Whirlwind
After Quinn moves into Rachel's house after getting kicked out, you'd think that it'd be more likely for her to be woken up by loud obnoxious singing. But nope, turns out it's a loud obnoxious elliptical instead.
Note: based on this tweet I made twitter dot com /paradoxalpen/status/1299734355405807616
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Quinn's rudely awakened from her sleep by a loud noise.
Grumbling internally, she briefly registers that her internal clock is telling her that it's way too early for this – it's Saturday, and she hasn't needed to wake up so early ever since- well, ever since she was kicked off the Cheerios.
The reminder only serves to make her raging headache even worse, and she swats a hand out habitually to turn off the alarm clock that she assumes is the cause of that horrendous sound filling her ears.
When her hand hits nothing but air, her brows crease together, and she sits up only to see white walls instead of the familiar pink of her room's. It's then that another reminder crashes into her, and Quinn gets the sudden urge to cry, because this isn't her room.
This is the Berrys' guest room, because she fucking got kicked out, and-
Quinn blinks, hard, and she ignores the sting in her eyes with a vengeance, choosing to channel her energy into feeling annoyed at being woken up at such an early hour instead. The annoying whirl of what she identifies to be a machine doesn't seem to let up at all, the obnoxious buzzing driving her insane with its high volume, and Quinn growls, her body moving on autopilot.
She vaguely recognizes that she's in no place to be complaining about anything, but she's exhausted and emotionally spent and so not in the mood for this, so without herself even knowing it, she stalks her way out of her room to find the source of her head-splitting headache.
When she finishes tracing the noise and stops in front of the door where the commotion seems to be coming from, it really should be no surprise at all that it's marked with a giant golden star with the initials R.B. smack dab in the middle.
Quinn lets herself roll her eyes internally, and not really giving much thought to her actions – it's fucking 6am in the morning and she wants to sleep dammit – as she pushes open the door on impulse.
She isn't sure what she's expecting to see, but somehow Rachel working out on her elliptical isn't what she quite imagined, and Quinn just stands there for a second with her jaw gaped, staring at Rachel as she works out diligently.
The girl seems to be too focused on something in front of her to notice Quinn – wait, is that a photoshopped picture of Rachel holding a Tony as she gives an acceptance speech? – but a few more moments past, and Quinn thinks to herself that she's probably concentrating too much on how good the brunette looks, her calves flexing in a mesmerizing action and a thin layer of perspiration covering her forehead; that's not how good Catholic girls should act at all, and Quinn Fabray is certainly not finding…a girl working out attractive.
But then, she remembers that she's long gone past 'how good Catholic girls should act', and resisting the urge to put a hand to her belly, she unconsciously lets out a scathing scoff.
It alerts Rachel to her presence, and she lets out a small yelp of surprise as she almost falls off her elliptical.
Quinn instinctively reaches out to steady the stumbling girl before she realizes what she's doing, and she steps back immediately with wide eyes. Thankfully, it seems like Rachel didn't catch her slipup, too busy taking in Quinn's sudden appearance in her bedroom.
It makes Quinn realize how much of a mess she must look right now, and she fidgets in place, just barely stopping her hand from reaching up to smooth out her hair. She shouldn't care so much about how Rachel sees her, she shouldn't, because it's Berry for god's sake, and if that line of thought can go two very different ways, she doesn't let herself dwell on it.
The somewhat unsettling silence is broken by Rachel's voice though, chipper and upbeat as always, and Quinn can't help but think, of course she's a morning person, why wouldn't she be?
She can't quite decide if it's with an undertone of annoyance or fondness.
"Quinn! You must've been woken up by my elliptical, my apologies," Rachel says with a sheepish smile on her face. "My dads have been meaning to soundproof my room ever since that pesky lawsuit was filed against my person, but I admit I haven't been expediting the process as quickly as I should've been. I'll make note to see what I can do to hurry it along."
Quinn, unsure why the feeling in her chest at Rachel's rambling feels more like warmth instead of irritation, just gives her a dry look in response, and Rachel seems to take that as a slight against her. "Look, it's not my fault I wasn't able to foresee your stay at our residence, no matter how psychic I may be," the brunette defends, an almost pout forming on her face.
And if her tone is carrying a bit of a whine to it, Quinn will never admit that her lips curve upwards in amusement as a result.
"You're fine Rach," she laughs lightly, voice still rough from sleep, and she watches as Rachel takes on a peculiar expression.
"R-Rach?" she questions.
Quinn tugs on her lip softly in a nervous tick. "Don't make this weird Berry."
"Of- Of course Quinn," Rachel nods, and a bashful smile nearly blinds the blonde in its sweetness. "Now would you like to go back to sleep? I can get off the elliptical, I've mostly finished my workout today anyway."
At the remembrance of the sleep that Quinn was so unjustly robbed of, a grumble makes its way out of her throat, and she shakes her head. "I can't really go back to bed after I wake up," she sees.
"I see," Rachel says regrettably, before a slightly hopeful look dawns in chestnut doe eyes as she offers, "would you like to eat breakfast with me then? My dads are most likely snoring away right now and I'm not a very good cook – my skills lie with baking really – but I'm sure we can dig something out of the fridge."
"Yeah sure, I just gotta freshen up in the bathroom first, I probably look like crap," Quinn groans, and she runs a hand through her hair to tousle it.
"You look beautiful Quinn, you always do." Rachel has her brows furrowed, almost as if she doesn't believe Quinn's words, and it sends something rushing through her; if she thinks hard enough, Rachel's actually one of the only people who've given her affirming words of support, and she doesn't really know what to do with that information.
"Well," Quinn gives a small shrug, not really knowing what else to say, "thank you." She moves to turn around and leave, but before she reaches for the door handle, she can't help but pause. "For- For everything."
She can practically feel Rachel's megawatt smile from the back of her head. "You're welcome."
It's said with so much passion and joy that a flutter rushes through Quinn's stomach unwillingly, and she knows there's so much more she needs to say, but that's the best she can do for now.
Living with Rachel Berry sure is turning out to be interesting.