A Hero
Title: A Hero
Author: hopenight
Pairing: Will/Finn
Word Count: 3, 125
Warning: age difference, brief mention of blood
Summary: Finn Hudson has had a lot of heroes in his life. But he never imagined that he would’ve fallen in love with one of them.
A/N: For the Will Schuester Appreciation Month challenge over a winnners! Sorry if it’s a little corny but I hope you all will enjoy it! Dedicated to alicebluegown16 and dark_dreymer, who are just some of the most awesome friends a girl could ask for.
“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic . It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost.” -Arthur Ashe
Finn had a lot of heroes when he was a kid.
He had the normal set of heroes that every little boy has: Superman, Batman, Spiderman. These heroes had special powers and tried to keep everyone safe. They could shot webbing or had a lot of money or leap tall buildings in a single bound. They always got the bad guys and they never got hurt and they got to have all these awesome adventures.
But it was more of a vague appreciation of them, then outright hero worship. Sure having superpowers could be cool and stuff but he realized from a young age that the coolest heroes come from the most humble and ordinary of men.
Finn had only encountered two such men in his life.
These two were the super special pinnacle of heroes. The heroes that Finn was certain could’ve taken on all the ones’ in his comic books AND Chuck Norris.
The first was, obviously, his dad.
Of course his dad was a hero!
First off he was a soldier. He risked life and limb routinely for his country, to keep him and his mom safe. He went through all that rough training and went to become specialized. He was under consideration to become a Ranger when he was killed.
Second, he died while he was getting his squadron out of the line of enemy fire. He made sure to get each and every single one of his fellow soldiers out. Then he went back inside the building in order to save the family that was trapped there. He was killed as he shielded a woman and her baby from the hail of gunfire.
So yeah, if there was one thing Finn had heard about his father when he was a kid it was that his dad was a hero. His mom would always say it. His dad’s old army buddies would say it whenever they passed through town to see Finn and his mom. There were medals next to his dad’s urn and picture and flag that a soldier presented to his mom at his dad’s memorial service.
His dad was his hero.
Finn tried to model himself after that bravery, that willingness to stand by a friend or a stranger. Sometimes, he forgot to do so because he was still a teenager. But when he reminded himself of what he was trying to do, it was astounding to witness. Whoever won his loyalty would always know that even if he didn’t show it, he would always be by their side.
Finn wore his dad’s dog tags all the time, under his clothes, shielded from view. So when he felt terrified or didn’t know what to do in a situation then he would feel the slightly warmed metal against his skin and he would know that his dad was always looking out for him. He knew that whatever problem was terrifying him that his dad could take it, which gave him the confidence to face down whatever challenge in his life.
The second man…well Finn didn’t know his name.
Or anything about him really, except what he remembered.
When Finn was six, he and his mom were in a car accident. A drunk driver had crashed into the driver’s side backseat of the car and set them spinning. By some stroke of luck, Finn was on the passenger’s side of the backseat and his mom only had a couple scratches.
Finn remembered sitting there in the darkness, staring with wide eyes at the twisted wreckage literally inches away from him. He remembered hearing a male voice yelling for someone to call nine-one-one. His mom was scared but talking to the man.
“Are you alright ma’am?”
“I’m fine! I’m fine! Finn! Finn! Baby?! Are you okay?! Oh God!”
“Shhh shhh I’ll go get him. You sit down. Go on. I’ll get your son. I promise. People are on their way to help.”
His mom was still calling his name. And Finn was scared. His arm was hurting and it was cold and scary. He sniffled in the backseat, close to tears, when the door opened.
“Hey there buddy,” murmured the gentle voice, “Are you Finn?”
He could only nod as he looked up into kind eyes and very curly hair.
“Alright Finn are you hurting anywhere?”
“My arm hurts,” whispered Finn as he held up his arm. It was stinging and it hurt (and later it would need a bunch of stitches at the hospital from the eight inch piece of glass that was in there).
“Ouch that does look like it hurts, buddy,” said the man, “But you’re such a brave boy! Now let me help you out and I’ll get you to your mom, okay?”
Finn could only nod his head. Carefully, the man cut through Finn’s seatbelt with a pocket knife and lifted the tired six year old into his arms, being very careful of the injured one. Finn remembered that he smelled nice like mint and pine and earthy. He knew that he could trust this man. His tiny fists were clutching onto the man’s t-shirt.
“It’s alright, buddy,” whispered the man, “You were very, very brave.”
“Gotta be brave,” answered Finn with the solemnness of a six year old that had been through an ordeal, “Daddy’s in Heaven with the angels so I gotta be the brave for Mama.”
“I think your daddy would have been very proud of you,” said the stranger softly.
Finn sniffled still scared, a couple tears falling down his face.
“Oh man,” whispered the stranger, “Shhh shhh don’t cry kid. Um…”
And then he started to sing softly.
“Close your eyes,
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He's on the run and your daddy's here,” the man pointed to the sky as he sang, making Finn stop crying. “Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy”
He still gently sang to Finn until he calmed down, almost dozing against the chest. The melody mixed with the soft heartbeat in his ears.
“Excuse me, ma’am?”
“Oh Finn! Baby! Your arm!” exclaimed his Mom as she took him from the nice stranger.
“I think he’s going to need stitches but other than that he seems to be okay.”
“Oh my God thank you so much. I…I…I don’t know how to thank you,” said his mom through tears as she pressed kisses into his hair.
“I’m just glad to know that you and your son are okay, ma’am,” said the stranger with a gentle smile on his face.
“Did anyone see the bas…um…the bad man who hit us?”
“Well…,” coughed the man, “He was running from the scene so I uh…tackled him? He’s out cold and a couple of people are watching him until the police get here.”
Finn looked up at his mom’s wide eyed, tear streaming down her cheeks face.
“You were a godsend to us,” she sniffled, “Oh God thank you so much.”
“I was just doing what anyone else would’ve done.”
He waited with them until the police came. Then without a word or anything else, he had disappeared into the night. His mom was convinced that they had an angel watching out for them that night. Finn had his own little belief that since his dad couldn’t be there, he sent another hero in his stead.
Finn tried to emulate this fuzzy memory as well.
He tried to make sure that he was always there. He never asked for a reward or thanks or praise. He just wanted to make sure that he was there for others in their moment of need. All he wanted to do was help those who needed his help the most.
His mom had asked the police who that young man was. They wanted to thank him.
However, he was dust in the wind and faded into a semi hazy memory of childhood. The song was the only thing that he remembered clearly, that he would hum lazily at night as he gently played with the dog-tags.
But to Finn, that man was a hero.
“One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.” -Mary Stanton
“Alright guys! This week we’re going with a theme!” declared Mister Schue happily.
New Directions stared back. They always had a theme for the week. It wasn’t anything new or exciting.
“This week we’re focusing on songs about heroes and heroism,” continued the teacher, “And before you ask Kurt, Rachel. Yes you can use Wind Beneath My Wings just as long as you two decide to who gets to sing it fairly or you can duet it.”
Finn sat back in his seat. He felt the warmed metal under his shirt. And the song drifted lazily through his head like a comforting dream.
There really wasn’t any question over what he was going to sing. He smiled to himself.
Mister Schue met his eyes for a brief moment, no longer than it would be appropriate. Finn smiled at his boyfriend and wink, making Will flush.
“Alright guys! Now we’re going have to start figuring out our set list for Sectionals! Any ideas?”
“Well Mister Schuester…,” began Rachel in her usual no nonsense way.
“Everyone is necessarily the hero of their own life story.” -John Barth
“So what are you going to do?” asked Will that night.
They were uncomfortably squeezed on the couch. Finn spooned behind his boyfriend. He breathed in Will’s scent of cinnamon and chestnut and something vaguely earthy. Will always smelled so good to him, so familiar at the same time. He buried his head into those curls and breathed.
“Do for what?” he murmured as he pressed a kiss to the back of Will’s ear.
“The assignment, of course.”
“Well I was thinking about doing something on how Mexican food is the best food ever…,” said Finn as he gently began to rub circles into Will’s stomach. His fingers felt the smooth planes of muscle though the worn Superman t-shirt that he wore when bumming around the house. Will let out a quiet rumble of pleasure as Finn continued his lazy ministrations.
“You’re not cute. You think you are but you’re not,” said Will in a half drowsy state.
“Ooooh you mean for glee.”
“So not cute.”
“You think I’m cute.”
“Sometimes I wonder why,” murmured Will as he turned over. They were pulled flush against each other.
“I think I know,” answered Finn dipping his head down for a kiss.
“You’re not going to tell me?” breathed Will. His warm breath tingled against Finn’s lips.
“I think I would rather it be a surprise,” laughed Finn as he kissed his boyfriend.
All thoughts of assignments flew out of their heads as they slowly began the steady process of making out into making love on the couch.
Later on, as Will slept peacefully, Finn fisted one hand around the dog tags that never left his neck as he hummed the song familiar and warm as a lullaby. He pressed a kiss to Will’s temple and took a moment to admire this man, wondering how he was so lucky to have captured him.
“I love you, Will,” whispered Finn before frowning, “Now if I could on get the courage to say that when you’re awake then we’ll be golden.”
Sighing, he stared at his boyfriend wishing that he could spend the night. But his mom was expecting home by eleven-thirty, so with great reluctance, Finn got out of the bed and changed back into his clothing. He cast a glance at Will before allowing himself a fond smile.
Then he slowly began the trek home and back to his real life.
“I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people who are convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who can make one small difference after another.” -Ellen Goodman
It was a pretty good selection this week, Finn thought. Granted it seemed like most of the club had typed the word hero into a search engine and choose a song based on that. Finn was certain that no one was going to fully understand his reasoning for his song choice now, and was on the fence about performing.
He raised his hand to where the dog tags hung, visible for all to see today, and his fingertips traced the cool metal lightly. He swallowed, making up his mind.
“Anyone else ready?” asked Mister Schue with a smile.
“I am, Mister Schue,” said Finn before he lost his nerve to perform.
Mister Schue stepped aside to let Finn stand, but Will gave him a squeeze on the shoulder and a kind smile before sitting down.
“Um,” began Finn slowly choosing a spot on the wall to stare at, “Well I decided to look at the assignment a little differently. My song choice is probably gonna seem a little weird. So I figure that I should give a bit of backstory first, you know, to give it context or whatever. Anyways when I was little, my mom and I were in a car accident. And well there was this guy, who stopped, body slammed the guy who hit us when he was running away, and then helped get me and my mom out from the wreck. And I was scared, you know? So he started singing to me and I guess that song always kind of stayed with me. It was the only one that I kept thinking of when I thought of this assignment because he was a hero and we never knew his name. So..yeah…”
Finn nodded at Brad, who began up the song. Keeping his hands tucked his pockets. He just kept staring ahead feeling a little bit embarrassed and kind of stupid for doing this. But he figured that if he was never going to meet the man, then he was going to let his friends know what he did for him.
“Close your eyes,
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He's on the run and your daddy's here.”
Finn, who had finally gathered the courage to look, glanced out at the audience. Everyone was in various stages of contemplation. His eyes landed on Will, who looked like he had seen a ghost.
“Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy”
“Not glittering weapons to fight the fight, but rather, the hero’s heart.” -Proverb
“Finn that was a very moving interpretation of the song,” said Rachel after glee.
“Thanks,” mumbled Finn feeling a blush rise on his neck.
“Yeah good job, man,” called Mike as Tina dragged him from the room.
Finn flushed a bit more, proud and a little bit embarrassed but most glad that he didn’t make himself seem like a total idiot. So it was all good really.
Except Will was still a little bit ashen in the face and staring at Finn like he was some sort of new species of animal.
“I’ll see you guys later,” said Finn with a smile, “I need to ask Mister Schue something about my solo.”
“Oh yes of course!” exclaimed Kurt, “See you later then?”
“Yeah,” answered Finn with a nod.
Once the room was cleared, Finn walked over to Will.
“Everything okay?”
Will licked his lips, “That song was very moving, Finn.”
“Oh…well…you know…”
Will smiled a little bit, “I thought it was very sweet. It just brought back a memory.”
“Good or bad?” asked Finn as he moved a little bit closer.
“A little bit of both,” answered Will, “See about ten years ago, I was coming home after a fight with Terri. And I saw this guy hit a car…well I pulled over to see what I could do to help along with a couple other people. And the guy who hit the car was running away from the accident…”
Finn stared at Will, the story sounding vaguely strange and familiar to his ears.
“So I tackled him,” continued Will, “and I got a couple of people to watch him while I went to go check on the car. I had passed my EMT training a couple days before so I wanted to see how bad it was. The woman was alright but she kept on screaming for her son and I didn’t want her to hurt herself because I wasn’t sure how badly she was injured so I had her sit down and I went to go check on the kid.”
“Who was in the backseat with a cut up arm,” finished Finn with wide eyes, “It was you that saved me?”
“Yeah I mean I think I remember singing that song to the kid and…”
“And it was me,” finished Finn with a smile, “I always wondered why I felt so safe around you. And you always smelled so familiar. I can’t believe I didn’t connect it.”
“Well you were a kid, I think you can forgive yourself. I mean I never really thought twice about it,” said Will with an embarrassed smile, “I mean I was just doing what anyone would have done.”
“Will,” said Finn seriously, “You tackled the drunk that hit us. Made sure my mom was okay. Then got me out of the backseat and stopped me from crying. Not many people would have done what you did that night. Mom and I have been looking for you for years. You’re a hero, Will. You were one of my heroes.”
Will flushed, obviously embarrassed. He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.
Finn chuckled and after a quick glance around to make sure they were alone. He pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s nose.
“Besides,” continued Finn with a smile, “Isn’t it every kid’s dream to fall in love with their childhood hero?”
“W-what?”
“Idiot,” muttered Finn fondly feeling courageous and silly and happy all at the same time, “I love you.”
Will flushed but smiled before gently pressing a kiss to Finn’s lips, after a hurried check.
“I love you, too.”
Finn smiled as he leaned in one more time, whispering: “My hero.”