"Watching" a Finchel One-Shot
She could watch him forever. The way his dark hair was perfectly messed, with those little pieces at the back of his neck sticking out. His tall, broad frame that somehow made him look gentle and adorably awkward instead of tough and imposing. The softness of his expressions, a face that always looked for the best in people. The deep brown eyes and irresistible crooked smile that literally made her catch her breath.
There was something about watching the person you love from across a crowded room. Looking at him as though you were noticing him for the very first time. Seeing him as the rest of the world does, except that you know that he's amazing in ways they'll never understand. It's like that with love, she thought. There's this one person who can see right through to your soul. There is nothing you can hide from them, and you don't need to, because they love all of it. She loved all of him, and she loved being his one person.
Are these the thoughts of a normal teenage girl watching her boyfriend standing at a snack bar at a bowling alley? Rachel Berry didn't know, and she really, really didn't care. Her love for Finn Hudson had really never fallen in the category of normal. She was drawn to him, from the very first moment they met. Ever since then, there was no obstacle and no amount of resolve that could lessen the inexplicable pull she felt toward him. She remembered standing on the stage with him at Nationals a few months ago, when she told him that she couldn't be with him and that nothing he could say or do could change her mind. Even in that moment she knew it wasn't true.
She used to think that she had to choose between love and her dreams. What she wouldn't admit to herself at the time was that Finn was, in fact, a part of her dreams. Yes, she wanted the stage, and the adoring crowds and standing ovations. She wanted Manhattan, and solos, and the life of an epic Broadway diva. But at the end of the day, when the curtain closed, she wanted someone to share it with. Not just anyone, but her person. Her one person who could look at her and know what she was feeling. Her one person who saw everything she was inside and loved her for it.
She had a dreamy smile on her face as he returned to the table with their pizza.
"Hey beautiful," he grinned, "thinking about how much you love me again?"
"Don't flatter yourself, Finn Hudson," she laughed, "but...yeah."
She grabbed the collar of his flannel shirt and pulled him down to her, starting in on a long, slow kiss that may have made a few people stare and point.
"Whoa, babe," he laughed, "All I did was ask them to leave half of the pizza with no cheese on it for you!" He smiled slyly. "What do I get if I can get them to make a vegan milkshake?"
"Finn!" she scolded playfully, punching him in the arm. "I'll be right back, I'm going to grab some napkins."
He gazed lovingly in her direction as she walked away. There was something about watching the person you love from across a crowded room. He could watch her forever.