "Call her cell phone."
"No, I mean is she in the apartment?"
"Oh. No. She left this morning."
"I knew it!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Knew what?"
"They're having another one of their nerd parties today."
"Who?"
"Quinn, Santana and Puck. Who else?"
"Oh," Brittany replies, trying to figure out why Rachel would be calling her about this.
"Brittany!" Rachel half-yells.
The blonde girl attempts to determine what exactly she's supposed to be saying because from the sound of Rachel's voice, she's clearly missing something. "Yes?"
"We have to do something!"
"We do?"
"Yes!" Rachel exclaims like it's totally obvious and how is Brittany not half as indignant as she is.
"Right," Brittany answers, trying to shove conviction into her voice. "We have to do something," she repeats, nodding even though she knows Rachel can't see her.
"Come over."
"Okay." Brittany rolls out of bed as she hangs up.
Rachel and Quinn's Apartment, 11AM
"I've thought over our options and have decided that for the most substantial affect we should pick a television show or movie that has an adequate nerd following and spend a day themed around said show or movie in order to optimally retaliate. I would also suggest arranging it so any or all of them somehow stumble upon this gathering. That way they will see us engaging in this activity and deem us worthy of participating in their next gathering. If we choose this afternoon it is guaranteed that Quinn will walk in on us. If you text Santana to come and get you we can get her here too."
Rachel's pacing in front of Brittany, who's seated on the living room couch, and there's a large poster board behind the brunette, leaning up against the wall. No matter how much older they got, Brittany's convinced Rachel Berry will just never change. Santana always says it's annoying but Brittany thinks it's kind of amusing and comforting.
"Why don't we just go over there?"
Rachel crosses her arms. "Brittany, we've been over this."
"I still don't get why we don't go over there," repeats Brittany, shrugging.
"Because then we'll just interrupt another party and listen to them make excuses for twenty minutes about how they aren't gigantic nerds and then ultimately they'll just kick us out."
"Right."
"So we need to pick something."
"Duck Tales."
"What?"
"Duck Tales. You know..." Brittany trails off to start singing the theme song to the old show, her hands waving around in a tiny dance.
"Brittany," Rachel interrupted. "We need something super nerdy. Not a children's cartoon from two decades ago."
"It's very nostalgic," argues Brittany, with a slight pout at having her theme song interrupted.
Rachel wants to respond, really she does, but her brain kind of stalls for a second with realizing Brittany just used a word like nostalgic.
"While that may be the case," she continues after a moment and quick shake of her head. "We need something on par with the works of George Lucas and Joss Whedon. I was thinking something along the lines of J.R.R. Tolkien's works."
"Huh?"
"Lord of the Rings."
"Isn't that that movie about midgets?"
Rachel looks at her skeptically. "I'm not really sure what it's about, but really Brittany. 'Midget' is extremely politically incorrect. I believe the movie features hobbits," she explains, disapprovingly. "I found the DVDs in the box of nerdy paraphernalia Quinn keeps in the closet. The one she thinks I don't know is there."
"Well I don't want to watch a movie about hobbiwhatsits either."
"Okay, we'll pick something else."
"Duck Tales."
"Brittany."
Puck's Apartment, Noon
Santana digs her hand into a big bowl of popcorn and leans back against the couch. "Who would win in a figh-"
"No," interrupts Puck, his eyes never leaving the TV.
Quinn whips her head around to glare at him. This game with Santana is tradition. "Puck, what the hell?"
"Can we like watch this for five fucking minutes without you two going at each other's throats over that stupid game? That shit is getting old."
Quinn and Santana share a look and a small smile. "No," they answer, simultaneously.
Puck throws his hands up in the air and drops his head to the back of the couch. "Fine, Roslin would smack all of you bitches and declare herself supreme overlord. End of story."
"That's not how the game works, Puckerman."
"Yeah, Puck," Quinn joins. "You can't just declare someone the ultimate winner. You don't even know who's fighting yet."
"It's Laura fucking Roslin. Be realistic."
Santana considers that. "You can't play anymore."
Rachel and Quinn's Apartment, 1PM
"How about Star Trek? From what I gather it has one of the largest followings and there are a few recent movies we could easily access." Rachel clicks through different websites as Brittany looks over her shoulder. They've been at this for an hour.
"No."
"Brittany," Rachel intones, exasperated.
"I don't like space ships."
"This is the tenth option you've vetoed," she whines. This shouldn't be this hard.
"Sorry," Brittany responds with a shrug.
Rachel shakes her head but keeps clicking through google, determined. "How about..." she trails off as she squints at her screen. "Pokemon?"
"Pokeywhat?"
"Um, Pokemon? It looks like there are various games and shows and it has a substantial following in both the United States and Japan."
Brittany stares at the website Rachel has brought up, the images of the little creatures littering the screen. Her eyes go predictably bright and shiny.
"Is that a duck?" Brittany asks as she points to a picture on the screen.
Rachel looks closer and hovers her cursor over the small yellow object. "It says, Psyduck," she says, trying her best to pronounce the word.
"It's a duck," Brittany repeats, reverently.
"Sure," the smaller girl agrees, eager to latch onto anything that will stop Brittany from vetoing an option.
"Let's do this."
An audible breath comes rushing out of Rachel. "Oh thank God."
Puck's Apartment, 2PM
"Shouldn't you guys be like, getting home?" Puck asks as he's sliding the next disc in the DVD drive.
"Probably," Santana says but makes no move to leave, just flips her phone open and closed in an absent manner.
Quinn nods. "Yeah, let's just finish the next episode. I'm almost done with this," she says as she turns over an object in one hand, spins a paint brush in the other.
"Fabray, what is that?" Santana leans forward towards her friend.
"A mock up of the 1978 version of Galactica," the blonde answers, the words are you an idiot? dying to follow.
Skepticism is all over Santana's face as she surveys the little ship in Quinn's hands and she nods slowly, disdain showing in her expression and satisfaction seeping into her stomach at the completely offended look on her friend's face.
Puck hits Santana in the arm as he gets back to the couch. He really doesn't feel like cleaning blood out of the carpet tonight.
"It looks good," he says, sitting between the two girls and looking between them.
Quinn smirks.
Rachel and Quinn's Apartment, 230PM
"Okay," Rachel says, standing in front of the hall closet with Brittany. "Quinn hides most of her stuff in here where she thinks I don't look."
"But you do look."
Rachel perches her hands on her hips. "Yes, obviously."
"Why don't you tell her you found it?"
"Because that's no fun," she replies, turning to look at Brittany.
Brittany nods. "Oh, okay."
"Right, so. Since Quinn is basically the nerdiest person I know in the entire world there is a good chance there is something Pokemon related in this closet. If not, there's that electronics store down the street she likes to frequent."
Brittany tilts her head to the side. "What's that?" She points into the closet at a box full of little figures.
Rachel leans closer to read the sticker on the side of it. "Warhammer?" She picks up a few of the little painted figurines. "I don't think this is what we're looking for."
A box on the top shelf catches Rachel's attention and she steps closer into the closet to reach for it, but can't quite get her fingers to reach. Brittany lets out a low chuckle that reminds Rachel erringly of high school, but reaches over Rachel's head and grabs the box down from the shelf.
"Jackpot!" Rachel exclaims as she opens the lid to the box and sees what looks like at least fifteen DVDs stuffed inside all saying Pokemon.
"There's a lot," Brittany observes.
"How about this one?" She grabs a DVD out of the box that has Pokemon: The First Movie scrawled across the front.
The taller girl grabs another one with Pokemon: 2BA Master written across it. "What about this one?"
"It makes much more sense to watch from the beginning of the series, Britt. As is evidenced by this title," she shakes the DVD she's holding in her hand. "This is the first movie."
Brittany thinks about arguing, but she can't really find it in her to care all that much, so she shrugs her shoulders, and puts the DVD she picked pack in the box.
Rachel nods triumphantly, and turns to walk back out into the living room, pulling her cellphone out with Brittany trailing behind.
Puck's Apartment 3PM
Quinn's phone chirps loudly from the coffee table and all three of them jump in surprise.
"Jesus, Quinn. Turn that off," Puck mutters, turning his eyes back to the screen with intensity.
"Sorry," she mumbles, opening the phone distractedly to read the text. "Rachel's starting to move from concerned to angry that I'm gone."
Santana, predictably, starts laughing. For whatever reason, it's always super amusing to the dark haired girl whenever Rachel gets mad at Quinn for just about anything.
"Whipped," she lets out in drawl under her breath.
"Wow, really?" Quinn raises an eyebrow. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."
"Shut up," Santana retorts, her face pulled into a stony expression. "I am not," she denies.
Puck barks out a laugh.
"Watch it, Puckerman." Santana turns her glare towards him.
Quinn just watches the whole thing with amusement before shaking her head and chuckling softly. "I'll remember that the next time I catch you watching Finding Nemo with her for the six hundredth time."
"To be fair," Puck interjects, with a finger raised. "That's a good movie."
Santana nods rapidly in assent.
"Whatever," Quinn breathes out, picking up her action figures and newly painted ship model. "I need to go. Santana, are you coming?"
"No, I'm going to hang out for awhile."
"Suit yourself. See you guys later, yeah?"
"Bye!" They both yell, never moving from the couch.
Quinn smiles as she slams the door shut behind her.
Rachel and Quinn's Apartment, 330PM
After a few false starts, Rachel and Brittany finally figure out how to get the DVD to play correctly and in the right language and are now sitting on the couch, side by side, and completely riveted by the movie playing on the television.
This is how Quinn finds them when she walks back into her apartment. It doesn't strike her as very weird at first, Brittany and Rachel are friends and occasionally they spend their afternoons together, so she just walks further into the living room and leans down to greet Rachel. That's when she notices what exactly Brittany and Rachel are watching.
"What the hell?" Her face is right over Rachel's head, her body leaning over the back of the couch and her voice ringing loud over both girls. They both shriek in surprise at the sound and Rachel's head connects solidly with Quinn's chin, knocking the blonde backwards behind the couch.
"Oh my gosh, Quinn!" Rachel runs around to where her girlfriend is sprawled on the ground clutching at her mouth. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine, it's fine," Quinn mumbles, swatting at Rachel's hands and glancing at Brittany who's leaning over the back of the couch, staring at her. "Hey, Britt," she greets.
"Hi, Q," the taller girl answers, giving a small wave before turning back around and focusing on the television again.
Quinn finally pushes Rachel away from where she's trying to check the damage on her chin and stands up, grabbing her girlfriend's arm to help her up too. She asks the next question even though she knows the answer because she needs someone to confirm the craziness she's seeing. "What are you guys watching?"
That's when Rachel remembers the plan, the plan to prove to Quinn she's worthy of being included in nerdiness. Both of her hands come to rest on her hips and she raises an eyebrow at Quinn before answering. "Pokemon."
"You're watching...Pokemon?"
"Yes," Rachel replies, chin lifted in slight defiance.
Brittany shushes both of them.
"Why are you watching Pokemon?" Quinn hisses the question in Rachel's direction. "Where did you find the DVD?"
"In your closet."
Quinn feels her eyes go wide and her jaw drop open. Rachel knows about her closet? She gulps the next question out, "You found my closet?"
"We live in the same apartment, Quinn. In what reality, exactly, did you think that closet would go unnoticed?"
"Guys, I'm trying to watch the movie." Brittany turns her head around to stare at them, a furrow in her brow and a pout to her lips. Not one to ever ignore Brittany's requests (she was trained by Santana at an early age), Quinn grabs Rachel's elbow and tugs her into the kitchen.
"You went through my closet?"
Rachel bypasses the question. "Where were you today?"
"Stop avoiding the question."
"You stop avoiding the question. You're always sneaking out to hang out with Santana and Puck and I get left behind here. Well last I checked you were dating me not either of them so unless there's something you need to tell me I'd like to know why you keep ditching me to go do whatever it is you do with them."
Quinn opens her mouth to answer but then closes it before any words can come out. She repeats the process a few more times before a victorious grin finds its way on her girlfriend's face.
She finally settles for, "You wouldn't want to come."
"How do you know?"
"You don't like the nerdy stuff," Quinn argues.
"I'm watching Pokemon!"
"You're just doing it to make a point. I know you, Rachel."
"I am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too." They may be adults now but it was pretty usual for arguments between them to sound more appropriate on an elementary school playground than their well-furnished apartment.
Rachel makes an unimpressed noise from the back of her throat. "If you'll please excuse me from this infantile argument, I'm going to rejoin our friend and watch the rest of the movie." She gets about two feet away before she turns around and shuffles back towards Quinn.
"Oh, and welcome home," she whispers before kissing Quinn swiftly on the lips and then finally exiting the kitchen.
Quinn scrubs her eyes with her hands before taking her phone out of her pocket and flipping it open, her fingers dialing a number without thinking.
"Didn't I just see you?"
"Hi to you too, Santana."
"This better be good Fabray, this is my favorite episode you're interrupting."
"Brittany is here." Number one thing that will get Santana's attention? Brittany.
"Yeah?" The question reeks of forced nonchalance that Quinn can smell a mile away. Hell, she taught nonchalance to Santana when they were in middle school.
"She's hanging out with Rachel."
"Ugh, try not to let your girlfriend rub off on her too much. I don't have time to reprogram her tonight."
"Santana," Quinn growls, defense of Rachel a reflex.
"Is there a reason you called me besides giving me the whereabouts of Brittany?"
"Guess what they're doing."
"Guess whether I care or not."
Quinn ignores the snotty reply. "Watching Pokemon."
There's a long pause and Quinn can almost picture the way Santana's face looks, the way Puck has probably picked up on the conversation by now. "What the hell?"
"Yeah, that's what I said," Quinn answers with a roll of her eyes.
"They're watching the TV show?"
"No, the movie."
"Which movie?"
Quinn pokes her head out of the kitchen to take a look at the television screen. "Looks like the first movie."
"Like the first first movie or The First Movie?"
"The second one."
"What the hell?" Santana repeats.
"Anyway, that's all."
"Tell Brittany to go home," Santana demands.
"What? I can't tell her to go home."
"Yes you can. It's your apartment isn't it? Unless you're in my apartment right now in which case get the hell out and take your shrimpy sidekick with you."
"We're not at your place and I can't just kick Brittany out of mine. Why would I want to anyway?"
"If she's going to start getting into Pokemon it sure as hell isn't going to be in your uneducated household with your hobbit of a girlfriend."
"Screw you, Lopez. Rachel is not a hobbit. What do you mean uneducated household? "
"You don't even own the original Japanese Red and Green games."
"Those are imports! They're expensive," Quinn exclaims indignantly. "And I own the Yellow remake. It's practically the same damn thing."
"Whatever, just send her home."
"No way, you come and get her."
Santana hangs up instead of saying anything else and Quinn is left listening to the dial tone in her kitchen and wondering if she wants to join Rachel on the couch or escape to the solace of her bedroom. She kind of feels bad about what Rachel said, about the ditching her for Santana and Puck, but she knows Rachel well enough that a day watching science fiction shows isn't very appealing to the dark haired girl.
It takes her about five minutes to weigh the pros and cons before deciding that they best way to avoid having another argument later that evening would be to go and sit down next to Rachel and act like she totally supports this new found love of Pokemon.
As she's heading back into the living room she notices Brittany leaving. "Hey Britt, you heading out?"
"Yeah, Santana called," she replies as if that was reason enough for her to leave. Quinn has a brief flashback to high school when Brittany and Santana were constantly ditching her for the other. There's something comforting about the way some things never change.
"Oh, okay. Well I'll see you later," Quinn says back, walking over to hug the other girl goodbye.
"Bye Quinn!"
The door slams behind her and Quinn walks towards the couch where Rachel is still sitting, the movie still playing on the television screen.
She plops onto the space Brittany had just vacated. "You know there's a game series to this," she offers, hoping Rachel will accept the olive branch.
"I know."
"We could play it."
Rachel turns to look at her, her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she doesn't say anything, just stares at Quinn.
"What?" Quinn puts her hands up defensively. "You were mad earlier that I didn't share this stuff with you. I'm offering to now." She takes a breath. "I want you to know that I want to be with you, like all the time. We'll spend more time together, I swear."
Rachel considers it, tilting her head to the side and staring at Quinn for a long moment before she finally decides that, yeah, this was the whole point of the plan anyway. "Okay."
"Great," Quinn replies with a smile before getting up from the couch and heading to her now not-so-secret closet.
--
An hour later Quinn has all her Pokemon stuff sprawled across their living room floor and is attempting to explain the basics of the original games to Rachel.
"Well how many are there?" Rachel asks, turning a stuffed plushie she learned was named Pikachu in her hand.
Quinn lays out an old poster with little pictures of all the pokemon spread across it. "151 in total. The other games expanded the Pokedex."
"Pokedex?"
"Yeah, like an index of all the Pokemon in the world," Quinn answers, trying to find her old Gameboy Color in one of the boxes.
"151?"
Quinn nods. "Yeah."
"Jesus, Quinn. How in the world am I supposed to catch that many?"
"Well you can finish the game without catching them all."
"Isn't the point of the game to catch them?"
"Not necessarily."
"The catch phrase is," Rachel gestures to the top of the poster where the words are inscribed. "Gotta catch 'em all. That indicates to me that yes, that is the express purpose of the game."
"No, you can beat all the gym trainers without catching every single Pokemon in the game. Some of them are pretty useless."
Rachel looks between the poster and her girlfriend. "If you say so."
"I do."
"Okay, well." She picks up the Gameboy Quinn has finally pulled out of one of the boxes and turns it over in her hand. "Teach me."
Quinn spends the rest of the afternoon and evening doing just that. When Rachel watches her Charmander evolve into Charmeleon at level 16 she gets more excited then Quinn's seen her in a long time. And when Rachel turns to her, the excitement thrumming through her body and practically jumps Quinn, pushing them back onto the living room floor, Quinn thinks this whole, nerdy hanging out thing isn't so bad. It's not like she can have great my Pokemon just evolved sex with Santana or Puck.
--
The clock on the bedside table reads 3:15 AM when Quinn's woken up by sudden movement from Rachel's side of the bed. They've been asleep for just under 2 hours since Rachel discovered the joys of Pokemon Snap on her old N64 and made Quinn stay up until 1:30 and critique her picture-taking skills. She turns over and squints at the dim light illuminating her girlfriend's face, trying to make out exactly why Rachel's still awake.
"Rach?"
Rachel glances over quickly and kisses Quinn on the forehead. "Hey, baby, go back to sleep."
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Rachel denies, but Quinn can see the intent expression on her face and the small object emanating light in her hands. That's when she sits up enough to see what Rachel is doing.
"Is that my Gameboy?"
"Yes."
Quinn goes from groggy to wide awake in an instant. "Are you playing Pokemon?!"
"Yes."
"Rachel," Quinn groans. "You don't have to do this anymore, I told you we'd spend more time together."
"Uh huh, yeah, sure baby. I know."
"I wasn't lying."
Rachel glances over again, distraction evident in the way her fingers play over the small game machine. "I know," she says.
"Then why are you awake in the middle of the night playing that game?"
"Quinn," Rachel states, seriousness coating her tone. "I don't care what you say. I have to catch them all."
She turns back to the game and Quinn is left staring at her with wide eyes before flopping back onto the bed and letting out a low groan. She's created a monster.
Fandom: Glee
Pairing: Rachel/Quinn, Santana/Brittany
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 4k
Summary: The next time it happens, it being one of Quinn, Santana and Puck's super secret nerd meetings, Rachel decides something has to be done.
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
Notes: This one took me forever because everyone was asking for more Rachel Berry which I wanted to do but you guys, Rachel voice is HARD. IDK, she is just hard for me to write for some reason. So, I apologize for any OOCness that is contained within (beyond, of course, the fact that I have made them all gigantic nerds...) SHUT UP.
Rachel and Quinn's Apartment, 5AM
The next time it happens, it being one of Quinn, Santana and Puck's super secret nerd meetings, Rachel decides something has to be done. Really, she'd like to think that her girlfriend actually wants to spend time with her on a day off, but...
Quinn sneaks out again, mumbling something about cylons and someone named Laura, that would concern Rachel if she wasn't watching her girlfriend try, rather unsuccessfully, to hide the duffel bag full of DVDs and action figures she's carrying around the room. She doesn't understand why Quinn feels the need to keep sneaking out; it's not like her geekiness is a big secret anymore. Cat's kind of out of the bag on that one.
But, lo and behold, it's another Saturday, the fifth of July to be precise and Quinn is sneaking out of their apartment at some ungodly hour. Rachel really wants to get out of bed and confront her girlfriend, but they were at Puck's last night until really early this morning for his Fourth of July party and the pounding in her head is keeping her in bed. She doesn't know how Quinn is doing it, she definitely drank more than Rachel last night, but her girlfriend has always had way more luck with hangovers than she has.
So she lets Quinn leave, and fakes sleeping when the blonde presses a lingering kiss to her forehead. She hears the door open and close, and lets a long sigh out as her head presses further into the pillow. Looking at her cellphone lying on their bedside table, she makes a mental note to call Brittany as soon as she wakes up.
Brittany and Santana's Aparment, 5AM
Brittany rolls over, waking up when she feels Santana leave the bed, and pouts at the empty space her girlfriend leaves next to her, curling herself around an abandoned pillow. "Why are you awake?"
"Don't worry about it, babe," Santana replies, leaning over, and kissing Brittany on the forehead. "Go back to sleep."
She considers following directions but curiosity gets the better of her. Plus, she sleeps better when Santana's there. "Where are you going?"
"Out."
"Out where?"
Santana's throwing some things in a duffel bag, but Brittany can't make out what they are in the darkness. "I have to go do something."
"What time is it?" She squints at the clock next to their bed.
"Five."
"Come back to bed," Brittany invites, pulling back the covers, and putting on the most appealing expression she can muster half-asleep and groggy.
"I gotta go, Britt," Santana answers, but not before hesitating a moment at the look on Brittany's face. "I'll be back later, okay?"
"When later?"
Santana rolls her eyes. "Later, later."
"Santana," Brittany whines. "It's Saturday," she continues. Aren't they supposed to be together and do like, coupley things? That has to be a rule somewhere.
"Hey," Santana whispers, coming to sit next to Brittany and leaning over her. "Guess what?" She can almost see Santana's eyes darken as their faces move closer together, and a small smile creeps across her girlfriend's face. It's Brittany's favorite smile. It's the smile that, when they were still in high school, used to mean let's go make out in the janitor's closet or my parents aren't home this weekend or I love you but no one can know. Brittany loves this smile. It's like her secret Santana smile.
She feels her face make a similar expression as she asks, "What?"
"I love you," Santana answers before pressing their lips together for a long moment.
Brittany lets her go after that.
--
The phone vibrating on the table wakes her up around 10. "Hello?"
"Brittany, it's Rachel."
"Hi, Rachel."
"Hi, is Santana there?"
"You called my cell phone."
"I know."
Brittany pauses and wonders when Rachel got so dumb. "Call her cell phone."
"No, I mean is she in the apartment?"
"Oh. No. She left this morning."
"I knew it!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Knew what?"
"They're having another one of their nerd parties today."
"Who?"
"Quinn, Santana and Puck. Who else?"
"Oh," Brittany replies, trying to figure out why Rachel would be calling her about this.
"Brittany!" Rachel half-yells.
The blonde girl attempts to determine what exactly she's supposed to be saying because from the sound of Rachel's voice, she's clearly missing something. "Yes?"
"We have to do something!"
"We do?"
"Yes!" Rachel exclaims like it's totally obvious and how is Brittany not half as indignant as she is.
"Right," Brittany answers, trying to shove conviction into her voice. "We have to do something," she repeats, nodding even though she knows Rachel can't see her.
"Come over."
"Okay." Brittany rolls out of bed as she hangs up.
Rachel and Quinn's Apartment, 11AM
"I've thought over our options and have decided that for the most substantial affect we should pick a television show or movie that has an adequate nerd following and spend a day themed around said show or movie in order to optimally retaliate. I would also suggest arranging it so any or all of them somehow stumble upon this gathering. That way they will see us engaging in this activity and deem us worthy of participating in their next gathering. If we choose this afternoon it is guaranteed that Quinn will walk in on us. If you text Santana to come and get you we can get her here too."
Rachel's pacing in front of Brittany, who's seated on the living room couch, and there's a large poster board behind the brunette, leaning up against the wall. No matter how much older they got, Brittany's convinced Rachel Berry will just never change. Santana always says it's annoying but Brittany thinks it's kind of amusing and comforting.
"Why don't we just go over there?"
Rachel crosses her arms. "Brittany, we've been over this."
"I still don't get why we don't go over there," repeats Brittany, shrugging.
"Because then we'll just interrupt another party and listen to them make excuses for twenty minutes about how they aren't gigantic nerds and then ultimately they'll just kick us out."
"Right."
"So we need to pick something."
"Duck Tales."
"What?"
"Duck Tales. You know..." Brittany trails off to start singing the theme song to the old show, her hands waving around in a tiny dance.
"Brittany," Rachel interrupted. "We need something super nerdy. Not a children's cartoon from two decades ago."
"It's very nostalgic," argues Brittany, with a slight pout at having her theme song interrupted.
Rachel wants to respond, really she does, but her brain kind of stalls for a second with realizing Brittany just used a word like nostalgic.
"While that may be the case," she continues after a moment and quick shake of her head. "We need something on par with the works of George Lucas and Joss Whedon. I was thinking something along the lines of J.R.R. Tolkien's works."
"Huh?"
"Lord of the Rings."
"Isn't that that movie about midgets?"
Rachel looks at her skeptically. "I'm not really sure what it's about, but really Brittany. 'Midget' is extremely politically incorrect. I believe the movie features hobbits," she explains, disapprovingly. "I found the DVDs in the box of nerdy paraphernalia Quinn keeps in the closet. The one she thinks I don't know is there."
"Well I don't want to watch a movie about hobbiwhatsits either."
"Okay, we'll pick something else."
"Duck Tales."
"Brittany."
Puck's Apartment, Noon
Santana digs her hand into a big bowl of popcorn and leans back against the couch. "Who would win in a figh-"
"No," interrupts Puck, his eyes never leaving the TV.
Quinn whips her head around to glare at him. This game with Santana is tradition. "Puck, what the hell?"
"Can we like watch this for five fucking minutes without you two going at each other's throats over that stupid game? That shit is getting old."
Quinn and Santana share a look and a small smile. "No," they answer, simultaneously.
Puck throws his hands up in the air and drops his head to the back of the couch. "Fine, Roslin would smack all of you bitches and declare herself supreme overlord. End of story."
"That's not how the game works, Puckerman."
"Yeah, Puck," Quinn joins. "You can't just declare someone the ultimate winner. You don't even know who's fighting yet."
"It's Laura fucking Roslin. Be realistic."
Santana considers that. "You can't play anymore."
Rachel and Quinn's Apartment, 1PM
"How about Star Trek? From what I gather it has one of the largest followings and there are a few recent movies we could easily access." Rachel clicks through different websites as Brittany looks over her shoulder. They've been at this for an hour.
"No."
"Brittany," Rachel intones, exasperated.
"I don't like space ships."
"This is the tenth option you've vetoed," she whines. This shouldn't be this hard.
"Sorry," Brittany responds with a shrug.
Rachel shakes her head but keeps clicking through google, determined. "How about..." she trails off as she squints at her screen. "Pokemon?"
"Pokeywhat?"
"Um, Pokemon? It looks like there are various games and shows and it has a substantial following in both the United States and Japan."
Brittany stares at the website Rachel has brought up, the images of the little creatures littering the screen. Her eyes go predictably bright and shiny.
"Is that a duck?" Brittany asks as she points to a picture on the screen.
Rachel looks closer and hovers her cursor over the small yellow object. "It says, Psyduck," she says, trying her best to pronounce the word.
"It's a duck," Brittany repeats, reverently.
"Sure," the smaller girl agrees, eager to latch onto anything that will stop Brittany from vetoing an option.
"Let's do this."
An audible breath comes rushing out of Rachel. "Oh thank God."
Puck's Apartment, 2PM
"Shouldn't you guys be like, getting home?" Puck asks as he's sliding the next disc in the DVD drive.
"Probably," Santana says but makes no move to leave, just flips her phone open and closed in an absent manner.
Quinn nods. "Yeah, let's just finish the next episode. I'm almost done with this," she says as she turns over an object in one hand, spins a paint brush in the other.
"Fabray, what is that?" Santana leans forward towards her friend.
"A mock up of the 1978 version of Galactica," the blonde answers, the words are you an idiot? dying to follow.
Skepticism is all over Santana's face as she surveys the little ship in Quinn's hands and she nods slowly, disdain showing in her expression and satisfaction seeping into her stomach at the completely offended look on her friend's face.
Puck hits Santana in the arm as he gets back to the couch. He really doesn't feel like cleaning blood out of the carpet tonight.
"It looks good," he says, sitting between the two girls and looking between them.
Quinn smirks.
Rachel and Quinn's Apartment, 230PM
"Okay," Rachel says, standing in front of the hall closet with Brittany. "Quinn hides most of her stuff in here where she thinks I don't look."
"But you do look."
Rachel perches her hands on her hips. "Yes, obviously."
"Why don't you tell her you found it?"
"Because that's no fun," she replies, turning to look at Brittany.
Brittany nods. "Oh, okay."
"Right, so. Since Quinn is basically the nerdiest person I know in the entire world there is a good chance there is something Pokemon related in this closet. If not, there's that electronics store down the street she likes to frequent."
Brittany tilts her head to the side. "What's that?" She points into the closet at a box full of little figures.
Rachel leans closer to read the sticker on the side of it. "Warhammer?" She picks up a few of the little painted figurines. "I don't think this is what we're looking for."
A box on the top shelf catches Rachel's attention and she steps closer into the closet to reach for it, but can't quite get her fingers to reach. Brittany lets out a low chuckle that reminds Rachel erringly of high school, but reaches over Rachel's head and grabs the box down from the shelf.
"Jackpot!" Rachel exclaims as she opens the lid to the box and sees what looks like at least fifteen DVDs stuffed inside all saying Pokemon.
"There's a lot," Brittany observes.
"How about this one?" She grabs a DVD out of the box that has Pokemon: The First Movie scrawled across the front.
The taller girl grabs another one with Pokemon: 2BA Master written across it. "What about this one?"
"It makes much more sense to watch from the beginning of the series, Britt. As is evidenced by this title," she shakes the DVD she's holding in her hand. "This is the first movie."
Brittany thinks about arguing, but she can't really find it in her to care all that much, so she shrugs her shoulders, and puts the DVD she picked pack in the box.
Rachel nods triumphantly, and turns to walk back out into the living room, pulling her cellphone out with Brittany trailing behind.
Puck's Apartment 3PM
Quinn's phone chirps loudly from the coffee table and all three of them jump in surprise.
"Jesus, Quinn. Turn that off," Puck mutters, turning his eyes back to the screen with intensity.
"Sorry," she mumbles, opening the phone distractedly to read the text. "Rachel's starting to move from concerned to angry that I'm gone."
Santana, predictably, starts laughing. For whatever reason, it's always super amusing to the dark haired girl whenever Rachel gets mad at Quinn for just about anything.
"Whipped," she lets out in drawl under her breath.
"Wow, really?" Quinn raises an eyebrow. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."
"Shut up," Santana retorts, her face pulled into a stony expression. "I am not," she denies.
Puck barks out a laugh.
"Watch it, Puckerman." Santana turns her glare towards him.
Quinn just watches the whole thing with amusement before shaking her head and chuckling softly. "I'll remember that the next time I catch you watching Finding Nemo with her for the six hundredth time."
"To be fair," Puck interjects, with a finger raised. "That's a good movie."
Santana nods rapidly in assent.
"Whatever," Quinn breathes out, picking up her action figures and newly painted ship model. "I need to go. Santana, are you coming?"
"No, I'm going to hang out for awhile."
"Suit yourself. See you guys later, yeah?"
"Bye!" They both yell, never moving from the couch.
Quinn smiles as she slams the door shut behind her.
Rachel and Quinn's Apartment, 330PM
After a few false starts, Rachel and Brittany finally figure out how to get the DVD to play correctly and in the right language and are now sitting on the couch, side by side, and completely riveted by the movie playing on the television.
This is how Quinn finds them when she walks back into her apartment. It doesn't strike her as very weird at first, Brittany and Rachel are friends and occasionally they spend their afternoons together, so she just walks further into the living room and leans down to greet Rachel. That's when she notices what exactly Brittany and Rachel are watching.
"What the hell?" Her face is right over Rachel's head, her body leaning over the back of the couch and her voice ringing loud over both girls. They both shriek in surprise at the sound and Rachel's head connects solidly with Quinn's chin, knocking the blonde backwards behind the couch.
"Oh my gosh, Quinn!" Rachel runs around to where her girlfriend is sprawled on the ground clutching at her mouth. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine, it's fine," Quinn mumbles, swatting at Rachel's hands and glancing at Brittany who's leaning over the back of the couch, staring at her. "Hey, Britt," she greets.
"Hi, Q," the taller girl answers, giving a small wave before turning back around and focusing on the television again.
Quinn finally pushes Rachel away from where she's trying to check the damage on her chin and stands up, grabbing her girlfriend's arm to help her up too. She asks the next question even though she knows the answer because she needs someone to confirm the craziness she's seeing. "What are you guys watching?"
That's when Rachel remembers the plan, the plan to prove to Quinn she's worthy of being included in nerdiness. Both of her hands come to rest on her hips and she raises an eyebrow at Quinn before answering. "Pokemon."
"You're watching...Pokemon?"
"Yes," Rachel replies, chin lifted in slight defiance.
Brittany shushes both of them.
"Why are you watching Pokemon?" Quinn hisses the question in Rachel's direction. "Where did you find the DVD?"
"In your closet."
Quinn feels her eyes go wide and her jaw drop open. Rachel knows about her closet? She gulps the next question out, "You found my closet?"
"We live in the same apartment, Quinn. In what reality, exactly, did you think that closet would go unnoticed?"
"Guys, I'm trying to watch the movie." Brittany turns her head around to stare at them, a furrow in her brow and a pout to her lips. Not one to ever ignore Brittany's requests (she was trained by Santana at an early age), Quinn grabs Rachel's elbow and tugs her into the kitchen.
"You went through my closet?"
Rachel bypasses the question. "Where were you today?"
"Stop avoiding the question."
"You stop avoiding the question. You're always sneaking out to hang out with Santana and Puck and I get left behind here. Well last I checked you were dating me not either of them so unless there's something you need to tell me I'd like to know why you keep ditching me to go do whatever it is you do with them."
Quinn opens her mouth to answer but then closes it before any words can come out. She repeats the process a few more times before a victorious grin finds its way on her girlfriend's face.
She finally settles for, "You wouldn't want to come."
"How do you know?"
"You don't like the nerdy stuff," Quinn argues.
"I'm watching Pokemon!"
"You're just doing it to make a point. I know you, Rachel."
"I am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too." They may be adults now but it was pretty usual for arguments between them to sound more appropriate on an elementary school playground than their well-furnished apartment.
Rachel makes an unimpressed noise from the back of her throat. "If you'll please excuse me from this infantile argument, I'm going to rejoin our friend and watch the rest of the movie." She gets about two feet away before she turns around and shuffles back towards Quinn.
"Oh, and welcome home," she whispers before kissing Quinn swiftly on the lips and then finally exiting the kitchen.
Quinn scrubs her eyes with her hands before taking her phone out of her pocket and flipping it open, her fingers dialing a number without thinking.
"Didn't I just see you?"
"Hi to you too, Santana."
"This better be good Fabray, this is my favorite episode you're interrupting."
"Brittany is here." Number one thing that will get Santana's attention? Brittany.
"Yeah?" The question reeks of forced nonchalance that Quinn can smell a mile away. Hell, she taught nonchalance to Santana when they were in middle school.
"She's hanging out with Rachel."
"Ugh, try not to let your girlfriend rub off on her too much. I don't have time to reprogram her tonight."
"Santana," Quinn growls, defense of Rachel a reflex.
"Is there a reason you called me besides giving me the whereabouts of Brittany?"
"Guess what they're doing."
"Guess whether I care or not."
Quinn ignores the snotty reply. "Watching Pokemon."
There's a long pause and Quinn can almost picture the way Santana's face looks, the way Puck has probably picked up on the conversation by now. "What the hell?"
"Yeah, that's what I said," Quinn answers with a roll of her eyes.
"They're watching the TV show?"
"No, the movie."
"Which movie?"
Quinn pokes her head out of the kitchen to take a look at the television screen. "Looks like the first movie."
"Like the first first movie or The First Movie?"
"The second one."
"What the hell?" Santana repeats.
"Anyway, that's all."
"Tell Brittany to go home," Santana demands.
"What? I can't tell her to go home."
"Yes you can. It's your apartment isn't it? Unless you're in my apartment right now in which case get the hell out and take your shrimpy sidekick with you."
"We're not at your place and I can't just kick Brittany out of mine. Why would I want to anyway?"
"If she's going to start getting into Pokemon it sure as hell isn't going to be in your uneducated household with your hobbit of a girlfriend."
"Screw you, Lopez. Rachel is not a hobbit. What do you mean uneducated household? "
"You don't even own the original Japanese Red and Green games."
"Those are imports! They're expensive," Quinn exclaims indignantly. "And I own the Yellow remake. It's practically the same damn thing."
"Whatever, just send her home."
"No way, you come and get her."
Santana hangs up instead of saying anything else and Quinn is left listening to the dial tone in her kitchen and wondering if she wants to join Rachel on the couch or escape to the solace of her bedroom. She kind of feels bad about what Rachel said, about the ditching her for Santana and Puck, but she knows Rachel well enough that a day watching science fiction shows isn't very appealing to the dark haired girl.
It takes her about five minutes to weigh the pros and cons before deciding that they best way to avoid having another argument later that evening would be to go and sit down next to Rachel and act like she totally supports this new found love of Pokemon.
As she's heading back into the living room she notices Brittany leaving. "Hey Britt, you heading out?"
"Yeah, Santana called," she replies as if that was reason enough for her to leave. Quinn has a brief flashback to high school when Brittany and Santana were constantly ditching her for the other. There's something comforting about the way some things never change.
"Oh, okay. Well I'll see you later," Quinn says back, walking over to hug the other girl goodbye.
"Bye Quinn!"
The door slams behind her and Quinn walks towards the couch where Rachel is still sitting, the movie still playing on the television screen.
She plops onto the space Brittany had just vacated. "You know there's a game series to this," she offers, hoping Rachel will accept the olive branch.
"I know."
"We could play it."
Rachel turns to look at her, her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she doesn't say anything, just stares at Quinn.
"What?" Quinn puts her hands up defensively. "You were mad earlier that I didn't share this stuff with you. I'm offering to now." She takes a breath. "I want you to know that I want to be with you, like all the time. We'll spend more time together, I swear."
Rachel considers it, tilting her head to the side and staring at Quinn for a long moment before she finally decides that, yeah, this was the whole point of the plan anyway. "Okay."
"Great," Quinn replies with a smile before getting up from the couch and heading to her now not-so-secret closet.
--
An hour later Quinn has all her Pokemon stuff sprawled across their living room floor and is attempting to explain the basics of the original games to Rachel.
"Well how many are there?" Rachel asks, turning a stuffed plushie she learned was named Pikachu in her hand.
Quinn lays out an old poster with little pictures of all the pokemon spread across it. "151 in total. The other games expanded the Pokedex."
"Pokedex?"
"Yeah, like an index of all the Pokemon in the world," Quinn answers, trying to find her old Gameboy Color in one of the boxes.
"151?"
Quinn nods. "Yeah."
"Jesus, Quinn. How in the world am I supposed to catch that many?"
"Well you can finish the game without catching them all."
"Isn't the point of the game to catch them?"
"Not necessarily."
"The catch phrase is," Rachel gestures to the top of the poster where the words are inscribed. "Gotta catch 'em all. That indicates to me that yes, that is the express purpose of the game."
"No, you can beat all the gym trainers without catching every single Pokemon in the game. Some of them are pretty useless."
Rachel looks between the poster and her girlfriend. "If you say so."
"I do."
"Okay, well." She picks up the Gameboy Quinn has finally pulled out of one of the boxes and turns it over in her hand. "Teach me."
Quinn spends the rest of the afternoon and evening doing just that. When Rachel watches her Charmander evolve into Charmeleon at level 16 she gets more excited then Quinn's seen her in a long time. And when Rachel turns to her, the excitement thrumming through her body and practically jumps Quinn, pushing them back onto the living room floor, Quinn thinks this whole, nerdy hanging out thing isn't so bad. It's not like she can have great my Pokemon just evolved sex with Santana or Puck.
--
The clock on the bedside table reads 3:15 AM when Quinn's woken up by sudden movement from Rachel's side of the bed. They've been asleep for just under 2 hours since Rachel discovered the joys of Pokemon Snap on her old N64 and made Quinn stay up until 1:30 and critique her picture-taking skills. She turns over and squints at the dim light illuminating her girlfriend's face, trying to make out exactly why Rachel's still awake.
"Rach?"
Rachel glances over quickly and kisses Quinn on the forehead. "Hey, baby, go back to sleep."
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Rachel denies, but Quinn can see the intent expression on her face and the small object emanating light in her hands. That's when she sits up enough to see what Rachel is doing.
"Is that my Gameboy?"
"Yes."
Quinn goes from groggy to wide awake in an instant. "Are you playing Pokemon?!"
"Yes."
"Rachel," Quinn groans. "You don't have to do this anymore, I told you we'd spend more time together."
"Uh huh, yeah, sure baby. I know."
"I wasn't lying."
Rachel glances over again, distraction evident in the way her fingers play over the small game machine. "I know," she says.
"Then why are you awake in the middle of the night playing that game?"
"Quinn," Rachel states, seriousness coating her tone. "I don't care what you say. I have to catch them all."
She turns back to the game and Quinn is left staring at her with wide eyes before flopping back onto the bed and letting out a low groan. She's created a monster.