The Sweet Taste of Romance
Summary: /TBToE Sequel/ Rachel should've trusted her psychic senses when it kept on tingling 'suspicious' with Blaine and the others. Jesse should've known something was up when his Grandma suddenly called and gave him a girl advice. Blaine really knew that St. Berry © ND was endgame.
Notes: Yeah, I wasn't really planning this. I was just joking when I wrote that part of matchmaking. But people just swayed me – yeah, all it took was two reviews. Anyway, this is for cecilydandme who helped me a lot – inspirations! Thanks, Ces&Me.
The Sweet Taste of Romance
(A St. AnderBerry Friendship fic with St. Berry Romance)
"Mr. Tubbington agrees. Finn and Rachel are like Dr. Pepper and Toothpaste, but Jesse and Rachel are Toothbrush and Toothpaste – the other would be useless without the other."
Brittany S. Pierce, proudly brilliant
Blaine had a plan.
It had been a few hours since his talk with Rachel and that conversation with Jesse. He knew how much his cousin loved his 'Miss Ex' (now known as Rachel Berry). He recalled how his cousin had come stumbling in his dorm back at Dalton, sloshed off his ass and barreling him with his woes. He had poured all his sorrow at 1 AM – how beautiful Miss Ex is, how amazing and talented and [insert lots of slurred compliments] she is, and how he had succumbed to peer pressure and destroy the best thing he ever had.
He had listened to him when he relayed the story of how he was given a choice: Miss Ex or the Nationals title. He had chosen the Nationals because that was what was expected of him, what he needed. He then slurred on how Miss Ex was what he wanted and needed. And he just broke it off with an egg on her head.
After that, Blaine smacked Jesse on the head and told him that he was a stupid wuss. Jesse then proceeded to ran towards his bathroom and puke on the toilet.
That day was the only day they ever mentioned Miss Ex – except for the passing times when he [Blaine] thought of her when he sees or hears his cousin's melancholia.
So, the fact that his twin in another life and his cousin's elusive Miss Ex was the same caused him to feel something he couldn't understand. He thought it might be hope – hope for Rachel to be happy and Jesse to finally man up and apologize and for the two to just go off in the sunset and rule Broadway and have lots and lots of Tony-Grammy-Emmy-Oscar babies.
He recalled what Rachel said earlier, "But I, I hate him. I really do. He broke me – killed me, even. But at the same time, I still love him. I know that I shouldn't. The others would say that I'm being stupid, loving him after all that he did. But I do and I tried so hard to stop it, I did. I tried working it with Finn but every time I compare Finn and I to… us. And it would always fall a dozen mile short."
He knew that Jesse still had a chance.
He remembered what Jesse answered him when he asked earlier about Rachel: "She hates me, I know she does. She has every right to. But when we're in New York, away from here and in some Broadway production, maybe I'll have a chance with her. Maybe she had forgiven me by then. I'll wait for her, Blaine. She's my soul mate. She's my Queen – we'll rule Broadway together."
And it would seem that he didn't have to wait that long.
But, first things first, he had to get some help.
"Yeah, uh-huh, that's right." A smile bloomed on his face. "Okay, thanks, Grams."
"What was that about?" He turned and grinned at his boyfriend.
Blaine's mood shot sky high even more when he caught sight of him. "Hi! That was just my Grandma. I just called her about my stupid cousin's stupid decision."
Kurt raised an elegant eyebrow at that. "What happened?"
"Later." He said, linking their arms together. "I talked to Rachel yesterday."
Kurt's demeanor changed to worry in two seconds flat. "What's wrong? What did she say? Is she okay? Did you know why she kept avoiding us?"
"It's mostly me, actually." He said. "But I did, talk to her."
"And?"
"She told me about what happened last year with her ex." His eyes trained towards his boyfriend as he seemed to deflate.
"She told you about Jesse?" Kurt's tone was of wonder; as if he couldn't believe Rachel would talk about something like that – something private.
"Yeah." Well, not directly, he thought. "She also said something about how different the rest of New Directions treated me to him. He was said that he was only there to spy on you and not for Rachel – but she said that she believe that he did, you know, transfer for her." The message was there.
"Look," Kurt stopped for a moment before he dragged the both of them in a corner. He encased his right hand with both of his. "I won't try to say that I was innocent in the whole gaga fest with the destruction of St. Berry."
"St. Berry?"
Kurt cracked a small smile. "It's the name everyone in New Direction – and the WMHS population called the two of them." He filed that to inform Jesse later on. "We were suspicious of him, true, he was a snarky sneak of a bastard. But we weren't blind. We could see how happy he made Rachel and the few times he would let his guard down. So, it really surprised me – and the others too, I suppose – when he did play her. Puck and Santana calls him St. Doucheass or St. Jerk whenever Rachel's not around. They know better than that. No one speaks of Jesse's name when Rachel's around – she goes into this shock and freezes up." He shook his head and looked down, missing the smile that appeared on Blaine's face. "And we weren't much better even after they broke up. We kept on pointing finger and saying, I told you so that we ignored the pain she must've felt."
"Kurt…" Blaine's voice was down to a whisper as he raised a hand to wipe away the tears gathering on his boyfriend's eyes.
"I-I really feel ashamed of what we did, Blaine." He said. "I never really understood what she meant when she said that she found the one, Jesse. I mean, we're sophomores, that's hardly enough time to find your the one." He raised his head to his eyes. "But, now that I found you, I understand what she means."
Blaine's face fanned with redness and he hugged Kurt. That was truly the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to him. Truth be told, he wasn't mad at Kurt for the things he said about his cousin. He knew better than anyone what an ass Jesse was.
Jesse really was a snarky sneak of a bastard. He didn't know the level of his charm he brought out to the New Directions, but Blaine knew that his cousin could be worse than Santana on a bad day. He loves to verbally abuse people – often his sarcasm and wit gets him into trouble and it's Blaine who gets him out.
But Blaine also knows the best thing about his cousin – and he is sure that Rachel knows too. Jesse was sweet – when he wants to be. He was a mama's boy – that was a secret Blaine and the rest of the family was sworn to never tell anyone. He was the world's most overprotective brother – just ask Emmy, his little sister. He was a good listener, a fantastic speaker, and a talented performer. He wouldn't say that his cousin was a Saint; in fact, he could make Santana seem like a Saint.
He also knows, without any doubt, that Jesse loves (present tense) Rachel Berry.
"You know, Rachel told me that she still love him." He tried to sound nonchalant, looking at his boyfriend for a reaction. He was caught by surprise when Kurt only sighed and nodded, leaning on the wall.
"I know." He said. "You can't look at her and not know that."
"Um, and Finn…"
Kurt sighed even more, shoulders slumped. "I love Finn, he's my step-brother and I know I should take his side, but I just can't. Not this time." Their eyes met and he saw sincerity in those expressive eyes. "I can tell you this, though, Finn – at his very best – was only a sorry excuse for a rebound. You should've seen them together, Blaine, they could communicate with just this one look. I always see that whatever Finn do for Finchel, it would always come a dozen time short of what St. Berry was – is."
Blaine's smile grew with every word that passed his boyfriend's lips. He kissed Kurt and said, "What if I tell you there's a chance for a St. Berry 2.0?"
"Huh?"
"Okay, Hobbit # 2, explain to us again what we" – Santana pointed to herself and Brittany. "are doing here?"
"We want to ask you to join us in Operation St. Berry 2.0." Blaine said, looking at the Latina in the eye.
Santana snorted and crossed her arms. "And this concerns me because…"
"Look, Satan, I know that you and Rachel aren't the best of friends." Santana snorted something akin to 'understatement'. "But, you were there for the first go around of Rachel and St. James's relationship. You saw how they were. You can't say that you didn't see that they were perfect for each other." Kurt stood, eyeing the smirking Latina with a determined glint.
"Hmm." Santana's smirk didn't falter as she contemplated his words.
"Mr. Tubbington and me want to join." All three of them looked at the tall, blonde [bimbo] girl as she pet her cat's fur.
"What?"
"Well, Finn and Rachel are Dr. Pepper and Toothpaste, but she and Jesse are Toothpaste and Toothbrush." She beamed brightly.
"Um…" Blaine met Kurt's eyes, asking the silent question. The latter only shrugged, unsure.
Santana was the only one used to the blonde's nonsense – and sometimes understood it. So, she smiled patiently at her and asked what she meant.
"Well, Rachel is Toothpaste. She makes you healthy but Finn is Dr. Pepper because it may taste sweet at first and you can't get enough of it, and it'll only make your teeth rot in the end. Then, you'll have to go to the dentist and he'll have to pluck your teeth one by one." She shivered at that. "It's really scary. And when you add the two, the Toothpaste will only be
"Whoa." Blaine murmured, eyes wide.
"What about B and St. Dork?" Santana urged her.
"They're Toothpaste and Toothbrush. The other would be useless without the other." Brittany nodded, quite proud with her short and sweet words.
"Whoa." Blaine repeated.
"I just understood that." Kurt muttered and grabbed his cheeks to force their eyes to meet. "I just understood Britt and it makes perfect sense."
"Whoa." Again, Blaine muttered.
"Oi!" Santana snapped a finger in front of them. When the two of them returned to reality, they looked at her with a dazed expression. "Hobbit # 2, Lady Hummel, my Britt and I are in."
"So, what you're saying is that you have a plan to make my Super Hot Jewish-American Princess and St. Jerk get together… and you want my help?" The couple looked apprehensively at Noah Puckerman, self-proclaimed bad-ass supreme of Lima for his reaction.
"Yes." Blaine nodded, clasping his hand with his boyfriend's. He never did say that he was not afraid of the ex-Juvie kid.
"Sure." He shrugged.
"Wait." Kurt did a doubletake. "Just like that? You're not going to add some sort of threat, no St. Doucheass doesn't deserve my Princess or something."
"Hell no." Puckerman snorted. "I'm not like Hudson, you know. I ain't in denial nor am I blind – and I sure as hell am not dumb like your stepbrother. I can see that my babe was 10x happy with the asshole than with Finnbecile or me."
"Okay, thank you." For the first time since Blaine found out about Rachel being Miss Ex, he wondered the Berry Effect, as he had come to call it. First, Jesse who had been unable to let go of the petite belter and now, the badass of Lima, speaking about Rachel with fondness in his eyes.
"Merci, wait up." Kurt caught up with his Girl Friend.
"Oh, hey, Kurt, what's kickin', my Boo?" She turned around and grinned.
"Look, I'll be straight with you." But before he could proceeded, Mercedes let out a bark of laugh. "What?"
She chuckled for a little bit, holding up a hand. "Yeah, wait a mo – pfft. Kurt Hummel be straight with me. Hahaha." She laughed. "Okay, okay, I'm good." She swallowed her snickers.
"Aha." Kurt drawled sardonically.
"Sorry." She repeated before putting on her hands on her hips. "So, what do you want me for, White boy?"
"It's about Rachel."
"Is something wrong? I just saw her last period." Mercedes's eyebrows met and it seemed that she had been affected by what Blaine lovingly refers to as the Berry effect and that she'd been Berry-fied – which (In Blaine's words) meant two things: a, Berry is hard to let go – you will love her with all your heart may it be in a love-love, bro-love, friend-love kind of way; b, Berry brings the inner Mama/Papa-Bear protective instincts.
He really had to know what the Hummel Effect was.
"No." Kurt shook his head. "It's about Beyonce and Jay-Z."
"No." Mercedes's eyes got wide and she was instantly in a furious whisper-gossip session with him. "What happened? Is he back? Did they finally got back together? Tell me!"
"St. Berry 2.0 is finally on. No. Soon." Kurt answered each flawlessly.
"How?" That was all she could utter.
"Well, it seems that my boyfriend and a certain Jerk are related in some way."
"Well, this is a fine gathering." Blaine looked around and scrutinizing every face around the choir room.
"Yeah, well, we all care for Rachel in different ways." Quinn, who had demanded to be in on the plan once she caught whiff of it – Brittany had let it slip, crossed her legs.
"Um," Sam – who Quinn had dragged with – raised his hand. "One question: can you guys brief me on this St. Jackass guy. Quinn only told me the basic about how he made Rachel happy but broke her in the end."
All veteran New Directions looked at each other, as if sending message with just a look. And then, Santana stood up.
"Okay, listen up, Ken Wanna-Be," She said, hands on her waist. "as Aunty Tana tell you the disaster that was St. Berry."
I can't believe it took me two – no, three days to do this. Ugh! Failure much, Eu!
Anyway, I wasn't planning this. Honestly, I had no plot whatsoever, but you people are just so darn good at persuasion. But, I hope this do you justice. This is only the recruitment stage. There will be Jesse-Action and Planning. Rachel-Action and Planning. Actual.
Please review, mock me or praise me, whatever.
I listened to a whole lot of Taylor Swift while doing this. Like… a lot. I have been hooked by her again!