cruiscin_lan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cruiscin_lan) wrote2009-11-07 03:37 pm
cruiscin_lan) wrote2009-11-07 03:37 pm
FIC: Step Ball Change, Chapter One
Title: Step Ball Change (Chapter One)
Characters: Love quadrangle Rachel/Puck/Finn/Quinn, with Brittany and ensemble
Word Count: 1453
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: If I owned Glee then all proceeds would go to the Howard Bamboo Legal Defense Fund.
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers up to "Mash-Up."
Summary: Rachel, Puck, Finn, and Quinn try to sort out their relationships with one another, while Brittany tries to make new friends in glee club.
A/N: Beta'ed by the kickass![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cameroncrazed. This story will probably be AU from the next episode onward, but here it goes anyway.
Puck had never slept with anyone before. Sex, yes - that was something he'd had lots of experience with - but never the canoodling afterwards. When he was with girls his age, they'd kick him out before their parents were home; when he was with cougars, it was the same thing, but with their husbands. And so he'd never watched the rise and fall of a woman's chest grow slower and slower as she drifted into sleep. He'd never draped his arm around someone and held her close all through the night. And he'd definitely never woken up beside her the next morning.
And even though she woke up disgusted and angry with herself, Puck still thought it was kind of nice.
He was Quinn's first, and in a way she was his, too.
****
Finn's sleeping problems had started at the beginning of the school year.
Part of it was due to the stress of classes and football and, soon enough, glee club, but mostly the insomnia had to do with... girls.
It wasn't that he didn't like Quinn - he did. She was hot, and popular, and really smart, too. She even let him copy her homework sometimes. But she was always on his case about something or other, and she wouldn't even let him touch her boobs.
And then there was Rachel. Rachel - who could sing like crazy, Rachel who tried to solve more problems than she created, Rachel who so obviously liked him - and better yet, she seemed okay with sex, too.
So some nights Finn found himself lying in bed, holding onto a mental image of them both in his head, as though her were trying to compose a compare/contrast chart of the two.
Rachel is a really pretty name, he'd think. But hey, Quinn rhymes with Finn. It would be about that point when he'd finally fall asleep.
****
Joining glee club hadn't been Brittany's idea. She was always the one to simply tag along with what others told her to do, and when Quinn got it into her head that she needed to join in order to save her boyfriend from Rachel Berry, Brittany had followed suit. It was fortunate that Sue Sylvester thought to use them as her spies; if Brittany had been kicked off Cheerios for insubordination, she wouldn't have known what to do. Anyway, while it had been fun learning some dance steps and performing for Mr. Schuester, aside from that Brittany felt awkward and out of place in the music room.
If she were truly honest with herself, though, Brittany had always felt out of place, even among the Cheerios. She knew she was dumb, and easily influenced, and she didn't know how to fix that. She had the looks, she had the body - but she didn't have the confidence to be herself. She didn't even know who that person was.
And so it was another uncomfortable afternoon at glee practice when the gay kid and the stuttering Asian approached her.
"Listen - Brittany, is it?" he asked, running his fingers through his perfectly coiffed hair. "I don't think we've been properly introduced."
"I don't know your name," Brittany admitted. She sat up a little straighter in her chair, uneasy.
"I'm Kurt. And this is Tina," he said, putting his hand on Tina's shoulder. Tina looked like a rabbit, smiling nervously as her eyes darted from side to side. It was like she was looking for an escape route. "I'd like to invite you to an exclusive engagement this weekend. Tina and I are going to film our own 'Single Ladies' music video, and we'd like you to be a part of it."
"Why me?" Brittany asked.
"B-b-b-because we already asked Mercedes, a-a-a-and she wouldn't do it unless she g-g-got to be Beyonce," Tina told her.
"There are some things I simply cannot compromise on," Kurt added. "Besides that, Rachel hogs the spotlight and the other Cheerios scare us a little."
That reassured Brittany. She was a little scared, too. Besides that, the dancing was her favorite part of glee club so far, and she really liked Beyonce. It felt nice, too, to be asked for once, instead of simply being told what to do.
"Okay," she said. "I'm in."
****
In English class earlier that day they'd started reading The Old Man and the Sea, but they started by going over some info about Ernest Hemingway. One of the things the teacher brought up was his famous six-word short story: "For sale: baby shoes. Never worn."
Puck didn't get how that could be a story. It was only six words. About baby shoes. How lame.
And then after football practice he heard another six words that completely changed his world.
"Quinn's pregnant. She's keeping the baby," Finn told him, and then walked away, leaving Puck stunned and confused.
****
Romance did not come readily to Rachel Berry, and yet somehow early into her sophomore year the number of boys she kissed had accelerated from zero to two. But kissing was just kissing - apparently it wasn't the blossoming of a beautiful relationship, as she'd always hoped. Still, if there was anything that she'd learned about love in Broadway showtunes, it was that it came in seasons. Or that love makes the world go round. Or that they say it's wonderful. Something like that.
At any rate, her short dalliances and her commitment to glee club had been seriously cutting into her Myspace schedule, and it was about time she got back on track. She was missing several weeks of videos, and now, alone on a Saturday night, she could finally spend some time catching up. She had queued up the karaoke tracks on her computer, and was vigilantly searching for songs she hadn't recorded yet.
As she looked, though, she couldn't get this whole Finn and Quinn and Puck mess out of her mind; perhaps her thoughts bled a little bit into some of her final selections. She made a new playlist, including:
Paul Simon: "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover."
Foreigner: "I Want to Know What Love Is."
Ella Fitzgerald: "What is This Thing Called Love?"
But when she sang them, she wasn't happy with the way the recording turned out. Too sharp, too flat, too... preoccupied, perhaps. Sighing, she put her camera away.
****
Finn was already stressed out enough. With Quinn yelling at him about ice cream, and Rachel being so nice that it was hard to stop thinking about her, he barely had room in his head to think about football plays and dance steps. It didn't help matters any when he returned to his locker between classes and found Jacob Ben Israel lingering nearby. Finn still hadn't forgotten that Jacob was the one responsible for breaking the news about Quinn's pregnancy on his blog, and that he'd blackmailed Rachel out of her underpants. He tried not to listen, but Jacob's voice was like a deflating balloon - whiny, high-pitched, and demanding attention.
"Most of the comments on my blog are crying out for details," Jacob said. "Details of your and Quinn's scandalous sex life. Care to share?"
"You have five seconds to get out of my face before I smash yours," Finn said as he shut his locker. "Five, three... four..."
Jacob stepped back, flinching, but continued to goad Finn, still hoping for a story. "Fine by me. I was planning to take some creative liberties with it anyway. Gotta give the readers what they want, you know."
"You're sick, you know that, right?" Finn growled, stooping to glare directly in Jacob's eyes. Unfortunately, he was just dumb and angry enough to play right into Jacob's hand. "You want to make up stories, or you want the truth? 'Cause the truth is that Quinn and I never had sex. It was an accident in a hot tub, and..."
"Girls can't get pregnant from hot tubs," Jacob interrupted. He was confused for a moment, trying to figure out whether Finn was pulling his leg.
"...and then... wait, what?" Finn asked. "They can't?"
"It's an urban legend," Jacob replied. "Biologically impossible."
"But they're the perfect temperature... for helping sperm swim faster..." Finn started, trying to remember it exactly as Quinn had explained.
"It's been debunked by various sources. Check Wikipedia." As he spoke, the corners of Jacob's lips turned up a wickedly gleeful smile, the perfect expression of schadenfreude. Finn really had believed the hot tub story. "So, just to verify, you would stand by your earlier statement that you never had sex with Quinn Fabray?"
That wasn't the real question. The real question Jacob was asking was who Quinn had slept with.
But the who didn't matter as much to Finn as the had.
Characters: Love quadrangle Rachel/Puck/Finn/Quinn, with Brittany and ensemble
Word Count: 1453
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: If I owned Glee then all proceeds would go to the Howard Bamboo Legal Defense Fund.
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers up to "Mash-Up."
Summary: Rachel, Puck, Finn, and Quinn try to sort out their relationships with one another, while Brittany tries to make new friends in glee club.
A/N: Beta'ed by the kickass
cameroncrazed. This story will probably be AU from the next episode onward, but here it goes anyway.Puck had never slept with anyone before. Sex, yes - that was something he'd had lots of experience with - but never the canoodling afterwards. When he was with girls his age, they'd kick him out before their parents were home; when he was with cougars, it was the same thing, but with their husbands. And so he'd never watched the rise and fall of a woman's chest grow slower and slower as she drifted into sleep. He'd never draped his arm around someone and held her close all through the night. And he'd definitely never woken up beside her the next morning.
And even though she woke up disgusted and angry with herself, Puck still thought it was kind of nice.
He was Quinn's first, and in a way she was his, too.
Finn's sleeping problems had started at the beginning of the school year.
Part of it was due to the stress of classes and football and, soon enough, glee club, but mostly the insomnia had to do with... girls.
It wasn't that he didn't like Quinn - he did. She was hot, and popular, and really smart, too. She even let him copy her homework sometimes. But she was always on his case about something or other, and she wouldn't even let him touch her boobs.
And then there was Rachel. Rachel - who could sing like crazy, Rachel who tried to solve more problems than she created, Rachel who so obviously liked him - and better yet, she seemed okay with sex, too.
So some nights Finn found himself lying in bed, holding onto a mental image of them both in his head, as though her were trying to compose a compare/contrast chart of the two.
Rachel is a really pretty name, he'd think. But hey, Quinn rhymes with Finn. It would be about that point when he'd finally fall asleep.
Joining glee club hadn't been Brittany's idea. She was always the one to simply tag along with what others told her to do, and when Quinn got it into her head that she needed to join in order to save her boyfriend from Rachel Berry, Brittany had followed suit. It was fortunate that Sue Sylvester thought to use them as her spies; if Brittany had been kicked off Cheerios for insubordination, she wouldn't have known what to do. Anyway, while it had been fun learning some dance steps and performing for Mr. Schuester, aside from that Brittany felt awkward and out of place in the music room.
If she were truly honest with herself, though, Brittany had always felt out of place, even among the Cheerios. She knew she was dumb, and easily influenced, and she didn't know how to fix that. She had the looks, she had the body - but she didn't have the confidence to be herself. She didn't even know who that person was.
And so it was another uncomfortable afternoon at glee practice when the gay kid and the stuttering Asian approached her.
"Listen - Brittany, is it?" he asked, running his fingers through his perfectly coiffed hair. "I don't think we've been properly introduced."
"I don't know your name," Brittany admitted. She sat up a little straighter in her chair, uneasy.
"I'm Kurt. And this is Tina," he said, putting his hand on Tina's shoulder. Tina looked like a rabbit, smiling nervously as her eyes darted from side to side. It was like she was looking for an escape route. "I'd like to invite you to an exclusive engagement this weekend. Tina and I are going to film our own 'Single Ladies' music video, and we'd like you to be a part of it."
"Why me?" Brittany asked.
"B-b-b-because we already asked Mercedes, a-a-a-and she wouldn't do it unless she g-g-got to be Beyonce," Tina told her.
"There are some things I simply cannot compromise on," Kurt added. "Besides that, Rachel hogs the spotlight and the other Cheerios scare us a little."
That reassured Brittany. She was a little scared, too. Besides that, the dancing was her favorite part of glee club so far, and she really liked Beyonce. It felt nice, too, to be asked for once, instead of simply being told what to do.
"Okay," she said. "I'm in."
In English class earlier that day they'd started reading The Old Man and the Sea, but they started by going over some info about Ernest Hemingway. One of the things the teacher brought up was his famous six-word short story: "For sale: baby shoes. Never worn."
Puck didn't get how that could be a story. It was only six words. About baby shoes. How lame.
And then after football practice he heard another six words that completely changed his world.
"Quinn's pregnant. She's keeping the baby," Finn told him, and then walked away, leaving Puck stunned and confused.
Romance did not come readily to Rachel Berry, and yet somehow early into her sophomore year the number of boys she kissed had accelerated from zero to two. But kissing was just kissing - apparently it wasn't the blossoming of a beautiful relationship, as she'd always hoped. Still, if there was anything that she'd learned about love in Broadway showtunes, it was that it came in seasons. Or that love makes the world go round. Or that they say it's wonderful. Something like that.
At any rate, her short dalliances and her commitment to glee club had been seriously cutting into her Myspace schedule, and it was about time she got back on track. She was missing several weeks of videos, and now, alone on a Saturday night, she could finally spend some time catching up. She had queued up the karaoke tracks on her computer, and was vigilantly searching for songs she hadn't recorded yet.
As she looked, though, she couldn't get this whole Finn and Quinn and Puck mess out of her mind; perhaps her thoughts bled a little bit into some of her final selections. She made a new playlist, including:
Paul Simon: "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover."
Foreigner: "I Want to Know What Love Is."
Ella Fitzgerald: "What is This Thing Called Love?"
But when she sang them, she wasn't happy with the way the recording turned out. Too sharp, too flat, too... preoccupied, perhaps. Sighing, she put her camera away.
Finn was already stressed out enough. With Quinn yelling at him about ice cream, and Rachel being so nice that it was hard to stop thinking about her, he barely had room in his head to think about football plays and dance steps. It didn't help matters any when he returned to his locker between classes and found Jacob Ben Israel lingering nearby. Finn still hadn't forgotten that Jacob was the one responsible for breaking the news about Quinn's pregnancy on his blog, and that he'd blackmailed Rachel out of her underpants. He tried not to listen, but Jacob's voice was like a deflating balloon - whiny, high-pitched, and demanding attention.
"Most of the comments on my blog are crying out for details," Jacob said. "Details of your and Quinn's scandalous sex life. Care to share?"
"You have five seconds to get out of my face before I smash yours," Finn said as he shut his locker. "Five, three... four..."
Jacob stepped back, flinching, but continued to goad Finn, still hoping for a story. "Fine by me. I was planning to take some creative liberties with it anyway. Gotta give the readers what they want, you know."
"You're sick, you know that, right?" Finn growled, stooping to glare directly in Jacob's eyes. Unfortunately, he was just dumb and angry enough to play right into Jacob's hand. "You want to make up stories, or you want the truth? 'Cause the truth is that Quinn and I never had sex. It was an accident in a hot tub, and..."
"Girls can't get pregnant from hot tubs," Jacob interrupted. He was confused for a moment, trying to figure out whether Finn was pulling his leg.
"...and then... wait, what?" Finn asked. "They can't?"
"It's an urban legend," Jacob replied. "Biologically impossible."
"But they're the perfect temperature... for helping sperm swim faster..." Finn started, trying to remember it exactly as Quinn had explained.
"It's been debunked by various sources. Check Wikipedia." As he spoke, the corners of Jacob's lips turned up a wickedly gleeful smile, the perfect expression of schadenfreude. Finn really had believed the hot tub story. "So, just to verify, you would stand by your earlier statement that you never had sex with Quinn Fabray?"
That wasn't the real question. The real question Jacob was asking was who Quinn had slept with.
But the who didn't matter as much to Finn as the had.