Blaine knocked on the door to Cooper's room. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and he had no idea what to do about it. What if Cooper didn't take it well? What if- he had to push those thoughts out of his mind. He had to be optimistic about it, he had to. Cooper opened the door and smiled down at him
"Hey, bud!" He said, smiling. But his face instantly dropped when he saw Blaine's expression. "...are you okay?" he asked, Blaine took a deep breath
"I need to talk to you." he said, Cooper nodded and moved aside. Blaine looked around. They had kept everything mostly the same since Cooper had gone off to college, sometime's Blaine went in there and just sat on his bed and thought, wishing his brother was there. Thirteen was a hard age, you know. They sat on Cooper's bed and Blaine tried to get his breathing back to normal.
"Come on, Blaine, you can talk to me." Cooper said, smiling, "remember, you were the only one I told about what happened with that chick under the bleachers." he winked and Blaine laughed
"Yeah...It's just...Cooper," he took a deep breath "I don't think I like girls." he closed his eyes tightly, moments passed, he cracked one eye open and saw Cooper staring at him with a look of confusion.
"What?"
"I-I'm gay?" Blaine said, but it sounded more like a question, Cooper let out a breath and ran a hand over his face. He stood up. "Cooper?" Blaine squeaked "Cooper, where are you going?"
"I'll be back...I just...I need to think for a minute." Blaine's eyes welled up and moments later he heard the car starting. He ran back into his room and flopped himself down onto the bed. He clutched his pillow to his chest and sobbed. Cooper hated him, his father hated him, his mother wasn't even there, she was off on some business trip. Blaine cried and cried until there was nothing left in him, so he slept. He was awoken by a soft knock on his door nearly an hour and a half later. He rubbed at his eyes and sat up just in time to see Cooper opening the door.
"...Blaine?" He called quietly, and Blaine broke down again
"You hate me." He choked, wrapping his arms around himself "You hate me, don't you? You hate me, dad h-hates me," Cooper's eyes widened and he rushed over to Blaine, kneeling down in front of him. He gripped the tops of Blaine's arms
"Did I ever say that?" He asked
"...n-no," Blaine stuttered
"Exactly, Blaine, I could never hate you. I said I needed to think about this, and I did. Nothing changed, you're still my little brother, okay? And I love you just the same."
"B-but Dad, a-and all the kids at school-"
"I don't give a damn. They just don't understand, you're an amazing kid, Blaine, you're so talented, and if they can't see that, then fuck them." he smiled a little, and Blaine smiled, too. "And I'll talk to dad. Have you told mom?"
"No," Blaine sighed "She's been away, and you only just came home...it's been months and dad still doesn't talk to me." Cooper pulled him into a hug
"You should have called me." he said,
"I didn't want to bother you."
"You're never going to bother me with something like this, I love you, okay?" Blaine smiled and nodded
"Love you, too."
oOo
He'd had a bad feeling about this. He told Blaine to be careful, he'd told them to come right home. So why was this happening? He'd taken the call, told his father, and ran out the door. He struggled to obey traffic laws as he drove to the hospital. He parked sloppily and ran through the doors and up to the front desk.
"My brother is here, Blaine Anderson." he said, the Nurse pointed him in the direction
"Room 308." she said, and Cooper hurried off. He slowed down as he came upon the room, door slightly ajar, he saw the doctor standing in front of the hospital bed. He stepped into the room and peeked around the doctor. He covered his mouth with his hand. Both Blaine and the doctor turned to look at him. Blaine wore a cast around his right arm and left leg, he had a neck brace on and an oxygen tube in his nose. Every inch of him that Cooper could see was black and blue, there were various I.V's attached to his arms, and machines everywhere.
"...Blaine." he choked, the only confirmation he got that Blaine could even hear him was a small movement of his mouth. Cooper walked forward "God, I'm so sorry."
"Cooper, is it?" The doctor asked, Cooper nodded, "Blaine was asking for you. We're going to need to keep him, he had some internal bleeding, and we want to monitor him for the time being." Cooper nodded in understanding.
"I'm staying with him." he said
"Of course." The doctor nodded "some nurses will be around to check on him every once in a while." Cooper nodded and the doctor disappeared into the hallway. Cooper sat down next to Blaine,
"I"m so sorry, bud, I'm so sorry." Blaine took a deep breath and winced, it took him a moment, but he rasped out,
"S'not your fault."
oOo
Blaine wasn't the same. Whenever Cooper came to visit he could tell. He didn't hear the music through the walls at night. Blaine didn't smile as much, he didn't insist on showing Cooper something new he'd learned in Glee Club. He just sat. He read, he ate, he did his homework, but he wasn't happy. This went on for...too long. Months turned into a year, and finally, finally, Blaine came home smiling. Cooper looked up at him from his position on the couch and smiled.
"How was school?" he asked, Blaine sighed and set his backpack down
"It was great, I'm glad the week is over...but it was great." Cooper nodded, he wished he could see Blaine more often, but with work, having his own place, and Blaine living at Dalton, there really just wasn't time.
"...Is there a reason it was so great?"
"I got into the Warblers!" he said, smiling widely, "They're the Glee Club at Dalton, all the guys are so great...I actually have friends, Coop!" he sighed heavily and took a book out of his bag. Cooper smiled along with him. Blaine had friends. Blaine was okay.
oOo
"Blaine is not okay."
"Wesley?" Cooper asked "What do you mean? What happened?"
"He's an oblivious asshat!"
"...well what else is new?" Cooper chuckled "seriously, don't scare me like that." there was a moment of silence
"oh...oh, I'm sorry." Wes said seriously, realizing why Cooper would have been afraid. "It's nothing bad, well, not really. You see, theres this new kid-"
"Yeah, Kurt." Cooper said, interrupting, "Blaine talks about him all the time, it's like his best friend, right?"
"Best friend," Wes scoffed "please, that's not what Kurt wants." Cooper's eyes widened, and he smiled
"You mean..."
"Oh yeah, Kurt has got it bad. He thinks nobody knows, but really, it's insanely obvious. Except to Blaine. Blaine's an idiot."
"Well, why don't you tell him?"
"Because he's Kurt's mentor, and aside from that, he likes Jeremiah."
"Whose Jeremiah?" Cooper asked,
"Some guy that works at the gap."
"Ew."
"I know." Cooper took a deep breath. He really had no idea what was going on in Blaine's life. He understood if Blaine didn't want to talk about boys with him, it would be kind of awkward. But he didn't know any of this. He sighed.
"Look, Jeremiah is creepy, and I don't like his hair. I'm just saying that next time you see Blaine, you might want to talk some sense in to him."
"Oh, don't worry." he said and hung up.
oOo
"Jesus, Coop, I'm so embarrassed." Blaine said, covering his head with his pillow.
"Yeah, I get it. It happens to the best of us, but you have to get out of bed."
"I don't wanna." Blaine complained, holding the pillow tighter.
"Okay...well, Blaine, maybe Jeremiah just wasn't right for you." Blaine peeked out from under the pillow
"...you really think so?"
"Yeah, if he really liked you, he wouldn't have cared about who found out." he smiled "maybe, maybe you just need to find someone a little more like you."
"...What do you mean?" Blaine asked, sitting up
"How about a boy, around your age, likes singing, and coffee, maybe has blue eyes and a smile you keep talking about?" Blaine's cheeks turned red
"I...he's my friend, I'm his mentor, I don't think of him that way."
"Maybe you should start." Cooper said, with a lift of his eyebrow and a smirk, he got up and walked out of Blaine's room, smiling to himself.
oOo
Blaine went back to school that monday with ambition. He was going to try to look at Kurt differently. Cooper had told him to try, and one thing he'd learned in his life is that Cooper's advice rarely backfired. Well, actually, it never backfired. So he was going to try. Kurt had been doing better, anyway, he didn't really need a mentor anymore, right? So as he went to Warbler practice that day, he was determined.
Kurt walked in after everyone else. Completely clad in black, wearing a somber expression.
"I'd like to make an announcement." he said, Wes nodded, banging his gavel.
"Of course, everyone, please direct your attention to Warbler Kurt."
Kurt took a deep breath
"Last night, Pavarotti passed away." he began, and Blaine's heart caught in his throat, he knew what Pavarotti meant to Kurt. Kurt swallowed hard "I know, he was just a bird.." But god, he wasn't, Pavarotti was like Kurt, small and fragile, but bright with a voice like bells. Trapped, but so, so free.
"But I'd still like to honor him...so," Kurt gestured to the side and a fellow Warbler began to play a soft tune on the guitar that Blaine immediately recognized.
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly,"
Blaine stopped breathing for a second. He almost missed it when the rest of the Warblers began to back Kurt up. Jesus, Cooper was always right, how did he do that? Or maybe Blaine was just stupid. How could he only just be realizing this? It's like the lights had suddenly changed in the room and Kurt shone brighter than all of them. Blaine's heartbeat was irregular in his chest for the rest of practice. And at the end of the song, there was a moment when Kurt's face crumpled slightly, and Blaine knew. He stood up, giving a specific look to Wes, and pulled Kurt out of the room.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked, Kurt nodded
"Yeah, of course." he assured, but Blaine shook his head
"You don't need to lie to me, you know." he said, bringing a hand up to cup Kurt's cheek "I know what he meant to you." Kurt smiled as a tear slid down his cheek.
"He was...he was me, in a way...and now that he's gone," Kurt shrugged, Blaine pulled him close and hugged him.
"It's okay, you'll be okay." he said, rubbing Kurt's back and kissing his hair. Kurt stiffened in his arms before Blaine had realized what he'd done, and pulled away a bit. Kurt looked up at him,
"Was that okay?" he asked, and Kurt nodded, lips parted slightly, Blaine smiled. "Kurt, it's just...watching you do Blackbird in there...I don't know, something changed. Or...it's always been there, I just didn't realize it...but," he took a breath "you're different...and you're so, so special to me, Kurt." He tilted his head a bit and leaned in, he whispered, just barely,
"can I?" Kurt gave the slightest of nods and that's all Blaine needed because he just wanted to know. So he closed the space between them and connected his lips with Kurt's.
He'd have to remember to thanks Cooper later.
COOPER. oh I hope he's nice. Please be nice.