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 51st cycle. Now cycle 52!

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Steps 44-53, Breathe & Push, chapter 6.

"Waning Days"
16/15yo Mike/Tina
Chang Squared series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

He had decided to go and pick her up from home that day, to make it special. He didn't expect what he'd found, somehow lapsing and forgetting that, being the first day of school, he would be met with his girlfriend in her Cheerio persona. She came out just as he was approaching, and he paused, blinking at the sight of the uniform, ponytail… She didn't look all that pleased about it.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Day hasn't even started and I've already got Cheerios on my tail about being Captain. Quinn sure hasn't missed a beat…"

"Hey," he kissed her hello, smiled. "I've got your back, remember? And Brittany's your friend, too. And you know not all of them are going to side with Quinn. Right now, you're just going to stress yourself out, when you know there's something even more important that's about to happen, for both of us," he smiled, and finally it got her to relax.

"Alright, fine, let's go," she turned so they could head out. He was right, they had something else to do that day: they were signing up for Glee Club.

Summer had all been leading up to this, they knew. Tina had been helping him develop his singing abilities, for one thing. She knew how insecure that part left him, and if she was honest, he kind of had reason to in the beginning. But he had potential, she saw that as well, and she was fully prepared to get him there. As shy as he had been about even letting her hear him at first, she had gotten him to come out of his shell and try more and more, until he willingly followed her instructions. And in the weeks that had followed their first lessons, trapped in the dance studio during a storm, she had both expected and been amazed by the progress that he made. By the end of the summer even he couldn't deny it. He wasn't just getting better, he actually sounded really good. It was honestly making her weak in the knees to hear him sometimes, something she'd tried to hide at first, but then when he'd found out he had been so amused that she didn't try to hide it anymore.

Then about two weeks before the day they were set to start school, she had shown up at his house saying they had to start preparing for their auditions. She had gone and grabbed his iPod, looking at what he had. Not sure what else to do, he let her.

"Think we could audition together? You know, like a duet," he asked, hanging by. She shrugged.

"We could, I think… not sure." Then she looked up. "Are you worried about going on your own?" she asked.

"Maybe, a bit," he admitted, and she smiled, standing up to come to him.

"You are going to be amazing, I know you will. You might even have to downplay it a bit," she looked him in the eye.

"What do you mean?" he frowned.

"I'm just saying, might want to be careful… the abs, the arms… Ryerson…" she explained. He squeezed his eyes shut, like the prospect of their future director was a nightmare he strived to forget every time, only to be faced with it again.

"Shouldn't we say something about him? Maybe we'd get someone else, better… not so creepy?"

"Even if we did, we'd need proof… Do you really want to tempt the fates? Maybe it's not as bad as it seems if we're just… careful…" she replied slowly.

"I'm just wondering if it's really worth it to go through that if it's to end up with someone like him."

"Do you not want to do it anymore?" she asked.

"Of course, I want to, why do you think I've been working so hard all summer," he smiled. "It's just…" he sighed. "Ryerson…"

"Hey, no one lays a hand on my man," she vowed. "I'll unleash some Asian rage on him if he tries," she went on, and he laughed.

"What rage?" he asked, laying a hand atop her head.

"Piss me off and you'll find out," she squinted at him, and he got a laugh out of her with a kiss.

"Alright, let's fine me a song then," he looked back to the iPod. She smiled and went back to looking.

"It wold be nice though…" she thought aloud.

"What?" he asked and she turned a smile to him.

"A duet, you and me," she explained, and he smiled back.

"I'd love that," he agreed.

"First things first," she got back to work.

Finding her song and preparing it for her audition had been relatively easy. She was more familiar with the process and her abilities, so she knew where to go to be at her advantage. She had picked her song and then he'd sat there for a while, just watching her sing, and he was just as amazed now as he had been the first time. She would ask him how she'd done, and he couldn't even say. "Come on…" she'd laugh.

"Sorry, can't help it."

"Alright, let's take care of you then." She could see it was hard for him to make up his mind, so she had cut to the chase. "Okay, I'm going to just pick for you… if you trust me," she gave him a look.

"With my life," he bowed his head.

"We'll start with your audition song for now," she laughed.

Finally, after she'd debated it with herself, she had found him a song they both liked. She had helped him to prepare it, and over the next couple of weeks of summer they had continued to go over their audition pieces, to lead them to this moment.

When they got to school, they came up to the bulletin board, finding the sheet waiting for them. "Ladies first?" he found a pen and handed it to her.

"Thank you, Sir," she took it, adding her name before handing the pen back so he could write his name below hers. As he did, she looked at the other names. There were only two so far, Hank Saunders, and Rachel Berry. "Gold star," she pointed to the sticker.

"She's in some of our classes, I think," Mike thought back.

"We should go, before we run into Ryerson… Sorry, I forgot," she smirked when she saw the look he threw her.

"Asian rage, right?" She nodded. "Okay…"

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!