Dave was pretty proud of himself. He was sitting in 4th period geometry class and Mrs. Martin was handing out their midterm examination results. Dave got an A. Slightly smiling, he set his exam proudly to the left side of his desk. Damn, this feels good.
It was a happier, more contented David Karofsky these days, during the autumn of his senior year at McKinley. Sure, junior year was a challenge to get through, but high school never promises to be a cakewalk. He was more confident of his sexuality, thanks in part to Kurt.
Ah, Kurt. What a history those two shared. Kurt knew Dave was gay, of course. New Directions did too. Having all of them know his secret and yet keep it from the school's population did wonders to Dave's trust and security. Gratefully, he looked to his left and, with that proud smile on his face, looked at Kurt two rows over.
Dave's smile fell almost immediately. Kurt was holding his midterm with one hand while the other was placed almost desperately against the left side of his head. Kurt's eyes were bulged looking at the exam and his mouth was open with a shocked expression. And, worst of all, he was slightly shaking. Dave very clearly remembers that expression on Kurt's face. He'd seen it often enough. Too often.
Kurt simply wasn't happy. He let the exam fall to his desk and then brought his hands over his face. Dave absolutely hated what he was seeing. He hated seeing Kurt sad in any way shape or form.
He must've gotten an awful grade.
Dave pretty much knew this was the case. Kurt's hands slipped off his face and simply dropped on his desk, cradling his exam. Dave continued to watch Kurt, attuned to every single reaction out of Kurt.
An idea popped into Dave's mind. He got up out of his desk and, walking behind Kurt but several seats away, went up to the pencil sharpener located on Mrs. Martin's desk. As he was sharpening his already sharpened pencil, he noticed the teacher's training iPod on her desk.
"Mrs. Martin?" asked Dave "would you like me to return your iPod to the chalkboard?"
"Oh, yes. Thank you David." Mrs. Martin replied.
Smiling, Dave took the iPod and purposely walked down the row of desks where Kurt was. He slowed down, slightly, as he approached Kurt. He spied Kurt's midterm exams and his heart sunk.
D-
Kurt got a D- on his exam. Dave resumed his pace toward the chalkboard. As he approached it, he gently placed her iPod on the little tray.
I wonder if he studied all night and still got a D-.
What an awful feeling that must be…..
As Dave was walking back to his desk, he bent his head down a little and looked at Kurt sideways. Kurt still had that shocked, devastated look on his face.
No, this will not do.
.
The rest of the class gave Dave a headache. His eyes hurt. After all, Dave spent the rest of the class, trying to understand the teacher's lesson (which he already learned) and watching Kurt closely. He shifted his eyes between Mrs. Martin's boring lecture and Kurt's sad face. Oh, how he absolutely hated seeing Kurt in pain! Kurt was now just numb. His head was bowed, probably not listening to Mrs. Martin's lecture either.
And despite how sad Kurt looked, he still looked really good to Dave. Kurt was wearing a dark blue Dolce & Gobbana vest with a fine, cotton, white shirt underneath. Gray, probably wool pants adorned Kurt's legs and polished, matching dress shoes on his feet.
Damn.
Kurt just looked good…but sad.
Dave shook his head. His letterman jacket was suddenly really hot to him, thinking of Kurt. Swiftly, he took his jacket off. Dave was wearing a simple, black Polo shirt, with a white t-shirt underneath. The shirts fit him snugly, showing off his broad, round shoulders, huge biceps and thick, meaty pectoral muscles. As he was placing his letterman over the back of his chair, he deftly noticed that Kurt had seen Dave do this. When Dave made eye contact with Kurt, he smiled at him.
Kurt briefly smiled back at him and then returned to his head-bowed position.
Dave was not happy.
.
Brriiinnnggggg!
4th period was over. Dave gathered his books and his letterman jacket. As he was getting up, he noticed Kurt hadn't moved yet. Kurt's delicate fingers were running along the edge of his midterm exam. Dave clenched his jaw, watching Kurt.
Suddenly, Kurt pulled his fingers away from the midterm and to his mouth. Paper cut. Paper cuts hurt and that's all it took for dumbly protective Dave to run to his Kurt.
God, I'm soooo pathetic. So, so pathetic. His tongue looked good licking….
"Kurt?" Dave asked delicately.
Kurt looked up and up. Dave was standing right beside him now and it took a while for depressed Kurt to finally meet Dave's eyes. Dave hadn't meant to tower over Kurt. He just wanted to get close to him, showing Kurt how much he cared about Kurt's sudden heartache.
Sadness. Regret. Frustration. All three poured out of Kurt's eyes for just a moment, until social protocol took Kurt over.
"Hi." Kurt said simply, returning his eyes to his desk.
Dave regarded Kurt momentarily, allowing Kurt to get his bearings. He was obviously surprised at Dave's arrival and even though all had been forgiven for past transgressions, Dave still took his time with Kurt.
Momentarily, Dave was a loss as what to say to him. But, you can always fall back on two things when talking to Kurt – singing and fashion.
"You look nice today." Dave said, just a little enthusiastically.
"Thank you." Kurt said simply, again.
Kurt had begun to gather his things. Dave, wanting to help out, reached for Kurt's midterm exam only to have it snatched out of his hand by Kurt. Kurt paused, and then shuffled his exam in his satchel.
"Sorry." Kurt mumbled.
"S-okay." Dave responded.
Dave grabbed Kurt's geometry textbook and handed it to Kurt. Silently, Kurt took it, shoving it not too gracefully into the bowels of his satchel.
"I would ask how you did on your midterm, but it's kinda obvious." Dave said gently.
"Is it?" Kurt replied hotly. "It's just one midterm. I'll bounce back just fine and dandy, thank you very much."
And with that, Kurt got up and started to leave, leaving Dave dumbstruck.
Kurt got about three or four pounding steps away from Dave before he abruptly stopped. The room was silent and empty now, but very soon, students would be interrupting them for whatever was being taught in that room for 5th period.
Kurt slowly, apologetically turned around, facing a concerned Dave.
"Sorry." Kurt said, weakly. Suddenly, he wasn't even really looking at Dave. His mind simply found the red in Dave's letterman jacket, not really even focusing on anything.
"S-okay." Dave muttered, just like before.
The two boys, who had struck up a kind of friendship, just stood there. Dave wanted so badly to comfort Kurt, but Kurt was so many things in that moment – embarrassed, hurt, angry, frustrated….
"You know," Dave began, "I remember last week's history class like it was last period."
Kurt finally looked up at Dave with a curious expression on his face.
"I was supposed to summarize," Dave began gently, "how US banks earned the trust of Americans to invest their money after the Great Depression. I studied and researched my ass off!"
Dave smiled, making sure Kurt was paying attention. Kurt's blue eyes were dulled, probably from lack of sleep. Dave's hazel eyes were full of hope and a promise. He would make Kurt feel better. He would, dammit. My Kurt.
"I could even take pride in how much I knew about that topic. I could bore you to death with details, dates, trusts, assets, banking trends…." Dave paused. He wanted to make sure he made Kurt understand his frustration.
"And, then, I had to write it out in an essay." Dave's smile was replaced by a flustered look.
"Everything became jumbled. I couldn't write it very well. Mrs. Ritchey didn't think I tried very hard and I got a C on it. I was crushed."
"Writing's easy, David." Kurt said.
"Geometry's easy, Kurt." Dave replied, finally returning his eyes to Kurt, hopefully sending the message. Let this deal work, please God!
"Easy?!" Kurt replied, very obviously flustered and a little offended. "Nothing ever makes sense to me. Point A to Point B should be easy, but it's not! I studied for over three hours the night before the midterm, only to get a D-." Kurt's heartache was obvious, nearing the end of his little tirade.
"Getting my ideas into an essay isn't easy for me, Kurt." Dave said quietly. Oh God - three hours?!
Students started piling into the class then. One by one, students found their seats and the noise level rose exponentially. Dave motioned for Kurt to walk with him out of the class. Dave allowed Kurt to leave the room first.
"Well…..why are you telling me this, David?" Kurt asked nicely.
Dave smirked. He was glad Kurt was figuring out where Dave was going with this and it relieved him. And it excited him. Any additional time with Kurt Hummel made Dave excited as hell!
"Geometry and writing. Good and bad. One for the other, and the other for the one…or something like that." Dave said, awkwardly. He cringed at how that sounded, but Kurt was amused.
"Something like that." Kurt said with a little smile on his face. Dave couldn't help but notice Kurt's smooth, milky skin contrasted by those soft, burgundy lips.
Dave snapped out of his reverie to focus on the task at hand.
"Quid pro quo?" Dave asked.
"Oh, nice David. Good reference." Kurt said, as they walked down the hall. It was no longer odd to see Former Bully and Former Victim walking down the hall together. Time and understanding healed many, many wounds and the support of New Directions in this endeavor was enormous.
Dave smiled. And smiled. And smiled.
"I'll tutor you in geometry and you help me out some with writing. Win-win. What do you say?" Dave asked, tentatively.
Kurt smiled, but said nothing. They walked towards a fork in the hallway. Dave had American Government class just down the hall and Kurt had anatomy, clear at the end of the other hall from Dave. Kurt clearly had less time to answer than Dave had time to give more details to his proposal.
This crossroads was the place that Dave would get the answer he hoped for. It wasn't that much of a stretch, since he knew what the answer would be. And he was right.
"Deal."