Bibs to Boyfriends

Chapter 10

Nine years old.

Kurt was content colouring in his picture during class, drawing the sun in the corner and adding sunglasses to it.

He looked up when he heard whispering, and saw Jack and Conner talking to each other, occasionally looking at Kurt and grimacing. Kurt frowned not knowing what was wrong, but didn't worry about it, and continued to colour in.

"Can we help you with that?" Someone asked. Kurt looked behind him to see Jack and Conner standing there, smirking lightly.

"Um... I'm okay, thank you." Kurt said, looking back down at his paper.

"Come on, let us help." Conner said, snatching the paper away from him. Kurt tried to get it back, but wasn't quick enough. He watched in horror as Jack and Conner took a colouring pen, and scribbled all over his drawing, then ripped it into pieces, laughing as they sprinkled it all over Kurt's head.

"There, much better." Jack said, walking away and laughing with Conner. Kurt sat there in silence, trying not to cry as he picked all the small pieces of paper off of him. He took a new piece of paper, but didn't try as hard with that one, not having the energy anymore.

———

"I need to go to the toilet; I'll be back in a minute." Blaine said during recess, standing up and walking away from Kurt.

"Hey Kurt." Kurt looked up to see Jack and Conner standing there, and he couldn't help the bit of fear that came when he saw them.

"So, my mom forgot to give me a snack, so I was wondering if you would share with me?" Conner asked him.

"I only have enough for me." Kurt said softly, biting his lip.

"Well then, you wouldn't mind giving it to me then, would you?" Conner said, holding out his hand, smiling when Kurt put the snack into his hand.

"Thank you, Kurt, you're so kind." Conner said, smiling. "Now, I think we need to repay you, close your eyes and hold out your hand."

Kurt didn't trust them, but he what they told him do, scared of the repercussions. He felt sometime slimy in his hands, and opened his eyes, squealing when he saw they had put a slug on his hand.

"There you go Kurt." Conner said, laughing and walking away. Kurt carefully put the slug down, not wanting to hurt it, but then ran to the bathroom to wash his hands.

———

"Are we going to your house after school?" Blaine asked as they waited in the lunch line.

"Yeah, my mom said she's going to make us mac n' cheese." Kurt replied.

"Your moms mac n' cheese is the best." Blaine said dreamily, causing Kurt to chuckle.

They grabbed their tray of lunch, which was spaghetti and Bolognese, and walked along the cafeteria together, trying to find two empty seats. Kurt didn't even notice Jack and Conner behind them, he only registered them when they stepped in front of him and smacked his lunch tray down, causing Kurt's food to go all over his legs and the floor.

"Whoops, sorry Kurt, that was an accident." Jack said, smiling apologetically and walking away, sniggering with Conner.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked worriedly. Kurt nodded, even though it was obvious that he was about to cry. He walked past Blaine and left the cafeteria. Blaine abandoned his food and ran after Kurt, eventually finding him in the bathroom, using paper towels to get rid of the food and the stains.

"Kurt..." Blaine said sadly, walking over to him. Kurt looked up, but quickly looked away when he saw Blaine, but it was long enough for Blaine to see that Kurt was crying.

"I'm fine Blaine, go have your lunch." Kurt said, rubbing harder at the stain that refused to come out.

"What they done was mean, I don't know why they did that." Blaine said softly, standing next to Kurt.

"They've been mean to me all week; I didn't even do anything to them." Kurt said, sighing sadly.

"They're just bullies." Blaine replied. "Is it coming off?"

"No." Kurt said, sighing in defeat and throwing away the paper towels. "I look and feel gross."

"I still think you look good." Blaine said, smiling at him.

"Oh, you're here." Jack said when he walked into the bathroom and saw Kurt, but smiled warmly at Blaine. "Hey Blaine."

Blaine awkwardly smiled back, him and Jack had always been okay with each other, but Blaine didn't like him after what he had done to Kurt.

"Oh, did the stain not come out?" Jack asked, looking at Kurt's legs. "What a shame."

"Why are you being so mean to him?" Blaine asked, beginning to get angry.

"He deserves it." Jack replied simply.

"Why? He hasn't done anything to you."

"He deserves it because he's a faggot." Jack said. "Now leave me alone, you're creeping me out Kurt."

Blaine took Kurt's hand, dragging him out of the bathroom.

"What's a faggot?" Kurt asked, frowning.

"I don't know. Doesn't your dad have a computer, we can look it up when we get to your house." Blaine said.

"What do I type?" Kurt asked as he sat in his dad's chair, staring at the google search bar.

"Just search the word 'faggot'." Blaine replied as he stood over his shoulder.

"Okay." Kurt said, typing it into the computer. "'Faggot. Offensive, North American. One, a gay man.'. Is that what he meant?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know what 'gay' means, look it up." Blaine said.

"'Gay. One, of a person, homosexual, used especially of a man.'."

"I don't know what 'homosexual' means." Blaine said, beginning to get frustrated.

"'Homosexual. Sexually attracted to people of one's sex.', or 'A person who is sexually attracted to people of their own sex.'." Kurt read out, frowning. "I still don't get it."

Kurt scrolled out, reading what he could to figure it out.

"Wait, stop there." Blaine said. "'Homosexual is when someone is attracted to the same gender or sex as them. E.g. a man loving a man, or a woman loving a woman.'." Blaine read out.

"Oh, I get it now. So, Jack was calling me gay, saying I like boys?" Kurt asked, frowning.

"I think so, I don't know why he would think that though, or why that would be a bad thing." Blaine replied.

Kurt was silent. So boys can like boys. He had never heard of someone being 'gay' before, and he didn't understand why Jack had used it as an insult either.

Kurt had never thought about dating, he had heard some of the people in his class talking about having crushes, but Kurt didn't really like any of the girls in his class. When he thought about it, he didn't really see the appeal of dating girls.

But dating boys, that didn't sound that bad. Most boys were nice, and Kurt thought lots of boys he knew were cute.

"Kurt, are we going?" Blaine asked, standing at the door. Kurt closed the window and turned off the computer, following Blaine outside to play.