A/N: So much thanks to my beta Alice aka darlingwendy!
Eyes still shut, Sam woke slowly to the feeling of wet skin being pressed to random spots on his face and a heavy body laying over his.
"Teddy, it's way too early, leave me alone," he groaned, swatting his hand at the intruder. Instead his hand coming into contact with fur, it wrapped around gelled hair, causing the person above him to laugh.
"Teddy? Not sure whether I should be insulted or not."
Sam's eyes snapped open as he realized the body above him was not his dog's, but his husband's. Blaine smiled down at him, eyes bright in contrast to the gloomy weather outside.
"You're home already?" Sam asked. "I thought you weren't supposed to get here until tomorrow!"
"The showcase got cancelled, so they went ahead and said the performers could go home if they wanted. Some of the other guys stayed so they could be total tourists, but it's been way too long since I've seen you. So I hopped on the first plane back."
"Mmm, three whole days," Sam agreed, running his hands up and down Blaine's sides. Blaine sat back a little on his heels so Sam could adjust himself into a sitting position on the couch, but wound his hands around Sam's neck at the first opportunity. The warm metal of his wedding ring grazed against Sam's neck, making him smile.
Blaine leaned down so that he could press his forehead to Sam's. They stayed that way for a few moments, taking in each other's bodies and heavy breathing and reacquainting themselves with their husband.
"I don't think we're ever going to get out of the honeymoon phase. Not when I missed you this much," Blaine said.
Sam laughed, kissing Blaine's nose. "I missed you so much," he repeated, gripping Blaine's hips and tilting his mouth upward. Blaine got the message, dipping down to press a kiss to Sam's lips. Sam sighed, reveling in Blaine's soft lips that he hadn't felt in what felt like forever, before parting his lips and sucking on Blaine's bottom lip gently. Blaine whimpered before pulling away slightly, leaving their foreheads connected. Their eyes stayed closed.
"I love you," he whispered. The words filled Sam's heart, feeling so obvious and so right.
"I love you, too."
Sunlight blazed through the open curtains, seeping past Sam's eyelids. He felt wet skin on his face again, though this time it was more realistic and slobbery. Instead of lips, it felt more like…tongue.
"Teddy," he groaned, this time knowing for a fact that it was his dog. He opened his eyes to see Teddy's smiling, furry blond face.
Sam sat up, scrubbing his face and wincing at the sunlight streaming in through the window. Teddy barked, alerting Sam that he would probably need to go to the bathroom soon, but Sam ignored him for the moment.
The dream remained heavy on his mind, the ending playing back to him over and over. He had no idea what it meant, and he didn't really want to think too hard about it yet. He did know that he really needed to stop falling asleep in the middle of the night, because that was when he had the weirdest dreams.
"Have you ever had a really weird dream?"
"Define weird," Tina said, hunched over the portable sound system she'd brought to the gym. Sam had wondered out loud whether the gym came with its own sound system for basketball games or other events, but Tina stated that the venue owners hadn't provided it for her, and besides, she was more comfortable with this one, since she'd used it so much.
Judging by the amount of time she'd already spent setting it up, Sam wasn't so sure.
"Weird like…about a person that it shouldn't be about in a situation you shouldn't be in." Sam didn't look up at Tina as he answered, instead flipping through his phone to see if Blaine had texted him. Time zones still confused him, but he thought Blaine might be preparing to leave Paris soon.
"Like one of those dreams?"
Sam wasn't sure what she meant. "Um…sure?"
Tina gasped behind him, and Sam heard the thud of whatever cord she was holding hitting the ground. "Oh my god, who about?" she asked as she ran over to stand in front of him. Sam wasn't sure he liked the look on her face; as much as he loved Tina, it was honestly kind of scaring him. "You have to tell me!"
"I didn't even say that I had one, it could-"
"But you implied it!"
"-be hypothetical for all you know!"
"Then why would you even ask?"
Sam paused. She had a point. "Fine. But I can't tell you."
"Aww, Sammy," Tina pouted. Sam groaned, moving away from her to avoid her gaze and picking up the cord she'd dropped. He knew nothing about sound systems beyond plugging in a guitar, but it couldn't hurt to try, right?
"Was it about Rachel?"
"What the hell?" Sam asked, so shocked by Tina's question that he lost the flimsy concentration that he'd had. "No!"
Tina shrugged. "Thought I'd ask. I'm just trying to think of people who you shouldn't be dreaming about. Any of the multitudes of girls you've been dating are out, it would make sense for you to dream about at least one of them." Sam scowled, turning back to the console.
"Hmmm…Santana."
"No. Been there, done that in high school. Don't dream about her, it's scary."
"Noted. God…what girls are you even friends with that you haven't dated?"
"Thanks, Tina."
"Hey, it just means you're a romantic. Oh my god, it wasn't about me, was it?"
Sam blinked, shaking his head. "Sorry to disappoint, but no. That phase also passed in high school."
Tina didn't ask, even though Sam knew that she wanted to, but she very clearly had a smug look on her face. Sam smiled; he didn't really think of Tina in a romantic sense, especially since she was engaged to one of his other closest friends, but he could admit that she was, at the very least, attractive.
"So why shouldn't you be dreaming about this person, anyway? Is it because they're taken, or…?"
Sam shrugged. "I mean, they are taken, but I don't think that's really the reason? It's just that h- they're not someone I would usually be attracted to."
"Maybe you're attracted to them but you just didn't realize it," Tina suggested.
"Like, unconciously?"
"Subconsciously," she correctly gently. Sam was grateful for the correction,b ut he still disagreed about the other part - he didn't think he'd been attracted to Blaine without realizing…but he stopped, suddenly remembering his and Blaine's constant closeness, how he'd never been that way with any other guy or even girl friend, and how empty he'd felt the past three weeks.
"I…I don't think that's it. I'm just really close to them, and I shouldn't be attracted to them, or dreaming about them, or-"
The look on Tina's face, like a lightbulb had gone off in her brain, told Sam that he'd just said too much.
"Blaine?"
He winced.
"Oh my god, you had a sex dream about Blaine?!"
"Wait, what? When did I ever say this was a sex dream?"
"You said it was one of those dreams!"
"I meant romantic! A weirdly romantic dream!"
"That is so not what 'those dreams' means!"
"But I was so not thinking about having sex with Blaine!"
"But are you now?"
Sam stopped. He was. Damn it, Tina. He shook his head to clear it, pushing any thoughts of kissing Blaine with significantly less clothing than he'd had on in the actual dream far from his mind. "Can we focus? On something like the fact that I had a dream where I was married to my best friend and have no idea what the fuck it means?"
"Dreams are usually compiled of stuff from your subconscious. So you're probably subconsciously in love with Blaine," Tina stated matter-of-factly. She reached down and grabbed the cable that had been resting stagnantly in Sam's hand for the past couple of minutes, plugging it into a hole on the console, far from the one Sam had been eyeing. The console blinked to life.
Sam gaped at her. "I-no! I am so not in love with Blaine! I mean, I love him, he's one of my best friends, but I'm not - I can't be!"
"And why not? The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks," Tina quoted. Sam groaned in exasperation.
"You're way too comfortable with this idea."
"And you're too defensive. Maybe I'm comfortable because it's actually pretty obvious."
"What?" Sam's eyes bugged out. Tina just shrugged nonchalantly at him. "He's just my best friend. He's-" Sam tried to grasp for more reasons why he couldn't be in love with Blaine, but…
But he knew everything about Blaine. He knew what made him laugh, what made him cry (and how much Sam himself wanted to punch anyone that made Blaine cry), what he needed when he was crying…
He knew how much he enjoyed being close to Blaine, touching Blaine, and how he'd felt like a part of him was missing
And how his brain had decided to make up for that absence by presenting him with one of the strongest images possible.
"…He's my best friend. And he has a serious boyfriend. And… I think I'm in love with him."
"Think?"
"This is new information, I'm still processing."
He dared a glance up at Tina's face, unsure of what he would see. Her expression was more serious than he'd expected now, almost bordering on pity.
"So…what are you going to do now?" she asked, taking a seat on the ground next to him. Sam shook his head.
"What can I do? He's dating Kurt. He loves Kurt." Tina scowled. Though she was polite to Kurt when necessary, she had shown an outward disdain for Blaine and Kurt's relationship since high school, mostly when Blaine wasn't around. (And though Sam showed no signs of it, he agreed in this moment, if only because he'd just realized that he was in love with his best friend and may have been a tad bit jealous.)
"Well, just think about it," Tina said instead of going off into a tangent about Blaine and Kurt like Sam expected her to. "You've got a few options. Love him from a distance and be kind of miserable because he's got a boyfriend. Try to woo him over with your nerdy charm, that could be easy. It would definitely work if it weren't for Kurt." Sam smiled to himself, mind going back to senior year and Blaine's obvious crush on him. "Or you could just tell him outright. What have you got to lose?"
"Um, my entire relationship with him, especially our friendship if he rejects me?"
"True." Tina sighed, nudging her shoulder against Sam's. "Sammy, I can't tell you what to do. I can only tell you what I see. And what I see is that you look at Blaine like he's the center of your universe and you just didn't realize it until now. And it's not a far cry to say that Blaine looks at you the same way," she added, making Sam's heart race for a second before he squashed the idea flat. Getting up his hopes before thinking things through could only end in disaster.
Tina stood, brushing off her skirt before extending a hand to Sam and pulling him up off the ground. "You've got to make the decision yourself. But whatever it is, I'll be here if you need a cheerleader or a shoulder to cry on or hopefully a party planner to celebrate you two getting together. But-"
"-Let's be realistic," Sam finished. They both smiled at each other before Sam engulfed her in a hug, resting his chin on the top of her head. "Thanks, T."
"Don't thank me until we're sure this doesn't blow up in your face."
"…Great vote of confidence."
"Hey, I thought we were being realistic." She craned her head to look up at him. "Have you processed enough yet?"
"I don't know. It feels like it should be too soon to say, but now that I'm actually thinking about it, it feels like, really obvious." He laughed at himself, but the sound came out more as air than anything else. "It's more like the physical things. Sometimes I stare at him, at like, his mouth, or maybe his hands, or anything, and I don't even realize I'm staring. And when I do realize, I tell myself it's just that my eyes landed there, I zoned out, it didn't mean anything. I've done that with some other guys, too. But I also want to touch. And I ignore that, because I have no idea where that thought comes from. But it's kinda like how I feel around most girls, so it's just like… yeah. And he's just nothing like any friend I've ever had, and it's just all the little things, so many things that were easy to ignore, but when you put them together…"
"It's love."
Sam nodded. "I'm in love with him. Really dumbly in love with him."
Tina let out a sigh, snuggling closer to Sam. "Well, you two would be perfect for each other. I don't think that's dumb at all."
Crash!
Sam winced as the stack of pots and pans fell to the floor. Teddy barked loudly behind him, running forward and attempting to attack one of the smaller pans that was still spinning. Leaning down, Sam pried the pan handle from Teddy's teeth, setting the pan back up on the counter.
"Is that supposed to be a sign?" Sam muttered to himself, crouching on the floor to pick up the rest of the cookware, having to wrestle a few more handles from Teddy's grip. "Is this dinner a bad idea?"
Teddy barked again.
Sam sat back on his heels, running his hands through his hair roughly. He knew it would make the blond strands stick up at random angles, but at the moment he didn't care. Teddy immediately began sniffing at his jeans, pausing to lick every few seconds. Sam wasn't sure whether the dog was trying to comfort him or was just curious about something he'd encountered hundreds of times before.
"We tell each other everything," Sam said, hand raising to pet Teddy's head and scratch behind his ears. "It feels weird to keep this a secret from him, because he knows everything about me. But if I tell him and it goes wrong…"
Sighing, Sam looked up at the counters he could see, observing the mess he'd already made. Various half-cut vegetables were strewn across the counter, waiting to be put into a salad, if Sam could only focus on one task at a time instead of panicking and moving on to the next vegetable when he was only halfway done with the first. A package of pasta sat unopened by the sink on top of the printed-out recipe. Sam had never made risotto before, but he knew Italian was one of Blaine's favorite cuisines.
"Screw it," Sam said, rising up off the ground. He grabbed the trash can from the pantry, setting it in the middle of the room before beginning to clear off the mess he made. Blaine would never have to know he'd even thought up this stupid plan.
He didn't get very far. As soon as the first tomato hit the garbage can, Teddy began barking yet again.
"God, what?" Sam asked, turning to Teddy in exasperation. Teddy stopped momentarily when he noticed that Sam's attention was on him.
Sam hesitantly reached for the head of lettuce to his right. Teddy barked. Sam touched the lettuce. Teddy raced forward, grabbing the hem of Sam's teeth between his jeans and growling.
"Teddy!" Sam exclaimed, shaking his leg. Teddy held fast. "Bad dog! Bad!"
Teddy pulled, dragging a shocked Sam with him. He let go once Sam was back in front of the stove, the pot for cooking noodles directly to his right.
Sam blinked. There was no way Teddy could really know…
"Should I cook the dinner, boy?"
Teddy barked, though now his jowls were turned up into a smile.
"The hell…?" Sam shook his head, still a little confused, but grabbed the pot and began to fill it with water. "Probably just hoping that he gets some human food," he grumbled, even though there was a small smile on his face.
He cooked in silence for a few minutes, preparing the pasta to boil before turning back to the salad. Teddy laid down to rest by the sink, his job complete.
"If this goes wrong I'm blaming you," Sam told the dog as he tore apart pieces of lettuce and placed them in a bowl. He could probably make Blaine's favorite vinaigrette after he finished everything else; he thought he had enough ingredients. He sighed, figuring that if he got no opportunity to tell Blaine his feelings, or if the moment felt off, he could at least pass the dinner off as a welcome-back-I-missed-the-shit-out of you meal.
Behind him on the island counter, his phone buzzed. Sam dropped the rest of the lettuce in the bowl, dusting off his hands on his pants, before reaching for his cell. Blaine Anderson calling.
"Hello?" Sam answered immediately. He could hear muffled noises on the other end of the line, as if Blaine were in a public area.
"Hey!" Blaine said. Sam smiled broadly; every time he'd heard Blaine's voice over the past few weeks it felt like a small weight had been lifted, even more so now that he knew why. "I'm at the airport! We're going to grab our luggage and then catch a cab home."
Sam looked around at the disaster area that was their kitchen. "Um…how long do you think that'll take?"
"Well, it's New York traffic, and I think we're about to hit rush hour, so at least an hour? Maybe more? Why, not excited to see me?" Blaine teased.
"No, that's definitely not the case. I've just…got a surprise for you. And it's not ready yet."
"Sam, you really don't have to-"
"I want to," Sam said. Hearing Blaine, knowing he was home, was already making Sam's heart race. He had to at least try, right?
"Okay," Blaine said, and Sam knew he already appreciated whatever surprise Sam was going to give him. "I'll take my sweet time getting home. I'll probably swing by Kurt's, help him get his stuff back to his apartment, then I'll come home, okay?"
"Great! I…I can't wait to see you."
"Me too. I've missed you like crazy," Blaine admitted. "Oh! And I have something I really need to tell you, so this'll be great!"
"Oh, right, your surprise thing!" Sam remembered. "You'll definitely have to tell me that when you get here."
"Right. So…an hour and half?"
"Hour and a half."
They said their goodbyes, Sam almost not wanting to hang up. When he heard the click on Blaine's end of the line, he set his phone down and turned to Teddy.
"Come on, dude. We've got some work to do."
Sam knew he was staring. He'd taken a few bites of his food, but not nearly as many as Blaine had; Blaine really seemed to love the tortellini Sam had finally concocted. Instead, Sam's eyes remained on Blaine, his fork resting on his plate more often than not. It had only been three weeks, but not actually seeing Blaine had made some of his quirks go fuzzy in Sam's memory - the meticulous way he ate his food so he didn't get anything on his cheeks, how he tended to tilt his head down when he laughed or when he received a compliment.
Then there were the parts of Blaine that Sam hadn't focused on before, at least not consciously. His fingers tapped a beat against the table, long and probably warm and making Sam really want to hold them. His eyelashes flared out around his eyes, highlighting their honey brown warmth. His full, plush lips pulled into a smile, forcing Sam to practice some restraint to not just lean across the table and-
"Do I have something on my face?"
"What?" Sam asked, startled out of his thoughts. Blaine was already wiping at his face with a napkin. "No, no, you're…you're perfect."
Blaine froze, napkin still pressed to his cheek. "Oh…thank you?" he said as he lowered the napkin to the table slowly. Sam inwardly kicked himself. Way to be obvious and weird.
"I mean, y-you look…perfect. Your clothes. Paris clothes?"
"Oh, yeah," Blaine said, looking down at his new attire. "I mean, we were kind of there for a fashion thing, so we got a bunch of clothes to take with us. Kurt was in heaven." He smoothed down his fitted blazer, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. Sam thought the clothes definitely flattered him, highlighting his face and incredible body in the best ways, but something still felt off. It didn't quite feel like…Blaine.
"And I mean, I've missed seeing you, too," Sam admitted. "I'm just making sure you didn't turn into an alien or something while you were gone." Blaine laughed, covering up his slight blush.
"I've missed you too," Blaine said. "You know I have. And I'm glad you didn't go and chop off your hair or get like a million earrings while I was gone."
"Hey, I could totally pull off the Teddy Altman look if I wanted," Sam said, pulling another laugh from Blaine. Teddy perked up from his spot on the couch momentarily, hearing his namesake, but settled back down when he realized they weren't talking about him.
Blaine took another bite of his tortellini, groaning pleasurably at the taste. Sam gulped, subtly lowering his hand to his lap, over the napkin that was already conveniently covering it. Stop that, you're not a horny teenager anymore. "Sam, this is amazing. Where did you learn to make this?"
"I honestly have no idea how I managed it. I just grabbed a recipe off the internet because I know you love Italian, and it just kind of happened. Teddy did help, so maybe that was it."
"Oh, well of course. Give Teddy my thanks. This is one of the best welcome back gifts I've ever gotten." Blaine winked before taking a sip from his glass of wine, which he'd somehow managed to bring back from Paris. Sam's heart stuttered for a minute, then did it again as his and Blaine's knees brushed. He didn't know whether that was deliberate on Blaine's part or not.
The moment fell silent, and while it was comfortable, something inside Sam told him - perfect moment. Go for it. He set down his fork and took a huge breath, steeling himself.
"So…I need to talk to you about something."
Blaine's eyes widened as he quickly sat down his glass and gulped down his sip of wine. "Right! I forgot for a moment. But can I go first?"
Sam stopped short. He just got up the nerve, he didn't want to lose it, but it would probably be better to get Blaine's thing out of the way before he admitted his feelings, so that there wouldn't be the chance of Blaine forgetting about his news after. Blaine had hyped it up too much for that.
"Um…sure."
"Okay," Blaine smiled excitedly. "So…okay, there's kind of a story that goes with it. Basically there was a day where Kurt was working, I think he was at a conference with some people from Paris Vogue? Anyway, it doesn't really matter, I was just on my own. And I'm walking down the streets, trying to see if there are any shops I want to go in to pass the time, and I turn the corner and there's a huge Verragio store, you know, like the jewelry store? It's right in front of me, and I look in one of the windows and there's this ring."
Sam's heart stopped.
"It was platinum with this beautiful diamond design and it just spoke to me, you know? It's like it was saying 'this is the perfect time, take a chance…'"
Sam tried to tune him out while still appearing to pay attention. He couldn't sit there and listen to this, not when Blaine described his moment so much like how Sam had felt seconds ago, ready to spill his heart out. He couldn't listen to how they went to a fancy restaurant that night, how there were violins playing and candlelit dinners and all of that crap when it felt like his lungs had stopped working properly.
"…And I pulled out the box and he nearly started crying and he said yes before I could even ask the question."
This. Wasn't. Happening.
"Sammy, I'm engaged!"
"Enga- wow! Wow. That's…" Sam felt like he couldn't form words; he didn't want to form words, really, he just wanted to get out of there ASAP so he could maybe at least get a breath of fresh air and clear the buzzing in his brain. Instead, he downed the rest of his glass of wine, slamming it down on the table and rising quickly to grab the bottle to pour another.
That's what you get, dumbass. Nothing works out for you. Not even your best friend. You should know that by now.
"We should toast or something, right?" He asked, allowing himself to cringe since his back was turned. "To celebrate, or whatever."
"That sounds great," Blaine answered. Sam finished pouring the glasses, subtly filling his with way more than necessary. He took a huge gulp of his before walking back to the table.
"To…to getting engaged, right?" He asked tentatively, raising his glass.
"To love," Blaine answered, clinking his glass with Sam's.
"To love," Sam echoed, eyes locking with Blaine's. To love, indeed. Fuck everything.
Blaine took a sip, savoring the taste, before setting his glass down on the table. Sam took another sip in return, once again a little larger than necessary. He could pretend that the slightly bitter taste going down kept him grounded.
"There's one more thing I need to talk to you about," Blaine said. Sam took a deep breath; surely whatever Blaine was about to tell him couldn't be any worse than his previous announcement.
"I know Cooper's my brother and all, and I know he's probably kind of expecting me to ask him, since I've already, you know, been in three of his weddings, but…" Sam stood corrected. Maybe it could be worse. "You're my best friend. You're one of the most important people in my life. And honestly I feel a lot closer to you than I do to Cooper, which is probably kind of weird but it just is how it is, right?"
Sam nodded, lips pressed together tensely.
"So, Sam, will you be my best man?" Blaine asked, eyes wide and hopeful. If Sam could have, he would have groaned and hit his head on the table. But that would mean he would have to explain why to Blaine, which wasn't happening any time soon. Or ever.
"Of course," he answered instead. "I'd love to. I'll be…I'll be the best best man ever."
"Thank you," Blaine said with a smile. Sam felt his heart warm all over again, despite all of the shit that had just happened, and he cursed himself. "It means so much to me."
"Well, you're my best friend, so how could I say no, right?" Sam said, downing another glass of wine.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Reviews are welcome and loved, and if you came here from Tumblr, please go like and reblog the post for this chapter if you liked it!