"how am i supposed to leave you now that you're already over?" — already over, sabrina carpenter
October 2021.
"That was the last time," Tina declares, panting against Mike's lips as carefully he slides himself out of her. She gives him a stern look to ferment her words as she watches him flop backwards on his side of the bed.
And one month ago, that sentence would have filled Mike with dread and worry but now all he does is prop his head up by his elbow and smirks at her. "You said that last time," he reminds her, amusement dripping from his every word. He brushes her hair aside as she looks up at him in a post-coital haze and presses a kiss on her collarbone. "And the time before that," he mutters, placing another kiss under her jawline. "Oh, and the time before that," he ferments his point nibbling on her ear.
"But I mean it this time," she says half-heartedly despite her words, trying to stop her eyes from rolling to the back of her head from his ministrations.
"No, you don't," is all he says before recapturing her lips in a heated kiss.
For the past month, the two of them have been continuing their vicious cycle. Tina shows up at his place late at night, they hook up, she is racked with guilt and hastily leaves his apartment, and then it repeats.
They have an unspoken agreement to never talk about Artie or the status of their relationship, knowing that the moment they do, all of this will be over and neither one of them is ready for that.
Instead, Mike welcomes Tina into his apartment (and his bedroom) and every night he draws it out for as long as he can because the moment it ends, she'll walk out the door again and there's a chance she might never walk back in. Mike has never been good with words but he has always been good at communicating with his body. He's always been good at this.
And he knows that he should probably feel a little bit of remorse for what they are doing. He is pretty sure that Tina feels enough of it for the both of them and it tortures him to know that she is suffering but he can't bring himself to stop. Once their lips meet, the rest of the world disappears and nothing else matters but them and this moment. He's addicted to her and he craves her more and more every day.
Tina playfully pushes him away, giggling at the way he attempts to kiss her again. "Okay, okay, fine, I don't mean it. But I do have to meet up with Blaine and Sam and you have to head to the dance studio to prep for Valerie Dance Academy's first big showcase tomorrow."
Mike reluctantly climbs off of her with a groan but not before pecking her lips one more time. "Okay, go enjoy your little reunion. I'll see you tonight," he says and silently curses the way his words come out as a question, his voice filled with hope.
Tina nods her head at him and brushes his hair to the side. "I'll see you tonight."
Before meeting Blaine and Sam for brunch, Tina stops by her own apartment in the city. She honestly can't even remember the last time she came here. Most nights, she has been going straight to Mike's apartment, having kept some of her clothes there or borrowing some of his. But if she's going to be spending time with Sam and Blaine, she is going to need access to her full wardrobe.
Tina walks inside and immediately roots through some of her mail when a voice cuts through the room causing her to jump in surprise. "I was wondering where you were."
She turns around to find her fiancé rolling out of the bedroom, laughing softly at the sight of her startled state. "Artie! Hey, babe," she greets him nervously, her eyes wide with fear. The reality of her affair with Mike is much more apparent to her now that Artie is right in front of her and smiling so sweetly at her. "I thought you weren't getting in until tomorrow morning?"
"I got in a few hours ago and I wanted to surprise you," he explains, rolling up towards her and lacing his fingers with hers. "I've missed you."
Tina releases a shaky breath and tries to return his smile as she cups his cheek, caressing it gently with her thumb. "I've missed you, too."
Artie pulls her onto her lap before kissing her soundly. As his lips move against hers, she can't help but marvel at how different his kisses are compared to the last person she kissed. Artie's kisses are soft and sweet but Mike's are passionate and fiery and always leave her wanting more.
She can hear her phone buzzing from where she left it on the dining table and she pulls away from Artie to glance back at it with worry, knowing that it was probably Mike responding to the last text that she sent mere moments before. With a shake of her head, she returns her attention to Artie, recapturing his lips and hoping to distract him from the notifications on her phone. But it buzzes again, and again, and one more time.
"If you have to get it…" Artie mutters, pulling away from her briefly.
"It's not important," Tina dismisses, fermenting her words with one more kiss. "It's probably just Blaine and Sam wondering where I am – we're supposed to meet up soon but I wanted to change first."
"Oh wow, Sam's in town too?" Artie asks in surprise.
"Yeah, a lot of New Directions alumni are coming in this weekend. I guess they just know how important the showcase is to Mike," she supposes before quickly adding as an afterthought, "And Britt and Santana."
"Well, it's nice to all be in the same space again as everyone," Artie says, not noticing her slip-up and it makes Tina sigh in relief.
"It really is," she muses before taking a deep breath and extracting herself from his hold. "Well, I've gotta get a move on – Blaine and Sam are waiting for me. But I'll see you when I get back."
"Okay, bye, babe," Artie says. She barely makes it a few steps toward the bedroom before he adds, "Oh, by the way, I think the housekeeper you hired deserves a bonus because this place is spotless! I mean, it's like nobody has been living here for a while."
All Tina can do is give him a tight-lipped smile and nod her head in response before heading inside her bedroom to change her clothes.
Shortly after, Tina makes her way across the city through the crisp autumn day to the Spotlight Diner where Blaine and Sam currently wait for her arrival. "There she is!" Blaine Anderson crows from the corner booth when he spots Tina squeezing past the other tables toward them.
After helping the revived New Directions win nationals, Blaine moved back to New York with his husband and graduated from NYU. In the past six years, like many of the New Directions alumni, Blaine has found a lot of success in his career as a singer-songwriter and is even a Grammy nominee. And about one year ago, with the help of their surrogate Rachel Berry, he and his husband, Kurt Hummel, welcomed their daughter, Hepburn.
"Hey, you guys!" Tina exclaims as she reaches over the table to give the two boys a warm hug, kissing their cheeks in the process. "Sorry for being a little late – I had to stop by my apartment for a second and Artie had just flown in."
"Oh, so you were busy reuniting with your fiancé… that's why it took you so long to get here," Blaine teases, wagging his eyebrows at Tina as she takes a seat next to him.
"Mmhmm," Tina mumbles in confirmation, choosing to distract herself by perusing through the menu in front of her.
Blaine and Sam exchange a look of suspicion before returning their gaze to Tina. "Something you wanna share, Queen T?" Blaine probes with a quirk of his eyebrow.
"Did you make a deal with the devil so that you could get famous? I knew it was suspicious when you got cast in that movie with Michelle Yeoh," Sam interrogates, leaning forward to eye her menacingly.
Tina rolls her eyes and reaches across the table to lightly whack Sam on the arm. "No, I did not make any deals with the devil, but thank you so much for believing in my acting talent," she snaps before pausing and sighing deeply as Sam and Blaine stare at her in concern. "You can't tell anyone."
"Come on, Tee, it's us," Blaine responds, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.
Tina glances cautiously at her best friends and acknowledges the sincerity in their eyes. She gulps before mumbling, "I might be sleeping with Mike."
"And by might be, you mean…" Blaine trails off, asking for clarification.
"I mean that Mike and I have been hooking up for over a month," she admits, holding her breath in anticipation of their reactions.
"And you broke up with Artie?" Sam probes.
"Nope, we're still engaged," Tina promptly answers before downing her mimosa in one gulp, thankful that Blaine knows her well enough to order one for her before she arrived.
"Wow," is all the boys can manage to say, their eyes wide with shock.
"Yup," she confirms and slumps backwards into her seat.
"So, let me get this straight – you're cheating on Artie?" Sam clarifies, his voice a whisper and a yell at the same time, wanting to berate his friend but conscientious enough that others don't overhear their conversation.
"Please keep your judgement to yourself," Tina pleads with a grown as she buries her head in her hands. "I already feel guilty enough."
Despite her clear misery, Sam continues to scold her. "I told you to be careful!"
"Sam, you know that whenever you give advice, I mostly tune it out," Tina retorts.
His jaw drops in offence while Blaine tries to hold back a laugh. "Okay, that is really rude. I give great advice!"
"Really? Remember how you told everyone to picture Beiste as a way to cool off?" Tina reminds him pointedly with a scoff.
"Okay, so that's one example of bad advice that I've already apologized for," Sam sneers, "You're the one who took it."
"Because it was fresh in my mind!" she defends.
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have been hooking up in a classroom! Seriously, you need to learn to keep it in your pants – this is why you're in this mess."
Tina just waves her hand in dismissal, not having any more energy to banter with him, and refocuses their conversation. "I don't know what to do… I've worked so hard to get over Mike."
"Well, clearly, you didn't work hard enough," Sam mutters under his breath.
"Sam!" she chides exasperatedly.
"It's true!" he shouts back at her.
"Okay, okay, stop – all this bickering is very unhelpful," Blaine attempts to mediate, holding his arms up between the two of them, his new fatherly instincts peeking through.
"Fine, sorry – you're right," Sam apologizes, retreating back into his seat but maintaining his stern look at Tina. "But you have to choose one of them."
"I agree, Tay-Tay. Before you end up losing both of them," Blaine concurs and Tina goes silent, considering their advice carefully.
The following night, a mixture of nerves and excitement float through the air backstage of the theatre they've reserved as the dancers of Valerie Dance Academy prepare for their first big showcase. Brittany, Mike and Santana are shuffling around, perfecting the finishing details of their show and helping set up their performers.
As Brittany helps one of her young students lace up her ballet shoes and Mike leads the others in some warm-up stretches, Santana is peeking at the full house in the audience through the stage curtains and gasps loudly, drawing Brittany and Mike's attention. "Holy shit – look who came!"
Brittany and Mike peer over Santana's shoulder, curious about who she has spotted. Mike's attention is caught by the sight of Tina and Artie, seated in the front row of the audience. He watches as Artie whispers something in her ear causing a giggle to escape Tina's lips and Mike can't help the way it makes his jaw tick with jealousy, remembering how he felt when Tina texted him the day before saying she couldn't come over to his place anymore.
But then, Brittany is gasping too and bouncing with enthusiasm in his ear and he's forced to avert his attention back to searching for who is so special in the audience. "She got my invite!"
That's when Mike spots the group of security guards, their expressions stone-cold and serious, and he knows there could only be one person walking behind them. The security teams leads her to her assigned seat in the front row and he finally sees her wearing one of her trademark tracksuits as she nods her head in acknowledgement at the former New Directions member seated around her.
Their young group of students join them in looking at the audience, curiosity getting the better of them. "Woah, that's Vice President Sue Sylvester!"
"Oh wow, this is a really big deal," one of the students realizes, her eyes wide with fear.
Mike smiles gently at her and crouches down to meet her eyes. "It is a really big deal – because you are all insanely talented and we wanted to show it off to everyone we possibly could," he says, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "And I know it's kinda nerve-wracking to have all those people watching you but I know you are all gonna kill it tonight."
The bell starts ringing and the lights start flickering, signalling that their show is about to start soon. "Everybody, gather up!" Santana calls and all their students stand together in a circle on the stage. "When the three of us were in glee club together, we would have this tradition of doing a show circle before every competition – and while this is not a competition, we wanted to bring that tradition here to all of you."
"You have all worked so hard for this moment and we could not be more proud of you!" Brittany praises, beaming as she looks around the room at all the students.
"Now, all you have to do is go out there, have a lot of fun, and show everyone your sick moves!" Mike exclaims before putting his hand in the middle of the circle, encouraging everyone to do the same. "On three… One. Two. Three. Ahhhhhh-mazing!"
After the showcase, the crowd floods backstage, a lot of adrenaline floating around. Mike is being bombarded with praise from the audience members whilst also congratulating his students on their performance when someone suddenly jumps into his arms, hugging him tightly.
It's the scent of her perfume that allows him to confirm that it's her. It's unmistakable. It's the scent that currently lingers on his bedroom sheets, constantly reminding him of the nights they share together. It's the scent that has brought him comfort since his teenage years, knowing that she was somewhere around the room. It's the scent of lavender and vanilla and just Tina.
"Oh my God, that was such an amazing show!" Tina raves as she pulls away from him despite how desperately Mike still wants to keep her in his arms. "I am so, so proud of you and how far you've come."
Mike smiles widely at her in appreciation. "I couldn't have done any of this without you."
"That's probably true," she teases and all Mike wants to do is kiss the smug smirk off her face. But he knows that her fiancé is somewhere around the corner and there are hundreds of people around them, so he just laughs with her. After a beat, Tina adds, "I'm sure you would've been a great doctor but I'm really glad you didn't go through with that… This is where you were always meant to be."
And her words take Mike's breath away.
He knows it's true. There is nothing he would rather do in the world than dance. But he didn't know that before her. She has always been his biggest supporter and he doesn't know what he did to deserve her. She is standing in front of him, beaming at him with so much pride in her eyes, and she looks so unbelievably beautiful that the urge to pull her in and show her just how much she means to him grows stronger
But, then, Artie is rolling up beside her and clears his throat and Mike is once again being dragged back to reality. "Hey, Mike, great work! The choreography was amazing – as usual!"
Mike gives him a polite, tight-lipped smile and lightly pats him on the shoulder in gratitude. "Thanks, man… Are you two heading to the afterparty at the club tonight?"
"Oh, you know it," Artie enthuses. "My flight back to London isn't until tomorrow evening so we can go ham tonight and celebrate VDA's success."
"Great! I've still got some things to take care of here but I'll see you both there," Mike says, looking pointedly at Tina for a moment before walking away to continue chatting with audience members and his performers.
Later in the evening, the New Directions alumni all meet at the club for a little reunion to celebrate their friends' success. Some of them are gathered by the bar, knocking back shots together, while others have joined the crowded dancefloor. It's a rare occasion for so many of them to be together in one room again since they are all so busy but they will always try to find time to support each other.
Mike is seated on a couch, sipping a beer and catching up with one of his best friends, Matt Rutherford. Five years ago, Matt was drafted by the NFL to play for the Carolina Panthers. But just last year, he switched over to play for the Cleveland Browns in Ohio.
Blaine and Sam sit beside them on the couch and joins their conversation, and Mike is grateful for the easy friendship the three of them have formed since their road trip eight years ago. He loves being surrounded by his oldest and closest friends again and he is trying his best to focus on that and have a good time – I mean, he just helped produce a successful showcase for a dance studio that he partly owns!
But instead of paying attention to whatever Matt, Blaine and Sam are talking about, he's staring across the room at the dancefloor where Tina currently is with Artie. He watches as they laugh together before Artie starts to pull Tina onto his lap, running his hands across her body, and it makes Mike want to rip his hands off but he knows he doesn't have a right to. She is his fiancée.
Mike's attention is being brought back to his friends when Matt excuses himself and gets up to flirt with someone he has spotted at the bar. Blaine uses this opportunity to lean forward, resting his elbows against his knees and staring Mike directly in the eyes. "Look, Mike, we know."
"You know?" he asks, his eyebrows knotted in confusion, the alcohol in his system preventing him from understanding what this could be about.
"About…" Sam starts, looking cautiously around the room and lowering his voice, "you and Tina."
Mike takes a second to process this information. He briefly considers denying it but there's no use. They are Tina's best friends and she probably told them herself out of guilt and it brings him an overwhelming feeling of remorse. "And you think I'm an awful person?"
"No, of course not – I mean, we've both helped other people cheat," Blaine reasons and it brings Mike some ease. "I'm not saying it's right – but we've definitely been there before."
"But that doesn't mean you should keep going," Sam advises, staring at him pointedly.
Mike scoffs in response and takes another swig of his beer. "That's a lot easier said than done."
Blaine carefully observes as Mike watches Artie place his fingers on Tina's chin, drawing her in for a sweet kiss, and can feel the pain radiating from his friend. "You're still in love with her, aren't you?"
"With everything that I am," Mike responds softly and winces at the sight before him. Sighing deeply, he tears his eyes away from them and chugs the rest of his beer before standing up and announcing, "I'm gonna get another drink."
On his way to the bar, Mike notices Tina extracting from Artie's hold and excusing herself to use the washroom. Before she disappears into the dark hallway, she glances over her shoulder and catches Mike's eyes before winking at him, a devious smirk on her lips.
Despite his better judgement, he follows her, carefully making sure no one else can see. When he turns the corner and catches up with her in the empty corridor, his hands immediately cup her face, crashing his lips onto hers and pressing her against the wall. She wraps her arms around his neck in response, tangling her fingers in his hair and deepening their kiss.
He draws her bottom lip between his teeth, nibbling it gently before pulling away from her to drag her inside the single-person washroom, locking the door swiftly behind them before lifting her onto the sink.
Tina can't help but chuckle at his eagerness as he continues ravishing her lips. "We are gonna get caught," she warns with a moan.
"I don't care," he growls as he hooks her legs around his waist, pressing his hips into hers, and he means every word.
There is a part of him that wants to get caught – that wants everyone to see the way she writhes under his every touch. To hear the way she moans his name. To know that even for this fleeting moment, while his hand is slowly trailing up her inner thighs, she is completely his.
a/n: i wasn't sure if the klaine baby's name was tracy or hepburn but i went with hepburn bc i thought it would be more camp than tracy