Chapter 6: Awkward

Cooper was rehearsing for his audition video for the part in the Transformers movie that he knew he was bound to get when he heard Blaine's car pull up and moved to the window just in time to watch as Blaine practically skipped from his car to the front door of his house, smiling dopily and absentmindedly humming a happy tune. Cooper smiled to himself. Good, he thought. He deserves to be happy. Did Cooper think it was a little strange that Blaine was dating the guy that he himself had fucked less than a week ago? Sure. It was strange. Was he worried that Kurt might break his brother's heart? Of course. Not as much as one might think, though, given the circumstances of their meeting.

As odd as it may seem, Cooper just had a sense that there was more to Kurt than the image of pure sex he had projected at Scandals that put him slightly at ease about the possibility of him dating his little brother. The fact that Blaine was so obviously smitten spoke volumes in and of itself; Blaine was charming and kind to everyone, but it took a special kind of person to really win his heart—and it didn't take a genius to see that Kurt had certainly won it already. 

Cooper was still concerned, though, because Blaine put everything he had into everything he did—including his relationships with people. Blaine fell hard and fell fast, but Cooper didn't think Kurt was the same. Blaine was a precious person with a fragile heart, was a good person who deserved the best. Cooper intended to make sure that, if Kurt was to continue dating his little brother, that Kurt was fully aware of what he was getting himself into. He wanted to make sure that Kurt treated Blaine right and understood that he was different. He also wanted Kurt to be aware that—regardless of how good the fucking had been—Cooper would not hesitate to destroy him if he were to hurt Blaine. 

Cooper hadn't been paying extremely close attention to his brother's ramblings about his date with Kurt, but he had caught that Kurt attended William McKinley High School, so he decided to pay him a little visit. He had been a bit worried about finding Kurt, but his worries were unfounded. He stepped through the doors of McKinley High into the hallway just in time to see some jocks tossing a slushie in Kurt's face. Kurt remained still as the jocks laughed and pushed past him to continue their way through the hall and Cooper made his way toward him. When Kurt wiped the sticky, icy residue of the purple slushie from his face enough to open his eyes, they widened at the sight of Cooper, then abruptly narrowed. "Great. You're here. Because my day wasn't spectacular enough already," he snipped venomously, then sighed. "Sorry, sorry. I just...what do you want?"

"Well," Cooper began, "I hear you're dating my brother."  At this, Kurt visibly stiffened. "And I'm sure you understand that, considering the way we met, this is cause for concern."

"If you came here to tell me that you think I'm a slut and you don't want me to date your brother, you're wasting your breath, so you should just walk back out to your fancy car and drive away." Kurt made to step around the older Anderson brother to go change out of his cold, sticky clothes, but Cooper stepped in front of him. "That isn't what I came here to say, so I'll stay." At this, Kurt raised an eyebrow, but remained silent to allow Cooper to elaborate. "I have no problem with you dating my brother. He's crazy about you, really, and he's been happier, so that's great. I just want to make sure that you've stopped with the random hookups."

Kurt made an incredulous face and opened his mouth to let out what would undoubtedly be a startlingly intense, but was preempted by Cooper, who took a step back. "BEFORE you yell at me, I want to let you know that I'm not assuming that you are and I don't think any less of you because of how we met, I'm just doing my job as a big brother. Blaine tends to become attached quickly and I just want to do my best to make sure he doesn't get hurt." By now, Kurt's face had softened from its previous rage. "Look, Kurt, you need to know that anything you have with Blaine is going to be serious. You're already important to him, and I know that, in time, you will be in a position where you could easily break his heart if you aren't careful. I want to make sure that you know what you're getting into. I haven't always been the best brother to him, but I want to be, so I'm just trying to do what's best for him."

Kurt processed this information with a thoughtful expression before deciding upon a reply. "I appreciate you telling me...this," he began. "I can't promise I won't hurt Blaine, but I promise I can try. I am taking my...." Kurt paused, in search of an appropriate word, "relationship with Blaine seriously and haven't even been back to Scandals since the night we..." Both shifted awkwardly in place. "...met."

"Good," Cooper replied, looking relieved, as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, his body visibly relaxing. "I'm glad. I hope it works out well for you crazy kids." Kurt rolled his eyes, but smiled fondly. "Won't it be awkward, though? For us. Because we...yeah."

"On the contrary. I experience no awkwardness whatsoever."

"That is a lie."

"Yeah, it is," conceded Cooper, "but at least I know my brother will have a very fulfilling sex life," he said with a wink, then turned and walked away. Kurt blushed to his roots, his mouth agape. "YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!" he shouted lamely at Cooper as he walked away. Cooper just laughed.

He smiled the whole way home. The talk hadn't gone exactly as planned, but it had gone well enough to get his message across, and he had a good feeling about it. He really did hope Kurt would be sticking around for a while.