Hnnnggggg~Thanks guys. I'm so happy for the half-dozen reviews. I think chapter 5 will be it. But I'd greatly appreciate it if you reviewed nonetheless. :]
Dave didn't go to school that Monday. He was released from the hospital that Friday, but it took him a full week after to muster the courage and strength to go back. Mia just stayed by his side the entire time, and over the course of a few days, Dave loosened up the point where he said he'd go back to school. Of course, it was quietly, and after a rugged game of Borderlands.
Dave was exceptionally annoyed. He had somehow glitches and found himself stuck. Mia just laughed and ran in circles around him, shooting around him. He had placed the controller on the coffee table, knowing a few soda cans off the table in the process and Mia just sighed, and disappeared to get a bag.
She returned moments later to see Dave sprawled out on the couch, arms behind his head, eyes closed, and a slice of stomach showing from his sweater being pulled slightly.
"I think I'll go back Monday, "he muttered as Mia started to collect cans, but she just smiled and let him continue. "I'll tell dad tonight so he can call the school and tell them that we'll be there. And I'll tell Kurt I'm s…" his words trailed off as he fell asleep. Mia softly placed the bag down, and pulled a blanket from the hall closet and tucked her brother in.
Dave was having trouble sleeping since the attempt, a few hours here, and hour there, just enough to keep him running. Mia would sometimes hear him, awake at 3am rustling around his room. Sometimes he woke up with a jump. She could feel that. The only thing that separated them at night was a wall. Mia moved her bed across her room to be next to the wall. As much as Dave wanted to protect her, she felt the same for him. When he'd awake in the middle of the night, but not leave his room, Mia would scurry down to the kitchen, and back up, with hot chocolate and a handful of cookies. She had been doing this for so many years, that it had become a sort of routine. They would sit there, on his bed for however long it took. Sometimes Dave would talk about what had startled him, but mostly he flicked on the tv and they would sit there, sipping their hot chocolate, and watching the History Channel.
Mia would normally fall asleep first, slumped up against Dave or the wall, but she somehow always found herself waking up a few hours later in her own bed, tightly curled in her blankets, with the mugs always in the sink.
Dave forgot how much the school bells hurt his ears as he shifted uncomfortably in the principals office, his sister at his side. He wore a long sleeve underneath his freshly washed letterman that he kept pulling down past his wrists. He still wore the bandages, the slashes were only scabbed over at this point. But this was one thing Dave was embarrassed of. He had made a passive comment to his sister about the scent and the remark kurt made, and she gladly cleaned it. Dave was just happy she chose to that it smell of something crisp and masculine, and not flowers like she so deviously mentioned.
She'd be a freshman this year, and thankfully she was able to keep up with home schooling, so she wasn't too far behind. Mia was so excited she kept humming a song that Dave was unable to put his thumb on, but he knew it, if not long ago. Her feet were tapping in rhythm and the smile on her face was almost so infectious, that Dave caught himself with a smirk.
But soon he was just focusing on the ticking of the clock. Principal Figgens was still staring intently at his sisters papers, Dave was only there because Mia asked him to. "Today it seems a lot of people came back. While I can say I am not excited about how things were left, I'm happy to say 'Welcome Back' to you, David. And I hope this semester is easier on you. And also! Welcome to high school, Amelia." Figgens smiled and Mia jumped and clapped her hands. But Figgens just ushered them out quickly, he had other work to pertain today.
As Dave and Mia exited the room, Kurt and his parents entered, A scowl on Burt's face. Mia excitedly jumped on Kurt, "I'm a real high school student now! I have classmates! OOHH I'M GOING TO HAVE FRIENDS." Kurt just laughed and hugged her, promising her that she will have friends if she continues to stay so fabulous. Dave's stance shifted awkwardly when Burt's gaze went to him, He knew how much the man hated him, and knew that he probably didn't know what had happened the last few weeks. But kurt calmed Burt's inner-rage with a soft hand on his shoulder. Kurt silently nodded to Dave, and Dave knew Mr. Hummel would soon know everything.
"I don't approve of this," Burt said before the door was even closed, "I cannot approve of this. I can't fight with Kurt, I know my boy has already been here a week, but I just don't feel like he is safe here with that kid roaming the halls. I thought he was gone." He gestured out the door, but Dave was already long gone, on his way to homeroom that morning.
"Dad, It'-" "It is not fine-,"
"Now now, Mr. Hummel. Due to some… complications in the recent past with David and his home life, I really don't think he'll be bothering your son. His sister was very adamant about keeping David in line." Figgens' hands laid on his desk, neatly laced together. Kurt just smiled and looked at his dad.
"I believe him. I met Amelia before, I believe it. I believe that if Karofsky even touches me without my written consent, she'll make him eat dirt. Just trust me, Dad." Kurt flashed a perfect smile and Burt knew he could never deny his son anything. So he sat back with a sigh, and nodded, defeated.
The next few months went along smoothly, or as smoothly as a normal high school year could go. Kurt and Mia's friendship continued to blossom, and he even let his guard down around Dave more often. It was hard to find Mia without Dave, but Kurt would settle because Dave mostly was the silent partner. Which actually scared kurt more than him making snaky quips about Kurt or something he disagreed on, because it meant that Dave was thinking. And it worried Kurt. Not in the "I hope he's not regretting still living," sort of way. That would mean that Kurt was started to not only trust Dave, but befriend him. But, in the "I hope he's not planning on doing something stupid to me"-irrational paranoid sort of way.
Mia and Kurt were on the Karofsky couch, and Dave was in a chair. This only worked because this weekend was their parents anniversary. They chose Florida this year to disappear to for a week. Naturally, Mia had invited kurt over to fawn over her new fashion magazines. Kurt came, with a bag full of Carole's cookies. He had fought with his father, but less than times before. Kurt guessed that his father was growing more and more used to the idea that he was, in fact, friends with the youngest Karofsky, and that Dave was no longer a threat. Coincidentally, Dave had barely even said a word to Kurt in the past month. Which, Kurt found annoying and unnerving.
Kurt had found himself, alone in the room, again, with Dave. Mia had ran off because she had this sudden, and unbearable urge to bake. And as a girl who gave in to her fancies, she bolted to the kitchen and they could soon hear the muffled sound of her moving around.
"Why haven't you said anything?" Kurt asked, his brow wrinkled but Dave just licked his lips and sighed.
"I thought I told you that I wasn't going to hurt you."
Kurt snorted, "There is a difference between not hurting me, and ignoring my existence."
"It's easier."
"What the hell, Karofsky?" Kurt stood up.
Dave's eyes just narrowed and he leaned back. "What? I can ignore you. Or I can talk to you and say something amazingly stupid because it's hard enough to just THINK with you around."
"Well, just thanks then. I'm sorry I'm so incredibly gay that it clouds the air and you just can't handle it! That all you can think about is the little… the little fag who hangs around your sister!" Kurts eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared.
"That doesn't fucking matter! It's because you're all I can think about! And when you're around me I just can't function normally. FUCK," Dave yelled and stood up quickly, and walked out without another word. Mia entered when he exited, but kurt had sat down on couch, his head resting in his hands and a scowl on his face. Mia sat next to him, and her hand was resting on Kurt back, rubbing in circles softly.
Dave came back a dozen minutes later, his hand tightly gripped the door frame. "So.. Sorry." He swallowed at took a breath, "But I'm not going to lie. It's just easier for me to ignore and bottle than it is to face everything so I had to bolt before I said more," He quieted and sat down back in the chair, two sets of eyes on him.
Mia heard a soft ding and she left the room. The joys of pre-made cookie dough was hers. "I understand. We both needed that little break or else it would just be a screaming match. Wither I like it or not, I'm friends with your sister. And I can actually stand your existence now. And as long as I'm friends with her, you need to deal with me."
Dave's hands were laced and he was looking down at them, his posture shifted forward. " But… but as soon as she dies you won't be here anymore. I don't have you, she does. So it's easier to just act like you don't exist now because in however amount of time she has, You won't be sitting here on my couch, in my house. But she won't either. I'll be all alone," Dave started to chew on his lip, thinking about how he was supposed to live without his sister, the one person who has been there for so many years.
Kurt shifted his seating arrangement, and scooted to the edge of the couch nearest to Dave and placed his hand on Dave's knee. Dave batted it away but Kurt pretended not to notice and his hands went back to his lap. "If…" Kurt sighed and looked away, "If you were so STUBBORN then maybe you and I would be friends and you wouldn't have to feel so alone. Because you're not. Rachel said this to me, not that long ago actually, 'I know you're lonely, but you're not alone.' And when I'm sick of listening to Blaine's 'Courage. COURAGE!' bullshit, I think back on that day. And it just… it stayed with me. So… Dave, "Kurt smiled and Dave half-heartedly smiled, "You may be lonely, and you may feel alone, but you, most definitely, will never be alone. Just trust m-"
"COOOKIIEESSS~" Mia sang, prancing in to the room, "M&M because I'm cool like that. Eat them." The tension in the room melted as she handed them each a cookie and a glass of milk. "Cookies make everyone happy." Kurt smiled awkwardly, but Dave thanked his sister and her sixth sense. Things were just getting to much for him.
Kurt and Dave's eyes locked gazes, for a moment in time, and Dave's heart was put at rest. But Kurt's fluttered with a new feeling. And this was more frightening that trust, or even friendship with Dave. He felt forever bonded.