Sam had to stay at home the next day. Between the phone call in the middle of the day and the black eye, his mother hadn't heard a word of Sam's story. She had tucked him in bed, arranged a pile of comic books on the nightstand, and stacked the TV remote on top. Then she had left for work. Sam had sat bored out of his mind for the rest of the day. His mom had even had the gall to suggest he stay home a couple of more days when they sat down to dinner. His unequivocal no finally convinced her otherwise because she drove him to school today.
Now Sam stood at the front entrance waiting for Kurt. He adjusted the stupid sling strap for the thousandth time that morning. The cast weighed a ton and the strap was giving him a headache. All he really wanted was to see Kurt and then sit down.
A flash of tan SUV caught his attention. He walked over to meet the car. "Kurt!" he waved.
The door opened, but Kurt didn't leap out, Finn did. "Sam! Dude! How's it hanging?"
"Limply," he flapped his wounded arm. "Where's Kurt?"
"At home." Finn carefully grabbed his cast. "This is so sweet. Can I sign it?"
"Sure," he absentmindedly handed a sharpie to Finn. "Why's he at home?"
"He had an allergic reaction yesterday." Finn signed his name with a loopy F and an H. "Mercedes was with him at the mall. They were getting smoothies and then she said Kurt started breathing funny."
Sam took the pen back from Finn and awkwardly hiked his backpack into place. "What's he allergic to?" Sam felt like a bad boyfriend for not knowing already.
"Shellfish, I think. Which is a totally weird thing to put in a smoothie, right?" Finn started walking towards the entrance with Sam in tow.
Totally weird, Sam agreed. More like totally unlikely, he decided. Probably Finn had gotten the details wrong. "Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's just really tired. We were at the hospital all night, plus adrenaline totally takes it out of you. I should know," Finn held open the door for Sam. "They had to give it to me once, when I was like five. We were at a picnic and I got stung by a bee. My hand swelled up to the size of a baseball." Finn held both hands up to demonstrate. "It was kinda cool." They rounded a corner and headed for their respective lockers. "But I was totally thrashed the next day. I slept like fourteen hours straight."
"I'll have to call him later."
"You could text him," Finn offered.
Sam waved his hand in answer.
"Oh, right. Hey, do you want help with your locker?"
"Thanks." Sam figured that was one less opportunity for him to look like a tool as he tried to manage left-handed. They had just reached his locker when someone clipped him in his good shoulder. The move forced him forward into Finn. Finn caught him before he could go down, but only by grabbing his bad arm. The headache that had been dancing around his neck was now trying to punch through his temples.
Sam shook Finn off with a little effort and pointed to his locker. Finn opened it and a Ken doll fell out. It was naked except for a black noose around its neck. "Wow, that is fucked up," he heard Finn whisper next to him.
Sam had to close his eyes for a moment or he was going to start crying right here in the hallway. He leaned his head against the locker next to his and let the cool metal soothe some of his raging headache. A few deep breaths later, Sam decided he could take a hint. He asked Finn to grab a few of his books from his locker and handed over his backpack for Finn to fill. While Finn did that, Sam carefully picked up the rope with his good hand and dropped the doll in the nearest trash can. He took his bag from Hudson and started walking back the way they had come.
"Where you going?" Finn jogged to catch up.
"Do you think Mr. Hummel would mind if I stayed with Kurt today?" Sam didn't slow down and hit the exit at full speed despite the surge of rushing teens.
"Probably not," Finn told him. "I can drive you."
"Thanks man." At least, Sam sighed, his mother would be happy.
Sam crept down the stairs to his boyfriend's bedroom. Burt probably wouldn't care for it, but it wasn't like Sam or Kurt were up for anything. The lights were off, so Sam had to rely on the light streaming from the lone window. He managed the trip to Kurt's bed without stumbling over anything.
"Kurt?" he nudged the nearest shoulder.
Kurt rolled onto his back and squinted up at him. "Sam?"
"Yeah," he grinned sheepishly.
"Go back to bed," the other boy ordered. He held up the blankets so Sam could crawl in. A quick pause to kick off his shoes and then Sam was curled up next to him. Sam gave him a quick peck hello. Kurt tried to return it, but hit his nose instead.
"You're not awake at all, are you?"
Sam's only answer was a subvocal groan and a pat on his chest. Sam used the hand to pull Kurt's arm across his body and rest Kurt's head on his good shoulder. Kurt moved once and then again, so Sam stroked a hand down his back. He even hummed a little phrase, something he doubted Kurt would recognize. Another full body wiggle, another swipe down the back.
"If you want to be with me,
Well, with these things there's no telling,
We'll just have to wait and see,
But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Than waiting to win the lottery.
Mhmm, mhmm.
Maybe this time is different.
I mean I really think you'll like me."
A finger over his lips stopped him. "Shhh," Kurt whispered into his shoulder. "Quiet now."
Sam kissed the finger and relaxed back into the pillow. "Goodnight Kurt," he whispered.
"Ssss," was the reply. Sam smiled, but kept any further comments to himself.
"What the hell?"
Bright lights made Sam jerk out of bed and subsequently run into Kurt, who was still lying across his chest. One of his arms had snuck up under Sam's shirt and been trapped by the sudden movement. Sam looked around for the source of the light and soon found Kurt's dad standing by the steps. Sam's only thought was, "Thank god I have my pants on. I have my pants on, right? Thank god."
"One of you want to explain what's going on?"
"Studying?" was the first thing that popped into Sam's head, but that old stand-by obviously wasn't going to fly. Besides, Burt had seen through that weeks ago.
"We were in the middle of having wild, passionate, monkey sex, Dad. What do you think we were doing?" Kurt tried to straighten up, which was hard to do without straddling Sam. He settled for trying to tug his arm free of Sam's shirt. His fingertips danced across Sam's skin, occasionally getting near a danger zone. Sam swallowed and glanced over at Burt. This just really wasn't his day.
Burt's face was bright red, but he was staying by the steps. "What did I tell you about having Sam over when I'm gone?"
"It was my fault, Mr. Hummel," Sam was quick to defend Kurt. "Kurt was mostly asleep when I got here."
Burt just raised one eyebrow. "Dad, give the Bruce Willis impersonation a rest. We weren't doing anything." Kurt finally freed his arm and was able to sit up. "We both still have our pants on." Kurt paused a moment. "Well, I'm pretty sure Sam does, anyway."
Sam shot Kurt a glare, before the implications caught up to him. Kurt shot him a triumphant smirk in return. "You suck," he mouthed at Kurt.
"You wish," Kurt mouthed back.
Sam turned away before his face could burn any brighter.
"Kuurrtt?" his dad drawled.
Kurt huffed a breath and threw the covers aside. Sam was relieved, and slightly disappointed, to realize that Kurt may not have been wearing pants, but he was definitely wearing boxers. He climbed over Sam and stood up. "We were resting." He started to head for the bathroom, but then turned back. "Why are you here, Sam?"
"Playing hokey?" Burt challenged.
"Mom-sanctioned hokey," Sam corrected. He related the story about bumping into Finn and then bumping into Finn. He left out the part about the doll. With any luck, the whole story would slip Finn's mind before he got home.
"How is the arm?" Burt questioned as he motioned Kurt towards the bathroom. Kurt rolled his eyes, but let himself be directed.
"Just a fracture."
"Kurt said you got hit by a door?" Burt mouth twitched suspiciously.
"Two actually." Sam ran the wrong hand through his hair, but things still felt funny, like something was sticking up in the back.
"I feel like I should be handing you a pamphlet," Burt laughed.
Sam rolled his eyes. The jokes had gotten old as soon as they started putting the cast on his arm. "Maybe just a rabbit's foot."
Burt chuckled a little more, taking his hat off to rub at the stubble on his head. "You know, after yesterday, I was a little worried that it wasn't much of an accident." He stared hard at Sam. "Was it an accident?"
"Seemed to be, yeah." Sam was really glad now that he hadn't told Kurt about the doll.
Burt paused as if waiting for Sam to continue. "Sorry," Burt laughed at himself. "Between Finn, Kurt, and Carole, I can hardly get a word in edgewise. I'm not used to havin' to do most of the talking." He motioned back up the stairs. "Why don't we wait for Kurt upstairs? This'll take a while." Sam understood what Burt really meant. No way was he leaving his precious baby boy alone in a shower with a teenage boy on the loose and only a door between them.
"Do you like Sports Center?" Burt called over his shoulder.
"Yeah," Sam replied, glad to be back on a script that he knew all of the answers to. He took it as a sign that his luck was finally changing for the better.