Towing the Line

            Blaine woke up with a thick head and a sore throat and deems the party to have been a success.  He is pleased for his parents' sakes - at least they seemed to have enjoyed themselves if the number of times they both had thanked Cooper and himself throughout the latter half of the evening was anything to go by (Blaine suspects that alcohol had a lot to do with that).  The success and appreciation still does not inspire Blaine to actually get up, however.  He rolls onto his side and finds himself face-to-face with numerous framed photographs of Kurt and himself.  Before he would have smiled softly and thought about the instant each one was taken, now however, is not then.  Now, Blaine feels a deep-seated sickness wash over him and he forces himself to roll in the other direction.  He still cannot bring himself to put the photographs out of sight – he cannot bring himself to allow such a semaphore.  Instead he feels the photo-Kurt's eyes judging him accusingly for destroying their happiness.  Destroying their forever.

            Enough of that!

He forces his mind to blank-out.  He has been getting a lot of practice at that particular meditation technique recently and it does not take long until his mind is clear.  He allows his heart rate and breathing to slow focusing on nothingness.  Then on the swirls behind his eyelids.  On eyes.  On eyes on him. 

In his mind's eye he can see him clearly – tall, distinguished, and undeniably handsome.  His hair is dark, greying slightly at the temples, but other than that there are no more real signs of his age other than the power of his presence.  Such a glamor takes years to achieve.  Blaine finds that he is startled by just how well he can recall the man's countenance.

            Well, he was staring at me.

He feels a twinge in his gut that he did not get a chance to meet the man face-to-face.  He realises dimly that he has no idea what the man's voice sounds like – whether it is deep and smooth, or soft.  Perhaps it is rough with age and too many cigarettes?  He also has no idea what the man's name was and that thought troubles him more than he expected it to.  He reasons that someone must have invited him and that therefore someone was likely to have checked that bringing a guest would be acceptable beforehand.  Blaine had received no such requests so that left Cooper who was due to fly back to Los Angeles that morning.

            Crap.

Blaine was out of bed and down the corridor so fast he almost fainted with the rush of blood to his head and was only saved from doing so by his colliding with something solid and angry.

            ‘Jesus!  I've not seen you move so fast since you were 6 and I fed you that entire tub of chocolate and that pint of Coke to spite the folks for making me babysit you.  Where's the fire?'

Normally Blaine would have felt mortified for being caught in such an uncoordinated manner; however, he only felt the giddiness of relief.  Perhaps he was still a little drunk. 

            ‘You!  I'm so glad I caught you!'  Blaine said as he untangled himself from his elder sibling.

            ‘I think I caught you there, Squirt.'

            ‘Semantics.  Anyway – I wanted to ask you last night but we never had time – do you recall a tall gentleman, a bit younger than Dad and far better dressed?'

            ‘Going to need a bit more than that there, Blainers.  I don't tend to pay much attention to the cut of a man's suit.'

Blaine frowned at his sibling's joke at his expense and Cooper poked Blaine in the ribs in response.  Upon receiving what Cooper knew to be Blaine's “bitch glare” (that Cooper knew for a fact Blaine had stolen from Kurt – not that now was the time to bring that up!  Especially not on a day that Blaine had left his room of his own accord before 10am on a weekend!   Perhaps the moping was over?), he decided to play nicely.  His head, after all, was killing him and he really did need to leave within the next hour or so if he ever wanted to get back home.

            ‘Fine, fine!'  Cooper held his hands up in mock surrender.  ‘I think you mean Douglas Chambers – Roger's elder brother.  Why do you ask?'

            ‘Oh.  I just didn't recognise him.  Curiosity I suppose.'

Cooper raised an eyebrow in question, and when it became clear that Blaine had no intention of sharing his thoughts Cooper let out a long sigh.

            ‘Drop the casual act.  What do you want to know?'

‘I was just wondering why we hadn't met before.'  Blaine barely hid his grin.

‘Ah, the tale of Lord Lucan!'  Cooper winked.  ‘Turns out the black sheep of the Chambers family hath returned!'

Blaine raised an eyebrow in a mirror of Cooper's earlier expression.

            ‘Douglas and the rest of the Chamberses had a big fall out about 15 years back – around the time Dad and Roger met.  Not totally sure what the deal was but I always heard Roger refer to Douglas as Lord Lucan when we were growing up and so I thought he must have bumped off the nanny or something.  Turns out he just disappeared – no murder.  Really, not that interesting Blainers.' 

            ‘Yeah.  Thanks, Coop.'  Blaine only managed to conceal his feelings at the findings because he had yet to work out what his feelings actually were.

            ‘Look, truth of the matter is – he's gay, like you.  15 years ago and in that generation people were a lot less accepting, you know?'

Blaine frowned as he processed what Cooper was telling him.  Cooper seemed a little concerned and cleared his throat.

            ‘Hey – you OK?  You know we all love you, right?'  Upon gaining no response from his sibling Cooper felt the need to clarify.  ‘Exactly as you are.  Blaine?'  Cooper waved his hand gently in front of Blaine's face snapping his attention back to the conversation at hand. 

            ‘Huh?  Oh.  Yeah.  Of course.  I know that.  Don't worry – I'm not going to disappear for 15 years or something.  Can't get rid of me that easily.'

            ‘Good.'  Cooper grinned.  ‘Right, I better head off.  Still got to say bye to the parents – I've been avoiding disturbing them for as long as I could but there's no more putting it off.'

Blaine laughed and gave his brother a sympathetic look.

            ‘I'll mourn you.'

            ‘Thanks, Squirt!'

He groaned at Cooper's continued use of the awful nickname and watched as his brother headed towards the quarantined hangover zone.  Blaine slowly headed back into his own room letting the knowledge his brother had imparted churn in his mind.  Blaine had been aware of the stories of Lord Lucan – Uncle Roger's elusive brother (and the real Lord Lucan after which Douglas had been nicknamed) - growing up, of course he had.  Like Cooper, he and Roger's sons (specifically the eldest, originally also named Douglas as per the family tradition but known as “Doug”, who was closest in age to Blaine) had made up horror stories starring the absent and mysterious man.  Never had it occurred to Blaine that the reason Douglas had disappeared was that he had been effectively forced to due to reasons he could no more control than he could his own breathing.  A flash of anger – blinding and brilliantly hot – flashed behind Blaine's eyes at the thought, chased quickly by shame at his childhood self and frustrated despair at the injustice and stupidity of society.  There was something else – something ticklish that Blaine could not put his finger on too.  It was something to do with how the man had been looking at Blaine.  He shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts and resolved to make up for his childish stupidity - the fact that Douglas was:

a.      highly unlikely to know of his own nephew (and said nephew's childhood friend)'s unfortunate misunderstanding of Douglas' situation

b.      not likely to actually care

was not relevant.  This was something he felt he had to do.  He was not exactly sure how he was going to make it up to Douglas – he was not about to try to explain why he felt bad or anything, no – that would be horribly embarrassing, however, he figured he would know when he met him.  Therein lay the first challenge – meeting Douglas.  Perhaps now Douglas was seemingly reacquainted with his brother's family he would be around more?  Blaine smiled – the answer was obvious – he needed to reconnect with Doug.

-+-

            He wakes to the ghost of a melody – rich baritenor harmonising with fragments of half-recalled piano phrases.  He struggles to remember the exact song but he recollects the quality of that voice with striking ease.  Douglas cannot seem to get it out of his head – not that he has really tried.  The opposite could be said to be closer to the truth; presently Douglas forgoes even the radio lest he should accidently erase the perfection that was Blaine's singing voice from his memory.  Douglas had always been keen on music – he had been a Warbler when he had attended Dalton, and had continued to sing with choirs until he graduated from college.  After that life got in the way a little, as it often does, and Douglas had put all of his effort into expanding the family business into New York.  Any method of escapism was better than none at all, he muses.  However, he had missed the way life music could move him – how the soul could be tapped and how it could transport you with it on a journey of emotions.  Yes, Douglas had missed music, but he's not wholly sure that is entirely the reason he is obsessing over keeping that specific memory.  In truth, the more he had learnt about the youngest Anderson the more he had found he wanted to know.  He was fascinated by the boy's tenacity and bravery – he had not missed the thinly veiled reasons behind why Blaine had been beaten by bullies, why the case had been settled out of court, why Blaine had transferred schools for a boy who was going through something similar.  He had become so finely tuned to the nuances and ways people discussed his “situation” and those of similar “persuasions” without actually discussing it over the years – he thought he had probably encountered every variation at one time or another.  So he had not missed the insinuation – Blaine had been bullied because he was different.  Because he, like Douglas, was gay.

So, it was not hard for Douglas to find that he sympathised with the boy.  He had spent the remainder of the party utilising the fact that no one really knew who he was or anything about him and the fact that the alcohol had been flowing rather freely (after Blaine and his brother had been swallowed by a gaggle of drunken aunts and uncles all begging for requests, effectively removing the possibility of an actual meeting) tactfully finding out everything he could, such as -

-          Whether Blaine was “out”:

‘Oh!  Yes – we met the boyfriend.  Not sure what happened there – can't say we're that surprised though.  The boy was as obvious as Liberace!'

-           What his parents' responses had been:

            ‘Bill was a bit unsettled.  I mean you wouldn't think it to look at him would you – that he swings that way?  I mean, he's always been into football!  You know what I mean, right?  Not that there's anything wrong with being that way these days.  Well – so long as you don't live in Russia – right?!'

-          And whether Blaine had any “like minded” adult friends:

            ‘Oh, I shouldn't think so!  Not in Ohio!'

Douglas had had to bite his tongue on numerous occasions however, his attempts to garner more knowledge had been fruitful and he had eventually left the party for his hotel room with a plan beginning to form.  Blaine clearly had no one to talk to about being a gay man in the 21st century, let alone, about being a gay teenager in Ohio of all places.  Perhaps the last scotch had been one too many but Douglas had decided that he would stay close by for a couple of days longer than he had originally planned – after all, he had not yet spent much time getting to know his nephews – the last time he had seen little Doug the lad had been barely 4 years old, and the youngest had not even been born.  Yes – he would stay and spend some time with the family.

            He had stayed for 3 days in the end and had returned to New York with more information about young Blaine and a strange compulsion to still know more.  It was this revelation that had led Douglas to leave in the end – Roger had started to question Douglas' interest in the youngest Anderson and Douglas had no real answer for him besides ‘I find his tale compelling' and the unspoken and so similar to my own.

Doug had known Blaine since they were young – their fathers knew each other from business and so the kids had practically grown up together even though they had attended different schools.  After Blaine was attacked (apparently the brave lad took another gay friend with him to a Sadie Hawkins Dance and some Jocks had taken exception to the pair) Roger had suggested Blaine be transferred to Dalton Academy – known for its no tolerance policy on bullying.  Hence, Blaine had come to attend Dalton with Doug.

The more he had spoken with Doug, the more Douglas had come to like his young nephew.  The lad was built like a granite block and, as such, looked like your typical jock – nothing like either Roger or his brother; however, Doug had inherited the family “cow” eyes – huge, dark and expressive.  Doug had openly joked about how he had known Blaine was gay since they were kids – before even Blaine had really.  Blaine had apparently developed a crush on Doug one summer and had coincidentally discovered a love for football around the same time Doug had been picked for the local team.  The lads had spent hours over the long summers of their childhoods throwing around the ball – at first Doug had been cautious about being too rough with his friend but soon discovered that though Blaine was tiny: boy was he fast!  Inevitably, Blaine's crush had faded as quickly as it had appeared and Doug still ribbed Blaine about why he knew so much about football.

The topic eventually turned to Blaine's current schooling dilemma – stay at McKinley or return to Dalton.  Doug was all for Blaine's return to Dalton and launched into what sounded like a pre-prepared speech about the merits of a private education over a state-funded one.  Douglas encouraged Doug avidly and when he thought about it later he felt a degree of comfort on behalf of the youth that Blaine has at least one real friend with his best interests at heart.