That Smile

Sam slouched over sloppily placing his foot into the splashing water on each step leading up to Blaine’s home. Gosh, Kurt must be so confused, he thought. Sam didn’t know if he could possibly tell Kurt about the strange feelings that were bubbling up; there were so many reasons why he shouldn’t tell him. He has a reputation, he doesn’t want to have a repeat of a year ago, and Kurt’s probably already falling for Blaine. Sam stood outside of Blaine’s door on the verge of tears again but tried to shake off the emotions. He raised his chest shaking his head and sighed.

Sam watched through the crack of the door as he opened it all the way. Blaine lay on the floor with earphones firmly tucked into his ears while he hugged tightly to what looked to be a designer jacket. He lifted the jacket to his nose and breathed into the fabric lightly. The boy sighed and pulled the jacket back to his chest as a smile crept onto his face. Sam cocked his head to the side and leaned against the doorframe. He hasn’t seen a smile like that on Blaine’s face for a really long time. He remembered the last time he smiled like that.

One year ago Sam sat on the couch with his guitar cradled into his arms while Blaine lay on the carpet of Sam’s room listening to the light playing of Sam’s fingertips gliding across the strings of his recently purchased guitar. Sam watched Blaine while humming softly; he really took advantage of Blaine’s blindness by always watching him. He loved the friendship they had, it was like no other. Blaine suddenly scrunched his face up, “Sam, that note was flat”.

Sam slapped his guitar and stopped playing making a noise of annoyance. “Why do you always do that?”

Blaine made a cocky smile and shook his head talking sarcastically, “Whatever to you mean?”

Sam chucked lightly, “Shut up,” he reached over and playfully punched him in the shoulder.

Blaine sobbed jokingly, “I’m hurt,” he grabbed his shoulder that Sam punched and pretended to wince at the ‘pain’. They burst into laughter tugging at their stomachs while kicking their legs.

“I missed this,” Blaine said through a couple of chuckles. Sam cleared his throat and smiled slightly setting his guitar on the ground and sat on the carpet next to Blaine.

“It’s only for a year,” Sam said with a sigh, he’s been saying this almost every time he met with Blaine on the weekends.

“But, it’s not fair, why so you have to be a year older than me?” Blaine grumbled turning his body to the side.

Sam shifted and frowned looking at the walls, “It’s just the way it goes”. After minute of silence, he smiled toothily, “But when you come to Carmel High with me, we’ll be together for three years straight, how does that sound?” Sam said happily nudging Blaine with his foot.

Blaine propped up on his elbow facing Sam’s voice, “What’s Carmel like?” Sam shuttered and sunk into the silence for a moment. His stomach cringed as he tried to sum up his opinion on the school nicely, horrible? Dangerous? Inhumane? Those words were the nicest way he could explain the school, but why scare off his only friend that will join him next year?

“It’s okay,” Sam muttered. Blaine frowned at the sound of his voice and sat up sliding a pile of comic books and a crumpled up bag of Cool Ranch Doritos aside with his hand searching the carpet until he set his hand on Sam’s knee.

“Sam,” Blaine faced his hand concerned and lifted his hand off Sam’s knee. Of course, Blaine could figure out if Sam was upset better than anyone he’d ever known, and he’s blind. “I know something’s bothering you. You’ve been…off lately. You- you try to act happy but I can sense your frowns and the sadness in your voice.” Blaine cleared his throat and shook his head, “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

“That’s because I’m the only friend you ever had” Sam forced a laugh trying to break away from the situation but quickly sighed with a quiet whimper feeling weak for breaking down so easily.

Blaine frowned biting his lip and dropped his head speaking soft and hurt, “Sam, I. . . I really care about you. I don’t want to lose you, so just tell me what’s going on.” Sam held his hands in his lap and looked at Blaine trembling as he tried to control himself. Sam’s vision blurred into tears as he thought of the nasty glares, painful words, and the daily shoves and punches he’d received after Jesse St. James happened. He covered his face with his hands and slumped over sobbing lightly. Blaine hesitantly reached for Sam’s back hoping to find it and patted Sam’s back gently. “It’s okay, just let it out,” he sniffled rubbing his eyes and sat up while Blaine took his hand off of his back.

“Please don’t think of me any different when I tell you,” Sam whispered looking hard at the floor in front of him.

“Never,” Blaine said almost instantly.

Sam smiled through his tears and cleared his throat pausing after each word he said, “After…a month of going to the school, I-I kind of, uh, fell… in love with… this,” he sighed and looked at Blaine for comfort. Blaine grew into the silence and nodded for reassurance, “guy,” Sam said quietly. Blaine raised his eyebrows in shock then calmly smiled.

That was it. That smile. That smile of acceptance. That smile of trust. That smile of love and friendship. That contagious bright smile that Blaine only wore when he was really and truly happy.

Sam bit his lip and wiped his tear streaked cheeks leaning his head onto the doorframe watching Blaine humming softly to a love song and stopping every once in a while to lift the jacket to his nose to breathe the fumes in and smile again. Sam chuckled lightly. He couldn’t get mad at Blaine for falling in love. Girl or guy, love is love. Sam walked over and scooped his supplies into his backpack and slung one of the straps onto his shoulder and looked back at Blaine before leaving him in a dreamy haze filled with the thoughts of the one and only Kurt Hummel.

“Kurt?” someone knocked at the door.

Kurt turned in his bed cracking his eyes open mumbling, “What?” Finn opened the door and walked in carefully, he was always nervous to step into Kurt’s room, though he was his older step-brother, Kurt always knew just the right words to say to scare him off. The other boy sighed and rolled on his back staring at the ceiling while Finn sat at the edge of the bed.

“I heard you guys singing in Glee Club today,” he smiled, “it sounded really good.”

Kurt blinked and slowly sat up still tangled in his blankets and furrowed his eyebrows glaring at Finn. “What do you want?” he said with a cracked voice.

Finn blushed faintly on the tops of his cheeks before responding, “I just wanted to talk to you.” Finn tried to look Kurt but his eyes seemed to wander off in another direction. Kurt tilted his head not breaking from the stern look he held at Finn waiting for him to spill. After a few moments, Finn’s eyes widened as he shrugged his shoulders, “I actually kind of like singing.” The room was quiet except for the sound of rain lightly hitting the ground outside. Kurt pulled into a bright smile and soon his laughter echoed against the walls of the spacious bedroom. He started gasping for air through happy tears and chuckles.

“Are you serious?” Kurt spat out giggling, “How could you be able to sing, let alone, dance? Trust me, if you think dance in Glee Clubs is all a jerky rendition of the ‘Robot’, then you will be sadly mistaken!” Kurt laughed again but quieted once he noticed Finn wasn’t laughing too. Kurt wiped his eyes and smiled awkwardly as Finn looked at the beads of rain rolling down the glossy window and collecting at the bottom. “Finn,” Kurt sighed, “you don’t have to ask for my permission to join Glee Club.” Kurt shifted more into the blankets feeling the rough clothes that he wore before his nap. He was too exhausted to change into pajamas after he sunk into the mattress thinking of how much drama he had earlier that afternoon.

“I know,” Finn mumbled towards the window and looked back at Kurt, “I just thought you’d be more supportive, dude, not cool.”

Kurt slid the blankets off of him, tried to fix his rumbled hair, and then dropped his hands into his lap sighing. “I’m sorry, Finn… I’m just surprised, is all,” Kurt looked at Finn still in disbelief that the quarterback of the football team wanted to be in Glee Club. “Can you show me?” Kurt said in a small voice.

Finn lifted his head slightly, “Show you what?”

Kurt stood from the bed and walked a few steps before looking back at Finn smiling, “Sing to me”. Finn looked at the other boy in confusion and looked at his hands in his lap.

“Sure, man,” Finn stood smiling slightly as he patted Kurt on the shoulder. He led Kurt to his room where he sat behind his drum set and eyed the piano across the room. Kurt followed Finn’s gaze at the piano and lifted his eyebrow at the other boy, then walked towards the instrument and sat on the piano bench flipping through the pages of sheet music.

He settled at a page and looked at Finn, “This one totally fits you”. Finn stretched his back looking over Kurt shoulder from the drum set straining his eyes to see the bold words printed on the sheet.

Finn smiled and gripped his drumsticks firmly, “I love Todd Rundgren”. He started the beat as Kurt pressed the keys with his fingertips.

“Hello, it's me
I've thought about us for a long, long time
Maybe I think too much but something's wrong
There's something here that doesn't last too long
Maybe I shouldn't think of you as mine”

Finn’s voice was raspy and a bit pitchy but it somehow seemed to work well with the song. Kurt began whistling as he tapped away at the keys.

“Seeing you
Or seeing anything as much as I do you
I take for granted that you're always there
I take for granted that you just don't care 
Sometimes I can't help seeing all the way through”

Kurt slammed his hands on keys of the piano while Finn crashed the symbols of his drum set with his drumsticks in unison preparing for the chorus. Finn hit the drums into short solo before he started singing again as Kurt joined in harmonizing with him.

“It's important to me
That you know you are free
'Cause I never want to make you change for me” 

Finn and Kurt’s body’s swayed with the beat grinning from ear to ear. Though Kurt preferred a good show stopping Broadway number, he had to admit, they sounded great together.

“Think of me
You know that I'd be with you if I could
I'll come around to see you once in a while
Or if I ever need a reason to smile
And spend the night if you think I should”

Finn smashed the symbols hard making the song take complete control over him while Kurt struggled a bit to keep up with Finn when he flipped a page of the sheet music and jammed his fingers into the piano keys returning to the chorus.

“It's important to me 
that you know you are free
'Cause I never want to make you change for me”

Finn and Kurt repeated the verse and chorus once more gradually getting louder before fading into silence. Kurt held his fingers on the last chord while Finn held onto his symbols still staring at the back of Kurt’s head waiting for a response. Kurt slowly lifted his hands from the keys and pushed the pages of sheet music into a neat pile and relaxed his shoulders. Finn let go of the symbols and held onto his drumsticks in his lap sitting up more straight.

Kurt shifted to the side lifting his feet onto the bench looking at Finn and broke into a smile, “You’re very talented”.

Finn loosened his grip of his drumsticks and grinned, “Really?”

Kurt chuckled and held his legs in his arms, “Yeah, I would know, I’m very talented too”.

Finn dropped his head and laughed. “I guess we are; Grilled Cheesus can’t even compare to how we sounded”. Kurt stared at Finn with confusion but just shook it off and rested his head onto his knees that he cradled close to his chest.

Finn struggled to think of something to talk about with Kurt. His step-brother wasn’t like his football friends who talked about comic books, zombies, and sports. Kurt liked to talk about fashion, Broadway, and… feelings. Finn definitely didn’t want to talk about either of those.

“Boys! Pizza’s here!” Carol shouted from downstairs.

Finn sighed in relief, “Oh, thank God,” he mumbled standing from his stool while Kurt unfolded his arms and let his legs dangle as he lazily forced himself into a standing position. Finn stepped outside of the doorframe waiting for Kurt to catch up so they could talk a bit on their way to the kitchen.

“Do you wanna watch ‘Spiderman’?” Finn asked as he plopped onto the couch next to Kurt in front of the TV, resting a plate of far too many pieces of pizza on the arm of the worn in couch where they spent most of their afternoons watching football games with Burt.

Kurt carefully took a bite of the greasy pizza muttering, “Sure,” between chews. Finn popped a piece of pepperoni into his mouth and grinned at Kurt who had a string of cheese hanging off of his lip as he smiled back at Finn. As Kurt had guessed it, Finn cleaned off his plate in the first 15 minutes of the movie and was running back to the kitchen for seconds. All of their pizza quickly disappeared while Finn started going off on his usual rant of how he should have been born a spider.

“I mean, come on, I could walk on walls and spray my webs right in your face!” Finn gasped and put on a serious face, “My venom could save us from the Zombie Apocalypse.”

Kurt choked on his water and looked at Finn, “Must you do this every time we watch a movie?”

“Yup.” Finn said instantly and stuck his tongue out at Kurt teasingly. Kurt stuck his tongue out at Finn briefly before turning his head back at the screen. The credits rolled down the screen while Finn and Kurt stretched and yawned drowsily. They both stood up weakly and dragged their feet on the ground towards the flights of stairs.

“I was thinking that maybe us, Sam, and his friend, uh, B-Br-Brad? …B-Ben? … Bria-”

“His name is Blaine,” Kurt said quietly.

Finn nodded, “Right, right, Blaine. Anyways, would you like to invite them to go bowling with us tomorrow?” Kurt bit his lip thinking that this was a great opportunity to get Blaine and Sam some more ‘guy time’ so Sam would stop being so upset with Kurt.

“Could I invite Mercades, Tina, and Rachel?”

“Yes,” Finn said too quickly and noticed that Kurt was staring up at him shocked, “Uhm, I mean… sure, if you want.” Finn scratched the back of his head looking away from Kurt.

He gave Finn a toothy grin, “You have a thing for Rachel don’t you? Is that why you want to join Glee Club?”

Finn dropped his head shifted his feet and sighed looking at Kurt, “Don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Kurt chuckled and nodded, “Wait, what about Quinn?”

Finn took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. “She only dated me to win Prom next year, she swears that we’re the school’s ‘it’ couple.”

Kurt tried to keep a straight face but started chuckling and clasping his hands together. “Rachel will be so happy; she’s had a crush on you since forever!”

Finn looked at him wide-eyed, “Really?”

Kurt bit back his grin and nodded, “Well, uh… I need to get up early tomorrow; I’m 30 minutes behind on my moisturizing routine… Good Night, Finn.”

“Good Night, Kurt,” Finn made a sleepy smile before heading up the stairs as Kurt turned towards the basement and headed down the stairs. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone quickly texting.

Maybe you do have a chance with your man, Rach, you’re welcome. - Kurtsie