A/N: This is a fill for a prompt from the Glee Angst Meme.

Part 1

When Sam shows up to school on Monday with a black eye it doesn't take long for the rumour mill to start churning. By the time Glee club rolls around at the end of the day, the half-hearted 'you should see the other guy' answer he had given to someone that morning has morphed into an epic tale involving him taking down an entire gang who were, depending on who you talked to, trying to rob a convenience store, trying to rob a bank, or trying to steal the purses of an entire group of old ladies at a bingo hall.

"Is it true that you're getting a medal?" Finn asks the other boy with a look of awe when he comes into the choir room.

"Umm…no," Sam responds, taking his seat quickly, not exactly sure what to say. The truth is that he doesn't want to talk about how he got his black eye. Unfortunately, that's pretty much all anyone else wants to talk about.

"I heard you went all badass superhero on those thugs and that they didn't stand a chance," Puck grins.

Before Sam can tell Puck that, no, he certainly did not go badass superhero on any thugs, Brittany interrupts. "If you're like…Supersam why don't you wear your underwear over your clothes?"

"Eww, gross," Santana rolls her eyes. "The thought of you defending old ladies is actually super sexy though," she adds, moving her chair as close to his as possible. "Is it true that one of the gang members ran away crying because he thought you were going to swallow him whole?"

"What?" Sam asks, moving his chair away from her, he's really sick of all the references to the size of his mouth. "That's just…no, okay. There weren't any old ladies or gang members involved at all." He says with a tone that he hopes will put an end to this discussion, of course that's too much to hope for.

"So then what happened?" Mike asks, seeming genuinely curious.

"It was nothing exciting, okay." Sam answers, trying his best to keep the irritation out of his voice. "Can we just let it go already?"

"You realize that we're not going to leave you alone until you spill, so you may as well just tell us now," Quinn smiles at him. "Think about how annoying Rachel can be when she wants something."

"Hell, think about how annoying Rachel can be all of the time," Santana adds.

"I'm right here," Rachel crosses her arms huffing. "I do want to know what happened though, Sam."

Sam sighs. They really aren't going to leave him alone. "It's not exciting. It's embarrassing okay…I walked into a wall."

Sam looks around at the other glee kids after he says it, most of them are laughing or trying not to laugh, Finn looks disappointed, and Brittany looks like she's thinking really hard. Brittany's reaction puzzles Sam but he doesn't have to contemplate it long because she speaks up.

"So your mom hits you?" She asks, though it sounds more like a statement than a question.

The room goes quiet after that. Most of the glee kids are giving her standard 'what the hell are you talking about' looks but a couple of them are looking at him and he tries to keep his face neutral even though his thoughts are screaming at him. How could she have possibly come up with that? After the silence goes on for a good minute more people start to look at him and he knows they're waiting for him to say something. "No Brittany, that's not what I said." he stammers out, hoping it doesn't sound too defensive. It isn't really a lie. After all, it isn't what he said. Besides, it's not his mom who hits him. This thought has his heart hammering so hard in his chest that he's sure that everyone else must be able to hear it. He really needs this conversation to end now. Today isn't his day though.

"He said he walked into a wall," Rachel reminds Brittany.

Brittany just nods in agreement at Rachel's statement. "They mean the same thing though," she says, like this fact should be clear to everyone.

"No Britt," Artie tells her gently, "they don't." He nods for emphasis when she gives him a look like he's the one who's grown three heads.

"Ya," Finn adds, "parents don't hit kids."

Finn's naivety is usually charming but right now it makes Sam want to bury his head in his hands. Parents maybe shouldn't hit kids, but they certainly do. All Sam wants to do is leave the room and have this conversation be over, it's making him really uncomfortable, but he can't leave because that would be a dead giveaway that something is wrong and he can't have that. No one can know.

Instead, he watches Brittany who looks more confused than he's ever seen her look. She's gnawing on her lip and shifting nervously and it's almost like she's trying not to say something and suddenly it clicks. Right now she's confused because she knows what Finn has just said isn't true. After all, why would she jump to the conclusion that walking into walls was just an excuse unless, like him, she had used it herself once too often? It makes no sense to him that Brittany, who believes in Santa and magic combs, has this secret, his secret, yet, just like that, he's sure that it must be true.

He watches as she opens her mouth to speak and he wonders what she is going to say, if she will be brave enough to say what he never manages to. She doesn't get to say anything though because Mr. Schue walks in and starts today's meeting and just like that everyone forgets what has just been said. He's sure they'll just chalk her comments up to Brittany being Brittany and that will be the end of it. This realization should be a relief, after all, he doesn't want anyone to find out his secret, but it doesn't feel like a relief at all, it just feels like a weight on his chest. He was already struggling to keep his secret and now he will be struggling to keep hers too. Maybe he'll talk to her. Maybe he'll talk to someone. He just doesn't know.