Blaine sat curled into the corner of the sofa.  In the background–he could hear his father and Cooper ‘talking’.   His foggy brain couldn’t keep up with their conversation–muffled and far off as it was by distance alone–the warm numb moving through his veins kept his attention moving from the fire dancing inside the fireplace to the television he’d turned down to the point of muting it all together and back towards the sound of their conversation.  Barely picking up words now and then, he’d gone to the end closest to the hallway to try and hear better.  In spite of his efforts, he had no such luck.  Judging by the way his mother abruptly excused herself a half an hour ago?  No doubt it was about him and what happened.  

A couple of days earlier was still in the hospital and–his father was home for less than that before business called and he planned to leave again. Blaine would be hard pressed to say it was all that bad that his father was leaving in the first place.  Because Cooper was suddenly there–out of the blue to Blaine because he had no idea he was coming–to take his place.  A much better option considering how his father was taking the entire situation.  Unable to tell if he was more angry at the kids who did what they did.  Or that Blaine went against his wishes and had asked the boy to make a statement with him that couldn’t be ignored.  That they should be proud of who they are.  Have the courage to stand up to the stares, face the school together.  To say his father was opposed was an understatement. 

They went anyway.  The end result was…this.

He waited until there was silence until he heard the clicking of the door to his father’s office and footsteps coming toward the living room. Blaine lift his head and peered over the top of the couch from underneath a mop of loose curls that shadowed some of the cuts and bruises on their way to healing but the worst over his bottom lip and by his eye were the worse when he screwed his face up and pouted thoughtfully trying to ready himself for whatever happened. Seeing his brother–he slumped back down into his spot and his breath left him in one full woosh of deflating air. “I’m sorry, Coop.  Are you okay?  What did he say to you?”