Really love your stories and the world you have created in How Bright We Burn. I was just wondering about Jeff and Blaine? I'm not sure I completely understand their relationship. I struggle sometimes to empathize with Jeff, in particular with his resentment (not sure that's correct) of Blaine?
Thank you!! I really do love this sort of world building side of writing. It’s funny because fanfiction doesn’t always allow for a lot of that, but creating my own version of Dalton and the characters here has been so fun for me.
I also really appreciate your question! Jeff and Blaine’s friendship is for sure one of the most complicated in this verse and honestly one of my favorites to explore because it reflects the messy, nuanced friendships a lot of teenagers actually have.
I think there are two main layers to their dynamic:
1. Jeff’s view of Blaine
Jeff sees Blaine as having everything he wants: popularity, confidence, public relationships (first with Kurt, then with Sebastian), and he lives in Ohio full time, extremely close to Jeff’s best friends, while every summer and holiday Jeff goes back to Florida where he feels separated from all of them and fears losing them as a result of that. He has deep insecurities about things Blaine’s never been insecure about, stuff like his looks and whether he’s someone that is lovable or worth sacrificing for. While Blaine is with Kurt and later Sebastian, Jeff is in a secret situationship with Nick where Nick will 1) have sex with him but never acknowledge it, 2) deny his sexuality to anyone who questions it, 3) publicly date girls while sleeping with Jeff, and 4) after Jeff confesses his feelings to Nick, gives his best friend of three years the silent treatment for two months. For Jeff, this becomes an environment where Jeff can’t confide in his friends without outing his best friend.
Meanwhile, Blaine has a public boyfriend, half the school is in love with him/not-so-secretly crushing on him, and that includes Nick, who Jeff always sort of suspected had a thing for Blaine. He acts in ways without ever really recognizing how those actions can impact other people. I think the relationship with Dylan is a good example of this, but it also applies to how he meddles in Trent’s relationship with James in Until We Burn Out, how he’s really the one to get Nick to confess his feelings to Jeff, etc. It always feels, to Jeff at least, as though the world moves for Blaine in a way it doesn’t move for him, and I think that makes him really prone to jealousy.
I’m going to include a small excerpt from my Jeff POV fic Fragile Little Flames because I think it encapsulates what I’m trying to explain directly in Jeff’s words.
Mrs. Pearson tries to talk to him in the hallway, but Jeff gives her his best fake smile and avoids eye contact while he ducks into her husband’s classroom and heads toward his usual seat. There are tears in his eyes, but he needs to blink them away before class starts. He pulls out his textbook and opens it to the last chapter they have to finish up before midterms, and then he pulls out a notebook to start working through the problems. He focuses on a set of optimization practice problems, works his way through the first two, and finally feels like he isn’t on the verge of tears. And then Blaine sits down next to him. It’s the same thing he does every single day, shows up in calc a little bit after Jeff does, sits down next to him, smiles and offers a greeting. He’s Jeff’s friend, and Jeff should be happy to see him. Instead, he’s filled with rage. It’s irrational, and it’s not fair, but he can’t stand to talk to him right now. Blaine just had breakfast with Nick. Blaine’s in a relationship with Kurt but has Sebastian waiting in the wings. Blaine can’t do a single fucking math equation without asking Jeff for help. It’s so easy for him, floating through the halls of Dalton with admirers at every corner. They worship the ground he walks on. Anyone in this entire fucking school would fall at his feet if he told them he loved them. Everyone wants him. Blaine is the type of person Nick would admit he likes boys for.
Anyway, the line that I think really sums it up is “Blaine is the type of person Nick would admit he likes boys for.” For me, that is the root cause of this resentment, and it’s why it gets worse and worse over the time the further Nick pushes himself into the closet.
2. Blaine’s view of Jeff
On the flip side, Blaine has a complicated relationship with Jeff because of Jeff’s relationship with Sebastian. For Blaine, it’s not really about jealousy because he knows he had no claim on Sebastian at that time, but it does feed into the awkward tension between them. Even though Blaine had no “right” to be jealous, he still was, and that’s something that took a little while for him to get over.
I think that’s a bit of nuance that gets lost sometimes. Jeff didn’t go after Sebastian to hurt Blaine. At the time, Blaine was still with Kurt, and Jeff was at his absolute lowest point after Nick shut him out. Jeff and Sebastian both felt unwanted by the people they actually wanted, and they found comfort and catharsis in each other. For Jeff, it was about needing to feel visible and acknowledged as someone worth of like,, sexual and platonic affection without reservation, and Sebastian very much gave him that, even if he wasn’t the person he really wanted. And that’s why Blaine ultimately lets go of any resentment of his own. Once he and Sebastian talk it through, Blaine realizes Jeff was never actually the problem. Their friendship is complicated, but the tension comes from insecurity, loneliness, and misunderstanding.
So yeah! I’ve sort of noticed Jeff can be a frustrating character for some people, but I think that’s what makes him interesting to me and one of my favorite characters. He doesn’t do anything maliciously, and I don’t think he’s at fault in these situations, but his own insecurities (as well as Blaine’s) can certainly lead to distrust and a messy friendship that feels realistic to the high school experience for me!
TL;DR: Jeff resents Blaine because Blaine embodies everything Jeff feels he can’t have (visibility, confidence, public love), while Jeff is stuck in secrecy and rejection. Blaine, meanwhile, struggles with lingering jealousy over Jeff’s thing with Sebastian but eventually realizes Jeff wasn’t the problem. Their friendship is messy, rooted in insecurity and misunderstanding, but that’s what makes it feel real to me.
