AN: This is my contribution to Sartie Week!
AU: What if it was Artie that Sam started secretly dating in the Season 2 finale? How would the rest of the show unfold?
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Chapter 1: Nationals
Artie wasn't exactly sure how this had happened. Just an hour ago, he and the guys were giving Finn advice on how to get Rachel back (even though they all knew that, even without advice, the two would end up getting together, and probably breaking up a few more times). Then Finn went to find a suit for his big plan, enlisting the help of his trusted wingman Puck, who swore to make Finn so hot that "Berry would throw her virginity at him". Mike got a text, most likely from Tina, and left the room a little too happily, in Artie's opinion (he liked the dude, but Artie couldn't pretend that he still wasn't a little hurt about the Asian Camp incident, despite those two being some of his best friends.) That left Artie in the room with Sam, who was finishing off a bag of Doritos.
"Aren't you going to hate yourself later for that?" Artie had asked playfully, trying to get a conversation rolling. He'd rolled over on the bed so that he could face the chair Sam was sitting on, glad to be out of the chair for once. Sam had looked up and smiled his big-lipped smile. "I'm already hating myself for that cake you swore was calorie free. No reason not to keep the hate going," he had reasoned, dropping a few more cool ranch flavored chips into his mouth.
"So, what do you make of Finn and Rachel giving it another try? Think it'll work?" Sam had asked, continuing conversation. He'd jumped carelessly onto the bed, next to Artie, making himself comfortable. As Sam stretched his arms his shirt came up a bit, giving Artie a flash of abs that, for reasons unknown to himself, made Artie blush. It took a while for Artie to realize that Sam had asked him a question. It wasn't until Sam said, "You done checking me out?" that Artie had snapped back to reality and stumbled out a weak, "Um, what was the question?"
Sam had chuckled before reaching out a hand to lightly touch Artie's flaming cheek. "Wow, dude. You're super hot," Sam had commented. Artie assumed that Sam was commenting about Artie's epic blush (an unfortunate trait left over from his childhood), but still chalked the comment up to teasing. "You're not too bad yourself, Evans," Artie had let out, pretending to scan Sam's body up and down. And, ok, it's hard to pretend to scan someone's body, so Artie had actually gotten a pretty good look. And, um. Wow. Artie'd never considered himself gay before (he had had two pretty hot girlfriends, and even loved one of them), but Sam's Adonis-like body was causing a strange tightness in his abdomen.
Sam had noticed the reaction. After all, the two were friends, and had spent many a long Saturday locked up in Artie's room, playing video games or trading comic books or watching Avatar for the millionth time. Sam knew what Artie's faces meant, and he didn't miss the look of embarrassment mixed with arousal on Artie's red face. "You ok, dude?" Sam had asked gently, not wanting to embarrass Artie anymore because if Artie's face got any redder, Sam would've had to call an ambulance. Artie had nodded, his eyes so focused on Sam's face now that the brunette didn't even notice that his glasses were slipping down his nose. "I've just never been so close to a hot guy before," Artie let out without meaning to. Sam's reaction had been hysterical- his face had frozen in the expression he often wore before he burst out laughing, eyes wide with mirth, big lips tucked back, eyebrows raised. Artie saw that Sam was about to laugh, and nervously pushed his glasses up his nose while simultaneously pushing himself farther away from Sam on the bed. The blonde boy had stayed in that pre-laughing stance for a while, and Artie felt the need to defend himself.
"I'm so sorry, man, I didn't mean to make things awkward, and I swear I'm not just your friend because I think you're hot," Artie had said before seeing that Sam's expression hadn't changed. Hoping to make amends, Artie continued talking about whatever was on his mind, pushing up his glasses again even though they weren't slipping. " And that 'hot' thing slipped out on accident, you know how I get when I'm nervous, I just word-vomit all over the place, and usually I say something that makes my friends hate me so – crap, I've lost you now! Ok, we can totally pretend this never happened if you wa-" Artie had been cut off in the last way he expected, by having Sam lean forward and force Artie's lips closed with his own. If he hadn't been in the middle of a face-tingling kiss, Artie would've lightly hit Sam in the back of the head because really? Shutting him up with a kiss was so cliché. As it was though, Artie didn't say anything.
Which led them to now, Sam on top of Artie on the bed, struggling to get Artie's sweater vest off without knocking off the smaller boy's glasses. Artie couldn't help gasping with pleasure when Sam started bucking their hips together in a way that made Artie's whole body boil with ecstasy. Their lips kept moving together most of the time, save for when Sam ducked down to lightly suck on Artie's neck. "Sam! Oh my-" Artie managed to get out, his voice embarrassingly high-pitched. He felt Sam's chuckle against the sensitive skin of his neck, and Artie let out a groan before noticing that Sam had stopped moving and was simply laying on top of the wheel-chair bound boy, smiling simply, his eyes alight with mischief. Artie tried to make his breathing go back to normal instead of the panting he'd been doing for the last….twenty minutes? He hadn't exactly been looking at the clock.
"Look who gets excited around me," Sam said, holding himself over Artie's body with his arms. Sam lowered himself by doing what looked like a push-up, and the sight of Sam's incredibly built arms flexing made Artie feel like moaning all over again. "Look who thinks I'm hot," Sam seductively whispered into Artie's ear. Artie's eyes rolled to the back of his head before he exhaled some sexual tension. Sam rolled off of Artie so that he was lying next to him on the bed. Artie flipped himself so that he was facing the blonde teen that was smiling oh-so sensually next to him. Before Artie could say anything (not that he was sure what he would say if he could- "I swear I'm not gay?"/ "This never happened?" /"You're so freaking hot?"), Sam opened his mouth and shocked Artie with: "Look who never told me he likes me back." Artie's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline, and before he could deny feeling anything for his awkwardly-smooth, great-at-impressions, undeniably attractive, unbearably funny, and perfectly dorky best guy friend, he realized no denial came to him.
The other guys came back to the room within the hour, leaving Artie and Sam little time to sort things out. The best idea, they thought, was to have a date when they got back to Lima, so that they could be sure it wasn't just this amazing trip that got to them (even though Sam swore up and down that it wasn't.) Artie emphasized that it had to be secret, that no one could know. In a small town like Lima, things spread fast and as Artie wasn't exactly sure what he was, he definitely didn't want it spreading around. Sam agreed on the condition that he could call Artie his boyfriend, a term that made both boys smile like smitten schoolgirls. Artie wanted to know when Sam had started liking him, but as soon as he asked, both boys heard the other Glee guys outside the motel room. As Mike insisted that Finn let the Asian boy try his turn at opening the door, Sam did his innocent smile and told Artie that he'd have to wait for their date to find out. At that, Sam settled himself on the other bed just in time for the other guys to open the door. Mike ran straight to bathroom, while Finn busied himself by hanging his new purchase in the hotel closet.
"How'd you ladies enjoy your alone time? Bet you gave the security cameras a show," Puck drawled, crashing down next to Sam. Artie's eyes opened with panic, but he still managed to answer: "Making out isn't the only thing two people can do when they're alone, Puck. You've been corrupted by your sex-god ways." Puck nodded happily and said "Damn right I've been corrupted. It's like I have sex-vision. One of the many perks of being me" before he fell back onto a pillow, apparently dead. Finn chuckled, "Puck can fall asleep anywhere. Flirting with New York Girls must have tired him out." With that, Finn yawned and went over to the bathroom, knocking impatiently on the door. "Mike, hurry, dude."
While Mike and Finn squabbled about who needed the bathroom more, Artie pulled out his phone and texted Sam, who was playing with the sleeping Puck's fingers.
ARTIE: Do you think he knows?
SAM: I don't think anyone knows.
ARTIE: *sigh of relief* Well, today was interesting.
Sam chuckled upon receiving that text. As soon as he wrote a new message and pressed send, Sam looked up at Artie and smiled.
SAM: Our date will be even more interesting. Oh, and I'm sure Nationals will be interesting too. Good night, boyfriend.
Artie smiled down at his phone, smiling furiously.
ARTIE: Good night, other boyfriend.
The boys looked at each other for a while, grinning hugely, and for a second Artie thought Sam might lean over the distance between the two beds and kiss him good night. That moment was interrupted by Puck letting out a ridiculously loud snore that made the boyfriends erupt into nervous giggles.
Finn made his way over to Puck and Sam's bed. "Puck's right, you guys are ladies. Or at least, you laugh like them, " Finn commented, trying to find a comfortable position. His comment only made them giggle more, until Mike came out of the bathroom and turned off the light. The darkness in the room felt too serious to laugh at, and it occurred to Artie that he actually had a boyfriend. An adorable, talented boyfriend who was in the bed next to him. That thought alone made sleeping very difficult.
AN: The next chapter will be about Nationals itself, as well as the Sartie date. I'm thinking of making this a multi-chap. Any thoughts? Reviews make great writers great
