Coalesce.

Sam walks into the shop the next morning (two hours after Rory had to open up, the brunette notes) with a grin on his face, his cell phone in one hand and Pepper in the other.

"You look happy." Rory smirks as Sam sits Pepper on the counter next to the cash register and types something on his phone's keypad quickly.

"Can you watch Pepper tonight?" Sam asks, completely ignoring Rory as he rolls his eyes and writes up a few reservations that have come in so far.

"Why?" Rory asks with a slightly smug smirk.

"Well," Sam smiles, blushing pink across the top of his cheeks, "I think I have a date tonight."

"Kurt?" Rory says with a small smile as he straightens a few of the counter-top standees.

"Yeah. But I don't know if you could really call it a date." Sam thinks for a moment as he pins his name tag in place. "We're just watching a few of the Avengers films and I'm going to explain the intricacies of the Marvel universe to him."

"Sam." Rory says sternly, looking at him from over a stack of special edition Watchmen comics. "How can you not know if it counts as a date?"

"It just seems so quick!" Sam exclaims, taking half of the books from Rory's hands. "I mean, I met him yesterday and he's coming over tonight to watch stupid comic movies with me and I know I'm going to mess up somehow!"

"Sam." Rory says again, moving Pepper into a seat behind the counter. "He wouldn't have given you his number if he didn't want to spend time with you, whether you're being your nerdy self, or your good-dad self, or even your 'I think it's acceptable to wander around my apartment in my underwear'-self."

Sam blushes red and hides himself behind a Rorschach standee.

"Rory! Shut up!" Sam practically squeaks as he shunts the standee towards the front window. "I don't even know where it'll go, it seemed like he genuinely wanted to know about Iron Man so I might just be his go-to guy for all nerdy things. I don't know."

Sam sighs, frowns at the floor for a second as he piles up a few special-edition-with-mask blu-rays of the Watchmen remake that was released a few years ago.

"Sam." Rory sighs after a few minutes of silence, making his way over to the other man quickly. "Stop being so down on yourself, would you? Maybe he actually wants to hang out with you because you're you?"

"Why would he want that, though?" Sam sighs, folding a few Spiderman shirts absently and stuffing them onto the display shelves. "He barely knows me. He's probably heard more about me from Rachel than he actually has from me."

"For Christ's sake, Samuel." Rory snaps at him, grabbing him by the elbow and turning him around. "He spoke to me last night after you left the coffee shop. He's just as nervous as you are. Now, repeat after me: I will be fine."

"I will be fine." Sam murmurs, still clearly unsure about the whole situation, but Rory pulls him into a tight hug, and the twenty-eight year old sighs and hugs back.

The bell above the door rings and they separate themselves, turning to look at the new entrants. It's Artie and a tall, heavily pregnant woman with a pink tinged blonde bob.

"Oh, wow." She says, pushing the door closed. "Noah would love it in here."

"That's what I meant. You'll probably find a pretty good birthday present for him in here." Artie explains, wheeling himself towards the register at the back of the shop. Rory practically barrels down there to get there first. Sam rolls his eyes at him.

"Hey, Artie!" Rory says, rummaging around under the counter for his comic, passing it over the top. "Here's that comic. I think it's nine dollars? Sam?"

"Yeah?" He replies, poking his head around a collection of bookcases.

"Nine dollars, right?"

Sam nods and disappears back behind the shelves as his cell phone vibrates in his pocket.

New Message: Kurt H

Shall I bring the ice cream and cookies?

Sam texts back his affirmation and says that he'll see him later. Kurt texts back a simple smiley face within the minute. He tunes back in to Rory's conversation in time to hear the woman –whose name is Quinn, apparently- finish explaining that she's looking for a birthday present for her husband Noah, but all she knows is that he 'likes comics'. Sam rolls his eyes, holding back a laugh as he flicks through a particularly thick graphic novel before continuing to stack them on to the shelves.

That night, after Pepper has been deposited at Rory's for the night (with a sketchbook and a mountain of blu-rays to keep her company) and after Sam has changed into a checked shirt that he's kept unbuttoned quite low (and it was definitely his first outfit change, not his third, thank you very much), Kurt arrives with a bag full of tubs of ice cream, and far too many packets of cookies for two almost thirty year olds.

"Hey." Kurt says with a small smile when Sam opens the door to his apartment. Sam smiles back and opens the door wide. He can practically feel himself flushing under Kurt's scrutiny –the brunette is currently wandering into the sitting room, having paused to look at the collection of Pepper's baby photographs hanging in the hallway. He heads towards the kitchen, picks up two spoons before moving into the sitting room. Kurt is looking at one of the bigger canvases he's finished lately –this one is a massive rectangular pop art of the Golden Gate Bridge for Stacy's birthday next month.

"Did you paint this?" Kurt asks, gesturing at the canvas as he hands Sam the bag of ice cream. "It's amazing."

"Yeah. It's for my kid sister's birthday. She's kind of obsessed with architecture." Sam laughs nervously, rummaging through the bag and setting the various tubs of ice cream on the coffee table. "Spoon?"

Kurt takes it from him and smiles, shrugging off his jacket and perching on the edge of the sofa. Sam grabs his copy of Captain America, inserts the disc and settles himself beside Kurt.

"Why do you want to just watch a ton of Marvel movies, anyway?" Sam asks, popping the lid off the tub nearest him. "I thought you didn't like them."

"I haven't really watched that many." Kurt shrugs, digging his spoon into the tub of double chocolate. "And the ones I have seen were punctuated by Finn spouting random trivia over most of the important speech."

"I'll shut up then." Sam laughs, pressing play on the remote. "I kind of know a lot about these movies. Even if they are at least ten years old."

"At least you have an excuse." Kurt laughs, eating a spoonful of ice cream. "You work with comics and their movie adaptations! My stepbrother is an accountant."

By the time they've finished watching Captain America and are halfway through Thor, they've polished off all but half of one tub of ice cream and have made a start on the cookies. Kurt's 'no talking through the movie' rule was quickly abolished when Kurt started talking about how he remembers going to see this with Finn in their senior year. The conversation quickly turns to siblings, and so Sam finds himself divulging numerous anecdotes about growing up with Stevie and Stacy, all of which Kurt laughs at –and a few are apparently that funny he feels the need to reach over and squeeze his knee in such a way that Sam's heart flutters worryingly.

They've just begun on the topic of Pepper by the time Thor is trying to prise his hammer from the big lump of rock, but neither of them have been paying attention for at least the last fifteen minutes.

"I mean, she seems to be doing just fine without her mom around –which is good, I guess, because her mom was kind of a bitch. Probably still is, to be honest. Haven't heard from her in years."

"What happened with her?" Kurt asks, frowning slightly into his tub of ice cream. "If you don't mind me asking."

"No, it's fine." Sam reassures him, looking at him with a soft smile. "Well, we went to college together. Graduated together and all that. We got a little drunk one time, decided it was a brilliant idea to just, well... I'm pretty sure you can guess where that went... And then she found out she was pregnant, but she didn't want an abortion or to keep the baby when they were born, so she kind of just... Gave me her, I guess. She said she'd call once in a while, but she never has. Not that it's a massive disaster for me or Pep, really."

Kurt doesn't exactly know what he's doing when he reaches over and takes hold of Sam's hand, twisting their fingers together. Sam just smiles at him, squeezes his hand and shuffles a little closer to him. Kurt blushes pink and attempts to focus back on the movie.

It doesn't work.

Sam wakes up in the morning to the sound of the Thor menu screen playing over and over, and to the weight of Kurt on his chest. He guesses they must have fallen asleep at some point, but if the fact that his hand is still holding Kurt's is anything to go by, then last night was a success. Kurt shuffles slightly, sniffling as he rearranges himself. Sam smiles, resting his head back against the arm of the sofa and closing his eyes.

They are rudely awoken a few hours later to the sound of Rory practically breaking down the front door with his fist. Kurt starts suddenly, sitting up and using Sam's chest as some kind of surface to push himself up. Sam squeaks in a ridiculously girly way because he's pretty sure it's not good for his lungs to be compressed like that.

"What time is it?" Kurt grumbles, rubbing at his eyes with one hand as he sits himself up.

"About ten in the morning." Sam glances at his watch and pulls himself into a sitting position. "You don't have to be at work, do you?"

"No, but I have an audition at twelve." Kurt pushes his bangs back out of his face with his hand. "Shouldn't you be at your store?"

"We're closed on Sundays." Sam explains. "But I think I should go let Rory and Pepper in before Rory destroys my door with his bare hands."

"You do realize Pepper hasn't really seen me yet, don't you? How do you plan to explain whatever this is to her?" Kurt frowns as Sam stands up.

"I've been in relationships before –granted only two, and those guys were kind of assholes- and I pretty much just told her outright. She's a pretty smart kid, I think she understood. Or at least, she seemed to."

"Sam?" Kurt asks as the blonde reaches the doorway. The blonde turns to look at him with a small smile on his face.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to go out tonight?" Kurt asks cautiously, standing up and joining Sam in the doorway. The blonde looks at him for a long moment, as if checking that he's being serious.

"Yeah, sure, you mean like for dinner or something?" Sam asks, leaning against the doorframe. "I'm sure I'll be able to find somewhere nice."

Kurt smiles, hugs his arms around Sam's waist and laughs into his neck. Sam feels himself blush and wonders if it would be too soon to go in for a peck on the cheek. Kurt is apparently wondering the same thing, and as he leans up and Sam leans down, there's a moment of them staring at each other and then Kurt suddenly moves and Sam isn't really paying attention and kind of just kisses him.

And oh Christ this is the most embarrassing thing he's ever done, how did this happen, he was aiming for the cheek, just something innocent and cute and dear God he should never be allowed to kiss people again. Ever.

And then Kurt kisses back and maybe this is okay. Maybe he can live with this.

Kurt pulls away and they look at each other for a long moment. Then Kurt leans back in and kisses him again. And Sam decides that yeah, he can live with this.

"Samuel Peter Evans! If you don't open this door right now I am holding your daughter and your comics hostage!" Rory yells through the wood and Kurt laughs, pulling away from Sam again.

"You'd better answer the door. You couldn't risk anything happening to Pepper." Kurt smiles and Sam bites back a laugh, an obvious pink blush over the tops of his cheeks.

Sam moves into the hallway and pulls the door open to reveal a seething Rory and a grinning Pepper.

"Er, hi."

"Jesus Christ." Rory sighs, pushing past him and into the apartment.

"Hey, sweetie." Sam says as he scoops up Pepper. The girl laughs and Sam carries her through into the sitting room, where Kurt has retired to the sofa. He's lacing up his boots, Rory sitting next to him in a way that can only be awkward.

"Pep, there's someone I want you to meet. This is Kurt." He sets Pepper down and the girl smiles cheerily at the brunette, waving at him from two feet away.

"Hi!" She says and Kurt smiles at her. "I'm Pepper!"

She moves towards him and hugs his leg. Kurt looks at her awkwardly for a moment or two until she giggles and him and he laughs, patting her on the head.

"You're sweet." He tells her, and she smiles.

"I'd better go get ready for this audition." Kurt announces, after Rory has scooped up Pepper and has switched the TV to a kid's channel.

"I'll see you out." Sam says. Kurt picks up his bag and heads into the hallway, Sam close behind him. Rory rolls his eyes at both of them.

"Good luck with your audition." Sam says quietly as they stand in the front doorway. "What's it for?"

"Rent. Rachel saw the posters last week and decided I'd be perfect for the role of Angel." Kurt smiles widely.

"I'm sure you'll do great." Sam grins. "I'll see you tonight."

"I'll pick you up at seven." Kurt smiles at him, kisses him quickly before he disappears through the door.

Sam closes the door, breathes heavy for a second and starts thinking through his outfit for tonight in his head.

"Rory!"

"Yes?"

"Do you know where I could find Rent on DVD?"