Being a Broadway star was even more demanding than being a pop star, or so Blaine learned quickly. There were next to no days off, no time to relax and breathe, just time enough to sleep before going on stage once more. It should have been tedious to perform the same lines day in and day out, but Blaine loved it-loved that as the show went on, reviews were less centered on 'golden boy Blaine Anderson' and on the work of the whole cast, that there had been several now where he hadn't even been mentioned at all, Rachel's name taken front and center as they raved about the flawless new find sure to sweep through Broadway in no time.
Then there was Rachel herself. Blaine had done his best to look past their incidents, erase all the history from the beginning of their rollercoaster friendship, but the fact was that he couldn't. Every day she seemed to find a new way to take him by surprise; she'd do or say something that should have been entirely inconsequential, but it only seemed to pull him closer to her, closer to feelings he knew were changing into exactly what he'd told her couldn't happen between them. Jesse seemed to keep his eye on Blaine while backing off all at once, which was a relief to him as it let him finally focus on the other people in the cast without fear of repercussions.
Being around her nearly 24/7 didn't help but escalate his feelings, and when they were finally granted a few days' vacation to rest and relax, Blaine intended to stay as far away from Rachel as he possibly could in an attempt to clear his mind of her. It lasted all of four hours into his first day off before Cooper was heading out the door only for Rachel to appear in his place, standing in the entrance of his living room looking like she wasn't sure how she had wound up there.
"I need a distraction," she said before he could question her on why she was there. "It's been an," she paused, seeming flustered as she waved her hand around in hopes of looking for the right word, "an intense morning, I suppose and I just-Sugar and Cooper are going out of town for the rest of the week, and I didn't know who else to turn to."
He watched with curious eyes as she flushed pink, her teeth gnawing at her lip and he couldn't help but ask "What about Jesse?" if only to make sure the boyfriend in question wasn't going to show up and cause a scene. She looked away from him at his words, her fingers twisting around her left hand ring finger, and Blaine's heart constricted lightly at the motion, even if it still lay bare. "Rachel?" he pressed, standing up for the first time since she arrived, but it was enough to snap her back to attention, eyes wild and alarmed as she looked at him.
"He proposed," Rachel whispered, and Blaine's first instinct was once more to look at her empty finger, her eyes watching his and noticing where they fell. "Before he left to go visit his family in California, this morning over breakfast he just-he asked me to marry him."
"And you came here?" Blaine asked, trying to see where that decision had come from.
"I told him I needed to think it over," she said, taking a deep breath. "He didn't seem happy about it, but he said he understood. He's waiting for me to give him an answer when he comes back on Monday."
"And for now?" he inquired, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans to keep them from running along his arm or rubbing at the back of his neck like he so anxiously wanted to, damning all gods that had sent her here to him at this time. He wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms, to give her a list of reasons why she should reject Jesse's proposal, of why she should be with himself instead-but he knew he couldn't.
They were just friends.
He had made sure of that from the very beginning.
"For now, I am in need of someone to distract me for the day," Rachel repeated, steadying herself and daring to look Blaine in the eyes as a smile grew on her face. "We so rarely get time off, and I want a New York type of day."
"Aren't you the native New Yorker?" he teased gently, glad to see her smile less manic and more relaxed at the joke.
"Yes, but it's-" she hesitated for a minute, something Blaine wouldn't have even noticed had he not been watching her carefully, "I am demanding you take me out for the day."
"Well, if it's a demand," he joked, but slung an arm around her shoulder as they headed for the door, Blaine grabbing a jacket to fend off the winter winds outside as they passed the hallway closet, "I suppose I don't really have a choice in the matter."
"You don't," she said simply, buttoning her own coat back up, and he only laughed in response as he grabbed his keys before leading her out the door, absentmindedly grabbing her hand and lacing her fingers with his own as they walked to the elevator.
"Well, where to first?" he asked, Rachel shaking her head and making a soft tisking noise in his direction.
"It's my day of no-stress," she reminded him, "you have to come up with it all on your own."
Blaine had a vague idea on where to take her, though he decided it would be nicer to cut through the park than to get a taxi or call a driver. "Typical New York day, right?" he repeated, her smile warm as she grabbed his gloved hand with her own, and they found themselves ducking across the street and enveloped in the quiet of one of the city's main attractions. Blaine wasn't sure his motives were exactly pure, but he also had a feeling she wouldn't have come to him if she wasn't looking for a reason not to say 'yes' to the ridiculous proposal Jesse had given her.
He tried to distract her as they wound their way through groups of small children giggling about the snow that was sure to fall by the end of the day, couples young and old walking hand in hand just as they were, and he wondered if there was anyone who would see their fingers intertwined through the fabric of their gloves and assume that they were dating. If he was anyone else, it would have warmed him to think that someone would even consider Rachel capable of settling for him, but as Sebastian's voicemail from the morning rang loud in his head, he knew he had to be careful.
"You grew up here, didn't you?" Blaine asked after a moment, letting Rachel lead him through the sidewalks.
"In Brooklyn, actually, but yes. My fathers never could stand to live too far from the city and it's lights, and my mom used to desire Broadway, though not nearly as strongly as I did," Rachel explained, Blaine listening intently. "She used to tell me, when she took me to shows, that my star just shone brighter than hers, and that it was an inevitability that I'd wind up on a stage someday."
She quieted at those words, chewing on her lip with a sad look in her eyes, one Blaine couldn't begin to comprehend, one that spoke deeper than a slight mourning of a childhood lost. "You okay?"
"It's just," she started, stilling for a moment and staring off into the distance, only brought back to him when he said her name once more. "That's what Jesse said to me, the first time we met. He was so sure of himself, that we were going to wind up together. I didn't want anything to do with him," she laughed, quietly, but Blaine focused only on the twinge of sadness behind her words. "But he was determined, and charming and I eventually gave in. And for the longest time, I thought maybe he saw something I just didn't, that we were an inevitability."
"And now?" Blaine asked, trying not to hold his breath as her eyes focused on the sidewalk beneath their feet as Rachel moved them forward again, shrugging her shoulders after a quiet minute.
"I really have no idea," she answered, and he had no idea what to say in response to that. The fact that she was so hesitant about going forward with any kind of engagement worked in his favor, of course, but she was still attached to Jesse and didn't seem to want to let go of him for reasons he wasn't really sure of.
"Hey," he said, startling her slightly as they rounded by the old dairy farm, an idea crossing his mind as he grinned at her, "today is supposed to take your mind off of all that, right?"
"Right," she agreed hesitantly, not quite seeming to follow where he was going even as he led them down one of the paths towards the baseball fields-surely abandoned in the cold, but that wasn't where he wanted to go anyways.
"Then let's do something you haven't done since you were a kid," he said, grinning and she gave him a weird look that turned into a small laugh when she realized where they were heading, shaking her head.
"It's closed, Blaine," she reminded him as they rounded on the carousel. "It's only open during the spring."
"And you," he replied, "seem to forget who I am." She shot him a look that spoke louder than words, that it was hard to forget who he was when his name was still so much more prominent in things than her own was, but he told her to stay put while he darted off to find someone who knew how to operate the carousel.
It took a fair bit of haggling and arguing once he found someone in charge, but in the end all it took was a few too many mentions of who he was and what kind of power he could have over their tourist attractions, but he finally succeeded. When he returned to Rachel with an employee, she almost seemed shocked, racing over to him with a quick "They're going to turn it on for us?"
"I told you I could do it," he smiled, hugging her momentarily before letting her go. She smiled widely at him before racing back through the gates, a loud 'thank you!' thrown at the employee as she settled onto one of the horses, Blaine settling for one a few behind her. It was something she had mentioned doing when she was younger in passing one day when she found an old clip of Cooper and he on the ride from when they first moved to the city, mocking him endlessly for being in his mid-twenties and still doing childish activities. He could have brought it up now, teased her back just as well, but she was smiling and happy and she kept looking back at him as if he had done something right, something she hadn't expected.
He supposed, in a way, he had. They hadn't spent too much of their time together alone, out in the world, because it was easier not to. Easier to bottle up feelings and emotions Blaine couldn't bother denying anymore, easier to deal with the fact that she was anothers', easier to accept that at the end of the day, she still only saw him as her friend and nothing more. And in his silent promise to back away from her, he hadn't gone above and beyond like he could have so many times, showing up Jesse until she was suitably shown just how little he was actually doing for her. And it wasn't just the privileges Blaine had from his fame, because she was going to come into those on her own with the way the musicals popularity was going, but emotionally, because Jesse still acted like a high schooler and Blaine was willing to put aside jealousy and his own wants and desires for the simple act of her happiness.
"Thank you," she whispered when they finally had their fill, Blaine generously tipping the employee subtlety so Rachel wouldn't notice as she rebuttoned her coat, eyes gleaming with the pure and innocent happiness of doing something unexpected and juvenile. "Where too next?" she asked, linking arms with him once he caught up to her, but he merely grinned and held his fingers up to his lips, as if he was zipping them shut, and she laughed loudly at the action but allowed him to lead her, Blaine determined to continue his streak of genius as they headed towards their next destination.
They spent the rest of their afternoon exploring the costume exhibit at the Met, something she'd expressed an interest in to Tina one day when they were all eating lunch together, wandering through the thickets of children on field trips and tourists once more, Blaine's only real request that they check out the music wing before they left. She was practically glued to his side as they moved through the elegant building, an absurd amount of energy bubbling out of her as she talked about anything and everything-except, of course, Jesse, but he wasn't going to bring him up again.
She kept it up all throughout the late dinner they shared in a tiny bistro he knew of a few blocks off of Museum Mile, the atmosphere quiet and laid back and her face flushing from the red wine she drank with her pasta, the entire time her focus never straying too far from him. He'd had more than enough attention in his life, so much that he didn't even want, but he craved any he could get from her. Maybe it was because she seemed too wrapped up in her own life when they were working and on stage, or maybe it was because she made him laugh longer and harder than he had in a long time when she regaled him with tales of her college days, the promiscuous side of her that did a lot more than just kiss anyone she was near when intoxicated; had never felt more relaxed as he shared his own horror stories, from past girlfriends whose names he wouldn't really care to recall or growing up with Cooper as his older brother.
"One last place," he promised, setting her into a taxi and telling the driver where to go before joining her inside, Rachel watching silently as the city passed them by. He wondered how often she did this, sat in the back of some car or another and just felt her city-because it was hers, she shone brighter than half the billboards did-watched it pass by and he almost asked her before they arrived a block away from the stairs to Broadway, a place he'd avoided like the plague since he visited the city in his teens for a show choir competition.
"Where are we going?" she asked quietly as he linked their hands once more to each other, pulling her through the busiest crowds they'd seen all day. Even in the dropping temperatures, it seemed that everyone wanted to see the bright lights of the world's most famous square, but she followed dutifully as he led the way to the stairs, not even hesitating to ask people to move out of the way as they climbed to the top.
The poster bearing their names was to their right as they looked over the area, and the people who recognized them didn't bother hiding their stares, but no one came up to them and for that he was grateful. She didn't say anything as she sat down on the red, glowing step, tucking her legs underneath her and pulling on his hand until he joined her, the cold leaving a slight pink tint to her cheeks that seemed permanently stuck there.
"Thank you," she said, and he just shrugged, the snow starting to fall delicately around them as a group of college students started singing to some pop song he heard far too often on the radio.
"You needed a day," he said by way of explanation. "I feel honored to have taken a part in it."
"No," she said, shaking her head as if he didn't get it. "Thank you for everything, Blaine," she said again, chewing on her lip anxiously for a moment before continuing. "This was probably the best birthday I've ever had."
"It's your birthday?" he asked in shock, trying to figure out just how he had missed out on that. She hid her head for a moment, almost looking ashamed, and he had to admit he was a little hurt that he hadn't known, "why didn't you tell me?"
"I wanted to spend time with you without you feeling pressured to do something crazy or important," she explained. "Granted, you did both anyways, but I appreciate it."
"Had I known it was your-"
"What would you have done different?" she asked quietly, raising an eyebrow and he supposed she had a point, there wasn't anything he could think of that might have made it a better day for her, but he knocked shoulders with her anyways.
"I might have demanded they sing to you in the restaurant," he teased, Rachel giggling as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"It was the perfect day," she hummed quietly, her arm slipping around his and holding her close to him.
He knew they'd have to part eventually, go their separate ways and that she still had her decision to make, but he hoped that maybe by giving her the perfect birthday, without even meaning to, she might not say 'yes'. That while her boyfriend was off jet setting across the country, she'd recognize that Blaine had been there to pick up the slightly broken pieces and make them whole again, that he'd be willing to do so time and time again, if only she let him.
It was only a matter of her figuring that out.
a/n: i know i've been lame with only updating like, once a week but i have a lot of other fics mid-progress (large projects, really, and a new collab over on the kashfaberry account) and work and etc etc so basically sorry for being lame but i love you all and your reviews over the past week have made me extraordinarily happy so ty
