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One more year. Just one more year and he’ll be out of this podunk town. With it’s crappy movie theater that doesn’t play any good independant movies (He had to drive a town over to see Chasing Amy, and Pulp Fiction when they came out), and it’s backwards ways. No one in this town would know talent if it bit them in the ass.
But most importantly, one more year and Cooper will be in sunny Los Angeles, where he will inevitably get cast on Dawson’s Creek, or Gilmore Girls, he’d even settle for 7th Heaven, but only if he was cast as a lovable miscreant that the Camden family takes in. He’s not picky.
Once on set he’ll meet the woman of his dreams, preferably Alexis Bleidel or Katie Holmes, again he’s not picky. They’ll have a whirlwind romance, as they try to keep their relationship away from the paparazzi. But then, there will be a scandal when paparazzi (that Cooper himself called) catch them leaving the Chateau Marmont after a torrid night together. After that, their faces will be on every magazine cover, they’ll dethrone Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears as the new IT Couple. Because really, that relationship is a hoax. Seriously, who do they think they’re kidding? If they’re virgins so is Cooper, and well everyone in town knows what happened last summer when April Rhodes dragged him into that broom closet.
Anyway, one more year and Cooper will be in LA, living his dreams and away from his parents. His parents who for some reason refuse to act like actual parents and spend some time with their six and a half year old son. His parents who are so transparent that Cooper knows the only reason they bought him a car last year was so he could taxi Blaine around to all his various lessons. Maybe it would be less obnoxious if the kid wasn't in so many damned activities. Every day there’s something.
“Cooper, after baseball practice, can you pick Blaine up from his soccer game?”
“Cooper, can you take Blaine to his piano lesson?”
“Cooper, can you take Blaine to his riding lesson?”
“Cooper, you know every other Saturday Blaine has Marine Biology camp.”
“Cooper, can you pick Blaine up from his swimming lesson?”
“Cooper, could you teach Blaine how to read?”
Okay, that one didn’t happen, but it might as well have. Cooper’s not actually sure who taught Blaine how to read, he just knows the kid is in first grade and already reading chapter books. He’s gotta hand it to the kid, he’s smart. But he’s Cooper’s brother, so of course he’s smart. And talented. A couple years ago, Cooper lost the kid in the mall, and while most kids would have been crying in a corner, Blaine had charmed the hearts of mall patrons and earned himself some cash.
But again, he’s Cooper’s brother, so this is no surprise. When Blaine was three years old, Cooper caught him playing with this toys, singing “Putting on the Ritz” to himself.
The kid is a damn prodigy and he must be stopped.
That is why, when their mother approached Cooper to help Blaine prepare for the first grade talent show, Cooper chose a song that he believed to be above the comprehension of someone so young who still couldn’t pronounce “potato” properly.
It’s not that Cooper wants his brother to be humiliated, it’s just that well, the kid needs to learn, and nothing teaches better than failure. And he’s just young enough that he’ll bounce back from this easily and will hardly remember it.
Just like he’ll hardly remember that his parents most likely won’t be showing up for this talent show or any other.
It’s hard for Cooper to understand what’s happened with his parents between when he was Blaine’s age and now. They never missed a play, or a sporting event when he was a kid. He can’t really remember the last time they actually showed up for Blaine. He expected this to happen a bit when their mother went back to work, but not to this extent.
This kid’s going to need so much therapy. Cooper can’t even imagine what Blaine’s going to be like at 17. He looks like he’s shaping up to be a bit of a nerd, but Cooper knows there’s more to it than that. There’s also the teenage angst that Cooper revels in. Cooper’s had to do a lot of acting out in order to really understand those feelings. He had doting parents that up until six years ago, were eating out of his hands. Blaine’s never had that.
It’s like they’re growing up in different houses.
Wow, that’s really deep. He definitely needs to save that gem.
Anyway, Cooper’s going to teach Blaine about failure now, so that when he’s older, he already understands. It won’t hurt as much at six as it would at sixteen or seventeen. Cooper can promise him that. Cooper got laughed off stage by Sue Sylvester, that’s traumatizing. Really, he’s doing Blaine a favor, he’ll have a thicker skin by the time he’s Cooper’s age.
*********************
Of course, it doesn’t quite work out the way Cooper planned it.
The kid is a damn prodigy.
The look on his face when Cooper played the song for him, he wasn’t intimidated at all. His giant hazel eyes lit up like it was Christmas.
“Cooper, this is my favoritest song in the world!,” He cheered, right before he ran and jumped in Cooper’s lap and told him all about this girl in his class singing a song by some lady named Barbra that nobody in the whole school ever heard of, and how excited he was that his song was going to be way better than that song.
Cooper didn’t even know Blaine knew this song. Damn this kid.
And no matter what Cooper said, Blaine practiced and practiced. He didn’t cry once. In fact, he looked Cooper square in the eye, puffed up his tiny chest and told Cooper that he was going to be the best in his talent show and called Cooper a dumb head and went to his room and practiced by himself.
And he didn’t ask Cooper for help again. When Cooper offered to help, Blaine just stuck his tongue out and him and told him,
“I don’t need help from a dummy like you. My teacher says I’m already the best singer, even better than Rachel. And that made Rachel cry and I don’t care. Just like I don’t care if you cry because I don’t want your stupid help.” Then he pulled his little stool up to the sink, washed his own plate and cup and stormed out of the kitchen.
How can a kid be a drama queen at six? That was a perfect storm out. Cooper doesn’t think he’s ever stormed out a room with such flair.
Damn. This. Kid.
**************************************
Their parents never asked Cooper when the talend show was, that was a clue right there that they had already forgotten. Cooper did what he always did, he grabbed the camcorder. He helped Blaine pick out his outfit, he wanted to wear his special bowtie, the one that he got that day he got lost in the mall.
Cooper tried to give him a pep talk before he went on stage. He kneeled down on one knee, straighten Blaine’s bowtie and he said,
“Knock ‘em dead, squirt. You got this. You’re way more talented than any of those kids, you know why? Because you’re my brother. We’re the best kids in this damn town, got it?”
Blaine nodded, and Cooper gave him a hug and Blaine went out on stage and owned it.
“Anytime I need to see your face, I just close my eyes and I am taken to a place where your crystal mind and magenta feeling take up shelter in the base of my spine, sweet like a chicka cherry cola...”
Nailed it.