A/N – Sorry if anyone gets alerted for this twice. I uploaded it before I realised it still had the html tags in. Doy.

A big thanks to all who have been so supportive of both this fic and me! I appreciate it so truly.

XxX

Lunch is almost over by the time he finally catches up with her. On seeing him enter the cafeteria, she pulls out her earbuds and closes the textbook she's been making notes on. " You missed lunch," she says, even though he's well aware of it. But there's a question in the statement, so as he sits down next to her and takes the sandwich she's saved for him, he explains: " I was helping Brit get dirt out of her eyes."

One eyebrow rises, and he knows he's going to have to explain, but for the moment his mouth is occupied with bread and when he tries to speak he starts to cough and she has to pass him her soda and thump him on the back. He's downed half of her drink before he gets his breath back. " Coach Sylvester filled her locker with it."

" Why?"

His shrug says a lot, and nothing, and Tina's face is curious. (She's noticed that there's been something going on between him and Brittany recently, but when she asks him about it he just says that he's lending her a friendly ear, and it wasn't really his place to say anymore. And because she trusts him - she does trust him - that's enough for her.) He takes another sip of soda and clears his voice. " Because she's crazy," he finally answers, and though it feels a bit like lying it makes her laugh and seems to distract her. Or rather, he can see that she *lets* herself be distracted, and taps his knee with the palm of her hand.

" You'll never guess what Santana asked me to do today." Her smile is big and mischevious, and for a moment he *truly* wonders if he's going to have to kick Santana's ass (and whether he *can* kick Santana's ass) when she says, " She wants me to help her write an original song. About Sam."

He's not quite sure why she looks so amused. " That's...nice?"

She shakes her head, stealing her soda back and drinking from the bottle, licking her lips when she is done in a way that makes his brain short-circuit for a moment. " Guess what it's called?"

His laughter when she tells him fills the room, and though he feels kind of sorry for Sam, he can't *wait* to see Santana pull this one off.

XxX

Trouty Mouth is everything he wished for and more, and he's surprised that he and Tina don't crack each other up as she plays the piano and Santana sings. Mostly, he just avoids making eye contact with her - or with anyone - in order to save himself from Santana's wrath.

Then it's over and Sam's sitting next to him pouting and Puck's got his guitar and is staring at Lauren in way that - quite frankly - kind of freaks Mike out. As Puck begins to play (and the song really does have an excellent beat) Mike can't help but look over at Tina. She's wearing a frown, and he can tell that she wants to hate the song because it's stupid and kind of insensitive, but, well, when Lauren starts rocking out looking something like flattered and proud, and she catches him dancing in his seat, he knows she can't help the smile that breaks over her face. Because Puck might be dumb, might be a juvenile delinquent, he might be a *whole* lot of things, but he knows when she sees him with the guitar strung around his neck she can't help but remember that he's a good guy too.

What no one else knows about Tina is that she has a whole notebook full of lyrics and songs and tunes hidden in the bottom of her dresser. He finds it accidentally while they're studying AP Calc, and he goes searching for her spare calculator. " Why don't you use one of these for Glee club?" he asks, sitting cross-legged on her bed, after she gives him permission to look through it. Lots of the phrases are beautiful, and when he sees his own name appear in some of the songs he blushes, and then without even waiting for an answer, he understands why.

They're not for everyone else. Maybe one day they will be, but for now, they're the way she works past all that shyness and the fear and insecurity inside herself.

He asks her to sing one for him, and she shakes her head. " I can't. Not yet."

Tugging her down onto his lap, he kisses her lips soundly, running his hands through her loose hair, enjoying the soft, silky feel against his fingertips. " Okay," he agrees, his voice a hot breath on her lips. " But when you're ready, I want to hear them all, okay?"

She rewards his patience, his simple understanding, by tracing her fingers up his shirt and working the top button out of its hole. Then his shirt is off, and her shirt is off, and his lips are on her skin and she's making that moaning sound that shoots right to his core. He leans her back against the pillows and is working at the zipper on her skirt when her phone starts to buzz on the desk.

" Ignore it," he implores, his hand slipping down the back of her skirt and his fingers tracing the - shit - black lace of her underwear, but she presses her hands against his shoulders.

" It might be my mom saying she's left work early," she warns, and it's only this that has him removing his hands from her and flopping back against the mattress with a sigh. She crawls across his body - pressing her hips against his more by intent then accident, he's pretty sure - and grasps her phone between outstretched fingers. Then she leans back against him, snuggling into his body as she scrolls down her messages.

He's just allowing himself to get distracted kissing her naked shoulder when she blurts out, " Oh my god!"

He pulls back, wondering if maybe he'd managed to bite her without realising, but the look on her face is one of excitement rather than annoyance. " What?"

" Kurt and Blaine kissed - finally! I have to call him and Mercedes *right* now!"

She's off the bed and her fingers are flying over the keypad and then there's just screaming and illegible girl-noise, and while he feels pleased for Kurt and all, he can't help but think the guy has *the* worst timing in the whole world.

XxX

The bus ride to Regionals is hell. Brittany gets sick from too much Big Gulp, making the driver pull over on the highway, and she *just* manages to get down the steps before she pukes bright pink down the side of the bus. They all watch from the windows as Quinn holds her hair and rubs her back in such a natural, maternal fashion that they all have to hold back a flinch. The zipper on Santana's dress gets stuck and when Puck tries to unstick it he manages to punch her in the back of the head and they start yelling at each other.

In the back of the bus Mike and Tina play rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets to deal with which crisis, and Mike loses, so he has to referee the match between Puck and Santana (he enlists Mercedes to actually help him free the zipper – and in the moment *really* misses Kurt because he would have known exactly what to do). Tina instead moves down the bus to help Quinn re-do Brittany's hair and make-up, and feed her small sips of ginger ale.

When their tasks are done they meet back in their seat and grasp each other fiercely. " I hate bus rides," Mike whispers in her ear, and is rewarded with a long, gentle kiss.

When Tina pulls back she is smiling. " When we go to Nationals, I promise you and me will try and get upgraded to First Class, okay? Leave the rest of them to deal with the drama themselves."

They seal it with another kiss and then they're turning into the parking lot of the venue, and seatbelts are being undone and hands are pulling them apart and then Artie's wheelchair lift freezes and Rachel starts screaming that they're going to miss their slot, and it takes Finn, Puck, Mike and Mr Schue to get Artie off the bus while Mercedes and Tina do their best to keep Rachel under control.

By the time they sneak into the auditorium, Mike's just glad for the quiet.

XxX

Kurt had been texting them the whole journey, so they know he and the Warblers had arrived before them, but when they see him up on stage Mike notices how everyone sits up just that little bit straighter.

The duet Kurt and Blaine sing is awesome, and he can see tears in most of the girls' eyes (and Puck's too). Some of them wave the glowing candles, but there aren't enough to go around, so he pulls out his cell phone and waves that around instead. Sam sees him and does the same, and then the whole Glee club either has a candle or a phone in their hand and is waving it with reckless abandon. At the end, the applause bursts from them like an explosion, and other audience members look around, but none of them care. They're proud of Kurt, of his voice, his performance.

Also? When they see the way Blaine looks at him at the end of the song, they're just really pleased for *him*.

XxX

The night goes spinning by, and suddenly their songs are over and one minute he's picking bits of red confetti out of Tina's hair, and then they're ushered onto stage for the results.

Finn is next to him and he can feel the tension radiating off of the taller boy's body, and he allows himself one sneaking peek at the Warblers but they all look like they might throw up and so he closes his eyes and just waits.

" The winner is...New Directions!"

They say their name and suddenly it's like thunder strikes because everyone starts screaming and Mike sees Tina in a tangle of Brittany's arms and then he's grabbed by Finn and lifted almost off his feet, and someone passes over the trophy and the thing is bigger than Rachel he *swears*, and then Mike's hoisting it in his arms and it just feels... beyond everything he ever imagined. It really is the true meaning of *Glee*.

XxX

On the bus ride home the trophy gets a seat all to itself, and it's late but they're all so hyped that they end up singing song after song at the tops of their lungs and even though the driver looks like he's about ready to punch someone Mr Schue doesn't even try to stop them. He just lets a laugh out and joins in on the chorus of 'Loser Like Me'.

In the back of the bus Mike sits with Tina's legs stretched across him and his hand sneaking up her skirt as they kiss and kiss and kiss, and every few minutes someone catcalls or throws screwed up paper at them but neither of them care (other than to flip Puckerman off). Mike knows as long as they don't get *too* carried away that no one will really pay enough attention to tell them to stop. Everyone is just so full of love that even Rachel and Quinn grin at one another as they harmonize in the verses.

It's as they cross the city line back into Lima that Tina whispers her idea to him. " We should do it for all competitions, starting from now. One person who's really gone above and beyond."

She bites down on his ear and he can't help but shudder and pull her even closer to his body. " Like an MVP?"

They tell their idea to Mr Schuester the next day, and he seems surprised by their thoughtfulness, but jumps on board. So they pass the word around, and only one name keeps coming up again and again.

When Mr Schue hands Rachel the trophy and she starts her 'speech', Mike can't help but wonder if maybe this was all a big mistake. But then she carries on speaking, and he sees the tears start to film over her eyes, and he can really feel the sincerity of her pride in her team. So when she's done, he can't help but be one of the first people to his feet, and when the whole team is up, tangled around each other, he can't help but hope that this feeling never *ever* goes away.

XxX

His parents aren't exactly strict, but they're not super-laid-back either. While they don't mind him being a member of Glee or practicing dance in his bedroom or the basement, they made him promise that his involvement in the club wouldn't have a negative impact on his grades. To this end, when a chance comes up to be a member of the Academic Decathalon team, he doesn't even give it a second thought.

He begs Tina, " Join with me," because he knows how smart she is and how much her parents - like his - emphasize the importance of academics. " If we win this they'll be off our backs for the rest of the year."

Their academic adviser has already cornered Artie into joining, and Liv Schneider who Mike knows from history class. The four of them practice questions and answers and devise their own Jeopardy-stye game in order to brush up their general knowledge, but then the day before the first 'Smarty Pants' quiz, Tina comes running up to him in the halls and grabs his arms, a crest-fallen expression on her face. His concern is instant, " What's wrong?"

" Liv Schneider has rubella."

XxX

When they find Artie and tell him he's similarly aghast, because they've put *so* much work into preparing for the show and it would suck to forfeit, but then Brittany saunters over to them and asks when they're talking about and Mike locks eyes with Artie and they seem to have the same idea at the same moment.

" Hey Brit," he asks. " How would you like to join the Academic Decathalon team?"

She seems to mull it over, cocking her head to one side so that her ponytail falls over her shoulder. When she answers, her voice is soft and conspiring. " Do I have to make out with anybody?"

Tina's mouth is open and her brow furrowed, because try as she might to figure her out, Brittany's logic is usually very much her own. " No," she assures. " Why?"

" I thought when you play for another team it's because you like making out with different people."

Mike can feel the confusion radiating off of Brittany, and the curiosity (and slow clunk clunk clunk of realisation) coming from Tina so he jumps in. " Look, Brit, we really need your help. We have a secret handshake and we can pay you in Dots."

At this, Brittany's face lights up. " Awesome!"

XxX

The day before the competition they tell all their friends about the show but there seems to be some kind of Finn/Quinn/Rachel drama going on, so everyone mumbles a half-reply and then keeps their heads down until finally it all blows up with Finn kicking a chair over, Quinn yelling and Rachel storming out of the room.

XxX

At the studio they stare, open-mouthed at the cameras and the lights, because even though they're used to being on stage in front of an audience, this is tv. As they wait to be shown to their places, Tina's hands shake so hard that she drops her glass of water and it spills over her skirt.

" Damn it!"

Seeing his girlfriend's unease, Mike pulls her against his chest, not caring that Artie and Brittany are in the corner of the room and the sound guy is checking levels around them. " It's going to be okay," he assures her, because he knows Tina, he knows what she's afraid of – that without a melody to her words they will somehow freeze and disappear from her lips and she'll let them all down. " Just imagine it's still just the four of us playing in the library and you'll be amazing. You are the smartest person I know Tina."

She wipes her eyes – tiny tears pricking there – and beams up at him. Mike feels his stomach clench because the smile that she's giving him usually leads to things that he's sure shouldn't happen in a television studio. Well, at least unless they were making a very different type of show.

" You really think I'm smart?"

He's astounded sometimes that she can't see it – that she thinks she's the lucky one to be with him when he can't get his head around the fact she wants him. " You're brilliant," he tells her with a kiss to one cheek. Kissing the other cheek he adds, " And so talented." Then he moves his mouth to her neck and presses a kiss to her smooth skin, his voice murmuring, " And sexy." She giggles, her hands on his shoulders, but he pulls back and looks her in the eye. " And we are totally going to kick Carmel High's ass, okay?"

She rewards him with a kiss that makes him dizzy, and when they're directed to their seats she grips his hand under the desk. Looking down the table at their team, Artie gives him a double thumbs-up and Brittany grins before popping a Dot between her lips.

The show rocks – questions and answers flying and buzzers sounding and flashing and when Tina pulls some arcane knowledge of biochemistry from nowhere to thoroughly trounce Sushine Corazon in a head-to-head he can't help but grin at the look of pride of her face – and then somehow, amazingly, they win, and all four of them are a tangle of limbs and grins and Brittany's sticky sweet breath and they start chanting, " Detroit! Detroit! Detroit!"

As they're collecting their things to go, arms slide around his chest from behind and he knows that body pressed against him anywhere. Her hips seem to rock gently as lips ghost his ear. " Victory sex at mine?" she giggles, breathy and low and so hot that he fumbles a response. Slipping around to face him, she laughs and then standing on tiptoes, she kisses him on the base of the throat. A moan escapes his lips and she quirks an eyebrow at him. " I'll take that as a yes."

He doesn't even both replying, he just grabs her hand and tosses a goodbye over his shoulder to Brittany and Artie who have just entered the room and look confused at his haste. " Hey bro, where's the fire?"

But then they're in his car and Tina's hand is on his thigh and creeping further and further up until he squirms and she's seriously going to make him get a ticket, and thank goodness her parents don't mind him staying over because they barely make it in the front door and up the stairs before he's pulling at her shirt and he's pretty sure some of the buttons pop off but then her teeth are on his ear and she's giggling and sighing and if this is how they celebrate their semi-final win, he can't wait to crack open the books and take the finals by storm.

XxX

The next day they return to school as champions – a definite swagger in their steps - but it's barely 9:30 before they realise that no one has any idea that they won, except Figgins who congratulates them, and then tells them there's no money in the budget for their trip.

XxX

Mike's in a bad mood all day. He gets his Spanish verbs muddled even though he knows them backwards, and fumbles an easy catch in gym class (making the ball smack him in the face, and Puck and Finn snicker until he snaps the ball towards Finns crotch and the taller boy barely grabs it before it does some serious damage). Before 3rd period he turns a corner just to see Santana getting slushied by Karofsky, and then the person before him in the lunch line gets the last portion of tots. He just sits down at a table when his phone buzzes in his pocket and he reads the text from Tina saying she in all the 'Smarty Pants' excitement, she forgot to do her English homework and so she won't be able to meet him for lunch, and will see him in Glee instead. He glares at his sandwich.

The afternoon doesn't get much better until he meets Tina outside of the choir room and she takes one look at him and wraps her arms around him. " Come on," she whispers, " We'll get through rehearsal and then we're going to the arcade."

" You hate the arcade," he whispers back, but doesn't move his arms from around her body, instead resting his cheek against her hair and breathing in the comforting scent of her coco-mango shampoo.

" Well you like it. And I like watching you kick ass at DDR," she teases, and kisses him quickly. " Okay?"

He nods, and they walk in together, but he's disappointed to find the only two seats left aren't next to each other. He lets her go up first, sitting in the front row and only just managing to suppress a pout.

They talk about Nationals and their lack of money (he feels the echo like a slap – what was wrong with public school funding?) and Mr Schue starts unveiling the big taffy plan, but really he lets his mind drift to his and Tina's arcade plans, and so when a piece of taffy lands in his land he can't help but kiss it and hand it back to her. She smile at him - in the way she does when he's being a goof, and rolls her eyes – but accepts the candy.

He can't stop the feeling building in his chest when Santana starts bitching – though he does feel bad that she's been slushied it's not exactly something new to the rest of them – but when Quinn starts in with her 'woe is me' sob story, he can't hold back and all his anger and irritation bursts out.

"I can't listen to this."

The looks on the faces of the rest of the club vary from surprise, to shock, to complete confusion. He knows this isn't like him, to be bitter and dramatic (and, he realises to his own consternation, so Rachel Berry), but he can't help himself.

Even Mr Schue looks surprised by the outburst. "Mike, you okay?"

He knows he should sit down and pretend he didn't just almost storm out of Glee, or just keep walking so all their faces are behind, but the words trip from his lips before he even remembers thinking them. "No. You guys complain all the time about being mistreated but, you have no idea what it's like to work your butt off for something and have everyone, even your friends, ignore you. "

They're all still looking at him like he's crazy, but then Artie, Brittany and Tina come and flank him and he stops feeling quite so isolated, and the whole story of their Academic Decathlon success comes out.

Then he realises he's zoned out because they're talking money and Tina – his wonderful, practical Tina – is talking about motels and his mind goes to a good/bad place for a split second and then Mr Schue is talking about adding them to his crazy taffy scheme and he finally feels the anger in him start to abate and the knot in his stomach start to loosen.

Tina grabs him as they leave the choir room, lacing their fingers together, and leans up to whisper, " The way you stood up to everyone? Totally hot."

He kisses her, and they laugh, and suddenly his bad day isn't so bad after all.

The 'Night of Neglect' is all he and Tina talk about for the next few days. She sends him the MP3 of her intended song along with the youtube video and hums it while they study, and eat lunch and even make out until he's pretty sure that even he knows it backwards. In return, and as a diversion, he plays her the song he's intending to dance to and pulls her up off the bed where they've been studying so they can sway along with the music.

" I'm so excited to see you dance," she tells him after he dips her, narrowly avoiding the back of her head colliding with the corner of his desk. They collapse into a pile of limbs on the floor and he pulls her onto his lap, her arms going around his neck and her legs twined with his.

" You see me dance all the time."

" Okay, then I'm excited for everyone else to see you dance."

He replies with a kiss to the tip of her nose. " And I'm going to have to beat the other guys off once they see you sing this song."

Quirking an eyebrow, she cocks her head to one side and grins. " You haven't even seen the dress I'm going to wear yet."

XxX

It's barely ten minutes before opening when Santana gets the tweet that Sunshine isn't coming. Mike feels his stomach drop to his shoes, because he, for once, had let himself be so excited about the evening.

He's sure of one thing though – at the next Asian community event, he's going to blank the *crap* out of Sunshine Corazon.

XxX

They're all about ready to go home when Finn speaks up and he's right, the show must go on, and then Tina is standing up and ready to start the night and he grabs her and kisses her and tells her, " You're amazing."

He's at the edge of the stage watching when the music starts, and then Tina's dragging the mic stand across the stage and she flips her hair and he feels his heart squeeze and a smile take over his face and when she starts singing, it's like magic.

Then the booing starts.

Mike can see the exact moment Tina's confidence shatters like a broken window, and as she runs off the stage he catches her in his arms. As he leads her back to the green room the rest of the choir trail them in a macabre procession, hands and fingers reaching out and touching her, so gently, as if they can some how leech the pain and humiliation from her skin.

When she's calmed her sobbing down enough that he stops worrying about her hyperventilating, she finally manages to speak coherent words: "That's the worst I've ever felt in my entire life."

And at that, he feels his *own* heart break, because he remembers when she was 6 and broke her arm falling off the jungle gym (or perhaps being pushed off, but no one saw Noah do it and he swears it was an accident), and he remembers when she froze and stuttered during class presentations, and he's seen her take slushies to the face and be tackled to the ground by a 200lb line backer, and if this is *worse* than that...well, it's enough to make him want to wrap his arms around her and not let go.

" I'm sorry this happened to you Tina, but maybe it's a good lesson."

He's so mad at Mr Schue, *so* mad, he can feel it creeping through his bones and he just wants to yell at them all because why did this have to happen to Tina of all people, who's probably the single *nicest* girl in Glee. But the worst thing is, while he wants to throw over chairs and then go out and give the audience a piece of his mind (and for some of them, a piece of his fist), he knows Mr Schue is right. So he lets the rest of the club plot and plan the great taffy sting, and he just sits and grasps her hand and presses a kiss to her hair when she leans against him.

Quinn has disappeared with the baskets of taffy when he feels a touch on his shoulder. " You ready Mike?" Mr Schue at least has the decency to look a little apologetic.

Tina swipes at her eyes with the back of her wrist. " Go," she tells him with a hand against his chest. " And just - kick some ass okay?" Then stretching up, she takes hold of his vest, bunching her fingers in the material, and presses a long kiss against his lips, not caring that it's in front of Mr Schue and everyone else. " You're going to be amazing."

Unable to speak, he just nods and steps away, feeling a little better when Santana and Brittany swoop in and take his place, their arms going around his girlfriend in girly, gentle compassion. " We got this," Santana assures with a flick of her long hair, and the defiant tilt of her chin makes the knot in his chest loosen, just a bit.

XxX

He's been practicing this dance for months, since way before Mr Schue decided on the 'Night of Neglect'. Long hours in his basement with the music turned up high, his feet sliding across the room like ice. He'd showcased it for Tina two days before, who had laughed at the right moments and been appropriately amazed, and assured him that this was *exactly* what he should perform. " It's just you," she had explained, kissing his nose with a quirked smile on her face. " It's perfect."

When the lights go down at the end of his performance, he can hear Kurt and Blaine cheering from the audience, and it sends a flood of something wonderful through him. As he exits the stage Sam - their MC for the night - grabs him by the shoulders, a grin on his wide mouth. His words: " You were so great!" send another wave of that something wonderful, but it's nothing - nothing compared to the feeling he gets when he returns to the green room and sees Tina cheering and grinning and *so* proud. The words trip from his lips before he even remembers thinking them: " That was all kinds of awesome!"

Like magnets his feet propel him towards her, and suddenly she's in his arms and looking up at him with *that* smile and really what he'd like to do is drag her off somewhere private and ravish her, but instead he just squeezes her tight against him and lets himself feel her body radiating happiness.

Then there's drama, and Mercedes disappears, and then *Rachel* disappears, and then they're both back and Mercedes rocks the house and then the show is over and they all pile into the choir room. They're brought up short by the appearance of Mr Ryerson (and seriously, Mike gets the chills whenever he sees that guy - it has *nothing* to do with him being gay - but instead to do with how completely, undeniably creepy he is), but he ushers them into seats and starts gushing over Mercedes, and then before they know it he's offering to pay for the Brainiacs' trip to Detroit.

The group synchronized handshake might have started off as a joke, but the joy on Brittany's face is real so they clap and move and push imaginary glasses up their noses and he feels like this is what this evening was all about. Then they all start chanting and then everyone joins in, regardless of the fact the rest of them aren't even *going* to Detroit.

XxX

The Smarty Pants final is against Riverfront High School from Ann Arbor. Surprisingly the other team is friendly and eager to compete, and so when they take their places (" why does my sign only have a T? You all get your full names!") they're all completely buzzing.

They know that this time their friends are all gathered around at Kurt and Finn's to watch them, cheering them on with popcorn and a flood of text messages, and they're full of love and excitement and knowledge, and when that final question comes up, Mike sees Brittany and Artie share a look before their hands come down - smack, in tandem - on their buzzers.

They win and it's awesome.