(no subject)
Title: Have It All
Rating: G
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Sam Evans/Mercedes Jones, (Finn Hudson/Rachel Berry, Kurt Hummel/Blaine Anderson, & Noah Puckerman mentioned)
Spoilers: Season 1 and 2 blanket
Word Count: ~1900
Disclaimer: None of it is mine :(
Author notes: First Glee fic I'm posting, aaaahhh. Thank you to mavilous for being a FABULOUS beta and for encouraging me to actually finish this when I kept wanting to throw in the towel ♥
Summary: In which Puck is helpful without knowing it and Mercedes tries to sort through her feelings. can you tell I hate/suck at writing summaries?
Mercedes smiled as she watched Sam navigate his way from the counter back to the table she’d nabbed. His brow was furrowed as he concentrated on not walking into anyone or tripping over a chair leg, and he flashed her a bright smile as he set her coffee down in front of her. "There you go."
“Thanks.” She popped the lid off, pursing her lips to lightly blow the steam away before lifting the cup and taking a careful sip. She remembered Kurt telling her one time that the first sip should be just-barely-a-taste, a temperature check more than anything. And Lord knew she’d suffered a burnt tongue enough times to take note of this. Satisfied that she wasn’t about to burn her taste buds off, she took a bigger mouthful and let out a contented sigh. When she looked up again, Sam was watching her with an amused grin, which only widened when she arched an eyebrow. “What?”
“Nothing.”
His expression said he was about to call her cute and she started to prepare her argument, but he proved her wrong and instead twisted the cap off his water bottle to take a drink.
“Nothing, right. You know your innocent act won’t work on me.” She shook her head fondly.
“Who said anything about an act? Oh, hey, I have something to show you!” He leant forward so he could pull something out of his back pocket, and Mercedes raised her eyebrows when he presented a slightly crumpled bill.
“What’s that?”
There was a slight pause, then Sam said in an amused tone, “It’s a $20 bill.”
“I can see that, smartass. I meant where did you get it?”
“I earned it! I was hanging out with Puck and he told me about this time him and Artie just started jamming in the quad at school and made like three hundred bucks or something. So we went to the mall with our guitars to try and make a bit of cash.”
“Huh. And someone gave you a twenty? They must have been feeling generous. I take it you didn’t do a rendition of ‘Friday’?”
Sam chuckled and shook his head. “No, uh...we actually only made $20 total in smaller bills and change. We weren’t there for long; a security guard came over and told us we weren’t allowed to play for money there. I convinced Puck to give me this in exchange for him keeping all the small stuff ‘cause I figured having a twenty was more impressive than dumping a handful of quarters in your lap.”
He had a point. Clutching a sweaty handful of coins never felt as satisfactory as holding a note, even if that note was only a single. “Wait, Puck let you keep it all? Why would he do that?”
“I tried to go halves, but he said he was gonna start up his pool cleaning business again anyway and so my need was greater than his.” Sam explained as he pulled his wallet out to tuck the money away. “I wasn’t gonna complain, ‘cause now I’ve got a bit of cash to take my girl out on a real date.”
For a moment, everything stopped. Mercedes blinked, waiting for the background noise to come back. It wasn’t the first time Sam had mentioned a ‘real date’, but until now he hadn’t had any spare money and although he was embarrassed, he was pretty open and apologetic about the fact. And honestly, Mercedes didn’t mind. She knew she probably should; she’d often spent quality time daydreaming about her perfect date, and Sam was her first real boyfriend. Lord knew Puck had never taken her anywhere nice, but that mess could hardly have been called a real relationship. If anyone was going to allow her her cliché of a candlelit dinner followed by a moonlit walk along a beach , it would be Sam Evans - ignoring, of course, the fact that the nearest beach was still a good few hours’ drive away and neither of them could afford that kind of trip right now. But that kind of thing was for dictionary definition relationships, the kind films and TV made desirable. It wasn’t what her and Sam had.
She wasn’t even sure if she should call it “dating”; dating implied the two of them going out somewhere, to a movie or out for a meal maybe. But so far, other than a few trips to the coffee shop just to get them out of the motel room or her own house, they hadn’t gone on anything date-like. And despite the fact that she’d spent years imagining what her first real relationship would be like, and so far this one hadn’t checked much off her list, she liked what they had: the hand holding and easy conversations, the comfortable silences and lack of expectations. Maybe it wasn’t conventional, or the kind of relationship expected of young couples, but she found herself not caring a whole lot.
She’d been staring too long. Sam was looking at her with a vaguely nervous expression and she suddenly realised she’d chosen the wrong moment to go quiet.
“Sam, I told you already,” she began, reaching across the table to cover his hand with hers. “You don’t have to take me out on a date or anything like that. Maybe once your family’s settled again, but right now I just like spending time with you. That’s enough for me. Don’t feel like you have to make big romantic gestures, I’m not going anywhere.”
Sam blinked, taking a moment to digest that. She figured it wasn’t the sort of attitude he was expecting; she didn’t know much about his relationships with Quinn or Santana, but she was willing to bet both of them had wanted to be pampered and shown off. And maybe if the situation was different, she would have been the same. But then, if that were the case, if Sam’s family hadn’t found themselves suddenly homeless, she probably wouldn’t be in this position. Gorgeous football players didn’t fall for girls like her as a rule.
“I like hanging out with you too, ‘Cedes. But we’ve been kind of dating for like, a month now,” Three weeks, two days, four hours and about seventeen minutes. Give or take. “I wouldn’t be a very good boyfriend if I didn’t take you out when I could.”
She wanted to tell him he was perfect. Everything she could have wanted in a boyfriend, and more.
“Wouldn’t you rather use that money for something for your family? Even if it’s just to get a little something for Stacey and Stevie?”
Sam chuckled and shook his head. “To tell you the truth, since you guys all found out, they’ve become pretty spoilt. I mean, Quinn and Kurt brought them candy and stuff from time to time, but Puck’s been over a few times too with some of his sister’s old clothes for Stacey, and him and Finn have brought some sports stuff they used to use for Stevie.” He shrugged one shoulder. “All things considered, they’re not doing too badly.”
“That’s my boys.” Mercedes said with a proud smile. Leave it to the glee club to really come through when it was needed. They all had their moments of being extremely emotionally dense at times, but when it mattered, they always seemed to know just what to do.
“So...” Sam prompted as Mercedes drank more of her rapidly cooling coffee. “Now that we’ve established I don’t have anything you think I should be spending my money on, are you going to give in? I mean, I can’t take you anywhere really classy, I’ve only got twenty bucks, but-“
Mercedes silenced him with a look, then her expression softened and she squeezed his hand again. “We could go to McDonald’s for all I care, Sam. Not to go all sappy on you, but as long as I’m with you I don’t care where we go.” Sam smiled, really smiled, and Mercedes felt those same butterflies in her stomach as she had on prom night.
“Awesome.”
And this time, Mercedes didn’t mind that Sam was once again staring at her with that dopey expression. She’d tried telling herself not to let herself fall too hard, that it would probably be over before it’d really begun, but she was pretty sure it was too late. As she stood, she slipped her hand into his, feeling his fingers immediately link with hers as he allowed himself to be pulled out of his seat. At the beginning she’d told herself she was imagining things, that she was only seeing what she wanted to see when Sam’s emotions swam across his face, but now, three weeks, two days, four hours and about twenty-seven minutes later, she really was starting to believe that he was as hopelessly lost as she was.
“Hey, just a thought. You didn’t tell Puck what you wanted the money for, did you? ‘cause you know no one in glee can keep their mouths shut worth a damn; if you told Puck we’re together, everyone in the club will know by the end of the week.”
Not that she really minded if people knew. She’d almost told Kurt a bunch of times, but never quite found the words. He was busy with Blaine a lot anyway, especially since they’d returned from New York, and it was proving difficult to find a quiet moment to talk to him. She was hoping the trip to the mall they’d made vague plans for would give her the chance to unload, though, and Lord knew she had a lot to tell him. And unless she was very much mistaken, he had things he needed to talk about too. They were definitely due a girly weekend. At the very least she had to tell him about...this.
Neither she nor Sam were keeping the relationship secret for any particular reason other than to enjoy the excitement of secrecy while they could, before nosy friends got involved and inevitable dramas began. Finn and Rachel had been back together just under a month and certain glee clubbers already had wagers going for how long it’d last this time. She didn’t want that for her and Sam, and besides, if this wasn’t going to last until school started again, there wasn’t much point making some huge announcement. Except she totally had said announcement planned, with a speech and everything, for when they did decide to tell people.
“Nah, he just assumed I’d use it for groceries or to take the kids somewhere, I think. He didn’t really make a big deal out of it so I didn’t correct whatever he was thinking.” Sam replied.
“Okay, cool. That’s probably for the best...for now.”
“Right.”
Sam’s hand tightened around hers and he nudged her gently with his shoulder before releasing his grip, darting forward to pull the door open for her. He flashed her his crooked grin as she winked her thanks and walked outside, pausing on the street so he could take his place at her side again. His hand found hers just as easily as it had that first day in this very coffee shop, and Mercedes knew that by the time she dropped him back off at the motel her jaw would be aching from smiling so much.
“Oh, by the way? What I said earlier...don’t even think about taking me on a date to McDonald’s.”
Rating: G
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Sam Evans/Mercedes Jones, (Finn Hudson/Rachel Berry, Kurt Hummel/Blaine Anderson, & Noah Puckerman mentioned)
Spoilers: Season 1 and 2 blanket
Word Count: ~1900
Disclaimer: None of it is mine :(
Author notes: First Glee fic I'm posting, aaaahhh. Thank you to mavilous for being a FABULOUS beta and for encouraging me to actually finish this when I kept wanting to throw in the towel ♥
Summary: In which Puck is helpful without knowing it and Mercedes tries to sort through her feelings. can you tell I hate/suck at writing summaries?
Mercedes smiled as she watched Sam navigate his way from the counter back to the table she’d nabbed. His brow was furrowed as he concentrated on not walking into anyone or tripping over a chair leg, and he flashed her a bright smile as he set her coffee down in front of her. "There you go."
“Thanks.” She popped the lid off, pursing her lips to lightly blow the steam away before lifting the cup and taking a careful sip. She remembered Kurt telling her one time that the first sip should be just-barely-a-taste, a temperature check more than anything. And Lord knew she’d suffered a burnt tongue enough times to take note of this. Satisfied that she wasn’t about to burn her taste buds off, she took a bigger mouthful and let out a contented sigh. When she looked up again, Sam was watching her with an amused grin, which only widened when she arched an eyebrow. “What?”
“Nothing.”
His expression said he was about to call her cute and she started to prepare her argument, but he proved her wrong and instead twisted the cap off his water bottle to take a drink.
“Nothing, right. You know your innocent act won’t work on me.” She shook her head fondly.
“Who said anything about an act? Oh, hey, I have something to show you!” He leant forward so he could pull something out of his back pocket, and Mercedes raised her eyebrows when he presented a slightly crumpled bill.
“What’s that?”
There was a slight pause, then Sam said in an amused tone, “It’s a $20 bill.”
“I can see that, smartass. I meant where did you get it?”
“I earned it! I was hanging out with Puck and he told me about this time him and Artie just started jamming in the quad at school and made like three hundred bucks or something. So we went to the mall with our guitars to try and make a bit of cash.”
“Huh. And someone gave you a twenty? They must have been feeling generous. I take it you didn’t do a rendition of ‘Friday’?”
Sam chuckled and shook his head. “No, uh...we actually only made $20 total in smaller bills and change. We weren’t there for long; a security guard came over and told us we weren’t allowed to play for money there. I convinced Puck to give me this in exchange for him keeping all the small stuff ‘cause I figured having a twenty was more impressive than dumping a handful of quarters in your lap.”
He had a point. Clutching a sweaty handful of coins never felt as satisfactory as holding a note, even if that note was only a single. “Wait, Puck let you keep it all? Why would he do that?”
“I tried to go halves, but he said he was gonna start up his pool cleaning business again anyway and so my need was greater than his.” Sam explained as he pulled his wallet out to tuck the money away. “I wasn’t gonna complain, ‘cause now I’ve got a bit of cash to take my girl out on a real date.”
For a moment, everything stopped. Mercedes blinked, waiting for the background noise to come back. It wasn’t the first time Sam had mentioned a ‘real date’, but until now he hadn’t had any spare money and although he was embarrassed, he was pretty open and apologetic about the fact. And honestly, Mercedes didn’t mind. She knew she probably should; she’d often spent quality time daydreaming about her perfect date, and Sam was her first real boyfriend. Lord knew Puck had never taken her anywhere nice, but that mess could hardly have been called a real relationship. If anyone was going to allow her her cliché of a candlelit dinner followed by a moonlit walk along a beach , it would be Sam Evans - ignoring, of course, the fact that the nearest beach was still a good few hours’ drive away and neither of them could afford that kind of trip right now. But that kind of thing was for dictionary definition relationships, the kind films and TV made desirable. It wasn’t what her and Sam had.
She wasn’t even sure if she should call it “dating”; dating implied the two of them going out somewhere, to a movie or out for a meal maybe. But so far, other than a few trips to the coffee shop just to get them out of the motel room or her own house, they hadn’t gone on anything date-like. And despite the fact that she’d spent years imagining what her first real relationship would be like, and so far this one hadn’t checked much off her list, she liked what they had: the hand holding and easy conversations, the comfortable silences and lack of expectations. Maybe it wasn’t conventional, or the kind of relationship expected of young couples, but she found herself not caring a whole lot.
She’d been staring too long. Sam was looking at her with a vaguely nervous expression and she suddenly realised she’d chosen the wrong moment to go quiet.
“Sam, I told you already,” she began, reaching across the table to cover his hand with hers. “You don’t have to take me out on a date or anything like that. Maybe once your family’s settled again, but right now I just like spending time with you. That’s enough for me. Don’t feel like you have to make big romantic gestures, I’m not going anywhere.”
Sam blinked, taking a moment to digest that. She figured it wasn’t the sort of attitude he was expecting; she didn’t know much about his relationships with Quinn or Santana, but she was willing to bet both of them had wanted to be pampered and shown off. And maybe if the situation was different, she would have been the same. But then, if that were the case, if Sam’s family hadn’t found themselves suddenly homeless, she probably wouldn’t be in this position. Gorgeous football players didn’t fall for girls like her as a rule.
“I like hanging out with you too, ‘Cedes. But we’ve been kind of dating for like, a month now,” Three weeks, two days, four hours and about seventeen minutes. Give or take. “I wouldn’t be a very good boyfriend if I didn’t take you out when I could.”
She wanted to tell him he was perfect. Everything she could have wanted in a boyfriend, and more.
“Wouldn’t you rather use that money for something for your family? Even if it’s just to get a little something for Stacey and Stevie?”
Sam chuckled and shook his head. “To tell you the truth, since you guys all found out, they’ve become pretty spoilt. I mean, Quinn and Kurt brought them candy and stuff from time to time, but Puck’s been over a few times too with some of his sister’s old clothes for Stacey, and him and Finn have brought some sports stuff they used to use for Stevie.” He shrugged one shoulder. “All things considered, they’re not doing too badly.”
“That’s my boys.” Mercedes said with a proud smile. Leave it to the glee club to really come through when it was needed. They all had their moments of being extremely emotionally dense at times, but when it mattered, they always seemed to know just what to do.
“So...” Sam prompted as Mercedes drank more of her rapidly cooling coffee. “Now that we’ve established I don’t have anything you think I should be spending my money on, are you going to give in? I mean, I can’t take you anywhere really classy, I’ve only got twenty bucks, but-“
Mercedes silenced him with a look, then her expression softened and she squeezed his hand again. “We could go to McDonald’s for all I care, Sam. Not to go all sappy on you, but as long as I’m with you I don’t care where we go.” Sam smiled, really smiled, and Mercedes felt those same butterflies in her stomach as she had on prom night.
“Awesome.”
And this time, Mercedes didn’t mind that Sam was once again staring at her with that dopey expression. She’d tried telling herself not to let herself fall too hard, that it would probably be over before it’d really begun, but she was pretty sure it was too late. As she stood, she slipped her hand into his, feeling his fingers immediately link with hers as he allowed himself to be pulled out of his seat. At the beginning she’d told herself she was imagining things, that she was only seeing what she wanted to see when Sam’s emotions swam across his face, but now, three weeks, two days, four hours and about twenty-seven minutes later, she really was starting to believe that he was as hopelessly lost as she was.
“Hey, just a thought. You didn’t tell Puck what you wanted the money for, did you? ‘cause you know no one in glee can keep their mouths shut worth a damn; if you told Puck we’re together, everyone in the club will know by the end of the week.”
Not that she really minded if people knew. She’d almost told Kurt a bunch of times, but never quite found the words. He was busy with Blaine a lot anyway, especially since they’d returned from New York, and it was proving difficult to find a quiet moment to talk to him. She was hoping the trip to the mall they’d made vague plans for would give her the chance to unload, though, and Lord knew she had a lot to tell him. And unless she was very much mistaken, he had things he needed to talk about too. They were definitely due a girly weekend. At the very least she had to tell him about...this.
Neither she nor Sam were keeping the relationship secret for any particular reason other than to enjoy the excitement of secrecy while they could, before nosy friends got involved and inevitable dramas began. Finn and Rachel had been back together just under a month and certain glee clubbers already had wagers going for how long it’d last this time. She didn’t want that for her and Sam, and besides, if this wasn’t going to last until school started again, there wasn’t much point making some huge announcement. Except she totally had said announcement planned, with a speech and everything, for when they did decide to tell people.
“Nah, he just assumed I’d use it for groceries or to take the kids somewhere, I think. He didn’t really make a big deal out of it so I didn’t correct whatever he was thinking.” Sam replied.
“Okay, cool. That’s probably for the best...for now.”
“Right.”
Sam’s hand tightened around hers and he nudged her gently with his shoulder before releasing his grip, darting forward to pull the door open for her. He flashed her his crooked grin as she winked her thanks and walked outside, pausing on the street so he could take his place at her side again. His hand found hers just as easily as it had that first day in this very coffee shop, and Mercedes knew that by the time she dropped him back off at the motel her jaw would be aching from smiling so much.
“Oh, by the way? What I said earlier...don’t even think about taking me on a date to McDonald’s.”