Characters: Blaine & Sebastian, Wes, Rachel, Quinn
Rating: T
Summary: Blaine and Sebastian began an affair while working on a political campaign, Blaine as a reporter and Sebastian as the spokesman for the candidate Blaine can't stand. What happens when the candidate wins?
This is really different from anything I have written before. I thought Seblaine Week would be a good time to experiment.
"Mr. Montgomery, Blaine Anderson is here."
"Send him in."
Wes had been both looking forward to and dreading this meeting all week. Blaine Anderson, Pulitzer Prize Award winning journalist and his best friend since high school, had finally returned from his self-imposed six month exile. It's not like Wes didn't know why he did it, the reason was just asinine and he planned on telling Blaine that.
"Hi, Wes" was all Blaine said when he entered the office. When Wes didn't get up to greet him, Blaine knew he was meeting with Wes Montgomery, Editor of the Washington Post and not Wes Montgomery, best friend.
"Have a seat Blaine. It's so nice of you to remember you work here."
"Wes…"
"No, you listen to me asshole!" Ok, best friend Wes was back "What the hell did you think you were doing?"
"I told you that I needed to go home for a while."
"Yeah, home to Ohio. But, no, you went to your mother's homeland of the Philippines so that you could report on the rise of ISIS in Indonesia! Oh, by the way, you're nominated for another Pulitzer for the series you wrote. Congratulations."
Blaine relaxed into the chair and let out a sigh of relief. This was actually going better than he anticipated "Wes, you know why I left."
"Blaine, people don't run off to chase terrorists because they got their heart broken."
Flashback
Blaine and Sebastian were lying in bed waiting for the election results to come in. They both knew they should be downstairs with the others, but this was the first time all week that they had the chance to sneak away.
"I don't want to get up" Blaine whined as he cuddled into Sebastian "I'm too comfortable and you smell good."
"I smell like sex" Sebastian chuckled while playing with Blaine's curls "We should probably shower before we go down."
"Only if we take it together" Blaine pushed himself up but when he looked into his lover's eyes he could see that something wasn't right "What's wrong Bas?"
This was not the way Sebastian wanted this to play out "Nothing, at least from my point of view. When Candidate Sylvester wins the election tonight, I'm going to join her staff as White House Press Secretary."
Blaine shook his head in disbelief as he got out of bed to grab his clothes and get dressed "I cannot believe you are going to work for that bitch. Yes, she has somehow brainwashed the American people into most likely electing her president, but that doesn't mean you have to work for her. Hell, it will be your job to spread her propaganda on a daily basis. That wasn't part of our plan."
Sebastian got up as well "What's your problem? This will be good for my career and it's not like I don't work for her now anyway."
"You do not work for her, you work for the Republican National Committee. You were assigned by your bosses to work on her campaign like Wes assigned me to cover the election. You really had no choice, but now you do."
"B, I can't turn it down."
"Yes, you can." When Sebastian didn't say anything, Blaine had his answer "Then I can't stay."
He made it all the way to the door before Sebastian caught him and pulled him back into his arms.
"Blaine, please. You can't leave me over this. I love you so much." For a moment, everything stopped and it was like the last five minutes hadn't happened. Then Blaine kissed him with a kiss that soft and loving, but it was definitely a kiss that said goodbye.
"I can't watch you do this Bas, but I will always love you."
End of Flashback
"Why did you need me to come in Wes? I was coming in day after tomorrow for the meeting anyway."
This was the part Wes had been dreading, but he knew it had to be done "I need a favor, a big one. It's so big that I'm calling in my IOU."
Blaine almost jumped out of his chair he was so surprised "Wes, you have held onto that for almost a decade."
"Yes, I have" Wes agreed, and before Blaine could cut him off, he went into what had become known as The Speech. "It was a dark and stormy night, the night I got that call from you. A call where you begged me to pick you up from a party that I told you not to go to, because he who shall not be named threw a hissy fit when you got drunk and made out with his best friend, who happened to be a girl. When I brought you back to my house, you were so thankful, and inebriated, that you gave me the IOU which states that it can be used on anything, anytime, anywhere as long as it won't get you arrested."
"I know, I just can't imagine what this favor could be."
Wes reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a lanyard with a badge on the end "Rachel called in sick today. I need you to cover the White House."
"Not a chance in hell, Montgomery! I'll quit first!" Blaine yelled after he got up and threw the badge across the room.
"Doesn't matter if you do because I called in the IOU and that has nothing to do with your job."
"But it can't be something I would be arrested for and I guarantee that if I see that woman, the Secret Service will put me to jail."
"You're a professional. I think you can handle one little press briefing."
Blaine plopped himself back into his chair and dropped his head into his hands "Wes, you can't do this to me." The last thing he expected was for Wes to start laughing "What's so fucking funny, Wesley?"
"You! You run all over the world chasing down terrorists but you're scared shitless of the White House Press Secretary."
"He's not the White House Press Secretary. He's Sebastian."
Wes took a deep breath to compose himself for what came next "Blaine, you're about to go to Morocco to try and infiltrate ISIS training sites. Your head needs to be completely in the game, and don't feed me crap about what you did in the Philippines because you had people there. You'll be totally on your own for this one."
"My head is in the game."
"Not with the way you just reacted when I mentioned Sebastian. Blaine, if I can't trust you, I can't send you. But you and I both know you'll find a way to go with or without my blessing and that scares the shit out of me."
Blaine went and picked up the badge "Fine, but you better have bail money ready."
Before Blaine left, Wes realized something "Hey Blaine, you need to go change. Khaki cargo shorts and a Polo aren't White House attire."
"You get what you get, Wesley" Blaine told him as he exited the office. When Wes called out for him to at least tame his curls, Blaine kept walking but answered by holding up a particular finger.
Once Blaine was gone, someone else slipped into the office "I hope this works, Wes."
"It has to, Rachel. It has to."
Two hours later when Blaine walked into the White House Briefing Room, an audible gasp was heard coming from all of the reporters already there. For some, they were surprised by his attire. However, for most, they were aware of Blaine and Sebastian's relationship and knew this was going to be a press briefing they would not soon forget.
Blaine tried to hide in the back row, but a couple of reporters he knew from the campaign trail were more than happy to show him to Rachel's seat. It was third row center, of course. After he got settled, he pulled out his phone to send Wes a text and he saw that he had already received one. There he found a picture of a smiling Wes and a supposedly sick Rachel with their fingers crossed.
Assholes!
Meanwhile, Sebastian was headed toward the briefing room and his mood was less than stellar. The President had once again decided to go back on a campaign promise and he was the lucky bastard that got to announce it.
"Sebastian, Sebastian stop!" Communication's Director Quinn Fabray called out.
"What now Quinn? It's bad enough that I have to go in there and tell all those people that President Sylvester is cutting funding for Arts in Schools programs by half."
"Sebastian, let me do today's briefing. You're right. You shouldn't have to deal with this. Why don't you go ahead and leave for the day? Maybe you could go see a movie?"
"See a movie?" Sebastian didn't think Quinn did drugs, but it was either that or she had lost her mind "Yes, I'm a little stressed but I can do my fucking job."
She let him go, telling herself that he was a big boy, but then decided she couldn't let Sebastian go in unprepared "Blaine's in there." He froze, but the look on his face was unreadable "Sebastian, did you hear me?"
"Blaine's in there" he whispered in acknowledgement.
"What do you want to do?"
That was a good question. What did he want to do? The love of his life was in that room. The love of his life that left him because he took the job that he was about to go do, in the room where the love of his life was. Thinking about it made his head hurt, but he knew what he had to do.
There was usually noise when Sebastian walked into the room. Today it was completely silent, no cameras flashing, no positioning of microphones, no side conversations. No one wanted to miss any of the expected drama "Good Afternoon everyone" Sebastian greeted the reporters as he tried not to stare at Blaine. It didn't help that he was seated in his direct eyeline "This will be our final briefing of the day. At this time, I will announce that due to difficulties within the education budget, President Sylvester has been forced to renege on her campaign promise to not cut funding for Arts in Schools programs."
"*cough* *cough* Bullshit!"
The comment was subtle, but everyone in the room knew exactly who it came from, including Sebastian. He had enough headaches without Blaine making him look like a fool "Do you have a problem, Mr. Anderson?"
"Oh, I don't have a problem since I knew there was no fucking way that your boss wouldn't cut the funding. You might want to ask Vice-President Hummel what he thinks since that program is his pet project." Blaine tried not to smile at the fact that Sebastian cringed at the way he emphasized the words "your boss".
Before he had a chance to remember where he was, Sebastian shot back "Or maybe you should ask him since you were almost his son-in-law."
While the rest of the reporters in the room started to whisper with each other like they were back in junior high, Quinn came in with a file in her hand "Is everything ok in here?"
Sebastian decided that Quinn was indeed on drugs if she had felt the need to ask that question "Just give me the file." He read the statement and then walked back up to the podium "Ok, settle down. I have an announcement here that you all will want to hear. We can finally verify that during our bombing ten days ago of ISIS training camps in Morocco, several high ranking officials were killed including the man known only as Kaboom."
The side talk immediately halted. Reporters threw up their hands and called Sebastian's name to get his attention. All of the reporters except one. Blaine let out a sigh, stood up and excused himself to the other reporters as he tried to leave. He almost made it to the exit before Sebastian couldn't take it anymore "Where the hell do you think you're going?"
Blaine stopped, but didn't look back "I'm not going to stay here while you lie for that bitch."
A few hours later Blaine got out of the shower in his hotel room and wiped the steam off the mirror to take a look at himself. He looked tired. He looked old. Holy fuck, was that a gray hair? At his last appointment, his doctor told him to cut stress from his life. There was no way that would happen, but it would probably get better if he stopped doing stupid things. Like chasing terrorists. Like pissing off Wes. Like denying he still loved Sebastian.
It was also pretty stupid to call the President of the United States a lying bitch. It was even more stupid to do it while at the White House. Maybe Wes was justified in screaming at him over the phone for an hour straight. He was actually amazed Wes hadn't come over in person. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Since he hadn't thought to bring clothes in with him, he wrapped a towel around his waist to go answer the door. It's not like the two of them hadn't seen all of the bits and pieces of each other throughout the years.
"I don't care if you're here in person" Blaine called out "You're still not going to change my mind." However, it wasn't Wes standing there when he opened the door "I suppose Wes sent you?"
Sebastian pushed his way into the room, trying to ignore Blaine's current state of (un)dress "He told me your hotel and room number, but he wouldn't tell me what you were talking about at the briefing. He said that had to come from you."
Blaine let out a sort of snort and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration "I don't care if his is my best friend, he's a fucking dead man."
"Damn it, Blaine. What the hell's going on?" Sebastian had a guess. He wanted to be wrong, but knew he wasn't.
Blaine would never tell the White House Press Secretary what he knew. However, this was Sebastian and he had to trust him "I had a video call with Kaboom earlier this morning so there is no way he was killed 10 days ago. I'm meeting him in Morocco next week. I was going to leave on Friday, but after today's debacle in the press room, I thought it best if I left the country in the morning."
To Sebastian the news felt like a punch to the gut, so much so that he needed to take a seat "Are you sure it's him? I mean we don't know exactly what he looks like."
"I was able to contact him through some of the connections I made in the Philippines. I'm sure."
Before he could stop himself, Sebastian said "That's not the plan."
Of all the things that had happened that day, those four words hurt Blaine the most"The plan?! You're really going to go there? You blew up the fucking plan months ago."
"No, I didn't!" Months of pent up pain came pouring out of Sebastian. He couldn't even look at Blaine in that moment, so he got up and went to the window "The plan was for us to fix the political system, me working from the inside, you exposing abuses of power from the outside. I held up my part. You just didn't like the way I did it."
"Bas…"
Hearing his pet name only made him angrier. He turned around and yelled "Don't Bas me, I'm not finished! You're the one that didn't hold up his end of the plan!
Meeting with terrorists in Morocco will not fix our political system but there's a fucking good chance it could get you killed!"
Before Blaine could respond, Sebastian had his face in his hands and their lips pressed together. When the kiss finally broke, he looked up and stared into the eyes he had missed so much "You're not playing fair" he whispered, not wanting to disturb the intimacy of the moment."
"Neither are you."
"No, this isn't playing fair" Blaine said as he dropped the towel from his waist.
Three months later, Sebastian headed into yet another press briefing he has no desire to be at. He could give a damn about the President awarding her Nazi Hunter parents the Congressional Medal of Freedom. He wanted to know about Blaine. He was only supposed to be in Morocco for two weeks, but after he sent in his story to Wes he disappeared. Quinn and Wes had used all of their back-channel sources but were not able to find out anything. Hell, Rachel went to Vice-President Hummel to see if he could do anything, but there wasn't. Of course, the President was of no use since she was still pissed that Blaine had called her a bitch.
When he got to the briefing room, Sebastian could immediately tell that something was wrong. Some of the reporters wouldn't look at him and those that did appeared as if they were going to cry. There was only one thing this could mean.
Blaine
"Briefing cancelled" Sebastian managed to get out as he ran from the room. When he reached his office he found Quinn, Wes and a barely-holding-it-together Rachel waiting for him.
"Is he dead?" he could barely believe he had managed to say the words.
"No" Wes told him "But, it's not good."
At least he's still alive, Sebastian kept telling himself "Where is he?"
"He's still in Casablanca. Vice-President Hummel arranged for him to be flown to a military hospital in Germany" Quinn spoke to him in that calming way that only she could "Tina has your just-in-case bag. You'll need to go home and get your passport."
"It's here" Sebastian went to open his safe "When he went missing, I, I…" As much as he had tried to be strong, he lost it and fell to the ground sobbing. Rachel sat down next to him and took him in her arms. She had been so upset that she hadn't been able to help with any arrangements, but this she could do.
"Sebastian, the paper has a jet waiting for us" she told him. "The faster we get to the airport, the faster we get you to Blaine."
When the four of them arrived in Germany they were met by both Rachel's and Quinn's ex, Air Force Major Noah Puckerman. He had been able to help with base security and he may have told the doctors that Sebastian was Blaine's husband so they wouldn't have the whole "family only" problem. Both girls kissed him for that last part.
While the others were listening to what the doctors had to say, Sebastian went into the room. The first sight of Blaine was jarring. He looked like he had been through hell, which he probably had. However, and he knew it was petty, when Sebastian realized Blaine's head had been shaved and all of his beautiful curls were gone, he let himself shed a few tears.
"Hey, B" he spoke quietly, not knowing if Blaine could hear him. He wanted to hold his hand, but both of them had several different IV tubes attached. Instead he reached over and put his hand over Blaine's heart "I've missed you. These three months of not knowing where you were, they were hell for me. I promise you that I'm never letting you out of my sight again." Feeling Blaine's heartbeat was not enough, so he very gently placed his head on the chest of the man he loved and just listened.
"Good."
Sebastian snapped his head up and saw Blaine looking at him with barely opened eyes and a weak smile. He had never been more beautiful "Blaine? Oh my god, I've got to get your doctor."
"No, wait" Blaine tried to take a deep breath but couldn't, so he took a minute "What are you doing here?"
Sebastian smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever "Didn't I tell you? I have a new plan."
"You do? What is it?"
"First, I'm going to get you home and nurse you back to health."
"You have a job."
"Not anymore" Sebastian said much to Blaine's surprise "I quit."
"Bas…"
"No, listen. This is where my new plan comes in. The Congressman from my home district, Will Schuster, ran on a platform of standing up to President Sylvester, but she crushes him every chance she gets. I want to run against him in next year's election, but I have to go live in the district for at least a year to reestablish residency. I was thinking maybe you would want to come back to Ohio with me. You could recuperate there and I thought maybe you can help with my campaign until you go back to work. But Blaine, no more going after terrorists. I just…you can't…"
"Bas, stop. I think it sounds like an awesome plan."
Twenty-seven years later
Quinn and Wes sat next to each other in the freezing cold, watching their best friends take the next step in their lives together.
"I'm really happy for them, but this is not how I saw this country having its first First Gentleman."
"Well President's Chief of Staff Quinn Fabray-Montgomery, it sounds like you need a plan."
I, Sebastian Alexander Smythe, do solemnly swear, that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States…
Note:
I really hope it doesn't take 30 years for the US to get its first First Husband.
