FIC: The Harder Thing to Do [Glee; Jesse/Rachel]
Title: The Harder Thing to Do
Fandom: Glee
Pairing: Jesse St. James/Rachel Berry
Theme: Weakness
Rating: PG
Words: 500
Warnings: None.
Notes: Set post 4.06.
She stands at his door, her fist poised, ready to knock at any moment. After tonight - after both Brody and Finn found new ways to make her life even more complicated than it already was - she needs to take solace and refuge in the one place where both her ambition and her heart are valued. She knocks.
“Rachel?” His voice comes muffled through the door, as he peeks out the window; he turns the lock and opens the door, letting her walk into his tiny foyer. “I didn’t know you were in town.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know I’d end up here tonight.”
“Where did you expect to end up? Hudson’s bed? You two have a lovers’ quarrel and you run to me to protect you from him?” His voice takes on an edge of mocking.
“More of an ex-lovers’ quarrel.” She scuffs her feet against the floor and bites the corner of her lip; she had promised herself that she wasn’t going to cry anymore than she already had tonight. “We broke up. A while ago.”
“That should be headline news worthy. Broadway star Rachel Berry is single and ready to mingle.” The implications of what she’d said fly right over his head.
“I don’t think the news comments on lowly NYADA students who can’t even get by Cassandra July, let alone get on Broadway and be considered a star. It’s dime a dozen out there, and I’m just one of twelve eggs in a city of millions of eggs. I cost less than a cent! With my luck, I’ll be bought to be thrown at some kid’s front porch, and not for anything in which I’m talented.”
“I’d pay hundreds of times that to hear you sing.” The flicker of a smile she sees dancing across his face is fleeting, yet, in a strange way, more genuine than the faint mocking she’d heard just a minute or so ago. “Pursue your dreams, Rachel. I’ll always be waiting for you. But don’t use me as some sort of post-Hudson booty call seeking pity. Because you’re so more than that.”
“You’re saying -”
“Go back to New York. Put in the work and long hours. Sweat for it. Prove to Cassandra July and any other doubters you have out there that you’re the rising talent of this newest generation. Like I know you are.”
“And if I fail?” She looks at him with a deep, inborn sadness in her eyes. “I - I don’t know what I’d do with myself. I don’t have my fiancé, and I wouldn’t have my career.”
“You’re not going to fail.” He grabs her and takes her in his arms and kisses the small patch of skin just aside from the corner of her mouth; she allows her jaw to fall slack as he does so. “And if by some chance you do, I’ll still be there.”
She lets out a soft whimper. “Thank you.”
“For what?” He lets her go, and yet they’re still standing so close that she could reach out with her hand and brush her fingers along his arm.
“For always believing in me.”
“The harder thing for me to do would be to not believe in you.” And she knows that to be true.
-fini-
Fandom: Glee
Pairing: Jesse St. James/Rachel Berry
Theme: Weakness
Rating: PG
Words: 500
Warnings: None.
Notes: Set post 4.06.
She stands at his door, her fist poised, ready to knock at any moment. After tonight - after both Brody and Finn found new ways to make her life even more complicated than it already was - she needs to take solace and refuge in the one place where both her ambition and her heart are valued. She knocks.
“Rachel?” His voice comes muffled through the door, as he peeks out the window; he turns the lock and opens the door, letting her walk into his tiny foyer. “I didn’t know you were in town.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know I’d end up here tonight.”
“Where did you expect to end up? Hudson’s bed? You two have a lovers’ quarrel and you run to me to protect you from him?” His voice takes on an edge of mocking.
“More of an ex-lovers’ quarrel.” She scuffs her feet against the floor and bites the corner of her lip; she had promised herself that she wasn’t going to cry anymore than she already had tonight. “We broke up. A while ago.”
“That should be headline news worthy. Broadway star Rachel Berry is single and ready to mingle.” The implications of what she’d said fly right over his head.
“I don’t think the news comments on lowly NYADA students who can’t even get by Cassandra July, let alone get on Broadway and be considered a star. It’s dime a dozen out there, and I’m just one of twelve eggs in a city of millions of eggs. I cost less than a cent! With my luck, I’ll be bought to be thrown at some kid’s front porch, and not for anything in which I’m talented.”
“I’d pay hundreds of times that to hear you sing.” The flicker of a smile she sees dancing across his face is fleeting, yet, in a strange way, more genuine than the faint mocking she’d heard just a minute or so ago. “Pursue your dreams, Rachel. I’ll always be waiting for you. But don’t use me as some sort of post-Hudson booty call seeking pity. Because you’re so more than that.”
“You’re saying -”
“Go back to New York. Put in the work and long hours. Sweat for it. Prove to Cassandra July and any other doubters you have out there that you’re the rising talent of this newest generation. Like I know you are.”
“And if I fail?” She looks at him with a deep, inborn sadness in her eyes. “I - I don’t know what I’d do with myself. I don’t have my fiancé, and I wouldn’t have my career.”
“You’re not going to fail.” He grabs her and takes her in his arms and kisses the small patch of skin just aside from the corner of her mouth; she allows her jaw to fall slack as he does so. “And if by some chance you do, I’ll still be there.”
She lets out a soft whimper. “Thank you.”
“For what?” He lets her go, and yet they’re still standing so close that she could reach out with her hand and brush her fingers along his arm.
“For always believing in me.”
“The harder thing for me to do would be to not believe in you.” And she knows that to be true.
-fini-