A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates. Nasty heat wave here makes it difficult to concentrate on writing. In addition to that I am coming off of a nasty bout of pneumonia that put me in the hospital, along with concern about a possible pulmonary embolism (blood clot on the lung which could be fatal), Oh well. I'm struggling through it though. The anger that I feel from the revelations at SDCC help my body to heal. Some of the dialogue from this chapter is taken verbatim from "Duets". I still don't own Glee, unfortunately.

Malleable

Chapter 4: Duets

Ed'sPOV

My son was standing in the middle of our living room, hands shaking. Scarce moments ago, he had told me that he was gay. This was an announcement that, I daresay, very few parents want to hear. Some, far too many, don't want to hear it because they hate people who are gay. Others don't want to hear it because they fear that their child could be bullied or victimized because of it. Still others have their own reasons, whatever those may be.

When did he become taller than I was? It seemed like only yesterday that we were in Hawaii for a family vacation and I was able to carry him on my shoulders. If I tried to do that now, Ellen would probably be driving me to the hospital.

Last year, when we sent him to Brook Haven, the Christian Boys Boarding School, he objected. He didn't want to go. He worried that he wouldn't fit in. Naturally, I thought that I was acting in his best interest. In retrospect, that was probably a wrong headed move. I had dismissed his concerns, and sent him into an environment that was unwelcoming. In that instance, I had failed as a parent.

Our relationship had been strained by that decision. Sam was more guarded, and insecure about himself after that year at Brook Haven. I just assumed it was an academically rigorous environment that may have contributed to his stress. I also thought it was because our family wasn't blue bloods like the vast majority of the students there. Looking back, with the information just given me, it became quite obvious why he didn't want to go. He went though, probably because he didn't want to disappoint me.

A sharp jab to my side interrupted my train of thoughts. I looked over to see Ellen giving me an arch look. One that said, quite clearly that she'd never forgive me if I did something stupid.

I looked back over toward my son, my brave son. Tears were brimming at his eyes. He was afraid, of me, of my reaction. Kids shouldn't be afraid of their parents.

I got up from the couch, and closed the distance between Sam and I. I opened my arms, and he fell into them.

He broke down, sobbing, in my arms. "Dad, I'm so sorry."

"Samuel David Evans! Don't ever apologize for being who you are." Ellen said, as she stood up and joined us.

"She's right Sam. You're our son, we love you, and that's not going to change."

Ellen joined our embrace. Sam shifted slightly so he could embrace both of us.

"You know that we're here for you, Sam. Anything you want to talk to us about, you can." I said.

"We don't want you getting hurt." Ellen replied.

A small smile graced Sam's face. "I know. I'm glad this went the way it did."

He disengaged from us. "I think I'm going to go back upstairs and finish some homework. Coach Beiste has us doing a practice early in the morning, can you drive me in early?"

"Sure, Sam. What time do you need to be there?" I replied.

"6:30."

"Lord. Set your alarm, I'll set mine."

"Alright dad."

Sam went back upstairs, leaving us alone in the living room. Ellen turned toward me and we hugged. I gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"You handled that well, Ed."

"Dunno how I'm going to handle the rest of it though. I don't know what to tell Stevie and Stacy, or when to tell them. Lord knows how I'm going to handle him having a boyfriend, if that happens."

"Hopefully that will be awhile. He's got a good head on his shoulders though, so I'm not too worried about him. You should get to bed though, since you've got an early start tomorrow."

"Going up now. I'll leave the light on for you."

"Alright. I'll be up shortly."

I went upstairs to our bedroom, and set the alarm clock for 5:45. I turned the bedside lamp on, and settled in for bed.

SamPOV

I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed considering that it was 6am. I had slept well because the weight that had been on my chest had lessened. I had faced a major obstacle, and it turned out to be great. It gave me encouragement that I could go forward and make progress on other fronts.

Before heading to bed, I went through the mp3's that Kurt had sent me, listening to all of them. I noticed a particular affection for music from the 60's. He had several songs by the Mamas and the Papas, such as, California Dreamin', Creeque Alley and Dream a Little Dream, in addition to broadway music, the Beatles, and more recent stuff. In short, he was a surprisingly versatile performer. I had immersed myself in Kurt's voice, and I found myself falling in love with it. The pain, the tenderness, the emotion, the wistfulness, the loneliness all called out to me through the various songs that he sang. I thought I found the perfect song for us to sing together, and I sent it out to him before I went to bed.

I quickly got ready, taking a quick shower and throwing on some clothes, before heading downstairs. Dad handed me a breakfast bar, and a glass of OJ which I downed quickly, and we made our way out to the car. We made it to McKinley with a few minutes to spare.

As I reached for the door handle, my dad lightly touched my shoulder. I turned towards him.

"Well, Sam, if you have any problems, you know to talk to a teacher or counselor. If they don't do anything, you can always talk to me or your mother, ok? We're here for you."

"I know, dad. Thanks." I said, as I left the car.

I hurried to the locker room, and saw that most of the team was there already, changing. I changed into my uniform and made my way out to the field with them. I wouldn't be taking snaps yet due to my shoulder, but I would be running. Which provided me an opportunity to think about my situation both in football, and with Kurt.

In regards to football, Finn was currently starting QB. He was good at it, but he had a tendency to stay inside the pocket. Which meant that he was dependent on our O-line to maintain the pocket so that he could find an open receiver. He couldn't scramble for yards, the way I was able to . Of course, that meant he was less likely to be injured. For that matter, I hadn't really figured out what to do about football and being out at McKinley.

With the duets situation, I still didn't have a good plan of action. I was, once again, lamenting the lack of information that my future self had given me. I figured that erring on the side of caution, and letting events develop was probably the best idea. I didn't know what my decisions would do to the future, so I decided to act as little as possible.

Practice was winding down, with the rest of the team going in. I completed the lap I was running and joined the rest of the team. I showered and wrapped a towel around myself. As I made my way to my locker, Finn approached me.

"So, I hear you're doing a duet with Kurt?" he asked.

"I don't see what the big deal is. He sent me like 60 mp3's of him singing. I thought it was Faith Hill. He's good."

Finn sat down on one of the benches. "Look, this isn't about how good Kurt is. Being in Glee club is like. . . walking down the double yellow lines of a highway. If you get just a little off course you're gonna get crushed."

I grabbed my clothes out of my locker. "Look, I got to be honest. You're kind of confusing my head right now. Do you remember what you said when you talked me into joining Glee? You said that Nationals are gonna be in New York City. And when we come back with that first place trophy, we would be gods."

Pulling on my jeans, I forged ahead. "I joined Glee club because you said it would make me popular. Now you're telling me it's going to get me killed."

Finn responded, "Well, eventually, you're gonna get popular from it, believe me, but until then, you got to lay low a little bit, a-and singing a duet with another dude is not laying low.

I sat down on the bench and pulled my shirt on. "I didn't realize you had a problem with gay dudes."

Finn got a little defensive. "Look, I don't have a problem with gay dudes. Everyone else does, and we're living in their world, and in their world, you singing a duet with Kurt is a death sentence."

I stood up, and shut my locker. "I gave him my word. And in my world, that's that."

I left the locker room. As I turned the corner to go down the hall, I saw Azimio and Karofsky holding their slushies.

"Welcome to Glee club, ladylips!" Azimio said as they let fly with their slushies, soaking me.

So much for popularity. A hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into a restroom. I opened my eyes to see Quinn. She handed me a towel and turned on the water in the sink.

"The blueberry flavor is the worst, especially if it gets down your pants. I looked like a creature out of Avatar down there when I got slushied." She said.

I raised my head up out of the sink. "I saw Avatar, like, six times."

She paused for a moment, giving me a weird look. "Oh. . . Anyway, you'll get used to it."

Even the head cheerleader wasn't immune to getting slushie facials. "Why would anyone want to get used to it?"

Quinn looked at something behind me. "Well. . . I like singing, and they were kind to me when I wasn't on top last year. They're a good group of people. You should stay with it."

She had given me some food for thought. Even people who on the surface seem concerned with popularity might actually be looking for deeper, meaningful friendships. For one of the most popular people in school, Glee was that outlet for her. It also may have been that for Finn too. Or, he might actually honestly believe that nonsense about Glee club being a route to popularity. If so, he probably should get an exam for concussions from football related injuries.

It seemed as if I had backed myself into a corner. By virtue of being a member of Glee Club I had opened myself to getting slushied. That was just the beginning. If I backed out now, who was to say what would occur? Would I have to prove myself to Azimio and Karofsky? Would I be expected to bully people? Would I be exempt from slushies? Would I be expected to slushy people?

No. None of that would be acceptable. I wasn't going to be anything but myself. I was going to be in Glee, I would try to remain on the football team. I was going to sing that duet.

Having given myself my marching orders, I went to my locker and grabbed my books for class. I had two classes before we went to the choir room for Glee, for third period.* It wasn't a class, it was how we used our study hall and Mr. Schu used one of his planning periods.

The first class of the day was English. We talked about some of the concepts discussed in Cat's Cradle. The concept of a granfalloon was particularly appealing. Basically, it was a concept of false belonging. People who share a fake identity that has no meaningful connection. Like, being one of the popular kids in high school. We discussed that concept extensively, while the teacher dodged the satirical take on religion that Vonnegut explored. Mrs. Keene probably didn't want to get in trouble with the school board for indoctrinating the students against religion or some nonsense.

Second period brought me to geometry. I liked geometry because the rules were reasonably simple to follow, and they worked. The area of a triangle is always going to be ½ b x h. The angles would always equal 180 degrees. Etc. Just remember the rules and take legible notes and you're good to go for the most part.

The bell rang loudly, announcing that 2nd period was over. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, and made my way to the choir room for Glee. I was the last one there, and the only seat not taken was next to Quinn. I sat down in it, and looked over at Kurt and waved. He didn't see me wave. He seemed distracted. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk to him because Mr. Schu started in on a lecture.

"It seems like everyone's found a duet partner, except Quinn, and that's because we're one short with Puck gone. I don't know how to resolve this."

I raised my hand. "Yeah, Sam?"

"I already have a duet partner with Kurt, but it doesn't seem fair to punish her for it, so I'd sing another duet with her if that's permissible?"

Finn turned around and gave me a discreet thumbs up. Damnit. Now I looked like I didn't want to sing with Kurt. Kurt looked at me with a quizzical expression on his face. His brow furrowed a little.

Santana naturally assumed the worst. "Clearly, Sam just wants as many chances as possible to get the all you can eat dinner for two at Breadstix. Not that it matters to me, because after you hear me and Mercedes, we can just end the competition."

"Are you two ready to go then?" Mr. Schu asked of them.

"I was born ready Mr. Schu." Mercedes said.

They did an amazing rendition of "River Deep, Mountain High" by Ike and Tina Turner. They were good. They had good choreography, and their voices went well together. Santana had a surprisingly good contralto, and Mercedes was awesome. Mike Chang, however, was paying far more attention to Santana's butt though. Didn't really do anything for me, or Kurt. I looked over at him with a grin on my face. He still didn't notice, staring ahead.

They finished up their duet, and Santana had a smug expression on her face. "I already ordered Mercedes and me two special bibs because we be goin' to Breadstix!"

Mike and Tina went next. They performed "Sing!" Tina really brought her A-game. It didn't hurt that Mike was pretty damn good as a dancer. I noticed Kurt looking concerned about them. From a competitive standpoint, I was concerned too. It was a rather creative choice that poked fun at Mike's lack of singing ability, in a good way, while still allowing them to be choreographed.

Mr. Schu was quite fulsome in his praise. "Now that is a duet! Thank you Tina for introducing us to the amazing singing voice of Mike Chang!"

The bell rang, signaling the end of the period. Great. Kurt was out the door like a bat out of hell, and I had to go to Gym class. Which meant that I couldn't go looking for him to talk.

It was relatively easy to drown the thoughts of the situation I was in with exercise and concentrating on the game at hand. It was basketball, so it was reasonably fast paced, and time went by quickly.

I was sweaty, so I decided to take a shower, before heading to lunch. I had squeezed some shampoo into my hand and was rubbing it into my scalp when I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind me. I turned, and, of course, it was Kurt.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to go all shawshank on you."

I was a little off put by his sudden appearance. "This is a little weird. Guys don't usually talk to one another in here."

He launched right into what he wanted to say. "This can't wait. I'm setting you free. You can do your duet with Quinn. The world would deem her to be more appropriate."

Ah. "Did me trying to help her out offend you?"

He shook his head. "No, no, I . . . it's not you, it's me. You've been honorable. I've realized though that I need to sing with someone who matches my passion and talent level." He said, sadly.

"So, in other words, you're singing alone. Did you see the email I sent you?"

"No, I didn't have time to check it this morning."

A glimmer of hope. "Can you check it from your phone?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, I'd have to go to the parking lot to get a good signal, but I can."

"Well, Kurt, before you think about just tossing me aside, check out the song I sent, and maybe you'll reconsider. I'll be skipping lunch to work on my astronomy homework, so I'll be up there if you want to talk about it. Even if you still don't want to do the duet with me, I still want to talk to you ok?"

He gestured at the bottle of shampoo I was using. "I don't see why not. You do know that they make special shampoo for color treated hair?"

Back to this eh. He could be persistent about things. "Dude, I don't dye my hair." I said in a monotone voice.

"Uh-huh." Kurt said as he strode out of the locker room.

I finished up, and changed back into my regular clothes. Grabbing my astronomy book, I hurried up to the empty classroom so that I could finish answering some of the questions in the book before that class started.

A couple of minutes later, the door clicked open. Kurt came in, blotting his eyes.

Before I could say anything, he spoke. "So, I looked at the emails you sent. The first two songs were good choices. Safe. There's some depth to you Sam Evans. The third song is what got me though." He sighed deeply, before continuing, "After I approached you on Friday, Finn talked to me at lunch. He basically said that I didn't give a damn about the club if I sang with you, that it would be a death sentence and you'd have to leave the team. He couldn't wrap his head around the concept that I just wanted to sing with you."

I nodded my head. "Yeah, he talked to me about it this morning. I told him that I didn't plan on backing down from a duet with you, that I gave you my word, and that was that."

Kurt placed his hand in front of his eyes. "Thank you." He whispered softly.

I closed the book, and got up from the desk. I went over to where he was standing and sat down on the table in front of. I took his free hand in both of mine and spoke softly to him. "Yesterday, while listening to your mp3s, I had a bit of a realization. I realized that I didn't want to live an existence where I was in constant fear of being outed. I didn't want to live an existence where I would have to constantly worry about slipping up and saying the wrong thing, or giving the wrong look, or reacting the wrong way."

Kurt let his hand fall from his eyes. They were wide open, and staring right through me. "Anyway, I listened to all of them, and I came out to my parents. They were great about it. I also kind of fell in love with your voice. You convey so much through your singing. And, I think I could see myself wanting to get to know the person behind the voice better. Maybe do a duet with him that wins the competition so we can go to Breadstix. Even though the food there is not that great."

Kurt laughed a little at that. "Maybe even see a movie together, or something. Or I could show you my comic book collection? Maybe not? I actually don't dye my hair. It's lemon juice. Technically not dye. So I wasn't lying. You probably know a better method of treating hair though?" Kurt nodded.

Before I could continue in that vein, Kurt interjected. "Sam, you're babbling. Let's do the duet together. I was thinking you could take the first verse, I'll take the second. Then you sing the next verse, and I follow, and we both sing the end?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

The lunch bell rang. Kurt tentatively embraced me. He spoke softly into my ear, "I think I'm falling for a lemon head who's absolutely amazing." A grin split his face, reaching his eyes.

"Lor menari."

"Hmm?"

"It's Nav'i. The Avatar language. Means you have beautiful eyes."

Kurt sighed, happily, before leaving the classroom. The rest of the school day passed in a blur, and I found myself waiting for my mom to pick me up. I had a permit, but we hadn't had a chance to go hunting for a cheap car yet.

Mom pulled up to the front of the school, and I got in the passengers seat. I buckled up my seat belt and we drove off.

"How was your day today, Sam?" She asked.

"It was great mom."

"That's good. Do you have any homework?"

"Yeah, I have some reading to do, and a little math, and some astronomy. I might be introducing you and dad to someone soon."

Mom arched her eyebrow at me carefully. "Oh?"

"Yeah."

"I see. Well, if this Kurt can see you as the wonderful person you are, he can't be too bad. Don't rush into anything though."

We arrived at the elementary school where Stevie and Stacy went. "I know mom."

I buckled Stacy in the backseat and we drove home. We got home and I went up to my room. I didn't have much homework, so I turned on my Xbox and popped in Call of Duty. I played the multiplayer on that for about an hour, before I got bored with it. I wondered if any of the guys in Glee had accounts on Xbox Live. Might be worth asking about.

I booted up my computer, and checked my email. Kurt had emailed me wanting to know if it would be alright if we sang tomorrow. Quinn had also emailed me with some song suggestions. I sent back an email confirming her selection of "Just my Imagination" and I got to work listening to the song on youtube. I found a version by Gwyneth Paltrow and Babyface and sent Quinn the link to it. Ironically, it was from a movie called "Duets". I thought we'd get bonus points for that, at least.

I worked on the rest of my homework, getting my English reading out of the way first. I heard the front door open, and my brother and sister yell out "Daddy!", indicating that my dad was home from work. My stomach rumbled. I suppose just eating a breakfast bar and skipping lunch probably wasn't the best idea.

I went downstairs and got a glass of water. "Hi dad."

"Hey Sam. How was school today?"

"The usual." I said in a noncommittal tone.

"I see. Probably didn't pay attention for half the day then. Ask someone out?"

"Yep." I smiled.

"Don't rush into things."

"That's what mom said."

"And if it goes anywhere, we'll want to meet them." dad said, using careful word selection in front of Stevie and Stacy, who weren't really paying attention anyway.

"I think that can be arranged."

"Ok then."

We settled in and ate dinner. I wasn't feeling as self-conscious about my body as I normally did, so I took a second helping. I finished up, and went upstairs to finish my homework and checked my email. Quinn confirmed the song selection, and said she would be fine performing it on Wednesday.

Before long, I found myself drifting off to sleep. I gave in to the sensation and was out before 9. I had forgot to change my alarm time, so I woke up early. That gave me time to go through the song we were doing today. I went through my verses a couple of times, feeling more confident that I could at least keep up with Kurt.

I showered, and put on my outfit for the day. I went downstairs and fixed myself a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of OJ. I really should have changed my alarm clock to later in the morning. I rinsed my bowl and glass and put them in the dishwasher.

My dad came down a few minutes later and started the coffee pot up.

"You're up with the devil this morning." He commented.

"Yeah, forgot to change the time on my alarm."

"So, wanna tell me about this person you might be introducing us to?"

"His name's Kurt, and he's in Glee club with me. He's basically awesome."

"Well, your mother and I will want to meet him at some point."

"I know dad."

The rest of the family trudged downstairs and began the day. Soon enough, we were in the car, and dad was driving us to school.

"I was wondering if we could go look for a car this weekend dad?"

"I suppose we could do that. Maybe on Saturday or Sunday."

"Thanks dad."

We pulled up to McKinley and I got out, waving bye to my brother and sister. I went to my English class, and waited for the day to start. Mrs. Keene gave a pop quiz over the material, which I got done with fairly quickly. Normally, it pays to be prepared, but not today. I drew things in the back of my notebook while I waited for the other people to finish the quiz.

I watched the minute hand of the clock move ponderously forward. The kids who hadn't studied probably didn't want to get called on, so they were going to take as much time as possible on the quiz so as to run out the clock so to speak. As a result, a quiz that, at most should take like 10 to 15 minutes took a half hour to complete.

Finally the last paper was handed in, and we could discuss. Mrs. Keene decided to touch on the issue of scientific pursuit. I raised my hand.

"Yes, Sam."

"I was just thinking about Dr. Felix Honeikker. He seemed to be a parallel for the scientists in the Manhattan Project and how they thought that the atomic bomb might destroy the world, yet they were determined to go ahead with the project in spite of that. He strikes me as a fairly tragic character, in that his research is the only thing that gives him meaning. He doesn't have any personal relationships, and he barely acknowledges the existence of his own children."

"That's very insightful Sam."

That was me. Well, not me right now. Certainly, it seemed to be the person I would become in the future. The difference seemed to be self awareness. Similarly, though, we both had the willingness to potentially destroy the universe for our own happiness. Which was kind of appalling. I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind as the bell rang.

That person from the future wasn't me. It was who I could become.

I made my way to geometry. I began to think about my performance that was coming up in scant minutes. What if I was horrible? What if they thought I was terrible? What if they made fun of me? I breathed in deeply, exhaling. I couldn't back out now, obviously. I didn't want to be alone and unloved. I attempted to refocus on the lesson at hand and took detailed notes.

My confidence was shot as the bell rang, signaling the end of 2nd period. I made my way down to the choir room, moving like molasses, yet going faster than I thought possible. Kurt was waiting outside the room for me.

"I printed off the sheet music for the ensemble. It's not too late to back out if you want to." He said with a false smile on his face.

I reflected back on the conversation that I had with my future self 2 days ago. It almost seemed like it had happened in another life. Him sobbing as he heard Kurt's voice singing, him begging me to fight for him. That was the difference between myself and Dr. Hoenikker. I was aware of my own unhappiness. I was aware, and I could change it.

"Santana and Mercedes would never let it go that they won the competition." I said, giving him a playful tap on the shoulder. "Let's do this."

"Thank you, Sam."

"Thank you, Kurt."

We walked in the choir room together and sat down. Finn frowned slightly at us before looking ahead. He radiated disapproval. I shrugged. He was dressed in a Priest shirt with collar, so maybe he was just getting into character. Rachel was dressed in a black outfit with a white lace collar. Kind of like a catholic schoolgirl. I wasn't entirely sure what they were going to be doing with the outfits. Maybe a religious song?

Kurt leaned over and whispered in my ear. "It's ok. He'll figure it out by the end of the period . . Or not." I chuckled a little at that, smiling at him.

Mr. Schu walked in, setting some things down on the desk before addressing the class.

"It looks like Artie and Brittany have pulled out of the duets competition. This leaves Finn and Rachel, Sam and Kurt, and Sam and Quinn."

Rachel stood up with Finn. "We'll go first." she said, brooking no disapproval.

They began their performance. It was. . .interesting to say the least. The lyrics were rather overt, which was odd, given the costume choices they had. Oh God.

"Tell me this isn't happening." Mercedes said out loud.

They finished their song. Mike clapped briefly, before Tina grabbed his hands mouthing "no".

"Ok, do I even need to say it?" Mercedes said.

I chuckled a little, due to the subject matter, "That was rude."

Tina agreed. "It was like, really rude."

Quinn looked ill. "I seriously wanted to like, punch both of you."

Mr. Schu got up, shaking his head. "I have to agree. It's a great duet, but what you did with it was really inappropriate. Your costume choices were really insensitive. Frankly. . . I'm disappointed."

Rachel had the temerity to look angry. "I'm shocked! I-I hope this doesn't cost us the competition."

"Well, I think we can just get right into the next duet." Kurt raised his hand. "Yeah Kurt?"

"Mr. Schu, if we may?"

"You may."

I stood up with Kurt and walked down in front of the piano. Kurt handed the sheet music to the Jazz ensemble, and they looked at us. The drummer winked, and one of the trumpet players smiled at us.

Kurt turned and began speaking. "As many of you know, I picked Sam as my duet partner. That irritated some people's sensibilities. Sam and I discussed the matter, and we've decided to forge ahead with our duet. Just because I'm different doesn't mean that I should be alone."

I piped in. "I couldn't have asked for a better partner." Rachel scowled at that remark.

"Thank you Sam. Take it away."

The trumpet began playing softly, and the drummer began softly tapping his brush against the cymbals. After a few seconds of that, I began singing. Our surroundings seemed to fade out of focus as I concentrated on singing to Kurt.

You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.
You'd be like Heaven to touch.
I wanna hold you so much.
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive.
You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.

Kurt turned toward me as he began to sing the second verse. His voice was warm and sad simultaneously.

Pardon the way that I stare.
There's nothing else to compare.
The sight of you leaves me weak.
There are no words left to speak,
But if you feel like I feel,
Please let me know that it's real.
You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.

There was a brief pause to allow the beat to accelerate before I came back with the third verse of the song.

I love you, baby,
And if it's quite alright,
I need you, baby,
To warm a lonely night.
I love you, baby.
Trust in me when I say:
Oh, pretty baby,
Don't bring me down, I pray.
Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay
And let me love you, baby.
Let me love you.

As I sang, I moved toward Kurt, and he backed away, emphasizing both his apprehension and that he thought the experience wasn't real. He did a really good job conveying it. I knelt in front of him for the last portion of the verse. The beat got a little softer as Kurt began to sing the next verse.

You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.
You'd be like Heaven to touch.
I wanna hold you so much.
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive.
You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.

He pulled me up from the floor as we began to sing the final verse together.

I love you, baby,
And if it's quite alright,
I need you, baby,
To warm a lonely night.
I love you, baby.
Trust in me when I say:

Oh, pretty baby,
Don't bring me down, I pray.
Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay

Oh pretty baby trust in me when I say

I need you baby,

Oh won't you come my way

Oh pretty baby

Now that I found you stay

And let me love you baby

Let me love you.

Somehow, during all of that, we had gotten extremely close to one another. Kurt's face was flushed, and my hair was hanging down in front of my eyes. I leaned forward, tentatively, to capture his lips with my own. Applause brought us out of our reverie, and we pulled back from each other.

"Wanky!" Santana said. She had a friendly smile that I reciprocated with a shrug of my shoulders.

Brittany, Tina and Mercedes were clapping and smiling from ear to ear, Quinn was beaming. Rachel even seemed happy. The guys seemed a little less comfortable with it, but even so, it was alright.

We took our seats together. Mr. Schu went back to the front of the classroom. "Sam, Kurt, that was very well done!"

Quinn went up to talk to Mr. Schu. They talked for a moment, and then Mr. Schu addressed the club.

"Quinn's pulling out of her duet with Sam. That means we can take it to a vote. Write your choice on a piece of paper and I'll collect them."

I ripped a piece of paper out of my notebook and wrote Mike and Tina on it. I knew we did a great job, but it seemed tacky to vote for yourself. Mr. Schu came around and gathered the slips of paper up and began tallying them.

"Drumroll please." The drummer obliged.

"By a tally of 5 to 4, the winner of the duets competition is Sam and Kurt!" We went down to collect the gift certificate, and then took a bow. The bell rang, signaling the end of the period.

Kurt walked up to me. "So when do you want to use this?"

"How about Friday? Can you pick me up around 7?"

"Don't have a car?"

"I turn 16 in December, so I only have a permit."

"Well my dad owns a garage, so he usually knows where to find a good used car if you're in need."

"My dad and I will have to take him up on that. See you Friday?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." I briefly hugged him, and he went out to class.

As I was walking out the door, Quinn approached me.

"Sam, that was great. Um. . . I didn't know you were" her voice dropped into a whisper "gay, and I don't want to complicate things, so I thought it's best that we not do the duet."

I understood where she was coming from, "I don't think that would have been a problem."

"Well, Sam, it might have been. Thanks for trying to help me though, I appreciate it." She walked away.

The rest of the week passed by on autopilot. Before I knew it, it was Friday evening, and I was opening the door.

"Kurt, would you come in for a minute?"

"Sure, Sam."

I walked with him into the living room, where my parents were settling in to watch Aladdin with Stevie and Stacy.

"Mom, Dad, this is Kurt. We're going out tonight."

My dad stood up and extended his hand. "Hi Kurt, I'm Ed Evans. Don't be out too late." he said, with a smile on his face.

My mom pulled him into a hug, which he reciprocated. "We've been looking forward to meeting you!"

So had I.

*At the beginning of the episode of Duets, they are in the choir room for a meeting and there's a clock on the wall who's time corresponds to about 10:20. Hence, Glee as a daytime class meeting:

A/N: The song they performed is Can't Take My Eyes off You by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. One more chapter and we're done. Feel free to read and review.