A/N: My friend Jainey inspired this fic because she was looking for a rockstar Finn AU where Rachel falls in love with his voice after getting dragged to his concert by Tina. So I just had to write it. I think this was the fastest fic I ever wrote. The inspiration just jumped out. Oh, and they're all out of high school here in case anyone's wondering.
It would help a lot if you guys could leave any reviews on this.
Also thanks to sarcasticscully for being the best Glee friend in the world.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or anything associated with it.
When Tina said she had a surprise planned for Rachel's birthday, Rachel expected something along the lines of tickets to see West Side Story at the local theater, not being dragged along to watch the Lima Losers' concert. They were some local rock band who became successful and Tina was just completely obsessed with their music and with one of the singers. Rachel, however, wasn't really into rock music, nor did she had any idea who any of the band members were. Still, she decided she would just go with it for Tina's sake.
It didn't take Rachel long to notice that she was sticking out like a sore thumb among the rest of the crowd. Everyone, including Tina wore a combination of dark clothes, leather, and make-up. Meanwhile, Rachel was wearing a light pink sweetheart dress with puff sleeves. She was half-mad at Tina for not giving her a heads-up, but at the same time, the rocker style wasn't really up her alley. She was way more comfortable wearing her cute dresses even though she was standing out.
Rachel looked around nervously as the crowd started getting loud, cheering as the lights dimmed. She looked over at the stage, which was getting lit up by bright orange beams. The lights flickered in rhythm with the beat of the drums. The music was way louder than Rachel imagined it would be like at a concert. She did have to admit that whoever was on drums knew what he was doing. More lights illuminated the stage while guitars joined the drums. Rachel could now clearly make out the four band members: one was at the center playing guitar (she figured he was the lead singer), another guitar player was on the left, there was a singer on the right, and the drummer on a slightly raised platform in the center.
Rachel looked over at Tina, who was now screaming at the top of her lungs the name of the singer she liked. Rachel had no idea which one of the four Lima Losers this Mike guy could be.
The lead singer started singing and the other guy on the guitar and the second singer joined in as back-up. Tina looked over at her friend and realized she forgot to tell Rachel anything about the band.
"The center guy is Will Schuester. He's the guitar player and the lead singer. He has a voice of gold." She started to explain and Rachel nodded along, half focusing on what Tina was saying and half focusing on the music. "Guitar guy on the left is Matt Rutherford. He's basically godly on guitar. The tall hot guy on the left is Mike Chang. He's absolutely dreamy and has the best..."
Tina kept going on about her rock idol, but Rachel stopped listening to her. The band now had her full attention. And that was because the guy on drums started singing a solo part and Rachel was mesmerized by his voice. His voice was higher than the other guys', he also had a very warm feeling to his voice. More than that, there was something in the way he sounded that really resonated with Rachel. She could imagine herself singing with... drummer guy.
"Who is he?" She asked Tina, not even taking her eyes off the drummer.
"I just told you, that's Finn Hudson. He's the drummer and he sometimes sings."
"Finn Hudson." Rachel repeated, looking almost hypnotized as she watched Finn sing and play the drums.
"Umm Rachel?" Tina asked, looking a bit concerned for her friend. She never witnessed anyone go from indifferent to fangirl so fast.
Now Rachel was the one screaming and cheering for the band, well for Finn in particular.
It helped that Tina had good tickets for the concert because they were very close to the stage, and that Rachel was naturally loud because she did get Finn's attention. He looked over at her and gave her a slight smirk. Rachel smiled back, feeling her face hot as she blushed. She had to admit to herself that she was wrong to get upset that Tina didn't get tickets for West Side Story. When Finn looked at her she felt like she was the only girl in the crowd. It felt like he was singing for her and no one else. She could feel her heart racing like it was going to burst out of her chest, and as cliche as it was she felt butterflies in her stomach. She knew it was too late and that she fell hard for Finn and all he did was have a voice like a dream and smile at her.
"He looked right at me. There's something there. He's my soulmate. I just know it!" Rachel grinned, looking at Tina.
"What?" Tina had no idea what Rachel was talking about or that the drummer noticed her friend and was just as intrigued about her as she was about him.
"Finn... he smiled at me. We have to go meet them after the concert. I have to meet him. His voice is amazing. And he's so... cute!" Rachel sighed before giving all of her attention back to Finn on the stage.
"You want to be a groupie? You don't even know the dude." Tina tried to talk sense into Rachel, but she was too far gone. Rachel was jamming along to the band and Tina was well aware of what was happening. Her friend probably had some love soundtrack playing in her mind and she was imaging scenarios in which Finn Hudson was her lover.
Rachel having a crush was never good news. It was almost always unrequited and when it wasn't, Rachel would always come on too hard and chase the guy away. And now she was crushing on a celebrity. Tina could imagine the mountains of ice cream and the hours of sad songs and sappy movies that would be required to help her friend get over her drummer crush.
Truth be told, Tina did want to go backstage herself to meet Mike. So maybe she could get Rachel to meet her drummer, maybe she wouldn't think he was all that. Or maybe she would still do and he'd be good enough to convince Rachel to hook up with him and she'd get it out of her system before the crush got too big.
Rachel had to say she was impressed with how easily Tina got them backstage. The goth girl really knew her way around musicians and bouncers and getting into places she wasn't supposed to. Rachel figured that was a good talent to have and she was grateful Tina was here with her.
The band was backstage for a break while some other band was out playing instead. Finn wandered out of the green room, looking for something to eat. He stopped by a vending machine and pondered for a while the selections. He settled on pretzels in the end. While he was waiting for his snacks to be vended, he looked down at the hallway and noticed the girl in the pink dress he saw in the crowd.
"Hi!" He beamed and Rachel stopped in her tracks. Tina looked over at her quickly and then at Finn. She couldn't believe that Rachel was actually right about there being something between her and the drummer.
Rachel felt her legs heavy and her breath hitch in her throat. Her head was empty and even if it wasn't, it wouldn't be much help because her lips seemed to be frozen. She couldn't believe that Finn was standing five feet in front of her and not only that, but he talked to her first.
Finn stuck his hand into the vending slot to pick up his pretzels and his hand seemed to actually get stuck in. He grunted, putting his foot up on the vending machine to push it while his other hand was pulling on his hand to get it unstuck. Him falling back on the floor after getting stuck along with his snacks in the vending machine couldn't have been a good look because Tina huffed and rolled her eyes, but it did ease the tension with Rachel because she unfroze just as Finn set himself free from the machine.
"Hi! I just wanted to um... wanted to..." She seemed to forget her words again and she looked over at Tina for help.
"Tell you I'm in love with you..." Tina whispered.
"Right. I wanted to tell you I'm..." Rachel caught herself before finishing that sentence. She gave Tina an angry glare before she continued speaking. "I wanted to meet you. This is my first rock concert but you're amazing. Your band too, but you especially. You have an amazing voice. I would know. I'm a singer as well." She said all of that at once and Finn had a hard time following, but it seemed to him that she was complimenting his voice and telling him she could also sing.
"Thanks!" He nodded. "Maybe you could sing for me next time." Finn smirked. He opened his bag of pretzels and started to eat and walk back to the dressing room. "You two should come hang out before the next set." He stopped suddenly. "Oh, I'm Finn, by the way." He laughed awkwardly. "Forgot to introduce myself. My manager usually does that for us, but still... should have probably started with that."
"Rachel Berry." She replied quickly, shaking his hand.
"That's cute." He smiled. "Rachel." He repeated her name softly.
"And I'm Tina if anyone cares." Tina added under her breath.
She was wary of why Finn was so unusually nice and not put off by Rachel. This was out of the ordinary for a guy. However, it did seem like both of them liked each other so Tina was not going to stop them from getting to know each other better. Sometimes mistakes could still be fun and as far as Tina was concerned, Rachel could stand to make some mistakes and live a little.
The two girls followed the drummer back to the green room. Tina made fast friends with Mike and Matt. Will shook his head disapprovingly when Finn came back with the two fans, and he went out to find a quiet place to rehearse their next set. Finn offered Rachel some of his pretzels and the two of them talked some more about Finn and his music during the break.
"You should go back outside for the next song." Finn told Rachel once their break came to an end. "I'll come find you after the show." He gave her knee a light squeeze and headed out with Mike and Matt. They joined Will and waited for their turn back on the stage.
"Please don't kill me, but I need to change the order of the songs." He whispered to Will. The lead singer raised his eyebrows, looking at Finn before sighing and agreeing to change the song order.
Rachel and Tina went back to their front row place in the crowd and once again, they waited for the bright lights to light up the stage. The guitars signaled the start of the song, with Finn joining in on the drums.
"This is for you, Rachel!" He announced, before starting to sing one of the band's love songs.