A/N: My best friend wanted some Finchel fluff, so how could I deny her? (: I love Finchel myself, so I wrote this as soon as I finished watching "Prom Queen".
Coach Sylvester released the back of Finn's tux roughly, causing him to stumble forward. Jesse also staggered from the force of the release next to him. They stood outside of the gym in a daze, hardly believing what was happening.
"Get out of here! Go ahead, beat it Rocky and Jackie Chan!" Sue yelled angrily.
Finn could still feel the blood pounding in his ears as he sneered at Jesse. Just thinking of how close he'd been to Rachel, how his lips had been so close to her neck, how much she seemed to prefer Jesse over him. He was working himself up again and resisted the urge to take another swing at him as Coach Sylvester closed the doors behind her with a last menacing look.
Yeah, he was completely pissed at Jesse for being so grabby with Rachel, but if he was being honest, he was angry at himself, too. He was jealous – there was no other way to put it. Quinn was a great girl, really she was. She was beautiful and kind, she was moral, and she was a determined person. True, sometimes she didn't always act that way, but as his girlfriend, she made him happy.
Or so he thought. He thought that escorting Quinn to prom would be amazing. He thought that sliding that corsage on her wrist and slow dancing with her would contribute to one of the best nights of his life. When she'd descended the stairs in that stunning powder blue gown, he was so sure he felt something. Or did he just want to feel something so badly that he'd confused it with love? He'd thought that she was the most beautiful girl in the world. And she was…until he saw Rachel.
She was a vision in that periwinkle pink dress. Many people might've overlooked it and called it "simple", but to Finn, it was anything but. The cut was perfect on her, accenting her in all the right places and cinched at the waist before flowing not quite all the way to the floor, but to her calves. Her hair was pulled away from her face in a ponytail which Finn actually liked quite a bit.
He noticed the way she'd curled a few strands of hair to frame her face and how her bangs added a nice touch to the whole vision. He'd even taken into account the tiny jewel pendent hanging from her neck and the way her face seemed to sparkle when the light hit her just right.
He knew he shouldn't notice any of that – that he should have eyes only for Quinn. But he couldn't help it; there were nagging feelings that wouldn't allow him to just forget about Rachel and enjoy his evening with Quinn. His mind kept flashing back to the confrontation he and Rachel had in the hallway.
He'd tried asking straight out about Jesse:
"I just – I don't trust him. Don't you remember what he did to you and how awful -"
She cut him off before he could finish.
"Finn, you can't tell me what to do anymore, okay?" She took in a shaky breath before going on. "If I want to date Jesse – or anyone, for that matter – it stopped being your business when you broke up with me." Her eyes flashed with a look of undeniable pain.
Finn wanted to say that it was all a big mistake; he would do anything to take away that pain from her. But he was with Quinn now. He loved Quinn, didn't he?
"I – I still care about you." He stammered out.
"Look," she said, taking in a breath to steady herself, "All I ask is that - whoever I choose – that you be as supportive of me as I've been of you and Quinn…" She paused, seeming to consider the next words that came out of her mouth, "Even though I'm dying every day inside about it."
Her eyes glistened with tears as she turned around and continued walking to her locker, leaving Finn rooted to the spot and reeling about what she'd just said.
She was still in love with him. That shouldn't have made his pulse raise or give him butterflies in his stomach, but it did.
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. She was still walking away from him. He considered reaching out and grabbing her hand, but that might send her the wrong idea…He quickly walked after her.
"You know, I don't even wanna go to this stupid prom anymore," he confessed.
Why was he telling her this? After a moment of thought, he realized just how much he trusted her, so he continued easily.
"Quinn's got me handing out pens with our names on 'em…Where's the dignity?"
He got a small smile out of Rachel before he went on.
"And I hate renting those tuxes…and the corsage – I just know I'm gonna pick the wrong one and then Quinn's gonna be all pissed off -" Okay, he was rambling now.
"Hey," she cut him off, "just – just get her something simple: A wrist corsage. Girls like Quinn, you don't wanna do anything that's gonna distract from their face, so just ask for a gardenia." She seemed to think about it further, "With a – with a light green ribbon around it to match her eyes. Okay?"
Finn remembered being blown away by her thoughtfulness. He couldn't even think straight, let alone remember what color Quinn's eyes were to decide what color ribbon would set them off. But if anyone had asked him, he could've described Rachel's deep, brown eyes and the expressive way they practically shined when she smiled in a heartbeat. He stood, contemplating this as Rachel hastily walked past him, leaving him behind.
He could've sworn he'd heard a sob escape Rachel's mouth as she quickly walked away…
And she'd been completely right. After watching Quinn elegantly descend the staircase – very much like a scene from a movie – he'd shown her the gardenia corsage he'd gotten for her. Quinn had beamed down at him, clearly surprised with his decision.
"It matches my eyes," she said softly.
"I know," he said hastily, immediately feeling bad about taking credit for Rachel's idea.
If she hadn't told him exactly what to buy he would've been completely lost in that floral shop for hours. He felt extremely guilty and kept thinking about Rachel instead of the angelic Quinn standing before him.
As she leaned in to give him a kiss, all he could think about was Rachel's lips instead of hers. He was more than a little confused and strangely thankful that Quinn's mom came rushing in with the camera just before they kissed…
Then he and Quinn had been swaying back and forth together on the dance floor while Rachel sang "Jar of Hearts" on stage. The tone of her voice was so beautiful and then sincerity of the lyrics caused Finn to pay attention to the emotion saturating her voice.
He should've been enjoying how Quinn was pressed up against him, how her arms were intertwined around his neck and the way her cheek was pressed into his shoulder. But all he could do was look over her head and into Rachel's eyes instead. She seemed to be singing the song directly to him. The gym was crowded with couples slow-dancing, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from Rachel.
I learned to live half-alive
And now you want me one more time
He thought about those words. Did he want her again? Should he dump Quinn because obviously he was having confused feelings about her…? Was that the right thing to do, was Rachel worth it all?
Who do you think you are?
Runnin' round leaving scars,
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
Grom the ice inside your soul
So don't come back for me
Who do you think you are?
Maybe she was. Maybe he'd been justified in dumping her when he learned that she'd made out with Puck. But then he'd turned around and kissed Quinn while she was still dating Sam. That didn't sit well in his conscience, he knew it was wrong – hypocritical, even. And now he was doubting his feelings for Quinn…
Had he ever stopped loving Rachel? Because he couldn't remember a moment where he was ever over her, he couldn't remember a day where he didn't care about her or miss her.
'Cause you broke all your promises
And now you're back
You don't get to get me back
He did tell her that he'd never break up with her. It wasn't a promise he'd wanted to break and he'd often lost sleep over whether he should've gone back on his word or not. Quinn kept swaying with him, oblivious to his inner argument. She seemed so happy with him right now, but he was honestly thinking of ending it with her soon. Maybe that was cruel so soon after prom, but he couldn't keep having these arguments with himself: pegging Quinn against Rachel.
Finn felt Quinn steering him in the direction facing away from the stage. He couldn't help but feel her hands running up his back were a little possessive now than before. Rachel drew the song to a dramatic close:
Who do you think you are?
Who do you think you are?
Who do you think you are?
The last note hung poignantly in the air before the entire gym burst into applause. Applause for Rachel. Finn stole a quick glance towards the stage and saw the immense sadness in her eyes before it changed to elation from the crowd's response. He loved how she looked after delivering a powerful performance, like nothing in the world could ruin that moment for her.
Quinn looked up at Finn, emotion blazing in her eyes.
"I'm so happy to be here with you," she whispered. "It's what I've always wanted," she concluded, her words sincere.
Finn gave her a smile, but it didn't feel like it quite met his eyes all the way.
He had to admit, though, the real drama started when Blaine was jamming out on stage singing the song he'd chosen. It wasn't the actual performance that was the problem - the song itself was great. He was dancing with Quinn and trying to enjoy himself. And it was working until he spotted Rachel a short ways away dancing with Jesse. It looked like she was actually having a good time and wasn't sulking like he was.
She and Jesse were dancing a little too close to comfort in Finn's opinion. He tried refocusing on Quinn who was dancing close to him. He grimaced a little, and before turning away, he saw Jesse bury his face in Rachel's neck. It looked like he was whispering something or maybe even kissing her. Just the thought of Jesse kissing Rachel made Finn see red. He knew he should just ignore it, but he felt overwhelmed with anger.
He turned away from Quinn without even thinking about how she might react and stormed over to where Jesse was still pressing his lips to Rachel's throat. Rachel gave him a shocked expression as he practically pried Jesse away from her. He'd never felt so upset in his life.
"Hey, dude, keep it PG!" yelled Finn. Jesse looked appalled and extremely annoyed at Finn.
"Dude," he yelled back, "it's none of YB: your business!"
Finn narrowed his eyes. "Well this is my school, so it is my business."
Jesse glared back and said, "This isn't your girlfriend, so beat it, MJ!" before attempting to turn away.
Finn didn't know what came over him, but he shoved Jesse's shoulder hard. And it felt good, too, to make contact with him and release his anger physically. Jesse looked unimpressed and shoved Finn back, sending him a few steps backwards. Finn charged back and used both hands to push Jesse, pleased to see it made him stumble backwards. Both Rachel and Quinn were yelling at the brawling pair, but whatever they were saying was inconsequential to Finn. He just wanted to beat the crap out of one Jesse St. James right now.
Jesse hit Finn hard in the shoulders and Finn felt himself edging towards the boiling point. Just the look on Jesse's face, a look of sick amusement, was enough to put him over. He took a powerful swing at Jesse and was disappointed when Jesse bent back with catlike reflexes to barely dodge the blow. His fist moved through the air with enough force to trip him up for a second. Before he could try and punch the lights out Jesse again, Coach Sylvester had already caught them to tell them their prom experience was over as they knew it.
Finn was breathing heavily; he heard Quinn protesting, concerned about Prom King and Queen as usual. He glanced back at Quinn who was looking positively crestfallen and murderous at the same time. But he couldn't bring himself to care as he and Jesse were escorted out and away from the gym by a very angry Coach Sylvester.
His breathing was still coming out harshly from his irritation and he ran his hands through his hair as he walked away from the other boy. Jesse just shook his head and headed towards the nearest exit, away from Finn.
Finn stayed in the hallway, hanging his head in shame. How could he let himself get so out of control? How could he let himself fly off the handle like that? He remembered Jesse's mouth on Rachel's neck.
"Oh yeah, that's why." He thought to himself. "That should've been me dancing with Rachel and kissing her."
The errant thought had come into his mind unconsciously. He tried to shake it away, make those feelings go away. But he just couldn't. Maybe he was right, maybe it should've been him instead.
Who was he kidding after what just happened? He was clearly still head over heels for Rachel. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and let out a groan of frustration as he leaned his head against a cool locker door.
He heard the gym doors open again, emitting a blast of noise into the previously quiet hallway. He figured it was Coach Sylvester again to tell him to get the hell off of the school grounds. But he couldn't be bothered, he continued leaning against the locker, hoping it would make his heartache go away.
"Finn?" Rachel's voice asked questioningly as she closed the gym doors behind her silently.
Finn couldn't believe his luck – or lack thereof, depending on how you looked at it – there she stood before him like an angel. There was light coming from within the gym streaming out and illuminating her from behind, giving her the illusion of almost glowing.
A wide smile spread across Finn's face, almost hurting his face, it was so wide. But he couldn't help himself, she was wonderful and she was there with him instead of inside dancing and forgetting about his stupidity. He remembered what just happened and his face fell in shame. A sad sigh left his mouth.
"Rachel…" he began. "I'm so sorry for what just happened in there." He shook his head, still in disbelief. "I was such an idiot and now I've ruined the prom for you. Your date's gone."
Rachel shook her head. "Finn, I already told you, Jesse wasn't my date. Remember? In the hall? I told you that he was just joining Sam, Mercedes, and I for the evening. I wasn't thinking of him as my date, just a friend."
She looked down too. "Finn," she began. "Why did you do that? Was – was Jesse dancing with me really bothering you that much? You could've just talked to me about it; you know you can tell me anything." She looked up questioningly at Finn full in the face for the first time.
He turned around and leaned back against the lockers, letting his head slowly lean back until he was looking heavenward. He took a deep sigh before looking back into Rachel's dark eyes – the total opposite of Quinn's.
"I don't know, Rachel. I saw him kissing you and I just got really angry about it. I don't know…" he ran his hands through his hair again in exasperation. "I – I mean, I'm like a thousand percent sure I'm still in love with you," he blurted it out without intending to. But he couldn't take it back now that it was floating out around there.
Rachel just stared at him, seeming to drink in those words.
"I just…" he tried to back up a bit, "I don't think I can fake it with Quinn anymore." A glimmer of hope passed over Rachel's eyes as he pressed on. "I thought that I wanted to be with her because I was attracted to her when she was with Sam. But maybe that's just because she was unattainable. Isn't there some phrase about the getting what you don't want?"
"It's 'wanting what you can't have', Finn," Rachel corrected before he nodded and plowed on.
"Yeah, that one. Anyways, then I was with her because she's the most popular girl in school and, sure, sometimes she's cool and she's nice – to me, at least – and, of course, she's gorgeous. But lately…" he looked blankly down the hallway, lost in thought. "Lately…I don't know. I just don't think I'm in love with her. After seeing Jesse come back into your life, ask you out to prom, and dance with you like that...I just feel like that should me. There should be no other guy in your life because I'm right for you. I've been here all along, and maybe I lost sight of it for a while, but right now there's nothing I've been more sure of."
He engulfed Rachel's small hands within his own and drew her near. "I can tell you anything and you won't make fun of me. You don't care that I can't dance, we sing well together, and we make a great team, Rachel." He was babbling now, but he couldn't stop. "You can't deny that. I mean, even if you're in love with Jesse now, you have to admit that we have something special. There's something between us and I'm willing to find out what it is, just give me another chance. Breaking my promise to you – hurting you – it's haunted me since the day I left you. But, I swear, there was never a minute that I stopped loving you."
He just had to let it out, and now that it was out there, he allowed himself to take a breath as he tried to read Rachel's face. His eyes were searching hers, looking for any kind of emotion – anger, disbelief, sadness, happiness – just anything. Finally, she gave him an beatific smile and let out a small laugh as she squeezed his hands gently.
"Finn," she said through her smile, "I'm not in love with Jesse. Maybe I never was." She tucked stray strand of hair behind her ear, suddenly shy.
"I've always loved you, Finn." She admitted boldly. "Ever since we first sang together, I knew you were something special…I knew we were something special." She looked down, slightly embarrassed.
Finn beamed at her and lifted her chin with his free hand while he laced the other's fingers through hers.
"Do you really mean that?" he asked, voice full of hope.
A small tear ran down her cheek. He brushed it away with his thumb, hearing her breath hitch slightly at his touch.
"Of course I mean it," she said softly.
That was all Finn needed to hear. He moved quickly to cover Rachel's mouth with his and he moved his hands to her waist, pulling her into a secure embrace. Rachel moved her hands up over his shoulders and put her hands on either side of his neck, stroking gently.
Finn smiled through the kiss, finally happy with himself and moving his hands up to caress Rachel's smooth shoulders as he tilted his head to the side. As their lips molded in a silent rhythm, Rachel moved her hands down to the front of Finn's jacket and pressed against his chest, feeling his heart race a bit.
Rachel pulled back, bestowing a truly stunning smile upon Finn. She laced their hands together once more as she laughed lightly from pure giddiness.
"You've made me so happy, Finn," she admitted. "There's only one problem."
Finn's face fell a bit in concern. "Problem? What problem?" he asked worriedly.
She grinned at him. "Your boutonnière is the wrong color," she laughed pointing to the blue flower pinned on the lapel of Finn's tux.
Finn joined in her laughter, feeling relieved.
"Oh, yeah, well. I guess there's nothing we can do about that," he grinned.
Rachel smiled slyly and said "I think we can."
She indicated the home-made corsage on her wrist and pulled off a light pink flower carefully. She gleefully unpinned the blue flower from Finn's tux and threw it over her shoulder, inserting the pin through the new flower.
"May I?" She asked before pinning it back on.
"I'd be honored," Finn said.
She stuck the pin through his tux, securing the pink flower against the black fabric.
"There, now we match, date." She beamed up at him.
"Oh, man. Now I really feel like a jackass for messing up prom and getting kicked out. I wish I could escort you back in there and show everyone that you're the one I want to be with, not anyone else." He hung his head, kicking himself for letting himself get carried away where Jesse was concerned.
"It's okay, there's plenty of time for that," Rachel replied, kissing him softly once more. Finn pressed his forehead against hers, not wanting her to leave.
"I guess I have to go back in," said Rachel. "Sam and Mercedes will be wondering where I went, I told them I'd be gone just a second..." she said worriedly, looking back towards the gym doors.
Finn, used a finger to turn her head back towards him.
"It's okay. I have to leave before I get attacked by Coach Sylvester again anyways." He glanced at Rachel's lips once more and planted a tender kiss on them while cupping her face in his hands.
"I love yo,u" he reminded her, placing a final kiss on her forehead.
She squeezed her eyes shut, treasuring the moment before he broke away, giving her a sad smile. He dropped his hands from her face as she stepped away towards the gym once more. Her heels were the only sound in the hallway as she walked away. Her hand was on the handle when she turned back and gave Finn a sad wave.
"I'll call you," he promised.
"I can't wait," she told him before disappearing back into the dance, monumentally more happy than before.
He watched her pink dress disappear through the door before doing a small celebratory dance. And for once, he didn't even care that he probably looked spastic or like he got struck by lightning, because finally he was with the right person. Finally he was happy and there wasn't a nagging doubt in his mind at all.