SUPER HOT.

[S2x09 - SPECIAL EDUCATION. I'm quite sure I'm beating a dead (and by now skeletonized) horse by now, but there was such MAJOR ball droppage in this eps alone how can I resist?! So many balls, so few hands to catch them all with! WTAF was RIB thinking when they pulled this crap on us?! (Can't lie, this story arc made for DELICIOUS teen angst and became the bedrock foundation for probably 85% of all finchel fics written from that point on, but srsly? Thy bucket overfloweth with balls of all shapes & sizes in this ONE eps alone, Queen Ryan!)

There were many places in this eps I could've caught the ball drop (and prob will conjure another one or five versions of this eps sometime in the future- as if i haven't rewritten the events around this eps prob half dozen times already) but for the purpose of this lil fic, I've chosen a scene most of us just wanted to punch canon-Finn in the mouth for.

So, put down your 'So Your BF Is A Lying D-Bag Who Slept With A Slut' pamphlet, grab your fave scented hand sanitizer, and let's revisit what SHOULD HAVE gone down in Miss Pillsbury's office.]

. . . . .

"...Let's start with you, Finn. Why did you lie to Rachel?"

"I didn't want to hurt her," He answered honestly, peeking at Rachel from the periphery of his vision. He was afraid to look her in the eyes and see the hurt still present.

Rachel turned to face him and asked, "Then why did you do it with her?"

"Why are you so caught up with who it was? It doesn't–"

"Was it because she's hot?"

"Yeah, sure, she's super hot, but I mean that's–"

"As a therapist, is it productive for me to slap him right now?"

"Well, I'm not a therapist, but no... Um, maybe you should storm out?"

He wasn't at all surprised to see Rachel stand up to heed Miss P's advice, and for a split second he was thankful she did that versus slapping him (her slaps really sting). But as the door softly swung closed with an unsatisfying quiet thunk and the image of her devastated face etched in his mind, a fire lit deep within him as it dawned on him: she's crushed because he said the wrong damn thing to her when it mattered the most.

That sinking feeling hit the pit of his stomach that he was gonna lose her if he didn't act fast and fix this. Well, it may already be too late, but this was EXACTLY why he didn't tell her in the first place (or one of the major reasons anyway) and it was time to man up and make things right somehow.

Finn bolted from his chair and flew out into the hallway to find that she'd gotten about fifteen paces down the hall before stopping to lean against a bank of lockers and sobbed the tears of a thousand knives twisting in her soul.

"Rachel," he called out as his feet shuffled as fast as they could carry him toward her. He saw her visibly cringe and she turned her back to him, starting to speed-walk away again the moment his presence was made known.

"No Finn, go find your super-hot sexy fantasy girl and just leave me alone!" she choked out around the lump in her throat.

She was tiny and determined and really moved like a ninja sometimes, but he was just as determined to somehow fix this mess and his legs were longer. He might be a king klutz on the dance floor and choreo might not be one of his strong suits, but his athletic prowess and size worked to his advantage as he easily caught up to her and blocked her path.

Gently gripping both her upper arms he bent his knees, crouching down to her eye level. "Rach, you gotta just stop and hear me out, okay? Don't walk away from this right now. I mean you're the one who called this meeting, so I know you wanna work things out. And I know I didn't say the right thing in there, but you didn't let me finish... Will you please just, just listen, hear me out?"

She stood there looking down at the floor as tears flowed shamelessly down her cheeks. "Let me go, Finn."

His grip tightened just a little to reflect the conviction in his words as he softly pleaded, "No, not like this... I'm not letting you walk away like this. C'mon, I love you, Rach... please?"

She wrapped her arms around her torso and sunk her chin closer to her still heaving chest, fighting the sobs that wanted to rip from it, but made no effort to break free from him. He took that as a silent opening to continue pleading his case.

"I'm sorry Rach. I'm sorry I lied and I'm sorry I'm a dipshit who says the wrong things. Look, it doesn't matter if she's hot. She's still like, a mega scary bitch. And no matter how hot she might be, you're still hotter."

Rachel huffed tossing her head back a little, rolling her tear-filled eyes clearly not believing a word he was saying.

"Rachel you ARE."

"Finn there's no need to placate me; we both know that's not true. Quinn's much prettier than me and Santana is quite obviously hotter, a fact that's pointless to deny since you chose to lose your virginity to her."

His knee jerk reaction was to protest the part about him CHOOSING to lose his virginity to Santana. If he truly had his choice, it would've been another girl. A shorter, far more stubborn, frustrating girl. The one he was totally, completely head over heels in love with. In point of fact, he hadn't really chosen anything; he'd settled.

"Would you just stop it, Rachel. You're like, the hottest girl ever to ME. Don't you remember Rocky Horror?" She cocked her head to the side in confusion as he continued. "Remember when I was freaking out about being in my underwear in front of people, and what you told me?"

She nodded softly. "Because it's true, Finn. You are the hottest guy, which I suppose it should be no surprise that you needed someone as hot as Santana to sleep with—"

He practically growled in frustration. "Dammit Rach! Please forget about her for just one minute, okay? I'm talking about YOU right now and how I feel about you! Can you do that please, just listen?"

She nodded softly, though her eyes refused to meet his. He took her hand and tugged her out of the exit door into the courtyard. "Where are we going Finn? We have class in a few more–"

"This is more important," he said determinedly, a man on a mission as he pulled her to a quiet spot at a bench obscured by a partition wall and some bushy hedges.

He straddled the bench seat to face her and took both her hands in his. "Okay. When we did Rocky Horror, you told me I had nothing to be insecure about because you thought I was the hottest guy in the school, even though I don't look like Sam or Mike. Remember?"

"Of course I do, because it's true."

"Rach I really doubt everyone feels that way – and I can guarantee it because I still don't feel that way about myself – but I know it's how YOU feel, which is SO MUCH more important to me than what anyone else thinks... And I told you THEN how hot I thought you were... but I guess just telling you isn't sinking in, or maybe I haven't done a good enough job as your boyfriend of convincing you, so I'm gonna have to show you."

"What are you talking about Fi–"

He cut her off with a searing kiss that stole all the air from her lungs. After a few moments as she started to melt into the kiss, he took her hand and slid it across the front of his jeans and she gasped.

Speaking against her mouth he exhaled "Feel that Rach? It's only been what, like five seconds of kissing you and I'm already getting hard. You do that to me ALL the time. We don't even have to be kissing, or touching even. A lot of the times, just THINKING about you causes that to happen. It's not Santana or Quinn or any other girl makes me want them so bad that I have like ZERO self-control, it's YOU... Just like our first kiss in the auditorium. I already told you what happened that day, why I ran out so fast."

She pulled her hand from his crotch but slid it up his stomach to his chest and fisted his shirt. "I remember. I never felt more powerful as a woman than when you confessed how quickly your body reacted to me."

"Then why can't you understand that it doesn't matter how hot any other girl is. What I feel for you runs so much deeper than that anyway... I mean yeah, you're hot and sexy and gorgeous... but you're more than what people see on the outside. The person you are on the INSIDE is just as sexy to me. You're the total package... Rach you're everything to me."

He watched her eyes refill with tears and her voice got smaller, shyer, but she kept her hand pressed to his chest. "Then why did you sleep with her and LIE to me about it for so long? Why did you sleep with her AT ALL?"

He doubled his hold around her waist and sighed. "Okay that's a lot of explaining in a couple questions, but the short answer about the lie is what I already just said in Miss Pillsbury's office. I didn't wanna hurt you. And I mean that. After last year, I never wanted to hurt you ever again."

"Finn, if you thought it would hurt me, then you must have an understanding as to WHY it would hurt me... So do you?"

"Yeah, of course I do! Rach I know you've always felt insecure and you compare yourself to those Cheerios all the time. But I'm trying to make you understand, you don't need to. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you." He dipped down for a slow heated kiss and whispered "You're so beautiful Rach," moving to her jaw he pressed a few more kisses "and super hot," then to her neck and sucked her earlobe between his lips "and super sexy."

Rachel controlled her labored breathing and resisted the urge to push him back on the picnic table they were sitting at. "Okay but do you fully understand why I'm so hurt? Not just because you lied to me, but because of who you lied about?"

He paused his ministrations long enough to look her in the eye. "She's a bitch Rach. She treats everyone like crap – myself included. But I know she's been extra cruel to you alotta times, and I probably – no, I definitely shoulda spoken up to her about it already."

"Then why haven't you? Yes, I put on an air of confidence and I will never shrink away from fighting my own battles or defending myself... but I mean, as my boyfriend I would expect you to support and defend me when others drag me down. Yet every time she throws her vitriol my way, you tend to either ignore it or sometimes even laugh along. It's hurtful Finn. Do you have any idea what that feels like? What if I did that to you, how would you feel? Can you see why this is so hard for me to believe that... that you don't feel something more for her? She was your FIRST Finn. You'll always have this special bond with her now, and it just feels like, like you're protecting HER feelings but not mine."

He sighed loudly and squeezed his eyes shut tight. He hadn't really seen things that way before. He kind of knows WHY he never spoke out against Santana's outbursts before, and he's pretty sure it was more to do with old habits dying hard than the way he feels about Rachel.

"I'm sorry. You're right. I should have your back no matter what, no matter who it means doing battle with. I guess... I guess I'm so used to the way I always behaved around her for years, y'know being in that jock-cheerleader crowd, I just never noticed I was still doing it. Santana is quick to jab at everyone – even Quinn, and.. When I was dating Quinn I guess I acted exactly the same way to Santana then as I still have been. But Rach, I didn't even notice I was acting like that. And I swear to you, it has nothing to do with how I feel about her; just because I had sex with her doesn't mean a damn thing to me... and it's nothing to do with YOU or how I feel about you either... it's just, me being a big dumb jock, acting the way I always acted around the guys."

"Like a callous Neanderthal with no regard for the feelings of others, for the sake of maintaining your reputation and popularity?"

He winced as she said the words, but he knew she nailed it right there. "Something like that, yeah. Or more to the point, it's me acting like an insensitive douche. But babe, I'm gonna do better. I honestly didn't even know I was still acting so bad sometimes, or making you feel bad. You never said anything before and I sure as hell never meant to hurt you. What YOU think and how YOU feel means more to me than any of those ass-wipes. And it especially means more than what Santana Lopez thinks or feels."

"You really mean that Finn?"

"'Course I do. You're my girlfriend and I love you... but you're also like, my best friend. I never wanna do stuff to disappoint you or hurt you, definitely not on purpose. And I KNEW the minute you got all excited that we could share our first times together, I just KNEW telling you otherwise was gonna kill you. I couldn't stand to do it. So I just... put it off for another day."

"Were you EVER going to tell me the truth yourself?"

"I wanted to. I mean... I kinda knew if we ever got to the point where we were gonna, y'know... have sex, I knew I needed to tell you before then. I was still just trying to figure out how and when to bring it up. But Rachel, please believe me, I don't have any kind of feelings about her except the regret kind. That whole ordeal, it was a mistake. I did it with the wrong girl for the wrong reasons. It's what made it even HARDER to tell you the truth when you said you didn't really sleep with St Jackass. Because YOU were smarter and didn't give in to whatever crazy emotions you were having."

"What do you mean?"

"C'mon Rach. You KNOW I was crazy jealous of him, right? You KNOW I wanted you back so bad... and I know I screwed up and blew my chances with you back then. You said you were happy with him, so I backed off for your sake. It didn't stop me from wanting to pound that little asshat into dust and wishing I had you all to myself though. Santana offered me a distraction from all of that, so I took it. It was for all the wrong reasons, and I knew it by the time it was over that it was all wrong. It didn't make me feel better at all. Then I thought about you and wondered if you felt the same after sleeping with him. And I carried that wonder around for months until you finally told me the truth, that you never slept with him... and it just made me feel even worse for screwing things up so bad. I let myself down, which was bad enough, but I let YOU down, and that's like, the thing I never wanna do."

He watched as she sat quietly taking in all his insights. She was clearly still wrestling with her feelings and he wasn't sure he'd fully convinced her of anything yet, and he really hoped she wasn't planning to break up with him over this.

"Rach? You're being super quiet. Say something? Please tell me you don't wanna break up because of this, because I swear to god I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. I'll do anything to make this right."

Her face softened at his words and she pulled him into a tight embrace. "Finn, of course I don't want to break up. I love you too much... I'm so afraid of losing you, I could never voluntarily let you go!"

He exhaled loudly in relief and hugged her back as tightly as she held him. "Thank god! I was so afraid you'd leave me and never forgive me."

"Finn. Have you learned NOTHING about me in all this time yet? I'm Rachel Barbra Berry, and when I set my mind to something, nothing can stop me from achieving my goals. You have been one of my goals practically from day one... do you honestly think I'd just let you go now? Or worse, let SANTANA LOPEZ come between us? I'd never give her that satisfaction!" she giggled.

He pulled a half grin flashing a knee-buckling dimple at her. As he combed her hair with his fingers pushing it over her shoulder he whispered "I love you, Rach. I love you so much... and I'm so relieved that you don't hate me."

"Of course I don't hate you... but that doesn't mean I'm not still upset about all of this. I may need a little time to get over it. But I really need you to lay to rest any ideas you may have about losing me. You'd have to do something a lot worse than this to get rid of me now."

He cupped her cheek and smiled. "Well then I guess we're stuck together forever, since I'm never gonna do anything like this again. Total honesty between us from now on. No more lies, ever. I swear I'll never risk losing you again."

"Total honesty. I like that policy... as long as you hold up on your end."

"I swear I will, Rach."

"Good. And I will too... Now um, maybe we need to do something about this little problem you've still got," she smiled coyly pointing at his lap and the rather sizable bulge still protruding there. "You wouldn't want to walk into sixth period math with your little soldier still saluting. You'll give Miss Knox a heart attack."

He blushed and felt said little soldier stand a little taller at the look on her face. "Um... yeah, well... it'll go away. Uh... I might have to stop in the restroom and use you as a human shield to get there first, but–"

"Or I can just take care of it for you."

"Wh-what? Rach, you said you didn't like too much PDA at school, I mean..."

"Finn. Apparently I created this problem, so it's only fitting I should be the one to correct it, don't you think? Besides, you already commented how wonderful my ORAL skills are, and you know I like to practice and improve my technique."

Wildfire burned him from head to toe like a cartoon Christmas tree. "Uhh... I-if-if you... um, o-okay sure. That'd be, um... but where?"

"Science wing janitor's closet, now."

He kissed her hard on the mouth. "You're the best girlfriend in the history of the world."

"Yes, I am. Try to remember that the next time you see Santana."

The next day Finn and Rachel entered Glee club hand-in-hand with eyes only for one another. Santana was the first to hone in on the seemingly still-happy couple.

"Oh gag. Plankton and Mr Krabs have arrived, everyone grab your chum buckets! Thought you two finally bought a one way ticket to Splitsville by now?"

"Shut up Santana. And quit calling my girlfriend names! I don't care what you say to me, but back off Rachel," Finn warned the snarky Latina.

"Ouch. Looks like baby Squidward here finally grew a backbone. Now if you can only learn what to do with it, maybe I'd give you a second shot at making a better first impression."

"That won't be happening, Santana. Finn and I are in a loving, committed relationship. We're in this for the long haul, and there's nothing you can say that's going to change that."

Santana scowled and snapped back, "Is that a fact? Well in that case enjoy my sloppy seconds Dwarf... and I do mean SLOPPY. And useless. That is, if he can get his hands on some Jaws of Life to pry your knees apart long enough to demonstrate his disappointing bedroom skills."

Rachel was aghast but before she could reply, Finn exploded. "Hey! I said shut the hell up about Rachel! Can you quit running your mouth already Santana!? Nobody cares what you have to say anyway!"

"Aww, Stay-Puft... of course they do!" she winked.

"No Santana, they do not," Rachel interjected. "All people think about you is that you're an angry, lonely, confused girl who is extremely unhappy. And I would appreciate it if you would refrain from making further commentary about my boyfriend or our intimate lives. You might have had a one time tryst with him, but he's moved on from that mistake and will never be looking back."

"Whatever, Hobbit. He was a lousy lay anyway who wouldn't know how to please a woman if you hired a tour guide for him."

Rachel smirked, snaking an arm around Finn's middle. Speaking to Santana, she never took her eyes off Finn. "Really? You thought he was unsatisfactory? Well... must be the difference in partners then. For example, he gave me three orgasms last night alone, and another one in the truck on the way to school today, didn't you honey?" She looked innocently up into her boyfriend's now crimson stained face as his jaw sagged wordlessly.

He ducked his head closer to her. "B-babe, I didn't know we were talking about this stuff in public," Finn mumbled softly in Rachel's ear. "Isn't that kinda private?"

"Well yes, it is sweetie, and I do still hope you don't spread locker room gossip about our activities with the guys, but I simply won't allow her ugly propaganda to spread falsities about the sexual prowess of the man I love. You're an amazing lover, Finn Hudson, and I'm proud for the world to know it."

The Latina's face lit up with sudden shock and enlightenment. "Oh my god... you actually de-virginized the Queen of the Prudes? Wanky! I'm impressed, Frankenteen," Santana purred.

"Okay that's enough Santana. You need to back off," Finn warned.

"Fine. I can see this," motioning at the two of them "Finchel sickness you two have seems to be pretty incurable. To be honest, I didn't think little Jackie and her dancing bear sweaters had what it takes to climb your beanstalk, let alone to make broadcast news about it. You actually earned a few coolness points from me, Berry. Respect," she said as she spun around and took her seat next to Brittany in the middle row risers.

"Well that was unexpected, Rachel whispered bewilderedly to her boyfriend.

"Yeah I'd say... almost as unexpected as that thing you did in the shower last night," he smirked as he whispered in her ear. "Can we try that again later?"

"Since you were so chivalrous today, I think you earned a reward. But it'll have to be tomorrow when my daddies leave for their weekend trip for an ACLU conference in Dayton... unless you'll have your place to yourself tonight?"

"Yep. Mom and Burt have date night plans. Mom left me twenty bucks to get dinner with and told me not to wait up."

Rachel beamed a wide pearly smile. "Your place it is then."

"Have I told you how super hot you are today yet?"

She giggled "Yes, but I don't mind hearing it again."

Oblivious to the rest of the club around them, Finn pulled her onto his lap and laid a smokin' hot kiss on her mouth. "I'm gonna do more than tell you later on."

"Can't wait," she sighed against his lips as Mr Schue came in and ordered them apart to begin rehearsal.

. . . . .

~F❤️R~