156A/N: As always, thanks to the incredible Alice aka darlingwendy. I really couldn't have done this without her.
"You better not have just convinced me to make a complete ass of myself," Sam muttered out of the corner of his mouth. Cooper laughed loudly next to him, drawing a few stares from other people riding the subway.
As reluctant as Sam had been at first, on the race to the subway station and the subsequent ride to the hotel, his stomach had begun clenching, his hands shaking with nervousness. Somewhere along the ten minute trip, he actually started to believe he had achance. Which felt scary as hell.
The subway pulled to a stop. People began collectively rising from their seats slowly, Cooper pushed Sam forward, almost out the door completely, so he would be the first one to exit. "Go get him, Romeo."
Sam barely spared him a glance, propelling forward to the steps and taking them two at a time. The subway stop was only two blocks away from the hotel. Sam could probably get there in two minutes, if he really wanted to. He jogged down the street, narrowly missing at least three people, one who shouted obscenities at him as he ran by, and completely ignored the crosswalk save for checking if there were any cars coming.
When the hotel was in sight, he skidded to a stop. This is it. Your last chance.
"Go!"
Sam turned, seeing Cooper from across the street, hands matching his words as they waved wildly in the air. Sam jerked his chin down into a nod, then stepped inside.
He mentally went through the plan in his head - Cooper had given him his room key on the subway, telling him the room number that Blaine was staying in just in case he was still there so Sam could avoid making a scene. If not, well, Sam had already been to the ballroom. He knew exactly where to go.
Completely ignoring the front desk, Sam raced to the elevator, slamming his thumb into the 'up' button. When the elevator didn't come fast enough, he pressed the button again, and again and again until the elevator dinged and the metal doors slid open. Sam jumped, already moving to step into the elevator, but stopped short.
Blaine looked up from the floor, locking eyes with Sam. Sam stared, taking in Blaine's clothes, the loose jeans and threadbare sweater that he'd had since high school and only wore around the apartment, the sneakers on his feet, and, mostly importantly, the fact that he was on an elevator and not getting married.
Neither of them said anything, but they did stare so long that Sam had to throw his arm out to stop the elevator doors from sliding shut.
Blaine looked at the door with a start, then stepped off the elevator, finally saying the words that Sam had been waiting to hear for two months.
"The wedding's off."
Sam let out a breath of relief, forgetting for just a moment that it wasn't just about him and Blaine, it was also about Blaine and Kurt. Sam instantly felt regretful. "Are you okay?"
Blaine nodded, stepping closer to Sam. "Mostly. I will be. I was the one who called it off."
Blaine looked around the hallway, as if he were searching for something. Sam followed his gaze, suddenly wondering, if the wedding had been called off, where were the guests? And was that what Blaine was looking for, too?
"Where is everyone?"
"I think my mom, and maybe Tina, are helping them set up whatever we would've had for the reception. We have the space rented, anyway, might as well let people enjoy it." Blaine laughed to himself. "Remember when they did that after Mr. Schuester's not wedding? In high school?" Blaine's eyes dimmed, suddenly remembering what had come after that reception. Sam tilted his head down, catching Blaine's gaze with his.
"What happened with Kurt?"
"We're just…" Blaine tried to explain. "I don't know how to explain it. We'll be happier separately. It sounds strange, since we've been together for so long, but…this way, we're not going to force ourselves. We'll just be happy. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah. It does." Sam understood, and either way, it wasn't like he was unhappy with the results. He wasn't going to push Blaine any further. "Do you want to get out of here?"
Blaine nodded, his demeanor suddenly changing. His chest became more open, eyes more pleading. "I was kind of hoping…if it was okay with you, could I move back into the apartment?"
Sam's heart swelled. "Technically, you never moved out." That got a wide smile from Blaine. "Blaine, it's your home, too. I…I want you to come home. And Teddy wants you to, too," he threw in, as an attempt to soften the intensity of his statement. "But mostly me."
"Honestly, I couldn't imagine living anywhere else," Blaine said.
Sam ducked his head. He didn't know if it was too soon to ask, but he needed to know. "So where does this leave us?"
Thankfully, it seemed like Blaine had known the question was coming. He stepped forward, taking Sam's hands in his.
"Sam?"
Sam's heart began to pound in his chest.
"I love you."
Sam let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, the air coming out in a mix between a whoosh and sporadic laughter. The sound would have been embarrassing, at any other time, but he didn't care because it felt incredible to hear those words.
"I love you," Blaine repeated, stepping closer.
"I love you, too, Blaine, I love you so much," Sam blurted out in a rush, wondering if Blaine was going to kiss him then.
But he didn't. Blaine stopped, and Sam realized there was more he wanted to add.
"There's a 'but,' isn't there?"
Blaine nodded. "I just need a little time, that's all," he explained. "I've been in a relationship for what feels like forever. I need to learn myself again, I need to reevaluate everything from mine and Kurt's relationship so I don't jump right in and make the same mistakes again. I need to put myself on a new track." He squeezed Sam's hands tightly, and Sam squeezed back, letting Blaine know that he understood. "I know it sucks, me asking to move back in to the apartment and being around you all the time and still saying we can't be together just yet, but I really think it'll be what's best for both of us in the end."
"No, I totally get it," Sam said. "It might be torture, yeah, but it'll be so worth it. Take all the time you need. I'll be here."
"And I want you to know that, no matter how long I take, I want to be with you. Even if we have to go slow at first, for my sake. I want to be with you. I'm going to be with you, someday." He stepped a little bit closer, their toes touching.
"There is one thing I want to do, though. Before we start the whole waiting thing. Because I've kind of been wanting to do this for, like, seven years, and now that I know that I can, I'm just going to do it, okay?"
Sam frowned. "Wh-"
Blaine cut him off with a kiss. He wrapped his arms around Sam's waist, pushing up on his toes so he could get the best angle. Once Sam realized what was happening, he pulled Blaine close, kissing him back as best as he could.
He heard Cooper whoop in the background, whenever the hell he'd gotten in the hotel.
Sam had never been happier.
Epilogue
"Crap!"
Sam could only watch as the grenade his character threw, in the entirely wrong direction which was not his fault, exploded into a building and killed hundreds of his fellow soldiers. He paused the game to let his brain take a break and looked at Teddy, who had been chewing loudly on a squeaky toy for the past ten minutes.
"How could you let that happen?"
Teddy bit his toy in response, the squeak piercing Sam's ear. Sam stared back at the TV screen, the 'Return/Restart/Quit selection taunting him. Maybe he should just accept that he was shit at video games and leave it at that. But he couldn't let a stupid video game get the best of him.
As he picked up the controller, guiding the cursor to 'Restart,' he heard the front door open.
"I'm home!" Blaine called from the hallway. Sam turned, seeing Blaine bustling through the door, arms full of his umbrella, his audition binder, and plastic white sacks. Teddy jumped up from the couch, still carrying his toy, and ran over to greet Blaine, who wrestled the toy from his mouth and tossed it across the room in a light version of fetch. Teddy raced after the toy, giving Blaine a chance to get to the counter.
"You brought dinner?" Sam guessed.
"Yeah, figured we could use a treat." Blaine deposited the umbrella on the floor and the sacks onto the counter, the white boxes inside keeping them upright, before walking to his room to put down the binder. Teddy, already bored with fetch, took his toy into Sam's room. Sam let him go, praying he wouldn't trade his toy for any of Sam's shoes.
"What's the occasion?" Sam asked Blaine, knowing he shouldn't watch him change into something more comfortable, but stealing a glance anyway. Blaine's back, muscles stretching as he raised his shirt over his head, was quite possibly one of the sexiest things he'd ever seen.
He did look away out of respect as Blaine shed his pants, though Blaine didn't seem to care about modesty then as much as he usually did. Blaine walked back into the living room once he was finished changing, wearing a soft t-shirt and sweatpants.
"I had a really crappy day today," Blaine finally answered, walking over to the sink and ducking his head under the water to scrub out the gel. He continued talking, louder so Sam could hear over the water. "You know how I had that callback this morning? Well, the subway broke down at a time where, like, everyone had to get to work, so I had to run, in the rain, to the callback. I looked like a hot mess from the waist down, except completely and entirely without the 'hot.' There was no way I got that part."
Blaine grabbed a towel and rubbed his hair dry, damp curls popping out frizzily after he removed the towel.
"I'm sorry," Sam said, nearly tacking on a 'babe' at the end. Six months later and he still had to control himself, had to remind himself that he and Blaine weren't dating. Yet.
Blaine shrugged him off. "After the callback, I come outside and it's stopped raining. Which was great. Until someone drove through a huge puddle and managed to splash my entire body." Blaine grabbed some plates out of the cabinet and began dishing out servings of food for both Sam and himself. "And then I found an open call line, so I got in it, even though I was still soaked. But I waited so long that my clothes nearly dried. And then I waited so long that they closed the audition, and even though I finally have my Equity card and got to go before all of the non-Equity people, they still closed the audition before I got in.
"And then, on the way home, I stopped inside this Chinese restaurant that I'd never been to before to grab food for us, but I didn't have any cash on me. I know, stupid in New York, but I have to go to the bank soon anyway. But they didn't take cards. Not even credit cards. This is New York in 2020, who doesn't take cards? So I kept walking and got this food instead, and by that time it was like I might as well just walk all the way home instead of take the subway, but I'm pretty sure I stepped in pee at some point."
Blaine frowned at himself. "Wait. That was- forget I said that last one."
"I don't know, I think it was the perfect cherry on top of how shitty your day was."
"Yeah, but it was completely not - never mind." Blaine handed Sam his plate of food, his own still left on the counter. He didn't sit, so Sam set his food on the table next to him and stretched his arms out to Blaine.
"I'm really sorry your day sucked. Do you want to cuddle later? Make you feel better?" Sam was joking, mostly, but Blaine looked as if Sam had stumbled upon the jackpot.
"Yes," Blaine said seriously. "Exactly."
"Wait, what?" Sam asked, surprised.
"That's my point, that's exactly what I was trying to say. Today was really crappy. And some days are just crappy like this, where everything goes wrong. But today made me realize that all day, every time something bad happened, or when I was waiting in line, tired and bored, all I wanted to do was come home to you. At the end of a crappy day, I want you to hold me. And kiss it better. And maybe do, um, other things," Blaine implied, blushing adorably. "And I want to do all of those things on good days, too. I want to be with you, Sam, and today made me realize that I don't know why I'm waiting anymore."
Tentatively, Blaine stepped between Sam's legs and sat on his lap, wrapping his arms around Sam's shoulders. Sam's arms instinctively circled around Blaine's waist.
"So basically what I'm really hoping is for this, Chinese food and cuddling on the couch, to be our first date. If you want."
Sam tried to appear calm, even though his heart jumped up to his throat, nearly choking him on his own happiness. "So does this mean you're my boyfriend now?"
Blaine leaned close, touching his nose to Sam's. "Eager, aren't we?" he teased. "Just a little bit?"
Sam tilted his head up, catching Blaine's lips in a kiss. "You love me."
"Yeah," Blaine smiled. "I do."
A/N: THE END! I can't believe it's finally here. I've been working on this fic all summer and I'm so excited that it's up in its entirety! I really hope you all enjoyed it. I can't thank you enough for your support and feedback. If you have a Tumblr and you enjoyed this fic, please go like and reblog the fic masterpost on my tumblr (my URL is blamstina, just click on the link that says Best Man on the sidebar) to spread the word. Thank you SO MUCH!
ALSO: My good friend Lauren, lallyinthesky on tumblr, made an AMAZING trailer for this fic! Add /watch?v=d9Q4MiisVOc&feature after the normal YouTube url to go check it out!
(If neither of these link methods work for you, I'll have the links in my profile. I know FFN can be tricky sometimes.)