Damn you, plot bunny. Damn you. Okay, this is really AU after Wheels. Really, really AU.
I'm sorry, too. Because now you get to be normal and I'll be stuck in this chair the rest of my life. And that's not something I can fake.
Artie wheeled off into the distance after his bitter parting words and Tina stood in shocked silence as he went. As soon as she saw him turn the corner and out of sight, she turned around sharply and addressed the space behind her in a harsh voice.
"I know you're there. You may as well come out now, you've done your damage."
Two figures emerged from around the corner. From the way Mike was supporting Santana as she all but stumbled towards her, Tina knew her suspicions were correct.
"Tina, you need to keep calm," Mike said in a low voice. "You know what happens when you freak out."
She ignored his comment totally and honed in her rage on Santana. "I can't believe you did that. To me. You swore you would never do that to me!"
"If it makes any difference, it hurt like a bitch," replied Santana, holding on to Mike for dear life and at least three shades paler than normal. In any other circumstances, Tina would be insisting they drive the other girl back to Mike's place immediately – when she was this worn out, it was best to congregate at the Changs, who never asked questions. "And you know I hate doing it for that long."
"Here's an idea, then," Tina all but spat out. "Don't! Just... don't!" She backed away from them, aware of the flickering lights in the hallway. Maybe Mike was right. Maybe she did need to calm down. But it was hard, when her heart felt it was going to explode from the expression on Artie's face, in reaction to the words that she didn't even say.
"You were going to tell him!" Santana accused. "Mike saw it. He knew you were going to tell him. And you didn't even think to mention it to us?" Despite her exhaustion, Santana looked ready for a fight. "This isn't just your life you're screwing around with, Tina. The more people who know, the more dangerous it is for all of us."
"So you make up some story about the Missouri compromise?" Tina shot back. "Make up some story about how I lied about my stutter so people would leave me alone because I'm shy?"
"It's the truth!" said Santana icily. "You lied about your stutter so people would leave you alone. And you are shy."
"I am, but that's not why I did it and you know it," Tina said, her control over her temper wearing thin. From above her, she could hear a light bulb crack. "I wanted to be honest with him. I was going to be honest with him because I care about him and I know he cares about me and I didn't want to start things off with secrets between us."
"This is a secret you need to keep," Mike said, his voice still low. "Tina, he's not going to understand any of it and it'll be just one more thing you can do that he can't. He'll freak out. He'll tell the wrong person. And by then, all three of us will be locked up somewhere so people can test what we're capable of."
Tina desperately wanted to reply with 'you can't possibly know that'. But this was Mike. He knew. He saw. If he said that's what would happen, then that's what would happen. That was why he was standing there, a sad but determined look on his face. Supporting Santana even though he knew what possession took out of her. Especially when possessing someone like Tina, who would fight back with every fiber of her being the minute she sensed invasion.
"You should have told us," Santana said, breaking the awkward silence. She stepped forward, shrugging off Mike's arm and reaching towards Tina. Tina resisted the urge to throw off her friend's comforting touch, still reeling from the betrayal. "I knew you liked Artie but I had no idea you guys were getting that kind of close."
"Of course we were close," Tina said sadly. "He was my best friend. You two won't even talk to me at school. You barely even talk to each other, even though you're dating each others best friends. Artie's been there for me when you two haven't, and even though I know you two are the only ones who can really understand what it's like, part of me feels like Artie could, too. He knows what it's like to be different."
"There's a huge difference between being in a wheelchair and being able to see the future, or control things with your mind," Mike said carefully. "Yes, they're both 'different' but if you had the choice between being stuck in a wheelchair and telekinesis, which would you choose?"
She got his point. She really did. "He's a huge comic book nerd, I bet he'd think it was awesome to date a superhero," she pointed out, a little too lightly.
"No, he wouldn't," said Mike, with absolute confidence. "It'd be one more thing he couldn't do. One more way you had more than he does. Look at it from his point of view. Not only can you do the thing he desperately wishes he could do – walk – you can also make the lights in the hallway explode when you get really pissed off about something."
Tina looked up at the ceiling. "Oh crap."
Santana sighed. "Look, I didn't know he'd react so badly to the fake stutter thing. And let's be honest, if you take the whole... weird abilities thing out of the equation, I told him the truth, didn't I?"
"It's kind of hard to take the 'weird abilities' out of the equation when the whole reason you told him the truth is because you momentarily possessed me," said Tina bitterly. "It's also kind of hard to see someone you care about who's in a truly awful situation, wheeling away from you, upset because now you get to be normal." She pointed to the broken light bulb. "This is not normal!"
Okay, so she hadn't thought that through so well. The moment she pointed to the light bulb, it shattered into a million pieces, raining down shattered glass. Tina didn't react fast enough and the glass fell straight on to her, leaving tiny cuts on every inch of exposed flesh. Panic and adrenaline shot through her and she heard a loud explosion from the end of the corridor, the echo ringing in her ears. The last thing she registered before passing out completely was Mike's panicked expression before tearing down the corridor in the direction Artie had left.