Disclaimer: Glee belongs to FOX and RIB and Dalton as depicted in here and Julian and Logan, as well as all other of the Dalton boys mentioned belong to the lovely CP Coulter.

Warnings: May contain spoilers for Dalton if you haven't read everything, or spoilers from Plurk.

A Glimpse Of Happiness

In a world where you were either born to find happiness in love or to spend your life in agony, always searching for something you could never have, most people chose not to know, not to ask their parents about it. Because, honestly, who would want to live knowing that they could never find happiness in love?

Julian Larson did not get that choice. After his parents had found out his fate, they had made sure to remind him of it. Every day and day again. Sometimes, especially when he had been younger, Julian had wondered how they could be so cruel.

The answer always remained the same: They did not want him to waste his life looking for something he could never have. Julian learned to appreciate the sentiment, but a small part of him still wished that he didn't know, that he didn't have to live with this shadow over his head.

Because Julian had not been born to be happy.

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He learned to make due with that knowledge, focused on his studies and his career, but when he saw people being happy together, not knowing how they had been born, he couldn't help but wonder whether his life couldn't have been better if it had been different.

His two best friends were Derek Seigerson, a boy who was supposed to find himself a happy relationship, but preferred to stay solo and enjoy life as a single, and Logan Wright, who like Julian, had been born to be alone, but who didn't let that stop him from trying.

Julian admired them both, in the way they did not accept their fates so easily, but tried to change something, to make their own destiny. He often wished he could just do that too. But seeing how often especially Logan set himself up for heartbreak, he just didn't know if there would ever be a person worth the pain after their time ran out.

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"So, how long will you be gone for?" Logan asked, swimming up to the air mattress Julian was using to float around in the pool, while Logan and Derek had been tossing a ball between them

"I don't know…Maybe 10 days?" Julian shrugged.

"The City of Love…" Logan read, voice teasing, eyes fixed on the pamphlet in Julian's hands. "Be careful, you might depress yourself with all the lovey-dovey couples hanging all over each other every day."

"You mean like you do when you go out with the Warblers?" Julian countered.

Logan laughed, throwing his head back, hos green eyes sparkling in the sun as they fixed on sepia ones, and not for the first time Julian wondered whether his attraction to Logan was the reason why he could never be happy.

"Yeah right. They really are an awfully happy group aren't they?" Logan replied, thinking of Kurt and Blaine, Reed and Shane, Nick and Jeff, or even the Brightman twins, who had all found their happiness with someone.

"Yeah…it's depressing." Julian deadpanned.

"Mhhh…" Logan hummed, until his eyes fixed on Julian's again, this time a mischievous glint in them.

"Oh no Logan don't you da-AAHHH…"

Logan had flipped the mattress, including Julian, and landed the young actor straight in the water.

"LOGAAAN!" he yelled as he resurfaced, just to storm after his best friend to pay him back.

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"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Julian asked, a mix between curious and annoyed, as an obviously drunk male, about his age, fell heavily against the rail of the bridge Julian had been sitting on, watching the gleaming of the stars lightening up the water below him, lost in thought.

The boy, who would have taken a dive into the river underneath them, had Julian not grabbed his collar and yanked him back, looked at Julian with wide eyes.

"Did you just speak English at me?"

"At you?" Julian blinked, the admittedly gorgeous brunet boy seemed completely unfazed by the fact that he could have very well fallen in and drowned.

"Look at you…you're pretty gorgeous…don't I know you from somewhere?" the stranger asked, eying Julian appreciatively, before his eyes met Julian's curiously.

Julian knew that courtesy dictated that he tell the stranger that there was no happiness to find with him, so the other could move on, in case he wasn't also one of the 'unlucky ones', but something held him back, as he extended his hand with a smile.

"I'm Julian Larson."

"Oh I see. The actor." the other laughed "I knew I had seen you before, a face like yours isn't easily forgotten. I'm Sebastian Smythe."

"Pleasure to meet you." They shook hands, looking into each other's eyes as they held on a little longer than socially acceptable.

Then Sebastian pulled Julian flush against his chest, a wide grin spreading on his face at the shocked look on the other's face.

"Well…Julian…Are you waiting for your prince to swim by or are you open for some partying?"

Julian swallowed hard, thinking of the dark cloud that had been hovering above his head ever since he had first been old enough to understand. Then he looked at Sebastian's eyes, sparkling with humor and something he couldn't quite define. He made a decision.

"Lead the way." He grinned, finding himself pulled along behind Sebastian.

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The next five days went by in a rush of clubbing, exploring things, and feelings that Julian didn't dare to name out of fear that they might disappear. Sebastian was funny, outgoing, straightforward, smart, snarky and undeniably good looking, and the actor couldn't help but feel drawn to the other.

It was only when they found themselves on the Pont de l'Archevêché, looking at all the love padlocks, the reality caught up with them and hit Julian like a freight train. Sebastian immediately noticed that his companion had fallen silent, as they read some of the engravings, or things written on the locks.

"What's wrong?" he asked, taking Julian's hand as he had so often these past days, squeezing it gently.

"It's…I shouldn't even be here with you…" Julian said softly, as Sebastian led him away from the crowd so they could speak freely, never letting go of Julian's hand.

"Why?" he asked curiously "Got a boyfriend over in good ol' America?"

Julian shook his head.

"Ohh…A girlfriend then?"

Again Julian shook his head, Sebastian probed further.

"A dog who really, really doesn't like other people..?"

Julian laughed at that.

"You're ridiculous."

'Finally.' Sebastian thought, having hated the broken and guilty expression on Julian's face.

"So if that's not it then what is it?" he asked.

Julian licked his lips nervously, as Sebastian ran his thumb over the back of his hand soothingly.

"I am not meant to be happy." Julian finally admitted, not meeting Sebastian's eyes.

The taller boy blinked, as it took him a moment to understand.

"Ohh kitten…" he sighed, pulling Julian into a hug.

He held him for a long while, as Julian relaxed in his arms, finally hugging him back. They stood near the Pont de l'Archevêché, people streaming around them, but in that moment, nothing else mattered to them. Finally they pulled apart and Sebastian smiled at Julian.

"Are you happy with me, here, as we are J?"

Julian didn't hesitate.

"Yes."

Sebastian's smile widened.

"Then don't let some stupid thing, some 'destiny' you've supposedly been born with tell you that you can't be. Don't let this dictate your life. If you're happy, it doesn't matter whether you're 'not meant to be'. Team free will man."

Julian's eyes widened as he considered Sebastian point of view, and he realized that Sebastian was right. The best way to be unhappy forever, was to not allow yourself to be happy, ever.

Before his brain really caught up with his heart, he had leaned in and captured Sebastian's lips in a tentative kiss, that was quickly deepened as Sebastian pulled him closer.

After they pulled apart they went to buy two new locks and sharpies, and wrote down:

"Screw Destiny" and "Team Free Will"

And went to put their locks together and onto the bridge. They exchanged their replacement keys, so that each of them had both a key for their own lock, and the lock of the other.

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In the next three days they got to know each other even closer, Julian learned that Sebastian was also one of the 'Unlucky Ones', they had amazing sex, and decided that they both deserved to be happy, screw the rules. It was the most amazing time of both their lives.

In hindsight, they really should have seen it coming.

It all began when Logan called, asking Julian to come home, which Julian declined, which led to a bit of a shouting match between the two friends, leaving Julian hurt and vulnerable, as Sebastian tried to pick up the pieces.

Julian knew very well that he couldn't stay in Paris forever, he had school to go to and a TV show to shoot, but at the same time he didn't want to leave the happy little bubble that he and Sebastian had built themselves.

It had been too good to be true.

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Their luck turned when they went to get money at a bank, and Sebastian told Julian to just go ahead, get them some coffee, while he went in to grab what he needed. They kissed each other goodbye, and Julian went just across the street into the small coffee shop they usually went to.

He got in line and waited, and when he finally made it to the counter and took their coffees, he started to ask himself what the hell had Sebastian taking so long, so he stepped outside, towards the bank.

That was the moment when all hell seemed to break loose.

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Sirens, screaming people, and then the jarring sound of three gunshots made Julian drop the coffee. The shots had been fired inside the back where Sebastian had just walked into.

The Gendarmerie was rushing into the building, and before Julian knew it, he was running towards it too. He was stopped by a pretty girl in police uniform.

"Sir please I cannot let you pass."

"MY BOYFRIEND IS INSIDE THERE!" Julian screamed, uncaring of who heard him. "PLEASE! There were gunshots. Please!"

"I'm sorry." She said firmly "I cannot let you through."

So Julian grudgingly stayed where he was, until the paramedics exited the building, carrying someone outside on a stretcher. Someone Julian only recognized too well.

"Noo!" Julian called out "Sebastian!"

He broke away from the woman holding him back, making a dash for the paramedics.

"Who are you?" they asked grimly.

"His boyfriend."! Julian replied without hesitation.

Now in America that wouldn't have gotten him into the ambulance, but in France that was sufficient reason to let him in. He sat in the ambulance holding Sebastian's hand, as the other boy cracked open one eye, a weak smile forming on his lips.

"Hey…k-kitten." He said weakly, his voice hoarse from the pain.

"Shh don't talk." Julian said, his heart racing with fear.

He had only met Sebastian a little while ago, but he had never felt this way before.

"It's…important…" Sebastian gasped out.

"No." Julian shook his head firmly "It has time 'til you're out of the hospital."

Sebastian's resulting chuckle quickly turned into pained coughing, that left the paramedic riding with them with a unhappy frown. Julian chose to ignore that.

"J. you know t-that's not..true…"

"Bas NO! Don't you dare giving up on me!" Julian insisted.

"You d-deserve to be happy J." Sebastian said weakly, his eyes closing "W-will you promise…p-promise me t-that you won't let anyone keep you from t-that."

"Bas I…I promise." Julian said, his closing eyes filling with tears as Sebastian's hand went limp in his.

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Three weeks later, after Sebastian had been buried, Julian was on his way back to America, to Logan and Derek, to school and filming, his normal life. But something had changed. He would no longer just accept the fact that he had to be unhappy. He would find someone to love, someone who would love him too.

He absentmindedly played with the two keys on the chain around his neck, as his cellphone rang, announcing a call from none other than Logan Wright III.

End Notes: Mhhh :)

I hope you liked it, if you want I would love for you to drop me a review :D