CHALLENGE #18: Five by Five

[skieswideopen]

CHALLENGE #18: Five by Five

Description Pick one of the following sets of words and write a fic that includes at least three words from that set. If you're feeling really ambitious, use all five words. Your chosen words must all come from the same set and must all appear in your fic. The context in which they're used is entirely up to you

Comments

[queer_theory]

Title: no title
Fandom: Glee
Pairing(s): nothing obviously shippy, but you could take it as Rachel/Sam if you want
Rating: G
Warnings: I'm not much of a fic writer. Sorry for this. :P
Word Count: 406
Set # & Words Used: Set 5 - guide, mistake, rain, robot, violin

[Fic ahoy...]
"I know you're trying to cheer me up, but I don't think it's going to work."

Rachel was doing the difficult work of packing up the attic, an activity that usually meant less packing and more re-examing every object you came across. She thought she'd been the one getting sentimental, stewing over each newly recovered memory, but it was Sam whose focus kept wandering. It was an old robot toy this time, something that must have belonged to one of her dads when he was a kid, and Sam had started doing the appropriate dance. Rachel thought it was both awkward and charming, but she'd be leaving out the "charming" part if Sam asked. She dug into a box and recovered her old violin.

"What's that?" Sam crossed the room to sit beside her. Raising an eyebrow, Rachel muttered, "It's a violin, Sam." He shook his head. "No, but is it yours? Do you play?"

She wondered if she could still play, if violin was like riding a bike. One swipe of the bow told her that it wasn't. "I used to play. My dads gave me lessons for any instrument I thought I might want to learn." Setting the violin down, she added, "I played some better than others."

Sam reached into a box beside him and pulled out a travel guide. "London! Did you go?" She nodded, taking the guide from him and flipping through it without really looking. "When I was seven? It rained the whole time we were there, but I didn't care. We were seeing shows in the West End. There was a revival of My Fair Lady that year." She tossed the guide back into a box and got to her feet.

"This was a mistake. I don't want to do this."

He stood, reaching for her hand. "You have to do this. Whether you want to or not. Your dads are selling the house, so you might as well help pack." Giving her hand a squeeze, Sam let go and started moving the boxes they'd gone through into the corner. There was a pile for boxes that needed to be taped up, a pile for things Rachel wanted to take with her when she moved out, and a pile for things they'd be selling or donating. Rachel looked at the collected bits of her childhood, of her fathers' crumbling marriage, and sighed. Then, she got back to work.

[catko]

Oh! This is good, and sad, and very in character! Well done.