A/N: I don't know what's wrong with me - I mean, the ep was great, amazing, and all I seem to be able to write about is stuff related to Pav dying. Blergh. I ranted about the ep long enough already in another author's note (Warm milk and lady chats, chapter 4 (which, not so coincidentally, is also about Pav, yes, and while it's not entirely compatible with this, I did use some ideas for both stories), if anyone's interested :P) but I wanted to add that while I'm still not too sure what to think about Candles, I did really love it in the show, and I was pretty disappointed that they didn't throw in a Furt (or just Kurt, whichever) moment during Finn's lines in Loser like me. Yep. That would be all. But the entire episode was great, I think - except for Pav's death, of course, because that was just sad. Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy the story! :D
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
Finn didn't completely feel like himself that day. For the first time in months, he'd been able to sleep until his alarm went off, yet for some reason, he felt down because of it. Yes, he was happy that he'd slept well, but the reason for that – that wasn't something to be happy about.
When he'd woken up that morning, he had panicked for a moment when he'd seen the time. He had even stormed into Kurt's room to make sure his stepbrother got out of bed, only to find that he was already gone – and that was when Finn remembered. Kurt getting up would no longer be accompanied by Pavarotti's singing and thus, Kurt getting up would no longer result in Finn waking up groggily, before falling back asleep again.
Though he had complained about the singing bird on several occasions, he had never wanted Pav to die. Finn wasn't that cruel.
Sitting in the choir room, he couldn't focus on what was being said – a strange thing, actually, considering the fact that he had slept better than he had in months, so you'd think he'd be able to concentrate. Well, apparently not.
"Finn." Quinn jabbed him in the side with a finger, looking slightly disapproving.
"Uh – what?" He hadn't fallen asleep, right? That would be immensely ridiculous.
"You weren't paying attention," Mr Schuester said. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Finn quickly replied, trying to pretend that nothing was wrong.
"No, you're not," Rachel said quietly, scrutinising him closely. "What's the matter, Finn?"
"Is everything alright at home?" Mr Schuester prompted him. "Do you want to talk to someone about this?"
Finn shook his head resolutely, determined not to say anything. That was, until he caught Mercedes' eye. He didn't know why, maybe because she was Kurt's best friend and she might not even know, but he soon found himself blurting out what was bothering him. "It's Pav," he said, not realising that most of the people in the room wouldn't have a clue who he was talking about. "He died. Yesterday."
The effect was twofold. On one hand, Mercedes gasped and Rachel looked at him with a shocked expression plastered to her face. On the other hand, everyone else just looked uncertain.
"Finn, you're kidding," Rachel muttered. "How – "
Finn shrugged somewhat helplessly. "I don't know. We don't know. Possibly a stroke."
Mercedes gasped again and now, so did Rachel.
"Wait, who are you talking about?" Santana asked.
"Yeah, who is this… Pav… person you're talking about?" Puck added, looking particularly calm, even with the two distressed girls in the room.
"He's not a person," Finn said. "He was a – a bird."
"You never mentioned having a bird before," Quinn said, almost accusingly.
Mercedes replied before Finn could even open his mouth. "He wasn't Finn's. Pavarotti was Kurt's bird."
"A warbler," Rachel added.
"Wait, so they seriously give their members actual birds to take care of?" Puck asked, sounding a bit dumbfounded. Finn nodded solemnly.
"What if they already have other pets, like a cat?" Quinn asked, and Finn actually smiled a little at that.
"I think Kurt tried to crack a joke about something like that when he got Pav. They didn't appreciate it," he finished, frowning.
"How is he holding up?" Finn could tell that Mercedes had been dying to ask him that ever since he told them the bad news. It was only too bad that he didn't actually know the answer to that question.
"As far as I know, he's getting by," he started slowly and unsurely. "The Warblers took it surprisingly well and they even let him sing an impromptu song during the meeting – "
"Oh, wow," Rachel breathed.
"They must've been in a very generous mood," Mercedes commented, rolling her eyes a little. Once more, the others looked slightly lost, probably not completely aware of how differently things were run at the other school.
"But he's still feeling down, of course," Finn quickly continued. "Pav might've been… just a bird, but after what happened to his mum and then earlier this year to Burt – " He trailed off, but they seemed to get the message anyway. "And it's so weird – I'm usually woken up by Pav's chirps but this morning, it was just my alarm." Thankfully, nobody made fun of him when he said that. It was a rather unmanly confession, so he'd definitely been afraid that they'd hold it against him.
"Maybe we should get him a new bird?" Sam suggested, and some people muttered their approval. Finn was just about to point out why that would be a bad idea (though he had to admit, he had thought about that option himself too) when Mercedes, once again, beat him to it.
"Oh, hell to the no," she exclaimed loudly. "What do you think it'll be like for him if that bird suddenly drops dead as well? I will not – "
"Okay, Mercedes, I think we get it," Mr Schuester interrupted her, trying to restore the calm in the choir room (if it ever was there). "Finn – let Kurt know we all feel his loss, alright? I know you're all upset now, but we really need to work on those original songs if we ever want to be ready in time for Regionals…"
Finn tuned out again. He had already found out earlier that week that he wasn't much of a songwriter anyway. But he'd definitely tell Kurt about their friends' reactions. Maybe that would cheer him up a little.
A/N: So... what do you think? I hope Finn (and Mr Schue, and everyone else, really) wasn't (too) OOC. Let me know if you have any comments/questions/thoughts/anything, please leave a review! :)