Who Are We Fooling? 6/12
Title: Who Are We Fooling?
Chapter: 6/12
Rating: R
Character: Finn/Santana
Summary: This is as close as she's gotten to dating someone in a long, long time, and she's not even stopping it.
Word Count: 4,200
Disclaimer: Don't own.
She comes home from an interview she thinks she fucking aced because she's charming and intelligent and fucking good at what she does (and her dad, like, replaced the dude's heart a couple years ago, but whatever) and Finn's laying on the couch in exactly the position he was in when she left, like, four hours ago. Seriously? Maybe she should have been a teacher so she could be a lazy bastard in the summer, too.
So she tells him if he doesn't get off his ass and do something, she's going to beat him. She doesn't really mean it, but apparently it works, because she comes home two days later after hanging out with Rachel and he announces that he found them a house.
She had no idea he was looking.
He shows her the listing and says he's talked to the realtor, that he went over and looked at it and they can call for another viewing if she wants to go. It's a new three-bedroom in a nice neighbourhood near his school and not far from downtown. There's an incredible bathroom in the master bedroom, and the kitchen is nice and bright, and there's an office on the main floor. The entry way is all hardwood, and there's a little deck off the back leading to the yard.
"How the fuck did you find this place?" she asks laughingly. He gets this cute, proud little smile on his face and shrugs his shoulder.
She talks the (legit) stupid realtor down and they put in an offer. It's not like they have all the money in the world or anything, but her dad's still funneling cash into her account and Finn has a job.
Before they get word that their offer has been accepted, she gets a call that she's gotten the job. So that'll help, because even as a junior executive she'll be making more than she anticipated. So maybe her dad knowing people actually pays off. Literally. (They give her an advance and she buys a new wardrobe of business-appropriate suits.)
They move into their house the third week of September, and Finn, Puck and Mike do most of the lifting while Rachel barks orders and holds the (honest to god) diagram she made to 'make things easier'. Santana told him they should have hired the movers for longer and made them set shit up, but Finn's cheap and said no, so whatever. He can lift.
Their housewarming party is kind of awesome, because people just keep bringing them bottles of wine and alcohol. She's pretty sure you can never have too much of that. And some of Finn's coworkers drop by, which is actually kind of nice, because most of them are women and Santana wants to flash her ring and let it be known that this guy is off the market. When one of them touches his arm when he says something, Santana narrows her eyes and tells him Mike needs him for something. As they're walking away, he kisses her temple and says, "You're hot when you're jealous." She punches him in the kidney (lightly!) but whatever. That bitch needed to back off.
Quinn shows up, and Santana doesn't even know who fucking told her about this, because she definitely didn't send out an invite. She looks at Rachel, who's looking anywhere but at her, and Santana swears that if they weren't best friends, she'd be kicking Rachel's ass outside right now. She's a shit disturber and she always has been.
Santana stands directly in front of Finn in the kitchen, leans back against his chest as he talks to Puck and Quinn walks into the room. She holds out a plate covered in plastic wrap, and says, "Congratulations on everything. It's homemade banana bread."
"Thanks." Santana grabs the plate and tosses it directly into the garbage. Puck starts laughing and Finn shouts her name. "What? You've tasted her cooking! Remember last time?"
Finn makes a face. "That spaghetti made my stomach burn."
"Finn," Quinn whines. Puck's still laughing and Santana thinks this is the most amazing thing ever.
"See?" She points to the trash can. "You're welcome."
She walks away to find Rachel and kick her ass.
... ... ...
Her boss loves her. Like, he really loves her. She kills it with a huge client and the guy tells her he wants to adopt her. Literally, he says the words. She laughs and tells him she doesn't think her dad would give her up. Even if she questioned that shit growing up, she doesn't anymore. Actually, she and her dad have gotten closer even since she came back from Brazil with a ring on her hand. He came to Cleveland last week and took her to lunch, and he randomly called last night to talk to talk to Finn about college football. She laughed her ass off about it because Finn looked so happy and proud or something, and he just said, "Shut up, Santana. We're bonding," and she rolled her eyes at him.
So when she and Finn are invited to dinner with her boss and his new wife, who's their age, she accepts, whether Finn wants to go or not.
He puts on a suit and tie and she tells him how hot he looks, because seriously, that guy can wear a suit like crazy and she never would have guessed. She pulls on a black dress and he tells her she looks 'pretty'. She doesn't even bust his balls for it because she knows he really means it when he says shit like that. Like, yeah, she's used to being called sexy or hot, but he says pretty like he's a little boy and it's adorable, somehow.
They go to this ridiculous restaurant and she can tell by the time their wine comes that Finn is annoyed and potentially offended. He offers to pay after without her even kicking him under the table to tell him to, but her boss insists they keep their money; "Newlyweds and all..."
She knows Finn's in a shitty mood as they wait for the valet to bring her car around, and he takes the keys even though she actually drove there. He doesn't say a word to her and turns up the radio once they're inside.
"What?" she asks. She's actually worried. She can't remember seeing him so mad. It's not even anger, really, it's something else, and she doesn't really like it.
"Nothing."
"Finn."
"He's an asshole!" he shouts, looking over at her incredulously, like he can't believe she doesn't see it. "He just fucking bagged on me being a teacher for, like, two hours."
Shit. She knows he's sensitive about that. And yeah, he's not totally thrilled that she's already making more than him in her first year (first few months) of her job than he has ever made in his. And her boss made a couple comments, but he's a financial planner and money is kind of his thing.
"He didn't mean anything by it," she says. She knows it's bullshit.
"Whatever." He turns the key and she doesn't know what to say, and when he pulls onto the street she sighs. She hates it when she feels like she has to be careful around him and censor herself. "I like teaching. I love it."
"I know," she insists.
"So I wish everyone would just back off about it!"
She has no clue what to tell him. Yeah, Puck makes fun of him sometimes, but that's all joking. Rachel thinks it's wonderful, and even went to career day at his school last year. His mom is as proud as a mom could ever even possibly be. She used to joke about it with him, but she knows how much he loves his job and how good he is at it, so she stopped that basically immediately after they started sleeping together. More or less.
She's his wife and she should have some kind of perfect thing to say, but she really doesn't. She doesn't want to fuck it up and piss him off even more, so she doesn't say anything the rest of the drive home. He pushes the door to the house open and lets her walk in ahead of him like always, and he throws her keys onto the table into the hall and shrugs off his jacket. She watches him walk into the living room and throw it over the back of the couch as he reaches for his remote with one hand and loosens his tie with the other. She sighs behind him and heads for the stairs, and sees him glance at her over his shoulder when he hears her heels.
She's getting undressed and she thinks this is stupid. She didn't do anything wrong and he shouldn't be mad at her for that. And if he's not mad at her and just at other people, he shouldn't be taking it out on her. That's not fair and she doesn't fucking like it one bit. So she marches back downstairs in her bra, panties and bare feet and stands in front of where he's sitting on the couch. She takes a second to appreciate the way he looks her up and down, then sets her hand on her hip and glares at him.
"Don't be a dick because you're pissed at someone else."
"I'm not." He reaches for her hand but she pulls it away. "Babe."
Fuck. He doesn't call her that very often at all. She finds it so sexy that she's lucky he doesn't, or she'd never put clothes on.
"I don't even care what you do or what you make," she tells him. She's never said it before. He gives her a little smile and she thinks maybe he needed to hear it. "You're, like, a really good teacher and your kids love you, so stop fucking whining about what other people say."
He curves his hand around the back of her knee and pulls her close. She has to let him or she'll fall, just because his hand is where it is. She's standing with one of his knees between her legs and he's smiling up at her, his hand ghosting up her thigh. She can't help it if her hand threads through his hair when he leans forward and kisses the side of her stomach.
"Thanks," he says quietly. She nods and his fingers dip below the elastic of her underwear at her ass. "I like it when you yell at me in your panties."
She laughs loudly and tips her head back, then straddles his thighs and kisses him for a while as ESPN plays highlights on the television behind her.
She's about to die and/or beg him to do something more than just kiss her (because seriously, he's still wearing clothes and he hasn't gotten her out of the rest of hers yet) when he switches off the TV, puts his hands on her hips and pushes her away from him.
"Can we have sex now?" he asks.
It's cute that he asks, but he really doesn't have to.
... ... ...
She sits in the stands with Rachel, sharing a blanket and freezing her fucking ass off as she watches a bunch of 13 year old boys in their little jerseys. It's cute, almost. Or it would be cute if she had any use for kids whatsoever. She watches him, though, in his jacket with a clipboard in his hand as he calls plays and stuff. It's pretty hilarious, since he's like, five feet taller than all these little ankle-grabbers. Then he pats his quarterback's helmet and sends him off onto the field, claps his hands together and shouts something at his team.
She doesn't know a lot about football, but this actually looks like a real game or something.
She shivers violently and yanks more of the blanket onto herself. Rachel's a fucking blanket hog, which is crazy considering she's so tiny.
"I'm a good wife," she announces during the third quarter when she can't feel her toes anymore. Rachel laughs and Puck snorts. "Fuck, why don't they just move these games to Antarctica?"
"You're exaggerating. It's nice!" Rachel says. Santana levels her with a glare. "It's chilly, but I have thermal socks on. You should invest in a pair."
Santana pulls the blanket fully onto herself and narrows her eyes. "I have never hated you more."
Puck chuckles and drapes his arm around Rachel, pulls her close. Lucky bastards, sharing body heat.
She's glad football season is almost over. At least basketball is played inside, even if the wooden bleachers at this stupid school are the most uncomfortable things she's ever sat on.
Finn's team wins the game and maybe - maybe - she stands up and cheers loudly when their kicker seals it in the last minute of play. Whatever.
They get home and he pulls off his jacket, and his black Waltham Academy polo shirt is stretched across his shoulders, and she reaches out and runs her hands up his back, and he looks over his shoulder at her. He looks so good like this, in his work clothes. She doesn't even know why she thinks so, since he used to wear polos all the time in school and college and stuff, but this is different. For one thing, his body is totally different. He's filled out more and is definitely in better shape. Maybe also because she knows how that body feels against hers.
"You were really good tonight," she tells him. She doesn't know why. It just comes out.
He turns around and slides his hands down over her waist to sit on her hips. "Thanks."
She tells him she's still freezing, and he gives her a ridiculously hot grin and tells her he'll meet her upstairs in a minute. She'd ask what he's going to do as he keeps her waiting, but he kisses her, tangles his hands in her hair and slips his tongue into her mouth for a moment, then winks at her when he's pulled away.
Sometimes waiting isn't such a bad thing.
She rolls her hips when he's inside her and he tells her he loves her. She fucking loves that more than she'll ever in a million years admit to him. It's just something she's gotten used to, him saying the words, even if she barely ever says them back. He knows anyway, so it's not a big deal. He comes hard and takes her with him, and when he's laying next her after with his hand covering her stomach and her breathing all heavy, he asks her if she's warm enough yet.
She is, but she lies and says no anyway. If he knows, the orgasm he gives her proves he doesn't care.
... ... ...
He tells her he doesn't think he's ever honestly seen her cry, not like this. She hates that he's seeing it now, but he grabs her arm and pulls her against him before she can leave the room.
She shouldn't be so stressed out. Mostly because she's at the bottom of the ladder at her office and in comparison with her colleagues, her responsibilities are pretty simple. But since her boss loves her and she doesn't want to stay at the bottom of that ladder for too long, she's been taking on extra work and volunteering to do more than she has to. Finn told her last week to slow down, because she's working stupid hours and not coming home until late, but she didn't listen. He can't tell her what to do. Plus, they have a mortgage to make and credit cards to pay off, and while they're doing okay in that regard, she really, really doesn't ever want to have to ask her dad for help. She's already told him to stop putting money into her account without asking. She's an adult and she wants to act like one, even if that means she can't take spontaneous trips to the Coach store and buy herself presents.
But she messed up something at work that wasn't even hers to mess up. One of the senior advisors gave her this thing to do and she thought she was doing well, until he waltzed into her office with a douchey look on his face and tore her a new one for fucking it up. She's just glad it was technically after hours so she could just leave before she started crying like a little girl.
She managed to make it all the way home, and she thought Finn was going out with the guys, which is what he told her this morning, so she started crying as soon as the door was closed behind her.
Fuck work. Fuck stupid life and money, and fuck Gary Sandford for being such an asshole to her when she was trying to do him a favour.
Then she tried to wipe her eyes when she heard footsteps behind her, but when Finn just slid his arms around her shoulders and held her back against his chest, it only made her cry harder.
"San, you gotta..."
"Don't say anything," she cuts him off, breathing unevenly against his chest as they sit on the couch. She's calmed down a little but she still feels like shit.
"I hate this," he admits after a second. "You crying freaks me out and I can't do anything about it."
"Finn, stop," she whispers. He rubs her back and actually listens to her, which is nice. He eventually pulls her straight onto his lap and she feels fucking tiny there as he sets his hand on her thigh and she buries her face against his neck. She puts her hand over his and her finger brushes against his wedding band. "I feel stupid."
"Why?" he asks. She pulls away and looks at him incredulously. "Don't. I love you no matter what you do." He says it like it's enough. She thinks some days it is. "Even if you have mascara on your face and stuff."
She laughs tearfully and shakes her head, then kisses the side of his mouth. He tries to get up, which she almost appreciates because it means he knows she normally doesn't want this shit. She doesn't need this kind of cuddling and if she sits on his lap it's usually with their clothes off (or right before). She just likes being this close to him right now, and she thinks he has no idea how good he's making her feel.
"Don't move," she orders. He smiles and unbuttons her suit jacket, pushes it off her shoulders so she's more comfortable. She wants to say something to him about how good he is to her, but she ends up just saying, "Finn," and then not being able to find anything that doesn't make her sound like a total idiot.
"I know," he says, smiling at her like he really does.
... ... ...
"Hey," he calls from the kitchen one morning, "you think the dye in cereal is really that bad for you? 'Cause I've been eating it for, like, ever, and I think I'm okay."
She blinks at him and gives him what is probably a pretty epic 'WTF?' expression.
"You are so lucky you're hot," she says.
He stares at her blankly for a second, then smiles and spoons a bite of Lucky Charms into his mouth.
... ... ...
Their first Christmas together, they (she) decides they're going to spend at their own house. Her parents and his both beg them to come back to Lima for Christmas day, but Santana figures then someone's going to be hurt or pissed or whatever when they spend the day at the others' house. So it's Christmas at their own house, then the day after with his family and the day after that split between her mom's place and her dad's new house.
She realizes she's married to a man-child. She's known this all along. He eats cereal marketed to five-year-olds and still asks stupid questions about 'science' and stuff that he just doesn't seem to have the mental capacity to comprehend. And it's fine because she's actually come to find it endearing. It's a few (several) steps up from dating Brittany. He's hilarious and he really is smart, just in his own way.
So she has no fucking clue what to get him for Christmas.
She asks Puck and he's useless, and Rachel's ideas are all so fucking terrible Santana hangs up the phone once. Totally acceptable, though, since Rachel was talking about getting him 'the gift of song'. Santana doesn't know what that would even entail (though she could ask Puck because she's sure he's received that 'gift' before). Anyway, Rachel's ideas are shit.
She ends up getting him a bunch of random stuff. She gets him a really good set of knives, because he likes to think he can cook and he's always saying he wants to do it more. He's really not bad at it at all, and better him in the kitchen than her. She also gets him massage oils and this little wooden massager thing. That's kind of for both of them, but whatever. She buys him a couple ties and some shirts for work, and a new Indians jersey because his is just disgusting. He's had the thing since freshman year of college, and she's pretty sure every snack food ever made has left a stain on it. As a joke, she gets him an REO Speedwagon greatest hits package. Of course, he thinks this is amazing and thanks her like she's not making fun of him for liking crappy music. Whatever. He's happy and adorable, and she likes that.
He's hilarious on Christmas morning. He wears green and red plaid pajama pants and a plain tee shirt and lights up like a kid when he wakes up and realizes it's Christmas. She calls him ridiculous, but he just kisses her and tells her to get up already.
He does pretty well for her, too. There were a few books she wanted that he actually remembered. She's surprised he even knew where there was a bookstore. He laughs when she says that to him. She's glad he's not easily offended. (God, they never would have gotten married if he was.) He got her a new duvet cover, which sounds lame but is actually really nice, since she's been talking about their old one clashing since they painted their bedroom. There's a bottle of her favourite perfume, and a gift card to this shoe store she loves. He knows her pretty well, she thinks. And he gives her the Chanel bag she's been lusting after for a month. She thinks it's awesome that he recognized her hints, and she kisses him and says thank you for her presents, because honestly, she loves them all.
"There's one more thing," she says after all their presents are opened and their living room is a mess.
He looks all excited again and she stands from the couch and unties her robe. Underneath, she's wearing a pair of red panties with white lace and tiny little decorative black buttons halfway down the front. Her bra matches, and when she looks at his face, he's smiling and she can't decide if it's sexy or pathetic.
"You're like," he pauses and she lowers herself onto his lap so she's straddling him, "Santana Claus."
She laughs so hard there are tears in her eyes, and he looks all bashful and stuff until she's pushing up his tee shirt. "Merry Christmas, baby."
"Love you," he says, eyes on her lips.
She kisses him and they get a little carried away, but she tells him he can't 'unwrap his last present' until they're in their bedroom. He practically pushes her up the stairs.
...Chapter 7...