Hey all! I'm so excited to bring you the first chapter of SYAKC Part 2! I'm so glad that so many of you liked part 1 and I'm completely at a loss for words at how many favorites and alerts I've gotten from it (now if only I could get that many reviews…) LOL, anyway, thank you all for sticking with me and for all of the support! I love you guys! Enjoy:

Senior Year; A Kurtofsky Chronicle Part 2

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

It was only a week before Halloween and the soft chill of autumn descended upon Lima. Dave loved Fall; the trees with their multi-colored leaves, giving one last spirited hoorah before shedding for their frosty winter slumber; the way the air was scented by the autumn harvests and flowers; the feel of the early evenings as he and Kurt walked together from class to Glee club. There was something so romantic about it.

Today in particular, Kurt was waiting for him outside near the courtyard. Dave's last class of the day had been on the other side of the school and the two had agreed to meet in the middle. It was only about four in the afternoon, but the sky had already turned dim, transforming from a clear, crystal blue to lusty lavender. As Dave made his way out into the courtyard he noted how the sky made a beautiful backdrop for the reds and golds of the autumn foliage. A crisp wind blew in, stirring the already fallen leaves in wisps.

Kurt stood near the stairs reading a small paperback and leaning against a railing. His bag was at his feet and his hair blew gently in the wind. Dave walked cautiously over, making sure not to show any emotions that might further fuel the already intensified rumors surging through the school. He'd already been confronted by the hockey team about his little performance with Kurt at Sectionals and was only saved a half a dozen slushie facials because Azimio had showed up with Finn, Puck, Mike, and Sam.

However much he'd meant that he'd like to go public with their relationship, Dave still had to admit he was scared. It was always easier said than done to come out and no matter how brave he wanted to be he knew that actually dealing with things like what Kurt went through would test him to his very core. He had other insecurities besides being gay and he was never really good at keeping his emotions in check. That would make him a much easier target than Kurt ever was.

On the bright side, he had Kurt and Kurt loved him. He had support now: friends, and his dad, too. Baby steps, he kept telling himself. It had felt so good being cheered on during the competition. It gave him hope, but upon returning to school he saw the same old behaviors, even in Azimio. He knew his friend didn't mean half the things he said, but the fact that these behaviors were still so commonplace reminded Dave that changing the way things were was going to be no easy feat, but as he looked at the beautiful boy ahead of him he knew it would all be worth it.

"Hey," Kurt said, looking up from his book and smiling. Dave wanted to take him in his arms right then and there, but there were still plenty of people around.

"Hey," he replied, "good, book?" He nodded at the novel in the singer's hands.

"Hmm? Oh yeah," Kurt said absently. "Rachel suggested I read it because it's so close to Halloween, but honestly…" Kurt flipped through the pages in disdain and sighed.

"Twilight?" Dave scoffed. "That's not very Halloweeny."

"No," Kurt agreed. He stooped down to pick up his bag and placed the book into a side pocket. "But Rachel knows I love romance and thought it might be something I liked. I much prefer the Harry Potter series though."

"God," Dave snorted, rolling his eyes. "I can't believe Berry reads that stuff either. I had to sit through the first movie because of Becca, but-"

"Becca?" Kurt asked, raising his eyebrows. Dave swallowed and gave the singer a one sided shrug.

"She, um, was in my Bio class in freshman year; you know, back when I was 'straight'," Dave replied with air quotes.

"Ah," Kurt said, "So was she your… 'girlfriend'?"

Dave missed a step and almost lost his balance. "N- no! It's not like that! I mean… she wanted to, but I said I just wanted to be friends! Honest!"

Kurt laughed and patted the blushing jock on the shoulder. "Relax David, I'm not interrogating you or anything," he said amusedly. "I don't care if you had girlfriends before. I mean, not counting Santana of course." They both chuckled.

"Hey, Santana was a good catch," Dave said, nudging Kurt. "I mean, sure she was blackmailing me and all, but she is pretty hot."

Kurt smirked and shook his head. "Whatever, Karofsky."

The two pushed past the doors leading into the west side of the school, heading towards the choir room. The halls in this part of the school were usually empty after classes ended so it was a surprise to see a small crowd huddled in a corner near the bathrooms.

"What's going on?" Kurt whispered to Dave. The jock stiffened and held his arm out to stop the singer.

"Go get a teacher," Dave said through gritted teeth.

Kurt gasped and covered his mouth with a hand when he realized what was happening. The crowd was made up of members of the hockey and wrestling team. There were about twelve of them in all and they were all crowded around a huddled form lying on the floor.

"What's wrong, pussy-boy?" one of them, whom Dave recognized as Scott Cooper from the hockey team, jeered. "You don't like wearing lipstick 'ny more?"

The others in the group laughed maliciously and looking closer, Dave could see that the boy's face was stained with lipstick and tears. Dave's hands clenched into fists and he grinded his teeth. He could still feel Kurt standing behind him and his stomach turned over. When the hockey team had tried to ambush him, Cooper had whispered in his ear: "You may have gotten lucky this time, Karofsky, and you may be strong, but I bet your little friend Hummel aint. It would be a shame if something happened to him, wouldn't it?"

Dave glanced back at the singer and said as quietly as he could: "Please, Kurt, get out of here and go get a teacher!" But it was too late.

"Hey, Karofsky," came Cooper's voice, "Come to join the party? Oh!" Dave turned to see a wicked smile spreading across the puck head's face. Shit!

"Well, well, well…" Cooper said stepping forward. The small crowd behind him turned their attention to the two boys standing in the doorway, some of them jeering too. "Lookit what we got here, boys! It's the royal couple: Karofsky and his little fairy queen, Hummel!"

The other thugs guffawed idiotically. Dave's fists clenched tighter and he could feel his nails digging into his palms. If they tried to hurt Kurt he might lose control again. These weren't like the other thugs though; they were students and his former friends and teammates.

"Please, Kurt, just go," Dave said over his shoulder. "I don't need you here."

"David," Kurt whispered fearfully.

"Awww, Davey- poo!" jeered Cooper. "So are the rumors true, Karofsky? Have you been sniffing fairy dust?" sneered the bully.

"Fuck you, Mullet-head," was Dave's response. "Kurt, leave, now!"

Kurt jumped at Dave's harsh tone and the jock felt a pang of quilt. I'll make it up to you, he thought.

"Be careful," Kurt whispered, squeezing Dave's arm before running out of the door to get help.

"Aw, aint that sweet?" sneered Cooper. "I always knew you were a faggit, Karofsky. You always did hit like a little bitch-" but Cooper's words were cut off as Dave lunged forward, his fist colliding with the hockey player's jaw, sending him reeling backwards into one of the other bullies. The others backed off a few steps, taken by surprise and Dave took his chance.

He crouched down and pulled up the boy the group had been bullying, scooping up his bag too. "Get the hell out of here. Go tell someone what happened to you," he said to the boy, who nodded and ran after Kurt.

"You'll pay for that, Karofsky," Scott spat. "You are a little fag too, aren'tcha? Joining the little Glee fags and singing love songs to your little fairy boyfriend –it's fucking disgusting!"

"No," Dave growled through gritted teeth, "What's fucking disgusting is that stupid grease ball you went and glued to the back of your head. Maybe I oughtta rip it out for you," Dave said, cracking his knuckles.

"As if I'd let a fag like you touch me," spat the hockey thug.

Dave chuckled. "I just punched your fucking face in, dumbass. You really think you can take me on when you have to call in guys from the wrestling team to come and help you beat up one freshman? That's just sad, Cooper, just so fucking sad it's funny."

Cooper looked around at the other guys and turned back to Dave. "Oh, yeah? What's funny is you think you can take care of all of us by yourself, dick-head," he snarled.

"I can hold my own," Dave sneered. "But I don't have to for long. Kurt and that freshman you were harassing will be back with here in no time with a teacher. Till then," he said with another crackle of his knuckles, "I guess I'll play hockey with your face some more; I kind of miss the ice."

The boy blanched, looking to the others for support, but they all looked scared too. "He'd right," one of them said, "That Hummel boy will be back with a teacher and we'll get our asses handed to us. I- I can't afford to get suspended again, Scotty. My dad's already pissed off from the last time."

Cooper growled and turned back to Dave. "You're lucky, Karofsky," he spat. "Let's go boys."

"Oh, no, Scotty-boy," Dave said, blocking the doors, "I can't just let you get away with what you did. It's ignorant red necks like you that keep people from being who they are. You once convinced me that Kurt deserved to get beat up for being gay, but I know better now. Being gay doesn't make you weak. All of that shit we put him through only made him stronger. All it's ever done for you was make you a bigger asshole. I'm not letting you do that to anyone else."

Cooper rubbed his jaw absently and Dave knew by the look in the hockey player's eyes that he was scared. "You know what the worst part of all of this is Coop?" Dave pressed. "You're going to stay here; a Lima loser for the rest of your life and that 'fag' is going to get the hell out of here and be something. I'm going to get the hell out of here too. You think singing in Glee is gay, but it gave me a future. Even if I don't get a football scholarship, I'm still eligible for a music one. I can still be something. You'll never be anything but a bigoted, mullet-wearing puck-head."

Cooper snapped and launched at Dave, catching him by surprise and landing a blow into his stomach. Dave buckled and staggered forward. With a mad look in his eyes, the hockey player rushed again, this time with a foot, but Dave caught it and pulled hard, causing the boy to fall backwards. The others hesitated and a few took their chance to run past Dave and out of the door, but it was too late.

"Where the heck do you monkeys think you're going?" came Sue Sylvester's voice. "Stay where you are so I can deal with you." There was a general muttering of "yes coach" and the sound of footsteps approaching the door.

The next moment, Sue burst into the hallway followed by Kurt, the freshman, and Puck and Finn.

"David!" Kurt yelled, running over to where the jock had fallen. Finn and Puck ran over too, and Sue rounded on the other bullies, yelling her head off.

"Dave!" Kurt yelled again, kneeling down next to him. Dave sat up using his right hand to support him and holding his stomach with his left.

"I'm fine, Kurt," he said, smiling reassuringly. Kurt frowned and touched his hand over his stomach.

"Liar," the singer accused. Dave smirked and Kurt shook his head.

Puck and Finn picked Cooper up off of the ground roughly and joined Sue in marching all of the bullies to the principal's office. The freshman, whose face had been wiped clean turned back and smiled at Dave. "T- thank you," he said. Dave nodded and smiled back.

"Tell Mr. Schue we're gonna be a little late," Finn called back to the two boys. Kurt nodded and Dave waved his thanks before attempting to get up. He winced at the pain, but with Kurt's help, he managed to get to his feet. He was still hunched over and Kurt rubbed at his stomach a bit.

"Mmm…" he moaned. It helped a bit and any excuse he could get for Kurt to touch him was good.

Kurt giggled a bit and ducked under Dave's arm, helping him towards the next hallway and the choir room. "You underestimated him," Kurt sighed.

Dave chuckled and winced at the sting it caused. "Yeah, I guess I did," he said. "Never thought that puck-head could hit so hard, he was such a weakling when I was still on the team. Coach always compared him to me."

"That's why he's so jealous of you huh?" Kurt asked. Dave nodded.

The two soon reached the choir room and found Rachel, Lauren, Tina, Quinn, and Artie talking. They took one look at Dave and instantly got up to help.

"Oh my god," Rachel said, coming over to help. "What happened?"

Kurt and Dave explained about the bullies and the incident in the hallway. The others listened with rapt attention and Dave felt a rush of gratitude and warmth towards them for their sympathy. Here were his former victims now calling him a hero and genuinely concerned for him.

"Are you sure you shouldn't go to the nurse?" Tina asked.

"Nah, I'm fine," Dave said. "It'll go away pretty soon. I've had worse done to me, trust me."

Soon the other Gleeks were arriving and Dave had to describe the incident all over again. Mr. Schue had apparently heard about it and was in the principal's office with the others, but showed up not long after with Puck, Finn, and to all of their surprise, a few new faces, including the freshman from the hallway.

"I was actually on my way to audition," the freshman, Nicholas, said. "I stopped to use the bathroom and ran into them. They took one look at me and I was ambushed."

Dave looked at the poor boy and knew exactly why: he was a freshman and like Kurt, was slender and wore sort of feminine clothes. On top of that he had eyeliner on and from what Dave saw in the hallway, he guessed the kid had had on lipstick too.

"Thank you for saving me," he turned and said to Dave. "When I saw your letterman jacket, I thought you had come to help them."

Dave shook his head. "No way. I'm not that kind of person anymore. I used to be," he said turning to Kurt, "but, I'm not anymore."

Nicholas blushed when he saw Kurt take Dave's hand and squeeze it. "You, you're…" he stuttered.

"Gay?" Dave finished for him. "Yeah. I am."

"And he's my boyfriend," Kurt said proudly, making Dave gush. "He used to be just like those jocks, like he said, but he's not afraid to be his true self anymore. Of course, that doesn't mean he has to start publicizing it."

Nicholas nodded his head in understanding. "I see, you're keeping it under wraps."

"Only until things start changing around here," Kurt answered. "Dave has a lot more to lose than I did and I don't want him sacrificing more than he needs to."

Dave frowned, but he knew better than to argue with Kurt about it. The singer insisted that they stay private until they were sure Dave could go public without ruining his future. Of course there was the possibility that Dave could still get a football scholarship and Kurt wasn't about to just let him jinx that chance. "You can come out when you're in college," the singer had said. "They're a lot more open-minded than they are here. I've been doing research and I've found that there are actually openly-gay athletes in collegiate sports. Of course it helps that they are all also star athletes, but with your talent, I don't think you'll have a problem being one yourself."

"Alright, team" Mr. Schuester interrupted. "I know we're still frazzled by the little incident, but we have some new members to audition!" There was a general round of applause as the newcomers were ushered up to the center of the room.

"Now that our group is graduating, getting new talent is crucial," Mr. Schue continued. "I'm sad to see you guys go, but our work isn't done yet. We've still got Regionals and Nationals to worry about. I don't know about you guys, but I want that trophy this year!"

The group gave a loud cheer. They all wanted it bad this year, even Dave. Kurt had told him about last year's competition in New York and it fired him up even more.

"This year," Mr. Schue said, "Nationals are going to be held in Chi-" but the teacher was cut off when there was a knock on the choir room door.

"Az?" Dave said in surprise as his friend walked in.

"Yeah," Azimio said pointing a finger at him. "You get your but beat by a puck-head and you don't bother to come tell your best friend about it?" he yelled.

"Az, I-" but Mr. Schue cut in.

"I'm sorry Azimio, but this will have to wait," the teacher said. "We're holding auditions for Glee club and now is not the time to be chewing Dave's head off."

"I know," Azimio replied simply. "What did you think I came for?"

The group sat looking stunned as the other jock joined the rest of the newcomers in the middle of the room. Dave was positively dumbfounded.

"What?" Azimio shrugged. "You think you're the only one who can sing, Karofsky?" he smirked.

And that wraps up Chapter 1 of SYAKC pt2! What did you guys think? What? Why are you looking so shocked? *shrugs* Oh well, whatever. Let me know what you guys think, OK? XOXO

~Jay