I've been having a lot of Finntana feelings lately so this is kind of a culmination of that. Sorry for the slow updating. School kicked me square in the gut but it is nearly over! Updates should be much more frequent soon. :)
April 21st, 2018
"Are you sure you don't want to go with us? We could get a couple's massage and take a mud bath together, maybe make the steam room a little steamier…" Rachel bit her lip and raised her eyebrow suggestively.
Finn smiled at her as he pulled her into a tighter hug. "Somehow I don't think Kurt would appreciate us having sex in his presence."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean, Finn. You could come with. You haven't seen Kurt in months either. I know he misses you."
"I'll see him tomorrow. You two can have your spa day and Kurt and I will go to…lunch. Besides, you can't have your proper lady chat if I'm there."
Rachel pouted a little as she pressed her head against his chest. "Okay. You're sure you won't be bored here alone right? I feel bad for leaving you to yourself on our only day off together."
Finn moved his hands to hold Rachel's face then pecked her on the lips. "It's okay, Rach. You need to see your best gay." They both chuckled. "Go have fun. Come back relaxed and rejuvenated." He patted her bum as she said goodbye and exited the apartment. When she was gone, Finn quickly showered and got dressed to start working on his task for the day. Before he could grab his wallet and keys however a knock at the door caught his attention.
The knocker on the opposite side surprised him when he answered. "Santana? Hey, what are you doing here?"
"I'm selling Girl Scout cookies. What do you think I'm doing here? I'm here to see Berry. Where is she?"
Finn looked confused. "Rachel went out with Kurt today. Were you guys supposed to do something together today?"
"Damn," Santana sighed in frustration. "We didn't have plans but I thought maybe she'd want to do something. I'm bored out of my mind since Ana is gone for business and everyone else is busy. I guess I'll just get some churros and head home." She turned around to leave until Finn called her back.
He wasn't sure if she'd go for it since they weren't that close but if she was bored enough maybe she'd agree. Finn could really use a woman's input for his plans for the day. "Would you maybe want to hang out with me today?"
Santana glanced around her like she was being set up. "Seriously? You wanna hang out with me?"
"If Rachel can tolerate you I think I can."
Santana sneered at him. "Thanks."
"You know what I mean. Come on, what's so wrong with hanging out with me? Aren't we past all that crap from high school?"
She sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe I'm bored enough to agree."
Finn smiled broadly. "Alright. Let me grab my stuff and we'll go."
"Where are we going?"
"Tiffany's." Finn walked back into his room to grab his wallet, keys and phone.
"Hold on, Frankenteen. Tiffany's? Do you mean you're finally-"
"Asking Rachel to marry me? Yes. I figured maybe since you're a woman and Rachel's friend and pretty good at keeping a secret when you try, you could help with ring shopping. According to Kurt, everything I've picked so far isn't good enough. We're supposed to go shopping tomorrow but I wanted to stop by the store myself first."
Santana nodded. "I better be a bridesmaid. Now let's go. I still want a churro."
Shortly after, Finn and Santana were walking down Fifth Avenue finishing their churros on their way to the store. "Y'know, I'm kind of surprised you waited so long to pop the question. I would have thought Berry would have been bitching for a ring right out of college."
"Nah, she read an article somewhere once that people who get married before 25 tend to have a higher rate of divorce and she's been paranoid about it ever since. I'm the one who's wanted to get hitched since high school."
"You are such a girl." Santana bit off a chunk of her churro before a thought hit her. "Wait. Berry won't be 25 until next year. You would be engaged for over a year."
"I know. I'm kind of banking on Rachel loving me more than her paranoia. I'm just tired of waiting. I'm ready to get married and start a family soon. I want to be Rachel's husband, I want her to be my wife, I want to have kids. We're both ready for this."
Santana started laughing. "Just what the world needs, little Frankenberries running around."
Finn chuckled with her. "Clever."
"I thought so. Are you done? I need to stare at something shiny to distract and blind me from that hideous vest you're wearing. You're 24, why are you still wearing puffy vests? We should enroll you in the same 12 step program as Mr. Schue. I heard he relapsed."
He just shook his head at her as they entered the store. As Finn stared at all the jewelry surrounding him, he suddenly felt extremely overwhelmed. He froze in place while Santana continued forward until she realized Finn wasn't behind her. Santana walked back and smacked his cheek a little to break him out of his stupor.
"Hey, Stay Puft, snap out of it. You'll never find a ring just standing there."
"I can't do this. I need Kurt."
Santana rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "You don't need the Prize Pony. You can do this. You're the one marrying Berry, not Kurt."
"But I dunno anything about jewelry. I mean, I was with Puck when he got Anjali her ring but I don't remember anything from that."
"Well it's lucky you have me then because I happen to know a few things about bling being a fan of it myself. Now move your gigantic body." She shoved him to get him started then led him over to the first counter with rings she saw.
"Can I help you?" an older woman asked when she noticed Finn and Santana looking at the engagement rings.
"We need an engagement ring that will wow the panties right off his girlfriend for the rest of her life," Santana answered in Finn's stead. As she stared at the rings in the case she shook her head in disapproval. "These look too small. Do you have anything bigger?"
"Whoa, whoa, Santana. Bigger means more expensive. Not that I don't want to get Rachel something big and shiny, but I only have a teacher's salary to work with."
"Finn," Santana turned to the woman behind the counter, "excuse us for a moment." She pulled Finn away and crossed her arms over her chest again, staring at him like he was stupid. "How long have you and Rachel been together?"
"Seven years on May 24th. That's when we got back together the last time."
She nodded in understanding. "Seven years. Plus add the two years of pining and 'on and off'ing, so a total of nine years. How long do you plan on being married to Rachel?"
Finn looked down at her like she was the stupid one now. "Uh, forever."
"Exactly. If anyone is going to be in for the long haul it's you and Rachel. Most guys probably would have cheated on Rachel by now due to the fact Berry is one of the most grating people ever, but not you." Santana looked at him with a mocking impressed smirk. "You apparently get hard from it. So having that in mind, why not go all out for her ring? You aren't Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries, you're Finn and Rachel. Plus she's a Broadway star. I mean you started out fine by making Tiffany's your first stop but getting the cheapest ring here just seems like a cop out. If you can't splurge on a piece of jewelry that has a very significant meaning which the woman you love will be wearing until the day one of your kids has to pry it off her cold dead finger, what can you splurge on? People spend more on cars than they do on diamonds which makes no sense as diamonds will last longer and generally appreciate in value while a car will depreciate…unless you like treat it like it's a piece of museum property."
"Hold on. You want me to spend enough to buy a car on an engagement ring?" Finn's eyes were wide as he thought about Santana's statement.
She just shrugged. "I'm just saying, diamonds are a better value than a car."
Finn took a deep breath and blew out slowly as he ran his fingers through his hair. He had been saving up for a while and had a decent amount already but definitely not enough for a car's worth. He'd be making payments on it forever. Finn could see Santana's point though. He didn't need to buy Rachel's love or spend a certain amount to prove how much he loved her but Rachel was the best and she deserved the best.
"I can't break the bank totally, but I guess I can go a little higher."
"Good," she smirked at him, "then let's go look at some rocks."
They spent hours looking at various diamonds and settings and metals as Finn hemmed and hawed over what he thought Rachel would like. It had proved a good idea to ask Santana to come with him. She was a worthy ally to have in one's corner as she was rather vicious and had a way of getting exactly what she wanted. Finn had thought Kurt was scary when shopping, he once bludgeoned a woman over the head for a pair of pumps he was trying to get for Rachel on Black Friday, but Santana was a whole new level. She made the first sales lady cry when the woman made the mistake of thinking she and Finn were a couple, she put the second one to shame on her knowledge of diamonds and made her feel small and inadequate, the third one refused to help them after watching the first two and finally they needed the manager to help them as she was the only one Santana seemed to be able to work with.
"Okay Finn, we know Rachel likes the princess and round cuts the best."
"Yeah, she's been dropping hints for years. I thought I was picking out good ones online but Kurt said no to them all," Finn said a little sadly.
"Does Kurt go to ladies night karaoke with Rachel every week? No. I do. She talks about what kind of ring she'd like every so often when she gets drunk and sees women at the bar having bachelorette parties. It's actually a nice break from when she gets drunk and spends the night talking about your giant penis."
Finn turned red as the manager eyed him up and down, flashing him a little smile. He cleared his throat and quickly tried to change the subject. "So I'm thinking round. Let's see some more round ones." He smiled at the woman who pulled out a whole new set of very beautiful rings. Finn stared at them all but none of them really jumped out at him which was beginning to make him rather distraught. "This is hopeless. I'm never going to find one."
"Finn, if you can't find something at Tiffany's, you aren't trying hard enough."
His mouth twitched as he looked back at the rings. "Can I maybe see some more?"
She nodded and pulled some more rings out and finally one caught his eye. It was platinum, round, big but not gaudy, and would look stunning on Rachel's hand. The small diamonds around the bigger one accented it nicely but didn't detract at all.
"What about this one?" he asked, pointing out the ring. The sales lady allowed him a closer look and Santana leaned over the counter to get a better look as well.
"That one is very nice," she commented. She and Finn shared a look as a smile spread across his face. He hadn't spent that much time examining it but he didn't need to. He could just feel that the ring was the right one. His search was finally over. "Did you find the one?"
He looked at it some more. Yes, it would probably take years to pay off but like Santana said, Rachel would be wearing it forever. Rachel would love anything Finn got her but he wanted her to really love what he got her. The ring was perfect.
"It's perfect." Finn looked up at the manager grinning hugely. "I'm gonna take it. But can I keep it here for a little while? I don't want any chance of Rachel finding it before I'm ready."
"Of course. That won't be a problem." The woman took the ring and left Finn and Santana to themselves momentarily.
"So why that one?" Santana asked as she stared at some of the other rings Finn hadn't selected.
Finn smirked as he thought about it. "It's big but not so big it's gaudy, it's bright and pretty and it just reminded me of Rachel." He looked up at Santana and smiled at her. "Thanks for coming with me. It was nice having someone other than Kurt to help me."
"What can I say? I like shiny things…and you're welcome."
They finished up at Tiffany's and as they stood outside the building, contemplating their next move things started to get a little awkward. Being that they never hung out alone together, Finn wasn't entirely sure where to go from there.
"What d'you wanna do now?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"I dunno, what do you usually do on Saturday's?"
Finn shrugged. "Well, if I'm alone, I just play video games or sleep, grade papers. If Rachel is around we usually-"
"I'm not doing that with you."
"Get your mind out of the gutter. I was going to say, we usually go out to lunch then pick an activity. Sometimes we go to a show or a museum. Last time we both had off together we went to Ellis Island and I found out my great-great-grandparents on my dad's side came here from Ireland. It was neat."
"That sounds entirely boring…and depressing. If we're going to hang out I need something more stimulating." Santana paused for a moment, a thought crossing her mind. "How do you feel about cigars?"
Finn's brows drew together. "I've never smoked one. Why?"
"Well, Michelin Man, follow me to the office. We're going to change that." She tilted her head and winked quickly before grabbing them a cab.
Finn was very confused as to what Santana's office and cigars had to do with one another but he went along with it anyway. The two didn't speak much as the smelly cabbie drove them in the direction of the East Village. It wasn't until they had arrived that Finn remembered that Santana didn't even work in the East Village.
"Where are we?" he asked looking around trying to figure out why they were there.
"What part of the office don't you get?"
Finn just stared at her. "Santana, you work uptown."
"My God, Frankenteen." She gripped his head tightly and turned it so he saw the sign of the building they were standing in front of. As his eyes focused the light bulb finally went on.
"Ohhhh, the bar is called The Office."
"Ohhhh, yeah," Santana said in a deep voice, mocking how Finn sounded. "It's actually called Dean's Office but all the regulars just call it The Office so that's what they work with. Now come on." Santana opened the door and let Finn enter first. He walked into a smoky haze and saw a lot of men sitting around drinking hard liquor, smoking cigars and watching various stations mostly catered to appeal to the modern male.
"A cigar bar? Do you come here often?"
"The owner is sweet on me and gives me free drinks. I come here every chance I get. Plus, I enjoy a good cigar."
They walked into a small separate enclosed room that was stacked full with thousands of cigars. There was a man and a woman speaking inside and the woman's face lit up when she noticed Santana wave at her.
"Santana! Hey!" She left the man she was helping to peruse the back wall while she moved to hug Santana hello. "What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting you."
"Bringing my friend in for his first cigar because his girlfriend likes to keep his balls in a jar on the shelf and he's too scared to ask for them back to be allowed to do something as crazy as smoke one."
"Hey! Rachel doesn't have my balls," Finn protested indignantly.
Santana smiled sweetly at him. "You keep telling yourself that." She turned back to her friend. "So what do you suggest for the Beanstalk over here?"
The woman looked around Santana at Finn. "What's your name?"
"Uh, Finn."
"Fiona. Nice to meet you." The woman stuck her hand out for him to shake. "Let's see. For a first timer…" She walked around the room trying to determine the best cigar for Finn to try as he whispered to Santana.
"Is she the owner?"
She shook her head in confirmation. "Technically she's in business with her father, Dean, but she runs it. We used to hook up until I met Ana. Fiona never fully got over me though."
"So you use her feelings for you to get free drinks?" he mumbled a little judgmentally.
Santana simply nodded. "Don't give me that look, Shamu. She knows I'm seeing Ana and she has her own girlfriend. We're just close friends. Do you want free drinks or not?"
"Got it!" Fiona stated as she walked back to them. She held up a small and thin freshly clipped cigar and handed it to Finn. "It's pretty mild and should work pretty well for you. You want to work up to the bigger and stronger ones. So do you guys need matches?"
"Nope, got my lighter." Santana pulled out a red lip shaped lighter. She grabbed a cigar off the shelf, already knowing which one she wanted and led Finn out of the room, Fiona bringing up the rear.
Fiona followed them to the small table Santana picked. "What do you guys want to drink? Can't smoke a cigar without a drink."
"Scotch!" Santana cried out bluntly. "Finn?"
"Uh…same, I guess." Finn shrugged and Fiona smiled and walked away. "Well this is interesting. I didn't know you liked cigar bars," Finn commented as he watched Santana work on clipping her cigar.
She clipped the end and popped the cigar between her lips. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Stretch. I'm an enigma. You gonna light that?"
Finn stared at the cigar in his hands. "How…?"
"Gimme." Santana put her own cigar down and took Finn's. He watched her light it for him and take a few puffs before handing it back. "Whatever you do, do not inhale. You leave the smoke in your mouth then blow it out."
Finn nodded as he put the cigar at his mouth. He pulled on it filling his mouth with the smoke and instantly began choking as he accidentally inhaled. His body heaved as he coughed violently at the table.
"¡Qué idiota? What did I just say?"
He couldn't answer as he continued to cough. When he saw Fiona walking back to the table with their scotch he ripped the drink off the tray and downed it quickly feeling the burn of the alcohol. Finn coughed some more but it was beginning to pass.
"You smoke these for fun?" he asked dubiously. Santana puffed out a perfect ring of smoke at Finn and smiled.
"Finn, I've been smoking cigars since high school. This is practically child's play for me. Now try it again. If you don't inhale like I told you not to, you'll be fine."
He stared at the cigar distastefully but tried puffing on it again. This time he kept the smoke from entering his lungs and blew it out just fine. It was still rather strong but at least he didn't feel like he was coughing up his innards.
Fiona patted him on the back. "Good?"
Finn nodded. "It's okay. I don't see this becoming my thing though."
"Yeah, that's what I said to my dad when he asked me to run this place for him. Now I practically live here. At least I love the work. You want another scotch? You downed that one pretty quick."
"Sure." He handed the glass back to her and turned to Santana. "So you just sit here and smoke?"
She shrugged and glared at a man who checked her out as he walked past. "Usually Ana comes with and we lady chat, drink, then go home and ladybone."
"What do you chat about?"
"I dunno. Stuff. Whatever comes to mind and what is coming to my mind right now is how exactly you plan on popping the question. Spill."
Finn made her swear on all the scotch in the world that she wouldn't tell Rachel then explained how he planned a little trip home around their anniversary and was going to take her to the stage at McKinley – to where they started – then ask her to spend the rest of her life with him. Surprisingly, Santana approved and thought it was rather sweet.
From there the discussion ranged a variety of topics from sports to Ana's new kitten to Santana's parents flying in for a visit and Santana tried to explain to Finn for what seemed the hundredth time what exactly it was she did for a living. He could never seem to remember and the added unknown number of scotches he'd consumed was not helping.
"Finn! I work at Columbia to pay for law school there. I'm gonna be a lawyer an' I'm gonna make all the women equal so sexist pigs can't keep us down!" she slurred before taking another swig of her scotch.
"To the women!" he said raising his glass then shooting back the remainder of his drink. "Aw man. I finished."
"I'll get more!" Santana stood up shakily and grabbed his glass before stumbling her way to the bar where Fiona was still serving drinks.
While she was gone, Finn pulled out his phone and noticed he had a missed call from Rachel. Immediately he called back.
"Finn? Where are you, baby? I left you five messages."
"Santana and I went shopping and now we're drinking…a lot." He giggled into the phone a little as Santana had just tripped and spilled a drink on a guy at the table next to them. She walked back to the bar laughing hysterically to herself as the guy whined about how he was covered in scotch.
"You and Santana went out drinking?" Rachel asked him, not quite believing what she was hearing.
Finn nodded. "Yup. She's really cool, Rach. We should all hang out together."
Rachel chuckled to herself. "Okay, as long as you aren't trying to claw each other's eyes out. Do you know when you'll be home?"
He narrowed his eyes in thought. "Nope. I'll call 'efore though." He hiccoughed into the phone. "I love you, Rachel. I looooove you."
"I love you too, Finn. Please, be careful and keep your phone on."
"Okay, baby. I'm gonna have so much sex with you when I get home."
He could hear Rachel sigh. "Okay, Finn. We'll see how you feel when you get home. Have fun! Bye baby." Rachel hung up after that and Finn went through the slideshow of pictures of her he kept on his phone when Santana plopped herself back down at the table.
"Fiona gave us a tray. We are set! Why do you look gassy?"
"I love Rachel."
Santana rolled her eyes. "Here we go. Now I get to hear about Rachel all night."
"I just love her. She's gonna be my wife and we're gonna get married and have babies and…ooh are those peanuts?" Finn took a handful of the peanuts that were on the tray Santana had brought and shoved them into his mouth.
"Can I tell ya something, Finn? And you have to promise to not tell anyone!" He nodded in agreement. "I wanna marry Ana. I love her…a lot actually. Like, she makes me smile even when I don't want to and she doesn't put up with my crap like other people do, she knows what's going on in my head before I do half the time and I feel…nothing else matters when we're together. None of the crap in the world can bother me." She took a sip from her glass. "And the sex…" She made a mind blowing gesture with her hands and an explosion sound with her mouth.
"Rachel and I are gonna have sex later. She loves sex with me."
"And she's the only one." Santana clinked her glass against Finn's as he began to realize she was insulting his sexual prowess.
"Hey! I'm not 16 anymore, Santana. I-I am awesome! And Rachel is awesome and we're awesome together and you're just jealous of how awesome we are."
She snorted and burst into laughter. "Are you sure you're awesome? I don't think you told me enough just how awesome you are."
"We are like Mr. and Mrs. Awesome…or we will be once we're married. You're just jealous because you and Ana will only ever be Mrs. and Mrs. Sorta-Awesome," Finn replied like a middle-schooler trying to sound cool.
"Oh really? Well can Mr. Awesome give Mrs. Awesome multiple orgasms like Mrs. Sorta-Awesome?" Santana stared him down until he leaned forward with a triumphant smirk on his face.
"I just did last night. And she screamed so loud, our neighbor screamed at us through the wall. They don't like when we have sex. Can't help it I'm that good."
Santana snorted again. "Okay, sure loverboy. I bet they're just jealous too, right?"
"Damn straight." They both started laughing.
The pair continued drinking and debating who was better at getting their partner off until Fiona finally cut them off. They were quite plastered and Santana had smoked her way through at least five cigars. Finn wasn't entirely sure anymore as they took a while to smoke.
They walked in a zigzag out to the street, Fiona flagging a cab for them. Before Santana could give her address in Brooklyn, Finn told the cabbie his and Rachel's. He didn't want to go all the way to Brooklyn just to go all the way back home and he didn't want Santana stumbling around drunk by herself. Plus, all the talk of sex had made Finn very horny and he was quite ready to seduce Rachel.
The only problem was, by the time he and Santana climbed the stairs to the apartment, he was near passing out. Too tired to dig around for his key in Santana's purse, Finn banged his head against the door to get Rachel's attention. Seconds later it flew open and he nearly fell forward before Rachel somehow managed to catch him and keep him from hitting the ground.
"Jeez, Finn. Think you could have drunk more?" Rachel chastised as she led him to their bedroom. When he was face down in bed snoring away happily having finally succumbed to the sleep the alcohol had forced upon him, Rachel moved back into the living room to find Santana sprawled on the couch. Rachel shook her head at her inebriated friend and found a more comfortable pillow for her to use. She lifted her head and switched the pillows before throwing a blanket over her.
"Rachel!" Santana said loudly when she opened her eyes and noticed Rachel switching off the television. "Hey! C'mere." She beckoned her over, waving her hand wildly, pulling her down to sit next to her on the couch. "Finn, he…he's cool. But you can't tell him I said that. You're pretty lucky. There are worse dicks out there to date."
Rachel chuckled a little. "Thanks Santana. I must say, I feel the same. How about you get some sleep now? You need to rest."
"Okay." Santana smiled at her then turned and promptly began snoring into the back cushion of the couch.
Rachel flicked off the lights and headed into her room. Having passed into a drunken sleep, Rachel knew Finn would not be waking anytime soon which meant she could watch TV in peace. She just wanted to get his clothes that reeked of smoke off him first.
As she started tugging his jeans off him, Finn's eye popped open. "Hey beautiful," he mumbled sleepily, a goofy smile crossing his face.
"Go back to sleep, Finn. I'm just getting you out of these smelly clothes."
"Okay." Finn closed his eye and fell asleep again as if he hadn't woken up at all.
Rachel just smiled at her boyfriend who looked really happy as he began drooling onto his pillow. She couldn't wait to find out what he and Santana had gotten up to on their day out.