#evansam

SAM: Today was the big day, the day sam had been dreading for weeks now. though the blonde was excited, for the kids and himself, to begin their competition season and compete in regionals, he couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of nervousness take over. this was the one year that sam truly believed they could easily make it to the end, and possibly even win. but after so many times of sam himself getting his hopes up with his own time in glee, he didn’t want to make that mistake again only for him to be crushed doubly, once for his own and again for the excitement he had built up for the kids he believed in so much. these racing thoughts were what had sam spacing out many times that day in the dressing room, giving the best pep talk he could without stuttering, leaving them to get ready as soon as he could. 

rushing out of the backroom, sam wasn’t necessarily looking where he was going until he found himself in the lobby outside of the auditorium. the man paused in a corner of the large area, placing his hands on top of his head as she started pacing back and forth to exert his nerves. he just wanted success for these kids so much, he was nervous to even think about what could happen once the doors next to him were open for the show.

QUINN: had been attempting all distance away from Sam. She did a shitty thing to him and she understood that now and that's why she was somehow offering herself to concession duty. It wouldn't be the first choice for the blonde, she'd rather be backstage with her own students giving them advice or helping them with their costumes or facial expressions but instead she was stuck in a tiny shoebox with an overwhelming aroma of nacho cheese. Minding her own business, she had been handing out nachos, hot dogs, chips, drinks, whatever someone had come by for when she saw Sam rushing out into the lobby. 

She tried to mind her own business but she was nosy, especially when it came to Sam. Letting out a sigh, she asked Santana to cover for her as she made her way out of the concession stand and over to Sam. You have time to walk back in she said to herself as she inched closer to the man, but she didn't go back inside. "Hey... everything okay?"

SAM: glanced at the watch wrapped around his wrist, not sure if he felt relief about seeing that there was still quite a bit of time before his own students would be making their way across the stage. it’s not that sam didn’t believe in them, he probably believed in them more than anyone ever could, but just the idea of something going wrong for the group that deserved so much drove him to shaky hands and uneven breath. hearing the female voice snap him out of his thoughts, sam jumped as he spun to face the oh so familiar blonde. “oh uh...,” he paused letting out a strained sigh and stuffing his hands in his pockets. “honestly, no. I'm a nervous wreck and I don’t even really know why but I can’t be back there radiating nervous vibes into that room so I started walking and just ended up here and now I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said as it all tumbled out of his mouth, taking a long breath afterward.

QUINN: had crossed her arms, biting on the bottom of her lip, rocking her feet back and forth as she waited to hear from Sam. She was terrified he would just look at her and tell her to go away, which she'd gratefully do  but she couldn't just ignore how nervous he looked and she'd probably feel more awful if she didn't at least check on him somewhat. 

 "Sam, calm down." The blonde scoffed, placing her hands on his shoulders. It may have been too touchy-feely for the circumstance they were in together, but in her mind she just wanted him to calm down for the sake of everyone involved. "You are amazing at what you do and Mr. Schue wouldn't have trusted you if he didn't think you could carry this legacy on. You've already made it to regionals and if the kids don't make it to nationals then it's okay because you've already made it so far." She told him, offering a soft smile in response. "Just breathe and have it in your kids that they'll win."

SAM: of course upon seeing Quinn, sams first thought was oh no, but a bigger part of him couldn’t find it in him to turn her away, especially when she would not have come up to him with ill intentions in mind. so sam swallowed the hurt that had been simmering over the past few days and let her put her hands on his shoulders as he listened, hoping this would help him even if just a little bit. 

“it’s not as easy as it sounds,” the blonde huffed, closing his eyes and he bounced on the heels of his feet. “I’ve heard a lot about how that’s very not true and normally it wouldn’t get to me but now it’s all come barreling back and making me question myself. and I feel like if I can’t get them to nationals then it’ll be on my shoulders, that I didn’t do enough or that I was good enough at preparing them as I could’ve been or something,” he said with a shake of his head, his shoulders slumping. “they just deserve this, every single one of them,”

QUINN: let out a soft sigh as she listened to Sam speak about his nerves. She was never the best at pep talks, normally she was the one needing a pep talk or would rather be off yelling at someone to do better than trying to uplift someone, but here she was trying to put on her best Schuester impression for him. 

"Don't listen to what some dumb kids say, we were their age talking about how Mr. Schue wasn't a great teacher and yet here we all are; he's a principal over a performing arts school, we're all teaching here, and we've all seemingly made it here in once piece," she chuckled, meeting her hazel eyes with his. "You deserve this too, Sam. You've worked so hard with them and if anyone deserves to go to nationals, it's your team."

SAM: though sam still felt on edge, Quinn's talk was enough of a distraction to calm his shaky hands and racing thoughts. all he could do was nod along to what she was saying, taking it in and trying to convince himself of it. convince himself that even with all the chaos and ‘nothing going right’ state of life he was in, that this would go right, that this was going to work out like he knew it could. 

“I pretty much thought Mr. Schue was cool, in his own ‘old white dude that tries to be cool’ type of way. but he did care about us, more than we could’ve ever asked for someone to, and that’s the part of him I want to carry over, you know without the whole creepy putting kids in gold shorts that cover way too little type of way,” he said, letting himself laugh a little at the memory. “can I ask you something? why’d you decide to come over here? I mean you could’ve just pretended to be busy with popcorn duty and ignored my existence entirely, so what made you do it? after everything that’s gone down recently?”

QUINN: was confident in Sam. Was it something she ever saw him doing as a career? No, but she would have to admit she was proud to see how he had grown into coaching his students, and as much as she wanted to be front and center in seeing him thrive, she knew she had to be in the back always after what she caused. 

"Cool is a bit of an understatement. I think we all have to admit he was a little weird about things, such as the Rocky situation," the softly spoken blonde said, looking down at her feet and then back to Sam. "I've been pretty shit to you and that's pretty obvious so I just felt like I should come check on you. I promise after this conversation though, I'll go back to popcorn duty, I know I'm not exactly your favorite person on the planet right now."

SAM: took a moment to take some deep breaths, rotating his shoulders as he let out the rest of his nerves. as much as he hated to admit it, this talk, whatever it was, helped him more than Quinn would ever know. and he wouldn’t forget it anytime soon. 

finally returning his gaze to the blonde in front of him, his eyes softened as they met her own, nodding along to what she was saying. “I saw a new side of the dude that day and I will never forget those fateful times.” he said with a small chuckle as he watched her. the glimmer in her hazel eyes made his heart skip a beat, a small smile resting on his features before he remembered he was supposed to be upset with her. “ah, well you didn’t have to do that, so thank you. sorry that I disrupted your fun night of popcorn and coke sales.” he glanced over to the stand where Santana was still hanging out sodas to the few people still filing into the auditorium. “if you get a calm moment, and you want to sneak past, I know the kids would love to see you out there supporting them.” I would too, remained unspoken as he kept his eyes trained on the doors that were still slightly propped open before the show began in mere moments.

QUINN: Reminiscing somewhat on their high school years was nice, it felt normal which is all Quinn wanted but they weren't normal anymore, there was a wedge between them and you could feel that wedge if you paid close enough attention. "They were the worst. Just be happy you weren't there to hear ice ice baby." She added, a small laugh exiting her mouth. She caught her own eyes meeting up to his blue ones and felt that at that moment, they shared a moment as if to give the illusion that everything was more than okay between them but Quinn knew that wasn't true. "No, it's fine. I didn't mind being pulled away from it for a bit," she replied smiling at him. "I'll try to sneak in for a bit if that's okay with you?" She was trying her hardest to not step on his toes while they were in purgatory with each other.

SAM: didn’t like having tension between him and his friends, especially with Quinn and especially about this. I knew he had a right to be mad, part of him just wished it was much simpler so he could move past it. but the other part was hurt, a constant reminder of what happened. however, he pushed the thoughts aside, clearing his mind to prepare for the night ahead. “I’ve heard stories, like some freaky horror story read to kids to keep them out of glee,” shaking his head before the lights flickered and the bell sounded, indicating showtime was soon. “I don’t mind. they’re your students too, you don’t have to worry about making me upset for supporting them,” he assured her with a smile, taking a step towards the door he had come from. with only a few moments left, he knew his presence would be needed to encourage them one last time. “so I guess I’ll see you out there?”