The sun shone down all over the little park, a light breeze shaking the leaves in the trees and making the ones that’d fallen roll and race each other across the grass. Six-year-old Kurt Hummel loved the leaves when they turned all brown and red like this – his mommy had hair that was that exact colour and sometimes he would spend a long time just finding one that was the exact exact colour and take it to her with pride and excitement.

His mommy kept all the leaves he’d taken her in a book in her desk. Kurt didn’t know why but it made him feel special and today he was determined to find the best one he’d ever found.

He skipped away from his parents after they’d reminded him not to go too far, heading for the line of trees near the slide. There were lots of leaves around him but he knew, from all the experience a six-year-old could have, that chasing them made him tired and upset because he could hardly ever catch one unless he leapt on it. But that made his clothes dirty and today he was wearing the brand new bow tie his daddy had bought him and he didn’t want to ruin it, so Kurt headed happily towards the big piles of leaves right under the trees.

There were so many! Kurt’s eyes widened – it could take him years before he found the perfect one. The sound of laughter and playful shouting surrounded him as he began to sift through the leaves, crouching down as he carefully looked through the pile. His little brow furrowed in concentration as every now and then he set one aside in a ‘maybe’ pile, using a stick to keep them from being carried away by the wind. He was so focused on his search that he didn’t hear the crunching of the leaves as someone approached him, didn’t notice the shadow darken the ground around him – didn’t notice anything until small hands pushed him roughly to the ground.

“Oops, sorry. I didn’t see you.”

Kurt slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, eyes welling with tears as he struggled not to cry. Crying only made Micah laugh at him even more.

“Hey what’s that thing round your neck?”

Kurt wrapped his arms around his middle and brought his legs up to his chest. Maybe if he kept still the older boy would get bored and leave. Please go away.

“Hey, answer me!” Micah kicked Kurt’s leg, leaving a muddy trail behind. Kurt’s lip trembled.

“I-it’s a bow tie-”

“A bow? Bows are for girls. Boys don’t wear bows. Give it,” the boy leant down and grabbed at the small navy blue bow and Kurt let him, flinching slightly as the clip gave way and Micah immediately threw it somewhere behind where Kurt was sitting. He tightened his arms so they were pressing even harder into his waist, holding him together.

“Start wearing normal clothes or I’ll get you again,” and after another swift kick to Kurt’s leg, Micah was gone.

Kurt wanted to stand up and yell at the bully that actually boys did wear bow ties and so did men when they got all dressed up when they were going out to dinner or a dance like in that black and white movie his mom watched- but he didn’t. Instead he wiped shakily at the tear tracks on his cheeks and pushed himself to his feet.

It was stupid anyway, looking for leaves; he’d never seen anyone else doing it. Maybe if he stopped and did what the other boys did then they’d stop picking on him every day.

His lip was trembling again.

When Kurt found his bow tie, it was lying right next to a leaf which was the exact colour he’d been looking for. He didn’t even notice.