The next few days pass achingly slowly for both Blaine and Kurt.

Because now Cooper is everywhere.

He's there in the mornings, sat between them at breakfast, flicking water in Blaine's face when he leaves the bathroom, flitting around Kurt in search of more pancakes or toast or coffee or whatever it is Kurt's currently cooking. He sits between them on the coach, flops his feet on Kurt's lap and misses the sad little pout Blaine pulls, before he quickly drops his gaze.

He's there in the evenings, mouthful of food as he laughs and pushes at Blaine playfully, rolling his eyes at his brother, back to Kurt who bites his lip and looks away from Blaine's wide, easy smile when he laughs, the sound of his laughter making Kurt's heart thump fast.

He's everywhere, leaving them no time to kiss or touch or taste, no time to so much as smile secretly at one other, to share a glance and a smirk and to know exactly what the other's thinking, counting down the seconds till his disappearance.

But Cooper's not disappearing any time soon. He's taken it upon himself to go out everyday with Blaine, as he'd planned. They go to museums and shopping and out for lunch while Kurt stays holed up in the apartment, flicking through reality TV and working on sketches of clothes he's left unattended for weeks now.

Cooper invites Kurt, of course he does, every morning. But Kurt declines with a smile, says it's their time together, he doesn't want to intrude. And no matter how many times Cooper insists he isn't intruding, insists neither of them mind, they want him there, Kurt just laughs and shakes his head and kindly refuses, making up excuses as he goes along.

Because Kurt just can't be around Blaine right now.

Not after he shuffled on socked feet into Kurt's bedroom, nervous and sweet, lowering himself onto the bed, knocking a mug of warm milk against the table before presenting it, wide eyed and scared, to Kurt, the gentle brush of their warm fingers lighting Kurt up from the inside when he felt so cold.

Not after he'd decorated Kurt's skin in kisses, warm and wet and alive, bringing him back to life. Not after Kurt had felt his hands on his body, cautious and loving, tender and strong all at once as he'd tugged him closer, Kurt willingly falling into his shape, the slide of his lips over collarbones. Not after Kurt breathed him in and realised that was a smell he hoped he never forgot. Not after Blaine waited with bated breath, so carefully beside Kurt before asking, tentatively, what kind of guy Kurt likes.

And Kurt hadn't realised at the time, drowning in the warmth and welcome whisper of Blaine's voice over his skin, he didn't realise the significance of the question, and he certainly didn't realise the meaning behind his own words before they were spoken. Irretrievable and undeniable as he felt Blaine tense against him, could almost hear the leap of his heart in his chest.

It had terrified Kurt.

His own admittance, against the skin of Blaine's throat with the boy warm and breakable beside him, terrified him. The way Blaine leant the tiniest degree towards him, unsure and scared before Kurt pulled back, sat up and rubbed at his eyes, anything to not see the hurt expression painted over Blaine's face.

He'd said he couldn't sleep before, and it was true. Lying alone in bed with the moon light leaking over him, the memory of Julian's vile face leering at him, the way he'd touched Blaine.

But then Blaine had arrived and relaxed him, his aching bones and tense muscles, reduced him to a sleepy, drowsy mess with just a mug of warm milk and tender kisses. And Kurt knew, in that moment, that he could've sunk into Blaine's body heat and slept so peacefully, happily embraced in his arms, in the warmth of a boy five years too young for him and so very, painfully out of bounds.

So, it's for all those reasons, that Kurt declines every offer presented to him for four days straight, the reasons he avoids Blaine's smiles and tries his best to not be left alone with him.

But on the fourth day, early in the evening, Cooper slips out of the apartment, meeting Lex downstairs quickly as she drops something off for him on her way to work. It was a moment too late that he realised Cooper's disappearance left him completely alone on the couch, Blaine curled up in the opposite corner, nose in a book, shower fresh and smelling of citrus fruits, hair drying a little messily on one side from where he's snuggled into the couch cushions.

And as soon as the deadbolt on the door slides audibly closed, the atmosphere tenses noticeably.

They both look up at the same time, ice grey eyes meeting warm honey before they both smile, small and strained but shared nonetheless.

Blaine looks back down at his book, up at the closed front door, and then drops his book on the coffee table with a small thump before speaking, "it's been weird," he says, out of the blue but without restraint, half whispering as he looks up and tries to hold eye contact, hands twisting nervously in his lap, "these past few days without you. I've got so used to being around you."

Kurt feels the leap of his heart in his chest before he speaks, "same," he whispers, glances over his shoulder at the front door, before looking back at Blaine, watching the shadows of his eyelashes against his cheeks before patting the cushion beside him, inviting.

Blaine grins, wide and pleased and pushes himself from the arm rest he was leaning back against, crawling adorably on hands and knees around to Kurt, stopping momentarily when he reaches him, hesitant, before lifting a hand, carefully lacing it around Kurt's neck, carding it up into his thick hair, pulling Kurt willingly forward for their first kiss in days.

His boldness takes Kurt by surprise, but he's instantly kissing back, shuffling awkwardly for a better angle before tugging on Blaine's shirt, getting him closer, tighter to his body as he slides his tongue along the seam of his lips and gently eases his tongue into Blaine's mouth.

The boy whines against him, scrambles eagerly, unsteadily forward, moaning and pushing until Kurt's head is pressed back, neck splayed and pale, throat exposed. Blaine slides a hand over Kurt's thigh, up the inside leg of his pants and up towards his crotch as he kneels, swings a leg over Kurt's thigh, their kisses turning messy and unsynchronised until he settles half on Kurt's lap.

Blaine maps the lines of Kurt's body with a barely shaking finger, down his jaw, the tendons on his neck, collarbones protruding from an open shirt collar, down down down, over sternum and stomach to rest, hand splayed and eager over the growing bulge at his crotch.

Kurt bucks up when Blaine presses down, so much more willing than just a week ago as he leans back, smirks, bites teasingly at Kurt's lower lip before mouthing down his neck.

"Blaine," Kurt says, breathless, not only from kissing but the sudden, overwhelming rush of desire which crashes through his body. "Blaine," he says again, gently taking hold of Blaine's face to pull him away, "you need to stop," he says, holding Blaine's face close to his own, trying not to thrust up to where one of his hands has stopped on the button of Kurt's trousers.

"Why?" Blaine asks, genuinely confused, hurt evident in the crease of his brow.

"Because Coop'll be back any second and I really don't want us both to be hard when he does," Kurt explains in a rush, feeling panic set in as he tries to count back how many minutes Cooper's been.

"But I want you," Blaine breaths against Kurt's lips, eyes darting down to trace them, daring to press his hand down, to squeeze Kurt's steadily hardening cock before he flicks his eyes back up. They're eager and desperate and lost all at once, scared and wanting.

Kurt lets out a breath, glances at Blaine's own lips, slick and warm and so very, teasingly close. He's wearing a thin tshirt, a little loose around his chest, the hem's dangling forward a bit and Kurt can almost see the lines of his body beneath the shadowed fabric, skin he hasn't yet seen or kissed or felt hot and sweat slick beneath his palms, the tense, shuddering grip of the muscles before an orgasm.

"I want you, too," Kurt dares to admit to the space between their lips, letting it leak through his body, making his skin prickle and his head pound and his heart ache. "But we can't, not now, please," he pleads, cups Blaine's face, rests their foreheads together and begs with his eyes for understanding.

Blaine stares back for a moment, sadness written across his face, along with something else Kurt can't quite name. But he smiles, eventually, slowly, and it's like the break of the sun over the horizon on an icy morning, warm and familiar and essential.

"Okay," Blaine says, leans forward one last inch and slips his lips against Kurt's gentle and not enough and everything at once before pulling away, looking at Kurt for one final, lingering second, before scooting off of him.

He stays close to Kurt, though, closer than before, pressed almost against his side as he picks his book back up and curls his legs beneath him, resting his head carefully on Kurt's shoulder before he carries on where he left off.

Kurt knows he should push him away, kindly tell him they're still too close. But he can't, not right now, not when it's so obvious this is what they both want.

So instead he rests his hand, splayed and strong, on Blaine's knees, tugs until they're both twisted to rest on Kurt's thighs.

Blaine smiles secretly, hidden beneath the ducking of his head as he turns, slots into Kurt's side, weaves his arm beneath Kurt's, strokes the thin, milk-white skin of his inner wrist before taking his book in that hand, and just rests there, pretending to read while he revels in Kurt's pressure against him.

Cooper gets back a matter of minutes later, bouncing over the back of the couch with a bag full of takeaway. When his eyes fall on his brother and best friend he can't help but raise an eyebrow, catching Kurt's eye, who just shrugs, the motion jolting Blaine a little who glances up too.

It's only then that Cooper sees the title of the book he's reading, and whines.

"Again, Blaine?" he asks, eyeing the worn cover.

"Shut up," Blaine mumbles, glaring at his brother across the couch.

"Have you reached the bit yet where-" Cooper begins to ask enthusiastically.

"Yes! And I don't want to talk about it," Blaine grumbles, taking note of his page number before dropping The Notebook onto the coffee table.

"Well that'd explain your sad little face then," Cooper teases, picking up a cushion, "and I see I've been replaced for consolation cuddles," he says before whacking Blaine round the head with the cushion, laughing at the way his hair sticks up on one side from the blow.

"You- you weren't here," Blaine stammers slightly, sitting up suddenly as if he'd completely forgotten the situation. But Cooper's grinning wickedly, laughing before opening up the takeaway bag.

"Whatever Blainey, didn't know I was so easily replaced," he teases again before changing the subject. "Lex brought us Chinese so go and grab us some forks and that Squirt," he says teasingly, whacking Blaine again with the cushion when he doesn't move.

Blaine grumbles under his breath and extracts himself from Kurt, leaving Kurt feeling cold on one side, a shiver running down his spine.

"Did you make Lex come all the way over here, on her way to work, to bring us Chinese?" Kurt asks, incredulous.

"Uh huh," Cooper manages around a mouth full of prawn crackers, white crumbs scattering over his dark jeans as he munches. "She goes by here anyway, and there's a Chinese like, right next to her subway stop, it's no hardship," Cooper explains.

But Kurt still rolls his eyes, accepting his plate and cutlery from Blaine who slides past him, falling back to wear he was previously sitting, a few more inches separating them.

"Just 'cause you haven't got a hot piece of ass bringing you delicious food no need to get all uppity," Cooper laughs, unloading noodles onto his plate.

Kurt ignores him, rubs tiredly over his face before leaning over for the lemon chicken, spearing a few pieces onto his plate before passing the container to Blaine.

Their fingers brush, and it's warm and strangely familiar and makes heat flood Kurt, head to toe, as he looks up, meets Blaine's smile, before turning his attention back to his plate. He feels Blaine accidentally-on-purpose press their feet together briefly as he gets comfortable, and realises it's going to be a very long night with Blaine so dangerously close and yet so very, indescribably far away.

/

The next day Kurt has actual, legitimate plans with his friend Rachel in the day, so when he turns down Cooper's offer it's no longer with a lie, and the relief behind that realisation is calming to say the least. Cooper's reaction, however, is not.

"Kurt, come on, you haven't been out with us since we went cinema and that was days ago!" he complains grouchily.

"Coop, this is your time with your brother, you don't want me there," Kurt tries to laugh it off, shrugging on his coat, ignoring where he can hear Blaine padding around the kitchen, adorably mussed from just having woken up.

"Don't be like that Kurt," Cooper sighs, sounding genuinely tired, "I want you there, and I'm pretty sure Blaine doesn't mind, come on, come to dinner with us later," Cooper whines, tugging on Kurt's sleeve like a child, and he's so downright hopeful that Kurt just can't turn him down.

"Yes, fine, okay," Kurt pretends to groan and rolls his eyes good naturedly. Laughing into Cooper's shoulder when he's dragged into a hug, seeing Blaine pop his head round the corner, smiling the tiniest degree.

/

They end up in some cute, quaint little Italian restaurant not far from the apartment

They're seated at a square table near the edge of the room, Cooper automatically falling into the seat between them both. And if Kurt didn't know better he'd think Cooper was suspicious with how much he seems to like being in the middle, but he really knows it's just because he hates to be left out of conversations and this is his way of trying to make sure that doesn't happen. Cooper orders drinks, waving down a young waiter who from the looks of it is waiting on the other side of the restaurant. But the poor boy smiles and weaves between tables and takes their order, "a bottle of red wine, two glasses, and a soda for the minor here," Cooper shoots him a bright smile, and Kurt could swear he see's the guy flush before nodding and wandering off.

The drinks arrive not long later, presented by a pretty woman, with light, curly hair and Bambi eyes. She smiles at them all, placing their drinks down for them, pours the wine, her eyes lingering on Cooper for a moment, who all but preens under the attention.

"Someone's popular tonight," Kurt observes aloud, picking up his menu to avoid Cooper's proud little smirk.

But Cooper just straightens his back and winks at Kurt over his menu, not missing the quirk of a smile in the corner of Kurt's lips.

Time slips easily, effortlessly away from them as they order and eat, laughing and smiling and, occasionally, snorting, although Kurt would refuse to admit he ever snorts. They share stories between bites of food, Cooper spearing food from both Kurt and Blaine's plate to try, and confidently conceding he chose the best dish.

Cooper sloshes a couple inches of the crimson wine into Blaine's drained glass mid-meal, and urges him to try it, and then chokes on a mouthful of food when Blaine's face scrunches, eyes closed, nose wrinkled and lips drawn up, shaking his head to rid his mouth of the bitterly sweet taste.

"How can you drink that?" he asks, clacking his tongue against the roof of his mouth before eating forkfuls of his pasta dish to erase the taste, face still adorably scrunched up.

"It's delicious," Kurt he says through laughter, raising his eyebrows and smiling at Cooper still doubled up between them, wiping tears from under his eyes and cradling his stomach, taking long, head-clearing breaths.

Blaine glares at Cooper, glances at Kurt who's failing to hide his smile, before speaking, "it's really not thatfunny Coop," he sulks, unthinkingly licking over his almost-stained red lips and frowning at the taste lingering there.

He looks up just in time to see Kurt's eyes trail the path of his tongue, own wine glass half raised to his lips, fingers long and curled around the thin glass before his eyes dart up and lock with Blaine's. A flush spreads high and fast over his cheekbones as Kurt ducks his eyes swiftly, grip tightening on the wine glass as Blaine watches him bring it to his lips, watches the liquid slosh slightly, tipped back, neck accentuated, long and pale, red wine disappearing between his equally red lips, poured down his throat which bobs as he swallows.

And Blaine wants, in that moment, nothing more than to chase the flavour of bitter-sweet wine from Kurt's lips with his own.

"…made me remember, when you were little," Cooper's gasping out words between breaths beside them, and it pulls them both lightening fast from their reverie, "and dad was playing with the- the play dough with you, and he turned his back for like two minutes and you ate almost all of it, and that was the exact, same, face!" Cooper tips his head back and laughs, eyes watery as he blinks back tears and remembers.

"You ate play dough?" Kurt can't stop himself asking, turning to stare, wide eyed with laughter, at Blaine as he thunks his head against the table and groans.

"He ate money as well, and buttons," Cooper says, finishing off his food with a few final bites.

"Really?" Kurt asks, smiling at Cooper. They both thank the waitress as she clears away their plates, smiling far too long and sultrily at Cooper for it to be misconstrued as anything other than flirty. Cooper grins back, as he does to anyone who pays attention to him, and ignores Kurt's eye roll before continuing with the conversation.

"Uh huh," he nods, "mum says she used to find them in his diaper when she changed him," Cooper's grin is so wide and happy and pleased that Blaine wants nothing more than to punch him square on the nose.

Instead he just groans when he hears Kurt laugh, "oh my god," he mumbles into the table cloth, wishing it would lift from the table, wrap around him and swallow him whole because are they really discussing his toddler bowel movements?

"Mum reckons we could've had a family holiday every few months with the amount of spare change Squirt here-"

"Oh my god- shut up!" Blaine bolts upright, kicks Cooper hard in the shin and glares at him with all the strength he can gather.

"Fuck, Blaine, that hurt," Cooper smiles, still laughing as he leans down and rubs over his leg. "It's only Kurt, he doesn't care," Cooper nods to Kurt whose grinning impossibly wide, cheeks hurting from his smile as he tries to imagine little baby Blaine, crawling around on hands and knees, eating cents and dimes, mop of curly hair and podgy limbs and big, golden eyes.

"You're so embarrassing," Blaine mutters, burying his face in his hands to hide his painfully red cheeks.

"You think this is embarrassing?" Cooper asks sceptically, tipping the last few drops of the wine into his glass, "wait until you take a boyfriend home and mum gets the photo albums out, that, my dear brother, is embarrassing," Cooper says with a grin, knocking back the last droplets of wine in his glass before grabbing the bottle and standing. He knocks it gently against Blaine's head and laughs when his brother swats at him, before wandering off, no doubt in search of more.

Blaine listens to the sound of Cooper's retreating footsteps and tries desperately to ignore the images which flash beneath his eyelids at Cooper's words. He sees himself taking Kurt home, sitting him down with his mum and a dozen photo albums, hiding his face at each new picture, pretending not to notice when Kurt slips one into his jean pocket, secretly loving every moment.

Eventually, though, the images leave his mind, trickling away like the bitter taste of wine on his lips as he cracks one eye open, peering between his fingers to Kurt across the table, who's just watching him, still smiling, a softness to his eyes which Blaine can't quite name.

"I wasn't as bad as he's making out," Blaine murmurs.

But Kurt's grin just widens as he reaches over the table to peel Blaine's hands from his face, dropping them to the table, his own resting only an inch away.

"It's cute," Kurt says, head tilting an in inch to one side.

"It's weird," Blaine corrects, unable to hold in his smile at the gentle sound of Kurt's laughter.

"Okay," Kurt admits, "it's a little weird, but mostly it's just cute," Kurt scrunches his nose as he says it and Blaine feels a blush creep back over his cheeks, not from embarrassment this time, but from the force of Kurt's eyes on him, so wide and open and honest and almost, dare he think it, loving.

Blaine stares for a second, admires the shadow of Kurt's eyelashes against his brow, gentle curve of his nose, angle of a jaw, bow of his smile, undeniably gorgeous from head to toe, and would it really be that awfully impossible for him and Kurt to-

He stops himself before his imagination runs away with him, because there's no way, no way in hell, tall, gorgeous, strong, sexy, compassionate, kind, beautiful Kurt could ever fall for a short little kid like Blaine. No way. The realisation of this hits him square in the chest and makes his stomach churn sickeningly. He sighs, snapping himself out of it as he catches Kurt's eye, because it's not loving, that look, it's just kindness, it's just Kurt being Kurt and nothing more than that.

He drops his eyes to the table, to calm his racing heart, and instead sees where Kurt's hands still lie, fingers curls slightly against the table cloth, so close to Blaine's own. He reaches out tentatively, fingers touching Kurt's just barely, warm and soft and forbidden as he unthinkingly pushes closer. His fingers slide under Kurt's hands, tickle at his palms and onwards, fingers over the thin skin of his wrist, palm to palm until he feels against his fingertips the racing hum of Kurt's pulse.

He looks up, just as Kurt does, catches his eye and sees a flicker around the edges, something he can't name, he opens his mouth to ask but then-

"Here boys, let me clear these away for you,"

They both jolt back, arms close to their bodies, hands darting under the table as their heads snap round to both stare up at the waitress currently clearing away the last of their side plates, humming under her breath. She's probably the oldest of the staff they've seen tonight, dressed in her own clothes instead of uniform, maybe she's a manager of some sort. She smiles at them both pleasantly, and lets out a little laugh at their jumpiness and stunned faces before speaking again.

"Oh don't let me stop you," she laughs again, "ain't no one in here going to bat an eye at two boys in love," she winks at Kurt who feels his breath catch, "and if they did I'd personally kick 'em out the door," she finishes, stacking the final plates before waltzing off.

Kurt and Blaine sit, frozen, in their seats as she retreats before slowly, cautiously, turning to face each other. Blaine feels his cheeks flame for what must be the hundredth time that night, while Kurt feels all the colour drain from his. Then they both blink nervously, trying to wrap their heads around what's just happened and look down at their hands knotted in their laps.

"She-"

"I-"

They both speak at the same time, eyes darting lightening fast from the table up to the others eyes, throats dry and mouths gaping still as they just stare and breathe and try, desperately, to puzzle together the person opposite them. Blaine drops his eyes first, stares at the table where their hands had not so long ago been laced together. He swallows, opens his mouth to speak, closes it again. Across from him, instead of staring at the table, Kurt stares at Blaine, at his gelled down hair, his small ears, the turn and shape of his lips which he can only just see and the noticeable inward slump of his shoulders. Scared.

Kurt takes a deep breath, tries to shake out the tension in his shoulders without actually moving, and goes to speak, when suddenly beside them appears Cooper.

"Come on guys," he says in a hurry.

"I thought you were getting more wine? And you wanted the-" Kurt begins, confused, voice rough from how dry his throat is.

"They haven't got it- here you got, let me," he says as Kurt stands, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair and holding it out for him to put on.

Kurt watches him apprehensively before standing, slipping his arms into his thin jacket, shrugging it onto his shoulders, trying not to look at Blaine and instead glancing over his shoulder to Cooper, who is glancing repeatedly over his own shoulder.

"How about the bill?" Blaine pipes up in front of them both.

"All paid," Cooper grins too wide, grabs Kurt by the lapels of his jacket and spins him forcibly to face him, stroking his hands down the collar of Kurt's jacket, still shooting looks over to the bar, where Kurt notices for the first time two young female waitresses staring with shocked expressions.

"What've you-" Kurt begins to ask, exasperated, turning back to glare at Cooper because he's obviously done something, but then there are lips on his own, warm and wet and horribly unfamiliar. There are hands, strong, broad, tight, on the back of his head, side of his neck, holding him.

Kurt splutters slightly, eyes closing on instinct as he presses his hands against Cooper's chest and tries, in vain, to push him off. Cooper opens his mouth, presses closer, his body along the length of Kurt's who steps back, knocks the table and pushes harder, squirms, back bowing awkwardly as he tries to escape, feeling Cooper's tongue press insistent against the seam of lips and that's the final straw.

He parts his lips the tiniest degree, sucks Cooper's bottom lip into his mouth and bites down, hard, sinking his teeth into the tender flesh and giving Cooper a final rough shove to get him off.

"-the fuck Kurt!?" Cooper whispers, still too close as he sucks his bottom lip into his mouth, brings his hand up to touch the tender flesh, and Kurt can't help but smile when he sees the red shine of blood pool over Cooper's lips.

"What the fuck yourself," Kurt responds, shoving at Cooper again before wiping the back of his hand over his lips, horribly wet, saliva tracks on his skin as he scowls at his hand. He turns back to the table, grabs Blaine's glass, still with an inch of wine at the bottom and eagerly knocks it back, he swills it around his mouth a few times, mostly for dramatic effect because thank god Cooper didn't get quite that far but damn, was he trying.

"Just go," Cooper growls, shoots a look back over at the bar before grabbing hold of Kurt's shoulder, angling him to the door.

"Get off of me," Kurt sneers over his shoulder, shrugging Cooper's hands off him as he stalks from the restaurant.

They get outside, the cool air hitting Kurt like a brick wall and with it comes relief, he can't help but glance at Blaine, who looks beyond confused, glancing between Kurt and Cooper, the latter of which is staring at Kurt too, an apology on his lips.

Kurt stares at Cooper for a second, stares at his big eyes and his messy hair and his still bleeding lip and sighs, long and loud before turning, beginning to walk away. He hears the brothers shuffle to keep up, hears Blaine whispering something before Cooper finally speaks.

"Look Kurt, I-"

"What the fuck was that?" Kurt shouts over him, spins on his heel to glare icily at Cooper, arms crossed angrily over his chest, face drawn tight and heart pounding, stomach tight with rage.

"I just, those girls, and I thought…" Cooper trails off, glances at Blaine as if he could help. But Blaine just looks faintly terrified.

"You thought what? Turning them down wasn't enough so you had to make a god damn show of it? God, Cooper, not everything is a fucking-"

"No! No it wasn't that Kurt, it wasn't," Cooper begs, takes a step forward and for the first time look genuinely, truly sorry. "It was…" he sighs, glances again at Blaine who has wrapped his arms around himself, obviously trying to look as small as possible. "I went over there to talk to that girl who served us and-" Kurt rolls his eyes and turns to walk away, before Cooper grabs his arm and tugs gently, asking him to turn as he continues to speak, " please just hear me out… I- I overheard them girls, at the bar, and- and they were being really fucking horrible about…" Cooper sighs, eyes shooting to Blaine again, stood waiting.

"About what, Coop?" Kurt asks, voice hard and unforgiving.

"About you guys," Cooper finally admits, ducking his head.

"Me and Blaine?" Kurt then asks after a moment, voice gentler.

"Yeah and just- just gay people in general. I overheard them, while I was talking to the woman who served us, and they were talking about, y'know the kid who first served us? He was about Blaine's age?" Kurt nods, eyes falling to Blaine momentarily. "And I just- god, I just really fucking hate it. I know I've not- not experienced the bullying and the shit that you guys have but, I mean, I was with you all through high school Kurt," his brow wrinkles with the memories, "I know what those bastards did to you and I tried to help when I could and then-" he turns to his little brother, "and then you came out and- and it was happening all over again and there's never anything I can actually do to stop either of you getting hurt and-"

"Oh god," Kurt sighs through a strangled laugh and steps forwards, wraps his arms around Cooper and allows the anger to seep from his body, until all be feels is profoundly tired. "How on earth was kissing me going to fix anything though?" Kurt asks, rolling his eyes at Blaine who is smiling sadly a few feet away.

"I dunno, I just thought it'd be a bit of a slap in the face for them. I didn't really think it through…" he laughs into Kurt's neck, "and you didn't seem to mind last time at-"

"There is a big difference," Kurt shouts over him, cheeks flaming as he steps back, "between drunk, high school party, truth or dare kisses and you attacking me in a busy restaurant," Kurt tells him, still smiling, before turning and walking away.

"Yeah, you were a lot more willing back then," Cooper smiles, catching up with him, slipping an arm around Kurt's waist and leaning down, pressing a kiss to his cheek and laughing loudly when he squirms away.

"Wait- you two…?" Blaine speaks beside Cooper, walking fast to catch up before turning, walking backwards to stare at them both, expression confused as he points a finger between them, seemingly unable to finish his sentence.

"Yep," Cooper announces almost proudly, lips popping on the P. "Best he's ever had," he announces, laughing at Kurt's disdainful eye roll.

"You weren't the worst," Kurt emphasises, laughing when Cooper pretend-pouts. "I've had better," Kurt admits.

"Oh yeah?" Cooper raises a mock eyebrow.

"Yeah," Kurt retaliates, smiles coyly at Cooper, who just drops his head and laughs. Kurt then glances up, meets Blaine's eyes and smiles, "much better," he adds, revelling in Blaine's small, delightfully shocked expression, before burying his hands in his pockets and looking away, pretending not to notice when Blaine turns to face forward and slips, effortlessly, in between Kurt and Cooper, close enough to Kurt for their shoulder to knock gently.