Disclaimer: characters and places belong to Ryan Murphy and to Fox Network. If you find this fanfiction similar to another one, it's nothing more than a coincidence.

Production: June – August 2013 / May – June 2014

Rating: G

Summary: Kurt Hummel always knew his best friend would end up falling for the guy she initially disliked.

Extra: considers an Alternative Reality where Kurt and Mercedes are still best friends, because Kurtcedes deserved better.


A/N: English is not my first language and I don't have a beta-reader at the moment, so I'm sorry for any mistakes, no one is perfect. Hope you enjoy this fanfiction as much as I enjoyed writing it. ^-^


THAT'S BECAUSE HE'S CRAZY

"Oh, let's be honest: you totally look like the girl who ends up falling for the guy she initially disliked!"

- x -

I.

When Mercedes first met Sam Evans, she wasn't exactly impressed. Of course he was cute ("Cute?! He's more like super-mega-foxy-awesome-hot!" Kurt had bursted between two mouthfuls of the lemon and meringue pie they were sharing at Breadstix) and he seemed like a nice guy, but everything else seemed rather…

"Basic!" Mercedes threw the word at the table with a shrug, incapable of finding something better. "He's basic!"

Kurt's baby-blue eyes looked like coins on his face. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you're trying to say."

But she wasn't listening to him: "Not to mention his introduction… 'I'm Sam and I don't like green eggs and ham', what, was he trying to be funny?"

"Maybe, I think I've heard that somewhere before."

"Meh…"

Wrinkling her nose, she took another piece of pie with her fork.

"On the other hand, the Glee club needs someone to fill Matt's place…" Her dark eyes stared at the fluffy cream. "It was kind of nice of him not to slam the door after his first slushie, him being the new guy and so invested in his reputation as a football player and all…"

He took use of the closest napkin, still waiting for her final statement.

"Whatever, Kurt," she concluded with a sigh, before landing the fork in her mouth, "he's probably a bit crazy."


II.

A few months later, they were sitting side by side, the only ones left at their table. She kept complaining about her sore feet in those high-heeled shoes, he kept complaining about how tiring it was to plan a wedding, and together they kept judging their friends' skills at the dance floor, when in fact they were simply happy to finally have what they wanted the most: some time alone with each other.

"Someone is going to get hurt," Kurt commented at some point, once he noticed Tina starting to spin Sam at a vomit-inducing speed, "and my bet is on him!"

Mercedes stole a glance at her best friend at then added, in a sour tone: "Maybe he'll get his other eye black too, at least they'll match."

He snorted at her words.

"Mercedes, he got into a fight! For me!"

"He was violent!" She was finally speaking what she had been keeping inside for the past couple of days. "You know we shouldn't trust people who resort to violence! There are other ways to solve problems, Kurt, namely through talking!"

"Well, in this case it seems like violence is the only language beasts like Karofsky know!"

"What's the matter with you? You've never believed in that!"

"It was nice of him, okay?" Their eyes met for a second, so she could see how important Sam's actions, no matter how grave, had been to him. "Most guys don't care! They're like 'Oh, it sucks to be you', and only behind the scenes because being by my side in public might give others the wrong impression. But not Sam, Mercedes! Covering up his loyalties, hiding in the shadows… that's not who he is! He stands up for his friends and he's not afraid to show it!"

"I'm not saying he's not loyal, it's just…"

She blinked, in blank. The confidence in his voice was telling her that this discussion would be in vain. Still, she knew that Kurt was right at least in one thing.

"He seems so impulsive! Crazy, if you ask me! But, fine…" On the verge of a pout, she admitted: "He – sometimes – fits the profile of a good sidekick."

"Indeed, Mercedes!" Kurt watched Tina let go of Sam's hands and he tripped on his own feet, falling right in the middle of the dance floor. "Indeed!"


III.

"So, tell me," Kurt asked while lying down in his bed at Dalton's, "how does it feel like to be part of the football team?"

"I'd prefer to be a cheerleader, to be honest. But it's for…"

"… the good of the Glee family," he completed at the same time as her. "Yeah."

"Yeah!"

He smiled at the image of Mercedes grimacing at her bathroom's mirror, just like she used to do at his remark that sometimes she tried too hard for them.

"Besides, the rest of the team isn't very happy with our presence ('Of course they're not!' Kurt thought at the reminiscence of his past experiences with the same people), but we didn't need them to feel welcome. The truth is it has its good moments too, the boys seem pretty impressed by us and we have lots of fun during the drills."

"Oh, really?"

"Like, today we were on a break and Sam came along and started telling us these jokes…" Kurt had to slightly hold his iPhone away from his ear when she started giggling on the other side. "Oh my God, I had no idea that guy was so funny!"

"I thought all of his jokes were lame."

"They are lame! I told them to Lauren later and she asked me if I had been hit on the head with a ball! I think it's the way he tells them… he actually believes they are funny, and then he makes those voices…" She cracked up in giggles again. "I don't know, Kurt, it's almost crazy! He must be a natural!"

In all honesty, Kurt was having some trouble imagining Sam being that funny, but he still had to find something to answer back and Lauren's suggestion seemed a bit rough. He couldn't help neither the grin nor the sly tone, though, when he replied the only words that came to his mind:

"I see…"

He didn't have to be facing her to know that Mercedes was frowning before she quickly changed the subject: "Anyway, do you know who's enjoying this football thing? Tina! I swear to you, I think there's a high chance she might be hired effectively after the big game…"


IV.

He took her by the hand, introduced her to the friends who hadn't met her yet, made her twirl a couple of times to show them the pretty blue dress and how good it looked on her, and then, with some kisses on the cheeks and a few waved goodbyes, they sat alone at one of the deserted tables at the auditorium's bar.

"But oh my God, Mercedes, I'm still in awe!" Kurt opened up a smile and jiggled his fists in the air. "Original songs?! But how…?"

"Rachel," and it was enough for him to know the whole story without even asking.

"Well, her song was pretty," he admitted, trying to avoid more drama, "even if a bit sad. But the group number was fantastic!"

"Thank you! We all wrote the lyrics together, based on our experiences since we started high school."

Mercedes dark eyes were now glowing in a different light: "You know, I wrote a song too!"

"You did?"

"Yeah…" Her shoulders shrugged as if it had no meaning, but her little smile spoke louder and Kurt knew she was both overwhelmed in pride and dying to share the experience with him. "It was just a try – my first, actually – and for fun only, but, modesty aside, I liked it! And they seemed to enjoy it too when I shared it with the Glee club! I named it 'Hell to the No'."

"Hell to the…" Kurt's jaw slowly dropped as his memories became clearer. "You know, I think I've heard Sam humming something like that earlier, in the bathroom, during intermission."

"Oh, Sam really liked the song! He even wrote a 'Hell No' card to keep up with the performance and then kept it at the meetings for a whole week," she giggled. "He used to show it to Mr. Schue every time he made a doubtful decision about our Regionals performance. He was too busy with Rachel and Finn to notice and we had a good fun because of that."

He smiled back at her words. Saying goodbye to McKinley hadn't been that hard, not after all the terrible things he had experienced in there, but leaving her behind had been the reverse of the medal. Knowing that she wasn't alone had lifted a weight off his shoulders.

"See?" Kurt stretched his arm through the table top to hold her hand: "I told you he would be a good addition to the club!"

"A crazy one! But yes, he's good…" Mercedes squeezed his hand on hers. "Not as good as you, though."

"Oh, honey," he laughed, "but that option is not even up for consideration!"


V.

Mr. Schue was late for the meeting and since the cat was away, the mice were playing: between the crosstalk of people still discussing the events from last Saturday and those already making plans for summer vacations after their first trip to New York, not to mention Rachel trying to hit notes above the background noise, the choir room sounded pretty chaotic.

Disgruntled by all the fuss, Kurt threw his note sheets above the piano and approached Mercedes, who was sitting alone at the back row, a bit distant from the rest of the group, strangely quiet.

"I'm so sorry we didn't get to talk before, after all that Prom Queen mess I completely forgot to ask you," he took the closest empty chair and sat next to her "how was your Prom?"

Her lips morphed into a smile before answering: "It was good."

"Good as in 'it could have been worse' or 'it was a horrifying experience but I'm too good of a person to admit it'?"

Her smile became wider and he could see small wrinkles around her eyes.

"Actually, it's a 'it was better than I imagined' good. Rachel went away for pretty much the entire night and took Jesse with her, but Sam was there the whole time. He was a… very pleasant company."

"I saw you two doing that exuberant choreography at Blaine's song, you seemed to be having a good time!"

"Oh yeah, that song was craaazy…" The dreamy expression froze on her face. "Yes, we did have a great time."

Kurt already knew Mercedes too well to believe that that was all. He waited one, two, three, up to five seconds, but all she did was start staring at the tip of her shoes, still with her lips forming that mysterious little smile, pretending he wasn't there. Something more had happened at Prom, but she wasn't going to spill it anytime soon.

Then he heard Mr. Schue coming in and apologizing for his delay, and soon everyone was all over the room, occupying their seats. Neither of them was an exception, but before they were moving their chairs to nearer their colleagues, he still had time to wink and let her know:

"I'm glad to hear it!"


VI.

He was taking advantage of the fact that they were all at the other room ('Throwing things at each other's heads or attempting murder on someone, I can bet!') to carefully fold his clothing and start packing up in peace when she broke the silence like a hurricane, slamming the door at her passage.

"Jesus Christ, Mercedes!"

"I'm sorry", she grumbled, not sounding sorry at all.

"Hey, is everything alright?" With a pair of tight jeans hanging forgotten from his hands, Kurt followed her steps through the room, forward and backward, like a trapped animal. "Sam was looking for you."

"I know, I've already talked to him."

"What did he want? What happened?"

"NOTHING!"

He dropped his jaw at her overreaction: "Girl, what even…"

But Mercedes didn't let him finish. With a deep sigh, she stopped without a warning, causing him to bump into her, and then turned to face him, with an expression that didn't denounce anything wrong.

"Kurt, this whole competition was a huge fiasco and I'm really tired!" He couldn't help but to notice that her facial features seemed a little drained and that her lower lip was trembling. "Do you mind if I go to bed now? This night was completely…"

He arched an eyebrow, waiting in suspense. When she didn't finish her line of thought, he tried his best:

"Crazy?"

And when silence was all he could hear, he was sure that, whatever it was that had left her like that, he had hit the jackpot.

Mercedes closed her eyes, ready to assume defeat: "Look, I'll talk to you in the morning, 'kay? I promise."

But she didn't talk to him the next morning, nor for the rest of the day, the rest of the week neither. Her walls were way up high this time and she didn't seem ready to bring them down yet, not even for him. Kurt didn't hold it against her, though – he knew her well enough to be aware that she needed the proper time to process the latest happenings. Whatever it was, she would tell him when she was ready.

Besides, he could wait. He already knew it, anyway.

- x -

"Err, no, I don´t!"

"Mercedes, Mercedes…" Kurt sighed. He was pretending to be too busy, trying to choose between two vests that had caught his attention, but apparently he was having a great time with this. "You're going to annoy me so much about this guy and how much you dislike him, I'll actually give you a hard side eye once you start giggling at everything he does!"

"Uh, okay," she embraced the closest mannequin with a grin, "but I ask you, why would I be that girl?"

He put the vests aside and faced her. He wasn't smiling anymore.

"Because that's who you are."

"You're a people's person. You like to be liked and you like to like people. If you're not okay with someone, you need to make sure they're perfect idiots or you won't feel at ease with yourself. So you reach to their very core, you know? You see them. And that's when you discover that not only they're not idiots, but also, and mostly, they're just good people at heart trying to find a safe place in a hostile world. So that's what you give them: a place to hide from that world, so they can become who they truly are. You accept them, you're proud of them, and unconsciously you nurture that good side they never had a chance to show before, because the world wasn't ready to understand them. You love them, so obviously, they love you back."

Kurt beamed before he added: "One of these days, it'll simply be a different kind of love. When you're ready and he's the right one, you'll see. It will make you feel crazy."

Mercedes looked away, trying, in vain, to hide her reaction from him. She was surprised, but thankful and delighted by his words.

There was a moment of silence, during which she tried to make herself invisible in a row of large coats and Kurt simply grabbed one of the vests by luck, since he felt incapable of choosing. It wasn't until later, when they were already on their way to meet the cashier, that she finally found the courage to ask:

"Is that really what you think of me?"

"Of course!" He winked stealthily at her. "Isn't that how we came to be?"

- x -

They left as quickly as they had arrived, under the excuse that they were late for classes. Maintaining his trunk rotated on the seat, Blaine watched them moving away from the table until they were distant enough so he could turn back to face his boyfriend with his mouth shaped in a perfect O.

"I'm sorry, did you hear them?" He was trying to remain serious, but his state of mind betrayed him and his lips twitched into a smile. "Did they just bluntly lie to us?"

Kurt took a sip at his coffee while whispering: "Yep…"

His baby-blue eyes hadn't detached from the pair neither. They had walked over the main counter, forgetting to take their coffees, and were now departing the place. When the glass door closed behind them, he could swear he saw a glimpse of two tangled hands before they both disappeared from his visual field.

And he wasn't the only one noticing it:

"Oh my God, Kurt," Blaine pointed an accusatory finger at the door, not sure whether to focus his shock on his interlocutor or the place where we had last seen his friends, "were they really holding hands?!"

"It seems like it," and he didn't even realize he was nodding in slow-motion.

Blaine shook his head.

"Wow, Mercedes and Sam…" He was still trying to look serious, but he was (still) failing miserably. "I have to be honest, all this time I always thought she found him kind of… crazy!"

Kurt took his coffee cup to his mouth again.

"Oh, she does," he smirked, "but she kind of loves it!"

THE END