Blaine wished McKinley High hadn't decided to have a Sadie Hawkin's Day dance. Not only did it stir up terrible memories, but it had prompted Tina to sing to him and ask him to the dance, an invitation he had to refuse.

Tina was awesome, but it would be wrong to lead her on. Her crush was misdirected, but it wasn't like he could comment, as he was nursing a crush of his own on his straight best friend.

The difference was, he knew it was just a crush and knew not to mention.

"Dude, you okay?"

Speaking of crushes, Sam dropped onto the chair beside Blaine as the rest of the glee club disbursed after practice. Brittany was fussing with her backpack, but other than her they were alone.

"Sure, Sam," he said, even though he knew his voice did not back up his statement.

Sam frowned. "No, you've been…off since they announced the dance. Your eyes look sad and maybe a little scared."

At times like this, Blaine the struck by the fact that his friend was far smarter than people gave him credit for. Sure, Sam might not always know how to say what he was thinking, but he saw more, understood more than even he knew.

Heaving a sigh, Blaine admitted, "It's just…the last Sadie Hawkins dance I went to ended badly."

Eyes concerned, Sam nodded. "What happened?"

"It was before I went to Dalton," Blaine began and the words suddenly came tumbling out. "I'd just come out and I went with a friend, the only other gay guy I knew. After the dance, we got jumped by some guys and they beat us up pretty badly… I know it was a few years ago, but…."

Sam's hand, big and warm, wrapped around his, squeezing comfortingly and Blaine was startled to suddenly find himself with a lap full of Brittany.

"That won't happen this time," she said softly, arms winding around his shoulders in a tight hug. She began patting the back of his neck as she continued, "You're our friend. We'll look after you, won't we Sam?"

"Course," Sam agreed, and then he was closer, enfolding both Blaine and Brittany in long, strong arms.

Though he felt a little silly at needing the reassurances they were providing, Blaine couldn't deny that there was comfort in being so physically surrounded by the two blondes. It was kind of like being surrounded by sunshine that smelled really good. Vanilla and sugar from Brittany, pine and clean boy from Sam.

"You should be our date!" Brittany declared suddenly. "It'll be fun and no one will bother you!"

Blaine was…actually no, he wasn't surprised when Sam immediately agreed. Sam was the type of guy who would do anything for a friend. "Totally," Sam said with a grin. "What do you say, Blaine? Want to be our date? Don't leave us hanging!"

With a laugh, Blaine replied, "You're both a little crazy, you know that?"

Brittany smiled and patted his cheek. "A little crazy is good," she told him sagely.

The first time since the dance had been announced, Blaine truly smiled. "It would be an honor to go with you two."

Somehow, knowing he'd be with them eased the worst of the knots in his stomach over the next few days.

On Thursday, Brittany presented him with a pale green bowtie, announcing that it was their theme color. It was a nice, matte material and, when she bounced away, he leaned toward Sam. "Did she bring you a tie?"

He shook his head. "No. I think she picked the color because she likes my green shirt."

Blaine knew the shirt he meant and nodded. It did look very good on Sam. "I'm assuming I won't go wrong pairing this with a white shirt and a black suit."

"My suits black too and she said part of her dress was, so that's a good choice," Sam agreed, just before Kitty let out a shriek.

"What do you mean dates?"

Kitty hadn't been pleased when she discovered that she had waited too long to ask a boy. Marley had already asked Jake, all the football players had dates, Tina (after her disastrous serenade) had asked Ryder (though they all knew he had basically asked her to ask him in order to protect him from Kitty), Sugar had asked Artie and Unique was taking Joe (as friends). Not that Kitty had wanted to go with any of the glee guys, but she figured at least one of them would be available.

Startled by the younger girl's anger, Brittany blurted, "Sam and Blaine. We are all going together. It'll be like 3!"

Sam let out a little laugh and Blaine sighed. "No, not like 3."

Earlier in the year, Sam, Tina and Joe had sung 3 by Britney Spears (an odd choice of song) and clearly Britt was not put off by the idea. Blaine could see their friends getting inappropriate mental images at her statement. Finn looked like he had a migraine and called for practice to start.

When Sam got up to play guitar with Jake, Brittany leaned in close to Blaine and murmured, "He wouldn't mind, you know."

Blaine blinked at her. "Wouldn't mind what?"

"3," she said simply, then kissed Blaine's cheek in a friendly way before settling back into her chair to watch the boys sing.

Like much of what she said, Blaine tried not to think too hard about Brittany's statement.

On Friday night, when the party bus Sugar had hired arrived, Blaine saw that Brittany had done a good job coordinating their outfits. His tie matched Sam's shirt, both of them in black suits, which matched her dress, a strapless number with a black, beaded bodice and a gauzy, short green skirt.

There was laughter as corsages and boutonnieres were exchanged and eventually Britt had a flower on each wrist and Sam and Blaine each wore 2 on their jackets.

As they got closer to school, Blaine felt his nerves acting up and he chewed his lip pensively, peering out the window. Everyone else in the bus seemed blithely unaware, chatting happily (well, except for Kitty's date, a terrified looking sophomore from the Jazz ensemble), so Blaine was a little surprised when Sam grabbed a hold of his hand and squeezed.

"Relax," the blonde murmured. "Everything is going to be fine."

He believed Sam. He really did, but it just wasn't so easy to reign in his feelings.

Everyone piled out of the bus, hurrying toward the school, and Blaine was again surprised to find himself with a tall blonde (Brittany's heels had to be 4 inches high) on either side. Each of them held tight to one of Blaine's hands, keeping them secure between them and he was slightly embarrassed to realize it was helping him feel less vulnerable.

It seemed like most of the school had just begun to expect kids in the glee club to be strange, and no one batted an eye as they walked down the hall toward the gym…Well, a younger Cheerio had frowned and mumbled, "Wierdos."…but then she had been hit checked into a locker by Santana Lopez.

"Santana!" Brittany said in surprise, clearly torn as to what she should do. Blaine knew the Latina had broken up with her, but he also knew the two girls loved each other, even though Brittany truly cared for Sam.

"Hey, Britt," Santana replied with a soft smile. "Sorry to just show up like this."

Brittany smiled. "It's okay!" she exclaimed, then glanced at Sam, who offered her a slightly resigned smile of his own.

"Why don't you join us," Sam offered and Blaine squeezed his hand even as Santana clasped Brittany's.

The fourth of entered the gym together and found small area of the bleachers the glee club had claimed as their own. Blaine found himself seated between Sugar and Sam, the boy still lingering close even as he turned to whisper something to Brittany. She listened to him, then flung her arms around him for a moment before towing Santana away.

When Sam turned back to Blaine, he shrugged. "They're still in love. I guess I always knew that."

"I'm sorry," Blaine said quietly, knowing Sam really cared for Brittany.

Sighing, Sam nodded. "Me too, but at least I knew was coming. She wasn't going to stay with me. My relationships don't work out, but now that I figured that out it's not such a surprise."

It took a moment for Blaine to realize what Sam had just said and he frowned. "Sam, one of these days you're going to find the right person who'll want to stay with you forever. You can't just expect relationships to fail. That creates an atmosphere of toxicity." Sam stared at him for a moment and Blaine realized he was trying to process what had been said. "If you expect the worst, the worst will probably happen."

Sam looked ready to say something in reply, but they were pulled out onto the dance floor by the rest of the club. The music was fast, and it was more of a free-for-all than a couples sort of thing. Later, Blaine dance a few slow songs with girls from the club, but after a while he made his way back to the bleachers so they could dance with their own dates.

Sam, who had been in much the same boat, spotted them quickly and walked over. "Hey, I just realize we haven't had a dance!"

He held out a hand and Blaine stared at it. "Uh, Sam, I don't…."

"C'mon. You're my date that currently isn't making out with another one of my ex-girlfriends. Are you going to ditch me too?"

Quirky smile at the other boy's apparent good humor, Blaine said, "People will talk."

"Let 'em be jealous," Sam replied and Blaine rolled his eyes, grabbing the offered hand. Sam pulled him to his feet and they stepped out onto the dance floor.

Right-hand held in Sam's left, Blaine places free hand on Sam's shoulder as the taller boy looped his right arm loosely around Blaine. They swayed a bit to the music, stiff at first but soon they shifted, situating themselves together more comfortably. Blaine let his body relax, movements becoming more fluid as he breathed.

Nearly everyone around them was ignoring them, and a few who did look their way glanced away quickly.

"Thanks for tonight, Sam," Blaine murmured quietly and Sam gave him a soft smile, pulling their joined hands in against his chest.

"I'm glad you came."

Blaine returned the smile and let himself enjoy having Sam's arm around him, let himself enjoy the warm, safe feeling the other boy inspired. "I know this dance hasn't turned out like you planned, but it's been fun."

"Plan? Dude, we were both just along for the ride on Brittany's plan. I'm still pretty sure she was going to propose a threesome before Santana showed up, but hey, we're dancing, so I'll just call the night a win," Sam declared, causing Blaine to let out a huff of laughter.

"Funny guy," Blaine teased, poking his shoulder. "And what would you have done if I took her up on that, hmmm?"

Sam grinned. "I would have had a threesome with my two favorite people. It would've been awesome."

"I'm a guy."

"Yeah, I know." Sam gave him a look like he wasn't sure Blaine was all there. "Did someone spike the punch?"

"Probably, which is why I haven't had any," Blaine pointed out. "You know, usually when the straight boys get excited about a threesome, there are two girls involved."

"Oh." Sam suddenly seemed to understand. "Straight. Don't label me, bro. Love is love."

Blaine pondered that for a moment. "At what point did you turn into a hippie?"

Sam snorted. "Pretty much at birth. When I was six, I told my dad I wanted to marry Luke Skywalker and he patted my head and told me that was a good choice, but he was probably too old. Mom and dad are big believers in the theory that you love who you love and you want who you want. It's the person who is important."

"How did I not know this?"

"I never mentioned it," Sam said quietly. "It's never really been relevant. I always figured I'd say something if I fell for a guy, but I always ended up with girls so…."

"Huh," Blaine replied, knowing this statement didn't really cover half of what he was thinking. "So, this night has been full of surprises."

"Santana didn't stab me," Sam said agreeably. "That was pretty surprising."

Laughing, Blaine let his head fall forwards to bump against Sam's shoulder. "She wouldn't stab you. Cut off your balls, maybe, but I think she'd be more creative in her revenge."

Sam cringed. "You'll protect me from her, right?"

"We'll protect each other, Sam."

"Always, Dude."