Title: December

Rating: K+

Summary: There was nothing abnormal about that cold December day.

Author's Note: Written for a Kurtofsky Secret Santa exchange. The prompt was "Kurt and Dave meet at a support group."

December

There is nothing abnormal about this cold December day.

When he doesn't immediately recognize the fourth face to enter the door, there is no immediate reaction from Kurt Hummel. After all, he is one of the few people who attends these meetings week in and week out—there is constant turnover in the other faces. Some are there fairly consistently, while others turn up once and never show up again. He is one of maybe three people, aside from the young man and woman who run the group, who are there virtually every meeting.

This is his consolation for being unable to secure funds for a PFLAG chapter at his own high school, these meetings. His father has been understanding about the whole thing, happily allowing him to borrow the car to drive to the Ohio State campus in Columbus every weekend when he realized that it was important—after Kurt had first promised that he would always call when he got there. But more than every now and then, Kurt Hummel finds himself wishing that he could get more support from a little closer to home.

Still, the community that has been built up in this support group is surprisingly strong. At first, Kurt had been surprised by the relatively high attendance, especially considering the frequent shuffle of faces. But he has come to realize that Lima, Ohio is a tiny speck on the map, a town with barely more people than the university itself. He has met all sorts of wonderful people that have kept him coming back time and time again, even after his boyfriend stopping attending, claiming it was too much of a time commitment. There is the boy, even younger than himself, who is trying to start his own chapter and wants to get ideas and potential help. There is the old woman, who despite her old age, has never told anybody about her sexual orientation outside the room—one of the most poignant meetings Kurt could remember was when she brought in her grandchildren. Both of these people have helped Kurt realize that there is more than one way to "be gay" and he relishes his opportunity to interact with these wonderful people.

It is not an AA meeting; they don't just sit in a circle and talk about their feelings. It is something deeper than that. They actually connect with one another and talk. In fact, there are more people who understand Kurt in this group than there are in his high school. Despite the close-knit nature of the group, there was a welcoming attitude—anybody who showed up with good intentions was more than welcome to join them. And new faces are relatively common.

So he only glances at the unfamiliar man when he enters, assuming by his size that he is older than himself. But when he catches a glimpse of the face under the brim of the baseball cap, pulled down low as if to shield himself from less understanding eyes in the outside world, he does a double take.

"Dave?"

Now it is the other young man's turn to whip his head around—there is no sign that he noticed Kurt when coming through the door. A slight red color rises on his cheeks as they make eye contact. "K—Kurt?"

The pair survey each other for a moment, as if neither is sure where to start. Then, simultaneously,

"What are you doing here?"

"Erm…" Kurt shifts slightly awkwardly in his chair as he bites his lower lip. This is not somebody he had expected to come strolling through the door and he has never been good in situations where he has to deal with unexpected events. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I guess I could say the same to you," Dave replies. Since their eyes locked, he has not looked away, seeming to focus on Kurt with an almost unnatural intensity. It does nothing to lessen Kurt's awkwardness.

"I've been coming here for two months and I've never seen you," Kurt says, as he tries to keep his tone even.

"Well, you wouldn't have," Dave says candidly, giving a slight shrug of his shoulders. "It's my first time."

He makes a tentative move to sit down in the chair next to Kurt, seemingly unsure of what his next move should be. In part to try to save him from the clear look of indecision on his face, Kurt lightly pats the seat next to him.

"Well, no need to stand there all afternoon…" He rolls his eyes inwardly, acutely aware of how uncomfortable he was probably making the situation by his awkward actions. Trying to give the other boy a sincere smile, he replies, "So, what finally brought you down here?"

Dave sits down and Kurt becomes acutely aware of how easily he fills the space next to him. But unlike the year before when he would have been made incredibly ill at ease by the jock's presence, he finds there is actually a mild comfort in the warmth of his large frame. The light red tinge has returned to Dave's cheeks and Kurt is confused until the larger boy mumbles out, "Actually… you."

Kurt immediately stops his instinctual scan of the other faces in the room, distracted by Dave's words. Maybe he has just misheard him. "I'm sorry?"

"You." Dave speaks more clearly now but the shade of his cheeks has changed from a mild red to something much more similar to a ripe tomato. Kurt looks at him, a slightly incredulous look taking over his face. He has not seen Dave since their run-in at Scandals nearly three months previously, though he perhaps would have liked to—how has he possibly played a role in getting him to come here today? He is just about to ask this question when Dave speaks again.

"I mean—I was just thinking about how last year, you made me promise to start one of these groups with you at McKinley and obviously that never happened but maybe part of that was because I had no idea what even happens at this sort of thing? And I figured, maybe I should check one out. This is the closest one to Lima." Dave's words are slightly rushed, and other than a couple nervous glances toward Kurt's face, he keeps his eyes averted. When Kurt doesn't respond immediately, he wrings his hands lightly and adds, "But I guess you would know that."

Kurt tries to process this information, as it is a lot thrown at him at once. He finds himself surprised that Dave even remembers when Kurt made him promise to start a PFLAG chapter, to start. He had assumed that the other boy had long ago thrown that idea into the back of his mind, never to be accessed again. Nor has he ever thought that Dave had any genuine interest in attending a support meeting such as this one—he has always seemed to be the type to soldier on alone, even if reaching out would have helped him greatly before now. When Kurt finds his voice again, he is surprised by the conviction he hears in it, since he is internally still processing everything. "Wow. I didn't realize… I wish I had known that you were coming. We could have, um, carpooled or something because, yeah, it's a bit of a drive."

Dave just nods. As more people entered the room, he continually glances at them furtively while they choose their seats, as if worried that he will recognize somebody else unexpectedly. Kurt too falls silent for a moment but there is still a lingering thought in the back of his mind that he can't shake off and when Dave remains mum, he takes the liberty of filling the silence between them. His voice is less quiet now than it was before, as other voices have begun to fill the room and there is not as much worry of others eavesdropping. "Why?"

"Why what?" Dave asks, finally returning his gaze to Kurt as the seat on his other shoulder is filled by a college-aged girl with spiky hair. His tone mirrors the confusion evident on his face so Kurt clarifies for him, as simply as possible.

"Why now?"

Dave opens his mouth to respond and then pauses, eyebrows furrowing slightly. He bites his lower lip lightly, fiddling with his fingers. Kurt waits patiently, though he has a slight worry that the meeting will start before Dave has a chance to answer—close to all of the twenty chairs in the circle are full and his watch has just ticked over to three o'clock. He is just about to give Dave some sort of prod to try to pry a response out of him when Dave finally looks up, meeting him in the eye.

"Because I finally realized something about myself."

"What… did you realize?"

Dave smiles a little bit, the corners of his mouth tugging up. When he speaks again, there is an earnest honesty and simplicity to his words that Kurt has not expected. "I realized that I can't hide anymore."

"You… You can't hide?"

"You don't get it." His tone is not accusatory. Dave just shakes his head lightly as he surveys Kurt. "You've known exactly who you are for your entire life. Even when you didn't know it, I think you did. You've always been so confident in yourself. You never hid any part of yourself."

Kurt is surprised by how honest Dave's tone is—and how much his words are resonating. He can't help but interject briefly. "You've noticed me for a long time."

"You're kind of easy to notice." Their eyes meet again and Dave chuckles lightly at the expression on Kurt's face. He shrugs lightly, unable to keep a smile from creeping onto his face. "But anyways. I couldn't stop thinking about our run-in at Scandals and how you've always been confident because you've never had to keep a side of you locked away." He pauses, licks his lips as he tries to find a way to continue. When he does, he speaks more slowly, choosing his words. "And I… I realized that if I wanted to be… happy… that I have to be a little bit more like that."

"Um. Wow." Kurt tries to find a response, but he can't.

"So, that's why I'm here. To stop hiding. At least from myself." Dave shrugs lightly. "And from people who are far enough away from Lima that I don't have to deal with that right away." He chuckles lightly. "At least, that's what the plan was."

"I'm…" Kurt struggles to find a way to express what he was feeling. He has never really felt like he was that important to somebody else. Sure, he has felt self-important at times. At he has always had friendships where he felt like he truly belonged to a group and wasn't merely a tag-along. But he has never felt what he is feeling now—the feeling like he has made a difference in somebody's life. Before, he has always been the one needing a difference-maker; now, he's become one. Looking straight into Dave's eyes, Kurt says, "I'm proud of you."

Dave smiles. When he returns the eye contact, there is a profound shift in the emotions expressed in them. Kurt cannot place them at first. Dave replies, "That means a lot more than you think. Thanks."

That's when Kurt realizes what the new emotion is. It has taken him so long to identify it because he's only seen it once before in Dave's eyes. It's happiness.

There is definitely something abnormal about this cold December day. But, Kurt realizes as the meeting finally commences, he wants it to become normal.