Insufferable - Taylor Swift AU

"PATCHWORK PEOPLE"

News broke about their relationship through a People Magazine article that said nothing really special or specific at all but managed to generate a little buzz.

Half of the show's fan base hadn't even realized Lana was not straight so there was a little more shock than what would've come from some other pairing. It had only been a week since their day out with Jack, and Lana hadn't been expecting production to leak things so soon. She's glad she told everyone who really mattered to her the truth before the lies started spreading.

Not that she had that many friends because being with Steph for so many years was incredibly isolating and her family hadn't accepted her long before. Mostly it was Blake and Ryan, who had already assumed something weird was going on because Lana and Taylor could barely stand to breathe the same air most days.

But Lana doesn't have Jack the day the story leaks, and she's not made any plans with anyone, either. She watches the headlines roll in, the gossip columns, the social media frenzy. She doesn't have much else to do than watch people make horrible edits of them and say they've been shipping them since the season two cast interviews were released and Taylor and Lana had 'undeniable' chemistry.

Taylor, on the other hand, actually does have plans that don't involve real pilates. She's sitting next to her mother in a hospital while Andrea receives another round of chemotherapy. Her mother had been battling cancer for years, a slow battle. She usually just sat with her while she dealing with the infusion, sometimes reading to her.

Today, Andrea was arguing a little, "Why are you making that poor girl be in a fake relationship with you?"

Taylor appreciates that despite her mother's disapproval, she keeps her voice quiet so others in the area don't hear them, "Because they were going to write me off the show and I need the good press. She was a better pick than the other options, okay?"

"Your father wouldn't actually write you off the show, he'd never agree to it," Andrea speaks for her ex-husband's opinion quite certainly but Taylor is quick to laugh drily and shake her head.

"He's the one who go to tell me the news, so I guess he would go along with it."

"Seriously?" Andrea sighs, she looks genuinely surprised by the news but her face changes slightly after a moment of pause, "Taylor, are you doing this to get back at your father? You know... he was raised to—"

"Please, Mom, don't," she doesn't want to hear her mother defend her father's ideals of her sexuality. Scott and everyone else on the planet had an idea about who she was supposed to love, and unfortunately at the end of the day, it had caused a massive strain on her relationship with her dad.

"I'm just saying, honey, if you're roping Lana into that, it's just going to hurt you both in the long run. It's not fair."

"Do you want another blanket?" Taylor decides to change the subject because she can't listen to another second of that conversation. Everything was stressful enough as it was, "I'll get you another blanket, be right back."

And that's pilates for the week.

The following day, Taylor's on set at eight sharp. She's already been through hair and makeup when Lana strolls in, a script in her hand and a bottle of water in the other. It's not an unfamiliar look, the Monday mornings were usually the worst in terms of her co-stars knowing their lines because the scripts were typically running behind. Taylor dedicates time to sit in the writers room, insisting her character stay true to the woman they debuted in the first season through her development, and therefore she knows a lot of the lines. It's a privilege not many people get when it comes to their characters, but Taylor had made a name for herself a long time ago and everyone knew she liked things just so.