A/N: Day 17! This is a soulmate AU where the lyrics of your soulmate's favorite song (at the time) show up on your skin when you turn 18. Rachel turns 18, and, well, she's a bit confused.
Day 17: Soulmates
The morning of her eighteenth birthday, Rachel wakes up in a rush. She's officially eighteen, which means today, somewhere on her skin, she'll find what she's been waiting for for years.
She's going to find out something very personal, something very important too, about her soulmate.
Rachel remembers her dads' stories, waking up on their eighteenth birthdays and seeing the words scrawled on their skin. Her daddy, Leroy, had found the words, The smile's returning to their faces, on his arm, and it had brought a smile to his own face. He instantly recognized them as lyrics from Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles. Her dad, Hiram, had found the words just underneath his ribs: And forever more, that's how you'll stay. Years later, when he met a boy at a bar, humming Nat King Cole's Unforgettable under his breath, he knew he was the one.
The words represent the lyrics from your soulmate's favorite song, her dads had told her. They'll appear on you when you turn eighteen, and they're subject to change at any point. When we got married, ours both changed to a lyric from our wedding song.
They showed her their "tattoos," and Rachel had marveled at them. She was only seven at the time, and, now, eleven years later, she was about to experience this herself. As a singer, Rachel prides herself on her musical knowledge (and her taste, for that matter). She's hoping to be pleasantly surprised by what she finds today.
The moment she's conscious of what day it is, Rachel runs to her bathroom to look in the mirror. She checks over her arms and legs, not seeing anything, and takes off her shirt to look at her torso in the mirror. She looks over her reflection frantically, not seeing any markings, and a moment of fear washes over her at the thought of the lyrics being somewhere more, say, private, or, worse, not having any at all. She checks over her chest and stomach and sides and back several times before she drops her gaze to the floor and suddenly sees it.
On the side of her foot. A short, black scrawling of words.
Immediately, Rachel sits down on the toilet seat, lifting her foot up with her hands in order to read the words.
Pack up, I'm straight enough, she reads.
Her first reaction is confusion after she doesn't instantly recognize the song. Her second reaction is to laugh at the lyric, simply because of the implications. (She doubts the song has anything to do with sexuality, but her own sexuality and the circumstance of it being printed on her skin has her laughing, nonetheless.) Her third reaction is to run back to her room, grab her phone, and look up the lyrics.
She finds them fairly easily; they're the opening words to a song called Maps by some band she's never heard of. Walking back to the bathroom, Rachel searches the song on YouTube and listens to it while she's brushing her teeth. It's not a bad song, per se, but it's a bit more indie than she typically would go for, and it's a bit repetitive, in her opinion. Still, she's not disappointed with the song, and she's glad that, whoever her soulmate is, they have a unique taste in music.
When she's done, she checks her messages, seeing a few texts from Mercedes, Kurt, and Tina, wishing her a happy birthday, asking what her lyric is, and to text them as soon as she finds it. Then, she notices one more message from someone she definitely had not expected to hear from today: Quinn Fabray.
Happy birthday, Rachel, It reads, Hope you have a great day.
She chooses to respond to them all later. For now, she puts the song on repeat while she finishes up her morning routine. Her friends can wait; Rachel is going to spend this time growing closer to her soulmate and their favorite song.
Just five days later, the words on her skin change.
She doesn't even notice it, not at first. It isn't until her dad points it out to her while they are sitting in the living room, watching a movie, that she notices it.
Gone are the old lyrics, replaced with new words imprinted on her foot. Except these words confuse Rachel even more than the first ones.
Ní thiocfaidh mé aniar.
What the hell?
This clearly isn't English, and it certainly isn't from a song she knows, and she's frustrated. How is it that she has a soulmate whose favorite song changes within five days of her turning eighteen? She had just become fond of the other song, too!
Instantly, Rachel pulls out her phone to look up the words, with the accents and all. She finds them in a traditional Celtic song first, and she promptly keeps scrolling, praying to whoever is listening that her soulmate's new favorite song is not this one. Then, she finds another song, Sleepyhead, by another band she's never heard of. The intro is entirely in Gaelic, but the rest of the lyrics are in English, and Rachel assumes that this is the correct one.
She pauses the movie that she's watching with her dads to search the song on YouTube and play it. Rachel listens to it with her dads, and, well, she certainly receives the shock she was expecting the first time around.
If she thought the original song was something that she wouldn't typically listen to, this one goes even beyond that. It's indie again, but electronic this time, and Rachel nearly shuts it off halfway through. The lyrics, she recognizes, are very poetic and meaningful, but the sound of the song is a lot all at once, even for Rachel.
Still, she listens to the song a few more times that day, trying to find something she likes about it.
Two days later, the words change again.
This time, Rachel watches them change before her eyes. It's Christmas day, and she's upstairs painting her nails while her dads prepare a meal downstairs. They don't celebrate the holiday as much as other families do, instead going all out for Hanukkah, but her daddy was raised Christian, so they still put up a tree and have a nice meal on the twenty-fifth of December every year.
Rachel is sitting on her bed, painting bright red nail polish onto her toes, when she sees the black print on the side of her foot begin to fade and morph into a different set of words. Again, she's shocked. How can her soulmate's favorite song possibly be changing again? It has only been a week since her birthday! She can't say she's not glad to have the Gaelic print gone from her skin, but her frustration is growing stronger.
The new lyrics appear, and Rachel reads them cautiously.
Listen to Iron Maiden, baby, with me.
She lets out an audible groan. She'd rather have the Gaelic back.
Well, Rachel thinks, At least I know the song this time.
Two weeks later, on her first day back to school after Winter Break, the lyrics change. Again.
She's been checking her foot daily, sometimes multiple times a day, because she has come to terms with the fact that this could continue changing every other day, and Rachel's determined to (and admittedly enjoying) getting to know her soulmate a little better in this way.
She wakes up, instantly looking at her foot, and sees new words there. Whatever it is, she's glad that the words "Iron Maiden" are erased from her skin. The new lyric she finds there forces a gasp from her mouth and brings a smile to her face.
My gift is my song, and this one's for you.
It's Elton John, and it's from Moulin Rouge, and it's an incredibly romantic song. Rachel gets ready for the day, humming the song to herself, and it stays in her head for the remainder of the day.
Later, at Glee, when Mr. Schue welcomes them back from break, he asks if anyone wants to kick things off, and before Rachel can offer to perform, Quinn is standing up and slowly walking towards the piano. She whispers something to Brad, and he nods and gets up, allowing Quinn to sit down at the piano. Rachel is surprised that Quinn, of all people, is performing, and she's also wondering just how adept Quinn is at playing the piano.
"This is, um," Quinn says nervously, "I listened to a lot of music over break, and, uh, for whatever reason, I kept coming back around to this song. I just learned it this past weekend, so don't critique my piano skills too much."
Rachel is confused about what is about to happen until Quinn begins playing the piano, and every thought suddenly vanishes from Rachel's mind. Her fingers dance over the keys, and Rachel recognizes the song instantly, her heart dropping out of her chest.
There's no way. It must be a coincidence. Right?
Rachel watches as Quinn opens her mouth and sings those famous opening words, "It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside," and Rachel melts at the sound. Her alto is a bit shaky, but strong, and it grows in power and volume as she gets further into the song.
When she gets to the final chorus, Quinn looks up from the keys, finding Rachel's eyes and not looking away. Rachel's heart returns to her chest, pounding rapidly, and she can't seem to break the intense eye contact that Quinn has started. Quinn's eyes bore into hers as she sings those final words, conveying every emotion she possibly can, and Rachel feels all of them. She feels everything Quinn is trying to say, and it is exhilarating.
Quinn smiles politely at the light smattering of applause she receives before she ducks her head and makes her way back to her seat. Glee Club ends shortly thereafter, when no one else has a song prepared, and Rachel is far too lost in her thoughts to perform anything right now. Mr. Schue gives them their assignment for the week, and everyone takes off, leaving Rachel and Quinn alone in the choir room.
Rachel walks over and sits in the seat next to her, meeting her eyes carefully. "Quinn, that song… It was beautiful."
"Thank you," Quinn mutters shyly, "It's become one of my favorites recently."
The words draw a gasp from Rachel's lips, and she is almost certain her theories are confirmed. She looks at Quinn, seeing her eyes shining with so much emotion, and she says, "I know. The… the lyrics showed up on my foot this morning."
Quinn lets out a deep sigh, dropping her gaze. "Yeah, I figured as much."
Rachel gasps again. It is Quinn. "How long have you known?" Rachel asks.
"Since I saw the lyrics to Don't Rain on My Parade show up on my lower back."
Rachel blushes as Quinn laughs, clearly amused by the whole thing, and a thought occurs to Rachel. "Lower back?" She asks, "Isn't that where you got your tattoo?"
This time, Quinn blushes as she says, "Yeah… It appeared just before the school year started, on my birthday. I was in denial, so I panicked and ran to the nearest tattoo shop, ID in hand, and I got the first thing I could think of, as big as possible so that it would cover the words up," She admits, shaking her head in embarrassment. "The next day, the lyric had moved to just beneath the giant face on my back, and I knew I couldn't fight it anymore."
"Fight what?" Rachel asks before she can stop herself.
"My feelings for you," Quinn admits, and Rachel's jaw drops. "I had been denying them for so long, but once I saw those words on my skin, I couldn't deny the feeling of peace that came over me."
Rachel can't believe the words she's hearing right now. Quinn Fabray has feelings for her. Romantic ones, at that.
"Can I… Can I see it?" Rachel says shyly.
"The tattoo?" Quinn says, and Rachel just nods in response.
Quinn turns around, showing her back to Rachel, and lifts up the back of her shirt. Sure enough, there is a rather large tramp stamp of Ryan Seacrest's face, and, just underneath, there is the small, black print of words from Rachel's favorite song.
Life's candy, and the sun's a ball of butter.
Rachel lets out a laugh at the absurdity of the sight. "I must apologize for my predictability, I suppose," Rachel says through a grin, "Although I must say that some of the lyrics that showed up on my skin were equally not as pleasant as these."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Quinn says, "Like I said, I was getting into a lot of different music over break."
Rachel scoffs, "Sure, but, Teenage Dirtbag, Quinn? Really?"
Quinn grins. "What can I say? At least it wasn't actually Iron Maiden."
Rachel rolls her eyes. "I suppose that's fair," She replies. She watches Quinn run a hand through her hair, and she can't deny the fluttering in her stomach at the sight. "So, what now? I mean, we're soulmates. I certainly can't say that I saw this coming."
"Well, I have to get home to help my mom with dinner," Quinn explains, "But, you could, you know, come with? If you want to, of course. And then we could talk later?"
Rachel grins. "I would love that."
"Great," Quinn smiles, standing up from her seat.
Rachel stands up, sliding her bag onto her back as Quinn does the same. They begin walking out of the choir room, and Rachel grabs Quinn's hand before she can stop herself. She interlocks their fingers, their palms coming together, and, yeah. This is what being soulmates feels like. And she wouldn't have it any other way.
A/N: Songs referenced (in order) are as follows:
Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Sleepyhead - Passion Pit
Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus
Your Song - Elton John