"Did you let me win?" asks Tina curiously as she studies her pile of arcade tickets.
Artie shakes his head. "Nope. It was all you, Tee. Girl is fierce. Now go spend those tickets on an awesome birthday prize." He adds his smaller pile to the stack already in her hand. "You'll be able to get something wicked with that stack."
Tina considers this carefully. "Well, all right. As long as you're okay with me taking your tickets."
"I saw you eying that teddy bear on the wall," says Artie with a smirk. "The one with the leather jacket. It's totally you, Tina. You should definitely get it. You can make it a Goth punk bear."
Tina chuckles. "Well, if you say so Artie." She bends down to kiss him lightly on the mouth before dashing off to the counter to exchange the tickets for her prize.
"Ready for pizza and ice cream cake with the rest of the glee kids?" asks Tina when she returns, the bear clenched firmly in under her right arm. "He's going to sit on my desk and watch me work."
"Totally ready for cake. If I can steal a piece from you," says Artie dryly as he wheels himself out to her car. "Don't even argue, Tee. You are a total cake fiend. And ice cream? So an ice cream cake? All us lesser people will be lucky to get a nibble."
"Yeah. I'll share." Tina climbs into the driver's seat after helping Artie get settled and takes off in the general direction of home. "Promise. Thanks for this afternoon. It was a lot of fun, babe."
"Just wait until you see what I have up my sleeve for this weekend," he replies, leaning back in the front seat of her car.
"If your notes are any indication, I have a great deal to be worried about," replies Tina.
"Hey!" Artie tries to look properly indignant, but ultimately, he fails miserably.
Tina giggles. "Whatever you do, I'm sure I'll love it. Thanks, love, for doing anything. I would have been totally fine with the sketchbook or the arcade afternoon, really."
"I know that you would have been fine with just a card," says Artie softly as Tina passes by the high school. "But because you're fine with the simple things, well, it meant that I wanted to do something extra nice for your birthday and our anniversary this year." He blushes considerably.
Tina turns into their housing development a block later and glances at Artie, a smile etched brilliantly on her face. "Thanks, Artie. It really means a lot to me."
"I'm glad, Tee," he says. "Now, time for a dinner party?"
"You bet," says Tina, pulling into her driveway. "Gleeks, pizza, and cake."
"Radioactive pizza?" says Artie dryly.
"There will be regular pizza for those with less developed tastes," says Tina with a giggle as she helps Artie inside through the garage.
Artie snorts. "You mean those who aren't as you when it comes to food."
"And what is wrong with me?" asks Tina as she helps Artie onto the living room sofa. Tina's parents haven't even arrived home from work yet, much to her amusement.
"Absolutely nothing," says Artie dutifully. "I'm not silly enough to imply anything like that ever again."
Tina laughs and kisses his cheek. "Love you."
"Love you too," he replies, his expression softening as Tina lies down so her head is hin his lap. "What are you doing, Tee?"
"Cuddling," she says simply, her eyes sliding shut.
"It looks more like napping to me," he replies easily.
"Only to your untrained eyes," says Tina with a wink. "To the unobservant watcher, I am merely settling in for a cat nap."
"And what does it look like to those highly-trained individuals?" asks Artie dryly.
"It looks like I'm snuggling up to my very sexy boyfriend." She takes hold of one of his hands and rests it on top of her head.
"I like that idea better." Artie obliges, tangling his hands in her pink-streaked mane. "You haven't tried to figure out what we're doing on Saturday yet. I'm impressed, Tee."
"Don't be. I already asked Kurt and Mercedes if they knew what you were doing," replies Tina. "But I did like the notes that you gave me. They were really classy."
"Classy?" asks Artie. "I thought you said they were a grievous case of word vomit."
"Well, that too." Tina chuckles and things settle into a comfortable silence between the two of them for a few minutes. Eventually Artie shifts so that he's lying next to Tina on the sofa, and she snuggles up close, lying her head on his chest as his hand gets tangled up in her hair again.
Mrs. Cohen-Chang appears in the doorway twenty minutes later, one arm laden with party supplies, and the other carrying design samples. Christina glances at her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend and smiles softly when she realizes they've both nodded off. She tugs a blanket over them both, smiling at the pair they make, before making her way into the kitchen with the snacks.
The party itself is a success, much to Tina's surprise (and overall delight). All twelve of the Glee kids showed up, which Tina didn't ever think would happen. It was awkward for the first ten minutes or so, all of them huddled into their respective clique groups, but eventually Rachel turned on music that they'd practiced in Glee. Tensions were further eased when Mr. Cohen-Chang arrived with four extra large pizzas, and things settled into a familiar chaos, a bit like the choir room ten minutes before rehearsal.
Tina reached for a slice of the half decked out with pineapple, specifically as she requested, and much to her surprise (which really shouldn't surprise her), Brittany also seemed overly fond of the so-called "radioactive" pizza (Artie wouldn't ever let her live that down).
"You like pineapple too?" asks Tina, duly impressed.
"It reminds me of ducks," says Brittany absently, reaching for a second slice, but snapping her hand away after Santana gives her a Look.
"Okay." Tina isn't quite sure what to make of that, so she reaches for the second slice and snags a spot on the sofa next to Quinn. Most of the boys are over in the corner talking about video games or something like that. (Even though she knows enough to hold her own in a conversation like that, contrary to popular belief, she's not joined at the hip to her boyfriend, and will give him necessary space.)
"This is nice," says Tina softly as she reaches for a bag of Doritos. "Best birthday I've had in years."
"I'm glad," says Quinn, a little bit awkwardly, not sure what to make of her. Sure, they're both good friends with Mercedes, but it's not like they're friends with each other.
"Sorry, I still kinda suck at small talk." Tina shrugs helplessly, waving the opened bag of corn chips at her.
Quinn smiles, and she takes the offered chip. "It's all right. Different. Can Artie really play DDR with his hands?"
"Yeah. We play together sometimes," admits Tina. "He's better at Wii Sports, though. Although I kick his butt at bowling every time. Which is why he never wants to play it."
"You have a Wii?" asks Quinn, clearly surprised.
"Yeah." Tina shrugs. "Too weird?"
"Just a little unexpected," replies Quinn easily.
"Really?" Tina considers this for a few minutes. "Well. I do like the unexpected."
"If it makes you feel better, you're full of surprises sometimes, Tina." Quinn sips daintily at her diet soda. "But thanks for inviting me. This is a nice party."
"And it's about to get nicer," says Tina, giggling at the blonde. "Because Artie's dragging out the console games."
Both Quinn and Tina exchange a look of amusement and laugh softly. Tina thinks maybe Quinn Fabray isn't so bad after all.
The rest of Tina's birthday goes by without too much of a hitch. Puck schools all the guys and most of the girls at Mario Kart, but Rachel surprises everyone by being a downright prodigy at Wii Bowling. "I told you I was not completely inept at such group activities provided by various electronic gaming consoles," she'd said, her own downright Rachel-way of gloating. (Finn had sheepishly asked for a translation, then challenged her to Wii Tennis.)
"Cake!" shouts Tina eagerly, her face starry-eyed with happiness. She hadn't been lying when she'd told Quinn earlier that this was the nicest birthday she'd had in a long time.
"Cake," agrees Artie dryly, rolling up to his girlfriend with a bemused grin. "Sometimes I think you like cake more than you like me."
"Well," says Tina, looking as if she's seriously contemplating the idea, "cake is rather delicious and gooey and decadent. But you can sing to me, so no contest there."
Artie rolls his eyes and mutters something about being loved only for his singing voice. Tina chuckles.
"The rest of the stuff I can't say in front of all our friends," she whispers, leaning down close by his chair so only he can hear.
The two of them blush fairly vibrant shades of pink as Tina's mother strolls over with the promised mint chocolate chip ice cream cake, carefully decorated with blue and purple candles.
Artie grins deviously and gestures to the rest of the Glee kids. At the snap of his fingers, eleven voices (soon to be thirteen, once Tina's parents get in on the act) start serenading the birthday girl with a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday to You."
Tina's eyes are a tiny bit watery as she blows out the candles on her cake, but the tears soon disappear in a haze of laughter as Puck starts in with "you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too."
It's definitely been a good birthday for one Tina Cohen-Chang.