Work Text:
“Nyaaaaah Nyaaaaah Brrrrrraaaap brrrrrraaaaap. Mah-May-Me-Mo-Moo. Lalalalalalala”
No need for an alarm. Ever since Rachel got back from her Funny Girl tour, Sam was awakened at 6 am on the dot to Rachel warming up her vocal chords in the shower. Somehow, Kurt and Blaine (and sometimes Santana and sometimes Brittany and a couple times Tina, but never Mercedes) all seemed to sleep through this. Why is Sam the only one that can’t? Doesn’t matter, he’s up. He doesn’t even bother to sit up, grabs the remote control from under his pillow, turns on the TV, reaches forward, grabs the controller and turns on the PlayStation. Made sure the sound was low as not to wake up everyone else in the house because after several years of couch surfing, he (unlike other people) knew how to be a considerate roommate.
That’s not fair. Sam appreciates that his friends let him sleep on their couch. He didn’t used to be so cranky in the morning, but he hasn’t been getting much sleep. New York is never quiet. This loft is never quiet. He misses waking up to the sound of real birds, not the bird sounds Rachel makes in the shower.
As has been his routine since arriving in New York, Sam will play Grand Theft Auto V until around 9:30, when Blaine wakes up. Blaine will stumble into the kitchen and make breakfast for the three of them (taking Kurt’s to him in bed on a tray). Sam will pause his game and hang out in the kitchen to chat with Blaine while he makes pancakes, two different kinds of eggs (Blaine and Sam like scrambled but Kurt prefers sunny side up) and turkey bacon (Kurt and Rachel do not allow pork in the house. Because Rachel’s Jewish and Kurt’s Dad has a bad heart and Finn died). Once Blaine goes to feed Kurt, Sam will make a hasty exit and go on a run. Unfortunately for Sam, he has yet to figure out the right distance to run so sometimes he comes back to an empty loft, sometimes he comes back and Kurt and Blaine are boning in the shower, and sometimes he comes back just in time for them to be about to bone and then Kurt won’t talk to him all day.
Sam used to like running. In Lima he and Finn would wake up early and go for a run before school.With an early start and no traffic, they could run in the street. They’d talk on their runs too; they talked about everything. He even told Finn when he realized Blaine had a crush on him. Finn talked to Sam about Kurt’s crush on him and how he regretted how he handled it. Sometimes they’d get Puck or Mike to join them.
Running in New York is no fun. No matter what time of day, the sidewalk is crowded. Even if he had someone to run with, there’d be no conversation because people would be pushing between them. Or there would be yelling and buses and people’s bluetooth speakers and dudes selling their mixtape. The air smells like exhaust, and pot and cigarettes and curry, all the time curry.
It’s not what he imagined when Blaine convinced him to move into the loft. He’d expected “Blam Take On the City.” Adventures and fun. He’d get modeling gigs and go to cool parties, always with his best bro by his side. Of course he expected Blaine to want to involve Kurt, Sam loves Kurt like a big brother. Yet what really happened was Sam feels like a third wheel a lot of the time.
Night is Sam’s favorite time of night. After Blaine bangs Kurt to sleep (Sam takes a shower with his music way up), he comes into the living room and that’s their bro time. Blaine knows Sam has a hard time sleeping so he reads him fanfiction. And Sam will even shave Blaine’s back, even though there’s hardly any hair there, but bros help bros. They even write their own fic, even though Blaine is afraid to publish it. It’s the only time of day that New York feels like home.