"I'm getting really worried about Sam, guys." Tina said as she stared at Artie, Santana, Rachel, Brittany, Kurt and Puck. She'd called a meeting with the New York New Directions to talk about their friend. Her eyes settled on the only empty chair at the table. "I know we should wait for Blaine, but let's get started and fill him in when he gets here."
"Where is Hobbit? He's hardly ever late for anything, and this meeting started twenty minutes ago." Santana rolled her eyes impatiently. "Some of us don't have all day."
Artie frowned as he checked his phone for a text from their missing friend. "I'm not sure. He was supposed to get off work two hours ago, but he wasn't home yet when Tina and I left. He told me that sometimes the other receptionist just… forgets to show up. You're right though, Tina; we should start. You take lead since you got everyone together."
"Something's off with Sam ever since he met up with that modeling lady two weeks ago." Tina wrung her hands. She remembered how excited Sam had been after getting picked up by an agent on his first night in New York. The blond chattered about it nonstop the next morning and raced out of the apartment for his second meeting. Tina happened to catch him coming back, and his smile looked forced as he mentioned plans for a photoshoot.
"He's obsessed with working out. And it's way worse than how he got after he found out about his SAT scores. Seriously, he does not stop doing sit-ups like ever. We haven't seen him eat much lately either."
Santana's eyes widened in concern. She hadn't been there for the SAT freak-out, but she remembered Brittany telling her about it. Her girlfriend had been too naïve to realize the boy was spiraling. But she mentioned she had more time to talk with Santana since Sam was so busy.
"I remember that," Brittany announced. "Coach Sue called him a gym rat, but I think he's way prettier than any rat I've ever seen,"
"Shit." Santana felt a knot in her stomach as she thought about her recent interactions with Sam. "I'm the first person to say you have a flair for the dramatics, Tina. But you may be on to something. Britts and I tried to get Trouty to grab breakfast with us this morning, and he made up some lame excuse while doing pull-ups. Now that I think about it, he's done that every time I've asked him to eat with me lately."
"He told me he'd eaten lunch already when I asked today, and he was still working out then," Artie said. Rachel, Puck and Tina had similar stories.
"I thought Sammy was living off clouds and gumdrops like a character in a fairytale," Brittany's lower lip quivered as she saw how concerned her friends looked. "What can we do to help him?"
"I don't know," Tina admitted. "The person who fixed things last time was…"
Before she could finish, Blaine threw the door open. His cheeks were flushed with excitement.
"Sorry I'm late," he enthused. "But I had the best shift. You won't even believe who came to the salon to get her nails done: Katy Perry's assistant. I basically met someone who knows someone famous. And I touched her credit card. I wonder if Katy's ever touched it. How cool would that be?!"
Blaine had been smiling nonstop since starting at the salon. He loved how mature having a job made him feel and didn't even mind that his co-worker kept calling off and leaving him with extra shifts. But his smile faded as he saw Brittany crying into Santana's shoulder.
"Woah. What's going on?"
"So kind of you to finally show up, Frodo." Santana sneered as he slipped into the empty seat. "You're only a half hour late."
Blaine tried not to flinch at the venom in her voice. He reminded himself that the older girl hardly ever snapped anymore unless something bad was happening. "My replacement slept through her alarm. I couldn't leave the desk unmanned so I had to stay until she showed up. What did I miss? Wait, where's Sam?"
"Well, before you so rudely interrupted this meeting that everyone else showed up on time for we were talking about your boyfriend." Santana was starting to yell, but Brittany grabbed her hand and stopped her.
"Sam is broken, and we need to fix him."
Blaine looked confused at Brittany's seemingly simple explanation.
"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong with Sam. I sleep with him every night. Don't you think I'd notice if something was wrong?" Sure, Blaine had been kind of busy lately, but he and Sam talked all the time.
Well, lately Blaine had been filling Sam in on work. But his boyfriend would tell him if something was up. Right? He started as Santana snapped her fingers in front of his face and interrupted his inner monologue.
"I think that Bichette lady freaked him out about his body. He's been working out nonstop and none of us see him eat anymore, Blainey Days." Tina grabbed Blaine's hand across the table and squeezed it. "We need to get through to him, and you're best at that."
Santana's tone was notably softer when she spoke this time. "If you don't believe us go check. I bet if you walk into your bedroom right now you'll find that perfectly fine specimen of a man working out. He was working out this morning when we invited him to breakfast. He was working out this afternoon when Artie tried to get him to grab lunch."
"Talk to him, Blaine. Rachel and I can call some friends and research Bichette. Someone will know her," Kurt promised. His internship with Vogue provided a multitude of contacts in the fashion world.
Blaine nervously got up and walked across the hall. He unlocked the door to their apartment and felt his heart sink when he didn't immediately see Sam sprawled out on the couch. "Ok," he whispered. "Nothing to worry about yet. He's probably just in bed or something."
"Hey Sammy," Blaine frowned as he walked into their bedroom and found his boyfriend doing pushups. "It feels like forever since we've hung out just the two of us. How about you take a shower then we go grab dinner?"
The blonde didn't stop moving as he puffed out a response between reps. "No thanks, dude. I'm not hungry."
"Ok. How about we watch a movie?" Blaine looked more closely and noticed how gaunt Sam looked. It was like he'd shaved away at his already toned frame in the last two weeks.
Blaine could count the ribs sticking out under sweat-drenched cut-off.
Their friends were right; something was wrong.
"Nah," Sam said. "After I finish these I'm going on a run. I'm trying to get really lean before my shoot next week." He stumbled as he pushed up off the ground and steadied himself on the dresser. "Woah. That was a major head rush."
Instead of stopping, Sam started doing jumping jacks.
"SAM! Look at me. I think you should eat something."
"I said I'm not hungry." Sam didn't know what happened, but suddenly he was shouting. "That means I don't want to eat, Blaine. Damnit."
His legs gave out underneath him a second time as his body started shaking from the combination of exhaustion and frustration. This time he fell on the bed.
He flinched back as Blaine rushed over and helped him stand. "No, don't touch me right now, babe. I'm gross and sweaty."
"As if I care." Blaine pulled back to look into his emerald eyes. "Honey, something is going on. Can you talk to me? Please."
Sam fell back on the bed again and started crying into his hands. "I lied to you just now. I'm starving. But I can't eat. I'm trying so hard to get ready for my photoshoot, but I have so much weight to lose. Bichette told me that she wouldn't even book a photographer unless I cut ten pounds. I've tripled up on workouts. But it's not working; I can't drop that low."
Blaine's blood boiled with a sudden rage.
He knew how conscious Sam was of his body. Blaine flashed back to the first time they talked about it. It was when Sam was doubling up on workouts after the SAT fiasco. He thought that his body was the only thing to make him special. As though his friends would stop loving him if he gained an ounce of body fat.
Even though he graduated high school and got into an incredible college, it wasn't enough to fully convince Sam that he was incredible and deserving of the world. That hurt Blaine's heart. Choosing his words carefully, he knelt down in front of Sam and looked up at him.
"Sammy, stop. I need you to listen to me. You are perfect in every way. In all my life I've never met someone as kind as you. You'd give the shirt off your back to any of our friends. Hell, you'd give it to a stranger on the street. You practically gave up your youth to take care of your family. You're a leader. You're creative. You're the best boyfriend on the planet. I love you no matter what. Every single person we know does. If someone doesn't see that, then they're wrong."
Blaine took a breath to try and calm himself down before he spoke again. "Honestly, fuck Bichette. If you want to model, you do not need her. I don't care what she said about being the best when we met her. If this is how she's making you feel, it's a lie. We'll find you another way into the industry if you want to try. But please don't do it this way. Because it's hurting you, and I can't see you hurting like this."
"Are you sure?" Sam's voice shook as he asked for confirmation.
"Absolutely, positively, without a doubt, three thousand percent positive. Now come on. Let's get you cleaned up, and then I am going to get you something to eat. We'll deal with that bitch-ette lady after." He purposefully mispronounced her name to draw a laugh out of Sam.
Only that laugh cut off abruptly as they heard the front door slam against the wall. Blaine refused to let go of Sam. Instead, he directed him so that they could sit on the bed and wait for their friends. Kurt was in the lead. The normally calm boy looked every bit as livid as Santana.
"Let me guess," he deadpanned. "She hit you with 'the camera likes… starvation,' didn't she?"
Sam's mouth dropped open in shock. "Dude! How did you know?"
"Because I just talked to my boss Isabelle who told me Bichette is on our department's absolutely-do-not-book list. Apparently she starves half her models. Some of the editors still work with her because the fashion industry is slow to pick up on the fact that bodies come in different sizes and that being so emaciated you can't stand up on your own isn't healthy. But Isabelle won't even be in her presence."
It took both Rachel and Brittany's combined might to hold Santana back as tried to stalk toward the door. "Let me go! I want to find that bitch and go all Lima Heights on her ass. No one hurts my Trouty, and if they do they pay the consequences."
"Not helping, Santana." Rachel puffed as she strained her muscles. "Puck, can I have an assist here?"
Santana's momentum came to an immediate halt as Puck wrapped his arms around Rachel. Artie bravely wheeled his chair in front of Santana and added an extra barrier in her quest toward the door.
"Hey, Santana. Don't worry. I'm ok." Sam weakly waved from the bed. He didn't have a second to prepare himself for impact as Brittany released her girlfriend and threw herself at him. The dancer ended up in a dogpile on top of Sam and Blaine.
"Sam, you were hurting. Are you better? Did Blaine Warbler fix you with his magic boy kisses?"
He nodded solemnly and slowly so Brittany would believe him. "Something like that. I was pretty messed up, but Blaine helped. You all helped. Thank you because I know that you had something to do with this."
"Santana, I promise I'm not going back to that agency. If I pinky promise, can you pinky promise not to kick her ass? I don't think we have enough money for bail right now."
The girl scoffed. "As if I'd ever get caught, Trouty. You forget, I learned from Sue. But I guess I can let it go this time. Unless I see her in the streets, then all bets are off." Sam laughed weakly imagining his friend chasing down the older lady and tackling her to the ground.
"It's a deal. Now how about I get a shower then we all go to dinner."
Kurt looked up from his phone. "Sounds good to me. Only, I'm picking out your outfit, Sam. I just talked to Isabelle. She's going to meet us for dinner. I'll introduce you, and you guys can talk modeling agencies. There's no one I trust more to keep you safe."
Sam's heart swelled as he realized Blaine may be right; his friends did love him no matter what.
"Blaine, can you help me get to the shower? I'm not sure I can stand up on my own right now."
"Oh! Of course." The curly haired boy jumped up and wrapped his arm around Sam's waist. Together they walked to the bathroom. Blaine grabbed Sam's face in his hands once he shut the door.
"There's something I need to say. I'm so sorry that I missed this. I was so focused on my new job that I wasn't paying enough attention to how you were hurting. How can I do better, Sammy?"
Sam wiped a couple tears from his boyfriend's eyes. "Nope. No way, Blaine. You may not have noticed, but this isn't entirely your fault. I didn't tell you. And you should be excited about your job, honey. You're doing amazing at it. Let's make a deal, you don't blame yourself if I don't blame myself about this one. And moving forward, we'll talk to each other about these things."
"I should have told you what Bichette said to me the day she said it. But I figured I could work it out on my own. That's not what it means to be in a relationship, and we can't do that anymore. So let's be a team. We're so much better as a duo anyway."
Blaine smiled. "Pinky promise?"
"Pinky promise. Ok, help me into the shower before Santana knocks down the door and tries to speed this up. And I don't know about you, but I'm suddenly craving a massive burger.