Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Rachel left Subway after she had eaten her cesar salad. She had no idea why she always went to Subway to eat her snack even though she wanted to change her diet for months. But since that incident had destroyed her prospects of ever making it to Broadway, her discipline was at rock bottom, and whenever she saw one of those good-looking muffins or cookies of the bakery next to her apartment, she got weak.

Sighing, she crossed the crowded street to walk back to the building of Juilliard, after all, her next students were already waiting.

And gasped for air when she saw a man in front of her that was about to undress placidly.

...

All he wanted to do was take a shower after his trip from Detroit to his stepbrother's place. When he was in Kurt's (and for the time-being, his) bathroom, Finn started opening the zipper of his jeans and put it off, just like his shirt.

"What in god's name do you think you are doing?!", someone suddenly shrieked.

Finn jumped a few inches in the air when he heard the voice. He slowly turned his head – and saw a brown-haired woman standing next to him with an aghast face expression.

"What the-"

"You see, there are rules here in America", the woman started berating him. "I'm not against nudists, but I think there are special places for them, and also for you."

Finn cocked his eyebrows confusedly. "How long have you been standing here?"

"Long enough, that's for sure", the woman replied dryly. She looked around irritatedly. "Why do people keep on staring at me? I cannot be the only one who has seen you, right?"

What the hell was going on?

"Which people?", Finn asked her.

The woman looked at him with a bewildered face expression. "People that are…"

"Finn?" Kurt had entered the bathroom and was looking at him with a frown. "I heard you talking. Are you okay?"

Finn looked at him, more confused than ever. "Yes, but that woman…"

"What woman? There is nobody but the two of us in that room."

When Finn turned his head to the direction where that mysterious woman had just been standing, nobody was there.

"But I swear, she has just been there!", Finn exclaimed, stunned. "I also talked to her."

All Kurt could do was shake his head about his stepbrother's imagination. "You need to go see a doctor. Maybe, you are about to lose it." With that, he left the bathroom again, closing the door behind him.

Finn rubbed his eyes and stared at the spot for a couple of minutes before he shrugged and undressed fully to take a shower, blaming that hallucination on the pills against travel sickness he took earlier that day.

"Are you in the mood for Thai food?"

Tina grinned when she let in her guest that had just been ringing on her door.

"Perfect timing, Artie, I have been starving", she sighed relievedly, and Artie rolled to her living room and put the takeaway boxes onto the table. Her eyes lit up when she opened her box. "Green Thai chicken curry with rice noodles – You are the best!"

"And your favorite appetizer: Coconut Shrimp Soup with peas.", Artie smiled when he retrieved another takeway box from the bag. "I told them to mince the shrimps as well because that's the way you love it."

"Thank you so much, Artie", Tina thanked him and gave him a hug. "You are the best best friend I could wish for."

Artie grinned from ear to ear. "I know", he joked. "That's also what the mug says you have given to me last year."

With crossed legs, Tina sat down on the couch in front of her flatscreen TV and took the remote, Artie rolled to the spot next to the couch with his food on his lap. "What kitschy movie will we watch on Netflix now? To all the boys I've loved before? Again?"

Tina looked at him with puppy dog eyes. "Would you mind?"

Artie laughed. "You know, there are hundreds of other movies on that platform and we only watch one all the time."

"It's just I love this movie", Tina gushed. "There are not that many Asian leads in US-American movies. Whites: Yes. Black people: Yes. Latinas and Latinos: Also yes. But Asians are definitely underrepresented, and that's not okay."

"I wouldn't say anything if I was you, Vivian Kennedy", Artie teased her. "Why do you hide your real identity from the world?"

"That's an entirely different situation, you know that", Tina defended herself, pouting.

Artie just looked at her with a frown. "Is it?", he muttered while he bit into his shrimp.

Luckily, Tina hadn't heard him.

"Hey, Lopez!"

Dani was running after her when Santana left the Striptease Club and hailed a cab.

The two of them got in, and Dani scooted closer to the Latina, smiling seductively and touching her thigh.

"Dani, I already told you: We can't", Santana explained to her friend slowly, putting her hand away.

Dani sighed. "The old Santana I knew would jump at the chance to do it with me any time, even on the backseat of a cab. Why did you become such a bore lately? What had gotten into you?"

What had gotten into her was a certain blonde she had met at the coffeeshop around the corner of Wilderness, the Striptease bar where Santana and Dani were working.

A blonde named Brittany Pierce.

Brittany Pierce had been her old childhood friend, and they had been inseparable back then in kindergarten, preschool and primary school. When they were thirteen, Brittany got a scholarship for a school for intellectually gifted kids like her, so she moved away from Florida to Massachusetts which was hours away.

They tried staying in touch for a while, but after a couple of years, they lost sight of each other.

But now, Brittany was back, obviously.

A couple of days ago, Santana had spotted her at Starbucks where she drank a hot chocolate and had a phone call. For some reason, Santana didn't dare coming over to her table and hid behind the counter until the blonde left again.

After that, Santana had retrieved her iPhone and stalked Brittany on her Instagram account. Turned out that she had a Bachelor and Master of Mathematics from MIT (the photos with the diplomas in her hands she had posted prove it) and was about to write her dissertation for her PhD.

All Santana could think was what a genius Britt needed to be. And felt something like pride. Back then, everyone except for Santana was convinced that Brittany was just simple-minded and dumb, but boy, they were all wrong. That Britt had proven them all wrong was just unbelievable.

Whether Santana felt inadequate? Not at all. But she still didn't have the guts to talk to her former friend. She and Britt hadn't talked to each other for thirteen years. Whether Britt still remembered her? Whether she was good enough for her? After all, Brittany was something like a female Einstein with all her degrees, and Santana was just a stripper that only graduated from highschool and dropped out of college after the first few weeks.

Okay, she was wrong. She definitely felt inadequate.

But she wouldn't tell Dani about it, she just wasn't ready to talk about it yet. Especially not with her ex.

"Nothing. I am just not in the mood", Santana decided to answer. When the cab stopped in front of her apartment, she got out. "Good night, Dani."

"Are you sure?", Dani asked her with her sexy whispery voice, smiling seductively. "That would be a shame. You know how much fun we had in the past."

With all the might she had, Santana turned away. No, she wouldn't win her over like that. Not tonight. That trick wouldn't work this time.

"I have never been surer before", Santana answered in a nonchalant tone before she closed the car door, stepped back and watched the cab drive off.

Sighing, she turned around and walked to the entrance door of the giant apartment complex. Hopefully, she would have enough courage to talk to Brittany tomorrow.

"I am so sorry I am late again." Out of breath, Kurt arrived at the restaurant where a certain ginger man was already waiting at their table. "My boss needed me longer than expected."

"It's okay, Kurt", Vincent, his boyfriend answered, smiling at him softly. "You already texted me, you didn't need to apologize as well."

"You are so understanding, I don't deserve you", Kurt said to him and smiled from ear to ear. His smile faltered when he saw what liquid was in Vincent's glass. It looked so brown -greenish, almost like…puke. "What in god's name are you drinking?"

"My new diet", Vincent explained to him and showed him his glass. "Low-carb smoothie, it contains hydrogen peroxide, so it's good for my skin as well."

Kurt grimaced. "So this is supposed to be your lunch? Vince, you know how much I hate eating proper food beside you while you are just drinking that…that slime! You are a grown up man, is it even healthy to skip your meals day by day?"

Vincent threw him a killing glance. "You know that I would do everything for my job, babe, even if I have to pass on proper food and drink some slime instead."

Sighing deeply, Kurt said: "I know, I know, and I am sorry. I shouldn't have said that. It's just…I have so many designs to sketch, the deadlines are getting closer and closer and I don't know whether I will make it in time."

"Of course, you will, Kurt", Vincent assured him, looking convinced. "I mean, you are Kurt Hummel. You even designed a coat for poodles within 24 hours. You are a genius."

Kurt looked at him lovingly. "I don't know how I deserved you. You are the best boyfriend I could wish for."

"Don't say that", Vince answered him back with the same loving face expression. "I don't know how I deserved you. From the first day we have met, you have been special to me. You overshadowed everyone in the room with your confidence and your sovereignty. At the same time, you are the most caring person I know. Kurt, I love you."

Suddenly, Vincent got up and walked towards Kurt whose eyes had widened in shock. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, grow old with you. I want you to be part of my life forever." Vincent knelt down in front of him and retrieved a box from his blazer's pocket. Kurt gasped for air, everyone in the restaurant went silent. "Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, do you want to marry me?"

Kurt didn't need to think twice before he answered with a fervent: "Yes!" He took the ring from the box and put it on, then, he grabbed Vince and kissed him passionately.

People around them applauded, some of them had tears in their eyes. But while Kurt kissed a jubilant Vincent, the man he was supposed to love and the man with whom he supposedly wanted to spend the rest of his life, he couldn't help but wonder whether he had taken the right decision.

Because deep, deep down, he knew that Vince wasn't the right one.

With her guitar, Mercedes sat down on the barstool of the stage and took the microphone. "Hey, guys. It's me again. I wrote another song, it's called Colorblind. Hope you like it."

That's how she spent her free Friday nights, whenever she wasn't busy with writing her doctoral thesis or taking care of injured guinea pigs at Dr. Schuester's office: Performing songs at the local bar.

When she was little, Mercedes wanted to become a singer-songwriter, like Beyoncé or Aretha Franklin. She wanted to be the biggest popstar the world had ever seen. She wanted people to know her name and to love her music.

But unfortunately, her parents were not so thrilled about her idea.

"Are you aware that you are black, Mercedes?", Naomi Jones had asked her when she was twelve.

"Yes?", Mercedes didn't understand why her mother asked her that question.

Naomi and Conor, her dad, had exchanged worried glances.

"In the western world, black people need to struggle more than white people do", Conor explained slowly. "It's harder for people like us to get good jobs just because of us being black. If we fail, the whites will blame it on the color of our skin."

"That's why you need to be better than them, sweetie", Naomi added. "You need to get the best grades, go to a good college and prove them all wrong. You will be the one who laughs last once you have a higher educational degree, a well-paid job and can afford a Porsche. Or a Lamborghini. But being a singer isn't the right way, believe us."

"But…"

"Becoming a singer is just a childish dream, Mercedes. It's time for you to grow up and think of a more realistic goal. Don't forget: You are black, the world isn't that forgiving to you if you don't make it."

So Mercedes gave up her dream and started working hard to make her parents proud. With her straight A average GPA, she got into Stanford where she took veterinary medicine as a major and got her bachelor's and master's degree. In order to write her doctoral thesis and to start working at Dr. Schuester's office whose assistant doctor had retired not long ago, she had returned to San Diego. Since she had not that many classes to attend anymore as a Ph.D. student, she could continue her studies via distance learning, a brand-new concept at Stanford.

Singing in that bar was the only thing that was still left from her childhood dream. Yes, she learned to love her current job, but sometimes, she wondered whether her life would have been different if her parents hadn't convinced her to search for another dream.

When she was done with her song, people in the audience applauded.

Mercedes cocked her eyebrows when she saw a blond man among the clapping people, she was sure he hadn't been there before. He looked moved by her performance and was blinking some tears back.

When Mercedes blinked, the man was gone.

What the…?

Taking her guitar, she left the stage again and decided to leave the smoky bar to clear her head. After she did so, Mercedes walked over to the pier that was right next to the bar, leaned against the railings and looked up the star covered sky.

The nights in San Diego were warm, a soft breeze was ruffling Mercedes' weave and she brushed back a strand.

"Your song…was beautiful", someone next to her suddenly spoke up.

Startled, Mercedes turned her head. How was that even possible? She had been all alone when she walked down the pier, nobody followed her.

But for some inexplicable reason, the mysterious man she had just seen at the bar was now standing next to her.