Title: Finn's No Good, Very Rotten Day

Summary: He was sure there were other guys out there who wanted to kiss their very platonic friends senseless.

Disclaimer: Do you think we would have to wait for September if I owned Glee? No.

Actually, he woke up happy. Literally. He was smiling, sort of, but his "problem" was becoming rather painful. Especially because he just couldn't get the images from his dream last night out of his head. Finn figured it would be okay to revisit it one more time, just when he was getting himself under control for the day.

This particular dream was out of the ordinary for two reasons. First, it was about Rachel Berry, and second, it wasn't very kinky. Okay, so he and Quinn were officially over, and was finally free to acknowledge the attraction he felt for Rachel. Still, he'd never had a dream that intense about anyone he knew, not even Quinn. Why he felt it so strongly was totally beyond him, because it was kind of just normal. At least the first part was.

He was sitting in the front row of the auditorium, all alone, and Rachel was by herself on stage. She started singing "Don't Stop Believing", and sure, she was wearing one of her sexier outfits, a short skirt with knee socks and heels, but it wasn't exactly a leather bustier. Anyway, she was dancing too, again normal, though sensuous, movements. It wasn't much, but he found himself more turned on than he'd ever been.

Finn leaned against the shower wall as he thought about the next part. Rachel had walked towards him. Then, she straddled him, and kissed down his neck while slowly unbuttoning his shirt. He was able to move suddenly, and absolutely tore her shirt off. She got this shocked, reproving look on her face, with bright pink lips forming an "O" shape. "Clothes are expensive, Finn. You should treat them with respect."

It might have been a turn off, but the way she said his name was almost a moan, and just thinking about it sent him over the edge.

"Okay then. Out of my system." Finn said to himself while getting dressed. He will not think anymore about Rachel, because he only thinks she's pretty, not that he likes her as anything other than a friend.

Hungry, he ran downstairs to the breakfast table, where it looked like a fruit explosion.

"Mrs. Dubose from next door brought over some of her extra fruit." His mother told him smiling. "There are strawberries, blueberries, mulberries, raspberries, bayberries, teaberries, tayberries, boysenberries, gooseberries, blackberries, cranberries…"
His head was going to explode. Rachel Berry with a strawberry in her hand, and lips stained from its juice. Finn took a deep breath.
"That's a lot." He said, determined to be normal today. "Do we have room for all that?"
"No, so why don't you take some to school for Glee today? I ran into Mr. Berry last night at the market and he said Rachel just couldn't get enough of bananas. I bet she'd love it if you brought her some."
Rachel eating a banana. Somebody hated him up there, because he was not supposed to be thinking about a friend this way.

Ms. Hudson picked up her purse. "I have to go. Don't forget to turn off the TV when you leave for school."
"I won't Mom. Love you."
After he prepared his breakfast, he sat down on the couch to watch the news. Horror stories would distract him from his own thoughts. It's foolproof!"

"Good morning, Ohio. Today's top stories include Do some berries make you crazy? Dr. Rachel Towne gives us the answer later on. Just in time for Valentine's Day, we have a new segment called "He won't admit he loves her" for friends who see what he doesn't. When we come back, why you should tell those you love that you care for them-before it's too late. I'm Rachel Hudson, have a great day Ohio."

Finn turned off the TV. He wasn't in love with Rachel. He wasn't going to marry her, and she certainly would never be a TV anchor. And yes, Berrys do make you crazy. Still, he was not in love with Rachel.

So he had one (or five) dreams about her. So he thought more about her than Quinn, even when they were an item. So what if he hugged her after every rehearsal? It was what friends did. And he was positive there were some other guys out there who wanted to kiss their very platonic friend senseless. It's just hormones talking.

It didn't matter. So the day started weird. Once he was at school, he would see Rachel Berry, not the seductress of his dreams, but his friend. Actually, the first thing he saw at school was everyone staring at him, and apparently whispering about him. Assuming it was something to do with Glee, he shouldered through the crowd to his locker, determined to ignore it.

"Hey man, party Saturday nigh. You coming, or do you have some homo-explosion thing to do?"
Finn shrugged. "I don't have Glee on weekends, so I can go."

Puck nodded. "Awesome. I should tell you though, now that we're talking about this whole Glee thing, that some guys were talking after practice the other day, and if you wanted to bring that girl from Glee, we'd be cool with it."

He almost cracked his neck; he turned his head so fast. "Rachel? Why would I bring Rachel to a party? And why would you guys be not pissed about it?"
Puck put his hand on Finn's shoulder in a rare moment of solidarity. "Dude, I don't quite see what you do in her, clearly, but if she makes you happy, then of course I'm not going to be pissed about it. Plus, attitude aside, she's almost as hot as Quinn."
"Rachel is way hotter… I mean, I'm not into her like that. I've got to go to class."

Somebody must have drugged him, or maybe Finn was still dreaming, because there was no way Puck would ever be cool with anything to do with Glee.

Right before he entered the relative safety of his first period, some girl stopped him and asked, "So, did you, like, ask out Rachel Berry yet?"
"NO!"

She looked startled. "Like, don't take it out on be cause you can't, like, man up enough to ask her out. Quinn, like, said the reason you two broke up was, like, because you were totally in love with Rachel Berry."

Finn walked away. Normally, he would have been much less rude, but he just couldn't handle anymore today.

Unfortunately, the universe wasn't quite done with him yet.

In chemistry, his teacher announced that today they would be receiving new lab partners. Finn groaned with the rest of the class. His lab partner was currently another guy on the football team, not the brightest, but still fun to work with.

"As I call the pairs, please gather your things and sit with your partner. Liz with Stevenson, Jordan Mary, Rachel Hudson…."

Finn looked at Rachel who was smiling at him. Before he realized what he was doing, he was smiling back. His friend shoved him in the back, "Dude, go get her!"

"This is going to be a long class" He muttered to himself. And he was right. Everything Rachel did was so sexy, from the way she bit her pen, to the way she twirled her finger in her hair when she was concentrating. Not much of his class work got done because his brain wouldn't let his eyes look away from her.

By the time school was over, Finn was this close to snapping. Everybody he talked to that day mentioned Rachel. Even Tina and Artie, when he saw them in the hall looked at him, and then looked at Rachel significantly. It drove him insane because he did not love Rachel!
So, when Kurt asked, "Finn, do you know why Rachel isn't here yet?" can anyone blame him for being a little testy when he replied, "No, I don't know. I'm not Rachel's keeper."?
"But I thought…"

Luckily, Mr. Shue broke in saying, "Rachel had to talk to another teacher. She'll be here shortly. In the meantime, I'm going to give you the background on our next song. It's from West Side Story and…"
Finn zoned out. Okay, so maybe he liked Rachel a little bit. How could he not? She was smart, talented, gorgeous, and even her quirks were endearing. That didn't mean he was in love with her, and if one more person said something about it….

"Finn, basically you want Rachel more than anything. You can't be with her because of societal expectations, but you don't care, because you're just madly in love with her."
He exploded. "So what? I'm in love with Rachel Berry, and who cares about what everyone else thinks? If I want to be with her, I will be, and it's really none of anyone else's business how I feel about Rachel, so stop making such a big deal over the fact that I love her!"

"I was talking about the song." Mr. Shue said, in a slightly strained voice. Then he joined the rest of the cast, and just stared at Finn in shocked silence.

Oh Lord, what did he do? Finn sat at the edge of the stage and buried his face in his hands, trying to disappear. How did this happen? One minute he was fine in denial, and now everything was out in the open. The door banged open, but no one moved. Rachel, who had been nearly sprinting down the aisle, slowed as she took in the scene: Finn sitting on the front of the stage, appearing to be smacking himself on the head, the other Glee members standing in a semicircle behind him, all with open mouths and wide eyes, and in front of the stage, Mr. Shue seemed like he was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Hello everyone. What's going on?"
Slowly, everyone but Finn turned to look at her. He just sat still, praying they would mind their own business for once.

Haha, no! Mercedes, now grinning like she was having the time of her life, announced, "Finn is in love with you!"
"I know." Rachel sounded bored. "About 50 people, including Puck and various Cheerios, told me. They wondered why we weren't dating yet. Why aren't we rehearsing? Regionals are coming up soon!"
"But, girl, he just announced it to us. Like, full on confessional."
Mr. Shue, belatedly in Finn's opinion, decided it was time to get back to work. As Rachel passed Finn on the stage, she pulled on his arm. "Don't worry about it. We can talk later."
So he stood up. And pulled her back around and slammed his mouth onto hers. In the background, Mr. Shue started packing up his papers.

"You know what? We'll just have extra rehearsal tomorrow, because today is just too crazy."

The rest of the cast left, Kurt glancing back sullenly, Tina blushing, and Mercedes high-fiving Artie, but Finn didn't even notice until he pulled back.

"Want to go to Puck's party Saturday night?"
She nodded, apparently too dazed for words (Finn internally gave himself a high five. How many people have ever made Rachel speechless?).
Fine, so he was a little bit in love with Rachel Berry.

Hope everyone enjoyed it! Happy Fourth for those who celebrate it (slightly belatedly), and just generally happy summer for everyone else. Please let me know what you think!