#a:carter

Carter woke up with a small smile, memories from the night before surfacing. Star gazing with Blaine, cuddling, falling asleep together. It was nice. He frowned as he realized Blaine wasn't in bed, but then the smell of food hit his nose. He slowly sat up, stretching before paddling out of the bedroom. "Morning. Whatcha makin?"

Blaine has his back turned and was moving pans around on the stove when he heard Carter. “Ooh, no... I was going to bring this to you...” he said turning around with a mildly disappointed frown. “It’s scrambled eggs and bacon. And I made muffins,” he said, putting one next to the empty plate that waited for the eggs.

"Sorry. I can go back to bed if you want," Carter teased with a grin. He walked over to Blaine, giving him a light kiss on the cheek. "It smells amazing. You're going to make me fat and undesirable, though. Making me break my diet."

Blaine felt his heart flutter a little as Carter kissed him on the cheek. He smiled in response. “You could never be undesirable,” he replied, taking bacon from the pan and setting it on a paper towel. He thought about how nice the past few days had been, how Carter had been right and they hadn’t stopped talking to each other. In fact, he felt like they’d gotten closer. “How did you sleep?” he asked, glancing up from what he was doing.

Carter blushed at Blaine's words, a little flustered. He wasn't sure why Blaine was having such an effect on him lately. He tried not to think about it, pushing his thoughts to the back of his head. "Shut up," he mumbled. At the question of sleep, Carter smiled. "Like a baby. How about you?" He wrapped his arms around Blaine from behind, leaning down to kiss his neck.

Blaine felt his heart explode as Carter wrapped his arms around him. There was no doubt about it, this was exactly where he wanted to be. “Really really well. I had fun last night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the stars like that before,” he said, leaning into Carter a little and smiling.

"We should do it again sometime," Carter said softly, placing another kiss on Blaine's neck. He smiled softly, nudging his nose against Blaine's skin, inhaling deeply. "I love the way you smell."

Blaine smiled a little wider at the suggestion of repeating their date. “I’d love that,” he said, nearly forgetting about the food on the stove in favor of the affection he was getting from Carter. He felt his blush rise from his chest to his ears when the other nuzzled against him, and his breath hitched a tiny bit. “I love the way your arms feel around me...”

Carter smiled softly, squeezing Blaine softly. "Love holding you," he said softly. "It's like my arms were made to be around you." He removed one arm, reaching over and grabbing a piece of bacon.

Blaine was warm, whether it was from cooking or from Carter's arms and words, he wasn't sure. He moved the eggs from the heat and turned around right where he was so that he was facing the other. He smiled up ."I don't want to burn breakfast, but..." and he kissed Carter's bacon flavored lips.

Carter kissed Blaine back, humming softly against his lips. He pulled back just enough to nudge his nose against Blaine's, leaning in for another kiss. "What are your plans after breakfast?" he mumbled against his lips. "Wanna be inside you."

Blaine closed his eyes and inhaled, bringing his arms up around Carter's neck. He loved the way the other made him feel, so needy with just a few words and barely an action. "Maybe we could just... skip breakfast..." he suggested, leaning up to kiss his neck a little.

Carter chuckled, shaking his head. "We need to eat first. Patience." He finally pulled away from Blaine, albeit a bit reluctantly. Carter grabbed another piece of bacon, taking a bite.

Blaine whined and willed himself to pull away. He didn't think there was any benefit in eating first, but he would go along with it, regardless of the fact that he was turned on now. "I hope you like scrambled eggs then," he said, bringing the pan to the plates and giving each of them half. "I guess you get less bacon, since you already ate half of it," he teased.(edited)

"I only had two pieces," Carter argued back jokingly. "Mmm, be right back." He walked back into the bedroom, grabbing his pants and pulling his backup pills out of his pocket. He walked back to the kitchen, grabbing himself a glass of water and throwing the pills back. "Alright. Medication time done. Now it's food time."

Blaine took the plates to the table and made a point to give Carter just one piece of the several pieces of bacon as a joke. He poured them some orange juice and put a basket of muffins on the table, glancing up as the other reappeared to take his medication. Smiling, he pulled a chair out for him. "I hope you don't mind that I took more bacon than you."

Carter sat down in the chair, smiling in thanks at Blaine, before looking down at his plate. Seeing the one piece of bacon, he immediately frowned. "Surely you love me more than that," he joked, smirking.

Blaine smirked as he sat down in his own chair and picked up a pice of bacon from the pile on his plate, taking a bite. "Mmm, but do I? Would you give me more bacon if I wanted it?" he asked, teasing him as he took another bite.

Carter laughed, rolling his eyes slightly. "I would. Because you're my best friend and I love you." He motioned to Blaine's bacon, shrugging with an air of nonchalance. "Please, eat all the bacon you want."

Blaine tried to hold his smile back at his little bit of funny, but that smile faltered when Carter called him his best friend. He blushed a little and looked at his plate of bacon, sliding it toward the other. "You deserve more bacon, go ahead," he replied, looking at the pile of bacon like it was a natural thing to do.

"Thank you," he said, grabbing just one more piece of bacon. He munched on it happily, smile on his face. Carter started eating in earnest, as if he hadn't eaten in days. He usually only ate small meals, and they were mostly of the healthy variety. He didn't usually allow himself bacon and muffins.

Blaine picked at his food a little suddenly less hungry than before. He pulled pieces off of a muffin and watched Carter eat the way Blaine normally ate, wondering if he'd just said 'best friend' because he was used to it. He did tell Blaine all the time that he was his best friend. He put it out of his mind, though still didn't eat too much. "Do you work later?" he asked, trying to break the silence and the awkwardness that he felt in his chest.

"Oh shit, work." Carter quickly looked at the clock. He still had to go home to get ready, and he had just over an hour until his shift. "I've gotta go," he said, standing up, shoving a muffin in his mouth.

Blaine looked up, raising his eyebrows and letting his mouth fall open a little. "Oh- you'd better hurry up if you only have an hour," he said, also standing up. "Don't be late," he added, nodding quickly.

Carter quickly went to the bedroom and grabbed his clothes, pulling them on. After getting dressed, he passed by Blaine, giving him a quick kiss. "I'll text you later." He headed out the door.

Blaine stood, looking at his dad, who was sitting on the couch with a curious look on his face. Like he had no idea what was about to be asked of him. And Blaine was sure he didn’t. After all, it had to be hard hiding a secret from four kids growing up and getting into all kinds of things they weren’t supposed to. Especially one so big and potentially threatening to his family. Blaine hadn’t considered going to his mom about it. If she knew, that would be one thing. If she didn’t know, that would be something completely different. And he didn’t want to hurt his parents relationship even more than he might already be about to.

He took a deep breath, obviously really nervous about whatever it was he was about to say. Wendy probably looked similar, but Blaine wouldn’t have known. He was too busy staring at his father and practically hearing cooing from the two twin babies in the photo in the bottom of his dad’s desk. 

“Um. So. I have these little... get-togethers at school. In the dorm. They’re pretty cool, everyone just opens their doors and we have food and sometimes themes or whatever- anyway. I had a Christmas one the week before school ended for the semester and... I was getting a drink and I looked up and-” he paused, trying to get his heart to stop slamming in his chest. “And Cooper was standing there. And when I asked him why he was there, he said he didn’t know me, that he’d just come to a party. And he had an accent. So, I thought that Cooper was doing that thing with the accents and the little brothers are invisible or whatever, but he swore he wasn’t Cooper. And then we ended up talking... and he showed me his driver’s license. And a picture.” He hesitated again, trying to put on his Gryffindor face and be brave.

“The name on his license... was Carter. And the picture was of two twin babies. And he said he talked to his mom and that his birth father’s name was Michael.” Blaine swallowed as it looked like his dad was about to protest through the deer-in-the-headlights, caught red handed look on his face. Shaking his head, Blaine continued. “S-so, I went into your office. And I looked around. And I found the same picture... as carter showed me. In the bottom of your desk drawer. And... I just... I wanna know if there is a secret you’ve been keeping.”

Blaine looked expectantly at his dad, just waiting for an answer. Anything. 

Michael stared back at Blaine. He looked like he was teetering on the edge of talking about what Blaine was asking, and changing the subject and asking why Blaine was in his office to begin with, but instead looked down at his lap. There was a lot of silence and Blaine was about to speak up when his dad started to talk.

“Cooper’s mother and I had a rocky relationship. She wanted me to be home with her all the time, or if not at home, out doing things- but not working. At the time, I was worrying about buying up properties as they came on the market, and I just couldn’t devote that much time to her. It’s not an excuse, but it’s a lesson I’ve learned, and I try to keep in mind with your mother,” he said, looking at Blaine. “Vivian and I became parents somewhere in the middle of that... to twin boys. Cooper...” he took a breath, “and Carter. I loved them both, but when Vivian left, she wanted to take them with her, and I didn’t want her to go. I had hoped that she would stay close, thinking that we would... sort of trade off back and forth the boys... which was a stupid idea, I know... but she didn’t stay close... I... wasn’t able to keep in touch with her, and it just, worked out that she kept Carter and I kept Cooper. 

“Yes, I regret it- before you accuse me of not being guilty. It was terrible of me to just let it happen, but I did, and I know that it was a mistake. I don’t need any of that from you. Cooper was maybe four years old or so when I met Pam. I told her about what happened and she pushed for me to try and regain contact, but I didn’t know where Vivian was. And I didn’t want to try. We were both guilty in the divorce. It was just easier to let it be.” 

Blaine pushed a little further. “Dad. Carter wants to know if he can meet you,” he said, almost hopefully. In all honesty, he felt a weird need to include the other in their family. Literally the brother he never had, regardless of the fact that he had two brothers that he knew about and lived with.

Michael was silent for some time, staring at a picture on the mantle of Cooper. It felt like an hour went by before he said anything, and when he did, it was quiet, almost stifled. “When?” he asked, keeping his eyes focused on anything except Blaine and Wendy. 

Blaine’s voice sort of tightened. “I’ll ask,” he said, nodding.