Chapter Text
When he walked through the doors of West Peak high school, he was the first person Sam saw. At 6'2", he stood taller than Sam, and his letterman jacket suggested he was on a sports team. There was a group of students crowded around him, a pretty blonde girl hanging off his arm. They all laughed at something he said, the guy smiling smugly in the aftermath.
He was everything Sam wanted to be; everything he wanted to be with.
The guy was popular though; probably quarterback of the football team, probably fucking the blonde who had moved to straddle him, probably had loving parents in a loving home. He wouldn't give Sam a second glance. Hell, Sam didn't even know if the guy was straight or not. So Sam shrugged off Mr-Perfect and headed to the front desk to find his first class.
Sam had English on the second floor, with a teacher called Mr. Birch, so Sam could relax a little. The book they were studying was Animal Farm, something Sam had read when he was eleven and had done three book reports on. There were the usual introductions from the teachers, followed by sniggers from the back of the class. Rolling his eyes, Sam made his way to the only free seat in the room.
"Hey," Sam heard from beside him. Turning around, Sam came face to face with Mr-Perfect, and Sam almost cried. Of all the people Sam could be sat next to, it had to be him. Sam smiled tightly, and the guy took it as encouragement to continue. "I'm Austin. I can help if you need to catch up on anything."
"I think I'm good thanks," Sam shrugged. He wanted to say yes, just to get close to Austin, but the likelihood that it was all a joke to haze the new kid was too much. Although, Austin looked disappointed, and Sam couldn't help but feel guilty. "I could use some help with math though." Austin flashed a bright smile.
"Great, I'll come find you at lunch," he grinned and ran a hand through his short hair. Beside his blinding smile and soft hair, Sam found himself captivated by Austin's royal blue eyes. He was suddenly looking very forward to lunch.
Sam found Austin first, but was hesitant to go over. Not only was the blonde from that morning there, but also all of Austin's strong, muscular friends. Sure, Sam knew how to handle himself in a fight, but he doubted knowing how to take down a yeti would be much use against a football player. Austin spotted Sam from where he was stood, tapped his friend gently on the arm and made his way over. He was a lot more docile than Sam expected from him. Usually, the jocks took pleasure in dunking Sam's head in toilets.
"Hey, Sam, sorry but we've been called in for emergency practice," Austin apologised, scratching the back of his head nervously. He quickly glanced back to his friends, who were jeering about something, before turning back to Sam. "You could come to mine? Tonight, if you wanted to."
"That would be great!" Sam smiled, rather dorkishly, and nodded.
"Great! I'll find you in the parking lot after college," Austin told him. Someone, possibly the coach, was shouting at Austin from one end of the cafeteria. Rolling his eyes, Austin turned back to face the caller, then faced Sam with an apologetic look. "Look, sorry I gotta go, but wait for me after school, okay? I'll drive you back to mine."
"Looking forward to it," Sam laughed, watching as Austin jogged off to the coach. Deep breaths, Sam, deep breaths.
Austin's house was huge, not that Sam expected anything less from the town's favourite quarterback. All the furniture was new and clean, making Sam feel more out of place than ever. The Ames were clearly a rich family, much more than his Dad's credit card scams. Insecure, Sam pulled at his jacket, something which once belonged to Dean - probably their Dad too - so was way too big for him. It meant that Sam could bury himself in the familiar scent when he was nervous, so he didn't mind. He hoped Austin didn't mind.
Sam stood around in the foyer for a second, unsure what to do, when Austin's Dad walked in. He was dressed in a coach's uniform baring the school logo, so Sam guessed that was why Austin got into football. As Austin's Dad walked past, he did a double take at Sam.
"Dad, this is my friend Sam," Austin smiled in a way that made Sam's heart melt a little. "He's new so I'm helping him catch up with his math." The coach eyed them suspiciously, cold grey eyes glaring through Sam's soul. It was the most intimidating experience of Sam's life, even after facing a pack of werewolves the summer before.
"Hello, sir," Sam whispered, waving his hand awkwardly. There was another few seconds of silence before Austin's Dad spoke up again.
"Make sure you practice longer tomorrow then," he said finally. Sam let out a shaky breath he didn't know he was holding in. "Don't want you rusting up, Kiddo." Austin nodded before darting upstairs, looking back to check Sam was still following him.
Austin's room was the opposite of the rest of the house. Where the walls painted white downstairs, Austin's walls were a dark blue covered with various posters. Where the living room had been neat and tidy, Austin's room looked like a pig sty. It made Sam feel more at ease, and he fell comfortably onto the edge of Austin's king size bed. Austin took a seat across from Sam in an office chair set up at his desk. He swivelled around and rolled over to Sam.
"So what do you want to work on?" Austin asked. Sam laughed nervously
"Actually, I'm alright with math... At my last school I was on the mathletes team," Sam confessed. Frowning, Austin backed away a little; Sam hadn't realised that Austin had been close enough that Sam could feel his breath.
"So why did you say you'd come?" He sounded offended, and Sam felt so guilty.
"You looked so disappointed when I said no first, and I don't know... Usually I get burnt by the popular kids at school, they either ignore me or you know - bully me. But you seemed nice, so I don't know, I guess I didn't want to disappoint you." Austin blushed and reached a hand up to cover his face, a low chuckle rumbling through the room.
"Sam, you wouldn't disappoint me," he smiled sadly. With a quick movement, Austin had wheeled back over to the space in between Sam's knees. Gently, he took hold of Sam's hand and stroked his knuckles. "I just wanted to get to know you a little better." Sam's heart was thumping like a drum, every second that Austin leaned closer forward. Panic settled in his mind. He'd only ever kissed one girl before, a whole year before moving to California, and he'd never been close to any guy. What if he screwed up? What if Austin was just leading him on for a laugh?
"Austin stop!" Sam squealed out of panic. Immediately, Austin stilled and pulled away, eyebrows furrowed.
"Are you okay?" He questioned frantically. With his throat closed up, Sam couldn't bring himself to speak. Instead, he shook his head until Austin stroked his hands down Sam's arms and calmed him. "Sam, what's wrong?" His voice was a lot more clear and commanding, so Sam felt obligated to answer.
"I don't know what I'm doing, Austin," Sam muttered, looking away from those big blue eyes.
"Sam, I told you you can't disappoint me, as long as I'm with you, I don't care about anything," Austin said sincerely.
"But you don't even know me! I've never dated before, I've only kissed a girl once, I don't know what I'm doing with any of this," Sam frowned. There was a rustling downstairs, and Austin froze for a second. When the noise stopped, Austin relaxed and reached out for Sam.
"It's okay, we can go at your pace, alright?" Austin patted Sam's leg. "But we can still do this, right? Us? There's something different about you than everyone in the valley."
"Yeah, well I didn't grow up a city over from Hollywood," Sam chuckled. With a dramatic sigh, Sam fell back against Austin's crisp bed sheets.
"I'd love to hear about that some time, I've never really been out of the valley," Austin confessed. He shuffled over so he could lay beside Sam on the bed. "I want to go to Princeton, but my Dad's set on me going to UCS. I don't think I'm ever getting outta this state."
"It's overrated, trust me," Sam mumbled. Austin shot him a disbelieving expression, but Sam didn't change his unimpressed frown. "There's only so many times you can pass the world's biggest ball of twine before it gets boring. But, I get what you mean. My Dad wants me to go into the family business, I can't stand it. I'm going to college, I'm not letting anyone hold me back."
Austin hummed in agreement, closing his eyes and relaxing. Someone started stomping up the stairs, and Austin sprung up from the bed, pushing Sam to do the same. The door to Austin's room flung open to reveal Austin's Dad resting against the door frame.
"I need you at the car wash, say bye to your friend," Mr Ames grunted before heading straight back out the room.
"Sam, I'm sorry," Austin apologised, but Sam interrupted.
"It's cool, my brother's probably worried anyways," Sam smiled. "Talk tomorrow?" Austin nodded, and with the promise, Sam headed off home.
Moving to a new school had never been so good for Sam.