blame all your charms [cooper/rachel; cooper/kurt; cooper/rachel/kurt]
title: Blame All Your Charms
rating: PG13
fandom/pairing: Glee. Cooper/Rachel; Cooper/Kurt; faint kinda-sorta Cooper/Rachel/Kurt; Kurt/Rachel friendship, lightly; mentions of past Kurt/Blaine per canon.
spoilers/warnings: Cooper's existence? Um, sort of an attempt at polyamory that might fail just a touch; also this is ridic I don't even.
summary: Cooper knows he's in love, he just can't quite figure out who with.
words: 1632
disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of Glee, Texts From Last Night, or the song "Don't Blame Me" which has apparently been covered a lot? i heard it in a movie i don't know the name of
a/n: For the writerverseTexts From Last Night Challenge. I hate tfln with a passion, but someone offered art in exchange so um, asshole right hurr. Selected text was "(954): Technically he's married but he says it's "not like that" even tho his wife lives with him. Not sure if I believe him but I'm sleeping with him anyway."
The easy part is that he’s in love.
The hard part is that he’s married.
The hardest part is that he’s pretty sure the in-love thing isn’t limited to just one person.
But he’ll figure it out, he’s sure. He’s got faith that he will, because - things like that always work themselves out. They just, do. (They’ve never not, anyway, and that’s twenty-eight years of spectacular life experience talking.)
**
She’s beautiful, and compassionate, and talented, and so damn smart. Basically, she’s all the things that Cooper is, except - maybe even more (and Cooper’s gotta be in love with her; he doesn’t just think things like that about anyone).
And yeah, she’s not a model or any of those things. She’s not the tall, thin, typically pretty type of girl that he used to go for (when he was younger; now he’s older, and mature; he’s a real adult, Blaine’s scoffed beg-to-differs be damned), but she’s - she’s something. There’s something about the way she smiles at him that he likes, something about the way that she cares about things a little too much, and the way that she likes people even if they don’t like her right back (they come around, eventually), that he really likes a lot about her.
That he really loves, probably, because he kisses her and it’s like magic (he heard that somewhere; he hopes she didn’t, too), and he holds her and she fits, and - those are all the things that love’s supposed to be, he was pretty sure.
(He hopes so. That’s how he’s been playing it all these years; that’s how he’s always acted it when a scene required it, or even when it didn’t but it probably could have been improved if it did.)
Yeah, he’s gotta love her, he figures, so he kisses her in the mornings and in the evenings and every second in between (because they don’t see each other often enough, he’s always off filming somewhere and she loves him but she wouldn’t leave New York for him, not for anybody), and it feels like it should.
So he loves her, he’s in love with his Broadway-star wife, and that’s totally okay. All is right with the world.
**
But then there’s that boy. And he’s not a boy, not really -- he’s a grown man, too; looks it (doesn’t always sound it; the point still stands) and everything - but Cooper remembers when he was, sort of.
He wasn’t actually there for all of it, but he remembers his little brother talking about the kid he was going to help, and then the kid that he hung out with, and then the kid that had a crush on him and the kid that was mad with him and the kid that was his boyfriend, and that’s kind of like being there for it, Cooper’s pretty sure.
Cooper knew him when the kid was still in high school, anyway, so that makes him eternally a boy, in Cooper’s eyes. Never mind that he actually met Rachel while she was in high school, and now he’s married to her and he likes her a lot (maybe he doesn’t love her; he doesn’t miss her, that much, when she’s not around; he doesn’t think about anything other than Kurt, when she’s not around) - it’s different with Kurt.
He lives in Chicago, lives it and loves it but sometimes Cooper thinks that he’d rather be in New York with Rachel or Cooper (except not both), and sometimes he looks really, desperately unhappy.
It’s the kind of really, desperately unhappy that Cooper can’t just kiss away, that he can’t just make Kurt forget by repeating lines that he learned for roles he didn’t get. It’s the kind that hurts Cooper to see it hurting Kurt, and it’s the kind that makes Cooper think that he really loves Kurt.
Because all he wants is for Kurt to be happy, for Kurt to have all the things he wants and for Kurt to never have to worry about being disliked or rejected or abandoned. All he wants is for Kurt to understand that Cooper loves him with all (or at least, most) of his heart, and for Kurt to never be able to forget that.
In theory, it’s easy. They could run away together (to Paris, he says, and he’s thinking of Texas but then Kurt’s eyes light up and Cooper probably should have been thinking France), or Cooper could just never go back, or any number of things. In theory, it’s so simple that it’s embarrassing to worry about it.
They have sex (make love) because it’s so easy, so simple, and because they can do it, they will do it, and then everything will be great like it only is sometimes. Everywhere they touch burns, and it’s magnificent - like a symphony of emotion. It’s perfect; passion, and adoration, and dependency all combined into two simultaneous orgasms.
Cooper snuggles against Kurt’s chest, murmurs, “Love,” because he’s pretty sure that he’s in love with Kurt, and Kurt sighs before he falls asleep.
It’s gross in the morning, sticky and awkward in ways that it shouldn’t be, but Cooper loves it and he kisses Kurt pliant, kisses him until he smiles and acts like everything is awesome (because it is).
Except then Cooper has to leave, and he’s not really sure how he feels anymore.
**
Everybody told him it was going to happen eventually, but he didn’t believe them because it’s not like his life is some stupid TV drama or something.
But, they’re right (they, all the everybodies that found out along the way that good ol’ Coop is a little fucked up in the heart-zone), and eventually, it happens.
Kurt goes to visit Rachel, which is totally normal because they’re friends (Cooper loves that; loves that they’re such good friends, still, and he knows he loves but he doesn’t know who or why), and she smiles and hugs him and it’s fine, until Kurt says, I’m sorry when he doesn’t have to, and Rachel asks, What for? when she honestly does.
Cooper isn’t sure how Kurt breaks it to her, but he does know that when he comes home, the door is locked and he can hear the The Way We Were soundtrack playing from their bedroom.
He sighs; rests against the door and slides until he hits the floor. Cooper’s never been a real brilliant guy, but he can at least figure out that he’s in trouble, and he’s pretty good at guessing why.
After a while, things fall silent, and the door opens behind him. He hits the ground, less gently this time, and stares up at Rachel, who looks down at him with puffy eyes and mussed hair and a quivering lip.
She’s the girl that Cooper’s in love with, he thinks in that second as he tries to scramble to his knees, not just because she’s there but because he just loves her, because it’s just like that.
“I’m so sorry,” he says again and again, arms wrapping around her waist and holding close. Her fingers card through his hair gently, but she never says that he’s forgiven or that it’s okay or that they’ll work through this.
They stay like that for a long time, but Cooper doesn’t care because he loves his wife a whole fucking lot.
He’s almost positive.
**
Kurt drops by the next day, and stares at the carpet when they sit down in the den. Rachel stares at her hands.
Cooper stares at the both of them, alternating glances, and he’s less certain than he was earlier, but something’s starting to dawn on him.
“I’m an asshole, aren’t I?” he asks, and he’s always been told that, ever since he was in middle school, but he finally gets why people might think so.
Without hesitating, Kurt answers, “Yes,” while Rachel tries to comfort, “No, not an asshole…”
“No, no,” Cooper says, firmly, staring at Rachel (she looks at him, pained, and he hates himself for hurting her because he’s in love with her); staring at Kurt (he won’t meet his gaze, he’s bitter, and Cooper hates himself for hurting Kurt because he’s in love with him). “I’m totally an asshole - I should have talked to you about my feelings, because that’s what you do in relationships. That’s how they work, right?”
Stumbling a little, Rachel says, “Well - yes, but,” and Kurt snarks, “Ideally, anyway,” because Cooper hurt him, and he’s not as forgiving, not as gentle, as Rachel is. Which is probably one of the reasons why Cooper loves him, and also one of the reasons why Cooper loves Rachel.
He only has to wait a second to think it over, before Cooper is absolutely completely convinced that he knows his answer.
“I’m in love with you,” he says, not looking at either of them, and there’s a pause before either of them speaks up in question.
It’s Kurt, cautiously, but softly, and he prompts, “With…who, Cooper?”
There’s a smile on Cooper’s face when he says, “Both of you,” like it’s something obvious (because it is, and he just didn’t catch on until late).
**
The easy part is signing the papers.
The hard part is watching her move out.
The hardest part is that Kurt helps her, and neither of them even said, I’m in love with you, too, Coop.
Cooper doesn’t believe that this is a mess that can be fixed. But he calls Rachel two weeks after It is finalized, and when she answers with a tentative, What do you want?, he says, I’m not done with this. In the background, he hears Kurt sigh, loud and overdramatic, and he smiles because he can be a pretty determined asshole if he wants.
rating: PG13
fandom/pairing: Glee. Cooper/Rachel; Cooper/Kurt; faint kinda-sorta Cooper/Rachel/Kurt; Kurt/Rachel friendship, lightly; mentions of past Kurt/Blaine per canon.
spoilers/warnings: Cooper's existence? Um, sort of an attempt at polyamory that might fail just a touch; also this is ridic I don't even.
summary: Cooper knows he's in love, he just can't quite figure out who with.
words: 1632
disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of Glee, Texts From Last Night, or the song "Don't Blame Me" which has apparently been covered a lot? i heard it in a movie i don't know the name of
a/n: For the writerverseTexts From Last Night Challenge. I hate tfln with a passion, but someone offered art in exchange so um, asshole right hurr. Selected text was "(954): Technically he's married but he says it's "not like that" even tho his wife lives with him. Not sure if I believe him but I'm sleeping with him anyway."
The easy part is that he’s in love.
The hard part is that he’s married.
The hardest part is that he’s pretty sure the in-love thing isn’t limited to just one person.
But he’ll figure it out, he’s sure. He’s got faith that he will, because - things like that always work themselves out. They just, do. (They’ve never not, anyway, and that’s twenty-eight years of spectacular life experience talking.)
**
She’s beautiful, and compassionate, and talented, and so damn smart. Basically, she’s all the things that Cooper is, except - maybe even more (and Cooper’s gotta be in love with her; he doesn’t just think things like that about anyone).
And yeah, she’s not a model or any of those things. She’s not the tall, thin, typically pretty type of girl that he used to go for (when he was younger; now he’s older, and mature; he’s a real adult, Blaine’s scoffed beg-to-differs be damned), but she’s - she’s something. There’s something about the way she smiles at him that he likes, something about the way that she cares about things a little too much, and the way that she likes people even if they don’t like her right back (they come around, eventually), that he really likes a lot about her.
That he really loves, probably, because he kisses her and it’s like magic (he heard that somewhere; he hopes she didn’t, too), and he holds her and she fits, and - those are all the things that love’s supposed to be, he was pretty sure.
(He hopes so. That’s how he’s been playing it all these years; that’s how he’s always acted it when a scene required it, or even when it didn’t but it probably could have been improved if it did.)
Yeah, he’s gotta love her, he figures, so he kisses her in the mornings and in the evenings and every second in between (because they don’t see each other often enough, he’s always off filming somewhere and she loves him but she wouldn’t leave New York for him, not for anybody), and it feels like it should.
So he loves her, he’s in love with his Broadway-star wife, and that’s totally okay. All is right with the world.
**
But then there’s that boy. And he’s not a boy, not really -- he’s a grown man, too; looks it (doesn’t always sound it; the point still stands) and everything - but Cooper remembers when he was, sort of.
He wasn’t actually there for all of it, but he remembers his little brother talking about the kid he was going to help, and then the kid that he hung out with, and then the kid that had a crush on him and the kid that was mad with him and the kid that was his boyfriend, and that’s kind of like being there for it, Cooper’s pretty sure.
Cooper knew him when the kid was still in high school, anyway, so that makes him eternally a boy, in Cooper’s eyes. Never mind that he actually met Rachel while she was in high school, and now he’s married to her and he likes her a lot (maybe he doesn’t love her; he doesn’t miss her, that much, when she’s not around; he doesn’t think about anything other than Kurt, when she’s not around) - it’s different with Kurt.
He lives in Chicago, lives it and loves it but sometimes Cooper thinks that he’d rather be in New York with Rachel or Cooper (except not both), and sometimes he looks really, desperately unhappy.
It’s the kind of really, desperately unhappy that Cooper can’t just kiss away, that he can’t just make Kurt forget by repeating lines that he learned for roles he didn’t get. It’s the kind that hurts Cooper to see it hurting Kurt, and it’s the kind that makes Cooper think that he really loves Kurt.
Because all he wants is for Kurt to be happy, for Kurt to have all the things he wants and for Kurt to never have to worry about being disliked or rejected or abandoned. All he wants is for Kurt to understand that Cooper loves him with all (or at least, most) of his heart, and for Kurt to never be able to forget that.
In theory, it’s easy. They could run away together (to Paris, he says, and he’s thinking of Texas but then Kurt’s eyes light up and Cooper probably should have been thinking France), or Cooper could just never go back, or any number of things. In theory, it’s so simple that it’s embarrassing to worry about it.
They have sex (make love) because it’s so easy, so simple, and because they can do it, they will do it, and then everything will be great like it only is sometimes. Everywhere they touch burns, and it’s magnificent - like a symphony of emotion. It’s perfect; passion, and adoration, and dependency all combined into two simultaneous orgasms.
Cooper snuggles against Kurt’s chest, murmurs, “Love,” because he’s pretty sure that he’s in love with Kurt, and Kurt sighs before he falls asleep.
It’s gross in the morning, sticky and awkward in ways that it shouldn’t be, but Cooper loves it and he kisses Kurt pliant, kisses him until he smiles and acts like everything is awesome (because it is).
Except then Cooper has to leave, and he’s not really sure how he feels anymore.
**
Everybody told him it was going to happen eventually, but he didn’t believe them because it’s not like his life is some stupid TV drama or something.
But, they’re right (they, all the everybodies that found out along the way that good ol’ Coop is a little fucked up in the heart-zone), and eventually, it happens.
Kurt goes to visit Rachel, which is totally normal because they’re friends (Cooper loves that; loves that they’re such good friends, still, and he knows he loves but he doesn’t know who or why), and she smiles and hugs him and it’s fine, until Kurt says, I’m sorry when he doesn’t have to, and Rachel asks, What for? when she honestly does.
Cooper isn’t sure how Kurt breaks it to her, but he does know that when he comes home, the door is locked and he can hear the The Way We Were soundtrack playing from their bedroom.
He sighs; rests against the door and slides until he hits the floor. Cooper’s never been a real brilliant guy, but he can at least figure out that he’s in trouble, and he’s pretty good at guessing why.
After a while, things fall silent, and the door opens behind him. He hits the ground, less gently this time, and stares up at Rachel, who looks down at him with puffy eyes and mussed hair and a quivering lip.
She’s the girl that Cooper’s in love with, he thinks in that second as he tries to scramble to his knees, not just because she’s there but because he just loves her, because it’s just like that.
“I’m so sorry,” he says again and again, arms wrapping around her waist and holding close. Her fingers card through his hair gently, but she never says that he’s forgiven or that it’s okay or that they’ll work through this.
They stay like that for a long time, but Cooper doesn’t care because he loves his wife a whole fucking lot.
He’s almost positive.
**
Kurt drops by the next day, and stares at the carpet when they sit down in the den. Rachel stares at her hands.
Cooper stares at the both of them, alternating glances, and he’s less certain than he was earlier, but something’s starting to dawn on him.
“I’m an asshole, aren’t I?” he asks, and he’s always been told that, ever since he was in middle school, but he finally gets why people might think so.
Without hesitating, Kurt answers, “Yes,” while Rachel tries to comfort, “No, not an asshole…”
“No, no,” Cooper says, firmly, staring at Rachel (she looks at him, pained, and he hates himself for hurting her because he’s in love with her); staring at Kurt (he won’t meet his gaze, he’s bitter, and Cooper hates himself for hurting Kurt because he’s in love with him). “I’m totally an asshole - I should have talked to you about my feelings, because that’s what you do in relationships. That’s how they work, right?”
Stumbling a little, Rachel says, “Well - yes, but,” and Kurt snarks, “Ideally, anyway,” because Cooper hurt him, and he’s not as forgiving, not as gentle, as Rachel is. Which is probably one of the reasons why Cooper loves him, and also one of the reasons why Cooper loves Rachel.
He only has to wait a second to think it over, before Cooper is absolutely completely convinced that he knows his answer.
“I’m in love with you,” he says, not looking at either of them, and there’s a pause before either of them speaks up in question.
It’s Kurt, cautiously, but softly, and he prompts, “With…who, Cooper?”
There’s a smile on Cooper’s face when he says, “Both of you,” like it’s something obvious (because it is, and he just didn’t catch on until late).
**
The easy part is signing the papers.
The hard part is watching her move out.
The hardest part is that Kurt helps her, and neither of them even said, I’m in love with you, too, Coop.
Cooper doesn’t believe that this is a mess that can be fixed. But he calls Rachel two weeks after It is finalized, and when she answers with a tentative, What do you want?, he says, I’m not done with this. In the background, he hears Kurt sigh, loud and overdramatic, and he smiles because he can be a pretty determined asshole if he wants.