Twenty minutes after arriving home from the Sadie Hawkin's Day dance, Blaine was sitting at the kitchen counter, drinking a glass of water and contemplating heading upstairs to change out of his snug formal attire when the doorbell rang. He wasn't expecting anyone, so he approached the door cautiously, calling, "Hello?"

"Hey, man!"

Sam. Puzzled, Blaine pulled the door open to allow his friend entry. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you with Brittany?"

The blonde waved a hand in the air. "I didn't ask how you were doing tonight. With the dance and what happened to you before. I suck as a friend!"

Blaine smiled softly and shook his head. "I'm okay Sam…and don't say that about yourself. You're wonderful. You have no idea how much I value your friendship and what it's meant to me this year."

There was a frown on Sam's face and his eyes were sad. "No, see, I almost messed up there too! You were going to go back to Dalton before I figured out that you didn't want to be left alone to work stuff out. Like, when my relationships fail, I don't want to talk about it at all, I just want to focus on something else, because I can only concentrate on so much at once and if I can keep busy long enough sometimes I feel better by the time I can think about it again. But you're different and I didn't realize that quick enough."

Having no idea what prompted Sam's appearance at his house or his ramble, Blaine peered up at his friend curiously. Sam should be running on happy energy, elated by the possibility that they could be going to Regionals after a lovely night spent with Brittany, but everything about his posture screamed that something was wrong.

"Sam, why aren't you with Brittany?"

His lips, his lovely, pink lips, compressed into a line and he swallowed rapidly. "Santana was waiting for Britt when I brought her home. They love each other… I knew it would happen, just wasn't expecting it tonight. Can I not talk about it now?"

Heart aching, Blaine nodded gently. Sam was such a good guy. He didn't deserve to be used and discarded, intentionally or otherwise (because Blaine was sure Britney hadn't meant to hurt him), and it was wrong that he seemed to expect such treatment.

"Tonight was the first dance I took a date to where no one looked at me funny," Blaine blurted, knowing Sam had come to him to focus on something other than his own pain. "Because they didn't have to see two boys dancing everything was cool. I hate that about dances. I bring a boy, I get glared at or worse, a girl, no problem, but she's not who I want to dance with. Even if I had gone alone, my only partners would've been girls, because no boy would ask."

Sam blinked at him. "I never thought of that. I went to a wedding a few years ago and had to spend the whole night dancing with my elderly aunts instead of my cousin's cute friends. Kinda similar, but not."

Smiling at Sam's honest attempt to understand, Blaine offered, "Yeah, kinda."

"Dance with me."

"Huh?"

Nodding, Sam said, "I should have asked at the dance, but I was too focused on the Warblers and Brittany. We should dance now."

Unable to form a more valid argument, Blaine said, "There's no music."

"No problem." Sam pulled out his iPhone and tapped on the iTunes icon before setting it down on the table. A soft, country sounding tune echoed through the living room and Sam held out his hand.

Heart thumping rapidly, Blaine gave into temptation and let himself be drawn close, one hand clasped in Sam's, the other around his shoulder as they moved in an easy sway.

Both of them were in their white dress shirts and Blaine could feel Sam's body heat through the thin cotton, smell the lingering hints of Cologne on his skin. Big, broad and solid in a way that was both familiar and new (familiar in his inherent maleness, new in the fact that he was built along different lines than anyone Blaine had ever danced with), Sam was a perfect dance partner and Blaine let himself enjoy the quiet moment in his living room.

Not thinking, Blaine let his head fall forward, cheek to Sam's shoulder and nose brushing his neck. Sam let out a sharp breath and Blaine tensed, realizing the contact might've been a bit much, but, before he could draw back, the arm Sam had around him tightened and he murmured, "Thanks."

That was one Blaine realized Sam was taking comfort in being close. It was one of the things that made their friendship awesome, the fact that they were both tactile creatures and could indulge those impulses together, though most of the time they refrained from full on embraces.

But tonight they were both clearly feeling a little vulnerable and it just felt so damn nice….

"Don't need to thank me," he replied quietly as the music changed to another soft, slightly mournful sounding song. "It's not like this is some hardship."

Sam hummed a little, broad palm sweeping up and down Blaine's back, leaving a trail of warmth in its wake. Sighing, Blaine decided that the night could definitely be chalked up as a win.

"Can I stay over?"

Like Blaine would ever send him away.

Fifteen minutes later, Blaine emerged from his bath room, clad in his navy pajamas, to see Sam's sprawled across his bed. The blonde was laying face down, fiddling with his iPhone and wearing nothing but a white wife beater and a pair of black boxer briefs. The shirt had hiked up a bit, revealing a smooth stripers skin at the small of Sam's back and Blaine felt an almost physical ache of want….

"Dude, you okay?" Sam asked, peering over his shoulder at Blaine, brows furrowed. "You look like you just saw a…Oh. Oh!"

All at once, it was clear that Sam had put two and two together and come up with four. Four being the fact that Blaine was nursing a crush on him that only seemed to be growing in intensity despite the fact that he knew better.

Big, surprised eyes stared at him and Blaine blurted, "Oh God, Sam, I'm sorry! Look, I know it's silly and pointless and I value our friendship so much. Please don't be too uncomfortable, I promise I'm not going to make a move on you or…."

"Stop! Take a breath," Sam interrupted, rolling into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. His posture did not look defensive and there was no disgust on his face, both good signs and Blaine did as instructed, sucking in a deep breath. "C'mere. Sit down."

Slowly, Blaine crossed the room, perching as far away from Sam as he could so as not to crowd him. That earned a sigh and Sam rose, circling around to sit beside Blaine, not touching but not very far away either.

"I'm sorry," Blaine began again, then waved a hand at the door. "I can make up a guest room if you don't want to leave altogether…."

"Do you want me to go?"

There was a hint of hurt in Sam's tone and Blaine breathed a quick, "No!"

Sam nodded. "I don't want to go. I never do," he said softly. "I'm not… I'm surprised, but not uncomfortable, Blaine. I had no idea… You know I'm slow to pick up on stuff sometimes."

"You pieced together the Warblers cheating, Sam," Blaine protested. Sam might have been a little naïve sometimes, but Blaine hated when he put himself down. "That's not slow. That was good investigation and deduction."

"Thanks," he replied, smiling warmly. "When I really focus I can get stuff done… So, I'm been a focus now. Why didn't you tell me?"

Heaving a sigh, Blaine admitted, "Because I didn't want to be the guy who fell for his straight friend. I love our friendship Sam and I didn't want to lose it or have you think I was going to be inappropriate or something."

With a snort, Sam said, "Do I have to remind you that I was a stripper? I can spot a creeper at 100 yards and you, dude, are not one. People get crushes on their friends all the time. It's totally normal."

"So you're not freaked out at all?"

"No," Sam murmured, then sighed. "I… Do you remember when we watched Torchwood: Children of Earth?"

He remembered both of them crying like babies. "Of course."

"There's that scene where Ianto is talking with his sister and he tells her that it's not men, it's just Jack… When we were watching, I had this moment where it was just like, of course! Scared the heck out of me."

"What?" Blaine really wasn't sure what point Sam was trying to make.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Sam tried to clarify. "There's bro love, and love love and the two generally don't meet… Except for you. I'm not freaked out that you have a crush on me, but I'm a little freaked out that I have a crush on you."

Blaine let out a shaky, shocked breath. "You… But you're straight!"

"I've never really been hung up on sexuality. I just always look to girls and thought Wow!" Sam's hand crept over and wrapped around Blaine's, a welcome if slightly clammy touch. "I don't know how to say this other than just to say I usually try to follow my heart. It's a bit beat up right now, but if you can give me some time…I… You and me… But I really can't take losing you, dude!"

Blaine squeezed his hand. "However this works out, Sam, whatever happens, we'll still be friends," he said and he felt some of the tension leech out of Sam.

"Okay," the blonde breathed and looked Blaine in the eye, obviously wrung out. "Just so you know, I suck at relationships. I never know what to say and I know I'm clingy."

With a small smile, Blaine replied, "I can handle that. I'm not too great at the romantic stuff myself."

Sam nodded, then very quietly asked, "Can we…cuddle or something? I like being close and it was nice when we were dancing."

"Yeah," Blaine agreed and, after a minimal amount of clumsy attempts to find a comfortable position, he found himself lying back against Sam's chest, strong arm curled around him and hand clutched in his own.

They both slept shockingly well.

TBC…..