Glee Fic: The Bruise of a Rough Start, Kurt/Blaine & Sam/Mercedes, R, Prologue
Title: The Bruise of a Rough Start
Artist: bluefire986
Author: hildigunnur
Rating (art/fic if different): G/R
Word Count: ~6000 (at the moment)
Warnings (if any): multiple mentions of past childhood sexual abuse, mentions of sex work (Sam's stripping)
Fic Summary: AU. Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones might have thought that senior year at McKinley would pretty much the same as the other three years. But when Sam Evans returns to McKinley with his new friend, the motorcycle-riding, seemingly free-spirited Blaine Anderson, things get turned around.
Link to Art: Here
Fic on AO3
Author's Notes: I'm so thrilled I got to work with the lovely bluefire986 who made the stunning banner for this fic and the lovely chapter headers and dividers. She has been very patient with me and my slow paced writing. At the moment, I'm only posting the prologue and the first two chapters of this fic. Completed it will be eight chapters plus the prologue and an epilogue.
My thanks to sarka for the beta. Remaining errors are all mine.
Title is from Adam Lambert's song - The Light.
Of course the group meeting had to be held in an almost windowless room in the basement of the community center. There was nothing about this that made Sam want to be there, except he had promised his parents and his social worker that he would attend.
Ten folding chairs or so stood in a circle in the middle of the floor. In the corner, not far off, a fan was whirring. It was early August and stuffy in the room. Sam eyed the chairs, not wanting to sit down when he was the first to arrive,so instead he stood awkwardly close to the empty table near the entrance. After he’d been there for a minute or so, another boy walked in, giving him a shy glance before walking to a chair to sit down. When another boy walked in and sat down as well, Sam wondered if he should follow suit, but then the counselor arrived with a stack of papers and a jug of water which he put down on the table.
“Hiya there, Sam, good to see you,” he said in a cheery voice, like they were going to be playing table-top games or something. Sam half-whispered a greeting.
“Take a seat with Jack and Carter there, we’ll begin shortly.”
Sam sat down on one of the folding chairs, a couple of seats away from one of the boys, and promptly started to stare down at his shoes, not wanting to look the other boys in the eyes. It was hard for him to imagine that they wanted to be there, any more than he did. If only he had a smart phone or something, but it wasn’t like he or his parents could afford one.
He finally looked up when someone dragged a chair to sit down. There was only one chair separating him and the newcomer, a boy around his age, dressed in a white t-shirt and distressed jeans that looked like wear and tear were the reason and not a designer’s whimsy. A tattoo of a bird adorned his upper right arm.
“Ah, you’re here, Blaine. I think we can start, we aren’t expecting more people today. I’m Henry,” the counselor spoke rapidly as he settled down on one of the chairs. “Like always, I want to remind you that this is a safe space and nothing that is said here is supposed to leave this room unless you want your story to be heard. So does anyone want to start? Jack, you didn’t say much the last time we met?”
Jack, who seemed to prefer being hidden away under his hoodie, despite the heat, murmured something that Sam could hardly decipher but Henry seemed to understand perfectly.
“Thank you for sharing, Jack. Sam, maybe you want to go now?”
Sam really didn’t want to say anything, but going to this support group had been very much encouraged by his social worker and he didn’t want to cause his parents any more stress by angering him.
“So, I’m Sam, and I’m here because I got into sex work, which apparently was a bad thing since I’m just sixteen and underage and stuff. And yeah, I was stripping, not selling myself, which doesn’t matter all that much, apparently. Uhmm, I don’t know what more I can say.” He peeked at the others, looking for judgment but no one was really looking at him, except of course Henry, and Blaine, who was cocking one eyebrow slightly.
“Thank you, Sam,” Henry said. “We don’t expect you to pour your heart out your first time here. Trust takes time to build, especially for people who have been in abusive situations. With time, you’ll learn that you are not alone, not alone in your experiences and not alone with the feelings you might be having.”
He kept going on a bit about trust and Sam started to tune him out. Stripping hadn’t been the smartest move, but his family had been desperate for money, he had seen the audition notice and taken a chance. No one had asked him about his age, all they had seen were his washboard abs. It had been cool for a few weeks; his mom thought he was working at the local Dairy Queen and he was bringing home cash so his siblings could eat something other than canned beans. Then his school mates had found out about his extracurricular activities and alerted the school and his parents and now he was in a whole lot of mess. His family had to go through this whole process with Child Protective Services and he’d had to go to counseling and group therapy, plus having to miss the last couple of months of last school year. He’d endured it all because there was no way he was allowing his family to be split up because he’d wanted to get easy money.
His thoughts were interrupted by chairs scraping against the linoleum again. Looking up, he saw the others getting up to leave.
“So, same time next week, boys,” Henry said cheerfully. “We’ll probably be talking about safe spaces and their importance, then.”
The other guys had disappeared and Henry was busying himself with stacking the chairs. Sam wasn’t in any hurry. He would have to walk back home, as his mother had dropped him off on her way to her new part-time cleaning job.
“Hey, Chippendale.”
Sam looked around as he stepped outside. Blaine, the guy in the torn jeans, was leaning against a parking sign pole. A black, medium-sized motorcycle was parked there.
“Me?” Sam pointed to himself.
“Yeah, you. Not every day one meets a hot stripper.”
Sam blinked.
“Uh…”
“You said you were a stripper?”
“Yeah… but… thanks?”
Was Blaine hitting on him? Not that he minded all that much.
“I mean, you’re hot, but I’m guessing you performed mostly for women, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, I guess I wouldn’t be so lucky that a hot guy like you would be stripping for a gay audience here in Lima. So, you still in school, or?”
Sam shrugged a little. He was currently in a bit of a neither-nor situation when it came to his education; though the plan was for him to go back to school in just few weeks time, to start the new school year.
“Yeah, I am. I’m behind though, ‘cause I missed a couple of months from school this spring.”
“Okay, and where do you go? North Lima? McKinley?” There was an almost boy-like curiosity in Blaine’s look.
“McKinley. Well, not since March but yeah, I’m going back when school starts.”
“Cool, I’m hopefully starting my senior year there.”
“Oh, you are transferring?”
“Yes and no, it’s a bit complicated.” Blaine didn’t offer any further explanation.
“Okay, cool. Yeah…” Sam looked at Blaine. He was pretty sure the guy was gay, judging from his questions. He wondered whether he should tell him about how it always seemed be for gays in McKinley, but even though Blaine wasn’t very tall, he looked like a guy who could handle himself.
“You need a ride somewhere?” Blaine gestured to the motorcycle.
“Yeah, I do, but I have never…”
“Oh, it’s easy. If you’re okay with holding onto me you should be okay. I even have a spare helmet.”
Blaine put on a leather jacket that was lying on the motorcycle, strapped on a helmet and handed one to Sam.
Riding on a motorcycle wasn’t as thrilling as Sam had imagined it to be after watching Easy Rider and Mad Max and playing that motorcycle Grand Theft Auto expansion, maybe because Blaine was just riding at legal speeds and not burning up fuel with some crazy driving.
As they stopped in front of Sam’s place, Blaine took off his helmet.
“I hope… well, if you’re not too freaked out by me yet, but you seem like a cool dude and all… I was wondering whether we could, like, play a videogame or something… after next week’s session maybe?”
Sam looked at Blaine. He didn’t know the guy at all, except he had been pretty cool about the stripper thing, he would be going to the same school as him and he was probably gay. It was always hard to start at a new school without knowing anyone there. Sam had been in his place a year ago. Having a friend would have been awesome.
“Sure, give me your number. You know, just in case.”
Chapter 1
Artist: bluefire986
Author: hildigunnur
Rating (art/fic if different): G/R
Word Count: ~6000 (at the moment)
Warnings (if any): multiple mentions of past childhood sexual abuse, mentions of sex work (Sam's stripping)
Fic Summary: AU. Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones might have thought that senior year at McKinley would pretty much the same as the other three years. But when Sam Evans returns to McKinley with his new friend, the motorcycle-riding, seemingly free-spirited Blaine Anderson, things get turned around.
Link to Art: Here
Fic on AO3
Author's Notes: I'm so thrilled I got to work with the lovely bluefire986 who made the stunning banner for this fic and the lovely chapter headers and dividers. She has been very patient with me and my slow paced writing. At the moment, I'm only posting the prologue and the first two chapters of this fic. Completed it will be eight chapters plus the prologue and an epilogue.
My thanks to sarka for the beta. Remaining errors are all mine.
Title is from Adam Lambert's song - The Light.
Of course the group meeting had to be held in an almost windowless room in the basement of the community center. There was nothing about this that made Sam want to be there, except he had promised his parents and his social worker that he would attend.
Ten folding chairs or so stood in a circle in the middle of the floor. In the corner, not far off, a fan was whirring. It was early August and stuffy in the room. Sam eyed the chairs, not wanting to sit down when he was the first to arrive,so instead he stood awkwardly close to the empty table near the entrance. After he’d been there for a minute or so, another boy walked in, giving him a shy glance before walking to a chair to sit down. When another boy walked in and sat down as well, Sam wondered if he should follow suit, but then the counselor arrived with a stack of papers and a jug of water which he put down on the table.
“Hiya there, Sam, good to see you,” he said in a cheery voice, like they were going to be playing table-top games or something. Sam half-whispered a greeting.
“Take a seat with Jack and Carter there, we’ll begin shortly.”
Sam sat down on one of the folding chairs, a couple of seats away from one of the boys, and promptly started to stare down at his shoes, not wanting to look the other boys in the eyes. It was hard for him to imagine that they wanted to be there, any more than he did. If only he had a smart phone or something, but it wasn’t like he or his parents could afford one.
He finally looked up when someone dragged a chair to sit down. There was only one chair separating him and the newcomer, a boy around his age, dressed in a white t-shirt and distressed jeans that looked like wear and tear were the reason and not a designer’s whimsy. A tattoo of a bird adorned his upper right arm.
“Ah, you’re here, Blaine. I think we can start, we aren’t expecting more people today. I’m Henry,” the counselor spoke rapidly as he settled down on one of the chairs. “Like always, I want to remind you that this is a safe space and nothing that is said here is supposed to leave this room unless you want your story to be heard. So does anyone want to start? Jack, you didn’t say much the last time we met?”
Jack, who seemed to prefer being hidden away under his hoodie, despite the heat, murmured something that Sam could hardly decipher but Henry seemed to understand perfectly.
“Thank you for sharing, Jack. Sam, maybe you want to go now?”
Sam really didn’t want to say anything, but going to this support group had been very much encouraged by his social worker and he didn’t want to cause his parents any more stress by angering him.
“So, I’m Sam, and I’m here because I got into sex work, which apparently was a bad thing since I’m just sixteen and underage and stuff. And yeah, I was stripping, not selling myself, which doesn’t matter all that much, apparently. Uhmm, I don’t know what more I can say.” He peeked at the others, looking for judgment but no one was really looking at him, except of course Henry, and Blaine, who was cocking one eyebrow slightly.
“Thank you, Sam,” Henry said. “We don’t expect you to pour your heart out your first time here. Trust takes time to build, especially for people who have been in abusive situations. With time, you’ll learn that you are not alone, not alone in your experiences and not alone with the feelings you might be having.”
He kept going on a bit about trust and Sam started to tune him out. Stripping hadn’t been the smartest move, but his family had been desperate for money, he had seen the audition notice and taken a chance. No one had asked him about his age, all they had seen were his washboard abs. It had been cool for a few weeks; his mom thought he was working at the local Dairy Queen and he was bringing home cash so his siblings could eat something other than canned beans. Then his school mates had found out about his extracurricular activities and alerted the school and his parents and now he was in a whole lot of mess. His family had to go through this whole process with Child Protective Services and he’d had to go to counseling and group therapy, plus having to miss the last couple of months of last school year. He’d endured it all because there was no way he was allowing his family to be split up because he’d wanted to get easy money.
His thoughts were interrupted by chairs scraping against the linoleum again. Looking up, he saw the others getting up to leave.
“So, same time next week, boys,” Henry said cheerfully. “We’ll probably be talking about safe spaces and their importance, then.”
The other guys had disappeared and Henry was busying himself with stacking the chairs. Sam wasn’t in any hurry. He would have to walk back home, as his mother had dropped him off on her way to her new part-time cleaning job.
“Hey, Chippendale.”
Sam looked around as he stepped outside. Blaine, the guy in the torn jeans, was leaning against a parking sign pole. A black, medium-sized motorcycle was parked there.
“Me?” Sam pointed to himself.
“Yeah, you. Not every day one meets a hot stripper.”
Sam blinked.
“Uh…”
“You said you were a stripper?”
“Yeah… but… thanks?”
Was Blaine hitting on him? Not that he minded all that much.
“I mean, you’re hot, but I’m guessing you performed mostly for women, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, I guess I wouldn’t be so lucky that a hot guy like you would be stripping for a gay audience here in Lima. So, you still in school, or?”
Sam shrugged a little. He was currently in a bit of a neither-nor situation when it came to his education; though the plan was for him to go back to school in just few weeks time, to start the new school year.
“Yeah, I am. I’m behind though, ‘cause I missed a couple of months from school this spring.”
“Okay, and where do you go? North Lima? McKinley?” There was an almost boy-like curiosity in Blaine’s look.
“McKinley. Well, not since March but yeah, I’m going back when school starts.”
“Cool, I’m hopefully starting my senior year there.”
“Oh, you are transferring?”
“Yes and no, it’s a bit complicated.” Blaine didn’t offer any further explanation.
“Okay, cool. Yeah…” Sam looked at Blaine. He was pretty sure the guy was gay, judging from his questions. He wondered whether he should tell him about how it always seemed be for gays in McKinley, but even though Blaine wasn’t very tall, he looked like a guy who could handle himself.
“You need a ride somewhere?” Blaine gestured to the motorcycle.
“Yeah, I do, but I have never…”
“Oh, it’s easy. If you’re okay with holding onto me you should be okay. I even have a spare helmet.”
Blaine put on a leather jacket that was lying on the motorcycle, strapped on a helmet and handed one to Sam.
Riding on a motorcycle wasn’t as thrilling as Sam had imagined it to be after watching Easy Rider and Mad Max and playing that motorcycle Grand Theft Auto expansion, maybe because Blaine was just riding at legal speeds and not burning up fuel with some crazy driving.
As they stopped in front of Sam’s place, Blaine took off his helmet.
“I hope… well, if you’re not too freaked out by me yet, but you seem like a cool dude and all… I was wondering whether we could, like, play a videogame or something… after next week’s session maybe?”
Sam looked at Blaine. He didn’t know the guy at all, except he had been pretty cool about the stripper thing, he would be going to the same school as him and he was probably gay. It was always hard to start at a new school without knowing anyone there. Sam had been in his place a year ago. Having a friend would have been awesome.
“Sure, give me your number. You know, just in case.”
Chapter 1