Title: Standing Ovation

Rating: T for language and safety. May increase in future chapters.

Summary: Nobody asked Dave Karofsky to make sure Kurt was okay that night. And, really, he wasn't even supposed to be there to begin with. But sometimes it's the coincidences in life that turn into larger moments. And as Kurt Hummel was about to find out, those moments are the ones that could change everything.

Author's Note: The idea for this story came to me shortly after watching "The First Time" because I couldn't help but think "What if?" And even though I had enough to be getting on with between school and other parts of my life, the idea just wouldn't let itself die. So, here we are. This story follows canon up until the night when Kurt and gang went to Scandals and departs from there. Initially Klaine, eventual Kurtofsky.

Standing Ovation

Lately I'm alright

And lately I'm not scared

I've figure out that what you do to me feels like

I'm floating on air

I don't need to know right now

All I know is I believe

In the very thing that got us here

And now I can't leave

Suspension by Mae

Chapter One

"Blaine!" Kurt watched his boyfriend stalk off into the darkness, fading into the black that matched Kurt's current mood. He was torn between running after him and crawling into his car and crying. This was not how tonight was supposed to turn out—it was supposed to just be a night for him to go out and rub his boyfriend in the face of that Sebastian fellow and have fun and just not worry about anything for once. Of course, he should have known that something would go wrong.

Even then, he couldn't have predicted that what would have gone wrong was this. Maybe he could have seen Sebastian trying to kiss Blaine in front of him or getting caught with the fake IDs he had provided but that would have been okay, because he would have had Blaine to help him through it. This was worse than anything he had expected. And things had been going so well until ten minutes ago! Spinning around, Kurt tried to collect his thoughts before he turned back to his car and saw—

"Dave." Kurt's breath hitched and he froze when he saw the other boy standing awkwardly near the hood of his car. Trying to formulate any sort of coherent response, Kurt shook his head to attempt to clear his mind. "Um, what... what are you doing?"

Dave shifted from one foot to the other. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt, it's just that you dropped your phone inside and I figured you would probably want it..."

He trailed off, not meeting Kurt's eyes, staring instead at a small pothole in the parking lot. Kurt let out a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding.

"Oh. Thank you," he forced out, his voice unsteady. There was an awkward silence as each boy stood, unsure of what to say next and not able to fully look at each other. "I... How much did you see?"

Dave took in a deep breath, finally looking up at Kurt. The smaller boy saw a pained look in his eyes, mixed with something that he couldn't quite identify until Dave spoke—then he realized that it was an apology. "Pretty much all of it? I'm sorry, Kurt. I was just trying to give you your phone back and then I came out and he pulled you into the back seat and I... I'm sorry."

"It's... It's not your fault," Kurt replied, his face heating up in embarrassment. Why had anybody had to see that exchange, let alone Dave? "I just—I'm sorry that you had to see that."

"You shouldn't have to be sorry," Dave said, shaking his head, his voice still slightly uneven and shaky. He looked Kurt straight in the eye, however, as he continued. "Are you okay?"

The amount of genuine concern in his voice surprised Kurt and he looked up from where he had been staring at his car. "What? Oh, I..."

Kurt trailed off, playing with the keys in his hand. He had been so consumed by worrying for Blaine's safety, being embarrassed by the fact that Dave saw the encounter, being grateful that at least Dave had been the only one to see it, so distracted by these thoughts that he had not stopped to take himself into account. But now that Dave had asked him, he became keenly aware of the fact that he felt shaky on his feet and that his temples were throbbing forcefully. He tried to simply nod and play it off, taking a step toward the driver's door but the wobble in his step must have given him away. Before he could take a second step, Dave had stepped forward to put a reassuring and stabling hand on his shoulder. Still shaken from his encounter with Blaine, Kurt flinched without thinking, recoiling from his touch. Dave pulled his hand back like he had just touched a red-hot iron.

"Oh my god, Kurt, I'm so sorry!" Dave apologized immediately, his voice tight and slightly frantic. Kurt looked up into his face and saw that the other boy had paled visibly within the span of two seconds.

"No Dave, Jesus, I'm sorry!" Kurt said, reaching out and leaning up against the side of his car for stability. "I... It's not you, I'm just... I guess I'm more shaken up by what happened then I thought." When Dave still looked horrified by his actions, Kurt shook his head vehemently, trying to reassure him—but his voice betrayed him. "God, Dave please, it's not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. Jesus."

Dave's voice shook when he spoke again, though his face had relaxed at least slightly with Kurt's reassurance. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I—This isn't my place to—I wasn't thinking."

"No." Kurt shook his head vigorously again, still trying to balance himself against the side of his car. "It really wasn't your fault at all. I just need a minute."

Feeling his legs shake, Kurt finally gave in and sat down on the pavement, not caring about the fact that his outfit was now touching the dirty asphalt of the parking lot or that he hadn't bothered to check to make sure he wasn't sitting in anything vile. He leaned his head back against the cool metal of his car and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. Beside him, he heard the sound of movement and when he cracked open his eyes again, Dave was sitting next to him quietly. Kurt felt a sudden rush of gratitude, knowing that the other boy didn't have to stay but was choosing to anyways.

"You know, if I had realized what was going on, I would have stepped in," Dave said quietly, staring out at the row of cars parked across from them.

"Yeah?" Kurt asked, rolling his head around to face Dave, though the other boy merely continued to gaze out into the darkness.

"Yeah," he said, glancing over and meeting Kurt's eyes briefly. Dave's shrug was slow and unexaggerated as he continued, "I mean, no one deserves to be treated like that, least of all someone like you."

"Someone like me?" Kurt asked quietly, picking at a loose thread on his shirt's hem. Dave laughed softly.

"Yeah, someone like you. You had to put up with enough of that sort of thing from me and I wasn't… I wasn't even your boyfriend. I think you've already filled your quota of being pushed around, especially since that quota should have been zero." There was a pause as Dave seemed to cast around for words. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Kurt muttered as the rest of Dave's words had sunk in. He chewed on his bottom lip slowly, processing what the other boy had said. His heart had finally begun to slow down and he took a deep breath. "Maybe it's because of you, but I think I can handle this. I just needed a little time to fully process it, you know?"

Dave just nodded, eyes searching Kurt's face for some cue as to what he was supposed to say next. When Kurt merely continued to sit quietly, Dave followed suit. They sat in silence for several minutes as the chill of the night sunk in. Unlike so many of their silences before, there was no strain in this one—just each of them sitting, wrapped in his own thoughts. After a time, Kurt glanced at his watch.

"I should be getting home. Do you have my phone?" His voice, even though it was quiet, seemed to jolt Dave out of a deep line of thought; the other boy jumped slightly, having to compose himself before speaking.

"Oh, right," he muttered, as though he had forgotten the reason that he had tracked Kurt down outside the bar in the first place. Digging around in his pockets, he found the device, pulled it out and handed it to Kurt. "Here."

"Thanks," Kurt said quietly, taking the phone from Dave and trying to ignore the feeling he got as their hands brushed, a combination of jumpiness and he desire to reach out and grab it. It was probably just his nerves still on edge from the encounter with Blaine earlier. Dave pushed himself off the ground and then turned, extending his hand to Kurt. Kurt stared at it for a few seconds before shaking off the thoughts in his head and taking it, allowing Dave to help pull him off the pavement. "Thanks."

Dave nodded, pushing his hands deep into his pockets. After a moment, he shifted from one foot to the other and asked, "Hey, do you think you could give me a ride home? I'm pretty sure that my ride left while I was out here talking to you."

"What? Oh..." Kurt paused for a moment. His gut instinct was to politely refuse Dave—certainly nobody could fault him for that. If someone had told him that Dave Karofsky would be asking for a ride home at the end of the night, he would have politely called them crazy and walked off. But he wouldn't have expected this night to gone this way, either. And once he thought about it, he really wasn't ready to be alone quite yet, no matter who his company was. And right now, he could name numerous people who would have been worse company than Dave. So, with a slight smile pulling the corners of his lips up, he nodded. "Sure."

"Thanks." Dave shuffled around the front of the car to the passenger side while Kurt climbed into the driver's seat, the resounding sound of the door closing echoing inside his head. As he turned on the car, his radio came on automatically, blasting at the loud volume that Blaine had had it turned to at the beginning of the night. Wincing slightly, Kurt turned it down quickly but not before Dave had looked over at him curiously. "Was that The Cars?"

"Um... yes," Kurt said, his eyebrows rising in slight surprise. "You know them?"

"Yeah!" Dave said, a grin springing up onto his face, looking incredibly relieved at having found something to smile at again. "I love them."

"Really?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Dave teased, laughing lightly. "Your dad wasn't the only guy who spent a lot of time listening to the radio in the eighties. In fact, I find the fact that you like them far more surprising than the knowledge that I've heard of them."

Kurt opened his mouth to argue but then nodded his head slightly in agreement. "Okay, fair enough. You caught me."

"Seriously, I was surprised that it wasn't some random choir song belting out." Dave looked out the window as Kurt drove down the road back toward the east side of town. Kurt laughed quietly, surprised as the sound escaped his lips.

"I might have a soft spot for Barbra and Judy but that doesn't mean that I live completely in a show tunes bubble," he countered. "Especially considering the fact that I've lived with Finn Hudson for the past year."

"Man, given his stats, I'm surprised that he has time to listen to the radio. I would have thought that he was spending all of his time playing Call of Duty."

"Only when I'm not watching reruns of Friends on the T.V.," Kurt pointed out. Dave chuckled. They slipped back into a comfortable silence, neither feeling the need to force conversation. The novelty of the scene was not lost on Kurt and he still felt surprised by how well he and Dave were getting along, especially in light of the events of the night. But it was by no means a bad thing and he was happy to let Dave sit in silence next to him. He felt a slight pain in his chest as he passed the turn-off for Blaine's house, both hoping that the other boy had made it home safely and feeling strong resentment toward him simultaneously. But he was quickly distracted from this thought as Dave pointed out the window of the car, at a street sign on the right side of the road.

"You should probably turn here or else you're going to be driving in circles trying to get me home."

Kurt flipped on his car's turn signal and steered onto the road Dave had indicated. After a few minutes and a couple more turns, he looked at Dave curiously. "This is where you live?"

"Yeah," Dave replied, shrugging. "Why?"

"I don't know," Kurt found himself answering, glancing out the window. This part of Lima was one of the more upscale areas, not quite as nice as the neighborhoods surrounding Blaine's house but still more upscale than the homes around his own house. For some reason, he had pictured Dave living in a small house, just him, his father and his mother. The orderly lawns surrounding them as they drove didn't quite fit the image he'd had in mind. "I just expected something different."

"I guess I can get that," Dave said, playing with the zipper on his jacket. "But I've lived in the same house since I was five and this used to be on the edge of Lima. I guess as time passed, it kind of became the area for the nice suburbs. When we first moved here though, it didn't quite look like this."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh! That's me," Dave informed him, pointing at a house on the left. Kurt pulled into the driveway and glanced at the front door. The porch light had been left on, suggesting that Dave's late arrival was not unexpected. Dave was unbuckling himself and preparing to get out of the car when Kurt, unable to contain himself, asked, "Do your parents know where you're going when you leave to go to the bar?"

Dave paused, then shook his head slowly, eyes downcast slightly. "No. They think I'm hanging out with my friends on the football team. Which I do sometimes... just not always."

"Oh." Kurt paused, debating whether or not to ask his next question. When Dave didn't make a move to get out of the car, he threw caution to the wind. "So do your parents know about... have you told them?"

Dave turned away, looking out the window at the house in front of them. Quietly, he said, "No. I'm working on it but right now, I'm just happy to show that side of me at the bar. I don't think my family is ready to hear it yet. And I don't think I'm ready to tell them."

His straightforward honesty surprised Kurt, who sat quietly for a moment. He wasn't really sure what to say and fiddled with his keys quietly. "That's progress."

Dave turned back to look at him, his eyes meeting Kurt's own. There was a quiet determination in them that Kurt had not expected but was discovered that he was happy to see. When Dave spoke, his voice was similarly quiet but strong. "Baby steps, remember?"

Kurt nodded. Dave opened his door slowly. Before he could step out, Kurt reached out and touched him lightly on the hand. "Dave..."

Dave's eyes widened at the contact and snapped back onto Kurt's face. Kurt smiled softly, forcing himself to shake off the look of discontent that he was sure he had been wearing moments before. "Thanks."

Dave's face broke into a relieved smile and he shook his head lightly. "Really, it was nothing. Thank you for the ride. But Kurt?"

Kurt looked at him questioningly but said nothing.

"Look. I don't want to overstep but I put my number in your phone. If... if your boyfriend... or anyone else tries anything like that..." He trailed off, seeming a little uncertain of himself. Kurt gave him what he hoped was an encouraging look and Dave continued slowly. "If somebody tries to pull something like that on you again, call me. Okay?"

Kurt nodded, eyes still locked with Dave's. After a beat, he whispered, "Okay."

Seeming content with that response, Dave shut the door and turned to walk toward his front door. Kurt watched him retreat toward the house, not quite ready to pull out of his driveway. When Dave reached the door, he turned, raising his hand and giving a small half-wave. Kurt returned the gesture, feeling a genuine smile spread across his face for the first time since exiting the bar almost an hour before. After Dave shut the door, Kurt stayed in the driveway, sinking momentarily into a state of being lost in his own thoughts. When the porch light went out a minute later, he shook his head, shifted his car into reverse and backed into the road.

A short ride later, he was home, peeking into the kitchen to see his father still awake and sitting at the kitchen counter. He walked into the room, going straight to the refrigerator and pulling out a carton of orange juice. Burt looked up from his newspaper as Kurt pulled a glass out of the cabinets above the counter and set it down with a clink.

"You're back a little later than I expected," Burt commented, looking at his watch pointedly.

"Yeah, sorry," Kurt replied distractedly. "I had a few unexpected bumps along the way tonight that took a little more time than I had expected."

"You look terrible," Burt noted, surveying Kurt carefully. Kurt caught his reflection in the glass as he poured his orange juice and realized that he did look incredibly worn and tired. He shook his head, turning and forcing a smile as he looked at his dad.

"I'm fine. It was just a long night." He hugged his father lightly before draining his glass in a few large gulps. As he rinsed it out in the sink, Burt came up behind him and patted him strongly on the shoulder. Kurt stifled a slight flinch at the touch, the events of the night still not fully gone from his mind.

"Alright. I'm going to bed. You should too."

"Of course," Kurt said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, kiddo," Burt replied. Kurt leaned against the counter, listening as his father's footsteps receded up the stairs. He watched as the hallway light was turned off and the door to his father and Carole's room shut, echoing disproportionately loudly in the silent house. Sighing, he put his clean glass on the drying rack beside the sink and left the kitchen. After descending the stairs into his basement bedroom, he dropped onto his bed, suddenly exhausted. Lying back, he scrolled through the messages on his phone. There was one from Mercedes asking for details about his big night and three from Blaine, but he ignored all of these. Instead, he found himself looking through his contacts for Dave's name. Pausing only momentarily to think, he typed out a quick message and sent it: "Thanksagain.Foreverything."

Putting his phone on his bedside table, Kurt sped through his nightly skin care regimen and changed into the silk pajamas that he reserved for occasions when he wanted to sleep particularly well. As he slipped into bed, he thought that the softness of his sheets had never been more reassuring. He was just falling asleep when his phone vibrated against the hard wood of the table next to his head. Sleepily, he pulled the phone off the table and into his hand, checking to see who the message was from. Seeing that it was from Dave, he flipped the phone open. Reading the content of the message, Kurt found himself smiling as he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

"Of course. You too. Thank you… for everything."