Author's Notes: Thank you for your kind reviews and reading this piece. I certainly hope that once Glee returns for season 2, a lot more Mike/Tina stories will be floating around. I'm kind of excited to see how that pairing will turn during the season.

I'm not yet sure how long this story will be. I'm still playing around with a few ideas and I'm not sure if I'd want to inject everything into this story or try another one or two new stories as well. Right now, I'm just building things up between Mike and Tina.

Again, reviews are greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: Glee belongs to fox.

Tina yawned as she closed her locker and leaned her forehead against the cold metal, closing her eyes in a pathetic attempt to get a few seconds of sleep in her. Behind her, students were hurrying out of school or off to after-school activities. And just when she thought she was getting comfortable (as comfortable as one can get in her current position), she was jostled awake when the lockers rattled as somebody slammed their locker shut a couple rows down.

"I don't think that's healthy," said an amused voice behind her, drawing himself closer and leaning against the locker beside hers.

With her forehead still leaning on her locker, Tina turned her head and grimaced at Mike. "Funny,"

Smiling, he looked down at her, eyes still shining in amusement. "It's kind of funny how a few hours earlier you were able to tackle me and now your energy levels are so low, you need to be towed home,"

Turning, Tina sighed and leaned her back against her locker. She really wasn't that tired, perhaps she was being a little dramatic about how her day turned out. "It was just a long day, Mike," she said, looking at him.

"All the more reason to just go home now and rest," Mike shrugged, pushing himself away from the locker and nodding towards the doors. "Monday's are always the longest days,"

Tina nodded, following him towards the exit. "Tell me about it," she agreed. After the History pop-quiz and her bump-in with Mike, it turned out that there were still another myriad of pop quizzes in store for her for the day. That, and she got slushied during lunch. And to top it all off, Rachel had been hounding her regarding a number for this year's Regionals (they aced sectionals a month ago). The girl's yammering still resonated in her head.

"I take it things didn't go so well today," observed Mike, looking down at Tina as they walked through the doors.

"Yeah, kind of," Tina squinted through the afternoon glare, surveying the mass of students that scurried towards the parking lot or bus stop. She didn't bring her car today and rode the bus to school. "I think there should be a limit of how many pop quizzes in a day a school is allowed to give,"

"Ouch," Mike chuckled. They reached the junction which lead to the parking lots and the bus stop, he noted that she was about to walk straight ahead towards the stops. "You didn't bring your car?"

"Oh, what?" Tina blinked, looking up to him. "Oh. No. I didn't. My mom's car broke down over the weekend, so while her car is in the shop, she's using mine. It's public transpo or walking for me," she shrugged.

"That sucks," he mused, and she just shrugged, grinning softly. Thinking that it would be nice to offer her a ride, he shifted awkwardly for a moment. "I can, uh, give you a lift, if you want?"

Tina all of the sudden looked flustered and waved her right hand. "No, I think it's okay. I can just grab the bus,"

"It's no big deal, after bowling you over this morning, it's the least I can do," he said, while guiding her towards the parking lot and to his old Honda Civic.

Tina looked confused, while watching him open the doors of the gray colored Honda. "Wasn't I the one who tackled you? Didn't you say that I 'could definitely tackle'?"

Laughing, Mike opened the driver's door. "Oh, you can definitely tackle, Tee," he chuckled and slipped inside.

Tina laughed at the teasing, and opened the passenger's side. "Hey!"

Pulling his car out of parking, Mike looked at her, eyes dancing in amusement. "If you are really bent on making things even, maybe you can do my homework or something,"

"No way!" Tina laughed, hugging her bag to her chest while watching him chuckle. "You do your own homework, Mike Chang. Or else I'm telling your parents,"

Mike made a face. "Tattletale,"

They made it out onto the road, and fell into a momentary silence. Mike bore an amused smile on his face, while Tina idly played with the strap of her bag, also smiling softly. While it felt odd to be in a confined space with Mike Chang, it still wasn't all that awkward. Some may assume that they don't really interact outside of Glee, but with a (not) surprising small Asian community in Lima, both Tina and Mike knew each other long before Glee.

And, well, this was kind of nice, though Tina really wasn't sure why.

"You can buy me ice cream though,"

"Sorry, what?"

Mike chuckled, keeping his eyes on the road. "To call things even, for your deadly tackle maneuver this morning. Ice cream,"

"Oh," Tina looked flustered, staring at him in surprise. "Ah, yeah. Yeah, I think that's manageable,"

"Manageable?" He sounded amused.

"Yeah, manageable," Tina grinned at him, before turning back to looking at the road. "Though, can we do it not today? I want to sleep,"

Mike took a turn, driving into a road filled with homes. "I figured that much. You can buy me ice cream some time this week then. I won't forget, mind you,"

She laughed at him. "You're a jock, if food's involved, I'm pretty sure you won't forget,"

"Hey!"

Tina grinned cheekily at him.

Slowing down in front of the Cohen-Chang residence, Mike pulled the car into park. Leaning on the steering wheel, he grinned at her. For the years that he had known Tina, it was always definitely fun to talk to her (or these days, playful banter).

"But you got to admit that I'm definitely one of the nicer jocks out there," he waggled his eyebrows at her.

Tina unbuckled her seatbelt and burst into laughter at his antics. Conceding, she nodded and opened her door. "Okay, okay. Maybe you are, you belong right up there with Finn and Matt,"

"Glad we cleared that one up,"

"Right," Tina smirked at him over her shoulder as she stepped out his car. "Thanks for the lift, Mike. See you tomorrow,"

As the door shut, he looked at her through the open window. "Get some sleep, Asian,"

"Will do, Other Asian!" Chuckling, Tina watched him drive out of her driveway and down the road. Turning on her heels, Tina hurried down up towards her house in hopes of getting some shut eye before tackling the day's assignment.

"You're looking better," noted Mercedes the next day during lunch as Tina sat down at their usual table.

"True," added Kurt, offering Tina a scrutinizing stare. "While I still do not entirely agree with your choice of wardrobe, you definitely seem to look much better as compared to yesterday. If I remember correctly, yesterday you looked like something the cat dragged in, with horrible bags under your eyes, and a bad combination of ruffles and lace,"

Tina blinked, staring at Kurt. "Uh, thanks?"

Artie grinned over his tray. "Don't worry, Tina, you're definitely looking better. I take it no wedding prep work haunted you yesterday?"

Tina smiled. "Yeah. After school, I just went home and slept until dinner and did homework. After getting that done, I just slept straight through the night. Surprisingly, my sister didn't call me last night,"

"Are you guys still settling with pink?"

"Pink?" Kurt looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Obviously he wasn't informed of her sister's horrible color coordinating skills.

Tina laughed and shook her head. "When I left for school this morning, my mom said that we're definitely going for gold-yellow and red. It's a Chinese tradition. The groom's family is also Chinese, so my sister's hopes for a pink wedding a squashed."

"Maybe she can have hot pink themed bridal shower then," Mercedes offered, while picking at what appeared to be chicken salad. "That's hot,"

"Ah, hot pink colored lingerie," Artie grinned at the girls (Kurt included). "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Artie!" Tina chucked a lettuce leaf at him, laughing.

The table erupted into laughter, soon joking around and the possibilities of Artie gate crashing the bridal shower. Tina chuckled at something Kurt said, and looked around the table. Despite how things turned out in the past, things definitely looked back to normal (or as normal as things could get).

A/N: Please review!