Hi, so instead of writing my other fics I've written this one (don't worry the others will be worked on very soon). It was going to be a one shot but I really wanted to get it out before 'Journey' and I have to go to work soon so it's going to be a little ficlet instead. :)
This fic was born because there aren't enough Matt/Rachel (or Mike/Rachel for that matter) fics out there and they looked so cute dancing in 'Funk'.
As you can probably guess, this takes place during Episode 1x21 'Funk'.
Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.
Matt turns in curiosity at the sound of multiple car engines starting up nearby. He frowns at the sight of a half dozen of those Vocal Adrenaline vehicles cruising out of McKinley's parking lot. What were those bastards doing back on school grounds?
Matt isn't really a fan of swearing (he leaves that sort of thing to Puck) but Vocal Adrenaline deserve a little bad language after what they did the other day. Okay, so all they physically did was sing a song and cover their choir room in toilet paper but psychologically they've done a lot more.
The whole of New Directions are pretty depressed and more than a little pysched out ahead of Regionals.
Not only do Vocal Adrenaline have St. James back, but Jesse will have told the Carmel High glee club everything he knows about them; their strengths, weaknesses, set list, costumes, back up set list, allergies. Everything. So basically, New Directions have to start from scratch.
And talking of Jesse St. James…that guy has completely messed up their female lead. Yes, they'd all been pretty sure that Jesse was a spy, but it was still totally harsh of him to announce it in front of everyone and completely break Rachel's heart. Sure, Rachel could be a little annoying and crazy at times with her determination to be the best but she was also caring, passionate, gorgeous and a total sweetheart. And she didn't deserve that. Jesse St. James was a douche. Simple.
He decides that his lunch can wait and letting his curiosity get the better of him, Matt walks in the direction that the Vocal Adrenaline cars came from. He sees Rachel standing in the middle of the lot. He's behind her so he can't see her face but he notices her shoulders are hunched. It takes him a couple of seconds to see why.
She's covered in egg; it's in her hair, splattered across her back and dripping down to where a dozen egg shells lie broken on the floor.
Still a little in shock at what he's seeing, Matt rushes forwards, not caring if he steps in any of the egg covering the tarmac. As he gets closer he can see her body shaking and he selfishly hopes that she's not crying because he's no good with crying girls.
As her face comes into view he can see that she hasn't started crying yet but that might be because one of her eyes has been sort of stuck shut with egg yolk. Her open eye gives him such a sad look that it actually makes his chest hurt a little.
"Shit, Rachel, are you okay?" He mentally winces at his words. Of course she's not okay, idiot! She's just been pelted with eggs by a rival glee club!
He can see the revulsion on her face and he quickly roots through his backpack, managing to locate the pack of tissues he keeps in there for emergencies. (Puck always tells him he's going to 'grow a vagina' if he keeps carrying around tissues, but Matt thinks there's nothing wrong with being prepared.)
He takes one out of the packet for her and she takes it, wiping most of the egg off of her face. She scrunches the tissue up in her hand and mutters a tiny, "Thank you," that's so un-Rachel Berry like that it makes his chest hurt again.
He shrugs his jacket off and holds it towards her. "Come on," he says quietly, "take your jacket off and put this on." He picks a huge bit of egg shell out of her hair while she looks at him uncertainly. "I don't mind, honestly."
Rachel nods numbly and carefully picks her pink jacket off. She looks around, wondering what to do with it now and Matt takes it off of her, and hands her his own.
She starts blinking rapidly as she pushes her arms through the grey sleeves. The jacket's way too big for her and only the very tips of her fingers are visible beyond the cuffs.
She sniffs and then a couple of fat tears roll down her cheeks, quickly followed by two more.
Matt takes a small step forward and puts his arms around her tiny body. She starts full on sobbing and rests her head against his chest. He rubs her back soothingly as he thinks about what complete fucking bastards Vocal Adrenaline are (this is no time to be polite).
He's only mildly uncomfortable with having Rachel Berry cry into his chest – he's just relieved that he found her and she didn't have to try and deal with this on her own.
A couple of minutes later her sobs subside and she pulls away from his embrace.
"I've got egg and tears on your shirt," she mumbles, looking thoroughly miserable. "I'm sorry, Matt."
"Hey, don't be silly, it's nothing to worry about." He replies honestly. He really couldn't care less about the stains on his clothes.
She gives him a weak smile and tucks a piece of egg soaked hair behind her ear.
"So, what happened?" he asks. He's pretty sure he already knows but it's better to get the facts. "You know, if you want to tell me because you don't have to."
Rachel swallows thickly and looks forlornly at the ground. "Jesse phoned me. He told me to meet him here and I thought…I thought he was going to apologise, to change his mind." A single tear rolls down her cheek and she quickly wipes it away. "But when I got here some of the other members of Vocal Adrenaline threw eggs at me."
"And what did Jesse do?" Matt prompts.
Rachel sighs and pulls his jacket a little tighter around her body. "He just watched at first. But then he smashed one…right here," she whispers, pointing to her forehead.
"God, what a douche!" Matt growls, shaking his head in disbelief while Rachel nods, sadly. Jesse St. James definitely deserves an ass-kicking but right now, Matt's going to make sure that Rachel's okay.
"D'you wanna go see Mr. Schue, or Figgins, or somebody else to tell them what's happened?" He asks but Rachel shakes her head.
"I need to get the residue of these egg foetuses off of my body," she explains as she shudders.
"Egg foetuses?" he asks in confusion.
"These chicks will never be born now that they've been smashed on my person," she mumbles, looking tearful. He wants to explain that unless Vocal Adrenaline bought the eggs from a farm (unlikely) then those eggs would never have become chicks but he doesn't think she's going to listen to him right now.
"Right. Well, do you have a change of clothes here?" he asks.
Rachel shakes her head. "It's been nearly two months since the last time I was Slushied and I was optimistic that it wouldn't happen again so I haven't been bringing in a change of clothes for a few weeks now." She knows that was probably quite a foolish decision. She's Rachel Berry; she's going to get some sort of foodstuff thrown on her eventually. People just don't like her. She can feel her throat constricting at that depressing thought but she fights to push the tears away. Matt doesn't need to see her cry again.
So, instead she looks up at him and tries to smile. "Thank you for your concern, Matt, but I think I had better go home."
"I can give you a lift, if you like." He offers. "I've got a free straight after lunch."
"I'm sure you don't want egg inside your car, Matt and besides, I don't want to distract from your studying time."
He chuckles. "As if one free period's going to make a difference, Rach. And don't worry about the car – it's a hunk of junk and a little bit of egg isn't going to make a difference. Come on, how else are you going to get home?"
She considers this and knows he's her only option at the moment (unless she decides to call her Dads, but she really doesn't want them to know about this incident). She can't wait until she has a license and a car of her own and then she will have the independence to do whatever she likes.
She nods and offers him a genuine smile. "You're right, Matt, thank you, a lift would be lovely."
He smiles back and wraps an arm around her shoulders, directing her towards his car, her pink jacket still in his other hand.
A/N So that's part one. Next one'll probably be up tomorrow.
I had to watch the egg throwing scene back a couple of times so I was clear on what actually happened and each time Rachel runs towards Jesse I'm like 'Nooooooooooo, don't do it!'. My sister loves Jesse but I don't think she will after she's watched this episode.
Please let me know if you like!
Lots of love,
Lil Drop of Magic
xXx