Finn has a real problem with words. Not so much that he says the wrong thing – though he has been known to put his foot in his mouth on occasion – but more that he simply says nothing at all. Cannot find the words, and that is more often than not far worse than simply saying the wrong thing.
When he first realizes his feelings for his teacher he doesn't have words for it, just adapts to the new thing in his life and doesn't worry about classifying it.
When he finds out that Mr. Schuester has feelings for him too they are far too busy with actions to worry about words; Finn accepts the new circumstance and doesn't worry about finding a name for it.
But it is definitely a thing, and Finn is beginning to think that it is a thing that needs to have a name, because it's growing big and fast and can't be ignored any longer.
When he first visits Mr. Schue at his apartment there is a general lack of words on both their parts. They pass a few minutes dealing with mundane greeting things like hanging up Finn's coat, confirming that Finn should call him Will and getting them both a drink, but then they are sat on the couch in silence.
"What do you want to do?" Will asks.
Finn recalls the feel of the older man's lips against his adam's apple in the cramped space of the Janitor's closet. He really wants to feel that again, but he can't find the words.
"We could watch a movie," Will suggests.
"No," Finn dismisses quickly and then has to stumble through an explanation of why movies are bad for dates. How you either pay attention to the movie, or to the person you're with, so either way one is not needed. He does a bad job of explaining, but Will smoothly accepts his rambling denial.
For lack of a better idea they end up digging through a closet of junk in search of a board game to play. Finn berates himself and makes a half-formed plan to read a community chest card as a request for a kiss when he spots a familiar green symbol.
"You have Seven?" He queries.
"Huh?" Will sets aside a stack of old books and looks at the younger man in confusion.
"Final Fantasy VII," Finn elaborates, picking the familiar case up and finding a stack of old PlayStation games alongside it.
"You play?" Will asks, a slight smile on his face.
"Play?" Finn snorts, "I was raised on this game."
Will's smile grows into a bright grin and he picks the box with the games in it up, "I'd almost forgotten this was in here. C'mon, we can set it up in the front room."
The console is an original, chunky PSX, not one of the later streamlined PS1 models. Finn untangles the cable for the controllers while Will clumsily gropes behind the back of the television attempting to plug the RCA connector in.
"I haven't played Final Fantasy in years," Will declares with a nostalgic smile as he slides the third disc into the console and turns on the power.
"Why not?" Finn questions. He personally can only go a few months at a time playing Halo and CoD before the RPG itch hits him and he has to blow a whole weekend just leveling his characters up.
"Terri used to complain that I spent too much time playing and not paying attention to her," Will explains as the prelude music begins to play. He finds the TV remote and ups the volume several notches, starting to hum along to the tune.
Finn considers this for a moment, "She didn't play?"
"Not once," Will confirms, pressing the circle button to bring up the title screen.
They check three different memory cards before finding one that has save data for the game on it. In the first slot the basic details of the game are presented: maximum level characters, an unreasonable quantity of gil and a frozen timer that had hit the '99:59:59' threshold long ago.
Finn turns his attention to the location bar, "The Gelnika. Grinding for sources?"
"Yeah," Will answers, entering the menu once the game loads and heading straight to the status sub-menu to examine the progress he had made.
"Whoa!" Finn stares slack-jawed at Cloud's stats, "Did you like, not have a life when you were younger?"
Will chuckles, "You'd be surprised how fun grinding for luck sources is when you have an essay to write."
"Is it okay for you to say that?" Finn asks, "I mean, you're a teacher."
"I wasn't a teacher when I made this save file," Will argues. "I think this one's a bit extreme. Maybe I've got a lower level file..."
"No," Finn insists. "How about your materia? If this is your master file I bet you've got the three Master Materia."
"Multiple actually," Will responds, a tinge of smugness in his tone as he shuffles through his characters' materia menus with the R2 button to show that Cloud, Tifa and Vincent carry a Master Magic each, that both Cloud and Vincent have Master Summon and Tifa and Cloud are equipped with Master Command.
"Can I copy this save file?" Finn asks in total awe.
"If you want," Will replies nonchalantly. "It gets boring though. Like I said, the game is more fun at low level because battles are actually a challenge."
Checking the memory card again they find a save file from the second disc, set during Cloud's disappearance and so the party consists of Cid, Yuffie and Barret; all in the mid-50s level range.
"What's with all the status-inducing materia?" Finn questions as Will checks over his characters' equipment.
"I guess I was leveling it in preparation for synthing a Master Magic," Will rationalizes.
"Status inducing spells suck!" Finn declares defiantly, "I mean look, you've got 4-star Ice, Fire and Lightning materia just sitting in your inventory."
"It'd bring my strength stat down to equip it," Will argues.
"Yes, but at least it actually does damage; unlike silence, toad and berserk."
"Hey, whose save file is this anyway?" Will challenges playfully.
"Fine, you want proof. Go to the Battle Arena, we'll both take a shot at it and see who's method works best," Finn declares.
Will goes first, selecting Cid as his battle participant, and manages to make it through all eight rounds by the skin of his teeth due to multiple '½ health' handicaps.
"Okay," Finn states happily, accepting the controller and ditching every piece of status-inducing materia in favor of the basic elementals. He takes a heavy hit in round 7 when the handicap drops what's left of his MP to 0, but he handles it well and manages to take the Ochu down with the attack command.
They decide that the battle of materia techniques is a draw for the moment.
They race chocobos – Finn is highly amused to find that Will named his gold chocobo Boko – and challenge one another for best time on the snowboard course in the Wonder Square. The conversation comes easily and the earlier tension is utterly forgotten.
They find a save file from a skim-run, deep inside the Northern crater at only level 52 with no KOTR or Final Attack; the prospect of a challenge is appealing but what really attracts Finn to that save file and not any of the others is the character names.
"Conehead?" He reads the character name on the info bar and dissolves into laughter.
"It's amazing the names you can come up with when you're playing at two in the morning," Will states airily, stifling laughter of his own and loading the file up. "The epic adventures of Conehead, Mr. T and Noodles."
"What about the rest?" Finn prompts once his laughter has subsided. Will opens up the PHS menu and passes the cursor along the character portraits so Finn can read each comical character renaming. When the cursor lands on Yuffie's picture Finn almost chokes, "Jailbait?"
The tips of Will's ears turn pink, "She's only sixteen."
"I'm sixteen," Finn points out.
"Well this was before I met you," Will mumbles and the pink spreads to his cheeks too.
"Would you like me more if I were a ninja?" Finn teases, "Because I can totally be a ninja." Will snorts and Finn takes that as an affront to his incredible ninja skills and swiftly pounces upon the older man. The controller sticks into his stomach and his legs are bent at an awkward angle, but his fingers are curling in the soft fabric of Will's t-shirt and there's a warm, welcome tongue teasing his lower lip. "See," Finn says between heavy breaths when they break apart, "I am totally a ninja."