DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee, nor do I own any of the characters or anything else that has to do with Glee. That is all owned by Ryan Murphy and Fox. I make no money from this whatsoever. There is absolutely no copyright infringement intended. Thank you.
NOTES: You guys, I have never played paintball in my life, but with the amount of times it's been mentioned in Glee, (which may have been three times overall) obviously it's a thing to them. So, if you guys are super fans of paintball, I apologize if I have any of this information incorrect, because I can tell you right now, I'm pretty sure that I do. Especially near the end. Speaking of the end, I'm not exactly happy with it. I don't know what happened. I had a thought and it ran away with me, but I've read this through a thousand times and it just isn't going to get any better. Anyway, I can't quite remember where I got this idea from. It just came to me, I guess. Y'all know how it is. One thought leads to another and the next thing you know Kurt Hummel is being a general badass. Just another run-of-the-mill day on Glee. Hope you guys like it. Enjoy, loves!
All's fair in Love and War
Kurt immediately knew it wasn't going to be a normal day when Blaine came running into The Lima Bean with a giant smile on his face, dressed in the most dressed down outfit Kurt had ever seen on the other boy. Kurt looked the smaller boy's body up and down, taking care to notice the ratty sneakers, slightly baggy blue jeans and long sleeved navy blue t-shirt that had some sort of logo on the front. What it said, Kurt never noticed because Blaine blew in like a whirlwind. He met Kurt at the front of the line and cut him off, ordering for the both of them and paying before grabbing both of their drinks and walking to their normal table. Kurt didn't have a moment to speak. He walked calmly to where Blaine was seated, sat himself down and seized his coffee. Kurt was bringing his cup to his lips, but quickly gave up once Blaine began to speak. He was glad he hadn't taken a sip, otherwise he would have snorted coffee out of his nose as soon as he heard what came out of Blaine's mouth.
"Oh no. Absolutely not. No way," Kurt laughingly replied to Blaine's insane proposal. "There is no way I am joining you at a paintball course. You are plum crazy."
"It'll be fun!" Blaine insisted with his dreamy smile overtaking his face once more.
Kurt shook his head adamantly. "I don't think so."
"Oh, come on. Seriously. It's a great stress reliever." Blaine reached out and laid one of his hands on top of Kurt's. "Have you ever played any sport, like, ever?"
"Of course I have!" Kurt squealed indignantly, yet he basked in the warmth of the other boy's hand, briefly glancing down at it. It really wasn't fair that the boy had this effect on him.
"Well, have you ever imagined a ball to be your worst tormentor's head before you kicked it across a field? Or a punching bag as his body?" Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand in eagerness.
Kurt began to look off into the distance, thinking about it. He finally took his coffee back into his free hand and took a sip, answering, "I can see the appeal."
"You mean you've never tried it?" Blaine looked as if he were barely hanging on to the edge of his seat, he was so excited. His hand squeezed Kurt's even harder. "It's one of the best feelings in the world! And that's why I'm inviting you on this little Warbler excursion."
Kurt set his drink down and looked directly at the excited boy sitting in front of him. "Ok, let's think about this for a second. Let's say I wanted to go…you just called this a Warbler excursion. Doesn't that mean this little field trip is for Warbler's only?"
Blaine shrugged uncaringly. "The guys don't mind. They love you. In fact, I've even gotten permission from Wes."
Kurt still looked hesitant.
"I promise." Blaine smiled reassuringly and squeezed Kurt's hand gently once more. "They really do love you."
But Kurt was skeptical. "Why though? I spied on you guys all of a couple of weeks ago. I mean, they don't really know me. The only Warblers I actually met were Wes and David."
"Well, then, give them the chance to get to know you. I've told them about you. They'd love to meet you. Come with us to the paintball course."
Kurt couldn't help but stare into Blaine's puppy dog eyes. He looked once more at the hand resting on top of his and his arm was significantly twisted.
"All right. Fine. I'll come."
Kurt told himself he was most certainly not disappointed when Blaine ripped his hand from his, only to punch the air above his head. "Yes!" he yelled in triumph. He immediately blushed though once he realized everyone was now staring at him.
"Goodness, Blaine Warbler." Kurt's eyebrows shot up at the other boy's exuberance. "You are such a toddler."
Blaine wasn't embarrassed for long. "But I'm your toddler, now come on! Let's go get you properly dressed and meet up with the guys!"
Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand once more and dragged him back to their cars, sans coffee, to prepare him for the epic adventure ahead of him.
As Blaine put his car in park, Kurt looked out of the passenger window at what looked to be a pretty nondescript building with an eye-catching sign. "Paintball Park Xtreme" it read. Kurt sighed and looked at Blaine who smiled encouragingly before jumping out of his vehicle. Kurt followed suit and began walking with him towards the building. Once they arrived inside, Kurt was quick to decide that he was easily the most stylish person there. He had decided upon wearing some thin, washed-out black skinny jeans and a tight, gray Henley along with some old black low-top Chucks. He wouldn't normally be caught dead wearing such things outside of the garage or his room, but he knew he'd be getting dirty.
It wasn't long before Kurt was standing in front of a group of equally dressed down Warblers.
"Kurt, I'd like you to meet Thad, one of our baritones," Blaine pointed to a dark haired boy with blue eyes who waved his way and said a quick hello.
"Trent, one of our tenors." A bigger brunet boy stepped forward and hugged him. Kurt's eyes widened, but he quickly patted the boy's back and he let go, smiling kindly at him.
"Flint, our beatboxer and sometimes bass." Kurt was even more surprised when he got a crushing hug from the extremely masculine boy who responded with a "sup, bro."
"And Niff, also known as Nick and Jeff. Dalton's resident "it" couple." Kurt looked to the boys in question. They both walked forward and Jeff hugged him, while Nick shook his hand.
"And by resident "it" couple, you mean…?" Kurt just had to be sure.
"Best friends since birth and boyfriends since freshman year," specified Jeff, smiling sweetly.
"Welcome Kurt," responded Nick. "It's such a pleasure to finally meet you. Blaine talks about you all the time." Kurt looked over at his crush to find him blushing.
"I wouldn't say all the time…" Blaine shrugged and looked to his right, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"We would," answered a voice Kurt recognized. He turned to see the other Warbler's he had met that fateful day.
"Ah, yeah, and David and Wes." Blaine interjected, wanting to move the conversation away from him. "You remember them?"
"Of course. How could I forget?"
As introductions had finally been made, Blaine pulled Kurt away from the others and showed him the area where they were going to be playing. Looking around the quiet field before him, Kurt said "This place looks like a combination of a ghost town, a boot camp training facility and the remains of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus."
Wes snorted behind them and Kurt turned to him. Wes grabbed the front of Kurt's shirt, pulling him towards the gearing station. The other guys continued preparing themselves around them, suiting up and getting masked.
"Welcome, Kurt, to paintball! OK, so here is all the proper gear. We've got your mask and your marker." Wes handed the marker to the smaller boy and then gave Kurt a once over, looking skeptical. "Blaine should've warned you a little better. All of these tight clothes…it just stings a little if you get shot."
Kurt took the marker from Wes and held it comfortably, as if he always held guns, saying "Fortunately for me, I don't anticipate that happening."
"There's our little endearing badass." David smiled as he walked up, gun in hand and mask settled on the top of his head, ready to be pulled down. "Just remember to stay far away from shooters. The further away they are, the less likely it'll hurt if they hit you."
"OK," Kurt nodded. "Simple enough."
"Great. Come on. We're going to go meet the guys at our rendezvous point for tactics and strategy planning." David's eyes widened in excitement.
Kurt paused in his walking. "Wait. You mean you guys actually plan this out? You don't just shoot at each other for the fun of it?"
"Of course not!" David said seriously. "You have a lot to learn, my friend. There's a flag at the top of the tower guarded by the opposing team. We have to get that."
"OK." Kurt nodded in thought. Makes sense. "Is that job assigned to someone?"
"Usually it's assigned to Jeff," answered Wes, "He's our most talented dancer and is super light on his feet, but if that's what you'd like to do, we can make an exception."
"No, wait." Blaine interrupted Wes, holding up his hand. "Kurt, the point of this little exercise is to get you to kick your bully's collective butts. Not to run from them."
Kurt shook his head in thought. "How better to kick their asses than to beat them all without violence? I've always been of the impression that my bullies are all going to work for me someday. What better way than to beat them at their own game?"
Wes and David smirked and Blaine gave up. "Touché."
"Boys, get over here!" Nick called from the other side of the room. "We need to plan this out."
Kurt walked over to see the boys standing around an aerial map of the outlying area which was encased under a pane of glass lying atop a pedestal. Nick was going over tactics with an erasable marker in his right hand and an eraser in his left. Sticking out of his mouth was the top to the marker, which he mumbled strategies around. They were interrupted before they could get very far though. A guy with dirty blond hair and green eyes, dressed in khaki pants and a blue polo matching the paintball course's logo, walked up just then.
"Hey Warblers and…new guy?" He looked at Kurt intriguingly.
"Hey Chris," greeted David. "This is Kurt. He's not a part of the Warblers, but it won't be too long before we change his mind." David reached over and squeezed Kurt's shoulder reassuringly.
Kurt blushed and looked to the ground as Paintball Personnel Chris laughed.
"Awesome. Well, we have two other groups today, so I wanted to warn you. I know you guys usually strategize with one group in play, but yeah. Two groups. Good luck."
"Thanks for the heads up, Chris!" Nick yelled before erasing his original plan and beginning again.
Kurt's eyebrows scrunched together. "Isn't that cheating?"
"No. I'm sure he's told the other groups too," Wes replied.
"Oh, ok."
"Change of plans!" announced Nick. He leant back over the map as the other boys did the same and began to talk strategy once more. Nick explained where each boy would be stationed and if someone from one of the other team's happened to have called dibs on that place first, well, take care of them and move on. Kurt was starting to see that there was no mercy in this game. Fortunately that wouldn't be the case for Kurt. Kurt's job was to play ninja and capture the other team's flags without getting himself shot. Should Kurt "fall in the line of duty," as Nick said so seriously, the job would then fall on Jeff's shoulders. After him, Wes. By then, apparently the game would be over. They had no other options. Play their strengths and stay the course.
"All right! Is everyone caught up on the plan and ready to execute accordingly?" All the boys nodded assuredly. Kurt took a look at the guys surrounding him. He tried to keep the smile off of his face, but he couldn't help it. He was generally the last one chosen for any team, ever, but today a whole group of boys were nice enough to just randomly invite him to play. They were including him and they didn't even know if he would be any good. He would be though. He would make sure of it. They were putting a lot of faith in him. He couldn't let them down. The Glee guys never invited him to do things like this and who knows how long the Warblers would be nice to him? He would savor this as much as he could.
Kurt followed behind the guys and made to step outside before he stopped in shock.
"Oh my gaga." He murmured. Kurt took one last look ahead before he ducked right back into the inside of the building and leaned against the wall.
"What?" Blaine asked once he saw Kurt walk back inside. He followed the boy. "What is it?" The other Warbler's walked back inside as well to make sure everything was OK.
Kurt sighed and brought a hand to his forehead to rub it in consternation. "My brother is out there."
The other guys hung out in the doorway, glancing out at the two groups of guys standing before them. There was one group in yellow and another in red.
"Which group is he in?" asked Nick.
"He's a part of the red group. The tallest one out there."
"My God!" exclaimed Trent. "That boy's huge!"
"But totally uncoordinated," Kurt responded.
"Excuse me if I'm a little more concerned with the yellow group," David said, nodding in the general direction of the other group. "Now those guys are huge."
"Let me see." Kurt moved back over to the door and glanced out to see what appeared to be his worst nightmare.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me…" whispered Kurt in fear.
"What is it now?" asked Wes.
"That's Azimio, Langenthal, Strando, and…" Kurt hesitated before whispering "Karofsky."
"Karofsky?" Flint asked. All of the Warblers looked confused, aside from Blaine who looked concerned.
"Yeah," Kurt nodded, looking at the ground, biting his lip. "They're all my bullies, but he's the most horrible of them all."
Jeff and Nick smirked at each other and held up their markers menacingly. "Let's go kick some bully asses then."
They turned to Kurt and saw him leaning further into the wall with his eyes closed, taking deep steadying breaths.
"Kurt," said Wes softly, putting the hand not holding his gun on his newest friend's arm. "You don't have to do this, but I know you'll feel a lot better if you do."
"I want to do this," Kurt looked determinedly at the boy before him. "I need to. Blaine was right."
Wes smiled softly at the younger boy. "Awesome. Let's go."
Kurt put his mask over his face and held his gun close to his torso as Wes put his arm around his shoulders and gently guided him out the door towards their meet-up point. As Kurt was walking, he passed the two groups and couldn't help but glance over at them once more. Team Yellow did, in fact, consist of the worst of his bullies, but Team Red was something else. Not only was Finn a part of it, but the entirety of the New Directions guys were as well. Minus him of course. Naturally. Even Artie, who couldn't walk and had to be physically pushed across the rough terrain of the paintball course, was there suited up and ready to go. Kurt sighed in disappointment.
Jeff spoke up as they arrived behind a wooden wall. "So, is there anything we should know about them?"
"What do you mean?" asked Kurt, removing his mask now that he was safely hidden from the other teams.
"Well, you said your brother is totally uncoordinated. We can use that information to our advantage. What about the others? Are there any weaknesses we should know about?"
Kurt smiled and was glad he could help in this way, even though he was technically selling out family. Oh well. All's fair in love and war, right? "The yellow team will rely on their strength, but I'm guessing that's not really an issue. We have guns. It's not like they can tackle us...?" Kurt trailed off questioningly, and looked at Blaine for confirmation.
"No, they can't," Blaine reassured. "No physical contact is allowed."
Kurt nodded. "Other than that, they're pretty stupid. They'll be the ones to just shoot all over the place hoping to hit people. They won't have come up with a strategy."
"Good to know," replied Nick, nodding thoughtfully. "And the red team?"
"Aside from my brother, the rest of the red team are all of the guys from New Directions. They are an eclectic mix. There will, most likely, have been some strategy created by Artie. He's the guy in the wheelchair. Obviously with how crazy the terrain is in this place, he might not be getting too far, but keep an eye on who will be pushing him. All the guys have been trained over the years on how to use Artie's chair to their advantage. He really is like a human battering ram. Mike is a very well-trained dancer. He's the skinny Asian. He's extremely light on his feet. Be careful with him. Puck is our resident badass. He's the guy with the Mohawk. He thinks he's tougher than he actually is, but don't test him. Lastly there's Sam, the bottle blond. I haven't know him for long, but he seems like the kind of bro's bro that loves to do this type of thing…and be good at it. So, overall, I'm guessing you should watch out for Mike, Sam and Puck the most. Keep an eye on Artie. He'll probably be a sharp shooter."
"Probably? Shouldn't you know all about their methods?" Thad asked confusedly. "I mean, don't you ever play video games with these guys? What kind of strategies do they use there?"
Kurt looked embarrassed and David hit Thad over the head. "I don't really get asked to play with them all that much."
"Why not? Do you not like video games?" asked Flint. David hit him over the head too.
"Video games are a boy thing, and according to some people…" Kurt trailed off and let the boys fill the silence with their own thoughts.
"Come on, Kurt." Jeff put his hand on Kurt's mask and pulled it down for him. "Let's go kick ass."
There was no bell or call to let them know that the playing had begun. Kurt was quick to learn that as soon as he stepped past the wall with his mask pulled down and his marker held tight against his chest. As soon as he tried to take a tentative step onto the battlefield, Jeff quickly pulled him back in, just in time as Kurt heard three quick splats hit the wood.
"Go!" Jeff yelled and Kurt took off, breaking away from the boys as they each tried to get to their planned positions. Kurt quickly ran towards his and had to dodge a hit last minute, ducking into a somersault and landing behind a half column, as Sam came out of thin air and shot towards him. Kurt was quick to take stock of his body, checking his person. He hadn't felt himself get hit, but he checked anyway. He didn't exactly know what it would have felt like, but looking at himself, he saw that he was fine. He held his gun to his chest and took a deep breath. Glancing past the column, he took a look around and admired the chaos that was happening before him.
Just as he thought, the football team was shooting at whatever and whoever they could, just because they could do so. He had to admit he was pretty surprised by the New Directions boys though. They were pretty good, but not nearly as good as the Warblers. He didn't know how long the boys had been doing this, but it appeared they were practically pros. Kurt was glad to be on their team. He took stock of who was trying to go after the flags. Langenthal was the smallest on Team Yellow, so he appeared to be trying to go after Team Red's flag and Sam appeared to be going after Team Yellow's. Well, not if Kurt could help it…
Kurt pushed his gun over his shoulder in order to have the room he needed to tumble his way across the field. Now that his marker was stretched across his back and his mask was more securely attached to his face, he glanced at the guys surrounding his immediate area. No one seemed to be paying him any attention, which was exactly how Kurt wanted it. It appeared that everyone had forgotten him by that point. It was his time to shine.
Kurt moved. As he was running towards Team Yellow, he didn't particularly care about hiding too much. He was aiming to retrieve Team Yellow's flag. Team Red wasn't going to care about him at that point in time, so he took off and without much hiding, Kurt jetted across the field.
It was way too easy, but Kurt really didn't give it too much thought. Beating Team Yellow was never meant to be hard because it was a bunch of Neanderthals not thinking up any strategy whatsoever, just shooting here and there. Their first mistake was taking the biggest guy they had, Azimio, and putting him at the top of the tower to guard their yellow flag. The large football player had his back turned facing the ladder, figuring whoever came to get the flag would most likely be simpleminded and take the steps, but not Kurt. No. Kurt's a ninja. Sue Sylvester taught him how to climb walls and that's exactly what he did.
Taking the flag was like taking candy from a baby. Kurt had already done a flip off of the tower, landed on his feet with the poise of a cat and was a quarter of the way to the red team's tower before he heard Azimio roar in rage, finally seeing that his team's flag had been taken.
It was with his roar that he alerted Team Red and that was when things got a tad more difficult. Kurt immediately had to duck. The closest thing he could hide behind was a boulder, the blue team's boulder actually. Kurt caught his breath and turned to his left, looking into the eyes of Flint who had backed off and rushed over to him. He removed his mask and checked the smaller boy over.
"You good?"
Kurt removed his mask for a second as well and smiled happily. "Yeah. I'm good!"
"Good!" Flint yelled over the sudden onslaught of noise. "Get back out there, soldier! I think we're about to be ambushed, but I'll spot you!"
Kurt nodded and put his mask back on, moving his marker to in front of his body once more, and not a moment too soon as Puck suddenly came out of nowhere, preparing to shoot him. Kurt didn't hesitate. He let off three quick rounds and hit Puck directly in his chest. The boy fell down and played dead immediately. Kurt felt bad for all of a second, but there was nothing he could do. Certain sacrifices had to be made. At least it hadn't been Finn. He never would have heard the end of it at home.
"Move!" Kurt's head jerked up with Flint's call and saw that Sam was about to be his next victim if he didn't run immediately, because Kurt dying was simply not an option. Not wanting to have to kill any more of his "brothers," Kurt ducked quickly out of the way and ran towards his last destination, not bothering to turn around when he heard a yell. He knew that if he had, he would have seen Flint lying on the ground, killed by Sam's hand, having sacrificed his life for Kurt's own. Kurt felt strangely grateful and a little choked up. The boy didn't even know him and he had died in the line of duty for him. For the greater good of the mission. Kurt shook his head and got it back in the game. The mission…Right. Kurt quickly threw his marker over his shoulder along his back, moving it out of the way so that he could once again fight his way across the field without hindrance.
On the brink of reaching the tower, Kurt saw movement out of the right corner of his mask. Behind a giant hay bale sat Artie, sniping, and he was pointing his marker right in Kurt's direction. Kurt was about to move for his marker, afraid of having to take Artie out as well, but he knew he would die. There was simply no time for him to grab his gun, so someone did it for him. Kurt, shocked at seeing Artie dropping his marker and grabbing his now "injured" arm, turned to look and saw Blaine reloading for his next round. Blaine nodded at him so gentlemanly, Kurt almost swooned, but he had a war to win.
Team Red's tower was just before him and so were Finn and Mike standing menacingly with their guns in their hands, waiting to strike, but Kurt wasn't about to let them. Kurt ran at the tower as fast as he could. He saw Finn lift his gun to take him out, but Kurt dodged the bullet by performing a front handspring, round off combination. When Kurt reached the red tower he climbed the rope before him as quickly as possible while the rest of his team distracted Finn, Sam and Mike. Seeing what was happening though, Finn couldn't let it stand.
"Mike! Go!"
Mike turned and looked at the tower he was meant to be guarding from the ground. He quickly ran to another side of the tower and climbed the wall, scaling it as fast as he could to protect the flag. Kurt, however, reached the top and the flag before he could make it. Mike scaled back down only to hear the hoots and cheers of the blue team that had beat them so quickly and fairly.
"That was pretty epic dudes," said Finn as he removed his mask and went to shake Wes' hand.
"Thanks. That was fun."
"You got lucky though," interjected Puck, rubbing at his chest.
"Yeah," said Sam laughingly. He had grabbed Artie and was making their way towards the rest of the group. "Next time we'll bring our own ninja and have a ninja show down."
David laughed somewhat snootily. "Do you guys even have a ninja?"
"Well…" said Finn hesitantly. "There's always my little brother, but he's not really into getting dirty. I can't really see him liking paintball at all."
"Speak for yourself, Finnegan," replied Kurt's voice from the top of the tower on which he remained standing.
All the guys turned to look up at the red tower.
"Kurt?" asked Finn, staring up at his now unmasked brother disbelievingly. The other guys all gasped. "That was you?"
"Hey look! It's the fag!" snorted Dave Karofsky derisively.
"Hey!" yelled Finn, turning to Karofsky angrily. The Dalton boys all turned and glared at him as well. Kurt saw Nick grab Jeff's hand.
"Oh, don't worry boys. I've heard worse." Kurt leaned against the railing of the balcony, hanging the flags of both teams in one hand waving them back and forth tauntingly. "And need I remind you, Karofsky, that this fag just kicked your fat ass a moment ago?"
The Dalton boys laughed and Karofsky glared up at the smaller boy. "Stop thinking about my ass, homo."
"Oh you wish I were thinking about your ass." The Dalton boys all laughed once more. Karofsky's nostrils flared as he was about to really lay into the smaller boy, but Puck interrupted.
"You shot me! Three times!" He didn't even care that he probably should have been more embarrassed about it. He was just surprised. Kurt's aim had been near perfect.
Kurt's eyebrow rose and his bitch face appeared. "Consider it payback for all of those dumpster tosses you gave me in freshman and sophomore year."
Puck rubbed at the back of his neck uncomfortably before glancing at Team Blue and getting back to the matter at hand. His eyes narrowed. "You cheatin' on us, bro?" Puck snarled as he glared up at Kurt before glancing at the blue team once more.
"That's exactly what I'm doing, Noah." answered Kurt sarcastically, looking to the sky as if asking for patience.
"Dude," interjected Finn. "You could have joined in with us if you wanted to play."
"You never asked...and don't call me dude." Kurt exclaimed, not caring if he sounded rude or not.
Finn sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, Kurt. This just doesn't really seem like your type of thing."
Kurt rolled his eyes at his brother. "Forgive me, Finn, but how exactly would you know what my types of things are? You've never asked me if I wanted to join in anything. Batting cages, football, game nights? I'm practically banished from my own room."
Finn's eyes had widened with each of Kurt's examples. "You act like I don't know you're a complete badass! I never invite you because you'd beat all our tails at Call of Duty or whatever else we may have been doing. Ask Puck!" He thrust a thumb at said boy standing behind him.
Kurt turned to the bulkier boy with a raised eyebrow, as if waiting for only the purest of wisdom to flow from his brother's best friend's mouth.
Puck's lips tightened when he realized he was being put on the spot in front of his fellow football teammates. The Titans were glaring at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. "I mean, I'm all sorts of out-there badass, but you, you're like an on the down-low badass." Kurt snorted. The Titans all snarled at the bulky boy and shook their heads in what appeared to be sadness over the death of Puck's reputation. The New Directions just nodded along with Puck's sentiment. Not caring, Kurt shook his head before doing a front tuck off the tower he was standing on, still wielding the red and yellow flags. He stuck his landing like a cat and stood swiftly before walking over to Wes, presenting him the flags like they were the sword of a tough opponent he had just defeated in epic battle.
"I believe these belong to you, fearless leader." Kurt bowed majestically and Wes took them reverently from his hands.
Wes thrust the flags in the air and shouted out "Victory is ours!" All the Warblers jumped in glee and then glomped Kurt who felt so happy and included, he didn't even care about his hair. Jeff even leaned in and kissed his cheek. Kurt blushed and immediately looked up, seeing the disgusted faces of the McKinley High football team, but they weren't the ones he cared the most about. He sought out the eyes of the New Directions boys. They didn't look disgusted, for which Kurt was happy. They did look rather confused though. Kurt dropped his eyes.
"I have to say thank you, McKinley." Wes smirked at the yellow and red teams standing before him, flags clutched in his hand triumphantly. "Thanks for letting us borrow your ninja. Now if you'd just..." Wes paused and shrugged as if he were thinking, "…give him to us forever, we would be eternally grateful." Wes stood behind Kurt and placed his hands upon the smaller boy's shoulders, squeezing them gently and smirking evilly. Kurt looked at the New Directions standing before him and guiltily looked away again. He ignored the Titans completely.
Finn laughed in response, thinking the Asian boy was joking. "Like that's going to happen."
But Wes wasn't laughing. Neither were any of the Warblers. They actually stepped forward and smiled encouragingly at Kurt who blushed and looked at the ground some more.
Finn stopped laughing at their serious expressions and looked back at the others, who shrugged their shoulders looking just as confused as he felt. Finn turned back to see Wes place his arm around Kurt's shoulder's pulling him close.
"You're not serious," replied Finn awkwardly.
"Actually, I am." Wes squeezed Kurt to his side and smiled at the younger boy like a big brother would. "Give him to us. You don't really need him. You don't even use him to his full potential."
"What does that even mean?" Finn questioned, not quite understanding what he was being told off for exactly. Because he didn't let Kurt join them in their games?
"I'm talking about his voice." Finn's face blanched before he recomposed himself. He slowly and menacingly raised his gun and pointed it at Wes. He heard the other glee guys behind him do the same, pointing towards other members of the blue team.
"Why is his voice any concern of yours?" asked Artie fiercely, once he realized Finn was too flummoxed and angry to talk. "And think carefully before you speak."
"He's a countertenor," Wes stated simply and shrugged. "And you have girls on your team. We, on the other hand, are an all-boys a cappella choir and we need someone who can hit high notes. Kurt would complete us."
The Titans had remained pretty quiet up to that point, just standing off to the side, being nosey. They could have left moments ago, but they decided to stick around to see what was going to happen between the two groups. They didn't exactly understand what was going on, but once they heard the others talk about Kurt's high voice, it was only then that they somewhat understood.
"Oh hell no!" yelled Karofsky. "Are you all talking about that Glee Club again?"
Azimio chimed on. "Glee Club ain't nothing more than an infection that causes upstanding straight boys to become over-emotional, musical-loving, sequin-wearing, gays!"
"Yeah!" yelled Karofsky right back. "There is nothing natural about singing about feelings all the time. It's wrong and fruity." Langenthal and Strando both nodded in agreement.
The Warblers all raised their guns at that and pointed them towards the Titans.
"Do you two even understand the words that just came out of your own mouths?" snarled Thad. Besides the Warblers, no one really had a moment to think about what Karofsky and Azimio had just said before their thoughts were interrupted.
"Enough!" yelled Puck, ignoring the Titans completely and moving forward, pointing his marker at Wes who didn't budge an inch.
"Who do you work for?" he growled. It was Kurt who answered, softly and slightly embarrassed.
"He's the lead councilmember of the Warblers."
"The Warblers?" asked Finn, aghast at his brother's betrayal. "As in the Dalton Academy Warblers? The ones we're up against at sectionals?"
At Kurt's nod, Finn readied his gun as his fellow glee members did the same behind him. They were interrupted by more stupid coming out of Karofsky's mouth.
"So, wait! Not only are all of you like super gay, but Hummel is like a major slut and two timing our own school's team?"
"Shut UP, Karofsky!" shouted Puck in rage before turning back to the matter at hand.
"Boys," Finn replied, looking at the blue team standing before him. "You just signed your own death warrants."
But before Finn could shoot, Kurt moved and stood in front of his gun.
"If you want a clear shot, you'll have to go through me first."
"What the hell, Princess!?" exclaimed Puck in a rage. "You actually ARE cheating on us!?"
"Princess!?" yelled Jeff, offended beyond belief. Nick moved his hand from his marker and squeezed his boyfriend's hand in comfort. It was one thing to have the football team say what they were saying to Kurt, but wasn't the red team meant to be his friends? Kurt shook his head in their direction, showing them that it was OK. This was quickly getting out of hand though. Team Red was aiming at Team Blue, Team Blue was aiming between Team's Red and Yellow and Team Yellow was just heckling the whole argument on, not even really understanding what was happening.
"Kurt, when exactly was it that you made these new friends of yours?" Artie asked succinctly.
Kurt was getting pulled in all different directions, and as such was overwhelmed. An overwhelmed Kurt was a dangerous Kurt and his claws came out. He snarked back immediately. "The exact same day you told me that me wearing a sequined gown during girls vs. boys week would not be surprising at all. I'm sure you remember that day, right Artie?" Artie immediately shut up and lowered his gun. He looked sheepishly down at his lap, properly chastised. Kurt then nodded in Puck's direction. "That was also when Puck told me to, and this is a direct quote 'make yourself useful and go put some rat poisoning in them old folks Jell-O or visit the Garglers.' I could, oh what was it Noah? Wear all the feathers I wanted and I'd fit right in, I believe it was?"
"Wait," Puck lowered his gun in surprise. "You actually went?"
"Yes," answered Kurt simply. "So, I truly must thank you, Puckerman. For once, listening to you was a great idea." Puck became quiet and he lowered his marker a little before resolve set in and he raised it once more.
"We're done talking about this. Hummel, we're leaving. Let's go."
Kurt was enraged. "No. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to hang out with my friends today."
"We're your friends," replied Finn sadly.
Kurt looked his brother in the eyes and simply stated, "Well you sure don't act like it." He immediately wanted to take it back once he saw the sad toddler look coming from Finn, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so. It had been too long. He had been disrespected and ignored and unappreciated and hated for far too long.
"Listen, Princess, if you were trying to teach us a lesson, consider it taught. We get it. We'll never underestimate you again. Now come on." Puck looked as if he were about to grab Kurt and throw him over his shoulder before walking off of the course, but Kurt shook his head resolutely.
"No. I've made plans. Let's go guys." Kurt turned around to walk away and the Warblers began following him before Karofsky decided to speak once again.
"Hummel's just gonna go be with the other fags at the fag school. Don't be such a pussy, Hudson. You-" But whatever Karofsky was going to say after his brief sentence of stupidity was cut off when Jeff just couldn't take it anymore and shot a paint pellet directly at his throat. Karofsky fell to the ground clutching at his throat, gasping for breath and writhing in pain.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Jeff shouted in mock surprise. "My gun just went off by mistake!"
"Yo, bro!" yelled Azimio to Chris, the paintball personnel who was standing on a watch tower nearby. "You going to do something about this?"
"Hmm? Oh! Sorry. I didn't see what happened. I'm sure he'll be fine. It stings like a bitch when it hits uncovered skin, but he looks so tough and manly. Don't be such a pussy dude. Rub some dirt on it. Be a man." Azimio turned back to his friend to help him up and Chris winked at the Dalton boys who smiled at him appreciatively.
"Come on, Kurt." Blaine reached forward and took Kurt's hand, about to lead them away from the others before a small voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Kurt..." Finn whispered. "I…" He trailed off, not knowing how to even begin.
"I know, Finn, but I'm not sorry for this. I'm tired of being ignored and I've had enough. I've made new friends who actually treat me, not only as a guy, but as an actual person, with thoughts and feelings, and I'm not giving them up. They've been kinder to me in these past few weeks than a number of you ever have." Kurt looked at his brother's heartbroken face. The other guys weren't doing that much better. He sighed. "Look, we can talk about this later."
"You'll be home later?" Finn looked as if he wanted to cheer.
"Of course." Kurt turned back around, Blaine's hand still in his and began to walk away once more. Karofsky had finally caught his breath and had gotten to his feet again with the help of the other Titans when everyone's attention was brought back to Team Blue.
"Oh, and by the way, boys?" asked Nick who was still holding onto Jeff's hand. His call stopped the other Warblers from continuing their walk and they turned to see what he had to say, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he took Jeff in his arms before all the teams and dipped the blond boy before sticking his tongue thoroughly down his boyfriend's throat. The Warblers all whooped and hollered as they watched their friends make out. It was just like any other day to them. The Titans looked disgusted though, except for Karofsky, who just appeared to be in shock. Kurt didn't care about them though. He looked at the New Directions faces. They didn't seem too grossed out by it, but they did appear a little comatose. Kurt turned to look at the boy still holding his hand. Oh well. They better start getting used to it.