AN: Wow, I haven't uploaded a fanfiction in a really long time...that being said, I hope people enjoy reading this. I know it's kind of an overused topic 'How Hi Def started and they bet and blah blah' but I tried to put some originality in it. I'll admit I got some inspiration from some stories on here but this idea is mostly my own and there's really no romance (a shocker for me) unless you want to insinuate some.
Also, since I'm still not too sure about Glitch's ethnicity, I left out coming up with any names :/
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except for Glitch's family I guess.
Glitch lived in a family where a lot of expectations were placed on his shoulders and he blamed it all on his older brother. Their parents had been very happy when his older brother was born, but when he turned out to be some sort of hopeless rebel, they were very disappointed. When Glitch came around, they'd decided they'd raise him differently and he would surely turn out better than his brother.
He had
His parents had been so happy; their second chance was upon him and it just so happened that he was a prodigy! He was the exact opposite of his brother, so they lavished him with gifts and approval. His brother loathed how their parents favored Glitch and how he got anything he wanted, so he decided to make his dislike obvious.
Being loathed by his older brother meant pranks were constantly being pulled on him. If it wasn't a prank, it was some kind of snarky comment. He'd even gone as far as to have his friends sometime join in on the 'fun.' Glitch couldn't stand his brother or his stupid antics.
In a way, he detested his parents for favoring him and putting so much pressure on him. He also didn't trust or like any of his brother's friends because they all seemed to be the worst kind of people. His brother had him paranoid, his parents had him stressed, and he hated his life.
But then one day when he'd been clicking around on different websites on the new laptop his parents had bought him, he stumbled upon a dance video. The way the different people were able to move and the different tricks they did had him in awe and suddenly he wanted to do them too. He practiced every day after he was done his studies until the point where he thought, for a self-taught person, he was pretty good!
It didn't much matter that he was good though; he couldn't do anything with it. His parents saw no need for him to do anything not academic and most certainly wouldn't support it. Just to be sure, he'd asked and they gave him the disapproving looks and words he'd expected. He sighed and simply continued dancing alone in his room, knowing it would never get any more serious than that, and that as much as he loved dancing, that was all the dancing he would ever do.
That was why meeting Mo had literally changed the way he lived his life.
Mo hadn't gotten any special treatment when he'd first met Glitch, contrary to popular belief. In fact, Glitch may have been especially mean to him for the simple reason that Mo was friends with his older brother. He didn't have to know Mo personally – by association, hanging out with his brother gave you an automatic 'scum of the earth' status in Glitch's book.
Ironically Mo ended up becoming his best friend.
The first time he'd talked to Mo, it'd been a pretty average day. He'd spent most of the time studying, but afterwards he looked up some more dance videos on the internet. Inspired, he got up and started doing a routine he'd made up and had been working on.
"Whoa, Glitch! Your brother never told me you had skills!"
Glitch turned to see the face of one of his brother's friends- 'Mo,' he thought his name was. Initially he was rather happy to hear that someone appreciated his dancing, but then what he'd called him had registered: 'Glitch'…
"Don't you EVER call me that again."
The look on Mo's face had been one of honest confusion.
"What, Glitch? Your brother told me that was your-"
"It's not," Glitch stated curtly, his completely serious. Mo's gaze shifted to the floor before he looked back up to give an apologetic look.
"Hey man, I'm sorry. Didn't know. Whattaya want me to call you instead?" he asked hopefully. Glitch gave him an annoyed look.
"You don't have to call me anything because I'm not expecting to ever need to socialize with you again," he stated snidely before walking up to his door and promptly closing it in the older boy's face. He sighed before lying back on his bed and thinking about what had just transpired.
What he'd done was rude, he knew. These days 'rude' was his middle name and though it wasn't something he was proud of, it was a side effect of the pressure he felt at home. He didn't have many friends because of his off-ish behavior and the ones he had... well they were about as social as he was.
It wasn't so much that he didn't want friends; it was more-so that he couldn't adjust his attitude to make some. Though he didn't usually muse over his feelings since they were usually negative and/or depressing, he couldn't help the sudden feeling of loneliness that washed over him.
A few days later and once again Glitch made the mistake of leaving his door open for wandering eyes.
"Hey youngin. Where's them fresh moves o' yours?"
Glitch turned around from looking at a dancing video to see Mo standing at his open door and awaiting an answer. Glitch scowled to himself; he really needed to make a conscious effort to close his door whenever his brother or friends of his came over.
"Why are you here again? I thought I made it quite clear last time that I didn't want to associate with you," he stated icily. He turned back around to pause the video and hoped by the time he turned back to his door, Mo would be gone. Unfortunately for him that was not the case.
"Hey, that a dance video you watchin'?" Mo asked casually as he walked over to Glitch and peaked over his shoulder. Glitch scowled once more before promptly closing his laptop and turning to give Mo his full attention.
"Not anymore since you're here to bother me. What do you want?" he demanded. Mo tsked, shaking his head in disappointment.
"I wanted to tell you about this thing called Dance Central. It's a place where dancers can show off their moves, battle, and just have fun," Mo offered as he looked to Glitch for a response.
"You've only seen me dance once, so why are you so concerned?" he asked with suspicious tone. Mo shrugged and grinned.
"Well I tried t' get you to dance for me a second time, but someone don't wanna cooperate," he said teasingly. His reply only made Glitch frown.
"And that's the only reason you're here right now?" he asked once more.
"Aight, aight, you caught me; Dance Central is doin' this new thing now – they want crews. Every crew needs 2 leaders and I thought you could be my crew's other one," Mo finally admitted. Glitch was still unconvinced.
"Of all the people to ask, you ask the person you've seen dance once?" he asked once more. If his brother was putting him up to this…!
"Cuz I see potential in ya, young'in. I think our styles would complement each other," Mo provided once more.
"Well you've seen me dance, but I haven't seen you. Show me something," the younger boy requested. Mo grinned, knowing that a response like that meant he was at least considering his proposal.
Mo moved over to the space where Glitch usually practiced and busted out some moves of his own that had Glitch in awe. He did things that Glitch had only seen in those videos and seeing them up close and personal was even more impressive.
He found himself seriously considering Mo's offer. Mo was good; there was no doubt about that. If someone that good was telling him he had potential, maybe dancing could hold a place in his life. Being able to practice with someone like in the videos he watched, meeting tons of other dancers… But regardless, there was still the problem of his parents.
"…I can't. My grades would slip and parents would kill me," Glitch revealed with a sigh. Mo thought for a bit until he finally came up with what he felt was a solid plan.
"Ever told your parents dance's considered an extracurricular? It'd go on your transcript and make you look better t' schools. Plus, bein' on a crew builds up social skills and bein' my partner would make you a leader, which'd give you leadership skills. It'd help with time management too since you'll still have to keep your grades up," Mo provided. With every statement Glitch felt a smile tug harder at the corners of his mouth at the possibility of dance seriously becoming an important part in his life.
"…You really think that could work?" Glitch asked hopefully. Mo nodded.
"Hey, it's worth a try, ain't it?"
When Glitch had initially brought up the idea, his parents scowled at just the mentioning of the word 'dance' again. Only when he'd gotten into all the points Mo had brought up did his parents' scowls slowly turn into small, excited grins. They too hadn't considered the upside of their son's dancing and after finally agreeing to watch him dance, they had to admit that he had some talent and agreed to let him do it.
Glitch was ecstatic and couldn't wait for Mo to start teaching him everything he knew. That being said, though he most certainly carried some respect for Mo, there was still the issue of him being his brother's friend which that meant he could only trust him but so much. In Glitch's mind, Mo was still kind of the enemy and for all he knew this whole thing could be some elaborate plan his bother set up just to piss him off. Glitch refused to be so easily deceived and therefore kept a close eye on Mo.
"So what's the name of your crew?" Glitch asked Mo the first time he came to help him practice. Mo gave him a sheepish look.
"We don't really have a name yet, ya dig?"
Glitch rolled his eyes, none too surprised at the news. He hadn't known Mo for very long but he didn't seem to take many things too seriously, something that Glitch both admired and detested.
"Have you at least started thinking about it?" he asked irritably, his arms crossed as he awaited an answer.
"Well yeah, but we haven't come up with anything yet…" Mo trailed off. Glitch sighed and shook his head.
"Have you come up with anything other than just the notion of starting a crew?" he asked tiredly.
"Nope," Mo answered simply. The quick and easy answer made Glitch want to hit him.
"UGH! You're infuriating, you know that!" Glitch groaned. Mo gave an amused smile.
"And you're way too uptight. Just chill, we'll come up with something eventually," he promised. Glitch was unwilling to accept that answer.
"No, it's got to be something perfect…perfect…" Glitch mumbled softly, chanting 'perfect' over and over. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, causing Mo to quickly give him his attention.
"I've got it! Blu-Ray!" Glitch stated happily. Mo narrowed his eyes in distaste.
"Blu-Ray?"
"Well yeah! If you think about a TV's perfect picture you might immediately think of HD, but Blu-Ray-" Glitch started before being promptly cut off by Mo.
"You're an idiot. You really skipped over HD for Blu-Ray? Hi Def is a way better name," he commented flatly before rolling his eyes. Glitch gave an annoyed look.
"What's wrong with Blu-Ray? It has way more special features and if we were ever going make outfits it would be easy because the color would be blue and-"
"Just shut up young'in," Mo stated sadly as he shook his head.
After that day, Mo had started dropping by every day whether Glitch's older brother was there or not. Though Glitch was still on edge about it, his guard weakened a little bit more every day until lowered to the point where he even started picking up Mo's speech patterns and adding his own little twist. His dancing got better and better, something for which he was very proud of, but of course there were still things that needed to be discussed.
"I've been meetin' up with ya every day now, and I still don't know what t' call you," Mo said lazily from his sitting position on Glitch's bed. Glitch looked up from his homework to give Mo an irritated look.
"How 'bout my name?" he stated sarcastically. Mo chuckled in response as he shook his head and crossed his arms.
"Naw man. You need a cool name like-"
"House Party? Or Steve!" Glitch stated excitedly. Mo gave him a disbelieving look.
"You're…kiddin', right?" he asked slowly, trying to make sure the other boy wasn't serious. Glitch blushed in embarrassment, realizing that those names may not be what most people would deem 'cool.'
"Uh, yeah man! Course I am! You know I wouldn't be serious about such lame names," he said with a nervous laugh. Mo rolled his eyes, an amused smile making its way to his face.
"Your choices for horrible names are spot on, really. Anyway, what's wrong with Glitch? It sounds like a pretty cool name t' me. Why d'you hate it so much?" Mo asked softly, looking at Glitch for an answer. His embarrassed look hardened morphed into one of uncontained anger.
"It's a name my brother came up with. He tells me I'm the 'glitch' in the family even though he's the one constantly screwing up," Glitch stated darkly. He was somewhat surprised he revealed that information considering Mo was still sort of considered 'the enemy,' but Mo hadn't shown any signs of potentially betraying him yet, so maybe sharing certain things wouldn't be so bad.
"… Maybe you shouldn't let him have so much control over you. Turn it into a positive, ya know? Like, you're puttin' a glitch in the dance universe and shakin' things up," Mo stated encouragingly.
Glitch tipped his head and stared at Mo long and hard. He honestly couldn't figure it out. What was his angle? How would Mo telling him to stand up to his brother ruin him? This didn't make any sense.
"I don't get you," he said finally, breaking his intense stare. Mo raised an eyebrow.
"You're the one creepily starin' at me for almost a full minute, but you don't get me?" he asked in amusement. Glitch frowned and Mo knew it was probably time to cut the jokes.
"You're my brother's friend and he hates me. You hangin' out with me… You've gotta have some kind of angle," he stated cynically and Mo frowned slightly.
"Whoa, hold up; you think I've only been hangin' out with you these past couple weeks cuza your brother? He hasn't even been here half the time! Sides, we're not really cool anymore since I've been hangin' out with you," Mo said with a shrug.
Glitch looked down, a multitude of thoughts and theories quickly floating around in his head. Mo…really hadn't been hanging out with his brother lately, he wasn't oblivious enough to not realize that. And honestly, everything he'd said and done had been helpful: he gave him dance lessons, he'd given him a way to get his parents to not hate it so much- heck, he'd even told him advice on how to deal with his brother!
Glitch hadn't trusted anyone for a while, and he hadn't had a friend in even longer but…maybe that could change. Maybe Mo could really be his first true friend in a long time. Maybe Mo could be the support and role model that he'd never had before…
He looked at Mo's face once more and saw nothing but sincerity in those brown eyes that were usually covered my some article of clothing. Suddenly, a broad grin made its way to his face, making Mo wonder just what the younger boy had been thinking about. Even more suddenly, Mo found himself encased in a warm hug.
"Thanks Mo. And…sorry for how I treated you before," he stated softly. Mo awkwardly patted his back and soon Glitch realized how his actions may've came off. He quickly backed away, a blush clearly present on his face as he cleared his throat.
"So now that THAT'S outta the way…" Mo started as Glitch's blush increased in intensity "You still need a cool nickname."
"I've already got one. It's Glitch," he stated with a proud smirk. Mo nodded his head in approval before reaching his fist up for a pound which was duly met.
Yeah, this was a chance for new beginnings: a new attitude, a new role model, and a new opportunity.
And it was all thanks to Mo.
AN: So what'd you think? I added in some references from the game that you'll probably pick up on lol. Sorry if the story's kind of cheesy/corny, especially for the way Glitch came up with the name but that's just what popped into my head I was writing so I went with it.
But anyway, reviews letting me know what you thought are always appreciated :)