Title: Mauvais Liaison
Rating: PG
Fandom: Glee
Words: 666
Characters: Rachel, Will, mentions of Puck, Finn, and Quinn.
Summary: You know I want you and you know what I need.
Notes: For _takemeaway_ who wanted Will/Rachel and Bad Romance. It didn't exactly come out how I planned…at all.
She might be reeling from a bad breakup and even more from a boy who's breaking her heart but Rachel Berry knows a few things. She knows she's a star. She knows how to bake fabulous cookies. And she knows what she wants.
Noah Puckerman doesn't know what he wants, that's why she broke up with him. She can't waste time on people who are too wish-washy to even admit when they're in full on earth-shattering, growing-old-with-you love. If she can tell, everyone else around her should be able to. And Finn should be able to tell he's not, not with Quinn.
She's sick of wanting what she can't have though, especially when it comes in a package of too-tall, too-stupid teenage boy.
So she decides to try men on for size. And she only knows a one who isn't gay or unappealing, William James Schuester. She isn't sure James is really his middle name, but she likes it. It sounds elegant and mature, and it matches his beautiful brown eyes when they're singing Endless Love together. And she thinks, if only for a few days, that their love might be just as everlasting and unbreakable as this song.
And you know what I need.
Rachel isn't a sophomore anymore as he takes a seat on the bleachers with her. This is her last day of high school, and she's sitting there dressed in her white graduation robe, her carefully decorated cap in her lap. He reads the red glitter words emblazoned on her cap and chokes back a sob.
Glee:
Being a part of something special makes you special.
It's her turn to offer comfort to him, these three years later. She steps over the bench between them, taking the seat next to him instead. She lays he hand softly on his shoulder. "Do you remember our first rehearsal? When I threw a temper tantrum and stormed out?"
He stifles a laugh, looking at the tiny brunette next to him. "I don't think that was the only time you stormed out."
Rachel blushes, looking out onto the football field, "You told me I was the best kid in the club. And that wasn't true, not then. I was selfish and stuck-up and hormonally crazy." He tries to think of a way to deny that, to insure her that she wasn't all that insufferable but he can't quite think of many redeeming qualities besides her voice when they first met. "Now look at me." He tries not to, for fear he might completely lose it. "I'm a team player, I can actually be modest when I want to, I've been dating the same boy for two years. Mr. Schue, I'm who I am today because you all believed in me. All the times you took my solos away and told me when I was out of line, you taught me that being a winner doesn't always mean being alone." He can't help it now. He's crying openly, leaving tear stains on his navy sweater. "And now you get to help new kids find themselves." Her mascara's running and she reaches inside her robe, "I was going to give this to you after the ceremony, but I think you need it now." She holds out a gold star, fashioned out of tinfoil to him. "You're Glee's shining star, Mr. Schue. And we can't be selfish enough to keep you all to ourselves anymore."
"Thank you," He croaks, staring at her. "You can call me Will now."
She smiles, standing up but still barely above him, "Thank you, Will." She bends over to hug him, and then she's gone.
Will Schuester sits there for another few minutes before the ceremony, staring at the star in his hands. She's right: they can't be selfish. After all, there are a thousand coaches as good as him in the world. There's no-one else like Rachel Berry though.
You and me could start a bad romance.