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The whole things is stupid.
(No, seriously, it is.)
Who in their right mind would think it’s a good idea to put together two Slytherins, a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff together? And locked in a freaking library, on top of that?
So really, it’s stupid. A recipe for disaster, even.
Rachel Berry is not a coward by any stretch of the world, but she really would rather spend her life without serving detention with one Santana Lopez and one Quinn Fabray. She doesn’t really mind Brittany, because the Hufflepuff is incredibly sweet and they actually get along pretty well, but the other two... well, that’s a whole other deal.
Santana Lopez scares her. Of course, she won’t admit that, but it’s true. She wonders who wouldn’t be scared by the Slytherin girl. But she can deal with her; they’ve been sharing a dormitory for six years now, Rachel learned a few tricks along the way. She would rather not to, of course, but she can.
Quinn Fabray is the problem, though. Not because she’s the Head Bitch In Charge, or because she apparently gets off on making Rachel’s life a living hell, but simply for the fact that Rachel finds that extremely hot . Not to mention other things. And even if she tries to deny it, she’s completely attracted to the Ravenclaw prefect and Quidditch captain. And since Quinn broke up with Finn Hudson – the dimwitted Hufflepuff that it was now throwing himself at Rachel – the brunette found herself having the most inappropriate daydreams about the other girl and, for Dumbledore’s beard, isn’t it bad enough that Quinn thinks she is a joke?
She really doesn’t need to give the other girl more ammo to make fun of her. Merlin knows that Quinn already has enough.
And that whole detention thing? She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid as to fall for Quinn’s teasing and eventually getting in a stupid fight that would’ve probably ended up in a full-fledged duel had Mr. Schuester not interrupted them. The results were obvious, of course; a considerable loss of points for Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff – though she still didn’t really understand why Brittany was in the middle of the whole thing – and a detention to serve in the library that night.
Yeah, as if she didn’t have anything else to do.
Even if she had already excelled her OWLs, it wasn’t an excuse to get sloppy with her studies, and a detention wasn’t really about to help her with that. It was just stupid. So, so, so stupid and she was still berating herself for letting it get to that point. But she just couldn't help it; even if Quinn was incredibly hot – and Rachel wasn’t about to deny that – she was also completely infuriating and seemed to be a pro at ticking Rachel.
So when she finds herself waiting in front of the library, right after dinner, she promises that Quinn will not succeed on making her mad tonight. She is going to focus on what they have to do, and will completely ignore the room’s other occupants, no matter how hard they try to change that. Well, not Brittany, because she likes that girl and even though she’s not the smartest witch around, she’s fun to hang out.
But Quinn and Santana? No, tonight she’s going to pretend they don’t exist.
She’s focused on playing with the tie that is loosely hanging around her neck over her white shirt that has the first two buttons opened - she chose to ditch the rest of her uniform and was only wearing the black skirt, white shirt and tie - when she hears noises down the hallway and soon she finds Mr. Schuester in front of her. Quinn, Brittany and Santana following closely after him. She smiles at their Transfiguration teacher - because even though sometime she thinks he’s trying to demean her talent, he really is a good teacher and she likes him - and he smiles back, before turning to the other girls.
“I really am sad to see four of my favorite students here to serve detention,” he says, and Rachel’s ducks her head, because she’s sad with herself as well, and hearing the disappointment in Mr. Schue’s voice only makes her more ashamed of her behavior. “But starting a fight like that in the middle of the hallway wasn’t the smartest thing you’ve ever done. So tonight you will be doing inventory of the new books in the library. Without your wands, of course.”
Rachel groans, and watches as Quinn and Santana roll their eyes at the same time, before each of them handles their wands to Mr. Schuester. The teacher nods, then looks expectantly at Brittany, who seems extremely comfortable with her head resting on Santana’s shoulder. Rachel really didn’t understand that particular friendship, but as many others, she came to accept the whole thing without questioning it. It was easier that way and it kept people from ending up in the Hospital Wing.
“Brittany?” Mr. Schue prompts, but the girl just looks at him, confusion written on her face. “Your wand?”
“I don’t know where I left it.” Brittany answers and Mr. Schue sighs. “I think the nargles got it again. I’m sure it will show up sometime tonight when I’m sleeping.”
“Okay, well, just go ahead. I’ll be back at midnight. You should be done by then.” Mr. Schuester says, softly shaking his head at the Hufflepuff chaser, before ushering them inside and muttering a spell to lock them in.
Rachel doesn’t even bother waiting for the other girls and instead just makes her way towards the nearest pile of books, intent on focusing on her task and not on the fact that Quinn Fabray is wearing a skirt that it’s ridiculously short – even for Rachel’s standards, which is saying something – and shirt that leaves little to the imagination.
(And damn, Rachel's imagination is extremely unhelpful sometimes.)
“What exactly do you think you're doing, Man-hands?” Santana asks from behind her, and Rachel takes a deep breath, trying her best not to take the bait.
“Inventory,” she answers curtly, without turning around. “As I recall, that's what Mr. Schuester said we would be doing.”
Santana laughs and before Rachel can say something she sees books flying around the library and into the correct shelves as the lists in front of them start to fill themselves. When she finally turns around, she sees her fellow Slytherin holding a wand, a smug smile playing on her lips.
“Santana!” she shrieks, but Santana is not impressed by her behavior. Brittany is sitting on one of the desks playing with a rubber duck that Rachel has no idea where she got it from and Quinn is nowhere to be seen anymore. Oh, great. “Where did you even get that wand?”
“Brittany,” Santana explains as if it were obvious, and well, it kind of is. Rachel is somewhat insulted that she didn’t think to do the same thing. It’s not right to be fooling Mr. Schue like this, but they are Slytherins for a reason.
“Oh,” she looks around for a second, trying to figure what to do, but when her gaze falls on Santana and she sees the other girl eying Brittany as if she wants to eat her or something, well, Rachel realizes she is better off getting out of their sight. “Well, I appreciate your kind gesture and I'm going to find something to read because we're still stuck in here for a couple of hours. But thank you, Santana.”
She rushes off before Santana can say anything, waving at Brittany who seems to be too focused on her toy to pay attention to what's happening around her. Rachel walks to the end of the library, pulling one book on the top of the shelf to reveal a secret passage that she found on her second year.
It wasn't particularly easy, considering the book was on the highest shelf and she wasn't the tallest kid around, but she'd always been curious and something about that dusted volume caught her attention. Before she could even realize what was happening, she'd found herself in another section of the library, one far more interesting and calm than the one the students were allowed in.
She supposed it had been there for a long time and not many people knew about it, but it had kind of become her place to hide when she wanted to escape the torture of her school mates, or when Quinn was being particularly annoying and mean to her.
So, because she was going to spend the next two hours there, she better spend it doing something she actually enjoyed. Not to mention she didn't have to deal with the Ravenclaw girl and that could be considered a blessing.
(Well, not really, but she isn't about to admit that she likes when Quinn is being mean to her because that's pretty screwed up, right? Yeah, not good.)
So she's sitting there with one of the books she's been reading for a couple of days, trying not to think about what's happening outside of those walls, and she's actually succeeding, which is something because her mind tends to forget everything else when she's thinking about Quinn and for Merlin's sake why can't she just let that stupid crush go away? It's Quinn Fabray, for crying out loud! Her grandfather was one of Voldemort's lackeys and everyone in that school is well aware that Quinn is not a person to be messed with. But Rachel just couldn't understand why of all the students in that school, she chose only Rachel to torture and make fun. It really wasn't fair.
“Stupid, annoying, freaking Ravenclaw!” she mutters, head falling to hit the desk with a dull thud. She doesn't bother moving, it's actually comfortable like that, though she knows that her neck won't stand the position for much longer and she needs her body functioning perfectly at all times because you never know when you'll need to quickly look behind your shoulder and an ache on her neck would prevent her from doing that. But she's good for the time being.
“Well, geez, we're really not that bad, Berry.”
And of course Merlin must have some kind of personal vendetta against her because are you freaking serious? She must be going crazy. Yeah, that's probably it. She's spending too much time thinking about one Quinn Fabray and now her imagination is doing this to her. But it's not real. No, she's in her happy place, the one place where Quinn cannot torment her. So really, the only explanation is that she completely lost her mind. Well, people say that she's crazy all the time so it was really bound to happen eventually, right? Better sooner than later, she thinks.
So she ignores the voice. Because it's not real and it's going to go away eventually. And she also doesn't move because she's afraid that Quinn is in fact real and is standing behind her and she just can't deal with that at the moment. Not when she was dreaming about the way Quinn's lips would feel against hers and her bod-- no! She can't think about that. It's never going to happen and she doesn't need to torture herself even more.
“Are you dead?” the voice comes again, closer this time, and Rachel has to press her eyes shut to try and pretend it's not real. “Did they finally do us a favor and ended you? Because really, this calls for a celebration.”
And then one hand is poking her side and that hand is very real and how the hell did Quinn find her anyway? She was supposed to be alone, away from the temptation and the torture. Why did she always had to find her like that? Freaking unfair, seriously. It was like the other girl had a Rachel-sense, or something. She really just couldn't catch a break.
“I'm not dead but if you want the job done so badly I'm sure you could find a way and no one would even know. I'm well aware that you don't have your wand here but it's not like Santana is using Brittany's anymore and no one else is around, so really Quinn, I'm at your mercy right now. So just go ahead and do the world a huge favor, as you so kindly put it.”
“So you're at my mercy, huh?” Quinn whispers in her ear and Rachel lets out a frustrated groan, because really, is she for real? Doesn't Quinn has a notion of space or something like that? Rachel is starting to believe she doesn't. “That's really interesting.”
She takes a deep breath, trying to control her emotions and finally raises her head to look at Quinn - which is a terrible decision because the girl is standing right next to her and now their lips are really close and Rachel just wants to close that minimal gap between them and fee-- Dammit!
“W-what are you doing here, Quinn?” she asks, trying to focus on Quinn's eyes and not how inviting her lips are.
“Looking for you, actually.” Quinn answers with a shrug, still not moving her face away, and really - there's only so much Rachel can take.
So with all that's left of her self-restraint, she gets up and moves to the other side of the room, using the pretense of putting the book back on the shelf to put as much distance between Quinn and her as she can. She instantly misses the warmth that the blonde Ravenclaw exuded, but tries not to dwell on that fact because really, she can't let it take over her.
“I know making my life a living hell is sometimes the highlight of your day, but could you please refrain from doing so just for one night? I really don't have the patience nor the spirit of mind to deal with it right now and, hard as you may find tho acquiesce my request, I really want you to leave me alone.”
She turns around to find Quinn leaning against the desk, eying her with an expression Rachel is pretty sure she's never seen in her face, something akin to sadness and confusion.
“You really don't know why I do all of that?” Quinn asks in a voice so low that Rachel has to make a huge effort to discern her words.
“Of course I do,” she replies, trying to fight an eye-roll because that whole game is really getting old. “You hate me and you need to remind me of that particular fact every single chance you get. One would think that after so many years you'd have gotten over that, but apparently all hope is futile.”
She watches in a mix of horror and fascination as Quinn closes the gap between them once again, pressing her against the bookshelf and quirking a perfect eyebrow at her, “Do you always have to talk so much?”
Rachel opens her mouth, an entire speech prepared about why she must use her vocabulary to the max, but a pointed look from the girl in front of her immediately makes her deflate, choosing to just shake her head in answer.
“I personally think there are far more interesting things you can do with your mouth-.”
And then it's like she’s stepped into another dimension because there's no way Quinn Fabray – evil Ravenclaw who completely hates her – just implied something like that to Rachel Berry. No, no way. Completely not possible. She's dreaming. That's it. She probably fell asleep with her forehead on the book – hello terrible pain on her neck in the morning – and this was her unconscious playing tricks on her.
(It's not nice but she's completely sure that's what happening.)
“I must be dreaming,” she whispers and Quinn just tilts her head to the side, a shy smile taking over her lips.
“You dream about me?”
“If this is a dream then I'm pretty sure the answer to this question is obvious.”
Quinn laughs, shaking her head softly before her eyes find Rachel's again, “This isn't a dream, Berry.”
“Of course it is,” Rachel says with a frown. “Because you hate me and there is absolutely no way you would be standing this close to me or implying things about what my mouth can do. I'm pretty sure this is a dream, albeit a very real one.”
“I think we should test that theory then.”
And before she can make sense of what's going on, she feels soft lips pressed against hers, far more amazing than she could ever have dreamed. And then she knows it can't be a dream because Quinn is very much pressed against her and her lips are doing things to her that leaves Rachel feeling quite light headed.
“Q-Quinn - what are you doing?” she asks after they pull back, trying to fight the smile that's threatening to take over her lips.
Quinn rolls her eyes, “What does it look like I'm doing, Berry?”
“You hate me,” Rachel whispers and Quinn just shakes her head, brushing their lips together again and immediately making her forget what she was supposed to be focusing on.
“I could never hate you,” the Ravenclaw says with a fond smile that Rachel is sure she's never seen on her lips. “No matter how annoying and self-centered you might be at times.”
“I'm your sworn enemy,” Rachel tries again, her brain refusing to believe that this is really happening though her heart is going crazy inside her chest. “I'm a girl.”
Quinn shakes her head and brings their lips together in another kiss, this time more demanding and passionate, hands finding Rachel's waist and slipping under her shirt, teasing the skin she finds there. When she pulls back, Rachel wants to protest, but the words fall short on her lips as brown eyes meet hazel ones, everything she ever hoped to see – but never actually believing she would – reflected on them.
So many different feelings but not one of them remotely close to hate.
“I'm well aware of that, Rachel.” she's fascinated as Quinn raises her hand to cup her cheek, the same hand that earlier today was pointing a wand at her. Well, talk about confusing. “And, surprising as that might sound to you, I don't really care. I like you.”
What?
Okay, this might not be a dream but she's definitely going crazy.
“No, you don't.” Rachel blurts out, eyebrows burrowing together. “This is one of your elaborate pranks. It has to be.”
She knows it isn't, but some rational part of her is still trying to prevent her from getting her hopes up because Quinn never did anything but make her life miserable and it's hard to believe that she actually likes her, despite the kisses they shared - which were the most amazing thing, in Rachel's mind.
“If that's the case then why would I be kissing you? And why would I be doing here, where no one can see us?”
Well, she hadn't thought that far.
“I don't know,” she tries to act nonchalant, giving a small shrug. “It's your prank, you tell me.”
She watches as a soft sigh escape Quinn's lips and the blonde pulls back a little, hand still on her face.
“Why can't you just believe me?”
“Because I've known you for six years, Quinn, and not once in all these years you bothered to treat me like a human being, so forgive me if I'm being a little skeptic about your sudden change of behavior.”
She doesn't mean for it to sound the way it does, but truth is, she can't really help it. She likes Quinn – Merlin, she likes her so much it's bordering on obsession – but she can't just ignore what Quinn did to her and pretend everything is okay just because she finally came to her senses and realized her undying love for her.
Or maybe not that much, but it's a start.
“I'm sorry,” Quinn whispers, eyes piercing into Rachel's. “My Dad-- it wasn't easy growing up in the Fabray household, Rachel. I was never free to be whoever I wanted. You know who my grandfather was and my father was even worse than him and I just couldn't act on my feelings because stupid as that might sound, my Father was still trapped in the past and I wasn't strong enough to break free.”
“And what changed?” she asks, her voice tentative, because she can see how hard it is for the blonde in front of her to tell her all of those things.
“He died.” Quinn answers curtly and Rachel's eyes widen because she doesn't remember hearing anything about Russell Fabray's death and she thinks it's the kind of thing that would make it to the journals.
(Or at least would be whispered within the halls of the Slytherin common room.)
“I'm really sor--”
She tries to give her condolences but Quinn immediately cuts her, shaking her head slightly, “Don't be. We're--” she sighs again, biting her lower lip. “He was my father and I loved him but in some ways I like to think our family is better now that he's gone. I'm better. I get to be the person I've always wanted to be and I don't have to feel bad about that. So I can't be sorry for it and I don't want you to be either.”
“Wait,” Rachel pauses, eyebrows raising suspiciously. “Did you start that fight on purpose? So we could serve detention together?”
Quinn has the decency to look ashamed, but Rachel is completely baffled.
“Quinn!” she berates, arms crossing against her chest. “Do you have any idea how many points you took from our houses just because you wanted to be alone with me? Couldn't you have sent an owl, requested a meeting or something?”
“Requested a meeting? What ev--” Quinn shakes her head, deciding not to try and make some sense of Rachel's sentence. “Even if I'd done that, why would you bother meeting me? You would probably think it was some kind of trap or something.”
Rachel nods, “That's probably true.”
“And if it's any consolation, I wasn't counting on Brittany and Santana getting in the middle of our argument either,” Quinn looks confused for a second, before she groans. “They probably just wanted to do it in the library and a detention was a good excuse to get them here after everyone is sleeping.”
Rachel throws her head back in a laugh, her eyes shining with amusement as they find the Quinn’s. She pulls Quinn closer to her again, hands tracing random patterns on her back.
“You have to admit that they're creative,” she says, giggling softly and Quinn's lips instantly turn into a smile at the sight in front of her.
“They're unbelievable, that's what they are.”
“Come here,” Rachel cups Quinn's face, pressing her lips softly against hers, and pulling back with a smile. “I never really resented you, you know? I guess some part of me knew that you would come around eventually, even if any sane person would take your behavior for what it looked like - complete hatred. I have a sixth sense, though, that's what our Divination teacher always says.”
“I'm still sorry,” Quinn says, her tone serious. “Though this is not leaving this room and you can't expect me to become all soft just because I like you because that's seriously not happening and you really shouldn't even dream about it, Be--”
Rachel crashes her lips against Quinn's, a smile on her lips as she pulls her closer and deepens the kiss, tongue finding Quinn's, eliciting a soft moan from the girl pressed against her. She thinks it's quite an effective way to make Quinn stop rambling, though one would think that Rachel is the one prone to that.
“We should go now,” Rachel says as their lips part, one hand pushing a loose strand of Quinn's hair behind her ear. “Mr. Schuester is going to be here soon, and we need to at least pretend we were working.”
Quinn rolls her eyes, pulling back and taking Rachel's hand as they move out of the room, “Schuester was stupid, anyway, all it took was a little spell for him to find out that Santana had Brittany's wand.”
Rachel didn't even bother trying to hide the smile that took over her face as Quinn took her hand, and instead just follows her back to the entrance of the library.
“It's Brittany, Quinn, why would he even consider that Santana might have her wand? The alternative was much more believable.”
“Of course,” Quinn snorts, stopping close to a desk and pulling Rachel to her again, “because Nargles are far more likely to get her wand than a sneaky Slytherin.”
Rachel smiles, fingers tangling on Quinn's hair, “It's not important, anyway, I think this evening turned out to be quite lovely.”
Shaking her head with a smile, the Ravenclaw leans down, taking Rachel's lips on hers again, in a slow and languid kiss. Rachel is sure this was still some kind of dream, because having Quinn against her like that is just too good to be true. She just really can't believe it is happening, not after she spent so many nights thinking about how soft Quinn’s lips were, and how her body would feel against her touch. And what she is getting is far more than she ever could have imagined.
“Oh for Salazar's sake! Are you fucking serious?”
And of course someone would ruin the moment.
“I see you and Brittany have finished contaminating the library,” Quinn says as she pulls back, a nonchalant expression on her face as Rachel tries her best not to freak out. She's afraid that Quinn will start treating her like trash again, and really if that's going to happen she's not too excited about it.
But to her surprise, Quinn just grabs her hand and starts to play with it, her head resting on her shoulder looking as if she has no intention to move - which is good, Rachel thinks.
“I knew you liked her and shit, but I really didn't think you had the balls to do something about it, Q.” Santana remarks and Rachel blushes, ducking her head to focus on the hand Quinn is playing with. “Wait. I have to deal with Berry now? Not fair. Not fucking fair, Fabray.”
Brittany looks up at them with a smile, before she wraps her arms around Santana's waist and brings the Slytherin closer, immediately wiping the scowl from her face, “I think they're cute, San.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Santana shrugs with indifference, before she gives them a smirk. “It was about time, anyway.”
They hear the door opening and a couple of seconds later Mr. Schue walks into the room, nodding to himself as he looks around, before he turns to face the four girls who are watching him.
“Good job, girls. You're free to go now,” he smiles at them and as they start walking, he seems to remember something. “Uh, Rachel, Quinn?”
Santana sends a look over her shoulder, but Quinn shrugs and she continues on her way, taking Brittany with her as Rachel and Quinn turn to face Mr. Schuester with an inquiring expression.
“I was wondering if you two could take one last walk around the school before you go to bed? Kurt was supposed to be on patrol today but he's on the Hospital Wing, so we're short on one prefect and we don't want the other students taking advantage of that.”
Rachel tries her hardest to fight the smile that is taking over her lips, but Quinn just smirks at their teacher and nods, pulling on Rachel's shirt as she moves to the exit.
“Sure thing, Mr. Schuester, don't worry about it.”
She's not sure, but Rachel has a feeling that patrolling is the last thing they will be doing that night.