had enough ↳ Atticus & Blaine
who ➛ Atticus & Blaine when ➛ Sunday Evening where ➛ Ray’s Bar & Nightclub what ➛ The last place Blaine expected to met his soul mate was in a bar after being technically homeless for the few weeks.
Blaine
The past few weeks had been the worst in Blaine’s life. As a bright eyed, bushy tailed eighteen year old, he’d moved to the city. He was full of enthusiasm, full of charm, full of hope. He’d gone through his college experience with a grin on his face, a dashingly high GPA and come out with a masters in music composition. Of course, through out all of it, Blaine had never really thought of the future. He’d been like every other student with the idea that a degree automatically meant a job. And so when he was still jobless save for a job at the deli he lived above nearly a year later, he was admittedly quite shocked. At that point, Blaine had increased his range when job hunting, applying for nearly anything under the sun. Eventually, he’d landed a simple telecommunication job - which wasn’t at all what he’d come to the city for, but it was a job at the end of the day. Not many were hiring composers, and his compositions hadn’t exactly been picked up by the next Broadway show producer like in his dreams. Through out all of that, however, Blaine had been surprisingly optimistic. After all, he was in his early twenties with a good group of friends, he had his own place, he had a nine ‘til five job... He couldn’t really complain. He still had disposable income to go out every now and then, he enjoyed his time out of work and he wasn’t as brain dulled as everyone made out an office job to make people. Hell, he even had a list of ex-dates. It was a small list, out of his own choice to not get too committed or attached with anyone who wasn’t his soul mate, but he’d still had a lot of fun.
It all started to go down hill a few months ago when he lost his job. A lot of people in the office had been made redundant - the typical last in, first out approach applied unfortunately. At the time, Blaine had been convinced he would find another one. After all, he now had a decent reference. He hadn’t been fired. He had experience in a corporate environment. If anything he was more employable now and he should, therefore, have found a job with ease. And so, he invested in a nice suit with his redundancy pay out. He had his résumé looked over before handing it out all over the city. He’d been convinced that he could at least get a little café job just to tie himself over before finding something a little more permanent just like before. Hell, he’d even tried to find a roommate to take the pressure off his back for rent - which went well for a while. The first one decided she didn’t like the city and moved home. The second had been a really quiet guy who hadn’t bothered him much. Hell, Blaine quite enjoyed his company and everything was going well between them until he came back to find his roommate had robbed him of pretty much everything.
From then, he’d been living minimalistically while still looking for a job. He kept his suit pretty much pristine, giving it careful hand washes whenever something happened to it. Hell, his optimism had only waned a little after the robbery, but it steadily climbed again alongside his confidence - or at least his faked confidence. That hadn’t lasted too long, however. After using the rest of his savings to pay his next rent and no job, he had nothing for the next month. And then he’d ended up ignoring the calls, the letters, anyone who knocked on his door. That worked for a while. And he told himself that he’d get a job and the next payment he got would be sent straight to his landlord with an apology for the two missed months, maybe a bottle of wine and the promise that he would be back on track. But, then he returned one day after being out job hunting and the locks to his apartment had been changed. Now, he’d never been that guy. Blaine had always been careful with his money, he was a good employee, he was a responsible guy and had been living on his own for the past five years with absolutely no trouble. In fact, his landlord had never had a problem with him, but apparently being nearly two months behind with rent and not explaining himself hadn’t gone down well at all.
And Blaine was far too proud to call home. In fact, he had very little to do with home now. He hadn’t heard from his brother since his first year in college. And his father had disappeared off the face of the Earth after his parents divorced. The only one he was still in contact with was his mother, and he hated to worry her. So he just didn’t call. Or when he did, he simply lied. It was the same conversation on just a different day: Yes, work is fine. Yes, still healthy. Yes, still eating well. No, still no soul mate. And that kept her happy, which made Blaine feel a little more relieved. Even when he’d managed to get a suitcase full of his things back and taken up residence on his friend Tina’s couch for just a little. By this point, however, Blaine’s optimism was barely lit inside of him. His enthusiasm had pretty much gone. He still had no job and he was couch surfing between his friends to stop them from pitying him too much - but he only knew so many people. He did odd jobs here and there: playing piano in some cafes; busking on the streets; helping kids out with their homework at local libraries; picking up an odd shift or two at the diner he’d worked at previously,although they were struggling financially as well and couldn’t really afford to re-employ him.
Eventually, it had taken its toll. After an entire day trying his damn hardest to get just an interview, Blaine was still back to just square one. No home, no job, nothing. He really didn’t know what he was doing wrong, but instead of his previous tactic on blaming it on the current economic climate, he’d started blaming himself. And that’s how he’d ended up in the first bar that he’d set his sights on. Blaine had never been much of a drinker unless it was in social situations, but here he was sat at the bar in his slightly worn looking suit counting out notes and coins in his pocket to see what he could afford to get multiple of tonight. He needed something. Hell, this was probably why the homeless often had drinking or drug problems. It seemed to numb it to an extent, or make the hard days a little less hard. Or maybe it was just a nice way to kid themselves that tomorrow would be different. Of course, he hadn’t reached that point. Hell, Blaine couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually drank anything alcoholic come to think of it.
After catching one of the bar tender’s eyes, he ordered a Captain Morgan and coke. As he drank, far too quickly, he let his eyes wander around the place itself with mild curiosity. It was a strange mix, but then again it was a strange time. Most bars were closed, closing, or emptying at this time making way for the clubs to open, but this seemed to cater for both. The dance floor wasn’t exactly packed, but if anyone had asked Blaine what time it was based on the number of people inside, he would have definitely guessed later than it was. Turning back, he placed the drink back on the bar with a slight hum, the spin of the turn hitting him and making him a little dizzy. He’d always been a lightweight, but having not drank in a while had made him far lighter. The buzz, however, was definitely welcome and he didn’t hesitate on ordering another and drinking it just as quickly as he continued his people watching. Two drinks in and Blaine was pretty sure that he’d be up there dancing in a little while. His tie was loosened around his neck, the jacket was draped messily over his knee and he was starting to feel the tension leave his body. And for that he was entirely grateful. One thing he’d never really understood about these places were just how free people were. And he really wondered if people would disclose these actions and nights to their soul mate when they met them. But then again, not everyone believed in them quite like Blaine did. With a soft laugh, Blaine turned as he felt a presence behind him at the bar again before placing his empty glass down blindly, still a little distracted by a couple on the dance floor.
“Yeah, I’ll have another, thanks.”