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finn-nelson-for-the-win · 6 years

Note

Finn + Rae 25? like them meeting thanks that one of them leaves a message in a book?

Hello love! Thank you for sending me this ficrequest nearly a month ago haha! (It’s related to this post, in case any of youforgot because it took me forever to finally post this) Once I wrote this Irealized that it’s not exactly what you asked for and it sort of took on a lifeof its own, but I hope you still like it nonetheless! :)

25. “I could tell it was your favorite bookbecause of all the notes you wrote in the margins.”

***

Finn looked around hesitantly as he tried tofind a sign that would point him in the direction of where he was trying to go.He never considered himself to be a studious person—he got decent grades whenhe was younger and he was able to at least pass his classes with the grades hewas getting in college—but as Finn stood in the entryway to the librarysurrounded by more books than he had ever seen in one place, to say he was outof his element would be an understatement.

“Good afternoon! Is there anything that I canhelp you find today?”

Finn turned around and was briefly startled tosee a petite old woman with large glasses resting low on the bridge of her nosestanding beside him with a large stack of books in her arms.

“Oh! Sorry, ma'am, ya startled me a bit,” Finnreplied with a nervous chuckle, “I’m here to find a book that I need for aproject I’m doing for college and well, I have no idea where to start…”

“You’re in luck then! I’m the head librarian,Trudy, so I’m just the right person to ask! Follow me to my desk over here,son, and I’ll help get you all sorted.” The woman used a small hand to signalfor Finn to follow her, which he did after only a brief moment of hesitation.

Trudy set the large pile of books that sheseemed to be carrying with ease down on the metal cart beside her desk with aquiet grunt before taking a seat in her chair on the opposite side of the deskfrom where Finn still stood awkwardly shifting from one foot to the other.

“So…what book can I help you find today?”

“Er, it’s by Emily B…Emily B-something,” Finnpulled a small folded scrap of paper from the pocket of his jeans and noddedbefore continuing, “Sorry, it’s called ‘WutheringHeights’, I think?”

“Ah, yes, Bronte! A true classic, indeed. Ithink most of your classmates came by about a week or two ago to check out thisbook…”

“Oh, so does that mean that…”

“But you just so happen to be in luck, becauseone of the copies we have was just returned earlier this morning!” Trudyreplied before turning in her chair to search through the stack of books shehad placed on the metal cart minutes ago.

“Oh, that’s a relief! Thank you for your help,ma'am”

Trudy opened the front cover of the book andused her date stamper to fill in the date that this book would be due beforehanding the book across to the desk to Finn.

“You’re welcome, son. Just let me know if youhave any other questions…I should be walking around here re-shelving allthese books.” Trudy gave Finn a polite smile as she walked away from the deskpushing the cart full of books in front of her before stopping at a nearbysection with rows upon rows of nonfiction books.

Finn examined the worn-looking novel in hishands, taking note of the way that the paperback cover was frayed on thecorners and there was clearly some damage to the spine of the book that made itlook like it had been read and checked out by many people before it ended up inthe hands of Finn Nelson.

Finn opened the front cover of the book andpulled the checkout card out of the sleeve attached to the inside to write hisname in the next available spot and he noticed that every other row above hisname had been filled-in by the same name written in narrow, delicatehandwriting: Rae Earl.

***

After finding the book at the library, Finn hadto hurry to footie practice—which he was already running late for before heworked up the nerve to go into the library—and it was a couple hours before hewas back in his bedroom and debating whether or not he should get a head starton his assignment for college.

Well, technically thiswas assigned nearly a month ago, so calling it a “head start” would be a bit ofa stretch…

But then again, I stillhave two weeks to read this book and write an analysis on it…I have plenty oftime, so do I really need to start it today?

When Finn got home from footie practice, he hadtaken a quick shower to freshen up, changed into comfortable clothes, and evenfixed himself a snack—doing basically everything that he could to waste timeand delay doing what he knew he had to start inevitably.

Finn now sat in the chair in front of his deskwith his school notebook open to a new page and his cross-body bag openedslightly so he was just barely able to see the book he had borrowed from thelibrary within his bag.

Wow…who knew that 323pages of paper bound into a pastel purple novel could be so intimidating.

Finn sighed deeply and shrugged before reachinginto his bag, pulling out the small book, and opening it to the first page.

“1801—I have justreturned from a visit to my landlord—the solitary neighbour that I shall betroubled with.”

Finn had read a few pages, but his progress wasslow moving as he often got distracted or lost track of what was happening andhe had to reread a number of passages more than once.

“It is astounding howsociable I feel myself compared with him.”

Finn set the novel aside and began making noteof anything from that first chapter that seemed worth remembering; however,even in those few short pages, Finn had found himself struggling to keep trackof the characters and details being introduced and that did not seem to bodewell for his success with reading the rest of the novel.

Fuck it…it’s just oneassignment. What’s the worst that could happen if I skip this?

Finn had perfected the art of getting by incollege—earning grades that weren’t exceptional nor cause for concern—but hisEnglish Literature teacher had recently pulled him aside after class to talk tohim about all his “wasted potential” and threatening that Finn’s father may becalled in for a meeting if she didn’t see Finn “take charge of his learning”.Finn rolled his eyes at the memory of that brief conversation the prior daywhich ultimately led him to the library this afternoon, but he picked the novelback up and continued to read and take notes to the best of his abilities as hewent.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Finn groaned ashe placed the book back on his desk and ran his hands over his face infrustration.

As Finn continued to read and continued tostruggle to keep the details clear and understand what was happening throughthe dialects and confusing writing style that Emily Bronte used, Finn alsobegan to notice that a number of the pages had markings on them to drawattention to specific phrases or quotes. He also noticed that in the margins ofcertain pages, there were notes and commentary written.

Initially he brushed it off a nothing more thanvandalism caused by prior people who had borrowed this book, but when Finnfound himself particularly stumped by what was happening, he shrugged anddecided to go back and read some of the notes written on previous pages.

Well I’ll be damned…

Finn copied the quotes that had been underlinedwithin the book into his own notes and decided to keep reading the notes leftby the previous readers, since he finally felt like he was beginning tounderstand what was going on.

When Finn’s dad returned home from work andcalled upstairs to Finn to let him know that there was pizza waiting for him inthe kitchen if he got hungry, Finn was too engrossed in reading to take noticeor respond back will anything more than just a quick greeting to his dad and a“thank you” before he went back to what he was doing.

Finn laughed aloud on more than one occasion ashe read the notes left behind by the person who he assumed had written all thenotes in the book—since the ink colors varied but the handwriting was the same—andhe quickly developed an appreciation for this person’s understanding of thisstyle of writing and their wit and sense of humor that was conveyed throughthese notes.

Finn’s own notes had easily filled up an entirepage in his notebook, but as he began to better understand the story throughthe notes in the margins he found it easier to stay focused on what he wasdoing. For the first time in a long time, Finn realized that he was actuallyenjoying reading a book for college, but he decided not to dwell on the factfor fear of messing up the good thing that he had going.

Finn was unsure exactly how much time hadpassed, but as he looked outside the window of his bedroom and saw that the sunhad long since set, he closed the novel after placing an old beer mat that hefound on his desk inside as a bookmark, and finally made his way downstairs tograb a few slices of pizza that had gone completely cold inside the cardboardbox on the kitchen counter.

***

Finn had finished reading Wuthering Heights and writing his analysis of the novel well beforethe project was due—much to the satisfaction of his teacher, Mrs. Edwards—andalthough Finn would likely never admit it out loud, he felt extremely proud ofhimself and accomplished when he turned in his essay knowing that he hadactually put effort into this assignment.

The book wasn’t due back into the library for acouple more days, but since footie practice had been cancelled and Finn hadalready completed his assignment, he decided to take a quick trip over to thelibrary to return the book.

The library seemed to be slightly more livelytoday than the prior time he had been there, but as he walked up to thelibrarian’s desk with the book in-hand, he no longer felt quite as out of placehere.

“Oh! Well speak of the devil! Are you here toreturn the book? How did your project go, son?”

“Good afternoon, Trudy! Yeah, I’m all done withthe book now and the project went very well, thanks!”

Finn placed the paperback novel on the counterof Trudy’s desk and stood a short distance away from the girl that had beentalking to Trudy before he had walked up.

“Oh, how nice of ya to finally decide to returnthis book,” she mumbled in Finn’s general direction, which caused him to lookaround briefly to ensure that she was in fact talking to him and not someoneelse.

“Are you trying to check it out too?” Finnlooked over at the girl who was reaching to grab the book from where Finn hadset it down on the counter and he noticed first and foremost that she wasincredibly pretty.

“It’s not late or anything, I promise…” Finnadded in an apologetic tone even though he was aware that he had done nothingwrong.

I don’t know what I did,but this beautiful girl is mad at me for some reason, so odds are I probablydeserve it…

Finn looked over to see her filling out thecheckout card for the book before shooting him a brief glare and walking awayfrom the counter quickly, leaving Finn at a loss for words.

“What was that all about?” Finn asked Trudy whenhe was finally able to understand what had just happened.

“Oh, don’t take it too personally. She’s beenthe only one that checked out that copy of the book for the last few monthsuntil you…she’s never had to wait for the book and she’s been coming in everycouple days hoping that you would have returned it.” Trudy explained, givingFinn a kind smile that he found to be surprisingly reassuring.

“Aren’t there other copies of the book?”

“Yes, of course! What kind of library would thisbe if we only had one copy of a book?” Trudy asked with a laugh that made Finnquestion whether he had missed the joke, but she soon shrugged and continued,“Almost all the other copies are currently in stock, too! I think she just hasa bit of an attachment to that specific copy.”

“I see…well, thank you for your help Trudy!”

Finn gave the librarian a small smile beforewalking away from the counter. He had started heading in the direction of thedoors to the library, but when he saw the clock on the wall beside him, herealized that he still had some spare time to waste before he had agreed tomeet his mates Archie and Chop at the Chippy. With nothing better to do withthis time, Finn decided that this was the perfect opportunity to wander aroundthe library and explore.

Before long, Finn realized that he had snakedhis way through every aisle of nonfiction books on one side of the library andhe found himself nearing a section along the back wall of the library where thereare displays of assorted records, cassette tapes, and CDs.

Ah, perfect! Books maynot be my thing, but music? I definitely know my music…

Finn began looking through all the music andcouldn’t help but notice that there were a few cassette tapes that were stackedvertically so that the track listings on the tapes were facing upwards, unlikethe other cassette tapes in the same section.

“Huh, these seem a bit out of place,” Finn saidto himself as he lifted the small stack of cassette tapes to review them further.

What do we have here?Nirvana, Oasis, Oasis, and the Stone Roses…all top-notch bands!

“Oh this is just fucking great…” Finn heardsomeone say behind him and he quickly turned to notice the clearly annoyed butstill beautiful girl that stood behind him with her arms crossed over herchest, “first you hold my copy of WutheringHeights captive and now you’re trying to steal the music I was about tocheck out too?”

“Sorry…I—uh, I didn’t see your name written onthem or anything…and this is a public library, so I don’t really think youcan stake a claim to anything in here,” Finn replied with a slight smirk,hoping that a bit of humor could have diffuse some of the tension.

“Most people can’t, but I can,” She replied in asimilar tone as the one he had used.

“And why is that?”

“Because I do whatever I want to,” she statedmatter of factly.

“Ah I see, but if I were to, for example, checkout these tapes as well…you’d have no other choice but to wait until I returnthem. Isn’t that right?” Finn decided to keep playing along with the jokingtone he used before, but he punctuated his question with the most flirtatioussmirk he could manage and hoped that this bold move would work out in hisfavor.

Finn watched as it took a brief moment for thebeautiful girl to realize that he was trying to flirt and within a matter ofseconds her cheeks blushed a pretty shade of pink before she squared her jawand cleared her throat slightly before speaking.

“Ugh, whatever…just do whatever yawanna…fucking prick,” she spun on her heels and began walking away, but notbefore Finn caught her rolling her eyes at him.

Finn stood in place, trying to decide what itwas he said or did that had turned their fun banter into frustration towardshim.

Did I take it too farwith the smirk? Was that little bit of flirting really that out of line?

Finn reached forward to grab the stack ofcassette tapes he had set down when the pretty girl from earlier had approachedhim and walked around the library for a couple minutes until he saw the samegirl sitting at a table in the far corner of the library—away from the other peoplewho were talking and studying in groups—reading Wuthering Heights.

Finn knew that what he was about to do couldeasily backfire just as easily as their prior conversation had, but heproceeded to walk up to her table and take a seat in the chair across the tablefrom her. When she finished reading the page that she was on, the girl set thebook down on the table and looked up at Finn with an eyebrow arched in silentquestion.

Rather than speaking just yet, Finn placed thestack of cassettes on the table and slid them over to the girl sitting acrossfrom him as a peace offering.

“I just wanted to apologize if I came off asrude or anything. I was just joking, but I think I may have taken it too far,so I’m sorry, Rae.”

“It’s fine. I’m sor—wait, how do you know myname?”

Fuck…how DO I know hername?

“Oh, uh…sorry…I just assumed because thelibrarian said you’re the only one that checks out that copy of Wuthering Heights and I saw your name onthe checkout card…” Finn rambled as he struggled to find a response that wouldmake him seem like he was not a total creep for knowing her name when they hadnever even met in-person prior to just less than an hour ago.

“Oh, right, of course…I’m sorry if I seemedrude as well,” Rae replied with an embarrassed chuckle that she tried to playoff as a cough, “You can check out these cassettes if you want to…I willallow it, but just this once!”

Rae slid the stack of cassette tapes that sat onthe table in front of her back to Finn’s side of the table and gave him a smallsmirk.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve already heard allof these on vinyl or on tape, I was just looking at them when you walked up tome over there. I had no intention of checking them out, I just thought it couldbe funny to get you a little worked up…sorry.”

“Ah, I see”

“You should definitely borrow them though, Oasisand the Stone Roses are mint!” Finn replied as he slid the stack a bit closerto Rae yet again.

“Oh, I’m well aware,” Rae straightened herposture and gestured to her black Oasis t-shirt beneath the red flannel she waswearing to prove her point.

Finn glanced briefly at her shirt but realizedimmediately that not allowing his gaze to linger on the way that the Oasis logoon the shirt stretched tightly across her chest proved more difficult that Finnwould care to admit.

For fuck’s sake Finn! Donot stare at her boobs…even if they are great, which they are…it’s stillnot polite to stare.

Finn was pulled from his thoughts by the soundof Rae clearing her throat and staring at him with a slight trace of disbelief,which immediately caused Finn’s face to flush bright red in embarrassment atbeing caught staring at her chest.

“Oh, sorry…I didn’t mean to stare or make yauncomfortable, it’s just I, uh, have that same shirt. I got it when I went toKnebworth with some mates this summer.”

“That’s where I got mine too!” Rae replied witha wide smile.

Pleased to see that he was able to recover fromhis unintentional ogling of her chest, Finn decided to launch further intoconversation with Rae about Knebworth and music.

By the time Rae stood up to leave the libraryand Finn followed shortly behind her, he was relieved to see that he was onlygoing to be a little bit late to meet his mates at the Chippy.

***

As Finn walked into the library—taking a quickdetour after his last class of the day and before he needed to meet his matesin the park for footie practice—he chuckled lightly to himself as he thoughtback to the apprehension he had felt entering the same library just over amonth ago.

Finn glanced over to the librarian’s desk andfound that the desk chair was currently empty. Though he had never had tonavigate the library to find the particular book he was searching for today, hefound the small section dedicated to “Literary Classics” and was able to findwhat he was looking for by the alphabetically arranged authors with ease.

He approached the librarian’s desk and set thebook on the counter, waiting patiently for the librarian to return, when heheard a familiar voice behind him.

“Fancy seeing you here! I certainly didn’texpect to see you in here checking out this book so soon, so it must have leftquite an impression on ya, huh?”

Finn smiled as he saw Trudy set the large stackof books down on the metal cart behind her desk before taking a seat in herdesk chair.

“It’s nice seeing you again too, Trudy! AlthoughI did enjoy Wuthering Heights morethan I had thought I would, I’m actually here to borrow it again ‘cause theyadded a second part to the ‘Classic Literature’ assignment for college and Iwanted to check out the book and get the assignment done sooner rather thanlater.”

“Oh, how responsible of you! I’m sure yourteacher would be so proud to hear her student say something like that!”

“Uh, ‘suppose so,” Finn chuckled nervously atthe unexpected praise, but he felt proud of himself for being responsible andnot putting off this assignment as well, though he’d never admit it out loud.

Trudy picked up the copy of Wuthering Heights that Finn had set on the counter, but when Finnglanced at the stack of books that was sitting on Trudy’s desk, he cleared his throataudibly to get Trudy’s attention.

“If it’s not too much trouble, ma’am, could Iactually borrow that copy of the book again?” Finn pointed to the copy sittingon the top of the pile that was noticeably more worn and tattered-looking withslight hesitation, “I think it’s good luck for me because that’s the best gradeI’ve gotten on a college assignment…well, ever!”

Trudy picked up the book he was referring to andheld it in her hands for a moment, clearly considering his request, beforeopening the front cover and using the stamp on her desk to indicate the duedate beside the next open line on the checkout card.

“I don’t see why not!” Trudy replied with abright smile, which Finn returned as he reached for the book she is handing tohim.

“Can I ask a question?” Finn asked as he wrotehis name in the checkout card beneath two rows containing Rae’s name.

“Of course! What can I do for you, son?”

“You do know how much Rae has marked and takennotes in this copy of the novel, right? Can’t she get in trouble for doingthat?”

“Technically, yes. We didn’t notice anything fora while, but the first time Rae wrote in it and we saw about a month or twoago, we let her know that if the book got damaged she’d have to pay for it.”

“And?”

“And she asked how much she’d owe us to just buythe book and she said that she’d buy it the next time she came in, since shedidn’t have the money on her that day. The next time she came in to buy thebook was when you had it checked out the first time, but she hasn’t tried tobuy it since then,”

Finn nodded thoughtfully as he flipped open thefront cover of the book to the checkout card where he saw that it had only beenRae checking out the book for what looked like months prior to when he firstborrowed it from the library.

“I had decided not to check it out to anyone,since it seemed like Rae would need to purchase the book based on how heavilynotated it was, but when you came in looking for a copy, I could tell that youreally needed a copy of it and I decided to accept the risk of you complainingabout the poor condition the book was in by allowing you to check it out,”Trudy explained when she followed Finn’s gaze to see what he was looking atwithin the book.

Nearly at the bottom of the checkout card, Finncouldn’t help but notice that beside where his name was written the first timehe checked out the book in delicate handwriting was the word “twat”; however, in a different color ofink it had been messily scribbled out and was now surrounded by doodles ofhearts and smiley faces.

“Thank you again for the help and for the book,Trudy,” Finn replied with a contemplative smile, “Have a nice day!”

As Finn made his way to the doors of thelibrary, Rae’s copy of Wuthering Heightstucked safely inside his bag as he walked quickly toward the park to avoidbeing much later to footie practice than he already was, it was impossible forhim to ignore the additional pep in his step and the smile on his face that hemade no attempts to conceal.

***

“The library? Are you serious right now, Finn?”

“You’re bailing on joining us at the Chippy forthe fourth time in less than two weeks…to go to the library? What—or should Isay ‘who’—brought this change upon so suddenly, Finney boy?”

Archie and Chop had been walking alongside Finnas they walked the short distance from college to the library where it seemedthat Finn had been spending the majority of his time as of lately, askingquestion after question to try to understand why their mate had been so distantand had been opposed to joining them at the Chippy or the pub like he used todo.

“Try not to sound so surprised, Arch,” Finnreplied with mock hurt as they kept walking, “I may not be a genius like you,but I do know what a library is.”

“Finn, you know that’s not what I meant,”

“I know, Arch, I was just joking. I just reallydidn’t want to fuck up this Classic Lit assignment when I know that Mrs.Edwards is scrutinizing every little thing I do. I don’t want her to make goodon her threat to bring my da in for a meeting…he already has enough on hisplate…”

“Finn, mate, we get it. We really do,” Chopreplied softly, his voice almost completely void of his usual brashness, “Wejust think you deserve to have a bit of fun from time to time as well, you know?”

“Exactly! Look Finn,” Archie added, “We don’twanna force you to join us, but at least say you’ll think about it?”

Finn turned to both of his friends, consideringtheir offer, before giving them each a nod and a tight-lipped smile.

“I finished my assignment already, so I’m mostlyjust here to return the book. How about you lads head to the Chippy without meand once I’m done doing what I need to here, I’ll meet you two at the pub for adrink later tonight?”

Archie and Chop agreed to Finn’s suggestion beforecrossing the street to head in the direction of the Chippy while Finn keptwalking along the familiar path to the library.

As Finn walked through the door to the library,he noticed that someone was walking towards the library a short distance behindhim and he decided to hold the door for them.

“Finn?”

Wait…I know thatvoice…

“Hiya, Rae! Fancy seeing you here today! Whatare the odds?” Finn replied in surprise as she walked through the door that hewas still holding open.

“Yeah…It’s been a while! How are you, Finn?”

“It has been a while! I’m doing well. I’massuming you’re here for this?” Finn pulled the book from his bag and held itup to show it to her.

“Yes, actually! That and some new music tolisten to…”

“Perfect! Well I’m just returning it now, so youcan grab it from me as soon as it gets checked in.”

The pair walked side-by-side to the librarian’sdesk and made casual conversation as they waited for the person sitting behindthe desk to finish up with the parent and young child that were checking out afew books when they approached.

When the bored-looking young woman behind thecounter gestured for Finn to step up to the desk, he let her know that he wasgoing to check in the book but before handing the book over to her, Finngrabbed a pen from the counter and scribbled something quickly on one of thepages.

Finnturned around after handing the book to the library employee and was met withRae standing behind him with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised inquestion, which made the sheepish smile and subtle flush of his cheeks a bitmore prominent.

“I guess I’ll see you around? Have a nice day,Rae!” Finn replied quickly and walked away from Rae before he could embarrasshimself any further under her questioning gaze.

With no intention of joining his mates at theChippy and nowhere else to be until he met Chop and Archie at the pub laterthat night, he walked to the periodical section of the library and beganlooking at anything and everything that caught his attention.

A short time later, as he was looking though oneof the latest copies of NME magazine, he was surprised to hear somebody walk upbeside him and clear their throat to get his attention.

“Oh, uh, hi…” Finn mumbled, glancing away fromthe magazine only briefly to acknowledge Rae’s presence beside him.

“Hey Finn…uh, yes.” Rae replied after a momentof hesitation as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and held hercopy of Wuthering Heights with herarms crossed close to her chest.

“Yes, what?” Finn asked distractedly as hecontinued to flip through the pages of the magazine idly.

Rae chuckled lightly under her breath beforeopening the front cover of the book and using a finger to point to the line onthe checkout card where Finn had scribbled “Rae-wouldyou like to go out with me sometime?” in the margin beside where he knewshe would be signing her name to checkout the book

“Oh, uh, that…” Finn replied nervously when helooked over to see what Rae was showing him until her response to the questiondawned on him, “and you’re saying ‘yes’?”

“Yes?” Rae said, phrasing it as more of aquestion than a statement in response to Finn’s surprise at her initial answer.

“Great! I mean…uh, cool,” Finn began a bit tooeagerly before he was able to contain some degree of his initial excitement.

Rae kept one arm crossed over her chest but sheused her other hand to cover her mouth and hide the smile tugging at her lips.

“Are you free now? There’s a coffee shop downthe road that I think you’ll like…” Finn added, gesturing vaguely towards thedoors to the library.

“Yeah, I’m free now and I’d love a cup ofcoffee!” She replied with a smile that made her eyes sparkle, a fact thatcertainly did not go unnoticed by Finn.

She stepped aside and gestured for Finn to leadthe way, but as they walked past the librarian’s desk and out of the librarytogether, he couldn’t help but notice the satisfied grin on Trudy’s face whenshe saw the two walking past from where she stood behind her desk.

***

“Just a minute,” Finn called loudly in responseto the repeated knocking he could hear coming from the front door of his houseas he made his way down the stairs as quickly as he could.

Finn unlocked the door, already knowing whostood on the other side, but grinned widely nonetheless when he opened thedoor.

“Come on in!” Finn said as he held the door openand stepped aside for Rae to walk in.

He shut the door and locked it before turning tolook at Rae as she removed her scarf and thick winter coat and hung them on thecoat tree beside the door.

Regardless of how many times Finn looked at Raeand simply admired the beautiful girl in front of him—which he does as often ashe possibly can—he never failed to be in awe of her breathtaking, effortlessbeauty.

Every time he glanced at Rae when she assumedthat no one was looking at her, he saw the way that everything about her lit upwhen she was happy and when she was around him. Every time he looked at her Finnwas always reminded of the same quote that was underlined in Rae’s copy of Wuthering Heights, a quote that healways felt was appropriate to describe his opinion of Rae since the first timeher had met her: “I have to remind myselfto breathe—almost to remind my heart to beat!”

“Ugh! It’s bloody freezing outside,” Rae mumbledas she removed her snow-covered boots and set them near the door to avoidtracking snow any further into Finn’s house, “I damn near froze my tits offjust walking from my car to your door.”

“Hiya girl,” Finn greeted her with a chucklebefore pulling Rae into a hug and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, whichcaused her to blush slightly and look away as she greeted him with a simple “hello”.

Fuck…I’m never gonnaget tired of seeing the way that I can make this lovely girl blush like that.

Finn looked Rae over from head to toe andchuckled slightly when he meet her eyes and knew that she had caught himstaring for the umpteenth time.

“How does a nice hot cup of tea sound? It’llhelp warm you up…” Finn asked but he began heading toward the kitchen withoutwaiting for her reply.

As they waited for the kettle to boil, Finn lookover at Rae and could tell that she seemed slightly sad, but he knew betterthan to press her to talk about what was on her mind.

If she wants to talk tome about it, she’ll bring it up on her own accord…

When their tea was ready, Finn led both of themupstairs to his room and Rae took a seat on his bed as he walked over to therecord player on the other side of his room to put on some music.

“Happy birthday, by the way, Rae!” Finn said ashe looked over his shoulder for a brief moment before turning his attention togetting the record started, “I know you tried to keep it a secret, but I’m yourboyfriend and I know all!”

Behind him, Rae sputtered and coughed loudlywhen the gulp of tea she had inadvertently taken did not go down smoothly. Finnput the needle on the record and turned around to grab his mug of tea beforetaking a seat on his bed beside Rae and patting her back in a soothing gestureas her coughing subsided.

“Alright, girl?” Finn asked in concern when Raehad all but stopped coughing.

“Ugh…please don’t say that! You can’t justcatch me off-guard and say something like that! I could’ve died, Finnley…”

“Don’t say what, Rae-Rae? That it’s yourbirthday or that I’m your boyfriend?”

“Both?” Rae replied raising her hand that wasnot currently holding her cup of tea in frustration, as if the answer shouldhave been more obvious to Finn.

“Why? It’s the truth! Today is your birthday andunless I’ve misunderstood your signals from the last 2 months and youmisinterpreted when I asked you to be my girlfriend officially last week, I amin fact your boyfriend!”

“No, you’re right. I just…I don’t know, it’sstill weird to hear you calling me your girlfriend and you my boyfriend…”

“Well, Rae, you should get used to it. You aremy beautiful and amazing girlfriend and I have no intention of letting yourforget that fact.”

Rae rolled her eyes in response when Finn endedhis statement by giving her arm a playful nudge with his shoulder and turned togive her a peck on the cheek. Rae reached over to grab Finn’s face and gentlyturned it towards her so she could place a gentle kiss on his lips.

“Well then, thank you for the birthday wish, ohlovely boyfriend of mine.” Rae replied in the most artificially sweet voice shecould muster.

“I don’t appreciate the sarcasm, Rae, but it’s astart at the very least and I’ll take what I can get. What have you been up totoday?”

“I spent most of the day with my family and thena couple of my mates met me at the pub for a birthday drink. After that Iwalked to the library because I got some money from my mum for my birthday andthere was something I’ve been meaning to buy, but that didn’t work out…” Raetrailed off slightly as she gave Finn a sad smile before taking another sip ofher tea.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I have a little something foryou that may brighten your day though,” Finn said as he stood up and set histea down on his desk before grabbing a decorative bag overflowing with tissuepaper and returning to his seat on his bed beside Rae.

“I’d say start with the card,” Finn said ashanded Rae the bag and gestured to the small gift tag attached to one of thestings of the bag.

Finn watched intently—his focus shifting betweenthe small gift tag in Rae’s hand and the look on her face to gauge her reaction—asRae opened the small, folded gift tag and read what was written inside: For my favorite girl on her birthday…herfavorite book and the reason we’re together today. xxFinn

“No…you didn't…” Rae replied after reading thenote attached to her gift multiple times to ensure that she was interpreting itcorrectly.

“I didn’t what? You haven’t even opened it yet!”Finn replied, but his feigned ignorance was immediately betrayed by the widegrin he was currently giving Rae.

She rolled her eyes at Finn, but proceeded toremove the paper on top of the bag before pulling out a worn, pastel purplepaperback book.

“Oh, Finn! Thank you!” Rae said as she leanedover to wrap her arms around Finn with the book still held tightly in one ofher hands.

“It’s nothing girl,” Finn replied as he broughther closer and tightened the embrace, “Icould tell it was your favorite book because of all the notes you wrote in themargins, and I just simply had to buy this specific copy for you.”

Rae pulled away from Finn slightly and hisdoubts began to sink in about whether or not she truly liked the gift.

“Do you, uh, do you like it?” He askedhesitantly before shifting his gaze towards where the discarded gift bag sat onhis bed between where he and Rae were sitting.

“Finnley, of course I like it! This gift isperfect, it’s…it’s…”

Rae seemed to be at a loss for the right wordsto describe how thoughtful his gift had been and how much she appreciated it,but she decided to try her best to put everything that she wanted to convey toFinn and everything that she wanted to tell him into a passionate kiss, whichthoroughly caught Finn by surprise and elicited just the response she had beenhoping for.

“So…I guess I’ll take that as a ‘yes’, inresponse to my question about whether or not you like the gift,” Finn repliedbreathlessly after he was forced to break the kiss with Rae in order tobreathe.

“Of, course that was a ‘yes’ you dickhead!” Raereplied with a flirtatious smirk, “Or would you like another demonstration tohelp further clarify things for you?”

The End!

A/N: Holy shit…this started out as a simplefic prompt request and it somehow spiraled out of control into a 6700+ wordbehemoth of a story…oops! I have no deep-rooted emotional attachment to EmilyBronte’s work or Wuthering Heights, it just happened to be one of the firstbooks I saw on my own bookshelf in my apartment and I decided to run with thatidea (tattered pages, underlined quotes, and notated margins and all since Itruly did use this book for a project I did for school roughly 4 years ago). Ialso love a little bit of storytelling from Finn’s perspective, since it is aPOV that I feel is seldom explored.

As always, thanks for reading and until nexttime: Stay awesome, my friends! :)

#my writing #mmfd #my mad fat diary #mmfd fanfic #my mad fat diary fanfiction #Finn-Nelson-for-the-win #requested fanfic prompt

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turtle-inserts · 7 years

Text

3. Your First Christmas (Raph x reader)

The reader is a master of mixed martial arts, traveling around the world to train and learn different forms of martial arts with her father all while battling a severe illness in their lungs, but this is their first christmas home in a long time, will a certain turtle be able to keep her warm?

FIRST

I was huddled in my winter jacket on my way to the lair, coffee in one hand and two boxes of pizza in the other. A strange combination in my opinion, but the guys loved pizza so I thought I'd surprise them with it! I had become good friends with the turtles by now and it wasn't hard to see their love for pizza was like an addiction to drugs.

Lifting the heavy manhole cover I climbed down, finally escaping the freezing cold snow previously blowing around me. I remember when I thought the sewer smelled horrible but over time I had gotten used to the smell of the place they called home and it doesn't bother me nearly as much.

Punching in the code to open the lair, I walked in. None of the guys were around so I assumed they were training with Splinter. I set the pizza on the table, plugged in my headphones and listened to music to pass the time. I went and sat on the couch, closed my eyes and just zoned out, daydreaming about everything; specifically a certain turtle mutant and his muscular arms. Suddenly something wet hit me on the side of my face, effectively interrupting my daydreaming! I stared wide-eyed as I saw Mikey dying of laughter. He'd just hit me with a water balloon and now my hair was soaked!

I calmly took out my headphones and gave him the glare of death. He immediately stopped. "I guess Mikey doesn't get pizza now. Oh well." I got up and he grabbed me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry (Y/n)! I swear I'll never do it again!" Laughing, I accepted his apology.

"So where's the pizza?" Raph asked.

"In the kitchen of course." I watched as the four boys sprinted to the kitchen. I snickered as I watched them before following them into the kitchen. They had immediately started chowing down on the pizza the second they opened the box! I was offered a slice but I declined, coffee and pizza don't taste good together. I noticed a member of our makeshift family was missing.

"Where's April?" Donnie answered my question.

"She's at the library doing research for a school project."

"Oh. Okay, cool.”

"Hey wait. Aren't you two in the same classes?" He pried further.

"Yea? What are you getting at?"

"You haven't done the project yet have you..."

"Of course not Donnie, I'm a procrastinator."

"I noticed."

"Don't worry; I'll get it done eventually." He shook his head and went back to his pizza, which was now missing because Mikey had eaten it.

"MIKEY!" He shouted at his brother who just shrugged.

"I was hungry."

Donnie just sighed, "I'm going to my room," he left the table. I got up as well he had reminded me I needed to do something.

"I should get going, I have homework and I need to get ready for my dad’s visit tomorrow."

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Raph asked me. I shook my head and smiled. It was sweet of him for asking, but I needed to get home quickly.

"Nah, I'm a big girl Raph. I can handle myself." I grabbed my jacket, slipped it on and left after saying goodbye.

Raphael’s P.O.V.

Once (y/n) left, Mikey and Leo looked at each other grinning.

"Can I walk you home?" Leo was trying not to laugh, "Honestly, you're worse than Donnie."

"Can it, Leo!" He just rolled his eyes, still having that shit-eating grin of his, and left.

Mikey looked at me, "Just ask her out dude. The worst she can do is say no."

Actually, she could do a lot worse, but I didn't say that. Crossing my arms I lied, "I don't like her like that. I was just being nice."

"Woah. Raph? Being nice? That's not normal." I tackled him.

Normal P.O.V

The moment I stepped into my apartment, I sprinted to my medicine cabinet. Over the past few months, my condition has been worsening and showing no signs of ever improving. I got to the sink and began to cough and hack until blood finally came up. I had forgotten to take my medicine earlier and only remembered once Donnie had left, which is why I ran out in such a hurry. My dad wasn't even coming over tomorrow, I made that up, and my homework? I finished it all in class.

After what felt like forever, I finally stopped coughing up the blood trapped in my lungs. I took a shaky breath, took out my medicine, and swallowed two of those little blue pills. They'd take half an hour to kick in but in half an hour I'd be fine again. At least I hoped that would happen.

I groaned at my misfortune; stupid disease! Why'd you have to ruin my social life!? Now, why didn't I just tell them about my condition? Because I didn't want them to start treating me like some fragile doll, or as if I was made of a thin sheet of glass that could break at any moment. April doesn't know either, at least I've never told her. God, I hate this. I decided to take a shower to rinse off the blood on my face, also because I smelled a teeny bit like a sewer.

After my shower, I dried my hair so I would be ready for whatever tomorrow had in store for me. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was pathetic, pathetic and tired so I went to bed grateful I didn't have school in the morning. As soon as my body hit the mattress, I fell into a restless sleep.

*tap* *tap* *tap*

Who the hell was that and what time could it be to warrant a visit? I looked at my clock which told me it was only 8 am. Whoever it is, is gonna be dead meat. I looked towards the window and saw Raphael waiting. After opening the window, I let him come inside. "What are you doing here so early in the god damn morning...." I asked, rubbing my eyes sleepily.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "It’s 8 o'clock in the morning, what do you mean early?"

"Normally I'm still asleep until at least 10ish...."

"I haven't even gone to sleep yet."

I paused, "Why?"

"Night patrol?"

"Oh, that'd make sense."

"Yea ya dingus."

After a few moments of, awkward silence I spoke. "Soooo, is there a specific reason you're here instead of sleeping?" I asked him.

“ I thought I’d come help you set up for your dad." Shit. OK. I have two options, keep going with the lie or tell him he's not coming over anymore. I like option two, it’s less complicated in the long run.

Smiling sheepishly I lied through my teeth, "Well, actually, he canceled. Last night. When I got home."

"Oh,"

"Yea, sorry for making you come out here for nothing."

"It’s fine." His eyes lit up as if he'd gotten an idea. He didn't look at me as he suggested, "We could hang out if you want to." Why not? It’s not like I had anything else planned today.

I smiled at him, "Sure! It’s been a little while hasn’t it?” It looked like relief washed over him for a second but that quickly disappeared and his normal confident look returned. "Can you get my allergy pills for me while I get dressed? They're in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, just above the sink." He nodded and left so I could change. It wasn't anything too fancy, just black leggings and a sweatshirt. I wasn't trying to impress anyone today. Well, there was Raph, but he's seen me look worse. Post workout sweat and grease is not a good luck for anyone.

As I brushed my hair out, Raph called me into the bathroom. "What? Couldn't find i-" I stopped when I noticed there was still blood in the sink from last night's "fun". I stared at the blood, shit shit shit SHIT.

He looked at me. "What's this from?" He asked.

"Good question," I lied. I knew he wasn't buying it so I lied to him yet again. "Fine. I was having lady problems and had to wash out something, okay?" This immediately shut him up, as I knew it would. Periods, they're good for two things. One, telling me I'm not pregnant and two, grossing most guys out. He turned bright red and left the bathroom.

Once I finished taking care of the sink I took a pill and walked back out. Raph was sitting on the couch flipping through a sketchbook. Oh no...

I saw his green eyes glance up at me and back to the book. "You're not a completely horrible artist." I think that was a compliment? Only April had seen my drawings so far. I never let anyone else look in my sketchbook, not even my dad. The fact that he had just grabbed my sketchbook irked me a little, but I wasn't about to make it a big deal.

"Thanks," Walking over to him, I peered over him to see which sketch it was. Thankfully it was just one of a forest in colored pencil. He flipped the page to the next one of a duckling. He went to flip again and I tried to take it back.

"What's your problem?" He put his hand on my face and pushed me away at arm’s length so I couldn't reach it. As he flipped he turned red. It was of him, a full body sketch in pencil. He dropped his hand from my face. I felt my face heat up again, he regained his composure and smirked. "Now who's this handsome turtle?"

"Shut up," I murmured as he handed me the sketchbook back. Two embarrassing moments in one day, jeez. I'm on a role today.

We spent the rest of the day chatting and joking around. I made us lunch and after clearing the living room of furniture and whatnot, we sparred for a bit. I'd like to say I won, but I didn’t. Raph ended up making me fall on my ass with a kick to the stomach. He went all out during the fight, he's definitely gotten better since the first time whereas I seem to have gotten worse, weird right? I still work out a lot, despite having school I find time.

After having my ass handed to me on a silver platter, he helped me up. I groaned as I cracked my back and stretched, "Jeez, you really went all out..." He simply smirked and shrugged knowing I could take it. "You've really improved since the last time we sparred though." The last time we sparred was a few says before my tournament in the middle of November. I thought I saw him blush but it was probably just my imagination.

"Oh," He saw the time, 3:24, and told me he had to go. "Before I go, Splinter said I could invite you over for Christmas. So, what do ya say, (Y/n)?"

I smiled "I’ll totally go! My dad’s out of town for Christmas this year, he has a special class to teach in California."

"Great, see you tomorrow then." After opening the window for him, I turned around to face him. I always made sure to tell him goodbye. After all, you never know when the last time you'll see someone is. I never got to say goodbye to my mom so I make a point to do it now. He almost looked nervous. I was about to ask him if he was okay when he suddenly leaned forward and got really close to my face.

There was a dusting of a blush on his face as we locked eyes. Our lips were so close. “Can I?” I didn’t know where this was coming from but I liked it. I nodded and he kissed me softly on the lips. I stared at him wide-eyed, speechless, and blushing hard. He simply smirked at my reaction and said, "See ya later." Then left me standing there, dumbfounded and staring at where he was just a few seconds ago. I put my hands to my lips. I've never been kissed before, not even on the cheek. Dammit, Raph! How dare you surprise kiss me!

Raph’s P.O.V

Once I got back to the lair I lay down on the couch and closed my eyes, I'm tired. Tired and happy. She didn't slap me after I kissed her so that means she didn't hate it, right?

"What're you so happy about, Raph?" I opened my eyes and saw Leo standing over me.

"Yea, you're smiling with your eyes closed, it’s creeping me out dude," I glared at my youngest brother. Man, he really knew how to ruin a guys mood.

"He was probably hanging out with (Y/n)," Donnie commented as he walked in from his lab.

"As a matter a fact I was," crossing my arms in front of me.

"Ooooh," they said in a chorus.

"Probably making out with each other," Mikey said and the other two agreed, making kissing noises for emphasis.

"Shut up!" I yelled at them and they all laughed at my reaction. "It was only one kiss..." I murmured. They all stopped laughing and looked at me dumbfounded.

"You actually went for it?" Donnie asked.

"Yep," I said with a smirk.

"Why aren't you all beat up then?" Mikey asked.

"Maybe because she actually enjoyed it?" I told him annoyed. They laughed and I went to my room, pissed at them all.

Normal P.O.V.

It’s Christmas and I'm headed over to the guy’s lair. It was cold and a snowing, the cold wind had turned my cheeks pink as I carried 6 boxes, I had gotten Christmas presents for the guys, April, and even Master Splinter. As I walked into the lair I saw a Christmas tree up and many other decorations as well. The guys were sitting on the couch with April. Leo, April, and Donnie were wearing Santa hats but Raph and Mikey wore reindeer antlers making Raph and Mikey look adorable. Mikey was smiling obviously happy to wear them, but Raph wasn't quite as excited as his brother about it.

Walking over to the tree I laid the presents down underneath it then walked up behind the couch. "Cute hats, guys!" Four green heads whipped around, plus one red one, to look at me.

"(Y/n) is here!" Mikey yelled and got up to hug me.

He placed a Santa hat on my head and I laughed, "Yea, I put the presents I got you all under the tree."

Mikey smiled, "Yes! You are awesome! Thank you!" He ran to the tree to see which one was his.

"Mikey, wait until it’s time to open them," Donnie told him.

He pouted, "I was just looking."

I sat down next to Raph. "You didn't have to buy us anything ya know."

"But I wanted to, you guys have been such good friends to me so, I thought I'd repay the favor." He looked like he was about to say something but I interrupted him, "And besides, friends get friends gifts for Christmas, right ?" He simply nodded and stayed quiet, not looking at me. Why not? Oh, was it because he kissed me? But why would that make him be quiet around me? I enjoyed it. As I thought about what happened the other night, I began to feel a blush make its way across my face. Raph looked at me confused for a moment but it quickly changed into one of his infamous shit-eating-grins. He’s probably remembering the same thing I did.

He whispered in my ear, "We can do that again if you want." I sat there quietly, not saying anything in response. God, I wanted to but Master Splinter walked out of his room.

"Merry Christmas my sons and friends."

"Merry Christmas Sensei!" We all chorused back. Soon everyone unwrapped the present I got them, I got Master Splinter a book on old Japanese fairy tales, in case he was feeling a little homesick, he was hard to shop for.... I made April a scrapbook of all the places I visited since she'd been dying to see them all since forever, and I promised that we'd go on an adventure together someday. Leo was easy to shop for since he was obsessed with Space Heroes, so I got him a set of action figures from the show and a complete disk set of the first season. Donnie was given a book on astrophysics and I got him other sciencey books. I wrote him a note telling him to man up and ask April out since I was 99% sure she liked him.

Mikey was also pretty easy to shop for as he was happy with basically anything, so I got him an iTunes card for music and a new video game he'd been asking for. It was funny watching their reactions, they were all so happy with their gifts, it gave me that good old warm fuzzy feeling inside. Raph's reaction was the best by far though.

I gave him a new colored pencil drawing of him, full body, which took me HOURS to finish so he better worship the damn drawing, and I gave him photos from our trip to the photo booth, He let me keep them but I figured he should have them. The last thing in his box was the note I wrote him.

Raph turned red while reading it since I basically called him out on his little crush on me. His brother noticed this and went to read over his shoulder.

"Oooooo! Raph got a love letter!" Mikey yelled. I could tell my face was beet red by now.

Raph shut the letter and put it back in the box, "No, it’s not!" The guys laughed and April asked me what it said.

I whispered, " I called him out on his crush on me and I just wrote I wouldn't mind if he kissed me again, that's all." She stared at me wide-eyed.

"So it is a love letter!" Mikey yelled. I didn't even notice him listening in.

"Shut up Mikey!" We both yelled at him he simply laughed at our reaction.

Time flew by as the guys teased Raph, he got annoyed but I calmed him down each time. I also played video games with Mikey, helped make dinner, and then did some of the dishes with Leo. When I had to go around 12:30 am Raph offered to walk me home. Of course I accepted, so here we are now, walking home. I'm wearing the antlers now though, Mikey stole my hat when I started making dinner and Raph gave me his antlers so I could still look, "festive". Now Raph's wearing my hat after he took it back from Mikey.

As we got home Raph asked me about the letter. "So what made you write that letter?"

"Well, um," I wouldn't look at him because I could feel my face heating up out of embarrassment. I wanted to tell him, so I just blurted it all out! "RaphiIreallylikeyouandIknowyoulikemeto." Great. It was jibberish.

He just stared at me and after a moment of processing what I said, he laughed! "That must've been a mouth full."

"S-shut up!" I told him red in the face.

Suddenly his face reddened too, he looked at me and said, "So, the feelings are mutual then?"

"Y-yea."

"You don't care I'm some freak? A mutant?"

"You're not a freak Raph."

He grinned a genuine grin of joy and, grabbing me by my waist, kissed me. He pulled away after what felt like forever and I was a little dizzy from the lack of oxygen. He still held my waist and all of a sudden a wolf whistle was let out by someone we couldn't see. We both whipped our heads around to see who it was. It turned out the who was a group of people.

April, Donnie, Mikey, and Leo all stood on a roof laughing, whooping and hollering while wearing scarves and hats. They all looked cozy. My face heated up when I realized they must've seen our kiss. Raph yelled at them but the group only laughed, besides April. She shook her head smiling, and ran off with them. Raph growled and I could tell he was going to follow them, I kissed him on the cheek before he left, "Merry Christmas, Raph." He gave a small smile, mumbled a goodbye, then ran off to chase after his brothers and April.

I walked happily into my apartment, enjoying my boldness a few seconds ago. After changing into my pajamas I fell asleep on my couch by my Christmas tree.

“Best Christmas ever.”

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