Title: Dancing Through Life

Chapter/s: 1/1
Word Count: 1,510
Pairings: Bike(Mike/Brittany)
Genre: Romance/Fluff
Rating: None
Summary: And she looks up at him, make-up running, eyes red nose stuffed up and he's never seen a more beautiful woman. "I love you Mikey" she says. And he feels like he's dying inside when he forces a smile and says, "I love you too, Brittany."
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I wish I owned things but I don't. Sadly, and the only part of this I do claim, is the plot.

The first time he sees her she is dressed simply in a peach summer dress, honey-blonde hair down in soft waves around her shoulders as Santana chatters lazily about make-up boys and being Cheerios. It was eighth grade graduation the summer before freshman year at WMHS. He doesn't know much about her except that she's a dancer and her name is Brittany. His little sister has ballet with her, and she is the best dancer he's ever seen. Because of her, he's started to dance in his free time, locked away in his bedroom iPod in his pocket, ear buds in, music blasting. He is amazed at how easily break dance and classical styles alike are for him to learn, to master. Someday, Mike swears she'll notice him.

The next time they meet, is the day he joins the football team, number twenty-two. His friends Matt, Puck and Finn clap him on the back and fist bump him; she on the other hand skips over in her brand new red and white Cheerios uniform and plants kisses on all of their cheeks. Days later, Mike swears he can still feel her lips on his cheek.

The next time she dances into his vision, is after he's taken a particularly bad tackle in Finn's place, the breath is knocked out of him, and it's hard to breath. But he still sees her face looking worriedly down at him, as he's loaded neck brace and all onto a stretcher, blushing to the tips of his ears. And it's almost worth it when she presses a kiss to his cheek her soft bubbly voice chirping at him, "Don't worry Mikey, the doctors will make it better!"

A few hours later, Brittany is giggling as she presses a band aid to his forehead over a slight bump, with a smile she looks down at him and says, "All better!" And he has to agree, with here around, things were better. All better in fact, until she leaned down to give him a hug pressing against his broken ribs. He whimpered breathlessly, but returned the hug anyway.

It's a while after that before they have any real interaction, he's just recovering from his broken ribs when it's announced that Mr. Schuester, the Spanish teacher that he's found of is taking over the schools hated Glee club. He doesn't think much of it, not until he runs into Brittany standing in front of the sign-up sheet one morning. "Are you going to sign up?" he smiles the question, truly curious. She shakes her head, a smile on her lips as she bounces up to press a kiss to his cheek. "No, Santana says it's stupid. Besides, I don't sing." He wonders if there is a place in the club for dancers, but before he can suggest anything, Santana is calling her giving him a look and the blonde is waving and skipping off to join her friend.

Its a few weeks later when Mr. Schue cons coach Tanaka into getting a few of the football guys to join. Mike doesn't sing, but he knows Brittany is there. Knows that her real goal with the rest of the Cheerios is to take down Glee club, whilst also keeping an eye on Finn and the new girl he kind of digs on, Rachel. He doesn't agree to join, but doesn't protest either, his traced compliance is accepted, and he is now a member of New Directions.

It isn't until Junior year when he's given the chance to really work with Brittany, they've been asked to choreography a huge dance number to go with Santana's song, Valerie. He readily agrees when she asks for his help and they start rehearsing together every day for about a month. On one of those nights Mike gets up the nerve to kiss her, and right when he's about to execute his strategy, Artie rolls in glaring at him and accusing him and Brittany of cheating. He denies the claim, it isn't true, they hadn't cheated – yet. And they wouldn't. That close call killed his confidence.

It's months later of torturously analyzing every detail of everything he's done wrong at the hands of one Tina Cohen-Chang that he realizes he's in love with her. With her cute ditzy comments, the way she knew everything about cats, how she was too innocent to ever realize how important some things where. Everything from the way she styled her hair to the way she would do about anything for a box of Dots candy. He and Tina are fighting all the time anyway. So he stops, smiles and shakes his head with a sigh. "I'm in love Tina. But not with you; and you don't love me either." And he's right. She is in love, with Artie; which is why nothing he does is right.

It takes all his strength to not kick Artie's ass. When Brittany finds him, red swollen puffy eyes and a heavy frown he immediately asks her what's wrong and her answer breaks his heart. "Everything thinks I'm stupid because I confuse things a lot and sometimes don't know what's going on, I thought…I really thought Artie was different." She starts crying and throws herself into his arms, his heart breaks as she cries into his chest, and he sees Tina over her head, giving him a weak smile and a nod of her head. "Britt, I don't think you're stupid" he says softly. And she looks up at him, make-up running, eyes red nose stuffed up and he's never seen a more beautiful woman. "I love you Mikey" she says. And he feels like he's dying inside when he forces a smile and says, "I love you too, Brittany."

Senior year was passing so quickly. And he though, honestly thought that he'd stop being in love with her. That one morning he'd wake up, and the first thought on his mind wouldn't be. 'Great, another day of watching Brittany and Santana make out in the hallways.' He was happy that his two best friends were happy, were in love. He was not happy that they were in love at his expense. No, that part hurt. That morning, she seems him the hall and breaks away from Santana to wave and chirp a good morning before the Latina pulls her back to continue making out.

It was their last day as seniors. That night, they would graduate and all go their separate ways. Glee club would go strong; Mr. Schue would lead these new kids to victory like he'd done them. A group of underdogs who were insecure about themselves and focused too much on self image; a group of theater geeks, football jocks, cheerleader preps and everyone else that wandered through the door. And Mike's only regret in all those years was that he'd never once, told Brittany S. Pierce how he felt. He crossed the stage, received his diploma, shook the hand of Principal Figgens, and on the other side as he descended the stairs was Brittany…

That night as he tucked his daughter into bed, a beautiful little girl with brown eyes and beautiful cascading waves of blonde hair he tells the story of how he fell in love with her Mommy. "She was standing there in a simple peach sundress, her beautiful honey-blonde hair down in soft waves around her shoulders. And she looked at me and smiled and said 'when are you going to kiss me?'" He chuckled softly pressing a kiss to the little girls head; the soft tinkling laugh behind him alerts him that his wife of fifteen years is now standing behind him in the doorway. His daughter makes a face. "Did you get cooties?" She wrinkles her nose. "Cooties are bad!" And both he and Brittany laugh shaking their heads. "Goodnight sweetie" he says softly turning off the lamp next to her bed, using the light of the nightlight to navigate his way out of her room.

When he closes the door, his Brittany is standing there, dressed beautifully in her pajamas, a pair of flannel pants that were probably his and an oversized t-shirt sporting a picture of their cat, Figaro. And he smiles, and she laughs and looks up at him with a soft wink she says, "So, Mikey. When are you going to kiss me?" And he laughs and leans down, scooping her bridal style, and as he heads to their room he replies with a soft loving smile; "Right now, Brittany."

END