Work Text:
It’s an unconscious decision to keep their relationship a secret. Every relationship that has ended within the Glee Club did so because of rumors and gossip and speculation and cheating and jealousy. Sometimes, eggs on the forehead. So neither of them says anything to the other really, it’s just an unspoken agreement between the two of them. Which makes it easier (in the forest) but also harder (in the trees). They don’t get to do little “couple” things that come like second-nature to affectionate Sam and that affection-craving Kurt so desires. Every rendezvous has to be carefully strategized and planned and provided with a cover story. Sam ends up having a lot of questions about French (even though he’s taking Spanish…) and Kurt finds himself expressing a fascinated interest in geeky-hip online musicals with sci-fi overtones. But even still, they slip up.
It’s still discreet, it’s still slight, it’s still subtle enough that none of their classmate pick-up on anything…
It’s the trembling brush of Sam’s fingertips over Kurt’s delicate wrists when they pass around sheet music for a new song in Glee. It’s Sam leaning in to hear Schue’s lesson, leaning just a bit too far for the first seconds, his nose nudging into Kurt’s hair. It’s Kurt trailing his hand over Sam’s broad shoulders as he passes the other boy on the way to his own seat. It’s Kurt hooking his arm behind his chair and fingerspelling “I love you”s for only Sam behind him to see.
Things are even more difficult on the field, during football practice. Sam sweaty and dirty does serious things to mess with Kurt’s brain and Kurt decked out in pads and the uniform is similarly disarming for Sam. Not to mention that the players would be more opposed to their relationship – and not just on a gossip-fueled basis. This knowledge puts them on an even higher alert, but they still get their moments in.
When Sam collapses onto the bench and leans against Kurt for a moment, sparing a half-second to nuzzle into the other boy’s neck. When Kurt’s eyes immediately find Sam’s smiling ones after landing a field-goal. When Sam asks Kurt to look at his hand, he thinks a few of his fingers might be jammed, just to feel Kurt’s skin on his. When Kurt smacks at Sam’s ass as they’re the last ones to jog out, earning a surprised, happy laugh from the blonde.
Walking together in the hallway is the easiest. Brushes and touches are commonplace, due to the close-quarters it breeds. Fingers brushing against seams and inner-elbows and palms and ribs are commonplace. Heads tilting in for a soft conversation, eyes on each other, are commonplace. Shoves into lockers are commonplace and with the crush of people separating the offender from Sam, a simple hand up with a tight smile and an apology in the eyes is commonplace. Warm hands resting just above the dip of spines, at shoulders, cupped around elbows to gently guide (or just under the guise of a guide) are commonplace.
With all the talk of Glee club being a family, they never really act like it. Sure, they come together for the heart-warming lesson at the end and there are group-hugs and speeches of appreciation. But it feels a bit cheapened by all the cat-fights, the stealing, the back-stabbing, the cheating, the plotting, the nonstop jibes, the undercutting… Or maybe that’s exactly what a family is. Either way, things have gotten better lately; not as much drama and they’re actually doing near-family type things. Like, for example, the entire Glee club gathering at Breadstix for dinner every couple of Fridays. Sam feels the need to apologize to the management every time though, because they are all loud laughter and sing-alongs and good-natured arguments and PDA.
Except the very private displays of affection that Kurt and Sam employ, like Kurt’s toes skimming up Sam’s calf. Like Kurt’s hand heavy and welcome on Sam’s thigh under the table the few times they sit next to each other. Like Sam fingerspelling around his glass, dropping “I love you”s for only Kurt to see. Like Sam pulling out the bar trick an uncle taught him, twisting a cocktail napkin into a vague flower shape and slipping it into Kurt’s jacket pocket (He might see it later, taped to the inside of Kurt’s locker door.).
They only share one class together during the day so only having that short amount of time together could excuse their behavior then. That could excuse the constant note-passing that makes Kurt feel like a sixth-grader but also giddy. That could excuse the way Kurt purposely drops his pencil so that Sam will lean down to pick it up and their fingers can brush when he passes it back. That could excuse the way Sam sometimes gets completely caught up in doodling Kurts into his margins. That could excuse Kurt near-blatant staring, trying to count the shades of gold in Sam’s hair when it catches the late morning sun through the window.
And then there are the lucky moments where they can’t let themselves hide, don’t have to. Times when they’re alone in Kurt’s or more usually Sam’s room and it’s nothing but intimate touches out in the open and kisses bold as can be and “I love you”s for all to see, spelled in lips against collarbones or in fingers against palms. Legs twining together and fingers mimicking, blushes spanning cheeks and clothes spanning the floor. Eyes meeting, locking, holding, not separating glances in case someone notices them staring at each other.
Times like when they’re on the plane to Nationals that senior year and it’s only a little over an hour-flight but Kurt and Sam had been up late the night before and so they both fall asleep. Sam slumped in his seat, head lolling and drifting to settle on Kurt’s shoulder. Kurt’s cheek dropping to meet Sam’s soft hair, lips just brushing his forehead.
Times like three seconds after Schue announces with disbelief in his voice that they’ve fucking won it all and no one can believe it and it’s after the silence of shock, when Rachel starts to cry and Tina is screaming and jumping with Quinn and Mercedes and Puck and Finn are bumping fists and Kurt looks like he might hyperventilate or throw-up and Sam just sincerely hopes it’s the former as he pulls him to his chest and kisses him, full and happy. And there’s whooping and cheering around them and they’re not sure if it could possibly be about them, how could it when overshadowing that fact, well-deservedly, is the fact that they fucking won Nationals! And they made it and Sam is there with Kurt and Kurt is there with Sam and they’re kissing, kissing, kissing and not giving a damn or a second thought toward who can see them.