If you recognise it, it's not mine.


Kurt couldn't help it.

He'd tried protesting, claiming he had homework.

"Seriously, guys, I really need to finish that essay for Monday."

"It won't take that long, Kurt! All work and no play..."

He'd tried blaming the weather.

"Isn't it a bit cold? And I thought it was going to rain today, wasn't it?"

"We'll use warm water! And we'll be wet already, right?"

He'd even tried hiding. Not that it worked against boys who had been at the school for years. Nothing had worked. That's the only reason Kurt was standing holding a water balloon, filled with warm water as promised, facing a team of similarly armed Warblers.

"Three! Two-" Before Wes could finish his countdown, Jeff threw one of his balloons. It hit him square in the face. Wes glared at the blonde boy.

"Oh, it's on, Sterling. Go!" Water balloons flew like small, brightly coloured cannonballs. The two teams were both dripping in seconds. In a moment of luck, Nick managed to throw a balloon so that it intercepted another midair, and ducked in time for a third to hit Wes in the ear. Unfortunately, this caused Wes to tackle him and stuff a balloon down his neck, during which they were both pelted with the missiles. Kurt managed to stay out of the line of fire for about five minutes, passing balloons to Blaine, Jeff, and David, who had the best aim and were already thoroughly soaked. Then an almost balletic leap meant that a balloon missed Jeff and flew on, bursting against his blazer. Kurt froze, feeling the warm, wet liquid splashing over his face. Then he doubled over, throwing up on the grass.

"Kurt?" Blaine turned, and instantly rushed to the taller boy's side. Kurt coughed, shoulders trembling.

"Please don't, p-please don't," he stammered, standing up shakily. Blaine frowned in confusion.

"Kurt, I won't. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to-" Kurt turned on his heel and fled back into the school. Blaine stared after him miserably. "...help," he finished. He made to follow Kurt inside, but Wes called him back.

"Blaine, he looked like he needed some space. Last time this sort of thing happened, he seemed to try and escape quite quickly."

Blaine whipped round to glare at the other boys, a forgotten water balloon falling from his fingers. "What do you mean, last time?"

"The whole song thing. He was really upset, remember?" David said awkwardly.

Blaine stared at him. "How upset?"

"We cancelled Warbler rehearsal?" Nick mumbled, instantly regretting it. Blaine switched his worried glare to him.

"What! Right."

"Blaine, wait!" But he was already sprinting across the grass towards the school. The Warblers exchanged glances.

"Right, Kurt has to tell us all his weird trigger things some day, because this really has to stop happening," Jeff muttered, tossing a water balloon from hand to hand. The Warblers nodded in agreement.

Blaine knocked on the door tentatively. He could hear running water from behind it.

"Kurt?" No response. Blaine leant against the opposite wall, biting his bottom lip. He knew from several awkward experiences that it was pointless trying to get people in the shower to hear you. Especially if they were deliberately ignoring you.

Eventually, about ten minutes later, once Blaine's legs had gone to sleep, the door opened. "Hey," Blaine said, raising a hand. Kurt turned to face him, looking like a startled rabbit. His face was scrubbed red.

"Oh. Hi, Blaine. Have you been there the entire time?" Blaine shrugged in response.

"So, what was all the stuff with the water balloons earlier?" Kurt slid down the wall until he was sitting opposite Blaine and mumbled a sentence of unintelligible gibberish. Blaine raised an eyebrow.

"They threw pee balloons at me," Kurt muttered miserably. "At McKinley. A bunch of jocks drove past and chucked water balloons filled with urine at me." Blaine winced. That, unfortunately, explained a lot. "I went home and showered for an hour, and I never wore those clothes again, but I still hate people throwing water balloons and stuff at me. We did this mashup of Umbrella and Singing in the Rain once. Mr Schue decided to flood the auditorium, and we were splashing water everywhere. It sucked," he said sadly. Blaine inched closer, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you going to tell the Warblers?" he asked. Kurt shook his head violently.

"No. I'm a very private person, and that's too personal, too... Just no." Blaine nodded. There were things from his own bullying he hadn't even told his brother, let alone his friends. Plus Kurt was seriously the Fort Knox of privacy. He wrapped an arm round Kurt's shoulders gently, showing support silently.

Kurt couldn't help it.

He accepted the hug.