“Aren’t you two a pathetic sight,” Cooper smiled brightly and handed both boys their snacks, yogurt covered pretzels for Kurt and Reece’s Pieces for Blaine. 

“Shut up,” Blaine didn’t open his eyes but grabbed at the bag. 

A week had gone by since the fire and Blaine was still in the hospital. Kurt had been released to hobble around on crutches at home but he spent most of his time with his boyfriend. 

The injuries were awkward to explain but after a few placed tears and one breakdown later the police stopped asking questions from the clearly distraught teenaged boys. 

“How are you feeling?” Cooper took a seat and started in on his own bag of candy.

“Super,” Blaine stuffed a handful of candy into his mouth and moaned. “So much better than hospital food. Seriously if I ate any more Salisbury steak or rice pudding I was going to stab someone.”

“Tell me about it,” Cooper raised his eyebrows. “There is only so much lukewarm room service a human being can handle.”

“I told you, you and your family are more than welcome to stay at my house until you get things figured out,” Kurt pointed out. 

“We don’t want to impose,” The older man shrugged. “I mean we don’t know how long it’ll take to get this all figured out and insurance crap blah, blah, blah.”

“Did anything get recovered from the fire?” Blaine slid his fingers through the candy pieces in his bag, staring down at them. 

“No.”

“Good,” Blaine nodded sharply and ate a few more. 

“It’ll be good to start anew. We’ve been living with this thing for years,” Cooper shivered lightly. 

Blaine nodded slowly, eyes still locked on the candies in his bag. With a frown, Kurt reached out and placed a hand on his thigh.

“We’re alright,” He whispered, finally getting his boyfriend to look at him.

“Yeah. We’re just fine,” He gave him a tight unconvincing smile.

“Blaine,” Cooper noticed the tense set of his brother’s shoulders and leaned forward. “It’s over. We can move past this now.”

“I keep having nightmares you know,” He took in a deep shaky breath. “And it’s not the usual ones. I don’t see myself through his eyes or relive those murders through him. I keep dreaming that I’m here in my hospital bed and someone I love comes in. It’s usually you two but sometimes it’s mom and dad. We start having a conversation, just a totally normal one, and then it gets dark. I hear the doors lock and they stand over me, looking at me with Gallaway’s eyes. I wake up right before they kill me.”

“He’s gone though Blaine,” Kurt whispered.

“And we thought that last time,” Blaine’s head snapped up and he glared darkly. “We thought he was gone last time and he wasn’t. I don’t want to just spend the rest of my life waiting. Even if he is gone I still have those nightmares. I can’t stop seeing it in my head over and over again. I hate myself for it and know you all must hate me a little too.”

“Why in the world would we hate you Blaine?” Kurt gasped.

“Because I brought this thing into our lives. It was only after me and because you tried to protect me you got hurt,” His blinked furiously. “Cooper, we’re homeless and Kurt you’re sitting here with a broken leg and hip. I am, at least partially, at fault.”

“Blaine…”

“I know. It was his doing. I didn’t ask for this. How can I ever blame myself?” Blaine rolled his eyes. “But it doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty. How come out of all the other boys who were murdered, I’m the only one who survived?”

“Because you’re strong,” Cooper said simply. 

“I’m not. Not really,” Blaine’s eyes were red rimmed. “I never really had many friends. I was always the weird quiet kid in the back who got picked on. Then I lost the few friends I had when I came out. Everyone in school tried to make my life a living hell.”

“I remember,” Cooper whispered.

“And when I came out mom and dad wouldn’t talk to me and you were really distant,” His eyes clouded with tears. “I wanted to do it then. I really thought about it. How easy it would be, how much better it would be. It was really bad for a long time.”

Kurt squeezed his hand tighter and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. 

“Then I met you and it changed me. I was ready to start living again, you know?” He let out a sharp laugh. “And that…thing…tried to take that away from me. I know I’m the one who brought all this on. I know it. But I wasn’t going to let him take you away from me. Cooper, I know we’ve had our troubles and with everything that monster made me do we didn’t have the best relationship. I want us to be brothers again.”

“I’d like that,” Cooper smiled back. 

“And Kurt, I’ve been a crappy boyfriend,” He laughed softly when Kurt made a protesting sound. “But…even through all the shit we were put through it was a blessing since I really found out how much you meant to me. I want to be with your for the rest of my life and nothing in this world, or beyond it, is going to break us apart.”

They kissed, short and sweet, and broke apart smiling. 

“So we move forward,” Cooper cleared his throat. “And we never mention Gallaway again. He doesn’t even deserve the preservation of his memory. He wanted immortality so badly, we will make sure every little sign of his existence is destroyed.”

“What about William?” Kurt whispered. “He saved our asses on multiple occasions. He deserves so much more than he got.”

“We’ll remember him,” Cooper assured him. “Fuck, how can I not remember the guy who saved my brother’s life?”

“You’re getting all cheesy,” Blaine laughed, grinning at his brother. 

“I’m allowed to get cheesy,” Cooper punched him lightly in the shoulder. “I’m your big brother dude, get used to me embarrassing you. It’s going to happen much more often.”

“Oh God,” Kurt laughed and buried his face in his hands.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Cooper exclaimed standing up and holding his candy out as a toast. “Thank you so much for coming out to Kurt and Blaine’s wedding. I’m Cooper, the best man and Blaine’s amazing older brother. I have known Kurt was right for my baby brother for years but just the other night it sealed the deal when Kurt wasn’t pissed that I got Blaine wasted with a bunch of ripped strippers.”

“Cooper!” Blaine laughed and swung a hand halfheartedly at him.

“They were dirty, dirty boys, at least that’s what Blaine kept saying as he…well…you know,” He waggled his eyebrows and jumped out of swinging distance. “But they kissed, made up, and we all had several more shots. Oh, Blaine and Kurt. My brother and brother-in-law. I wish you many wonderful years together and many adorable adopted children all of which, of course, will be named after me.”

“We will be naming none of our children after you!” Kurt rolled his eyes and grinned brightly. 

At the mention of their future children, Blaine gave his boyfriend a clearly adoring look.

“To Kurt and Blaine,” Cooper stuffed a handful of candy in his mouth.

“You might want to polish that speech a bit,” Kurt scrunched his nose at the brightly colored candy shells stuck to Cooper’s face. 

“To Kurt and Blaine!” Cooper said instead, showing off the candy stuck in his teeth to Kurt’s horror and disgust.