Yes, Cooper is here. All these chapters take place between chapter 13 Maximum and chapter 14 Next. You can say that Cooper showing up is kind of random and out of nowhere, since it never gets mentioned again after chapter 14, but you know, that is what happens when you decide a ‘missing scene’ when you’re basically done with the main story.

ETA: I edited chapter 14 Next. Cooper's visit is now mentioned!

Cooper lands on JFK and he has a taxi waiting for him to take him to Kurt and Blaine’s apartment. They have no idea that he’s coming, so Cooper hopes that they’re home. He quickly checks Sha-Bash for possible ‘Klaine’ sightings, but the #klaine tag has no new updates, so they’re not spotted anywhere.

During the flight, Cooper had some time to think.

He understands why Blaine didn’t tell him. They’ve gotten closer in the last couple of years, but their age gap was too big when they were kids and Cooper was busy with becoming famous. And when he was eighteen, he moved to Los Angeles to live with his mother’s family to pursue that fame even more.

Turns out that Blaine got the fame and the money to his name, not Cooper. People are always surprised to find out that Cooper is the brother to the two-time-Grammy-nominated singer Blaine Anderson.

Well, stepbrothers, but who cares. Blaine and Cooper certainly don’t. They never completely lost touch, but there was a nasty intermediate period where Cooper was too busy with being a star and by the time Cooper was in his thirties and Blaine is his twenties, life got in the way.

Still, they make effort and in the last couple of years, it’s gotten much better, even though their father stopped talking to Blaine almost completely.

But Blaine will always be a more private person towards Cooper. So no, it doesn’t surprise him.

The doorman recognises Cooper from last year’s visit, so he lets him in, and Cooper takes the elevator to the right floor. He knocks on the door leading to Kurt and Blaine’s fancy apartment.

After a while, the door opens and Kurt looks very confused to see him here.

“Hey Kurt, I’m Cooper. You might not remember me, but I’m Blaine’s brother!”

Kurt gives him a long look and he turns red.

“h- H-Hi,” Kurt stammers.

Cooper winks and clicks his tongue. “Good to hear that you still find me deadly attractive. Now, where’s my brother so that I can tease him about it?”

He pushes past a bewildered Kurt and he enters the apartment. It’s empty.

“You were in the Free Credit Rating Today’s commercial!” Kurt squeals.

Cooper barks out a laugh. That was years ago, he’d basically forgotten all about it. Wow, it must’ve been relatively recent for Kurt. Cooper did the math so he knows that Kurt lost his memories from 2012 and on.

“Wow, déjà vu, Kurt,” Cooper grins and then he sings: “Know your score, Free Credit Rating Today dot com, slash savings!”

Kurt claps his hands in delight and he yells: “I love those commercials! The jingle is my ringtone, or was. The jingle was my ringtone!”

Cooper smiles one of wannabe-celebrity smiles and he tries not to freak out. This whole conversation is a bit uncanny. The commercials are recent to Kurt!

Cooper’s never forgotten the first time he met Kurt, all the way back in 2017. By then, Cooper had moved on from Free Credit Rating Today to some smaller TV roles, but Kurt’s enthusiasm had made Cooper feel like a superstar, especially when Kurt told him that he used the jingle as his ringtone years earlier.

Now, it is weird.

At least, this time he won’t have to deal with Kurt’s jealous boyfriend Adam, who did not like Kurt ogling Cooper, and with a jealous Blaine, who also did not like Kurt ogling Cooper, but for different reasons.

Speaking of…

“Where’s Blaine? I didn’t tell him that I was coming. I kinda booked the tickets last minute.”

“You- what? He’s not home right now, because he didn’t know you were coming. He’s at Sebastian’s” Kurt looks confused and rightly so. Cooper’s blood boils at the mention of Sebastian, but he has no clue if Kurt knows why Cooper dislikes Sebastian, so he doesn’t comment on it. “Where did- Blaine said you lived in LA!”

Cooper nods.

“… I can’t believe he never told me that his brother was a famous actor. Are you big in Hollywood now? It must’ve been years since the commercial for you!”

Ah. Of course, Kurt doesn’t know anything about Cooper’s life. He tries not to be hurt, since it’s clear that Blaine didn’t tell Kurt a lot. At least Kurt knew that Blaine has a brother.

“I actually turned my back to acting years ago, but I’m happy nonetheless. If you’d told teenage Cooper that he’d be happy with a mediocre life in the future, he would’ve laughed in your face!” Cooper tells Kurt. And it’s true. He might not be the star he always wanted to be, but he’s content and happy.

“Oh?” Kurt says, sounding disappointed, which almost makes Cooper laugh. This is weird. “Well, lemme get us some coffee. I think we have a lot to catch up on. I’ve never met you!”

“Love, I’m hooooooooo,” Blaine drags out the ‘o’ when he sees that Kurt and Cooper are sitting on the couch, drinking coffee and eating bagels, “oooooo- what the fuck.”

“Hey Blainey-days, you’re not the only one who can drop big news unannounced.”

“Blainey-days?” Kurt sounds amused, but before Cooper can explain that Kurt’s friend Tina came up with the name, Blaine cuts in.

“Ah, the Firmspring statement,” Blaine sighs, “I’m sorry you had to find out like that.”

“You better,” Cooper jokes, but there’s some truth in it, “Did you drop this news on everyone like this?”

Blaine shrugs. “Kind of. Mom already called me yesterday about it.”

“You didn’t tell Pam?” Cooper asks, before regretting it immediately. Of course, Blaine didn’t tell Pam. They’re not close anymore. Still, a part of Cooper had expected it.

Blaine not telling their dad? Sure. Blaine not telling his mom? Well, okay then.

Blaine’s eyes quickly dart towards Kurt, who does not notice the small shift in atmosphere. And Cooper suddenly understands.

Blaine’s family life is a can of worms that he has not opened yet in front of Kurt.

“No, but my mom did send me a photo of the scenery in Cebu, which is random, but nice, I guess. Kinda has nothing to do with the amnesia thing, but Kurt thought it was a nice photo.”

Kurt nods happily and turns to Cooper. “Apparently, she moved back to the Philippines! Oh, I would love to meet your mom again!”

“His mom, not mine,” Cooper quickly says while pointing at Blaine to express that he’s serious. Kurt furrows his brow in confusion. Wow, Blaine truly has not spoken much about his family. “I’m the white side!”

“The right side,” Blaine mumbles and both Kurt and Cooper look at him in surprise.

“That’s, uh, a bad joke from our dad’s extended family members,” Cooper quickly explains.

“… I am more confused than ever and that is saying something, since I just lost fifteens years of my life!” Kurt exclaims.

Before the atmosphere turns even worse, Cooper yells out: “Anyway, I did not book accommodation, so I am banking that I can crash on your couch for now?”

The three of them walk through the city. Kurt insisted on going rogue and while outside, he can’t stop talking about how ‘weird’ all the wires are. Cooper has gotten used to it after years.

They stop for coffee at a nearby Pret A Manger and Kurt goes inside to order. He has Blaine’s Springo to pay. Kurt weirdly enough insisted on going alone, so Cooper sees this as a chance to talk.

“So, Kurt knows nothing and nada about the family.”

Blaine gives him a stink eye.

“Don’t, Coop.”

“Your man has given us a chance to talk, so I am taking it. I understand that you keep things from us. That’s how it’s always been. I am a little hurt that I had to find it out through social media, but you know, that’s a sign of the times. The Kardashians put their announcement on divorce on social media before telling their family members. Still, it sucked a bit.”

“Yeah, mom also didn’t sound too happy.”

“But Kurt doesn’t know shit, man. Shit. At this point, I’m surprised you even mentioned having a brother. If I hadn’t spontaneously decided to come here, would you have told him anything about me, or Devorah, or dad, or Michelle, or Pam?”

“Of course!” Blaine says, “Of course, man. But he’s been struggling so much with fitting into his own family now that the amnesia has happened. Coop, he forgot that his brother is dead. Burt and Carole are coming for Christmas and he’s already freaking out about it. I’d rather focus on mending his family ties before we focus on mine.”

“So that is why you didn’t reply to my texts about Christmas plans.”

“You don’t even celebrate Christmas anymore since you converted to Judaism after marrying Devorah!”

“Holidays. Whatever. Not the point, Blaine,” Cooper sighs.

Blaine lets out an annoyed huff.

“Just, give me a break. There’s a lot going on right now. Why are you even here? Did you fly all the way from LA to annoy me?”

Cooper takes a deep breath. “I am here because I care, Blaine. Yes, I did it without telling you to get back at you, but also to prevent you from running away. I care and I want to see how it is going. You’d do the same for me.”

The annoyed look on Blaine’s face disappears.

“Like, if you really want me to go, then you will have to wait till tomorrow 8PM, because that’s my flight back to LAX. But now, you gotta deal with it. I’m only here to show you that I care.”

Blaine lets out a sigh. “Shit, you’re right. I do tend to run away from this deep stuff.”

“No hard feelings, Blainey-days.”

“Don’t ruin it!”

“Blainey-days!”

“Cooper-Trooper!”

They keep exchanging dumb childhood names until Kurt comes back with the coffee. He makes up a dumb excuse about him not understanding how the El-Pay point works, but everyone knows that Kurt was waiting for them to talk it out.

Cooper claps his hands. “Alright boys, I’m here for just over 24 hours. Let’s conquer New York!”

“Hear ye, hear ye,” Kurt hands a coffee cup to Cooper before raising his own cup.

“Yes, and then Kurt can talk about how he loves my old commercial and my looks. You know, Blaine, your man still finds me deadly attractive.”

Kurt laughs and Blaine groans.  

“You love it, Blainey-days!”

Blaine rolls his eyes playfully, but then he says: “Yeah, I do.”