A/N: These two. are really hard. to write.

Disclaimer: I neither own Glee, nor Dalton.

Part One

When they break up, it's messy.

The last couple months of their relationship were composed of nothing but snide remarks, arguments that went on for days, and pieces of furniture that were thrown across the room.

By the end of it all, both parties can't stand even the thought of being in the same city together, much less the same apartment. So Logan quickly packs up his things and hops on the next flight to New York, without as much as a goodbye. Julian, on the other hand, decides to stay in Los Angeles to continue shooting for his new movie.

"I'm really sorry, J," Clark says over the phone, one afternoon. He just finished wrapping up a movie of his own, and was vacationing in Hawaii. "You know I could always fly back there and see you."

"Don't you dare," Julian replies threateningly. He's lying lazily on his couch, dressed in khaki shorts and an old t-shirt, and he stifles a yawn before he continues. "You've wanted to go to Hawaii for ages. You deserve some time off."

"But you shouldn't be alone," the pop star continues, his voice drowning in concern.

Julian almost rolls his eyes. "Why the hell not? I'm twenty two, Clark. I can take care of myself."

"You know that's not what I mean," Clark replies firmly. Fact is, the pop star's one of the few people that Julian confided in about his history with Logan. And that unfortunately includes those three miserable years Julian spent pining after him, before the blonde finally opened his eyes and stopped being such an ignorant little prick.

But Julian's in no mood to bring that up now—or ever again—so he shrugs it off. "Whatever, man."

"You can't possibly enjoy having an apartment to yourself after you've been with someone for almost five years," Clark insists.

And the truth is, he doesn't. Julian thinks that his new apartment is too big, too empty, the walls are too bare, and if he has to spend one more night there alone, he's pretty sure that he's going to pull all his hair out.

But he's not going to tell Clark that. "It's quite refreshing, actually."

"Julian!" Clark cries desperately.

"You have to stop worrying, Clark," the brunette says, exasperated. "Go have a piña colada or something. I'll talk to you soon."

"Wait—!"

Julian ends the call, then thoughtlessly tosses his phone behind him.

&.&.&

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"I hate you."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me."

"Not really. Not with all that noise."

"Fine then," the brunette says irritably. "I—," bang "hate—," bang "you."

"Do you have a valid reason or—?"

"I can't believe you asked him to come here!" Julian hisses, as he rubs his temples.

"I didn't ask him to do anything," Clark replies defensively. "I simply told him that you have an extra room, and that your apartment is big enough to accommodate the both of you."

"Why'd you tell him that?" Julian says loudly, trying to outmatch the incessant pounding on his front door.

"He needs a place to stay."

"He could've gotten his own place," the actor replies defiantly. "Or you know, asked me about it first! I had no idea he was coming today!"

"So he's there already?" Clark asks. "What did you do when he showed up?"

"I slammed the door in his face!" Julian yells at his phone.

"You did what?"

"What did you want me to do? Throw a party?" Julian replies sarcastically.

"Well, where is he now?"

"He's still outside," the brunette shrugs. "Destroying my door."

"Is that what all the noise is?" Clark asks disbelievingly. "How long has he been out there?"

"Half an hour or so."

"But it's the middle of the night!" the pop star explodes. "You are letting him in, Julian! And I mean now!"

"All right," Julian almost whines. He ends the call, pockets his phone, then stands up and crosses his apartment. "You can come in now," he says, as he opens the door. "You are at least still toilet trained, aren't you?"

Derek throws one of his bags towards Julian in response.

It hits him so hard on the chest that he's pretty sure it's going to leave a bruise.

&.&.&

At breakfast the following morning, Derek informs his new roommate that he got accepted into UCLA Law.

He's visibly excited, and he rambles on about how great this opportunity is, and how he's just another step closer to taking over the world.

Julian doesn't listen intently, but he's impressed.

"Honestly didn't think you'd go through with it," the actor shrugs. "That's like, how many more years of school, D."

"That's what Lo said," Derek snorts.

Julian stiffens. "You've talked to him?"

"Mhhm," Derek replies, picking at his food. "He's easier to reach than you are."

"Oh."

"He's doing well," Derek continues casually. "He's been spending a lot of his time at the studio. He started recording his songs yesterday and—."

"Derek," Julian interrupts, setting his fork down. "I know how this is going to sound, but you can't… We can't talk about him. Not for a while."

"I take it you haven't talked to him since, well," Derek says, as he looks expectantly at the brunette.

Julian shakes his head. "No, I haven't."

A pause.

"Okay then," Derek shrugs.

Julian lets out a breath, and then looks at his friend appreciatively.

Derek smirks at him, and briefly continues eating his eggs before he looks back up at Julian in alarm.

"But I can totally bring girls over, right?"

&.&.&

"So, how are you and Derek?"

"Horrible," the actor replies, as he lazily holds onto his phone.

"You've got to be kidding me," Clark groans.

He isn't.

It's not that Julian doesn't like Derek anymore, or that he finds him annoying. (It's quite the opposite, actually.) It's just that avoiding any mention of Logan proved to be more difficult than he originally anticipated.

"And?" the pop star says impatiently.

"Things tend to get awkward," Julian clarifies. And it's horrible because Derek's one his best friends. They used to be able to talk about everything. "We don't have a lot of free time, anyway," he continues. "He's just started going to school, and I've got this movie. And I'm still trying to get over this break-up, remember?" he adds as an afterthought.

"Derek's dealt with this kind of drama before," Clark reminds him. "He could help you. If you let him."

"He can't do that either," Julian replies stubbornly.

"Why not?"

"Because I can smell Logan on him," the brunette mumbles.

"You can what?" Clark laughs.

"Derek still talks to him!" Julian tries to explain. "I can't ask him to help me with this! It's like asking him to pick a side."

"You're insane."

&.&.&

When Julian sees his roommate all dressed up and fixing his hair one morning, he immediately assumes that Derek has a date.

However, when he opens the front door twenty minutes later and sees a doe eyed little girl impatiently tapping her foot, he wordlessly closes the door and marches into Derek's room.

"Dude, what is wrong with you?" Julian asks, disgust written all over his face. "I can't believe you're going out with a kid!"

"She isn't my date, you ass!" Derek replies, outraged. He strides out of his room and heads towards the door, with Julian quickly following after him. "She's my sister," Derek says, as he opens the door to let the girl in.

"Why'd you slam the door in my face?" Amanda asks crossly, as she enters the room then turns to face the actor.

"I'm sorry, kiddo," the brunette laughs. "I didn't realize how grown up you were. How old are you now? Twelve?"

"And a half," she replies pointedly.

Julian snorts.

Amanda scowls fiercely at him and places her hands on her hips.

"We better get going, Amanda," Derek says quickly, before his sister can throw a fit. "You know how dad gets when we're late."

"Fine," the young brunette sighs in defeat, as she turns to go. She and her brother are almost out the door when she calls, "Come on, Julian!"

"What?"

"Mom said you should come," Amanda says simply, in response to the questioning looks from both her brother and his roommate. "What? She likes you. Now let's go!"

He reluctantly agrees, and is relatively silent during their cab ride—much to Amanda's displeasure.

"Leave him alone, Amanda," Derek says firmly, his eyes glued to his cellphone.

Amanda stops poking the actor's side, then frowns at her brother. "When did he get so boring?"

When the trio arrives at the restaurant, they're all greeted warmly by Derek's parents. Julian's mood lifts slightly, and he doesn't even shy away when Derek's mother kisses him on the cheeks.

His friend's folks are very kind, normal people, and Julian (and even Logan actually, but the brunette tries to forget that bit) always loved being around them. They gave him a taste of what a normal family—one without scandals, or messy divorces—was actually like. So when Derek's father casually brings up Logan's name in a conversation and asks how he is, the brunette tries his best to be as respectful as possible.

"We don't really talk about him," both he and Derek answer together.

Mr. Seigerson's eyes quickly dart towards his son, then at his roommate, before he says, "Well, isn't that interesting?"

Julian looks down at his soup in embarrassment, and completely misses the knowing smirk that Amanda has on her face.

&.&.&

When Julian walks in on Derek studying at one in the morning, his books and papers scattered all around the dinner table, he almost laughs.

"Seriously, D, you've got to stop being so predictable," the actor lightly teases.

"You're one to talk," Derek smirks, then points to the script that Julian has in his hands.

"This isn't just some test that I'm already totally prepared for," Julian says pointedly, as he slams his script onto the table and pulls up a chair. "This is important."

"Ah, you know what they say about old habits," Derek shrugs. "All right, enough about this. I haven't talked to you in ages."

"We live together, D, in case you haven't noticed," Julian remarks casually. "But come on then, tell me about this school of yours." Derek beams up at him in response, and it is only then that the brunette realizes just how long it's been since his friend has done that.

Ten minutes later, Julian finds himself laughing at some lame story about Derek's history professor, almost relishing in the fact that the two of them are properly talking again, when—.

"I swear, it was the most pathetic thing," Derek continues, with a dramatic wave of his free hand. "I told Lo about it afterwards and he said—."

Julian abruptly stops laughing at the sound of the name.

Instead, he stands, grabs his script then quickly says, "I ought to give you some space. You do have that test to study for."

The actor already has his hand on his doorknob when he hears Derek call out to him. "Jules."

"What is it?" Julian asks, not turning around.

"How much longer are we going to do this?"

"Forever," the brunette replies stubbornly. "If you don't like it, you can leave."

That was an empty threat, and Derek knew that as much as Julian did. "Come on, Jules," he says desperately. "It wasn't all bad."

"I can't remember a time when it wasn't," Julian answers, before he steps inside his room.

&.&.&

Before he leaves for work the next morning, Julian finds a picture frame on the dining table, next to his plate of pancakes and eggs.

"That was taken a little over a year after you two got together," Derek says, not looking up from his food. "Do you remember?"

"Of course I remember," the brunette mutters, as he gingerly picks it up. "It was just after graduation, and we were spending the summer at your place at the Hamptons."

"I seem to remember excessive amounts of PDA," Derek says, as he rolls his eyes. "You two were absolutely awful to be around."

Julian briefly eyes the other boy, then he brings his attention back to the frame and almost smiles. In it was a picture of the three of them, all grinning widely at the camera. Logan was at the center, with one hand on Derek's shoulder, and the other around Julian's waist.

"See, Jules?" Derek continues firmly. "It wasn't all bad."

"No," Julian chuckles (actually chuckles!), as he places the frame back onto the table. "I guess it wasn't."