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Jake doesn’t really give a shit that Kitty’s dating his half-brother. If anything, it’s probably good for her. Jake’s sure Kitty’s been getting all the same lectures from Puck that he has. The Glee club is family, don’t let anything fuck that up. Be open minded, don’t be a little shit. You will always be backup, except for the few times you’re not, so calm your tits about solos. Make out with at least half the club, it’ll broaden your horizons. They’re all things Kitty’d do well learning.
The proof is in the pudding -whatever the fuck that means- when Kitty talks about taking out Unique’s bullies. Puck’s worked his magic. Unfortunately Jake can’t just haul him into McKinley to get certain members heads out of their asses. McKinley’s sort of been Finn’s domain.
It’s with the Puckerman spirit kicking inside him that he invites half the Glee club over for a sleepover. Ryder, Sam and Blaine get texted the same information, Marley get her own, and Jake calls Unique. She’s interested in the idea right up until he tells her she’ll have to come over as Wade.
“Jake, I thought we went through this particular drama already.”
“I know, and I thought he was a douche, like I said. But girls can’t sleep over at my house, so Marley’s scaling a drain pipe to the second floor. You hate gym. I’m pretty sure you took a zero rather than participate the day we had to climb the huge yellow ropes, if I’m remembering right. It would be a lot easier if you pretended to be a guy for five minutes. As soon as you’re safely in my room you can wear whatever nightie you want.”
“Unique understands your logic.”
*
“We’re playing Question and Kiss,” Jake makes up on the spot. “It’s kind of like truth or dare, but for people with communication problems. You get to ask anything, no matter how uncomfortable or mean. But you have to follow that up with a kiss.”
Blaine frowns. “Isn’t that kind of gay? For you, I mean. There’s four guys here, and two girls. I kissed the wrong gender once, and things got really weird afterward.”
“No.” Jake says firmly. He’s got to channel his brother at his best if he wants to pull this off. That means confidence to the point of obnoxiousness. “It helps everyone remember we’re friends, regardless. There’s not gonna be any bullshit. Just people being honest, and then people being reassuring afterwards.”
*
They’ve asked maybe half a dozen questions about dumb things, given out half a dozen grandmotherly pecks on the lips before Sam changes the game. “Ryder, why’d you kiss Marley?”
“Because I love her.”
“Then why-”
“One question per turn!” Jake reminds. It’s not that he doesn’t want to hear Sam’s follow up. It’s just that if this turns into an interrogation everything’s over. One party will get defensive, the other will pour on the accusations. People will form sides. It’s the opposite of what he’s trying to achieve.
“Right, commandant!” Sam barks back. Then he snickers and rocks forward on his knees to press his lips against Ryder’s. Jake can handle being called out as bossy, as long as they actually do what he wants.
*
“So if you’re Unique, proud black woman, why do you come to school as Wade sometimes? I mean I get the whole self truth thing, but still. If you know who you are how come sometimes you don’t act it?”
Jake could just reach out and throttle Ryder. He would, except maybe a kiss is what they need. Ryder and Unique having problems is one of the major reasons he’s having this party. This is the first Ryder/Unique question, and maybe once Ryder kisses her and realises she kisses like any other girl, he’ll stop being so ignorant.
“Every morning I have to decide if I want to be myself, or if I want to be safe. Sometimes I feel tired. Sometimes it’s easier to pretend I’m the person others would rather me be. And sometimes I spend a half hour getting dressed and then I can’t sneak out the back door fast enough and my parents see me and tell me to go change. They were okay with Unique when she lived Chicago, but according to them it’s too dangerous for Unique to be in Lima.”
It’s Ryder’s soft oh more than the short kiss that gives Jake hope.
*
“Were you really on Finn’s side of the feud?”
It’s a weak question, as Sam’s answer of ‘uh, no’ is obvious. Blaine asked so he could lean in and press his lips on Sam’s, and everyone in the room knows it, except maybe Sam. Jake’s fine with his game being corrupted though. So what if the question was useless? The game is about bringing people together, and Sam and Blaine need that as much as Ryder and Unique do.
*
“If it’s true that you kiss the ones you love, why haven’t you kissed Jake?”
Jake frowns. All of a sudden things feel very out of hand.
“Because when people are straight if you make your big gay crush too obvious it freaks them out.”
Jake would love to look over and see how Sam and Blaine have reacted to that, but he can’t look away from Ryder, because what? Since when is Ryder bisexual? He can’t even bring himself to care that Marley and Ryder are kissing, gingerly, because since when has Ryder thought about kissing him?
*
“Do you love Brittany?”
Sam looks at Unique for a second, then down at his hands. He hooks his fingers together and wiggles them a little. “I...I think I love that she loves me? Like she’s really hot, but she thinks I’m hot, and she never thinks I’m stupid. And when Santana tried to get her back she picked me. And that’s a really really great thing to feel, that someone wants you most of all.”
Unique reaches out and cups his face to make him look at her. “But do you love her?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever loved anyone. But that’s okay, right? I mean, we’re only in high school. I have forever to find a girl that makes me feel all storybook.”
She leans forward to kiss him without dropping her hand. “One day you’ll find some person to love.”
Jake knows he’s not the only one that heard her pronoun change. The real question is, did Sam?
*
“What’s your orientation Unique? I mean, are you straight, or a lesbian?”
“Oh, that’s a good question. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you hit on someone,” Blaine smiles.
“I’m straight. I’m definitely straight. But to answer your question, Blaine, and sure I’ll give you another kiss if you want, I haven’t, and I don’t really plan to.”
“Why not?” Jake asks for the group. Maybe it should be Marley, because they’re the closest, but maybe Marley already knows.
“First off, let me just say, I want you to understand I don’t speak for all trans people. Got it, Ryder? But for me, personally? I don’t want to do anything sexual until I’m in the right body. And if it takes me ten years to fully physically transition, then I’ll give my first blowjob at twenty six.”
Sam looks awed. “Wow. I couldn’t imagine not having sex for that long.”
“You’re also not trapped in a foreign body you don’t want,” Blaine reminds him.
Jake moves in for his kiss, then pulls back. “Wait. Is this okay? If you don’t want anything sexual I don’t-”
She shakes her head. “You’re not doing it to try to get me turned on. None of you have tried. It’s fine. And also, even if you and Ryder were to start making out and it was as hot as I imagine it could be, it wouldn’t really bother me. If it has nothing to do with me, it doesn’t bother me half as much.”
*
Sam turns sideways to look at Blaine. “So, speaking of sexual stuff... Was the sign true?”
Blaine sighs so hard that on anyone else it would ruffle their hair. His helmet of hair doesn’t move an inch, of course. “It’s so damn frustrating. Am I supposed to angrily deny that I get fucked in the ass sometimes? I’m gay! But Kurt and I did switch. I mean- fuck! It’s so much easier with heteros. It’s all P.I.V, no one has to even think about it. But with us, nooo, everyone just assumes that certain acts means certain things and there’s assumptions of roles and I seriously want to punch Sylvester in the nose.”
Blaine’s side of the kiss is angry. Sam’s is soothing. It’s the first that’s gone on for longer than a reassuring friendly second or two.
*
Two more innocent questions later, Blaine’s asking Sam the dirtiest question so far. “Have you and Brittany ever thought about having a threesome?”
“I thought she’d ask when Santana came back. She didn’t though. I don’t know what I would have said. Yes, probably.”
Jake has just enough time to think success before Blaine and Sam’s kiss to prove that there’s no grudge for a hard question turns into a full on, open mouthed, wet lipped kiss. Resounding success, apparently.
Actually, everything so far has been a success. Blaine and Sam have figured out their shit, after weeks of Sam blatantly pretending he didn’t notice anything from Blaine, and weeks of Blaine trying to hide any feelings towards Sam. Ryder and Unique are sharing a bag of dill pickle chips and Ryder’s not being a total putz when their hands brush each other’s. Unique’s had a chance to talk about her life without coming off like a Frequently Asked Questions webpage. Judging from the cute, silly questions Marley’s asked him, everything is cool between them.
The only thing that hasn’t been covered is the thing Jake didn’t even know was an issue, so it’s not exactly fair to complain that he hasn’t fixed it yet. He’s just gotta channel Puck. Bold, daring, passionate, loving. If Jake can manage even half of that, he can make this work for himself and Marley and Ryder.
It will work for all of them. Jake’s sure of it, because everyone in the room who isn’t currently making out is staring avidly. It’s the first time Jake’s seen two guys make out. He knew he wouldn’t be grossed out because he’s not a bigoted asshole. He just didn’t expect that he’d find it so incredibly hot. Watching Blaine and Sam lights the exact same fire that getting involved personally with a girl does. And occasional criticism about being a man-whore aside, Jake is confident when it comes to how to make arousal work for him. He’ll just wait until Blaine and Sam are done. No sense interrupting.
*
“Marley, what did you tell me in the hall?”
She leans in for a kiss. It’s unhappy enough that Jake doesn’t reprimand her with the reminder that she did it in the wrong order, that it’s supposed to come after the answer.
“That I love you and even when I’m not hanging out with you it’s like I am.” She slumps as she finishes speaking. Ryder looks stricken for a moment before pulling the emotion back. Jake feels shitty for causing the reactions, and rushes to clarify.
“No, the other thing. The one about two people.”
“That I liked the feeling of people liking me? So what? We’ve talked about-”
“Someone ask me why it’s relevant.”
“Why’d you ask Marley that?” Unique asks. Like Marley, she kisses him without waiting for a reply. Even though he’s seen her eat at least a third of a bag of dill chips, she still tastes mostly like her pink lemonade flavoured lip chap. If she wanted this, Jake would want her too, but she doesn’t, and he has to respect that. But he can still be close, without taking her clothes off.
“Because I think I like having two people like me too.”
Ryder frowns, a depressing counterpoint to Marley’s slowly growing smile. “What? I don’t get it.
Blaine grins and decides to help. “Have you heard of poly,” he asks before planting his lips on Ryder’s.
“What, like math? Wait, is that another question?” Ryder evidently decides yes, he kisses Blaine back before the group weighs in on it.
Blaine doesn’t move his face far from Jake’s to answer. Their eyelashes are nearly touching when he says “No, not like math. Poly’s when more than two people love each other, and they all know, and it’s not cheating, and everyone is happy.”
Ryder surges in to Blaine and Jake can’t look away from the small flashes of tongue. He couldn’t if someone offered him a million dollars to. Jake doesn’t want them to ever stop, and the feeling only doubles when they pull apart and Ryder sounds so broken, so desperate. “It doesn’t work like that. People can’t do that.”
Blaine cradles Ryder’s face with both hands. “It does work. It does, and I think maybe you should try it.”
“I think maybe we should all try it,” Sam says quietly, like he’s going to let people ignore him if they have to.
“There’s kind of a lot of difference between three people loving each other and six people loving each other,” Marley says, equally quiet.
Jake curls an arm around her, and drops his hand on Unique’s thigh. “Tell me there’s a person in this room that you wouldn’t want to love you.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t say that.”
Jake smiles, trying to make it as big and genuine as he can. He’s happy, he can sense euphoria on the horizon, if only this would happen. He can see everyone wavering, everyone wanting but holding back just a little, and if he can express his way into a group relationship, he will. It’s not the outcome he’d expected when he set up this sleepover, but now that he can see it he doesn’t want to settle for anything less. He wants them, and if Puck can be believed, Puckermans always get what they want.