Author's Note: Okay, originally this was to be in a "5+1" format.
I ended up with just. I'm thinking of expanding it later on with a few more drabbles, all no more than a 1000 words. Basically, I disliked how the show always portrayed Emma's OCD as "cute,""quirky," and even "humorous at times. In real life, OCD is the opposite of all that. And I want to show that. Starting with the intrusive thoughts-aspect people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder can have. I hope I do this well. Feel free to critique, guys.
Warnings: mentions of bullying.
Emma wanted to help Kurt so badly that, sometimes, it made tears get in her eyes.
She was a guidance counselor after all, and she saw what was going on with him. She saw all the signs. So it flabbergasts her about Will. She sees everything but he's so blind. Didn't he see the bruises purpling Kurt's skin along the upper arms, splotched like finger-painted strokes (didn't he find it odd that Kurt has been wearing jackets so much lately?)
And Emma cannot help but know how strange it is that Will is always just one second too late when he sees Kurt thrown against the lockers. Strange that he comes in time to see when Kurt's body bangs against the metal loudly, but not as quick as to see who pushes him in the first place. And the slushies that has always been thrown, far too many times, at the kids in glee club already, they now seem particularly popular with being done to Kurt these days. Does he not miss the stains of orange, grape, cherry, and blue raspberry ringing around Kurt's neck, no matter how hard he tries to clean off his clothes?
These days, every time Santana likes to crack a gay guy joke in rehearsals, everyone seems amused and laughs a little, with Kurt and Rachel being the only ones looking uncomfortable. Rachel-with-the-two-dads will squirm, and force a tight smile, a hollow laugh. Kurt does the same thing—at first. Rachel still responds to the jokes the same way, but with Kurt, it's a transition. Kurt's discomfort is was irritation, anger, and then later on, sadness, pain. These days it is a blend of all of them and it leaves him looking withdrawn. And it's a sight that leaves Emma concerned.
How can Will be so blind to this?
He looks the other way; he pretends it is not happening. He thinks only about himself. These thoughts niggle at the back of Emma's mind like maggots wriggling about in rot and trash. These maggots won't go away. They keep growing and growing. Will doesn't care about the kids. Does he like seeing them get hurt? And they won't stop and it makes Emma want to tear her hair, split open her skull and shake them all out. But she can't. And they still won't stop wriggling.
Worse, Emma does nothing either.
She thinks, believes, knows that she is no better than Will.
And the maggots will not stop festering.
Because she does nothing either.