New Fic: Never Say Never
Never Say Never
Rating: PG at the moment for language in later parts
Pairing/s: Sam/Kurt - pre-slash to start with; Kurt/Karofsky - mentions of, one-sided; any canon pairings
Spoilers: Anything aired is fair game
Summary: As the bullying gets worse, Sam notices and an odd friendship is formed.
Author’s Notes: So I started writing this after Never Been Kissed aired, I’ve tried to keep to canon as much as possible as new episodes have aired but some things have not happened (eg. In the context of this when it gets to A Very Glee Christmas Kurt will not be ‘in love’ with Blaine).
I don’t know how many parts this will end up being but as of the moment it’s 55 A5 pages long so quite long!
Chapter 1
Contrary to what Finn had implied when he convinced Sam to join, Glee did NOT make you popular, a fact Sam found out quickly. Everyone in the club was bullied to some extent; luckily the girls seemed to get away with just being slushied now that their main former bullies (Quinn and Santana) were part of Glee. The boys got it worse, especially Artie, but as most of them were now on the football team they managed to have enough status to avoid overtly physical confrontation. That left Kurt.
It was one of those things that everyone knew but never talked about that Kurt got it much worse. Slushied at least daily, chucked in dumpsters regularly, shoved into lockers, clothes damaged, swirlies, not to mention the verbal harassment he got. All becaue he was gay. Sam hated the mentality that most of the school had that seemed to think Kurt ‘deserved’ it or brought it on himself because he didn’t hide who he was. Hell, even Finn who was meant to be friends/almost brothers with Kurt was far more focussed on conforming than actually sticking up for him; Sam didn’t know for sure but would put money on the idea that Finn had something to do with why Kurt had backed out of their duet - after all it would have been a ‘death sentence’ according to Finn.
So no one comments when Kurt walks into the choir room with Tina looking miserable, no one comments when word gets around that Mr Schue has had a ‘talk’ with him. No one comments when Kurt stalks out to spy on Dalton even though the boys all know Kurt’s just glad to get out opf McKinley. No one EVER comments and it’s doing Sam’s head in. Because it doesn’t take a genius to notice something’s up with Kurt. Sam knows this because he definitely isn’t a genius. Since the boys versus girls competition Kurt has withdrawn even more that he had done after the duets debacle and no one, not even Rachel this time, seems to have reached out to him successfully yet. And Sam is determined to find out what changed. He isn’t sure why he cares exactly, maybe it’s because he knows what it’s like to be bullied for being different, or maybe its because somehow Kurt has managed to work his way onto the small list of people that Sam respects and actually cares about.
For whatever reason, Sam finds himself the next day slowly packing up his stuff after French so he can follow Kurt out. Sure enough, as Kurt walks down the corridor Azimio and Karofsky appear and shove him across the hall into the lockers, causing Kurt to collapse on the floor. As Azimio stalks off, Karofsky leans down and says something to Kurt that makes the smaller boy whiten before following his fellow Neanderthal, making sure to step onto Kurt’s hand as he goes.
As Karofsky rounds the corner, Sam rushes over to Kurt, who hasn’t made any attempt to get himself up yet.
“Here” Sam says, offering Kurt a hand.
“Thanks” Kurt mutters as he gets up and goes to walk away.
“Hey” Sam said, blocking Kurt’s path. “Are you ok?”
“Having the time of my life”
“You should get that looked at” Sam gestured towards the reddening hand.
“Thanks Nurse Nancy I’ll get right on that after school”
“Or...” Sam began as he gently directed Kurt towards the bathroom. “we can sort it now”
Kurt rolled his eyes but allowed himself to be moved along into the bathroom.
“Right run it under cold water to try and minimize the swelling” Sam informed him.
“I definitely couldn’t have figured that out myself”
“Does the sarcasm actually work in getting people to leave you alone?”
“Most of the time”
“Well not on me. Come on, give me your hand”
“Why?”
“Oh just give it”
“Fine”
Sam gently started pressing around Kurt’s hand. “Sorry” he murmured as Kurt winced. “Well the good news is that nothing seems to be broken, you’re going to have a nasty bruise though...what?”
“So do you watch a lot of medical shows or-“
“My mum’s a nurse. And being able to identify injuries comes in handy”
“Huh”
“What?”
“I just assumed you were very much an all-American boy with a housewife mum and a hard working dad that’s all”
“That’s the danger with assumptions, they’re usually wrong” Sam pointed out. ”By the way - what did Karofsky say to you?”
“Nothing” Kurt answered quickly”
“Uh huh. Ok let’s try another one - why couldn’t he say what he wanted to in ront of Azimio?”
“Look” Kurt began, picking up his bag. “Thanks for the help but this is my problem”
“Why? Why don’t you report them?”
“Mr Schue knows, he’s known for over a year and hasn’t done anything. And Figgins is useless if you haven’t puicked that up yet”
“But surely the kids in Glee would help-“
“Haven’t you noticed? They all know they just don’t do anything. What can they do? The Neanderthals won’t take the girls seriously, and it’s dangerous for them to attempt to stand up to those guys anyway, same goes for Artie. Puck is Puck and not above making homophobic comments himself. And Finn cares too much about his reputation. Mike can’t do much on his own, even if he wants to.”
“That’s garbage! They’re meant to be your friends-like family.”
“I’m used to it” Kurt smiled thinly. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll survive like I always do. I’ll see you in Glee”
“See you” Sam said to the now empty bathroom, before kicking a nearby bin in frustration.
Sam was in different classes from Kurt for the rest of the day and so didn’t see him again until Glee rehersal. Kurt was the last to arrive, with a different outfit from earlier and looking harassed, his nusually perfect nhair slightly unkempt. Sam waved awkwardly, indicating the seat next to him in invitation. Kurt smiled genuinely as he took the seat and that strengthened the resolve Sam had made earlier, if no one else would do anything to help then HE would.
“Slushie or dumpster?” he whispered to Kurt as Mr Schue rambled on.
“Dumpster” Kurt answered.
“Dude you’re going to be black and blue!” Sam whispered louder.
“Shh and I know”
“Sam” Mr Schue called. “What would you like to do more of seeing as I’m sure you were whispering about the question”
“Um...” Sam stumbled at being put on the spot and frantically wracking his brains for an answer. “Singing in the Rain” he blurted out, before wishing he could take it back as the rest of the club looked at him like he had grown an extra head. “I um mean it would be nice to do more from old musicals-“ he developed lamely, wishing the ground would swallow him.
“Duly noted” Mr Schue nodded before moving on.
“Oh shut up” Sam whispered to Kurt who was trying unsuccessfully to hide his laughter.
“I’m sorry. But you’re face when you realized what you said! And everyone else’s reactions at you wanting to do something other than top 40 music”
“You put that stupid musical into my head!”
“Like a month ago!” Kurt countered. “I’m flattered you remembered that though, I’ll be careful not to mention things I don’t want blurted out to the others in future”
“I don’t make a habit of doing it”
“Just in case. Did you actually watch Singin’ in the Rain? You know in case Mr Schue asks what song you want to sing?”
“I bought it...just never got around to watching it” Sam admitted.
“Well you better now” Kurt told him.