Hi again! Thank you so much for all the reviews! Keep them coming! In this one shot Kurt is five years old and Blaine is 6. Kurt's mother is sick in the hospital and hasnt died yet (I'm really not sure how or when Kurt's mum died so I had to guess a bit). I have quite a fondness for writing fiction in a child's point for view, and the histories and environment children experience that leads them to grow up to be the people they are today is quite fascinating to me. I just hope I did them justice...
Anyway hope you like this one.
4. Children
It would break many a heart to see a child cry. But since the five year old was so small and curled up in such a tight ball, not to mention tucked away in a small corner of the playground, he was easily over looked and unheard. It is also regretful to mention that the child was crying too hard to question why no one had come to comfort him.
He was quite smartly dressed for a child. Not many would guess that the child had a say to his outfit, instead thinking that the mother wanted the boy to wear those bright orange jeans and navy blue shirt with an equally bright orange bow tie. His brown hair was immaculate but his brown leather shoes had seen better days for they were scuffed and tarnished with grass stains and mud.
The play park was noisy, children yelling and playing as they ran around, happily oblivious to the world outside their bubble. Only one child was not joining them. He was clad in a red long sleeved top and black jeans, black curly hair messy with some sand stuck in it. The fact that he would prefer a radio over a teddy bear when it came to nap time meant that he had unusually keen hearing. This meant that the six year old could hear the cries that were lost to the rest of the world. And so the child investigated as all children do when discovering a kindred spirit or someone that needed help.
The small boy's crying was interrupted by the sight of a pudgy hand, holding a spotless white hankerchief. With reddened eyes and a snotty nose, he peered up to the unknown person, instinctively shrinking away.
"It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you." The person said and the boy with orange jeans realised that it was another boy his own age. "My names Blaine. What's yours?"
"K-Kurt Hummel." He sniffed loudly and realised with embarrassment that he looked a mess. With shaky hands thinner than Blaine's he snatched the proffered hankerchief before blowing his nose loudly and wiping his tears. Blaine sat down next to him.
"Why were you crying Kurt?" That's the beauty of childish curiosity. There's no beating about the bush or worrying about how other people would react. Their need for learning of their world gives them a certain bluntness that promises no lies or manipulation. Just solid truth.
"S-some boys stole my mum's h-handbag. I was only b-borrowing it and then t-they called me bad names and h-hit me" Kurt mumbled, showing Blaine his bruised arm. Another round of tears came and he quickly hid them with his other arm's sleeve.
"That wasnt nice. They shouldn't have done that" Blaine frowned. For even at that age he held a strong sense of right and wrong.
"I- I only w-wanted to borrow it. M-my mum's in hospital again. M-my Daddy wont tell me what's w-wrong and I just wanted t-to have something t-that smells like her" Sobs were starting to wrack Kurt's frail little body again and Blaine instantly threw an arm over Kurt's shoulders. "A-and they… they matched my shoes!" At that he dissolved into tears once more, burring his head into Blaine's shoulder.
Blaine wasn't sure how to answer Kurt. He was a boy, who hardly understood anything of fashion or clothes and so could not fully understand the importance of matching leather shoes and handbags. But he did understand mothers, and a child worrying about losing something important belonging to a parent and being hit by bigger boys instantly brought out the protective side of little Blaine. he had to do something to help the smaller boy.
He retracted his arm and stood up. Kurt instantly looked up, fearing that this Blaine boy would also bully him about liking girly things like clothes. Kurt was too young and innocent yet to understand just how other boys disliked things they could not understand. The fixed teachings of parents had narrowed their perspective of the world to the point where boys like Kurt could never and would never be included.
Unless someone like Blaine Anderson crossed those boundaries.
He held out his pudgy hand again, meaning for Kurt to take it. Kurt stared at the hand before looking at Blaine, finding no malicious intent in those big brown eyes.
"Come on! We're going to get you Mum's handbag back!"
"Why? T-they'll hit me again. And they're bigger than me."
"That's why. Because they shouldn't have done it and because no one should be scared of getting back what they want." He said confidently. "Especially when they have someone to help them."
"You're going to help me?"
"It's important to you, isnt it?" Kurt nodded but had to ask one last question.
"Why are you so much braver than me?"
Blaine shrugged. "My Daddy says to help people in need. And I can't stand to see someone cry. So dry your eyes," He hauled the thinner boy up. "stand taller," He wiped Kurt's tears tenderly with a new hankerchief "and come with me. We'll show these boys not to mess with your mum's handbag" His broad smile made Kurt smile weakly back, the dimples on his cheeks causing Blaine's grin to widen.
"You look much nicer smiling." he told him, blunt and truthful. Little Kurt blushed and took Blaine's hand.
"Thankyou."
"Heh, no bother. You just needed some Cou- cour… What's that word?"
"Courage"
"Yeah! You just needed a lions courage!"
"And you need better vocabulary" Kurt teased. Blaine laughed, feeling very happy when he saw this happier, teasing side of Kurt.
"Ok then you'll be the lion and I'll be the scarecrow and we'll be running down the yellow brick road!" he exclaimed, pulling Kurt after him.
"But who will wear the pretty red shoes?"
And with this discussion they together went to search for the taken hand bag. Hand in hand and blissfully ignorant as a child should be.