Story Title: On the Evolution of Love

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: Glee

Warnings: Het, slash

Pairings: Mike/Tina, Matt/Mike, Tina/Artie

Summary: Mike and Tina as they go through various stages and forms of love. Because love cannot be bound by a single interpretation.

Disclaimer: I don't own the elements/characters of Glee.

Notes: I don't know where this actually came from, other than my desire to explore the facets of "love".

OoOoO

It began in a flash of heat and passion. Two lonely souls who only met intermittently clashed in their individual worlds and sparked.

Tina, ignored by her boyfriend, needing companionship no one was willing to offer.

Mike, left behind by his best friend, with no one to share his life with.

Drowning in their own pain and solitude, when they touched, it was a ray of light breaking through the darkness. Once they caught that warmth, they couldn't help but stoke it into an almighty blaze. Heat and passion scorched their senses.

Tina broke up with Artie within a day.

Mike's relentless torrent of emails eased into a stream.

Though they knew it could be nothing but a flash fire, it was what they wanted... maybe even needed.

OoOoO

It melted into a steady sun after the summer ended. No longer did it consume all of their attention, threatening to burn them to a crisp.

Instead, the warmth invigorated them.

It became a source of comfort, a place to draw strength from. Secure in the knowledge that they had each other, they could meet the world head on.

It empowered them.

Tina continued to break out of her shell. She blossomed under Mike's doting attention. It showed in the way she walked, talked, dressed. Nothing so crude as shouting it from the rooftops but it was in the straightening of her spine, the confidence in her stride. There was self-assurance where before had only been doubt.

Mike reveled in his love. Though his face often displayed his thoughts, his true tell was in the way he moved. Movement was his life and love was a part of that life. An extra spring on his step, a bounce in his perpetual dance through life—everything shown for those who could see.

Nothing could hide the changes which caused them to bloom so beautifully.

OoOoO

It sank into embers as the year passed.

Love existed. Love shone.

But love didn't blaze like it used to.

Their fights became harsher, more acerbic. They spoke words meant to dig deep and harm, and though the apologies came in the aftermath, it wasn't the same.

The bliss faded into a reality neither really wanted to face. They still clung to each other, but it was without the same desperation or contentment.

They started spending time apart. Tina forged new bonds with New Directions' newest members, the people who would be by her side in the coming year. Mike explored the future in front of him, rushing ahead at full speed.

They knew they were drifting and didn't know how to stop—and they weren't sure if they wanted to. Embers only kept the faded remnants of the true blaze, after all.

OoOoO

It shifted into the wind when Mike went off to college.

Distance would be a death knell for their fading relationship, they knew. Rather than let it spoil and rot, they set it down and refused to be shackled by it. Unbound by the chains of expectation, they flew into the future.

Chicago was a shiny new place where Mike could explore more of himself. Using all of the confidence he learned and the faith Tina still showered him with, he propelled himself forward in this new ground. Mike danced lightly through this life, and he bounced even lighter when he discovered Matt there too. Matt watched this new Mike and wondered where the shy, quiet dancer he had once known went.

Mike just winked and fluttered away, because he knew.

Tina's back was straight as she started her senior year, but it wasn't tension that caused her to walk upright—it was purpose. She was one of New Directions' co-captains, buoyed by the strength Mike left her. She would blaze her own trail into the future and carry her friends forward on her convictions. Soaring on the boon given to her, Tina triumphed.

Artie and Brittany liked to tell the newbies about the stuttering, introverted Tina of freshman year and revel in their disbelief.

Though they were out of each other's sight, the wind carried their strength and emotions to each other.

OoOoO

It expanded into an ocean as they made their way into the future.

Their love was unfathomably deep. After it ceased to be their one reason to live, after they made it be the catalyst for their change into better people, they found it to never end.

Distance meant nothing to the ocean; they could pass their messages along to each other over its surface, sure that it would always be there.

Mike discovered a new facet during college that had him tumbling head first into a relationship with Matt, his best friend and now, apparently, boyfriend. When he first panicked and needed advice, Tina was there with a soft smile and comforting words. With her approval and reassurance, he danced with Matt until they fell together in a twisting tangle of limbs and sparks.

Time also did wonders for Tina and Artie. What once had sputtered was rekindled anew. Though Artie no longer needed to be reminded as much of how self-centered he could be, Tina still had Mike to give her those little boosts of self-confidence and worth that let her stand up to Artie if he strayed into old habits.

Distance may have separated them, but the well of strength their relationship brought never dried.

OoOoO

It settled into the earth by the time they'd lived through thick and thin.

It was so ever-present that they no longer gave it another thought. It was warm and dependable, settled into its final form. Though it could shift and move, very little could change it.

They were at peace with each other.

Tina stood by Mike's side as he got married to Matt. Mike was the same at Tina's wedding to Artie.

Both Matt and Artie fielded questions about how they felt about their spouses' exes being so close. Matt merely raised an eyebrow, as taciturn as ever, while Artie elaborated with a shake of his head.

Neither man would ever begrudge that relationship, because they were connected. There was love there, yes.

Love came in far too many forms for it to be bound with simplistic definitions.

If Mike called Tina up in the middle of the night with a problem, Matt thought it was fine. If Tina sometimes disappeared for a few days to catch up with Mike, Artie understood.

Their relationship was transcendental. To love one of them was to acknowledge that that there was love for another.

It wasn't sexual, but it wasn't platonic.

It just was.

Tina only smiled when questioned, and Mike danced away with laughter in his eyes.

OoOoO

They loved each other. That was all there was to it.