For Blam Week Day 7: Coffee shop AU
This was originally supposed to be a oneshot, but it ended up being over 10k long, so I decided to split it into two parts. The second part is almost finished – I just need to write the last scene and make a few edits, so hopefully it will be up within the next week or so.
As always, I'd like to thank my beta, Tuuzmorado!
The Lima Bean wasn't exactly the busiest place in town, especially in the afternoon. The morning shifts tended to get a little crazy, since pretty much every caffeine addict in Lima came there to grab a coffee before heading to work or school. They also sometimes got busy around three, when all of the high-school kids grabbed drinks before heading off to other places. But for the rest of the day, it was usually pretty empty. Which meant that working there got boring in a hurry.
Sam wasn't going to complain, though. It was the best job he could find, and his family really needed the money. Sure, it was minimum wage, but there were a few regular customers who tipped really well, so the job was pretty good overall. Still, Sam wished that there was a lot more to do.
Which was why Sam perked up when the bell over the door rang about five hours into Sam's Friday-night shift. In all the time he'd been there, he'd served maybe a dozen customers, and the girl who was supposed to be manning the front counter with him had long since disappeared into the back room to gossip with one of her friends (who didn't even work here, but that didn't seem to stop her from walking around the employees-only areas). By now, he was bored enough that any sign of activity made him pathetically excited.
The guy who walked in looked like he was about Sam's age, though Sam didn't think he went to McKinley. Then again, Sam had just started at McKinley a few weeks ago, so it wasn't like he knew what every single student looked like. Still, this looked like a guy who would stand out in a crowd, considering that his hair was pretty much plastered to his head. Sam was pretty sure that he hadn't seen anyone with that style walking around, and instantly started to wonder how he could wear it like that. Wasn't it kind of gross to have that much gunk stuck to your head?
Of course, Sam knew better than to actually ask that, so he just smiled at the guy and waited for him to come order something. Instead, the guy just stood near the wall, looking like he was trying to stare at the menu, but ended up glancing at the door about every two seconds. He had a rose in one hand that he kept nervously twirling between his fingers. It didn't take a genius to realize that he was waiting for someone.
Sam smiled as he started wiping down the already-clean counter just to make himself feel like he was doing something productive. Okay, maybe it was a little weird to hope that the guy and whoever he was waiting for would have their date here. But customers always made his shifts more interesting, and though never intentionally eavesdrop on anyone, most people either didn't realize that he could overhear them when they talked that loud in an almost-empty shop, or they didn't care. Sam had heard some really interesting stuff that way.
After ten minutes, the guy was still standing there, waiting. Sam frowned, then shook his head and turned back to organizing the baked goods in the display case (which he'd already done twice that afternoon). But when five more minuted passed and nobody else had entered the store, Sam felt the need to say something. "Dude, I don't think she's coming."
For a moment, the guy didn't seem to realize that Sam was talking to him. Then he turned to Sam, a confused look on his face. "Excuse me?"
Sam held up his hands defensively. The guy didn't look angry or annoyed, but Sam had dealt with enough stressed-out customers to know that some of them could snap at him at the slightest provocation. "The girl that you're waiting for. I'm not saying it to be rude or anything. It's just that she's fifteen minutes late to your date, and that doesn't seem like a very good sign."
"Oh," the guy said, then shook his head. "No, we're meeting at eight. I just got here early." After a moment, he asked, "How did you know I was going on a date?"
"You're holding a rose. There's something romantic going down," Sam pointed out. "Also, you're clothes," he added as an afterthought. The guy was wearing a really nice button-down shirt with black pants and a bow tie. No teenage guy that Sam knew dressed that well unless he was trying to impress someone. "And even if you got here early, it's still seven minutes after eight. That's still kind of late."
"Maybe I just like to dress nicely," the guy said. "And anyway, that's not that long. I'm sure he'll be here soon."
"He?" Sam asked.
The guy just stared at him. Judging by the expression on his face, he hadn't meant to say that.
"Hey, no big deal," Sam said quickly, since he knew that there were some real homophobic jerks in Lima, and didn't want this guy to think that he was one of them. "Love is love, right?" After a moment he added, "I'm Sam," even though the guy could probably read his name tag, just to be polite.
The guy smiled. "I'm Blaine," he said, walking forward to shake Sam's hand. "And thank you. Most people don't react as well as you did."
Sam snorted. "Don't thank me for not being a jerk to you," he said. "I mean, that's how everyone should act, right?"
Blaine's smile widened, but he said, "I don't think most of this town agrees with you."
"Well, this town is stupid," Sam said. "So, who are you meeting for your date?"
Blaine shrugged, suddenly looking much less comfortable. "Just a guy who's in the Warblers with me. My school's glee club," he clarified, before Sam could ask what a Warbler was.
"Cool," Sam said. "One of the guys on my football team tried to get me to join the glee club. I'm not sure if I will, though."
"You definitely should," Blaine said, suddenly looking excited, and way happier than he'd looked when he'd talked about his date. "It's a ton of fun. Well, I guess I can't speak for the program at your school, but anything that involves singing is worth it. Although, again, I guess I can't speak for you."
"I like singing," Sam said with a shrug. He played guitar and sang all the time for Stacey and Stevie, and it'd be fun to have a bigger audience, though it wasn't like it was something he absolutely loved. But clearly it was for Blaine. "Do you perform a lot?"
Blaine nodded, giving him a grin that looked a little sheepish. "Malls, competitions, theme parks. It doesn't really matter where. Any place that will pay me to do it."
"People actually pay you to sing?" Sam asked. He hadn't really heard of any jobs like that around Lima. He figured that only famous people got to do stuff like that. "That makes you, like, a rock star or something!"
Blaine laughed. "I was in the second row of dancers at the local amusement part," he said. "I don't think that's the same as being a rock star." Then he grinned. "But yeah, it's a lot of fun."
"I bet." Sam kind of wished that he'd heard about some of these jobs before. Although, he probably wouldn't be good enough to get a job like that, since he'd never sung to anyone outside of his family before, so he didn't have a whole lot of experience. Still, it would definitely beat working at the Lima Bean five days a week.
Blaine leaned forward with his elbows on the counter, looking interested. "So, if you like singing, why aren't you in Glee club?" he asked, then immediately added, "Sorry, I'm not trying to pry. I'm just curious."
Sam shrugged. "Dude, it's fine," he said truthfully. After spending five hours doing practically nothing, any conversation was an improvement. Blaine could ask him anything and Sam would probably answer just to keep himself from dying of boredom. "Glee club isn't really cool, you know? Finn, Mike, and Puck all get crap from the rest of the football team because they're also in Glee. I guess I'm not sure if I want to open myself up to that."
Blaine nodded, looking like he was thinking that over. "I understand wanting to avoid bullying," he said after a moment, "but it seems silly to avoid something you love just because of that. If you change your behavior to suit them, then all you're doing is letting them win, and telling them that they can get away with treating you like this, because you won't do anything to stop them. Do you want to let them get away with that?"
Sam didn't say anything for a moment, and Blaine quickly said, "Sorry, I should mind my own business. I'm not trying to tell you what to do. It's just a fairly personal subject for me."
"Oh, no, you don't have to. I mean, it's fine," Sam said immediately. "I was just thinking that you're kind of right." Sam hadn't thought of it that way, but now he could see what Blaine meant. The last thing he wanted was to let a jerk like Karofsky control him, and wasn't that kind of what he was doing? Sure, he could keep his head down and try not to draw attention, but he didn't want to let some jerks scare him into not being himself. And okay, it wasn't like he would be devastated if he couldn't join Glee club – he wasn't passionate about singing the way Blaine obviously was. But he did like to sing, and he wanted to, so why was he letting the football guys stop him?
Not to mention that he was bisexual, and didn't want to go back into the closet. It wasn't like he planned on telling people – he was a firm believer that sexuality shouldn't matter, so he didn't usually say anything unless the subject came up somehow – but he did want to be able to come out if he decided to. And how would be manage that if he couldn't even join Glee out of fear of what the jocks would say?
Sam decided that he was going to find Finn on Monday and ask if he could still join the club.
"So, why's it so personal?" Sam asked Blaine. Now that his decision had been made, Sam was pretty eager to find out more about the other boy.
Blaine looked a little uncomfortable, but he said, "I spent far too long trying to stay in the closet at my last school. I eventually came out, which didn't exactly go well." Blaine winced, then seemed to shrug off whatever he was thinking about and added, "But I did realize that I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved because of something I'm not."
"That's actually pretty smart," Sam said with a smile, though he wasn't entirely sure if he could say the same thing. It was definitely something that he wanted to be true about himself, though. And now he definitely wanted to know Blaine better, and not just so he'd have someone to talk to during his shift.
He glanced at the clock. It was eight fifteen. "I really don't think your date is coming," he said, making sure to keep his voice sympathetic, which was easy, because he really did feel bad for Blaine. "Why don't you get yourself something to drink, and we can talk for a while? It'll even be my treat."
Blaine smiled, not looking particularly upset for someone who had been stood up. "Sounds great, but you don't have to pay."
"I can. It's the least I can do after the awesome advice you gave me," Sam said.
He had a plan. It'd probably be bad timing to ask Blaine out immediately after he'd been stood up. But Sam could be nice to him all evening, and act like it was a date. Then, at the end of the night, Sam would ask if Blaine wanted to get together for dinner sometime. And by then, enough time would have passed that Blaine would be over the rejection and ready to say yes to Sam, which would be awesome.
Blaine shook his head and pulled out his wallet. "I'll have a medium drip," he said, pulling out a five dollar bill.
Sam was about to ring up Blaine's order, but before he could, the bell above the door rang. A tall guy in an expensive-looking jacket walked in, and judging by the look on Blaine's face, this was the guy he'd been waiting for. Sam tried to conceal his disappointment, though he noticed that Blaine didn't look entirely happy about the guy's arrival.
"Woah," the guy said, raising his eyebrows and looking Blaine up and down. "Forget everything I've ever said about you looking hot in the blazer, because clearly I'd never seen how good you look without it on." He spotted the rose still hanging limply from Blaine's fingers and asked, "Is that for me? That's so sweet." He smiled and plucked it from Blaine's hand.
That was the exact moment that Sam decided that he didn't like this guy.
"Sebastian," Blaine said, his voice stiff. "You were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago."
"Yeah, the drive took longer than I thought," Sebastian said. Which wasn't an apology, Sam noticed. Sebastian wrapped one arm around Blaine and said, "But I'm here now, which means that our date can officially get started."
"What do you want to order?" Sam asked, keeping his voice coldly polite. He didn't want to be rude, especially when that could get him in serious trouble with his boss. But at the same time, he wanted to make sure that Sebastian – and especially Blaine – knew what he thought of this guy.
"Oh, we're not staying," Sebastian said, not even turning toward Sam.
Judging by the look on his face, Blaine hadn't been aware of that. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Don't you say that you wanted to get drinks?"
Sebastian smirked slightly. "Yes, but I didn't believe that you honestly thought I meant coffee. We're going to get the good types of drinks."
Blaine took a step back. "I don't know," he said. "I don't really like that kind of thing."
"Oh, don't worry, they never card," Sebastian said dismissively. "Besides, didn't you say that you wish you got to dance more during our songs? I'm really looking forward to seeing what your dance moves look like when you don't have to stick with the choreography."
"A club?" Blaine said doubtfully.
"Those places can be pretty dangerous, you know," Sam said, though he didn't really have room to talk. Back before he moved to Ohio, he and his friends had sneaked into clubs before, and it wasn't like anything bad had happened. But he knew that drinking led to all sorts of bad decisions, and based on the way that Sebastian was eying Blaine, that could be pretty dangerous for Blaine.
"Does it look like you're part of this conversation?" Sebastian said, glaring at Sam for a moment before turning back to Blaine. "Come on, let loose for once. It'd be too much of a waste if someone as drop-dead sexy as you didn't go out and show it off every once in a while."
Blaine still didn't look sure, and when he turned to look at Sam, Sam was sure that he was going to tell Sebastian to leave. Instead, Blaine dropped the five dollar bill he still held into the tip jar. "Thanks for talking with me, Sam," he said, not really looking Sam in the eye. "See you around?"
"See you," Sam echoed. Blaine was already walking out the door with Sebastian's arm wrapped around his waist again. Sam wanted to shout for him to stop, and say that this was a terrible idea. But the door closed before he could, leaving Sam along in the empty shop.
Tonight's shift really, really sucked.
Sunday's shift went by pretty fast. That was mostly because he only had to work until noon, and the mornings were always their busiest time. By eleven thirty, they were swamped with enough customers that Sam didn't even have time to count the minutes until the end of his shift. Which was weird, because normally he started his countdown right after his shift began.
Sam finished making one customer's smoothie (which should have been his coworker's job, but once again, she wasn't doing anything). He handed it over then hurried back to the register. "Welcome to the Lima Bean, may I take your order?" Only then did he look up and realize who was next in line. "Blaine!"
Blaine smiled a little hesitantly. "Hey, Sam," he said.
Sam grinned, extremely relieved to see Blaine here. Ever since Friday night, he'd been worried about what had happened to Blaine, probably more than he should have considering they'd only talked to each other for a few minutes. But that was long enough for Sam to know that he liked Blaine, and wanted to get to know him better. And long enough to tell that he deserved someone better than some snobby creep who kept staring at Blaine like he was a piece of meat.
"Medium drip?" Sam asked, his finger already hovering over the button on the cash register, just waiting for Blaine to confirm.
Blaine looked surprised. "You remember my coffee order?"
"Of course I do," Sam said with a shrug. "Talking to you was pretty much the only interesting thing to happen all night. Why wouldn't I remember it?"
Blaine smiled and ducked his head slightly. "Thank you."
Sam rang up the order and quickly made Blaine's coffee. But he hesitated as he handed it to Blaine, eying the long line of people still waiting. There was no way that he could stand around and talk, especially since he was having a hard enough time working the shift by himself. But this might be his only chance to see Blaine. "Do you think you could hang around for a while? I get off in half an hour. Maybe we could hang out or something?"
To his relief, Blaine smiled and nodded. "I'd like that," he said. His fingers brushed against Sam's for a second as he took his cup. He stood there smiling at Sam for a moment longer, then walked over and grabbed a seat at the nearest table.
Sam spent the rest of his shift hurriedly filling orders. He found himself glancing at Blaine as he worked, worried that Blaine would get tired of waiting, or mad at Sam for making him stick around. Blaine had his phone out and looked like he was reading something on it, not looking bored or upset at all. A few times he glanced up and caught Sam looking, but he always just smiled whenever their eyes met, then turned back to his phone. There were also a few times when Sam looked up and realized that Blaine was already watching him. He tried not to read too much into that, especially since Blaine had just gone on a date on Friday. For all he knew, Blaine and Sebastian could be dating.
Sam really hoped that Blaine and Sebastian weren't dating.
Finally, it was time for Sam to clock out. He quickly made a second medium drip and grabbed a tea for himself, then headed over to the table where Blaine sat. "Here," he said, setting the drink in front of Blaine, then sitting down across from him.
Blaine looked up, surprised. "You didn't have to buy me another drink," he said, even though Sam knew that he'd finished his last drink ten minutes ago.
Sam shrugged. "That's one good thing about working here. Free drinks!" Technically, he probably wasn't supposed to give free drinks to anyone else. But Sam hardly ever got himself a free drink, so he figured he was entitled, especially since he knew he worked a lot harder than a lot of his coworkers.
Blaine smiled and took a sip. "Thank you very much. This is great," he said.
Sam took a sip of his own drink, mostly to stall, then slowly set the cup onto the table. "So," he said, watching his cup like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "How did your date go on Friday?"
"Oh," Blaine said, his voice suddenly going stiff and uncomfortable. "Not very well," he admitted slowly. "I shouldn't have said yes when he asked me out."
Sam relaxed. "Oh, good," he said, feeling a smile appear on his face. "He was a jerk. I was kind of hoping that you wouldn't date him." Then he realized that a bad date at a bar could mean some very bad things, especially for someone who didn't drink much, and his good mood died. "What did you guys do? I mean, did it go okay?"
Blaine covered his face with one hand. "I am never drinking again," he half-moaned, which made Sam lean forward, suddenly really worried about what could have happened. But then Blaine shook his head. "Nothing happened between us, if that's what you're wondering," he said. Then he bit his lip and said, "It almost did. I threw up on him before we could get that far, and then was somehow smart enough to call my friend Wes for a ride home. He picked me up and then gave me a twenty-minute lecture about how I'm apparently small enough to get drunk really, really easily. As if I hadn't figured that one out on my own."
Sam smiled. "So you and Sebastian are over?" he asked.
"Yeah," Blaine said. "It's going to be horribly awkward, since we're still in the Warblers together, but it's over."
Sam couldn't help but grin at that, and he didn't try to hide it, either. He was really glad that Blaine wasn't with that guy anymore.
"You know, this is a really weird conversation," Blaine said thoughtfully, tapping the side of his drink. "It's not the kind of thing you usually talk about with someone you just met, is it?"
Sam thought about that for a minute, then shrugged. "I like our weird conversation."
Blaine smiled. "So do I."
By the time they left the coffee shop nearly three hours later, Sam knew much more about Blaine. He knew that Blaine loved Disney and that singing in theme parks was his favorite way to spend the summer, and that he was a giant solo hog, at least based on the way he described the auditions the Warblers were holding in a few weeks. Blaine never said anything bad about any of his competition, but from the way he spoke, it was so obvious that he didn't want either of them to get a solo, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.
Sam had told Blaine a ton about himself, too. Blaine knew about Stacey and Stevie, and how Sam had taught himself to play the guitar so that he could entertain them when their parents stopped being able to afford a TV. Sam had even mentioned that his dad had lost his job, though he hadn't mentioned quite how bad the situation was.
Sam was also more sure than ever that he wanted to ask Blaine out, but he still wasn't sure how to do it, or if he should. Blaine hadn't said anything more about his failed date with Sebastian, meaning that Sam wasn't sure if this was too soon. Even if Sebastian was a complete jerk, Blaine must have liked something about him, or else they wouldn't have gone on a date in the first place. If Sam asked, would Blaine accept, or should Sam give him more time to get over Sebastian?
"I'll see you later," Blaine said, before Sam could reach a decision.
"Will you stop by tomorrow?" Sam asked, since he still hadn't made his mind up. This would give him time to think about it.
"Do you want me to?" Blaine asked, looking hopeful.
Sam just snorted and rolled his eyes. "Of course I do," he said. For one, Blaine was awesome. And if Sam hadn't wanted Blaine around, he wouldn't have asked Blaine to come back.
"Then I will," Blaine said, giving Sam a wide grin that completely lit up his face. "I'll see you tomorrow!"
"See you."
Tomorrow. That was when Sam would ask Blaine out, he decided. He'd do it tomorrow no matter what.
"So, I joined Glee club," Sam said casually as he passed a second coffee over to Blaine. It was Wednesday afternoon, and Blaine was sitting on a stool by the counter. That way, Sam could talk to him when there weren't any customers to serve while still doing his job.
Blaine had been coming in every day during his shift. He wouldn't get there until around six or seven, and then he'd normally stay until about nine, usually doing his homework while they talked. Which was something that Sam would have liked to do, but reading was hard enough for him that he couldn't multitask, meaning that he had to get his work done at home, when there was nothing to distract him.
Sam also still hadn't asked Blaine out. But he would. Any day now.
Blaine looked up at him and grinned. "That's great!" he said. "What do you think of it?"
Sam shrugged, not entirely sure. "It means I have to try to change my hours so that I don't start work until four. And I'll probably have to skip a few practices on days that I really need to work. But yeah, I like it a lot. All the people seem cool."
"Oh, that's very important," Blaine said. "One bad member can ruin your group, trust me."
Sam frowned, sensing that something was off in the way Blaine said that. "Is Sebastian still giving you trouble?"
Blaine shrugged, looking away. "Somewhat. The good thing is that Wes is on the council, along with my friend David, so they're helping me put a stop to it."
"Why did you even go out with him in the first place?" Sam froze the second the words were out of his mouth. It was something he'd been wondering, but he hadn't actually planned on saying it out loud. Still, he did want to know, so instead of trying to take his question back, he just waited to see how Blaine would answer.
Blaine looked even more uncomfortable now, if that was possible. "It's really silly," he said after a minute.
"Dude, no it's not," Sam said. "I don't even know what you're going to say, but if it's what you feel, then no way is it silly."
Blaine smiled slightly at that, though he still didn't look at Sam. "Do you ever fantasize about having some big, amazing romance with someone? And you want it so badly that you keep thinking about it, even if you're not sure that it will ever happen."
"Yes." Sam stared straight at Blaine while he answered. If Blaine would look at him, then Sam was sure that he'd be able to see exactly how Sam felt about him. But Blaine's eyes stayed trained on his coffee cup.
"That was why," Blaine said with a small shrug. "He's the only gay guy that I really know at Dalton – at least, the only gay guy who isn't already dating someone else. So I wanted to have this romance with someone. And even though I didn't really think that Sebastian would be that person, he kept complimenting me, and I was flattered, so..." He shrugged again, and shook his head. "It was really silly."
"Dude, I already said that it's not," Sam said, and was rewarded when Blaine smiled again. "I know that feeling, and it's nothing to feel bad about. I mean, next time don't go to a gay bar if you're looking for someone romantic, but I totally get it."
This was it. The perfect time to tell Blaine his feelings. All Sam would have to do is tell Blaine that he was also looking for awesome romance, and say that they could find it together. Or maybe something that meant the same thing but didn't sound as cheesy.
"You know, Wes gave me a lecture about this, too," Blaine said, making Sam chuckle. Over the past few days, Sam had heard a whole lot about Blaine's friend Wes. He sounded like he was nice but super serious, and he kept lecturing people about pretty much everything that they did. Blaine made a point of mentioning that they were usually lectures that people needed to hear, though. "He said that I'm too in love with the idea of being in love, and I'm starting to think that he's right. It thinking that I should just take a break and stop worrying about finding a boyfriend, just enjoy being single for a while. I mean, if I'm desperate enough that I'd accept a date from Sebastian, I'm probably not in any position to date, right?"
Sam forced a smile. "If that's what you need, dude."
Time. Okay, Sam could give him time. And as soon as Blaine was comfortable and ready to date someone, then Sam would be first in line to ask him out.
