A/N: Some of the prom antics were written by my sometimes-ghostwriter, QuinnAbrams!Enjoy!
Although telling Quinn off briefly felt satisfying in the moment, the regret and sadness that followed was inevitable. Artie didn't go to physio with her Wednesday or Thursday, plus he avoided her at school. It was easy to do that, since they didn't have class together and they weren't even meeting all together for Glee club. Yet in spite of his anger about the posters and what he'd overheard Quinn saying to that girl, he still felt remorse for going off on her the way he did.
In the week since Mr. Schue had announced that the glee club would be the live musical entertainment for prom, everyone had split up into groups to plan and rehearse the numbers they were going to do. It didn't take the guys who weren't attending the anti-prom– Artie, Sam, Rory, Mike, and Joe– long to figure out which song to do: the most popular song of the year, One Direction's 'What Makes You Beautiful'. It was perfect, since there were five members of the band and five guys performing (and one was even Irish!). This quickly became the only thing Artie really looked forward to about prom. That, and he figured Lauren would be fun.
On Friday, the last day of the week and the day before the prom, something happened that Artie could only describe as anticlimactic. Because Quinn chose this day, and not the prom, to be the day she appeared at school for the first time with her walker. As she made her way down the hallway, the seas parted for her. A tearful Tina started the slow clap that gradually caught on and turned into full-blown applause. Quinn's cheeks turned bright red as she kept her head down and stayed focused on the apparently difficult task of using her walker.
Quinn spotted Artie among the crowd and briefly made eye contact. As she met his gaze, she mouthed 'I'm sorry,' and kept walking. She was going awfully slow, even though she looked like she wished she could get away from the crowd faster. And that's when Artie realized what she was trying to do. She's really not trying to get attention, he realized. But when you were Quinn, well, it just happened.
Jon Hubner, the senior with cerebral palsy who used crutches or occasionally a wheelchair, sided up beside her and offered some advise. "Weight training," Artie heard him tell Quinn. "Build up your upper body strength as much as you can because you'll need it. Whatever you're already doing, double that."
"Thanks, I will," she said. And then Quinn disappeared around the corner to head to her first period class, but not before shooting Artie one last troubled look.
Jon Hubner looked up and spotted Artie in the crowd. Jon and Artie were basketball teammates, but off the court, they didn't interact much or have much else in common, aside from being disabled. But today, Jon headed over, apparently having something to say to him.
"Sorry, I guess helping Quinn's supposed to be your gig, right?" he asked, with a grin. And, when Artie didn't say anything, his smile faltered. "What's the matter, did I say something wrong?"
"Not exactly..." Artie opened his locker to get his book for class as Jon continued to hover, waiting for an explanation.
"Okay, so what is it, then?"
He sighed, figuring Jon was just about the only person who might actually get it, so he might as well explain away. "Those posters she put up? Well, she took them back down on account of me. Because I accused her of trying to win pity votes with her chair."
"Ah," Jon said, letting go of one crutch as he pretended to thoughtfully stroke his chin. "Offended, I take it?"
Something about Jon's tone annoyed Artie. He slammed his locker a little louder than he meant to and huffed impatiently. "And you're saying I shouldn't be?"
"I'm saying I've noticed you're easily offended," Jon said, flatly. As Artie arched one brow, a talent he'd long since perfected, Jon just chuckled. "What? Don't act surprised. I've thought so since day one."
Day one, Artie knew, referred to their one and only gym class together after Artie's accident. They hadn't been in the same third grade class, but they'd had gym together. And Artie had only made it to one class before an incident pushed him over the edge, resulting in him dropping out of third grade after having returned for only one week.
"I was new to all of this back then," Artie explained, indignantly pushing his glasses up on his nose. "I like to think I've figured out a few things in the past nine years."
"See, you're offended now," Jon said, acting smug. But then he softened just a tad. "Look, dude, I am just giving you my observations. I expected nothing less when you came back to school in a chair for the first time. You were new to this, as you said. It's just that you'd never noticed me sitting out by myself before you were like me, not when you were busy playing with your friends."
"Yeah, I know..." Artie dropped his gaze. "You don't get it until you experience it firsthand. That's... that's not an excuse though, Jon. I wish I had noticed you sitting out in gym and, I don't know, at least gone over to talk to you..."
"Well, little did you know, your kickball days were numbered," Jon said, with a shrug. "Dude, it's fine, we were just kids, and... well, you know what it's like now. I'm just using that to make a point."
"And what was that point?"
"Forgive her, dude," he said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Not much time left."
Lauren, Artie, Tina, and Mike entered the prom as one big group. After running into them at Panda Express – so many jokes, so little time – they ended up accidentally making it a double date. It was weird, and Lauren made sure to say so, when they briefly separated from the Cohen-Chang-Changs in their respective cars.
They ended up arriving to the prom at the same time as Tina and Mike, parking nearly side by side in the parking lot. Artie had no hard feelings about Tina and Mike by now, but it just seemed fitting that he'd wind up spending their prom with them somehow.
Tina was super emotional walking in to the prehistoric prom. She dabbed her eyes with an actual handkerchief and talked about how she couldn't believe this was her last school dance with Mike. She'd teared up a little at Panda Express, but apparently, she'd cried the entire way from the restaurant to the prom. She quickly excused herself to get some punch as they walked in.
"Brittany and her people really went all out with this theme," Lauren was saying, as she walked alongside Artie while they both admired the decor on the way to the punch bowl. "It's unconventional. Not something stupid, like Castle in the Clouds. I like."
"Drop that ladle, Cohen-Chang!" Sue Sylvester swept in, startling Tina so much that she did drop the ladle. "Ooh, I'm onto you, lady. You're trying to spike my punch!"
"No, I'm not," Tina insisted. "I'm just thirsty. I'm dehydrated from all the crying."
"Yeah, right," Sue said, her voice dripping with disdain. "That dress is hideous."
But before Sue could further insult Tina or threaten to extract her molars, she was distracted by the sudden entrance of another couple. Becky Jackson entered on the arm of Noah Puckerman, both of them wearing beer boxes as crowns as several students stopped what they were doing to stare. Becky's pageant wave was perfect and Puck's grin was confusing, to say the least, but they were definitely keeping prom interesting.
"All hail the king and queen of the anti-prom!" Artie shouted, as a smattering of applause followed.
"Becky, I don't care which dope we crown here tonight, you are truly the queen of this joint," said a delighted Sue.
"Thanks, Coach!" Becky said. And then: "Oh, my God! Is that a sniper in the rafters?"
"Oh, I knew I should've done another security sweep," Sue said, craning her neck to scan the ceiling. "I don't see anything."
"Use your infrared glasses, Coach!"
"Good idea, Becky," she said, as Puck proceeded to pour his cleverly-concealed bottle of gin straight into the bowl, while an unsuspecting Coach Sylvester continued to look for mischief from above. "I don't see anything."
"Dance with me, Puckerman?"
"Thank you for making my dream come true, my queen," said Puck, grinning over his shoulder at Artie, Tina, Lauren, and Mike before following his date out onto the floor. Since the song was great, they did the same.
The song, Selena Gomez's 'Love You Like a Love Song' was being performed by Santana, Brittany... and Quinn. It was amazing seeing the Unholy Trinity performing together again, but Quinn looked like she didn't know what to do with herself. She was sitting on the seat of her walker, though her wheelchair would have been so much more fun, in terms of choreography. Santana and Brittany's energy more than made up for hers, but it brought Artie's mood down to see his friend looking kind of melancholy at her prom. When the song ended, Joe ever so carefully helped her climb down while Santana brought the walker down behind them.
Brittany spotted Artie and his group and ran over immediately after. "You guys totally missed my dinosaur solo!" she said. Only Brittany seemed to have remembered her own theme, when it came to the song choice and even her attire, which looked kind of like Pebbles from the Flintstones.
"Sorry, Britt," Artie told her. "We liked the one you guys just did though. Oh, hey Kurt!" He added that last part as Kurt walked up to the group, only Kurt was distracted by something behind them.
"Oh, dear God."
They all turned to see that he was looking at Blaine, who had just emerged in all his hair-gel-depraved glory, his hair taking on a new life of its own under the lights.
"Don't make fun of the new kid with the bad 'fro," Brittany chastised Kurt. "It's hair-bullying."
"That's not a new kid," Mike told her, trying to cover his laugh. "That's Blaine without hair gel."
"Is it really that bad?" Blaine patted his voluminous hair self-consciously, looking at all of them for confirmation.
"It's not that bad," Tina started to say.
"Yeah, it is," Brittany spoke up. "It's really bad. And you made your point. I abused my power as president. So, to help save the prom, and to keep people from turning to stone when they look at you, I'll give you special permission to wear hair gel, immediately."
"Thank you, thank you," Blaine said. "I'll be right back." But, before he could disappear to the restroom to fix his tresses, Kurt grabbed his arm.
"Don't you dare," he told him. "I love finally getting to see the real you. The man without the product. And I want everyone here to know just how proud I am of my brave, handsome, bushy-haired boyfriend."
Artie's viewing of the moment was interrupted by Sam suddenly running over. "Artie, Mike, we're up next!"
"And next, please welcome to the stage… McKinley's very own boyband of hotties!" Sugar the emcee (by default, because no one wanted to sing with her) introduced them, as the student body erupted with cheers.
Artie had really hoped that – with his friend and one-time girlfriend planning the prom – this would be the year that they'd finally remember to include a ramp for him to get onto the stage, but he wasn't surprised to find that this simple fix had been overlooked yet again. He should have known better than to hope that Brittany would remember to make things accessible for him. Luckily, Sam had gotten exceptionally good at bumping him up stairs, after their recent trip to Kentucky, so that was what he did when it was time for them to perform.
Mike and Artie had met up before school a few days during the week, working together to choreograph the upbeat routine which was full of typical boy band moves: jumps, spins, and kicks that were all in-sync with the other members. The choreography was simple enough so that even Joe– who was still new to all of this– could keep up, making it easy for Artie to modify for himself. He even made sure to throw a few wheelies in there for himself so that he could show off.
The guys fed off of the energy from the crowd, which was electric. Even the students who weren't usually fazed by the glee club's impromptu performances couldn't resist the pure, British magic of One Direction. When the performance was over, everyone cheered even louder and Artie grinned. Moments like these reminded him of why he loved being on stage and being a part of glee club so much.
As they were basking in the audience's adoration, Sam and Artie high-fived, and Sam surprised him by leaning over and putting a hand on his back.
"Hey, can I pick you up?" Sam asked, breathlessly.
"Uh, sure?" Artie replied, uncertain about what Sam had planned. Before Artie knew it, he had one arm wrapped tightly around Sam's neck, and he used the other to push off his chair's arm rest as he was being lifted high into the air.
The action could have been a scary one, but it didn't feel that way to Artie. He knew that Sam wouldn't drop him, and so he allowed himself to use the moment to feel like a true rockstar, pumping his fist as the fans screamed his name. Mike Chang took the opportunity to grab Artie's chair, lifting it and holding it upside down over his head as the crowd continue to roar.
When the cheers died down, Mike carried the chair down the stairs and Sam adjusted his grip on Artie as he followed Mike off stage. Sam bent down to deposit Artie safely back in his chair, and then they high-fived again before Artie even had a chance to adjust the way his feet were placed on the footrest.
"That was AWESOME!" Artie exclaimed as the five friends celebrated after coming off stage.
"Best performance of the night, by far!" Sam replied, and the others nodded in agreement just as Mercedes and Tina approached the group to whisk their dates away to take them back to the dance floor.
"Hey, did you guys see that?" Joe asked Rory and Artie– the only guys who remained– as he pointed to the mechanical dinosaur ride that was serving as the photobooth for the event. "I spotted it when we were up on stage. We should go check it out!"
"Don't we want to save that for, I don't know, our dates?" Artie asked, as he scanned the crowd for Lauren.
Rory shrugged. "Sugar's still busy on stage." He pointed to their friend, who had the microphone back in her hand. Artie was beginning to think she could make some sort of career out of this someday. "Could be fun to go check it out, no?"
Now it was Artie's turn to shrug. But what better things did he have to do? So, he gave in and nodded, and pushed off to follow Joe and Rory over to the attraction. When they reached the dinosaur-ride-slash-photo-op, there was no line, and Brittany and Santana were both riding it, throwing up peace signs for the camera.
"Didn't Brittany do an amazing job planning this genius, prehistoric prom?" Santana asked the guys as she hopped off the ride and reached for Britt's hand. The three guys nodded obediently.
"Next!" The photographer called, waving them over.
"You guys go without me," Artie told them, as Joe and Rory began to walk towards the dinosaur.
"Come on, Artie!" Joe pleaded, and Artie was a bit surprised that his participation seemed to mean so much to the other guy. "We want you to join us, it'll be fun!"
Artie shook his head. He didn't want to have to go into a longwinded explanation on how it would be difficult– and probably uncomfortable for everyone– for him to make that awkwardly-angled transfer without help.
"I'll pick you up," Rory offered. "Just like Sam did at the end of the number. I'm stronger than I look because I used to help out a lot on my grandparents' farm in Ireland, lugging the sacks of potatoes everywhere." He flexed his arm, as if to prove his point.
Artie was about to decline again when he heard his mother's voice in the back of his head begging for him to take at least one photo at the dance to bring back to her. And what could possibly be more representative of his night than one of him on board a dinosaur, with the two guys who were new to glee club and who'd swooped in on the girls he'd been interested in? The circumstances were so strange that it was almost funny.
That was how, for the second time that night, Artie allowed himself to be lifted from his chair by one of his friends. He never pictured himself putting so much trust in the Irishman, but in the spirit of prom, he went along with it. Artie gripped the dinosaur's steering wheel with one hand and wrapped his other arm so tightly around Rory's neck that he kind of felt bad for him. Joe posed beside them, one leg casually resting against Artie's so that he wouldn't slip off of Rory's lap. Artie made the most worried face he could muster right as the camera flashed, and he knew that it was the perfect shot to bring home to his mom.
"Stay right there." The command came from none other than Lauren, who had just appeared and was doubled over, laughing so hard she was nearly in tears. "One more photo op," she added, still cracking up, as she also tried to figure out how to pose with Artie, plus dinosaur and minus his chair.
In what was turning out to be the weirdest night of his life, Joe and Rory handed him off to Lauren, who straddled both the dinosaur and Artie. He made the same terrified face for the next photo and knew his mom would love this one, too. He was still laughing as Lauren deposited him back in his chair, which oddly enough, must not have been on the list of things she refused to do as his date.
"Attention, children!" Mr. Figgins had gotten the mic back from Sugar now. "First, I have an announcement to make: There are reptiles living in McKinley toilets no more. The family of snakes has been safely removed to the zoo, and they can life out their lives in the toilets there."
As the crowd pushed their way towards the stage, Figgins followed that strange announcement with the introduction of the prom court. Again, Joe had to help Quinn with her walker. She looked beautiful in her blue sequined gown, and everyone clapped extra loudly for her as she slowly made her way onto the stage to join the others.
"I would like to invite last year's queen, sassy male student Kurt Hummel, to crown this year's winners," Figgins continued, as Kurt did a half-hearted wave and joined them onstage, taking the two crowns.
"This year's Prom King is... Mr. Finn Hudson!" A huge cheer went up for Finn, the loudest whoops and whistles coming from his friends in Glee.
"And the winner for Prom Queen is... in one of the closest races in McKinley history, winning by just one vote... Ms. Santana Lopez!"
More cheers went up for Santana, as Artie's heart sank. Quinn wasn't surprised, of course, being that they'd counted the votes together.
"McKinley Titans, bow down to your new leaders!" Figgins was saying. "And now... first dance of this year's Senior King and Queen!"
Finn and Santana could not have looked more uncomfortable dancing with each other. And it was made even more awkward by the fact that Rachel had shown up – Artie supposed the anti-prom must have been a bust – and was now standing awkwardly off to the side. Taking note of her discomfort, however, it was Kurt who stepped off-stage and joined Rachel for a dance. Meanwhile, Blaine paired off with Brittany, who didn't seem too upset about losing the title of king to Finn.
The song was 'Take My Breath Away' and the singers were none other than Mercedes and Tina, who had only ever sung together during a post-Sectionals celebratory number last year, which meant another duet was long overdue.
"No lap dances, sorry." Artie was distracted by the singers and had almost forgotten about Lauren, standing next to him, as she said this.
"That's okay," he assured her, as he found himself now scanning the room, trying to see where Quinn had ended up. He spotted her sitting at a table with Joe. "Uh, hey, Lauren? I... I need to go talk to Quinn. I really want to clear the air. I feel bad for being mean to her, and now she's lost and..."
"You don't have to explain it all to me," Lauren cut him off. "I could do without the Glee drama, please, it's the reason I left. It's cool, go talk to her. Send Teen Jesus my way if someone needs to keep him busy."
With a grateful nod to Lauren, he headed across the room, wheeling his way around couples until he made his way to her table. She wasn't moping or anything. In fact, she'd been locking in a lively conversation with Joe, who spotted Artie before she did.
"Hey, Artie!" Joe said, giving him a wave. "Quinn was just giving me the history of this song. I really regret being homeschooled sometimes. It's embarrassing not to know about 'Top Gun.' Or really any cultural reference..."
"Oh, yeah, that is... kind of embarrassing," Artie had to agree. He glanced at Quinn, trying to think of a way to get her away from Joe, so they could talk. And then he remembered what Lauren had said. "Uh, she'll kill me for saying this, Joe, but my date, Lauren? She loves this song and, since I can't really dance with her, do you think maybe you could?"
"Oh, yeah? Uh, sure!" And Joe spotted Lauren, who noticed him looking her way and suddenly looked uncharacteristically shy and nervous as he approached.
"You lost me my date," Quinn said, but she was smiling and didn't look upset about it. "Um, but that's good... because I was hoping we could talk."
"Yeah, we need to do that," Artie agreed. "But this song is really good. Think you're up for a dance? You get to sit when it's with me."
And Quinn nodded, as she carefully rose from her seat, using the table for support, and then just as carefully settled herself into Artie's lap. He wheeled them both out onto the floor, far enough from the stage to hear each other.
"So, you didn't save your walking for prom like you said you would," Artie observed.
"No," she said, grimacing slightly. "No, I thought it would be kind of horrible of me to make a big show of it. After all of that. Artie... I'm so sorry I hurt you with... with everything I did."
"Well, I shouldn't have yelled at you," he said, as she tucked her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry, too. And I should have come to you sooner and just told you that."
"No, I should have come to you," she countered. "You know, after I realized what I did to you, I didn't even want it anymore. I voted for Santana. I gave her the vote she needed to win."
"You... what?" Artie laughed, and she laughed too. It felt good to share a laugh again. "Quinn, you're still a queen, as far as I'm concerned. You're an inspiration to every single person in this room, just like you are to me. From where you began, to where you are now... you're amazing."
As he said this, she locked her arms tightly around his neck, pulling him in for a tight hug.
"Who did you vote for?" she wanted to know. "For Queen?"
"Missy Gunderson," he said, as she smacked his arm. "Hey, ow! I was just kidding, you of course. I was ticked off, yeah, but not mad enough to do that."
And she hugged him once more. It felt good to have her back in his life. Of course, as Jon had pointed out, they didn't have much time left. And now Artie understood why Tina had been crying all night.