Author's Note: This is a story that takes place between seasons 1 and 2 of glee, during the summer. Each installment will be fairly short. Please forgive any mistakes and don't forget to read & review!

Warning: Parts of this are based on spoilers I've read about S2.

One with Master Chief

Day 39

The two had melded and become one. It was as if he was not just pressing buttons but was actually Master Chief, shooting the weapons, with deadly accuracy, at the ugly alien foes. He was barely even taking time to eat. Halo Reach would hitting the stores in a matter of months and by then, he would be a champion Halo gamer. Except he kind of sucked and kept dying. It seemed as if he, Artie Abrams, would never even finish a level of Halo. Sighing, he paused the game to take a drink of water, glancing at his phone, hoping to see a text message. Nothing.

Rolling back, Artie grabbed at the Halo gaming book he had asked his mom to purchase several weeks ago, flipping through the pages. He wasn't even sure how the Halo obsession had started, considering he had never been interested in the game before. But he had seen the Halo Reach preview and just HAD to finish all the games that had come before it. Then he would be ready. He had even bought some of the books based on the game but didn't have any time at all to read those. The stupid third game in the series was proving to be difficult and he simply couldn't get past this particular level. He was about to throw his controller across the room in frustration when a soft knock sounded at the door.

"Arthur," came his mother's voice. "You have a visitor."

Pausing the game again, Artie faced the door, a little embarrassed that he was wearing only his boxers and a white t-shirt but it wasn't as if Tina hadn't seen him like that before. Because he was really hoping it was her. The last time she had made any sort of contact with him had been through a text message. It had read, Artie, I can't do this anymore. He had attempted to call her and text her but to no avail. He was uncertain as to whether they were together or not. He tried not to think about it and threw himself more into the game.

Or it could be Kurt, who came over on occasion to try to give him fashion advice…or something. Artie hardly paid attention to anything the other boy said.

Surprise came when it was neither of those two but, rather, Quinn Fabray who stepped through the door, smoothing the skirt of her white sundress with one hand and sliding her sunglasses higher on her head with the other.

"Hey, Artie," she said, eyes roving over his attire.

Coloring more than a little, he stammered, "H-hey Quinn. Um, what are you doing here?" The question sounded sort of rude but he stopped himself just sort of adding on to it since he felt completely justified in asking it. The two of them barely spoke so her presence there made little sense.

"I was in the neighborhood…" Trailing off, she moved through his room to his bed, sitting on the edge, her back very straight.

It was clearly not the whole truth. "You just decided to stop by my house? Because we're the best of friends…"

She chuckled at the sarcasm in his tone. "The truth is…my dad asked me to come over for dinner and I didn't want to. I told him I was going to a friends and I really was in the neighborhood so I stopped here."

Something was still missing from the explanation. "Mercedes lives a couple of blocks over and you two are friends."

Arching an eyebrow, Quinn seemed unsure whether to be amused or frustrated. Finally, she shrugged, in a show of indifference. "I was coming from her house but didn't want to go back. I didn't feel like talking about…stuff."

That made sense. Mercedes would've wanted to discuss it to death, Artie was sure. "Oh."

Smiling, Quinn glanced at his TV. "Exactly why I came here," she muttered, under her breath, though Artie heard it. Louder, she said, "This is a hard level. Can I?" she asked, gesturing toward the controller.

"Uh, yeah," Artie responded, handing the controller over to her, eyeing her curiously.

Taking the controller from him, Quinn bit down on her bottom lip and took the game off pause, pressing the buttons, eyes fixed on the screen.

At first, he was too focused on her to pay attention to the game but then he slowly shifted his attention to see that she had advanced well into the level. In a matter of minutes, she had completed it, without even re-spawning once. "What-how-you just…" Incredulous, he looked at her, mouth and eyes both round.

She lifted on shoulder up, in a half shrug. "I dated both Puck and Finn, who loved this game. I was totally better than both of them."

Hot, was Artie's first thought. Out loud, he said, "Cool." Waiting for a sort of awkwardness to settle over them, Artie slumped in his chair, eyes anywhere but on her. The awkwardness, however, didn't come. He actually felt comfortable with her there, even being in his boxers, which was sort of weird. "So…you're missing dinner. Hungry? We could get something to eat…"

Softly smiling, she nodded. "That'd be nice. Um…you can get dressed and then we can meet in the living room? I love that pizza place down the street." Standing, she smiled once more, than exited his room.

Blinking several times, Artie processed what had just happened. Quinn hadn't even asked and she was taking him away from the game. But…she had gotten him past the level. He supposed he owed her. And it would be nice to get out of the house, maybe get to know Quinn Fabray just a little bit. Quickly dressing, he only checked to make sure the game had saved before exiting his room and, for the first time that summer, leaving Master Chief behind, becoming only Artie once again.