It’d been nearly a month now since Blaine told him about his ‘friend’ Julien. And it’d been nearly a month that Daniel has lived in his absolute worst nightmare. Things started off almost innocent, Daniel simply being way too jealous for his own good, but it wasn’t until Blaine found him and his need to be close to him suddenly annoying that he knew.
He and Blaine did everything together. Sure, they got on each others nerves, but it was never an excuse to put distance between them or not spend evenings together cuddled up in bed simply because they hadn’t seen each other all day. The couple of years they spent apart sucked, and now that it seemed his fiance would rather hang out with his friend than him, he felt his destiny shifting from the bright future he saw with his brother. Because he knew.
Blaine’s run in Aladdin came to an end and even though things had been tense between the two of them (so much so, it felt like forever since they’d had sex), he planned a dinner party in celebration. Daniel invited their friends, the only ones that knew about the two of them as well as a few other people that had been Blaine’s coworkers for the past couple of months.
Unfortunately that meant inviting Julien.
Daniel stopped voicing his feelings about Julien when Blaine blew up on him over it a couple of weeks ago. He realized that he was only pushing Blaine out the door faster than he was walking out on his own. His need to keep his fiance around for as long as he could, to just hold on until Blaine pulled himself from his grasp kept his mouth shut. Easily. He stopped protesting when Blaine insisted on going out with his friends after his shows, and he stopped asking to tag along, instead giving him the space he seemed to not just need, but want.
The dinner party tonight, of course, was a success. His friends and Blaine’s came out to celebrate, and briefly, Daniel smiled a genuine smile for the first time in weeks when he saw just how happy his brother was. But when he remembered that it wasn’t because of him, his chest felt tight and that all-too-familiar lump began rising in his throat.
“Daniel, are you okay?” He recognized the voice instantly as he and Blaine’s friend Elizabeth. She was one of the few people that knew about their relationship, and approved of it. “You barely touched your food at dinner.” He looked down at his untouched plate on the counter in the kitchen only he and Elizabeth occupied.
Daniel attempted to pull himself together quickly. He cleared his throat and mentally cursed himself when he heard his voice crack when he spoke up after tearing his gaze away from Blaine who looked to be having a good time with Julien in their living room. “Yeah. I’m fine, just– uh, I– I haven’t been feeling too well. Probably coming down with something. You know, a bug going around or whatever.” He shrugged.
Still, the girl approached him with a comforting hand to his back. He knew she knew. Elizabeth was often referred to as the mother hen of the group. When something was wrong, she just knew. Somehow. “Honey, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but… are you and Blaine okay?” She questioned with knowing eyes and Daniel hesitated.
“Yeah.” He answered too quickly. “Yeah, o- of course we’re okay. But I– uhm, I’m really not feeling well, Liz, if you’ll excuse me.” He uttered avoiding the girls eye as he ducked away and escaped hopefully unseen to he and Blaine’s bedroom.
As he locked the bathroom door, he let out an audible sob because he couldn’t hold it in anymore. What was he going to do without Blaine? He asked himself as he leaned his forehead against the wood of the bathroom door, the tears seemingly pouring from his eyes now beyond his control. He moved out here to New York with him. He gave up his apartment and his job back home in San Francisco. Without Blaine he didn’t have much money, which meant he’d probably sell the record shop to pay for his trip back home, and he could sleep there until he made that happen.
The thought had him clenching his eyes shut and letting out a series of sobs as he moved to sit on the edge of their bathtub, his knees too shaky to stand. He wished, with everything in him, that this wasn’t actually happening. But again. He knew.
He wouldn’t ever stand in the way of Blaine’s happiness. If that meant them parting ways… he’d have no choice. He did it once. He could do it again. No matter how much it hurt.
Truth be told, he saw this coming. This was exactly why he left Blaine the first time. This was what he was trying to avoid. He didn’t want to be broken beyond repair because maybe like Blaine, he could find another happiness. At least that was his thought the first time around. This time around, he knew he wouldn’t ever be okay enough to be someone else’s other half. If only he’d stayed away. If only he never let Blaine convince him to fuck him the night of his concert in San Fran. If only he never so much as went.
It was another thought that only added to his tears, them nearly burning the flesh of his cheeks as they slid down.
It was time he faced the truth dead on. Blaine was finding his happiness elsewhere like Daniel, one day, had hoped and god, he was so, so fucked.
It was innocent. It was all completely innocent. Or...well...It had started off that way, and Blaine still thought it was. So he had a small crush! What was the big deal. It wasn’t like he’d ever let it go further than that. He’d be done with his run in Aladdin soon, and then he’d probably never see Julien again, and his little crush would fade, and everything would go back to normal. Sure, he felt a little bad about the way he’d treated Daniel, but it was just...being engaged to someone was an insane feeling for Blaine. He’d always dreamed about it, but now it was actually happening and there was a wedding to plan and he was going to spend the rest of his life with Daniel and officially be his husband, and that was a lot for the Anderson to let sink in. So he let him self veer a little off course. Call it cheating, call it cold feet. Blaine just needed to know for sure if this was the right choice he was making.
His crush with Julien had started off so simply. They’d have lunch together before the matinee or dinner before the night show, and on nights when Daniel seemed to be more interested in the shop than him, Julien took him out for coffee after the show and just talked to him. It was nice. They were friends. But soon enough, Blaine started to feel his heart beat a little faster when the man was around. He was tall and handsome and talented and smart and Blaine, though he’d never admit it, was smitten. From there, they started to spend more time together, and the more time they spent together, the less time he spent with Daniel, and the rockier that time actually spent together was.
Before Blaine even knew what had happened, his run on Aladdin was over, and as heartbroken as he was, he was even more excited to move on to the next chapter of his life. A new album, a world tour. A wedding. Everything was moving so fast, and Blaine was happy about it. He really was, but he was also nervous. So nervous. Which is why he was looking forward to this party Daniel had thrown for him.
It was wonderful. All their friends were there, as well as all of Blaine’s friends from the theatre, and most of all Julien. Blaine had been having a wonderful time, and even though he hadn’t seen much of Daniel, he’d been mingling and hanging out with a bunch of people until Julien came up to pull him away from the group.
Blaine smiled and excused himself, walking with Julien into the kitchen as they began talking. The usual small talk was exchanged, and Blaine was enjoying the conversation, but for some reason, this time didn’t feel like the other times they’d talked and hung out. Julien was a little close for comfort and Blaine could smell what seemed like a few too many beers on his breath. “Hey, Julien, you haven’t seen Daniel lately, have you?” he asked, suddenly realizing that his fiance was nowhere to be found. He didn’t hear the man’s response, instead only seeing him lean forward, and suddenly it all clicked. This wasn’t right. Not only was it not right, it might as well have been cheating. He’d been cheating on Daniel. He couldn’t believe himself. He shoved Julien away causing everyone to stare. “I think you need to leave,” he said suddenly. Julien tried to speak up, but Blaine was running on pure guilt and adrenaline now. “Now! You need to leave now,” he demanded, pointing to the door.
After he left, Blaine turned around, spotting Liz instantly. “Way to go, Bowtied Wonder. I thought I was going to have to beat you with your chinos by the end of the night,” she said, but Blaine didn’t have time for jokes. “Can you get everyone out, Liz? I- I need to find Daniel,” he said, shaking in both fear and anger. How had he let it get this far? How did he end up in this situation? How much of his life had he ruined by letting this guy get the best of him? He didn’t wait for Liz to respond before running off to find Daniel, knowing she’d do as he asked.
As he ran into their bedroom, he looked around, seeing Bronx, Thor, and Jazz laying on the bed. Then he spotted the bathroom door, and pushed forward, knocking loudly. “Daniel. Daniel, please, baby. Please let me in,” he said, the need for his fiance’s arms to be wrapped around him growing far too strong in that moment. “Daniel, please.”
