Devil's Advocate

The sounds of laughter and friendly chatter filled the living room, creating a remotely pleasant environment in the Anderson home. Upbeat music could be heard playing in the background, not to loud that you would have otherwise had to shout to be heard over.

It had become somewhat of a tradition for Blaine's parent's to hold a party every summer for their friends and family to celebrate the holiday. Blaine had also loved these get-togethers as a kid and would look forward to seeing all of his aunts, uncles, and cousins when they came to visit. That was until a few years ago.

Many of Blaine's relatives were homophobic. He had discovered this fact very quickly after coming out to them. For the first couple years after his big revelation, they had tried to talk him out of his 'dirty habits', but of course nothing they said or did could change the fact that he liked boys.

It had taken some time, but most of his relatives had stopped approaching him with suggestions on how he could 'change his sexuality'. Even so, Blaine could still feel the eyes of several disapproving family members as he held onto his boyfriend's hand right in the middle of their 4th of July party, leaving the dark haired boy a little on edge.

"Did you hear? Your cousin, Ryan, just got engaged to his girlfriend a few weeks ago," Blaine's Aunt Holly announced. "Ellen. Have you met her yet? She's a sweet one."

Blaine did his best to shake off the uneasy feeling that twisted in his gut at the look of distain in his aunt's eyes as she gazed down at his hand that was holding Kurt's. He hoped his boyfriend didn't notice it.

"Yes," Blaine nodded. "I met her a couple months ago. My parent's mentioned the proposal. It sounded romantic."

"Who are Ryan and Ellen?" Kurt asked, turning towards Blaine before giving a quick scan around the room. "Are they here?"

"That's Ryan over there," Aunt Holly said, pointing to a group of young adults gathered near the fireplace. "Come on, I'll introduce you." Wrapping an arm around Kurt's shoulders, Holly successfully detangled Blaine's grip on his boyfriend's hand as the blonde was led over to the group.

With a sigh, Blaine looked after Kurt. A battle was going on inside his head on whether he should follow or not. Studying his boyfriend's posture as he was introduced to more of his family members, Blaine could tell that the boy seemed at ease.

He didn't know how much more of this party he could take. Nobody had spoken out right against him and Kurt yet, but the disapproving looks were quickly starting to shake him up.

With one last reassuring look in Kurt's direction, Blaine decided to head into the kitchen to get himself something to drink and spied his brother sitting at the kitchen table with another girl. Blaine let out a relieved breath.

Cooper had always been supportive of his sexuality from the moment he opened up to him. Surely getting the chance to spend a few minutes with a family member not piercing him with their disapproving stares would help loosen him up again. Pouring himself a glass of ginger ale, he headed over towards the table.

"Hey Coop," Blaine greeted as he drew near. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Not at all." Cooper smiled up at him, and Blaine took a seat in the open chair next to him. "This is my girlfriend, Haley. She's in my acting class back at UCLA. Haley this is my brother, Blaine."

"It's nice to meet you, Haley," Blaine said throwing on a bright smile. He reached out to shake the woman's hand.

"You too," she greeted, returning the gesture wholeheartedly. "Cooper talks about you all the time. He's always telling me about the duets and dance numbers you guys do together."

"Well, that was a long time ago. We don't really preform much together anymore," Blaine replied, glancing at his brother out of the corner of his eye. Under the warm smile of Cooper's girlfriend, Blaine could feel the muscles in his body start to relax and instantly felt more at ease.

Blaine was deep in conversation with his brother and Haley when someone came up behind him.

"Hey, there you are!"

Turning, Blaine smiled as his eyes landed on Kurt.

"Hi. Getting sick of my family yet?" Blaine asked, in a half joking tone as Kurt took a seat in the chair at the head of the table, next to him.

Kurt rested a hand over Blaine's nonchalantly, sending him a grin. "Not at all. I mean, the occasional dirty looks is a little annoying," he said with a shrug, "but it's not like I haven't dealt with worse."

So much for him not noticing . . .

"Cooper!" Blaine's father called in the direction of the table as he walked up, cutting the dark haired boy off before he could say anything to comfort his boyfriend. "I need some extra hands to help get the fireworks going."

"Sure," Cooper answered, moving to stand up.

"Do you mind if I help?" Kurt volunteered, looking behind him at the man that really did look like an older version of Blaine. "I've helped my uncle with our family firework shows a couple times in the past."

With a nod of approval from Mr. Anderson, both Cooper and Kurt disappeared out the back door to start getting things ready.

"Oh my god," Blaine heard Haley sigh, and turned back to look at his brother's girlfriend still seated across the table. "What a fruitcake."

Blaine narrowed his eyes at the woman. Surely he didn't hear her right. "You mean Kurt?"

"Why do you hang out with him? You know, you don't have to put up with that?" Haley asked, ignoring his question.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Put up with what?"

"The fairy! I mean, the way he looks at you. He even touched your hand." Haley shivered involuntarily. "His clothes . . . That voice . . . It's not like he hides it very well. It makes me sick just thinking about it."

Blaine gaped at her.

"People like that . . . they are just looking for attention. Parading around showing off their sickness–"

"Stop!" the boy snapped. "Don't talk about him like that."

He had grown used to his family and his parent's friend's rude and hurtful remarks about his sexuality. He had come to accept it around his home, but he drew the line at his boyfriend. Nobody should ever talk about Kurt like that. Ever.

Haley blinked at him, a frown creeping onto her face. "You don't have to feel sorry for him. You could do a lot better than being friends with someone like . . . that."

Blaine curled his fingers into a fist on the table and sent a scowl back at the woman. All the chatter from the partygoers, along with the upbeat music that was playing in the other room seemed to have dissolved into muffled sounds that vibrated in his head. At her words, the dark haired boy felt his blood pressure rise as his anger built inside his body.

"Just stop it! Leave him alone."

"Me?" Haley practically growled. "I'm trying to help you. The guy obviously has feelings for you. You want my advice? Brake off the friendship before something happens."

"First, I didn't ask you for your advice. I can hang out with whom ever I want," Blaine stated harshly. "And second, I know Kurt has feelings for me. He's my boyfriend!"

Blaine's strong and determined demeanor that he had taken on while standing up for Kurt came to a head as he watched Haley's expression morph into a look of disgust right before his eyes.

"You're a queer?"

Blaine froze, not sure how to respond to the woman's sudden change in body language.

"Wow," Haley drowned out, choking out a laugh. "I never would've expected that from you." She turned to look out the window at the three men busying themselves with the rocket set up. "I can't believe Cooper never told me."

"Cooper never . . ." Blaine's shoulders sagged and he sat back in his chair as this new piece of information sank in.

His brother had seemed so happy when talking to this woman, talking and laughing with each other before he came over to join them. It had been awhile since Blaine had seen his brother this happy . . . and he hadn't told her about him. Did Cooper know she was homophobic? Maybe he did and he just didn't care.

. . . But that didn't sound like the supportive brother that Cooper had always been when it came to his sexuality.

Haley huffed. "Honestly, I don't blame him for not wanting to talk about it with me. I can't imagine how embarrassed he is about you. I mean, his little brother is a fag. Why would he want to tell me about that?"

Blaine shook his head. "He doesn't care."

"Oh please! Of course he cares. His baby brother is sleeping around with boys. You really think Cooper is okay with that?"

Blaine eyes started to water and he took a shaky breath to help hold them back. There was no way he was going to let this woman know how much her words were hurting him.

It had been a couple years since anyone had been so forward with their disgust towards him; outside of McKinley High School of course, but no one had ever brought his brother up into such conversations. If they did, it was only to ask him why he couldn't be more like Cooper, but this . . . accusing his big brother of not loving and supporting him, when he was actually one of the few in his family that did, was too much.

A strong urge to be close to Kurt washed over Blaine and he pushed himself away from the table, leaving the insensitive woman to her own thoughts. Heading for the back door, he stumbled his way down the staircase and forced his legs to move in the direction of his boyfriend who was currently setting up a few foldable chairs in the huge grassy backyard for their guests.

"Hey Blaine," Kurt called, glancing up from his work. His bright smile swiftly changed into concern when he saw the gloomy expression on Blaine's face. Abandoning the chairs, Kurt quickly wrapped his boyfriend into a hug. "Are you alright, honey?"

Hearing the apprehension in the blonde's voice, Blaine finally allowed the tears to roll down his cheeks as he softly sobbed into Kurt's neck.

"Blaine?" Kurt's voice hitched in alarm and he slowly rubbed his hands up-and-down the boys back in an attempt to sooth him. "Sweetheart, what happened?"

Before Blaine could attempt to stutter out a reply, another voice spoke up from behind Kurt.

"Squirt?" Blaine peeked over his boyfriend's shoulder to find Cooper staring back at him. A matching look of worry was painted on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Y-you didn't t-tell her?" Blaine choked out between sobs.

Worry switched to confusion on Cooper's face. "Tell who what?"

"Haley! You d-didn't tell her I'm g-gay."

Understanding flashed across Cooper's face. "Did she say something to you?" A hint of malice could be heard in his voice, which instantly ridded Blaine of any doubt of his brother's support for him.

Blaine nodded his head. "K-Kurt too." He felt his boyfriend's arms tighten around his shoulders at that.

Behind him, Blaine could hear the sounds of his family and the other guests beginning to pour from the house to get ready for the firework display. The sound of a plastic bag rustling somewhere close by told him that his father had returned with more rockets. He vaguely heard his brother say that he was going to track down Haley to talk to her about what happened, before he disappeared into the crowd that was growing in the yard. But all Blaine cared about right then was the feeling of Kurt's arms holding him close.

.: Please comment with any story ideas you have for Kurt and/or Blaine :.