storypaint (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
storypaint) wrote2011-05-26 07:02 pm
storypaint) wrote2011-05-26 07:02 pm
Entry tags:
[Glee] life is just my stage (Mercedes/Rachel)
Title: life is just my stage
Fandom: Glee
Length: 4032 words
Prompt: Mercedes/Rachel forglee_rare_pairs exchange #2 for kkieslowski
Pairing: Mercedes/Rachel; minor Kurt/Blaine
Other: Some spoilers for 2x16 Original Song, ignores 2x17 Night of Neglect. No warnings.
Summary/Excerpt: When Mercedes agreed to double-dating with Kurt and Blaine, she didn't think her partner would be Rachel. They'd hardly been at the restaurant as a foursome for five minutes before Mercedes got up and made excuses to haul Kurt to the bathroom. Kurt struggled. "You can't leave Blaine out there with Rachel!" he protested. "What if she decides she needs more song inspiration?"
Let there be no mistake -- Mercedes was totally happy for Kurt. He'd wanted a boyfriend for so long, and he was lucky to have someone like Blaine.
What Mercedes wasn't fond of was the fact that they continued to invite her to dinner with them. She didn't quite understand the reasoning, although from the way Blaine smiled, it was probably one of his cheerfully harebrained ideas. Of course, Kurt was once again in that stage of a relationship where his partner could do no wrong.
"I don't want to go on your dates!" she insisted for the hundredth time. She adjusted the phone in the crook of her neck and Kurt spoke, voice tinny, through the line.
"Blaine wants to be friends with you too, Mercedes. He says he doesn't want you and me to grow apart just because I'm not single anymore."
There was still an adorable little thrill in Kurt's voice whenever he mentioned his new relationship status, no matter how casual he tried to be, and Mercedes found it hard to resist, although hearing about Blaine's saintliness all the time was just as annoying as it had been when it was Finn that Kurt was obsessing over.
"I just... you guys shouldn't have to include me, okay. I feel like a third wheel," she admitted. They tried, they really did, but they forgot Mercedes's presence in ten-minutes stretches that they spent gazing soulfully into each other's eyes. It was sweet, but it got boring fast.
"Oh, wait!" Kurt said, and she could hear him clap his hands together even through the phone. He had an idea. "Why don't I find you a date, Mercedes? Then we could double-date! Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Hold up," she cautioned, not as pleased as Kurt was. He'd already started rambling about the Dalton boys he knew and how this one or that one would be perfect. He wouldn't have a shortage of possible candidates, she knew -- after all, she was smoking hot, and, well, they all went to an all-boys school; it wasn't like they met a lot of candidates.
"Mercedes," Kurt pleaded. "You know I don't want to neglect our fabulous friendship either..."
Blaine had to be teaching him how to wheedle. Mercedes rolled her eyes.
"I don't want a repeat of the last time you set me up," she said. Anthony had been cute, sure. But he'd also been a devout Mormon and gave her a copy of the LDS Bible at the end of their only date. He'd been boring, and the silences awkward, but she'd still been hoping for a little more sugar than that.
"Ooooh," Kurt winced verbally. She'd chewed him out right after that and made it clear that Mercedes Jones didn't need a man on her arm to feel complete. She could be choosy.
"Look, I promise to be better this time. I know a guy who was totally checking you out at Regionals. Please? One date, and if you don't like him, I'll deliver the news myself," Kurt said.
"You just want to get your bitch on," Mercedes accused, and they both laughed. By the time they hung up, Mercedes had painted all of her toenails neon blue and agreed to a date with this Warbler boy.
It was really hard to turn Kurt down when he wanted something.
*
The first time Kurt and Blaine went off on one of their tangents, hand gestures and finishing each other's sentences until you just wanted to puke, David turned to Mercedes and asked her seriously how she felt about the phasing-out of a graded point system from official Glee competitions.
You made him cry, Kurt texted her the next day.
He bored me to tears, so we're even, she sent back, still annoyed.
The second boy tried to cop a feel in the parking lot (a perfect gentleman, Mercedes, I swear had been retracted and replaced with sorry :(). The third never spoke (I thought he had whatever Matt did --A shut mouth?). The fourth was late and left early (You shouldn't have paid him for the full hour --I swear I didn't pay him!).
After the fifth lousy date with a guy who told sexist jokes until she'd threatened to hurt him, Mercedes didn't even shut the front door before she whipped out her phone and texted Kurt.
No more, she sent.
One last chance, he begged. I know someone I'm sure you'll like.
Haha, she returned cynically.
Last one, I promise.
She waited ten minutes and three more texts before she finally agreed.
*
They'd hardly been at the restaurant as a foursome for five minutes before Mercedes got up and made excuses to haul Kurt to the bathroom. Kurt struggled.
"You can't leave Blaine out there with Rachel!" he protested. "What if she decides she needs more song inspiration?"
"It'll serve you right," Mercedes said, scowling and finally letting go of Kurt's sweater. He tried ineffectually to fix the cowlneck.
As he stared into the mirror, he said, all too innocently, "I thought you liked Rachel now. Duets and everything."
"That doesn't mean I want to date her, Kurt, and you know it," Mercedes said, checking her makeup since the mirror was right there.
"You don't have to date her. I just, I know we can all get along. Assuming I can trust her to keep her hands off my boyfriend." Kurt's fingers twitched fussily on the neck of his sweater. Mercedes had to grin a little.
"The waitress thinks you two are adorable. If she catches Rachel doing anything, she'll spit in her food," Mercedes said.
"You think? Adorable, really?"
Mercedes rolled her eyes, but before she could answer, Rachel burst into the bathroom. Mercedes was surprised for a second. Oh, right. Ladies room.
"I know that no one present minds that you're in the girls' bathroom, Kurt, but you might want to consider the feelings of the other women at this restaurant," Rachel said. "Are we ready to order? Blaine said he knew what Kurt wanted, but I'm sure you wanted to pick your own meal, Mercedes."
"Thanks, Rachel, we'll be right out," Mercedes said as Rachel glanced between the two of them expectantly.
"Just helping Mercedes with her eyeliner!" Kurt said, despite the fact that Mercedes wasn't wearing any.
"I would have helped you too," Rachel said to Mercedes. "It's important to do girl things together. You just need to ask."
Mercedes nodded and Rachel turned back to leave. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled sweetly and said, "Thanks for the invitation, by the way. It's nice to go out with friends."
The door swung shut behind her. Mercedes sighed.
"Saying no to that would be like kicking a puppy," she said. Kurt nodded in agreement.
Together they emerged, a moment later, and found their table.
*
Mercedes hadn't expected to have a very good time. She'd been expecting another version of dates one through five, or some horrible combination of two of them. But instead, she was laughing. They were telling jokes as a group, trading stories about Sue or their friends, gossiping and talking about the world. Whenever Kurt and Blaine found a tangent, Rachel managed to steer the conversation to something interesting before Mercedes's eyes could glaze over. She was pretty good at that sometimes. Mercedes found herself a little disappointed when their foursome broke up at the end of the night. She waved goodbye fondly and then unlocked the door.
She made her way up to her bedroom and began to get ready for bed. She had to get up early for church tomorrow, and they'd gone to a coffee shop after the movie and stayed there until the barista kicked them out for closing. Mercedes hadn't had that much fun since... she couldn't remember when. Kurt was right. This worked better in pairs.
She couldn't help but feel a little bit of longing, though. She didn't need a boyfriend, but she wouldn't mind having someone she could talk to as easily as she talked to Kurt and Rachel. Someone she could cuddle with too. Why couldn't Kurt have found her a boy like that?
She shook her head. She couldn't imagine having a boyfriend like either of them. Maybe she should just go along with it for now. She'd find her perfect person someday.
He could totally show up any day, though.
Mercedes's phone vibrated and she picked it up. There were two messages - one from Kurt, the one she'd expected, and another from a number she didn't recognize.
Kurt's said, forgive me yet? :) She sent back, I guess so and went to read her other message.
Hello, Mercedes. Kurt gave me your number. I hope you don't mind. I just wanted to ask if you had a nice time tonight.
Well, there was no reason to ask who that was. Mercedes assigned the phone number to Rachel, and then texted back a yes.
I look forward to doing it again, Rachel replied, almost immediately. Mercedes smiled, and shook her head a little (Rachel's uncertain formality was practically endearing now, not that she'd admit it).
Me too, Mercedes sent before she climbed into bed.
*
Pleased with his success, Kurt continued to invite Rachel on most of their biweekly not-really-dates, and for the most part, things ran smoothly, although Rachel talked during movies and Mercedes got tired of nudging her to be quiet. They occasionally had homophobic issues, even though Kurt and Blaine were very light on the flirting in public, but Rachel was quite often the ones who stood up for them, leaning up on her toes and scolding the offenders, often threatening them with the ACLU in the same breath. It was entertaining to watch her go to town on someone, assuming that the person didn't seem like the type to get violent.
They went minigolfing, which everyone loved except Kurt, and Rachel was amusingly competitive. (Blaine won; he had the advantage of playing golf with his father since he was old enough to be a caddy). They had dinner and did karaoke and went to productions where Rachel mouthed along with all of the words.
Mercedes didn't realize how much fun she was having until one day she was running late and she met them at the restaurant, approaching breathlessly with, "Sorry, I couldn't find the right shoe - oh."
The "oh" was for the stranger who was sitting in Rachel's usual place, and she was glad she hadn't slid in casually before being introduced. The boy was tall and lanky, with short dark hair and an easy smile.
"This is Devon," Kurt said, beaming at Mercedes across the table. Devon offered a friendly handshake. Mercedes took it, still a little confused. She hesitated before sitting down, until Kurt jerked his head and glanced meaningfully at the table.
"Oh, right," she said. They were quiet for a few awkward moments before Blaine started telling a story about his English teacher, and then the conversation settled into a comfortable rhythm. Devon was polite, attentive, and witty. He made Mercedes laugh more than once, and he insisted on paying for her dinner. At the movie theater, Kurt sent Devon and Blaine for popcorn ("Just keep him company, all right?" and Blaine had agreed) and leaned across the armrest, unable to keep the pleased smile from his face.
"You haven't gotten mad all night. You like him, right?" he asked.
"He's... he's very nice," Mercedes said. Kurt's eyes narrowed and then he threw up his arms and sighed theatrically.
"I could get a saint to date you and it wouldn't make you happy! What's the problem?"
"You know that if I wanted a date, I'd go get one," she said, rehashing the old argument.
He waved a hand dismissively. "Not the point. Devon is a nice guy, and he's genuinely interested in you. So what's the deal?"
"I just - " Mercedes couldn't put her finger on it. Because he was a nice guy, and totally her type in the looks department too. There was just... something missing. She shrugged. "I don't know, I miss Rachel."
Kurt's eyes widened. "Don't tell me you've given up on romance."
"No!" Mercedes said. She looked down at her hands.
"We'll talk about this later," Kurt hissed when the other boys appeared at the end of the aisle with their popcorn. Devon gallantly shared his, and later, he walked Mercedes to the door. He didn't mind when she wanted to give him a hug goodbye instead of a kiss.
Mercedes had three increasingly irate text messages from Kurt, but she flipped through her phone to Rachel's number.
Hope you can come next time, she texted, feeling a strange tug in her stomach. She was blushing a little when she fell into bed. When she realized what she was blushing about, she bolted upright in the darkness.
Rachel? She had a crush on Rachel? What was she doing?
She lay back down and pulled the blankets back over her head.
*
The next week's date was awful. Mercedes spent most of her time avoiding talking to Rachel or meeting Rachel's eyes, and finally Rachel dragged her into the bathroom and asked what was wrong. Mercedes stared at Rachel's lips and wondered when exactly her brain had decided that Rachel's nose had character and only accentuated her face. She mumbled something about being sick, and Rachel came by the next day with a bowl of tofu-noodle soup. The soup was awful, but Mercedes ate it anyway, while Rachel rattled on about proper treatment of one's vocal chords when ill.
It was cute. It was impossibly cute and Mercedes still wasn't answering Kurt's text messages. What could she say? She was terrible at bluffing.
Oddly enough, it was Santana who was the catalyst. Wednesday after Glee club she dragged Mercedes into the janitor's closet. When she saw Mercedes's suspicious look, she scowled.
"Chill out, Aretha. You look like you need some advice. Which I never give away for free, so you'd better listen close."
"Advice on what?" Mercedes asked. Santana rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please. If you think I don't recognize the way you're looking at Berry -- well, yeah, I'm going to judge that, because eww -- but the point is, if you wanna hit it, you'd better get on it. The great Finn/Quinn heterosexuality parade," she said, waggling her fingers, "ain't gonna last past two days after prom. And when they break up, Finn's going to run right back to Rachel and cry on her tiny breasts. If that happens, you don't have a chance in hell."
Santana stared pointedly. Mercedes's first instinct was denial, but that'd be less effective than arguing with a brick wall. Santana was beginning to look outside of herself for probably the first time in her life, and it was kinda scary how insightful she could get.
"If you want her, you'd better go get her, because once they're gone, they aren't coming back." The corners of Santana's mouth tipped down a little and she glanced away from Mercedes for the amount of time it took to wipe her eyes furiously. Her tone was still hard when she spoke. "You owe me Breadstix now, I hope you know."
"That's gonna to make things awkward," Mercedes said without thinking. Santana threw up her hands and turned in a small disgusted circle.
"No, no, no! Sometime when I don't have to watch you and Berry make goo-goo eyes at each other and plan duets. Which, by the way, I've seen RENT. That song wasn't subtle at all."
Before Mercedes could defend herself any further, Santana pushed past her and out the door, muttering something about stupid baby gays and leaving Mercedes alone with her thoughts.
"If you thought that Landslide was subtle, then you'd better have another idea too!" she called after Santana, but Santana was already gone.
And she was right, as much as it hurt Mercedes to admit it. Finn and Rachel would be back together by Nationals. That was how Quinn was, Mercedes had realized last summer. She didn't know how to have meaningful relationships or friendships. After she'd gone back to living with her mother, she and Mercedes had abruptly ceased to be friends. Finn would lose her as soon as she didn't need him to be prom queen. Funny how no one that Quinn dated ever seemed to realize this.
Mercedes needed a plan. She flipped open her phone.
*
Kurt was surprised, unsure, and then completely supportive, in that order. She'd been a little worried after the whole Blaine-Rachel-sexuality crisis, but he just said something about how he could have had a larger pool of potential dates for her to pick from, and told her that the bisexual flag colors would look great on her. Apparently he'd been much more threatened by the fact that it was Blaine than by a real disbelief in bisexuality. She was glad. This would have taken much longer if she'd had to give him a lecture about sexual orientation that he already should have known.
With his cheerful encouragement, she soon had a plan. The only thing now was to hope that Rachel felt the same. She seemed to be happy right now, instead of moping over Finn, and she always seemed to have a good time when the four of them were out together, but there was a bit of a leap between friends and people you'd date. The line had always been thin for Mercedes, but it might not be so thin for Rachel.
Worrying didn't accomplish anything, so Mercedes picked out her favorite dress and got ready for their Friday night foursome (an unfortunate label provided by Rachel; Kurt had shot it down immediately but somehow it had stuck around, probably because Blaine and Mercedes found it funny). She did her best to act surprised when Kurt called and told her that he and Blaine couldn't make it because Blaine had food poisoning.
Rachel bit her lip when Mercedes told her. "Is he going to be okay? They don't have to pump his stomach, do they?"
Mercedes had no intention of spending this evening in an ER over fake food poisoning. "It's just..." She wiggled her fingers and made a disgusted face. "He's not really into company right now."
"Oh," Rachel said quickly. "Well--" She hesitated, and then met Mercedes's eyes with a soft smile. "We can still hang out together, right? Or is that not the proper procedure--"
Mercedes cut her off quickly. "I don't mind," she said. She felt her cheeks heat up a little. As a cover, she took Rachel's arm and dragged her into the restaurant.
When they wanted to be fancy, they went to Breadstix. But this little Chinese restaurant was also a favored haunt of the group. Mercedes loved their sweet and sour chicken, and the small size of the place led to a certain intimacy. Kurt always complained it was bad for his skin, but Rachel had always liked it, and Mercedes thought it was a good choice.
They leaned together over the small table, trading bits of food and laughing and talking. Mercedes's foot brushed against Rachel's under the table, and Rachel didn't pull away, engrossed in a story about the biology teacher, who had disowned Rachel after she'd refused to dissect a frog ("How do you disown a student, anyway?" —"Good question. She doesn't want to fail you or she'd just have to have you again").
"You know," Rachel said, leaning on Mercedes's arm as she left, "I didn't miss Blaine and Kurt at all." She blinked and then hurried to clarify. "We always have a great time with them around, but I think that you and I also have a certain intimacy now that we may have lacked at the beginning of these outings. I really think you're my best friend, Mercedes."
She looked away, clearly fearful of rejection.
"Look, can I tell you something?" Mercedes asked, blood rushing in her ears. "No— not here." It would be ridiculous to confess in a Chinese restaurant parking lot, wouldn't it?
They ended up in the parking lot of Mercedes's church. She decided that she could use any kind of divine help that she could get.
"Okay, now?" Rachel asked as she shifted into park. She was bright and eager and had been grilling Mercedes relentlessly for the whole ride. She thought perhaps it was a new duet idea, or an idea for Glee, or even an idea for the next date night. Mercedes could only half-listen, panic rising. Kurt was texting her every five minutes, demanding updates she couldn't provide.
She could do this. She was Mercedes Jones, and she was even more diva than Rachel Berry. Divas took risks and got what they wanted. So would she. She had to try.
"Rachel," Mercedes said in the darkness of the car, "I like you." She took a breath. "A lot."
Rachel turned on the interior lights. Her expression was confused and her complexion bleached by the glow of the bulb. "People don't say that to me much," she said, and smiled a little. "I'm not sure why you had to drag me all the way out here — but that's okay. Sometimes friends do weird things for each other."
"It's not like that," Mercedes continued doggedly. "It's more than that. I...like you, Rachel." She held Rachel's gaze.
Tentative, Rachel reached out to brush Mercedes's cheek. "You're confessing to me," she said, almost in wonder. "I asked — Finn said that Kurt didn't call it a double date, anyway, and so — of course, liking boys doesn't preclude someone from liking girls too, I should know that. I was just not sure I should ask."
"Well," Mercedes said, wanting to relax into Rachel's soft touch, "I'd like them to be double dates. If that's okay with you."
Rachel opened her mouth to speak and then just nodded swiftly, twice, before Mercedes leaned forward and pulled her into an awkward sideways hug. (Rachel hadn't taken her seatbelt off.) Her lips brushed Rachel's earlobe, and Rachel shivered in a way that Mercedes immediately wanted to reproduce, but then Rachel moved wrong and accidentally hit the horn, which frightened them both, the sudden loudness in the the middle of the deserted parking lot.
Rachel decided it would be prudent to move, in case anyone around was disturbed by the noise. By the time Mercedes stopped laughing in release of tension, they were headed back towards Rachel's house.
"You need to meet my dads again," Rachel explained. "I always let them see my dates. Well, except Puck. He was pretty good at avoiding them. And I know they already like you, but... it's different now. Daddy might give you the third degree. He thinks it's funny."
Mercedes let Rachel's words wash over her, occasionally offering a thought of her own, and she found Rachel's hand on the seat between them, and she took it. Even the prospect of a dual grilling didn't bother her — after all, the Berry dads were total pushovers, and she'd do a good job of taking care of their little girl.
"I need my hand to turn properly," Rachel said gently, untangling herself from Mercedes's grip. Her smile was bright, even in the renewed dimness of the car; the streetlights bronzed her in a way that Mercedes found beautiful, even if the shadows weren't necessarily flattering. It didn't take long to arrive.
They were swinging their laced fingers on their way up Rachel's sidewalk, and Mercedes was pondering the best way to tell Rachel that she really didn't need to make any FEEL BETTER SOON cookies, but that was a problem for later.
Right now, they were stepping into the warmth and light of a home Mercedes knew half as well as her own, and it felt like a beginning.
Fandom: Glee
Length: 4032 words
Prompt: Mercedes/Rachel for
glee_rare_pairs exchange #2 for kkieslowskiPairing: Mercedes/Rachel; minor Kurt/Blaine
Other: Some spoilers for 2x16 Original Song, ignores 2x17 Night of Neglect. No warnings.
Summary/Excerpt: When Mercedes agreed to double-dating with Kurt and Blaine, she didn't think her partner would be Rachel. They'd hardly been at the restaurant as a foursome for five minutes before Mercedes got up and made excuses to haul Kurt to the bathroom. Kurt struggled. "You can't leave Blaine out there with Rachel!" he protested. "What if she decides she needs more song inspiration?"
Let there be no mistake -- Mercedes was totally happy for Kurt. He'd wanted a boyfriend for so long, and he was lucky to have someone like Blaine.
What Mercedes wasn't fond of was the fact that they continued to invite her to dinner with them. She didn't quite understand the reasoning, although from the way Blaine smiled, it was probably one of his cheerfully harebrained ideas. Of course, Kurt was once again in that stage of a relationship where his partner could do no wrong.
"I don't want to go on your dates!" she insisted for the hundredth time. She adjusted the phone in the crook of her neck and Kurt spoke, voice tinny, through the line.
"Blaine wants to be friends with you too, Mercedes. He says he doesn't want you and me to grow apart just because I'm not single anymore."
There was still an adorable little thrill in Kurt's voice whenever he mentioned his new relationship status, no matter how casual he tried to be, and Mercedes found it hard to resist, although hearing about Blaine's saintliness all the time was just as annoying as it had been when it was Finn that Kurt was obsessing over.
"I just... you guys shouldn't have to include me, okay. I feel like a third wheel," she admitted. They tried, they really did, but they forgot Mercedes's presence in ten-minutes stretches that they spent gazing soulfully into each other's eyes. It was sweet, but it got boring fast.
"Oh, wait!" Kurt said, and she could hear him clap his hands together even through the phone. He had an idea. "Why don't I find you a date, Mercedes? Then we could double-date! Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Hold up," she cautioned, not as pleased as Kurt was. He'd already started rambling about the Dalton boys he knew and how this one or that one would be perfect. He wouldn't have a shortage of possible candidates, she knew -- after all, she was smoking hot, and, well, they all went to an all-boys school; it wasn't like they met a lot of candidates.
"Mercedes," Kurt pleaded. "You know I don't want to neglect our fabulous friendship either..."
Blaine had to be teaching him how to wheedle. Mercedes rolled her eyes.
"I don't want a repeat of the last time you set me up," she said. Anthony had been cute, sure. But he'd also been a devout Mormon and gave her a copy of the LDS Bible at the end of their only date. He'd been boring, and the silences awkward, but she'd still been hoping for a little more sugar than that.
"Ooooh," Kurt winced verbally. She'd chewed him out right after that and made it clear that Mercedes Jones didn't need a man on her arm to feel complete. She could be choosy.
"Look, I promise to be better this time. I know a guy who was totally checking you out at Regionals. Please? One date, and if you don't like him, I'll deliver the news myself," Kurt said.
"You just want to get your bitch on," Mercedes accused, and they both laughed. By the time they hung up, Mercedes had painted all of her toenails neon blue and agreed to a date with this Warbler boy.
It was really hard to turn Kurt down when he wanted something.
*
The first time Kurt and Blaine went off on one of their tangents, hand gestures and finishing each other's sentences until you just wanted to puke, David turned to Mercedes and asked her seriously how she felt about the phasing-out of a graded point system from official Glee competitions.
You made him cry, Kurt texted her the next day.
He bored me to tears, so we're even, she sent back, still annoyed.
The second boy tried to cop a feel in the parking lot (a perfect gentleman, Mercedes, I swear had been retracted and replaced with sorry :(). The third never spoke (I thought he had whatever Matt did --A shut mouth?). The fourth was late and left early (You shouldn't have paid him for the full hour --I swear I didn't pay him!).
After the fifth lousy date with a guy who told sexist jokes until she'd threatened to hurt him, Mercedes didn't even shut the front door before she whipped out her phone and texted Kurt.
No more, she sent.
One last chance, he begged. I know someone I'm sure you'll like.
Haha, she returned cynically.
Last one, I promise.
She waited ten minutes and three more texts before she finally agreed.
*
They'd hardly been at the restaurant as a foursome for five minutes before Mercedes got up and made excuses to haul Kurt to the bathroom. Kurt struggled.
"You can't leave Blaine out there with Rachel!" he protested. "What if she decides she needs more song inspiration?"
"It'll serve you right," Mercedes said, scowling and finally letting go of Kurt's sweater. He tried ineffectually to fix the cowlneck.
As he stared into the mirror, he said, all too innocently, "I thought you liked Rachel now. Duets and everything."
"That doesn't mean I want to date her, Kurt, and you know it," Mercedes said, checking her makeup since the mirror was right there.
"You don't have to date her. I just, I know we can all get along. Assuming I can trust her to keep her hands off my boyfriend." Kurt's fingers twitched fussily on the neck of his sweater. Mercedes had to grin a little.
"The waitress thinks you two are adorable. If she catches Rachel doing anything, she'll spit in her food," Mercedes said.
"You think? Adorable, really?"
Mercedes rolled her eyes, but before she could answer, Rachel burst into the bathroom. Mercedes was surprised for a second. Oh, right. Ladies room.
"I know that no one present minds that you're in the girls' bathroom, Kurt, but you might want to consider the feelings of the other women at this restaurant," Rachel said. "Are we ready to order? Blaine said he knew what Kurt wanted, but I'm sure you wanted to pick your own meal, Mercedes."
"Thanks, Rachel, we'll be right out," Mercedes said as Rachel glanced between the two of them expectantly.
"Just helping Mercedes with her eyeliner!" Kurt said, despite the fact that Mercedes wasn't wearing any.
"I would have helped you too," Rachel said to Mercedes. "It's important to do girl things together. You just need to ask."
Mercedes nodded and Rachel turned back to leave. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled sweetly and said, "Thanks for the invitation, by the way. It's nice to go out with friends."
The door swung shut behind her. Mercedes sighed.
"Saying no to that would be like kicking a puppy," she said. Kurt nodded in agreement.
Together they emerged, a moment later, and found their table.
*
Mercedes hadn't expected to have a very good time. She'd been expecting another version of dates one through five, or some horrible combination of two of them. But instead, she was laughing. They were telling jokes as a group, trading stories about Sue or their friends, gossiping and talking about the world. Whenever Kurt and Blaine found a tangent, Rachel managed to steer the conversation to something interesting before Mercedes's eyes could glaze over. She was pretty good at that sometimes. Mercedes found herself a little disappointed when their foursome broke up at the end of the night. She waved goodbye fondly and then unlocked the door.
She made her way up to her bedroom and began to get ready for bed. She had to get up early for church tomorrow, and they'd gone to a coffee shop after the movie and stayed there until the barista kicked them out for closing. Mercedes hadn't had that much fun since... she couldn't remember when. Kurt was right. This worked better in pairs.
She couldn't help but feel a little bit of longing, though. She didn't need a boyfriend, but she wouldn't mind having someone she could talk to as easily as she talked to Kurt and Rachel. Someone she could cuddle with too. Why couldn't Kurt have found her a boy like that?
She shook her head. She couldn't imagine having a boyfriend like either of them. Maybe she should just go along with it for now. She'd find her perfect person someday.
He could totally show up any day, though.
Mercedes's phone vibrated and she picked it up. There were two messages - one from Kurt, the one she'd expected, and another from a number she didn't recognize.
Kurt's said, forgive me yet? :) She sent back, I guess so and went to read her other message.
Hello, Mercedes. Kurt gave me your number. I hope you don't mind. I just wanted to ask if you had a nice time tonight.
Well, there was no reason to ask who that was. Mercedes assigned the phone number to Rachel, and then texted back a yes.
I look forward to doing it again, Rachel replied, almost immediately. Mercedes smiled, and shook her head a little (Rachel's uncertain formality was practically endearing now, not that she'd admit it).
Me too, Mercedes sent before she climbed into bed.
*
Pleased with his success, Kurt continued to invite Rachel on most of their biweekly not-really-dates, and for the most part, things ran smoothly, although Rachel talked during movies and Mercedes got tired of nudging her to be quiet. They occasionally had homophobic issues, even though Kurt and Blaine were very light on the flirting in public, but Rachel was quite often the ones who stood up for them, leaning up on her toes and scolding the offenders, often threatening them with the ACLU in the same breath. It was entertaining to watch her go to town on someone, assuming that the person didn't seem like the type to get violent.
They went minigolfing, which everyone loved except Kurt, and Rachel was amusingly competitive. (Blaine won; he had the advantage of playing golf with his father since he was old enough to be a caddy). They had dinner and did karaoke and went to productions where Rachel mouthed along with all of the words.
Mercedes didn't realize how much fun she was having until one day she was running late and she met them at the restaurant, approaching breathlessly with, "Sorry, I couldn't find the right shoe - oh."
The "oh" was for the stranger who was sitting in Rachel's usual place, and she was glad she hadn't slid in casually before being introduced. The boy was tall and lanky, with short dark hair and an easy smile.
"This is Devon," Kurt said, beaming at Mercedes across the table. Devon offered a friendly handshake. Mercedes took it, still a little confused. She hesitated before sitting down, until Kurt jerked his head and glanced meaningfully at the table.
"Oh, right," she said. They were quiet for a few awkward moments before Blaine started telling a story about his English teacher, and then the conversation settled into a comfortable rhythm. Devon was polite, attentive, and witty. He made Mercedes laugh more than once, and he insisted on paying for her dinner. At the movie theater, Kurt sent Devon and Blaine for popcorn ("Just keep him company, all right?" and Blaine had agreed) and leaned across the armrest, unable to keep the pleased smile from his face.
"You haven't gotten mad all night. You like him, right?" he asked.
"He's... he's very nice," Mercedes said. Kurt's eyes narrowed and then he threw up his arms and sighed theatrically.
"I could get a saint to date you and it wouldn't make you happy! What's the problem?"
"You know that if I wanted a date, I'd go get one," she said, rehashing the old argument.
He waved a hand dismissively. "Not the point. Devon is a nice guy, and he's genuinely interested in you. So what's the deal?"
"I just - " Mercedes couldn't put her finger on it. Because he was a nice guy, and totally her type in the looks department too. There was just... something missing. She shrugged. "I don't know, I miss Rachel."
Kurt's eyes widened. "Don't tell me you've given up on romance."
"No!" Mercedes said. She looked down at her hands.
"We'll talk about this later," Kurt hissed when the other boys appeared at the end of the aisle with their popcorn. Devon gallantly shared his, and later, he walked Mercedes to the door. He didn't mind when she wanted to give him a hug goodbye instead of a kiss.
Mercedes had three increasingly irate text messages from Kurt, but she flipped through her phone to Rachel's number.
Hope you can come next time, she texted, feeling a strange tug in her stomach. She was blushing a little when she fell into bed. When she realized what she was blushing about, she bolted upright in the darkness.
Rachel? She had a crush on Rachel? What was she doing?
She lay back down and pulled the blankets back over her head.
*
The next week's date was awful. Mercedes spent most of her time avoiding talking to Rachel or meeting Rachel's eyes, and finally Rachel dragged her into the bathroom and asked what was wrong. Mercedes stared at Rachel's lips and wondered when exactly her brain had decided that Rachel's nose had character and only accentuated her face. She mumbled something about being sick, and Rachel came by the next day with a bowl of tofu-noodle soup. The soup was awful, but Mercedes ate it anyway, while Rachel rattled on about proper treatment of one's vocal chords when ill.
It was cute. It was impossibly cute and Mercedes still wasn't answering Kurt's text messages. What could she say? She was terrible at bluffing.
Oddly enough, it was Santana who was the catalyst. Wednesday after Glee club she dragged Mercedes into the janitor's closet. When she saw Mercedes's suspicious look, she scowled.
"Chill out, Aretha. You look like you need some advice. Which I never give away for free, so you'd better listen close."
"Advice on what?" Mercedes asked. Santana rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please. If you think I don't recognize the way you're looking at Berry -- well, yeah, I'm going to judge that, because eww -- but the point is, if you wanna hit it, you'd better get on it. The great Finn/Quinn heterosexuality parade," she said, waggling her fingers, "ain't gonna last past two days after prom. And when they break up, Finn's going to run right back to Rachel and cry on her tiny breasts. If that happens, you don't have a chance in hell."
Santana stared pointedly. Mercedes's first instinct was denial, but that'd be less effective than arguing with a brick wall. Santana was beginning to look outside of herself for probably the first time in her life, and it was kinda scary how insightful she could get.
"If you want her, you'd better go get her, because once they're gone, they aren't coming back." The corners of Santana's mouth tipped down a little and she glanced away from Mercedes for the amount of time it took to wipe her eyes furiously. Her tone was still hard when she spoke. "You owe me Breadstix now, I hope you know."
"That's gonna to make things awkward," Mercedes said without thinking. Santana threw up her hands and turned in a small disgusted circle.
"No, no, no! Sometime when I don't have to watch you and Berry make goo-goo eyes at each other and plan duets. Which, by the way, I've seen RENT. That song wasn't subtle at all."
Before Mercedes could defend herself any further, Santana pushed past her and out the door, muttering something about stupid baby gays and leaving Mercedes alone with her thoughts.
"If you thought that Landslide was subtle, then you'd better have another idea too!" she called after Santana, but Santana was already gone.
And she was right, as much as it hurt Mercedes to admit it. Finn and Rachel would be back together by Nationals. That was how Quinn was, Mercedes had realized last summer. She didn't know how to have meaningful relationships or friendships. After she'd gone back to living with her mother, she and Mercedes had abruptly ceased to be friends. Finn would lose her as soon as she didn't need him to be prom queen. Funny how no one that Quinn dated ever seemed to realize this.
Mercedes needed a plan. She flipped open her phone.
*
Kurt was surprised, unsure, and then completely supportive, in that order. She'd been a little worried after the whole Blaine-Rachel-sexuality crisis, but he just said something about how he could have had a larger pool of potential dates for her to pick from, and told her that the bisexual flag colors would look great on her. Apparently he'd been much more threatened by the fact that it was Blaine than by a real disbelief in bisexuality. She was glad. This would have taken much longer if she'd had to give him a lecture about sexual orientation that he already should have known.
With his cheerful encouragement, she soon had a plan. The only thing now was to hope that Rachel felt the same. She seemed to be happy right now, instead of moping over Finn, and she always seemed to have a good time when the four of them were out together, but there was a bit of a leap between friends and people you'd date. The line had always been thin for Mercedes, but it might not be so thin for Rachel.
Worrying didn't accomplish anything, so Mercedes picked out her favorite dress and got ready for their Friday night foursome (an unfortunate label provided by Rachel; Kurt had shot it down immediately but somehow it had stuck around, probably because Blaine and Mercedes found it funny). She did her best to act surprised when Kurt called and told her that he and Blaine couldn't make it because Blaine had food poisoning.
Rachel bit her lip when Mercedes told her. "Is he going to be okay? They don't have to pump his stomach, do they?"
Mercedes had no intention of spending this evening in an ER over fake food poisoning. "It's just..." She wiggled her fingers and made a disgusted face. "He's not really into company right now."
"Oh," Rachel said quickly. "Well--" She hesitated, and then met Mercedes's eyes with a soft smile. "We can still hang out together, right? Or is that not the proper procedure--"
Mercedes cut her off quickly. "I don't mind," she said. She felt her cheeks heat up a little. As a cover, she took Rachel's arm and dragged her into the restaurant.
When they wanted to be fancy, they went to Breadstix. But this little Chinese restaurant was also a favored haunt of the group. Mercedes loved their sweet and sour chicken, and the small size of the place led to a certain intimacy. Kurt always complained it was bad for his skin, but Rachel had always liked it, and Mercedes thought it was a good choice.
They leaned together over the small table, trading bits of food and laughing and talking. Mercedes's foot brushed against Rachel's under the table, and Rachel didn't pull away, engrossed in a story about the biology teacher, who had disowned Rachel after she'd refused to dissect a frog ("How do you disown a student, anyway?" —"Good question. She doesn't want to fail you or she'd just have to have you again").
"You know," Rachel said, leaning on Mercedes's arm as she left, "I didn't miss Blaine and Kurt at all." She blinked and then hurried to clarify. "We always have a great time with them around, but I think that you and I also have a certain intimacy now that we may have lacked at the beginning of these outings. I really think you're my best friend, Mercedes."
She looked away, clearly fearful of rejection.
"Look, can I tell you something?" Mercedes asked, blood rushing in her ears. "No— not here." It would be ridiculous to confess in a Chinese restaurant parking lot, wouldn't it?
They ended up in the parking lot of Mercedes's church. She decided that she could use any kind of divine help that she could get.
"Okay, now?" Rachel asked as she shifted into park. She was bright and eager and had been grilling Mercedes relentlessly for the whole ride. She thought perhaps it was a new duet idea, or an idea for Glee, or even an idea for the next date night. Mercedes could only half-listen, panic rising. Kurt was texting her every five minutes, demanding updates she couldn't provide.
She could do this. She was Mercedes Jones, and she was even more diva than Rachel Berry. Divas took risks and got what they wanted. So would she. She had to try.
"Rachel," Mercedes said in the darkness of the car, "I like you." She took a breath. "A lot."
Rachel turned on the interior lights. Her expression was confused and her complexion bleached by the glow of the bulb. "People don't say that to me much," she said, and smiled a little. "I'm not sure why you had to drag me all the way out here — but that's okay. Sometimes friends do weird things for each other."
"It's not like that," Mercedes continued doggedly. "It's more than that. I...like you, Rachel." She held Rachel's gaze.
Tentative, Rachel reached out to brush Mercedes's cheek. "You're confessing to me," she said, almost in wonder. "I asked — Finn said that Kurt didn't call it a double date, anyway, and so — of course, liking boys doesn't preclude someone from liking girls too, I should know that. I was just not sure I should ask."
"Well," Mercedes said, wanting to relax into Rachel's soft touch, "I'd like them to be double dates. If that's okay with you."
Rachel opened her mouth to speak and then just nodded swiftly, twice, before Mercedes leaned forward and pulled her into an awkward sideways hug. (Rachel hadn't taken her seatbelt off.) Her lips brushed Rachel's earlobe, and Rachel shivered in a way that Mercedes immediately wanted to reproduce, but then Rachel moved wrong and accidentally hit the horn, which frightened them both, the sudden loudness in the the middle of the deserted parking lot.
Rachel decided it would be prudent to move, in case anyone around was disturbed by the noise. By the time Mercedes stopped laughing in release of tension, they were headed back towards Rachel's house.
"You need to meet my dads again," Rachel explained. "I always let them see my dates. Well, except Puck. He was pretty good at avoiding them. And I know they already like you, but... it's different now. Daddy might give you the third degree. He thinks it's funny."
Mercedes let Rachel's words wash over her, occasionally offering a thought of her own, and she found Rachel's hand on the seat between them, and she took it. Even the prospect of a dual grilling didn't bother her — after all, the Berry dads were total pushovers, and she'd do a good job of taking care of their little girl.
"I need my hand to turn properly," Rachel said gently, untangling herself from Mercedes's grip. Her smile was bright, even in the renewed dimness of the car; the streetlights bronzed her in a way that Mercedes found beautiful, even if the shadows weren't necessarily flattering. It didn't take long to arrive.
They were swinging their laced fingers on their way up Rachel's sidewalk, and Mercedes was pondering the best way to tell Rachel that she really didn't need to make any FEEL BETTER SOON cookies, but that was a problem for later.
Right now, they were stepping into the warmth and light of a home Mercedes knew half as well as her own, and it felt like a beginning.