For Him

Chapter 17- Stress

Work was stressful, that's all. It's nothing that you did, Blaine. He said so himself. Work was just really stressful. Blaine reminded himself that, and Blaine believed it. Because that's what he wanted to think. That's what he wanted to be true.

The week was really hard on the both of them, but he figured that Phil had it worse. A lot of people were getting sick, with all of the pollen in the air, and he had to fill in for all of the bartenders that called out. That meant working mornings, though it was usually empty besides the old drunk that paid in quarters, and the night shift. This meant that he was there from 10 pm to 10 am the following morning, only giving Phil a certain amount of time home, and an allotted period of time to sleep (even if it was in broad daylight).

It started on Monday and ended on Friday. Thank god it ended on Friday. It was Tuesday when the yelling started.

"Blaine! Have you seen my black V-neck shirt?" Phil called as he practically tore apart the entire house searching. He went to the bottoms of both laundry bins, checked the clothes inside of the dryer, and looked through their closets 3 times with no use.

"Huh?" Blaine sat on the couch, half listening, while he flipped through Netflix to find something to watch.

"I said," Phil stomped to the living room, standing between Blaine and the TV, "have you seen the shirt that I asked you to wash yesterday?"

"The V-neck?"

"Yeah, Blaine, the V-neck." You could tell that Phil was getting more aggravated by the second, more impatient, more irrational.

"You see, I was going to put it up..."

"You were going to?"

"Yeah, but I got a little distracted..."

"Are you serious right now, Blaine? God, I asked you to do one fucking thing! You can't even get that information past your thick skull?!"

Blaine looked down at his fingers in his lap, "I'm sorry, I just-"

He felt like a child, a child who was about to be punished by their parent, a child who couldn't stand up for themselves. But the child always knows that they deserve the consequence. That's what they're supposed to believe. That's what they're taught.

"You just, what? Give me an excuse, Blaine, because doesn't it look like I really want to hear it right now, huh?"

"...sorry. It won't happen again."

Phil seemed somewhat satisfied with that answer, and left the house wearing a gray T-shirt instead. He didn't say "love you" when he left the house light he usually did, and Blaine didn't say it either.

When Phil came back the next morning, neither of them mentioned what happened. Blaine didn't want to, whereas Phil didn't remember, but either way, it never came up in conversation.

Thursday, Blaine wanted to go out for a drink with some people from work. They weren't the coolest people around, but they were also song writers, and it was nice to have someone out there like you. And anyways, they were harmless.

"Phil, is it alright if I go out tonight? To the bar?" Blaine peeped his head inside of their bedroom, where Phil was laying on his back and going on his phone. Since when did I have to ask permission, Blaine thought, but quickly pushed it to the back of his head.

"With who?"

"The guys from work. Todd, Matt, Andy..."

"Ugh," Phil groaned, sitting up. "They're all losers. Wouldn't you rather stay home with me?"

"I mean...I just thought I could meet up with them for a little bit and-"

"You're making me seem like the bad guy. I hate when you do this!"

"The bad guy?" Blaine argued, finally finding some sort of backbone in all of this. "I just asked you a question. A yes or no would do."

"No, Blaine. I gave you your answer, happy?"

No. "Fine."

Blaine left the room and instead of going out with work friends, he sat on the couch alone, watching Cupcake Wars. Phil came out of their room a couple hours later, ready to go out and work his 12 hour shift.

"Work's been hard this week, Blaine. You know that." And then he was gone. He didn't come back until the next morning, once again.

No, 'I'm sorry, Blaine. I've been a jerk' or 'I'll make it up to you later, I promise.' Blaine ignored it, because what else was he supposed to do?

And then when Phil stumbled back through the house again, he totally forgot what had happened the night before. But only because he was wasted out of his mind.

Phil passed out on the bed before Blaine even left the house for work. He noticed that Phil was home, sure. He noticed that he drank a lot, and there was a possibility that he could choke on his vomit if he laid on his back. He read about that when he lived with Kurt, remember?

Blaine didn't make sure Phil was on his side. He simply left for work, and blamed his forgetfulness on a coincidence.

Work was stressful, that's all. It's nothing that you did, Blaine. He said so himself. Work was just really stressful.

Guys, the next chapter for this is going to be EPIC (I think?). I'm really excited to finally get this new storyline in action because I've been building it up for a while now. You'll just have to read next week to find out!

Don't forget to vote and comment! Thanks!