No Work, All Play || Blinn
Who: Finn Hudson & Blaine Anderson. What: Newly single Blaine isn’t feeling the Disney magic today. Finn’s the buddy who helps him out as they grab lunch and have a much needed, albeit very brief, catch-up. Where: Disneyland lunch room. When: Sunday 8th May, 1:30PM. WARNINGS: None.
Note: Para is unfinished and overdue but we figured we’d post it anyway.
Blaine had half a mind to just not turn up to work today. And how could anyone blame him? He’d just broken up with Brittany and cried himself to sleep on Kurt’s couch not 24 hours ago, and people really expected him to be all smiley and happy around a bunch of six year olds for eight hours? While his brother was there? On Mother’s Day? No thank you. He hadn’t even eaten today, yet, anyway, and he was starving. So, when he saw Cooper hanging around the Little Mermaid attractions on his way into work, Blaine spun around and retreated in the other direction. Walking through Disneyland was bringing childhood memories flooding back into his mind, remembering numerous occasions when his mother would bring Cooper and him down to Anaheim /just/ to spend the weekend at this magical place - almost every single time their father went on a business trip, now that he thought about it. He then spotted the section of the park where he knew the Tarzan scene was located and decided to have a quick peak at what Finn was up to, since he still had about 20 minutes before his own shift started (no, he wasn’t /actually/ planning to skip work - he was sure Supervisor Sam already disliked him for the Broadway thing and Blaine did not want to add fuel to that fire). He was mostly curious about Finn’s Tarzan costume, since he’d been complaining about how revealing and scanty the little piece of cloth was. Upon laying eyes on Finn in action on the stage, Blaine was never more glad that Prince Eric actually wore a full, covering outfit. He stopped, crossed one foot over the other, and just watched his friend interacting with the children for a couple of minutes.
Finn was really dragging today. He didn't get back from his date with Kitty until about midnight and then he had to be into work at seven the next morning. The date was well worth it, though, because him and Kitty really seemed to have something good going. However, he couldn't really think about that while he was working. He had to be in full Tarzan mode. Luckily for him, Jane did most of the talking. Since he was raised by apes, Tarzan really wasn't supposed to talk that well. It was really coming in handy today. The only other thing that would make this day better was if he enjoyed coffee as much as adults were supposed to. The kids that were visiting him were making him feel a little more awake though. They were a lot more enthusiastic and kind down here than they were in Florida; it was really refreshing. Once his line was over, he was free to go backstage to have lunch. Thank God because he was starving and a little cold. California was not being kind to him when it came to the weather. Most people saw it as a relief from the heat and humidity of Orlando, but they didn't have to walk around the parks almost completely naked. On his way back, he saw someone that kind of looked like Blaine. Tarzan and Prince Eric didn't really have a reason to talk to each other, so Finn just looked at him - silently telling him that he'd be on lunch if he wanted to hang out - before heading through the doors that would take him back stage.
Blaine caught the look that Finn shot him over the crowd of children, and understood immediately. He must have his lunch break around now, between shift switch-overs. It had been quite entertaining to watch his friend around the children, even if the Jane was leading the show. Finn’s Tarzan looked just as confused and clueless as he was supposed to, and Blaine chuckled to himself at the thought that perhaps Finn didn’t really need to /act/ that part too much. He moved through the sea of small people - yes, people smaller than himself - while trying to spot Finn over the heads of the adults. Gosh, this was harder than it should have been considering Finn’s enormous height. Shaking his head, Blaine changed his path and headed around towards the closest secret cast passageway he knew of, which he was quite proud of himself for remembering since they’d only been here for a few days. There, sneaking away from the crowds in the direction of the breakroom in a similar fashion, Blaine laid eyes on giant that was his friend. “Tarzan,” he called out, picking up the pace a little - they’d have to be extremely quick if he was ever going to make it to his shift on time. “Hey, man. May I join you for lunch?”
Finn started to walk normally once he knew he was out of the sight of any of the park goers. Being Tarzan was great, but acting like he was raised by apes most of the day was a little hard on his knee. There were some nights when he had to go home and ice it for awhile because of all the crouching down he did. He whipped around when he heard Tarzan being called out. Thank God it was Blaine. "Hey," he waved, stopping to let his friend catch up. "Uh, yeah. Sure." Since they were kind of the outsiders here, it was nice to have someone to eat with. All the other days he'd just ate alone. Sometimes his Jane ate with him, but she had her own friends here. Plus, it would be really nice to catch up with Blaine. "So ... how's your trip been? I don't get to see you a lot while we're working or anything. It kinda feels like I haven't seen you in forever." Prince Eric and Tarzan didn't tend to run in the same circles. "I didn't bring anything, so we're gonna have to go the cafeteria." Being in California made it a lot harder to bring lunch like he normally did. "What time do you start today? I don't want to make you late or anything. I know they're super strict about that."
Blaine nodded along as they continued walking. Finn was absolutely right; it had been far, far too long since they’d had a proper conversation and if it weren’t for social media, Blaine probably wouldn’t have any clue what was going on in his friend’s life at the moment. Honestly, he still didn’t. “I really like it here,” he started, figuring he’d say something positive before he dropped the horrible news on Finn in a moment’s time. “The cast is lovely, the children that visit are lovely, the service is lovely. Yeah, everything’s really great.” What a big, fat lie that was. “Well... Everything about /California/ is great,” he clarified, nodded with a slight shrug. “But, uh, a-actually... it’s been a little difficult to appreciate the wonder of Disneyland this morning because, um...” He dropped his head, eyes fixating on the ground as they walked. He still felt sore from all the crying he had done last night, and his heart /ached/ more than he thought it had ever done so in his entire life. But, if he couldn’t /say it/, he would never be able to move on. Maybe he shouldn’t ever say it, then. “Brittany and I broke up last night,” he mumbled after a long moment.
Finn listened to what his friend was saying, a small smile on his face. "That's awesome. I kinda like Orlando more, though. It's really cold here. Well ... at least to me. Everyone else thinks it's really nice but they don't walk around almost completely naked all the time, you know? But the kids are awesome. I saw a little girl dressed up as Jane and it made my whole trip better. And there was a little boy dressed like Tarzan, which has never happened to me before. Everyone wants to be Prince Charming or you or Flynn. We got to bang on our chests and yell. It was super awesome." His eyebrows furrowed when his friend turned sad. The next thing he said was really surprising. He had thought Blaine and Brittany were really good; they seemed pretty solid whenever he would see them interacting. "Dude, I'm sorry," he whispered sincerely, gently clapping his friend on the shoulder. He knew that Blaine liked her a lot, so it had to really, really suck for him to have to act happy all day long. "You totally don't have to tell me if you don't want to but ... why? You seemed really good whenever I saw you guys."
Blaine was grateful for Finn’s hand on his shoulder, the physical comfort reassuring him that he was not, in fact, going to collapse on the ground in a heap if he talked about what happened, because he had a kind, supportive friend right there who had offered an ear. But, Blaine wasn’t quite sure he was ready to go into too much detail about it. It had barely been twelve hours and he feared that if he /did/ open his mouth, all that would come out would be a shaking sob and then he would /never/ be able to compose himself enough to work in 15 minutes. So, he shook his head. “I... It’s still... really, really fresh and I think I need some more t-time before I talk about it. But... it was a mutual decision. It wasn’t a nasty breakup or anything, just... we realised we couldn’t ever be truly, one hundred percent happy with each other an-and--” He inhaled deeply through his nose, allowing the fresh oxygen in his lungs to calm him enough to continue in a whisper. “And deep down... I know that it’s what’s best... for both of us. Even if it hurts like /hell/.” His voice cracked on that last word and he sniffled, feeling the pressure of tears building behind his eyes. Shaking his head with his eyes closed, Blaine tried to regain some sort of composure. “Anyway. I don’t really... want to say much else right now. Hopefully time will help.” He turned to look up at his friend, figuring he should address what they were talking about earlier as to change the subject. “I’m glad you got to experience that here, with the children. Though, you wold be surprised how few Prince Erics there were in Florida, actually. It’s definitely something I’ll miss about being here. Dani actually had to share the spotlight a little,” he joked, chuckling weakly.
Finn really felt for his friend. He's been in the exact same place before. It sucked and it was definitely going to take some time to get better, but he knew his friend would feel better with time. "Yeah, no. I understand." The last thing he wanted to do was force Blaine to talk about something that was going to make him feel even more upset than he already was. But then he was talking about it, so Finn shut up and listened. "At least it wasn't nasty. Yeah. It really sucks to lose a girlfriend but it kinda sucks even worse when you lose the best friend that came alone with it," he said quietly. He was sure that him and Brittany wouldn't be best friends right away, but they would get there eventually. "And, I mean, it's only going to be better from here, you know? You'll get to a point when you can both talk about it without feeling really awful but ... this is probably the worst of it. The first cut is the deepest, or whatever that song says." He looked down at his friend and offered him a small smile. It sucked that one of his best friends was hurting this bad. And now he couldn't tell him about him and Kitty because he didn't want to rub it in his face. "I'm here for you, you know. If you need anything or anyone to talk to, don't hesitate." He laughed when he said that Dani had to share the spotlight with him. "Hey, maybe she liked taking a break from all that. You never know. I think I would." He's come to terms with the fact that he wasn't one of the most popular characters in the park, but he didn't mind. It was kind of nice not to have that pressure. "If I was, like, Kristoff or Prince Charming or anything, I probably wouldn't like it here as much. I'd be really scared that I was going to mess up and ruin some kid's day."
Blaine nodded, but didn’t respond in any other way. He had already said more than he really wanted to at this point, anyway, and his heart was beginning to ache just thinking about her for too long. They arrived at the break room while Finn was still speaking, and Blaine took a moment to look around and marvel at how differently, yet how similarly, things were organised here in Disneyland. He admired the swiftness and efficiency at which the people moved through the room, women hiking dresses up to their knees, men carrying props above their heads, yet other people sitting at tables, deep in conversation like they had all the time in the world to relax and eat together. “I’m quite certain she enjoys the attention, but yeah, it has been a refreshing change for children to actively approach Prince Eric for photographs and singalongs.” He chuckled, imagining Finn in Sam or Jesse’s place, having to deal with massive numbers of hyperactive children and flash photography every day in Florida, and then to a greater extent here in California where the children were somehow more wildly enthusiastic. “Hey, at least then you would get to were a full costume with real clothes,” he teased, nudging his giant friend gently as they found a table with two seats on the end that was situated close to the room’s entrance - since they had such little time to actually be there and absorb the environment /as well as/ catch up - and sat down. Blaine glanced at his watch, realising he was still in his regular clothes and needed to both eat and change before rushing - and he would /really/ be rushing - to make his shift on time.
