Eicophobia

Blaine walked into the empty house, lazily dropping his backpack by the door, not caring to put it in the garage, where it technically belonged. He kicked off his shoes, shuffling into the kitchen and stealing a look in the cupboard, debating if anything was worthy of eating. He soon settled with the half jar left of nutella and a spoon. He walked up the stairs of the new house, pulling out his IPod after closing the door to his room. He flopped onto the bed, plugging into the music and stuffing a spoon full of nutella into his mouth.

Blaine had been waiting for this day, waiting for it for years. For someone to finally understand what he had to go through, to finally say, 'hey, I get it. Screw what the other people say, and find me if you need anything.' He imagined it quite often, sometimes, he would see himself bursting into song afterwards, or maybe to never feel depressed again, and be happy forever because he finally found that person.

But he didn't feel anything. No shock, happiness, surprise, just a dull feeling of numbness. He shoved more nutella in his mouth, hoping it would act like a fire on a cold night, warming up his fingertips.

He laid there for a few minutes, letting his IPod shuffle do as it may, thinking over what Kurt had told him earlier.

He had told him that he was something Blaine could rely on, and to prove it, they had set up a date to meet that Saturday so this boy could help Blaine with his math homework.

And what was going on with him and his hormones in the library? Yeah, Blaine knew that he was gay, but he hadn't felt that flushed and awkward since the Jeremiah incident back in California.

Blaine groaned at the memory, rubbing his eyes. That was something he did not need reminding of.

Besides, it wasn't fair of him to think of Kurt like that. For all he knew, Kurt probably wasn't gay, and they were just friends.

He heard a muffled sound at the doorway, but ignored it, staring at the ceiling.

He couldn't start liking Kurt. Not now, or ever. It'd just be taking advantage of his friendship that he offered, not to mention, he could easily loose the only friend he had managed to make. He thoughts were rudely interrupted though, right as his left headphone was viciously yanked from his ear.

"I said 'oh, I found the nutella. Blaine, what are you doing?'"

"Hello Cooper," Blaine mumbled, sitting up and pausing his IPod.

"You know it's against house regulations to just take the nutella to yourself." His older brother sat across from him on the bed, taking the chocolate spread from his hands, along with his spoon.

"It's against your rules. And give that back!" Blaine re-owned his possessions, glaring at Cooper.

"It's against – wait." His brother paused, taking in the situation. "Chocolate, door closed, music," Cooper looked around the room, eyes landing on Blaine a moment later. "Blaine?"

"Cooper."

"Is this what I think it is?"

"That depends on what it is." Blaine took another spoonful of chocolate to his mouth.

"Kate made me watch some chick flick last weekend Blaine, and if this what I think it is, then…" He trailed off, his soon shocked face turning into a prying grin. "Blaine, are you having boy troubles?"

"Good god Cooper!" Blaine threw his body back on the bed, his head cracking painfully against the headboard.

"You are! You know what this means." Now the grin was mocking him.

"No. Don't you dare Cooper. I'm not have 'boy troubles'."

"We'll leave that for Ellie to decide." Cooper smirked, pulling out his phone. Blaine tilted his head up, enough to glare at him.

It was no surprise that Blaine and Cooper were siblings. They had the same dark hair, though Cooper's wasn't as curly, and their facial structures were almost identical. Minus the sharper edges in Cooper's due to the age difference and the fact that he had their fathers blue eyes and paler skin.

"Hello?" Came the unmistakable voice of Ellie on the other line of Cooper's phone.

"Hey Ells. So we've got a bit of a situation here." He looked back at Blaine, that obnoxious smirk still in place as he held the phone in the palm of his hand.

"What type of situation?"

"If I just said, 'Blaine has locked himself in his room with chocolate and his IPod,' would that be enough information?" Blain groaned as Ellie gasped.

Ellie. Their insane cousin that had pixie short hair that was dyed bright red. Their insane cousin that screamed in delight when Blaine came out of the closet, telling him that if he ever needed boy advice on anything, to contact her immediately.

"Blaine are you there? Cooper! What song was he listening to?" Blaine made a grab for his music device, but Cooper was faster. After looking at it, he announced to the speaker phone,

"Um, 'Our Song' by Taylor Swift?" Ellie's scream on the other end was loud enough for both Cooper and Blaine to flinch.

"Blaine! Who is this boy?"

"Who said it was a boy? Okay, maybe it is," he added when he saw Cooper raise an eyebrow, "but who said that was why I was in my room with the nutella?"

"Sweetie, you just announced that it was a boy issue." Ellie replied smugly. Blaine smacked his forehead with his hand while Cooper laughed. "So, I want the deats on this boy, and why you're in your room with chocolate. He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Cause I'll kick his ass," Cooper added. Blaine sighed, fighting was no use now that Ellie was involved.

"And so now we're getting together Saturday." He finished his story with. He had told them everything, from the panic attack in the hallway, to the library from today.

"And you're not dating him yet because…?" Ellie responded after a moment of digesting Blaine's story.

"Uh, because I've known him for a week? Plus, I don't think that he plays on my team," he added lamely at the end, poking the nutella with his spoon.

"I'll be the judge of that. What does he look like?"

"He's a bit taller than me," Blaine said, a small smile creeping on his lips. "He has chestnut brown hair, and baby blue eyes. His skin is as light as porcelain, and he always keeps his hair perfect and wears the best of clothes." A beat of silence passed through the room and into the speaker phone.

"Oh sweetie," Ellie sighed.

"Dude, seriously?" Cooper was looking at him as if Blaine had asked if dinosaurs were still around.

"What?" He looked between his older self and the phone, waiting for an explanation.

"I thought being gay meant you had this gay-dar or something," Cooper said into the phone.

"Apparently not in all cases," Ellie replied to him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Kurt is gay!" Both Cooper and Ellie said at the same time.

"Honestly, name one other guy who wears, designer clothes, is in a glee club, and looks like that, that is straight."

"Maybe your boyfriend?" Blaine teased.

"Hey!" Ellie snapped back.

"What she means is," Cooper cut across, "is that, what the hell were you thinking, thinking that this boy wasn't into you?" Blaine looked between the two, his eyes widening.

"He likes me?"

"DUH." They both replied in unison.

"C'mon buddy," Cooper ran his free hand through his hair, "I'm getting married in two months. Have some faith in me. He likes you."

"And you like him!" Ellie added.

"No," Blaine defended. "I don't. I just happen, to like him as a friend. That's all."

"Yeah, and you think he's attractive,"

"And nice,"

"Not to mention amazing."

"Oh, don't forget 'he saved my life in a hallway.'"

"Isn't that just romantic? Oh and-"

"Enough!" Blaine snapped. His cousin and brother had finally shut up, holding their laughter in their throats. "How bout this. I get to know him better, and then I'll decide if I like him or not."

"Sweetie, it's already been decided. But okay, work with that plan." Blaine could practically see Ellie shrug on the other side. "Anyways, I have class soon, I've got to go. Blaine, stick with Kurt. You sound healthier already." And with that she hung up, leaving an empty static on the other end.

Cooper hit the little red button, putting his phone back in his pocket.

"Don't you feel better already?"

"Shut it Cooper, I wasn't having boy troubles." Blaine laid back down, looking at the white ceiling again.

"Clearly you were." Cooper laid down next to him, looking above as well. Blaine glanced over at him, this was something they hadn't done since they were kids.

"So how's Kate?"

"Wonderful as ever," Cooper smiled, thinking of his fiancé. "How's McKinley?" Blaine didn't answer for a moment, folding his hands on his stomach.

"I miss California," he eventually whispered, not knowing whether he wanted Cooper to really hear that or not. His brother sighed.

"I know."

"Is it really fair that I got sent here?"

"Is it really fair that you kept your secret from us for over thirteen years?" Cooper turned his head to look at his younger brother, who cringed.

"I didn't think it would be important, I thought I would get over it."

"Is that what you thought when you were little?" Cooper wondered out loud.

"No. I thought everyone was scared of things moving as a kid. That's why I was always confused as to why you could turn on the fan and watch the string swing back and forth without being fazed-" Blaine started hyperventilating, the image burning in his mind.

"Hey, hey," Cooper propped himself on his elbow, rubbing Blaine's forehead with his free hand. "Shh, it's okay."

Blaine soon calmed down, counting silently in his head as Cooper proceeded to rub his forehead.

29, 30, 31…

Counting is good. It's solid. Nothing is moving in numbers.

"We could've treated this earlier you know, if you just told us." Cooper mumbled.

"I know. It just seemed so stupid, until-"

"You were being rolled into the hospital by an ambulance. Yeah." Another pause. "But I see where you come from, I don't know if any of us would've believed you if it just came out of the blue like that." Blaine only nodded his head, agreeing with his brother.

"Can, can I be fixed Cooper?" He asked quietly, and suddenly he was back in California, hiding under his blankets as a kid when the dark got too scary. Wanting his brave, heroic ten year old brother to come save him, but not wanting to move, afraid of what was lurking in the blanket of black. He was brought back into reality as Cooper sighed, not looking at him.

"I don't know."

A/N: Wow guys, such great responses from last chapter, I'm loving each and every review you're throwing at me, keep it up!
And for anyone who's curious, the movie that Cooper is talking about when he says that Kate made him watch a chick flick was John Tucker Must Die. That's how he knew about the chocolate=boy issues. :)
Also, last thing, has anyone been noticing that the chapter titles are phobias that are related to what happens in the chapter?