A/N: Today is my day off which means … another chapter!

Just a reminder that I do italicize anything directly from the show; I just don't own it.

Chapter 19: Football

Mike's POV:

It was now the new year, and we have our first game back from Christmas break. We were up by 3 and we have a chance to win this game to bring us to the championships.

Finn did a huddle and tried to lift our spirits while getting into a verbal spar with Karofsky. I stayed silent, and let Finn and Puck do the talking as Karofsky kept talking smack to them. We broke the huddle to prepare for another round.

"Come on #22! You can do it!" I heard a familiar voice shout out my number and looked around until I spotted Tina in the stands cheering for me. I smiled and she sent me an air kiss.

We got into the next game, but immediately lost as the quarterback on the other side managed to grab the ball within 5 seconds. Ending the game, we went into the locker room with coach Beiste asking us what had happened.

"Karofsky sucks! That's what happened!" Finn shouted.

"That's crap! Hudson's a freaking girl and couldn't take a joke about his precious Glee club"

"Because I'm sick of you guys getting down on us for it! We're in Glee club; what's the big deal?!" Finn shouted even more at Karofsky.

"It's embarrassing! We're dudes! Getting hot and bothered singing a Kesha song, it's freaking weird" Aaron said (A/N: I don't think we ever really found out the blonde guy's name in Glee, so I just put a random one)

"Yeah, well, maybe you'll think it's cooler when I go all 'Tik Tok' on your face!" Puck challenged.

"Bring it, Puckerman!" Karofsky said, standing.

They got into a fight and I tried to pull apart some of the team to prevent more injuries from happening. Coach Beiste eventually dismissed all of us.

Stepping out of the locker room, I went to my locker to pick up my books before heading home.

I called Tina later in the evening to tell her what happened in the locker room.

"That's awful. I wish we weren't getting abused by the football team by being in a Glee club" Tina spoke to me.

"I know. Karofsky seems to be getting even moodier because he doesn't have Kurt to pick on anymore, so he's picking on Finn now"

"I almost got slushied today" Tina suddenly said to me.

I sat up and almost dropped my phone.

"Almost? What happened?"

"One of the guys was about to slush me and Mercedes until they saw coach Sylvester approaching us and they ran away"

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness that Sylvester was there then; we all know how she gets"

We talked for a little bit more on the phone until I heard Tina yawning.

"Bedtime?" I asked her.

"Yeah. I stayed up late last night doing my last bit of homework, and I barely stayed awake in class today" Tina said to me.

"Okay, go to sleep. I'll see you in the morning" I tell her.

"Okay. Love you babe"

"Love you too"

It was the next day. I picked up Tina from her house and we made our way to school.

"Oh, you are torturing me" Tina said.

"I am?"

"Yes! You know I love seeing you in your letterman jacket"

I smiled with pride.

"Maybe I planned it this way because I know you love it" I told her as I parked the car and got out.

"You are evil" she tells me as she takes my hand.

"But you love me"

"I do. But you're still evil" she said as she leaned up to give me a peck on the lips before we separated for class.

Tina's POV:

It was time for Glee practice. I met up with Mike at his locker so we could walk to Glee together. He was still wearing his letterman jacket, but I wasn't objecting because I love seeing him in it. We walked to our seats and placed our bags down as I tried to show him a dance move I saw online.

"… really fast!" I looked over his shoulder and grabbed his arm as I saw Artie wheel in, all slushied.

"Omg, Artie!" I said out loud and grabbed everyone's attention.

"It was awful" Artie told all of us.

"That's it! Screw rehearsal! This ends here and now!" Finn said with Puck, Mike and Sam following his lead as the rest of us checked on Artie.

"We're going to go all thunderdome on those guys!" Puck said.

Suddenly, we heard an unfamiliar voice.

"So, this is what the ladies lounge looks like on the inside"

"This is the choir room. Now put up your fists because you and I are going to do some dancing" Sam told him threateningly.

"No, I got this Sam"

"Coach Beiste told us to come; where is she?" Karofsky asked.

"Everyone have a seat" Coach Beiste told the football players.

"You too guys" Mr Shue said to Finn, Puck, Sam and Mike.

Mike sat next to me as we all wondered what was going on.

"Alright, New Directions, let's give a warm welcome to the newest members of Glee club!" Mr Shue said.

We all burst into anger as we yelled at Mr Shue for doing this.

"Mr Schue, are you serious?! These are the guys that made Kurt transfer!" Finn said as he stood up.

"And there's no way I'm sharing the choir room with a known homophobe" Rachel said, pointing at Karofsky.

"I don't disagree with you guys. But I talked to Coach Beiste about it, and she and I both agreed that the kind of bullying David does is born out of ignorance. Having him in here is difficult as it maybe for us, is an opportunity to show him and the rest of the guys that being in Glee club is kind of cool. Find some common ground" Mr Schue told us.

"All of you are going to be in this Glee club for one week, no exceptions" Coach Beiste said, directing it to her team.

"She's bluffing! Next week is the championship game! Without us, she has no team!" Karofsky said to the team.

"With you, I have no team! You guys have got to find a way to come together or we're going to get our asses kicked from here until Tuesday finds a saddleback full of buckwheat!" We all kind of sat in silence trying to make sense of Coach Beiste's last statement.

"If I have to stay, I'm not singing no showtunes. That is the music of my oppressors" one player said.

"Do you even have any idea what we do in here?" Finn asked them.

"No. None of them do. We have to show them. Rachel, Puck, haven't you guys been working on something? Why don't you give it a whirl?" Mr Schue asked.

"Fine. As offended as I am by their presence here, I won't let anything get in the way of a performance" Rachel told him.

We watched Rachel and Puck stand at the front of the classroom and started singing "Need You Now". Mike and I swayed back and forth to the beat of the song.

"The girl with the mohawk had a really nice voice" a teammate said.

Puck took the guitar off of him and made some comments under his breath before he started to try to attack the football team. Everyone got up to join in with Coach Beiste and Mr Schue trying to break up the fight.

They dismissed us for the day since we keep picking fights with the football team. Mike and I annoyingly picked up our bags and headed straight out the door.

Mike and I somehow ended up at his place, which was fine since we almost always come here anyway. We put our bags down by the couch and sat down, staring up at the ceiling. I noticed that there was space between Mike and I and he must've noticed it too as he opened up his arm. I quickly went into his embrace and placed my head on his chest.

"Today's brutal" I said quietly, breaking the silence.

"Practice will be even worse now, because the guys will just continue to diss the Glee club even more" Mike said.

"How bad was it before?" I asked Mike, turning my head to face him.

"They would never shut up about the four of us being in Glee. They'd taunt us, ask us if we've even written a song yet, or if Mr Schue has made us sing lullabies. It's ridiculous, Tee. I can't stand it"

I stood up and brought my hand out to Mike. He took it, and I led him to his room. I knew he needed to dance off his annoyance, so I pulled out my phone, turned on a song and watched him as his body automatically got in tune with the song. He started to smile and got me to join him with his dancing. Soon, we were both laughing with our goofy dances and ended it facing each other. I grabbed his jacket and pulled him towards me and started to make out with him.

He brought us down to his bed without breaking our lips. We were comfortable enough to just make out, and I knew Mike would never pressure me into doing anything I wasn't ready for. I pulled apart, needing to breathe, and Mike put a few kisses on my neck and cheek before laying down beside me.

"Thanks for doing that for me" Mike said to me.

I turned my head around to face him.

"Of course. I know you, and I love watching you dance"

We laid on his bed for another half hour before I had to go home. I told my parents I would be home for dinner, and I hadn't seen much of them all week due to them working a lot longer. I got up, went downstairs with Mike to grab my bag as he waited by the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning at your door" Mike said to me.

I nodded with a smile and leaned up to give him a kiss.

"Call me later?" I asked him.

"Of course. Text me when you're home safe"

"Will do. I love you"

"I love you"

I left his house and walked home.

Mike's POV:

The next day at Glee, we find out from Coach Beiste and Mr Schue that Coach Sylvester managed to pull some strings and the Cheerios Regionals onto the same night as our championship game. Mr Schue then revealed his idea of having us do our own halftime show.

"No freaking way!" Karofsky said.

"We don't have a choice. Sue pulled the Cheerios from the game, so if we don't do it, there's no halftime show"

"And this is a problem because?" Lauren asked.

"It's not a problem, it's an opportunity"

"Opportunity to humiliate ourselves"

"Hey, the whole point of this week was to bring you guys together. To bring the school together" Coach Beiste said to Aaron.

"So, you want us to play the first half, change into some sequined ballgowns, and then go out and do the half-time show at our own championship game?" another teammate that I never remembered the name asked.

"Yes"

"It's the championship game! This is a crazy town!"

"What about the Cheerios in Glee club?" Finn asked.

"They have a choice. Us, or the Cheerios competition"

"Well, obviously Quinn is going to choose the Cheerios" Rachel said as if she knew.

"That's not fair, you don't know what she's going to do" Finn said without looking at Rachel or anyone else.

"I think the cheerleading competition is going to be a lot of fun. But if you go, you're going to miss out on us doing the iconic song of all-time. The Super Bowl of pop anthems – Thriller"

I cheered with Sam and Puck as I heard Tina go "YES!" I turn towards her and gave her a wink as she smiled back.

Mr Schue also announced that we were going to do a mash-up of "Thriller" and "Heads Will Roll" for the half-time show.

Mr Schue and Coach Beiste brought us into the auditorium for "zombie camp". I had put some realistic zombie moves and pretended I was a dancing dead zombie. After trying to dance like a zombie for half an hour, we went back to the choir room to try to put on "zombie makeup". I went towards Tina to walk back with her.

"Do you want to help me with my zombie makeup?" I asked her.

"I don't even know how to do it. How about I practice on myself first, and then I'll do it on you?" Tina asked me.

I nodded.

"Hey Chang, be my zombie makeup dummy" Santana said to me.

I looked at Tina and she nodded in approval. I sat in front of Santana as she proceeded to apply the makeup onto me.

"Okay all done. Look in the mirror" Santana told me. I turned around and scared myself. It looked good.

"Thanks Santana, I can hardly recognize myself"

"You're welcome. Show Tina" she told me as she walked away.

I got up and went towards Tina and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Oh my gosh! You look so scary. I mean, props to Santana but this scared me" Tina said to me.

I smile and did a fake zombie sound as she got up and ran around the choir room, laughing as I purposely went slow to chase her down. I laughed and grabbed her by the waist as I gave her a kiss on the forehead.

Mr Schue brought us into the auditorium as the football guys prepared to go on stage to try to sing and dance. We managed to do it successfully.

Karofsky ends up getting slushied by the guys on the hockey team and threatens to quit both the Glee club and the football team. Coach Beiste, being fearless as she is, threatens to throw the championship game if Karofsky and the rest of the guys end up quitting. They end up quitting anyway.

I pull out my phone and texted Tina. (A/N: Mike in normal text, Tina underlined)

"Bad news. Karofsky and the rest of the guys quit the team"

"Which team?"

"Both. Glee and football"

"So, does that mean you guys are completely short on players?"

"Yeah. This week sucks"

"I'm sorry babe. I wish your team weren't full of babies. No offense"

"It's okay, I agree"

"Wait I have an idea. You'll find out at Glee"

I looked at my phone in confusion but shrugged it off as I try to take off the rest of my makeup.

Tina's POV:

I was in the hallway trying to find the rest of the Glee girls when I saw Rachel at her locker with Mercedes.

"Guys! I have an idea. What if we joined the football team?" I asked the two of them.

"Do you and Blaine have the same brain or something? He just gave us that idea earlier at Breadstix too" Rachel said.

"Really? So, should we do it?" I asked them again.

Mercedes and Rachel looked at each other before they smiled and nodded.

"Let's do it!" Mercedes said. We cheered before the bell rang and we went into Glee.

The guys seemed distraught as we walked into the classroom. I sat beside Mike, patting his leg as he looked at me sadly.

"Why can't we just let them back on the team just for this game?" Sam asked.

"No. We carry this thing through. Even if it means having to forfeit the game" Coach Beiste tells us.

"I can't believe this is it" Finn said.

I looked at Mercedes and Rachel as they both smiled at each other.

"Maybe it isn't" Rachel said as she stood up and spun to face us.

"We want to join the team"

I saw Finn place his face in his hand as Artie looked at Rachel questionably.

"We who?"

"All of us Glee girls" Mercedes said proudly as she and I both stood up to join Rachel.

"We want to join the football team and we want to play the championship"

"Come on guys, stop screwing around. It's not cool" Mike said to us. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he dodges my stare.

"What's not cool is you guys not respecting women enough to realize that we're perfectly capable of playing football. And don't forget who the state champ in Greco-Roman wrestling is" Lauren said as she joined us at the piano. "I've got offers from three different professional wrestling organizations for after I graduate"

"Rachel, have you actually seen a tackle football game? When they tackle you, it hurts" Mr Schue pointed out.

"Yeah, and not in the good, Mellencamp way." Puck said.

"We thought about that, but the truth is, is that you guys don't really need us to play. You just need enough players out there to field a regulation team. So, when they snap the ball, we're just going to lie down on the ground." Rachel said matter-of-factedly.

"I guess they won't get hurt if you stay down." Coach Beiste said.

"What do your parents say about this?"

"We all have signed permission slips from them" I said as I handed it to Mr Schue and Coach Beiste. "It took some convincing, but they all understood what it means for all of us" I looked at Mike as I said that, hoping he'd understand.

Coach Beiste welcomed us to the football team, and we all cheered. Mike came to high five me even though he still looked a bit worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked him as we prepared for the game.

"I'm just worried that you will get hurt, Tee. It's not a friendly game" Mike told me.

I dropped my things and grabbed both of his hands.

"Listen to me, what Rachel said is exactly what we're going to be doing. I won't get hurt; you guys will get to play. It's a win-win" I tell him.

He nods at the comfort of my words as he pulls me into his embrace and hugs me tight. We headed out into the field to start the game.

Mike's POV:

We were down by 17 points.

"Alright, how's everybody doing?"

"Kill me now, I wanna die" Mercedes said tiringly.

"Is anyone else tired of lying down all the time? I want to play" I heard Tina say.

"Just, don't get ahead of yourself, okay?" Finn told us.

We broke into another game. I saw Tina get up from the ground to get the ball that was left on the ground. She tried running for the goal before she got tackled by the opposing team. Worried, I ran straight to her.

"Tina!" I said worriedly as I took off my helmet.

Our first aid helper turned her around to see her face.

"Is she breathing?" I asked worriedly.

He tried flashing a lot in her eyes before she moved and took out her mouth guard.

"Did we win?" she asked.

I smiled in relief as I helped her up and hugged her.

"You're crazy for going for that"

"I know. But I wanted to try to do something. I didn't think I'd get that far"

"Well, I applaud you for your effort. But don't do it again, okay?" I tell her as she nods and I give her a kiss on the forehead.

We changed into our halftime clothes. As Tina and I were putting on our makeup, we see Quinn, Brittany and Santana walking in with Finn right behind them. We both got up and hugged all three of them, cheering with happiness.

After 20 minutes, we headed out onto the field and performed our halftime show, with the crowd cheering us on.

We ran into the locker room cheering. In the middle of our cheering, Beiste came up to us.

"Hey! What are you guys doing in here?"

"Oh, we're going to take our zombie makeup off. It's kind of itchy" Finn told her.

"No. Leave it on. Maybe we'll freak out the other guys for a little bit and we'll need all the help we can get right now" Beiste said. Everyone looked at each other with approval.

"So, get out there!"

"All of us?"

"Yeah. All of us"

We cheered again and ran back out.

We intimidated our opponents with some zombie sounds, hoping that it'll give us the boost of confidence that we need to win this championship.

"It was a good run. We almost had it" Sam said.

"Hey, this game isn't over"

"There's like, ten seconds left—it's over"

Finn looked around trying to figure out something until he had an idea.

"Not if the quarterback fumbles the snap. Here's what we're going to do"

After hearing Finn's idea, we got right to it. Us, alongside everyone else chanting "brains", intimidated the other team long enough to manage to sneak in our last win.

Tina ran up to me as I caught her mid-jump.

"You win, you win!"

"We win! Wouldn't have done this without you girls!"

I let Tina down on her feet before I leaned down to kiss her.

"Let's go celebrate with everyone" she tells me as we break off our kiss.

I nod and we join the rest of the Glee club to celebrate our championship win.