Work Text:
Blaine can admit that he isn’t the most observant person in the whole world—in fact, it’s something Darren likes to point out to him on a pretty constant basis. So he takes it as a certain point of pride when he realizes that Darren is acting… Well, weird. Weirder than normal, that is, and Blaine has no idea why.
For instance, he randomly decides to start baking. Which is cool, because Blaine can’t go near the oven without burning something, and Darren is actually sort of good at it. Blaine keeps meaning to ask him to maybe teach him something, because Kurt would probably be really surprised if Blaine could suddenly use an oven.
But, again, it’s a point of pride.
Maybe he can make Darren lose a bet or something.
But it’s not just the baking.
Darren suddenly is never home anymore, gone nearly all day before falling through the door sometime between when Blaine goes to bed and wakes up. And Blaine keeps meaning to ask, because this behavior is just strange, but then his brother is off being abnormal again before Blaine gets the chance.
So yeah, Blaine isn’t very observant, but he notices these things, and he starts to think he maybe understands what it means.
“I think we might have a problem,” he tells Kurt over the phone, frowning deeply and wishing Darren would stop singing so loudly in the shower.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s Darren, he’s acting… Really weird.”
Kurt makes a scoffing noise on the phone.
“What else is new?”
“No, like. Weirder than normal. He’s like… Really intensely happy?” Blaine pauses, waiting for Kurt to say something, but he doesn’t. “Do you think maybe he’s seeing someone?”
“…shit,” Kurt whispers, and Blaine feels torn. On the one hand, he wants to be happy for his brother. On the other, he knows his brother totally has feelings for Chris and that he’s probably just distracting himself from them. Or… Or maybe he really is happy with whoever this person he’s suddenly spending all of his time with.
“It’s been awhile since we came over,” Kurt says. “Chris has to work tomorrow, but I’ll make sure he comes by right after, okay?”
Blaine laughs a bit, because of course Kurt is thinking tactical. But Blaine is thinking maybe it’s time to just take a step back and to let things just happen. After all, Darren knows what makes him the most happy, right? And Blaine knows that, at the end of the day, his brother’s happiness is what’s important here.
And, of course, Kurt also feels that way.
They just happen to have different brothers.
But god, he hates the idea of Chris and Darren’s friendship dying because of this.
“Blaine?”
“Yeah, yeah, that sounds great.” He forces a smile, even though Kurt can’t see him. But then it softens, because he is excited to see Kurt (of course) and it has been a few weeks since he’s hung out with Chris. “I can’t wait to see you,” he says more earnestly.
“…I can’t wait to see you, either.”
Blaine can hear the smile in Kurt’s voice, and it makes him feel a little better.
*
“Kurt!” Darren exclaims happily when he beats Blaine to the door. He twirls Kurt inside, and beams at him. “I didn’t know you were coming over today.”
Kurt gives Blaine a weird look over Darren’s shoulder, but all Blaine can do is shrug. He’d told Kurt that Darren had been acting weirder than normal.
“Yes, well, it’s been awhile.” Kurt shifts a little awkwardly, hand sort of reaching out before Blaine realizes he should be taking it. He pulls Kurt away from Darren, and is rewarded with a kiss on the cheek. “Chris should be over in a little bit.”
And Darren’s face softens, and he smiles, rocking back on his feet a bit.
“Awesome.” He flashes a grin. “I’ll be in the kitchen making cookies.”
Baking again, Blaine mouthes at Kurt.
“If you’re going to be indecent, let me know so I can turn music on.” Darren waggles his eyebrows at them, and then does a grapevine towards the kitchen.
“It’s times like this I really see the relation,” Kurt murmurs, and Blaine shoots him a look. “Except for the baking.” Blaine pouts, and Kurt kisses his temple.
“So, are we going to—”
“Come on.” Kurt tugs on his hand, towards the kitchen. “We have about twenty minutes before Chris gets here, I need to gather information.”
Blaine sulks a little bit. He knows he and Kurt aren’t exactly at an indecent phase in their relationship, but he had sort of been hoping to make out a little bit. Especially with Darren being distracted, it means he wouldn’t be obnoxious the whole time. He sighs.
“Kurt…” Blaine pulls him to a stop, and frowns. “Are you sure we should be doing this? I… I know how much you love Chris, but if Darren is happy—”
“I know, Blaine.” Kurt turns to look at him, and Blaine’s skin rushes warm when Kurt’s hand presses to his cheek. “I’m not going to try and break Darren and his whoever up, I’m just… Curious, okay?” Kurt smiles softly. “I’m not going to make you choose between me and your brother.”
Blaine lets out a breath, because he had been a little scared of that. And, to be perfectly honest, he’s curious about what Darren’s been up to, too.
“Aw, seriously? I give you free reign of the house and you decide on the kitchen?” Darren is mixing something in a bowl as he looks at them, frowning. “Can’t you guys go and be kinky elsewhere?”
Blaine can practically see Kurt’s hackles start to rise, so he places a hand on his back, smiles at him, and then leads him toward the bar.
“Unless you want me to watch?” Darren grins, and Blaine sends him a withering look. “Which, still kinky. Always thought maybe Blaine had a voyeuristic streak in him, so I can’t say I’m honestly surprised—”
“We are not—” Kurt starts to bite.
“Darren,” Blaine hisses, and Darren just grins at him cheekily, before turning back to his mixing. Kurt is flushed and seething beside him, and Blaine rubs his hand up an down Kurt’s back, trying to get him to calm down. He’s pretty sure his touch is the only thing that doesn’t have Kurt tearing into Darren right now, and Blaine’s pretty sure that’s not going to help them get any information out of Darren.
“So what kind of cookies are you making?” Blaine presses on, as Kurt relaxes against the stroke of his hand.
“Um, snickerdoodles.”
Kurt perks up the way he always does when people talk about any sort of baking or cooking, and Blaine presses a little closer to his side because it’s just so adorable.
“Oh really?” Kurt’s voice turns up at the end, in interest. “Chris loves snickerdoodles.”
“Does he now?” Darren asks, softly, and smiles down at his mixing bowl before setting it down.
“Yes, he—” Kurt’s voice dies, and Blaine feels his spine go suddenly rigid as he comes to attention. “That’s his shirt.”
Blaine looks at Kurt in confusion, and Darren is standing still, staring at the both of him.
“What?” Blaine asks, feeling like he’s absolutely missing something.
“The shirt Darren’s wearing. That’s Chris’s shirt.” Kurt’s eyes look like they’re about to bug out of his head. Blaine looks at the shirt, but it doesn’t look all that different from one Darren might own. It’s faded and worn looking, and a little big, with an Optimus Pride screened on it.
“How do you know that?” Darren asks, looking amused.
“Please, he’s my brother, and our dad got that for him for our birthday like two years ago.” Kurt leans on the counter, as if waiting for Darren to challenge him. But Darren just sort of smiles, ducks his head, and starts to scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet. “You honestly expect me to believe you own the same exact shirt?”
“Nope,” Darren replies, popping his lips and smiling at both of them.
“I’m missing something,” Blaine mutters, looking between his boyfriend and his brother. But Darren just whistles as he spins to slip the cookies into the oven.
“Pretty sure we both are,” Kurt says darkly, narrowing his eyes at Darren’s back.
“Is this like a roleplay thing? Are you both pretending to be super secret spies or something?” Darren leans on the counter, resting his chin on his fist. “You kind of suck at it.”
“Do you have a filter or do you just… Keep talking?” Kurt sounds incredibly unamused.
“Pretty much just keeps talking,” Blaine confirms, and Darren rolls his eyes.
“I hate when you two are together, always ganging up on me.”
“Um, if I recall correctly, you were like lobbying for us to start dating since we met each other.”
“Yeah, well.” Darren does a dismissive wave of his hand.
“Sort of glad they did, sometimes,” Kurt murmurs, turning to smile at Blaine, and Blaine’s heart flips. Kurt starts to fiddle with the hem of his shirt, like it isn’t falling right even though it is (of course it is), and Blaine feels like he’s melting a little bit.
“Sort of,” Blaine agrees, leaning in to nudge his nose against Kurt’s, and then Darren makes a gagging noise and ruins the moment. Blaine glares at him.
“No, seriously, continue, I just need to… Mop up my vomit.”
“You’re disgusting,” Kurt says with distaste. “And you’re trying to change the subject.”
“Am I?” Darren bounces a bit, like he thinks this whole thing is a game. Which, it probably is, because Darren treats a lot of things in life like a game. Blaine thinks Chris is practically a perfect opponent for him—Blaine tends not to humor him, and Kurt bites back too much, too defensively.
“Yes! Why are you wearing my brother’s shirt?” Kurt’s starting to get riled again, and just then, the front door pushes open, drawing all of their attention.
“You guys are lucky I’m not a dangerous murderer, because your front door is unlocked,” Chris calls down the hall. “Oh my god, I smell cinnamon.” He walks into the kitchen then, glancing around at the collected company, and Blaine realizes that they’re all sort of… Staring. He clears his throat and looks away first, nudging at Kurt to do the same.
“Okay, you guys are all congregating in the kitchen, that’s… Normal.” His eyes shift between all of them, and then he’s walking further into the room, dodging around the bar to where Darren is standing. “Are you making snickerdoodles?”
“Maybe.” Chris dodges past Darren then to try and get at the dough, and Darren grabs him around the waist, and they’re both laughing and—wait. Something is totally not right here. Blaine stares at the two of them, then looks at Kurt, who looks equally perplexed at the behavior.
Because their brothers are, well… Acting like them.
And that doesn’t make sense at all.
“Let me have some cookie dough, you suck!”
“I’m making you cookies, aren’t I?”
“Are you trying to fatten me up or something? This is like the eighth batch in two weeks.”
“Um,” Blaine says.
“Wait—” Kurt tries to interrupt.
“I just like making you things.”
“Can someone please—” Blaine starts, but then Darren just kisses Chris.
Just kisses him, right there, in the middle of the kitchen. Right in front of Kurt and Blaine, like it’s absolutely and completely normal.
“I’m guessing you decided to tell them?” Chris asks, breathlessly, when they pull apart and Darren starts nuzzling at his face. Blaine frowns—he can sort of understand why Darren makes gagging noises, because he doesn’t exactly feel comfortable watching this.
“What?” Kurt screeches, indignantly, sitting up straight.
“Kurt recognized your shirt, I figured the jig was up. I actually am surprised it took Blaine so long to figure out, especially after we waltzed around the kitchen last week.” Darren grins. “Actually, I’m not really that surprised.”
“Hey!” Blaine feels like he’s been slapped in the face.
“I know, I’ve hardly been home and Kurt really thinks I’ve been working this whole time.”
Kurt makes an outraged noise, and finally their brothers deign them worthy of attention.
“Yes?” Darren asks, a smug smile on his face.
“You two are kissing now?” Kurt practically shrieks.
“Um, Kurt.” Blaine tugs on his sleeve. “I’m… Pretty sure they’re dating now.” He looks at Darren, and then at Chris. “Right?”
“Ding ding ding,” Chris sings around a smile.
“My brother finally gets something right,” Darren teases.
“But… But…” Kurt splutters, eyes flicking between the two of them. “When did this happen?”
“Um…” Chris and Darren both look at each other, and then the timer starts to chirp. Darren bounces up, arm still curled around Chris’s waist as he maneuvers to get the cookies out of the oven.
“I don’t understand,” Kurt whispers, and Blaine turns to look at him, and shrugs.
“I don’t really either, but…” He laughs a little bit, feeling relief sweep through him with the realization that Chris is the reason his brother has been acting like a lovesick idiot lately. “It’s about damn time, isn’t it?”
“I’ll say!” Darren agrees, and Chris whacks him.