Summary: In 3x14, Kurt shows up at the God Squad meeting. Quinn asks what he is doing there and Joe says he invited him. Inspired by rainbowwrites and Tara621's request for a prompt featuring Joe Hart and Kurt Hummel.

Prompt: Panorama: a continuously passing or changing scene or an unfolding of events.

Joe Hart was eating lunch alone on the day the announcement was made. The one about the student who had been hospitalized. He had said a prayer for him already, and continued all day, because he felt led to. There was a heavy feeling of grief that settled on Joe from the minute Principal Figgins addressed the student body.

So, he breathed, and prayed, and he found that he couldn't really eat. So, Joe glanced around the cafeteria. He saw a bunch of the New Directions sitting at the same table. They were broken into pairs or smaller groups. Finn and Rachel. Puck was near them, telling a story that made everyone laugh. Santana and Brittany. Mike and Tina. Rory, Artie and Sugar. Blaine was on the fringes of the group of kids Joe knew from God Squad - Mercedes, Quinn and Sam. It was as if nothing ever happened. As if they heard every day that someone from their school was in the hospital. That the principal sounded all choked up. As if they didn't even care than someone was missing. Joe counted them up in his head. Yeah. Only fourteen. Someone was missing…well…someone other than him.

Kurt.

Joe scanned the cafeteria instead of eating his sandwich. It was really busy and loud, but he found Kurt in an alcove by some windows. He was totally alone and looked really devastated. So, Joe tossed his sandwich and everything else, and went over to see if there was anything he could do to help.

"Hey," Joe said softly.

"Sorry. I'll move," Kurt said, his voice thick with emotion.

"No, dude. Don't move. I just wanted to see if you were okay." Joe sat down beside Kurt, letting the silence grow and not pushing. Sometimes, just being there for someone meant more than trying to fix everything.

Kurt sat hunched in nice clothes, not lifting his head. "Did you know Dave?" he asked softly.

"No." Joe didn't ask if Dave was David Karofsky. The sadness in Kurt's eyes told him as much as he needed to know.

"He used to bully me…relentlessly…and treat me like absolute crap. I used to go home and think about doing what he did."

Joe listened, curious, but silent. He had no idea what Dave had done, but it couldn't have been good.

"Things got better for me after a while. Dave transferred schools…and he'd reached out to me…you know…several times. At first I listened. I said we could be friends, but he could…push things. Over the last few days, he'd call But I kept ignoring them…" Kurt swallowed a sob. "God, if I'd just answered one of his calls. Then maybe he wouldn't have felt so hopeless. Maybe he would have felt heard Maybe he wouldn't have tried to..."

Joe raised his eyebrows, in question.

"Dave tried to kill himself yesterday. Figgins didn't want the whole student body in a panic. But Dave's dad called my dad last night and…I heard…"

Breathless, Joe stared. "I'm sorry," he managed.

"No one gets it," Kurt managed, wiping his eyes. "All the kids in glee see is that he made my life a living hell. They think he was this terrible person. And I'm not excusing what he did to me. But I know it was just because he was terrified. I hate that people have such a one-dimensional view of others. And I hate that I have absolutely nowhere I can go…and no one I can talk to about this. My dad's talking to Dave's dad. Blaine tries - and I appreciate that - but he can't really see Dave as anyone other than who he first knew him as. A bully. A scared bully, but a bully."

"You see more," Joe said simply.

"I guess I do. I'm not saying I want to be best friends with him. I'm just saying that it doesn't make sense to me to hate him. Why make his life harder when it's obviously already hard enough? I mean, what is that in me? What makes me allow someone to treat me so badly and then turn around and want to make their life easier?"

"It sounds like grace," Joe replied honestly. "It doesn't make you a doormat. In fact, it makes you really awesome. Life's all about choices. Dave made some wrong choices, but does that mean he doesn't deserve love?" he asked rhetorically. "Hey, you should come to the God Squad meeting after school."

Kurt bristled. "You should know I don't believe in God. Something about the way your people view being gay as one of those wrong choices you're talking about… Anyway, I'm not interested."

Joe was silent for a minute. When Kurt met his eyes, Joe questioned him gently. "Weren't you the one who couldn't stand it when people put others in a box? I didn't think I knew any gay people last week and it turns out I know a ton. And you know what? It doesn't bother me. And it shouldn't. Like I said to Santana, love is love. That's all this is about, right? Loving people?" he waited a minute, and finally, gave it one last try. "We meet at 5:00. The door'll be open," Joe told him, standing up as kids started filtering out of the cafeteria.

Kurt pursed his lips. "I'll think about it," he confirmed, sounding a little better. Sounding like, maybe, he had a little hope.

The End.