Fic: Exquisite Creatures for teaboytoaliens
Title: Exquisite Creatures (for teaboytoaliens)
Rating: PG-13 I think
Characters: Artie Abrams/Sam Evans; Lauren Zizes; Jacob Ben Israel; mentions of other Glee characters
Summary: Based on a prompt for the glee_rare_pairs meme on LJ. Artie and Sam go to a Comic Con, dressed as Erik/Charles. Both private and public revelations ensue.
Warnings: sexual conversations (mention of BDSM)
Spoilers: General season 3 aired so far. Sam spoiler if you haven’t followed entertainment news (the event, not the circumstances). Tell me if there’s anything else I let slip.
“I can’t believe our parents let us do this!” Artie exclaimed as he finished buckling the suspenders on his costume. The yellow jacket was eye-catching, but in a different way from the sweater vests his mom bought him from the J.C. Penney clearance racks, making it the first time that Artie Abrams had purposely chosen to wear an outfit to draw attention to himself. He felt that hanging in the background suited him best.
Sam zipped up his dark blue pants. “Me neither. Going to a convention has been my dream forever!”
-----
A lot of dreams had been coming true for Sam Evans lately. After the hellish year previous, Sam was far more secure, both financially and personally. However, that new inner peace wasn’t without a few more bumps in the road.
Last summer, the Evans family had moved back to Tennessee after his dad found a new job in their hometown. Still, finding housing was a struggle. Mortgages and rents were too high everywhere they went, and there were limits on most extended-stay motels in the state. They stayed with family, but Sam’s aunt on his mother’s side was the only relative with a big enough house to fit two adults and three kids--and she lived two hours away from the office each way.
Mr. Evans slapped a fake smile on his face every morning (a family trait Sam had inherited) at 4 A.M. as he hit the road, but the time away from his loved ones took its toll. The fuel costs also became prohibitive, since they couldn’t afford to trade in their gas-guzzling Ford F-150 pickup truck--originally purchased for hunting trips dad no longer had the time for. The vacant gun rack had become a symbol of everything they had lost.
Sam’s parents were at the end of their rope and even considering divorce. They swore they still loved each other and would even continue living in the same household, but Mrs. Evans would be better able to provide for her children with the increased government assistance a single mother of three could be eligible for. It wouldn’t be much--and Sam could mostly fend for himself--but every little bit of food stamps would help.
A family friend had bought them a lottery ticket several weeks prior; “for good luck,” they said. The Evanses thought nothing of it, until one evening their aunt burst into their room yelling “YOU’RE MILLIONAIRES!”
They had to split the jackpot with 5 other winners. After taxes, Sam’s family ended up with about $950,000. Definitely not enough for either parent to retire on, but more than enough to get back on their feet.
Suddenly, things looked up. Mr. and Mrs. Evans rekindled their relationship and didn’t have to separate. Their windfall allowed the parents to extend their job search outside of the state, made easier by the fact that they would only need one job each to survive. And now two good friends were reunited in a Columbus hotel room for Mid-Ohio Comic Con.
----
“Your costume’s awesome, Artie.”
“Are you just saying that because Charles Xavier is also in a wheelchair?” the brunette snapped.
Because your eyes are as piercing blue as James McAvoy’s in the movie... “No, not at all!” Sam stammered while shaking his head rapidly.
“Anyway...how did you swing this, dude?” Artie was genuinely curious. Sam kept his family’s fortune a secret, easy enough to do since it received only local media coverage.
Sam told him the whole story. “So after we paid off all our debts, my parents agreed that each of us could do something fun for ourselves. Stevie and Stacey begged to go to Walt Disney World for the first time, but I decided to come here instead. They probably realized that it’s cheaper anyway!” he laughed.
“Wow, that’s awesome! I hope they have fun.”
“We’ll have more fun though,” Sam said with a wink.
-----
Artie and Sam had been planning this moment for almost a year now. The brunette had given Sam the high priced Erik Lehnsherr costume as an early birthday present. He swore it was just a gift between friends, but Sam confronted him about the whole situation on Skype one evening.
“Dude, I know you’re always so giving (emotionally and financially and all that), but nobody spends $300 on just a friend.”
“You’ve always had my back, and I want everything to go great for you when I finally see you in person.”
“Uh-huh,” Sam made the same disbelieving expression he remembered seeing from Kurt Hummel after he denied dying his hair.
Just as Sam had felt then, Artie knew he was had.
“Okay...but promise not to tell anybody?” he said quietly.
Sam stuck his little finger at the webcam. “It’s an attempted pinky swear!” They both laughed.
“I’ve recently realized that i’m bisexual. I’m definitely into chicks, but I also like guys.”
“Yes!” Sam pumped his fist in excitement. “But how did you figure this out? You always seemed totally hetero to me.”
“Well, a long time ago when me and Tina were still together, we talked about these things. She told me that she was also attracted to women, and although she hadn’t kissed a girl yet, she would have liked to do that and more with several Glee club members. Specifically one that used you as a beard--”
“Santana’s out and proud now?” Sam smiled, knowing that would make the future transition ahead of him slightly easier.
“Almost. It’s an open secret,” Artie said.
“Tell me more.”
“Well, at the time, my fantasies ran more towards bondage and domination, specifically. In general, the feeling of control I don’t normally have in my everyday life gets me off,” Artie explained while Sam’s eyes widened. “Nothing dangerous, only the fuzzy plastic handcuffs, you know.” Sam’s hand slipped away from view, and Artie knew exactly where it was going.
“I wasn’t opposed to the concept of experimenting with another guy, but I didn’t really know any I was attracted to in that way, until I started feeling weirdly drawn to you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me, man?!?”
“It happened really slowly. Even though I was drunk as hell at Rachel’s party, I still felt your tongue on my stomach from that body shot you took off me. After you kissed Brittany in Spin the Bottle, part of me made out with her more so I could taste your lips on hers. Then everything happened so fast, with me finding out that Brittany and Santana were getting it on behind my back---”
“So when I said that our girlfriends were such good friends and that I wished you and I were that close, I meant---”
“Yep. But with the breakup and Nationals and everything else, I just kept it to myself. Self-preservation is my #1 rule, and I get enough grief at school because of the obvious. If they find out i’m in the middle of the Kinsey scale, my wheelchair would rust from all the slushie liquid thrown at it and my glasses would end up in some nasty sewer, yo.”
“I’d carry you, man.” Sam said softly.
“But my family. I’m already enough of a fucking black sheep for liking the arts and performing. If they found out I was even a little bit queer? Being in the Glee club is bad enough for them; they keep telling me to quit because a cripple is never going to make it as a singer.” Artie’s eyes began to water as he continued, “they don’t understand that even if I never do it as a professional, music is an outlet for me, goddammit!”
Sam frowned slightly at Artie taking the Lord’s name in vain, making a mental note to tell him how he felt the next time they talked about religion (he was raised Southern Baptist, while Artie was an agnostic from a Jewish cultural background--albeit not one that forbade him from also celebrating Christmas. The Abramses would use any holiday as an excuse to celebrate, usually in alcohol.) “I feel you,” Sam said as he lightly stroked the guitar Finn and Rachel had bought back from the pawn shop last year.
“Remember when we saw X-Men: First Class together? How Magneto said that if you're using half your concentration to look normal, then you're only half paying attention to whatever else you're doing? That’s what’s going on, Artie. Society won’t accept you if you can’t accept yourself and how freakin’ awesome as a person you are.”
Artie remembered that day. Both he and Sam were reeling from their sudden breakups with Brittany and Santana, so the day after the latter paraded into the choir room holding hands with Dave Karofsky of all people, Sam offered the outing.
It was originally supposed to be a guys’ get-together with Finn, Puck, and Mike too, but each one of the others bowed out. Artie was partly relieved, since the handicapped-accessible rows in the movie theater were few and far between, too small for the entire group to sit next to each other.
At the ticket window, Sam kept scrounging for change in his wallet, so Artie quietly paid for both tickets. Not that that made it a date or anything.
The fact that their hands kept brushing in the popcorn bucket and that neither boy did anything to change that, on the other hand....
Artie smiled at Sam and was about to say he loved him (in what sense he didn’t know yet), when he heard his parents pulling up into the driveway. He said “oh shit!” and yelled out a quick “bye!” before slamming the laptop closed.
------
They were moving around the convention hall with not a care in the world. Already having experience with this kind of thing, Artie had requested a map of wheelchair-accessible paths beforehand. They were in the fringes of the audience for a panel with James Marsters (the shorter boy was the bigger Whedonite; although Sam was also a decent-sized fan of the Buffyverse, he preferred the Marvel output.)
Sam and Artie were among their kind, other “freaks” if you will. Feeling brave--and not as if he stuck out like a sore thumb for once--Artie pulled Sam down and gave him a quick peck on the lips. Sam started to ruffle his hair and go in for another, forgetting the world around them, when a bright video camera light started flashing in their faces.
“Exclusive! Hobo McBieber has emerged from the overpass he was living under, and he’s been using his trouty mouth on none other than Hot Wheels a.k.a. Artie Abrams! I hope the disabled director WMHS doesn’t catch fleas and infect the cast of this year’s school musical! That would be quite a West Side Story, don’t you agree, YouTube subscribers? What do you have to say for yourselves?”
“WHAT THE FUCK, JACOB?!?” Artie yelled, starting to throw punches in defense of his friend-with-possible-future-benefits.
“I’m doing a man-on-the-street report on the regional Comic Con for my blog,” Jacob ben Israel explained with a smarmy look on his face.
“This isn’t even a McKinley event, you don’t have any business doing your so-called ‘reporting’ here. You’re not even in costume.”
Jacob showed the duo his press credentials, which were hanging from his neck. “I can report you to security for harassing a journalist performing his duties. Also, I am dressed as Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. Any other questions?”
“You just look like you always looked at school,” Sam muttered.
“Sam, i’m so sorry. I’m about to run over this moron’s toes,” Artie snarled. He was about to move when he noticed that someone had quietly locked his wheels during the confrontation.
Sam bent down to whisper in Artie’s ear: “I know that Charles says this to Erik and not the other way around, but listen to me very carefully, my friend. Killing will not bring you peace."
“Good point,” Artie chuckled. “We don’t want to miss the autograph session with Phil Jimenez and call our folks for bail money. He’s your favorite comic book artist.”
“Even though I don’t even have any more X-Men issues to sign. Besides,” Sam said loudly enough for Jacob and everyone around them to hear, “I’m sick of hiding. Something I learned in Tennessee is that I have to be myself no matter what others might think, or else it will kill me inside.”
Artie shot Sam a questioning look, unsure if the blond really wanted to come out in a public forum.
“I’m gay, okay? I had my suspicions for awhile, but they just kept growing while i was at McKinley. I wasn’t ready to tell anybody that I liked boys. I dated girls to change myself, and my parents encouraged it. I think it was Mercedes that finally convinced me. If I couldn’t feel it for someone as great as she was, I absolutely had to be gay.
“Moving away sucked, but I got the chance at a new beginning. Nobody at school knew who I was before, so I didn’t have to compete with the image I had created of the oh-so-straight jock that was seen with all the popular girls. With everything else going on in our lives, my parents finally got off my back and stopped trying to turn me heterosexual. I don’t know how much of that is because they couldn’t afford to ship me off to one of those bullshit “ex-gay” camps, but i’ll never be more thankful to God that what happened did, because it made them remember that i’m still the same Sammy they always loved. Even if they don’t like it, there are more important things in life than who their son wants to date.
Now i’m ready to let everybody know. Also, this will make things easier when I transfer back to William McKinley High next semester, so thank you Jacob.”
Artie felt his heart swell with pride, while his hard-on swelled with something else entirely. He’d save that for the hotel room.
“Wait...you’re coming back?!”
“My mom found a new start-up business she’s consulting in Lima. The economy is picking back up a bit apparently, so my dad’s company has new work in Ohio. He has seniority so he’ll probably get the transfer. Moving yet again is a pain in the ass, but I had to sell most of my stuff before anyway, so it’s not a big deal. We found a foreclosed home that was re-zoned and made into an duplex, so we’ll have an entire floor to ourselves! I’ll have to take the public school bus, but it’ll totally be worth it.”
The duo hugged and kissed once more. Somehow, this time the taller boy ended up in Artie’s lap.
“Woo!” The unmistakable voice of Lauren Zizes cut through the crowd’s chatter. “I see you’ve also gone with the First Class theme, Art. You too, Sammy boy. Nice to see ya! What are you doing around these parts except sucking face?”
Lauren was dressed in a home-made plus-size Mystique costume. Instead of the overdone body suit, it was a slick pair of pants and long-sleeved top combo in bright blue. The outfit was adorned with paiper mache scales. Her sneakers were done up in the same motif. Artie knew from experience that she always innovated in AV Club, whether in set design or camera staging, and she brought that same unique aesthetic to cosplay; he’d seen her at local conventions for the past couple of years.
“Just reconnecting,” Sam shrugged.
“Reconnecting your tongues, apparently. Is this what’s been going on ever since I dropped New Directions and Puckerman like a hot potato?”
Sam shot Artie a questioning look, and he nodded.
“Touche,” Artie said. “Guess we’ve just been Zized.”
“Whatever. I’m volunteering for the con’s guest relations, and you’re winners of the pairs category in this year’s cosplay contest!”
The bespectacled boy was confused; they hadn’t even entered the competition--there were so many unique creations there, while Sam and Artie were just wearing ready-made costumes ordered off the Internet.
Lauren saw their puzzlement. “I know you guys didn’t even enter, but you two were an overwhelming last-minute write-in vote. I guess it was the slash fandom contingent that pushed you to victory.”
“I totally understand that,” Sam said excitedly. “I write tons of fanfiction, and because I have dyslexia Artie checks my work before I post it.”
“What’s your pen name?” Lauren asked. “No, don’t tell me now. Wait until we get to the winners’ reception. They have a karaoke machine, and I know you guys love to sing your little homoerotic hearts out.”
“Do they have food? I’m starving,” Artie asked.
“They’re serving hot dogs with Cool Ranch Doritos on the side,” Lauren said. “This place is kind of low budget, but it’ll do.”
“Score!” the boys high-fived each other. Lauren rolled her eyes while Artie popped a wheelie and Sam jumped for joy.