Broken pieces
Disclaimer: I don't own Christian and Syed. EastEnders and the BBC do. I am just renting them.
Chapter 1
"Isn't it exciting?" Daniel enthused as he showed Syed a photograph of the new flat. "I can't believe this is actually happening"
"No, me neither", Syed muttered incomprehensibly, looking blankly at the television programme he was pretending to watch.
"Sorry, what was that, babe?" Daniel asked, barely glancing at Syed, for he was too enamoured with the photographs of the new flat they had just brought together.
"Doesn't matter", Syed replied quietly.
"Well, okay. Anyway, I'm late for work, so I'm going to have to love you", he said, leaning down to give Syed a peck on the cheek, "and leave you", he continued brightly, getting up off the sofa and grabbing his coat from the back of the chair. "Don't forget we're going to meet our new neighbours tonight"
"Yeah, course". Syed had forgotten they were going out tonight. He was dreading it. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to spend the evening in a noisy and crowded bar with people he barely knew.
"Bye babe", Daniel shouted as he walked out the flat door.
"Yeah, bye"
Syed was sad. He should feel happy. He was moving into a new, two-bedroom flat with his boyfriend. He should be happy. But he wasn't. He and Daniel had been together for just over a year. Deep down, it felt too soon, but Daniel had convinced him it was the right thing to do and Syed had pushed his nagging doubts to the back of his mind. They loved each other and they wanted to make a new home for themselves, away from the confines of their old life, with noisy neighbours and interfering parents. Syed's parents disapproved of him and Daniel and made it quite clear, every time they saw them, that they would never accept the relationship. Moving away seemed the only solution, so when Daniel suggested it, Syed had agreed, and the couple spent weeks searching for a suitable flat to buy. Finally, they found one they liked and had signed on the dotted line. It didn't come cheap but with Syed's earnings from his own massage business and Daniels's wage as a bar manager, they had just enough. The time had nearly come to move in. But it almost never did.
It was lust at first sight for Daniel when he first saw Syed, that night, 16-months ago, on a cold December evening. He was working and Syed had walked into the bar with a few other men. All the others looked fairly ordinary and Daniel had dismissed them immediately. All except Syed. With his flowing hair, stubble and big brown eyes, Daniel was instantly hooked on this vision of beauty that was nervously walking towards him. He had introduced himself, and although they had chatted for a few minutes, Syed had moved away to sit with his friends and had ignored Daniel for the rest of the night. Not one to turn down a challenge - and Syed was a beautiful challenge – Daniel pursued him and eventually, after much cajoling from him and Syed's friends, he had persuaded Syed to go out on a date with him the following night. One date soon turned into more, and eventually, to Daniel's glee, they finally slept together. Syed was always cautious about the relationship, wanting to take things slowly, but Daniel was besotted and vowed to his disbelieving parents that him and Syed were for keeps.
To their friends, they seemed the perfect couple.
XXXX
Three weeks ago…
"Babe, please? You know you want to really"
"I'm tired. You're drunk. Go to bed", Syed groaned, turning away from Daniel and pulling the duvet back over his body.
"Come on Sy…" Daniel whined, dragging the duvet off the bed and climbing on top of Syed's now-cold body. Sloppily kissing his neck, he started to pull down Syed's boxer shorts, his hands fumbling with the waistband.
"No", Syed protested, trying to wriggle out from underneath him. But Daniel was stronger, and drunk and possessed, he was almost impossible to push off.
"Look, you don't have to do anything, just let me do my thing", Daniel whispered, drunkenly trying to pull off his own jeans.
"I said no, alright. Stop it!" Syed shouted, forcefully pushing Daniel off balance and jumping out of the double bed they shared. Daniel stared at him in disbelief, neither of them able to register what had just happened. Daniel slumped against the wardrobe door, drunk and morose, for the rest of the night, as Syed silently slipped past him and spend a sleepless night on the sofa.
The next morning Daniel cried and apologised over and over to Syed. He promised he would never do it again…
