113Pairing: Rachel/Quinn (eventually)
Summary: Combining two prompts on LJ. The Glee club play paintball and Rachel is a natural and takes no prisoners. Some of the Glee club think it's ridiculously hot.
Author's Notes: So, for this to work, Kurt never transferred to Dalton. As much as I like Lauren, and thought I didn't like Kurt, I actually really miss him hanging out with his Gleeks. But that means there is no epic friendship between Kurt and Rachel (which I also really love), so Rachel is pretty much back to being friendless.
I was also writing this with the intention of having Brittany/Artie, and Brittana friendship only, but after 'Sexy', I just can't. Brittana are meant to be. So somewhere down the line, Artie is probably gonna get the boot.
Also, I'm going off of my experience paintballing in Britain, but tweaking it a bit (a lot) to make it cooler. I'm not sure what it's like in America, so forgive me for any mistakes.
I've tried to make it so you can guess who is on which team, but if I wasn't successful, I will post the teams in the next chapter anyway.
Spoilers up to 'Comeback' I guess, and then AU after that.
/long author's note
Chapter 1
The Glee club were gathered in the choir room for their usual Wednesday practise. A newly single Rachel sat alone on the far side, her face immersed in her notebook as they all waited for Mr Schuester to arrive.
Ever since her break-up with Finn, Rachel had been trying to get her head back in the game. Becoming attached to the tall boy had misdirected her focus, and now she wanted to get it back where it was supposed to be; concentrating on her future as a Broadway star.
Hearing their teacher waltz through the door made her pause in her reading. Carefully closing her notes, she looked up and directed her full attention to Mr. Schuester.
"Ok, guys, I know there has been a bit of tension lately." He paused to give Rachel and Finn a barely noticeable once over. "But I'm hoping this weeks' assignment is going to change that."
"What are we gonna sing Mr. Schue?" Finn asked.
"There will be no singing."
Every head in the choir room shot up at these words, a few stunned faces gaped open mouthed at their teacher.
"Mr. Schuester, Regionals are right around the corner, and we need all the practice we can get. Not doing any songs this week will surely impact our performance in a detrimental way."
Rachel didn't need to see the eye rolls her fellow Glee clubbers were giving her. After being together so long, and the frequency with which it occurred, it had become like a seventh sense, after her psychic ability of course.
"Dr. Howell used a detrimental on my teeth when I went to see him."
The silence lasted a good few seconds as some of the kids shot Brittany a confused glance. Choosing to ignore both girls, and using the silence as an opportunity, Mr. Schuester cleared his throat.
"Right, well, as I was saying, there will be no singing this week. You guys have lost that unity that we had last year. We barely made it through Sectionals, and now with Regionals getting nearer, I feel we're still in that same dark place."
Half the room had the mind to look slightly sheepish at his words. It was true after all.
"So, this week, we're going to focus on getting that unity back. With a teambuilding exercise!"
When his announcement didn't receive the desired enthusiasm, he swallowed thickly and moved to get his hat out of one of the drawers behind him.
"We're splitting into two teams, but I don't want you hanging out with your friends while we do this, so it will be completely up to chance."
After writing down all the students' names and dropping them in the hat, he walked over to the white board and wrote Team 1 and Team 2. Picking the first name out of the hat, he silently wrote Mike under Team 1. Alternating between the teams, eventually all twelve members were written down on the board.
"Now, remember which team you're on, I'm going to write it down anyway so there will be no switching on the day. The idea of this is to become more comfortable with other people in Glee, people who you wouldn't normally socialise with. You guys need to re-learn how to work together as a team. You might even be surprised how much you all have in common."
"Right, because I'm sure Artie and I have so much in common." Santana shot out, full of snark. She then grunted slightly when an elbow dug itself into her side, and she turned to lock eyes with the culprit.
"You said you'd try not to be mean anymore." Brittany said, her frown evident on her face.
"Mr. Schue, you haven't told us what we're doing yet." Puck let out, already thinking of a new team name. Team 1, was he serious? Team Badass, more like.
"Oh, right, about that, I will need permission slips from your parents as this will be an off campus exercise, and you're all still underage." He paused, a glint in his eye as he built up the suspense. "This Saturday, we're going paintballing!"
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
The day after their Glee club meeting saw a change in demeanour for all of the Glee kids. Excitement, hesitation, and outrage, were just a few of the emotions flowing throughout the group.
"Are you kidding? Team Badass is gonna wipe the floor with you. Face it Sammy boy, you and your team don't stand a chance against this much talent."
Sam looked from Finn to Puck across the lunch table, taking in the latter's words. It was true, when he had seen is name written last on the Team 2 side of the white board yesterday, his heart had dropped. He was in a team of four girls, and Kurt, and he was screwed.
"Well, I have the girlfriend advantage. Artie and Mike aren't going to want to hit their girlfriends, what kind of boyfriend would that make them?" He didn't really believe what he was saying as soon as he said it. Looking towards Mike and Artie, he could see them with their heads together, planning their strategy already.
Sighing inwardly, he hoped the rest of his team would at least try to take the whole exercise semi seriously.
OXO
Across the lunch room, Kurt sat with Mercedes and Tina discussing their newest Glee assignment.
"I don't care if it's water soluble, if any of that paint gets on my new Valentino button down, I swear I will do some damage and make it look like an accident."
"Can't you just wear an old shirt or something? I'm pretty sure you get overalls to wear." Tina said trying to diffuse the situation before Kurt could get into his stride. She was actually really looking forward to paintballing, even if it meant having to shoot Mike.
She could kiss his abs better later.
Smiling at the thought, she turned to Mercedes. "It sucks you're on the other team."
Mercedes was disappointed at first to have been put apart from her friends, but when she realised that the rest of her team mates would surely be awesome at paintball she changed her tune. She liked to win.
"Yeah, well, you win some, you lose some. And we are going to win some on Saturday, haha." Mercedes smiled wide, and raised her hands to do a little victory dance.
Kurt chuckled at his best friends antics. "I'm starting to not doubt that. Seriously, our team sucks, there's no way we're going to win."
OXO
"Ugh, this sucks. I can't believe I got thrown with Sam and Rachel. Can you believe that? –"
Santana was getting bored of the broken record monologue Quinn was spouting. It had started yesterday after their Glee meeting, and was still going strong now.
" – even if we do sort of get a long now, he's still my ex-boyfriend, and Rachel's… well, Rachel!"
Santana rolled her eyes, her witty retort on the tip of her tongue.
"Well, at least you'll have me. I'm awesome." Brittany put forward, interrupting whatever Santana was about to say. She could feel her best friend getting tense beside her, and didn't want her to hurt Quinn's feelings. Santana was good at that.
Quinn's agitation faded, and she couldn't help the small smile appear on her face. She looked towards the blonde in front of her. "I know Brit, and we're gonna kick Santana's butt right?"
"But I don't want to kick her butt, can't we just shoot her instead?"
OXO
It wasn't until last period that day that a few of the Glee kids caught their first sight of Rachel.
Bounding into World History, she quickly marched over to Quinn and Tina's table, who shared the class with her.
"Ladies, I have called an emergency meeting for Team Broadway in the choir room tomorrow at first break. I have been doing a lot of research into the sport of paint balling and think I have come up with a few strategies that will work to our advantage."
Before either girl had a chance to respond, their teacher walked into the room and motioned for Rachel to take her seat to begin the class.
"'The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand.' Don't forget about the meeting!" Rachel added as she made her way to her seat across the room.
Tina and Quinn could only stare after the girl.
"Did she just quote The Art of War?"
They turned to each other and sighed, confident in the knowledge, that yes, Rachel Berry had just become a little more insane.