Keep On Dancing

by Tarafina

After being dumped by Tina, Mike starts spending his time cooped up in despair. Until Rachel Berry comes along and kicks him out of his depression with single-minded determination. Along the way, they find a long-lasting friendship in each other.

Title: Keep On Dancing (Till The World Ends)
Series: I get by with a little help from my friends
Category: Glee
Genre: Friendship/Humor
Ship: Mike/Rachel (friendship), Sam/Rachel (friendship), mentions of Puck/Rachel
Rating: T
Previous: You've Got a Friend In Me
Word Count: 10,385
Summary: After being dumped by Tina, Mike starts spending his time cooped up in despair. Until Rachel Berry comes along and kicks him out of his depression with single-minded determination. Along the way, they find a long-lasting friendship in each other.

Keep On Dancing (Till The World Ends)
-1/1-

Mike tipped his head, staring at the ceiling where a number of pencils were sticking precariously above his head. Morbidly, he hoped they'd all fall sharp end down and put him out of his misery. Using his feet planted against his desk to shove himself away, his rolling chair brought him closer to his bed, where'd he spent the last two weeks moping. So far, summer was looking pretty lame for him. It wasn't a week after they were let out and grade eleven ended that Tina told him things weren't working out; that she didn't feel like they had enough in common… and she was really tired of dim sum. He tried suggestion Asian couple's counseling, but she'd already made up her mind. Apparently Chang-Chang wasn't forever. He'd have to have those t-shirts burned…

Yesterday he saw her and Artie leaving the movies.

Maybe they didn't have enough in common, okay he could deal with that. Or maybe she decided since Brittany and Artie weren't together anymore, she had a chance of getting her ex back. And Artie probably learned his lesson from the summer before that ignoring his girlfriend for video games did not end well. Either way, she dumped Mike and he was heartbroken. So heartbroken that he hadn't danced or sung or, well, done much of anything since she walked away and he knew he'd never see that black tutu and not think of how she stomped on his heart with her combat boots. So he spent the last week eating copious amounts of junk food in hopes that he'd lose his abs, 'cause just looking at them reminded him of how he first caught her attention at Asian camp and how much she liked petting them. So far all he'd gotten was a bad case of indigestion.

Since his mom went out for her usual dinner of dim sum and he was still against leaving the house unless it was to uselessly do a bike-by of Tina's block (shut up, he couldn't afford a car and his bike was awesome), he wasn't expecting company. He considered ignoring the insistent knocking, since sitting around in his two day old pajamas and wishing things were different seemed more appropriate than anything else. Also, there was a new Channing Tatum movie out and he was pretty sure sitting around cursing the man's existence was also a good time waster. But then the doorbell rang, repeatedly, and sometime around the ninth ring he decided he couldn't ignore whoever it was. As he hurried down the stairs, he told himself he wasn't hoping it was Tina, back to admit that she was wrong and that he was totally a better boyfriend than Artie could ever be and they could get their Asian love on while his mom was out. He was totally lying to himself though and even when he was reaching for the door handle he was wondering if he could distract her long enough with his abs that she didn't notice he stunk like cheesie powder and cold pizza.

Instead he opened the door and found Rachel Berry there.

He blinked, looked past her in search of anybody else, and then furrowed his brows at the brightly smiling girl.

If he had to guess who'd show up on a Tuesday night to cheer him or up or just hang, Rachel would be pretty low on the list. Not as low as Artie, but low all the same. But here she was, holding out a large plastic container.

"Uh, what's—?"

"They're 'I'm sorry Tina broke your heart,' cookies," she explained, and then popped off the lid to show that they were, indeed, broken heart cookies. "I occasionally have Noah make me specialized cookie cutters; he takes metal works and happens to be very talented in that area." She frowned. "I'm not sure how he got into the school since it's meant to be locked up during the summer… Or how he got into the also locked metal works classroom, but he dropped these off for me earlier this afternoon and, after three test batches, I decided this was the best one and thus it was meant for you." She held them out once more and grinned. "They're sugar cookies!"

"O…kay…" He took them from her, mostly 'cause he never turned down good food, and then glanced around awkwardly. "So, uh, what's new?"

"I was hoping you might ask that." She clasped her hands in front of her waist. "I hope you won't think this presumptuous of me, but I have something very important that I need your help in…"

"Oh… Well, okay, what do you need?" He came up with a list of things in his head that Rachel might need his help with.

Battling aliens… Screw Cowboys versus Aliens; ninjas were like ten times better.

A Godzilla remake. Sure, he was Chinese, not Japanese, but he doubted she knew that. Stereotyping Jew…

Directions to a good dim sum restaurant… Wait, could vegans eat dim sum?

Her voice interrupted his train of thought. "A dancing partner," she explained, nodding sharply.

He scrubbed the back of his neck, eyes darting away. "I dunno… With everything with Tina, I really haven't felt like dancing, so…" He half-smiled at her apologetically. "But hey, I'm sure Sam would want to. He's a good dancer!" he encouraged.

And weren't her and Sam like best friends? After that whole serenading her in the choir room thing, they were thick as thieves. Wherever Rachel was, Sam wasn't far behind, and he was usually impersonating someone. They even went to prom together, spending much of the night dancing with the rest of the glee club. There were some whispers that they were dating, but Mike was pretty sure those weren't true. Sure, he got most of his info from Tina, who was plugged into everything, but Rachel and Sam just looked really close. Not like lovey-dovey close so much as inside jokes close. Plus, he was pretty sure Puck would rearrange Sam's face, best friend to Rachel or not. Fact.

"Yes, that's true," she agreed. "Unfortunately for me, Sam and his family have left to spend a month-long vacation at a lakeside cabin to bond and such…" Her lips pursed, head falling. "I suppose I was just hoping that since my own partner had become injured that I could find a suitable replacement in the most talented dancer I know…" She looked up at him with big, pleading brown eyes. "But…" she sighed, "I understand that heartbreak can be crippling… That having that special person leave you can snuff out the spark you once had…" She shook her head. "I wouldn't wish it on anyone!" Her eyes pierced him. "Of course, that it happened over summer is even worse, because while she's out enjoying all those long, hot days, you're wasting them cooped up in your bedroom eating empty calories and crying into buckets of ice cream while you watch romantic movies where everybody else gets their happily ever after except you. And then you realize you've spent your whole summer locked away, you've gained ten pounds, and even though she doesn't care she's technically won because you spent all that time thinking of her while she did little more than make out with your replacement and—"

Mike stared in horror, shoving another cookie in his mouth. "Stop!" he shouted, crumbs flying everywhere. When he looked down, he realized he'd already eaten half of the twenty-four cookie batch she'd brought him. He threw the cookie in his hand down. "What—What do you need a partner for, exactly?"

She smiled slowly. "There's a competition, you see… It's in a few weeks and it's absolutely dire that I win…" Her eyes widened fiercely as she stared up at him. "So you see why I need the best, don't you?"

He gulped, licking his crumb-covered lips. So sometimes, just when she was being crazy competitive, Rachel Berry scared him. "A few weeks isn't much time…"

"Exactly!" She nodded. "So we'll need to spend a lot of time together, practicing and choreographing… I have the perfect location and a ton of music to pick from." She tilted her head, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I'm thinking upbeat, poppy, from this year if possible… I have a list of approved artists for you to look over and we can make a song choice."

"I get to help choose the song?" His brows furrowed. This didn't seem like the same Rachel he knew. Usually, she'd already have a song picked out and she wouldn't let anybody change her mind on it; she was kind of stubborn like that.

"Sure," she told him excitedly. "You'll be the lead choreographer, so I need to know what works in terms of how you feel artistically…"

"O…kay…" He thought it over, starting to get a little excited. He loved choreographing pieces to songs for glee and now that he was thinking about it, he could feel vibrations moving up and down his arms and legs; the desire to move returning just a little bit. He still felt sluggish and irritated and if she changed her mind and left right then, he'd probably crawl back into bed and watch TV until he fell asleep in a junk food coma. Thinking about what she said and how Tina was probably out there being all awesome with Artie just made him want to be Rachel's partner more. Maybe he really did need to get out of the house and get moving again. "Okay… So when do you wanna start?"

"Tomorrow?" she asked, bouncing a little on her heels. "I can pick you up if you would prefer and we can go straight to the studio and get started."

Mostly 'cause he hadn't made any plans except for moping – and he totally wrote that on his calendar for every day of the week the entire summer, because he was pathetic like that - he just shrugged. "Sure."

"Wonderful." She smiled up at him. "I can't thank you enough for this, Michael, I'm sure we'll blow the judges away with our combined talent."

He chuckled a little. "Yeah, I think we will."

"All right, so I'll pick you up here at eight and then we'll go." She nodded, turning on her heel to walk away.

"Yeah—Wait!" He stared after her with wide eyes. "Did you say eight?"

"Am sharp," she sang back cheerfully. "We have to get started immediately. We're already behind the competition." She reached her car and opened the door. "I can bring you a protein shake if you'd like?"

"No…" He sighed, shoulders slumping. "No, I'll be fine…"

"You should probably get a good night's rest. I run a tight ship and it seems obvious to me that you haven't maintained a healthy diet since the beginning of summer."

He frowned at her, hugging the cookies closer. "I'll dance my Asian ass off!"

She smiled. "That's why I came to you." She waved before climbing into her car, and then honked her horn again in farewell before leaving.

Mike watched after her Prius as it sped down the street and shook his head.

"What did I just say yes to?" he wondered, nibbling on another cookie.

…

Rachel wasn't kidding about the eight am thing. He woke up to her hovering over him, her hands on her hips.

He didn't squeal like a girl and he didn't care who said different; that was a manly screech.

"Don't you own an alarm?" she wondered, raising a brow.

He groaned, rolling over and burying his face in his pillow. "Go 'way…"

She scoffed. "Michael, do you realize just how untidy your room is?"

He hummed. So yeah, okay, usually his room was really tidy. Everything had its place and he liked it that way; if he kept it clean, there was more room for him to dance. But since he wasn't doing that lately, he didn't see the need to tidy up. Logic, it was his new girlfriend. She was eccentric; he had a type, he wouldn't argue that.

"I had to wade through empty bags of three different kinds of chips, a two liter of melted ice cream, and four separate boxes of pizza…" She clucked her tongue. "I'm not sure how you maintain your physique if your eating habits are like this regularly…"

Groaning, he rolled back over and stared up at her tiredly. "I dance it off… And it's really, really early…"

She pursed her lips. "I gave you an extra hour, actually. So now it's nine… Also, your mother is a very pleasant woman. She invited me out for dim sum dinner." Her eyes lit up. "Were you aware there is actually an all-you-can-eat dim sum buffet here in town?" She shook her head, grinning. "What a fantastic find!"

He sighed, throwing an arm over his face. "It's summer… Two months of sleeping in and pretending the dastardly sun has no power over me!"

"Don't me so dramatic," she told him.

Hah! Kettle meet Rachel, or… um, something like that. Once again, it was early! His brain did not appreciate the jumpstart. He got enough of that in school, when he was obligated to be a Smart Asian.

"You're wasting a perfectly nice morning in bed when we could be working on our routine…" She stared at him sternly. "I hope you aren't reconsidering, because I've already put a deposit on the studio and you're my only hope at competing…" She took a seat on his bed, clasping her hands in her lap. Sighing, she admitted, "I realize I might seem overbearing at times, but this is very important to me, Michael, and I thought that since you have such an affinity for dancing yourself that you would understand that…" Her face fell. "But if you would rather spend your time moping in your bedroom over a girl that's already moved on, then I'll just have to see if… Well, perhaps Finn would grant me his services for a time…" She sighed sadly and stood.

He blinked. "But Finn is…" He frowned, not wanting to put his friend down. "Not very coordinated," he tried.

"Yes, that's obvious," she agreed. "But I'm afraid my list of friends, especially those willing to compete with me, is quite slim."

"Well, what about Puck? He's got moves…" He grinned a little. "Not as awesomely Asian as mine, but he can at least keep a beat."

She bit her lip, eyes darting away. "Well, yes, I-I suppose Noah would be a good candidate, but… but…" She frowned. "Well, you see, I'm sure that, uh, well… Lauren!" Her eyes widened and she grinned, like she'd just had a great idea. She even pointed at him to make her point. "Lauren, while accepting of my and Noah's friendship, does not appreciate it when her boyfriend spends long periods of time with anybody of the female variety and… Well, I'm sure you can understand that she wouldn't like it if he was spending long days dancing with me, it just wouldn't seem… appropriate…" Looking proud of herself, she nodded.

He scrubbed his hand through his hair and frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess…" He sighed, sitting up in bed, way too awake now to try sleeping. "And I did promise you…" He blinked up at her. "And an Asian promise is unbreakable, so…"

She grinned wider. "So you'll get ready and come to the studio with me?"

He smiled, finding his mood brightened when she clapped her hands excitedly. "Yeah, I'll go…" He threw his blanket off and climbed out of bed, stretching his arms high above his head.

She tipped her head. "Are those Pikachu boxers?"

His eyes widened and he looked down and frowned. "Uh, no, they're… something… cooler…" His eyes darted away and then he ran for his bathroom. He stopped at the door and waved his fingers at her before narrowing his eyes and saying in a deep voice, "You will forget this ever happened."

"Jedi mindtrick?" She scoffed. "You do realize that my best friend is a sci-fi geek…?" She raised a mocking brow. "I highly doubt I will ever forget this encounter."

He pursed his lips at her and then turned on his heel and continued to his bathroom.

"They're very flattering," she called after him.

He couldn't help but chuckle as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

…

He was right.

So he had some reservations about Rachel; even before Glee, he mostly just knew her as that really high-strung singer chick. That didn't really change after he became part of New Directions, but at least now he knew that there were other sides to her. Like she was really supportive and nice when she wasn't fighting for every solo or trying to get Finn to love her – that was mostly creepy. She was actually pretty cool and funny and not as overbearing as he thought she'd be.

"Have you read through my song list?" she wondered, taking a seat across from him on the floor of the studio.

It was kind of huge and he wondered what kind of money she had to put down to keep it for three weeks. He knew her parents were pretty well off, mostly just 'cause when he went to her place for that party a few months back her house was huge and she had state-of-the-art, well, everything. Like, she had a room dedicated just to putting on shows, soundproof and everything. His mom's only big splurge was her dim sum addiction.

"Yeah," he said, reading down the list again. "It's really…" Unexpected. Even though she said she wanted something more modern and poppy, he was still kind of expecting to see Barbra Streisand or Broadway songs aplenty, but instead he got Britney Spears, Rihanna, and even Ke$ha. Everything had a nice underlying beat that he could definitely move to; he could even hear the tunes in his head, his fingers and toes already moving in anticipation. "Anything you were kind of leaning toward or…?"

"Well…" She blew out a breath and tipped her head. "I had thought that the Britney Spears song was appealing… While yes, she and I have had our differences, I do find the song very danceable and it would certainly pump up the crowd…"

He nodded, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "It's a good one."

"Perhaps we'll do a run through." She stood up and clapped her hands together, bouncing a little. "First we'll just do whatever we feel and see if it's the right fit, okay?" Not waiting for a reply, she stalked over to the stereo. "If you've found your groove?" She hit the button.

What followed was one of the best dance warm-ups he'd ever had the privilege to enjoy.

Rachel fully encouraged goofing off. She laughed when he made faces or bizarre dance moves that he made up on spot. She tried to join him here or there, leaving him to the more complex moves, but made sure he knew she was fully capable of dancing like a pro. For the first hour, all they really did was dance aimlessly to whatever came on. He was mid sprinkler when he realized he'd laughed more in the last hour than he had in weeks. Even before the break-up with Tina, he guessed he hadn't been quite this happy. Rachel was doing the disco queen when he looked over and just shook his head, a little amazed. She was grinning widely and dancing silly and she didn't look like she was angry that they weren't following a schedule at all.

Finally, both breathless and tired, they collapsed on the floor next to each other.

"That was…"

"Awesome," he finished, nodding.

She smiled over at him. "It was, wasn't it?" She nodded. "Well… I think we have a pretty good idea where we want to go in terms of music." She pointed to herself. "In my opinion, the best three I think we danced to was Cascada's Evacuate the Dancefloor; that was very upbeat! Britney Spear's Till the World Ends, which we both agreed would likely be a great choice. And lastly, Rihanna and David Guetta's Who's That Chick…" She peered over at him. "What are your preferences?"

He leaned back on his hands. "I dunno… I think we should stick to those three. I'll listen to them some more, see what I can do with them…" He licked his lips thoughtfully. "I think maybe Cascada's a little slower than I'd like… I really like Who's that Chick." He sighed, shaking his head.

"Well, we don't have to choose right now," she assured. "We can discuss it some more, maybe go our separate ways and see what we come up with on our own, and try again tomorrow." She shrugged, standing and moving to her bag.

"Wait, that's it?" He hopped up from the floor. "I mean… We've only been here an hour…" He looked around worriedly. "Kind of a waste of money, right? I thought… we'd be rehearsing until my feet were numb and I had to take an ice bath."

She blinked up at him. "Really?" She frowned. "That seems a little… too dedicated…"

His brows hiked. "Well, yeah, but… We've only got a few weeks, right?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "So I thought you'd be pushing for more. You know, get into that drill sergeant mode like when we've got a competition for glee coming up…" His eyes narrowed at her and pointed accusingly, "Who are you and what've you done with Rachel Berry?" He glanced at her duffel bag. "She's small enough…"

Rachel laughed. "I'm not hiding… myself in a gym bad, Michael!" She rolled her eyes. "I simply think that you've been… lax in you physical education lately and I don't want to push you too early," she assured. "I need you to be in top form for the competition and since you're my last real hope, it would do me no good to overwork you now." She grinned brightly. "Now, if you have no other complaints, I thought I'd drop you off back at home and we can recommence tomorrow!" Twirling, she walked over and started gathering up her stereo.

"Oh, yeah, that… That makes sense." He frowned, kicking the floor with the end of his sneaker.

Mike was surprised by how disappointed he was that the day was ending so early. He thought he'd be at the studio with her for at least the rest of the morning. Fact, he had trouble falling asleep last night, 'cause he kept himself awake worrying himself over what she might make him do. Like, what if she had a ritualistic offering to the Talent Gods before they started? What if he had to sign his soul over to her as a penalty of not winning the competition? What if-? Okay, maybe he shouldn't have stayed up watching the Space channel last night… He really had to stop doing that. There was nothing at all educational on after a certain time. And for some reason, whenever he ate cheesies that late at night, he had weird dreams. Mixed with the shows he'd been watching, he'd had a rough night…

But now that he was actually in the studio and realized that Rachel was really kind of… normal, he didn't want it to be over already. He hadn't been out of the house in awhile and getting out really felt good. Sure he was alone in a really big mirrored room with just one other person and a whole lot of music, but it was out of his house and he wasn't wearing his pajamas, so it still ranked on the progress scale.

He frowned, sighing at the fact that he'd be going home to crawl back into his bed of misery and depression.

Rachel apparently hadn't heard him, because she was still gathering her CD's and putting them away in alphabetical order.

Trying again, he sighed a little louder, this time dropping his head and slumping his shoulders.

When she didn't ask him what was wrong, he dragged his feet as he walked over to join her.

Chuckling softly under her breath, she peeked her head over and under, looking up at him from where he was pouting at the floor. "Michael…" she said, amused. "Was there something you wanted to share with me?"

"No…" He looked away, pursing his lips. "Just thinking about how lonely and boring and empty my house is…" He sighed again.

Her lips quirked. "Well… I suppose if you'd like, you could always join me… I have a few errands to run and I was thinking of going out for lunch; it would be nice to have some company." She hooked her bag over her shoulder and stood, smiling at him. "That is, if you wouldn't rather return to your lonely, boring, empty house…"

He hopped a little on spot. "Well, y'know, I could find some time in my busy schedule for you…" He shrugged. "It's what friends do…"

Her smile widened and her eyes seemed to get brighter. "Yes!" She handed the stereo to him. "And on the way, you can tell me all about how it is you came to be single when previously I'd been informed that Chang Squared was doing so wonderfully." She started toward the door and waved her hand for him to follow. "Don't leave any details out…"

Following after her, he frowned to himself. Suddenly, he was kind of second-guessing his decision to hang out with her. He was hoping to avoid the whole Tina thing and so far it'd been good, but since she wanted to talk about it… What was it with girls anyway? Why couldn't they just bottle it up like guys and play lots of violent video games while muttering under their breath about how their ex's were lame for not knowing how awesome they were? Mike had spent three weeks doing just that and he was fine! Well, besides the whole too-depressed-to-change-his-clothes-or-leave-the-house thing…

Still… He didn't want to talk about it…

…

As it turned out, not talking about it wasn't possible. Because when Rachel Berry wanted to talk about something, she didn't even need another person there to do it.

While they picked up her dads' dry cleaning and a few groceries, Rachel made it clear just whose side she was on in the whole break-up thing.

"Sure," she said, grabbing a jar of apple sauce down and placing it in the cart she had him pushing. "I've known Tina longer, she was one of the original five in New Directions you see, and there is a certain bond between us because we were both treated so unfairly in the McKinley hierarchy. But you have to know that while I respect Tina in terms of being a fellow harassed peer, I don't think her treatment of you in this break-up was very nice… Then again, she left Artie in a fairly rude way to start a relationship with you…" Shaking her head, she turned to look at him seriously and said, "In any case, I think I of all people can understand how hard it is to be in a romantic triangle where the only one who seems to be winning is the confused party who goes back and forth… In this case Tina…" She frowned. "What I'm trying to say here is that I fully and completely support you and want to help soothe your heartbreak in your time of need." She reached out to pat his arm. "Whatever you need, just ask!"

"Uh, thanks…" He nodded. "Cheesies make me feel better," he told her.

She raised a brow. "Oh Michael…" she sighed. "You can't drown your pain in empty calories…"

And that just started a whole other rant…

…

Honestly, when her phone rang, he was kind of relieved.

She'd been talking non-stop since they got to McDonalds about the benefits of being a vegan while she ate her salad and he stared forlornly at his Double Big Mac.

Rachel lit up as she turned the phone over to see who it was. Pressing talk, she exclaimed gleefully, "Sam!"

Mike couldn't hear his reply, but he watched as Rachel relaxed and threw her head back in a laugh.

"Kaltxì to you too!" She sighed. "It's so nice to hear you voice, even if you are talking in Na'vi." She shook her head. "You know I'm still learning…"

Taking her distraction to advantage, Mike dug into his burger and slathered his fries with ketchup while he watched her chat away with Sam.

She was eager to hear about how his vacation was going, so there was a lot of humming and nodding for awhile.

"What am I doing?" Her face cleared and she frowned down at the table. "Oh, I'm… I'm having lunch right now and then I'll be finishing a few errands…" She started tracing circles on the tabletop. "No, that's… That's really all I've been up to…" Her forehead wrinkled. "Not really. There's not… a whole lot going on and…" She sighed, blowing her bangs out of her face. "Of course I'm keeping busy!" She smiled. "You know me!"

She nodded as he continued to talk and then her eyes widened. "No, no, no! Of course you can't cut your trip short! You were so excited to spend time with your family." She glanced at Mike and then frowned down at her salad, picking at it with her fork. "You know what? I actually am having fun! Of course, it would be more fun if I had my best friend with me, but… I—I've been spending time with Noah," she assured. "We have a standing slushee date every afternoon and—" She blushed. "No, of course I don't mean a real date… Sam, you know he's dating Lauren." She shook her head, smiling slowly. "Yes, and… And well, I've been hanging out with Mike too…" She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mike Chang… We're… Well, he's actually here having lunch with me. He's been absolutely heartbroken since everything happened with Tina and—" She paused, nodding. "Yes, I'll fill you in when you get back…"

Momentarily, Mike wondered how Sam learned to cut Rachel off before she got into one of her monologues… He'd have to ask him one day.

"Okay… Okay…" She nodded. "I miss you and I'll talk to you tomorrow then…" She beamed. "Have fun and say hello to everybody!" She waited a moment longer and then looked to Mike again. "I will… All right… Bye."

Hanging up, she exhaled heavily and sat back in the booth. "Sam says hello."

"Cool."

She nodded, her good mood fading fast.

"So…" Mike wiped at the Big Mac sauce on his mouth and quirked a brow. "You, uh, okay?" His brows furrowed.

"Yes…" She pouted, staring down into her salad. "I suppose perhaps my motives for asking you to be my dance partner weren't entirely true… I mean—" She looked up at him earnestly. "Obviously, I really do need a partner and you're my last hope, which isn't really bad because you're the best dancer I know, but…" She sighed heavily. "Since Sam left with his family for their vacation, I have been feeling quite… lonely." She shrugged. "I think I just got so used to having him with me that now that he's not around, I notice a lack of friends much more…" She picked at her salad once more. "I hope you won't feel pressured to spend time with me, Michael, but I have enjoyed this outing today…"

Feeling bad for her, and totally getting why she'd feel that way, Mike reached over to pat her hand comfortingly. "Hey, it's okay… I mean, we can be lonely together, right?" He ducked his head to catch her eyes and smiled at her. "I'm lonely and recently dumped by a heart-breaking Asian with the prettiest eyes I've ever seen and man I miss the way she smells and—uh," He cleared his throat, realizing he was off-track. "And you're probably suffering from phantom limb syndrome, y'know? Like you had a best friend but he's not there—" He imitated putting his arm around somebody next to him that wasn't there and then playfully fell as if that person had moved out from beneath him.

She laughed.

He grinned. "So you kind of keep looking for him or expecting him to be there and since he's not, now you need a prosthetic and that's me…" He pointed at himself with his thumbs. "I'm the Asian upgrade," he boasted lightly.

"Well… I suppose I couldn't do much better."

He nodded solemnly. "It's true."

Rachel smiled. "Okay… Then, how about we finish up here and… Let's do something fun!" she decided. "Nothing that will remind you of… of The Heart-Breaker and nothing that will make me miss my Sam-shaped missing limb."

"Cool. So…" He frowned thoughtfully. "What can we do then?"

Rachel tapped her lips thoughtfully. "I've never tried laser tag."

Mike's eyes gleamed. "I'm going to rock your world!"

She chuckled. "Well, I suppose that's a yes then."

"Uh, yeah!" He grabbed up his burger. "Eat faster! This is gonna be great!" he said through a mouthful.

She wrinkled her nose but started eating her salad with more gusto.

…

Mike gave a war cry as he started shooting at everything that moved, eyes darting all over for Rachel and not quite finding her in the sea of anonymous faces.

Jumping and barrel-rolling, he made his way through the maze, adrenaline pumping, face adorned with war paint (okay, it was just Rachel's lipstick, but it still counted!), stalking for his prey.

He checked in every corner, thinking she might use her small frame to hide, but had yet to find her.

"Ra…chel!" he called. "It's okay… It won't hurt. I'll go easy on you…" He grinned, coming around a corner quickly, gun moving side to side anxiously.

"Easy on me?" Rachel's voice called cheerfully.

He whirled around to find her with her gun aimed at his chest.

"Don't expect the same in return!" She shot him three times before scurrying off out of sight.

"Revenge!" he yelled dramatically, chasing after her.

An hour later, they left the room laughing.

He was surprised and oddly proud to find she had whooped his ass.

Throwing an arm around her as their picture was taken, he held his gun up with his other arm, grinning wider when she mimicked him.

Holding their photo in her hands as they left toward her car, she declared, "I'm going to frame this!"

Grinning at her over the roof of the car, he asked, "Can I have a copy?"

She smiled back at him. "Absolutely!"

In that very moment, Mike knew a long-lasting friendship had been born.

…

"Was Tina the first girl you ever loved?" she wondered as they sat in the shade of a busy park.

Mike looked over at her from where he was picking grass and making stick men with the green blades. "Yeah…" He frowned. "She was my first real girlfriend, I think… I mean, I dated Santana and Britney, but…" He shrugged. "I don't know if they really count, y'know?"

She turned over to lay next to him, joining in making figures with the grass, only hers were women; he knew 'cause they were wearing grass skirts. "I suppose…" She sighed. "My daddy said first loves stick with us the longest… Not because they were the best, but because they were the first person we let ourselves be real with…" She shrugged. "Or, as real as we knew how to be."

His brows furrowed. "I was real with Tina…" Lips pursed, he wondered, "Maybe I was too real…" He sighed. "Too Asian…"

She looked over at him. "You can never be too Mike Chang," she told him.

He grinned.

"My stick-woman challenges your stick-man to a duel," she said, lightening the mood.

He laughed. "Challenge accepted!"

…

For the next two weeks, they spent their mornings rehearsing for their competition, while the afternoons were spent having fun.

They picked a song and for a few hours each morning, they danced their butts off.

At night, he started working on choreography in his bedroom. He had to clean it up and find the floor before he could start, but with all the garbage gone and everything back in its place, he was really starting to feel better about the whole thing. He even started going out for dim sum with his mom again, telling her all about Rachel and how they were going to blow their competitors out of the water with their routine. His mom liked her – probably because she was the Jewish equivalent of an overachieving Asian, what with her being in every club at school and getting straight A's in all her classes, but still – she even invited Rachel along for dim sum a few times.

Every afternoon, they tried to find something else to do to keep their minds off Sam and Tina.

She totally beat him at mini-golf. But he was a pro when they hit the batting cages.

When they played Dance Dance Revolution, he showed off some of his best moves, but he had to admit she was pretty awesome. A crowd gathered partly because they made a great team, but he was also pretty sure it was because she kept singing along to the songs. Still, totally fun.

He challenged her to a ping-pong tournament once and he wiped the floor with her, but then she broke out her Wii and apparently tennis was not his game. Neither was bowling or volleyball, at least not in the virtual world, 'cause when he took her out to play them for real, he was still the man.

To make her feel better for totally annihilating her, he took her out for soy ice cream though. He couldn't stand to see her look so defeated. Sure, he was starting to think she was perfecting that pout specifically for free ice cream, but he figured she deserved it.

So, he was spending like 24/7 with her and it was actually really great. He couldn't remember when he'd had that much fun or been so much like, well himself… Yeah, he was himself with Tina, or he thought he was, but sometimes he thought maybe she liked his abs more than him. Rachel didn't care if he had abs, unless they related to his dancing skills, anyway… She just liked hanging out with him and she was full of positive reinforcement, even if it was really long-winded.

She was always telling him that he was better off without Tina, because from what she'd seen he was the best boyfriend in all of glee club and if she couldn't see that then that was her loss. And, she was right! Well, not to blow his own horn or anything, but Tina maybe did under-appreciate him sometimes and he just wanted to be happy and with somebody who loved him. He didn't know who that might be, he might not even find her in high school, but he knew that Tina wasn't her, and he could finally stop thinking she was and wishing things were different.

Who knew Rachel Berry would be his enlightenment?

…

Mike wiped the sweat off his forehead and watched in fascination as Rachel pulled off a seriously complicated move before his eyes. She was short, but man could she move. He shook his head and then started clapping for her.

Flushing, pride written all over her face, she bowed for him. "Thank you."

"Seriously, Legs, where have you been hiding all those moves?"

She grinned. "And give away all my secrets?" She scoffed, tossing her nose in the air dramatically. "Never!"

He laughed, but moved back into his starting position. "You ready? I wanna run through it one more time."

Nodding, she moved to join him. "You're a bit of a slave-driver, Michael," she informed him, but grinned.

He turned to look at her with fierce determination. "You and me are gonna win this, Rachel." He held his fist out for her.

Smiling, she bumped her own against his, giggling when he mimicked an explosion with his fingers. "Again," she said, holding her fist up.

When he bumped it, smiling, she did too, and together, they made the exploding motion.

She clapped. "I declare us the best dancing team to ever set foot in Lima!"

"In Ohio!" he cheered, stabbing his finger in the air.

They looked at each other and together, gleefully yelled, "The world!"

It might not be true, but it felt like it was. And that was more than enough.

…

"My parents are looking into colleges for me again…" he told her, twirling in his desk chair, staring at the ceiling monotonously.

Rachel looked up from where she was examining his music collection. "What school do you want to go to?"

He snorted. "It's not that easy… I'm a good Asian! I go where my parents tell me to…"

Her brows furrowed. "Well… I suppose if that'll make you happy…" She tapped her chin. "Of course, if you happen to enlighten them to some of the finer qualities of top schools that happen to be in a place where you might be able to better explore your dancing, that's really only good planning…"

He looked over at her curiously.

"All I'm saying is the hinting can be persuasive… As well as leaving brochures around for them to find or the computer open to some more complimentary sites about which school you might prefer… It's really all about subliminal messaging…" She shrugged, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "And if that doesn't work, then, well… I happen to be great with stage make-up. We'll run away and leave all ties to responsibility behind and you can adopt a new identity while you break out on the dancing scene…" She nodded thoughtfully.

He grinned. "Plan B sounds like it needs some work, but I'm not completely against it," he agreed.

"Fantastic." She clapped her hands and wondered, "How do you feel about dreadlocks?"

He laughed.

She was dead serious.

…

"Hey, so… I was thinking we could start earlier tomorrow," Mike said, looking up from where he was sitting by the stereo, going through her CD's. "If we get in earlier, we can leave earlier, and then I can show you how to master skee ball!"

She smiled over at him. "While I love your enthusiasm, I'm afraid I can't be here any earlier."

His brows furrowed. "Why?" His eyes widened. "Are you cheating on me with another Asian pop-and-locker?" He stood up and started showing off his moves, dancing toward her with exaggerated movements.

She laughed. "No…" She shrugged. "I just meet Noah to go jogging each morning." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "We've been meeting up every morning all summer… Well, except on Saturdays because he usually hangs outside of 7-Eleven Friday nights until somebody buys him beer and then he sleeps in the next morning, but…" She grabbed up her bag and held a hand out for her CD's. "Sunday through Friday, we have a standing jog-date." She put her things away and then grabbed up her stereo. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to play skee ball," she assured.

He took the stereo from her and hooked it over his shoulder. "So you and Puck hang out a lot then, huh?" he asked curiously.

She shrugged. "I suppose…"

"Well, you guys jog every morning and then you have that slushee date in the afternoons…" Mike stared at her thoughtfully. "Y'know, Rach… Puck's a good guy… I mean, yeah, he's not always the nicest, but…" He smiled at her. "He really tries with you…"

She looked over at him and her brows furrowed. "I know he is…" She nodded. "We've become very good friends since everything went sour with Finn…" Taking a deep breath, she turned to him. "But enough about Noah. What would you like to do today, Mr. Chang?"

He grinned. "Movie." He nodded excitedly. "They're having a double-feature of Jet-Li movies downtown!"

"Fantastic!" she agreed. "I'm not much of a fan of violence, but you know, I like just how controlled martial arts are…" She nodded, joining him as they left the studio. "And I have to admit, Jet Li is rather handsome."

He rolled his eyes. "He's Asian, Rachel… We're all handsome."

She chuckled. "My mistake… Of course you are. How silly of me."

He nodded solemnly before moving ahead to get her door for her as she pushed the unlock button from afar.

Grinning, she thanked him as she climbed into the driver's seat.

The drive over to the theater was filled with Mike dancing to the radio and Rachel signing along.

After parking, Mike pop-and-locked next to her while they walked to the ticket booth, unable to hide his excitement. He bounced on spot when he saw the poster. "It's Shaolin Temple, Rach!" He used her shoulders for balance as he jumped up and down happily. "They're playing the sequel too." He ran circles around her, spinning. "We have to stay and watch part three, too!" He begged her, even dropping to his knees and looking up at her with an exaggerated pout. "Please, please, please!"

Rachel laughed, her head falling back. "Fine, fine, just get off the ground!"

He grinned goofily before leaping back up to stand next to her. "You know that's like five hours, right?"

She sighed. "Yes…"

"Okay." He dug out his wallet. "Here's what we'll do… You get the tickets and I'll get snacks and find the perfect spot, okay?" He was already backing away. "I'll give the signal when you get inside so you can find me." Before she could even ask, he put his hand to his mouth and let out a bird noise. "Don't forget it!" He motioned with his fingers from his eyes to hers. "Be swift, little grasshopper!" And then he was off, toward the concession with exaggerated slow-motion running. He could still hear her laughing when he stopped at the back of the line.

Impatiently, he tapped his toes as he waited for the line to keep moving.

"I just think he's a little overrated," he heard a familiar voice sigh.

"Preach, woman… I'm all Jackie Chan fan over here."

Suddenly, Mike felt his heart in his throat. His whole back tightened up as he felt the approaching train wreck, eyes widening as he wished silently to become invisible.

"I mean, sure, he's one of the best known Asian-exports, but—" There was a long pause before, "Mike?"

Throwing his eyes up toward the ceiling, he silently wondered why? Turning around, he found Tina and Artie staring at him, exchanging an awkward and confused look before looking back at him uncomfortably.

"Uh, how are you?" she wondered.

"Good. Fine. Good." He cursed his repetition. "You guys?"

"Great," she said quickly, nodding. "We're great."

"Good," he said. "So…" He frowned. "You don't like Jet Li?"

Her brows furrowed. "I… He's kind of overrated, don't you think?"

Mike shook his head. "It's like I don't even know you…" he said aloud thoughtfully.

"Right…" She looked back at Artie and then over at him again. "Well, look, if this is going to be awkward for you…"

"No." He shrugged. Actually… "It's not going to be awkward at all…" He crossed his arms over his chest. "We broke up. You're back with Artie. We're going to see each other around a lot." He nodded slowly. "And I… I'm okay." He smiled slowly. "I really am good."

She looked taken aback. "Oh."

"Yeah, so…" He couldn't contain how happy he was that he was speaking the truth. "I'm gonna be here for all three Shaolin Temples, so if you guys wanna sit with us or—"

"Us?" Tina asked, blinking rapidly in surprise.

"Oh, yeah, I—"

"Michael, I bought the tickets, but because it's a double feature, when I told him we wanted to stay for the third Temple movie, he said we'd have a pass to a fourth movie of our choice," Rachel called out, walking toward the group. "They're playing Born To Defend, but I'm not sure if you enjoyed that one or if you'd rather just stay for the three movies. It's up to you, really. I informed Noah we'd be getting together later tonight rather than before dinner like we usually do and—Oh!" Realizing who he was with, she stared in surprise at Tina and Artie. "I… I didn't know you two were here." She handed Mike his tickets before moving to stand next to him. Looking up at him, she raised her brows worriedly.

"I'm okay," he told her knowingly. "I'm great."

She stared at him a moment longer, as if to make sure he was telling her the truth, before turning back to the other two gleeks. "Well… Will you be enjoying the Shaolin Temple trilogy with us then?" She grinned widely. "I have to admit, I've never watched any of them, but as I was telling Michael earlier, I do enjoy martial arts and Jet Li is an interesting actor…"

Tina turned her gaze from Rachel to Mike and then back again. "You're here… together?" she asked.

"Twilight Zone," Artie muttered, staring at them like they were bizarre science projects.

Mike and Rachel looked at each other, realizing what they were implying, and then burst into laughter.

"Oh no, no, no…" Rachel waved her hands dismissively. "No, Michael is my friend." She smiled widely to show how proud of that she was. "Well, and my dance partner, actually." She reached out to squeeze his arm. "You know, if it isn't your mother, it's Noah or my dads or even Sam…" She shook her head to herself. "I'm honestly starting to wonder why it's so preposterous that I have a platonic friendship with a boy… First there were suspicions with Sam and now you…"

Mike slung an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. "Rachel and I are cool…" He looked down at her softly. "She's been really good to me since everything kind of blew up in my face."

Artie shifted uncomfortably, looking away.

"Hey, man, it's okay…" He held a hand out. "Seriously. Just… Take care of Tina… She's a really good girl."

Hesitantly, Artie reached out and shook his head. "All right. I… I will." He nodded earnestly.

Tina looked between them and then scoffed. "Boys," she muttered.

Mike shrugged before looking back at Rachel. "Concession, m'lady?"

She grinned. "Absolutely, good sir."

Turning around, they returned to getting their snacks for the movie, before waving goodbye to the still surprised Tina and Artie and making their way into the theatre, settling in for a long while.

…

Mike was feeling awesome. No longer heartbroken over Tina, he made his way over to Puck's for some bro-time. Rachel assured him she'd be spending some long-needed time with her parents and his mom talked his dad into taking her out for dim sum, so he figured this was the perfect timing.

With a red vine hanging out of his mouth, Mike sat back in the beanbag chair Puck had nicked off his sister for him, and leaned along with the car he was driving.

"So…" Puck said, from where he sat back against his bed. "You and Rachel have been hanging out a lot..."

"Yeah." He nodded, grinning. "She's cool."

"I know," he replied, rather gruffly.

Mike turned to look at him, confused. "What's up?" He pulled the red vine free and chewed. "Thought you were the one trying to tell all the gleeks we should give her a chance and stop being so hard on her…?"

"Yeah, well I didn't mean hog her all summer, dong Asian-ninja shit…" he muttered, rolling his eyes.

He frowned. "We're friends…" He shrugged. "And we're not doing Asian stuff… Okay, well not all Asian stuff…"

Puck looked like he didn't believe him. "Artie told me you and her were looking pretty tight at the movie the other day."

"Artie who snaked my girlfriend?" he asked a little bitterly.

His jaw ticked. "Look, man, I'm sorry about Tina… That was cold. Leaving you like that and hooking back up with Wheels, but… He's my bro too… So…" He shrugged.

Sighing, Mike sat back. "Yeah, I know… I'm not even mad about it anymore…"

"Yeah?" He cocked an unconvinced brow.

"Well… I mean, I still love her… She's Tina…" He frowned. "But me and Rachel talked about it and… Y'know, maybe me and Tina are better off apart, right?"

Puck stared at him a long second and then held up his game controller. "Dude, if you tell me you're into Rachel, I'm gonna strangle you with the chord."

He laughed, holding his hand up defensively. "No!" He shook his head. "I dunno, she gets me…" He squirmed, uncomfortable with sharing his feelings with a guy who usually mocked them and told him to grow a set. "Rachel's just really been there for me when I was raw over Tina, y'know?" He looked over at him, seeing that he still wasn't convinced. "Really, me and Legs are totally platonic."

"How platonic?"

Mike sighed. Puck was so obvious… "Look, we only started hanging out because she needed a dance partner and Sam was out of town with his family and she figured Lauren would lose it if you started spending too much time together…" He paused, scratching his head. "Hey, does Lauren know you and Rachel have jogging and slushee dates?" He shrugged. "Anyway, it was just a favor at first, but we've been hanging out more and she just… She's really cool. She talks too much and she sings randomly because she says you can never know who's listening, but… I mean, overall, she's really awesome, so…"

"Dance partner?" he said, ignoring all the rest. "The fuck does she need a dance partner for?"

He looked over at him, a little surprised he didn't know. Rachel was kind of… boastful. He thought she'd be telling anybody and everybody about her upcoming competition and how they were going to own it. "She's got a big competition next week and she needed somebody to dance with and help her get the choreography together…"

Puck shook his head. "No, she doesn't."

"Uh, yeah, she does…" He rolled his eyes. "I've been practicing with her for two weeks already…" He sat up a little. "She showed up at my house with the best sugar cookies I've ever had in my life and told me she was desperate and needed my help… So, y'know, I stopped moping and gave in, 'cause she used the 'I'll just have to ask Finn' trick and…" He shook his head solemnly. "Finn's my bro, but… He can't dance to save his life."

Puck snorted agreeably.

"She rented out a studio so we could practice, too." He grinned excitably. "Dude, we've got the best song and—"

"Dude, seriously… She doesn't have a competition coming up," Puck interrupted, shaking his head slowly to let it sink in. "I know Rachel and she'd be yakking my head off about it… Plus, my sister hits up the same dance studio as her and classes were cancelled for the summer because they're doing a remodel… So, y'know…"

Mike stared, brows furrowed, completely confused. "Wait, so…" He shook his head. "I don't get it..."

"I dunno, man…" He shrugged, turning back to the game. "You're gonna have to ask her… I'm as close to a Rachel-expert as you're gonna get and even I get confused by how all that crazy works…"

Nodding, he tried to focus on the game again and let it go, but couldn't…

He just couldn't figure out why Rachel would lie to him…

…

Mike didn't say anything when she picked him up the next morning; he was completely silent on the ride over. He didn't say anything when she told him she picked up his favorite muffin and a coffee, just how he liked it, from the Lima Bean and handed it to him, or when she put his favorite music on and then looked surprised when he didn't start dancing. He didn't say anything until they were standing in the studio and she was telling him all about which moves she was still having trouble with.

"That last move, with the dip, I'm not sure I'm as flexible as you seem to think I am. In fact, I think I'm tensing up because I'm worried I might slip a disc and—"

"Stop," he interrupted, frowning. "Just… Just stop."

She paused, looking at him worriedly. "I'm sorry?"

He shook his head. "I don't… I don't get it…" He turned to look at her searchingly, sincerely hurt. "I thought we were having fun. I thought… I mean, I thought we were friends…"

Her brows furrowed. "We are…" She swallowed tightly. "Aren't we?"

"You tell me!" he shouted, balling his hands up into fists. Seriously, this actually hurt more than how Tina dumped him. He really liked Rachel. Like, he'd come to really trust her…

"I… I'm afraid I'm very confused by your behavior, Michael…" She looked around in confusion. "I don't know what I've done to anger you but—"

"You lied to me!" he interrupted. "You… We… I…" He threw his hands up, waving them around. "Why are we practicing, Rachel?" He shook his head. "Why did you show up that night and beg me to be your partner and—and spend all this time with me if there's not—"

"I wanted to help you," she exclaimed, stopping him.

He frowned, forehead wrinkled. "What?"

"I…" She fidgeted, playing with the end of her shirt. "Well, Noah told me that you'd just been so upset after what happened with Tina and I… I know what that feels like! To be dumped and then ignored and treated like you should just get over it when in reality, all you want to do is cry and lament your misfortune and not move, but…" She walked toward him, her expression earnest. She pressed her hands to her heart and told him, "You're so talented Mike and you're so nice and I didn't want you to waste your whole summer wishing things were different when what you really needed to do was just get back to basics…"

He blinked rapidly, trying to take it all in.

She sighed, shoulders slumping. "I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing until you opened the door and I could smell your misery… Albeit mixed with stale cheesie powder, but still!" Her eyes widened, staring up at him. "I just… I thought I could help and… With Sam gone and Noah splitting his time between me and Lauren and his family, I just… I was honest with you when I said I was being a little selfish in my actions; I was lonely and I missed having a best friend to lean on…" She shrugged, hugging her arms around herself. "I realize that it might seem incredibly underhanded, but… I thought if I could just get you moving and dancing, you might realize that the worst thing to happen to you is not that you lost Tina… But if you let her take your talent and your love for dancing away, it could be…"

He stared at her, his anger dwindling by the second, until finally he was just sighing. Shaking his head, he wondered, "What were you gonna do when it was time to compete?"

She raised a brow at him, letting out a little chuckle. "You underestimate me, Michael… If need be, I'd have a panel of judges and a full set of competitors."

He laughed under his breath, realizing that yeah, she probably would… "You're one hell of a friend, Legs…"

A small, hopeful smile bloomed. "So… You forgive me?"

He held his arms out to her. "Hey, we're the best dancing duo in the whole world, right?"

She ran into his arms and hugged him tight. "We are!" she agreed brightly.

He had to admit, even if he was pretty upset with how she did it, it worked…

…

They kept the studio the rest of the week and used it to dance to whatever they felt like.

They even perfected their choreography even if nobody but them would ever see it.

Laughing, and grinning at one another, they moved in synchronized perfection.

Truly happy, he pop and locked around her, singing loudly, not caring if he was off-key or bad, just letting his voice echo all around them, getting it all out. The pain of the break up, the excitement over having a new friend, and the joy of dancing flow through him.

Sound is my remedy,
Feeding me energy,
Music is all I need…

Rachel nodded proudly, clapping her hands and joining him in his singing.

Baby, I just wanna dance,
I don't really care,
I just wanna dance,
I don't really care…

Mike let the beat move through him, taking control of his legs and arms and pumping through his veins until he was just a boy with a song, expressing it for all he was worth, with his best friend.

…

They spent the rest of the summer, just the two of them, laughing and dancing and finding friendship in the most unlikely of people.

And when senior year started and Tina walked down the halls with Artie beside her, Mike didn't even flinch. Instead, he fell against the locker next to Rachel's and cried out in despair, "Channing Tatum's in another movie!" He shook his head, bemoaning, "Why?"

She laughed, shaking her head. "Let it all out," she encouraged, amused.

So he did. And he would continue to for the rest of his life, as his and Rachel's friendship long outlived Tatum's career and even their ability to dance.

[End.]