Disclaimer: I don't own Glee!
A/N: This chapter will contain a a bit of Chemistry jargon that is really in no way important to the plot (only in the fact that my Dave is a science nerd, like me). So if you don't totally understand my lame science jokes, please know that you aren't missing out on much. XD
Ever the Same
By ktfranceebee
Chapter 9
Scared
Even after Dave dropped him Kurt off at his house, there was no way of getting rid of the goofy smile plastered on his face… Except maybe a bad hair day; but luckily for Kurt, his hair was looking as perfect as it did that morning (as he made sure to check it in the mirror hanging above the passenger seat in Dave's car as they departed Bowling Green) and he was glad, because he never wanted that smile to go away if he could help it.
"Hey," Kurt said breathlessly, eying the couple on the couch as he shut the door behind him. He leaned against the front door as his legs were still wobbly as a result of the good night kiss, courtesy of his boyfriend; walking up the driveway had been a chore in itself.
"Hey, kiddo," Burt acknowledged him. His arm was wrapped around Carole's shoulders. They both looked as content as Kurt felt.
"Kurt?"A questioning voice asked him. Kurt must have forgotten his dad telling him that Finn was going to be coming over with his mom as well because there he was, standing in the doorway, having just walked out of the kitchen with a large bowl of freshly popped popcorn in his hand. "What happened to your eye?"
"I… Carole told you what happened, right? With Azimio?" Kurt asked anxiously.
"Well, yeah. Everyone was talking about his expulsion at school too but… Jeez, Kurt. Your eye looks terrible. I haven't seen you all weekend and you were wearing your glasses all day on Friday. I didn't think it was that bad."
"It's not that bad," Kurt pouted, unconsciously touching his hand to it, remembering Dave's words.
"So, Kurt…" Burt said, changing the subject. "How did your date with Dave go? Huh?" Burt asked, smiling slyly. Carole smacked his chest good-naturedly as Kurt blanched.
"Oh, you know… It was—" Kurt looked down at his hands which began to fiddle with each other out of habit whenever he was nervous.
"Wait? Dave…? Dave who?" Finn asked. Kurt was seriously hoping the taller teen missed what his dad had let slip.
"Dave Karofsky, the guy that defended Kurt on—" Burt was silenced by the plastic bowl of popcorn falling from Finn's hand, the fluffy, butter-covered puffs scattering almost in slow motion across the carpet.
"Oh my goodness, Finn!" Carole said, standing up from the couch, leaving Burt looking as confused as ever. "Look at this mess; I'll go get a broom." Kurt was about to tell her that the vacuum in the hall closet was a better option—that the broom would only make a bigger mess—but Finn prevented him from responding.
"What the hell is he talking about, Kurt?" Finn asked slowly pointing a shaking finger at Burt. "What does he mean you and… And Karofsky? I don't even… Mercedes said you were going out with some guy named Blaine from that Dalton school!"
"Finn, please," Kurt begged as Finn began pacing back and forth in front of him, staring at him from time to time, much like a lion that has cornered its prey. "We'll never be able to get that popcorn out of the carpet if you keep walking over it," he added weakly.
"Am I missing something?" Burt's eyes darted back and forth from the television and the scenario unfolding beside him, perhaps wondering if their discussion was inconsequential enough to be put on hold until a commercial.
"Yeah," Finn said bravely, finally finding his voice. "That… That guy, Karofsky… That's who's been picking on Kurt since the first day of high school. All of us Glee kids, really. Throwing slushies at him, pushing him into lockers…"
"What?" Burt exploded, rising from his position on the couch. Obviously the play that had just happened on the Sunday night football game was not nearly as important as it was before. Carole had since returned from the kitchen and was standing like a deer in head lights with a broom and dustpan in her hands.
"That guy is the reason why you've been coming home with your clothes as tie-dyed as a hippie at Woodstock?"
"Dad, Dave—He's… He's changed. He never meant… He was just confused."
"Confused? What the hell does he have to be confused about?" Finn asked, dumbfounded.
"I don't care whether you think this boy is the next Pope," Burt said, his voice strangled with anger. "I remember all last year… You coming home almost in tears. And I know how strong you are Kurt, but the fact that somebody has come that close to making you cry means something in my book."
Kurt opened his mouth, looking like he was about to object his father, but he interrupted him.
"I don't want you seeing this boy anymore, Kurt."
"Dad, no! You can't just—" Kurt pleaded.
"Wait, does that mean Karofsky is… Gay?"
Kurt could only shake his head at his father and Finn, giving them a look of utmost deceit before rushing down the stairs to his bedroom, slamming the door in his wake.
Kurt woke up the next day, having gone to bed right after hearing the sentence his father had bequeathed upon him. How on earth did his dad think he could just stop him from seeing Dave? He would go to school today and he would see Dave and be able to hug him and kiss him and… Kurt's train of thought came to a screeching stop, because he remembered…
None of that was possible.
Dave wasn't ready to come out to the school yet. He made that much obvious yesterday. Despite Kurt doing most of the talking, Dave never did contradict Kurt saying that he was ready. Kurt had even gone so far as to lying to his best friend about who he was going on a date with just so Dave's cover wouldn't be blown.
Kurt would go back to school today and nothing would have changed, save maybe a decrease in hallway shoulder checks.
Everything would be the same.
Kurt bit back a sob, burying his face into his pillow. His dad was right. He never cried. So what if he couldn't see Dave anymore? It's not like they've been going out for months. That was their first date. There were plenty of fish in the sea.
'But I don't want anyone else,' Kurt thought to himself.
He told Dave that he was going to give him a second chance and essentially, he had done just that. They never established any ground rules to the said chance. If Kurt really thought about it, he had given Dave his second chance. The one date to show him the type of person he really was… The person he kept from the world.
And Kurt loved what he saw.
So Kurt was starting to surmise that the "chance" would last until Dave reverted back to his old ways… And Kurt didn't see that happening anytime soon.
Kurt rubbed tiredly at his face as he sat up in bed, his face itchy with dried tears as he realized he must have cried himself to sleep and he warily eyed his expensive clothes that he had carelessly thrown on the floor the night before.
He stood up and walked past the clothes, not caring that he stepped on the sleeve of his jacket and reluctantly went into the bathroom to get ready for the school day, unmindful of the flashing text alert on his phone.
Dave sat impatiently at his usual lab table in the back of the Chemistry classroom as he waited for class to start. Every time he saw someone enter the room he would look to see if it was Kurt. But with each upward glance, however, he would meet with unfamiliar eyes and he would look away at his classmates' frightened glances.
Dave was beginning to suspect that the rest of the school had gotten wind of what had happened last week; how he had easily punched one of the most disreputable jocks in the school. He would have thought that after defending the "gay kid" that people would be less perturbed by him. It seemed that they were just as frightened of him as ever and Dave wasn't sure whether he liked this notion. But on the other hand, Dave couldn't get what Kurt had said to him the night before out of his head. He knew that he couldn't hide in the closet for the rest his life. He wanted to be with Kurt, and knew it wouldn't be fair to keep their relationship a secret, so it seemed almost the right thing to do, to come out. Because, at least for now, no one would be brave enough to give him any grief about it.
Dave look down at his phone that was concealed under the table and Dave saw that Kurt had yet to return the text that he sent him earlier that morning. The message contained just a simple 'Morning babe. Can't wait to see you.' Dave frowned as he watched the minute change on his phone, signaling the start of class. Looking towards the door once more he saw Kurt walk in, surprisingly the last person to enter the classroom. His head was held high and his gait as imposing as ever, but Dave noticed something different. Perhaps it was the slight pursing of his full lips or else the fact that Kurt's eyes were looking down at the white tiled floor instead of straight ahead that had Dave worried and already typing up a text message as Kurt took his seat.
-You okay baby?-
He watched Kurt jump slightly and Dave could almost hear the vibrations of Kurt's phone through the teacher's bubbly lecture about the lab they would be doing today. Dave rolled the phone over in his hand until he saw the screen light up.
-I just saw your first text right now, sorry. And yes. I'm fine.-
-You're a terrible liar. Even in text.- Dave saw Kurt shake his head minutely, looking down at his phone.
-I'll talk to you later, okay?-
Dave frowned, knowing that his assumptions were correct. For whatever reason, the rest of the class had stood up and started shuffling around the classroom and Dave realized that people were getting into groups of two for the lab that they were going to do today.
Kurt watched anxiously as people starting scattering about the room. The only person that he knew in this class besides Dave was Santana and she had already linked arms with another Cheerio, not that he would willingly partner-up with her, Glee Club or not. Pretty soon it seemed that everyone had found themselves a partner and began to fetch the materials for lab. Everyone except…
"Hey." A soft voice whispered behind him.
"What are you doing?" Kurt asked frantically as he looked left and right, as though he expected someone to be there, questioning why Dave Karofsky was talking to Kurt Hummel, sans bravado.
Dave coyly sidled up to Kurt with his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Ignoring his question, Dave asked, "What? No partner, Hummel?" The rest of the class seemed pretty much oblivious to the two of them as they were already starting on the lab.
"No one wants to be partners with the gay kid," Kurt said, his eyes narrowing slightly. Dave's expression softened and Kurt asked indifferently, picking a piece of imaginary lint off his shirt, "What about you?"
"No one wants to be partners with the bully." He tongued his cheek briefly, as if in thought, and continued.
"Come on, Kurt. Who cares if anyone sees us together in here. Besides, Miss N is looking at us. If we don't find anyone to work with she's going to put us together anyways." Dave gave Kurt a discrete smile and then playfully waggled his eyebrows as he said, "Whaddya say, partner?"
Kurt blushed at the connotation and then nodded, turning around to go to the front of the class to get a pair of goggles as well as the rest of the chemicals and equipment.
Just put the goggles on, Kurt," Dave said, rolling his eyes behind the green tinged plastic goggles already covering his face.
"I'm going to mess up my hair." Kurt whined and Dave laughed as Kurt attempted to stretch the strap to the goggles out as far as he possibly could so that he was able to slide it over his head without ruining perfectly coiffed hairstyle.
"That's a good look on you," Dave said, and Kurt stuck his tongue out at him.
"Yeah, I'd say they bring out the puke green of my bruise." Kurt vogued dramatically while making the boxing motion around his face with his hands.
"Come on, Hummel." Dave said as he attempted to hide the amusement on his face. "We're falling behind here thanks to you and your obsessive compulsive tendencies.
"Hey," Kurt objected, feigning mortification as he turned to study the materials on the countertop. "Only when it comes to my hair… And outfits…"
"So…" Kurt said slowly, looking at the various chemicals and beakers before them. "What are we supposed to be doing here?"
"We're trying to determine how much hydrogen gas is produced during a magnesium and hydrochloric acid reaction," Dave said patiently.
Kurt prided himself on his intellect but there was something about chemistry that he just couldn't grasp. For all Kurt knew, a 'mole' was something he would find on Finn's back and a 'plum pudding model' sounded downright fattening. And Dave must have noticed the confused look in Kurt's eyes, so the jock started working on the experiment while explaining the procedure to Kurt along the way.
"So," Dave said in an almost whisper as he dipped the tip of the syringe into the small beaker of hydrochloric acid; he pulled the plunger slowly until liquid reached the 15 milliliter line. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
Kurt dropped a strip of silver magnesium into the empty Erlenmeyer flask, per Dave's earlier instructions.
"What? Nothing… Nothing's wrong." Kurt tried to sound convincing, but failed miserably. He went back to measuring the magnesium breaking them into four and five centimeter strips for the rest of the trials they had to do just so that he wouldn't have to look at Dave.
"You know how I feel about you, Kurt… How I've always felt," Dave said slowly and Kurt could feel his heart clench painfully at his words. "So believe me when I say that I've spent more than enough time in the past observing you from afar," Dave felt his cheeks redden as he said this; perhaps those weren't the best choice of words. He was thankful that he was simultaneously working on the experiment so that no one around them had reason to be suspicious of them talking to one another. For all the other students knew they were just discussing hypotheses and whatnot in hushed tones. He continued on, "…to know when something's wrong."
"Creeper," Kurt said, smiling despite the fact.
"Not too unlike how you would stare at Hudson all last year?" Dave said, raising his eyebrows as if daring Kurt to argue.
Kurt sighed, "It was just a silly crush. Besides, we're practically brothers now."
Dave turned his attention back to the experiment and attached the syringe to the opening in the rubber cork.
"That wasn't the point I was trying to make. I just… I know something happened, Kurt. So please," Dave looked up from checking to make sure that the clear plastic hose that was also attached to the rubber cork was all in place. "Just tell me."
Kurt placed his hands on the flat on the table top, watching from the corner of his eye as Dave touched the screen of the manometer with the stylus so that it was ready to record the hydrogen gas production. Dave then squirted the hydrochloric acid into the flask, and the liquid began to bubble as soon as coming in contact with the metal. Dave pushed down on the cork so that none of the gas could escape.
"Dave," Kurt breathed. "Finn knows."
Dave hands slipped off from where he was pushing on the cork and there was a resounding pop as the pressure inside the flask became too much and the cork flew off. The startled students looked around at the source of the noise, and some of them began to laugh at their own jumpiness. But the only thing that Dave heard was Kurt's words echoing in his ears.
"Finn knows."
Sorry for the long wait! I've been crazy sick for the past week and with school on top of that... Plus I started my new Kurtofsky fic!
I also apologize if anyone is confused by the whole "lab" scene. I tried to find a video of the experiment but I came up empty handed. *frownyface* We actually did this lab my last semester, and there was a group whose cork actually did pop off because they didn't do a correct moles of hydrochloric acid to magnesium ratio. 'Twas frightening. xD
The next chapter will continue from where this one left off! Stay tuned!
Please review!
