The moment Blaine saw the Captain America action figure he knew he had to have it. His mother had forced him to go out shopping with her for the afternoon. It was mid- June and the summer heat was already blistering. A heat advisory had been issued three days ago, and since the weather was only getting worse, his mother had refused to let him out to play with his friends.

So when he spotted that action figure as he was tugged along through the mall shops he begged and pleaded until she bought it. Captain America was the last Avenger he needed for his group, and he was also rather pretty. Once they returned to the house Blaine dug through the bags, finally pulling the new toy out and dashed off to the far corner of the living room where his toy chest was.

"Tony, Tony!" Blaine cried in excitement, pulling out his Ironman action figure first. He took one into each hand and made the two plastic superheroes shake hands. "Meet your new best friend, Steve Rogers!"

It wasn't long before he had the whole group out and had them set up against the worst villain in his house – Darth Plunger. By the time the Avengers had saved the day, sending Darth Plunger straight down the laundry chute, Tony Stark seemed to realize what Blaine had always thought.

"Steve, Steve!" Blaine gushed, turning towards Captain America and Thor, where they were relaxing on the bookcase by his corner. "Tony thinks you're pretty!"

Blaine lowered his voice to his Captain America impression and made Steve's hands come up to cup his face as though he was embarrassed. "Oh, wow, gee whiz, really? He's so dark and handsome!"

"You should kiss him," Blaine suggested, lighting up as the idea struck him. He picked Steve up off the bookcase and brought him over to Tony. Just as he was pressing the two little men's faces together, the door to his father's office creaked open behind him.

"Hey, Blaine, staying inside like your mother said t– what do you think you're doing?"

James Anderson's outraged voice made Blaine freeze. He didn't like when his father used that tone or yelled. Usually it was never directed at him, but whenever it was it usually made him cry. He might be nine and a big boy, but his father was terrifying when he was angry over something.

"I– I'm making Ironman and C- Captain America kiss," Blaine explained softly, turning big tearful eyes up to his father's angry face.

"No, absolutely not," his father growled, snatching the toys from Blaine's hands. "Boys do not kiss other boys. Do you understand me, young man? Girls and boys kiss each other and that's it. Do you understand me?"

Blaine fell back on his butt, his lower lip trembling as he quickly nodded and watched his father disappear with his toys. But he didn't understand why it wasn't allowed. What was so wrong with a boy kissing another boy? After all, Cooper kissed him goodnight all the time, and he liked to imagine himself kissing the really cute boy in his class at school. Did that mean he was actually a girl then? That didn't make sense either, but the idea of kissing any of the girls in his class made his stomach churn, so he must be if his father was right.

Cooper returned home late that summer evening. It was his last summer before he left for college and he wanted to get in as much time with his friends as possible. His mother was busy finishing up dinner when he slunk through the kitchen to grab a snack. He didn't even bother checking to see where his father was. James rarely left his office until one of them dragged him out for a meal.

Instead Cooper mounted the stairs in search of his little brother. Blaine was the one person in the house he wanted to spend as much time as possible with before August arrived. It was unusual for Blaine to not be playing with the little Avengers he'd been collecting, but Cooper shrugged and headed down the hall to Blaine's room. Perhaps he'd relocated because their father had yelled at him for making too much noise.

He didn't even bother knocking on his brother's door. Blaine was still in elementary school, so for now at least he didn't feel the need to worry about walking in on anything. As soon as the door swung open, however he wished he had.

Blaine was standing in front of his full-length mirror, in his usual shorts, but instead of one of his dress shirts and bow ties he had a bright yellow bra. Cooper was so shocked the apple he'd grabbed from the kitchen fell out of his hand and rolled across the floor. Blaine startled, whipping his head around to turn big, fearful eyes on his older brother.

"C- C- Cooper! You should knock!"

"Why are you wearing Mama's bra?" Cooper asked in amazement, quickly closing the door incase their father passed by. After eighteen years of living in his father's house Cooper knew his father's reaction to this would be borderline psychotic.

Blaine grimaced, and tugged at the yellow fabric, fidgeting where he stood as Cooper bent down in front of him.

"Daddy... Daddy said that boys couldn't kiss other b- b- boys," Blaine swallowed a mouthful of air and Cooper reached out to him and steadied his trembling shoulders. "But I want to kiss other boys, so since only g- girls can kiss boys then I must be a girl, and- and I don't want to be a girl or change my name to Gretchen!"

Blaine flung himself into Cooper's waiting arms, crying softly, and Cooper felt horrible. He hugged Blaine tightly, taking a moment to carefully unclasp the bra and let it slide off of Blaine's thin shoulders before he scooped his little brother up and sat him down on the bed. Cooper kneeled down in front of him and helped him gently wipe his tears away.

"Hey, you listen to me for a minute, okay?" Blaine nodded shakily, still wiping his eyes. "Dad is wrong, so completely wrong. You can kiss and like whoever you want to. The only real rule to kissing is that you ask the other person first so you don't kiss them if they don't want to kiss you. Got it?"

Blaine hiccupped loudly and Cooper leaned in, pressed a kiss to his cheek, and hugged him tightly. He'd never seen Blaine so upset before, and the fact that his father, of all people, was the cause made him furious.

"Hey, you stay here and get your shirt back on, all right?" Cooper decided, picking up the lacy bra and standing up. "I'm going to go put this back before Mama finds out."

Blaine agreed and shuffled off to his closet to dig out a shirt and bow tie. However, once Cooper was in the hallway he didn't turn to the left towards his parents' room, but instead headed back downstairs to the kitchen, the yellow bra in hand.

He barged into the room just as his mother was putting a pan of biscuits into the oven. She jumped in fright as he came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"OH!" She spun around, clutching her chest, but looking relieved to see her older son. "Oh, Cooper you scared me to death."

"Are you aware of this?" Cooper thrust his mother's bra into her face, gritting his teeth to try to control his growing anger.

"Cooper, why in the world do you have my b– "

"Because Blaine was just wearing it!"

"What? Why would he– "

"Dad told him that boys can't kiss each other. That only a girl and a boy can kiss, so now he thinks he has to be a girl in order to kiss a boy he likes!" Cooper raged, tossing the bra onto the table and breathing hard.

"He what?"

Cooper glanced up, surprised to see his own fury reflected in his mother's eyes.

"How dare he– I can't– you keep an eye on the biscuits," Lyra ordered, untying her apron and forcefully throwing it onto the counter. "I need to have a word with your father."

She disappeared through the archway, and a few seconds later, Blaine appeared, casting a confused look over his shoulder where Lyra had just marched off.

"Why's Mama look so angry?" Blaine asked, wandering over to Cooper's side. Quickly Cooper snatched the bra off the table and tucked it down his shirt while Blaine fiddled with his bow tie.

"She's uh, upset with Dad because of what he said to you," Cooper explained carefully.

"Y- you told her? She thinks he's wrong, too?" Blaine asked, looking hopeful.

"Of course she does," Cooper answered instantly. "He couldn't be any more wrong if he tried. You just keep being you and tell him to get stuffed."

Blaine gasped at his brother's words, looking horrified at the very idea of saying such a thing to their father. "Can I really say that to him?"

"If he tells you boys can't like each other, then yes. I absolutely insist on it," Cooper told him firmly.

The sudden rumble of their father's voice started up from the other side of the house.

" – not natural, Lyra! I will not have that in my house!"

"Then maybe this won't be your house for much longer!" their mother screamed back. "I will not let you talk to our son like that, do you h– "

Their voices were suddenly muffled by the slamming of their father's office door. Cooper was grateful for it, but the fact that Blaine had had to hear any of that made Cooper's chest hurt. When he risked a glance over to Blaine, the little boy looked scared.

"Coop, I don't wanna make them hate each other," Blaine whispered, wrapping himself around Cooper's leg.

"They're just disagreeing, that's all," Cooper assured him. "They love each other, Blaine. Don't worry."

Even as he said it, Cooper didn't think Blaine believed him. His little brother was smart, a lot smarter than Cooper had been at nine, and he was almost positive that Blaine was drawing his own conclusions about the muffled argument still happening across the house.