"Hello?"

Blaine froze, feeling his eyes widen as he heard the all too familiar voice. It was one he hadn't heard in over three years, but one he'd grown used to hearing every day for a majority of his life.

"Who's that?" Kurt whispered in his ear, slowly sidling off of Blaine's lap, where he'd been straddling Blaine's waist and placing soft, tender kisses to Blaine's neck.

Blaine didn't respond right away, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that the owner of the voice was actually in his house.

"Blaine?" Kurt whispered again, his voice knit with concern.

Blaine gulped and slowly sat up, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath. "Cooper Zachary Anderson," Blaine replied softly, his voice strained. "My brother."

Kurt squeaked in surprise, but Blaine didn't open his eyes or even so much as flinch at Kurt's shock.

"You – you have a brother?" Kurt asked after a few moments.

Blaine nodded, slowly turning his head to look at his worried boyfriend. "He's 24," Blaine said quietly, keeping his voice down with the hope that maybe he wouldn't hear them and would just leave, thinking that nobody was home. "He moved to England when he turned 21," he explained. "I haven't seen him since."

Kurt still gazed at Blaine with concern, his face scrunched up in worry. "What's the problem?" He said gently, shuffling on the bed a little so that he could rub Blaine's tense shoulders. "You're really tense about this."

Blaine took a deep breath, letting it out as a sigh. "He – Cooper doesn't know that – that I'm gay."

"Oh."

Kurt's hands had stilled on his shoulders, but they remained where they were.

"I mean, I was like thirteen when he left," Blaine explained. "But…I was still out. I made my parents promise not to tell him."

"Why?" Kurt asked after a few minutes.

"Because," Blaine said softly. "I looked up to him. He was my idol. And he defended me when I started getting picked on – when the bullies would call me those names – he would say that they shouldn't be calling me that if it wasn't true."

Blaine gulped, turning his gaze away from Kurt.

"And then, when I told my parents and – well, you know they aren't the most supportive – everything changed. But Cooper still treated me the same. He didn't judge me. I was still baby brother Blaine."

"Blaine –" Kurt started, but Blaine went on.

"But that was because he didn't know," Blaine's voice stuttered a little. "And I wanted to keep it that way. I just wanted someone in my family to treat me the same – like nothing was different. And I guess the easiest way for that to happen was for him to not know."

"How do you know he would act the same as your parents?" Kurt asked, his voice soft, tender, caring. "I mean –"

"I don't know for sure," Blaine replied. "But he is the son that they like to show off. He always has been."

"You need to tell him."

Blaine turned to Kurt to fully look at him. "I know," he said, grabbing Kurt's hand in his own and holding it up to his chest. "I want him to know about me – about us."

Kurt smiled at him softly, his eyes tender and glowing. "So," he prompted after a minute. "Shall you introduce me to this Cooper Zachary Anderson?"

"I shall." Blaine stood up, taking a deep breath before reaching out to take Kurt's hand. He led him out of the room and down the stairs, pausing at the bottom step. "Cooper?" He called out, hoping that his voice didn't quiver. "Is that you?"

And then the sound of footsteps could be heard nearing the stairs, and Blaine panicked. He slipped is hand out of Kurt's quickly, not even two seconds before his brother came into view.

"Blaine!" Cooper exclaimed, jogging the remaining distance and all but grabbing Blaine off the steps.

Blaine chuckled and wriggled out of Cooper's grasp, feeling Kurt's gaze on him the whole time.

"How are you?" Cooper asked excitedly, his eyes glowing at the sight of his brother. "God, Blaine, you're all grown up!"

Blaine blushed and ducked his head, even though he could still feel his stomach clenching and the nerves controlling his heartbeat.

"And your hair," Cooper went on, attempting to ruffle Blaine's gelled-to-the-brick hair. "Jeeze, Blaine, lay off the gel a little, will you?"

Blaine stayed silent, his eyes trained on his brother's face.

And that's when he knew that he couldn't do it.

"I missed you," he said after a few moments.

And then he heard Kurt make a small noise, one that Blaine knew was a noise of disappointment. Blaine felt a swarm of shame flutter over him as he realized that Kurt knew he was chickening out.

Cooper's attention was drawn to Kurt.

"This is Kurt," Blaine explained slowly. He paused for a moment before continuing, thinking carefully about what he was going to say next. "He's my – my friend from school."

And then Blaine heard Kurt's small intake of breath – something which would only be noticed by Blaine himself – before Kurt walked down the remaining stairs.

"I'm heading out," Kurt said in a stiff voice, one that any stranger would mistake as polite. But Blaine knew better. "I'll talk to you later Blaine."

He fixed his eyes on Blaine for a moment, Blaine wanting to cringe under his intense gaze. He turned away a moment later, walking out the front door and closing it behind him.

"He seems…" Cooper started to say, trailing off before fixing his gaze back on Blaine. "So, lil' bro," he said, swinging his arm around Blaine's shoulders and leading him into the living room. "Tell me what's happened in the last three years, yeah?"

Blaine looked at his brother – at his blue eyes, which took after his father, his wavy black hair, his tall stature, and –

"Is that a ring on your finger?"

Cooper gazed down to where Blaine's eyes were looking, a soft smile playing across his lips. "Yeah, that's the reason I came home," he said slowly. "I'm – I'm engaged, Blaine."

Blaine smiled, but he knew it wasn't genuine.

"Her name's Vanessa," Cooper went on. "And – Blaine she's totally gorgeous, so don't get any ideas, okay?"

Blaine gulped and looked down at his hands in his lap. God, how did Cooper not know already? He was wearing a pair of skinny jeans, for Christ's sake. His hair was gelled. His legs were crossed. He had a bowtie on.

But still. It felt – nice not to be judged.

And then his mind flashed back to Kurt's disapproving look that he had given Blaine.

"But I figured that it would go over better if I came home and told mom and dad to their faces," Cooper went on. "You know how they are. They don't like surprises sprung on them, so I knew that telling them over the phone wouldn't be the best idea."

Blaine nodded but remained silent. And dang it, all he could think about now was Kurt and his face and how sad and disappointed he'd looked.

Blaine knew Kurt looked up to him. Even though he was no longer in mentor-mode, he knew that, on at least some level, Kurt would always somewhat see Blaine as that strong-willed, proud person who'd helped him in his darkest time.

And this was letting Kurt down.

"What's got you down?" Cooper asked after a few minutes of silence. "You've been awfully quiet."

"It – It's nothing," Blaine responded slowly.

Cooper's eyes squinted at him, analyzing him for a moment before nodding. "Okay," he said slowly. "Now, how about we go get some lunch and catch up before Mom and Dad come home, yeah?"

That evening, Blaine found himself in his room again.

He was seated on his bed, trying not to cringe as he thought about what exactly he and Kurt had been about to do before Cooper had arrived.

He'd sent Kurt a message about an hour ago, asking if he was mad and that he was sorry he'd chickened out.

He still hadn't received a response.

Blaine stared at his phone, willing for the message alert to pop up and put him out of his misery.

But then he heard the front door open, the sound of his parents arriving home from work.

They must have found Cooper not too much later, if his mother's squealing didn't already give it away.

"Blaine," his mother called, "Come downstairs."

Blaine glanced at his phone once more before setting it on his nightstand, slowly making his way down the stairs.

As he entered the kitchen, his parent's gave him their usual look – the one full of disappointment.

But now it was ten times worse because they're picture perfect son was back.

"My boys," his mother cooed, even though Blaine knew she was really only referring to Cooper.

They chatted – they being Blaine's parents and Zach – while his mother made dinner.

"And I met one of Blaine's friends," Cooper said as she placed the potatoes onto the table. "He ran off pretty quickly, though."

Blaine's father's eyes landed on Blaine, giving him a hard look that made Blaine cringe slightly.

"Which friend, dear?" His mother asked, sounding nonchalant when Blaine knew that she was in fact searching for the proof of what she already suspected.

"Kurt something, I think," Cooper replied. "Kind of fidgety."

And then Blaine's mother, too, was eyeing him suspiciously.

"Kurt was here while we were gone?" She asked, her eyes narrowing a little.

Blaine gulped before nodding slowly, training his eyes on the wood table, not wanting to meet her mother's gaze.

He saw her giving his father a worried glance out of the corner of his eye. And then his father nodded.

Blaine hated it when they communicated with their eyes.

Because it left Blaine with absolutely no sense of what was coming.

So of course what his father said next took him completely off guard.

"You know the rules, Blaine," his father said gruffly. "You're not allowed to have him over when we're not home."

Blaine had a few different reactions to that sentence. His first being that he wanted to say something about the one time he had Kurt come over and they'd had sex.

The second, however, was completely different. And it consisted a string of profanities, along with something about why his father would say that around Cooper.

Clearly his parents didn't really care about anything Blaine said or did anymore.

"Wait," Cooper said before Blaine could respond, "Why does it matter? Blaine's responsible, they're not going to like, get in your liquor stash or anything."

Blaine's father opened his mouth again, but Blaine had enough.

"You know what?" He said, his voice raising as he glared at his father. He saw Cooper's eyes widen at the sudden tension in the room, but Blaine didn't care at the moment. "I am so sick of you. Both of you!" He rounded on his mother. "I ask you for one thing, to keep it from one person, and you can't even do that?"

Blaine took a deep breath, turning towards his confused brother. "I'm gay, Coop," he scoffed a little, feeling the tears welling in his eyes. "Kurt's my boyfriend, and now he's mad at me and our parents aren't really helping with anything." Blaine paused and took a deep breath. "And I didn't want to tell you because I didn't know how you'd act. So I asked them to keep it from you, but obviously," he turned to glare at his parents one more time, "They don't really know how to respect their son. At least not the one that's not living the lifestyle they want him to."

Cooper opened his mouth to reply, but Blaine turned and fled back up the stairs to his room.

Slamming the door behind him, he slid against it and buried his head in his hands.

Sometimes he really just wished that he was born into a different family.

Blaine must have fallen asleep sometime the previous night, since he woke up to the light streaming through his windows. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have stayed on the floor, but he had been two miserable to move.

Cooper was going to hate him now. He was going to want nothing to do with Blaine anymore, he would go back to England and tell his fianc� about his gay brother.

Really, Blaine didn't think anything could feel worse than this.

Except for if Kurt dumped him, and for all he knew that was a possibility.

Blaine just lay there, wondering if there was anything he could do to make his life slightly better.

A soft knock sounded on his door, startling Blaine since he was practically leaning against it on the ground.

"Blaine?" Cooper's voice was soft, muffled by the door and just gentle in general. "Blaine, can we talk?"

Blaine felt the tears welling in his eyes again, but he stood up and twisted the knob on his door, hurrying to burrow himself in his bed before Cooper even had the door open.

"Blaine," Cooper sighed as he sat down on the edge of Blaine's bed.

Blaine didn't even know why Cooper was still talking to him. He didn't want anything to do with Blaine anymore – he was just like his parents now.

"Blaine, can you come out of your cave?" Cooper asked, his voice soothing. "Please?"

Blaine stuck his head out, wincing at the tears that were still flowing out of his eyes.

He saw Cooper's face crumple at the sight of him, causing some confusion in Blaine's mind.

"Blaine," Cooper started, his eyes gentle. "I don't hate you. I don't think any less of you."

Blaine scoffed. "Right," he said wetly, rolling his eyes.

"Really," Cooper went on. "I'm not like Mom and Dad. I have friends who are gay, Blaine. I'm not going to judge you any differently, just because of who you may or may not love."

Blaine looked down at his pillow, playing with the small ruffle at the end of his pillowcase.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Cooper asked.

"Because I didn't want you to hate me," Blaine whispered after a moment. "After I told Mom and Dad – they treated me differently. I – I just wanted things with you to stay the same."

Cooper sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "We argued last night, after you ran up here," he said slowly. "They're – They're not really budging."

Blaine scoffed. "I know."

"And then after they went to bed, I heard them in their room talking about why you couldn't be more like me, about why you couldn't go and find yourself a pretty girl like Vanessa."

Blaine swallowed the lump in his throat.

"And then I talked to them again this morning and – well, they went for a drive, I may have made them so angry."

Blaine wasn't sure what he was feeling. He wasn't used to people defending him against his parents. Kurt could never really say anything, for fear that they would then turn and lash out on him.

But this – the fact that his brother, someone related to him was defending him – it was a strange, somewhat pleasant feeling.

"You're still my brother," Cooper said. "And Kurt – hell, I don't even know the kid, but he must be a spitfire if he manages to be with you and actually hang around this house."

Blaine chuckled and nodded.

Cooper wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He leant back against the bed, Blaine settling in beside him. They'd done this before – just lounging on one another's bed, talking and catching up. Granted, it hadn't happened in years, but it still felt the same.

"What's he like?" He muttered after a moment. "Kurt."

Blaine smiled a little, knowing that he was getting that dazed off look in his eyes. "He's amazing," he said softly. "He's sweet, and funny, and then he has that side of him that basically says 'I get what I want or I will end you.'"

Cooper laughed softly. "Do you love him?"

And god, this whole thing was so strange. Here Blaine was, lounging on his bed with his brother, talking about his boyfriend. He never thought this would happen – and yet, he never knew how much he actually wanted it to happen until it was already happening.

"Yes," Blaine breathed. "So much."

"Good," Cooper replied, a wide grin on his face as he hopped off the bed. "Because I called him and told him what happened, and he should be here –" The doorbell rang then, Cooper's grin only spreading wider. "Now."

Blaine smiled and shook his head, standing up and wrapping his arms around his brother. "Thank you," he whispered.

Cooper hugged him back, pressing a soft kiss to his hair. "I'm your big brother, man," he said. "I'm not just gonna throw you to the curb just because you're in love with a boy."

Blaine held onto him for a moment longer, just relishing the moment.

"Now go get your lover boy," Cooper grinned, pushing Blaine out of his bedroom. "Mom and Dad will be gone for a few more hours, and I'm going to see some old friends, so you'll have the house to yourselves for a while." Cooper paused, a wicked glint forming in his eyes. "And, from what I've gathered, you guys have some making up to do. And I heard that make up sex is always the –"

"Oh my god," Blaine groaned, shoving past his brother towards the door. "Just stop talking now."

Cooper chuckled, and Blaine felt his face reddening.

He opened the door, his heart fluttering at the sight of his boyfriend.

And then Kurt's arms were around his neck, his lips planting small kisses all over his face and – finally – on his lips.

"I'm sorry," Kurt breathed, his thumb caressing Blaine's cheek. "I shouldn't have made a big deal out of it, and I didn't really know what you were going through, and –"

"No, I understand," Blaine replied, cutting off what Blaine knew was going to be a long apology. "I love you," he said after a minute, wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist and pulling him closer.

"I love you, too," Kurt replied, his lips brushing against the shell of Blaine's ear. "And, for the record, your brother is kind of awesome."

Blaine grinned and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Kurt's mouth, glancing at Cooper from over Kurt's shoulder. He was smiling at them fondly, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his eyes glowing a little.

"Yeah," Blaine agreed, "He kind of is, isn't he?"