A/N: Forgive me if updates are few and far between for the next couple of weeks – my exam block has just begun, so my spare time is mostly dedicated to study.
When he woke, Finn was only dimly aware of the pint-sized brunette sitting next to him. Rachel was humming a song. Finn didn't know what it was, but it sounded nice. Rachel always sounded nice.
Where was he? He wondered.
He groaned and tried to sit up. Rachel pushed him back down softly and rearranged the pillow beneath his head. He realised he was on Rachel's bed. Why was he on Rachel's bed? He was only allowed on her bed when they were making out. Were they making out?
Finn shook his head. They couldn't have been. Rachel had broken up with him over the summer holidays. So why was he in Rachel's bed with Rachel?
He was just about to ask Rachel when he felt the wetness on his chest. His shirt was wet. Huh. Then he remembered.
Rachel was crying. Finn was holding on to her and telling her everything was going to be okay.
His memory came back to him and he couldn't help but gasp. "You're gay?"
Rachel gave a hollow laugh. "Yes, Finn. Good to know you're back. You're probably horrified right now – maybe even a little disgusted – and I would allow you to leave, but I don't think that would be a very smart idea, considering you just blacked out. I'm merely concerned about your safety and wellbeing. I don't want to torture you or anything, if that's what you're thinking."
"That's not what I was thinking. I'm not horrified." Finn said quickly, reaching over for Rachel's hand when she wouldn't make eye contact. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "And I'm not disgusted."
"Then what are you?" Rachel asked, slipping her hand out of Finn's grip. "Ashamed?"
"No, I'm not ashamed either." Rachel caught his eye and he gave her a tentative smile. "I'm just surprised."
"Surprised? Is that all?" Rachel was sceptical.
"Yep. It's no big deal, I guess." Finn shrugged. It really wasn't a big deal to him. "I have nothing against gay people. It's just a little bit of a surprise when your ex-girlfriend comes out to you. I mean," He chuckled, "You'd be a little surprised if I decided to come out to you, right?" He quietened a little. "It… it wasn't because of me, was it?"
Rachel laughed, but then shut up as soon as she saw how hurt Finn looked. "No! Goodness, no." She took Finn's hand back. "It wasn't because of you, Finn." She reassured him.
"Good." Finn smiled, gathering the energy to sit up properly. Rachel fussed a little, but let him do so. "If it was because of me, I'd probably be a little less okay with it, but because it's not… I'm cool with it."
"Just like that?" Rachel asked, incredulous.
"Just like that." Finn nodded. "Rachel, you were the one that taught me to accept everyone. I'm not going to make a big deal over the fact that you're gay."
Rachel flushed.
"Oh my God…" Finn said slowly. "You're gay!"
Rachel raised her eyebrows at him. "Yes, Finn, I thought you'd already come to that conclusion. Are you going to black out again?"
"No! I mean… I just… it was sinking in." He said defensively. Then he brightened considerably. "Does this make me your lesbro?"
"Lesbro?" Rachel giggled a little.
"You know… you're the lesbian and I'm the bro! Lesbro!" Finn said excitedly. "I've never had a gay friend before."
"Um, Finn?" Rachel questioned. "Kurt, Santana, Brittany…?"
Finn hummed. "Kurt doesn't count because we're brothers now. Santana doesn't count either, because she's not exactly a friend."
"What about Brittany?"
Finn shrugged. "I'm not as close to her as I am with you. I mean, you were my girlfriend. And she's not gay gay. She's always saying she's bi."
Rachel chose to not question his logic. "Okay, Finn. You're my quote-unquote lesbro."
Finn grinned. "Now that you've finally got all that out in the open, you have to give lesbro Finn all the details."
Rachel acted as though she didn't hear him. "Hmm?"
"C'mon, Rach. Don't hold back!" He pushed. "I promise I won't be hurt or anything. Tell me, please?"
… And here came puppy-dog eyed Finn. Rachel rolled her eyes.
"What do you want to know, Finn?"
"Everything!"
Rachel raised a brow.
"Okay, okay. How about you start with… how you figured out you were gay?" Finn suggested.
Rachel heaved a sigh. "Well, I'm…"
"Gay." supplied Finn.
"Gay." Rachel confirmed. "Wow, it sounds so strange saying it out loud." She shook her head. "Anyway, I don't know exactly when I started being gay, but I realised that I was gay in the last week of school."
Finn spluttered. "In the last week of school? But you broke up with me halfway through the holidays! Rachel, that was weeks after the end of school!"
"I know, Finn, and I'm sorry." Rachel said apologetically. "I just didn't know how to tell you. It took me that long to work up the courage to break up with you."
Finn waved off her second apology with a smile. "Don't worry about it."
"It was a gradual thing, I suppose. I went from looking at the way guys at school were dressed, to looking at the way anyone was dressed. And then I ended up only looking at the way girls were dressed."
"You were looking at other people while you were still with me?" Finn pouted. "That hurts, Rach."
"Finn, I know that you looked at other girls when you were with me. Don't act so surprised." Rachel said casually. "It didn't mean I liked you any less."
"Oh. I forgive you then, I guess."
"Everything just clicked into place after that. I'd thought my feelings for females were purely platonic and perfectly normal, until I watched a rather enlightening documentary about teenagers and the fluidity of sexuality nowadays." Rachel shrugged. "I realised that, while I was still romantically attracted to you, I wasn't sexually attracted to you. But I was sexually attracted to women."
Hearing Rachel say she was sexually attracted to women made Finn squeak. In his head, he started his mailman chant. His eyes had glazed over and Rachel looked at him curiously.
Then he remembered that he brought ice cream with him to Rachel's house, and not-so-subtly reminded her.
"Of course!" She eyed him mischievously. "I'll race you downstairs."
"No fair, Rachel! I was unconscious before!"
Rachel was out the door before Finn could even get off the bed. Distractions could work wonders, he mused.
Over the couple of weeks, Rachel found that it was so easy to be friends with Finn, even after their breakup. He didn't seem sad at all (Rachel was a little irked by that fact – did he not feel anything for her while they were dating?), and they were even closer than they were during their relationship. Rachel could talk openly about her feelings for girls, and Finn would listen to her (or at least try to listen to her, which was almost as good).
Everything was out in the open with him, and Rachel felt happy.
The only problems were at school. The student body wasn't aware that Rachel and Finn had broken up over the summer, and they certainly did not know of Rachel's revelations about her sexuality. That suited Rachel just fine. She and Finn weren't denying it per se. They just didn't tell anyone, and no one ever asked. It looked as though they were still a couple though, what with them forming a tight friendship. So Rachel was okay with that.
No, that wasn't the problem.
The problem was Quinn Fabray.
Rachel knew the girl was planning something. She hadn't been attacked or verbally abused by her in a whole month. A whole month!
It wasn't like the bullying had stopped completely. Rachel was still being picked on by the rest of the Cheerios. And the rest of the school. It was just Quinn who had stopped.
Admittedly, Rachel remembered Quinn giving her cold looks throughout the first week of school, but after that… nothing. No slurs about her outfits, no snide remarks about anything. It was like Quinn had gotten over the taunting, and had moved onto ignoring her.
It bothered Rachel more than it should have. Quinn had spent the better part of the last three years ridiculing her. Why would she stop now?
Rachel figured she must have been planning something big. Nothing she'd endured had ever required so much planning time. Were they going to give her a slushy shower? She pushed the idea away almost immediately. No… it had to be bigger than that. A slushy shower only required the football players and a dozen slushy cups from the cafeteria.
What about a slushy cannon? Maybe the Cheerios were finally going to put their giant, death-defying cannon to use, and shoot her with galleons of blueberry slushy. It would have to be blueberry. Blueberry was the only flavour that didn't completely wash out of her clothes. Every blueberry slushy resulted in a trip to the mall for a new outfit to replace her old one.
Rachel shook her head. An attack via slushy cannon sounded unlikely.
Nonetheless, she made a mental note to avoid the track field until further notice.
Rachel huffed. She was going to get to the bottom of this. Even if it meant having to confront the Head Cheerio.
It was the first day of school. Quinn was back in her Cheerios uniform after a whole summer without it. She only just remembered how much skin it showed. The skirt was almost non-existent.
She brushed away her issues with the cheerleading uniform. It was her status symbol at McKinley High, and there was no way she was going to let a little thing like the length of her skirt get her all worked up. After all she went through to get to the top of the pyramid? Quinn shook her head. No. It wasn't even a problem. She could deal with it. She opened the door of her car and stepped out.
And then slid straight back in.
Now that was someone she didn't need to see as soon as she got to school. Especially when they were the focus of Quinn's thoughts for the entire summer holiday.
Quinn's wicked, immoral thoughts.
Two seconds at school and her heart was racing. Her palms were sweating as she gripped the steering wheel, trying to decide whether it would be so bad to skip the first day.
Quinn sighed. She couldn't skip school. She didn't even know how to skip school. She had a perfect attendance record. But the idea of truanting was still in her head. Would the school notice if she drove back out of the student parking lot and went straight home?
Yes, they probably would, she reasoned. Besides, she didn't know what she'd do once she got back to her place – her mother was home.
So, going home was not an option.
What about staying in her car the whole day? Quinn wondered. Then she shook her head. She was Quinn Fabray for God's sake! She was HBIC of McKinley! Why did a little thing like the bane of her existence standing right across from her car make her nervous?
Not nervous, Quinn corrected. Frustrated. She was frustrated. And annoyed.
Quinn huffed. She glanced at her rear view mirror and sighed.
They were still there. It had been well over a minute!
She was getting antsy. She needed to get to her locker before the first class of the day, and she was cutting it close. It was now or never. She breathed in deep and grasped her door, swinging it open and stepping out once again. She steeled herself before turning around.
Thankfully, they hadn't noticed her yet. They were still crouched on the ground, picking up sheets of paper. Quinn cursed the person who knocked them out of their hands. At least it kept them busy, so she could try to make it into the school without being seen. Quinn almost smiled, and began walking towards the school.
But, of course, the fates wanted to torture her.
As she was gearing herself to walk straight past her so-called nemesis's car, they lifted their head.
"Hi, Quinn!" Rachel said brightly, looking up at her. "I hope you had a lovely summer holiday?"
Quinn fixed her with what she hoped was a look of cool indifference, and continued on. At least Rachel didn't follow her. When she reached the school, she ducked into the nearest empty classroom and closed the door, leaning her head against it.
Rachel Berry.
God, that girl was going to be the death of her.
The last class of the day was finally nearing its end, and Quinn sighed. It had been a long day.
A long day of avoiding Rachel.
Quinn cringed internally, remembering the incident in her car this morning. Why did Rachel have to make her so nervous? Why on earth didn't she just get out of her car, throw Rachel an insult, and get on with her day? That was what was expected of her. So, why didn't she do it?
Oh, that's right.
Quinn Fabray had a little bit of a crush on Rachel Berry. And she only realised yesterday.
Her summer holiday was torturous, to say the least. Even though she was at her own house, far away from one Rachel Berry, Quinn's thoughts would always stray to her. And Quinn had no idea why, up until yesterday.
After three years of teasing and taunting, bullying and harassing, Quinn Fabray realised she had a super-duper-giant-mega crush on Rachel Berry – the person she thought was the bane of her existence. Well, Quinn figured, she still kind of was the bane of her existence. She still annoyed Quinn to death – it just wasn't the way she was supposed to.
Quinn was annoyed because Rachel made her jealous of Finn, who was allowed to spend all his time with her. (In fact, that made Quinn more than annoyed. It was Finn, for Christ's sake!)
Quinn was annoyed because it was hard to keep a straight face when the diva was laughing.
Quinn was annoyed because it was hard not to smile (or gawk) when Rachel was up on stage, singing her heart out.
Quinn was annoyed because she was having difficulty keeping her hands to herself whenever Rachel chose to come to school wearing one of her skirts, the lengths of which rivalled the Cheerios' uniform.
Oh, who was she kidding? Rachel didn't annoy her – she was annoyed with herself for falling in love with her. Quinn clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle her gasp.
She didn't just have a crush on Rachel. She was in love.
She let her newfound revelation settle. So she was in love? That was just great. She cursed Rachel under her breath, and then groaned.
They had Glee club after school. It was daunting, knowing that she had to be in the same room as the girl she just realised she was in love with. She was going to be in the same room as Rachel Berry.
Rachel Berry, in all her sinfully short skirt-ed glory.
