Rachel Berry knew that going on a vacation with her best friend and her boyfriend would somehow end up like this. Paris isn't exactly the city you visit with an uneven number of people, so now she's caught being their third wheel for the entire week. She knows that Tina and Mike try to be fair to her by not making out right in front of her, but Rachel notices the small suggestive touches they give each other every now and then, probably hoping that they'd be left alone for a while.
It's just their second day in Paris, and they've already seen a lot – mostly because Rachel wants to explore a lot instead of watching her friends feeling each other up. She usually walks ahead of them, trying to somehow block out their disgustingly sweet mumbles to each other. Whenever she turns around to talk to them, they're either sticking their tongues down each other's throats or gazing longingly into each other's eyes, and Rachel isn't really one to interrupt any of that, although it'd totally be something she could do.
They're in Paris, for crying out loud! This is the city of love. The city to which people come on their honeymoon. Here people have picnics by the Eiffel tower, kiss at small cafés after having a nice French coffee and some are probably stuck in their hotel rooms making love as if it was their last day. The city of love – and Rachel is alone.
People don't really like Rachel. Tina once told her that guys can't seem to keep up with everything that is Rachel (and after that she accused Rachel for being a stuck-up bitch in a drunken fit of anger). She thinks that's why her last boyfriend dumped her after getting her to bed with him. That's what she thinks about as she leans against the wall in her hotel room. (They had the decency to get two hotel rooms – one for Mike and one for Tina and Rachel, although now Rachel is sitting alone in one room, while Tina and Mike are in the other.) Rachel wonders if she'll ever have someone to take with her to Paris, someone to share a bed like this with, someone to kiss under the Eiffel tower. All that feels like some incredibly distant dream to her right now.
A particularly hard bump against the wall makes Rachel wince, and she decides that she can't be there anymore. She doesn't want to know what's going on in the room next to hers. A part of her even contemplates just getting on the next plane home, but at the same time she wants to take the opportunity to enjoy herself now that Tina is paying this trip for her, just to get some "mental support" since she's been worrying about her relationship with Mike lately. Rachel thinks she's getting enough mental – and physical – support from Mike, and that their relationship is perfectly healthy.
Rachel decides to take a walk on her own. Maybe it's just the lack of fresh air that's making her feel bad about everything right now. It's not that she regrets coming along on this trip, it's just that she feels so terribly lonely. As if she's trying to make herself feel worse, she suddenly ends up at the Eiffel Tower. It's already past noon, which means that most couples have just gotten out of a morning lovemaking session and have gone to the Eiffel Tower to kiss and just rub it all in Rachel's face. That's at least what it feels like when she sees all those couples.
She knows she should just leave Eiffel Tower and all those couples to themselves, but still she sits down on one of the empty benches, sighing when watching the different couples around her kissing each other's brains out. Actually, Rachel is kind of jealous. She wants to kiss someone under the Eiffel Tower too… but that's probably never going to happen to her.
Just as Rachel is about to get up from the bench and go back to the hotel, she is joined by someone. At first, she doesn't dare to look up, thinking it's probably someone who sat down on the bench to take a picture of their companion, but when she finally looks up, she's proven wrong.
It's a man sitting there, and he seems to be alone. He's obviously not on vacation, because he's wearing a suit. It's a messy suit, with quite a few stains here and there. His tie looks really sloppy, and his hands are stained with paint. There's a briefcase at his feet, but Rachel doesn't care about that when she hears his tired sigh. He's rubbing his eyes as if he's tired, and Rachel is curious to know why he's tired. However, she doesn't dare to talk to him. He might be French, and although Rachel does know some French, it's not at all enough to speak to a Frenchman, so she stays silent and looks down into her lap.
"Excusez-moi," he suddenly speaks up, in very bad French. "Vous avez l'heure?"
Rachel looks up at him, blinking when she sees him looking right at her. He has the most intense amber eyes she has ever seen, and it actually takes her a few seconds to realize that he's asking for the time. She fumbles with her hands as she digs out her phone from her pocket. "Twelve forty-five." she replies in English, and she can't help but smile at the way his eyes widen when she speaks English to him.
"Oh, thanks." he replies in English as well. "Is my bad French that obvious?"
She giggles at his words before putting away her phone again. "It's not that bad! I'm not one to talk, though!"
"I've never spoken French before I got here a couple of weeks ago, so it's been quite a challenge. Frenchmen seem to understand me, though." he says with a small shrug. "What about you? Do they understand you?"
Rachel shrugs as well. "I don't talk much. I'm here with my two friends, and they've done pretty much all of the talking." she says. "I had to get away from them for a while, though, so I have to do all the talking on my own."
"Really? Why?"
"Oh, you know Paris. The city of love and whatnot."
He chuckles and nods. "So your friends are dating, I guess?"
Rachel nods silently at his question, looking around them at the couples that are still busy kissing each other senseless or walking around hand in hand being cute, as if they're just teasing her for being alone. "And then I ended up here, watching all these people stick their tongues down each other's throats."
He looks around himself too, his lips curling into a smile when realizing that she's right. "Yeah, the Eiffel Tower is a place for kisses." he mumbles, almost absently, as if he's thinking about something. "You didn't bring anyone to kiss?"
"No." Rachel mumbles in response. "I'm stuck being the third wheel and watching all these people." She doesn't understand how he's able to chuckle at everything she says. Can't he see that she's miserable? There's no one kissing her, and she's all alone. Yet he laughs like that.
"Come on." he suddenly says, standing up from the bench and holding out his hand for her. She looks at it hesitantly, before looking up at him. "Come on." he repeats, winking at her. Rachel swallows hard before she takes his hand and lets him guide her away from the bench.
He pulls her along all the way to the Eiffel Tower, not stopping until they're right below it, with hundreds of people swarming around them like bees. "What is it?" Rachel asks in confusion, looking around herself at all the people.
"No one should come to Paris without being kissed under the Eiffel Tower." he says in a low voice. Just as Rachel opens her mouth to say something, his finger is tilting her chin up, and his lips crash onto hers.
She isn't quite ready for the kiss so she doesn't kiss him back, but she does feel all the passion he puts into it. His thumb is tracing her chin right below their lips, and he tastes of something fruity… like melon or something. It's a strange taste, but Rachel enjoys it. The kiss makes her so light-headed that she's not sure if she feels his tongue tracing her lower lip at one point, or if she's just imagining things.
He ends the kiss, faster than Rachel would've liked him to, but the smile on his face is a small consolation for not feeling his lips on hers anymore. She would've liked to kiss him back, but he seems to be in a hurry. "Here." he says, handing her a small paper slip. "I have to run, but you can call me later, okay?" With that, he turns around and disappears as quickly as he appeared.
Rachel just stands there staring at the slip of paper in her hand. It says "Finn Hudson, artist", and there's a phone number right below it. Now she understands why he looked so messy and why his hands were paint stained. He was probably on his way to show his art somewhere.
"Finn Hudson, artist."
Okay, so maybe she could've answered Tina's calls and text messages, but not even Tina freaking out when she gets back to the hotel can ruin her good mood. Rachel figured Tina would like to be alone with Mike for a while, and they've seemed to enjoy each other, except for the times Tina has called or texted Rachel.
"I sent you twelve text messages and called you seven times! You could've picked up or replied once!" Tina yells at Rachel, who's laid down on the bed with a long, content sigh. "Do you know how worried we - I was?!"
"I told you I was out for a walk." Rachel mumbles back at her.
"For five hours?!"
At that, Rachel just shrugs and turns over to lie on her stomach. She doesn't want Tina to know about how she met Finn and how he kissed her. A five hour walk is pretty much, she has to admit, but it's not like she could run back to the hotel and just scream because she is so happy. Tina would probably say something along the lines of "but it was just one kiss and you'll probably never ever meet him again", but Rachel has the paper slip well secured in her pocket.
"Mike and I are going out for dinner, are you coming?" Tina scoffs once she has calmed down a little.
"No." Rachel replies. "I think I'll just hang around here… I'll probably eat at the hotel restaurant or something."
"Good." Tina says, turning her back to Rachel. "If you leave, you better answer your phone."
"I will, I will."
Rachel sighs of relief when Tina and Mike finally leave. She would've gone with them, but she wants to stay back at the hotel so that she can call Finn. He might not even answer, but she wants to give it a try now that she's alone for a while. If she's lucky, he'll have time to talk.
After dialing the number on the paper slip, Rachel lifts the phone up to her ear. She's actually feeling quite nervous. They didn't talk very much when they met, and talking after a surprise kiss like that one feels pretty weird, Rachel has to admit. After five signals without Finn picking up, Rachel feels like giving up. He might be busy with something.
Then suddenly his voice is on the other end. "Hello?"
Rachel almost chokes before she can answer. "H-hello!" she squeaks. "It's Rachel Berry, the girl you… uh… kissed under the Eiffel Tower today."
She can almost hear him lighting up on the other end. "Oh, hey! It's you!" he says brightly. "So your name's Rachel? I'm sorry for not picking up immediately, I was listening to music and painting. I always tend to lose myself when I do that."
"It's okay." Rachel says, biting her lip as if to hide her smile. "I'm not disturbing you, am I? I just thought I'd call since my friends went out…"
"It's fine!" Finn replies. Rachel thinks she hears him chuckle that same way he did when she met him, but maybe it's just her imagination. "So you're all alone?"
"Yeah."
"Do you want to come over?"
Rachel almost drops her phone when hearing his words. He's asking her to come over. To his place. She gulps down her eagerness when she thinks of all the things that could go wrong. Finn Hudson doesn't have to be her Prince Charming who kisses her under the Eiffel Tower - he could be the Prince Player who kisses every single girl under the Eiffel Tower. Still, she can't refuse. "If you want me to." she replies shyly.
"Of course!" he says before giving her the address.
The cab ride to Finn's place feels like an eternity, despite that it's only a few blocks away from her hotel. She could've walked, but she had no idea where that street was, so the cab ride was kind of necessary anyway. Finn told her he lives on the top floor in some kind of penthouse, so Rachel knows which button to press when she enters the elevator in the building.
She looks around herself once she steps out of the elevator on the top floor. The hallway is bright and pretty much empty. There are nothing on the walls, and the only source of color is the bright red mat on the floor. Number nine is his door, and Rachel has to stop and take a deep breath before she knocks. Finn told her to knock hard so that he can hear her, because he was going to paint again.
Nothing happens, so Rachel knocks again before waiting. After the third knock, the door finally opens, and she's met by a man who resembles the one she met earlier that day, only that this man is only wearing underwear. Her eyes widen at the sight of his paint stained body, and he seems quite surprised to see her, as if he didn't even expected her to come over.
"Uh… hi." Rachel mumbles nervously, trying not to stare at the blue paint streaks over his toned chest.
"Hey." he says with a grin before he steps aside to let her in. "Come on in. I didn't expect you to get here this fast, and I thought I'd finish my painting, so I'm sorry for the mess."
"It's okay." Rachel says quietly, avoiding eye contact with him as she steps into the spacious apartment. He doesn't seem to have much furniture, except for a table, a tv and a bed. There are paintings and art supplies scattered out through the entire apartment, and judging by the paint everywhere, it looks like Finn has been using the entire apartment as his canvas. "My hotel is only a few blocks away from here, that's why I was here so fast." she explains, finally looking up at him and meeting his eyes.
Finn smiles and nods. "Well, I'm glad you could come." he mumbles as he brushes past her on his way into what looks like a combined living room and bedroom. "Is it okay if I give this a few finishing touches first?" He points to the unfinished on the easel in the corner of the room.
Rachel can't help but smile when she sees it. It's the Eiffel Tower with a clear blue sky in the background, and there's the silhouette of two people kissing under it. "It's really pretty." Rachel comments, blushing slightly when he turns to smile at her.
"Yeah, you inspired me." he says, before turning back to the painting.
They're both silent while Finn paints. Rachel figures he needs all his concentration when painting, and it's pretty interesting to watch him draw streak after streak of paint on the canvas. He mostly uses blue, black and white, and the way they blend by the actions of his hands is somehow intriguing. Not only the painting is interesting, but Rachel finds herself staring at his back muscles moving when he does a particularly long streak, and how his arm muscles tighten when he draws a small one.
Rachel is so hypnotized by his body that by the time he turns around to look at her, she doesn't even notice it until he speaks up. "What do you think?" he asks, snapping her out of her trance.
"It's… it's beautiful, Finn." she chokes out, nodding in approval.
"Good." Finn says with a nod before he wipes his hands on a rag. It's no use, because his hands are stained in blue, white and black anyway. His entire body is - especially his chest. Rachel finds herself staring at him again, while unconsciously biting her lip when her eyes see the small paint stains on his white underwear. Maybe she even wonders if there are paint stains under them.
Once again, Rachel is snapped out of her thoughts, but this time by Finn standing extremely close to her. She looks up at him and she wants to kiss him. This time she wants to be the one kissing him, since she didn't really react when he kissed her the first time. She gulps down her need and tries to keep her mind off the fact that there's a blue streak of paint at the corner of his mouth.
"Do you want anything?" Finn asks in a low, husky voice, as if he's trying to make her even more aroused than she already is. "Water? Juice? Wine?"
Rachel shakes her head slowly. "N-no, thank you." she whispers, standing up. It somehow doesn't make any difference if she's sitting down or standing up when facing him. He's so tall that she can barely reach up to his face when she stands on her tip toes. She looks him in the eyes as he nods slowly, and she's suddenly struck with an idea. "Come here." she whispers, reaching out to grab his hand.
She pulls him with her over to the painting, where she takes both his hands and looks at the painting for a little while. "I just think that one kiss under the Eiffel Tower isn't enough." Rachel whispers, when she moves her hands up to wrap around his neck. With that, she pulls his face down to hers, not wasting any time when pushing her lips onto his.
The kiss at the real Eiffel Tower wasn't at all like this. Although she can tell that Finn is pretty surprised, he soon catches on and kisses her back. Their lips move slowly, softly over each other, allowing them to let out small breaths into each other's mouths every now and then. Rachel smiles into the kiss when she runs her hand through the hair on the back of his head, feeling how even his hair is stained with paint. She thinks Finn notices this and wants her to stop teasing him about it when she suddenly feels his tongue on her lower lip, and now she's sure about it.
She opens her mouth to let him enter - wanting him to enter. As soon as his tongue slips past her lips to caress over hers, she returns the sentiment and even lets out a small moan against his lips. There's the same fruity taste on him, but she can feel it much clearer now that it's not only his lips, but also his tongue.
At some point of their kiss, Rachel feels Finn's tongue dominating over hers in the small war they're having, and he takes the opportunity in Rachel's moment of weakness to carefully push her up against the wall. She doesn't object at all, instead she moves her hand over to his bare back, lightly scraping her nails over his skin when Finn starts to slowly pull away from the kiss by nipping gently on her lower lip.
Although they've ended the kiss, Finn continues biting and nipping at Rachel's lip as if he's teasing her. Rachel sighs against him and just enjoys his small sentiments for a while, before she reaches out to take his hand. She guides his hand behind her back, to where the zipper of her dress is. He pulls away for a few seconds to look at her while he plays with the zipper between his fingers, and Rachel gives him a reassuring smirk before she kisses him on the lips again. With that, he pulls her zipper down.
Rachel lets Finn peel off her clothing until they're both in nothing but their underwear. He goes so slow, and his touch is so tender that Rachel feels so warm and fuzzy inside that she thinks she's about to melt right there in his arms. His lips are on her bare shoulder, and she can't help but moan out his name when he sinks his tongue into the little dimple by her collarbone. It seems like that is the last thing he needs to be convinced that he's allowed to do whatever he pleases with her.
Finn wraps his arms around her waist and carries her over to his bed, with her lips firmly on his all the time. When they fall down, with Rachel below him, they're still kissing each other passionately. They don't stop until Rachel feels his arousal poking her through the fabric of his boxers, and she has to pull away to look up at him. He smiles down at her and nudges her nose with his, as if to urge her to keep going. She smiles back at him before she gently pushes at his chest, making him sit up a little so that she can sit up too. When she reaches behind her back to remove her bra, Finn watches her with great interest, and she even notices how his tongue pokes out to wet his lips when she lets her bra fall off.
When Finn doesn't do anything else but watch her, Rachel gets a little worried. His eyes dart up to hers for a second before going back to look at her bare breasts. "Can I paint you sometime?" he whispers suddenly.
"Y-yes." Rachel replies.
Upon hearing her reply, Finn wraps his arms around her again, sinking down into the mattress with her below him as he kisses her lips needily again. Their bare chests stick to each other by the sweat of their bodies, making them both more and more aroused. Rachel wraps her legs around Finn's waist, requesting him to go even further. He pulls away from her face and looks at her again, breathing heavily while he brushes away some of her hair from her face.
Neither of them says a word as Finn's hands drift lower down on Rachel's body. Rachel only lets out a small whimper when his fingers slide inside the waistband of her panties, but she leans her head back onto the bed when he starts to pull them off. His gaze is as intense as before when her entire body is revealed to him. Normally, Rachel would've felt uncomfortable with someone staring at her like that, but Finn is an artist. He's looking at her with an artist's eyes, she knows that.
To somehow get Finn to move, Rachel leans up to his face. Since she can't reach much further, she starts placing wanton kisses all over his neck, taking time to suck on his skin as if to wake him up. While doing that, she lets her hands move over his chest, finally feeling his muscles tightening below her fingertips. When her fingers reach his bellybutton, Rachel tickles him a little, and he lets out a groan. She's not sure if it's because he doesn't want to be distracted when watching her body, or if it's because he enjoys her touch.
Finn leans down and kisses her directly on the lips when she slips her fingers inside the waistband of his boxers, and he sits up a little to allow her to pull them down further. She smiles into the kiss when she realizes that he does have paint stains on his hips below his boxers. Finn pulls away and grins at her when he feels her running her finger along one of the bigger stains that were hidden below his boxers.
"Sorry about that." he whispers quietly, but she just shakes her head and pulls him in for another kiss. Rachel doesn't need to tell him that she thinks it's actually pretty hot on him.
Now that they're both finally completely nude, their kisses start growing more urgent. Rachel's hands on Finn's hip and back are digging into his skin, asking him to come even closer to her. Finn eases himself a bit closer to her, just like she wants him to, and he can't hold back the small moan escaping into her mouth when his tip accidentally brushes past her folds. He's not quite entering her yet, but he knows they both want him to.
"Finn…" Rachel breathes silently, and Finn kisses away the moan escaping from her when he finally pushes himself past her folds. The feeling of Finn inside her is so overwhelming to Rachel, that she starts squirming below him almost immediately. It's been years since the last time Rachel was with someone, and Finn is probably three times bigger than her last partner. Her nails dig into his back as she moans out his name with every movement he does, and she knows it's worrying him.
When Finn is completely buried inside her, Rachel knows he's about to stop to let her get accustomed to his size, but she doesn't let him. She starts bucking her hips up against him while kissing his lips urgently. All she wants is to feel him. There's something about his paint stained body that just gets to her, and she wants to feel that - she wants to feel him - moving inside her now.
Rachel's desperation proves to be enough to make Finn move as well. He pulls out halfway before pushing back in, keeping his movements slow for now. His breathing is coming out in shaky sighs, while Rachel is whimpering and moaning occasionally below him, urging him to keep on going. Finn is just moving so gracefully for her, and she would enjoy it if she wasn't in such desperate need of him right now.
"Harder." she urges him in a heavy breath, and she doesn't even have to ask him twice before Finn starts speeding up his thrusts against her hips. Rachel lets out a moan of his name, which only makes him want to go harder. No words are needed for Rachel to know that he's actually craving her body just as much as she is craving his, and soon his breathing has turned to moans of her name as well.
As their moans raise in volume gradually, as does the level of pleasure shared between them. Every single time Finn thrusts inside her, Rachel feels him hitting just the right spot, sending her closer and closer to the edge. When his thrusts start growing erratic, almost uncontrolled, Rachel knows he's getting close to his edge as well. She wraps her legs around his waist, allowing him to reach even deeper inside her with the few finishing thrusts.
Rachel practically screams out his name, and her hips jerk forward violently when she feels herself falling over the edge. Finn follows her tightly, letting out something between a moan and a grunt when he spills inside her. They're both soaked in sweat, sinking back into the mattress of Finn's bed while breathing heavily.
They stay in that position, Finn buried deep inside her for a long time. When they're both about to drift off to sleep, there's suddenly a loud ringing noise waking them both up. Rachel squirms under Finn, and he rolls off of her and buries his face in the sheets. "It's my phone." she explains as she hurries over to her heap of clothes, pulling out her phone from her pocket. It's Tina, of course.
Reluctantly, Rachel picks up, mostly because she doesn't want the ringing to disturb Finn. "Hello?"
"Where are you?! You've been gone for two hours?! What are you doing, having dinner for two hours?!" Tina yells at her.
Rachel feels like just hanging up. She doesn't feel like talking to Tina at all. Not at a moment like this. "I… uh," Rachel mumbles, looking over at Finn who is peeking up at her from behind the sheets, "I've met someone." Finn lifts his head up and smiles at her when he hears her words.
"Met someone?!" Tina repeats, gasping into the phone.
"Yeah…" Rachel smiles. "I don't think I'll be coming home for the night."
Although Tina probably has a lot more to say, Rachel hangs up and puts her phone away before she returns to the bed and to Finn's side. She snuggles up beside him and kisses his bare chest when he wraps his arms around her. "Who was it?" he mumbles against her hair.
"My friend freaking out." Rachel replies simply, closing her eyes as she inhales the scent of paint and sweat on his chest.
"You better call her tomorrow and tell her what's going on."
"Why? You never said that you have to tell everyone about how you were kissed under the Eiffel Tower."
"You've got a point there."
He kisses the top of her head before they both drift off into a deep sleep together, with the painting of the Eiffel Tower and the two kissing silhouettes facing them and reminding them of why they ended up in each other's arms in no other city but the city of love.