Backwards Shuffle || selfpara
who: Brody Weston Fabray what: Unable to afford his dorm room anymore, college sophomore Brody moves back home after his dad leaves the family.
Lima, Ohio had the unique ability of being a place no one wanted to stay, but somehow so many ended up stuck there. As a hometown, it was unimpressive. It had a school, a second-rate mall, a few government buildings, enough restaurant chains to attract people off the highway, and a college that pulled in students from the surrounding counties if no where else. But there was really nothing that put it on the map; it was just the typical small town USA it seemed to be.
Moving from the college dorms back into his family’s house shouldn’t have bothered him as much as it did. He loved his mom, he loved his sister, and he even loved his father - who found a way out of Ohio all the way to Texas, leaving his family behind - but it really did feel like a step backwards in his life. It hadn’t been far, but Brody had been living on his own in the sleepy little town. He’d been making something of himself. He made good grades, he liked his roommate Dylan, and he’d started competitive boxing. And, as he found out, he was pretty good at it, carrying the current cruiserweight championship title. Without living at home, he was building a life outside of the Fabray name.
He’d even started using his middle name as his last, going by Brody Weston after winning his first fight as a freshman in college. The moment had been ruined by the announcer stumbling over Fabray and when his coach suggested he change it, Brody barely hesitated. But it felt weird, being “Brody Weston” now that he was back in his old room at the Fabray house. Up the stairs from his mother and just down the hall from his sister.
At least he wasn’t the only one reinventing himself; at least Lucy had set the precedence for it. She was still blonde, she still preferred to be called Quinn, and this year, she was Cheerios Captain, the youngest in McKinley High’s cheerleading history. Her shirts were tighter now, her skirts shorter, and Brody couldn’t help the way his eyes narrowed when a JV football player picked her up for a date, his awkward limbs getting in the way as he tried to open the door for her.
But one thing was still the same about Quinn, and that was her best friend Rachel Berry. The complete opposite, the kind of girl Brody always suspected Quinn kept around after her big transformation from squatty mouse to social butterfly because it only made Quinn look better. Even pre-nose job, Quinn and Rachel had been an unlikely pair, but next to tall, thin, blonde Quinn, Rachel looked even more... different. Brunette, small, Jewish.
But she’d never let Quinn completely outshine her, which Brody liked. Especially when Quinn was honestly too insecure to handle someone else being better than her. Maybe the fact Rachel had talents completely different from his sister’s is what kept their friendship together. Quinn tumbled and cheered, Rachel sang and danced.
Still, as bizarre as it seemed, it was kind of nice knowing that somethings hadn’t changed during the brief year he’d been gone, even if he didn’t really want to be moving back. Even if his father had left them all for Texas.
He only wished Rachel spent more time at her own house instead of staying in Quinn’s room all the time. Even when his sister wasn’t there, Rachel seemed to be.
“It’s weird,” he said one night, doing the dishes with his mom.
“Her fathers aren’t around as much as they used to be,” she said sadly, drying a plate before setting a plate in the cabinet. “I’ve always liked having her around.”
“It’s still weird that she’s here all the time,” he said again.
Or maybe it was just that he’d forgotten what it was like to be around her. She’d always been a little quiet when she was near him, a little nervous. He thought he saw her staring sometimes, but never seemed to catch her. She’d leave the room when he came in sometimes... quiet, small, little Rachel. Different that Quinn, different than any other girl he’d ever met.
And always, almost always, there
