Due to all sorts of personal stuff, I had to take a bit of a break from writing because of lack of time/motivation. Hence the fact that this was actually a Finchel Secret Santa fic and I just about got it done before the end of January. I'm aware that I haven't updated Without A Shelter for an incredibly long time and I promise that is next on my 'to-do' list, so thank you to all of you who are sticking with me.

As for this, it's just cute, fluffy Finchel. Rated for the odd swear-word and dedicated to Ames because it's her present.

Finn eventually looks up at his step-brother, who is standing over him, hands on his hips. He stretches out his arm in an attempt to rescue the textbook from his brother's clutches but Kurt stretches his arm out as high as he can. And Finn's abnormal height doesn't exactly help him reach when he's comfortably sunk down into the sofa with pens and notebooks strewn across his lap.

"Give it back," he grumbles, kicking his brother in the shins when he chooses to stretch backwards so that the book is even further out of reach.

Kurt gives him the evil-eye.

"These are new pants, Finn."

"I need my book," Finn whines, kicking again, just to wind Kurt up a little bit more.

"You've been sitting on that sofa making God knows how many weird flashcards and little plans and drawing strange diagrams for days on end. You're practically falling asleep over this textbook and I swear I heard you muttering weird Greek names again in your sleep last night when I got up to use the bathroom. This is supposed to be a family weekend, Finn. What you need is a break and some fresh air."

"Yeah, well you don't have a Medicine final in two weeks' time," Finn counters, still half-heartedly reaching towards Kurt's outstretched arm.

"Your Medicine final won't be any good to anyone if you have an aneurysm in the middle of it from this insane amount of work."

Finn makes no reply, flipping back a few pages in his notebook to stare pointedly at a diagram of a kidney. His brother finally seems to get the message and wanders off somewhere. Finn settles back into the cushion and pushes his glasses up his nose, grabbing a highlighter and circling a few key terms.

Ten minutes later, however, Kurt skips back into the room, clad in a leotard and a neon green sweatband, grabs Finn by the arm, and hauls him off the couch, dislodging the pens and notes and sending them all fluttering and clattering to the floor.

"What the hell?!" Finn stumbles, almost falling over at the unexpected movement.

"Go and get changed," Kurt instructs, shoving Finn in the direction of the room he's staying in.

"Kurt, what –?"

"I'm going to yoga class in ten minutes and you're coming with me," Kurt interrupts, frogmarching his brother towards the partition and flinging open his suitcase.

"Now, let's see…nope, nope, nope… no way… aha!"

He throws the pair of basketball shorts and t-shirt at Finn who automatically catches them, his brain still trying to catch up with the turn of events.

"Haha, nice joke, dude," he tries, tossing the garments back across the room.

"This isn't a joke, Finn. I didn't invite you all the way to New York for you to spend your whole weekend with your nose stuck in your college work in my living room."

At the serious expression on his brother's face, Finn groans.

"Dude, you can't make me go to yoga. You were there for that incident at Mom and Burt's wedding reception, you know my body doesn't do normal things when I try to do anything other than walk in a straight line. I'm gonna kill someone!"

Kurt rolls his eyes.

"You know, I'm starting to think you should be the one going into acting. Stop being so dramatic. Everyone has their own space and I promise I wouldn't even consider taking you if I thought you were going to render one of the participants unconscious."

"No fucking way."

"Language!" Kurt trills over him, raising his eyebrows in that infuriatingly superior way, "It's fun, it's healthy and it's sociable. And I'm not averse to telling you that there are plenty of flexible busty blondes in tight clothing if that's really what it takes to get you to go."

He throws the clothes back at him and saunters out of the room, calling "Five minutes, Finn!" over his shoulder.

Finn sighs and pulls his sweater over his head, trying to mentally prepare himself for the most humiliating hour of his life.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Oh, God, no. I'm going home."

Kurt grabs Finn quickly by the arm, halting his abrupt about-turn in the doorway of the fitness suite. Sure, he took a quick glance around the room and there were already several smoking hot women in there, with awesomely-sized boobs, but there were also exercise balls, yoga mats and, worst of all, a CD player. Music and exercise equals dance and, if there's one thing Finn will not do under any circumstances whatsoever, especially when he's sober, it's dancing.

"Get back in there," Kurt instructs, grabbing Finn's shoulders and keeping a firm hold of him until he's reluctantly being planted on a mat at the back of the room. What's even worse is that they're literally the only guys in there (if Kurt can even be officially counted as a guy while he's prancing about in a sequinned leotard) and Finn's so freaking tall that he has literally no hope of hiding unless he gets instant superhero chameleon powers and somehow transfigures himself into a gym mat.

"Kurt, this is ridiculous."

His brother ignores him, bending over to touch his toes and letting out a loud sigh.

"I'm not going to make a complete ass of myself in front of all these girls. Yoga doesn't even count as a fucking sport," Finn hisses.

The Latina in front of him turns round to shoot him a fierce glare and mutters something probably offensive in what he's pretty sure is Spanish. She'd actually be totally stunning if she wasn't shooting burning arrows at him with her eyes, and his eyes drift down to her ample chest for a few seconds. She sends him a feline smirk, then her eyes go back to fire and she promptly starts whispering more Spanish swear words at him.

Finn can't decide if he's relieved or not when he hears a voice calling for them to get ready from the front of the room. Getting roasted alive by some pissed off chick seems a pretty good alternative to an hour of yoga at the moment.

"I'm so sorry for the delay, I was just finding the right CD. Happy Monday everyone! Are you all ready to do some yoga?!"

Finn grudgingly turns to look at the owner of this annoyingly peppy voice and suddenly he's a whole lot more interested in this class.

Standing at the front of the room is the most gorgeous woman he's ever seen in his life. Her grin is a million watts bright and a million miles wide and he almost chokes on his own spit when she looks him directly in the eye as she welcomes "any new members of the group".

"We'll start with some stretches to get ourselves in the mood!" she announces, and, woah, that sentence did not help the insta-boner situation Finn's got going on down below. He shifts awkwardly, trying to rearrange his shorts so the semi-bulge inside them hopefully isn't too obvious.

They do a few basic arm stretches and he's feeling pretty proud of himself for getting his arms in the right place at the right time (mostly) and then they move onto leg stretches and Finn's actually so busy concentrating on not making a fool out of himself in front of this girl that he completely forgets how aroused he is and actually starts getting really into the class. As long as they're standing still, it's honestly not too bad. And, yeah, okay, maybe he does choose the instructor's boobs to focus on as his 'stable spot' to keep him steady while they balance on one leg but, hey, it works, alright?

He swears she's smirking when he looks up and accidentally catches her eye for a second after that one.

"That's it, hold that pose there while I put on some relaxing music for us."

Finn swears he can see the amusement in her eyes as they sweep over his towering body beginning to wobble all over the place. She's got them standing on one leg with the opposite foot pressed against it in some kind of 'tree' pose apparently, and it's literally the most awkward way of standing on the planet.

A quiet, calm, panpipe track begins playing out of the speakers at the front of the room and the instructor turns back round to face them, her voice softening with the mood of the music.

"Okay, put your feet back on the floor, and stand with your legs shoulder-width apart. Close your eyes and let the music fill you."

She watches the class do this and leads by example, closing her own eyes and blowing out through her lips. Her face looks so peaceful and beautiful in its relaxed state. Finn's still staring at her like an idiot when she opens her eyes for a moment to check on them and, of course, they make eye contact for the second time in five minutes, and he can feel his face heating up because this time it takes a few seconds of complete silence apart from the background music before she blushes this really pretty pink colour and averts her eyes.

"Now slowly sink down onto the floor, and spread your legs out wide. Keep breathing in and out, making yourself aware of every part of your body."

The problem is that, as she sits down on the floor, spreading her legs neatly apart in front of her, her leggings seem to cling impossibly tight to her skin and, crap, suddenly Finn's all too aware of every part of her body and trying not to focus on a certain part of his which is beginning to ask for attention.

"Okay, we're going to work on our core flexibility today. So everybody sit up straight and raise both arms above your head. Reach right up, like you're trying to touch the stars."

Finn glances around worriedly and awkwardly attempts to subtly shuffle his shorts around. He's suddenly feeling very exposed and very thankful he's sitting at the back of this class because moving his hands, unfortunately, will make his problem that much more obvious. He manages to rearrange his clothing into a position which hopefully isn't too revealing and focuses on breathing in and out slowly.

Fortunately, he has to concentrate hard again as the girl instructs them to lean forward and rest their torsos on the floor. Basically it's fucking impossible and he ends up arching awkwardly, resting on his arms.

"Keep reaching, like there's something you want just inches from your fingers. Stretch out towards it, feel your spine lengthening and your legs stretching."

It's alright for her, Finn thinks bitterly, as his arms grasp fruitlessly at the air in front of him. He turns his head to look at Kurt who is almost perfectly flat on the floor, just like everyone else in the class, and how is that even fair? He already sticks out above everyone else in the class and this is just like extra embarrassment.

Things go from bad to worse when they have to sit balancing on their butts with their feet up in the air in front of them and their arms out. Yeah, he's actually got pretty good core strength from when he used to play football and work out a lot in high school, but that does not mean he has any balance whatsoever.

One minute he's trying to do these weird sit-up things and the next he's flailing his arms and falling flat on his back, legs up in the air. His face is rapidly turning beet red and it's really not helping that he can hear Kurt sniggering next to him.

The worst thing is, it takes him several goes to get up so he rocks back and forth like a dying insect until he finally gives up any remaining shred of dignity and rolls onto his side, then sits up slowly. The woman next to him is staring at him like his eyes fell out of his head and he can feel his ears shrivelling up from their heat as he turns to face the front again, completely mortified.

The music's still playing and everyone else seems to be going on with their relaxed stretching, fortunately appearing not to have heard the commotion at the back of the room. His eyes snap immediately up the instructor, though. Finn sends a silent prayer up that she might have miraculously missed everything too. He blushes even deeper when he sees her biting her lip to keep from laughing, her shoulders shaking as she stretches.

If he weren't so humiliated, he'd be thinking about how gorgeously alive the sparkle in her eyes is and the way her smile lights up her entire face. As it is, he kind of doesn't care because he's just made a complete ass of himself in front of the hottest woman he's ever seen and she's laughing at him. He supposes he's a little bit grateful to her for at least attempting to hide her amusement and continue with the class, but her face really is an open book.

Deciding to save himself the embarrassment of attempting any more of the stupid poses, Finn decides to cross his legs and sit at the back of the class watching everyone else. Or, more specifically, her. He makes sure to give a customary glance around the room at the other women every so often, you know, so she doesn't get creeped out or something.

And then they go from sitting up to lying on their backs, rolling their legs back above them and he just… her ass is divine. He feels his shorts tightening again as he stares unashamedly at its roundness in her black leggings. They're stretched so tight that it's actually making them a little see-through and he's not a pervert but his eyes trace the faint outline of her underwear and, damn, he really needs to stop looking or he's gonna embarrass himself even more.

The more of the class he watches, the more he marvels at how unbelievably flexible this girl's body is, and that leads to plenty of completely inappropriate thoughts that he tries to quickly forget about. He stares out the window for a few moment, blowing air through his lips in a steady stream to keep himself under control.

A no-ogling policy seems like the best plan right now, because the bulge in his shorts is probably getting a little too obvious and he's trying so hard to be respectful. Keeping his eyes away from her body means that they automatically wander up to her face, though, and he's struck again by just how stunning she is; her full lips, her defined nose, her wide eyes. By the time she finishes guiding the class through the cool-down exercises, he's completely forgotten about being turned on. In fact, he's almost sleepy with contentment as he stares at her while the peaceful background music plays on.

"Okay, that's it for today. Thank you for coming and I hope you have a lovely week!"

She beams at the class and claps her hands together as the women all begin to throw on jackets and pick up their gym bags, starting to leave one by one.

"That wasn't too bad, was it, Finn?" Kurt asks him, smirking.

"I can't believe you made me do that. You knew I'd totally embarrass myself," Finn whines, throwing his bag over his shoulder.

He hears a muffled giggle behind him and automatically turns at the sound to see the instructor duck her head and shuffle some CDs randomly, her mouth still turned up at the corners as she turns her face away.

"Thanks Rachel!" Kurt calls out as they leave the studio. She gives him a wave and yells "No problem!" back in their direction.

Rachel. He turns the name over in his head as they walk down the carpeted corridor, matching it to the appearance of the woman, and coming to the conclusion that it fits her perfectly. A pretty name for a pretty person.

Kurt's babbling on about buying some kind of smoothie and they're just heading out the door when Finn interrupts him.

"Hey, uh, I think I'm just gonna go check when some other classes are on."

"Aww, Finn, I'm so glad I've inspired you to try out a new hobby. Don't worry, I've got some pamphlets at home with all the gym class times on," Kurt grins excitedly, continuing to walk.

"Cool. Well I, um, gotta go to the bathroom," Finn answers quickly, turning round and heading back past the reception area before Kurt can answer him.

He navigates his way back through the corridors until he reaches the yoga studio, the door slightly ajar. Through the window, he can see Rachel still in there, doing some kind of ballet dance across the room.

Taking a deep breath, he knocks and steps into the room.

"Uh, Rachel?"

She jumps, stopping mid-spin and leaping around to face him, her face flooding with colour.

"Sorry, I didn't see you. I was just…dancing."

Rachel tucks her hair behind her ear as she speaks, belying her confident tone.

"That's cool. Are you practising for something? It looked really good."

"No – not really, I mean. But thank you for the compliment."

There's an awkward pause while Finn tries to get his words together in his head and she looks at him, confused.

"You're Kurt's brother, right?" she asks.

He nods.

"Yeah, I'm Finn. Step-brother, actually. He sort of dragged me along today. Sorry about the –" he gestures in the vague direction of where he fell over and she laughs a little bit but not in a mean way, more like she's helping him to see the funny side of it.

"It's fine. I have to say, your effort was admirable. And you were certainly very endearing. I guess yoga just isn't everyone's cup of tea," she smiles a wide, genuine smile at him and, God, she's even prettier close-up.

"I guess. But, um, how about coffee?" he stumbles awkwardly.

"I'm sorry?" She looks completely confused and Finn's face is starting to heat up again because he totally just tried to be smooth and it failed completely.

He clears his throat and explains "I meant, uh, do you like coffee? As in would you like to go and get some? With me?"

She stares at him for a moment and he wants to sink through the studio floor and die because this is so embarrassing, she's gonna reject him, there's no way she'll actually –

"Yes."

Wait, what?

"Yes, I'd love that, Finn."

An enormous grin begins to form over her face, lighting up each feature as it spreads across her entire expression.

Finn finds a shit-eating grin widening his own mouth; he can't believe his luck.

"Great."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Rachel's just finishing the last few cool-down stretches when she spots him outside the door. He gives her a little wave and blows an air-kiss and she beams back at him.

"Okay, thanks for coming guys. I'll see you next week!"

As her class begin to pack up and leave, Finn enters the studio, causing Kurt to shout out to him in surprise.

"Finn, what are you doing here? I thought you swore you'd never set foot in a yoga studio again in your life?"

"I'm not here to do yoga."

Crossing the room, Finn completely ignores his brother's confusion and greets Rachel.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I wondered if you were thirsty. And maybe you if were up for a coffee?"

She giggles – the inside joke has become a regular occurrence in the past few weeks.

"Am I missing something here?" Kurt asks, puzzled.

He gets the answer to his question when Finn and Rachel ignore him and Rachel stands up on her tiptoes to press a soft kiss to his brother's mouth.

"I'm taking my girlfriend out for dinner. Don't wait up."

They both laugh together at the expression on Kurt's face as Finn laces his fingers with Rachel's, bends his head down to quickly kiss her again and picks up her bag, leading her out of the studio.

Thanks for reading and I really hope you enjoyed it. A review would be wonderful. :)