Blam Week Day 2: Episode rewrite/if Blam was canon.
As always, I'd like to thank my amazing beta, Tuuzmorado.
Sam stared around the crowded halls of Dalton Academy. He hadn't even tried to copy their uniforms, but now he was starting to wish that he had. It felt like everyone was staring at him. At least he'd thought to put on one of his nicer shirts. He would have felt twice as out-of-place if he'd been walking around in one of his normal flannel shirts and jeans. Although, a light blue button-down shirt didn't exactly help him to blend in.
During glee yesterday, Puck had suggested that someone go spy on the Warblers. Well, actually, he'd suggested that Kurt go, and said some other pretty offensive things. Kurt had refused, of course. Then he'd stormed out of the room, leaving Sam to sit there uncomfortably, feeling like he should have said or done something to stick up for Kurt. He'd wanted to, but he'd chickened out, and that left him feeling terrible all afternoon. Afterward, Puck had made a comment about how someone really should try to spy on them, but everyone had just laughed and the idea had been dropped.
Sam definitely hadn't planned on spying, but the idea wouldn't leave his head all night. So now here he was, wandering around a school that he obviously didn't belong in, trying to find someone to talk to.
Sam had thought to go to the library and check out pictures of the Warblers on the Dalton website (his home didn't have a computer), so he recognized the lead soloist right away. To be more specific, he recognized the soloist's hair. Sam had never seen another teenage boy who gelled his hair down that much. He hurried down the stairs, weaving around the other students until he could tap on the soloist's shoulders. "Hey, uh, can I ask you a question?"
The soloist turned around. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Sam's clothes, but didn't comment. "My name's Blaine," he said, offering his hand for Sam to shake.
"Sam," Sam said as he shook Blaine's hand. "So, where is everyone going?"
"To see the Warblers," Blaine said with a grin, glancing over his shoulder at all the students hurrying down the halls. "Every once in a while they like to throw an impromptu performance in the senior commons. It tends to shut the school down for a while."
Now it was Sam's turn to raise his eyebrows, mostly about the fact that Blaine was talking like he wasn't a part of the Warblers. "So, the glee club is cool here?" he asked, deciding not to comment on his word choice, even if it was a little weird.
"Are you kidding? The Warblers are like rock stars!" the soloist said, with so much enthusiasm that Sam had to smile. It was obvious that he really loved his club with the kind of excitement that Sam usually only heard from Rachel. He glanced over his shoulder, looking torn between saying something else to Sam and running off. If the performance was going to happen, it was probably pretty important that the soloist was there on time. Sam was just about to say goodbye so that Blaine could run on ahead when Blaine suddenly grabbed his hand. "Come on, I know a shortcut."
Sam was surprised, but didn't say anything as he and Blaine took off down the hallway. To be honest, he was just glad that he hadn't been kicked out of the school, since it was obvious he didn't belong. And he was a little confused as to why Blaine was letting him come watch the performance, but he wasn't going to question it. At least, not yet.
Sam had kind of doubted the shortcut thing – if this really was a shortcut, why hadn't anyone else used it? – but they got to the senior commons pretty fast, so maybe it really did work. Sam looked around the room and pulled uncomfortably on the bottom of his shirt, wishing he'd at least grabbed a black jacket or something. Anything to make him just a little less noticeable. "I stick out like a sore thumb, don't I?"
Blaine smirked and reached forward to fiddle with the collar of Sam's shirt for a second. "Well, maybe you should wear a different outfit next time you decide to spy on someone," he said quietly. "You'll fit in better."
Sam wasn't particularly surprised that Blaine knew he was a spy – he'd been really obvious on purpose, after all. Mostly he was just confused about why Blaine would lead him here to watch their performance if he knew. But Sam didn't get a chance to ask, because right then the rest of the Warblers started singing. Blaine smiled and nodded to Sam, looking way more posh and polite than any other teenage boy Sam had ever met. "Now if you'll excuse me."
Blaine turned and started singing with the other guys. That's when the realization struck. Blaine hadn't mentioned that he was part of the Warblers because he'd wanted Sam to be surprised, maybe even impressed. Add that to the way he'd grabbed Sam's hand, and the way he touched Sam's shirt, and it all added up to one conclusion. Blaine was flirting with him.
Sam smiled and hoped that he wasn't blushing, because that would be super embarrassing. Truthfully, he wasn't entirely sure what he thought about that. Blaine seemed like a nice guy and all, and things hadn't worked out with Quinn, so Sam was single. But it felt kind of weird. He'd never had a guy flirt with him before, mostly because everyone just assumed that he was straight. And as nice as this felt, Sam wasn't entirely sure if he was ready to come out.
That was why he'd come here, actually. Because he was pretty confused about a few things, and not really sure what to do. He didn't think it was stuff that he should talk to Kurt about. And he knew that Dalton being a gay school was just a dumb stereotype, but still, he'd figured that there had to be at least one gay guy there he could talk to. It wasn't exactly a well-thought-out plan, but it was the best he could come up with.
Sam barely noticed that the Warblers were done singing until he heard everyone around him start clapping. He quickly joined in, because even though he'd gotten a little lost in thought partway through, he'd still seen enough to know that the Warblers were amazing. And that Blaine was amazing.
Blaine turned and said something to a couple of the other Warblers. They talked for about a minute, glancing at Sam every once in a while, in a way that was starting to make him nervous. Sam wondered if he should just leave now, but forced himself to stand there and try to look calm. He'd wanted someone to talk to, and he might have found that person. He couldn't walk away now.
The room was mostly empty by the time Blaine walked over to Sam, flanked by his two friends. "So, you liked the song?"
"Oh, yeah, you guys were incredible," Sam said absently, though he was mostly glancing at Blaine's two friends, wondering what they were doing here.
Blaine smiled and gestured at them. "These are my best friends, Wes and David," he said. "We all have study hall next hour, so we figured we'd skip it and go down get some coffee. There's a really good cafe on campus. Want to join us?"
Sam narrowed his eyes. He wasn't dumb; he knew that this was just an excuse because they wanted to talk to him, but he still nodded. "Sure," he said. Hopefully this would go well, and wasn't because they were trying to lull him into a false sense of security before they took him out for spying.
The cafe was only a minute's walk from the senior commons, and it was spent mostly in silence, except for Wes making a few comments about how they should improve the routine. Nobody said anything really important as they bought their drinks (though Blaine did insist on paying for Sam's tea, which made Sam smile as he added that to the list of ways that Blaine was flirting with him).
Finally, as they sat down, Sam really needed to ask. "So, is this the part where you beat me up for spying, or did you really want to sit and talk?" He didn't think that they were going to hurt him. At least, he was pretty sure that if that had been their intention, then Blaine would have brought some bigger guys along. But he couldn't really be sure.
The three guys all sat down across the table from Sam, with Blaine in the middle. It was a setup that kind of made Sam uncomfortable, like they were all facing him together.
"We are not going to beat you up," Wes said, looking utterly serious.
David, in contrast, chuckled and said, "You were such a terrible spy that it was kind of endearing."
"And it made me think that spying wasn't really the reason you came," Blaine said.
"Well, yeah," Sam said, glancing down at his clothes. He'd thought about trying to fit in more, but he hadn't really wanted to get away with spying on them. He would've felt wrong about that, like he was cheating. At least this way, they knew he was a spy from the beginning, so it was their choice whether he got to see them perform or not.
He realized that all three of them were watching him like they were waiting for him to say more. He wasn't entirely sure what he should say, so he ended up going with the question he was wondering the most. "Are you guys all gay?" About a second after the words left his mouth, he realized that he should have found a better way to ask.
To his relief, the three of them all laughed, not looking offended at all. Uh, no, no," Blaine said, still chuckling. "I mean, I am, but these two both have girlfriends."
"This is not a gay school," David added. "We just have a zero tolerance harassment policy."
"Everybody gets treated the same, no matter what they are. It's pretty simple," Wes said.
Honestly, that didn't sound too simple to Sam. It should have been the easiest thing ever – that was how he tried to treat people – but almost nobody at McKinley seemed to share his opinion.
Some of his thoughts must have shown on his face, because Blaine suddenly looked a lot more concerned than he had a second ago. "Would you guys excuse us?"
Sam didn't know what the point of bringing Wes and David along had been if Blaine was just going to ask them to leave now, but neither of them seemed to mind. They both jumped to their feet. Wes smiled and said, "Take it easy, Sam," as they walked off.
"I take it you're having trouble at school," Blaine said as soon as they were gone.
Sam looked at him in surprise. "No, not me," he said. "It's this friend of mine. Or, well, I'm not sure if I'd call him a friend, but he's cool. He's in glee club with me."
Blaine just nodded slowly, leaning forward and looking like he was listening hard.
"I know what you're thinking, that I'm making up some friend because I don't want to admit that I'm talking about myself," Sam said, sensing something about the way Blaine was looking at him. "But it really is my friend. He's the only out guy at school, and a lot of the other glee guys keep treating him really badly. I don't really know what to do about it." He squirmed uncomfortably in his chair, since that was kind of a lie. He knew what he should do – he should stick up for Kurt. The problem was that he wasn't really sure if he could do that.
"I didn't really want to join glee club," Sam admitted, even though he wasn't really sure why he was saying all this. There was just something about having somebody to listen that made him want to keep talking. "I mean, I love singing, but I didn't want to draw attention to myself and get bullied, you know?"
"So you're scared that, if you stick up for your friend, then you'll get bullied like he is?" Blaine asked, not sounding judgmental, more like he was just asking for confirmation.
"Yeah," Sam admitted sheepishly. "It's just easier to try not to draw attention. I like football, so it's not like it's a sacrifice to play on the team, and it keeps anyone from saying anything bad. And I like girls, so I can just stick to dating them and not have to mention that I like boys, too." That was part of what bugged him the most. He felt like he should come out, so that Kurt wouldn't have to deal with this alone. But at the same time, the last thing he wanted was to end up in the line of fire.
"I think it's really nice of you to worry about your friend," Blaine said. When Sam scoffed, Blaine added, "No, I mean it." He leaned back in his chair, staring a little past Sam, looking like he was thinking hard about whatever was going through his head. "Back at my last school, it was like nobody seemed to care. I tried to talk to people about it, but it was like nobody cared. If you're gay, you're life's just going to be miserable." He gave a little shrug. "Sorry. Nothing we can do about it."
Sam instinctively scooted forward, trying to think of something he could say to comfort Blaine. But before he could, Blaine looked back at Sam. "That's why it's great that you're worried about helping your friend. You're already way ahead of everyone at my old school, just because you care. But now you've got to do something about it."
"Like what?" Sam asked, even though he already had an idea what Blaine was going to say.
"You said that some of the other guys in glee are saying bad things to your friend?" Blaine asked. When Sam nodded, Blaine said, "Confront them. Call them out. Prejudice is just ignorance, Sam, and you have a chance right now to teach them." Blaine hesitated for a second, then added, "I ran, Sam. I didn't stand up. I let bullies chase me away, and it is something that I really, really regret. In my case, I literally ran away. I changed schools so that they couldn't hurt me anymore." He gestured around at the school almost sadly, then said, "But you're doing the same thing. You're holding back, hiding who you are to avoid the bullies, and that's exactly the same as what I did."
Sam shifted in his chair again, not really want to think about it. It was a thought he'd already had once or twice, whenever the guys talked about people they found attractive and Sam only named girl's names, or when he heard someone insult Kurt and didn't say anything. But it was even harder to hear if said out loud by someone else.
And then there was the thing that worried him most of all.
"I don't think it's just normal bullying," Sam said quietly. "Not that bullying is ever normal, or okay – that's not what I meant – but I think there's something even worse going on. The way he looks... It's like he's walking around terrified all the time, like there's something awful going on that none of us know." That was the main reason Sam hadn't said anything. As cowardly as it was, Sam didn't want to get hurt like Kurt had, and that kept him from doing anything.
Blaine leaned forward, eyes intense. "All the more reason to help him out, make sure he knows that you're on his side." He reached across the table and squeezed Sam's hand. "You'd want someone to help you out if you were in his situation. Don't let him go through that alone."
Now that Blaine said it that way, Sam knew that he had to do something.
"I'll talk to him today," Sam said. "And I'll say something next time one of the guys make a comment." He smiled slightly and squeezed Blaine's hand back. "Thanks."
"Hey, you're the one who's actually making this decision," Blaine said with a smile. "I just helped you out a little is all." His smile slid away back into a serious look, and he pulled out a cell phone and passed it across your table. "And call me if you need anyone to talk to. Or if you're friend needs anyone to talk to," he said. "I went through hell at my last school, and if there's anything I can do to make things better for you two, I will."
Sam smiled as he put his number into the phone. It was kind of weird. He was used to doing things on his own. Not many people were nice enough to make an offer like that toward two strangers. Blaine was really incredible.
"I will," he promised, handing the phone back to Blaine. "I should leave now if I want to make it back to McKinley in time for glee."
"Of course," Blaine said as they both stood. "It was really nice to talk to you, Sam. I'll send you a text so you'll have my number. Remember, call me anytime you need help. Or even if you just want to talk." Blaine smiled and gave Sam's hand one more squeeze before letting go and walking off.
Blaine was really nice, Sam thought as he walked away. It was almost enough to make him want to come out at school, just so he could see if Blaine would maybe be interested in going out for coffee again sometime. But he decided not to get ahead of himself.
Sam only made it to the parking lot before the text from Blaine arrived. Sam quickly pulled out his phone, eager to see what it would say.
Courage.