Author note: I had read somewhere on the internet that some people believed that Tina changed her style, because Mike made her. I strongly disagree and came up with this story. I hope you like this story. I have to say that I absolutely adore Mike and Tina (personally I fear the writers will split them up in season four, to have Tina get together with Artie again, which would disappoint me, but we will see). Enjoy!
These characters don't belong to me, they belong to Fox.
Not blind, deaf and stupid
"Hé Changs, unglue yourselves from each other, let's go." Artie knocked on Mike's car window. Tina and Mike, who had driven together for this first school day after the summer, continued kissing. Mike absentmindedly waved Artie away, but Artie wasn't having it. "Come on Mike and Tina, before the school bell calls." As Mike and Tina moved away from each other he saw Tina's frustrated and disappointed face. Mike opened his door and stepped out of his car, Tina got out on the other side. Mike leaned against his car and crossed his arms, glaring at Artie: "I thought you were alright wit Tina and me being together?"
"Oh, I am perfectly fine with you two being together and you know that, but you two suggested getting together before the first lessons to have a little talk about what we've all been doing this holiday." Artie said as he started to wheel to school.
"He's not wrong Mike." Tina said, placing her hand in the offered arm. She leaned into Mike: "We'll finish this after school." Mike and Tina came to walk beside Artie.
"The girls is right, my man. You can finish it later, now it's time to meet our friends and find out our schedule." Artie said looking up at the couple. Mike smiled and pulled Tina close, kissing her temple. Senior year could not have started better. He had a beautiful loving girlfriend, great friends, Glee and football. Not even the 'surprise' interview with Jacob could dampen his spirits. Mike felt Tina straighten his collar, which most probably had popped up when they'd had their little interrupted make out session. It's what he loves so much of Tina, her caring nature, she wanted to take care of everybody.
"Hey guys, I just found out I have to go see my Arts teacher before the first lesson. I'll see you during break." Tina kissed Mike and squeezed Artie's shoulder. Artie wheeled with Mike as they made their way to their first lessons. "How was your holiday?" he asked Mike.
"Great! Tina's been giving me singing lessons. We've danced a lot and we had a wonderful pick-nick together. Apart from that we spend a lot of time together, going everywhere." Mike smiled to himself as he remembered their summer together and how they had grown so much closer and much more intimate. Artie looked up at Mike: "You seem different Mike."
"What have you done Artie, apart from the occasional meeting with our friends?" The Glee kids had gotten together a couple of times over the summer holidays. "Halo, man! I've played some epic games." Artie said, clearly happy to talk about this. Mike simply listened.
At the start of their break Artie cornered Mike in the canteen. "I didn't want to bring this up earlier, because we didn't have much time before the lessons, but I need to talk to you." Artie started, Mike saw he was serious and wondered what Artie wanted to talk about. "Okay, what do you want to talk about?"
"Tina." Artie said. Mike sighed, he had really thought this was all in the past: "Artie, last year you told me you were fine with Tina and me dating?"
"That's not it. I just happened to notice that she's different." Artie leaned forward as if he was about to tell a big secret, Mike leaned forward too. Artie whispered: "How did you get her to drop the Goth look?"
Mike shot up, this was unexpected … and furiating: "What do you mean? 'Get'?" he asked slightly angry, "I hope you don't think I had anything to do with her experimenting with her look." Mike said looking at Artie, who just looked at Mike. Mike saw the answer in his eyes, he couldn't believe it: Artie actually thought he, Mike, had anything to do with Tina's wardrobe upgrade! "Artie! I'm not deaf, blind and stupid! I wouldn't dream of suggesting to Tina that she should changer her style. It would be like asking her to change herself!" Mike was on a roll, because honestly last year several of the other student had commented on Tina's style and how he should get her to drop her look. Mike had always given the same answer: he wouldn't dream of suggesting anything like that to Tina. And to have one of his friends suggesting he had anything to do with Tina's style of dress, was annoying.
"Don't you remember what happened when you said something like that to Tina? She gave you a powerful feminist rant and she was right. I heard her, Artie and I agreed with her." Artie flinched at Mike's comment, but Mike wasn't done: "Do you remember Figgins actually forbidding her to wear her clothes? Didn't you see how unhappy she was? I saw and even back then it hurt me to see her so unhappy."
"But she changed into a cheerleader from Goth City for you." Artie protested.
"Not at my request." Mike looked directly at Artie, "I can't tell you how unbelievably happy I was when she returned to her own style and she told me it was more her." Mike lowered himself leveling himself with Artie: "Artie, all I have ever tried is to show Tina I love her just the way she is, emo-wardrobe, streaks and the most beautiful brown eyes I've ever seen included."
"How about the time she changed her contacts?"
Mike sighed he had seen it coming: "Have you ever noticed how you can see Tina, the real Tina in her eyes?" Artie looked at Mike and saw he was completely serious. Thinking back to the period in which he had been so close to Tina, Artie had to acknowledge that Mike was right, he had on occasion seen flashes of the real Tina, but apparently Mike saw it continuously. Artie nodded.
"When I saw her that day I couldn't see her anymore. And Artie…that freaked me out. To me it felt like she was purposefully trying to hide herself, it felt like I was losing her and I couldn't deal with that. That is why I snapped, later that day I told her and explained it to her, that day I told her I loved her for who she is, she doesn't have to change for me."
"And so I don't change myself for him." Tina said as she placed her hands on Mike's shoulders, Mike looked up and smiled. Artie looked at the pair and couldn't help but smile. Then Tina looked straight at Artie: "Artie, Mike had nothing to do with me changing my style." Artie had to swallow, because right there and the he saw what Mike really had meant with the true Tina in her eyes. All he could do was nod. Tina smiled and then turned to Mike. "Let's go get something to eat. We can tell him the story during lunch." Mike got up and started pushing Artie's wheelchair as Tina sped up to get a good place in the line.
"Is that what you see in Tina's eyes?" Artie had to ask, because it was so powerful. He could practically feel Mike's smile: "Every time."
"So, girl Chang, tell us when, where and how you changed your style." Santana said as she came to sit next to Tina, Brittany sat between Santana and Artie. Quickly all other Glee members had found their seats. "Why is everyone suddenly so interested in my clothes? Okay Mercedes and Kurt don't have to answer." Tina said with a sideway glance at Kurt.
"Well you've always been the Goth girl, and proud of it, and now you're wearing colourful clothes…and no streaks, it's just different." Santana said. "And we want to know why the sudden change." Mike had been silently eating, listening to the easy conversation, but now he felt like commenting: "It's no sudden change. Haven't you noticed how Tina's been wearing more colours last year? It really isn't all that sudden." That shut everybody up, everyone thought back to last year.
"Mike is right, but I understand how you all feel like it's sudden. And I did promise Artie I would tell the story." Tina said. She took a long sip from her orange juice and then started: "It actually started with Mike."
"No, no, don't make this about me, Tina. We both went to the forest not just me. " Mike protested as everyone already looked at him.
"Yes, but I wasn't the one who ripped his shirt and neglected to tell his mother." Tina pinned him with a look.
"Fine, but I wasn't the one who wanted to chase butterflies." Mike added. Tina sighed the sigh of al long suffering woman, which triggered the laughter of the Glee girls. "No dear, you were not the one who wanted to chase butterflies." Tina patted Mike's hand, "Now can I go on with the story?"
"Yes, I'm just making sure it's told fully." The playful banter between the two Asians made all the others on the table smile.
"Anyway, we decided to spent a day in the forest and I saw a few butterflies. So I said: 'Let's get closer to them, see them really close.' We were really silent when the butterflies came to sit on a flower and we crawled closer. We got really close and then Mike's shirt got tangled in a very thorny bush, but we didn't notice it at first, until Mike moved and we heard his shirt rip. It was so loud I actually thought his pants had ripped."
"I still have a few scratches on my arm." Mike said, showing two long red scratches. "And the worst part was that it was one of my favorite shirts." Tina turned to Mike and before she took a bite from her bagel said: "I still don't understand why you didn't tell your mother that day." Everybody looked at Mike expectantly. Mike blushed: "Well it was the third shirt that got destroyed, or technically: the fourth shirt, during the summer."
"Four shirts in one summer!" Kurt called out, scandalized. "Mike, don't tell me I have to talk to you about being careful around clothes. They are fragile and deserve to be treated with respect." Mike held up his hands, stopping Kurt in his speech: "No Kurt, you don't have to tell me. Tell the people around me. Because, honestly, this shirt was the only one that I ripped. The other clothes that I lost this summer were not my fault." Tina ducked her head and hiccupped with laughter. This only got the others much more curious, Mike could see it in their eyes. He sighed the sigh of a long suffering man. "You're one to laugh, miss Cohen-Chang. Because of you one of my shirts has no buttons left." Mike looked at Tina with twinkling eyes. "As I recall you didn't object to me ripping your shirt open." clearly Tina hadn't stopped to think about where she was and who was listening, she was lost in her memories: "Besides, you didn't open your shirt fast enough and I hadn't seen or touched your abs for an entire week. And once more: at the moment you didn't object." Tina leaned into Mike, who put his arm around her and kissed her.
"You ripped his clothes from his body? Wow I didn't know you had it in you, Tina, wanky!" Santana commented effectively pulling the couple back into the present day. Mike looked at Santana: "There's a lot of things you don't know about Tina." Before Santana could respond, Kurt intervened: "I'm sure, but get back to your shirts Mike." Mike chuckled and said to Tina: "Anyway, I already forgave you."
"Tell them about your little cousins and the scissors." Tina said as she got her apple.
"Young cousins and scissors? This ought to be good!" Puck said, leaning closer. Mike pinned him with a look: "Good? Oh, it was hilarious. My aunt, uncle and three cousins came to visit us. The eldest of my cousins is a nine year old bow and Tina and I were out playing soccer, basketball, baseball, football, basically everything we could think of with him. He's got a lot of energy."
"A lot. After three hours nonstop playing outside, he still had energy to spare." Tina added between two bites.
"I know my mom says he reminds her of me, when I was that age, but no way that I had that much energy." Mike had his head bent to take a bite from his burger, so he didn't see the look the other Glee members, especially the girls, shared. And he didn't see them quickly looking away before they would dissolve in giggles. Because nobody had a problem picturing Mike as an over energetic nine year old boy. He was the one who had the most energy of all of them.
"Anyway…" Mike continued after he had swallowed: "My twin cousins, two girls just turned seven, where inside. They were working on an art-project, they had everything they needed: ribbons, pictures, crayons, glue, safe scissors, paint, colored paper. So far so good, my mother however had put her sewing kit on the same table along with my shirt that needed a little mending on the stitching. She said she would mend it while the girls were busy, but at a last minute my mother and her sister decided they were going to the mall, leaving my dad and uncle, both reading the newspapers, in charge. I suspect they thought keeping an eye on the twins was by far the most preferable option to accompying the ladies to the mall. After two hours my mom and aunt were just returning when the twins ran out and screamed for us to come, because their project was done. So we came inside. They had made a large drawing of everyone in the house standing together. They had used colored paper, ribbons and pictures for our clothes and string for our hair."
"You've got to admit: it was very good." Tina interjected.
"Yes, it was definitely very good. Everybody was in agreement on that. Then my other cousin pointed to the figure depiction me and said: 'look they even found a piece of fabric that looks just like the shirt you were wearing yesterday, Michael'."
"No!" Kurt whispered horrified.
"And yes, it looked exactly like my shirt. So my mother asked where they'd found it and my cousins pointed to mom's sewing kit. We all went quiet, my mother walked to her kit and grabbed my shirt, the one she had to mend and held it up. Right in the middle there was a large hole."
"No!" Kurt said again. Mike turned to him: "Yes. They'd cut out a part for their project. Apparently they had asked permission to use the cloth on the sewing kit. My dad and uncle hadn't thought it through and hadn't come to see what they meant, my father had said my mom always kept some leftover fabric in her sewing kit, so they'd allowed it. That's how my second shirt got ruined." Everybody on the table fell into laughter. "Priceless." Mercedes said.
"And they got away with it because they are so adorable." Mike said, laughing with the rest of his friends. Finally, as the laughter died down, Mike made a last comment to Tina: "I just hope you'll never look at me like my mother looked at my father of my aunt looked at my uncle."
"You just make sure you never do something like that and I'll never have to look at you like that." Tina said as she stroked his cheek, Mike closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling. The others simply watched them.
"Oh I suddenly remember that double date Sam and I had with you two." Mercedes said: "You had a clothing disaster then too." Mike looked at Mercedes and sagely nodded: "You're right. I almost forgot that accident. Why don't you tell that story?" Mike could already see the interested faces of Rachel and Kurt. Mike turned back to his burger, maybe he could eat his lunch while Mercedes told them what had happened that evening.
"Well, as you all know Sam and I had a summerfling and right at the start we wanted to go on a double date, just to see how it would go. Since we were both a little nervous we thought it would be smart to have some kind of safety net for when we fell flat."
"Yeah, you two really didn't need that safety net. You two hit it of straight away." Tina commented before popping a fry in her mouth.
"I know, it was great!" Mercedes sighed, clearly thinking back to that night.
"You should have seen them…they couldn't take their eyes off each other, holding hands, cuddling, giving each other little kisses. It was too cute." Tina told the others.
"We learned from the masters." Mercedes teased, looking at Mike and Tina, who both feigned ignorance: "We don't know what you mean Mercedes."
"Cut it out you two. When you two stated dating it was so freaking adorable, even Coach Sylvester commented on it, in a good way. Don't get me wrong you are still adorable, but back then you two couldn't keep away from each other." Santana said, before urging Mercedes to continue with her story: "'Cedes get back to the story, tell us what happened."
"Well because Sam and I wanted to keep things on the low, just in case, we decided to visit the new Sushi place. It's a great restaurant, really comfortable chairs, good service and great food."
"Is that the place where you pay if you don't eat the food?" Puck asked, clearly not understanding the concept.
"Yes, you order in rounds. The food is in small portions, but if you order something and you don't eat it you have to pay extra. It keeps people from over ordering and food doesn't get wasted." Mike explained.
"We had a wonderful time. I really loved spending time with Sam and we had a really nice evening."
"We get it, but where do Mike's ruined clothes fit in?" Kurt asked.
"Well, as in every restaurant there were a lot of waiters. And they were all very good and very friendly. While we were eating and talking about our summer plans, one of the waiters walked past and right beside our table he fell. We still don't know whether he slipped or tripped, but the result was: he fell. Now normally this wouldn't be a problem, it happens to the best. However, unfortunately for Mike, he was carrying a tray filled with glasses with red wine. So all the wine fell over Mike, all over his trousers."
"Oh no." the others moaned.
"Yes, my yellow trousers turned red in an instant." Mike said. "But you can wash red wine out, it's difficult but it can be done." Kurt said.
"We know, but add soy sauce and even my mother declares the trousers fit for the garbage can."
"Soy sauce?" Kurt asked, hoping he had misheard. Mercedes nodded: "The tray and glasses went flying and somehow the tray or one of the glasses knocked the soy sauce over, and before anyone had seen it and grabbed the bottle, the damage was done."
"And that's how not only a couple of shirt got ruined, but also a pair of my trousers and boxers might I add. But luckily we got a free dinner out of it and I got a coupon for another dinner for two at the restaurant."
"You were really unlucky this summer, Mike." Finn commented. Mike looked at him: "No, I was very lucky during the summer. I had a great summer, I spend a lot of time with Tina and my family. It's just that I had a few clothes related accidents. Anyway, because of those earlier events I didn't tell my mother yet another shirt had gotten ruined. Naturally when she did find out, she was a little upset."
"As I recall she said: Michael Chang Jr. what in the name of all that is good happened to this shirt!" Tina said, the rest on the table just started laughing at Mike's red face. "She might have said that." He admitted, Tina muttered: "No 'might' about it, she said exactly that." Causing the others to laugh even harder, except for Kurt, who was counting on his fingers: "Wait a minute. Mike you said you had four ruined shirts, we've only heard of three. What happened to the fourth?" Mike remained silent for a moment, needing to change the direction of his thoughts: "The fourth shirt…That one got ruined when we were buying paint for a redecoration of one of the rooms at Tina's house. We were discussing the color when someone next to me got a can of paint from the top shelf. The can underneath stuck to the can he was holding and suddenly that can toppled, the lid came off and I was under a paint shower. Luckily it missed my hair, but my clothes were not so lucky."
"A paint shower? Sounds like fun. Be a different color every day." Brittany exclaimed, Santana padded her hand: "Okay, now we know Mike needs to get some new clothes, but how did this result into Tina getting a different look?"
"Well after his mom found that last shirt she told Mike he needed some new clothes. So she said we should visit the mall the next day. Mike, though, didn't want to go at first."
"I had something entirely different planned for that day." Mike said, putting his arm around Tina's shoulder and watched her lovingly.
"I'm sure that was also very interesting, but please we don't have to hear about your kinky bedroom secrets." Santana said, only to add in an afterthought: "At least not now, maybe a different day." Tina who had gotten lost in Mike's eyes and wasn't really paying attention said: "They were not that kinky yet, and we still have a lot to try." As she saw the shock in Mike's eyes, she closed hers and dropped her head in her hands: "I said that out loud didn't I?"
"Yep and now I definitely want to hear that story another time!" Santana said over the shocked silence.
"Mike please continue with the first story." Tina pleaded.
"Well, my mother threatened to accompany us. So I told her we would visit the mall the next day. And we went, Tina came with me of course. We went to my favorite store, they have really nice clothes, very colorful. Exactly my style."
"I had been there before, with Mike, but I had nevere really explored it. Either because I didn't need clothes at the moment…" "You always need clothes Tina! I have told you this so often. Why doesn't it sink in with you?" Kurt said, offended. Tina just continued: "…Or because we had shopped for my clothes before. Usually Mike needs less time than me. He almost always gets everything he needs in that store. But this time I was looking for a couple of colorful accessories. Because, even if you hadn't really noticed: I have been wearing more colorful accessories, like the yellow cap during the Barbra-vention. Anyway, while Mike was trying on some clothes, I wondered around in the shop. Suddenly I saw the cutest little red hat. As I walked on I saw that the store had an entire woman's clothing section. I had never seen the it before. At that moment Mike called to show the outfits he had gotten to try. After he was finished I told him I wanted to try the hat."
"Which looked really good on you."
"When I got the hat I saw this red dress on a mannequin." Tina pointed to the dress she was wearing: "I instantly fell in love with it. Well then I had to check out their women's department. They had really nice dresses in all kinds of colors and great patterns. One of the salespersons, the one who often comes to help Mike, came and helped with picking out some dresses. She had seen me before of course and she admitted that she had been itching to see me in some of the dresses, because she thought they would look really amazing on me. According to her I had the perfect shape and legs for the dresses. Anyway, I had a great time shopping there and I really liked the dresses. Mike said he loved the dresses too. In the end I spent three hours there, Mike only needed thirty minutes. He was really patient." Tina squeezed his leg and leaned into Mike, who commented: "You were having so much fun and looked so happy with Megan trying everything on. And everything looked really good on you. The clothes brought out your best features. But please tell these people you made the decision to buy a new wardrobe, that I didn't tell you to change your style." Mike pleaded. Tina smiled, Mike looked so adorable. She gave him a kiss and then turned to her friends: "As I loved the clothes, accessories and shoes I made the decision to buy them. Mike had nothing to do with that. I wanted to change my style. If Mike had told me he didn't really like it I would have thought another minute and eventually would still have bought the clothes. So lay off Mike, he only want me to be happy, dressed however I want. And I want to add something else: the light brown/blonde highlights were also not Mike's idea. It was actually Megan who suggested looking in to getting some highlights. She said they might give my hair some more dept. So I went to the hairdresser and got some highlights and I really liked them, so I kept them. What do you think?" Tina asked no one in particular, getting up and twirling around: "Do you like the new Tina?"
"Definitely." Brittany said, walking over to hug Tina. Over the last year they had become close friends.
"It's a big improvement on the vampire attire, girl Chang. I approves." Santana said, clapping shortly.
"I also approve. You did a great job Tina." Kurt said walking around Tina, critically taking her in, tweaking some small things. "The colors bring out your colorful character." He said before sitting down again.
"Thanks." Tina said before sitting down next to Mike again. Before kissing her cheek, Mike said: "You're beautiful Tina, inside and out." Putting his arm around her he pulled her close and kissed her in front of all their friends who all ahhed.
"You two are adorable together." Mercedes said, before getting up to dispose of her trash and then leave for her locker. The others followed her example and scattered to their lessons only to meet up later at the first Glee rehearsal for the year.
The end
Author note: I hope you liked the story. Please tell me what you thought about this story, please review!