It was already seven pm by the time that he'd arrive home. He didn't even swing by the kitchen to grab dinner. That's how tired he was. Finn falls down his bed face first the moment he sets foot inside his room. He feels like he's just ran a marathon. He feels even worse than that time Coach Beiste made them run a hundred laps in one day. He never knew shopping could be this gruesome. Well, to be fair he hasn't ever been shopping before. Even now, his mom's still the one who buys his clothes and he sees nothing wrong with that if it's something that spares him from the kind of exhaustion he's feeling right now. He definitely wouldn't have suggested it in the first place if he just knew.

His eyes were getting heavier by the second and he could feel himself falling into a deep deep-

"Finn?"

For a moment, he thought it's Rachel again haunting him even in his dreams like he hasn't gotten enough of her already but then there was a soft knock at the door and he could hear his mom calling him. He was so tired he doesn't think he could move a muscle from his bed so he just mumbles a half-hearted "Come in."

Carole opens the door and sees her giant baby sprawled on his bed.

"Finn, honey," she says with all the motherly care in the world and steps closer to her son. "I've noticed you've been feeling a little down lately."

The bed dips from his mom's weight when she sits down. Finn opens one eye to peer over his mom only to be met with a very soft and concerned gaze from her. She pulls his head up and places it over her lap. Carole thinks how fast time has gone. She vaguely remembers when her little boy became not so little anymore. In fact, not little at all. She idly starts stroking his hair and Finn enjoys his mother's touch simply because he's tired and it's very comforting.

"What's wrong dear?" she asks. When Finn doesn't answer she continues albeit hesitantly and asks him, "Is it because of me seeing Burt?"

He opens both his eyes and he could see how the thought that he didn't like the guy made her face fall and without a second thought he answers, "No mom. It's just-it's not, okay?" But doubt is still evident in his mother's eye so he catches her gaze. "Trust me. I just really have a lot on my plate with school, and football, and Quinn and just-"

His mom just smiles, shushing him. "You don't have to think about everything all at once, okay? Just try to balance everything out and you'll be fine. And if you need my help in anything, and I mean anything, just don't hesitate to tell me. I'm your mother, Finn, and I'll help you with anything no matter what, okay?"

He nods smiling except it doesn't reach his eyes because he tries to think of Quinn and the baby and oh God how can he tell his mom that he got his girlfriend pregnant at seventeen. But his mom doesn't catch on because one moment she's already standing up.

"In that case, can I trust to leave you here for a few hours?" He shot up in bed and gives her a confused look and being his mom, she already understood his question before he asked. "Going on a date," she says with a wink and slowly closes the door giggling like a school girl. Finn just rolls his eyes and falls back into his bed. How can he even be mad if her mom had never been happier than she is right now.

He arrives at school the next day determined to talk to Quinn. He didn't see her yesterday because well, he skipped school with Rachel and last night, he was too tired to do anything really so he heads to her locker pretty early and stands there waiting for her.

He doesn't know how long it's been since he was there because he failed to check his watch a while back but then he knows the bell is about to ring because more and more students are filing in and he still hasn't spotted the blonde ponytail of the cheerio anywhere.

Finn starts to worry because it's very unlike her to skip school. Despite being a cheerio, he knows his girlfriend takes her studies very seriously. And then he thinks of possible things that could have made her skip. It might involve the baby but he knows Quinn would have told him about it. Finally he just decides to call her cell but then she never answers. He tries again and it just keeps going to voicemails. He's getting more and more frustrated by the minute. Fuck!

He furiously types on his phone asking where she was and why she wasn't answering and all the questions a good boyfriend would ask when his girlfriend—pregnant girlfriend, he mentally corrects himself, is suddenly avoiding him and school altogether right after dropping the bomb but then he hears it, the unmistakeable tiny, squeaky voice of her calling him. He looks up from his phone and he sees the brightest smiles he's ever seen someone give him.

"Hi Finn," she greets all too happily with a bounce in her step. He smiles because goddamnit he can't help it when he sees those bright white teeth shining. He holds up a box in front of him and it's only when he noticed that she's carrying something.

"For you!" she says excitedly, lifting it up to him. "Open it."

He reaches for the lid of the box and lifts it up. He was hit with the sweet and delicious smell of cookies and he sees bright pink star cookies with colorful sprinkles decorating it. There were letters in white that spells out "THANK YOU!" and yes it's complete with the exclamation point.

"They're my infamous sugar cookies and I made them for you. I figured I never gave you a proper thank you for going with me yesterday and helping me with everything so here." She hands it to him, the smile never leaving her face.

His cellphone forgotten, he grabs the box because if there's anything he loves more than chicken, it's baked goods. He gives her a sheepish grin as if telling her she didn't have to and she reciprocates with a shy smile. She turns around and he notices she's wearing one of the dresses they picked out yesterday and though it's a bit shorter than he remembered, it looks unquestionably good on her and her knee-high socks are still there so it's not that big of change unlike the Britney one but definitely enough to get her attention, he thinks.

During lunch, he looks for Puck because they haven't been hanging out for a few days now but he's nowhere to be found. He shrugs it off and plops down on one of the empty chairs beside his other football teammates and starts eating. Upon finishing his meal, he remembers Rachel's cookies and a shit-eating grin forms in his face. He retrieves it from his bag and grabs the one with the exclamation point so he doesn't ruin the message. He smiles because it's so adorable. (Not that he'll ever tell anyone about that thought because that would make him a pansy.)

It's the most delicious fucking thing he's ever tasted. Seriously. It beats all those Christmas cookies his mom used to buy all the time and he loved those so much. He thinks he needs more. He chews with his eyes closed, savouring the taste of it.

He blindly reaches for another one inside the box while still chewing on the other but when he felt nothing beneath his fingers, he panics. No more cookies. He doesn't think he's had enough of them and he doesn't think he'd ever have enough. He frowns before he looks up and he spots her just by the entrance. It's funny how easily he does that now despite her size. It's like his subconscious automatically looks for that particular shiny brown hair, tan skin and small body.

Rachel's just walking to the cafeteria and she thinks she sees people staring at her. She tries to spy for that one particular boy that she wants to stare at her and she sees him a few tables away from her with his arms around another hot blonde cheerio. She sighs disappointed at him yet again.

She gathers all the confidence she has and makes the decision to purposefully stride over to where he was. She can do this.

She walks slowly, swaying her hips, imagining like she's on a runway. Trying her best to make him look at her even resorting to using mindtricks and chanting over and over, turn your head turn your head turn your head turn your-yes!

His eyes start from her toes and travel up her body and she sees the appreciative look that he sends her. She passes by their table and she could still feel his gaze on her and she was almost sure that he was about to stand up when she directly passed by him so when she reached the counter and she doesn't hear him hot on her footsteps, she halts and turns to look around only to see him sucking face with the same trollop he was with before she distracted him.

Her heart immediately constricts at the sight and her face falls which doesn't go unnoticed by Finn who was on his feet before he knows it and making his way over Rachel.

He doesn't even know what he was going to say or what he's going to do but she's frowning and he's not used to seeing that. A scowl maybe but that's different and it's usually playful and it's sort of hot sometimes. Just sometimes. (Nope, he did not just think that.) Much like her excitement, her sadness is also infectious.

She still hasn't noticed Finn approaching her and her eyes are permanently glued to Noah and that trollop he's making out with. The frown and sadness replaced by a glare that could've killed the cheerio seconds ago. She crosses her arms in front of her chest, trying so hard not to mutter expletives even under her breath.

Finn stays stealthy and creeps up behind her. When he's near enough, he bends down to her level, Rachel still unaware (hah who knew someone his size could be that subtle or was Rachel just too distracted), leans very closely until he's mouth is centimetres away from her ears and shout whispers, "Boo!"

Rachel jumps, startled, effectively sidetracking her from actually killing the blonde tramp in her mind. She quickly turns to the direction of the sound ready to start lecturing whoever that was on how it is not nice to do that to people but when she does, her mouth doesn't moved because it's suddenly attached to someone else's. Rachel's mind is still processing and all it's saying is that she's kissing someone. She's actually kissing someone. It's not exactly how she pictured her first kiss would be. He wanted flowers and chocolates and sweet words but no. It's a freaking accidental kiss with—she opens her eyes—Finn. And suddenly it hits her. It's not him. It's not Noah.

Finn doesn't know what exactly to feel. It was just too fast and he too was taken aback but when he just felt her lips in his and it was so soft and they were open and he doesn't know what he was thinking but he doesn't pull away and instead tried to deepen it but just as quickly, she pulled away and looks at him with wide eyes but he's still not thinking because he thinks he could taste strawberries in his lips.

It doesn't fully register on both their minds that they were in the cafeteria where anyone can see and it might have looked like on purpose to everyone who saw it. Finn mentally thanks all the Gods that Quinn isn't hear although he knows news travels fast in McKinley and Quinn will have to hear about it soon but at least it would buy him time to think of an explanation. He doesn't have any more time to ponder about it because those familiar hands clasped tightly in his arms dragging him again.

It's not until Rachel stops abruptly that Finn realized they were away from the cafeteria and from the questioning stares of people from there.

"Finn! You do realize this just put everything in jeopardy," she shout-whispers into him, looking around if anybody is in proximity to hear her.

"I mean what if Noah saw that? What would he say? That I'm like one of those filthy trollops he randomly hooks up with. I've been trying to build my reputation for so many years as a smart independent young woman with no bad records to taint my name with. This just can't be," she says all in one breath.

Before he could get a word in she quickly adds rather resentfully, "And I can't believe we just kissed! I mean my first kiss was with a gay guy!"

She must have noticed the somewhat disappointed look on Finn's face because she quickly adds, "No offense, my dads are gay but I'm really a sucker for anything romantic. I just-" She sighs not able to continue anymore and buries her face in her hands.

He almost tells her that no, he's not gay and the kiss might not be romantic but God did she taste good but he stops himself because it's all so very complicated right now so instead he rubs her arms up and down in comfort before speaking.

"Rach, it's okay. While both of us didn't really mean for it to happen, it's already done and there's nothing we can do about it. I'm sorry your first kiss had to be with someone gay. It was very brief so I don't think many people really saw us and with Puck busy on his own-you know," he pauses not sure how to phrase it without rubbing it in her face.

He's lying of course, he knows many people did see it and the fact that it was him, Finn Hudson, school quarterback and Rachel Berry, social pariah were kissing in public added to its impact but she didn't need to know that.

"I know," she says very quietly, still looking down. He cups her chin in his hand and makes her look up into his face to catch her gaze. He smiles, you know that kind of easy smile that's a bit crooked and sort of makes girls fall to their knees or so he's told and tells her what seems to be only a compromise of how exactly her lips felt, "If it makes you feel any better, I do think your lips are very soft and plump."

She only gives him a soft smile because he's too adorable for words. She'd probably root for him if only he wasn't gay and so she decided to play with him a little bit because there's probably no harm in that plus that'll be good practice when she actually tries to flirt so she reaches up to his ears and whispers all breathy sending shivers down his spine, "You know I never really tried tasting the sugar cookies I make but I must say they are quite delicious, huh? Especially when mixed with your taste."

Her stare lingers and he's wide-eyed as she turns to face the other way. Clearly, she doesn't realize how much it affected Finn.

"Fuck."

Shortly after getting home that day, he hears his phone ringing from inside his bag and quickly leaps off of his bed so he can answer. He ruffles through the mess in is backpack hearing the chorus to that song again.

"I don't know what to wear tomorrow," she says as soon as he slides his phone, not giving him a chance to even say hello. He rolls his eyes because seriously doesn't this girl ever get tired of talking. "Well hello there Rachel, yes, I got home safe and I just ate dinner. Thanks for asking. What about you?"

"Huh?" she asks genuinely confused. "I didn't ask you anything about-oh" Finn chuckles slightly at how naive Rachel is about having friends. She may be really smart in class but really know nothing about interacting with people.

"I'm sorry," she says rather embarrassed. "I'm glad you got home safe and had your dinner but Finn, I have no idea what to wear tomorrow."

"Didn't we buy like hundreds of dress the other day? Just wear one of those," he says shrugging her shoulders as if she could see him over the phone.

"Don't be ridiculous Finn. They were only fifteen dresses! Fifteen! And clearly it didn't really have much effect because Noah still didn't notice me and although I got a few stares, it still wasn't enough. They hardly count."

Finn bites his tongue, refusing to point out that he probably own five shirts, three flannels, two of those puffy vests, two pairs of jeans and one pair of smelly sock he uses like every day without washing but he guesses it's different with girls because in addition to the fifteen dresses, her closet was already full. He'll never get women.

"I don't know Rach, maybe just try to mix and match your old clothes?" he offers and Rachel grunts in response.

"Finn, you know very well how horrible it turns out when I'm the one who puts together my outfit hence the grandma and kindergarten reference to me. Can't you maybe help me? Aren't you suppose to be a fashion expert or something?"

For a minute he's confused until he realized he's gay. (Not gay gay but gay in Rachel's mind)

"Hey," he protests, "Not all gay people are into that thing you know. I'd think you'd be more educated about this considering your parents."

"My dads are always very well groomed and my daddy always gets best dressed during company parties you know."

Finn, a bit annoyed bites back, "Why don't you ask their help if they're so 'well-groomed' and always 'best dressed'?"

Rachel could practically hear the quotation marks through the phone. "While I don't appreciate your tone, you must know by now that my dads are rarely in the house."

"So you mean to say that you're almost always alone?" He doesn't know what possessed him but he feels both excited and scared at the idea.

"Well, not always. Sometimes they send a family friend to sleep at the house to make sure I'm alive and breathing and make them feel less guilty for leaving me all the time, you know."

She can hear the slight bitterness in her tone of voice. It wasn't until this moment that Finn realized how alone Rachel really is. And now he thinks he definitely has to do something about that.

"Okay so how about this, we can have a skype call and you can show me your clothes and let's decide together which outfit should be best," he compromises. "Sound good?"

"Yeah," she says a bit hesitantly, "But I don't have skype."

"What do you mean you don't have—you know what never mind just go make one."

"Okay," comes her brief response but he knows, he just knows that she's smiling and absentmindedly, he is too.

A/N: I'm starting to worry if i'm making it too cheesy or something. I'm so sorry. I'd love to see reviews so I can know what direction I'll be taking this. Also if you think that point of views are a bit confusing or anything. Also to the people looking for chapter 5, it didn't disappear. I just merged Chapter 1 and 2 so it sort of adjusted.Thanks so much guys. Happy New Year!