Summary: In the movies, every other love story involving coffeeshops started out differently. A comedy starring Quinn Fabray as the reluctant barista, Marley Rose as the (frustrated) object of frustration, a Greek chorus of meddling friends, and bad coffee puns to spare. Coffeeshop!AU. Oneshot.
Links: Fanfiction dot net | AO3
As always, if you're just here for the story, links are above; if you want to read the extended notes, click on the cut below.
Extended Notes and Meta: I set out to write something light, funny, witty, and entertaining. This oneshot taught me that Fabrose is pretty much impossible to write without a solid plot driving the entire thing, and that these girls demand nothing less than at least 10k words of story.
The original idea for this came from me attempting to combine four things I love: coffee, enamel pins, Fabrose, and bad puns. Thus inspired, I banged out 300 words of Quinn and Marley flirting over bad coffee puns. It was cute, but I couldn't think of anything else to add that might make it a proper fic so it went on the shelf while I worked on Shifting Skylines.
When I went on hiatus from fanfic to work on my thesis, I'd go on my phone now and then just to play around with the document of random snippets and ideas I keep (my apartment full of mistresses). Those 300 words grew to 6k as I put together a patchwork quilt of humour. The real crunch happened when my country went on a 4-week lockdown and yours truly had nothing to do but write. And write and write and write... pretty soon, I'd finished my thesis (what's 30k words when you write 100k novels about lesbians for the Internet to enjoy) and had plenty of time to kill.
Pretty soon, I found that 6k of random snippets was mostly trash, and I didn't like the idea of having a drabble collection (props to you if you know what that means). So over the course of a few days, I revamped the story and dialogue, and it grew to 10k words, as these things tend to do.
I made Quinn the heroine of this story because I felt like she would be one of those people who do a lot of internal monologuing. Perfect for writing lesbian pining IMO. I gave her a detailed backstory about getting kicked out of her house, gave all the other characters backstories and subplots as well, then cut them all because it didn't really fit the light chicklit mood I was going for lol. In the end, I wanted something light and easy to read: the polar opposite of all of my Fabrose fics. I wanted something that people could read on their phones while commuting to work or school and chuckle to themselves. Or close the tab because the story sucked. I'm not picky.
I worked as a barista very briefly, and I think it shows in the jargon I threw in. I would also like to add that the main reason I did that job was so I could have all the coffee I could drink, and I hope that shows, too.
I would like to add that I was hoping I could write some nice reason for writing this story but this is pure entertainment. If you're reading this, I hope this fic made you smile (for one reason or another).
Finally, to all the Fabrose fans out there, y'all are awesome.
What do you think of Madison, Blaine, Quinn, Santana, Ryder, Finn, Kurt, Jesse and Rachel?
@madsmccrthy: I don’t know her very well...but she seems very lovely!
@blaineandersnyc: Honestly he and Kurt made New York home for me when I wasn’t so sure about the city. He’s super talented and kind and sweet and I’m so lucky to have him as one of my best friends.
@quinnspired: She’s always been very kind to me. I used to be able to talk to her at the office here and there, but now it’s different. I’d love to get to know her more!
@sxnlopez: Honestly she’s one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. She’s the best person, and so kind to me. I know whenever I need a friend or someone who has my back 100% it’s Santana.
@nycryder: I honestly love Ryder. He’s so talented and funny and I hope now that I’m back in the city we can hang out more.
@numberfivefinn: Ugh, can’t stand him. Honestly over the Quarterback thing...Need new friends. ;D
@krt-hmml: The most talented hardworking kind person ever. He deserves all the happiness and good in the world and I can’t wait to watch him get it.
@jstj: Very talented, hardworking theatre guy
@bberryrach: Very talented, hardworking theatre girl
Quinn was at the airport fifteen minutes early, which gave her plenty of time to to think as she waited at the terminal exit. It had been almost a year since she’d seen her little sister. She’d not made it home for Christmas last year, but if she was honest, she hadn’t tried very hard. She wanted to see Marley, of course, but work was demanding her full attention, and since she was recovering from a breakup it was easiest to throw herself into that.
Marley was Marley, so she’d forgiven her, but Quinn was determined to make up for all of that anyway. This was her chance to be the big sister she knew she should be. To take care of Marley. Like she had when she was eighteen and Marley was eight, and she’d taught Marley how to kick mean boys in the balls, artfully dodging the question of why Marley couldn’t practice on her.
She was so lost in her own thoughts her heart skipped a beat when she recognized a familiar face in the crowd of people streaming through the gate. “Marley,” she whispered to herself. “Marley!” she raised her voice, waving at her sister.
Tugging on her burgundy beanie, Marley stepped out into the chill of the night’s air with little protection other than her favorite hat. Her shirt was thin, loose and oversized, her faded grey skinny jeans donned large rips and her black ankle boots were definitely made for fashion purposes only, there was little to no practicality there, but none of that mattered because she just needed to get out of her cramped apartment. The walls were closing in on her. Every inch of that place reminded her of Lehti, and she was done crying, she was over it. Her work had become a new dark twisted sort of beauty, there was that, but one could only sit in sorrow for so long.
There was a nearby bar that Marley passed on more than a few occasion but never ventured into, because Lehti had her preferences, and Marley tended to go wherever the other woman wanted. That night she was getting drunk where she chose. Entering the establishment with a inquisitive look on her face, Marley searched for the nearest open seat at the bar. She walked up and slid into a chair. As she was waving down the bartender she noticed a woman with blonde hair and green eyes that would look really good on one of her canvases. A myriad of ideas came rushing to her at the sight of those eyes, it was so distracting Marley hadn’t noticed the bartender asking her what she’d like until a moment later. “Oh, jeeze, I’m sorry can I get an elderflower vodka lemonade. Or just whatever you can do with some St Germain and Vodka.” She flashed him an apologetic smile before pulling out her phone.
Summary: Quinn Fabray has grand plans for her pre-college summer vacation: a road trip. When Marley joins her as a last-minute addition, things change and develop in ways none of them had ever expected. Fabrose. Slight canon!AU.
Links: Fanfiction dot net | AO3
As always, if you're just here for the story, links are above; if you want to read the extended notes, click on the cut below.
Extended Notes and Meta: With the main storyline being all but resolved in the last chapter, all that was needed for this one was to tie up the last little end and maybe feed y'all some fluff.
But no; they always say that the simplest things are the hardest and this is no exception. I started writing this chapter immediately after the previous one, and regretted it. I've complained her multiple times about having difficulty writing the chapter, and discarding thousands and thousands of words.
Ah, bless me/. None of it held a candle to what I went through for the epilogue.
In hindsight, I suppose that a major part of the difficulty was wanting to keep this bit of story inside the chapter, and I was snipping and struggling to rework the rest to make it fit. In the end, I cut it because it really didn't have a place in the story, and it felt way too much like I was cloning my previous Fabrose fic (it was a mix CD of songs mentioned on the road trip but as a cover album).
The ending was deliberately kept light – well, as light as it can be when Quinn Fabray is involved. This fic's themes are much lighter than my other Fabrose fics, and are supposed to be a bastion of fluff and happiness. But, as I've learned over the 4+ years I've been writing Quinn Fabray, that's not exactly possible. I hope I've managed to strike a balance between the two.
The photo album has always been something I envisioned being in the ending from the first chapter. At least now y'all know what Marley's been doing while Quinn is being lost in her gay thoughts, amirite?
It doesn't feel like another year, but another long Fabrose fic has been completed! These things take a lot out of me. I'm proud to be populating the Fabrose tag, and always happy to hear from people who are only just discovering this smokin' hot ship.
But on that note, I think I'll be taking a break from this pairing. I can only write if I have good ideas, and my tank is empty right now. I'll definitely come back to this pairing when I've got a fic idea, so look forward to that! I have a bunch of incomplete Faberry that has been on the backburner for 2 years now, so there's that...
For now, I'd like to thank everyone who's read this fic, everyone who's left a comment, review, kudos, etc: thank you for being a part of this journey. You put the fan in fandom and fanfic, and the Fabrose world would be a quieter and darker place without y'all.
Last bonus: the epilogue contains tons of references to things mentioned in earlier chapters. There's no prize for spotting them all but the smug satisfaction of having devoted just as much brainpower to it as I have.
