DISCLAIMER: I do not own, or claim to own, glee, any of the characters or songs mentioned in this story.

Notes:

1) As of usual, I say that reviews guilt me into writing more, but since this is a oneshot, you can't hope for that ... I'd still love to hear your thoughts, though. So, if you decide to randomly brighten up my day, just send me one!

2) English, as you may notice, is not my first language. If you find any mistakes in this, especially ones I make regularly, I'll be glad if you tell me about them.

That Thing We Put Between Us

- Oneshot -

Tina slammed the door to her bedroom shut and locked it behind her. If anyone complained about the noise, she didn't hear it due to having the volume turned way up on her iPod, listening to Alanis Morissette's Ironic on repeat. She flung herself onto her bed without so much as taking her shoes off first and buried her head in her pillow.

And isn't it ironic, don't you think?

She mouthed the line against the soft fabric. It was ironic. He was the first person she had opened up to, the first one she had told about her stutter, her fake stutter, because she hadn't wanted to push people away anymore. Ironically, by opening up she had pushed away the one person she cared about the most.

The goddamn stutter. How could he have taken that so seriously, as if it was the only common ground they had? Had he really only befriended her because of her speech impediment, because of the fact that he felt like he should only surrounded himself with people that were, in some respect, flawed, because he considered himself flawed for being in a wheelchair?

No. That couldn't be true. She'd always admired him for the fact that he did not let his disability define who he was. If it didn't define his identity, it couldn't define his relationships – their relationship – either. If only he could see that they shared so much more than a wheelchair and a fake speed impediment.

She enjoyed his company, his casual remarks, the observations he made when she wheeled him through the school. She liked his ambition, his strength, the fact that he would not allow anything to get in his way when he wanted something. She loved the fact that he was an excellent performer and that there seemed no limits for him on stage, that he was never uncomfortable with even the boldest choreography (yes, she very well remembered the moment he'd slapped her butt during ND's memorable performance of Push It at the assembly). She needed him, not only as a strong counterpart to her own bold stage-self, but as a friend, and, hopefully someday her boyfriend.

Lying on her bed, shutting the world out and melting away in self-pity was not going to bring her any closer to that. How would he ever realize that he had been wrong about trying to build their relationship on what they could not do instead of what they could do if she did not show him? She had to show him. And she had to show him now.

Lima was a small town, and it took her barely a quarter of an hour to get to the Abrams' house. She took three deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down before she pressed the bell and waited. It didn't take long until she heard the sound of steps approaching the door and Mrs. Abrams opened it for her.

"Tina! Thank god you're here, come on in!" The goth girl raised an eyebrow, because, although she knew Artie's Mum genuinely liked her, she had never been greeted that – well – enthusiastically. Mrs. Abrams must have seen the unspoken question on Tina's face and went on to explain. "Artie has been acting weird ever since he got home today. I've tried to get him to tell me what has upset him, but he won't talk to me … So, now that you're here, I figured you'd know something."

Tina nodded. "Can I talk to him?"

"Yes, of course. He's in his room; you already know where to go. I'll leave the two of you alone for a while."

"Thank you, Mrs. Abrams." Tina thanked the woman and gave her a bright smile. Hannah Abrams always knew when she had to interfere in her son's life and when it was better to remain on the sidelines. Obviously, she clearly sensed that this was something the two teens had to sort out on their own, and Tina was grateful for the privacy Artie's Mum granted them. She made her way to Artie's room, knocked on the door but didn't wait for an answer before she entered. She closed the door behind her and chose to remain exactly where she was standing, refusing to take the tiniest step towards him just yet.

Artie almost dropped the guitar he'd been carelessly playing some sad tune on the moment she set foot into his room. "Tina … you … you're here." She watched him putting the instrument back into the guitar stand ever so carefully, as if it might break – another thing she'd always liked about him, the way he took care of his guitar because it was really important to him – then wheeled around with his chair to face her and, out of intuition or habit or both, rolled some inches toward her before coming to a stop all of a sudden as he remembered that things were not totally right between the two of them.

The fact that they were here, in the same room, not more than two meters apart and yet unwilling or unable to close the distance between them, made her heart ache. It had never been in the least bit difficult between the two of them, they had bonded so easily when they had first met – why did they have to make everything more complicated than it had to be?

Tina closed her eyes and, for the gazillionth time that day, took a deep breath as she tried to collect herself. She had come here for a serious conversation, and she was going to have it.

"I needed to talk to you." She started, opening her eyes and looking straight into his. "Well, actually we need to talk about something. About what happened today, to be specific." At that point, she had to briefly interrupt herself and bit her lip as she struggled to find the right words to go on. That choice was taken from her, however, as Artie broke the awkward silence that had seemed to make him the more uncomfortable the longer it lasted.

"If you've come to tell me that you no longer want to be my friend … I understand that." He said the words very slowly, painfully so, as if he was having a really hard time getting them out.

Tina gasped. "No! I … I didn't … I wouldn't … how can you say a thing like that?" She finally managed to blurt out.

Artie let out a breath he'd apparently been holding. He looked extremely uncomfortable, as Tina noticed, but she didn't do anything to comfort him. She felt that he was going to say something important, so she just held still and waited for him to phrase his thoughts. When he finally opened his mouth, the words came out in a rush. "I … I have been an idiot to you, today. I've come to realize, that while I still don't agree with your choice to stutter in order to push people away – as you expressed it – I was wrong to give you that much crap about it. I was wrong to judge you because of it, and it was wrong of me to just walk out of you." He sighed.

Tina had already opened her mouth to tell him how much she appreciated his apology – and she really did, because everyone knew it wasn't the norm for Artie Abrams to admit that he had been wrong, especially to a girl – when he continued, cutting her off before she could find the words to express what the things he'd said meant to her.

"But can't you understand that for me … for the guy that has been trapped in this wheelchair ever since he was a kid … it is next to impossible to understand how someone could possibly choose to push people away? Because, you know, I really meant what I said about that today. This chair does push people away." He swallowed hard, giving her a look that pleaded her to understand his words, to not take this as a follow-up to the harsh judgment he had given her earlier.

It was Tina's turn to sigh now, but at the same time, she moved closer toward him and sat down on his bed, directly next to where his wheelchair had come to a halt. "I don't think I ever really chose to push people away." She told him, and smiled sadly at his questioning gaze. "Everyone always thought that, with me, it was all about the stutter. That this was my big insecurity, the one that made me withdraw from everyone. They never would have guessed that it could be the other way round."

"The other way round?" Artie echoed in disbelief, but Tina only nodded confirmatively. It was time for her to reveal one of her best-guarded secrets now.

"I am a shy, insecure, fragile little girl. That's what I am." She stated, the words ringing loud in her ears. Never had she told anyone that her self-analysis had come to that one, painful, but most likely true, conclusion. "So hiding behind something, like a stutter, seemed like the easiest thing to do. I was never really good at talking to people, establishing relationships ... Everyone thought I was weird, a freak, an outsider. Stuttering would explain why I did not talk; I would be less of a freak and at least be left alone." Tine confessed.

He seemed to be taken aback by her words, as if he couldn't quite make sense of them, and she felt her hopes drop. It still wasn't enough for him. He still couldn't forgive her entirely for faking her "disability", for being able to go back to normal when he couldn't. Why hadn't she seen that coming?

Then he spoke.

"Why would you ever be insecure?" Artie asked, clearly without expecting an answer. As if there was no need for her to feel like that. He smiled at her, and she realized that he had, in fact, forgiven her for faking a disability, something that must have, as she only now realized, hit him hard.

"Why wouldn't I?" She answered with another question, definitely caring for him to elaborate.

"You're one of the best singers I know; you're an amazing performer and an amazing person." He complimented her, and she was positive that her whole face brightened up at his words.

"So are you." She returned the compliment. However, there was one last thing that she needed to discuss with him, one last obstacle that needed to be removed from the way they would hopefully share.

"Yet you chose to let us be the boy in the wheelchair and the girl with the stutter." She stated. She didn't do it in an accusing way, she just said it, but she could see him cringe at the words.

He sighed. "Yes, I was wrong about that. Now I know it was the most idiotic thing to label you as the girl with the speech impediment when you are just so much more. I don't know how I can ever make that right. And if I could, I'd take it back. But for now … I can only hope that you'll accept my apology." He pleaded. "I really need you to be my friend."

His honest words made her smile, mainly because she appreciated his honesty more than anything and really thought his apology was adorable. Even if she had wanted to, there was no way she could reject him now. "I accept." She declared. "I couldn't imagine my life without you as my friend, either." After having admitted this, she got up from the bed, closed the last bit of distance between them and sat down on his lap. The look he gave her made her grin again, because it summed up the relief and all the joy at having sorted that thing that they had so stupidly put between them out she felt herself, too. Still there was one more thing.

"After today I'd hoped, we maybe could be more than friends." She said and leaned in to kiss him for the second time. But this time, it was not the girl with the stutter kissing the paraplegic boy. This time, it was an amazing girl kissing an amazing boy who just happened to be in a wheelchair.

So, that's it. If you enjoyed this story and are interested in reading more by me, please press the author alert button. If you don't have an account on this site, you can also follow me on twitter ( teebs_teebs) or add me on facebook (Teebs SingerWriter) where I will post a tweet/status update whenever I add a new story or a chapter on a multi-chaptered story.