"if i can't have you, is love completely off the table?" — off the table, ariana grande ft. the weeknd
February 2022.
Three months pass by. It's been three months since Tina wrapped her movie and flew back to Los Angeles. It's also been three months since she has last seen or spoken to Mike and she doesn't let herself notice it, but she does.
The holidays come and go and they make it easier for her to pretend like everything is okay. Her busy schedule didn't allow time for her to visit her family in Lima and it isn't the same as the cold, snowy winters she loves so much from back home but she's with Artie and Quinn and Mercedes and the family that they've made on the west coast. You're supposed to spend the holidays with your loved ones and Artie is her loved one, she supposes. It's different and unfamiliar but since she's trying to move away from her past – and Mike – she welcomes it.
Being back out in Los Angeles has done wonders in repairing her relationship with Artie. There is no Mike here or any constant reminders of him. It's just them, balancing their busy Hollywood film schedules with the planning of their wedding which is about one month away.
Meanwhile, in the past three months, Mike buries himself in his work. He has spent his days in a never-ending cycle of teaching classes at the dance studio and choreographing numbers for various A-list popstars and Broadway musicals. He's exhausted but he figures that if he is constantly working, then he doesn't have time to think about Tina or even scroll through social media where he will undoubtedly be reminded of her upcoming nuptials.
After working a particularly late night at the dance studio, spending hours perfecting yet another dance number, he stumbles back to his apartment to find Brittany and Santana seated on his couch, patiently waiting for his arrival.
"Hey, you two," Mike attempts to greet them cheerfully but it falls flat, the way it usually does lately.
The married couple watch with concern as Mike removes his sneakers by the front door, the bags of exhaustion underneath his eyes very apparent. "Mikey, we're worried about you," Brittany voices with a frown.
"We know you're still hurting, but this isn't healthy," Santana chastises.
"I'm fine," Mike dismisses as he grabs a bottle of beer from his refrigerator and cracks it open.
"You're not fine!" Santana insists, jumping up from the couch to grab the bottle from his hands and hold it away from him. "You're killing yourself with work. You only ever come back here to get like four hours of sleep then you're busting your ass off at work again."
"My sheets still smell like her," Mike simply explains with a sigh and runs his fingers through his dishevelled hair. "And I'm scared that the next time I lay down there, her scent will have completely disappeared. It's just easier to not be in there. In fact, everything in this entire place reminds me of her."
Santana grimaces and crosses her arms, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Okay, first of all, it's disgusting that you haven't changed your sheets in months. And second of all, you can't spend the rest of your life working yourself to death."
"We know you love to dance but there's more to life than just that," Brittany advises, getting up from the couch and placing her hand on his arm, squeezing it sympathetically.
Mike just shrugs exasperatedly in response, struggling to find the words that could help him express the feeling of a never-ending agony in his chest. "The only thing I have ever loved as much as Tina is dance," he says, biting on his bottom lip in thought. "When I dance, I feel closer to her… even if I can't be with her."
Brittany and Santana exchange a worried look, unsure how they can help their best friend who is clearly hurting so much. They've known Mike for years and he's never hurt this much before. In fact, it's always been them who were hurting and he would be the one to comfort them.
Mike rests his elbows on his kitchen island, rubs his palms across his face and lets out a humourless laugh. "I knew it had to end eventually, whatever it was that we were doing… I just thought that when it did, it would end with us together. For the rest of our lives."
Brittany and Santana each wrap an arm around him, sandwiching him in a warm hug. "At least let us take you out," Brittany suggests, resting her head on his shoulder and giving him her best puppy-dog eyes. "Kurt and Blaine invited us over for lunch tomorrow if you want to join."
Mike shakes his head in response and extracts himself from their grasp. "No, I can't, I've got to head to bed. I've got dance rehearsal early tomorrow," he excuses before making his way to his bedroom, not even bothering to let them out.
The following afternoon, Santana and Brittany follow through with their commitment to join Blaine and Kurt for lunch at their apartment. Blaine, Brittany and Santana are chatting at the dining table while Kurt finishes the final details of their meal despite Blaine's offerings to help, much rather preferring to have sole control of his kitchen.
Despite living in the same city, the two married couples don't see each other as often as they would like due to their busy schedules, but with their joint anniversary around the corner, they figured that there is no better time to catch up with one another.
"Is Mercedes not coming too? I thought she was flying in today," Santana recalls before taking a sip of her wine.
"She is but her flight got delayed so she's not getting in until tonight," Kurt clarifies as he adds some garnish to their plates.
"We tried to invite Mike but he turned us down," Brittany mentions with a frown.
"Well, it's probably best that he didn't. Why would he want to fifth wheel two happily married couples?" Blaine reasons, wearing an uncomfortably bright smile on his face, trying too hard to seem cheerful.
Brittany and Santana subtly exchange a look of confusion with each other. The last they heard through the gossip vines is that their marriage is not currently very happy but they aren't going to be the ones to address that.
"Riiiiiiight," Santana finally says, trying to avoid creating any awkward moments and deciding to refocus the subject. "Mike is absolutely miserable."
"Tina is too," Blaine reveals with a deep sigh. "Quinn called me the other day to tell me how worried she is about her."
"Really?" Brittany inquires as Kurt places their food in front of them.
"Yeah. Apparently, Tina broke down in tears in front of her not that long ago. Quinn thought she was just stressed about trying to balance her projects with the wedding planning and told her that she could take a little break if she needed but Tina immediately shut her down. She called me because she thought I would know what was going on, which I do, but she's obviously not publicizing it so I couldn't tell her anything but she knows something is up."
"I'm really worried about them," Britany says as she pokes at the food on her plate, her eyebrows furrowed with concern. "They obviously want to be together."
"That might be true, but remember, Tina is still engaged to Artie, our other close personal friend," Kurt reminds them pointedly and the other three roll their eyes at him. "We can't just mess with that."
Santana takes another sip of her wine, her eyebrows scrunched together as her finger repeatedly taps on her glass in deep thought. "Okay, so we won't mess with that," she says with a hint of deviousness in her voice and she smirks. "But we can at least get them to talk to each other again."
"What good is that going to do?" Kurt questions with a scoff.
"Maybe, it will help them understand how much they want to be together," Blaine supposes with a shrug.
"But who's to say that Artie and Tina wouldn't be happy together?" Kurt stresses, unsure about their plans.
"It's Artie and Tina. I know that we're not all the same people that we were in high school, but their relationship wasn't right then and we all know it isn't right now. And I'm sure that neither of them wants to be trapped in a marriage that shouldn't have happened to begin with," Santana points out, narrowing her eyes at him.
They pretend not to notice the way her words make Kurt subtly glance at Blaine and sigh. "Okay, fine," Kurt acquiesces, waving his hands in the air in defeat. "What do you have in mind?"
"We just have to get them back in the same room," Blaine plots.
They all go silent for a moment, trying to come up with ideas of how they can get Tina and Mike to talk again when their phones go off at the same time. They simultaneously check their phones to see that they've been added to a group chat with Quinn, Rachel, Mercedes and Tina.
Tina: heyyyy i managed to find some time to fly out to nyc this weekend for my wedding dress fitting, pls tell me you're all free to join
"Her wedding dress fitting, huh?" Santana echoes deviously. "I can work with that."
"Oh my God, Kurt, Tina, you guys are fashion geniuses!" Mercedes praises as she twirls in front of the mirror in her bridesmaid's dress. "This is the most stunning dress I've ever worn in my life – and I've worn some nice dresses."
"You really have. I mean the dress you wore to the Grammy's this year was to die for," Quinn raves, stepping out of the dressing room in her own bridesmaid's dress.
"Congratulations on winning album of the year, by the way," Rachel offers, squeezing Mercedes' hand excitedly.
"Thank you," Mercedes says with a flip of her hair.
Tina, Kurt, Mercedes, Santana, Brittany, Quinn, Rachel and Blaine have all reunited and are currently gathered in an atelier that Kurt partially owns.
Ever since Artie's proposal, Tina and Kurt have been working closely together to design the dresses for the wedding. And with only one month left until the big day, the dresses were finally ready for their last round of fittings. The bridesmaids all step out of the dressing room one by one wearing exquisite sage dresses that have been tailored and carefully crafted to match each of them perfectly.
"I'm so glad you all like your dresses!" Tina gleefully exclaims with a bounce. While performing is her true passion, she will always have a special love for fashion design in her heart, especially when it comes to making clothes for people that are like family to her.
"I will try so hard not to spill anything on this," Brittany promises and she says it so earnestly that Tina can't help but laugh.
"Now, Tina, we can't be the only ones in our dresses! Go try yours on!" Rachel insists, ushering her towards the dressing room with her hands.
"Okay, okay, I'm gonna go try it on," Tina says, grabbing Kurt's hand and pulling him inside the dressing room with her where the dress waits. While Tina worked closely with designing the dresses for her bridesmaids, she insisted that Kurt have full control of her own dress, trusting his abilities completely. "Come on, Kurt, I'm gonna need your help getting it on."
Rachel takes a seat on the white couch beside Blaine and tells him, "I wasn't expecting you to be here."
"Tina wanted my opinion on her dress as her maid of honour," he explains with a shrug.
"You're her maid of honour?" Mercedes asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, I think she put all our names in a hat and just picked from there," he supposes and the girls nod their heads in acceptance.
As they wait for Tina to come out with her wedding dress, the girls and Blaine chatter with each other whilst continuing to admire their dresses. Santana goes to pour more champagne into her glass when Blaine peers over her shoulder and whispers frantically, "Is he coming?"
"Yes," Santana simply responds, remaining completely unfazed. "I texted him like 20 minutes ago. He said he'll be here as soon as he can."
Quinn, unintentionally listening to their hushed conversation, scrunches her eyebrows and leans in toward them in curiosity. "Who's coming?"
And as if to answer her question, the sound of footsteps echoing in the hallway draws their attention and they all turn toward the door until they see none other than Mike Chang running inside the room.
"Santana, I came as soon as I can," Mike announces, bending down and grasping his knees, panting heavily. "What the emergency?"
Having always been a great actress, Santana immediately dons her best pretend-confused expression before taking a long sip of her champagne. "Emergency?" she repeats, pursing her lips as if in thought.
"You told me that there was an emergency and that I had to come to your dropped location immediately," Mike elaborates, narrowing his eyes at her as he tries to catch his breath.
Santana shrugs before holding up her now-empty glass of champagne, tapping it lightly. "Maybe I had one too many glasses."
"I ran here from my dance rehearsal halfway across town!" Mike shouts at her in disbelief.
"Oops," is all Santana responds, biting back a smirk.
Mike just shakes his head at her and fights the urge to roll his eyes before finally noticing the other people in the room, who are watching their exchange in amusement. "Oh, hey, everyone. I didn't realize we were having a little glee reunion…" Mike looks around at them and takes in their elegant attire, the rack of various wedding veils in the corner, and the pile of bridal magazines on the table. "Wait…"
He doesn't get to finish voicing his thought because Kurt is bursting from behind the curtains of the dressing room. "Okay, are you all ready to see the final results? Tina, come on out!"
Kurt quickly steps off the platform to join the bridesmaids in watching Tina as she steps out of the dressing room wearing a strapless, white wedding dress with intricate lace detailing and a long, flowy train.
"Is this dress not the one?" Tina says, her eyes looking down at her dress in admiration. When she reaches the edge of the platform, she looks up to garner her friends' reactions but the first pair of eyes she meets are Mike's wide ones and she gasps. "Oh… hey, Mike… what's up?" she asks, attempting to seem nonchalant about his presence.
Mike's breath hitches as he takes in the sight of her, his jaw slightly agape. "Hey… um… hi… I was just, uhhh… Santana – she just – I just… You look… Wow," he stammers lamely and winces at himself before taking a deep breath and shaking his head, trying to refocus and actually form coherent thoughts. "You look beautiful."
Tina's face flushes lightly and she smiles softly at him in appreciation. She silently chastises herself for the sudden butterflies that appear in her stomach at his reaction, feeling like she's 16 again. "Thank you," she responds quietly. And for a moment, she and Mike just stare at each other, recognizing that it's their first time seeing each other again after four months of absolutely no contact.
Tina is pulled out of her trance by the sight of Blaine and Santana's bodies shaking from her peripheral vision as they hold back their laughter. With a shaky breath, she glances around the room once more and puts on her best smile before spinning around in her dress and posing with a flourish. "And what do the rest of you think?"
"I think Mike said it perfectly," Blaine comments pointedly, unable to hide the amusement in his voice and it makes Tina want to slap the smug grin off his face.
"Yeah, it really is the one," Santana declares exaggeratedly, her eyes locked on Mike as he stands frozen in his spot, still staring at Tina in awe.
Tina's eyes lock with Mike's once again. "Yeah, I think so too," she mumbles.
"Yeah…" Mike whispers with a sigh before dropping his head, locking his eyes on the ground, afraid of what he might do if he looks at her again. "Well, I should go… I don't want to ruin your day any more than I already have."
Tina nods her head in agreement and understanding while everyone bids Mike farewell as he walks out of the room.
"What the hell was that?" Quinn gossips with Mercedes.
"I don't know but it's got Snixx written all over it," Mercedes responds as she raises her eyebrows at Santana. The former cheerleader just winks at her in response and does a mini bow while they shake their heads at her.
While everyone seems to return to their own conversations, Tina still remains in her spot, biting her lip in deep thought. Then, before she could stop herself from doing so, she lifts her dress and chases after Mike. "Wait, Mike!" she calls.
Mike immediately stops in his tracks and turns around at the sound of her voice, almost giving himself whiplash in the process. "Yeah?"
"Look, I know this is probably weird," Tina forewarns sheepishly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "But regardless of everything that has happened between us, you are still one of the most important people in my life. It would really mean a lot to me if you were at my wedding. I mean, I just got your parents' RSVPs in the mail earlier this week and I would love for you to join them."
And honestly, Mike thinks that he would rather die than watch Tina marry Artie but she's looking up at him with such hopeful eyes, and she looks absolutely stunning, and he's still never learned how to say 'no' to her. He squeezes his eyes shut, silently cursing himself for his inability to deny Tina anything she asks, and takes a deep breath. "Okay, yeah, I'll be there."
"Great, I'll send you an invite," Tina promises with a wide smile before turning around and heading back inside the dressing room.
"Yup, great," Mike mutters under his breath as he watches her leave.