A/N: This is a prompt from Mike on the Glee Forum! I hope it lives up to your expectations!
Nobody could remember who started it or why. All the students at McKinley High School knew was that someone had thrown food in the cafeteria, it had landed on someone else, they freaked out, threw it back and soon it was war.
Chicken nuggets, tater tots, "mystery meat", pudding cups, corn, milk cartons, juice bottles, and various other food items went sailing across the cafeteria, landing on walls and tables and teenagers' bodies.
The more squeamish teens, mostly cheerios and the crowds they hung around with, ran out of the room or hid under the tables to avoid getting hit.
A certain Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel were among the one who dove under the tables to avoid the flying food, both afraid to get hit, Kurt remarking something about a brand new outfit that "can not afford to be ruined by the immaturity of the people in this school." The rest of the glee club that sat around that table, which included Finn, the newest member Blaine, Puck, Mercedes, Tina, Mike and Artie, fully became involved in the food fight, not only tossing it at each other but at the rest of the student body.
The cafeteria staff at first tried to stop the madness but at seeing their efforts were in vain retreated back into the kitchen where they themselves would be safe from the flying food.
Outside, down the hallway on their way to the faculty cafeteria for their own lunch, Will and Emma were walking side by side, discussing Will's latest plans for the glee club.
Once they were near enough to the student cafeteria they heard the loud screeches and laughter coming from the large room. They quickly exchanged concerned glances, for the noise that drifted out was not the normal loudness that the student body dispelled. Will took off first down the hallway to see what the commotion was about, Emma following quickly behind him.
Both their eyes widened as they peered in through the glass doors to the cafeteria to see the fight playing out.
"Oh gosh." Emma whispered in horror, observing the food splattered all around the cafeteria and clutching her bad containing her neatly placed food.
Will frowned upon seeing some of the members of his glee club in the heart of the fight. "I'll be right back." He told Emma and she nodded, watching him walk through the doors, gasping as a juice box flew toward him and he ducked and it hit the glass window behind him.
He glanced quickly back at Emma whose eyes were even wider as she stared at the splattered juice and his eyes narrowed. He walked through the cafeteria, avoiding flying food and the splattered food on the floor and towards the members of glee club.
Finn was the one who spotted him first and his eyes widened and he slapped Puck on the shoulder. The other boy laughed as he chucked an empty pudding cup at Artie's head and then turned to face Finn, his face falling as he followed his friend's view to their teacher approaching him.
"Hey Mr. Schue." Finn greeted with a hesitant laugh, raising his voice to alert their friends to his presence and the others stopped and turned to face him, gasping silently.
"What are you guys doing?" Will scolded with a heavy frown.
"Just having a bit of fun." Puck answered with a smirk.
"Mr. Schuester!" Rachel popped her head out from underneath the table. "Thank goodness!" She crawled out and wiped off her skirt. "It is getting insane in here and you need to stop it!"
Will sighed heavily, sending a disapproving look at his students. "I thought you guys were better than this."
"Yeah!" Rachel agreed, placing her hands over her hips and then squealed and ducked as a tater tot came flying her way.
"It's just a food fight Mr. Schue." Puck shrugged. "It's not like we're hurting anybody."
"We'd beg to differ!" Rachel, who was now back under the table, and Kurt protested in unison.
"Do you realize that while you are the one making the mess the janitorial staff is the one who has to clean it up?"
Puck rolled his eyes. "So?"
"So, its hard working people who don't need anything else to clean up. I want all of you to stop this right now. I can't control what the other people are doing, which is why I'm going to report this to Figgins, but I can advise all of you too. So please, do that for me, okay?"
They all grumbled in response and threw themselves down into their chairs, watching the food fight happening around them.
"Thank you." Will then kneeled down beside the table to speak to Kurt and Rachel. "Come on you two, I'll let you hang out in the choir room until this blows over."
Kurt and Rachel sighed in relief and crawled out from underneath the table, both dusting off their outfits and following close behind Will.
Will dodged other flying objects skillfully (this wasn't his first food fight after all) while Rachel and Kurt squealed behind him.
"Mr. Schuester, I do hope you intend to make good on your threat to inform Principal Figgins." Rachel said.
"Don't worry Rachel, I am going there right now." Will told her and grabbed the handle to the door. He locked eyes with Emma who was now standing directly outside the door and rolled his eyes in annoyance and she visibly sighed.
He pulled open the door and all in a very quick instant he saw Emma's eyes widen, heard her gasp and shriek his name causing him to turn around to spot a pudding cup heading their way. His hand twitched at his side and just as he was about to reach up and grab it it flew past his head, a few speckles of the brown mushy liquid landing on his shoulder only to land directly on Emma herself. She squeaked loudly and Rachel and Kurt covered their mouths instantly, watching their guidance counselor who now had most of the contents of the pudding cup splattered across her neck and running down into her blouse.
Will slowly turned around, his eyes wide and his jaw slackened. It took him a moment to process what had happened and to whom it had happened to. He could take a hit of pudding no problem but Emma...OCD, germaphobic Emma...
Only when Emma's wide, brown eyes became speckled with tears and her chest started heaving with short, quick pants, the beginnings of a panic attack, did Will leap into action.
Forgetting all about Rachel and Kurt who were still in the cafeteria, he grabbed the handle and pulled it closed to block any more food from getting out at the risk of hitting her.
He lightly grabbed her by her outstretched wrists and pulled her over to the side, standing a good foot away from her, knowing that someone's closeness, even his, would cause her to panic even more. "Emma. Can you hear me, Emma?"
A low whimper escaped her lips and her eyes flickered up to him. Though no words escaped her lips, her eyes were begging him to save her.
"Come here." His hand slid into hers and he immediately started to pull her down the hallway towards her office. She followed behind him like a mindless zombie, her body quivering, as she continued to breathe in and out to distract herself from the pudding slowly dripping down her chest.
He led her into her office, closing and locking the door behind them, and then led her over to her seat. He made sure she was settled in her seat before he ran over to one of the filing cabinets and pulled out some wipes and some sanitizer that he knew she kept there for emergencies such as these.
"Will-" She whimpered, her voice small and helpless.
"I'm coming, Em." He assured her and walked over to her. He placed the stuff down on her desk and grabbed the wipes first, leaning over and gently starting to wipe away the pudding off her skin.
Her eyes shut tightly and her hands flew to his shoulders to grip him for support.
"It's alright, Emma. You're alright." He cooed soothingly, throwing the dirtied wipes away one by one.
As she felt the disgusting food substance leaving her skin she started to relax. Her muscles relaxed and her breathing slowed and she loosened her grip on Will's shoulders.
"Em, I'm going to take your cardigan off now, is that alright?" He asked her hesitantly and she nodded, never opening her eyes.
Will swallowed over the lump in his throat as he started to undo the buttons of Emma's cardigans, careful to not allow his fingers to caress her chest. He tore the garment lightly away from her body leaving her in her brightly coloured blouse and placed it neatly on her desk, mess side up.
He frowned when he spotted a few dabs of the brown pudding beneath her shirt and pulled open one of her desk drawers where she kept her plastic gloves.
At the sound of her drawer opening, Emma popped open an eye and saw Will placing her box of gloves on the table. Both her eyes opened and focused on him, silently questioning him.
He cleared his throat as he caught her gaze and pushed the box of gloves and the wipes towards her. "I, ah- there's some in your um-" He motioned to his own chest, casting his eyes away shyly, his cheeks flushing.
Emma's eyes widened as she caught his meaning and her own cheeks flushed. "Um...thank you." She murmured and quietly pulled on the gloves. She bit her lip and with one hand held her blouse away from her skin and with the other grabbed a wipe and started to dab away at the mess, her hands quivering again.
She did it as cautiously but as quickly as she could and as soon as she was done, she tossed the dirty wipes away along with the gloves and squirted some purell into her hands, shaking her head.
Will leaned up against the desk watching her carefully, concern written in his eyes. "Are you alright?"
Emma nodded quickly, avoiding his gaze, swallowing hard. Though he didn't quite believe her he almost let it go until he heard soft whimpers coming from her.
"Emma?" His concern for her was obvious in his voice and he inched closer to her, reaching out his hand towards her but not quite touching her.
Emma's eyes closed and if he hadn't been paying such close attention to her he might have missed the single tear that ran down her cheek. "Oh Will." She sobbed quietly and then buried her face in her hands, her small body shaking with sudden sobs.
He sat there, unsure of what to do. Emma had seemed to recover from her panic attack once she was clean so he didn't understand why she was all of a sudden in tears.
He hesitantly reached out his hand placed it on her back, waited to see if she would react badly to it and when she didn't, started to rub his thumb ever so gently to comfort her.
"You're alright, Emma." He soothed. "We got you cleaned up now, there's no more mess."
Emma shook her head, which was still rested in her hands and then with a deep, shuddering breath she pulled away and turned to face him, her eyes wide and red with tears. "You don't understand, Will! I..." She sniffled. "I was doing so well."
She glared pathetically at the cleaning supplies on her desk. "I haven't had to use any of that in months and...now, here I am, once again, panicking over a stupid little mess."
"Oh Emma..." He sighed. "It's not-"
"Don't you dare tell me its not a big deal, Will!" She snapped. "Because it is! What good is everything I've been going through if the moment something like this happened I react just as I would without months of therapy!"
"Em," He said calmly and gently, scooting over to her and placing his other hand over hers. "I know you don't see it but I see it. Emma, if something like this happened last year you would still be well into a panic attack. You'd might have gone to the hospital to get a decontamination shower or if not, you'd have to go home and shower and change. But you didn't have to now. We removed your cardigan, we cleaned you off and the only reason you're upset now is because you think you're still the same as you were but you're not."
Emma lifted a watery stare to him, her eyes searching his for truth, though she hardly expected Will to lie to her. Despite everything that had happened in the past, Will was the most trustworthy person she knew. He was without a doubt her best friend and she knew he wouldn't lie to her.
She quickly glanced over at her cardigan, shuddered only a little at the sight of the brown stain, looked down at her blouse that was now clean, and then back up at Will. She gave him a watery smiley and her heart, that was already pounding, fluttered as he flashed his charming boyish smile back at her.
"You have made so much progress, Emma. Whether you see it or not, you really have." He leaned forward and planted a sweet, tender kiss on her forehead. "I'm proud of you."
She sniffled away the last of her tears and slowly rose from her seat, walking straight into Will's unsuspecting arms. She snuggled into his warm chest, inhaling the scent of his cologne and smiled contentedly. His arms gently surrounded her to hold her against him and she felt him drop another kiss to the top of her head.
"Thank you, Will." She whispered against his chest.
"Anything for you, Em." He answered genuinely and she snuggled in further.
This was one of the many times over the couple of months that she longed to just reach up and kiss him but she knew it was not time for that yet.
But it would come soon and she looked forward to when it did.