The incessant ringing of his phone woke him up. Bleary-eyed, Cooper rolled over in his bed, feeling for his phone on his bedside table. He felt something drop onto the floor, before he finally found the source of the noise that had interrupted his sleep.

Without looking at the name on the screen, he took the call. "What," he demanded, growling into the phone.

"What's this about you on a date with Rachel Berry?" A familiar voice snarled back in response.

Rubbing his face with his free hand, he blinked a couple of times at his clock. 5:00 AM. Oh, just because it was daylight in other parts of the world, it didn't mean that New York had begun its morning.

"Do you realise it's not actually morning yet in New York?"

"Answer my question!" It sounded like a hiss with barely-contained fury.

"What did you ask– a date with Rachel?" Cooper's mind was slowly starting to function properly after the abrupt adjustment from sleep to wakefulness.

"Don't deny it, Coop. I'm looking at photos! Look, I don't care what you do, and you know I don't call you if I don't have to, but Rachel's my friend, and I don't–"

"Rachel's your friend?" He interrupted his brother mid-sentence, speeding along in his train of thought, "Why didn't you tell me when I told you about A Chorus Line?"

"Tell me about the date first," Blaine replied evenly, speaking in staccato, and Cooper knew from his tone that he was angry enough to rip him apart if they were in the same room.

"It wasn't a date."

"Really? Alright, let me read some headlines to you. New couple alert! Cooper Anderson and Rachel Berry spotted in Central Park!"

Cooper was starting to understand where his brother was coming from. Central Park, huh. Of course, where else? Meanwhile, Blaine continued his rant on the phone.

"Cooper Anderson dating latest co-star Rachel Berry? Oh, and there's this wonderful line, in the article. 'We'll have to come up with a portmanteau for this cute couple!'"

"Blaine, you know better than to trust those tabloids. That wasn't a date."

"Okay, then tell me about your non-date."

As he replaced a fallen tissue box back on the table, Cooper said, "Our director says we don't have enough chemistry, so we tried to make chemistry happen."


"On a carousel?" Her best friend exclaimed over the phone, "Rachel Barbra Berry, how do you practise lines on a carousel?"

Upon breaking for lunch, Rachel had checked her phone and found a torrent of messages from Kurt Hummel.

U R ON EVERY WEBSITE!

Call me asap!

When u have time google urself n CALL ME!

Her curiosity was piqued, and she had quickly rushed off alone to a nearby café. Following Kurt's instructions, she had googled herself on the way. And what she had found had been… interesting. She had to commend whoever had taken the photos – she hadn't noticed anyone snapping the shutter.

And she knew those photos gave weight to the dating rumours because they looked like they were really enjoying themselves.


Sunday was their day off, and Cooper had held her to their agreement. He had insisted on picking her up at her apartment, the plan being that they would go straight to Central Park from there. After enduring a whole Saturday of Lisa teasing her about this supposed date, Rachel had spent extra time in the morning deliberating about what to wear. She didn't want to give off any impression, no matter how remote, that she saw this as anything more than a necessary evil. Eventually, she had settled on one of her many casual dresses – a white one, with red dots and blue rose prints. Her entire outfit was basically blue and white, and she had been pretty pleased with herself, until Cooper arrived.

Perhaps it was because they didn't usually see each other outside of work, but the first thing Rachel noticed was the slight straining of his t-shirt against his body. It was tight, and anyone could easily see the hint of his muscles beneath.

It's because of our height difference, Rachel told herself, trying to bring her mind back from wherever it had started to stray to. His chest is not fascinating. At all.

She had a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right, but she was distracted again as she glanced at his face. Aside from the glint of amusement in his eyes, there was no sign of his trademark smirk. In its place was a soft smile that was so un-Cooper that Rachel was momentarily caught off guard. Fortunately, she was saved from any acts of insanity or embarrassment, as Lisa bounded out from her room and proclaimed, "Two hotties going on a date! And what is this – colour coordination?"

And that was when she realised that while Cooper's choice in colours was more muted, his colour scheme for the day was blue and black. By some strange coincidence, their outfits had matched. Rachel stifled a groan as Lisa, whose teasing knew no boundaries, proceeded to waggle her eyebrows in a highly exaggerated fashion. But it got a loud laugh from Cooper, and he said, "I thank you for your blessings, Miss Jenners."

Lisa mock-curtsied, and Rachel felt the corners of her lips tugging upwards. "See you later, Lisa," Rachel grinned at her friend's antics.

"Trying to get rid of me now, are you?"

She rolled her eyes, as her roommate laughed and sent them on their way.

The ride there was pretty uneventful. They tried to start up a conversation a couple of times, but since neither of them knew the other well, it never went beyond work. Or Broadway, or Hollywood, which really was still work. They eventually gave up on conversation, and Cooper switched on the radio instead.

Top 40 radio, she noted, smirking slightly as she looked out the window, why am I not surprised?

As he parked at West 58th Street, Rachel asked, "So do you have any plans about what we're going to do today?"

He glanced at her before getting out of his car, "Do I look like a man without a plan?"

After grabbing a small backpack from the backseat, Cooper led her towards the south entrance of Central Park, and they started strolling down Center Drive. After a short while of seemingly aimless ambling, Rachel drily remarked, "I can see that you really have a plan."

Cooper raised an eyebrow in response, and said, "Impatient, aren't you?"

Rachel shook her head, and in an attempt to be conversational, asked, "Okay, fine. Then shouldn't we at least talk?"

"I'll be nice and let you choose the topic."

She laughed and turned to look at him, quickly averting her gaze as soon as it landed on his chest again. Damn that shirt! But in doing so, Rachel spotted a Good To Go food cart not far ahead, and steered them both there.

"What was your first time in Central Park like?"

"That would be my first day in New York, which was about a month or so before we started rehearsals. I didn't actually do anything then – just kinda walked around. I skipped the tours and played a spot-scenes-in-movies with myself."

"You walked around alone?" Rachel couldn't prevent the incredulous tone from sneaking into her words.

"Yes, I'm a lonely man," he deadpanned, then grinned as she laughed.

As they reached the food cart, they suspended their conversation to place their orders. Before she could place hers, Cooper mused, "You are obviously getting a Herbivore, and uh, I'll have a Classic Dog."

They quickly got their hotdogs, and Rachel asked, curious, "So you know I'm a vegan?"

"As long as an article about you has a fast facts column, it's listed there."

She coloured slightly, and bit into her hotdog to escape from having to say anything for a few moments. But Cooper continued his story about his maiden Central Park trip.

"I've got to say my first day in New York was really touristy. But my brother used to live here, and he loves this park, so I had to see it for myself."

"You have a brother?"

"We've also got a generation gap, so we've never been really close," he replied, almost a little wistfully. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Your family?"

"Apparently you read articles about me; shouldn't you know everything?" she teased.

"You got me, I'm a stalker," he laughed, before continuing, "I know you're an only child, and you have two gay dads."

"And that's all there is to my family."

"Where are your dads?"

"Back in Lima. They work there, and I can't ask them to uproot their lives just for me," she shrugged. "Besides, I'm old enough to be a responsible adult now."

They were moving off Center Drive, onto a side path, and Rachel started to have a sneaking suspicion about the identity of their destination. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," he answered cryptically.

"Are we going to the carousel?"

"Yes."

A mental picture of Cooper sitting on a carousel horse started forming in her head, and she quickly dissolved into giggles.

"What?" he demanded, stopping in his tracks.

"Nothing," she managed to sputter. "Are you uh," she took a deep breath to try to calm herself down. "Are we riding a horse each?"

He looked amused at her question. "No, we're riding ten horses each."

Without thinking, she hit his arm playfully. "I'm going to take a video of you on the carousel."

"Don't worry, there are enough people here to take photos and videos of me – and you – on the carousel."

They finished their hotdogs in the queue for tickets, and continued their joking camaraderie while waiting for their turn. It was only when the ride started that Rachel realised that somehow, along the way from her apartment to where they were now, she had stopped disliking Cooper.

How had that happened?

In a moment of insanity, she decided to throw caution to the wind and just have fun. That was supposed to be the plan anyway, wasn't it? To try to become friends? To work better together?

It wasn't until later when she got a hint of how screwed she was going to be.

They had walked to Sheep Meadow from the carousel, and like an excited child, Cooper had dug out a picnic blanket from his backpack. After he had laid it down, Rachel plopped ungracefully onto the blanket, but Cooper still had an arm in his backpack, looking a little hesitant.

Hesitant! That's got to be a first – the great Cooper Anderson being unsure.

He quickly threw a bottle of water to her, which she caught. Then he said, almost shyly, "I, uh, bought cupcakes."

"Really?" she said, curious to see the flavours.

"I got three for you and three for me," he said, taking out three chocolate cupcakes. He glanced at her, and set three in front of her – each with a red V sitting on top of the off-white frosting.

"Vegan red velvet," he announced with a flourish, as he finally sat down opposite her, and took a big gulp of his own bottled water.

Well, shit, who would have known? Cooper Anderson was one big surprise. Other than her dads and her closest friends, no one had ever been so considerate about her vegan-ness. She wasn't about to admit this to anyone, but she felt touched. And it was perhaps what actually convinced her that he had been serious about working together properly.

She took a quick bite of the cupcake, and pronounced it delicious. "Thanks," she added softly, "for…" Her voice trailed off as she gestured vaguely to the cupcakes between them.

He gave her that uncharacteristically gentle smile again, and helpfully volunteered a conversation starter. "So tell me, is there a story worth telling about how your dads met?"


"We weren't practising lines, Kurt. We were working on how to work better together because as of last week we sucked."

"And now?"

"Director hasn't commented yet, but I think we're improving."

Rachel heard some muffled conversation on Kurt's end of the line, before he got back, saying, "Don't think you're going to get off the hook on this one, Rach. I'm letting you go now because I have to get prepared for dinner and I can't actually stare you in the face and demand information from across the Atlantic Ocean."

"Okay," she chuckled, "go have fun with Blaine."

"He wants to kill you, too, by the way."

"Why?" Rachel asked, genuinely intrigued.

"I want to kill you because I had to find out through the circus that is celebrity gossip, instead of you. He wants to kill you for reasons that I'll let him tell you when he tells you."

She shook her head as she sipped on her coffee, with a smile curving her lips. "Bye, Kurt."

"You're not getting off the hook!"

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this extra-long chapter! It's a special thank you for all the story alerts and favourites (and reviews!) that are making me so happy. Next chapter will bring some Central Park Non-Date from Cooper's POV. :D