Now and Then I Think of all the Times You Screwed Me Over
Spoilers for 3x15
Setting: This is set during the flashback Blaine has during his "Somebody That I Used to Know" performance with Cooper where Cooper is shown taking a toy away from Blaine.
Characters: The Andersons; Cooper, Blaine, the parents
Rating: PG?
Word count: 2, 148
ONESHOT
Blaine is sitting on the floor of the living room surrounded by his dolls and accessories while Cooper watches tv and their mother makes dinner in the kitchen. It's a typical day in the Anderson home and Blaine's ecstatic because Cooper has finally let him play with his old GI Joe. He's dressed up his Ken doll in a baby blue prom tuxedo and is almost done dressing up the GI Joe in the spare tuxedo when he hears Cooper ask what he's doing.
"Playing," five year old Blaine answers simply, sliding the black pants over the action figure's plastic legs.
"Playing what?" Cooper asks in annoyance at Blaine's vague response, standing up to get a closer look.
"Playing wedding!" he answers happily, excited that his brother seems to be interested in what he's playing and hopes maybe this time Cooper will join him like he used to.
"Oh," Cooper says, furrowing his brows as he looks around at the accessories and few extra dolls and toys lying around Blaine on the floor.
Blaine looks up to see Cooper's contemplative face and takes it as a sign that his brother is clearly upset and doesn't want to miss out on the fun. "Wanna play?" he asks optimistically, holding out an extra action figure that his dad had bought him, though he doesn't really like to play with seeing as his guns are permanently attached to his hands.
Cooper doesn't take the doll so Blaine frowns and places it on the floor again, thinking Cooper mustn't like that doll either and smiles at the small thing they must have in common. Blaine then picks up Barbie, who's wearing a shiny pink prom dress, but today it's her bridesmaids dress. "Here you can be Barbie," Blaine offers his older brother instead. "She helped Ken pick out his outfit because they're best friends so she's his bridesmaid," Blaine began filling Cooper in on the story. "They chose a blue suit for him because it matches his eyes. Blue eyes are so beautiful," Blaine says, his own hazel eyes going wide and trailing off in thought. "Hey, like yours Coop!" Blaine realizes, not having thought of Cooper instantly but rather the boy he plays with in kindergarten.
Cooper sighs and says, "Blaine, I thought Dad already told you to get rid of that Barbie?"
At this Blaine's head drops low in shame and Cooper knows what's coming next. Right on cue Blaine's eyes are half the size of his face and his lower lip is pouting and he's mumbling that their mother let him keep it in case their cousin Anna ever comes over and wants to play. "Besides, she came with Ken, Coop! You can't split up best friends, right?" the five year old pipes up again.
"So if Barbie's the bridesmaid then who's getting married?" Cooper asks hesitantly, already dreading the answer.
"Ken and GI Joe, see!" Blaine replies with a huge grin, holding up the two dolls in suits to make his point.
At this Cooper's eyes widen and dart to the entrance of the living room, then to the tv, hoping it was loud enough to drown out Blaine's words. He's seen this all before and he knows what it means but is too afraid to let himself think it for too long. Suddenly he remembers why his father has allowed Blaine to keep the Barbie doll; so that he'd marry her off to his dolls rather than marrying them off to each other.
He remembers how angry his father got the first time Blaine came home from kindergarten and wouldn't stop talking about how he and this other kid, Kurt, played wedding with the dolls all day and how Kurt had told him that his mom said it was okay for two boys to play wedding. Cooper also remembers his father yelling at him to watch Blaine better and not let him get 'those' ideas, because while he was working, Cooper was supposed to be the man of the house, and that meant making Blaine a man too.
He'd never seen that look in his father's eyes before, it was like a mixture of shame and disgust and the fifteen year old couldn't tell if it was directed at him or at Blaine. All he knew was that he didn't want to get punished for not stopping Blaine from doing this again. His father had instructed him that he had to show Blaine how to play with boys' toys – it was the only reason why Cooper was letting Blaine play with his GI Joe at all, really.
Before Blaine knows what's happening, Cooper snatches up his half-dressed action figure and says "No you can't play that."
At first Blaine's brows furrow together and he tilts his head as he asks, "Why not?"
"Because that's not how you play with GI Joe," Cooper snaps instantly. His voice is wavering and he's unsure of whether or not to keep quiet or raise his voice. If his dad hears them, he'll know Blaine was once again showing signs of – well that he wasn't playing right, but if his dad hears him listening to his orders maybe Cooper wouldn't get in trouble?
Cooper looks down at the five year old now standing up. "But you said I could play with him," he pouts, reaching out for the doll innocently.
"No," Cooper replies firmly, but decides to keep his voice low. "That's not how you play with him, he's an action figure," he states matter-of-factly, still trying to keep rational about this without alarming Blaine and causing him to cry. He hates seeing Blaine cry because he knows that if his father catches him playing like this again he'll definitely get yelled at and cry, and his crying as a result would only make their father angrier. Mr. Anderson hates when Blaine cries, because he says it makes him weak and Anderson men are not weak. His father had once again bestowed Cooper with the responsibility of teaching Blaine to be tougher and not be such a crybaby.
"Coop, give it back, please!" Blaine begins to whine, stomping his foot a little. Cooper's eyes dart to the entrance of the living room again. "You said I could play with it!" Blaine says loudly, crossing his arms over his chest in anger, his feet stamping louder and more frequently this time.
"No, shut up!" Cooper yells before panicking at the amount of noise they've created already. "Just play with your stupid Barbie!" he says, pointing to the doll on the floor. "Have Ken marry her, yeah?" he tries as calmly as he can, though his voice is shaky with panic.
"No! I want Ken to marry GI Joe!" Blaine shouts loudly, darting forward to try and take the doll out of Cooper's hand.
Cooper groans and shoves his little brother back, except those lessons in 'being tough' that he's been giving him are actually working and the five year old doesn't go down as easily as he used to. Blaine is still struggling to reach for the doll and is now saying "Give it!" in a high shrilly voice, a surefire sign that he's on the verge of tears.
"No, stop!" Cooper yells, holding the doll over him and away from Blaine's reach, pushing him away even more. "It's not yours!"
"You said I could play with it Coop! It's not fair!"
Blaine is still struggling to reach over Cooper for the action figure and Cooper yells, "Get away from me!" as Blaine begins to tug on his arm.
"Boys, what's going on in here?" their mother calls, coming from the kitchen.
Blaine immediately turns around relieved, tears already spilling down his cheeks and immediately says, "Cooper took away his doll but he already said I could play with it," Blaine whimpers, jutting out his lower lip.
Their mother smiles at Blaine softly before looking up at Cooper who's still holding the action figure, "Cooper?" she says with a stern but soft look.
"Mom he doesn't know how to play with it," Cooper tries to explain in the simplest terms, hoping with all hope that his mom will catch on to what he means.
"Kurt said his mom says it's okay to play wedding with two boys!" Blaine says indignantly between sniffles, looking to his mother with hopeful hazel eyes.
His mother opens her mouth to say something before she is interrupted by the arrival of their father.
"Cooper, Blaine, what's going on here?" he asks, looking at both of them back and forth.
The moment his father has entered the room Blaine stiffens right away, and tries to stop crying but his constant sniffling happens involuntarily. Blaine knows that his father hates when he cries because the last time he fought with Cooper, his older brother had angrily let out that secret. It had crushed Blaine, to hear that his father hates something he does, something the he honestly can't help, because sometimes his tears came out before he even knows it's happening, his mother says he's just emotional, and that it isn't a bad thing, but if it's not a bad thing then why does his father dislike him for it?
"Cooper," Mr. Anderson says again more firmly. "What's going on?"
The teenager is standing there beside his little brother who is still trying, and failing, not to cry and his parents, who're waiting on him, expecting an explanation. He sighs and says, "Blaine was – " and gets cut off by a panicked squeal beside him.
Cooper turns and looks down at his brother who's staring at him with wide, fearful eyes, silently pleading at him not to say anything. Cooper bites his lip because it breaks his heart to see that Blaine already understands. Even at five he already knows that if he tells his father Blaine was playing 'wedding' with the two dolls he'll be in big trouble.
"Coop," it comes out barely audible, that he wonders if maybe he only thinks he heard it because he expects it, but there's so much fear and hope in that single syllable coming from his brother.
"Cooper!" his father raises his voice, causing both boys to jump. "What was Blaine doing?" he asks directly now, no longer beating around the bush.
"Dad," Cooper starts hesitantly; his father already knows what's going on, so why does he have to say it?
Mr. Anderson's eyes are baring straight into Cooper's blue ones and his eyebrow rises in warning, daring Cooper to try and defy him.
He can feel the five year old clinging to his arm tightly but Cooper swallows and says, "Blaine was playing inappropriately with the dol- with the action figures again," Cooper says in one swift breath, breaking away from the eye contact and hanging his head low in shame.
"No!" Blaine cries out right away, both in betrayal and to try and deny Cooper's statement. Fresh tears are falling down his face again and he's furiously wiping at his eyes as he says, "I'm sorry Dad, I promise I won't anymore!" and he's trying to see through the tears clinging to his lashes.
"I've already told you too many times you are not allowed to play like that," Mr. Anderson scolds the younger boy angrily as he snatches up the remaining dolls from the floor, including Barbie. "I swear Blaine I don't know what else to do to make you – stop!" he says frustrated. "You're not allowed to play with any of your friends all week, especially that Kurt kid," he mutters, taking the GI Joe out of Cooper's hands as well. "And stop crying!" he yells, heading to the kitchen to dispose of the toys. Mrs. Anderson remains silent the entire time, shooting both boys an apologetic look which neither of them catch, and follows her husband back to the kitchen to finish dinner.
Cooper is staring at his younger brother who's outright sobbing now, and is abandoning all etiquette and wiping his nose on his sweater vest. "Blaine I'm – " Cooper tries before stopping, unsure what to say.
"I hate you!" Blaine yells at his older brother, pushing past him and running out to his room to cry privately.
Cooper watches him run up the stairs and sighs. Blaine just doesn't understand the kind of pressure he's under from his father, it's like no matter what Blaine does wrong, Cooper gets in trouble for it, for not being a better example or not teaching him right, it's his responsibility to be a role model for Blaine because his father said so. And he can't go against his fathers wishes, he just can't. Someday, when Blaine is older, he'll understand that Cooper just couldn't disappoint his father anymore. What Cooper is unaware of though, is that instead of disappointing his father, he's managed to disappoint his little brother.