"Ah! Peter Hummel! We meet again!" said the small but loud voice of Blaine Anderson from his tree-house in one corner of his giant backyard.

"That's a huge surprise, Captain Anderhook, seeing as you've been going on about him coming to visit non-stop for the past week," said a sarcastic voice from behind him.

"Is Coop up there too?" asked Kurt, with a grin.

"Yeah," said Blaine mirroring his friend. "Come on up, Kurt. There's still lots of room."

"I swear, if mom and dad hadn't told me they'd buy me new wheels for my board if I looked after you for the afternoon…" said Cooper in an annoyed tone.

"You shouldn't swear, Coop. It's wrong," said Kurt, climbing up the steps to their 'secret' clubhouse. Cooper couldn't help but smirk at how earnestly Blaine's friend had said it.

He watched as Blaine made sure to grab Kurt's arm and help him up the last step. He didn't have to - Kurt could easily make it on his own – Blaine just liked holding his hand. This never failed to make Cooper smile; especially since Blaine had confided in him that he wanted to marry Kurt one day.

It was a few weeks ago, when Cooper had walked with Blaine to the small shop a few streets away. He had bought his little brother a ring-pop because Blaine had been so excited about them when he saw the commercial on TV that morning. Instead of eating it straight away like Cooper expected him to, however, Blaine had pocketed the candy carefully with a serious expression.

"What's up?" asked Cooper, concerned. It wasn't like Blaine to not eat candy as soon as it was placed in his hands. He had such a sweet tooth. "Are you feeling a little sick?"

"No," Blaine replied. "I just want to do something else with it."

Cooper gave his brother a slightly amused and curious look, wondering what on Earth a seven-year-old could want to do with a ring-pop besides devour it.

"Well, what do you want to do with it?" he asked. Blaine frowned up at his brother without a shred of any kind of amusement on his face.

"You'll laugh," he said, looking back down at his feet as he walked.

"I pinkie-swear I won't," said Cooper, holding out his pinkie and feeling more than a little worried. Whatever it was, it must be something serious if Blaine was frowning that deeply.

Reluctantly, Blaine stretched out his own pinkie and hooked it into Cooper's.

"Remember how you and Bianca were watching that movie the other day? About the weddings and stuff?" asked Blaine in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Yeah?" said Cooper, nodding and encouraging his brother to continue. Blaine's voice dropped even more as he spoke the next few lines.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot about it and they said you must choose someone you really love to marry and so I want to ask Kurt to marry me."

Cooper couldn't say he was too surprised. Kurt and Blaine had been inseparable ever since Kurt's family had moved in across the street the year before. They spent almost all their free time together and practically lived in each other's homes.

Still, he knew enough about his parents to know that while they loved the fact that Blaine had a really good friend, they would try to teach Blaine that liking Kurt in that way was wrong. Cooper didn't want that. Blaine had the right to be whoever he was and he would never let his parents take that away from him.

Knowing what he had to do as a good big brother, Cooper got onto his knees so that he was eye-level with Blaine.

"Blainers, if you want to marry Kurt, then I say you should definitely ask him. But I wouldn't mention it to mom and dad because they might think you're a bit young to get married. And we should probably wait for the right time to ask him. You should plan it so it's nice for Kurt. It will show him you care about him."

This was why Cooper now found himself in a tiny, cramped tree-house, with a nervous Blaine and an excited Kurt. Cooper pulled a little box out of his pocket and slipped it into Blaine's hand which was tucked behind his back.

Blaine gave Coop one last look as if to ask "Are you sure this is really a good idea?" to which his big brother nodded seriously. He figured this was his cue to leave, but he didn't really want to miss what would happen, so he climbed down the tree-house ladder and positioned himself under a little hole in the floor of the structure so that he could see what was going on.

"Blaine, are you okay?" asked Kurt, concerned. "You look a little green."

"I'm fine," said Blaine with a nervous shudder.

"Are you sure?" Kurt replied, taking his hand. Cooper's heart melted at the sweetness between the two of them. "I think you've been up here for too long. We should go run around the garden or something."

"NO!" shouted Blaine, louder than he probably meant to, because he blushed as he spoke next. "I need to ask you something."

Cooper grinned. His brother, all of seven years old, was actually going to ask his best friend to marry him with a ring-pop engagement ring.

"Is it a secret?" Kurt asked, in a hushed voice, seeming to catch the significance of the moment.

"Kinda," said Blaine, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath just like Coop had told him to. "Kurt, you're my best friend, and I really love you. We have so much fun together and I never want it to stop."

"Me neither," agreed Kurt with a smile, which Blaine returned. Cooper's heart was hammering. He was about to say it.

"That's why" Blaine continued, with another deep breath, "I want to ask you to marry me one day." He pulled the box containing the ring-pop from behind his back and held it in front of his friend.

Kurt stared at Blaine completely perplexed for a few moments. Beneath the tree-house, Cooper held his breath hoping for the best, silently wondering what he would say to Blaine if Kurt didn't take it well. There was dead-silence for a moment or two before Kurt let out a squeak of happiness and threw his arms around Blaine's neck.

"I would love to marry you, Blaine," he said. "You're my very best friend. I don't want us to ever be away from each other."

Blaine grinned from ear to ear as he slid the ring pop onto Kurt's thumb (the only finger big enough for it to fit).

"This means we're going to be best friends forever, doesn't it?" asked Kurt as he hugged Blaine again.

"Forever and ever," replied Blaine earnestly.

And below the tree-house, Blaine's big brother tried to wipe away his tears with the sleeve of his denim jacket. For all that Blaine was a pain in the butt and knew exactly which of his buttons to press, Cooper had never been more proud of the kid. At seven years old, he was honest with himself and he had taken a huge leap of faith in asking his best friend to do the same.

That was the reason why Blaine, as of that day, was Cooper's hero.