AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thanks to gigundoly for being the best person to bounce ideas off of! Please leave a review if you like what you read! :)

Chapter 39: Tina in the Sky with Diamonds

SEBASTIAN

As soon as Principal Sylvester announced that all of McKinley's proms were going to be fused together into one giant "Brundleprom" this year, you would have thought that the apocalypse was near.

Academics and extracurriculars alike were put on the backburner as the sole focus of the students' attention went towards finding dates, picking out their suits and dresses for the occasion, as well as campaigning for prom royalty. Somewhere along the line, they had even deviated from rehearsing their new setlist for Nationals in order to satisfy Mr. Schue's need to scratch the itch on a two-week-long tribute to the Beatles.

When Principal Sylvester announced who the prom court would be, it wasn't a surprise to Sebastian when he wasn't nominated. That was to be expected, as it came with the territory of being the new kid going into senior year. However, he knew that this would be the moment that would crush ninety-nine percent of the student body's misguided views on their own popularity. The Glee Club had secured several spots on the court, though, with Kitty and Tina being nominated for Queen, and Blaine and Artie earning their own nominations for King.

"Atta boy, Art!" Sebastian had cheered, proudly patting Artie on the back as the rest of the New Directions whooped and hollered. Artie's expression was a mixture of surprise, excitement, and a hint of embarrassment, too.

Judging by the look on Artie's face when Principal Sylvester said his name, he wouldn't have expected himself to be nominated for Prom King in a million years, which made the announcement that much sweeter.

Both Blaine and Kitty hadn't been fazed by hearing their names called. As some of the most popular kids in school, it was practically obvious that they'd be two of the candidates.

Tina, however, firmly believed that this was "her chance to be bigger than Jesus". She enlisted the help of her freshman assistant, Dottie Kazatori, to keep track of the campaign polls, manage the production and oversight of her promotional posters and buttons, and even remind everyone that if they don't cast their vote for Tina, then they are racist. Was it a little overboard? Certainly, but this is Tina Cohen-Chang, after all.

"Well, you can count on my vote," Kitty had said, throwing her support behind Tina instead of campaigning for herself. "Besides, I'm only a sophomore. I've got more shots at Prom Queen. It's Tina's time."

Sebastian was impressed by the younger girl's selfless act. The old Kitty that he met at the beginning of the school year probably would have demolished anything in her path in order to win the crown. It was hard for Sebastian not to attribute the girl's change in morals to Artie's influence on her. After all, he had some firsthand experience, when it came to the effect that Artie's presence had on people.

Everything was going just swimmingly until a severely under-caffeinated Tina (she had tasked Dottie with keeping her away from coffee until after prom, claiming that she "couldn't afford to look like a sad, anemic dishrag") came across the school's main hallway plastered floor to ceiling with posters telling students to vote for Kitty for Prom Queen.

"This is unbelievable!" Tina reproved Kitty when she came across the younger girl staring at the posters with her arms crossed.

"Unbelievable!" Dottie echoed.

"Tina, I didn't put these up!" Kitty insisted, ripping down one of the posters and examining it closer. Sebastian sauntered over to glance at it over her shoulder. It looked like a poorly executed photoshop job to him.

"Oh, please. I should have known that when you weirdly said you'd support me it was just some classic backstabby, gaslighty Kitty mind game."

"Hey, uh, what's with these posters?" Sam asked as a couple of the other Glee guys joined the girls in crowding the hallway, staring at the posters. "I thought you were supporting Tina."

"And why is your head photoshopped onto Olivia Munn's body from February 2011?" Artie asked, causing the others to stare down at him, mystified. "What? I read Maxim," he shrugged.

Kitty's history of habitual lying had made it that even her closest friends believed that she was the one responsible for these posters, even though she had pledged to support Tina. She had been telling the truth, though; It wasn't her that had made those posters and hung them up. It was McKenna, the evil Cheerios captain who had said those hurtful things about Artie to Kitty after the Sadie Hawkins dance that Ella had overheard. She was upset, once again, that Kitty was choosing to put her friends from Glee Club before her own popularity. If Kitty wasn't planning on campaigning for herself, then the Cheerios were just going to have to do it for her

Thankfully, all of the issues between Kitty and Tina had been put to rest prior to when the others arrived at Sebastian and Artie's house on Friday to take photos before the dance.

"You boys all look so handsome," Nancy Abrams said as she snapped photos of the couples in the backyard in front of the pool with her DSLR camera. "But the girls are the ones stealing the show. You both look absolutely beautiful!"

"Thanks, Mrs. A," Tina replied, fluffing the skirt of her dress as she took a seat in Watson's lap. His crisp grey suit practically disappeared beneath her layers of grey and black tulle.

Kitty's hot pink, rhinestone dress was a showstopper as well, and Artie had selected some sort of ruffled dress shirt (that Sebastian had insisted looked like something a colonial man would wear) and a floppy black and yellow bowtie that did not match Kitty's look whatsoever. If she minded this, though, she didn't show it.

Sebastian and Spencer had opted to go for a more traditional look: classic, but tight-fitting, black and white tuxedos with matching boutonnières made out of white roses. Spencer had dressed his look down with Air Jordan sneakers, as Sebastian went with a pair of expensive Gucci loafers.

They had become somewhat of an exclusive friend group: the three couples consisting of the two boys in the wheelchairs, the gay baseball players, the drama queen who desperately wanted to be popular, and the much-younger cheerleader who all of the popularity came easily to. It was sort of a motley crew of individuals, but they got along famously. Never in a million years did anyone expect the three couples to become as close as they had, but everything just came naturally to them, as if they were six oddly-shaped pieces of the same friendship puzzle. They were like The Breakfast Club, sans the cool name.

After Artie had insisted that his mother had taken more than enough pictures of them all, the six of them piled into Artie and Watson's cars (to score prime parking spots once they arrived at the venue, duh!) and headed off to get their pre-dance meal.

"I'll be the first to admit that I judged you both for this," Sebastian said, looking between Kitty and Artie as he took a bite of his chicken sandwich. "But this actually kind of hits the spot."

After Artie had taken Kitty to Wendy's ahead of the Sadie Hawkins dance back in January, they had inexplicably started a tradition. Nobody could say that they were upset by their five-dollar combo meals, and they found themselves enjoying the questioning stares they received from strangers in the fast food restaurant's dining area.

"It's a lot less crowded than Breadstix would be on a night like tonight," Spencer acknowledged, remembering how the busy Italian chain restaurant had made him and Sebastian late for the dance last time.

"And cheaper, too!" Artie added with his mouth full, accidentally smudging ketchup on his cheek and eliciting a giggle from his girlfriend, who wiped away the excess condiment with a paper napkin.

They weren't late, but the school's gymnasium was already packed with people when they got there. Some of the Glee Club's underclassmen- who weren't old enough to be attending the dance for themselves- were performing "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" on stage in outrageous costumes inspired by the outfits that the Beatles wore. For how much crap the Glee Club took from the other students on a daily basis- whether it was getting pelted in the face with slushies or getting called losers every day- Sebastian found it weird that nobody ever seemed to have a problem with them when it was time for them to perform as the entertainment at any given school function. Their audience always seemed to cheer and enjoy themselves, and once or twice, they'd even caused some sort of passionate riot.

Sebastian couldn't help but be amazed at the revamped environment that the McKinley High School Brundleprom had created in their typical school gymnasium. There were eye-catching decorations, strobe lights, a buffet table with refreshments, a photo booth, a full dance floor, and a stage for the New Directions and jazz band to perform on.

The whole function was drastically different from the proms that he was used to attending back at Dalton Academy, where the dress code was strictly black tie and the vibes were much more mellow. Watson seemed to be thinking the same thing, as Sebastian caught him glancing around with wide eyes, marveling at his surroundings.

As Kitty, Artie, Tina, and Watson immediately hit the dance floor, Sebastian and Spencer headed to the photo booth. They took a few silly pictures before taking some serious-but-sweet ones to bring home to their parents and remember the night by.

"Keep it moving, Mr. Smythe," Principal Sylvester said, narrowing her eyes in Sebastian's direction as she guarded the punchbowl like it was a trophy from one of her five consecutive cheerleading national championship wins. "Your step-brother tried messing with my punch once before, and I won't let you pull any funny business either."

Now that she mentioned it, Sebastian vaguely remembered a story that Artie had once told him involving Sue, a flask of lemonade, Noah Puckerman, and some terrifying dental tools…

"Come on, I want to dance now!" Spencer said, grabbing a cookie before taking Sebastian by the hand and dragging him away from Sue and over to where their friends were gathered, towards the back of the dance floor where there was more space for Watson and Artie to freely move around and show off their wheelies.

As he goofily danced with his boyfriend, Sebastian remembered the last school dance that they went to together. Sadie Hawkins had only been five months earlier, but he felt like he'd changed so much as a person since then. He remembered being scared to dance with Spencer and kiss him in front of their classmates, for fear that they'd be ridiculed or judged. Now, he couldn't believe that he'd ever felt that way. Prom was about having fun while dancing with your friends. Didn't the school's gay students deserve to have fun at this event too, without having to worry about the opinions of others? Now that he could realize that, nothing was more important to him than having a night to remember with his guy.

"Congratulations, New Directions, on accomplishing the impossible: you've made me hate the Beatles," Sue Sylvester's voice boomed into the microphone as she stood onstage, Becky Jackson having taken over her post at the punch bowl. "It is now time to crown the prom royalty. Your nominations for Prom King are Stoner Brett, Blaine Anderson, Artie Abrams, and that radical cleric kid."

"Yeah, Artie!" Sebastian cheered as Sam, Blaine, Jake, and Ryder were kind enough to lift his chair up onto the stage. From the back of the gymnasium, Seb could see Artie's face turn red with embarrassment. Now, hopefully, he'd just win the damn title to give everybody something different to stare at him for, for once.

"And now your nominees for Prom Queen: Neck Brace Cheerio, Asian Number One, Kitty I-Forget-Your-Last-Name, and… some other chick."

The girls joined the guys on stage as Principal Sylvester forcefully ripped open the envelope containing the tabulated results.

"And now here's the moment you've all been waiting for because your lives are so devoid of meaning that something like this seems very important." Sue's eyebrows furrowed together as she read the results silently before announcing them. "This can't be right. Okay, what the hell do I care, huh? Your Prom King and Prom Queen are… Stoner Brett and Tina Cohen-Chang!"

The smile that lit up Tina's face was so pure and bright, that it was hard for Sebastian to fixate his emotions on the disappointment he was feeling because of Artie's loss. She was handed a bouquet of white roses and the joy that was plastered on her face as the crown was placed on her head was infectious. It truly was a coronation fit for a queen.

For a moment, anyways.

As Tina was basking in her glory and waving at her new constituents, out of nowhere, what appeared to be a bucket of ice chips and cherry slushie syrup was dropped on her head.

…

ARTIE

When Tina ran off the stage and out of the gymnasium, it was easy for her friends to follow the trail of red dye #40 leading from the gym doors all the way to the choir room. It looked like a murder had been committed and that the perpetrator had dragged his victim through the school hallways.

"They full-on Carrie'd her!" Watson yelled in frustration for his girlfriend as the friends raced down the hall.

"She never wins anything!" Blaine said, the sound of disappointment evident in his voice. "Now, she finally does, and this is how she's treated. It's not fair!"

"Whoever did this… I'm gonna kill them!" Sebastian grumbled.

For two people whose friendship had begun somewhat against their wills- really only because of their shared love for Artie- Sebastian and Tina had come a long way. It was apparent that Sebastian now saw Tina as a second sister to him. A very annoying, very controlling sister, who, despite their differences, at the end of the day, he loved very much. Artie recognized Sebastian's rage following the events of what had happened in the gym as his way of expressing his loyalty to the people that he cared about.

"Hey, wait, shouldn't we bring her, I don't know, towels or something?" Artie asked the group, pulling back on his wheels and stopping outside of the boys' locker room.

Sam nodded. "Good thinking, Artie," he said before running inside. He retrieved two large stacks of the red terry cloth towels and set them on Artie and Watson's laps.

When they reached the choir room a few minutes later, they found Tina sitting in one of the chairs in the first row of the risers, her head in her hands and her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.

"We need to get you out of those wet clothes and into something dry," Marley said, always the first to offer some comforting words to whichever New Directions member was having a rough time on that particular day.

"Just leave me like this!" Tina cried. "I just thought that for one lousy night of my life I could be that girl. But who am I kidding? I'm not that girl, and I will never be that girl!"

She stood up and pushed past her friends, making a beeline for the door.

"Tina, where are you going?" Sebastian asked, concern present in his voice.

"I'm going home, Sebastian!" She yelled between sobs. Artie couldn't remember a time where Tina had ever been this upset or embarrassed. She was always so self-assured and incredibly confident to boot. Seeing her in this state hurt his heart.

"Okay, Tina, stop!" Artie shouted. He raised his voice a little higher than he intended to, but it got her attention all the same. "You have two choices, and whichever one you pick, we will be supportive, but we can drive you home, or we can clean you up and you can go back out there and own that prom! This is your prom, Queen T!"

"I can't go back in there. I don't even have a dress to wear!"

Then, Kitty shrugged and did something that was most unexpected of her.

"You can have mine."

"Or mine!" Marley offered.

"Or mine," Sugar said, before adding: "Although, it would be a crime to break this look."

"Come on, Tina, we're all with you," Sebastian said, taking a few steps forward to place a comforting hand on her sticky shoulder. "You want to be that girl? Then go be that girl."

Tina's sobs had died down to sniffles as she appeared to be weighing her options. Watson wheeled forward a pace and took a towel off of the top of his stack and held it out to her, giving her a loving look. Even with syrup all over her, crying her eyes out, she was still beautiful. Everyone in the room could see that.

"Did you mean it when you said that I could wear your dress?" Tina asked Kitty skeptically, who just nodded in response. "But then what will you wear?"

"I have a bag in Artie's car," Kitty informed her. "I'd be happy to let you wear my dress, Tina. This is your night. You should get to enjoy it. All of it."

She looked down at Artie, giving him a soft smile, and he grinned up at her proudly. He didn't want to make any assumptions about what kind of events would follow their prom night, but he wanted to make sure that his bases were covered, just in case. He had found a pretty cheap rate at a local Holiday Inn and booked a room, prepared to cancel the reservation last minute if they didn't end up using it. Now, Artie was glad that he'd booked that hotel room and given Kitty the heads up, because it gave her a reason to pack a duffle bag with a change of clothes in it, allowing her to loan Tina her dress.

"Here, Tina, let's start getting you cleaned off," Marley, said in that maternal way, taking her by the hand and leading her behind a rack of dresses to give her some privacy from the boys. Sugar and Brittany followed close behind.

"C'mon, Kit," Artie nodded his head in the direction of the door, placing his hands on his wheels. "I'll come with you to get your bag."

As they began down the hallway, they could hear Blaine start playing the piano, bursting into song with "Hey Jude", probably looking to lighten the mood, while still staying on track with Mr. Schue's lesson for the week. When they got closer to the front of the building, they could hear the music blasting from the gym, all of the students having seemingly already forgotten about their queen.

"Thank you for doing this," Artie said as he unlocked his car and popped the trunk. "It's your prom too. Nobody expected you to give up your dress for her."

"Like I said when the Prom Queen nominations came out, I'm only a sophomore. I'll have other proms," Kitty shrugged. "Tina's final one shouldn't be ruined because of this. Plus… I kind of think it's my fault that this happened to her.

Artie stared at her quizzically. "What? Why would this be your fault?"

Kitty sighed.

"I saw that freshman, Dottie, in the wings before I exited the stage. She pulled a rope that was attached to the bucket. Before I realized what she was doing, it had already happened. It was her," Kitty confessed. "And there is no doubt in my mind that that bitch McKenna put her up to it because I wouldn't campaign for Prom Queen so that a Cheerio could win. McKenna knew that by humiliating Tina, she'd be hurting me, too. I don't know how she got Dottie to go along with it, but… yeah."

Artie twisted his mouth to the side as he processed this information. After a minute, he spoke up.

"It wasn't your fault," he concluded. "People like McKenna are always going to find happy people, or people who are confident in themselves, and find ways to tear them down. It happened two years ago too, when a group of horrible students got together and voted for Kurt to win Prom Queen. And as if it couldn't get worse, they voted for Karofsky- his huge, football-playing bully- for Prom King so that they'd have to dance together. All Kurt wanted to do was go to prom like any other kid, but he was humiliated." Artie shook his head. "So… It's not your fault that McKenna and Dottie did that to Tina. It's horrible, but it's not your fault. And, for what it's worth, I still think that it was incredibly selfless of you to give her your dress. I appreciate what you're doing, and I know Watson and T do, too."

"What are you doing with that?" Kitty asked, when she saw Artie reach in the trunk and set his own duffle bag on his lap.

He grinned up at her.

"If you're going to change into sweats, then I will too, in solidarity."

Kitty rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You're just jealous that I'll get to be comfortable for the rest of the night, while you have to stay in your suit. You just want an excuse to get out of that cummerbund."

"Does it matter why I want to change?" Artie asked before bursting out laughing, because she really did know him too well by now. "Fine. You caught me. But I'm still doing it. Because you're going to look ridiculous going back into the dance in a t-shirt, and I'm not willing to let you look strange alone."

On their way back towards the choir room, duffle bags in hand, they found an empty astronomy classroom to lock themselves inside of to change. The action was easier said than done for Artie, who was used to having a lot more space to change- especially out of something like a suit. As always, he adapted the best he could, and lucky for him, Kitty was more than willing to help him out. After changing into grey leggings and a pink v-neck t-shirt (Kitty) and a pair of joggers with a University of Southern California hoodie (Artie), the couple returned to the choir room as soon as Marley, Brittany, and Sugar had finished fixing Tina's makeup and carefully wiping the cherry syrup off of her skin.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Sebastian asked when his eyes landed on Artie. "You can't go back out there in that!"

"Who says I can't?" Artie challenged, to which Sebastian had no response.

Kitty disappeared behind the rack of costumes give the girl her pink dress and help pin Tina's hair into a pretty, but simple, updo hairstyle that she learned how to do during her many years of community theatre.

When Tina reemerged a few minutes later, her bright smile had returned, and she was presented with a fresh bouquet of flowers, courtesy of Sebastian. She knelt down beside her boyfriend's chair as he placed her crown on her head, all rinsed off and free of any slushie residue.

When Tina made her triumphant return to the gymnasium, followed by her friends, students parted like the Red Sea, and everyone's jaws dropped. Nobody could believe that she had the guts to come back in- especially McKenna, who Artie spotted glaring in Tina's direction. Tina showed all of the people who had laughed when she was slushied just how resilient she is, and Artie was proud of his best friend.

The group had returned to the gymnasium just in time for the final slow dance, which was just what they needed to close out the night. Slow dancing with Artie was an intimate act, due to the fact that their bodies had to be so close. This may have deterred some girls in the past, but not Kitty. She always jumped at the chance to climb in Artie's lap, and he adored how she seemed to like the way that he kissed the top of her head as they "danced".

"Look at that, you ended up getting me out of my dress on prom night after all," Kitty joked as she leaned her head on his shoulder and tucked her feet next to his ankles, careful not to knock his feet off of the footrest. She played with the string on his hoodie as she listened to his heart beating rhythmically through his clothes. It made her feel safe.

"This was not exactly the circumstance that I had in mind," Artie replied, playing along with a giggle as he rocked the two of them back and forth. "I still think that it was brave of you to give Tina your dress," he told her. "You made her night. And, now, we get to be comfy. So, I guess it was somewhat of a win-win?"

Kitty glanced admiringly at her eternal optimist of a boyfriend, wondering what good she possibly could have done to deserve someone as kind, gentle, and loving as him.

Due to their close nature, she didn't have to lean in very far to kiss his lips, and when they broke apart, smiles appeared on both of their faces.

"Best Brundleprom ever," she said.

I am at a bit of a loss for what should come next in this story! If you have any ideas, regarding Nationals, graduation, or anything else, please feel free to leave a review or shoot me a PM! I always love to hear ideas from readers and I try my best to include them! I'm looking forward to hearing what ideas you might come up with! Or, if there's anything that you want to see more of, feel free to tell me!