Big Brothers

"Hey man, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Cooper turned around in surprise. He looked up at Finn's shy face—good God, I'm nearly three years older than this kid, why am I looking up at him?—in confusion. He'd just left the Hudson-Hummels' dinner table after a wonderful evening with his little brother's boyfriend's family. The whole group was migrating into the living room to watch the Ohio State-Michigan game on the television—well, Kurt would probably be discussing something musical-related with Rachel in the back of the room, but the rest of them would be watching the game—but Finn had held him back. Cooper nodded slowly. The two returned into the dining room.

Finn shifted nervously on his feet. "Okay, um, well..."

Cooper noticed how uncomfortable the senior seemed, so he smiled gently. "Why don't we sit down?"

Finn nodded, grateful for the older boy's taking control of the situation. The two sat, and Finn clasped his hands on top of the table. "Okay, the thing is, I've been watching you all night." He realized half a beat too late how utterly creepy that sounded. "Whoa, no! No, not like—I mean—I've been watching you with Blaine. How the two of you...I don't know, interact with each other. And...how do you do it?"

Wrinkling his brow, Cooper leaned back in his seat. "Do what?"

Now Finn looked really awkward. "How do you...how is it so easy for you?"

"Finn, are you asking me how I'm so comfortable with my little brother being gay?" Finn gave a sort of half-shrug in reply, and Cooper sighed. "Listen, Finn, Blaine filled me in on the history between you and Kurt, and he also told me how you were treating him at the beginning of the school year. If I find that you've got some residual homophobia going on and you're taking it out on my brother—"

"No!" Finn exclaimed, gesturing wildly. "No, no, it's not that. I love Kurt, and I love Blaine, and I love that they love each other. It's not that I have a problem with either of them being gay...per se..."

Frowning, Cooper snapped, "Then what are you trying to say, Finn?"

Finn let his head fall forward into his hands. "It's just, how do you not worry about him? How do you not freak out every time Blaine goes out on a date? How do you not want to lock him away and keep him safe forever? How do you just...make it seem so easy? So simple?"

Cooper's frown turned into a soft smile. He knew exactly what Finn was driving at. He leaned forward and placed a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, causing him to look up from his hands. "Listen, Finn, do you think I don't worry? That I don't care? Man, Finn, every time Blaine walks out of the house, I worry that the next time I see him, he'll be in a hospital bed. I know it's irrational, but that's just the way it is, because that was my reality once. I drove through western Ohio at one in the morning to find my baby brother hovering on the edge of a coma. I don't worry, Finn. I panic.

"But that can't stop life from moving on. My baby brother isn't a baby anymore. He's seventeen years old. He has a soul mate—we can't call them anything less than soul mates, it's disgustingly true—that he's already planning on marrying someday—but don't ever tell him or Kurt I told you that. He's going to be moving to New York soon, where he'll be constantly out of my sight. I can't lock him away and keep him safe forever because that's not fair to him.

"What I think your problem is, Finn," Cooper continued with smile, leaning back against the chair once more, "is that some of your ignorance is coming through. I don't mean that in a bad way!" he defended when Finn opened his mouth hotly. "I know you're not the same kid you were two years ago. But you are ignorant, Finn. So am I. So are your parents. As straight people, we can never know fully—or even partially—what it's like to be gay. I think that you think being gay is equivalent to being handicapped in some way—relax," he stressed as Finn bristled. "I'm not insulting you. But you're treating their homosexuality as though it makes them weak or inferior or female—which is just as offensive, by the way. They're gay, Finn, but that doesn't mean they can't take care of themselves. They're big boys—well, Blaine, not so much, but we hope that one day he'll be able to sit at the table without a phone book." The two boys gave a shout of laughter. "But seriously, they're still men. They don't need bodyguards all time. Sure, they're going to catch some flack because of who they are, but that's only going to make them stronger. By denying them these opportunities to grow and figure out who and what they are, you're hurting them. It seems to me that you've got a mama-bear complex going on. It's time to let the babies leave the nest, Finn."

Finn's face scrunched up in confusion. "Mama-bear...leave the nest?"

Cooper bit back a sigh. "Let the metaphor go, Finn. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Finn nodded slowly. "Yeah...yeah, I do. I can't...I can't control people, and I can't control them. I've got to let them...live their lives, and be them, right?"

"Right." Cooper leaned in again, a mischievous smile on his face. "Then again, if anyone hurts our baby brothers, you and I'll kick their asses together, right?"

Finn smirked in response. "Don't have to ask me twice."

The two stood and clasped hands, a move that flowed smoothly into a one-armed hug. Then they exited the dining room and joined the rest of the dinner party for the football game—well, except for Kurt and Rachel, who huddled behind the couch, watching a bootlegged version of Wicked with one earbud a piece.

Short little one-shot that just popped into my head while I was not doing homework. I feel like Cooper would be a good role model for Finn. I also feel like Cooper would be the perfect big brother. I also feel like I'm already in love with this fictional character who technically doesn't exist yet, but semantics.

Again, I hope I haven't majorly offended anyone with this, and that you don't find this to be wildly inaccurate or something. As I said in the one-shot, I'm straight, so I am ignorant into the intricacies of what it means to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

I LOVE YOU GUISE AND YOU ROCK AND BYE.

TUMBLR IS klainebowsandquirrelmort.