The other Warblers froze at Sebastian's words, Nick and Jeff's eyes flicking nervously from Kurt to Sebastian and back.

"Hi guys." Blaine's voice, though quiet, broke the awkward silence hanging between them and the Warblers.

"H-Hey Blaine." said Nick, smiling at him. "How've you been?"

Blaine smiled.

"I'm alright." he said politely. "Thanks for asking."

The Warblers seemed to relax at that.

"We heard about Nationals." said Sebastian. "Congratulations, guys."

"Thanks." said Kurt, his smile forced as he stared at the other boy. "Blaine we should go --"

Blaine looked at him questioningly. They hadn't really talked about the rock-salt slushie incident since it had happened, and when Sebastian had apologized, Kurt had been tightlipped at that, not to mention seemingly incredulous when Blaine later appeared to accept said apology at Regionals.

"Yeah, I think we should go." he said after a moment.

The other boys' faces fell, but they said nothing, watching as Blaine and Kurt left The Lima Bean.

At Kurt's car, Blaine rounded on him.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded.

---

"Coo, you know I can't do anything if she hasn't shown up here, and his glee coach didn't report her in Chicago anyway --"

"But past history --"

"Coop." Danny reached over and touched his friend's shoulder. "I promise you I won't let her hurt Blaine, but she's not here, and as far as everyone knows officially, she hasn't done anything --"

Cooper stared at the ground. Danny sighed and leaned against the side of their van. Behind him, he could hear Haley buckling Jess in. The breakfast had been nice, until Cooper had mentioned what had happened in Chicago, which turned the conversation to awkward and tense.

Then thankfully Haley brought up something stupid both Danny and Cooper had done in high school and they were back to polite conversation (various insults made by either man included).

"Call me if something happens, okay?" he said. "I'm not holding you to babysitting tonight...go spend it with Blaine."

"Danny it's fine --"

Danny just snorted and shook his head.He nodded before climbing into his own car and driving off.

The front door opened and slammed shut around five, telling Cooper that neither of their grandparents was home, but an extremely pissed off Blaine was instead.He set his book aside (he hadn't really been reading anyway -- just idly flipping pages with his headphones in, trying to distract himself) and left the kitchen.

"Blaine?" he called tentatively.

"Not now, Cooper!" his little brother yelled as he stomped upstairs, footsteps echoing through the house.Of course, he knew Blaine would just yell for him to leave the younger Anderson alone. He knew whatever had happened had nothing to do with their mother.

He'd heard the slight crack in Blaine's voice as he made his way upstairs -- the same one he'd detected when Blaine had called him over the whole 'Chandler' issue.

Something was going on between him and Kurt.

Cooper leaned against the banister, looking up toward the second floor of his grandparents' home.

"Blaine?" he called again, moving up onto the first step. No response. The older brother took that as his cue to head upstairs.

---

"What if they don't like me?"

Cooper looked down at his little brother, who was currently clutching the hem of his leather jacket as they made their way off of the plane and into the terminal at Port Columbus International Airport.

He looked terrified.

"They'll love you, B." he said calmly. "I promise. I talked to Grandma on the phone last night, remember?"

The three year old nodded, curls bouncing.

"She said our rooms are all nice and she got Spiderman bedsheets like I had at home." he said.

Cooper laughed and nodded.

"That's right, squirt -- hey don't make that face!" he added, seeing Blaine's expression transform into a pout at the nickname. "Awww c'mon, give me a smile? Please?"

Blaine shook his head, bottom lip jutting out, eyes stony.

He sighed.

"Alright bud, I'll try to stop calling you 'squirt'."Blaine relaxed, lips forming a tiny smile.

"Okay."

"Come on, boys -- your grandparents are waiting at the food court. Let's go pick up your suitcases and we'll go meet them, okay?" said Aunt Becky.

Cooper nodded.

"Let's go." he held out his hand for Blaine to take, and they set off.

Blaine sighed, staring up at the ceiling of his bedroom, tossing his phone from hand to hand.

There was a soft knock on his door.

"Blaine?" It was Cooper. "Can I come in?"

The teen sat up on his bed, hugging one pillow to his chest.

"Yeah." he responded flatly.

His brother walked in and sat down on his mattress.

"What happened, buddy?" he asked.

"Sebastian." The response made Cooper's hands curl into fists. He hoped to God he never came within two feet of the kid who'd caused his brother to nearly lose an eye. He wasn't sure he'd be able to stop himself from throttling the guy. "He didn't even seek us out, and I accepted his apology -- but Kurt --"

"You're not making sense, Blaine." he said calmly. "Come on. Tell me what happened."

Blaine's eyes lifted from the pillow in his arms to reluctantly meet his brother's.

"Kurt and I went for coffee after school." he said. "and Sebastian came in with some of the other guys who are part of the Warblers. They asked how I was and I said I was fine. I tried to be polite -- but Kurt -- he just wanted to get out of there --"

"You were annoyed at him for being rude?" questioned Cooper.

"I was annoyed 'cause he hasn't let the slushie thing go!" Blaine burst out angrily. "I was pissed at him too, I mean -- Sebastian tried to hurt my boyfriend, Coop! I -- I just figured it was time to move on. And Kurt didn't --" his voice trailed off and he threw the pillow at the wall.

Cooper bit his lip, not sure how to appease his brother.

"Look, Kurt has a right to still be pissed at the guy. He tried to come between you two, and the rock-salt slushie was meant for him." he said slowly. "It's probably gonna be a while before he wants to be voluntarily civil to the guy." Blaine stared at him. "Come on, if Kurt had been in your position --"

"Don't." Blaine sighed and moved to sit next to his brother. "Just don't, Cooper."

Cooper was quiet for a moment, then wrapped an arm around the teen's back comfortingly.

"You guys shouldn't fight." he said quietly. "I hate seeing you like this, B."

"Well I hate feeling like this."

"I know you do. I remember your call after the incident that involved that kid Chandler -- though that was an entirely different situation." Cooper laid a quick kiss on the top of his brother's head. "Just call him up and talk through this, okay?"

Blaine took a deep breath.

"Okay."