January finds their lunch table overrun with half-finished college applications, and stacks of view books for schools across the country. At the start of the year, Mr. Schue challenged all of the Glee seniors to at least apply to college; he's also warned them not to share their acceptances with each other because he wants to have a big college reveal party in April, something to "inspire the younger kids". Whatever. It's a long way off, and even though Kurt got the last of his applications finished and mailed off while Dave was away in Chicago over Christmas, he can't help getting caught up in everyone else's stress. While drama queen is a label the others usually reserve for he and Rachel, it's fun watching everybody else's inner diva peek out. He and Dave just sit back in their plastic seats and smile smugly, and Kurt keeps a mental tally of where everyone is applying. He's kind of surprised at the diversity of schools. The books on the table and the letterheads on the applications hint at the expected (Ohio State and Indiana), the moderately surprising (University of Chicago, Columbia), and the downright shocking (Cal Tech, University of Georgia). He supposes he'll just have to be surprised in April, along with everyone else.

Dave's been different since Chicago, but they haven't had a chance to talk about it at all. He ended up extending his trip and staying for New Year's and had only gotten back into town late Sunday afternoon. Kurt had bailed on Tuesday coffee because one of his dad's guys at the garage was out with the flu, and the rest of the week had deteriorated into a massive History project for Dave and a boatload of English reading for Kurt. But it's finally Friday. The skies are slate-gray, and the humidity (and the unfortunately dressed weather girl on the morning news) all point to massive amounts of snow starting sometime that afternoon. Dave's dad is back down to Columbus for his trial, so the plan is already in place for Dave to stay at Kurt's. There won't be dancing tonight, not with snow in the forecast, but Kurt figures they can watch all of the Queer as Folk they didn't get to over break.

That's the plan, at least, until Dave shows up at his doorstep with a tray of coffee and an envelope tucked under his arm. He's kind of pale. Kurt pulls him into the kitchen and forces him into a chair. He takes the tray and sets it on the table, and then motions at the envelope.

"What's that?"

"It's here."

"Berkeley?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"I didn't open it. I couldn't. You know, this is all your fault. I didn't want this. I mean, I did. But I told you, guys like me don't dream like this."

Oh, boy. "Dave!" Kurt uses his 'I'm in charge' voice, the one that gets Finn and Puck to stop acting like hyperactive toddlers. "Focus. It's going to be fine."

"I was going to start the afternoon by telling you that I came out to my mother, but I think I need to open that first."

Kurt watches as Dave eyes the envelope warily, like it contains anthrax or something. Hell. It holds Dave's future, so maybe it is a bit like a biohazard. He takes a breath and speaks, because he knows Dave will do the same thing when Kurt's Yale envelope arrives. "Do you want me to open it for you?"

"No. No. Let me."

Kurt watches as Dave slips his finger under the flap and unfolds the paper. He reads in silence, chews on his bottom lip. Closes his eyes and takes a breath. His words are a sigh, but Kurt doesn't even have to hear them to know.

Kurt's envelope arrives the following Tuesday. He knows right away by the size of it what it's going to say, but he still tucks it into his messenger bag as he's on his way out the door to meet Dave for coffee. Dave will want to be there when Kurt opens it. He's startled, especially at moments like this, just how much a part of his life Dave Karofsky has become. It's not unwelcome, just not what he had expected. But how much of life really was what anyone expected?

Dave is settled into their regular corner table, his own vanilla latté and Kurt's mocha already on the table. Kurt pulls his envelope out of his bag and sets it in front of Dave before he even sits down. Dave takes it in, nods, and turns his attention to the more pressing matter at hand: "Are those Vocal Adrenaline kids really that good?"

Regionals are coming up too quickly, and they're less prepared than any of them would like to be because better than half the club has been frantic with college applications. Kurt kind of feels bad about leaving the underclassmen (a handful of freshman, two sophomores who transferred in from out of state over the summer, and a junior who apparently joined because she had a crush on Puck) to carry them in practices the past couple of weeks. But the frenzy will be over by the end of the week. Kurt takes the bait, puts the envelope away for actual opening at home later, and starts talking.

It turns out that Vocal Adrenaline used to be that good. But then the mess with Dustin Goolsby and Sunshine Corazon got the school board involved. Further digging unearthed what Jesse had only hinted to Rachel about, that their stars never had to go to class, and they routinely kept talented kids around well after they should have graduated. In the end, Goolsby got fired and all the kids who'd been repeating 12th grade for five years were kicked out. The remaining kids were forced to actually go to class, and most of them ended up academically ineligible because they couldn't read. Which left the new coach of Vocal Adrenaline with barely enough students to compete. They were still good. They just weren't show-stopping good.

Neither was New Directions, if Kurt was being honest. But they were good enough, and so they were going on to Nationals in Boston at the end of May. Right before graduation. Kurt hates thinking about it, about it being their last trip together or about all of them leaving. There have been times when they've driven him crazy, but they are his family just as much as his dad and Carole and Finn, and he will miss them something awful when they all go their separate ways in the fall.

Spring passes for Dave in a blur of Tuesday coffee with Kurt, extra Glee rehearsals, weekly phone calls with his mother, and mountains and mountains of homework. The AP Physics exam. Talking Kurt down when he has three AP exams in two days. The rest of his college letters trickle in through the middle part of April, and then on the 15th Mr. Schue announces that he's planning their "College Acceptance Party" for the following Friday. He's dismissed the underclassmen; the kids in front of him are his original 11, with the additions of Lauren, Sam, and Dave. Dave lingers near the edges of the crowd. He doesn't feel entirely at home with the Glee kids, but they're decent to him. He wonders sometimes if that's only because he's Kurt's friend. But then he catches moments of genuine kindness and knows that they're all just still a little wary of him. He can't fault them. This year notwithstanding, he's given them nothing to trust.

Mr. Schue is rambling, telling them how proud he is of them, and how exciting their futures are going to be. "So," he says, clapping his hands together and rocking back on his heels, "next Friday I want you all to wear a t-shirt from your chosen school. Wear something over them, so nobody sees them. But wear them all day, and be proud. And then each of you will stand up and reveal your shirt and tell us where you're going in the fall. It'll be great!"

Judging by the looks on everyone's faces, they're less than enthusiastic. But Dave knows that they'll play along for Mr. Schue because they all love him.

He gets home that afternoon and spreads his letters in front of him on the kitchen table. He reads them all through one last time before logging on to the internet to buy a t-shirt.

The Glee kids are buzzing on "College Reveal Day". Kurt spends his morning kind of wasting time in class. AP exams have come and gone, so his AP classes are all but over. His English teacher is still giving them reading, and has even assigned two last papers, but History is like a free-for-all, and they just watch movies in French. He gets most of his other homework done during school hours, though, which he has to admit is kind of nice. At lunch, he looks hard at the different colored collars peeking out from under sweaters and hoodies and tries to figure out where everyone will be landing in the fall. But he's not that good, and the colors are so generic. By the time Glee rolls around, he's full-on antsy, almost as bad as Dave can be. He jams his hands into the pockets of the hoodie he borrowed from Dave; it doesn't quite swim on him since he hasn't finished growing yet, but it's still bigger than he'd like. But he didn't have anything appropriate to wear with his jeans and t-shirt. The underclassmen are sitting in a clump, while the seniors mill around. There's a table in the corner, where Miss Pillsbury is serving up punch and cupcakes underneath a banner that reads "Congratulations, Glee Class of 2012." Kurt is too nervous and excited to take either punch or what looks like sugary deliciousness. Maybe after, when his throat isn't closed up.

Mr. Schue claps his hands to get things started. "Welcome to our first annual New Directions College Reveal Celebration! Who wants to start?"

"I think," Rachel's voice is tentative, "that we really want to do this together. I mean, we've always been there for each other. Why should this be any different?"

They all nod, and Finn stands first and takes a spot on the floor. Everyone gets up and follows him until they're all standing in a line: Finn, Quinn, Tina, Lauren, Mike, Artie, Santana, Brittany, Puck, Mercedes, Sam, Rachel, Dave, and Kurt. They turn around and shed hoodies and sweaters and over-shirts; Kurt is surprised to feel Dave's hand reaching for his, but when he glances down the line he sees that everyone is gripping tightly to whoever is next to them. He can hear Rachel counting softly one, two, three, and they all turn around. Mr. Schue and Miss Pillsbury are grinning madly. The underclassmen just stare. And so Finn starts, because while everyone else in the room can see their shirts, they can't see each other's. "In the fall, I'll be attending Ohio State University." And down the line, each person picks it up. "Wellesley College. Mount Holyoke College. Smith College. University of Colorado. MIT. Indiana. Indiana. University of Texas. Spelman College. Ohio State University. Tisch School of the Arts." Dave's hand is still gripping hard at Kurt's when he tells everyone his story. "Back in the summer, Kurt challenged me to dream big. I did, and that's why I'm going to the University of California at Berkeley." Kurt smiles and squeezes Dave's hand back before taking his own deep breath. He lets his triumph ring out loud and clear. "In the fall, I'll be attending Yale University." And then they are all piling onto each other, hugging and crying and laughing. Their triumph is collective. It feels amazing. They talk over each other for the rest of the hour, sharing anecdotes about campus visits and interviews and why they picked the places they did. When the bell rings, they all run off to their last classes, futures declared on their chests in pride. Dave grabs Kurt's hand and pulls him in the opposite direction from his Calculus class.

"Dave. I have class."

"I don't, and I don't care that you do. C'mon. It's one class. Skip. Come out with me."

"Where?"

"Anywhere. I don't care. I just. I'm happy. And I want to share it with you."

"I can't. I'm still so lost."

"Please. I'm a fucking Calculus god. I'll help you with whatever you miss, and you know I'll teach you better than Ms. Higgins will. And besides, you've already gotten into college."

"Dave . . ."

"Kurt. Please. Just this once."

Kurt breathes in, closes his eyes. He's always done the right thing. He should go to class. But there are a lot of things that he and Dave let go unsaid between them, and the fact that Dave is asking means something. Means more than spending another hour locked in a classroom when they've just been celebrating their futures with their friends. When he opens his eyes, he says yes.

Kurt's always so uptight about school that Dave can't believe he talked him into ditching. But he did, and even though it's still a little cool outside they end up at the Dairy Queen having soft-serve cones. After, they drive around for a little while with the windows down, enjoying the sunny day. And they pointedly don't talk. Dave isn't sure what he would even say. So they just spend the afternoon enjoying each other's silent company. And Dave thinks that maybe that's all he wanted in the first place.

Boston is much less distracting than New York had been, which means that they actually rehearse instead of trying to chase their dreams. And they've been practicing their routines seven times a week since Regionals, which puts them twenty steps ahead of where they were last year. None of them are surprised when they make Showcase. Some of the groups use the same numbers for both rounds, but Mr. Schue insisted that they shake it up, so they have another trio of songs under their belts. "Just in case," he had been telling them all spring, but they knew better. He wouldn't have made them rehearse the extra material if he didn't expect them to make Showcase. He's picked two group numbers for them, both things they've done in the past, but their vocals are deeper and because Mike and Brittany have choreographed the hell out of all of their numbers all year, they look better than they ever have. Their third number, their ballad, is something the seniors have been working on in secret. They haven't even told Mr. Schue; all he knows is that they wanted to prepare their third song, and Kurt has to admit that it's perfect. So when they take the stage on the day of Showcase, they're more than ready.

Dave feels like he's going to be sick. This is worse than coming out, worse than the championship game in football. Worse than opening the Berkeley letter, in that split second before his fate was decided. He's fidgeting again, in that way that he knows makes Kurt crazy, but he can't help it. But it doesn't matter because Kurt has moved away to do some breathing thing, and it's Puck beside him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Dude. Relax."

"Easy for you to say. You've done this before."

"It's the same as every other competition. Every other big game."

"Yeah. No. It's really not." Dave closes his eyes and shakes his head, muttering more to himself than anything else. "How did I freaking end up here?"

"We've all thought that before. Look, man. I owe you an apology. When you showed up in Glee, friends with Kurt, all of that? I didn't think you were for real. Because everyone I've ever met has an angle, so kept my distance because I couldn't figure yours out. But you don't have one. You're a pretty decent guy, Karofsky, and I'm sorry for being an ass."

Dave laughs, because the shock of Puck's admission cuts through his nerves. "Thanks, Puckerman. I appreciate that."

"Good. You nervous anymore?"

"Not as much."

They are interrupted by the baritone voice of the announcer. "From William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, please welcome the New Directions."

Puck's hand is firm against Dave's arm. "Good. Now. Let's go out there and kill this."

They open with "Somebody to Love"; Finn and Quinn have always been right, it's a real crowd pleaser. They wait through the applause before jumping into the girls' ages-ago mash up of "Halo/Walking on Sunshine". The two upbeat numbers showcase their dancing and their personalities. Then the underclassmen exit the stage and the seniors are left, hand in hand in a line across the front of the stage. The band is gone, and the pianist plays out the opening chords of this, their last song together. Their voices rise as one. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes, five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear . . .

There's no dancing. Just the piano and their voices. After all, that's really what's gotten them this far.

Mercedes has the first solo, Artie the second. They finish together, through smiles and tears. A gift to Mr. Schue, and to each other. When they're hugging and crying backstage later, Kurt thinks that it doesn't matter where they place. They've had their moment, and they've won even if the judges don't agree.

But the judges do agree.

Mr. Schue takes the whole group out to dinner, right from the competition. Puck tucks their trophy into a corner and watches it like a guard dog all night. They're still in their competition clothes and makeup, high on emotions and triumph. Dave feels lightheaded as he sits between Rachel and Mike and watches Kurt holding court at the other end of the table. He doesn't care that they're sleeping all 14 seniors in a two-room suite; he has to get Kurt alone tonight. He just needs to enjoy this moment in this city, because when they get home things are going to get crazy, and fuck if he isn't sure he's going to have another chance.

He feels Rachel move in closer and stage-whisper to him. "Does he know?"

"Does who know what?"

"Kurt. Does he know that you love him?"

"I don't-"

"Sure you don't. I see how you look at him."

"We talked about it. Before."

"Before what?"

"Before I knew. But there's no point. Not now."

"There's always a point, Dave. You've taken so many chances this year already. Take a chance on him. And on yourself."

Rachel's words stay with him through dessert and sparkling cider, through the raucous subway ride back to the hotel, and through the craziness of everyone running back and forth between the rooms of the suite. In the chaos of movies and music and impromptu dancing in their pajamas, Dave manages to pull Kurt aside.

"Come with me," he whispers.

"Dave, it's late."

"We're not going anywhere bad. Please. Kurt. Just come with me."

Dave pockets one of the key cards they've been leaving in a pile on the dresser, and makes sure nobody is looking before he pulls Kurt into the hallway and down to the elevators. They ride in silence, and Dave looks again to make sure Mr. Schue isn't haunting the lobby; the coast is clear, so he keeps walking. He can hear Kurt scrambling to keep up, so once he's clear of the doors he slows down and reaches out for Kurt's hand.

"Why all the secrecy? What's going on?"

"Stop. Just walk with me for a minute."

Dave leads Kurt across a busy stretch of road, through a maze of buildings, and then out onto a promenade of sorts. The air is delightfully cooler, and he leans against the railing and stares out at Boston Harbor. He's silent, gathering his thoughts. Take a chance, Rachel's advice echoes. Don't let yourself get hurt, his heart screams. He swallows all of it down and turns to face Kurt. "Dammit, Hummel. None of this was supposed to happen."

"None of what?"

"Any of it. We weren't supposed to be friends. I wasn't supposed to join Glee. We aren't supposed to be here, together. And I sure as fuck wasn't supposed to fall in love with you."

Kurt can't do anything but stare, not with his heart doing back flips in his stomach. He's kind of been expecting this, if he's being honest. But expectation doesn't make it any less shocking. He rides his feelings out, waits until his heart returns to his chest, and then he leans over and rests his forehead against Dave's.

"I don't know what to say." Mostly because he can't think of anything else to say, but also because he's spent so much time ignoring his decidedly maybe-more-than-friendly feelings that he isn't sure what's real anymore.

"I don't know what's real anymore. I don't know what I feel. Because I'm not supposed to fall in love with you either, and we're leaving in August and I don't know what to do about that."

Dave has clearly been thinking this out, because he's ready with an answer. "Give me the summer. Just the summer. And in August you'll go to Yale and I'll go to Berkeley. And if this is meant to be, we'll find a way back to each other. Just. Please. God, Kurt. Just give me the summer."

Dave's face is open and vulnerable in a way Kurt hasn't seen before. His heart breaks a little, and the only thing he can do is give in. His last words are a warning, a prayer, a hope against hope that things will be different. "We're going to break each other's hearts, you know."

He lets go, feels himself falling, lets himself be caught and carried by Dave's whispered promise.

"I know."