Blaine turned off the TV and let the remote fall next to him. He'd been watching his mother give a pretty passionate speech about the sins of homosexuality for the past twenty minutes and could no longer handle it.

His mom was campaigning again on the highly conservative ticket, and Blaine was always there when she would talk about "maintaining the sanctity of marriage."

Two days before Christmas and everything was going worse than Blaine could have ever imagined.

The plan was to come home from Dalton for the holidays, spend the next few days being as behaved as possible, and then finally telling his parents the truth about who he was.

Encouraged by the few students at Dalton who were out and proud, Blaine decided he should do the same. His parents deserved to know, whether they wanted too or not. He'd carefully planned out what he was going to say, and mentally prepared himself for the backlash. Cooper was coming home, and after talking with Blaine, promised to help back him up.

So Blaine thought he was ready and prepared for everything. That is, until he finally got home. From the first moment every move Blaine made was criticized; every gesture was seen as offensive. He tried, he really did. Unfortunately, no matter what he did his parents were constantly disappointed.

He knew he had to do it though. He could not possibly keep living in secret and hiding who he was. Becoming a part of the Warblers helped him realize that who he was mattered. And he was gay.

That night Blaine helped their cook set up the dinner table. She was a stout, Russian woman with tightly pulled back hair. She spoke constantly, but often Blaine couldn't understand what she was saying. He talked with her about school in an attempt to calm his nerves. His hands shook as he reached for the silverware.

"Malchik, put zose knives down before you cut yourself. Skazhite mne, what is it that bothers you?"

Blaine set down the knives and sunk into a bar stool a few steps away. "Nothing, I'm just nervous." He put his head in his hands and let out a breath.

"Smart, handsome boy like you should not be nervous to tell his parents he is gay." She continued to cut tomatoes for the salad as she said this.

Blaine's head snapped up. The older woman rolled her eyes at his expression.

"Don't look so surprised. Everyone know except your mother."

"My dad…?"

"Cooper tell him almost year ago. Not on purpose."

Blaine fumed. No one was supposed to know. Cooper had promised not to tell anyone. All of the nerves had disappeared and were replaced by rage. The cook looked up to see Blaine's expression and immediately stopped her work. She wiped her hands on her apron and walked over to Blaine.

"Don't blame your brother for zis, he not so smart." She wrapped her arms around him and pulled Blaine close. "Everything will be okay."

Blaine breathed in a shaky breath and let himself fall into the embrace. He just had to survive tonight.

"Blaine, don't grip the fork so hard. It looks like you are going to stab someone."

Blaine paused and adjusted his hold. Today was not the day to try and argue why it didn't matter how hard he held his utensils. During the dinner, Blaine was carefully eyeing his dad. They both seemed to act normally, but he could have sworn his dad had an expectant look on his face whenever Blaine seemed ready to say something.

Blaine refused to look at Cooper at all.

Eventually, the table was cleared and they all sat drinking small cups of tea or coffee. Blaine took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

"Mom, Dad. I have something to tell you."

His mom dropped a sugar cube into her drink and glanced at him. Before he could continue, Blaine's father cut in.

"Are you sure? Do you need to speak now or can it wait?"

"I—."

"Oh let the boy speak," Blaine's mom waved him off.

Blaine glanced from parent to parent before deciding it was okay to continue. "Well then. I need to tell you something important, about me. I'm not…I find…" Blaine forgot his words. The carefully prepared speech was thrown out the window.

He chewed on his bottom lip and closed his eyes. Just say it.

"I'm gay."

The silence that followed those two words was louder than anything Blaine had ever experienced. The only shocked expression was that of his mom, who sat across from him with her mouth slightly ajar.

Blaine shrunk down, unsure if he should say anything else.

Finally, she spoke: "No you're not."

"Wh-what?"

"You are not gay Blaine. Not in this house you aren't."

Blaine stared at her wide eyed. "How can I not be?"

"You simply aren't. You made the decision to like boys, now choose to change that."

"For Christ sakes Sandra it isn't a choice!"

Blaine almost didn't register what his father had yelled across the table. Had his dad actually said something in his defense?

"Excuse me?!" Mrs. Anderson screeched, "I will not have him in this house as long as he is involved in things that go completely against nature!"

"He is your SON."

Both Cooper and Blaine were watching the argument and trying to attract as little attention to themselves as possible. When it looked as if Mrs. Anderson was ready to fling her cup across the room, the boys took it as their sign to leave. Cooper stood and motioned for Blaine to follow him out. As they left, the argument became more heated.

"Do you want to go somewhere?" Cooper asked Blaine, who looked exhausted. He nodded silently and let Cooper take him to the car. He sat down and leaned back against the seat, wishing everything to go away.

The first ten minutes of the drive were in silence. Neither of them spoke a word. Cooper started straight ahead and Blaine had his eyes shut for the majority of the time.

"I can't believe you told him," Blaine finally said.

"I didn't mean to Blaine. It kind of slipped out."

"I trusted you."

Cooper didn't respond. He pulled into the parking lot of The Lima Bean and stopped in the spot closest to the entrance. After shutting off the car, he shifted towards Blaine.

"Hey, little brother, it'll be okay. I promise."

Blaine's eyes welled up with a few tears, "You heard what she said."

"and you heard what dad responded. We'll get through this." Cooper reached across and gave Blaine the best hug he could manage at that angle.

"Okay?" Cooper asked.

"Okay."

"Great, now let me buy you coffee and we'll talk about something not home related."

Blaine nodded and followed Cooper's lead out of the car and into the shop.