It was one of those lazy Sunday afternoons in which everything Cooper wanted to do was lay in bed alone and in peace, listening to his music or simply watching one of his favorite TV shows.

Which was what he was doing at the moment, no guilt or shame produced from the pictures on the screen. After all, who didn't love Sabrina?

"Oh, Salem," he muttered after successfully catching his breath, still chuckling. He heard, though, the tiny, loud and unstoppable steps running up the stairs long before they even came. The door slammed open, bounced on the wall and came back to smack the small boy flat on his breathlessly excited, openly beaming–and clearly unaware- face, only to close again in less than five seconds altogether.

"Little bro?" the oldest sibling called after a beat, hesitating between laughing his head off and running to check on his brother, still on the other side of the door.

The door creaked slowly and carefully this time, enthusiasm drained out of the young boy's body and now replaced with embarrassment.

"You okay, there?" Cooper asked slowly, smirking with amusement, carefully eyeing his baby brother for any signs of his next action. It was when he saw the tears definitely forming in his eyes that he cocked his head to the side with an even bigger smile and opened his arms. "Oh, buddy, come here," he cooed, as Blaine followed him, shuffling to his bed and defenselessly crawling up to him. He hugged his knees, trying to hide his face between them. Coop put an arm around him. "Are you okay?"

Blaine looked up at him with his wet, glossy eyes and shook his head.

"You have too much energy for your own good, lil' bro," Coop said, stroking his hair. "Anything I can do to help you?"

At this, the round, pained face lit up, remembering something and completely forgetting about the incident.

"Yes, Coop, you gotta dress up, Coop!" he said, far too eager again, kneeling on the bed, right in front of his brother, who as not intently staring at him.

"Because my embarrassment always makes you feel better?" he guessed.

"No, because we're having a... tea party," he said, quieting down and dropping again on the bed, timidness washing over again, gaze unfocused.

"What's the matter?" Cooper asked, frowning. What was with the roller coaster of emotions that was his little brother today?

"I'm just... nervous," he admitted, distractedly looking at the palms of his hands, all too small to be real.

"Why?" he encouraged patiently.

There a moment of silence before Blaine replied. "It's still one of Kurt's first times coming home and... I'm just nervous," he clarified, his little shoulders slumping.

"But you guys are friends already, because of what you tell me, at least," Cooper offered. "Right? I mean, it's not like you have to impress him or anything."

"He makes me nervous," he muttered and at first Cooper frowned again, confused and wary. "Whenever I'm with him my heart just starts beating really fast," he finished, feeling his pulse race at the mere thought of his best friend.

Cooper's stance relaxed visibly, studying his brother. Hazel, honey eyes glanced up through thick, dark eyelashes, still shy and unsure. His brother poked his arm smugly, making a little smile tug at the corner of Blaine's mouth.

"Okay then, so I'm assuming if I'm there you won't feel as nervous?" he asked, receiving multiple nods from Blaine. "Great. What are you dressing up as, Rudolph the rednosed reindeer?" he said, pinching the tip of his brother's nose, whose eyes opened wide, startled. As Cooper laughed, he swatted his hand away, frowning.

"No, but I do know who you're dressing up as," he squinted with a harmless, tiny grin.

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"Okay, I did not sign up for this," Cooper said, coming out of the bathroom.

He looked around. The upper floor was entirely deserted; his brother was probably changing in his bedroom, choosing from his entirely cool disguises for the tea party.

He strode up to the door and pounced on it with his fist. It opened and many inches below, Blaine's little, innocent face was looking up at him. He smiled.

"You look great," he approved.

"Blaine, this is not even a real character in the Toy Story movies," he said, clenching his jaw. "It's two characters mashed up together. Two very female characters," he lowered his voice grudgingly.

"But... Bo Peep and Mrs. Nesbit..." he insisted, eyes widening and gleaming.

"Blaine, please, let me change out of this," Cooper pleaded, tipping the plastic light blue hat with the daisy stuck to it –why would anyone even think of selling those? "Don't you have something else?" He tugged at the, slightly too short for him, pink, frilly apron.

His brother pouted but dragged his feet back to his closet, leaving Cooper standing right next to the door, touching the big, puffy skirt that was supposed to be the bottom of Bo Peep's dress.

Just then, the bell rang and Blaine's head shot right up and, just like in cartoons, he ran past Cooper so fast that not only he didn't see him, but the dress he was wearing fluttered with the little wind Blaine had left as a trail, behind him.

"Hurry, Coop!" the younger brother rushed him to go downstairs as fast as possible and get the door, since it was locked with the key. As he twisted the knob and opened the door towards him, Blaine pushed himself outside, slipping swiftly, so he was the first thing Kurt would see.

"Kurt!" he greeted giddily, his chest swelling. The other boy mumbled back a nervous "Hi," and with a sweet, luminous smile. He took a glance at Coop before opening his eyes as plates and swallowing.

Cooper had to sigh to restrain himself from running back in and take the costume off. He was fully aware he was a fifteen year old boy wearing a pink, frilly dress, an apron with a big heart stamped in the middle, a golden and curled wig, a bright blue hat with a flower and holding something that looked like a giant candy cane. Standing with the front door open.

He noticed a big, beefy, bald man with a baseball cap standing at the bottom of the entrance stairs -he was pretty sure he had met him before, and identified him as Kurt's dad- eyeing him curiously, finding it hard to tear his eyes away from Cooper.

"Why is your brother wearing a dress?" the slim, deep blue-eyed boy asked, completely confused with the image he was contemplating.

"We're having a costume tea party," Blaine sounded excited, since he knew tea parties were Kurt's favorite, along with dressing-up. It was the perfect combination of games.

"Oh," Kurt cooed, eyes growing even wider and closing his mouth.

"What?" It instantly hit him that maybe he hadn't been so right. Maybe Kurt didn't like costume tea parties at all. He had to be the worst friend ever that ever was in the history of the life.

"I... I forgot we were having one," the other boy admitted, timidly hiding his hands behind his back and lowering his sight as he stepped back. "I didn't bring a costume," he whispered.

"That's okay, I can lend you one," all his worries had disappeared. He was lucky he had enough costumes to dress up all of his classmates.

"Really?" Kurt's hopes rose again, along with his eyes and eyebrows, still feeling slightly little.

"Sure," Blaine took the child's hand and pulled him up the stairs.

"He- the boy made me wear it. I have nothing to do with this," Cooper shrugged, deadpan, trying to explain himself to Kurt's father. He babbled, opening and closing his mouth a couple more of times before waving off and finally hiding inside.

Upstairs, Blaine walked towards what he liked to refer to as the Funtime Captain Blaine's Hidden Wonderful Treasure Chest –actually he had called it that just once, but he had felt so proud of the term that, from time to time, he boasted about it. But it was too long to call it that, so most of the times he simply called it 'the trunk'. He lifted the lid, starting to rummage through all the different disguises, masks, hats, a scepter when the tip of his fingers brushed a well-known cloth.

He pulled slowly and carefully, trying to conceal it from Kurt's sight. He heard his brother walking in the room behind them, but nobody said a word.

He stroked the blue and black fabric, slipping through his fingers, smooth and soft, familiar.

"Cooper, could you leave us for a second?" Blaine asked quietly, still not taking his eyes from his Nightbird suit.

His brother stared at him, barely trying to hide his glower. "Thanks," the younger one said, without waiting for an answer.

He knew it was no use to put up a fight or even ask for permission to wear another costume again.

He stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

He let his back slide down the wall until his butt hit the floor, the light pink cane resting across his lap.

"What..." he looked up to find his mother staring at him, wide eyed. Cooper glowered at her with as much dignity as possibly, considering he was wearing a goldilocks-worthy wig.

"Your son," he explained under his breath, nailing his eyes back to the wall ahead of him again, as though he was very concentrated on a particular spot.

"Oh my god," his mother laughed, throwing her head back and walking over him, carefully avoiding to step on Cooper's dress.

----------

The smaller kid sighed and avoided his gaze dramatically. "But you gotta promise to keep the secret," Blaine waited for an answer, but nothing escaped Kurt's mouth. "Do you promise?" He insisted with urgency.

"Yes, yes, of course, I promise," Kurt replied hurriedly, aching to know his friend's secret.

The smaller boy scrutinized his face, looking for any hint of hesitance or disloyalty. He was still feeling unsure, on the fence about revealing such a big, hidden side of his life, but he realized he trusted Kurt as much as he trusted Coop.

So he mustered all his strength, plucked up all the courage in his tiny body and forced out those two words that, other than Coop, only his friend would listen to; "I'm Nightbird."

Kurt stared at him with eyes still wide, as his friend stood there, breathless and panting quietly. He blinked.

"Who?" he swallowed, voice painted with caution and slightly apprehended.

"Nightbird, Kurt," he crossed his arms, pain in his tone and closed eyes. "I save the world from the most vile and terrible villains. You're the only one who knows my true identity, so..." he left the sentence unfinished. He was aware that Kurt knowing meant two things; that he knew about him more than anybody else in the world, but also, that he was in great danger.

"What about your parents? And Coop?" Kurt shook his head, frowning. If Blaine was in such significant jeopardy, risking his neck to save the lives of strangers all over the world, someone ought to know. What if something happened to him?

"No! No, Kurt, they don't know. I mean..." Could he? Could he tell Kurt that Coop, his brother was Captain Oreo? Granted, he had been in danger the moment he accepted his new identity and the responsibilities that it entailed. He was a big boy, they could take care of themselves –they had to- but could he betray Cooper like that?

"Blaine?" he felt a warm, soft hand slipping into his and he looked up, meeting a pair of blue, concerned eyes.

Yes he could.

"Cooper knows. He's my..." he took a deep breath. "Well, he's my sidekick."

"Your... sidekick?" Kurt repeated.

"Captain Oreo," he said. His friend retrieved his hand, close to his chest. He looked so small and scared. "Please, Kurt, don't tell anyone, they can't—they can't know!" he pleaded, hastily reaching for Kurt's hand again, grasping it between his own. "They could hurt you too, my enemies..." His voice was shaky, the only thought of somebody hurting those who he loved was already defeating.

"But if it's so dangerous..." he pouted and dropped his gaze to his shoes. "Can something happen to you?" he raised his face barely, looking through his eyelashes at his dear friend.

"Of course something can happen to me, Kurt, but it's my duty," Blaine explained.

The only thing Kurt could do was nod. For some reason, he understood; his choices and all of his responsibilities. "But you have to promise something too," he added, tightening his lips.

"Anything," the smaller boy hurried, ready to sacrifice anything in the whole wide world.

"You promise you'll be careful and safe; and I'll promise to never say anything to anyone ever," Kurt said firmly, concern reflected in his big, glossy eyes, extending his pinky. Blaine's anxious, wide ones went from Kurt's finger to his solemn face. He felt his heart clench and soften lovingly at the same time.� "We'll pinky promise and cross hearts and everything."

Blaine immediately intertwined his left pinky with Kurt's, both drawing crosses over their chests with their free hands at the same time, as they dutifully pledged in unison.

"We'll be just fine," the hazel eyed toddler confirmed with a glowing and fond smile on his face, his warmth wrapping Kurt and flooding the room, making him feel like safe and fine was all there was.