Right. I don't know where this came from exactly, but I think it's the fact that I've watched You Should be Dancing too many times and have now decided Blaine and Mike need to be besties.

Also I obviously don't own it.


"Blaine! Wait up." Michael Chang Jr was running down the hallway and Blaine stopped and turned to admire, with no small amount of jealousy, how he managed to move at that speed through a crowded hallway with the amount of grace he did. "Are you ok?"

He put on his practiced Warbler smile, the one he wore for all his performances. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Look, I don't know what happened between you and Kurt, but obviously something did. You haven't come to glee since your first week, and Artie said you didn't want to come to game night and you signed up for a bunch of clubs but you never showed up."

Blaine stared at him, slightly confused. "How do you know all of this?" When Mike shot him a nervous look he regretted saying it.

"Well you're not talking to Kurt, or he's not talking to you or whatever, you're not on speaking terms, so I'm assuming it has to do with him. Artie actually did tell me about game night and that you haven't signed up to audition for the play, which you should have by now, and obviously I noticed you weren't in glee. I'm captain of Brainiacs and Mathletes so I know you signed up for those and when you didn't show up I checked with some of the other clubs and the fencing team in particular are crushed you never showed. They haven't won anything ever and apparently you're some big name on the circuit or something, sorry, I don't follow the sport, but they said to tell you if I talked to you."

"Wow." He wasn't sure if he was more surprised that Mike had found all of this out, or that he was speaking so much. Blaine didn't think he'd heard Mike speak, and from what Kurt had said he rarely ever did.

"So...wanna talk? I mean I know you don't know me that well or anything but I feel like...I mean...we're friends right?" Blaine didn't know that they were, but he was pretty sure he would want to be friends with someone like Mike.

Mike's unsure expression told him he'd been staring and not answering for too long again. "Sure. I mean yeah, of course."

"Great." Mike hooked his arm through Blaine's and started walking and Blaine panicked slightly. Had Mike taken the sure to mean he wanted to talk? Blaine did not want to talk, he wanted to go home and wallow in misery for an hour before work. Were they going to the choir room? He was not prepared to deal with Kurt yet. "Don't worry, we're not going to glee." Blaine breathed an audible sigh of relief before turning back to Mike.

"Ok, if we're not going there where are we going? I really don't want to talk about Kurt and shouldn't you be going to glee?"

"Nah, they'll be fine without me. It's mostly ballads this week, not a lot of dancing to be done."
Blaine shot him a look. "Aren't you singing a ballad, to Tina? You're dating right?" He was almost sure that was the case.

"Yeah, we are. I don't really sing though." Mike shifted slightly and Blaine wondered if he would be overstepping the lines of their new friendship if he pushed the subject.

"Why?" His mouth seemed unconcerned with that possibility.

"I'm not very good at it." Blaine very definitely didn't snort at that, but Mike looked at him like he probably heard the not-snort.

"Sure you are. I mean you're not Rachel Berry, but she's had a vocal coach longer than she's had teeth. You're pitchy sometimes and you need to learn to control your breathing, especially with the way you dance, but you're better than most of the Warblers were when they started. I was basically next to you for most of the song during you can't stop the beat and you've clearly been working."

Mike looked at him like he didn't quite believe him. "You heard that?"

"I'm good at isolating sounds, violin is a great ear-trainer." He waved his hand dismissively. "The point is, you're good, and you could get a lot better."

"Tina worked with me over the summer."

Blaine beamed up at him. "Well she does good work. If you want to work on your breathing I learned some neat tricks from David."

"Are you trying distract me to get out of hanging out with me?"

"No! I would love to hang out with you."

"Great. Relax dude, I'm not going to make you talk about Kurt. I am probably going to make a plea for the Brainiacs though because seriously dude we need you, I saw your GPA, don't worry I'm not actually stalking you, I do filing in the office for extra credit. Kurt's not going to be going anywhere near that so he's totally not an excuse."

"Right, um yeah, I'll think about it. Listen I was kind of going to head to work."

"Cool, I'll drive you, where do you work?"

"Um, at Pete's."

"That coffee place?"

"Yeah."

"So why do you hang out at the Lima Bean?"

"Kurt really likes it. Between you and me though, their coffee is too bitter, I need a shot of cinnamon in it."

"I won't tell the Beanies."

"Beanies?"

"People who drink coffee from the Lima Bean. They're kind of manic about it. Come on, we wouldn't want you to be late."

"I don't start for about an hour, I just do my homework there before I start. Pete feeds me cookies."

"Great."

"You say great a lot."

"Maybe."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I know I've been snappy and abrasive."

"Dude, it's fine, now get in the car, I want cookies."


Mike was still holding the door open when someone yelled across the room. "Anderson! I need you to try this thing." It was an older man (Pete presumably), behind the counter.

Blaine made his way over quickly with Mike trailing close behind. "What is it?"

The man shrugged and pushed the plate toward him. "I don't know, some kind of pastry. Charlotte made it. Who's your friend?"

"Mike Chang. Mike, this is Pete, my boss."

"Yeah, nice to meet you kid, eat this." He slid a second plate over the counter to Mike who obligingly took a bite of the chocolate...thing.

"This is good."

"Good like you don't hate it or good like I should put it on the menu?"

"Totally the second one, do you have more of these?" He pulled out his wallet, ready to buy a few for his mother.

Pete pulled out a box. "Help yourself kid, won't be selling them today anyway, she said she needs to work on the presentation before they're ready for the public. Homework done yet Anderson?"

"No, we just got out."

"Get to it then, can't let those grades slip." He waved them off with a chequered towel toward a booth in the back, handing Mike the box of pastries.

"He seems nice."

"Yeah, he's a great guy."

"So...why do you suddenly not want anything to do with anyone at school?"

"It's not that I don't like everyone, it's just...McKinley is Kurt's school. I'm just his ex-boyfriend. Can we just leave it at that?" That was clearly stupid.

"Fine man. I won't ask any more questions. But it's your school too, you've got to know that. If you can't feel comfortable, why not go back to Dalton? I mean everyone there practically worshipped you, I saw a brochure, you're their actual poster boy. You still have to keep in touch though, I heard you're good at Black Ops, and I need to defend my title as ultimate ruler of the Call of Duty Universe. I know that was another question but you don't have to answer. Seriously you can just tell me to shut up if I'm getting too in your face." Mike realized he kept rushing but he really wasn't used to being the one carrying a conversation and pissing off Blaine now would really put a damper on his new plan to make them best friends. Pissing off Blaine in general would kind of suck because Blaine had a mean puppy dog look and Mike was not confident in his ability to withstand it.

If the grin Blaine sent him was any indication he didn't need to worry just yet. "That sounds swell. CoD night I mean." And yeah, Blaine also said stuff like swell with no irony and that was maybe a part of why Mike had decided that Blaine was going to be his new best friend. Mike really liked movies from the 50's and he was pretty sure Blaine was in some of them. Blaine was looking down at his biology book. "I can't go back." It took Mike a second to snap out of his daydreaming about Blaine singing Luck be a Lady while stabbing people (Blaine would totally be a stabber, not a sniper), and realise he was talking about Dalton and the big grin was gone again.

"Sure you can, if you want to. I mean we'd miss you, but if you're happier there..." He didn't actually know how many people would miss Blaine, because he didn't actually see him speaking to anyone, but he was pretty sure Rachel already missed him coming to glee from her incessant chatter about the duets she had planned for them and two people was enough to justify his use of the plural.

"No, I mean I can't go back. I don't have the money." Well...that was not what Mike had expected. Blaine was rich...right? He'd been at the school for years already and he'd been wearing the uniform at the start of term.

"But you already go there, why not just ask your parents?"

"Anderson! Can you get started? We're filling up and that girl's school lets out soon." Blaine looked way too happy about the interruption for Mike's liking. What had happened that meant Blaine couldn't go to Dalton anymore?

"Sure thing Pete. I should get to work. Thanks for the ride. It was nice talking to you, we should do it again sometime." Mike blinked at him.

"Of course." Blaine walked over to the stage, well dais, and grabbed the battered acoustic guitar, taking a seat on the stool and adjusting the mic stand. When Blaine started playing Mike was surprised. Firstly he'd been pretty sure Blaine's job would be getting people coffee, not singing, because how cool was that as an actual job? And secondly he'd heard Blaine sing before, he knew he was good, but Blaine sang Katy Perry and Tom Jones, not cool indie stuff Mike thought Tina might have played at some point this summer. Blaine was apparently made for sitting around strumming in cool coffee shops, with 20-something hipsters looking very determinedly unimpressed, because he looked comfortable in a way Mike had never seen him. Blaine Anderson was confident on any stage, and usually in person as well, but he never looked that comfortable.

Mike was torn. He'd clearly been dismissed, Blaine didn't expect him to stay, but Mike kind of wanted to. He decided he wasn't going to stay for Blaine's whole...set? shift? but it was totally normal for him to grab a cup of coffee while he was here, and if he didn't drink it all that fast then that had nothing to do with the curly-haired teen currently diving into a song Mike only vaguely recognized as one of Bob Dylan's older works. He headed over to the counter.

"So, Blaine tells me your coffee is much better than the Lima Bean."

"Of course he does, he's a sweet kid."

"He's nice alright. How long has he been working here?"

"He came in with some Dalton boys when he was a freshman there. He used to come and play once a week or so, but what with what happened...well you can see him here most days now. He usually plays some of his own stuff later on if you're planning on sticking around, or he spazzes out and starts playing music from old Nintendo games, could go either way." Pete shook his head fondly. "He's doing wonders for the hipster cred of this place though, I still can't believe nerdy became cool. Between Starbucks and the Lima Bean the hipsters are the only ones in this town that don't have a coffee place they're happy with. Also he attracts the girls from Crawford like flies to honey. Like I said, sweet kid, weird dress sense though."

"Hey, don't hate on the sweater vest." Mike pointed out his own.

"Oh I'm not, but yesterday he wore a cardigan over a sweater vest over a shirt. It's September. Also I'm pretty sure that is a green bow tie with pink roosters on it." It actually was, Mike had spent an inordinate amount of time in calculus that morning making sure he wasn't just imagining it.

He felt like he should defend Blaine anyway. "Whatever man, he can rock a bowtie."

"I'm not saying he can't, I'm just saying it's weird." Pete raised his hands in surrender.

"Ok yeah maybe it's a bit weird, but it's mostly awesome right?"

He chuckled and shook his head, looking over at Blaine again. "Whatever you say kid. So you're from his new school? How's he doing? New friends? How's the boyfriend?"

It was times like these Mike wished he hadn't let Tina convince him to talk more. People never used to ask Mike things, especially things Mike didn't know if he was allowed to talk about. "Um...I don't know?"

Pete raised an eyebrow at him, looking amused. "Ok, let's start with something easier. Do you go there?"

"Yeah."

"And you're friends?"

"I hope so. I mean we haven't really talked much before, but he's pretty cool."

"Right, and by the panic I'm assuming the answers to the rest of those questions aren't going to be good."

"Um."

"Don't worry, you're safe, I'm not going to confront him about his issues. I was just checking in."

"It's not that you know...It's just..."

"Not your place, I get it. Now, were you actually going to order or are you going to take his word about the coffee?"

"Yeah, to be honest I don't know much about coffee, what do you suggest?"

"Well, Anderson is a French roast fan, sometimes with a shot of something, always drip and always a medium, because he drinks too slow for any other size. Do you drink a lot of coffee?"

"Well yeah, but none of those words actually mean anything to me. I drink whatever comes in the green packets at the store."

"Ok I'll tell you what, we're making a scorecard."

"A scorecard?"

"Yup." Pete had grabbed a menu and started scribbling on the back of it. He grabbed a stack of the tiny post its Mike used to mark up his text books and wrote something on two of them.

"GS, DFRHV. I am actually more confused now."

"We are going to find your coffee order, you'll be going to college in what, two years tops?"

"One."

"Right, you need to know this by then. GS, grocery store, you can fill in the brand later if you want to, DFRHV, drip, French roast, hazelnut vanilla, that is my first guess. Sliding scale. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now here is yours, and here is his, go give it to him."

"Right, um, how much do I owe?"

"Nothing for today, consider it my charitable act of the day, I can't let you keep drinking Wal-Mart coffee forever." Mike fiddled with his wallet. "Look, try the coffee, if you like it, leave a tip, I really don't pay that kid enough and god knows hipsters don't tip. Pay through the roof, but never tip."

"Right." He casually strolled over to where Blaine was playing, setting the cup down next to the water bottle on the tiny table.

"Michael Chang Jr you are my hero." He took a long sip and gave a deep, contented sigh before he turned back to his audience. "This man, no this angelic bringer of coffee, god amongst men, is Mike Chang, and he dances like a boss. He'll tell you he can't sing, but he lies!" Blaine tutted and shook his head. "So Mike Chang, will you dance for us? Come on." Mike didn't really dance in front of people that weren't in glee, unless he was with the other kids in the club. "Come on, you know you want to. Let's get this party started." Mike was about to protest, out loud this time even, when Blaine launched into a song that was distinctly more upbeat.

I came here to make you dance tonight
I don't care if I'm a guilty pleasure for you

Mike took in the grinning face of his friend and the applauding of the young girls who had now found their places and he couldn't help himself. He hopped onto the nearest empty table. As he started moving he rolled his eyes at himself. He had the distinct feeling this would not be the last time he did something mildly embarrassing to keep a smile on the junior's face. He briefly wondered how Blaine managed to sing through a smile that wide but dismissed the thought and lost himself in his impromptu show.

"Sorry girls, he has a girlfriend, and she's adorable." Mike heard a strange mix of giggles and groans. "I know right, how do you think I feel? I'm not even the right sex?" It was an innocuous thing to say, but the way he said it was anything but. Mike was fairly certain Blaine had no interest in him at all as a potential romantic interest, so the dip in his voice and the stress on the last word was entirely for the benefit of the giggling girls. It was almost impressive how he managed to both flirt and declare himself gay in the same sentence. Strike that, Mike thought as he looked back at the group of girls, adoring looks still fixed on Blaine as he tuned his guitar, it was definitely impressive. These girls knew Blaine had no interest in them and yet Mike was pretty sure if he crooked a finger they would come running. It was unfair that power like that was wasted on someone who had no use for it. If Mike had that kind of confidence he could have asked Tina to the junior high prom and she would have said yes. As it was Mike had struggled to muster up the courage to ask her to the end of summer dance at Asian camp as friends, even though they were both required to be there.

Mike did end up staying until Blaine stopped playing, but in his defence he did do his chemistry homework as well. Studying in coffee shops was totally legitimate (he had never done it before, but people totally did that), and he was in no way creepily stalking the guy he had declared himself friends with. Tina agreed. He had worried after about an hour that he was actually being really weird and Blaine was just too nice to tell him to leave (he hadn't seemed entirely sure about the whole friends thing after all), and had subsequently started a text conversation with his girlfriend that turned into a pep talk from her side and ended with him promising to film a few songs for her. She hadn't commented on him leaving before glee and he wondered how obvious he was being in his disapproval of the other members' attitudes.

"So what did you think?"

"I think we could have used you when we were doing original songs last year. I didn't know you wrote music."

"I love music."

"Yeah that bit I knew, as does everyone who's ever seen you perform. Also, Tina says she wants a song for her birthday now."

"We could write one together!" That was totally approval for the friendship idea Mike decided as Blaine started throwing lyric ideas at him and internally declared phase one of 'operation epic bromance' a rousing success. He then internally declared himself a dork, but reasoned that Blaine had just quoted a Disney movie and made a Super Mario reference in the same sentence so he thought he was probably ok. He also fleetingly wondered if the hipster fan base Blaine had apparently built up knew Blaine's bowties and Nintendo themes weren't in any way ironic.

"And it obviously has to be danceable, because that's where you speak loudest." Mike tuned back into the conversation and found that his chemistry notebook had been commandeered and Blaine had filled the last page with random lines of text with arrows and chords. "Sorry, I just totally spazzed out didn't I? We don't have to write a song."

"We should so write a song. I just spaced." Blaine beamed at him again and kept firing ideas at him until his mother called and demanded he come home.

"I have to go, sorry. Do you need a ride?"

"No, I'm fine."

"I'll see you tomorrow."