I like to think that after the events of the first movie, Finn does briefly end up in a relationship with Donna. And at first it’s a really nice distraction!
Until one day she’s talking to him alone, and he says something and she laughs a little and her facial expression, the way she sounds, the way she looks down a little, it reminds him so much of Robin. He thinks back to a bathroom and a conversation about Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Enter the Dragon. And he wonders why Donna is looking at him exactly how his best friend did. Talking with the same little hitch in her voice.
So, he makes the mistake of asking.
“I want to kiss you.” Is a response that reframes everything.
Because how many times had Robin looked at him like that? How many times had he not known what it meant? How many times had he made Robin feel rejected?
It snaps everything into place. Feelings he hadn’t processed, hadn’t let himself grasp because he was too afraid.
It came too late. And dating Donna wasn’t a fun distraction anymore. It was just a reminder of another time he’d been a coward. A time Robin had protected him from something, even though Robin had wanted it.
In his low moments, he wonders if Robin doesn’t talk to him anymore out of bitterness, rather than some ghost rule. He worries Robin doesn’t hear him when he whispers to himself later, alone in his room.
“I would have kissed you, Robin. I swear I would have kissed you.”
