"C'mon, Finn. Hurry up. I haven't seen my dad in a week." Kurt tagged along after Finn and Sam, trying to avert his nose from the scent of a hard practice wafting behind them.

On entering the change room, he saw that Azimio and a couple other big guys he didn't recognize had Dave against a locker. It looked like they'd caught him coming out of the shower, because he was wearing only a towel. Kurt blinked. Shirtless Dave looked … erm … different than he might have expected.

"Azimio. You turning on your own now that you've lost your favorite punching bag?" Finn said.

Azimio looked over to where the three newcomers had stopped. He threw Kurt a nasty look. "Not my favorite punching bag. Conspicuously Karofsky's, though, wouldn't you say?" He punctuated this with a couple of rough pats of Dave's cheek.

"Leave me alone." But the words held more panic than heat; Dave was pinned.

"What're you talking about?" said Finn.

"Ask your baby brother," Azimio replied. "He's gone turned my man gay."

"Yeah," chimed in the blonde thug to the left of Karofsky. "So we're checking to see whether being a big fucking fairy's completely neutered him."

Dave's panicked eyes briefly met Kurt's. Oh my god, they're going to assault him, thought Kurt. He opened his mouth. "Awesome."

That froze everyone. "Uh, what?" muttered Sam.

Kurt took a steadying breath before forging on. "Awesome." He started unbuttoning his coat. "You know, the rumours that Dalton is a homo heaven are, disappointingly, completely exaggerated. I had no idea that all I had to do to get a little action was stick with the football team."

"What?"

"Kurt, what the fuck are you doing?" Dave demanded. "Yeah," Finn chimed, concerned.

"I should think that would be obvious," he said, dropping his coat to the floor and starting on his cardigan. Thank Gaga he's worn layers today. "I'm joining in. Dalton has done nothing for my sex life. An orgy should catch me up nicely."

"Orgy?" "Fuck, man!" The bullies couldn't let go of Dave fast enough.

Kurt continued slowly undressing. "I've got to hand it to you, Dave. Come out on a Friday and one week later, guys are all over you? That's some serious pull. I'm jealous."

"Fuck, man, I'm outta here." One of the bullies bolted from the room. "We were not all over him!" Azimio protested.

"Oh baby, don't worry about it," Kurt said sympathetically. "I already knew you were kinky, so this isn't that much of a stretch. Now don't be shy, show us some of that beautiful black skin." He dropped his sweater to the ground and started on his button-down. "Come on guys, strip down. We have enough meat here for one heck of a daisy chain."

"Huh?" Finn was clueless, as usual. Sam, thank god, had caught on. "Cool," he said, and started stripping.

"There some kinda gay virus goin' round? Man, I am going to get myself inoculated!" And with that, Azimio and his henchman stormed after their more cowardly friend.

"Too late now!" Kurt yelled after them, "Even banging a Cheerio won't help: you've been exposed!"

His heart still pounding in his ears, he didn't hear Finn right away, until he was spun around.

"Dude!" Finn yelled, "Mind telling me what the hell that was about?"

Kurt looked past his brother's scrunched, confused face. Sam, looking like some kind of sculpted surf god in his underarmour, was watching Dave. And Dave was now sitting on a bench, with his back to them, head in his hands. From him heaving shoulders, it seemed likely that he was crying.

"Uhm, c'mon Finn. Let's hit the showers. I stink." Sam tried to urge Finn away.

"What? No! I'm not leaving him here with HIM," he gestured angrily.

"It's ok, Finn," Kurt said as he started rebuttoning his shirt.

"Yeah, man," agreed Sam. "Kurt's got this covered." He pushed Finn toward the showers. "Yell if you need anything," he said over his shoulder.

"Thanks, Sam." Lips quirked into a half smile, eyes running slowly up and down Sam's beautiful body, he repeated, "Seriously, thank you."

Sam shot him an embarrassed grin. Kurt heard Finn sputter as they disappeared around the corner, "What was THAT?"

Another deep breath. Time to face the music. Kurt walked slowly over and sat next to Dave on the bench, facing away but shoulders almost touching. He couldn't decipher the sounds coming from the larger boy.

"You ok?" he asked warily. That produced some kind of wet snort.

"Was that a laugh or are you crying?"

"Do I have to pick one?" came the muffled reply. Kurt relaxed slightly. If Dave could laugh, then at least he wasn't dealing with a total meltdown. Unless it was hysteria …

"So … I take it you came out to Azimio a little more, uh, unambiguously after that scene after the game?"

Dave huffed a strangled laugh. "Not really, but he wouldn't let up. Those two meathead jokers showed up. And bada-bing — I've never dated, I picked too much on you, some other … stuff … and I'm out"

Kurt took a moment to digest this and found himself feeling sorry for the boy slumped next to him. "So you didn't come out so much as get caught out."

"Whatever."

"I'm sorry."

"Why?" Dave asked after a long moment. "I've treated you like shit. You should be happy."

"I don't know. God knows I can be catty, but I'm not vengeful. And this is … different. Serious." He thought about it another second before continuing. "Being gay can be … hard. Lonely. At our age, you know, when there aren't that many of us out. Blaine's shown me …"

Dave snorted.

"Oh, shut up. Whatever you may think of him, Blaine's shown me how important it can be to have a friend. A gay friend. Someone you don't have to pretend with." Kurt felt a rush of gratitude for his new friend. Even if Blaine never ended up being anything more than a friend, that was the world. "You know, even just two people, that's community. Shelter. It helps."

"You offering to be my shelter, Hummel?" Dave asked. Kurt heard the familiar sneer but ignored it in favour of the tentative hope he hoped he heard.

"Well," he said lightly, "they do say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"Enemies, huh?"

"How about frenemies? Who, um, don't have to hang out or anything. Just maybe talk sometimes? Text? Or whatever. Just so, you know, you're not alone. And, um, I can make sure I get the heads up should you decide to turn into a homicidal thug again." Kurt held his breath.

Dave snorted. He was going to damage his sinuses if he wasn't careful. "Frenemies. Ok."

"Whew. Alrighty then. Why don't you get dressed and we can all get out of here. I mean, not together or anything. Finn and me'll just make sure you get to your car ok. Go on, change. I won't peak."

Dave stood up an opened his locker. "Like you'd want to. Wouldn't be much of a show after surfer boy's striptease."

He sounds like a surly bear, Kurt thought. Not as hairy a bear as previously suspected, however. Kurt snuck a peak at the broad naked back behind him, despite his promise, and quickly whipped his head around when the towel started sliding.

"No peaking," Dave admonished.

"Sorry," he replied, going for breezy but (he was very much afraid) sounding breathless instead. "Couldn't help it. There's just all kinds of eye candy in here today…"