Cooper Anderson picked up his phone of the fifth ring. "Blaine!" he said. "Hey, little brother, how's it going?"

Blaine smiled, grateful to hear his brother's voice. "Hey, Coop."

There was a short pause. "What's up?" Cooper asked, concerned.

"I – " Blaine swallowed and sighed. "I miss you," he said stupidly, cursing himself for sounding like a three-year-old.

"Well, I miss you too." Blaine could hear the condescension creeping into his brother's voice. "Um," Cooper began, evidently tired of Blaine's sentimentality, "listen, I'm sort of in the middle of something, so..."

"I did something really stupid," Blaine interrupted, closing his eyes tightly.

Cooper was silent for a moment. "Are you okay?" he asked seriously.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Blaine said quickly.

"So no-one's in hospital?"

"No, Coop."

"And you didn't break any of my stuff?"

"No." Blaine half-smiled.

"So, what happened?"

Blaine sighed again. "I... I kissed one of my best friends under the mistletoe. But... I really like – "

"Woah, Blaine!" Cooper exclaimed. "Gettin' some action!"

"Cooper, I don't need this," Blaine moaned. "Can you just help me out?"

"Right, okay, sorry," came the reply. "What did you want advice on?"

"Well, what do I do now?" Blaine rubbed his eyes and puffed out his cheeks. "I don't even know if he likes me back – "

"You didn't try talking to Dad, did you?" Blaine's silence told him all he needed to know. "Damn, Blaine. This has messed you up, hasn't it?"

Blaine laughed nervously. "Look, it was a kiss under the mistletoe: I just need to know what that means."

"How did you play it afterwards?"

"Gah, um, friendly?"

Cooper's hiss came through as static. "I think you've friendzoned him, bro."

"What? No, I haven't," Blaine replied, his stomach twisting in a nervous panic. "That's not even a thing."

"Oh, yes, it is," Cooper retorted, "and you've done it."

"Well, then, how do I undo it?" Blaine cried desperately.

"Jeez, bro, I dunno," Cooper sniffed. "You pray, I guess."

Blaine groaned and collapsed in a heap on his bed, burying his face frustratedly in his pillow and running a hand over his hair. "Well, do you have anything helpful to say to me?" he moaned.

Cooper laughed, but sympathetically. "Maybe just try to get over him, Blaine. Which one of your friends even is this, anyway?"

"You don't know him," Blaine answered quickly. "He transferred last month to Dalton."

"Last month?" Cooper repeated incredulously. "What does this guy have over you?"

Blaine sighed. "I don't know, Kurt's just..."

"Kurt, hmm?"

"Yeah. Kurt."

"Well, if Kurt doesn't say anything, he's probably not into you," Cooper said matter-of-factly. "Unless – is he the boy? I was assuming he was the girl."

Blaine closed his eyes again, but this time in a painful cringe. "Cooper, we're both boys."

"No, I know, but – "

"No, you don't! That isn't how it works," Blaine interrupted. "God, you always come out with crap like this!"

"Woah!" Cooper sounded hurt. "It's just a simple question, Blaine."

"And it's just a simple answer, Coop, that I've told you enough times: that I am gay, and I like boys, and so neither of us is a girl!" Blaine hung up before he yelled too loudly, and resisted the urge to throw his phone across the room in frustration. He growled angrily and turned around on his bed, to see his father filling his doorway.

Blaine hoped against hope that Mr Anderson had forgotten their conversation four days previously, and worried how much he'd heard.

"Hi, Dad," he choked out eventually.

Blaine's dad looked furious. "What was that?" he asked quietly.

Swallowing, Blaine lowered his gaze. "What was what?"

"Who were you on the phone to?"

"Cooper."

"You talk to your brother like that?" Blaine blankly wondered where this was going. "Your elder brother, and you talk to him like that?"

Blaine shrugged, feeling that he could hardly deny it.

"Do you really think you have the right to talk to your elder brother like that?"

Blaine raised his eyebrows, annoyed. "If he deserves it."

Now it was Blaine's father's turn to look put out. "And did he?"

"Yes."

"And why is that?" Mr Anderson asked derisively.

"He offended me," Blaine replied, sure that that was a safe answer.

"How so?"

"He..." Blaine knew his dad knew that he was gay, but also knew that he tried to avoid that fact as much as possible. They hadn't spoken for two weeks after Blaine came out. He didn't know what to say. "He consistently says something that he knows offends me."

"What?"

Was Blaine's dad looking for an argument? Why was he pushing this?

Blaine took a breath. Well, he'd asked, so Blaine would tell him. "He asked me who was the 'girl' in a gay relationship," he explained. "I've corrected him on this before and he knows it annoys me – "

Mr Anderson suddenly marched over to Blaine and stood over him. "How dare you," he said quietly. "I've talked about this, boy; you don't just fling that word around like it doesn't mean anything! Not in my house."

Blaine swallowed. He was scared of his dad – more scared than he'd admit. "Well, that was what it was, anyway," he finished lamely.

"And does that matter enough to disrespect your elder brother?"

Blaine opened his mouth, then promptly closed it and looked at the floor. "No, sir," he mumbled. He could argue with his father. He just couldn't. Not again.

Mr Anderson seemed satisfied by this. "Alright," he said, before stiffly leaving the room.

Blaine breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been worried it was going to be a lot worse than that. He fell back on his pillow and lay there, eyes closed, breathing deeply. He didn't look forward to the inevitable day that everything bubbled over and they had a screaming match. But at least it wasn't today.