Title: I'm Watching You All

Fandom: Glee

Pairing/Characters: Jesse St James/Rachel Berry

Rating: FR13

Disclaimer: Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy and company. The prompt and title comes from The Stone Roses' song “Fools Gold.”

Prompts: Written for a prompt I posted at a comment-athon of Rachel/Jesse and “I know the truth and I know what you're thinking.”

Notes: Set during the first season.

Summary: Set after Regionals, Rachel pays Jesse a visit.

Word Count: 655

She's standing on his front doorstep, staring up at him with fury in her eyes. But somehow Jesse knows the truth; he can read it in the slant of her jaw, the subtle relaxing in her spine when he opens the door. Rachel Berry might believe that she's come all this way to yell at him over what happened at Regionals, but he knows differently. It is that knowledge that causes him to swing his door open wide and step aside for her.

“Come in, Rachel,” Jesse says, pitching his voice into a solicitous tone.

He smirks when she marches into his house, her elbow grazing his chest. Jesse knows that deep down this isn't about Regionals for her; this is about Rachel getting a false sense of closure so that she'll feel comfortable in dating one of her little paramours at West McKinley. His money's on Finn Hudson but it could be Puck as well. Jesse doesn't say a word as he leads her into the living room where he'd been watching television and he tries to keep the smirk off of his face. As if either Finn or Puck could give Rachel what she wants, much less keep up to her. He had a hard enough time trying to keep up to her as it was.

For a moment, they both stand there awkwardly, Jesse with his hands shoved in his pockets and Rachel with her arms folded across her chest. The tension between them is so thick that you could cut it with a knife. And Jesse thinks for one moment that she's going to lean forward and kiss him. He thinks that he'd rather enjoy that, instead her mouth purses just before she launches into a tirade about Regionals and his betrayal.

He doesn't pay attention to her words, no doubt carefully rehearsed before she came over; instead Jesse watches her face, her hands and her body. She's passionate about the lies that are spilling out of her mouth no matter how false or trite they are. He wonders if she even realizes just how much she's lying to herself. What they share isn't going to conveniently disappear or simply burn out because of what happened at Regionals or with Shelby or even because of Finn. All they can hope is to let it simmer until the time is finally right for them.

When Rachel's voice starts to become too shrill, Jesse pulls her flush against his body and kisses her into silence. For one brief and glorious moment, time stands still and she fervently returns his kiss. The next she's pulling away from him and slapping his face. Jesse smirks down at her even though his right cheek stings. Her eyes are flashing anger and desire while her cheeks are flushed. He knows that she still has feelings for him, that whatever this is between them it isn't one-sided.

“Go on and date your precious Finn, but don't come here accusing me of cheating at Regionals. Vocal Adrenaline won because we were the better team.”

His voice is hard despite his smile. Rachel opens and closes her mouth, silent either because of his kiss or his words. She turns on her heel and marches towards the door. He lets her get to the door and stops her just as her hand is about to turn the knob.

“And Rachel, I lied that day in the parking lot,” Jesse tells her, “I still love you, it's not past tense.”

She slams the door so hard that it shakes in its frame and Jesse collapses to the couch with a bemused grin on his face. What they have will survive until Rachel's finally ready for it. The next time they meet up, Jesse vows that it'll be just the two of them. They'll be free from anyone else's manipulations and machinations. Their relationship will flourish because it won't be based on lies.

((END))

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