3: AID

Life goes on for a little. Will knows he should ask Kurt what happened, but he's scared of it, and keeps expecting the world to fall in if he does. So he doesn't say a thing, and lets Kurt believe he hasn't a clue that anything's up. Then again, if he's hurt Kurt really badly, maybe the boy thinks he's just faking the amnesia. Will wouldn't blame him.

For his part, Kurt just keeps acting like nothing's wrong. Because he knows Mr. Schue was drunk and stupid; it won't happen again, Schue probably doesn't even remember, and it's not that big a deal. He's overreacting. He knows that; he has to believe that.

At Glee practice, Kurt is moody and withdrawn. Will sees how white his face is, and wonders if he looks that sick too, because he certainly feels that way. "Kurt, what is up with you?" he asks, trying to affect a casual tone. "You'd normally get this in about five minutes."

"Sorry, Schue," he says, looking at the floor and feeling his stomach flip. With his patented teacher sigh, Will walks over to him.

"You got the step all wrong," he says. "It goes-" and he reaches over to Kurt's shoulder, but he flinches away like Will just touched him with a lit fuse.

"Don't touch me!" he blurts out before he can stop himself, and everyone stares. Kurt realizes what he just said, and tries to resist the urge to vomit all over everything. There are a few mind-bendingly painful second where everyone just looks at Kurt, as he desperately searches for an escape. His head is swimming, and he leaps for the on exit route he can see – he gets the hell out of there, sprinting like an Olympic gold medalist.

Will can only watch, helplessly, as he runs.

Finn walks into the bathroom after Glee practice, still a little unnerved. Kurt's big running act freaked everyone act, and even though they went on with the rehearsal without him, no-one was really okay with what happened.

Finn is surprised to hear muffled sobbing coming from one of the stall. "Dude, are you okay?" he asks, approaching the offending stall. He gently pushes on the door, and finds it unlocked. It swings open to reveal Kurt Hummel, curled in a ball at the foot of the toilet, sobbing his eyes out.

Kurt's entire body freezes as Finn crouches down beside him in concern. "Kurt, what is it?" Finn asks, his voice sounding like it is coming from somewhere far away. God, Kurt didn't want Finn to see him like this – he didn't want anyone to see him like this, but Finn least of all.

Kurt doesn't answer, and Finn just stares at him for a few seconds – probably not all that helpful, but he doesn't know what to do. He notices there is a speck of gross green-brown-yellow on the corner of Kurt's mouth, traveling downward. Kurt doesn't seem to have noticed, and knowing Kurt like he does, that worries Finn even more. "Uh, you've got puke on your chin," he says, and unthinkingly, reaches up to tear off a piece of toilet paper.

Finn tries to wipe the vomit away, but Kurt almost leaps away. "Don't!" he exclaims violently.

Finn is struck speechless for a couple of seconds. "Sorry," he says, throwing the paper into the toilet. "I know how you are about your face and keeping it clean, and well, cleanliness in general," he pauses, "Then again, you are curled up next to the toilet, so..."

Kurt doesn't answer. "Dude, what's wrong?" Finn asks, frowning.

"Nothing," Kurt responds automatically, with a hopelessly fake smile. Finn doesn't buy it for a second, but he's not sure what to do.

"Well, uh, given you're crying your eyes out in the boys' bathroom, I'd generally say something is up," he says, and Kurt shakes his head.

"It's stupid," he says, standing up. Finn follows, and pounces on the opportunity.

"A-ha! So there is something," he says, and Kurt rather distinctly avoids his eyes.

"Like I said, it's stupid. I'm completely overreacting to this tiny thing, and I didn't want anyone to see me like this, and I sure as hell don't need your pity," he says, and turns the tap on. He splashes cold water over his face again and again, and Finn notices that his hands are shaking slightly.

"Does this have something to do with why you freaked like that in the middle of rehearsal?"

Kurt freezes. "Just leave me alone, Finn," he mutters, and then he storms out again. Finn watches, until he remembers he should probably turn the tap off.

Finn is not very good at helping people. He knows this. So if he's going to help Kurt, he's going to need help with that, and that's a little recursive when he thinks about it. But whatever.

Finn wonders who the hell he is meant to talk to about this. Since Kurt freaked in the middle of rehearsal, his fellow glee clubbers have all been aware that something is up, but nobody's talking about it – at least a little because everyone thinks Kurt will kill them if they ask. Finn hasn't told them all about how he found Kurt bawling his eyes out, because Finn doesn't really want to panic everybody more.

Finn looks for who to ask for advice – eventually, he decides it's a better idea to ask an adult. One he trusts. So he asks Mr. Schue, because it's Mr. Schue, and since when does that guy not help him?

"Er, hi, Mr. Schue," he begins awkwardly, entering the choir room. Schue is shuffling some sheet music, but no-one else is there. He looks up, and seems surprised to see Finn.

"Hey, Finn," he says with a smile. "What's up?"

Finn shrugs. "Okay, Mr. Schue, honestly? It's about Kurt."

Schuester's smile falls.

"I'm really worried," Finn admits. "I mean, you saw how he freaked and ran off last rehearsal... And after, I kinda, uh, found him in the bathroom. Crying his eyes out. And it had been like an hour or something, so..."

Mr. Schue doesn't react how Finn was expecting. He sighs deeply and buries his head in his hands, almost ashamed. Finn blinks. "Mr. Schue?"

"I screwed up," Mr. Schue murmurs, more to himself than Finn. The boy takes a second to process the comment.

"Wait, you did?" Pause. "Wait, do you actually know what's going on or something? And if you do, could you please tell me, because this whole thing is kind of freaking me out."

Mr. Schuester looks back up. "No. I... don't really know what's happening with Kurt. But from the way he's acting... I'm pretty sure it's all my fault."

Finn shakes his head. "Wait, what? What the hell? Why you?"

"Whenever I'm around, he looks terrified," Will admits.

"Well then, what did you do that could get to him like this?"

"I don't know," says Will. "Okay, Finn, if I tell you something, will you not run off to Figgins and get me fired?" and he knows it will be a bad idea to admit it, but he really wants to panic over everything with someone.

Finn shrugs. "Sure, Mr. Schue."

"Remember a couple of weeks ago, when I skipped a day of school because of the worst hangover in human history?" Finn nods at that. "Well, when I was getting that wasted... I was actually at school."

"Oh."

"And now, I've totally blacked out. Can't remember a thing. And I know I'm a bad drunk; sometimes, Terri would have to tell me what I did and it's just be... And I keep thinking that I did something awful to Kurt, and that's why he's acting like this, and I can't even remember it and try and make it better, and I keep being too much of a coward to just ask what I did."

"Well, given how he acted with me, I'm not really sure he'd tell you if you did just ask."

Will concedes to that point. "I guess not," he says, sighing.

Finn blinks a couple more times. "You're... really scared, aren't you Mr. Schue?"

Will just nods. "Yeah. I am. I think I hurt a student, and that's the one thing that's most important to me as a teacher, making sure my students are safe, so this whole thing... kind of like a nightmare."

Finn lets out a little puff of breath, and drums his fingers on top of the piano. "I'm getting this feeling that we've all totally screwed ourselves over."

"Pretty much."

Eventually, Will decides he needs to suck it up and deal with it. He needs to find out what the hell happened with Kurt, apologize, and try and make things okay. He doesn't know if he possibly can, especially given he has no idea what actually happened, but he should try. He has to fix this, admittedly at least partially because he's so sick of worrying about it, and just wants things to go back to normal. But still.

He manages to get Kurt to talk to him. The boy looks like he'd rather be strapped down on an anthill than here, and Will can't help but notice the way he pulls his clothes closer to him, as if he's trying to hide in them.

"Kurt, hey."

"Hey," Kurt responds weakly. "What is it, Mr. Schue?"

Will sighs. He can't think of a way to smoothly segue into this, so he decides to just blurt it out. "Kurt... what happened two weeks ago? When I was drunk? I know I was at school that day, and with the way you've been acting lately... I need to know."

Kurt involuntarily gasps sharply, quietly. He takes a few steps backs, and Will watches as his hands start shaking and his face turns even paler. "N-nothing," Kurt stammers out.

"Don't lie to me," Will says – practically pleading. "Please Kurt, I need to know."

Kurt shakes his head, subconsciously still inching backwards, away from Mr. Schue. "Nothing happened," he insists, a little louder this time. "I'm sorry if I've been acting weird, scaring you, but there's no need. Nothing happened; I'm fine," and he can't tell the truth. He thinks it might just kill Mr. Schuester, and if he tells the truth, it's like saying that the whole thing is some massive event that they all have to deal with, apologize for, recover from – and it's not. It was just this... thing.

"Kurt, I know I did something wrong. Not knowing is kind of killing me over here," he says a little more harshly than he'd like. Kurt is still slowly moving away, and Will has to follow him. "Tell me. Just tell me."

Kurt shakes his head, feeling tears brimming at the edge of his eyes, which is stupid, because nothing happened. "Nothing, okay? Maybe you've got your issues with your own drunkenness, I don't know, but don't take it out on me."

"Kurt!" Will can't help but yell. "Stop lying! If you're just fine, and I didn't do anything, then why the hell did you storm out like that at Glee? Why were you crying in a bathroom stall for at least an hour afterward?"

Kurt doesn't have an answer for that, so he focuses on the latter bit. "Finn told you," he says with a grimace. "Son of a bitch."

Will rolls his eyes. "He's scared, Kurt. We all are. Me most of all."

Kurt shakes his head, still backing away. "Please, Mr. Schue," he says, and the words and begging tone make him feel sick to his stomach. "Nothing happened. I just need to – I just... please, Schue. I just want... Please just leave me alone, okay? Nothing happened."

Will hears Kurt's half-coherent babbling, eyes glazed with tears, and he just wants to break down crying. That, or break something. He manages not to, because he knows he's not the victim here. "Listen to yourself Kurt. You're not okay. Just talk to me," he says, and outstretches a hand.

Kurt jumps away. "Stay away from me!" he shrieks, and Will notices how damn tiny he looks. He's almost crying, and has finally backed himself up against the wall. Will notices he's practically looming over the boy, and wants to be sick.

The sound of someone clearing their throat rings out from the doorway. Will turns to look at this person, and feels his stomach sink even further, if that is possible.

Sue Sylvester just stands there, looking smug.