Mike wasn't exactly sure how he ended up roaming the very vast amount of lonely yet crowded New York City streets, with a bit of alcohol in his system and an odd empty feeling settled into the middle of his chest. His muscles ached from a long day of rehearsing his ass off in the studio, hoping to land that audition for some new dance-centric Romeo and Juliet. He shouldn't be walking home, he was still very new to the city and he was in more pain than he would like to admit from rehearsal. But if he hadn't been walking, hadn't not taken a cab, he would have never bumped into her.
She was as different as he hoped her to be. Well, Michael couldn't say he'd hoped to see her at all, in fact his Asian pessimism as he calls it, would have guessed that she had been washed up by now. That the Big Apple would have taken a big old bite outta her and her Lima-born Broadway Star dreams, leaving her nothing but a directionless void like himself.
Tina had made him that way, she had taken him for all he was worth letting his dancing lead her into the spotlight and then pushed him away from it. Only to return back to Artie, who had done wrong by her numerous amounts of times while Mike only wanted to be good for her, good by her. Whole lot of good that did either of them, at least he still had dancing.
He hadn't seen anyone from Lima in a while, so he was partly happy and partly sad that they ran into each other on the street. Happy, because god he missed being that naive and joyful and sad, because that had been taken away from him with age.
Her eyes were as bright as ever, filled with dreams and she looked like she had been really accomplishing some of them lately. Mike thought she looked better than he ever had. Her hair was pulled back at the top, but that was hidden underneath a red beret that he was sure was from her high school years. She was in a bright yellow dress with green flowers all around it, clearly New York had not made her anymore, or any less, of a fashionista.
"Michael." She said, her tongue slipping through the space in between her bottom and top set of teeth as she smiled.
"Rachel Berry, the gorgeous superstar, as she lives and breathes." He smiled, goofy and probably very unattractive looking, but he could always blame it on the alcohol.
"Not to bad yourself there, buddy." She said, shaking her head as if still in amazement that he was here. "How have you been? I haven't heard from you, or even about you, since-"
"Not much has changed I'm afraid. I'm floating from big city to big city, charming them with my amazing dance moves, and hopping train before anyone can realize how internally empty and unfulfilled I feel." He said, laughing darkly as he stared at the ground trying to sober himself.
"Oh." She said sadly, and he hated how she turned her head to where he was staring, not curious, just sad. He didn't like it when she looked sad, it just wasn't here. Dramatic, upset, angry, excitement. Those fit the marvelous Rachel Berry, sad did not.
"Sorry, you'll have to forgive me, rehearsals have been running me a bit thin lately and I decided to take myself out for a drink. Because no one else was certainly going to do it." He looked up to meet her eyes again, and giggled at himself. "I didn't make it better, did I?"
"You were never a well worded guy, Michael, so I forgive you." She said, reaching over to run her hand over his shoulder. His silence continued and she widened her eyes for a moment before shaking her head. "Not that you were stupid, or are stupid, cause you're not. I just meant you were quiet."
"You're failing just as much as I am." He said, playfully.
The two stood there for a moment before eyes wondered, hers traveled down and up his body again. She could just been checking him out, but she wouldn't tell him ever that she was secretly searching for signs. Signs that he was doing any worse off than he said he was. He looked tired, his whole body slumped but not in an unhealthy way, more like he just needed a better bed. His hair looked like he put a lot less effort into it than he did when they were in high school. He was wearing a black button up, fading lightly probably from overuse or under wash, and bright red skinny jeans. She would be lying if she said she didn't check out how good Mike looked as the colored denim clung to his thighs, bulging slightly with the muscles he had earned from years of dance practice.
Mike was taking her in too, however he was looking at the brown of her eyes. The way they surprisingly didn't remind him of Tina, in fact anything but. They looked lighter when Rachel smiled, and they drew you into that fire inside her, the one that burned for the Broadway stage and a packed audience. Her nose was just as it always was, the thing she hated most about herself but probably one of the biggest things that made her Rachel Berry. And her lips were where his attention eventually fell, focusing on the beautifully natural shade of pink they were because he knew she didn't like the feeling of lipstick or lip gloss.
"So." Mike swallowed thickly, his head tuning into the little hiccup she made when he spoke but his eyes stuck to her lips. He gave a look that he hoped went for sultry but probably looked more like lopsided. "I'd invite you back to my place, but a motel room ain't no place for a star like you."
"Michael." She blushed, and that drew his attention from her lips to the rosy color of her cheeks as she adorably titled her head toward her shoes.
"I love when you call me that." He blurted out, very smoothly and not slurred at all.
"Your name?" She answered playfully.
"You know what I mean." He said, shaking his head as if to clear the thoughts running through his head. Very ungentlemanly thoughts.
He couldn't shake how he probably looked to her. He might has well of just walked up to her and went "We used to go to high school together, you were the best singer and I was the best dancer. and now we're here in your dream city in the middle of the night, haven't seen each other in years and I'm a little drunk but goddamn it I can't stop staring at your pretty lips."
"How about we go back to my place then?" She said breaking the silence, not comfortable just present, that had settled in.
"Okay." He smiled goof-like as she reached down at grabbed at his hand to pull him through the streets of New York. That's exactly what it ended up being too. He fell a little behind as she tugged him through the nearly 2 am streets telling him of all that happened since they had seen each other. He couldn't complain either because god, she looked so damn beautiful talking about some stupid thing Britt had said last week or whatever it was she was talking about now. He hadn't felt this happy in years and it was settling in his stomach much better than the alcohol had felt, so he was definitely glad to have reached her building.