Between 6x21 and 6x22

"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.