Winter sucks and it's even worse when it's Monday. Today is a gloomy overcast day, a far cry from the sunny slightly warmer weekend. The gray of the day and the dirty slush on the ground makes everything seem down and dreary as Mike and Santana make their way to school. All throughout the halls old Valentine's day decorations are still up as no one bothered to take they down before the start of the weekend and it'll probably be a few more days before they're taken down. Mike can feel the hooks of the weekend still have him gripped tight and he's not mentally prepared for school today. He shuts his locker and hopes that Mr. Shue doesn't call on him to answer any questions today.

"Ugh, today sucks." Santana grumbles from beside him.

"Santana we just got here." Mike replies and Santana just rolls her eyes. He takes out a small bag with a couple of tablets for her painkillers and hands them to her.

"Look I just spent the past week watching everyone suck face while I was single during the most romantic holiday during the year. Now I'm here on this dreary ass Monday, still alone, watching people suck face. I'm hot shit, I shouldn't be having this problem." Santana rants

"It's not that bad."

"Says the guy who just got back with his boo. How are things with Tina anyways?"

Mike can't stop the dopey smile on his face, "Things are good. We got in some cuddle time over the weekend. Kurt's valentine thing really helped.'

"At least one of us is getting laid." Santana scoffs and Mike's eyes widen, a blush slowly creeping up his face.

"What? Did you really think I wouldn't figure out that 'cuddle time' is your way of saying sex? Honestly it's so wholesome it's sickening." Santana says while smirking.

"A-anyways, I'm gonna head to class." Mike tries to quickly change the subject to escape his embarrassment. Santana laughs loudly as Mike walks away heading to class. Rounding the corner Mike catches Rachel storming off from an upset Brittany.

"Hey, what's going on? What happened to Rachel?" Mike asks.

"She's upset that I put my leg warmers on my arms instead of my legs like she does, but my arms were cold." Brittany replies.

"I think they look nice. Why would she even get upset about that?"

"Rachel wants me to dress like her so she can make a comeback and become popular. I don't get it because she was never popular to begin with. I wouldn't even do this but she paid me." Brittany finishes with a sigh and a slight pout.

"It'll be okay Britt. I like how you dressed today and that hat is super cool." Mike says trying to cheer the girl up and Brittany smiles brightly, perking up a lot more than a few moments ago.

"Thanks Mike." Brittany bounds off with a skip in her step down the hallway and Mike laughs at her antics before continuing his way to class. Entering into the classroom Mike sees that instead there's a sub and while he's concerned that Mr. Shue isn't in today, he's even happier for the sub.

(….)

After his last class before lunch, Mike makes his way over to Tina's classroom to meet up and walk her to her class. On the way over he thinks about how things have been going for them. It's still early days and things are a bit awkward at times; like trying to fit into someone else's shoes and he wishes they could go back to their easy ways like before. It doesn't take long for Tina to file out of the class with rest of the students, nose deep in her phone, Mike pulls her over and surprises her with a kiss.

"How has your day been so far?" He asks.

"It's okay, boring mainly." Tina replies, barely giving him a glance as she's once again absorbed into her phone. It's been like this lately, ever since she downloaded some new game onto her phone, she's become obsessed. Mike tries to ignore it and they make their way to Tina's next class.

"Well I hope it gets better." The only response he gets is a noncommittal grunt while Tina continues to play her game. Once they're outside her classroom Mike kisses her on the cheek and is largely ignored as Tina continues with the game. He just sighs and heads to lunch.

Mike sits at his usual lunch table and begins eating while waiting on Sam and Santana to show up. He thinks back to the latest interaction with his girlfriend, he knows that getting back with Tina was gonna be a bit weird but not this bad, it's nothing like how they were over Valentine's weekend. Maybe this is what people mean when they talk about a 'Valentine's day lull'. Before Mike could muse any further both Santana and Sam make their way over in the middle of a conversation.

"I'm just saying, you can't leave things the way they are. Show her what a mistake cheating on you was." Santana says while placing down her tray.

"How exactly am I supposed to do that" Sam asks while doing the same and Mike is trying his best to gleam what they could be talking about and try to play catch up.

"Duh, make her jealous. Look as your friend I'm offering up my services to help you get revenge." Santana replies.

"Is that even a good idea? What will this accomplish?" Mike interrupts, finally getting the gist of what Santana is offering.

Santana turns to him, "It will let Quinn know that she royally screwed up and that she can't just treat my sweet trout like he's a chump. We're not gonna do much, just make her realize she gave up something good for that troll Finn."

"I actually like the sound of that." Sam says quietly before Mike could argue.

"See? He's not gonna take this lying down. Now, I say we jump on this while the betrayal is still hot, we don't want to let her think she really got to you." Santana says excitedly, ready to get down to business.

"But she did. She broke my heart." Sam starts.

"Quinn doesn't need to know that. You're hot shit even if you are a massive nerd and I can work with that."

Throughout that Sam has a look on his face as if he doesn't know whether to take her comment as a compliment or an insult. Mike can't believe what he's witnessing right now but as much as he wants to stop this, another part thinks that this will be good for Santana. If she's putting all her energy and effort into helping Sam then maybe she'll calm down on sleeping with every willing guy in her quest to be straight.

"I've got the perfect idea. You should sing to me in glee today." Santana says after swallowing a bit of food, bringing Mike out of his musings.

"Wait, is Mr. Shue here? He wasn't in spanish today." Mike interrupts.

"He came late. I saw him coming from Coach Sylvester's office." Sam replies.

"Anyways, do you have a song to sing?" Santana asks eager to get back to her plan. Part of Mike is starting to think that Santana is just a little to happy to mess with Quinn.

"Well, I have been working on a song to sing to Quinn before all this happened." Sam admits bashfully and Santana perks up instantly, excited at the chance to be sang to for once.

"Great! What song?"

"I was gonna sing 'Baby' by Justin Bieber." The entire table goes silent at the admission and Sam looks at the two of them in confusion.

"Excuse me what?" Santana asks, eyes squinted in extreme judgement.

"Justin Bieber. I mean he's super talented and is an amazing artist. Girls go crazy for him." Sam tries to defend

"Yeah, 12 year old girls." Mike replies deadpan. What type of girls has Sam being hanging around? How could this have gone so wrong so quickly?

"Look, whatever, I can make this work. You just do you're thing and I'll do the rest." Santana says before Sam could dig his hole even deeper. He smiles and they spend the rest of lunch solidifying the rest of the plan's details to make Quinn jealous.

(…)

Finishing up his last class before glee Mike decides to try again with Tina. Things honestly can't keep up like this, he shouldn't be loosing out to a mobile game. He quickly catches up Tina at her locker, she has finished putting her books away and is right back into her phone.

"Hey Tina." Mike greets with a kiss.

"Hey." Tina greets. Mike goes in to try and deepen the kiss and while Tina responds, he can tell that she's distracted and not really into it. Opening his eyes, Mike sees that Tina's eyes are open and focused behind him, looking over he sees her phone.

"Is that angry birds?"

"Yeah, I've been trying to finish this level for three days." She replies not even looking up. Mike is blown away, Angry birds? Freaking Angry Birds? That's what he's been losing out to? Some pixilated birds and pigs? Now, as a gamer he can understand the frustration of constantly getting your ass handed to you by a game and being so close to winning but come on. There's gotta be some way to get her attention.

"Want me to show you my abs?" Mike asks and tries not to feel a little desperate.

"If you want." Mike lifts up his shirt hoping that this last ditch effort will truly let him win out in the end and it's all for nothing as Tina doesn't even bother to look up at the show he's putting on. It's a bit insulting, he worked damn hard for these abs.

"Damn boy, that's super hot!" Santana yells out from across the hall, whistling for good measure and catching a few others' attention; all who show the proper appreciation to his abs. Tina snaps up immediately and pulls his shirt down. Santana winks at him as a jealous and possessive Tina drags him by the collar of his shirt into an empty classroom. Santana is such a great friend.

(…)

Mike makes his way to glee in a daze with a huge dopey smile on his face. Tina has never been that aggressive before and the way she kissed him….he really needs to find a way to thank Santana. Mike doesn't mind her doing that again or even more often, it was amazing. He leans over to Tina next to him and nuzzles her neck.

"We're already gonna be late if we continue on." Tina says with a slight smile, gently pushing him away.

"I don't mind being a little late to glee. We could go back to the classroom."

Tina rolls her eyes, "Down boy. If we do that it'll be super obvious why we were late."

Mike sighs and accepts his fate as they reach the choir room. Tina gives his abs one last rub and a coy smile as she walks away and takes a seat next to Puck. Mike is a little bummed but he gets it, he would be too tempted to get handsy if they sat next to each other right now. He walks over and takes a seat behind Santana.

Leaning over he says, "Have I ever told you how much of a great friend you are?"

"No, but I always love hearing how amazing I am." She replies and Mike can just hear the smirk in her voice. He chuckles but the smile is quickly wiped from his face when Mike looks up to see Mr. Shue and Coach Sylvester make their way into the choir room. He stops at the front while she continues up into the risers and takes a seat a few chairs away from Santana.

"Um, Mr. Shue what's happening?" Rachel asks frantically glancing back and forth between Mr. Shue and Coach Sylvester. The room has gone deathly quiet at the snake that has just joined their ranks. How could Mr. Shue ever think this could be a good idea?

"Coach Sylvester is going to be joining us for the next week." Mr. Shue answers calmly as if this woman hasn't tried to sabotage and ruin them every step of the way since they joined this club.

"This can't be happening." Tina squeaks out.

"This seems like a terrible idea." Artie says in agreement and people start to voice their discontent at the arrangement.

"Guys, it's not up for discussion, okay? Now, it's no secret that Coach Sylvester has take her licks-" Mr. Shue tries to explain placatingly.

"I mean just wanky." Santana interrupts, never one to miss an opportunity to point out when an adult has said something slightly dirty. Mike looks over to check up on her and he can see that even though she's try to hide it, Santana looks extremely uncomfortable; especially given the fact that she's sitting so close to her biggest tormentor.

Mr. Shue sighs at her antics and pointedly ignores the comment before continuing on, " And I believe she could use a little sympathy from us."

"Sympathy? From us? Nuh-uh." Mercedes says incredulously. Who did Mr. Shue think he was kidding, no one here believes for a second that Coach Sylvester has changed her ways.

"Yeah. All she's ever done is make our lives miserable." Quinn jumps in to back Mercedes up and others nod in agreement.

"She got exactly what she deserves." Santana adds on with the others and Sue immediately zeros in on her.

"You're lucky I left my blowgun at home airbags cuz I got a clear shot at your nonnies." Sue sneeers. Santana pulls back from her and Mike can see how unsettled she is. Santana then moves to subtly cover her chest with her arms and stares off in the opposite direction, her jaw slightly trembling. No one reacts or says anything and Mike is pissed that Mr. Shue doesn't even try to call her out on the comment that all of them clearly heard her make to a student. This is the exact reason why no one wants her here.

"Guys, Coach Sylvester has had her recent setbacks but she's a proven champion. Now we can do worse than to have that kind of winning record in our midst." Mr. Shue tries to defend as if she didn't just insult a student two seconds ago.

"Let me break it down for you. I am no threat to you people, all right?" Sue starts and Mike can barely hold back his scoff.

"I'm just hoping that your singing and dancing around will pull me out of my doldrums and give me a reason to live. Is that too much to ask?" Sue finishes and looks around at everyone. Too much to ask? Mike thinks it's extremely too much to ask for. Honestly Mr. Shue is way too nice for his own good.

"Guys it's settled. Sue's gonna be here with us for a week. Now, I received and envelope in the mail today. We know that we're facing the warblers at regionals. Mr. Shue says while holding up an envelope.

"Sweet porcelain." Sue murmurs wistfully.

"And it looks like we're facing Aural Intensity again this year." Mr. Shue finishes.

Mercedes groans, "They cleaned our clocks last year."

"Seems like the governing board assigned a theme to this year's regionals and part of our score will be based upon how well we interpret it. This year's theme, Anthem. Now, who can tell me what an anthem is?" Mr. Shue asks, looking up from the paper he was reading from. Rachel's hand shoots up immediately and Mike is too thrown by Sue's presence to pretend like everything is normal.

"The bottom of an ant's pants." Brittany blurts out before Mr. Shue has a chance to call on anyone. The answer is so off the wall and out of the blue, Mike barely manages to hold in his laughter.

Mr. Shue stares at her, "So close, so close. No, an anthem is an epic song filled with a groundswell of emotion that somehow seems bigger than itself, even bigger than the person performing it."

"Mr. Shue?" Sam cuts in raising his hand.

"Oh, hey Sam, I didn't even notice your new haircut." Mr. Shue says and Mike looks over trying not to roll his eyes; Sam has combed his hair to look like Bieber.

"Yeah, I've been working on a new image to go with my new one man band, 'The Justin Bieber Experience'." Sam replies and Mike can already feel secondhand embarrassment for his friend. They really were gonna do this. How is Bieber gonna make Quinn feel anything other than disgust?

"You've got to be kidding me?" Quinn says while raising and eyebrow. Mike slightly covers his face and cringes.

"Dude that haircut makes your mouth look even bigger." Puck jokes.

"Shush, let her speak." Sue says, joining in on the ribbing and people start to laugh.

"Laugh all you want but that kid's an epic talent and there's a number I've been working on that I've been wanting to show off. I think it qualifies as an anthem because it's just hugely emotional and sums up our generation." Sam finishes and even Mike can't contain the eye roll to that last part.

"Alright, let's hear it buddy." Mr. Shue says encouragingly and Mike can tell that even he is trying hard to not judge Sam for his music choice.

The music starts up and Mike has to give it to Sam; he owns the awkwardness of the whole thing. He puts his all into it and performs with a confidence that makes the song enjoyable even if it's something that would only really appeal to a bunch of tweens. Mike also enjoys the look on Quinn's face when it looks like Sam is gonna go to her but turns at the last second and starts to sing to Santana. If looks could kill the two of them would be vapor right now. Maybe, just maybe, this crazy plan of theirs has a chance of working out. Everyone is super into the performance, singing and dancing along, everyone except Quinn who just glares angrily. Even Mike finds himself being pulled along with the spirit of fun infecting the group and joins in as well. At the end of the song Santana runs over to Sam and gives him a big hug and whispers in his ear. Mike doesn't know what was said but he can take a good guess when Sam glances over to Quinn and smirks slightly, making a big show of returning Santana's hug.

(…)

The drive to Santana's house has been silent, a far cry from how excitable everyone was at the end of glee. Mike could tell that something was on Santana's mind but he didn't want to force her to talk about it if she didn't want to. It's not until he hears her sigh for the third time that he looks over.

"Everything alright?" Mike asks and Santana sighs again.

"No. I can't believe she's gonna be in glee with us. What the hell is Shuester thinking?" Santana snaps and he can see that she's shaking.

"Maybe things won't be that bad." Mike tries hopefully, maybe if he says it aloud he can convince the both of them.

"Are you kidding me!?"

"I just-"

"No! Did you not hear her today? I just know she's gonna keep up with the comments about my body!" Santana rants and she starting to shake more now. He goes to pull over so that he can give Santana his full attention.

"I was supposed to be free of her. That's what quitting cheerios was for, not having to hear her constantly rip into me for a surgery I didn't even fucking want!" Santana angrily wipes at the tears that have started to fall down her face. Mike stays quiet and lets her vent, he reaches over to try and grab her hand but Santana angrily pulls away.

"Glee was supposed to be my escape from her and now she's taken that as well." Santana has deflated at this point and gone straight to crying. He tries again to grab her hand in comfort and this time she doesn't fight him.

"Look, I got your back okay? If Mr. Shue won't do anything about it then I will." Mike doesn't know what he'd do if it really came down to taking on Coach Sylvester but looking at Santana now, he's gotta do something.

Santana's only response is to cry harder and Mike does his best to just try to be there for her and calm her down. He doesn't know how long they stay like this but eventually Santana calms enough for them to continue on to her house. It wasn't until he had gotten home and saw his parents settling down for dinner that Mike had checked the time; he'd been trying to calm down Santana for almost two hours.

(….)

The next day goes by mostly in a blur which Mike is super grateful for. He couldn't really sleep last night after having to calm Santana, he just kept thinking about glee and how horrible having Coach Sylvester there is going to be. More pressing is how he's going to stick up for Santana if it truly comes down to that. There's a reason why he didn't join the debate team, verbal sparing isn't his strength at all, and he's most definitely not in the same league as Coach Sylvester or even Santana herself. Speaking of, Santana did look a little better today when he did manage to see her and that brought him at least a little relief. Mike grabs his head and groans in frustration, he's already tired of thinking about this and he's no closer to a solution. He continues down the hall, quirking an eyebrow at the number of girls now walking around with leg warmers on their arms before being ambushed by Puck and Artie.

"Uh, hey guys, what's up?" Mike asks suspiciously.

"Look it's simple Chang, we're tryna get some action from our girls and since Sam's Bieber thing worked so well we thought we'd try to get in on that action." Puck answers in a matter of fact manner, getting straight to the point.

"Puck and I have noticed that you too were caught in the post Valentine's lull and wanted to see if you're up for joining the band as well." Artie clarifies when he sees Mike's confusion.

"Um.." Mike hesitates. He really doesn't want to do the Bieber thing, it's not his type of music, but he could see how this would help with Sam and Santana's plan. Plus maybe the corniness of it could pull Tina away from her phone for a few minutes; she did seem to really get into the performance yesterday as well.

"Come on Chang, with you're sweet moves we'll be unstoppable." Puck begs.

"Fine, I'm in." Mikes sighs and Puck pumps his fist in victory. What in the world did he just sign up for?

"Cool. I think he just got out of gym so let's catch him in the locker room." Puck says and stalks off in that direction. Artie just chuckles and Mike shakes his head in defeat as they follow behind him.

It doesn't take long for the boys to make their way to the boy's locker room and find Sam; he's already changed and in the process of washing his face. Mike is already having doubts and kind of wants to back out of this but it's probably too late now. They're already here, plus he really does want Tina's attention; his abs losing out to Angry birds is a crime against nature. Sam catches sight of them in the mirror and turns around.

"We want in." Puck states simply and Sam looks confused.

"The Justin Bieber Experience. We want in the band." Artie explains and Mike almost face palms; these two are the absolute worst at explaining anything.

"But it's a one man band." Sam says still confused.

"So expand." Mike responds, already over this entire conversation. This was a bad idea, stupid idea, horrible idea. Why did he even care this much? Making her jealous would've been less painful than this.

"I don't get it, you guys were totally making fun of me for singing Bieber." Sam says, completely pointing out the hypocrisy of this entire interaction.

"That's because we underestimated the power of the Biebs." Puck defends.

"He's clearly like a mini god." Mike says dryly and Sam looks at him with a raised eyebrow, clearly picking up on Mike's sarcasm. In turn Mike just glances at Puck and Artie before shrugging.

Artie, completely oblivious to the silent conversation happening above him, continues, "Look how he made all those chicks melt in glee club. Now think about the power of four Biebers."

"We'd be unstoppable." Puck throws in but Sam still looks unconvinced.

"All of our relationships are in the standard post Valentine's day lull." Mike sigh, throwing out Artie's words from earlier, and then he catches it; the smug little look in Sam's eyes before he hides it away. That snake! He's enjoying this and milking it for all it's worth.

"Here's what happens to the female chemistry, they get a huge shot of endorphins on Valentine's day and everything is heightened and oh so romantic. The problem is days later, when they come down from their seaz candy high, they crash and everything else by comparison is humdrum." Artie explains and Mike takes a second from his silent fuming to wonder how true that explanation is. Sam looks almost convinced before looking at looking at Mike expectantly.

"We need the sugary sweet jolt of the Biebs to get us some action again." Mike nearly chokes out. This is beyond painful. He can honestly feel a bit of his soul dying at the fact that he's even begging this hard to get into a Bieber band to begin with. Sam flashes him a brief look of pity before looking over to Puck.

"Why do you want in Puckerman?"

"I'm at the end of my Lauren Zizes rope. I'll try anything to get into those enormous panties." Puck admits without any shame.

"Uh, what's going on?" Finn asks, suddenly coming out of nowhere and they all turn to face him.

"We're joining the Justin Bieber Experience if Sam's cool with it." Artie replies. Mike internally groans, why did Finn have to show up? Isn't his shame at even agreeing to do this not enough? Finn had to witness it as well? Mike wants to crawl into a hole. This is karma for laughing at him yesterday, it has to be.

"And if not, then we're starting our own band." Puck throws out suddenly catching everyone off guard and Finn sneers at them smugly.

"Bieber Fever." Mike throws out before catching himself. Screw it, he already agreed to it and he might as well go all in. Plus he really didn't like the smug judgmental look on Finn's face right now. Plus how dare he even insert himself into the conversation to begin with? It had nothing to do with him.

"Wait, you guys do realize that Justin Bieber sucks right?" Finn asks, looking at them as if they've all just collectively lost their minds.

"Quinn seemed to be pretty into him when I was singing in glee club." Sam says nastily, moving to get into Finn's personal space and Mike starts to get worried that might turn into a fight.

"Right, well I'm gonna spend my time working on songs that aren't geared toward 12 year olds." Finn throws out nastily, raising to his full height so he can tower over Sam even more.

"Good, then you won't have time to pick up any other guy's girlfriend." Sam throws back just as nastily. Finn sneers and looks like he's going to say something else but Mike moves in to back Sam up. Noticing this, Finn backs off and scoffs before walking away.

"Whatever man." Is his finally parting shot before leaving the locker room completely. Mike lets out a sigh he didn't know he was holding, thankful the situation diffused itself.

"So? What do you say? Are we in?" Mike asks, hoping that Sam will just give in so this whole thing can be over with.

"Fine but we need to figure out something to do with Puckerman's hair." Sam relents with a smile and the boys all cheer.

"Alright, now that that's settled I was thinking we could perform the song 'Somebody to Love'." Artie starts, immediately getting down to business.

"Sure, it's a hit and I already know the words." Sam agrees and Mike has never been more grateful that he can't sing and won't need to learn the lyrics.

"Mike, you think you can come up with a simple choreography? I really wanna spring this on them tomorrow." Artie asks.

"That won't be hard if we hammer it in today." Mike says with a shrug; they've done more with less time before so this will be a cake walk.

"Cool, we'll practice after school." Everyone agrees and they all go their separate ways.

(…)

At lunch Mike is distractedly eating while working on the choreography needed for tomorrow. Across from him Santana has been quietly eating and spacing out a bit. Glancing over, Mike takes note of her demeanor; she's a bit more subdued now than she was earlier. Did something happen? He had heard kids in the hall on the way to the cafeteria talking about Coach Sylvester being on the warpath, targeting those she blames for her 'epic' loss at the National cheer competition. If that's true it would possibly mean something happened…. and is she wearing a different shirt? Mike can't remember what she was wearing this morning. He's just about to ask when Sam makes his way over,

"How's it coming along?"

"Basically done." Mike answers, putting the finishing touches down on paper.

"Oh? What's this?" Santana asks, coming back to the present and putting down her sandwich.

"We're doing another Bieber performance." Sam answers.

"We?" Santana asks as she looks over to Mike in amusement and he sighs.

"Puck and Artie talked me into it." Mike groans out before continuing, "Plus Tina won't even put down her phone long enough to look at me."

"Didn't seem to have that issue earlier."

"Seriously, thank you for that." Mike says honestly and Santana smiles smugly in response.

"Anyways, you guys doing another number tomorrow is great stuff. Quinn has been pissy all day today and I know it's because she's starting to realize she picked a troll. Don't know how she didn't see that before but whatever." Santana says, looking a lot more excited about glee than she has this week.

"Yeah and I think I know what I want now." Sam jumps in. Mike and Santana look at him questioningly.

"I wanna steal Quinn back from Finn. I want to wipe that smug look off his face and let him know that I won." Sam finishes confidently.

"Hell yeah, I'm totally down for that. Quinn and Finn won't know what hit them." Santana agrees and Mike just chuckles. They then spend the rest of lunch going over the performance and their plan to make Quinn jealous.

(.…)

Mike meets up with the guys in one of the dance classrooms after school. After explaining to Santana that she would need to get a ride home from Brittany today, she was more than happy to push him to practice and skip off after her crush.

"Hey did ya'll hear?" Sam asks as he walk through the door.

"Hear what?" Mike asks, setting down his stuff and beginning to stretch.

"It's not much. Just Mercedes and Rachel having another diva off." Artie says as he sets his stuff to the ground. Mike looks up in exasperation and shakes his head. He wonders what's got them all riled up this time but Mike can't help the sneaking suspicion that Coach Sylvester is behind this. He decides to put that on the back burner so that he can focus on practice.

"All right boys, the moves for this are gonna be real simple. We shouldn't have any issues with it." Mike starts once everyone is settled.

They get down to practice immediately and spend the next few hours perfecting everything as much as they can before heading home.

(…)

It's glee day today and Mike really can't wait to show off their performance. Artie has already informed Mr. Shue about them wanting to do a song and everything has been cleared. Mike heads to his locker after his last class for the day and sees Santana there waiting. The good thing about Santana getting the chance to spend time with Brittany is that she's been all smiles today.

"Wooow, Brittany time was that great huh?" Mike teases as he stuffs his books into his locker.

"Shut up you." Santana says but she can't quite manage to keep the smile off her face.

"So cute." Mike continues with a chuckle and Santana only rolls her eyes in response.

"Sweet Jesus Brittany what are you wearing?" Santana says suddenly, looking behind him. Mike turns to see a sad Brittany making her way over to them dressed like Rachel.

"Rachel made me dress like her so she can make her comeback." Brittany explains solemnly.

"Seriously? She has to have made it somewhere to make a comeback." Santana sasses before seeing Brittany's pout. "Oh Britt."

Santana opens her arms and Brittany wastes no time going in for a comforting hug.

"I look so stupid and everyone has been staring at me." Brittany whines. The sound of it breaks Mike's heart, can barely look at her, it's like looking at a kicked puppy.

"You don't look stupid Britt. Look, don't worry about it. I'll take care of everything okay?" Santana comforts, pulling back to look Brittany in the eyes.

"You really mean it?" Brittany perks up.

"Yeah, I'll even dress like this with you tomorrow so you won't be alone. Okay? No one will make fun of us." Santana replies and Brittany finally smiles at the thought of not being alone.

Mike finishes up at his locker and they all head to glee. His mood quickly lowers however when he sees Coach Sylvester sitting there; he had managed to forget for a brief moment that she was still in the club with them. Mike goes to grab an a seat and Santana sits next to Sam in the front row much to Quinn's irritation. He can see that Finn is trying to get Quinn's attention but she's too busy glaring at Santana to notice. It's not long before Mr. Shue starts to settle everyone down and get the meeting started.

"All right guys, we have two performances today. First up, The Justin Bieber Experience has added some new members and want to show you their take on an anthem. Then we have our two powerhouses, Rachel and Mercedes, ready to bring the house down. Okay boy, you're up first."

Mike and the others move up front and get into start position. He honestly has to try his hardest not to laugh at Puck and the wig he's wearing in an attempt to look more like Justin Bieber. Not like he can really talk himself considering he's even standing up here right now but the guy is taking this a little too seriously. On the plus side, Tina has perked up and is watching closely with interest. The music starts up and Mike pulls himself back into focus; in no time he loses himself to the performance and lets his body flow. Once they're done the girls are all cheering wildly and having a good time, even Quinn has managed to get into the performance this time around. Mike goes to take a seat next to Tina after Mr. Shue shoos them back to their seats.

"That was super hot." Tina leans over to whisper to him and Mike smirks before giving his attention up front as Rachel and Mercedes set up. Take that Angry Birds.

Rachel clears her throat before starting to speak, "After much argument I convinced Mercedes that in order to do a proper Diva off it has to come from the Broadway catalog, which I think is safe to say that gives me a home field advantage."

"Oh well you're about to get beat on your own turf." Mercedes taunts cutting off her rant and Mike is grateful.

Rachel just frowns and cues up the music. Mike has to admit that he's not familiar with the song or whatever play it comes from but he can't help but chuckle at the lyrics; it seems like this song is a lover's spat between two women. Mike wonders if Santana has picked up on this as well and how she's reacting. When he looks over, Mike happens to catch Santana raising her hand and giving lustful eyes at Rachel of all people. Mike blinks in shock but also tries not to laugh at how obvious she's being. When the song ends, everyone is laughing and in good spirits. Mercedes and Rachel laugh as well and hug out whatever issues they were having.

"Hey where's the hate?" Sue asks suddenly and it kills the vibe almost immediately. Mike narrows his eyes; this basically confirms that she was behind the diva off and was trying to sow discord in the group. This...this has to stop.

"Not the point of glee club Sue." Mr. Shue says tiredly before continuing the meeting. Is this really all he's gonna do? Not make her leave? Put his foot down on her behavior with the students? At least in his club room of all places. What is he trying to achieve here and why do they have to be the collateral damage of it?

When glee is over and people start gathering their things, Mike makes a decision; he's gonna talk to Coach Sylvester. Someone has to do it, cuz he saw that look again in Santana's face and he doesn't like it. It was quick but it was there and he doesn't like how quiet she been this week; it just doesn't sit right with him. She can't go back to that place. So he's gonna do something, he told Santana he would have her back and that's exactly what he's gonna do. Walking over, Mike places a hand on Coach Sylvester's shoulder before she could get up and leave. He sits down in the chair next to her while she stays seated, catching on to the fact that he wants to talk. The room has mostly cleared out and Santana is almost to the door before she realizes that he isn't following and turns around.

"Hey Mike, aren't you coming?" She asks and Mike can see, fully see how Coach Sylvester's snide comments in club today have cut deep and she's trying to hold it together.

"I'll catch up in a bit. I want to talk with Coach Sylvester." Mike replies and it makes the remaining students freeze and stare at him in horror.

"I'll be okay." He reassures and waits for everyone to finish clearing out before turning to Sue.

"I gotta admit twinkle toes, it takes guts to take on one Sue Sylvester." Sue smirks and the sheer smugness of her tone is enough to give him the courage to speak.

"Stop it." Mike says with such venom that is surprises even himself. His tone causes Sue to become serious and sit up straighter.

"Two hours." He starts and he really should've planned out what he was gonna say.

"What-"

"Two hours it took me to calm down Santana after we found out you were gonna be in glee this week and you made those comments. Before that, it took me months to rebuild self-confidence in her body. I've worked so hard to pick her back up after every time you've so callously knocked her down. So you don't get to come here, to our sanctuary, our safe place and rip into her again."

Sue stares at him in shocked silence and Mike hopes that it's a sign that his words are reaching her. He leans forward and stares Sue in the eyes as he quietly states,

"If you ever bring her back to that point. The point so low that she feels the world would be better off without her, I will personally make sure that it haunts you for the rest of your days."

The tiny gasp that comes out of her mouth and the widening of her eyes lets Mike know that Sue has picked up on exactly what he's hinted at. He gives one final nod before grabbing his stuff and leaving the room; She doesn't move to follow. Walking down the hall and rounding the corner, Mike nearly collides with the entire glee club looking worried. They all gather around him in concern.

"What are you all still doing here?" Mike asks with a chuckle.

"We just wanted to make sure you were still alive." Tina replies while still looking him over.

"I'm fine. We just had a talk, that's all." Mike assures them and they look at him like he's crazy. Maybe he is, he would have to be to do what he just did. Mike moves to walk to the exit and everyone does the same, all chattering about recent events. Mike pulls back just a little to walk next to Santana.

"Hey." He greets.

"What's up crazy? What made you do that?" Santana asks quietly.

"I told you I would have your back. I meant it." Mike says simply and Santana smiles.

"Thanks."

(…)

Thursday morning Mike pulls into Santana's driveway and see's that she's already waiting on him. She gets in the car and quietly greets him; Mike can only guess that yesterday is still affecting her. He really hopes that his talk yesterday will get Coach Sylvester to quit with the comments and needlessly targeting Santana. He looks over and it takes him a second to fully realize what Santana is wearing. Apparently she was being serious when she told Brittany she would dress like Rachel today. Mike tries his hardest not to laugh but barely catches himself as he stares straight ahead at the road.

"Shut it." Santana says trying not to laugh herself.

"I didn't say anything." Mike defends.

"You didn't have to, your soul said plenty." Santana snips as she looks down at herself, "I look like a toddler."

Mike laughs and pokes fun at her the entire way to school as Santana occasionally smacks him on the arm when she's not laughing herself.

(…)

Walking into school Mike is pretty sure he just stepped straight into the twilight zone. All around he's seeing girls walking around dressed like Rachel, or like Brittany, he guesses. Even Tina is dressed up like Brittany and that shocks him even more.

"Tina what are you wearing?" Mike asks as she walks over to him.

"Santana clued us in that Rachel is pressuring Brittany into dressing like her to become popular. The trend is catching on because it's Brittany but Santana, Quinn and I are playing our own prank on Rachel to get her to stop." Tina explains.

"Scary but okay. And thanks, for not giving Santana a hard time."

"I wanted to show you that I'm really trying this time. I'm working on not letting my jealousy get the best of me." Tina says.

"I really appreciate it." Mike smiles and leans in to give her a kiss, which Tina happily returns.

"Plus, we'll all be matching when we back up Lauren in glee today." Tina tells him once the kiss ends.

"Lauren is going to be singing?" Mike had to admit, he was seriously impressed.

"I know. It shocked me as well when she asked us."

"I can't wait. I love hearing you sing." Mike says, take a little time to mentally pat himself on the back for being a good boyfriend.

"Awww sweet." Tina coos before giving him another kiss. The bell rings and they go their separate ways.

(….)

Lunch time rolls around and upon entering the cafeteria Mike is brought to a complete halt; the entire glee club is grouped up at his usual table. What in the world is going on? Cautiously he makes his way over to the group, the open up a space and allow him to sit down.

"Uh, guys? What's going on? Why is everyone here?" Mike asks nervously.

"What in the world did you say to Sue?" Quinn asks in awe.

"What do you mean?"

"She wants to sing a song with us today in glee." Rachel says handing over a sheet with lyrics on it.

"Oh wow." Mike says, shocked himself. He didn't think that his words could have that much of an impact, but maybe they did. At least enough to make Coach Sylvester want to make amends, the rarity of it has even make Rachel use normal people sentences. He can't stop the smile that climbs onto his face.

"Cool. When are we doing this?" Mike asks.

"Today, after Lauren's song. It'll be a fun albeit bizarre way to end glee club." Rachel explains before they all start working on lyrics and a simple choreography.

(…)

The rest of the day flies by and before Mike even knows it it's time for glee. He's feeling pretty good about what they came up with for their group song and Mike is also curious to see what Lauren can do. He didn't even know she had an interest in glee, honestly Mike was pretty sure Lauren was only in the club because she was being bribed to do so. Entering into the choir room, Mike quickly takes his seat. Mr. Shue takes the front and starts the meeting.

"Alright let's get right down to it. Starting off and making her New Directions solo debut, Lauren Zizes." Mr. Shue announces and everyone claps, trying to be as encouraging as possible. They've all been there before, they get it.

"So, what are you gonna sing for us Lauren?" Mr. Shue asks.

"Here's how I see it. I know I'm the hottest bitch in this joint. If I was a country, my flag would be a big fist giving the rest of the world a finger and this would be my national anthem." Lauren replies. Okay, Mike can kinda get where she's going. Don't really think she should follow Rachel's thing of basically reciting a whole book before the performance but whatever works. Different strokes and all that.

"Okay." Mr. Shue walks over and takes a seat.

"Puckerman, grab your guitar. Tina, Brittany ready? Good." Awesome." Lauren commands confidently, at least that's what Mike thought until he catches her tiny whimper of nervousness; this is all an act.

The music starts and it rough...real rough. Lauren is clearly nervous and can barely bring herself to even look up to the audience. Mike can completely understand the nerves and how terrifying it can be to stand in front of a group of people and perform on your own. It's the main reason why he doesn't sing; that and the fact that he's horrible. A little bit of encouragement from Puck and Lauren gets on track and starts to freaking own it. Even he's proud of her for working through her fear and even if her voice isn't the best, she still got up there and did it. Maybe one day he could do the same. Maybe one day he could gather up the courage and do the same; make his own solo debut.

The song ends and everyone gets up cheering Lauren for a job well done. Mike does take a moment to run over and check on Tina because that push at the end looked super rough. They celebrate a little longer before Mr. Shue reigns them in so they can get ready and sing with Coach Sylvester. They change clothes and head to the theater. As they're waiting for Rachel and Finn to start, Mike whispers over to Santana.

"You ready for this?"

"It's weird that I'm singing with her but she's been a hell of a lot nicer since you're talk." Santana replies.

"Good." Mike says before their cue comes up and they run out onto the stage.

(…)

They're back in the choir room after singing with Coach Sylvester and Mike is still riding high on those emotions. The whole performance was amazing and he really thinks it could be a winning song for Regionals. Glancing over Mike sees that Santana is really putting on a show to make Quinn jealous by having her legs draped over Sam's lap and is playing in his hair; Quinn is fuming.

"Uh, when did that happen?" Mercedes quietly asks Tina as she stares at the new couple. Tina shrugs in confusion before looking at him; he just shrugs back.

Mr. Shue finally makes it back to the choir room, this time without Coach Sylvester and he addresses the group,

"Alright, I hate to say it, but I think we owe Sue a big thank you. She may hate us but she did give us a kick butt song for Regionals."

"Yeah she did." Artie agrees while everyone claps.

"Mr. Shuester," Rachel interrupts, "I think that our admiration for Coach Sylvester might just be a little premature. While I love My Chemical Romance and I think we all kicked butt on that number, as our team lead and arbiter of all that is good, I have to say that I don't think that that song is good enough for Regionals. The Warblers have Kurt and Blaine as their, like one-two punch, and Aural Intensity kicked our butts last year. We can't just do any song to beat either of those teams." Rachel says, finally taking a breath.

"You mean a number where you don't get to sing the entire song." Mercedes cuts in, calling Rachel out.

"Guys, this isn't about me." Rachel defends. Mike doesn't believe it for one second, she may have a point on Coach Sylvester but she always gets like this whenever a big competition number doesn't involve her in some way.

"What do you suggest Rachel?" Mr. Shue asks, willing to hear her out.

"We need to be bold and epic. We need to write our own original music for Regionals. We need an undisputable advantage." Rachel replies.

Santana groans at the prospect, "Check out dwarf Dianne Warren."

"Look, we can't loose Regional's again this year, you guys okay? You have to trust me. I feel really strongly about this." Rachel pleads.

"What doesn't she feel really strongly about?" Tina grumbles under her breath only loud enough for Mike and Mercedes to hear.

"Let's put it to a vote. Okay Rachel?" Mr. Shue suggests and Mike guesses that the only way to be fair about it.

"All those in favor of doing an original song?"

Rachel raises her hand immediately and looks around for support and gets none. He can see where she's coming from, it's not like Sue hasn't betrayed them in the past and leaked their setlist before. There's nothing stopping her from doing that again but original songs? None of them are song writers and who's to say any of them could even write a competition level song. Let alone one that could win on top of that. He can't take the risk so he keeps his hand down.

"Chemical Romance?"

Everyone silently raises their hands and the decision is made. Mike just hopes it doesn't come back to bite them in the ass.


Aaaand that's another one for the books. Hello all my lovely readers. Ye of much faith. Here I am, as promised with the next chapter. Now, I can't promise regular uploads but be confident in the knowledge that I am actively working on hammering out the next chapters. As for what's coming next, we got maybe one more chapter before I take this crazy train completely off the rails. So, did you like it? Yes? No? Probably so? Tell me about it? And as always, until next time.