A/N: Tumblr prompt.
"I can't do this."
"Rach, you don't even know that-"
"No. No I can't. I'm not cut out for the silver screen, okay? I'm just not romantic comedy leading lady material. Not for the movies. I'm too- I'm too me."
She looks up at him, almost pleadingly, like she's trying hard to make him understand something that frankly, he never will.
"Rachel," he says again, taking hold of her hand across the dinner table. "Julia won't have given you the script if she thinks you can't do it. Hell Rach, the director personally asked her to have you look this over. Obviously, he sees something-"
"He's mistaken," she answers stubbornly, looking away as her hand slips out of his. "I'm not auditioning for this, and that's it."
He sighs.
"Pass me the potatoes please," she says like the entire conversation never happened. He does so without a word.
Xxx
Her eyes are starting to flutter open and he grins. He loves catching her like this, just seconds before she wakes, when she wrinkles her nose and pouts just a little because she knows she has to get up soon. Her hand moves aimlessly on her right, feeling for him as she always does.
"Good morning," he murmurs quietly. She smiles, eyes still closed as she gives a hum of appreciation.
"Good morning- Finn, what are you doing?" she asks, amused when her eyes finally open and she blinks sleepily up at him.
"Filming you."
"Why?"
He shrugs.
"It's for a school project."
It kind of is. He's taking a Film studies course for his final year, and he is supposed to pick a subject to film. She just doesn't have to know that this isn't exactly for that, but for something else, an idea that hit him at four in the morning three hours ago.
"I'm pretty sure you need my consent first Finn," she says. He grins.
"Well, do I have it?"
She laughs, and he zooms in on her eyes, wide and twinkling as she winks at him.
"I don't know," she says playfully, her fingers reaching out to tug against his shirt. "You might have to persuade me."
She pulls him forwards, and in his surprise, the video camera falls onto the bed, capturing just a glimpse of her lock of brown hair before she giggles off camera at his grunt.
He makes sure to turn it off.
Xxx
He films her for a whole week, the video camera never leaving his side as he follows her around the house, to the supermarket, to dance rehearsals, to everywhere but the toilet which she banned after he filmed her brushing her teeth in the morning.
("A girl needs to have her secrets Finn!" he films, her voice shrill through the door.)
He has a video of her burning their dinner, the sound of his laughter off camera drowning her cries of dismay. There's one of her in Central Park, giggling while she feeds the ducks, letting out a small shriek when one comes running towards her. He has her arguing with the juice dude down on Seventh Street, demanding that he makes Finn a new guava smoothie because she saw him using his fingers to take something out (which seriously? Gross). He has her on camera for everything, even of her yelling at him for making her yell on camera.
By the week's end, he figures he has enough material when she snatches the camera away from him and turns the tables.
"How do you like it being in the spotlight, Mr. Finn Hudson?" she teases, aiming the camera upwards to catch his face. He laughs.
"Gimme that," he says, reaching forwards for it, but she evades him easily, walking backwards to zoom out on him sitting at their dining table, his laptop open in front of him.
"Nope. So tell me Finn, what do you think of the subject?" she asks in a reporter's voice. He plays along, leaning back against his chair as he pretends to think.
"Well," he starts, "after following her every move for seven days I have to say, she's the perfect leading lady."
"Really?" she asks quietly, her face hidden behind the camera. He smiles into it, right at her.
"Definitely."
Xxx
She cuddles into his side as they sit on the couch, the final outcome of his 'project' playing on the screen. She giggles at the title ("The Leading Lady Project", starring Rachel Berry Hudson as leading lady, and Finn Hudson as off camera hot male lead), and quiets down when the first scene of her waking up comes on screen.
The 'film' lasts almost seven minutes (Todd, his Film studies buddy and budding director helped him out with the editing, for two free tickets to Rachel's show, of course), and he feels her growing quieter and quieter as it progresses. Five minutes in and he looks to his side, finding her eyes transfixed on the screen, her face unreadable.
Shit. What if she hates it?
The last scene comes on, and suddenly it's him, Rachel's laughter in the background as she asks him about his thoughts on her. The original footage was shaky, taken from afar (she's hopelessly terrible with the video camera), but Todd is like, a wizard or something, and the finished product is tighter. His face is clear when he speaks, confident as he smiles straight into the camera.
"She's the perfect leading lady."
The video ends with the camera on the table, taking a wrong side up view of her sitting on his lap as she gives him an adoring kiss.
They sit quietly, staring at the blue screen until he feels restless.
"Well?"
She turns to him, her eyes watery.
"Is that how you see me?" she asks quietly, her voice trembling when she takes his hand. He smiles softly at her, squeezing her fingers. He shakes his head.
"No. Rachel, that's just the way you are."
She lets out a quiet sob and he chuckles, pulling her closer while she wraps her arms around his neck.
"Thank you," she mumbles against his skin. He shrugs, embarrassed.
"You're perfect, do you know that?"
"Nah. I just love you."
A/N: review = love! =D