When David sat down in the sandbox with his friends, everything went as normal until Kurt looked up and noticed David's face. There was a sudden, sharp intake of breath and then the two girls were also looking up at David's face. "Oh, gosh. What happened? Did you hurt yourself? Are those stitches?"
David ducked his head down, trying to hide the mess that was his face from Kurt's gawking gaze. He didn't mind the girls too much, but he didn't want Kurt seeing him like this. The left side of his mouth and cheek were swollen and partially covered in a purple and green bruise. It throbbed lightly and was tender to the touch…but that didn't stop David from poking it every now and then to see how much it had healed. His mommy and daddy had kept him home from school the previous so he could sleep (it had been hard to sleep the night he hurt himself), but now he was back at school and everyone kept staring at his bruises and cuts. "Yeah. I was trying to climb my mommy's dresser and fell."
"Are you ok?" Kurt hovered his hand over David's cheek, wanting to make the ugly bruises and nasty cuts go away but not sure how.
David sucked in the corner of his lip and raised his shoulder in a one-sided shrug. "It kinda hurts, but I'm a big, tough boy."
Kurt crawled closer to David to look at his ouchies. He wasn't sure how he could make his new friend feel better, but he knew what his mommy always did to make him feel better when he hurt. Leaning up so that he was at the same height as David (which wasn't difficult given how much the bigger boy slouched), Kurt gave him a little peck on the cheek. "There! All better." Kurt crawled backwards a little and smiled at David. David turned a little red as he turned to face Kurt, his eyes large, his expression blank.
"EWWW! Kurt kissed David! Kurt kissed a boy!"
Kurt looked around frantically, trying to spot who was shouting at him so he could beg them to stop, but it didn't really matter. The boy who was pointing and laughing at him had been joined by a flock of other boys that took up his chant of "Kurt kissed a b-oy! Kurt kissed a b-oy."
"I didn't…I just…I was…" Kurt didn't know what to say or what to do. He had heard from other boys and girls that it was yucky for boys to kiss girls, but he'd never heard anyone say that it was yucky to kiss boys. Girls and boys had different cooties from each other. If Kurt had the same cooties as other boys, why would it matter if he kissed a boy? Kurt didn't have a whole lot of time to think this over though, because David launched himself out of the sandbox and jumped on top of the nearest boy, which thankfully was the same boy that had started up the chant. Kurt gasped and Rachel let out a little scream as David started punching the boy.
Everything had taken probably less than a minute, but it still felt like too long before the teachers started pouring over and pulling the boys apart and breaking up the on-going chant. Kurt stared at David's back as one of the teachers dragged him by the arm back to the classroom.
xoxoxo
Kurt sat in timeout behind his teacher's desk while everyone else got to have art time. "But I just…he had a boo-boo and I wanted it to go away."
"I know you meant well, Kurt, but boys don't kiss boys, ok?" Ms. Lily kneeled on the floor beside Kurt, trying to help him understand why he was in trouble. She was just making him more confused.
"But why?"
"You just…you don't, ok? It's not appropriate. This is preschool; in preschool we don't do inappropriate things. You're getting to be a big boy now, and you should know not to do bad things."
"But…why is it bad?"
Lily Nichols sighed. This wasn't a conversation she was supposed to be having with a preschooler. It's why she went into teaching preschool; so she wouldn't have to deal with any kind of sex-ed stuff. This was a conversation for him and his parents. Not him and her. "Because…because it's dirty, that's why." Lily knew that would silence Kurt. The boy was so fastidiously neat and clean about everything that you could probably tell him soap was dirty and he'd take your word for it.
Kurt chewed on the inside of his lip and pulled his knees up close to his chest, wrapping his arm around his legs he laid his chin in the notch between his knees and sat quietly for the rest of his timeout.
xoxoxo
"I think it would be a good time to sit Kurt down and talk to him about what is and what is not acceptable at school." Kurt held his mother's hand, his hand disappearing in her larger, yet just as soft and delicate, hand.
"I'm not quite sure I understand. Kurt started a fight, but wasn't actually involved in the fight?" His mommy was rubbing her thumb on the back of his hand, trying to sooth Kurt who was fighting to hold back a fresh flow of tears. He was so ashamed. He was never in trouble. He didn't have the words to express his feelings, but he certainly felt them; this was mortifyingly embarrassing.
"He kissed another little boy, some other boys saw it and started teasing him which led to a fight."
"I'll talk to him about the inappropriateness of kissing any other child at school, but I still don't see how the fight was his fault. He didn't know what he was doing was wrong. If you ask me, the boys that were teasing him were the ones in the wrong."
Ms. Lily let out a beleaguered sigh. "And they were also punished, Ms. Hummel, but Kurt is not innocent here. Public displays of affection are against school rules. Whether or not Kurt is aware of the rules is not an excuse for violating the rules; every parent and guardian was given a copy of the school rules and it's expected that their children uphold the rules. If they don't, they get punished. Kurt sat in timeout for art; nothing too horrible."
"To you maybe. But to a little child that has no idea what they did wrong, getting sent to timeout for forty-five minutes may as well be a life sentence. Now if you'll excuse me, Kurt and I are going food shopping now." Kurt tagged along after his mother as she led him to the car.
He smiled as he spotted David clinging around the neck of who could only be his own mommy as she spoke to his teacher, Mrs. Chrissy. "It's good of him to stick up for his friends and stand up to bullies, but he needs to understand that violence is never the answer."
"Don't worry, we'll have a nice long discussion on using our words and not our fists when we get home." David's mommy placed one of her hands on his head and forced him to crane his neck back slightly so she could smile at him. Kurt was glad David wasn't in trouble with his mommy. Kurt knew his own mommy would be very disappointed with him if he hurt someone else.
xoxoxo
A few weeks had passed since the fight on the playground. Kurt and David were becoming best of friends; they played together every recess. Even if they weren't playing the same game, they played side-by-side. No one had messed with Kurt at all since David had gotten in his fight. Kids were almost afraid of him…or rather, afraid of his bodyguard. Kurt felt just like a famous actor or singer with his own knight in shining armor protecting him from mean people.
In fact, that was pretty close to one of Kurt and David's favorite games. Kurt would pretend to be a famous singer and sing, while David pretended to be his adoring fans and clapped for him after every song.
One day, about three weeks after the fight, one of David's classmates had a birthday party. Their sister had made cupcakes for the whole class. There were chocolate and vanilla and red velvet and blueberry. After everyone in class had gotten their cupcakes, Mrs. Chrissy clapped her hands together five times in a rhythmic manner. The students stopped what they were doing and repeated her pattern to show that they were listening. "Listen up, boys and girls. I need a volunteer to take a cupcake to Ms. Lily, Mrs. Joan, and Mr. Ben." As soon as his teacher said 'volunteer,' David's hand shot into the air. She only asked for volunteers when she needed someone to go to another classroom. If she was asking for someone to do something in the classroom, she always asked for a 'good worker' or 'good helper.'
"Dave just wants to eat the cupcakes."
David turned around and glared at Noah. Noah was always teasing him about how much he ate. "Noah, that's mean. Apologize to David and then go set the timeout timer for ten minutes."
Noah stomped over to the timeout corner, mumbling a sarcastic, "Sorry, Dave" as he went to sit.
"Here Davey." Mrs. Chrissy handed him a plate of three cupcakes. "One for Ms. Lily, one for Mrs. Joan and one for Mr. Ben. Ok?"
David nodded and took the plate carefully in his hands, being extra sure not to let the tray tip or any of the cupcakes fall. David went to Mr. Ben first, then Mrs. Joan and finally Ms. Lily. As he handed Ms. Lily the last cupcake he looked around the room for his friend. He spotted Kurt playing with the kitchen. When Ms. Lily was at the garbage can throwing out the paper wrapper from her cupcake, David ran over to the play-kitchen. Pulling out a crumpled up envelope from his pocket, he shoved it at Kurt. "This is for your mom."
Kurt took the letter, smiling a bashful little smile. "Did you bring me a cupcake?"
David sucked his lip between his teeth. His lip had mostly healed by now. "Sorry, just cupcakes for the teachers. My birthday is in four months, though. I can give you a cupcake then."
Kurt's smile got bigger, "Ok."
xoxoxo
Standing on his tiptoes, he could just see over the edge of the counter where his mommy was working on stuffing manicotti noodles with a cheese blend. He stared at his mother, smiling at his seeming-invisibility until she spotted him. "What's up, butter-cup?"
Kurt giggled and held out the envelope for his mother. He'd done his best to keep it nice and neat all day, but David had practically destroyed it by crushing and crinkling it the entire morning. "I'm supposed to give this to you."
"Oh, really?" His mother took the letter and opened it up, letting her eyes skim over it first to see what it was about before she read it in earnest.
"What's it say?"
Clearing her throat dramatically, Kurt's mommy held up the letter and read it aloud:
"Dear Kurt's mother (sorry, David doesn't know your name), over the past few weeks my Davey has not stopped talking about how much he enjoys playing with your son." Elizabeth Hummel smiled at her son as she read that last bit. "My husband and I would like to invite your son to sleep over at our house, at your convenience, so our children can play together. Our phone number is at the bottom so you can call and we can work out the details." Elizabeth put the letter down and looked Kurt over. "What do you say, sweety? You want to sleep over at your friend Dave's house?"
Kurt bounced up and down a few times before running out of the kitchen, "I'll go get my pajamas!"
Liz rolled her eyes and shouted after Kurt, "Not now, you silly goose!"
