theindieflash‌.

Cooper had known that something was up with Blaine, he’d seen him growing more and more distant, but he hadn’t known that things were this bad. Mostly because Blaine seemed to refuse to let him in, opting instead to suffer in silence. At first Cooper had thought that Blaine would eventually come around on his own, open up and Cooper would be there to offer some solace, but it hadn’t come. Now he was worried. He watched as Blaine seemed to crumble in front of him, and silently Cooper shifted a little closer to his kid brother, slipping his arm around Blaine’s shoulder and giving him a little squeeze, letting Blaine finally talk. 

The silence lingered around them for a little while, Cooper taking a few minutes to gather his thoughts, not wanting to accidentally make things worse. “You know that’s okay, right Squirt?” he finally said, his voice soft as he spoke, his thumb gently rubbing against Blaine’s shoulder, “No one has all the answers, and everyone goes through a tough time every now and then. You might feel lost right now, but you’ve got people around you who care about you, you know that, right?” he turned his head to the side, studying Blaine for a moment, not entirely sure where he was going with this. He wasn’t exactly known for giving profound advice, Cooper was the fun brother, not the serious well spoken one. But he knew that he had to try something, anything that would potentially help Blaine through whatever was going on in that head of his. 

“This isn’t just about the competition tomorrow, is it?”

Blaine’s knee began to bounce against the lip of his chair once Cooper’s arm wrapped around his shoulders.  The stoic expression he was doing his damnedest to keep began to dissolve and the crinkle between his brows was the first sign of how hard he was fighting to keep so much inside.  Swallowing around the rock in his throat, he cautiously let his head rest against the inside of Cooper’s shoulder.  Without any hesitation he might’ve had before because he knew Cooper didn’t particularly do the whole moments like this thing and his sophomore year before Dalton, no doubt, cashed a lot of those in–his fingers wrapped around Cooper’s wrist keeping his arm and hand right where they were.  “Is it though?  Is it okay?  I’m not sure.  I’m just expected not to be,” he shook his head the best he could given his position.  “I’m not sure how to fix everything.  One huge mistake and everything feels so..different.”  Blowing it beyond repair?  Wow.  He never knew he’d be so good at it.

“No.  It’s not only about the competition.  It’s about everything.”

Shutting his eyes, he blew out a breath and ignored how his eyelids felt like they were on fire.  Or how his breath would only come in short jerks that barely gave him enough air.  “I don’t know where to go or what to do.”  Licking his lips, he glanced up at the line of Cooper’s jaw with blood shot eyes but at least he was breathing deeply and his voice only cracked a little bit.  “Why did I do that, Coop?  Why’d I ruin everything?”  Cooper didn’t have to answer.  How could his brother know why when he could only chalk it up to having himself to blame?  “Sorry.  You didn’t sign up for this.  I’ll be okay,” he shrugged and gave Cooper a wobbly smile.  “Always am.”