Fic: Some Enchanted Saturday Matinée
Title: Some Enchanted Saturday Matinée
Rating: M
Characters: Ensemble and its associated pairings. Will’s parents! Bryan Ryan! All with a healthy smack of Winn.
Word count: 6,200-ish
Summary: Mr. Schue is in a community theatre production of South Pacific and his glee kids of course show up to support their favourite teacher. Tina is helpful, Puck won’t shut up, Finn doesn’t spend a whole lot of time watching the play, and someone gets molested in a dressing room.
Notes: While I have seen South Pacific on stage, it has been a long time, so any big deviations from the stage production that you spot are probably due to me watching the movie while writing this. I also tried really hard to hit an R with this fic, but it just had other ideas. I’m sorry.
In an odd way, Tina was the catalyst for this particular, shirt-lacking adventure. After Will had done the gentlemanly thing and handed his role in Les Mis over to Bryan Ryan, Tina had walked up to him after rehearsal and said “I hope you try out again next time.”
“I don’t know,” Will had said, slipping sheet music back into his bag. “In all honesty, I don’t know that I have the free time. This is probably a good thing.”
“Try out,” Tina had insisted with a warm smile, and then hurried out to catch up with Artie.
And, despite being oddly shy most of the time, she could be passionately persistent. Theatre newsletters started turning up in Will’s pigeon hole. Adds for singers/actors/dancers wanted were clipped out of newspapers and handed in with homework. And, the very same day that Will had told his kids that they would have the summer off to enjoy themselves, Tina walked up to him and thrust a notice for open auditions at him.
“You’ve got three months of free time now,” she’d said. Will couldn’t argue with that. “And it’d be good for the team. How many Glee coaches actually perform these days? You’d have a different perspective. And you could give the rest of us advice on how to get roles and things. And you’d probably really enjoy it.”
And Will couldn’t argue with any of that either.
“Okay,” he’d said. “But if I get a role, you sing a solo next year. Deal?”
Tina beamed at him. “Deal.”
*
“Mr Schue got a role in South Pacific,” Artie said, a big cheesy smile on his face, as he rolled up to the table at the food court.
“I knew he would,” Rachel said primly, reaching for her super large milk shake.
“Of course you did,” Finn replied. Their on-again-off-again relationship was in the transition stage between on and off at the moment. “Who’s he playing?”
“Do you even know any of the roles in South Pacific?” Rachel asked.
“No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know,” Finn shot back.
“Why? So you can google it later? If you paid any attention at all to my discussion of landmark musicals and their representation of specific historical periods and conflicts, you would already have a sound understanding of South Pacific.”
“Why would I need to memorise it when I could just ask you later?” Finn replied.
“He’s Lieutenant Cable,” Tina said, interrupting the fight. Rachel spluttered, and had to clap a hand to her mouth to avoid spilling milkshake down her front.
“I guess that’s a good role then?” Finn asked drily.
“I think he’ll play it well,” Rachel said when she finally calmed down.
“I’m sure he will,” Finn agreed coolly.
“We should go see it when it opens,” Artie suggested, preparing to shoot back from the table should it become ground zero to another Finn-Rachel detonation.
“That’s a great idea,” Rachel said, glaring at Finn.
“I’m surprised you didn’t come up with it,” Finn agreed.
“Right,” Tina said, gently pulling Artie’s chair away. “We’ll organise it. You two can just, you know, organise yourselves.”
Rachel turned sharply. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We have to go,” Artie said quickly, and they evacuated the scene.
*
Will wasn’t onstage until after the first song, ‘Nothing Like a Dame’ which Puck really got into. “Wow,” he whispered shortly after. “This thing has nurses too? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” He was shushed by the woman sitting behind him, and would have flipped her off if Quinn hadn’t grabbed his arm firmly.
“Hey Lieu-tellen,” Bloody Mary said on stage, “you sexy man.”
There was a quiet snickering from the row of gleeks. “Our ‘lieu-tellen’ is never going to live this down,” Puck whispered loudly.
“Shhh,” Tina whispered back, “this is my song.” She swayed back and forth gently in her seat to ’Bali Ha’i’.
“You’re singing ’Bali Ha’i’?” Rachel hissed down the line.
“What? Don’t tell me that you have some deep connection to this one, too?” Mercedes hissed back.
“Guys,” Artie whispered. “Please.”
“Fine,” Rachel hissed back. “But during intermission, we are going to discuss this.” And that particular argument was put on hold for a while.
Finn did his best to sit comfortably in the theatre seats that were a little too small for a guy as tall as he was. He tried to pay attention to Will and his character. Lieutenant Joseph Cable, a marine. There was plot happening on stage. Something about a Frenchman, but Finn - sitting at the opposite end of the row to Rachel - wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to that. He was pretty sure he’d be able to pick up on it later. Now a nurse was chatting with a much older man with a mellow French accent, and breaking into song.
“I’ll show you ‘Cock-eye’,” Puck whispers again, earning him another shush from the woman behind, and an elbow to his side from Rachel.
“Why do people have to sing about their feelings all the times in these things?” Santana asked, stifling a yawn.
“Because it’s a musical,” Rachel hissed back.
“But they never sing to each other. They sing to themselves, and then act surprised when someone overhears.”
“She has a point,” Artie joined in. “Everything would be resolved a lot more quickly if people just talked honestly about their feelings.”
“Right,” Kurt said. “When have you ever known anybody to do that?”
“Shh,” Mercedes hissed, louder than anyone else. “If we get kicked out, Mr Schue will never forgive us.”
“Yeah he will,” Finn whispered back.
“He’ll forgive some of us,” Rachel whispered pointedly.
“Shush up,” Kurt said. “This is the best song.”
They sat back and listened to the song about some enchanted evening. Finn identified with it a little too well, the feel of being pulled to someone from across a room, of wanting to claim them, of not wanting to let go even if it does seem impossible. Story of his life, right? Quinn, who didn’t like to be touched (by him), Rachel, who was always more interesting when she wasn’t plastered to his side. And then, well...
He snuck a look to his right, and saw Artie and Tina holding hands, and then he looked down the aisle on his other side to Kurt and Mercedes with their arms linked together. Brittany had her head resting on Santana’s shoulder, and Puck and Quinn were too far away from him to make out. Rachel was at the far end of the row, staring passionately at the stage. Mike looked back down the row from Rachel’s other side, and waved at Finn. Finn waved back.
Onstage there was something about killing some dude in France, and Finn tried to tune back into the play. But there were kids singing in French, and there was just no way that Finn could keep up with that. He could hear Rachel softly singing along, all the way down her end of the row, and tried not to cringe. But then Will was on stage again, and it was easier for Finn to follow along. Will looked good in the khaki uniform, the pants tight and fitted, the brown belt and boots, the revolver sitting along the right thigh.
Maybe Finn wasn’t paying all that much attention to the play.
“I could handle having her job,” Kurt whispered down the line. “Seducing rich French men to get to their sordid pasts.”
“Even old men?” Mercedes asked.
“Older men are just more experienced,” Kurt said, in time with the scene on the stage.
“Amen,” Finn murmured under his breath, and pretended not to notice when Artie and Tina turned to look at him.
“Awesome,” Puck whispered from down the line. “Hot nurse shower scene.”
“Singing nurse shower scene,” Santana corrected.
“I’m a nurse,” Brittany contributed. “Sometimes.”
Puck didn’t comment, but that may have something to do with the death grip Quinn had on his hand. He was learning.
There was a song about loving a wonderful guy, and Finn identified with that one just a smidgeon too much again, and just when he was starting to feel a little sad and awkward, Will was on stage again. Sitting moodily on a desk and looking intently at a French man. The Frenchman stepped close to Cable and said “The probability of death is very great,” and Finn thought he could hear Kurt swoon a little.
“The Japanese?” Finn whispered to Artie. “Which war is this?”
“The second one,” Artie whispered back.
“Oh. Wait, how many have there been?”
Artie gave Finn a look that was mostly hidden by the dimness of the theatre. “I’ll catch you up in the interval,” he said.
Puck snorted a laugh. “Mr Schue is going to pimp island,” he whispered as Lt Cable walked across the shore of Bali Ha’i. Finn didn’t say anything. No one said anything. Because Will was suddenly very much onstage. Shirtless. Very shirtless, and onstage. And all Finn could think was that while Will had looked good in uniform, he looked even better with most of it missing. The uniform pants riding low on his hips, the little khaki cap, the way his dog tags hung down his chest. His very well defined chest. There were muscles and skin and no hair except for this little trail below his belly button and it looked good and slightly slick under the stage lights. Lights which caught on the bright shine of the dog tags and the dark flesh of a nipple.
Finn was totally staring at Mr Schue’s nipples. This was the greatest musical ever.
“Doesn’t Mr Schue usually have chest hair?” Rachel whispered.
“Yeah, he does,” Finn whispered back.
“Alright,” Mercedes piped up from the middle of the row. “I want to know how it is that both of you know that.”
“Oh my lords Dolce and Gabbana,” Kurt breathed. “He’s waxed.”
“How can you tell it’s wax?” Santana asked. “He could have just shaved his chest.”
“No,” Kurt whispered back, “You can tell by the way his skin shines. See?”
They all paused for a moment, and saw that his chest was indeed smooth and a little shiny.
“Maybe he put some oil on?” Santana pointed out.
Finn thought about that, and then kind of wished he’d waited until he’d been alone to think of that. He shuffled in his seat, trying to find the right way to cross his legs without kicking Tina on one side or Santana on the other.
And then Will was making out with this hot chick who lived on an island maybe, and Finn was shamelessly staring at the way Will’s arms held her close, the way the muscles in his back moved as he leaned her back and kissed her passionately. Finn could see a lot of back, even where those pants low on his hips were being tugged down. He wondered if Will was wearing underpants, and then regretted it.
Will was singing about springtime and being young, and Finn listened with his chin on his palm and his eyes wide. He hadn’t heard Will sing like this, the closest would probably be Endless Love, and he had been too busy laughing at Will and Rachel at the time to pay much attention. But yeah, he had a good voice. A really good, kind of sweet and yearning voice.
“He’s good,” Mercedes whispered.
“Yeah,” Kurt whispered back. “Good and shirtless.”
“Kurt, honey, we covered the shirtless thing already.”
“Covering that chest is the last thing I want to do,” Kurt replied, sounding a little breathless. Finn wished that he was able to say whatever he thought like Kurt could, but at the same time he kind of wished that Kurt would shut the hell up.
The scene was over, but Finn was very confident that no one was paying much attention to Nellie and her sugar daddy. He sure wasn’t. Right up until Emile said “Yes, we are in love,” and Nellie said “No, more than that. We’re the same kind of people, fundamentally.”
Finn needed to stop identifying with her. Especially when she went and got all upset and left in tears. Finn wanted to identify with someone who had a happy and not at all messed up relationship with an older dude.
Uh, person. Other person. Right.
And then the lights came up, and it was intermission time.
*
“Well,” Artie said, and didn’t get any further because suddenly there were a lot of voices at once.
“Did you see his arms?” Quinn asked
“Forget the arms,” Santana said, her face reluctantly impressed, “did you see the stomach?”
“Stomach? You were aiming too low. That chest, by the pantheon of Greek gods, that chest.”
“Wait, are you saying Mr Schue has better guns than me?”
“I think that you are all missing the point - that Mr Schue has the appropriate voice for the role, and the acting skills to carry the part.”
“You mean he has the ripped body to carry the part. I mean ripped.”
“Because no one has better guns than the Puckster.”
“Was I the only one who felt a little weird watching that?” Artie asked.
“I still feel a little weird,” Finn replied, and then regretted it the moment Rachel smiled slyly at him.
“I hope Mr Schue manages to copy all of the sheet music,” Tina said to Artie, moving to sit on his lap so they could talk closely. “We could do a whole South Pacific revue for Glee.” Finn moved away, giving them their space to scheme.
“Thanks for the heads up, Rachel,” Finn said, standing close to her.
“What do you mean?” Rachel asked innocently. “Are you implying that I withheld information from you with the sole intention of making you uncomfortable? And why would you be uncomfortable seeing your favourite piece of meat- uh, I mean, your favourite teacher in such a complex and occasionally shirtless role?”
“See?” Finn said grumpily. “This is why I never tell you anything.”
Rachel batted her eyelashes at him in response. Then the bell sounded, and it was time for the second act.
“Puck, shut up, you’re arms are fine,” Quinn said, and led them back into the theatre.
*
The second act started with Will looking wet, and with his shirt still off. And he was down to a pair of white underpants as he nearly got engaged to Liat.
“I’m sending the costuming department flowers,” Kurt whispered.
Finn crossed one leg over the other, and did his best to pay attention to the plot and things like that. But there was a moment when this big drop of water started rolling down Will’s chest. And an entire row of heads tilted to watch its progress. But then Will put his palm flat to his chest to wipe it away, and suddenly there was a lot less air in the theatre because a bunch of people inhaled sharply all at once.
“I do so love a man in uniform,” Kurt sighed.
“Honey, he’s barely wearing anything at all. Just dog tags and some regulation man panties.”
“Yes,” Kurt purred, making Finn feel incredibly uncomfortable. “I love a man like that even more.”
“Boy, you need to calm down or I’m taking you out and hosing you off.”
“These pants are dry clean only,” Kurt hissed back. “You wouldn’t dare.”
There was more plot with Nellie and her being upset, but Finn was thinking about Cable and Liat. About how young she was, and about he wasn’t really all that old, and how they were worlds apart but so in love, and how if you were in love then you could find all of these things in common. Finn imagined what happy talk with Will would be like, and daydreamed his way through the Thanksgiving Day concert on stage, though he could hear Artie and Puck riffing on it.
“I think we have a contestant for sexiest man on stage,” Artie joked as Luther - played by an incredibly unimpressed looking Bryan Ryan - hula’d across the stage.
“You have strange tastes,” Tina whispered back, and then giggled at Artie’s spluttering.
But then Will was back. Wearing pants again, sadly, but his shirt was unbuttoned and he looked like a lost puppy, and was apparently getting over malaria and/or a broken heart. He started singing again, about Cable’s girl back home in Philadelphia. It was a nice, normal life, and Will did a very good job of looking like that wasn’t what he wanted at all. Finn paused for a moment to wonder how much Will identified with his role.
And then he was singing about being taught not to like people, his voice all hard and bitter, and his face kind of twisted in a way that went straight to Finn’s gut, and filled him with guilt. Because while he was talking about Polynesians and racism - and yes, Artie had done a good job of explaining things - Finn couldn’t help but think about how it was exactly the same with how people look at gays in Lima. At how hard some decisions were to make because of what other people think, of how hard it could be to even think about things sometimes, because it could be so fucking dangerous. Finn looked down the row at Kurt, who was tearing up a little. He wasn’t alone in his thoughts, clearly.
“Why did Nellie leave him?” Tina asked as Will and the guy playing the French man sang together. “Emile is so wonderful.”
“Forget Emile and Nellie,” Kurt whispered back, dabbing at his eyes. “I want Cable and Emile to hook up.”
There was a pause as they all considered that. “Their manlove would be a most tender and heartbroken duet,” Rachel said at last.
“Forget the singing,” Mercedes replied. “So long as neither of them wears shirts, I’m sold on the idea.”
“His arms aren’t that great,” Puck sulked, and then get shushed once again by the annoyed lady behind them.
And then Cable was on an aeroplane in camouflage gear, and Finn was paying attention to the story again.
“Does this end badly?” he asked.
“For whom?” Artie asked back.
“Ah.”
And then Finn watched as Cable and Emile reported from the island, and as Nellie found out where her Frenchman had gone, and there was a scene with Emile’s last message, about how his good friend Cable... Finn teared up a little bit, and thankfully there was a scene with Nellie staring out to the island and the instrumental for ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ playing before she apologised to the ocean because Emile just wasn’t there, because that meant that Finn wasn’t the only one sniffling.
Oh god, and then Bloody Mary and Liat asked Nellie about Cable, and there were people out and out crying.
“Give her twenty minutes with me,” Puck whispered. “I’ll make her forget about that-ouch!” The woman behind Puck shushed him again, and when he protested his innocence, Quinn worked her magic again. Finn knew from experience that she had sharp fingers.
Onstage Nellie and Emile were re-united, and the audience started to applaud. The cast came out for their bows, starting with the chorus and working up. When Will came out for his bow, flanked by the women who played Liat and Bloody Mary, the row of glee kids cheered, and one very piercing wolf whistle came from somewhere in the middle of the row. Rachel actually stood up to applaud the woman who played Nellie, and Tina blew a kiss to the man who played Emile, and then had to kiss Artie on the cheek to get back into his good books. Then the curtain closed, and the main cast came out again for a second bow. Will looked flushed, and happy, and didn’t even seem fazed when Puck hollered “Take it off!” and Kurt added “Again!”
They filed out of the theatre and milled excitedly around the foyer. “That was pretty good,” Finn said.
“He was really good,” Tina agreed with a proud grin. “I knew he could do it.”
“He was especially good in that part with his shirt off,” Quinn added, smirking at Puck.
“Which part?” Santana asked, inspecting her nails and doing her best to look bored. “That was like, half of the play.”
“I think that whole section was pretty solid,” Kurt said.
“Wait,” Brittany looked between Santana and Kurt. “Who was shirtless? Was it me?”
“No,” Kurt explained. “It was Mr Schue.”
“Aww,” Brittany looked sad. “I fell asleep.”
“He looked pretty good,” Santana told her. “Especially since he’s, like, forty.”
“No way,” Mercedes replied. “He’s thirty.”
“Thirty three,” Artie corrected.
“In March.” Finn blinked, and realised that everyone was staring at him. “Uhh, where’s Rachel?”
“Here I am, stop worrying!” Rachel called.
“We barely even started,” Mercedes muttered to Kurt.
Rachel happily skipped up to the group, holding a bouquet of red roses. “I went to the florist across the street, and bought these to congratulate Mr Schue,” she explained. “As Finn and I are co-captains of Glee, I nominate us to act as representatives of the group in expressing our appreciation of his performance.”
Kurt scowled at her. “You just want an excuse to walk in on him changing,” he said.
Rachel looked stunned. “You’re right!” she exclaimed, startling everyone. “It would be entirely inappropriate for one of his female students to be put in such a potential position.” She turned to Finn resolutely, shoving the flowers into his arms. “Finn, you’re going to have to go alone.”
“What?!” Finn yelped. But by then the mob mentality had filtered through his so-called friends, and he was met with grinning faces and hands shoving him towards the door backstage. “But- But I really don’t see why we can’t just-”
“Sorry, Finn,” Quinn said. “It’s your duty.”
Rachel beamed at him, though there was a glint in her eye. “You’re clearly the best man for the job.”
Finn liked it better when the two of them were arguing. But then he was shoved through a door which was pulled firmly shut - with Puck shouting “And tell him his arms aren’t that great,” after him - and he was having to explain to an incredibly hairy guy with a beard that looked like it could eat children that he was from the high school Glee club and that he wanted to see Mr Schuester.
Backstage wasn’t the way Finn had imagined it would be. The carpet was faded, the lights were yellowed, and the few changing rooms he could see into were tiny spaces crammed with people and lockers. Finn was pointed to an open door, and nearly walked right into Emile - or rather, the man who played him.
“Flowers!” he exclaimed. “For me?”
“Uh, no,” Finn said, keeping a firm grip on the bouquet. “But my friend Tina loved you.”
“Ah! Onwards then, to my adoring public!” and he swept past with as much drama as could be mustered in the small space. Finn watched him go, bewildered, and only came back to the present when he heard a quiet laugh behind him.
“Don’t worry,” Will told him, “he’s always like that.”
Finn stared at Will, and swallowed. He was in the middle of changing, the shirt from his last scene was hanging over a chair, and long fingers were pulling at the laces of his boots. “Was I okay?” Will asked.
“You were...” Finn searched for words, and couldn’t find any because Will was straightening up and running a hand through his sweat-damp hair. The thud of feet along the hallway reminded Finn that this wasn’t a dream, and that there were people around. He gently pushed the door closed. “You were great,” he said at last, and fell more than a little in love with the relieved smile Will gave him.
“Rachel bought these for you,” Finn said suddenly, thrusting the flowers out in front of him. “But I think they’re meant to be from all of us. We all came. To see you, I mean. I don’t know if you know.”
Will’s smile turned amused. “I had figured it out,” he replied. “I think Kurt’s jacket could be seen from space.”
“Yeah,” Finn replied, and then couldn’t find any words to follow it. Will leant past him to stick the flowers in a cup half-full of water, and made sure that they stayed propped up by the mirror of the dressing room. He smelled like sweat, mainly, and deodorant, and a little bit like those wipes for removing make up that Kurt used. The dog tags that were still around his neck clinked together as he moved, a small noise that hadn’t been heard in the theatre. Without thinking about it, Finn reached out, and closed his hand around those pieces of metal, and his knuckles brushed against the hot smooth skin of Will’s chest. They both froze.
“Finn,” Will said, and couldn’t say any more because Finn hauled him forwards by his dog tags and pressed their mouths together in a hard, mindless action. Lips were bruised as teeth clashed together, and they both pulled apart to suck in a breath before Finn’s mouth was on Will’s again, lips aligned and slightly parted, and when Finn swiped his tongue across his teacher’s lower lip their mouths tasted the same.
“Finn,” Will said again as he pulled back, though he couldn’t pull far because Finn still had his large hand wrapped around those dog tags. “This isn’t a great idea.”
“It’s an amazing idea,” Fin replied, his lips brushing over Will’s as he spoke.
“You’re my student-”
“Not until school starts again.”
“You’re young.”
“I’m old enough,” Finn replied, and he looked Will squarely in the eyes. “And are you honestly going to tell me that there aren’t any exceptions to the age thing? Look at Cable and Liat.”
“Firstly, they’re both fictional characters. And secondly, that didn’t end very well.”
“Okay then,” Finn said, pausing to run a hand down Will’s side. Will shivered a little, and Finn loved it. “Look at Nellie and Emile.”
“Emile wasn’t Nellie’s Spanish teacher,” Will shot back, but Finn was kissing him again, with his hand possessively gripping Will’s hip and his fingers tangling in the chain of the dog tags and hauling him close. When they pulled apart, they were both panting a little.
“How about because this feels good?” Finn asked. “How about this feeling right? How about us being the same kind of people. Fundamentally, I mean.”
“How about the part where I go to jail for molesting a minor?” Will asked, but his eyes are dark and his hands were gripping at Finn’s shoulders and the back of his neck, and when Finn kissed him again Will arched up against him.
Finn moved a hand around to grab at Will’s ass, grinding them together. “How about I do the molesting then?” he asked, before lowering his mouth and placing open mouthed kisses along the damp skin of Will’s neck.
There was a sharp rap at the door. “Hey kiddo? You in there?”
“Oh fuck,” Will hissed, shoving Finn back so hard that Finn stumbled, and fell down onto the battered arm chair by the door. “My parents. Fuck.”
Finn was torn between being mortified at nearly being busted, intrigued by hearing Will swear, and a little smug at the bulge pressed hard against the front of Will’s uniform pants.
“Come in,” Will called as he grabbed his jeans and a shirt off the back of a chair, and disappeared behind a privacy screen. Finn was suddenly crossing his legs and shuffling about and doing his best not to look at all incriminating when Will’s parents walked in, except oh god if it wasn’t the woman who had been sitting behind Puck.
“You guys remember Finn, right?” Will called over the sound of material being shed. Finn had to hold his hand out and shake hands with Will’s dad while doing his best not to think about the fact that Will was pantsless only a few feet away.
“From the boyband, right?” Will’s dad asked him.
“Yeah,” Finn replied, with his best attempt at a smile. “And I’m in Glee, too.”
“Great, great,” Will’s dad said, and thankfully that seemed to be the end of the conversation.
“You were wonderful, honey,” Will’s mom said, and hiccupped a little.
“Doodle and I are very proud of you,” his father agreed.
Will popped out from behind the screen as he pulled his shirt down over his head, and accepted a kiss on the cheek from his mother. It was a very wholesome, very family-oriented moment, and Finn felt incredibly awkward.
“I see someone beat us to getting you flowers,” his mother said.
“Yeah, the Glee kids,” Will said, as he peered into the mirror and scrubbed at his face.
“Oh, aren’t you all darlings,” and then Finn was getting pinched on the cheek by Will’s mom, and damnit if Will wasn’t laughing at him with his eyes.
“Sorry to kick you out,” Will said, managing to get the door open despite the crowd of four whole people in the dressing room, “but I’m pretty sure that I stink and I need to finish cleaning up.”
“Of course,” his dad said, pulling Doodle away from Finn. “We still on for dinner tonight?”
“Of course,” Will replied, and gave his father another quick hug before firmly shooing his parents out of the room, and leaning heavily against the door with an exhausted sigh, making Finn smile.
“Well,” Finn said at length. “That sure killed the mood.”
“Killing the mood was a good thing,” Will replied, and he had this stern, teacherly look on his face. But when Finn stood up, there was a tension in the room that didn’t feel a whole lot like those times when Mr Schue the teacher had been mad at Finn the student. It was barely a step across the room before Finn was pressed flush against Will’s body, and damn if Will didn’t arch his back just a touch and if his eyes didn’t close a little and if his lips didn’t part just that tiny, fascinating bit.
“I want you,” Finn said, and when Will shivered a little he said it again. “I want you. I want you here, and now. Or at home. Or at school. Or in your car. I’ve wanted you over the past year, and I’m going to want you into the next. And I’m not going to stop wanting you.” He kissed Will, and it was a little slower, languid. “I’m not going to stop wanting this.”
Will paused to lick his lips, and Finn couldn’t tear his eyes away from the simple sweep of tongue over skin. “This is still a really bad idea.”
“I think we’ve both had worse.” When Finn Kissed Will, Will’s arms came up to wrap around his neck, and the skin at the small of Will’s back was damp and hot when Finn slid his fingers under Will’s shirt. “I mean, I think we should have sex right here in the dressing room.”
Will dropped his head down onto Finn’s shoulder and groaned, the noise cut off at the end as he sucked kissed against the skin of Finn’s neck. “That,” he said, his voice rough, “is definitely a worse idea.”
But despite it being a worse idea, when Finn kissed Will again their bodies pressed together, and Will stood up on tiptoe, hooked one leg around Finn’s thigh, and ground against Finn’s hip. And, as much as Finn liked the idea of them doing that all day, the reality was that if Will kept arching up like that and making those needy sounds, Finn just wasn’t going to last long enough. He pressed Will more firmly against the door of the dressing room, and grabbed at Will’s hips, lifting him up just a little. And Will was clearly one step ahead of Finn because his legs were wrapped around Finn’s waist before Finn could even suck a breath in, and the feel of Will’s hard cock pressed against his stomach made it impossible not to buck his hips, dry humping Will up against a door. And yes, Finn would be contemplating this moment later.
It was oh so good, but Finn had been watching Will parade around in a hell of a lot less clothing for over an hour. He managed to fumble the button of Will’s jeans open with one hand, and then slide it down the back of his pants, grabbing at Will’s ass.
“Oh god,” Finn said. “You’re not wearing underpants.”
“I couldn’t find them after the second act,” Will replied, gasping and arching as Finn squeezed the handful of flesh. All Finn had to do was slide his hand around, and he would be grasping Will’s cock. Will’s cock that was hard and wanting and pressed against his stomach. And Will clearly wanted it because he was kissing Finn like he didn’t need air, a hand fisted in Finn’s hair to angle his head right, and his hips were rolling and bucking against Finn. Or maybe it was Finn’s hands guiding the movements. Finn didn’t know. He just knew that this was the hottest moment of his life, and he didn’t want it to end.
“Hey Schuester!” a voice yelled, followed by three sharp raps on the door.
Will groaned, and let his head fall back, banging it against the wood several times. “Fucking Bryan,” he mumbled, before taking a long, steadying breath “Yeah?” he called back.
“You’ve got something like twenty kids out here,” Bryan called back. “They’re causing a fire hazard.”
“Fuck fuck fuck,” Will muttered, pausing only to swat at Finn when he lowered his head to suck at Will’s neck. “I’ll be out in a sec,” he yelled. “There’s just some broken glass in here I need to clean up.”
Will pressed his hands against Finn’s chest, and Finn reluctantly let him down. And shamelessly watched as Will tucked all of his various bits back into his jeans.
“There’s no broken glass in here,” he said.
Will reached over and yanked a light bulb out of the fixture above the dressing room mirror, and smashed it on the table top. He reached out and smoothed Finn’s hair down, and did a cursory check to see how debauched he looked. Finn thought that he still looked pretty fuckable, but he probably had a bias. And knowing that Will had no underpants on probably helped. Actually, it helped a lot.
“Do you know where the bin from here went?” Will asked as he pulled the door open. “We’ve got crap lying around everywhere since it went missing.”
“Oh,” Bryan said, “was that your bin? Because it had a star on it, so I figured it was meant for people with talent.”
“Sorry, Bryan,” Will replied with a sweet smile on his face, “I can’t hear you over the sound of my solos.”
Bryan sneered at Will, before looking him up and down. “You look a little out of breath, Schuester. You never did have a great lung capacity.” And with that he turned, and stalked down the hallway.
“Wow,” Tina said. “Are you guys like that all the time?”
“Pretty much,” Will replied. “Except on Thursdays when we go and do karaoke down at Al’s Bingo Hall. How was the show?”
And the dressing room was suddenly piled high with Glee kids, the sound of Rachel gushing and Tina’s happy laugh, Kurt’s praise of the set design and costuming, and Puck’s sullen admission that it was ‘alright’.
“So,” Mercedes said, putting a hand on her hip. “We’ve been talking about doing the school play this year.”
“Oh yeah?” Will asked, shuffling around Artie to grab his bag.
“Yes,” Rachel replied primly. “We had plenty of time before finding you after the show.” Finn did his best to look innocent, but his ears were flaming. “We want to do a musical.”
“One with lots of leading characters,” Mercedes said firmly.
“And dancing,” Mike chipped in.
“And creative freedom for set design and a large budget for costuming,” Kurt added.
“Well,” Will paused, thinking. “I’m sure we can find something.” And the whole group was swept up in chatter and ideas, and as Will ushered them out into the hall and back to the entrance Finn completely failed to get caught up in it. He had been so freaking close.
“Well,” he said awkwardly, as everyone piled into Kurt’s baby and Matt’s van.
“You should come see the show again,” Will said, waving to Rachel as she climbed into Kurt’s car.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Will’s said, and when he turned back to Finn his eyes were dark and his mouth had this little smile at the edges.
“Okay,” Finn said, his face splitting into a grin. “Sure. Great. That’s a great idea.” And then he clambered into Matt’s van before Will could retract the invitation.
“You sure took your sweet-ass time back there,” Puck said when the door slammed shut and Matt put the van into gear. “Were you and Mr Schue making out backstage or something?”
“No,” Finn replied, staring out the window. “He was just showing me some stuff.” Finn spent the rest of the ride home thinking. Thinking about Will, and the cramped dressing room, and the awesome-hot, bad-idea moments of kissing and touching and groping.
And he came up with a few more bad ideas.
Rating: M
Characters: Ensemble and its associated pairings. Will’s parents! Bryan Ryan! All with a healthy smack of Winn.
Word count: 6,200-ish
Summary: Mr. Schue is in a community theatre production of South Pacific and his glee kids of course show up to support their favourite teacher. Tina is helpful, Puck won’t shut up, Finn doesn’t spend a whole lot of time watching the play, and someone gets molested in a dressing room.
Notes: While I have seen South Pacific on stage, it has been a long time, so any big deviations from the stage production that you spot are probably due to me watching the movie while writing this. I also tried really hard to hit an R with this fic, but it just had other ideas. I’m sorry.
In an odd way, Tina was the catalyst for this particular, shirt-lacking adventure. After Will had done the gentlemanly thing and handed his role in Les Mis over to Bryan Ryan, Tina had walked up to him after rehearsal and said “I hope you try out again next time.”
“I don’t know,” Will had said, slipping sheet music back into his bag. “In all honesty, I don’t know that I have the free time. This is probably a good thing.”
“Try out,” Tina had insisted with a warm smile, and then hurried out to catch up with Artie.
And, despite being oddly shy most of the time, she could be passionately persistent. Theatre newsletters started turning up in Will’s pigeon hole. Adds for singers/actors/dancers wanted were clipped out of newspapers and handed in with homework. And, the very same day that Will had told his kids that they would have the summer off to enjoy themselves, Tina walked up to him and thrust a notice for open auditions at him.
“You’ve got three months of free time now,” she’d said. Will couldn’t argue with that. “And it’d be good for the team. How many Glee coaches actually perform these days? You’d have a different perspective. And you could give the rest of us advice on how to get roles and things. And you’d probably really enjoy it.”
And Will couldn’t argue with any of that either.
“Okay,” he’d said. “But if I get a role, you sing a solo next year. Deal?”
Tina beamed at him. “Deal.”
*
“Mr Schue got a role in South Pacific,” Artie said, a big cheesy smile on his face, as he rolled up to the table at the food court.
“I knew he would,” Rachel said primly, reaching for her super large milk shake.
“Of course you did,” Finn replied. Their on-again-off-again relationship was in the transition stage between on and off at the moment. “Who’s he playing?”
“Do you even know any of the roles in South Pacific?” Rachel asked.
“No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know,” Finn shot back.
“Why? So you can google it later? If you paid any attention at all to my discussion of landmark musicals and their representation of specific historical periods and conflicts, you would already have a sound understanding of South Pacific.”
“Why would I need to memorise it when I could just ask you later?” Finn replied.
“He’s Lieutenant Cable,” Tina said, interrupting the fight. Rachel spluttered, and had to clap a hand to her mouth to avoid spilling milkshake down her front.
“I guess that’s a good role then?” Finn asked drily.
“I think he’ll play it well,” Rachel said when she finally calmed down.
“I’m sure he will,” Finn agreed coolly.
“We should go see it when it opens,” Artie suggested, preparing to shoot back from the table should it become ground zero to another Finn-Rachel detonation.
“That’s a great idea,” Rachel said, glaring at Finn.
“I’m surprised you didn’t come up with it,” Finn agreed.
“Right,” Tina said, gently pulling Artie’s chair away. “We’ll organise it. You two can just, you know, organise yourselves.”
Rachel turned sharply. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We have to go,” Artie said quickly, and they evacuated the scene.
*
Will wasn’t onstage until after the first song, ‘Nothing Like a Dame’ which Puck really got into. “Wow,” he whispered shortly after. “This thing has nurses too? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” He was shushed by the woman sitting behind him, and would have flipped her off if Quinn hadn’t grabbed his arm firmly.
“Hey Lieu-tellen,” Bloody Mary said on stage, “you sexy man.”
There was a quiet snickering from the row of gleeks. “Our ‘lieu-tellen’ is never going to live this down,” Puck whispered loudly.
“Shhh,” Tina whispered back, “this is my song.” She swayed back and forth gently in her seat to ’Bali Ha’i’.
“You’re singing ’Bali Ha’i’?” Rachel hissed down the line.
“What? Don’t tell me that you have some deep connection to this one, too?” Mercedes hissed back.
“Guys,” Artie whispered. “Please.”
“Fine,” Rachel hissed back. “But during intermission, we are going to discuss this.” And that particular argument was put on hold for a while.
Finn did his best to sit comfortably in the theatre seats that were a little too small for a guy as tall as he was. He tried to pay attention to Will and his character. Lieutenant Joseph Cable, a marine. There was plot happening on stage. Something about a Frenchman, but Finn - sitting at the opposite end of the row to Rachel - wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to that. He was pretty sure he’d be able to pick up on it later. Now a nurse was chatting with a much older man with a mellow French accent, and breaking into song.
“I’ll show you ‘Cock-eye’,” Puck whispers again, earning him another shush from the woman behind, and an elbow to his side from Rachel.
“Why do people have to sing about their feelings all the times in these things?” Santana asked, stifling a yawn.
“Because it’s a musical,” Rachel hissed back.
“But they never sing to each other. They sing to themselves, and then act surprised when someone overhears.”
“She has a point,” Artie joined in. “Everything would be resolved a lot more quickly if people just talked honestly about their feelings.”
“Right,” Kurt said. “When have you ever known anybody to do that?”
“Shh,” Mercedes hissed, louder than anyone else. “If we get kicked out, Mr Schue will never forgive us.”
“Yeah he will,” Finn whispered back.
“He’ll forgive some of us,” Rachel whispered pointedly.
“Shush up,” Kurt said. “This is the best song.”
They sat back and listened to the song about some enchanted evening. Finn identified with it a little too well, the feel of being pulled to someone from across a room, of wanting to claim them, of not wanting to let go even if it does seem impossible. Story of his life, right? Quinn, who didn’t like to be touched (by him), Rachel, who was always more interesting when she wasn’t plastered to his side. And then, well...
He snuck a look to his right, and saw Artie and Tina holding hands, and then he looked down the aisle on his other side to Kurt and Mercedes with their arms linked together. Brittany had her head resting on Santana’s shoulder, and Puck and Quinn were too far away from him to make out. Rachel was at the far end of the row, staring passionately at the stage. Mike looked back down the row from Rachel’s other side, and waved at Finn. Finn waved back.
Onstage there was something about killing some dude in France, and Finn tried to tune back into the play. But there were kids singing in French, and there was just no way that Finn could keep up with that. He could hear Rachel softly singing along, all the way down her end of the row, and tried not to cringe. But then Will was on stage again, and it was easier for Finn to follow along. Will looked good in the khaki uniform, the pants tight and fitted, the brown belt and boots, the revolver sitting along the right thigh.
Maybe Finn wasn’t paying all that much attention to the play.
“I could handle having her job,” Kurt whispered down the line. “Seducing rich French men to get to their sordid pasts.”
“Even old men?” Mercedes asked.
“Older men are just more experienced,” Kurt said, in time with the scene on the stage.
“Amen,” Finn murmured under his breath, and pretended not to notice when Artie and Tina turned to look at him.
“Awesome,” Puck whispered from down the line. “Hot nurse shower scene.”
“Singing nurse shower scene,” Santana corrected.
“I’m a nurse,” Brittany contributed. “Sometimes.”
Puck didn’t comment, but that may have something to do with the death grip Quinn had on his hand. He was learning.
There was a song about loving a wonderful guy, and Finn identified with that one just a smidgeon too much again, and just when he was starting to feel a little sad and awkward, Will was on stage again. Sitting moodily on a desk and looking intently at a French man. The Frenchman stepped close to Cable and said “The probability of death is very great,” and Finn thought he could hear Kurt swoon a little.
“The Japanese?” Finn whispered to Artie. “Which war is this?”
“The second one,” Artie whispered back.
“Oh. Wait, how many have there been?”
Artie gave Finn a look that was mostly hidden by the dimness of the theatre. “I’ll catch you up in the interval,” he said.
Puck snorted a laugh. “Mr Schue is going to pimp island,” he whispered as Lt Cable walked across the shore of Bali Ha’i. Finn didn’t say anything. No one said anything. Because Will was suddenly very much onstage. Shirtless. Very shirtless, and onstage. And all Finn could think was that while Will had looked good in uniform, he looked even better with most of it missing. The uniform pants riding low on his hips, the little khaki cap, the way his dog tags hung down his chest. His very well defined chest. There were muscles and skin and no hair except for this little trail below his belly button and it looked good and slightly slick under the stage lights. Lights which caught on the bright shine of the dog tags and the dark flesh of a nipple.
Finn was totally staring at Mr Schue’s nipples. This was the greatest musical ever.
“Doesn’t Mr Schue usually have chest hair?” Rachel whispered.
“Yeah, he does,” Finn whispered back.
“Alright,” Mercedes piped up from the middle of the row. “I want to know how it is that both of you know that.”
“Oh my lords Dolce and Gabbana,” Kurt breathed. “He’s waxed.”
“How can you tell it’s wax?” Santana asked. “He could have just shaved his chest.”
“No,” Kurt whispered back, “You can tell by the way his skin shines. See?”
They all paused for a moment, and saw that his chest was indeed smooth and a little shiny.
“Maybe he put some oil on?” Santana pointed out.
Finn thought about that, and then kind of wished he’d waited until he’d been alone to think of that. He shuffled in his seat, trying to find the right way to cross his legs without kicking Tina on one side or Santana on the other.
And then Will was making out with this hot chick who lived on an island maybe, and Finn was shamelessly staring at the way Will’s arms held her close, the way the muscles in his back moved as he leaned her back and kissed her passionately. Finn could see a lot of back, even where those pants low on his hips were being tugged down. He wondered if Will was wearing underpants, and then regretted it.
Will was singing about springtime and being young, and Finn listened with his chin on his palm and his eyes wide. He hadn’t heard Will sing like this, the closest would probably be Endless Love, and he had been too busy laughing at Will and Rachel at the time to pay much attention. But yeah, he had a good voice. A really good, kind of sweet and yearning voice.
“He’s good,” Mercedes whispered.
“Yeah,” Kurt whispered back. “Good and shirtless.”
“Kurt, honey, we covered the shirtless thing already.”
“Covering that chest is the last thing I want to do,” Kurt replied, sounding a little breathless. Finn wished that he was able to say whatever he thought like Kurt could, but at the same time he kind of wished that Kurt would shut the hell up.
The scene was over, but Finn was very confident that no one was paying much attention to Nellie and her sugar daddy. He sure wasn’t. Right up until Emile said “Yes, we are in love,” and Nellie said “No, more than that. We’re the same kind of people, fundamentally.”
Finn needed to stop identifying with her. Especially when she went and got all upset and left in tears. Finn wanted to identify with someone who had a happy and not at all messed up relationship with an older dude.
Uh, person. Other person. Right.
And then the lights came up, and it was intermission time.
*
“Well,” Artie said, and didn’t get any further because suddenly there were a lot of voices at once.
“Did you see his arms?” Quinn asked
“Forget the arms,” Santana said, her face reluctantly impressed, “did you see the stomach?”
“Stomach? You were aiming too low. That chest, by the pantheon of Greek gods, that chest.”
“Wait, are you saying Mr Schue has better guns than me?”
“I think that you are all missing the point - that Mr Schue has the appropriate voice for the role, and the acting skills to carry the part.”
“You mean he has the ripped body to carry the part. I mean ripped.”
“Because no one has better guns than the Puckster.”
“Was I the only one who felt a little weird watching that?” Artie asked.
“I still feel a little weird,” Finn replied, and then regretted it the moment Rachel smiled slyly at him.
“I hope Mr Schue manages to copy all of the sheet music,” Tina said to Artie, moving to sit on his lap so they could talk closely. “We could do a whole South Pacific revue for Glee.” Finn moved away, giving them their space to scheme.
“Thanks for the heads up, Rachel,” Finn said, standing close to her.
“What do you mean?” Rachel asked innocently. “Are you implying that I withheld information from you with the sole intention of making you uncomfortable? And why would you be uncomfortable seeing your favourite piece of meat- uh, I mean, your favourite teacher in such a complex and occasionally shirtless role?”
“See?” Finn said grumpily. “This is why I never tell you anything.”
Rachel batted her eyelashes at him in response. Then the bell sounded, and it was time for the second act.
“Puck, shut up, you’re arms are fine,” Quinn said, and led them back into the theatre.
*
The second act started with Will looking wet, and with his shirt still off. And he was down to a pair of white underpants as he nearly got engaged to Liat.
“I’m sending the costuming department flowers,” Kurt whispered.
Finn crossed one leg over the other, and did his best to pay attention to the plot and things like that. But there was a moment when this big drop of water started rolling down Will’s chest. And an entire row of heads tilted to watch its progress. But then Will put his palm flat to his chest to wipe it away, and suddenly there was a lot less air in the theatre because a bunch of people inhaled sharply all at once.
“I do so love a man in uniform,” Kurt sighed.
“Honey, he’s barely wearing anything at all. Just dog tags and some regulation man panties.”
“Yes,” Kurt purred, making Finn feel incredibly uncomfortable. “I love a man like that even more.”
“Boy, you need to calm down or I’m taking you out and hosing you off.”
“These pants are dry clean only,” Kurt hissed back. “You wouldn’t dare.”
There was more plot with Nellie and her being upset, but Finn was thinking about Cable and Liat. About how young she was, and about he wasn’t really all that old, and how they were worlds apart but so in love, and how if you were in love then you could find all of these things in common. Finn imagined what happy talk with Will would be like, and daydreamed his way through the Thanksgiving Day concert on stage, though he could hear Artie and Puck riffing on it.
“I think we have a contestant for sexiest man on stage,” Artie joked as Luther - played by an incredibly unimpressed looking Bryan Ryan - hula’d across the stage.
“You have strange tastes,” Tina whispered back, and then giggled at Artie’s spluttering.
But then Will was back. Wearing pants again, sadly, but his shirt was unbuttoned and he looked like a lost puppy, and was apparently getting over malaria and/or a broken heart. He started singing again, about Cable’s girl back home in Philadelphia. It was a nice, normal life, and Will did a very good job of looking like that wasn’t what he wanted at all. Finn paused for a moment to wonder how much Will identified with his role.
And then he was singing about being taught not to like people, his voice all hard and bitter, and his face kind of twisted in a way that went straight to Finn’s gut, and filled him with guilt. Because while he was talking about Polynesians and racism - and yes, Artie had done a good job of explaining things - Finn couldn’t help but think about how it was exactly the same with how people look at gays in Lima. At how hard some decisions were to make because of what other people think, of how hard it could be to even think about things sometimes, because it could be so fucking dangerous. Finn looked down the row at Kurt, who was tearing up a little. He wasn’t alone in his thoughts, clearly.
“Why did Nellie leave him?” Tina asked as Will and the guy playing the French man sang together. “Emile is so wonderful.”
“Forget Emile and Nellie,” Kurt whispered back, dabbing at his eyes. “I want Cable and Emile to hook up.”
There was a pause as they all considered that. “Their manlove would be a most tender and heartbroken duet,” Rachel said at last.
“Forget the singing,” Mercedes replied. “So long as neither of them wears shirts, I’m sold on the idea.”
“His arms aren’t that great,” Puck sulked, and then get shushed once again by the annoyed lady behind them.
And then Cable was on an aeroplane in camouflage gear, and Finn was paying attention to the story again.
“Does this end badly?” he asked.
“For whom?” Artie asked back.
“Ah.”
And then Finn watched as Cable and Emile reported from the island, and as Nellie found out where her Frenchman had gone, and there was a scene with Emile’s last message, about how his good friend Cable... Finn teared up a little bit, and thankfully there was a scene with Nellie staring out to the island and the instrumental for ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ playing before she apologised to the ocean because Emile just wasn’t there, because that meant that Finn wasn’t the only one sniffling.
Oh god, and then Bloody Mary and Liat asked Nellie about Cable, and there were people out and out crying.
“Give her twenty minutes with me,” Puck whispered. “I’ll make her forget about that-ouch!” The woman behind Puck shushed him again, and when he protested his innocence, Quinn worked her magic again. Finn knew from experience that she had sharp fingers.
Onstage Nellie and Emile were re-united, and the audience started to applaud. The cast came out for their bows, starting with the chorus and working up. When Will came out for his bow, flanked by the women who played Liat and Bloody Mary, the row of glee kids cheered, and one very piercing wolf whistle came from somewhere in the middle of the row. Rachel actually stood up to applaud the woman who played Nellie, and Tina blew a kiss to the man who played Emile, and then had to kiss Artie on the cheek to get back into his good books. Then the curtain closed, and the main cast came out again for a second bow. Will looked flushed, and happy, and didn’t even seem fazed when Puck hollered “Take it off!” and Kurt added “Again!”
They filed out of the theatre and milled excitedly around the foyer. “That was pretty good,” Finn said.
“He was really good,” Tina agreed with a proud grin. “I knew he could do it.”
“He was especially good in that part with his shirt off,” Quinn added, smirking at Puck.
“Which part?” Santana asked, inspecting her nails and doing her best to look bored. “That was like, half of the play.”
“I think that whole section was pretty solid,” Kurt said.
“Wait,” Brittany looked between Santana and Kurt. “Who was shirtless? Was it me?”
“No,” Kurt explained. “It was Mr Schue.”
“Aww,” Brittany looked sad. “I fell asleep.”
“He looked pretty good,” Santana told her. “Especially since he’s, like, forty.”
“No way,” Mercedes replied. “He’s thirty.”
“Thirty three,” Artie corrected.
“In March.” Finn blinked, and realised that everyone was staring at him. “Uhh, where’s Rachel?”
“Here I am, stop worrying!” Rachel called.
“We barely even started,” Mercedes muttered to Kurt.
Rachel happily skipped up to the group, holding a bouquet of red roses. “I went to the florist across the street, and bought these to congratulate Mr Schue,” she explained. “As Finn and I are co-captains of Glee, I nominate us to act as representatives of the group in expressing our appreciation of his performance.”
Kurt scowled at her. “You just want an excuse to walk in on him changing,” he said.
Rachel looked stunned. “You’re right!” she exclaimed, startling everyone. “It would be entirely inappropriate for one of his female students to be put in such a potential position.” She turned to Finn resolutely, shoving the flowers into his arms. “Finn, you’re going to have to go alone.”
“What?!” Finn yelped. But by then the mob mentality had filtered through his so-called friends, and he was met with grinning faces and hands shoving him towards the door backstage. “But- But I really don’t see why we can’t just-”
“Sorry, Finn,” Quinn said. “It’s your duty.”
Rachel beamed at him, though there was a glint in her eye. “You’re clearly the best man for the job.”
Finn liked it better when the two of them were arguing. But then he was shoved through a door which was pulled firmly shut - with Puck shouting “And tell him his arms aren’t that great,” after him - and he was having to explain to an incredibly hairy guy with a beard that looked like it could eat children that he was from the high school Glee club and that he wanted to see Mr Schuester.
Backstage wasn’t the way Finn had imagined it would be. The carpet was faded, the lights were yellowed, and the few changing rooms he could see into were tiny spaces crammed with people and lockers. Finn was pointed to an open door, and nearly walked right into Emile - or rather, the man who played him.
“Flowers!” he exclaimed. “For me?”
“Uh, no,” Finn said, keeping a firm grip on the bouquet. “But my friend Tina loved you.”
“Ah! Onwards then, to my adoring public!” and he swept past with as much drama as could be mustered in the small space. Finn watched him go, bewildered, and only came back to the present when he heard a quiet laugh behind him.
“Don’t worry,” Will told him, “he’s always like that.”
Finn stared at Will, and swallowed. He was in the middle of changing, the shirt from his last scene was hanging over a chair, and long fingers were pulling at the laces of his boots. “Was I okay?” Will asked.
“You were...” Finn searched for words, and couldn’t find any because Will was straightening up and running a hand through his sweat-damp hair. The thud of feet along the hallway reminded Finn that this wasn’t a dream, and that there were people around. He gently pushed the door closed. “You were great,” he said at last, and fell more than a little in love with the relieved smile Will gave him.
“Rachel bought these for you,” Finn said suddenly, thrusting the flowers out in front of him. “But I think they’re meant to be from all of us. We all came. To see you, I mean. I don’t know if you know.”
Will’s smile turned amused. “I had figured it out,” he replied. “I think Kurt’s jacket could be seen from space.”
“Yeah,” Finn replied, and then couldn’t find any words to follow it. Will leant past him to stick the flowers in a cup half-full of water, and made sure that they stayed propped up by the mirror of the dressing room. He smelled like sweat, mainly, and deodorant, and a little bit like those wipes for removing make up that Kurt used. The dog tags that were still around his neck clinked together as he moved, a small noise that hadn’t been heard in the theatre. Without thinking about it, Finn reached out, and closed his hand around those pieces of metal, and his knuckles brushed against the hot smooth skin of Will’s chest. They both froze.
“Finn,” Will said, and couldn’t say any more because Finn hauled him forwards by his dog tags and pressed their mouths together in a hard, mindless action. Lips were bruised as teeth clashed together, and they both pulled apart to suck in a breath before Finn’s mouth was on Will’s again, lips aligned and slightly parted, and when Finn swiped his tongue across his teacher’s lower lip their mouths tasted the same.
“Finn,” Will said again as he pulled back, though he couldn’t pull far because Finn still had his large hand wrapped around those dog tags. “This isn’t a great idea.”
“It’s an amazing idea,” Fin replied, his lips brushing over Will’s as he spoke.
“You’re my student-”
“Not until school starts again.”
“You’re young.”
“I’m old enough,” Finn replied, and he looked Will squarely in the eyes. “And are you honestly going to tell me that there aren’t any exceptions to the age thing? Look at Cable and Liat.”
“Firstly, they’re both fictional characters. And secondly, that didn’t end very well.”
“Okay then,” Finn said, pausing to run a hand down Will’s side. Will shivered a little, and Finn loved it. “Look at Nellie and Emile.”
“Emile wasn’t Nellie’s Spanish teacher,” Will shot back, but Finn was kissing him again, with his hand possessively gripping Will’s hip and his fingers tangling in the chain of the dog tags and hauling him close. When they pulled apart, they were both panting a little.
“How about because this feels good?” Finn asked. “How about this feeling right? How about us being the same kind of people. Fundamentally, I mean.”
“How about the part where I go to jail for molesting a minor?” Will asked, but his eyes are dark and his hands were gripping at Finn’s shoulders and the back of his neck, and when Finn kissed him again Will arched up against him.
Finn moved a hand around to grab at Will’s ass, grinding them together. “How about I do the molesting then?” he asked, before lowering his mouth and placing open mouthed kisses along the damp skin of Will’s neck.
There was a sharp rap at the door. “Hey kiddo? You in there?”
“Oh fuck,” Will hissed, shoving Finn back so hard that Finn stumbled, and fell down onto the battered arm chair by the door. “My parents. Fuck.”
Finn was torn between being mortified at nearly being busted, intrigued by hearing Will swear, and a little smug at the bulge pressed hard against the front of Will’s uniform pants.
“Come in,” Will called as he grabbed his jeans and a shirt off the back of a chair, and disappeared behind a privacy screen. Finn was suddenly crossing his legs and shuffling about and doing his best not to look at all incriminating when Will’s parents walked in, except oh god if it wasn’t the woman who had been sitting behind Puck.
“You guys remember Finn, right?” Will called over the sound of material being shed. Finn had to hold his hand out and shake hands with Will’s dad while doing his best not to think about the fact that Will was pantsless only a few feet away.
“From the boyband, right?” Will’s dad asked him.
“Yeah,” Finn replied, with his best attempt at a smile. “And I’m in Glee, too.”
“Great, great,” Will’s dad said, and thankfully that seemed to be the end of the conversation.
“You were wonderful, honey,” Will’s mom said, and hiccupped a little.
“Doodle and I are very proud of you,” his father agreed.
Will popped out from behind the screen as he pulled his shirt down over his head, and accepted a kiss on the cheek from his mother. It was a very wholesome, very family-oriented moment, and Finn felt incredibly awkward.
“I see someone beat us to getting you flowers,” his mother said.
“Yeah, the Glee kids,” Will said, as he peered into the mirror and scrubbed at his face.
“Oh, aren’t you all darlings,” and then Finn was getting pinched on the cheek by Will’s mom, and damnit if Will wasn’t laughing at him with his eyes.
“Sorry to kick you out,” Will said, managing to get the door open despite the crowd of four whole people in the dressing room, “but I’m pretty sure that I stink and I need to finish cleaning up.”
“Of course,” his dad said, pulling Doodle away from Finn. “We still on for dinner tonight?”
“Of course,” Will replied, and gave his father another quick hug before firmly shooing his parents out of the room, and leaning heavily against the door with an exhausted sigh, making Finn smile.
“Well,” Finn said at length. “That sure killed the mood.”
“Killing the mood was a good thing,” Will replied, and he had this stern, teacherly look on his face. But when Finn stood up, there was a tension in the room that didn’t feel a whole lot like those times when Mr Schue the teacher had been mad at Finn the student. It was barely a step across the room before Finn was pressed flush against Will’s body, and damn if Will didn’t arch his back just a touch and if his eyes didn’t close a little and if his lips didn’t part just that tiny, fascinating bit.
“I want you,” Finn said, and when Will shivered a little he said it again. “I want you. I want you here, and now. Or at home. Or at school. Or in your car. I’ve wanted you over the past year, and I’m going to want you into the next. And I’m not going to stop wanting you.” He kissed Will, and it was a little slower, languid. “I’m not going to stop wanting this.”
Will paused to lick his lips, and Finn couldn’t tear his eyes away from the simple sweep of tongue over skin. “This is still a really bad idea.”
“I think we’ve both had worse.” When Finn Kissed Will, Will’s arms came up to wrap around his neck, and the skin at the small of Will’s back was damp and hot when Finn slid his fingers under Will’s shirt. “I mean, I think we should have sex right here in the dressing room.”
Will dropped his head down onto Finn’s shoulder and groaned, the noise cut off at the end as he sucked kissed against the skin of Finn’s neck. “That,” he said, his voice rough, “is definitely a worse idea.”
But despite it being a worse idea, when Finn kissed Will again their bodies pressed together, and Will stood up on tiptoe, hooked one leg around Finn’s thigh, and ground against Finn’s hip. And, as much as Finn liked the idea of them doing that all day, the reality was that if Will kept arching up like that and making those needy sounds, Finn just wasn’t going to last long enough. He pressed Will more firmly against the door of the dressing room, and grabbed at Will’s hips, lifting him up just a little. And Will was clearly one step ahead of Finn because his legs were wrapped around Finn’s waist before Finn could even suck a breath in, and the feel of Will’s hard cock pressed against his stomach made it impossible not to buck his hips, dry humping Will up against a door. And yes, Finn would be contemplating this moment later.
It was oh so good, but Finn had been watching Will parade around in a hell of a lot less clothing for over an hour. He managed to fumble the button of Will’s jeans open with one hand, and then slide it down the back of his pants, grabbing at Will’s ass.
“Oh god,” Finn said. “You’re not wearing underpants.”
“I couldn’t find them after the second act,” Will replied, gasping and arching as Finn squeezed the handful of flesh. All Finn had to do was slide his hand around, and he would be grasping Will’s cock. Will’s cock that was hard and wanting and pressed against his stomach. And Will clearly wanted it because he was kissing Finn like he didn’t need air, a hand fisted in Finn’s hair to angle his head right, and his hips were rolling and bucking against Finn. Or maybe it was Finn’s hands guiding the movements. Finn didn’t know. He just knew that this was the hottest moment of his life, and he didn’t want it to end.
“Hey Schuester!” a voice yelled, followed by three sharp raps on the door.
Will groaned, and let his head fall back, banging it against the wood several times. “Fucking Bryan,” he mumbled, before taking a long, steadying breath “Yeah?” he called back.
“You’ve got something like twenty kids out here,” Bryan called back. “They’re causing a fire hazard.”
“Fuck fuck fuck,” Will muttered, pausing only to swat at Finn when he lowered his head to suck at Will’s neck. “I’ll be out in a sec,” he yelled. “There’s just some broken glass in here I need to clean up.”
Will pressed his hands against Finn’s chest, and Finn reluctantly let him down. And shamelessly watched as Will tucked all of his various bits back into his jeans.
“There’s no broken glass in here,” he said.
Will reached over and yanked a light bulb out of the fixture above the dressing room mirror, and smashed it on the table top. He reached out and smoothed Finn’s hair down, and did a cursory check to see how debauched he looked. Finn thought that he still looked pretty fuckable, but he probably had a bias. And knowing that Will had no underpants on probably helped. Actually, it helped a lot.
“Do you know where the bin from here went?” Will asked as he pulled the door open. “We’ve got crap lying around everywhere since it went missing.”
“Oh,” Bryan said, “was that your bin? Because it had a star on it, so I figured it was meant for people with talent.”
“Sorry, Bryan,” Will replied with a sweet smile on his face, “I can’t hear you over the sound of my solos.”
Bryan sneered at Will, before looking him up and down. “You look a little out of breath, Schuester. You never did have a great lung capacity.” And with that he turned, and stalked down the hallway.
“Wow,” Tina said. “Are you guys like that all the time?”
“Pretty much,” Will replied. “Except on Thursdays when we go and do karaoke down at Al’s Bingo Hall. How was the show?”
And the dressing room was suddenly piled high with Glee kids, the sound of Rachel gushing and Tina’s happy laugh, Kurt’s praise of the set design and costuming, and Puck’s sullen admission that it was ‘alright’.
“So,” Mercedes said, putting a hand on her hip. “We’ve been talking about doing the school play this year.”
“Oh yeah?” Will asked, shuffling around Artie to grab his bag.
“Yes,” Rachel replied primly. “We had plenty of time before finding you after the show.” Finn did his best to look innocent, but his ears were flaming. “We want to do a musical.”
“One with lots of leading characters,” Mercedes said firmly.
“And dancing,” Mike chipped in.
“And creative freedom for set design and a large budget for costuming,” Kurt added.
“Well,” Will paused, thinking. “I’m sure we can find something.” And the whole group was swept up in chatter and ideas, and as Will ushered them out into the hall and back to the entrance Finn completely failed to get caught up in it. He had been so freaking close.
“Well,” he said awkwardly, as everyone piled into Kurt’s baby and Matt’s van.
“You should come see the show again,” Will said, waving to Rachel as she climbed into Kurt’s car.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Will’s said, and when he turned back to Finn his eyes were dark and his mouth had this little smile at the edges.
“Okay,” Finn said, his face splitting into a grin. “Sure. Great. That’s a great idea.” And then he clambered into Matt’s van before Will could retract the invitation.
“You sure took your sweet-ass time back there,” Puck said when the door slammed shut and Matt put the van into gear. “Were you and Mr Schue making out backstage or something?”
“No,” Finn replied, staring out the window. “He was just showing me some stuff.” Finn spent the rest of the ride home thinking. Thinking about Will, and the cramped dressing room, and the awesome-hot, bad-idea moments of kissing and touching and groping.
And he came up with a few more bad ideas.