Fic: A Secret Relationship Unlike Any Other
A Secret Relationship Unlike Any OtherQuinn Fabray was dating Rachel Berry.
Okay, so she wasn’t actually dating Rachel, not like some crazy after-school special where the repressed Christian bully turned out to harbor secret feelings for the girl she spent her childhood torturing. Her life wasn’t that messed up. But she does, honest to God, feel like she knows what it would be like to date the girl.
She never saw it coming. Honestly, she still doesn’t know how it happened.
Sometimes she tries to figure out how this has happened and when did her life turn into an uncontrollable mess. She has narrowed it down to either the moment she stands in the high rise and watches her boyfriend sing “Don’t Stop Believing” with a bunch of misfits for the first time or that instant in eighth grade when she walked into a brand new school and laid eyes on a certain loud, obnoxious midget for the first time. The moment she started to “date” Rachel is a little harder to place.
She wants to say that it happened after Prom. That Finn realized, after their huge blowout fight later about his insufferable need to act without thinking, that he was a jack-ass. That he went to Rachel for help since he’s such a moron and probably thought it was his best option. That Rachel agreed to help him, out of some misguided sympathy after her little episode in the bathroom and the fact that she could currently entertain herself with Jesse. But she knows this isn’t true.
Because, the day after Prom, while Quinn was yelling at Finn, berating him for leaving her to try (and fail) to punch out a guy for making Rachel laugh, he had let slip that she was lucky he even went to Prom. That he was sick and tired of her micromanaging every step and expecting him to be excited about it. She had tried to tell him that she just wanted a little effort, because this was one thing that would make her happy and he was supposed to want to make her happy, and she knew he was capable of it.
Look at her corsage, she had yelled. Look what he was capable of when he tried. It was perfect.
“Rachel told me to get that for you. The make, the flower, the freaking color. That wasn’t me. I knew whatever I got you would just piss you off. She’s the only reason I even went to that stupid thing,” he had blurted out angrily, obviously having, once again, lost the brain to mouth connection. He instantly realized the problem with what he said, possibly because of the look that must have passed over her face. He had instantly apologized. Told her that he didn’t mean it. That he knew how lucky he was the minute he saw how pretty she looked. Compared to the words Rachel had told her the night before, and the knowledge that the only thing right he had done in the entire fiasco of a night wasn’t even his to claim, it meant very little.
But she knew exactly where she stood on the social chain, the Prom Quinn debacle had told her that much at least, and knew that his heart was probably in the right place. So she accepted his half rate apologies and sent him on his way. That honestly would have been the end of it, the end of the whole unpleasant experience, but it wasn’t. Not by a long shot.
The next day was Sunday, and she, of course, went to church early in the morning. Though she was usually back by nine, it was assured that she wouldn’t see Finn until at least the afternoon because he took every opportunity to sleep in. That day though, it was obvious that he had done some thinking after she sent him home the day before, because she had come home with her Mom by nine and he was out their waiting for her. His hair was still tussled from sleep and he looked half asleep, but he was there.
He had shot up as the car pulled in and stood up straight, though his movements were a little jerky. As she opened the door, he was already reaching to turn on the stereo laying at his feet. For a brief horrible moment, she experienced some kind of post traumatic stress disorder as she remember the last time Finn unexpectedly sang to her in front of her mother (and dad the first time) with a stereo. But it passed. Because this time there no secret to share. Just a boy using a soft sweet song to sing his apology out to the girl he loved. It immediately charmed her mother, who had always been a bit taken with Finn (especially when she found out he had never been the father). It may have charmed her a bit too. Especially since she thought he figured it was forgiven.
Finn never really apologized sincerely all that much. It happened occasionally, but he usually was either apologizing without meaning it to calm her down, or making himself out to be the victim. Either way, he usually felt he was in the right. Obviously, he had somehow realized exactly how much of an ass he had been, which yeah, was a little weird. But she hadn’t questioned it.
But this was the first sign of what was to come. It wasn’t until much later that day, right before bed, and she had spent much of the day with an adorably sweet Finn, that she figured out exactly where his charming plan and thoughtful apology had come from.
She had been reading Jacob’s blog, which was, embarrassing enough a nightly ritual with her. She didn’t care about the vast majority of what he had to say, but it was a rumor site and she had been featuring quite heavily since she started preparing for Prom Queen. Now that it was over, she wanted to hear what people were saying about her, even if it meant reading the skeezy site. She was skimming the newest article about Rachel, mostly out of boredom really, when she saw something that made her blood freeze and she shot up straight on her bed.
According to the little pervert, he had seen her boyfriend and his ex talking pretty closely in front of her house. She was only a little more relieved when she read further. Apparently, it happened Saturday evening, sometime after he left her, so at least she was still his first priority, even if he had immediately scurried after the other girl. But, like with her, he was apparently giving half-hearted apologies that made it seem like he was the good guy, coming to her rescue and, according to the blog, “the sweet maiden had turned a delicious scarlet as a beautiful rage empowered her” and she had started yelling at the boy. Finn had argued back, digging himself deeper, and somehow the talk shifted to her, apparently with Finn using her acceptance of his apology as a reason why Rachel should forgive him.
Rachel had “turned deadly silent, though still astoundingly beautiful in her rage, apparently struck dumb by the moronic brute” and proceeded to rip him to shreds with a careful logical argument. Somehow, her worst enemy was the one to tell Finn that she was obviously not fine and he needed to do something. And when he “rather apathetically and ineptly” came up with nothing, Rachel had dragged him into her house for the rest of the night.
While the narrative of the piece made her want to gag, it all made too much sense. After Church was probably the only time he would have been sure to be able to find her and surprise her, but there is no way that Finn would have not only thought of that, but cared enough to wake up that early. No doubt the girl had called his phone until he got dressed and probably forced him to get everything ready before he went to bed. She definitely picked the song. A part of her raged at the boy, even as a teeny-tiny, insignificant part of her was flattered that Rachel cared enough to help.
But she didn’t really know how to respond to the situation. She didn’t want to break up with him, despite what a moron he was being. At least he cared enough to try. He may have been confused about his feelings with Rachel, probably because, with Jesse St. James around, she wasn’t pining away for him. But they could deal with that. They could move past it. And, by this time next year, everything would be perfect.
And that would have been the end of it, except it didn’t end.
Honestly, at first she thought the weird situation was over and done with. Finn screwed up, Rachel helped him in a somewhat creepy manner, and she forgave them, him! But it sorta…kept happening. Slowly, but surely. And it kinda reminded her of the first time Finn started to pull away. When he was staying with her out of obligation instead of want and Rachel was making an effort to stay close to him, be his friend, without overstepping her bounds because of Be- because she was pregnant and everyone thought Finn was the father.
She remembered when the whole school found out about the pregnancy and the only reason it hadn’t happen sooner is because of Rachel Berry. The girl had given Jewfro her underwear to prevent him from spreading the news of her situation and her boyfriend knew about it. He was perfectly satisfied with letting her enemy try and take care Jewfro and protect her and didn’t do it himself. Where was he? For all of his problems, if Puck had known he would have threatened Jewfro into silence. But she couldn’t be grateful to Rachel, not when she knew the girl was doing it for Finn and not her.
And when Finn was, once again, unable to stand up and support her, unable to do something as simple as getting a job to help pay for her baby expenses (no matter how unfair it was to ant that from him), Rachel once again came to the rescue. Like the corsage, this was probably something she wasn’t supposed find out. She knows, though, that it is not a coincidence that Finn, who is completely incapable of getting a job, finds a job right after she confronts him in front of Rachel. And a job that was obviously got through a deviousness that Finn certainly isn’t capable of. That certainly wasn’t her intention when she told the other girl to stay.
And just like now, she knew that she had very little to do with Rachel’s help, that Rachel was just trying to be a good “friend” to Finn and helping her was just a side effect. Because the second she discovered the true paternity (and she still wasn’t sure how this happened) she had wasted no time proving where her loyalty lay.
So it is not a completely new situation that came out of nowhere. There has been…indications that this was a possibility. But who would seriously see it coming.
The next day was the first day of school after Prom and Finn had picked her up early and the two had breakfast at Denny’s before school, which they had never done before. He walked her to all of her classes, sat with her at lunch, and made sure the whole school saw that the two of them were doing great, despite Prom. He even gave her a flower as he dropped her off at her first class.
It was perfect. And so soon after the serenading. She sighed to herself, wondering if Rachel was being a busybody or if Finn had sought her out after her first suggestion did so well. But it was working out so well for her, especially as the rest of the week continued in a similar manner, that she couldn’t bring herself to complain.
Especially since he had actually managed to not sing any duets with Rachel since then, although that, once again, could have been a side effect of Jesse St. James who had somehow managed to be roped into Glee Club Consultant and was running the ragged. Well trying to. Quinn was remaining mostly apathetic, Finn was flaking out a little, and Rachel seemed to be enjoying herself way too much.
But none of that really mattered. Despite St. James interference, Finn managed another serenade during Glee Club, just as romantic as the first. Quinn knew Rachel helped with that one too, at least so far as distracting St. James away so that the song was possible.
On Friday, Finn brought in a “happy Friday” cupcake that was homemade and delicious, and, undoubtedly, made by Rachel. She knew this because, aside from the fact that the only one who could bake in Finn’s house was Kurt, she saw St. James chowing down on his own, very similar cupcake. And they weren’t even dating. She thinks.
They had a date Friday night, which Finn had asked her about on Monday, and it wasn’t to Breadstix, which was one of the more high-class places they would go. And it definitely wasn’t pizza and a movie, or bowling (which Quinn despised).
No, Finn picked her up Friday night, greeting her with a gorgeous bouquet and fancy chocolates, and the two took off in his car to a nearby park. They had a nice romantic walk through the park and shared a picnic in the park. It was incredible, if a little cutesy. He used an actual picnic basket and all the food was homemade, healthy items held in reusable, eco-friendly containers. They say on what appeared to be a hand-knitted blanket and drank virgin Cosmos.
Not a single part of the date seemed like something Finn was capable of, but she held her tongue and just allowed herself to enjoy herself.
The next night Finn invited her out to see a movie and chose a chick-flick to watch. And, instead of gross movie theatre popcorn, he smuggled in some healthy alternatives, once again in reusable containers. It was like he had Rachel under employment as the date planner.
No doubt, if Quinn let this continue, one day Rachel would be planning her wedding.
But she couldn’t help but let it continue, if only because, for the first time since Sam dumped her, she was in a relationship that the school approved of, was helping her socially, and was actually enjoying herself.
Even when, on Wednesday the next week, Rachel grilled her for “a glee club project” about her favorite flowers, colors, movies, foods, and just about everything a good boyfriend should know. Which meant she had probably asked Finn and discovered he remembered approximately five percent of the words Quinn speaks, which usually amounts to “over the bra, but under the shirt”, and stuff like that.
Which, yes, was a little annoying.
But Friday found Finn somehow smuggling in her favorite food during lunch and she had her favorite flowers somehow waiting for her in her locker at the end of the day.
She knows he doesn’t come up with the ideas on his own, probably doesn’t even help with them, and definitely has help pulling them off, but the rest of the school doesn’t. All they see is Finn treating her magnificently, like a Queen.
They don’t see Rachel behind the scenes, finding some way to channel all her crazy into something productive.
Maybe that’s even why she’s doing this. She’s (probably) not dating St. James, and, although she has seen some more than friendly interactions between the two, Rachel can’t focus all her energy on him because of this. Although she’s not sure why the girl isn’t dating him.
And she can’t focus the craziness on trying to win back Finn anymore (she heard Rachel turned the auditorium into a winter wonderland and Finn still blew her off). She doesn’t know the exact reason why, but after Prom, Rachel had completely dropped the idea of wooing Finn away from her.
But she still wanted to hang out with him and be his friend. And it is probably all of this - an outlet for her crazy, distracting her from St. James, trying to stay close and be a good friend to Finn, and probably a little bit of pity or something for Quinn - combined that have caused this crazy situation.
And she has tested it. Seen how much training and thought Rachel was putting into this.
She had, offhandedly, informed Finn that she was canceling their sushi date (and, yeah, they ate sushi now) so she could go shopping, even though she didn’t have anyone to go with her, and he had responded like normal. He was a little bit belligerent, but mostly apathetic, telling her they’d reschedule.
The next day, right around the time she was going to leave, Finn pulled up and asked if he could “have the honor of escorting her to the mall.” It made her wonder if Finn had a recording device hidden away that Rachel studied after every date. Or if Finn went over to her house and complained about her.
She thought both possibilities were equally likely.
Finn was the perfect gentleman at the mall, carrying her bags without being asked, buying her a smoothie of her favorite flavor without needing to ask what that was, and willing to hang around with her and look at clothes instead of breaking away to hang at EB Games or the arcade.
She may have tested him further, though, by trying on clothes for a while longer than normal in one store, making him wait mostly patiently outside the changing room. At one point she tried on a completely unflattering dress and asked him if she looked fat in it, testing his response.
“I’m not the person to ask, I think you look lovely in a garbage bag. In that, you look beautiful,” was the charming reply she received.
Quinn wondered if Rachel not only had him wired but was speaking to him through an earpiece.
In the end, she decided that, despite the overall creepiness factor, and the fact that Rachel might quit at any moment, she decided to just go along with it.
She enjoyed dating a guy who knew when she wanted a spectacularly romantic date and when she just wanted to hang out and watch a movie.
She enjoyed getting little gifts and note, poetry and flowers throughout the week.
She enjoyed having somebody serenade her with romantic songs that didn’t lead to her getting kicked out of the house.
She liked that he was willing to wake up earlier to pick her up and bring her a pastry or coffee just because. She liked that he wasn’t putting his foot in his mouth nearly as often and, when he did, always figured it out on his own and made up for it. She liked the way he held her books as he walked her to her classes, like a charming character from a movie.
And the looks of envy from her classmates, the bewilderment that showed on Sam’s face, and the looks of disgust Santana shot her certainly were fun as well. She didn’t even mind the look of pride and joy that Rachel wore when she saw the two of them together. Or the disgruntled expression that St. James wore as he tried to figure out what was going on.
Though she did mind the cat calendar she saw in Finn’s locker that had her schedule, his schedule, and an arrangement of post-it notes covering it.
But for all the perks, she could stomach it. Especially considering that her birthday was next month and she couldn’t wait to see what Rachel was going to come up with.
So, yeah, she never thought she would basically be dating Rachel for the second half of the year. But she didn’t mind because honestly…
It was pretty awesome.