Hello! This is a brand new multi-chapter fanfic I'm writing. I plan to make it my main focus, with at least two chapters per week. I have another story planned (an AU Glee from S4 onwards) but that won't start for a while. I had this idea quite a while ago that it would be interesting to write a story from a character's point of view. I thought Mike would be a good choice as he's the quiet one, but it would be interesting to peek into his mind. Note: This story will follow canon. For every episode where Mike is absent, I'll just write what I think's going on with him, so the first three chapters might make it feel like this is an AU fanfic, but it's not.
Since neither Mike nor Matt were seen on the football team in the first three episodes (or at all for that matter), my headcanon is that both of them joined during their sophomore year, but not immediately. The Billy Elliot references in this episode mostly come from 3x03 but other episodes too, as Mike and Billy just really want to dance. There are also a few references to the 2009 episode in this chapter.
The chapters will be quite long; it'll almost be like reading/watching a full episode of Glee.
I hope you enjoy this brand new story! :) Feel free to follow me on Tumblr (my username is FutureMrAstin on there too), but be warned: it's not Santana-friendly!
1x01 - Pilot
"Can I just ask you, Billy? What does it feel like when you're dancing?"
And then Billy, who's I guess 12 or so, opens his mouth to sing.
I can't really explain it, I haven't got the words
It's a feeling that you can't control
I suppose it's like forgetting, losing who you are
And at the same time something makes you whole
It's like that there's a music, playing in your ear
And I'm listening, and I'm listening, and then I disappear
And then I feel a change, like a fire deep inside
Something bursting me wide open, impossible to hide
And suddenly I'm flying, flying like a bird
Like electricity, electricity
Sparks inside of me, and I'm free, I'm free
Damn, this kid can sing. I would sing along with him, but I know that I can't carry a tune to save my life.
It's a bit like being angry; it's a bit like being scared
Confused and all mixed up and mad as hell
It's like when you've been crying
And you're empty and you're full
I don't know what it is, it's hard to tell
Releasing my hand from the edge of my bed, I close my eyes and do a few stretches and jumps across my room, making sure to land on the floor lightly.
It's like that there's some music, playing in your ear
But the music is impossible, impossible to hear
But then I feel it move me
Like a burning deep inside
Something bursting me wide open
Impossible to hide
And suddenly I'm flying
Flying like a bird
Like Electricity, electricity
Sparks inside of me
And I'm free, I'm free
Billy yells the last word as he goes into his little dance routine, and I follow suit. Hell, why am I still looking at the screen? I'd memorised this dance a long time ago. Months even. Damn, if my parents could see me right now, they would shit themselves.
"Michael?"
Shit. Speak of the devils.
I slam the lid of my laptop down, almost crushing my hand in the process. That was a close one.
My dad stands in the doorway, straightening his tie. "Well, what are you standing there for?" he asks. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"
"I'm ready, Dad."
"Well come on, then. Jeremy's waiting for you downstairs."
"I like that boy," my mom chimes in. "I'm a little disappointed in you, Michael. You barely managed to scrape an A+ in Geography last term. I hope he'll become a better influence on you this year."
Sigh. These two are obsessed with my grades. You'd have thought that scoring a B wouldn't be too bad, but not when your father is Mike Chang Sr. That Puckerman kid barely pays attention in class. It's a miracle that he even passed more than half his classes. Rumor has it that he slept with half the female teachers. Then there's Finn Hudson, who's not the brightest bulb either, yet he still seems to do well in class.
"Yeah... sure," I say, walking downstairs to meet Jeremy. "I'll see you later." It seems as if Jeremy has claimed our house as his own over the last few days. He's already washing the dishes, something my mom has told him not to do.
"Hello, Michael," he says in his thick British accent. "How are you today?"
"I'm..." wasting my life dreaming of attending the Joffrey Academy of Dance, but I have to confine that fantasy to my room when I'm alone. My parents planned my future out for me, and in three years' time I'll be at law school, no thanks to this British chap besides me who acts like he owns the place. "...fine" I say. Clearly that's all I can say for now. I'm spending the first day of my sophomore life escorting this guy around. For the record, I have nothing against British people, but not when they practically steal your home and your parents from you.
The bus arrives and we get on. I hear a familiar voice. "Hey, Changster!"
I smile and go to the back of the bus as Jeremy sits down at the front. Good for him. "Hey, dude" I say, high-fiving Matt Rutherford, my almost-brother for the last ten years. "Sup?"
"Oh, nothing much. My mom went to visit my grandma last night so had a couple of the guys round. Sucks you couldn't be there."
"Yeah, my parents had my private tutor supervise me," I frown.
"Sucks," Matt says again. "Dude, you never guess who I saw at church the other day"
"Who?"
"Mercedes Jones. One of only like five black kids in the whole freakin' school. She was good, I'll give her that."
"Looks like someone's got a bit of a crush," I tease him, giving him an elbow.
"Watch it," he warns me. "Hey, guess what? I'm trying out for the team."
"The football team?"
"No, the violin team, dumbass. Of course the football team. My mom wanted me to do something productive with my life, so here I am." He seems pretty pleased with himself, even though he's not the best football player. "What about you?"
"My life's pretty much productive as it is," I say half-heartedly.
The bus pulls up and we get off, Jeremy lagging behind us. Our first class is Spanish, a class that I do quite well in, Matt not so much. Mr. Schuester's pretty cool too, and he shares my love of vests too. Ironically we pass him on our way in.
"Hi guys," he greets us. I give a friendly wave to him, noticing he's talking to the football team who appear to be spending a bit of quality time with Kurt Hummel. Not in a good way it looks like either. With the exception of Finn Hudson, they all seem like complete assholes. Seriously, Matt was thinking of joining those assholes?
Me and Kurt hadn't talked that much last year, but he seems to be a perfectly nice guy. I don't know what the football team have against him. This wasn't the first time I'd seen them "hanging around" with him by the dumpster. I kind of felt sorry for him. I'm just about to go over there and say something when...
"Michael?"
Oh crap. Jeremy.
"You know, you can just call me Mike."
"Right. We're going to be late for class."
"Relax, Jeremy," I tell him calmly. "Mr. Schue's only just going in the school building."
"Here," Matt says, taking an apple out of his bag and giving it to him. "He'll like this. See if you can beat him to class and put it on his desk. Teachers like that. You can't miss the Spanish class."
"Okay. See you around, Mich... err, Mike."
He runs inside. I'm glad to be rid of him, but Matt can be a little mean sometimes. I try not to get too nasty with people. Oh, yeah, where was I?
I hear the sound of the dumpster lid closing and see Puckerman high-five one of the other guys on the team. What assholes. The only one left is Finn Hudson, who's lifting the lid off to (at least I hope) help Kurt out. I guess so; he did look a bit guilty holding Kurt's jacket just now.
"Hope he's okay,"
"He'll be fine, dude, he's probably used to it by now."
"Matt!"
"Oh, come on, dude, it's Hummel. He attracts them like a magnet with that stuff he wears."
"You never complained about me wearing vests. A guy can choose what he wants to wear."
"Yeah, but at least for you, it's just a vest. That guy might as well walk around with a unicorn horn glued to his head."
"Dude!"
"Come on, Mike," he says, dragging me along as the bell rings.
"Come on, Finn," Puckerman says as Kurt runs off thanks to Finn helping him out.
MCMCMCMCMC
I sit down to eat my lunch, just as Matt comes in. I did see a guy in a wheelchair and a Goth girl who I saw pushing him in. They appeared to be talking to a couple of other Goths who had just thrown food on Kurt and Rachel Berry. Haven't seen them before, they must be freshmen. I believe the Goth girl was Asian. The only other Asian I've seen at McKinley so far.
"You won't believe what I just heard." Matt says as he sits down. "Mr. Schue's going round putting up posters for.. wait for it... Glee Club."
"Anyone joined so far?"
"No, but I think I saw Mercedes Jones go to sign up. She's a good singer and all, but she must be out of her freakin' mind if she wants to surround herself with geeks and losers. I saw her talking to that Rachel Berry chick too."
"The one with two dads?"
"The very same. Oh, and I think I heard Hummel say he was going to sign up too."
I smile a little. Poor Kurt didn't seem to have any friends, and I think Rachel would make a good friend for him, even though I didn't know that much about her either.
Just then, Puckerman comes in, followed by Azimio and Karofsky, who seem to resemble a pair of gorillas. "Sup, guys," he tells us. "Connolly and Peters graduated last year, and Gibson broke his ankle last week, so we'll need a couple more guys on the team."
"I'm in," Matt says. "When do we start?"
"Tanaka's holding auditions this afternoon."
"Speaking of auditions," Karofsky chimes in, "you didn't see Schuester putting up posters for Glee Club earlier, did you? He should stick to Spanish, oh wait, he can't even teach that." All three of them laugh.
"Anyway," Puckerman says, "it'll be great if you could be there. See you around," he says, thankfully not seeing Kurt and Rachel not too far away, covered with food the two Goths had thrown on them.
"Come on, Mike, it'll be fun," Matt says, as the guys on the team leave.
"Err... yeah." The thought of Matt joining a gang of bullies lingers in my mind. "Listen, I have to go... study." And with that said, I leave the cafeteria.
"Hey, Mike, what about Jeremy?"
MCMCMCMCMC
It's been a pretty weird day for me. Seeing Kurt get thrown in the dumpster, and I could have sworn I heard someone say that Puckerman had slushied Rachel earlier. Meh, whatever. It'll just be the norm every day from now on. I feel bad for them. Then again, at least Jeremy managed to make a couple new friends so he wasn't up in my face. My parents, though... well they're a different story.
"Did you have a good day at school, Michael?" my mom had asked earlier.
"Yeah, did you do well in class? I hope they gave you plenty of homework. A boy needs to study hard if he's to become a lawyer."
But I don't want to become a lawyer, Dad. I'm not like you.
Dinner had turned into a game of twenty questions. I'd just told them I wasn't hungry and went to my room, where thankfully I could be in my own private space.
I'm watching Billy Elliot on YouTube once again.
I know how you feel, Billy. I really do.
MCMCMCMCMC
"You never guess what," Matt tells me as we walk to class after lunch. He's wearing a brand new letterman jacket.
"What?"
"Mr. Schue came into the locker room. He said he needed guys to sign up for Glee Club. Yeah, right! And guess who got in already? Hummel, Berry, that Asian girl, the wheelchair kid, and Mercedes."
"That's not a bad start for one day," I said. Hopefully the five of them would be good friends.
When we arrived to English class, Finn Hudson was already in there, sitting down and looking pleased with himself. "Finn here got promoted to Quarterback," Matt explained.
"Well done," I said, high-fiving him. If anyone was to lead that pack of morons it would be Finn, the only non-moron on the team... well apart from Matt now.
"Thanks, dude," Finn replies. Suddenly, Mr. Schue comes in.
"Finn, my office, now," he says. He doesn't look too pleased. Finn looks as confused as me, but he goes anyway. What's going on?
"Alright, class," Mrs. Hagberg says. For her age, she surely likes to substitute for a lot of classes. "Take your seats. Who can tell me what the word 'meander' means?"
A blonde girl in front of me raises her hand. "Brittany?"
"She and I."
The whole class bursts into laughter, including me. I'd seen Brittany a few times before, and she always seemed very happy, though not exactly the brightest crayon in the box. She'd only been recruited to the Cheerios last April, and having seen her practise a few times, I'd say she was pretty good. With her cheerleading skills, it makes me wonder if she'd ever consider taking up dance classes. It wouldn't hurt to ask, would it?
"Hey, Brittany?" I say, tapping her on the shoulder. Thankfully Matt's sat a few rows behind me. "Brittany?" She turns around. "Have you ever considered..."
"Mr. Chang, is there something you'd like to share with the whole class?"
Mrs. Hagberg is looking directly at me.
"Oh, no, Mrs. Hagberg, I was just telling Brittany that her... her cat's pretty awesome. Yeah, rock on... err, Prince something-or-other."
"Lord Tubbington," Brittany corrects me as Mrs. Hagberg resumes her lesson. Hey, I can't blame myself. I've yet to meet the cat in person. "Has the comet destroyed your house yet?"
"Comet?"
"Lord Tubbington's been reading horoscopes lately. You're a Taurus, right? It said in yesterday's newspaper that a comet would destroy your house."
I laugh. "Well, if Lord Tubbington believes that stuff, he must be smoking."
"Oh yeah. About eight cigars a day."
I'm not sure whether this girl's being serious or not, but I like her. "So... how about I come over to meet Lord Tubbington tonight? He sounds pretty cool?" Obviously mentioning anything about dancing would be wrong at this point.
"Yeah, sure."
I smile, hoping not to disturb Mrs. Hagberg again.
MCMCMCMCMC
Well, what can I say about Brittany? She's unique, that's for sure. Anyone who walked into her room right now would think that this was a five-year-old's bedroom. She did have the mind of a five-year-old. We'd actually just finished watching a couple of Happy Tree Friends episodes on YouTube, and it was one of the weirdest cartoons I'd ever seen in my life.
"Wait here," she says, going into the closet. My eyes roll a little. I'm expecting her to bring out some Barney the Dinosaur DVDs, but it's a CD. She puts it into the CD player, and a song plays.
There's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard
No song that I could sing but I can try for your heart
Our dreams and they are made out of real things
Like a shoebox of photographs with sepia-toned lovin'
Wait, I know this song! It's "Better Together" by Jack Johnson.
"Santana loves this song," Brittany explains. "She likes to play it when she comes round, though I think it would make a perfect song for Lord Tubbington's wedding."
"Wait... Santana... as in Santana Lopez?"
"How many Santanas do you know?" she giggles. "Follow my lead." Wait... what?
Love is the answer at least for most of the questions in my heart, like
"Why are we here?" and, "Where do we go?"
And, "How come it's so hard?"
It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing it's always better when we're together
Mmm, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, we'll look at them stars and we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together
Brittany is dancing to the song. It seems like she has choreographed her own moves. Impressive. Without thinking, I join her.
And all of these moments
Just might find their way into my dreams tonight
But I know that they'll be gone when the morning light sings
Or brings new things for tomorrow night you see
That they'll be gone too, too many things I have to do
By now, Brittany has really got into it, and I have to say, so have I. She whirls me towards her and I twist her around.
But if all of these dreams
Might find their way into my day-to-day scene
I'd be under the impression I was somewhere in between
With only two, just me and you, not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to be, we'll sit beneath the mango tree now
Suddenly, the phone rings.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Michael. Jeremy's wondering where you are, he says you were talking in English class and he wanted to help you catch up."
That snitch. "Oh, it's fine, Dad. I've already caught up."
"Really? Where are you now?"
"Oh, just... with a..." I look at Brittany, not knowing what to say. "With a friend... I guess."
"A friend?"
"Yeah, she's my... she's my partner on my science project."
"Alright then. Don't be too late coming home."
"I won't." I hang up. "That was fun."
"Yeah," Brittany agrees. "I didn't know you danced."
"I don't," I say. "I just... I just got caught up with you and the music, that's all. Yeah." The way she's looking at me tells me she doesn't believe me. "Oh, alright. I dance, but only in my room. I've been dancing since I was three, but my dad pulled me out of dance classes because I was falling behind at school at the time. He's so obsessed with me trying to be the best." What am I saying? Me and Brittany don't even know each other that well yet. I change the subject. "So... you like to dance, right? Did you see those Glee Club posters Mr. Schue was putting up? You'd be great as their choreographer."
"Me join Glee Club? That's like Lord Tubbington reading Marvel comics. Well, OK, he does, but only The Incredible Hulk. Quinn and Santana call that sort of stuff social suicide."
"That's a shame," I say. "It was nice spending time with you though. I have to go home, my parents got a British exchange student to live with us and letting him take over my life."
"That sucks," Brittany says. "Well, I'm sure Lord Tubbington won't object to you sleeping in his bed if you decide to stay the night."
I smile. "Yeah, OK. Thanks."
MCMCMCMCMC
A couple of days into school and it's like Hell's frozen over. Apparently some crazy shit happened: Finn Hudson had missed football practise, but it turns out he was on a field trip. And not just any field trip; a field trip with the Glee Club! I've never even heard the guy sing. He had to be joining for a laugh, right? Right?
"He's dead," Matt says to me. "Puck and the guys have loaded up paintball guns."
"What?!"
"Let's be honest here, dude. He's the Quarterback. He's risking his life - well his social life, anyway. I heard Quinn say he's turning gay. Wouldn't be surprised if Hummel keeps making a move on him now."
"Oh, come on, that's just stupid."
"It's the truth, Mike. There's no way in hell I'd sink this low if I were Finn."
"You'd better not either." I turn to see Puckerman standing besides me, tossing Matt a paintball gun. "Here, dude. Already loaded it up for you. Got a little extra surprise for you too."
"Matt," I say. "Don't do this."
"He's one of us now, Chang," Puckerman says. "A man's got to do what a man's got to do. Come on, Rutherford."
"No, Matt. Stay."
"You really want to be hanging around with some vest-wearing sissy?"
"Alright, that's it!" I push Puckerman away. "You're not telling my friend what to do. He has a brain, unlike you and your little scumbag friends." I turn to Matt. "And he knows better than this." I see the sudden guilt in Matt's face.
"I just remembered... I sprained my ankle," Matt suddenly says, just to come up with any excuse. "Help me get to the nurse?"
"Sure, dude," I say, putting my arm around him as he pretends to limp.
"Sorry, Puck," Matt says, thrusting the paintball gun back into Puckerman's arms.
Neither of us look back.
MCMCMCMCMC
"Guess who," I hear a familiar voice behind me and see Brittany tapping me on the shoulder. I smile.
"Hey," I say. "You up for another session tonight or will Lord Tubbington's smoking habits get in the way of that?"
"He's grounded," she says. "He was reading my diary again."
I laugh.
"You know, you're kind of cute," she says. "I'd date you but Santana says it's against the law for cheerleaders to date anyone who isn't a football player."
I laugh again. "Now that's just stupid."
"Something funny, Ping Pong?"
I turn to see Santana Lopez and Quinn Fabray looking at me, daggers in their eyes. "First Finn gets all smitten with the Hobbit, now Crouching Tiger Hidden Jackass is flirting with you? Come on, Britt," she says, pushing her away.
"Well, you heard her," Quinn says coldly. "Watch yourself."
I see Brittany turn her head and give me a small smile. They couldn't threaten me.
I throw my bag over my shoulder, leaving school for the weekend after an eventful week. Oh, the pleasures of being alone in my room with my music, where hopefully one day Jeremy and my parents will learn the meaning of the word 'privacy'.
Had I walked the other way, I would have seen six people clad in red singing their hearts out to a Journey classic.
SONGS:
"Electricity" from Billy Elliot - Danced to by Mike Chang
"Better Together" by Jack Johnson - Danced to by Brittany Pierce and Mike Chang
So... did you like it? Please feel free to leave a review. I should have the next chapter up later this week!