ETA: I forgot that it was actually Finn and Q who got slushied (oops), so this is would be a redo of that scene woth Noah instead of Finn.
Disclaimers: I do not own Glee or the characters. I do own all OCs, unless ownership is otherwise given.
Spoilers: Season 1 of Glee (dont remeb the episode?) and also current chapters of my story Is It Worth Giving Up? (chapters 27–30)
Rating: T for bullying, I guess?
Thank you to those who reviewed on the last chapter! I am glad you guys are enjoying this because I love writing the little outtakes/missing moments a lot more than I thought I would.
Before we get to the actually chapter, I also want to say welcome to my new followers Packer (favoriter), Isa Yodice12 (favoriter), Morbid Crow, and Empreintes Fauves. Also, shoutout to Empreintes Fauves. Thank you so, so, so much for your review on Worth Giving Up?! It was so kind, and I am going to reply to it as soon as I have time to sit down and answer each part! :)
Notes: This coincides with the part where Noah and Quinn both get slushied, except instead of the football team doing it (?), it is a newbie Cheerio.
** Quinntana (Q/Santana). Not exactly happy either. Also, Brinn (Britt/Quinn) for just a few sentences. And just the usual with a teensy bit of Dave thrown in.
Monday, November 22nd, 2009
*Before lunch – their free period*
15 minutes.
That's all it was.
Honestly, she thought it would be fine.
They are up to a very brief and slow-going 15 minutes, and Noah was with her, and Rachel was really trying to finish her test in time, and really?
Why the fuck wouldn't it be fine?
Dave is coming from one end of the hallway, and Santana and Britt are at their lockers. Rachel should be here soon, but Noah and Quinn will arrive before her.
While they wait, Brittany notices something is… off.
The newbie – Cheerio, that is, – is lingering at the other end of the hallway, opposite of Dave, and…
Exactly where Q and Noah will turn the corner.
She keeps an eye out, thinking of an answer to the question that Santana just asked her but apparently she is too distracted, because San turns her attention from her locker to the dancer, and notices her girl is not even looking at her.
She follows Brittany's line of sight, but does not see anything.
"… Britt?"
"Mandy is down there."
It is the only response she gets, and she does not understand it.
She looks again but does not see anyone and she goes to question it but then, she does see it.
At the same time Dave notices, apparently.
Quinn and Noah round the corner, – they can tell Noah is speaking due to his hands moving around, – and neither notices the newbie Cheerio.
Mandy steps from the corner parallel to the two and pulls her arm back, and…
Dave realizes in the same moment Santana does.
The way Mandy launches the cup in her hand makes it so the slushie splashes on both Noah and Quinn.
Santana is letting out of a string of cusswords at the same time Brittany registers Dave muttering fuck, and the three of them take off down the hall.
"Quinn!" Brittany reaches them first, or maybe Santana and Dave just immediately head for Mandy. Either way, the two are frozen in shock, and Brittany reaches out saying, "Don't open your eyes, Q. Okay? Keep them closed, I'm going to wipe the slushie away."
She uses the sleeve of her Letterman to wipe away the blue slush and yeah, it'll stain, but she knows Coach Sue won't care once she finds out how Brittany got it there in the first place.
"Okay, can you open your eyes any?" She is rewarded with red-rimmed hazels, and smiles encouragingly. "Hello there. Hang on just a moment, alright?"
She does the same with Noah – wiping his eyes out, enough that he can open them. Then she turns back to Quinn, who is being eerily quiet and still.
"Listen to me, Amore," Brittany whispers. "Dave is going to take you and Noah to the bathroom, and we will call Rach, and she will be here in just a few minutes, okay?"
She turns to Dave at that, and calls his name. The football player leaves Santana's side immediately.
"Take them to the bathroom, text Rachel – you have her number, right?" He nods. "Okay, take them down there, text Rachel, wait for her, and–… Just–…"
She fumbles here for a moment because Santana catches her attention when she says something to Many, and she knows she should step in but Quinn– and – and…
"Just,– Call her," She says instead. "Send her an SOS, and call her. Let her talk to Q. And we will be there as soon as we can." The dancer gets a nod from Dave and switches back to Quinn. "Hey, Q, listen, Dave is going to take you and Noah to the bathroom, and he'll call Rach, and she will be here soon, okay? But I need you to go with him. Okay?"
Once they are off, Brittany sighs and turns to Santana.
"S."
It does what's needed. Santana turns from Mandy (who looks terrified), and looks at Brittany, softening her stance just a bit.
"Go make sure Q is ok. I can handle this."
And…
It isn't that… she doubts that, but…
Her best friend – two of her best friends – just got fucking slushied, and she would like to be the one to figure out why, and what the appropriate punishment should be.
"Santana," Brittany pulls on her arm a little. "Go make sure Q is all right."
She knows that will do it… and she is right. Santana huffs but still moves away and down the hall to the closet girl's restroom. Brittany watches her go before turning back to Mandy.
"Alright, you better have a hell of a good reason for doing that, Jenson."
And right now?
Right now, Mandy Jenson is too scared to do or say anything to Brittany that the other girls of the team say.
Instead, she stutters out, "Th-They said that y-you and Captain Lopez wanted m-me to d-do it!"
And Brittany sighs because of course, they fucking did.
And she even knows exactly who "they" are.
"Let me guess," She sighs out. "Megan Bishop, Brianna Thompson, and Ashley Johnson."
Mandy relaxes just the slightest. She isn't dead yet and, maybe, she can get away from this without any actual injury.
The frightened girl nods to Brittany's listing of names.
"Tell me what they said."
"Th-They said that you–… That you told them you wa-wanted me to slushie Quinn Fabray! They said she-she was kicked off the team because she is a slut who got pregnant, and Coach–"
Mandy suddenly stops speaking as Brittany raises a hand, "Okay first off – let me make something very clear: Quinn is not a slut." And the fact that they have team members talking about Quinn behind her back, saying those things makes Brittany's blood boil, but, she has to focus on one thing at a time.
"She did not get pregnant because she was sleeping around and was reckless. Understood?" Mandy nods so she continues with, "And second, Quinn most certainly did not get kicked off the team. She voluntarily left, and do you know what that means?"
Mandy does know, perfectly, what that means.
Because, you see, there are two ways for you to leave the team…
First is you are kicked off – you are slacking, not trying, refusing to pull your weight. You get kicked off, which means no more Letterman jacket, no more Cheerios uniform, and no more associating yourself with the Team.
The second way is if you leave voluntarily, for example, you have deadbeat parents who cause you to be sole caretaker of your younger siblings OR you have parents who actually work, and you simply need to be there in the mornings and afternoons to look over your younger siblings, and therefore do not have time for Cheerios practice.
If either of those, or any of the other ways, are the case, Sue will let her girls leave the team, with the promise that they do the basics – exercise regularly, practice basic routines, etc. – so that they are not behind when they return to the Team.
Your place will still be there, with maybe a temporary fill-in for while you are gone.
And, even though she has only been here for six weeks, Mandy Jenson knows this rule, because it was in the Handbook, which was given to her along with her jacket, Cheerios uniform and bag, and the sweatpants and sweatshirts.
But now?
Now, she goes pale because fuck, slushying Quinn while she left the Team voluntarily means she slushied a Cheerio.
And that?
That is up there with things like "calling Brittany stupid" on the list of things that a student at McKinley High School should never do.
Brittany can see that, obviously, Mandy did not mean any harm. She is a newbie who had older girls, – more experienced teammates, – telling her to do something, telling her that it was an order given to her through them straight from the Captain and Co-Captain.
She didn't know of Quinn leaving voluntarily and, in her mind, was doing as she was supposed to.
"Ok, look." Brittany sighs. "I am letting you off with a warning. Santana and I–" She does not even bother calling Santana by her "team" name (Captain Lopez). She does not want that kind of relationship with her teammates. They probably will never be friends in the way she is with San and Q and Rach, and Noah, and eventually, Finn, Z, and Dave, but still.
Britt does not want her teammates obeying her because they are afraid…
Well…
Actually…
There are some who definitely should be afraid of her.
"Santana and I will take care of the girls who told you to do this, but here is your warning: you are not to slushy anyone who are members of the Glee Club, that includes Rachel Berry. Understood?"
Mandy nods rapidly, unable to actually speak. And Brittany decides to walk her down to Coach Sylvester's office, sending a text for Santana to meet her as soon as Rachel shows up at the bathroom, and she can get away.
Meanwhile, in the bathroom with S & Q (this happens WHILE Brittany and Mandy are talking)*
"Fucking assholes!" Santana curses as she bangs the bathroom door open, only realizing how loud she was when Dave gives her a look.
"Sorry," She mutters, stepping closer to Quinn. "Hey, babygirl."
She turns briefly to Dave.
"Did you call Rachel?"
"Yeah. She is finishing a test, won't be here for another 10–15 minutes."
She nods to that. Hopefully, Quinn's mind is not processing that little tidbit of information, given that they are already a full 5+ minutes over her separation limit.
Then addresses Noah…
"Puck, go wash that off in the other bathroom, I can stay here with Q until Rach shows up."
"No way! I'm staying here, I have to make sure she is ok–" He turns to Quinn, who is leaning against the furthest wall, which is where she went the moment she entered the restroom. "Babe, do you want me to help rinse the slushie off?"
He steps closer, but Santana is in-between them, and moves to be further in front of Quinn, blocking Noah's path.
"Look, Noah," She knows he is listening; he always listens when she first-names him. "I get it – your girl has been hurt, and you want nothing more than to help her, but right now? Right now, being crowding by men, even her sort of-kind of boyfriend, is not what she needs. Do you remember the last time a male tried to help her clean up? Remember when you and I and the girls had a mud war in the backyard, and my papí tried rinsed us off with the water hose?"
And, unfortunately, he does remember. Quinn did not handle Carlos coming towards her with the hose very well. He was simply going to spray her off, enough that she could go inside with the others and get an actual bath without tracking mud on the floors. She thought she was in trouble, and immediately panicked.
Needlessly to say, a "no male" rule was made for the next time the kids needed help cleaning up – pertaining to Quinn, specifically. Rachel handled it from there on out, if any of their dads were helping them clean up.
And now?
He wants to be that exception.
He wants to be the male that Quinn can be comfortable around.
"Come on, San," He mutters it lowly. "She might say 'yes'."
But Santana sighs because…
She won't say 'yes'.
He knows, she knows it, hell, even Dave knows it.
"She won't." Santana sighs. "She'll want Rachel. Who will be here any minute, by the way. Just go get cleaned up, and you can wait on them afterwards." Then, softly, she adds, "Please." because he is still hesitant, and she does not want to have to resort to using physical force.
"Santana–"
"No!" She growls it out, trying not to raise her voice too much but also losing her patience, and not having any sympathy left. "Leave with Karofsky, or I will throw you out on your ass, Puckerman." Santana points to the door harshly, and she knows it is in anger that he is leaving, not recognition of knowing she is right.
Santana winces at the sound of the door being slammed open. Dave follows him out, leaving just her and Quinn.
Sighing, she steps twice to the right, then approaches Quinn slowly. She is doing it from the side so that if Quinn feels trapped, she has a cleared view of the bathroom door.
Arriving about three steps away, Santana smiles as her friend looks up at her. She can't read the stormy hazels looking back at her, and it pisses her off, but it also concerns her because it means she does not know what the girl is thinking right now.
She cannot figure out where her head is at the moment, and that could prove to be very bad.
"Hey, Q." She sighs. "I know you are going to want Rach to do this, but I need to at least wipe some of the slushy off your face and arms, ok? 'Cause, – and you know I am right about this, babe, – if she shows up here and you are still covered head to toe, it will be my ass she has, and it's been four days since she "Santana-ed" me, and I'd like to keep going, if you don't mind."
Humor, 'cause, ya'know, Santana Lopez does not do mushy feelings, but hey, she'd do it in a heartbeat for her girls, and right now?
Right now, she is hoping Quinn understands that she means that in only a 50/50 humor-serious way.
It works, though.
And Santana cannot even begin to describe the relief that washes over her as Quinn's lips quirk up in a very tiny smile.
She gestures to the sinks with her head.
"Come on."
Quinn comes to one of the sinks, leaning against it, while Santana gets a paper towel and wet it to make it as soft as possible. She wishes she had her bag, because she could use the baby wipes that are in it, instead of the scratchy bathroom paper towels.
But, she dropped the backpack in front of her locker earlier right after this happened, and she really does not want to leave Quinn alone right now to go back and get it.
"Okay, babygirl, look here," She wrings the towel out, stepping closer to her friend. "May I see your arm, please?" Santana holds her right hand upturned, waiting patiently as Quinn, first, hesitates, but then places her arm on Santana's open palm.
The older girl then adjusts so she is holding Quinn's hand, saying, "I am going to wipe your arm off, alright? And, if it gets to be too much, Q, I want you to just squeeze my hand, and I will stop. I won't be mad, I promise."
She knows Quinn is extra-sensitive to touch right now, though she has always hated touch when it was not completely, 100% unnecessary – Brittany learned that almost right away in the fourth grade, while Rachel realized it back in kindergarten. They both had to adjust their need for physical contact/hugging when it came to Quinn, which is also when the "touch permission" integrated into their lives.
Santana waits until Quinn acknowledges what she had said before she begins gently wiping as much blue slush off the blonde's arm as possible. The damn thing sticks to her skin, and is also sticky as hell, which makes the task daunting, and she hates the fact that several minutes has passed, and the slush is only cleaned from her wrist and up a couple of inches.
"I'm sorry, babygirl," She sighs. "I know this is probably uncomfortable as hell, and you would much rather have Rach doing it…" She sighs again, throwing away what has to be the sixth paper towel and getting a new one.
Quinn watches as the Latina tries to rein in her anger, presumably at the newbie Cheerio who did this, but, more than that, at herself. She probably blames herself for not seeing what was about to happen like Britt apparently did and, though Quinn is silent now, not speaking, not participating much in their daily conversations, she is still 1/3 of the Unholy Trinity, and she has known Santana since they were 9 years old, and…
She finally moves her hand from where it had been stationary in Santana's hand. She squeezes and, knowing that Santana thinks this means she cannot handle anymore touching, she keeps her fingers enclosed around the other girl's fingers.
Using her other hand to smooth Santana's out to an open palm, she slowly signs the letters, "I-t-s" and "o-k". And Santana falters for a moment.
"It's not ok, Q," She rasps out and she is, most certainly, about to do that self-deprecating thing without it actually sounding self-deprecating, so Quinn tugs on her hand to keep her from pulling away.
And she signs, more forcibly, "Yes, it is."
"It isn't, Q, but I appreciate the effort, anyway."
And that fucking laugh is self-deprecatory enough so Quinn, knowing that she won't be convinced without words, and also knowing she is unable to produce those at the moment, simply flattens Santana's palm again, then lays her hand down while holding up her pinkie, thumb, and index fingers, which is how you sign the letters "I", 'L", "Y", and is also known at the universal "I love you" sign.
She leans forward a bit, resting her forehead against Santana's shoulder, feeling the older girl lean her head against Quinn's, whispering, "I love you, too", and the two stay that way for several moments before the door is being slammed open again, and really?
Does no one suddenly remember how to gently open a door in this place?
"Lucy!–"
It's Rachel. She is frantic as she shoots into the bathroom and immediately falters and stumbles upon seeing their position. She calms slightly, though not by much, and asks, "Are you okay?"
Quinn backs away from Santana which prompts her to turn around, as well. She simply nods to Rachel's question but the Diva steps closer, inspecting her face, which is splotched with the blue slush.
She suddenly turns to Santana, fire in her eyes.
"What the hell, Santana?!"
The Latina throws her hands up at this because really?
She hears Quinn giggling, and points to her, "What'd I tell'ya!" She throws her own hands up, in a whatever/I surrender gesture, "Britts talked to the one who did this, and I am going to meet her in Coach's office right now to see "what the hell" happened." She uses quotes around the words she copied from Rachel.
"I tried to clean off a little bit but the damn stuff is stuck to her like glue, and I know the touching was just making her uncomfortable. I don't know why it happened, but you better believe I am going to finding out why the hell this happened."
She sighs then, turning to Rachel.
"You got this? Britts needs me to meet with her now."
"Yeah," Rachel just kind of… huffs it out. "We're good, go on."
Santana leaves and the Diva turns back to Quinn, sighing once more.
"Alright, Angel, let's get to it, shall we."
And there it is. An alternate take on Quinn and Noah being slushied. I loved writing that Quinntana moment there at the end, and also having Brittany be the one who spoke to Mandy. Now, she did not actually get in trouble, and apart from making sure they don't actually kill them, Sue will let Santana and Britt choose the punishment for the three who told Mandy to do this in the first place.
So, review and let me know what you thought! :)
Also…
This story is officially one month old! As of right now, the stats are: 6 reviews, 7 favorites, and 12 followers. That is amazing. I know you probably get tired of hearing me that, but it really is, so thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and favorited so far! :)