7x18

"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."