Kurt marched into the Spanish classroom and threw his bag down on one of the desks with such force, that it slid and hit the back of the accompanying chair, knocking it over.

"Somebody's in a bad mood…"

Kurt ground his teeth and turned his head to look at a smirking Dave Karofsky, who was sitting on Mr. Shuester's desk, swinging his legs off the side of it and juggling a stress ball that the teacher kept next to his electric pencil sharpener.

"At least it's a bag I'm throwing," Kurt snapped. "Not a person…"

Dave's face slowly fell. "Whoa…" He mumbled uncomfortably. He gave the ball a squeeze and looked sadly down at it. Kurt instantly felt badly.

"I'm sorry. That was completely unwarranted…" He said guiltily, taking a step towards Dave. "You've been so great lately, you didn't deserve it."

Dave got a sad smile on his face. "What if I did?"

Kurt just swallowed, and went to pick up his bag and the chair he had knocked over.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Dave asked him gently.

"I never thought of you as a talker," Kurt said, placing his back in the chair and sitting on the top of the desk. Karofsky tossed the ball at him, starting a game of catch. Kurt gave in. "On my way here, I thought I'd slip into the auditorium…Blaine's auditioning for West Side Story…"

"Oh yeah," Dave huffed. "Coach is trying to make us be, like, back-up dancers…I'm trying to get out of it."

"When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way," Kurt grinned playfully. "You'll do great, David."

"Whatever. Just tell me what's bothering you."

Kurt sighed heavily. "He was brilliant. I'm so proud of him." Dave held on to the ball for a minute, squeezing it because his stomach suddenly felt like a ball of led. Kurt continued. "It's just…he's such a…man…"

"I thought you liked men," Dave said flatly, throwing the ball at Kurt even though he wasn't completely sure Kurt was prepared to catch it. He did, though. He had great reflexes.

Kurt rolled his eyes impatiently. "We're up for the same roll, genius…" He spat. "Tony's, you know, manly...Blaine's well suited for it."

"That blows…" Dave said simply. He didn't know what else to say. Kurt was right. He really wasn't a talker. There was a long silence, filled by only the rhythmic sound of the ball hitting their palms.

"What about you?" Kurt asked obligatorily. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Their eyes fully met for the first time since Kurt came in. Karofsky shook his head. "Nope…"

Kurt nodded. Karofsky never wanted to talk. Every week, the two of them met as the only two members of the McKinley High chapter of PFFLAG. It was supposed to be a group for LGBT students and their families, but Dave hadn't felt comfortable discussing his membership with his father just yet, and Kurt had told his parents that showing up to a near-empty classroom every week wasn't worth their time. Kurt wasn't about to let Karofsky out of the deal they'd made when Kurt agreed to come back to McKinley last semester, though. Actually, he was impressed with how cooperative Dave had been about showing up. They'd met only a few times junior year, because Kurt was busy with Nationals and Blaine, and their meetings consisted of twiddling their thumbs since Karofsky admitted that Santana had already shown him all of the "it gets better" videos that Kurt wanted him to see. But senior year was a fresh start. Kurt was shocked when he received a text from Dave at the end of summer that just said, "Hey, are we going to do that PFFLAG thing again this year?" Kurt was touched by Dave's progress, and couldn't find a way to say no to him, even with his dozen of other commitments. Besides, he realized that leading the chapter would look great on his NYADA application, especially since the people in charge there were undoubtedly an assortment of raging homosexuals.

"Really…? Nothing exciting happen this week…?" Kurt really didn't understand why Dave had to make the meetings so painfully awkward by refusing to speak.

"I've been laying low," Dave shrugged.

"I've noticed…" Kurt noted. "You know, the bully whips have been missed. Finn got slushied by the hockey team, and I heard some girls gave this freshman a swirly and took her lunch money."

Dave shook his head dismissively. "You know Santana. She's all over the place. I wasn't about to do it alone."

Kurt stared at Dave. He was making that brooding face; the one Kurt hadn't seen in a while, where his mouth got all tight and turned-down and his brow got all furrowed. It was the face that used to scare him, but it made him feel sad for Dave nowadays. He knew that when Dave made that face it meant that he was doubting something.

"You could be a great leader, David," Kurt said encouragingly.

It was that simple, Dave smiled gently. It was a new side of him, one Kurt had only met recently. Kurt couldn't quite explain why it made him so happy to see.

"But what's a leader without anyone to lead," Karofsky shrugged. "What do you say, Hummel? Do you want to enlist?"

Kurt let out a melodic laugh that made Dave have to bite his lip to hide the way it made him beam. "No…" Kurt said. It was disappointing, but Dave was expecting it. "No…I've got way too much on my plate. I'm running for student body president, did I tell you that?"

Dave was silent. Kurt immediately knew why.

"You already saw the posters…"

"I'm not saying anything," Dave said flatly. "I'm a changed man, and my opinions would hurt you."

Kurt laughed. "Hey, I was merely trying to prove a point to Brittany!"

"What, is she still convinced that you're into her!"

"I just wanted to show her that I'm not ashamed of who I am!"

Karofsky cackled. "Those posters are for, like, if one of the cage dancers from Liza's was running for student body president. You're much classier than that."

Kurt's face fell. "Liza's? What's that?"

Dave's face fell too, as he realized what he'd just revealed. "Nothing," He forced a laugh, his face contorting. "Just…a place I read about in the life and style section…"

Kurt wasn't going to ask anymore questions, even though he really wanted to. But Dave was entitled to his privacy. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that Liza's was some sort of tacky gay bar.

"You're quite the character, David…" Kurt said lightly. "You never fail to surprise me."

Dave's lips curled. "Well, I try…"

Kurt laughed. He realized he'd been holding the stress ball for a good five minutes, and starred down at it, squeezing it tightly. He slowly slid off the desk and walked over to Dave, handing it to him. Dave took it, and starred at it for a moment himself. Suddenly, Kurt's hand was on his shoulder. His heart began racing, and he nervously looked up and met Kurt's soft gaze.

"You really have changed," Kurt said genuinely, giving Dave's shoulder a pat. Kurt's hand slid off and Dave felt a pang of longing for it to be there again. "I'm proud of you."

Dave wouldn't allow his face to change. He couldn't let Kurt see how much that meant to him; to hear him say he was proud of him. He also couldn't point out to Kurt that he seemed to mean it a lot more than ten minutes ago, when he'd said he was "proud" of his boyfriend's musical audition.

"Now, what do you say?" Kurt stepped away from him, moving backwards towards the other desk with his hands behind his back. "There's nothing here for us, Mr. Karofsky, why don't we go to Starbucks. I've been dying for a pumpkin spice, but Blaine refuses to go there…he has this thing about helping small businesses." Kurt bent down and grabbed his bag from the floor.

"Sounds great," Dave sighed, standing up himself, "I'll treat," He added, suddenly feeling chivalrous.

Kurt exhaled, frustrated. "No. I am done being the feminine, permissive one who needs big, strong men to cover my caffeine costs." He walked out into the hallway, Karofsky following with his hands shoved into the pockets of his Letterman jacket.

"Well think of it as compensation…" Dave teased. "I mean, It's my fault you had to spend all that money on private school."

"Stop it, David, it's in the past!" Kurt rolled his eyes.

Just before the two boys reached the exit, they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Kurt!"

They turned around to see Blaine coming up behind them in a red polo shirt.

"Hey, hun…" Kurt said. His voice was strained. "How did your audition go? We were just going to take our meeting off campus and get some coffee."

Blaine gave Dave a weird look. Dave starred at his feet. "My audition was fine, but could you two maybe take a rain check?"

No, Dave thought.

"Why?" Kurt asked. His voice was getting higher, meaning he was pretending that he was fine, when Dave could tell that he wasn't.

"I just…" Blaine shot another uncomfortable look at Karofsky. "…there's something I want to talk to you about…"

"Its fine," Dave heard himself say. "Really…I'm fine. I mean, I'll get out of your way."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away quickly, trying not to admit to himself that he'd spend the next week waiting for the next PFFLAG meeting. It was something that he looked forward to, and he was really disappointed that it had been cut short.

Just as he was getting into his car, though, he heard footsteps coming at him. He looked up.

"David!" Kurt said breathlessly.

"What are you doing?" Dave asked flatly. "That seemed pretty serious."

"This is a club, David," Kurt shook his head. "It's a commitment as much as Glee club or the presidential race. I explained that to Blaine. He understood. Besides, when am I going to get another opportunity to have a dashing football player pay for my latte?"

"Good point," Dave opened his own door. Kurt got in the passenger side. Dave slipped his keys into the ignition. "Buckle up, Hummel. I'm a bit of a reckless driver,"

Kurt laughed again, clicking his seat-belt in. "Duly noted, David…duly noted."