THEY'RE SMALL.

Disclaimer: Glee is not mine. What else is new?

To say that Kurt Hummel was excited for first grade was probably the understatement of the century.

As Elizabeth drove him to school that day, she could have sworn that her son was literally bouncing in his seat the entire way to Lima Elementary School. She smiled as Kurt unintentionally let an ecstatic squeak escape him as she pulled into the parking lot.

Kurt practically leaped out of the car, jumping up and down again as soon as his little feet hit the ground, "C'mon mommy, we're gonna be late! Hurry!"

Elizabeth Hummel stepped out of the car and handed Kurt his bright blue pencil box, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah!" Kurt grabbed her hand and used his five-year-old strength to pull her through the front entrance. They walked down the main hallway, searching for Ms. Browning's classroom.

"Here it is, mommy!" Kurt squeezed Elizabeth's hand and pointed to the pastel colored sign that read her name. "Let's go!"

Kurt skipped toward the door enthusiastically. When Elizabeth didn't follow him, Kurt turned to face her once more, confusion painted all over his face, "Mommy?" He trudged back over to her.

"Kurtie, mommy can't stay with you, she has to go to work. This is a first grader only room, and I'm not a first grader."

"But…can you pretend?" Kurt's bottom lip was trembling and his eyes were glassy with the beginning of tears.

Elizabeth smiled sadly and knelt down to give the small boy a hug, "I can't today, baby. But I promise that I'll pick you up when school is over." She broke the embrace and kept her hands on his shoulders, "And then we can go get some ice cream and you can tell me all about your day! How's that sound?"

Kurt's face had brightened at the mention of ice cream, "Good!"

"Good." She chuckled and gave Kurt a light kiss on the forehead. "Now, go have fun!"

Kurt nodded earnestly and gave her another tight hug, "I will, mommy. Bye!" With one last wave, Kurt ran into the classroom, finding his cubby in the back of the room and putting his pencil box and a few other supplies inside it.

"Kurt!" He turned to the sound and saw Mercedes, a friend from his neighborhood.

"Cedes!" He ran and gave her a hug, "I can't believe we're in the same class!"

"I know! Wanna sit by me?" Before Kurt could respond, she grabbed his hand and was dragging him over to where her desk was.

Kurt spent the rest of the morning making a nametag to put on his desk and learning a ton about Ms. Browning and his other classmates. He'd already made some new friends by lunchtime. Rachel was loud, and her voice made Kurt's ears hurt sometimes, but she was nice and loved singing as much as he did. Sam was a boy with blonde hair that flipped and had a big smile. Blaine made Kurt laugh a lot, and he was super friendly. Kurt really liked them, and Mercedes did too.

When it was time for lunch, the five first graders walked together to the cafeteria, cracking up as Blaine told a story about his friends in Mrs. Kemper's class, Wes and David. Kurt thought that they sounded as funny as Blaine and really wanted to meet them.

Rachel, Sam, and Blaine had brought their lunches to school, so they didn't have to stand in the lunch line.

"We'll save you guys seats!" Blaine exclaimed, Sam and Rachel nodding on either side of him in agreement.

"Thanks, Blaine." Kurt grinned at him as he and Mercedes stepped into line. Kurt recognized the boy in front of him from class, but couldn't remember what his name was. The boy was bigger than he was, and Kurt thought he looked like a third grader.

Kurt gave his lunch money to the lady at the end of the line, and then waited for Mercedes. Rachel waved to them from a table toward the middle of the room. The two walked in that general direction, talking animatedly about how exciting their first day of school had been so far. Suddenly, Kurt had an idea, "Me and my mom are getting ice cream after school today, Cedes. Do you wan-"

"Watch it, Kurt!" The boy that had been standing in front of Kurt in line was staring him down. Kurt only gazed back, his blue eyes wide with fear. He abruptly registered the feeling of macaroni and cheese sliding down his face and the sound of laughter. He glanced to Mercedes quickly, who was glaring at the bigger boy with her mouth hanging open in shock.

Kurt felt like yelling at him, but tears started flowing down his face instead. Dropping his lunch tray to the floor with a clatter, he sprinted out of the cafeteria. He ran blindly toward the boys' bathroom, his body shaking due to his sobbing. He forced himself to take deep breaths as he stood in front of the mirror, and started picking the yellow noodles out of his hair.

He heard footsteps a few minutes later, and looked behind him in the mirror to see Blaine and Sam. Kurt tried to turn his cheese covered face away from them, but to no avail.

"Are you okay, Kurt?" Sam asked quietly. Kurt nodded, but his face showed otherwise.

Blaine bit his lip and stepped forward, "Here, let's get this stuff off your face."

And so the next ten minutes were spent awkwardly cleaning Kurt's face and hair to the best of the three boys' abilities. They collectively decided that they couldn't do anything about Kurt's shirt, so Sam offered him his jacket. Kurt had tried to protest ("But it looks weird with my shoes!"), but eventually accepted, smiling shyly.

"I'm going to go tell Ms. Browning what happened. Be back soon!" Sam dismissed himself into the hallway, leaving Kurt and Blaine alone in silence.

"Who was that guy anyway?" Kurt's light, airy voice cut through the quiet.

He watched curiously as an angry expression crossed Blaine's features, "I think his name's Karofsky or something. He's mean. I don't like him!" Blaine huffed and crossed his arms.

Kurt mirrored Blaine's movements, "Me either!"

"Copycat."

"What?"

Blaine grinned, "You copied me! So you're a copycat."

Kurt frowned, "Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"I am not!"

"That's what you think." Blaine smirked and offered his arm to the other boy, "C'mon, let's go back."

Kurt smiled brightly, linking his arm with Blaine's, "Okay."

Once they returned, Ms. Browning pulled Kurt aside and asked for his side of the story. Karofsky ended up having to stay inside for recess instead of going out on the playground. Kurt thought that recess was really fun. He had a contest with his friends to see who could swing the highest (Sam won, and Mercedes couldn't stop laughing at his victory dance) and played on the awesome jungle gym with Blaine. He was having so much fun, in fact, that he almost forgot all about what happened at lunch.

Almost.

Reviews are lovely and wonderful and all that jazz. (:

-Casey