AN: A quick warning to readers. This story contains violence, homophobia and some language. Please be warned before you begin reading this story.

Prologue

Cooper Anderson was 19 when he lost his parents. Blaine was only 10. Their parents had gone out to a New Years party. Cooper hadn't even been worried when they didn't return before he went to bed. When he woke up the next morning, he found a police officer at the door.

"Your parents were involved in a car crash this morning. They didn't make it. I'm very sorry."

And just like that, they were gone, leaving Cooper with the weight of the world on his shoulders. People came to take Blaine away from him, take his baby brother and throw him into some random home with some random strangers. Cooper fought them on it. As a legal adult, he managed to get custody of Blaine, knowing is sensitive little brother would be destroyed in the Foster system.

It was hard to care for himself and his brother at first. Cooper had no idea what he was doing, and a lot of pressure was placed on both Anderson boys. Overtime, both got older, and things got easier.

When Blaine was 14, he started acting strange. Concerned, Cooper confronted him one evening. That was the day Blaine first came out to Cooper.

"I'm gay Coop...I'm sorry..."

Cooper assured him he had nothing to be sorry for. He didn't care who Blaine was attracted to. He'd never forget the flood of relief that washed over his brother's features when he told him that.

Honestly, Cooper hadn't seen any problem at all with Blaine's sexuality at all. It seemed a minor, relatively unimportant detail. He didn't realize that it much bigger than that for some people.

That year, Blaine had gone to a dance with a boy from his school. Cooper thought nothing of it. It was just a dance, and Blaine had explained that he and the boy were "just friends".

That night Cooper got a call from the police. Blaine was in the hospital. He'd been found beaten outside the school.

Blaine had managed to pull through with just a few cracked ribs and a mild concussion, but the mental effects of that night persisted far longer.

Copper could remember back to many a night rushing into his little brother's room to wake him from some a nightmare that would have him screaming in his sleep.

Blaine became skittish and began losing an unhealthy amount of weight. While the doctors had said Blaine should be well enough to return to school within a week, the idea of having to face another day there would leave him physically sick. Cooper couldn't bring himself to force Blaine to go.

Cooper had always felt guilty about it. It hadn't occurred to him that there were people out there who wanted to hurt Blaine. But there were, and it was far from a few high school jocks who were hateful enough to harm an innocent teenage boy. He should have known, should have realized, should have stopped Blaine from ever going to that dance. But he hadn't, and while he could wake Blaine from whatever horrors went on in his dreams, hold him close and tell him it would be alright, but he could do nothing to save his brother from the nightmare that was waiting for him in the real world.

After about a month, Cooper finally found Blaine another school to go to, and things seemed to take a turn for a better. It didn't happen overnight of course, but slowly Blaine began to heal, return to his former self. He made friends, started pursuing an interest in music, got good grades. And by Blaine's 15th birthday, for the first time in a long time, Cooper felt like everything would be alright.