Author's Note: And we're back! Yes, I've finally managed to rouse myself enough to bring Never Let Me Go out of hiatus and back into action. I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who showed me support while I was away, and thanks for the those who continued to read even when there was no new material for such a long period of time. Anyway, here I am, having risen from the ashes and ready to continue with this - my favourite work. Here's a quick reminder of what has happened recently in the story: Sam and Rory have become an item, despite Sam's initial worries that he wasn't completely over Blaine, and recently went all the way for the first time! Rachel had an odd feeling that the budding relationship wasn't going to end well, although she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was that made her feel that way, and the New Directions beat the Warblers at Sectionals, where Rory had a brief encounter with an unnamed Warbler member. But enough of the past, let's look towards the future! Welcome to Competition: Arrival of A Rival!
Rory looked at the letter that had been shoved into his locker with fear, remembering what had been written on the last note he'd found mysteriously shoved in here. Still, he thought, he'd rather know what it said than just leave it there staring at him. He reached in and picked it up before slowly unfolding it. The contents of the page were actually a pretty nice surprise for the boy. It was an invitation. From Puck. He hadn't ever really had Puck down as the type to hand out actual physical invitations for events, but he guessed he must've judged wrong. He read through the letter again. 'Guys, party at mine on Friday to celebrate our win at Sectionals. Invited some Warblers too to cheer them up. Bring your own booze, I don't have the money to provide you all with that shit'. Okay so maybe it wasn't the most eloquently worded invite, but still, it was nice that Puck had made the effort. If he was being totally honest with himself, Rory had to admit he was actually really excited about the idea of a party with the New Directions - it was, after all, going to be his first party since his arrival in America (actually it was going to be his first ever). That of course raised a couple of issues. What did people wear to this kind of party? Was it supposed to be formal wear? Picturing Puck in his head, Rory shrugged off the idea that formal wear was a likely dress code. Okay, so maybe just some kind of smart-casual wear. Yeah, that would be good, he could strike for the middle ground. Of course, he could just ask Sam... No, he wanted this to be a surprise for the blond boy. He would see if he could find Tina later to ask her if they could go shopping for clothes.
"Hey, Rory, you going to be at Puck's on Friday?" Rory turned around to the voice of one Mike Chang. Having never really had much of a conversation with the asian boy, he was a little surprised to see Mike walking up to him with such a casual manner. Although, the New Directions were always pretty friendly with each other come to think of it.
"Yeah, I am. I think. I mean, obviously it will depend on whether Sam's parents will allow us to go... But I am excited. It's going to be my first real party." Mike looked a little shocked at the Irish boy's admission that he had never actually been to a proper party. But then again, maybe parties weren't such a big thing in Ireland? Bullshit, there must be loads of parties in Ireland - their culture wasn't that different from in America was it? Maybe he'd just ask...
"Wait, this is your first one? How come you've never been to a party before? Do they just not really have them in Ireland?" Rory smirked. There were plenty of parties in Ireland. He had just never been invited. He was 'the gay one'. The one nobody in his area wanted to be around. How could he admit that without sounding like a loser though? Then again, Mike seemed like a pretty decent guy... He probably wouldn't care.
"Actually, there were. I just was never invited because of... well... y'know". Rory always felt a bit awkward actually using the word gay to describe himself. He knew that's what he definitely what he was, but it just felt so bold to say it out loud. Maybe it's because of the fact that it was his association with the word that had caused him so many problems back in Ireland. Luckily, Mike understood what the boy was saying and just nodded.
"I just get so angry that people treat others in that way." Mike checked his watch as he finished his sentence. "I'm sorry Rory, but I've got to get to my lesson. I'll see you later". Rory watched his friend dash off towards maths before returning to sort his books out. He loved having first period free, it gave the day a much more gentle pace. He looked up, having finished sorting himself out and glanced at the clock. Tina should be arriving any minute. She was always late when she had an early free - she would always accidentally lie in, something that always made Rory chuckle when she'd walk in promising herself that next week she'd be at school at normal time. He sauntered up to the front of the school to see if he could spot her coming. There she was - dashing towards the doors, hoping that for once she'd get to school before the bell rang to mark her as late. Too late. Rory had to laugh as he saw her face having heard the bell. It was at that point her run transformed into a leisurely stroll. Hey, if she was late anyway, there was no point in rushing right? Rory walked up to greet her with a hug which she happily reciprocated.
"Hey Rory, how are you?" Rory could never fault Tina's politeness. Even when she had just ran down the road, she still made sure to enquire after her friends. He smiled at her.
"Yes thanks, I'm good. I found this in my locker". He handed her the note, which she took with a worried look on her face. "Don't worry Tina, it's not another one of those horrible notes". Her expression lightened after hearing that. It made Rory smile even more than he already was - it was nice to have someone looking out for him.
"Oh, cool. Party at Puck's. Should be good". Tina handed the note back to Rory and smiled. "You're gonna come right?"
"Hopefully yeah, but there's something I need you to help me with. I mean, I would ask Sam, but I want it to be a surprise for him. So yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to come shopping for clothes with me after school? I'm not really sure what kind of thing to wear, plus I need some new nice clothes anyway..." Tina wasn't exactly one to turn up shopping. Hell, it was probably her favourite activity (glee aside). Rory had definitely come to the right place. Tina looked at her timetable to quickly remind herself what time she could leave school that evening.
"How about we meet here at 3:00 and we'll head into the shopping centre?" Rory nodded. "Now, if you don't mind me dashing off, I've got to try and find my History teacher..." With that she ran off down the hall.
Sam headed towards his locker after his English lesson. What lesson did Rory have now? Probably maths. Yeah, that sounded right. Their timetables were actually pretty different - Sam always seemed to have frees when Rory had lessons, and vice versa. On a normal school day, Sam would probably only see his boyfriend at lunchtime, glee and then back at home. Okay, so fair enough he had Rory all the time back home, but still... As he turned the corner, he found Puck leaning against his locker.
"Hey Puck, what's going on?" Puck looked up from the ground to see Sam coming towards him. Took him long enough to get here - Puck couldn't actually remember how long he'd been stood here. It felt like hours, but he had to admit to himself that it was probably only ten minutes or something stupid like that.
"Sam! Well, I thought I'd come and speak to you in person about this." The blond boy's brow furrowed in confusion. That didn't sound too good. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad. Well, I don't think it is. I'm having a party on Friday to celebrate our victory at Sectionals. I'm inviting some Warblers too. But that's not important. I'm just thinking... Are you going to be okay with coming? I just thought that you might have some bad memories of parties at my house considering what happened last time..." Sam gulped, he really didn't need to be reminded about that, he still felt the sting of Blaine's death every day. Puck patted him on the back. "Mate, I'm gonna let you have some time to think about it. I'll see you in a bit." He left, and Sam leant his back against the locker. Blaine. There was no escape. Even simple things like a party would have the strongest connotations to his old boyfriend. Being completely honest with himself, he had to say that even though he was now with Rory, there wasn't a day that he didn't miss Blaine. And that was something he felt constantly guilty about. Blaine was just... Something special. And now he was angry with himself. So was Rory right? He was also special. It really wasn't fair of him to keep comparing Blaine and his new boyfriend. He really liked Rory, so why was it that he couldn't keep out of Blaine's shadow? It was obvious really. As much as Sam liked Rory, he just hadn't had the same length of time with him as he had with Blaine. The more he got to know Rory, the more he liked him. The more he loved him. So what would he do about Puck's party? There was really only one answer to that. He had to go right? Rory would probably really want to. This was just going to be one of those events that he would have to plough through. He really wanted Rory to be happy, and if going to Puck's would do that, then he would just have to go. Sorted.
"Sam!" The blond boy felt two familiar arms wrap around his waist as his name was called. He turned around to plant a kiss on Rory's cheek. "Let's go get some lunch. Oh, did you hear about Puck's party? I'm really excited. Me and Tina are going out later to sort out my outfit." Sam smiled as Rory continued to talk about how he wanted to keep what he was wearing a surprise so he would be keeping it all at Tina's. Yeah, he really did love Rory.
Sam walked up the steps to Puck's house. Deep breath. It'll be okay. He wished Rory was arriving with him, but sticking to his word, the Irish boy was getting dressed at Tina's. He knocked on the door to be greeted by... "Sebastian?" Sam didn't really know who he was expecting when Puck had said he was inviting some Warblers, but he really hadn't expected this guy to be here. The guy that had cheated on Kurt back when they had dated.
"Sam... right?" Sebastian held out his hand to greet the blond boy he had seen every now and then again. He had never actually been properly introduced to any of Kurt's friends. Shame really, this Sam guy was hot, even if not necessarily his type. He preferred slim boys over the built jock type. "Come in. A couple of your friends are already here." He held the door open as Sam shuffled in past him to see Mercedes, Finn and Rachel in the living room.
"Hey guys!" Sam walked in and hugged Rachel as he spoke. Finn smiled at him.
"We were hoping you'd show! Oh, there's someone at the door. I'll get it." Finn walked off towards the front door as Sam made idle chit chat with his friends. "Hey, Sam, there's someone here for you!" Finn walked back into the living room with a smile on his face before pushing Sam towards the door. There stood Rory and Tina. Rory. Fuck. He was wearing a light blue denim shirt with the top two buttons undone (just enough to tease, the blond boy thought), which were then paired with just some plain beige chinos. Overall, he looked hot. Like, fuck, let's just have sex now hot. He did however notice that he wasn't the only one gawking at Rory. In the corner of his eye he could see Sebastian staring too. There was no way he was having any of that, so he walked up to his boyfriend before putting his arm round him and going for a full on kiss in the middle of the hallway. Okay, he was protective... So what? Rory was blushing as Sam came up to him. Surely they shouldn't be doing this here? Wasn't it a little public? As Sam moved off, Rory smiled.
"So... are we going to go to see everyone else?" Rory patted Sam as he moved into the living room, who followed, smirking at Sebastian. Oh yeah, Rory was his boyfriend. And no-one else's. Sam led Rory over to where Puck was standing next to the drinks table. He grabbed a cup before pouring in some vodka.
"Let's get this party going!" Sam shouted before downing his shot. Puck smirked. This was going to be a good night.
It was half eleven when Rory got up in his drunken stupor and moved towards the iPod. He scrolled through the music, the words all a blurry fuzz to his swimming eyes. Sam was off somewhere talking to Rachel, and now the Irish boy really wanted to dance. There, that was it!
"Oh my god!" Rory shouted as he found the track. "I can't believe any of you have this!" He pressed play as he scoured the room for Sam. Hmm, nowhere to be seen. As the beat kicked in, a drunken Tina and Mercedes got up to dance with Rory. Really, it was just a jumble as the drunken group attempted to stay in time with the music.
Baby, I'm staring at a piece of us,
Shattered on the sidewalk,
Tragic, broken like a china doll,
Burning like a gun shot.
Mike came over and began dancing closely with Tina, and soon Puck had arrived to take care of Mercedes. Rory was alone again. Once more he checked the room for Sam, but still no sign. He tripped over his foot as he began walking towards the kitchen to try and find his boyfriend, but as he fell he found himself being caught by some unfamiliar hands.
"Y-you're Seb-Sebastian right? You're th-the guy who helped me at Sectionals! Wow, you're pretty tall!" Sebastian smiled as he picked helped Rory regain his balance.
"Yup, that's me. Now, how about we have a nice little dance?" Rory nodded as he stood up straight. Finally, he had a partner to dance with.
My heart was beating,
And so was yours,
We threw each other,
Down on the floor,
My heart is breaking,
It's made of glass,
I guess anything that's good never ever lasts.
Sam looked up as Kurt ran into the room. He looked flustered. He caught Sam's eye and he called the blond over.
"Um, Sam, I think you might want to come into the front r-ro-room." The smell of alcohol on Kurt's breath was strong, and he was obviously completely wasted by the fact he was now pretty much laying on Sam. But still, there must be something in the front room that he should see. Plus, he was gonna go and get back to Rory anyway. He walked into the room. What the fuck!? Sebastian was practically grinding against Rory. Did that guy have no boundaries? Rory was obviously completely out of it by the fact he was pretty much reliant on Sebastian to remain standing. That weedy fucker was taking advantage of his boyfriend!
So baby if you love me, let me know,
'Cause everything that hurts you've hurt before,
You're about to tear this love apart,
And break another glass heart.
Sam walked up to the dancing pair. Rory looked up as he felt someone nearing him. Sam! His boyfriend was finally here! He leaned forward to give him a hug, but ended up leaning too far and relying on Sam to catch him.
"I love you Sammm" Sam chuckled at Rory's slurred speech, before looking up and glaring at Sebastian. Sebastian simply chuckled to himself as he backed off of Rory.
"Stay away from him". Sam's tone was deadly serious. Rory was his boyfriend, and there was no way he was letting anyone, especially Sebastian Smythe, get in the way of that.
Promise that we'll never fall apart, fall apart,
And I'll love you with my glass heart,
And I'll love you with my glass heart.
Sam opened the car door and helped Rory into the passenger seat before strapping his seatbelt on. Luckily, Sam hadn't actually drunk anything after his first shot of vodka so he was still okay to drive. He looked back towards Puck's, where Sebastian was standing in the door. Sam shot him a look, but the guy didn't budge. He walked back up to the house to talk to Seb.
"Seriously, if you try anything with him, I'll hunt you down and... God knows what I'll do". Sebastian, being his usual self just smiled back at Sam.
"Me? Try anything? You must be joking right?" He smirked as Sam walked back to the car. That guy could go fuck himself.
So baby if you love me, let me know,
'Cause everything that hurts you've hurt before,
You're about to tear this love apart,
And break another glass heart.
"So you really going to go for it then?" Puck looked up at his friend, having wormed his way to the door to quickly wave goodbye to Sam and Rory. Sure, trying to break a couple up wasn't the most moral of things, but let's face it - what that couple had wasn't going to last forever. Rory lived in Ireland, and long distance relationships just never work out as they are intended to. No matter how valiant an effort is made.
"I am. I want him." Sebastian smirked as he thought of how it would be to see that little Irish boy on his knees, his dick in that little Irish mouth. There was no doubt about it - he was going for it. And of course, with the looks he'd been getting from Sam, taking Rory would not only be rewarding in the sexiest manner of the term, but also a hell of a lot of fun. Breaking someone as jealous and protective as Sam Evans would be a challenge, and sure, Rory seemed to be head over heels for the boy, but there was going to be a way. There was always a way. Puck would know.
"Just be careful Seb. I don't want you hurt. I care too much." This was getting way to sentimental for the boy now. Puck was great and all, but every now and again he would just get this irritating emotional quality to him - something that Sebastian had never admired in his 'allies'. A conscience was what hurt the people he broke. A conscience was something he had slowly tried to eradicate from his system. It was the only way in life. You have to take what you want. But then, Rory wasn't going to be his tonight. And Puck was here...
"I see you've been a bit unlucky with the girls tonight Noah. How about we go and relieve some... Tension together?" Puck smirked at the thought of what was coming. Everyone had cleared out of the house now, leaving solely him and Seb, and he knew exactly what the boy had in mind in order to have fun and release all that pent up energy. "And maybe when we're done, you can tell me all about little Sammy Evans". Puck smiled and leaned into Seb, placing a kiss on the boy's neck as he guided the pale boy's hand to his crotch.
"Fair enough, but you have to pay up first Seb." Puck winked at the other boy, who grinned back. That was the Puck he liked - the sex shark. He lifted his hand to the Jewish boy's back, guiding him back inside the house, closing the front door with his foot behind him.
So there we go. Once again, a massive apology for the wait, and an even bigger thank you for sticking with me! Lot of love, and see you all soon!