A/N: Because I ended up tossing out the Blaine/Jesse idea in my fic 'Loathing,' but still like the idea of the pairing and wanted to give TheRealMaraJade a little something-something for being an awesome fan (reader/reviewer). So here you go, darlin', and I hope this little drabble is satisfactory. ;D
...Would this pairing be called Jaine or Blesse? LOLOLOL. (or simply something else random~? XD )
fAlso: this is rated T for a tiny bit of language and hinted-at sexual stuff, but nothing "deserving" (LOL pun) of the M-rating. :'D
They convene at Princeton, and being only about a year apart in age, they share a class. It's Linguistics 101, all part of their study of music and language, all part of their interests, all geared toward their goal to travel the world and get the hell away from the boxes they were kept in while they grew up in Ohio.
Blaine is the first to introduce himself, ever the friendly one. He takes a seat beside the fellow Ohioan, although they don't realize it at first. To each of them, the opposite boy is merely a new face like the rest of those at Princeton College.
"Hello," Blaine begins with one of his award-winning smiles, a dark triangular brow arched with mild interest as he extends his hand toward his classmate. "The name is Blaine."
"Hey, Blaine," the other replies, and with a dazzling smile of his own, he locks hands with the younger boy. "I'm Jesse. Jesse St. James."
And it begins like that, as simple as any greeting, but when their hands slide past one another on the release, there's a tiny jolt of electricity there, and there's something about he way Blaine blinks and the way Jesse's smile falls that tells all.
The following week, they meet up for the first time outside of class. It's at a sport game of some sort, something Jesse's friends dragged him to. He spies Blaine in the crowd, and makes his way over to him. "Hi," he greets, and Blaine looks as perfect as ever, groomed and classy.
The black-haired boy flashes another smile, his dark eyes sparkling in the light coming off of the field, and Jesse is caught off guard, because he doesn't know why, but he's gets butterflies from that smile, those eyes, and he's hypnotized more than he ever has been with a girl, more than Rachel Berry, and that's saying a lot, because at one point, he loved her.
Blaine brings up the topic of hometowns and high school, and they discover this time around that they both originate from Ohio and have strong connects to students from McKinley High.
"I once dated Rachel," Jesse laughs as he and Blaine take a stroll away from the game and continue down the New Jersey street on the chilly September night.
"No way! I dated a friend of hers; Kurt," Blaine states casually, and Jesse stops walking.
"Him? But… he's a dude."
"Yes, and?"
"And… he's gay. Which makes you –?" Jesse stutters and finally cuts himself off, because he's not sure what to think, so he leaves it open-ended, like a question.
Blaine chuckles like it's nothing out of the ordinary, and maybe it's not. Maybe Jesse is overacting, like he often does to unexpected things. "Gay, yes. It's no big secret to those who get to know me. And you said you took ballet, and sing, and play the piano? Let me ask you, Jesse: what do you think that makes you? A sensitive multi-talented straight guy, or a closeted gay guy in denial?"
And Jesse has nothing to say to that, so he simply changes the subject, opting to talk about something safer, like celebrity gossip, because that's always easy to keep up on. But he feels different talking about celebrities and relationships when he feels Blaine's eyes on him, his previous tone a little condescending (arrogant, like he knew better), a little playful (flirtatious, like he wanted Jesse). And it's all swirling in Jesse's mind in a confusing mist.
So Jesse parts early, Blaine slipping him his cell phone number, saying that Jesse could call him any time.
Jesse is too prideful to admit to anything he doesn't want to own up to. But isn't Blaine right? Doesn't he have a point? And hasn't Jesse always secretly wondered, 'Are we guys only with girls because we feel like society wants us to be that way? What if I want something different?'
And Blaine is really handsome, and despite his moments of false sweetness, there is true caring there, and he seems particularly partial to Jesse, so Jesse finally gives in with a sigh falling from his lips.
"You're right," he grumbles one night around iced coffee inside of a Barnes and Noble bookstore. "I must be gay, because I like you more than I should." And he gives a lopsided, aloof smile that is purposely seductive, but Jesse plays it off like he isn't aware of precisely how seductive it actually is.
Blaine grins, his eyes flickering down to his drink before re-connecting with his friend's. "Is that so? I'm glad you came to this conclusion, because I like you a lot more than I should, too, Jesse St. James," and he purrs the name because he adores how it rolls off of his skilled tongue. "We should do a duet some time, by the way. I heard how you used to sing lead vocals for Vocal Adrenaline, and I like the notion that I, a fellow lead of my own glee club, can harmonize with someone truly deserving of my talents."
"I like that idea, too," Jesse chuckles, and leans in closer to Blaine across the small, circular table they share. "But do you know what idea I like better?"
"What's that?" Blaine questions with a raise of one of his eyebrows, and really, Jesse thought he might get annoyed with those little caterpillars, but with the way they work with Blaine's startling eyes and compliment his sleek hairstyle balances everything out.
Jesse grins and runs a hand through his own hair before saying as casually as possible, "The idea of us hooking up. Appealing, yes?"
"Indeed," Blaine laughs, and stands from his seat, his coffee finished off for the most part. He tosses it in a trashcan nearby before offering his elbow. "Shall we, then?"
And Jesse has tried out a few girls – some of which wouldn't put out, like Rachel, and others he slipped inside of but didn't like the feel of – but he's never tasted a guy before, never another man's lips, never another man's skin, and he's oddly intrigued by the thought, and to picture Blaine touching him, or him touching Blaine, sensually and battling for dominance and seeing who will come out on top as the most stuck-up rich bastard of all is such a bizarre turn-on that Jesse simply must go along with it.
So Jesse stands, tosses the remains of his coffee away on the way out, and links elbows with Blaine, too self-centered to care who stares, who sends dirty looks, who questions their relationship. Because, really, the onlookers have every right to question him and Blaine. Because, yeah, they are very questionable.
And Jesse can already tell as their tongues first glide over one another in his car that he and Blaine are destined for disaster, passionate, self-centeredness-turned-into-arguments-and-make-up-sex sort of disaster, and the theatricality of it all is so bloody sexy that Jesse can't resist yet again.
And as it shifts from tangled tongues to touching fingers to groping hands to the first time they let their clothes fall away completely in Blaine's dorm room about two months after their first meeting, Jesse can't help but wonder if this is how it's supposed to feel, all of it, bodies and heat and skin and sweat and emotion, real feeling, something beyond the soulless automatons he and his team claimed to be, knew they were seen to be, back in high school. Is this how being an adult feels, Jesse wondered? This is how it must be for people in love?
And while he isn't sure if it's love or lust or just a sense of equality; hey, I totally get you that bonds them, but it's something substantial, and it lets Jesse know that it wasn't untrue when Blaine said they were deserving of each other.
Extremely deserving, as if they are all each other has ever searched for and craved, and maybe it's an illusion, and maybe this relationship will crumble someday, but as it stands, Jesse is content with his Princeton fuck-buddy being Blaine, and Blaine is completely at home with the notion of keeping Jesse around.
Because they deserve each other's calculated behavior, each other's history, each other's self-proclaimed greatness.
