May 12, 2023

"I still can't believe my Glee club made it to Nationals, dude!"

"Well, Finn, you've always been a leader and you obviously have a talented group out in Chicago."

The taller of the brunettes raised his arms out for final tux alterations while he smiled softly to himself, thinking over his stepbrother's words.

"Thanks, man. The theme this year is 'Nod to the 90's' so...they've been practicing like crazy with their numbers."

Kurt—also having his tux jacket altered—cocked a brow, "Are all of the numbers supposed to be 90's themed?"

Finn shrugged and instantly regretted it as one of the pins poked him. He hissed but answered, "I doubt it, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. At least one had to be, so we're covered with having all three be from the 90's."

"Well, it'll be great to see your glee club blow the judges away at their Nationals tomorrow."

"Yeah," Finn said with a small, but proud smile as he looked down. While one of the shop's employees carefully removed the jacket from him, Finn looked to Kurt, "Hey, I just wanted to thank you again for helping me get the tuxes together."

"Well, considering your bridal party lives on both coasts and you and Quinn are in the Midwest, I figured you needed to head to one of the U.S. fashion capitals—San Francisco, L.A. or New York."

"Yeah, Sam, Mike and Puck sent me pictures of them in their tuxes at their final fitting. Things are really coming together."

Kurt smiled a closed-mouthed smile, "You and Quinn are going to have a fabulous wedding, Finn. That's a promise from yours truly." As he was also relieved of his pin-riddled jacket, Kurt stepped over to give his brother a hug. When they parted, Kurt asked, "Going back o your glee club…who's watching them while you take care of wedding stuff?"

Finn chuckled, "What, you think I'm gonna make the same mistake Mr. Schue made when we were all in New York? No way, I wasn't taking any chances so I had one of the school's P.E. coaches come as a chaperone."

"Smart thinking."

"Well, y'know I didn't want them to do…well what we all did when we were in New York."

Kurt nodded with slightly raised brows, "Oh you mean leave the hotel against our teacher's wishes and crank out some original songs at the last minute only to place twelfth?"

Finn stared at him for a few seconds before answering, "Yeah. That…"

"Relax, Finn," Kurt said, casting an encouraging smile, "Your kids are gonna be great and once Nationals is over, your school year will nearly be done and you can put all of your focus on your family and wedding."

Finn smiled to himself as his mind went to his impending nuptials. He had a picture in his mind of standing at the altar inside Quinn's old church in Lima with his stepbrother and two best friends at his back while Quinn walked up the aisle of pews in a white dress. It wasn't the first time he had this vision in his mind. Years ago, back in high school when they dated, he and Quinn had talked about marriage. Neither of them knew it would be so many years later before that vision became a reality.

He was pulled out of it when Kurt told him, "We better get you back to your hotel. You can check up on your kids before the competition tomorrow."

The tailors took up only a few more minutes of their time before they were allowed to go change and hail a cab. The two chatted up some of the bachelor party plans all the way back to Marriott.

The following morning, Finn dressed in a business casual outfit—charcoal grey pants and a black dress shirt with a lime-colored tie to show solidarity with his glee club. When he rounded up his group, all of the girls had been dressed in lime sundresses with black leggings while the boys wore black slacks and V-necks with lime vests and ties. Together, Finn, his colleague and the eighteen students walked to Central Park—the first time Finn had ever been to an outdoor show choir competition. A portion of the park had been transformed into a performance space, solely for Nationals.

When they arrived, they learned that they were second to go, out of the second bracket of clubs. Finn looked to them and said, "Alright guys, so you have a while to go. Until we warm up, try not to do too much talking so you can save your voices and just relax. You guys are all great and I know you're gonna kill it up there."

The students nodded and some smiled as they took a seat together and watched the first six show choir groups. Finn smirked when he heard the present day New Directions give their performance, opting on Hanson's "MMMBop" for their 90's number. He'd hoped that the might catch Mr. Schuester before the end of the day, but for the time being he had to round up his students for their vocal warm-ups. He led them to the designated space where they weren't through their routine vocal preparations. A few of them practices a bit of their choreography and when it was just about time for them to perform, the group of eighteen circled up around their teacher. Finn adopted the New Directions' style of operating with co-captains, Wanda and Mario, and let them lead the group in a brief pep talk.

Wanda, a curvy African-American junior with an afro of thick, black ringlets was a no-nonsense kind of girl with a killer voice who often reminded Finn of a blend of Santana and Mercedes. She spoke first by saying, "Look, we made it this far and there's no reason for us to choke so just get out there and everyone do your thing. And remember…we got this!"

Her straightforward words had a good amount of her fellow club members smirking, and then all eyes went on Mario—a muscular Latino-American senior with his near-black crop of hair gelled in short spikes. He was still smirking from Wanda's words when he added, "Yeah we know the numbers front to back and we've performed in front of crowds before so…just do what we know how to do."

By now he knew his students weren't big on the cheesy cliché discussions, so they all seemed fairly assured by Wanda and Mario's words. Finn smiled like a proud parent and finished by saying, "Alright hands in everyone."

The students threw a hand in and after a count of three, they roared sharply, "YOU. KNOW!"

The MC for Nationals announced them as they positioned themselves on the stage. "Ladies and gentleman, coming all the way from Chicago, Illinois—the Lake View Chirrups!"

Shortly after the applause died down, Mario turned around and began to sing "All Star" by Smash Mouth.

After their opening number ended, the boys quickly exited the stage and Wanda and the girls performed Destiny's Child's "Say My Name". A few of girls took turns leading on the vocals while the others harmonized on back-up.

"Livin' La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin was their closing number, as well as the most inclusive for showcasing the group's well-rounded talent. The upbeat melody highlighted their strongest dancers while the fun and wide range on vocals allowed several of their prominent singers to shine. The crowd was enthused by the brassy pop number and broke into a standing ovation by the conclusion.

Finn joined the audience in clapping profusely as he watched from the side of the stage. His students rushed over to where he was and he hugged many of them before they headed off to get water. In between transitions of the show choirs, he pulled out his phone to call Quinn, but as he did, he remembered his plan to call her after they found out what place the judges would give. No matter what the outcome, however, he was nothing but proud of his students' performance.

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