A/N: Hey guys, here's a little something that started as a very belated birthday fic request by del-fin (on tumblr) who asked for Cophine & Faberry interaction, and which eventually grew into this world incorporating things from some other fandoms and guest appearances that you might recognize and hopefully enjoy as well :) (Aly, I hope you like it :))
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There are superheroes and there are super villains. But both need their own heroes too.
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It was opening night and there was nothing lovelier than the girl with the dark brown updo. Curls like soft breezes, eyes like an insurgence of dawn amidst the artificial lights of the dressing room mirrors, her tailgate of makeup artists playing catch-up to her magnificent flapping warm ups. Even without their last minute enhancements, she was brighter than anything.
She didn't need them. They needed her.
As much was true for everything she graced.
That's what Quinn Fabray, small town girl turned upside down city dweller, believed anyhow. And she would know extraordinary when she saw it. When she was 16, on internship visiting the laboratory sites of Oliver & Diggle Enterprises to propel her dream of a bachelor's in business administration, a chemical exhibition gone wrong had left her the only survivor. The exploding fire around the hole she leapt into consumed her with smoke, dissipating one day later to be reborn like a phoenix. From then on she had become one with the flames and all its forms; the heat, the flight into smoke, the tricks of a human-sized lighter.
It was incredible. She could almost blast herself into the air at 17. Unfortunately, she'd also set the fire the night she lost both her parents. She'd loathed herself and the infernal power ever since.
It took a few more years until she impressed the board of admissions at Starling University with her resilience over such tragedies. Until she met its shiniest star upon getting lost in the College of Performing Arts building. Twirling about the hallway by herself, her billowy hair like the welcoming earth that cooled a 16 year old's burning face, the sun through the ceiling glass her spotlight, and singing with the instrument of the finest Stradivarius, was one Rachel Berry.
And Quinn found that it was the first time she experienced a different kind of fire. And it was Rachel Berry who was able to inspire her to control the flames, physically and figuratively. And when crime became rampant in Starling in the following years, almost taking away another loved one, Quinn decided it was time to be extraordinary for good. She became dragon's breath; the Girl that flies in Smoke. Fireside. And Rachel Berry, her spark.
For tonight of all nights, however, it would have to be her who would provide the rising star with the spark. She rose from the counter as the last hairdresser left and moved towards the tiny girl dabbling with her lashes, never satisfied with the work of the experts, always wanting her own way.
So feisty.
Quinn liked that.
"You look great, Rach," she offered, wanting to hold back the fiddling hand, but knowing that she shouldn't interrupt when her girl was in the zone, or in preparation for it.
Rachel dropped her hands to her side and met the hazel eyes through the mirror, forehead beaded, a slight frown with hints of playfulness on her features. "You think so? I don't like the mascara. Barbra would never have allowed this heinous monstrosity."
Quinn chuckled and tenderly wiped the smudge off the edge of the brunette's crown. "You're not Barbra. You're Rachel Berry."
The precocious diva softened into a bright smile, the one that had affected Quinn so much as to allow the radiance its own little corner in her heart, and Quinn knew that she'd done her duty right.
And that she was loved.
For as much spunk as the singer effused, as much as she always wanted her way, she would allow only one other person to tame her, and it was the blonde whose stoic silence allowed her the much needed calm that seemed to escape amidst the nonstop action of her external world.
Why do you like me? Quinn had asked one day after the senior concert before graduation.
Rachel was always one for boisterous drama and flair, but she looked at the girl in front of her and simply smiled like she had discovered the secrets of the Tibetan monks and infinity in that one moment. Because you taught me calm, and to appreciate the music within the pauses. That a performance needs the rests to understand its own beauty. That.. what remains unsung seems to be the most honest - the 'almost'. It's terrifying and beautiful… You make me feel that.
Quinn almost had to jump into water after that admonition.
"Really?" Rachel chirped, turning to face her.
Quinn carefully slid her arms around the delicate frame, as to keep the intricacies of her costume intact, and pulled them closer. "You're perfect."
The girl leaned into her and softly pecked her on the lips. She tilted her head and murmured, "You know you'll have to stop being so charming if you're going to sit in the front row."
"Why?" she grinned, adding another kiss for good luck.
"Because it'll make me want to stare at you during the performance," the brunette chuckled, running a finger under Quinn's lower lip.
Quinn laughed, "You wouldn't—"
"And…" Rachel lifted the finger to stop her, their smirks meeting the other. "…You won't have easy access to a fire exit."
And with the teasing grin still on her face, the tiny diva whirled around towards the door, leaving Quinn with a burn in her cheeks and a fire in her heart.
...
"Ma chérie!"
She turned to see her favorite blonde curls scampering towards her through the sidewalk crowd of opening night and beamed. "Delphine!"
Their matching smiles continued as they held each other under the street light. It had been a while.
"I'm totally stoked that you're here," she gushed, unable to peel her eyes off the girl who once had just been another addition to the list of a budding scientist's annoyances.
Cosima Niehaus used to think that she could get by, just her, her highways of mental discoveries, and a good old joint to enjoy the ride. What else could be more fascinating than the world of science? Oliver & Diggle Enterprises had afforded the young wonder a glistening position in its Molecular Division (for Nanotechnological Development of a Brighter Future!) upon graduation with much promise and opportunity, and she had taken it. Not so much because she had intended to advance through the ranks like a Mustang on the Interstate, but because she was just plain curious. She wanted to take it all in, understand it all, make it logical… make it make sense.
It didn't hurt that she had quite the charming personality either. Along with the eccentricities of her dreadlocks and the festivities of her scarves, all swaying to the beat of the bangles on her wrists, she was easy to notice.
If only she would have noticed the subtleties.
Like the way First Lieutenant Delphine Cormier of the 3rd Special Ops Aviation Regiment's Alpha Squad would always hold the door open for her on the way to progress meetings involving the cooperation of both project scientists and the officers that would be using the new technology. Or the way the taller woman with the primly blonde curls, who spoke very little and seemed so serious, would always seem to give her a sort of death glare. Or how the lieutenant chose to sit in her immediate vicinity at every meeting, though Cosima was pretty sure the officer still wore said death glare.
So she would try to slink even further into her seat so as not to be noticed.
But that was the thing. The lieutenant had noticed the various differences between them and wondered how this little upstart was able to enter into the confidences of such upper level meetings. The young scientist seemed to always be slackened into her chair like she did not care much, and seemed a bit too social, too.. cheeky was the word, for the secret and serious nature of these topics. Plus, her arms seemed to wave all over the place. What happened to discipline and formality?
But then Cosima spoke, and from her mouth the seemingly endless brilliant outpour that had managed to concise itself in such a tiny frame - it was impressive. Lt. Cormier, who once thought of herself as strict and difficult to please, in the span of minutes, had somehow managed to find the magic she had been looking for all her life in the person she least expected.
And so she began to find herself magnetized towards the quirky girl, with her dreadlocks and glasses, and how the movements of her arms turned into flight patterns in the sky. She found herself standing closer, sitting closer, wanting to be closer. She started to feel protective of the smaller girl whenever a rebuttal presented itself from another colleague.
It was a fortunate thing that Cosima was able to jump at opportunities when she finally understood their presence.
Or perhaps it was a fortunate thing that Delphine Cormier decided to ask one day if the scientist would also like a cup of coffee before the meeting began.
That when Cosima had said sure! and Delphine had brought back a hot cup with a dash of milk and just the right amount of sugar without even asking how the girl liked to take her coffee, Cosima had looked up to glance at the blonde sitting a few chairs shy of hers to wonder how, of all the people in her life that had ever brought her coffee, this daunting officer with the perfect posture and the perfect hair, who didn't seem to like anybody else, had managed to make her the perfect cup.
And so it began - an unlikely love affair between the world of science and the armed forces, a meeting of the minds (and, eventually, the bodies) beyond the confines of secret meetings encased in glass offices. Until the project had finished and Lt. Cormier was sent off once more to lead her squad into testing missions while the young scientist continued to bore away at the molecular walls of scientific boundaries and the chambers of her own heart.
So that when Cosima got word that the lieutenant had finally been stationed back in Starling, the words at last ringing through her head like those Etta James and classic rock records the blonde would play in her apartment as they both sat, working on their individual files while sneaking tender glances at the other until one would lay a hand to caress the other's just to say I'm here, she knew exactly how to welcome her girl back.
"So.. Tiny Dancer the musical?" Delphine whimsied into the air as they looked up at the neon lights.
Cosima laughed, "Yeah. I got us orchestra seats. You're gonna love it."
"Oh?" the blonde smiled, turning towards her date. "How do you know I will?"
"It's your type of music! Come on," the smaller girl called and held out her hand.
And with that, Delphine's heart stirred. Cosima Niehaus was not one for musicals and theatre. The fact that she was willing to enslave her ears and eyes to a flood of song and dance because she knew that Delphine harbored a secret fancy for such things, and went out of her way to prepare such a night for them, made Delphine want to go to the ends of the earth, see the world - fly - and still want to come back each time to her.
She slid her fingers into the hand in front of her and smiled as they walked in together amid catch-up conversations and glistening eyes.
I'm here, they seemed to say.
Home.
...
Elsewhere in Starling, elevator doors open to an elegant room with a view of the city skyline. In front of the fireplace, a call is placed on an antique rotary desk telephone with a gold finish.
An order is given while a poster is burned in flames.
...
