Author's Note: Drabble for Faberry Week: Hickeys. Set after My Life Before Me Undone.
To Cover Up
Don't need make up
To cover up.
Being the way that you are is enough.
~What Makes You Beautiful, One Direction
Laura knows before anyone.
She has an eye for detail and a career built on the art of covering things up. Eight times a week, she covers up the small, crescent scar on Rachel Berry's forehead that she'd gotten falling off a stage at the tender age of two, and she covers up the tiny gold star tattooed on her wrist that appeared after opening night. Laura had been pissed about the extra work, but a job is a job.
Laura knows when Michael Garcia pokes his head into Rachel's dressing room a week after opening night as she's applying the makeup for Maria's first scene and asks her if that hot blonde friend of hers is single.
Rachel's mouth turns down into a frown beneath the lipstick that Laura is carefully applying before she snaps, "You aren't her type," and Laura curses under her breath at the smear the movement causes on Rachel's lips.
"I'm everyone's type," he boasts.
"Not Quinn's," she insists.
"What? Is she gay or something?" he asks laughingly, and Rachel only glares until he gets the message, holds up his hands in surrender, and backs out of the room slowly.
Laura knows because she knows all about Quinn—every tedious detail of their high school rivalry, their triumphant path to friendship, the many outings they've shared since Quinn moved to New York, and all of the reasons why Rachel doesn't approve of the women that Quinn chooses to date.
Laura knows when Rachel chatters in her makeup chair for two days straight about some guy named Peter who's just come back from London and asked her out to dinner. She doesn't ask for details—she never needs to ask with Rachel—but she gets the story anyway, and when Rachel returns to her chair, uncharacteristically quiet after their date, Laura really doesn't need to ask why.
Laura knows when Rachel shows up one Friday with a secret smile, rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes, and yet another thing for Laura to cover up. She brushes Rachel's hair to the side, assessing the deep purple bruises on her neck and collar bone with a critical eye and watches Rachel's cheeks turn even duskier.
"Sorry," she mumbles sheepishly.
Laura sighs and shakes her head, choosing the appropriate shade of cover-up to make Rachel's indiscretions disappear. "Just tell Quinn to be more careful in the future."
Rachel's eyes grow wide, and she chokes back a nervous laugh, but she doesn't deny it. She only nods before tipping her head to the side and giving Laura room to work her magic. By the time she's finished, no one will ever know the marks are there.
But Laura knows.