A/N: oh god. So.. it's Saturday. Really sorry about that, guys, I know I said I would be done before Big Brother but I sort of had an emotional meltdown over that episode and nothing I wrote was at all coherent. Absolutely delighted with how they handled everything, though some of Cooper's comments to Blaine had me shouting at the tv. What did you guys think about everything? I know that Klaine puppy scene had me rolling around in fits of obnoxious squealing.

I just want to say thank you for all the reviews and alerts, it's really nice to know people appreciate the stuff you write, so thank you so much! I adored writing this, and you can bet this won't be the last you see from me. I still have to write up the epilogue to When Everything Was Falling Apart (2 weeks late sigh), so keep an eye out for that if you're interested.

I hope you enjoy this!

This time, the drifting is Cooper's fault. He accounts it to papers to grade and history to teach and Cooper can't remember the last night he hasn't fallen asleep with a pen still in his hand and the edge of some textbook pressing into his face. Summer is a week around the corner and Cooper's about to be hung with all the deadlines.

The last phone call with Blaine was a month ago. Cooper can't even remember what they talked about, only that it was too short and was interrupted by one of Cooper's students drunk-dialing him and had to let Blaine go with a hasty apology and a promise to call him back later. Cooper ended up falling asleep on the couch and waking up with a backache and cherry of guilt to top it off. Work and papers and bills caught up to him, and that was the last time he and his little brother spoke. And Cooper's guilty about all the missed calls from Blaine that glare at him from his phone, he is. But the last three calls he tried to make went straight to Blaine's voicemail and Cooper's at a bit of a loss on what to do now.

And then there's Bridget. Snarky, beautiful, firecracker Bridget; she's snatched Cooper's heart up in her hand and refuses to give it back. Cooper forgets about homesickness when she's around, forgets about the stress of Chicago and the little brother he left behind. He doesn't really believe in love, but he's starting to think that Bridget might be able to teach him how.

But then when there's not Bridget, there's that guilt. And it pisses Cooper off, because isn't this what people do? Grow up and grow apart and start new lives? He hates himself for how much he wants to be selfish and live for himself. Cooper may have grown up, but sometimes he wishes he could count on someone to make the hard decisions.

"You okay?" Bridget asks, tilting her head on his shoulder as he stares blankly at the TV. The colors of the prime-time drama play in her eyes as she regards him and he threads his fingers in her hair, smiling just a bit too brightly.

"I'm fine. Just… just thinking." Bridget hmms and drums her fingers against Cooper's thigh, eyeing him speculatively.

"Your brother?" And here's why Cooper's starting to think that Bridget could be the exception to every premeditated expectation and certainty Cooper's got; Bridget gets him. She can easily pick Cooper's thoughts right out of his head, assemble them with a smile, and calmly tell him exactly what she thinks of his inner-workings. Sometimes it's yeah, I would have done the same thing, and sometimes it's you are a fucking idiot. Right now Cooper's kind of sensing you are a fucking idiot and braces himself for impact.

"Why don't you just call him?" Bridget demands, waving the remote at the TV to mute the volume. Cooper sighs and lowers his eyes, toying with the frayed lining of the couch. Bridget twists her fingers through his, pulling Cooper's attention to her.

"Call him, Coop," she murmurs, green eyes earnest. Cooper half smiles and presses his lips to her knuckles.

"I don't think I'm one of his favorite people at the moment." he admits, and it surprises him, how fucking much that hurts to say. After the childhood Nerf gun battles, hand-me-down bowties and Charlotte's Web, Cooper's always prided himself on being Blaine's favorite person. Now Blaine's got Kurt and both brothers have an inbox full of missed calls and too-short voicemails, and Cooper's actually kind of miffed.

"That doesn't matter," Bridget says firmly."You were at one point, right? That doesn't just disappear."

She's right. Of course she's right – when has she ever been wrong? Cooper kind of wants to pin her to the couch and smother her with grateful kisses, but he knows that she would probably kick his ass.

"Thank you," he murmurs, settling on a quick peck to her cheek and scrambling up from the couch. She just smiles and rolls her eyes, turning back to the television with a knowing wave of her hand.

Cooper paces into the kitchen and finds his phone after a minute or so of hunting through papers and empty coffee cups, cursing when he accidentally sends his keys flying off the counter and into the trash can.

"You all right in there, babe?" Bridget calls, sounding amused but unsurprised, and Cooper shushes her as he paws through paper plates and takeout containers for the keys.

Finally, after Cooper has managed to right the kitchen and pick up his phone, he dials Blaine's number, swallowing down the nerves as they rise with his heart to hammer in his throat.

"Hello?" The line picks up with a stifled giggle and someone shrieking in the background, and Cooper takes a deep breath.

"Hey, Blainers." The muffled laughter quickly fades and Cooper can hear Blaine suck in his breath slightly.

"Hey, Coop."

"Am I interrupting something?" Cooper asks hesitantly, leaning back against the counter.

"Oh no, no you're fine." Blaine murmurs something unintelligible away from the phone but quickly returns. "What's up, Coop?"

"Just wanted to call, check in, you know." Cooper clears his throat nervously – why is he nervous? Talking to Blaine shouldn't be hard. It's never been hard. "We haven't talked in a while."

"Yeah, I know! It's crazy." Cooper can almost see Blaine's head ducking, teeth worrying at the inside of his lip as he searches for words. It's the same thing Cooper's doing now.

"I miss you, kid," Cooper says, and fuck, here he goes getting all emotional. He swallows hard and presses his fingers to the bridge of his nose, weight sagging heavily against the counter. "I'm sorry we haven't talked in so long, I… I feel like shit, I'm so sorry."

"Oh, Coop," Blaine says softly, and Cooper lets his head fall back and stares at the ceiling, blinking through the sting of unexpected tears. "Don't beat yourself up; it's my fault, too. I should have answered the phone."

"I should have, too." Cooper sniffs slightly and rubs his sleeve over his eyes, turning to rest his elbows on the tile. "It's so good to hear your voice, Blaine. How are things? What's been going on? I feel like I don't know anything anymore."

"Things are good, they're really good! The Warblers and I actually just got back from performing at the summer carnival in Westerville, that went pretty well – as well as performing at theme parks can go, obviously." They both laugh, and Cooper tries to imagine the group of carefully styled boys in their spotless blazers, prancing through the dust and crooning some Top 40 bubblegum pop.

"I think I might need a video of that as proof," he admits, and Blaine laughs again.

"Yeah, I think Kurt has a clip of it on his phone."

"How is Mr. Hummel these days?" Cooper asks instantly, perking at the mention of Kurt. "Are you still as ass-over-teakettle as you were last time I saw you? I'm shocked hearts haven't popped out of your eyes by now. If Kurt knew about your little meltdown in the car after the you move me escapade -"

Blaine splutters a little and Cooper hears a soft giggle in the background that definitely doesn't belong to Blaine.

"Oh, so I am interrupting something!"
"No – no, not like that – shut up Cooper oh my god – Kurt, stop laughing, I didn't have a meltdown -" Cooper roars with laughter and waits until Blaine has stopped stammering out half-assed excuses and returns to the phone, huffing down the line at him.

"Don't breathe so hard, Blainers, you're not the big bad wolf."

"Oh, ha ha, you're hilarious." Cooper can't mistake the smile in Blaine's voice, though, and grins.

"In all seriousness – how are things with the two of you?"

"It's…" Blaine trails off and Cooper imagines him staring off into space, or maybe gazing lovingly at Kurt, who Cooper's sure is lounging in Blaine's room, perhaps one eyebrow raised as he listens in on the conversation. "Things are amazing, Coop. We can just… talk. For hours, and I never get tired of listening to him. He's incredible."

Cooper smiles, so full of pride and joy that he thinks he can feel his chest swell. "I'm so happy for you, bud."

"Thanks, Coop. I, uh… I told him I love him."

Cooper's heart thuds in his chest and he's not sure what to say, he's not even sure if he just processed that information correctly. "Oh?"

"He said he loves me, too."

Blaine's voice practically drips adoration and love and Cooper finally gets it through his skull – Blaine's in love. Blaine is loved, by someone other than family. Kurt Hummel, this elegant, sassy boy who makes Blaine dizzy with puppy love, loves Cooper's little brother. And that moves him more than he expected, brings tears to his eyes, actually, because isn't that what Blaine's always wanted and needed? Someone to be there to love him when his parents and Cooper couldn't? Cooper's never wanted to kiss someone as much as he wants to kiss Kurt Hummel, and his girlfriend is sitting just a room over. Cooper thinks he'll send a very long-winded, emotional thank you letter to Kurt's address as soon as he can think past my baby brother is in love.

"Blaine, I… Wow." Blaine laughs a little, sounding embarrassed, and Cooper wonders how Kurt's gazing at Blaine now.

They talk for a little while longer and Blaine asks how Cooper's love life is going, and, well, Cooper could write essays on Bridget but it's getting late and he doesn't want to bore Blaine to tears, so he keeps it simple. I have a girlfriend. She's beautiful and she's amazing and she makes me feel like I'm living in one of those stupid romantic comedies that you always used to make me watch. Blaine practically squeals and Cooper can hear him hissing to Kurt about my brother has a girlfriend finally he's so happy and he feels his throat tighten again, because he misses Blaine so fucking much.

"I'm so proud of you, Blaine." Cooper says suddenly. And he is. He's so fucking proud of who Blaine has grown up to be – strong, independent, in love. Blaine's first love – and Cooper's lucky enough to be there to hear about it while the emotion's still fresh. There will be other firsts, Cooper knows. There will be embarrassment, and times where Cooper hopes to god his little brother will be safe, and Cooper knows he can't be there for all of them. This separation has taught him that much. People grow up and apart and life gets in the way, but Cooper doesn't want to keep catching these firsts by the tail as they fly by – he wants to see them through, like Blaine's first word or first bike crash or first kiss. Blaine is the most important person in Cooper's life, and Cooper's going to do everything he can to make sure he's there for the things Blaine only gets to do once.

"Thank you, Cooper," Blaine whispers, voice thick, and Cooper's eyes are watery as he smiles at Bridget, who leans against the doorway watching with a look in her eyes that says there, that wasn't so bad, was it?

"Alright, I better let you go so you and Kurt can give each other hickeys or whatever it is you kids do these days," Cooper teases, and Blaine just sighs in exasperation. "Hey, Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you. Let's talk more, okay?"

Blaine makes a soft noise in the back of his throat. "I love you too, Coop. I miss talking to you."

"I'll call you this weekend, alright? Make sure you answer your phone, dummy."

Blaine laughs, happy, he's happy everything's okay, and Bridget moves quietly to Cooper's side to rest her chin on his shoulder. "I will. Bye, Coop."

"Bye, Blainers." Cooper hangs up and can't decide whether he wants to smile or cry. He settles on both and Bridget wraps her arms around him, letting him sniff into her curly hair.

"I told you everything would be okay," she murmurs, drawing back and brushing her thumb over his cheek. Cooper nods, letting out a long sigh and stretching his arms over his head.

"Yeah, yeah, you always win."

She grins darkly, backing him up against the counter to kiss him. "You know I do." Cooper tugs gently at one of her curls and they say their goodbyes, Bridget heading back to her apartment a few blocks over while Cooper stretches out on his bed, opening his laptop and entering Kurt's name into the Facebook search bar.

He's decided to send that message to Kurt, after all. Let him know how grateful Cooper really is, and how lucky Blaine is to have someone like Kurt. How Cooper has been able to finally stop seeing the skinny boy with the bruises when he looks at Blaine, and how he now sees someone brave and mature, capable of telling his boyfriend how much he loves him.

Holy shit, Blaine's in love.

Yeah, Cooper doesn't think he'll be getting over that any time soon, either.