Sam held his hand up above his eyes to scan the parking lot, "I don't see them…" He and Mercedes were wandering toward the entrance of an itinerant carnival. They were supposed to be meeting their friends for a day of cheap thrill rides and shameless binging on junk food.
"Oh! Sam, c'mon, there they are!" Sam squinted at the row of ticket stiles Mercedes was waving at and saw Kurt jumping up and down waving back at her. Blaine and Rachel were with him. Sam felt a pang of jealousy seeing Blaine standing by Kurt, but pushed the feeling away.
"Good, I was worried Blaine might have trouble finding this place," Sam knew Blaine had driven Kurt and Rachel. He waved back at Kurt, Rachel, and Blaine, and then hurried over to them with Mercedes. The traveling carnival was having a special deal for the week of July 4th, and that was the only way Sam could justify spending the money. This was the most exciting thing he had done since the summer started, and he did not deny to himself that he would relish spending the day with Kurt. The past several weeks had been productive for Sam. After spending the afternoon with Mercedes and Kurt at the beginning of the summer and expressing his appreciation to Kurt, the two boys had found more and more excuses to hang out. Sam felt comfortable calling them good friends now. They certainly had a more natural, relaxed relationship than they had had before.
"Hey, guys!" Rachel beamed at Sam and Mercedes and came in for a hug from both of them. Kurt and Mercedes hugged too, but Kurt just smiled and waved at Sam without coming in for a hug.
After paying admission, the five got down to business doing everything the carnival had to offer. They played games, rode the sometimes laughably crappy "thrill" rides, and made sure to experience the obligatory carnival funnel cakes and cotton candy. The girls made Sam win them giant stuffed animals from a particularly flashy game involving well-worn plastic balls and haphazardly stacked bottles.
"Sam, thanks so much! I've always wanted a boy to win me a disturbingly enormous prize from one of these games!" Rachel flashed him her characteristically overenthusiastic smile while Mercedes rolled her eyes from behind her own giant purple bunny.
"Um, no need to thank me. You sorta forced me to anyway," Sam replied with an awkward laugh and knowing eye contact with Mercedes and Kurt.
Kurt turned to Blaine with an excited look and grabbed his hand, "I kinda want one too! I don't wanna be left out."
Blaine pulled his hand away and tried to brush off Kurt's suggestion "I don't know, Kurt…"
"Blaine, please!" Kurt was play-begging, but Blaine would not give in.
"No, Kurt, really, I don't really think that's a great idea," Blaine glanced off to the side where they could see a group of six or seven rowdy teenage boys hanging around and clearly looking for trouble. Kurt looked at them too.
"…Are you serious? Because of them?" Kurt huffed and turned away. Sam saw Kurt's irked expression.
"Hey, Kurt, if you want one, I'll get you one too," Sam offered.
"What? No, Sam, you don't—," Kurt started to protest, but Sam was already handing over his own money to the attendant to have another go at the game.
Five minutes later the five of them were walking away, Kurt weighed down by his new oversized stuffed animal. He and Blaine were a couple steps behind Sam and the girls, bickering in whispered tones.
Sam leaned in slightly to the girls as they walked and half-whispered, "Was that bad of me?"
Mercedes gave Rachel a surreptitious glance before answering, "Well, I understand why you did. But my guess is Blaine isn't your biggest fan right now."
"I think he's being silly. It's not like he has any reason to feel threatened by Sam," Rachel chimed in, but Sam and Mercedes just exchanged fleeting eye contact.
The group stopped for a few minutes later to sit and eat. The atmosphere was still a little tense, but Kurt and Blaine had quit bickering. Kurt was conversing happily with Sam and the girls, but he was clearly pointedly leaving Blaine out of the conversation, so it was not long before Mercedes and Rachel took it upon themselves to usher everyone off to go ride the only ride they had yet to go on.
There was not much of a line, but the five of them still had to wait a little before being able to get on what seemed to be a generic rip-off of every Disney ride that took you through different scenes, like Pirates of the Caribbean. Sam, Mercedes, and Rachel just leaned against the railing trying to avoid eye contact and giving each other awkward looks as Kurt and Blaine started to talk about their earlier argument again. They were whispering but were so close to Sam and the girls that they were still too audible.
"—Blaine, no, I'm still upset. But I'm glad you hear what I'm saying."
"Kurt, I'm sorry. Can we just move on?"
Kurt just sighed and nodded. The two hugged and Kurt settled himself back against the railing looking mollified. A set of empty cars pulled up, and Sam heard Mercedes sigh in relief at the prospect of getting away from the couple making the afternoon awkward for everyone. Just as the gates popped open to admit them, though, they all heard Kurt raising his voice at Blaine again.
"So now you won't even hold my hand here? Jesus, Blaine, I don't understand you! You say all this 'courage' crap, but when faced with the real world, you'd rather hide than be courageous!" People were staring, and Sam just slid into an empty car, wishing Kurt and Blaine could fight in private. Mercedes and Rachel were already sitting together in a car, and Mercedes leaned out to try and get Kurt's attention.
"No, Mercedes, I can handle myself. I think Blaine could benefit from having to deal with a scene he doesn't star in," Kurt said venomously before addressing Blaine again, "Oh, and I guess I shouldn't embarrass you or draw any unwanted attention to our relationship, so I'll give you your space and let you sit alone."
Kurt turned and walked over to occupy the empty seat next to Sam, leaving Blaine looking shocked and angry. The ride operator cleared his throat uncomfortably and said to get a move on, and Blaine sat down alone in front of Mercedes and Rachel.
As the ride shuddered forward and they started to slide past cheesy and boring scenes of pirates set to blaring sounds and grating music, Sam turned to look at Kurt next to him. He was not crying, but his eyes were red and watery. Sam extricated an arm from under the lap bar and placed it around Kurt, who closed his eyes and clenched his jaw at his touch in what Sam interpreted as an attempt not to cry.
Kurt stayed silent for a few seconds more. "Sorry."
Sam blinked stupidly. "For what?"
Kurt turned toward him and wiped his eyes. "For making a scene? I probably embarrassed you guys."
Sam pulled Kurt over into a side hug before answering, "Well, yeah, I won't deny that, but you were upset. Everybody gets to have a diva moment." Kurt sniffled and rolled his eyes with a laugh. "Besides, we're alone in a dark tunnel. It'd be hard to be embarrassed in here."
"I guess." Kurt smiled and turned away again. Sam sat surveying him for a few seconds before removing his arm. Kurt suddenly spoke again as Sam was settling back into thought, though. "He just frustrates me so much sometimes! Everything takes place in Blaine world for him. He acts like a superstar around his followers, but then when he's in the real world—like here, or at the store, or any place not filled with people who idolize him, basically—he acts like we can't be who we are. I'm not trying to grind up on him and be indecent or anything. I just don't know if I can handle his crap about not even being able to act like we're a couple whenever we're in front of people that he thinks look scary or something, as if he's not out."
"I…well, I'm sorry, Kurt," Sam said a little breathlessly while awkwardly trying to free his arm again to comfort Kurt. He saw a shadow of a grin at the corner of Kurt's mouth when he finally got his arm around the boy again. "Sorry."
Kurt leaned into his touch this time and rested his head on Sam's arm. "I hope this isn't weird." Sam gave him a questioning look. "I just mean, this. You're so…nice. I appreciate it, of course. You're quite the gentleman, Sam Evans. But if you haven't noticed, I don't exactly have a lot of male friends who would talk to me on this level."
"Well I don't feel weird about it. We're friends, aren't we? Anyway Kurt, everything will turn out okay. I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but if you don't feel like being with him is good, then why continue to be with him? I don't know." Kurt snuck a glance at Sam's face and got a shrewd expression, but Sam was looking down and did not see.
Kurt was still resting on Sam's arm when the ride pulled back into the loading platform. As they all got off, Blaine saw Kurt and scowled. Sam felt a little guilty and hurried to get Kurt up and off the ride. As they walked off and gathered together away from the lines, Kurt spoke up.
"This has been so fun, but I think we've exhausted all the fun from this place."
"Yeah, are you guys ready to go then?" asked Rachel. Everybody looked around at each other and nodded.
"Yeah, I guess so. It's been a long day," Mercedes answered. "Should we head back to the parking lot?"
They all started off in the direction of their cars. Kurt turned to Sam and asked, "Sam, can I ride with you? I think it's a shorter trip if you take me."
Sam saw Blaine set his jaw but otherwise he showed no reaction. "Um, yeah, of course, Kurt." He smiled at Kurt, but Kurt was watching Blaine, so he did not see.
When they got to the parking lot, Blaine pulled Kurt aside. Sam, Mercedes, and Rachel waited for them before heading for the cars. "Kurt's really upset, isn't he?" Rachel asked tentatively.
"Yeah…he vented a little to me when we were on that last ride," Sam admitted.
"I thought something like that might have happened," Mercedes said with a nod. "I don't blame Blaine for being pissed, though."
"I guess," replied Rachel, "but really it's Kurt whose feelings got hurt here, right? All Blaine has to be angry about—as far as I can tell—is that Kurt wants space right now."
"Yeah, that's true too. You guys, couples are annoying." Mercedes shook her head and gave an exaggerated, annoyed sigh. Sam just looked down at his feet with his hands in his pockets.
They saw Kurt and Blaine finish their private conversation that had included lots of irate gesticulations and frustrated body language, and Blaine walked off toward his car. Kurt came back over to them.
"So…" Mercedes prompted.
"It's fine. He's mad at me. Which is ridiculous. But I told him I just need to have my own time right now and I'll text him tomorrow or something."
"Is he still giving me a ride…?" Rachel asked hesitatingly. She and Kurt had both ridden with Blaine.
"Yeah, I think so. If I know him, he'll enjoy the company, too."
"Oh, good! Okay, well, I should hurry over before he drives off! I had fun, you guys! Bye!" Rachel started toward Blaine's car, but Mercedes stopped her.
"Hey, Rachel, wait up!" Mercedes turned to the two boys. "Sam, I think I'm gonna ride with Rachel. I haven't spent much time with her lately, and I kinda wanna catch up on some diva talk one-on-one."
"Oh. Yeah, go for it." Sam was pretty sure he knew what she was doing, and he was totally okay with it. Mercedes and Rachel ran off toward Blaine's parked car.
"…Sam. Where's your car?"
"What? Oh yeah. Sorry, I spaced out for a sec'." Sam smirked at Kurt and headed for his car at the other end of the parking lot with the other boy in tow. When they got in, Kurt groaned.
"It's boiling in here!"
"I know! I'll turn on the A/C, but it's too hot. You should probably just get used to being sticky."
"I guess I did this to myself."
"Hey, if you wanna go ride with Blaine Warbler, be my guest, Porcelain."
Kurt gave Sam an overacted look of mock offense. "Excuse me? Let's not start calling names, Trouty Mouth!" Sam returned a teasing offended expression. "Now get a move on, it won't get any cooler in here with the car idling." Sam laughed at their shared playfulness. He was relieved Kurt seemed to be getting into a better mood.
"So what's the best way to your place? The highway, you think?"
Kurt let out an enormous sigh. "Yes, I suppose so. I think Finn will have Puck over. I don't even want to go home, especially after all the fun we had today."
Sam stole a sidelong glance at Kurt. He cleared his throat and said hesitantly, "Well…there's no reason you have to go home, I guess. We can still hang out."
Kurt brightened at this suggestion. "You want to?"
"Yeah, of course, it's not like I have much to look forward to going back home alone. We can go to my place if you don't wanna be at yours, but it's kinda small…"
"Oh, whatever Sam, you know I don't care about that. Okay, the Evans manor it is, then!"
Sam could not help smiling ear to ear when he heard Kurt's excitement, and turned to drive the route that would take them to his family's apartment. Kurt called his dad to tell him where he was headed and had no trouble getting it okayed since Burt had been familiar with Sam for months through Finn. By the time he got off the phone, they were pulling up to Sam's place.
"Mom!" Sam yelled as he unlocked the door and walked in. There was no answer. "I guess we're alone…Mom and Dad must be out," he said to Kurt.
"Where are Stevie and Stacy?"
"They're spending the week at my grandparents' place. We've been letting them stay there a lot this summer 'cause they don't really like it here at the apartment. I'd go with them, but I gotta stay for work. Anyway, lemme text my mom to let her know I got somebody over…they have to work late sometimes. Sorry, I didn't think it'd be so lifeless here."
"Well I wasn't expecting to hang out with your parents anyway. Although I wouldn't have minded seeing Stevie and Stacy." Sam started texting his mom and was not paying too much attention. "Where's your bathroom?"
Sam looked up. "Hmm? Oh, right around the corner there, on the left," he answered before returning to his phone. Kurt thought he would take the opportunity to snoop because he just could not help himself while Sam was preoccupied with texting his parents. He followed Sam's directions and saw the bathroom wedged into a tiny hallway off the living room and kitchen surrounded by three tiny bedrooms. He knew Sam probably felt embarrassed having someone over here, so he was determined not to say anything about Sam's family's recent problems. Seeing Sam's backpack just inside one of the doorways, Kurt figured it was Sam's room and peered inside. He did not turn on the light, but he could see the room was a little messy with some clothes and books on the floor. There was a bed pressed up in the corner with a desk by it that looked like its main use was to carry a small TV and a large stack of DVDs. Several posters were on the walls, but several were rolled up and propped against one edge of the desk. Apparently there wasn't enough wall space in this room for the posters of all the nerdy things Sam was obsessed with.
"Hey." Sam had come up an inch behind Kurt, and the unaware boy jumped and swore.
"Jesus, you scared me!"
"Sorry, I couldn't help it." Sam laughed. "So you like my room?" Sam reached around Kurt and flipped on the lights, then brushed past Kurt into his room and flopped back onto his bed with his hands behind his head. Kurt was uncomfortably aware of how much their bodies made contact as Sam squeezed through the doorway. "It's not much, but this is my lair."
"I didn't mean to pry you know, I was just looking," Kurt said, not a little defiantly.
Sam just laughed at him. "Yeah, I know. It's just my room. It's not like you were rifling through my underwear drawer. But there it is next time I leave you unattended." Sam pointed at his dresser across the room from him with a teasing grin, and Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Oh, har har."
"So anyway, what do you wanna do?" Sam asked from where he was on his bed. "I guess there's not much to do now that I think about it. We could watch a movie?"
"That sounds okay to me. Do you have anything I would even remotely stand to watch?"
"Hey! Don't knock my stuff till you get a taste of it!" Sam gave Kurt a playfully stern look then motioned to the DVDs on the desk by the bed. "There's what I got. If you refuse to watch all of them, then I guess we're screwed."
Kurt knew Sam was a good sport, but he also knew Sam would be genuinely disappointed if Kurt deemed all of his favorite movies unworthy of viewing. He finally moved out of the doorway and went over to the stack of movies. They were all science fiction.
"Oh, and this is the only TV with a DVD player because it's built in. The one in the living room just gets basic, and we haven't been willing to spend the money on a separate player yet…so if you do find it in your patience to sit through a movie, we'll be stuck right here." Sam patted the bed next to him as Kurt looked over. "So I hope you don't mind sharing a bed with me."
Kurt could tell Sam was just joking around so much to compensate for the embarrassment he always felt when he thought people were aware of his family's money problems. He gave Sam an understanding smile. "Why, of course I don't mind sharing Sam Evans' bed." He laughed and then sat down on the edge of the bed next to Sam. "I don't know what to watch out of these choices, Sam. You pick. What does your little nerd heart want me to experience?"
"Um…oh God, I don't know." Sam bit his lip in concentration, and Kurt had to hold back a laugh at his absolutely serious face. "Wait, have you seen Avatar?"
"No. That's like your favorite movie, right? I thought you'd say that." Kurt looked around. There was definitely an Avatar poster or two hanging on the walls. Sam saw him looking.
"Yep. It's kinda obvious, right? I can't believe you haven't seen it, though. I've seen it like 15 or 20 times, at least. We have to watch it! I have to introduce you!"
"Okay, okay. Make sure I enjoy myself, though. I don't wanna miss sitting alone in my room listening to Finn and Puck yell and play video games all night."
"No, no, you'll love it! You have to! And I've seen it so much you can talk through it and I won't bite your head off or anything. Okay?"
"Yeah, okay, I said I was fine with it!" Kurt was amused to see how excited Sam got when he realized he was going to get to watch his favorite movie again. Sam jumped up and slid the movie in excitedly then lay back down on his bed.
"You're gonna love it!"
"Right. Okay, let's just watch it now, Sam." Kurt settled back onto his elbows. He suddenly became uncomfortably aware of the fact that he was sitting on Sam Evans' bed, practically leaning back onto him, alone. "Um, did you get a hold of your mom?"
"What?" Sam tore his eyes away from the TV to look at Kurt next to him. "Oh, yeah. She and my dad get off work at 12:30. I told 'em you were over. I said I didn't know how long you were gonna stay. I hope that's okay?"
"Hmm…well, yeah, that's okay, of course. What time is it, though? It has to be like 9 or 10 by now."
"Yeah, something like that. This movie's like three hours long, by the way." Sam eyed Kurt warily.
"What?" Kurt sighed. "Well…are you going to drive me back at 1 in the morning?"
"I could. You could just stay here, though."
"That sounds so much easier, but I don't know."
"Well it's three hours away. You have a lot of time to decide. I'm cool either way."
"Okay. I'll think about it." Kurt turned back to the movie. "So what's going on? Sorry for talking."
As Sam started to explain the back-story and the first five or ten minutes of the movie that Kurt had missed, Kurt repositioned himself because he was starting to ache leaning back on his elbows, and he ended up lying down on the bed to watch the movie just like Sam.
The movie wore on, and Kurt found his attention oddly captured by it. He had not thought he would enjoy the movie. It was no Evita, but Kurt could see how Sam appreciated it so much. In fact, Kurt thought it was charming Sam had things like this that he cared about so much. He found himself thinking of Blaine, their earlier fight, and all the little annoyances with Blaine that built up over time. Kurt could not help thinking resentfully that the only thing Blaine seemed to have that he cared a lot about in his life was himself. Eventually, Kurt noticed Sam had stopped making occasional comments and his breath had gone slow and rhythmic. He must have fallen asleep. Kurt was just thinking how strange it was that Sam Evans was sleeping peacefully next to him when he stopped watching the movie without his realizing it. His eyes closed, his thoughts drifted, and soon Kurt Hummel was asleep as well.