TRIGGER WARNING: Implied suicide and suicidal ideation

When Burt and Elizabeth walked Kurt into Unity Elementary the next morning, after having taken the obligatory first day of kindergarten pictures with the year and his teacher's name on the sign, they felt their son's hand tense in theirs. They thought they had done an alright job over the past few weeks of describing what this day would be like. Kurt had told them he understood, but maybe what he was picturing didn't do it justice.

Kurt didn't have a whole lot of time to panic before a very bubbly Brittany came over to greet him. "Come sit by me, Kurtie," she said. "We're both in Mrs. Morris' class so we can sit together. I've seen other kids from preschool here, but they're in different classes."

He smiled at his friend, glad that she was going to be in class with him. "Okay, Britt," he said. "I'll see you after school, Mommy and Daddy." His parents bent down to give him a hug and kissed his cheeks.

"Have a great day, sweetheart!" his mother told him.

"Learn lots, kiddo," his dad said. Then, both Burt and Elizabeth walked out of the gym and headed to work, hoping for the best.

When Brittany led Kurt over to their line, he was happy to see Jeff in his class, too. Mercedes, Rachel, and Finn were in the line right next to them, and Kurt saw one of the biggest playground bullies in the other kindergarten line. Derek was talking to some other kid standing next to him, and it didn't look like he had noticed Kurt yet.

"I'm so happy you're in my class, Kurtie," Brittany said to him once they were settled on the floor and waiting for their teacher to come and lead them to their classroom.

"Me, too, Kurt," Jeff said with a blinding smile. Kurt hadn't really gotten to know Jeff very well at preschool and daycare. He liked his smile, though, and hoped that they could be friends.

"I'm happy, too!" Kurt replied to both of them.

Just then, their teacher came into the gym to gather them and lead them to their room. When they arrived at their classroom, the teacher told them all to go find the desk with their name on it and set their backpack on the floor next to them for right now. Kurt found his desk and was happy to see that he was grouped with Brittany. Jeff was in a group right next to him. He took a breath and sat down in his chair.

"Good morning, everyone!" the teacher at the front of the room said cheerfully. "In case you guys don't remember from Open House the other night, my name is Mrs. Morris." She went on to talk about classroom expectations and the typical first day of school stuff. Kurt took it all in; he didn't want to mess anything up.

Kurt enjoyed his first day of kindergarten immensely. He'd always loved to learn and was actually quite advanced for his age. He loved art and reading time the best. He told the most elaborate stories and was so happy that he got to share them with one of his best friends, even if some of the kids weren't so nice.

The one place he struggled was socially, and he always had. It was one of the reasons why making friends with Blaine had been so amazing. He didn't judge Kurt on anything he liked and was always there for him until he wasn't.

It was about a month into the school year when Kurt desperately wished Blaine was at his school. There was this one kid, Derek, who was also in kindergarten but not in his classroom, that was causing him a lot of trouble on the playground. Coincidentally, he was in Finn's class, and they seemed to be fast friends since they both liked sports. Finn never said anything when Derek would make backhanded comments to or about Kurt, which hurt his feelings even more.

Blainers, he thought with tears in his eyes one particularly rough day after a field trip, I miss you.

All of the kindergarten classes had gone to the pumpkin patch, and Kurt had had a wonderful time there. That is until he fell asleep on the way back to the school. His mom had accompanied them as a chaperone but, unfortunately, was at the front of the bus, and Kurt was sitting toward the back. Kurt had been seated with Finn since their class had an uneven number of kids and Kurt said that he didn't mind. Jeff and Brittany were toward the front of the bus, and they were really the only two kids in his class that he felt comfortable talking to and hanging out with.

When they got back to the school, Finn shook Kurt awake, and he heard some of the kids around him laughing. Kurt stood up but couldn't walk properly. Someone had tied his shoelaces together, and instead of holding everyone up to try and untie them, he shuffled off of the bus as best as he could. Before he got completely off of the bus, he turned to Finn in a moment of strength and said, "I thought you were my friend," and gently made his way down the bus steps, doing his best not to fall over. Thankfully, his mother was right there.

"Sweetheart, what happened?" she asked, seeing the tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Can we go home, please?" Kurt asked instead of answering his mother.

Elizabeth picked Kurt up and looked at Finn, who was watching them instead of going toward his mother. He looked remorseful about something, though she was in no mood to reprimand him or talk to his mother about what had happened. Her main concern right now was getting her son home. When they got home, Elizabeth carried Kurt into the house and set him on the sofa so she could start untying the many knots in his shoes.

Being home, Kurt finally felt safe enough to let go of all of the emotions he was holding inside. He cried and wept for everything sad and hurtful that had happened in his short life. He cried for how the bullies on the playground made him feel. He wept for the loss of his best friend and how he just somehow knew a hug from Blaine would make everything better right now.

"Why're they so mean to me, Mommy?" Kurt stuttered through his tears. "I didn't do anything to them, and they're so, so mean. I miss Blaine. Brittany and Jeff are the only friends I have there. I thought Finn was, too, and he let them be mean to me anyway. I don't see Rachel and Mercedes enough for them to be good friends. Mommy, my heart hurts."

Instead of answering, Elizabeth sang.

"Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part
Baby of mine

Little one, when you play
Don't you mind what they say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine
Never a tear
Baby of mine"

"Sweetheart," Elizabeth said, "sometimes, kids are going to be bullies, no matter who you are. There are going to be people who don't like anything about you. And, you will have a choice. You can let it affect how you live, or you can let it make you stronger. Those other kids, they can't see how incredibly special you are. Or, maybe, they can, and that scares them. Whatever the reason, you get to decide what you do next. Do you fight back, do you let it crush you completely, or do you let it make you stronger?"

"I wanna be strong, Mommy," Kurt said with determination.

"You are strong, my little love," Elizabeth whispered and hugged him for all he was worth. "This is just going to make you that much stronger."

That night across town, another kind of bully was having his eyes opened. Carter and Claire Anderson had left their kids with a sitter so that they could have a date night. Claire loved musical theater, and so, when a show she'd wanted to see for ages came to Columbus, she bought tickets and told her husband they were going. Carter may have seemed all big and bad, but in reality, he'd do anything to make his wife happy.

During intermission, Carter cried. The show his wife had dragged him to, the one he'd grumbled to himself about in the mirror that night as he'd straightened his jacket and adjusted his tie, Dear Evan Hansen, changed something inside of him. He recognized something in the characters on the stage that he never wanted to see reflected in his children. He never wanted to fear that something he'd said or something he'd done would push his boys that far, make them contemplate what Evan had contemplated, or, even worse, make them go through with it like Connor. He never wanted his children to feel unaccepted or unloved by him. That night, as he sobbed, his face buried in his wife's shoulder, he vowed that no matter what, he was going to prove to his boys that he accepted and loved them. He was going to make sure they knew that it didn't matter who their soulmate was or what career they chose; whatever path Fate had chosen for them, he loved them all the same. From that night forward, whenever Carter heard a song from Dear Evan Hansen, he would remember the way he'd felt that night; he'd remember the revelation he'd had, the vow he'd made to himself, and he'd smile. With each song he heard, he knew, as he had that night in the audience, sobbing and sniffling, that he was on the right path; nothing could have made him happier.

The following day, Carter took Blaine out for ice cream.

"Blaine," he said after they'd got his pralines and cream and Blaine's mint chocolate chip and sat down at a more secluded table, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Daddy," Blaine said with a little ice cream on his upper lip. "I haven't been playing with any 'girly' things, I promise. Even when the girls want to play at school, I don't. I just play with the boys."

Carter sighed. He hadn't realized how much he'd really pushed this issue and how much he was stifling his son. "That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. Just listen, okay. Unless you have a question, and then, you can stop me and ask, okay?"

"'kay, Daddy," Blaine said and went back to eating his ice cream.

"I was wrong to say those things to you," Carter said, all but abandoning his own ice cream so he could get all of this out. "My daddy told me those things when I was little, about certain toys and activities being 'girly' and not for boys, and I thought that's how I should raise you, too, and your brother. But I'm wrong, and so is anyone who thinks this way. You once told me that there are no girl things or boy things, just things for kids to play with and enjoy. You were right, and I was wrong. I want the best things for you, Blaine. I know now that it means letting you decide the things you like and the things you don't like. And, no matter who your soulmate is, Santana or Kurt, I know that they will be the luckiest person alive to have been matched with you."

Blaine was kind of in shock, or as much shock as a six-year-old could be in. He had always gotten the impression that his dad didn't like Kurt, so to hear him say that threw him for a loop. "So, it's okay for me to be friends with Kurt?"

"Yes," Carter answered, wanting to kick his own ass after hearing his son's question. "You can be friends with whomever you want, as long as they're positive friends and nobody is hurting you. I'd rather you not be making friends with kids who get into trouble all of the time."

"If he still wants to be my friend, can I invite Kurt over to play sometime or watch movies?" Blaine asked.

"Why wouldn't he want to be your friend?"

"It seemed like after I missed the tea party in daycare, he didn't really wanna be my friend as much as he did before," Blaine said, remembering how distant his friend had become and how he'd never sought him out to play with after that week he missed.

"I think your mom still has the contact list. Would you like her to call and see if he can have a playdate?" Carter asked. He remembered that tea party. He'd been livid and was almost thankful his son had gotten sick so he wouldn't have to participate in it. I'll do better. I'll do things with him that he likes and not what I want to make him more boyish.

"Can we really?" Blaine asked, his eyes lighting up with hope.

"We can," Carter said.

The following day, Elizabeth got a call from Claire Anderson. At first, she was shocked. She actually asked if Carter knew she was calling. Claire laughed and said that it had been his idea. Elizabeth knew that a playdate with Blaine would do amazing things to help heal Kurt's heart. She asked if they could do it at the Hummel house first and let Claire in on what had been happening with Kurt at school. Claire's heart broke for Kurt and agreed that the following weekend, she would bring Blaine to their house while she went out and ran errands. Elizabeth thanked her, and then, they hung up.

After his mom told him about the playdate, Kurt was both nervous and excited to see his friend again. He wasn't sure what Blaine would want to do, so he didn't really plan anything for their time together. When the doorbell rang the following Saturday and Blaine came into the house, neither boy knew how to act. Finally, Blaine walked up and hugged his friend. He had missed him more than he'd realized.

"Hey, Kurt," Blaine whispered.

"Hey, Blaine," Kurt whispered back. His heart felt like it was healing, having Blaine so close to him. When they parted, Kurt asked, "What would you like to do today?"

"Well," Blaine said, "I've been thinking about that since our mommies talked, and I think I'd like to have a tea party, if that's okay with you."

Kurt's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Really?" he said in a pitch much higher than his normal speaking voice.

Blaine flashed a huge smile. "Really!"

That day, the boys rekindled their friendship, and their parents decided that both boys seemed happier overall after that first playdate. The Anderson's hadn't noticed a drastic change in their son after the missed tea party in daycare until after the tea party he had with Kurt. He was happier and more outgoing after that, almost like his skin fit properly again. And, Kurt? Kurt was more confident in himself and didn't let the bullies get him down like they had.

For the rest of his elementary school years, Carter and Claire decided to enroll Blaine in the Arts Magnet school after he finished kindergarten. He had always shown great talent in the arts, and they wanted him to be able to hone his skills. Carter had been against it when they were enrolling him for kindergarten, not wanting to encourage his "girly" behaviors. Now, though, he wanted to make sure his son was who he was and had the tools and skills to be able to be whomever he was meant to be.

Kurt built a strong friendship with Brittany throughout the rest of their elementary school years. He knew that no matter who the 'B' belonged to, he would be loved beyond measure and that he would love them back just as much.

A/N: The song used is "Baby Mine" from Dumbo.