fic: dizzy mess (2/3)
Part One
******
"Hey," Finn murmurs, reaching out under the table to rest his hand on Sam's leg. "Let me know if you get the six of hearts."
"You got it, man," Sam says, flipping cards like a pro. Like magic, the six of hearts shows up right then. "Oh, you actually got it. You ready?"
Finn nods, and as soon as Sam lays the card down, Finn is there with the seven, Rachel reaching out with her own card half a second too late. Finn and Sam make a triumphant noise while Rachel complains loudly, and it's not long before Finn puts down his last card and yells, "Nertz!"
Rachel continues complaining to Puck, her ever-patient partner in the game, about how Sam and Finn must be cheating. Finn ignores her. He'd tried to be partners with her earlier to teach her the game, but that had more or less ended in a screaming match. Rachel was just way too controlling. She'd been too focused on Finn's cards to actually do her part.
Finn is busy shuffling for the next round when his phone goes off in his pocket. Sam takes over right away as Finn reads Kurt's name on the caller ID and answers, "Hey Kurt."
"You and I need to have words, Finn Hudson."
Finn doesn't really like the sound of that. "Uh, dude, I can't really talk right now. Sam and I are busy dominating everyone in Nertz."
Kurt's response of, "What the hell is Nertz?" is mostly drowned out by the protests of Puck, Rachel, and Tina that they're gonna make a comeback. Mike Chang stays silent, simply nodding at Tina in agreement.
"Is that Kurt? Let me talk to him," Mercedes says, coming over. Finn hands the phone off to her right away, eager to finish this game. They have a pretty commanding lead, and Finn wants to prove that he can actually play well when he doesn't have a bossy partner.
Sam and Finn do their complicated and awesome handshake in celebration when they win, and then Finn goes to get his phone back from Mercedes.
"You should call him back," Mercedes says, giving Finn a significant look.
Finn stares at his feet. "Yeah, okay." He gets the impression this is going to be one of those 'feelings' speeches he hates so much. He hopes Kurt isn't going to tell him again that what he feels for Sam isn't real. "I'll just... go outside. Better signal."
"Can I come?" Sam asks, standing just behind Finn with his hands in his pockets. "I wanna say hey to Kurt."
Finn stares at him for a second, caught completely off-guard, but he can't come up with a good excuse. It's not like he can say, 'You can't come because we'll be talking about you.' He finally forces a smile and says, "Sure."
Kurt answers the phone with, "I can't believe you talked to Blaine for advice on your male crush instead of me."
"Heeey, Kurt," Finn says, feeling awkward. "Sam is here too; he wants to say hi."
Kurt makes an unhappy noise. "Staying around the group is not going to stop you from having this conversation. Go outside like you did last time."
"Yeah, we're outside; there's a better signal out here. Um, here, I'll let you speak to him." Finn hands the phone over, hoping Kurt will shut up long enough for Sam to say hello. His head hurts from trying to keep track of what Sam might hear.
"Hey, Kurt! How's the mountain?" Sam says, smiling into the phone. They keep walking down the beach, and Finn tries to piece together their conversation from Sam's half. Kurt talks a lot about Blaine while Sam listens, and Sam tells Kurt stories about their beach antics, and then suddenly Finn can tell from Sam's change in tone that they're talking about him. He listens hard, but he can't hear what Kurt is saying.
Realizing how far they've gone down the beach, Finn stops and sits on a nearby bench. Sam sits next to him, still chatting away, and Finn strains his ears to hear what Kurt's saying on the other side. He doesn't have any luck, though.
Whatever it is, Sam laughs at it, leaning over to bump his shoulder against Finn's as he says, "Yeah, he's good at that."
Finn goes to smile back before he recognizes the teasing look in Sam's eyes. "Hang on, what am I good at?"
Sam ignores him, face going serious as he listens to Kurt. "Nah, it's cool. We'll hang out this summer, yeah?"
"Hey, what am I good at?" Finn asks again, poking Sam in the side. Sam jumps suddenly, batting his hand away and giggling. Finn smiles wide and does it again.
"Oh my god, Kurt, he's attacking me," Sam says, giggling some more and trying to get away. "Fuck, stop it, I'm ticklish! Here, take the phone! Bye, Kurt!"
"What am I good at?" Finn says again, taking the phone. He stops bothering Sam, but he files it away for future reference.
"Not being subtle, apparently!" Kurt says, surprise evident in his voice. "Where did that come from? I don't think I've witnessed such obvious flirting since Nick changed around our supper schedules just so he could be on an 'accidental' date with Jeff!"
"Shut up," Finn says, feeling his face heat up.
Kurt takes pity on him. "You're good at avoiding serious discussion, that's what we were talking about."
"I talk about stuff!" Finn protests, looking at Sam.
"I was just teasin', dude," Sam says, punching him on the shoulder. He smiles as he says it, but he still sounds sad.
"You're doing it now," Kurt points out.
"I am not," he says, feeling childish. Sam seems convinced that Finn is done tickling him, because he settles in close to Finn on the bench. Finn swallows and tries to focus on the phone. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"You know the answer to that, and if I'm not mistaken, he's sitting right next to you at the moment."
"Yeah. Sorry."
"It's okay. I actually just wanted to apologize. For not believing you, about Sam."
"Oh."
"When you called and asked to talk to Blaine about this, I realized that I'd messed up. I shouldn't have tried to talk you out of it; I should've been supportive."
As Kurt talks, Sam shifts and rests his head on Finn's shoulder, the sunlight almost completely gone now. "It's not a big deal," Finn tells Kurt, trying to remain as still as possible.
"No, it actually is. Coming out is huge, and the last thing you need to hear from your brother is that your sexuality isn't valid. Maybe it doesn't matter as much to you, but it does to me, and if you could just accept my apology then we can both move on."
"Okay. Sure," Finn says. He really wishes he didn't have to have this conversation with Sam on his shoulder. He's glad to know, though, that you apparently can't hear anything from his phone unless it's against your ear.
"Thank you," Kurt says, sounding sincere.
"So, how is it hanging out with the Warblers again?"
That sets Kurt off again, talking as much as he must have been talking to Sam, and Finn starts to get comfortable on the bench. He hears all about this talk that Kurt's going to see with Blaine, given by some singer guy Finn's never heard of. The conversation goes on for a while, and when Finn's in the middle of telling his own story about ultimate frisbee, Sam twitches, and Finn realizes with a smile that he's fallen asleep.
"What?" Kurt says, breaking the silence and making Finn realize he stopped mid-sentence.
"Nothing, sorry," Finn says quietly. "I think my body makes Sam fall asleep." Kurt splutters out a laugh, and Finn realizes how weird that sounded. "I mean--"
"No, don't explain, I get it. It's dark out there, right?"
"Yeah," Finn says, looking down the beach. "The sun was still up when we came out here, but it's almost completely dark now."
"So you're telling me that the two of you just watched the sunset together. On the beach."
"Yeah, I guess so." They both go quiet for a minute, mainly because Finn can't remember where he was going with his frisbee story.
"I'm really glad it was Sam," Kurt finally says, sounding serious.
"Huh?"
"If you were gonna fall for a guy, I'm glad it was Sam." Finn turns his head to look at Sam, sprawled out on the bench. Finn is about two seconds from saying something stupid and sentimental, but then Kurt continues, "Because if it was Blaine, I'd have to kill you."
Finn hears a loud laugh on the other end of the phone, and he realizes Blaine is there.
"Your boyfriend's cool," Finn says.
"Finn says you're cool, though it should be noted that he's the only one who feels this way," Kurt tells Blaine, and Finn hears the answering laughter. "Blaine thinks you're cool too, but you'd be cooler if you made a move."
"I'll keep that in mind," Finn says around a huge yawn.
Kurt laughs. "Maybe you oughta go back inside before you both fall asleep on the beach. I hereby free you of your brotherly calling duties. But text me if anything happens!"
"You got it, man. Have fun at the talk."
Finn isn't sure what it was that triggered it, but as soon as he ends the call, Sam starts waking up.
"Whoa, sorry, man. This beach is making me about twenty times lazier than usual."
Finn thinks about kissing him right there. Blaine had emphasized confessions and discussions, but Finn thinks it'd be a lot easier to just... do something. It's dark, so no one will see them, and Kurt and Blaine both seem pretty sure Sam would be into it. But then he thinks about how long they've been gone, and all the looks they'll get when they get back, and he stops himself. "You wanna head back?"
When they get back, the lights are off and everyone's watching a movie. Finn is standing just inside the door, trying to figure out which movie it is, when Sam flips out. He sticks his fingers in his ears and starts humming loudly to himself, stumbling in the dark toward the stairs.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Finn asks, and is immediately shushed by someone. He ignores them and follows after Sam.
"What just happened?" Finn asks, shutting the door behind himself and dropping onto the bed.
"I don't watch movies I haven't seen from the middle. It's against my religion."
Finn watches as Sam throws some clothes around, apparently looking for something. "What kind of religion--"
"That was a joke, Finn. I just don't like doing it. It ruins the movie."
"Oh."
"You can go watch if you want. I'm cool up here. Mind if I borrow your DS again?" he asks, holding it up once he finds it in his pocket from yesterday.
"Nah, go ahead. I think I'm just gonna get on the internet for a while," Finn says, pretending it's not just because he wants to stay up here with Sam.
Finn waits for it, but Sam doesn't cuddle up to him this time. He seems pretty intent on Super Mario World. Meanwhile, Finn watches a few random videos on YouTube, and then checks Facebook. Santana already has her pictures posted from today, and Finn has been tagged in 8 of them. He pulls up the first one and stops short of cursing out loud. He and Sam are both in it, and Finn looks so obvious. It's ridiculous. Sam hasn't seen it yet, and Finn wonders if there's time to ask her to take it down.
When he gets to one of just Sam, he has to stop for a second. She's captioned it with a simple 'Trouty Mouth', and Finn doesn't realize he's about to talk until he's already said, "When was this taken?"
Sam pauses the game and shifts so he can see Finn's screen. "Oh," he says, ducking his head. "That was earlier today, on the deck."
"This is the one you were begging her to delete?" Finn asks, incredulous. He looks back at the picture, at Sam licking his lips and looking away from the camera. He looks like a model. The picture is nothing short of gorgeous.
"She's always sayin' stuff about my mouth! I didn't want it to be a thing," Sam says defensively. He's also blushing.
"I wouldn't worry about it, dude. You've already got 5 likes," he says, clicking the button. "Make that 6."
"Don't encourage her!" Sam protests, laughing and shoving Finn's shoulder. He goes back to the game, and Finn clicks through to the next picture. It's of him trying to spray Santana and her camera with the hose.
"Wait, hang on," he says, remembering. He goes back to the hot Sam photo. "I was here when this was taken."
"What?" Sam says, brow furrowed but focusing on the game.
"Yeah, right about here," he says, pointing to where picture!Sam seems to be looking. He's more sure of it the longer he thinks about it. "You were looking at me."
"Goddammit," Sam says under his breath right before Finn hears the depressing sound of a game over. He looks at the picture, then at Finn, then at the picture again, apparently catching up with the conversation. His face is getting redder. "No, I wasn't. Come on, man, can't you just move on?"
He leans over Finn to try to close out the picture, but Finn pulls the laptop away. "No, I can't, actually."
Sam keeps trying to get the computer from Finn's hands, but eventually they manage to leave the computer forgotten on the floor, just wrestling on the bed. Sam has this triumphant laugh every time he gets the upper hand, and Finn finds it more than a little bit hot, which is probably how Sam manages to get on top of him.
Finn hesitates only a second before using his newfound knowledge about Sam being ticklish to his advantage, and soon he's got Sam pinned instead.
"Okay, uncle! Uncle!" Sam says, giggling uncontrollably. "You win!"
Finn smiles down at him, feeling the victory, and Sam's laughing grows more relaxed, and then there's a moment when everything changes. When he realizes that the computer's tossed aside, that he's got Sam right there under him, and that Sam doesn't seem too unhappy to be there.
Sam's lips part, and the decision is made for him. Finn ducks his head and goes for it, a thrill shooting through him when Sam arches up at the last second to crash their mouths together. His hands go back to Sam's hips, now with an entirely different purpose, and this time Sam doesn't squirm away.
When they finally break apart for air, Finn mutters, "Jesus," at the same time Sam says, "Finally."
Finn feels like he should explain. "I wasn't sure if--"
But Sam talks over him at the same time. "I didn't want to--"
And then they both cut themselves off, and after a moment, Finn decides he doesn't care and goes in for another kiss. This time, Sam's tongue winds its way around Finn's, and Finn makes an encouraging noise, gripping Sam's arms and turning his head to deepen the kiss.
They might continue like this for hours, but suddenly they hear footsteps pounding up the stairs and push back, staring at each other as if waiting for the other to push them off.
There's a loud knock on their door a second later, and Finn nearly jumps out of his skin. "Those dudes next door are shooting off fireworks!" Puck shouts through the door. "If we go out now, they said they'll let us shoot off some of the bottle rockets!"
Finn is still dumbstruck, but Sam keeps his cool and yells back, "That's awesome! We'll meet you guys out there!"
Puck seems to already be gone, and Finn hears one of the girls yelling, "Where's my camera?" Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get outside.
Finn scrambles off of Sam, knowing that if they don't get out there, people are going to ask what they were doing. He's grabbed his camera and is about to open the door when Sam whispers, "Wait!"
Finn's hand freezes on the doorknob. Is this it? Is this where Sam will tell him it was stupid and they shouldn't do it again?
But Sam is smiling at him, and he reaches for Finn's jacket. "Your hair is really messed up. You should probably wear your hood up unless you want to answer a lot of questions about who you were making out with."
"Right," Finn says, ducking his head to hide his goofy smile. He pulls the jacket on without looking at Sam, but then has some trouble pulling his hood up.
"Need some help?" Sam murmurs, moving into Finn's space. He reaches up and pulls the hood free and then up onto Finn's head, but he doesn't let go. He tugs on the fabric until Finn leans forward with it, then tilts his head up, meeting Finn's lips in a sweet kiss.
Finn starts to reach for Sam, but Sam has already pulled away. "Race you out there," Sam says, grinning mischievously, and then takes off down the stairs.
"You had a head start," Finn complains when they both get outside, Sam winning the supposed race.
"I'll make it up to you later," Sam says under his breath right as they join the others.
Apparently, they've shown up just in time for the safety lecture.
"Now, Santana's dad will kill me if anything happens to one of you guys, so let's keep this simple," the guy says in a clear, matter-of-fact tone. Finn assumes that of the two guys, he's the one that's Santana's dad's brother. "If you're afraid of fireworks, please stand over there and do not come any closer. If you cannot light a fuse quickly and then move away quickly, do not, I repeat, do not volunteer to light one. After you light the fuse, move away immediately and stand with the rest of the group. If it doesn't shoot off, one of us will go closer to check on it. Are we clear?"
Finn looks around at everybody. Puck and Lauren look excited, Rachel looks wary, and everyone else is somewhere in between. Slowly, they all nod.
"Good. Now who wants to go first?"
Finn figures Puck will leap forward, but Lauren gets there first. She flips the lighter like a pro, and in a flash she's back with the rest of them. There is a long pause, the fire burning down the fuse, and then bam, the rocket shoots up in the air. Finn watches it disappear into the night sky, trying to imagine where it will stop, and then it explodes in white light.
"Cool," Finn says, his reaction drowned out by everyone else's. Puck goes up to light the next one while everybody else gets their cameras ready, and it continues on like this for a while. Finn hands his camera off to Sam when it's his turn to light one, and afterwards he just never asks for it back. Sam's pictures are better than his anyway.
"Alright kids," the other guy says, "I think we're down to our finale. You should probably all stand back."
Finn watches in amazement while they set up 10 separate rockets to set off. He shares an excited look with Sam, moving just a bit closer to him almost without realizing it.
Sam smiles and offers the camera. "Here, you can take the last pictures. I just wanna watch."
He looks at the camera, thinking how much more fun it was just to stand beside Sam and enjoy the show. "Nah, I think the battery's about dead anyway," he says, having no idea if it's true. Sam kind of smirks at him, so it's probably not, but he doesn't say anything.
"Ready?" Santana's uncle shouts, and everyone responds enthusiastically. The two of them work together to light them all as quickly as possible, and they shoot into the air one right after the other. It feels like forever until the first one goes off, but then it's an awesome explosion of colors bunched up in the sky. Finn makes an appreciative noise. He's only ever seen fireworks shows in the park on July 4th; he's never been able to actually see them shot off. When he was little, he'd always thought it was magic.
Sam leans into him a little bit, his shoulder against Finn's own. Finn looks down, sharing a smile with him. They're in the back, so no one's watching, but Finn knows he shouldn't kiss him out here. Too risky. Still, he licks his lips at the thought, and Sam's eyes follow the movement.
They're brought back to the moment as Rachel exclaims, "I got the perfect picture!" Everyone moves in to see the result, but Finn purposefully hangs back and bumps his shoulder against Sam's again before following along.
Everyone is all fired up as they head inside, chatting excitedly about the whole thing and how they need to do it again. Puck claims he can get a guy to buy them for them back home, and they can shoot them off in the park by his house. They keep adding more and more to the plan, and Finn can tell by the look on her face that Rachel doesn't approve before she finally speaks up.
"I don't mean to bring everyone down," she begins, and at least three people moan, "but those type of fireworks are illegal in our state. And even if they weren't, I really don't think we ought to try it without adult supervision. You all saw how close Santana's uncle came to that one rocket!"
Everyone's silent for a minute. She's got a point.
"My dad'll do it," Lauren says, shrugging. She looks at Puck. "You get the goods, I'll host the gig."
"You don't have to come," Santana says, sneering at Rachel. She's still pissed about Nationals, Finn is sure. Finn had been surprised Rachel was even invited, but from what he's heard, Brittany had a lot to do with that.
They keep discussing what they want to get for their own show, and Rachel storms off. Finn doesn't agree with her, but he wishes he had an excuse to leave. He kinda wants to go pick up where he left off with Sam. More than kinda. More like it's the only thing he can think about now that they're back indoors, but he doesn't want anyone to be suspicious.
Finally, Brittany speaks up. "Guys, I'm really tired. Can we finish the movie real quick so Santana and I can go to bed?"
Finn wants to hug her. And also ask about the Santana thing, not for the first time, but he keeps his mouth shut. Everyone shifts their focus back to the TV, and Finn hurries back upstairs before anyone can ask him why he's not sticking around.
Sam is already there when Finn gets upstairs. Finn has to give him kudos, because even he didn't notice Sam leaving. He doesn't get to jump on him immediately, though, because Sam's on the phone. Wait, he's on Finn's phone.
"Sorry, it was ringing and I kind of-- Yeah, Finn's here. I'll put him on." Sam looks apologetic and offers the phone. "It's Kurt."
Finn goes ahead and locks the door - better to do it now than forget later - before taking the phone. He doesn't take his eyes off Sam. "Hey, Kurt. You've got two minutes."
"Ohmygod, Finn, Sam just told me. I can't believe you actually did it! But don't mistake my excitement for approval. You were supposed to text me when it happened."
"We kind of got interrupted," Finn says, watching Sam pick up the DS. If Sam thinks he's going back to his video game now, Finn's gonna have to teach him. Just as soon as he gets off the phone.
"Well then why couldn't you have texted me during the interruption?"
"We had to go outside. And then we had to get away. And then when we got up here, you were already calling."
"Wait, hang on. So you're telling me you just got back in your room?"
"Exactly," Finn says through gritted teeth, trying to convey his frustration.
"Jeez, Finn, why didn't you say so? Call me tomorrow! Ta!"
The first thing Finn does is take away the DS and put it on the floor. "No more video games." He climbs on the bed beside Sam. "No more distractions."
"Sorry," Sam says quietly. They both know that Rachel is just down the hall, and anyone could come upstairs any moment. "I'm from the south. We don't let phones ring without answering them."
Finn smirks, keeping his voice a whisper so they can't be overheard. "I would say you could make it up to me, but I think you already promised me that."
Finn feels like an idiot for a second for saying that. This is so awkward. How is he supposed to pick up where they left off?
But then a smile spreads across Sam's face. He shifts, moving his leg over Finn until, dear god, he's straddling Finn. With a smirk, he looks down at Finn and says, "And you guys call me a dork."
Finn doesn't know if that's an insult, but Sam starts kissing him, so it must not have been too negative. He starts obsessing over whether he's supposed to use tongue, and should he sit up a bit, and where does he put his hands, but then Sam obviously senses something's wrong because he starts to move away, and then it's like everything clicks into place. Finn moves up with him, his fingers sliding into Sam's hair like they belong there, and reclaims Sam's mouth. After several minutes of sticking with the familiar, Finn draws back just enough to bite at Sam's lip and then moves back in to soothe it with his tongue. Sam makes an appreciative noise and then quickly goes quiet, and Finn doesn't know why that's so hot, but it draws a moan out of him, too.
They both kind of freeze for a moment, and even though they don't break the kiss, Finn is sure Sam is listening just as hard as he is. If anyone had happened to be in the hallway, they probably would have heard that, and it wouldn't be hard to figure out what they were hearing.
Once they're both reasonably sure the coast is clear, Sam pulls away. Finn's hands drop to Sam's waist and they both just look at each other.
"Gotta be more careful," Finn finally says, just to say something. His voice kinda shakes a bit. Sam is a perfect weight on his lap, and he's already pretty turned on. He has no idea how he's gonna manage 'more careful' with that mouth and those thighs and just Sam all on top of him.
Sam takes a deep, shaky breath. "You're right," he says, and then moves off of Finn. Finn makes a quiet sound of protest and moves to hold him in place, but Sam pushes his hands away. "We should slow down."
Finn takes a deep breath, breathing out slowly through his nose. He's still staring up at the ceiling when he says, "Dude, you're killing me here."
"I know," Sam says, his voice not too firm either. "I'm killing me too."
The bed creaks a bit as Sam moves into a more comfortable position, but sadly he's still not touching Finn. "You're, uh, not the first guy I've made out with."
Finn shifts onto his side, mirroring Sam. Part of him feels suddenly jealous, but he can tell from Sam's tone that there's more to the story.
"But you are the first guy I've made out with more than once."
The nosy (and still slightly jealous) part of him wants to ask what happened to stop him from making out with the guy (guys? were there several?) again, but he has a feeling it wasn't Sam's choice. "I'd be cool with being the first guy you've made out with more than ten times," Finn says. A hundred times, he thinks. Enough times to lose count.
Sam smiles. "Yeah? What if I insist on taking it slow?"
"Slow is still good. I prefer 'slow' to 'not at all'."
Sam seems to like that answer, because he puts his hand on Finn's hip and moves forward to kiss him.
Finn is hesitant as he kisses back, afraid to do anything that might scare Sam off. Sam picks up on it right away, though, and pulls back.
"Hey, no," Sam says, scooting closer on the bed. "I didn't mean that you should be scared to touch me."
Finn swallows. "But, how do I--"
"Just keep doing what you were doing before," Sam says with a smile. "I'm the one that was going too fast, not you. I promise I'll throw up a red flag if you cross any lines."
"Okay," Finn says as Sam moves back in. He puts his hand on Sam's waist, and after all these nights of sleeping next to him, it feels natural. Or it does until Sam inches closer on the bed, causing his shirt to ride up and Finn's hand to slip underneath until he's touching warm, tanned skin.
Sam pulls back from their lazy kiss and just looks at him for a second. Finn wonders if he should move away. How does one know what a metaphorical red flag looks like?
"I always wondered," Sam begins, then stops and licks his lips. "Wondered what it'd be like to have your hands on me. You... have really nice hands."
Finn swallows thickly. This is Sam's definition of going slow? "Yeah?"
After a moment, Sam exhales in a rush and then flops onto his back, forcing Finn to pull his hand back. "We should probably put in an appearance downstairs soon, just so people won't start wondering where we are."
Finn wants to point out the mixed signals he's getting here, but Sam's pretty much right.
"Why don't you go down, and I just go to sleep?" Finn suggests.
Sam turns toward him and arches an eyebrow. "Are you tired? It's barely past midnight."
Finn shrugs and looks away. "I should probably send Kurt an email so he won't accuse me of ignoring him, then take a quick shower, but yeah, I could sleep." Sam is quiet for a few seconds, and eventually Finn looks back at him out of curiosity. His expression is hard to read. "What?"
"Can you give me like, half an hour? I promised Mercedes we'd talk, but then I can come right back up. As long as I'm down there long enough to look like I'm not rushing back upstairs."
"Dude, you don't need to go to bed just 'cause I am."
Finn's not completely sure, but he thinks Sam's blushing. His voice is small when he responds, "I dunno, I just like sleeping next to you."
Finn swallows thickly. "Yeah, me too."
Sam flashes him a huge smile and then twists to press a quick kiss to Finn's lips before darting off to the bathroom. Finn exhales slowly through his nose and rubs at the outside of his leg while he waits, trying to divert his attention, but it doesn't help. It just makes it worse. He sits up and pulls out his phone for a distraction, and he's halfway through a text to Kurt when Sam gets out of the bathroom.
"Back in a few," he murmurs, leaning into Finn's space as easy as anything and giving him a whole new set of things to think about once Sam leaves. Sam pulls back, nipping at Finn's lip one last time before smiling and taking off into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.
Finn listens intently for the sound of Sam making his way down the stairs, and as soon as he's sure Sam's gone, he pushes off the bed and heads straight into the bathroom, locking both doors. He moves quickly enough that the water from the shower is still too cold when he steps under it, but he doesn't even care as he wraps his hand around his dick and sighs with the relief of it.
He's gotten off to the thought of kissing Sam more times than he'd like to admit, especially in the last few days, but now it's different. Now he actually knows what that mouth feels like against his own, and it's not long before the memory of it along with the thought of it moving down his body brings Finn to the edge. He bites his lip, the shower water now warmed to a perfect heat around him, and imagines Sam settled in between his legs, Finn's hands in his hair as he takes Finn's cock into that gorgeous mouth of his. With a gasp, Finn spills out over his hand, that image burnt into his brain in the best way.
He works himself through his orgasm, trusting the shower wall to keep him upright and waiting for his breathing to return to normal. God, if Sam ever does want to do that, Finn's gonna have to start mentally preparing himself so it'll last longer than five seconds. It's the hottest thing he can imagine happening to him, and that's saying something.
"Half an hour," he says out loud, reminding himself he's in a hurry. If Sam gets back upstairs and Finn is still in the shower, he's going to wonder why. Finn blushes. Being with Sam is great, but he's not quite ready to admit to the thought he just had. Then Sam definitely would put up a red flag.
When he steps out of the shower, the combination of the humidity from the shower and that sated feeling of having just gotten off make him feel like he really could go straight to sleep. But he wasn't lying about Kurt, so he pulls up his laptop and does his best to type out an email that will satisfy most of Kurt's questions.
Kurt,
sorry I didnt text you dude but in my defence things were kinda crazy. anyway yeah we kissed a few times and sam wants to take things slow so thats what were doing. thanks for your help and tell blaine i said thanks.
Finn
He checks over the email address he's sending to like five times before clicking 'Send'. The last thing he wants to do is accidentally send this to everyone he knows.
He closes his computer, puts his phone on silent, then turns the light off to wait for Sam. He starts to wonder what they can do tomorrow since it's Finn's night to cook, and then--
"Hey, Finn," Sam whispers, his hand cool where it's slipped under Finn's T-shirt.
Finn blinks at him blearily in the dark and thinks, I'm allowed to kiss you now.
He only realizes he's said it out loud when Sam smiles brightly and says, "Yes, you are."
The resulting kiss is quick but still awesome, and then Sam slides under the covers right next to him.
"Sorry it took so long," Sam whispers as he gets comfortable. "Mercedes got on a rant about Lauren - apparently they're fighting, must've missed that - and I couldn't exactly explain why I needed to get away without three other people hearing."
"S'okay," Finn mumbles around a yawn. He turns over on his other side so that he's facing Sam. "I didn't know they were fighting either. How long has that been going on?"
Sam shrugs, snaking his arm around Finn's back. "All week, apparently, but it came to a head today. I think I was too caught up in our thing to notice." His hand makes its way under the hem of Finn's shirt and comes to rest against the skin of Finn's back. Finn likes that they're able to do this on purpose now.
"Lauren goes home tomorrow, though."
"Sunday," Sam corrects, but then he scoots in that little bit closer and pulls Finn in for a kiss, so Finn doesn't point out that technically it's after midnight so technically tomorrow is Sunday.
"I'll fill you in tomorrow," Sam says, "so you won't accidentally say the wrong thing to Mercedes. But right now I wanna go to sleep."
"Sleep is good," Finn agrees, already feeling the pull of it now that he's comfortable again. He tries to say 'goodnight,' but it comes out as more of a mumble as he slips off to sleep.
******
Part Three
******
"Hey," Finn murmurs, reaching out under the table to rest his hand on Sam's leg. "Let me know if you get the six of hearts."
"You got it, man," Sam says, flipping cards like a pro. Like magic, the six of hearts shows up right then. "Oh, you actually got it. You ready?"
Finn nods, and as soon as Sam lays the card down, Finn is there with the seven, Rachel reaching out with her own card half a second too late. Finn and Sam make a triumphant noise while Rachel complains loudly, and it's not long before Finn puts down his last card and yells, "Nertz!"
Rachel continues complaining to Puck, her ever-patient partner in the game, about how Sam and Finn must be cheating. Finn ignores her. He'd tried to be partners with her earlier to teach her the game, but that had more or less ended in a screaming match. Rachel was just way too controlling. She'd been too focused on Finn's cards to actually do her part.
Finn is busy shuffling for the next round when his phone goes off in his pocket. Sam takes over right away as Finn reads Kurt's name on the caller ID and answers, "Hey Kurt."
"You and I need to have words, Finn Hudson."
Finn doesn't really like the sound of that. "Uh, dude, I can't really talk right now. Sam and I are busy dominating everyone in Nertz."
Kurt's response of, "What the hell is Nertz?" is mostly drowned out by the protests of Puck, Rachel, and Tina that they're gonna make a comeback. Mike Chang stays silent, simply nodding at Tina in agreement.
"Is that Kurt? Let me talk to him," Mercedes says, coming over. Finn hands the phone off to her right away, eager to finish this game. They have a pretty commanding lead, and Finn wants to prove that he can actually play well when he doesn't have a bossy partner.
Sam and Finn do their complicated and awesome handshake in celebration when they win, and then Finn goes to get his phone back from Mercedes.
"You should call him back," Mercedes says, giving Finn a significant look.
Finn stares at his feet. "Yeah, okay." He gets the impression this is going to be one of those 'feelings' speeches he hates so much. He hopes Kurt isn't going to tell him again that what he feels for Sam isn't real. "I'll just... go outside. Better signal."
"Can I come?" Sam asks, standing just behind Finn with his hands in his pockets. "I wanna say hey to Kurt."
Finn stares at him for a second, caught completely off-guard, but he can't come up with a good excuse. It's not like he can say, 'You can't come because we'll be talking about you.' He finally forces a smile and says, "Sure."
Kurt answers the phone with, "I can't believe you talked to Blaine for advice on your male crush instead of me."
"Heeey, Kurt," Finn says, feeling awkward. "Sam is here too; he wants to say hi."
Kurt makes an unhappy noise. "Staying around the group is not going to stop you from having this conversation. Go outside like you did last time."
"Yeah, we're outside; there's a better signal out here. Um, here, I'll let you speak to him." Finn hands the phone over, hoping Kurt will shut up long enough for Sam to say hello. His head hurts from trying to keep track of what Sam might hear.
"Hey, Kurt! How's the mountain?" Sam says, smiling into the phone. They keep walking down the beach, and Finn tries to piece together their conversation from Sam's half. Kurt talks a lot about Blaine while Sam listens, and Sam tells Kurt stories about their beach antics, and then suddenly Finn can tell from Sam's change in tone that they're talking about him. He listens hard, but he can't hear what Kurt is saying.
Realizing how far they've gone down the beach, Finn stops and sits on a nearby bench. Sam sits next to him, still chatting away, and Finn strains his ears to hear what Kurt's saying on the other side. He doesn't have any luck, though.
Whatever it is, Sam laughs at it, leaning over to bump his shoulder against Finn's as he says, "Yeah, he's good at that."
Finn goes to smile back before he recognizes the teasing look in Sam's eyes. "Hang on, what am I good at?"
Sam ignores him, face going serious as he listens to Kurt. "Nah, it's cool. We'll hang out this summer, yeah?"
"Hey, what am I good at?" Finn asks again, poking Sam in the side. Sam jumps suddenly, batting his hand away and giggling. Finn smiles wide and does it again.
"Oh my god, Kurt, he's attacking me," Sam says, giggling some more and trying to get away. "Fuck, stop it, I'm ticklish! Here, take the phone! Bye, Kurt!"
"What am I good at?" Finn says again, taking the phone. He stops bothering Sam, but he files it away for future reference.
"Not being subtle, apparently!" Kurt says, surprise evident in his voice. "Where did that come from? I don't think I've witnessed such obvious flirting since Nick changed around our supper schedules just so he could be on an 'accidental' date with Jeff!"
"Shut up," Finn says, feeling his face heat up.
Kurt takes pity on him. "You're good at avoiding serious discussion, that's what we were talking about."
"I talk about stuff!" Finn protests, looking at Sam.
"I was just teasin', dude," Sam says, punching him on the shoulder. He smiles as he says it, but he still sounds sad.
"You're doing it now," Kurt points out.
"I am not," he says, feeling childish. Sam seems convinced that Finn is done tickling him, because he settles in close to Finn on the bench. Finn swallows and tries to focus on the phone. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"You know the answer to that, and if I'm not mistaken, he's sitting right next to you at the moment."
"Yeah. Sorry."
"It's okay. I actually just wanted to apologize. For not believing you, about Sam."
"Oh."
"When you called and asked to talk to Blaine about this, I realized that I'd messed up. I shouldn't have tried to talk you out of it; I should've been supportive."
As Kurt talks, Sam shifts and rests his head on Finn's shoulder, the sunlight almost completely gone now. "It's not a big deal," Finn tells Kurt, trying to remain as still as possible.
"No, it actually is. Coming out is huge, and the last thing you need to hear from your brother is that your sexuality isn't valid. Maybe it doesn't matter as much to you, but it does to me, and if you could just accept my apology then we can both move on."
"Okay. Sure," Finn says. He really wishes he didn't have to have this conversation with Sam on his shoulder. He's glad to know, though, that you apparently can't hear anything from his phone unless it's against your ear.
"Thank you," Kurt says, sounding sincere.
"So, how is it hanging out with the Warblers again?"
That sets Kurt off again, talking as much as he must have been talking to Sam, and Finn starts to get comfortable on the bench. He hears all about this talk that Kurt's going to see with Blaine, given by some singer guy Finn's never heard of. The conversation goes on for a while, and when Finn's in the middle of telling his own story about ultimate frisbee, Sam twitches, and Finn realizes with a smile that he's fallen asleep.
"What?" Kurt says, breaking the silence and making Finn realize he stopped mid-sentence.
"Nothing, sorry," Finn says quietly. "I think my body makes Sam fall asleep." Kurt splutters out a laugh, and Finn realizes how weird that sounded. "I mean--"
"No, don't explain, I get it. It's dark out there, right?"
"Yeah," Finn says, looking down the beach. "The sun was still up when we came out here, but it's almost completely dark now."
"So you're telling me that the two of you just watched the sunset together. On the beach."
"Yeah, I guess so." They both go quiet for a minute, mainly because Finn can't remember where he was going with his frisbee story.
"I'm really glad it was Sam," Kurt finally says, sounding serious.
"Huh?"
"If you were gonna fall for a guy, I'm glad it was Sam." Finn turns his head to look at Sam, sprawled out on the bench. Finn is about two seconds from saying something stupid and sentimental, but then Kurt continues, "Because if it was Blaine, I'd have to kill you."
Finn hears a loud laugh on the other end of the phone, and he realizes Blaine is there.
"Your boyfriend's cool," Finn says.
"Finn says you're cool, though it should be noted that he's the only one who feels this way," Kurt tells Blaine, and Finn hears the answering laughter. "Blaine thinks you're cool too, but you'd be cooler if you made a move."
"I'll keep that in mind," Finn says around a huge yawn.
Kurt laughs. "Maybe you oughta go back inside before you both fall asleep on the beach. I hereby free you of your brotherly calling duties. But text me if anything happens!"
"You got it, man. Have fun at the talk."
Finn isn't sure what it was that triggered it, but as soon as he ends the call, Sam starts waking up.
"Whoa, sorry, man. This beach is making me about twenty times lazier than usual."
Finn thinks about kissing him right there. Blaine had emphasized confessions and discussions, but Finn thinks it'd be a lot easier to just... do something. It's dark, so no one will see them, and Kurt and Blaine both seem pretty sure Sam would be into it. But then he thinks about how long they've been gone, and all the looks they'll get when they get back, and he stops himself. "You wanna head back?"
When they get back, the lights are off and everyone's watching a movie. Finn is standing just inside the door, trying to figure out which movie it is, when Sam flips out. He sticks his fingers in his ears and starts humming loudly to himself, stumbling in the dark toward the stairs.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Finn asks, and is immediately shushed by someone. He ignores them and follows after Sam.
"What just happened?" Finn asks, shutting the door behind himself and dropping onto the bed.
"I don't watch movies I haven't seen from the middle. It's against my religion."
Finn watches as Sam throws some clothes around, apparently looking for something. "What kind of religion--"
"That was a joke, Finn. I just don't like doing it. It ruins the movie."
"Oh."
"You can go watch if you want. I'm cool up here. Mind if I borrow your DS again?" he asks, holding it up once he finds it in his pocket from yesterday.
"Nah, go ahead. I think I'm just gonna get on the internet for a while," Finn says, pretending it's not just because he wants to stay up here with Sam.
Finn waits for it, but Sam doesn't cuddle up to him this time. He seems pretty intent on Super Mario World. Meanwhile, Finn watches a few random videos on YouTube, and then checks Facebook. Santana already has her pictures posted from today, and Finn has been tagged in 8 of them. He pulls up the first one and stops short of cursing out loud. He and Sam are both in it, and Finn looks so obvious. It's ridiculous. Sam hasn't seen it yet, and Finn wonders if there's time to ask her to take it down.
When he gets to one of just Sam, he has to stop for a second. She's captioned it with a simple 'Trouty Mouth', and Finn doesn't realize he's about to talk until he's already said, "When was this taken?"
Sam pauses the game and shifts so he can see Finn's screen. "Oh," he says, ducking his head. "That was earlier today, on the deck."
"This is the one you were begging her to delete?" Finn asks, incredulous. He looks back at the picture, at Sam licking his lips and looking away from the camera. He looks like a model. The picture is nothing short of gorgeous.
"She's always sayin' stuff about my mouth! I didn't want it to be a thing," Sam says defensively. He's also blushing.
"I wouldn't worry about it, dude. You've already got 5 likes," he says, clicking the button. "Make that 6."
"Don't encourage her!" Sam protests, laughing and shoving Finn's shoulder. He goes back to the game, and Finn clicks through to the next picture. It's of him trying to spray Santana and her camera with the hose.
"Wait, hang on," he says, remembering. He goes back to the hot Sam photo. "I was here when this was taken."
"What?" Sam says, brow furrowed but focusing on the game.
"Yeah, right about here," he says, pointing to where picture!Sam seems to be looking. He's more sure of it the longer he thinks about it. "You were looking at me."
"Goddammit," Sam says under his breath right before Finn hears the depressing sound of a game over. He looks at the picture, then at Finn, then at the picture again, apparently catching up with the conversation. His face is getting redder. "No, I wasn't. Come on, man, can't you just move on?"
He leans over Finn to try to close out the picture, but Finn pulls the laptop away. "No, I can't, actually."
Sam keeps trying to get the computer from Finn's hands, but eventually they manage to leave the computer forgotten on the floor, just wrestling on the bed. Sam has this triumphant laugh every time he gets the upper hand, and Finn finds it more than a little bit hot, which is probably how Sam manages to get on top of him.
Finn hesitates only a second before using his newfound knowledge about Sam being ticklish to his advantage, and soon he's got Sam pinned instead.
"Okay, uncle! Uncle!" Sam says, giggling uncontrollably. "You win!"
Finn smiles down at him, feeling the victory, and Sam's laughing grows more relaxed, and then there's a moment when everything changes. When he realizes that the computer's tossed aside, that he's got Sam right there under him, and that Sam doesn't seem too unhappy to be there.
Sam's lips part, and the decision is made for him. Finn ducks his head and goes for it, a thrill shooting through him when Sam arches up at the last second to crash their mouths together. His hands go back to Sam's hips, now with an entirely different purpose, and this time Sam doesn't squirm away.
When they finally break apart for air, Finn mutters, "Jesus," at the same time Sam says, "Finally."
Finn feels like he should explain. "I wasn't sure if--"
But Sam talks over him at the same time. "I didn't want to--"
And then they both cut themselves off, and after a moment, Finn decides he doesn't care and goes in for another kiss. This time, Sam's tongue winds its way around Finn's, and Finn makes an encouraging noise, gripping Sam's arms and turning his head to deepen the kiss.
They might continue like this for hours, but suddenly they hear footsteps pounding up the stairs and push back, staring at each other as if waiting for the other to push them off.
There's a loud knock on their door a second later, and Finn nearly jumps out of his skin. "Those dudes next door are shooting off fireworks!" Puck shouts through the door. "If we go out now, they said they'll let us shoot off some of the bottle rockets!"
Finn is still dumbstruck, but Sam keeps his cool and yells back, "That's awesome! We'll meet you guys out there!"
Puck seems to already be gone, and Finn hears one of the girls yelling, "Where's my camera?" Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get outside.
Finn scrambles off of Sam, knowing that if they don't get out there, people are going to ask what they were doing. He's grabbed his camera and is about to open the door when Sam whispers, "Wait!"
Finn's hand freezes on the doorknob. Is this it? Is this where Sam will tell him it was stupid and they shouldn't do it again?
But Sam is smiling at him, and he reaches for Finn's jacket. "Your hair is really messed up. You should probably wear your hood up unless you want to answer a lot of questions about who you were making out with."
"Right," Finn says, ducking his head to hide his goofy smile. He pulls the jacket on without looking at Sam, but then has some trouble pulling his hood up.
"Need some help?" Sam murmurs, moving into Finn's space. He reaches up and pulls the hood free and then up onto Finn's head, but he doesn't let go. He tugs on the fabric until Finn leans forward with it, then tilts his head up, meeting Finn's lips in a sweet kiss.
Finn starts to reach for Sam, but Sam has already pulled away. "Race you out there," Sam says, grinning mischievously, and then takes off down the stairs.
"You had a head start," Finn complains when they both get outside, Sam winning the supposed race.
"I'll make it up to you later," Sam says under his breath right as they join the others.
Apparently, they've shown up just in time for the safety lecture.
"Now, Santana's dad will kill me if anything happens to one of you guys, so let's keep this simple," the guy says in a clear, matter-of-fact tone. Finn assumes that of the two guys, he's the one that's Santana's dad's brother. "If you're afraid of fireworks, please stand over there and do not come any closer. If you cannot light a fuse quickly and then move away quickly, do not, I repeat, do not volunteer to light one. After you light the fuse, move away immediately and stand with the rest of the group. If it doesn't shoot off, one of us will go closer to check on it. Are we clear?"
Finn looks around at everybody. Puck and Lauren look excited, Rachel looks wary, and everyone else is somewhere in between. Slowly, they all nod.
"Good. Now who wants to go first?"
Finn figures Puck will leap forward, but Lauren gets there first. She flips the lighter like a pro, and in a flash she's back with the rest of them. There is a long pause, the fire burning down the fuse, and then bam, the rocket shoots up in the air. Finn watches it disappear into the night sky, trying to imagine where it will stop, and then it explodes in white light.
"Cool," Finn says, his reaction drowned out by everyone else's. Puck goes up to light the next one while everybody else gets their cameras ready, and it continues on like this for a while. Finn hands his camera off to Sam when it's his turn to light one, and afterwards he just never asks for it back. Sam's pictures are better than his anyway.
"Alright kids," the other guy says, "I think we're down to our finale. You should probably all stand back."
Finn watches in amazement while they set up 10 separate rockets to set off. He shares an excited look with Sam, moving just a bit closer to him almost without realizing it.
Sam smiles and offers the camera. "Here, you can take the last pictures. I just wanna watch."
He looks at the camera, thinking how much more fun it was just to stand beside Sam and enjoy the show. "Nah, I think the battery's about dead anyway," he says, having no idea if it's true. Sam kind of smirks at him, so it's probably not, but he doesn't say anything.
"Ready?" Santana's uncle shouts, and everyone responds enthusiastically. The two of them work together to light them all as quickly as possible, and they shoot into the air one right after the other. It feels like forever until the first one goes off, but then it's an awesome explosion of colors bunched up in the sky. Finn makes an appreciative noise. He's only ever seen fireworks shows in the park on July 4th; he's never been able to actually see them shot off. When he was little, he'd always thought it was magic.
Sam leans into him a little bit, his shoulder against Finn's own. Finn looks down, sharing a smile with him. They're in the back, so no one's watching, but Finn knows he shouldn't kiss him out here. Too risky. Still, he licks his lips at the thought, and Sam's eyes follow the movement.
They're brought back to the moment as Rachel exclaims, "I got the perfect picture!" Everyone moves in to see the result, but Finn purposefully hangs back and bumps his shoulder against Sam's again before following along.
Everyone is all fired up as they head inside, chatting excitedly about the whole thing and how they need to do it again. Puck claims he can get a guy to buy them for them back home, and they can shoot them off in the park by his house. They keep adding more and more to the plan, and Finn can tell by the look on her face that Rachel doesn't approve before she finally speaks up.
"I don't mean to bring everyone down," she begins, and at least three people moan, "but those type of fireworks are illegal in our state. And even if they weren't, I really don't think we ought to try it without adult supervision. You all saw how close Santana's uncle came to that one rocket!"
Everyone's silent for a minute. She's got a point.
"My dad'll do it," Lauren says, shrugging. She looks at Puck. "You get the goods, I'll host the gig."
"You don't have to come," Santana says, sneering at Rachel. She's still pissed about Nationals, Finn is sure. Finn had been surprised Rachel was even invited, but from what he's heard, Brittany had a lot to do with that.
They keep discussing what they want to get for their own show, and Rachel storms off. Finn doesn't agree with her, but he wishes he had an excuse to leave. He kinda wants to go pick up where he left off with Sam. More than kinda. More like it's the only thing he can think about now that they're back indoors, but he doesn't want anyone to be suspicious.
Finally, Brittany speaks up. "Guys, I'm really tired. Can we finish the movie real quick so Santana and I can go to bed?"
Finn wants to hug her. And also ask about the Santana thing, not for the first time, but he keeps his mouth shut. Everyone shifts their focus back to the TV, and Finn hurries back upstairs before anyone can ask him why he's not sticking around.
Sam is already there when Finn gets upstairs. Finn has to give him kudos, because even he didn't notice Sam leaving. He doesn't get to jump on him immediately, though, because Sam's on the phone. Wait, he's on Finn's phone.
"Sorry, it was ringing and I kind of-- Yeah, Finn's here. I'll put him on." Sam looks apologetic and offers the phone. "It's Kurt."
Finn goes ahead and locks the door - better to do it now than forget later - before taking the phone. He doesn't take his eyes off Sam. "Hey, Kurt. You've got two minutes."
"Ohmygod, Finn, Sam just told me. I can't believe you actually did it! But don't mistake my excitement for approval. You were supposed to text me when it happened."
"We kind of got interrupted," Finn says, watching Sam pick up the DS. If Sam thinks he's going back to his video game now, Finn's gonna have to teach him. Just as soon as he gets off the phone.
"Well then why couldn't you have texted me during the interruption?"
"We had to go outside. And then we had to get away. And then when we got up here, you were already calling."
"Wait, hang on. So you're telling me you just got back in your room?"
"Exactly," Finn says through gritted teeth, trying to convey his frustration.
"Jeez, Finn, why didn't you say so? Call me tomorrow! Ta!"
The first thing Finn does is take away the DS and put it on the floor. "No more video games." He climbs on the bed beside Sam. "No more distractions."
"Sorry," Sam says quietly. They both know that Rachel is just down the hall, and anyone could come upstairs any moment. "I'm from the south. We don't let phones ring without answering them."
Finn smirks, keeping his voice a whisper so they can't be overheard. "I would say you could make it up to me, but I think you already promised me that."
Finn feels like an idiot for a second for saying that. This is so awkward. How is he supposed to pick up where they left off?
But then a smile spreads across Sam's face. He shifts, moving his leg over Finn until, dear god, he's straddling Finn. With a smirk, he looks down at Finn and says, "And you guys call me a dork."
Finn doesn't know if that's an insult, but Sam starts kissing him, so it must not have been too negative. He starts obsessing over whether he's supposed to use tongue, and should he sit up a bit, and where does he put his hands, but then Sam obviously senses something's wrong because he starts to move away, and then it's like everything clicks into place. Finn moves up with him, his fingers sliding into Sam's hair like they belong there, and reclaims Sam's mouth. After several minutes of sticking with the familiar, Finn draws back just enough to bite at Sam's lip and then moves back in to soothe it with his tongue. Sam makes an appreciative noise and then quickly goes quiet, and Finn doesn't know why that's so hot, but it draws a moan out of him, too.
They both kind of freeze for a moment, and even though they don't break the kiss, Finn is sure Sam is listening just as hard as he is. If anyone had happened to be in the hallway, they probably would have heard that, and it wouldn't be hard to figure out what they were hearing.
Once they're both reasonably sure the coast is clear, Sam pulls away. Finn's hands drop to Sam's waist and they both just look at each other.
"Gotta be more careful," Finn finally says, just to say something. His voice kinda shakes a bit. Sam is a perfect weight on his lap, and he's already pretty turned on. He has no idea how he's gonna manage 'more careful' with that mouth and those thighs and just Sam all on top of him.
Sam takes a deep, shaky breath. "You're right," he says, and then moves off of Finn. Finn makes a quiet sound of protest and moves to hold him in place, but Sam pushes his hands away. "We should slow down."
Finn takes a deep breath, breathing out slowly through his nose. He's still staring up at the ceiling when he says, "Dude, you're killing me here."
"I know," Sam says, his voice not too firm either. "I'm killing me too."
The bed creaks a bit as Sam moves into a more comfortable position, but sadly he's still not touching Finn. "You're, uh, not the first guy I've made out with."
Finn shifts onto his side, mirroring Sam. Part of him feels suddenly jealous, but he can tell from Sam's tone that there's more to the story.
"But you are the first guy I've made out with more than once."
The nosy (and still slightly jealous) part of him wants to ask what happened to stop him from making out with the guy (guys? were there several?) again, but he has a feeling it wasn't Sam's choice. "I'd be cool with being the first guy you've made out with more than ten times," Finn says. A hundred times, he thinks. Enough times to lose count.
Sam smiles. "Yeah? What if I insist on taking it slow?"
"Slow is still good. I prefer 'slow' to 'not at all'."
Sam seems to like that answer, because he puts his hand on Finn's hip and moves forward to kiss him.
Finn is hesitant as he kisses back, afraid to do anything that might scare Sam off. Sam picks up on it right away, though, and pulls back.
"Hey, no," Sam says, scooting closer on the bed. "I didn't mean that you should be scared to touch me."
Finn swallows. "But, how do I--"
"Just keep doing what you were doing before," Sam says with a smile. "I'm the one that was going too fast, not you. I promise I'll throw up a red flag if you cross any lines."
"Okay," Finn says as Sam moves back in. He puts his hand on Sam's waist, and after all these nights of sleeping next to him, it feels natural. Or it does until Sam inches closer on the bed, causing his shirt to ride up and Finn's hand to slip underneath until he's touching warm, tanned skin.
Sam pulls back from their lazy kiss and just looks at him for a second. Finn wonders if he should move away. How does one know what a metaphorical red flag looks like?
"I always wondered," Sam begins, then stops and licks his lips. "Wondered what it'd be like to have your hands on me. You... have really nice hands."
Finn swallows thickly. This is Sam's definition of going slow? "Yeah?"
After a moment, Sam exhales in a rush and then flops onto his back, forcing Finn to pull his hand back. "We should probably put in an appearance downstairs soon, just so people won't start wondering where we are."
Finn wants to point out the mixed signals he's getting here, but Sam's pretty much right.
"Why don't you go down, and I just go to sleep?" Finn suggests.
Sam turns toward him and arches an eyebrow. "Are you tired? It's barely past midnight."
Finn shrugs and looks away. "I should probably send Kurt an email so he won't accuse me of ignoring him, then take a quick shower, but yeah, I could sleep." Sam is quiet for a few seconds, and eventually Finn looks back at him out of curiosity. His expression is hard to read. "What?"
"Can you give me like, half an hour? I promised Mercedes we'd talk, but then I can come right back up. As long as I'm down there long enough to look like I'm not rushing back upstairs."
"Dude, you don't need to go to bed just 'cause I am."
Finn's not completely sure, but he thinks Sam's blushing. His voice is small when he responds, "I dunno, I just like sleeping next to you."
Finn swallows thickly. "Yeah, me too."
Sam flashes him a huge smile and then twists to press a quick kiss to Finn's lips before darting off to the bathroom. Finn exhales slowly through his nose and rubs at the outside of his leg while he waits, trying to divert his attention, but it doesn't help. It just makes it worse. He sits up and pulls out his phone for a distraction, and he's halfway through a text to Kurt when Sam gets out of the bathroom.
"Back in a few," he murmurs, leaning into Finn's space as easy as anything and giving him a whole new set of things to think about once Sam leaves. Sam pulls back, nipping at Finn's lip one last time before smiling and taking off into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.
Finn listens intently for the sound of Sam making his way down the stairs, and as soon as he's sure Sam's gone, he pushes off the bed and heads straight into the bathroom, locking both doors. He moves quickly enough that the water from the shower is still too cold when he steps under it, but he doesn't even care as he wraps his hand around his dick and sighs with the relief of it.
He's gotten off to the thought of kissing Sam more times than he'd like to admit, especially in the last few days, but now it's different. Now he actually knows what that mouth feels like against his own, and it's not long before the memory of it along with the thought of it moving down his body brings Finn to the edge. He bites his lip, the shower water now warmed to a perfect heat around him, and imagines Sam settled in between his legs, Finn's hands in his hair as he takes Finn's cock into that gorgeous mouth of his. With a gasp, Finn spills out over his hand, that image burnt into his brain in the best way.
He works himself through his orgasm, trusting the shower wall to keep him upright and waiting for his breathing to return to normal. God, if Sam ever does want to do that, Finn's gonna have to start mentally preparing himself so it'll last longer than five seconds. It's the hottest thing he can imagine happening to him, and that's saying something.
"Half an hour," he says out loud, reminding himself he's in a hurry. If Sam gets back upstairs and Finn is still in the shower, he's going to wonder why. Finn blushes. Being with Sam is great, but he's not quite ready to admit to the thought he just had. Then Sam definitely would put up a red flag.
When he steps out of the shower, the combination of the humidity from the shower and that sated feeling of having just gotten off make him feel like he really could go straight to sleep. But he wasn't lying about Kurt, so he pulls up his laptop and does his best to type out an email that will satisfy most of Kurt's questions.
Kurt,
sorry I didnt text you dude but in my defence things were kinda crazy. anyway yeah we kissed a few times and sam wants to take things slow so thats what were doing. thanks for your help and tell blaine i said thanks.
Finn
He checks over the email address he's sending to like five times before clicking 'Send'. The last thing he wants to do is accidentally send this to everyone he knows.
He closes his computer, puts his phone on silent, then turns the light off to wait for Sam. He starts to wonder what they can do tomorrow since it's Finn's night to cook, and then--
"Hey, Finn," Sam whispers, his hand cool where it's slipped under Finn's T-shirt.
Finn blinks at him blearily in the dark and thinks, I'm allowed to kiss you now.
He only realizes he's said it out loud when Sam smiles brightly and says, "Yes, you are."
The resulting kiss is quick but still awesome, and then Sam slides under the covers right next to him.
"Sorry it took so long," Sam whispers as he gets comfortable. "Mercedes got on a rant about Lauren - apparently they're fighting, must've missed that - and I couldn't exactly explain why I needed to get away without three other people hearing."
"S'okay," Finn mumbles around a yawn. He turns over on his other side so that he's facing Sam. "I didn't know they were fighting either. How long has that been going on?"
Sam shrugs, snaking his arm around Finn's back. "All week, apparently, but it came to a head today. I think I was too caught up in our thing to notice." His hand makes its way under the hem of Finn's shirt and comes to rest against the skin of Finn's back. Finn likes that they're able to do this on purpose now.
"Lauren goes home tomorrow, though."
"Sunday," Sam corrects, but then he scoots in that little bit closer and pulls Finn in for a kiss, so Finn doesn't point out that technically it's after midnight so technically tomorrow is Sunday.
"I'll fill you in tomorrow," Sam says, "so you won't accidentally say the wrong thing to Mercedes. But right now I wanna go to sleep."
"Sleep is good," Finn agrees, already feeling the pull of it now that he's comfortable again. He tries to say 'goodnight,' but it comes out as more of a mumble as he slips off to sleep.
******
Part Three