"We'll Be Playmates and Lovers"
This is for Kum Week on Tumblr. Day 1: 36/Duets
Summary: Set in the beginning of season 2. Sam helps get Kurt back on the football team.
A/N: Everyone's doing Duets so I decided to do 36! :) Also I literally just wrote it right now and it's un-beta'd and I need to go to bed now, so sorry for any mistakes and errors! I was gonna re-watch "Duets" to make sure I got everything "canonically" right but like I said, I gotta go to bed! Btw if you wanna know my tumblr it's mikechanglikeskpop[.]tumblr[.]com where I posted this story there too. If you point out any mistakes I'll fix them when I wake up in a few hours! ;)
Kurt is standing at his locker switching out his books for his afternoon classes when he hears his name being called. He looks up for the source of the sound as he slips his History book in his bag and sees Sam fast approaching him with that same goofy smile he always wears.
"Hi," Kurt greets him hesitantly as the blonde leans against the set of lockers. After having called off their duet for glee club and watching him sing with Quinn, Kurt had been somewhat avoiding the new student, thinking it's what Sam would want. And, after having to watch him and Quinn sing together, keeping his distance would serve to help ease his pain every time he longed for what might've been.
"Hi," Sam says in return, instantly snapping Kurt back to reality. "So I heard you used to be on the football team."
"Where'd you hear that from?" Kurt asks, wondering which one of Sam's teammates was badmouthing him now.
"I sorta asked around," Sam says before Kurt unintentionally cuts him off.
"You were asking about me?" Kurt wonders, his heart skipping a beat.
"Well yeah," Sam shrugs, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Sorta," he adds. "I asked about the football team and people said you guys used to suck until you joined the team," Sam explains and just like that Kurt's optimism deflates.
Of course, he'd been asking about football, not about Kurt specifically. "Yeah well I heard you guys have a new coach who's supposed to be really good," Kurt replied with a small smile, offering the only bit of football he could contribute to the conversation. "I'm sorry Sam, I've gotta head to class," Kurt begins to excuse himself as he closes his locker shut.
"Wait!" Sam says, reaching out for him and grazing his forearm. Kurt tenses up a bit but Sam doesn't notice as he begins to walk alongside Kurt. "Why'd you quit the team?" Sam asks with a smile.
"Oh, well, it just wasn't my thing…" Kurt says hastily, not wanting to admit that his mere presence in the locker rooms probably made the rest of the team uncomfortable. He had enjoyed playing the sport, and it had brought him closer to his dad, but it wasn't something he particularly missed much.
"Well I was talking to Coach Beiste and she said she'd be willing to put you on the team!" Sam says enthusiastically, bouncing in his feet a little.
Kurt can't help but smile at the hopeful grin that the blonde boy is giving him but only intensifies that pang in his chest. He sighs softly and says, "That's really nice of you Sam but I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not?" Sam asks and Kurt absolutely hates that crestfallen look he has on his face; he'd seen it before when he was calling off their duet partnership, and he doesn't think he can stomach it again.
Kurt decides to stop beating around the bush and just tell Sam straight up why him joining the team was not a good idea. "Sam, I'm gay," he says slowly, pointedly.
The slightly taller boy just looks at him with an expectant look, waiting for Kurt to say more, and when he realizes that was it, the reason, he simply says, "And?"
Kurt can't help but smile at the simplicity of Sam's reply, and for a moment he gazes at Sam with admiration and gratitude, because his response is all Kurt's ever wanted when he tells someone he's gay. When he realizes Sam is still awaiting an answer, Kurt tears his eyes away from the blonde boy and looks down. "Well, the guys on the team aren't exactly okay with it," Kurt shrugs as they reach his classroom.
"Puck and Finn are totally cool with it, they said they'd love to have you on the team again," Sam reasons, stopping with Kurt outside his classroom.
"Yeah but they don't count, they're in glee club," Kurt chuckles softly at Sam's attempts to persuade him.
The bell rings for class to begin and Sam curses because he's still got to run to his class. "Just, please meet me in the locker room after school?" he asks. "Please?" he drags out the word once more, with the cutest grin Kurt has ever seen. "I'll beg if I have to, I don't care if I miss class," Sam says mock seriously.
"Okay, okay, fine," Kurt laughs, shoving him slightly. "Now go to class," Kurt says, biting his lip as he watches Sam punch the air in triumph and sprint down the hall to class.
The rest of the school day has passed and Kurt is feeling extremely nervous as he stands outside the locker room door. He's been here for five minutes trying to gather the courage to walk in, but with each look from every football player who walks past him into the locker room, his courage quickly diminishes. To be fair, they're more curious glances than death glares, but it doesn't ease Kurt's nerves.
"Hey, you're here!" Kurt turns around once he hears Sam's cheerful greet. "Great, come on, let's go before they start heading to the field," Sam says, squeezing his shoulder as a form of encouragement before he takes Kurt's forearm and leads him in.
The foul swell that hits Kurt's nostrils make him scrunch his face in disgust and when a football player sees him he actually says, "What're you looking at?"
"W-what? No! I'm sorry I didn't –," Kurt shakes his head, fear causing him to tense up.
"Cool it, Gregory, he's with me," Sam says calmly.
"What, is he your boyfriend Evans?" comes Karofsky's comment from across the room, smirking at the sight of Kurt trying to squirm out of Sam's hold as Sam merely laughs in response.
"This was a bad idea," Kurt whispers to Sam as he takes a step back towards the door.
"No, come on," Sam says to him, pleading for him to stay with his eyes. Once Kurt stays rooted he smiles encouragingly at him before looking around at everyone in the locker room. "I talked to Coach Beiste and she says Kurt can re-join the team to help us win this year," Sam announces to them all with an optimistic smile.
"No way dude," someone immediately responds, and Kurt is too busy looking down at his shoes to notice who it came from. The door opens and he and a couple other football players turn towards it to see Finn and Puck entering.
"Hey what up Hummel," Puck says, clapping Kurt on the shoulder as he walks by and takes a seat on the bench.
"Hey Sam said you were joining the team, is it true?" Finn asks.
Before Kurt can answer Azimio says, "No we don't allow fairies on the team."
Kurt hears Puck and Finn's indignant cries of "Hey!" but Sam's warning is the loudest of them all. "You shut your mouth before I shut it for you," he growls, taking a step forward. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to calm himself and when he opens them again he's back to his normal, cheerful self. "Come on guys, I asked around and you all said you hadn't won a single game before Kurt joined," he said, pointing to Kurt for emphasis. "Now I don't know about you, but I don't want to keep losing when I know there's someone here at school that can help us win," Sam points out.
The entire locker room is silent except for Finn's encouraging "Yeah!"s and suddenly Karofsky speaks up.
"You're not gonna like…grope us or anything, are you?"
Kurt looks up and sees he's directing the question towards him. "Like you guys don't already do that to each other," comes Kurt's sarcastic reply before he can stop himself. Beside him Sam laughs, as do a couple other players, albeit somewhat uncomfortably at Kurt having called them out on it.
He chuckles nervously and says, "But to answer your question, no, god no," and vigorously shakes his head to make his point. "Trust me, none of you are my type," he says in what's supposed to be a playful manner, but the room fills with unease as boys shift in their seats.
Sam gives Kurt a critical look and Kurt catches on; he's just insulted them all. "Not that you aren't a catch for someone else…a girl! A nice, pretty cheerleader," Kurt rambles as he rubs the back of his neck nervously. Sam's snickering beside him isn't helping him at all and he sighs discouragingly. He is not helping his case here.
Thankfully, the blonde boy comes to his rescue and begins spouting off their statistics, making sure to emphasize their increase in performance during Kurt's short stint on the team the year before, all of which he'd seemingly gathered from Coach Beiste. Eventually he says, "So, what do you say, all those in favor of having Kurt rejoin the team and lead us to a victory?" His voice is so filled with optimism and he looks at Kurt with the utmost confidence, as if he's sure Kurt is their ticket to winning, and Kurt can't help but smile at him anyway.
Puck and Finn naturally shout out their agreement, and it turns out quite a few others are affected by Sam's exuberance as well because they soon shrug their shoulders in acceptance which is a pretty good sign considering. Sam takes this as a victory and says, "Yes!" clapping Kurt on the shoulder before practically jumping on him in excitement and enveloping him in a hug. "This year is going to be so awesome, trust me!" Sam says with a huge grin on his face from ear to ear and when Kurt realizes Sam hasn't pulled away, he simply returns the smile because he actually kind of believes it himself.