Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 53rd cycle. Now cycle 54!
"And I'll Be Singing"
16/15yo Mike/Tina
Chang Squared series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)
As disappointments went, the start of their show choir career was exactly that. Dealing with Ryerson had already been a nightmare when it was still only a thing they pictured in their mind. The moment Mike had walked up to audition for him, the man had looked upon him like a prize stud, a crown jewel… The noises he had made were bad enough that Tina had hurried and made the split second decision of scrapping both their planned auditions and improvising a duet with her boyfriend, making clear that this was her man, and that Ryerson had better keep his grabby hands to himself. The director now looked upon her like a gnat.
"Maybe we should just quit," Mike had sighed as they sat in the cafeteria a couple of weeks later.
"I didn't want to have to say it, but I think you're right," she sounded just as bummed out.
"What about the school musical?"
"He'll be in charge of that, too, probably," she pointed out, and his brief venture to hope came right back down. "So I guess that's that."
"We'll find something though, we have to," he insisted, and she sighed.
It was on that same day that a rumor spread across McKinley: Sandy Ryerson had been fired. Tina had gone to Mike and they had both already heard, it was easy to see by the size of their smiles.
"What's going to happen to Glee Club now?" he asked her.
"I don't know, they'll either find someone else or shut it down… I hope they find someone… I hope that someone is better than him, not that it's hard," she shook her head.
"You could take over," he suggested. She laughed.
"Think the Cheerio backlash was bad when Sylvester made me Captain? If I try and take Glee Club away from Rachel, I'm pretty sure I'll get court martialed."
Two days later, a new list had appeared on the bulletin board, a sign-up sheet for Glee Club once more. Mike and Tina had found it and stopped in surprise. "They hired someone else?"
"I don't know," Tina looked around. "Hey, Rachel!" she called out, spotting her and moving up to her. The girl still looked at her, in her Cheerios uniform, with uncertainty. Eventually Tina had remembered where she'd heard her name before. Quinn and some of the others would make fun of her, leaving nasty comments on her MySpace page. She could understand why she would look at her and assume she was like them, too. "Do you know anything about this?" she pointed to the sheet.
"Mr. Schuester is taking over Glee Club, I was just about to sign in for auditions."
"The Spanish teacher?" was surprised, while Rachel moved in and signed her name, complete with her signature gold star. "Why do you do that?" Tina had to ask.
"I just do," Rachel was about to turn, but in that same moment, Mike spotted coming their way, Slushie cup in hand, and he reacted, moving in to stop his ex-teammate.
"Walk away," Mike told him.
"Hey, I know you've turned in your jacket, Chang, but I thought you were still one of us," Puck scoffed before carrying on his way, eyes locking with the shocked Rachel. She watched him go before turning back to Mike.
"I… thanks," she blinked, looking to both him and Tina before moving on her way. Tina had gone to the list, signing both their names under Rachel's.
"Why would they give the director position to the Spanish teacher?" Tina looked back to Mike as they walked off.
"I don't know, maybe he knows about music or something?"
"Either that or they figure anyone can do this job," she frowned, then she decided, "We should look him up."
Later they had researching "Will Schuester" and "Glee Club" and there they had discovered that the director of the newly baptised "New Directions" had been a champion of the show choir circuit in his time. This had reassured both Mike and Tina as to his credentials for the position, that along with the fact that they were pretty sure Mike didn't have to worry about him making advances to his students, male or otherwise. Luckily they already had their auditions figured out, thanks to the misfire that was their original run up to that stage.
Still when the teacher saw them, the ex-football player and the current Captain of the Cheerios, he looked halfway between relieved and ecstatic. They guessed they came off as good catches. The news that she had joined Glee Club, even back when Ryerson had been directing it, had gotten Tina back in the Coach's crosshairs, and yet she had not been demoted from her title, bumped down to regular old Cheerio, which she would have preferred. She left her as Captain, but she had cranked up her scheming. She wasn't going to kick Tina off, and if the girl wanted the suffering to stop, then she'd have to give up being on the squad altogether. Tina wasn't backing down though.
She had wanted Mike to go up first, but he insisted that she should start, so eventually she did. She gave everything she had, hoping that this time around all their preparation would not be in vain. She had loved the idea of spending time with Mike, singing and dancing, and so far the whole thing had been a mess. She couldn't bear the thought of more disappointment. So with her audition she made one thing clear: she was in this, no backing out.
When she was done, it had been Mike's turn. He couldn't help but feeling at least some nervousness, but Tina came and found him, told him what she always did, that he would do great, and that she believed in him. No matter how many times he heard it, her words could always lift him up. So he had taken his position on stage, introduced himself, and he had given his audition song. It was the first time he really got to perform for someone that wasn't Tina. The two weeks they had spent in Ryerson's grip had not really felt like performing, more like protecting themselves. But now this was different, and when he would be done, Tina would tell him that he had never sung so well as he did that day.
Soon they would officially be welcomed into the folds of McKinley High's New Directions. There were six of them, the first time they gathered to rehearsal. Beyond the two of them, there was Rachel of course, and then Kurt Hummel, Mercedes Jones, and Artie Abrams. That first rehearsal had been kind of a mess but, regardless, when they had left it, Tina looked lifted… This was what they had been waiting for.
THE END
A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!