A/N: I picture Mitch Hewer as Alex. http: / / i56. tinypic. com/famt11. jpg (remove spaces)

I'm taking advantage of the fact that Glee seems to exist in an alternate universe where Westerville and Lima are much closer than they are in real life.


There is something seriously wrong with being up this early on a Sunday during vacation, Dave thought to himself as he drove into the parking lot at the mall in Westerville where he'd found a summer job. Normally when he had more than a week where he didn't have to get up for school he would gradually become more and more nocturnal, staying up until the early hours of the morning reading or playing video games then sleeping in until almost midday. At night there was no one around to judge him or expect anything from him. This summer, however, he wanted to spend as much time away from Lima as possible. It was going to be a lot easier to figure himself out if he was surrounded by strangers who didn't have any preconceived ideas about who he was supposed to be.

When Dave arrived at the music store, Michelle, the store manager, who he'd met at his job interview, was waiting. "Hi Dave. Ready to get to work?"

"Sure." Dave hoped he sounded enthusiastic.

"I'm just here to give you a quick induction then I'll leave it up to Alex to show you the ropes." She indicated the small, blonde ball of energy who had bounced out from behind the counter at the sound of his name. "The two of you are going to be working the same shifts. Just to confirm, your hours are nine till twelve on Sunday and one till five Monday and Wednesday."

Alex held out his hand to Dave "Alex Harper, pleasure to meet you."

"Dave Karofsky." As they shook hands Dave's eyes were drawn to the light but well-defined muscles of Alex's arm. They travelled up to his face, taking in the sunny smile and bright eyes that were almost obscured by his straight blonde hair. The warmth of Alex's hand in his lingered longer than it should have after they let go.

Ok, there's no denying that this guy's hot.

Dave did his best to silence the little voice in his head that wanted to shove those kinds of thoughts to the back of his mental closet.

Hey, look at that, you just let yourself think of another guy as attractive and the world didn't implode, who knew?

Why was his subconscious suddenly sounding like Kurt at his most sarcastic?

He tore himself away from his introspection when he realised that Michelle was talking to him about fire escape routes.


After Michelle left, Dave found himself sitting behind the counter with Alex, who was far more upbeat than anyone had a right to be at nine fifteen on a Sunday morning.

"So are you a senior next semester too?"

"Yep, at McKinley."

"You're driving here from Lima every day?"

"All the local jobs were taken." It was the same lie he'd told his parents. He was finding it far too easy to lie to them these days. "What school do you go to?" Please don't say Dalton.

"Westerville North."

At that moment they were interrupted by their first customer of the day. Dave resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the Justin Bieber CD the girl was buying. Alex demonstrated how to use the cash register, including the correct way to hit it when the drawer refused to open.

Dave glanced towards the front of the store and noticed that the mall still looked pretty quiet. Apparently most people were enjoying the sleep-in Dave had been deprived of.

Alex started talking animatedly the second they were alone again. Dave was getting the impression that he wasn't the type of person to be comfortable with silence. "Looks like we're going to have plenty of spare time on our hands today. I suggest we use it to get to know each other since were going to be working together so much."

Dave didn't reply.

"Ok, I guess I'll start then. I'm a hopelessly obsessed sci-fi geek with a tendency to ramble on about my favourite shows to anyone who'll listen so feel free to tell me to shut up if I annoy you. Actually I just talk a lot in general, as you've probably noticed. I have completely random taste in music and I change my mind about who my favourite band is every week. At the moment it's Panic! at the Disco. I'm also a dancer."

That explains why he's so toned.

Dave realised Alex was looking at him expectantly. He'd planned to just say something vague about sports or something but Alex's eyes were so honest and free of judgement and they were probably never going to see each other again once summer was over so it wouldn't kill him to be a little more truthful.

"I guess I'm not really sure who I am right now," he admitted softly. Alex was quiet for once, clearly waiting for him to elaborate. "I thought that the easiest way to get through high school would be to get in with the popular crowd. I put all my energy into trying to be like them, to be normal. But I ended up becoming so paranoid they'd realise that I'm different, and then I tried even harder to fit in, and it all went too far and blew up in my face. And now I don't want to be that person anymore, but I can't remember how to be myself either. And even if I could I'd probably be too much of a coward to try"

Alex gave him a sympathetic smile. "Well, I can assure you that being normal is completely overrated. And if you're trying to figure out who you are, why don't you start with something basic. What kind of music do you like?"

Dave shrugged. "I don't really know; I just listen to whatever everyone else seems to be listening to."

"Just tell me a song you like."

Dave was about to shrug again when he remembered a song he'd found himself listening to many times since Kurt's return to McKinley. "Um… Saving Me, by Nickelback?"

"So you like rock music?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Alex fumbled around in his pocket and pulled out an iPod. "I've got a cousin in Australia who's always recommending these random rock bands to me. Have a listen, see if you like any of them," He held the iPod out to Dave.

Dave saw that Alex had opened up a playlist entitled 'Danni's Music.' He listened to the first song, Wild at Heart by Birds of Tokyo. It had a pretty cool sound. He started to hand the iPod back to Alex.

"Did you like the song?" Dave nodded. "Well why don't borrow the iPod for the night; broaden your musical horizons a bit."

"You sure?"

"You seem pretty trustworthy."

Dave pulled out his own iPod. "How about we swap, to make it fair." Alex accepted the trade.

The store was getting busier, so it was a while before they had time to talk again.

"Alright, I have to ask, do you like science fiction at all?" Alex enquired a little sheepishly. "Sorry, I kind of have a one track mind."

Dave smiled. "That's ok. I've never been particularly into it but I guess I like it in comics and stuff, like X-Men."

"So there's a possibility I could convert you. Be careful, I may try to force you to watch Doctor Who sometime. It's quite possibly the best TV show in existence."

Dave decided he really liked the way Alex's whole face lit up when he talked about something he was so enthusiastic about. "I'll take your word for it."

"So have you seen the new X-Men movie yet?"

"Not yet, haven't had time."

"You should, it's awesome."

The easy conversation continued for the rest of the morning in between serving customers. Dave couldn't remember the last time he'd had someone he was this comfortable talking to. By the time they finished work it was requiring very little conscious effort to drop the mask that had been almost constantly glued to his face for the past three years.


When Dave arrived home he heard several voices coming from the direction of the living room. He cringed as one particularly loud voice stood out from the others.

"I arranged for Chastity to be transferred to Crawford the second she told me. It's disgusting, a school allowing two boys to attend prom together. What did they think would happen? And so not only did she have that abomination flaunted in front of her on what was supposed to be such a special night, she had the chance of being prom queen taken from her. McKinley is a disgrace. You should get David out of that cesspool too, Harriet."

It was Mrs Pearson; the reason Dave tried his best to avoid being home when his mother's Bible study group were meeting there. She was the type of person who was convinced that her own opinion was the only one that could possibly have any merit and never hesitated to share it. She was also one of the most homophobic people Dave had ever met. Her daughter was a particularly vapid cheerleader that he had fortunately never had to associate with.

Dave didn't hang around to hear his mother's response. He had never heard her argue with Mrs Pearson. She never specifically agreed either, but Dave couldn't be sure she didn't share Mrs Pearson's beliefs.

When he reached his room he closed the door but couldn't completely block out the sound from the living room. Even when he couldn't hear a word she was saying, Mrs Pearson's muffled voice still sent shivers down his spine like fingernails on a blackboard. He took out Alex's iPod to drown her out. He started off listening to the playlist Alex had shown him, but soon found himself searching through the other songs on the device, trying to get a better sense of the boy who owned it.