He knew something was up when Lily started spending inordinate amounts of time on math.
His girl is the smartest kid he knows, but that was the one subject she has always hated, ever since she was old enough to learn that one plus one is two, and on most days, they had to practically force her to finish her homework. That was up until about a month ago, when she first came up to him to ask about fractions. He had been surprised to say the least (and secretly glad that the kid is still eight, and her math level is still up his alley), as he solved it for her while she listened intently to his explanation.
Somehow in the past thirty days, his daughter has decided that math is her favorite subject.
"I thought your favorite subject was English?" he asked, turning sideways to look at Lily, poring over her textbook. He was more than a little perplexed. Yeah, he's proud to say that unlike him when he was her age, Lily had taken after Rachel on the academics department. But still. His kid was so not the type that studies during car rides. Plus, she's eight. What do eight year olds really study, even? Lily sighed witheringly, as she was wont to do when she thinks that daddy's asking a stupid question.
"That was two months ago dad," she told him. "Besides, everyone knows English. Math is cooler. It's exotic."
"Do you even know what that means?" he asked with a straight face. She refused to have a conversation with him after that.
Rachel rolled her eyes when he asked her about this and told him that he was being weird and paranoid.
"Little kids have many interests when they're still young," she told him, pulling him away from Lily's A+ math quiz tacked on the fridge to give him a kiss.
"But-"
"Finn, Lily is out with Kurt right now, and this is the first Saturday in a month that we're both free. Do you really want to spend this beautiful day talking about our daughter's newfound interest in mathematics, or do you want to spend it doing things we can't do when she's around?"
The woman had a point.
He let it drop, and decided to just embrace Lily's new love. Hey, maybe they'll find out that his daughter is an actual math genius or something. That would be kind of cool. He was just glad third grade math doesn't involve weird shit like, calculus or whatever.
So he's standing at the edge of Lily's classroom, and it's Parent-Teacher day and while Rachel's standing next to him talking to Lily's math teacher, Mr. Bellamy, Lily's on his other side, staring up at the man with what are unmistakably stars in her eyes.
Oh yeah, Lily had an interest alright. He doesn't think maths has anything to do with it though. He frowns when his daughter nods her head enthusiastically at every word this Bellamy dude is saying. What is up with this guy anyway? Isn't he a little too young to be teaching maths to eight year olds? He looks like he's barely out of high school.
"Lily is actually my best student." He looks up to find her teacher smiling at both him and Rachel, and he reciprocates with a wry smile of his own.
"I'm sure she is," he says dryly. Mr. Bellamy turns at that moment when another set of parents call out to him, and Lily runs off to find Tyler. So Finn turns to shoot his wife a knowing look, surprised to find Rachel still looking at the teacher's back.
"Got a crush on the math teacher Rach?" he whispers, nudging her shoulder. She turns to him with a smile.
"He really is a very handsome man, isn't he?" she muses. He rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, well, if you think math is 'exotic', like Lily then yeah, sure," he mutters.
"Mr. Hudson," she says in mock surprise. "Are you jealous?"
"Of the math guy? Seriously?"
"Awww Finn," Rachel says, amused at the frown on his face. She takes his hand, giggling when he glares at her. "You are jealous. Baby, you know there's only one teacher for me."
"It's not you I'm worried about," he mumbles darkly, eyeing his eight year old, currently ignoring every word her best friend is saying as her eyes stray towards her math teacher.
"Lily has her first crush," Rachel says, grinning at their daughter. "It's cute."
"She's eight, Rachel."
"So?"
"So, when I was eight, girls were just boys with cooties, and adults were old."
"Oh Finn, I should hope our daughter takes after me in the maturity department. I fell in love with Tony when I was six years old Finn. Girls just mature faster than boys do."
"Tony is a fictional character Rach."
"I think you're just jealous," she says, ignoring his retort.
"Of Mr. Bellamy?"
"No, of the fact that you're not the only man in her life anymore. She's staring to notice that more of them exist. You know, one day she's going to realize that some of them are even cooler than you."
"Shut up Rachel."
Rachel just laughs at him as she takes his hand and pulls him towards the middle of the room to find Lily's English teacher. He likes Mrs Goldman. She's sweet and old and female.
He really doesn't like that Lily's old enough to have crushes now though. She's eight. Isn't he supposed to have at least a few more years of her to himself before he has to start worrying about these things?
(When Lily comes home two weeks later, and announces that she's back to hating maths again and English is her favorite, Rachel rolls her eyes at the grin on his face.)