A/N: Because I really wanted to write Samtana friendship for some reason. And Moulin Rouge gave me the best idea. so here we are.
There's hollow thunk as a scrunched up ball of paper bounces off the side of Sam's head and falls onto his desk. No one else seems to notice, so he raises an eyebrow at the offending paper for a moment. He hesitates, before he pulls the paper out and flattens it on his desk. It says 'Trouty, I need your help.'
Sam turns to his right, confused for a moment until he sees Santana looking at him with a sheepish smile. Sam raises an eyebrow at her and she mouths 'we'll talk after class' to him. Sam cocks his head at her, as if he doesn't understand, but he nods anyway. Santana grins at him before going back to her work.
The Latina girl keeps her promise and is waiting for him right outside their classroom when he's done asking for an extension on the essay that's due this Friday. He gets it easily –dyslexia, you know?- but the real reason he needs it is because he hasn't even started it yet.
"I need you to help me woo Brittany." Santana says before he's even set both feet outside the room. Sam frowns at her for a moment.
"Could you not just ask her out?"
"That's not my style, Guppy Lips. You know that." She rolls her eyes at the blonde as if the idea is completely absurd before she elbows him playfully.
"But why do you need me to help? Why me?" Sam asks as he starts to walk down the corridor in the direction of his locker. Santana stays right next to him and she sighs softly for a moment.
"Well, for one, I need a guy to help me sing the song I want to sing to her."
"So why me?"
"I'm getting to that, shut up." Santana snaps, and Sam reels back from her for a moment, his eyes wide. "Anyway, I've seen the way you look at Hummel. It seems appropriate for you to sing it with me."
Sam's eyes widen impossibly further and he stares at her incredulously.
"Before you ask me how I know, I don't. It just seems that way. You look at him the same way Mike and Tina look at each other. And the same way I look at Britt." Santana shrugs a little as they come to a stop at her locker and she opens it quickly and grabs a few books.
"But how..."
"I have awesome gaydar, Trouty. Don't question it."
"Okay, fine." The blonde sighs, and the Latina girl grins at him, knowing that she's won.
"So you're totally into Hummel?"
"Say it louder, why don't you? I don't think he heard you!" Sam hisses as they walk along a little further to Sam's locker.
"Calm down." Santana rolls her eyes at the boy before she pats him on the shoulder. "So you'll help me out? You might even impress Kurt while we're at it."
"Can't hurt." Sam agrees, not looking at the girl as he fishes out a few books from his locker. He ignores the fact that Kurt and Blaine have somehow managed to get even more sickening since that greaseball transferred to McKinley.
Santana grins at him, catlike, for a minute or two before she pats him on the back.
"Great. I'll come to yours at seven pm sharp tonight. Get ready." She smirks, and Sam stares after her for a long moment as she disappears down the corridor.
This, Sam decides, is probably how Santana has ended up sitting on his bed and surveying his outfit for the performance. Of course she would choose something that required him to play dress up.
"Are you sure I don't look stupid?" Sam looks down at himself, black tailcoat buttoned around his stomach over a white shirt. His dress pants are too tight and his shoes look way to shiny. The fact that he's holding a top hat does nothing to reassure him.
"You look hot. If I wasn't totally into boobs I'd be coming on to you." Santana shrugs and pulls the hat out of his hand and sits it on his head. "Perfect."
"You'd better have a costume, San." Sam says almost sternly, and the girl laughs at him.
"Of course I do. You'll see, Trouty." And with that, she disappears across the hall and into the bathroom of Sam's apartment.
Ten minutes later (Sam has taken a seat on his bed and is twirling his hat around his forefinger absently) she reappears, dressed in what appears to be a silver glittered bathing suit and an artfully placed top hat.
"The number of top hats in this song is ridiculous." Sam comments. Santana rolls her eyes at him.
"Boy, this isn't my final outfit. This is my rehearsal outfit."
"You can't be serious."
"Yes. I can be serious. And I am being serious." Santana grins at him, although even she knows that she made no sense. "Now press play so we can actually sing something today."
By the week after next their duet has been rehearsed and choreographed to a level of perfection Sam was unaware Santana cared about reaching. She decides that they're ready to perform, despite the fact that Sam is now more nervous than ever. The song they're singing? It's Kurt's favourite. He practically clawed that information out of Mercedes yesterday when she asked him what he and Santana were planning. She may have also found out that he likes Kurt. But that's beside the point.
"Do we really have to do it in costume?" Sam hisses to Santana from behind the curtain. He tugs at the buttons of his tailcoat awkwardly. The rest of glee club are watching and waiting for them to start singing.
"Yes, we do." Santana sighs as he asks for the fifth time today. "If we put in the effort to fix the backdrop then we need the costumes."
She gestures up at the huge red windmill on the stage behind them. Granted, it's flat, and it did take them both hours to convince the art classes to do it, but still. The effort counts.
"You do know that Blaine is out there, don't you?" She asks quietly after a long moment. Sam swallows and nods, biting at his lower lip.
"I know. Figures he'd transfer to be with 'the love of his life'. I don't see it." Sam sighs, looking at Santana for a long moment. She smiles weakly at him.
"It sucks, doesn't it?" She says quietly. Sam nods.
"Are you ready, guys?" Mr. Schuester yells from the other side of the curtain.
"Almost." Sam yells back. Santana gives him a thankful look and smoothes down her red dress. Her final outfit really suits her, Sam decides. He tells her this, and she smiles at him.
"Thanks. You brush up well, for a guy." Santana replies. Sam smiles at her.
"Good luck." He says, pulling her into a hug. She hugs him back, before pulling away and pressing a light kiss to his cheek.
"Good luck. You can do this, Sam. I know it." She grins. It's the first time she's actually called him by his name in weeks. She gestures to the band to start playing before slinking off to the side of the stage to draw the thick red curtains open. He straightens his hat awkwardly and folds his arms behind his back and waits for his cue.
Everyone is staring at him. It's probably the hat. In fact, of course it's the hat. What else would it be? Stupid, good for nothing, embarrassing wardrobe selection that make him look like a complete-
"Never knew I could feel like this." He catches his line just in time. Stupid hat, he curses in his head. "Like I've never seen the sky before."
He takes a tentative step forward and drops his arms to his side.
"Want to vanish inside your kiss. Every day I love you more and more." He takes another step towards the front of the stage and takes a shy look at Kurt. His mouth is wide open in shock. He can't tell if it's good or bad.
"Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings? Telling me to give you everything." Sam's voice strengthens a little on the longer, more operatic notes, and he finds himself hoping he's doing the song justice.
"Seasons may change; winter to spring. But I love you, until the end of time." He moves absently towards the left side of the stage, where Santana had artfully positioned an old white armchair earlier in the meeting. It's directly in front of Kurt, and he knows that was deliberate.
"Come what may." He sings, as powerfully as he can manage. His voice wavers a little as he moves to take a seat in the armchair as planned. "Come what may. I will love you, until my dying day."
There's a pause as Santana slinks out from behind the curtain and starts her lines.
"Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place." Her voice is much stronger than Sam's already, and Brittany sits up in her chair immediately. "Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace."
Sam smiles as he watches Brittany grin at her best friend from the right hand side of the stage. He's glad he could help Santana out. Honestly.
"Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste." He joins her for one line, getting back onto his feet but staying where he is.
"It all revolves around you." Santana finishes, and everyone sees the long look she exchanges with Brittany.
"And there's no mountain too high; no river too wide." They move closer together as they sing, still facing in opposite directions. Sam wonders if anyone has realized who he's singing to. "Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side."
Santana hazards a glance towards Kurt to discover that he's miming the words to Blaine, who's grinning happily and holding his hand. They're both blushing. She really hopes that Sam doesn't notice.
Evidently, he does, because his voice falters a little on the next line. She's the only one that hears.
"Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide." They sing together, and Sam looks to Santana for reassurance when he sings alone again. She smiles softly.
"But I love you," He sings, and Santana echoes perfectly, "until the end of time."
"Come what may." Santana joins him again, and she can't help but thinking that, despite the circumstances, they sound pretty good. Maybe they should sing together more often. "Come what may. I will love you, until my dying day."
Sam looks at Kurt again, and finds him kissing Blaine's cheek and grinning. He's happy. That should be enough, right? Except it isn't. Because Blaine isn't him. Sam sighs internally.
"Oh, come what may. Come what may. I will love you..." They trail off and turn in opposite directions again.
"Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place." Santana sings alone, her eyes fixed on Brittany.
There's a short pause, and for a moment it seems as if Santana is going to make a run for Brittany, or the other way around, but they both stop themselves and Santana finishes the song.
"Come what may." They sing together again, voices strong and harmonizing. Sam looks at Kurt to find that he's staring at him. "Come what may."
Sam and Santana exchange a quick glance and he nods at her. She grins, dashing down the side of the stage to hold Brittany's hand.
"I will love you." They still sing together. Sam shifts and sits himself back into the armchair and watches Santana and Brittany like everyone else is. "Until my dying day."
There's a long pause between the end of the song until someone finally speaks. It's Brittany.
"I love you too."
Santana grins and leans in to press a kiss to her cheek. Sam stands up and starts to clap. Santana turns to him and grins. He gives her a thumbs up.
"Thank you Sam and Santana!" Mr. Schuester says, joining Sam in his applause. "Well done. Very moving. I loved it."
Santana comes running back on stage to grab Sam's hand and pull him to his feet to bow. She pulls him into a hug immediately afterwards and whispers that she's sorry that it didn't go as well as she planned.
"It's fine." He says, even though they both know he's lying. "It worked for you. One of us is happy. That counts."
"Thank you." She says, and they both disappear to get changed out of their stupid costumes.
Santana leaves before him, and by the time Sam is done, glee club is over for the day and everyone's left.
Everyone except Kurt.
"Where's Blaine?" Sam asks immediately as he steps down the side stairs off the stage.
"I told him to go." Kurt replies simply, taking a step towards the blonde boy. Sam hesitates for a long moment.
"What do you mean?"
"I told him to go home. I said I wanted to talk to you."
"And do you?"
"Yes." Kurt says after a long pause. Sam raises an eyebrow at him. "Why did you sing that with Santana? Of all people, why her?"
"It's complicated." Sam laughs. Kurt frowns at him. "Never mind."
He moves to walk past Kurt but the smaller brunette grabs hold of his arm and stops him.
"Sam." Kurt says sternly. The blonde stares at his shoes. "Don't pretend that you didn't keep looking at me for the whole song. Blaine didn't notice, thank God."
Sam's shoulders drop. So Kurt did notice. Just in the wrong way.
"I'm sorry." Sam says quietly, not looking up. "I can't help it."
"I know." Kurt squeezes his arm lightly. "It's okay."
"No it isn't!" Sam's voice is suddenly loud, and he pulls away from Kurt suddenly, moves across the row and across the room.
"Okay," Kurt says, looking at the blonde and surveying his expression carefully, "maybe it isn't, but we can try and-"
"Don't, Kurt." Sam says, not looking at the brunette. "Don't mess up what you have with Blaine just because I didn't move fast enough. You're happy with him, and that's fine. You're happy. That's what counts."
He holds up his hand when he sense that Kurt is about to respond.
"I know that it's not ideal for me, and I know it won't be easy, but nothing ever is with me, is it?" Sam laughs almost bitterly and looks up at Kurt for a short moment before he looks back at the floor. "You should go and meet Blaine. Forget about it."
Sam moves and sits himself on the edge of the stage and looks out for a moment. Kurt watches him, confused for a moment, before he shakes his head and starts to leave the room. He's in the doorway when he hears Sam sing just one line, voice so quiet Kurt barely hears it.
"I will love you, until my dying day."
Kurt shakes it off and pretends he didn't hear it; moving quickly to the parking lot and his car and his boyfriend.
Sam doesn't move. He stays rigid where he sits and thinks about everything he should've said or done, everything he could've said or done. He starts to cry.
Santana finds him in the same position an hour later, still sobbing.