“Dude, your sister’s a dyke?”

The first time Cooper heard that, it was from one of his ‘best friends’. Cooper stupidly thought that college automatically made people better, more accepting and understanding but he was wrong. They were the same prejudiced people they were in high school but just a few years older.

Cooper did his best to protect his little sister from the world but it was hard when he was so far away. He made sure that Blaine always knew he was there for her, that he was just a phone call away at all times if she needed someone to talk to.

Blaine was particularly quiet when it came to her sexuality. She came out when she was twelve and Cooper was twenty-two. It broke Cooper’s heart that he couldn’t be there for her during the toughest period of her life. Their parents didn’t take it too well and after years of trying to reason with them, Blaine ended up living with Cooper. Luckily, she boarded at Dalton of most of the year, which helped Cooper as he was trying to make his way through medical school for most of Blaine’s high schooling.

As time went on, Cooper and Blaine grew used to living with each other. They’d seen and heard things from each other that they never wanted to see or hear again but they dealt with it. They still had squabbles like every sibling did but they got through it because they were really all each other had.

When Blaine fell in love with Kurt, Cooper wasn’t entirely surprised. Blaine had been prattling on and on about Kurt for weeks before she finally realised that she had feelings for Kurt.

Cooper wished he’d had someone to bet with on how long it would take his sister and Kurt to get together.

Cooper thought that by at least twenty-eight, some of his friends from college would be a bit more open-minded, especially seeing as they were all training to be in the medical field together. He was proved wrong when he invited a couple of the guys over to watch a football game at his house one Saturday afternoon. They were all off, thankfully. Med school and being a resident at Lima Memorial was taking its toll on them all. Most days when Cooper was home, all he wanted to do was sleep. He had to make sure Blaine was alright as well, of course, but she was pretty good at fending for herself. That and she had Kurt who was more than willing to look after the pair of them.

Kurt was definitely a keeper.

He’d let Blaine know in advance that he was having some friends over and Blaine said that she didn’t mind, as she and Kurt would likely just hang out in Blaine’s room and watch Project Runway or something.

Cooper had almost forgotten that Kurt and Blaine were home until the second half of the game. He heard footsteps head into the kitchen and just ignored them. He was more than used to Kurt and Blaine making things in the kitchen before disappearing again. If he had had a long day, Kurt would always make a sandwich for him too.

“Dudes, I’m going to get another beer, want one?” One of Cooper’s friends, Steve, said.

“Sure,” Cooper replied and Aaron nodded as well from his seat as well.

Cooper turned his attention back to the game just as another goal was scored by the Buckeyes. “Yes!” he cheered, clapping his hands once and leaning forwards, resting his elbows on his knees.

He was so intently focused on the game, he missed the first call of his name but the sharp, almost scream of “Cooper!” caught his attention immediately.

He got up and headed to the kitchen to see Kurt and Blaine standing next to each other, both wearing identical pissed off looks and Steve was on the other side of the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Dude, your sister’s a dyke!”

“Excuse me?”

“She was macking on that slut there and–”

“Leave,” Cooper said forcefully.

“Dude, what?”

“You can’t come into my house and start calling my sister and her girlfriend names, Steve,” Cooper said, folding his arms across his chest. He frowned at his supposed friend, wondering what on Earth had possessed him to start talking like that. “This is my family. No one tries to ridicule my family like that.”

“You’re disgusting,” Steve jibed as he straightened himself up, clearly trying to look intimidating.

“Just leave,” Cooper repeated.

Steve glared at them one last time, muttering things under his breath. Cooper could hear him telling Aaron to follow him but Aaron was too busy watching the game.

“You two alright?” Cooper asked, turning to Kurt and Blaine.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Kurt replied, taking Blaine’s hand in her own.

“What happened?”

“He was just being a jerk,” Kurt explained. “He said some comments about how we’re disgusting dykes and that we should burn in hell. You know, the usual.”

Cooper sighed and pulled his sister and Kurt into a hug. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know he’d be like that.”

“It’s not your fault, Coop,” Blaine said, hugging back tightly.

“I’m going to order pizza for dinner soon, I’ll get one for you both as well,” Cooper said, pulling back from the hug.

The two girls nodded and left the kitchen again for Blaine’s room.

Cooper sighed and headed back to the living room to watch a game he could no longer focus on.

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