A/N: So, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and what I have of this story so far! I really enjoy writing this, but I just hope I'm getting the characters in a way that you also enjoy. My goal is to alternate posting chapters between this story and the other story I've written as often as possible. :) It's theme is based on the TV show "Lie to Me" and you can check it out on my profile. :)

I hope you enjoy and please, please review! Tell me whatever you feel the need to say, corrections (grammatical or structural), complaints, suggestions, anything and it only takes a few moments. :)

Seeing as Blaine's house wasn't always the place of gaming, it was now Mike's turn to wait for his competitor and ally. Blaine wasn't as good at waking up at a reasonable time, plus he took longer to get ready, so Mike had plenty of time to just hang around his house and thumb through the books for his summer reading, which he would have to do eventually. So, when Blaine showed up in the middle of the afternoon, somewhere in between lunch and dinner, because they'd reached the point in the summer where days were measure by meals and not hours, Mike really wasn't that bothered.

He had been laying on his couch, idly flipping through channels when he heard a car door open. With a quick glance out the window he identified his friend's car, and maybe it was in his haste at this moment to get the television changed to the correct input that he missed the other door opening and closing.

After the doorbell rang through the otherwise empty house he walked to the door, but on the other side it was not what he expected. Blaine was standing in his Dalton sweatpants and matching sweatshirt with his head ducked low. Immediately Mike worried something had happened with Kurt, or his dads, but his words only caused him to question.

"Don't kill me," Blaine mumbled, and at that moment his head lifted and his eyes looked like they were begging for forgiveness, personifying the puppy in him. Mike's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What are you-" he started his statement, only to have it drop off when he noticed another pair of feet behind Blaine. He hadn't been looking for it, so he hadn't noticed. He saw a smaller figure, feet in flats just about a foot behind him, and seeing as she was shorter than him, she was practically unnoticeable. He groaned and just as he did their usual pest peeked her head over his shoulder.

"What the hell, man? He asked with an annoyed tone, causing Rachel's energetic smile, that had shown her pride for the surprise, to fade.

"Come in," he said reluctantly and pushed the door open. Rachel came striding in first past a lackluster Blaine.

"So, what are we going to do?" She asked with an excitement he didn't even want to begin to understand.

"Blaine and I," Mike said pointedly, "Are going to finish the Mario Kart tournament we started." Mike and Blaine were Toad and Yoshi respectively. "You," he said to the younger girl as she walked over to the couch, despite him not inviting her to take a seat. "Aren't going to bother us."

"I won't, I promise," she said and tugged at the bottom of her skirt that had been swishing behind her as she walked. Not that Mike had noticed.

Blaine walked in solemnly, hands pushed into his sweatshirt pocket and took the place that would be between his best friend and his sister. Mike followed and sat down, handing him a controller, before Rachel leaned over to her brother and fixed the hood of his jacket.

"You know, Blaine, I really am more fond of your accessories. I don't see why you didn't put any one this morning." She stated simply and then pat his shoulder affectionately.

The both always commented on each other's clothes, them being the only one's who really understood why they wore what they did. Mike had learned to pick conversations carefully with the Berrys. This was one that he knew he was supposed to stay out of.

"It's summer, Rach. You don't have to dress up for everything." He murmured in reply and immediately she let out a small humph and her hands toyed with the edge of her skirt. He sighed heavily, as if knowing he'd said something wrong. "Although, I do appreciate your skirts." Mike glanced to see Blaine's lips twitching into a smirk, and he knew something was coming that would get her riled up. "Although, you could pull them down a bit. I don't exactly like the idea of my baby sister flashing everybody."

Her jaw literally dropped and she stood up, hands on her waits. Mike took the half second his eyes lingered to observe how the skirt laid just on her hips and cut off mid-thigh. Immediately his eyes flicked downward and he shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. It wasn't usually acceptable to look at his friend's sister for too long. Anyways, should he be scoffing at her outfit for too long, her diva attitude might come out, and nobody wants to deal with that. Ever.

"I'll have you know, they don't make skirts the correct length for a waist of my size," she stated factually. "Plus, I'm not that much younger than you are."

"You could still wear tights or something." Blaine grumbled, seeing a little more of his sister's thigh than he wanted to each account that she wore a skirt of that style.

"Stop complaining, Blainers. If Daddy approves, then you have no right to tell me to change." Blaine rolled his eyes. Of course Daddy approved. Daddy always approved if it made his little girl happy. Mike saw the tension rising and but in.

"We going to play a game or complain about clothes all day?" Mike asked, his voice low and he elbowed Blaine in the side. His thumbs fumbled with the controller, needing to find something to do with his hands.

"Game, definitely game," Blaine replied with ease and nodded towards the doorway to another room. "Why don't you go watch TV in there or something?"

Mike shook his head at Blaine's suggestion. "No TV in there, remember, man?" Blaine arched an eyebrow, seeming to forget the incident in which they broke the already cheap TV that was in the other room. "Come on, you can not honestly say you forgot. With the football?" Blaine remained puzzled. "And you kicked it." Mike said, his tone annoyed at this point. Finally Blaine's face dropped as he recognized the specific event.

"Oh, right. No TV in there," Blaine murmured. "What about there?" He gestured to another room and Mike once again shook his head.

"Nope, parent's room. TV is off limits." Mike thought it was a dumb rule, but he figured he would understand when he was married someday. He then sighed and drop the controller on the couch, anticipating the next suggestion. "Fine, you can watch TV in my room or something. Follow me."

He stood and walked past her, not giving his eyes a chance to wander and she followed behind him to a door that had a street sign on it. One stolen by his older cousin who found it and had to get t because it clearly read "Michael" on the green background. Rachel couldn't seem to hold her words in.

"You didn't steal this did you?" She said with a shocked tone and it elicited a laugh from the guy two years her senior.

"No, I'm not exactly a rebel." He replied with a grin and opened the door to show his room with one dark blue wall contrasting with the others. The desk was cluttered with pictures and envelopes from the local Walgreens. A Nikon sat with the prints and there were various pictures of things, not necessarily people, posted on the wall. Mike walked in and Rachel hesitated in the doorway for just a moment. He began picking up a few pieces of paper, as well as his clothes that were scattered on the floor and tossed them in their correct places. Rachel wandered her way in as he hurried around the room and she was attracted to the desk.

"These your pictures?" Rachel asked quietly and without giving a glance, only a pause to consider his answer, he replied.

"Yeah, all of them," he replied flatly the activity of photography a back burner hobby to his dancing, though he probably enjoyed them equally. He looked up to see her rifling through the pictures on the desk. It was odd, he noticed the ones she had picked up and he walked over to her, taking them from her hand.

"If you're going to be in here, don't mess with my stuff." He looked at the picture on the top of the stack. It was a timing experiment he'd while dancing and the motive was to get a clear photo of him turning, no shirt due to the excessive amount of time he'd been dancing, and just workout pants on. He remembered that day. His parents had told him he was wasting his time on trivial things, dancing and photography specifically. He had set to prove them wrong and though the picture meant something to him, and was an accomplishment due to the lack of blur and the angle at which his turn had been caught, he hardly believe they would change his parent's minds.

"That you?" She questioned, looking over at the picture still, not realizing he'd been examining the picture for so long.

"No, he said bitterly, and pushed the pictures back into their sleeve. "It's my evil twin, Bike," to which Rachel rolled her eyes. She crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed with hardly a sound.

"No need to get defensive. I was just wondering because they're good." She shrugged and he felt a bit of ride at her words. Some outside opinion always helped, be it from his friend's little sister who currently sat on his bed or the photography teacher after school.

Wait. Back that up. His friend's sister. Was on his bed. That wasn't weird, right? He looked over at Rachel, legs crossed and palms pressing back on the mattress behind her. That skirt was shorter than Mike had realized. A part of him wondered if her hair was soft, or if she smelled good, or…what. No.

Maybe he shouldn't have backed up. He swallowed thickly and then began to back out of the room.

"Um. Thanks. Remote's on the bedside table." He said a little hurried and then closed the door behind him.

Toad. Toad. Toad.

He chanted to himself to get his mind back on the game. The game. That's what was happening today. Video games.

"Hey, man, you okay?" He heard Blaine's voice and that's what snapped him out of his odd daze.

"What?" He said and blinked himself back into the space. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just kind of hungry. You want something?"

"Nah, I'm fine. You might want to get some dust while you're in there." Blaine said, trying to hold back the smile that showed his intentions. Mike sighed, waiting for the punch line.

"And why is that, Blainers?" Mike said with a smirked, but Blaine, not noticing for the moment, happily replied.

"So you can eat it!" He declared and then broke into a fit of laughter before catching Mike's off handed insult. "Hey, wait! It's only okay when Rach says that!" He said and then crossed his arms, falling back on the couch with a frown.

"You really need to work on your trash talk, man."