AN: It's been a while. I'm not even all that sorry.

Chapter 6 - rated T, posted 20.09.12

Bus timetables are hard.
Finn had learned this.
He only wanted to go to Hollywood to get his advert into the movies.

After a lot of hard work, he found himself stepping off a bus and onto the warm pavement of Hollywood.
He was outside what looked like a television studio.
How exactly does one go about entering a television studio?

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Ryan was looking for Quinn.
He had to explain the Jessie situation before the blonde got the wrong end of the stick.

With a massive blush at his own thoughts, Ryan made his way to Quinn's locker in hopes of finding the elusive football player.
What he found was a blur of blonde hair as the boy stormed in the opposite direction.

Huh.

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"What in Sue Sylvester's name are you doing here, Stretch?"

"Um…coach Sylvester? What are you doing here?" Finn asked, surprised.

"This is where I do Sue's Corner. But of course you know that."

"You work for Hollywood?"

"Are you kidding me? Hollywood works for me!"

"That's great! You can help me with my ad!"

"And why, for the love of one Sue Sylvester, would I deign to help the likes of you?"

"Um…I don't know what you just said but if you could get them to show my ad on T.V, that'd be awesome." Finn grinned his lopsided grin.

Sue sighed.
"Ok, Jolly Green - and I say this because it is my duty as the Great Sue Sylvester to help those who are way, way, way beneath me - let's take a look."

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Quinn decided that he hated the world and everything in it.
He especially hated people.
He especially, especially hated a few people in particular.
Namely Ryan and Jessie. Finn too but no-one had seen him in a while.

A freshman wandered past and he decided that he hated him too so he emptied the contents of his slushy cup over the poor boy.

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Ryan was out of breath. He'd been chasing Quinn around all day to no avail.

"Hey, boyfriend, care to explain where you were at lunch?" Jessie asked with an expectant stare.

"Oh! Hello, Jessie. I'm sorry that I couldn't meet you but I had some rather important business to which I needed to attend. I actually still need to. I don't suppose you've seen Quinn around, by any chance?"

Jessie just looked at him for a moment before raising and eyebrow.
"So you've been ditching me for a guy? While I must say that I'm not entirely surprised seeing as you are very into Broadway, I am a little disappointed. I should have guessed, really. No straight man dresses himself that well though that is a recent development…"

"I haven't been ditching you, I just need to find Quinn. I have to make sure he knows something. Actually, he was the one who dressed me this way. I asked him to make me look cool. For the benefit of the club, of course. We thought that if everyone in the club was cool, more people would want to join and we could have proper auditions instead of the 'anyone-who-shows-up' mentality we currently have."

"Why didn't you say so!?" Jessie exclaimed "I happen to be a marvellously talented costume designer as well as my numerous other talents. It comes from my many years of acting in community theatre productions where they simply don't have the skill needed to make me shine so I am forced to do everything myself. That reminds me, you really must see my one-woman show."

Ryan was unable to do anything but nod before he was dragged away by a determined Jessie, rambling about talent and beauty and that hair-and-makeup bitch who's tyres she slashed.

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Quinn was still pissed.
He stalked into school, ignoring the scores of frightened students who fled from his hard glare.
And then he saw Ryan.
That bastard was standing by Jessie's locker while the girl fussed over what looked to be a new outfit.
Oh. So not even Quinn's clothes were good enough for the prick, huh?

Quinn watched as Jessie gestured to her cheek, which Ryan promptly kissed, and sashayed off down the hallway.
Ryan turned and caught sight of Quinn.

For a second, time stood still for the blonde.
He looked at Ryan who was about to run after him and was consumed by what he could only describe as lustful rage.
He turned and stormed back to his car.
Fuck school.

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"Quinn! Wait!" Ryan called to no-one. "Damn it."

"Hey, Berry, looking fine." a cheerleader giggled as a group of them walked past.

Ryan didn't have it in him to blush. He didn't care what they thought of his new look.
At least maybe his plan was starting to work. More girls in glee club. That's what he wanted, right?

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"That fucking…bastard…fucking clothes…fucking cool…fucking sexy…fuck…" Quinn muttered to himself as he slammed his bedroom door.
He picked up his phone and dialled.

"Quinn? What the Hell do you want? Aren't you in school?" came the irritated voice of Santana.

"San, I need your help. Bring Britt."

"The fuck, Fabray? Where -"

"My house."

"Wh -" but Quinn had already hung up.
Santana sighed and nudged Brittany's head off her shoulder before standing and pulling the blonde up with her.
"We gotta go watch Q have another nervous breakdown."
Brittany just nodded.

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"So what did you need us for, Q?" Santana asked as she watched the boy pace angrily.

"I need you to make me hot." he replied.
Santana was about to ask what the fuck he was on about but was beaten by Brittany's excited jumping before she grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door.

She followed them to her car and sat in the back as Brittany drove them to an unknown location.

Ten minutes later, she found herself being dragged into the mall and straight into a clothing store.
Brittany turned to her and gestured to Quinn and the clothes.
"Go." she said and Santana sprang into action.

A further ten minutes found the girls sitting outside the changing rooms waiting for Quinn to come out.
"Fabray! Get your ass out here right now or I'll drag you out by your pretty, blonde hair!"

"Um…just a sec."

"San, is a sec, like, the singular version of sex?"

"No, Britt, that would be a w -"

"Ok, I'm out. How do I look?" Quinn asked nervously as he stood before the cheerleaders in super-tight trousers and a ripped t-shirt.

Brittany mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'fucklicious' and Santana stalked around the boy, eyeing him appraisingly.

"Hot. You're seriously rockin' the badboy look, Q."

Quinn looked at himself in the mirror and had to agree.
Take that, Ryan.

"Ok, now it's my turn!" Brittany clapped her hands and dragged Quinn to pay for his new look before leading them all out of the shop.

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"What in Sue Sylvester's name was that, Man-child!?"

"Um…an ad for glee?" Finn answered confusedly.

"No, Lurch, that was a steaming pile of fresh disgrace! You call that an ad!? Where was the oomph? The pizzazz? The Sue Sylvester!?"

"…Uh…"

"Forget it, Teen Flump. Luckily, you have the amazing Sue Sylvester on your side and she has decided to help you by making the greatest ad ever."

"Really? Thanks, coach!"

"Shut up, Quasimodo."

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"Err…guys? I don't know about this…"

"Quit your yammering, Q, we gots to make you smexy and we can't do that if you don't let us work our fairy godmother magic."

Quinn was sat in front of the sink in Brittany's bathroom with a towel around his neck.
His hair was covered in slime that the girls assured him would make him look irresistible.

"Ok, time's up. Wash it out, Britt." Santana instructed the excited girl.

The slime was washed out and his hair was dried and styled.
Santana sat with an unreadable expression on her face and Brittany beamed from ear to ear as Quinn looked at himself in the mirror.

"It's pink." he stated.

"I know! Isn't it great!? The unicorns will be so happy!"

Quinn said nothing as he looked to Santana for her opinion.
She observed silently for a moment before reaching up and ruffling his pink hair slightly.
Then she smirked.
"You're fuckin' hot, Q."

"Totally!" Brittany agreed.

Quinn scrutinised his reflection a bit more before smirking as well.
Resist me now, Berry, he thought.

~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

It took him three days but Ryan was finally able to catch Quinn.
Too bad he forgot why he was looking for him as soon as he laid eyes on the pink-haired punk version of the boy.

As he stared at the former blonde, Ryan's thoughts went a little bit like this:

…Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuu…

Seeing the effect he had on the shorter boy and psychically reading his thoughts because he could do that now, he smiled and waltzed away.

Take that, stupid, sexy, Berry.

~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

"Hey, Quinn." Sam greeted as he sat next to her in the choir room.
He smiled and nodded back.
"I like your new look. Very daring." she smiled. "Kinda reminds me of Pixie from X-men."
Quinn laughed at this.

"You can't see my wings through my shirt, can you?"
Sam looked very closely at Quinn's back before smiling and shaking her head.

"Ok, maybe you're not like Pixie. Maybe a bit more like Marluxia without the scythe or Shuichi. Oh! You could totally be Shuichi but more butch!"

"Um…Shuichi?"

"From Gravitation." Sam explained but Quinn still looked blank so she left it. "Natsu form Fairy Tail! Oh! We could get you a massive sword and you could be Flay Gunnar!"

"Sam! I've never hea- Wait, are these anime characters?"

Sam blushed and murmured "Not all of them."

Quinn laughed again and the two made plans to hang out at Sam's house after school so Quinn could learn about anime.

From the back of the room, Ryan looked on at the pair's interaction with narrowed eyes.
What the heck was Quinn playing at?

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"Fffampama?" said the mass of blonde hair on the pillow of Santana's bed.

"Hmm?" she replied from her own pillow.

"Haboo eba ooippen u pam pipshum?"

Santana raised her head and thought for a second.
"What?"

Brittany rolled onto her back so her face wasn't shoved into the pillow anymore and repeated her question.
"Have you ever written a fan fiction?"

"No, I haven't. Why?" the Latina replied.

"No reason." Brittany shrugged.
She was seeing other realities again.

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Quinn was laughing hard.
Sam was swatting at his arm in an attempt to get him to stop.
It didn't work.

"How can you watch this?" Quinn chuckled "It's ridiculous."

"Is not!"

"The plot ranges from awful to non-existent, the characters and one-dimensional and unlikable, everyone keeps bursting into song at the most inopportune times…need I go on?"

"Ok, ok, you've made your point, we'll stop watching." Sam huffed.
They'd stopped watching anime when Quinn pointed out that eyes should not be that big and humans shouldn't have cat ears unless it's relevant to the plot.
Now they were watching some stupid musical drama thing. Or they were until Quinn complained.

"We're not having much luck with the TV," Quinn stated "what do you want to do instead?"

Sam thought about it and decided that she was going to take a chance and act on some feelings she'd been having.

"Well…we could go to my room if you want…?" she smiled shyly.

Quinn thought about it.
Sam was a pretty girl with a super fine body. She was nice and funny and she liked comic books and graphic novels (which are "not the same, Quinn!" as she had told him) and she watched terrible TV and was into anime and gaming.
Quinn decided that Sam would make an awesome girlfriend.
And that's mostly why he said what he said next.

"Sam," Quinn started with a small smile "you just might be the most awesome girl I've ever met and being with you would no doubt be amazing but I can't."
Sam's smile dimmed slightly but she nodded.
"I have a bit of a reputation for being a lady killer but I don't tend to treat girls very well. I've never really been in a relationship that lasted longer than an orgasm and I like you too much to do that to you. I'd prefer it if we just stuck to being friends, if you don't mind. I need you to teach me the difference between manga and gekiga."

Sam chuckled lightly and nodded again.
"I had to try." she smiled.

"I'm flattered that you did. But seriously, what's the difference between manga and gekiga?"

Sam just laughed again and led Quinn to her computer to learn about some very important facts of life.

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He's regressed, Ryan thought as he watched the pink-haired boy laugh with the blonde at the other end of the corridor.
And after all the progress they'd made!

He couldn't let this happen.

Quinn was confused.
He was sure he hadn't meant to go into the bathroom but there he was, up against the cold, tiled wall.
So that was what it felt like.

"How could you do that to Sam!?" Ryan demanded harshly, pressing Quinn against the wall.

"Do what?" Quinn asked, genuinely confused.

"How could you use her like that!? Haven't you done enough using for one lifetime?"

Quinn was sure that he could feel his blood boiling.
He didn't need to be psychic to know what was going to happen next.

"I'm not using anyone! Who the fuck do you think you are that you can just accuse me like that without knowing the whole story!? What gives you the right to judge me for what I choose to do? Even if I was using Sam - which I'm not - who are you to tell me off?"

"You're not using her?" Ryan asked in a quieter tone of voice.

"No! I'd never do that! She's my friend and I care about her and, yes, she may have expressed interest but I could never led her on because I care about her! I know I have the second shittiest record in school for this kind of thing but I do have a soul and I care about my friends."

"So…you aren't with Sam?"

"No! For fuck's sake, get that through your head! Why do you even care anyway? You're have that whole inevitable Broadway romance with your female double which, by the way, is disgusting! It's like you're dating yourself."

"Jessie is not my female double! What about you and Sam? You're basically the same person! I'm surprised you aren't dating given the level of narcissism you display!"

"Fuck you!" Quinn bellowed.

"Exactly. There's no doubt that you would indeed fuck yourself if given the opportunity which is why Sam is perfect for you. You should go for it." Ryan spat angrily.

"Sam and I are just friends! Sam and I will always be just friends because I can't be with anyone else!"

"…What?"

But Quinn had already stormed out of the bathroom, leaving Ryan confused and breathing heavily.
Anyone else? What did he mean by that?

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"Hey, Ryan." a girl called.

"How's it going, dude?" a jock asked.

"Berry! Looking fly!" some guy complimented.

"Hey, boyfriend." Jessie smiled as Ryan sat next to her at the lunch table. He just nodded tiredly in response.

"What's wrong?" she asked, rubbing his arm soothingly.

Ryan shook his head.
"Just Quinn stuff."

Jessie nodded. She didn't really care about Quinn. She did care about how cool Ryan had become and how hot he looked in his new outfit.
"Have you noticed how popular you are now?" she asked.
Ryan just shrugged.
"Come over tonight?"
Ryan shrugged again.

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"I was thinking that since we have so much in common, like out immense talent, that maybe we should try this for real." Jessie said as they sat on her bed.

Ryan looked at her, confused.
"I mean that instead of pretending that we're dating, we should actually date."

"Oh…" Ryan replied.

"You're cool now; the perfect leading man. I'm the perfect leading woman. We'd be the perfect Broadway couple."

It was then that Ryan realised that his perfect leading woman had pink hair, muscles and a slightly stubbly chin.
When he put it that way, it sounded kinda creepy.

"While I appreciate the offer, Jessie, I'm afraid I'll have to decline on the grounds that we're just too similar. It'd never work. I'm stubborn and headstrong and so are you. Our arguments would never end. We'd end up plotting each other's dramatic demises only to find out that we'd each hired the same contract killer or used the same poison in the soufflé."

"Poisoned soufflé; very dramatic."

"Yes, I know. But anyway, Jessie, I just don't think we'd work out for real. Do you think that we could still be friends?"

Jessie smiled and lead Ryan to the door.
"Sure, baby, but remember," she smirked, running her finger down the boy's chest "if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me."

And then she shut the door.

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Quinn was still angry.
No, angry wasn't quite the right word.
More like heartbroken.
How could Ryan say something like that? Didn't he know him at all?
And then Quinn got all weepy and stared out of his bedroom window, imagining Ryan turning up at his house to serenade him.

Ryan was upset.
He wanted to be with Quinn but he didn't know if he could take much more pain.
If only they could just sit down and talk about it without anger or fake girlfriends or stupid songs.
He looked out of his window and imagined seeing Quinn pull up on a motorcycle outside his house with a guitar and a shy smile.

Jessie was gutted.
Ryan had become damn fine since she worked her Broadway voodoo and made him all sexy.
He was a leading man. Her leading man.
They should be together.
Oh well, she thought as she stood on the empty stage of the school she'd broken into at night, seems like the perfect time for a song.

Quinn's spidey senses tingled as he felt the psychic band start up for one of those weird 'are-they-really-singing-or-is-it-a-dream-sequence' performances.
Those guys must get paid fantastic overtime.
He shrugged and let himself drift into the song he wasn't sure was actually being sung.

The psychic piano came in first.
Jessie took a deep breath and channelled her emotions. That's what performers do.

"There's a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend;
There's a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;
And you never know 'til you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb.

There's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time."

Quinn and Ryan softly sung along to the psychic song from their respective bedrooms.

"There's a fine, fine line between a fairy tale and a lie;
And there's a fine, fine line between 'You're wonderful' and 'Goodbye'.
I guess if someone doesn't love you back it isn't such a crime,

But there's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of your time."

Jessie belted out the next part. She enjoyed belting out songs.

"And I don't have the time to waste on you anymore.
I don't think that you even know what you're looking for.
For my own sanity, I've got to close the door
And walk away...
Oh..."

Ryan and Quinn both joined back in with the next part.

"There's a fine, fine line between together and not;
And there's a fine, fine line between what you wanted and what you got.
You gotta go after the things you want while you're still in your prime...

There's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time."

Well, Quinn thought through tears, that settles it: I have to join the psychic band.

Songs: Fine, Fine Line - Avenue Q.

AN: I hate this editor. It keeps stealing my words.

On the bright side, they added interrobangs. To the guest reviewer, yes, WTF indeed.