It's All Geek To Me (Part 2) PG-13
Title: It's All Geek To Me
Author: Dark-Dreymer
Pairing: Will/Finn
Dedicated To: its_davy_baby, Happy Birthday dude :)
Part: 2/?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: A knowledge of the Final Fantasy series would still be useful. There are minor plot spoilers for Final Fantasy IX and X.
Summary: More nerdiness as Will and Finn's mutual appreciation for Final Fantasy and each other continues.
The thing between him and Will has been going on for a few months now and Finn still hasn't found a name for it, but that doesn't concern him so much now that they've settled into a comfortable routine. Finn drops by a few evenings a month when he is free of the burden of homework, or at the very least can convince Will that he has no imminent deadlines looming, and they pair up to save the Planet, or Gaia, or the Space/Time Continuum and somewhere in between they manage some intimate exploration of each other via the enticing medium of their lips.
Then there are days like today, a Saturday. But not just any Saturday, a Saturday with a mutual lack of responsibilities and so a free chance to get in ten to twelve hours of solid game-time. Finn's been buzzing for it since Friday afternoon, but now that he's here on the doorstep he's beginning to feel nervous about the potential bombshell he has slung over one shoulder.
“Hey Finn, come in.” Will answers the door and turns to head back to the lounge in a single fluid movement. The young man doesn't take offense at the abrupt welcome because the familiar beat of the boss battle theme is echoing out into the hall and so he knows that the older man is just trying to get back to the game before his party is wiped out; Will is far too hardcore to use the pause button.
He closes the front door behind him, hangs his jacket up and toes his sneakers off before heading further into the apartment. The older man is perched on the edge of the couch in his favored spot, leaning tensely towards the television screen and pounding out commands with rapid thumb movements.
Finn watches Will's expression to judge an appropriate moment to interject in the battle before he speaks up, “I bought Dr. Pepper.” He fingers the strap of his backpack and wonders if now is the right time to mention the other thing he's brought with him.
“Great.” Will glances over to give him a smile. “There's Pepsi in the fridge already.”
The young man nods and heads across to the kitchen. He slots his two six-packs of soda into the fridge, then collects one of the share-size bottles of cola and a clean glass before he heads back into the lounge.
Finn takes a cursory glance at the action unfolding onscreen as he deposits the glass and soda on the coffee table.
“Antlion,” He remarks, shrugging off his backpack and setting it down beside the coffee table as he sinks onto the couch beside the other man.
“Yep,” Will agrees.
Dropping his eyes to the HP bars of the characters Finn frowns, “Level?”
“Twelve.”
“Stupid,” The young man admonishes.
“Completely,” Will grins incorrigibly and turns his attention back to the screen. “Come on monkey-boy, I want that Gold Helm,” He declares as he selects Zidane's 'steal' command.
“Your HP is looking low,” Finn comments.
“On it.” Before he can suggest it, Will is already scrolling through Freya's Dragon abilities to cast Reis's Wind. They watch the battle unfold as they wait for Zidane's ATB gauge to recharge, the Antlion deals out a heavy hit that the Regen spell soon goes about compensating for. “Haha, I've got you now,” Will announces triumphantly as a battle text message proclaims Zidane has successfully stolen the Gold Helm. He cycles through to Vivi's menu and selects Blizzara from the Black Magic list, moving the target cursor away from the enemy and instead targeting Quina.
“Limit Glove?” Finn prompts.
“You know it,” The older man confirms, pressing the circle button to impale the poor Qu with a dozen sharp icicles. Quina drops flat into a KO, only to be immediately revived by its pre-cast Auto-Life and clamber back upright with a single hit point. Will scrolls through the Blue Magic menu and with a single, maximum damage casting of Limit Glove the mighty Antlion is felled.
Will lets his tight grip on the controller relax and lazes back on the couch now that his victory is assured, he looks over at Finn properly for the first time since the young man arrived. “Hey, by the way.”
Finn chuckles at the contentment evident in the older man's expression and is powerless to resist the urge to lean over and kiss him deeply. The victory fanfare plays as Will welcomes his tongue and they break apart several minutes after the post-battle menu has chimed to announce Vivi's successful mastery of the Blizzara spell.
“So,” The older man prompts, picking up the controller again and offering it to Finn, “You want to play up until Odin destroys Cleyra?”
“And suffer the guilt of sending innocent Burmecians to their death because I'm always too lazy to take the tour and learn the proper escape path? No thanks,” Finn retorts playfully. “Actually I was thinking we could play something else.”
“What?” Will prompts.
“Well, um, you know how you were saying you never got a chance to play any Final Fantasy after Nine because buying a PlayStation 2 seemed selfish when Terri wouldn't ever play it...”
“Yes,” The older man answers warily.
“Well, uh...” The younger man picks his backpack up from the floor and unzips it, pulling out his Slimline model PlayStation 2. “Here.” He waits tensely, afraid of the can of worms he may have just opened between them. This isn't just an upgrade in hardware he's offering, it's an upgrade in their relationship; a symbol of the trust Finn has in the older man and the potential of their relationship. He knows that Will can sense the implications too and he isn't quite sure how he'll react if the older man rejects him now.
“Finn, I...” Will strokes a hand along the console, “I would like to say yes, but you shouldn't be giving this to me.”
“It's okay,” The young man insists. “I play my 360 more now anyway. This spends most of its time collecting dust on my shelf; I only take it down to play Final Fantasy every few months or so. I'd probably play it more if it were here with you.”
Will hesitantly accepts the PlayStation into his grip. “I'll borrow it,” He decides a moment later, “If you ever want it back, all you have to do is ask.”
“Sure,” Finn grins brightly and accepts the condition, even though he knows that he'll probably never ask.
“So where do you want to start?” The young man asks as Will tracks down the closest moogle to save his progress.
“Might as well go from the beginning; Ten,” Will answers logically.
“Okay,” Finn pulls the case for Final Fantasy X out of the backpack, then zips it shut and helps the other man swap cables over as they plug the PS2 in. They settle back on the couch as the disc loads and Finn can feel the anticipation pouring off of Will as he waits for the chance to play a game he should rightfully have had access to a decade ago.
Romaji names of the big-name players at Square depict in white on a dark screen as lilting piano music plays over the sound of waves on a shore. The darkness breaks to an opening shot of a sword, stave and oddly-shaped soccer ball arranged atop a crested hill amid a barren landscape. The music continues as the camera cuts to a panning shot of a peculiar cast of characters sat around a campfire, the vibrancy of their clothing is rather jarring against the bleak gray palette that's been established thus far. A character resembling Meg Ryan, wearing a sunshine-yellow vest-top and dungarees, stands up and lovingly touches the shoulder of a young woman dressed in a kimono; then climbs to the top of a hill behind the campfire and look out over the ruins in the background.
“So, um... is that a guy?” Will queries as the camera cuts again to a close up shot of the Meg Ryan lookalike.
“It's supposed to be,” Finn answers, amused at the response.
“Well Kuja has silky, flowing hair and wears a thong but he still managed to nuke an entire planet when he went into Trance, so I guess I shouldn't judge this guy too harshly,” Will muses.
“Judge away, he's a pain in the ass,” Finn retorts.
“How bad?”
“Not quite a Cait Sith, but getting there,” The young man answers as the game logo appears and then fades into the main menu.
“Crap,” Will remarks, pushing the cursor up to the New Game option and selecting it. “What's a Sphere Grid?” He asks a second later as a sub-menu query pops up.
“It explains it all later, just pick Beginner for now,” Finn answers.
“Okay.” Will shrugs and chooses it, then sits back to watch the opening sequence.
Romaji names of the big-name players at Square depict in white on a dark screen as lilting piano music plays over the sound of waves on a shore. The darkness breaks to an opening shot of a sword, stave and oddly-shaped soccer ball arranged atop a crested hill amid a barren landscape.
“Hang on,” Will remarks as the scene continues. “This is what we just watched.”
“Yeah, it's also the opening sequence,” Finn explains.
“Who thought that was a good idea?” The older man poses rhetorically.
“It's also a flashback, so you have to play through it again near the end of the game,” The young man elaborates.
“Ugh.” Will is raring up to complain, but at that moment the scene continues beyond where the opening credits had cut it off before and the first character speaks.
'Listen to our story.' The words are dull and badly acted. 'This may be our last chance.' The screen fades to black and the words Final Fantasy X are depicted in white, the scene then ends yet again.
“I remember how excited people were that they were going to have spoken dialogue in a Final Fantasy game,” Will remarks blandly. “Boy, I bet they were disappointed.”
Finn chuckles in agreement, “They got better, but this... this one is pretty bad.”
The younger man pours them both a glass of soda and talks Will down from his desire to press the power button and give up on the game then and there when he learns that the Meg Ryan lookalike is actually the main character, Tidus. For all his quibbles, Will does seem rather impressed by the FMV sequence of the Blitzball game once it gets going and seems intrigued by the mysterious character in a crimson greatcoat.
“That's Auron, he's badass,” Finn declares, as the grizzled warrior raises a jug of sake to the wave of destruction heading towards the Blitzball stadium.
“He looks it,” Will agrees and cheers up immensely once Auron joins up with Tidus and leads him by the hand through the opening combat tutorial. Finn talks Will down from another attempted-reset once Tidus gets washed up in Baaj Temple and Auron is nowhere in sight.
Will breezes through the sequence aboard the Al Bhed scavenger vessel and seems to be warming to the game until Tidus is sucked up and spat back down again, this time in Besaid.
“Rikku just told him not to tell anyone he was from Zanarkand and almost the first words out of his mouth are 'Hey there, I'm from Zanarkand'.” Will sighs in exasperation, “Cloud and Squall were apathetic and Zidane's a pervert, but this guy is just an idiot.” This time it takes the promise of a first summoned monster to get Will to keep playing.
The introduction of Yuna and her Aeon, Valefor, along with the fact that it kickstarts the plot calms Will down greatly and he settles into casual exploration, AP grinding and getting to grips with the Sphere Grid. Finn really thinks that the older man is starting to enjoy himself, but when he returns from a trip to the bathroom he finds the instantly recognizable Prelude theme from IX playing.
“So, uh, would you believe the game crashed?” Will queries hesitantly.
“I'd believe it if it were true,” Finn answers plainly, but without accusation, reclaiming his seat.
“I'm sorry, Finn.”
“Hey,” The young man takes Will's hand in his and squeezes reassuringly. “You don't have to play it if you aren't enjoying it. I thought you might like it; but if not, it's no big deal.”
“It just seems like a shame to go back to a PlayStation game after you went to all the trouble of bringing your PS2 over for me,” Will laments.
“To be honest, I play the PlayStation games more than the PlayStation 2 ones anyway,” Finn confesses.
Will chuckles, “Maybe it's just nostalgia that makes us like the old games more.”
“Or the lack of annoying characters,” The younger man suggests.
“That too,” The older man grins.
“Zidane kinda reminds me of you actually,” Finn remarks conversationally.
“What, a thief, pervert and ladies' man?” Will arches an eyebrow incredulously.
“No,” Finn slaps the older man's shoulder playfully. “I mean how you always try to help people out, try to stay cheerful and not let the world get you down.” As if on cue the title screen cycles into a slideshow of the game's characters and an image of Zidane appears. “Virtue - You don't need a reason to help people,” Finn quotes.
Will shrugs abashedly, “You're exaggerating.”
“I'm really not,” The younger man insists. “You're always helping everyone in the club, you help me all the time. I mean, remember when you found that pot in my locker? Most teachers would've just turned me in, but you gave me a second chance, y'know?”
At the mention of it the older man sobers instantly, becoming stiff and a little pale. “You really don't know what you're talking about. If you knew, if you knew...”
“If I knew what?” Finn prompts. When Will remains tight-lipped, the younger man takes up his hand again and speaks calmly despite the alarm he's feeling, “Knew what, Will?”
“That I planted the drugs in your locker,” The older man answers.
Finn frowns heavily and takes a moment to mull over what he's feeling: betrayal, a bit of anger, lots of confusion. “Why would you-?”
“I'd heard you singing. I needed to convince you to join Glee, but I knew there was no way I could talk you into it... It seemed so easy, it was so easy, to blackmail you into joining.” As he'd been talking Will was looking away from the younger man, but he looks up imploringly to ask, “Please say you'll forgive me.”
The emotions swelling around inside of Finn settle easily as he looks at the guilt-heavy eyes of the older man, “Okay.”
“Y-you will?”
“Of course,” Finn rolls his eyes and pulls Will into a tight embrace. “It's kind of like when Zidane was going to use sleeping weed to kidnap Garnet, but then she wanted to be kidnapped anyway, so really he didn't need to apologize for it in the first place.”
“But you didn't want to join Glee club,” The older man retorts.
“Maybe I didn't know it, but I did. I just needed you to show me.” Finn answers, pulling back to look the other man in the eye. “If you hadn't blackmailed me into joining Glee then I don't know what my life would be like, but I wouldn't have the confidence to sing outside the shower, the Quinn thing would've messed me up even more than it did, and this...” He cups a hand to the back of Will's neck and pulls them so their foreheads are pressed together, “We wouldn't be dating. So if I had to choose... but, no, it's not even a choice.”
“So we're... dating?” The older man inquires, a touch of awe applied to the word.
The words had formed so naturally that Finn hadn't noticed, but now that Will had called attention to it the younger man realizes that he's found the name to apply to their thing.
“I think that we are,” He answers.
“Does that make us boyfriends?” Will teases and this close to him Finn can see the sparkle in his eyes.
Finn pulls back and slaps the older man's shoulder, “Idiot.”
“And you know that in your big metaphor, you're a princess, right?”
“It also makes me a summoner,” The younger man reminds. “So you'd best respect me unless you want to be staring down the wrong end of Odin's lance.”
“Hm, sounds kinky.” Will wiggles his eyebrows and explodes into laughter when Finn tackles him across the couch.
Author: Dark-Dreymer
Pairing: Will/Finn
Dedicated To: its_davy_baby, Happy Birthday dude :)
Part: 2/?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: A knowledge of the Final Fantasy series would still be useful. There are minor plot spoilers for Final Fantasy IX and X.
Summary: More nerdiness as Will and Finn's mutual appreciation for Final Fantasy and each other continues.
The thing between him and Will has been going on for a few months now and Finn still hasn't found a name for it, but that doesn't concern him so much now that they've settled into a comfortable routine. Finn drops by a few evenings a month when he is free of the burden of homework, or at the very least can convince Will that he has no imminent deadlines looming, and they pair up to save the Planet, or Gaia, or the Space/Time Continuum and somewhere in between they manage some intimate exploration of each other via the enticing medium of their lips.
Then there are days like today, a Saturday. But not just any Saturday, a Saturday with a mutual lack of responsibilities and so a free chance to get in ten to twelve hours of solid game-time. Finn's been buzzing for it since Friday afternoon, but now that he's here on the doorstep he's beginning to feel nervous about the potential bombshell he has slung over one shoulder.
“Hey Finn, come in.” Will answers the door and turns to head back to the lounge in a single fluid movement. The young man doesn't take offense at the abrupt welcome because the familiar beat of the boss battle theme is echoing out into the hall and so he knows that the older man is just trying to get back to the game before his party is wiped out; Will is far too hardcore to use the pause button.
He closes the front door behind him, hangs his jacket up and toes his sneakers off before heading further into the apartment. The older man is perched on the edge of the couch in his favored spot, leaning tensely towards the television screen and pounding out commands with rapid thumb movements.
Finn watches Will's expression to judge an appropriate moment to interject in the battle before he speaks up, “I bought Dr. Pepper.” He fingers the strap of his backpack and wonders if now is the right time to mention the other thing he's brought with him.
“Great.” Will glances over to give him a smile. “There's Pepsi in the fridge already.”
The young man nods and heads across to the kitchen. He slots his two six-packs of soda into the fridge, then collects one of the share-size bottles of cola and a clean glass before he heads back into the lounge.
Finn takes a cursory glance at the action unfolding onscreen as he deposits the glass and soda on the coffee table.
“Antlion,” He remarks, shrugging off his backpack and setting it down beside the coffee table as he sinks onto the couch beside the other man.
“Yep,” Will agrees.
Dropping his eyes to the HP bars of the characters Finn frowns, “Level?”
“Twelve.”
“Stupid,” The young man admonishes.
“Completely,” Will grins incorrigibly and turns his attention back to the screen. “Come on monkey-boy, I want that Gold Helm,” He declares as he selects Zidane's 'steal' command.
“Your HP is looking low,” Finn comments.
“On it.” Before he can suggest it, Will is already scrolling through Freya's Dragon abilities to cast Reis's Wind. They watch the battle unfold as they wait for Zidane's ATB gauge to recharge, the Antlion deals out a heavy hit that the Regen spell soon goes about compensating for. “Haha, I've got you now,” Will announces triumphantly as a battle text message proclaims Zidane has successfully stolen the Gold Helm. He cycles through to Vivi's menu and selects Blizzara from the Black Magic list, moving the target cursor away from the enemy and instead targeting Quina.
“Limit Glove?” Finn prompts.
“You know it,” The older man confirms, pressing the circle button to impale the poor Qu with a dozen sharp icicles. Quina drops flat into a KO, only to be immediately revived by its pre-cast Auto-Life and clamber back upright with a single hit point. Will scrolls through the Blue Magic menu and with a single, maximum damage casting of Limit Glove the mighty Antlion is felled.
Will lets his tight grip on the controller relax and lazes back on the couch now that his victory is assured, he looks over at Finn properly for the first time since the young man arrived. “Hey, by the way.”
Finn chuckles at the contentment evident in the older man's expression and is powerless to resist the urge to lean over and kiss him deeply. The victory fanfare plays as Will welcomes his tongue and they break apart several minutes after the post-battle menu has chimed to announce Vivi's successful mastery of the Blizzara spell.
“So,” The older man prompts, picking up the controller again and offering it to Finn, “You want to play up until Odin destroys Cleyra?”
“And suffer the guilt of sending innocent Burmecians to their death because I'm always too lazy to take the tour and learn the proper escape path? No thanks,” Finn retorts playfully. “Actually I was thinking we could play something else.”
“What?” Will prompts.
“Well, um, you know how you were saying you never got a chance to play any Final Fantasy after Nine because buying a PlayStation 2 seemed selfish when Terri wouldn't ever play it...”
“Yes,” The older man answers warily.
“Well, uh...” The younger man picks his backpack up from the floor and unzips it, pulling out his Slimline model PlayStation 2. “Here.” He waits tensely, afraid of the can of worms he may have just opened between them. This isn't just an upgrade in hardware he's offering, it's an upgrade in their relationship; a symbol of the trust Finn has in the older man and the potential of their relationship. He knows that Will can sense the implications too and he isn't quite sure how he'll react if the older man rejects him now.
“Finn, I...” Will strokes a hand along the console, “I would like to say yes, but you shouldn't be giving this to me.”
“It's okay,” The young man insists. “I play my 360 more now anyway. This spends most of its time collecting dust on my shelf; I only take it down to play Final Fantasy every few months or so. I'd probably play it more if it were here with you.”
Will hesitantly accepts the PlayStation into his grip. “I'll borrow it,” He decides a moment later, “If you ever want it back, all you have to do is ask.”
“Sure,” Finn grins brightly and accepts the condition, even though he knows that he'll probably never ask.
“So where do you want to start?” The young man asks as Will tracks down the closest moogle to save his progress.
“Might as well go from the beginning; Ten,” Will answers logically.
“Okay,” Finn pulls the case for Final Fantasy X out of the backpack, then zips it shut and helps the other man swap cables over as they plug the PS2 in. They settle back on the couch as the disc loads and Finn can feel the anticipation pouring off of Will as he waits for the chance to play a game he should rightfully have had access to a decade ago.
Romaji names of the big-name players at Square depict in white on a dark screen as lilting piano music plays over the sound of waves on a shore. The darkness breaks to an opening shot of a sword, stave and oddly-shaped soccer ball arranged atop a crested hill amid a barren landscape. The music continues as the camera cuts to a panning shot of a peculiar cast of characters sat around a campfire, the vibrancy of their clothing is rather jarring against the bleak gray palette that's been established thus far. A character resembling Meg Ryan, wearing a sunshine-yellow vest-top and dungarees, stands up and lovingly touches the shoulder of a young woman dressed in a kimono; then climbs to the top of a hill behind the campfire and look out over the ruins in the background.
“So, um... is that a guy?” Will queries as the camera cuts again to a close up shot of the Meg Ryan lookalike.
“It's supposed to be,” Finn answers, amused at the response.
“Well Kuja has silky, flowing hair and wears a thong but he still managed to nuke an entire planet when he went into Trance, so I guess I shouldn't judge this guy too harshly,” Will muses.
“Judge away, he's a pain in the ass,” Finn retorts.
“How bad?”
“Not quite a Cait Sith, but getting there,” The young man answers as the game logo appears and then fades into the main menu.
“Crap,” Will remarks, pushing the cursor up to the New Game option and selecting it. “What's a Sphere Grid?” He asks a second later as a sub-menu query pops up.
“It explains it all later, just pick Beginner for now,” Finn answers.
“Okay.” Will shrugs and chooses it, then sits back to watch the opening sequence.
Romaji names of the big-name players at Square depict in white on a dark screen as lilting piano music plays over the sound of waves on a shore. The darkness breaks to an opening shot of a sword, stave and oddly-shaped soccer ball arranged atop a crested hill amid a barren landscape.
“Hang on,” Will remarks as the scene continues. “This is what we just watched.”
“Yeah, it's also the opening sequence,” Finn explains.
“Who thought that was a good idea?” The older man poses rhetorically.
“It's also a flashback, so you have to play through it again near the end of the game,” The young man elaborates.
“Ugh.” Will is raring up to complain, but at that moment the scene continues beyond where the opening credits had cut it off before and the first character speaks.
'Listen to our story.' The words are dull and badly acted. 'This may be our last chance.' The screen fades to black and the words Final Fantasy X are depicted in white, the scene then ends yet again.
“I remember how excited people were that they were going to have spoken dialogue in a Final Fantasy game,” Will remarks blandly. “Boy, I bet they were disappointed.”
Finn chuckles in agreement, “They got better, but this... this one is pretty bad.”
The younger man pours them both a glass of soda and talks Will down from his desire to press the power button and give up on the game then and there when he learns that the Meg Ryan lookalike is actually the main character, Tidus. For all his quibbles, Will does seem rather impressed by the FMV sequence of the Blitzball game once it gets going and seems intrigued by the mysterious character in a crimson greatcoat.
“That's Auron, he's badass,” Finn declares, as the grizzled warrior raises a jug of sake to the wave of destruction heading towards the Blitzball stadium.
“He looks it,” Will agrees and cheers up immensely once Auron joins up with Tidus and leads him by the hand through the opening combat tutorial. Finn talks Will down from another attempted-reset once Tidus gets washed up in Baaj Temple and Auron is nowhere in sight.
Will breezes through the sequence aboard the Al Bhed scavenger vessel and seems to be warming to the game until Tidus is sucked up and spat back down again, this time in Besaid.
“Rikku just told him not to tell anyone he was from Zanarkand and almost the first words out of his mouth are 'Hey there, I'm from Zanarkand'.” Will sighs in exasperation, “Cloud and Squall were apathetic and Zidane's a pervert, but this guy is just an idiot.” This time it takes the promise of a first summoned monster to get Will to keep playing.
The introduction of Yuna and her Aeon, Valefor, along with the fact that it kickstarts the plot calms Will down greatly and he settles into casual exploration, AP grinding and getting to grips with the Sphere Grid. Finn really thinks that the older man is starting to enjoy himself, but when he returns from a trip to the bathroom he finds the instantly recognizable Prelude theme from IX playing.
“So, uh, would you believe the game crashed?” Will queries hesitantly.
“I'd believe it if it were true,” Finn answers plainly, but without accusation, reclaiming his seat.
“I'm sorry, Finn.”
“Hey,” The young man takes Will's hand in his and squeezes reassuringly. “You don't have to play it if you aren't enjoying it. I thought you might like it; but if not, it's no big deal.”
“It just seems like a shame to go back to a PlayStation game after you went to all the trouble of bringing your PS2 over for me,” Will laments.
“To be honest, I play the PlayStation games more than the PlayStation 2 ones anyway,” Finn confesses.
Will chuckles, “Maybe it's just nostalgia that makes us like the old games more.”
“Or the lack of annoying characters,” The younger man suggests.
“That too,” The older man grins.
“Zidane kinda reminds me of you actually,” Finn remarks conversationally.
“What, a thief, pervert and ladies' man?” Will arches an eyebrow incredulously.
“No,” Finn slaps the older man's shoulder playfully. “I mean how you always try to help people out, try to stay cheerful and not let the world get you down.” As if on cue the title screen cycles into a slideshow of the game's characters and an image of Zidane appears. “Virtue - You don't need a reason to help people,” Finn quotes.
Will shrugs abashedly, “You're exaggerating.”
“I'm really not,” The younger man insists. “You're always helping everyone in the club, you help me all the time. I mean, remember when you found that pot in my locker? Most teachers would've just turned me in, but you gave me a second chance, y'know?”
At the mention of it the older man sobers instantly, becoming stiff and a little pale. “You really don't know what you're talking about. If you knew, if you knew...”
“If I knew what?” Finn prompts. When Will remains tight-lipped, the younger man takes up his hand again and speaks calmly despite the alarm he's feeling, “Knew what, Will?”
“That I planted the drugs in your locker,” The older man answers.
Finn frowns heavily and takes a moment to mull over what he's feeling: betrayal, a bit of anger, lots of confusion. “Why would you-?”
“I'd heard you singing. I needed to convince you to join Glee, but I knew there was no way I could talk you into it... It seemed so easy, it was so easy, to blackmail you into joining.” As he'd been talking Will was looking away from the younger man, but he looks up imploringly to ask, “Please say you'll forgive me.”
The emotions swelling around inside of Finn settle easily as he looks at the guilt-heavy eyes of the older man, “Okay.”
“Y-you will?”
“Of course,” Finn rolls his eyes and pulls Will into a tight embrace. “It's kind of like when Zidane was going to use sleeping weed to kidnap Garnet, but then she wanted to be kidnapped anyway, so really he didn't need to apologize for it in the first place.”
“But you didn't want to join Glee club,” The older man retorts.
“Maybe I didn't know it, but I did. I just needed you to show me.” Finn answers, pulling back to look the other man in the eye. “If you hadn't blackmailed me into joining Glee then I don't know what my life would be like, but I wouldn't have the confidence to sing outside the shower, the Quinn thing would've messed me up even more than it did, and this...” He cups a hand to the back of Will's neck and pulls them so their foreheads are pressed together, “We wouldn't be dating. So if I had to choose... but, no, it's not even a choice.”
“So we're... dating?” The older man inquires, a touch of awe applied to the word.
The words had formed so naturally that Finn hadn't noticed, but now that Will had called attention to it the younger man realizes that he's found the name to apply to their thing.
“I think that we are,” He answers.
“Does that make us boyfriends?” Will teases and this close to him Finn can see the sparkle in his eyes.
Finn pulls back and slaps the older man's shoulder, “Idiot.”
“And you know that in your big metaphor, you're a princess, right?”
“It also makes me a summoner,” The younger man reminds. “So you'd best respect me unless you want to be staring down the wrong end of Odin's lance.”
“Hm, sounds kinky.” Will wiggles his eyebrows and explodes into laughter when Finn tackles him across the couch.