Happy Wednesday, my lovelies.
Your reactions to the last chapter have blown me away. Thank you. Can't wait to share more of this with you.
As always, huge thanks to Christine for her help turning this story into more than a mess of words and wrong prepositions. She's the queen.
Thanks to Sofi for making word docs to keep all my ideas straight (not that we can keep anything straight WINK WINK).
Enjoy!
Kurt stepped out of Condé Nast later than usual. It had been a hell of a day – a server crashing had deleted half of the next Vogue issue, supposed to come out in less than two weeks, and now they needed to put it back together in time. Isabelle had been halfway through a nervous breakdown most of the day and Kurt had practically had to force her to stop and eat something.
The sky was dark by the time Kurt could finally head home. He had skipped an afternoon class to stay at the office and help, and he knew that was only going to make things harder for the rest of the week, because he would need to catch up with a lot of work and reading, but he felt good about his decision. Isabelle trusted him, he didn't want to let her down, not when things went wrong. Especially when things went wrong.
He paused just a few steps away from the building's entrance, back against the grey granite wall and dialed Blaine's number. He had been unusually quiet today, too, and Kurt guessed he had been dealing with Cooper. Before he went all the way to Bushwick, he wanted to make sure his boyfriend was okay. If Blaine needed him, he would head straight to his place instead, maybe pick up some dinner…
Kurt's stomach growled in protest. He had been so focused on whether Isabelle stopped to eat or not, he hadn't had anything to eat himself, not since the bagel he'd had for breakfast.
He hoped Blaine was in the mood for Chinese food because he suddenly had a craving.
However, after ringing for about a minute, the call went to voicemail. Frowning, Kurt pressed the green button to try again, and this time, to his surprise, it was immediately cut off.
He tried to ignore the pang of concern that travelled through him. Why wouldn't Blaine pick up his call? He never failed to pick up his call…
Not knowing what to do, he started walking towards the subway station.
They hadn't talked all day. Kurt had answered to his good morning text as he headed to a meeting with Isabelle, and then there had been radio silence the entire day. Once the crisis exploded in the office, he almost forgot all about it, the knowledge that Blaine had to be with Cooper pushed to the back of his mind. He assumed Blaine would call or text when he had a break. But he never did.
It wasn't until he was waiting for his train, grateful that the platform was crowded, that his phone vibrated in his pocket. There was a text from Blaine.
[BLAINE – 7:34PM]: Hey, Kurt. Sorry. I'm fine, but I just might need a little time. Hope you had a nice day.
Kurt reread the message five more times. It sounded so… dry. So uncharacteristically Blaine. And needing time… it was never a good sign, was it? It meant there was trouble in the horizon, didn't it?
Kurt shoved his phone back in his pocket and told himself there was no reason to freak out.
What if Cooper had told Blaine all the reasons he thought Kurt wasn't good for him? What if he had made him see Kurt under the same light he saw him? What if Blaine had been pushed to choose between them?
What if this was the beginning of the end?
He'll get bored soon, I'm sure. He'll get sick of fucking you…
No. Blaine wouldn't just walk away. He cared about Kurt. What they had was real.
When he finally got to the loft, he felt exhausted. Rachel was sitting on the couch, eating a bowl of soup and watching television.
"Oh no, bad day?" She asked after one glance at him.
Kurt dropped his bag on the floor and unwrapped his scarf from around his neck as he headed towards the couch. Rachel barely had time to put down her bowl on the coffee table before Kurt was dropping down next to her, head falling on her shoulder. "Where's Santana?" He asked instead, because he wasn't ready to talk about it.
"No idea," Rachel said. "She went out very early this morning and hasn't come home yet. I'm worried."
"Me too," Kurt admitted. "I wish she would talk to us…"
Rachel sighed. "She will when she's ready. We know how she is… I just didn't think this thing with Cooper would hit her so hard." She paused and then said: "Did Blaine say anything? Has he talked to Cooper?"
"I think he's going to break up with me," Kurt said, because sometimes his dramatic side won. He couldn't help thinking that there was no way he could compete with Cooper Anderson – and he shouldn't have, either. Cooper was Blaine's brother. Kurt was just the guy Blaine had been dating for a handful of months…
"What?" Rachel exclaimed, pulling away to look at him. "How do you know that?"
"He asked me for time," Kurt replied, desperately. "You don't do that unless you're planning a break up. We're doomed. Everything's over."
Rachel rubbed his back. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but you're more of a drama queen than I am." When Kurt continued to sulk, she pushed at him gently. "Come on, move. Let me get you some soup. You'll feel better."
Kurt allowed himself to plop down face first on the couch. "Did you make it?"
He could almost hear the eye roll on Rachel's voice. "No. I got it at the deli, you don't have to worry. It's good."
He didn't move until she came back with a bowl for him and nudged him to sit up. Kurt accepted the soup gratefully – being well on his way to heartbroken didn't mean he was no longer famished. They had just settled back down for a night of soup, wallowing and bad reality TV when the door was pulled open again and Santana arrived. She was dressed in her diner uniform, her face serious. She took in her roommates sitting there and sighed.
"Is there room for one more loser on that couch?" She asked.
Rachel stood up again. "I'm going to ignore that you just called me a loser and get you some soup."
It felt nice, Kurt thought, as the three of them sat and watched TV and pointedly did not talk about everything that had and still could go wrong, being here with his girls.
Even if Blaine ended up walking away from him, he would still have them.
On Tuesday morning, Blaine woke up and knew he wasn't going to work, so he stayed in bed. His phone had a few emails and calls he needed to return, but until he figured out what he and Cooper were going to do, both professionally and personally, he had no idea what to do about them.
There were no messages from Kurt.
His text from the previous evening had gone unanswered and Blaine didn't know if this was Kurt giving him the time he had asked for, or if he was mad at him. The only thing he knew was that, despite not being ready to talk about it, he didn't want to lose Kurt.
He texted him: Good morning, Kurt. Thanks for giving me the time to work things out. Have a lovely day.
He got a reply almost instantly.
[KURT – 8:02 AM]: Hey. It's nice to hear from you. Take all the time you need. I'm here when you're ready.
He spent the rest of the day cleaning the house, trying not to think despite knowing it was exactly what he needed to do.
On Wednesday morning, Blaine woke up to rain pattering against the windows. He thought of Kurt heading to work in this weather and texted him: Don't forget to grab an umbrella before you leave the apartment. Take care. I miss you.
The reply was a picture of Kurt's boots as he stood on the subway platform, a large black umbrella right next to them, and a simple text to go along with it: I miss you, too.
On Thursday morning, Blaine realized he wasn't sure why he couldn't just see Kurt – there was something inside of him that stopped him. What was he going to say? Hey, sorry I've been mostly ignoring you, it's just that I'm trying to work out the fact that my brother is the reason I'm not married to someone else right now?
He knew Kurt would understand, would help him through it, but it felt too weird. It felt like too much weight to put on his shoulders.
Kurt texted him a picture of his desk at some lecture hall in NYADA, a textbook and a notebook with his curvy handwriting with a cup of coffee on top of it. I wish I knew what's going on in that head of yours, the text read.
On Friday morning, he woke up sick of being locked up in his house and went out for a jog at the park. He ran errands, bought groceries, grabbed some coffee at Starbucks. He felt almost back to normal, except for the nagging feeling in the back of his head. That evening, as he considered calling Kurt and telling him to come spend the weekend with him, he changed the channels on the television numbly until he saw his brother's smiling face filling his screen. The Brightest Star began airing tonight. He had completely forgotten about it.
He turned the television off and called Tina.
"I say this with the utmost love that you know I have for you," Tina said as she took a seat across from Blaine, at the same time she unwrapped her scarf and dropped her purse on the booth. "But you look like shit."
Blaine sighed and pushed the cocktail he had ordered for her across the table. "I know."
Tina regarded him without saying anything for a second, as she took a sip of her drink. "What happened? You never ask me for emergency drinks, so I know this must be serious."
Blaine ran a hand down his tired face and frowned. "I didn't even think… you weren't busy, were you? I'm not taking you away from anything?"
"Not at all," Tina dismissed his concern at once. "We were just having a quiet night at home. Mike stayed with the kids. We have plenty of time. So you better start talking. What's going on?"
"I don't even know where to start," Blaine groaned, and knocked down the rest of his drink before he gestured the waitress to get him another. "It's… it's a lot, Tina."
"Okay…" Tina said, watching him with growing concern. "How about you start at the beginning?"
Blaine forced a smile on his face when the waitress stopped by with his beer. He waited until she was gone, as if taking advantage of those few extra seconds to put his thoughts in order, only to simply blurt out: "Cooper's the one who made Derek leave."
Tina actually gasped at that, shock written all over her face. "Wait… what do you mean?"
"He got him that job, and paid for his plane ticket and told him not to miss a big opportunity just for a relationship," Blaine explained bitterly, taking a sip of beer.
Tina's face had gotten stuck, apparently. Her lips were parted and her eyes were unblinking, and if she did that for three more hours, maybe she would get any closer to what Blaine had felt upon finding out. "I… are you sure? How do you know that?"
"Cooper told me."
Tina sat back against the booth. She was absolutely perplexed. "That… that's not the beginning. Start at the beginning?"
If she had asked him to run a triathlon right then and there, Blaine would have found it easier than telling her what had happened with Cooper both on his birthday party and the following Monday morning. But he knew he needed to talk about it. He needed to try and make sense of things, or he would be stuck feeling like this forever.
Even though it seemed impossible, once he finally started talking, he felt like he couldn't stop. Every frustration, every doubt, every moment of heartbreak he had experienced this week came pouring out of him as he told Tina, without sparing any details, what Cooper had said.
By the time he was done, he felt spent down to his bones, and he drained the last of his beer as if trying to get some strength from it.
"I can't believe this," Tina murmured quietly. "I can't believe we never noticed. We were around Cooper a lot when he was in the band. I even went with you guys on that tour when you were just starting…"
"But did we really see him that much?" Blaine wondered. "Dad kept him busy. We didn't hang out much with him. We barely saw him for meals, and he always looked so exhausted…"
"I have to admit I'm a little confused about the way he behaved…" Tina said, thoughtfully. "Fine, he feels ashamed of his past, he's hurt and has issues he needs to work through… but why sabotage you? Why push people away? Why not just ask for help?"
"I don't know," Blaine whispered tiredly. "Trust me, I've been thinking about it non-stop this week. Most of the things he did… they make no sense to me. And I've been thinking about what happened a few weeks ago, too…" Blaine paused, frowning, thinking, thinking, thinking, before he continued: "He emptied one of his bank accounts, the one I use for his daily expenses. He said it was a mistake, that he bought Christmas presents and invited people drinks at a bar… but there was a lot of money in that account, Tina. What is he getting into?"
"I wish I had answers for you, but I'm afraid you can only get them from him," Tina said softly. "It's just all so confusing and difficult to process. And the Derek thing… wow. Honestly, that's something I wouldn't have expected in a million years."
"Me neither," Blaine said. "And he was willing to do the same thing again, do you get how fucked up that is? The way he treated Kurt…"
"Yes, that's… not good," Tina muttered, still quite bewildered. "What did Kurt have to say about all of this? I bet it was a shock for him, too."
"I haven't talked to him," Blaine replied, pushing his empty beer bottle aside. "I haven't seen him since Sunday."
At this, Tina simply sat and watched him, like she was trying to figure out exactly what the hell was wrong with him, and failing to find an easy answer.
"What?" Blaine prompted, because he knew she wanted to say something.
"Why haven't you talked to him or seen him?" She asked carefully.
Blaine sighed. God, he missed Kurt. Not talking to him this week had felt like torture. "I don't know. It felt like this was something I had to deal with on my own. It's too much to put on his shoulders. It's definitely nowhere near casual…"
Tina snorted so hard, it was a miracle the drink didn't go up her nose. "You're really dense." When Blaine didn't say anything, waiting for her to elaborate, she rolled her eyes at him so hard, it was surprising they didn't get stuck. "This hasn't been casual in a while, Blaine. You're crazy about this guy."
Denying it was not an option. Blaine knew very well how he felt. "It's complicated, Tina. This is not what he signed up for…"
Tina shrugged, like it was obvious, and said: "Why don't you give him the chance to decide what he did or didn't sign up for?"
"This whole Derek thing…" Blaine shook his head. "Don't you think it'll be weird? The only reason I'm not married to him is because Cooper sent him away…"
"Well…" Tina murmured, tilting her head as she considered that. "Derek did accept the offer, didn't he? He didn't have to do what Cooper told him to. He made his choice, too."
And now, Blaine was speechless. He hadn't actually thought about it like this. Derek had definitely made his choice, too. Maybe he hadn't loved Blaine as much as Blaine had loved him.
And part of him… was glad. Because if he had married Derek, Kurt wouldn't have been a part of his life. And now that he was in it, he couldn't imagine living without him.
He was an idiot. He needed to see Kurt at once.
"What are you going to do about Cooper?" Tina asked.
Blaine smiled sadly. "Honestly? I don't know. Part of me wants to never see him again, but then… he's my only family and he's clearly going through something. It feels wrong walking away just like that," he took a deep breath. "I'll probably go and talk to him soon. I just… I feel like we need to sit down and have a clear and open conversation, because I really don't understand why he did what he did. Or why he didn't tell me he was having such a bad time."
"It can't have been easy, pushing everyone away to make sure they didn't see he was suffering," Tina commented, sending a pang of guilt and regret through Blaine. "You have every right to be angry, but… you might need to be very patient with him for a while. Just don't let him walk all over you again, okay? There has to be a limit, Blaine."
"I know," Blaine said quietly. "I've been trying to find it my entire life."
They stayed a few more minutes, but Blaine suddenly felt restless and Tina could read him like an open book. They stepped outside the bar and looked around – the rush drinking hour had just started, and there were people everywhere, looking to relax after a long week.
"Are you going to head home now?" Tina asked.
Blaine shook his head. "No. I need to see Kurt. Come on, let's find a cab. I'll drop you off at home before heading to Bushwick."
Tina smiled at him. "You know, you'll have to introduce him to us soon. I need to meet this guy. After all, he's made you so happy lately…"
Blaine smiled back and reached to squeeze her hand. "Well, unless I screw it up, there should be plenty of opportunities for that in the near future."
He just hoped Kurt hadn't seen this week apart as the perfect reason to realize he was better off without Blaine and his complicated, messy life.
It had been a long, painful week.
On Monday, he had called in sick, unable to leave his apartment, unable to face the world now that his mask had fallen and shattered on the ground.
But on Tuesday, he couldn't face the silence and the loneliness anymore. So Cooper picked up a new mask and wore it to work and hoped no one would be able to see through it.
Everyone asked him about his brother and Cooper smiled and said he was taking a few days off for personal reasons. He was dismissive and vague, and immediately changed the subject. Talking about Blaine made his chest ache to the point of having trouble breathing.
Maybe this was what his life was going to be like from now on.
By Friday, he was so upset and so done with going home to an empty apartment that he had to go out. He needed a distraction, a place loud enough to drown his thoughts.
He ended up at a bar.
He always ended up at a bar.
A few women approached him as soon as he sat on a stool and ordered a beer, but he wasn't in the mood to talk and flirt, so he ignored them. Maybe after he'd had a few drinks, he would change his mind but right now… right now he just wanted to get rid of the buzzing in his head.
He was only on his second beer when someone took the seat next to his.
"Well, it's very lucky to find you here," a dreaded, familiar voice said. "Because you and I have some unfinished business."
Cooper felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach as he turned to look at his father. "Are you following me?"
Oscar Anderson only shrugged, as he gestured at the bartender to get him a beer. "You've been avoiding me."
"I've been busy," Cooper said dryly.
"Oh yeah, I saw the premiere of the show tonight," Oscar commented. "One would think you'd have events to attend, you know, to promote the new season. I don't think your brother is handling your career very well if you're sitting here instead."
Cooper, jaw clenched, decided to ignore him. Wasn't that what he always did? He ignored problems until they went away.
Maybe he should have changed tactics. It hadn't worked out so well for him so far.
Oscar took a long sip of his beer before shifting on his stool to face his older son fully. "You haven't been upholding your end of the bargain lately. It's been weeks."
Cooper tightened his grip on his bottle. "Blaine noticed something was wrong. I'm going to need more time."
"Well, I don't have more time," Oscar said calmly. "If you can't do what you're asked, then I'm going to go straight to Blaine…"
"No," Cooper muttered angrily. "I told you to leave him out of it."
"I'm not joking here, Cooper. I'm not playing," Oscar said firmly. "You told me you'd help me out. But if you can't do that, then I'll either go straight to your brother, or to the press, or maybe both. I'm sure they would all be very interested in those videos I have…"
"Why are you doing this?" Cooper asked bitterly. He felt so tired, so drained. He just wanted it all to stop. "We're your sons. How can you be so heartless?"
"You two walked away from me, after everything I did," Oscar retorted. "You're ungrateful. After all my hard work…"
"After all my hard work, you mean," Cooper said, feeling the anger simmering just under the surface. "All those years pushing me to my limit, never allowing me to live my own life because you wanted to make a profit…"
"You're where you are because of me. You didn't have the drive or the discipline…"
"I didn't want this!" Cooper screamed at last, feeling like he had reached his limit. "I wanted something different! I wanted to be my own person and you never let me figure out who that was!"
"Ungrateful," Oscar spat again. "I made you a star. Everything you are now is because of me, and you can't even help me when I ask you for…"
"You're not asking me," Cooper interrupted sharply. "You're blackmailing me. That's a whole different thing, dad."
"You know what your options are, Cooper," Oscar said.
And Cooper… reached his limit. He was tired, jaded, broken. What his father had done to him had cost him the only person he cared about, had turned him into someone despicable and childish, shallow and empty. What else could he lose? His fame? His career? His money?
He didn't care anymore. The price was too high.
He moved before he could think. It was like he had suddenly lost track of his actions and by the time he was aware of them again, he had his father pinned against a wall, his fist colliding with his face. Someone in the bar was screaming, hands were grabbing at him trying to pull him away, unsuccessfully. He was aware of a cellphone pointed at him.
He didn't stop. He'd had enough.
There was a steaming cup of tea on the coffee table besides a pile of notes and textbooks. For the past few days, Kurt had been so distracted with everything that had happened with Blaine and with work that he hadn't paid much attention to his classes, and now he was paying for it, sitting on the couch in his comfiest clothes and trying to catch up.
Well, it wasn't like he'd had any better plans, anyway.
Rachel had been dragged to Callbacks by some of her classmates and though she had asked him to come along, Kurt wasn't in the mood. He had preferred staying home and taking advantage of the quietness, since Santana was working a late shift at Spotlight. She had been taciturn and silent lately, and Kurt hoped to get to see her before he went to bed, and get a better idea of how she was doing.
These were weird, trying times for all of them.
Kurt wrapped his fingers around his mug, basking a bit in the warmth it sent through his hand. He imagined it going up his arm and to the center of his chest, where his heart had felt a little colder this week. He took a sip and stared at his notes with eyes that couldn't quite focus on the words in front of him.
There was a knock on the door and Kurt sighed – so much for a quiet night in. That was probably Rachel, always forgetting her keys, back from hanging out with her friends. He stood up and shuffled to the door.
When he pulled it open, Blaine was standing outside in the hallway, curls looser than usual, growing stubble on his face. Kurt deflated as his heart stuttered.
He was probably here to break up with him.
At least he was doing it face to face and not over text message. Kurt had to give him credit for that.
"Hey," Blaine murmured when Kurt didn't say anything, and just the sound of his voice hit him like a freight train.
"Hi," Kurt whispered and took a step back to let him in. He wasn't going to be broken up with where all his neighbors could see.
Blaine came into the loft, eyes swiping over Kurt, who wished he hadn't changed into yoga pants and a soft hoodie. He wished he looked devastatingly handsome, so at least Blaine could feel some regret...
"I'm sorry for not calling before I came," Blaine said as he stood there, a little awkwardly, after Kurt had closed the door. "I just needed to see you."
Kurt nodded and looked down at his socked feet. "It's fine," he said, and then added, because he could feel the tears clogging his throat already, "let's just get this over with."
Blaine frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you asked me for time and then practically ignored me for the rest of the week, so I guess you're here to break up with me," Kurt said, voice steadier than he had hoped. At least if he was going down, he was doing it with some dignity. "So please, just say whatever it is you came here to say so I can go back to studying..."
"Kurt, no," Blaine muttered, weakly, and he surged forward, immediately reaching for him, hands cupping Kurt's face. "No. I'm not here to break up with you."
Kurt looked at him, and didn't dare breathe. "You're not?"
"Of course not," Blaine said earnestly. "I know I've been... distant this past week, but it had nothing to do with you. I just didn't want to burden you with my issues. I was just... I was protecting you, I guess."
Kurt finally exhaled. It felt like it was the first time he did so since Monday. He grabbed at Blaine's coat, a little desperately. "You scared me."
"I'm so sorry, darling," Blaine leaned in and pressed a kiss to his forehead, then one to his temple. "It was stupid of me, and I should've talked to you. It's just been..." Another kiss, this time to his cheekbone, and then to the tip of his nose, "a crazy week, with so much to think about."
Kurt sighed, as Blaine kept kissing every available inch of his face. "Are you okay?"
"I will be," Blaine replied and finally kissed his lips, a gently, brief touch that Kurt wanted to last forever, but ended too quickly. "Things with Cooper have escalated. I've been trying to deal with that. It hasn't been easy, and I don't expect it to get easier any time soon."
Kurt held Blaine's hand and pulled him towards the couch. They sat down close together, knees bumping against each other's, fingers tangling between them, like they couldn't stand to be any further apart now that they finally saw each other.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" Kurt asked. If Blaine had disappeared for a full week, it had to mean he didn't want to talk to Kurt about this, but he still felt like he needed to be there for him. Wanted to be there for him.
Blaine took a deep, deep breath, and Kurt could see the toll this week had taken on him. He looked exhausted. "It's complicated. I'm a little worried you might find it upsetting or weird."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Kurt said, making sure to hide his disappointment. He wanted Blaine to trust him. "But I hope you know you can talk to me, whenever."
"I actually would love to tell you about it now. I think you deserve to know. It's just... you know how hard it is for me to talk about my family," Blaine scrunched his nose, and he looked both sad and adorable. "And this is going to be the hardest thing for me to say. I found out things about our past, about Cooper's, that I wasn't expecting, that I never imagined. And me asking you for time was, in a way, because I needed to actually try to understand everything, and also because I felt bad making you deal with it. It felt like I would be asking too much of you. I'm sorry I wasn't clearer, and I'm sorry for not talking to you. It's the first thing I should've done. Just... look at this. Two seconds with you and I already feel better than I've felt all week."
Kurt felt the smile tugging at his lips. "Come here," he whispered and Blaine went easily, both of them shifting until they were slotted together, Blaine between Kurt's legs, head resting on his chest. "Tell me everything. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."
Blaine took a deep breath, like he was getting ready to go underwater. "I think I mentioned once that my dad used to manage Cooper's career?" He waited until Kurt nodded to continue: "Well, I found out… that he was very abusive to Cooper."
Kurt's arms tightened around him. "What? Oh my god."
"He would give him drugs to keep him performing and he didn't let him quit the band when he wanted to. There were other things, too, but… mostly my dad cared about making money off him and he didn't care that Cooper was unhappy, and he didn't care what he had to do to make him successful," Blaine explained carefully. "I didn't know this. Cooper's been keeping it bottled inside all these years, and I think it's been festering and he just couldn't take it anymore."
"That's awful," Kurt murmured, horrified. "Poor Cooper."
Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand, which was resting on his stomach, and held it tightly. "He's been scared of me finding out about this for a very long time. He was embarrassed, I think."
"But he didn't do anything wrong," Kurt frowned down at him.
"I don't think he knows that," Blaine sighed. "Anyway, he… he felt like he couldn't truly get close to anyone, because if he did, people would eventually find out. And that seems to be the reason he's been rude and difficult, and why he's said those awful things to you. He keeps people at a distance so they won't see past the façade he created for himself. I think me working for him was the only way in which he could keep me in his life…"
Kurt leaned down and pressed a kiss to Blaine's forehead. "That sounds… so sad, and so lonely. Did you two manage to make amends?"
Blaine went tense. It was like Kurt was suddenly snuggling a snowboard.
"No," he said carefully. "No, we didn't."
Kurt tried to massage his shoulders to get him to lose some of the tension, but it proved pointless. "Why not?"
Blaine sat up. He pressed his elbows to his knees and hid his face in his hands. Kurt hated that he looked so tense, so defeated, so tired. He wanted to do something to make it all better, but he didn't know how.
"Remember I told you I was… I was engaged, once?" Blaine asked, not looking at him.
This wasn't what Kurt had been expecting. "Yes, I remember," he said.
"Well, Cooper's the one who introduced him to the producer and pushed him to go to Los Angeles, to leave me," Blaine explained in a very quiet voice. "He even bought him the fucking plane ticket," he added with a bitter chuckle.
Kurt… wasn't exactly sure what to do with that information. He reached to rub Blaine's back, tentatively, as he tried to process it. He hadn't been ready to comfort his boyfriend about losing his fiancé tonight.
"Why would he do that?" That question was the only thing that managed to leave Kurt's lips, the only thing that made even remotely sense. Everything else was a mess of thoughts and doubts and fears.
"He didn't want Derek to become family because then Cooper felt he would be too close and he wouldn't be able to hide anything from him…" Blaine shook his head. "Don't expect this to make sense. I've been thinking about it all week, and it's still so fucked up…"
Kurt kept rubbing his back, not knowing what else to do. "I'm so sorry…"
"He's my brother, isn't he supposed to want me to be happy?" Blaine muttered, miserably. "And he's spent years hiding this from me. And then at the first opportunity he has, he tries to do the same with you? Push you away?"
Kurt paused. "What?"
"What he did, at his party," Blaine said, tilting his head to the side so he could look at him now. "The way he talked to you… he was trying to make you go away."
"I don't… understand," Kurt whispered.
"He doesn't want anyone to get close to us, because he doesn't want people knowing his secret," Blaine said. "He's a selfish asshole. And I'm so mad at him, and at the same time I feel so bad for him because he went through hell and I didn't know, and I…"
"Hey, hey, calm down," Kurt muttered, because Blaine was working himself into a frenzy. "Breathe, sweetheart, just breathe."
Blaine closed his eyes for a moment, trying to regain his composure. "Sorry."
"No, it's fine, don't be sorry," Kurt mumbled awkwardly. "I mean, I understand. It must have been so hard losing your fiancé back then, and now knowing it was because Cooper…"
Blaine straightened up, his face serious. "Kurt."
"What?" Kurt said, confused.
"I'm not saying I'm not hurt about what Cooper did, but this is not about Derek," Blaine said slowly, like he wanted to make sure Kurt understood. "I'm upset because he almost did the same thing to you, because he could've sent you away and I would have lost something meaningful and beautiful and that's made me happier than anything I've ever…"
Kurt couldn't even let him finish. He surged forward and kissed him, hard and a little needy, pouring into it everything he had felt this week, the absolute desolation and fear that this would be over.
Blaine threw his arms around him and kissed him back, until Kurt pulled away, and then he just held him, like he didn't want to have to let go.
"What was that for?" Blaine asked against his ear, his breath sending shivers down Kurt's back.
"I thought you were sad about Derek," Kurt admitted.
Blaine smiled softly at him. "Well… I was, a bit, when I found out what happened, because what Cooper did was… you know, not what I would've imagined he would do. But then Tina said something that really resonated with me: Derek had a choice. And he chose to walk away. So I'm better off without him. And since I have you in my life…" he cupped Kurt's face. "Trust me, baby. There's no one else I'd rather be with. I'm happy I found you."
Kurt felt so overwhelmed that all he could do was pull Blaine into another kiss, grabbing at him desperately. He loved this man with everything he was, and he was so, so glad that he wasn't here to break up with him…
Blaine seemed to feel as desperate and needy as Kurt, because before he knew it, he was climbing onto his lap, not breaking the kiss, arms going around his neck, thighs bracketing Kurt's. He began to kiss down Kurt's jaw, towards his neck. "Did you really think I was going to break up with you?" He asked between kisses.
"Needing time is never a good sign," Kurt murmured, throwing his head back to offer up more of his neck to him.
"I'm sorry," Blaine said, teeth scraping down the tendon that joined his neck and collarbone.
"It's okay…" Kurt said, because he honestly couldn't care about it now. "As long as you're fine…" He buried his fingers in Blaine's hair and tugged little. "Are you?"
"There are still things I need to deal with, but yeah…" Blaine lapped his way up towards Kurt's mouth and kissed him again. "I'll figure it out."
"I'm here for anything you need," Kurt said, a whimper getting out amongst his words. "If you want to talk about Cooper, or about Derek, or about your dad…"
"Is it okay if what I need is something completely unrelated?" Blaine groaned, biting lightly on Kurt's lower lip. "One week without you and I feel like I'm about to go insane…"
"Fuck, yeah, let's…" Kurt began to say, ready to offer to move this to his bedroom, but there was a constant, annoying buzzing that he couldn't quite identify until he realized something in Blaine's pants was vibrating.
Blaine groaned again, this time in frustration. He pulled away only enough to reach into his pocket and get his phone. He frowned down at the number, like he didn't recognize it. "I can ignore this…"
"Pick it up, it's fine," Kurt said, and while Blaine did just that, he leaned in and pressed a line of kisses to his throat, just to keep his interest.
"Hello?" Blaine said, as his hand moved to the back of Kurt's head. "Yes, this is Blaine Anderson."
Kurt stopped kissing him as soon as he felt Blaine growing tense. He looked up at him, frowning.
"What? Where? Is he okay?" He asked, as he frantically removed himself from Kurt's lap. "Okay. Okay. Thank you. I'll be right there."
Kurt couldn't hide his concern. "What is it? What happened?"
Blaine ran a hand through his hair, messing it up. It looked like everything that had happened in the past week suddenly piled up on his shoulders. He looked ready to collapse. "Cooper's been arrested. He got into a fight at a bar."
"What?" Kurt couldn't believe it. Cooper didn't look like the kind of guy who would do that. "Is he alright?"
"I don't know," Blaine sighed. He leaned in and kissed Kurt's forehead. "I'm sorry, I have to run. I need to go bail him out."
"Wait, wait," Kurt said, as he stood up. He ran into his room and grabbed a pair of sneakers, not wanting to waste time changing outfits, although he normally wouldn't be caught dead out and about in these clothes. He reached for a coat as he rejoined Blaine in the living room. "I'm ready. Let's go."
Blaine's face softened for a moment. "Kurt… you really don't have to…"
"Let me," Kurt said at once, squeezing his hand. "Please. Let me be here for you. I want to."
Blaine sighed, looking at him like he couldn't believe he was real. Then he lifted his hand and kissed his knuckles. "Thank you."
Kurt grabbed his keys and followed Blaine out of the loft. He had no idea what to expect, but there was one thing he was certain of: he wasn't going to let Blaine deal with it by himself.
The cab seemed to be moving at a glacial pace. The only thing keeping Blaine together was Kurt's hand in his. Part of him wished he had told Kurt to stay behind, not knowing what he was about to find, but the bigger part of him… was relieved. He was so sick of dealing with everything by himself, and it was nice that Kurt wanted to be there for him.
He was also torn about Cooper. What the hell had his brother gotten into now? One week away from him and he was messing it all up. Blaine was angry, and wanted to be angry but… he was also so worried, he felt his stomach churning in anticipation. This week he had learned a lot about his brother, about the depth of his problems… and instead of being with him, helping him through it, he had walked away.
What kind of brother was he?
He was so lost in his own head, he didn't notice when the cab stopped in front of the police station. He only reacted when he saw Kurt paying the cab driver.
"Oh, sorry, let me…" Blaine started, looking for his wallet.
"Honey, it's fine," Kurt said, squeezing his arm. "Let's go."
Once they were inside, Kurt stood a few feet apart, letting Blaine take care of things. An officer told him his brother had been the one to start the fight, and that the bar owner had immediately called the police. Since this was Cooper's first offense, he was going to get released with a warning.
While he waited for his brother to be brought out, Blaine's phone pinged a million times, one notification after the other, to the point it felt like it had gone insane. He looked down at it – news alerts. Cooper's name was all over the news, and he didn't need to open a single one of them to know what it meant.
Someone had recorded the fight and it was all over the internet.
Blaine groaned. He didn't have the energy or the time to take care of it right now, but he knew it wasn't something he could ignore.
"Hey, little brother," a quiet voice said.
Blaine looked up and… stopped. Whatever he wanted to say to Cooper died on the tip of his tongue. Cooper's face was a mess of crusted blood, the skin around one of his eyes an ugly purple shade.
"Oh my god…" Blaine muttered, feeling a little sick. "What the hell happened? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Cooper said, glancing away, clearly embarrassed. "It's not as bad as it looks."
"Do you need to go to the hospital?" Blaine asked, coming a little closer to inspect Cooper's face.
"I'm fine," he repeated, rather eagerly. "Let's just go. Please?" He looked back over his shoulder, as if scared they were going to lock him up again. "Now."
"Okay. We'll clean you up at home and then decide if you…" Blaine said, and then, for the second time, simply stopped.
Because coming from the same door Cooper had come through only a handful of seconds ago, was a man Blaine hadn't seen in a very, very long time, and the last person he had expected to run into tonight.
"Dad…" He muttered weakly. "What… what are you doing here?"
"Well, this isn't the family reunion I would have asked for, but it's definitely something," Oscar said. His face looked worse than Cooper's, and it was a miracle Blaine had managed to recognize him at all. He looked so much older, his hair almost completely gray, and he was a little shorter than Blaine remembered him – maybe back when he was younger, Blaine had seen him taller, a threat that loomed over him. "Hi, Blaine."
Cooper had closed his eyes tightly, like this was a train wreck and he didn't want to look at it. "Let's go," he said under his breath, reaching to grab Blaine's arm, squeezing it until it hurt. "Blaine. Let's get out of here."
"What's the rush, Cooper?" Oscar asked. For being a little over seventy five, he looked young, composed, like a polished politician. The kind Blaine wouldn't vote for. "I haven't had my boys together in a very, very long time. I think we should catch up, don't you?"
Cooper turned around so brusquely, he almost tripped with his own feet, and immediately confronted their father. "Don't you dare. You don't get to talk to Blaine. You don't get to be anywhere near him..."
Blaine was so shocked he didn't know what to do. The officer who had released Cooper was suddenly watching them, ready to act in case things escalated.
Oscar raised his hands, looking very innocent. "Calm down, Cooper. There's no need to get so violent."
"You ruined my life!" Cooper screamed, so loud his voice seemed to echo through the precinct. He looked on the verge of tears. "You ruined everything! Get away from us!"
Blaine tried to hold onto Cooper's arm, but it was proving difficult, so instead he wrapped both of his arms around him, restraining him. "Coop. It's okay. It's fine. Let's just go home, alright?"
He tried not to look at Oscar. It was... hard, seeing him again. It seemed to bring back so many bitter memories.
"Ungrateful bastards, both of you," Oscar spat angrily. "After everything I did for you..."
"You didn't do anything for us! It was all for you!" Cooper kept screaming, even as Blaine was trying to get him out of the police station. "You're the ungrateful bastard! You're a lousy father who never cared about us!"
Blaine really didn't want Cooper to be arrested again. He began to pull him towards the exit, as his eyes found Kurt, who was standing against the wall, eyes a little wide and scared. "Kurt, please get the door for me?" He asked.
"Sure, yeah," Kurt muttered, and moved to do what he was told.
Oscar's eyes fell on him and Blaine felt as if his entire world was suddenly tumbling down. "And who is this?"
Blaine's pleading gaze stayed on Kurt. "Get a cab. We'll be right there," he said firmly, trying to convey just how important what he was asking was.
"Ah, I see," Oscar murmured, nodding slowly, as Kurt went out. "You don't want me to meet your boyfriend."
"There's no need for any of this," Blaine said. "I have no idea what the hell happened tonight, but we're going different ways, right now. We don't want anything to do with you."
"He's... awfully young for you, don't you think?" Oscar commented, as if he hadn't heard a single word Blaine had just said.
Blaine tried to ignore the way his blood seemed to turn into ice in his veins. He didn't say anything to their father, simply turned to Cooper and said, as earnestly as possible. "Coop. It's not worth it. Let's get out of here. Let's go home."
His brother's blue eyes were brimming with tears, but now they were finally focused on Blaine and not on Oscar. He nodded. "Yes. Let's go."
Blaine kept an arm around him as they left the police station, taking the steps down to the sidewalk two at a time. Kurt was standing right at the curb, waiting with a taxi and the backseat door opened.
"Cooper!" His father's voice said from behind them, clearly following them. "You and I have unfinished business! I will be seeing you again soon!"
Blaine had no idea what it meant, but he didn't like the sound of that. "Get in the car, Coop."
Cooper looked over his shoulder and said: "Stay away from us. We're done. Do whatever you want. I don't care anymore."
Blaine waited until Cooper had slid into the car before he turned to face his father. "We're serious. I don't know what the hell you were doing with him tonight, but we don't want you in our lives." He didn't give Oscar time to say anything, he simply approached Kurt, who was standing there awkwardly. "Get in the car, darling," he murmured, pressing his hand to the small of Kurt's back. He needed both of them – Cooper and Kurt – to be far away from his father, as soon as possible.
Blaine got in after Kurt – the backseat a little crowded with the three of them there – and closed the door, perhaps a bit more forcefully than necessary. He closed his eyes as the driver waved back into traffic.
Neither of them looked back to see if their father was still there.
So excited to read your reactions to this whole chapter! Hope you liked it!
See you on Saturday.
L.-
