Disclaimer: I have no affiliation to Glee or its characters. This is fiction pure and simple.

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Red Letter Days

Chapter 11

Blaine inspected his face under the dark wig. Even under the harsh fluorescent lighting, he could barely recognize himself in the dark wig. Flipping the heavy braid over his shoulder, he gave a nervous start of laughter as it caught on his pointy rubber ears. He looked ridiculous. Of all the Halloween costumes in the entire world he had to pick this one. It had looked fine in the store and the positively funereal proprietor had assured him it was an authentic representation of the Na'vi people. It damn well better be because he was covered in blue paint and clad in little more than a loincloth. One stiff wind and his testicles would seek refuge in his abdomen. As long as the stupid outfit got Sam to smile and talk to him again, it would be worth the humiliation. He blew out a breath dabbing at his brow carefully so as not to smudge the paint. One last glance in the mirror and he shrugged. It was too late to back out now. The distant sounds of the party happening just outside his bedroom door were getting more raucous.

Rushing out of the bathroom, Blaine checked his phone for the umpteenth time, Kurt hadn't replied. He had sent him a text two hours ago informing him off the party being held in his building, making it seem like the only reason he was sticking around was so his roommates wouldn't completely trash the apartment. There was no reply yet. Thumbing the buttons, he debated whether to call him and give his story more credence. He knew he was stalling. Ever since he'd decided to break up with Kurt, he'd been avoiding him. The one time he tried to talk to him, his throat closed up and he was sure he was having a panic attack. What he wouldn't give to be able to dump him by email? Or status update him. Blaine Anderson is no longer in a relationship with Kurt Hummel. Groaning he crumpled up to his desk chair, he owed him a face to face conversation at the very least, so instead he made a ton of excuses and hid from him. There was no point talking to him until he came up with a rational explanation and until he did, he was wedged in somewhere between a rock and a hard place.

Right now, he made Sam his priority. Getting him to forgive him was all he thought about and much as he hated it, being called uptight had had a hand in propelling him towards this absurd outfit. Dammit! He was fun! Or he used to be fun. These past few weeks hadn't exactly been easy on him. He couldn't just go clubbing and forget all his responsibilities like Sam and Tina who'd been out all night the past four days, always waking him with their loud drunken whispers at 5 am. Aargh! Shoving to his feet, he blew out a breath. He should stop doing that! Sam's opinions were beginning to dictate the way he lived. Obviously, that ship had sailed, he was covered in blue streaks and it was all for him.

Blaine was tugging at the incredibly short hem – it kept riding up when he walked - when Tina stumbled into his room, the initial explosion of sound dimmed as she closed the door behind her. When she got a good look at him, her jaw dropped, "Sweetie?" She choked. "Are you feeling okay?"

"What?" Already extremely self-conscious in his garb, Blaine turned. "Why?"

Approaching him slowly, Tina tittered, "You're… blue and wearing braids. Least now I know why you're so late, that getup cannot have been easy to get into."

Oh well the cat was out of the bag. Spinning, he let her get a good look at him. "What do you think?"

"This is from Avatar, right? Interesting choice. I thought you'd definitely go the superhero route, NightBird." She struck a pose showing off her outfit. "Am I the only one who chose to represent the Superhero club?" Her Asian Persuasion costume had undergone some alteration. Shorter dress, way more cleavage. Sitting on his bed, she mused. "Remember like three years ago when Sam was so obsessed with that movie? He even spoke the language and everything. I'm a nerd but that was a whole other level of nerd. Wait, is this your apology? Because if it is, it is the cutest thing I've ever seen. Are you going to do a little dance? Sing a little song?"

"Yes, okay." Blaine, seeing her smile grow bigger, hurried to nip it in the bud, "No to the singing and dancing. I'm the idiot dressed up as a character from a movie he apparently loved three years ago. I didn't even take that into account. I can't believe how far apart we've grown. Do you know how long it took to realize I didn't know what to get him? Nineteen stores, Tina. Nineteen. It was either this or build him an effing bear. Apology Bear would have worn a tuxedo with a big purple bowtie and a bowler cap." Doffing an imaginary cap, he sat next to her unconcerned about the blue stains he might leave on his dove grey duvet. "It's okay, you can laugh."

"Good god!" She huffed. "Will you stop feeling sorry for yourself? Sam is over it."

This was news to him since Sam had been actively ignoring him. "He is?"

"I'm with him all day, every day. Without breaking his confidence, I guarantee he's no longer mad at you. And you should have gotten that bear. He sounds awesome."

"Thank you." That took a load off. Bumping her knee, he remembered she'd been having issues. "Are you doing okay" You look better – good, I mean."

Preening a little, she smirked. "Put it down to the restorative powers of tequila and its mind numbing goodness." The smacking sounds made him smile. "Come on. Let's get it started in heeeere." She sang.

Blaine pressed his hands over his ears drowning out her enthusiasm. He wanted to 'get it started' but he couldn't relax until he saw his best friend. "Uh – Where -"

"Sam is at Ira and Annie's." At his hesitation, she explained mid tuts. "Man, you are hopeless. They are our neighbors. Go down the hall and turn left. Door's wide open."

"What is he wearing?" Blaine asked. He didn't want to make an even bigger fool of himself ripping masks off of total strangers.

"Oh! You cannot miss him." With that cryptic message, Tina ducked out.

Blaine shuffled out of his room and into party central. Music so loud the floor was thrumming beneath his feet. Squinting through the flashing strobe lights, he realized he did not know any of the guests. They could have been Artie, Tina or Sam's friends. The mermaid on the couch certainly seemed kind of familiar, so did the Cat Woman dancing on the coffee table, spike heels scuffing the light mahogany. 'Super Fun Blaine' was not going to tell her to get down. Theoretically he knew what was happening, the party system having been explained to him in detail. Everyone on their floor was having a mini party so they had all opened up their doors and turned it into one huge party that spilled out into the hallway and each other's homes. It sounded like a hotbed for criminal activity to him. Can you ever really trust your neighbors and their hippie friends?

Forcing himself out into the hall, he battled the sea of groping, grinding masses, getting tossed from side to side, following Tina's directions. Blaine reminded himself to relax. This was supposed to be fun. He was fun or rather the new him was planning on being fun like right now. Shoving through unease and doubt he persevered, getting past three inadequate Don Drapers, one of whom locked onto his wrist cornering him.

"Holy Smurf! You are gorgeous." He slurred, breath rank, hands wandering.

The very last thing Blaine needed was to get sexually assaulted by this overgrown, inebriated frat boy. "I am not a Smurf."

"Chill out, Smurfette and learn to take a freaking compliment."

Ripping off his cheap clip on tie, Blaine tossed it to the side and snapped, "Fetch.", at the idiot calling him a Smurf. He'd be the first to admit that he was a little on the short side but Smurf? Seriously! Sparing him no other thought, he found the right apartment. Dark mutterings dying on his lips the second he spotted Sam who was… For the love of God!...He wasnaked or mostly naked.

"Sam…" Trampling a few toes, he reached his side. "What…" Blaine stammered, he couldn't seem to breathe and think at the same time. Up close, the miles of gloriously tan skin was even more tantalizing; he should say something, absolutely anything before his resolve buckled and he touched him. "Are those leaves, Sam? What the hell are you wearing?"

"I'm Adam, as in Adam and Eve." Barefoot Sam elaborated, the welcoming smile slipping off his face. "It was the cheapest costume in the store."

While Sam wasn't entirely naked, moss green briefs peeking out through the silken circle of leaves around his waist with the matching green band on his head. It was still too much for Blaine. Why couldn't he wear clothes like a normal person? "Gee I wonder why. How much could they possibly charge for - foliage?"

Indignant, Sam stepped back flicking the tan garment around Blaine's waist. "Yeah well, nice skirt, Neytiri."

"I did this for you." Blaine shot back. "So I could show you how sorry I was for yelling at you…"

"The way you're yelling at me now? Man, I can't do anything without pissing you off anymore." Dropping his beer onto a nearby table, Sam scooped up another storming out.

"I am not yelling." Blaine chased after him, ducking under the bong being passed overhead. He wasn't really. The yelling was necessary because the music was loud; the phone number scribbled on Sam's chest had nothing to do with his volume or his tone.

Almost catching up to him, Blaine was jostled from the back, tossed onto a massive gorilla, his hands clawing for purchase in the matted fur. Sam rescued him, slipping an arm round his middle steering him down the hall into a relatively quiet nook by the stairwell, his heart was still beating in time to the music but they were out of the way of all the foot traffic.

"Why are you so fucking mad at me all the time?"Sam muttered. "Did I do something? If you don't want me here anymore then you should just say so. I will find another place to live."

Sam was practically on top of him, gazing at him with such bewilderment that Blaine fell back, letting the stucco wall hold him up. "No. I want you." His susceptible mind fueled by his closeness was already filling in the blanks providing visuals, light, color. Shaking his head, Blaine banished his dreams. "Here, I mean – Sam, I want you here."

"Then what is going on with us?"

The easiest answer was one he couldn't share. He couldn't tell him he was jealous of all the girls he was with and how much he envied Sam his freedom to be anyone and go anywhere – do anything. Much as he hated it, their situation was what it was. Blaine wanted to be with him and Sam was with anyone else but him. Not that he could blame him, he was single. Why shouldn't he date or hook up endlessly regardless of what Blaine thought? A silly costume…dressing up for him didn't make any difference. His hand shot up and he ripped the wig off his head and the dumb ears.

"Now you look like a –"

"Don't say Smurf." Blaine warned.

Mimicking turning a lock and throwing away the key, Sam held his silence for a moment before he burst out laughing, breaking the promise just as easily. Blaine wanted to hold on to his pout but Sam was smiling at him making his tummy churn in the best way. It was all he ever wanted. "Do you want to - ? Umm!" Mid sentence he got shouldered aside, some guy getting between them. What the hell was happening?

The tall blonde shoved barely spared him a glance. Blaine was going to ask him to leave but his face lit up when he saw Sam and he pressed up against him, "Hey, was looking for you."

"Charlie!" Sam berated. "Not now!"

Blaine couldn't follow the odd non verbal conversation they were having over his head, couldn't decipher the waggling of eyebrows and jerky head tosses. A blind man could have interpreted the rest. The other man's hand, large and masculine, blunt fingers stroking the dip of his navel, sweeping his abs, moving lips brushing Sam's ear. "Just checking to see if you are still – you know – determined not to return to our previous arrangement." He murmured before throwing them a wide grin. "But I can see you are busy. Later."

Watching his lips move, Blaine could hear what he said but nothing about their interaction made sense. A single nagging thought hammered continually at him. "What was that?"

"Charlie's a friend." Sam dismissed. "It's weird that you've two haven't yet met. He's usually around."

Blaine pointed at the retreating back of the obviously gay Gladiator with the pierced nipples. What was less obvious was Sam's reaction or more importantly his lack of reaction. "He's usually around doing what Sam? Feeling you up?"

Exasperated, Sam swore. "Here we go."

"Don't do that! I'm not overreacting."

"Yes you are. Shit like this is why no one will tell you anything."

"Tell me what? What are you hiding?" Jumbled thoughts filled his brain making connections that shouldn't exist. It was Sam, his Sam. There was no way he'd started – No – because if he was now hooking up with guys then that meant he was deliberately rejecting him. "Are you and he –" He cleared his throat. "Have you slept with him?"

"No!"

"You've done something. I know you Sam. I – " The slight tremor spilled out of body, filled his voice, teeth chattering. "I know when you're lying to me and you've been doing it – a lot." Hurt oozed out of every pore. He wasn't going to fall apart. He'd been telling himself that they were still close but if Sam shared all his hopes and his dreams, his days with anybody but him then they were nothing.

"Nothing happened with Charlie."

"Was there ever a possibility that it would?" This Charlie person was a guy. And Blaine had seen enough of his body to know that he was a man and not a really butch woman.

"Maybe, I don't know. Stop interrogating me." Sam started to pace. "I've had a very weird month and you should have been here."

"I am here now." Blaine chanced. All this time, knowing Sam was straight was the one thing that was holding him together. He wasn't prepared for this doubt, this hope. "Is it still a - possibility?" The word had never been put so suggestively.

"I don't know – I thought – I don't know."

Rocking on his heels, Blaine leaned in; hand planting on hot sleek skin. Need, ferocious and consuming sent his palm skimming up the same path, Charlie's had. Sam hissed, air whistling between clenched teeth. His muscles contracted under Blaine's touch, goose bumps breaking out, nipples pebbling. A flood of courage painted his very being as Sam leaned in as well instead of pulling away. Eyes dropped to his lips, so close. This was it, a sliver of a chance, his door squeaking open.

One chance.

Rising to his toes, their noses bumped, eyes collided. Blaine tilted, slanted his mouth over his, shuddering at the feel of those perfect lips against his. It was a close lipped, chaste kiss, a mere touching of lips but it destroyed his very foundation.

Body screaming for more, he melted, pushing up, desperate, seeking.

It was a small strangled sound that stole his attention; later Blaine would be amazed that he'd heard it at all. But he knew that voice, knew Kurt like he knew himself. His hand fell from Sam's body, desire turning to ash in his mouth. He didn't have to turn around to know he was right there. And he was proven right a second later. He wanted throw accusations, deflect… What was he doing here? He wasn't supposed to be here…to see this… he should have called first. One devastated glance and Kurt was gone. Operating on pure instinct, Blaine went after him, slipping in besides him just as the elevator doors slipped shut.

Running on adrenaline and desperation, Blaine fought for something to say. "Kurt?"

"Don't – don't talk to me." Kurt retreated to a corner, his eyes fixed on the blinking lights counting down to the lobby. "I knew you wanted him. Every time I asked, you looked me right in the eye and you lied until you had me convinced that I was acting crazy, that I was seeing something that wasn't there."

"I am so sorry."

"That's the problem isn't it Blaine? You are always sorry." The loud ding drowned out the painful hitch in his breath. The doors whooshed open and Kurt was several steps ahead before he could convince his legs to move.

"I didn't mean for this to happen." He called out, stopping Kurt in his tracks. He spun facing him, his tears chipping at everything he thought he was.

"My god Blaine! Just admit it so we can both move on with our lives."

There it was, a way out. He had wanted it but not like this. Crossing his arms over his chest, he spat out the truth. "We are not working."

"Was that so hard?" Kurt sniffed turning away.

"I don't want us to end like this." They had been such a huge part of each other's lives. This couldn't be it. "I really hope we can still be friends."

"Friends?" Kurt's laugh was hollow, broken. "Don't you dare, I just caught you lying and cheating on me - again. This is not how you treat your friends. I don't want to see you again. Don't come by. I will send your stuff."

Blaine stood there long after he'd gone. Annihilated by his choices, he didn't want to go back upstairs, seeing Sam after this felt wrong. So he stood there, his insides matching his outside. Blue.