Hey, so this story has been niggling at me ever since I watched Inside Out a couple of weeks ago and so I thought it would be fun to explore inside of Kurt's head. The plot won't follow the Inside Out film exactly of course - the emotions are the only thing I'm borrowing - and it will be more to do with looking at Kurt's emotions throughout the Glee series. I don't know, I just thought it would be interesting - and hey who knows? We might get a glimpse into the other people's emotions too!

Enjoy!

Prologue

As she opened her eyes, the world came to light.

Tiny and star-shaped Joy stood, looking around with wide blue eyes as she took everything in. Above was a large rectangular screen where a bright light filtered through. In amazement, the tiny yellow figure looked up and watched patiently.

A face came into light; a woman with brunette hair was peering down at them, a bright smile on her face.

"Burt," She said quietly, with just a touch of excitement. "He's waking up."

Another face came into view, this time that of a bald man with a baseball cap in a creased checked shirt. He too grinned down at them, his eyes lighting up.

"Hey there, buddy…you gave us a fright, coming so early."

Joy smiled to herself widely, clasping her hands together. Something caught her eye, and when she gazed down briefly she saw a small button on a small panel-like structure. Curiously, she pressed down on it; immediately it lit up with a bright yellow glow.

And there was laughter.

"Look," The woman whispered breathlessly. "He's smiling and laughing at us – he knows his Mommy and Daddy, don't you Kurt?"

Kurt. Joy understood and felt unconditional love towards the baby whose brain she was in control of; it was her mission to look after him, to make him happy and to spread her optimism for his own benefit.

It was pure heaven, she decided; it was just her and Kurt together, the way it should be. From her right there was a click and then a bright yellow orb come rolling into focus; when Joy squinted she noticed that it had the image of Kurt's first laugh – a memory!

But then Kurt began to cry, and Joy quickly looked down at the button she had pressed; her hand had slipped off, and she suddenly realized that she was not alone in his mind.

"Hi," The blue blob said morosely; she was wearing glasses and a white woollen sweater, looking as if she were about to burst into tears herself. "I'm Sadness."

Joy blinked. "Oh. Hello…nice to meet you."

Sadness gave a sigh. "I guess."

Joy looked between the button and her new companion. "Do you mind if I just…?" And she slipped her hand so that she was in control once more. Immediately Kurt ceased crying and gurgled happily.

Sadness looked at Joy in slight awe. "How did you do that? Can I try?"

"Uhmm…" Joy hesitated, not wanting to hurt her feelings. "Maybe later."

Although Joy wasn't sure what Sadness' purpose in Kurt's mind was, she supposed that there must be a reason and so she did allow Sadness a short amount of time each day to try out the button – each time, of course, sent Kurt wailing for his parents and Joy had to take over again.

At first it was just the two of them, watching as Kurt's days panned out and new memories form in different orbs – mostly yellow but there were a few blue in there too. However, as Kurt was moved on from milk to normal food, another emotion was born.

"What is that?!" She sneered, surprising Joy and Sadness as she glared at the screen; her skin was green, matching the colour of her dress, and the only other colour was the purple ascot tied around her neck. She was Disgust.

"Hi!" Joy greeted optimistically, giving a small wave. "We're just having dinner!"

"I miss the warm milk," Sadness mumbled.

Disgust ignored them, squinting at the screen; after a moment she made a horrified face. "NO! It's broccoli!" And she slammed her finger on a button quickly.

Kurt gave a small scream and pushed the food away from himself. "YUCK!"

A green memory orb rolled into Headquarters (as they had dubbed it) and joined the other ones waiting to be dispatched to long-term memory.

"You're welcome," Disgust said, clearly satisfied. "That could have been a disaster."

Elizabeth just smiled and speared some of the greens onto a fork. "Not even a little bit for Mommy?" When Kurt shook his head, she took a bite from the fork to show him it was not poisoned. "What about now?"

Kurt hesitated; inside his mind, the emotions looked around at each other in question.

"Hmm," Disgust hummed. "If Mom can eat it then it can't be too bad."

"What if it is bad and Mom is ill?" Sadness sighed.

Joy took control once again and pulled at a lever. "We can trust Mom – besides, if we eat it then she'll watch Sound of Music with us again."

Kurt opened his mouth and happily ate the food without question; a second later, another memory flowed in. This one was yellow, a joyful one, and Joy felt herself swell with pride.

She really was doing a great job, if she said so herself.

The first time Fear appeared had been after Kurt tripped over a wire while running around the house; as a result he had scraped his knee and spent ten minutes crying over his injury. Once his knee had been kissed better by his mother, he was off again.

Before Joy could get too comfortable with the controls, a thin purple emotion rushed past her awkwardly and stabbed at a button.

Kurt immediately stopped and looked around the hallway, as if searching for more wires. When he saw one ahead, he slowly stepped over it before continuing his game more slowly.

A purple memory appeared, and the purple emotion let out a sigh of relief.

"Crisis averted!" Fear announced. "Now he'll be more careful, and we won't get hurt."

Joy gave a nod. "Great job! Welcome to Headquarters!"

Finally, there was Anger.

When this last emotion appeared, Kurt was in Kindergarten and very excited about starting school (though a little nervous, thanks to Fear); he was most looking forward to making friends, much to his emotions' delight.

When Kurt spotted a boy his own age, he grinned and ran up to greet them. "Hi there! I'm Kurt Hummel!"

The other boy turned around and looked at him blankly for a moment. "Oh." He paused. "What are you wearing?"

Kurt looked down at his outfit proudly. "I picked it out by myself at the store; my Mommy bought it for me for my first day."

The other boy sneered. "You look like a girl!"

The emotions looked around at each other in deep shock.

"I knew we'd get teased," Fear whimpered.

"He's probably just jealous, right guys?" Joy tried to say optimistically.

Disgust flipped her hair. "Well, his clothes are disgusting and he needs to brush his hair."

Sadness hung her head. "That's mean; I think I'm gonna cry." She looked around at the others unsurely. "Should I-?"

"No!" Joy interrupted; she wanted Kurt to have a good first day. "Let me…let me see what I can do." She thought hard and pressed at a few of the buttons.

Kurt, though disappointed, put on a smile. "No, I'm a boy! Besides, my Mommy said that I look han-some." He almost tripped over the last word, not so sure, but there were no tears which could only be a good sign.

"Well, your Mommy's an idiot!" The boy jeered.

The four emotions were so shocked that they couldn't move – luckily, they didn't need to.

"DID HE JUST INSULT MOM?!"

In their midst was a short red rectangular shaped emotion in a shirt and tie – and he did not look pleased.

"YOU WANNA INSULT US, PUNK?!" The emotion growled angrily, banging his fists on the control panel. "Well, see how you like THIS!"

It was safe to say that Anger's way of dealing with things got them into deep trouble; while Kurt was tiny and sweet, it appeared that he did have some strength hidden away somewhere. When it resulted in Kurt's parents being called in and his early being sent home, it was clear that a discussion was needed amongst the emotions about their way of dealing with different situations.

"No more violence," Fear stated nervously. "That boy hit us back, and it hurt really bad. I don't like it!"

Anger glared at him. "He deserved it!"

"Mom looked so disappointed in us," Sadness sighed, on the verge of crying. "She's never looked that way before."

"Besides, we got our outfit all dirty," Disgust stated, wrinkling her nose. "Think about how many germs were on Kurt's fists after we punched him!"

Fear gestured to Joy awkwardly. "Well, Joy's in charge so she should get a say."

Joy blinked and thought to herself. "You're all right," She began carefully. "I don't think violence is the way forward-"

"Then what the HECK am I doing HERE?!" Anger burst out, scaring Fear and making Sadness' bottom lip wobble. "I'M ANGER – I'm here to be ANGRY!"

"Yes, and that's fine," Joy assured him quickly. "Kurt needs to be angry sometimes, to make sure that things are fair – but I don't think he should fight anyone. Maybe…Maybe we could use words instead? That could be just as effective."

"The kid's five years old," Anger muttered bitterly. "He doesn't know that many words!"

But eventually they all came to an agreement; to avoid the shame and embarrassment of knowing that Mom was disappointed in Kurt, they wouldn't use violence again – instead Anger would try and get Kurt to use words to defend himself.

Most of Kurt's childhood years were happy; each day came and went, bringing different memories with it – a mixed variety of Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust. Together the five of them would work to ensure that Kurt was safe from any danger that was presented to him, ranging from bullies to bad food.

And then Mom got sick.

Each emotion was affected in a different way; Anger was, for once, lost for words and couldn't think of anything to say or do. Disgust was initially worried that the illness would pass onto them but then, upon learning that it was not contagious, decided to step away from the panel. Fear was inconsolable, all of the worst case scenarios following him and entering Kurt's thoughts if he interacted with the control panel. Joy began trying to make things better by trying to keep Kurt optimistic, at least for his Mom and Dad, but even she couldn't help but feel devastated by the news.

And then there was Sadness. Already full of negative and depressing thoughts, she sat in a corner in Headquarters and cried all day long when they found out. She was not permitted at all to touch the panel, as none of them wanted Kurt to be any more upset than he was.

For a while they all held out hope that Mom would be okay – she had to be. She was Kurt's rock, the one who he could talk to about anything; going through life without her would be unbearable.

Hope was not enough though, and it was in silence that the five emotions watched on the screen as Burt Hummel bent down to look his son in the eye.

"I'm sorry Kurt, but Mommy…Mommy has gone to live with the angels."

Again, it hit them all in various ways – though this time it was different.

None of the emotions knew what to do; what was the most appropriate way of dealing with this news? Of helping Kurt survive?

For once, Joy could no longer stand being in control; she sat down on the couch in Headquarters, and slowly her face crumpled – in a matter of minutes she had begun crying, something that none of them thought was capable of such a happy emotion. Indeed, devastation had finally overcome her.

Disgust immediately removed herself from close proximity of the panel. "It's…It's not appropriate," She explained unsteadily. "I just…I'm not the one he needs."

Anger tried to be in control for a few days, but this just ended badly; he decided to step down when his actions led to Kurt having an outburst at Burt shortly before the funeral. The last thing any of them wanted was to create a rift between the two of them.

Fear also tried, but only held out for a few hours; he didn't have the energy to come up with ways in which Kurt's life could become even worse, and when he pressed a finger to a button it just conjured up the thought of Kurt's father dying too, which was no help to Kurt at all.

In the end, it was Sadness who had to take control; later on they all agreed that Kurt needed to feel sad about this, to get it out of his system if possible. Although Sadness was also devastated, she was somewhat more in control of herself than the others – perhaps because she was more used negativity.

"It's going to be okay, Kurt," She whispered even though she knew he would not hear her. "Dad will take care of us."

It took quite a few months for things to become somewhat normal again; by this time they all agreed that Joy should only take the reins occasionally at first and then built up – it would be absurd for Kurt to suddenly be as happy as he once was. One step at a time, the emotions gently integrated themselves back into co-controlling the panel, making sure that all of his reactions were appropriate.

After his mother's death, though, Joy was never quite as prominent as she once had been in his mind.

Reviews greatly appreciated!