I know I should have warned you guys first, but this is the last chapter in this series. I know it's short, but it's kinda just a cute little filler series while I write some other fics.
Thanks for all of the lovely reviews, everyone!
It doesn't take long before their father is back to his same old self.
Only a few months after the accident, he's saying snide homophobic comments at the dinner table again – despite their mother's protests – and Blaine calls Cooper almost every night, either furious or on the verge of tears.
Cooper is home one day in April when he finally snaps. He's only home for the weekend, and even though Blaine had insisted that it was a waste of a plane ticket, Cooper couldn't resist coming home to see him. The Warblers were performing that weekend and Blaine had a solo, and he didn't want to miss it.
The night of the performance, their family sat down for dinner together before they were due to leave to head to Dalton. Their father, surprisingly, was coming with, which made Cooper and Blaine hope that they were going to have a good night.
"How's California?" Their mom asks as they eat, smiling at her oldest son, "Making a lot of friends?"
Cooper smiles back, "Yeah. I love it."
"Any girlfriends?" Their dad asks Cooper, but he looks pointedly at Blaine when he says it.
"Excuse me?" Cooper asks, almost choking on his food, but then remembers that his father doesn't know. He still thinks that his oldest son is incredibly straight. If only he knew.
"We'll that's a shame," He replies, taking Cooper's reaction as a no, "Blaine could have learned something from you."
"Excuse me?" Cooper says again, only louder.
"Cooper, please don't," Their mother starts, but he shakes his head.
"No mom," He interjects, "This is bullshit! Your own son got jumped because he's gay not even four months ago, and you can't even show some kind of support for him? What kind of father are you?"
He laughs darkly and doesn't even bother to look at Cooper when he replies, "Why would I support it? So he can get his hopes up and get jumped again? Hell, maybe they'll actually beat the gay out of him next time."
Cooper almost, almost throws himself across the table at his own father. The only thing that stops him is the pleading look on Blaine's face. Instead he stands, slams his hands on the table and leans forward. "You could learn something from him," He sneers, "He's only sixteen and he's got more balls than you'll ever have. He came out to you because you're his father and he just wants you to love him and accept him and you're such a fucking pussy that you can't even do that."
"Cooper stop," His mother begs again, but he continues to ignore her.
"Hell, he has more guts than I ever had," He continues, his heart pounding in his ears, "While we're at it, I have something to tell you too, dad. You didn't just raise one gay son, you raised two. And the second one is sick of your shit."
Cooper stands, his legs shaking, and he turns to Blaine, who is staring up at him wide-eyed. "Come on Blaine," Cooper says softly, "We have somewhere to be."
Thankfully, Blaine already has his Warbler uniform on and he doesn't need to grab anything else before he runs after Cooper, who storms out the front door. "Cooper!" He calls after him as he tries to catch up with him. Cooper is striding quickly toward his rental car, which is parked across the street from the house and when he doesn't respond, Blaine calls his name again, "Cooper, wait!"
Finally, he turns around. He's only a few feet away from his car, but he stands in the road and waits until Blaine is standing in front of him. "Why did you do that?" Blaine asks, eyes wide, "You didn't have to do that."
"Yes I did," Cooper says calmly, "He can't talk to you like that, Blaine. And I'll defend you until the day I die."
"But-" Blaine starts.
"But nothing," Cooper says, smiling at him, "I did it because I love you, okay?"
Blaine smiles back, "I love you too."
The two brothers stay in a hotel room that night, but neither of them cares because they have eachother and that's all that matters.
Blaine is a senior in high school when Cooper flies him out to California for the first time. Before, Blaine had insisted on waiting because he didn't want to have to get permission from their parents. The second he turns eighteen, though, Cooper buys the plane tickets.
It's spring break when Blaine finally flies out there. He's surprised when he starts to feel nervous on the plane only thirty minutes before he lands because he realizes that he doesn't know what Cooper's life is like outside of Ohio. Well he's heard about it, but he doesn't know it. He's suddenly worried that things will be different once he's in California, but his worries vanish when Cooper greets him with a warm hug and an unexpected kiss.
The kiss makes his heart skip a beat. Cooper has never been publicly affectionate with him in Ohio.
"I think I could grow to like California," Blaine mumbles against his brother's lips after they part, not caring who sees them.
Later that day, Cooper and Blaine go out to lunch with some of Cooper's friends. They live down the street from him, and they're aspiring actors as well. Blaine quickly realizes that he hasn't met any of Cooper's new friends and is immediately nervous again.
Cooper reassures him not to be worried as they walk into a little café that afternoon and sit down at a table with a boy with longish blonde hair and a girl with short fiery red hair. "I'm Harper," the girl introduces herself, "And this is Landon."
Blaine shakes their hands, smiling, "Blaine. It's great to meet you two. I'm Cooper's-"
"This is your boyfriend?" Harper squeals, obviously excited, "Cooper! He's even cuter than you described him!"
Blaine immediately glances at his brother, who is just smiling at his friends as he sits, and he mimics his actions when he realizes he's just standing there, mouth wide open.
"So when are you going to move out here?" Harper continues, smiling, "Cooper won't shut up about you."
Blaine glances at Cooper again, "Well I- I mean…"
"We haven't really talked about it much," Cooper says quickly, hoping it isn't too much for Blaine all at once, but to his surprise, Blaine just turns back to Harper and grins.
"If I have it my way, hopefully this summer."
Lunch doesn't last too long because Harper and Landon have to get to work and when they leave, Blaine can't help but glance up at his brother. "Boyfriend?" He asks, taking a sip of his iced tea.
"I'm sorry," Cooper rushes out, "I didn't know she was going to be like that."
"You didn't tell them that I'm your brother?"
"No," Cooper replies looking guilty, "Shit, Blaine, I'm sorry if that upset you. I knew we should have talked about it… I just didn't want to freak you out and-"
He stops talking when Blaine reaches over and laces their fingers together. He smiles at Cooper, "Boyfriend. I like the sound of that."
And he does. Blaine is beginning to like California more and more with every passing moment. Cooper's friends in California just see them as boyfriends. They don't know that they're brothers, and Blaine likes that. The one thing he didn't like about Ohio was that he couldn't walk hand in hand with the boy he liked down the street. In California, nobody cared as the two boys walked, fingers intertwined, to the car after lunch.
They pull up to Cooper's apartment only thirty minutes later. It's nice and roomy inside and when they walk into the kitchen, Blaine drops his bag on the floor and hops up to sit on the counter. Cooper is then in front of him, in-between his legs, smiling. His hands go to Blaine's hips, holding their bodies close. "What do you think?"
"About your place?" Blaine asks, grinning, "Or California in general?"
Cooper rubs their noses together affectionately, "Both."
Blaine pulls away looking around the spacious apartment. There's a big window in his living room, allowing light to shine in, making the whole apartment bright and sunny. His kitchen has marble counter tops and looks mostly empty, but Blaine figures he can change that when he moves there. When he moves there. He smiles at the idea of it.
"How far is the beach from here?" He asks, still surveying the area.
Cooper shrugs, "Like twenty minutes."
"Well, I still haven't seen the bedroom," Blaine says pointedly, "But this is amazing…"
Cooper waits for him to continue, so he does. "And California…" He says breathlessly, "Coop, you have no idea… I've wanted this for so long. All I've ever wanted was to be able to introduce you as my boyfriend; to walk down the street hand in hand with you. I love it here."
Cooper smiles in return, trying to fight the tears forming in his eyes, "This is all I've ever wanted." He finally leans forward and presses a hot kiss on Blaine's lips, his heart swelling because Blaine wants it too. When he pulls away after a moment, he's grinning mischievously, "You still haven't seen the bedroom."
Blaine grins back, "Care to change that?"
At the end of the week, Cooper is driving Blaine back to the airport to go home, when they have to pull the car over. He can't remember exactly how the conversation started, but then Blaine is teary eyed and saying, "I don't want to go back, Coop. When I'm there, you're just my brother and I hate it."
Thankfully, they're still on a side street by Cooper's apartment, so only one car has to swerve around them when he pulls the car over suddenly. "Stop," Cooper says sternly, causing Blaine to look up at him, surprised. "Don't say shit like that, Blaine."
"What?" Blaine's eyes are wide because he doesn't understand why Cooper is suddenly yelling at him.
"I'm sorry," Cooper soothes, "I didn't mean to yell. Just… don't say that. Okay? We've never just been brothers."
"But-"
"No," Cooper says, shaking his head, "No buts. You're out of school in May, and the second you're done, you're moving out here with me and you never have to worry about dad or any of the pathetic people from Ohio ever again, okay?"
Blaine nods, wiping the tears from his face, "I love you, Coop."
Cooper leans over to place a quick kiss on his lips, "I love you too."
When Blaine graduates in May, Cooper is the crowd with their parents, smiling and proud. Though Blaine insists that he doesn't have to come – that he could easily just meet him at the airport when he flies back to California – Cooper stubbornly tells him that he wouldn't miss it for the world. He drives out to Ohio so that he and Blaine can drive back with his things once he's done packing.
After the ceremony, Cooper finds Blaine in the crowd and envelops him in a warm hug. "I'm so proud of you," He murmurs against Blaine before kissing the top of his head.
When they part, Blaine is grinning wide. "There's someone I want you to meet," He says cheerfully, taking his hand. He leads them through the crowd until he finds who he's looking for. Cooper recognizes him as one of the Warblers and smiles warmly when Blaine introduces them.
"Cooper, this is Wes," He says happily, "Wes, Cooper."
"It's great to finally meet you," Wes says, smiling and shaking Cooper's hand, "Blaine won't shut up about how excited he is to move out to California with you."
Cooper laughs and jokes, "Well, good. Or else I'd have to rethink him moving out."
Blaine wanders off to hug a couple of his other friends, leaving Wes and Cooper alone. Wes takes the moment to lean in close to Cooper and say softly, "I'm just glad that Blaine has found someone who loves him."
Cooper immediately opens his mouth to say his usual, Oh it's not like that. We're brothers, but Wes cuts him off.
"I know."
Cooper is sure that his eyes pop out of his head at the admission. He clears his throat and tries to compose himself, looking around before asking, "Y-you know?"
Wes just smiles, "Yeah. I could care less. As long as Blaine's happy, I'm happy. He's such a great person. He deserves the best."
"Well, I try," Cooper says jokingly, his heart pounding.
"You do a good job," Wes compliments, glancing over at Blaine who is laughing with some of his friends. "Anyway, I gotta get going. People to see. But it was great meeting you, Cooper. I'm sure I'll see you soon."
Cooper nods him on his way and as he walks away, Blaine makes his way back over. "He knows?" He whispers to Blaine as they walk away to find their parents.
"He sort of always had an idea," Blaine whispers back, "He just finally asked about it a few weeks ago… He doesn't care."
Cooper smiles in return, "He's a good friend."
At the end of the week, the two boys have all of Blaine's things packed up. There are a few boxes that are going to California (mostly pictures, clothes, and necessities) and the rest is in boxes, ready to be sent to storage.
Their father is absent, like usual, when Cooper and Blaine are done packing everything into Cooper's car, and their mom comes out onto the lawn, teary eyed, to say goodbye to her sons. "I'm going to miss you so much," She murmurs into Blaine's hair as they hug.
"You don't have to," Blaine says reassuringly, looking at Cooper, "You can always come stay with us."
She nods and wipes a few tears away, "I know. I'm just going to miss my boys."
Cooper and Blaine each hug her a few times more before getting into Coopers car, promising they'll call her when they get to California, and then they're driving away. As the house disappears, Blaine watches the rear view mirror.
"You gonna miss it?" Cooper asks, glancing at him.
"I'll miss mom," Blaine replies, "But not dad. Or Ohio."
"You sure?" He asks, worried that Blaine might be having second thoughts.
"As long as I have you, I'll be fine," Blaine says softly, reaching over to lace his fingers with Cooper's.
It takes them about four days to make it back to California because Cooper had planned some pit stops along the way, insisting that if they're driving, Blaine needs to experience a real road trip. When they finally make it to Cooper's apartment, they're both exhausted, but excited to start their life together.
When they walk inside, it's about dinner time. They turn on the lights and Blaine's eyes are immediately drawn to a tacky "welcome home" banner hanging in the living room. His eyes then travel to the kitchen, where there are a few covered plates of food waiting for them. He glances at Cooper, who is just grinning.
"I had Landon and Harper drop that off for us a little bit ago," He explains, and Blaine suddenly remembers yelling at Cooper for texting and driving when they were getting close to home. "I figured you could use a romantic dinner once we got home. It's Italian. The banner is my doing though," He jokes.
When Blaine just stands there, staring at everything, Cooper immediately gets worried, "It's not too much is it?"
Blaine shakes his head, "No, no. It's perfect. I'm just glad to be home."
Cooper then smiles and takes his hand and leads him to the already made dinner table. He pulls Blaine's chair out and lets him sit down, then runs to the kitchen to grab the food. Once both boys are settled and eating, Cooper speaks up again, "Blaine?"
Blaine swallows his food and looks up, "Yes?"
Cooper takes a deep breath, playing with the piece of jewelry in the pocket of his coat that he had neglected to take off. He had wanted to have this talk with Blaine for a while but kept putting it off because the time wasn't right. Now that they were home, it felt perfect. "If this makes you uncomfortable, just tell me… it's just- this is something I've been wanting to give you for a while."
Blaine raises an eyebrow in confusion but smiles warmly at his brother after a second, "What is it, Coop?"
Cooper takes a deep breath before pulling the silver band out of his pocket and setting it on the table. His heart is pounding in his ears and he's surprised he hasn't forgotten how to talk yet. "I know it's kind of impossible for us to get married someday," He starts, his hands shaking in his lap, "But I wanted to give you this. I guess it's kind of just a promise that I'll always be here."
Blaine just stares down at the ring sitting on the table, then looks up at Cooper who smiles at him nervously. He remembers vividly a conversation that he had with Cooper a few years ago – one that he's not too proud of. He remembers telling Cooper that all he wants is to be able to introduce his boyfriend to his friends, to be able to hold hands with him in public. To get married someday. He has to stop himself from crying when he realizes that Cooper has given him all of those things.
When he realizes that Cooper's smile has faded and a look of worry has spread across his face because he hasn't said anything yet, he quickly grabs the ring and slides it on his finger. "I love it, Coop," He says, smiling down at his hand then up at his brother.
"Really?" Cooper asks, still nervous, "It's not too much?"
Blaine then leans across the table so their faces are close, "Really. I love it. And I love you."
"I love you too, B," Cooper says softly, and then Blaine is closing the gap between them and kissing him softly.