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Chapter Text

Maybe she had a fear of being in the front row? Or maybe she had trouble picking up choreo, so she had to be in the back to follow the rest of the team?

Finn sighed and finished off the last of his juice with a loud slurp. Piper was a complete and utter mystery. She stood up to Miss Angela - something no one had ever dared to do before - then completely disappeared for weeks with no explanation. And when she finally showed up again, the new (or apparently not new?) studio heads put her in the back row, and she was happy about it.

Finn saw her audition for Miss Angela and had seen her dance in rehearsal earlier that day. Piper was no back row dancer. (Of course, he would also say the same thing about himself, but, well... That was beside the point.)

The point was – something wasn't adding up with this Piper girl, and he wanted to know what the deal was. She'd already dodged his questioning once, however, and he was debating whether or not he should try again or just let it go like she'd told him too. He knew what his older sister would advise: "She told you to let it go, so let it go. It's not rocket science." The difference between himself and his sister Brooke, however, was that Finn had always been interested in rocket science, and Brooke, well... There was a reason she was going to school to be a lawyer and not a rocket scientist (which was way cooler as far as Finn was concerned).

"Hey, man. Is this seat taken?"

Finn was drawn out of his thoughts as Noah suddenly appeared across the table from him, juice in hand. "No, man, go for it," Finn told him, and Noah slid into the seat across from him, letting out a long exhale. Finn could tell that something was on his dance captain's mind and asked, "Everything alright?"

"Just some drama with the other dancers and line placements. I've got it under control," Noah said before taking a long sip of his juice and observing Finn. As he lowered his drink, he asked, "You got a girlfriend, Finn?"

"Nope," Finn said with a firm shake of the head. "But you're dating Jacquie, right?"

"Yeah." Noah looked down and smiled to himself before taking another sip of his juice. "She's, uh... She's a force to be reckoned with."

"She's a great dancer though."

"Incredible," Noah agreed, "Word of advice though: never comment on another girl's dancing around your girlfriend. I learned that the hard way."

Finn grimaced. "She got mad?"

Noah nodded grimly. "I just told Summer she has good turns."

"Summer does have good turns."

"Exactly! But Jacquie didn't like that." A haunted look flashed through Noah's eyes as he continued. "And I just did something else that she's not going to like, but I guess that's the price of being dance captain."

"Well, if it's for the better of the team, you did what you had to," Finn assured him as Noah took another long drink. He'd already downed half of his juice in just a few sips.

"Yeah, thanks,” Noah said as he set his juice aside. “The drama's just not good for the team. We just got rid of Miss Angela. We can't have the team already falling apart again."

"Definitely not."

"Yeah..." Noah smiled and pointed at Finn. "You're a good listener, Finn."

"My mom thinks so too."

Chuckling, Noah crossed his arms and asked Finn about his dance history. After telling him about his first few studios and learning some of Noah's history at The Next Step, Finn leaned in as if they were conspiring about something secret. "Hey, what's the deal with Piper?"

Noah finished off the rest of his juice before answering. "Piper? She's a great dancer – really versatile. She joined the studio last year. Her brother was on the Internationals team with me."

"So she's from a family of dancers?" Finn asked, genuinely curious. There was something about this girl that just drew him in. While he really wanted to know why she was so happy to be in the back row, he was content to learn anything he could about her at the same time.

Noah shook his head. "Just her and James, as far as I know anyway."

"She seemed really happy to be in the back row..."

Noah frowned, seeming to choose his next words carefully. "She's missed a lot the last couple of weeks, but you'll all have a chance to be featured at Regionals even if you are in the back row for now. Don't worry."

"Oh, I'm not worried about me," Finn told him quickly. Although, he supposed, it was a consolation to know that he could still have a featured moment at Regionals... Getting back to his point, he added, "I just think Piper should be further up."

Noah nodded slowly as he listened. "I trust Michelle and Emily to make the right decision for the line placements, but it's good of you to look out for Piper like that. I'm sure she'd appreciate it." As he trailed off, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. Moving to stand, Noah said, "I should get going. I'll talk to you later, man."

Finn nodded and agreed he'd see him later then Noah picked up his empty juice cup and walked out of Shakes and Ladders. Not ready to head home for the day yet, Finn decided to head to Studio One to get in some extra rehearsal time on his own. All of the other dancers on A-Troupe were strong dancers, and the competition here was tough. However happy Piper may have been about being in the back row, Finn couldn't say he felt the same. He'd never been a back row dancer before, and he needed to prove that to Michelle, Emily, and the rest of the team. If he had to put in extra rehearsal time to do that, then so be it.

Music floated down the hallway as he neared Studio One, and Finn quickly deduced that someone else must already be in there. When he entered the studio, it was to find Piper dancing her heart out. This solo was different than the small one she had performed in front of Miss Angela. Emotion was thick on her face, and he could tell she was pouring her heart out through her movements. Instantly, Finn was captivated. He couldn't bring himself to look away from her.

Why had Emily and Michelle put her in the back row?

She was a front row dancer at best. He had half a mind to go to Emily and Michelle right now and tell them they had made a huge mistake. Piper was incredible.

When the song came to an end, Finn breathed a silent, "Wow," and clapped. Unaware of his presence, Piper jumped at the noise and turned to him in alarm, looking very much like a deer caught in headlights. Confused as to why she seemed so embarrassed, Finn took a step towards her, gesturing enthusiastically as he said, "Piper, that was incredible! You're an amazing dancer." He paused, noting the way her eyes were shining – like she was holding back tears.

He considered the way she had been pouring her heart out in her dance and the emotion on her face while she'd been doing so. There was clearly something going on with her, but maybe she wasn't ready to talk about it.

Was he coming on too strong? His mom had warned him he had a tendency to do that sometimes.

Quickly changing his train of thought, he added, "I still don't get why you want the back row, but if that's what you want, I'll let it go."

She took a deep breath, her brows furrowing as she looked at him like she couldn't quite figure him out. "I still don't get why you care," she finally said, "But I'll let that go too."

With that, she stepped around him and hurried out of Studio One. Finn watched her retreat down the hall before heaving a sigh and slumping on the bench against the wall. He wished he could know what was bothering her, but he was just going to have to let it go like he had said he would. Maybe one day she would confide in him. He hoped she would. He liked Piper, he decided. She was pretty and interesting, and she clearly had guts to stand up for what was right, which he respected.

Glancing around the studio, thoughts of Piper's solo still running through his mind, Finn smiled softly to himself. Initially, he hadn't been sure about coming to The Next Step. Their reputation as a studio that had won Internationals and then lost to a new studio at Regionals the very next year was fairly well known in the Toronto dance community. If he had known from the beginning that he would be dancing with someone like Piper, however... Well, he definitely wouldn't have been so hesitant to accept Miss Angela's offer. And it wasn't just Piper that was amazing. The whole team was. He had clearly made the right decision coming here.

One of these days, he would win over Piper, but in the meantime, he had some extra practice to get in.

Chapter Text

"Great job today, everyone. It's looking good," Michelle told her A-troupers with a smile as rehearsal came to an end.

As the dancers began to disperse, Piper exchanged a brief goodbye with Amy and Henry before heading for the locker room to get her stuff. She had so much to do tonight for school that she didn't have time to stand around and talk with her friends, as much as she might have liked to. Her Renaissance Era history paper that was due tomorrow morning wasn't going to write itself. She would be lucky if she had any time at all tonight to work on her aerial after her homework was all said and done.

The first thing she did when she got to the locker room was check her phone for messages. Her sister Julia, whose internship at an advertising company was conveniently just a ten-minute drive from the studio, had texted her to let her know that she was outside. Piper let out a relieved sigh. She never knew from day to day if Jules would be on time to pick her up from rehearsal or not, and with the pile of homework waiting for her at home, she was itching to get home and get to work. The sooner she could get it all done, the sooner she could keep working on her aerial.

"Hey Piper."

At the sound of her name, she glanced up to see Finn striding across the room to his locker. "Hi," she said shortly as she pulled her shoes out of her locker and sat down to pull them on. Finn seemed to be everywhere she went the last couple of days, and that would be fine if he didn't keep prying into her business. It was getting on her nerves.

"Hey, what are you doing tonight?" he asked, leaning against his locker door as he turned to face her.

"I don't know," she muttered even though that was a lie. That Renaissance essay was the only thing in her foreseeable future.

She stood back up and stuffed her dance shoes in her dance bag as he spoke again. "Do you want to go check out this new arcade with me? It's supposed to be really cool."

Unconsciously, Piper's shoulders tensed. She gripped the strap of her dance bag tight as she pulled it out of her locker and slung it over her shoulder. "Like a date?" she asked reluctantly. The ever-present knot that had made its home in her stomach since the incident with Miss Angela twisted just at the thought.

"Sure," he said with a shrug and an easy grin. "Just you, me, and some good ol' Skeeball. Well, if they have it. This one back in Vancouver doesn't, which should be a crime. Skeeball's a classic staple of any arcade. Am I right, or am I right?"

"No."

Finn frowned. "You don't think so?"

"No, I mean, I have homework. I can't."

She glanced at him, afraid this might somehow offend him, but he just shrugged again and turned to his own locker. "Okay."

She waited for him to go on, to try to offer up another night to go that she would inevitably turn down because there was no way she was going to an arcade with some guy that she hardly knew, but he simply pulled his bag out of his locker and kicked it shut. With a smile, he said, "Good luck with your homework. See you tomorrow,” then strolled out of the locker room, completely unperturbed by her rejection and leaving Piper slack-jawed as she tried to process what had just happened.

Why had Finn taken such an interest in her? Between trying to butt into her business in Shakes and Ladders yesterday, then watching her dance in Studio One when all she had wanted was to be alone, and now this, he was really testing his luck. Seriously, what was with this guy?

Oh, I know exactly what his deal is, Piper thought as she finally pulled herself out of her reverie and made her way down to the lobby. He's just like James used to be - overconfident boy who thinks he can just walk into the studio and win over all the girls. Well, not me, buddy. Not me.

She rolled her eyes to herself, figuring it was just her luck that Finn had taken an interest in her and not Amy or Richelle or someone else. She didn't know what she had done to catch his attention, but whatever it was, she wished she hadn't done it. There was already so much on her plate between her online classes for high school and worrying about Regionals and her lack of ability to do a simple aerial. The last thing she needed was to add a boy to the mix.

She didn't even know anything about Finn, and he didn't know anything about her. Why in the world did he think she would want to go on a date with him? Seriously?

Her mind was still reeling as Piper walked outside and down the street to where her sister's car was parked. "Did you know they have yellow watermelon?" Julia asked, her phone clutched in her hand, as Piper climbed into the passenger seat.

"Hi to you too," Piper grumbled.

"That's freaking wild, dude. Like the inside is literally yellow," her sister said as if she hadn’t even heard her, thumbs flying across her screen in an enthusiastic text. "Someone brought some to work today. I texted a pic to Riley because, you know, she loves watermelon, and she already knew that, but like, who just knows that kind of thing? Why has no one ever thought to mention this to me in the last twenty-two years?"

Piper was completely uninterested in her sister's rant about fruit, and when a break in her rambling came, she blurted out, "A boy asked me out."

"Ooh, Pipes!" Julia set her phone aside and waggled her eyebrows excitedly, sending an embarrassed blush up Piper's cheeks. "Is he cute?"

"No," Piper snapped before crossing her arms bitterly and thinking, Well, he's not not cute. "He keeps following me around and getting into my business."

"He's following you around? Oh no, that's a red flag. You should report that to Michelle. She's in charge now, right?"

Her sister's immediate concern made Piper pause and reconsider her wording. "No, no, it's not like he's stalking me. He's just being annoying."

"So not a stalker, but clingy. Still a red flag." Piper rolled her eyes at her sister's unhelpful commentary. As Julia pulled out of her parking spot and into the flow of traffic, she asked, "Who is it?"

"Finn."

"Finn..." Julia trailed off, fingers tapping against the steering wheel thoughtfully as she clearly tried to recall who this Finn was, and Piper realized she had never mentioned him before since he was new to the studio.

Quick to clarify, she added, "He's new. He came with the new studio head."

"The one that you all overthrew?"

"Well, I didn't overthrow her." But I wish I had.

Julia shook her head, fingers still tapping against the steering wheel as she slowed to a stop at a red light. "Do you realize how hard it is to keep up with everyone at your studio? Your turnover rate is honestly astounding. It's got to be a miracle that you're an Internationals-winning studio at all."

Piper sighed, gritting her teeth and promptly changing the subject. The rest of the car ride was spent listening to Julia complain about one of her fellow interns. When they got home, Piper pointedly avoided the subject of Finn as they ate dinner with their parents and James and Riley. Her brother and his girlfriend had stopped by claiming that they just wanted to see the family. It was much more likely, however, that they were only there because rent was due on their new apartment, and as a result, they were running low on money and, thus, putting off going to the store to buy their own food.

After dinner, Piper disappeared up to her room and settled in at her desk for the evening, determined to get her essay done in a timely manner. This assignment had been hanging over her head for weeks, and she was out of time to keep putting it off. Not ten minutes into working on the essay, however, she found herself looking at Instagram instead. She had a new follow request and switched tabs after liking Jacquie's most recent post to see who it was.

@finnyboy1

Oh. Of course.

She stared at the username that could only belong to Finn for a moment before sighing and hitting accept. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she went to his own page and was, somehow, unsurprised to find that it was public. Regardless, he didn't have very many posts – a few videos of him dancing, a couple of "candid" photos of himself, and one of him carrying a little girl that Piper assumed must be a younger sister or relative on his shoulders. She quickly followed him back as a formality then set her phone aside and looked back to her computer.

The Renaissance. Right. She really needed to focus.

...

But why did he ask her out?

They hardly knew each other. She could probably count on one hand the number of times she had spoken directly to him. They weren't even friends. Was he so full of himself that he thought he could compliment her on a solo she hadn't meant for anyone to see and suddenly she would be in love with him? That must have been it. What other explanation was there?

Then again, Finn didn't necessarily give off the overconfident player vibes that James had reeked of when he was their age. Confident? Yes, definitely. But full of himself? She recalled his overenthusiastic rambling about Skeeball of all things and bit her lip. Maybe not...

What was she doing? She really didn't have time to be thinking about this.

Piper shook her head at herself and heaved a sigh, forcing herself to return her attention back to her essay. She had only written one full paragraph so far. She quite literally didn't have time to be worrying about Finn...

Yet two paragraphs and twenty minutes later, she had pulled Facebook up on her laptop and was scrolling through her newsfeed mindlessly. Amy's grandmother's dentist appointment couldn't have gone better – no cavities! Heather was having a great time at college. Zara's math team had won their quarterfinal competition and was moving on to the semifinals next weekend. Josh apparently had a new girlfriend.

Wait, what?

Piper scrolled back up, her eyes widening as she stared at the picture on her newsfeed. That was definitely a picture of Josh with a girl. Her eyes were not deceiving her. She sighed and rested her chin against her fist, still staring at the picture and scrolling her mouse over the girl's name. It didn't ring a bell. She didn't know why she thought it would. Josh had moved away with his family after the team qualified for Regionals when his dad's job unexpectedly relocated him. Whoever this new girl was, Josh must have met her at his new school or even his new dance studio.

It stung a little, seeing him with someone else, and so soon after he had moved away. He really hadn't felt anything for her after all.

Piper squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her palms against them and rubbing in circles as if doing so could somehow ward off the horrible memory of admitting her feelings to Josh in Studio A and the gut-wrenching feeling that had surged through her when he'd told her he only liked her as a friend. Filming the Regionals Qualifier video after that had been torture.

Josh had been her first real crush. Sure, she'd had little crushes before him. Heck, she'd even had a little crush on Alfie of all people until that had gone down the drain the moment she walked in on him and Riley kissing in Studio A (another memory Piper buried deep in the recesses of her memory). The point was - Josh was the first boy she had ever felt like she had a real chance with, the first boy she had thought actually liked her back.

Had it all been in her head? Apparently so. But after choreographing a duet together, and their (admittedly limited) conversations in Neutral Grounds, and that moment when had they had been lying on the floor of Studio One together and talking about the stars, and Piper had tried imagining them with her eyes closed and said that they were beautiful, and Josh had agreed and been starting right at her when she opened her eyes, like they were in a scene straight out of a Rom Com? After all of that, how could she have come to any other conclusion? She had been so certain that he liked her. What signs had she possibly overlooked that indicated he hadn't felt the same?

She would give absolutely anything to go back in time and stop herself from telling Josh how she felt. The days following the Qualifier video had been awful – filled with averted gazes and awkward tension and a nervous feeling in the pit of Piper's stomach that wouldn't go away. In that one moment, she had single-handedly destroyed their friendship (which her oldest sister Lauren had ever-so-kindly pointed out must not have been very strong if it had been decimated by one bad conversation).

Noah had been the one to tell Piper that Josh had left the studio because his family was moving just a week after the team qualified for Regionals. Piper never said goodbye to him. Their last conversation would forever be the one that Piper wished she could forget the most.

In a way, it had been a relief when Josh left the studio because it meant that Piper didn't have to worry about the awkward tension between the two of them anymore. At the same time, however, she missed him. Or perhaps more accurately, she missed having another friend. She always had Amy, of course, but Amy was often busy with other things or people. Piper sorely missed Sloane and Cassie, and it had been nice to have another friend to hang out with when Amy was busy. Josh had been that for her, and now that she had lost him, she couldn't help wondering if she would ever find another friend like that. She liked to think she would, but at the rate things were going now, she wasn't sure if she was ever going to have time for friends again between improving her acro, and learning the Regionals routines, and school.

School.

She was never going to finish this essay.

She immediately exited out of Facebook and pulled her essay back up. Turning on some music for background noise, she tried to push aside thoughts of all boys again and focused solely on her essay. How long did it have to be again? Oh right, 5 pages. And she had 11 hours to do it. Okay, that was doable. No more distractions.

Seriously. Boys had to be the least of her concerns right now.

Chapter Text

"So I have to get to the other ridge over here, right?"

"Yeah."

"So how do you do that?"

Finn watched as Ozzy tried to lead Commander Plasma from Legions of Lasers across the swamp and disappeared under the murky water. An error message popped up, alerting Ozzy that he had died (again). Huffing, Ozzy exited out of the message, and the game automatically sent him back to the reset point.

"You can't just run across the swamp. There's a secret ledge you have to find to cross it," Finn explained patiently, gesturing to the side of the screen where Ozzy should go.

"A secret ledge? Seriously?" Ozzy said indignantly, "That's not on any of the forums."

"Probably because most people don't die twenty times just trying to cross the Simeon Swamp."

Ozzy grumbled as he followed Finn's advice then suddenly exclaimed, "Oh hey! I found it!" Commander Plasma ran across a small ledge to the other side of the swamp that had been the bane of his existence for the last twenty minutes, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Dude, you're a lifesaver. I've been stuck on that forever."

As a cutscene played, Finn glanced around Shakes and Ladders and noticed Piper entering with Amy. He immediately perked up and ran a hand over his hair in case there were any stray hairs sticking up. (He'd straightened it that morning as usual, so there shouldn't have been, but he could never be too careful.)

The girls stopped at the counter, and if either of them had noticed him, they didn't acknowledge him. They were mid-conversation, and Finn debated going over to talk to them for half a second before deciding to just do it. There was no better way to get to know a girl than to put himself out there, right? That's what his brother Nate had told him anyway, and Nate had had a lot of girlfriends over the years, so he clearly knew what he was talking about.

"I'll be right back," Finn told Ozzy as he pushed back from their table.

"Whatever," was Ozzy's response.

As Finn approached Piper, he told himself to just play it cool. His attempt to ask her out last week had failed, but she had said herself that she was busy that night. Maybe tonight would be different. He was fascinated by her, and if he ever wanted to get to know her, he had to take every chance he got. What did he have to lose by asking her out anyway? If she said no, she said no, but at least he'll have tried, right?

"It sounds like they're a really great team," Amy was saying as Finn approached them.

"An acro team would be perfect for you," Piper admitted before adding lightly, "Too bad they can't have you."

Amy rolled her eyes playfully, waving a hand dismissively. "As if I'd ever leave the studio after my mom made me go to Gemini."

Piper grinned at that, but her smile hardened when she noticed Finn. "Hey," he greeted them with a grin. Amy returned his greeting cheerfully, but Piper simply gave a tight smile in response.

Never one to beat around the bush, Finn decided to just get straight to the point. "Piper, I was wondering if you'd want to hang out tonight?"

Amy's eyebrows shot up at this, a grin tugging at her lips, but Piper pointedly avoided his gaze and reached for an apple from the bowl sitting on the counter. "I can't. I'm busy," she said shortly. She rolled the apple around in her hands as she reluctantly met his eye with a hard stare and a quirk of the eyebrow that dared him to ask her again.

Finn was never one to back down from a challenge, but he also knew that when a girl said no, she meant no, and he wanted to respect that (even if it meant being a little disappointed).

"Oh, that's okay," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets and starting to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet. Piper was giving him the same look she had in Studio One the other day, as if she was trying to figure him out and failing.

Next to Piper, however, Amy was grinning, clearly enjoying watching this interaction. "Well, I'm free!" she interjected, and Finn looked to her in surprise. "What did you have in mind?"

Now what was he supposed to do? He'd only been asking out Piper. Amy was cool, but he wasn't exactly looking to date her. Although that didn't mean they couldn't hang out as friends...

"There are these new batting cages that just opened. They're supposed to be really cool," he said, easily matching her enthusiasm.

Amy's face lit up, and she practically jumped in excitement as she said, "I love batting cages!"

"Amy."

She looked to Piper, who shook her head in a far less subtle way than she probably intended to, whispering something to her through gritted teeth. Amy suddenly frowned, glancing back to Finn and saying in a monotone, "I hate batting cages."

Finn fought back a laugh, eyes darting between Amy and Piper. His gaze lingered on the latter before he gave a good-natured smile and shrug of the shoulders. "That's okay. It's supposed to rain tonight anyway."

"Well, that doesn't matter, right?" Piper said in a sarcastic tone. She quirked an eyebrow as she added, "You can play baseball in the rain. Just wear a helmet. Protect the hair and all that."

"That's true," Finn admitted, inclining his head toward her. "But lightning might be a problem if there are metal bats."

The corners of her lips twitched at that, and she told him, "Better wear gloves then." With that, she put a hand on Amy's arm and dragged her best friend toward the door in an obvious effort to leave.

"Wait, we didn't order," Amy protested as Piper pulled her away.

"We don't need to spend any more money. Come on."

"Since when have you wanted to save money?"

Finn watched them go, feeling half-amused, half-disappointed. Piper didn't look back as they exited the shake shop, but Amy looked back to roll her eyes at him before chasing after Piper down the hall. They seemed like a fun duo, those two. And unpredictable. He hadn’t expected Amy to jump at his offer to hang out when Piper turned him down. To be fair though, he was still getting to know the whole team, and he wasn't entirely sure if Amy had been serious or joking. (He was pretty sure she'd been joking.)

With a sigh, he rejoined Ozzy at their table. He figured his friend would have been so focused on Legions of Lasers that he wouldn't have overheard that exchange with Amy and Piper, so it was to his surprise when Ozzy looked up at him with a smirk.

"I didn't know you liked Piper," he stated mischievously.

Finn could have denied it, but he didn't really see the point. He did have a bit of a crush on Piper, and he wasn't ashamed to admit that. "Yeah, she's cool." He frowned at the way Ozzy was smirking at him and reluctantly asked, "What? Do you know something I don't?"

"Oh, no," Ozzy said, quickly shaking his head. "I just think it's fun to watch my friends pine over girls who they have no chance with."

"Hey," Finn interjected with a frown.

Ozzy went on as if he hadn't heard him. "First, Kingston and Lola. Now, you and Piper. Wonder who Henry's gonna fall for?"

"I could have a chance with her," Finn said defensively. Who was Ozzy to make that claim? "You're one to talk. Haven't you been pining over Richelle for years?"

"Who told you that?"

"You did," Finn reminded him, and Ozzy looked away, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Did I?"

"You talk about Richelle constantly."

"Well, she's a beautiful piece of art that's too good for this world. How could I not?" Ozzy said with a pompous shrug as he looked back to his video game.

Finn raised his eyebrows, biting back another laugh. Sure, he had a crush on Piper, but at least he wasn't on the same level of pining as Ozzy was. (Not yet anyway... God, he hoped he never got to the same level Ozzy was on.)

"What's the best way to get past the sand dunes?" Ozzy asked, abruptly changing the topic.

Finn sighed. He had half a mind to leave Ozzy hanging after the comment he'd just made, but ultimately, he wasn't one to do that to a bro regardless of how they might have offended him. He wasn't that kind of guy.

"Okay, have you found the guy in the purple hat? You have to find him first, and then..."

Chapter Text

It was a rare day when Piper wasn’t required to be at rehearsal. Emily and Michelle were focusing on the dances for the upcoming Wild Stylz Dance Convention, which Piper hadn't been chosen for, so she technically had the day off. Even still, she'd walked to the studio anyway, desperate to get some fresh air that afternoon. Her mind had been running in overdrive all day with the fear that she had been overlooked for the convention dances because she was the team's weak link. After feeling suffocated by her thoughts all morning while trying to work on her online classes, she had eventually decided the best way to silence them was to go to the studio and work on her aerial.

It was late afternoon when Piper finally arrived at the studio. As she was putting her bag and shoes in her locker, she heard laughter in the hallway and the unmistakable voices of the boys. The voices faded away, and a moment later, Finn entered the locker room. Of course.

She should have known by this point that she couldn't come to the studio without running into him somehow.

"Hey Piper! What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming in today," he said as he walked over to his locker and pulled it open.

"I could say the same for you," she replied stiffly, shutting her locker and crossing her arms as she faced him. The only people Emily and Michelle had officially called in for rehearsal today were Summer, Richelle, and Jacquie.

"Oh, you know the group dance for the convention?" Finn said as he rummaged through his locker in search of something. Piper nodded. "Kingston and Ozzy thought it wasn't fair that we didn't have a chance to audition, so we put together a routine for Emily and Michelle."

Perhaps that should have come as a surprise to Piper, but honestly, it sounded exactly like something the boys would do. In spite of herself, she asked curiously, "Did it work?"

"Nope," he said with a shake of the head. He seemed to find whatever it was he was looking for, his face lighting up as he reached to the back of the top shelf of his locker and pulled out what was clearly his wallet.

As he slipped the wallet into his pocket, he asked, “Hey, do you know LaTroy?”

Piper nodded slowly, her brows knitting together. "Do you?" she asked, failing to see why her former teammate was relevant to this conversation.

"Yeah, he helped us choreograph our dance!"

"Wait, he's here? Now?" Piper asked in surprise. The last she had heard, LaTroy and Sloane were still on tour with Luther Brown.

"Yeah! We're all going to Shakes and Ladders now if you want to come."

It would be fun to see LaTroy and hear about the tour with Luther Brown, but Piper had come to the studio on a mission that she needed to see through. With a shake of the head, she told him, "I really need to work on my acro."

"Okay," he said with a shrug.

Even though he was smiling at her, she was sure he must be thinking about how pathetic it was that she still hadn't gotten her aerial down yet. After all, his first impression of her had been that she was the girl who the whole team had to do planks for because she was the only member of the team who couldn’t do an aerial.

But he did say you were an incredible dancer, the voice of reason pointed out in the back of her mind.

He was just being nice, her anxiety piped back.

Dread filling her at the reminder of the worst rehearsal of her life, Piper turned to leave the locker room but stopped when it dawned on her that she couldn't go to Studio One because AcroNation was renting out the space. Would Studio A even be open right now? Reluctantly turning back to Finn, she asked, "Um, is anyone in Studio A right now? Do you know?"

"No, I don't think so," Finn answered as he kicked his locker door shut.

She nodded and started to leave the locker room with Finn right behind her. As they made their way down the hallway, her hands fidgeted restlessly in front of her as she risked a glance up at him. Should she try to make conversation with him? Did she want to? She wasn't even sure. Finn was just weird. He was a nice guy, but he couldn't seem to take a hint. He'd asked her out twice now, and she'd turned him down both times, not only because she barely knew him but also because she just wasn't interested in dating at all. Not after what had happened with Josh.

Finn had taken to staring up at the ceiling as they walked. Piper had just made peace with walking in silence when he suddenly said, "Hey, I heard there's this really cool pizza place downtown." Piper grit her teeth, anticipating his next words. "Do you want to go check it out one night?"

"No," she said automatically.

As usual, he barely flinched at her rejection, as if it didn't even faze him in the slightest. Gosh, she really didn't understand this guy at all. Still, she couldn't help thinking of how awful it felt to be on his side of rejection and sighed as she turned to face him.

"Look, Finn," she started. He nearly stumbled into her and quickly caught himself before looking to her expectantly. "I'm sure you're a great guy and all, but I'm focusing on dance this season, not dating, so can you just leave it alone?"

Was that too harsh? She wasn't trying to be mean, but wasn't it also better to be upfront with him rather than keep giving him some kind of false hope or something?

She wrung her hands in front of her, gauging his reaction. He didn't seem upset, just rolled with it as usual. Maybe he was just really good at masking his emotions.

"Yeah, sure. I get it. Dance is important," Finn said, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

Piper let out a breath of relief and nodded. "Okay. Good." With that, she continued on to Studio A, leaving Finn behind to join the boys and missing how his face fell when she walked away.

Studio A was indeed empty as Finn had said it would be. Piper pulled one of the mats off of the wall and set it up in the middle of the studio. It was easier to practice her aerial when no one else was around. There was no need to worry about anyone watching and judging her, and she didn't have to feel embarrassed about using the mat.

She didn't know how long she practiced by herself. At one point, Emily came in to lock up the office on her way out for the evening and instructed Piper to turn off the lights and lock the studio doors when she left. Not long after that, Amy strolled into the studio, sipping on a nearly finished smoothie from Shakes and Ladders.

"Hey you," she called cheerfully.

Piper smiled in greeting at her best friend. She had just sat down on the mat, sweaty and tired from working so hard. Even after practicing for hours, she still wasn't quite getting it. Her aerial was beginning to feel like a lost cause. Was it supposed to be this hard, or was she just that bad at acro?

Amy joined her in the center of the studio, sitting down on the wood floor and stretching her legs out in front of her. "I didn't think you were coming today," she stated, and Piper shrugged.

"I wanted to work on my aerial, but it's not going very well."

"Do you want help?" Amy asked, perking up and setting her smoothie aside. Of all the people Piper could ask for help, Amy was definitely the best. Not only was she her best friend, but she was also the Queen of Acro herself.

Piper gave a tired smile and shook her head. "Another day, please. I'm too tired right now."

"Deal. I'll help you get it before Regionals. I promise."

"You're the best," Piper said gratefully.

Amy smiled and flipped her hair over her shoulder playfully. "I try."

Chuckling, Piper stretched her legs out and asked, "How'd you know I was here?"

"Finn told me. All of the boys are in Shakes and Ladders, and you'll never guess who's with them."

"LaTroy?"

Amy paused and raised her eyebrows. "How'd you know?"

"Finn."

"Ah..."

Piper observed her best friend for a moment, noting the frown on her lips and the way her gaze had gone downcast. Guessing what was running through her best friend's mind, she asked, "Weird seeing him?"

Amy pursed her lips for a moment then shrugged, slowly looking up to meet her eye. "I just wasn't expecting it." She heaved a sigh then continued with, "I know it's been almost a year since we broke up, and we're kind of friends, but... I don't know. I just feel weird whenever I'm around him."

"He really hurt you," Piper pointed out reasonably. It had been hard to watch Amy get her heart broken at Regionals and then to find out that LaTroy hadn't wasted any time before getting together with Sloane. Time had healed wounds, of course, but Amy's friendship with Sloane had never been the same.

"Yeah, he did..." Amy muttered. She fell quiet for a moment before letting out a deep breath, tossing her shoulders back, and plastering a smile on her face. "But whatever. It's in the past, right?"

"Right.”

A mischievous look flashed in Amy's eyes, and Piper was almost certain she knew what her best friend was about to bring up. "So, have any interesting conversations with Finn today?"

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head exasperatedly at Amy. "You're enjoying this way too much."

"Hey, it's not every day a boy asks your best friend out." Amy giggled to herself then said, "Oh wait. Yeah it is."

"Shut up. He doesn't ask me out every day."

"Did he ask you out today?"

"Yes," Piper grumbled, and Amy's face lit up in glee. Ever since Finn had asked Piper out in Shakes and Ladders the other day, Amy hadn't quit teasing her about it. It was certainly a change in pace for their relationship considering it was usually Piper who was teasing Amy about her love life, not the other way around.

In an effort to wipe the gleeful expression off of her best friend's face, Piper added, "And I told him to leave it alone because I'm focusing on dance this season."

Amy frowned, giving her an exasperated look. "I think you should go out with him."

"Why?" Piper asked in surprise. Amy couldn't be serious. Could she?

"Piper, come on! He's cute, and Henry thinks he's really cool."

"If you think he's so cute, why don't you date him?" Piper suggested sarcastically before giving her a pointed look and adding, "You can go to the batting cages together."

Amy rolled her eyes at that. "Oh, give me a break. I was just trying to ease the tension after you turned him down."

"What tension? He never even reacts when I tell him no. I don't get it."

"I'm not interested in Finn like that," Amy continued as if she hadn't heard Piper. "But he's clearly interested in you. You should give him a chance."

"I barely even know him.”

"But you could get to know him!"

Piper gave her a dumbfounded look. "Why would I want to do that?"

Her shoulders deflating dramatically, Amy sighed and asked pointedly, "Have you ever even been on a date before?"

"No, and I don't want to," Piper grumbled, averting her gaze.

Amy frowned at her, but her expression softened as a thought seemed to strike her. "Is this because of what happened with Josh?"

Piper sighed and shook her head. "No," she said seriously, but of course that wasn't true. Josh was the first boy that she had opened herself up to, and she'd just gotten hurt by him in the end. The wound he'd left on her heart was still healing, and she honestly didn't know if she'd ever be interested in another guy again. How could she when she could just end up getting rejected again?

That didn't seem like a risk worth taking.

"Piper, you can't let what happened with him control you for the rest of your life," Amy told her seriously.

"I'm not!" Piper snapped defensively.

"Well, if you want my opinion, Finn is way cuter than Josh."

"Amy."

"Am I wrong?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as if challenging Piper to disagree.

Piper rolled her eyes and looked away from her. "Josh was cute, okay?" she mumbled. But she supposed Finn kind of was too. Considering how amusing Amy found this Finn situation, however, there was no way she was actually going to admit that out loud.

Regardless, Amy smirked as if she knew exactly what Piper was thinking. In an attempt to change the subject, Piper asked her how her day had been. Letting the subject of Finn go, Amy shrugged and said, "It was... good?"

Piper raised her eyebrows at that very underwhelming answer. "Are you sure?"

"Emily and Michelle wouldn't even consider me for the solo," Amy admitted, "But Thalia asked me to fill in for a trio at AcroNation, and it went surprisingly well."

"Really?" It was surprising that Thalia would ask a dancer from another studio to fill in for one of her dancers, but then again, it wasn't like AcroNation was a competitive team.

"I actually had a lot of fun! The routine was all acro. I had a blast with them."

"Wow, that's great!" Piper enthused. Maybe filling in for AcroNation was exactly what Amy had needed to get her spirits up. It had been a difficult season for her between all of the drama with her mom and feeling overshadowed by some of the other dancers recently.

They talked in Studio A for a while longer before finally deciding it was time to head home for the evening. Amy helped Piper put her mat up then they walked out to the lobby together. As they went, Piper asked if Amy would want to hang out over the upcoming weekend.

"Oh, I can't. Lainey's soccer championships are on Saturday, and then I'm hanging out with Henry on Sunday," Amy told her. Lainey was her little sister who preferred playing soccer to spending her days in the dance studio, much to their mother's absolute dismay.

Piper was disappointed by her answer since they hadn't had much time to see each other outside of rehearsals lately, but she supposed it was okay. "Maybe next week?" she suggested.

"Of course!" Amy agreed, slinging an around her shoulders excitedly.

Piper grinned, resting her head against Amy's as they walked outside together. She sincerely hoped that they would actually be able to make plans for the next weekend. Amy had been so busy recently that Piper was starting to feel like she saw Finn more than her these days, and that was not a trend that she wanted to continue.

Chapter Text

"Look guys, I just want to be left alone right now, okay?" Henry mumbled, keeping his back to his friends as he sat hunched over on the floor of Studio A.

Finn sighed, lifting an arm to scratch at the back of his neck as he shared a solemn look with Noah. They'd spent all day helping Henry plan the perfect promposal for Amy, only for her to reveal she was already going with another guy. He didn't like to think negatively about other people, but he couldn’t help thinking that was a real jerk move of Amy. How could she lead Henry on by going to the effort of planning an entire prom for him and then turn around and ask another guy, and another guy from another studio at that?

She clearly didn't deserve Henry, but that didn't stop his friend from feeling heartbroken anyway.

Summer joined Henry on the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest and giving him a gentle smile. "Your promposal was really great, Henry. I know I would love it if someone planned something like that for me."

"She didn't even bother waiting for me," he mumbled with a sad shake of the head.

"If she really wanted to go with you, she would have," Summer said, "But it's her loss, not yours."

Henry sighed and fell back onto the floor, his head falling at Finn's and Noah's feet as he stared dejectedly up at the ceiling. "What's so great about Ty? He's a stupid acro dancer with stupid hair. He's so stupid."

"Your hair is way cooler," Finn was quick to assure him.

"Yeah, man, and I bet he didn't even have a promposal for Amy. He pales in comparison to you," Noah added.

Even with the assurance of his friends, however, Henry's bottom quivered, and his dark eyes were misty. "But it still didn't matter in the end," he said in a pitiful voice.

Summer met Finn's eye, a deep frown on her face. Finn had noticed her hanging around a lot with Amy over the last few weeks, and he couldn't help wondering what she thought about all of this. Amy was so friendly and bubbly and had a personality that could draw anyone in. It surprised him that she would do something so low to Henry, given everything that he knew about her. Was Summer as surprised as he was?

"You know, when I'm sad, I like to do something fun to take my mind off it," Summer said, turning back to the dejected boy in front of her. "There's an old horror movie playing at that old theater downtown tonight. I was going to check it out. Do you want to come with me?"

Henry sniffled and lifted his head to look at her. "Is that the theater with all you can eat popcorn?" Summer nodded, and his head flopped back against the floor again as he mumbled an, "Okay."

Noah gave an appreciative nod to Summer then nudged Finn and gestured toward the door. "Come on. Summer's got this," he muttered.

Finn followed Noah's lead out of Studio A. Neither of them spoke until they had stepped into the hall. Simultaneously, they both let out a deep breath, and Noah ran his hands through his hair. "Man, this day did not end the way I thought it would."

Finn shook his head grimly. "Definitely not." He paused then noted, "I thought Amy and Henry were really close." He'd been at the studio long enough by now to pick up on which members of A-Troupe tended to stick together the most, and if Amy wasn't with Piper or Summer, she was usually with Henry.

"They are. Or were," Noah said with a frown. "Honestly though, Henry's never mentioned feelings for Amy before. Must've caught them both by surprise."

"Why would she go to the effort of planning a whole prom for him and then decide to go with another guy?" Finn asked, finally voicing the question on all of their minds.

"Beats me," Noah sighed. Trying to put a more positive spin on the situation, however, he pointed at Finn meaningfully as he said, "But hey, it's still gonna be a fun night. We're not going to let the relationship drama ruin this for everyone else."

"Oh, definitely not. I live for dance parties, and this is gonna be the best one yet for sure!"

Noah chuckled and fist-bumped Finn on the arm. "I like the attitude, Finny boy. Keep it up."

They reached the end of the hall, and Noah said, "I've got to go run some ideas for Regionals by Emily and Michelle before they leave for the night. I'll see you later, man."

"See ya."

As Noah walked away, Finn set off in the opposite direction and pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. It was the middle of the afternoon, and Emily and Michelle had given the dancers the day off so they could make preparations for prom. Not ready to go home just yet, Finn decided to head for Shakes and Ladders instead to see if any of his teammates were there.

Sure enough, Piper sat at one of the tables off to the side, her back to him as he entered the juice bar. She had disappeared after Henry stormed off to Studio A. He had assumed that she must have stayed back with Amy, but that assumption proved false as Amy was nowhere to be found.

Without a second thought, Finn slipped into the empty seat next to Piper and ran a hand over his hair. "Well, that was awkward," he stated with a sigh. He was referring to the obvious promposal disaster, but he didn't think he needed to clarify for her to know that.

Indeed, she muttered, "Tell me about it," in response.

There was a full smoothie sitting in front of her, but Piper didn't seem in any hurry to drink it as she twirled her straw around in it. Finn glanced at her, noting the way her lips were pursed. For a moment, it crossed his mind that she surely must have known that Amy was going to prom with Ty since they were best friends and probably told each other everything.

But wait. If that was the case, why would she have agreed to help Henry with his promposal instead of warning him that Amy was already going with someone else? There was no way Piper could have known.

"How's Henry?" Piper asked after a moment, finally lifting her gaze to meet Finn's.

He shrugged. "Okay. Summer's keeping him company tonight – you know, to keep his mind off everything."

Piper nodded to show she'd heard him then returned to absentmindedly twirling her straw around in her untouched smoothie. She was strangely quiet to the point that Finn couldn't help wondering what was running through her mind that had her so downcast. He'd only known her a few weeks, but this was starting to become a recurring theme.

When she spoke again, her voice was softer than he'd ever heard it. "I wanted to come with you guys, but I figured it might be awkward considering..."

"Considering?" Finn questioned when she trailed off.

Her eyebrows furrowed, and she tilted her head to the side like it should be obvious. "I'm Amy's best friend, and she's probably not his favorite person right now."

"Oh. Yeah, no, she's definitely not his favorite person right now. Far from it."

"Right," Piper muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. She gripped her smoothie with both hands, but she still didn't drink from it. The briefest look of bitterness seemed to flash through her eyes, and her lips formed a thin line. "Did you know I didn't even know anything was going on between them? Amy never said anything. I had to find out from Summer."

Shaking her head and scoffing, she finally took a sip of her smoothie.

Finn raised his eyebrows in surprise. He let out a low whistle and told her, "That's tough."

"I mean, she has been really busy this year. Her mom keeps putting all this pressure on her, and she's been prioritizing dance more, so we haven't talked as much lately," Piper continued as if she was trying to defend Amy to him. Or maybe she was defending Amy to herself. Regardless, the effort was futile. Finn liked Amy, but she was hurting his friends right now, and that wasn't okay with him.

"I just wish she would've told me," Piper admitted, returning to swirling her straw around in her smoothie. She glanced at him, brown eyes flashing guiltily like she had just told him something she shouldn't have. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be dropping all of this on you."

Finn shrugged again, completely unbothered by her talking about Amy. Piper could talk to him about something as mundane as the weather, and he would cherish every second of it just because she was talking to him.

Leaning toward her as if they were conspiring over something top secret, Finn told her seriously, "It's okay to be mad at her, you know."

"I know," she said defensively, stubbornly glaring at her smoothie like it had just offended her. After a moment, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and noticed the way his eyebrows were raised skeptically. Her dark eyes narrowed even more at him, and she snapped, "Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you think I don't have a backbone or something."

The corners of Finn's lips had turned up in amusement, but now that she seemed agitated with him, his smile faded as quickly as it had formed. "Hey, you were the first one to stand up to Miss Angela. I know you have a backbone," he assured her.

Piper's lips were pursed, and she was pointedly staring in the opposite direction from him. "Not that it's any of your business, but I have been mad at Amy – multiple times. I just..." She paused, her resolve seeming to dissolve as quickly as it had hardened. "I can't deal with that right now, okay?"

"No, that makes sense," he said, trying to smooth over the obvious blunder he had just made and kicking himself internally. This conversation had been going so well.

She glanced at him again, and he could practically see the moment she consciously relaxed the tension in her shoulders as she slumped back against her chair. Trying to get the conversation back on track, he asked slowly, "So... You really didn't know about Amy and Henry until today?"

She shook her head. "Not until I realized that's who Henry's promposal was for."

Finn waited a moment then told her, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't know until today either."

She looked at him for a moment, and he waited with bated breath to see how she would react. He was trying to cheer her up, but clearly he hadn't been doing a good job of that thus far. After a moment, however, the corners of her lips twitched, and she shook her head, turning away from him as if trying to hide her smile.

It was enough for him, however, and he smiled too.

"I think prom is dumb," Piper admitted after a moment. "All of this drama over a stupid dance."

Finn gaped at her in shock. Was she actually serious? "What do you mean? Prom's supposed to be the best night of your life! It's like a rite of passage. People fall in love at prom, Pipes. In love."

She rolled her eyes. "Both of my sisters' proms were so lame, my brother didn't even bother going to his."

"What? He really didn't go?"

"Nope. Well, to be fair, he and his girlfriend were broken up at the time, and they were getting ready for Nationals, so..." Piper shrugged, looking at him as she stated matter-of-factly, "Prom is lame, and we should be focusing on Regionals right now, not that."

"It's just one night, and it's the weekend. We weren't supposed to have rehearsal anyway," Finn pointed out.

"But we're missing rehearsal today," Piper countered, holding up a finger as if to better emphasize her point.

It was his turn to roll his eyes. He crossed his arms on top of the table as he asked as casually as possible, "So you're not going?" He felt a twinge of disappointment just at the thought. Even though she had turned down his invitation to prom, he had still hoped that she would go. Prom would be the perfect excuse to hang out with her outside of rehearsals. Maybe he would catch her at the snack table, and he'd make a few funny jokes, and she'd laugh, and then they'd share a dance on the dance floor. (And there was also the fact that she would probably be dressed up and prettier than all of the other girls there, but he was trying not to think so much about that.)

"Emily told me I should go, so I guess I will," Piper said, sounding less than enthusiastic. "But I don't even have anything to wear..." This thought seemed to horrify her more than anything else, and Finn quirked an eyebrow. That was a problem that was probably beyond his help.

She slumped over the table, her chin falling against her fist. "I guess I could just go in my pajamas."

"Your... pajamas?"

Finn's eyebrows had shot up, and she shrugged. "Emily said I could."

"Well, in that case, maybe I'll go in my pajamas too.” It would certainly be easier than renting a tux.

To his surprise, Piper laughed, and the sound sent a warm feeling straight to his heart. He grinned and chuckled with her as her phone suddenly lit up on the table. She read the notification then pushed back in her seat, grabbing her phone and her smoothie. "My brother's done rehearsing with his band. I better go."

"Oh, okay. See ya," Finn said as she stood. She waved goodbye, leaving him alone at the table.

Once she was gone, Finn moved to the counter to order a juice. While he waited for it, he marveled over the fact that Piper had just opened up to him for the second time this week. The first had been a few days before when they had been paired together for a duet, and she had admitted to feeling a lot of pressure ever since Miss Angela had made the whole team do planks because she couldn't do acro.

Ever since that first conversation, it felt like something had shifted between the two of them. Piper didn't grimace every time she saw him, and Finn had stopped asking her out because he didn't want her to feel any more pressure than she already was. (And there was also the fact that she had asked him to leave it alone, so he was leaving it alone.)

Maybe Piper was finally warming up to him. He had clearly started to do something right with her. If only he knew what it was.

Chapter Text

"Em told me you guys are having a prom. That's exciting!" Riley enthused to Piper.

They were sitting at the kitchen island of Aunt Kathy's new home as the kitchen and living room buzzed with activity all around them. It was a Friday evening, and some of James and Piper's family had gathered for family dinner, giving Riley the perfect chance to catch up with James' younger sister.

Much less enthusiastic, however, Piper shrugged and mumbled, "I guess so."

Riley frowned at her response. Piper couldn't appear less excited about prom if she tried. Usually, she loved going to big events like that. This seemed so unlike her.

"Wow, don't get so excited on me now," Riley said sarcastically before turning serious. "Is everything okay?"

"I just think prom is stupid," Piper answered, "We should be getting ready for Regionals, but all anyone wanted to talk about today was prom. We didn't even have a real rehearsal."

A sense of understanding crossed Riley's mind. James had mentioned that Piper was having a hard season, and Riley could certainly understand how the team's lack of drive to rehearse might irritate her. However, she also knew how important it was to take some time to rest every once in a while, especially during competition season.

Gently, Riley told Piper, "Sometimes it's good to take a break. You can't worry about Regionals constantly. You'll wear yourself out."

"I guess," Piper muttered. She was fidgeting with her ring, sliding it off and on her finger repeatedly.

Riley recognized the nervous habit that Piper had probably picked up from spending too much time around her and tried to think of a way to lighten up the conversation. Perhaps too enthusiastically, she said, "Prom's supposed to be really fun, you know? I mean, I didn't go to mine because of Nationals, but I've heard good things."

"Jules said hers was lamer than her middle school dance.”

"Well, Jules overexaggerates."

At the mention of her name, Julia looked over her shoulder from where she was cutting tomatoes at the counter with James and said, "Don't flatter me, Riles."

Riley rolled her eyes at her good-naturedly before looking back to Piper. "Maybe you just need to find the right person to go with. Who you're with can make all the difference."

Piper appeared skeptical and shook her head. "No, there's no one I would want to go with."

"Really? Not one guy at the studio? Even as just a friend?"

Piper sighed and stared contemplatively at a bowl of fruit Aunt Kathy had set out earlier. She had pulled her ring off again and was now rolling it around in her palm when she finally said, "Well, there is this guy who keeps asking me out."

"What?" Riley exclaimed, and Piper quickly shushed her, glancing over to where James had moved on to chopping up green onions for dinner. In a quieter yet perhaps too enthusiastic voice, Riley asked, "Who is he? Do you like him?"

"It's Finn. He's one of the new dancers," Piper explained. "He's... I don't know. He's a nice guy, but he keeps asking me out, and I'm not interested in him like that."

"Oh, well, you don't have to go with him if that's the case," Riley was quick to assure her.

"I just don't want to even think about boys right now. I've got enough on my plate as it is," Piper continued as if she felt like she had to justify herself.

Trying to affirm her, Riley said, "You don't have to have a date if you don't want to go with anyone. It was just a suggestion."

As Piper sighed and relaxed, Riley promptly moved the conversation away from prom and told her all about the marketing classes she was taking at university instead. Piper seemed relieved to be talking about something else, so Riley didn't bring up the topic of prom again for the rest of the evening.

Later on, as she and James were driving home, he asked casually, "So what's the deal with this Finn guy?"

"You were listening to our conversation?"

"You were a foot away from me. What else was I supposed to do?"

Well, there was no arguing with that. Aunt Kathy's kitchen was big, but it wasn't that big. Reluctantly, she disclosed what Piper had told her about Finn asking her out a lot. James' jaw clenched as he gripped the steering wheel. "She's too young for dating," he retorted, and Riley rolled her eyes.

"She's 15. I think she's old enough to make that decision for herself. Besides, how many girls had you dated by the time you were 15? It had to be at least ten, right?"

James faked a smile and laughed dryly, and Riley reached out to wipe a piece of fuzz off of his t-shirt. "I don't think you need to worry about her. It doesn't sound like she's interested in this guy anyway."

"I know how a teenage boy's mind works, Riley," James told her seriously. "He won't stop until he gets what he wants. Trust me. I've been there. I'm not proud of it, but I've been there."

Riley rolled her eyes again, turning her gaze to stare out at the passing city as they merged onto the freeway. "Don't go into protective mode," she told him shortly.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't."

"Because Piper can take care of herself, and if she needs you to get involved for some reason, she’ll let you know. Until then, stay out of it."

James grumbled but didn't argue with her. Turning the subject away from Piper, she said, "Hey, I've got a dinner party with my study group next week. Do you want to come with me?"

"Maybe. What day?"

"Tuesday."

"I gotta see what the band's schedule is, but I'll think about it."

Once they got home, Riley jumped in the shower and got ready to go to bed since she had an early class the next morning. When she entered their bedroom in her pajamas and a towel wrapped around her hair, it was to find James quickly ending a phone call and trying to look innocent. Her red flags shooting up, she paused and stared at him. "What did you just do?"

"Nothing," he said casually, tossing his phone in the air and catching it. "What did you just do?"

Ah yes, the age-old diversion tactic - turning her own question back on herself.

Casually, Riley strolled over to the laundry hamper and dropped her towel and dirty clothes inside. As she climbed onto the bed, she crawled to her side then reached out and snatched James' phone out of his hand.

"Hey!"

She held his phone out of his reach as she unlocked it (He never put a password on it.) to reveal his most recent calls. She frowned at him, handing his phone back as she asked flatly, "Why did you just call Eldon?"

"To catch up."

"Really?" James nodded as Riley stared him down, a knowing eyebrow raised. "Are you sure it has nothing to do with the fact that he's supposed to DJ the prom this weekend?"

James looked like he wanted to lie and say no, but then he sighed and slumped against the headboard. "Maybe," he mumbled.

"James."

"I just asked him to keep an eye out for this Finn guy and make sure he doesn't bother Piper. That's it."

Riley sighed and shook her head exasperatedly at him. She pulled the bed covers back and climbed underneath them as she said, "You've really got to learn to stay out of this stuff."

"It's my brotherly duty, Riley. She's already gotten her heart broken once. I'm not letting it happen again."

"Have you ever thought that maybe she should have say in whether or not her heart gets broken?" He didn't have a response for that, and Riley pushed herself up on her arm to directly meet his eye. "I know you care about her, but at some point, you have to let her make her own mistakes and learn from them. That's what's going to make her a stronger person in the end."

James narrowed his eyes at her. He was quiet for a moment then asked, "When'd you get so wise?"

Riley hummed and placed a sweet peck on his lips before lying back against her pillows. "I guess that Philosophy class I took last semester really opened up my mind."

He chuckled and got up to get ready for bed. Riley watched him go, shaking her head as she opened Facebook on her phone. She loved James to death, but he was too overprotective for his own good sometimes.

Chapter Text

"I don't know about this."

Piper stepped out of her closet, her lips pursed uncertainly. Julia was sprawled out on top of her bed and looked up from her phone as Piper reappeared. Sitting up, she asked, "What do you not know?"

Piper smoothed her pants in her mirror, which was adorned with photos of family and friends along the sides. After deeming all of her own dresses unfit for prom and determining that her sister's dresses were too big given that Julia was four inches taller than her, Piper had decided to pair her black dress pants with a button-up blouse and a blazer instead.

"Can I go to prom in this?" she asked uncertainly.

"Uh, duh, you look hot," was her sister's response, and Piper's cheeks flushed.

"Shut up," she grumbled, turning toward her dresser to put on her make-up.

"What? It's a compliment, Pipes," Julia said with a roll of the eyes. She settled back on Piper's bed, resuming her texting.

Piper ignored her as she carefully applied her eyeliner and mascara. Once her make-up was finished, she asked her sister, "Hair up or down?"

"Down."

"Should I do something special with it?"

Julia glanced up at her contemplatively then climbed off the bed. "Here." Her sister quickly pulled the top layer of Piper's hair into a bun on top of her head then stood back, proud of her work, simple as it may be. "I think you're prom ready."

Piper gave a small smile in the mirror. "Thanks."

Julia pulled the ends of Piper's hair over her shoulders and smoothed down the arms of her jacket then gave a nod of approval. "I'll be downstairs when you're ready to go."

Once her sister was gone, Piper turned to check her appearance one last time. She did like her outfit, especially the bowtie that Julia had managed to find in the clutter of James' old room, and she liked the idea of not wearing a dress because she knew all of the other girls would be. Still, the thought of dressing too differently from everyone else made her nervous, which was so irrationally ridiculous, but she couldn't help it. What if everyone judged her for wearing a suit instead of a dress?

Okay, Piper, it's prom. No worrying tonight, she reprimanded herself. As she turned to head downstairs, her eye caught the pictures lining her mirror, and she paused, staring at one of her and Amy that was taken a few weeks after losing Regionals last year. Despite everything they'd been going through when that picture was taken (losing Regionals and Amy's heartbreak over LaTroy), they both looked so young and happy and closer than ever.

Longing surged through Piper's heart, and she turned away, moving downstairs and calling out to Julia that she was ready.

Realistically, it wasn't that big of a deal that Amy had never told her about her feelings for Henry. But when Summer suggested Piper join Henry's promposal dance and revealed that it was for Amy, she may as well have slapped her in the face, Piper was so shocked.

In hindsight, she supposed Amy planning an entire prom just for Henry should have been a big indicator that there was something going on there, but Piper had just thought she was being a good friend.

Why had she had to be the last person to find out about them? Even Finn had known before her – only because he'd been pulled into the promposal first, but still.

And just when she'd thought that day had sent enough curveballs her way, Amy had revealed she was already going to prom with Ty. Who was Ty?

Amy had been working a lot harder this season to improve her dancing and become a featured dancer (an effort that Piper knew was, at its core, an attempt to get her overbearing mother off her back), so they hadn't had as much time to talk recently. Piper just hadn't realized that their lack of communication had gotten this bad.

But tonight was not the night to focus on that. It was prom, and not just any prom, but the prom that Amy had planned practically all by herself. She wasn't going to dance, and she most definitely wasn't going to pay attention to any boys (Finn), but she was going to have a nice time with her friends.

(Or she would try anyway. If she was an hour in and completely miserable, she had full intentions of texting her mom or Julia with an excuse to leave.)

As Julia was dropping her off in front of the studio, Piper noticed Finn and Ozzy walking up the sidewalk, and her breath momentarily caught. She hated to admit it, but Finn actually looked, well, kind of cute.

He cleaned up nicely. Who knew?

"Hey, who's that guy?" Julia asked, her gaze fixated on Finn.

Piper slid down in her seat and snapped, "That's Finn." She gave her sister a look that begged her not to say anything else about him.

"Aww, Pipes, he's cute!" Julia exclaimed, "Look at his converse with his suit! Now that's a look I can get behind." Her face was lit in glee, and Piper knew that her sister was enjoying this way too much.

"Calm down, Jules. He's my age," Piper said, only half teasing her.

Julia rolled her eyes as she unlocked the car. She turned to Piper expectantly, and Piper raised her eyebrows at her. "What?"

"Are you going to walk in with him or not?"

"Are you kidding? I can't walk in with him!"

"Why not?"

"Because! That would totally give him the wrong idea."

"You have got to chill. You're just walking into prom. You're not marrying him," Julia retorted, "Would you rather walk in by yourself?"

Piper paused at that, her shoulders deflating. She didn't think anyone would care if she walked in by herself, but she didn't know that for sure. Would it come off as pathetic? Poor Piper's showing up by herself because she couldn't find a date?

Fine, maybe she'd take walking in with Finn over walking in alone.

Grumbling, she pushed the door open and climbed out of the car. Almost too cheerfully, Julia called after her, "Don't do anything I wouldn't!" Piper rolled her eyes and closed the door on her. The list of things Julia wouldn't do at prom didn't leave much off the table.

Ozzy and Finn were climbing the steps to the building, so Piper called after them to catch their attention. They stopped and waited for her, and she caught up with them as fast as her high heels would carry her. The thought that her outfit would look stupid crossed her mind as she approached them, but she tried to push that thought aside. She shouldn't be worrying about what anyone, especially Finn, thought of her outfit. She had to own it. Wasn't that the key to confidence? Convincing yourself and then everyone else?

"Hey Piper," Ozzy said as she approached. "Cool suit."

She thanked him as Finn told her earnestly, "You look nice."

She reluctantly turned her gaze from Ozzy to Finn. Something about the way he was looking at her sent nervous chills up her arms, and she cleared her throat, muttering, "Thanks," in a constrained voice and moving on past them up the steps. She wiped her hands nervously on her pants as Finn sped up to hold the door open for her and Ozzy with a goofy grin.

Piper's lips formed a tight line, and she kept her gaze down as she stepped inside. Behind her, Ozzy said overdramatically, "Why, thank you, sir."

"It's my pleasure."

Clenching and unclenching her fists, Piper took a deep breath as she glanced around the lobby. It still looked the same as it always did, but music from upstairs wafted down to them. Dread surged through her at the thought being stuck at prom all night, so she reminded herself that she was doing this for Amy and because Emily, Riley, her mother, and both of her older sisters seemed to believe that she "needed" to have this experience tonight.

"It's not like you'll have a prom with your online classmates," her sister Lauren had pointed out when Piper had called her to complain about how everyone was pushing this on her. "Just go have fun with your friends. You'll never have a chance like this again."

It'll be fun, Piper reiterated to herself as they climbed the stairs. Please be fun...

It was surreal to see Studio One decorated for an event like prom. Streamers hung from the ceiling, and there was even a balloon arch where the photographer was setting up for the night. It was amazing how much a few decorations could completely change the atmosphere of their rehearsal studio.

Music was already playing over the speakers, and Piper could start to feel her dread slowly dissipating now that she was actually there. Maybe prom wouldn't be as bad as she had feared.

"Hey, it's almost like we came as dates!"

And just like that, the disdain was back. She looked at Finn in horror and adamantly shook her head. "No," she told him quickly lest he get the wrong idea. "No, it's not."

She spotted Amy standing alone in the middle of the room and hurried over to her best friend. Why did Finn have to be so interested in her? What had Piper done to deserve that kind of attention? It was kind of flattering, she supposed, but just the thought that Finn, or any guy for that matter, liked her was enough to fill her with the kind of nervous energy that resulted in her room being reorganized three times in one week.

It seemed like too much pressure, and what would happen when he realized how much of an anxious mess she was? The more he got to know her, the sooner he'd be running in the opposite direction wondering what he'd ever been thinking in the first place.

"Hey," Piper called, her voice an octave higher than normal as she approached Amy. Regardless of whatever was happening to their friendship right now, talking to her would at least take her mind off of Finn.

Drawing her attention away from admiring the decorations, Amy's face lit up as she turned to her. "What do you think?" she asked, gesturing around them.

"It looks amazing! You did a really good job planning all of this."

"Thanks." Amy beamed with pride as she glanced over to the photobooth and added, "I had some help."

Following her gaze, Piper recognized the boy that had been present during the unfortunate promposal. That must have been Ty.

"Ty's been a great help," Amy continued saying.

"What do you like about him?" Piper asked. She didn't ask with ill intentions. She just wanted to understand what Amy really saw in him because all Piper saw when she looked at Ty was a stranger with a flashing sign over his head that screamed, "Amy Stealer." (Who he was stealing Amy from was to be seen, but she somehow felt it in her bones that it was true.)

"He's fun to joke around with," Amy answered, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes the way it usually did when she was crazy about a boy. "Besides, he asked me when I thought Henry wasn't going to, so..."

The dots in Piper's mind suddenly connected, and her eyebrows shot up. "Wait, so if Henry had asked sooner, you would have said yes?" When Amy nodded, she couldn't help but ask, "When did something start happening between you two exactly?"

"I don't know. About a week ago maybe? When we were supposed to be working on our duet. We almost kissed, Piper."

"What? And you didn't tell me?" she exclaimed in disbelief, hitting Amy on the arm reproachfully.

"I know! I know. I wanted to! I really did! There just never seemed like a good time."

"Any time would have been a good time."

How could Amy keep something that huge from her? She had never done that before, not when it came to boys.

Amy started to apologize, but Piper's attention was suddenly caught on the couple walking through the doors. Henry had just arrived with Summer. Her heart seemed to plummet into her stomach just at the sight of them together, and she dreaded to think what Amy would feel when she saw them. "Ouch..."

Amy followed her gaze, and as predicted, her face fell. Piper glanced at her in concern and tried to gently reassure her. "I'm sure it's just as friends."

"Yeah. Friends..."

Amy glanced at Piper then looked away sadly to notice Ty approaching her. Her disposition immediately changing, she plastered a smile on her face as he said, "Hey, I brought you punch," and handed her a cup.

Piper watched as Amy thanked him. She knew her well enough to know that her smile was forced and that Henry coming with Summer had to be killing her inside. This whole prom was for Henry after all.

But she also couldn't help thinking that maybe Amy should have been a little more patient with Henry before writing him off when his promposal wasn't quick enough for her.

Ty introduced himself to Piper, and she reciprocated the gesture, quickly deciding she didn't want to third wheel her best friend's date for the entire night when Ty kept giving her heart-eyed gazes that Amy wasn't returning. Excusing herself, Piper stepped away from the two of them.

She moved to the side of the prom and observed her friends and teammates. Richelle and Jacquie were mid-argument over the blue dress that they had both shown up in. Henry and Summer were checking out the decorations and laughing about something. Finn was talking to Ozzy while gesturing in Richelle's direction. A few J-Troupers ran past her, yelling something about punch and how "This is all Presley's fault!"

Eldon was manning the DJ booth, and when Piper glanced in his direction, he immediately turned away from her, trying to hide the fact that he had obviously been watching her. She rolled her eyes. James must have sent him to spy on her. Typical.

"Piper, I'm glad you decided to come."

Emily and Michelle approached her, both of them gorgeous as ever in their dresses and with their hair done up. Emily gave her a soft smile, squeezing her shoulder gently.

"Yeah, it looks really cool in here," Piper said with a tense smile.

Michelle lay a hand on her back as she enthused about her outfit. "You look so cute! I love the pantsuit. Very hip of you."

The compliment brought a genuine smile to Piper’s lips. She had been going for different but was afraid of it at the same time, and it was nice to feel validated by her studio head. "Thanks. That's what I was going for."

"Get out on the dance floor and have some fun tonight, okay?" Emily told her seriously then to Michelle, she said, "I have to go check on the J-Troupers. I don't trust them to do a sufficient job of keeping an eye on the snacks."

"The night just got started," Michelle said, stepping away from Piper to follow her.

"And we've got 30 teenage boys here tonight. Do you know what they eat like? Animals, Michelle. They eat like animals."

As her studio heads' banter faded away, Piper noticed Summer and Henry talking nearby and decided it would be better to talk to them than continue standing off to the side by herself. As she approached them, she shot a glance in Amy's direction, but her best friend seemed to have pointedly turned her back to them.

It was a shame, really, that the drama was undoubtedly hanging over her friends tonight. She hoped it wouldn't ruin their night too much.

"Hey Pipes," Henry said with a grin when he noticed her approaching them. Summer looked over as well, and her face lit up with a bright smile.

"Hey guys," Piper greeted. She gestured toward Summer and said, "I love your dress, Summer. It's so cute."

"Thanks, Piper! You look cute too," Summer replied cheerfully. Of all the people Piper had seen tonight, Summer was by far the happiest to be there, just barely beating Finn.

"I'm glad you two decided to come together," Piper told them sincerely. She had been afraid Henry might show up in a mopey mood or not even come at all, but he seemed to be in good spirits tonight.

"Yeah, Summer suggested we go together," Henry said, smiling at his date then adding, "But I only agreed if we could get shawarmas before. She's never had one. Can you believe that?"

Piper raised her eyebrows, pretending to be appalled. James would be horrified to learn that someone had never tried his favorite food, but frankly, Piper didn't think Summer was missing out on much.

"They were pretty good." Summer smiled and nudged Henry with her arm as she added, "But now you have to try avocado toast. It'll change your life."

"I don't like avocado though."

"You've never had avocado. You have to at least try it."

Henry pointed at Summer discreetly and looked to Piper, rolling his eyes and shaking his head in a joking manner as if to say, "Do you hear this girl?"

Piper laughed and agreed with Summer. "You have to at least try it."

"Fine, but then you have to try a bacon cheeseburger. Now that's a life-changing meal," Henry said to Summer.

"Ah ah- I'm a vegetarian," Summer said, wagging a finger at him as she spoke.

He pushed her hand aside, but there was a grin on his face as he said, "Okay, fine, I'll let that one slide then."

Somehow, Piper felt like more of a third wheel around Summer and Henry than she had Amy and Ty.  Glancing around awkwardly, she noticed that Finn was now getting down on the dance floor with Ozzy and found herself suppressing a smile at his overenthusiastic Sprinkler.

"Who did you come with, Piper?" Summer asked, drawing her attention away from Finn and back to their conversation.

"Oh, no one. I'm flying solo tonight."

Her friends seemed to appreciate this, which once again sent a feeling of validation through her. "Own it, girl," Summer said with a respectful nod.

"You gonna put your name in for Prom Queen?" Henry asked her curiously.

"No way," Piper answered quickly. Popularity contests like Prom Queen and King were unnecessary frivolities as far as she was concerned. Even still, she asked, "Are you?"

Summer nodded as Henry popped his coat collar and said coolly, "Yeah, I think I'd be a great Prom Queen." Piper laughed as he grinned at her, clearly proud of his joke. "No, but seriously, I'm running for Prom King, so vote for me.”

"Eh, I was thinking of voting for Noah," Piper joked. Honestly, she hadn't even realized that Prom King and Queen was something they were actually doing tonight, but it was too easy to tease Henry sometimes.

His smile faded, and he gave her an exasperated look. "Noah's got nothing on these moves," he said, doing a spin and tipping his hat in a move reminiscent of Michael Jackson.

"Well, when you put it that way..." Summer said, sharing an amused look with Piper.

"You've got my vote," Piper promised Henry, and he grinned.

"Thanks Pipes." He reached out to clasp her hand as if he was a real politician running for office. When he let go, he looked to the dance floor and said, "I feel like dancing. Come on."

"You want to come with us, Piper?" Summer asked as Henry started to lead the way into the crowd of dancers.

"No thanks. You have fun."

Summer nodded and followed after Henry, leaving Piper alone once more. She crossed her arms as she watched her friends from the side of the room. They all seemed to be having fun together, but there was no way Piper could join them. Prom was every awkward party dancer's worst nightmare, and as she maneuvered her way around the dancing crowd to find a seat by herself, she couldn't help thinking that this was why she hadn't wanted to go to prom in the first place.

Was it going to be a long night? It felt like it was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

Prom may have been lame, but sitting on the sidelines of prom alone had to be even lamer, Piper decided after five minutes of watching her friends and teammates dance together. There was only one thing that could make this night better: food.

As she contemplated her options at the snack table, Finn suddenly appeared next to her and gestured out to Studio One. "Piper, care to dance?" he asked.

She glanced up at him and adamantly shook her head. "Oh, I don't dance."

"What are you talking about? You're a dancer!"

"I only do choreographed dancing," she said, turning back to the food.

She piled up some cheese and crackers on her plate and only looked up again when Finn started showing her his "choreo." He looked silly doing the Bus Driver, but she had to admit that Big Fish, Little Fish, Cardboard Box was kind of cute albeit nothing special.

She still refused to dance with him, but she could appreciate his willingness to look a little goofy since that was something she had seemed to lack as of late. Maybe she would humor him – just this once.

"I have a move for you," she said, interrupting his dancing. His eyes lit up with excitement. "It's called the Later Finn."

She handed her plate to him, which he took without question, then started backing away from him, holding up her arm and imitating a waving motion. "Later Finn," she called sweetly, still backing away until she was out of the office completely.

Maybe it was lame, but Piper couldn't help feeling a little proud of her "dance move." Considering she wasn't as witty as her siblings or their cousins, she thought that had been a pretty good joke on her part. A furtive glance over her shoulder revealed that Finn was grinning and nodding appreciatively, so he must have thought so too.

Even though she hadn't been standing for long, her feet were already sore from her heels. She knew she should have worn better shoes, but her heels had looked best with her outfit. As she moved to sit down again, the J-Troupers ran out of the office and started their own dance party on the dance floor. Piper smiled at their excitement as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time. She was surprised to find that she had already been there for almost an hour. Her sister had sent her a series of text messages since dropping her off.

Jules: How's it going????
J: I'm assuming it's going well since you're not responding
J: Not trying to peer pressure you or anything but you should totally dance with Finn js js
J: Take lots of pictures too!!!!
J: I want to see everyone's dresses
J: K, love you, make good decisions

Of course Julia would text her just to tell her to dance with Finn. Piper glanced over to where he was now cheering on the J-Troupers with the other boys. He was clearly having the time of his life - the complete opposite of what she was doing.

How much longer until it was socially acceptable to text Julia and ask her to come pick her up?

When the J-Troupers' mini dance party came to an end, Eldon switched the upbeat music to a slow song, and the various couples took over the dance floor once more. Piper watched them all pair off and crossed her legs, bouncing her foot anxiously. If she hadn't danced earlier, she most certainly couldn't now.

If this prom had happened just a couple of months before, she would have dreamed of coming with Josh. She probably would have even asked him to prom herself. But it hadn't happened back then, and in hindsight, that was probably for the best. Would Josh have turned down her promposal just as easily as he'd rejected her in Studio A?

No, tonight was not the night to relive that memory.

But Piper's heart ached less when she thought of Josh these days (not that she thought of him often anymore). She was a firm believer that time healed wounds. (James and Riley's relationship seemed to be proof of that.) But when Josh had rejected her, it certainly hadn't felt like she would ever recover from that pain and humiliation.

But somehow, she had, and now she was sitting at her prom, thinking about Josh and not feeling anything for him. Feelings were truly a fickle thing.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Finn approaching her until he was plopping down in the seat next to her.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he sat. The slow song had ended, and the rest of the boys had started fist pumping in the middle of the dance floor to another upbeat song. Why wasn't Finn with them?

"You said you're not dancing tonight, so I'm not dancing with you," he answered simply, giving her a charming grin.

Considering Finn had been one of the most excited for prom, it didn't escape Piper's notice that he was the only one to check up on her since the party had gotten started.

"But," he continued to say, and she gave a short sigh, raising her eyebrows. Of course there had to be a catch. "I did show you some cool choreo, like the Bus Driver." He stood up again, starting to do the same silly dance move he'd done in the office earlier.

Piper watched him for a moment, trying to bite back a smile but failing. As ridiculous as he looked, it was clear he was having fun. It was boring sitting on the side all night. Maybe it wouldn't kill her to try to have at least a little fun.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she joined him in doing the Bus Driver and tried not to think about how anyone watching might judge her for looking stupid. Finn's face lit up as she joined him, and he nodded encouragingly as she tried to mirror his movements. "There ya go!"

After getting enough of the Bus Driver, she asked Finn to show her his other move, and he excitedly moved into Big Fish, Little Fish, Cardboard Box. It took a couple of tries, but Piper finally caught on to the hand motions, and soon, they were moving in sync. It was a completely ridiculous dance move, but Finn's enthusiasm was so contagious that Piper couldn't help but have fun with it anyway.

All too soon, the music changed again to another slow song, and they both halted their movements. "Oh, great, we can sit down now," Finn said, already starting to sit again.

Before she could stop herself, Piper reached out and touched his arm to stop him. "No, it's fine. Why not? You're already here, right?"

"Oh, yeah, for sure," Finn agreed with a soft smile.

Piper wrapped her arms around his neck, thankful she'd worn heels since he was so much taller than her, and his hands rested on her waist. He was sure to keep an appropriate amount of distance between the two of them, and Piper couldn't help but smile at him as they shuffled back and forth.

After all of her insistence that she wasn't going to dance with Finn tonight, here she was, dancing with Finn.

There were far worse ways to spend her Saturday evening, she supposed.

"What do you think of prom so far?" Finn asked as they danced, clearly uncomfortable with silence.

Piper debated whether to give him a sugarcoated answer or just tell him her honest opinion. Since she was already dancing with him, she might as well be honest with him, right?

"It's been kind of boring, but it's starting to get a little better." There seemed to be a hopeful look in his eyes as she asked him, "What about you? Everything you dreamed it would be?"

"Oh totally," he enthused. "It's been a blast."

She could have assumed as much just from watching him with the other boys all evening, but she found herself genuinely glad that he was having such a good time, especially since he had been looking forward to prom so much. Maybe she could learn a thing or two about having fun from him. It was about time she stopped listening to her anxiety and let other voices help her out instead, wasn't it?

"Those J-Troupers were giving me a run for my money earlier. They're insane," Finn continued, and Piper laughed.

"Oh, I saw. Better be careful, or they might take your spot on A-Troupe."

"Tell me about it." He shook his head in wonderment.

When the slow song came to an end, Piper was surprised to find that she felt a little disappointed. She and Finn reluctantly dropped their arms and stepped away from each other, and she feared he might leave her to go rejoin the boys. To her relief, however, he stayed by her side, peering over the crowd of other dancers as the music started to fade out.

"I think Michelle and Emily are about to make an announcement," he said, taking a step towards the gathering crowd. Her feet aching, Piper pulled off her heels and tossed them under her chair then followed after him.

Emily and Michelle announced Prom King and Queen together. Henry won Prom King, and Piper was thrilled for her friend. Considering tonight was all for him, it only seemed fitting that he should win the crown. Amy seemed like the obvious choice for Prom Queen since she was the mastermind behind the whole evening, so it came as a shock when Summer was crowned Prom Queen instead. Finn cheered for his friend, but Piper could only gape in surprise. She should have been happy for Summer, but Amy was going to be crushed that she didn't win.

As Henry and Summer danced together in the middle of the studio, Piper glanced around for Amy and noticed her slipping out the side door, unnoticed by the rest of their teammates. She took a step towards the door, intending to go after her best friend and comfort her, but to her surprise, Ty beat her to it. She froze as she watched Amy's date follow her lead out of the studio, her shoulders deflating. If Ty was going after her then Amy clearly didn't need her.

Reluctantly, Piper turned back and rooted herself next to Finn as Summer and Henry danced together, but she couldn't stop thinking about Amy. Why did it feel like all of this boy drama was putting distance between them? Piper wasn't even involved in the drama, but it was like Amy was so consumed by it that Piper had become a second thought in her mind. How was that fair? Piper had been the one to bring Amy ice cream and all the movies she could have possibly wanted to watch when she had been going through her break-up with LaTroy. Shouldn't Amy know by now that she would be there for her no matter what? Why did it feel like she was growing away from her all of the sudden?

She was so distracted by her thoughts of Amy that she completely missed the rest of Henry and Summer's dance. As the crowd started to disperse again, Finn turned to her and asked, "Care to keep dancing?"

"Um, that's okay. You keep having fun. I'm just going to..." She started to move back to her chair, her thoughts of Amy sucking any desire to keep dancing out of her.

To her surprise, Finn followed and plopped down in the seat next to her. She looked at him in surprise, her eyebrows raising. "Seriously, Finn, you don't have to sit here with me. It's okay."

"Nah, I'm kind of tired. Probably need a break," he replied, stretching his arms out in front of him then slouching back in his chair. Piper didn't believe him for a second, but she was inclined to let him stay if he really wanted to. Maybe his company would make her feel a little less lonely since she was evidently losing her best friend.

Would Ty even know what to say to make Amy feel better? Wasn't it his fault that Amy wasn't here with Henry to begin with? Ugh, nothing about this situation settled well with Piper.

But wait. Why was she letting Amy's drama bother her when she had just started to have fun? That was ridiculous. Amy's drama could wait until tomorrow to be worried about. In the meantime, Finn was sacrificing his prom to sit on the sidelines with her while she brooded. If he really thought she was worth sitting out prom for, she might as well give him a chance.

"So... What's been your favorite part of tonight?" Piper asked Finn over the music.

He glanced around the studio for a moment as if really considering her question. "Oh, I don't know. Probably just dancing with everyone."

"Because we don't do that enough already," Piper teased.

He chuckled. "Oh, definitely not."

Piper smiled, her eyes meeting his for a moment before she quickly looked away. What else could she talk to him about without giving him the wrong idea or making this awkward? He had a family, she was fairly certain. She could ask him about that.

Before she could pose her next question, however, Finn spoke up. "Hey, what's your beef with prom?" He asked it casually, but when she turned her gaze to him, he sat up a little straighter, his smile falling as if he had just decided that maybe he shouldn't have asked that. He quickly added, "I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

She didn't think she'd ever seen him flustered, not even when she had rejected him time and time again. In a way, it was nice to know that maybe he wasn't always so confident. Finn was human too.

Shrugging, she told him honestly, "I just don't really think it's a big deal like people make it out to be. Prom King and Queen is a popularity contest, and it feels like there's this unfair expectation that you have to find a date and get dressed up and look perfect for this one night."

"But isn't that part of the fun? Getting dressed up and all that?"

"Sure, but there's too much pressure attached to it. It's why I didn't find a dress for tonight." That, and she hadn't had enough time, but he didn't need to know that.

"Well, I like the suit. I think it looks cool," Finn told her earnestly.

Piper smiled softly, glancing down at her outfit. Earlier that evening, he had given her a similar sentiment, and she had chosen to ignore it, afraid that acknowledging it would somehow give him the wrong impression. Now, however, she was inclined to accept the compliment. She'd already danced with him. What else did she have to lose?

Still thinking about her outfit, she told him honestly, "I threw this together half an hour before I left my house. This blazer's really old, and my sister found the bowtie in my brother's room by some miracle."

"Yeah, I stole this from my brother," Finn said, shaking out his arms and glancing down at his own suit. "But he was never going to wear it. He doesn't like blue."

"Who doesn't like blue?" Piper asked with a sarcastic roll of the eyes. Blue seemed to be the one color that was universally liked.

"My brother," Finn repeated, his brows knitting together in confusion. Her sarcasm had clearly gone over his head.

"No, I got that. It was sarcasm," she explained, the corners of her lips twitching in amusement.

"Oh. Duh!" His face lit up with a grin, and half of a laugh escaped Piper's lips before she could stop it.

The more time she spent around Finn, the more she began to realize that she had seriously misjudged him. Finn was a total softie, and to be completely honest, she liked that about him.

As the night began to wind down, a final dance party broke out in the middle of Studio One, and Piper let Finn drag her into it with him. It was fun to let loose with all of their teammates, and when it was Piper and Finn's turn to be the center of attention, she pulled out her best party moves, including Big Fish, Little Fish, Cardboard Box.

When they moved to the side of the aisle the dancers had formed, Finn held up his hand for a high-five, which Piper met with no hesitation. As the dance party died down, Emily announced that there would only be a couple of more songs, and then prom would officially be over. Disappointment surged through Piper. She hadn't intended to spend most of the evening with Finn of all people or to even have a good time.

Tonight had really taken her by surprise, to say the least.

"Ah man, my mom'll kill me if I don't get at least one picture tonight," Finn said as the dance floor started to clear around them.

"Well, we can't have that."

Piper grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the photographer. He appeared to be in the process of packing up his camera equipment, so Piper flashed her sweetest smile and the puppy dog eyes that James could never say no to as she asked him to take their picture. The photographer sighed and nodded, and the two of them grinned as they immediately began to examine the photo props.

"Oh, you have to wear this," Piper told Finn excitedly. Standing on her tiptoes, she draped a pink feather boa around his shoulders with a smirk. "It complements your jacket so well."

Any other boy on A-Troupe might have protested the boa, but Finn took it in stride, simply saying, "Oh totally," as he plopped a sparkly gold hat on her head. They picked up a few more props, including a pair of giant sunglasses for Finn and a sign with a fake mustache to hold in front of her face for Piper.

They took four pictures total, making goofy expressions and over-the-top gestures in each of them. When they were finished, the photographer printed copies for both of them to keep, looking more than ready to go home.

Piper studied the photos as they walked away and gripped Finn's arm excitedly. "These turned out so good!"

"Yeah, they did," he agreed.

It was at that moment that Piper realized she was gripping his arm and immediately pulled her hand away from him, giving an awkward smile as she wiped her palm on her pants. Finn seemed oblivious to it, still looking at his own copies of the photos with a content smile on his face.

"Yo, Finn," Ozzy called, forcing his attention away from the photos.

"What's up?"

"I gotta go. I was supposed to be home, like, twenty minutes ago," Ozzy said, seeming far too unconcerned for someone who was that late past their curfew.

Piper raised her eyebrows as Finn nodded. "Oh, okay." He must have been Ozzy's ride home because he turned to Piper and told her, "See ya Monday, Pipes."

"Oh, yeah. Bye," she called after him as he turned to leave with Ozzy. She was disappointed that he was leaving so abruptly, but it wasn't like she was going to stop him from getting Ozzy home.

With Finn gone, Piper decided she may as well head home too and sent a text to her sister asking her to come pick her up. While she waited for Julia, she spotted Amy sitting alone by the office and wandered over to her best friend. Amy looked up and gave a small smile as Piper sat next to her.

"So, first prom. What's the verdict?" Piper asked.

Amy sighed, glancing around the quickly emptying studio. After a contemplative moment, she answered, "It could have been worse."

Piper gave a wry smile, knowing that tonight couldn't have been what Amy had dreamed of when she'd first begun planning it. "You planned a really great night for the whole studio, Amy. You should be proud."

"I know," Amy muttered, glancing at her and giving another smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "It wasn't perfect, but... That's okay."

"Yeah," Piper agreed quietly. She crossed her legs, glancing around the studio and wondering if she should bring up Prom Queen or not. Amy seemed to be in okay spirits now, so maybe it was best to just leave it alone.

"What about you? What did you think?"

Piper let out a deep breath, the corners of her lips twitching as she thought over her night. "I actually had a nice time," she admitted.

Amy's eyebrows shot up, a grin spreading across her face. "Oh really?" She knew very well how Piper generally felt about prom, so Piper knew the smirk on her best friend's face was fully satisfactory.

"It started off kind of slow, but it got a lot better after the first hour."

"What pictures did you take?" Amy asked curiously, eying the photos in her hand.

Piper hesitated only a second before holding them out for her to see. Considering Amy was of the opinion that she should give Finn a chance, she was prepared for the teasing comments that were sure to come. Indeed, Amy smirked and waggled her eyebrows suggestively as she said, "Oh, so you and Finn are close enough to take pictures now, huh?"

Rolling her eyes, Piper pulled the pictures out of her grasp. "Shut up," she groaned. She glanced down at the photos for a moment before admitting, "He's not that bad."

"I could've told you that."

"Yeah, yeah..."

They discussed other details of the evening, including Richelle and Jacquie wearing the same dress, Eldon's DJ-ing, and how Piper was certain that Eldon was only there because James had sent him to spy on her. Amy pointedly kept the conversation away from Henry and Summer, and Piper was inclined to talk about anything but Amy's questionable love life for the time being.

When her sister finally arrived, Piper left Amy to finish cleaning up the prom decorations with Ty and the J-Troupers, who Emily had roped into clean-up duty. To Piper's surprise, Julia managed to keep her composure when she told her about dancing with Finn, but the smirk on her sister's face told her everything she needed to know about what she really thought about it.

After being drilled with questions about prom by her parents when they got home, Piper went up to her room and immediately took off her make-up and changed into pajamas. As she combed through her hair, she glanced down at the photos she and Finn had taken before glancing up at all of the photos that lined the edges of her mirror.

She'd started hanging up photos that were meaningful to her on her mirror when she'd first started dancing at The Next Step. It was a way to remind herself of all of the things and people in her life that she had to be grateful for.

Gingerly, she picked up one of the photos she and Finn had taken and slid it into an open spot between photos of herself with Amy and Cassie.

She had dreaded prom all week, but Finn had made it bearable. That was what she wanted to remember in the future when she looked back on this night.

And if fate would have it that she and Finn became dance partners in rehearsals or- God forbid- friends, well... She supposed she wouldn't complain about it (too much).

Chapter Text

Amy: Hey, there's something I have to tell you. Can you meet before rehearsal tomorrow?

Piper’s fingers tapped restlessly against her phone as she reread the text Amy had sent her last night. There were only twenty minutes before rehearsal was supposed to start, and she hoped that Amy would arrive at Shakes and Ladders soon. The time they had agreed upon last night had come and gone ten minutes ago, and there was still no sign of her best friend.

Despite her irritation at Amy's tardiness, Piper had to admit she was curious to know what was so important that Amy couldn't tell her over the phone. It had to be serious because Amy hadn't used any of her usual texting abbreviations, which was an immediate red flag that something was going on.

Finally, Amy rushed into Shakes and Ladders, and Piper perked up, smiling in spite of herself. However much their recent communication with each other was lacking, she was still happy to see her best friend. Hopefully after Amy spilled whatever her news was, they would have some time to catch up before A-Troupe rehearsal.

"Sorry I'm late," Amy said while sliding into the seat across from Piper and pushing her bangs out of her face. She was breathing hard, trying to catch her breath. Had she run all the way to get here? "My rehearsal ran late."

That caught Piper off guard. "Rehearsal? For what?" Amy wasn't the soloist or in the group number for the Wild Stylz Dance Convention that The Next Step was hosting over the weekend, and none of the small groups for Regionals had been assigned yet. What was she rehearsing for?

Slowly exhaling, Amy met Piper's eye reluctantly, clasping her hands in front of her as if they were sitting in a formal business meeting instead of the juice bar. She looked almost guilty, and Piper got an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She didn't like that look.

"Amy, what did you want to tell me?"

Amy hesitated, averting her gaze as she uttered, "Piper, I'm leaving The Next Step."

The news hit Piper like a punch in the gut. It felt like all of the air had been knocked out of her as she gaped at her best friend in shock, trying to find the words to say but failing. Amy was leaving? She couldn't do that. Why was she doing that?

"I just feel like I don't belong here anymore. Michelle and Emily don't recognize my talent, and AcroNation is –"

"You're going to AcroNation?"

Amy reluctantly nodded, gauging Piper’s reaction warily. "Yeah, I am... I just came from rehearsal for the convention actually. I only have a few minutes before I have to get back."

How could this be happening? Just a few weeks ago, Amy had promised to never leave the studio after her mother tried to send her to Gemini. What was Piper supposed to do without her? This season had been hard enough already, and even if she and Amy hadn't had much time for each other recently, just knowing that her best friend would be at rehearsal was often a small source of comfort for her. They had vowed to always stick together after Sloane and Cassie left.

Amy was breaking their promise.

But looking at her now, seeing a glimpse of hope in her eyes... How could Piper possibly tell her that this upset her? That she didn't want her to switch studios? Amy wasn't wrong. She was an incredible dancer, and Emily and Michelle weren't taking advantage of that. Maybe this was what was best for her, painful as it may be for Piper.

So with a deep breath, Piper forced a smile that felt so wrong and said, "That's great."

"You're not mad?"

"No," she said with an adamant shake of the head. "You have to do what's best for you. AcroNation's lucky to have you."

The corners of her lips twitching into a reluctant smile, Amy said, "Thank you for understanding. I haven't felt this excited about dance in a long time."

Well, how was Piper supposed to argue with that? "Then you're definitely making the right decision."

"I'll miss you though," Amy said, her smile fading. "But we'll still find time to hang out- even if it's ten o'clock on a Friday night at that weird sushi place down the street."

Piper wanted desperately to believe her, but she doubted that would be the case. Fighting back tears, she forced a short laugh and shook her head. "That place isn't worth the food poisoning we'd get the next day."

Amy laughed as well though her eyes appeared a little misty. "Yeah, I guess not."

Their forced laughter dissipated nearly as soon as it had started, and Amy checked the time on her phone. Sighing, she stood from her seat and told her, "I have to get back."

With a small wave, Amy hurried out of Shakes and Ladders, leaving Piper to feel lonelier than ever. The tears she had been holding back finally sprang to her eyes, and she quickly wiped them away, glancing around the juice bar where she and Amy had spent countless hours talking and laughing together. It wasn't too busy this time of day, but regardless, she didn't want to cry in public.

Not that that stopped her tears anyway.

Feeling like the eyes of the three other patrons were all on her even though they weren't, Piper slid off her stool and hurried out of the juice bar, not even bothering to take her juice with her. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she hurried down the hall, and she hastily wiped them away.

Was she being selfish, getting so upset about Amy leaving? Amy was arguably the best acro dancer on A-Troupe, and she would shine on a team like AcroNation. She had always dreamed of being a featured dancer, and even more so after her mother had put so much pressure on her this year. This could be her big break– if AcroNation qualified for Regionals, which wasn't guaranteed considering how new the studio was.

If they did qualify, however, Piper would be competing against her best friend for the chance to go to Nationals. The thought made her sick to her stomach.

The pressure for Regionals was gradually building. If Piper's team lost for the second year in a row, she would be devastated. James and his team had set the standards for the studio impossibly high. It killed her inside, knowing that she had been part of the team to break the studio’s winning streak only a year after its success at Internationals.

Somehow, even after James had left the studio, Piper was still in his shadow.

And then there was the fact that she felt sick every time she tried to do an aerial. She was losing hours of sleep at night from the recurring nightmare where her team loses Regionals again and James boos them off the stage while Miss Angela laughs.

This was too much pressure. She needed her best friend at Regionals with her. Not competing against her.

When Piper reached the locker room, she was relieved to find it empty. She flopped onto the couch, pulling her legs up underneath her and hugging the throw pillow to her chest. Her chin rested dejectedly against it as she told herself she had ten minutes to pull it together before she had to get to rehearsal. There's no point in crying now. Anyone could walk in at any time and catch you, and that would be embarrassing.

Sure enough, Summer and Henry entered the locker room, and Piper tried not to look like she was sulking by kicking her legs out and appearing to be waking from a nap instead.

"Hey Piper," Summer greeted cheerfully as she put her dance bag in her locker. Henry gave her a smile and held up two fingers in a peace sign as he did the same.

"Hey," Piper muttered, giving them a smile that her heart wasn't in.

"Are you coming to rehearsal?" Summer asked after she and Henry had put their bags away and turned to leave as quickly as they had come in.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a second. Just, uh, texting my Nonna. She gets worried when I don't respond," Piper said, coming up with a lie on the spot and immediately feeling guilty for it. She didn't even have her phone in her hand.

Summer didn't seem to question it, however. "Okay, see you in there."

As Summer left for rehearsal, Henry hung back, giving Piper a questioning look. He clearly hadn't bought her lie. "You good, Pipes?"

She hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should tell him about Amy or if he already knew. Considering how close he and Amy were, however, this seemed like something he should hear from Amy herself, so she muttered, "Yeah, I'm good."

Henry nodded slowly, reluctantly accepting her answer. He glanced back at her one last time, frowning as he followed after Summer. When he was gone, Piper slumped against the couch again and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. Seven more minutes until she had to get to rehearsal. Her first rehearsal without Amy.

It shouldn't feel like Amy was stabbing her in the back. Piper knew that her decision had nothing to do with her, but it still hurt regardless. Amy was abandoning the team, and that included Piper.

All three of her friends who she had started at the studio with were now gone. Piper was the last member of the Zero Percent Club remaining. She couldn't have made it through her first year at the studio without them, but they had all left her behind. Tears sprang to her eyes again, and she rested her head against the couch, trying hard to blink them back. Who was she supposed to turn to for support now?

"Hey Pipes."

Sniffling, Piper wiped her tears away again before faking another smile for Finn as he stuffed his dance bag in his locker. Of course he arrived early for rehearsal the one day she was on the verge of tears in the locker room.

Finn leaned against the door of his locker as he turned to study her, his brows knitting together and a frown pulling at his lips. "Hey, are you okay?"

Her first instinct was to tell him that she was fine, but what was the point? Her vision was still blurry with unshed tears, and if even Henry had noticed that she was upset, there was probably no point in hiding it from Finn. He seemed to be unusually good at noticing when she was feeling upset about something.

"Not really," she admitted.

"What's wrong?" Finn asked. He shut his locker and moved to sit next to her, his eyes filled with concern.

"Amy left the studio," Piper muttered. Saying it out loud made it feel more real but still just as painful.

"What? Why would she do that?"

"AcroNation's giving her better opportunities."

"But they're not even going to Regionals." Finn sounded indignant, like he couldn't believe anyone would leave the studio in the middle of preparation for Regionals.

Piper shrugged weakly, glancing up at him with a grimace. "Their chances of qualifying with Amy are a lot higher than they were before."

Finn scoffed, shaking his head. His jaw clenched until he glanced back to Piper, and his expression softened. "That's tough about her leaving. She's really important to you, huh?"

"She's my best friend, so yeah," Piper mumbled. From the recesses of her memory, the time that the Zero Percent Club had made friendship bracelets on their very first day at the studio hit her out of nowhere and sent a fresh wave of longing through her.

Nostalgia heavy on her heart, she told Finn, "We started at the studio together. She's always been there for me, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do without her."

He nodded along in that same attentive way he had the first time she’d confided in him in Shakes and Ladders, in that way that made her feel heard. "She'll still be right down the hall though. You'll see her around."

"It won't be the same."

"Probably not." Finn agreed quietly. He looked down for a moment then practically leapt off the couch as a thought seemed to strike him. "We should probably get to rehearsal."

Momentarily caught off guard by his abrupt movement, Piper glanced at the clock again to find that they had one minute to get to Studio A. Sighing and setting the throw pillow aside, she nodded and stood as well. "Yeah, probably," she agreed, following his lead out of the locker room.

As they walked down the hallway to Studio A, he turned to her, walking backwards as he said, "I know I'm no Amy, but what do you say we go get pizza after rehearsal's done tonight?" Piper started to respond, but Finn held up his hands as if already anticipating her answer. "Not as a date, I promise. Just two friends getting pizza. We could even see if some of the others want to come with us."

Relief surged through Piper at his assurance that he wasn't asking her on a date but instead as a friend. Finn was walking directly towards a bench that he didn't see since he was walking backwards, so she reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him a few steps to the left as she said, "Yeah. That'd be nice."

Completely oblivious to the near collision that would have sent him toppling, he grinned at her. "Cool. My mom can give you a ride home after if you want."

Piper agreed as the two of them walked into Studio A just as Noah was getting ready to begin the warm-up. They immediately fell into their usual spots on the ballet barres with the rest of the team, and Piper pointedly avoided looking at the empty spot next to her that used to be filled by Amy. Instead, she glanced over to where Finn was doing a discreet handshake with Ozzy in greeting.

Amy may have left her, but maybe she wasn’t completely alone after all.

Chapter Text

The pizza place Piper and Finn ate at after rehearsal was a DIY pizzeria that gave its patrons free reign to craft the pizza of their dreams. Piper had never eaten there before, but Finn evidently had, judging from the way he rambled on about it the entire walk from the studio to the restaurant.

Though they asked several of their other teammates to join them, everyone else already had plans, meaning Piper and Finn were on their own. A few weeks ago, that would have bothered Piper, and she likely would have come up with an excuse to get out of it. Now, however, she figured that an evening spent with Finn outside of the studio couldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Who knew? Maybe it would be fun.

"Don't tell me you're one of those people," Finn groaned as soon as he sat down at their table and lay eyes on Piper's pizza.

She glanced down at her meal and frowned. "What?"

"Pineapple on pizza? Really, Pipes?"

Ah. So he was one of those people.

Smiling for perhaps the first time since Amy had revealed she was leaving the studio that afternoon, Piper rolled her eyes at him. "What? It's good." She picked up a piece, intending to take a bit to prove her point, but immediately dropped the pizza crust back onto its tray. It was way too hot to eat yet.

"It's a fruit," Finn argued, "Fruit doesn't belong on pizza."

"Tomatoes are fruit," Piper countered, quirking an eyebrow at him and peering at his own pizza, which was covered with every meat available and topped off with extra cheese. "What kind of sauce did you get again? Tomato sauce?"

"Okay, but it's not like I have whole tomato slices on mine. They're mixed with seasoning and stuff to make the sauce. It's completely different."

"You might need tomatoes on that. That pizza's all carbs."

"I'm a growing teenage boy. Give me a break," Finn retorted with a roll of the eyes, but the corners of his lips twitched, and Piper took that to mean she was the winner of this debate.

Carefully, Piper finally picked up a piece and took a bite. The roof of her mouth still got burned from the hot pesto sauce and mozzarella cheese, but it tasted as good as she could have dreamed.

Finn still looked unimpressed, however, and she frowned at him. "Have you ever actually tried it?"

"No, I don't like pineapples.”

Piper gave him a dumbfounded look. "Well gee, no wonder you don't like pineapple on pizza."

"I guess we'll have to agree to disagree," Finn sighed.

"I guess so," she agreed, "That's more than my family does on the matter. My cousin says I'm a disgrace to Italians everywhere."

"Wait, what? Seriously?" Her comment effectively caught him off guard, and she nodded.

"He was only half kidding, I'm pretty sure." She still had yet to figure out if Freddie was actually serious, but knowing his love for authentic Italian cuisine, he was.

Finn's eyebrows had shot up, and he let out a low whistle, picking up another slice of pizza. "And I thought my family was tough."

"We're just serious about our Italian food," Piper told him with a shrug. The joking tone had dropped from the conversation, and it seemed that they had moved on from the pineapple debate.

"So is your family from Italy? Like, you're actually Italian?"

There were probably several ways Finn could have better worded the question, but he sounded genuinely curious, so Piper let it slide and nodded. "My great-grandparents came here in, what? 1940? Sometime during World War II. But that's just my mom's side of the family. My dad's family has always been in Canada, but we think we've got French ancestors somewhere on that side."

"Have you ever been? To Italy?"

"No, but I want to one day. My sister did a semester abroad there last year, and it sounded amazing."

"Oh, you've gotta go one day. It's so cool," Finn told her so earnestly that she paused, furrowing her brows at him.

"Wait, have you been to Italy?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding as if this was the most casual bit of information he'd revealed all day. "I mean, I was only seven, so I don't remember that much about it, but I thought the boat rides through the city were pretty cool, and I had the best pizza of my life there. I'd totally go back just for that."

Piper stared at him in surprise, processing this new information. "So... You went to Italy when you were seven... Just because?"

"It was for a dance competition."

"A dance competition," Piper repeated.

Finn nodded. "Yeah, a dance competition. I didn't win. I don't even remember dancing in it honestly. I think I just stood onstage and waved to my mom the whole time."

"I'm sorry. I'm confused," Piper interjected, shaking her head as she tried to keep up with this new information. "So you had a dance competition when you were seven that took you all the way to Italy?"

"And Germany," Finn said, shooting her a look that clearly said he didn't understand what was so confusing about this.

"What kind of dance studio were you dancing at?" Piper asked. The only competition she'd ever heard of taking place in a different country was Internationals, and seven-year-olds most definitely weren't competing there.

Finn shrugged, taking a bite of his pizza before answering. "My dad insisted if I was going to be a dancer that I had to dance at the best studio in Vancouver, so that's what I did- for a couple of years anyway."

"So you didn't stay there?" Piper asked though the answer was obviously yes, or he wouldn't be living in Toronto and dancing at The Next Step now.

"Nope. I think there was some kind of scandal with one of the studio heads, and my parents kept fighting about how expensive it was, which my mom always denies, but..." He raised his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side skeptically as he reached for his bottle of soda.

"So what happened?" Piper asked, completely intrigued.

"We moved here."

She gaped at him in shock. "You moved completely across the country just because your dance studio was that bad?"

"No, we moved because my parents got divorced, and my mom has family in Brampton. But she would've pulled me out of that studio either way. Something about how adulterers would teach me how to dance over her dead body- whatever that means. And like I said, too expensive."

This was a lot of information to take in at once, and Piper slowly nodded as she tried to process it all. Clearing her throat, she reached for her juice and took a long sip, trying to decide what part of this conversation she wanted to focus on most. The fact that his parents were divorced was news to her, but she didn't know how sensitive of a topic it was. He'd brought it up so casually that she was inclined to think it couldn't be that sensitive, but were they even good enough friends to discuss something that personal?

Of course, she had confided in him about all of the pressure she had been feeling since Miss Angela's short-lived reign at the studio when she had yet to discuss any of that with Amy, so maybe they were closer than she'd care to admit.

Regardless, she finally decided to ask, "So how many studios have you danced at then?"

He took a minute to think, staring at some spot above her head as he silently counted off on his fingers, then said, "Four. My first one in Vancouver then I was at one here for a few years until Miss Angela came in to fix it. That's where I met Summer, and then she took us with her to the next studio, which is where she found Kenzie, but we weren't at that one for very long before she took over The Next Step."

"Do you miss your old studios?" Piper asked curiously. Part of her, for whatever reason, hoped he would say that he didn't. The thought that he might leave The Next Step to go back to his old studio crossed her mind, and just the thought made her heart plummet. The loss of Amy was still so fresh, and she couldn't stand the thought of losing another friend right now.

"Honestly..." Finn heaved a sigh then adamantly shook his head, much to her relief. "We didn't overthrow studio heads or have food fights at any of the other studios."

"And that's obviously the priority."

"Obviously." Piper giggled at his serious response, which brought a smile to his face. "What about you? Noah said you joined the studio last year."

"Yeah, I started out at another studio in town," Piper told him simply.

She had bittersweet memories of her old dance studio. It was where she had fallen in love with dance, but a certain group of girls who had bullied her relentlessly for years tainted her memories there. It hadn't been a difficult decision to go to The Next Step when the opportunity arose.

"What made you want to switch?" Finn asked curiously, crossing his arms on top of the table and pushing his pizza tray aside. Only a couple of pieces remained on it.

She glanced at him for a moment, debating how much to tell him. She didn't feel like revisiting terrible memories of her old dance team tonight, so she focused on the main reason she had learned to dance at a different studio instead.

"My brother's always been one of the best dancers at The Next Step, and I never wanted to dance in his shadow." She pursed her lips and shrugged. "When he left, I saw my chance, and I took it."

"Makes sense.”

"Most people think it's weird that we both danced at different studios, but I wanted to be more than just James' little sister, you know?"

"Totally."

"It's just like, my whole life has been defined by my older siblings, and it's exhausting to be as perfect as Lauren or smart as Jules or charming as James. It's like everyone expects me to be just like them, and I want to be my own person. You know?"

Exhaling, Piper tore her gaze from the napkin dispenser she'd been staring at while ranting and looked back to Finn, who was nodding along attentively. It dawned on her that she'd just dropped all of that on him when he'd never even asked, and panic suddenly surged through her. What was it about this guy that made her want to spill all of her deepest thoughts and insecurities to him?

"Sorry, I don't know where that all came from," she quickly apologized. She could only hope her cheeks weren't flushing from embarrassment.

But Finn shrugged, unperturbed. "I get it. I've got older siblings too."

"You do?"

He nodded, telling her candidly, "I accepted a long time ago that I was never going to be like them."

"Yeah, well... That's easier said than done," Piper sighed.

"But it can be done."

She glanced at him, and they stared at each other seriously for a moment before both averting their gazes. Piper cleared her throat then said, "Anyways, my old studio wasn't really a family like A-Troupe is, so it wasn't that hard of a decision to switch. Riley– my brother's girlfriend– She was running the studio at the time, and I met Amy, Cassie, and Sloane on my first day, so..." She shrugged. "The rest is history."

"Who're Cassie and Sloane?" Finn asked in confusion. "Are they on B-Troupe?"

"Oh, no, they left after we lost Regionals." She huffed and slumped over the table, pursing her lips again. "The four of us were like a little club, but... Now they're all gone." The reminder that Amy had left hit her all over again, and she averted her gaze, biting down on the inside of her cheek.

"Well... I'd be happy to join your club," Finn told her seriously, "Henry and Noah will too."

Piper laughed in spite of herself at the thought of making Zero Percent Club bracelets with Finn, Henry, and Noah. Somehow, she didn't think they would be very good at it.

"Oh yeah?" she said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah!"

"You'd even make friendship bracelets?" she challenged, sure he would say no, but his answer surprised her once again.

"Totally. I'm a pro."

She stifled another laugh, shaking her head at him in amusement. "You're serious?"

"Oh yeah," Finn said, nodding, "My little sisters are going through a phase. I spent all of last weekend making bracelets with them. They have this huge kit with all kinds of beads. I mean, any color and shape you want, we've got it. Just say the word."

The thought of Finn sitting around with several younger sisters making bracelets sent an extreme wave of fondness through Piper, and she smiled to herself. "How many siblings do you have?" she asked him curiously.

"Five – three older and then the twins, but they're way younger than the rest of us."

"How old are they?"

"London and Gracie? They're five. Do you wanna see pictures?"

"Uh, yeah!"

Finn pulled his phone out and showed Piper a few pictures of his family then she ended up showing him one of her own as well as her cousin Benni's new puppy, who had been the center of attention at the recent Monaldo family luncheon. After checking the time, they agreed that Finn should text his mom to come pick them up as they'd been at the pizza place for an hour and a half and both had homework to do. While they waited, they discussed the upcoming Absolute Dance Wild Stylz Convention, and Piper tried not to think too hard about the fact that Amy would be competing with AcroNation for the chance to go to Regionals.

She hoped, for Amy's sake, that the outcome was worth leaving The Next Step for.

Finn's mom, a middle-aged woman dressed in workout clothes with her hair tossed into a messy ponytail of curls, picked them up in a minivan and spent the whole ride asking Piper questions about herself and her family. Meanwhile, Finn sat in the front seat, silently begging his mother with his eyes to not say anything that would embarrass him- not that that stopped her from telling Piper all about how he'd split his pants in his very first dance recital anyway.

"Mom," Finn groaned, hiding his face behind his hand and squeezing his eyes shut in horror.

"What? You were so cute! It was very endearing," his mom said with a wide grin as she turned into Piper's neighborhood. "I'm sure Brooke's got the pictures from that somewhere in one of her hundreds of scrapbooks." As an afterthought, she added to Piper, "Finn's sister is very into scrapbooking. She's the organizer of the family. Has Finn told you she's applying to law schools?"

Piper was still laughing at Finn's reaction to his mother's story, but she pulled herself together to say, "No, I didn't know that."

His mom nodded proudly. "That girl can run circles around anyone in any argument. She'll make a great lawyer. We're very proud of her. What's your house number, sweetie?"

"It's the one with the red car in front of it," Piper told her, pointing ahead to where James' car was parked in front of their family's home.

Finn's mom pulled up to the curb behind it, and Piper thanked her for the ride as she crawled out of the backseat and onto the sidewalk. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said to Finn.

"See ya, Pipes," he said with a grin and a wave.

Finn's mom waited until Piper was safely inside her house to drive away, and Piper gave a short wave to them before closing the front door behind her. The voices of her father and brother wafted down the hallway, and she made her way to the living room to say hello to her family. James and Riley were watching a football game with their father while their mother sat on the adjacent loveseat, reading an eBook on her iPad.

"Hi," Piper said, announcing her presence as she kicked off her shoes in the archway.

James held up a hand in greeting, eyes glued to the television, while Riley looked up from where she was nestled against his side and smiled at her. "Hi Piper." No sooner had the words left Riley's mouth did an apparently important sports play go down on the TV, and she, James, and their father all burst into a loud commotion, all three yelling at the quarterback as if he could hear any of them.

Unfazed by the commotion, Piper plopped down next to her mother and lay her head on her shoulder. "How was your dinner?" her mom asked.

"It was good. We went to that pizza place a few blocks from the studio."

"And you went with Finn?"

As Piper nodded, James’ eyes darted to her, his attention piqued at the mention of a boy. "What? You went to dinner with Finn? Isn't that the guy who kept asking you out?"

"There's a boy asking you out?" their father asked, his gaze snapping from the television to Piper, who shot a glare at her older brother. The way he spat out Finn's name like it was nothing rubbed her the wrong way. She'd never intended to tell him about Finn asking her out, but he must have overheard her telling Riley about it at family dinner last week.

"We got dinner as friends. It's not a big deal."

"But it was just the two of you?" James questioned suspiciously. Riley glanced at him, frowning as she placed a hand on his arm in warning.

"It wasn't a date," Piper repeated adamantly.

James chuckled humorlessly, rubbing his face with his hands then gesturing dramatically as he said, "Pipes, you went to dinner with a boy who keeps asking you out. That's a date."

"I don't know that you're old enough to be dating," their father said with a frown.

"I completely agree," James said, shaking his head at her in disapproval.

"Oh, you two, let it go," her mother piped up, "If Piper's old enough to ride the bus on her own, she's old enough to decide who she dates."

Piper threw her head back against the couch, squeezing the bridge of her nose and willing for patience to come to her. "Amy left the studio," she blurted out, and James fell silent in the middle of his rant about how he never should have trusted Eldon's report from prom.

Looking around at her family, Piper continued with, "I was upset, and Finn suggested we get pizza to take my mind off of it. That's it, okay?"

"Wait, why did Amy leave the studio?" Riley asked, her voice laced with concern.

"She went to AcroNation because they were giving her better opportunities than Emily and Michelle."

"AcroNation?" James interjected, shaking his head cluelessly.

"Thalia's new studio," Riley muttered to him.

He looked at her, his brows furrowing. "Thalia started a studio? How do you know that?"

"Emily. Do you not listen to anything Eldon tells you?"

"You try listening to him go on and on about Thalia 24/7, and tell me you wouldn't zone out too."

Riley thumped him on the shoulder, and Piper tuned them out, staring blankly at the football game on TV. Her mom put a hand on her back and scratched it gently. "That's too bad about Amy," she murmured.

"It's okay. She's doing what's best for her," Piper muttered. Dinner with Finn had succeeded in taking her mind off of Amy for a couple of hours, but talking about it with her family was only bringing her spirits down again.

"Well, I don't understand why Emily and Michelle aren't giving her better opportunities. Or you for that matter," her mother continued, shooting a subtle look to Riley as she spoke.

"Em always does what she thinks is best for the team," Riley said in defense of her sister.

"Richelle and Summer are really good, Mom," Piper added reluctantly.

"Well, they're no better than you."

They can both do aerials, so they actually are, Piper thought bitterly, biting on the inside of her cheek.

"Oh, look at him go!" Riley exclaimed suddenly, pointing at the TV and effectively drawing everyone's attention away from Piper. She wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but either way, she was thankful for the diversion.

After sitting with her family for a while downstairs, Piper retreated up to her room to work on her homework. When she pulled her phone out of the pocket of her dance bag, it was to find a new message from Finn. She grabbed her laptop off of her desk and climbed onto her bed before opening the text to find a meme about the pineapple pizza debate. Smiling to herself, she sent him the laughing emojis before settling back on her bed to study for a history test she had to take in the morning.

Her phone buzzed a minute later, and she opened it to read his response.

F: Still think you're wrong but I'm willing to let it slide 🤔
P: It's only a matter of time until you see the light
P: Just try it
P: Just once
P: For me
P: Please 🤗
F: Mayyybbbeeee I'll try it
F: For you
F: But no promises 🙃
P: 😁🙌🏻🤗

Piper was still smiling as she set her phone aside to focus on studying. As she opened her web browser, it occurred to her that the only other boy she had ever spent one-on-one time with before (aside from her relatives) was Josh. She paused, leaning her head against the wall and slowly letting out a deep breath. She'd had a lot of fun with Josh during their short-lived friendship, and she'd told herself that she would never open herself up to that kind of relationship with a boy again after what had happened with him.

Yet here she was, just weeks later, having spent her evening with Finn, and outside of the studio at that. She'd never hung out with Josh outside of the studio.

This new friendship with Finn was really taking her by surprise, to say the least.

Her phone kept buzzing with text messages from Finn, and she exasperatedly picked it up, curious to see what he could possibly be sending her. It was meme after meme about pineapple pizza and the people who ate it, and she laughed, shaking her head in amusement. Setting her laptop aside, she pulled open the browser on her phone.

Studying could wait for later. If Finn wanted a meme war, he was going to get one.

Chapter Text

The end of the Absolute Wild Stylz Dance Convention left Piper with a strange mix of emotions. She was happy for Amy and AcroNation on their qualification for Regionals, but there had been a bundle of nerves in the pit of her stomach that wouldn't go away since the encounter with Miss Angela at the info table. Finn had told her not to let Miss Angela get into her head, and she knew he'd meant well, but that was so much easier said than done.

Despite it all, as the convention attendees began to disperse for the day, Piper hurried over to Amy to give her a hug. "You were amazing!" she exclaimed as Amy happily hugged her back.

"Thanks!" Amy let out a big exhale once they had pulled away, shaking her hands out and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "I was so nervous that my decision to switch studios was going to be for nothing."

Piper's smile faltered as she nodded and said weakly, "Yeah, I bet."

"I'm so excited to compete at Regionals!"

One of the AcroNation girls calling for Amy interrupted their conversation, and Amy nodded at her before looking back to Piper. "I've got to go. We're going to dinner to celebrate. I'll see you later?"

Piper nodded, giving a half-hearted wave as she watched Amy skip away to join her new teammates. Perhaps a small part of her had been hoping that AcroNation wouldn't qualify for Regionals, and Amy would have no choice but to come back to The Next Step, but clearly that wasn't going to happen now.

Amy was really gone for good.

Feeling lonelier than ever in a room full of people, Piper glanced around Studio A. Miss Angela was off to the side of the room, watching AcroNation file out of the studio. She caught Piper's eye and smirked. Piper immediately looked away, biting down on the inside of her cheek harshly, her nails digging into her palms as her hands clenched into fists.

Glancing around for Finn, she spotted him talking with Henry and Summer by the office and quickly made her way over to him. Henry was enthusing about the Dytto workshop he'd attended that afternoon as Piper approached.

"Bro, she took selfies with me! Look!"

Henry whipped his phone out to show an awestruck Finn his selfies with the tutting sensation while Summer caught Piper's eye and rolled her eyes endearingly. Piper forced a tense smile and tried to look impressed when Henry shoved his phone in her face, but her heart wasn't quite in it. She was starting to feel sick to her stomach, but she wasn't quite sure why.

"So you're basically best friends with her now, right?" Summer asked Henry with a teasing note in her voice.

He grinned and exclaimed, "I impressed her! She was impressed by me!"

"That's sick, bro," Finn enthused, putting an excited hand on his shoulder.

"Henry!" Jacquie interrupted their conversation, a determined look in her eye. "I need your help setting up the party."

Not only had today been the Wild Stylz Convention and the Dytto workshop, but it was also Noah's birthday. Jacquie had been planning a surprise party for him for the last two weeks, but with everything going on today, Piper had completely forgotten about it.

"Get Richelle to help you," Henry grumbled as his ex crossed her arms, staring him down.

"Richelle is on cake duty. I need your help with set-up."

"What is there to set up? It's just Shakes and Ladders. Put up some balloons and call it good."

"Great idea. You can blow up the balloons. Let's go."

Jacquie grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the studio while Henry continued listing excuses to get out of the party set-up. Summer raised her eyebrows, smiling in amusement as she turned to Piper and Finn. "Are you guys going to Noah's party later?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, for sure," Finn answered as Piper simply nodded.

Summer gave her an understanding look as she said, "Weird watching Amy with another team, huh?"

Swallowing thickly, Piper nodded again. "Yeah. It's really weird." Quickly changing the subject, she added, "But you did really great today, Summer."

"Thanks Piper," Summer said, "I hope tomorrow goes just as well."

Summer was representing The Next Step in the solo competition the next day for a chance to win five extra points for Regionals. Most of the team, including Piper, had full faith in her, but from the way she had taken to scratching her arm nervously, it didn't seem that Summer had that same confidence in herself.

"You'll totally kill it. You've got nothing to worry about," Finn assured her.

"Yeah, I hope so,” Summer muttered, “I should probably get some practice in before Noah's party actually, so I'll see you guys later."

They watched Summer leave then Finn turned to Piper. "Are you okay?" he asked as soon as Summer was gone.

"Yeah, why?" Piper answered instinctively. It was technically a lie, but Finn wouldn't really notice, would he?

Evidently, he would.

"You just seem kind of down," he said, his eyebrows knitting together as he studied her with slightly narrowed eyes.

Piper sighed, glancing around the studio before moving to sit down on a nearby bench. He followed her lead, sitting next to her as she admitted, "Part of me was hoping that maybe AcroNation wouldn't qualify for Regionals, and Amy would come back." She bit her lip and looked down at her lap. "But she's really gone."

Finn let out a deep breath, puffing out his cheeks as he exhaled. "Well... I'm no replacement for Amy, but I'm not going anywhere any time soon if it makes you feel any better."

Piper glanced at him, the corners of her lips twitching upwards. Somehow, that assurance did indeed make her feel a little less lonely. But there was still a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't shake away. It almost made her feel sick.

"Let's go find a game to play in Shakes and Ladders until Noah's party," Finn suggested, "It'll take your mind off everything."

He was probably right, but she didn't feel like hanging around a big group of people at the moment. Ever since she'd watched Amy leave, all smiles, with her new team, an overwhelming urge to just go home and be alone had been growing deep inside Piper. Reluctantly, she told him, "Actually, I think I may just go home."

"What?" Finn's face fell, and his shoulders slumped. "Pipes, come on."

"No, I'm really not feeling very well."

"Oh. Okay."

The look of disappointment on his face sent a wave of guilt through her, but she had already made up her mind. As she stood up, wiping her palms, which were sweatier than usual this afternoon, on her leggings, she turned back to him, a thought striking her. "Um, will you tell Noah I said happy birthday though?"

"Yeah, for sure."

Piper gave him a tight smile before hurrying out of Studio A. She felt bad missing Noah's party, but she had an incessant need to get away from the studio. Seeing Miss Angela unexpectedly and realizing that Amy was gone for good was too much for her to handle in one day. All she wanted was to go home, change into her most comfortable pajamas, and start rewatching Friends for the eighth time, so that's exactly what she did.

Her parents didn't ask questions when she arrived home earlier than expected, but that was only because her father was preoccupied with cooking dinner and her mother was busy looking at apartment listings online with Julia. Piper was able to escape to her room unnoticed.

She had thought that having some alone time in the safety of her bedroom would make her feel better, but once she had taken off her make-up and changed into her pajamas, she couldn't stop thinking about her friends having fun together at Noah's party. Noah was one of her best friends, and she had decided on an anxious whim to completely skip his birthday party just because she didn't feel like being around anyone at the time. Had that been selfish?

Maybe she should have sucked it up and stayed with Finn at the studio. But she'd already made her decision. There was nothing she could do about it now except deal with the consequences of it.

Piper ate dinner with her family that evening before returning to her bedroom to curl up in bed and push all thoughts of Amy and Miss Angela out of her head. She was three hours into her mindless Friends marathon when her phone suddenly lit up with two texts from Finn.

F: Hey are you at home???
F: And what are your feelings on cake??

She quickly responded that she was indeed at home and that she liked cake well enough then resumed her show, but now she couldn't stop thinking about Finn. Why did he care if she was home? Was he up to something?

He never responded to her texts, and she was left wondering for the next twenty minutes until the doorbell suddenly rang downstairs. A quick glance at the time showed that it was nearing 9:30 p.m. Who would be showing up at her house this late at night?

A minute later, there were footsteps pounding up the stairs then Julia appeared in her doorway, a smirk on her face. "There's a very tall boy downstairs asking for you."

"What?" Piper pushed her laptop aside and immediately climbed out of bed to go meet her unexpected visitor.

A very tall boy? That could only be Finn. But why was he at her house?

Finn was standing in the front sitting room, chatting with Piper's father as if he'd known him for years instead of a couple minutes. He looked up, his face lighting up with a grin, when she appeared on the stairs. "Hey Pipes!"

Piper's dad pulled a very curious Julia into the other room to give them privacy as Piper reached the bottom of the stairs. "What are you doing here?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest when she remembered that she was in her pajamas and had already taken her make-up off for the night. She must look like a mess.

If he seemed to notice, however, he gave no indication of it. Instead, he held out to her a paper plate with a piece of cake on it. "Jacquie made us all take a piece home with us because she didn't want to take it all with her, but I already had, like, three pieces tonight, so I definitely don't need anymore."

"You came all the way to my house to bring me cake?" Piper asked in disbelief. There was a warm feeling growing in her chest as she looked up at him in awe. No one had ever done anything like that for her before.

"And I wanted to see if you were okay," he admitted, "I know you had kind of a hard day."

Piper's lips turned up into an appreciative half-smile as she stepped forward to take the cake from him. "I'm okay. I just needed time to process I guess." She paused then reluctantly added, "Something about Miss Angela just really sets off my nerves, and I don't know why."

"Miss Angela's just trying to psych you out. It's what she does– messes with people's heads. But you're a really good dancer, Piper. She's wrong about you."

Something about Finn's words- the sincerity of his tone and the earnestness in his eye- was just enough to break through the funk Piper had been in all night. It put her at ease to know that he believed in her so much. Considering she didn't have Amy to lean on anymore, his support meant everything to her now.

It was as she looked down to hide her smile that she finally noticed the piece of cake Finn had brought her and laughed. A pre-pubescent Noah was staring up at her from the icing on the cake.

"What is this?" she asked, her voice lighter than it had been all evening.

"Oh, it's vanilla."

"No, this picture of Noah." Piper tilted the cake towards him, her eyes shining in amusement. "I don't know if I have it in me to eat him."

"You know, everyone else said the same thing," Finn said thoughtfully as if it was just occurring to him why the piece of cake with Noah's face on it was one of the few that had remained.

Tearing her gaze away from the cake, she looked back to Finn and reluctantly asked, "So how was the party?"

"It was fun. We just chilled in Shakes and Ladders, so you didn't miss much. We missed you though."

Piper's smile faded as she glanced away guiltily. "I should have gone."

"It's okay, Pipes."

"No, it's not." She sighed, moving to lean against the back of the couch with him. "I just have these days where I feel so nervous all the time, and sometimes I don't even know why, but I shouldn't have missed Noah's party because of it. He's one of my best friends."

"He's not mad at you if that's what you're worried about," Finn was quick to assure her.

But it wasn't that she was worried about Noah being mad at her. She was mad at herself for talking herself out of going in the first place, and she told Finn as much. Frowning, he said, "It's okay to take care of yourself, Pipes. Sometimes you just have to."

Piper glanced up at him and nodded slowly. Finn had his airhead moments sometimes, but she couldn't help thinking that he may be a lot wiser than he seemed.

He shot a glance out the front window then sighed. "I gotta go. My dad's waiting. I'll see ya tomorrow?"

The studio was hosting a hip-hop workshop with Leon Blackwood the next day, and there was no way Piper was going to let her nerves talk her out of going to that. She nodded as she walked him to the front door. "Yeah. I'll be the one showing you up at Leon's choreography."

He grinned and rolled his eyes. "Sure, Pipes."

She watched him walk back down the walkway of her house and waved as he climbed into his stepdad's waiting car. Once Finn was gone, Piper turned around to find her sister leaning against the wall, her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are we not going to talk about what just happened? Piper."

"We're friends, okay? He's allowed to stop by occasionally. That's not weird."

Julia shrugged, holding her hands out, unconvinced. "All I'm saying is if a boy stopped by in the middle of the night to bring me cake and check up on me, I would already be planning the wedding."

A wedding? To Finn? Oh no, no, no. That was never happening.

"Then I guess that's the difference between me and you," Piper responded through gritted teeth as she hurried up the stairs to escape the look of exasperation her sister was giving her.

"Wasn't it just last week that you were afraid to walk into prom with him?" Julia called after her, relentless.

"We're just friends," came Piper's agitated response.

Her mind was reeling as she got resettled in bed. It was a humbling thought that Finn had been concerned enough about her that he would make his stepdad stop by her house on their way home just to bring her cake from the party she'd missed and check up on her. That was by far the nicest thing anyone, let alone a boy, had ever done for her.

Now that she was actually getting to know him, Piper couldn't believe that just a couple of weeks ago, his mere presence had been enough to get on her nerves. Finn was a really good guy, and not just because he'd brought her cake. He was a good guy because he'd been patient with her instead of getting mad when she had tried to bail on their duet, and because he had taken the time to check up on her at prom while everyone else had been busy dancing, and because when she'd told him she wasn't interested in dating and asked him to stop asking her out, he had listened and backed off.

She was beginning to see him as a friend. And with Amy gone to AcroNation, she really needed a friend.

With a content smile on her face, Piper hesitated only a moment before digging into her cake and tried not to think too much about the fact that she was literally eating her dance captain's face.

Sorry Noah.

Chapter Text

Please answer. Please answer. Come on, Amy.

When the ringing on the other end of the line turned into Amy's voicemail, Piper sighed and hung up. She was disappointed but not surprised. Communication with her best friend had been mostly limited to brief text messages ever since AcroNation had qualified to compete at Regionals. Piper was making peace with the fact that Amy had left, but tonight, she really needed her best friend.

Noah had turned 18 a few days before, and as a result, A-Troupe either had to compete with him in the Senior Advanced Division at Regionals or kick him off the team in order to compete in the Intermediate Advanced Division. Kicking Noah off the team would leave A-Troupe not only without their dance captain but also without their strongest and most well-rounded dancer. It would also leave Piper without another friend.

But that hadn't stopped her from voting him off the team anyway.

She hadn't thought she would be the only one to use her red marble. From the way they had been talking before the vote, she had been certain that at least Kenzie and Kingston would also vote Noah off the team, but she had been so horribly wrong. The moment Michelle pulled the jar out of the bag to reveal Piper's lone red marble in the midst of her teammates' white ones, Piper's heart had plummeted. Between the arguments that had immediately broken out between the rest of the team as they blamed each other for what she had done and the hurt look on Noah's face when she had revealed that she was the one who had voted him off the team, Piper was feeling like the absolute worst person in the world.

First, she had let her anxiety talk her out of going to Noah's birthday party, and now she had let it convince her to vote him off the team.

This anxiety was ruining her life.

Piper had stayed late at the studio that evening, intending to work on her aerial, but after Noah left, she hadn't had the heart to keep working. She didn't feel ready to go home, certain that her parents would pick up on her downcast mood and ask what was wrong, but she knew she couldn't stay at the studio all night. Reluctantly, Piper texted her mother to ask for a ride home. Maybe her mother would be so distracted by something like Aunt Kathy spontaneously going into labor a month early that she wouldn't think to ask about her day.

(On second thought, it was probably a terrible thing to wish her pregnant aunt would go into labor early just so she wouldn't have to admit to her parents the horrible thing she had done, so... Scratch that last thought. She was really sinking to the lowest depths today, wasn't she?)

As Piper set her phone down, trying to swallow the lump that was growing in her throat again, she looked up to see Finn striding into Shakes and Ladders. What was he still doing at the studio? The rest of the team had gone home hours ago, or so she had thought.

After Finn ordered at the counter, he caught Piper's eye and nodded at her in greeting, taking his juice from the barista then joining her at her table. "Hey Pipes," he said as he slid into the seat across from her. "What are you still doing here?"

She gave a weak attempt at a smile, saying, "I could ask you the same thing." He simply smiled and took a sip of his juice as she turned her gaze to the table, twirling her phone around in her hands. "I was getting some work in on my aerial." She didn't have the heart to tell him that she'd given up not long after Noah had left, her guilt keeping her from making any progress.

"How's that coming along?" Finn asked, sounding genuinely curious.

She shook her head grimly to indicate it wasn't going well. "What about you?" she asked, moving the focus of the conversation away from herself. "What are you doing here?"

"I was helping Ozzy beat level 58 of Legions of Lasers. It's a tough one, but not nearly as bad as level 82. My mom'll be here soon though. I wanted a juice for the road."

Piper simply nodded, still staring glumly down at her phone. Her background was a picture she and Amy had taken the day they had filmed the Regionals Qualifier video. Amy had yet to return her call, but at this point, Piper didn't expect her to, and a fresh wave of sorrow surged through her. She forced herself to look away from the screen, giving the smallest smile she could manage to Finn and hoping he wouldn't ask her what was wrong.

No such luck.

Finn had set his juice down and crossed his arms on top of the table, watching her with a frown on his face. "Hey, are you okay?"

Immediately, the tears she'd been holding back all evening sprang to her eyes, and Piper looked away, shaking her head. Why did Finn always seem to catch her in her worst moments?

"I don't know." Her voice cracked, and she thought miserably to herself, You can't tell him. Don't tell him. Don't turn the only person you have left against you.

"What's wrong?" Finn’s voice was laced with concern. "Are you upset about Noah? I can't believe someone on the team would actually do that to him."

His words hit Piper right in the heart. She squeezed her eyes shut, a few tears spilling over, which she quickly wiped away and hoped he didn't notice. "Finn, I think I made a really big mistake..."

The words came out before she could stop them, and she reluctantly met his gaze through teary eyes. She watched with bated breath as his brows knit together, something in his expression shifting as he seemed to realize what she was implying.

"It was you?" His voice was uncharacteristically quiet, his expression disappointed. It wasn't a look she was used to seeing from him, and she hated it.

Piper slowly nodded, new tears springing to her eyes. Finn sighed heavily and averted his gaze, scratching the back of his head like he didn't know what to do with this new information. She chewed on her bottom lip, hating herself for telling him what she had done. This was just as bad as telling Noah himself. She couldn't bear the thought that Finn was disappointed in her, that he might even hate her over the terrible decision she had made in a moment of fear, and so she scrambled to defend herself. Maybe if he understood why she had done it, he might hate her less.

"I didn't want to vote him off the team, but I can't compete in the Senior Advanced Division. I can't do it, Finn. My aerial's getting nowhere, and I'd just bring the team down, and–"

"You don't have to explain yourself, Pipes. I get it," Finn interrupted. His tone was gentle, which she clung to as a hopeful sign that maybe he didn't hate her after all, but the disappointment remained in his eyes.

"But you don't agree with it.” He met her eye, a frown on his lips, and she looked down in shame. "He wasn't even mad at me," she murmured, "He helped me with my aerial and told me he knows I can get it. He's the best dance captain we've ever had." She took a shaky breath and shook her head at herself. "What have I done?"

Finn was quiet for a long moment, and Piper was starting to wish that he would say something, anything, when finally, he told her, "Maybe it's not too late to make it right."

Piper looked up at that, her brows knitting together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged, glancing down as his phone dinged before looking back to her. "We said the vote had to be unanimous, didn't we? Maybe it's not too late to change your vote." With that, he reached for his juice and grabbed his phone in his other hand as he stood. "My mom's here. You need a ride home?"

Piper shook her head, glancing down at her own phone where her mom had texted her a few minutes before to let her know she was on her way. "No, my mom's coming to get me."

He nodded and said, "Alright. See ya tomorrow, Pipes."

She watched him go, turning his words over and over in her head. Could she change her vote? Finn was right. They had all agreed that everyone on the team had to vote one way or another. If she told Emily and Michelle that she had changed her mind, that she wanted Noah to stay on the team, that would make the vote unanimous.

But could she really compete in the Senior Advanced Division? She was only 15 with limited tricks and acro abilities, and competing in the older division would mean competing against dancers that were several years her senior and had much more training and experience than she did. Piper wasn't sure that she was ready for that. Hadn't James himself warned her just last year that she was too young for A-Troupe, that she wasn't ready to compete on such a cut-throat team?

But hadn't his lack of faith in her also been the exact thing to push her to work as hard as she had to in order to earn and keep her spot on A-Troupe? She wasn't the same person or dancer she had been when she'd started dancing here, and competing in the Senior Advanced Division would be the exact kind of challenge that her 14-year-old self had been hoping The Next Step would give her.

She had lost sight of that desire to be challenged as a dancer when Miss Angela had sauntered in and crushed all of her self-confidence in a single day. She just had to keep working on her aerial and give her all to her dancing in the next few weeks. If she was going into Regionals all by herself, she wouldn't be able to win in the Senior Advanced Division, but she wasn't on her own. She had her team, and if they all thought that they could do this, then what kind of teammate was she to hold them all back?

Amy may have left to go to AcroNation, but Piper still had 10 teammates who had her back. She thought of Noah, and Finn, and Emily, and Michelle, each of whom believed in her – that she could get her aerial, that she was a good dancer, that she deserved to be on this team.

Piper could do this. Her team could do this. She couldn't let her nerves convince her otherwise.

It would still be another 15 minutes until her mom arrived to pick her up. In the meantime, she picked up her phone. Hopefully Emily and Michelle weren't too busy. She had to let them know that she was changing her vote. The team needed Noah. She was going to make this right.

Chapter Text

Finn's day had gotten off to a bad start before he ever set foot in the studio. First, he'd forgotten to set his alarm (again), so he'd woken up to his mother yanking the covers off him and yelling about being late for school. Then he'd had to take a math test that he had completely forgotten about and failed it (not enough to significantly lower his grade average and jeopardize his spot on A-Troupe, but certainly enough that his parents wouldn't be happy about it). And then he'd found out that his driving instructor's pregnant wife had gone into labor, so his test to get his license- the one thing he'd been looking forward to for months- was getting postponed (for the fourth time).

A-Troupe rehearsal was supposed to be the saving grace for this terrible day, but then Emily and Michelle had chosen him as a candidate for the team's alternate in the ten-person Regionals dance.

So, to put it lightly, today sucked.

Noah taught the four potential alternates the choreo for the alternate audition before leaving to check on the other small groups that were rehearsing simultaneously. The contemporary group was rehearsing on the other side of Studio A, and Finn was hyper-aware of Piper's presence as he danced. The last thing he wanted was for her to look down on him for being considered as an alternate. Just the thought left an unwelcome feeling of humiliation buried deep inside of him.

Noah eventually returned to the alternate group, observing them with his arms crossed as they finished their final count of eight then held their final pose. He nodded to himself, looking around at each of them as he said, "That looks good, guys. I know you've been working on this for a while, so go take a break, and then meet Emily and Michelle back in here in 15 minutes. Sound good?"

As Ozzy stalked out of the studio alone and Davis and Kenzie headed for Shakes and Ladders together, Noah informed Piper, Summer, and Kingston that Emily and Michelle would need Studio A for the alternate audition and to clear out before then. Finn trudged over to the cubbies to grab his water bottle, avoiding making eye contact with the others as he went. He plopped onto the bench, his back to everyone else and took a long drink of water, intending to keep practicing once the studio was clear again.

He had always been confident in his dance abilities and had been working really hard this season to prove to Emily and Michelle that he wasn't a back row dancer. His hard work clearly wasn't paying off, however, because his studio heads still saw him as one of the weakest dancers on the team if they were considering him for alternate.

He had always been a featured dancer at his old studios. Miss Angela had even thought he was good enough to bring with her to her other studios. Had he ever been as good a dancer as he'd once thought? Or was he only full of "pop and sizzle" that was good enough for Miss Angela but not enough for anyone else?

Good dancer or not, he really didn't have time to doubt himself right now.

The only thing that mattered now was not being the alternate, so when Kingston and Summer exited Studio A together, Finn intended to keep rehearsing alone before pausing when he realized Piper hadn't left with the other two.

"How's it going?"

Piper had plopped down on his other side, nudging his shoulder with her own as she spoke. Finn sighed and gave a shrug of the shoulders, glumly telling her, "It's going."

She immediately picked up on his downcast mood and nudged his arm with her elbow. "Well, you looked good earlier. I highly doubt you have anything to worry about."

Normally, he'd thrive at her complimenting his dancing, but his heart just wasn't in it today. Forcing a half-smile for her, he muttered, "Thanks Pipes."

He avoided looking at her out of sheer embarrassment, instead staring down at his lap where his fingers were bridged together. His knee bounced with restless energy, and Piper inclined her head towards him seriously. "Come on, Finn. Don't let this get to you."

She clearly wasn't planning on leaving him alone anytime soon, and if he had to talk to someone about this, he figured he'd want to talk to Piper. "I've never been an alternate before," he admitted. "I don't want to start now."

With a level of confidence he rarely heard from her, Piper assured him, "You're not going to be the alternate. Don't even worry about it."

"That's easy for you to say." She hadn't been the one practicing for the alternate audition all afternoon.

"You're already in the hip-hop routine, which you killed the other day by the way."

The sincerity of her compliment brought a genuine smile to his lips, but then a thought struck him. "But wait, so is Kenzie," he pointed out.

Piper shrugged and nodded. "It wouldn't make sense for either of you to be the alternate because you're already featured in other dances. Ozzy and Davis are the ones who should be concerned."

Maybe Piper had a point. Feeling a little better about his chances, he said, "Yeah. You're right. I've got nothing to worry about."

She let out a light laugh at the return of his usual enthusiasm, and the sound sent a wave of fondness through him, immediately brightening his mood.

"So I killed it, huh?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her and grinning.

She rolled her eyes at his cheeky expression. "Yes, you were pretty good."

"That's not what you said a minute ago."

"It means the same thing."

"No way, Pipes. 'Pretty good' and 'killed it' are two totally different things."

She shook her head exasperatedly, but there was a smile on her lips as she said, "Don't make me take it back."

"Why would you take it back?"

Her eyes narrowed as if she wasn't entirely sure if he was joking or not, so he gave her another cheeky grin to let her know he was. On a more serious note, however, he said, "I don't know why you didn't make the hip-hop group too though. I was kind of hoping you would."

"You were?"

"Yeah, it would have been our first A-Troupe dance together." He didn't know why Piper seemed so surprised by that and continued with, "Besides, you were the best dancer in the girls' group. Seriously, I don't know why LaTroy and Sloane didn't pick you. I couldn't take my eyes off you the whole time."

"Oh." This seemed to catch her even more by surprise, and maybe it was just the lighting, but Finn could have sworn her cheeks had turned a light shade of pink. "I don't know. Jacquie, Kenzie, and Summer are all really good at hip hop, so..."

"Yeah, but so are you."

It wasn't even Finn's crush on her that made him think she should have made the hip-hop group. It was just an objective fact as far as he was concerned. All of the girls had done well in their hip-hop routine, but Piper had outshined them all. She had danced with such fierceness, and if Finn hadn't known her already, he might have assumed hip hop was her primary style of dance.

When she finally seemed to pull her thoughts together, Piper said, "I'm just glad I got the contemporary dance." She glanced at him, twisting her hands together in her lap. "I was starting to worry I wasn't going to get featured in any this year."

"Yeah, but you're one of the best contemporary dancers on the team. That was a no-brainer."

She looked at him, shaking her head in wonderment as the corners of her lips twitched upwards. "I'm glad you have so much confidence in me."

"Someone has to." He said it with a joking tone, but he genuinely meant it. Piper's confidence in herself was minimal at best. He wished she could see how incredible of a dancer she was like he could.

"How's the contemporary routine going anyway?" Finn asked her curiously.

"We're still figuring the choreo out, but we have a lot of ideas."

"Between you, Summer, Kingston, and Noah, it's bound to be awesome. You guys are going to crush the contemporary category. All of the other teams are gonna wish they didn't have to compete against you."

Something in her demeanor had immediately shifted as soon as they'd started talking about the contemporary dance. She wiped her hands on her shorts, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye nervously. Finn raised his eyebrows, wondering what she was thinking. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just... Summer wants us to do an aerial, and I just—" Her eyes widened a bit, haunted by failed aerials of the past. "I don't think it’s a good idea."

"There's still a month until Regionals. That's plenty of time to get it, Pipes."

Piper let out a slow breath and nodded. "Yeah, I guess." She returned to twisting her hands nervously in her lap and reluctantly added, "I actually did one during the contemporary auditions."

What? How had she not mentioned that to him already? That was a huge milestone!

Pride surged through him as he told her enthusiastically, "That's great!"

She gave a forced smile, barely meeting his eye as she nodded. "Yeah." She wiped her hands on her shorts again then reached for her water bottle sitting next to her and stood abruptly. "I should probably go. I've got that paper to write."

Finn's grin faded at her weird behavior. He'd seen Piper distressed about her aerial more times than he could probably count this season. She should be way more excited about this than she currently was. He didn't have time to question her, however, as she had already made a beeline for the door.

She paused when a thought seemed to strike her and turned back to him in the doorway of Studio A. "Um, I'm going to go work in Shakes and Ladders I think, if you want to come find me after the audition and let me know how it goes."

Damn. He'd actually managed to forget about that audition for a few minutes.

Nodding, Finn promised he'd catch up with her later, and she wished him good luck before setting off for Shakes and Ladders. Finally alone, Finn set his hands on his knees and looked around the empty studio. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something that Piper wasn't telling him, but he couldn't focus on that right now. There were just under ten minutes until the alternate auditions would begin, so he pushed Piper's weird behavior aside to focus on Noah's choreo.

He would just have to ask her what was going on later.

When Piper went cross-eyed from boredom after half an hour of working on her English essay, she knew her effort was going to be a lost cause. She normally liked to stay ahead on her schoolwork, but essays were the one exception. They were just so long and time-consuming, and she'd much rather spend an evening working on Algebra problems or reading her History textbook than writing an essay over symbolism in The Great Gatsby, which she hadn't even read all the way through because she didn't have time to between dance and all of her other classes. (That's what she kept telling herself anyway. She probably could have read it in all the time she'd spent scrolling through Instagram and watching dumb YouTube videos that Finn sent her, but those things were kind of more important than a book written, like, a hundred years ago.)

Regardless, it wouldn't have mattered even if she had read the book because her mind wasn't focused on her essay at all. As she skimmed the SparkNotes page for The Great Gatsby, the only thing she could think about was how Finn thought she was one of the best dancers on the team.

It was probably a good thing he hadn't been at the contemporary auditions. He surely would have changed his mind if he had seen her dancing then.

But then again, he had seen her struggle and fail to do an aerial on his first day at the studio. That was the lowest point of her dance career thus far, and if he still genuinely believed that she was one of the best dancers on the team after that, then she was inclined to accept the compliment.

In a way, she supposed, it was nice to know that someone who wasn't related to her truly believed in her. Finn's opinion meant way more to her than she cared to admit.

"Pipes! You're never gonna guess who's the alternate!"

Piper jumped at Finn's loud exclamation, looking up from her laptop as he stumbled over a chair at another table in his hurry to slide into the seat next to hers. His eyes were bright with excitement, and she figured it was safe to assume that the audition to not be the alternate had turned up in his favor- just as she'd known it would.

"Well, you're too excited, so it can't be you," she observed as she shut her laptop.

"Well, yeah, but that's not an actual guess."

Piper dramatically sighed and pretended to think for a minute before guessing, "Davis?"

"Kingston."

Okay, he was right. She never would have guessed that.

"What? How did that happen? Emily and Michelle didn't—"

"I know," Finn interrupted. He leaned closer like they were conspiring over something top secret despite the fact that he was talking loud enough for the whole of Shakes and Ladders to hear. "Apparently, he's been skipping school for weeks to put in more time for dance. He's failing all of his classes, and he might get kicked off the team."

Piper shook her head in disbelief, shock radiating through her. How could Kingston let things get that out of hand? What was he thinking? Everyone knew they had to keep a B-average in school to be on A-Troupe. Biting on the inside of her cheek, she clenched her fists as she snapped, "I can't believe he would do that to the team. We're a month from Regionals. What did he think was going to happen?"

"I guess he figured he wouldn't get caught, but Ozzy threw him under the bus." He pursed his lips thoughtfully and added, "I guess that explains why he's gotten so good recently."

"What are we supposed to do about the contemporary dance? We're down a dancer now," Piper said, ignoring Finn's last comment as the thought hit her. They were only halfway through choreographing the routine, and Kingston had been bringing a lot of good ideas to the table.

"Ozzy's taking his place," Finn replied.

Piper had mixed feelings about Ozzy joining the routine. He had improved a lot since moving up from J-Troupe, and he was pretty good at contemporary, but Kingston was better. Besides that, Ozzy had a tendency to play around during rehearsals. She really needed this dance to go perfectly, if only to prove to herself that she was the dancer she'd always thought she had been.

You're one of the best contemporary dancers on the team.

Finn's words repeated in her head, breaking through the panic about Kingston possibly being kicked off the team. She seriously needed to have the same confidence in herself that Finn did. If only it could be that easy. Finn didn't have to live in her head with the rest of her doubts and insecurities.

She glanced over at him to see him nodding toward someone in greeting and followed his gaze to find Kenzie and Davis entering Shakes and Ladders. They both smiled at Finn, but when Davis' gaze met Piper's, her smile immediately turned sour. Guilt shot through Piper at the sight of her. She quickly averted her gaze and pulled her laptop in front of her, opening it up again and trying to look preoccupied despite the fact that she was just staring at her log-in screen.

"Piper?"

"Hmm?"

She reluctantly glanced at Finn over the top of her laptop, suddenly ashamed to meet his eye. He'd been so excited when she had mentioned getting her aerial earlier, and she didn't want to have to break the truth to him about what had really happened.

From the way he was looking at her, however, she wasn't sure she could get away with not telling him.

Why did Davis have to come to the juice bar? Couldn't she have gone literally anywhere else?

"Why do you look guilty? What did you do?" Finn questioned as his eyes narrowed suspiciously at her.

"I didn't do anything," she said, but she could hear her voice raise an octave as she spoke, and he was bound to notice it too.

Sure enough, he simply knit his brows together, still watching her through narrow eyes. Sighing, she reluctantly admitted, "Okay, fine. I may have done something bad during the audition the other day."

"Like what?" he asked, sounding genuinely surprised by this revelation.

Resignedly, she explained how Noah had set up the contemporary auditions as three different duets and how she had been paired with Davis.

"She tried to help me with my aerial when she realized I couldn't do one, but then when that was going nowhere, we both agreed that we wouldn't do one- you know, to keep things fair. But then she was out-dancing me, and I knew that Noah was going to give her the spot on the dance if I didn't do something, so I- I did my aerial. And it was really good." She tried to finish positively, but the smile plastered on her face felt wrong, and she quickly dropped it.

She was afraid to look at him when she finished, afraid that he would say she wasn't the person he thought she was, but Finn was simply staring at the table, nodding to himself as he processed her story. His lips were pursed, and she didn't think he looked disappointed per se, but he definitely wasn't as excited about her aerial as he had been before.

Piper bit her lip, waiting nervously for Finn to say something. When he finally did, all he had to say was, "Oh."

Her expression fell as she stared at him in shock. "That's all you have to say?" she asked somewhat indignantly. This was Finn. Half the time, she couldn't get him to stop talking, and when she needed him to actually say something, all he had to say was 'Oh'?

He sighed and shrugged, holding his hands up on the table in front of him. "You pulled your best moves. There's nothing wrong with that."

She wouldn't say that her aerial was her best move, but now didn't seem like the time to point that out. Instead, she pursed her lips uncertainly at him. Had he missed the major point of her story? She betrayed Davis. When she pointed this out to him, he shook his head at her.

"Pipes, we're on a competitive dance team. You can't always put other dancers before yourself, not in an audition like that."

"So... You don't think I'm in the wrong here?"

He frowned at her, tilting his head to the side and telling her meaningfully, "I don't think you should have agreed to it at all. But Davis should have known better too."

She stared at her fidgeting hands as she told him the one fear that had been on her mind for the last couple of days. "But I keep thinking I took her spot in the dance." At the look of disbelief he gave to that, she jumped to defend herself. "If I hadn't done my aerial like we agreed, Noah would have given the spot to her."

"You don't know that," Finn said, but she pursed her lips, looking down again. She was pretty sure she did know that, actually. She'd seen Noah's face as they had danced. Davis had clearly been impressing him.

Sighing, Finn said, "You know how half an hour ago, I said you were one of the best contemporary dancers on the team?"

Piper glanced up at him and nodded slowly. "Yeah..."

"I'm pretty sure Noah knows that too."

"But Davis can do acro, and I can't."

"Piper, acro isn't the standard for being a good dancer. Just because Davis can do more doesn't mean she would be better for the dance than you."

She glanced at him again, the corners of her lips twitching. "You're like my own personal cheerleader, you know that?”

He smiled, sitting up a little straighter. "That's me – just your average hype man." She chuckled, and his smile grew serious. "You've gotta stop being so hard on yourself. Seriously. Give yourself some credit every once in a while."

"I guess so," she muttered.

He moved to stand up and pointed at her as he said, "I'm gonna get a smoothie. You want something?"

Sighing, she shook her head and pulled her laptop toward her. "No, thanks. I have to finish this essay before midnight."

He grimaced and asked, "How much do you have left?"

"Three pages."

Finn gave her a sympathetic look before heading over to the counter. He had been on the receiving end of her complaining about this essay for the last week, and she hoped he would stay and keep her company while she attempted to make progress on it.

He didn't seem to think less of her over what had happened with Davis, and she supposed if Finn didn't think it was that big of a deal then it was time to let it go. Gosh, what she would give to be as chill about everything as her best friend.

Wait- best friend?

Glancing at Finn, who was talking animatedly with the barista about Lord knew what, Piper smiled to herself. She'd gravitated towards Finn ever since Amy had left for AcroNation, and she had been spending more time with him than not these days, so yeah. Maybe Finn was her best friend now.

And surprisingly, she didn't hate the thought of that.

Chapter Text

"That's sick, dude."

Ozzy had choreographed a routine for B-Troupe based off of level 100 of Legions of Lasers earlier that week, and as Finn watched a recording of B-Troupe's performance, he was thoroughly impressed by the level of detail Ozzy had incorporated into the dance. Anyone familiar with the game would instantly recognize the storyline, but even people who weren't familiar with the game could still find the dance entertaining to watch. Finn had no idea Ozzy had it in him.

"Thanks," Ozzy said proudly as the video ended and he put his phone away. "I've got big plans with Winnie this weekend."

"Winnie?" Finn asked in surprise. He knew Winnie from B-Troupe from her brief time on A-Troupe back in his first weeks at the studio, but he knew next to nothing about her. Ozzy had never talked about her before.

"She beat the game on Master level, dude. She's, like, the coolest girl ever."

"So is it a date?"

Ozzy gave him a dumbfounded look and scoffed. "Obviously not. My heart will always belong to Richelle."

"Richelle, who has a boyfriend," Finn reminded him.

"A boyfriend who's the worst human being to ever walk the planet- after Heathcliff of course," Ozzy retorted with a roll of the eyes. "They can't stay together forever." He paused then added hesitantly, "Can they?"

Finn shrugged to that, and Ozzy sighed, sending a longing glance to where Richelle was currently chatting with Jacquie and Noah. Honestly, it would probably be good for Finn's young friend to spend time with another girl. At some point, Ozzy was going to have to accept that Richelle was just not interested.

With a longing sigh, Ozzy bid farewell to Finn, leaving him momentarily alone by the cubbies of Studio A until Piper wandered over and plopped down onto the bench. Her gaze was fixated on the floor, her lips pursed as if deep in thought.

"Got any big plans for our day off, Pipes?" Finn asked her as she pulled her shoes on.

She let out a huff and stood as quickly as she had sat down to grab her water bottle and phone from her cubby. "I don't know," she grumbled, pushing past him. Finn raised his eyebrows at her tense mood and quickly followed after her, not wanting to get left behind.

"Well, I'm so sleeping in until noon tomorrow," he enthused as he easily caught up to her and fell into stride next to her.

"I don't see why we're not having rehearsal tomorrow," Piper snapped in response.

Finn frowned as he looked down at her. "What do you mean?"

"Regionals is next week, and we're competing in the Senior Advanced Division. We don't have time for a day off."

"Pipes, chill. We'll be fine."

Nobody on the team appeared to be more nervous for Regionals than Piper, who shook her head at Finn's calm assurance and adamantly replied, "You don't know that."

Rather reasonably, Finn pointed out, "We've got long rehearsals all next week. And Michelle and Emily both said that all the dances are looking really strong. It won't kill us all to have one day to chill."

She was quiet at that, and Finn was starting to think he must have gotten through to her until she muttered, "A day off rehearsal is one less day to make sure my aerial is perfect."

Piper's aerial had been her downfall all season long, but ever since she had successfully done one in her audition for the contemporary dance, she had finally seemed to be getting the hang of it. Finn had watched her aerial several times in rehearsals since then and was fully confident that she would nail it at Regionals. Piper just needed to have the same confidence in herself that everyone else had in her.

"Piper, your aerial's perfect. You don't need an extra rehearsal to work on it. You've got it down," Finn told her seriously. Her lips formed a firm line as she tried to suppress a smile at that, but her cheeks had turned a little pinker than usual- probably just from how hard she'd been working in the rehearsal they were leaving, Finn was sure.

A plan was beginning to form in his mind to help his best friend chill out, and Finn said, "You know what you need?"

"To have more confidence in myself. I know."

"Yes, but that's not what I was going to say." She raised her eyebrows curiously at him, and he told her, "You, my friend, need a movie night."

"Seriously?" Piper let out a short laugh and shook her head as they stopped in the locker room to retrieve their dance bags from their lockers.

"Yes, seriously! Movies are the perfect distraction. You won't stop worrying about Regionals otherwise."

She rolled her eyes at that. "I guess."

They exited the locker room, their dance bags slung over their shoulders, and Finn asked, "So what time are you coming over?" Piper looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, and he raised his own at her. "Seriously! I'll make us food. We can watch whatever you want. It'll be fun!"

"You can cook?"

"Hey, I'll have you know I make some mean mac and cheese."

"Oh wow, I didn't realize I was friends with such a chef extraordinaire," Piper said, a teasing note in her voice that made Finn smile. Her tension was beginning to ebb away, which had been his goal all along.

"Babysitting my sisters has to count for something, right?"

"Fine. I'll come over," Piper relented, "But we have to watch a RomCom." She clearly believed that this request would make him rethink the movie night, but being the hopeless romantic movie buff he was, Finn just grinned.

"Joke's on you, Pipes. I love RomComs."

She let out a genuine laugh at that, crinkles forming around her eyes as she shook her head at him in amusement. "Okay Fruity Moons, whatever you say."

Finn immediately shushed her, glancing around them in a panic to ensure that none of their teammates were in the nearby vicinity. He didn't necessarily regret telling Piper that he was the Fruity Moons kid, but she had been throwing around the nickname with reckless abandon ever since. Clearly, she found it amusing, but the last thing Finn needed was the rest of A-Troupe finding out that he was the Fruity Moons kid. Everyone had something in their past that they regretted. The Fruity Moons commercial was his.

"Would you chill with the Fruity Moons thing in public? I don't want people finding out."

"Alright, fine," Piper sighed, "I don't know why you're so embarrassed about it though. It's a cute commercial, Finn."

"Yeah, sure. It's cute until everyone you know starts singing the damn song everywhere you go." She giggled, but he didn't know why. He wasn't joking for once.

They reached the building's parking lot, effectively bringing an end to their conversation. "I'll see you tomorrow, I guess," Piper told him as she took a step towards her brother's waiting car. "Text me your address, or I'll have no choice but to spend the day working on my aerial instead."

"You've got nothing to worry about," Finn reminded her. She simply held up a hand and waved at him in response, and they went their separate ways. Finn pulled his phone out of his pocket and immediately texted her his address as soon as he had climbed into his stepdad's car. Piper would take any excuse to work on her aerial tomorrow instead of resting, which was the whole point of a day off.

She may not think so, but an off day was exactly what Piper needed.

Finn wasn't nervous about Piper coming over to his house and meeting his family. The chances of his stepdad Mark intentionally embarrassing him were slim to none, and Piper had already met his mother, so his mom couldn't pull out all of her embarrassing mom questions because she'd already done that.

He had severely underestimated his little sisters, however.

When Piper arrived at his house for their movie night, his parents greeted her at the front door. As she introduced herself to Mark, Finn noticed the twins sitting at the dining room table, their heads close together and giggling mischievously. That was never a good sign.

"Are those your sisters?" Piper asked Finn when she had finally escaped his parents' questioning of how her day had been and if she was excited for Regionals.

"Yep, that's London and Gracie," Finn answered, wary eyes never leaving the twins as he pointed to each one in turn.

His sisters looked up at the sounds of their names, and Piper smiled and waved at the two of them. London had plastered a sweet smile on her face, giving a shy wave back, but there was a devious grin on Gracie's face as she blurted out, "Finn likes you!"

London burst into a fresh wave of giggles, and Piper's eyebrows shot up. "Oh does he?" she asked, feigning surprise as she looked up at him, the corners of her lips twitching.

"Oh Gracie, that's enough. Eat your peas," their mother snapped, instantly wiping the grin off of the five-year-old's face. His mom gave Finn an apologetic look over Piper's head, and Finn avoided meeting Piper's gaze, sure that his ears had flushed bright pink in embarrassment.

"So we'll be downstairs," he said quickly, ushering Piper towards the basement to get her away from his sisters before they could say anything else that would have her questioning her decision to come over.

His mom stopped him and nodded towards the kitchen. "Don't forget your food."

"Oh, right." Finn nodded and changed trajectories, dragging Piper to the kitchen instead where the macaroni and cheese he'd made for dinner was sitting in a pot on the counter.

"I hope you know I'm just dying to try this mac and cheese you're so good at making," Piper told him, her tone light as they entered the kitchen.

Finn smiled slightly as they both filled their plates. Piper took a bite of the pasta, chewing thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging nonchalantly. "It's alright."

His expression faltered at her reaction. Did she really not like it? It wasn't that big of a deal, but... He really wanted her to like it.

A grin spread across her face as she quickly said, "I'm kidding! I can see what all the talk is about."

Finn laughed awkwardly and nodded. "Oh. Yeah. Cool."

They finally escaped down to the basement, and Piper got settled on the couch while Finn moved over to the expansive bookshelf that was home to his movie collection. Feeling the need to address what had just happened upstairs, he scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably and told her, "Um, sorry about the twins. They get excited around new people."

Piper simply shrugged at that. "It's okay. They're cute!"

"Sure, until you dare to put their stuffed animals in the wrong order on their beds, and then they go completely rabid," Finn responded dryly. Piper laughed as he scanned his movie collection for the perfect movie to distract her from both Regionals and what Gracie had said upstairs. Tonight was supposed to help Piper relax. The last thing he wanted was for her to close in on herself because she was weirded out by the fact that he liked her.

Which... he did like her, but he was trying to stop. They had developed a good friendship over the last couple of months, and if he had learned anything from watching countless movies over the years, it was that unrequited feelings could ruin perfectly good friendships. (Of course, a lot of those movies also ended with the pining best friend getting the girl in the end, but... Well, Finn couldn't give himself false hope like that.)

He found the movie he was searching for and grinned, turning back to Piper as he told her excitedly, "We have to watch Hotel Dystopia."

"What is it?" Piper was looking at the cover warily, and Finn gaped at her.

"How have you never seen it?" he asked in disbelief, "Pipes, it's only the best mystery sci-fi movie of all time!"

"Is it scary? Because I don't do scary movies."

"No, it's not scary. I promise," Finn assured her.

She agreed to give it a chance, and he excitedly put it on before joining her on the couch. "It's the greatest movie of all time! You'll totally love it."

She simply smiled at his enthusiasm, chowing down on her macaroni as the movie started. Hotel Dystopia was by far Finn's favorite movie, but for the first time in his life, he found that he couldn't focus on it because he kept glancing at Piper throughout, trying to gauge her reaction. Was she loving it? Did she hate it?

Maybe if she hated it, that would be Finn's sign from the universe that it was officially time to let go of his feelings for her and move on.

She didn't seem sold on the movie at first, but by the end of it, Piper was completely engrossed in Link Washington's adventure through the mysterious Hotel Dystopia. When the film ended on its iconic shot of the concierge lying on the floor of the lobby, a knife lodged in his shoulder as he called out Link's name before the screen went black and the credits rolled, Piper made an indignant sound, squeezing Finn's arm tightly.

"Don't tell me it just ends there!" Finn simply grinned in amusement, and she groaned, socking him on the shoulder. "Finn!"

"What? It's not my fault they ended it on a cliffhanger."

"But you're the one who made me get completely invested in it, knowing that's how it ended!" She glared at him playfully, crossing her arms as she turned on the couch so she was facing him more. "You better have the sequel."

Finn grimaced. "Yeah, about that..."

Her eyes widened in alarm. "Don't you tell me there's not a sequel."

"Oh, there is. It just doesn't come out for a few more months."

"Months?"

She made to punch his arm again, but anticipating it this time, he dodged it while laughing. "Hey, I've had to wait two years for it. A couple months is nothing."

Piper grumbled to that, but leaned back against the couch, crossing her arms. Finn sat back, resting his arm on the back of the couch as he asked cheekily, "So I take it you liked it?"

She gave him another glare and said stubbornly, "I did until that terrible ending."

"Will watching the trailer for the next one make it a little better?"

"Maybe."

They watched the preview for Hotel Dystopia: Do Not Disturb on Finn's phone, and Piper returned to gripping his forearm arm excitedly while Finn tried not to think about the fact that her hand was dangerously close to his own and she probably could have gripped it instead of his arm if he wasn't holding his phone. Her dark eyes shone brightly with excitement after watching the teaser trailer for the sequel, and Finn gulped helplessly as she looked back to him excitedly, her face mere inches from his own.

"We have to go see it when it comes out!"

"Yeah, for sure. You're way more into this than my mom is," Finn replied, feeling a twinge of disappointment as she removed her hand from his arm and settled back against the couch again.

"What do you think happened to the concierge?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, I've got my theories. I don't trust Hal. You know, the room service guy?"

"Oh yeah, he was creepy. I didn't like him."

They spent the next half hour theorizing about what happened to the concierge at the end of the movie. Piper was much more exciting to theorize with than his mother, who he'd seen the first movie with when it had come out two years before, and Finn felt a satisfactory feeling at knowing that she had enjoyed his favorite movie.

As the talk of Hotel Dystopia faded away, Piper perked up, a rare mischievous glint in her eye. "So, what RomCom are we watching?"

"You pick. I don't care," Finn told her, handing the TV remote to her. He had pulled up Netflix twenty minutes into their theorizing, and Piper scrolled through the choices until finally settling on Touchdowns and Tutus, claiming that it was her favorite movie growing up and had sentimental value.

The movie was as cheesy as most RomComs are, but it got bonus points from Finn for having a central sports plotline in it. The main couple in the film were two best friends, one of whom was a classically-trained ballerina who helped the other discover the beauty of football through ballet. It was the typical love story of the best friend dating another girl until he realized that the girl he was meant to be with had been right in front of him the whole time.

The love story culminated in a grand declaration of love and a romantic kiss on the football field in the pouring rain, and Finn risked a glance at Piper during the scene. She was hugging a throw pillow to her chest, her chin resting on top of it and eyes shining brightly, a content smile on her face. Finn quickly returned his gaze to the TV before she could catch him staring at her.

That was never going to be him and Piper, no matter how much he wished it could be. They were never going to have a big declaration of feelings or a kiss in the pouring rain because Piper didn't like him back. And that was okay. It really was. But he couldn't keep holding on to these feelings for her. He had to let her go. Piper's friendship meant everything to him, and who knew? Maybe their friendship would grow even stronger if there wasn't always a constant longing in his heart to be more than just friends with her.

If only moving on came as easily as falling head over heels.

Chapter Text

Piper just wanted to be alone.

The first day of Regionals had come to an end, and if Noah and Richelle hadn't performed the duet of their lives tonight, The Next Step would be going home. All because of Piper's mistake.

She couldn't believe that after all of the hard work and extra time she had put in to learn and nail her aerial, she had still managed to mess it up onstage. And everyone had seen it. Her team. The judges. All of the people watching at home. And worst of all- Miss Angela. All season long, everyone Piper trusted most – Finn, Noah, Amy, James, Riley, Emily – they had all told her that Angela was wrong- that she was a good dancer, and she would nail her aerial, and she belonged on A-Troupe.

She had proven them all wrong today.

At least she could take a little consolation in the fact that even after she had humiliated herself and their team, Finn still wasn't embarrassed to be seen with her. He was the only person who had come to check on her after she'd run off to be alone and had tried to cheer her up with that silly Fruity Moons song. And to his credit, he had succeeded – for a moment at least.

The last thing Piper had wanted to do after messing up the contemporary routine was go back and face her teammates, but Finn hadn't given her much of a choice. She'd held onto his hand like her life depended on it until practically the moment Noah and Richelle walked onstage for the Pas de Deux. Throughout their duet, she had felt physically ill, knowing that if it wasn't good enough for the judges, the whole team would be going home.

But miraculously, the team had qualified for the finals, and Piper felt like she could finally breathe again. Maybe her teammates would hate her less now for messing up the contemporary routine. She allowed herself to celebrate with them all onstage and hugged Finn extra tight as if doing so could somehow communicate her gratitude to him for being there for her when no one else was- something that he had been doing all season in fact, not just today.

The whole team was on cloud 9 as they ate dinner in the food court of the convention center. Piper stuck with Finn and Henry, and they spent a good portion of dinner telling Finn about last year's Regionals competition and all of the drama that had led up to it. As Henry enthused about his friendship with the Prince Alfie of Switzerland, Piper pointedly made no comment and focused on her stir fry instead.

The thought crossed her mind that if they hadn't qualified for the finals tonight, this would be the second year in a row that The Next Step lost at Regionals after her brother's team had become Internationals champions.

But we did make it to the finals, she told herself crossly, trying hard to focus on the positives instead of the negatives for once in her life.

Everything had turned out fine. They still had a shot at winning this whole competition.

It was when Emily and Michelle stood and began going over the schedule for the next day that the realization suddenly hit Piper. Her fork dropped to her plate with a clatter, and she rigidly sat back in her seat, no longer able to hear what her studio heads were saying over the blood rushing through her ears.

She had an aerial in the finals routine.

Oh no.

Oh no.

If she messed up tomorrow, there was no coming back from that. The studio would lose for the second year in a row, and it would be entirely her fault. The team would hate her, her parents would be disappointed in her, and gosh, what would James say?

This was too much pressure.

Despite the fact that she'd only eaten half of her food, her appetite was gone. Feeling like she was about to be sick, she excused herself to the bathroom as discreetly as possible and practically ran all the way there. When she reached the (thankfully empty) bathroom, she collapsed in one of the stalls and dry heaved into the toilet bowl. When it became clear that nothing was going to come out, she slumped against the stall, breathing hard until she had enough strength to pull herself up and walk on shaky legs to the sink. After washing her hands, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were glassy, and her cheeks seemed a little pale, but she didn't look too worse for wear. She hoped Finn wouldn't notice anything was off.

After taking a couple of minutes to compose herself, Piper reluctantly returned to the food court. Her team was cleaning up their trash and getting ready to leave for the hotel. Finn looked up as she approached their table, holding his empty tray in one hand and hers in the other. "I didn't know if you wanted a to-go box or something," he said when she reached him.

She shook her head, taking her tray from him as she said in the most composed voice she could manage, "No, that's okay. Thanks."

He didn't seem to question it, which she was grateful for. If it had been her brother, he would have made a big deal about her not finishing her dinner and how "you need energy for tomorrow, Pipesqueak." Needless to say, she was really glad an out-of-town gig for his band was keeping James (and Riley) away from the competition this weekend.

Piper kept her head down as the team made their way out to the bus that would take them to their hotel. The chatter of her teammates and studio heads surrounded her, but she was so nervous about tomorrow now that she couldn't focus on anything else if she tried. She was one of the first to board the bus and headed straight for the back of it, wanting nothing else but to be by herself for the next twenty minutes on the ride to the hotel.

At this point in her friendship with Finn, however, she really should have expected that he would follow her to the back of the bus anyway.

It might not have been that bad if it had just been Finn that plopped down next to her, but he was followed by the rest of the boys. Noah and Henry took the seats in front of them while Kingston and Ozzy filled the row across from them, Ozzy in the midst of a detailed rant about how the finals somehow related to Legions of Lasers. Piper wasn't really sure what the connection was, and she really didn’t care.

She could hear Henry and Noah talking about their girlfriends in the row in front of her, and Piper sighed, resting her head against her fist dejectedly as she stared out the window, trying desperately to tune the boys out. She knew it wasn't Finn's intent to annoy her by bringing the rest of the boys with him to the back of the bus, but boy, had he done a good job of it anyway.

As the bus was pulling out of the convention center's parking lot, Piper's phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen to see a text from Amy.

A: Hey, are you okay?

Her best friend didn't even have to say what she was referring to. Piper knew she was asking if she was okay after what had happened in the contemporary dance. She opened her text messages to respond, but her thumbs simply hovered over the keyboard. What was she supposed to say? 'Yeah, I'm fine! Thanks for asking!' That would be a total lie, and she knew it. But at the same time, she couldn't tell Amy how she was really feeling, not when they would be competing against each other in the finals tomorrow.

It was absurd that they were even competing against each other at all. It didn't seem fair. It didn't feel right. She needed her best friend. She had Finn, of course, but he was currently busy poking fun at Ozzy with Kingston, completely oblivious to the fact that she was fighting back tears right next to him. She turned her body so that she was facing the window and away from the boys as a couple of tears rolled down her cheeks. She hastily wiped them away, hating more than ever that Amy was on a different team and a different bus right now.

"Bro, this is nothing to him! He's already competed at Internationals!"

"What's it like?"

Kingston and Ozzy's awestruck words somehow broke through Piper's pitiful reverie, and she bit her lip as she heard Noah tell them, "It's on a completely different level. The competition is way bigger, and they throw all kinds of challenges at you to keep you on your toes."

"He was blindfolded in one of his dances," Henry added enthusiastically.

"No way!" Kingston said, his eyes wide. "That's not even safe."

"They had spotters at the front of the stage to make sure no one fell off."

"Oh, good. Yeah, that makes it totally safe," Finn commented sarcastically, and Noah grinned.

"Okay fine, maybe it's not that safe, but think of all the bragging rights you get from it. I've got a lot of bragging points."

"Is that what Jacquie told you?" Kingston asked teasingly.

That set the boys off on a tirade of jokes about Noah's relationship. Meanwhile, Piper chewed on the inside of her cheek at the talk of Internationals. She already knew of the kinds of crazy challenges the Internationals board threw at the dancers, having heard James talk about it plenty of times before, but hearing about it had never made her so anxious before.

If she couldn't even perform at the Regionals level, was there hope for her at all at Internationals? If they ever even made it to Internationals, which was dependent on her ability to do a proper aerial in the finals tomorrow.

Their chances weren't looking good.

After what felt like the longest (and loudest) bus ride of Piper's life, the team finally arrived at their hotel. Piper stood at the back of the group while she waited to get her suitcase off of the bus, once again surrounded by the chatter of her teammates. When someone suddenly appeared on her other side, she didn't even have to look to know it would be Finn.

"I can't believe we're competing in the finals tomorrow! I mean, I knew we were gonna make it. We're gonna win this whole thing, Pipes! I can feel it. Where do they hold Nationals? And where do you think Internationals will be? I'm hoping for somewhere in Europe."

He started rambling about German pretzels as Piper half-listened, more focused instead on finding an opening to grab her suitcase off the bus and get inside. All she wanted was to take a shower and go to bed. As soon as she was in bed, she could go to sleep and try to forget that this horrible day ever happened.

When Henry and Summer finally moved away from the bus, luggage in hand and smiling about something, Piper took her chance and leapt forward to grab her suitcase. Finn followed her lead, still talking her ear off and completely oblivious to the fact that she was hardly listening to him.

"Did you know Chuck Anderson grew up, like, twenty minutes from here? Do you think he's ever visited this hotel?"

"I don't know," Piper mumbled, making a beeline for the hotel lobby and wondering who she would be rooming with for the night. Hopefully not Jacquie and Richelle. They would definitely be up half the night talking, and she would never get any sleep.

Finn's long legs allowed him to easily catch up with her. He was still talking incessantly about Chuck Anderson, and Piper couldn't help herself as she finally asked, "Why do you know so much about him?"

Finn paused, looking at her as if she had just told him the sky was red instead of blue. "Piper, the man's a legend. He's been at SNR for fifteen years. He's shaken hands with Luther Brown!"

She raised her eyebrows at him, too downcast and anxious to bother mentioning that her brother had worked with Luther Brown in the past even though she knew such information would excite Finn even further. Frankly, she wasn't in the mood to be around his enthusiasm right now. Wordlessly, she stepped inside the hotel, leaving him to follow after her again, which he did without missing a beat.

Once the whole team was inside, Michelle and Emily passed out room keys and gave out room assignments. Piper would be rooming with Kenzie and Summer, which was a relief to her. Summer was the least likely of all of the girls to make critical comments about her aerial, so she would gladly take her as a roommate over any of the others.

As the team began to disperse, Finn stopped Piper, and she sighed before turning to face him, hoping he wasn't going to continue raving about Chuck Anderson. Instead, however, he was frowning curiously at her. "You're really quiet tonight. What's up?"

For a split second, she considered telling him that she was fine and not any quieter than any other night, but Finn somehow always seemed to be able to tell when she was lying, so she sighed and gestured sadly instead. "What do you think?"

"Finn, come on! Level 89's not going to beat itself!" Ozzy interrupted, yelling at him from across the lobby.

Finn glanced at him and nodded, gesturing to show he'd be there in a minute and ignoring Emily's strict instruction to not stay up playing video games. Turning back to Piper, he said, "Come on, don't beat yourself up over what happened today. It could have happened to any of us."

"But it didn't," she muttered, swallowing thickly and looking away from him. She wanted to tell him about the aerial in the finals routine and how she was worried that she was going to blow their chances at Nationals for the whole team, but the hotel lobby didn't seem like the place for that. Besides, Ozzy interrupted her once more.

"Finn!"

Finn rolled his eyes, an irritated look crossing his face. This time, he ignored Ozzy as he told her seriously, "Just get some sleep tonight, Pipes. Tomorrow's a new day. You'll feel better in the morning, I promise."

Piper highly doubted that, but she knew he meant well and simply nodded. "Yeah, maybe."

With a grin that was probably supposed to be encouraging, Finn nodded towards the elevator where their teammates were waiting for them. He slung an arm around her and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze as they made their way over to them. The touch didn't make Piper feel that much better about her predicament, but it was a nice reminder that he cared about her at the very least.

The team crowded onto two elevators and made their way to their rooms for the night. The first thing Piper, Summer, and Kenzie did when they reached theirs was decide who was sleeping where. Kenzie didn't have a preference, and Summer said she didn't mind sharing a bed with someone, so the two of them paired up, leaving a relieved Piper to claim the other bed for herself.

"I think I'm going to take a shower," Piper said, her back to them while she grabbed her pajamas out of her suitcase.

"Okay," Summer said, and Piper made a beeline for the bathroom without making eye contact with either of her roommates.

When she was finally alone in the bathroom, she set her pajamas and hygiene bag on the counter and just stood in the middle of the bathroom, taking a few deep breaths through her nose and slowly exhaling. The muffled voices of Kenzie and Summer travelled to her through the door, and she was certain they had to be talking about her.

"How can she not know how to do an aerial? It's so easy."

"She almost sent us all home. Michelle and Emily should have put me in the dance instead."

She didn't know that was what they were saying, of course, but surely it had to be something along those lines.

Clenching her fists and biting down on the inside of her cheek, Piper turned on the shower water, waiting for it to get as hot as she could bear before climbing in. She willed her mind to go blank as she scrubbed on her body wash, but the memory of falling out of her aerial and the absolute horror that had followed as she fumbled around on stage afterwards kept replaying in her mind as if an awful movie on repeat.

Like a flood, the tears she'd been holding in all evening burst out of her. She covered her mouth and slumped against the shower wall, hot water pouring down on her as silent sobs wracked her body.

"I don't know why you're putting Piper in this dance. She can't even do acro."

"You know Finn, the longer you dance here, the worse of a dancer you'll become. I mean, look what you're dancing with."

"Your weak link is Piper."

She'd thought that after enough time had passed, Miss Angela's words wouldn't sting anymore. That they wouldn't bother her anymore. That she was fine.

She was wrong. It all still hurt.

Maybe she should have quit dance after all. It certainly would have saved her the pain and humiliation of today.

As much as she would have liked to cry in the shower until there were no tears left to cry, Piper knew that she couldn't because Summer and Kenzie needed to get ready for bed too, so once her tears had slowed, she forced herself to turn off the hot water and changed into her pajamas. Thank God she had thought to pack her favorite pair – the soft purple ones with the sheep on them that Nana Gardiner had gotten her for Christmas last year. It was a little thing, but it made her feel just a smidge better.

After finishing her bedtime routine, Piper crawled into bed while Kenzie took her turn in the bathroom. Summer gave her a small smile but seemed to pick up on the fact that she wasn't in the mood to talk and didn't try to force a conversation. Piper rolled onto her side, keeping her back to her roommates as she scrolled through Facebook mind-numbingly. Around the time that Summer and Kenzie switched places in the bathroom, Piper remembered Amy's text and opened it again.

A: Hey, are you okay?

She still didn't know how to respond to it. Amy hadn't been around much since leaving The Next Step, but even before then, she had often been preoccupied with Henry. There was so much Piper hadn't told her as a result. When her communication with her best friend was so limited, the last thing she wanted to talk about was the crippling self-doubts and anxiety that had been weighing her down for months. So instead of being honest, she simply told her:

P: Yes, I'm okay! 😊 good job today! You were amazing!! 💖

Was she overdoing it with the exclamation points? Probably. They all felt so fabricated and fake given her current mood, but she couldn't care less. Her phone lit up with a new text a minute later.

A: Thanks!! 😊 so weird competing against each other huh?

Piper stared at the text, reading it then re-reading it. Numbly, she tossed her phone aside, not bothering to reply. Yes, Amy. Yes, it is weird competing against each other. Where were you when I needed you tonight?

(It didn't escape her notice that Amy hadn't returned her compliment.)

She couldn't be mad at Amy, she knew. But she wanted to be. Last year at this time, the two of them had been staying up late against Riley's orders with Sloane and Cassie to watch a movie because that was what Sloane had wanted to do to distract herself from getting disqualified from the competition. Piper couldn't even remember what movie they had watched on Cassie's old dinosaur of a laptop, but she remembered laughing with her friends and trying to order room service before realizing that they would have to pay for it. They had all rallied around Sloane to help her in her time of need, and that somehow made her feel even worse now, knowing that the Zero Percent Club would have rallied around her too if they were there.

But they weren't.

Summer and Kenzie didn't stay up too late talking, and Piper was relieved when they turned the lights off as soon as they were both settled in bed. She snuggled up under the covers, willing the memories and bad feelings of today to go away and be replaced with a blissful sleep.

...

She rolled over on her other side. She always fell asleep faster on her right side. Why hadn't she started out on that side to begin with?

...

First, she was too cold. Now, she was too hot. She threw the comforter off of her with a huff.

...

Okay, now it was too cold again. She knew she should have brought a blanket with her.

...

Was that Kenzie snoring?

...

Yes, Kenzie was definitely snoring. Was there anything at all she could do to make her stop?

...

Rolling over onto her other side again, Piper let out a frustrated huff and picked up her phone. The picture of her and Amy from the day they filmed the Qualifier video stared back at her along with the time: 1:13 a.m. Ugh.

All she wanted to do was sleep, but her body couldn't even do that right. She closed her eyes, willing herself to think of anything other than her aerial. Trying to think of things that made her happy, she immediately thought of her cousin Benni's new puppy. And then there was Aunt Kathy, who had just given birth to Piper's newest cousin, baby JJ, a few weeks ago. And when she got home from Regionals, there would be a new episode of Supernova Superstar to watch.

As happy as those things made her, however, none of them were enough to calm her down enough to sleep. She reluctantly thought of that afternoon and how Finn had sang the Fruity Moons song just to cheer her up. He had managed to make her feel better in the moment, and she tried to focus on the memory of him singing and doing a silly dance in the lobby. It brought the tiniest smile to her face at least.

Reluctantly, she reached for her phone and opened her text messages again, but instead of texting Amy, she went to her messages with Finn. She had typed out a text asking him if he was awake and was ready to send it when she hesitated. What if he wasn't awake, and then he woke up in the morning and had a text from her at nearly 1:30 in the morning asking if he was awake? That would be awkward, wouldn't it?

She quickly erased the text then tossed her phone aside again. If it wasn't 1:30 a.m. and if he wasn't rooming with their dance captain, she would just go knock on his door and ask if he wanted to go take a walk with her or something. She needed fresh air, but she also needed rest, and another insomnia-ridden night a couple of weeks before had taught her, via a Google search, that even just lying in bed and resting your body was better than nothing at all.

If she was going to lay awake in bed all night, she might as well try to figure out what she was going to do about the finals routine tomorrow. She'd moped long enough about it. Now she needed a plan.

There was no way that she could do an aerial. That much was certain. But she could do a fouetté. Maybe she'd do that instead. The choreography would still flow well, she was fairly certain.

Okay, so maybe coming up with a solution hadn't been that difficult after all. Changing the choreo seemed so obvious now that she thought about it. First thing in the morning, she would go to Emily and Michelle and ask them to change the choreo for that section.

After what had happened today, she couldn't imagine why they would possibly say no.

Chapter Text

The next morning, the team was up bright and early to eat breakfast at the hotel before they had to leave for the convention center. After loading his plate with eggs, bacon, and toast, Finn found a table with Henry, Kingston, and Ozzy. He kept an eye out for Piper as he ate, but she had yet to make an appearance. As Henry recounted the finals from last year's Regionals to Kingston and Ozzy, Finn focused in on his friends' conversation.

"What even happened to the Geminis?" Kingston asked, "Nobody's said anything about them since the Qualifier video."

"I heard they lost a dancer," Finn said, recalling something he had heard months ago before even coming to The Next Step.

"It's easy enough to replace them though," Ozzy pointed out.

"They're still competing, just in the Intermediate Division," Henry said, "They would've been our competition if Noah hadn't turned 18."

"We could've taken them," Kingston said confidently before taking a big bite of his potatoes.

"Hells yeah," Henry agreed. He pushed his empty plate away from him and sat back in his seat, crossing his arms. "There's no way I would've lost to them the second year in a row."

"What happens at Nationals though?" Finn asked curiously, "Are there two age divisions there too?"

Henry shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I've never been to Nationals."

"There's gotta be two age divisions," Ozzy reasoned, "Either that, or two teams from each region, but what would be the point of having two age divisions at Regionals if they don't at Nationals?"

Ozzy had a point, and the other boys voiced their agreement. As their discussion of the competition trailed off, Summer slid into the empty seat next to Henry with a tired smile. "Good morning," she said though her usual cheerfulness was subdued in the early morning hour.

The boys greeted her as Henry smiled softly at her. "How did everyone sleep last night?" Summer asked as she picked up her spoon and twirled it around her bowl of cereal.

"Fine," Kingston answered.

"Great," Ozzy said.

"We totally didn't stay up until 2 playing Legions of Lasers," Finn lied.

Summer raised her eyebrows, shooting Henry an amused look as he simply nodded to emphasize Finn's lie. "Good to know." She took a bite of her cereal then said, "Well, I slept great. Emily thinks this hotel is too cheap, but those beds are so comfortable."

"They are pretty comfortable," Finn agreed. His mattress last night had felt like sleeping on a ridiculously soft marshmallow. It had been amazing – even better than his mattress at home.

"I wouldn't know," Kingston grumbled into his potatoes, "Since I had to sleep on the couch."

"I told you to fight Noah for the bed. You barely even tried," Ozzy said, shaking his head at him in disappointment.

"Oh yeah, like I was just gonna tell our dance captain to sleep on the couch instead."

"He wouldn't have cared," Henry interjected, "Dude can fall asleep literally anywhere. He's weird like that."

"Does anyone else think he's got eyes in the back of his head?" Ozzy asked.

The others murmured their agreement as Summer said contemplatively, "He does always seem to know what's going on behind him."

"Exactly! It's creepy!"

"How late did you guys stay up, Summer?" Finn asked her after finishing off his second piece of bacon.

"Not very actually. We were all pretty tired after yesterday."

"Dude, I had so much energy last night," Kingston interjected, sharing a look with Ozzy. The two of them had spent a good twenty minutes hopping on the beds like children after getting to their room the night before.

Summer smiled slightly at that before turning her gaze back to Finn. "I'm actually a little worried about Piper though. She barely said anything last night."

"That doesn't sound like Pipes," Henry said with a frown while Finn's eyebrows furrowed at this new information. Henry was right. That didn't sound like Piper. She'd been so excited for Regionals on the bus ride to the competition yesterday morning.

Of course, yesterday hadn't exactly gone the way any of them had planned, least of all Piper.

"She was probably still shaken about what happened yesterday," Finn mused. He recalled how quiet she had been on the bus ride to the hotel the night before and the look on her face when they'd been talking in the lobby before going up to their rooms. It had been the same look she'd had that day they'd been working on their duet in Studio One- like she was too trapped in her own head to really see what was going on around her.

"Do you think she'll be okay for the finals today?" Ozzy asked, his voice concerned.

Kingston seemed less concerned, however, as he said, "If she chokes today, we're done for."

Finn shot an irritated look at his friend as Ozzy muttered reproachfully, "Dude, come on."

Before Finn could come to Piper's defense, Henry beat him to it. "She's not going to choke. She's one of the best dancers on the team."

"We could have lost the whole competition because of her," Kingston pointed out as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "She messed up an aerial. Seriously?"

"So what?" Finn snapped, "She made a mistake. It could have happened to any one of us."

"Yeah, it was an accident. She'll get her aerial today. We'll be fine," Summer added, clearly trying to keep the peace between them all.

Finn shot her a grateful look, glad that Summer and Henry were coming to Piper's defense as well. He'd seen Piper's distress first-hand after the contemporary routine yesterday. She was clearly beating herself up enough as it was. She didn't need Kingston or any of their other teammates adding any more salt to the wound.

Kingston sighed and leaned back in his chair, holding his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. I was just saying, jeez..."

"Hi guys," a quiet voice behind Finn said.

He tensed as Piper took the empty seat between him and Summer and prayed to God above that she hadn't heard what Kingston had said.

"Morning Piper," Kingston and Ozzy said together, but they had both stiffened.

She simply glanced at them, her gaze lingering on Kingston a moment too long before turning to her breakfast. Finn couldn't help noticing that her plate was relatively empty, filled only with a biscuit and a small packet of strawberry jam. Was that really all she was planning on eating? An uneasy feeling was growing in his stomach as he glanced at her. He had really wanted to believe that he had helped her feel better about what had happened yesterday, but he was starting to think otherwise.

An awkward silence settled around the table as Piper picked at her biscuit without looking at anyone. Summer was staring at Piper's plate, a small frown on her face. When she lifted her gaze to meet Finn's, he wondered if she had noticed Piper's lack of appetite too.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Henry pushed his chair back from the table and announced, "I'm gonna get seconds."

"I'll go with you," Kingston said quickly, and they both stood. Ozzy simply picked up his plate and followed them as Summer called after them to not to eat too much lest they get sick onstage later.

Once the other boys were gone, Summer turned to Piper, giving her a gentle smile. "You okay this morning, Piper?"

She nodded, plastering a smile on her face that Finn didn't believe for a second. "Yep, fine. Why?"

Summer shrugged, appearing casual as she said, "No reason. You just seemed really quiet last night. That's all."

"Yeah," Piper murmured, her gaze fixed on her biscuit, which she'd only taken a few small bites of. "It was just a long day yesterday."

Piper wasn't a difficult person to read. She wore her emotions on her face, and it was easy to tell when something was bothering her. Finn wasn't at all convinced by her assurance that she was fine because the look in her eye told him otherwise, but he wasn't sure how much good prying at the breakfast table would do. Even more concerned by the lack of food on her plate, he said instead, "They've got this really awesome waffle maker over by the coffee, Pipes. You can even put sprinkles in it. You should go check it out."

Piper glanced at him but then shook her head, much to his disappointment. He had really thought that would work. She loved waffles. "No thanks. I'm not that hungry."

"They have an awesome fruit bar," Summer piped up. "I think I'm going to go get some. You want to come with me?"

Piper reluctantly glanced over to the table lined with fruit before sighing and giving in. "Sure."

Together, they stood and began to walk over to the fruit. Summer caught Finn's eye as they went and gave him a tight smile. He watched them go, a frown on his face as he watched Piper reluctantly pile some strawberries and pineapple onto her plate.

Last night, he had felt pretty confident that she would be okay today. He had been so sure that moving on to the finals would ease all of her regret over what had happened in the contemporary dance, but she seemed even more distressed this morning than she had when they'd gone to bed last night.

He was worried about her. Really worried.

Each of the teams competing in the finals had an hour to rehearse onstage before the finals that afternoon. The Next Step arrived at the convention center after breakfast and had thirty minutes to kill before their allotted time on stage. Finn's mind had been racing with ways he could cheer Piper up after watching her pick at her meager breakfast, but the second they arrived at the convention center, she disappeared, and he didn't see her again until the team was gathering onstage to rehearse.

The rehearsal had gone well overall. Piper hadn't fallen out of her aerial, but she was wobbly in her landing, and Finn could tell it had shaken her. When their rehearsal time was up, Piper disappeared again, and before he could go after her, Michelle pulled him aside with Kingston and Ozzy for an interview with Chuck Anderson. In his excitement about meeting the legendary SNR anchor host, Finn momentarily forgot that he was worrying about Piper, especially after getting to talk with Chuck briefly about a potential future at SNR Network- something he hadn't considered a possibility until now.

As the team finished eating lunch, Michelle approached the boys' table, glancing around frantically. "Finn, have you seen Piper?" she asked.

Finn shook his head. "No, I don't know where she went." He had seen her eating with the other girls earlier, but now he realized his best friend was nowhere to be seen. He had never noticed her leave.

Michelle sighed heavily as she looked back to him. "Can you go find her? We need to start getting ready soon."

He nodded, already picking up his trash and standing. "Sure thing."

Michelle smiled in relief and thanked him before hurrying over to the girls' table. Finn wasted no time in beginning his search for Piper. There were only ten minutes until they were supposed to be backstage to get ready for the finals, but the convention center was huge. He had no idea where she would have gone, so he sent her a quick text asking where she was and picked up his pace.

After five minutes had passed, he had somehow gone down the same hallway twice and had yet to hear anything from Piper. Sighing in frustration, he decided to call her instead. "Come on, Pipes, pick up..."

As the other line rang in his ear, he thought of the bus ride to the convention center that morning. He'd left the seat next to him open so she could sit by him, but instead, she had retreated to the back of the bus and sat by herself. She had seemed really pale during their rehearsal that morning.

It seemed like this competition was getting to be too much for Piper, and that thought killed him inside. He had spent the last month assuring her that competing in the Senior Advanced Division wouldn't be a big deal and that she had nothing to worry about, but look what had happened.

This is not how he'd wanted Regionals to go.

When Piper didn't answer her phone, Finn's worry increased ten-fold. Would she have been desperate enough to get away from the competition that she would leave the convention center without telling anyone?

God, if she did something stupid like that, and something happened to her, Finn would never forgive himself. His best friend was spiraling, and he had spent an hour freaking out over Chuck Anderson. What kind of friend was he if he let a TV anchorman take precedence when Piper needed him the most?

Before his worry could turn to panic, Finn rounded another corner to find Piper at the end of the hallway. She was practicing her aerial.

Finn had never been so relieved to see her as he called out, "There you are! I've been looking all over for you."

Piper didn't seem to hear him or notice him approaching her as she set herself then flipped through the air again. She landed on her feet, hardly even wobbling, and Finn gave a tight smile as he told her, "That looked good."

Piper tensed at the sound of his voice and turned to look up at him. Her eyes were red like she'd been crying, and she clenched her fists, shaking her head as she said in a strained voice, "No, it was a weak landing. The judges are going to notice that."

When Piper had fallen out of her aerial during the contemporary routine and proceeded to stumble through the remainder of the dance, an intense sinking feeling had surged through Finn. His first thought hadn't even been of losing Regionals. It had just been of concern for his best friend. He was experiencing a very similar feeling right now.

Finn watched with a frown as she flipped into another aerial. This time, she did stumble when she landed, and he caught her arm before she could fall completely. As soon as she caught her balance, she wrenched her arm out of his grasp and immediately turned to go again.

She was obsessed with getting this perfect.

"Piper, how long have you been at this?"

"I don't know," she responded dismissively, gaze determined as she went to go again.

She was going to wear herself out before they even performed if she kept this up. Finn cut in before she could launch herself into another aerial. "We're supposed to be backstage getting ready right now. We've gotta go."

Piper looked at him with wide eyes. "Already? We just ate lunch."

"Yeah, but the finals start in an hour."

She glanced around, almost as if momentarily dazed, then nodded stiffly and turned to pick up her phone, which was sitting abandoned on the bench behind her. She checked the time as if she didn't quite believe him then sighed and gestured in the general direction of the stage. "Okay, fine, let's go."

They set off in silence, hurrying to their team's designated area backstage. Piper glanced at her phone again as they went then told him awkwardly, "Um, I'm sorry I never responded. My phone was on silent."

Finn simply shrugged. Now that he had found her, that was the last thing on his mind. "No big deal."

She kept her gaze down as they walked through the hallways together, and Finn had accepted that she probably wasn't in the mood to talk, so he kept quiet for once. With the finals approaching so soon, they both needed to get in the competition mindset anyway. He was surprised, then, when she told him quietly a few moments later, "I asked Emily and Michelle to change the choreo."

His gaze jerked to her in surprise. "What?"

"I was going to do a fouetté instead of my aerial, but they said no. I figured after yesterday..." She trailed off, leaving the thought unfinished. Even still, Finn had a feeling he knew what she was going to say.

In the couple of months he'd been friends with Piper, he had seen her nervous. He'd seen her upset and hurt and everything in between. But he'd never seen her like this before, and it was killing him inside. He hated Miss Angela for doing this to her because it was Miss Angela's fault. Piper had told him how she'd almost quit dance during those couple of weeks where she had disappeared at the beginning of the season.

It was no coincidence that Piper had messed up her aerial after Miss Angela had psyched her out before the contemporary dance. Miss Angela had known exactly what she was doing.

Finn stopped walking to face her, serious as he'd ever been as he told her, "Piper, I've seen you land that aerial in rehearsal. Miss Angela got in your head yesterday. That's it. You can do this."

"Nobody else thinks so," she muttered, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and keeping her gaze down.

"That's not true."

"I heard Kingston this morning, Finn," Piper snapped, her broken gaze finally meeting his, and his heart ached as her voice cracked.

He would kill Kingston for making her doubt herself.

"Then you also heard the rest of us telling him he was wrong," Finn reasoned, fighting to keep his voice level. She bit her lip hard, and he added, "Michelle and Emily would have let you change the choreo if they didn't believe you could do this. You can't think about what happened yesterday. You've got to remember all the times you nailed it instead."

She chewed on her bottom lip as she took in his words, and Finn tilted his head to the side as he added, "Don't make me break out Fruity Moons again. I'll do it, Pipes. I really will." He was joking, trying to cheer her up again, but he would absolutely sing that stupid song as many times as he needed to just to bring a smile to her face again.

She slowly turned her gaze to him, and the corners of her lips twitched the slightest bit as she said dryly, "You mean you weren't singing for all of your adoring fangirls in the lobby?"

"Nah. Only you."

A soft smile finally spread across her face, and he felt a surge of triumph deep in his heart. If she was smiling and joking again, that had to be a good sign, right?

He held his hand out to her the same way he had the day before and said, "Come on. If we don't get backstage soon, Emily will probably murder us."

"She wouldn't expect anything different from you," Piper replied, but she took his hand, holding onto it tightly as he pulled her down the hall.

Finn rolled his eyes but knew he couldn't argue with that. Punctuality wasn't exactly a strength of his.

He countered her comment with, "Have you ever been late for anything in your life?"

"Not until I started hanging around you."

"Oh, ha ha," he stated dryly, but she was at ease enough to genuinely laugh at him, and that was all he cared about.

When they finally arrived backstage, it was to find their team running around in a frenzy as they got ready for their performance. A weight seemed to lift off of Michelle's shoulders as she ushered them over and ordered them to get ready before running off to find Emily.

The next hour passed in a blur as the team prepared for the finals. The boys finished getting ready much quicker than the girls, and they spent much of the final half hour before the finals began joking around and hyping one another up. Finn glanced over at Piper occasionally as she put her make-up on and fixed her bun. At one point, he noticed her smiling with Richelle about something and smiled to himself. She seemed to be in good spirits, and he hoped that she would continue to be, at least long enough to make it through the finals routine.

At 2 o'clock, the finals began, and A-Troupe found themselves gathered together in the wings backstage to watch their competitors' routines since they would be performing last. AcroNation blew them all away with their giant O's, and Finn hated to admit it, but Amy in particular had killed it. He wasn't her biggest fan for abandoning the team and Piper, but if what Piper had told him was true, Amy had clearly gotten exactly what she wanted by switching teams.

Encore took the stage next, and Finn hated to admit that their performance was almost as good as if not better than AcroNation's. They lacked the giant props, but the technique and connectedness of the dance more than made up for it. They didn't call Miss Angela the Fixer for nothing, but that was easy to forget when she treated her dancers so horribly.

Sudden movement next to him drew Finn's attention away from Encore's dance. Piper had started backing away from the team, and he was afraid she might be sick. Even in the dim lighting of the wings, he could tell that the color had drained from her cheeks again.

He had thought their conversation in the hallway had helped her but evidently not.

"Hey, hey, are you okay? You look nervous," he said, his hand resting on her back in concern.

Piper shook her head. "I just want to be alone right now," she said, sounding dangerously close to tears.

"Want me to keep you company?" he asked, his heart aching for her as she ignored him and practically sprinted out to the hallway. He glanced to Emily and Michelle, who were in the front of the team and completely oblivious to what had just happened.

He had half a mind to go after her, but he chose not to at the last second. She had said she wanted to be alone. She just needed a minute to catch her breath, and then she'd be back. Even if she had been an anxious bundle of nerves all day, he knew that winning this was important to her. It was important to all of them. Piper wasn't the type to just run off and leave the team hanging.

As Encore finished up their routine, Finn could feel the rush of adrenaline competing gave him building up in him as he focused his attention on the routine they were about to perform. Emily and Michelle ushered A-Troupe onstage, and they all gathered together for a quick pep talk from Michelle as the ropes for their performance were secured by the stagehands. As they put their hands in the middle of their circle for one last chant before the curtain would rise, Emily suddenly yelled over them all, stopping them.

"Where's Piper?"

Finn froze, glancing around the circle. In the rush of adrenaline, he had thought that Piper had come back, but now that he actually looked around, he realized that she was still missing. His heart sped up, but this time it wasn't from the adrenaline of competing. He didn't even know where she had gone. The look on her face before she had run off had been haunted, and he'd let her run off on her own.

Dammit, why had he talked himself out of going after her? This was the second time today he'd failed as her best friend.

Emily ran off to search for Piper while the team stood around and wondered what they were supposed to do. They could hear the judges calling for them to take the stage, but they couldn't begin their routine with only nine dancers. Michelle held her hands out as if physically trying to calm them all down. "Emily will find her. Just wait a couple of minutes. We'll be fine."

Finn bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as he glanced around the backstage area. Part of him hoped Piper would crawl out from under one of the make-up tables and say, "Just kidding, I'm ready to perform!" But of course, she didn't.

Noah caught Finn's eye, seeming just as concerned as he ran his hands through his hair. With a deep breath, he addressed the team with all the composure a dance captain should have in this situation. "Okay, guys, they'll be right back, and then it's showtime. I know this weekend has had its ups and downs, but..." He paused, swallowing thickly as he said with a tight smile. "We've all worked really hard the last few days on this routine. We're going to kill it."

As Noah's pep talk came to an end, Emily reappeared with Piper in tow. Her cheeks still seemed a little pale, but she was there, and Finn would have swept her into a huge hug if there was time. There wasn't time, however, because they had a routine to perform.

They gave the performance of their lives, and Finn couldn't worry about Piper as they danced because he had to focus on his own spot and ensuring that Summer and his other teammates were safe on the ropes. Even still, he was holding the rope at the front of the stage during the girls' section and couldn't help watching as Piper did her aerial. She landed it perfectly with a smile, and pride surged through him, giving him the perfect amount of energy he needed to finish the dance.

When the dance was finished and the curtain had closed, the first thing Finn did was find Piper. He immediately swept her up in a giant hug, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around. She squealed and laughed in his ear, clinging to his neck, and he exclaimed, "I'm so proud of you! I knew you could you do it!"

He set her down on her feet again, and she could only grin up at him in response, looking freer than she had all day. After everything she had been through this weekend, it was a relief to see a genuine smile on her face again.

Everyone's excitement became subdued as the judges' called the three teams back onto the stage. Finn walked out with his team, standing in the back with the boys as they waited for the announcer to pronounce the winner. He felt confident that they had a good shot at winning, but even still, he always got a little nervous waiting. The waiting was always the worst part of any competition.

"Ladies and gentleman, the moment you've all been waiting for," the announcer finally said, "The judges have made their decision."

Finn closed his eyes, trying not to bounce too much on the balls of his feet. He did that when he was nervous, but his father had informed him years ago that it was distracting and looked unprofessional. In an attempt to anchor himself to something, he put a hand on Kingston's shoulder for support.

"There is a tie for second place."

Finn's eyes shot open at that, and he exchanged confused looks with his teammates. What were the odds that they might have tied with one of the other teams?

"The tie is between AcroNation and The Next Step."

So they had tied with AcroNation! Was there a tiebreaker now or...?

Wait a second...

Second place...

They had lost.

Finn shared a look of disbelief with Kingston and Ozzy before looking over grimly to where the Encore dancers were cheering and celebrating. Somehow, Finn couldn't help thinking that it would hurt less if AcroNation had won instead. The fact that Miss Angela had won...

Well, he couldn't stand that. She didn't deserve to, not after the way she had treated Piper, or any of them for that matter.

Their team exchanged half-hearted hugs on the stage, but Finn was relieved to get backstage where they could change out of their costumes and back into their TNS uniforms. The atmosphere was grim as they all changed and Michelle and Emily joined them backstage.

"Hey guys, gather around for a second please," Emily called though she hardly had to raise her voice as none of the dancers were talking.

Michelle glanced around to make sure everyone was there before she began speaking. "We've had our ups and downs this weekend," she started, "And we know that today didn't end the way we all hoped it would, but we just want you all to know how proud we are of each and every one of you."

Emily nodded as her partner spoke. "We know you've all put in a lot of hard work this season, and we appreciate how much time and energy you've given us," she added.

"The bond you all have is so special, and we've loved working with you all this year," Michelle concluded, giving a smile to each of them as she looked around the circle.

Finn gave a half-hearted smile, his hands clasped in front of him as he glanced around at his teammates. It hurt to lose, but he knew he wouldn't have wanted to lose with any other group of people.

Tentatively, Summer spoke up from where she was holding Henry's hand tightly. "There's always next year," she said, giving an encouraging smile to her teammates.

"Yeah guys, next year's our year," Kingston agreed, and Finn couldn't help but grin, clasping his friend's shoulder again and shaking in a masculine form of solidarity.

None of them noticed the grim look that passed between Emily and Michelle.

Once everyone was ready, A-Troupe grabbed their bags and moved from the backstage area to the lobby. Finn fell into step next to Piper as they went, and she gave him a tight-lipped smile. "This weekend wasn't what I hoped it would be," she admitted.

Finn let out a deep breath and muttered his agreement. "Definitely not."

Piper shook her head to herself, pausing for a moment before she said, "I don't know how I'm going to tell my brother we lost again."

"You think he'll be upset?"

"James doesn't really get upset. It's just..." She huffed, looking up at him and gesturing with her hands as she explained, "His team was the first team from the studio to ever make it to Internationals, and now I've lost Regionals not once but twice. It's- I don't know- It's embarrassing."

Finn nodded along as she spoke. He could understand the pressure of feeling like she had to live up to the standards her brother had set, having three older siblings of his own. He'd stopped trying to live up to them a long time ago, however.

"Sometimes you've just gotta accept that you're not your brother," he told her, "Different teams, different experiences."

"Yeah," she sighed, "But I don't want to disappoint him. I've worked really hard to prove to him that I could even be on A-Troupe at all, and I don't want him to think I still don't belong here. He's always seen me as this little pipsqueak." She rolled her eyes at that.

"Well, I've never met your brother, but anyone can see you belong here," Finn assured her.

Piper paused in her steps, taking a minute to stare up at him thoughtfully like she was trying to decide if she could believe him or not. A smile slowly spread across her face, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Thank you – for everything. I, um – You've just been a really good friend this year, and I really appreciate it." She kept glancing down at her feet as she spoke before finally forcing herself to hold his gaze as she expressed her appreciation.

Finn grinned, thriving in the affirmation. He'd wanted nothing more than to get to know Piper when he first started dancing at The Next Step, and there had been a point where he had thought that might never happen. Even if nothing romantic was going to happen between them, he was content just to be her friend, and knowing that he was the one who had been there for her all season felt like the most important thing in the world.

"I expect the same kind of treatment the next time I mess up a dance," he told her jokingly before adding more seriously, "Which actually happens a lot, but... You know."

Piper laughed and nodded. "Okay, Fruity Moons, I'll see what I can do. But I'm not singing that dumb song in a room full of people."

Finn simply grinned, making a comment about how the song was a classic while thinking that her laugh was the most beautiful sound in the world, especially after the weekend they'd just had.

God, he was in deep. Finn cared about Piper more than he cared about himself. He couldn't help it. But he had made a conscious decision to move on from her. He wasn't supposed to be hanging onto his crush.

Because that's all it was. A crush. An unreciprocated crush.

Piper turned back from where she had taken a few steps ahead of him to raise her eyebrows at him. "Are you coming?" she asked.

He hadn't even realized he had stopped walking to admire her and nodded, quickly catching up in a couple of long strides as they caught up with their team. There was no telling what the future would hold for The Next Step, but for now, Finn didn't care what happened as long as he was with Piper and his bros and their team.

As for moving on from Piper... Well, he would worry about that next season.

Chapter Text

"So anyways, then a literal food fight broke out. It was complete chaos."

Finn laughed as Piper told him about her most recent family dinner celebrating her grandfather's birthday over FaceTime. She was out of town for the weekend on a family trip and had called him to vent.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "It took me half an hour last night to get all the mac and cheese out of my hair. That's why politics is usually off the table at family dinners, but Uncle Enzo just can't help himself sometimes."

"Your family isn't real. There's no way anyone can be that crazy," Finn told her as he rolled over onto his back on his bed.

She harrumphed and shook her head. "There's a reason my siblings waited years before bringing their significant others to a full family event."

Finn simply hummed in response, thinking that he would love to go to one of these family dinners she always told him about just to see the craziness in person.

Another thought suddenly occurred to Piper, and she huffed. "Oh, and Aunt Betty spilled her wine all over my favorite dress, so now there's a huge stain on it, and I can't get it out."

"Is she the alcoholic?"

"No, that's Aunt Carla. Betty's the one with emotional support dog though."

"Oh."

"But just between you and me, she doesn't actually need a support dog. She just registered him that way so she could take him on her flight to the Bahamas with her." She shook her head distastefully and muttered, "So unethical."

As she grimaced, a text notification from Henry suddenly popped up on Finn's phone asking where he was. Finn sat up, glancing at the clock on his bedside table. He'd thought he had plenty of time before he was supposed to be at Ozzy's house for Bro Night (their first Bro Night without Noah). Apparently, he'd been talking to Piper a lot longer than he realized. With a groan, he immediately jumped off his bed to find his shoes while holding his phone in his other hand.

"Crap. I'm supposed to be at Ozzy's right now. I gotta go, Pipes."

She frowned but nodded in understanding. "Okay. I'll talk to you later."

Finn promised to text her later then ended the FaceTime call as he frantically searched his cluttered room for a hoodie. As he pulled his grey one on, he looked in the mirror above his dresser and ran a hand over his curls. Since A-Troupe was on a break for the holidays after winning Regionals, he hadn't been straightening his hair like he usually did. His curls were on full display in all their curly glory since his shower that morning, and he sighed in despair. There wasn't anything he could do about it now, but if Piper hadn't noticed his hair on their FaceTime call, the boys definitely wouldn't notice it either.

Or at least, that's what he had thought until he walked into Ozzy's basement, and the first thing his friend said was, "What's up with your hair?"

Kingston and Henry both pulled their gazes away from their video game long enough to see what Ozzy was talking about. Self-consciously, Finn held both hands over his head and said in a panic the first thing that came to mind, which just so happened to be: "Oh, that. Uh, yeah, I got a perm."

Ozzy blinked then nodded and looked back to his video game. "Cool."

A perm? Finn let out a deep breath and shook his head at himself as he joined the rest of the boys on the couch and Kingston tossed him a game controller.

Why had a perm been the first thing to come to mind? It's not like he had a habit of lying so easily. Why hadn't he just told them the truth- that his hair was curly and he usually kept it straight because he didn't like having curly hair but had been feeling too lazy to bother straightening it all holiday break? Now he was going to have to roll with the perm thing for the foreseeable future.

Great. Good job, Finn. You seriously botched that one.

Oh well. Nothing he could do about it now. This was his life now. He was the bro with the perm. Time to accept it and move on.

(He just hoped Piper wouldn't judge him too hard for this because of course he would end up telling her the truth eventually. He always did.)

Chapter Text

"It doesn't work like that."

"What do you mean?"

Finn frowned at Piper as they walked through the mall together. They were searching for Secret Santa gifts for A-Troupe's upcoming Christmas party. Or at least, Piper was.

"You can't be Santa in the Secret Santa. There is no Santa. You just buy a gift for whoever you drew a name for," Piper explained patiently, her eyes scanning the stores they passed in search of her favorite candle shop, Wicks Corner.

"First of all, there has to be a Santa in the Secret Santa. Who else would deliver the gifts?" Finn chose to ignore the way Piper rolled her eyes at that and continued on unperturbed. "And second of all, I did draw Santa, so I'm Santa."

"But there's not a Santa," Piper repeated adamantly.

Reaching into his pocket, Finn pulled out the slip of paper he'd drawn the day before that clearly read Santa. He held it out to Piper proudly, raising his eyebrows as if to say, "See?" She glanced at it and huffed, grumbling about how Kingston never should have been put in charge of the Secret Santa drawing. Finn grinned cheekily at her, but she hardly noticed it as she spotted the candle store and pivoted towards it.

As they entered the store, they were bombarded by smells of pine needles and cinnamon that were undoubtedly from the seasonal Christmas candles. Finn wrinkled his nose at the strong fragrances and asked, "Who are you shopping for again?"

"Summer," Piper answered, gazing around at the shelves covered in candles with an excited glint in her eye. "She was saying the other day she wanted a Christmas candle for her room."

"Oh, well that should be easy to find," Finn said confidently. It would be easy to find a seasonal candle this time of year. They would be moving on to the food court in no time.

What Finn had failed to anticipate, however, was the absurd number of seasonal candles there actually were to choose from and Piper's incessant need to sniff every single one.

Why were there so many candles to choose from? Who could possibly need that many options?

Finn didn't know how Piper was going to find a Christmas candle that personified Summer- whatever that even meant- but he did know that he really didn't like candle shopping as much as he'd thought he would. What should have taken a few minutes was turning into a half hour debate about whether Summer would like Winter Cranberry or Crushed Candy Cane more.

"What do you think about this one?" Piper asked, holding up a white candle with a label that read Christmas Cookies for Finn to sniff.

He complied, the sweet smell of cookies filling his nose. Somehow, it did seem to remind him of Summer- probably because it was so sweet-smelling, and Summer was one of the sweetest people he knew.

"It's fine, I guess," he told Piper, handing it back to her while wondering to himself what Rocking Chair was supposed to smell like.

Piper sniffed the candle again then nodded to herself, seeming to come to a decision. "I think this is the one. It just screams Summer to me."

Finn mumbled in agreement as he picked up Whiskers on Kittens and gave it a sniff. Wrinkling his nose, he recoiled and quickly set it back on the shelf.

He checked his text messages while he waited for Piper to pay for the candle. The Bros' group chat was blowing up over the avocado Ozzy had gotten for Richelle's Secret Santa gift, but Finn's attention was caught instead by the text from his older brother Nate, who rarely texted him.

N: What day are you and Brooke arriving at Dad's for Christmas? I need to coordinate with you.

He clenched his jaw, pursing his lips as he reread his brother's text. Therein lied his current dilemma. The Next Step's Christmas party was supposed to take place on December 21. Not only were they celebrating the studio's 30th birthday, but it was also the first time all of A-Troupe would be together since going on holiday break after winning Regionals. Unfortunately, the party was also two days after Finn was supposed to leave for Vancouver to spend Christmas with his father. If he had to choose, he'd rather stay in Toronto and go to the Christmas party with his friends. Unfortunately, he doubted his parents would care what he wanted to do in this situation.

"I think I might have spent over the $10 limit," Piper said, eyes glued to her receipt as she approached where Finn was waiting by the entrance. Grimacing and shrugging, she folded the receipt and slipped it into her wallet before looking up at Finn. "Oh well. I guess I'll just take the tag off it. But wait, what if she needs to return it for some reason?"

She was frowning contemplatively as they walked out of the store together, and Finn slipped his phone back into his pocket. "No one actually follows the $10 rule, you know," he told her though half of his mind was still on the trip to his dad's. The Christmas party alone wouldn't be enough to convince his mom to stay home, but Emily had mentioned choreographing a routine to perform for the TNS alumni that were coming. If he was in the routine, he'd have to stay for the party, right?

"What? No, it's a rule for a reason," Piper pointed out, shaking her head and letting out a short, unamused laugh as she spoke.

He simply raised his eyebrows at her skeptically. "Rules are meant to be broken, Pipes."

"Now you just sound like my brother."

"I know for a fact Summer's getting Ozzy a game controller."

"There's no way that's $10!" Piper gaped at him for a moment, but then her shoulders slumped as she realized he was proving his point. Sighing, she gestured with the bag from Wicks Corner and muttered, "Well, I guess I can feel less guilty about this then."

"It's not that big a deal. It's just Secret Santa. No one actually cares that much."

Piper simply nodded in resignation, and Finn was about to suggest going to the food court when she said, "But if you're Santa, then doesn't that mean there's someone not getting a gift? Because you're not buying anyone anything?"

"Yeah, because I'm not supposed to. I just deliver the gifts."

"Exactly, so doesn't that mean someone's not getting a gift?"

Finn paused, running through the members of A-Troupe in his head. Was she right? Ozzy had Richelle, Piper had Summer, Kingston had Kenzie...

Before he could count everyone off, a girl walked by with a cinnamon bun in her hands, and the smell wafted toward Finn. Stomach rumbling, the thought slipped his mind, and he finally said what he'd been wanting to say all along. "I'm starving. We should head to the food court."

"We just ate lunch an hour ago," Piper pointed out. There was a fond smile on her lips, however, as she followed him to the food court.

"Yeah, but all I had was a sandwich, and shopping takes a lot out of you, Pipes."

"It's a miracle my mom agreed to let you drive me at all," Piper admitted.

Finn had finally gotten his driver's license a few days after Regionals, meaning he'd only had it for a couple of weeks. When he had arrived at Piper's house to pick her up earlier that afternoon, Deborah had insisted he come in and eat lunch before they went to the mall, which Finn was happy to do if it meant getting to meet the crazy family Piper was always telling him about. Piper had since informed him that her mother had simply been scoping him and his car out, but he was inclined not to mind if it meant getting a delicious meal out of it. And that sandwich had been delicious.

"She's so overprotective," Piper continued, "I couldn't drive with James for a month after he got his license, and he's not even a bad driver."

"Hey, I'm not a bad driver," Finn quickly said in defense of himself.

"No, of course not!" She quickly corrected herself, laying a hand on his arm momentarily. She dragged out the 'o' in no a moment too long, however, and he simply raised his eyebrows at her. Giving a tight-lipped smile, she tilted her head to the side as she said, "I mean, you did kind of run a red light on the way here, but other than that..."

"But it was still yellow when I entered the intersection!"

"Yes, but yellow means slow down, not speed up."

Frowning, Finn sighed dramatically at her criticism, ignoring the fact that his older sister had told him the exact same thing not two days before.

"You really know a lot about traffic laws for someone deliberately putting off driver's ed."

"Well, why do I need my license when you can drive me everywhere instead?" she asked lightly.

Finn simply hummed to that. Piper was joking, but she had also disclosed to him a couple of days ago that the thought of getting her driver's license stressed her out too much, which was a stark contrast to a few months before when she had been saying she couldn't wait to get her license so she didn't always have to depend on her parents or siblings to pick her up from rehearsals. Finn had a hunch her anxiety was behind her shift in attitude, but he didn't voice that assumption out loud in case it might upset or offend her somehow.

They reached the food court, and Finn went straight to the burger stand to order French fries while Piper got a bottle of water. Afterwards, they found a table for two and sat down. Piper immediately pulled her phone out to check her messages, so Finn did the same, wondering if he needed to text Brooke about travel plans and noting that it was surprising that she hadn't already texted him about it considering how anal she was about making plans for anything.

Of course, he didn't need to text his older sister if he wasn't going to Vancouver.

Finn glanced up at Piper, wondering again if he should mention the possibility that he might not actually make it to the Christmas party at all. He hadn't exactly mentioned that tidbit of information to any of his friends, mostly because it hadn't occurred to him that he wouldn't be here until a couple of days ago when Gracie had asked him if he was going to stick around for Christmas this year or not.

Before he could say anything to Piper, however, she squealed excitedly, grinning down at her phone. "Amy's back on A-Troupe!" she exclaimed, thumbs moving rapidly across her phone screen as she typed out a message to her best friend. "We thought Michelle would let her come back, but we weren't sure about Emily. Isn't that amazing?"

Finn tossed a fry in his mouth and simply nodded. Personally, he thought it was strange that Michelle and Emily would just let Amy back onto the team without re-auditioning or doing something to prove her loyalty to A-Troupe. She had left in the middle of getting ready for Regionals just because she wasn't being featured in any of the dances. Who was to say she wouldn't leave again if she wasn't featured in any of the Nationals routines? And wasn't it a little too convenient that she was coming back to The Next Step when they were moving on to Nationals and AcroNation wasn't?

Of course, he didn't mention any of that to Piper because she was clearly excited about this. Instead, he told her, "That's great!"

"Yeah," Piper agreed. Her smile slowly faded as she took a drink of her water then crossed her arms on top of the table. "It'll be nice to be back on the same team again. It was too weird being on different teams for Regionals." She sighed, fidgeting with the loosening label of her water bottle and reluctantly adding, "I really missed her."

He nodded slowly, trying his hardest to appear impassive. "I know."

And he did know because he'd been the one to cheer her up the day Amy left the studio, and again when tension was high in the week leading up to Regionals, and when her anxiety was at its highest during Regionals. He wasn't an idiot. He knew Piper missed Amy in those moments, but he'd done what he could to be there for her anyway.

Through it all, they had established a nice friendship. It would be a shame if that was ruined by Amy's return to the studio. But was it selfish of him to think so?

"And this is just in time for the Christmas party too!" Piper went on, her smile slowly growing again.

Ah, there it was again. Finn smiled tensely and nodded, thinking now was his chance to tell her, but instead, all he said was, "Yep. Good timing."

"We'll have to figure out the Secret Santa thing to include her though. I'll text in the group about it," Piper continued, picking up her phone again.

As she typed out a new message in the A-Troupe group chat, Finn's phone lit up with a message in their other group chat that included Michelle and Emily and was used for the studio heads to send reminders in. Michelle had just sent out a message informing them all that they would start choreographing the Christmas party routine with Eldon on Wednesday, one day before the Christmas party.

"Did you see what Michelle just sent?" Finn asked, liking the studio head's message to acknowledge it as he spoke.

Piper nodded absentmindedly, her thumbs still tapping against her phone. Her message in their A-Troupe group chat popped up on his screen, and he swiped the notification away since he already knew what it would say. Piper's eyes scanned her phone screen as she read Michelle's message, her lips pursing. "Isn't one day before the party cutting it a little close for choreographing the routine?"

Finn shrugged nonchalantly, chowing down on his fries as he kept telling himself internally to tell her about going to his dad's for Christmas. Only half focused on the conversation, he said, "Maybe that's the only day Eldon's free." He paused then added, "Who's Eldon again?"

"He's the choreographer for AcroNation," Piper told him, and Finn pointed at her reflexively as he connected the dots in his mind.

"Oh, that guy. Is he any good?"

"He's incredible," Piper sighed, slumping over the table as she rested her chin against her fist.

Finn frowned at her, noting the familiar nervous look beginning to form in her eyes. "You don't seem very happy about it," he stated candidly.

Her eyes had glazed over for a moment, but they refocused on him, and she shrugged dejectedly. "My brother and all of his friends are coming to the party. I just want to be sure that the dance will impress them."

"It will," he assured her, "We're not a Regionals-winning team for nothing." He nudged her foot playfully under the table, and the corners of her lips twitched in a suppressed smile.

Sighing, she sat up and took to fidgeting with her water bottle again. "You're right. It'll be fine. It's just... Worrying's been my resting state for so long. It feels weird to be on this side of Regionals."

"And now we're looking at Nationals."

"Yeah..." Piper let out a deep breath before forcing herself to grin and holding up a finger pointedly as she said, "But I've decided that I'm not going to worry about everything this season. Starting now, with this Christmas party."

Finn grinned at that, crossing his arms and kicking back in his chair so that the front legs were hovering above the ground. "There ya go," he said supportively. That was probably easier said than done, but he was proud of her for going into the new season with that mindset nonetheless.

She was still grinning, but Finn could practically see all the possibilities running through her mind as her grin started to falter. "But... Eldon is kind of a wildcard. When he's not completely focused, his choreography usually turns into a disaster."

Finn simply quirked an eyebrow at how quickly her positive attitude had diminished. Piper met his gaze and seemed to realize the same thing, quickly trying to plaster her grin back on her face. "But it'll be fine!" she reiterated, more to herself than to Finn.

"Totally." Finn nodded in support once more.

Piper glanced at her phone as it lit up with another text message that was probably from Amy. She smiled to herself for a second then glanced at the few remains of Finn's French fries. "Are you almost done? I need you to help me find something for my cousin before we leave."

Finn tossed the last couple of fries in his mouth then asked through a mouthful of fried potato, "Which cousin?"

"Leo," Piper answered though that meant nothing to him as Finn didn't actually know any of her cousins. "He's super into gaming and Legions of Lasers. I figured you might have ideas on what to get him."

He took a moment to think then snapped his fingers as the perfect idea came to mind. "Does he have a replica of the Staff of Destiny?"

Piper simply blinked at him and blankly shook her head. "I don't know. I guess not."

"It's part of the new merch they just released. It's all Ozzy and I've been talking about for a week." As he spoke, he gathered his trash and stood up.

Piper followed his lead as he went to throw his trash away. "Do they have it here?"

"Yeah, they should have it at Gnome Depot."

"Gnome Depot?" Piper repeated, stifling a laugh.

"I know. Clever, right?"

"Uh-huh," was Piper's response, and he smiled to himself, glad that she thought so too.

Finn had been filled with utter joy the first time Ozzy had ever told him about the hidden gem of a store that was practically hidden between two major clothing stores on the top level of the mall. He'd been to the gaming-themed store only once before with the bros, and it had been like walking into Heaven. He was happy for any excuse to go back.

They were indeed able to find the Staff of Destiny replica at Gnome Depot. Piper had to physically drag Finn away from the Legions of Lasers merch display on the claim that they didn't have all day to spend there. As they exited the store, Piper was clutching her receipt in her hand as Finn swung his own bag in his hand, having been unable to stop himself from buying a Legions of Lasers t-shirt.

"It's too bad I don't have Ozzy for Secret Santa. He'd love everything in there," Finn commented as they rode the escalator back to the ground floor.

Piper's eyes were glued to her receipt as she frowned to herself. "Why do the holidays always kill my piggy bank?" she pouted in response.

"Hey, do you have an actual piggy bank? I haven't seen one of those in years."

She sighed, folding the receipt up and dropping it into the Gnome Depot bag as she looked down at him. "It's an expression."

He frowned at that, scrunching his nose thoughtfully. "Is it?"

"I think so, but I got a B in English last semester, so what do I know?"

"A B's nothing to be ashamed of, Pipes. I get those all the time."

They reached the bottom of the escalator, and Finn stepped off first, followed by Piper. He checked the time on his phone and told her reluctantly, "We should probably go soon. I'm supposed to be home by 6."

She nodded, checking her own phone again. "Yeah, me too."

They made their way out to his car, and as they did so, Piper told him about her family's plans for Christmas. Apparently, they were spending the holiday at her uncle Enzo's home this year. Her Nonna and Papa were flying in a few days early and staying with her family at their house since her sister Julia had just moved into her own apartment, leaving an extra room for her grandparents to stay in. Finn nodded along as they climbed into his car, but his mind started wandering as she began detailing the gift exchange that she did with her cousins and siblings every year.

Another Christmas spent with his father, his father's second wife Ronnie, and her two kids never failed to send feelings of dread through Finn. It wasn't that he hated them. He didn't hate anyone. (Except for Richelle's jerk of an ex-boyfriend Elliot. That guy was the worst.) It was simply draining to spend a week in Vancouver with the people who disapproved of his life choices the most. His father would never think that dance was a worthy use of his time no matter how much Finn loved it, and his brothers would never see him as more than the stupid kid brother who had never been able to keep up with them intellectually.

Nothing he ever did was going to be good enough to impress any of them, and he didn't need to spend another holiday being reminded of such. He was perfectly fine without seeing that side of his family for most of the year. What was the point of spending the holidays with them anyway?

"What is your family doing for Christmas?"

Piper's voice pulled Finn out his reverie, and he glanced over at her as they drove through the streets of Toronto. Now that she had asked, he knew he couldn't- and shouldn't- lie to her about his family's usual holiday plans, so gripping the steering wheel tighter, he said, "Oh, you know, just going to my dad's in Vancouver."

He almost expected Piper to immediately ask about the Christmas party, but instead she said, "Oh, that's fun."

"Yeah, not really."

Some kind of understanding seemed to flash across her face, and she grimaced regretfully. Shifting in her seat, she studied him for a moment then finally said, "You don't talk about your dad much. Do you not like visiting him?"

Finn sighed, staring at the road ahead. How much was he supposed to tell her? He didn't talk about his relationship with his dad or his brothers to anyone because frankly, he didn't see the point in wasting energy talking about people who weren't actively involved in his life anymore. But this was Piper. She was his best friend. Did he tell her everything, or just a little bit?

Deciding to start simple, he told her, "He basically has another family now, and it's awkward around them. I'd rather spend the holidays with my mom, but that was the agreement when they got divorced. She got custody, and we spend holidays with him."

Piper was nodding, her lips pursed. "That must be hard."

He simply shrugged, deciding from her response to just leave it at that. "It is what it is."

The streetlight they were approaching turned yellow ahead of them, and Finn immediately pressed down on the break, bringing the car to a jolty stop and sending Piper flying forward. He glanced at her and gave a cheeky grin as she fell back against her seat again. Before she could make a comment about his driving, he beat her to it with, "I slowed down this time. See? Good driver."

"Yeah, just barely," she responded with a short laugh.

Finn redirected their conversation back to her family's Christmas traditions before she could keep asking him about his own, and that conversation carried them through the rest of the drive to her house. As he watched her walk up the path to her front door, hands still gripping the steering wheel tightly, he came to a decision about Christmas. He was going to ask him mom to stay in Toronto this year. He wanted to spend the holidays with his friends and his real family.

The odds of it actually working out in his favor were probably small, but there had to be at least a chance that his mother would agree, right? He had to cling to that chance, however small it may be. It was his only choice.

"I don't think so, bud."

Finn had brought up the idea of staying in Toronto for Christmas to his mother while cleaning up the dishes from dinner. Usually, the thought of washing dishes had him running out of the room before his parents could rope him into doing them. The fact that he was so willing to help without any complaints tonight was enough to alert his mother that he wanted something, but by his logic, doing something helpful for her was destined to soften her up.

Or so he had thought anyway.

He sighed, throwing his head back dramatically as he asked, "Why not?"

"Christmas is the only time of the year you see your dad anymore. You need to go," his mother told him as she dried a cookie sheet off and kneeled down to put it in its respective cabinet.

"Why? It's not like he wants me there anyway," Finn grumbled, scrubbing the pot in his hands extra hard.

His mom straightened up at that, a hand on her hip and a frown on her face. "Finn Lucas Whalen, don't you say that," she scolded though there was a soft edge to her tone. She leaned against the counter next to him, studying his demeanor, and Finn avoided meeting her gaze.

In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have voiced that thought out loud, not around his mom anyway. But it was the truth, wasn't it?

After a silent moment, she lay a hand on his arm, and he faltered in his scrubbing of the pot. "What makes you say that?"

"Nothing."

"Did he say something to you?" she asked in a more protective tone.

Finn sighed and dropped the pot in the sink, splashing dish water all over himself and gripping the counter as he shook his head. "No. It's just- Everything's always about Ronnie and her kids these days. He doesn't care about seeing me."

"That's not true, and you know it. Your father loves you," his mom told him seriously.

Sure, his father loved him. That was why he heard from him two times a year (if even that) and why his father had promised several times to come to an important dance competition, only to cancel at the last second for work. (But God forbid if he missed Brooke's debate or Johnny's speech for class president or even Nate's championship basketball game.)

Desperate to change the subject, Finn told her instead, "The Next Step's Christmas party is next week."

Understanding seemed to dawn in his mother's eyes, and she pursed her lips, looking away and shaking her head. "Oh, Finn, you can't skip Christmas with your dad for a party."

"But we're celebrating the studio's 30th birthday, and A-Troupe is doing a really important dance for the studio owner!"

"I'm sorry, but—"

"I have a really important part in the dance." He blurted this out before he could stop himself and held his breath. If that didn't work, he was sunk.

His mom paused, looking at him contemplatively. This clearly caught her off guard. She knew how much Finn cared about his team. At least she seemed to be considering it now.

After a moment in which Finn's hopes may have risen a little too high, however, she sighed and shook her head. "I don't know, Finn. Your dad wanted the holidays with you. It's only fair."

So basically, she was saying no without really saying no.

Finn clenched his jaw and resumed scrubbing the pot in the sink again. He mumbled a, "Fine," and finished washing the last couple of dishes in silence. He could see his mom looking at him in his peripheral vision, but he didn't bother arguing with her. If she already had her mind made up, there was no use.

When the dishes were done, he retreated down to the basement to sulk in peace. Since school was now on winter break, he didn't have any homework to work on, so he turned the TV on and sprawled out on the couch. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, half-watching the episode of The Office that the comedy channel was showing as he checked his notifications.

Nate had taken it upon himself to create a group chat with both Finn and Brooke since Finn had failed to answer his text message earlier. His siblings were discussing how long they were planning on staying in Vancouver, but Finn didn't have the energy to read through the messages. He didn't want a reminder that he was going to miss A-Troupe's party to spend another Christmas listening to his dad ask his older siblings all about their schooling and career objectives while barely acknowledging Finn and his own accomplishments at all.

He was automatically the disappointment of the family just for being a dancer. But whatever. He didn't need his dad's approval. He'd gone long enough without it that it didn't even bother him that much- until the holidays came around, of course.

In the A-Troupe group chat, Piper had evidently added Amy back to the group, and everyone seemed to be celebrating her rejoining the team. Finn still wasn't convinced Amy wouldn't leave again if she didn't get what she wanted, but maybe he was just being skeptical because he was in a bad mood. Piper seemed convinced that this was a good thing. Maybe he needed to lighten up and give Amy a chance. He had thought she was pretty cool before she'd left for AcroNation.

And she was a hell of a dancer; that was for sure.

His phone lit up with a new text from Kingston, and he immediately opened it.

K: Redoing all the secret santa stuff since we have to include Amy and its giving me a headache😖
F: Does this mean I have her??
K: Nah, your still Santa. Your the only one with the figure for it
F: Thnx bro, I'm flattered 😚
K: Ofc bro🖤

Frankly, Finn was relieved he didn't have to buy Amy a Secret Santa gift because he would have no idea what to get her. As cool as he may have thought she was when he first joined The Next Step, he hadn't gotten the chance to know her very well before she switched studios.

He lay on the couch for a while, texting in the Bros' group chat and watching reruns of The Office. Noah was telling them all about his trip to New York when he suddenly mentioned that his ex-girlfriend was getting interviewed on SNR Network and how that was "surreal." Curiously, Finn flipped over to SNR Network, where Chuck Anderson was interviewing Giselle Bellamy and Amanda Martell about their dance company's new tour.

While he watched the interview, he thought of his own interview with Chuck at Regionals and how the news anchor had told him afterward that the network offered a few internship opportunities for college students. He had given Finn his card and told him to get in touch if he was interested. University was still a couple of years away, but maybe a career in broadcasting was something he should seriously consider. His father seemed convinced that he would waste his life away pursuing a fruitless dance career. Would a degree in broadcasting be enough to convince his dad that he wasn't a complete and total failure while also being something that he might genuinely enjoy?

Finn glanced up, drawn out of his thoughts, as his mom came down the stairs and joined him in the basement. "What are you watching?" she asked as she sat next to him on the couch.

"SNR. Noah's ex is getting interviewed apparently."

"Oh. How fun." His mom turned to face him, and he turned the TV volume down, noting that she appeared to have something important to say.

"Mark and I have been talking about your party," she started.

Finn slowly nodded, crossing his arms. "Okay..."

She inclined her head toward him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "If it's okay with your father, you can stay here this year for Christmas."

Finn grinned, his hopes skyrocketing as he sat up excitedly. "Seriously?"

"If it's okay with your father," she reiterated. He ignored that and threw his arms around her in an excited hug. She laughed, hugging him tightly and rubbing his back.

When he pulled away, her expression turned serious, her hand resting on his shoulder again as she told him, "I know you don't really get many chances to get to know your father's wife, but you do know that just because he's remarried doesn't mean he doesn't want you there, right?"

Finn sighed, wishing he hadn't said anything about that earlier. Instead, he nodded and told her, "Yeah, I know."

His mom smiled slightly and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. As she stood up to go back upstairs, she added, "I know the twins will be excited to have you here."

Finn smiled slightly at that and nodded. "Yeah..."

When his mom had gone back upstairs, he grabbed his phone and immediately texted Piper in his excitement.

F: GUESS WHO DOESN'T HAVE TO GO TO VANCOUVER THIS CHRISTMAS
P: 🤔🤔 hmmm, you??
F: 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
F: My mom said I can stay here and now I don't have to worry about missing the party!!
P: Yay!!
P: Wait, what about missing the party???
P: Were you not going?!?
F: OH. Yeah, we were supposed to leave before the party but I didn't want to say anything because I was hoping I'd get to stay for it 😬
F: I forgot I didn't tell you
F: My bad
P: Oh 😂
P: Well thank god we'll still have our Santa then 🙌🏻
F: You know it 🎅🏻

She responded with a gif of Santa dabbing, and he laughed. In his excitement, he'd completely forgotten he had chosen not to tell her about his dilemma. Regardless, he couldn't wait to celebrate the studio's birthday and the holidays with his best friends. And for the first time in years, he'd get to spend Christmas day with his mom.

But first, he supposed he should make sure it was fine with his dad like his mom had said. His father responded to his text about it with an underwhelming "That's fine" and a thumbs up emoji. Finn hadn't expected anything less, so he couldn't be bothered by it (too much).

For the first time in years, he was actually looking forward to the holidays.

Chapter Text

Finn felt horrible for Piper. Everyone on the team had gotten a Secret Santa gift except for her. When he turned to ask if she was okay, however, she had disappeared. He contemplated going after her but knew she liked to be alone when she was upset. He would give her some time to herself and then go find her. Just because Piper liked to be alone when she was upset didn't mean that was always best for her. She got so trapped in her own thoughts sometimes that Finn often found himself pulling her out of the negativity she drowned herself in.

Seriously though, how could Kingston have let Piper fall through the cracks like that? He'd had one job- to make sure everyone was assigned a Secret Santa. In hindsight, they really should have put someone more detail-oriented, like Piper or Richelle, in charge of the Secret Santa exchange, but Kingston had been the first to volunteer. At least now they knew to never put Kingston in charge of anything ever again.

The A-Troupers chattered excitedly about their gifts, cherishing their time alone before the former A-Troupe members returned from The Next Steep. Ozzy was enthusing about his game controller to Henry and Richelle while Summer sniffed the candle Piper had gotten her with a content smile.

"Oh, this is perfect! Exactly what I wanted."

She held the candle out for Amy to sniff when she noticed the way her friend was eying it as Finn told her, "Oh good 'cause Piper spent forever at that candle place in the mall picking it out." At least their half hour at Wicks Corner the other day hadn't been spent in vain.

Summer aww'ed at that, holding the candle close to her heart. "She's the sweetest. Hey, where'd she go anyway?"

"I don't know," Finn said, reluctantly meeting Amy's eye from Summer's other side.

"I'm sure she'll be right back," Amy said, glancing around Studio A and seeming a little too unconcerned for Finn's liking. He had thought the same thing when Piper had said she wanted to be alone before the (first) finals round at Regionals. He hadn't forgotten the feeling of panic that had surged through him when he realized Piper was missing right before A-Troupe was about to go onstage, and that was why he intended to go find her if she didn't return to Studio A soon.

"What do you think about your hat, Finn?" Amy asked, changing the subject.

Finn perked up at that as he enthused about his own Secret Santa gift. "It's awesome! Were you my Secret Santa?" Amy smiled and nodded, and he grinned. "How'd you know I like fish?"

"Um, I didn't? It's supposed to be a fin. You know, a fin hat?"

"Oh! Because my name's Finn!" he exclaimed gleefully as the dots connected in his brain.

Summer appeared to be holding back a laugh, her eyes shining with amusement as her lips formed a tight line. Amy didn't bother as a short giggle escaped her lips. "Yeah!"

"That's so cool! Very clever, Amy." Finn had pulled his hat off of his head to examine the fin on top of it again. He hadn't been excited about Amy re-joining the team, but who else would have thought to get him a fin hat just because his name was Finn?

Amy shrugged at that, tilting her head to the side proudly. "Well, it was actually Piper's idea, but I'm happy to take credit," she joked.

"Hey, Piper's not here. You might as well," Summer joked as well, tossing a hand dismissively and nudging Amy's shoulder with hers. Finn ignored them, smiling fondly at the hat. Somehow, it was even more special if it was Piper's idea.

Eventually, the girls moved to the snack table, leaving the boys on the benches to themselves. Ozzy was admiring his game controller for the tenth time with an expression that was the human equivalent to the heart-eyes emoji.

"I can't believe Summer got me a game controller," he commented to no one in particular. Tearing his gaze away from his new prized possession, he said seriously, "Whoever gets her next year better treat her well."

"I'll make you her Secret Santa next year so you can repay her," Kingston promised, going as far as pulling his phone out of his pocket to make a note.

"No way. There's no way you're in charge of this next year," Henry retorted with a shake of the head.

"What? Why not?"

"You literally forgot Piper," Finn pointed out with a frown.

"Hey, you try making sure everyone gets accounted for. It's way harder than it seems."

Henry rolled his eyes. "Man, there's only eight of us. How hard can it be?" 

"Well, I had to redo it to include Amy."

"It's obvious Finn was supposed to have Piper," Ozzy interjected, not bothering to look up as his eyes scanned over the features listed on his game controller's box.

"Yeah." Finn agreed automatically at the mention of his name before pausing as he comprehended what Ozzy had actually said. His brows knit together as he sat up straighter, his shoulders tensing. "Wait, what?"

Ozzy sighed as if he couldn't believe he was having to explain this. "Kingston made you Santa; therefore, you didn't get anyone a gift; therefore, Piper was left without a gift that you were supposed to get her, but you didn't because you were Santa."

An uncomfortable feeling was forming in the pit of Finn's stomach as he realized that Ozzy was right. Hadn't Piper said essentially the same thing at the mall earlier that week? He'd blown her off at the time because he was so sure there was supposed to be a Santa. That was what Kingston had told him.

Dammit, Kingston.

Kingston held up his hands defensively as Finn glared at him. "It's a Secret Santa. There obviously has to be a Santa!"

"That's just the name! It doesn't mean there's an actual Santa," Ozzy snapped exasperatedly.

Finn heaved a sigh as Kingston continued arguing with Ozzy. This was just great. Piper was upset because he had failed to realize that she was right about someone not getting a gift if he was Santa. (She had probably never imagined that someone would be her.)

That was the last time he ever told her she was wrong.

Glancing around the studio, Finn realized that Piper had yet to return from wherever she had disappeared to. He wasn't sure how long she had been gone, but it had to be close to twenty minutes now. It was probably time to go find her. She was going to have to come back to get ready for their Nutcracker performance anyway.

As Finn stood, wordlessly leaving the other boys to continue debating the role of Santa in a Secret Santa exchange, Amy noticed him slipping away and stopped him on his way out. "Hey, do you think we should go find Piper? I'm starting to get a little worried about her," she said.

"Yeah, I'm already on it."

"Oh cool. I'll go with you."

Figuring she shouldn't have to leave her first party back on A-Troupe, Finn quickly shook his head. "That's okay. I've got it. I'm kind of a pro at cheering her up."

Amy's eyebrows shot up, clearly taken aback by that, but Finn barely noticed. She cleared her throat, crossing her arms and turning her gaze upward as she gestured at him resignedly. "Okay, sure, whatever."

Finn gave her a grin that she didn't return as he continued on his way out of Studio A. He wasn't exactly sure where Piper would have gone, but he knew it would be somewhere she could be alone. That ruled out The Next Steep since that was where the older dancers had gone to catch up. That only left two other places she could be. When he didn't find her in Studio One, he continued down the hall to the locker room.

There he found her, curled up on the couch and sound asleep. He paused, leaning against the door frame for a moment with a fond smile pulling at his lips. Piper looked so at peace while asleep. He almost hated to wake her up, but they had a dance to put on soon. He had no choice.

He muttered her name as he stepped into the room, but she didn't stir. Taking a seat on the coffee table, he gently shook leg. "Piper. Piper, wake up."

Her nose scrunched up as she finally stirred and groggily sat up. Finn simply watched her, still smiling softly as she blearily took in her surroundings. Blinking and her eyebrows knitting together, she finally mumbled, "You're not wearing Miss Angela's TNS uniform."

Finn glanced down uncertainly at his Christmas sweater. "Why would I wear that?"

A smile lit up her face, and she laughed. "It doesn't matter!"

She started to jump up to wrap her arms around him, and he met her halfway, catching her in his arms as she hugged him tightly. She pulled away from him just as quickly and practically ran out of the room, leaving Finn to follow after, completely bewildered. He had honestly expected to find her sulking. Taking a nap must have raised her spirits.

Finn jogged down the hall to catch up with Piper's excited strides and fell into step next to her. "James and Riley are still together!" she exclaimed as they passed The Next Steep on their way to Studio A.

Finn glanced back toward the new café. "Were they ever not?"

Piper ignored him, practically sprinting toward the doors of Studio A. "The decorations are still here!" she exclaimed in the same amazed voice before noticing Amy and throwing her arms around her best friend. "Amy, you're not on Gemini!"

Amy laughed in bewilderment as Piper pulled away and ran over to Richelle, exclaiming about the fact that she wasn't on B-Troupe (as if Richelle would ever be on B-Troupe). Finn had absolutely no idea what had gotten into his best friend, but he kind of liked it, whatever it was.

"What's gotten into her?" Amy asked Finn, watching Piper with the same bewildered look as he was.

"I have no idea."

They stood together, watching their best friend fondly until the older dancers and Miss Kate returned to Studio A. Emily clapped her hands, raising her voice over all of the chattering to get her dancers' attention. They all fell quiet and looked to her as she raised her eyebrows. "I think you all have a performance to get ready for."

Nodding, the dancers hurried out of Studio A to change into their costumes. Finn was excited to perform for Piper's brother and his former teammates. To think he'd almost missed this party. He was so glad he got to be here for this and was determined to be the best Nutcracker Prince The Next Step had ever seen.

Despite the rocky start to her day, Piper felt like she was on cloud 9 as her friends interacted with her brother's friends. It felt like two worlds colliding in the best way. She couldn't even be bothered (too much) by the fact that Alfie had come.

Many of the original A-Troupers were only able to stay for a little while due to their busy schedules. Even still, Piper enjoyed getting to talk to them. West made a huge show of praising her for her solo and for winning Regionals with her team, complete with ruffling her hair in the way he knew she hated and overdramatic exclamations that greatly amused Finn. Even though it was incredibly embarrassing to have her brother's best friend doting on her, Piper took it all in stride.

As the party began to wind down, Piper retreated to the locker room with Amy to change out of their costumes. When she returned to Studio A feeling much more comfortable in her leggings and a hoodie, James and Riley met her at the door.

"Yo, we're heading out," James told her, swinging his car keys around in his hand and narrowly missing Riley, who didn't even flinch. She was used to this habit of his by now and was pointedly standing a step behind him for that reason. "Come on. I'll give you a ride home."

"Oh, that's okay. I'll get one from Finn," Piper replied, gesturing to where Finn was talking animatedly with Henry and Alfie about who knew what.

"Finn?" A frown formed on her brother's face, and he scoffed. "Can he even drive?"

"Yes, he just got his license a couple of weeks ago," Piper told him as patiently as she could manage (which wasn't very). James had been obviously steering her away from Finn throughout the entire Christmas party, and quite frankly, she was sick of his poor attitude towards her best friend. He was only acting that way because Finn was a guy. He would never try to keep her away from Amy.

"Oh, so he's a new driver. Does Mom know you're riding around town with him?" James asked suspiciously.

Grinning triumphantly, Piper told him, "She does actually. He's already got the stamp of approval from Mom and Dad."

Riley smiled as she glanced up at James, who simply sighed. "Fine. Whatever. But he better keep his hands to himself."

"We're just friends," Piper reminded him through gritted teeth. What was it that made her entire family collectively assume that she and Finn were dating? They weren't.

"Okay, that's enough interrogation," Riley cut in while laying a hand on James' arm. "Come on. We can't be late for dinner with my parents this week."

James sighed and reluctantly nodded, pulling Piper in for a hug. "See ya, Pipes. Good job today, I guess."

"Thanks, I guess."

Riley pulled her in for a hug after James and told her, "You were amazing today. I'm so proud of how far you've come."

Piper thanked her as they pulled apart. "Hey, maybe we can go get coffee or something one day? Catch up?"

Riley smiled and nodded as she steered James towards the door. "That'd be great. I'll text you."

Piper waved as they left, James grumbling to Riley about how Emily's boyfriend Hunter didn't have to go to dinner tonight and Riley pointing out that he'd just returned from a long tour in Spain. Once they were gone, she glanced around the studio. Most of the dancers were gradually starting to leave. Amy had already left with Summer to go to an indie concert downtown, so Piper made her way over to Finn.

As she approached the boys, they were deep in discussion of Switzerland and its customs. Alfie noticed Piper approaching and grinned. She gave a tight smile in return. James had long since forgiven Alfie for what had happened with Riley over a year ago now, but Piper couldn't let go of what had happened as easily as her brother. Alfie would always be the guy who had hurt James, and she didn't know that she would ever be able to see him any other way.

Alfie didn't seem to think anything of Piper's role in the past drama, however, as he gave her a hug and exclaimed, "You were awesome today, Piper!"

Her hands hovered over his back awkwardly as she replied stiffly, "Thank you."

When Alfie let go of her, she let out breath of relief and planted herself next to Finn. He was as oblivious as ever to who Alfie was and what he had done as he asked if they had cheeses other than Swiss cheese in Switzerland. Piper quirked an endearing eyebrow as Alfie simply laughed and nodded.

"We have an assortment of cheese in Switzerland, yes."

"Okay, cool, because I don't like Swiss cheese, but Switzerland's on my list of places to travel," Finn replied excitedly.

"It is?" Piper asked curiously, looking up at him.

He nodded enthusiastically. He had changed back into his Christmas sweater and was wearing the fin hat Amy had bought him proudly. Considering Finn was the human equivalent of a giant teddy bear on a normal day and was even more so when adorned in a tacky Christmas sweater and fin hat, Piper really didn't understand why James was so concerned about her friendship with him.

Meanwhile, Alfie was saying, "Well, if you ever visit, I can arrange some good travel deals for you."

"That'd be great!"

It was too weird to hear Finn talking about future travel plans with Alfie. Perhaps not-so-subtly, Piper wrapped her hands around Finn's arm and started to tug him away from the Swiss prince while making up an excuse about how they really needed to get going. Finn gave her a bewildered look as she pulled him away from the conversation.

"Woah, what's up with you?" He stumbled over his own feet as she yanked him out into the hallway and quickly caught himself as she released his arm.

"Long story," Piper mumbled with a huff. She set off for The Next Steep without thinking about it, and Finn fell into step next to her.

"That Alfie guy seems really cool. I can't believe you danced with a prince all last year. Why don't you ever talk about that? I'd bring that up every chance I got if I were you. You're friends with a prince, Pipes!"

"We're not exactly friends," Piper responded cryptically, her nails digging into her palms tensely, and Finn frowned on her.

"What? Do you have some kind of beef with him or something?"

"Well, yeah, Riley cheated on James with him, and they almost broke up for good because of him, so he's not exactly my favorite person in the world."

There was a long pause from Finn then he said awkwardly, "Oh."

"Yeah."

"So I guess when we take a trip to Switzerland in a few years, he's not the person to contact for good travel deals?"

Piper cracked a smile, looking up at him as they walked into the new café together. "We? You're taking me to Switzerland with you?"

Despite the fact that he was perpetually late for everything and could be incredibly disorganized, something about the idea of traveling with Finn was actually very appealing to her. She had never thought about traveling the world with Finn, but it would certainly be an adventure.

"I mean, yeah. Who else would I take?" Finn responded as if the thought of traveling with anyone but her had never crossed his mind.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe your family?"

He grinned at that and shook his head. "No way. Every trip my family takes ends in disaster."

Piper was still smiling. This conversation was effectively taking her mind off of Alfie, which she was thankful for. "Well, I guess we better start saving now if we're going so soon."

"We've got plenty of time," Finn said, leaning against the counter as they waited for the barista to finish working on the order he was currently filling.

At first, Piper had assumed Finn was probably joking about going to Switzerland, but now he actually sounded serious about it.

"Plane tickets are expensive," she pointed out reasonably.

"But we have to be at least 18 before any of our parents would let us travel around the world by ourselves, so that's at least two years away," he responded just as reasonably.

Piper quirked an eyebrow. "You've seriously thought about this," she noted, impressed.

He simply shrugged and straightened up as Steve the barista finally turned to take their order. As Finn ordered his drink, Piper searched in her wallet for cash. She was starting to run low thanks to her three trips to the mall with Finn, Amy, and Julia, respectively, in the last week, but she thought she should have just enough to pay for her tea. When she looked up, however, money clutched in hand, it was to find that Finn was already paying for her.

"Wait, what are you doing?" she asked as the barista handed him his change.

"Paying for our drinks," Finn replied, sliding her iced green raspberry tea to her as he slipped the change into his pocket.

"You didn't have to do that," she told him seriously, frowning at him.

"Pipes, it was four dollars. It's not that big a deal." He grabbed his own iced tea and took a sip as he made his way over to the couches against the wall. Piper sighed and followed after him, her drink in hand, as he continued. "Besides, I owe you way more than that."

"What do you mean?"

They sat on the couch together, arms brushing as they got comfortable. Finn took another drink from his tea before setting it on the coffee table and looking at her seriously. "You may have been right about the Secret Santa."

"What?"

"I didn't get anyone a gift because I was Santa, and you didn't get a gift, which means that I was supposed to get you something," Finn explained with a sigh. He gave her an apologetic look as she inclined her head toward him with a wry smile.

"It's not your fault," she assured him.

"It is though! You told me there wasn't supposed to be a Santa, and I didn't believe you. That's the last time I ever tell you you're wrong."

Piper chuckled at that. "I like the sound of that," she joked, but he didn't smile. She pulled her legs up underneath her on the couch and added, "But I actually did get a gift."

Finn frowned at that, his brows knitting together in confusion. "You did?"

She nodded and took a sip from her tea before elaborating. "Yeah, there was a little ballerina ornament at the bottom of the bag. I guess it got stuck."

"Oh." Finn's brows were still knit together, and she could practically see the wheels spinning in his head as he tried to figure out the mystery of her missing gift. Frankly, she didn't quite understand it herself.

After a moment in which Finn was still frowning thoughtfully, he asked, "But... Who's it from?"

She shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know," she answered honestly.

Talking about the ornament she'd found made her think of the dream she'd had that afternoon. It had been a weird dream, but she found it interesting that of all the people that could have helped her in the dream, it had been Finn who was there for her. She wondered if that meant something psychologically.

Knowing Finn would probably find her dream interesting, she leaned forward conspiratorially and asked, "Can I tell you about this weird dream I had?"

His face lit up, and he said enthusiastically, "Yeah, I love weird dreams!"

So she told him everything - about how she wished she'd never come to the studio and ended up in some kind of parallel world where no one at the studio knew her, and James had quit dance, and Miss Angela was running The Next Step, and Alfie was planning on buying the studio to demolish it. Finn listened intently, reacting at all the right places, and Piper felt much better after having told him everything.

"We should turn that into a movie," Finn said when she had finished her story and sat back to take another drink of her tea. She rolled her eyes at the suggestion, but that didn't deter his excitement. "I'm serious! It could be like a modern retelling of It's A Wonderful Life, but at a dance studio. It'd be so cool!"

"We can't make a movie, Finn," Piper pointed out with a light laugh.

He simply pointed at her and said, "Not with that attitude, we can't."

Piper shook her head, but there was a smile on her lips. She reached over to set her tea on the coffee table, grasping the plastic cup by the lid. The lid must not have been on very tight, however, because it suddenly slipped off, sending her tea splashing to the floor. It took a moment for it dawn on Piper what had happened, and then she gasped, immediately reaching for some leftover napkins on the table and springing off the couch to clean up her mess.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," slipped instinctively out of her mouth as Finn jumped up to grab more napkins from the counter. Steve the barista watched warily, probably longing for the minute his shift would end.

This was so embarrassing. Definitely not the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her, but probably in the top ten. Frankly, it wouldn't be half as bad if this had happened with anyone but Finn.

"I can't believe I just did that," she sighed when Finn returned to her side with a stack of napkins.

He laid the napkins down as he chuckled. "Don't worry. I can't tell you how many times I've done something like this," he assured her. Piper could believe that, considering he was typically the clumsy one in their relationship.

They wiped up her spilled tea to the best of their ability, and Finn started to pool all of the wet napkins into a pile to pick up and carry to the trash can. Piper just happened to look up at the same time he did, their faces mere centimeters apart. He'd taken his hat off, so a couple of loose curls were falling out of his perfectly gelled mass of curls, and she had never noticed just how deeply blue his eyes were before.

Huh.

With a charming grin, Finn picked up the sopping napkins and turned away from her to throw them away. Piper cleared her throat and stiffly sat on the couch, her mind suddenly racing. She glanced over to where Finn's back was to her across the room and immediately pulled the ends of her hair over her shoulders, nervously running her fingers through the ends a couple of times.

Why was she suddenly hyperaware of Finn's presence across the room? It had to have been because she had just dropped her tea (the tea that he bought for her) all over the floor. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that just moments ago, his face had been so close to hers and she hadn't felt an immediate instinct to turn away from him like she might have in the past. Nope, not at all.

Was Finn cute? Had he always been cute?

(Yes, he had. This was not actually new information. Piper just didn't like to think about it on a normal basis.)

Oh no, no, no, we are not doing this. We are so not doing this.

Finn plopped back down onto the couch, and Piper leaned against the back of it, plastering a smile on her face and trying to play it cool.

So they'd had a moment where their faces had been very close. So what? It was a small space between the couch and the coffee table. That could have happened with anyone. It was just a coincidence that it was with Finn. It didn't mean anything.

Really, it didn't.

"So, you're not going to your dad's at all this year?" she asked in an effort to turn the attention away from what had just happened.

(Had he noticed the moment too, or was it all in her head? It had to be in her head, right? She was truly, honestly being ridiculous about this. Absolutely ridiculous. The most ridiculous she'd ever been.)

"Nope." Finn answered her question happily, shaking his head. "It's the first year I'll be with my mom on Christmas since we moved here."

(He didn't appear to be thinking anything of the moment they'd just had, so she forced herself to let it go. If he didn't think anything of it, she shouldn't either, right?)

"So do you not get to celebrate Christmas with your family here at all?" Piper asked curiously. She had no idea what it was like to celebrate holidays with divorced parents, but she could only imagine it wasn't easy. Besides that, Finn rarely talked about his father who lived in Vancouver, and she still couldn't figure out what exactly the relationship dynamic was there.

"We do, but it's usually around New Year's, and my brothers haven't bothered coming the last few years, so it's just been me and Brooke," he explained with a bitter roll of the eyes at the mention of his brothers, who he talked about as rarely as he did his father. "But it's kind of weird because my parents celebrate on Christmas day with the twins to try to keep things normal for them."

"So they get two Christmases then?"

"Yep, but they hate the second one because they don't get as many presents."

Piper laughed at that. "That's tough when you're five," she stated sarcastically.

"Well, they're six now, but..."

"Maybe they'll show some more maturity this year since they're getting older then."

Finn hummed and smiled slightly. "Maybe." He didn't sound convinced.

"They must be excited that you're staying home this year," Piper noted. She had only been around Finn's little sisters a couple of times when she'd been over at his house, but she could tell that London and Gracie adored him. Gracie had even demanded that her parents enroll her in dance classes because she wanted to be like Finn. (That's how his mother told the story anyway.)

"Oh yeah, they've got big plans," Finn said, "They want me to stay up with them on Christmas Eve to catch Santa in action." He smiled to himself, shaking his head endearingly as he ran a hand through his curls.

Piper laughed again, resting her head against her hand as she told him, "That's adorable."

"Yeah, until their dreams get crushed when they realize Santa is just Mark."

"Maybe he can borrow your Santa hat and grow a beard."

Finn chuckled. "Yeah, maybe."

As they grew quiet, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and sighed. "I should probably go. I'm supposed to pick up dinner on the way home."

"Okay," Piper said, swinging her legs over the edge of the couch. "Can you give me a ride?"

He nodded, picking up his iced tea. Together, they walked out of The Next Steep and down to the lobby. Finn stopped to pick up the pizza his mom had ordered on their way to Piper's neighborhood since the pizza place was near the studio. When they reached her house, Piper's mouth was watering from the smells of the pizza, but she doubted she'd be able to convince her parents to order in tonight.

"Thanks for the ride," she said when they pulled up in front of her house. "And the tea even though I dropped it."

"No problem," Finn told her, "But I'm still getting you a Secret Santa gift."

She paused, her hand on the door handle as she frowned at him. "You don't have to do that. Seriously, Finn. It's fine."

"No, we slipped up," he said, "What do you want? I'll get you literally anything- as long as it's under twenty dollars. I think I've spent most of my money on gas recently. It's insane how expensive that stuff is."

With a sigh, Piper pulled out her wallet and found the five-dollar bill she was going to use to pay for her tea earlier. She tried to hand it to him, but he simply looked at it then frowned at her. "I wasn't saying that so you would give me money," he started to clarify, and she rolled her eyes at him.

"It's for the tea."

"Oh, no way. You don't have to pay me back for that."

"Finn, just take the money."

"Nope."

"Finn."

"Piper."

They were having a stare down, neither of them willing to back down. Finally, Piper huffed and crumpled her dollar bill in her hand, coming to a conclusion in the silence. "Okay, fine. The tea was my Secret Santa gift from you. Now you don't have to get me anything!"

"But that's not enough!"

"Oh my gosh." Piper had turned to climb out of the car but fell back in her seat again, letting out a light laugh as she shook her head at him. He was not going to let this go, was he?

Finn glanced around his car as if a present would conjure itself out of thin air. His gaze landed on something in the backseat, and his face suddenly lit up. He stretched over the console, disappearing momentarily until he sat back, revealing a red hoodie in his hand. He held it out to her, a proud grin on his face. "Here."

"Your hoodie?" she asked as she took it from him.

"Yeah! I've got others at home. I don't really wear that one anymore anyway. It's starting to get too small."

The corners of Piper's lips turned up as she hugged it to her chest. "I'll take good care of it," she promised.

He nodded, and his smile grew softer. "Yeah, I know."

They smiled at each other for a moment, and it dawned on Piper that she probably wouldn't see Finn again until after the holidays. That realization made her want to sit in his car and keep talking to him all night, but he glanced at the forgotten pizza in the backseat and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um, I really have to get home," he told her regretfully.

"Oh, right, yeah." Piper jolted into action and finally opened the door to climb out of his car, hugging his hoodie tight in one arm as she turned back to grab her dance bag. She waved to him as she did so and said, "Have a good Christmas with your family."

"Yeah, you too," he said with a wave of the hand.

Piper finally shut the door and trudged up the walkway to her house. As she unlocked her front door, she glanced over her shoulder to see Finn driving away and smiled softly to herself as she walked inside.

"You were sitting in his car a while."

The voice of her father made her jump, and she turned to find him sitting in the formal sitting room, a stack of bills spread out on the coffee table in front of him and his laptop in his lap. He gave her a wry smile and went on. "I wasn't spying. Just happened to see you pull up."

"I know," Piper said. If one of her parents were going to spy on her with a boy, it would definitely be her mother.

"Do you know what we're doing for dinner?" Piper asked as she moved towards the stairs to put her things in her bedroom.

"I think your mother's making meatloaf."

"Any chance we can order pizza instead?" Piper posed the question hopefully, but her father simply chuckled.

"If you can talk your mother into it then sure."

She sighed, knowing her mother would be hard-pressed to order pizza when she had probably been planning on meatloaf for dinner all day. Letting it go, she moved upstairs and couldn't help thinking that she should have asked to go over to Finn's for dinner instead.

When she reached her bedroom, Piper set her dance bag in its designated spot next to her bookshelf then moved towards her calendar to mark the Christmas party off. Once that was done, she sat on her bed with a sigh, hugging Finn's hoodie to her chest and nuzzling her face against it. She'd seen him wear this hoodie only a couple of times before and couldn't believe he'd actually given it to her.

But it's not like it was that big a deal. Guys gave hoodies to their girl friends all the time... Didn't they?

It really didn't matter one way or another. She personally appreciated the hoodie more than anything he could have bought her. It smelled uniquely like him, and maybe it would be nice to have something of his when she was feeling anxious and he wasn't around.

"Piper, dinner!" Her mother called to her from downstairs, and Piper sighed. She carefully draped Finn's hoodie over her desk chair and went downstairs to eat with her parents and not think about that moment with Finn in The Next Steep.

Even still, she couldn't help it when she kept thinking about those gorgeous blue eyes for the rest of the night anyway.

Chapter Text

"It'll be so weird without Michelle around, huh?" Amy asked. She and Piper were pulling their shoes on, getting ready to leave the studio after staying behind to help the new studio owner Nick clean up the decorations from Michelle's going away party.

"Tell me about it," Piper said as she pulled on her converse then spun around on the bench to face Amy. "Hey, do you remember A-Side?"

"How could I forget? It was our first A-Troupe dance!"

Piper let out a nostalgic sigh, holding her hands over her heart. "That was such a good day."

"It seems like so long ago now."

It felt nice to talk to Piper again. They had drifted apart due to their busy, conflicting schedules while Amy had been at AcroNation. She had missed Piper the most while she was at the rival studio, and she was ecstatic to be dancing with her best friend again. Coming back to A-Troupe felt like coming home from a long trip away. It was like nothing had changed in some ways.

But in others...

"Hey Pipes! Check this out!"

The girls looked up as Finn approached them, sucking the helium out of a balloon then saying, "Nick told us to take the balloons with us," in a nasally voice. He promptly burst into giggles at his own voice, and Piper laughed as well, her eyes shining in amusement.

Amy simply raised her eyebrows, frowning as she glanced around Studio A. Henry, Kingston, and Ozzy were doing the same thing across the studio. "Um, you do know that's really bad for you, right?"

Finn's gaze flicked to her, his eyebrows knitting together in disbelief. "What? People do it all the time," he retorted though it was difficult to take him seriously when he sounded like a chipmunk with a bad cold.

"It can cause lack of oxygen. People have died from it," she told him shortly, glancing to Piper, who appeared to be internally debating whose side she was supposed to take. Clearly, she should be taking hers.

Finn chuckled, his voice already returning to normal as he said, "Okay. Sure, Amy." He glanced at Piper and rolled his eyes as if Amy wasn't sitting right next to her and could see him.

Amy huffed, but Piper simply smiled good-naturedly. Without a moment's hesitation, Piper reached up and snatched the balloon out of Finn's grasp. He protested at that, and she quirked an eyebrow as she told him, "We can't go to the movie tonight if you die of helium inhalation beforehand."

He sighed and threw his head back dramatically. When he looked at her again, however, he was grinning a charming smile that, for whatever reason, really annoyed Amy. "See you at 7:30?" he asked, pointing to Piper as he took a step toward the doors.

"It starts at 7," Piper reminded him patiently.

"Oh, right." His brows knit together again. This seemed to be news to him. "Got it. See ya then."

"Don't be late!" Piper called after him as he turned to leave Studio A.

"I would never," was his response followed by a wave of the hand.

Amy watched their exchange with her lips pursed. She had known that Piper had started to become friends with Finn after she had gone to AcroNation, and that hadn't bothered her until the Christmas party when Finn had basically told her he was better at cheering Piper up than she was. She had taken full offense to that. Who had been Piper's best friend longer? (Spoiler alert: Not Finn.)

"So, you're going to the movies tonight?" Amy asked as casually as she could once Finn was gone.

Piper looked back to her and smiled. "Oh, yeah, we're going to see some spy movie. Finn says it's supposed to be really good, but we have very different standards of what qualifies as good entertainment, so I'm keeping my expectations low. But don't tell him that."

Amy nodded, trying not to feel too disappointed that Piper was hanging out with Finn tonight. She had been hoping to hang out with Piper tonight. Apparently, she hadn't been quick enough to fit into her schedule. Piper was busy with Finn more often than not these days.

"You two are pretty close now," she observed.

Piper shrugged and nodded. "Yeah... Bet you never would have guessed Finn would be my new best friend, eh?" she asked with a grin and a playful nudge. She had indeed put up quite a front when Finn had first come to the studio. Back then, Amy had been encouraging her to give him a chance.

Maybe she shouldn't have done that.

"It's a little surprising, yeah," Amy admitted with a tight smile.

Piper checked the time on her phone then jumped up and moved to the cubbies where she pulled out a red hoodie Amy had never seen before. "I should probably go. I want to change before the movie tonight."

As she pulled the hoodie on, Amy couldn't help asking, "Is that new?"

Piper shook out her arms, and it was then that Amy noticed how baggy it was on her. That could only belong to one person...

Sure enough, Piper said, "Oh, yeah, it's Finn's. He never wears it, so he gave it to me." She shrugged then turned toward the door. "I'll text you later," she promised before hurrying out of the studio with a wave.

Amy watched her go, a sad frown on her lips. She hadn't gotten to know Finn that well before going to AcroNation, but he had always seemed like a fun guy. She had liked him well enough, and he certainly was cute, especially with the new curly look he'd been sporting since the holidays. All of that said, however, he was really getting on her nerves. Did he have to be around Piper all the time? Honestly, it surprised her how comfortable Piper was around him, especially considering how much he used to ask her out last season.

This was just weird. Amy was used to being Piper's best friend, and now she wasn't. It wasn't like she had expected Piper to sit around and wait for her when she had gone to AcroNation. She knew Piper had been stressed a lot because of her aerial last season, so she supposed she should be happy that Finn had evidently been there for Piper when she hadn't, but it hurt to know that Piper was closer to Finn these days than she was to her. It felt like she'd been replaced.

But maybe Amy had brought it on herself. It's not like she had necessarily been a good friend or teammate last season. She had proven to herself, her mother, and Michelle that she could be a featured dancer, but what good was that if she lost her best friend in the process?

Amy didn't want to admit it to anyone else, but she didn't think that going to AcroNation had been worth it.

"What are your plans tonight, Amy?"

She glanced up to where Summer was grabbing her things out of her cubby. Of all the people on A-Troupe, Summer was surprisingly the one person she had seen the most while at AcroNation. The lyrical dancer had just happened to be around every time Amy seemed to have downtime last season, and they had formed a good friendship.

Ironic, really, considering Summer was dating Henry, who Amy kept insisting to everyone, including herself, that she didn't have feelings for. Never mind the fact that every time she saw the couple together, she felt a twinge of sorrow and jealousy deep down inside of her.

With a sigh, Amy told her friend, "I was hoping to do something with Piper tonight, but she's hanging out with Finn."

Summer smiled at that and said, "Yeah, not surprising. Those two are always together these days."

Amy frowned at that, longing for her best friend. Spending time with Piper again was one of the things she had been most excited about when coming back to The Next Step, but she couldn't do that if Piper was always with Finn.

"What about you? What are you doing tonight?" Amy asked in an attempt to distract herself from her downcast thoughts.

"Oh, me and Henry are going to that cute pottery place downtown. We're making vases tonight. Just in time for my mom's birthday too." Summer's smile faded awkwardly when she looked up and made eye contact with Amy. As if afraid she might feel left out, she quickly added, "But you could come with us- if you want."

Amy sighed, shaking her head. "That's okay. I don't want to crash your date."

Summer seemed a little relieved at her answer but gave her a sympathetic smile as she said, "Maybe we can do something this weekend? I think they're showing old RomComs at the old theater downtown. We could see if Piper wants to come too."

The thought of watching old RomComs with Summer and Piper did sound fun, so Amy smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Sounds good."

Henry approached the two of them, a relaxed smile on his face as he placed a hand on Summer's back and kissed her on the cheek. "You ready to go?"

She smiled at him and nodded. "Yep. Those vases aren't going to make themselves."

He hummed, smiling softly at her before his gaze met Amy's. His smile faded awkwardly, and he lifted his fingers in a small wave. "See ya, Amy."

She gave them a small wave of the hand, watching as the two of them walked out of Studio A together. She wanted to be happy for them. She really did. Henry and Summer were two of her closest friends. The last thing Amy wanted was to harbor feelings of jealousy and resentment toward them.

Amy had known that she would have to see the two of them together when she came back to the studio, but she had hoped that time over the holidays would help her get over her feelings for Henry so it wouldn't hurt so much. It had killed her inside to see him with Summer at Regionals, and she knew she couldn't hold onto her feelings forever. He was happy with someone else, and she had to respect that. She'd had her chance to be with him, and she had lost it the second she kissed Ty in Studio One.

Her goal for this year was to have no drama, and she most certainly wasn't going to be the cause of any drama either. The last thing she needed was to insert herself into a love triangle with her best friends.

She would just keep telling herself and everyone else that she was over Henry until it was actually true. And until then, she would find a way to distract herself. Surely if she was choosing not to dwell on her feelings for Henry, they would go away on their own.

Wouldn't they?

Chapter Text

24 minutes. Finn was 24 minutes late. And counting.

When Piper had called him to ask where he was, he had assured her that he was on his way and would be at the movie theater by 7:30.

He'd better hope, for his sake, that he didn't hit any traffic.

Having initially anticipated Finn being a few minutes late, Piper had already bought his ticket, their popcorn, and their drinks so they could find their seats as soon as he arrived. At the time, she had felt like doing something out of the kindness of her heart, but around the sixteen-minute mark, she had decided that $36 was actually very expensive and that Finn would definitely be paying her back instead. Good thing he had just gotten paid last weekend for dog-sitting his older sister's puppy while she was out of town with her boyfriend.

Piper's foot tapped slowly against the floor as her phone vibrated with a new text from her sister Julia, who she had been ranting to over the last ten minutes.

P: Finn's late
P: Again 😒
J: Did you text him to see where he is??
P: I told him to be here at 7 and when I called at 7:10, he had just left his house
P: We're going to miss the previews at this point
P: And you know how much I love the previews 😠
J: Oof he's really digging his grave tonight
J: RIP Finn
P: It's been 20 mins and HE'S STILL NOT HERE
J: Make sure he buys the snacks then
P: I would but I already bought them for us ugh
P: He's totally paying me back for this
J: Eat it all and tell him to buy more
P: I can't eat an entire bucket of popcorn, I got the really big one
J: Not with that attitude you can't

Piper rolled her eyes at the latest text. She wasn't going to eat an entire bucket of popcorn by herself. She refused. The only reason she had even bought the largest popcorn was because Finn's stomach was an endless pit, and he was liable to complain if she didn't get a big enough size.

Of course, Finn couldn't exactly eat it all if he never showed up.

As she responded to Julia's text, two girls walked by, glancing her way and muttering amongst themselves. One of them was speaking loudly enough that Piper could just barely hear her. "... must have been stood up. Look, she even got snacks and everything, and they never even showed. How sad."

Piper grit her teeth, nostrils flaring as she let out a long breath through her nose. She had half a mind to call back to them: "I didn't get stood up! This isn't even a date!" She refrained from doing so, however, because the last thing she wanted was everyone in the theater lobby turning to look at her.

And yes, for the record, as she had assured both of her parents, Julia, and James, this was not a date. Finn had really wanted to see the new spy movie, and Piper was interested in it too, so they'd agreed to go together. It was a friendly outing, not a date, even if her family was convinced otherwise. Her mother had been very adamant about making sure Finn kept his hands to himself when she dropped her off, and Piper had been so horrified that she'd simply slammed the car door behind her and stalked away to the ticket booth.

Really, she supposed, it was her family who had set off her bad mood tonight, but Finn really wasn't helping his case.

At exactly 7:29, Finn finally strolled into the movie theater, an easy grin on his face. Piper stood as he approached at a leisurely pace, completely unconcerned about the fact that they had for sure missed all the previews and probably the first ten minutes of the movie.

"Hey Pipes!"

"Nice of you to finally show up," she snapped. She shoved the giant bucket of popcorn into his arms and grabbed their drinks and tickets before making a beeline for the ticket usher, but of course, there was a line.

"Woah, what's got you all worked up?" Finn asked, following behind her as he tossed a few pieces of popcorn into his mouth.

His casual tone only agitated her more, and she huffed, turning to face him in line and crossing her arms. "The movie started at 7, Finn. Half an hour ago. What happened?"

His brows furrowed at that, and he frowned down at her. "Are you sure? I swear you said 7:30."

"No, I didn't. I said 7."

The large group ahead of them moved out of line, and Piper turned away from him, thrusting their tickets at the usher. He tore them, barely glimpsing the tickets as he directed them to the correct theater in a bored voice. Piper practically sprinted down the hall, leaving Finn to follow after her.

The feeling of being late for anything was for Piper what the sound of nails scratching on a chalkboard was for other people. It made her uncomfortable and fidgety, and they were thirty minutes late. What had they missed in those thirty minutes? She would never know.

Finn was clearly unconcerned, however, as his long legs easily matched her frantic strides. "Chill, Pipes, we're not gonna miss anything," he told her in the same infuriatingly relaxed tone.

"You don't know that."

"I'm pretty sure I do."

"No, you don't. And you owe me twenty bucks."

Finn sighed and nodded in resignation as they reached their theater. He grabbed the door handle and held it open for her, and she led the way inside, eyes searching for their seats in the dark. They managed to find them in the middle of the theater just as the opening credits rolled onscreen.

"See? We didn't miss anything," Finn whispered cheekily in her ear.

"Oh sure, just the previews," she snapped back in a hushed tone while reaching for a handful of popcorn. How was she supposed to know what new movies she wanted to see now? Sure, she could always look up the new trailers on YouTube, but it just wasn't the same.

Finn raised his eyebrows at her, still giving her that cheeky grin that she currently wanted to wipe right off his face. "Okay, Pipes," he whispered as if he didn't believe her for some reason.

Her eyebrows furrowed at his tone of voice as she wondered what that was supposed to mean. Was he messing with her somehow? She watched him with narrowed eyes for a moment, but he was completely engrossed in the movie now to notice. With a bewildered shake of the head, she turned her attention to the screen as well.

The movie itself wasn't great. Piper thought it had one too many plotholes for her liking, and the humor was too over the top, but Finn seemed to love it. He laughed at every corny joke and gasped at the plot twist revealed at the end as if it was the most mind-blowing thing he had ever seen even though Piper had called it from the beginning. If she was being honest with herself, Finn's reactions were far more entertaining than the movie itself. The irritation she had felt before the movie gradually ebbed away every time he laughed. (He was one of the two people in the theater who was actually doing so. The other was an elderly man sitting a couple of rows behind them.)

As the film neared its end, Piper's thoughts had unwittingly wandered to what A-Troupe was going to do without Michelle and Noah. The two of them were the heart of The Next Step as far as Piper was concerned, and she didn't know how the team would manage without them. She had taken to distractedly munching on the remains of their popcorn, her eyes glazed over as she stared blankly at the screen, until her hand suddenly brushed against another hand, instantly pulling her out of her thoughts.

Finn must have reached for another handful of popcorn at the same time as her. Her gaze flitted to his as their hands brushed, warm tingles shooting up her arm. She realized she was staring at him and blinked rapidly, momentarily averting her gaze. Finn simply smiled, passing the bucket of popcorn over to her and shifting in his seat to get more comfortable.

Piper had held Finn's hand before (at Regionals, after she'd messed up her aerial), and she had always told herself it didn't mean anything despite the fact that she thought about that moment more often than she cared to admit. Regardless, if that hadn't meant anything, then brushing his hand while reaching for popcorn definitely didn't.

Even still, it took until the final scene of the movie for her heart to stop racing.

When the credits finally began to roll, Piper checked the time on her phone to find that it was nearing ten o'clock. She clutched her phone and her wallet in her hand as she turned to Finn, who was still sitting back in his seat, looking as comfortable as if they were in his basement at home instead of the movie theater. "Are you ready to go?" she asked.

"Not yet. It's not over," Finn answered as the other moviegoers began exiting the theater.

Confusion surged through her as she glanced uncertainly at the screen. Was there a scene in the end credits or something that no one but Finn evidently knew about?

"What are you talking about? The movie's over, Finn. The credits are rolling. Let's go. You have to get me home by 10:30."

"Let's just wait for the trailers first."

Piper froze, her eyebrows shooting up as she stared at him in utter bewilderment. He was joking. Right? He had to be joking.

Only it wasn't funny.

"We missed the previews, remember? Because you were late," she reminded him slowly.

He studied her through narrow eyes before a grin slowly spread across his face. "Did Kingston put you up to this?"

"What?" Piper asked, shaking her head at him. It was finally dawning on her that he really wasn't playing around. Finn genuinely believed the trailers came after the movie. How was it possible that he had lived the last 16 years thinking the previews came after the movie and no one – not his parents, or his siblings, or apparently even Kingston – had corrected him?

She didn't want to be the one to break the news to him, but someone had to, didn't they?

After he had finished his adamant explanation of how the credits rolled, the lights came back up, and then went down again for the trailers, Piper told him slowly, "Finn, those are the previews for the next movie."

Finn's smile faded into a frown. "That's weird. The bros were saying the same thing a few weeks ago." He paused, pursing his lips before glancing at her seriously. "Since when have the trailers been before the movie? Is that a new thing?"

She slowly shook her head, deciding that this conversation took the crown for weirdest conversation ever as she told him, "Not really."

"Oh."

As the lights turned back on, Finn looked away, licking his lips and clenching his jaw. For a moment, it seemed like anger might have flashed in his eyes, but then he looked to Piper again, and it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. "Okay, well, in that case, I guess there's no point in staying."

Piper was relieved to hear him say so because they wouldn't have been able to wait for the trailers of the next movie without her missing her curfew, which her parents wouldn't be pleased about - not when she was out with Finn, who they clearly believed to be more than just a friend.

They exited the theater, thanking the usher who held the door open for them on his way in to clean up the trash. As they walked out to the parking lot, Piper glanced at Finn. He had turned strangely quiet, and she couldn't help wondering why. It wasn't like the previews playing before the movie instead of after was a mind-boggling, earth shattering revelation. Frankly, it was just common sense (but that was a conversation for another day).

"Why did you think the trailers came after the movie?" Piper finally asked him, curiosity getting the best of her. "Did you never think it was weird that there was such a long time between the trailers and the movie?"

Finn shrugged, his hands buried in his pockets and gaze staring straight ahead. "It's what my brothers told me when we were kids." He let out a deep breath, looking down and muttering, "I guess they were pretty convincing."

Piper nodded slowly as she took his words in. They walked outside into the brisk night air, and she commented carefully, "You never really talk about your brothers much." She knew he had two older brothers because she'd seen pictures of them at his house and heard his mother mention them once, but even after months of being friends with Finn, she knew next to nothing about them.

"Yeah, we're not very close," Finn replied shortly.

Piper raised her eyebrows, sticking her hands in the pockets of Finn's hoodie, which she had been wearing almost exclusively since he had gifted it to her before Christmas. Finn had always been an open book, but apparently, she'd found the one thing he didn't like talking about.

"They're both older than you, right?" she asked as they reached his car.

He sighed, seeming to realize she wasn't going to drop this, and nodded as he unlocked the car. Once inside, he reluctantly answered, "Yeah. Nate's going to school in Calgary, and Johnny's in Vancouver. He moved in with our dad in high school and stayed there."

"So they're pretty far away then."

"Like I said- we're not very close."

"But why not?" she couldn't help asking. "Did you just not get along?"

Piper had often felt left out with her own siblings growing up because Lauren, Julia, and James were all several years older than her. As she'd gotten older, however, and could relate to them more, she had grown much closer to them, especially James and Julia. Her siblings were three of the most important people in her life now. She couldn't imagine never getting along with any of them and, as a result, couldn't comprehend what could be so bad about Finn's brothers that he didn't even like talking about them, let alone to them.

Finn had started to put the car in gear to reverse out of his parking spot, but he paused when she continued questioning him, staring out the windshield as if seriously debating something in his mind. Finally, as though he was choosing his words carefully, he told her, "We just have different interests. They were always closer with each other."

"Oh. Well, my siblings were always closer with each other too, but—"

"Look, Piper, it's just complicated, okay?" Finn interrupted. He shook his head, finally pulling out of the parking spot and gripping the steering wheel tightly. "You don't get it."

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry," Piper said, chewing on her bottom lip and refraining from pressing him further. She had clearly hit a nerve. In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to question him about something he clearly didn't want to talk about in the first place, but she couldn't help it. She was just curious.

She had always thought Finn was open with her about anything, and the thing was- she wanted to know everything there was to know about him, complicated family dynamics and all. Did Finn not trust her or something?

They sat in silence as Finn waited for traffic to slow to pull out of the theater's parking lot. Piper repeatedly pulled her ring off and on her finger, feeling bad for pressuring Finn. He never would have pushed her to talk about something she didn't want to.

Was she a bad friend?

What if he thought she was a terrible person now and didn't want to be friends with her anymore? All because she'd pressured him to talk about his brothers. His stupid, stupid brothers.

She had started biting down hard on her lip and quickly stopped herself before she could draw blood. Her palms had grown sweaty, and she wiped them on her jeggings before clenching her hands into fists, glancing nervously at Finn, who was frowning out the windshield as he merged onto the freeway.

Should she say something to him? Apologize? Beg him not to unfriend her because of one tense conversation that was admittedly her fault?

Before she could make up her mind, he beat her to it.

"Look, it's just..." He paused, hesitant as he admitted, "They're not... the nicest people."

Surprised that he was continuing the conversation after he had shut it down so adamantly, Piper gave him an underwhelming, "Oh," too afraid to keep prying into the subject if that was all he wanted to reveal. Even still, the implication that his brothers weren't nice people indicated that they weren't nice to Finn, and the thought of anyone being mean to Finn was enough to make Piper's blood boil.

"They always made fun of me growing up because they were smarter and bigger, and I liked dance, so obviously I was going to be the automatic failure of the family," Finn continued, scoffing and rolling his eyes as the words left his lips.

Finn was genuinely one of the kindest people Piper knew, so she hated the thought of him growing up with two brothers who were less than kind to him. No wonder he didn't like talking about them.

But then, true to his self-assured, carefree nature, Finn added, "But really, joke's on them because I outgrew both of them, and Chuck Anderson gave me his card, so I'm not a total failure."

"Chuck Anderson gave you his card?" Piper asked, caught off guard once again by this new information.

"Yeah, at Regionals. Did I forget to tell you that?"

"It must have slipped your mind," Piper replied dryly.

"Must have," Finn muttered, his gaze flicking to her momentarily before looking back to the road.

It dawned on her that she was probably the reason anything to do with Chuck Anderson had slipped Finn's mind at Regionals. She pointedly pushed the memories of that anxiety-filled weekend to the back of her mind where they belonged.

Finn had always been there for her when she had needed him. Now, she supposed, this was her opportunity to support him in return.

"Well, getting Chuck Anderson's card is a really big deal. You must have impressed him," she told him proudly, "I bet your brothers could never do that."

"Nah, they would probably talk their way into it somehow."

Piper shrugged indifferently to that. "Maybe. But it takes just as much effort to be a good dancer as it does to be good at school or whatever they do. Even more, actually, because you've probably put more hours into dance than your brothers have put into anything in their entire lives, so they were clearly wrong about you. You're the farthest thing from a failure."

There was a soft smile tugging at his lips as she looked over at him, hopeful that her words would somehow mean more to him than anything his brothers had ever said to him in the past.

"Thanks, Pipes," he muttered, glancing at her softly for a moment then clearing his throat. "Um, anyways, that's enough talk about my brothers. Can we talk about something else now?"

She agreed, and he immediately asked her how she felt about Michelle leaving instead.

"It'll be hard not having her around," Piper admitted, "She's friends with James and Riley, so I've known her for years, and she's been a really good studio head. I don't know how we're going to win Nationals without her."

"Yeah, it'll be weird without her," Finn agreed, seeming more relaxed now that the conversation had moved away from his family. "It's a tough blow to lose her so soon after Noah and Jacquie left."

Piper closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, her heart longing for their friends who had left the studio. "Don't remind me."

"Sorry." Finn gave her an apologetic look. "Do you think Emily will hire a choreographer? I mean, Nick's a cool guy, but he's definitely not a dancer."

"How do you know that?"

"Did you see his dancing at the party earlier?"

Piper laughed and conceded his point. "I don't think Emily can afford to hire a choreographer though. Riley said that the studio hasn't been doing great financially, and winning Regionals helped a lot, but there's still not much wriggle room in the budget." She paused, realizing she'd just disclosed information that Riley had sworn her to secrecy on and quickly added, "You can't tell anyone that though. I'm serious. I wasn't supposed to mention it to anyone."

He promised he wouldn't then asked skeptically, "Is Emily... Uh, she's a dancer, right?"

"Yeah, but she hurt her knee at Nationals a few years ago, and I don't think she's danced since."

"So we're basically on our own choreographing for Nationals."

"Probably," Piper admitted with a nervous smile, "But Emily's got a lot of connections, especially with past TNS alumni. I'm sure she'll bring in guest choreographers or something. And who knows what kind of connections Nick has."

"Yeah, I don't think the Queen would be much help preparing for Nationals."

Piper laughed and hit him on the arm playfully, bringing a smile to his face. "Who are you kidding? Nick doesn't know the Queen. There's no way."

"Hey, it's a small world, Pipes. You never know." They were quiet for a moment then Finn asked more seriously, "Who do you think they'll make dance captain now?"

Personally, Piper loved the idea of being dance captain. She had loved being dance captain for TNS West, but after her anxiety had reared its head last season, she knew that realistically, taking on the responsibilities of dance captain wouldn't be the wisest idea.

"Probably Richelle," Piper answered after pondering his question. "She's wanted dance captain for years, and she does have the seniority and experience for it."

"Yeah, that's true," Finn agreed before adding, "Summer would be a good dance captain."

Piper pursed her lips, considering the idea of Summer as dance captain. She was certainly a strong asset to the team and knew each of the members of A-Troupe pretty well. There was just one blaring problem with her as far as Piper was concerned.

"Isn't she a little too nice though?"

"I don't think you can ever be too nice," Finn started to say, but Piper shook her head at him.

"You can as dance captain," she said, "I think she'd have a really hard time making difficult decisions because she wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings."

Finn considered this and slowly nodded. "You're probably right," he admitted. After a beat, he added, "Maybe you should be dance captain."

Piper quickly shook her head. "No way. Not after last season. Emily would never let me after my anxiety got so bad."

"You'd be really good at it though! And you've been on A-Troupe as long as Richelle has, right?"

The fact that Finn thought she would be a good dance captain made her heart warm in a way that she couldn't explain, but she continued to shake her head at him regardless. "Dance captain's a lot of pressure. I'm afraid it would set off my anxiety all over again, and I don't want that."

"Yeah, I guess," he murmured, "How are you doing with that by the way?"

"I'm better now that we're done with Regionals," she assured him, "I've got my aerial down now, and I'm not worrying about anything this season, remember?"

"Right, of course."

"I'll be fine," she said adamantly, but she wasn't quite sure if she was assuring Finn of that or herself.

In reply, Finn told her confidently, "You got through Regionals. You can get through anything."

Piper nodded to herself, repeating his words in her head. Last season had been tough, but she was done with her anxiety. No more worrying about her aerial or Miss Angela. She had Finn's unwavering support and Amy back on A-Troupe where she belonged.

This was going to be her year. She could feel it. She was going to win Nationals with her team, and then they would win Internationals, and then they would all start their professional dance careers.

Or at least, that was her plan anyway. Somehow, the universe always seemed to throw unpredictable twists at her that made her reevaluate everything she knew to be true. Just once, she wanted to have a normal dance season with both of her best friends by her side and without any major surprises or twists that would thrust her into the middle of a crisis or trigger her anxiety again.

Was that too much to ask for?

Chapter Text

Things had been a little strained between Finn and Amy ever since her return to A-Troupe, to put it lightly. If Amy wanted to be upset with him for spilling tea all over her in The Next Steep, he could accept that. (That had not been his finest moment...)

But what Finn wouldn't accept was Amy acting like he had no right to be Piper's friend, not when she had been the one who abandoned Piper to join another studio. He hadn't hesitated to call Amy out on her attitude when the opportunity arose, and he had been prepared to accept that they were never going to be friends after that.

So no one was more surprised than Finn when Amy apologized for abandoning Piper and not giving him a chance.

Ever since that afternoon, Finn and Amy weren't exactly friends, but they didn't exactly dislike each other either. It was important to Piper that they get along, so they were trying to put their differences aside and make an effort with each other.

That said, when Piper had to cancel on their plans to hang out in The Next Steep, leaving Finn and Amy alone for the entire afternoon, Finn couldn't exactly say he was thrilled about it.

But there had to be worse ways to spend his afternoon than getting tea with Amy.

Or at least, that's what he kept telling himself until the two of them found themselves sitting in a stony silence in the otherwise bustling café.

At one point in time, he and Amy could have easily found something to talk about, but that was before she had gone to AcroNation. Before she had abandoned Piper and A-Troupe. Now, well... Now it was just awkward, and Finn wondered if they should just call it a day, tell Piper they tried, and head home early.

As Finn drained the last of his Chai tea, Amy twirled her spoon around her own tea, presumably mixing sugar and cream into it. The only thing was- she had been mixing them in for several minutes.

She must have finally deemed her tea drinkable because she finally stopped twirling her spoon around. Instead of setting it on the table, however, she began tapping it repeatedly against the side of the mug. Finn grit his teeth at the sound, glancing over as the tapping continued.

Was she trying to annoy him?

With a sigh, she finally stopped, setting her spoon aside and lifting her gaze to meet his own. Finn immediately averted his gaze. The last thing he needed was Amy thinking he'd been staring at her like some kind of lovesick fool. As if.

"So..." Amy spoke first, shaking her head slowly as if desperately willing a conversation topic to come to her.

"So..." Finn repeated, trailing off as well. Conversation was never usually this difficult for him. He loved talking to people and making new friends.

Apparently, his resentment towards Amy ran a little deeper than he'd thought.

"Um... Do you have any pets?" Amy finally asked. It was blatant small talk, but it was better than sitting in silence.

"Nope. No pets." He paused then asked, "Do you?"

"No," she muttered, tilting her head to the side and looking away again. She was quiet for a moment then, almost reluctantly, added, "My mom doesn't like animals, so..."

Finn hummed to that. He'd always wanted a dog but had never been able to get one because of his mother's allergies, so he could understand the struggle of being deprived of a pet because of a parent. "My mom's allergic to dogs and cats, so..."

"Well, you could get a hairless cat." She tore her gaze from the flowers in the middle of the table to meet his gaze again and gave the smallest of smiles at the look he was giving her. "What? They're cute."

"Have you ever seen one?" Finn asked in disbelief.

"They're so ugly, they're cute."

"No. They're just ugly." He shook his head adamantly, and they both chuckled awkwardly before falling back into awkward silence once more.

Finn glanced around The Next Steep, wracking his mind for anything else they could possibly talk about. "Um, have you checked out that new shopping mall?"

"No. Have you?"

"Nope." Awkward silence again, and then: "Me and Pipes talked about going, but we never did."

"Piper's very attached to the Northwood mall," Amy stated matter-of-factly, referring to the shopping mall that was conveniently located in between Piper's and Finn's neighborhoods.

"Oh, I know. We spent hours there when we went Christmas shopping," Finn said, smiling slightly at the memory. He didn't typically enjoy shopping, but Piper had dragged him around the mall for hours that day, and he had endured every second of it without complaint just because it meant spending time with her.

"She would spend all of her money at Francesca's if she could. And she has," Amy said, smiling fondly and relaxing back into her seat. Noticing the confused look Finn was giving her, she clarified, "You know, the clothing store."

"Oh. We didn't go to that one, but we spent close to half an hour in that one candle store. She was shopping for Summer, but I'm pretty sure she was just scoping them out for herself."

"Oh, she definitely was. She's obsessed with buying candles. She always has to have one for her room, so if you're ever in doubt what to get her for her birthday, just get her a candle, and she'll love you forever."

"Noted," Finn said with a chuckle while pulling his phone out to actually make a note of that. Piper's birthday would be coming up in a few months, and that was incredibly useful information. Maybe having Amy around was good for one thing after all.

They trailed off in silence again, and Finn used the break in conversation to order another drink. He'd already downed two Chai teas and was on to his third, but what could he say? Awkward silences left him desperate to occupy himself with something. Today, it just so happened to be chugging Chai tea like his life depended on it.

Amy raised her eyebrows when he returned to the table with his third drink of the hour and commented casually, "You really like their teas, huh?"

"Not really. Their Chai isn't that bad, but this place is pretty mediocre," Finn retorted before disclosing, "They never steep it at the right temperature."

"What an outrage," Amy commented dryly.

"I know."

Her lips turned up into a smile as she studied him, her brows knitting together curiously. "I didn't realize you were such a tea fanatic."

Finn shrugged to that. "My older sister always kicked me out of her tea parties when we were kids. Something about how I never did it right- as if there's a right way to do tea parties." He rolled his eyes dramatically. "So anyways, I did a bunch of research on tea to spite her. Brooke may know all about the legal system, but I know everything there is to know about tea now, so who's really winning at life?"

Amy giggled at that before she seemed to realize what she was doing and stopped herself. Clearing her throat, she asked, "Okay, Chai Guy, if you know so much about tea, what's your recommendation? I have yet to find something I actually like here."

"It depends what you want really. All of the teas have different kinds of benefits, but I always say you can never go wrong with green tea."

"Because it has the most health benefits?"

"No, because it tastes the best," Finn corrected, "You should really chai it."

He had spent the evening before teaching his younger sisters the art of puns and how to use them to get under their mother's skin, so the cheesy pun slipped out before he could stop it. Piper would have rolled her eyes, but to Finn's utmost surprise, Amy burst into giggles at it. He smiled slightly, relaxing back in his seat, the pride he always felt at successfully making someone laugh surging through him.

The moment was interrupted by both of their phones lighting up with a new text message from Piper. She and James had successfully picked up their grandmother from the airport, and she had texted to let them know that James would drop her back off at the studio soon. Finn was relieved to hear that Piper was coming back. It didn't feel quite as awkward now that he and Amy had found something to talk about, but they would both probably feel more comfortable with their best friend around.

"Did you see Piper's text?" Amy asked, typing back a response before setting her phone aside again.

"Yup."

"Maybe Nonna will send her back with cookies. She makes the best shortbreads."

"You've met her before?" The thought that Amy knew Piper's whole family made Finn a little jealous. He wanted to know Piper's family too. But, he supposed, in Amy's defense, she had known Piper longer.

"Oh yeah," Amy said, smiling fondly as she recalled some distant memory that Finn wasn't a part of. "I spent a week at her house with Piper last summer. She lives in this cute little cottage out in the countryside and taught us how to make her shortbreads. Piper was horrible at it."

Finn couldn't help himself as he smiled at that. "Really?"

"Oh yeah. She burnt them to a crisp, and get this. She mixed up the sugar with the salt. She added three ounces of salt instead of three ounces of sugar."

"No!"

Finn was laughing as Amy nodded, her eyes crinkling as she smiled endearingly. "Yes! They were the worst cookies I've ever had. Piper's terrible in the kitchen. Oh, one time, she was spending the night at my house, and we were baking brownies because that's just what you do at two in the morning, you know?"

"Right, obviously."

"So we put the brownies in the oven, and I was cleaning up the other dishes, and Piper completely forgot to set the timer. So fast forward an hour, and we're sitting there, waiting for our brownies to be ready when we realized that we never set it and there was smoke coming from the oven. And that's when the fire alarm went off."

"At three in the morning?" Finn asked for clarification, and Amy nodded.

"At three in the morning," she confirmed.

Finn laughed again, perfectly imagining the look of horror Piper would have made in that situation as Amy continued. "My parents weren't happy with us, and we ruined my mom's favorite baking pan. Piper hasn't been allowed in our kitchen since."

"You'd think she'd be really good at that kind of stuff. A recipe's like a list, and she loves lists," Finn pointed out, and Amy nodded in agreement.

"Right? But she can't cook to save her life. Have you seen the calendar she has in her room?"

Finn shook his head. "Her mom says I'm not allowed on the second floor."

Amy rolled her eyes, waving a hand dismissively. "That's typical Deborah. Don't take it personally. But anyway, she has this huge calendar above her bed where she writes down literally everything. All of the typical stuff like school assignments and her dance schedule, but recently, she's started getting as detailed as when she's going to shower and eat and brush her teeth. She leaves nothing out anymore."

"That's very thorough."

"Very Piper."

"I binged the last season of Supernova Superstar with her before the new season started, and she literally typed up an entire schedule for when we would start each episode. I mean, she factored in bathroom breaks and snack breaks and everything." Finn shook his head endearingly as he recalled that evening. It had been a few days after Regionals. He had personally found that schedule to be overkill, but it had appeared to give Piper a peace of mind, and after how rough Regionals had been for her, he had been inclined to let her do whatever made her happy.

"Well, that's not surprising. She takes Supernova Superstar very seriously," Amy said with a snort. "But Dancemania is clearly the superior show."

"You're a Dancemaniac too?" Finn asked, perking up, and Amy nodded excitedly.

"Since season one! It's been my dream to perform on the show since I was little," she told him, resting her chin on her fist and smiling dreamily.

"Dancemania's the reason I became a dancer," Finn admitted, and Amy raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah! I remember watching it for the first time at my grandma's house, and I thought it was so cool. I begged my parents to put me in dance classes until they finally agreed."

"Are you the only dancer in your family?" Amy asked curiously, and Finn nodded.

"Yeah," he answered before correcting himself. "Or I was, but my little sister's taking dance classes now. She's following in my footsteps."

"My sister's the exact opposite. She wanted to 'forge her own path' so she took up soccer instead, and my mom's only just now accepting that Lainey's never going to be a dancer like she dreamed."

"Ah, your mom's one of those parents, eh?"

Amy sighed, frowning slightly. "If you mean overbearing, then yeah. She was set to be a professional dancer, and then an injury in her twenties took her out of dance for good. She wants nothing more than for me and Lainey to have the life she wanted. She means well, but she's a little intense sometimes."

Piper had made comments in the past about Amy's mom being too hard on her, and now, hearing Amy talk about it herself put it much more in perspective. Finn thought of his own father, who had wanted nothing more than for Finn to follow in his own footsteps and manage his own business someday, but Finn had never been interested in that path at all. Amy still seemed to be on relatively good terms with her mother despite it all, but Finn rarely talked to his father except for a few times a year, if even that. It was very different from the relationship Amy was describing, but Finn could still understand the feeling of being pressured into a certain way of life by a parent.

Maybe they had a little more in common than Finn first thought.

"She's not exactly happy that I'm back at The Next Step again, but as long as we do well at Nationals, she'll get over it," Amy continued to say, tearing Finn out of his thoughts. She had taken to twirling her spoon around her teacup again.

Finn watched her spoon rotate in her hands for a moment before saying, "I know Pipes is glad to have you back. She really missed you."

Amy's expression slowly dimmed at that, and she exhaled a deep breath before reluctantly meeting his gaze. "Is her anxiety really bad?" she asked candidly.

Finn took a deep breath before slowly nodding. "Yes. I think so."

He knew Piper hadn't seen a doctor or counselor about the anxiety she had experienced last season with Miss Angela, so she hadn't been given an official diagnosis for an anxiety disorder. He recognized a lot of the symptoms of it in Piper, however. The overthinking. The constant fidgeting. The sleepless nights that she always complained about. The way she sometimes got so trapped in her own thoughts that she couldn't focus on anything else around her.

He'd seen it all in his older sister, who had received an official diagnosis for Generalized Anxiety Disorder when she had been a couple of years older than they were now.

Piper seemed convinced that her anxiety was gone now that she had gotten her aerial. And maybe Finn was wrong. He wanted to be wrong. But somehow, he didn't think it was that simple, and he dreaded to think how Piper would react if a new challenge this season triggered her anxiety all over again.

Amy had returned to frowning into her tea as Finn tried to tell her optimistically, "She's been doing better since Regionals, but..."

She sighed, pursing her lips as she said, "She's always been kind of a nervous person, you know? She's always gotten stressed really easily, but I guess I didn't realize how bad it got last year. I guess I should have known that it was more than just nerves when she missed all those rehearsals with Miss Angela, but..."

Amy trailed off, shaking her head at herself. Finn thought back to Regionals when Piper had been so distraught over her aerial. He could still clearly recall the look of despair that had been in her eyes when she had been trying so hard to land the perfect aerial in the hallway before the finals.

Reluctantly, he told her, "It's not just nerves, you know? It's like she gets a fear stuck in her head, and she can't see anything but that. Regionals was really hard for her, and yeah, she says she's fine now, but she also keeps putting off getting her license because the idea of driving in the city freaks her out so much."

"Yeah, I noticed that- about her license," Amy muttered, "She used to always be so excited to drive because then we wouldn't have to keep riding the bus or depending on our parents for rides." The corners of her lips had twitched up momentarily as she recalled another distant memory, but then it slowly faded away.

Quietly, she murmured, "I should have been there for her. You were right- when you said I wasn't. I left her when she needed me."

If he was being completely honest with himself, there had been a small part of Finn that had resented Amy for leaving Piper last season, and he knew it was because Amy hadn't been around to see the consequences of how her decision had affected Piper. But he had been. He'd seen Piper trying to hold back tears the day Amy left the studio. He'd seen her choose not to go to Noah's birthday party because she had been too upset about Amy competing at Regionals with a rival team. He'd seen the longing look she had gotten in her eye when she'd seen Amy with AcroNation at Regionals. And he had hated that Amy had ever made Piper feel that upset.

But now he was looking at the same girl he'd been resenting for months staring into her tea and looking so guilty that he couldn't help but have a twinge of sympathy for her. Amy loved Piper as much as he did. It was the one thing they had in common. And as much as he had resented her for leaving, he doubted Amy had ever intended to hurt Piper.

And if she was willing to admit when she was wrong, then Finn could respect that because he knew that wasn't easy to do.

So heeding that in mind, he assured her, "You're really important to her. Yeah, me and Pipes got really close while you were gone, but you're always going to be her best friend."

Amy looked up at that, her lips pursed. "Some friend I am. I was so caught up in trying to prove myself that I didn't even see she was struggling."

"She didn't exactly flaunt it, Amy. I just happened to be around every time she cracked."

Amy was quiet at that, eyes squinting at him as if she was seeing him in a new light. Finally, she said, "I never should have left The Next Step. But I'm glad she had someone else to lean on when I did, so... Thank you. For being there for her when I wasn't."

Finn mustered a small smile at that and shrugged, muttering, "It was nothing," even though being the person Piper had often sought for comfort and reassurance last season was actually the most important thing to him in the world. Very few roles in life felt more important than that one.

They drifted into another silence, but unlike earlier in the afternoon, there was no awkward tension hanging between them. Amy had taken to glancing around the café, and the sound of her voice made Finn look up, pulled out of his thoughts once more. "Hey Summer."

Their dance captain was waiting by the counter, chewing on her bottom lip and tapping her fingers against the counter while she waited for her tea. She looked up as Amy called her over, and one glance at her immediately alerted Finn to the fact that their friend had something serious on her mind. Her usual cheerfulness was very subdued, and there was a distracted look in her eye.

Amy must have noticed it too because as Summer approached, she asked, "Are you okay?"

Summer sighed, resting a hand on the back of Amy's chair as she shook her head. "I just had a major fight with Henry."

At the mention of Henry, something in Amy's demeanor immediately changed. Her shoulders slumped, but even still, she asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Summer sighed, glancing to Finn, her lips forming a tight line as she mumbled, "Not right now." The barista called her name to indicate her drink was ready, and she told Amy in a dejected voice, "I'll text you later."

She took a step towards the counter before pausing and turning back to Amy once more to ask, "Are we still on for our painting class this weekend? I need some quality girl time."

"Yeah, of course."

Summer's smile grew slightly at that, and she gave a small wave to Finn before turning to grab her drink and leave The Next Steep. Amy turned back to the table, letting out a deep breath as she crossed her arms on top of the table. "I hope Henry's okay," she muttered.

Finn murmured his agreement. "You don't think they'll break up, do you?" he couldn't help asking. Summer had seemed really upset, and he didn't know much about relationships given that he'd never been in a serious one himself, but he didn't think that could be a good sign. Summer had been his friend before they had ever come to The Next Step, but Henry was his bro. If they broke up, whose side was he supposed to take?

Amy inhaled sharply at his question and shook her head. "No," she uttered before saying a little more confidently, "No, they really like each other. I'm sure they'll work it out, whatever happened."

She looked up at him, giving a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Finn observed her for a moment, recalling her own history with Henry. He knew that she was close with both Henry and Summer and couldn't help wondering if it was awkward seeing them together considering Amy must have had feelings for Henry at some point. She had thrown an entire prom for him after all.

Regardless, Finn refrained from asking her if it was weird because he figured that would make things awkward, and he didn't want to do that. This afternoon had taken a surprisingly pleasant turn. Hanging out with Amy wasn't as bad as he had feared. He had actually enjoyed spending time with her.

Piper would be thrilled.

Amy had taken to glancing around the table and suddenly perked up, her eyes flashing mischievously as she told Finn, "I bet I can stack a tower of creamer packets higher than you can."

It was a random and spontaneous challenge, and Finn grinned, already reaching for a handful of the creamer packets sitting in the middle of the table. "Oh okay, Ames, you're on!"

"Bring it, Chai Guy."

He took a simple approach to the challenge, stacking the containers on top of one another one-by-one. He was almost to the last one when his structure collapsed, and he sighed, slumping back in his chair.

"Oh, so close," Amy chided with a giggle.

He noticed her pyramid-like structure was still standing and said in an impressed voice, "Wow, Amy. That's a pretty solid structure you've got there."

"Yeah. I cheated. I used honey as glue," she admitted candidly, and Finn chuckled.

"Great. That's really great."

She smiled, looking down to her structure proudly. Finn watched her fondly before his attention was suddenly pulled away from her as a new voice said, "Hey!"

Piper was pulling out the seat next to Finn and setting a blue tin box in the middle of the table, a wide smile on her face. Both of her best friends grinned at her as Amy asked, "How's Nonna?"

"She brought her famous shortbreads!" Piper exclaimed as she sat down, pulling her chair closer to the table.

Amy squealed excitedly, reaching for the box of cookies and grabbing two before offering them to Finn. He took one and devoured it in a single bite. Shortbreads were his favorite kind of cookie, and he could certainly see what all the hype was about.

"So, what did you guys do while I was gone?" Piper asked, looking between Finn and Amy with a hopeful look in her eye.

"Oh, you know, just hung out here," Finn told her while reaching for two more cookies.

Amy nodded and said, "Yeah. I told him about the time you mixed up the salt and sugar at Nonna's when she was teaching us her shortbread recipe."

Piper groaned, throwing her head back. "She didn't have the containers labelled. That wasn't my fault."

"But it was definitely your fault when we set the fire alarm off at three in the morning."

"Yeah, your mom still hasn't forgiven me for that, has she?"

Amy shook her head, her gaze moving from Piper to Finn. With a smirk, she added, "Did you know Mr. Chai Guy over here is a tea extraordinaire?"

Piper raised her eyebrows, looking from Amy to Finn and nodding slowly. "Yeah, I think we've had one too many conversations about the correct temperature to steep tea," Piper said in a joking tone.

"They don't do it correctly here, Piper. It's an outrage. We should really consider boycotting until they fix it," Amy suggested, raising her eyebrows and looking to Finn expectantly.

He grinned, pointing at her and nodding in approval. "That's exactly what we need to do! We can steal the protest signs from Emily's office and use those."

"Yes! And Piper can come up with a petition to bring an end to the tea injustices being committed here."

Piper was glancing between the two of them, her brows knit together, but Finn hardly noticed the way his best friend suddenly appeared unnerved as he and Amy continued making plans for a boycott against The Next Steep. They were only joking, of course, but he really did think the baristas here could learn a thing or two about properly steeping tea (and better customer service).

The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon chatting together in The Next Steep, Amy and Finn getting along better than ever before. Finn went home feeling strangely content that evening. Piper seemed relieved that they were getting along so well, and he was starting to think that maybe he and Amy could actually become good friends after all.

His phone buzzed with a new text message while he worked on his math homework that night, and he glanced over to find a new message from Amy. She had sent a link to a news article, and a speech bubble indicated she was typing something else. It disappeared, and a moment later, a new text popped up.

A: Dancemania auditions are being held in Toronto this year!! Can u believe it??
F: No way!!!
F: We're totally auditioning right??
A: YES obvs
A: But who r we kidding, it would probs interfere w/ nationals and Emily would never let us miss that
F: She could replace us
F: Once in a lifetime opportunity Ames
F: Gotta make that dream come true!
A: As if 😂
A: But I like the optimism chai guy 🤗

Finn grinned, abandoning his homework as he spun around in his desk chair and continued texting Amy. He hadn't had this much fun texting with a girl since he and Piper had first started becoming friends. He had never expected to click so well with Amy today, but he was glad the circumstances had forced them to spend the afternoon together.

He was always up for making new friends. Who knew? Maybe this would be the beginning of a beautiful new friendship.

Chapter Text

It had been a whirlwind of a day, and the last thing Piper wanted to be focusing on right now was her schoolwork. She still couldn't believe that she'd gotten to meet Jade, the host of Supernova Superstar, her favorite reality show ever. Yes, working with Jade had revealed some harsh truths about Piper and her dancing that she was still processing, but that wasn't the point.

She had met Jade!

She had texted Amy and Finn in their newly-created group chat the second she'd climbed in her sister's car that evening and had even sent them a picture as proof. Their group chat had been blowing up ever since.

Amy: OMG NO WAY!!!
A: OF ALL THE DAYS TO MISS REHEARSAL UGH
A: THIS IS AN OUTRAGE
A: (for me. V happy for u tho!! 🤗)
Finn: Yooo, that's sick!!! I'm jealous
Piper: Don't get too upset about it. Nick only asked us "boring" dancers to come in today...
P: Why have neither of you told me I'm a boring dancer btw?!? 😉
F: Boring??
F: Makes sense why he wanted Kingston but you?? Nah
F: Nick's one to talk 😂
P: Oof, good thing Kingston's not in this group chat... 😬😂
A: Are me and Nick going to have to throw hands?? 🤜🏻🤛🏻
A: Ur FAR from boring Piper!! 💕
F: I'd pay money to see you fight him Ames
A: I think I can take him 💪🏻
F: For sure 💪🏻💪🏻
P: 😂😂
P: Oh, I forgot the best part!!
A: Better than meeting Jade???
P: TNS is competing on...
P: Wait for it...
P: DANCEMANIA
F: Don't play with me like that Pipes 😔
F: You know I'm going through withdrawals since the season finale
P: Not playing!! Seriously! Nick signed us up!!!
F: WHY DIDN'T YOU START WITH THAT
F: YO THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!
F: MY MOM'S GONNA BE FREAKING STOKED!!!
A: OMG sameeeee, my mom's going to flip out!!
A: This is insane!!
A: Totally worth coming back to TNS!!
F: Acro nation wishes they were us 😏
A: Hey don't go bashing AcroNation!
A: (But really tho... 😂😂)

Finn and Amy had since moved on to having their own conversation in the group chat that Piper was trying to follow while getting some reading done for her English class. However, they kept bringing up some strange guy at the bookstore where they had gotten coffee (or tea, in Finn's case) that afternoon, and Piper wasn't following the jokes they kept making. Finn kept bringing up a book about herbs with a very unfortunate title that Amy kept laughing (via emojis) at, and the uncomfortable feeling of being left out started to creep up on Piper again much like it had the other day in The Next Steep.

Wasn't this what she had been hoping for? Finn and Amy, two of the most important people in her life, were getting along better than Piper could have ever dreamed. Her best friends had clearly had a great time together that afternoon, and Piper bit her lip as she reread their text messages, failing to come up with anything to contribute to the conversation since she had no idea what they were even talking about anymore.

She was starting to wish Nick hadn't called her in for rehearsal that afternoon. While she had been dancing for Jade, her best friends had been laughing at books with weird titles and making up wild backstories for some odd-looking guy in the coffee shop.

This was ridiculous. She had gotten to meet Jade. She wasn't supposed to wish she could trade that once in a lifetime opportunity for time with her best friends who she saw everyday instead.

Letting out a long, heavy sigh, Piper turned off her phone's ringer, pushed her book for English aside, and flopped back onto her pillows dejectedly. What was it that Jade had said about them all that afternoon? That they were each hiding something, not dancing to their full potential. Something like that anyway. And Piper had figured out what it was that she was hiding behind.

Really, it couldn't have been more obvious.

She had spent her whole life trying to be a perfect dancer. In her defense, however, she was scarred by past dance experiences that had gone horribly wrong. In her first ever dance recital, which she remembered being so excited for beforehand, she had completely frozen up the second she got on stage and forgot the choreography, and Bridget Calloway and her cronies had made fun of her for it for the rest of that dance season. And then a few years later, at a solo competition, Bridget Calloway made some snide remarks about her dancing, and it had psyched Piper out so much that she completely forgot the solo she had planned and stumbled her way through her song until she could run backstage away from prying eyes and burst into tears.

And that was to say nothing of her experiences with Miss Angela and the way she'd fallen out of her aerial at Regionals.

Piper knew the feeling of humiliation like the back of her hand, and so she strived to be perfect to avoid that, and not just in dance. With three older siblings to live up to, she couldn't afford not to strive for excellence. Lauren was the star student – captain of the debate team, valedictorian of her high school class, a perfect university grade point average, and now earning her master's degree, and maybe one day her doctorate, in family counseling. Julia was the star athlete – captain of the volleyball team, record-setter for the long distance in track, and now a college graduate who'd scored a paid internship at a major advertising company before she'd even walked the stage. And that was to say nothing of James – Regionals, Nationals, Internationals, and Hip Hop Bangerz and Mash-Ups champion and up-and-coming choreographer within the Toronto area. Oh yeah, and he was in a band.

Her entire life had been shaped around living up to the standards her siblings had set. She wanted to be as good as each of them, and that meant that she strived for perfection in everything she did. Every move in her dancing was calculated to minimize risk of failure, and if she couldn't pick up choreography, she put in as much extra rehearsal time as she had to in order to get it right.

But she'd let go today. By the end of their rehearsal with Jade, she was prancing around in a butterfly costume and allowing herself to dance without planning every move beforehand. It had been so long since she had allowed herself to dance for fun, and she had forgotten how good it could feel to let loose a little. When she had gotten home, she'd even let her hair out of its ponytail, and just for fun (and because she was alone in her room), she'd done a couple of hair whips that would have made Michelle proud.

When she'd allowed herself to stop striving for perfection so much, Summer had given her positive feedback, and Jade had deemed her ready to compete on reality TV, and Piper had thought that maybe they were on to something.

But there was still something nagging her at the back of her mind, like her self-ingrained need for perfectionism wasn't the only thing she was hiding. But what else was there to hide?

Her phone vibrated once, then twice, then three times at the end of her bed, and she sighed, squeezing her eyes shut as Finn and Amy continued to blow up their group chat.

Can they not just text each other? Piper couldn't help thinking when her phone continued to vibrate. Finally, after one too many bzzts, she sat up and snatched up her phone angrily, unlocking it to see at least twenty new text messages from her best friends. Now they were talking about bumblebees for some reason? Finn had asked Piper's opinion on something a few messages back, but then he and Amy had continued texting each other as if a question had never been posed at all.

Somehow, Piper didn't think it would matter if she responded or not at this point. Would they even notice? Would they even care?

Stop it, Piper. They're your best friends.

But something about this... Something about Finn and Amy getting along so well really rubbed her the wrong way. Why was that?

Falling back onto her pillows again, this time phone in hand, Piper ignored her texts and opened Instagram instead, hoping for a distraction. She liked a few posts mindlessly then scrolled back to the top to go through her friends' stories. The first one she opened just happened to be Amy's. It was a boomerang that she and Finn had clearly taken that afternoon. There was a pang in Piper's heart just at the sight of it, and she immediately closed out of the app and rolled over onto her side.

Was she jealous? Is that what was happening here? But why should she be jealous of Finn and Amy's blossoming friendship when she was already so close with both of them as it was? What did it matter if the two of them were becoming friends? This was what she had wanted. When Amy decided to come back to The Next Step, Piper had dreamed of this – the three of them hanging out and having fun together.

She supposed that the thought of Finn and Amy having fun together without her hadn't quite crossed her mind. That was perhaps a small oversight on her part.

Except...

What if it wasn't an oversight at all? What if she hadn't imagined Finn and Amy together without her because she was the common link between them, and without that common link, well... What reason would they have to spend time together? She had never considered that possibility, but she had practically handed it right to them the other day when Nonna rescheduled her flight into town without telling anyone, and Piper and James had been sent by their frantic mother to pick her up when Piper was supposed to be hanging out with Finn and Amy instead. She'd thought nothing of it at the time, had even thought it would be a great bonding experience for her best friends after their disastrous first attempt at hanging out that had ended with Amy's new white jacket drenched in tea.

Another small oversight on her part apparently.

None of this was making sense, and frankly, all of this psychoanalysis was giving her a headache. (Or maybe that was the continual vibration of her phone. Seriously, she should just mute the stupid group chat at this point.)

Taking a deep, calming breath, Piper closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind. Aunt Esther, who was perhaps one of the calmest members of the Monaldo clan, was a firm believer that some problems could be solved just by clearing one's mind and taking a moment to rest, so Piper figured she would give it a try. It certainly couldn't hurt at any rate. She cleared her mind of all of the confusing thoughts that were running through it and took another few deep breaths, reveling in the quietness of her bedroom.

Maybe Aunt Esther was on to something. This was nice.

But then, Amy's boomerang of her and Finn crept back into her mind, and clarity seemed to hit Piper so strongly that her eyes shot open.

She wasn't jealous of Finn and Amy's blossoming friendship. She was jealous of Amy.

But why was she jealous of Amy? It didn't make sense. Just because Finn was friends with Amy now didn't mean that he wasn't still friends with Piper. She wasn't going to lose him as a friend, and she knew that.

Even still, a sense of discomfort was forming in the pit of Piper's stomach the longer that she thought about Finn and Amy together. Her phone was lighting up with texts between the two of them, and she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe there was more going on here than just her two best friends getting to know each other.

Squeezing her eyes shut again, Piper rolled over onto her other side, willing the familiar bundle of nerves growing in her stomach to go away. Reluctantly, oh-so-reluctantly, she thought of the one thing she tried so hard to keep buried deep in her heart ever since that day when Finn had given her his hoodie and she had noticed just how beautiful his eyes were in a moment that had probably meant more to her than it had to him.

The thought of her and Finn – together. 

Most of her family seemed to operate under the assumption that Piper was destined to fall in love with Finn given how close the two of them were, and this forced her to be very adamant about the fact that they were just friends and she was not interested in Finn at all, thank you very much.

It wasn't exactly a secret, of course, that Finn had some kind of crush on her when he'd first come to the studio. He'd made that plenty obvious when he asked her out on multiple occasions.

But he had stopped asking her out after prom, and Piper had finally felt comfortable enough around him to actually give him a chance. Looking back on it now, she realized the astounding rate that they had gotten to know each other. She had been vulnerable and confided in him about things she had never confided in Amy or even her family about.

After what happened with Josh, that was no small feat.

Piper had sworn off boys after Josh. She had vowed to herself that she would never get so close with a boy ever again because when she got too close, she got vulnerable, and when she got vulnerable, well... That was usually when the feelings set in.

And now, here she was with Finn. Her best friend. The person who she had danced with at prom, and who made her laugh when she was on the verge of tears, and who held her hand after she'd messed up her aerial at Regionals, only letting go when he was absolutely certain that she was going to be okay. It had been Finn who had come after her when she'd felt left out at the Christmas party, and it was Finn who had sat with her for hours at a time and listened and almost effortlessly found ways to ease her worries and distract her with something else when she felt like her anxiety was going to consume her.

It would be so easy to fall for him, and she knew it. That's why she had to put up walls – to protect herself. To protect him.

Because if they ever did try to date, and it ended badly? That wasn't a risk Piper was willing to take. She had already made that mistake with Josh. She wasn't going to make it with Finn.

Because even if there were reasons to like Finn, there were also reasons to not like him. He was loud and clumsy. He was constantly showing up late to things, and he used too many exclamation points when texting. He constantly distracted her from the things she really needed to get done, and he was so relaxed about everything that it infuriated her sometimes because she wanted to be that carefree too but was pretty sure she was physically incapable of it.

But maybe the biggest reason of all to not like Finn was that he hadn't asked her out in a long time – the telltale sign that his little crush on her had been just that: a crush. He wasn't interested in her like that anymore, and Piper was fine with that. As long as she always had him in her life as her best friend, that was all she really needed.

So yes, maybe she thought that Finn had the prettiest blue eyes in the world. And maybe he was a little (or actually very) cute. And maybe the thought of him getting closer with another girl (Amy) filled her with a feeling of utter dread (which was completely ridiculous because Finn was a person, and Piper didn't own him, and he was fully allowed to be friends with whomever he so pleased).

And fine, maybe there had been one night where she had lay awake in bed wondering what kissing Finn would feel like. (It had been the night of the Christmas party when their faces had been mere centimeters apart just hours before. She couldn't help it, okay? She was curious.)

Maybe all of that was supposed to mean that she liked Finn. But feelings were complicated, and relationships were complicated, and her friendship with Finn was simple. Why complicate something that didn't need to be complicated?

She and Finn were just friends. Really good friends. And Piper was perfectly content to stay that way.

Really, she was.

(But maybe, deep, deep down inside, a hidden piece of her heart felt otherwise.)

Chapter Text

"Man, I am so ready for this weekend," Henry was saying as he cleaned out his locker. A photo of him and Summer sat on the top shelf, and he picked it up, swallowing thickly before stuffing it at the bottom of his dance bag.

Heath was sat on the bench behind him, getting ready to leave the studio for the day. "Got big plans?" he asked curiously.

It was hard finding his place on A-Troupe, especially when everyone else was already so close. Henry and Finn were two of the more inclusive members of the team, but Heath still didn't feel like he was really fitting in. Even still, he was going to take any opportunity to find a friend somewhere on the team. Anyone but Oswald would do.

"It's Bro Weekend," Henry replied excitedly, "We used to do them all the time, but then Noah left and we got busy. Now that I'm a single man again, I'm starting it back up."

"Oh. That sounds fun," Heath commented, twisting down to tie his shoe with a frown. Bro Weekend. That meant all of the boys on A-Troupe were hanging out, right? All of the boys except him. Great.

"No more weekend archery classes. No more discussions about oracle cards that I don't get. No more weird dinners at that one vegan restaurant." Henry sniffed as he shut his locker and swung the strap of his dance bag over his shoulder. "I'm free to do whatever I want now."

Heath glanced over at him as Henry sniffed again and hastily wiped at his nose, reiterating once more that he was a free man. News of Henry and Summer's break-up had spread pretty fast throughout the studio. Despite Henry's assurances to himself that he was a free man, however, it didn't seem like he was necessarily happy to be one. It actually seemed quite the opposite. Heath just hoped he wouldn't start crying or something. He wouldn't know what to do if that happened.

Thankfully, before he had to worry too seriously about that, Finn entered the locker room, an extra skip in his step. Henry immediately straightened up, holding out his hand for a brief handshake in greeting as Finn sat on the other end of Heath's bench.

"You seem happy," Henry noted of his energetic friend.

Heath had pulled out his phone to make sure he wasn't going to miss his bus home but looked up curiously as Finn said, "I've got a date tonight!"

"Really? With who?" Henry asked.

"Amy!"

Heath had to stop himself from audibly reacting as he stared down at his phone, trying to appear like he wasn't listening. Finn was dating Amy now? What about his relationship with Piper? Had they broken up?

Meanwhile, Henry had stiffened, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "Amy?" he repeated in disbelief.

Finn nodded enthusiastically, but his grin faded as he noticed the way Henry had tensed. "Is that okay with you though? I mean, I know you two had a thing. I'll cancel if it bothers you."

Henry cleared his throat, plastering on a smile that looked a little forced to Heathcliff as he said, "Nah bro. Amy's... She's really great. You should go for it."

"Yeah, I've had a lot of fun with her this week."

"Where are you taking her?"

"I don't know. I have to figure that out," Finn said with a frown.

"Well, whatever you do, don't take her anywhere with spicy food. It messes with her stomach," Henry advised. He held out a hand, which Finn grasped for a moment as Henry wished him good luck. Finn took note of his advice as Henry hurried out of the locker room as if he couldn't get away quick enough.

Heath jumped up, giving a wave to Finn before chasing after Henry. His mind was racing at the conversation he'd just overheard. He had been so certain that Finn and Piper were a thing, but everything he thought he knew had just been turned upside down.

Were Finn and Piper not dating? Had they ever been dating?

"Hey, Henry!" He caught up to the senior A-Trouper in the hallway, hoping Henry would set the record straight for him. "What's the deal with Finn and Amy?"

Henry shrugged, staring ahead impassively as he told him, "Guess they're dating now."

"But what about Piper?" Heath asked.

"What about her?"

"Isn't she dating Finn?"

The stoic expression Henry had adopted suddenly lit up as he laughed, eyes shining in amusement as he turned to Heath. "What? No way. They're just friends."

"So they've never been dating?" Heath asked for clarification.

"Nope. He had a huge crush on her last year, but she friend-zoned him hard. Guess he finally decided to move on." The amusement was already fading from his eyes again, but just a glimpse of it remained as he looked to Heath with a smirk on his face. "You really thought they were dating?"

"Well, yeah," Heath said, clutching the strap of his dance bag and averting his gaze. Now he felt like an idiot, but was it really his fault for assuming? He rarely saw Finn or Piper without the other, and in the handful of conversations he'd had with Finn since joining A-Troupe, Finn had casually brought up Piper in every single one even if she wasn't at all related to the topic they were discussing.

In his own defense, he added, "Everyone on B-Troupe thinks they're dating. Winnie and I used to see them flirting in Shakes and Ladders all the time."

This seemed to amuse Henry greatly, and he laughed again before his mood grew more somber. After a moment, he said, "Damn, I miss Shakes and Ladders. That place was bomb."

"Their smoothies were unrivaled," Heath agreed.

"For real, bro. Now I gotta walk three blocks to get a decent smoothie. The Next Steep just isn't it for me."

"Their scones are pretty good, but I'm not a tea person," Heath admitted.

"Me either. That's another thing Summer liked that I didn't," Henry said with a sigh. "I mean, okay, it's not like I hate tea. I'd just rather get a juice after rehearsal, not tea. You feel me? But Summer thinks The Next Steep is the greatest thing that's ever happened to this place. I can't be with someone who prefers The Next Steep to Shakes and Ladders."

"Who thought it was a good idea to put a tea place next to a dance studio? It's been a juice bar for as long as I can remember."

Henry vehemently agreed, and Heath listened as he continued ranting about how much Summer loved the changes The Next Steep had made to their once beloved juice bar. The conversation had derailed entirely from the subject Heath really wanted to talk about, but if listening to Henry vent about his ex-girlfriend was one way to get on the good side of a senior member of A-Troupe, who was he to complain?

After bidding goodbye to Henry, Heath continued on to the bus stop and waited for the next bus to arrive at 4:00. As he did, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to text Winnie. Considering they were technically the ones responsible for spreading the rumor on B-Troupe (and J-Troupe) that Finn and Piper were dating, he figured it was only right to let her know the truth.

Besides, Winnie would go crazy when she heard that Finn wasn't actually dating Piper but Piper's best friend. Now that was a twist that nobody could have seen coming.

Chapter Text

"I was just looking up ideas on where to take Amy on our date tonight."

"Date?"

"Yeah. I asked Amy out on a date, and she said yes."

Finn and Amy. Amy and Finn. Her two best friends. Dating.

Right now, they were probably finishing their picnic and bonding over Chai tea lattes and not thinking about Piper at all.

Finn wasn't thinking about her at all.

He had liked her at one point in time, and now he didn't. Now he liked Amy. And there was nothing Piper could do about it.

So she danced. Because that was all she could do. Because she was afraid that if she stopped, the tears might come, and they would never stop.

"What are you doing?"

"You said you're not dancing tonight, so I'm not dancing with you."

Why did her heart feel like it was breaking? It didn't have a right to. She'd had so many chances to say yes to Finn in the past, but she hadn't. She'd been so adamant that she didn't like him as more than a friend, and she had convinced everyone around her, but no one more than herself.

What if she had never been so adamant? What if she had allowed herself to open up to Finn sooner? Given him a chance like Amy had once encouraged her to do? (How ironic that Amy had once wanted Piper to date Finn, and now she was the one dating him instead.)

"Did you copy my answers?"

"No, I was sitting all the way over there. Piper, we're meant to be. Look, we're even wearing the same colors!"

If Piper hadn't put up all of her walls after getting her spirits crushed by Josh, she could be the one on a bike ride picnic with Finn right now.

Or maybe that's just what kept telling herself to feel better. Surely, if Finn had liked her when he'd first joined The Next Step, there still had to be a piece of him that liked her now.

But maybe she had only ever been a crush to him. An infatuation that turned platonic as their friendship grew. Maybe Finn was wrong, and they were never meant to be anything more than friends. Maybe Finn had always been destined to fall in love with Amy- her best friend who had jumped at the chance to go to the batting cages with him when Piper turned him down, certain that he was just a flirt with a big ego like James had once been before Riley entered the picture and failing to see that Finn was so much more than that. Finn was so caring and genuine and good. And she'd failed to realize it when it mattered.

"I just want to be by myself right now."

"Piper, we've all had embarrassing moments before. It's okay."

"No. No. Not like this."

"Fruity moons, fruity moons, sing a little tune... Let's go watch Noah and Richelle perform their ballet number. Me and you."

Maybe the universe had always been plotting for this to happen.

And if that was the case, then it was certainly doing a fantastic job of catching Piper off guard.

Because as adamant as she'd been that she had never liked Finn, maybe, deep down, there had always been a part of her that had known. Maybe she had known when they had danced together at prom and she had thought that dancing with Finn wasn't the worst thing in the world. Maybe she had known when he listened to her anxieties about Miss Angela without complaint and she had realized that loud, goofy Finn might actually be the most trustworthy listener on A-Troupe. Maybe she had known at Regionals when he had sung the Fruity Moons song that he hated so much to cheer her up and she had felt deep in her gut that she was never going to meet anyone else who cared about her as deeply and sincerely as Finn did.

"Wow, Piper. You look really nice with your hair down. You should wear it like that more often."

For a short moment that afternoon, she almost forgot that she was helping him plan his date with Amy. For a split second, she thought that maybe there was still a chance he liked her after all, and maybe that thought had made her feel warm inside in a way that she couldn't quite explain to anyone else.

But then he'd ridden out of Studio A with Amy, and she wondered if it was too late to say something while knowing all the while that it was.

She had missed her chance. Again.

And it was probably the last chance she'd ever have.

When the song came to an end, so did her dancing, and the tears didn't come like she feared, but the aching in her heart remained, an ever-present reminder of the revelation she could no longer hide from.

She liked Finn. She had always liked Finn. But he liked her best friend. And maybe the part that bothered her the most was that no matter what happened, she had always thought Finn would be hers.

But now he was Amy's. How was that fair?

Why did the universe insist on breaking her every few months? Why was it too much to ask to just be happy for once?

She sunk to the floor miserably, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. Not long after sitting down, movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and Piper tensed, her thoughts immediately jumping to the worst conclusion. No one else was at the studio this late at night. The only other person who could be there, then, was obviously someone coming to murder her and put her out of her lovelorn misery.

A glance toward the door, however, revealed there was no murderer. Just Henry.

He froze when he noticed her, and Piper quickly wiped at her eyes to ensure there were no tears. Henry was a good friend, but she didn't want him to find her crying in Studio A in the middle of the night no matter close they may have been.

"Sorry. I didn't think anyone would be here," he said awkwardly, "I can leave."

He turned to go, but Piper shook her head and stopped him. "No. That's okay."

Henry trudged into the middle of the studio and dropped onto the floor next to her. He mirrored her posture, pulling his legs up and resting his arms on top of his knees. They sat in silence for a long moment until Henry finally asked, "Does Amy and Finn dating bother you as much as it bothers me?"

Piper bit her lip, eyes watering as she slowly nodded. "Yes." Her voice was hardly above a whisper as he met her gaze, understanding in his eyes.

"You still like her?" she asked quietly. She and Henry had never actually talked about what had happened between him and Amy. Hell, she and Amy had hardly talked about it themselves. That had been back when Amy had been so busy and focused on becoming a featured dancer. When their friendship had drifted apart. (Were they destined to drift apart again, now that Amy was dating the boy Piper wanted?)

Henry shrugged to her question, staring at the wooden slabs of the floor as he muttered, "I don't know. Maybe."

A beat of silence passed, and Piper was inclined to accept his answer for what it was, but then she thought of his very recent break-up and couldn't help asking, "What about Summer?"

Again, Henry kept his gaze down and shrugged. "I don't know," he muttered, "I really liked her too." He sighed, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "It's been a confusing week. A confusing year actually."

Piper hummed. "Tell me about it."

Another beat of silence passed, and then Henry murmured, "Sometimes I wish..." He trailed off and suddenly shook his head. "You know what? It doesn't matter."

Piper lifted her gaze to him curiously. "You wish what?"

Henry glanced at her, holding her gaze before admitting, "Sometimes I wish I had just kissed her that day. Then all of this could have been avoided. No one would've had to get hurt."

Piper hated that she could relate so much to him. Hesitating to say the words out loud, she finally uttered, "I wish I had said yes when Finn asked me out."

This seemed to surprise Henry. His eyebrows had shot up as he asked, "You like him?"

Piper shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe." But of course, that was a lie. She knew she did. No more denying it. No more hiding from it.

"He asked me if it was okay, ya know?" Henry said, shaking his head regretfully. "I told him to go for it. I don't know why."

Piper closed her eyes, chewing on the inside of her lip sadly. If Henry had told Finn he wasn't okay with him dating Amy, Finn would have cancelled their date in a heartbeat because that was just the kind of person he was. But Henry hadn't.

She really wished he would have. But there was nothing either of them could do to change it now.

"What do we do now?" Piper asked quietly. "We have to be happy for them, don't we?"

She wished he would say no, that they should fight for them and not sit idly by, but of course he didn't because that was the kind of person Henry was. He cared about others and valued their happiness, especially when it came to Amy.

Indeed, he told her, "We shouldn't stand in the way of their happiness. I did that to Noah and Jacquie. I won't do it to Amy and Finn."

"But how do we do that?" Piper asked, her heart aching. She didn't want to be happy for them, but at the same time, all she'd ever wanted for her best friends was for them to be happy. It was a double-edged sword. She couldn't win either way.

"Sometimes when you love someone, you have to let them go," Henry muttered.

Piper nodded wordlessly, blinking back the tears that had finally sprung to her eyes. Henry gave her a sympathetic look, and they spent the next several minutes just sitting in the silence, sulking and hurting together.

Finally, when the silence was getting to be too much, Piper wiped at her teary eyes and sniffled as she asked, "Um, did you want the studio?"

Henry looked to her as she broke the silence and shrugged. "I was gonna dance it all out, but that's okay."

"No, I can go. I probably need to get home anyway," Piper started to tell him, suddenly feeling bad for taking the space from him. She knew he'd been through a lot recently between his break-up with Summer and now this.

She had started to stand, and Henry asked, "And how are you getting home?" knowing that she had yet to get her driver's license.

"The bus," she mumbled with a shrug.

He stared at her skeptically for a moment then shook his head and pushed himself up from the floor. "Nope, not this late at night. I'll give you a ride."

Finn was usually the one to give her a ride home every night since he'd gotten his license, but given that he was preoccupied tonight, a ride from Henry would certainly beat riding the bus. Wordlessly, Piper agreed without putting up a fight.

Together, they made their way out of Studio A. Piper's heart still felt like it was breaking every time she thought of Finn and Amy together, but Henry's presence made her feel a little less lonely.

At least there was someone else who understood how she was feeling.

Chapter Text

Finn was relieved to get home that night. Between school, dance rehearsal, planning a date, and going on said date, it had been a very long day. A good day. An exciting day. But a long day.

When he walked through the front door, it was to find his stepdad watching a baseball game on TV while working on something – probably paying bills – on his laptop. Mark waved as Finn walked through the living room and into the kitchen where his mom was currently beating a batch of brownie batter. He was fairly certain the brownies were for some party or bake sale happening at his little sisters' school the next day and that the twins were supposed to be helping her, but they were nowhere to be found.

His mom looked up as he entered the kitchen and smiled. "Hey bud," she greeted, turning off the beaters and leaning the mixer against the side of the bowl. "How did it go?" There was a hopeful, excited smile on her face as she turned to face him, and he was positive that she had spent the whole night tracking him on Find My Friends and wondering how his first real date was going.

"It was good. She's a lot of fun," Finn answered before giving her a quick summary of his date with Amy.

After somehow managing to get the two-person bike down the stairs of the lobby and earning very judgmental looks from Cleo and Kenzie in the process, Finn and Amy had ridden to the park near the studio to enjoy their picnic. Piper had packed their basket with her Aunt Kathy's chicken salad sandwiches, potato chips, and Nonna's famous shortbreads. They had spent the evening talking and laughing, and Finn kept thinking that there was a reason he hadn't been able to get Amy off his mind lately.

It was honestly astounding that they hadn't immediately hit it off when she'd first come back to The Next Step. Amy was energetic and bubbly. Her laugh was unbelievably contagious, and they had realized tonight just how many of their passions that they shared.

Finn liked Amy a lot. He liked spending time with her, and she was undeniably pretty. She was definitely someone that he could see himself falling for one day.

His mom seemed happy to hear this. As she poured the brownie batter into a pan, she told him, "That's great. And Piper? She was excited for you two?"

"Uh, yeah! She was great! She practically planned the whole date," Finn answered, scratching the back of his head and pointedly avoiding his mother's gaze.

He'd told her all about the date with Amy, but the one thing he couldn't tell her was that he'd also spent most of the date thinking about Piper. Something told him his mother wouldn't approve of that. She knew how much he had liked Piper in the past and had encouraged him to move on when it was clear that Piper didn't feel the same way.

"I want to meet her, you know – Amy. You'll have to bring her over at some point."

"Yup," he replied, not trusting himself to say anything else. With a nervous laugh, he grabbed a banana from the basket on the counter then said, "I've got to go study. Big test tomorrow. You know how it is."

His mom was observing him curiously, her brows suddenly furrowed. "Uh-huh..."

With a wave of the banana, Finn hurried out of the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time before either of his parents could question him further. He'd played that off well. Hadn't he?

Once in his room, he kicked the door shut behind him and leaned against it, letting out a deep breath. What a day, he thought to himself as he peeled the banana and took a bite of it. He sat on the edge of his bed and finished off the banana in a few bites before tossing the peel in the wastebasket and flopping backwards onto his bed. He needed to think, and he did that best on his own without the distractions of other people.

Ever since their afternoon in The Next Steep, Finn hadn't stopped thinking about Amy, and it was a big deal for him. She was the first girl he'd been even remotely interested in since Piper. It had excited him. Deciding to move on from Piper and accepting that she would never return his feelings was the hardest thing he'd had to do in a long time. But as much as it hurt to accept that they would never be more than friends, it had also been the most worthwhile thing he had ever done because their friendship had never been stronger. He wouldn't trade his friendship with Piper for anything, and realizing that he could potentially like someone else made moving on from her seem less impossible.

He'd made the decision to ask out Amy in a moment of spontaneous inspiration. After Piper decided to take some risks- something she never did- he had wanted to do the same. So he channeled his inner confidence and asked out Amy, and if he was being completely honest, he was surprised when she said yes. He hadn't considered what he would do if she agreed to go on a date with him because he'd never actually gotten that far before.

Piper had been his saving grace. She had planned an amazing, thoughtful date, and Finn had felt so grateful for her. He never would have thought of a bike-ride picnic, but it was the perfect first date idea.

Perhaps he hadn't been thinking when he asked Piper to ride the bike with him first. He'd just wanted to try it out before riding it with Amy so he wouldn't look like an idiot, and there was no better person to do that with than Piper. It hadn't mattered that she was the only person in Studio A at the time. It just felt right to ride the bike with her first. Plus, it wasn't like she could tell him no.

The one thing Finn hadn't been counting on in that moment was for Piper to let her hair down.

Finn had seen her with her hair down before of course, and he didn't actually care how she chose to wear it every day. Piper would look good if she chose to shave it all off as far as he was concerned. But there was something about the way she'd let her hair out of its bun and it had cascaded down like something out of a movie that had mesmerized him.

Piper wasn't just pretty. She was stunningly beautiful in a way that had completely taken his breath away.

And it was in that moment that he'd felt it deep in his gut – he wasn't over her. He never had been. And right now, he wasn't sure if he ever would be.

His date with Amy had been fun, and he'd had a good time with her, but he'd spent the whole time thinking about how perfect the date was except for the fact that it wasn't with Piper.

Piper, who stood up to Miss Angela for what was right, got unfairly ridiculed for it, and almost gave up dance because of it but persevered instead.

Piper, who let her nerves get the best of her too often and took his breath away every time she danced because she was far more incredible than she ever gave herself credit for.

Piper, who had spent her entire afternoon running around the city to borrow her cousin Marty's two-person bike and talk her family members into providing food on short notice so he and Amy could have the perfect date.

Sometimes it seemed like she was too good to be real. She'd been handed some of the sourest lemons in life and was so reluctant to take any risks as a result. And yet, in spite of it all, she still had the kindest heart.

He loved her heart.

And he wouldn't say he was in love with her because he wasn't even sure what love really felt like, but he did know that he cared about Piper Gardiner more than he cared about himself. He knew that she needed to relax and realize that taking risks wouldn't always end in failure or humiliation. He knew that as soon as she had gotten off that bike and Amy had gotten on that something had felt just a little off. And he knew that he had spent his entire first date with a girl that he thought he liked thinking about Piper like an afterthought he couldn't get rid of.

He let out a deep breath, rubbing his face in frustration. He probably should have thought things through a little more before asking out Amy.

In an attempt to shake that guilt-inducing thought from his mind, Finn pulled his phone out of his pocket only to be met with a picture he and Piper had taken on the bus ride home from Regionals. They were both making silly faces at the camera, and he smiled at it in spite of himself. Piper had set the photo as his background as a joke, but he had never bothered to change it back because, frankly, he liked having it as the first thing he saw every time he looked at his phone.

He stared at the photo for a moment longer before finally unlocking his phone and opening his text messages.

Finn: Thanks again for your help today :)
Pipes: Of course! Hope you two had so much fun!

He had thought Piper might ask how the date went, but part of him was relieved that she hadn't. It would be awkward to tell her how he'd had a great time with Amy while hiding the fact that she had been the one on his mind all night. In an attempt to keep talking to her, however, he told her:

F: The food was amazing!! I'm gonna have to steal your aunt's recipe! 😉
P: Hahaha, family secret. Sorry 💁🏻♀️
F: How can chicken salad sandwich be a family secret??
F: Besides, aren't you supposed to be saying yes to everything today?
F: The day's not over yet Pipes 😆
P: Family secrets are where I draw the line 😊
F: :( that's no fun
F: How do you feel after saying yes all day tho??
F: It's great right?
P: Yes! Like a new person. Very enlightening day
F: Told you!! 😄
P: I've got homework. I'll talk to you tomorrow
P: 😊

Finn stared at her messages, blinking as he wondered for a moment if she was mad at him. It was unlike Piper to abruptly end a conversation like that, but she was probably just busy like she said. He hoped that was it at any rate.

Sighing, he set his phone aside while wondering if he should text Amy too. He felt guilty just thinking about Amy. Was he leading her on? That had never been his intention. He had just been excited about moving on from Piper, and Amy was someone who he genuinely thought he could do that with. He did like her. He really did.

She just wasn't Piper.

But then again, he shouldn't expect her to be. Piper was Piper, and Amy was Amy, and they were both incredible people with the kindest hearts. They were similar in a lot of ways, but they were also different. Amy was confident and bubbly, and it was so easy to make her laugh as Finn had learned tonight. She was spontaneous and easygoing and loved fun adventures whereas Piper was calculated and high-strung and always needed to know exactly where they were going and what they were doing so she could plan in advance.

But of course, their biggest difference was the fact that Amy evidently felt something for him that Piper didn't.

Finn didn't blame Piper for not returning his feelings. He had chosen a long time ago to respect it and be content to simply be her friend. It didn't matter now whether or not he had feelings for her because he knew nothing on her end was ever going to change. And that was okay.

But he couldn't stay caught up on her forever. He really had to move on, and he was going to do it with Amy.

Amy, who had owned up to her mistakes and was proving her loyalty to the team again.

Amy, who had dropped chicken salad all over her dress tonight and laughed it off.

Amy, who had just texted him to tell him she'd had a great time tonight.

He may have spent the whole night wondering about Piper, but maybe that meant that their date could have been even better than it already was if he hadn't been so caught up on his best friend.

This was a step in the right direction. It had to be. So he decided to text Amy back and told her:

F: I had a great time too! :) Let's do it again this weekend!!

Chapter Text

The only thing Piper had wanted today was for Finn to notice that she was wearing her hair down and maybe compliment her again. What she had not wanted was a vote that would ultimately decide on the best choreography for the Dancemania audition at the expense of their dance captain's feelings.

Did Piper think that the team had made the best decision for the audition? Ultimately, yes. Richelle's choreography was the obvious choice.

But was it worth the betrayed expression on Summer's face as she left Studio A in tears? No, that was definitely not worth it.

A-Troupe dispersed soon after Summer ran out on them. Piper had given a half-hearted congratulations to Richelle, taken one glance to where Amy was talking with Kenzie then another to where Finn was sitting at the cubbies with the boys and Lily, then promptly booked it out of Studio A. All anyone had wanted to talk about today was the fact that Finn and Amy as well as Kingston and Lily were dating, and Piper had never felt more alone.

Figures as soon as she accepted her feelings for Finn, he starts dating someone else, and so does apparently everyone else on A-Troupe.

Between all the talk of relationships and overthrowing Summer's choreography, it had been a crappy day. The only thing Piper wanted now was a scone from The Next Steep and a chai latte to drown her sorrows in. (She still didn't know why Finn and Amy had formed a bond over chai lattes of all things, but whatever. She didn't have any mental capacity left to worry about that today.)

While she waited for her order, she leaned against the counter, scrolling through the group text she was in with her siblings and cousins. All of her cousins were yelling at Leo about something, but that was nothing new. She hadn't scrolled far enough back to figure out what he had done this time, and she wasn't sure she even wanted to know. She would just ask James about it later.

"Pipes, there you are!"

She looked up as Finn strode across The Next Steep to join her at the counter. "Hey, can I get a green tea? And can you steep it at 175?" he said to Steve the barista as he sidled up next to Piper. The guy nodded, and Finn looked down at her. "They never steep it at the right temperature, you know."

"Mhmm," Piper hummed, raising her eyebrows as she kept scrolling through the cousin group chat. She'd heard Finn's rant about The Next Steep and their teas more times than she could count at this point, and she still couldn't quite bring herself to care that much. Regardless of his strong opinions about the tea shop, Finn continued to give them all his money anyway. If he and Amy were serious about boycotting The Next Steep, they were both doing a terrible job so far.

"What's up? Why'd you run off after rehearsal?" Finn asked, nudging her foot with his to get her attention.

Steve handed Piper the scone she had ordered at that moment, and she held it up as if that in and of itself was supposed to answer his question. She proceeded to take a bite of it and was immediately filled with disappointment. It was dry. Of course.

Today really couldn't get any worse.

"Hey, my two favorite people!"

As Amy joined them, a bright smile on her face, Piper had to turn away to stifle a cough as she choked on her scone. Steve slid her latte across the counter to her, seeming more than ready for his shift to end as he gave her a look of disgust. Despite the rude look, she was grateful for the drink to down her disappointment of a scone. That was supposed to be her comfort food this afternoon, and yet, the universe continued to let her down.

"You good, Pipes?" Finn asked. His eyes were shining in amusement, and it was in that moment that Piper wished she could just go home, crawl into bed, and try again tomorrow.

"Yep, fine," Piper grumbled, setting her latte down as her phone lit up with a new group chat notification. This one was from James and in all caps. She didn't bother reading it.

"Hey, I was looking up times for tonight, and there's a showing at 7," Amy said to Finn, grabbing his arm excitedly.

Finn's face lit up, matching her level of excitement. "Sweet, let's do it!"

"Cool. I'll get the tickets ahead of time, so we don't have to wait in line."

"Thinking ahead- I like it!"

Chewing on the inside of her lip, Piper pointedly stared at her scone until her friends were done making plans for what was no doubt their second date. "What movie are you going to see?" she asked, trying to appear interested though she wasn't sure she really wanted to know. Maybe ignorance was bliss in this case.

"The Nightmare's Finale. It's the sequel to The Nightmare. It's supposed to be super creepy," Amy told her excitedly.

"Sounds like perfect date material," Piper commented dryly even though she actually thought otherwise. She hated horror movies, but Finn and Amy loved them. Just another thing for the two of them to bond over without her. She glanced at Finn reluctantly to find him looking at Amy like she was the best thing he'd ever laid on eyes on.

Somehow, that look hurt even more than the thought of him going to the movies with Amy instead of her. She didn't think he'd ever looked at her like that, and he probably never would.

"Are you okay, Piper?"

Amy's question brought Piper back to reality. She blinked and stood up a little straighter as Finn tore his gaze from Amy to look at her curiously. "Yeah, fine. Why?" was Piper's automatic response. There was no way she could tell either of them what she had just been thinking.

"You seem down. That's all," Amy said, her smile falling into a concerned frown.

Sighing, Piper thought of the rehearsal they had all just come from. Yes, Amy and Finn dating had been bumming her out all day, but it was hurting Summer that had driven her to The Next Steep in search of comfort food in the first place. Heeding that in mind, Piper asked, "Am I the only one that feels like we all just stabbed Summer in the back?"

Amy and Finn glanced at each other then Amy shrugged hesitantly. "We did what was best for the team, didn't we? We're taking the best choreography to the Dancemania audition."

"Yeah, but Summer's our friend," Piper said. Amy of all people should have understood where she was coming from, considering that she was better friends with Summer than Piper was. What good was it to have the best choreo when someone had gotten hurt in the process? "Didn't you guys see her face when she ran out of the studio?"

Finn let out a deep breath, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "But it was a fair vote. Summer agreed to it."

Piper had expected Finn to back her up on this considering he had such a high moral compass most of the time, so the fact that he was apparently on Amy's side hit Piper as if someone had just slapped her in the face.

"You know I care about Summer, but I want to have the best routine for our audition too," Amy said seriously. "If we don't get onto the show, my mom would probably disown me at this point."

A grim expression broke across Finn's face at that, and he seemed to hesitate only a moment before laying a hand on Amy's shoulder. She glanced at his hand then looked to him with a small smile, and Piper pursed her lips, glancing between the two of them sadly before looking away. She had thought that as long as they weren't acting sappy together and exhibiting PDA of any sorts around her then she could stomach being around her best friends while they dated, but maybe she was wrong. Finn simply resting a hand on Amy's shoulder was enough to send a pang to her chest.

How was she supposed to be happy for them when the only thing she wanted was to be with Finn? Why couldn't she have accepted her feelings for him sooner?

Changing the subject, Amy said to Finn, "I'm going to run home and change before the movie. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see ya."

Amy bid Piper farewell before leaving the two of them alone again. Piper sucked in the side of her cheek, tapping her fingers against the counter and glancing up as Steve slid Finn's tea across the counter to him. At least Amy hadn't kissed him goodbye when she left.

Had they even kissed yet? That was inevitable, wasn't it?

Piper quickly pushed that thought aside. It didn't matter, and she definitely didn't want to know one way or another.

"It's cool with you, right? If we go to the movies tonight?" Finn asked once Amy was gone. "I mean, I know that's kind of our thing, but I figured you wouldn't care since you don't like horror, so..." He was rocking on the heels of his feet, his eyebrows raised slightly.

Piper quickly nodded, feeling the slightest twinge of satisfaction that he also thought of movies as their thing. Most of their time spent outside of the studio together was either at the movie theater or in his basement watching movies after all. "Yeah, of course. You don't have to ask me if it's okay."

He nodded, looking down for a moment then glancing up at her again. They stared at each other for a moment as if both were at a loss for what to say then quickly averted their gazes. Piper continued tapping her fingers on the counter.

Still bothered by their conversation with Amy, however, she finally asked, "Are you really not bothered by what happened with Summer?"

He let out another deep breath, still rocking on his heels. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "Richelle's choreo was better."

"I'm not saying it wasn't. I just..." Piper held up a hand as if doing so would somehow help her figure out what she was trying to say. "I feel like we really hurt her. She's been trying so hard as dance captain, and we basically just told her she's not good enough for it."

"No one said that," Finn started, his brows knitting together as if trying to recall when one of their teammates had said such a thing.

"It's implied, like... symbolism or something, I don't know." She huffed in frustration, wishing there was someone else in the world who understood what she was trying to say.

"I don't like hurting Summer any more than you do," he told her seriously, and Piper sighed, knowing that was true. Finn wouldn't willingly hurt a fly, least of all one of their friends. "But Amy's right. We did what was best for the team, and we can't worry about it now. What's done is done."

Piper nodded slowly, wringing her hands in front of her. He was right. She knew he was. She still didn't feel less guilty.

"Hey, do you think I should go home and change too?"

She quirked an eyebrow at his abrupt change of topic and glanced down at what he was wearing. "I don't think it should matter what you wear, but those are your dance clothes," she told him honestly. He simply blinked at her, and she sighed. "It'll seem more like a real date if you change, yeah."

"Cool, I should go do that then," he said, evidently happy with her answer. He pointed at her, giving her a grateful look as he added, "Thanks, Pipes. You're a lifesaver."

She simply gave a weak smile in response.

After grabbing his tea, Finn waved at her and strode out of The Next Steep, leaving Piper alone once more. She watched him go, wishing that she was the one going to the movie with him tonight instead of Amy. But there was nothing she could do to change it now.

With a sigh, she picked up her latte and scone and plopped down at an empty table. There was nothing to do now but scroll through Instagram as a distraction and wait for her mother to pick her up.

"Since when are you auditioning for a TV show?"

"I told you last week. Nick got us an audition for Dancemania," Piper told her mother exasperatedly as they ate dinner that evening with her father.

Her mother lowered her fork, frowning as she asked, "What about Nationals?"

"We're doing both," Piper answered before taking a bite of her spaghetti and glancing around the empty table. All of her siblings had moved out of the house by now, leaving her at home alone with her parents. She missed them the most at dinner time when her overbearing mother's attention got fixated solely on her.

"How are you going to do both?" her father asked curiously. "Won't that be a bit much?"

"That's what I'm thinking," her mother agreed, "How are you going to prepare for both and stay on top of your schoolwork?"

"I'm not going to fall behind," Piper told them adamantly. Finn's and Amy's parents were so excited about the Dancemania audition. Why were hers so apprehensive about it?

"And with all that pressure, it could kickstart your anxiety again," her mother continued as if she hadn't heard her. She heaved a sigh and looked at her seriously, shaking her head. "I still think we need to find you a therapist for that."

"Mom, I'm fine. This season has been a lot better," Piper snapped irritably. Her father quirked an eyebrow in warning from across the table, and she took a deep breath, her hand clenching into a fist around her fork. In a softer tone, she added, "You're turning this into a big deal, which it's not. I mean, aside from the whole 'being on TV' thing."

"And what happens when a bunch of crazy people start following you around because they saw you on TV, eh?" her mother asked, shaking her head again as she stabbed away at her salad. "Perhaps I'd better go down to the studio and talk to Emily about this decision. Has she really thought it through?"

"No, do not do that, please," Piper pleaded. The last thing she needed was her mother storming into the studio to talk with Nick and Emily as if she was a little kid. None of her teammates' parents had objected to the Dancemania audition. Just her mother. As usual.

"Deborah," her father cut in, and Piper gave him a grateful look. "She'll never have an opportunity like this again. How bad could it be?" Piper gestured in his direction to emphasize his point as her mother sighed and clenched her jaw. "Besides, it's just an audition. They might not even make it."

Thanks for that vote of confidence, Dad, Piper thought to herself. Still, at least he was on her side.

"Yeah, and it's not like we haven't danced on TV before," Piper added rather reasonably. "Regionals is broadcast live."

"On SNR Network! You have to pay extra to get access to that channel. Anyone with cable can watch Dancemania," her mother objected.

Piper grit her teeth and refrained from rolling her eyes, lest her mother go off on a new tangent about that. No one had cable anymore. What was this- the 90s?

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now," her father responded calmly, "Let's take it all one day at a time. When is the audition, Piper?"

"It's still two weeks away."

"So let's revisit this conversation in two weeks and have a nice dinner tonight, yes?"

Piper nodded, thinking that was a wonderful idea. Her mother reluctantly agreed and moved on to pondering when Julia's internship was going to turn into a real job. Piper resumed twirling her fork around in her spaghetti, trying not to think about what Finn and Amy were doing at that moment. One glance at the clock told her their movie was just getting started.

After dinner, Piper retreated to her room to make progress on a study guide for her upcoming Physics exam. She put on music to listen to while she worked but only made it through a handful of questions within a couple of hours. Studying proved to be a good distraction from thinking about Finn and Amy, but that was mostly because she had to focus harder since she had absolutely no clue what she was doing.

Taking online classes for high school was fine when she was working on History or English, but trying to essentially teach herself Physics was near impossible. She was already falling behind in her Physics class because the subject material was so hard. How in the world was she going to keep up with it when she was having double rehearsals for Nationals and Dancemania? Just the thought of it made her throat constrict and a nervous feeling settle in the pit of her stomach.

And as much as she hated to admit it, maybe her mother was on to something about dancing on television. Piper had managed to reassure herself down about it because she had equated dancing on Dancemania to dancing on SNR. But SNR was a small network that generally only the dance community watched. Dancemania was televised internationally to millions of people.

Millions of people who would be watching and judging her every move.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, Dancemania was infamous for switching up the structure of the show every few years. If A-Troupe made it onto the show, there was no way to know exactly what to expect. They would be grasping at straws to prepare dances they may or may not need. And they would have considerably less time to prepare for the show than they would have for Nationals.

Was Dancemania really worth all of this extra stress? She wasn't so sure.

Piper's heart had started racing, and nervous chills shot up her arms. Shoving aside her textbook, she picked up her phone and opened her text messages. It was getting late, and she was fairly certain that the movie Finn and Amy had gone to see would be over by now. She could feel herself starting to spiral as more worries crept into her mind. (What if I fail all my classes because of the extra rehearsals? What if I get kicked off the team? What if the team loses because I got kicked off the team, and then it's all my fault? What if I don't get kicked off the team, but I make a major mistake on the show, and the team loses, and I become the next meme? What if? What if? What if?)

She needed Finn to talk her off the ledge, so she sent him a short text saying simply:

P: Facetime??

Over the break between Regionals and the new season, the two of them had FaceTimed fairly often. It had started when Piper was out of town for Christmas, and then they continued doing it more often when they didn't feel like texting, even if they were both at home in Toronto. At one point, Finn had FaceTimed her when he was feeling frustrated with his brothers and ranted to her for a full half hour, and it had dawned on Piper that she was helping him instead of the other way around.

Tonight, it was her turn to rant, and she needed him to calm her down in the way that no one else could.

Over the next twenty minutes, she scrolled distractedly through social media, fingers tapping anxiously against her phone case while she waited for Finn to respond. When it became clear that he must have still been busy with Amy, however, she heaved a sigh and rolled onto her stomach.

Fine. If Finn was busy, she would talk to someone who wasn't.

The other line rang a couple of times before her brother's face finally appeared on her screen. "Yo, what's up Pipesqueak?" James was sitting in the living room of his and Riley's apartment, but he didn't appear to have any lights on except for one light in the kitchen behind him. The image was so dark, Piper could only just make out the features of his face.

"Do you not have better lighting?" she retorted.

He scoffed and shook his head at her. "You know, I could turn on a lamp, but I won't now." She rolled her eyes at him, and he grinned cheekily. "What's up?"

"I need you to come talk to Mom. She's going into crazy mode again."

"What's she saying this time?"

"She thinks if I go on Dancemania then crazy people will start stalking me in real life."

"See, that's worst scenario thinking. You gotta tell her not to do that."

Piper pursed her lips skeptically. "That's easy for you to say! She only listens to you and Lauren," she grumbled, referring to their eldest sister, who was currently attending grad school in Boston.

"Are you finally admitting that I'm the favorite?" James asked cheekily, and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Everyone knows that's Lauren."

"True, but I'm a close second."

"That's debatable. I'm the one who got her the coupon for that fancy spa last Mother's Day."

James narrowed his eyes at that, frowning. "Did I ever pay you back for that?"

"No, you didn't, and I've been adding interest to how much you owe me," she replied. This was a lie, of course. She didn't actually know how interest worked or what it even was.

As if he was on the same wavelength, he retorted, "You don't know how to add up interest." Piper simply raised her eyebrows at him as if challenging his statement. He shifted in his seat, and a little more light shone on him from the kitchen. "How's the studio? When's the big audition?"

Piper fidgeted with a lose string on one of her throw pillows as she answered, bending her knees and swinging her feet in the air. "Things are fine. I found out I'm a boring dancer."

"Psht, whatever."

"But it's okay because I'm trying to loosen up more."

"Okay, what does 'loosen up' mean?"

She glanced up at the calendar above her bed, which she had been trying not to update as much in the honor of being a free spirit. (It was taking all of her willpower not to write out everything on her schedule this week, and she wasn't sure that it was really worth it, but she was sticking with it because it was what Jade had told her to do.) She told her brother this, and he seemed less than impressed.

"Okay, Pipes, glad to see you're really stepping out of your comfort zone," he stated sarcastically.

"I am getting out of my comfort zone!" she defended herself. "I spent a whole day the other day saying yes to everything."

"Really?" James asked with a laugh, raising his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Yes! Finn challenged me to do it, and I did so I could prove a point to him." She tried not to think about how that day had ended. James didn't need to know about her life-changing revelation. He barely seemed to tolerate Finn as it was.

"Oh, okay, showing Finn up, I like it." James nodded in approval, and Piper rolled her eyes at him. "What else? I wanna know about Dancemania."

"Well, the audition's in a couple of weeks," she told him. While studying, she had managed to forget about what had happened between the team and Summer that afternoon, but now that they were talking about the audition, it came flooding back to her at once. Guiltily, she told him, "I think we overthrew the dance captain today."

"Been there, done that," he said then more seriously asked, "Who's the dance captain again? Richelle?"

Piper shook her head grimly. "Summer." He nodded, but the blank look in his eyes told her he had no idea who she was talking about. "You met her at the Christmas party, remember? She was one of the snowflakes. Brown hair, kind of tan, really sweet?"

Recognition dawned on his face, and he nodded. "I gotcha. Wow, you guys overthrew her? She doesn't seem anything like the monster Emily was."

At that, she delved into the vote on whether they would take Richelle's or Summer's choreography to the audition and how she felt guilty for hurting Summer in the process. When she finished spilling her feelings to him, he told her, "Sometimes you just have to do what's best for the team, Pipes."

"That's what Finn said," she muttered with a sigh.

James simply harrumphed at that. They fell quiet for a moment then Piper asked, "Is Riley there?"

"Nah, she's out studying. Big test tomorrow."

"Oh," Piper said in disappointment. Things had been so busy lately that she hadn't seen Riley since they had gotten coffee together over the holidays. "When are you two coming over for dinner again?" James and Riley had been over for meals constantly when they'd first moved into their apartment, but over time, they had stopped coming over so frequently. Piper missed them. She hated how she could live in the same city as most of her family and still feel like she barely saw them.

"I don't know. Things have been pretty crazy recently," James said, rubbing his face as he stifled a yawn.

"Is the album coming along well?" she asked him. His band had been in the studio non-stop over the last couple of months, working on producing their very first album after spending last summer touring around North America for the infamous Lost and Found tour.

"Uh, sure, you could say that," James answered cryptically. Piper raised her eyebrows, her curiosity piqued by his answer. Sighing, he said, "John's written a lot of really good songs about his break-up with Michelle, but Luke only wants to put the ones he wrote with Leia on the album."

"That doesn't seem fair," Piper said with a frown.

"Yeah, Leia's the fifth member of the band. Didn't you know?" he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Are you close to being done at least?" she asked. James hadn't been fond of Luke's overly intense girlfriend and her strong opinions as of late.

James grimly shook his head. "Nope."

Piper's mouth fell open in surprise. "But you've been working on it for months now." Granted, she didn't know much about how the music industry worked, but she didn't think it was supposed to take this long to make an album.

"Like I said, John and Luke can't agree on the songs to put on the album, and it's pushed back actually recording the songs. But sure, it's going really well," he said sarcastically.

Piper sighed, frowning as she told him, "I'm sorry it's so frustrating." Then again, considering how long it had taken the band just to decide on a name, it wasn't a surprise that they were also taking such a long time to agree on the album's track list.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't even worry about it. We'll get it done eventually."

"Have you found any choreography gigs in the meantime?"

His face lit up as he told her about a workshop he and West were working on with Leon Blackwood. After that, they discussed their oldest sister's recent engagement and how she was destined to be the biggest Bridezilla then Piper asked about what their cousin Leo had done to get the cousin group chat so riled up that afternoon. (Apparently, he'd stolen a stop sign with one of his friends and buried it in said friend's backyard. It was probably not legal, and Clarissa was looking into the legalities of the incident while Marty had never been prouder. James was somewhere in the middle but mostly impressed that they had pulled it off.)

After catching up for a while longer, they finally ended the call, and Piper tried to return to her study guide. Even though she hadn't mentioned to James her fears of failing all of her classes and being the ultimate demise of her team on Dancemania, which had been the reason for her need to FaceTime someone in the first place, she was feeling better. Sometimes it helped just to have a distraction when her thoughts became so overwhelming.

It didn't escape her notice that this was the first time she could ever recall where Finn hadn't been there for her when she'd needed him. But now that he was dating Amy, she supposed she was just going to have to get used to that as much as it may hurt to do so. It was inevitable that their relationship dynamics would change once they started dating other people, she supposed. She just wished she could have had a little more warning before her most dependable friendship started changing.

At the end of the day, however, her brother was still there for her even when Finn wasn't. At least she could always depend on James if no one else.

It was nearing midnight, and Piper had returned to trying to figure out her Physics study guide when Finn finally responded to her text message.

F: Hey, sorry I just got home!
F: Everything okay??

Piper sighed, glancing at the clock on her bedside table. His date with Amy had really lasted five hours? Was that a normal amount of time for a date? She certainly wouldn't know.

She waited several minutes to respond to his text, figuring it was only fair since she'd had to wait over an hour for his response. (This was incredibly petty. She was aware of that.) In no mood to discuss her recent worries via text, she simply responded:

P: Yes! I was just bored, sorry 😊
P: How was the movie?
F: Suuuper creepy, you would've hated it 😂
P: hahaha good luck sleeping tonight then
F: Nah I'll be fine
F: Who needs sleep anyway 😆
P: It's actually vital to your health so you do need it!! 🤗
F: lol ok Pipes

Focusing on a new Physics problem about gravity and the speed of a falling tennis ball, Piper hadn't had a chance to respond to his most recent text when her phone lit up with a new text message. Glancing at it and expecting to see Finn's name, she was surprised to see a text from Amy instead. Curiously, she set her pen down and picked up her phone as it dinged with two more texts from her best friend.

A: Finn and I totally kissed tonight
A: He missed at first and got all flustered and it was really cute lol
A: I'm so glad u encouraged us to hangout! Ur the best! ily!! 💖

Piper's breath caught in her throat as she read then reread the texts from Amy. She clutched her phone to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could erase the image of Finn and Amy kissing out of her mind, but now it was all she could think about.

If the thought of the two of them on a date together was bad, this was even worse.

If this was what Finn and Amy dating was going to be like, Piper didn't know if she could handle this. But the worst part was that she had brought it on herself. If she hadn't tried to force a friendship between her best friends, they probably never would've started dating, and she could have been the one to go to the movies with Finn tonight instead of Amy.

Gosh, why had she done this to herself?

And she had really thought today couldn't get any worse.

After sending a text back to Amy about how excited she was for them (even though she felt anything but), she pushed her Physics materials off her bed and grabbed her pajamas with the intention to take a shower. It was two hours earlier than she would normally go to bed, but she was officially done with this day.

She was going to go to bed, get some sleep, and hopefully tomorrow would be better. It had to be, or she just might lose her mind.

Chapter Text

"I can't believe we're going to be dancing on the same stage as legends like Chris Walker!"

"And don't forget Darrell!"

"Obviously not." Finn grinned as he handed Amy her green tea latte then took his own iced tea from The Next Steep barista. He turned to Piper, who was resting against the counter on his other side, and asked, "You sure you don't want anything, Pipes?"

Piper looked up at him, raising her eyebrows like she hadn't heard him at first. Quickly processing his words, she shook her head and gave a tight-lipped smile. "Yeah, I'm trying not to drink caffeine too late. My mom thinks it'll help with my insomnia."

"Is it?"

Her smile faded. "Not really."

Together, the three of them made their way out of The Next Steep and down the hall to the lobby. Most of the time, Finn found himself following behind Piper and Amy as they chatted together, but tonight, both of the girls seemed set on staying on either side of him, almost like they were avoiding each other. He glanced from his girlfriend to his best friend, wondering what exactly was going on with them. Today had been weird enough without Piper and Amy acting strange around each other.

The quiet stretched on as they reached the stairs, and Finn had taken to gulping down his tea in the tense silence. Piper had clenched her jaw next to him but finally broke the silence with, "I can't believe Summer would do something like that."

Finn chewed on his straw, sighing internally. The whole bus ride from the Dancemania audition back to the studio had been spent ranting about Summer's decision to audition as a soloist, and Richelle and Piper had been the ringleaders of it all. Finn understood that they were upset about it. He was too, but couldn't they leave it to rest now? They'd already said everything there was to say about it. Summer hadn't even made it onto the show. It was time to lay the subject to rest and move on.

Amy was the one to respond to Piper's comment. "But I get where she's coming from. What we did really hurt her."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean she should turn her back on the team. She's supposed to be our dance captain!"

Amy heaved a sigh, a tired look in her eyes as she simply said, "It's really unlike Summer to do something so selfish."

Amy had been standing up for Summer the most all evening, and Finn supposed he could understand why. Of everyone on A-Troupe, Amy was the one person who could relate to Summer's decision to see what she could do on her own. After hearing what Summer had to say for herself in Studio A that evening, Finn found himself somewhere in the middle. He still thought it was low of Summer to audition as a soloist without even letting anyone know beforehand, but maybe Amy had a point. Summer had done one selfish thing in her entire time at the studio, but hadn't they all?

Piper didn't seem to think so. Agitatedly, she grit her teeth and muttered, "But you'd know all about that."

Finn and Amy just barely heard the words, but they did hear them. His eyebrows shot up, and he looked at Piper in surprise as Amy suddenly stiffened next to him. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, a hard edge to her tone.

Seeming to realize that she'd uttered the words out loud, Piper's eyes widened, and she quickly shook her head. "Nothing."

"No, you definitely meant something. What did you mean, Piper?"

Piper simply stared at her, looking very much like a deer caught in headlights. Finn could practically see the gears turning in her head as she tried to figure out a way to take back what she'd said. Amy had stopped walking, an eyebrow raised as she waited for her best friend to say something.

"It's- you just- I mean, some people thought you were selfish when you left the studio last year. But you came back! So really, you're just- you know- really loyal. Because you came back! And no one's happier than me that you did. Not even Finn!"

It was physically painful to watch Piper stumble over her words as she tried to save herself. She was standing stiffly, nodding reminiscently of a bobble head with a forced smile. Finn glanced cautiously to Amy, whose jaw had clenched as she took a particularly long sip of her latte.

Honestly, the sooner they could get away from the studio tonight, the better. This day had started out on a high with the audition, but it had quickly gone downhill since the team arrived back at the studio. Something felt off with Piper today, and Finn couldn't figure out why for the life of him. He suspected oversleeping that morning had somehow thrown off the entire day.

Note to self: No sleeping in tomorrow. And meet Piper on time so she won't be in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

Neither of the girls seemed willing to make the next move. Desperate to divert the conversation from the disastrous route Piper had taken it, Finn leapt toward the door of the building and held it open for them, looking up at the night sky as he said, "Weren't they calling for rain tonight?" He looked back to Amy and Piper, who were still staring each other down. "I think they were wrong. It's not even cloudy."

Finally tearing her gaze from Piper's, Amy hurried outside, her jaw still clenched. "That's tomorrow night," she muttered as she passed him.

"Oh. That makes more sense."

Finn watched her set off down the sidewalk then looked back to Piper. She stared back at him helplessly, clearly wishing she hadn't said what she had. He gave her a sympathetic shrug and nodded his head in the direction Amy had taken off in. Her shoulders deflated, and she reluctantly followed after her best friend, Finn bringing up the rear as they followed Amy to the parking lot in stony silence. He wasn't sure what Piper and Amy had been talking about before Summer showed up in Studio A earlier, but they had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since then. It was unnerving.

He couldn't help feeling like he was somehow caught in the middle of the two of them. The problem was, he didn't know why they suddenly felt like opponents.

When they reached the parking lot, Piper hurried away to Finn's car with a guilty look in Amy's direction. Finn stopped next to Amy, and they watched their best friend stalk away from them in silence. Amy was biting her lip, a conflicted look in her eye, and Finn sighed.

"There's no way she meant that," Finn assured her, "She's been in a weird mood all night."

"I know," Amy muttered, still staring after Piper until she finally tore her gaze away to meet Finn's instead. "But maybe she's not wrong."

Finn frowned at that, but before he could reply, she gave him a small smile and muttered that she would see him tomorrow. With a gentle squeeze of the arm, Amy turned and walked away from him. Finn watched her go, his lips pursed.

Seriously, what was up with the girls tonight? All of this sad and bitter tension in the air was killing him inside, and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with Summer.

Piper was waiting for him by his car. He had never gotten the chance to ask her today if she wanted a ride home, but he was glad to give her one. He hated the thought of her riding the bus alone at night, and besides, driving her home would give him the chance to get to the bottom of her weird behavior. First she was telling him to slow down with Amy in case things didn't work out, then she was dodging his hug when they made it onto Dancemania, and now she was making snide remarks about Amy.

That was so not the Piper he knew.

They loaded her bags for the audition into his trunk then climbed into his car without a word. As Finn waited to turn out of the parking lot, he glanced at Piper out of the corner of his eye. Her arms were crossed, and she was staring out the windshield, her jaw clenched. It didn't appear that she was going to talk any time soon, so he turned on his music for background noise. Only a couple of chords played, however, before Piper was suddenly turning it down.

"I didn't mean to call out Amy like that," she said with a huff.

"I know," Finn replied.

"It's just been a long day," she continued as if she hadn't even heard him. She shook her hands out then rested her head against the window. She sighed and repeated in a quiet voice, "It's been a really long day."

Finn frowned as he glanced over at her. "You want to talk about it?"

She met his eye, seeming to contemplate for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "Not really."

"Okay." He looked back to the road in front of him, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel to the beat of the music playing lowly in the background. Piper had confided in him about so much over the course of their friendship. He couldn't imagine what could possibly be on her mind that she wouldn't want to talk to him about, but he couldn't push her to talk about something if she didn't want to.

Reluctantly, his mind wandered to his conversation with Amy earlier. They had been discussing their two-week anniversary that was coming up, but Finn's conversation with Piper earlier that afternoon had given him some serious doubts about their relationship.

"Do you not like me?"

"What?" Amy had asked in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"Piper thinks we should slow down."

She had blinked at him, her eyebrows knitting together. "What does Piper care about how fast we're moving?"

He had simply shrugged, none the more confused than her. "I don't know. That's just what she said."

But why had Piper told him to slow down in the first place? Amy had been surprised when she'd heard what Piper had said, but had she not mentioned something to Piper herself? Why else would Piper think they should slow down? It didn't make sense.

"Why do you think I should slow down with Amy?" he asked before he could stop himself, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

Piper looked over at him, blinking slowly like it was once again taking her a moment to process his words. When she did, she simply looked back out the window and said, "I already told you."

"Yeah, but why do you think it won't work out with her? Did she say something to you?"

She shook her head. "No."

Her vagueness was really starting to get on his nerves. It felt like that was all she had been giving him all evening – short, vague answers that didn't make sense.

"Do you know something I don't?" he tried again. Was he doing something wrong in this whole dating thing that he wasn't aware of? It was his first relationship. He didn't want to admit it to anyone, but he was kind of just winging it, and it had been working out in his favor so far.

Piper let out a heavy sigh and shook her head. "I shouldn't have even said anything at all, okay? It wasn't my place."

Her tone made it clear that he wasn't going to get anything else out of her on the subject, so Finn reluctantly dropped it, saying instead. "I was thinking about taking her to that new sushi place downtown for our two-week anniversary. Is that too much?"

Piper frowned at him. "But you hate sushi."

He shrugged at that. "Yeah, but I looked up the menu earlier. They have other stuff too, like stir fry and soup and stuff. I'll find something." He glanced at her again hopefully. "Do you think that'll be okay with her?"

Smiling slightly, her eyes seeming a little glassy, she nodded. "Yeah. She'll love it."

The rest of the drive to Piper's house was mostly silent with only his music playing in the background. It was unusual for the two of them, and Finn was dying to know what was up with his best friend tonight, but he didn't want to force her to talk if she didn't want to either.

Even still, he tried one last time when the car was parked in front of her house. Before Piper could climb out, Finn asked, "Are you okay tonight?"

Her hand was already on the door handle, but she turned back to him with the tight smile she always gave him when she wanted him to believe that she was okay. "I'm fine," she told him, her tone softer than it had been all night. "Don't even worry about it."

Her family's catchphrase did nothing to reassure him. "Pipes," he started to say, but she simply opened the door and climbed out of the car.

"I'll see you tomorrow," was all she said before she shut the door with a final click.

Finn sighed, popping the trunk so she could get her bags. He waited until she was inside her house before driving away with a sigh of despair. That car ride had done nothing but convince him even more than something was definitely going on with Piper. She had been more withdrawn the last couple of weeks, and he had figured it was because of the Dancemania audition because she had told him as much.

But the audition was over, and she was acting even stranger now than she had been before. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else entirely going on here.

It was almost like she had stopped being herself around him. Like she was holding back, distancing herself. And it was bothering him. Really bothering him.

The whole reason he'd fallen for Piper in the first place was because she was always herself. She was never trying to be someone she wasn't. She was real and kind and selfless and beautiful and—

Stop it, Finn.

The second he started thinking about Piper like that was the second he started going down a path he wasn't supposed to be going down anymore. He was moving on. He was dating Amy. He liked Amy.

As he parked in the driveway of his house, he turned off his car and leaned his head against the headrest, slowly letting out a deep breath. He had to pull his thoughts together before he went inside and was ambushed with questions about Dancemania by his parents.

Was it possible to have feelings for two different people at once? His first instinct was to say no, but now, he wasn't so sure. He did really like Amy. She was pretty, and he'd had a blast binging Dancemania with her the night before. Their two weeks together had been fun, but they'd also been a learning curve. He'd tried to kiss her on their second date, and somehow, he had missed, but she had just laughed and pressed her lips against his, and it had been nice.

Nice.

That was how he felt about his relationship with her. They had fun together and bonded over strained parent relationships and kissed every once in a while because that was what you were supposed to do in a relationship. But as much as he liked Amy, there was something missing with her. She had come to Bro Night with him last weekend on the technicality that she could attend as his girlfriend, but she had spent most of the night with Henry while Finn discussed video game lore with Ozzy and Heath, and Finn had never felt even a bit jealous that his girlfriend was spending all of her time with another guy, and one who she had a history with at that.

He didn't know for sure, but he didn't think that was how he was supposed to feel in that kind of situation.

Even their dates felt more like hanging out as friends than anything else. It wasn't serious, and it never had been. Maybe there was a part of him that was holding back in their relationship because he knew deep down that Amy wasn't the one who he belonged with.

The problem was that the girl he thought he belonged with didn't feel the same way and never had.

The whole point of dating Amy was to move on from Piper. Finn had truly believed that Amy was someone he could do that with. But maybe he had been wrong. He liked Amy, but his feelings for her were fading fast. He'd wanted to have a big, special anniversary date with her to celebrate two weeks together because he had thought that doing so would force the spark their relationship needed to ignite.

Now that he thought about it, he realized how stupid that was. And equally as stupid was dating another girl to move on from her best friend.

Amy deserved better than that.

The logical thing to do would be to end things with her now, but breaking up with her would mean hurting her, and that was the last thing Finn wanted to do.

He had really made a mess of things. If he had waited even just a day to think things through before asking Amy out, he liked to think that he would have realized that it wasn't right to date another girl just to get over someone else. What had he been thinking?

Answer: he hadn't been.

He seriously needed to start thinking more before acting.

Chapter Text

The next day, Piper was still acting strange and distant. Finn knew as soon as she backed out of seeing Hotel Dystopia that he had to get to the bottom of this. He and Piper had been counting down the days until Hotel Dystopia: Do Not Disturb came out, and there was no way she would give up going to see it for anything, not even a school project.

Despite the obvious tension between the girls last night, Amy was still the first person that Finn thought Piper might talk to if something serious was going on, so she was the first person he went to in his investigation, and his heart nearly stopped when she admitted that she thought Piper might have feelings for him.

There was no way Piper could have feelings for him. Not after all of the times she'd turned him down when he asked her out. Not after that day in Shakes and Ladders when he'd admitted he probably wasn't her type and she hadn't denied it. Not after he'd accepted that she would never have feelings for him and tried so hard to move on.

And as it turned out, he was right because according to Amy, Piper did this weird laugh around guys she really liked, and in all their months of friendship, Finn had never heard her do that laugh around him. She definitely did not have feelings for him.

But then, not an hour later, in the middle of an uncomfortable conversation in Studio A, Piper did the laugh, and something in Finn immediately shifted. The part of him that he had been trying so hard to repress since Regionals sprang to life again. The part of him that liked Piper. The part of him that had always liked Piper.

He hadn't stopped thinking about her since.

It didn't make sense. Piper had done nothing but claim that she didn't have feelings for him since the moment they had met. She had never given any indication that she might feel otherwise.

When could her feelings have changed? And why hadn't she said anything if they had? Finn hadn't exactly been discreet about his crush way back when. She had to know that he'd had feelings for her.

There was nothing to do but wait and ask her about it himself. Finn needed answers, or he was going to drive himself crazy wondering about this.

The longer he waited for her in the locker room, however, the more he started to wonder if she had already gone home. It was getting late, and most of the team had already left. Had he somehow missed her? The locker room had seemed to be the best place to catch her alone to talk because she would have to get her stuff before she went home.

Just as he started to wonder if he should let it go and head home himself, he heard footsteps in the hallway and looked up to see the girl in question entering the locker room. His presence clearly caught her off guard, and Piper froze as their eyes met.

"Pipes, we need to talk," Finn said, serious as he'd ever been, but she was already turning back to the door and muttering an excuse about leaving something in Studio A.

She was avoiding him. And somehow, that told him everything he needed to know. She'd lied to Amy. She did have feelings for him. It was true.

But he needed to hear it from her. So he jumped straight to the point before she could run away like he suspected she so desperately wanted to do.

"When Amy said you like me, was that true?"

Her shoulders tensed, and she turned back to him, clearly knowing that she was caught. Even still, she forced a smile and faked a laugh as she took a reluctant step toward him. "Come on, Finn. You can't be serious."

He raised his eyebrows at her, wishing she would stop running from this and just face it. "Well, I am. I am serious."

Her face fell as she seemed to realize he wasn't going to drop this. Averting her gaze to her fidgeting hands, she muttered, "It's not important."

"Answer the question." He knew her too well. She would keep diverting the conversation or denying whatever she didn't want to admit until he either dropped it or forgot what they were supposed to be talking about, and he wasn't letting her do it this time. This was too important.

Piper reluctantly met his gaze, and he could practically see the resignation settling in her eyes as she realized she couldn't run from this anymore. She took a deep breath, fidgeting nervously with the ring on her finger. Softly, she finally uttered, "Yes."

Finn expected to feel excited or overjoyed or relieved at the confirmation that she liked him. For such a long time, he had dreamed of hearing that one word from her. But that was months ago – before they were best friends. Before everything got complicated. And that was why he found himself asking, "Is it because I'm with someone else now?" Because he knew that was a possibility, and he didn't want her to like him if it was purely because she was jealous of Amy.

He wanted her to like him for him.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I thought so too at first, but..."

"Then how do you know it's not?"

She took a deep breath, glancing up at him reluctantly. Once she started talking, the words began pouring out of her. "Because I want to go to the movie with you tonight. And when we got onto Dancemania, you were the first person I wanted to celebrate with. And you're the only person I've wanted to talk to all day, but I couldn't because I was avoiding you because I thought avoiding you would make my feelings go away, but it just made me miss you more." She paused, reconnecting her gaze as she told him earnestly, "And you're my best friend, and I think that maybe... Maybe I've always liked you."

Finn found himself smiling in spite of himself, and it was taking everything in him not to kiss her right then and there – until she uttered those last words. Because if she had liked him all along, then why hadn't she said yes when he'd asked her out? Why hadn't she said something at prom? Or Regionals? Or when they'd ridden that bike around Studio A together before he'd gone out on a date with Amy?

He wouldn't have gone on that date if she'd told him not to. But she hadn't.

"Piper, I asked you out so many times," Finn said, averting his gaze and clenching his fists in his pockets. He didn't want to get upset with her, not after that confession. It was hard for her to be so openly vulnerable, and he knew that. But he was frustrated. He couldn't help it.

"I know, but I..." She gestured with her hands regretfully as she sought the words she wanted to say. "I didn't know you back then, not like I do now. And I was scared."

His resolve softened at that, and he frowned. "Scared of what?"

She hesitated, looking like she wanted to say something but was afraid to say it. Backtracking, she told him instead, "It all just snuck up on me. I think seeing you with Amy brought it all out."

Finn sighed and looked down at his shoes, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. So it did come back to his relationship with Amy after all.

"You told me to say yes to everything that day, remember?" Piper continued on, almost desperately at this point. "And I guess I just..." She took a deep breath, forcing herself to meet his eye again. "I finally allowed myself to see you in a way that I wouldn't let myself before."

He met her eye, thinking back on that day himself. Of course he remembered it. He had asked her to help him plan his date for Amy, and she had said yes, and in that moment, it had never dawned on him that she had done so, not as their best friend, but because of the bet he had made with her. He'd wanted her to let loose a little more, take some risks.

God, if he had just asked out Piper that day instead of Amy...

He'd wanted to for a moment – in Studio A, when she'd let her hair out of its bun, and it had cascaded down like something out of a movie, and he'd remembered why he had fallen for her in the first place. He'd told her she looked nice with her hair down. She was wearing it down today. She had been ever since that day actually...

He glanced up at her to find her biting her lip hard, her eyes pleading with him to say something. And he wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure what exactly. There were a thousand thoughts running through his mind, and he had no idea how to sort through them all. Part of him wanted to say, "Screw it all," and just kiss her. The other part of him knew that he couldn't do that because he was still dating her best friend.

Coming to somewhat of a decision, he said, "I need to think."

She blinked in surprise, and they stared at each other wordlessly for a moment before he stepped around her and walked out of the locker room, scratching the back of his neck vigorously. He didn't see the way her face crumpled or the way she practically collapsed onto the bench behind her as he left her behind, and that was probably for the best.

If he knew all the thoughts running through her mind in that moment, he'd hate himself for ever making her feel like she'd just been rejected for the second time.

Finn was still reeling from Piper's confession when he got home. All he wanted to do was hole up in the basement, put on a movie, and figure out what in the world he was going to do. His mother, however, had other plans in mind for him.

"Finn," she greeted curtly as he entered the kitchen to grab a drink from the refrigerator.

"Mom," he greeted back, glancing at her curiously. She wasn't normally so formal.

Mark was sitting at the kitchen table, peering at his laptop over his reading glasses, while Finn's mother finished washing the dishes from dinner. "I left food for you in the microwave if you're hungry," she told him.

Finn simply nodded and said, "Okay," already taking a step towards the basement.

"While you're here," his mother added on in the tone of voice that usually ended up with Finn in trouble somehow. He paused, looking at her warily and trying to think of anything bad he might have done recently but failing to come up with anything.

"Are you planning on cleaning your room any time soon, or will it forever remain a safety hazard?"

Finn sighed, relaxing a little as he realized he wasn't actually in trouble. "I'll get around to it," he told her simply, turning once more to go down to the basement, but his mother stopped him again.

"Oh, you mean the same way you got around to it the last four times I've asked you to do it? Get it done tonight, or you're grounded."

"What? Mom, that's not fair! I've been busy," he immediately protested, but she gave him a firm look that immediately made him fall quiet.

"If you have time for dating and all those 'bro weekends' you've been going on between school and dance, you can find the time to clean your room. I'm not asking you again, Finn," she said, curls bouncing as she shook her head exasperatedly.

The right thing in this situation would have been to give in and clean his bedroom like she was asking him to, but that was the last thing Finn wanted to be doing at the moment given the major declaration of feelings his best friend had just made to him half an hour ago. So instead of relenting, he asked stubbornly, "Why does it matter how clean it is if I'm the only one who's ever in there?"

"I trip over something every time I go in there to put your laundry away," his mother snapped back.

"So don't put my laundry away," he reasoned.

"Oh, are you offering to do your own laundry now? Because that would certainly make my life a little easier."

"No. Mom," Finn groaned, throwing his head back dramatically.

"If you're old enough to dance on TV, you're old enough to do your own laundry," Mark interjected from his spot at the table. He gave a weary look to Finn that seemed to silently communicate, "Give your mother a break, and just clean the damn room."

"That's a great point, honey," Finn's mom said appreciatively, nodding her agreement as she pursed her lips at Finn. "You are going to university in a couple of years. You're going to have learn how to do it at some point."

"One thing at a time," Finn grumbled.

Arguing was getting him nowhere, so he mumbled that he would get it done and trudged upstairs to his bedroom. As he passed his little sisters' room, Gracie called after him excitedly, "Finn, I learned to tumble! Do you wanna see?"

"Nope," Finn called back before slamming his bedroom door shut behind him.

He let out a huff, leaning against his door as Gracie yelled at him that he was a meanie from the hallway. He squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head at himself. What was wrong with him? It wasn't Gracie's fault that he was suddenly in a bad mood. It wasn't even his mother's fault. He had been putting off cleaning his room for a month because he hadn't wanted to do it.

There was just something about coming home to his mother nagging him about his room that really irritated him when that was the least of his concerns.

Who cared about how messy his room was when Piper had feelings for him?

He flopped onto his bed, running his hands through his curls and letting out a deep breath. Piper actually liked him. She'd been vulnerable and honest with him, and he'd left her behind in the locker room.

God, what was wrong with him?

He pulled his phone out without a second thought and immediately opened his text messages to Piper, but his thumbs simply hovered over the keyboard. What was he supposed to tell her? 'Hey Pipes, sorry for walking out on you. Thanks for being honest. I like you too.' No way. That wasn't even close to conveying everything he was feeling.

Why couldn't she have just been honest with him from the start? It could have saved them both so much heartache and confusion. Finn hated the thought that Piper's heart must have been breaking the whole time he dated Amy, and he knew Amy would feel the same way if she knew. But Piper had never given any indication that she felt otherwise, and she had apparently lied to Amy about having feelings for him in the first place. How were they supposed to have known when she never said anything?

And now Finn was supposed to celebrate his two-week anniversary with Amy this weekend. He had been planning a nice night for them- buying her chocolates, taking her to a new sushi place- but given the new circumstances...

Oh. No wonder Piper had been acting so strange last night. Finn had all but asked her what to do for his special date with Amy while she'd had feelings for him the whole time. And now that he was thinking about it, he realized that she had been very withdrawn and downcast ever since he started dating Amy.

Had the signs that she liked him been there all along, and he was just completely oblivious to them? It had never even dawned on him until tonight that she had been wearing her hair down every day since he'd told her she looked nice with it down.

Wow. Maybe he really was a bigger idiot than he thought.

Regardless, there was no way he could celebrate an anniversary with Amy now that he knew Piper actually had feelings for him. He had already been considering breaking up with her anyway because whatever they had between them was fading fast. He wondered if she felt it too, or if it was just him.

His phone suddenly began ringing, and he hoped that it might be Piper. It was Amy.

When he answered, Amy was speaking fast as if in a hurry. "Hey. I'm super sorry, but I'm going to have to cancel our date this weekend."

A wave of relief unlike anything Finn had ever experienced washed through him. He'd gone from being excited for their anniversary date to dreading it within 24 hours. Trying to remain impassive, however, he told her, "Oh, that's okay."

"My grandparents are coming to the city this weekend, and my mom completely forgot, and now we're rushing around, trying to clean the house for them. It's a whole thing. Anyways, I'm sorry. We can reschedule for next weekend maybe?"

"Um, yeah, sure," Finn said, squeezing his eyes shut. He pondered ending things right now, but if he had learned anything from observing his older sister's love life, it was that breaking up over the phone was generally frowned upon. He may have been an idiot, but he didn't want to be a jerk.

"Okay, well, I've got to go. My mom's sending me and Lainey to the store to find bed sheets because apparently the ones we already have for the guest room aren't good enough." He could practically see Amy rolling her eyes as she spoke, and the corners of his lips twitched upwards in spite of himself.

He really did like her, but he was starting to think that he cared about Amy more as a friend than as a girlfriend. Maybe he always had. That was why kissing her had never felt magical like it was in all the movies and why his heart had never truly felt at home around her.

"Have fun at the movie tonight. Tell Piper I say hi," Amy told him, breaking him out of his thoughts. She promised to talk to him later and promptly ended the call.

Finn sighed as he dropped his phone on his bed and let out a groan, rubbing his face with his hands then pressing his palms into his eyes. Hotel Dystopia had completely slipped his mind the moment he'd heard Piper's laugh in Studio A. They were supposed to be at the movie right now, but instead, he was at home agonizing over the fact that the girl her loved liked him back while he dated her best friend.

This entire situation was giving him a headache. He needed to think about something else.

Reluctantly, he set to work cleaning his room, distracting himself from the girl drama by tossing dirty clothes into his laundry basket and shoving clutter either under his bed or in the wastebasket next to his desk. He stacked his schoolbooks on his desk and straightened the clutter on top of it.

When he moved an old page of notes from his history class to throw it away, it was to find a photo of himself and Piper staring up at him, and he froze. He dropped the page of notes to pick up the photo instead. It was one of the ones they had taken at prom last year. There was a huge smile on Piper's face, and even though he was wearing oversized sunglasses in the photo, Finn remembered gazing at her and thinking that she had the most beautiful smile in the world and that he would do anything to see that smile for the rest of his life.

He'd been so hopelessly in love with her back then.

Except he didn't even think he knew what love really felt like back then, and he certainly didn't know now.

He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Piper actually had feelings for him. He wished he could go back in time and tell the Finn in that picture to be a little more patient and wait for her until she was ready instead of trying to move on with her best friend.

The only thing he had done in dating Amy was make a mess of everyone's feelings.

But it was a mess that had apparently forced Piper to come to terms with her feelings. A silver lining perhaps?

He begrudgingly set the prom photo aside and finished cleaning his room. Once he was finally finished, he sprawled out on top of his bed and checked his messages. Part of him hoped Piper might have texted him, but she hadn't, and he couldn't say he was surprised.

What was running through her mind right now?

If he knew Piper (and he would wager that he did- very well in fact) then she was probably thinking nothing good, and that thought somehow made him feel even worse. He was going to have to clear the air with her, but he still didn't know what to say. He had acted so fast with Amy, but there wasn't as much to lose with her. Piper was a completely different story. He couldn't act recklessly and risk making any mistakes.

Everything was on the line with her.

The Bros' group chat had blown up while Finn was cleaning his room. Ozzy and Heath had apparently started a gif war with each other, and Henry had finally interjected in all caps, telling them to knock it off. Finn was just beginning to scroll through the gifs as a distraction from his racing thoughts when there was a knock on the door.

His mother poked her head in the room and said in surprise, "Wow, it looks nice in here. Thank you for doing that." Finn simply hummed, not looking away from his phone as she stepped further into his room and moved to sit next to him on his bed.

She asked him to put his phone down, and he complied before finally turning his gaze to her. Part of him felt bad for putting up such a fight about cleaning his room. It hadn't been that big of a deal. It had just seemed like the most trivial thing in the world when everything he thought he knew about his relationship with Piper had just been turned upside down.

His mom gave him a meaningful look as she asked, "What's going on with you, bud? You're not usually so argumentative. Is everything okay?"

Finn sighed and nodded. "Yeah, fine," he muttered. He told his mother a lot, but girls wasn't typically something he confided in her about. (Directly at least. Apparently, he talked so much about Piper way back when that everyone, even his little sisters, had picked up on the fact that he liked her without him needing to say it himself. He had tried to be more subtle with his crush on Amy, and apparently it had worked because everyone had been surprised when they started dating.)

"Are you sure?" his mom prodded. "Is everything okay at school?"

"Yes, school's fine."

"What about the studio? How are rehearsals for Dancemania?"

"Rehearsals are great."

"What about Amy? Are you two still going on your date this weekend?"

Finn sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. His mom would keep prodding until she was either convinced that everything really was fine or he told her what was actually going on. He didn't get his persistence from his father.

Hesitantly, he admitted, "Piper likes me."

His mother's eyebrows raised at this revelation, and she nodded slowly, turning her gaze away from him. Finn watched her warily. She had been the one who had encouraged him to move on from Piper, and the last thing he wanted was for his mom to start listing reasons why being with her would be a bad idea. She clearly must have thought so if she had told him to move on from her, right?

"Oh," his mom finally said after a moment. "Well... Do you like her?"

Her curious blue eyes met his own, and Finn sighed, turning his gaze to the ceiling fan above him instead. He didn't even have to think about it before he was muttering, "Yes."

His mom nodded again, appearing deep in thought. Finally, she asked, "And what about Amy?"

He hesitated again and muttered, "I don't know anymore."

She pursed her lips at that. "Finn, why would you date someone if you don't have feelings for her?"

"I did. At some point. I think." He glanced at her and sighed. "But..."

His mom raised her eyebrows curiously when he trailed off and asked gently, "What?"

"Don't you want me to be with Amy?" Finn questioned seriously. Her brows knit together in confusion, and he pointed out, "You wanted me to move on from Piper, didn't you?"

Understanding dawned in her eyes, and she sighed, shaking her head. She rested her hand on top of his, patting it gently as she told him, "No. Well, yes, but only because I didn't want you to spend all of your teenage years pining over someone who wasn't interested in you." She tilted her head toward him meaningfully and said, "All I've ever wanted is for you to be happy, and you should be with whoever makes you the happiest, whether it's Piper or Amy or someone else entirely."

Finn bit his lip, his thoughts immediately turning to Piper again. Being with her felt like being home. He talked to her about things he didn't with anyone else. She made him laugh and pushed him to be a better person. No one else in the world compared to her. She was his person, and he was hers.

"I have to break up with Amy," he muttered, more to himself than his mother, but she heard him anyway.

"I know you never want to hurt anyone, but you can't lead her on if you want to be with someone else. I'd like to think I raised you better than that."

Finn looked down in shame and asked quietly, "Am I a bad person? For leading her on?"

"Of course you're not," his mom quickly assured him. She wrapped her arm around him, rubbing his arm soothingly as she said, "Part of dating is figuring out if you're compatible with someone. Sometimes you're just not, and that's okay."

Finn sighed, trying to believe her. It had never been his intention to hurt anyone, but somehow, he felt like he'd done just that anyway.

His mother gave him a pointed look as she added, "You really need to end things with her though, and the sooner the better. You don't want this to escalate and do something that will hurt her even worse."

"Like what?"

"Well, what happens if you and Piper get caught up in a moment before you break things off with Amy?"

"What? Like cheating on her?" The thought alone horrified him. He never wanted to become the kind of person that would hurt someone that badly. And not to mention that something like that would absolutely trigger Piper's anxiety. He knew how she had been caught up in her brother's relationship drama in the past. Piper would be damned if she ever cheated on anyone after what had happened with Riley, James, and Alfie (her words, not his).

"I know I raised you better than that," his mom responded, tilting her head toward him seriously.

Finn nodded, taking the hint. He couldn't let this escalate and risk hurting Amy or her friendship with Piper. He cared about both girls too much to let that happen.

While he was deep in thought, his mom pressed a kiss to his temple and ruffled his hair as she stood. Finn immediately groaned but didn't pull away from her grasp. "I'm proud of you, you know? Never forget that," his mom told him seriously, and Finn made a disgruntled face at her.

"Now you're just being sappy."

She simply smiled, tugging at one of his curls and saying fondly, "I'm glad you're finally embracing your curls."

"Mom," Finn groaned as his mother continued doting on him.

"What? They make you look very mature." He rolled his eyes, and she grinned. His mother truly lived to embarrass him.

"Okay, fine, I'll leave you alone," she said taking the hint and moving to his door. She paused in the doorway, however, turning back to him to ask, "Do your friends still think it's a perm?"

"Maybe," Finn grumbled. He hadn't mentioned his "perm" to anyone in so long that he was hoping everyone would collectively forget about it without him having to say anything at all.

"I really don't understand why you told them that, honey. Curly hair is nothing to be ashamed of."

"What happened to leaving me alone?"

"Maybe after you break up with Amy, that's the next thing you want to clear up, eh?" His mom grinned at him, clearly amused with herself, as she started to pull his door shut. She paused halfway, however, her attention suddenly caught on something down the hall, and snapped, "London Noelle, I know you did not just bring another frog into this house."

London's cries of how her newest animal friend didn't have a home carried down the hallway as their mother disappeared from Finn's doorway. He smiled to himself, shaking his head in amusement. Between Gracie's mischievous ambitions and London's tendency to bring home any and all animals she found outside, the twins truly knew how to keep things lively at home.

He would have to deal with his feelings for Piper and breaking up with Amy sooner rather than later, but for now, he had another important matter to attend to- namely, helping his little sisters convince their mother to let London keep her newest pet. What kind of brother would he be if he left them to fend for themselves after all?

Chapter Text

Piper had thought that nothing would ever hurt as much as Josh's rejection, but she was wrong. Watching Finn walk away from her after admitting her feelings to him hurt a thousand times more.

This was why she had never wanted to admit to herself or anyone else that she liked Finn. She had taken a huge risk by being honest, and now she was going to lose Finn forever. He was destined to fall in love with Amy. One day, they would get married, and Piper would have to watch the two most important people in her life vow to love each other forever while she hopelessly sat on the sidelines, her heart breaking into tiny pieces the same way it had been doing since the moment she realized with an uncomfortable feeling in her gut that she didn't want Finn to be with anyone but her.

Would she even be their friend at that point? Or were her two most important friendships fated to deteriorate now, never to recover after she bared her heart to Finn while he dated her best friend?

Oh god. What if she didn't even get invited to the wedding?

This was it. This was what would break her for good. Not Josh's rejection. Not Miss Angela's cruel words. Just Finn and Amy dating. If they had each other, they didn't need her, especially now that she was the other woman.

Dammit. Why did she have to be the Alfie of this situation?

At least she hadn't kissed Finn. That was the only thing she had going for her at this point.

Piper spent most of the weekend curled up in bed, binging Friends, and when she wasn't doing that, she was directing all of her nervous energy into reorganizing her bedroom (three times). By Sunday evening, she was in a dreadful state. Tomorrow, she would have to face Finn and Amy and pretend like everything was fine for the Dancemania cameras when everything was not fine.

She had thought putting up walls after what happened with Josh would protect her from getting her heart broken. And maybe it would have if Finn hadn't been breaking down those walls every time he listened to her worries or told her a corny joke or smiled in her general direction. Piper had never thought her heart could be broken by Finn, and yet, here it was, breaking anyway.

And what was worse- she had spent the entire weekend wrapped in Finn's red hoodie that was too small for him but much too big for her, clinging to the smell of him and trying to hold onto it for when she inevitably lost him as a friend. Her hair had been tossed into a messy bun the moment she got home on Friday evening, and she hadn't bothered with it since. She hadn't showered all weekend, and at this point, she couldn't even remember if she'd brushed her teeth that morning, but what did it matter?

If Piper couldn't be with Finn, she didn't want to be with anyone else. She was destined to end up alone forever. What did she care what anyone thought of her anymore? Who was there to impress?

"You're a sight for sore eyes."

At the sound of her brother's voice, Piper forced her gaze away from her episode of Friends to find James and Julia standing in her doorway. She glared at them before looking back to her laptop and mumbling, "What do you want?"

"Mom called us. She says you're spiraling again," Julia answered candidly, taking in Piper's rearranged bedroom. "I like what you've done with the place."

Piper was sure her sister was making a jab at the fact that her bedroom looked completely different since the last time she had been home, but Piper couldn't help it. When she was filled with restless energy, her hands itched to be occupied with something, and her bedroom was often the victim to such anxiety episodes.

Piper glared at her laptop as she paused the episode she was watching, not bothering to respond to either of her siblings. It irritated her that her mother was talking to them about her, but she couldn't say she was surprised. Her mother always called in her siblings for help when she was going through a crisis and wouldn't open up to anyone else.

Frankly, she should have expected them to show up at some point. It was only a matter of time.

James made himself comfortable on the end of her bed, nudging her foot with his elbow as he gave her a pointed look. "What's up, Pipesqueak? Why do you look like you haven't left the house in a year?"

"You don't want to know," she muttered, folding in on herself against the support of her pillows. The last thing she wanted to do was tell her brother about her feelings for Finn, but she didn't think she was going to be given much of a choice.

Just like Finn hadn't given her much of a choice in the locker room.

Damn these boys who knew her too well to let her hide inside of herself the way she so desperately wanted to.

Her sister joined James on the end of the bed, and Piper glanced at her before sighing warily. Her family had been operating under the assumption that Piper and Finn were more than friends for months. It had annoyed her before, but when she realized that she did actually have feelings for him, the last thing Piper had wanted to do was give her family the satisfaction of being right.

Now that her siblings were here, however, there was no way she could keep it a secret anymore. Reluctantly, without meeting either of their inquiring gazes, Piper mumbled, "I like Finn, okay?"

James and Julia immediately looked to each other. James' eyes had narrowed in the way they did when he was physically in pain, and Julia frowned at him, giving a subtle shake of the head, warning him not to say what he was thinking. Piper had spent her entire childhood watching and exchanging these nonverbal conversations with her siblings to know what they were thinking anyway.

Julia wasted no time in pulling her phone out of the pocket of her jacket. "We have to call in Lauren."

"No, Jules, don't bother her right now," Piper snapped. They did not need to bother their sister with her pathetic boy drama.

"Pipes, this is an intervention. We can't do this without all four of us present and accounted for," Julia retorted.

"She's probably studying or something," Piper sighed, but Julia had already hit the call button. A few seconds later, their sister answered, her picture appearing on Julia's phone screen.

Lauren was standing in the kitchen of her apartment, stirring something in a pot on the stove as she greeted her siblings. James and Julia both grinned at her.

"Wow, Laur, your hair looks really nice. Did you do something different with it?" James asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

From where Piper was curled up against her pillows, she could see that Lauren's hair was pulled into a messy bun much like her own. Lauren rolled her eyes at the sarcastic remark. "Oh hush," she said, "What do you guys want?"

"Pipes is worried we're bothering you. Are you busy?" Julia asked.

"No, just making dinner. Why?"

"Piper's having a crisis. We're holding an intervention."

"A crisis? What's happening? Hand me to her. Is she there?" Lauren's voice was laced with concern as Julia passed the phone to Piper.

Sighing, Piper pulled herself into a sitting position and took the phone, giving a small smile that came off as more of a grimace. "Hi."

"What's going on? Why are you having a crisis?" Lauren asked immediately, wasting no time to get down to business.

"I'm not having a crisis," Piper sighed exasperatedly. She turned her glare to Julia, who simply raised her eyebrows skeptically. "It's not a big deal. We shouldn't have bothered you with this."

"Tough luck, sis. I'm already on the phone. Start talking," was Lauren's response.

Nothing like being put on the spot by her well-meaning yet overbearing older siblings.

Piper glanced around her room, wondering for a second if she could still find a way out of this so-called "intervention," but then her gaze landed on the photo of her and Finn hanging on her mirror. It was one of the ones they had taken at prom- the night that everything had changed for them when she finally allowed herself to open up to a friendship with him.

Lip quivering and tears springing to her eyes for probably the hundredth time that weekend, she told her siblings everything. How Amy and Finn started dating two weeks ago. How Piper had overstepped her bounds in the name of protecting Finn. How Amy had figured out she liked Finn and had, for a reason that was completely beyond Piper, mentioned it to him. How Finn had questioned her about her feelings in the locker room and ultimately walked away from her.

What she didn't tell them was how she was certain that Finn had already known she liked him before she ever stepped foot in that locker room or that even though she had been terrified to tell him how she felt after being rejected by Josh, she was even more afraid of the small part of her that had wanted to tell Finn how she felt.

Finn hadn't rejected her, but the fact that everything was left up in the air seemed much worse. He could still reject her at any given moment and probably would as soon as she walked into rehearsal tomorrow. That possibility had hung over her like an ominous omen all weekend.

If she had completely shut down because Finn had walked away from her, claiming he needed to think, then she dreaded to think of what she was going to do when he rejected her completely.

"Wait, so how long have you liked Finn? When did this become a thing?" Lauren asked when Piper had finished her story. She hoped that her sister wouldn't be offended that she had never told her about her feelings, but to be fair, she hadn't confided in anyone about her feelings except for Henry, and that had only been in a moment weakness.

Shooting a hesitant look towards James, who was doing an impressive job of keeping his face impassive through all of this, Piper admitted, "I mean, I've only actively been acknowledging it for a couple of weeks."

"I'm sensing a 'but' here..."

"But maybe I've always liked him. I don't know. Everything is confusing."

"He never said that he didn't like you back," Julia pointed out reasonably. "Just because he walked away doesn't mean there's no hope, Pipes."

She bit her lip and hopelessly flopped back against her pillows again. "He's still with Amy," she countered, "Why would he date her if he had feelings for me?"

Her siblings remained quiet at that, and James and Julia shared another silent look. Piper sighed, shaking her head at herself. "I blew it. I never should have said anything."

"Well I, for one, am proud of you speaking up," Lauren told her, "That's not always easy to do, but you did, and you survived."

"At the expense of my friendship with him."

"You don't know that you're going to lose him," Julia pointed out, "You have no idea what he could be thinking right now."

"Yeah, Jules is right," Lauren said, "And just because he's with Amy now doesn't mean that it can't still work out in the future. Most people don't marry who they date at 16, Piper. Not everyone can be James and Riley."

Piper's gaze turned to her brother, who had fallen uncharacteristically quiet at the talk of her feelings for Finn. James was the most protective of all of her siblings, and she dreaded to find out what he was really thinking. He hated Finn. This had to be his worst nightmare come true.

James rolled his eyes at Lauren's comment before meeting Piper's gaze. With a heavy sigh, he said, "Look, you can sit around and talk about what happened and what could happen and everything in between, but that's going to get you nowhere."

"You're the man here. How do you suggest we solve AmyGate of 2018, oh wise one?" Julia asked, fully serious despite the joking manner in which she phrased the question.

"It's simple. You gotta talk to him."

"I can't talk to him," Piper protested. Just the thought of facing Finn tomorrow made her stomach flop nervously.

"Fine, then don't," James said with a shrug. "But then you risk losing him forever."

Piper's resolve faltered at that, her eyes watering again with unshed tears. A future without Finn wasn't a future she was interested in living.

How would she ever be able to live with herself if she lost him, all the while knowing there was something she could have done to prevent it from happening?

But god, she really didn't want to have to face him now that he knew how she felt about him.

Ever so reluctantly, she asked, "What would I even say to him?"

"What do you want to say to him?" Lauren asked.

James and Julia both peered at her curiously, awaiting her answer, and Piper sighed, leaning her head against the wall and staring at the prom photo again. After a moment, she whispered, "I don't know."

Her siblings were quiet, waiting for her to continue, but when she didn't, Julia told her, "Well... Think about it at least."

Lauren agreed and asked, "When's the next time you'll see him?"

"Tomorrow," Piper sighed. She hadn't dreaded going to rehearsal this much since the drama with Riley and Alfie two years ago.

"Jules is right. Think about what you want to say ahead of time. Write it all down. Make a note on your phone. Do something so you'll remember. It'll make you feel so much better," Lauren suggested, the inner counselor in her coming out.

"Tomorrow's not going to be as bad as you think it will," Julia added seriously. "You've had all weekend to build it up in your head, but let's not forget that this is the same guy who brought you cake one time just as an excuse to see how you were doing."

"That was months ago, Jules," Piper pointed out though her heart warmed the slightest bit at the memory.

"From everything you've said about him, Piper, it sounds like he would go to the ends of the earth for you," Lauren added, "Something tells me that nothing you say or do is going to push him away for good. He probably just needed time to think things through, like he said."

Piper bit her lip, wanting to believe that her sisters were right. She reluctantly glanced at her phone where an unopened text from Finn still sat on her home screen, asking if they could talk. He had texted her that morning, and she hadn't touched her phone since, too afraid to respond and even more afraid of what he would say if she did.

With some final notes of encouragement, her sisters wished her luck for seeing Finn tomorrow and demanded updates on what happened. Julia took her phone back, keeping Lauren on FaceTime, probably to chat with each other, as she climbed off of Piper's bed and left her younger siblings alone in Piper's room.

Piper watched her sister go before reluctantly turning to her brother. He had been unnervingly quiet throughout most of their conversation. "Just say it," she told him warily.

"Say what?"

"I don't know. Something about how I'm too young for boys, and Finn's no good, and you were right all along."

James' lips formed a tight line as he exhaled deeply through his nose. His eyes met hers for a long, quiet moment as Piper waited expectantly for him to say what he really thought. He appeared to be considering his words carefully, and finally, he asked, "Does he really care about you?"

The question was so genuine that Piper faltered, having fully expected a lecture about dating and how boys were no good. She looked away, chewing on her lip thoughtfully though she didn't really need to consider the question. Of course Finn cared about her. She may not know where his feelings lie, but she knew that much without any doubt in her mind.

Nodding slowly, she murmured, "Yeah, he does."

James nodded seriously then let out another deep breath as if this entire conversation had physically exhausted him. "Then don't let him go," he told her simply.

Piper blinked at him in surprise, her brows knitting together in confusion. "But you don't like Finn," she started to say.

"Of course I like him, Pipesqueak," James said, shaking his head. "You talk so highly of him, and he's been there for you when I haven't been able to, so... How could I not?"

Piper gaped at him at a total loss for words. James scoffed and rolled his eyes every time she mentioned Finn, and now he was saying he liked him? What?

Her shock must have shown on her face because James inclined his head toward her meaningfully. "I'm your brother. It's always been my job to protect you." He paused, turning his gaze to look around her bedroom as he reluctantly added, "It's not easy for me to see some other guy waltz in and take over my job, okay?"

Piper's eyes had grown misty yet again, and she leaned forward to hug her brother tightly, resting her chin on his shoulder. James' arms immediately wrapped around her.

"I'll always need you," she told him, her voice cracking.

He rubbed her back soothingly as he replied, "You're gonna be okay, Pipes."

She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping desperately that he was right.

James stayed with her for two hours, watching Friends with her and offering his unsolicited commentary for each episode. When he finally left, Piper hesitantly reached for her phone and finally opened the message from Finn.

F: Hey Pipes. Can we talk??

She knew three things for certain. First, Finn was with Amy, so nothing was going to happen between them regardless of how he may or may not have felt about her at one point in time.

But Piper couldn't risk losing her friendship with him. Finn had become her rock. He was the only one whose mere presence could calm her down when she was feeling anxious. He had always made her feel so special and valued and heard, and she couldn't lose the one person who knew her and understood her better than anyone else in the world.

Which brought her to the third thing: She was going to have to take James' advice and talk to him. But she couldn't do it over text. Scary as it may be, she needed to do it in person.

Her most important relationship was on the line, and she was terrified to face whatever tomorrow would hold, but she had to be brave. Losing Finn was not a risk that Piper was willing to take.

Chapter Text

Finn had spent the whole weekend thinking about Piper. He tried texting her on Sunday, wanting to clear the air with her before Monday's rehearsal, but she had never responded, and he was certain she was avoiding him. He felt horrible for not saying more to her after she had admitted her feelings to him, but at the time, he'd been confused and frustrated.

After having two days to think everything through, however, he knew exactly what he had to do now.

Finn arrived at the studio early on Monday, not because the Dancemania cameras were coming to the studio (something the bros had been enthusing about all weekend in their group chat), but because he had to talk to Piper first and foremost. There was no way either of them would be able to focus in rehearsal if they didn't address Piper's feelings beforehand. And once rehearsal was finished, Finn had to have a conversation with Amy that he really didn't want to have, but he had no other choice given the new circumstances.

Much to Finn's surprise, Piper seemed to have a similar train of thought. Only a minute after he arrived in the locker room, she appeared in the doorway, clutching her dance bag so tightly her knuckles had turned white. When Finn's eyes met hers, he honestly expected her to turn and run the other way. Instead, Piper took a deep breath before entering the room with determined steps.

"We have to talk," she told him, dropping her bag on the bench closest to her locker then taking a few steps towards him. Her eyes appeared shiny as she gazed up at him seriously. "I shouldn't have told you all of that the other day."

"Piper—"

"No, don't. Just let me say what I have to say first. Please." Her voice was so urgent that Finn relented, noting the way her hands fidgeted nervously as she spoke. "I shouldn't have said anything about having feelings for you. I had so many chances to say yes to you, and it was my own fault that I didn't, and you're with Amy now, and I have to respect that."

She paused to take a breath, but her eyes were watering, and her voice cracked as she continued, "But you're my best friend, and I don't want any of this to change anything between us because you're really important to me, and—"

Her breathing was increasing, and tears had started rolling down her cheeks. Finn was afraid she might start hyperventilating and immediately reached out, taking her hands in his as he assured her, "Piper, it's okay. I promise you it's okay."

She stopped rambling as he spoke and forced herself to meet his gaze, taking a deep, shaky breath to steady herself. "Okay," she whispered.

It hurt Finn's heart to see her so upset over something that wasn't even her fault. He was the one who had cornered her in the locker room and questioned her about her feelings and then left her behind. If either of them had anything to be sorry for, it was him.

"You're really important to me too," he assured her softly. "I shouldn't have walked away the other night. I just needed time to think things through."

Piper glanced down at their hands and reluctantly pulled hers out of his grasp. Finn let her, a twinge of disappointment surging through him as she did that was all the more confirmation to him that he had to end things with Amy before this situation and these feelings – whatever they were – escalated even more.

"Can we just pretend like it never happened?" Piper asked quietly.

Finn sighed and started to shake his head. "Pipes—"

"Please, Finn. I can't go through this again. Can you just forget everything I said?"

Finn had no idea what she meant in that she couldn't go through this again, but he did know that there was no way he could forget everything she had said to him. But he agreed anyway, if only because the pleading look in her eyes was almost as painful as seeing her cry and feel so distressed by the fact that she had told him how she felt.

He would let it go for now. At least until he could sort things out with Amy and focus solely on Piper.

And speaking of Amy...

She suddenly appeared in the doorway, dimples on full display as she grinned excitedly. "Dancemania is coming!" she exclaimed as she practically skipped over to her locker, curls bouncing voluminously.

Amy's excited smile fell immediately when she noticed Piper's eyes, which were still glassy with tears being held back. "What's wrong?" Amy asked, eyes full of concern as she looked from her best friend to her boyfriend.

"Nothing," Piper answered quickly, wiping her cheeks for stray tears before moving to put her dance bag in her locker.

"Piper..." Amy started to say, sounding completely unconvinced, but Piper just shook her head.

"I'm fine. It's nothing. Don't even worry about it."

With that, Piper hurried out of the locker room without a second glance, leaving Finn alone with Amy. She immediately turned to him a frown on her lips. "Finn, what's going on?"

He sighed, gently shutting his locker as he told her, "She's just got a lot on her mind."

Amy pursed her lips as she opened her own locker to put her things away. "Do you think she's stressed about Dancemania or something? Maybe nervous about the cameras?"

"Maybe," Finn muttered. He certainly wouldn't be surprised if Piper was nervous about Dancemania, but the TV show seemed to be the last thing on her mind today. Not that Amy knew that.

Taking a deep breath, Finn reluctantly asked, "Hey, Ames, can we talk later?"

Amy turned to him, her brows knitting together at his serious tone as she nodded slowly. "Yeah, of course." Her eyes narrowed as she studied him, and Finn shifted uncomfortably.

Nothing had happened with Piper. He had nothing to feel guilty for, yet he still felt guilty anyway. He hadn't cheated on Amy, but he had been dating her this whole time while fighting off feelings for their best friend. Amy deserved more than that. She needed someone who could love her the way she deserved, and Finn knew now, without a doubt in his mind, that he couldn't be that person for her.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" Amy asked one last time.

Finn gave a tight smile and nodded. He didn't want to ruin her whole day by breaking up with her before rehearsal. He figured he at least owed her the chance to enjoy the Dancemania cameras before he ultimately had to break her heart.

"We should get to rehearsal," he told her, "Don't want to miss any of the camera action."

"Oh, I know! I can't believe we're actually going to be on the show. Just think about it. We're meeting the people who worked with Darrell."

"Oh man, what a legend!"

They discussed Dancemania the entire way to Studio A, and Finn was happy to have the momentary distraction from his feelings. The Dancemania cameras were already setting up when they reached Studio A, and Amy left him to stretch and warm-up with the other girls while Finn did the same with the boys. Ozzy and Heath were bickering as usual, but he tuned them out, glancing over to where Piper was stretching. All of the girls were talking around her, but she had a blank look in her eye, completely disengaged from the conversation.

Once the cameras started rolling, Sean, the Dancemania producer, split the team into two groups for a competition to see who could come up with the best routine. By either fate or pure coincidence, Piper was in the same group as Finn. She shot a wide-eyed look at him before quickly turning back around, and Finn felt another pang in his heart. Piper was seriously panicked about being around him.

Maybe he shouldn't have pressured her into telling him how she felt. Finn had only wanted her to be honest with him, but should he have expected that doing so might trigger her anxiety somehow? She had been closed off to dating in the past, but he was starting to wonder if there was more to the story that he didn't know. He hadn't seen her this stressed out about something since Regionals.

The group dance might have been fine if their group hadn't been given the theme of betrayal. As soon as Richelle suggested that Piper be in love with Finn and steal him away from Lily, Piper immediately objected.

"Why does it have to be me? Why can't Kenzie do it? Or you, Richelle?"

Finn glanced at her awkwardly as Richelle put her hands on her hips and grit her teeth. "Because you and Finn have chemistry, Piper," she said in a sickly-sweet voice, her gaze flitting to a spot behind them momentarily, which could only mean one thing.

Finn glanced over his shoulder, immediately putting on his most charming smile for the cameras. Meanwhile, Richelle continued saying, "Give me one good reason why you can't dance with- Finn, turn around."

Finn grimaced as Richelle snapped at him and turned back to face her. In the most calming voice he could muster, he said, "It's fine, Richelle. We can dance together." At the look Piper gave him, he said lightly, "You heard her. We've got chemistry, Pipes."

She bit her lip and looked away but seemed to resign herself to her fate. As they started figuring out choreo for the routine, Piper stood off to the side. While the other girls debated the order in which they would dance with Finn, he moved away from them, hoping to ease Piper's nerves somehow.

"You don't need to worry about it, Pipes. It's really fine," he assured her again as he joined her off to the side.

Piper's hands clenched, and she shook her head at him, muttering, "I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Okay, that's fine. But you're the one who said you didn't want anything to change," Finn reminded her. She fidgeted nervously with her ring as her gaze wandered to where Amy was currently choreographing her group's routine and smiling with Henry about something.

Even though the last thing Finn wanted to do was forget about Piper's feelings for him, it seemed like that was the only thing that might put her nerves at ease right now. With a sigh, he reluctantly continued with, "I don't even know what you're so upset about. What were we talking about earlier? It seems to have slipped my mind."

He looked at her seriously, and she finally allowed herself to meet his gaze, the corners of her lips twitching upward though her eyes appeared watery again. He gave her a small half-smile, and she nodded once to herself, her shoulders rising and falling as she let out a deep breath.

"Are you two planning on contributing to this dance at all, or do we have to do it all ourselves?"

Richelle's voice effectively ended their conversation, and Finn nudged Piper with his arm. "Come on," he muttered before leading the way back to the rest of their group. Piper followed behind him, appearing a little more at ease.

They spent the next hour choreographing their dance to "Not A Love Song." It admittedly wasn't much time, but Finn thought the dance was fine for the amount of time they'd been given. Amy's group performed first, and she ran over to Piper and Finn with a big grin on her face after receiving high praise from Sean.

"Good luck, you guys! Not that you need it. You'll be great," Amy told them excitedly.

Piper glanced at her, nodding weakly before moving to the center of the studio. Finn watched her go, biting the inside of his lip guiltily. As long as he was still with Amy, Piper was going to continue beating herself up for having feelings for him. He glanced at his girlfriend and gave a forced smile before joining his group in the middle of the room, wishing that he could go back in time and stop himself from asking Amy out altogether, if only to save Piper from the heartache she was currently experiencing.

There wasn't anything truly special about their dance. Finn did a lift with Richelle then danced a little bit with both Kenzie and Lily before Piper came into the routine and "stole" him away. She met his gaze as she grasped his hand with hers, and Finn wrapped his arm around her waist. They swayed in time to the music, her head resting on his chest, and for a moment, Finn flashed back to dancing with her at prom – the night that had changed everything for them.

Dancing with her that night had meant everything to him. It meant even more to him now. Because back then, Piper had been his crush – the mysterious girl who Finn would give anything just to have a conversation with. But now, she was so much more than that. She was his best friend – the girl he'd spent hours theorizing about Hotel Dystopia with, and who he stayed up way too late texting at night when she couldn't sleep, and who made him feel like less of the airhead most people wrote him off as and more like the person he actually wanted to be.

Piper meant everything to Finn. Dancing with her was unlike dancing with anyone else. When it was just the two of them, he forgot about the rest of the world. It was just the two of them, together, and that was all that mattered.

When the dance came to an end, Finn carefully set Piper back down from their lift. Her face was so close to his, and his breath momentarily caught, his gaze flicking from her beautiful brown eyes to her lips. If he leaned in just a little more, he could have kissed her.

But then she turned away from him, and he took a step away from her, pulled back to reality as their teammates clapped for them all. Sean was praising both dances, but Finn barely heard him as he looked back to Piper, his heart still racing from the moment they'd just had. She caught his eye for a moment before looking away, wiping her palms on her leggings.

"You did so good!" Amy had skipped over to him, grinning and squeezing his arm.

Finn smiled and thanked her before glancing around for Piper again. The cameras had stopped rolling and were packing up, and the team was dispersing. Piper had disappeared, and Finn felt a twinge of disappointment at the realization that she was gone, but then he turned back to Amy, who looked like she was having the best day of her life.

He hated that he was about to ruin it.

"You want to go to The Next Steep?" he suggested, an uncomfortable feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. His least favorite thing in the world was hurting and letting down the people he cared about.

This is the right thing to do, he reminded himself as Amy agreed. Something in her mood had shifted as soon as he had suggested The Next Steep, and her grin had faltered. She didn't reach for his hand as they navigated through the hallways to the café.

Finn paid for both of their drinks, and Amy let him as she went to find a table. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the conversation they were about to have as he carried their drinks to the table.

"Thank you," Amy said with a small smile as he set her green tea in front of her.

He sat in the seat next to her, trying not to think about how this was the exact same spot he'd been sitting in when he'd asked her out just a couple of weeks before.

"So... What did you want to talk about?" Amy asked, raising her eyebrows at him as she took a sip of her tea.

Finn had run through this conversation in his head so many times last night. Preparing in advance for things wasn't one of his strengths, but he could be serious about it when he needed to be, and this was one of those times.

"Amy, these last couple of weeks have been a lot of fun," he started just as he had planned.

She took a deep breath, stating candidly before he could continue, "You're breaking up with me, aren't you?"

Finn paused, frowning, his eyebrows knitting together as he asked, "How'd you know?"

Amy simply shrugged. "You've been kind of off all day, and it's rarely a good sign when someone says they want to talk."

"I'm sorry," Finn told her, and he really was. He'd thought dating her to move on from Piper had been a good plan at the time, but having feelings for two different people was complicated and confusing, and no matter how much he may have liked Amy at one point, his feelings for Piper were always going to be stronger. He knew that now. He wished he'd known it two weeks ago, so he could have saved Amy the heartache.

But Amy wasn't crying. In fact, she was smiling. It was a sad smile that didn't light up her eyes like usual, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"Honestly Finn, we were doomed from the start."

"What do you mean?"

Amy pursed her lips for a moment, hands wrapping around her tea as she admitted, "I never really got over Henry after what happened last year. I told myself I had because it made it easier to see him with Summer, but then..."

"They broke up." Finn filled in the blank confidently, but she simply quirked an eyebrow and corrected him.

"Then you asked me out, and I don't know. I guess I thought Henry had moved on and you'd be a fun distraction."

"Wow, that makes me feel really good about myself," Finn joked, and she let out a short laugh, still smiling sadly at him.

"I'm sorry," she told him sincerely, "I shouldn't have agreed to go out with you if I still liked someone else. That wasn't fair."

Finn shrugged at that, noting the irony of her statement as he told her, "Honestly, I asked you out because I was trying to move on from Piper."

"Like I said- doomed."

They fell quiet for a moment, and Finn marveled at how much better this conversation was going than the one he had envisioned in his head. It was a relief in a way. He certainly felt better knowing that there was a chance he and Amy could stay friends after all was said and done. They had formed a good friendship in their two short weeks together if nothing else.

"So, Henry, eh?" he asked in an attempt to lighten the somber mood that had settled around them.

The corners of Amy's lips twitched, and she shrugged. "He just gets me, you know? We've always had this connection, kind of like you and Piper."

This had to be the weirdest break-up ever. Neither of them was crying, and they were already talking about their feelings for other people.

Yet somehow, it felt strangely right for them.

Amy had looked up at him, a knowing glint already in her eye as she asked, "You really like her?"

Slowly, Finn nodded. "I did like you, just so you know," he assured her, "But Piper's..."

He didn't finish the sentence because he wasn't sure there was a word that could even describe everything Piper was to him at once. Amy seemed to understand anyway.

"We were just a fling, Finn," she told him, "I mean, I know I never thought we were going to be together forever. We were just having fun."

"We did have fun together," Finn said, thinking fondly of the night where they had spent a good half hour laughing together over Darrell's voice. "But I thought the same thing."

"We're not a bad match for two people who were never meant to be together."

"We're way better as friends."

"Definitely," Amy agreed with a laugh. Still smiling, she turned more serious as she asked, "Does she like you?"

Finn took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, she does."

"Maybe I should have known," Amy muttered, looking away. "She's always different with you."

"How so?"

"She's happier, freer almost," Amy mused, "But she kept insisting she didn't like you, so I was inclined to believe her. I never would have dated you if I'd known."

"She tends to challenge most new things," Finn murmured, thinking back to the day in the locker room when he'd told Piper the same thing to her face. The same day he'd asked out Amy.

"No one hates change more than Piper," Amy agreed with a wry smile. They glanced at each other, and she crossed her arms on top of the table. "If you two do end up together, it's okay with me."

"Really?" Finn asked hopefully.

"I just want her to be happy," Amy told him seriously. Her gaze narrowed as she added in a harsher tone, "But if you ever hurt her, you will face my wrath."

Finn didn't know what Amy's wrath entailed, but if he ever hurt Piper, he would deserve whatever it was and then some.

"Hey, I can put in a good word for you with Henry. I can totally be your wingman," he offered, completely serious.

Amy simply laughed, her eyes shining in amusement. "That's not necessary, but thank you. I think I can handle myself. I have a little bit of experience in the romance department, you know."

"Okay, but I'm 100% serious. Just say the word, and I'll do it."

"I appreciate that, Chai Guy."

Finn grinned at the nickname, and they smiled at each other.

He and Amy were going to be okay. He appreciated her giving him her blessing to be with Piper, knowing she cared just as much about their best friend as he did. Piper had always been their common link after all.

It made Finn nervous to think about how his relationship with Piper could soon change forever. He was all too aware of how relationships could fall apart after watching his parents' marriage fall apart as a child. Dating Amy had been easy because there had been less at stake with her. But with Piper, they'd be putting everything on the line.

Even still, Finn would rather take a chance on the best thing that could ever happen to him than play it safe and spend the rest of his life wondering what could have been.

Piper was a risk he had to take, and he'd spend the rest of his life taking that risk if that was what falling in love took.

He just hoped that she would be willing to take the risk too.

Chapter Text

Every time Piper thought of confessing her feelings to Finn in the locker room, her flight instinct wanted to kick into overdrive. Even after multiple reassurances from Finn and asking him to forget about it completely, Piper still felt like a nervous wreck. And as if things weren't bad enough, she'd had to dance with Finn in front of the Dancemania cameras and their entire team while trying to pretend like everything was fine. She usually loved dancing with Finn, but doing so yesterday had only filled her with dread as it only reminded her of what she could have had if only she'd spoken up sooner.

Frankly, she wasn't convinced having feelings for her best friend was worth all this trouble.

Every part of Piper wanted to run away from this entirely, but it was the love she had for Finn and Amy that kept her from doing so. Regardless of anyone's feelings, they were still her best friends. She couldn't lose them- not right now, not in the middle of preparation for Dancemania, which was enough of a stressor on its own. The thought of performing on live national television both excited her and made her want to hide under the covers of her bed, never to emerge again.

Becoming a professional dancer would be a dream come true, but performing in front of millions of people watching from home?

Yeah, no pressure or anything. No pressure at all.

Despite her nerves and the restless energy that had been coursing through her over the last few days, Piper was desperate to attain some sense of normalcy when she arrived at the studio that afternoon. If she really didn't want her feelings for Finn to change anything between them, then she had to stop letting her nerves control her and start acting as if nothing had happened at all.

Unfortunately, that was much easier said than done.

In true Finn fashion, he strode into Studio A with Ozzy only a couple of minutes before rehearsal was due to start. Piper's heart sped up just at the sight of him and even more so when he started to approach her. She took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as she tried to focus her attention on stretching.

No need to be nervous. It's just Finn, she reminded herself. If he was weirded out by her feelings for him, he wasn't acting like it.

He was too good to be real sometimes.

"Hey Pipes." Finn grinned down at her as he began stretching next to her.

It's just Finn. Just be normal. You can do this.

Piper managed a small smile and told him, "You really should give yourself more time to stretch before rehearsals."

He grinned and rolled his eyes. "I've got plenty of time. Nick and Emily aren't even here yet."

"Does it really never bother you to cut it so close every day?"

"Nope."

"But what if you hit traffic or something goes wrong on your way here?"

"I give myself plenty of time to get here," Finn retorted, "Give me some credit, Pipes."

Their usual, easy banter still came so naturally, and Piper's smile grew genuine as she looked up at him. Maybe all hope for their friendship wasn't completely lost after all.

"Oh hey," Finn started to say. "I also have to tell you- me and Amy—"

He cut himself off abruptly, his attention caught on something just outside the doors of Studio A.

"What about you and Amy?" Piper asked, but Finn didn't seem to hear her. Curiously, she followed his shocked gaze to the door to see Nick and Emily entering the studio, Miss Angela right behind them.

Wait- Miss Angela?

Piper's breath caught in her throat, an uneasy feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. She was completely frozen in place as she gaped at the unwelcome visitor. What was Miss Angela doing here?

"Okay, A-Troupe, gather around," Emily called.

The other dancers were sharing confused glances as they gathered around their studio head. Piper stayed frozen on the floor, her mind racing. Had Miss Angela come to see Lily or something? Surely that had to be it. She was just here to see Lily, and then she would be gone.

"Piper."

Finn's voice pulled her out of her reverie long enough for her to realize that Emily was waiting for them. Shaking her head as if doing so could clear her racing mind, she pulled herself up from the floor. There was a look of concern on Finn's face that she ignored as they joined the rest of their teammates.

When all of her dancers were present, Emily cleared her throat, plastering a sickly-sweet smile on her face as she said, "I hope you all had fun with the cameras in the studio yesterday, but the time for playing around is over. If you all want to have a shot at doing well on Dancemania, it's time to get serious."

"But it is supposed to be fun, so don't get too serious," Nick interjected with a well-meaning smile.

Piper missed the scathing look Emily gave Nick, her attention solely focused on Miss Angela, who was glancing around at them all with an unnerving smile on her face.

"Anyways," Emily continued with a forced smile. "There have been some changes to the leadership of A-Troupe." Here she directed another unsubtle look to Nick. "You all know Lily's mother Angela. She will be acting as a coach as you prepare for Dancemania."

It felt like ice had been injected into Piper, nervous chills shooting throughout her body at this new revelation.

No. No, no, no. Miss Angela could not be a coach for A-Troupe. Had Emily completely forgotten about what she had done to the studio last year? About what she had done to Piper?

She completely missed the rest of Emily's instructions, a lump growing in her throat as her mind raced to keep up with what was happening. Suddenly, all of her teammates were dispersing, and Nick and Emily were returning to the office, and Angela was saying something that Piper couldn't hear over the blood pounding through her ears.

A hand suddenly appeared on her back, and Piper nearly jumped out of her skin as her head whipped around to find Finn next to her, his brows knit together in concern. "Are you okay?" he asked seriously.

Piper gulped, glancing back to Miss Angela and nodding. "Fine," she managed to get out in a blatant lie.

"Piper, Finn, is there a problem?" Miss Angela asked.

Piper's shoulders tensed as the woman addressed her, and she wordlessly shook her head, joining the rest of the team in the middle of the room on shaky legs. Finn stuck close to her side as the team began throwing around ideas for their first Dancemania routine. Someone suggested an Alice in Wonderland dance, and Richelle jumped on the idea, throwing out choreo ideas like she had been planning such a dance for years.

Slowly but surely, the dance started to come together. Miss Angela offered suggestions and corrections as she observed the team working. They were running through the first group section, trying to get the choreo down, but Piper felt like she had to be at least five steps behind everyone else. She could practically feel Miss Angela's eyes on her, judging and waiting for her to make a mistake so she could berate her in front of everyone.

Sure enough, Miss Angela called for them all to stop, and Piper tripped over her own feet, nearly crashing into Richelle, who gave her a bewildered look. Miss Angela held her hands out exasperatedly as she said, "Piper, you're several beats behind everyone else. What's going on?"

Piper could practically feel the eyes of her teammates on her as blood suddenly rushed to her cheeks. Had it just gotten a lot hotter in Studio A, or was it just her? She scratched at a spot on her neck uncomfortably, but as her eyes met Miss Angela's exasperated gaze, she found that she could barely speak and tried to take a deep breath that she couldn't manage to reach. Had it always been this hard to breathe?

She was completely freezing up. What was happening to her?

"I-I need, um..." Words wouldn't come to her no matter how hard she tried to finish the sentence, and she didn't even know what she needed. She just wanted out of Studio A and away from Miss Angela.

Her trembling legs carried her out of the studio before she could fully process what was happening, and then she was suddenly in the locker room, collapsing on the bench in front of her locker, chest heaving as she tried and failed to catch her breath. Her heart was pounding so fast, she was afraid it might burst out of her chest as frantic sobs escaped her throat of their own accord.

It felt like everything was closing in around her, and she squeezed her eyes shut, hands grasping at her hair tightly as she internally begged for everything to stop.

Miss Angela. Finn and Amy. Dancemania.

It was all too much.

"Woah, hey, Pipes."

Something touched her leg, and she immediately jerked away from it, wanting desperately to close in on herself, but she couldn't do that without falling off of the bench that was the only thing keeping her anchored to reality.

"Piper, breathe. You have to breathe."

Finn was kneeling in front of her, his eyes wide as he looked up at her. She shook her head, crying, "I can't," over and over again.

"Yes, you can. You're okay. I'm right here. Just take a deep breath. In and out. Breathe in and out."

He was taking deep breaths himself, muttering to her calmly, and she peeked through her eyelids just enough to try to match her breathing with his, holding on to the sound of Finn's voice like it was her lifeline. She finally managed to take a deep breath, and then another one, and her heart rate gradually began to return to normal.

As her sobs subsided, Finn slumped against the lockers behind him, his arms resting on his knees as he glanced around the locker room. Silence lingered around them as Piper focused on breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. Her thoughts felt foggy, but at least she could breathe again.

"Did you hear they're making a prequel to Hotel Dystopia? It's supposed to be about the origins of the hotel," Finn said, breaking the silence, and Piper sniffled, rubbing at her nose as she turned her gaze to him. He was distracting her.

Finn met her eye and continued with, "I still think the hotel's all an illusion, but it could have potential if they do it right."

Piper wiped at her puffy eyes and nodded. "Yeah, maybe," she muttered, her voice thick from crying.

He held her gaze, biting the inside of his lip before asking in a soft voice, "What happened, Pipes?"

She blinked rapidly and shrugged weakly. "I don't know."

Finn hesitated for a moment before climbing off of the floor to sit next to her. "Is it Miss Angela?" She sniffled again before nodding, and he sighed. "We can go talk to Emily- tell her you're not comfortable with her being here. I'll go with you. She'll understand, Pipes. She has to."

Piper quickly shook her head, twisting her hands together in her lap. "I don't want to be a burden."

"Hey, Piper, look at me." Finn sounded more serious than she had ever heard him, and she reluctantly lifted her gaze to meet his. His eyes bore into hers as he told her, "You are not a burden. You could never be a burden."

Tears sprang to her eyes again, and she simply nodded, whispering a pitiful, "Okay," before laying her head on his shoulder. He didn't pull away from her- just rested his head on top of hers. At some point, he wrapped an arm around her and, when she didn't pull away from him, started rubbing her back in soothing motions.

Piper had taken to resting her eyes, breathing in the familiar, comforting smell of Finn and clinging to it like her life depended on it. She didn't care about her feelings or the fact that he was dating Amy in that moment. She just allowed herself to be grateful that Finn was there when she needed him to be, that he always had been.

They sat in the silence for a long time, Piper focusing on her breathing, Finn scratching her back. Finally, he broke the silence to ask, "You want me to take you home?"

Going home would mean being bombarded with questions by her mother, and Piper wasn't ready for that yet. She just wanted to stay with Finn, so she shook her head against his shoulder.

"But I can't go back in there," she muttered to him.

He was quiet for a moment then suggested, "Let's go to The Next Steep. I'll buy you whatever you want."

She reluctantly lifted her head from his shoulder as he stood and said, "You don't have to do that."

"This isn't up for debate today. You're having a hard day." He held out a hand to her, giving her the charming grin that she suspected had been a factor in her falling for him long before she ever admitted it to herself. "Come on."

Lips twitching up into the smallest half-smile, Piper took his hand, and he pulled her up, slinging an arm around her shoulders as they made their way to the café. Piper let herself lean into him because he was right. She was having a hard day, and something about Finn being next to her had always calmed her in ways that she couldn't explain and didn't understand.

The Next Steep was fairly empty in the late afternoon hour, and Piper claimed the couch while Finn ordered at the counter. She pulled her legs up underneath her, twirling her ring around on her finger and biting her lip as she glanced around.

It dawned on her that she had never lost it like that in front of Finn before. She'd been on the verge of tears around him plenty of times, sure, but never... whatever had just happened in the locker room.

What if he thought she was pathetic now?

Finn would never think that, she reminded herself with a deep breath.

She certainly hoped he wouldn't anyway...

He joined her on the couch a few minutes later, handing her mug of tea to her and setting a raspberry scone on the coffee table as he sat. "Feeling any better?" he asked.

She shrugged, gripping the mug in her hands tightly and taking a sip of her tea before staring down at the dark liquid. "Maybe a little." She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before adding in a quiet voice, "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for."

"I've had anxiety episodes before, but it's never been that bad. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Piper, you had an anxiety attack. There's nothing wrong with you."

Her eyes rolled up at that, and she shook her head exasperatedly. "Well, obviously there is because nobody else reacted to Miss Angela like that. You didn't."

Finn sighed, looking away for a moment as if carefully considering his next words. Finally, he muttered, "My sister used to get them sometimes when she was in high school."

Piper glanced up curiously at that. Finn had never mentioned his older sister having anxiety before. "Did she have them a lot?" she asked nervously, terrified that what had happened today was about to become a regular part of her life.

Finn shook his head. "Just a few times- usually when she was under a lot of pressure." He paused then added, "She started seeing a therapist for it when she went to college."

"Did it help?"

"Yeah, I think so." Finn paused before glancing at her seriously. "Have you ever thought about it? Talking to someone?"

Piper sighed and shook her head. "My mom thinks I should, but..." She'd been blowing her mother off since Regionals, claiming that she had her anxiety under control now that she'd mastered her aerial.

Evidently, it wasn't that simple after all.

"Maybe you should think about it," Finn suggested gently. He shrugged at the frown she gave him, frowning back at her. "It couldn't hurt."

Talking to someone she didn't know about something so personal made Piper uneasy, but she didn't want to have to admit that out loud. Instead, she asked lightly, "Why do I need to pay someone when I can talk to you for free?"

Finn chuckled, smiling slightly as he shook his head. "I'm not exactly a professional, Pipes," he said, growing serious again as he added, "But I am always here when you need me."

"I know."

She mustered up a small smile at him before taking another sip of her tea. He dropped the subject of seeing a therapist, and she was thankful that he wasn't going to push her on it. She didn't have the energy to fight the suggestion today. All of her energy, in fact, had been sucked out of her the moment Miss Angela had walked into Studio A.

Piper wasn't used to sitting in the quiet with Finn, but today, it seemed fitting. They simply drank their tea together, and Finn didn't try to keep the conversation flowing like he might have done when they'd first begun to be friends. The silence was comfortable, and Piper was simply content to be next to him.

A-Troupe rehearsal must have come to an end nearly half an hour after they arrived at The Next Steep, or at least, Piper assumed as much when Kingston, Lily, and Kenzie entered the café, their heads close together as they discussed something seriously. Piper couldn't help wondering what they were talking about, and Finn must have noticed them too because he looked curious as he said, "Wonder what they're up to."

Piper shrugged, lifting her mug to her lips to take a final sip of her tea. As she did so, however, Miss Angela sauntered into The Next Steep. Piper froze at the sight of her, but not before the sip of tea she had just taken went down the wrong windpipe. Sputtering, she began coughing, clutching a hand over her chest as she moved to set her mug on the coffee table. Finn immediately began patting her firmly on the back in an attempt to help her out, and after a few moments, she finally managed to catch her breath, holding out a hand as she muttered, "I'm good. I'm good."

They might have been able to keep out of Miss Angela's line of sight if not for the commotion Piper had just caused. Her heart rate sped up again when she noticed the ex-studio head making her way over to them, and she was questioning if she still had time to run away when Miss Angela called out, "Piper, do you have a moment?"

Piper sent a panicked look to Finn, who had sat up straighter, his gaze on the older woman and his mouth set in a deep frown. He stretched his arm across the back of the couch, and his hand grasped Piper's shoulder as Miss Angela sat in the armchair next to them without waiting for a response. Finn gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze- a gentle reminder that he was there- and Piper took a deep breath before reluctantly turning to Miss Angela.

"I was hoping for the chance to talk to you today," Miss Angela started, "I wanted to apologize for my behavior last season."

Piper simply gaped at her in surprise. Whatever she had been expecting Miss Angela to say, that was not it.

"I realize that I was very hard on you last year, and it was unprofessional of me. I hope you can accept my apology." Miss Angela smiled, leaning forward conspiratorially as she added, "Word on the street is you can do an aerial now. We can certainly use that to our advantage at Dancemania."

She continued smiling at her, and Piper shook her head, trying to pull herself out of her shocked stupor. "Uh, thank you," she finally managed to utter lamely.

"I'm just here to help the team. No ulterior motives, I promise." As Miss Angela stood, she said, "I'll see you in rehearsal tomorrow, I hope?"

Piper was simply staring at her, completely dumbfounded, so Finn was the one to answer. "We'll be there."

"Good. Nice to see you again, Finn." Miss Angela left a pat on his shoulder as she walked away.

Piper blinked, watching her go. That was not the Miss Angela she hated to remember.

What had just happened?

Finn seemed just as dumbfounded; his brows knit together in the way they did when he was trying to figure out a math problem he couldn't understand for the life of him. "That was weird," he stated candidly.

"Did that really happen?" Piper finally managed to find her voice as she turned to him, and he nodded.

"Yup." He studied her closely for a moment before asking, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Piper answered honestly. "Ask me again tomorrow when I've had time to process."

The corners of his lips twitched, and they shared a tight smile before Piper averted her gaze. She pulled her ring off of her finger, rolling it around in her palm and trying to think of anything to talk about other than Miss Angela.

Saying the first thing that came to mind, she asked, "Um, so... Do you have plans with Amy this weekend?"

She regretted asking the question as soon as it slipped out of her mouth. Finn let out a deep breath, scratching at the back of his head uncomfortably, and Piper internally kicked herself. Great. Now he felt awkward because she liked him, and she had just asked him about his plans with his girlfriend. Just great.

"Actually, I've been meaning to tell you. Um, me and Amy broke up."

This thoroughly caught Piper off guard, and she hated the small part of her that dared to feel a little hopeful at this revelation.

"What? Why?" He glanced at her hesitantly, and a thought struck her that sent a fresh feeling of dread through her. "Finn, if you broke up because of me—"

"Pipes."

The way he was looking at her confirmed her initial thought, and she squeezed her eyes shut. She had ruined her best friends' relationship. Just great.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want you two to break up. I swear," she started to say, but Finn shook his head, quickly interrupting her.

"Piper, you're the one I want to be with."

He had reached over to grab her hand as he spoke, but she was too in shock to notice.

Her? He wanted to be with her?

"Finn, I—"

She slowly shook her head, once again at a loss for words. She had never imagined she would hear those words coming from his lips. What was she supposed to say?

There was a soft smile on his lips as he squeezed her hand, his thumb brushing over the back of her knuckles. "It's always been you."

She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe him so badly. But yet...

"But... But why did you ask out Amy then?"

His smile faltered, and he sighed as he averted his gaze. "I didn't think you were ever going to be interested." He glanced back to her and shrugged. "I was just trying to move on, but then I heard your laugh, and—"

"My laugh?"

"Yeah. Amy said you do this weird laugh around guys you like, and I'd never heard you do it before, but then you did it the other day in Studio A."

Piper sighed, closing her eyes. She knew he'd known she liked him before she ever set foot in that locker room the other night, but she couldn't figure out how he had known. She should have guessed. That laugh was the bane of her existence.

"Amy's great, but we both agreed we're better as friends. I've always liked you, Pipes. I never stopped."

Piper stared down at where his hand was still clutching hers, and she couldn't help thinking that her palm had to be so sweaty right now, which was absolutely humiliating, but he wasn't pulling his hand away from hers.

His confession that he had always liked her made her heart flutter, but she could physically feel her flight instincts kicking in for a reason that was utterly beyond herself.

She wanted nothing more than to be with Finn. But what if they tried dating, and their relationship went up in flames like so many of her siblings' past relationships? What if it didn't end well? What if they both ended up heartbroken, and she lost him forever?

Was that a risk that was really worth taking?

The hand he wasn't holding rested on top of his for a moment as Piper gulped, tears springing to her eyes. She was starting to break out in a cold sweat again, and there was a nauseous feeling forming in the pit of her stomach.

If they started dating, their entire relationship would change, and what if it wasn't for the best? She couldn't believe she'd never even considered that possibility until now.

"Piper?"

Finn was watching her nervously as she looked up at him and slowly shook her head. "I don't want our relationship to change, Finn." The words sounded distant, as if they were coming from someone else. But they weren't. They were coming from her.

Finn's face fell, but he immediately tried to brush it off, looking down and nodding repeatedly. "Oh. Um, okay. Yeah, that's- that's fine."

"I think it's better if we just stay friends," she continued, her voice cracking.

He was biting on the inside of his lip, avoiding meeting her eye directly. "Yeah. Whatever you want, Pipes." He forced a small smile, and Piper immediately looked away from him, clearing her throat and pulling her hands away from his, wiping her palms on her leggings repeatedly.

The silence that hung between them had turned tense in a matter of seconds, and she found herself blinking back tears.

Why had she just told him that?

It was for the best.

So why didn't it feel right?

"Um, I'll pay you back for the tea and scone," she muttered to him, but he simply shook his head.

"No need."

His eyes reluctantly met hers, and there was a hurt buried deep within them that Piper had never seen there before.

Had she just broken his heart by turning him down? Again?

Swallowing thickly, she averted her gaze again and muttered something about homework before abruptly standing and fleeing from The Next Steep before she had to see that hurt look in his eyes again. Finn had helped her through the worst moment of her life, and this was how she was repaying him.

Once in the hallway, Piper slumped against the wall and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes, trying to stop the onslaught of tears from coming.

She couldn't fight the feeling that she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.

Chapter Text

Amy had been in a funk all day. She had found out that morning that her family's annual camping trip was scheduled for the same week as Dancemania, and maybe it shouldn't have been a big deal, but it was to her. That camping trip was the one time a year where her parents put aside their differences for the sake of Amy and her sister to act like a normal family. Amy cherished that camping trip, and she hated that she was going to miss it this year, but there was no way to reschedule it with her parents' insane work schedules.

Thankfully, Henry had been there to cheer her up and take her mind off of it. After rehearsal with Miss Angela, they had spent a half an hour gossiping about Kingston and Lily's relationship drama with Ozzy and Richelle before finally heading to The Next Steep to grab a drink.

The café was in the middle of its afternoon rush hour, and they had to wait in line for several minutes before finally getting the chance to order. Amy ordered first, followed by Henry, who told Steve the barista, "They're both on me."

Amy raised her eyebrows, a warm feeling surging through her as she said, "You don't have to do that."

"You've been having a hard day. It's the least I can do," Henry told her as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket.

"You know, I could get used to boys paying for me all the time."

"Who else is paying for you?" Henry asked with a laugh as he handed his money to the barista.

"Finn paid for my drink when he broke up with me."

"Oh, that was nice of him."

Amy simply giggled in response. She glanced around at the crowded café then said more seriously, "I'll go find us some seats."

"Good idea."

Leaving Henry at the counter to wait for their drinks, Amy maneuvered through the café, her eyes scanning for an empty table, but there didn't seem to be any. Finn was sitting alone on the couch near the door, and she glanced back to Henry before making her way over to her now ex-boyfriend. Henry probably wouldn't mind sitting with their friend, and besides that, Amy needed to talk to Finn.

As if the news of her camping trip wasn't hard enough to handle, Amy was also afraid that something was going on with Piper. Her best friend had spent the first half of A-Troupe's rehearsal stumbling through the new choreography as if she'd never danced before in her life, and it had all culminated when she ran out of Studio A looking like she'd seen a ghost. Finn hadn't wasted any time going after her, and the two of them never returned to rehearsal. The need to know what was going on was killing Amy inside.

Finn sat hunched over, his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers bridging together. He appeared to be deep in thought but looked up as Amy took the spot next to him. "Hey you," she muttered in greeting. He gave a small half-smile in response, and she immediately got to the point. "How's Piper?"

Finn let out a deep breath, leaning back against the couch and running a hand through his hair, grasping at the curls momentarily before telling her grimly, "She had an anxiety attack."

"What?" Amy asked in alarm. She and Finn had discussed Piper's anxiety in the past, but Amy hadn't realized it had gotten that bad.

"Miss Angela being here totally freaked her out." Finn shook his head, huffing as he said angrily, "Why the hell would Emily bring her back to the studio when she knows what she put Piper through last year?"

Amy leaned forward, frowning as she rested her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists. "Lily said Nick made the offer to make her a coach."

"Then Emily should overrule it. I'd rather win Dancemania on our own than waste any more of my life dancing for Miss Angela."

Amy raised her eyebrows, glancing at Finn in surprise. She had never seen him mad before, but she couldn't blame him for feeling that way. If Miss Angela being around the studio was going to trigger Piper's anxiety, she would rather take their chances with choreographing on their own than watch her best friend go through utter turmoil.

Moving the conversation away from Miss Angela, Amy asked instead, "Is Piper okay? Did she go home?"

"I don't know."

Finn's demeanor changed as the conversation turned back to Piper. His shoulders slumped, and he was frowning in a sad way that was so unlike his usual enthusiastic self.

"Did something happen?" Amy prodded. She wasn't nearly as close with Finn as Piper was, but she'd gotten to know him well enough to know that he was practically an open book.

He shrugged dejectedly and murmured, "She just wants to be friends."

Amy pursed her lips, wanting to be surprised, but honestly, she couldn't say she was. After they had broken up the day before, Finn had told her about Piper confessing her feelings to him in the locker room, but even if Piper did have feelings for him, there was a reason she had never said anything about it. Amy suspected it was the same reason she would tell Finn she just wanted to be friends.

She was scared.

"I'm sure it's nothing to do with you," Amy assured him.

But as if he hadn't even heard her, he continued with, "I never should have even brought any of that up today. It was too much after everything with Miss Angela. She apologized by the way. Like, looked her in the eye and said she was sorry. I don't know what freaked Piper out more- that or her presence in general."

"I didn't know Miss Angela knew what an apology was."

"Right?" Finn rubbed a hand over his face tiredly and threw his head back with a groan. "What the hell is happening today?"

"You two look very comfortable for two people who just broke up yesterday."

Henry had approached them. He handed Amy her drink with a smile as he squeezed onto the couch on her other side. Amy tried not to focus on how they were sitting so close, their sides were touching, and instead informed him, "Piper told Finn she just wants to be friends."

Henry's eyebrows rose as he said, "Damn bro. You move fast. Slow down a little." Finn simply lowered his hand from his face to glare at Henry, who held a hand up in surrender. "I'm kidding. Amy told me about the break-up. You two deserve an award for the most anti-climactic break-up in history by the way."

"Okay," Amy said with a suppressed giggle, laying a hand on Henry's knee and raising her eyebrows slightly at him to silently communicate, "Please stop talking."

He grinned at her but grew more serious as he asked Finn, "So what's the deal with you and Piper?"

"Nothing," Finn sighed, "That's the problem."

"Well, why does she want to stay friends?"

"Doesn't want our relationship to change."

Finn looked more dejected than Amy had ever seen him, and she couldn't help but feel bad for him. Ever the love guru, Henry seemed less concerned about Finn's predicament, however. "Your relationship changing is just part of dating. You've gotta show her it's nothing to be afraid of."

Finn glanced up at that. "How do I do that?"

"Well, if I know Piper, she's probably overthinking everything that could possibly go wrong if you two were to date," Amy cut in, "So maybe she needs a reminder of all the good things that could come out of it."

Finn nodded slowly, his brows knitting together thoughtfully. "Yeah, maybe," he muttered.

"Look, everyone at this studio has thought at one point in time that you two were a thing," Henry stated candidly, "She likes you, bro. If you really want to be with her, you gotta do something about it. Don't just give up on her."

"But if it's not what she wants, I can't push her on it," Finn countered, the hopeful look that had started to form deep within his eyes fading as quickly as it had formed.

"That's true," Amy said, "But maybe you just need to wait for the right time."

"But when's the right time?"

"Whenever Piper's ready," Amy answered, "You said it yourself. She went through a lot today, and it was too much at once. Be patient with her. Give her some time to figure things out for herself then try again."

Finn looked away unsurely. "I don't know. Asking her out all the time didn't exactly work out in my favor last time."

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Amy offered.

Finn glanced at her and shrugged. "If you think it'll make a difference, go for it."

"I'll see what I can do."

He nodded, giving her a small, thankful smile. His gaze suddenly flickered between her and Henry, seeming to notice the lack of space between the two of them. He nodded subtly at her as if silently communicating that he supported whatever was going on between them, and she gave a subtle smile in return before glancing to the boy next to her, who was currently taking a long sip of his tea.

Tired from an emotional day, Finn decided to head home and bid farewell to Amy and Henry. Once alone, Amy turned to Henry, who draped his arm over the back of the couch behind her. "Are you really okay with Finn and Piper?" he asked her seriously.

Amy nodded. "Yeah. They're a good match, and they deserve to be happy."

Maybe it was weird that she had given Finn her blessing to be with Piper so soon after breaking up, but she felt in her heart that it was the right thing to do. All Amy had ever wanted for her best friend was for her to be happy and to find someone who would love her in all the ways she needed to be loved. It had been hard to watch Piper retreat inside herself and lose some of her confidence after what happened with Josh, but Finn brought out the pieces of Piper that she had hidden away. He was the only person Amy trusted to not break Piper's heart.

Knowing what she did now, Amy couldn't believe she had ever dated Finn at all. They been a fun-filled fling and nothing more. Her heart belonged to someone else, and it had ever since an unfinished moment in the parking lot of a tuxedo rent shop.

Henry's eyes searched hers for any sign that she might be lying or downplaying her emotions. When he didn't find any, he smiled softly then pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. "I've gotta run do something right now, but I'll see you later, okay?"

Disappointment surged through Amy at the fact that he was leaving so soon, but she nodded in resignation. "Oh, yeah, of course."

As Henry stood, he pointed at her and added, "But keep your plans for tonight open, okay?"

"What are you up to?" Amy asked lightly, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Just don't make plans tonight."

With a grin and a wink, he turned and strode out of The Next Steep, leaving Amy to ponder his cryptic words. She shook her head endearingly as she took a sip of her tea. Henry could be so strange sometimes, but she loved that about him.

Amy didn't know how, but she had a feeling that they were all going to end up with exactly who they were meant to be with. They were all going to be okay.

Chapter Text

The day after Piper's panic attack happened to be A-Troupe's day off, and Piper spent the whole day reorganizing her bookshelf by authors and wondering what was wrong with her. If she had learned anything from watching Finn be with Amy, it was that she didn't want him to be with anyone else. She liked Finn, and she wanted to be with him.

Hearing him say that he wanted the same should have made her the happiest girl in the world, and it had for a moment. But then he'd reached for her hand, and she had completely frozen up.

Maybe it was all the anxiety she had already been feeling from Miss Angela's return to the studio, but it all felt like too much. Piper had never been in a romantic relationship with a boy before, let alone her best friend. Her friendship with Finn was so familiar. He kept her calm. She kept him on time. They watched movies in his basement and texted for hours into the night when she couldn't sleep. Piper knew deep down that dating wouldn't change those fundamental aspects of their relationship, but regardless, she couldn't shake the feeling that everything would change, and there were already so many other things changing in her life. All of her siblings had moved away from home. Miss Angela was running A-Troupe rehearsals. Dancemania would change her dance career as she'd always known it.

She couldn't take any more change right now.

Piper had specifically chosen to leave out the details of her panic attack from her parents, but it worried her that something like that could happen again. And what would happen if Finn wasn't there to pull her out of it next time?

As much as she didn't want to take Finn's advice and seriously consider finding a therapist, Piper couldn't help thinking that maybe it would be good for her. She still didn't want to talk to someone she didn't know, however, so she called the next best thing: her sister.

Lauren had an undergrad degree in Psychology and was currently working on her master's degree in Boston to become a licensed professional counselor. As soon as Piper told her what had happened over FaceTime, Lauren confirmed that Finn was right about it being a panic attack.

"If it's really getting that bad, you should see a doctor, Piper. They might be able to recommend anxiety medication," Lauren told her seriously.

"But that's the first time it's happened," Piper sighed, leaning her head back against her bookshelf. She was sprawled out on her floor, too tired to crawl the small distance to her bed.

"Do you feel like it's disrupting your everyday life? Stopping you from things you otherwise wouldn't think twice about?"

Piper bit her lip, her eyes watering as she shrugged dejectedly. "I don't know," she muttered, but then she thought of all the things in the last year that she had talked herself out of because she was too afraid of what could happen or just frankly hadn't been feeling up for because of restless nerves and knew that the answer was really yes.

Lauren seemed to suspect this anyway without her needing to say it. "Think about it, okay? I'm serious. What do Mom and Dad think?"

"I haven't exactly told them," Piper mumbled, and her sister gave her an exasperated look.

"Piper, they need to know."

"You're not going to tell them, are you?"

Lauren sighed, frowning at her. "I should. Mom and Dad are there to help you. If you're having panic attacks—"

"It was one time," Piper reiterated, "What about 'client confidentiality' or whatever?"

"Sure, but you're not my client. You're my sister, and I have a moral obligation to look out for your wellbeing."

Piper rolled her eyes at that but didn't argue back. She didn't have the energy for it. Lauren seemed to take pity on her and instead asked, "How is the Finn Situation anyway?"

Piper shook her head, staring up at the photos that adorned her mirror. "He broke up with Amy and said he wants to be with me, but..."

"But?" Lauren prompted when she trailed off, and Piper sighed.

"I'm scared, Laur," she admitted, her voice cracking slightly and eyes watering. It was probably pathetic how much she had cried over Finn the last few days (or weeks for that matter). She was feeling more emotional than not these days.

"What are you scared of?"

"I don't want everything to change."

Lauren was quiet for a moment before telling her gently, "Things are going to change one way or another, Pipes. You both have feelings for each other, and you both know it now. Why would you want to hold yourself back from something you really want?"

Piper bit her lip, running the question through her mind again as Lauren shrugged at her. "Falling in love is a beautiful thing," her sister continued, "But there are days where it feels like the hardest thing in the world too. That doesn't mean you shouldn't take a chance on it."

Her sister wasn't the only one who seemed to be thinking along those lines. The next day, Piper found herself sitting alone in The Next Steep, staring into a mug of tea that wasn't drinking itself and brooding over the predicament she'd found herself in when Amy slipped into the seat next to her. Piper mustered a small smile for her best friend, who simply inclined her head toward her in return.

"You want to talk about it?" was all Amy said, and Piper sighed. The whole studio had to know by now what was happening between her and Finn given the way gossip spread like wildfire here.

"I'd rather hear what's going on in your own life," Piper muttered in response. She was avoiding the Finn Situation because running away from it was the only thing she knew how to do. Besides, her communication with Amy had been lacking while Amy dated Finn. It had hurt Piper too much to hear about her best friends' dates when she had been wallowing at home with a heart that felt like it was breaking every day Finn was with Amy.

Now her best friends were broken up, and her heart still felt like it was breaking, but this time it was of her own accord. She should have just taken a chance and told Finn she wanted to be with him too. Now, they were just friends, and there didn't seem like a good way to take back what she had said. Going back in time, unfortunately, was not an option.

Amy gave in to Piper's request and folded her arms on top of the table, fingers tapping against her arm as she said, "Okay. Well, me and Finn broke up, which you already knew that. My dad's parents visited last weekend, and Mom was a nervous wreck the whole time because Dad got stuck at work trying to sort out a big case and wasn't even there for most of their visit. Our camping trip is scheduled for the week of Dancemania because it's the only time Dad can get time off work, so I have to miss it. Oh, and me and Henry are kind of a thing now."

Piper had lifted her mug of tea to her lips to take a sip but nearly dropped it at the news of Amy and Henry. Sputtering, Piper looked at her with wide eyes. "You and Henry are what? You just broke up with Finn three days ago!"

"I know, I know, but me and Finn have talked everything through. We're better off as friends, and he's fine with it," Amy said. There was a soft smile on her lips as she continued with, "Henry set up this whole camping trip for me in Studio A the other night when I was upset I couldn't go on my family's trip, and we talked through a lot of things, and then we kissed, and it just felt so right, you know? I don't really know how else to explain it, but kissing him just felt different from kissing anyone else."

Amy's turnover of relationships never failed to astound Piper, but if her best friend was truly happy, she wasn't going to rain on her parade. Besides, if Amy had to date anyone, Henry would have been Piper's first choice for her. They'd always had a special bond together.

Just like she had always had a special bond with Finn.

She took a sip of her tea, which had been sitting so long it was now cold, then asked, "So you two are official then?"

"We went on our first date last night. We ate dinner together then drove around in his car and talked for hours. I loved every second of it," Amy answered. There was a look of pure joy on her face as she recalled the evening, and Piper couldn't help thinking that she had never looked that happy with Finn. That thought made her feel the slightest bit better.

"I never really got over him, you know?" Amy continued, "I dated Finn as a distraction, but I never would have dated him at all if someone had told me they had feelings for him." At this, she gave Piper a pointed look, and Piper sighed, looking down sheepishly.

"I didn't want to admit it to myself, let alone anyone else," she muttered.

"Why not?"

Piper shrugged, staying quiet for a moment before admitting, "I guess I was afraid of a repeat of what happened with Josh."

Amy was quiet at that, and Piper glanced up to find her watching her thoughtfully, her lips pursed. Finally seeming to decide what she wanted to say, Amy told her, "Finn cares a lot about you, you know?"

Piped nodded. "I know..."

"I'm serious. He talks about you all the time." Amy gave a small smile as she added, "You're the one thing we had in common."

Piper's lips turned up into a sad half-smile, but then she looked down again. "I'm sorry I never said anything. But he's your ex now. I can't—"

"If that's why you're telling yourself you can't be with him, you're going to have to find another excuse," Amy interrupted seriously. "It's not going to bother me if you date Finn. I had a very short crush on him, but you and Finn have a connection that's way deeper than anything I'll ever have with him."

"You think I'm making a mistake, don't you?" Piper asked quietly, her hands gripping her mug tightly.

Amy sighed and shook her head. "I just don't want you to have any regrets." Piper bit her lip at that, and Amy asked, "What's the worst thing that could happen if you date him?"

"It doesn't end well, our relationship goes up in flames, and I lose him forever," Piper answered immediately.

"Those are valid concerns," Amy said, "And if that does happen, I'll be right there to pick you up just like you were for me when LaTroy dumped me."

Piper chewed on her bottom lip as her best friend spoke, staring nervously into her tea. At her silence, Amy continued with, "You're only thinking about all the bad things that could happen, but think of all the good things that could come of it."

"Like what?" Piper sighed, looking back to her best friend somewhat curiously.

"Well, you don't have to worry about him dating someone else because he'll be committed to you," Amy started, giving her a pointed look before continuing on. "You don't have to make excuses to see him because being together is enough. And you can kiss him whenever you want. That's a big one."

Piper reluctantly smiled at that, rolling her eyes, and Amy giggled triumphantly at making her smile. She grew more serious, however, as she said, "You run the risk of getting hurt in any relationship, Piper. Anyone can hurt you or leave you, but you take a chance on the people you love because they're worth it. Are you really okay with playing it safe for the rest of your life?"

Amy was right. Lauren was right. Everyone around her was telling Piper to take a chance. Maybe it was time she finally listened.

When she didn't respond immediately, Amy added in a softer tone, "Me and Finn were not meant to be more than friends, but Piper, I really think you found your person, and I'm sorry I ever stood in the way of that."

Deep down, Piper couldn't shake the feeling that Amy was right, that Finn was her person. She had been running from these feelings for so long, afraid of getting hurt again, but she should have known Finn well enough by now to know that he would never intentionally hurt her.

It was time to stop running and face this once and for all.

Hands shaking nervously, Piper reached for her phone and sent a text to Finn asking him to meet her in Studio A. Amy simply watched, smiling softly to herself when she realized what her best friend was doing.

When the text message had been sent, Piper set her phone aside again and asked, "What do I even say to him?"

"Just be honest with him. It's Finn, Piper. Trust me when I say that nothing you do or say is going to push him away. He loves you."

Piper's heart nearly stopped as Amy uttered that last sentence, and she held up a hand. "One thing at a time. Please. I'm already freaking out enough about this."

Amy reached out a hand, laying it on top of Piper's and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "You've got nothing to worry about," she promised her, "This is a good thing."

Piper took a deep, calming breath and slowly nodded. "Thank you. I love you."

"I love you too. Now go get your man."

Piper's heart was pounding as she made her way to Studio A. Nerves of anticipation filled her stomach, and she wiped her hands nervously on her leggings as she tried to think of what she was going to say to Finn. What did she even want to say to Finn? Her mind was going blank, and she gulped. If this conversation went awry, she would never be able to face him again. She would have to switch studios, or at the very least join B-Troupe with Summer.

Studio A was empty when Piper reached it, and she checked her phone, fingers tapping against her phone case to see if Finn had responded. He had indeed replied to her message, saying that he'd be there soon, but how soon was soon?

She didn't know if she could do this.

Dance had always been an outlet for her emotions and pent up nerves, so she began marking through the choreo for the Dancemania routine while she waited. Even after Miss Angela had apologized to her, she still felt uneasy around the woman. After months of tensing up just thinking about her, Piper figured it would take time to ever trust her or feel comfortable around her. An apology wasn't enough to undo all the psychological damage Miss Angela's cruel words had caused.

Ten minutes later, Finn finally hurried into Studio A, his eyebrows knit together in the way they did when he was concerned about her. Piper stopped dancing and took a deep breath, forcing herself to meet his eye as he approached her.

"What's going on? Are you okay?" he asked urgently. He seemed genuinely concerned, as if afraid she was going to be having another attack in Studio A today. He had been so calm during her panic attack the other day, but she couldn't help wondering if it had freaked him out as much as it had herself.

She simply nodded, letting out another deep breath and reminding herself that this was Finn. She trusted him more than she trusted anyone else. There was no rational reason to be nervous around him.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

Finn's shoulders visibly relaxed, and he nodded. "Oh, good. So, what's up?"

"Just be honest with him," Amy had said. So Piper mustered up every ounce of courage she had and did just that.

"I didn't mean what I said the other day- about just being friends."

This seemed to catch him by surprise, his eyebrows shooting up and eyes widening. "Oh. Yeah, okay. Cool," he stammered, letting out a nervous laugh.

Piper was looking at him- really looking at him, taking in every single one of the features that she loved so much about him. His deep blue eyes that were the most beautiful shade of blue she'd ever seen. The freckles that sporadically dotted his skin. The loose curl that often fell out of the otherwise perfectly gelled mass of curls atop his head.

Just his presence was enough to calm her racing thoughts. She hated having to be vulnerable around other people, but Finn had been breaking down her walls from the moment they'd been stuck in the back row for Regionals together. If she was going to trust anyone with her heart, it would be him. He was the only one she felt comfortable sharing the kind of vulnerability that came with falling in love, and that vulnerability meant laying everything out in the open for him to see.

Her hands fidgeted in front of her as she started talking, everything spilling out of her at once. "Before you came to the studio, I liked this other guy, and we were kind of friends, and I thought he liked me back, so I told him how I felt, and he rejected me, and it was humiliating and completely turned me off to dating and all of that stuff. And when you came to the studio, I was still working through that, and it freaked me out every time you asked me out because I wasn't ready for that kind of thing at all."

Finn's face fell at that, and he started to say, "Pipes, I had no idea you were going through that."

"No, I know. I never told you because I didn't like talking about it. And I still don't, but..." She took a deep breath to steady herself before continuing. "I just- I told myself that I was never going to open up to someone like that again, and when I realized that I might have feelings for you, it terrified me because I didn't want to lose you like I lost Josh."

He nodded slowly, sticking his hands in his pockets. "That makes sense."

Piper bit her lip, moving to sit on one of the benches in front of the office. Finn followed her lead, and it didn't escape her notice that he sat so close to her that their sides were touching, leaving no space between the two of them. There were still nerves in her stomach, but these were different from the nerves she felt when she thought about Miss Angela or Dancemania. They were exhilarated, somehow both terrified and excited of what was to come.

"I really like you, and it really scares me," she muttered, swallowing thickly as she turned to meet his gaze.

There was a soft smile on his lips, but it faded as he told her, "I never should have dated Amy. I just thought..."

He trailed off, and she filled the silence with, "I should have said something sooner, but I figured you got over me when you stopped asking me out."

Finn shook his head, his eyes never leaving hers as he uttered, "I'm never gonna get over you, Pipes. I tried, but... You're the one."

It felt so foreign yet so affirming to hear Finn speaking so affectionately about her, and she gulped nervously, knowing that nothing was ever going to be the same again after this conversation.

Her heart was pounding as she uttered, "I'm so tired of running from this."

"So stop."

Their faces were mere centimeters apart, and his eyes were searching hers for any sign that she didn't want this, but he would find none. His hands cradled her face gently, and then he was closing the distance between them, and her breath hitched as his lips met hers. It was her first kiss, and she had no idea if she was even doing it right, but she was kissing Finn, and that was all that mattered, and in that moment, she knew exactly what Amy had meant when she said that kissing Henry had just felt right because nothing Piper had ever done before had felt more right than this moment.

The kiss was sweet and gentle, and when Finn pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers, clutching her hand in his. Piper's eyes fluttered open to meet his, and a suppressed giggle escaped her lips before she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his shoulder. She had no idea what she was supposed to do after kissing her best friend who might possibly be her boyfriend now, but she did know that the only thing that felt better than kissing Finn was being in his arms.

He hugged her back tightly, his chin resting on her shoulder and his hands rubbing her back gently, and Piper squeezed her eyes shut, wishing that they could stay in this moment forever.

When they finally pulled apart from their hug, Finn returned to clutching her hand in his, gazing at her like he couldn't believe she was real. Piper let out a shaky laugh, glancing down at their hands and marveling at the fact that this was actually happening.

"So now what?" she asked hesitantly.

Without missing a beat, Finn said, "We still have to find out what happens to the concierge." Piper laughed, immediately thinking of Hotel Dystopia as he asked, "You want to go tomorrow night?"

"I'd love to."

Finn's face lit up all over again, and Piper gave him a soft smile. The thought of going on an actual date with him sent a fresh wave of butterflies to her stomach, but she thought that maybe she could get used to these kinds of nerves if it meant getting to be with Finn.

"But if we're going to do this whole dating thing, there is something I have to come clean about."

Piper looked back to him, raising her eyebrows at his suddenly serious tone. "Okay," she said slowly. What on earth could Finn have to tell her that she didn't already know?

He glanced around as if to ensure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation then leaned closer to her and muttered, "I didn't actually get a perm."

A laugh escaped her lips at his confession. "What?"

"I just have curly hair."

"Then why would you tell everyone it's a perm?"

"Because I panicked when Ozzy asked me about it, and do you have any idea how much the guys would roast me if I told them the truth?"

Piper was still laughing as she shook her head at him in amusement. "Do you feel better getting that off your chest now?"

"A lot actually. You have no idea."

"Anything else you want to confess while we're at it?" Piper asked, a teasing note in her voice.

He stared off into space as if really thinking about it then shook his head. "Nope, not that I can think of."

"Well, I guess I should be honest too and tell you that I already suspected as much."

Finn's brows knit together in surprise. "You did? How?"

"Finn, you have curly hair in all of your pictures as a kid."

He frowned, looking away again thoughtfully. "Huh. Yeah, you're right."

Piper giggled and rested a hand against his cheek, turning his face back to her as she told him, "You're really cute."

He grinned again and said sincerely, "Thanks."

Her heart pounded once more as she leaned forward to kiss him for the second time, but their noses somehow got in the way, bumping awkwardly. She started to pull away, embarrassment shooting through her, but Finn simply tilted his head to the side and kissed her anyway.

Piper didn't know if she would ever get used to kissing Finn, but if she could spend the rest of her life doing this with him, she thought she might be able to die the happiest girl in the world.

Why had she been so afraid of this?

"Woah."

At the sound of another voice, Piper jumped, immediately disconnecting her lips from Finn's and yanking away from him to find Ozzy and Heath staring at them, their eyes wide in shock. Piper could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks. She had been so caught up on sorting everything out with Finn that she had completely overlooked the fact that A-Troupe rehearsal was supposed to start soon and anyone could have walked in on them during this entire conversation.

A very poor oversight, on her part.

There was a smirk on Ozzy's face as he looked between the two of them. "It's about time you two figured out you liked each other."

"Shut up, Ozzy," Finn grumbled. The tips of his ears had turned pink.

"I guess this means you're not coming to Funder Town this weekend then," Heath commented, also smirking but not as ruthlessly as Ozzy.

"Nah, bro, I've got a date." Finn looked back to Piper, squeezing her hand, and she smiled, squeezing back.

Ozzy and Heath groaned and moved to the middle of the studio to begin warming up. As they went, Heath grumbled, "How is everyone on this team finding love except for us?"

"I hope you weren't wanting to keep this a secret," Finn said regretfully as he turned back to Piper.

She simply shrugged. As much as she hated Ozzy and Heath catching them kissing, maybe it was actually for the best. They didn't have to worry about telling the team they were dating if Ozzy did it for them.

"That's okay," she told Finn, "Keeping it a secret would be too much pressure, and I don't need any more of that in my life right now."

Finn's lips twitched up into an understanding half-smile, and he leaned in to kiss her again. Piper only let him kiss her for a second before pulling away and giving him a pointed look. He pouted in response and asked, "What?"

"Ozzy and Heath are right there," she snapped in a quiet voice.

"Hey, I've been dreaming about this for months. Ozzy's not stopping me from savoring every second of this."

Piper smiled in spite of herself at the thought that he'd been dreaming about kissing her for months. It sent a warm feeling of affection through her, and she squeezed his hand again before saying, "Let's just keep the kissing in public to a minimum, okay?"

Finn nodded, accepting her request. "If you insist."

He pulled her up, and they began stretching and warming up for rehearsal together as the rest of the team slowly began to trickle into Studio A. When Amy entered with Henry, she immediately caught Piper's gaze and raised her eyebrows curiously, eyes darting between her and Finn. Piper simply nodded and gave her a small smile, and an excited grin broke out on Amy's face.

Kingston and Lily were the last ones to arrive for rehearsal. They were both smiling, their heads close together as Kingston whispered something in her ear, but his attention was immediately drawn away from his girlfriend as Ozzy called out, "Kingston, you owe me thirty bucks."

Kingston looked to his best friend, his brows knitting together in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You know, for the bet we made."

"What bet?" No sooner had the words left his mouth, however, did realization seem to dawn on Kingston. His eyebrows shot up, and he gasped dramatically as he turned to Piper and Finn. "No way!"

Piper shared a look with Finn as the rest of their teammates looked on in confusion. Rolling her eyes at the boys' vagueness, Lily asked, "Okay, what are you two talking about?"

"Piper and Finn are dating," Ozzy answered with a shrug.

Piper expected an uproar of surprise and questions from their teammates, but everyone seemed completely unfazed by this revelation, simply shrugging and continuing with their stretching as if Ozzy had just informed them that it was raining outside. She shared a confused look with Finn before asking, "Is no one really going to say anything?"

Kenzie looked up and rolled her eyes. "Are we supposed to be surprised? Everyone's been assuming you two were a thing for months."

"Yeah, until Finn started dating Amy for some reason," Kingston chimed in before looking reluctantly to Amy. "No offense."

She simply shrugged, sharing a look with Henry before saying cryptically, "While we're on the topic of couples though..."

Everyone turned their attention from Piper and Finn to Amy, who was looking to Henry expectantly. He grinned and announced, "Me and Amy are dating too."

This caused more of a reaction amongst A-Troupe as Kenzie demanded to know when this had happened and Heath fell backwards to sprawl out on the floor and gripe about how single he was.

Less enthusiastic was Richelle, who was dressed in all black and had her hair tossed up into a messy bun on top of her head instead of pulled back into her usual perfect ponytail. She appeared especially irritable and broke through all of the relationship talk with, "Has everyone collectively forgotten that this is a dance studio?"

Everyone fell silent, looking to her as she stood and turned to face them all, her hands on her hips. "Talk about your relationships later. This is a rehearsal. Let's go."

"What's her problem?" Finn muttered to Piper, who was just as clueless as he was to Richelle's bad mood.

Amy overheard the question and turned to face them, keeping her voice low as she told them, "They took Face of Absolute Dance away from her and gave it to Summer."

"Yikes," Finn muttered, and Amy nodded.

"But Summer's thrilled."

"Good for her?" Piper said unsurely, sharing a look with Finn.

It was no secret how much the Face of Absolute Dance had meant to Richelle. Summer may have been thrilled about being the new Face, but Richelle was on a rampage at A-Troupe's expense. It was a particularly exhausting rehearsal, but despite how hard Richelle was pushing them all, Piper couldn't fight back a smile every time she glanced over at Finn. The feeling of his lips still lingered on her own, and she hoped she could hold on to that feeling forever.

For the first time all week, Piper felt completely at peace.

Chapter Text

Piper had never been nervous to go out with Finn before. They had gone to the movies together plenty of times, but only as friends – never on a date. As she triple-checked her appearance in the mirror, straightening her top again and ensuring her make-up looked perfect, the doorbell rang downstairs. She let out a shaky breath, spritzing a bit of perfume and running her fingers through her hair a couple of times.

It's just Finn. There's no need to be nervous. It can't be that different from going to the movies as friends.

She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder, but on her way out of her bedroom, she paused and turned back to grab a jacket. The theater was always cold, and she had to make sure all of her bases were covered tonight. This was her very first date, and it was with Finn. It had to be perfect.

"Piper!"

Her mother's voice called to her from downstairs, and she called back that she was coming, pausing to check her appearance in the mirror one last time before hurrying down the stairs two at a time. Finn was standing in the entryway, chatting away with both of her parents.

"Dancemania, eh? Piper said you're a big fan. You must be excited," her dad was saying.

"Oh, I'm stoked! It's the opportunity of a lifetime for sure." Finn's enthusing about the show came to a halt when his gaze fell on Piper. "Oh, hey. You look beautiful."

The words made Piper's heart flutter, and a blush crept up her cheeks as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Finn had complimented her appearance in the past, but he had never called her beautiful before. It meant a lot to her coming from him, but it also felt so foreign to hear such a sentiment coming from her best friend.

This whole dating thing was certainly going to be an adjustment.

"Thank you." Piper bashfully pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she forced herself to meet his eye. "Um, you look nice too."

Finn was dressed in a short-sleeved button-up shirt over a t-shirt with jeans, and Piper immediately felt better about her decision to wear her white crop top with jeans. She and Amy had spent forty-five minutes on FaceTime earlier, debating what she should wear and ultimately coming to the conclusion that all of her dresses seemed too fancy for a movie.

"What time does your movie start?" her mother asked curiously, hands on her hips as she looked between Piper and Finn.

"At 7, so we should really get going if we don't want to miss the previews," Piper answered quickly, already pulling the front door open. The sooner they could escape, the less she had to worry about her parents embarrassing her in front of Finn.

"Be home by midnight," her dad instructed as she and Finn walked outside, and Piper simply nodded, grateful for the fact that they were extending her curfew by an hour and a half for her first date. They must have liked Finn if they were willing to let her stay out that late with him.

"And keep your hands to yourselves!" her mother called as an afterthought, earning a groan from Piper and a chuckle from Finn.

"She lives to embarrass me," Piper grumbled as they walked to his car.

"Pretty sure that's, like, the first rule of being a mom," Finn replied lightly.

He sped ahead of her, unlocking his car and pulling the passenger door open for her. He held his hand out to her with a cheesy grin as he said, "M'lady."

Piper rolled her eyes at the cheesy gesture, but there was a smile on her face as she took his hand and stepped down from her sloping front yard into his car. She checked the time on her phone as he ran around to the other side and climbed into the driver's seat.

As he started the car, she told him, "We really should get going. We'll miss the previews if we don't."

"We've still got thirty minutes. We'll be fine," Finn replied confidently. Even still, he shifted the car into drive and pulled away from the curb.

"But we could hit traffic," Piper countered, "And it's a Friday night, so the lines will probably be long."

Finn rolled his eyes, but there was an endearing smile on his lips. "I'm actually on time picking you up though. I don't know if you noticed, but..."

"I did. I'm very proud of you. That's a big deal for you."

"It's a special night, so..."

Piper smiled softly as he glanced at her with a charming grin. Even still, the butterflies in her stomach felt like they were throwing a party. She chewed on her lip, her mind going blank as she watched the familiar streets of Toronto pass by through the window. Finn had begun telling her all about his little sister's new frog over his music playing lowly in the background.

For the first time that Piper could ever recall, she wasn't sure what to talk about with Finn, hence the rambled frog story as he tried to fill the silence with something. What was happening to her? She'd been on a date a handful of minutes, and she was already making it awkward. But what was proper first date conversation material? Everything she had read on Google had been for dates with people you didn't already know, but that wasn't helpful because she already knew Finn. This shouldn't be that hard.

Less than ten minutes in and she was already overthinking everything. This was destined to be a disaster. Finn was going to realize by the end of the night that she wasn't the one after all and that he'd made a major mistake in choosing her over Amy. Oh no.

When there was a break in Finn's rambling, Piper took a deep breath, willing herself to say something, anything. The first thing that came to mind was, "Um, so, what's your theory on the hotel again?"

"Oh, it's so crazy! So you know how at the end of the last one, that reporter guy said there was no hotel on Dystopian Road, right?"

His complex theory about how the viewer was actually Hotel Dystopia was indeed mind-blowing, but Piper was barely following it. Finn's arm rested on the console between them, and she wasn't sure if she was supposed to hold his hand or not. Was he trying to hint that he wanted her to? But he always drove like that, even before they were dating, so unless he'd been wanting her to hold his hand every time he'd given her a ride somewhere, she was going to assume that wasn't his intention. She kept her hands firmly in her lap, fidgeting with the ring on her right hand nervously.

When they finally arrived at the theater ten minutes before the movie started, Piper was pleased to find that the lines for the ticket booths weren't too long. As they waited, Finn asked, "Isn't there a way to get tickets online?"

"I think so," Piper muttered distractedly as she searched through her wallet to see how much cash she had. She'd been so nervous all day that she hadn't even thought to check that afternoon like she normally would have.

As she moved a receipt around in her wallet, her chapstick rolled out and onto the ground. Julia had advised to make sure she had plenty of that, and Piper wasn't entirely sure what her sister had been implying with that piece of advice, but she'd brought it along anyway.

Finn leaned down to pick it up and handed it back to her without a second thought as he continued to say, "You should ask Amy what website she used. When we saw The Nightmare, she bought them online so we could skip the line."

The comment slipped out of his mouth without him seeming to think anything of it, but it sent a pang to Piper's heart. He was thinking about Amy? What was she supposed to make of that?

When they finally reached the front of the line, Finn ordered their tickets. Piper's heart sank as she realized that she only had enough money for her movie ticket, but before she could slide her money to the usher, Finn was paying for both of them. The usher slid him the tickets, and he took them, grabbing Piper's hand as they moved out of line and towards the door. She was too distracted by the fact that he had just paid for her to focus on the fact that he was holding her hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Wait, you paid for my ticket," she said in surprise, pausing a few steps from the doors.

Finn paused as well and looked down at her. "Yeah?"

She frowned up at him. "You don't have to do that."

"Yeah, but I wanted to." She was still frowning up at him, and he sighed, tilting his head to the side as he told her, "Pipes, it's a date. The guy's supposed to pay."

"That's an outdated tradition."

"Okay, but it's how my mom raised me." They stared at each other for a moment then Finn's eyes rolled upward as he said with just a hint of joking in his tone, "Let me do this just this once, and then you can pay for every date after."

The corners of Piper's lips twitched at that, and she relented, letting him pull her towards the door of the theater. "That doesn't seem like a fair trade-off," she noted as they went.

He grinned at her as he held the door open for her and the large group of people who were walking in behind them. Piper stepped to the side to let the other group pass. While she waited, she couldn't help thinking about the last movie she and Finn had seen together, and when he finally joined her inside, she asked him, "Hey, did you ever pay me back for the spy movie?"

His lips formed a tight line as he avoided her gaze and moved towards the snack line. Finally, he said, "Okay, so maybe I'm paying for tonight and the next movie – to make it up to you."

Piper inclined her head towards him and shrugged. "Whatever works for you."

"I'm either going to need a bigger allowance, or we may have to start going on cheaper dates though," was his response, and she smiled in spite of herself.

The snack lines were moving slower than the ticket line, and Piper kept subtly checking the time on her phone. Their showing had started at 7:00, and it was only a few minutes past, but she couldn't help tapping her foot impatiently and wondering why the hell it was taking so long to give people their popcorn. All they had to do was scoop it into a bucket. What was the big deal?

Finn glanced down at her and must have noticed the annoyed look on her face. He wordlessly tore her ticket apart from his and handed it to her. "You should go find our seats."

"Are you sure?" she asked as she took the ticket from him. She was dying to see the previews before she missed them all for the second time in a row, but she felt bad leaving him alone in the snack line.

Finn nodded, completely unperturbed, however. "You've probably only missed a couple of the previews."

Piper smiled up at him, clutching her ticket tightly and feeling flattered that he remembered the previews were her favorite part. "Get me the cookie dough bites?"

"And a red ICEE?" She nodded, and he tapped the side of his head. "Got it."

With that, she left the snack line, rushing to give her ticker to the usher before she could miss any more previews. Their seats were located in the middle of the theater towards the end of the row. As she settled into her seat, she watched the trailer for the newest Marvel superhero movie, thinking that was one that Finn would definitely want to see.

As the next trailer started, Piper's attention was drawn away from it by a couple who had just found their seats two rows in front of her. Their heads were close together as they completely ignored what was happening onscreen, and then they started blatantly making out. In the middle of the theater. For everyone to see.

Piper glanced around uncomfortably, wondering if anyone else was bothered by the extreme show of PDA going on in row H. Her gaze traveled unwittingly back to the couple as she turned back to the screen and gulped. Was that normal behavior for couples during a movie, or was she just hyper aware of it tonight because she was nervous about being on a real date? Would Finn want to do that?

She didn't think she was ready for that kind of thing. Not now. Or maybe ever. The reasonable part of her, however, assured her that Finn would be too into the movie to even think about something like that, especially since he'd been talking about this movie non-stop since the final trailer was released last month.

Finn arrived during the second to last preview with their snacks. Piper had saved him the aisle seat, knowing that if he had to climb over her to get to his seat, there was a very good chance the snacks would end up all over the floor. A few pieces of popcorn rained down on her as it was as he plopped down next to her. She gave him a nervous smile as he handed her snacks to her.

"Did I miss any good previews?" he asked in a whisper that was too loud to really be considered a whisper.

Piper simply shrugged and shook her head. "Not really."

He didn't respond, having turned his attention to the popcorn in his lap. He tossed a piece up in the air and caught it in his mouth as if they were watching a movie in his basement instead of in the middle of the movie theater. Piper would never do something like that in public, but it was so Finn that she couldn't help but smile endearingly at him.

Hotel Dystopia: Do Not Disturb, like most sequels, failed to live up to its predecessor in Piper's opinion. The plot twist seemed like a reach, and there was a new character that she found annoying, but judging by Finn's face every time she glanced over at him, it seemed to be everything he had wanted it to be. To be fair, however, Piper was distracted by the way Finn constantly bounced his knee throughout the movie and by the unashamed couple in row H who continued to show an extreme amount of PDA, so there was a very good chance she may have missed some pivotal plot points.

When the movie was over, they exited the theater with the rest of the moviegoers. Finn enthused about the movie the whole way out to the car, and Piper simply listened, gripping her box of cookie dough bites in her hands tightly. She was already thinking about the drive home. Was he going to kiss her when he dropped her off? And why was she so nervous thinking about it when they'd already kissed a few times now?

Gosh, what she would give to have the natural confidence of her older siblings right about now.

"I can't believe the concierge was the one behind everything the whole time! I never saw it coming," Finn said, shaking his head as he unlocked his car.

"But what was the deal with the death scene?" Piper asked, trying to keep her mind off the nerves in her stomach as she climbed into the passenger seat. "Why kill him if they were just going to bring him back for the big reveal at the end?"

"But they didn't kill him, remember? It was all an illusion."

"Oh, right. Duh."

Finn glanced at her as he started to reverse out of the parking spot. "Are you okay tonight?"

She didn't want to tell him how nervous she'd been feeling all night lest she somehow offend him, so she gave her go-to response instead. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He frowned at her, unconvinced, and she sighed, resting her cheek against her fist as she told him, "I was just a little distracted, I guess. I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I would have if I'd been able to focus better."

"Why were you distracted?"

"Did you not see the couple making out in front of us the whole time?"

"Wait, what?" Finn looked at her in surprise before immediately turning his gaze back to the road. "What couple?"

"They were two rows ahead of us," Piper said, her eyebrows furrowing. "How did you not notice them? They were all over each other."

Finn shrugged. "I guess I never saw them."

"Well, it was gross."

"Why would you go see Hotel Dystopia and not even watch the movie? What's the point?"

"I know. Who does that?"

Piper shook her head exasperatedly and pulled her phone out of her pocket. It was nearing 10 o'clock, so they still had two hours before she had to be home. She half expected Finn to take her home anyway since they had rarely hung out after seeing a movie in the past, so he surprised her when he passed the freeway exit for her house.

"Um, where are we going?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh, I figured we'd get yogurt or something. Is that okay with you?"

"Oh. Yeah, of course."

"Do you think the place downtown is open?"

"Second Cup?"

He nodded, and Piper looked up the times to find that her favorite frozen yogurt place was open for another hour. As they exited off the freeway, she wondered if it was just a coincidence, or if Finn somehow knew that Second Cup was her favorite yogurt place.

When they arrived, the yogurt shop wasn't very busy. They both filled up their cups, and Piper let Finn pay for hers without putting up a fight about it. They found a table against the wall and sat down. Piper dug into her chocolate and mocha yogurt and smiled contently.

"This is the best fro-yo place in town," she said happily, and Finn smiled slightly at her, nodding along.

"Yeah, Amy said it was your favorite."

"Oh. Yeah." Piper nodded stiffly, averting her gaze and taking a smaller bite of her yogurt. This was the second time he'd mentioned Amy tonight, and normally, she wouldn't mind, but considering it had only been a handful of days since Finn and Amy had broken up...

Well, it bothered her.

She turned her attention to shoveling down her yogurt while Finn devoured his own, repeatedly glancing around the store and then to her. They kept making awkward eye contact, and every time, Piper averted her gaze.

"So... How are you feeling about Dancemania?" Finn asked, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. The awkward silence had to be driving him crazy, but Piper couldn't for the life of her think of anything to say. She was sure he had to be thinking about how his first date with Amy had gone so much better than this.

"Um, I think it'll be fun," she answered weakly.

"Kind of crazy to think we'll be on TV, eh?"

Piper nodded, her lips forming a tight line. "Yeah."

Finn let out a long breath, crossing his arms on top of the table and staring at the poster above them like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Yep." The table shook as he started bouncing his knee again.

Piper bit down on the inside of her cheek, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. She had been on cloud 9 after Finn had kissed her in Studio A the day before, but now everything just felt awkward. Being with Finn always relaxed her, but tonight she just felt on edge.

This shift from best friends to more than friends felt a lot harder than Piper thought it should be.

The uncomfortable feeling in her stomach was only getting worse, and it didn't feel like nerves anymore. Her stomach actually hurt. Her discomfort must have shown on her face because Finn's brows had knit together in concern as he asked, "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Piper mumbled automatically, rubbing a hand over her stomach as if that would help somehow. She pushed her chair back from the table and stood up. "I'll be right back."

She hurried to the bathroom at the back of the shop and locked the door behind her. It had probably been a mistake to eat her yogurt as quickly as she had, especially after snacking on junk food all night. This was not the way she'd dreamed of tonight going.

As always, her anxiety was ruining this for her.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket, desperate for some kind of advice, and called Julia. Her sister answered on the first ring and quipped, "Aren't you supposed to be on a date right now? Why are you calling me?"

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Piper cried, her head resting against the wall behind her as she blinked back tears.

"Okay, tell me what's going on."

"I'm overthinking everything, and I've been a nervous wreck all night. Like I have no idea what to talk about, and I couldn't focus on the movie, and he keeps bringing up Amy, and he's going to regret choosing me by the end of the night. And I ate my frozen yogurt too fast, and now my stomach hurts."

Piper was squeezing her phone in her hand as she hastily brushed away a tear that had rolled down her cheek. In a calm voice, her sister told her, "Okay, breathe Piper. Just take a deep breath." Piper did as she was told, and Julia continued. "You're freaking out over nothing. Finn likes you for you, yeah?"

"Yeah..."

"Then even if tonight is the worst date ever, that's not going to change." Piper bit her lip, wanting to believe her. "First dates can be hard for everyone. You'll figure it out as you go."

"But what if I don't?"

"You will," Julia assured her. "Just take a deep breath. It's just Finn. You're going to be fine. I promise."

Piper slowly exhaled and wiped her free hand on her jeans. Her palms had been sweating like crazy all night. "Okay," she muttered shakily.

"Where are you calling me from anyway?"

"The bathroom."

Julia groaned at that. "Well, don't stay in there too long! Get back out there."

"Okay, okay," Piper grumbled with a sigh. "Thank you for answering."

"You better tell me everything when you get home."

"I know. I will."

"Love you. Make good choices."

After ending the call, Piper took a moment to compose herself and ran a hand through her hair a couple of times before leaving the safety of the bathroom to return to her date. It's just Finn, she reminded herself. He was her best friend. She didn't need to be so nervous around him.

Finn was texting on his phone but looked up as Piper rejoined him at the table. "Is everything okay?" he asked as she sat, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Yeah, I think I just ate too fast," she told him honestly.

His shoulders visibly relaxed as he said, "Oh. Do you want me to take you home?"

Piper hesitated to answer, wondering if it would be best to call it a night and try again tomorrow or give the date a little more time. She thought of her sister's assurance that first dates could be hard for everyone and took a deep breath. Maybe there was still a chance they could redeem this date before the end of the night.

"No," she said, "I don't have to be home until midnight. Maybe we could just drive around and talk or something?"

He nodded, smiling softly at her. "Yeah, sounds good."

They threw away their empty yogurt bowls then made their way back out to Finn's car. As he started the car, Piper sighed, fidgeting with her ring as she hesitantly asked him, "Does this feel weird to you, or is it just me?"

Finn was quiet for a moment, and she glanced at him nervously. As he pulled out of the parking lot, he met her eye as he glanced at her, his lips forming a tight smile. "Yeah, it's kind of weird."

"I've been overthinking everything tonight," Piper admitted, still twisting her ring around on her finger.

"Me too."

This surprised her, and she looked at him with her eyebrows raised. "You have?" she asked in disbelief. Finn never seemed to be nervous about anything. She didn't think overthinking was even in his vocabulary.

He shrugged as they stopped at a red light and looked at her. "I really wanted to make tonight perfect for you, but honestly, Pipes, I've just been winging this whole dating thing. I don't think I'm very good at it."

Piper pursed her lips and inclined her head toward him. "I called my sister in the bathroom because I was freaking out. She said dating's hard for everyone."

Finn laughed dryly at that. He shifted in his seat, driving with one hand as he rested his other arm on the console. "That feels like an understatement."

Piper hesitated a moment before asking, "Was it this weird with Amy?" Part of her was afraid to hear his answer. She didn't want him to say that he'd had a better first date with Amy, but considering she'd probably been the equivalent of talking to a wall tonight, she wouldn't necessarily blame him for thinking it.

When he answered no to her question, her heart sank a bit, but then he continued with, "There wasn't as much at stake with Amy."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like, with Amy, it wasn't serious. There wasn't as much to lose when it didn't work out, but with you..." He glanced at her and shrugged. "This isn't just a fling. I mean, you're my best friend, so if things don't work out..."

He trailed off, but Piper knew what he was trying to say. If things ended badly between them, they would lose the friendship they'd been building since he had joined A-Troupe. It was a bleak reality of having feelings for your best friend, and at first, it hadn't seemed like a risk worth taking.

But here they were, taking the risk anyway.

They were quiet for a moment then Finn said seriously, "You're really important to me, you know?"

Piper smiled slightly and nodded. "I know." She took a deep breath, wiping her palms on her jeans as she murmured, "You're really important to me too." Biting her lip, she placed her arm on the console next to his and intertwined her hand with his. He kept his eyes on the road but in the light of a passing streetlamp, she could see him smiling to himself. The tension she had been feeling all evening was slowly ebbing away.

Maybe dating didn't have to be so hard if she would stop putting so much pressure on herself and just talk to him like it was any normal night instead.

They drove through the streets of Toronto, simply talking and enjoying being together. Finn told her how his sister Gracie was doing really well in her dance classes and constantly pulling out random dance moves around the house. Piper enthused about how her five-month-old cousin JJ (a.k.a. James Jr.) was growing so fast. She was in the middle of explaining Uncle Arthur's weird bond with her brother when she realized that the car had stopped moving and glanced out the window. They were sitting in the parking lot of the park near the studio.

"What are we doing here?" she asked curiously.

Finn shrugged. "Let's go for a walk."

"Finn, it's the middle of the night."

"I'm aware." He nodded towards the park as he opened his door to climb out of the car. "Come on."

Piper scrambled to follow his lead, glancing around uneasily as she sprinted to catch up with him. A few lampposts lit up the park, but it was completely deserted. "Are we even allowed to be here? It's closed."

"How do you close a park? It's a park. It's open space."

"I'd rather not get arrested on our first date."

"But you have to admit, that'd make for a great story if we did."

He was grinning cheekily, clearly amused with himself, but she simply frowned up at him. "That's not funny."

Finn sighed and reached for her hand, swinging their hands between them as they wound their way around the walking trail. "Relax. Me and the bros came here a few weeks ago and hung out until, like, 2 a.m., and nothing happened to us."

"But you're with me tonight, which means that something's destined to go wrong," Piper countered, only partially joking.

Finn rolled his eyes at her. "So what's the verdict on tonight?" he asked, changing the subject.

Piper bit her lip, looking down as they walked. "I ruined it by overthinking everything, didn't I?"

"You didn't ruin anything." He gave her hand a squeeze, tugging her towards a bench beneath a willow tree to sit down.

Piper glanced around at the tree above them, thinking it would probably look a lot prettier in the daylight, before looking back to Finn, a sad frown tugging at her lips. "Amy's a lot better at this stuff than me," she admitted, and Finn gave her a pointed look.

"Don't compare yourself to Amy."

"But it's true, isn't it? Your first date with her was really romantic."

"You're killing me here, Pipes," Finn sighed, throwing his head back exasperatedly before looking at her seriously. "And you're forgetting that you're the one who planned that entire date. But I don't want to talk about Amy tonight."

She bit her lip, glancing away at that and supposing that was true. Finn had been hopeless at planning dates with Amy, but he planned this entire night himself, lowkey as it may have been.

"I know tonight wasn't as extravagant as a bike-ride picnic, but it felt right for us," Finn continued, brushing his thumb across the back of her hand.

Piper glanced down at their entwined hands, biting her lip, before turning her gaze back to meet his. Softly, she admitted, "I wouldn't want to see Hotel Dystopia with anyone else."

He smiled at that, resting his forehead against hers as he muttered, "Me either."

A few droplets of water from above plopped down onto Piper, but she hardly noticed as Finn's gaze had flicked down to her lips. Her heart pounded as hard as it had during their first kiss as she took the hint, leaning forward to kiss him before he could beat her to it. He smiled against her lips, the hand resting against the back of the bench moving to tangle in her hair as he kissed her slowly under the willow tree.

They only pulled apart when heavy raindrops started pouring down on them as if the heavens had opened above them. Piper gasped, looking around at the sudden rain shower. "They weren't calling for rain tonight, were they?" she asked, looking back to Finn, who simply shrugged.

"Who cares? It's like we're in a movie!"

Piper simply laughed as he pulled her back to him to reconnect their lips. She let the kiss linger for a few moments, cradling his face in her hands before finally pulling away and jumping up. "Come on!"

She ran out from underneath the willow tree, throwing her arms out as she fulfilled her childhood dream of dancing in the rain. She was giggling uncontrollably, letting loose in a way she only would with Finn as he twirled her around then pulled her closer to him, his hand in hers and the other around her waist the same way it had been when they'd danced in front of the Dancemania cameras.

Piper closed her eyes, resting her head against his chest and smiling in perfect contentment. The last time they had danced like this, she had been afraid that her feelings had ruined everything and that it would be the end of their friendship as they'd known it.

In a way, she supposed, she had been right. Their friendship as they had known it was gone, but this new relationship dynamic didn't have to be a bad thing. She had to stop fearing change and challenging new things and embrace them as openly minded as Finn did.

When they were completely drenched, Finn was the one to pull Piper back to the car, immediately turning on the heater and pulling his grey hoodie from where he had tossed it after rehearsal to hand to Piper, who was shivering in her crop top. She took it gratefully, noting the way his wet curls had flattened and how a few were sticking to his forehead. She reached out to brush them away from his face without much of a second thought, and he smiled softly at her as he buckled his seatbelt.

"We're probably going to end up with colds now, you know," Piper told him as she wrapped herself in his hoodie like it was a blanket.

"Worth it," was Finn's cheeky response, and she rolled her eyes fondly.

He drove her home, and Piper stared out the window contently as she watched the streets of her neighborhood pass them by. All of her nerves had disappeared, and she felt nothing but peace again as he pulled up in front of her house.

The rain had subsided to a light drizzle, and as sad as Piper was that the night was coming to an end, her clothes were beginning to stick to her uncomfortably. She was more than ready to change into pajamas.

Finn walked her up to her front door, and as they went, a thought suddenly occurred to her. "There is one thing we didn't talk about on our date," Piper said.

"It's not over yet," Finn pointed out, and she conceded his point.

Piper turned to him as they came to a stop on her front porch. "Are we just dating, or are we a couple?"

"Is there a difference?" Finn asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Yes! Dating is casual, but boyfriend and girlfriend is, like, official."

Finn shrugged at her answer and said, "I figured if we're doing this, we were going all in, but..." He paused, gauging her reaction. "Is that what you want?"

Piper took a deep breath. It felt so real to make it official, but she'd known that was what she wanted since the second Finn had told her he was going on a date with Amy weeks ago. Nodding, she said, "Yeah, that's what I want."

His face lit up, and he swept her up in an excited hug that literally swept her off her feet. She gasped and clung to him, laughing as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. When Finn set her down, she kept her arms wrapped around his neck, and her giggles faded as he stared lovingly down at her. His gaze flickered to her lips for the second time that night, and his hands rested on her waist as he closed the distance between them once more. She held her breath, the butterflies in her stomach making a reappearance as his lips met hers.

She wondered if he would always take her breath away each time he kissed her.

When he finally pulled away, Finn gave a gentle squeeze to her waist, smiling softly in a way that he only did around her. "I'll see you tomorrow," he murmured.

She bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah, see you then."

He gave a small wave as he hopped down the steps of her house. Piper watched him go until he was back inside his car then finally entered her house, quietly shutting the door behind her and leaning against it. She smiled to herself as she thought over the evening. There may have been a few bumps in the road, but it had ended better than she ever could have dreamed.

They were officially together, and everything was as it should be.

Chapter Text

"The picture's not even crooked!"

"Yes it is! Are you blind? The right corner is at least five centimeters higher than the left."

Piper had been having fun on the group date- until Kingston and Lily started arguing an hour in. It had started when Kingston tried to throw a sock they'd found on their table at Heath's head and somehow launched it into Lily's tea instead. His girlfriend had been in a sour mood ever since, nitpicking every little detail she could find. First, it was the flowers in the center of the table. Now, it was a picture hanging on the wall across from her.

Piper pursed her lips at their arguing, sharing a disgruntled look with Richelle. Cleo and Jude had enough sense to escape as soon as Lily and Kingston started arguing about the color of the table, and Amy and Henry had enough sense to ditch the group date altogether. Even though Piper had been disappointed when she'd realized that her best friend and her boyfriend had disappeared without a word to anyone, she certainly envied their decision now. From the looks on the others' faces, they appeared to be as well.

Heath cleared his throat awkwardly, having pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. "Oh. Darn. I have to get home. It's my curfew already."

"It's only 8:30," Richelle replied dryly.

"Yeah, my parents are pretty strict. Do you think you can give me a ride home?" He had turned his back to Kingston and Lily and raised his eyebrows in a way that screamed, 'Get me out of here.'

Catching on, Richelle nodded and pushed her chair away from the table. "Yep, better get you home then," she said in a sweeter voice, clearly relieved to have an excuse to leave the King and Queen of Arguing behind. Heath followed her lead, and as they went, she told him, "But you've seriously got to get your license. I know we live in the same neighborhood, but this can't become a habit."

"But I don't turn sixteen for another six months."

"You're only fifteen?"

"How old did you think I was?"

Their conversation faded away as they exited The Next Steep. Lily and Kingston had paused in their argument to watch them leave, but once they were gone, Kingston immediately turned back to his girlfriend. "Who cares if the picture's a little crooked? What difference does it make?"

"Um, I care because it's distracting. Isn't it distracting?" Her gaze snapped to Piper and Finn, and they both looked in opposite directions.

"It's a little distracting, but it's not that big a deal, is it? It's a picture," Piper answered, gesturing awkwardly with her hands.

Simultaneously, Finn said, "I have no clue what picture you're talking about."

Lily glared at both of them as Kingston grinned triumphantly. "See? They're on my side!" he bragged.

"They're not on your side! Did you not hear Finn? He doesn't even know what we're talking about."

Piper heard Finn exhale next to her, and she could tell from the way his lips had formed a firm line that he was fed up with Kingston and Lily's arguing. She snaked an arm around his back and squeezed his shoulder. When he turned to her, she subtly nodded her head towards the door, and he nodded just as subtly, already reaching into his pocket to pull out his car keys. Piper stood first, followed by Finn, and Kingston paused in his long-winded explanation of why the art of hanging pictures on a wall was subjective to look up at them.

"You guys are leaving too?" he asked, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Yup," Finn told him simply, scratching at the back of his head awkwardly.

Feeling the need to justify their leaving, Piper quickly added, "I've got a big project I have to work on, so..." It was a lie, but they didn't need to know that.

"And I'm her ride, so..."

Without giving Kingston and Lily a chance to respond, they made a beeline for the door. When they were safely in the hallway, Finn immediately said, "We are never double dating with them."

"You don't have tell me twice," Piper grumbled.

"Kingston said they were in a good place, but if that's what good looks like for them, I don't want to know what bad is," Finn continued, shaking his head exasperatedly.

"Promise me we'll never be like that."

"I don't know. Do you think the table is baby blue or sky blue? That could be a real deal breaker."

"Do you even know what baby blue looks like?"

"I think blue is blue," Finn answered matter-of-factly. Piper chuckled at that. Finn was so straight forward about most things, and she liked that she never had to guess where he stood on something.

Once outside, Finn reached for her hand, interlocking their fingers, as they made their way to the parking lot. He swung their hands between them as they went, and Piper smiled softly to herself, looking up at him with a hint of wonder in her eyes. They had been dating for nearly a month now, but it still didn't seem real that Finn was her boyfriend. Everything still felt so new that despite how nervous the thought of being in a serious relationship made her, it was also exciting. It was the little things, like holding his hand as they walked down the street together or the way he kissed her on the cheek every time he greeted her now, that made her heart flutter.

"So are we even counting tonight as a date?" Piper asked him curiously, resting her head against his arm as they walked.

Finn pursed his lips for a moment as if seriously pondering her question. Finally, he said, "Nah. That was basically just hanging out with everyone. I mean, Richelle and Heath aren't even dating."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Piper admitted, "Honestly, I'm kind of surprised Henry and Amy invited us on their date at all."

Tonight was Henry and Amy's one-month anniversary, and from what Amy had said, it sounded like Henry had been planning a romantic night for the two of them. Piper had never imagined they would ask her and Finn to join them, but she had been so excited at the prospect of going on her first double date with her best friends that she hadn't wanted to question it.

As she was about to learn, however, she really should have questioned it.

"Oh, yeah! I mean, technically I was the one to bring up the double date, but they were totally on board with it," Finn said, perhaps too enthusiastically.

"Wait, you did what?" Piper froze in her steps, gaping up at him. Finn had initiated the double date? Why would he do that? What was he thinking?

Answer: he hadn't been.

Finn paused when he realized she was no longer moving and turned back to her. She had dropped his hand to cross her arms instead. "I thought a double date would be fun," he started to say, but he frowned as he noted the look of disbelief she was giving him. "What? Do you not think so?"

"No! Not if it's their one-month anniversary," Piper snapped. She huffed and shook her head at him, pushing past him as she stalked to his car.

Finn followed after her, sounding wary as he said, "I don't see what the big deal is."

Piper ignored him, continuing her frustrated rant. "It's no wonder they ditched us all as soon as we got to The Next Steep. We all crashed their date. They probably didn't want us there in the first place, but they were too nice to say no."

Finn seemed to be picking up on the fact that she was mad at him. His lips had formed a firm line again, and he wordlessly unlocked the car. Piper climbed inside and buckled her seatbelt much more aggressively than she normally would as she snapped, "Did you even ask if they wanted to double date in the first place?"

"No, but—"

"You can't just make those kinds of assumptions, Finn!"

"I just thought it would be fun, okay?" he repeated defensively.

Piper huffed, crossing her arms again as he shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the parking space. A tense silence settled over the two of them, and Piper shot a frustrated glare at him. His jaw was clenched, and she could practically see the tension that had settled in his shoulders.

In the silence, Piper couldn't help thinking about how Finn had practically followed Amy around all afternoon. She had blown it off earlier, sure it didn't mean anything, but now that she was annoyed at him, she was second-guessing herself. Finn and Amy were both adamant that they were better off as friends, but they had seemed really close today. At one point, Finn had even put his arm around Amy's shoulders during rehearsal. That didn't sit right with her.

"What's going on with you and Amy?" Piper bit her tongue as soon as the question was out of her mouth. She shouldn't have said anything about that. She really shouldn't have.

"What?" Finn asked warily. He didn't look at her, choosing to keep his gaze on the road as he turned out of the parking lot and onto the street (which, for safety purposes, was probably best).

Having already dug her hole with this one, Piper sighed and pointed out, "You spent more time with her than me today."

"Because I was in her group, Piper." He sounded like he was giving all of his strength to staying patient with her.

"You really liked her song?" she asked doubtfully, and Finn sighed.

"Yes."

"Really? Because I've ridden in your car enough times to know that Henry's song was much more your style."

"I liked both of the songs," Finn told her exasperatedly, but she had a hard time believing that he would actually choose Amy's song. It would be much more suited to a contemporary routine, and he was primarily a hip-hop dancer. When given the choice, he always chose hip hop over contemporary.

What if he was starting to have second thoughts about breaking up with Amy to be with her? What if his feelings for Amy weren't really gone at all, and that was the real reason he had chosen Amy's song over Henry's?

She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, crossing her arms as she stared out the window. The thought that Finn was going to have second thoughts about her was enough in and of itself to break her heart, and she suddenly found herself blinking back tears.

God, why did she have to get emotional over everything?

Finn had been quiet while Piper internally moped, but he finally sighed and told her in a softer voice, "Pipes, me and Amy are just friends. That's all we're ever going to be. You know that." His eyes widened when he glanced over at her, and he asked in alarm, "Babe, are you crying?"

"No," Piper said with a huff, wiping at her watery eyes and internally cursing her mother for passing on the ability to cry at the drop of a hat to her.

Finn still seemed concerned as he asked, "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Piper snapped. He reached across the console for her hand, and she let him hold it even though they were technically in the middle of an argument. Reluctantly, she asked in a quiet voice, "Why did you have your arm around her earlier?"

"What?"

"In rehearsal. You put your arm around Amy. Do you still have feelings for her?"

"No, Pipes, you're the only one I have feelings for." He heaved a sigh, staring out the windshield as he slowed the car to a stop at a red light. "I don't know why I had my arm around her earlier, okay? I don't even remember when that happened, but I promise you it didn't mean anything."

Piper chewed on her bottom lip, pulling her hand away from his to twirl her ring around her finger. He sighed, his now empty hand resting on her thigh as he told her, "I put my arm around the bros all the time, and it doesn't mean anything if that makes you feel any better."

"But none of them are your ex-girlfriends," Piper mumbled, picking at loose nail polish on one of her fingernails.

Although now that she thought about it, Finn had always been a touchy guy. He had put his arm around her plenty of times before when they were just friends. Maybe it really hadn't meant anything, and she was just overreacting.

Her boyfriend had gone quiet, and Piper sighed, throwing her head back against the headrest and muttering, "Forget it. It doesn't matter."

"No, you're right," Finn admitted, "Amy's my ex. I crossed a line I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

He sounded so sincere that Piper chose to take him at his word and let it go. If she kept allowing herself to doubt herself and their relationship every time Finn so much as glanced in Amy's direction, she was going to drive herself crazy. Finn and Amy were her best friends. They weren't the kind of people who would go behind her back with something like that, and if she couldn't trust Finn and Amy, then she couldn't trust anyone.

She wordlessly intertwined her hand with his once more, and he glanced over at her with a small smile, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. They drifted into a less tense silence until Finn broke it a couple of minutes later.

"I wasn't thinking about tonight being their anniversary."

Piper sighed and shrugged one shoulder. "Maybe I overreacted a little," she admitted guiltily.

"I wouldn't have wanted everyone to come on our anniversary date either, so I get why they ditched us," he added, "I guess I got too ahead of myself."

Piper simply nodded, glancing at him then watching through the windshield as he pulled into her neighborhood. Finn had always been good at listening to her concerns and making her feel heard. She appreciated that he could admit when he was wrong, something he never enjoyed doing but never shied away from either.

"Maybe next time you want to go on a double date with someone, we can talk about it first," she suggested lightly.

He nodded in agreement, smiling slightly. "Yeah, okay."

Her thumb brushed back and forth across the back of his hand as she noted casually, "You know, our anniversary is coming up too."

Finn's smile grew at that. "Oh, I know. I've already been thinking about it."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! I'm thinking reservations at that fancy Italian place- you know, the one Riley told you about."

"Giuseppe's?"

"Yeah, that one! And then frozen yogurt and a walk in the park, like on our first date, but without the rain this time because we don't need you getting sick again this close to Dancemania."

Piper smiled slightly, thinking back to their first date. Finn hadn't gotten sick after their dance in the rain, but Piper had ended up with an obnoxious cold that had lasted a week afterwards.

"That sounds really nice," she told him softly, "But..."

Finn's smile faltered as he parked the car in front of her house and turned to her. "Do you not like that plan?"

"I do," Piper assured him quickly, "We've just been so busy with Dancemania rehearsals lately that I was kind of hoping to just have a chill night in instead. Maybe we could do a movie night at your place?"

Finn nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Piper leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips then said, "But next month when we're done with Dancemania, we can go to the Italian restaurant?"

"Who says we have to wait a month?" Finn asked cheekily. "Let's just celebrate twice."

Piper giggled and kissed him again before agreeing. "Okay, when we're done with Dancemania, it's a date."

"Deal."

They snuck in another kiss, and as Piper started to unbuckle her seatbelt, Finn murmured, "You're the only one I want to be with," against her lips, his hands still cradling her face.

"Okay," she accepted, telling herself to hold onto the reminder for the next time her insecurities started to tell her otherwise.

Piper didn't want to have to leave her boyfriend, but homework awaited her inside. Finally forcing herself to pull away from him, she uttered, "I should go."

Finn sighed but agreed, sitting back in his seat and watching as she climbed out of the car. "You want a ride tomorrow?" he asked before she shut the door.

"Well, you have been on punctual streak recently, so sure."

"It's your influence on me. You're turning me into a brand new person. My mom doesn't even recognize me anymore," Finn responded jokingly.

Piper laughed at him and told him she would see him tomorrow before shutting the door and walking up to her house. She immediately took a shower and changed into pajamas before settling down at her desk to work on her homework. As her laptop warmed up, however, she couldn't help it as she thought back on the night, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach.

She and Finn had never fought before. They'd had disagreements before, sure, but never an actual argument. What if it happened again? What if they started arguing all the time like Kingston and Lily? The other couple almost seemed to enjoy arguing with each other and claimed that they danced best together while fighting. But however much Kingston and Lily thrived on arguing, Piper did not. She didn't want to fight with Finn all the time.

They had vowed to never be like Kingston and Lily, but then they had fought practically the whole ride to Piper's house. Piper didn't know that she had ever seen her parents argue about anything in her entire life. James and Riley argued occasionally, and while their relationship was now the strongest it had ever been, they had certainly had a lot of ups and downs to get to that point.

Should she be concerned about her relationship falling apart? What if tonight's argument was a bad omen for her future with Finn?

She gulped nervously, telling herself that she was being ridiculous. Even still, the thought stayed at the forefront of her mind, keeping her awake for hours that night.

Chapter Text

"The next game got delayed for another year dude. We're never going to find out what happened to Plasma after he went into the Realm of Waking."

Ozzy was shaking his head in disappointment as Finn sighed in disdain. The two of them were on their way to the locker room, and naturally, they were discussing the new Legions of Lasers game that was entering its third year of development since it was officially announced.

"But the longer it's in development, the better it'll be," Finn said optimistically.

"Or we'll end up waiting for it longer, getting our hopes up, only to be disappointed when it finally comes out," Ozzy countered, and Finn raised his eyebrows.

"You really need to work on being more positive, bro."

"I stay realistic. It's the only way to live life," Ozzy retorted with a roll of the eyes. That was big talk coming from the boy who'd been harboring an unrequited crush on Richelle for years, but Finn chose not to voice that thought out loud.

"Anyways, what'd I miss yesterday?" Ozzy asked curiously. He had gotten stuck at the eye doctor the day before and missed both A-Troupe rehearsal and the disastrous group date as a result.

"Amy and Henry are choreographing the group dance for the first round, and we chose the song we're dancing to. That's pretty much it. Oh, and we had this group date at The Next Steep, but the only thing you missed out on was Kingston and Lily arguing."

"Oh, so it was any other day then," Ozzy replied coolly. "Who all went on the group date? Kingston and Lily, you and Piper. Who else is there?"

They were nearing the locker room as Finn counted everyone off in his head. "Uh, Cleo and Jude, Richelle and Heath, and Amy and Henry were supposed to come too, but they ditched us because it was their one month. That was a whole other thing. Don't get me started." As he recalled his fight with Piper last night, Finn failed to notice the way that Ozzy had suddenly tensed.

"Wait, wait, wait," Ozzy interrupted, throwing an arm out and accidentally hitting Finn in the chest. "You mean to tell me that I miss rehearsal for one day and Richelle starts dating Heathcliff?" His nostrils flared as he uttered decisively, "I'm gonna kill him."

In hindsight, Finn should have known better than to mention to Ozzy that his longtime crush had gone on a "date" with his frenemy. Ozzy had started to stalk in the opposite direction towards Studio A, but Finn put a firm hand on his shoulder, pulling him back. "Woah, hey, we need him for Dancemania. You can't kill him now."

"He's easily replaceable. Izzy would take his spot in a heartbeat. She loves Dancemania."

"Richelle and Heath aren't dating. They're just friends," Finn told him adamantly, and Ozzy scoffed.

"Then what were they doing at a group date?"

"Honestly bro, it was barely even a date. We were all just hanging out, and like I said, Kingston and Lily started fighting an hour in, and the night never recovered."

The last thing A-Troupe needed right now was pointless drama between Ozzy and Heathcliff. Finn never should have mentioned Richelle and Heath at all. That was a mistake. He was going to have to personally apologize to Heath later because even if Ozzy decided not to kill him, Heath was never going to hear the end of this.

With a dramatic huff, Ozzy shook Finn's hand off of his shoulder and continued on toward the locker room, leaving Finn to follow behind warily. When they reached the locker room, Piper was inside, pacing back and forth. Finn immediately noticed the way she was twisting her hands in front of her, and his heart sank. That was never a good sign.

"Hey, Pipes, are you okay?" Finn asked, all thoughts of Ozzy and Heathcliff immediately forgotten. Ozzy glanced curiously in Piper's direction as he put his dance bag away.

There were several things that Piper could be stressing about: the building pressure for Dancemania, the fact that she was one of the six candidates Nick had chosen to represent the team in the high tension Resurrection Round, or maybe even something going on at home that she hadn't mentioned to him yet. With all of those possibilities running through his mind, he never would have guessed what she said next.

"I think we should take a break."

The words came out fast and muddled, but Finn understood them clear as day. His breath hitched in his throat as he gaped at her in shock. "What? Piper, what are you talking about?"

Her brown eyes were shining with unshed tears, and she gestured with her hands helplessly. "I- I don't know."

Finn was at a total loss for words, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind at once. There was no way this could actually be what Piper wanted. She had been fine when he had dropped her off at home last night. They had just made plans for their one-month anniversary over the weekend, and she had seemed excited about it. There had to be more going on here than what she was saying.

Ozzy was gaping over at them, but he must have picked up on the need for privacy because he cleared his throat and shut his locker. "Uh, I'll just let you two talk," he said awkwardly, making a beeline for the door. Kenzie had just entered the locker room, but he grabbed her arm, pulling her back into the hall with him. "You do not want to go in there right now."

"What? Why not?"

Finn ignored them, his attention focused solely on his girlfriend. "Piper, what's going on? Where is this coming from?" She was chewing on her lip nervously and avoiding meeting his eye. "We were fine last night."

"Were we?" she asked quietly, and Finn frowned uncertainly.

"I mean, yeah, I thought so. Were we not?"

Her beautiful brown eyes met his, and he felt a strong resignation deep within him to work through whatever this was. There was no way he was letting their relationship end a month in, not after everything they'd been through and all of the running in circles they'd done just to get to this point. Finn wanted to be with Piper, and he knew she wanted to be with him. He wasn't giving up on her, and he wasn't going to let her give up on this relationship either.

"Are you forgetting the fight we had last night?" Piper asked with a sigh. She picked up his dance bag from where he had set it haphazardly on the bench and dropped it on the floor, taking its spot instead.

"No, but I thought we worked through it," Finn said slowly, sitting down next to her. He left a little space between them, but his body was angled towards hers, and their knees touched. She didn't pull hers away from his, which he took as a good sign.

Piper stared down at her lap, twisting her ring around her finger as she muttered, "We never used to fight before we got together."

Finn sighed, glancing away for a moment. He had to choose his words carefully when she was overthinking like this, and after a moment of deliberation, he told her gingerly, "Pipes, that argument could've happened even if we weren't dating. I screwed up, and I get why you were upset about it. I should've thought it through more before inviting us on Amy and Henry's date."

"What if it's a bad omen for our future?" Her eyes were full of worry, and Finn noticed faint bags underneath them. Had she been up all night worrying about this? "What if we start arguing all the time? I don't want to turn into Kingston and Lily. Breaking up all the time sounds terrible."

"I agree. So why should we start now?"

That rendered her speechless, and she bit her lip, glancing away from him. Finn reached out and cautiously placed his hand over her fidgeting ones. When she didn't pull hers away from his, he relaxed and gave her a serious look. "Babe, couples disagree sometimes. We've never agreed on everything even before we started dating. We'll work through that kind of stuff. One argument isn't a bad omen."

Piper took a deep breath and slowly let it out, nodding silently to herself. One of her hands came to rest on top of his, tracing his knuckles lightly with her thumb. "You're right," she muttered, "I know you're right. I'm sorry."

Finn leaned in to place a sweet peck against her lips, and she reciprocated before giving him a guilty look. "I'm committed to making this work as long as you are," he told her seriously.

Piper nodded again, staring down at their entwined hands. "I am," she promised, letting out another deep breath. "It's just- you're the only guy I've ever dated, and I couldn't sleep last night, and then I started panicking about our relationship falling apart. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"There's nothing wrong with you, and I really wish you'd stop saying that," Finn murmured to her. She bit her lip, and he gave her a meaningful look before pressing another kiss to her forehead. "You should probably get to rehearsal by the way. You're gonna be late."

Piper sighed and nodded in resignation, her expression suddenly turning from guilt to curiosity. "What are you going to do today?"

Finn wasn't among the dancers Nick had called in for A-Troupe rehearsal, but he still had plans for the afternoon. "I'm working with Henry and Ozzy on a hip-hop number."

"Do we need one of those?" Piper asked nervously, and Finn simply shrugged.

"I don't know. But we want to be prepared for anything."

"That's very responsible of you."

"It's your influence on me," Finn replied with a cheeky grin.

She gave a small smile at that before leaning forward, placing her fingers under his chin as she kissed him sweetly. When she pulled away, she muttered once more, "I'm sorry," still guilty for nearly ending their relationship.

Finn simply reached for her hand, giving it a small squeeze as he stood and pulled her up with him. With a glance at the clock on the wall, he told her, "You're officially late for rehearsal for the first time in your life. Congratulations."

Piper smacked him on the chest as she frowned and said, "That's your influence on me."

"I warned you two minutes ago," Finn pointed out. Piper rolled her eyes as they walked down the hallway to Studio A. In truth, it wasn't that big of a deal that she might be a couple of minutes late, and they both knew it. If Emily was running rehearsal, it would be a different story, but Nick was much more lax on punctuality and most things in general.

When they reached Studio A, Piper turned to face him in the doorway. "I'll see you after rehearsal?" she asked hopefully, and he nodded.

"Unless you're planning on walking home tonight," he replied lightly. A smug smile crossed her lips, and she shrugged.

"Well, the weather is supposed to be nice."

"Yeah, yeah," Finn said with an endearing roll of the eyes. His hands had found her waist, and he leaned down to kiss her goodbye. She let it linger as long as she dared before pulling away and glancing to where Kingston, Richelle, Kenzie, and Heath were warming up, none of them paying them any attention as they chatted with each other. Piper wasn't big on public displays of affection, but she seemed not to mind the occasional kiss now whereas a month ago, she would have glared at Finn for even thinking about it in public.

"I'll see you later," Finn told her, starting to pull away from her. She nodded, but there was a look in her eye that made him hesitate, and he leaned in for one last kiss.

"Get a room, lovebirds."

Piper immediately pulled away from him at the sound of Amy's voice. Her best friend had approached the two of them, a teasing look in her eye as she glanced between them, and Piper gave her a pointed look. "You're one to talk. I've walked in on you and Henry kissing more times than I can count now."

Amy gave a sly shrug to that, a fond smile tugging at her lips. "We're in love. Why hide it?"

"In love? You were dating my boyfriend a month ago."

Amy rolled her eyes, a hand over her heart as she and Finn shared a look. "Yes, but we were both in love with different people," Amy pointed out lightly, "Love has no time constraints, Piper."

Finn gestured to Amy to emphasize her point, nodding in agreement. Their friendship had never been stronger since breaking up. Sometimes it was easy to forget that they had even dated at all. In a way, Finn regretted dating Amy, but at the same time, it was hard to completely regret what had been the stepping stone in forcing the three of them and Henry to realize what it was that they really wanted.

Finn was happiest when he was with Piper, and now that they were finally together, he was never letting go of her again.

Nick strode out of the office to begin rehearsal and noticed the three of them in the doorway. "Alright, come on you two, let's go. We've got the Resurrection Round to think about!" he called enthusiastically to Piper and Amy.

"See ya Chai Guy," Amy said to Finn before following after Nick.

"I'll meet you in The Next Steep later?" Piper said, taking a step after Amy but pausing to raise her eyebrows questioningly at her boyfriend.

Finn nodded. "I'll be there."

She gave a small smile and a nod before joining the others in the middle of Studio A. Finn set off down the hallway to meet up with Henry and Ozzy. While the rest of their team prepared for the Resurrection Round, they would put in their own time to help the team in case any bonus rounds came up. They had no way of knowing what Dancemania would throw at them, and they had to be prepared for anything.

"He's a conniving, back-stabbing, life-sucking son of a—"

"Can we talk about literally anything else?" Henry interrupted Ozzy's rant about Heathcliff while sharing an exasperated look with Finn.

The three of them had gathered in an empty lounge that Henry claimed had once been a hang-out spot for The Next Step in his first days at the studio. It could have been a comfortable place to relax at one point in time, Finn supposed, but now it was basically just a storage room full of old costumes and dusty boxes of props from various dance competitions over the years.

Their plan to work out some ideas for a possible hip-hop number had been well-intentioned, but the afternoon had been derailed by Ozzy ranting about Heathcliff. Time was not helping him come to terms with the fact that Heath had gone on the group date with Richelle. In fact, it only seemed to make him even more bitter about it.

"What if we do a layout canon?" Finn suggested in an attempt to get the conversation back on track.

"Oh, sick! Like we did in 'Animals'!" Henry enthused.

"Yeah, exactly!"

"No, no, I can't do that," Ozzy said dismissively, "And you know who also can't? Heathcliff."

"Do you actually know that he can't?" Henry asked skeptically.

"Uh, yeah, because he's Heathcliff. He's the weakest dancer on the team."

"I don't know. I think he's pretty good," Finn said while turning his gaze to the ceiling and praying internally for Ozzy to drop this once and for all. He had been wary of Heathcliff at first because of the way Ozzy talked about him, but then he and Heath had bonded over their mutual love for House Flipper, and they had been friends ever since.

"There's a reason he used to be an alternate," Ozzy spat defensively.

"Okay, bro, I am going to say this one time, got me?" Henry fixed the younger boy with a serious stare, his hands pressed together in a praying motion as he said, "Get over it."

Ozzy gaped at that, and Finn slowly reiterated that the group date had not been a big deal. "Yes, Heath went on a date that wasn't really a date with Richelle last night. There were six other people there. It didn't mean anything."

Ozzy sighed, looking down with his lips pressed into a firm line. He kicked at the ground with the heel of his shoe as he grumbled, "Easy for you to say. The love of your life didn't ask out your archenemy while you were stuck at the eye doctor."

Well, how was Finn supposed to argue with that? He supposed if Piper had asked out someone he didn't always get along with, he might be a little miffed too. The difference between himself and Ozzy, however, was that Ozzy had been complaining about it all afternoon. Finn would never complain about something like that for so long. He'd let it all out at once and move on, but Ozzy seemed to thrive on talking bad about Heathcliff. He had really seemed to be maturing, but having Heath on A-Troupe seemed to bring out the worst in the bespectacled boy.

"What's your beef with him anyways?" Finn asked curiously. In all the times he'd heard Ozzy badmouth Heathcliff, he'd never heard the origin story of their rivalry.

Henry seemed interested to hear the answer as well, and Ozzy said, "It's simple. He tripped me."

They waited for the story to continue, but when it didn't, Finn raised his eyebrows expectantly. "And then...?"

Ozzy looked at him and shook his head as if he couldn't understand what Finn was asking. "And then nothing. That's it. He's always had it out for me from the very first time we met."

Finn was reeling from the most anticlimactic ending of a story he'd ever had the misfortune of hearing while Henry held his hands over his head, squeezing his eyes shut as he processed this new information. Throwing his arms out exasperatedly, Henry snapped, "Bro, that's why you hate him? Because he tripped you? Imma say it again: get over it."

"Hey! When you find your bitter rival, and he tries to sabotage you in dance class, don't come crying to me," Ozzy snapped. He huffed as his phone vibrated next to him and picked it up. His lips moved silently as he read the text then he sighed. "I gotta go. Izzy's got some school thing or something."

He bid them farewell, leaving Finn and Henry alone. Henry sighed and shook his head. "Man, that kid's ridiculous sometimes."

"He seriously needs to learn to let things go," Finn noted, and Henry nodded in agreement.

There was a pause, and then both of them pulled out their phones simultaneously to check for messages from their girlfriends. Piper had sent one text about a duet with Amy, and from the sound of it, Finn assumed their rehearsal had been going well. Working on a duet with Amy after what sounded like an emotional, sleepless night was probably just what Piper needed. And if anyone was going to do an outstanding job of representing The Next Step in the Resurrection Round should they need it, Piper and Amy would be the perfect people to do it.

Henry slid his phone back into his pocket as Finn finished his response to Piper. "Okay, I've got a date to get ready for. Let's get out of here," Henry said.

"You and Amy are going out again tonight?" Finn asked as he pulled himself up from the floor and followed Henry's lead out of the storage room.

"Yeah, but we're getting away from the studio tonight. I don't want any A-Troupers around this time. We're going for Italian food. I got us reservations at that fancy place next to the park. You know which one I'm talking about?"

"Yeah, I think so. Giuseppe's, right?"

"That's the one. Amy's talked about that place for years but never gone."

"Yeah, that's where I wanted to take Piper, but we're doing a chill night in for our one month instead. That's what she wanted."

Henry simply hummed to that. "Always gotta make the lady happy."

"Right." Finn let out an awkward laugh, knowing he owed his friend an apology for ruining his date last night. Scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably, he said, "Hey, um, I'm sorry I invited me and Pipes on your date last night. That wasn't cool."

"Yeah, that was really annoying," Henry told him frankly, "Never do that again."

Recalling how quickly Piper's mood had gone from perfectly content to angry when she'd realized the truth of the double date last night, Finn grimaced. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I won't."

Henry observed the uncomfortable look on his face and smirked. "Piper got mad at you, didn't she?"

"Yeah," Finn sighed, "But I swear I didn't even realize it was your anniversary."

Henry chuckled and shrugged good-naturedly. "It's chill, bro. But me and Amy will be crashing one of your dates as payback. It's the least we can do."

Finn laughed and nodded in resignation. "Yeah, I guess that's only fair."

They reached the end of the hallway, and Henry turned to Finn, holding out his hand for a handshake. "I'll see ya tomorrow, bro."

"See ya, man."

They exchanged the bro handshake before going their separate ways. Piper was already in The Next Steep when Finn arrived, sitting on the loveseat by the door. She had ordered him a green tea, and Finn grinned as he plopped down next to her. "You ordered for me?" he asked, reaching for his iced tea as she sipped her own and nodded.

"Consider it payback for the all the teas you've bought me this year."

He pretended to sigh heavily, but it was actually a nice feeling to have someone else pay for him. She hadn't even had to ask for his order. They'd spent so much time in The Next Steep since its opening that she already knew what he would want. Piper was thoughtful like that. It was one of the many things Finn loved about her.

"Who'd Nick pick for the Resurrection Round?" Finn asked as he got more comfortable next to her.

"Kingston and Richelle, but that's not really a surprise," Piper said with a dismissive shrug as she took a sip from her tea.

"I don't know. I probably would've picked you and Amy," Finn said confidently, and Piper quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, you would have?" He nodded seriously, and a smile tugged at her lips. "You didn't even see our duet."

"But I didn't have to to know it was amazing."

"You're incredibly biased."

"But I own it proudly."

She let out a light laugh, and he grinned, his gaze flickering to her lips momentarily as he started to close the distance between them. Before he could kiss her, however, her hand suddenly flew to his chest, stopping him. Her gaze was fixated on something over his shoulder.

Finn pouted at her, and she gave him an apologetic shrug as he turned to find Heath dropping into the seat next to him, a disgruntled look on his face. As if a consolation for stopping the kiss, Piper pulled Finn's hand into her lap, holding it between both of hers as he asked Heath, "What's up with you?"

"Oswald is the most immature scum of the earth I've ever had the displeasure of meeting," Heath snapped in response. He threw his hands out in frustration as he explained, "He stopped me in the hallway earlier and threw a fit about the fact that I went on the group date with Richelle. I'm not even interested in Richelle like that. I just wanted to go on the group date, and she asked me, but now I want to ask her out just to spite him."

Finn raised his eyebrows at that. Heath and Ozzy's relationship had improved significantly since having to learn to dance together as teammates. The two of them got along splendidly when they wanted to, but they still had days where they grated on each other's last nerve and were at each other's throats constantly. Today was clearly one of those days.

"Definitely don't ask her out if you don't really like her. Trust me," Finn advised, thinking back to his brief relationship with Amy.

Heath sighed, nodding in resignation. "I know. I know." He shook his head. "I get it. He likes Richelle, but it's not like he owns her, and it's not my fault he got stuck at the eye doctor yesterday. If he doesn't want to miss out on stuff, he should cancel his doctor's appointments like I do."

"I really don't think you should be cancelling doctor's appointments," Piper interjected, her forehead creasing in concern at this new information.

Finn was nodding along, taking in everything his young friend was saying. When Heath stopped ranting to take a breath, Finn cut in. "Okay, yes, Richelle is her own person and doesn't belong to anyone, and yeah, the date wasn't a big deal last night, but Ozzy's a little justified in being upset."

Heath looked at him indignantly, and Finn continued on before his friend could turn his anger on him. "I mean, think about it. He's had a crush on her for years."

"But she asked me!" Heath reiterated exasperatedly. "What was I going to tell her? No? No one tells Richelle no."

Finn shook his head at him. Heath was completely missing the point. "It's all about the Bro Code."

Heath looked at him skeptically. "The Bro Code?" When Finn nodded, he said, "Like how you and Henry go around dating each other's ex?"

"Okay, but Amy wasn't technically Henry's ex when I dated her." Piper gave a warning squeeze to Finn's hand, and he quickly added, "But I don't care that Henry's dating her because she had feelings for him the whole time we were together, and I liked Pipes anyway."

Heath's eyes had narrowed curiously as he glanced between Piper and Finn for a moment. He finally shook his head in confusion and asked, "So what was the point of dating?"

"I mean, we did like each other for, like, a week, but the point is we liked other people more."

"Whatever works for you guys," Heath mumbled before slumping back against the couch again. "What am I supposed to do? Now Oswald thinks I'm out to steal Richelle from him."

"Just tell him you don't like Richelle like that, and if he's still mad, dance battle it out," Finn told him simply.

"We haven't dance battled in a while," Heath mused, appearing to seriously consider the idea.

"While you're at it, maybe you should talk out all his resentment over the time you tripped him. Do you realize he's been holding a grudge against you for years?"

Heath sat up at that, appearing indignant all over again. "What? I didn't trip him! He tripped me."

Finn raised his eyebrows, thinking regardless of who tripped who, it was probably time to let it go once and for all. "That's not the way he tells the story."

Heath rolled his eyes, but then he gave a curt nod to him. "Thanks for the advice, man."

"Sure thing, bro."

Heath turned the conversation away from his rivalry to ask Piper how her duet with Amy went. After revealing that his own duet with Kenzie hadn't gone very well, he jumped up and strode out of The Next Steep, walking a little taller than before as if venting to Finn had taken a literal weight off of his shoulders.

Finn turned back to Piper to find her smiling softly at him, a hint of admiration in her eyes. "What?" he asked curiously, and she shrugged, looking down at where their hands were still entwined in her lap.

"He really looks up to you. It's cute."

"I don't know. I'm not that much taller than he is."

Piper smiled, shaking her head endearingly. "No, I mean he values what you think. You're like an expert on love or something."

"Oh." Finn looked away thoughtfully then muttered, "I have watched a lot of Rom Coms."

Piper giggled at that. "It's cute how into those you get. Most guys make a big show of hating them."

"Yeah, well, I used to watch them a lot with my mom and Brooke after the divorce. I guess I liked seeing the happy endings," he admitted with a shrug.

Piper's smile faded, and she looked down guiltily, biting her lip. "And I tried to break up with you today because of one argument."

Finn sighed, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "It's fine, Pipes."

"No, it's not," she insisted, "I don't know what I was even thinking. That could have really hurt you. I'm sorry."

"This is the third time you've apologized today," Finn pointed out.

She frowned at him, tilting her head to the side as she looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes. "Why are you being so patient with me?" she asked quietly.

Finn shrugged. "Because I like you."

"And what happens if you stop?"

"I don't know, but I'm not going to, so don't even worry about it," he told her, pulling his hand away from hers to stretch his arm out across the back of the couch instead.

In spite of herself, she rolled her eyes and gave a tight smile, shaking her head. "You spend one afternoon with my mother, and suddenly you start talking like my whole family."

"It's a good philosophy to live by, Pipes. They're really on to something with that."

She smiled softly, but it started to fade again as quickly as it had formed, and Finn was sure her mind was still on their conversation from earlier that afternoon. He frowned to himself, knowing that she couldn't help it when her mind went into overdrive like it must have last night after he'd dropped her off. They had talked everything out, and he felt confident in their relationship. He just wished she would stop beating herself up when he'd already let it go.

"Are we good?" he asked her quietly, his hand playing with the ends of her hair absentmindedly.

She looked up at that and bit her lip, pausing for a moment before slowly nodding. "Yeah, we're good." Her shoulders rose as she took a deep breath and slowly let it out, wiping her palms on her leggings. "I just feel like my mind's in overdrive constantly since we started dating. I keep overthinking everything."

"Pipes, I get it. It's okay."

Her eyes met his, and she gave him a sad smile. "Thank you for always being so understanding," she uttered quietly. "I don't deserve you."

"Nah, I'm the one that doesn't deserve you."

Piper tilted her head to the side, seeming to smile in spite of herself as she said, "Now we're just being sappy."

Finn grinned cheekily at that. "Maybe, but I mean it."

She looked down again, seeming to think about her next words carefully before saying, "My family all thinks I need to find a therapist for my anxiety. I'm starting to think they're right."

Finn continued playing with the ends of her hair as he asked, "Is that what you want?" Personally, he thought it was a good idea, but he didn't want anyone to force Piper into something she wasn't ready for.

"I don't know. It feels too personal to talk to someone I don't know," she muttered, picking at loose nail polish nervously. "But I feel like this has been controlling me for so long, and I'm so tired of it."

Once again choosing his words carefully, Finn told her, "I know talking to a counselor really helped my sister find healthier ways to cope with hers."

Piper hummed to that, nodding as she mulled over the idea of therapy. "My sister said she'd help me look for one when she comes home in a few weeks," she said after a moment. Turning her gaze from the coffee table in front of them to Finn, she asked seriously, "Do you think I should do it?"

"I think it could be good for you, but you have to make that decision yourself, Pipes," Finn answered honestly. "Whatever you decide, I support you."

"Thank you," she uttered quietly.

Finn had seen Piper go through so much over the time that he had known her. He knew from watching his older sister deal with anxiety for years that mental illness was cruel to the people it affected. It hurt him to watch Piper suffer when her anxiety was its highest, but he admired the way she always got back up when her acro and Miss Angela and the voice inside her head knocked her down. Piper was one of the strongest people he knew.

And Finn knew now, after a month of dating and even more of friendship, that he was in love with her. They were 16, and some would say that was too young to know for sure, but he didn't care. Being with Piper was being at home. He was going to spend the rest of his life loving her through all the ups and downs life threw at them.

And as he leaned in to kiss her for a countless time that day, he wondered if she was feeling the same things he was. Either way, she didn't push him away this time.

Chapter Text

"What are your plans for tonight?" Piper's mother asked curiously as she turned into Finn's neighborhood. They had been out shopping all afternoon for the Dancemania trip, and her mom was now dropping Piper off at Finn's house for the evening.

"We're just going to watch movies. Probably eat dinner with his family," Piper answered, watching out the window as the increasingly familiar houses of her boyfriend's neighborhood passed them by.

Tonight was their one month anniversary, and Finn had wanted to go all out for date night. They had been so busy at the studio with rehearsals, however, that Piper had requested a night in at his house instead. Nothing sounded better than cuddling with her boyfriend and watching movies in his basement all evening.

"You spend so much time at his house. You two can spend time at ours too, you know," her mother pointed out as she pulled the car to a stop in front of Finn's house.

"I know," Piper replied with a sigh. Personally, she preferred spending time at Finn's house because they could escape into his basement for alone time and his parents trusted them enough to give them privacy. They didn't have that luxury at Piper's house. Still, she knew her mother had a point. They needed to spend time around her family too.

"We could do dinner with Finn at our house. Maybe one day next week?" she suggested, her hand resting on the door handle as she turned back to her mother, who nodded, her eyes lighting up.

"I'll start looking through my cookbook tonight!"

Smiling at her mother's excitement, Piper climbed out of the car before anything about a curfew could come up. She made her way up to the front porch, and just as she lifted her hand to ring the doorbell, the front door was pulled open by none other than Finn. A soft smile spread across Piper's lips as she looked up at him. "Hi."

"Hey," he said quickly, a look of regret in his eyes. "I might have made a mistake."

Piper's smile faded as she asked warily, "What did you do?"

"I bribed my sisters into building a pillow fort for our date, but now they don't want to leave the pillow fort."

His lips formed a tight line, but Piper simply laughed. As far as mistakes he could have made went, this was by far the least worrisome. "That's okay. We'll just have a couple of guests."

"But it's our anniversary," he started to protest.

"Finn, it's fine. It's not that big a deal."

He bit the inside of his lip agitatedly as she stepped inside. "So, a pillow fort, eh?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in intrigue as he shut the door behind her.

"Yeah, like a drive-in movie, but at home," Finn explained, scratching the back of his head unsurely.

That sounded like something straight off of Pinterest, but Piper thought it was a cute idea nonetheless. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him then pulled away to tell him, "That sounds amazing," her forehead resting against his.

Finn's hands had found her waist, and he smiled softly before reconnecting their lips once more, Piper's arms wrapping around his neck as she leaned into him. The kiss lingered for several moments, and Finn's hand had just moved up to tangle in her hair when someone cleared their throat behind them. Piper immediately pulled away and glanced over her shoulder sheepishly to see Finn's stepdad walking down the stairs. Mark gave a wave of the hand and said, "Hi Piper," as he crossed the living room to the kitchen.

She awkwardly returned the greeting and hoped she wasn't blushing as she looked back to Finn. He removed his hand from her waist, holding her hand instead as he pulled her into the kitchen to say hello to his mother. Afterwards, they moved downstairs to where a decently sized pillow fort took up the middle of the basement.

Gracie poked her head around the blankets, and her face lit up as she laid eyes on her brother's girlfriend. "Piper!" she exclaimed, jumping up and running to throw her arms around Piper's waist. London glanced around the blankets as well before disappearing back into the fort.

Piper laughed as she greeted Finn's little sister then Gracie grabbed her hand and yanked her towards the fort. "Look at our pillow fort!"

"Wow! Did you do that all yourself?" Piper asked, feigning a look of amazement as she crawled inside with Gracie.

"London helped," Gracie told her simply, and her twin nodded, her blonde curls bouncing.

"Hey, what about me?" Finn asked, following their lead and settling down on the other side of London.

"You don't do it right," Gracie told him before disclosing to Piper, "We did all the hard work."

"It was my idea," Finn pointed out, but Gracie simply gave him the most exasperated look Piper had ever seen from a six-year-old, and she laughed, catching Finn's eye over the top of London's head. He gave her a tight smile, and she could tell he was annoyed that his sisters wouldn't leave. She simply shrugged at him, trying to communicate that it really didn't bother her as London passed her the book she was holding and pointed to a picture in it.

"That's the kind of frog I have," she said in a quiet voice.

Piper tried to express interest in the subject as London told her all about the frog she had "given a home" then pulled her back up the stairs to see said frog. London was far more soft-spoken than Finn and Gracie, so Piper did her best to give her as much attention as her siblings undoubtedly received.

When London pulled her frog out of its tank, Piper fought to keep her expression one of fascination despite the fact that frogs crept her out. They were slimy, and there was something about those beady eyes that she just didn't trust.

"Want to hold him?" London asked, holding the frog out to her, but Piper quickly shook her head.

"I don't want to drop him," she said reasonably, coming up with the excuse on the spot.

London simply shrugged and told her, "His name is Finnn."

Piper's eyebrows rose in surprise, and she bit back a laugh as she asked, "Did you name him after Finn?"

"Yeah, 'cause Finn talked Mommy into letting me keep him. But I made it with three n's instead of two so no one mixes them up."

This was simultaneously the cutest and funniest thing Piper had ever heard, but she forced herself to keep from laughing as she asked seriously, "Does that happen a lot? Getting mixed up?"

"Just once, by Daddy, but I think he was just pretending. Finn didn't think it was funny."

"The frog or your brother?"

"Both."

After Finnn had been safely returned to his tank, they returned to the basement. To Finn's utter dismay and Piper's great amusement, the evening progressed with the twins having no intention of leaving the pillow fort. Gracie enthused to Piper about her dance classes while London insisted on watching Animal Planet and wouldn't let Finn change the channel no matter how much he tried to talk her into watching something else.

An hour and a half into their date, they had all eaten dinner, and Gracie had pulled out her bracelet-making kit to make friendship bracelets with Piper. Meanwhile, London had wrapped herself around Finn similar to the way a koala might attach itself to a tree. Despite his obvious irritation earlier in the night, Finn seemed to have resigned himself to their fate as he let his little sister crawl on top of him and watched the bobcat surgery playing out on screen with minimal complaints. Piper subtly snuck a picture when Finn wasn't looking. It was too cute a sight to let go undocumented.

As the bobcat surgery on TV was coming to an end, the voice of Finn's stepdad called for the twins, and then Mark poked his head around the blankets. "Alright, girls, it's time to give Finn and Piper some space. Come on."

The twins immediately began to protest as Finn pushed London off of him and sat up from where he had slumped against the support of the couch. Piper smiled and gave a small shrug. "It's okay. I don't mind."

"It's getting close to bedtime for these two anyway," Mark said with a good-natured smile. "Come on. Gracie."

London had grabbed her frog book and crawled out of the pillow fort, but her twin was more reluctant to go. "But we're making bracelets," Gracie cried, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout that was obviously supposed to convince her father to let her stay.

"It's okay! We can finish them next time I come over," Piper quickly promised.

"When?"

"It'll be soon. I promise."

Still pouting, Gracie relented and followed her dad and sister upstairs. Smiling slightly to herself, Piper carefully set aside the half-finished bracelets and pushed the bead kit aside before crawling over to sit next to her boyfriend for the first time all night.

As she settled down next to him, she noted the look of admiration in his eyes as he gazed at her, and a fresh wave of butterflies was sent to her stomach. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Her question seemed to catch him off guard, as if he didn't even realize he was looking at her in such adoration, and Finn quickly shook his head. "No reason."

Piper raised her eyebrows before cuddling up to him, wrapping her arms around his torso and laying her head on his shoulder. His arm wrapped around her almost instinctively, and she prodded again, "What are you thinking?"

"That you're really good with them."

Piper hummed, hugging him closer as she mumbled against his shoulder, "Why'd you never tell me you have a frog named after you?"

He groaned at the question, and Piper finally let out the laughter she'd been holding in earlier. She peeled her head off of his shoulder, pulling herself into more of a sitting position as she told, "That's a huge honor," her tone light and teasing.

Finn simply rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's everything I've ever dreamed of."

Piper laughed again, unable to stop herself as she continued thinking about the frog upstairs and how absurd it was that it shared a name with her boyfriend. Her laughing seemed to be contagious because the corners of Finn's lips twitched as he shook his head to himself, and then he started laughing too.

"Three n's?" Piper asked when she finally managed to catch her breath again.

Finn sighed and shrugged. "She didn't want people to get confused." He shook his head exasperatedly before fixing her with a serious look. "You can't tell the team about this. The last thing I need is this getting out and ruining my reputation."

"Honestly, I don't think anyone would be surprised," Piper told him, fully serious. She smiled to herself again in amusement before asking, "Can I at least tell Amy?"

"Amy, who will tell Henry, who will tell the rest of the bros?" Finn pretended to think about it before shaking his head. "No way."

Piper feigned a dramatic sigh before peering at him thoughtfully. "You're a lot smarter than people give you credit for."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

She nodded as she leaned in to kiss him. When she pulled away, Finn sighed, holding one of her hands in his as he muttered, "This is what I wanted to be doing all night."

Piper gave him a regretful smile as she asked, "This isn't the anniversary date you dreamed of, is it?"

"I wasn't exactly planning on spending the night with my sisters, no."

"But you did because you're a good brother," Piper told him softly before leaning in to kiss him again. Personally, she loved watching Finn with his little sisters because it was clear how much the twins adored him and vice versa. There was nothing more attractive than a guy who was good with kids, and Finn passed that qualification by a landslide.

"I just can't tell them no," Finn muttered when they pulled apart, and Piper gave a soft chuckle to that.

She returned to resting her head on his shoulder as she commented, "Your stepdad seems like a nice guy. You like him, right?"

Finn nodded, absentmindedly rubbing gentle circles against her back as he said, "Yeah, he's cool. We go fishing sometimes."

Piper knew that much because she and Finn had talked about their love for fishing in the past. (It was the only outdoor activity he enjoyed.) She knew there was tension in his relationship with his dad, who lived in Vancouver, but Finn had never expressed such resentment for his stepdad. Even still, Piper still felt like she didn't that much about him.

"How'd he meet your mom?" she asked curiously.

"Technically, they went to high school together, but he was working in the hospital Mom was an administrator in it when we moved here. He helped her pay for my dance classes when she couldn't afford it, so I guess he's kind of the reason I'm still a dancer. Hard not to like him after that."

Piper sat up in surprise at this new information. "Wait, really? You almost had to quit dance?"

Finn nodded as if this was the most casual piece of information he'd ever revealed to her. "Yeah. And they'd only been dating, like, a month when he offered to pay for my classes. She wouldn't have let him, but I don't think she wanted me to quit dance any more than I did."

Piper had grabbed his hand and held it in her lap, looking down as she traced her fingers over his. She couldn't fathom the idea of Finn not being a dancer. That was like trying to imagine James without Riley or Ozzy without Legions of Lasers.

How different would her life be if Finn had quit dance all those years ago because of financial issues? He never would have come to The Next Step. Would they have even met? Probably not. They would be living in the same city with no idea of the other's existence.

Just the thought of that made Piper shudder. She hardly remembered what it was like to have a life without Finn in it, and she didn't want to imagine a world where they might have never met at all.

The ghost of a smile crossing her lips, she looked up at him and said, "I guess we should be thanking him then."

Finn's brows knit together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"If Mark hadn't helped your mom pay for dance, we wouldn't be celebrating our anniversary right now. We wouldn't even know each other."

This revelation seemed to blow Finn's mind, and he looked away for a moment, processing her words. His hand closed around hers, and he looked back to her with a soft smile. "Well, thank God for Mark then."

Piper smiled at that before leaning forward, closing the distance between them again, one hand caressing his face and the other finding the back of his neck as she kissed him slowly, letting it linger and feeling extra grateful in that moment that they were together and nothing could change that now. When she finally pulled away, breathless, she rested her forehead against his and uttered, "Thank God for Mark."

Finn was looking at her once more with adoration in his eyes, like he couldn't believe she was actually real. Piper reached around him to check the time on his phone, abandoned on the floor next to him. "It's only a little after 7:45," she told him, "We can still have the movie night we planned on."

His eyes lit up at that, and he quickly moved to turn on the PlayStation he used for both gaming and streaming purposes alike. "What are we gonna watch?" Finn asked as he settled next to her again.

"You choose. Preferably something that doesn't require too much attention to follow," Piper told him while checking her notifications. The A-Troupe group chat was blowing up, and she opened it curiously. Richelle had sent a video of Jones' performance from season 12, and everyone was discussing it.

"Hotel Dystopia?" Finn asked after scrolling through the Netflix options and failing to find anything that they were both interested in watching.

Piper smiled and nodded. "Sure. Hey, did you see the video Richelle sent in the group chat?"

"No. What is it?"

He watched over her shoulder as she played it. Jones was full of tricks, style, and technique. He had it all. His team was going to be tough competition to beat at Dancemania. Piper shook her head as she watched him dance. "He's insane."

"I don't know. I think we can take him," Finn said, sounding confident as ever.

The corners of Piper's lips twitched as she looked at him. "He made it to the finals last year before he had to leave the competition," she reminded him.

"Yeah, and we won Regionals in the Senior Advanced Division when most of us weren't even 18, so..."

"I wish I had your level of confidence," Piper told him dryly.

"You just have to stop worrying so much."

"Do you know me at all?"

"I do. That's why I know you won't." He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and she rolled her eyes. On a more serious note, he added, "You're actually way more confident than you give yourself credit for though."

"Yeah, right," Piper said, fighting off another eyeroll. She used to be confident, but that was back before Finn had come to The Next Step, before Josh and Miss Angela had stolen it all away from her.

"I'm serious," Finn told her when she looked at him skeptically. "Confidence is attractive, babe, and I'm attracted to you, so..."

Piper laughed in spite of herself as a warm feeling spread through her that only Finn ever made her feel.

They settled back, turning their attention to the movie on the screen. While Finn could probably rewatch his favorite movies over and over again, Piper lost interest watching movies she had already seen pretty quickly. Such was the case tonight. After about ten minutes, she was already scrolling through Instagram. The Dancemania account had posted about last season's runner-up soloist signing with Maria's management company, and she showed the post to Finn.

"That could be us next year," she said, "Kind of crazy to think we're going to be professional dancers in a couple of weeks, eh?"

"Totally."

"I mean, I'm trying not get my hopes up too high, but it would be really cool to go on a world tour next year."

"For sure! I really want to see Australia."

Piper smiled, looking to her boyfriend as she asked, "Why Australia?"

"I want to see a real kangaroo, and it's on my bucket list to go surfing there."

Piper smiled endearingly before tossing her phone aside and stretching her legs out in front of her. "It's really weird that we won't be able to compete anymore, but this could open up so many opportunities for the future. Amy and I have talked about auditioning for a touring company together."

"I could see you doing that," Finn said, eyes trained on the TV as he spoke.

"What about you? I heard Luther Brown's holding auditions for his tour this summer," Piper said, recalling something James had mentioned the last time she had talked to him.

"But I won't be able to go on his tour because we'll be on the Dancemania tour," Finn told her matter-of-factly.

She grinned and shook her head at herself playfully. "Right, duh. How could I forget?"

He hummed to that, looking down at his lap for a moment before suddenly pausing the movie. "Um, actually..."

Piper raised her eyebrows as he trailed off, noting how serious he seemed. "What?"

He glanced at her before shifting so that he was sitting facing her. "Okay, maybe it's kind of crazy, but I've actually been thinking about going to school for broadcasting."

He seemed almost afraid of what she would say to that, which Piper couldn't understand for the life of her. The way he was looking at her, he seemed as if he had just admitted to murder or something drastic.

"Finn, that's not crazy," she assured him.

"You don't think so?"

"No! Why would that be crazy?"

Finn's shoulders visibly relaxed, and he shrugged, looking down. "I don't know. It just seems like the logical thing to do after Dancemania is join a dance company or something."

"What do you want to do with broadcasting?"

"Be the next Chuck Anderson," he answered, and Piper laughed at the way he said it so seriously. It was no secret how much Finn adored the SNR anchor. The corners of his lips twitched as she laughed, and he added, "SNR has internships for college students."

"That would be an amazing opportunity, Finn," Piper said, "You're going to intern under Chuck, right?"

"Obviously. I think we really hit it off at Regionals," Finn said with a grin before turning serious again. "Do you really think I could do it?"

"Yes," she told him enthusiastically, "You'd be incredible at that."

He smiled at the affirmation, and Piper squeezed his shoulder encouragingly. She'd never seen Finn seem so unsure about something, but now that she thought about him working for SNR one day, she couldn't picture him doing anything else.

As they returned to cuddling and watching their movie, Piper continued thinking about their conversation. Finn seemed to have his whole future figured out already, but Piper couldn't say she was as confident in her own future plans. She and Amy had indeed discussed auditioning for touring companies together after Dancemania, but Piper wasn't entirely sure if that was what she actually wanted to do or what she felt like she was supposed to do.

And what if she did join a touring company, but Finn stayed behind in Toronto to go to school? Her family didn't exactly have a great track record with long-distance relationships, and she hated the idea of always being away from Finn. What would they do if their future plans tore them apart one day?

"Oh man, knowing the concierge was behind everything changes the entire movie," Finn said with a sigh, shaking his head grimly and effectively pulling Piper out of her thoughts.

She looked up at him, noting how he seemed to be even more into Hotel Dystopia this time than he had been the first time they'd watched it together. Smiling to herself, Piper hugged him closer to her, nestling her head against his chest.

There was still plenty of time before she had to seriously worry about the future. For now, she was just going to cherish her time with her boyfriend and focus on Dancemania. That was the priority for the foreseeable future.

Chapter Text

"Dad looks big, but he's really not that intimidating. And Mom's, well, Mom, but she likes you, so it'll probably be fine." Piper was wiping sweaty palms on her jeans as she let out a long breath and reiterated, "It'll be fine."

"Pipes, I've already met your parents," Finn reminded her as he drove the familiar route from the studio to her house.

They were on their way to have dinner with her parents for the first time as a couple, but Piper seemed to be ten times more nervous than Finn was. He had already met her parents in the past, and Piper had said herself that they liked him. As far as Finn was concerned, there was nothing to be worried about.

"I know," Piper muttered, letting out a nervous laugh. She fidgeted with the ring she always wore as she confessed, "I've never had a boyfriend over for dinner with my parents. I'm just a little nervous."

Finn reached across the console to hold her hand, brushing the back of hers with his thumb as he assured her, "It's just your parents. I like them. They're funny!"

"That's not how I would describe them, but I'm glad you think so."

"You're worrying too much about this," he pointed out gently.

"I know, I know," Piper sighed. She fell quiet for a moment then added, "If my siblings were going to be there, I guess I'd have a real reason to be nervous."

"Why? What's wrong with your siblings?"

"I don't trust them to not embarrass me."

"Embarrassed? Why would you get embarrassed?"

She gave him a sarcastic smile in response, and he grinned cheekily at her.

When they reached her house, Finn parked behind a white car that was vaguely familiar and asked, "Whose car is that?"

"Jules'," Piper answered, her brows knitting together. "What is she doing here?"

They climbed out of the car and walked up to the front porch. As Piper unlocked the door and they stepped inside, smells of tomato sauce and garlic bread wafted down the hall from the kitchen. Piper's older sister poked her head around the corner and grinned at the two of them.

"Hello," Julia called cheerily, stretching out the 'o' for several beats.

Piper hurried down the hallway, leaving Finn to follow at a leisurely pace. He gazed around at the family photos hanging on the wall as he went.

"What are you doing here?" Piper was asking her sister when Finn finally entered the kitchen.

"Mom said you were having family dinner with your boyfriend, and you didn't think to invite me? Seriously?" her sister responded. Piper was glaring at her, but Julia simply reached around her, holding out a hand as she addressed Finn. "We haven't officially introduced ourselves. I'm Julia."

Finn shook her hand as he introduced himself, and she simply smirked. "Oh, trust me, I've heard all about you." Piper was shaking her head at her sister in horror, and Julia shot a look at her, quirking an eyebrow. Through gritted teeth, she murmured to Piper, "You can't have family dinner without inviting us," though Finn heard her anyway.

Piper froze, her eyebrows rising. "Us?"

"Yo." James sauntered into the kitchen, twirling his car keys around in his hand, a big grin on his face. "Don't worry, everyone. I'm here. The party can officially begin now."

"Bold of you to assume your absence was noticed at all," Julia quipped without missing a beat.

"Wow, you're hilarious. Why hasn't your comedian career taken off yet?" James retorted, tone dripping in sarcasm.

Julia gave a terse smile and snapped, "Where's the salad I told you to bring?"

James' face fell, and he stared off into space, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Salad... Salad... What salad are you talking about?"

"I gave you one job—"

"And I've got it right here." Riley had followed her boyfriend into the kitchen, carrying the salad bowl in her arms.

James grinned cheekily at his sister. "As if I'd forget your precious salad, Jules. I'm not a monster." As he spoke, he seamlessly pulled a disgruntled Piper into a headlock and dramatically ruffled her hair.

Riley set the salad bowl on the counter and shared a side hug with Julia, who had returned her attention to the tomato sauce simmering on the stove. It was then that she noticed Finn standing to the side and gave him a warm smile. "Hi Finn."

He and Riley had met at the studio's Christmas party a few months back, and Finn gave a wave of the hand in greeting. Meanwhile, Piper had finally managed to pull herself out of her brother's grasp and was snapping at him for messing up her hair. James made a dramatic face, rolling his eyes at her.

"Your hair doesn't look any different. Don't even worry about it," he said, completely unconcerned.

Piper simply grumbled at him, moving to the hallway to look in the mirror as she pulled the top layer of her hair out of its braid and tried to smooth it down. Finn watched her for a moment, but then Julia's voice caught his attention.

"Have you met Lauren yet?"

"Nope, not yet," Finn answered, sticking his hands in his pockets and leaning against the cabinet next to him. He wondered if he should offer to help with dinner somehow, but Julia seemed to be in her element as she manned the kitchen all on her own.

"We'll have to FaceTime her in," Julia replied.

Piper returned to the kitchen, her hair now hanging loosely around her shoulders. "Isn't she busy with finals or something?" she asked with all the casualty of a girl trying very hard not to have an outburst at her siblings for ruining what was supposed to be a peaceful dinner with just her parents and boyfriend.

"Quit being ashamed of us and check on the bread, would you, dear sister?" was Julia's snippy response.

Piper grumbled that she wasn't ashamed of them as she stepped around her sister and Riley to get to the oven. Finn took to observing each of the things that made the Gardiners' house homey – the pictures on the refrigerator, the cork board full of graduation announcements and wedding Save the Dates. From where he was standing in the kitchen, he could see a picture of Piper and her siblings when they were much younger hanging on the wall, and he moved to get a better look at it.

Everyone seemed to be catching on to Piper's irritable mood. Finn could understand where she was coming from, having felt similar emotions last week when Gracie and London had crashed their anniversary date. Even still, he didn't mind her older siblings coming to dinner tonight. The way Piper interacted with her siblings was so different from how Finn interacted with his own older siblings. Despite the snippy and sarcastic comments, there was a feeling of deep loyalty and love between them, and somehow, Finn felt right at home in the midst of it all.

"Finny boy."

Finn tore his gaze from the photo he was studying as James approached him, a relaxed grin on his face. "The man of the hour," James continued, stopping next to him and slinging an arm around his shoulders. "Walk with me. Talk with me."

"Okay," Finn agreed, walking with James as the older man escorted him back to the entryway.

This wasn't the first time Finn had met James, but it was the first time that Piper's brother had ever singled him out to talk. They stopped at the foot of the stairs, and James simply stared at him, rubbing his chin as if deep in thought. Finn shifted from foot to foot in the uncomfortable silence, but he held his head high under James' scrutinizing gaze. There was no room for any signs of weakness around Piper's brother. He had to make sure that James knew he could trust him with his sister.

"How old are you, Finn?" James finally asked, breaking the excruciating silence.

"16," Finn answered slowly. Was this an interrogation? This felt like an interrogation.

James hummed, still stroking his chin, and nodded. "And you're older than Piper?"

"By a few months, yeah."

James hummed again, still staring Finn down in an obvious attempt to be intimidating. "What do you do aside from dance?"

"I like video games," Finn answered honestly, "And movies."

"I also like video games," James commented in the same serious tone. Finn raised his eyebrows in surprise. He chose not to comment, but gosh, did he wish he could ask what games James played. Somehow, this didn't seem like the time.

"What's your plan for the future?" was James' next question.

Finn sighed, suddenly getting déjà vu to terrible holidays in Vancouver. "Um, I guess it depends what happens after Dancemania, but I've thought about getting a degree in broadcasting."

"Broadcasting?" James asked. He sounded genuinely curious by that, which made Finn feel a little more comfortable in the conversation.

"Yeah, I'd love to work for SNR one day. Chuck Anderson's kind of my idol. He thinks I have a future in it."

James nodded along, looking impressed. "Interesting. Somehow I can see it." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully for a moment before returning to his serious façade. "Tell me, Finn. You got sisters?"

"Yup. Three of 'em."

"Just like me," James murmured, "Are they younger than you?"

"The twins are."

"So you get the protective older brother thing, right?"

Finn shrugged. "I guess so."

"So if they brought home some guy from school, you would want to make sure he treated them well, right?"

"I mean, they're only six, so I don't think they'll be dating any time soon."

"Hypothetically," James emphasized, gesturing dramatically with his hands. "You wouldn't be okay with them bringing home just any guy, right?"

Finn thought of his sister Brooke's high school boyfriend, who he had never been particularly fond of, and slowly said, "I guess not."

"So you get why I'm looking out for Piper then?" Finn blinked, and James went on without giving him a chance to respond. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret, Finny boy." He placed a hand on Finn's shoulder, gripping tightly. "Pipes and I, we've got a big family."

Finn nodded, smiling awkwardly. That wasn't exactly a secret. "Yeah, I know."

"You know how many cousins we've got?"

Finn faltered for a moment, realizing that no, he did not know how many cousins they had despite the fact that Piper had mentioned various cousins throughout their friendship. Less confidently, he said, "A lot?"

"Thirteen," James answered as if he hadn't heard him. "You know what that means?"

"That family holidays are really crowded?"

"No. Well, yes, but no, that's not the point I'm making." James huffed before looking at him seriously. "It means that all thirteen of those cousins are keeping an eye out for Piper. She's the best of us, man. She's got a good heart, and if you break that heart, you won't be answering to just me and Jules. You're going to be answering to the entire Monaldo and Gardiner clan. But no pressure."

Finn swallowed thickly but held James' gaze as he assured him, "I'm not going to hurt her."

"See, it's easy to say that man, but you've gotta prove it through your actions," James told him seriously. "I said the same thing when I started dating Riley. You know what happened?"

"No..."

"I hurt her," James told him candidly. "It's easy to go into a relationship and think that everything's all fun and games, but it's not. You're committing to my sister by dating her. She's your priority now. You don't let anything come between you two. And don't break her heart. Got it?"

The last thing Finn ever wanted to do was break Piper's heart. James' words were harsh, but he seemed to be speaking from a lot of experience, so Finn nodded seriously and told him, "Yeah, got it."

James looked him up and down one last time, his arms crossed over his chest. "Piper talks about you all the time just so you know," he said with a softer edge to his tone. "She trusts you. As long as you take care of her the way she deserves, you and I don't have any issues."

"She means everything to me," Finn told him honestly, and something about the way he said it must have reassured James somehow because the man nodded in approval.

"Good."

"James?"

They both turned as Riley appeared from the hallway and raised her eyebrows at the two of them. She gave her boyfriend a wary look as she asked, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, you know, just having a talk with Finn here," James replied casually. "He's gonna be the next Chuck Anderson."

Riley's face lit up in surprise. "Those are some big shoes to fill. Chuck's a legend."

"He thinks I have potential," Finn told her, and she grinned.

"I could see it." She nodded back towards the kitchen and said, "Come on. We're about to eat."

When Finn returned to the kitchen, Piper's parents had come inside from the backyard, where they had been checking on their newest baby- a lemon tree that evidently was not getting enough sunlight. Piper's father greeted Finn with a hearty handshake and immediately asked what he thought about the Blue Jays this baseball season. They chatted about the sport as Piper muttered with her mother by the kitchen window. From where he was standing, Finn overheard pieces of their conversation.

"I thought it was just going to be the four of us."

"So I happened to mention it to your siblings. What does it matter? We're not all going to run him off."

"We said the same thing about Julia's last boyfriend."

"Oh, he was no good anyway. Set the table, why don't you?"

Piper sighed, doing as she was told and moving to set the table for dinner. At a break in his own conversation, Finn moved away from her father to help her. She glanced up at him to find him looking at her expectantly, and her agitated expression softened as she handed him a handful of silverware and said, "Here."

Finn followed her around the table, setting the silverware next to the plates she set out. When they finished, she crossed her arms and glanced to where her family bustled around the kitchen as they finished putting together the meal.

"I'm sorry," Piper sighed, "I wanted it to just be us and my parents tonight, but I've been in this family long enough to know that something was bound to go wrong."

Finn simply shrugged, leaning his back against the wall as he told her honestly, "It's not a big deal, Pipes."

She grumbled something under her breath, and Finn frowned at her. "Hey," he started, pulling her arm so she was facing him. "What's up? I thought you like your siblings."

"I do," she sighed, "It's just- my family's a lot to handle, and things get chaotic when too many of us get together at once." Her shoulders sagged as she admitted, "I didn't want you to think we're all crazy and run away or something. That's happened before- not to me, obviously, but to my sisters."

"Pipes, I love crazy. Nothing your family could do is going to make me run away," Finn assured her, reaching for her hands with both of his.

She pursed her lips skeptically. "You say that now, but—"

"Stop," Finn interrupted, interlacing his fingers with hers and kissing her on the forehead. "I've already been interrogated by your brother, and if that didn't send me running, nothing will. You're stuck with me, babe."

Her lips turned up into a half-smile, and he grinned down at her, swinging their hands in between them contently. Piper let out a deep breath, her shoulders relaxing. Julia approached at that moment, setting a dish on the table, then looked up at them. "Dinner is served," she announced proudly.

"What are we having exactly?" Piper questioned, raising her eyebrows at the dish that seemed to be overflowing with tomato sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese. Finn assumed there was pasta hidden somewhere under all that cheese.

"It's a recipe I found on Pinterest. I'm experimenting," Julia answered with a shrug before turning back to the kitchen.

Piper grimaced. "I apologize in advance if this gives you food poisoning."

"Nah, I've got a stomach of steel. I can eat just about anything," Finn replied confidently.

She rolled her eyes, glancing back to the kitchen before discreetly standing on her toes to kiss him. It was quick and sweet, and Piper glanced back to her family as soon as she pulled away from him, as if afraid they would yell at her for kissing him. Finn simply grinned at the fact that Piper appeared to be getting a little more comfortable with small gestures of PDA every day. It seemed to be a good sign for their relationship.

Much to Piper's relief, the meal Julia had cooked turned out to be delicious. Finn devoured his food in between discussions of Dancemania, Riley's marketing classes, and James' new career as a choreographer. He had been a little worried that the whole meal would consist of small talk, but Piper's parents treated both Finn and Riley as if they were as much a part of the family as their own children. Despite her apprehension at the beginning of the evening, Piper seemed to be much more relaxed by the end of the meal, and even more so when Finn reached for her hand under the table when they had finished eating.

After dinner, Piper's parents cleared the table while their children moved to the living room. Piper had suggested watching a movie, but Julia insisted there was one important thing to do before that. At the inquisitive look Piper gave her, Julia whipped her phone out, immediately pulling up her contacts and hitting FaceTime on the first number in her Favorites. A couple of seconds later, the girl that Finn recognized from photos as Piper's oldest sister appeared on her screen.

"I'm studying for finals. What do you want?" Lauren snapped, to which Julia rolled her eyes.

"Well hello to you too."

There was a sigh then Lauren said, "I'm sorry. Hi. What do you want?"

"It's family dinner night. There's someone you need to meet," Julia told her simply before passing the phone to Piper.

She sighed as she took it and turned the camera towards her and Finn. Lauren's irritated expression immediately brightened, and the first thing Finn noticed was the sudden resemblance to Piper. They had the same smile and eyes, and with her hair tossed up in a bun like Piper always used to wear, the resemblance was uncanny.

"This is Finn," Piper said simply, and he grinned, nodding at the camera.

"What's up?"

"Wow, if I had known I was meeting Piper's boyfriend tonight, I would've dressed for the occasion," Lauren said, glancing down at the pajamas she was currently wearing.

"Sorry," Julia called though she didn't sound apologetic in the slightest.

"At least you're wearing a shirt this time," Riley commented, leaning against the loveseat behind Piper and Finn so she could be on the call as well. "You were just in a sports bra when we met."

"In my defense, I was in the middle of working out then," Lauren said, "There's probably a lesson to be learned somewhere in all of this."

"Or maybe Jules should stop FaceTiming us at random," James interjected from where his eyes were glued to his phone on the other sofa.

Julia rolled her eyes at him. "You're one to talk. You never answer my calls anyway."

"We live in the same building. You don't need to call me every time you run out of wine."

Interrupting James and Julia's banter, Finn told Lauren, "At least you answer their calls. My sister just ignores me every time I FaceTime her."

Lauren gave a wry smile to that and said, "Yeah, well, if I ignore Julia's calls, she just blows up my texts instead. Some days, you just have to pick and choose your battles."

"Wow Laur, I didn't realize I was that much of a burden to you," Julia retorted, feigning offense as she held a hand over her heart.

"Only when I'm in the middle of exams," Lauren replied dryly.

Piper gave an exasperated look to Julia before telling Lauren sincerely, "Well, we shouldn't keep you from studying. We just thought you should meet Finn while we're all together."

Lauren nodded and said, "Well, it's nice to finally meet you, Finn. It's not like Piper's talked about you enough for us to all feel like we already know you or anything, of course."

Piper's cheeks flushed while Julia laughed at her expense, and Finn grinned in amusement at his girlfriend. Before Piper could end the call, her parents moved into the room, drawn to the sound of their daughter's voice. The conversation quickly moved away from Finn as Deborah bombarded Lauren with questions about her classes and how her job was going.

While the family caught up, Finn moved into the kitchen to refill his glass of tea. Leaning against the counter, he studied the photos on the refrigerator, mostly interested in the ones of Piper from when she was younger. There were several pictures of her as a kid, and he couldn't help thinking that she had been adorable.

"I hope James wasn't too hard on you earlier."

Riley had joined him in the kitchen. She refilled her own glass with wine then joined him in leaning against the counter. Finn simply shrugged, taking a drink from his tea before telling her, "It wasn't that bad." A little intimidating definitely, but it could have been much worse.

She gave a wry smile, gaze fixed on a photo of a young James dancing with a very small Piper. "He's protective of all his sisters, but especially Piper. She's been through a lot."

"Yeah, I know," Finn muttered. Piper had gradually opened up to him about everything from her anxiety to the turmoil of getting dragged into her brother's cheating drama to getting rejected by another boy before he'd ever come to the studio. And all of that was just from the last couple of years alone. There was so much he was still learning about the earlier years of her life.

Riley took a long sip of her wine while observing Finn. With a small smile, she noted, "She's really happy with you."

Finn assumed as much, of course, but it was nice to hear it from someone so important to Piper. From the way Piper talked about Riley, she might as well have been her third sister. "I care a lot about her," he told her, and Riley nodded in approval.

"Good. She needs someone who does."

Finn hummed, and they were quiet for a moment before he asked, "How long have you and James been together?"

Riley let out a quiet laugh. "The simple answer is five years."

"Is there a complicated answer?"

"There were a couple of break-ups," Riley revealed though Finn could have guessed as much from things Piper had mentioned to him in the past. "We both did things we aren't proud of, and some people would probably say we never should have gotten back together at all, but... We love each other, and we wanted to make it work."

She took another sip of her wine before continuing wistfully. "James is so good, you know? The whole family is. Unbelievably wacky sometimes, but really good, and really accepting. You'll fit right in."

Finn smiled at that assurance. He hadn't felt nervous for tonight, but somehow, talking with Riley was making him feel even more at ease than he already was. Piper's family was so close, and it was nice to have someone else who could relate to entering into such a tight-knit family.

"Any advice you care to pass on to me?" Finn asked. He was partially joking but also a little curious to hear what she would say.

Riley grinned and nodded. "Oh, tons. Aunt Betty's dog is the spawn of Satan. Avoid him at all costs. Never look Uncle Manny in the eye unless you want to spend two hours debating the validity of the Catholic church, and if Marty ever asks you to join his side business, just say no." She let out a short laugh, taking another drink of her wine before glancing over her shoulder to where their significant others were wrapping up their conversation with Lauren.

Turning back to Finn, she added, "But the biggest thing I can tell you is this: If you really love her and want to be with her, always choose her. No matter who comes into your life, no matter what tries to tear you apart, no matter how hard things get- because they will at some point- keep choosing her no matter what. Don't make the same mistakes me and James did because it's so hard to come back from something like that. But forgiveness and love and communication can go a long way."

Finn's mother had always said that love was a choice, not just a feeling, and Riley's words reminded him of that. He glanced over at Piper, mulling over Riley's words in his head. Her advice was deep, but it was meaningful. He was going to have to make note of that for down the road.

"Come on, you two! Are we watching a movie or not?"

Julia's voice put an end to their conversation. They had finished their conversation with Lauren, and Piper had pulled Netflix up on the TV. Riley and Finn moved back into the living room, and Finn joined Piper on the loveseat. Her parents moved upstairs while the five of them spent the next twenty minutes debating what movie to watch. Finally, they decided on a Rom Com and settled down to watch it.

James appeared invested in the movie for the first twenty minutes, but he eventually turned to texting with one hand while his other arm stretched across the back of the couch behind Riley, who wasn't even watching the movie but was chatting with Julia about her college courses instead.

Finn had stretched out on the loveseat, Piper's arms wrapped around his torso and her head resting on his chest. They were the only ones actually paying attention to the movie. Neither of them said much, both of them tired from long rehearsals for Dancemania all week, but Finn felt completely at ease cuddling with Piper, even if her brother was two feet away and probably monitoring every move they made.

Around 10 o'clock, Piper's older siblings decided to head home to their respective apartments, and Finn knew he probably needed to get home too. Piper walked him out to the front porch, and they paused under the porch light as Finn turned to face her.

"I guess tonight could have been worse," she mused.

Finn nodded his agreement. "Definitely could've been worse. Your brother could have killed me or something, but he didn't."

"What did he say to you earlier?" Piper asked curiously.

"Oh, you know, just older brother stuff," Finn told her cryptically.

"He didn't threaten you, did he? I swear if he did—"

"No, he didn't," Finn quickly assured her, adding before he could stop himself, "Don't even worry about it."

Piper sighed, giving him an exasperated look though a smile was tugging at her lips. "You two should get along really well considering you're basically the same person."

"But I'm cuter, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

He grinned at that, and she leaned up, wrapping her arms around his neck as she pressed her lips against his. His hand cupped the back of her neck, deepening the kiss as his other hand buried itself in her long hair.

When they pulled apart, both of them breathless, she rested her forehead against his as he muttered, "I should probably get home."

"Probably," she muttered back before kissing him again.

And so they continued in a similar manner until Finn finally pulled away from her with a groan, his hands resting firmly on her waist as he fixed her with a serious look. "Pipes, I have to go."

"Yeah, I know," she sighed.

Even still, he didn't step away from her, instead running his fingers through her loose hair and commenting, "You should wear your hair like this all the time. It's pretty."

"Yeah, but there's so much of it. It gets in the way when I dance, and it's annoying."

"Is that why you wear it up all the time?"

She nodded, and he ran his fingers through the ends of her hair one last time before finally releasing it. "Well, you look beautiful no matter what."

She smiled softly at that and muttered, "Thank you."

He sighed, finally taking a step towards the porch steps. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said, and she nodded.

"Goodnight," she called after him as he finally made his way to his car.

He smiled to himself the whole ride home, thinking of Piper and feeling glad that she had such a supportive family. She worried that they were too crazy, but Finn loved the chaotic energy they gave off when together. If anyone should be worried about family running the other off, it should be him whenever Piper inevitably met his father's side of the family and his brothers.

But that was a concern for another day (one that was, hopefully, a long time down the road).

Chapter Text

It was a few minutes after 11 o'clock, but Finn was feeling rather good about himself. Since he and Piper had started dating, he'd been making more of an effort to be on time for things, and if he had to say so himself, he was doing a pretty good job of it.

Or at least, he thought he was until he walked into their favorite café and found Piper sitting alone at a table for two, an empty plate in front of her and rage in her eyes.

"Hey," Finn said hesitantly as he approached her. "I know I'm a few minutes late, but—"

"A few minutes?" Piper looked at him indignantly, and he froze.

"Weren't we meeting at 11?" he asked slowly as he cautiously took the seat across from her. She was glaring daggers at him, dark eyes following his every move.

"The movie started at 11. We were supposed to meet here at 10."

No way. Finn immediately pulled out his phone to check their texts, so certain that they had agreed on 11. His heart sank when he realized she was right. He was supposed to have been here an hour ago.

Groaning, he threw his head back then said as sincerely as possible, "I'm so sorry. I thought for sure we said 11."

Piper clenched her jaw and stared pointedly out the window next to them. "You're lucky I don't have my license, or I would've just left," she grumbled.

"I'm sorry," he apologized again, and she sighed, rolling her eyes.

"What have you even been doing?"

"Uh..." Given the anger radiating off of his girlfriend, Finn was fairly certain that telling her he'd only gotten out of bed less than an hour ago would be a terrible move right now. Even still, she seemed to suspect as much anyway.

Her eyes narrowing even further, Piper said, "You were sleeping, weren't you?"

"Maybe," Finn admitted with a sigh.

"Well, that explains why you didn't answer my calls."

"I'll make it up to you."

"How?" she asked, crossing her arms as she arched an eyebrow at him.

"I'll buy you coffee," he offered, completely overlooking the cup that was already sitting in front of her.

"No need. The waitress brought me one on the house because she thought I'd been stood up."

"At least it was free?" Finn said in a weak attempt to lighten the mood. It didn't work. Sighing, he glanced over to the counter and said, "Look, I'll eat really fast, and maybe we can still make it for most of the movie."

"Forget it. There's no point in going now." She picked up her phone without looking at him, and with another sigh of resignation, he moved to the counter to order.

The girl working the cash register greeted him with an icy stare, and Finn could only assume she was the waitress who assumed Piper had been stood up. Right before he paid, he noticed a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies in the display case. Knowing Piper had a sweet tooth, he added one to his order then rejoined her at their table.

"So what are we going to do for the next three hours then?" Finn asked as he sat down again. They didn't have to be at the studio for their final rehearsal with Miss Angela until 2.

Piper simply shrugged. "I don't know."

"Come on, Pipes, I'm sorry." She huffed and glanced up at him. Frowning, he added, "Why don't we do lunch tomorrow?"

"When? We have rehearsals all day."

"They have to let us eat at some point," Finn pointed out, "We can go to The Next Steep." Piper wasn't overly enthusiastic about eating lunch at the tea shop they'd spent most of their free time at this season, and he sighed. "It's our only option, babe. Take it or leave it."

She stared at him for a moment, considering the offer, then finally gave in. "Fine," she muttered, setting her phone down on the table. "Nick sent out the schedule for Dancemania by the way. Did you see it?"

"I'll check it later," Finn replied, looking up as the waitress set his food on the table in front of him. He thanked her, and she simply rolled her eyes at him, shooting a sympathetic look to Piper before walking away.

Piper was oblivious to the waitress, however, as she informed him, "He sent it in the group chat." As she spoke, she noticed the cookie sitting in front of him, and her brows knit together. "Why'd you get chocolate chip?"

It was no secret that Finn didn't like chocolate, so her confusion was understandable. He slid the dessert toward her as he chowed down on his fries. "Peace offering."

The corners of her lips twitched upwards, and she took the cookie without another word, munching on it as she returned to scrolling through the Dancemania schedule on her phone. They were silent until Piper had finished her cookie at which point Finn had already devoured half of his sandwich. He had taken to glancing around the café and observing the other patrons. There was another couple sitting on the other side of the dining area, looking completely at ease as they laughed about something. Finn wished he and Piper could be that comfortable together. Any other day, they would have been, but he had seriously messed up by getting the times mixed up this morning. His mind was running in a thousand different directions with all of the things he had to do before they left for Dancemania in two days. He seriously needed to get it together.

"Have you started packing yet?" Piper asked, breaking the silence between them.

Finn tossed his last fry in his mouth before shaking his head. "Nope." Packing was, as always, the last thing on his to do list.

Considering that Piper always planned out her days in advance, however, he should have expected her to have a different opinion on the matter. Indeed, she told him, "That's what we can do instead of the movie then."

"But we don't leave for two days," Finn immediately protested.

Piper raised an eyebrow at him, and he fell silent at the frown she was giving him. "Exactly. We leave in two days. When exactly are you planning on fitting in packing between all of our rehearsals?"

"I'm gonna do it tomorrow night."

"And what if something happens tomorrow?"

"Like what?"

"What if rehearsal runs really late, and then you get home, and you don't feel like packing because you're too tired? And we all know how much you value your sleep."

He wasn't sure if she was pointedly making a jab at him for sleeping in this morning, but she didn't sound angry anymore, so he let it slide. "We really need to work on your habit of always jumping to the worst conclusions," Finn said, only partially joking.

"Do you even have a packing list?"

Finn faltered momentarily but tried to play it off as he scoffed. "Of course I have a list. What kind of idiot packs without a list?"

He did. He was the idiot who packed without a list. But in his defense, he'd only forgotten something important on a major trip, like, three times. Maybe four if he counted the trip to Las Vegas, but he preferred not to think about that trip at all.

Piper seemed to sense that he was lying and simply picked up her phone again, thumb swiping across the screen as she muttered, "We'll just use mine." She pursed her lips, scrolling on what he could only assume was her packing list. "With a few adjustments."

"Adjustments?" he asked curiously.

"Well, you don't need to pack all of your make-up, do you?"

He didn't respond, taking the last bite of his sandwich and chewing contemplatively. After a moment, he told her, "The only thing I really need is hair gel." Considering it was the beginning of summer, California was bound to be humid, and his hair did not get along with humidity. It already took an ungodly amount of hair gel to keep his curls under control on a normal day.

Piper gave a tight smile, glancing at him as she said, "Oh, I know."

Once Finn had finished eating, they drove back to his house. His parents were both at work, and his little sisters were at school, so the house was quiet when they arrived. It crossed Finn's mind that his parents might not be thrilled at the idea of him being home alone with his girlfriend, so he sent them a quick text to let them know they were at home to pack for Dancemania. His mom's response was to make sure he packed plenty of underwear, which he took to mean that she was fine with it.

Piper wasted no time once they got to his room. She went straight to his closet and yanked the door open. Her hands on her hips, she gasped and asked in horror, "How many denim shirts do you own?"

"I don't know. I've never counted them." Finn's brows knit together as she gave him an appalled look. "What?"

"Nothing," she mumbled before starting to rummage through his shirts.

Finn would have liked to have some say in the clothes she packed, but given how into this Piper was, he wasn't convinced that he was going get one. With a sigh, he left his girlfriend in his room to go downstairs and find his suitcase. It had been a while since he had taken a trip anywhere, so it took some digging around in the downstairs closet until he finally found it.

When he returned upstairs, Piper had taken to laying his clothes out on his bed. He set his suitcase on the end of it and eyed the button-up shirts she had laid out. "What's all this?"

"Clothes you can wear for the show," Piper told him as if it should be obvious.

"What's wrong with my dance clothes?"

"Nothing. You need those too. Nick said to pack a couple of nice outfits in case of special events."

"Pipes, that's like four outfits," Finn pointed out, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Ah ah, you can never be too prepared," Piper snapped, wagging a finger at him as she grinned. She was clearly in her happy place right now, and he was inclined to let her do whatever she wanted. He had overslept for their date after all. It was the least he could do.

She returned to rummaging through his closet then re-emerged with his TNS jacket. "You definitely need this," she said, handing it to him. He immediately dropped it in his suitcase. When he looked up again, she was holding his grey, short-sleeved button-up that he'd worn on a couple of their dates and glancing at the shirts she'd already laid out on his bed, her lips pursed.

"What?" he asked, noting that she appeared to be internally debating something.

Piper glanced at him, and he could've sworn her cheeks had suddenly blushed. "Nothing. Just..." She cleared her throat and handed the shirt to him. "You should pack this one instead."

"Why?" Finn asked. It wasn't any different from the other shirts she had laid out.

"It just looks really good on you, okay?" she told him quickly as if she was embarrassed to admit it out loud.

"Oh, well, in that case..." He grinned cheekily as he took it from her, and she glanced at him, fighting a smile of her own before clearing her throat and getting back to business.

As Finn took to packing the shirt away, thriving at his girlfriend's compliment, Piper asked, "Where do you keep your socks?"

When Finn glanced up, she was reaching out to pull open the first drawer of his dresser, and his heart nearly jumped to his throat as he leapt over to stop her. "Whoa, hey, Pipes! You can't just start going through a dude's drawers."

She was looking up at him, slack-jawed, an eyebrow raised suspiciously. "Why not?"

Finn rolled his eyes, realizing she had taken that to mean that he was hiding something. "Chill. I just don't want you going through my underwear, okay?"

Her suspicions fell from her gaze as she laughed at him. "Finn, I have a brother and a million male cousins. I know what guy's underwear looks like. It's not a big deal."

"I'm going to choose to ignore how weird that sounds."

"Oh my god, I've done their laundry," she said with a roll of the eyes. She was still smirking in amusement.

Finn simply frowned at her. Regardless of how much laundry she'd done for her family members, he wasn't opening his underwear drawer with her standing right next to it. They looked at each other for a moment then Finn gestured with his hand as he asked awkwardly, "Can you turn around or something?"

"You're ridiculous," Piper told him softly, but she complied, bumping his arm with hers affectionately as she turned back to begin folding the clothes she had laid out.

As Finn pulled his drawer open to grab underwear and socks to pack, he heard Piper gasp in horror behind him. "What?" he asked, turning around in concern. His first thought was that Finnn the frog must have escaped his tank somehow, and he really hoped he wasn't going to have to chase his sister's frog all over the house. Finnn the frog was notoriously difficult to catch.

Thankfully, however, there was no frog in sight. Piper was holding up Finn's TNS jacket and looking at him with wide eyes. "Do you just throw all of your clothes in your suitcase without folding them?"

"Yeah?"

"Finn."

"What? They get wrinkled if you fold them!"

"Not if you fold them correctly," Piper snapped with a shake of the head.

Finn sighed and turned back to his dresser. Piper was apparently very particular about her packing system. He supposed he should have expected it, but it didn't make it less annoying. Still, she was trying to help, and even though there were several other things he'd rather be doing right now, at least he wouldn't have to worry about packing later.

Once his clothes had been packed, Piper sat on his bed and read through her checklist one thing at a time, letting Finn get the rest of his things himself. Once they had gone through her list, Finn tossed his suitcase on the floor and joined her on his bed, stretching his legs out in front of him as they sat against the headboard.

"Did you see our picture on the Dancemania page?" Piper asked as she scrolled through her Instagram feed. The show had been introducing all of the competitors for the upcoming season on their social media accounts, and The Next Step was the team of the day.

"Yeah, it's so sick!" Finn enthused, tossing the stress ball that usually sat on his bedside table in the air and catching it in his hand repeatedly. "Can you believe we're gonna be there in a couple days? Us, on the Dancemania stage! Do you know how many legends have danced on that stage? It's going to be insane!"

"I know!" Piper said excitedly, but her smile faded as she leaned her head back against the headboard.

Finn glanced at her, pausing in the tossing of his stress ball. She was chewing on her lip, her brown eyes suddenly distant, and he asked, "How are you really feeling about it?" He already suspected what her answer would be.

She glanced at him, letting her facade fall as she shrugged. "I'm really excited," she told him honestly as she dropped her phone to the side and began fidgeting with her hands in her lap. "I am. But I'm still a little nervous, I guess."

Finn lay his hand on top of her fidgeting ones, and she sighed, meeting his eye. "I've never been the center of a competition number before. I don't want to mess it up."

"You're not going to mess it up," Finn assured her.

"You thought the same thing at Regionals, but we both know how that turned out."

"Pipes, stop it. That was completely different."

She swallowed thickly, nodding and looking down at her lap. She wrapped both of her hands around his as she muttered, "I had a dream last night that we messed up the dance, and my brother booed us off the stage, and Miss Angela was the judge, and..." She trailed off and took a shaky breath, slowly letting it out.

"How'd we mess it up?" Finn asked gently.

"You dropped me, and then I was supposed to do an aerial and, just, completely froze."

"That's not going to happen."

She glanced at him, frowning, and shook her head. "But you don't know that."

"Piper, you don't even have an aerial in the opening number, and even if you did, your acro has improved so much since Regionals. And there's no way I'm going to drop you, so you don't have to worry about that either."

The corners of her lips twitched at the reassurance. "You're right. I know," she breathed.

He placed a soft kiss on her forehead then wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She glanced up at him, humming in contentment before wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder. It was the most comfortable thing in the world to cuddle with Piper, Finn couldn't help thinking contently.

Piper continued scrolling through Instagram in an attempt to distract herself from her nerves, and Finn simply watched until she finally stopped and tossed her phone aside again. Hugging him a little tighter as she readjusted her position, Piper asked, "Is your mom excited about the show?"

"Yeah, she's stoked about it. She's already got the DVR set to record every episode." The only person who rivaled Finn's mother's love for Dancemania was probably Nick.

Piper chuckled fondly then asked, "What about your dad?"

"Mark doesn't usually get that into it, but he's pretty excited too."

"That's good," Piper murmured, "But what about your dad? In Vancouver?"

Finn inhaled sharply. Piper sat up after feeling the way his muscles had tensed underneath her, and Finn pointedly looked anywhere but at her. "I mean, I haven't exactly told him." Why would he? His father had never been very supportive of his love for dance, so he most certainly wouldn't care about Finn competing on a dance show, even one as big as Dancemania. Finn had given up on asking his dad to watch his competitions years ago.

"But Dancemania is a huge deal. We're going to be on national TV. You should tell him!"

Sighing, he shook his head and snapped, "No, Pipes, you don't get it."

"So tell me," she told him seriously, shifting to sit cross-legged in front of him. "You never talk about your dad, Finn. What could be so bad about him?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Maybe not," Piper muttered, frowning down at her lap, her expression softening as she lifted her gaze back to meet his. "But I want to at least try to- if you'll let me."

She had placed a hand on his leg, giving him the look that meant she was completely serious. He stared at her for several moments, debating in his head if he should tell her and what he should tell her and where to even start.

He didn't hate his dad. At least, he didn't think he did. But there was resentment and hurt and years of things left unsaid buried deep inside him. His father was incredibly stubborn and closed-minded. Finn hadn't inherited that from him, thankfully. He didn't want to be like him.

Finally, after several moments in which Piper had bit her lip and returned to frowning down at her lap, Finn muttered, "He never supported me." Piper looked up in surprise as if she hadn't expected him to actually open up to her, and Finn went on. "He's always been a numbers kind of guy. He never wanted me to be a dancer, and he did everything he could to try to change my mind."

"Like what?" Piper asked quietly, her brows knitting together in concern.

Finn simply shrugged. "Tried to force me into other stuff I didn't want to do, the same stuff my brothers were into. But they were into Academic Decathlon and stuff like that, and all the numbers just made my head hurt. And, you know, it's not like my brothers actually wanted me around. They just made fun of me when I couldn't understand something that was so simple to them, and my dad encouraged them. Guess he thought it'd make me stronger or something, but I just resented him for it."

Piper's lips had formed a firm line at this revelation, and she shook her head. "That's terrible. How could your mom let them do that to you?"

"She's the one who put her foot down about dance. Said if that's what I wanted, then she'd be damned if he tried to stop me, and that's when he finally gave in. But I could always tell he didn't approve, you know? He made it pretty obvious. Always acted like it was such a burden on him to make time for the recitals and stuff, but if Brooke had a debate or something, he was always there, so proud and recording the whole thing."

Finn sighed, pointedly staring up at his ceiling fan and remembering why he hated talking about this. It always made him feel dejected and worthless inside even though he knew he was anything but. His mom had always fought for him, always stood up for him, always made sure he knew she loved him. That was why he'd always been closer to her, even from such a young age.

Piper was still listening intently as he went on. "I guess at one point though, he realized he could profit off my love for performing and signed me up for the Fruity Moons commercial. And since I was only, like, seven, I thought that was the coolest thing in the world, but my mom didn't want me in the public eye that young, and they started fighting a bunch over it. They fought a lot anyway, but I think that's the thing that really did them in. Next thing I know, they're getting divorced, and we're moving across the country to be closer to Mom's family."

Piper's eyebrows had shot up. "Is that why you hate that commercial so much?" she asked in surprise, but Finn simply shrugged in response. She frowned, fingers tracing patterns absentmindedly against his leg as she murmured angrily, "You were just a kid. It's his job to support you, not use you for profit or force you to be something you're not."

Finn sighed, his head falling back against his headboard as he mumbled, "Tell me about it." He let out a deep breath before trying to add on a lighter note, "But who needs him? I'm doing fine without him. Thriving actually. Happier than I've ever been. Not that, you know, I was unhappy when I was a kid. I mean, I guess I wasn't super happy, but... You get what I mean."

Piper didn't appear to get what he meant at all, actually, but he hoped she wouldn't make him try to explain himself further. He wasn't much better with words than he was with numbers. Really, that was just another reason to prove why he should be a dancer as far as he was concerned.

Piper's eyes had narrowed thoughtfully as she stared at him, and then she asked, "Is he the reason why you want to go into broadcasting instead of dance?" Finn heaved a sigh, thinking that was a completely different conversation in and of itself, but Piper was quick to add, "Not that I think it's a bad idea or anything. I still think you'd be amazing at it. It's just, you should do what you want to do, you know? You could absolutely make it as a professional dancer if that's what you really wanted."

"I know," Finn said, "But I really want to be the next Chuck Anderson. I'm serious about that. As soon as he steps down as news anchor one day, I'm gonna be right there with my revenue ready to go."

"Resume," Piper corrected without missing a beat, and Finn simply nodded in resignation. Her gaze softened as she looked at him. "Why is it so hard for him to accept that you love dance? There's nothing wrong with that."

"He thinks I'm wasting my time. The chances of actually making it as a professional are slim to none according to all the statistics, you know," he said with a roll of the eyes.

Piper pursed her lips, glancing away from him and looking deep in thought. Finn assumed that they had said all they needed to about his father, but then she mused, "I think you should tell him- about the show," she clarified when she looked up to notice him frowning at her in confusion. "We're going to be professionals by dancing on the show, so this clearly hasn't been a waste of your time. You're proving him wrong."

Finn had never thought about it like that before and stared at her in wonder. Of course she was right. Whether he furthered his professional dance career after Dancemania or not, he was still making something of himself by performing on the show. His dad, his brothers, everyone on that side of the family- they were wrong about him. And he could finally prove it to them.

Smiling to himself, he leaned forward, placing his hands on either side of Piper's face and pulling her into a sweet kiss. When they pulled apart, she smiled, biting her lip, and her hand wrapped around his wrist as she told him, "You're an incredible person and an amazing dancer, and I'm sorry your dad can't see that, but it's his loss."

"Thanks," Finn muttered appreciatively, glancing down and hoping his ears weren't turning pink from the compliment.

Piper kissed him again before pulling him into a hug and resting her chin on his shoulder. "Thank you for being open with me," she uttered quietly, and Finn simply hugged her tighter. She had been open with him about her anxiety and so many other heavy things in her life. It was only right for him to be open with her in return. Their relationship needed balance after all. He would always support her in her struggles, but it was nice to know that she would support him in his own as well.

His stomach rumbling effectively brought an end to the serious moment and conversation. Piper laughed, pulling away from the hug. "How are you still hungry? You just ate."

"I'm a growing teenage boy. One sandwich is never enough," Finn retorted before climbing off of his bed. Still grinning, she followed him down to the kitchen, where they spent the rest of their early afternoon snacking and laughing together before rehearsal.

Their conversation about his dad, however, hung in the back of Finn's mind for the rest of the day. Piper was right about him becoming a professional dancer. Should he text his father and tell him about the show? He fought the idea all afternoon, part of him convinced that his father wouldn't care on way or another. Even still, the even bigger part of him wanted to prove his father wrong.

In a burst of courage on one of their breaks, Finn finally typed out a text message to his father about the show and sent it before he could stop himself. He then proceeded to toss his phone into his cubby as if it had suddenly burst into flames, afraid that his father would immediately respond and knowing that he probably wouldn't respond at all.

"Are you okay?" Piper's voice suddenly asked behind him.

Feeling a little on edge because of the text he'd just sent, Finn's shoulders tensed as he forced himself to face his girlfriend, who was looking up at him curiously. He plastered a grin on his face, his hands going to his hips as he nodded. "Yup, fine. Totally fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked with a light laugh, her eyes shining in amusement.

Taking a deep breath, he nodded again. "Yeah, really."

Piper seemed skeptical but didn't push him on it. "Okay. Um, Amy said we're going to run through the opening number after the break. Do you want to practice the lifts?"

"Still afraid I'm going to drop you, eh?" he joked as they moved away from the cubbies.

"No, I trust you," she said, "But a little extra practice doesn't hurt anyone."

"True."

Finn liked doing lifts with Piper, so it was a good distraction from the text message he had just sent his father. He wondered if he should mention it to his girlfriend since she was the one who had encouraged him to send the text in the first place but quickly decided against it. He didn't want Piper to get her hopes up for some kind of grand apology or admission that his dad had been wrong all this time. (And frankly, he didn't want to get his own hopes up for it either.)

He'd worried enough about his father for one day, however. The Dancemania rehearsal could be Finn's only priority for the rest of the afternoon. Performing on the show had never felt more important. He couldn't lose focus for even a second.

Chapter Text

It had been a stressful day for A-Troupe. After finding out Richelle had bailed on the team to go solo, they'd had to scramble to find someone to replace her. Summer had (ironically) been their saving grace, but Piper was exhausted after a long day of cleaning the routines while simultaneously teaching Summer the choreo.

"Can you give me a ride home?" Piper asked Amy as they waited for their orders in The Next Steep that night. "Finn was supposed to, but it doesn't look like he'll be done rehearsing any time soon."

Amy nodded as she took her chai tea latte from the barista. "Yeah, of course."

"I don't see how you can drink caffeine this late at night," Piper told her as she waited for the scones she had ordered for Finn. It was well after 11:00 p.m. They had been surprised to find that The Next Steep was even still open, but judging by the way the other barista on duty was wiping down tables and putting chairs up, it seemed that the café was shutting down for the night.

Amy simply shrugged as she took a sip from her latte. "It doesn't bother me. Besides, I need the caffeine. I have to finish packing when I get home."

"You haven't done it yet?" Piper asked in disbelief. The barista slid the bag of scones across the counter, and she grabbed it before turning back to Amy as they made their way to Studio One.

"I started this morning. I just have to finish."

"I've been packed for days. I don't know how you all can leave it until the last minute. Doesn't that stress you out?"

Amy shrugged again, scrunching her nose as she answered, "Not really."

Piper shook her head in wonderment. "I made Finn pack yesterday, and it's a good thing I did because it sounds like he's planning on staying here all night."

"I'm kind of surprised he volunteered for the Resurrection round," Amy admitted, and Piper sighed.

"It makes me really nervous. I mean, I'm proud of him, but it just seems like a lot of pressure."

"But Finn can handle the pressure," Amy said before adding hesitantly, "Can't he?"

"Better than I can at least," Piper mumbled.

Amy hung back by the door when they reached Studio One. Finn and Kingston were in the middle of practicing ballroom dancing as Piper entered the rehearsal space. Neither of the boys was laughing but looked as serious as Piper had ever seen them as they waltzed around the room, and she had to admit that she was impressed by Finn's drive tonight. He was taking this Resurrection Round really seriously.

Kingston noticed Piper first and paused in his dancing, and Finn glanced over when he realized his partner had stopped moving. Piper held up the bag of scones. "I figured you'd be hungry."

The corners of Finn's lips twitched upwards, and he nodded appreciatively. "Thanks, Pipes."

She set the bag on the pouf then asked, "How's it going?"

"Good," Finn answered, but Kingston huffed at his response.

"Not good. We've still got half the list to go through, and it's almost midnight!" Kingston snapped, his hands on his hips. "We're going to be here all night."

"Can't you just do part of it tonight, and go through the rest when we get to Dancemania tomorrow?" Piper suggested, glancing at Finn, whose lips had turned into a firm line, his arms crossed.

"There won't be time," Kingston told her exasperatedly.

Piper didn't like the idea of the two of them staying up all night to work on this. As if he could read her mind, however, Finn assured her, "We'll be fine." He took a step towards her, a hand on her arm as he bent down to pull a scone out of the bag.

She sighed, frowning up at him as he devoured the scone in two bites. "Okay... Just, don't stay up too late. You have to get up early tomorrow for the flight."

"I know. I've already gotten three reminders about it." His tone was suddenly far less patient, and she clenched her jaw. Finn may not have wanted to admit it to himself, but he needed those reminders, and they both knew it.

"Good. At least they're working," Piper told him shortly. He harrumphed, looking away from her, and she rolled her eyes. "I'll see you in the morning."

She turned to leave and heard him sigh. "Thank you for the scones."

Piper hummed in response, glancing back at him. She pondered for a moment if she should kiss him goodbye, but they were both clearly agitated with each other, so she simply left him behind to continue rehearsing with Kingston.

The boys had begun discussing Irish Riverdance as Piper stepped back into the hallway. Amy was sipping on her latte and wordlessly followed her down the hall. "What's up with you two?" she asked as they went.

With a huff, Piper told her all about how Finn had been late for two of their dates this week (one of which had been his idea to make up for being so late the first time). Amy was frowning skeptically as Piper told her about all of the alarms she had since set on Finn's phone so he wouldn't be late for anything during Dancemania.

"Isn't that a little extreme?" Amy questioned as they trotted down the stairs of the lobby.

"He obviously needs it," Piper grumbled, "His habit of being late is infuriating, and I don't have time to worry about that during Dancemania. It'll help me if nothing else."

"I thought he was getting better about that though. He's actually been early for every rehearsal the last couple of weeks."

He had been on time for most things since they had started dating, in fact, but his slip-ups this week, with their brunch date and then the lunch date today, had really grated on Piper's nerves. She didn't have the time to worry about Finn when she was already worried about everything else that could go wrong on Dancemania. She told Amy as much, and her best friend sighed.

After taking a long sip of her latte, Amy said, "Not to defend him, but there is a lot going on right now with Dancemania. We've all got a lot on our minds right now."

Piper sighed, unable to argue with that. Amy was probably right. It wasn't difficult to believe that Finn's forgetful side would show itself when the whole team was scrambling to be prepared for Dancemania by the time their flight left tomorrow morning.

On the ride to Piper's house, the conversation turned to Richelle. Piper was relieved to hear that Amy felt just as indignant and betrayed as she did that Richelle would abruptly abandon them less than 24 hours before they were supposed to leave for Los Angeles. She had left them all in a lurch, and while Piper had missed having Summer around, it made her nervous that Summer was only just learning the choreo a day before their flight left. It was a huge risk to add her to the numbers this close to the competition.

Not that Richelle had given them much of a choice in the matter.

Once Piper was back home, she ran through her packing checklist one last time to make sure she had everything she needed for Dancemania then took a shower and climbed into bed. Ever since they had started dating, she and Finn had been creating a habit of sending goodnight texts before falling asleep. It was close to one in the morning now, but Finn had yet to text her goodnight.

Piper really hoped he wasn't still at the studio. She wouldn't put it past him to pull an all-nighter after seeing how seriously he was taking this Resurrection Round stuff, but Finn needed to get sleep before they got to Dancemania, where everything would be fast-paced and they would be up late every night. Heeding that in mind, she texted him:

P: Get some sleep soon!! Don't stress about the resurrection stuff, you've got plenty of time to prepare for it 😊 see you at the airport bright and early. Goodnight  ❤

Once she had sent her goodnight text, she rolled over on her side and plugged her phone into its charger then turned off the light.

The more Piper thought about Finn in the Resurrection Round, the more anxious she felt. She had a really bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't shake, and it kept her up for the next couple of hours until she finally drifted off to sleep.

Finn never responded to her text.

Chapter Text

"Hey, it's Finn. It's me, Finn. Leave a message."

With a huff, Piper did not leave a message and hung up once again. Her foot tapped anxiously against the bottom step of the stairs. Finn was supposed to pick her up to head to the airport twenty minutes ago, but she had yet to hear anything from him. He hadn't responded to any of her texts and calls, which was incredibly unlike him.

Piper felt sick to her stomach. Her boyfriend was MIA. They were running horribly late for their Dancemania flight. This trip was already a disaster, and it hadn't even started yet.

Opening her contacts again, she scrolled past Finn's and selected the one above it instead. A few seconds later, Amy answered.

"I know I'm late, but I'm on my way, I promise. The Starbucks drive thru is ridiculously slow this morning."

Not hearing a word of Amy's greeting, Piper told her in a frantic voice, "Finn's not answering his phone, and he's supposed to pick me up, but he's not here, and we're already supposed to be at the airport, and my parents already left for work, and—" She cut herself off to take a shaky breath before crying, "I don't know what to do, Amy."

"He's not answering at all?"

"No." Piper's voice was about three octaves higher than normal as she blinked back tears of despair. She was already nervous about performing on live television. Finn was supposed to be calming her down, not adding to her worries. "What do I do? We're supposed to be at the airport right now, and I have no way to get there. I'm going to miss the flight."

"Okay, take a deep breath," Amy told her calmly, and Piper did as instructed. "There's still plenty of time to get to the airport before the plane takes off. I'm almost to the window, and then I'll swing by and pick you up, okay?"

"Okay," Piper agreed quietly, gripping her phone tightly in her hand.

"Do you want anything from Starbucks?" Amy asked, and Piper shook her head even though she couldn't see her.

"No, that's okay. Thanks."

"Okay. I'll see you soon."

With that, they ended the call, and Piper closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in through her nose and slowly letting it out. She anxiously opened her text messages with Finn as if he might have texted her while she'd been on the phone with Amy, but there was still radio silence from him.

Was it possible that he had slept in? After she had gone to the trouble of setting all of those alarms on his phone yesterday? Would he have turned them all off? Deleted them all completely?

Piper huffed just at the thought. The entire point of all those reminders was to avoid something like this from happening.

Finn had never exactly been a punctual person. He had been putting in more of an effort to be on time for things ever since they had started dating, and Piper had taken notice of that and appreciated it.

But this week, his old habits were appearing worse than ever. First he'd been an hour late for their brunch date, and then he forgot about the lunch date yesterday that was his idea to make up for brunch the day before. And now this.

Old habits died hard, and Finn was trying. Piper just wished he could have picked any other week to let his lateness make a reappearance.

Piper tried calling him one last time before Amy arrived, but once again, the call went to his voicemail.

She was starting to hate his voicemail.

When Amy finally arrived at her house, Piper was sitting on the front steps with her luggage. She wasted no time in grabbing her suitcases and running down the walkway to throw them haphazardly into Amy's backseat before hopping into the passenger seat.

"Let's go," Piper snapped as soon as the door was closed behind her. She fastened her seatbelt then glanced at the clock in Amy's car. It was almost half an hour after the time Nick had told everyone to be there.

"Have you heard from him?" Amy asked as she pulled a U-turn in the middle of the street.

"No," Piper said, shaking her head as she stared down at her phone in her lap. A photo that she and Finn had taken on their second date stared back at her, and she let out a desperate sigh. "I'm starting to get worried, Amy. What if something happened to him?"

"I'm sure he's fine," Amy assured her, "He probably overslept or something. I'm sure you'll hear from him any minute."

"We have an hour until the flight leaves." Piper ran a hand through her hair, puffing out her cheeks as she let out a long breath. "What if he doesn't make it?"

"He will."

Piper frowned at her best friend. "I'm glad you're so confident."

"You know me. Always thinking positive," Amy joked, faking a smile before taking a drink from her pink drink. Piper glanced at it, wishing she had a coffee right now, but it was probably for the best that Amy hadn't added another drink to her order at Starbucks. They were already running late as it was.

When they finally arrived at the airport, it was to find the rest of their team and Nick waiting for them. Everyone except Finn.

Nick was pacing back and forth but seemed to relax at the sight of the two of them. "Oh good, you're here. Good, good, good. Now we can go through security," he said, sounding relieved. His normally gelled hair was slightly disheveled as if he'd been running his hands through it repeatedly.

"Wait, where's Finn?" Ozzy asked from where he was slouched in a chair between Kingston and Heathcliff.

Reluctantly, Piper told them, "He's not answering his phone. I don't know where he is."

"Do you think something happened?" Summer asked in concern.

Just the thought of something happening to Finn made Piper's stomach twist. Next to her, Amy was shaking her head discreetly at Summer as if that was the wrong question to ask.

Her fear must have been evident in her eyes because Nick's expression softened as he looked back to Piper. "Alright, well, we can't put off security much longer. Has anyone else heard from him by chance?"

The others shook their heads, but Lily nudged Kingston. "You were the last person who saw him, weren't you?"

"Yeah. How late were you guys at the studio last night?" Kenzie questioned, leaning around Heath to look at Kingston.

"I left around 2:30 this morning, but he was still there. He was going to keep working through the list until he finished it," Kingston said, giving a guilty frown to Piper as if he felt bad for leaving Finn alone at the studio so late.

Piper chewed on her lip nervously, possibilities of all the terrible things that could have happened to her boyfriend flying through her mind. Finn could have passed out from exhaustion, or fallen asleep while driving home and crashed his car, or someone could have snuck into the studio and kidnapped him, or—

Nick's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Emily's still at the studio to oversee B-Troupe today. Piper, give her a call and see if she knows anything, and then meet the rest of us at security. Finn will just have to meet us at the gate when he gets here."

As the rest of her team moved towards the security line, Piper found a quiet spot away from the bustling activity of the airport to call Emily. Her studio head sounded concerned when she explained the situation and promised to check Studio One for Finn. Piper should have felt at peace, knowing that Emily was on the case, but there was still a nervous knot in her stomach that wouldn't go away.

She joined her team in line, gnawing on her bottom lip as she continuously checked her phone for any messages from Emily or Finn. Just as she was beginning to ponder the idea that maybe this was her fault, that she had messed up the times in Finn's phone or something, her phone rang. Hope immediately surged through Piper, but it wasn't her boyfriend calling. It was his mother.

"Piper? Please tell me Finn is with you," Finn's mom said when she answered the call.

"No, he's not," Piper said slowly, glancing to Amy with wide eyes as her best friend looked on curiously.

His mom sighed on the other line then said, "He never came home last night, and we haven't heard from him. We're really worried."

Hearing Finn's mother sound so distressed caused tears to spring to Piper's eyes all over again, but she tried to keep her composure as she told her, "Kingston said he stayed really late at the studio last night. Emily's checking Studio One to see if he's still there."

"I'll bet you that boy fell asleep there," Finn's mom guessed exasperatedly. With a sigh, she added, "Thanks Piper."

They exchanged goodbyes, and Piper hung up as the security line moved forward. Amy looked like she wanted to ask what the phone call was about, but it was her turn to go through security. Piper followed suit, her throat tight as she walked through the metal detectors.

Once on the other side, she joined Amy, who had waited for her, then they turned to follow their team to their gate. "What did his mom say?" Amy asked as they went.

"He never came home last night," Piper answered nervously, hands wringing together tightly in front of her.

"He probably fell asleep at the studio then," Amy assured her, but Piper bit her lip, thinking back to all of the alarms she had set. How could he sleep through those?

"What if something worse happened?" she asked, "What if he got in a car accident or something, and he's lying in a ditch somewhere, and we're all about to board a plane when my boyfriend is dead?"

Her voice cracked, and a tear rolled down her cheek. She hastily wiped it away. Amy turned to her, placing a hand on either of her shoulders and looking her in the eye seriously as she said, "Piper, Finn's not dead. He's fine, I promise. You're worrying over things you have no control over."

"But—"

"If Finn had gotten into a car accident, the first people the paramedics would have called would have been his parents, and his mom wouldn't have called you to ask where he is." Piper couldn't think of a counterargument to that, and Amy dropped her hands from her shoulders. "He's going to be okay."

Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Piper wiped her clammy hands on her jeggings and nodded. "Okay, yeah. You're right."

Amy gave her a small smile then looped her arm through Piper's as they continued on to the gate. Amy sat with Piper while they waited to board their plane, and Henry seemed to understand that Piper needed her more than he did even though he had left the seat next to him open for his girlfriend.

Because they had gone through security so late, they only waited at their gate for ten minutes before the attendants began calling for the passengers to board the flight to Los Angeles. A-Troupe were in the first group to board, and Piper found a window seat in the middle of the plane. Summer followed her into her row and took the seat next to her, and Piper gave her a weak smile before checking her phone for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. She kept hoping for a text from Emily saying that Finn was indeed at the studio or a text from Finn himself, but there was still nothing.

With a sigh, Piper spun her phone around in her hands restlessly as she turned her gaze out the window. She didn't mind sitting with Summer, but she wanted to be sitting with Finn. She was supposed to be sitting with Finn. Tears sprang to her eyes again, and she blinked them back, pouting as she glared out the window.

"Is this seat taken?" Amy's voice asked, breaking her out of her reverie, and both Piper and Summer looked up.

Summer shook her head and asked, "Are you not sitting with Henry?" as Amy plopped down in the aisle seat.

Amy rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No, he's sitting with Heath and Ozzy. Something about room assignments and bro stuff, I don't know."

"Sounds about right," Summer said with a smile as Amy settled in next to her. Turning to Piper, she gave a more empathetic look as she asked, "Do you want to find a movie to watch? It'll take your mind off everything."

Piper shrugged and mumbled, "Yeah, sure." Maybe Summer was right. A movie would be a nice distraction.

But Finn would have wanted to watch a movie too.

As the passengers settled in for their flight, the flight attendants were doing their rounds, ensuring that all devices had been turned off. Piper gripped her phone, about to follow instructions and turn her phone off when a new text suddenly popped up on her screen. From Finn.

Finn: Ok please don't be mad at me
F: I crashed at the studio and slept through my alarms
F: I'm so sorry
F: Working on getting another flight with Emily rn, will keep you updated, promise I won't miss this one
F: Let me know when you get to LA 😘

A passing flight attendant gave Piper a pointed look as she paused by their row, and Piper closed out of the messages with a sigh before turning off her phone. She would just have to text Finn back when the flight landed.

The plane finally took off ten minutes after the designated time, and once they were in the air, Piper leaned back in her seat, watching as the city of Toronto passed below them before being hidden from view by the clouds.

Next to her, Summer and Amy were looking at the movie selection on the screens in front of them and debating what to watch. Piper tore her gaze from the window as Summer pulled her headphones out of her backpack then paused as if just realizing that there were only two earphones that could be shared.

"I think Ozzy or one of the boys has one of those cords where you can plug in two pairs to it. I'll go ask him," Amy started to say, but Piper interjected before she could unbuckle her seatbelt.

"That's okay. I'm not really in the mood to watch anything. You two just watch it without me."

Summer and Amy frowned at that, sharing an uncertain glance. "Are you sure?" Summer asked.

Piper nodded. "Yeah. Really, it's fine."

Summer and Amy shared another look but didn't argue with her. Piper sat back in her seat, turning her gaze back out the window and resting her chin dejectedly on her fist. The relief to know that Finn was alive and well was unmatched, but she knew she was going to be on edge now until he joined the rest of them in Los Angeles. Hopefully he and Emily would be able to get on another flight that afternoon and be in California by evening.

Piper wasn't going to be able to rest until her boyfriend was next to her again.

First Richelle abandoned the team to go solo. Now they were flying to the competition with only nine of their ten dancers.

This did not bode well for Dancemania.

Chapter Text

"Bro, can we just go?"

Finn huffed in irritation and told Henry shortly, "No, I have to talk to Piper."

They were waiting in the hallway outside of the dressing rooms assigned to them by the show. Most of the team had already changed out of their costumes and gone back to the hotel, which was conveniently located in walking distance of the Dancemania studio. Piper had yet to emerge from her dressing room, however, and Finn wasn't leaving until she did.

After that performance, they clearly had a lot to talk about.

Henry shared an exasperated look with Heath as the younger boy asked, "Can't you just talk to her tomorrow?"

Finn clenched his jaw and didn't respond, and Heath sighed. Henry nudged the younger bro and nodded down the hall towards the door that led to the elevators. "Let's just go. We'll catch you at the hotel, Finn."

He simply nodded, glancing over at his friends as they left him behind. As an afterthought, Heath called over his shoulder that he would text him their hotel room number. Once they were gone, Finn let out a deep breath, resting his head against the wall behind him dejectedly.

The first day of Dancemania had been – to put it lightly – terrible. Missing his flight had messed everything up. The weather had delayed his and Emily's back-up flight. He'd barely made it in time to perform at all. He had nearly cost Piper the biggest opportunity of her life, and she was mad at him for it, and he couldn't blame her because he was mad at himself too.

And as if all of that wasn't enough, the tension between him and Piper had earned harsh criticisms from the judges and nearly gotten the team eliminated on the first night of the competition.

He never should have listened to Kingston and put his phone on silent. But in his defense, he wouldn't have had to if Piper hadn't gone overboard with those damn alarms in the first place. She was at fault here too, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

Finn waited a few more minutes before deciding this was ridiculous. He knocked on the girls' door before entering the dressing room. Piper was sitting on the couch, her arms crossed and a sour pout on her face that turned into a glare when she noticed her boyfriend.

"Finn, you can't just come in here. It's the girls' dressing room," she snapped at him.

Summer frowned from where she was sitting on the small make-up counter next to Amy, who was wiping her make-up off with a facial wipe. "It's not a big deal," she started to say, but her comment went ignored by both Piper and Finn.

"Can we talk?" he asked, looking at his girlfriend seriously.

Her jaw clenched, and she ripped her gaze away from him, swallowing thickly before saying, "I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Piper—"

"Summer, are you ready to go?" Piper asked quickly, abruptly standing from the couch.

"I thought we were waiting for—"

"Come on." Piper had crossed the room and grabbed her arm, practically yanking Summer off of the make-up table and dragging her to the door without even a glance Finn's way as she swiftly stepped around him.

Summer sent a helpless look to Amy over her shoulder as Piper dragged her out the door. Amy rolled her eyes, shaking her head as the door slammed shut behind them.

Finn tried to keep his expression impassive, but there was a lump growing in his throat and not for the first time that night. The team had almost gotten eliminated because of his mistake, and now, Piper wouldn't even look at him. He slumped against the wall, forcing back the tears that threatened to spill over. He couldn't cry over this. He didn't deserve to when he'd brought it on himself.

"Would you rather sulk here or at the hotel?"

Finn looked up to find that Amy had finished wiping all her make-up off and had turned to him, her arms crossed. She was frowning, but her expression softened as he met her gaze. She gave him a sympathetic smile and nodded toward the door. "Come on."

Finn wordlessly followed her out of the dressing room, and they made their way down to the first floor of the building in silence. It didn't last long, however, before Amy asked, "What's wrong?"

"What do you think?" Finn mumbled.

They stopped to get their phones back from a crew member before stepping out into the warm summer night. Once outside, Finn continued, sounding as dejected as he felt. "Piper's never been this mad at me before. I don't know what to do."

"She spent all of yesterday worrying about you, and then she almost got cut from the show today," Amy pointed out. The thought of Piper worrying about him only made Finn feel worse, and he stuffed his hands deep in his pockets, staring straight ahead as they walked down the street.

Amy sighed at his silence and continued with, "Look, you know her as well as I do, Finn. When she gets upset like this, she fixates on it until it either wears her out or she has to deal with it- whichever comes first. Just give her time. She'll come around."

Finn turned his gaze downward, quietly voicing the thought that scared him the most. "What if she doesn't?"

"She will," Amy assured him, "She's going to have to talk to you eventually if we want any chance at winning Dancemania."

"I'm not getting my hopes up."

He kept his gaze down as they waited at the corner of an intersection for a signal to cross. He could see Amy watching him in his peripheral vision, but he avoided meeting her gaze. Finally, she said candidly, "She's overreacting."

Finn looked up in surprise at that. "You think so?"

Amy rolled her eyes as they finally received the signal to cross. "Of course I do. I mean, don't get me wrong. She was justified in being upset earlier, but you made it here, and everything worked out. Everyone needs to let it go now. What's done is done."

The fact that Amy didn't seem upset with him for what had happened gave him a little hope that the rest of the team might not think much of it either, but that didn't change the fact that Piper was still angry and that they had messed up the dance for everyone.

Frowning, he pointed out, "We got destroyed by the judges tonight because of me."

"Oh, I know. It's not every day the dance you worked so hard to choreograph gets called a trash sandwich."

Finn hadn't even thought about the fact that it was Amy and Henry's dance that he had messed up, and a fresh wave of guilt flooded through him, erasing what little hope he had just started to feel moments earlier. "Shit, Ames, I didn't even think about that."

She simply shrugged and replied lightly, "It's not a big deal."

"It's the first number you choreographed for the team, and me and Pipes ruined it. How are you not upset?"

"You heard what Fredrico said," Amy said, "He thinks we have potential. And besides, it was the partnering that messed up the dance, not the choreography."

Finn sighed, supposing she had a point. Still, he told her, "I'm sorry."

"Quit beating yourself up about what happened," she replied. They had reached the hotel, and she pulled the door open, stepping into the lobby and holding it open for Finn as he followed her lead.

As they made their way towards the elevators, she added, "I want to dance in the finals, so you'd better get focused for the Resurrection Round."

Amy was right. His and Piper's relationship drama had ruined the first round for the team. He couldn't let it affect the Resurrection Round too. One way or another, he was going to have to either make up with Piper or push everything with her aside to focus on the competition. Considering that the former seemed impossible at the moment, his only option seemed to be pushing it aside for now.

That would be difficult, however, given the only thing he could think about right now was Piper.

They rode the elevator in silence, and Finn checked his phone to see if Heath had sent him the room number. His friend had indeed sent it to him, but it was another text that caught Finn's attention.

A text from his father.

He gulped and quickly slid his phone back in his pocket without reading it, his heart speeding up. In all of the drama of missing his flight, he'd forgotten that he'd told his father about performing on the show. It had been Piper's suggestion to do so. Why had he let her talk him into doing that?

His father must have watched his team get berated by the judges.

Great. Just when he'd really thought today couldn't possibly get any worse.

The elevator came to a stop on their floor, jolting Finn out of his thoughts. He blinked as Amy stepped out of the elevator then turned back to him. "Are you coming, or...?" She raised an eyebrow at him, and he jumped into motion, shaking his head as if to physically clear it of the thoughts racing through it.

Amy gave him a curious look but didn't question him as she led the way down the hall to the team's rooms. "Well, see you in the morning, I guess," she said, coming to a stop in front of one of the doors.

"See ya, Ames," Finn mumbled before continuing down the hall in search of the room he was supposed to be sharing with Heath and Kingston. He had to pull his phone out to double check he was at the right room before knocking on the door and using all of his self-restraint not to look at the text from his father. He was terrified to see what that text message would say. Probably something along the lines of, "I was right. Dance is a waste. You're a failure, and I'm ashamed to have you as a son."

Kingston let him into the room, a toothbrush hanging out of the side of his mouth. Finn entered the room to find that his roommates were already getting ready for bed. It seemed early for that, but honestly, Finn was more than happy to just go to bed and put this day to rest.

"Uh, Nick brought up your stuff earlier and a cot that you could sleep on, but honestly, the couch is probably more comfortable and safer," Heath told Finn as he entered and looked around the room.

Finn simply nodded and moved to the couch in the corner of the room. "Is it a pull-out?" he asked curiously.

Heath shrugged. "I don't know."

The couch was indeed a pull-out bed and already adorned with sheets. The boys all took turns in the bathroom before climbing into bed. "Yo, Emily should be so proud of us. We're in bed before midnight tonight," Kingston said, laying back on his pillows, his hands clasped behind his head.

"Staying up until 3 last night was a really bad idea," Heath commented, and Kingston voiced his agreement.

To Finn, Kingston added, "All my snacks are in my suitcase if you get hungry during the night, bro."

Finn nodded and acknowledged that he had heard him then Kingston turned off the light, plunging them into darkness. Rolling over onto his side, he took a deep breath before opening his text messages and selecting the ones with his dad.

His heart was pounding as he forced himself to read the text and see what it said.

D: Finn, watched your performance tonight. Ronnie and kids very impressed. Nice job.

Nice job? That was high praise from his dad, who had spent so many years trying to force him into the interests of his older siblings before writing him off as a lost cause. Finn was horrified to find that he was blinking back tears and rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling and processing this twist.

He wished he could tell Piper, but even if she wasn't so mad at him, it was hard to talk to her about the stuff with his dad. With a family as loving and supportive as her own, she wouldn't understand why a text from his father telling him nice job was such a big deal.

His thoughts kept him awake, bouncing back and forth between the fact that his dad was actually watching his dance competition for the first time in years, the Resurrection round, which he was still incredibly underprepared for, and his relationship with Piper. Even when he closed his eyes, he couldn't turn his mind off long enough to fall asleep and was starting to gain a new empathy for Piper, who dealt with anxiety-induced insomnia on a regular basis.

He sighed, rolling over on his side again and checking the time on his phone. It was after one in the morning. A selfie Piper had taken of the two of them when they had gotten frozen yogurt a couple of weeks ago stared back at him. He bit his lip, staring at it sadly. Was she still awake right now? Was it possible that she was thinking about him if she was? Probably not. Or maybe she was, but she was thinking about how he was an absolute idiot who couldn't get anything right, and what had she ever seen in him?

It dawned on him that he'd never texted her goodnight, but what did it matter at this point? She clearly didn't want to hear from him anyway.

He hoped Amy was right. That Piper just needed time to cool down and then they would be fine. Surely tomorrow would be better. Surely Piper would be in better spirits after a good night's sleep.

He really didn't know what he was going to do if she wasn't.

Chapter Text

It had been a strenuous day for A-Troupe, both emotionally and physically. Piper was exhausted as she and Summer made their way back to the hotel in a tense silence. Once at their destination, they bid each other goodnight and went to their rooms. Lily was already in their room, in bed and texting on her phone. Piper immediately changed into pajamas and brushed her teeth before re-emerging from the bathroom.

"My mom is shook the judges were so rude tonight," Lily told her without looking up from her phone. "She was so sure we'd win the first round, no problem."

Piper didn't even want to think about what Miss Angela probably had to say about her performance tonight. She crawled onto the bed that she and Amy were sharing as Lily added, "I told her what Fredrico told us after the cameras stopped rolling though."

"What'd she say to that?" Piper asked reluctantly.

"Screw him and that he doesn't know good dance when he sees it." Lily smirked, finally looking away from her phone. "He's not even a dancer, you know. He's just a pretty face for the cameras. They pay him to be harsh because people wouldn't watch otherwise."

That didn't necessarily surprise Piper, but Finn would be horrified to learn the truth of the infamous Dancemania judge.

Not that she was thinking about Finn right now.

Or at least, she was trying not to.

The door to the room suddenly opened, and Amy entered, quietly shutting it behind her. She walked further into the room and crossed her arms, frowning at Piper, who frowned back at her. Amy had that look on her face that said she meant business, and normally, Piper would be curious to know what was on her best friend's mind, but tonight wasn't a normal night.

"What?" Piper asked warily.

"You need to stop being so hard on Finn."

Piper rolled her eyes and looked away from her, pursing her lips bitterly as Amy told her adamantly, "He's really beating himself up, Piper. He knows he messed up, and he feels bad about it, and you're not helping anything."

"This isn't my fault," Piper scoffed defensively, "He brought this all on himself."

"He made it here, and everything was fine."

"I almost got cut from the show because of him!"

"But you didn't."

Piper glared at her best friend, and Amy glared back. She couldn't believe that Amy was defending Finn when she was the one who had threatened to give Nick a piece of her mind when Piper had told her he was cutting her from the dance that morning. Finn had let her down, and he had never done that before. He was the one person who Piper was always supposed to be able to count on to be there for her. It was his careless mistake that had almost cost them the biggest opportunity of their lives.

So excuse her if she was a little mad about it.

"If he hadn't put his phone on silent, he wouldn't have missed his flight, and I wouldn't be mad at him," Piper reasoned, crossing her arms stubbornly.

Amy took a deep breath and slowly let it out through her nose before asking, "Why are you still upset about the phone thing?"

"Because he doesn't care about me," Piper snapped.

Amy blinked then gaped at her in shock. "Are you kidding me? Piper, Finn cares about you more than anything else in this world. Everyone knows that."

"Then why is he always running late for our dates? Or forgetting about them completely? And when I finally try to do one thing to help him be on time for once in his life, he just puts his phone on silent and completely disregards all of the effort I went to help him?" Piper raised her eyebrows as if challenging Amy to answer. Her best friend simply sighed and looked away, and she huffed in an unsatisfying triumph. "And then he thinks he can apologize a minute before we're supposed to perform, and everything will be magically okay again?"

She was sure that would make Amy see her side of things, immediately admit that she was right, and apologize for taking Finn's side. Instead of an apology, however, Amy suggested in a calm tone, "Okay. So instead of telling us that, why don't you tell Finn?"

Piper stared at her best friend, dumbstruck, as Lily piped up, "Piper doesn't have to tell Finn anything she doesn't want to." As Piper and Amy both turned to her, she shrugged nonchalantly. "There are lots of things I don't tell Kingston."

"And how's that working out for you?" Amy deadpanned.

Lily's eyes narrowed, and she gave a smug smile. "We're the happiest we've ever been."

Sighing exasperatedly, Amy looked to the ceiling as if praying for patience as she said in the same calm voice, "You have to have communication in your relationship if you don't want it to fall apart. Trust me on this, okay?"

Amy's advice was all well and fine, but the last thing Piper wanted to do right now was talk to Finn.

In the lack of response, Amy gave Piper an exasperated look. "You can't expect him to read your mind and know exactly what you're feeling. Boys aren't that perceptive. You have to be upfront with him."

"Honestly, I think you should just dump his ass. Show him who's boss in the relationship, and if he doesn't like it, so what? Find someone better," Lily interjected with a shrug.

Lily's advice was even worse than Amy's. Sure, Piper was mad at Finn, but she didn't actually want to break up with him. That seemed too extreme.

The only thing she really wanted right now was for everyone to leave her alone and let her go to sleep in peace.

Amy shook her head at the two of them in frustration before turning to grab her pajamas from her suitcase and moving into the bathroom. The door shut behind her, but then it opened again a few seconds later, and Amy reappeared in the doorway, her arms crossed.

"And you know what? This isn't just about you, Piper. This show is important to me. I want to win and go on the world tour. We all do, but I think tonight proved that we can't do that if you don't put your personal issues aside. Finn's not the only one at fault here, but he is the only one owning up to it." With one last shake of the head, Amy disappeared into the bathroom once more, slamming the door shut behind her.

Piper gaped at the closed door. Lily raised her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side, her lips forming a firm line. "Some people are seriously overreacting tonight," she commented while returning her attention to her phone.

Piper huffed in disbelief and sank down in her bed, grabbing her phone in a desperate attempt to distract herself from the fact that her best friend had just shamelessly called her out. She wasn't sure what bothered her more- the fact that Amy was taking Finn's side over hers or the fact that Amy was right.

When Amy came out of the bathroom, Piper immediately rolled onto her side, turning her back on her best friend. Amy didn't speak to her but climbed into their bed, keeping her back to Piper in return. No one said anything as Lily wordlessly reached over and turned the light off.

Laying in the dark, Piper opened Instagram. She had reluctantly made her account public at Lily's suggestion since dancing on the show was throwing all of them into the spotlight. Piper was shocked and horrified to realize that she had gained hundreds of followers – hundreds of people she didn't know - since the show had aired.

No pressure or anything.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she went to the Dancemania hashtag to see if anyone was posting about her team's performance. Even though she knew realistically that there would be posts about them since they had won the popular vote, it still came as a shock to see so many posts of herself and her teammates in the tag. She looked at some of them and felt flattered to see that many people were saying positive things.

What was most surprising, however, was the number of people commenting about her and Finn.

'Don't know what the judges are talking about. Beautiful and fun performance from The Next Step! Excellent decision to put this couple at the center of the dance. Beautiful couple 💕'

'Fave performance of the night 🙌🏻 @dancemania @thenextstepdance And Piper and Finn?? 🔥🔥🔥'

'Apparently these two are dating and they're super cute 😍 #pinn is the ship for season 13!'

It was too weird to see so many strangers on the Internet going on and on about how cute she and Finn were. If they knew what was going on behind the scenes, maybe they wouldn't think they were so cute.

Piper set her phone aside, rolling over onto her back. She glanced over at Amy, whose back was still to her, then returned to frowning up at the ceiling.

She had just wanted to help Finn and give herself a peace of mind when she had set all of those reminders on his phone. She wasn't actually mad that he'd put his phone on silent. She was mad because the alarms she had set to help him had hurt the whole team instead. She was mad because he'd been MIA for hours yesterday, and she'd worried herself sick over him, and he didn't even seem to realize or care what he'd put her through. She was mad because her team had spent the whole day rechoreographing a routine centered around Piper and Finn without Piper and Finn. She was mad because she'd needed Finn to calm her nerves tonight, but he couldn't because he hadn't been there when she'd needed him to be there.

But mostly, she was mad at herself for being so mad in the first place. Because maybe if her emotions hadn't gotten the best of her tonight, she would have let Finn apologize in the scramble to hair and make-up or right before they were about to perform, and maybe, just maybe, their chemistry wouldn't have been so off and they wouldn't need the Resurrection Round to be moving forward.

Really, this was all her fault, not Finn's.

And she was mad about that too.

The next morning, Piper's alarm went off at 7 a.m., and she groaned as she reached out to turn it off. She laid in bed, trying to wake up and get her bearings. The team wasn't competing today, but they did have the Resurrection Round to think about.

She really hoped Finn was ready.

But she couldn't worry about him today. She had already done enough of that over the last two days. No, he had signed himself up for that responsibility. He could worry about it himself.

Amy was the first one to get out of bed. She quickly got dressed then grabbed a room key and left to go down to breakfast without a word to Piper or Lily. After Amy had called her out for being unfair last night, Piper was glad that she didn't have to face her. She didn't want to have to face her and admit she was right.

Lily rambled about Kingston the entire way to breakfast, but Piper immediately tuned her out when they entered the dining room. Finn was standing at the buffet table just a few feet away. He didn't see her as he filled his plate with food, which gave her just enough time to compose herself. Taking a deep breath, Piper strode toward the food tables, holding her head high.

She was ready to pass by him without saying a word to him when he suddenly looked up, turning to find a seat. He froze at the sight of her, his face falling slightly. "Hey," he said slowly, unsure if he was supposed to talk to her or not.

Piper glanced at him, her resolve faltering for a moment as she mumbled a, "Hi," and continued on to the fruit display. If she didn't want to face Amy, she couldn't face Finn. She was still mad from yesterday, but she was a lot of different emotions today, and she didn't want to think about any of them. She just wanted to watch the competition and not think about the fact that her relationship might be falling apart because of a few (okay, a hundred) stupid alarms that her boyfriend had probably deleted at this point. (And honestly, she wouldn't blame him if he had.)

When she reached the fruit table, she furtively glanced over to find Finn joining Henry and Summer at a table they were presumably sitting at with Amy. Finn's shoulders slumped as he sat down, and something in Piper's heart gave a guilty twinge as she turned back to the fruit spread in front of her.

Someone suddenly appeared next to her, and then Amy was saying, "Are you going to talk to him today?"

"No," Piper told her stubbornly, dropping the strawberry she had picked up a little more aggressively than she meant to on her plate.

Amy gave her an exasperated look, "Piper—"

"I don't want to hear it, Amy," she snapped, looking up at her best friend and shaking her head. "I just want to have a nice day, okay? Because yesterday was not."

Amy pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side in disapproval before moving to join Henry, Summer, and Finn at their table, which only sat four people. No room for Piper to join them if she wanted to (which she didn't).

After filling her plate, Piper joined Lily, Kingston, and Ozzy at the table they were sitting at. "Welcome to the Land of Disgusting PDA," Ozzy told her with an eyeroll as she sat.

Piper feigned a smile, glancing to where Kingston and Lily were currently rubbing their noses together in an Eskimo kiss. Overhearing Ozzy's comment, Kingston pulled away and threw a crumpled napkin at his best friend. "Shut up, bro. We're in love."

"Are you sure?" Ozzy retorted, raising his eyebrows skeptically.

"Go confess your undying love to Richelle if it bothers you that much."

"Nah, she's eating with Jones." Ozzy frowned, sending a glare to where Richelle was eating at a table with Jones and one of his teammates, a genuine smile on her face.

Piper shot a bitter look towards their former teammate before sighing and picking at her potatoes with her fork. All of this talk about love was the last thing she wanted this morning.

Unwittingly, she risked a glance over to Finn. He was watching her, a sad look on his face, but he immediately looked away when she caught him staring. Sighing, Piper shook her head and stabbed a piece of potato. Why were they sitting here like pining fools when they'd been dating for over a month?

She couldn't believe the two of them had been so excited for Dancemania, and this was how they spending it- Finn beating himself up and Piper too stubborn in her anger to just admit she was wrong and apologize for getting them into this mess in the first place.

It was bad enough that Richelle, someone Piper had always respected as a dancer and considered a friend, had left the team without any warning just to become their competition. Fighting with Finn made everything feel a hundred times worse. At this point, Piper couldn't wait to just be done with this entire competition.

Chapter Text

Not being chosen to compete for the Resurrection Round had really thrown Finn for a loop. He supposed he should have been relieved since it took the pressure off of him, but not competing in the Resurrection Round meant that he had missed his flight and jeopardized both the team and his relationship with Piper for essentially nothing.

His girlfriend still wouldn't talk to him going into the third day of Dancemania, but he had to push his concerns about that aside in order to help Ozzy. Frankly, he was thankful for the distraction, and it was nice to spend time around Ozzy, who seemed to be the only member of A-Troupe who understood how Finn was currently feeling and vice versa.

If nothing good came out of Dancemania, at least Finn's friendship with Ozzy had grown a little stronger on this trip. That had to count for something.

Unfortunately, after an entire afternoon of helping Ozzy choreograph his solo for the Resurrection Round, Ozzy couldn't have been less confident in himself or his ability to beat Curtis from Hard Ice. As Ozzy trudged off to hair and make-up to get ready for the performance, Finn rubbed his hands together, letting out a deep breath. Ozzy was better at musical theater than he thought he was, but that didn't matter if he was convinced he had no chance of winning.

The team had to do something to boost his confidence, and they had to act fast.

"How's he doing?" Kingston asked, his voice dripping in concern as Finn joined A-Troupe in the green room.

"We don't stand a chance if we don't show him we believe in him," Finn answered bluntly, and Kingston grimaced, looking away guiltily. No one had exactly been jumping for joy last night when Ozzy was picked to represent the team in the Resurrection Round, least of all Ozzy's best friend.

The rest of the team was gathering around Finn and Kingston, looking concerned. "So what do we do?" Lily asked.

"We have to get #OzzyResurrected trending on social media," Finn told them, a plan beginning to come together in his mind.

"A hashtag? That's your plan?" Kenzie asked skeptically.

"No, he's right," Heath interjected before Finn could defend his idea. "#Ozzy'sGoingDown was trending on social media last night. If we could get the opposite trending, that could totally boost his confidence."

"Exactly," Finn said, shooting a grateful look to his friend.

"Okay, but how are we supposed to get a hashtag trending in the next hour?" Piper asked, shaking her head. Finn recognized the look in her eye. She didn't think this could work.

"I'm on it," Lily said, already typing away on her phone. "I have the most followers out of all of us after all."

"Where's Richelle when you need her?" Kenzie grumbled, sharing a disgruntled look with Summer.

"Do they have plain t-shirts in wardrobe?" Finn asked, interrupting the discussion of followers.

"Probably," Amy said, looking at him curiously. "Why?"

"I'll explain later," Finn said quickly before tapping Kingston on the shoulder and nodding his head towards wardrobe. Picking up on the nonverbal cue, Kingston immediately set off with Finn for wardrobe, Henry and Heath quickly following after them and leaving the girls to handle the social media hashtag.

"So what's your plan, bro?" Henry asked as they sprinted through the hallways of the Dancemania studio.

Finn quickly explained his idea of spelling out #OzzyResurrected on t-shirts, and the other boys agreed that it was a great idea. A lady in wardrobe sent them to a storage room where they found just enough large t-shirts for the whole team. When they returned the green room, t-shirts in hand, they explained the plan in full to the girls, and the team quickly set to work on preparing the shirts.

When Finn handed Piper her shirt, their hands brushed. She glanced up at him, holding his gaze for a moment, mouth opening slightly as if she wanted to say something, but then she simply turned away, moving away from him to join Summer and Kenzie across the room. Finn sighed as she walked away from him. He dejectedly flopped onto the floor next to Amy and Henry, who were drawing on their shirts with fabric markers that Nick had managed to find for them.

"She's not getting over this," Finn noted miserably.

Amy gave him a sympathetic look as Henry frowned. "She's still mad?"

"I don't know what to do. She won't talk to me at all."

Amy sighed, glancing over to where her best friend was blatantly forcing a smile at something Summer was saying. "Look, between you and me, this isn't just about you missing the flight or putting your phone on silent."

"She got mad because you put your phone on silent?" Henry interjected in disbelief.

Finn's brows knit together at Amy's words. "What do you mean?"

"She thinks you don't care about her," Amy disclosed, and he gaped at her.

"What? Amy, that's crazy!"

"I know."

"Why would she think that?"

"Something about forgetting dates and always being late," she told him with a frown.

Finn sighed, looking away in shame. Being late for things was a bad habit he'd had for a long time. The week leading up to Dancemania had been particularly bad between the brunch date he'd been an hour late for and the lunch date that he had completely forgotten about. He couldn't blame Piper for being angry at him for being late to those dates, but he'd never wanted her to come to the conclusion that he didn't care about her at all.

His gaze settled on her across the room, his heart aching. A life without Piper in it wasn't one that Finn was interested in living. He needed to show her that she had never for a moment stopped being important to him, but how could he do that? When he voiced his question, it was Henry who answered.

"You've gotta think about your relationship with her. Don't do something flashy with no meaning. Make it personal to her."

Amy nodded in agreement. "Yeah. What's her butter-tart s'more?" she asked, sharing a soft smile with Henry, who put a hand on her back.

"Her butter-tart s'more?" Finn asked cluelessly.

"What's personal to your relationship?" Amy clarified.

Finn pursed his lips, looking away thoughtfully. What was personal to him and Piper? Dance was how they had bonded, but that was true of any of his friends on the team. When he thought of Piper, he thought of movie nights in his basement, and popcorn with red ICEEs, and deep conversations late at night about things he hadn't talked about with anyone else. He thought about card games at Shakes and Ladders, and Fruity Moons, and debates about pineapple on pizza. He thought about long drives around the city, and dancing together at prom, and Big Fish, Little Fish.

Big Fish, Little Fish. Hmm, maybe he could use that somehow...

"You planning on finishing that shirt or not, bro? We're cutting it close on time."

Henry's voice pulled Finn out of his thoughts, and he immediately jumped back to work, saving his thoughts to ponder later.

A-Troupe changed into their shirts and covered them with their TNS jackets right before the Resurrection Round was due to start. They entered the studio as a team only a minute before Ozzy entered from wardrobe. He was looking pale and downcast as he took his place on the side of the stage, and Finn shared a look with Kingston. He sincerely hoped this plan would work, or they were all going home tonight.

When they unveiled their shirts as Ozzy took the stage, Ozzy's demeanor instantly brightened. He killed his musical theater solo, and Finn was bursting with pride. Even still, he couldn't look as they waited for Ozzy's score to be revealed. By some miracle, or perhaps pure talent, Ozzy beat Curtis from Hard Ice by two points, and Finn felt like he was on cloud 9 as he rushed onstage to celebrate with his teammates.

He had helped Ozzy win, and they were going to the finals. His debt to the team was paid off.

But that still left one thing to take care of: Piper.

Once the cameras had stopped rolling, the A-Troupers chattered excitedly onstage as Emily and Nick joined them in their celebrations. Someone brushed Finn's arm, and he looked down to see Piper rubbing her arm and avoiding directly meeting his eye. Still, she told him, "The t-shirts were a good idea."

He smiled slightly, hope surging through him as he thanked her. Was she starting to warm up to him again?

But then she walked away without another word, and his hope dissipated. Maybe not...

Ozzy distracted him as he threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly. Finn tore his gaze from Piper's retreating back to hug his friend, patting him on the back. "You killed it, bro," he exclaimed as they pulled away from their hug.

"I couldn't have done it without your help. Thank you. Seriously," Ozzy told him. His eyes were shining as if with unshed tears, and Finn was glad that at least he had done one thing right during this Dancemania experience.

"It was all you, man. You're better than you know."

"I owe you one, dude. Seriously, whatever you need. I'm on it."

Finn smiled wryly at that. "If you can help me figure out a way to win Piper back, I'll be in your debt for eternity."

He was only joking, but Ozzy's eyes lit up. "I'm on it! Whatever you need- romantic poem, choreographed dance, flower delivery boy- I'll do it."

His words sparked something in Finn's mind, and he grinned, crossing his arms and pointing at Ozzy seriously. "Actually, you might have just given me the perfect idea."

As the studio cleared out, he told Ozzy his idea, and his friend was very enthusiastic to get to work. As Piper started to follow Emily and Nick out of the studio, Finn pulled Amy aside and disclosed his plan to her as well. She grinned and promised to keep Piper from going back to the hotel. She squeezed his arm excitedly before following the rest of the team out to the green room as Finn turned back to Ozzy.

They had to work fast if he was going to win Piper back before the end of Dancemania.

Chapter Text

It was honestly a shock that A-Troupe was actually going to be dancing in the finals at Dancemania. Piper was still trying to process it all as she followed Nick and Emily out to the green room. As much as she hated to admit it, she had been preparing herself to pack her bags and fly home in the morning. It wasn't that she hadn't had faith in Ozzy or Finn, but she had just been trying to be realistic. But Ozzy had outdone himself with his solo, and she was ecstatic to be staying another night.

"Wow, that was really something, wasn't it? I mean, Fredrico doesn't like anyone. Ozzy should be so proud of himself," Nick was enthusing to Emily as he turned around to face Piper and the rest of the team. His brows knit together, and he asked suddenly, "Where is everyone?"

Piper looked behind her to realize that her team wasn't following her like she thought. She was about to offer to go back and see what was going on when the doors to the studio suddenly opened, and Amy led the rest of the team out. All of them were grinning in their excitement about moving on to the finals tomorrow.

"Okay, you all need to be here bright and early in the morning. We have the stage at 9 to practice for the finals," Emily told them all, getting straight to business as usual. "Make sure to get plenty of rest tonight, okay?"

The team nodded, and Emily and Nick were about to lead the way back to the hotel when Henry suddenly spoke up. "Actually, we all wanna hang out here for a while. Celebrate as a team, you know."

Nick simply nodded and told them that was alright, and Emily left them all with the instructions to not stay too late and to walk back to the hotel as a group. Piper turned to Amy curiously. "Why are we staying here?" she asked. She had clearly missed some kind of team meeting when following Nick and Emily out of the studio. Personally, she was ready to go back to the hotel, change into pajamas, and go straight to sleep, but her teammates clearly had other plans.

"We're celebrating making it to the finals," Amy said with a shrug before moving to sit on one of the couches, Summer plopping down next to her. Both of them threw their feet up on the coffee table as the rest of their team spread out.

Piper glanced around, noting that Finn was absent for some reason. Had he slipped out to find the washroom or something?

She was proud of her boyfriend for taking initiative today. He'd really gone out of his way to help Ozzy. It was that caring attitude and thoughtfulness that had attracted Piper to Finn in the first place. She had been so fixated on his flaws recently that she had lost sight of all the qualities that she loved about him.

She had been avoiding him, at first because she was mad at him, and then because she was mad at herself, and now, she just didn't know how to make up with him. She'd brought all of this on herself, and she was tired of making herself and everyone around her miserable. She just wanted to pretend like none of this had ever happened and go back to normal.

Heaving a sigh, she squeezed onto the couch on Amy's other side and admitted, "I may have overreacted with Finn."

"Oh gee, you don't say?" Amy said sarcastically.

Piper gave a tight smile in response. "I'm sorry for being so difficult this week."

"It's okay. I still love you."

Smile growing less forced, Piper lay her head on Amy's shoulder, looping her arm through her best friend's. Amy smiled, resting her head on top of hers.

As their teammates chatted around them, Piper glanced around the green room. Finn had yet to make an appearance, and she was starting to worry about him. Where was he? Should she go look for him? Surely he wasn't still beating himself up for missing the flight. After tonight, no one was thinking about that anymore.

As Piper was debating whether they should send out a search party for Finn and Ozzy, who she had also realized was missing, Ozzy burst out of the studio doors. "Piper! You've got to come quick! There's an emergency in the studio!"

"What?" she asked in confusion, sitting up as Ozzy grabbed her hand and started to pull her up.

"Come on!"

"Wait, Ozzy, what are you talking about?" Piper asked as Ozzy dragged her into the studio. Her immediate thought was that something must have happened to Finn, and it felt like a block of lead had dropped into her stomach, but then they reached the stage, and Finn was standing there, looking perfectly fine.

She froze and hesitantly asked, "What's going on?"

"Have a seat," was Ozzy's response. He gestured to a chair sitting in front of the judges' table, and Piper reluctantly moved to sit down, shooting a curious look to her boyfriend as she went. What did they have planned?

A musical number as it turned out. Finn had written her a song and was dancing and singing, and there was a Big Fish, Little Fish cardboard box, and then all of A-Troupe was there, and Piper's heart felt like it was bursting. Her cheeks hurt from smiling so much as Finn's song came to an end.

She didn't even notice their teammates surrounding them as she gazed up at him, so much affection and love surging through her as she held his hands. "So we're dancing in the finals tomorrow," she said softly.

He was trying to catch his breath as he nodded. "Yes, we are," he said, "Hotel call's at 7. Be at the studio at 8. Hair and make-up at 4."

He had memorized the schedule for tomorrow. A laugh escaped Piper's lips as she leaned up and cut him off with a kiss then hugged him tightly. He hugged her back, burying his face in her shoulder, and Piper found herself wishing she could just stay here in this moment with him forever. Nothing felt better than being in his arms after avoiding him and not talking to him for three whole days.

It wasn't until they broke apart from their hug that Piper remembered the rest of her teammates were still there. Immediately turning to Amy, she said, "You knew about all of this, didn't you?"

"Why else would we just hang out in the green room this late at night?" Amy asked. She was grinning as she wrapped an arm around her shoulders and looked up at Finn. "Nice singing, Chai Guy."

"Hey, I wasn't the Fruity Moons kid for nothing," Finn said with a shrug and a grin.

They made their way back to their hotel as a team, and Piper clutched her cardboard box in one hand and Finn's hand in the other. She couldn't believe that he had gone as far as writing an entire song and choreographing a whole dance just for her. She was actually dating the sweetest guy in the entire world.

But glancing up at him as he enthused about Ozzy's solo with Kingston and Lily, she could only feel guilty for the way she had treated him throughout this entire trip. Finn had been trying to make things right between them from the moment he'd arrived in Los Angeles, and she had shut him down every time because she hadn't wanted to have to admit she was wrong. How selfish and stubborn could she be?

Finn had only ever been the most supportive boyfriend, and as soon as he made one mistake, Piper repaid him by being the worst girlfriend in the world.

Finn wasn't the one that needed to apologize. Piper was.

When they reached the hotel, the rest of the team made their way to the elevator together, enthusing about the finals tomorrow. Finn started to follow after them, but Piper tugged on his hand, stopping him. "Wait, Finn." He looked down at her with a soft smile, clearly happy just to be on good terms again, as she asked, "Can we talk?"

His smile slowly faded, and he nodded, letting out a deep breath. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

He let go of her hand as they sat on one of the couches together. Piper set her cardboard box in her lap, allowing herself momentarily to think back to that night at prom when he had taught her Big Fish, Little Fish, Cardboard Box. He had only just begun breaking down her walls back then. She never would have dreamed that she would actually fall in love with the boy with the goofy party moves who she had slow danced with on a whim.

And yet, somewhere along the line, she had.

Taking a deep breath, Piper opened her mouth to break the silence that had settled around them, but so did Finn. Together, they both said, "I'm sorry."

They glanced at each other, both smiling slightly, and Finn started to say, "Pipes—" but she cut him off.

"Let me go first. Please." He nodded, his arm stretching across the back of the couch as he gestured for her to go on. She took a deep breath, wondering where she should even start and deciding to do so at the beginning.

"I may have overreacted about... everything."

"I almost cost you the chance to perform on the show, Pipes. You had every right to be upset with me," Finn interjected, but she shook her head adamantly.

"Not for three days. It wasn't even your fault you missed the flight. It was mine, wasn't it?" Finn sighed, and she could see him biting the inside of his lip, glancing away from her. Continuing on, Piper reluctantly admitted, "I shouldn't have set all those alarms on your phone."

She almost expected Finn to try to assure her it wasn't her fault as he often did when she was feeling down about something, but he simply nodded his agreement. At her silence, he glanced up and must have noted the look she was giving him because he said, "If you're waiting for me to disagree, I'm not going to."

Piper bit her lip, knowing she deserved that. "I guess I was in a bad mood because you were late for our lunch date, and I was stressed about the competition, and I know that's not an excuse, but I thought I would at least have a peace of mind if I knew you weren't going to be late all the time." She sighed, shaking her head at herself. "But it clearly backfired on me."

Finn was quiet for a moment, his hand playing with the ends of her hair as she looked to him nervously, wondering what he was thinking. Finally, he said, "I mean, it wasn't a totally bad idea. I put my phone on silent once and look what happened. But a lot of those reminders were overkill, Pipes. I don't need three reminders to eat breakfast in the morning. I've already got a built-in reminder for that."

He absentmindedly rubbed his stomach as if proving his point, and the corners of Piper's lips twitched up at that. He gave her a meaningful look as he added, "But just so you know, being late for those dates, putting my phone on silent- none of that was personal against you. It was just me being a dumbass."

He ran a hand over her hair, his expression softening. "You mean the world to me, Piper. I hate that I ever made you feel like you didn't."

Piper sighed guiltily. "Amy told you what I said, didn't she?"

He shrugged and cryptically muttered, "Maybe," which Piper knew meant yes.

"I shouldn't have even said anything about that. I know it's not true," she admitted, "Honestly, Finn, you're not even the one I've really been mad at. You were trying, and I wouldn't give you the chance to apologize, and if I had, we might not have messed up the dance the other night."

Finn was quiet for a moment before finally uttering, "But everything worked out in the end."

Piper pursed her lips, still feeling guilty for ruining their trip. "I've been mad at myself, and I've just been taking it out on you and Amy. I didn't want to admit I was wrong, and that was stupid, and I'm sorry."

Finn gave a wry smile as he muttered, "You never have liked admitting you're wrong."

The corners of her lips twitched at that. She stared down at her lap, her hands fidgeting nervously as her thoughts unwittingly turned back to the other morning when she had been pacing the airport and worrying that something terrible might have happened to her boyfriend.

Reluctantly, she told him, "When you didn't show up at the airport and you weren't answering your phone, I had no idea where you were or if you were okay." She slowly lifted her gaze from her hands to meet his eye. "It really freaked me out."

Finn was frowning at that and started to say, "But I was fine," but Piper shook her head.

"But I didn't know that for two hours. I was afraid something happened to you or something. And then you were so casual about it all, and I guess that's part of why I was mad too because I spent hours worrying about you, and you didn't even seem to care at all."

Understanding seemed to flash in his eyes, and he immediately pulled her into a hug. Piper let him, resting her chin on his shoulder and squeezing her eyes shut as she breathed in the familiar smell of his aftershave. "I'm so sorry I put you through that," he muttered into her ear.

Her eyes watered as she murmured, "I love you too. I don't want to lose you."

He seemed to stiffen in surprise at her words, but then he simply hugged her tighter, and Piper hid her face in the crook of his neck.

She had always thought falling in love was supposed to be some kind of grand gesture or show, but love wasn't just Finn planning a big performance for her, complete with lighting, props, and backing music. Love was trusting Finn with her heart after Josh had broken it, and Finn talking her through her anxiety attack, and supporting each other through mental health disorders and complicated family dynamics, and knowing each other's orders at The Next Steep, and stolen kisses in his car when he dropped her off at home, and choosing to forgive when they both made mistakes and were at their most unlovable.

It wasn't a cheesy, over the top declaration. It was something that Piper just knew to be true in her heart. She loved Finn. She always had, and she always would.

Neither of them seemed to want to pull away from their hug, but they couldn't stay there forever. When Finn finally sat back, his hands still resting on her waist, he had a soft look in his eye as he asked in the softest voice she'd ever heard from him, "You really love me?"

"You really love me?" Piper questioned, raising her eyebrows slightly. He had said it (twice) earlier that evening before he'd sung her his song, but she wanted to hear it from him now- when he wasn't caught up in the excitement of his performance, when no one else was around and listening in on their conversation.

He nodded, tongue poking out between his lips before saying, "Yeah, I do. I love you, Pipes."

He sounded more sure than he ever had about anything, and it sent a fresh wave of butterflies that only he gave her to her stomach. Grinning, Piper threw her arms around his neck, kissing him fiercely as if doing so could communicate how much she loved him and how sorry she was for her behavior over the last few days. He kissed her back eagerly, and it only dawned on her that they were in a public area when she pulled away to catch her breath.

She rested her forehead against his, her hands caressing his face and thumbs brushing lightly across his cheeks as she murmured, "I missed you."

And she really had. Not talking to Finn for three days had been terrible, and she'd inflicted it on herself. She never wanted to go that long without talking to him ever again.

One of Finn's hands had come up to rest on top of hers, and he muttered, "I missed you too."

Piper leaned forward to kiss him again, softer and more gently this time, before pulling away and lowering her hands from his face. Finn's hand still grasped hers, and he looked down to where she had intertwined their fingers together.

They were quiet for a moment, but Finn broke the silence, sounding serious again. "Next time you're mad at me though..." He gave her hand a small squeeze before looking up to meet her eyes. "Will you just talk to me instead of shutting me out for three days?"

Piper gave a rueful smile and nodded. "Yeah." Her thumb brushed across the back of his hand as she asked quietly, "Are we good?"

He gave a small smile in return and nodded. "Yeah. We're good." With another squeeze of her hand, he stood, tugging her up with him. "We should get to bed. We've got a long day tomorrow."

Piper agreed, and they moved to the elevator together, hand-in-hand.

Even though their futures depended on the outcome of the finals tomorrow, Piper felt at peace for the first time since they had arrived at Dancemania. Win or lose, she didn't care what happened tomorrow now that all was well with Finn again.

(Okay, who was she kidding? She absolutely cared. She wanted to win and go on a world tour and begin her professional dance career with her best friends. But only time would tell what the next day would hold for them.)

Chapter Text

Considering nothing about Dancemania had gone as planned, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone when it was revealed that Maria was rigging the competition for Richelle to win. Throughout the entire show, Piper had clung to the idea that win or lose, she would be a professional dancer no matter what.

But then A-Troupe and Richelle disqualified themselves from the competition, resulting in the nullification of their Dancemania contracts and, thus, the loss of their professional status.

There would be no world tour. There would be no professional dance career.

But at least they still had Nationals.

As Piper stood in line with her teammates, waiting to board the plane that would take them home, she could overhear Henry enthusing about Nationals with Kingston and Kenzie further ahead. Amy directed a soft smile in her boyfriend's direction as his words travelled back to them. "I don't think anyone's more excited about Nationals than Henry," she commented to no one in particular.

"I don't know. I may have him beat," Finn said, "When we win, we get to go to Internationals! I heard a rumor it's going to be somewhere in Europe."

"Oh, I've always wanted to go to Europe!" Amy enthused before tilting her head to the side, a teasing glint forming in her eye. "Do we need to assign someone to hold your hand so you actually make it to the airport next time?"

Finn simply rolled his eyes. "How long have you been waiting to make that joke?" he asked dryly.

"Since the plane took off without you," she quipped with a smirk.

Giggling, Piper interjected, "Oh, don't even worry about it. That's never happening again. I'll make sure of it." Her tone may have been joking, but she was fully serious. The morning that Finn had missed the Dancemania flight had been one of the worst mornings of her life, and she was never going to let him put her through that again. That she would make sure of.

As they discussed Nationals and Internationals, Summer stood next to Amy, her arms crossed and lips pursed. As the jabs at Finn died down, Summer cut into the conversation. "Guys, I don't know about this."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked, still smiling as the three of them turned their attention to her.

"B-Troupe has been working really hard for Nationals. They're not going to give it up that easily," Summer told them in concern.

"Okay, but we're the team that won Regionals," Finn pointed out, "If we can compete at Nationals, they have to let us."

"Yeah, no one on B-Troupe even competed at Regionals. They'll get disqualified before they even make it to the stage," Amy added.

"Exactly," Finn agreed.

"I know," Summer muttered quietly, looking away and shaking her head. She didn't say anything else as she pointedly fixed her gaze on the plane outside the giant window of the airport, her lips still pursed.

Amy and Finn continued discussing Nationals, completely unconcerned about B-Troupe, but Summer's words had made Piper pause. B-Troupe's plans to compete at Nationals had never even crossed her mind when A-Troupe realized that they could still go to Nationals if they weren't considered professional dancers. Summer seemed concerned about taking this opportunity away from them, and maybe she was right to be. B-Troupe had been preparing for Nationals for months while A-Troupe prepared for Dancemania. If Piper was in their shoes, she could only imagine that she wouldn't be very happy about it if another team was determined to take their place in the competition they'd been working so hard for.

But Finn was right too. A-Troupe had worked hard to win Regionals. Yes, they had chosen Dancemania over Nationals, but it wasn't like they had gone into the competition planning to disqualify themselves and revoke their status as professional dancers. That was just the way things had panned out. If they were indeed still eligible to compete at Nationals, then they should obviously be the team to do so since they were the team that had earned it in the first place.

As it turned out, Summer had every right to be concerned about B-Troupe. When A-Troupe returned to their studio, the recreational team was rehearsing a number that Piper hated to admit was really good. She was having serious flashbacks to the days of TNS East versus TNS West as Cleo and Summer had a showdown in the middle of Studio A that left Piper with a sick feeling in her stomach.

B-Troupe wasn't going to make this easy on A-Troupe, and one glance at Nick told Piper that they couldn't count on him to choose them even though they stood a much better chance at winning and taking the studio to Internationals.

Three days after Summer had declared, "Game on," to B-Troupe, Nick had yet to make an official decision about who would be going to Nationals. Any time anyone asked him about it, he gave a vague statement about how he was still thinking things through and locked himself in his office, and Piper was starting to feel the pressure. With Nationals just weeks away, Nick had to make a decision, and unfortunately, he seemed to be the last person to want to do so.

With the tension rising, A-Troupe had taken to Studio One, working on a new group number to prove to Nick that they were the right troupe to send to Nationals. They had never felt closer or more united as a team, and Piper hated to think that if Nick didn't choose them, they would never compete all together again.

What were they supposed to do if they didn't go to Nationals? They wouldn't be professional or competitive dancers. Piper didn't even know what she was supposed to do with herself if she didn't have a competition or something to work towards.

She was starting to think that they never should have bothered with Dancemania at all.

It was late when A-Troupe finally dispersed from their rehearsal three nights after returning home from Dancemania. Finn and Piper walked out to the parking lot with Henry and Amy. Piper was trying hard to focus on her friends' conversation, but her mind was racing with fears she couldn't silence no matter how hard she tried.

Fears about Nationals. Fears about the future. Fears of the uncertainty.

She had performed on live television in front of millions of viewers. It was completely ridiculous that pressure over B-Troupe and Nationals was getting to her like this.

When they reached the parking lot, Henry and Amy bid them goodnight, and the two couples went separate directions. As Piper and Finn approached his car, Piper said in a slightly higher voice than normal, "Finn?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm starting to panic."

Finn immediately turned to face her, his eyes widening in concern as he placed a hand on her arm. "What? Why? What's wrong?"

His voice was so laced with concern that she sighed and looked away from him, suddenly feeling bad for worrying him. She probably could have chosen a better way to phrase that. Now he just thought she was on the verge of another panic attack.

"Piper, what's going on?" Finn asked again. He gave a weak smile as he said, "You can't just drop that on me, and then not say anything."

"No, I'm fine. It's just..." She sighed, stepping around him and moving to lean her back against his car. He followed her lead as she voiced out loud the one question that had been on her mind for days but that she was so afraid to voice out loud, as if doing so would be speaking it into existence and sealing their fate once and for all.

"What if we don't go to Nationals?"

"We will," Finn said confidently, but Piper shook her head, hands clenching into fists. She didn't want assurance tonight. She wanted to talk about a reality that was starting to feel more and more real the longer Nick waited to make a definitive decision.

"What if we don't?" she repeated, emphasizing the question so he would know that she was serious. "If we don't go to Nationals, we won't go to Internationals, and then what? What are we supposed to do then?"

Finn exhaled deeply, sticking his hands in his pockets as he gazed around the parking lot in silence. Finally, after a long moment, he muttered, "I don't know, Pipes."

She frowned as she stared at a Mini Cooper on the other end of the parking lot. She was fairly certain it belonged to Jude, which meant that B-Troupe was still at the studio rehearsing. Maybe A-Troupe had taken off too early tonight.

"We were supposed to go to Nationals," she murmured, "And then next year, we'd go to Internationals, and then we'd be finishing high school and starting our dance careers or college or whatever. That was the plan."

She was blinking back tears as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "Dancemania was supposed to start our professional careers, and now we don't even have that to fall back on. It was all for nothing."

"It wasn't for nothing," Finn said quietly, but Piper threw her hands out in frustration.

"What good came out of it?" she snapped.

He hesitated before answering. "Ozzy found his confidence. We're closer as a team. And..." He turned to face her, resting his arm on top of his car as he grinned proudly down at her. "I sang you a pretty dope song."

Piper's lips turned up in spite of herself. Fine. One good thing had come out of Dancemania.

His expression softened as he added, "Even if we don't go to Nationals... It'll suck, but it won't be the end of the world. We'll get through it."

"I have no idea what comes next if we don't go," she muttered miserably.

"You know you don't always have to have a big ten-year plan, right?" Finn told her seriously, "It's okay to just figure it out as you go sometimes."

And maybe that was true and he was right, but gosh, Piper hated feeling so out of control of her own life. It felt like everything important to her was resting in Nick's hands and she could lose it all at any given moment.

"Are we going to be okay?" Piper asked in concern, "If we don't go to Nationals, are we going to be okay?"

"Of course," Finn said as if he couldn't believe she would even ask such a question. "Why wouldn't we be?"

Piper shrugged one shoulder, looking down as she muttered, "I don't know. If we don't have dance everyday..." She trailed off, hating the idea that they could grow apart if they weren't always at the studio together.

"Piper, I live twenty minutes away from you. It's not like we'll never see each other again," Finn assured her, and she looked up at him with a small smile, realizing that he was right. Why should she worry about losing Finn when he seemed to be one of the only constants she could depend on right now?

Seeming to have a similar train of thought, he grinned at her and said, "You're stuck with me, baby."

She smiled softly, realizing that the nerves she'd been feeling all day had dissipated. They weren't totally gone, but she felt a little better regardless.

Finn's expression turned serious as he placed a hand on either of her arms and told her, "Whatever happens, we're going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay."

His hands ran down her arms, and he gave both of her hands a gentle squeeze – an unspoken reminder that he loved her, and he cared, and he was there just as he had been since that fateful day in Shakes and Ladders where she'd first opened up to him and he'd calmly reassured her that no one cared about Miss Angela making them do planks.

Piper still didn't know what she had done to make Finn take such an interest in her all those months ago, but whatever it was, she was glad she had done it. She didn't know how she would have survived the last couple of dance seasons without him. The uncertainty of the future still scared her, but Finn made it seem just a little less scary.

And so, in the parking lot of their dance studio, under the starry night sky, Piper kissed Finn a little longer than usual, and hugged him a little tighter, and thanked her lucky stars that he was hers – her best friend. Her confidant. Her love. Her rock.

Through all the ups and downs, in the face of the unknown, there wasn't anyone else that Piper would rather face the future with.