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 31st cycle. Now cycle 32!

Hear that little bird twitter! Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!

"Pencil, Paper, Round A Cup"
Brittany & Artie

[stay tuned at the bottom for a quick Name Poll! ;)]

The mood was tense, all around. Everyone was feeling the pressure to go on at Nationals, and to even have songs to perform there, and this meant a heavy dose of stress for… most of them.

Brittany had picked up the empty cup, finding it more interesting to play around with than to stare at a blank page. That page did have a feel to it though, like Brittany was absolutely and rightfully compelled to break its blank state… She just had nothing better to do, so she held that cup to her paper, tracing around the edge. But then she was only staring at a circle… on a blank page.

And then it was decided… They weren't finding anything as a group, then maybe it was time she went at it solo… Then with her song as offering to her club, she would just… save the day.

She had the thought just as Artie offered to go make a vending machine raid, and she moved into action, scrambling up to run after him. "Artie!" she called out to him as he rolled down the hall and he stopped, allowing her to catch up. "Can I help?"

"Uh, sure…" he blinked, then smiled, and she smiled back. They went to the machine, and he handed her the coins as they started buying what they needed.

"Are we friends?" she suddenly asked.

"What? Of course we are," he looked at her, confused. Why would she think… "It should be me asking you that, after what I… said…" She looked at him. "After prom, I was hoping, maybe, but I didn't want to impose, or… assume… Are you saying we…"

"I'm not… looking to get back together," she made this clear, and he gave a slow, understanding nod. "But I do miss you, as a friend…" she went on, and this made him smile.

"Yeah, me too," he told her, and within a second or two she was hugging him, so suddenly that it sent part of their loot and the coins tumbling to the ground. Brittany moved back, to try and gather it all up. Artie could do nothing but point out anything he saw on the ground, while he checked in the space between him and his chair's seat for other lost pieces. It was as they finished picking things up that she spoke again.

"Do you think you could help me with something? It's for Glee Club."

"What is it?" he asked.

"I want to write a song," she started, getting back to feeding the coins in the machine. "For us to do at Nationals." This gave him pause, though she didn't see it. He had to be concerned about the idea. As much as he wanted to support her, he worried that it could end up as… well, a disaster. He didn't want her to be made to feel bad about herself… more than he'd already made her feel.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," she shrugged, like it was obvious."Everyone's sitting there, not doing anything or getting anything done… We all got here, together, so I want to help." It was impossible not to smile, looking at her… He'd missed this.

"Okay, well do you have any ideas?" She looked back at him, then stopped to think about it.

"Not really, no…"

"Well you need that, first off. Once you get your idea, then we can build from that," he explained, reaching for the last couple of items that had fallen from above… chips, chocolate…

"Right…" she trailed off, feeding the coins. She could feel the thoughts coming, not too far off now but still not quite there. "What about the music?"

"Don't worry about that," he insisted. "We'll come up with it eventually." He started sorting out what they had, the lot of it piled in his lap, to see if they needed anything else. As she waited, Brittany began tapping her fingers along the side of the vending machine. Artie observed her, quiet… Maybe she was going to get it now. He looked past her and spotted Puck coming out of the room – he'd been the one to send Artie. He stopped Puck with a motion before miming for him to get his guitar. It took a while for him to get what he meant, but finally he got it and went as told, almost at the exact same time that Brittany's face lit up, hands flailing briefly.

"I think I got it," she nodded, and he smiled. "I'm calling it 'My Cup'." Artie's face fell, while hers shined... Well alright…

THE END

PICK A NAME!
New character currently in development, and I'm being indecisive, so I'm putting it to all of you lovely people!
Please send via message if you can, the name you like best... [If you've already voted you can't vote again]

Brendan
Duncan
Ewan
Keegan
Neal
Rory
Sean

Thank you! :)

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!