A/N: So much thanks to my beta Alice aka darlingwendy!

"Morning," Sam yawned, stretching as he stepped out of his bedroom. "Whatcha doin'?"

Blaine was huddled over the counter, urgently writing something down on a piece of paper but scratching out his words every few seconds. "Vows suck. Did you know that? They suck. They're supposed to be the most romantic thing in the word, proclaiming your love in front of everyone you know, but they just-"

"Suck?"

Blaine groaned. "They suck but they don't suck. They just suck to write."

"Say suck one more time," Sam said, smirking. Blaine rolled his eyes, not indulging him, but there was a quirk of a smile at his lips.

"They need to be perfect," Blaine said. "But everything I write sounds like cheesy crap. Which is weird, because it's not like I haven't done this before. I made huge proclamations to Kurt all the time in high school! Why is this so difficult?"

"Are you sure that whatever you said in high school wasn't also cheesy crap but you were fooling yourself because you were like sixteen?" Sam asked. Blaine threw his pen at him. "Hey!"

Blaine grumbled, turning back to his paper. "The wedding is tomorrow, and I put this off until today because I am a complete idiot, and you are no help."

Sam picked the pen up off the floor and placed it back in Blaine's hand before circling Blaine and wrapping his arm around his shoulder, reading what Blaine had already scratched out. "Yeah, that's some pretty cheesy shit."

"Thanks," Blaine deadpanned.

Sam peered closer to the text, thumb beginning to brush across Blaine's shirt absentmindedly. Tina's words, just tell him, rang through his head. "Maybe it's that the things you want to say and the things you need to say are completely different now. What you need to say has changed since then so it's harder to put words to it." Sam mentally went back over what he had just said. "That…was really confusing."

"Just a little," Blaine said quietly, already soothed by Sam's closeness. He looked up at Sam through his lashes. "Will you help me?"

Those stupid beautiful eyes, Sam thought. Helping the person he was in love with find the words to tell another person he loved them sounded like a total blast, but it was Blaine and he could never turn Blaine down.

"Are you sure I should? Shouldn't it come from your heart, or something like that?"

"Sam…" Blaine dipped his chin lower, turning up his puppy dog eyes full force. "Please?"

Sam groaned, tipping his head all the way back on his neck. "Fine. I'll go throw on some clothes and we'll go for a walk. Teddy? You coming?" He knew their dog probably needed to go outside at some point, since he hadn't yet that morning, but secretly Sam thought he might be able to spin writing vows into quality alone time with Blaine.

A sleepy Teddy looked up at Sam, then out the window, then closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

"All right, then, party pooper," Sam said, even though inside he was thinking, 'good boy.'

"Do you think I could sing my vows?"

Blaine looked questioningly at Sam over his coffee cup, already perched at his mouth so he could take a drink. He'd basically been inhaling it since they'd stopped at Starbucks, but Sam couldn't blame him - it had to be below freezing outside. That, coupled with the fact that it was midday on a Friday where Sam didn't have a shift and Blaine didn't have an audition, left the city streets much clearer than usual. They passed by a few people on the sidewalk every minute or so, but for the most part they had their free pick of a pathway.

And yet, they were still walking shoulder to shoulder, bumping arms or hands more frequently than should be casual. But it's not like Sam was complaining.

"Could be cool, but you sure you want to try to remember lyrics when you're probably going to be nervous as hell?"

"I'll probably be nervous even with just words. Oh god, it'll be even worse because it's like a monologue, Sam -"

Sam grabbed Blaine's shoulder, holding him still. "Blaine. Calm down. You'll be fine, okay?" He nudged Blaine forward, encouraging him to keep walking.

"Singing might be a little out of place. I know, it's how you've always said what you really want to say, I've done it too, but first of all, you're already going to have the New Directions singing at the wedding. You singing too might be overkill. And if Kurt's not singing his vows to you, then it might just look kind of weird."

"Right, right. So back to square one." Blaine tossed his coffee cup in a nearby trash can before looking up. "Wait, is that…?"

They had been walking under scaffolding, slightly shielding them from the wind, but as they got closer to the crosswalk Blaine rushed forward, sticking his hand out into the open air.

"Sam, it's snowing!"

Blaine just barely stepped out onto the street, still level with the parked cars on the side, and stretched out his arms, throwing his head back to the sky and opening his mouth. The snowflakes fell sparsely, but he still stuck his tongue out, spinning in hopes of catching one. The winter light illuminated him, making his skin shine and his cold-bitten pink cheeks stand out, and as he laughed as he caught a snowflake on his tongue, Sam felt like he couldn't breathe. Blaine looked perfect.

"I love you."

Blaine dropped his arms, turning to face Sam. "What?"

Sam rushed forward, meeting Blaine on the street and spilling out his words before he could lose his courage. Just tell him. "I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You mean the world to me."

Whatever expression he'd expected from Blaine, it wasn't the one he was wearing - a joking smile, not taking Sam seriously. "You want me to say that? I mean, it's good, but it's…it's really generic, don't you think? Kinda cheesy?" He grabbed Sam's coffee cup and took a sip, handing it back to him before he crossed the street. Sam hung behind, dumbstruck.

"You coming?" Blaine called behind him.

Sam looked both ways on the street before running across to catch up to Blaine. "Okay, okay, how about…how about this."

He set his cup on a nearby bench, standing up straight and guiding Blaine to face him so that he was sure he had Blaine's full attention.

"You…you are my best friend. You've been my best friend for so long, and it's one of the most incredible things I've experienced. Because you're not just my best friend. I'm so in love with you that it hurts, sometimes, it drives me crazy, because all I want is you." He stepped forward, taking Blaine's hands in his. Blaine's smile began to falter. "You are the most important person in the world to me, and I can't, I can't imagine my life without you. I need you."

Blaine's smile was completely gone, replaced with the realization that Sam may not have been talking about him and Kurt.

"Sam…"

"Ahem."

Both men jumped, turning to face Santana and Rachel, who had both come out of the nearby Macy's.

"What's going on, guys?" Rachel asked hesitantly, looking back and forth between the two men. Sam opened his mouth to respond, but realized he didn't know what he could say.

"R-rehearsing vows," Blaine stuttered. "You guys?"

"Buying dresses for tonight's party," Santana replied, obviously not believing Blaine's answer even though Rachel accepted it. Santana glanced at Sam, who ducked his chin downward. "You actors are weird. Always have to get so into the moment."

Sam glanced up. Santana was still glaring at him, but he mouthed a thank you to her, glad to be rid of the awkward moment. He reached behind him, grabbing his coffee off of the bench, but as soon as he turned around Santana and Rachel were right in front of him.

"How about you boys treat us to a new pair of Louboutin's?" Santana asked, wrapping her fingers around Sam's bicep. "For the wedding and all."

"Uh, Santana, I don't-"

But Santana was already pulling Sam down the street to the nearest Saks Fifth Avenue, Rachel and Blaine not far behind. As they walked, Santana squeezed her fingers around Sam's arm just on the side of too hard. Even through his jacket and long sleeved henley, he could feel the impression of her nails.

"You're playing with fire, Sam," she reminded him chillingly, quiet enough that Blaine and Rachel couldn't hear. Sam couldn't remember the last time she'd used his first name. "Do not turn this into an explosion."

For a party with a such a large amount of people the room was surprisingly quiet, people chatting in voices so low Sam could pick out exactly which Christmas songs had been arranged into a jazz accompaniment and played over the speakers. There was a huge decorative Christmas tree in the corner of the room, right next to the small platform stage, and while the lights from the tree were so bright they seemed to cast all the way across the room, the tree, of course, held no presents underneath.

Sam barely recognized anyone in the room - to his left, there was Mike, Tina, Finn, and Puck arranged around a table, somewhere in the room were the Anderson family, plus Artie and Mercedes, who had just gotten in from L.A. that day, and to his right there was Blaine, Kurt, Santana, and Rachel, all chatting to people Sam had never seen before in his life. Santana and Rachel both looked gorgeous in their recently purchased dresses and high heels; Santana even towered over Blaine, her heels were so high, but neither Blaine nor Sam objected, since she didn't actually make them pay like she'd said, but went ahead and bought the shoes herself. Sam was pretty sure she hadn't even bought Louboutin shoes herself, and he wasn't surprised, because when he'd seen the price tag on one of the pairs he'd nearly passed out.

Blaine, similarly, looked absolutely amazing. He'd spent at least an hour rooting through his closet, meticulously and frustratingly choosing pieces to coordinate in a way Sam had never seen him do before. Blaine always looked incredibly put together, but for that night he had really dressed to impress. Sam hadn't understood, thinking they were just going to a wedding rehearsal (in which Blaine and Kurt had both opted to sit out and watch instead, since there was no bride to follow tradition, which led to the ceremony awkwardly and hilariously marrying Puck and Burt instead) and then to a casual rehearsal party, but as it turned out "rehearsal party" may or may not have had anything to do with the rehearsal anyway. And since party meant that multitudes of Kurt's coworkers were once again invited, looking around, Sam understood. Blaine had to be able to compare to Kurt, who was also dressed to the nines, as well as any other party goer who wore the most expensive things they could find in their closet.

Not that Sam was complaining. The navy blazer and tight red pants combination Blaine had picked out both very strategically highlighted his…assets. Just as Sam had suggested weeks ago at the tuxedo fitting.

Sam crossed over to Blaine, weaving through groups of chatting people until he reached the group of his old schoolmates. He nudged Blaine's shoulder to let him know he was there, but when Blaine turned to see him he let out a groan.

"Don't say a word."

Sam blinked, surprised. "What?"

"Wait, what?" Blaine asked, now confused that Sam hadn't said whatever he was expecting him to say. "Oh. Uh, never mind."

Blaine's eyes flickered over Sam's shoulder before he turned back to Kurt, a little embarrassed. Kurt, however, was talking to one of his coworkers, a beautiful redhead that Sam may have tried to talk to three months ago, before he realized his feelings for Blaine. Sam looked back over his shoulder, trying to see what Blaine may have been talking about.

Oh.

A banner that read 'Congratulations, Kurt!'hung on the far wall.

"What."

"Shhh," Blaine said, leaning back into Sam.

"What the h-"

"Don't worry about it." Blaine let out a huff of air, keeping his voice low enough so that Sam could hear, but Kurt couldn't. "The party's a combination of rehearsal dinner, Christmas, and going away party for Kurt," he said as he turned to Sam. Sam could tell that while Blaine was trying to put on a poker face, he wasn't exactly pleased with being excluded from his own wedding rehearsal party. But since Blaine didn't want to talk about it, Sam shrugged and didn't push.

"Congratulations, Blaine," he did joke, leaning forward and whispering in his ear.

"Shut up," Blaine said, but he tried to hide a laugh while doing so.

"Blaine!" The redhead grabbed Blaine's arm suddenly, her French manicure wrapping around his wrist. "Are you so excited?"

"…For?"

"For the wedding?"

"Oh!" Blaine blinked, Sam hiding his laughter behind a cough and getting an elbow to the stomach for it. "Of course I am!"

"And Paris, too?"

Blaine's smile faltered a little. "Yeah, yeah. Paris too."

"Melanie works out at the Paris branch, sometimes," Kurt put in.

"Maybe we'll see each other sometime," Melanie said, teeth blindingly white as she smiled. Blaine nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah. Maybe."

"So you guys are going to get there, and get totally famous, and then…what? Settle down? Have kids?" Melanie asked. Blaine began to respond, a genuine smile already returning to his face, but Kurt answered first.

"Oh, no. No kids."

"No?" Melanie said. Blaine's face fell into a frown.

"What?"

Kurt looked at Blaine, surprised. "Well, we're going to be too busy. You're going to be acting, and I'm going to be at Vogue, and I'll be traveling a lot-"

"Traveling?"

"Just for a few days at a time, but it's part of my job, Blaine. Besides, you're an actor, why do you want kids?"

"There are plenty of actors who have kids."

"But you'd never get to spend time with them. You'd be working, and I'd be working-"

"It sounds like you and I wouldn't get to spend any time together, either," Blaine replied, bitterness in his voice. "I'm sorry that it's such a crime to want kids. Do you even want pets? Or just a completely bare apartment?"

"No, I don't want pets, because we wouldn't be able to take care of them ourselves!"

"Um."

Melanie coughed before Blaine could respond and let the argument get any more heated.

"Awkward," she said, looking back and forth between Kurt and Blaine. "I don't mean to butt in, but…isn't this something you guys kinda should have talked about before you get married?"

"Yeah. But I guess it's too late for that now." With that, Blaine walked away into the crowd. Kurt, still fuming, didn't follow him. Sam nearly did, but before he could, he got a text from Tina.

'They're here! Come outside!'

Sam looked up, checking to see that Blaine was still at least in the room. Mike had already strategically distracted him, keeping him in place and allowing Sam to make his way outside.

"Hey!" he shouted once he stepped into the hallway. He was met with a cheer in response from the New Directions from his senior year, Jake and Ryder already rushing forward to tackle him in a hug.

"Dude! What's up?" Jake said, though he didn't expect a response and let Sam go ahead and hug Marley and Unique. He high-fived Joe, then looked at Kitty hesitantly. She had her lips pursed and her arms crossed, the same way Sam remembered her from seven years ago, but let Sam wrap her up in a hug, too.

"Thank you guys so much for coming," he said once he'd gotten to everyone. "Blaine is seriously going to love this. Speaking of," he looked at Tina, who checked back inside the door before nodding at Sam, "we could probably sneak back in now. And Blaine needs some cheering up right now, so, this is basically perfect timing. Everybody ready?" Everyone nodded back at him, the boys letting out a whoop of excitement. Sam grinned.

"Cool. Now stay near the wall, and I'll tell you guys when to come up. This is gonna be awesome."

"Um. Ahem."

Sam tapped the microphone, causing the speakers to screech in feedback. He could see everyone on the floor wince.

"Oops, sorry. Um, okay, so as all of you guys know, Blaine and Kurt are, uh, getting married," he said, earning a round of applause. He tried to gesture to both of them, but saw that Blaine was sitting at a table near the stage, while Kurt was back on the other side of the room with another group of his coworkers. Sam coughed, dropping his free hand. "And this party is also kind of a going away party for them, because they're moving to Paris. And we're all here to show them how much we love them, and, uh," Sam looked to Tina, who gave him a gesture of encouragement, "and we've got a special group of people here who want to show Blaine how much they love him and will miss them. So…guys?"

He turned to the side of the stage, watching Tina usher everyone on stage. He stood awkwardly, waiting for them to get into formation, and looked over at Blaine. Already, he knew that calling everyone up had been worth it; Blaine was hiding an excited smile behind his hands, cupped over his mouth in surprise.

"Hit it!"

Music began to play through the speakers as the New Directions stepped and clapped to the beat. Sam took a deep breath, before lifting the mic back up to his mouth to sing.

"I could lift you up, I could show you what you wanna see, and take you where you wanna be. You could be my luck, Even if the sky is falling down I know that we'll be safe and sound."

Some audience members cheered, already entertained by the surprise performance and recognizing the popular song from years ago. Blaine clapped along to the music with everyone else, getting up out of his seat and walking to the edge of the stage. Sam stood by as Jake and Kitty took turns at solos, casually stepping to the side of the stage that Blaine was on so he could see his reactions.

The whole group joined in at the chorus, not even attempting choreography since they hadn't had any time to rehearse, but each person getting into it in their own way. The girls mostly jumped up and down, Unique belting her heart out in a cadence above the rest of the group, while the guys play fought on stage, happy to be back together again. Yet, at every moment, they were singing to Blaine, making him feel included in their reunited family even though he wasn't actually up there with them.

By the time Sam's next solo rolled around, after Tina, Ryder, and Artie had taken their turns, Blaine had unshed tears in his eyes.

"I could show you love. In a tidal wave of mystery, you'll still be standing next to me." The rest of the New Directions harmonized with him for the rest of the song, hitting the final chord of "we're safe and sound" beautifully.

Applause erupted as the music died down, the New Directions' chests heaving with exertion. It was only a few seconds before the group rushed off the stage and pulled Blaine into a giant group hug.

Sam trailed behind, letting those who hadn't seen Blaine in forever get to him first. He vaguely noticed another song playing, an apparent impromptu karaoke session beginning with Rachel taking first dibs, but he ignored it in lieu of seeing the smile so wide it might break Blaine's face in half.

"I can't believe you guys are here!" Blaine exclaimed, embracing Marley, then Unique. His eyes locked with Sam's over her shoulder, and Sam gave him a small wave.

"Come find me later," Blaine mouthed, already swept up in a hug from Ryder. Sam nodded, grinning. He looked over Blaine's shoulder, seeing Kurt hovering there.

"Blaine?" Kurt said, having to raise his voice over the New Directions' chatter.

"Yeah?" Blaine said, turning awkwardly while still hugging Ryder.

"Do you maybe want to sing a duet after Rachel gets done with her solo?"

"Uh, yeah, just…let me catch up with these guys first, okay?" Blaine said, turning back to give Jake a hug. Kurt nodded curtly, glancing up at Sam before walking away.

The duet never actually happened.

Blaine spent over an hour talking to the New Directions, any trace of anger from before the performance completely replaced by utter happiness. Sam was content to watch from afar, letting Blaine enjoy his surprise. He'd see Blaine later that night for sure, at their apartment.

Or, in the room Sam had eventually escaped to so he could take a breather, instead.

"Hey!" Blaine said, causing Sam to spin around. "I've been looking for you!"

"Well you found me," Sam teased. Blaine grinned, still staring at Sam, and Sam thought he wouldn't mind if Blaine looked at him like that for the rest of their lives.

"Come here." Blaine tugged Sam into a hug, burying his face into Sam's neck. Sam sighed into it, wrapping his arms around Blaine's back as Blaine did the same to Sam's waist and held on tight. "Thank you," he said, his voice muffled by Sam's shirt. "That was one of the best things anyone's ever done for me."

"It was nothing," Sam said, but he held Blaine tighter all the same.

Blaine pulled away, seconds or minutes later, Sam didn't know, but he was sniffing and wiping at his eyes that hadn't shed any tears yet. "You're incredible, you know that? Absolutely incredible."

Sam shook his head. "No." He stroked his hand against the back of Blaine's hair, down to his neck, and held him firmly. Blaine smiled, leaning into the touch. "I know I'm being cheesy right now, but seriously? You're incredible. And you deserve everything."

Blaine didn't respond, just ducked his head bashfully at the praise.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked tentatively. "From earlier, I mean."

"I'm…better," Blaine answered. "For right now. And I'll be okay. It'll work out eventually, it always does."

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Sam asked, his voice gentle but firm. Blaine let out a sigh, hesitating, before his words came tumbling out.

"I mean, I want kids. I want kids so bad, and you know that. And I really don't know how we managed to get eight years into a relationship without even discussing kids. We talked about our future all the time, but somehow kids were never actually mentioned, even though that's what I imagined, but usually it was Kurt shaping the picture, it's always Kurt shaping the picture, and I just went along with it but now… I don't know. Maybe he's right. We'll probably be too busy for kids anyway."

"But that's not what you want?" Sam prodded, breaking Blaine's flimsy resolve.

"No." Blaine shook his head. "I want kids. Or even a pet, god, he knows how much Teddy means to me, how can he just say no pets? We could get a house sitter, but we wouldn't even need one because it's not like I'm never going to come home from the theater! I'm going to sleep in our apartment, even if he's wherever in Europe at the time!"

Blaine threw his hands up in the air, pacing around the room a few times before settling down in a chair. Sam let him walk, following him once he slowed. "I don't know, maybe he doesn't know. He's never really hung around Teddy, anyway. Maybe it's just you that gets that."

"Maybe," Sam said shamelessly. "I mean, I do get a lot of things about you. I get how much you love Teddy. I get how much you want to have kids. Because I want them too. I want at least two kids, maybe three, running around the house and messing everything up and hanging macaroni art on the fridge and playing miniature superheroes. And I want a million pets, inside and outside, Teddy lounging around in his old age with a cat as his best friend and a huge labrador and a golden retriever puppy playing out in the yard. And one of the kids would have a turtle, and another would have a hamster, and the house would basically be a zoo, but it would be awesome."

"That does sound like a great life," Blaine said, quietly, imagining a version of it in his head. Sam didn't know who he was imagining it with, but he wanted to scream, 'you could have that life, you could have it with me, please give me a chance, I love you so fucking much-'

But he didn't. Blaine looked lost in thought, anyway, a small smile on his face, but he snapped out of it quickly, shaking his head.

"We should get back to the party," he said, standing up. Sam stood with him, following him to the doorway, casually looking at his surroundings along the way.

"Wait."

Sam reached out, grabbing Blaine's arm lightly.

"Look where we're standing."

Blaine looked down, and Sam laughed, guiding him to look up instead.

"Oh."

In the doorway hung an inconspicuous sprig of mistletoe, begging to have its tradition honored.

"Well. I guess that happens when you have a Christmas party full of adults," Blaine said, but didn't move away. He looked up at Sam, his brown eyes warm, and barely got out a, "We could-" before Sam kissed him.

Sam tried to go as gently as he could, not wanting to scare Blaine off with his excitement, but it was extremely difficult. One of his hands trailed up to wrap around Blaine's neck, just under his jaw, and the other held Blaine's waist, pulling him closer. It felt incredible.

And, even better, once Blaine got over the surprise of being kissed, he kissed back.

Tentatively, at first, Blaine pressed forward, aligning his lips with Sam's, but as he got bolder, more into the kiss, his arms came up, mirroring Sam's hands and winding his fingers through Sam's hair. Sam leaned forward daringly, pulling Blaine's bottom lip between his lips, and Blaine groaned when Sam took a step, pressing Blaine against the doorway and resting his weight against him. The hand on Blaine's waist drifted lower, lower, until it was cupping his ass, and took Sam the opportunity when Blaine gasped to let his tongue enter Blaine's mouth. Their tongues slid together as Blaine pulled him closer, hot and slick, and Blaine sucked on Sam's tongue at his first opportunity, making Sam moan into his mouth.

Sam wondered, in the back of his head, why the hell he had waited until he was fucking twenty-five to even try this, when he could have had this at eighteen. He also wondered, hoping and praying, if he just could keep kissing Blaine forever. He wanted to damn well try, but eventually Blaine pulled back to catch his breath.

"Oh my god."

Sam took in a deep breath, before kissing Blaine again. Blaine sighed, his lips gliding against Sam's, before his eyes snapped open, his body going rigid.

"Oh my god."

He stepped out of Sam's embrace, looking around. No one was in the hallway, but Blaine could still barely look at Sam.

"I…I need to get back to the party."

Sam stuttered, still disoriented. "Blaine, wh-"

"Sam," Blaine said, looking back at him. Sam wanted to ignore the sadness in his eyes. "I have to go."

He walked back to the party, music spilling out of the room when he opened the door down the hall and muffling when he closed it. Sam fell back against the door frame, disoriented and wondering what the hell had just happened.

Sam shut the apartment door slowly behind him, looking around at the well-lit living room and already hearing the clacking of Teddy's nails against the kitchen tile as the dog raced to greet him. He ducked down, giving Teddy a good scratch on the belly when Teddy flopped over on his back.

"Hey, buddy. How are you?" Teddy wagged his tongue, wriggling under Sam's fingers. "Have you seen Blaine?"

Teddy didn't answer, squeezing Sam's hands between his paws and lightly nipping at his fingers, but Sam could hear shuffling inside Blaine's room anyway. He stood, Teddy flipping back over onto his feet and waiting for Sam to make his move, and slowly walked towards the door.

Blaine stood inside, staring at the cardboard boxes lining his bedroom wall. He was already dressed for bed in grey sweatpants and an oversized plain white t-shirt - something he usually only wore if he was sick or distressed and somehow found comfort in the clothes.

Sam knocked on the doorframe, giving Blaine fair warning he was there.

"Oh." Blaine turned, somehow looking lost in his own bedroom. "Hey."

"Hey." Sam shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, shoving his hands in his pockets. He didn't really know what to say after that, generic conversation starters like 'all packed up?'and 'ready for tomorrow?' that he actually really didn't want to know the answer to flicking through his mind until he finally settled on -

"Do we need to talk?"

Blaine scrubbed at his eyes, letting out a sigh of resignation. "I honestly don't know what to say. And I don't mean that in a mean way, I just…"

He turned to Sam, the skin around his eyes slightly red. When Sam looked closer, he thought the whites of Blaine's eyes seemed residually red, too, and he wondered if Blaine had been crying.

"Sam, what was that?"

"I…"

"You kissed me," Blaine said before Sam could even form words. "I don't - what - you're not-"

"It was just a mistletoe kiss," Sam said, cutting off Blaine's spluttering, even though he knew it was just a lie. "Christmas and stuff."

"That was not just a mistletoe kiss, mistletoe kisses don't have - tongue, and full body contact, and god, Sam, that wasn't like some stupid little peck!" Blaine protested, marching forward to Sam and making him cower back just a little bit.

"You kissed me, like that, and you don't even like guys, and what the hell am I supposed to do with that?"

"I was just trying to give you an out," Sam muttered. "If you wanted to just…ignore it."

"But you didn't want me to take it, did you?" Blaine asked. Before Sam could answer him, he reached over on his bed for a pad of paper that Sam hadn't noticed before. His sketchbook.

Sam's heart dropped.

"Is this us?" Blaine held the book up to Sam's face, pages open directly to the drawing that Blaine was never supposed to see, the drawing of Blaine in Sam's lap, just like the dream Sam had that had changed his life forever.

"I-"

"Answer me."

"Yes," Sam said. Blaine let out a choked off laugh, completely filled with shock, as Sam confirmed what he obviously already knew.

"You just - Sam, what the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Blaine asked, throwing the book back down on the bed. "With - god, and you wanted me to just ignore this?"

Sam stood up straight, a little braver. "No. I didn't. What I want is…god, okay, I like guys, and I know I figured that out ten million years too late, but I like guys, and what I want is you. What I want is for you to stay here, in America, and be with me. Because, fuck, I am so in lo-"

"Don't," Blaine said sternly. "Don't say that right now."

"Blaine-"

"Please," Blaine begged. "Don't say it. You - you're just saying it, just feeling it because I'm about to leave and you can't-"

"No." Sam stepped forward, grabbing Blaine's forearm. "That's not it at all. I knew I was in-" Blaine gave him a pleading look, begging him to change his wording, "that I had feelings for you before you even got engaged."

Blaine shook his head, trying to look somewhere, anywhere, except Sam's eyes. "Sam…"

Sam gritted his teeth, daring to air the thought that had been at the back of his mind for hours. "You kissed me, too."

Blaine stayed silent for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. I did. That's part of why I'm so confused." He pulled his arm out of Sam's grasp, resuming his pacing. "I don't know what the hell is going on with me, or with anything. I know, at the party, I was feeling really vulnerable, because of this morning and because of Kurt and just because I'm scared about everything."

Sam tried to interrupt, because he refused to accept that it was just momentarily vulnerability, but Blaine kept talking, more to himself than to Sam now. "And you kissed me, and god these feelings were supposed to go away after high school, I thought they were gone but then you kissed me, and oh god, why are they still here, I'm supposed to get married tomorrow - I'm supposed to get married tomorrow and my best friend is in love with me and I'm moving to Paris and I don't know what to do and I just-"

He hid his face in his hands, but not before Sam saw that tears had started to fill his eyes. Sam's heart thudded as he realized Blaine did have feelings for him, he was just trying to push them away, still hoping -

"I just want things to go back to normal," Blaine said, quieter and muffled.

"Blaine," Sam said gently, taking a tentative step forward, "either way, nothing's going to be the same as it was."

Blaine nodded and sniffed, voice thick. "I know. This is what Cooper was talking about, wasn't it?"

"What?"

"Nothing," Blaine said, shaking his head and laughing bitterly to himself. 'It's just…it would have been better if I didn't know. About this." He gestured between them. "Because then I wouldn't be so confused. And so torn."

He took a deep breath, trying to find some resolve. "I'm marrying Kurt," he said, the words digging a hollow pit in Sam's chest. "I'm marrying Kurt because I've been preparing for this for eight years and I'll marry him and everything will just…be fine. It'll all be fine."

Blaine nodded to himself resolutely, looking at Sam as if, with his decision, the past day hadn't happened. Sam just shook his head sadly, knowing that his words were going to break Blaine's heart just as much as Blaine's had broken his.

"I can't be your best man."

Blaine's face fell.

"What?"

"You not knowing was one thing, but I can't just stand there and watch you get married to someone else. Not now." Sam shrugged and he sniffed, holding on to whatever dignity he had left even as he watched Blaine's face crumble, fighting the urge to run over and wrap him in an embrace. "Ask Cooper, I'm sure he'd be glad to."

"But I need my best friend."

"We're not just best friends anymore, Blaine, don't you get it?" Sam asked, not waiting for an answer. "Besides, I was going to lose you anyway. Might as well get it over with."

He turned, taking one last look around the room, knowing that in two days time it would be empty.

"Sam…" Blaine said weakly behind him.

"Goodnight, Blaine."

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! Also, the song used in this chapter is Safe and Sound by Capital Cities.