Are We Damned? ~ Glee

No Voice

About a week later, Cooper invited Blaine's closest friends over to the house. He hadn't talked to them in a while, and he wasn't sure they'd been keeping in contact. He felt like it was important for them to all get together, just to check on each other and remind each other that they were still friends and would support each other no matter what. Besides, Cooper felt partially responsible for them. He was an adult, they were all still teenagers. And he wasn't sure if all of them had another adult they could turn to. He felt he had failed Blaine, but it wasn't too late for any of them. 

Only three people ended up coming - Kurt, Finn, and Sam. But it was better than nothing. Everyone went up to Blaine's room, and for a while, they were silent. Cooper was looking at the pictures on the wall, most of them of Blaine and Cooper together. Sam was looking through Blaine's movie collection, remembering the late nights the two spent watching them. Kurt was laying on the bed, hugging Blaine's pillow. And Finn was looking at Kurt, wishing there was something he could do for him.

Cooper was the one to finally break the silence. "So... How is everyone feeling?" Nobody replied. "I'll start. I know it's hard and you'd probably all prefer to just...ignore the topic. But trust me, talking will help. Anyway... I feel... I feel like I could have done more," he explained. "He tried to come out to me. And I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to react the wrong way. So I ignored him, basically. And I shouldn't have. I should have made him feel heard and accepted, I should have asked what he needed. Especially after I realized that our parents... Well, he thinks our parents left because of him."

"He helped me a lot. To learn more about myself," Sam said. "This is gonna sound really weird, but... I never questioned anything in the past. And Kurt, I'm sure you remember, I used to insist I was straight. But then, Blaine came along, and... I'm not sure. I never would've thought that it was a possibility for me to be something else without him. It's kind of annoying, not knowing who I am, but I'd rather be questioning than completely wrong." 

Finn didn't know what to say. "I... I wish we talked. All we did was...fight, really. It was my fault. And I made a mistake by outing him. A huge mistake. An unacceptable one. But he forgave me. I don't forgive myself though, I won't. I can't. And... That's it. I know I have to say more, but... I don't know. I just don't. I can't find the words. I'm sorry."

"He was my everything," Kurt said. "I loved him more than anything. And...He needed me. He needed support. And all I did was pressure him. I would do anything to go back and fix things. To help him. To listen." He squeezed the pillow tight. "I could go on, but..." He shook his head. "I don't want to talk anymore."

"That's okay," Cooper said. "We all have regrets. We can't fix things with him. But we can help each other, and we will. If any of you need anything, whether it's related to him or not, you can come to me. Just call me and I'll do whatever I can. Feel free to pass that on to your other friends. Give them my number. I would love to do anything I can for you guys."

"Thank you, Cooper," Kurt said. "You have us too. I don't know if there's any way we'd be able to help, but we'd love to. At least I would."

"Cooper, you'll be living alone now, right?" Sam asked. 

"Yeah, I will. I don't want to go back to my parents, and I don't have many friends," Cooper replied. 

"Well, I was looking at the movies, and there's a bunch we never got to. So if you want, you can be my movie buddy."

"I'd love to. Saturday nights, right?"

"Yep, every week. But we can change the schedule."

"Would you be willing to open the invitation to everyone?"

"Yeah, of course!"

"There we go," Cooper said. "So we remember that no matter what happens, we have each other."