Author's Note: Because every Dalton fan has their own ideas of how bad the results of Hell Night will be. This was written up a long time ago and I only just rediscovered it in my saved Word documents. Go figure. Small, incomplete, angst-filled drabble series. I don't think there are many happy endings here, though I hope for better in canon.
Disclaimer: Nothing of this world belongs to me. That honour rests with Mama CP. =)
The weather was overcast.
That was the only thing Julian was free to discover for himself. Confined to lying in a hospital bed for four days limited any other activity besides sleep, though his 'sleep' was more than uncomfortable, given his immobile arm and the bandaged burns on his hands, back, and face. Julian hated it. He hated even more that it was the first day he was graced with a visitor – a visitor he'd have rather not seen, at that. Not so soon, anyway.
Not ever, preferably.
"Julian," the room's atmosphere fell upon the occupants heavier than before, his name being the first thing to be said since the blonde stepped in fifteen minutes ago. Julian half wished he were back in that fire – far away from here, with a never-ending stream of burning plaster falling between him and this boy. "What you said… What that creep made you say-"
"Logan," Julian's single, unbandaged eye gave the blonde a more penetrating stare than any pair ever had. Even Blaine's. Even Joshua's. Even Kurt's. "Don't."
"But you-"
"I asked you to forget everything I told you then," Julian was breathing very tensely now, though his voice remained even. He hated this. Absolutely hated that Logan was there for him now. Now when everything was completely wrong and screwed up and couldn't be fixed or taken back.
Logan's expression bent and shifted, confused. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I asked you to forget," the brunette repeated, as if bland repetition would somehow compel Logan to listen and obey. As if it would erase that awful moment in time when his most precious secret was dragged out of him, for everyone to hear. "Now I'm asking why you haven't done that yet."
Logan shook his head and leaning forward in his chair, trying to convince his friend, "Jules, I can't just… forget something like that. No one could! For Chrissakes, you said you-"
"What I said," Julian paused to take a breath. His voice was becoming a little too strained to be recognized as controlled, and control was what he needed right now. Perfect control – control he knew he had. Exhaling, and renewed with solemn conviction, Julian continued, "was to forget all of that. It never happened, Logan. It wasn't real."
"The hell it wasn't!" Logan stood, green eyes as furious as Julian had ever seen them when he was in a rage. If Logan's left wrist and right arm hadn't been broken from the incident, Julian was sure he would've thrown or smashed something by now. As it was, the only thing left for him to do was storm around the room, like a provoked and impatient tiger. The only thing left for him to destroy was Julian.
"You said you were in love with me! Since freakin' freshmen year! And you know what? I know there have been times you haven't been completely honest with me, when you just plaster on your smile and act – just like you've been trained to do since birth – and lie to me. To my face! But what you told me in that fire – that wasn't a lie. I know you, Julian; I know how to read you and I am not forgetting one of the few times that you were real with me!"
Julian, his unwavering gaze having stayed strong and steady all throughout his friend's tirade, looked away and didn't say a word, as though he were severely bored. It was the first time Logan noticed how tightly his friend was strangling the sheets – the second degree burns on his hands completely unacknowledged.
But then they suddenly fell slack, while simultaneously his eye shut and his breath rushed out all at once, as if Julian was finally letting go of everything, dropping any and all thoughts in his head, aches in his heart, cares in his world. The beeps of his heart rate even slowed their tempo.
Feeling the familiar rage begin to rise within himself, Logan tensed his jaw, straining to keep himself in check. He knew what this was. Julian had thrown him out of a room without uttering a single sound once before – and now he was doing it again. He had pushed him too far. And Julian had shut him out by shutting himself off. Nothing he said would even register with Julian now.
Angry, but straining for control and calm more than he ever had, Logan stormed out of the room, kicking at anything he could on the way out.
Author's Note: Never fear gondaliers. He returns. Eventually. And if I ever get around to writing that bit. -.-;