Part 1/?

The phone rang and Blaine answered after a quick glance at the screen. Before he heard the voice from the other end of the line, sounds of a busy coffee shop reached his ear. Blaine clamped the phone between ear and shoulder and listened.

"Hey, baby brother. Do you trust me?"

Blaine snorted very unattractively. "Not even remotely."

"But you do believe that I have only your best interests at heart?"

"Hmmm," Blaine pretended to think, tilting his head in contemplation even though his brother couldn't see him. "Again, I'll have to go with 'no, not at all'."

"I am your brother, you know," Cooper reminded him in a mock-pissed tone.

"That I am aware of," Blaine admitted grandly and to appease his disgruntled brother added after a prolonged silence from the other end of the line, "You're my favoritest, bestest brother in the whole wide world."

Now it was Coop's turn to snort. "Also your only one."

"Which should make you very, very grateful," Blaine continued to tease him. "You know. for not having to compete and all."

"I don't think I like you very much. I'm not sure why I'm still talking to you."

Blaine grinned into the phone. "You called me."

"Right," Cooper exclaimed as if only now remembering the reason for his call. "I heard a rumor on the set today."

Cooper worked in advertising. When he was younger, he'd dreamed of a career in front of the camera. Unfortunately, aside from a few TV ads nothing much came out of it. Until he discovered that he was better behind the camera. For a few years now he'd been working as a director, shooting TV spots and slowly making a name for himself which he never quite managed to achieve as an actor.

"Got into smalltalk with the new Colgate smile guy during lunch break and he told me he's applying for the new show over on ABC. Apparently they're planning a new season of The Bachelor, but with a new spin on it. Rumor has it they're doing a celebrity edition."

Blaine nodded absentmindedly while skim-reading a paper on the greatness of Lady Gaga. Another one. He had half a mind of telling the students in his next 'Women in Contemporary Pop Music' course that Lady Gaga was a banned topic from now on.

"Are you listening to me?" Cooper half-yelled into the phone which made Blaine jump.

He remembered that Cooper couldn't actually see him nod and answered, "Yes, I am. Why are you telling me all this?"

"Duh! You should totally apply."

"For what?"

"The Bachelor - Celebrity Edition. Are you being dense on purpose?"

Blaine decided to ignore the last part and stated, "I'm not a celebrity." Though the number of fan mail he got from his students - male and female alike - could suggest otherwise.

Cooper groaned. "Not for that part. I'm sure that's covered already. No. You should totally apply as a candidate."

There were so many things wrong with that sentence, Blaine didn't know where to start. On an exhale he murmured into the phone, "I so hoped you might have learned the difference by now. What with working in the showbiz and all." Louder, he spoke, "I may be gay, but I am not a woman."

"Neither is Colgate smile. But he is gay. You did hear me mention that he's a guy, right? If he's applying then I'm going to assume it's a gay bachelor. And a celebrity. Hey, maybe it's that guy you like. What's his name? Anderson Cooper?"

Blaine rolled his eyes and suppressed a groan. "He's like 20 years older than me. Also? Not a bachelor."

"Well, what about that other one. Ehm... Alexander McQueen?"

"Dead," Blaine replied dryly.

"Neil Patrick Harris."

"Not a bachelor. And even if he was, I seriously doubt he'd be looking for his life mate on national television."

"Well, then, who would you like it to be?"

"Why? Do you have connections to make it happen?"

"No."

"Then nobody."

"Why not?" Cooper almost whined.

"Why would I consider becoming the laughing stock of millions of people?"

"Why do you automatically assume you would?"

"What, you mean there's another alternative to the outcome?"

"Maybe you'll find someone who's right for you."

Blaine laughed wholeheartedly. When he noticed that his brother wasn't joining in, he stopped. "Oh my god, you like actually mean it. " After a prolonged silence, all he could say was still just a, "Wow."

Cooper simply shrugged which Blaine of course couldn't see. But he didn't have to. Suddenly, Blaine understood something very essential about his brother and their relationship. All these times when Cooper had asked if there was someone special, someone Blaine was seeing, Blaine had simply assumed that he was looking for reasons to poke fun of him. Good-natured, of course, but still. He'd just never... not in a million years would have considered the notion that his brother actually wanted to see him happy. In a relationship happy. The realization was followed by a surge of affection for his brother and he suddenly wished he was there with him so he could give him a hug.

His words were much gentler when he said, "I appreciate the thought, Coop. I really do. You're a good brother. I just... I don't think I'm gonna find him in front of a camera. That's all."

"This is the modern age, Baby-Blainers." Blaine cringed at the nickname from childhood. "People meet under the weirdest circumstances. All I'm saying is - if the 'normal' way hasn't worked out for you yet, why not try something unusual?"

Blaine whimpered because he felt his resolve melt. As usual, Cooper could sense it from even miles apart.

"Yes! I promise you, you won't regret it, baby brother."

"A - you can't know that. And B - I already do."

Cooper ignored both statements and just whooped into the phone. Blaine held it away from his ear. He needed his hearing if he was going to grade his applied music students' final performances.