A/N: Hello, all! I come to you with a new story I've decided to tell...there's a sequel to Willow Jane still in the works, but I want to explore this for a bit as well. You can also find this story being updated on Archive of Our Own on my page finmafever, where I also write (and most of my Finma will end up there). But for now, here is chapter 1. This is alternate universe (clearly), where Emma is only 27 and Finn is 20. Alrighty, then! R&R loved and appreciated as always. Thanks for reading! xx
Chapter 1: You Found Me In the Dark
All she knew: it was dark.
She was sitting in a dark room, waiting for a man to come up to her table so they could begin this and get it over with. As she sat there, surrounded by other women in the same predicament, nerves bubbled up in her stomach and she resisted the urge to leave. How would that look if she was the only one who couldn't do this? If she was the only one who chickened out? No, she had to stay. She had to wait. She had to do this.
The darkness of the room was somehow heightened by the silence, as well as her nerves. Emma felt like the waiting was pressing down on her and she had to fold her hands in her lap. Moments later, there was a shuffling noise, and Emma realized it was the men entering, moving to their designated table. She gulped and bit her lip; she didn't know what to expect, what would unfold. She'd only ever heard of this happening, never actually participated. She took a deep breath.
The table before her shook just slightly, and she heard a muttered curse. Someone must have bumped into the table. Chair legs scraped against the floor and Emma heard someone take a deep breath.
"Hi." The voice wasn't too deep, but it was definitely a man's voice. Emma's heart skipped. He was there.
"Um, hi," she said back, taking a massive breath. "I guess we should begin?"
There was silence, and then a muttered, "Oh, um, yeah."
More silence.
"Have you ever done this before?" he asked.
"N-no. Have you?"
"No. I'm actually only here because my friend made me. I don't really believe in any of this."
She shook her head a little bit before realizing he couldn't see her.
"Oh," she said, "no, I don't, either. My best friend actually convinced me. She said she does this all the time; gets some sort of a rush from it."
Emma kept staring forward, her eyes straining as she tried to adjust to the darkness, but for some reason, she couldn't see his face. Just as well. That was the whole point, wasn't it?
He chuckled. "Yeah, my buddy says the same thing. I thought it was bogus when I saw the flier, but I guess some people are into this sort of thing."
Awkward silence.
"So what's your name?"
"I'd rather not say."
He laughed, "Why not?"
"It makes this too personal."
"Isn't this supposed to be personal?"
"No," she said quietly. "I think it is supposed to be meaningless."
He let out a small sigh, and she sat there, trying to figure out why he sounded familiar the more he talked.
"So what do you do?"
"Me? Oh, um, I'm a counselor," she said, nodding into the dark void in front of her."
"I had a counselor once, she was pretty great. Mega hot," he smirked into the dark, remembering the hot young red-headed teacher who started counseling at his high school during his sophomore year. He was convinced that he loved her at the time, but he supposed now it was just a crush. "She was only like seven years older than me, but I never had the balls to ask her out."
"That's nice. And illegal," she shrugged a bit. "What, um, what about you? What do you do?"
"I'm a teacher. I teach math, actually."
"Math?" She laughed, "That hardly sounds like an interesting subject. I was awful at math. I actually quit when I was sixteen and tested out in college."
"Smart girl," his eyebrow quirked up a little. "What made it so hard for you?"
"All the numbers?" she asked, laughing a little, shaking her head. "They jumbled in my mind and then equations? Forget about it."
The man grinned and let out a small laugh, "Hey, if it helps, I failed psychology."
"Looks like we're even."
"So, is this what we're supposed to be doing?" Emma asked, feeling comfortable enough to rest a hand on the table, her other supporting her head. "Talking about work and stuff?"
"Why wouldn't we?"
"Well, the darkness has heightened my Spidey senses, and I'm pretty sure I heard the people beside us leaving in giggles, and the other side of us, I can hear, um, interesting noises."
"I don't think there are rules," he said, swallowing a little. "I think it's up to us."
She nodded.
Silence.
"So how old are you?"
"I'd rather not say."
"Why not?" she asked, eyebrows shooting up.
"It makes it too personal."
She smirked a little bit, "I'm sorry, this is all just…so weird."
"You can leave if you're not comfortable."
She bit her lip, closing her eyes against the darkness, finding some comfort in her own darkness that she could control. She wanted to leave; she was uncomfortable and she didn't think she was ready for this, but something about him made her want to stay. Something about him felt warm.
"I'm comfortable," she spoke quietly after a few minutes.
"Okay," he whispered back.
Silence.
"So what were you hoping for?"
"Hm?"
"In coming here," Emma asked, "what were you hoping for? What was your desired outcome?"
"Nothing serious," he said after a moment. She could hear his fingers drumming against the table. "I guess I just figured it would be interesting to check out once, maybe twice if I could really get into it this time." He paused and let out a single chuckle. "I wasn't hoping to find my soul mate or anything. What about you?"
"I was, um, actually hoping that it would suck?" She sighed, "I hoped you'd be boring and not want anything to do with me, make up an excuse for why you couldn't do this with me, and then leave. Then I would go home, make myself a drink, and watch TV until I fell asleep."
"Damn," the man's voice said, "You set the standards pretty high for me. I don't know how I can compete with that, Alice."
Emma's eyes flew wide, "Um, Alice?"
"You won't tell me your name," he said plainly, "So I've named you Alice. And Alice you shall be for the rest of the night."
For some reason, that explanation tickled Emma and she began laughing to the point of tears. She held her sides as the moments ticked by, the room of silence and murmurs filled with her laughter. The man sitting across from her, smiled wide into the darkness, falling instantly in love with that laugh.
She calmed after a while and sighed in relief as her abdomen relaxed, "Oh, goodness, Jared! I'm crying. Thank God it's dark, or I'd look like a raccoon right about now."
Now it was his turn to laugh as he repeated 'Jared', his laugh replacing hers in filling the void, wrapping around her and she smiled widely, biting her lip as she fell instantly in love with that laugh, longing to hear it again; to be the reason she would hear it again.
"So, Alice," he said once he was calm again.
"Yes, Jared?"
"I think we can both agree that this is weird, and definitely not for either one of us."
Emma nodded, "Absolutely."
"So why don't we just blow this place? Go get a drink or something."
"I'd like that," she said quietly after a few minutes, nodding into the darkness. "Also, can I just say, that they do a really good job at keeping it dark in here? Either my eyes aren't working or someone got paid a lot of good money to keep the anonymity."
"Agreed."
Emma stood and she reached out, her hand touching something muscular. Seconds later, a large warm hand covered hers.
"Jared?"
"Alice?"
"Okay, good."
"Here, take my hand. You follow me and I'll make sure you don't kill yourself getting out of here."
Emma laughed a little and took his hand, allowing him to lead her towards the exit. She laughed the entire way through the establishment, listening as the man leading her out bumped into people and tables, muttering repeated apologies.
"How the hell did you get to the table in one piece?"
"One of the staff led me. They had actual night goggles on."
"Lucky staffers."
They reached the door, and Emma was led into a small room off of the big room, where they made their way to the actual exit, light flooding into the small waiting room. The streetlights outside were blinding for a moment and Emma pulled her free hand up to her eyes to cover them for a moment with a laugh.
"Well this brings a whole new meaning to blind dating," she said with a laugh, rubbing her eyes. When only silence followed, Emma took a breath.
"Jared?" She asked, blinking rapidly a few times, but instead of 'Alice' in reply, she heard—
"Miss Pillsbury?!"
Her eyes flew open and she looked over at the man holding her hand. His mouth was agape, and Emma suddenly realized why the voice sounded so familiar.
"Finn?! What are you doing here?!"
"What are you doing here?"
"Shannon brought me!"
"Well, Puck brought me!"
"I"m the mega hot counselor?!"
Finn paused.
"I'm Jared?!" He finally announced with a chuckle and a smirk.
"Finn, this isn't funny!"
"Why not?"
"You're my student!"
"Correction," Finn said, holding up a finger. "I was your student. But now I'm not, and now I have balls, so go out with me!"
Emma made a face, taking a breath as her eyebrows pulled together. She was sure he didn't mean for it to come out that way, and judging by the perplexed expression on his face, that wasn't how he'd meant it to sound.
"You're twenty!"
"You're twenty-seven," he said with a shrug.
"Finn…"
"Look, I'm not looking for anything serious, remember? Just, come get a coffee with me at least." Emma opened her mouth to protest, but Finn cut her off before she could say anything with, "I'll even call you Miss P if it'll make you feel more comfortable."
Emma sighed with resignation, "That'll just make it feel weird."
He nodded once and then took her hand again to lead her down the street to the coffee shop.
"I can't wait to tell Puck I got with the hot counselor," he said with a smirk, looking over at her.
"Finn!" Emma said, blushing deeply. At 27, she still hadn't done the deed, and even the joking suggestion made her blush.
"Kidding. Soy, right?" Finn asked.
"Um, right," Emma said, surprised, as he held out the door to the establishment for her. She stepped through and sighed a little, looking for an empty table.
"I'll go order, you find a table," Finn said, with a squeeze to her hand before releasing it. "Nothing, remember?"
Emma nodded and moved to an empty table she spitted in the back far corner.
"Here goes nothing," she breathed, taking a seat as her eyes wandered over toward Finn.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FINN HUDSON OR EMMA PILLSBURY. THEY BELONG TO RIB, FOX, AND GLEE! I MERELY USE THEM AS INSTRUMENTS TO TELL MY STORIES.