A/N: Why hello, fanfiction, I haven't seen you in a while! Ugh, life as been so hectic. This is my first shot at Faberry, and my first time writing anything in the last few months, so let me know what you think!
ALSO, this takes place during an AU version of tird season, in which Quinn rejoined the Cheerios earlier in the season, and Rachel and Finn never got back together in the 2nd season Nationals episode, so they therefore never got engaged and the almost-wedding never happened and blah blah blah... you get it.
Queen of Hearts
If makeovers were like crack to Kurt, then garage sales were like crack to Quinn. There was something thrilling about the all the possibility – you never knew what quirky treasures you might find hidden among the junk. In fact, a surprising portion of Quinn's wardrobe consisted of finds from garage sales (properly washed after purchase, of course).
So that slight addiction led her to where she was now, sifting through broken toys and old clothes, searching for anything of interest. She had already found a floppy sunhat that would look adorable once she glued a flower to it, and a quirky pair of sunglasses with pointed red rims.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a table with several books laid out on it. Hoping to find some vintage children's books for Beth, she made her way over to the display. Most of the books were torn and tattered, but had clearly been read often and loved in their prime. But she already owned most of the titles, and there weren't many children's books.
She was about to wander off to another table when one of the books caught her eye. Astounding Magic Tricks to Baffle and Amaze your Friends. Based on the glasses the little boy on the cover was wearing, she'd venture a guess that the book had been published in the 80s, at the earliest. The price sticker on the bottom corner declared that the book only cost fifty cents.
"Why not?" she murmured to herself, adding the book to her quickly growing pile, before walking off to a box of sheet music in hopes of finding something for a certain angel-voiced diva.
~O~O~
Later that night found Quinn flipping through the magic book, not looking for any trick in particular. Most of the tricks required supplies from a kit that had probably originally come with book, so she didn't have the proper supplies to perform them. Sighing, she flipped past most of the pages until she got to the last section of the book. The tricks here didn't seem to require anything special, they were just card tricks.
As her eyes landed on one of the displays, a smile grew on her face. She could work with this.
~O~O~
Rachel was having a bad day.
She'd been slushied, for one, which hadn't happened in so long that the feeling of the icy concoction hitting her face was even more shocking than usual. Luckily, Kurt had been nearby with all of his supplies (which he'd never stopped bringing even when the slushies stopped) to clean her off, but they hadn't been able to get the stain out of her dress, and Kurt only had a spare shirt, so she was stuck walking around in a stained, slightly sticky dress.
Someone had hacked her Facebook and posted several vulgar comments, and Rachel was sure some people had seen them before she'd deleted them. She was suffering from guilt and a stomachache because a roll she'd eaten at lunch had turned out to not only be made with eggs and butter (even though she'd been assured it wasn't), but was also stuffed with cheese.
And in the last couple days, she'd been feeling a tickle in the back of her throat and she was terrified it was going to turn into a full-blown cough – or strep throat, maybe, or even tonsillitis again. And glee rehearsal had been chaotic, with only a handful of the glee clubbers actually doing anything they were supposed to be doing.
So when Quinn practically skipped over to her and asked if she wanted to see a card trick, Rachel sighed in a long-suffering way, and acquiesced when she saw the pleading look Quinn was giving her. "Sure, fine," she said, her voice sounding dull even to her ears. "Just promise me it won't take too long."
Quinn grinned broadly, and Rachel had to admit she felt a little happier at the sight of it. But her stomach had started to feel strange, almost fluttery, and she began to worry that the organ was protesting her earlier food choice and that the completely non-vegan biscuit was on it's way back up to remind her of what a horrible person she was.
"I promise, this'll only take a minute," Quinn assured her.
"Okay, so what do I need to do?"
"You just pick a card, and I try to guess it," she explained. "If I guess your card correctly, you have to grant me one request."
Rachel looked at the taller girl suspiciously, but finally decided, "Fine, as long as it's not anything humiliating."
"You have my word," Quinn said solemnly, before withdrawing a deck of cards from her bag and holding them out, face down. "Pick a card, any card," se said, eyes twinkling.
Rachel bit her lip and pulled one out from the middle of the deck. Four of spades. "Okay, I have it memorized," she announced.
"Now put it back in the deck," Quinn instructed, and Rachel did as she was told. Quinn began shuffling the deck, not looking at the cards once as she did so. Finally she stopped and carefully pulled out one card. "Is this you card?" she asked, holding it up.
Four of spades.
Rachel gaped, but managed to nod. "How did you do that?" she demanded.
Quinn simply gave her a coy grin. "A good magician never reveals her secrets." Rachel scowled. She hated not getting answers. "Now, I do believe you owe me one request."
This drew a sigh from Rachel's lips. "Okay, what do you want me to do?" she asked, glaring down at the floor.
"I want you to smile for me," Quinn said gently.
Rachel looked up in surprise. "What? That's all?"
"Yup. I just want you to smile for me."
Rachel blinked, then decided to go along with Quinn's strange request. She smiled up at the girl, and Quinn smiled back at her. "You're so pretty when you're smiling," Quinn said, and touched Rachel's cheek. And then, with a small wave, she left the choir room.
Rachel stood there for several minutes after Quinn left, wondering what was with the girl's odd behavior. Yet she was unable to wipe the slight lingering smile off her face for the rest of the evening.
~O~O~
The next morning, Rachel came to school determined to confront Quinn. She wanted to know why the girl had said she was… pretty. Rachel wasn't used to casual compliments being thrown her way. People rarely even acknowledged how amazing her voice was, and she knew that he voice was her best asset. It was… unnerving, to be complimented by someone who was as beautiful as Quinn; it didn't make sense.
She found the blond standing by her locker and talking sternly to another, younger Cheerio, who looked slightly terrified. When she noticed Rachel, she dismissed the cheerleader, who scurried away quickly, and smiled warmly. "Hi Rachel," she said, her voice soft and smooth, like honey.
"What did mean, yesterday?" Rachel demanded, never one for beating around the bush.
"Um… what?"
"What did you mean, yesterday?" Rachel repeated. "When you said I looked pretty when I smiled?"
"Um, I meant that you looked pretty… when you smiled?" Quinn replied, looking confused. "I thought it was pretty straightforward."
"But it doesn't make sense!" Rachel burst.
"It… it doesn't?"
"Nobody ever compliments me," Rachel continued in a quieter voice. "Especially not girls as pretty as you."
"Oh, Rachel," Quinn said, an emotion Rachel couldn't quite name filling her voice. "You're beautiful and talented, and they're all idiots if they can't see it."
"You don't have to lie to save my feelings, Quinn," Rachel said, looking down. "I know I'm not as pretty as you."
Quinn was silent for a minute, and when Rachel looked up, she was holding out a deck of cards. "Pick a card, any card," she said, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"Are you serious, Quinn?" Rachel asked in disbelief.
"Completely," Quinn replied. "Same rules as yesterday?"
Rachel rolled her eyes, but complied and picked a card. Seven of diamonds. "You got it memorized?" Quinn asked, and Rachel nodded and placed the card back in the deck.
"You know, I bet last time was just beginner's luck," Rachel said confidently as Quinn shuffled the deck. The blond just grinned back and pulled a card from the deck.
Seven of diamonds.
"Is this your card?"
"How did you get it again?" Rachel demanded. "Are you tampering with the deck?"
Quinn mock-gasped and her hand flew up to her heart. "I am shocked that you would ever accuse me of such a thing, Miss Berry."
Rachel had to laugh despite her frustration. "Okay, so what's your request?
"Let me compliment you from now on," Quinn said earnestly. "And believe me when I do. You are amazing, Rachel, and I'm not the only one who can see that."
Later that day, when Rachel opened her locker, she found the walls lined with sticky notes complimenting everything from her voice to her eyes to her attitude to her legs (and that particular compliment made her blush a little bit).
And if Rachel walked with her head held high in a way she hadn't in a while, well, Quinn wasn't going to take all the credit.
~O~O~
It continued like that for the next few weeks. Quinn would pop up, seemingly out of nowhere, holding her deck of cards, and she'd always pull out Rachel's card. Rachel had tried searching online for the secret behind Quinn's trick, but all of the results involved tampering with the deck, and Rachel had checked over Quinn's deck thoroughly (much to the blonde's amusement).
So far, Quinn had used her requests to have Rachel hug her, help her study for a calculus test (even though Rachel realized ten minutes into the study session that Quinn needed no help with math at all), sing to her (Rachel blushed through her entire rendition of 100 by Brandi Carlile), wear her Cheerios jacket all day (which had earned Rachel many strange looks), teach Quinn how to bake her famous apology cookies (Quinn was, surprisingly, absolutely hopeless in the kitchen; she was so terrible at cooking, it was little funny), and dance with her during Glee (granted, it was to Hoedown Throwdown, so it wasn't particularly personal, but it had Rachel laughing and acting like a little kid).
After all of this, Rachel could no longer deny the butterflies she felt in her stomach whenever Quinn smiled, the happiness she felt to just be around the girl. She couldn't deny her attraction to Quinn, either – a stronger attraction than she'd had even to Finn. The blonde invaded her dreams – nothing dirty, just images of them throughout their future; them on dates, casual but sweet; living in a tiny, crappy apartment, fresh out of college, struggling to make it on Broadway and in acting; living in a luxurious apartment with their three perfect children and successful careers; sitting on the porch of their final home in Sausalito (where Rachel had always planned to retire to), looking out at the ocean. Because when Rachel fell, she never fell halfway. And she was almost one hundred percent sure that Quinn felt the same.
And so when Quinn approached her after Glee rehearsal and uttered the now familiar line, "Pick a card, any card," Rachel didn't hesitate to do her part. She drew an nine of hearts. And of course, Quinn picked out the correct card from the deck.
"What's your request?" Rachel asked. Recently, she found she'd begun to look forward to hearing Quinn's requests, because they always seemed to be excuses to spend more time with Rachel.
"I want you to go out on a date with me," Quinn said, before rushing to add, "don't feel like you have to say yes because of the card game rules. I want you to really want to go on a date with me, and if you don't, I completely under–"
Rachel shushed the normally composed girl's nervous ramblings by placing a finger over her mouth. When Rachel pulled her hand away, she felt tingles where Quinn's perfect pink lips had touched her skin. She smiled gently at Quinn and said, voice soft, "I would love to."
~O~O~
The date was amazing and romantic and everything Rachel had every dreamed their first date would be like. Quinn had ordered spaghetti and insisted they try to reenact the famous Lady and the Tramp scene. Rachel had rolled her eyes fondly and obliged. Unfortunately, the noodle had broken before they could meet in the middle, but when Quinn reached across the table to wipe off the bit of sauce on Rachel's chin, keeping eye contact with her the entire time, Rachel couldn't say she minded.
Quinn had graciously paid for the meal ("I was the one who asked you out, so I should pay this time. You can pay next time if you really want to."), and Rachel had even held back her rant about her status as a modern, independent woman that she would have given Finn or Jesse for trying to pay.
They had gone to the theater, which was playing Singing in the Rain for one night only, and had sung along so loudly to the songs that they'd been kicked out. Neither of them minded. Now they were walking through the park, hands connected and swinging between, enjoying each other's company in comfortable silence.
Suddenly, Quinn let go of Rachel's hand and stopped walking. Rachel turned back to ask what was wrong, and actually laughed out loud when she saw Quinn was holding up a deck of cards. "You can't be serious," she said, but she was grinning.
Quinn simply smiled wider and replied, "Pick a card, any card."
Rachel pulled out a queen of hearts. Fitting. She was not surprised at all when Quinn picked the correct card.
"It seems I am owed one request," she observed.
"And what would that be?" Rachel asked in a low voice, stepping closer.
"Kiss me," Quinn whispered, and Rachel launched forward, unable to hold herself back any longer. Their lips connected in that was as passionate as it was sweet. There was no tongue, but Rachel didn't feel there needed to be, not for their first kiss. Tongue could come later.
She clasped her hands around the back of the taller girl's neck, and Quinn pulled her closer by her hips. Her lips were soft, just like everything about her, not chapped and clumsy like Finn's. Her hands didn't try to slip onto Rachel's butt in a move that would've ruined the moment; she just held Rachel close to her, even after they broke apart, breathing heavily and staring into each other's eyes.
And then Quinn was breaking her hold and taking a step back, once again holding out the cards. Rachel gave her an incredulous look. "You know you don't have to do that card trick every time you want me to kiss you."
"I know, I'm not asking for you to kiss me again – we can get back to that in a moment," Quinn said, a little breathlessly, her cheeks still flushed pink. "Just, pick a card, any card."
Rachel did, and of course Quinn got it right again. She waited patiently for the other girl's request. "Rachel…." Quinn's voice trailed off, and she took a deep breath before starting again. "Rachel, be my girlfriend?"
Rachel smiled and closed the distance between them, knocking the deck of cards to the ground. "I don't need a card game to make me say yes to that," she said, and Quinn looked at her for a second before their lips were crashing together again, with all the frenzied passion of two hormonal teenagers.
When they left the park, the cards lay forgotten on the wet grass.
A/N: Because I don't have a beta, I edited this myself. I'm bound to miss some things, so let me know if you notice any errors and I'll be sure to go back and fix it!
I might make this a two-shot, and the next chapter would be set some amount of years in the future with a Faberry proposal. Let me know if you're interested in seeing this.
And, again, this is my first time writing Faberry, so I'd love to hear how you thought I did!