Kurt woke up on the morning of reaping day with both excitement and dread. Excitement because this was to be his last one. For the past five years he had fretted over being picked, and yet he had always lucked out. Now that he was eighteen and an upcoming designer he hoped more than ever that his name wasn’t in the large crystal ball. As much as he loved Finn he hoped that his hulk of a brother would get picked instead.

He got out of his bed and took a nice long hot shower and started his skin care routine. One of the best parts about being in a higher up district was that he could afford anything that the capitol could, but he could also dress almost as nicely as them. He had picked out his two best suits last night, but ultimately decided upon his slate grey one that hugged him in all the right places.

As he walked down the stairs to the kitchen he could hear his parents talking. No doubt they were talking about todays events.

“I’m just glad that its there last year for this! These past five years have taken a toll on me.” Burt huffed as he sipped his decaf coffee.

“Me too, sweetie. Me too. The day Finn turned thirteen I about had a break down. And now look, eighteen and he’s never been called on. I suppose we should be grateful, every year a victor is from our district. Well except for last year when that power couple won. What where there names?”

Kurt smiled. “Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! They are only this countries biggest power couple. Second of course to you guys!” Kurt smiled again and gave his dad and stepmom a hug.

“Where’s Finn? He needs to get ready, we have to get to the square soon.” Kurt knew exactly where his lethargic stepbrother was. Ever since they had graduated a month ago he had spent most of his time sleeping, and ignoring Rachel, but that was a story for another time.

“He is probably still asleep, why don’t you go wake him up? He needs to get ready.”

Kurt walks over to the basement door and opens it, its still dark down there so clearly his hulk of a brother isn’t awake yet. He slowly walks down them and can hear the snores before he sees him. Kurt knows the easiest way to wake him up is splashing him with some water. Kurt walks into the small bathroom, fills up a cup with cold water, walks over to the bed and dumps it onto his stepbrother’s head.

“What the hell dude?! We don’t have school, why do I need to be up so friggin early?!”

“Why must we go through this every year? It’s the reaping day. Get dressed or we will be late. Thankfully Carole picked out your suit last night. Now get into it.”

Kurt was back upstairs before Finn could even form a response.

*****

Kurt was slowly walking towards the square while looking for his friends. He spotted a mop of curly hair that had been glued down before he even heard Blaine’s clear voice.

“Blaine!!! Can you believe it? It’s our last year!”

“I know right, after this we can breathe again.” Blaine smiled at Kurt, mentally commenting on how cute he looks.

They had reached the square now and were waiting to get registered. After they had their fingers pricked they were ushered to their spot to wait for the reaping to begin. Kurt took this moment to fully look at Blaine. He had been his best friend since he was fourteen. He had helped out with the bullies that teased Kurt because of his voice, and somehow over the years he had fallen in love with him. But Kurt knew that until he turned eighteen he couldn’t fall in love with anybody, because who knew if it was going to be his year to get called on.

Blaine looked out of the corner of his eyes to see Kurt starting at him and smiling slightly, he takes this moment to ask the one question he’s wanted to ask for the past two years.

“Kurt, will you….”

“Shhh Blaine, it’s starting!”

The square goes quiet as the annual video comes up and ends with president Snow telling all of Panem to have happy Hunger Games. April Rhodes wobbles out in her spiky high heel and skintight dress that matches her unruly blue hair.

“Don’t you just love that? Ok, now a few rules about the reaping today; girls will go first, and we will be drawing two names, since this is a special year for the games! Each district will be selecting two boys and two girls. It matters not if you are a victor, or if this is your first time being reaped. Now, ladies first. Our first tribute will be……Quinn Fabray.”

Kurt looks over to where Quinn is standing and can see her silently start sobbing as she makes her way up to the stage. Kurt blinks back a few tears.

“I can’t believe nobody is rushing up to volunteer.” Blaine lamented sadly.

“She burned bridges with everybody in school, what can you expect?” Even Kurt was saddened by this. He would try his hardest to say goodbye to her.

“Our next female tribute will be……Rachel Berry!”

Kurt’s heart fell painfully as his best friend was ushered up to the stage. He looked over to see her fathers crying silently. Rachel gave Quinn a brief hug and the sadly smiled back to the audience.

“Ok, and now it’s time for our male tributes. Our first male tribute that will have the honor of representing district one will be…..Kurt Hummel.”

Kurt stops breathing when his name is called. His legs feel like jelly, he looks over at Blaine who is crying and hugging him. Blaine is saying something but he cant make out exactly what it is. Before he knows it he is being pulled from Blaine’s arms and is being pushed towards the stage. He numbly climbs the stairs and stands beside April. He looks out to the audience and sees his father clutching onto a sobbing Carole, Finn looks shocked. Part of Kurt is pissed that Finn didn’t volunteer, but its too late for that, April is calling on somebody else. He only caught the tale end of the name. ‘Erson, who the hell is Erson? Then the realization hits him hard and fast. The name that April called after his was Blaine Anderson.

Kurt looks out to where Blaine is slowly making his way up the step of the Justice building. Blaine jogs up the last three steps and falls into Kurt’s arms while sobbing silently.

“So your District One tributes are; Rachel Berry, Quinn Fabray, Blaine Anderson, and Kurt Hummel. May the odds be ever in your favor.”

Suddenly they are being ushered into the Justice building. This marks the second time that Kurt has been in here. The first was after the death of his mother. His mom had died suddenly from a form of lung cancer that she had obtained while working in a Jewelry factory. The factory offered to pay for her funeral and what not. It had been almost ten years since he had last step foot in this building, and yet it looked as if nothing had changed. They were ushered into four private rooms to tell their loved ones goodbye.

Kurt didn’t have to wait long before Finn burst through the door. He had known the boy for four years and had never seen him once cry, but now on his last reaping day his grown stepbrother was the verge of tears.

“You can do this Kurt, I believe in you. All those years of being picked on have made you strong. I’m so sorry that I didn’t try and do more for you.” Finn couldn’t finish the sentence because he was choking on his own tears.

“Shh, it’s ok, I forgive you. Now listen to me Finn. You’ve got to watch out for dad. Do you hear me? Make sure he eats the right things and doesn’t get overly stressed ok? I have enough to worry about.”

“You don’t need to worry about me bud, I can take care of my self. And I’ve got Carole. You just focus on winning you hear me? You’re stronger than you believe Kurt. I love you so much bud. Win for me ok?” Burt Hummel had never been a man of many words. But for once in his life he couldn’t think of a thing to say to his son that he would probably never see again.

Carole just hugged him until a peacekeeper was knocking at his door telling him it was time to go. He looked at his little family waved a small wave then turned away before he could fall apart completely. He joined Blaine, Quinn, and Rachel in the hallway, it looked as if everybody had been crying. After they left the building they were ushered into a capital car that drove them to the train station. They stood on the platform hand in hand while people were taking photos left and right. They were then pushed into the shiny train car. They looked out the window one last time before District One sped past them for the last time.