Archive of Our Own

“I mean, I just don’t think Tina should have the solo, Mr Schue. I’m just more talented--” Rachel is talking but she’s cut off when Quinn enters the room and instantly Rachel’s attention is drawn to the blonde. Quinn looks at each seat that’s occupied by the Glee club members and her eyes widen when she spots the missing person.

Worried eyes dart to the teacher. “Where’s Sam?” 

“Uh I don’t know Quinn. He’ll probably get here soon.” 

He barely gets to finish his sentence before Quinn is out the door in a flash and Rachel doesn’t even hesitate in following the blonde out. At this point in their senior year, Rachel considers herself a good friend of Quinn, even though she wishes they’d be a bit more.

Yes, she managed to get a crush on the head cheerleader, cue the laughter. In all honesty, she was screwed from the moment they started hanging out together more after Rachel convinced her to get back in the Glee club after the whole Skank phase. There was just something about Quinn that was so liberating when she wasn’t at school. She could let loose way more and just act more free by cracking up jokes and she doesn’t have the intimidating look that she has at school all the time. 

So she considers them enough friends to be allowed to follow her out the door. Quinn is walking at a fast pace, talking on the phone and Rachel stays a couple of feet away.

“Where the fuck are you?” she hears Quinn say sternly into her phone. “God-- You’re such a dumbass… No! Stay there, I’m coming to you… Do I look like I care?... Okay, I’m on my way.”

Quinn suddenly turns around and she nearly drops her phone when she sees Rachel has been following her. 

“Rachel.” Quinn breathes out. Her face is scrunched up in nervousness and the diva really wonders who she was just talking just now. “How much of that did you hear?

The distressed look on her face tells Rachel that she shouldn’t tell the truth or ask any questions. She swallows, “Nothing, I just-- Is everything okay?”

Quinn shakes her head, suddenly getting closer to the brunette. Everything about her body language tells her something bad has happened. Quinn usually has a straight posture, her head held high and wouldn’t move even if someone tried to scare her. But right now, she’s fidgeting on her feet, her hands rubbing together and her brows are so furrowed it looks like they’re stuck there.  “I gotta go. It’s Sam, I-- Just tell Schue I had an emergency, okay?” 

“Quinn,” Rachel says in a soft voice. “Are you okay? Do you want me to come with you?” 

“No!” Quinn instantly says and the hurt of the rejection must show in her face because the blonde releases a breath, reaching out to take Rachel’s hand. “It’s okay. I just have to go.”

The diva feels almost light headed at the way Quinn’s thumb is rubbing the back of her hand so she just nods and the blonde’s shoulders ease a little bit. Then, she walks around her, straight in the direction of the exit.

“Quinn!” Rachel’s mouth moves before she can stop it. “Just be careful, okay? I heard there was another attempt at a robbery last night.”

Quinn nods before walking out the door but it doesn’t help calm Rachel’s nerves. Everything in her body is asking her to follow the blonde so she can find out what happened but she respects her too much for that. It’s just that with all the crimes happening in the town lately, it’s normal to be a little on edge. She supposes it could be worse. though since they do have someone that goes against the bad guys. 

Spider-Man. 

It was a myth at first. A kid had gotten his bike stolen and he said a man in a red and blue suit had appeared out of nowhere, swinging on webs and he had gave him back his bike but it was a 7 year old kid and people tended to not really trust children. Besides, how could it be true? But soon, more people came forward telling the news they had seen the very same thing and before they knew it, someone managed to catch a picture. 

Just like the young boy had described it, a man with a red and blue skin tight suit was shooting webs out of what looked like his wrists and he had a tiny spider on his chest. It didn’t take too long before the media named him Spider-Man and people were torn between whether or not he was a good guy or if he just made everything worse. 

Rachel was raised to always see the best in people so she definitely believed he was a good person, even if she had never had an encounter with him. Some people in Glee club thought he just made things worse, like Finn, while some people thought it was the coolest thing that could’ve ever happened to their town, like Mike. 

It had been a couple of months since the first Spider-Man appearance and people still had no idea who he was but Rachel didn’t really blame him. Some news networks still trash him often and also you wouldn’t want the bad guys to find out who you are and attack your family or loved one. So, for her, the mask made sense. A small part of her almost wishes she could meet him one day. 

The only person that was kind of unbothered by Spider-Man and didn’t seem to really have an opinion on him was Quinn. Rachel remembers when a new picture of him came out earlier this year and she had showed it to the blonde asking her what she thought of him. Quinn had just shrugged with a neutral expression on her face.

“I just think what he’s doing is dangerous. Hope he’s good.” 

Then, she had reached for the remote control and put on the first romantic comedy she saw on Netflix and Rachel had shut her mouth, cuddling up to Quinn on her bed. 

“Rachel?” she hears from behind her and she turns around to see Finn. “Mr Schue is wondering if you’re coming back.” 

She nods and quickly follows him back into the choir room where the teacher asks her where Quinn is and the blonde’s anxious face reappears in her mind. 

“She said she had an emergency. I’m not-- She looked worried,” Rachel says, a little uneasy. Mr Schue looks at her with a concerned expression and lets her sit so they can finally start the class. She sits next to Santana and the Latina looks at her weirdly.

“You okay, midget?” 

She doesn’t get the chance to answer because Mr Schue starts speaking and she’s almost thankful for that because she’s not sure if she is. She’s just never seen Quinn so agitated before and she really wonders if Sam is okay. 

She can’t help but feel the pang of jealousy in her stomach and she hates herself for it. She just can’t help it. She likes the cheerleader so much and when they’re just the two of them, she can actually fool herself into thinking that Quinn might be into her too. She knows it sounds stupid but sometimes Rachel wakes up in the middle of their sleepovers and Quinn has an arm around her waist and her face in the crook of her neck and she’s pretty sure she’s the only person on earth that has ever felt what it’s like to cuddle with Quinn Fabray. 

But then, she watches Quinn and Sam in school and the illusion gets shattered and Rachel gets back to the reality where she’s a loser and Quinn is way out of her league and definitely not gay. Quinn and Sam have been close since Sam joined Glee club last year when they started dating and apparently they’re over now and only friends but that’s almost hard to believe. Sometimes, Rachel watches the two of them and the way they move together is just so familiar . It’s obvious that these two know each other well and sometimes it looks like they communicate without even having to talk and it drives Rachel insane. 

She’d much rather be sure that she doesn’t have the slightest chance with Quinn and that she’s with Sam than this weird game they play where the blonde makes her believe for half a second she wouldn’t be too opposed to the idea of kissing Rachel. 

She looks at Mr Schue and realizes she didn’t hear a word he said since the beginning of the period and she doesn’t have any intention of actually starting to listen now so she subtly leans forward so she can see Brittany who’s sitting on the other side of Santana. 

“Hey Britt,” Rachel whispers. “Did you hear anything from Sam today?”

“Sam?” Brittany looks deep in thoughts and then she shakes her head. “No, sorry. I’ve been mainly focused on Lord Tubbington lately. I think he might be Spider-Man,” she says and then her face turns sad and she whispers something to herself and Santana moves to comfort her. Rachel sighs and leans back in her seat.

After what feels like forever, the lesson ends and Rachel shoots out of her seat so she can call Quinn, ignoring Finn’s call out to her. 

“Come on pick up, pick up.” Rachel says to herself, walking to her locker and hearing the annoying rings. Finally she thinks that Quinn picked up but then she hears her say “Hey, leave a message after the beep. I’ll try to call you back but I probably won’t. I have better things to do.” 

“Quinn,” Rachel says into the phone. “Just wondering if everything is okay. The way you left was kind of worrying and I hope Sam is okay. Just-- call me back, okay? Bye.” 

The fact that Quinn didn’t answer her phone is not helping her nerves because Quinn usually always picks up for her. She briefly debates if she should just show up at Sam’s house but that just seems stalkerish so she decides against it and just figures she’ll talk to them tomorrow. 

Which is exactly what she does. The next morning when she sees Sam at his locker, she rushes to him. 

“Hey, are you okay? I’ve just been worried because Quinn left Glee because she said there was an emergency and I called her like four times last night and she didn’t call me back at all and it’s only been worrying more and I didn’t have your number so I’ve just been really stressed over what’s happening but you’re here today so you must be fine, right?” she rambles quickly and takes a big breath when she finishes. 

Sam just looks kind of shocked over the speech and she briefly wonders if Quinn lied to her about an emergency just so the two of them could ditch Glee club. That’s when she notices he has one hand over his ribs like they’re hurting and he has one tiny scratch on his face. 

“Sam?” she says when he doesn’t reply. 

He clears his throat, “Y-yeah, I’m fine.”

She arches an eyebrow when he doesn’t say anymore. “Okay. What was the emergency?” she looks down at his chest again and frowns. “Are you hurt?” 

“No,” he says quickly. Way too quickly. “I mean-- I just like, hurt myself working out last night.” 

She doesn’t believe that for a second. He’s a terrible actor and it’s obvious that his ribs are the cause of his pain and she doesn’t know how he’d hurt himself like that while working out. She knows they’re not close friends but she still wishes he’d tell her. 

“Sham,” she hears from behind her and she turns around to meet Quinn who doesn’t look at her at first. “How are you?” she says and the casualness looks so fake. 

“I’m okay, Quinn.” he says in a sigh.

“Hey, you don’t get to sigh at me, you dumbass. This wouldn’t have happened if--” she cuts herself off and looks at Rachel who was watching the exchange with avid eyes, wondering if one of them was going to slip up and tell her what happened. “Hey Rach.”

“Hi,” she says shyly and Quinn licks her lips, looking at her with intense hazel eyes that make Rachel’s stomach churn. 

“Sorry I had to ditch Glee yesterday.”

“It’s fine, is everything o--”

“Yes,” Quinn says and looks at Sam. Rachel is suddenly forced to watch them communicate with their eyes once again and it makes her feel awful and also very much like a third wheel. The bell rings and Rachel breathes out in relief because it ends the moment between the two blondes. “Come on,” Quinn says to Rachel. “I’ll walk you to class.”

The butterflies swarm in Rachel’s stomach and she nods, happy that Quinn wants to walk with her. She follows after Quinn and it’s silent for a few seconds until the blonde speaks up.

“Sorry about Sam. He’s an idiot that always gets himself into trouble.” Rachel frowns and she wonders what Quinn means by that but she doesn’t get a chance to ask because the girl continues. “But I love him so I have to take care of him,” she says with a teasing smile. 

Rachel’s heart drops in her chest and she forces a laugh even though it hurts. There’s just no way these two aren’t dating and if they aren’t, then they will be soon. They just act too close for anyone’s comfort and Rachel has to make peace with it. 

“Rachel?” Quinn says and the diva is pulled out of her thoughts. She’s always loved the way Quinn said her name but now, it just kind of hurts. 

“Yeah, sorry. Just thinking about Nationals,” she lies quickly and Quinn seems to believe her because she laughs it off.

“Of course.”

They reach Rachel’s class and Quinn smiles shyly at her in a way that makes her heart beat faster. Damn Quinn and her perfect smile. 

“Listen, I was wondering if you wanted to come by my house Friday? My mom will be out so…” Quinn trails off.

Rachel can’t help but smile back because even if she has an unrequited crush on the girl, she still wants to be close to her and if being her friend is all she can be, then she’ll be her best friend. 

“I would love that, Quinn.”

“Great,” the blonde says somewhat nervously, like she was scared Rachel would say no. “See you at lunch.” 

Rachel watches Quinn walk away with a dopey smile on her face and she forgets all about Sam and how mysterious he is. 

---

Thursday morning, Rachel can’t really help but overhear a conversation between Sam and Quinn at her locker and she feels like a stalker but it’s not her fault they’re in her earshot. 

“I heal super quickly Q, I’m fine.” Sam says in a failed whisper. 

“Yeah but you’ve been breathing weird lately. Is your binder okay?” Quinn asks and when Sam doesn’t answer her question, Rachel can hear the shift in Quinn’s voice when she asks more sternly. “ I said is your binder okay?”

“It may have got… torn up in the fight.”

What? A fight? Since when is Sam violent? That’s what hurt him the other day? Rachel is filled with questions but she knows she can’t ask any of them and it’s killing her. 

“Torn up-- I-- Sham are you fucking kidding me? You’re only telling me now?”

By the way Quinn reacts, it’s almost like she’s not surprised Sam got in a fight which just confuses Rachel more. Is Quinn supporting him in this?

Sam sighs heavily and looks down. “Look, it was like the third one you’ve bought me since and I feel bad!”

Rachel turns when she hears Quinn slap him on the shoulder loudly and the blonde smiles nervously at her and then lowers her voice so Rachel has to concentrate to hear the rest of the conversation. 

“Sam I don’t give a fuck about that! What have you been using then?” Rachel doesn’t hear Sam’s answer because he says it in a small voice but she doesn’t have to wonder long because Quinn repeats it. “Ace bandages? Are you a moron?”

“Listen--”

“No. I’m ordering a new binder as soon as I can. I’ll even buy some in extra. Next time just tell me, okay? It’s the least I can do since you do what you do and stuff. Besides you’re lucky I’m not still arguing over the fact that fighting with a binder on is fucking bad for you.”

What is she even talking about? Is Sam getting into fights that often?

Sam is silent for a moment and then Rachel hears “Thanks Quinn. I love you.” 

Well.

“I love you too, dumbass. Alright let’s get to class,” Quinn says and laughs when the blonde boy swings his arm around her shoulders. She smiles at Rachel walking past her but it only lasts a second before she turns her attention back to Sam and ruffles his hair. 

For what it’s worth if they are dating, they’re a lovely couple. 

Rachel just has to accept it. 

---

Quinn and her agreed to meet at her house at 7 PM so she decides to go get them some food before. She usually prefers to order in but her dads left her use the car today so she decided to pick it up herself. She’s waiting in line to buy Quinn’s gross extra bacon burger with her vegan burrito in her hands when the door of the store opens violently and three armed men enter, all shouting stuff that’s muffled by the balaclavas on their faces. 

Rachel instantly screams and she almost falls trying to walk backwards, dropping her burrito in the process. 

“Everyone to the wall now!” A gruff voice shouts and the five other customers with Rachel follow the instruction. She sees a boy behind the counter frantically typing on his phone but one of the men sees him and fires his gun towards the ceiling, making everyone scream. 

“No phones! Everyone give me your phones!” The shortest of them shouts. One by one, the workers and customers give him their phones and Rachel is the last one in line. 

She can hear her heart in her ears and she’s pretty sure she’s never been more scared in her entire life. The man steps in front of her, reaching an arm out and she gives it to him when a web sling grabs hold of the man’s hand. They all look to the left in surprise to see Spider-Man stuck on the wall with a web attaching him to the bad guy. 

“Hey, I don’t think that's your phone,” Spider-Man says and he tugs on the web, making the man fling to the wall with force and he catches the phone that flew into the air. “Unless pink cases with gold stars are your thing, I mean I’m not here to judge,” he says jumping on the floor and shoots more webs onto him so he can’t move and he’s stuck on the wall.  

The two other men point their guns at him and Rachel’s jaw drops open as she watches the superhero dodge every single bullet as though he’s moving in slow motion. It doesn’t take long before Spider-Man uses both of his hands to shoot webs and grabs ahold of the guns, taking them away from the robbers. 

He jumps high when the two men start running towards him and he sticks to the ceiling with his palms and uses his foot to kick the tallest guy in the face. He shoots one big web over his chest and the bad guy struggles for a couple of seconds trying to get up before he realizes the web is too strong and he gives up. 

“You guys know this place Uber eats right? It’s so much easier and you don't even have to hold people hostage,” he says dropping down and dodging the punch that the only standing guy throws at him. Rachel is frozen on the ground as she watches the superhero fight the bad guy and everyone gasps in unison when the man takes out a knife out of nowhere. 

The robber swings it in the air Spider-Man hisses in pain when the knife touches his skin and leaves a deep cut on his abdomen, ripping his suit. The hero is distracted for a couple of seconds while looking down at himself and the robber manages to punch him straight in the jaw. 

Spider-Man shakes his head like he’s trying to shake the pain off. “Well that wasn’t fair. Here give me your knife, you’ll see how it feels.”

“Shut up,” the man groans and he dives into him, swinging the knife around. 

They both get in a couple of punches before Spider-Man starts whistling. “I said shut up!”

“I’m not talking!”

“Yes, you are!” 

“I’m whistling. There’s a difference.” Spider-Man says and with that, he punches the guy right in the stomach and the hero swings around the room to wrap one big web around him so he can’t move his arms. 

He looks around the room and sees the three men looking at him with an angry expression and pretends to shake dust off his hands. “You guys were lucky I was getting food for myself right next door, right?” he says with a laugh and he puts his hand on his stomach subconsciously and hisses when he remembers he got knifed. The gash is bigger than it seemed to be at first and he looks like he’s losing a lot of blood. 

He shakes it off and looks back at the civilians. 

“You guys okay?”

Everyone talks at the same time but it seems to be a general consensus that they’re all okay so he nods. Rachel can’t believe what she just witnessed and it becomes even crazier when he walks up to her and crouches down in front of her. 

“Hey, this is yours right?” he says in a kind voice and if Rachel wasn’t so shaken up from the experience, maybe she’d recognize the voice but right now, her hands shake as she takes the phone from his hand and she’s too focused on the fact that something bad could have happened today if Spider-Man hadn’t come. 

“Yeah, thanks” she says in a shaky voice and one of the eyes of the mask wink at her and she smiles when it instantly makes her feel better. There’s just something really reassuring about him but she can’t put her finger on it.

He gets back up and he coughs to hide a hiss of pain but Rachel catches it. She’s about to ask him if he’s okay but he speaks up first. 

“You guys should get the burger with extra bacon. It’s so good,” he says and then in one swift movement he’s out of the door and through the windows, everyone watches him swing away. 

Rachel stays sitting on the floor for a couple of minutes just catching her breath, trying to calm down her heartbeat. Little by little, the customers get up and most of them decide to go home after something like this. Rachel hears the police siren and she decides to go outside, not really hungry anymore. 

She’s about to call her dads to let them know what happened when her phone lights up with a picture of Quinn and her the day they had went apple picking together. She accepts the call and starts talking before Quinn can greet her. 

“Holy crap Quinn, you’ll never guess what happened. I was just--”

“Rachel.” Quinn tries to cut her off. 

“No wait, so I was getting us food for tonight and I was even getting you that damn burger just for you and--”

“Rach, we have to cancel tonight.”

Rachel stops dead in her tracks and she frowns. “Oh. Why?”

“I just-- I had forgotten I had already made plans.”

Well, that sucks. Rachel is pretty sure the person next to her on the streets can hear her heart break. 

“Oh. That’s fine.”

She hears a deep groan on the other side of the line and a hushed “Quinn fuck, be careful!” and then Quinn whispers “Stop fidgeting!” back before her voice become clearer. “I’m really sorry, Rachel.” 

She swallows and tries hard to keep the sadness hidden from her tone. “It’s fine, Quinn. It happens.” Does it? “We’ll just do it another time.” 

“That’s a promise.” Quinn says and then Rachel hears more groans in the background and she’s about to ask what’s happening when the blonde sighs. “Okay, I have to go. Bye.”

Rachel doesn’t even have time to answer before she hears the other line go quiet and it takes a couple of seconds before she hangs up and sighs. 

“Bye Quinn,” she says to no one and ignores the look she gets from the stranger next to her and walks back to her car to drive home. 

--- 

Quinn texts her the next day about something random from Glee club and Rachel chooses not to bring up how weird she’s been acting lately because it would be meaningless. 

It has been just a couple of weeks since the fight in the restaurant and if she’s honest with herself she’s still a little shaken up by it. She finally managed to talk about it with Quinn and the girl was more worried about how Rachel could have gotten hurt than she was interested in the fact that the diva saw Spider-Man in the flesh and he had talked to her. 

“Hey Rachel,” Sam suddenly appears out of nowhere in the choir room and sits close to her. She jumps in her seat and he looks at her weirdly. “Woah, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine.” Rachel says in a nervous laughter. “I’m just a bit jumpy.”

“Because of the fight in that fast food restaurant?” he says and she narrows her eyes. 

“Yeah... How do you know about that?” she says slowly because she hadn’t told anyone except from her parents and Quinn.

His eyes widen and he looks at Quinn who’s just entering the room. “Quinn told me,” he says.

“What did I tell you?” The blonde girl says, taking a seat between them. Sam puts his arm around Quinn’s chair and Rachel tries not to let the jealousy show on her face. She still hasn’t seen them kiss at school but she’s 98% sure they’re dating at this point. 

“About how Spider-Man saved Rachel.”

Rachel looks avidly as Quinn turns to Sam with a pointed glare and then looks back at Rachel with a softened expression. “Yeah, sorry I told him. Is that okay?”

Rachel nods. “Yeah. It’s okay.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Brittany chimes in. 

“Nothing,” Rachel says. “I just met Spider-Man the other day.”

“What?” Artie says, suddenly very interested in the conversation. 

“Yeah, I was in the restaurant that the robbers attacked two weeks ago,” she tries to act nonchalant but Quinn notices her shaking hands and puts hers on top of them. Instantly, Rachel relaxes her shoulders and moves the chair closer to Quinn’s. The blonde smiles and squeezes her hands. 

“No way,” Mike says with a happy smile on his face. 

Finn groans and the Glee members look at him. He rolls his eyes, “I don’t see the big deal with Spider-Man.”

“Hey, he’s awesome.” Sam says quickly and Quinn elbows him in the ribs.

“He just brings trouble,” Finn says in an annoyed tone. “We didn’t have that much crime before he appeared. Remember two months ago when he destroyed that bank?”

“He tries his best,” Sam says with a determined expression. “I’m sure his job is not that easy.”

“Sham, shut up.” Quinn says in a hushed tone and Rachel’s brows furrow. 

“He’s an idiot that will get our town destroyed.” Finn continues.

Sam sighs heavily. “Hey, he’s--”

He’s cut off by Mr Schue entering the class and starting his lesson right away. Quinn moves her hand away from Rachel and the diva frowns. The blonde girl whispers something in Sam’s ear.

“Quinn, I know.”

She whispers something again that Rachel can’t hear and he grins. 

“God, you’re the best.” 

She smiles at him and pats his cheek a couple of times before turning back to the lesson. Rachel feels a sick feeling to her stomach and she’s mad at herself once again for falling for the head cheerleader who’s possibly the straightest girl she’s ever met. 

So what if she cuddles to Rachel at night during their sleepovers and hugs her just right and sometimes recites poetry to her, right?

God. 

Sam’s a lucky guy. That’s all she can say. 

---

She’s running errands on a random Saturday before she’s set to join Quinn at the movies when she hears a thwip in the distance that she doesn’t pay attention to but suddenly a red and blue figure appears in front of her and she jumps backwards. She’s not sure why Spider-Man is currently in front of her and she looks around if she’ll notice anything that’s happening. Is she in danger?

He clears his throat, “Hey miss?” he says in an obviously fake voice. It looks like he’s trying to make it deeper and she’s not sure why. “Couldn’t help but notice this man’s been following you for three blocks now, do you know him?”

She turns around and sees some guy wearing a cap and pretending he’s reading a journal and her heart leaps into her throat. 

“No, I don’t.” she says, voice already shaking with nervousness. 

He reaches out to her. “Hey, don’t worry. Here, if you trust me I can help you.” She does trust him so she nods and he holds out two thumbs up. “Alright, get ready.”

He puts his arm securely around her waist and she suddenly gets a whiff of a cologne she’s already smelled before but she can’t recall where. She doesn’t have time to think more about it because suddenly, he holds out his right hand and web shoots out of a small gadget around his wrist. She’s flung into the air and she shrieks loudly into his ear, hiding her face in the crook of his neck. He tightens his hold on her and so does she with her eyes shut because she has a feeling she’s pretty high in the air right now and she doesn’t want to imagine herself falling from this height. The wind is blowing from everywhere and she feels tears spring to her eyes because of it but she doesn’t dare to move a hand to wipe them.

After seconds that feel like hours, he grunts and her feet touch the ground lightly. It takes her a couple of seconds to understand she’s not in the air anymore and he chuckles when she pulls away from him slowly and looks at her surroundings. They’re on the roof of a building at the end of the street she was at. She can’t see the man anymore from afar and she assumes he gave up when he saw her literally disappear into the air . It’s a pretty high building so she can see a lot of the city from this view and she likes it. The air smells good from here and the wind is nice. 

“Are you going to throw up?” Spider-Man says and she chuckles.

“No. Just admiring the view.”

“It’s pretty nice, right?” he says, sitting on the edge of the building and she does the same with her feet dangling in the air. If she falls, she knows he’ll catch her. 

“It is.”

They stay a couple of seconds in silence together, just looking at the landscape of their small little town from Ohio. She can’t wait to get out of here. She can’t wait to be in New York all the time and finally be where she’s supposed to be. She’s a little nervous about going there alone because at first, she was planning on going there with Finn but they both broke up earlier this year. Plus, Quinn was accepted in Columbia but she chose to go to Yale instead which is an excellent choice, it just means they won’t be in the same city. 

Quinn promises they’ll visit each other, though. She even gave her metro north passes that made Rachel probably crush even harder on the blonde. 

“You okay?” the hero says when she sighs. 

“Yeah,” she says shaking her head. She’s not about to bother Spider-Man with her girl problems. 

Like he’s reading her thoughts, he says (still in is fake deep voice), “You know, sometimes it helps to talk to someone you don’t necessarily know.”

She looks down at the people walking on the streets below them and fidgets with her hands and decides that he’s right. Why not?

“I just-- There’s this girl I really like,” she says in a small voice, almost hoping Spider-Man won’t be homophobic because this is still a small town.

“Yeah?”

“She’s dating this guy.”

“Oh, damn.” Spider-Man says and she chuckles sadly. 

“Yeah. Damn. It just really sucks because one second I think she’s into me and then the other I see her with this guy and I feel so stupid for even thinking she’d be into girls. Especially girls like me.”

“What’s her name?”

“Quinn,” she mutters, kicking the air. His head turns to her so quickly she thinks he could’ve broken his neck and she looks at him weirdly. “What? Do you know her?”

He rubs the back of his neck and shakes his head. She desperately wishes he wasn’t wearing a mask so she could see the expression on his face.  “N-No. I’m just-- Are you sure she’s dating this guy?”

She chooses to ignore how weird he’s acting. “Well not 100% certain but I’m pretty sure. She’s already sneaking off with him and she’s cancelled on me like 2 times and I’m pretty sure it was to hang out with him each time.”

“Maybe they’re just really close friends?” 

“Yeah, right.” Rachel scoffs, looking at a bird flying close to her. “Either way, it’s not like I had a chance with her in the first place. She’s like the most popular girl at school and I’m a loser. Sure we’re close friends but that’s it. ”

“You don’t seem like a loser to me… huh...”

“Rachel,” she offers and he nods, continuing on with his deep voice. 

“You don’t seem like a loser to me, Rachel. In fact, I’m sure Quinn thinks the same thing since she’s friends with you.”

Rachel looks at her lap and sighs. “I don’t know.”

“People can surprise you sometimes, Rachel. I wouldn’t give up too quickly.” 

“So what do I do?” she says, turning to the masked hero and he shrugs. 

“You tell her how you feel and you see what happens,” he says as if it’s the simplest thing in the world. 

“What if she hates me for it?”

“She won’t,” he says instantly and she looks at him, almost exasperated at how optimistic he is when he doesn’t know anything about her situation. 

“How can you be sure?”

He shrugs and suddenly moves so his feet are stuck to the side of the building and he’s sideways in the air. “I just have a feeling.” They suddenly hear a small explosion from a few blocks away and they see a cloud of grey smoke appear. He sighs, making sure his mask his in its place. “Well miss Rachel, it’s been very nice to have a talk with you but I’m afraid some bad guys are begging for my attention and since they’re asking for it so nicely, I’ll give it to them.”

Rachel narrows her eyes. There’s something so familiar about the hero but she can’t quite put her finger on it. “You know, you remind me of someone,” she says slowly.

He chokes violently on his spit and loses his balance, shooting webs quickly to help him stick to the side of the building. “I’m just the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man,” he says and one of the eyes of the mask winks at her. He salutes her and jumps into the air, doing a backflip and she watches him swing away skillfully. Then she looks down and frowns. 

“How the hell am I supposed to get down now?” 

---

She doesn’t really end up telling Quinn she had an another encounter with Spider-Man because she’d just worry and Rachel would have to tell her they talked about her and she’d prefer not to. 

After Rachel figured out a way to get down, she joined Quinn at the movies and they saw a romantic comedy that had Rachel bawling the entire time while the blonde put her arm around her to comfort her. The diva is pretty sure that made her cry even harder.

Quinn is just such an affectionate person and Rachel noticed that it’s only with her that she acts that way. She never sees Quinn hug Mercedes or Brittany the way Quinn hugs her and it only fuels her crush on her even more which hurts. The blonde is just always reaching out to her in Glee club just by moving her chair closer or putting her hand on top of hers and it drives Rachel insane. It’s hard to remember that this is all platonic in Quinn’s eyes. 

Spider-Man’s words are in her mind and she’s trying to figure out what she should do. On one hand, she loves to be this close to Quinn and the risk of losing her friendship over this would be devastating and she’s not sure she’d forgive herself for ruining it all by opening her mouth. On the other hand, it’s becoming harder and harder for Rachel to bottle it all up since she’s someone that likes to talk about her feelings. It’s getting hard to pretend she doesn’t feel her heart skip a beat when Quinn touches her. 

It’s two weeks after her conversation with the web-slinger that she decides: fuck it, she wants to tell Quinn. She decides it on a whim and it might be a really bad decision but she doesn’t care. It’s a Wednesday night and Rachel barely remembers to warn her dads she’s going out before she drives straight to Quinn’s house. She knocks twice on the door with her heart beating hard against her sternum. It’s now or never. 

Quinn opens the door a little and when she sees who it is, her eyes widen with a smile. She looks absolutely breathtaking right now, wearing sweatpants and a crop top with glasses on top of her nose. Rachel had always loved when Quinn wore her glasses and she keeps telling her she should wear them more but the blonde won’t listen to her. 

“Rachel hey, I wasn’t expecting you. Did you text me?”

Rachel shakes her head, hands trembling together as she walks into the entrance. “No, I didn’t. I just-- I needed to talk to you. Is that okay?”

Quinn must see how nervous she is because she gets a worried look on her face and nods, guiding them to her bedroom. 

“Do you want water? Something to drink?” Quinn says like the perfect host she is and Rachel shakes her head, sitting on Quinn’s bed and pats it so the other girl can sit next to her. Quinn obeys without a word and Rachel takes a deep breath that only seems to worry Quinn more. “Rach, is everything okay?” the blonde asks, putting a hand on Rachel’s thigh. 

She nods shakily and decides not to overthink it. She’ll just come right out the gate and say it. “Listen, I’ve been feeling… a certain way for a while now and I didn’t know how to talk about it with you but I’ve decided to just say it because I can’t hold it in anymore.” She pauses and Quinn nods, urging her to continue. “I--”

A sudden noise makes them jump and suddenly, the window to Quinn’s bedroom on the second floor opens with a web stuck to it. Seconds later, a figure Rachel would recognize anywhere crawls through the window and falls on its knees, clutching his shoulder. 

Rachel’s eyes widen as Quinn rushes to Spider-Man without a second thought. She pats him a little bit and he puts his free hand on her shoulder as if he’s looking for reassurance. 

“Holy shit, are you okay?” 

“Got…. shot,” the hero mumbles thickly and Quinn nods, moving around her room quickly and comes back with a first aid kit. Rachel stays frozen on the bed, watching as Quinn makes Spider-Man rest against a wall. He grunts lightly and leans his head back. Rachel can see her chest going up and down as he breathes through the pain. The blonde moves as if she’s done it a hundred times before, unzipping the suit from his back revealing a chest covered with… a binder? 

“I’m gonna cut it,” Quinn says and he just groans in answer. The blonde cuts only the shoulder part so his chest is still covered and inspects the wound carefully from both sides. “Okay, well the bullet went straight through so it’s not still in you. You’re a lucky dumbass.”

“Thank fuck,” Spider-Man says. “I still have vivid nightmares about you digging the last bullet out with tongs.”

Rachel’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. It was obvious by the way Quinn acted that it wasn’t their first time doing this but to hear the confirmation is weird. Since when does Quinn know Spider-Man? And why hadn’t she told Rachel?

The blonde must have completely forgotten that Rachel was still in the room because she says,  “Take off your mask, it’ll help you breathe better.”

Rachel holds her breath as the superhero moves slowly to take off his mask, revealing swoopy blonde hair and a familiar face with a nasty contusion on his cheek. She knows that face, she sees it everyday. She gasps loudly when she recognizes Sam and the two blondes turn to her in shock. She puts her hand on her heart and points to the boy on the floor. 

“H-- Holy shit. Sam-- I’m-- You’re--” she stammers but she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to say in this situation. Of all people to be Spider-Man, she definitely did not expect her 17 year old Glee teammate to be him. 

“Fuck Rachel that’s right-- I’m--” Quinn says, scrambling for the mask but it’s too late. Sam just nods at her weakly. 

“Hey Rachel.”

“Sam-- You’re… Spider-Man,” she says, processing the information in her mind. Quinn sighs loudly, moving to bandage his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he breathes out and hisses when Quinn touches his wound. 

“Sorry,” she mumbles and he shakes his head, telling her it’s okay. 

“How?” she says, still completely shaken up because she can't believe the scene that’s happening in front of her. Quinn crouched down in front of Sam who’s wearing the Spider-Man suit, giving him first aid after he got shot .

“Long story. I got bitten by a spider.” Sam says, waving a hand off and he frowns. “Well I guess it’s not that long of a story.” 

“And Qu-- Quinn, you knew the whole time?”

Quinn answers without looking up from what she’s doing. “Sham came to me the second he got bitten because he thought it was venomous. I was literally there when he stuck to the wall for the first time. Dumbass nearly broke my ceiling.”

“Hey,” the hero pouts and she just ruffles his hair. 

“Then I made him the suit because we thought a dude all dressed in black would just look suspicious.” Quinn finishes. 

“It’s a dope suit,” he says.

“Would help if you didn’t tear it up every week.” 

“Hey, you try beating up bad guys. They play dirty.” Sam retorts back. 

“Touché,” she says and then pats him on the shoulder. “Okay, I’m done. You need to rest. The guest room should be free. If there’s any blood on the sheets, it’s yours. ” 

He gets up with Quinn’s help and kisses her hairline clumsily, which makes the diva frown slightly. “Goodnight ladies,” he says before sliding out of the room, holding his suit over his chest. Rachel is still looking at the door frame he disappeared from when Quinn sits back next to her. 

“I can’t believe Sam is Spider-Man,” she breathes out. “Will he be okay? I mean, he just got-- shot.”

Quinn fixes the glasses on top of her nose and nods. “Yeah, he heals like super quickly. It’s one of his powers or whatever. He’ll be back to normal tomorrow morning.”

“Whoa.” Rachel says, finally looking at Quinn. She thinks back of her conversation with Spider-Man on the roof and she laughs when she realizes how stupid she was. The boy was obviously making his voice deeper so she didn't recognize him but even then, his reaction to when she said Quinn should have intrigued her more. 

She frowns to herself when she realizes something. If Sam knew who Quinn is, then when he said they were just friends, he meant it. And he did encourage her to tell her how she felt to Quinn which makes Rachel confused.

“People can surprise you sometimes.”

Does Quinn like her back? Is that what he meant?

“I hope you’re not mad I didn’t tell you.” Quinn says after a moment of silence. “It’s just-- we agreed we wouldn’t tell people, you know?”

Rachel frowns, getting closer to the blonde. “I’m not mad. I completely get it. Actually I’m kinda… relieved.”

“Relieved?” Quinn repeats with a confused expression.

“You two were just so close for a while I thought you guys were back together and that you were keeping it a secret,” Rachel says, looking down.

Quinn gets almost a horrified look on her face, as if she couldn’t believe Rachel would think that. “Oh God no. He’s my best friend-- I actually um like somebody else,” she says almost shyly.

The diva’s heart picks up and she knows this is it. Quinn is talking about her and Sam knew it so he encouraged Rachel to tell her how she felt. 

“Quinn, I like you.” Rachel blurts out and the blonde’s eyes widen before softening.

“Like me? As in--”

“Yes,” Rachel says without hesitation.

Quinn’s shoulders relaxes and she smiles. “Oh thank God because I like you too,” she breathes out and Rachel feels her stomach erupt in butterflies. 

They both reach out a hand to cup each other’s cheeks shyly and there’s this moment where neither of them make a move because they’re nervous and then Quinn leans in first. Rachel barely has time to close her eyes and suddenly Quinn’s lips are on hers. 

They both hesitate a little before kissing back but when they do, Rachel is pretty sure she’s never kissed someone better than Quinn. Their lips move slowly together as they discover what the other feels like. The blonde swipes her tongue on Rachel’s bottom lip to ask for permission instead of just shoving her tongue inside her mouth like Finn used to do it and Rachel grants it happily. Not only can she see fireworks, she can see stars and-- screw it, she can see the whole galaxy. They both hum pleasantly and Quinn pulls Rachel closer when they both hear a loud snore from the room next door that makes them pull away with a giggle. 

Quinn rolls her eyes. “He ruins everything.”

Rachel bites her lip and smiles when she sees that she’s practically on Quinn’s lap now. “Hey, if you’re helping Sam with superhero stuff, does that make you kind of a superhero too?”

“Would you like it to?” Quinn says with a slight smirk.

Rachel pushes Quinn’s glasses up, smiling. “I think it’d be hot.”

“Then yes, it definitely does make me kind of a superhero,” Quinn says before pulling her in for another kiss.  

They both ignore the snores coming from Sam and continue kissing. Even though she might not have just saved the day like Spider-Man, she still feels pretty damn good right now.