Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Dave opens the door first. It was locked, but Sam tossed him the keys. Dave doesn't know why; maybe Sam doesn't want to come in and see his parents or something. They're at work, and Danny's at school. Tally, the little beagle, is at home. She rushes up to Dave and starts clawing at his knees as she jumps for attention.
"Come on, Tally," he beckons as he walks farther inside. She doesn't listen, though, because there are new people now. She's met Finn and Kurt before, but she's not as familiar with them as she is with Dave or Puck. Tally freaks out when Sam comes in the door, though. It hasn't even been a full day, but Dave bets she missed sleeping in his room last night. The first time Dave spent the night, they shut the door on her, and she whined and scratched until they let her in.
Dave leads Kurt upstairs while Finn and Sam get Tally's stuff. There are empty backpacks and a suitcase in Sam's closet, where Kurt gets the clothes. Dave gets the other stuff: Sam's laptop, his cellphone, the chargers, some books (he takes care to include The Leviathan Series).
"Why are you with him?" Kurt asks as pulls clothes off of hangers and puts them into the suitcase. "I mean – well, maybe I do mean him specifically, but I honestly would've have known you were comfortable enough with yourself to be in a relationship. So what happened?"
"Summer. Except for my new job, all the pressure was gone. I had three months to not think about you or school. I could just be myself." Dave packs up Sam's laptop with care. "Then Sam came along. He gave me a second chance after I hurt you. I didn't want to let go of that. And... I don't know. We just got together." Dave reaches over to get a few comics from Sam's desk. "You guys have Avatar, right?" When it took Kurt more than a few seconds to answer, Dave pulled Sam's copy from the drawer. It was his favorite movie; there was no way Dave was going to leave it.
"How did Sam take it?" Kurt asks. "Did he – does he, um, struggle with it?"
"I don't think so," Dave says. "Maybe that's what the bulimia thing was about, though. I dunno. He would freak out sometimes, but it was never big. He would just get scared of the future. Maybe he sort of knew about his parents, I don't know..." Dave stops himself, because if he thinks about why Sam came out, he always leads himself to the idea that Sam had only done it because Dave was. He knows it's not his fault, so why does he feel so guilty?
He feels like he's making up for it on Saturday when Sam drives him to Columbus to pick up Sam's dad. Sam looks anxious, and Dave has no idea how to cheer him up. They sit in relative silence for over an hour, throwing nervous glances at each other. They don't hold hands as they walk in even though David wants to. Sam probably wants to, too, but it doesn't feel right. Instead, Dave watches Sam freeze the minute he sees his father.
Mr. Evans is only a couple of inches taller than Sam. His hair is dark brown, but instead of a wispy haircut, he had a small quiff. He has Sam's nose and facial shape, but his mouth is wide and flat; his eyes are dark brown. He looks tense, and he doesn't see Sam at first. Dave knows the exact minute he does see Sam, because he stops for a second. Then he starts running. He rushes up to Sam and flings his arms around his son.
"I should never have left you with your mother -"
"I'm so sorry, Dad -" Sam is crying.
"I shouldn't have let you come to Ohio -"
"I'm so, so sorry -"
"I could have kept you at the damn school -"
"It's all my fault -"
He's going to take Sam away, isn't he? That shouldn't be Dave's first thought, but it is. He's selfish. He stares as Sam bawls in his dad's arms, and Mr. Evans chokes on a few sobs before straightening himself out.
Sam's father runs a hand through Sam's hair and looks him straight in the eye. "I don't care who you love or have sex with – just make sure you don't cheat, you don't abuse, and you don't violate, okay? I know I raised you right, and who you fall in love with isn't a reflection on that." Sam nods, and Mr. Evans looks between the two boys. "Come on, I'll take you two to lunch."
He has an Enterprise car waiting for him, and they drive around until they find a diner that looks good. Mr. Evans puts a hand around Sam's shoulders.
"So, Sammy, Dave is..."
"He's my boyfriend." Sam glances over at Dave to see if that's okay; Dave just smiles back.
"Good man." He looks to Dave. "I'm glad you're sticking with him when it's tough." He shakes his head. "I should have been here, Sam; I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to go to a stranger's house to be taken care of."
"Kurt and Finn aren't strangers," Sam says, but he's out of focus again. He's thinking about what happened.
"I don't know them. Don't get me wrong, son. I'm grateful. It's just... I'm supposed to take care of you. It's a parent's job, and I thought your mother could do it." He sighs. "I'm sorry, Sam."
"It doesn't matter right now, Dad," Sam tells him. "I have a place to stay for a while."
"We'll have to talk about that later. I want to meet these people – I need to thank them properly." Sam nods. Dave's relieved.