A/N: Since a few of the New Directions boys were single during the summer, and might have wanted some Samcedes time, too…I decided to have them invite the couple over for a Halo-athon. Don't be expecting any heart-to-hearts, but one ND boy has something to get off his chest…
Disclaimer: I do not now, nor will I ever claim ownership of Glee, its characters, or the manner in which those characters are mistreated on television. I would never admit to being responsible for the hot mess my favorite show has become.
Chapter 4
Some Man-Only (Plus Mercy) Time
Mercedes POV:
The next and final stop on the Samcedes tour of Lima was a day in the Hudmel Home with the Glee boys. It seemed kind of unfair to only go hang out with the couples, and I really prefer the company of the guys sometimes anyway. We came over to play a marathon game of Halo with Artie, Finn, and Mike after lunch the Saturday before Sam and I went to Yosemite with the Evanses. After dropping off our snack offerings, I stayed in the kitchen to help organize and Sam went in to get the "good controller." While I was stacking napkins on the tray, Finn walked in…obviously wanting to talk to me.
It was pretty clear to me that Finn wanted to speak about the problems I'd been having with Kurt and Rachel. I wasn't at all sure I wanted to have this conversation, though. I could tell, from the few times we'd seen each other this summer, that he was conflicted about something big. Whatever it was probably had something to do with his breakup from Rachel, and the fact that he no longer used most of his energy on their relationship. My guess was that Finn had taken a step back from the way he'd been living and realized that he'd been devoting a lot of time to being Rachel's cheerleader. Now that the job had gone to Kurt, Finn was probably flailing-and mad about it. Whether he was mad at her or everybody in general remained to be seen…
"Hey Mercedes?"
"Yeah, Finn?"
"I'm really sorry about your fight with Kurt, and all the stuff Rachel's been saying about you."
"Oh, yeah?"
I know I probably looked skeptical, but can you blame me? Given the way Finn's always gone against me when I got into it with Rachel, I honestly didn't believe him.
"Yeah, I tried to get him to stick around today and make up with you, but he and Rachel are going to hang out with Sugar and Rory."
"I don't get it Finn…why are you apologizing? You didn't make them come at me…you're not responsible."
I have to be fair about it.
"I know, but I was one of the main ones on your case when you left New Directions. I know it's no excuse, but I always let Rachel convince me you were so jealous of her…It's really sucky now to find out she's been the jealous one all along."
Man's got a point.
"Even now, she and Kurt have been doing the whole "visiting Glee couples" thing like you and Sam; wanting to compete about that, too. It's kind of sick."
"It's okay Finn, I forgive you."
I gave him a hug, and he helped me carry the food into the den.
"I'm not even gonna give you any shit about how much Rachel wants things and how she sometimes forgets her friends in her quest for stardom."
The others looked up and paused the game to listen after we set down the tray and found places to sit.
"Aren't you still in love with Rachel? You're not gonna try to justify her actions?" I asked as I sat on the sofa behind Sam, who was on the floor.
"Nah; I mean, yeah, I still really do love Rachel. But I gave you that same speech at Booty Camp, then I had to eat my words when Mr. Shue and I spied on your "Candy-Man" performance with the Trouble Tones."
"So you finally admit I have as much motivation as Berry, that I practice just as hard as she does?" I wondered as Sam turned and dropped a kiss on my knee.
"That was the first time I had to admit that Rachel wasn't the only New Directions member with real star power," Finn replied, with this sort of dreamy look on his face.
"We were pretty fly…" I laughed.
"You were right; you'd outgrown us and needed room to soar."
"Plus, Shuester yelling at you like that and calling you lazy?" Mike interrupted. "That was seriously fucked up!"
"I was wrong for saying that, for implying New Directions wasn't enough for me." I broke in.
"No, you were completely right…the way New Directions was being run back then? You had outgrown it; counting on you to blast the glory notes wasn't using your talent wisely." Finn admitted.
"It's probably why we kept losing those first two years." Puck broke in.
"Right?" Artie said, waving his praise hand.
"You beat my group, though…even without Rachel."
"Hey, we had to use what we had…Blaine can really kill it on songs originally done by female artists, So we knew Control was gonna be the shit." Artie explained. "Who doesn't like Ms. Jackson-If-You're-Nasty?
"And if we wanted to beat an all girl choir, we had to play up the male voices by featuring them all," Finn added.
"Shit, even Chang got a solo…that ought-ta tell you how desperate we were," Puck laughed, while dodging a cheese curl Mike threw at him.
"Lets not forget White Chocolate and his epic dance moves" Sam bragged, showing off his ab muscles.
"I judge you, so harshly, for that name baby," I added, leaning over to pull his shirt down for him.
"Had to let 'em know who my inspiration was, darlin" Sam answered while using my forward momentum to bring me down to his lap.
"Plus, we did our research…two of the judges were female, and a little eye candy never hurt" Finn interrupted, before we could get all couple-y.
"Speaking of which, Evans…how in the hell did you manage to grow so much between August and December?" Mike wanted to know.
"Yeah, what the fuck were they feeding you in Kentucky?" Puck asked. "Fertilizer? Steroids?"
Everybody laughed while Sam flexed his muscles and made Superman poses.
"I had to work out to stay in shape for the job, which increased my appetite. Plus, I was praying my ass off…" Sam joked. "…I knew I was gonna have to come back to Lima and get my woman back from the Bulldozer; I needed every pound God could send me!"
"Cedes, I didn't wanna ask you this in front of Tina, given how fascinated she is with the skills of 'Cocoa Butter' over there…" Mike started, gesturing with his head toward Sam. "…but didn't it ever bother you to think of him getting paid to shake his groove thing?"
"Oh, hell no…" I immediately answered, stroking his chest over the shirt he wore. "It's actually really hot to think about all those cougars and gay men fan-girling over my man!"
"According to Mercy, I needed the confidence boost anyway…" Sam chimed in. "Having people pay me to dance and take my clothes off did a lot for my self esteem. Sophomore year sucked balls."
"I always knew Sam would do anything for his family, this just proved it!" I finished.
Artie asked, "Weren't you the same boy who was scared to show 'nuttage' during Rocky Horror?"
Mike lauged his ass off and threw a Little Debbie in it's wrapper at Sam, which was retrieved by Finn.
"Yeah, you got all snippy about the gold booty shorts last year, but then we found you dancing in a pair of red ones in December…" Finn pondered around his mouthful of snack cake. "What the hell was the difference?"
"Last year I gave a damn about looking lame at school, this year I didn't," Sam told him.
"Well, from one dude who quit giving a fuck about his reputation to another, I gotta say…" Puck put in his two cents. "…I'm a lot happier just doing me. Fuck the haters; if they aren't taking care of you and yours they can suck it."
"Exactly," Sam agreed.
"Sam figured that out last summer; but what about you, Puck?" I asked, curiously. "Did dating Zizes convince you to quit the whole popularity kick?"
"Kind of. That's when I quit caring about making other motherfuckers happy, and just let everybody know I was proud of the girl I chose."
The he got this thoughtful look.
"But I realized too late that I was spending so much time defending her that I neglected to be somebody she'd wanna defend. I thought telling the haters to fuck off was enough to keep her into me."
"Hey, what the hell happened there, Puck…you never said." Finn asked.
"Yeah, we saw the two of you last July and figured ya'll were endgame. But you had broken up by the time school started." Sam agreed.
"Well, Zizes basically told me that she wasn't in love with my ass and didn't wanna waste her time anymore. See, she felt like even though I was the hottest guy she'd ever dated, that the hotness wasn't a big enough reason to keep seeing me. Zizes said she didn't have any more fun with me than she did when she went out with that short dude in AV club with the fucked up grill."
Damn, that Lauren is a smart bitch. Way too mature for her own good.
"Then she started hanging out with this bi-racial dude on the hockey team as friends…he made her happy, they worked out together and shit. Zizes stayed bringing his name up in conversation, but I didn't think anything about it. I didn't even notice it when she lost all that weight and got all giggly and girly. By the time I got suspicious that they were more than friends, it was too late. Plus, you know Zizes is a sucker for a dude who's race she can't tell for real."
I guess Sam wanted to diffuse the maudlin relationship talk because that's when he tried to be funny.
"Well, can you blame her? Bi-racial people do tend to be extremely attractive."
Oh, Lord…Now the Rainbow Coalition is gonna start some shit…
"That was racist as fuck, White Bread!" Mike yelled.
"And demeaning to my sistas and brothas like your beautiful girlfriend…" schooled Artie. "…who don't happen to fall under the category of 'exotic Black folk.' You know, some people actually do manage to be attractive without the prerequisite of having European features; meaning, hooking up with "Massa" ain't the only way to pretty up a gene pool!"
Damn, Artie just had to go there…
"Okay, first of all it was a joke. Why does everything with two have to be so serious?" Sam asked, looking frustrated and kind of amused. "Second, I'm pretty sure I get a free pass…Me and Mercy's children are gonna be mixed; so I think I'm allowed to make one comment on how beautiful they're gonna be."
"Man's got a point, you guys" Finn said.
I actually agree with Finn, Sam probably shouldn't have said it…but that shit was totally true.
"You ain't wrong…Even if Sexy Mama dumps his ass, I'm pretty sure Bieber-head got a lifetime of chasing sexual chocolate ahead of him." Puck's dumb ass joked, while Sam shot him a glare.
"Yeah, Barbie dolls got no chance with Evans after 'Cedes," Artie said. He held his hands up in a "don't shoot the messenger" position when Sam turned his glare on him. I guess Sam wasn't gonna put up with any joking about us breaking up.
"So you're not planning on hooking up with Britts, next year?" I joked. Hopefully me stroking the back of his neck would keep him from taking offense.
"Britts who?" was his reply, as he nuzzled into my hand.
"You're gonna look out for her though, right?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, she's gonna need a new best friend without Santana around…" Artie claimed. "But if I try to watch out for her, Tana will have my balls."
"If she seems to start flailing, I'm counting on you to help your fellow blonde," I told him. By this time Sam had started stroking my bare leg and I could tell he was getting ready to pucker up and demand a kiss, company be damned.
"I will, I will; now where's my sugar?" Sam agreed, right before going in for the smooch.
"Okay, Samantha…you can quit the mushy fuck-me shit…" Puck interrupted.
"Yeah, we ain't here for that fuckery!" Artie agreed.
"My girl wasn't invited for me to get all kissy-faced with, so calm the fuck down," Mike chimed in.
"And I'm single again, so you two are depressing the hell outta me," finished Finn.
So I climbed off of Sam's lap, reached for my controller, and commenced to kicking some Glee-boy ass.
A/N: I started to write a Samcedes/Flanamotta chapter, but I really feel like Rachel and Kurt would have concentrated a lot of effort into sucking up to Sugar and Rory. In my head, every time Sam and Cedes called up Sugar and Rory to invite them to hang…they already had plans with Kurt and Rachel. None of the other New Directions would have agreed to spend any time with those two until they apologized to Mercedes, and Gayberry probably figured the youngest Glee clubbers would be easy to cull from the herd. But don't worry though…Sam was Rory's Christmas sponsor/bro-ship mate, and Mercedes was Sugar's fellow TroubleTone/friendship facilitator. On the forced outings, Sugar probably spent the whole time throwing Rachel shade (Aspersers) and bragging about Mercedes. Rory had Samcedes singing "Summer Nights" as his ring-tone, which got on Rachel and Kurt's nerves big time-plus, he shot multiple texts off to Sam whenever Hummelberry bored him. Flanamotta ain't here for Gayberry…
I think this fic is pretty much finished, but I may add two more chapters. If the main story goes in the direction I think it is, then there may be a Rachel-Mercedes showdown afoot. If it doesn't fit in Spring and Summer Only, I'll add it here. Plus, nicekittn5 really makes me want to write a chapter where New Directions members run into Shane, and somebody (probably Tina or Santana) kicks him in the balls. That's just my crazy coming out though, it'll probably never materialize.
I have to say, this was the most fun thing I ever wrote. I really enjoyed all of the dialogue and it really helped me get over my writer's block in the main fic. Stay tuned there, exciting things are about to go down! As usual, thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows, they totally made my day!
Love You All!