"Coop c'mon --"

"Blaine." Cooper Anderson sighed in exasperation as he looked up at his little brother. "Shut up okay. We've got ten minutes to decide whether or not you and I go home -- which we will, so just sit there and watch our bags, okay?"

The man to Cooper's left snorted.

"You sound so confident, Anderson."

Cooper rolled his eyes.

"Better to be confident than arrogant, James. It's your play."
The dark haired, seventeen year old slumped back in his chair, pulling the two burlap sacks that contained each brother's meager possessions closer to him.

The older brother smiled briefly at him before glancing back at his hand.

Blaine stared down at his hands in his lap. He didn't know anything about poker and besides, playing cards were boring...but at least Cooper was somewhat adequate at the game, so maybe they had a shot.

All he knew was the following:

First, he loved his brother very much, despite being ten years apart in age. Cooper was all he had, thanks to their no good parents abandoning them after a three month vacation in Europe when Blaine was four and Cooper fourteen.

They'd been on their own ever since.

Second, he didn't really like farming -- he wanted to be a musician, but Cooper couldn't afford to pay for lessons with the violin -- they had a beat up one in Cooper's bag that had been their mother's that Blaine wanted to play so badly but repairs cost as much if not more than the lessons.

Third, though Cooper was the only one he'd admitted it to (it being a generally unaccepted and vulgar topic in company), Blaine knew he didn't like girls the way his brother liked them. He liked boys. Unfortunately he'd been caught by one of their neighbors' sons ogling his best friend Nick's older cousin.

Said boy had gotten his friends and had beaten him near unconscious...might have even killed him had Cooper not been on his way home from the market and seen.
That had been two years ago.

Now Cooper wanted to go back to the States, hoping he could get better work, possibly put Blaine into a good University, and eventually start a family.

Blaine really loved his brother, but in his opinion, Cooper's priorities were out of order. He wanted Cooper to find a job, settle down, and then they could worry about Blaine getting into college.

He didn't even really mind not going to school...he could get a job and help Cooper out.

Though he couldn't tell his brother that -- it was a sore subject between them.

"YES!"

He was pulled out of his thoughts as Cooper grabbed him and pulled him into a bone crushing hug, cards flying to the floor of the pub they were in.

"I won, B!" he yelled. "Full house! We're going home!"