A/N: As requested by the lovely justrelax. :D I didn't know I could be so fluffy, lol.
"We need a strategy." Puck was pacing back and forth in front of the glee club in Mr. Schue's living room. "Vocal Adrenaline is still really good. I don't want a repeat of last year."
"We weren't ready to beat them last year." Artie shook his head. They'd gone through a lot this year, including him briefly getting cut from glee club, a brief pregnancy scare and him losing his briefs. Twice. "It wasn't anybody's fault we lost last year. I think we can win Regionals this year."
Puck agreed with a nod. "We need to start early. That's why we're here like a day earlier than last year."
"Since when do you care about Glee club?" Santana raised an eyebrow at Puck.
"I really like singing, OK? I'm gonna be a rock star with guns like these." Puck flexed his hard muscles. "We need to actually win some competitions before I have a shot."
"Look, Puck's right." Artie looked up at his friend, or whatever. He was never quite sure where he stood with anybody but Kurt and Mercedes and Tina. And sometimes not even Tina, even though they'd been dating for over a year. He did some pretty stupid stuff sometimes. "We need a strategy. You know, like chess."
"What's that?" Brittany looked up.
Artie just shook his head and turned to Puck and Rachel, the people that might actually understand where he was going with this. "In chess, you've got to think ahead. You've got to think about what your competition might do and plan the perfect move accordingly. You plot move per move until finally, checkmate."
"Genius. So we've just got to find the perfect song." Rachel said, turning to Finn with a smile. "I suggest a duet."
"I don't know if a duet is the best idea," Artie shook his head. "No offense. It didn't work last year. I think we should do a ballad. Like, a real ballad that really means something."
Rachel nodded. "I've got it covered."
"No." Tina spoke up to everyone's surprise. "We should switch it up. I've got something I've been working on for a while," she said shyly.
"Do you think you can do it?" Mercedes asked, concerned. For once, she didn't seem concerned about getting the spotlight. Mercedes had gotten pretty preoccupied with her boyfriend Usher lately and she knew Tina was shy. Really shy.
Tina nodded. "Yeah. The song means a lot to me."
Artie looked at her girlfriend, confused. "What-" Tina shook her head suddenly, stopping Artie in his tracks. He was finally learning to keep his mouth shut. Sometimes.
"Ok, so we've got the ballad." Puck nodded at Tina. "What about the group songs?" Artie smiled to himself as the group spent the night planning for Regionals. Maybe this year they actually had a chance.
"Shit." Artie looked from Mr. Schue's porch out at the pounding rain. "This sucks."
Everyone else had left right after the meeting, somehow forgetting that Artie and Tina both had to walk four blocks back to their respective houses. "Maybe we should go back in and wait for it to calm down a bit," Tina said softly as she held open the door. Artie nodded and rolled himself back inside.
"Do you guys want a ride?" Mr. S looked at the pair as they re-entered the living room.
Artie glanced up at Tina. This was about as much privacy as they'd ever had together. Both of their parental units were really overprotective and wouldn't leave them alone for more than five minutes. Tina shook her head, almost reading Artie's mind.
"Nah, I think we'll wait a bit," Artie smiled at his teacher.
Mr. Schue smiled at the teenage lovers and smiled a bit. He probably knew exactly what they were thinking. "No problem. You guys can wait in here." He started to retreat to the kitchen. "Hey, do you guys want some hot chocolate or something?"
"That sounds great," Tina smiled softly.
At long last, they were alone. Artie smiled softly at Tina as she took a seat in the recliner next to him. He leaned over and kissed her daringly. "This is great," he laughed softly. "We could stay here all night. We have a great excuse."
"We should probably call our parents." Tina looked across the room at the phone, but she made no move to call anyone.
"What song are you gonna sing at Regionals?" Artie asked bluntly.
"Artie," Tina narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. "It's a surprise." She looked down shyly. "I didn't know you liked to play chess."
"I figured you knew. I mean, it's kind of obvious," Artie laughed lightly. "You know how to play?"
"Yeah, my dad taught me when I was little. We still play at least once a week. it's kind of a tradition."
"That's cute," Artie smiled up at Tina and he wagged his eyebrows.. "You wanna start a new tradition?"
Tina opened her mouth threateningly.
"Here's your hot chocolate," Mr. Schue looked between the teens with a smile. He set the steaming mugs on the table between them. "I'll be in my office. I've got some games if you want."
"Do you have chess?" Artie smiled slyly.
Somehow, Mr. Schue seemed to understand the joke. "Yeah, I do actually." He riffled in a storage cabinet and pulled out a discount store chess set. He handed the game to Artie, who set it up on the table next to their mugs. Mr. Schuester smiled at them. "You two have fun... but not too much fun." He laughed to himself and shook his head as he left the room. He understood. He'd been a teenager once.
Artie smiled and leaned over to kiss Tina again, just because he could. She giggled but pulled away and said, "we should probably be quiet. I mean, our teacher is in the other room. It's weird."
Artie just chuckled. "Let's play."
They took their time, alternating between taking sips of their hot chocolate, kissing each other softly and thinking through their moves carefully. At long last, Tina won.
"You sunk my battleship," Artie just said playfully, giggling and kissing Tina on the cheek.
Tina just smiled softly. "Wrong game, Artie." She looked out the window; the rain had slowed to a drizzle. "We'd better go home."
Thanks in part to Tina singing 'Game of Love' by Santana, New Directions won Regionals that year. She figured she was mostly trying to tell Artie that maybe they were playing the right game after all.