6
A/N: This is chapter 2. I think there'll be two more after this, with an option to renew. I still don't own Glee, but I'm happy that my panic about Chord Overstreet being cut from Glee was, hopefully, just that. I'm cautiously optimistic about the situation. For that matter, I don't own the rights to "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles (specifically George Harrison) Feel free to read and review!
Malleable
Chapter 2: Here Comes the Sun
2036SamPOV
The swirling light that was created by the activation of the nano generators coupled with some very specific mathematical equations was supposed to create a temporary rift in the space-time continuum. The theory, of course, was untested. None of that really mattered to me as I jumped into the portal that was created.
The world went black. I floated in nothingness. I looked around at my surroundings, trying to figure out what to do. It wasn't an unfamiliar place to be in. I swam through the void, doing backflips with ease. Long moments of that began to wear on me. It was, in a word, boring.
I wasn't scared though. Were this a permanent situation, I would die in a matter of days and that would be that. An accelerated suicide, but not a sudden one. I might have to live with it. Not for very long though.
A point of light behind me cast a dim light on the area that I was in. Still completely black, but I could hold my hand up in front of my face and see it. I turned, looking for the source of the light. It wasn't overly far away, so I decided to take a swim through the air to it.
I arrived at the source of the light. A small hole in the barrier where I was at allowed this pale light to pierce the darkness. I knocked on the barrier, and the sound echoed through the chamber. My irritation began to rise as I contemplated the situation I was in. I had wasted so much time, only to create a prison for myself.
This time, instead of knocking on the barrier, I cocked a fist and punched it. A crack formed and light began to pour through it. Wind rushed in, widening the crack that had formed. The wind staggered me, as I had nothing to be grounded by. More light poured in as the wall began to fall apart. The gusts of wind and the beams of light swept me away, and I fell for what seemed like an eternity.
I came to a less than graceful landing. I ended up landing on my ass on a pile of leaves in a front yard. Dusting myself off, I got up. I looked to the West and I saw the Shawnee Country Club*, and it's golf course. I knew then, that I had been successful. I was back in Lima, Ohio.
I walked up the street toward where my family used to live. I saw them, leaving for Sunday service. My mom, my dad, and my two siblings. My younger self wasn't with them. I had started staying home on Sundays, because I didn't feel comfortable going to Church. The whole being gay thing, you know.
My dad put the car into reverse, and backed out of the driveway. They drove down the street. I strode up to my old house, and knocked on the door.
The door opened.
2010SamPOV
I turned the bolt on the door, and opened it. Standing outside, with his fist raised to knock again was a man wearing glasses, with brown hair**. He looked up at me, and I found myself staring into my own eyes. Aged a bit, but they were still, unmistakably, mine.
"This can't be happening."
"May I come in?"
"I suppose so. Wouldn't want Miss Cooper from across the street gossiping about a man here at 9am would we?"
"Most definitely not."
He crossed the threshold, carefully avoiding contact with me, and went into the kitchen. I followed him in there, where I was surprised to see him reaching up to the third shelf on the cabinet above the sink. He grabbed the half empty bottle of Jack Daniels, and poured two shots.
"Isn't it a little early in the morning for that?"
"It's 5 o'clock somewhere. Also you look pale."
I glanced in the window above the sink, and agreed with him. I took the shot that he offered me.
"To the future?" I asked.
"To altering the future." He responded.
"Figures." I said, clinking the glasses and downing mine. The whiskey burned as it made its way through my system. I coughed a little, leaning against the counter. He wordlessly took my shot glass and washed it, dried it, and put both away. He filled a glass of water and wordlessly handed it over to me. I drank it, and put the glass in the sink.
"You look much better. Do you mind if we go up to your room?"
"Why?"
"We need to talk about the present."
"We can't do that in the living room."
"Not as effectively. I don't have much time."
I shrugged my shoulders at him and led the way upstairs.
"Second door on the right?"
"I know where my room is."
I opened the door, and sat on the bed, letting my older self have the chair at my desk.
"Do you have the MP3 files from Kurt?"
I jumped up from the bed, staring daggers at him.
"I'm not doing anything to hurt him, you understand me?"
He turned, and looked at me. He took off his glasses, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. His eyes were shining.
"Quite the contrary. I'd never want to hurt him."
"Then, lets get off to a start. What's this all about? When are you from?"
"I'm from 2036. This is about changing what for me is the past, but for you is the present to very near future."
"What do 60 MP3's have to do with changing the future?"
"Have you listened to them yet?"
"No, I haven't."
"May I use your computer?"
"Sure."
"I know the passwords."
I'll be the first to admit that it was a bit surreal seeing my older self accessing my computer. He did know the password though, muttering the whole time about how damn slow technology was at this time.
"So, what's the future like?"
"You're unhappy, living a bleak existence, but you're financially well off. That's something right?" Older Sam said drily.
"Why am I unhappy?"
"You choose poorly." He said, doing a good impression of the knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
"More specifically, you chose not to fight for someone until it was too late."
"That someone being Kurt."
"Yes."
"What's the future like for everyone else?"
"I don't know that I can tell you that. I mean, I've taken a bit of a risk just coming here after all. If I alter the future even more, who knows what will happen?"
"Who knows what will happen by you just being here?"
"You're right. Yet, it seems to me that it's best that I err on the side of caution here."
"So, what do you want to change in the here and now then?"
"Kurt is going to drop you as a partner tomorrow. Finn pressured him to do so, and he'll pressure you about it. You internalize some of that pressure, because he appeals to your concerns about popularity. I'm here to tell you that popularity doesn't matter worth a damn. Those people, by and large, don't matter. You know that already, but you don't really accept it as a conclusion. You need to."
"That's easy for you to say."
"I acknowledge that. It is easy for me to tell you what you should care about in hindsight. That's why they call it that. Hence why we're going to listen to some Mp3's. So many different selections to choose from. I guess we'll start with Here Comes the Sun. That alright with you?"
"Um, sure, I guess."
He clicked on it, and the music began to flow out of the speakers.
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right
Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right
The room was quiet as we both listened to Kurt's voice sing. A wistful, longing expression was on my future self's face, and I probably was sharing the same expression. Tears flowed unashamedly down his face as he turned away from me. His shoulders shook with the sobs that he was attempting, in vain, to suppress.
I stood up from the bed and went over to him. I gathered the broken me into my arms. He was sitting on 20+ years of regret, and it burst forth from him. His tears covered my shirt.
After a few minutes, he lifted his head up. His eyes were gleaming, puffy, and red. Despite all of that, he had a beatific smile on his face.
"It's been over 20 years since I've heard him sing. I didn't know it would affect me like this." He explained to me.
"It's alright. He does have an amazing voice doesn't he?" I replied.
"Yes. Think about that for a moment, would you? If the person behind that voice is ten percent as amazing as that voice is, wouldn't they be worth doing anything for?"
My own tears spilled over at that point. "Yes, he's worth it."
"The best thing though, is that he's not just ten percent as amazing as his voice is. He is kind, generous, compassionate, intelligent, and beautiful. The worst thing about it, the absolute worst, is that people hate him. How could anyone hate him?"
An unfamiliar ringtone sounded in the room.
"Damnit! I thought I had more time. Please, please fight for him!" My older self said as he left the room.
I went after him. I saw him hurry down the stairs and into the backyard, where he fished out a phone and held it up. A beam of light materialized and he was gone.
I will.
*I found the Shawnee Country Club on the Google map of Lima. Since Sam's family came to Lima after his dad got a good promotion, it seemed not unreasonable to have them living in a presumably upper middle class area.
**He's got Brown hair IRL, I think, or some of the latest pictures have him with it.