A/N: You guys continue to astound me with your fantastic reviews. You keep them coming, and I'll try to get chapters out faster for you. Thank you for all your kind words.
Chapter 12: Memory
"What did you do, Cooper?" Sebastian demanded, knowing the other man had something to get off his chest.
Cooper shuffled uncomfortably before catching Blaine's eye. "Um, just promise you won't get angry?" he asked in a tentative voice of his brother. When Blaine refused to answer, he took a deep breath, and let it out. "I may or may not have let our parents know that Seb found you."
Blaine was quiet for moment, trying to process the words Cooper had uttered. His temper rising at his idiotic brother, Blaine spluttered, "You did what!?"
"I told Mom and Dad that you were back and staying with Sebastian," Cooper clarified, shrinking back slightly at the anger he could feel coming off of Blaine in waves. "They think it would be best if you moved back to Ohio with them for a bit, at least until you get more comfortable being back with the civilized."
"You stupid, selfish son-of-a-bitch," Blaine bit out before hauling himself from the couch and stomping down the hall of the apartment. Both men in the living room winced as Sebastian's bedroom door was slammed shut.
"Okay, I can honestly say, I wasn't expecting that reaction," Cooper muttered, turning his gaze helpless on Sebastian.
"Really Cooper?" Sebastian's eyebrow rose in disbelief. "You didn't expect him to lose his temper with you after you set Kurt on him and then informed your parents, whom he hasn't gotten along with since he came out at fourteen, that he's back. Even suggesting he return to Ohio to live with them should have been a clue at what his reaction was going to be."
"Okay, maybe I should have considered that," Cooper admitted.
Sighing and shaking his head at the older Anderson's cluelessness, Sebastian replied, "Look, why don't you bunk down in the guest room and try to reason with him tomorrow? It's after midnight already, and as long as you don't insist on the topic of your parents, I'm sure you and Blaine can work out the rest of your problems. I'll try to calm him down and make him more receptive."
Cooper nodded his understanding and rose with Sebastian. "Alright," he agreed. "Hopefully you'll be able to get through to him." He paused and studied the lawyer carefully as he followed the other man down the hallway. "And Seb?"
"Yeah?" Sebastian pushed open the guest room door and indicated for Cooper to enter and situate himself.
"Thanks for taking him in. If I was a better brother he wouldn't need to rely on you as much."
"Cooper," Sebastian sighed in exasperation. "Blaine is my best friend. You're a fine brother and nobody could have expected you to drop everything; Blaine was missing for five years. Just be happy you now have time to make it up to him."
"Alright," Cooper agreed sadly, not completely convinced of what the other man was saying. "Good night Seb."
"Night Cooper."
Sebastian turned and entered his own room, not caring that only minutes before Blaine has slammed the door in a temper. Blaine was lying curled up in a ball in the middle of the bed, hugging one Sebastian's pillows to his chest. He noted with some amusement that Blaine was simply starring at the wall furiously, his face betraying the anger he was feeling.
"I don't know what the wall did to you, B, but if looks could turn things to stone – "
"That's not funny, Seb," Blaine huffed, rolling onto his back, watching as Sebastian began to head for the en-suite to start his nightly routine.
"Hey," Sebastian called back from the bathroom. "I'm not the one trying to mentally drill holes through the wall."
"Cooper is an idiot sometimes," Blaine muttered, heaving himself off the bed and dropping his jeans and t-shirt to the floor. His boxer briefs followed before he pulled on a pair of pajama pants Sebastian had insisted he wear until they got out to buy more clothing. He climbed back into the king size bed and waited for his best friend to return from his nightly rituals.
"Cooper is just trying to be your brother," Sebastian stated, turning off the overhead light and climbing into his side of the bed. He reached over and pulled Blaine into his embrace, spooning the other man from behind. "He may be clueless, but he does love you and only has good intentions, B. Yeah, sometimes their misguided, but he is trying so don't be too angry or hard on him."
"I'll try Seb," Blaine sighed, snuggling deeper into the arms holding him.
"That's all I can ask," Sebastian replied, dropping a light kiss to Blaine's hair. "Now sleep, B. You need your beauty rest if you're going to deal with your hyperactive, mentally delayed brother tomorrow."
Blaine laughed softly in reply before shutting his eyes and letting himself drift off in the comfort of Sebastian's embrace and protection.
"I love you Blaine, "Kurt slurred, coming up behind his fiancé and crowding the other man against the sink.
"Are you drunk, Kurt?" Blaine asked, turning and trying to shove some distance between them; fighting off the panic that edged his consciousness when someone entered his personal space without invitation. He was still working on the issues which arose from his attack months ago with his therapist. The doctor said some of the residual effects could be because this was the second hate crime he had to deal with and mentally he was still trying to work through why someone would be that cruel. Trust, even of his future husband, would need to be relearned.
"No," Kurt denied, pulling the word out. "The guys and I just stopped down on the corner for a few after a long day at work." He pushed Blaine further into the sink, stepping further into his boyfriend, ignoring the squirm of discomfort Blaine couldn't mask.
Blaine frowned. "I thought we talked about this – "he started, his words cut off when Kurt leaned forward and kissed him. The panic swelled and he bite the lips on his own, feeling blood begin to well from a split lip. Kurt jerked back with a curse.
"You stupid asshole," he growled, shoving Blaine hard against the counter at his back. Blaine winced at the impact, knowing that there would probably be a bruise tomorrow. Kurt was stronger when drunk, his anger fueled by the alcohol. "You're supposed to be my future husband, Blaine. How are we supposed to have a relationship when I can't even touch you?"
"I'm sorry," the dark-haired man replied, trying to edge away from the anger radiating from his boyfriend. "I'm trying, Kurt. Really. My therapist –"
"Damn you're fucking therapist, Blaine!" Kurt snarled. "You've been seeing her for months and she hasn't been helping you at all!" Kurt drew a deep breath, and softened his tone, trying to coax Blaine into agreement. "Why don't we just give intimacy a shot? Maybe it'll help?"
Blinking, Blaine tried to follow Kurt's train of thought as he jumped from anger to a soft loving tone. He didn't notice as Kurt gripped his wrist and yanked him back towards the light-haired man until he landed solidly against Kurt's chest. He squirmed again, trying to dislodge his future husband as he rained kisses along the column of Blaine's neck. "Please, Kurt, stop. I'm not ready. Please." He managed to pull free slightly, causing Kurt to sigh in disgust.
"I'm not ready," he mimic darkly, shoving Blaine hard away from himself. Not expecting the brutal force, Blaine lost his footing, his head connecting with the countertop as he crashed to floor.
With a gasp, Blaine sat up in bed, pulling himself free from Sebastian's embrace. Phantom pain seemed to throb behind his ear as he recalled the argument between himself and Kurt on that horrible night. He had thought the memories lost completely, but realized sadly that the burden of telling someone what had actually occurred between himself and Kurt had loosened the hold his subconscious had on the memories. He lifted a hand and wiped at his eyes, sighing softly as he knew he would not be getting any more sleep that night.
Dragging himself from the bed, he padded from the room towards the kitchen. He knew what would help; it had been his friend on the streets after he had lost everything. Stopping long enough to get a cork screw, he slipped into the pantry and he pulled one of the wine bottles off the top shelf before settling onto the floor, not bothering with a glass. Pulling the cork from the bottle he took a swig, wondering if Sebastian and Nick knew of his little problem when he had first come to them. Alcohol had always made him insanely happy and he had resorted to it on more than one occasion in the last five years to keep himself from slipping too far down a path that would have ended with his body in the morgue. Keeping a happy buzz kept the feelings of inadequacy, anger, helplessness, and the horrible memories at bay. He took another swing, happy to drive the horrible memories off again as he continued to drown in his bottle.
A/N: Uh oh...Blaine's diving back into bad habits...
