With a slight sigh Blaine opened the door to his house carelessly, calling out that he was home and not expecting an answer. He was startled when Cooper shot back that he was in the kitchen. Arching a brow he followed his voice, not prepared for the image that was bestowed upon him.

Cooper was practically covered in flour. Donning an apron, of all things.

“Cooper, what the heck are you doing?” Blaine asked, then biting his lip to keep from laughing.

“Making cookies! They were supposed to be a surprise for you, but you came home early.” Cooper replied, acting like it was the most obvious thing in the world while he flung around a whisk for emphasis, only succeeding in making a bigger mess. Blaine stared at him, eyebrows furrowed. Cooper barely ever cooked things…

“Why?” He asked suspiciously.

“Why Blaine, I’m hurt! Can’t a big brother make his little brother cookies without seeming shady?” Cooper asked, feigning offense and throwing out his arms.

“Not in this household.” Blaine deadpanned. Cooper grinned.

“Fine, fine. You caught me.” He paused, grin widening as he leaned against the counter ad propped his head up on his arm, whisk still in hand.

“How was your first day of school?” Blaine continued to eye him cautiously, sitting down on the stool on the other side of the island counter.

“Fine. A little odd, but fine.” Blaine said. Which was almost the truth. He, of course, left out the part about the bullying.

When Blaine had come out to his family, it was definitely not the way he had planned it. He had had a whole speech of sorts ready and everything.

But of course, things never go as planned.

“I don’t see why you had to take a stupid boy to the dance in the first place!” His father had seethed, as soon as Copper had gone to the restroom. And he was on a roll, fuming as he ranted, despite his wife trying to calm him down.

Blaine felt anger start to well up in him, becauae Alan was not a 'stupid boy', he was Blaine's best friend.

“Because I’m gay!”

And suddenly the room was very quiet, other than the sound of Blaine’s heart monitor.

After that his already strained relationship with his father obviously made no improvement. Most of the time he didn’t comment about it, but Blaine could tell he was displeased. After all, his father did say that ‘Someone like Obama should not be running for President if they support gay marriage’.

His mother agreed about the marriage thing, but still treated Blaine with respect and love. She was trying, and making great progress, too.

Cooper was the only one that accepted him wholeheartedly. He had kind of shrugged it off like “yeah, what was your first clue?” He had probably been expecting it, Blaine reckoned.

“Did you make any friends?” Cooper pressed, nudging him with the whisk a couple of times. Blaine swatted it away, hesitating a bit. Had Kurt become his friend? They hadn’t really talked, obviously, and Kurt didn’t seem too happy to be tutoring him.

“Maybe. Hopefully.” Blaine said, taking it upon himself to scoop up a bite of un-cooked cookie dough that sat in a bowl next to him. Cooper instantly made a face of interest, tapping his hand with the whisk in a scolding manor without batting an eyelash.

“Any boys?” He teased, grinning knowingly. Blaine felt his face take on a red tinge, looking down.

“OH HO HO. It is a boy!” Cooper was interrupted from his happy dance when the oven timer went off, pronouncing the cookies as done. He quickly slid on an oven mitt, mischievous smile still on his face.

“Is dad and mom already on their way to that business trip?” Blaine asked, deciding a subject change was best. Cooper nodded, a frown slipping onto his face for a second. He placed the tray on the counter, admiring his handiwork with pride. For once they looked actually…edible.

“So it’s just you and me buddy.” He stated, smile back on his face seconds later.

“You don’t have to stay you know. You can go see your friends or whatever.” Blaine said flatly. He was used to having the house to himself. This was probably the longest conversation they had had in a long time. Cooper shook his head, walking around the counter and placing a hand on Blaine’s shoulder.

“What I want to do, is spend some time with my little brother before I go back to LA.” He announced. Blaine smiled, actually smiled. He liked the sound of that.

“Can I get some milk with those cookies?”

For the rest of the day they spent their time talking and playing various video games. Cooper had even helped him with his homework, hanging the fact that he had beat him at Mario Kart over his head the whole time.

It was about ten o’clock when Blaine finally shuffled into his room (thankfully it was a Friday night), yawning. He slipped into sleep easily, the fun events of the day still fresh in his mind.

Blaine giggled as he led his ‘date’ out to the back parking lot, where his friend’s dad would be picking them up.

“I had a lot more fun than expected.” Alan announced, looking bemused. Blaine laughed, nodding.

“Yeah, me too.” They stopped walking for a bit, Blaine scuffling his feet while Alan watched the roads.

“Thanks for asking me, by the way.” He said suddenly, turning to look at Blaine. Blaine shrugged, a bashful smile on his face.

“Don’t mention it. We should get to have some fun too, right?” He said with a grin, nudging him. They both dissolved into more laughter, Blaine thinking about how perfect the night had been.

“Hey, Homos! Where do you think you’re going?”

…

“Alan, run!”

…

“Blaine!”

Blaine jerked forward in his bed, letting out a scream. He let out deep, shaky breaths, already feeling tears falling down his cheeks. He was temporarily startled when he felt a pair of arms wrap him in an embrace, but curled into it once he herd Cooper’s voice attempting to soothe him.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay. It was just a dream.” He murmured softly, cheek pressed against Blaine’s mop of curls. He rubbed his back, making more shushing sounds as his sweet, innocent baby brother was wracked with more sobs.

“I don’t want to be scared any more, Coop.” Blaine managed to mumble in between sobs, voice sounding hoarse and small. Cooper’s heart clenched even more at how defeated Blaine sounded, and the fact that he had called him ‘Coop’, a nickname he hadn’t used in a long time.

“I know, I know. Everything’s gonna be alright.” He assured him quietly, brushing away a tear of his own discreetly as he tightened his hold on his brother protectively.

“Everything’s gonna be alright.”

The next morning Blaine managed to get out of bed, head pounding and throat sore. He stumbled his way into the kitchen mumbled a greeting to Cooper.

“Morning, Blaine.” He could feel Cooper’s eyes on him but made no attempt to bring up last night. Cooper had to know that it was about Sadie Hawkins, as it was a frequent nightmare Blaine had.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Cooper asked, after a pause. Blaine shrugged.

“Cereal’s fine.” Blaine said, crossing over to the cupboard to get a bowl.

“Good. Because I don’t know how to make any breakfast foods.” Cooper replied. Blaine laughed slightly, turning to the fridge to get the milk when his phone rang. He had stuffed it into his pocket before coming down stairs, thankfully. He looked at the phone strangely as an unknown number flashed on his screen. It was definitely not his area code. Tentatively he answered it.

“Hello?”

“Blaine?” His eyes widened a bit.

“Kurt?” Cooper leaned forward with interest, hanging on his every word.  He didn’t have much time to wonder how he had gotten his phone number before Kurt started speaking.

“Oh, good. I hope this isn’t a bad time.” Blaine shook his head, before realizing that Kurt couldn’t see him. He waved distractedly at Cooper when he snorted.

“N-No I was just eating breakfast, actually.”

“Alright then. So I have a time. How does four sound?”

“F-four, as in Today?” Blaine asked, blinking.

“Yeah. My step brother will be God knows where and my parents are going on a date, so I have the house free.”

Blaine swallowed thickly, blushing and sending his brother a glare when Cooper started catcalling quietly. Kurt and him, alone at his house. Kurt, as in captain of the Cheerios. Kurt as in his sexy crush, and himself, alone. He didn’t think he could handle that.

“If it’s a bad time I guess we can w-“

“No!” Blaine cut him off, clearing his throat and face-palming himself at how desperate he sounded. Clearly his subconscious hated him.

“Four is great, that’s fine. I’ll be there.”

“Fine. See you then.”

Once the call had ended Cooper began happy dancing again while Blaine nearly went into hyperventilation mode.

“Blaine’s gotta date, Blaine’s gotta date, Blaine’s gotta date.” Blaine was in the process of smacking Cooper in the arm when a thought hit him that made hip gasp loudly.

What was he going to wear?