fic: dizzy mess (1/3)
Title: dizzy mess
Fandom: Glee
Pairing(s): Sam/Finn (background Kurt/Blaine, Brittany/Santana)
Rating: NC-17 (for some things Finn gets up to when on his own, plus some swearing)
Word Count: 23450
Summary: When the glee club takes a trip to the beach shortly after school lets out for the summer, Finn finally starts to acknowledge his feelings for Sam. (Written before the season finale aired, so not compliant with that episode.)
Notes: Thanks as always to reinventweather for being a wonderful beta reader. Title is from "The Beach" by All Time Low.
(click image for full)
everybody's singing like they're crazy in love
we made a dizzy mess of everything and it was enough
All Time Low - "The Beach"
*
In the aftermath of losing Nationals, Finn dreads going to Glee Club. Despite Mr. Schuester's attempts to get everyone motivated for next year, they're just too bummed to do anything more than sit around and talk. But then in the last couple weeks of school, Santana shocks them all by inviting them to stay at her parents' beach house for a couple of weeks in Marblehead.
"That's awfully nice of you," Sam says hesitantly.
"Yeah," Rachel pipes in, "since when do you do nice things for us?"
Finn can see the anger flare up in Santana's expression. "You better watch it, Bilbo, you're on thin ice as it is."
Finn speaks up before they have a chance to start another fight. "When would this trip happen? I've gotta house-sit for a couple weeks in June, and Kurt's got that Dalton trip for like a month."
Everyone chimes in after that, arguing over when to go. Some people can't do it any time in June, some can't do July, and Artie points out that he can't go at all unless Santana's parents built a wheelchair ramp to the house. Finn feels kinda bad about that, and he has a feeling the rest of them do too. Eventually, the bell rings, and they have to postpone the decision anyway.
On the last day of class, Santana makes the final decision to go in two weeks. This is met with protests from a few, namely Rachel, who will have to show up late, and Quinn, who won't be able to make it at all.
Finn doesn't mind the decision too much; he'll miss the first two days because he'll still be house-sitting, but there'll still be almost two weeks left to enjoy the beach. Kurt's got a tougher deal, though. The Warblers are going on a mountain retreat for a month, and despite Kurt's transfer to McKinley, he's still invited.
Santana's choice is final, though, so back at their house, Finn does his best to help Kurt decide.
"Dude, why don't you just flip a coin?" Finn says, watching Kurt pace the floor of their living room.
Kurt stares at him like he's crazy, and Finn kinda wishes he hadn't said anything. "Flip a coin? Are you serious? No matter what I choose, someone is going to be disappointed, and imagine how pissed off they'd be if it was decided on something so trivial."
Finn shrugs. "Yeah, but in that case, you could blame it on the coin. Since you want to go on both trips just as much, you let fate decide."
Kurt looks torn.
"I can flip it if you want," Finn offers.
"No, it's not--" Kurt sighs. "Look, don't tell Mercedes, but I really want to go with Blaine. This is the first chance we have to be, you know, away from home as a couple. And if I don't go with them at the beginning, I won't have a ride to join them in the middle."
Finn can see that Kurt's already decided. "I'm sure Mercedes would understand."
Kurt hums, biting at his nails as he continues pacing. "She's not too happy with Glee right now. She said there'd be no reason to go if I wasn't there."
"Isn't Sam going?"
Kurt shrugs. "Even if he is, they're not that close. I think they had fun at prom, but Mercedes isn't interested in being more than friends. I'm pretty sure Mercedes told him at Nationals, and there were no hard feelings."
Finn frowns. Why wouldn't Mercedes be interested?
"Anyway, I don't think Sam is going. Remember? He said he'd already signed up to work that first weekend. Unless he can get someone to cover those shifts last-minute, he won't have a ride."
"Wait, so he'd be going up on Monday?" Finn asks. At Kurt's nod, Finn pulls out his phone with the intention of calling Sam. "I can take him."
Kurt arches an eyebrow. "I thought you were going on Sunday."
Finn shrugs, pulling up Sam's name on his contact list. "So I'll wait a day. No reason he should miss out on the whole thing just because of one stupid work shift."
"Huh," Kurt says, looking impressed. Instead of pointing out how Kurt never gives him any credit, Finn ignores him and calls Sam.
"Ugh, thank god you called," Sam says immediately. "I'm out on deliveries and I am so bored."
"Hey to you too," Finn says, smiling. He's forgotten, lately, that he and Sam are cool now. There's no reason he shouldn't call him in the middle of the day just because.
Sam goes off on a work rant that Finn does his best to listen to, even though he doesn't know any of the people involved or really understand the context. In the meantime, Kurt takes his pacing upstairs, where Finn's sure he'll figure out a way to break it to Mercedes.
"Sorry," Sam finally says, sounding a little bit more relaxed now that he's gotten the rant out of his system. "I'm having kind of a bad day."
"No problem, dude. I'm hoping to make your day a little better."
Sam makes an interested noise, so Finn fills him in on the conversation he just had with Kurt. "We can leave on Monday," he concludes, "and still have over a week at the beach."
"Dude, that's awesome! I can totally pay you back for gas, if you don't mind waiting 'til, like, uh, the end of the month."
"Actually, instead of paying me back, I was thinking... since Santana's making each of us cook dinner one night and uh, the last time I tried to cook I set the smoke alarm off, maybe you could help me out on my night? Then we could totally call it even."
Sam laughs. "Deal."
******
The next two weeks drag on for Finn. The first week isn't so bad, but then Kurt goes off on his retreat and Finn is left completely alone in their house for a week.
He goes to visit Sam at work a couple times, mows his neighbor's lawn for some extra cash, but mostly he just sits around, bored. By the time his mom and Burt get back on Sunday morning, he's going stir crazy, so he decides to call Sam.
"What time does your shift end tonight?"
"Uh," Sam says, apparently thrown off by the question. "At 10, why?"
"Would you be at all opposed to leaving for the beach tonight?"
Sam is silent for a few seconds, and Finn's pretty sure he's not gonna be up for it. But then he sighs and says, "That'd be great, man. I gotta get out of here."
"Me too," Finn says with feeling. "I'm going crazy!"
Finn spends the rest of the day putting off packing, then frantically packing to make up for it, and before he knows it it's time for him to go pick up Sam.
The drive is awesome at first, with Sam picking songs off Finn's iPod for them to rock out to, but then exhaustion catches up with Sam. Finn looks over at a stoplight to see him slumped in his seat, completely knocked out, with his mouth hanging open. Sam just looks so... relaxed, even in the uncomfortable passenger's seat, that Finn wonders how much sleep he's getting at home. As he's thinking this over, the car behind them honks suddenly and Finn snaps his eyes back to the road, flooring it through the intersection. Luckily, it doesn't seem to disrupt Sam's sleep. He must be exhausted.
They pull into the driveway at the beach house at exactly 1 AM, approximately five minutes after Sam had woken up and started apologizing for falling asleep with Queen's Greatest Hits on repeat.
The first thing they discover when they go inside is that all the rooms have been taken except for one. Santana shows them the room with the double bed, smirking.
"You can share, or, if you're too homophobic," she stops and gives Finn a long look, which he meets with a look of defiance, "one of you can take the short, uncomfortable couch downstairs. But don't come crying to me when Puckerman's morning routine wakes you up."
"Whatever's fine with me," Sam says, glancing at Finn. "I don't mind sharing."
Finn shrugs. "Yeah, sounds good to me."
Santana looks surprised. "Cool, well. You share a bathroom with Puck and Mike Chang, the window is painted shut, so don't even bother trying to open it, and your room is closest to the stairs, so I expect you to answer the door if anyone shows up while I'm asleep."
They nod as she continues through her list of rules, and when she's finally done and back downstairs, Sam crashes face-down on the bed. When he speaks, his voice is muffled by the mattress. "Why did I think working an 8-hour shift and then coming here to deal with Santana was a good idea?"
Finn laughs. "Come on, dude. Let's say hi to everybody, then you can go to bed."
'Saying hi' turns into 'playing Catchphrase for 2 hours' and by the time they do make it back upstairs, even Finn is exhausted. He texts his mom to let her know they made it okay and then passes out without plugging his phone back in.
******
Finn wakes up the next morning feeling really, really good. Like, that perfect balance of restful and turned on. He can tell by the faint light in his room that it's early, early enough that he has plenty of time to draw out that good feeling, so he stretches his legs a bit and just lets himself lay in that happy state. He goes to move his hand down, but then he gets confused by something in his way, and his eyes pop open when he realizes he's got his hand on Sam's waist. He pushes back from him, now fully awake and aware of where he is, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Sam doesn't move, so Finn says a quick prayer that he's still asleep and takes off for the bathroom. He stares at himself in the mirror and thinks, mailman, mailman, mailman, but it doesn't help.
Eventually, he gives in. He runs water in the sink to cover up the noises while he brings himself off, clinging to the euphoria of the dream he can't remember. He doesn't think about it too much as he works himself up, concentrating on feeling good and keeping as quiet as possible.
When he goes back to bed, Sam is still completely out. Finn has never been more grateful for long pizza shifts. Still, even despite his happy afterglow feeling and the fact that he's only been asleep for a few hours, Finn can't fall back asleep. He keeps worrying about rolling over and winding up in the same situation as before, except this time it would probably wake Sam up. He lays there for minutes that turn into hours, shifting to his back and then again to his side. He hears Puck getting up for his morning run, and then the girls when they go downstairs to eat breakfast. At that point, he looks at the clock - 10:14 - and decides to give up. He stumbles downstairs to eat something and get started with his day.
Finn goes swimming for a while, then he and Mercedes get their asses handed to them in volleyball by Mike and Tina, and then when Finn troops inside to grab a sandwich, he discovers Sam sitting bleary eyed at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal.
"Dude, it's about time you joined us," Finn teases, punching him in the shoulder as he walks to the fridge.
"Say whatever you want, man. I needed it." He shovels a spoonful of cereal into his mouth and then talks around it. "Best night's sleep I've had in months."
Finn feels the same pang of guilt he feels every time he remembers Sam's situation. He knows what it's like to be poor. His mom had been unemployed for a couple months in his freshman year, and things were tough. He can't imagine what it'd be like if he'd had a brother and sister too. No wonder Sam is tired.
"Yeah, well eat fast. Mercedes has a volleyball re-match against the Asian fusion, and I know she'd prefer somebody that can actually play volleyball as her teammate."
"Awesome!" Sam says, smiling first at Finn, then Mercedes. "How'd you know I was good at volleyball?"
"Anybody's better than Finn," Mercedes says, shooting him a mock glare.
Finn holds his hands up in surrender. "I never claimed to be any good! You just said you needed a teammate."
Sam drops his bowl in the sink and claps Finn on the shoulder. "Just leave it to the pros, dude."
Finn laughs and wishes them luck. Once he's got his sandwich put together, he takes it outside so he can cheer Sam and Mercedes on from the deck.
When they come back in, Puck and Lauren are watching Raiders of the Lost Ark and arguing over which is the better Indiana Jones movie. Sam jumps in immediately with his own argument while Finn and Mercedes just sit down to watch. About 15 minutes later, though, Finn feels like he's about to fall asleep, so he goes upstairs for a nap.
It feels amazing to just go upstairs and go back to sleep. No Glee songs to practice, no homework, no family drama. He can just crawl under the covers and go straight to sleep, so he does. He wakes up an indeterminate number of hours later - it's still daylight outside, at least - because his arm's fallen asleep. He blinks awake and realizes the reason for his numb arm: Sam is laying on top of it.
Not just laying, but practically cuddled up to Finn, and he just looks so... happy. It makes Finn smile this dopey grin before he realizes what he's doing and stops. He tries to pull his arm out from under Sam, but it's too numb to get the leverage.
"Hey. Hey, dude," Finn whispers, shaking Sam on the shoulder lightly. "You're kind of killing my arm right now. Can you sit up for a sec?"
Sam mumbles something unintelligible and grabs at Finn's shirt, ducking his head into Finn's shoulder. It makes something in Finn's chest clench for a second, but then he mumbles again, something that sounds like, "Fine," and rolls off of Finn's arm, facing the other direction. Finn endures the few minutes of pain as his arm gains feeling again, staring at Sam's back and trying not to move.
When the feeling in his arm becomes more of a weird tingling than an unforgiving scream-inducing pain, Finn grabs his phone and heads downstairs.
F: i think i might have a thing for sam
He drums on the table as he waits for Kurt to reply. Everyone's watching Temple of Doom now, but it's almost over. He starts to wonder if he should head outside to deal with this when his phone vibrates to indicate Kurt's reply.
K: Very funny. Who is this? Does Finn know you've got his phone?
F: dude im serius
Finn blows out a frustrated breath as he hits send. He stares at the screen, waiting for the reply, but instead it starts ringing.
After a shocked few seconds -- he isn't sure he wants to talk about this -- he answers it. "Hey, hang on. I should go outside... for a better signal," he makes up.
"Wow. It really is you," Kurt says, sounding genuinely surprised. "I thought for sure Santana had swiped your phone, or maybe Puck."
"No dude, I mean it," he says, sliding the door shut behind him.
"And you didn't lose a bet or anything? You know if I ask you have to tell me."
"Dude," Finn says, feeling more ridiculous about it as Kurt continues. He walks out on the beach and away from the house, hoping no one he knows is out here to hear him.
"Okay, fine, fine. Wow. This came out of nowhere."
"Not..." Finn clears his throat, then continues more quietly, "Not really."
"What?"
"I, uh. I've kinda been thinking about this for a while."
Noticing Sam hadn't been a big deal at first. Sam was his teammate, the new guy, and Finn wanted to look out for him. He didn't realize maybe he was looking a little too long, though, until he started remembering all these details at unexpected moments, like when he was alone in his room at night. And then those memories would come up at inopportune moments, like when he was in class. It wasn't long before he was making excuses to himself about just appreciating the aesthetic, maybe he was just jealous of Sam's body, and dancing, and smile, and sense of humor. His hair, though... Finn could never justify his feelings about Sam's hair, so he'd always done his best to hate it. Now he could admit, though, that he wanted to slide his fingers through it, grip it, probably while they were making out. Finn shakes his head; this is not the time to be thinking about that.
"Okay, let me stop you right there," Kurt says, sounding confident. "You don't have a 'thing' for Sam."
"Um... I don't?"
There is some murmuring on the other side of the phone, and Finn thinks, oh god, now all the Warblers know, but he quickly figures out it's just Blaine.
"Listen, Finn, you wouldn't be the first straight guy with a curiosity, but take it from me. I already know how this is going to end, and I think you do too. You're destined to end up with Rachel or someone like her, and there's no need to jerk Sam around in the process."
Finn makes a face, forgetting for a moment that Kurt can't see it. "Dude, things are over with me and Rachel."
"Yeah, for now, but how many times have we heard--" Kurt gets cut off, and Finn can hear Blaine's voice. And then, also muffled, Kurt's voice. And then back and forth in clipped tones - he's pretty sure they're arguing.
"Guys, it's not--" he says loudly, trying to break up their fight through the speaker of a cell phone. He wishes he hadn't said anything.
"Finn, hi," Blaine says, taking over for Kurt. "This is Blaine."
"Yeah, hi, Blaine. You guys aren't fighting because of me, are you?"
"No, no, of course not. Just a little disagreement. Listen, Kurt here still isn't a firm believer in bisexuality, but he doesn't speak for everyone. Your feelings for Sam can be just as real as your feelings for Rachel were."
Finn is quiet for a second, not sure what to say. "So you think I'm bi?"
Blaine hums in contemplation. "It wouldn't surprise me, but only you can say for sure." He hears Kurt's voice in the background again, and Blaine sighs and adds, "Kurt wants me to tell you not to do anything until you know for sure."
"Yeah." Finn kicks at the sand a bit, shifting the phone to his other ear. "Maybe you shouldn't tell Kurt this, but I'm pretty sure already. Especially," he glances back toward the house, "especially about Sam."
"That's great!"
Finn laughs. "Yeah, maybe, but it doesn't actually help my situation." He explains the whole sleeping scenario to Blaine, leaving out the part about needing some alone time that morning.
It's actually pretty easy to talk to Blaine, and Finn feels a lot better once he's done talking. He agrees to Blaine's advice of 'take it a day at a time, and don't worry about what happens when you're asleep' and tells him to thank Kurt for him.
Now that he's told somebody, Finn feels like he could take over the world. He helps Mercedes with dinner (okay, just by putting out dishes, but it still counts), he gets Mike Chang to teach him a dance move after dinner that everyone then wants to learn, and then he, Sam, and Mercedes totally own Catchphrase against Santana, Puck, and Lauren.
The next night goes by without event, and Finn wakes up to an empty bed. He breathes a sigh of relief that he didn't do anything weird this time, then rolls over and sleeps for another hour, the sound of the shower lulling him back to sleep.
When Finn finally drags his ass out of bed and downstairs, Santana is arguing with Puck about something.
"What is the deal with you and golf?" Puck asks, shooting an incredulous look at Finn. "We just wanna go play mini-golf."
"Dude, I love mini-golf. Can I come?"
Santana scowls at him, but Puck high fives him and says, "Of course, bro. I guess that makes us even for teams," he says, shooting Santana a look.
"Oh," Finn says, "I'm not very good--"
"It's okay, you're on the other team."
"Oh. Great."
Apparently this all started because Tina and Mike wanted a showdown in mini-golf, so Finn winds up on a team with Tina and Sam versus Mike, Puck, and Lauren.
They're there to play, but the trash talk is the best part of it all. Lauren is really good at it, but Finn's team gives back just as strong.
Finn really does suck, though. Before long, they vote to start using the '6 is the highest score you can get on one hole' rule, just so Finn doesn't ruin his team's chances too much.
"Sorry, guys," Finn says when his 5th stroke once again fails to reach the hole. "Why don't you just go ahead and put down 6 so we can move on?"
"Hang on," Sam says, scrutinizing Finn. "I've got an idea."
He takes off with Finn's club, leaving Finn staring after him in confusion. "Uh."
When he gets back, he hands Finn a taller golf club. "This should help."
"I thought I grabbed the tallest one they had," Finn says, posing with it.
"Special request only," Sam explains. "My dad always asks for it when we take my brother and sister. He says it helps his back, but I think it's just 'cause it improves his game. We Evans boys don't like to lose."
They let the family behind them play through while Tina shows both Sam and Finn how to improve their stance. Sam picks it up right away, but Finn needs a little more help getting it right. Finally, Sam stops trying to explain and crouches down, putting his hand on the back of Finn's leg. "Turn this foot toward me," he says, nodding when Finn does. "Okay, now make the other one parallel."
"Huh?"
"Lined up, like this," he says, using his hands as a visual.
"Perfect!" Tina says, clapping her hands. "Now when you putt, just pretend there's a line connecting the ends of your feet, and follow that line."
Finn shoots Sam a confused look. Sam laughs, standing up and getting behind Finn. "Like this," he says, wrapping his arms around Finn and guiding the club. Finn has a moment of distraction because Sam is all up in his space, but then he sees what they mean - the club is following the same line.
"Oh, awesome!"
It doesn't ultimately help his game very much, but 5's are still better than 6's-representing-8's, and then they get to the 16th hole.
"Oh, I hate these!" Tina exclaims. "There's no skill involved at all. It's just dumb luck."
Sam goes down the hill to see where the three holes at the top come out. "Yeah, I have no idea which one goes where. I think we're just gonna have to wing it."
"I'll go first," Finn volunteers. "Might as well be the guinea pig."
Sam pats him on the back in appreciation, and Tina commends him on 'taking one for the team'. Once the ball bounces out of the middle hole - the one he was aiming for - and into the left one, they all rush down the hill to see what happens. Finn watches in amazement as the ball rolls neatly out of the middle exit door thing and right into the hole.
Finn just stares for a second, looking at Tina and Sam to figure out if that really just happened. "Wait--"
Sam laughs incredulously and Tina starts doing a victory dance. "Hole in one, dude!" Sam exclaims, pulling him into a celebratory hug before running back up to take his shot. Finn waits with Tina as Sam aims for and gets the same shot up top - but the ball stops just short of the hole at the bottom. Same thing with Tina, but their team total for that hole is 5, still less than Finn's typical score.
They still lose as a team, but Tina beats Mike by 1 point, with Sam only a couple strokes higher than Mike. Finn's just glad he managed to get a couple good scores.
When they get back, the girls are laying out on the beach, and everyone wants to go swimming. Finn's not in the mood, though. He opts for staying in and playing Zelda on his DS for most of the afternoon.
"Dude, you missed it," Sam says when he comes inside. Finn takes in the sight of him dripping wet and slightly tan, filing the image away for later, but quickly drags his eyes up to Sam's.
"What'd I miss?"
"The dudes next door are crazy. They're like, I dunno, famous hunters or something. They've got all this random shit in their house. They were telling us all these stories about how their house was haunted."
"Aw man," Finn says, wishing he could've seen.
"Yeah, but don't worry, you'll still get to go over. Apparently the one guy is Santana's dad's half-brother. When they found out we were here another week, they invited us over for dinner one night."
"Awesome!"
"Yeah!" Sam says, smiling wide. Finn can't help staring at that smile, but then Sam drops down next to him, leaning close to look at the DS. "Whatcha playin'?"
"Zelda," Finn says, then shivers when water drips onto him from Sam's hair. Sam smells very much like a dude who was just out swimming, a smell that Finn would've never guessed would make him want to jump anybody's bones, and yet that's all he can think about right now.
Sam turns to look at him, and Finn is suddenly sure he can tell what Finn's thinking. Panicking, he leans away. "Dude, you're dripping all over me," he says, exaggerating his movements as he wipes the drops off his arm.
"Oh, sorry man. Didn't realize," Sam says, his smile showing that he's probably not onto Finn after all. He gets up and runs the towel over his hair, his voice muffled from underneath it. "That version of Zelda's pretty good. I beat it in about a month."
Finn has trouble following the conversation when a shirtless Sam is toweling off in front of him, but when Sam asks about Twilight Princess, he manages to figure out the question. "Nah, I haven't played it. We have a Wii at home, but it's Kurt's."
"Aw man, you gotta play it. It's the best one out. I can probably borrow a copy from my buddy Joe back home, if you want."
"Yeah," Finn says on autopilot.
Sam glances up at him, a teasing smile on his face. "If you're not interested, you can just say so."
Finn feels like a deer in headlights for a second, thinking Sam's called him out, but then he realizes Sam is talking about the video game. "No, man, that'd be awesome. Sorry, just uh... zoned out, I guess."
He looks back down at his game and tells himself not to look back up, but then Sam makes a noise. "You know what, I still feel like I'm covered in sand. I think I'm gonna go shower before dinner."
"Cool," Finn says, holding up his hand for a fistbump as Sam passes by. He tries to focus on his game, but the image of Sam in the shower kind of overpowers everything else.
Frustrated, he tosses the game aside and goes to find something else to do.
He winds up having an awesome time learning a new card game with Mercedes until dinner. Then, by the time they get through an action movie, an animated movie and a chick flick (so as to appeal to everyone), Finn is exhausted again. It seems darker than usual outside when he crawls into bed.
******
Finn wakes up suddenly to a huge crack of thunder, and when he opens his eyes he can still see the flash of lightning that caused it. It's then that he realizes he's been hearing thunder for the past couple hours in his sleep, and then immediately after, he realizes that he's wrapped around Sam again. Only this time, Sam is facing him, and he's also awake.
"Hi," Sam says. His arm is just chillin' on Finn's hip, which seems fair enough, because Finn's arm is all the way around Sam.
Finn's first instinct is to jump back, to start making excuses, but Sam had woken up first. If he hasn't moved yet, then Finn shouldn't have to. Still, Finn is about a second away from a frantic, 'I can explain!' when Sam speaks up.
"Sorry, I kinda have a tendency to cuddle in my sleep." He blinks back at Finn. "Does it bother you?"
Finn's heartbeat picks up, and he's suddenly aware of Sam's legs kind of tangled up with his. He tries to stay as still as possible to keep Sam from noticing either of these things, saying a silent prayer of thanks that he's not having any sort of physical reaction right now.
"I can sleep on the floor," Sam offers, shifting as if he's gonna move away, and Finn makes a noise of protest, grabbing his arm.
"No!" he says hurriedly, feeling his face heat up as Sam looks back at him. He's grateful for the dark room. "I mean, it's fine. I kinda... do that too."
Sam smiles, moving his hand from Finn's waist so he can adjust his pillow. "Can't help what you do in your sleep, right?"
"Exactly," Finn says, pretty sure Sam will assume the weirdness of his voice is just from being tired.
The thunder booms outside, much further away now. Finn wonders if maybe he should go check on the girls, make sure they're alright. "You think anyone else is awake?"
Sam yawns hugely, turning his face in to his pillow. He's still half-yawning when he says, "I'm sure no one slept through that lightning strike." His hand finds its way to Finn's side again, resting comfortably like it belongs there. "I'm exhausted, though."
Finn swallows. "Yeah, me too. I think the storm's moved away now."
Sam nods absently, and he seems to already be half-asleep, still wrapped around Finn. Okay, maybe checking on the girls can wait.
******
The next day, Finn is determined to distance himself from Sam so that things aren't weird. He gets Tina, Mike and Mercedes to help him improve his volleyball game, he goes for a run with Puck, and he even has a long conversation with Brittany about turtles. And yet he still winds up smushed up next to Sam during the Pirates of the Caribbean marathon they have later that day.
It's not an unpleasant situation by any means, but Finn misses the first half hour of the first movie because he's too distracted. But then Sam starts quoting Jack Sparrow under his breath, and Finn is still distracted, but in a way that makes him laugh 'til his side hurts. He tries to keep quiet, since everyone's trying to watch, but that somehow makes it even funnier. And to make it worse, Sam just turns it up a notch when he realizes he's the reason for Finn's laughter.
Sam talks in a Jack Sparrow accent all throughout dinner. Everyone thinks it's funny (except Santana, who just rolls her eyes), but Finn is the only one who finds it hilarious. The best part is when Kurt calls Mercedes during dinner, and Sam snatches the phone first. He doesn't give Mercedes the phone back until Kurt calls him 'Captain'.
They round out the night the same as the others - with movies and card games. Finn learns a new one called 'Nertz', and he even starts to get good at it, but only when either Sam or Mercedes is his partner.
By the time Finn and Mercedes finally win a neverending game with Puck and Tina, Sam has long been gone to bed. So when Finn gets to their room, Sam's already curled up on his side, facing away from the door.
Finn stays as quiet as he can as he gets under the covers, then in a voice barely a whisper, he says, "Sam?"
He stares at the long line of Sam's back, but he doesn't move a muscle. Sure that Sam's asleep, Finn shifts around to his side and carefully drapes his arm over Sam's side. He takes his time, making sure it would seem natural, because as Sam had said, you can't help what you do in your sleep. When he's satisfied, he tilts his forehead to rest on the back of Sam's shoulder. It doesn't take him long to fall asleep.
******
The next day, Santana pulls him out of his volleyball game with a clear purpose in mind. Finn doesn't know why, but he's already scared.
Finn takes a moment to appreciate her fiery red bikini as they go a ways down the beach. Once she seems satisfied, they stop, and she just glares at him.
"What'd I do?" Finn asks, squirming under her gaze.
"Look, you've been ogling Sam more than you've been ogling me, okay? And everyone's been ogling me."
"You do look good," Finn says. His eyes kind of can't move away from her chest.
"I know, right? I'm smokin'. But eyes up here, Lurch, you're barking up the wrong tree. Hey." Her hand pushes his chin up, forcing him to look her in the eye. "I'm saying, you should back off of Sam."
Finn rolls his eyes. If anyone else had noticed, he might be worried, but Santana makes up relationships more than she actually observes them. "What business is it of yours, anyway?"
"Having been around a time or two, I know Sam is one of the good guys. And you have a history of only wanting what you can't have."
"That's not true," Finn says, pulling a face, but then Santana arches an eyebrow and sends him a glare that shuts him up instantly.
"However," she says coolly, "given that, I know that making it forbidden will only make you want it more, so I'm taking the opposite approach." Finn shoots her a confused look, so she continues, "I'm going to tell him you're interested. If history repeats himself, as I'm sure it will, you will then become completely uninterested."
"That doesn't even make sense."
"That's what I've always thought, but you keep doing it," she says with a shrug, already moving off in Sam's direction.
"No, wait, Santana," Finn says, grabbing her hand. "Please." He glances over at Sam, then quickly away when he sees him looking back. Damn Santana and her observant ways. Quietly, he tells her, "Don't tell him."
When he looks back at Sam, he's gone back to his volleyball game. Finn watches as he spikes the ball and then high-fives Mike, and he kind of aches with how much he wants him.
"Shit," Santana says with feeling, bringing Finn back into the moment. "You really do have the hots for him."
"Look, what's in gonna take? I've only got like 50 bucks for the next week, so--"
"You can keep your money," Santana says, cutting him off. She looks him over for a moment. "Fine. I guess I'll let this go for now. But you owe me. And you better appreciate those fluffy lips of his, and know that if you break his heart, I will make it so you can't sit down for a month."
"Noted," Finn says. Looking at Sam, he's not too worried about it happening that way.
******
Finn is sitting on the couch in the living room with Mercedes, flipping through channels, when Sam pops his head out from the stairs and says, "Hey, is it cool if I borrow your DS?"
His hair is matted to his face, meaning he just got out of the shower, and Finn has to fight himself not to think about that too much. Its his own fault for focusing so hard on the image this morning during his own shower. "Sure, go ahead," Finn says, then immediately regrets it. His DS sounds a lot more entertaining then watching some old sitcom re-run in the middle of the day.
"You see anything interesting?" he asks Mercedes, who just sighs and throws her head back in response. Finn laughs. "I'll take that as a no."
"I'm just so bored," Mercedes says. Finn cycles back around to the low numbers and then gives up, stopping on the TV Guide in the hopes that something interesting will show up. With another heavy sigh, Mercedes pushes up off the couch and heads for the stairs.
"You're leaving me?" Finn asks her with a frown.
"Whoa, sorry," Sam says, rounding the corner and nearly barreling into Mercedes. He sees Finn's expression and mimics it. "Why the sad face?"
"Mercedes is abandoning me to bad daytime television," Finn says, exaggerating the pout. Sam does the same, and they both stare at Mercedes.
Mercedes laughs. "You guys are a trip. But I'm sure you'll think of something. I'm gonna take advantage of the freedom I call summer to go take a nap."
Sam nods. "Can't argue with that."
"Dude," Finn says, faking anger. "You're taking her side?"
"Don't worry about it, bro. I'll keep you company," Sam says, taking Mercedes' former spot on the couch, except he sits sideways with his feet over the armrest, leaning on Finn to prop himself up.
"That's even worse!" Finn says, looking back to Mercedes and mouthing, 'Help me!'
With another laugh, she waves to Finn like she doesn't see him and says, "Have fun you two."
Once she's gone, Finn expects Sam to move, but he just settles in, using Finn like an armrest while he plays Finn's DS. Finn notices he's playing Super Mario World, one of Finn's favorites.
It's actually really comfortable, Sam leaning on him like this, and Finn thinks he could get used to this. He finds an old Scrubs re-run on Comedy Central and leaves that on, glancing over occasionally to see how Sam's fairing in the game.
The episode ends, and Finn is bored again. He tells Sam this, but he's mostly ignored in favor of Mario. "I feel so unloved."
Lauren sticks her head in just then. "Hey guys. We're gonna walk down the beach a ways and see if we can climb the water tower. Wanna come?"
"Nah," Sam says immediately. "Thanks anyway. I'm kicking ass at this right now."
He hasn't even looked up from the game. Finn laughs and looks back at Lauren. "Thanks anyway."
Lauren shrugs. "Suit yourself," she says, then slides the door shut.
"You should've gone," Sam tells him. "I wouldn't have minded."
Finn doesn't answer right away. He'd barely even thought about it. Climb a really tall tower or stay here with Sam leaning on him. It'd been a no-brainer.
Sam takes his silence the wrong way. "Seriously, go. I'm sure they haven't gone far yet."
"I'm kinda afraid of heights," Finn says, then immediately regrets it. He's never told anyone that before.
He hopes for a second that maybe Sam didn't hear him - he's awfully close to beating that level, after all - but no such luck. "Seriously?" he says, eyes still on the game. "But you're like, really tall. I wouldn't think tall guys would have that problem as much."
"Further to fall," Finn jokes, laughing awkwardly.
Sam makes a triumphant noise as he finishes out the level, then closes the DS. He twists around so that he's sitting normally on the couch, his body angled so he can see Finn. "This is why you bailed on the Empire State Building trip, isn't it? You weren't actually sick."
Finn stares straight ahead at the TV screen. "I dunno, I didn't feel too good when I thought about it. It wasn't a lie."
He can feel Sam staring at him, and he feels really uncomfortable. "Can we talk about something else?"
"I'm afraid of needles," Sam says as soon as Finn is done talking.
Finn glances over at him, surprised.
"Seriously," Sam says with a self-deprecating smile. "I had to get a physical last summer before transferring to McKinley. I almost passed out when they said they needed to give me a shot."
"Everybody hates shots, though," Finn says, shifting so he can face Sam better. "You don't have to stay behind at Cedar Point when all your friends wanna go on the tall roller coaster."
"Yeah, but at least you have a choice. Nobody's making you climb a mountain, but usually when doctors wanna poke you, they're gonna poke you." Sam shivers, gripping his arm. He stays like that for a second, eyes squeezed shut.
"Dude, come back to me," Finn says, reaching for Sam's arm. "Think happy thoughts."
Sam's eyes slide open and he looks at Finn for a second before a smile breaks out on his face. Jesus, Finn is so far gone on this guy. "Sorry," Sam says.
"You good now?" Finn asks, not letting go of Sam's arm.
"Yeah," he says, smile going softer. Finn just kind of looks at him for a second, enjoying the moment. But then Sam cuts his eyes away and moves his arm, so Finn lets go. "Hey, I think Mike Chang's got his Wii in his room. Wanna hook it up so I can school you at MarioKart?"
"Yeah!" Finn says enthusiastically, before realizing the full question. "Hang on, let's just see who schools who."
"You cheat," Finn says an hour later, when Sam beats him out yet again. He pushes at Sam's shoulder to show his annoyance.
"Sorry, dude," Sam says with a laugh. "I've had a lot of practice." He licks his lips, and Finn's eyes automatically follow the movement.
He stops staring immediately when he realizes what he's doing. "Rematch," he demands, looking back at the TV.
Mercedes comes downstairs during their rematch, claiming she had the best nap ever.
"Hey, Mercedes, help me stop this guy from cheating," Finn says, shoving his shoulder into Sam's as he turns the wheel. Sam just laughs and makes the turn like a pro.
"It looks like you're the one who's cheating, Finn," Mercedes muses.
"Thank you," Sam says, nudging Finn's shoulder.
"Where'd everybody go?" Mercedes asks.
"Down to the water tower," Sam answers. He starts to tell her about their plan to climb it, and Finn uses his moment of distraction to grab at his wheel and turn it sharp. "Dammit, Finn!"
Finn laughs and blasts past him, but Sam's right there even with him in a second, shooting a shell that makes Bowser spin out. "Nooo, cheat!" He flails blindly for Sam's controller again, keeping his eyes on the screen, and Sam reaches out to block him, both of them laughing hard.
Mercedes makes a noise that sounds like a tired laugh. "You guys are worse than Kurt and Blaine."
Sam drives off a cliff.
Finn has a feeling that's not a good sign, but he focuses on pressing his advantage in the race. When he beats Sam out by two places, it feels like a hollow victory. But he doesn't want things to be weird, so he still gloats.
When they finish out the round, Mercedes calls Finn over to the kitchen area. She hands him a jar to open, and then in a whisper, asks, "Was I out of line?"
Finn glances back at Sam, who is completely focused on the screen. Doing a trial run, as if he needs the practice. "Nah," Finn says, making a face. "I think it just caught him off-guard."
Mercedes looks confused as she takes the jar back from him. "No, I meant with you."
"Oh!" Finn says, way louder than intended. Another quick look at Sam shows that he's still not looking. Quietly, he continues, "I mean, oh. No, it didn't bother me."
"You kind of flipped out. Sam couldn't see your face, but I could."
"Yeah, well." Finn bites at his lip. Dammit, everyone's gonna know before they get back to Lima. "He drove off a cliff at the thought of us together."
Mercedes' eyes go wider than Finn's ever seen them. But right at that moment, Finn hears the sound of Sam crossing the finish line.
"Don't tell him, please," Finn says, and Mercedes has just enough time to nod before Sam stands up and asks, "What are you guys doin'?"
"Finn's... helping me with dinner!" Mercedes says, improvising. Her eyes still look wide to Finn, but maybe that's just him.
"Didn't you already cook on Mon--"
"I volunteered for two nights," she insists, voice stern. Sam seems to buy it, because he offers to help too. In the end, they do actually wind up making dinner. Finn learns how to make scrambled eggs, Sam almost burns the bacon, and Mercedes gets praised for making the best dinner of all - breakfast. It's the best night Finn has so far.
******
After staying up way too late playing Catchphrase with Mike and Tina - Finn maybe didn't want to head upstairs until Sam did - Sam and Finn make their way up to bed.
Finn feels awkward, though, once they're both under the covers, facing opposite directions. He wonders if it would be weird to say, "Goodnight."
"It's weird not having to do any homework," Sam says out of nowhere. Finn almost breathes a sigh of relief that he's broken the silence.
"Yeah, and no singing practice," he agrees.
Sam chuckles. "Maybe, but Rachel gets here tomorrow, and I'm sure she'll have us singing again within the first hour." His voice goes into a falsetto. "Guys, next year's regionals is only 165 days away! We need to be ready!"
Finn laughs, rolling over onto his back. "Her voice isn't that high."
"It can be," Sam says, rolling over too. Finn stares at the ceiling and wonders if Sam is staring at the same weird shadow coming from the window.
After a few seconds of silence, Sam says, "Hey Finn?"
"Yeah?"
"Let me know if I'm being too clingy, okay? I know it bothers some people. I... I've scared people off before. The last thing I want to do is screw up our friendship."
Finn's heart feels like it's in his throat for a second, but he swallows thickly and does his best to answer. "Dude, don't even worry about it," he says, sounding more reassuring than he feels. If Sam thinks his own actions could screw up their friendship, then Finn had better reel in his own.
They talk about video games for a few minutes, but Finn just wants to go to sleep. He does say goodnight, and it's not weird, but he doesn't feel right as he rolls over, facing away from Sam. Was that Sam's way of telling him to back off? Why else would he bring up their friendship?
The questions keep running through his head in an endless loop, and he can't sleep at all. He tries to pretend, though, when he hears Sam sit up and get something off the floor. He clicks at it a couple times - Finn realizes after a second it's his pay-as-you-go phone - and then sighs, dropping it back on the floor.
It's completely quiet for a minute or so, and then suddenly Sam is rolling over and his arm is sliding around Finn's waist. He feels Sam adjusting his pillow behind him and tries his best to fake sleep. Sam sighs again, a little lighter this time, and Finn can feel his breath on his neck. More confused than ever and a little turned on, Finn starts counting sheep. By the time he gets in the double digits, he's out.
******
Finn wakes up when it is very bright out to someone banging on the front door. He looks at the clock, and it's an uncalled for 6:30 AM. Finn remembers Santana's rule and curses the fact that he has to go answer it. Except when he tries to move, Sam's arms tighten around him and he mumbles something about not leaving, and then actually says Finn's name. Finn sucks in a breath and then immediately scrunches his eyes shut, thinking of the mailman as hard as he can. Finally, after running it through his head a dozen times or so, he manages to extricate himself, keeping his eyes shut the whole time. After he pulls on jeans, he takes another look back at Sam, who has one arm tossed over Finn's side of the bed, and whose mouth is hanging open invitingly on his pillow. "Fuck," Finn says under his breath, then grabs his phone and heads out into the hall.
It's Rachel on the other side of the door, and he really shouldn't be surprised. She is bright and perky as the sun, despite the fact that she had to have woken up by like 4 to get here this early. She talks at him nonstop for a couple of minutes as he helps her carry her things in, Finn only grunting here and there to show he's listening.
"Listen, I've only had like 3 hours of sleep, so I'm goin' back to bed," he says groggily once all her stuff is loaded in.
"Oh," Rachel says, looking disappointed.
"I'll see you in the afternoon," he says, trying to smile, but not waiting for a response.
When he gets back to the bedroom, Sam is facing the other way, and maybe it's just 'cause he's tired, but he immediately wraps himself around Sam and falls right back to sleep.
******
Later, when Finn wakes up fully and gives the situation with Sam some thought, he's more confused than ever. Sam had said he wanted to be friends, but his actions indicate otherwise, and it only gets worse as the day goes on.
First, Sam starts a dunking fight with Finn while they're swimming. The act itself isn't too strange, as Finn's been messing around with his friends for years by dunking them in the pool. But Sam's hands wind up on more than just his shoulders in trying to dunk him, and while Finn doesn't object, it's still pretty confusing.
It happens again when Sam tackles him completely unnecessarily during ultimate frisbee. It's an obvious foul, but Sam looks unrepentant even when his teammates grumble at him.
"You do realize Ultimate's not a tackle sport, right?" Finn says, wiping the sand off his arms. He should probably be angrier - he would be if it'd been anyone else - but Sam is warm and shirtless, and it's kind of distracting Finn from everything else.
He gives up on trying to figure it out for himself when Santana comes around with her camera. Sam can say whatever he wants about being friends, but the way he leans into Finn for that picture says exactly the opposite.
For once, Finn actually feels like he should talk about his feelings, so he does the only thing that makes sense.
"Hello?" Kurt says, picking up on the second ring.
"Good, I'm glad you picked up. Is Blaine there? I need to ask him something."
"Nice talking to you too," Kurt mumbles, but he hands the phone over to Blaine.
"Hey, Finn. What's up?" Blaine says. He sounds just as friendly as ever, and before Finn even realizes what he's doing, he's spilling his guts about the whole thing. Every look, the cuddling, everything that's been replaying in Finn's mind each day when he's alone in the shower, though he leaves out that detail.
"Wow," Blaine says when Finn stops for breath. "It sounds like he really likes you."
Finn isn't so sure. "I think he's just like that. He told me last night that he's clingy, and that I should tell him if it's too much, and then he'll stop."
Blaine chuckles, murmuring, "Classic."
"Huh?"
"That's exactly what you tell a guy you think is straight when you want to go out with him. Now that he's given you an out, Sam is free to flirt as much as he wants, because it's on you to tell him to stop. If you got weird about it, he could just claim he didn't know it bothered you, and that he asked you to tell him."
"But I don't want him to stop."
"Well, exactly. It's on you now. He's not gonna make the first move, here, even if he starts to believe you really are interested. It sounds like he's been burnt before, so you're gonna have to man up and be the first one to admit your feelings."
"Uh," Finn says, staring down the beach to where he can faintly see the gang. "Do I have to?"
Blaine laughs, and his voice is soft when he answers. "You don't have to do anything, Finn. But if you really care about Sam, if you want to be with him, you can't just sit around and wait for it to happen. I was lucky that your brother was patient with me. If he hadn't been, I don't know where I'd be right now."
Finn makes a face. "Dude, it's cool that you're into Kurt, but you can leave out all the sappy details."
Blaine chuckles. "Sorry."
"I should go. I promised Rachel I'd teach her how to play Nertz."
"Just give it some thought. If you ask me, he's into you, and he wants you to make the next move. So you either go get him or you move on."
"Yeah," Finn says, even though the thought of starting that conversation is more intimidating than anything. "Thanks, Blaine."
"Anytime, Finn."
******
Part Two
Fandom: Glee
Pairing(s): Sam/Finn (background Kurt/Blaine, Brittany/Santana)
Rating: NC-17 (for some things Finn gets up to when on his own, plus some swearing)
Word Count: 23450
Summary: When the glee club takes a trip to the beach shortly after school lets out for the summer, Finn finally starts to acknowledge his feelings for Sam. (Written before the season finale aired, so not compliant with that episode.)
Notes: Thanks as always to reinventweather for being a wonderful beta reader. Title is from "The Beach" by All Time Low.
(click image for full)
everybody's singing like they're crazy in love
we made a dizzy mess of everything and it was enough
All Time Low - "The Beach"
*
In the aftermath of losing Nationals, Finn dreads going to Glee Club. Despite Mr. Schuester's attempts to get everyone motivated for next year, they're just too bummed to do anything more than sit around and talk. But then in the last couple weeks of school, Santana shocks them all by inviting them to stay at her parents' beach house for a couple of weeks in Marblehead.
"That's awfully nice of you," Sam says hesitantly.
"Yeah," Rachel pipes in, "since when do you do nice things for us?"
Finn can see the anger flare up in Santana's expression. "You better watch it, Bilbo, you're on thin ice as it is."
Finn speaks up before they have a chance to start another fight. "When would this trip happen? I've gotta house-sit for a couple weeks in June, and Kurt's got that Dalton trip for like a month."
Everyone chimes in after that, arguing over when to go. Some people can't do it any time in June, some can't do July, and Artie points out that he can't go at all unless Santana's parents built a wheelchair ramp to the house. Finn feels kinda bad about that, and he has a feeling the rest of them do too. Eventually, the bell rings, and they have to postpone the decision anyway.
On the last day of class, Santana makes the final decision to go in two weeks. This is met with protests from a few, namely Rachel, who will have to show up late, and Quinn, who won't be able to make it at all.
Finn doesn't mind the decision too much; he'll miss the first two days because he'll still be house-sitting, but there'll still be almost two weeks left to enjoy the beach. Kurt's got a tougher deal, though. The Warblers are going on a mountain retreat for a month, and despite Kurt's transfer to McKinley, he's still invited.
Santana's choice is final, though, so back at their house, Finn does his best to help Kurt decide.
"Dude, why don't you just flip a coin?" Finn says, watching Kurt pace the floor of their living room.
Kurt stares at him like he's crazy, and Finn kinda wishes he hadn't said anything. "Flip a coin? Are you serious? No matter what I choose, someone is going to be disappointed, and imagine how pissed off they'd be if it was decided on something so trivial."
Finn shrugs. "Yeah, but in that case, you could blame it on the coin. Since you want to go on both trips just as much, you let fate decide."
Kurt looks torn.
"I can flip it if you want," Finn offers.
"No, it's not--" Kurt sighs. "Look, don't tell Mercedes, but I really want to go with Blaine. This is the first chance we have to be, you know, away from home as a couple. And if I don't go with them at the beginning, I won't have a ride to join them in the middle."
Finn can see that Kurt's already decided. "I'm sure Mercedes would understand."
Kurt hums, biting at his nails as he continues pacing. "She's not too happy with Glee right now. She said there'd be no reason to go if I wasn't there."
"Isn't Sam going?"
Kurt shrugs. "Even if he is, they're not that close. I think they had fun at prom, but Mercedes isn't interested in being more than friends. I'm pretty sure Mercedes told him at Nationals, and there were no hard feelings."
Finn frowns. Why wouldn't Mercedes be interested?
"Anyway, I don't think Sam is going. Remember? He said he'd already signed up to work that first weekend. Unless he can get someone to cover those shifts last-minute, he won't have a ride."
"Wait, so he'd be going up on Monday?" Finn asks. At Kurt's nod, Finn pulls out his phone with the intention of calling Sam. "I can take him."
Kurt arches an eyebrow. "I thought you were going on Sunday."
Finn shrugs, pulling up Sam's name on his contact list. "So I'll wait a day. No reason he should miss out on the whole thing just because of one stupid work shift."
"Huh," Kurt says, looking impressed. Instead of pointing out how Kurt never gives him any credit, Finn ignores him and calls Sam.
"Ugh, thank god you called," Sam says immediately. "I'm out on deliveries and I am so bored."
"Hey to you too," Finn says, smiling. He's forgotten, lately, that he and Sam are cool now. There's no reason he shouldn't call him in the middle of the day just because.
Sam goes off on a work rant that Finn does his best to listen to, even though he doesn't know any of the people involved or really understand the context. In the meantime, Kurt takes his pacing upstairs, where Finn's sure he'll figure out a way to break it to Mercedes.
"Sorry," Sam finally says, sounding a little bit more relaxed now that he's gotten the rant out of his system. "I'm having kind of a bad day."
"No problem, dude. I'm hoping to make your day a little better."
Sam makes an interested noise, so Finn fills him in on the conversation he just had with Kurt. "We can leave on Monday," he concludes, "and still have over a week at the beach."
"Dude, that's awesome! I can totally pay you back for gas, if you don't mind waiting 'til, like, uh, the end of the month."
"Actually, instead of paying me back, I was thinking... since Santana's making each of us cook dinner one night and uh, the last time I tried to cook I set the smoke alarm off, maybe you could help me out on my night? Then we could totally call it even."
Sam laughs. "Deal."
******
The next two weeks drag on for Finn. The first week isn't so bad, but then Kurt goes off on his retreat and Finn is left completely alone in their house for a week.
He goes to visit Sam at work a couple times, mows his neighbor's lawn for some extra cash, but mostly he just sits around, bored. By the time his mom and Burt get back on Sunday morning, he's going stir crazy, so he decides to call Sam.
"What time does your shift end tonight?"
"Uh," Sam says, apparently thrown off by the question. "At 10, why?"
"Would you be at all opposed to leaving for the beach tonight?"
Sam is silent for a few seconds, and Finn's pretty sure he's not gonna be up for it. But then he sighs and says, "That'd be great, man. I gotta get out of here."
"Me too," Finn says with feeling. "I'm going crazy!"
Finn spends the rest of the day putting off packing, then frantically packing to make up for it, and before he knows it it's time for him to go pick up Sam.
The drive is awesome at first, with Sam picking songs off Finn's iPod for them to rock out to, but then exhaustion catches up with Sam. Finn looks over at a stoplight to see him slumped in his seat, completely knocked out, with his mouth hanging open. Sam just looks so... relaxed, even in the uncomfortable passenger's seat, that Finn wonders how much sleep he's getting at home. As he's thinking this over, the car behind them honks suddenly and Finn snaps his eyes back to the road, flooring it through the intersection. Luckily, it doesn't seem to disrupt Sam's sleep. He must be exhausted.
They pull into the driveway at the beach house at exactly 1 AM, approximately five minutes after Sam had woken up and started apologizing for falling asleep with Queen's Greatest Hits on repeat.
The first thing they discover when they go inside is that all the rooms have been taken except for one. Santana shows them the room with the double bed, smirking.
"You can share, or, if you're too homophobic," she stops and gives Finn a long look, which he meets with a look of defiance, "one of you can take the short, uncomfortable couch downstairs. But don't come crying to me when Puckerman's morning routine wakes you up."
"Whatever's fine with me," Sam says, glancing at Finn. "I don't mind sharing."
Finn shrugs. "Yeah, sounds good to me."
Santana looks surprised. "Cool, well. You share a bathroom with Puck and Mike Chang, the window is painted shut, so don't even bother trying to open it, and your room is closest to the stairs, so I expect you to answer the door if anyone shows up while I'm asleep."
They nod as she continues through her list of rules, and when she's finally done and back downstairs, Sam crashes face-down on the bed. When he speaks, his voice is muffled by the mattress. "Why did I think working an 8-hour shift and then coming here to deal with Santana was a good idea?"
Finn laughs. "Come on, dude. Let's say hi to everybody, then you can go to bed."
'Saying hi' turns into 'playing Catchphrase for 2 hours' and by the time they do make it back upstairs, even Finn is exhausted. He texts his mom to let her know they made it okay and then passes out without plugging his phone back in.
******
Finn wakes up the next morning feeling really, really good. Like, that perfect balance of restful and turned on. He can tell by the faint light in his room that it's early, early enough that he has plenty of time to draw out that good feeling, so he stretches his legs a bit and just lets himself lay in that happy state. He goes to move his hand down, but then he gets confused by something in his way, and his eyes pop open when he realizes he's got his hand on Sam's waist. He pushes back from him, now fully awake and aware of where he is, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Sam doesn't move, so Finn says a quick prayer that he's still asleep and takes off for the bathroom. He stares at himself in the mirror and thinks, mailman, mailman, mailman, but it doesn't help.
Eventually, he gives in. He runs water in the sink to cover up the noises while he brings himself off, clinging to the euphoria of the dream he can't remember. He doesn't think about it too much as he works himself up, concentrating on feeling good and keeping as quiet as possible.
When he goes back to bed, Sam is still completely out. Finn has never been more grateful for long pizza shifts. Still, even despite his happy afterglow feeling and the fact that he's only been asleep for a few hours, Finn can't fall back asleep. He keeps worrying about rolling over and winding up in the same situation as before, except this time it would probably wake Sam up. He lays there for minutes that turn into hours, shifting to his back and then again to his side. He hears Puck getting up for his morning run, and then the girls when they go downstairs to eat breakfast. At that point, he looks at the clock - 10:14 - and decides to give up. He stumbles downstairs to eat something and get started with his day.
Finn goes swimming for a while, then he and Mercedes get their asses handed to them in volleyball by Mike and Tina, and then when Finn troops inside to grab a sandwich, he discovers Sam sitting bleary eyed at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal.
"Dude, it's about time you joined us," Finn teases, punching him in the shoulder as he walks to the fridge.
"Say whatever you want, man. I needed it." He shovels a spoonful of cereal into his mouth and then talks around it. "Best night's sleep I've had in months."
Finn feels the same pang of guilt he feels every time he remembers Sam's situation. He knows what it's like to be poor. His mom had been unemployed for a couple months in his freshman year, and things were tough. He can't imagine what it'd be like if he'd had a brother and sister too. No wonder Sam is tired.
"Yeah, well eat fast. Mercedes has a volleyball re-match against the Asian fusion, and I know she'd prefer somebody that can actually play volleyball as her teammate."
"Awesome!" Sam says, smiling first at Finn, then Mercedes. "How'd you know I was good at volleyball?"
"Anybody's better than Finn," Mercedes says, shooting him a mock glare.
Finn holds his hands up in surrender. "I never claimed to be any good! You just said you needed a teammate."
Sam drops his bowl in the sink and claps Finn on the shoulder. "Just leave it to the pros, dude."
Finn laughs and wishes them luck. Once he's got his sandwich put together, he takes it outside so he can cheer Sam and Mercedes on from the deck.
When they come back in, Puck and Lauren are watching Raiders of the Lost Ark and arguing over which is the better Indiana Jones movie. Sam jumps in immediately with his own argument while Finn and Mercedes just sit down to watch. About 15 minutes later, though, Finn feels like he's about to fall asleep, so he goes upstairs for a nap.
It feels amazing to just go upstairs and go back to sleep. No Glee songs to practice, no homework, no family drama. He can just crawl under the covers and go straight to sleep, so he does. He wakes up an indeterminate number of hours later - it's still daylight outside, at least - because his arm's fallen asleep. He blinks awake and realizes the reason for his numb arm: Sam is laying on top of it.
Not just laying, but practically cuddled up to Finn, and he just looks so... happy. It makes Finn smile this dopey grin before he realizes what he's doing and stops. He tries to pull his arm out from under Sam, but it's too numb to get the leverage.
"Hey. Hey, dude," Finn whispers, shaking Sam on the shoulder lightly. "You're kind of killing my arm right now. Can you sit up for a sec?"
Sam mumbles something unintelligible and grabs at Finn's shirt, ducking his head into Finn's shoulder. It makes something in Finn's chest clench for a second, but then he mumbles again, something that sounds like, "Fine," and rolls off of Finn's arm, facing the other direction. Finn endures the few minutes of pain as his arm gains feeling again, staring at Sam's back and trying not to move.
When the feeling in his arm becomes more of a weird tingling than an unforgiving scream-inducing pain, Finn grabs his phone and heads downstairs.
F: i think i might have a thing for sam
He drums on the table as he waits for Kurt to reply. Everyone's watching Temple of Doom now, but it's almost over. He starts to wonder if he should head outside to deal with this when his phone vibrates to indicate Kurt's reply.
K: Very funny. Who is this? Does Finn know you've got his phone?
F: dude im serius
Finn blows out a frustrated breath as he hits send. He stares at the screen, waiting for the reply, but instead it starts ringing.
After a shocked few seconds -- he isn't sure he wants to talk about this -- he answers it. "Hey, hang on. I should go outside... for a better signal," he makes up.
"Wow. It really is you," Kurt says, sounding genuinely surprised. "I thought for sure Santana had swiped your phone, or maybe Puck."
"No dude, I mean it," he says, sliding the door shut behind him.
"And you didn't lose a bet or anything? You know if I ask you have to tell me."
"Dude," Finn says, feeling more ridiculous about it as Kurt continues. He walks out on the beach and away from the house, hoping no one he knows is out here to hear him.
"Okay, fine, fine. Wow. This came out of nowhere."
"Not..." Finn clears his throat, then continues more quietly, "Not really."
"What?"
"I, uh. I've kinda been thinking about this for a while."
Noticing Sam hadn't been a big deal at first. Sam was his teammate, the new guy, and Finn wanted to look out for him. He didn't realize maybe he was looking a little too long, though, until he started remembering all these details at unexpected moments, like when he was alone in his room at night. And then those memories would come up at inopportune moments, like when he was in class. It wasn't long before he was making excuses to himself about just appreciating the aesthetic, maybe he was just jealous of Sam's body, and dancing, and smile, and sense of humor. His hair, though... Finn could never justify his feelings about Sam's hair, so he'd always done his best to hate it. Now he could admit, though, that he wanted to slide his fingers through it, grip it, probably while they were making out. Finn shakes his head; this is not the time to be thinking about that.
"Okay, let me stop you right there," Kurt says, sounding confident. "You don't have a 'thing' for Sam."
"Um... I don't?"
There is some murmuring on the other side of the phone, and Finn thinks, oh god, now all the Warblers know, but he quickly figures out it's just Blaine.
"Listen, Finn, you wouldn't be the first straight guy with a curiosity, but take it from me. I already know how this is going to end, and I think you do too. You're destined to end up with Rachel or someone like her, and there's no need to jerk Sam around in the process."
Finn makes a face, forgetting for a moment that Kurt can't see it. "Dude, things are over with me and Rachel."
"Yeah, for now, but how many times have we heard--" Kurt gets cut off, and Finn can hear Blaine's voice. And then, also muffled, Kurt's voice. And then back and forth in clipped tones - he's pretty sure they're arguing.
"Guys, it's not--" he says loudly, trying to break up their fight through the speaker of a cell phone. He wishes he hadn't said anything.
"Finn, hi," Blaine says, taking over for Kurt. "This is Blaine."
"Yeah, hi, Blaine. You guys aren't fighting because of me, are you?"
"No, no, of course not. Just a little disagreement. Listen, Kurt here still isn't a firm believer in bisexuality, but he doesn't speak for everyone. Your feelings for Sam can be just as real as your feelings for Rachel were."
Finn is quiet for a second, not sure what to say. "So you think I'm bi?"
Blaine hums in contemplation. "It wouldn't surprise me, but only you can say for sure." He hears Kurt's voice in the background again, and Blaine sighs and adds, "Kurt wants me to tell you not to do anything until you know for sure."
"Yeah." Finn kicks at the sand a bit, shifting the phone to his other ear. "Maybe you shouldn't tell Kurt this, but I'm pretty sure already. Especially," he glances back toward the house, "especially about Sam."
"That's great!"
Finn laughs. "Yeah, maybe, but it doesn't actually help my situation." He explains the whole sleeping scenario to Blaine, leaving out the part about needing some alone time that morning.
It's actually pretty easy to talk to Blaine, and Finn feels a lot better once he's done talking. He agrees to Blaine's advice of 'take it a day at a time, and don't worry about what happens when you're asleep' and tells him to thank Kurt for him.
Now that he's told somebody, Finn feels like he could take over the world. He helps Mercedes with dinner (okay, just by putting out dishes, but it still counts), he gets Mike Chang to teach him a dance move after dinner that everyone then wants to learn, and then he, Sam, and Mercedes totally own Catchphrase against Santana, Puck, and Lauren.
The next night goes by without event, and Finn wakes up to an empty bed. He breathes a sigh of relief that he didn't do anything weird this time, then rolls over and sleeps for another hour, the sound of the shower lulling him back to sleep.
When Finn finally drags his ass out of bed and downstairs, Santana is arguing with Puck about something.
"What is the deal with you and golf?" Puck asks, shooting an incredulous look at Finn. "We just wanna go play mini-golf."
"Dude, I love mini-golf. Can I come?"
Santana scowls at him, but Puck high fives him and says, "Of course, bro. I guess that makes us even for teams," he says, shooting Santana a look.
"Oh," Finn says, "I'm not very good--"
"It's okay, you're on the other team."
"Oh. Great."
Apparently this all started because Tina and Mike wanted a showdown in mini-golf, so Finn winds up on a team with Tina and Sam versus Mike, Puck, and Lauren.
They're there to play, but the trash talk is the best part of it all. Lauren is really good at it, but Finn's team gives back just as strong.
Finn really does suck, though. Before long, they vote to start using the '6 is the highest score you can get on one hole' rule, just so Finn doesn't ruin his team's chances too much.
"Sorry, guys," Finn says when his 5th stroke once again fails to reach the hole. "Why don't you just go ahead and put down 6 so we can move on?"
"Hang on," Sam says, scrutinizing Finn. "I've got an idea."
He takes off with Finn's club, leaving Finn staring after him in confusion. "Uh."
When he gets back, he hands Finn a taller golf club. "This should help."
"I thought I grabbed the tallest one they had," Finn says, posing with it.
"Special request only," Sam explains. "My dad always asks for it when we take my brother and sister. He says it helps his back, but I think it's just 'cause it improves his game. We Evans boys don't like to lose."
They let the family behind them play through while Tina shows both Sam and Finn how to improve their stance. Sam picks it up right away, but Finn needs a little more help getting it right. Finally, Sam stops trying to explain and crouches down, putting his hand on the back of Finn's leg. "Turn this foot toward me," he says, nodding when Finn does. "Okay, now make the other one parallel."
"Huh?"
"Lined up, like this," he says, using his hands as a visual.
"Perfect!" Tina says, clapping her hands. "Now when you putt, just pretend there's a line connecting the ends of your feet, and follow that line."
Finn shoots Sam a confused look. Sam laughs, standing up and getting behind Finn. "Like this," he says, wrapping his arms around Finn and guiding the club. Finn has a moment of distraction because Sam is all up in his space, but then he sees what they mean - the club is following the same line.
"Oh, awesome!"
It doesn't ultimately help his game very much, but 5's are still better than 6's-representing-8's, and then they get to the 16th hole.
"Oh, I hate these!" Tina exclaims. "There's no skill involved at all. It's just dumb luck."
Sam goes down the hill to see where the three holes at the top come out. "Yeah, I have no idea which one goes where. I think we're just gonna have to wing it."
"I'll go first," Finn volunteers. "Might as well be the guinea pig."
Sam pats him on the back in appreciation, and Tina commends him on 'taking one for the team'. Once the ball bounces out of the middle hole - the one he was aiming for - and into the left one, they all rush down the hill to see what happens. Finn watches in amazement as the ball rolls neatly out of the middle exit door thing and right into the hole.
Finn just stares for a second, looking at Tina and Sam to figure out if that really just happened. "Wait--"
Sam laughs incredulously and Tina starts doing a victory dance. "Hole in one, dude!" Sam exclaims, pulling him into a celebratory hug before running back up to take his shot. Finn waits with Tina as Sam aims for and gets the same shot up top - but the ball stops just short of the hole at the bottom. Same thing with Tina, but their team total for that hole is 5, still less than Finn's typical score.
They still lose as a team, but Tina beats Mike by 1 point, with Sam only a couple strokes higher than Mike. Finn's just glad he managed to get a couple good scores.
When they get back, the girls are laying out on the beach, and everyone wants to go swimming. Finn's not in the mood, though. He opts for staying in and playing Zelda on his DS for most of the afternoon.
"Dude, you missed it," Sam says when he comes inside. Finn takes in the sight of him dripping wet and slightly tan, filing the image away for later, but quickly drags his eyes up to Sam's.
"What'd I miss?"
"The dudes next door are crazy. They're like, I dunno, famous hunters or something. They've got all this random shit in their house. They were telling us all these stories about how their house was haunted."
"Aw man," Finn says, wishing he could've seen.
"Yeah, but don't worry, you'll still get to go over. Apparently the one guy is Santana's dad's half-brother. When they found out we were here another week, they invited us over for dinner one night."
"Awesome!"
"Yeah!" Sam says, smiling wide. Finn can't help staring at that smile, but then Sam drops down next to him, leaning close to look at the DS. "Whatcha playin'?"
"Zelda," Finn says, then shivers when water drips onto him from Sam's hair. Sam smells very much like a dude who was just out swimming, a smell that Finn would've never guessed would make him want to jump anybody's bones, and yet that's all he can think about right now.
Sam turns to look at him, and Finn is suddenly sure he can tell what Finn's thinking. Panicking, he leans away. "Dude, you're dripping all over me," he says, exaggerating his movements as he wipes the drops off his arm.
"Oh, sorry man. Didn't realize," Sam says, his smile showing that he's probably not onto Finn after all. He gets up and runs the towel over his hair, his voice muffled from underneath it. "That version of Zelda's pretty good. I beat it in about a month."
Finn has trouble following the conversation when a shirtless Sam is toweling off in front of him, but when Sam asks about Twilight Princess, he manages to figure out the question. "Nah, I haven't played it. We have a Wii at home, but it's Kurt's."
"Aw man, you gotta play it. It's the best one out. I can probably borrow a copy from my buddy Joe back home, if you want."
"Yeah," Finn says on autopilot.
Sam glances up at him, a teasing smile on his face. "If you're not interested, you can just say so."
Finn feels like a deer in headlights for a second, thinking Sam's called him out, but then he realizes Sam is talking about the video game. "No, man, that'd be awesome. Sorry, just uh... zoned out, I guess."
He looks back down at his game and tells himself not to look back up, but then Sam makes a noise. "You know what, I still feel like I'm covered in sand. I think I'm gonna go shower before dinner."
"Cool," Finn says, holding up his hand for a fistbump as Sam passes by. He tries to focus on his game, but the image of Sam in the shower kind of overpowers everything else.
Frustrated, he tosses the game aside and goes to find something else to do.
He winds up having an awesome time learning a new card game with Mercedes until dinner. Then, by the time they get through an action movie, an animated movie and a chick flick (so as to appeal to everyone), Finn is exhausted again. It seems darker than usual outside when he crawls into bed.
******
Finn wakes up suddenly to a huge crack of thunder, and when he opens his eyes he can still see the flash of lightning that caused it. It's then that he realizes he's been hearing thunder for the past couple hours in his sleep, and then immediately after, he realizes that he's wrapped around Sam again. Only this time, Sam is facing him, and he's also awake.
"Hi," Sam says. His arm is just chillin' on Finn's hip, which seems fair enough, because Finn's arm is all the way around Sam.
Finn's first instinct is to jump back, to start making excuses, but Sam had woken up first. If he hasn't moved yet, then Finn shouldn't have to. Still, Finn is about a second away from a frantic, 'I can explain!' when Sam speaks up.
"Sorry, I kinda have a tendency to cuddle in my sleep." He blinks back at Finn. "Does it bother you?"
Finn's heartbeat picks up, and he's suddenly aware of Sam's legs kind of tangled up with his. He tries to stay as still as possible to keep Sam from noticing either of these things, saying a silent prayer of thanks that he's not having any sort of physical reaction right now.
"I can sleep on the floor," Sam offers, shifting as if he's gonna move away, and Finn makes a noise of protest, grabbing his arm.
"No!" he says hurriedly, feeling his face heat up as Sam looks back at him. He's grateful for the dark room. "I mean, it's fine. I kinda... do that too."
Sam smiles, moving his hand from Finn's waist so he can adjust his pillow. "Can't help what you do in your sleep, right?"
"Exactly," Finn says, pretty sure Sam will assume the weirdness of his voice is just from being tired.
The thunder booms outside, much further away now. Finn wonders if maybe he should go check on the girls, make sure they're alright. "You think anyone else is awake?"
Sam yawns hugely, turning his face in to his pillow. He's still half-yawning when he says, "I'm sure no one slept through that lightning strike." His hand finds its way to Finn's side again, resting comfortably like it belongs there. "I'm exhausted, though."
Finn swallows. "Yeah, me too. I think the storm's moved away now."
Sam nods absently, and he seems to already be half-asleep, still wrapped around Finn. Okay, maybe checking on the girls can wait.
******
The next day, Finn is determined to distance himself from Sam so that things aren't weird. He gets Tina, Mike and Mercedes to help him improve his volleyball game, he goes for a run with Puck, and he even has a long conversation with Brittany about turtles. And yet he still winds up smushed up next to Sam during the Pirates of the Caribbean marathon they have later that day.
It's not an unpleasant situation by any means, but Finn misses the first half hour of the first movie because he's too distracted. But then Sam starts quoting Jack Sparrow under his breath, and Finn is still distracted, but in a way that makes him laugh 'til his side hurts. He tries to keep quiet, since everyone's trying to watch, but that somehow makes it even funnier. And to make it worse, Sam just turns it up a notch when he realizes he's the reason for Finn's laughter.
Sam talks in a Jack Sparrow accent all throughout dinner. Everyone thinks it's funny (except Santana, who just rolls her eyes), but Finn is the only one who finds it hilarious. The best part is when Kurt calls Mercedes during dinner, and Sam snatches the phone first. He doesn't give Mercedes the phone back until Kurt calls him 'Captain'.
They round out the night the same as the others - with movies and card games. Finn learns a new one called 'Nertz', and he even starts to get good at it, but only when either Sam or Mercedes is his partner.
By the time Finn and Mercedes finally win a neverending game with Puck and Tina, Sam has long been gone to bed. So when Finn gets to their room, Sam's already curled up on his side, facing away from the door.
Finn stays as quiet as he can as he gets under the covers, then in a voice barely a whisper, he says, "Sam?"
He stares at the long line of Sam's back, but he doesn't move a muscle. Sure that Sam's asleep, Finn shifts around to his side and carefully drapes his arm over Sam's side. He takes his time, making sure it would seem natural, because as Sam had said, you can't help what you do in your sleep. When he's satisfied, he tilts his forehead to rest on the back of Sam's shoulder. It doesn't take him long to fall asleep.
******
The next day, Santana pulls him out of his volleyball game with a clear purpose in mind. Finn doesn't know why, but he's already scared.
Finn takes a moment to appreciate her fiery red bikini as they go a ways down the beach. Once she seems satisfied, they stop, and she just glares at him.
"What'd I do?" Finn asks, squirming under her gaze.
"Look, you've been ogling Sam more than you've been ogling me, okay? And everyone's been ogling me."
"You do look good," Finn says. His eyes kind of can't move away from her chest.
"I know, right? I'm smokin'. But eyes up here, Lurch, you're barking up the wrong tree. Hey." Her hand pushes his chin up, forcing him to look her in the eye. "I'm saying, you should back off of Sam."
Finn rolls his eyes. If anyone else had noticed, he might be worried, but Santana makes up relationships more than she actually observes them. "What business is it of yours, anyway?"
"Having been around a time or two, I know Sam is one of the good guys. And you have a history of only wanting what you can't have."
"That's not true," Finn says, pulling a face, but then Santana arches an eyebrow and sends him a glare that shuts him up instantly.
"However," she says coolly, "given that, I know that making it forbidden will only make you want it more, so I'm taking the opposite approach." Finn shoots her a confused look, so she continues, "I'm going to tell him you're interested. If history repeats himself, as I'm sure it will, you will then become completely uninterested."
"That doesn't even make sense."
"That's what I've always thought, but you keep doing it," she says with a shrug, already moving off in Sam's direction.
"No, wait, Santana," Finn says, grabbing her hand. "Please." He glances over at Sam, then quickly away when he sees him looking back. Damn Santana and her observant ways. Quietly, he tells her, "Don't tell him."
When he looks back at Sam, he's gone back to his volleyball game. Finn watches as he spikes the ball and then high-fives Mike, and he kind of aches with how much he wants him.
"Shit," Santana says with feeling, bringing Finn back into the moment. "You really do have the hots for him."
"Look, what's in gonna take? I've only got like 50 bucks for the next week, so--"
"You can keep your money," Santana says, cutting him off. She looks him over for a moment. "Fine. I guess I'll let this go for now. But you owe me. And you better appreciate those fluffy lips of his, and know that if you break his heart, I will make it so you can't sit down for a month."
"Noted," Finn says. Looking at Sam, he's not too worried about it happening that way.
******
Finn is sitting on the couch in the living room with Mercedes, flipping through channels, when Sam pops his head out from the stairs and says, "Hey, is it cool if I borrow your DS?"
His hair is matted to his face, meaning he just got out of the shower, and Finn has to fight himself not to think about that too much. Its his own fault for focusing so hard on the image this morning during his own shower. "Sure, go ahead," Finn says, then immediately regrets it. His DS sounds a lot more entertaining then watching some old sitcom re-run in the middle of the day.
"You see anything interesting?" he asks Mercedes, who just sighs and throws her head back in response. Finn laughs. "I'll take that as a no."
"I'm just so bored," Mercedes says. Finn cycles back around to the low numbers and then gives up, stopping on the TV Guide in the hopes that something interesting will show up. With another heavy sigh, Mercedes pushes up off the couch and heads for the stairs.
"You're leaving me?" Finn asks her with a frown.
"Whoa, sorry," Sam says, rounding the corner and nearly barreling into Mercedes. He sees Finn's expression and mimics it. "Why the sad face?"
"Mercedes is abandoning me to bad daytime television," Finn says, exaggerating the pout. Sam does the same, and they both stare at Mercedes.
Mercedes laughs. "You guys are a trip. But I'm sure you'll think of something. I'm gonna take advantage of the freedom I call summer to go take a nap."
Sam nods. "Can't argue with that."
"Dude," Finn says, faking anger. "You're taking her side?"
"Don't worry about it, bro. I'll keep you company," Sam says, taking Mercedes' former spot on the couch, except he sits sideways with his feet over the armrest, leaning on Finn to prop himself up.
"That's even worse!" Finn says, looking back to Mercedes and mouthing, 'Help me!'
With another laugh, she waves to Finn like she doesn't see him and says, "Have fun you two."
Once she's gone, Finn expects Sam to move, but he just settles in, using Finn like an armrest while he plays Finn's DS. Finn notices he's playing Super Mario World, one of Finn's favorites.
It's actually really comfortable, Sam leaning on him like this, and Finn thinks he could get used to this. He finds an old Scrubs re-run on Comedy Central and leaves that on, glancing over occasionally to see how Sam's fairing in the game.
The episode ends, and Finn is bored again. He tells Sam this, but he's mostly ignored in favor of Mario. "I feel so unloved."
Lauren sticks her head in just then. "Hey guys. We're gonna walk down the beach a ways and see if we can climb the water tower. Wanna come?"
"Nah," Sam says immediately. "Thanks anyway. I'm kicking ass at this right now."
He hasn't even looked up from the game. Finn laughs and looks back at Lauren. "Thanks anyway."
Lauren shrugs. "Suit yourself," she says, then slides the door shut.
"You should've gone," Sam tells him. "I wouldn't have minded."
Finn doesn't answer right away. He'd barely even thought about it. Climb a really tall tower or stay here with Sam leaning on him. It'd been a no-brainer.
Sam takes his silence the wrong way. "Seriously, go. I'm sure they haven't gone far yet."
"I'm kinda afraid of heights," Finn says, then immediately regrets it. He's never told anyone that before.
He hopes for a second that maybe Sam didn't hear him - he's awfully close to beating that level, after all - but no such luck. "Seriously?" he says, eyes still on the game. "But you're like, really tall. I wouldn't think tall guys would have that problem as much."
"Further to fall," Finn jokes, laughing awkwardly.
Sam makes a triumphant noise as he finishes out the level, then closes the DS. He twists around so that he's sitting normally on the couch, his body angled so he can see Finn. "This is why you bailed on the Empire State Building trip, isn't it? You weren't actually sick."
Finn stares straight ahead at the TV screen. "I dunno, I didn't feel too good when I thought about it. It wasn't a lie."
He can feel Sam staring at him, and he feels really uncomfortable. "Can we talk about something else?"
"I'm afraid of needles," Sam says as soon as Finn is done talking.
Finn glances over at him, surprised.
"Seriously," Sam says with a self-deprecating smile. "I had to get a physical last summer before transferring to McKinley. I almost passed out when they said they needed to give me a shot."
"Everybody hates shots, though," Finn says, shifting so he can face Sam better. "You don't have to stay behind at Cedar Point when all your friends wanna go on the tall roller coaster."
"Yeah, but at least you have a choice. Nobody's making you climb a mountain, but usually when doctors wanna poke you, they're gonna poke you." Sam shivers, gripping his arm. He stays like that for a second, eyes squeezed shut.
"Dude, come back to me," Finn says, reaching for Sam's arm. "Think happy thoughts."
Sam's eyes slide open and he looks at Finn for a second before a smile breaks out on his face. Jesus, Finn is so far gone on this guy. "Sorry," Sam says.
"You good now?" Finn asks, not letting go of Sam's arm.
"Yeah," he says, smile going softer. Finn just kind of looks at him for a second, enjoying the moment. But then Sam cuts his eyes away and moves his arm, so Finn lets go. "Hey, I think Mike Chang's got his Wii in his room. Wanna hook it up so I can school you at MarioKart?"
"Yeah!" Finn says enthusiastically, before realizing the full question. "Hang on, let's just see who schools who."
"You cheat," Finn says an hour later, when Sam beats him out yet again. He pushes at Sam's shoulder to show his annoyance.
"Sorry, dude," Sam says with a laugh. "I've had a lot of practice." He licks his lips, and Finn's eyes automatically follow the movement.
He stops staring immediately when he realizes what he's doing. "Rematch," he demands, looking back at the TV.
Mercedes comes downstairs during their rematch, claiming she had the best nap ever.
"Hey, Mercedes, help me stop this guy from cheating," Finn says, shoving his shoulder into Sam's as he turns the wheel. Sam just laughs and makes the turn like a pro.
"It looks like you're the one who's cheating, Finn," Mercedes muses.
"Thank you," Sam says, nudging Finn's shoulder.
"Where'd everybody go?" Mercedes asks.
"Down to the water tower," Sam answers. He starts to tell her about their plan to climb it, and Finn uses his moment of distraction to grab at his wheel and turn it sharp. "Dammit, Finn!"
Finn laughs and blasts past him, but Sam's right there even with him in a second, shooting a shell that makes Bowser spin out. "Nooo, cheat!" He flails blindly for Sam's controller again, keeping his eyes on the screen, and Sam reaches out to block him, both of them laughing hard.
Mercedes makes a noise that sounds like a tired laugh. "You guys are worse than Kurt and Blaine."
Sam drives off a cliff.
Finn has a feeling that's not a good sign, but he focuses on pressing his advantage in the race. When he beats Sam out by two places, it feels like a hollow victory. But he doesn't want things to be weird, so he still gloats.
When they finish out the round, Mercedes calls Finn over to the kitchen area. She hands him a jar to open, and then in a whisper, asks, "Was I out of line?"
Finn glances back at Sam, who is completely focused on the screen. Doing a trial run, as if he needs the practice. "Nah," Finn says, making a face. "I think it just caught him off-guard."
Mercedes looks confused as she takes the jar back from him. "No, I meant with you."
"Oh!" Finn says, way louder than intended. Another quick look at Sam shows that he's still not looking. Quietly, he continues, "I mean, oh. No, it didn't bother me."
"You kind of flipped out. Sam couldn't see your face, but I could."
"Yeah, well." Finn bites at his lip. Dammit, everyone's gonna know before they get back to Lima. "He drove off a cliff at the thought of us together."
Mercedes' eyes go wider than Finn's ever seen them. But right at that moment, Finn hears the sound of Sam crossing the finish line.
"Don't tell him, please," Finn says, and Mercedes has just enough time to nod before Sam stands up and asks, "What are you guys doin'?"
"Finn's... helping me with dinner!" Mercedes says, improvising. Her eyes still look wide to Finn, but maybe that's just him.
"Didn't you already cook on Mon--"
"I volunteered for two nights," she insists, voice stern. Sam seems to buy it, because he offers to help too. In the end, they do actually wind up making dinner. Finn learns how to make scrambled eggs, Sam almost burns the bacon, and Mercedes gets praised for making the best dinner of all - breakfast. It's the best night Finn has so far.
******
After staying up way too late playing Catchphrase with Mike and Tina - Finn maybe didn't want to head upstairs until Sam did - Sam and Finn make their way up to bed.
Finn feels awkward, though, once they're both under the covers, facing opposite directions. He wonders if it would be weird to say, "Goodnight."
"It's weird not having to do any homework," Sam says out of nowhere. Finn almost breathes a sigh of relief that he's broken the silence.
"Yeah, and no singing practice," he agrees.
Sam chuckles. "Maybe, but Rachel gets here tomorrow, and I'm sure she'll have us singing again within the first hour." His voice goes into a falsetto. "Guys, next year's regionals is only 165 days away! We need to be ready!"
Finn laughs, rolling over onto his back. "Her voice isn't that high."
"It can be," Sam says, rolling over too. Finn stares at the ceiling and wonders if Sam is staring at the same weird shadow coming from the window.
After a few seconds of silence, Sam says, "Hey Finn?"
"Yeah?"
"Let me know if I'm being too clingy, okay? I know it bothers some people. I... I've scared people off before. The last thing I want to do is screw up our friendship."
Finn's heart feels like it's in his throat for a second, but he swallows thickly and does his best to answer. "Dude, don't even worry about it," he says, sounding more reassuring than he feels. If Sam thinks his own actions could screw up their friendship, then Finn had better reel in his own.
They talk about video games for a few minutes, but Finn just wants to go to sleep. He does say goodnight, and it's not weird, but he doesn't feel right as he rolls over, facing away from Sam. Was that Sam's way of telling him to back off? Why else would he bring up their friendship?
The questions keep running through his head in an endless loop, and he can't sleep at all. He tries to pretend, though, when he hears Sam sit up and get something off the floor. He clicks at it a couple times - Finn realizes after a second it's his pay-as-you-go phone - and then sighs, dropping it back on the floor.
It's completely quiet for a minute or so, and then suddenly Sam is rolling over and his arm is sliding around Finn's waist. He feels Sam adjusting his pillow behind him and tries his best to fake sleep. Sam sighs again, a little lighter this time, and Finn can feel his breath on his neck. More confused than ever and a little turned on, Finn starts counting sheep. By the time he gets in the double digits, he's out.
******
Finn wakes up when it is very bright out to someone banging on the front door. He looks at the clock, and it's an uncalled for 6:30 AM. Finn remembers Santana's rule and curses the fact that he has to go answer it. Except when he tries to move, Sam's arms tighten around him and he mumbles something about not leaving, and then actually says Finn's name. Finn sucks in a breath and then immediately scrunches his eyes shut, thinking of the mailman as hard as he can. Finally, after running it through his head a dozen times or so, he manages to extricate himself, keeping his eyes shut the whole time. After he pulls on jeans, he takes another look back at Sam, who has one arm tossed over Finn's side of the bed, and whose mouth is hanging open invitingly on his pillow. "Fuck," Finn says under his breath, then grabs his phone and heads out into the hall.
It's Rachel on the other side of the door, and he really shouldn't be surprised. She is bright and perky as the sun, despite the fact that she had to have woken up by like 4 to get here this early. She talks at him nonstop for a couple of minutes as he helps her carry her things in, Finn only grunting here and there to show he's listening.
"Listen, I've only had like 3 hours of sleep, so I'm goin' back to bed," he says groggily once all her stuff is loaded in.
"Oh," Rachel says, looking disappointed.
"I'll see you in the afternoon," he says, trying to smile, but not waiting for a response.
When he gets back to the bedroom, Sam is facing the other way, and maybe it's just 'cause he's tired, but he immediately wraps himself around Sam and falls right back to sleep.
******
Later, when Finn wakes up fully and gives the situation with Sam some thought, he's more confused than ever. Sam had said he wanted to be friends, but his actions indicate otherwise, and it only gets worse as the day goes on.
First, Sam starts a dunking fight with Finn while they're swimming. The act itself isn't too strange, as Finn's been messing around with his friends for years by dunking them in the pool. But Sam's hands wind up on more than just his shoulders in trying to dunk him, and while Finn doesn't object, it's still pretty confusing.
It happens again when Sam tackles him completely unnecessarily during ultimate frisbee. It's an obvious foul, but Sam looks unrepentant even when his teammates grumble at him.
"You do realize Ultimate's not a tackle sport, right?" Finn says, wiping the sand off his arms. He should probably be angrier - he would be if it'd been anyone else - but Sam is warm and shirtless, and it's kind of distracting Finn from everything else.
He gives up on trying to figure it out for himself when Santana comes around with her camera. Sam can say whatever he wants about being friends, but the way he leans into Finn for that picture says exactly the opposite.
For once, Finn actually feels like he should talk about his feelings, so he does the only thing that makes sense.
"Hello?" Kurt says, picking up on the second ring.
"Good, I'm glad you picked up. Is Blaine there? I need to ask him something."
"Nice talking to you too," Kurt mumbles, but he hands the phone over to Blaine.
"Hey, Finn. What's up?" Blaine says. He sounds just as friendly as ever, and before Finn even realizes what he's doing, he's spilling his guts about the whole thing. Every look, the cuddling, everything that's been replaying in Finn's mind each day when he's alone in the shower, though he leaves out that detail.
"Wow," Blaine says when Finn stops for breath. "It sounds like he really likes you."
Finn isn't so sure. "I think he's just like that. He told me last night that he's clingy, and that I should tell him if it's too much, and then he'll stop."
Blaine chuckles, murmuring, "Classic."
"Huh?"
"That's exactly what you tell a guy you think is straight when you want to go out with him. Now that he's given you an out, Sam is free to flirt as much as he wants, because it's on you to tell him to stop. If you got weird about it, he could just claim he didn't know it bothered you, and that he asked you to tell him."
"But I don't want him to stop."
"Well, exactly. It's on you now. He's not gonna make the first move, here, even if he starts to believe you really are interested. It sounds like he's been burnt before, so you're gonna have to man up and be the first one to admit your feelings."
"Uh," Finn says, staring down the beach to where he can faintly see the gang. "Do I have to?"
Blaine laughs, and his voice is soft when he answers. "You don't have to do anything, Finn. But if you really care about Sam, if you want to be with him, you can't just sit around and wait for it to happen. I was lucky that your brother was patient with me. If he hadn't been, I don't know where I'd be right now."
Finn makes a face. "Dude, it's cool that you're into Kurt, but you can leave out all the sappy details."
Blaine chuckles. "Sorry."
"I should go. I promised Rachel I'd teach her how to play Nertz."
"Just give it some thought. If you ask me, he's into you, and he wants you to make the next move. So you either go get him or you move on."
"Yeah," Finn says, even though the thought of starting that conversation is more intimidating than anything. "Thanks, Blaine."
"Anytime, Finn."
******
Part Two