Chapter Text
Samuel Evans was not having a great start of his day. After not hearing his alarm and therefore shortening his already rushed morning routine, he got a text saying his friend Mike was cancelling their plans of testing out a new video game to hang out with some girl. With rain pouring everywhere his eyes could see, Sam’s walk to his first class of the day was proving to be quite the quest. He lingered at the entrance of the subway station for a moment, weighing his options. In his overstuffed backpack wasn’t a single item that would suffice as an umbrella, meaning he would have to let the rain soak through his clothes in order to make it on time.
Going to NYU hadn’t been Sam’s initial plan after graduating high school, but as a junior, he honestly couldn’t say he regretted his decision of giving up his short lived modelling career for the sake of his education. College gave him the exact feeling of belonging he had ached to feel after spending most of his childhood moving to different cities so his father could keep working hard to feed their family. It meant staying in the same place for over a year, and therefore introduced the possibility of long term friendships and maybe even relationships.
The latter hadn’t landed on his path yet. At least, not in the way he was looking for. Finding girls and guys to hook up with in the big apple wasn’t difficult, and Sam knew he was far from ugly, but establishing something more permanent seemed to be beyond his capabilities. And that had been just fine to him for a while, except now all of his close friends were finding people, and constantly settling down. Whether it lasted for a few months or merely a week or two, Sam couldn’t help but feel jealous.
One of his friends, Artie, had told him that it was more than okay that he wasn’t the relationship kind of guy, and that he, too, had hooked up without commitment plenty of times. Sam didn’t have the balls to tell him that one night stands simply weren’t cutting it for him anymore. It almost felt as if he would be perceived as ungrateful, if he verbalised those nagging feelings. Now it had gotten to a point where even Sam himself began wondering if maybe hookup culture was all he was fit for.
None of this crossed his mind, though, as he practically ran through the busy campus. People left and right from him groaned and yelled out in annoyance whenever he accidentally bumped into them, but he couldn’t bring himself to care all that much. Replacing his study material wasn’t in the cards for him right now, not with the lack of shifts his boss at the diner was granting him. His shoes were now full of water, and the pure discomfort of that alone was enough to get rid of any possible guilt he felt.
He could see the finish line when he bumped into another particularly hasty student. This time he apologised, but didn’t look up to register the person’s face, since his first lecture was starting within the next two minutes and he most definitely did not have the time to dwell on what had happened.
When he finally entered the building he was supposed to get to, he was met with a closed door. If only he had signed up to live on campus for another year, he thought. Then he would’ve made it on time and his clothes wouldn’t be sticking to his shivering body. Then he wouldn’t have to live with a group of young guys who showed him what it’s like to live in extremely untidy circumstances. Though his friends and family had always tried motivating him to start cleaning and tidying more, he found out he wasn’t so bad after all. Not in comparison to at least three of the guys he now called his roommates.
In short, his life had been great for the past few years, if you didn’t count the horrendous living situation he was currently in. Once he graduated and landed his first adult job, though, it was all going to change. He was sure of it. “Shoot.” A voice sighed from behind him. Sam turned around with a mild sense of interest, only to be met with a guy who he was pretty certain he had seen before. A vague memory of the guy’s name starting with an ‘l’ popped into his brain, but he wasn’t entirely sure.
He was wearing an outfit far too formal for a lecture, and Sam could merely assume that his hair had been held back by an enormous amount of hair gel to have sustained the current weather. Curls were managing to spring loose here and there, and Sam almost grinned when he noticed the bow tie. Who was this dude? “Have you tried knocking?” Bow Tie Guy was now speaking directly to him, startling Sam a bit. “Oh, uh, no?” The goal was to look unfazed, but he surely failed in that department judging by the slightest smile on the guy’s face.
Bow Tie Guy looked at his feet for a moment, seemingly assessing the situation he was in. “Probably wise, Professor Sylvestor wouldn’t like it if two of her students barged into her lecture almost…” He glanced at his watch. Who even wore watches anymore? “Fifteen minutes late. The sanction would presumably be far worse than just missing out on a single lecture of hers.” The guy Sam assumed was about his age, maybe a year or two younger, ran a hand though his hair before realising it was cemented onto his head with gel. The sight was ridiculous enough to cause Sam to forcibly hold back a chuckle. He wasn’t sure how to add to the conversation, and a vague sense of familiarity was still hanging in the air.
Sam hated how clueless he felt in that moment, wanting nothing more than to radiate his usual confidence. “I sit two rows behind you.” The guy stated, causing Sam to frown in confusement. A blush crept into Bow Tie’s cheeks as he added onto his statement. “I thought you vaguely recognised me, so that’s why.” He reached out a hand, and Sam had to glance around the two of them to make sure it wasn’t some sort of trap before shaking it. “I’m Blaine. Blaine Anderson.”
For some odd reason, Blaine’s hand wasn’t clammy at all despite the rain, and Sam held onto it for longer than what was probably considered appropriate. “Not to be confused with Lane from Girlmore Girls, got it.” He nodded, noticing the guy’s amber-coloured eyes for the first time. After uttering those words, he mentally hit himself in the face for making such an irrelevant and stupid observation. Apparently no amount of time spent in New York had helped improve his small talk skills in the slightest.
“That was dumb, sorry. I’m Sam.” He said, figuring that introducing himself was the safest way to go about the encounter. Uncertainty washed over him as he wondered whether it was now expected of him to add his last name, but he thought better of it when he heard Blaine chuckle. “Nice to meet you, Sam. Can’t say I’ve met a lot of fellow male Gilmore Girls fans.” The smile that took over his face made Sam’s stomach do all sorts of weird things.
He ran a hand through his freshly cut hair, unsure with what to say or do. “My little sister used to be obsessed with the show.” Sam shrugged, agitated with himself because everything was coming out awkwardly and totally not cool at all. His eyes flickered over the new set of curls that were threatening to escape. It was kind of adorable, and perhaps Sam was already picturing running his hand through Blaine’s dark hair in a less academic setting. Sam’s brain worked fast like that.
“Well I should get going if I want to change out of these clothes before my next lecture.” Blaine awkwardly looked down at his outfit, which was sticking right onto his skin. A mix of relief and dismay washed over Sam at the thought of ending the encounter. On the one hand, he was fully aware of the fact that he was being painfully awkward, once again proving to himself that he was an absolute loser when it came to interacting with disturbingly attractive people. On the other hand, he was really enjoying the time he had gotten to spend staring at Blaine.
Instead of protesting or letting any of the disappointment show, he nodded. “Yeah, same. I’ll see you around.” Those last few words came out as something much closer to a question than Sam would have liked. “Right.” Blaine nodded, and before Sam could think of another irrelevant thing to add, he had left the building. It wasn’t until that moment when he realised just how drenched he was. The water had found its way to his underwear, and he was pretty certain most of his books would be messed up too to some extent. A combination of the now cleared up sky and thoughts of Bow Tie Guy smiling at him made the walk to the subway station a lot less terrible.