This fun one-shot is dedicated to my awesome pen pal Saphizz! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Since, being on the other side of the world and everything I have made the only gift I could possibly give you :D I know you love baking and Finchel, so I decided to mix the two together for your present. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you have a great day

"I'm telling you, it is hell!"

Finn was never one to complain about his girlfriend. Without a doubt, Rachel Berry was the best thing that had ever happened to him. They both loved each other so much that after graduating, Finn had moved into Rachel's house (while her dad's moved out) so they could live a blissful life together while studying at separate colleges. Rachel was of course auditioning at different theatres, and actually succeeded once already. Everything was going smoothly…too smoothly. Arguments didn't last more than five minutes anymore. When they were at McKinley sometimes they argued for days and days, requiring some good pep talks from Mr Schuester to weave them back together.

But now…it was different. At school, Rachel didn't have the opportunity to pull out her secret weapon. Finn hadn't been properly angry or addressed any issue in over the three months they had lived together! At first he was too stupid to notice, but it began to happen so much that the pattern revealed itself. Thus he was here, at an old, creaky and dusty café…complaining to Puck.

"I don't even know how she does it! But every single time we get into an argument, she just seems to magically conjure a plate of cookies!

"Ah…persuasion by cookie. Smart tactic…" Puck commented approvingly, much to Finn's dislike.

"And when she puts them in the oven…I've tried to resist Puck! But every time that smell drifts its way over to me I just seem to forget what I was talking about and suddenly am starving!" Finn yelled, baffled.

"Well that doesn't surprise me; you're a food hog. Remember what happened at my party last year?" Puck queried with his eyebrows raised.

"Oh Puck don't start…"

"THAT CAKE WAS MINE!"

"I'm sorry okay! It's not like it had your name on it!" Finn attempted to defend.

"It said 'Happy Birthday' Finn! I'm sorry, was it your birthday?" They had had this conversation before…

"I was like half drunk and suck at reading! I thought it said 'Hippy Bongday' for crying out loud!"

Puck sighed. "The point is…Berry knows your weakness, and now you're her bitch." He casually pointed out.

Finn groaned. "She's like one of those witch-doctors with the freaky potion that hypnotises you or whatever!"

"See? Don't you wish you were single like me?"

"Puck, you're not single…"

"…just getting with every hot girl that walks past…"

"You haven't been with another girl in over a year…"

"Having sex all the time!"

"Well that is true," Finn admitted, "Are we just completely forgetting about Quinn?"

"Oh yeah," Puck suddenly recalled. "Well at least I still get sex while you're getting 3 pounds…"

"Yeah but you have like make-up sex, start-of-the-argument sex, coming home sex, going away sex, dinner sex…" Finn could go on forever.

"The point is," Puck explained, "I'm in major control of the situation. I bet you couldn't beat Berry if she was paralysed…"

"Yes I could!" Finn proclaimed in return.

"Oh really?" Puck quizzically asked, dangerously leaning forward over the rocking table. "Then challenge me."

"What?" Finn confusingly questioned.

"Fifty bucks says on your next argument you couldn't last twenty four hours staying angry at Rachel or without accepting a single cookie."

"Fifty bucks!" Finn shouted.

"The price of your dignity…and you must tell the truth! Or that's a break in the bro code and I have the right to sleep with Rachel."

"That's not the rule!" Finn protested angrily.

Puck shrugged. "I just made it the rule….So what do you say? Twenty-four hours, and you must be around her all the time. This weekend is a good opportunity…" Puck winked, offering his hand across the table.

Finn took his time to consider. Fifty bucks was a lot, but it was the perfect motivation for him to be able to resist those sweet, tasty, adorable cookies.

"You're on."

And sure enough, the opportunity had arisen that night. The house seemed peaceful as Finn stepped over the threshold, slowly slipping his worn jacket off and slinging it onto the couch.

"Hey Rach, I'm back!" He called out.

The cluttering and clashing of metal gave Finn enough indication that Rachel was in the kitchen. He strolled over through the archway spotting his girlfriend fiddling and struggling with plates.

"Hey sweetie, do you mind helping with this?" Rachel both greeted and pleaded Finn.

"Sure," Finn said, kindly gesturing his hands outward. Rachel handed the kitchenware to him, in turn revealing the side of the counter to Finn's sight. And that's when he saw them. The glistening, unbaked, attractive, scrumptious plate of cookies. Immediately his head snapped upwards to meet Rachel's gaze, who in return smiled sweetly, unloading her burden onto Finn. She seemed oblivious to his sudden discomfort, returning to her job and signalling for Finn to take the plates to the dining room. He stood frozen for a few moments, contemplating what could possibly be Rachel's motivation to make the cookies. His eyes suddenly began to search and scan the room, trying to see through all the objects to find the reason. Something had to be wrong, or at least would make him angry.

"So uh….special occasion on tonight or something Rach?" He asked while suspiciously walking to the dining table.

"No, why is that?" She shouted back curiously.

"Nothing…just noticed you had made some cookies…"

"Oh yeah! Well I was a little bored today, and they aren't even baked yet anyway."

Finn just nodded in agreement, but his facial expressions communicated nothing but suspicion. However even after x-raying the rooms for over a minute Finn could not spot a discrepancyin the household. It had to be Rachel herself….she must have done something. Returning to the kitchen, Finn proceeded to aid Rachel in preparing dinner, but decided to press further questions.

"So uh…anything new today? You know something out of the ordinary maybe…or something negative? You know just the normal stuff…"

Rachel could then not be oblivious to Finn's strange behaviour. "You okay Finn?"

"Yeah yeah I'm great! Just interested in my girlfriend's day!"

Rachel didn't believe him, but she let the matter past."Not really, just more rehearsals."

She didn't talk for longer than five seconds. Finn definitely knew something was up. However he failed to extract any extra information out of Rachel, and by the time dinner had arrived his stomach senses had overpowered his brain.

"Looks awesome Rach…" he excitingly commented.

She grinned at him, extracting the battered tongs ready to plate up.

"Oh that's right! With dinner tomorrow Finn we'll just have it at a restaurant on the way because I don't think I'll have the time."

"Wait! Finn interjected. "On the way to what?"

"Oh didn't I tell you?" Finn violently shook his head. "I saw that the 'Sound of Music was' showing in Lima so I got us tickets for their last show. Since you have never seen it I thought it was a golden opportunity to expand you musical horizons."

"But me and the boys are going to the game tomorrow?"

"What game?"

"You know? THE GAME? The one I have been raving about for the last two months? Remember those NFL players who are coming to school? DON'T TELL ME YOU FORGOT!" Finn was on the verge of panic.

"Well it wasn't on the calendar!" Rachel defended.

"Yes it was!"

"No it wasn't!" Rachel hastily rose from her chair, storming away from the utensils and into the kitchen to examine her rabbit calendar. Finn followed immediately after, almost tripping on Rachel's feet in an attempt to reach the calendar first. His stomach was now a distant thought.

"Oh my gosh…" Rachel sadly said as she stared at the date. "You did write it up."

"Ha! SEE!"

Rachel flicked her head toward Finn, hair whipping across her face as she gazed sorrowfully into his eyes. "Well I am sorry Finn! These tickets were a hundred dollars! I can't just waste that much money!"

Finn groaned in anger. "Well get someone else!"

"Who? Mercedes and Kurt are on holiday and Tina has an extreme hate for Julie Andrews!"

"Well what about Quinn?" Finn said in a desperate attempt to save his plans.

"After what happened when we went to see Phantom of the Opera? I don't think so."

Finn was screaming inside. His muscles were constricting around his heart as though it needed extract support. It was all so perfectly done; once again life was just screwing him over, stripping Finn of one of the most exciting experiences he would ever have. And then…'they' came back into his view. And Finn had an epiphany.

"Oh my God…it wasn't an accident."

"What?" Rachel asked bewildered.

"You…you and those cookies." Finn had suddenly become a new person, evilly staring at his girlfriend and waving his finger accusingly. In that moment the feeling was satisfying, and Finn had begun to believe he could hold it for twenty-four hours. "Of course you knew I had it on, you remember everything! And since when don't you check the calendar?"

Rachel had begun to interjected, but Finn held up a hand to stop her.

"No, those cookies were preparation for this. Well guess what, it won't work."

Rachel creased her eyebrows together, opening her mouth that all her teeth were visible. "What are you talking about?" At the same time, Rachel was slowly inching her way to the metal tray of cookies, her hand creeping outwards to be able to clasp on.

"Admit it!" Finn had noticed her slow movement, and was tensing his muscles to stop her.

"What?" Just as her hand had reached the cold material, Finn approached the tray and slammed it down with his fist.

"No, no cookies! Admit that you sabotaged my plans!"

"What? NO!"

"ADMIT IT!" Finn's expressions had (unknowingly to him) become overly threatening, and for a moment Rachel's heart skipped a beat in fear. Finn, noticing Rachel's sudden intake of breath backed away guiltily, patiently waiting for her expression to return to its neutral position.

"Tell me the truth Rachel, did you or did you not know?" The glint in Rachel's eye already confirmed Finn's suspicions, and he hung his head in shame. Tilting his head back up he could see Rachel's solemn expression, and she silently pleaded for him to forgive.

"I am so sorry Finn…" She began to sadly apologise.

"Why would you do that?" Finn noticed his tone had suddenly calmed, and quickly composed himself again to become the angry boyfriend. If he could not stay angry for five minutes, he would never last twenty four hours. And the chocolate particles of those cookies were already wafting into his nostrils, so he had to shake his head as if to rid himself from the smell.

"Do you know how hard it is to be like me? I barely have any friends left here, and the only person I can spend time with anymore is you. And you're always going out with friends these days! I just feel…neglected, and I want to take any opportunity to go somewhere with you!"

Finn shook his head confidently, dismissing Rachel's explanation. "That does not give you any excuse to take over my plans."

"I know," she admitted in return. "Look can we just go back to the table and talk about this?"

Finn knew this part. The 'talking' part would be the death of his fifty dollars. This was the period where they would sit, talk about the problem and find a compromise. There was no way Finn could live through that without looking like a jerk if he just kept finding excuses to get angry. So he made an impulsive decision.

"No look, I'm just going to go to bed okay? I'll call Puck tomorrow or something but…just leave me for a while." He added the last line with bitterness, trying to maintain the level of fury. Rachel attempted to stop him, but she wasn't athletic enough. Finn had already marched upstairs, the booming noise of the steps echoing to Rachel's ears just to make her feel worse.

The guilt was really beginning to consume Finn as he lay still in bed. The look on Rachel's face was heartbreaking, and if not for that stupid bet, Finn would never have declined her offer to talk it out. But he had a point to prove, and so far those cookies had remained untouched. However, Finn's stomach was beginning to protest, and lying in bed he was just wishing he could go downstairs and actually eat something. He could have…if not for those damn cookies.

But that's when Finn began to reflect on his actions. Why did he despise those cookies so much? They made him feel like he was in heaven, each mouth-watering crumb neatly tucked behind his lips and allowing his tongue to savour that sweet flavour. And as well as providing a delicious heart-warming snack, those cookies made his and Rachel's relationship so much more peaceful and simple. In a way it was a compromise. Finn the food hog would get a piece of heaven, and Rachel could escape a piece of hell. Plus she would get her way, but that was a trait that had remained behind from high school anyway. Hell it was probably a trait from when she was three months old.

So what possible reason could Finn have for taking the bet? It's not like Rachel was usually unreasonable. Today was an exception; Finn had no problem accusing her of being wrong in this case, but otherwise they often both had plausible cases. And since Rachel was the smart one of the two, Finn didn't have an issue with giving her most of the decisions anyway. After all, her decision to pursue her dreams inspired Finn to pursue his. And now he had abandoned her downstairs, guilt ridden and hurt by his actions without a reasonable explanation.

In that moment, all the hate seems to melt away from inside of Finn. His muscles unclenched, his heart beat stopped pounding and returned to its calm and purposeful rhythm. Unfortunately his stomach growled simultaneous, but Finn did not notice it, as his eyelids had crawled down and sent Finn spiralling into a deep and restful sleep.

Finn shot upwards, clutching at the sheets as his dream concluded. It was still dark, and rather cold, so he had obviously woken in the early hours of the morning. Looking to his left, he was able to recognise Rachel through the crack of his eyelids, and trying not to wake her, he drowsily rose, sliding off the bed onto the soft cotton carpet. His feet robotically began to move out the room and downstairs towards the kitchen, answering the call of his stomach. His first instinct was to move toward the fridge and pull out dinner, but then a scent danced toward him, somehow awakening all his five senses. He aimlessly threw his hand outwards, blindly searching for the plate of baked cookies in the dark (Rachel must have thrown them in the oven after he left). Suddenly his hand collided with a rough object, and it took less than a second for him to explore the outer edges of the food and then throw it greedily into his mouth.

Then his brain awoke, and Finn realised what he had done.

Conveniently, the kitchen light was switched on simultaneously; and standing at the switch was an equally dazed Rachel.

'Finn? Is everything okay?"

Finn looked backed to the tray he had just invaded, staring at the empty space he created only a second ago. But his tongue was so satisfied by the taste, without thinking (something he was quite familiar with) Finn grabbed another three cookies, taking his time in savouring the sweet flavour, and individually tasting each crumb. Hell, he was never going to make twenty four hours anyway.

"Yeah, actually I'm fine. Just a little hungry."

Rachel smiled, but the expression quickly vanished as she recalled the events of last night.

"Finn, about last night…"

"No, please don't apologise." He grabbed Rachel's hand hastily, almost dragging her over to the couch, however lovingly sitting her down. "Look, I should be saying I'm sorry. I never had the same problems so I can't say I know how it feels, but I never should have shrugged off how you felt like that. I'm sorry for being so angry." Rachel beamed. Not necessarily at Finn's apology, but that he had settled and was back to his regular self. The adorable and innocent man she fell in love with. "But you need to stop with this popularity and friends thing though Rach. It isn't high school anymore, people love you…I love you."

Rachel smiled once more at Finn, leaning up and using his torso for support to plant a lingering kiss on his lips. "I love you too. And as for tomorrow…"

"Let's not talk about it, or fight anymore…" Finn offered. "Let's just leave this moment for now and figure it out later."

Rachel then laid her head delicately onto his chest, wrapping her arms around his chest as he leaned backwards. The two pleasantly remained in that position, until contently falling into a blissful sleep once again.

The front door bell had woken Finn and Rachel up the next morning. Gazing toward the clock, Rachel realised they had slept together past eight, so quickly leapt up to shake herself awake. Finn followed her example, bitterly staring at the door and resenting the culprit who had woken him. Rachel reading Finn's mind however gave him an encouraging tap on the stomach, giving permission to go to the kitchen to eat to end his suferring. Finn wasted no time and almost sprinted toward the unfinished tray of cookies, and almost animal-like snatched the tray and walked back towards the living room.

Meanwhile Rachel had gone to answer the door, twisting the knob unenthusiastically to be greeted by whoever was standing on the other side.

"Hey Berry, wow just look stunning this morning." Puck mocked as he analysed her sleep attire.

'What do you want Noah?" Rachel replied with a sigh.

Puck was about to make another snarky comment, however first he tilted his chin upwards to spot Finn in the hallway, eating of a tray of cookies.

"Oh dude…I am a victim of disappointment in you. You humiliate the entire male gender."

Finn lifted his hands in surrender, at the same time indicating toward the tray and glorifying the cookies. "You know what Puck? For constant bliss, I am willing to make the sacrifice!" He then placed the tray down onto the marble cabinet at the side of the door, whipping out his wallet (which had been left in his pocket from the previous day) and with pride offered the fifty dollars to Puck. Finn tried to avoid Rachel's eyes at this time, afraid of the rising questions that would come, so quickly lowered his head after the money escaped his hands.

"Thank you very much Finn…here you go Rachel."

Finn shot his head up immediately, eyes flicking to the left to see his girlfriend. To Finn's shock, Rachel accepted the money without questions with a grin to accompany her confident expression.

"I saw that Noah…" she accused Puck, and Finn confusingly glared at his best friend to try and understand what happened.

Puck meanwhile had sighed, handing over the last ten dollar bill to Rachel. She accepted it with a wicked smile, counting the money to verify the value.

"Whoa hold on a second! What the hell is going on?"

"Oh didn't I tell you?" Puck jokingly commented. "Me and Rachel had a lovely conversation just the other day when I came over here."

Finn accusingly snapped towards Rachel in an attempt to extract the truth from her. She once again flashed that wicked smirk, and began the story.

"I'm telling you Rachel, these cookies are brilliant!"

"Hmmm," Rachel seemed to nod, uninterested. "So Noah, remember that forty bucks you owe me for breaking my lamp?"

"Ha, you think this will work on me? It only works on the food hog. Plus I prefer a different type of compensation."

"I'm not sleeping with you Puck; it's not worth the forty dollars anyway."

Puck flinched. "Now that hurts Berry."

A silence filled the room as Rachel continued to stare at Puck while he munched on numerous cookies at a time. "No wonder you have Finn on a leash, I must admit you have played your cards well."

Rachel scoffed. "Well at least Finn is adorable when he eats. You're just an animal. And plus Finn can never resist these anyway. I bet if I had a constant supply of these, he could not stay angry at me for more than ten seconds before forgetting what he was saying."

Puck actually seemed to deeply consider this statement, much to Rachel's curiosity.

"You know what…I think you are right!"

"And this is important because?"

"Because, if you want your forty bucks that I have owed for over 6 months I can get it for you in less than a week."

"Oh really?" Rachel stated disbelievingly but intrigued. "And how do you plan to do that?"

"I reckon I could bet Finn fifty bucks that he would not be able to resist a cookie from you. Therefore, that he couldn't stay angry at you for more than a day."

"Why fifty?" Rachel asked.

"Just a little bonus for me. And plus Finn won't go for more than that." Puck stated.

"Oh did I mention!" Rachel suddenly seemed to recall. "The six months you have left is interest that has built up to…ten bucks I believe."

"That was so not a rule."

"Well how convenient I just made it one. If you fail to accept this term I may just slip what actually happened to your birthday cake last year." Rachel evilly smiled.

"Oh you are good at this manipulation game Berry…and deal."

"You manipulated me!" Finn cried out.

"Okay, so I'm just gonna go now and have sex with my girlfriend. Enjoy your lovers spat! Oh by the way Finn," Puck added for leaving. "I'll pick you up at four this afternoon for the game."

"Oh yeah…" Finn began, "I'll have to get back to you on that. I might be going to the theatre…" He depressingly stated again. It wasn't his morning.

"About that Finn," Rachel began cheerfully, "You know I was thinking about it and you should just go to the game. I mean what's a hundred bucks anyway…"

Her nonchalant delivery confused Finn for a tenth time that morning, and although pleased his plans could go through his mind was spinning crazily.

"Wait a minute…" he realised, "You didn't make plans at all did you! There is no 'Noise of Music' tickets! Are you telling me you used me this entire time for fifty bucks?"

Rachel offered a friendly smile, raising her eyebrows in surrender and then reaching over to the tray on the cabinet.

"I'm so sorry honey, it's just I really love you and I wanted a new lamp. But that aside, cookie?"

Damn those cookies.

And that's my one-shot. Not my best ever descriptions but at this time of the year I am pleased. Once again dedicated to my pen pal, the best in the world. Have heaps more awesome birthdays! I must admit, it was fun writing scheming Rachel ;)

And for those reading my other story, the 'Wrong Type of Adrenaline', I ask you to please be patient. This term has been crazy and I've been exhausted (going to bed at 8:00pm exhausted). I'm in my senior year and doing musical and have a lot on my plate. So please don't not bother because I'm trying my best!

Tata

CeciltheGleek