Are We Damned? ~ Glee

Warning

TW: Mentions of abuse and a suicide attempt

Of course, Cooper knew exactly what Blaine was trying to tell him. He always had suspicions, but they were confirmed when Blaine tried sneaking Kurt in when Cooper was home, thinking he didn't know. He heard everything they said to each other, every "I love you", but he pretended not to, and he never brought it up. He would wait until Blaine said something. But when that time came, he didn't know how to handle it. He wasn't sure what to do, he wasn't sure what Blaine needed. So he avoided the subject as much as he could.

Cooper thought back to what happened after their mother left. It was because of her job, she had to travel a lot and was almost never home. But Blaine seemed deeply affected by it, more than he had been in the past. Cooper didn't understand why, and he never thought anything of it. Their father had never been good, and he always especially hated Blaine. But usually, he would ignore the boys, the worst he ever did was yell at them. Then one day, seemingly out of nowhere, things changed. He wasn't ignoring Blaine anymore, he was trying to spend time with him. They would play football in the backyard or fix a car together, things Blaine never had any interest in doing. Then just as quickly as that started, it stopped. And after that, their father was worse than ever before. He started hitting Blaine, and Cooper did all he could to help, but it never seemed to be enough.

Things seemed to change at school too. Blaine had so many friends, and he was always hanging out with them. Then one day, that all stopped. Sometimes Blaine would come home in tears. Eventually his grades started slipping, he was missing school often, he didn't do his work, and he quit all of his extracurricular activities.  

Then he remembered Blaine's overdose, which seemed to come out of nowhere. Cooper would never forget when he found Blaine laying on his bed, in a deep, deep sleep that he couldn't be woken from, with a note and an empty pill bottle on his bedside table.

After that, Blaine transferred to Dalton Academy, paid for by Cooper. He loved it there, he was happier than ever before. Cooper called him every night. And one night, he started going on and on about the new kid, and did the same every night after that. And when he transferred, Blaine was clearly upset about it. Then at the end of the school year, he asked to transfer to McKinley, the school the boy Blaine always talked about had come from. So Cooper allowed Blaine to live with him, and he transferred. Then that boy had started coming to the house, or Blaine would go to his. And that was when Cooper knew for sure that there was something between them, that they were more than just the best friends they claimed to be.

He finally connected the dots. Blaine was upset about his mother leaving because of the timing, it was probably right after he came out to her, and he assumed she had abandoned him. Their father would play football and fix cars with him to turn him straight, and when it didn't work, he became abusive.

Cooper was all Blaine had left. That was why he was so scared to say something.

Of course, Cooper would never leave. He loved his brother, he wanted the best for him. But what was he supposed to do? Could he ask, would Blaine be willing to explain or would he take it the wrong way? All he knew was that he had to figure something out quickly, to let Blaine know he was seen and accepted.