Title::..Butterflies
Spoilers::..Wheels
Rating::..G
Characters::..Mercedes, Kurt, Rachel, Finn, Tina and Artie
Genre::..Drama
Author's Note::..Who knew when I turned on the Pilot episode of Glee I would fall so in love with it that I just had to write fanfic for it? Not me, I remember thinking after the episode had finished 'yeah, I guess I'll watch it again if nothing else is on'. And then I was in love.
So I know what you're thinking 'jeez, another character in love with Finn!' I was originally going to have Mercedes developing a crush on Puck, but then this arc held the storyline between Mercedes and Kurt, which I had to explore, considering I had forgotten he actually came out to her (d'oh!).
The title is a Michael Jackson song from his Invincible album, therefore encouraging you to listen to it and imagine Mercedes singing it to an oblivious Finn.
Summary::..and I wish that I could be with you tonight, you give me butterflies inside, Mercedes begins to see Finn under a different light after having a dream about him.

Mercedes sat amongst the audience in Glee Club. In an uncomfortable plastic chair, with Rachel's voice piercing her ears. How many songs did this girl want to sing? There were only a few more songs left for her to slaughter. It was nothing against Rachel's talent. No, nothing against Rachel's talent. It was everything against Rachel's personality. It was difficult to enjoy listening to Rachel's singing when you knew Rachel was enjoying it way too much.

Rachel hit a surprisingly high note and Mercedes flinched back. Hers wasn't the only chair to scrape across the linoleum. Mercedes couldn't remember what song Rachel was singing or why she was singing. She looked around her to see various confused faces. Except they didn't belong to the other members of Glee. The people she saw around her were her relatives. Cousins and embarrassing aunts. She didn't know what they were doing here. She wasn't even sure why she was here.

Then the fluorescent lights flicked off, all at once. As she glanced up a spotlight was switched on. She looked forward and Finn was standing in the bright pool of light. Now he was singing. Softly and shyly. Mercedes forgot about everyone else in the room. She didn't know why he was singing. She didn't know why she was enjoying this so much either.

Especially when he got down on one knee directly in front of her. She could feel a blush rising quickly in her cheeks. She had never noticed how nice his eyes were before. She could easily get lost in these eyes. She felt her heart racing. He was serenading her. She had never been serenaded before. She instantly decided he should do this every time they had Glee practice.

All of a sudden Rachel was in her face, completely obscuring her view of Finn. Rachel's oddly shaped nose with make-up only around her eyes, nowhere else. "Wake up."

A grunt escaped her lips as she sat up out of bed. She threw her hair out of her face, spitting some strands out of her mouth. "Huh? What?" She flicked the covers off of her, instantly alert. "What happened?"

"Your alarm didn't go off. You'll have to get a new one." Her mother told her from the door. She clapped her hands together sharply. "Now get up, you've got ten minutes until the bus gets here."

"Ten minutes?!" She exclaimed, jumping out of bed. She moved as quickly as she could to the closet. While she was frantically trying to find something that would match she didn't have any time to ponder why she had dreamt about Finn.

The cafeteria was the usual explosion of sound – chattering, laughter, teasing and the constant tinkle of cutlery. Today Mercedes could put all of this out of her mind. She sat in their usual spot, with their backs against the wall so no one could sneak up on them. On the opposite side of the room was Finn, with Quinn by his side as always.

Mercedes was allowed the perfect view of Finn as he gulped down his box of milk. This was part of his every day lunchtime ritual. He would guzzle down the milk as quickly as possible, while Quinn sat beside him, wearing a look which suggested she was trying to remember all of the good qualities he possessed that had drawn her to him in the first place. Then once he was finished she would hand him a napkin to sop up the milk that had missed his mouth.

He did this every lunchtime. Mercedes had looked up at least fifty times over the past school year to see him devouring a box per day. But today she didn't just look away again. Today she took proper notice. She had barely paid any attention to her lunch. She was too busy looking at Finn. She couldn't figure out why she had dreamt of him. She had never considered him on a level deeper than Finn – The Jock Who Had Knocked Quinn Up.

She tilted her head from side-to-side and narrowed her eyes at him. She was trying to find an angle he looked attractive at. She supposed he wasn't ugly. But he wasn't cute enough to be on The O.C either. Why had she dreamt about him? He was hardly her type. It wasn't as if he had a sexy personality she could be attracted to, so far as she could tell from this distance.

"Why are you staring at Finn?" Kurt's voice came rocketing into her mind.

She recoiled as if he had slapped her. Her head quickly whipped around in his direction. She struggled to make herself look or sound innocent. "I wasn't staring at Finn."

"Yeah, okay." Kurt scoffed.

Mercedes cast a quick glance at Tina. She had her ear buds securely in her ears, she would never hear them. But she leant into Kurt self-consciously anyway. "I had a dream about Finn last night."

Kurt's calm face suddenly became a smooth mask. His lips drew into a thin line. "Really? You dream about Finn?"

"Dreamed." She corrected. "It only happened once. And if I could figure out why I dreamt about him I might be able to put a stop to it." She looked around again, Finn had finished his milk and now Quinn was tossing napkins in his direction. "I'm not sure if he's cute or not. Is he?"

"It depends on who you ask." Kurt replied, his voice distant.

Mercedes surveyed Finn. His eyes were nice; there was no denying it. Was there anything else nice about him? There was hardly any personality in his haircut. There was nothing special about his looks. Nothing to make him stand out in the crowded halls of high school. Yet she could not take her eyes off of him. It may have been curiosity. Or maybe, somewhere deep down inside of her, she was attracted to Finn.

"Hey guys." Artie greeted as he wheeled up to the table.

Tina removed the earphones to greet him. "Hi Artie."

"Hey Artie." Mercedes said, barely turning her head in his direction.

"Hey Artie." Kurt echoed in the same distracted tone.

Something clicked in her mind. She quickly turned to face him. "You like Finn."

"What?" His voice squeaked higher than usual. "What? No I don't. Excuse me, I think my phone is ringing." He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and instantly pressed it to his ear. "Hello?" When Mercedes made a grab for the phone he flinched away. "Come on Mercedes, I'm on the phone." She grabbed for it again but he refused to hand it over.

She knew exactly how to play her cards. Next she picked up her own milk box and threatened it over his bag. "Do you wanna give me the phone or should we see if this bag looks good with a strawberry milk tinge?" He passed the phone to her. She pressed the inactive phone to her ear. "Oh hello Nobody, yeah he'll have to call you back."

She discarded the phone onto the table. Hers weren't the only eyes fixed on him. Tina and Artie were watching with rapt attention. Kurt looked from one face to the next. His eyes were wide and afraid. He gulped audibly as he looked back at Mercedes – he knew there was no escape from this.

But he tried to distract them anyway. "Tina's stutter was fake!"

"D-d-d-duh!" Artie mocked.

"Do you know how old that news is?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, what are you gonna tell me next, that Ellen DeGeneres is a lesbian?" Mercedes said.

Kurt bit into his bottom lip as he tried to think on his feet. Once he realized he didn't have his feet left to stand on he let out a sigh of defeat. "Okay." He cast his eyes downward as he continued. "I will admit that I have feelings for Finn."

There was a pause as they registered this confession. After a moment Tina spoke. "Why are you so ashamed? It's not like you killed someone. So what if you like Finn?"

Kurt looked up now. "It's not like being attracted to Johnny Depp, we know Finn, you could all easily tell him."

"Are you kidding me?!" Mercedes snapped. "Do you really think we would do something that stupid?"

Tina turned to Artie. "You won't tell Finn, will you?"

"It might slip out while Finn and I are having one of our in-depth talks about the meaning of life." Artie said before letting out a sarcastic snort. "C'mon, as if."

Kurt let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good." For now he had forgotten about her dream.

Mercedes was more excited to get to Glee Club than usual. She thought this would be the perfect place to recreate her dream. If Finn got up and sang she would know for sure whether she was attracted to him or not. She couldn't sit through Rachel singing again. Hopefully Schuester had decided on a song that would require a solo from Finn. She would put her hand up to suggest he sing if she had to. Whatever happened she was going to make sure she heard Finn sing.

She rushed out of her last class to get to the girls bathroom. She had limited supplies to work with. She could have asked Tina for help but she would want to know why Mercedes was re-applying her make-up right before Glee. At the very least she looked better now than she had upon entering the bathroom. She sat in her seat, anxiously watching the door. She had her nicest, brightest, flirtiest smile fixed to her face in preparation.

While waiting for Finn to enter Mercedes found her view blocked by Rachel – why did this keep happening?

"Hi Mercedes, is this seat taken?" Rachel asked, too much sugar in her diet as usual.

"You can take it wherever you like." Mercedes offered. Rachel sat down in the chair immediately beside Mercedes. Mercedes turned her face away from Rachel. She could still see Rachel in the corner of her vision. It was difficult to ignore her with her wide eyes and her smile that would put the Cheshire Cat to shame. She wasn't looking away. Mercedes felt obligated to turn to her. "Can I help you?" Rachel didn't reply at once. "No, I guess you're beyond help."

"Kurt told me about your dream!" Rachel blurted out, unable to contain her excitement any longer. "And I think it's wonderful. An inter-racial couple could really improve Glee's image."

The shock from Kurt's betrayal washed over her in a wave. First of all she had to work out how to keep up with Rachel. "Whoa! Rewind and hold up a minute. Inter-racial couple? What the hell do you think you are talking about? Because I guarantee what you think you're talking about is not what I'm hearing right now."

"You like Finn." Rachel stated.

"No I don't." Mercedes hissed, hoping Rachel would get the point and lower her own voice. "I do not have feelings for him. I just had a dream about him, so what; you were in the dream too."

Rachel faltered for a moment. "Be that as it may. If you're attracted to Finn you should act upon these feelings. Keeping things bottled up isn't healthy."

"I am not attracted to him!" Mercedes exclaimed. When she looked back to Rachel she considered a motive. "Why do you want me to 'act upon my feelings' so bad?"

"I think Finn should know that he has plenty of options." Rachel said, her confidence wavering.

"Finn's going out with Quinn, he doesn't need options." Mercedes stated.

Rachel's brow furrowed into an annoyed line. "Yeah, we'll see about that."

Before Mercedes could say anything further Rachel had gotten up and hurried off to a seat in the back. Mercedes didn't bother trying to follow her, to get a further explanation. There was a reason why Rachel sang rather than spoke. Her singing was hard to take at times but at least when she was singing Mercedes had some idea of what message she was trying to convey.

Kurt came strolling through the door, with a look on his face that suggested he was without a care in the world. Until his eyes fell upon Mercedes. He paused, the smile erased from his face instantly. She rose from her chair. He quickly turned to leave. She followed him, moving as fast as her legs would carry her.

"Kurt!" She snapped when he didn't turn around. His pace quickened with each step.

"Can't talk, phone call." He barely glanced over his shoulder at her.

She jogged the last few meters up to him. She shoved him forward, not worrying to be gentle; in fact she hoped she hurt him. He couldn't pretend to ignore her any longer. He turned around, fear sparkling in his eyes. "You told Rachel! I can't believe you told Rachel! Why would you tell Rachel?"

Both of them stopped when they saw Finn approaching. Smiles were put on their faces at once. They watched his movement carefully. Although Mercedes couldn't decide whether she was attracted to him or not she couldn't deny the way her heart rate picked up at the sight of him. As she grinned at him she couldn't help wondering if he would notice if she weren't smiling. A voice in her mind told her it was a waste of time but she couldn't stop herself from beaming up at him as he passed.

"Hey guys." He waved his thumb and pointer finger in their direction.

"Hey Finn." She greeted enthusiastically.

"Hi." Kurt replied much more casual.

Finn disappeared around the corner. She had to get to Glee Club to hear Finn sing. But first, she needed to deal with Kurt. She stripped the smile from her face, placed her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. "State your case."

Kurt stared her down, his face the perfect mask of composure. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You told Rachel!" She repeated, spit flew from her mouth onto his face.

Moving slowly he raised his hand to push the spittle from his cheek. "How do you expect answers when you're being so vague?"

She stuck her finger in his face. "Don't play dumb with me…" She stumbled over her lips trying to develop an insult. "Prada Bag Boy."

"It's Louis Vuitton." He corrected instantly.

"Get to the point." She ordered through clenched teeth.

"I was talking to Rachel and it must have slipped out." He replied innocently.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You were talking to Rachel?"

"Yes I was."

"You talk to Rachel?"

"Indeed I do."

Mercedes could see the scene clearly in her mind. Rachel was sitting by herself in the cafeteria, completely oblivious to the world around her. She admired Finn on the other side of the room. 'Oh, to be that carton of milk', she pondered. She was distantly aware of a potato chip lolling around in between her teeth.

A form bumped into her side prompting her to look around. She found Kurt sitting beside her. A pleasant surprise. He had the collar of his jacket pulled up around his neck. His eyes were hidden behind a dark pair of sunglasses.

"Hi Kur-…"

"Shh." He jumped in. "Don't talk, just listen." He glanced around before moving the sunglasses further down his nose. He leant in closer to her before speaking. "Mercedes had a dream about Finn and now she's full-time staring at him." He pushed the sunglasses up his nose, then rose. "But you didn't hear it from me." He quickly disappeared from the scene.

Rachel quickly whipped around to the table where Mercedes sat. Sure enough she was staring in Finn's direction. Her eyes grew wide with excitement as the possibilities revealed themselves to her. With Mercedes help she could separate Quinn from Finn, then Finn could finally be Rachel's.

Mercedes stomped her foot. It didn't help to relieve any of her aggression. "I can't believe you told Rachel! Rachel is the biggest blabbermouth in the whole school, you know she can't keep anything to herself."

"I-…"

She shoved her hand into his face. "I don't wanna hear it! In fact, I don't want you to talk to me again, ever!" She turned her back on him, beginning back to Glee Club. "I hate you. You're dead to me. You and your Gucci bag."

"It's Louis Vuitton." He corrected.

"Shut up!" She screeched, her voice bouncing back at her from the walls.

Mercedes was relieved to awaken after a dreamless sleep. She considered the dream might have been nothing more than a fluke. She hoped it to be a one-off. She wanted to put all of this behind her. She was looking forward to standing in the same room with him and maintaining a regular heart rate. She needed to get to Rachel and shut her up so they could move past this as quickly as possible.

But she couldn't move past her aggression at Kurt. It didn't matter that he made her laugh and he was the closest thing she'd had to a friend in a long time. She couldn't talk to him at the moment. She had to punish him. She couldn't let him think he could get away with stabbing her in the back like this. She would have to torture him with the silent treatment. She would set her shoulder to ice cold and make him beg. He had to suffer.

He approached her timidly the next day at lunch. "Mercedes, I wanted to apologize to you."

She glanced at him with raised eyebrows. "Uh-huh."

"Alright, the Ice Queen routine, I should have expected as much." He said solemnly.

"I'll leave you to your theories Dr Freud." She snapped. She got up and began to exit, her lunch untouched. She hadn't acknowledged Finn or his carton of milk this lunchtime.

Mercedes didn't want to be angry with Kurt. She wished he could learn the lesson by himself. She didn't want to teach him. This had the potential to ruin her day. She wanted to go home and get away from all of this. She considered both of them were lucky her cycle had ended for this month. This could have gotten a lot uglier.

When she closed her locker she found him standing there awaiting her. She tightened the reins on her temper. "Go away."

"You forced me to tell Rachel." He said in a rush.

How could she think the silent treatment would work for her? She always had something to say. She couldn't imagine keeping her mouth shut against a reply to this. "What? How did I force you to tell Rachel? Did I put a gun to your head?"

"You embarrassed me in front of my peers; I had to do the same to you." He told her calmly, there was no doubt in his mind he was in the right. She rolled her eyes at him. "Does this mean we're even?"

"How could we be even?" She snapped.

He shrugged. "Finn doesn't know. I was talking to him this morning, I mentioned your name and he didn't react differently to how he usually does."

"That helps you out…a little." She told him. "But why do you think Rachel won't tell?"

He grinned. "She doesn't have the guts. The Glee Club is all she has, if she betrays us she has no one."

"Maybe she's waiting for me to tell Finn myself." She considered. After she removed her books from the locker they began down the hall side-by-side. "Yesterday in Glee she came up to me telling me to express my feelings to Finn. Something about him needing to know his options are open." She scoffed. "What does she think he's gonna do, break-up with Quinn to go out with me?"

"No, you see, she has it all planned out, Finn will think if he can attract two women then what is he doing narrowing the field by spending all of his time with Quinn. He'll break up with her and then automatically fall in love with Rachel." Kurt explained.

"Good luck with that." She commented sarcastically, prompting laughter from both.

Another night passed and Finn stayed where he belonged, out of Mercedes dreams. She found herself thinking about him less-and-less. She still couldn't figure out where her dream had come from. Now her thoughts were dominated by schoolwork and Glee Club. She was too busy pouring over her homework at lunchtime to notice Finn or his box of milk.

"What do you think Finn's best features are?" Kurt asked.

Her essay may have been confusing her but she had expected this confusion. Kurt's comment had come out of the blue. She supposed Kurt had been thinking about it for a while. "What?"

"His eyes hold a certain vulnerability, don't you think?" Kurt said.

She looked over at Finn, considering him. "Vulnerability?"

"And he's really doing the best he can with that hair." He said.

She glanced unsurely at Kurt beside her. She couldn't see Finn under the same light Kurt did. She wished Tina and Artie were here. It was awkward hearing Kurt talk like this when she couldn't make herself feel the same. "The best?"

When she looked around to Finn she saw his head was turned in their direction. Her heart only sped up slightly. He waved his hand, smiling awkwardly. Mercedes felt obligated to wave back while Kurt grinned flapping his hand enthusiastically. Mercedes felt ashamed to be sitting next to Kurt while he looked like such a dork. She hoped she hadn't acted this stupid when she had been looking at Finn.

It didn't take Mercedes' dreams long to switch back to moments of herself facing extreme public humiliation. Finn sunk into the background of her life again, where he belonged. She barely thought about him. She decided quite easily that anything she had felt for him had been prompted by the dream. He simply wasn't her type. She may have considered the Finn who had sung to her in her dream. But that Finn didn't transfer over into reality.

He approached her timidly in Glee Club. She felt her heart rate pick up. She knew it wasn't due to any kind of attraction. This was because of her nerves. She could see something different on his face; it was easy to tell that he knew even before he opened his mouth. He appeared more awkward around her than usual. "Hey Mercedes."

"What's up Finn?" She asked.

"So Rachel talked to me." He stated. "She told me about your dream and I gotta tell you, I'm real flattered by it but I love Quinn."

She shrugged, her feelings completely unharmed. "I understand."

"I hope you're not too upset 'coz I think you're a really great girl. You're wicked talented and the confidence you have in yourself is awesome." He explained. "You're a really great girl, you're gonna make some guy really happy one day."

She couldn't contain a smile as her heart soared. What a nice thing to say. She considered it to be the sweetest thing a heterosexual boy had ever said to her. At the beginning of the year she had thought of Finn as nothing but a shallow jock. At each chance he got he seemed to be constantly proving this wrong.

"That's so nice of you to say." She said, her voice squeaking with delight.

"It's no problem." He replied with a carefree shrug. "I'll see you 'round."

"Yeah." She agreed, her mind in a muddle. She wasn't sure whether her fluttering heart was due to the compliment, or the person paying her the compliment.

Finn was standing in front of Mercedes, his head slightly bowed to meet her eyes. The moonlight sparkled in his eyes as he showed her a crooked, genuine smile. "You're a really great girl, you're gonna make some guy really happy one day."

"How about making this guy really happy right now?" She offered.

He looked away, momentarily distracted. "But Quinn…"

"Forget about Quinn." She ordered, grabbing the front of his shirt.

He nodded. "Good point." He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her in close to him.

Mercedes exploded out of her slumber. Pillows and sheets flew in every direction. "Aw damn it! What the hell!"

The End.