Title: Standing Up for Your Friends and Youself

Author: blaineandsamevanderson

Paring: Blaine/Sam

Rating: PG-13

Warnings/Tags: Season 2 AU

Summary: Prompt: S2 AU ~ Sam and Quinn never dated. During his tussle w/ Karofsky, Sam accidentally outs himself.

Notes: Sorry for any typos. My transcription software doesn't always understand what I say and I don't always catch the mistakes. I have trouble typing things by hand since I suffered an injury last year to my right hand and it seizes up if I try to do too much.

It was after football practice when Artie and Mike, still dressed in their practice gear, decided to confront Karofsky at his locker. Both Puck and Sam had already showered and changed, but they and several other random team members were there to witness the events.

"Stop picking on Kurt," Artie demanded, glowering up at Karofsky.

Sneering dismissively, Karofsky scoffed, "Do you mind? I'm changing."

"We're serious," Mike said, slapping the larger boy's locker closed. "This is a warning."

"Oh yeah," Karofsky replied, clearly not taking them seriously. Though they were teammates, Sam had never liked him, always got a strange vibe off of him and now that Sam knew he was harassing Kurt, well, that just confirmed that he was a jerk.

Holding firm, Artie continued, "From now on, you're gonna leave him alone."

"Look," Karofsky snapped, growing more agitated as the conversation went on. Sam didn't like that. "If he wants to be a Homo, that's up to him. Don't rub it in my face."

"We're not asking you."

"Yeah, we're done talking about this," Mike said and Sam was pretty sure this is the most he'd ever heard the other boy speak. "Just back off, all right."

"You back off!" Karofsky snarled, shoving Mike and knocking him back into Artie, causing them both to tumble onto the floor.

Before Sam knew what was happening, he launched himself at Karofsky, an unplanned attack that resulted in him being slammed against a locker, padlock digging painfully into his kidney. Arms pinned, he used his knee to jab the other boy hard in the thigh and then kicked his ankle, staggering him enough to allow Sam the leverage to force him away, across the room into another locker. Sam managed to land a few punches before Karofsky caught him in the face, knocking him to the floor and jumping on top of him.

"Aw, this is sweet," Karofsky mocked. "Sticking up for the fairy, Evans? Or are you one too…Wouldn't doubt it, not with those fat, cocksucker lips!"

Struggling and trying to land a fist on any sensitive body part he could reach, anger rose up in Sam, overriding his ability to self censor. "You seem way too interested in my lips…But don't worry, my boyfriend says they're hot!"

Yeah, pain and adrenaline and anger, not a good combination.

As soon as the words left his mouth, silence reigned throughout the locker room, Karofsky freezing, wild eyed, fist drawn back. "You're a damn fag too!"

Sam shoved at him, trying to get away, not liking the situation one bit. "I don't use labels, thanks."

Karofsky didn't hit him, but he grabbed Sam's shirt and roughly slammed him against the floor once again. The air rushed out of Sam's lungs and it was a relief when Coach Bieste appeared on the scene hauling the bully off of him. Clambering to his feet, Sam tried to go after him again, but was held back.

"What the hell is going on here!" Beiste demanded as Karofsky wrenched out of her grip and stalked away. She looked around, to where Puck and Mike were lifting Artie back into his chair, then turned her gaze on Sam. "Well?"

Kurt kept saying he didn't want the adults involved, he didn't want anyone to know.

"Karofsky pushed me and knocked Artie over," Mike said, trying, like they all were, to keep Kurt out of it.

But…it wasn't just about Kurt now anymore, was it? Sam had let his own secret out and soon it would be all over school.

Fuck stereotypes, jocks were gossipy little bitches.

"He's a bully and a homophobe," Sam mumbled, causing Bieste to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Standing up for your friend is noble son, but…."

"I was standing up for myself, too."

Realization dawned on her face and she nodded briefly. "Best put some ice on that eye."

Then she was gone, leaving Sam standing there with Puck, Mike and Artie. Again, the locker room was quiet…until Puck spoke.

"Dude, thought you didn't know how many balls you could fit in your mouth."

Sam blinked, then burst out laughing, hugging his ribs because, OW! Weakly, he said, "I don't ! We're 15. There's no rush."

Puck frowned. "But… I figured with two dudes there'd be like no one whining about waiting, cuz, you know, two dudes…."

Sam rolled his eyes, but smiled and Artie said, "We really should get you some ice for your face. That eye looks hella painful."

"It's not a party," he agreed and, after Mike and Artie changed, they hurried off to the choir room to find the girls and Kurt already there, chatting amongst themselves.

"Oh Sam, what happened!" Quinn asked as soon as she spotted him. Though she'd initially thought his bids of friendship were meant his flirtation, once she'd realized they weren't they had become good friends.

"Karofsky," Mike said simply as Sam lowered himself gingerly into a chair.

Kurt tensed unhappily. "What happened?"

"Mike and Artie told him to leave you alone," Sam began, swallowing rapidly, unsure how to phrase things. "We got into it and I…kind of…outed myself."

"Seriously, I thought Karofsky was going to stroke when you said that thing about your boyfriend," Puck snickered, then paused. "Wait, who the hell are you dating?"

"He doesn't go here," Sam mumbled, realizing he had a call to make an pulling himself to his feet with a grunt. "I gotta make a call."

Shuffling to a corner of the room, he dialed Blaine and smiled at the prompt answer.

"Hey there, handsome!"

Sam could hear the lowered music in the background and the sounds of a driving, so he knew Blaine was probably on his way down from Westerville. It was Friday and he had planned to spend the weekend with Sam and his family.

Driving. Damn.

"Dude, can you pull over for a bit?"

There was laughter in Blaine's voice when he said, "I'm not having phone sex with you, Sam!"

"I need to tell you something and I need you not to be driving when I do. Where are you?"

"Twenty minutes outside of Lima…and okay, I'm pulled over. What's wrong?" He sounded concerned now and Sam sighed.

After retelling events the locker room, there was a moment of silence before Blaine began to babble. "Oh God, are you okay? What… Why would you… Are you hurt? How did people react? How do you feel…."

"I'm okay!" Sam was quick to reassure him. "A few bruises, but nothing…."

"His eye looks like ground hamburger!" Santana shouted and Sam whipped around to scowl at her.

She was wholly unaffected.

Blaine freaked out a little. "I'm coming to you. I'll be there in half an hour."

"I'll be in glee," Sam told him. "Please don't drive like a crazy person. I love you."

"Love you too."

Hanging up, Sam asked, "Was that necessary Santana? I'd like for him to get here in one piece."

She raised a brow. "What? Is he some delicate little petal who can't handle the truth?"

Sam shook his head. "No…just, he had some bad shit happen to him, stuff that makes this look like a love tap. Which is why he thought I should keep a low profile here if I could."

"What happened?" Finn burst into the room, red-faced. "Some of the guys said there was a… Oh, wow, ow! That looks nasty, Sam."

Rolling her eyes, Quinn laid out the first aid kit she'd fetched from the supply room. "Sam, come sit down. I have ice."

Once Finn and Sam had settled into chairs and Quinn held an ice pack up to Sam's face, Mike said, "Dude was like a wild animal!"

"Manimal," Artie agreed from where Brittany was fussing over him.

The blonde cheerleader smiled at her boyfriend. "So turned on by you right now."

Glancing at Quinn, Sam asked, "How bad does it look?"

Teasingly, she replied, "It's pretty hot, actually."

"You've no idea how hard it was me not to jump in on that beat down," Puck said, sounding honestly exasperated that he hadn't been able to take part.

"Where were you, Finn?" Santana asked archly, tossing an annoyed glance in his direction.

"I was still out on the field, okay. I totally would've given him a beat down if I'd been there though," Finn justified, looking really uncomfortable.

"The fact is, it shouldn't have gone down without you, Finn," Mercedes said, clearly disappointed. "You should have been leading the charge."

"Lay off Finn everyone. It isn't his problem," Kurt said softly. "Thank you all, for what you did. Especially Sam. It's none of your problem…."

"It is now," Sam told him with a small smile as Mr. Shue walked in.

"What's going on?" The teacher asked. "Coach Beiste said some of you got into it with Karofsky. You okay , Kurt? Is that what happened to Sam's eye?"

Puzzled, Kurt said, "I wasn't there."

Shue linked. "But she said…."

"Evans bats for Kurt's team," Puck said mildly, which caused Sam to snort.

"For both teams, actually," he clarified and was surprised when Brittany reached over to pat his hair.

"It's the person, not the parts," she intoned gravely and he smiled.

"Exactly!"

"We really should take this Principal Sylvester," Mr. Shue said, looking Sam over unhappily. "That looks really sore."

"Nah. I got in a few hits my own, so…." Sam's voice trailed off as Blaine came hurtling into the room.

Clearly, speed limits had been completely disregarded.

Without pause, Blaine shot across the room, skidding on his knees to a stop in front of Sam to inspect his eye. "Oh, Sam," he said softly, hand lifting to touch Sam's bruised cheek. He pursed his lips and let their brows touch, heaving a shaky breath.

"Blaine?"

Kurt sounded confused and a little distraught and Sam winced. He knew Blaine and Kurt had become friends and that Blaine had omitted any mentions of Sam from their conversations intentionally.

"Dalton Blaine?" Mercedes asked curiously.

"I went to Dalton last year," Sam explained, because Blaine was being very quiet wasn't about to respond..Until he flung his arms desperately around Sam, which caused the blonde to cry out in Blaine twitched away.

Shocked, he gasped, "I hurt you!"

"No," Sam replied, pressing a hand to his ribs. "No, not you."

"Karofsky threw him into a few lockers," Puck informed the room helpfully and Sam groaned.

Sensing practice wasn't actually going to happen, Mr. Shue said, "All of you, stay here!"

Then he strode out of the room.

Before Sam knew what was happening, hands grabbed his shirt, yanking it up. "Hey!"

"Shut up, Lady Lips," Santana said, eyeing him critically and then pressing on his back, making him hiss. "You could have some broken ribs, genius."

"Shit!" Sam groaned and Blaine let out an irritated rumble and began yanking at his bowtie.

"Would anyone know if Karofsky is still around?" he asked in a deadly serious tone as he tossed his dandelion yellow cardigan onto the piano bench.

Sam blinked. "No, no, no. You can't kill."

Heads turned to stare at Blaine and Sam knew they had to be wondering how he thought someone Blaine's size could take on Karofsky. They had no idea how much badass was wrapped up in Blaine's…compact frame.

"I won't kill him," Blaine said evenly, neatly folding up his shirt sleeves. "I'm just going to express my stern disapproval over his actions…and possibly put my knee into his kidney."

"Not so fast Angry, Well Groomed Munchkin," Coach/Principal Sylvester said as she strode into the room with Mr. Shue and Coach Bieste. "What's this I hear about a hate crime? Porcelain, are you all right?"

Kurt sighed. "Shockingly, I wasn't there for this turn of events," he said, then pointed in Sam's direction.

Sue looked at Sam for a moment, then muttered, "Thought so. Funbags, what's wrong with him?"

"Possible broken ribs and cheekbone and I don't like this bruised back here by his kidney," she rattled off, then crossed her arms. "Seriously, what is it about guys that makes them into the kidneys? Do you like making each other piss blood?"

"It hurts like hell," Blaine muttered and Santana nodded as though that was totally reasonable.

Sam flinched as he tried to squirm under Sue's penetrating gaze. "Did you break any of Karofsky's bones?" she asked, sounding like she was plotting something.

"No," Sam replied, "but I did hit him after he knocked Artie onto the floor."

"Oh yeah, he's gone," Sue said, then stabbed a finger at Sam. "Go get x-rayed. I have to go expel someone and if you do have broken bones that it will make everything even easier."

With that, she turned on her heel and stalked away.

"She's going to expel Karofsky," Kurt breathed, an almost painful relief clear in his voice. "Thank you again, Sam… Though I am sorry you got hurt."

"I'm fine," Sam tried to say, but yelped as Santana pressed on his ribs. "OW!"

Blaine frowned. "Hospital. Now."

"Dude, I really…."

"I'm calling your mother."

Heaving a sigh, Sam muttered, "You two always gang up on me!"

While dialing his phone, Blaine raised an eyebrow and gave Sam an annoyed look.

"So," Puck commented dryly. "I can see having a boyfriend isn't actually too different from having a girlfriend."

Sam smirked, though it hurt his bruised face. "How many of your girlfriends consider a trip to the comic store or video game marathon or watching football a date?"

From the disgruntled, envious looks, it was clear those were not girl approved dates. Sam knew he was a lucky guy…even if Blaine and his mom would probably join forces and fuss over him all weekend.

Then again, maybe that would include extra cuddles from Blaine.

Protecting Kurt (and God only knew how many other kids) from Karofsky's bullying was totally worth some bruises, especially if there were extra cuddles involved….