I am back with the third chapter of this story & I am really excited for this one. :)

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Chapter 3: Labels

ARTIE

"I want at least three kids," Sam shared as the two boys were laying on their backs, sharing a blanket on McCarthy Quad that Friday afternoon. It was nearly seventy-five degrees in February, which was a reason as good as any to spend the day soaking up the warm California sunshine. "Maybe even four or five," Sam went on to add.

"Five?!" Artie exclaimed, turning his head to stare at the other guy like he was crazy. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Artie made the difficult decision to break the contact by returning his gaze to the blue sky above them. He watched the white, fluffy clouds roll by for a moment before voicing his own opinion on the matter. "Five is too many. How do you plan on having the time to devote to so many kids? I like the idea of two or three kids, myself."

"I dunno…" Sam replied. "I could be a stay-at-home dad or something. And do some modeling shoots on the side. Then it could work."

Sam's arms had been resting behind his head, but now he moved them to his side. Artie didn't have to look down to know that their pinkies were coming dangerously close to touching. Sure enough, a moment later, he felt Sam's finger brush his. The soft gesture caused a chill to run up his spine, distracting him for only a second before Artie forced himself to regain his composure and form a reply.

"I guess you're right about that."

That's always how conversations were with Sam: he was a dreamer. Constantly talking about the future, his plans, his hopes, his dreams. Artie was a dreamer, too, of course. You had to be if you wanted to be successful in the film industry like he did. You had to have faith in yourself if you wanted to make it.

What had initially started as a weekly tutoring session between Artie and Sam had turned into much more over the last four weeks. In a moment of bravery, Artie had been bold enough to slip Sam his number the first time they met for tutoring, and thank God he did. To his great surprise, Sam had used it almost immediately.

Hey, it's Sam! Thanks for helping me today. We should hang out soon, but next time without the homework ;)

Artie had all but committed the text message to memory, that's how many times he'd read it over and over after he'd received it. It'd been a month since they'd reconnected in the library that day, and the flutter he still felt in his stomach every time he saw Sam's name pop up in his phone's notifications remained. It was a simultaneously unfamiliar and exhilarating feeling that he couldn't quite describe. He just knew he liked it.

Besides Finn and a couple of the other film majors, Artie didn't have many friends out in California. He'd always been so focused on his studies and his projects, that finding people to hang out with for fun had never been a priority for him.

But it was a priority of his now.

Since that first text, Artie and Sam had become nearly inseparable. They started meeting up at Starbucks together in between their classes, which was where Artie learned that Sam wasn't a coffee lover like himself (the caffeine gave him headaches and made him feel too jittery to focus, he'd said). They enjoyed many movie nights in Artie and Finn's room, starting with Avatar, of course, since it was a favorite of Sam's (and Artie was always down to watch any movie that had been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars). It was through these nights they spent hanging out that Artie had learned that Sam was a bit of a nerd himself, with his impressive (and seemingly endless) knowledge of Star Wars trivia and his spot-on James Earl Jones impression that had caused Artie to double over with laughter. On Thursdays, they continued to meet up in the library for their weekly tutoring session, though it was getting harder and harder for them to focus on reading and analyzing Sam's books for English class. They just had so much fun when they were together that it was difficult to find it in them to be serious when they needed to be.

Opening himself up to another human being had always been a difficult thing for Artie to do. He was an exceptionally private person, and there was aspects of his life he preferred to keep locked away, for fear that were somebody to find them out, they'd leave him. His worries here weren't perfectly rational; Sam would never judge him, of course, he knew that. But Artie had conditioned himself to hide parts of himself away for so long that it was a difficult habit to break, even when he wanted to.

In the past, this had never been much of an issue. He'd never felt close enough with someone to be willing to share these certain parts of his life with. But Sam was different. He had never given Artie a reason to be anything except himself. Artie was so used to putting up a front; being exactly who everyone expected him to be, who he wanted the world to see. But he didn't have to do that with Sam. Sam had no expectations for him, just unwavering support, and Artie could feel Sam's acceptance of his genuine self like a tight hug.

What was even better was that it sounded to Artie like Sam felt the same way– that some higher power in the universe that destined for them to be friends.

Sam had often described feeling like an "outsider on the inside" when he was hanging around with the guys at Sigma Chi, being the only openly sexually fluid member of the frat. He had some things in common with some of the others, of course, but he had never found his place. He had a few model acquaintances, too, that he'd met on shoots, but no one close enough that he considered a close friend. Nobody to tell his biggest dreams and confide his darkest secrets to.

Sam often told stories about Jake, his best friend from home, as well as Stevie and Stacey, his beloved little siblings who were eight and nine years younger than him. The way that Sam's face lit up as he talked about the ones he left behind in Tennessee made Artie smile. He loved listening to Sam talk about the things he was passionate about, and his inner circle of family and friends was what made him happiest. Artie knew that Sam missed everyone back home terribly and that he'd had a tough time the last two years, attempting to adjust to life in Los Angeles.

Now they had each other. Sam and Artie, Artie and Sam. For the last two years, they'd both been wandering aimlessly around campus until they'd stumbled into their other half, and the rest was history. Their friendship was lighthearted and progressed so naturally that Artie had no idea what he was missing out on without a close friend by his side. Now that Sam had come into his life, however, he never wanted to let him go.

With each day that passed, with every interaction between the two of them, Artie's affection for Sam grew. Every time his eyes locked with Sam's, Artie felt a clench in his chest that he couldn't control no matter how hard he tried. Every time Sam mindlessly placed his foot on top of Artie's when they were watching a movie, Artie's heart fluttered. Even the physical contact that he couldn't feel was nearly too much to bear. These intimate moments added up, and with every moment like them, Artie became more and more certain that he was falling for that tall, goofy, big-hearted, loud, golden-retriever-in-human-form that he called his best friend.

The line between close friendship and crush was beginning to get very blurred, however. There was a spark between them that was undeniable, at least to Artie. Sam was into guys, Artie knew that much, but he had no idea if Sam felt what he was feeling– like what they had going could be more than a friendship. Artie didn't want to risk losing everything by making a move. As much as he tried to sit back and enjoy their friendship, each day his heart yearned for Sam a little more.

The endless wondering consumed Artie's thoughts at every hour of the day. He'd never, ever been distracted from whatever film he was working on for class, but now he felt like he could never focus without his mind drifting towards Sam.

On one of the nights he had stayed up late to edit the short film he was working on, Artie had glanced across the room at where Finn was softly snoring in his bed. In a moment of utter desperation– just needing to be affirmed by an outside source– Artie opened up a new web browser and googled "Am I Bisexual?" and clicked on the first online quiz that popped up. With questions like, "How would you react if someone of the same sex was flirting with you?" and "Have you ever had feelings for someone of the same sex?", he knew what the result of the test would be before he had even finished answering all of the questions.

He's bisexual.

Artie knew that he'd had very real feelings for girls in high school… but none had ever compared to what he felt for Sam now. And Artie was finally at peace with acknowledging that that was okay. That was more than okay– it was great, even! It was a way of proving to himself that his romantic feelings for another guy didn't make him any less of a man… or– where Artie was most concerned– any less of himself.

He was still the same old Artie, only now he had a debilitating crush on a guy. And that felt both amazing and heartbreaking to realize and accept. Amazing, because finally having a word to assign to the complicated emotions he felt for Sam felt like a sigh of relief he'd been holding in and could finally exhale. But heartbreaking, too, because sitting next to Sam on a picnic blanket, out in the open on the Quad as people walked by on their way to class, and knowing that they'd never be anything more than best friends was enough to destroy him.

Artie glanced over at Sam again, taking in his chiseled features and noticing the way his t-shirt had ridden up a bit, revealing a sliver of his tanned abdomen. Artie let his gaze linger on the other guy's body a little longer than friends usually did.

They were laying side by side, with Artie's chair left vacant next to them. It wasn't lost on Artie, Sam's innate ability to make him feel comfortable. Artie couldn't remember the last time he trusted another human being so much– aside from Finn and his own family– that he was willing to get out of his chair when he was around. It was an insane amount of trust to put in somebody, to essentially strip himself of his mobility and put himself in such a vulnerable position. It was Artie's non-verbal way of saying "I trust you", "I know I can depend on you in an emergency if I need to"– and most importantly– "I know you won't hurt me".

Artie had noticed early on in their friendship that the presence of his chair had never been an issue for Sam. The other guy noticed it, of course– it was impossible for him not to– but he never dwelled on it. Even better, he'd adapted to it; Sam had always sought out accessible locations, whenever it was his turn to choose where they hung out that day. Artie had noticed this, and when he tried to thank him, Sam had shrugged it off. It may not have been a big deal to Sam, but gestures like that were huge to Artie. To be spared from an impossibly awkward experience when a restaurant has steps leading to its entrance and no ramp, or a bathroom that's not wide enough for his chair… it was everything. And Sam seemed to know that without Artie even having to say anything at all.

"Hey, Artie, I wanna ask you something."

Artie turned his head and Sam glanced over at him, his blue eyes reflecting the sky above them. His unruly blonde hair was being kept out of his face by a black bandana that had been tied around his forehead, which enchanted Artie just the same way it had the night they met.

"Sure, what's up?"

"So, uh, Sigma Chi has a date party tonight," Sam began, sitting up straight now, and causing Artie to prop himself up on his elbows in order to see him better. "It's where the guys ask dates, and everyone dresses up in real nice clothes and comes to the house."

"Yeah, yeah, Finn mentioned something about that," Artie nodded. "His girlfriend from high school, Quinn, is flying in from Ohio today for it."

"Yeah, it's kind of a big deal," Sam confirmed. "I was wondering if maybe… you wanted to come with me?"

"Like… as your date?"

Sam nodded. Artie raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! It'll be fun!"

"It's not that I don't want to go…" Artie quickly assured him. He didn't ever want Sam to think that he didn't want to spend time with him. "It's just… well, aren't you a little afraid of what your frat brothers will think? Aren't you afraid of what people will say if you bring a guy with you?"

The concept of fraternities had never been Artie's cup of tea. He'd gone to the frat house that once with Finn (which had been great, since he'd ended up meeting Sam), but never had the desire to go again. The frat guys had been welcoming, but also intimidating.

"I mean, not really." Sam gave a nonchalant shrug. Artie couldn't imagine a life without overthinking every little decision he made.

"You're not… concerned that people will have a problem with it?"

"Most of them already know I like guys." He shrugged again. "It's fun being out with you, Artie, and I want everyone to meet you. I don't want to hide my boyfriend from the world forever."

Artie couldn't stop his overly-animated face from displaying his surprise at the phrase that Sam had just dropped so casually.

My boyfriend.

Artie sat up fully now, pulling his legs in closer so that he was sitting cross-legged on their blanket.

"Is that what we are?"

"What?"

"Are we boyfriends?" Artie asked, bluntly, as a smile played on his lips. He found the whole situation amusing. All of the time that he'd spent agonizing over whether anything more could come out of his and Sam's friendship was apparently for naught. It appeared that Sam had been feeling the same way for a while.

"Well… yeah. I think so, right?" Sam replied, cocking his head to the side in a way that Artie found intoxicatingly endearing. "The way that I feel about you is the way that I've always imagined falling in love would feel like. Like we could be in a room with a hundred people, and it feels like it's just us. Like how Gatsby loved Daisy in the book. And 'boyfriend' is the term for someone you love more than anyone else, right?"

By now, Artie had stopped trying to prevent himself from smiling. Not only because of the clever and adorable way that Sam had likened their relationship to that of Gatsby and Daisy, but also because there were very few things that he craved more than being tied to Sam Evans by something as official as the label of "boyfriend".

"Right," Artie agreed, the grin he was wearing was as wide as his face would allow.

"Do you have a problem with that? With being boyfriends? Or with people knowing?" Sam asked, only now appearing nervous that he may have misread the situation and overstepped.

"No, no, Sam, of course not," Artie assured him, reaching his hands out to take Sam's in his own. "I don't have any problem with it. Or with going public… I thought you would?"

"No. I don't want to hide who I love. And if the guys in Sigma Chi respect me, they'll accept that. And if they don't…" Sam rubbed his thumbs over the top of Artie's hands and shrugged again. "Well, frats are overrated anyways."

Sam was just one surprise after another for him, and Artie found that especially exciting. In the past, he had only liked to engage in the things he knew he could count on. Those that he was sure he wouldn't fail at. Artie's fear of failure had prevented him from taking chances on many things, but Sam was the exception to that self-imposed rule. With Sam, he felt like anything was possible.

Gone were the Friday nights that Artie had held himself up in the animation lab, working on his class projects. His weekend plans now included spending extended time with Sam, and that was more than okay with him.

"Well then…" Artie said, locking eyes with Sam, smiling, and squeezing his hands once more before letting go in order to pull his chair closer and lock the wheels in place. "It sounds like we have a date party that we need to go get ready for."