Dave stood at the front of the choir room, his old acoustic guitar around him and looking like he wanted to disappear into the floor. It'd been a long road since last year. He still wasn't an out and proud gay man, but he was making small steps. He still didn't have the glee club on his good side, but he's progressed.
All summer Finn had been bothering him to join and all summer dave had told the quarterback to bugger the fuck off. But when he went to visit is sister at OSU, she's told him how good glee would look on a college application, even if he'd only been a member for a year.
So, there he was, in front of the New Directions in jeans and a button down plaid shirt, clinging to his instrument like a scared child.
"The floor is all yours, Dave." he heard Shuester say after a long rambling Karofsky hadn't paid much attention to because he was just focusing on every single set of eyes staring him down. Well, at least Finn looked somewhat excited. Kurt's look of anger sort of just canceled out Finn's enthusiasm, though.
He took a deep audible breathe before he started strumming his guitar. He wasn't the best with the instrument, but he perfected a number of songs he'd loved over the years.
Am I loud and clear, or am I breaking up?
Am I still your charm, or am I just bad luck?
Dave tried to just focus on the words and his playing while he went through the song. He let his mind wander, thinking of the music video he'd watched about one hundred times over the past week, letting it play over in his mind so he wouldn't see the faces of everyone and wouldn't let their sheer hatred of him fumble the music he was timidly playing in front of them.
Three and a half minutes later the guitar and his voice faded away and he let his mind focus back on the room in front of him. Where he had faded out to looks of destine and irritation, he was greeted with shock and awe. Finn was clapping like a mad man, along with Schuester. Berry looked like her head might implode and the other football players were blown away that the guy they thought they knew could do something they didn't expect.
And then his eyes fell on the one he wished he could avoid. Kurt was covering his mouth but he could see the corners of a smile and Dave finally looked down, a grin spreading across his face.
"I still don't know about having him in Glee Club." Rachel's voice filtered into his happiness. but even her shrill, irritating voice couldn't bring him down at that moment.