"What's with the face?"

Looking up from his phone, Blaine met Sam's curious gaze and sighed. "Sebastian's just being annoying."

"What does he want?" the blonde asked with a frown. "And I thought he stopped bugging you after last year."

Blaine shrugged. "Apparently, he's been Facebook lurking and, since I changed my status to single, he started texting again. He wants me to go to Scandals with him."

The expression on Sam's face said he was clearly a little confused. "What's Scandals?"

"A gay bar," Blaine replied quietly, glancing around the hall to be sure he wasn't overheard. Not that people didn't know he was gay, but it was better to be low key about it at McKinley. "I wouldn't mind going, but I feel weird going alone with him. He might read something into it."

Sam nodded thoughtfully and shut his locker, shouldering his backpack, ready to leave for the weekend. "I could go with you," he offered easily. "Would that help?"

Turning to stare, Blaine asked, "You did hear me say gay bar, right?"

"Yeah, not a big deal," Sam laughed. "So, what do you say?"

That was how Blaine found himself in the rather surreal situation of walking into Scandals with Sam, who had a really good fake ID. He kept glancing over to see if Sam was freaking out, but the taller boy didn't seem to be uncomfortable.

At the bar, Sebastian smiled at him, but the grin faded when he saw Sam. "Didn't know this was the sort of scene any of you other New Directions boys were into!" he said with a smirk as he extended a beer to Blaine.

"Yeah, well, you don't know me," Sam replied, then waved the bartender over. "Heineken, please."

"The same," Blaine added, not taking the proffered drink from the Warbler. "Sebastian, I don't think you and Sam have met directly, so…Sam, Sebastian. Sebastian, Sam."

Sam nodded and Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "First time in a bar like this, Sammy?"

That earned a snort. "Hardly."

Wait…What? "What?" he asked, voicing his thoughts aloud and staring at Sam with big eyes.

Still glaring at Sebastian, Sam lowered his head to whisper in the Blaine's ear. "When I was working in Kentucky, there is this club in Louisville that would hire us for an occasional night to dance in these cages that were suspended up over the dance floor. They'd grease us up, cover us in glitter and I'd spend a night gyrating in hot pants over a room full of guys."

Sucking in a deep breath through his nose, Blaine said, "Jesus, Sam! That's…an interesting mental image!"

"What did he say?" Sebastian asked, clearly curious.

Sam just smiled enigmatically and settled himself onto a bar stool, obviously not going to repeat what he told Blaine. Taking a long draw on his drink, Blaine turned to Sam. "I don't want to leave you to the wolves, but I think I'm going to dance for a bit."

With the grin, Sam saluted him with his bottle. "Dude, it's cool. Have fun. I'll be here."

Since he seemed to be okay, Blaine nodded and downed the rest of his drink before making his way toward the moderately busy dance floor. There were more people present than there had been the last time he'd been to scandals and he didn't lack for partners. Fortunately, the music is fast and he was able to enjoy himself while keeping things light, with a minimum of physical contact.

Occasionally, Sebastian, who had followed him out onto the floor, made an attempt to pull him closer, but it was nothing too aggressive, so Blaine held his ground and kept him at a distance.

Every now and then, Blaine looked over to see how Sam was doing. His friend was still seated at the bar, blonde hair gleaming in the dim lights. Sometimes he spoke with other people who sidled up beside him, but they never hung around for too long.

Except for one guy. Tall, younger than most of Scandals regular clientele (in his mid-20's), with tousled dark hair, he had been perched beside Sam for the past 15 minutes. Whatever he was saying had caught Sam's attention, because the blonde was responding, even laughing occasionally.

When the man reached out and straightened the collar of Sam's blue, plaid shirt, Blaine decided he had better intervene.

Winding his way to the dancers, Blaine made his way back to Sam's side. "Hey," he said, a little breathless from his exertions on the floor. "Having fun?"

Sam smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah. Just talking music with Hank here. We're both classic Garth Brooks fans."

"Pre-Chris Gaines fiasco," the man said with a wide smile, eyeing Blaine assessingly.

Garth Brooks was a country legend, Blaine knew that much, but he had no idea who the other person was. "Okay," he simply smiled. "Glad you weren't to bored over here."

"I told you I'd be fine," Sam reassured him, then cocked his head to the side. "You all right?"

"Sure," he replied, glancing over to where Sebastian was hovering by the edge of the dancers. "He's being a little…grabby, but nothing too…."

"I'm not being much of a buffer sitting over here," Sam said, sliding easily off his seat and giving Hank a nod. "Nice to meet you."

Hank looked a bit disgruntled, but Blaine didn't really care as Sam walked with him back out onto the dance floor. Sam's presence didn't entirely deter Sebastian, who remained close, but it did cut out the physical contact.

Sam's dancing did draw a bit of a crowd though and Blaine tried not to laugh as he grabbed his friends hips, stilling their movement. "Sam," he said with a grin, "maybe a little less thrusting would be good."

"Oh," was all Sam replied, cheeks flushing. "Right."

Before Blaine released his hold on Sam, the music shifted, going from a fast dance beat to a slower, more romantic number. Quickly, he pulled his hands back, thinking Sam would probably want to head back to the bar and, honestly, Blaine would join him. Given his choices….

His train of thought was derailed as Sam caught one of his hands, pulling him closer and wrapping an arm around him. Freehand catching Sam's shoulder, Blaine fell into step as they swayed gently to the music.

Surprised, but not unpleasantly so, Blaine let himself relax against his friend. Sam seemed at ease and, after a moment, Blaine asked, "You do know that guy was hitting on you, right?"

"Yup," Sam replied with a smile. "Not my type though. Too tall."

"Ah, then I stand a chance," Blaine teased, grinning as Sam chuckled.

"You know it," Sam said easily, giving them a little hug.

Something in Sam's tone made Blaine inhale sharply. Squeezing the taller boy shoulder, he said, "Don't tease about that, Sam. Just don't."

Sam was quiet for a minute, just moving to the music, before he murmured, "I'm not."

Those two words made Blaine freeze and Sam was quick to babble, "I mean, yeah, I've got little crush, but you're my bro, so I totally get it if you don't think of me like that. Geeze, I'm bad at this…."

Craning his neck to look Sam in the eye, Blaine said, "You have a crush? On me?"

Sam's face was red. "Please tell me I didn't just screw this up. I don't want to lose my best friend."

There was such fear in Sam's eyes that Blaine simply pulled Sam into a tight hug, his cheek pressing into Sam's shoulder. "No, Sam, no. Nothing's screwed up, I promise. I'm just…surprised."

Sam's arms were warm and strong as they returned the embrace. "Sorry to just spring that on you."

"Don't worry about it," Blaine replied, pulling back the keeping hold of Sam's hand. "C'mon, we should talk."

Sam was quiet as he allowed Blaine to tow him out to the car. Once they were safely inside the relative privacy of the vehicle, Blaine chewed his lip before asking, "So…you're bi? I didn't know."

Nodding, Sam responded, "Yeah, not many people do. I told my parents during the beginning of my junior year, once I'd worked things out for myself. They don't have a problem with it, which was a big relief."

"That's good," Blaine said, happy Sam's parents were supportive. His own parents, while not openly unpleasant, just tried to ignore his sexuality. "How come you haven't said anything before?"

"It hasn't come up," Sam used with a shrug, then he got expression on his face that Blaine had learned meant he was searching for the words he wanted to express himself. "I'm not defined by it, you know? I'm just Sam, the same guy have always been."

"And you like me," Blaine stated. "Why? You know about what I…."

"I know you made a mistake," Sam interrupted fiercely. "I also know you hated yourself for doing so. I still hate myself for encouraging Mercedes to leave Shane for me. People do things sometimes that hurt others. The fact that we regret it tells me we're not bad, just human."

Earnest Sam always made Blaine smile and Sam returned expression, reaching over to grab Blaine's hands he continued, "You're my best friend. You get me. I like spending time together and I think about you when you're not around. I like to make you laugh and smile and you've got beautiful eyes and I think about kissing you when…."

Leaning across the armrest, Blaine wrapped a hand around the back of Sam's neck, drawing him in to press a soft, sweet kiss to his lips. Sam quieted easily, returning a tension gently but happily.

When they broke apart, they were both smiling.

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