Kurt woke up before their alarm went off. He scooted up just enough to start licking the edge of Dave's ear and running his hand through the other side of Dave's hair. He woke up moaning, slightly.
"Oh, God, that's a sexy way to wake me up." He reached out for Kurt's hand that was playing with his hair. He felt the ring on Kurt's finger and ran his thumb over the one on his own finger.
"It wasn't a dream."
"Nope. NO dream. I love you and we're engaged."
"And we…"
"We definitely did. I have the sore thighs to prove it. I'm going to seriously have to up the pliés and squats."
"Mmm. Watching you. I could see every muscle flexing. So incredibly sexy."
"It wasn't much of a spectator sport for me," Kurt teased. "But the look on your face was certainly a reflection of the words you're using now."
"Yeah, I was a little too mesmerized and overwhelmed for words at the time."
"Mmm hmm. I could tell." Kurt winked at him.
"Don't stop what you were doing just because I woke up. It was a nice alarm clock, but unlike the alarm clock, I'd like you to continue."
Kurt continued with his licks and kisses down Dave's neck and down to his chest. "Farther?"
"Definitely."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Kurt pushed the door open and Dave followed in behind him. They made it to first period about one minute to spare before the second bell rang. They managed to snag seats next to each other thanks to Sebastian scooting over a seat when Kurt got close enough to sit down.
Kurt leaned over and whispered into Dave's ear. "We can't cut it that close again. I'm certain that Mr. Maxwell will not accept the true reason for why we're late to choir as an acceptable excuse."
Dave had to put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. He turned beet red and tried to stare straight ahead and avoid looking at Kurt, which he knew would result in him laughing and drawing attention to the two of them.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Kurt managed to position himself in front of Dave during yoga. He kept doing little things to get Dave's attention all through the session. They went back to the locker room and changed back into their clothes.
Dave took him by the hand and led him straight out to the Navigator and drove them off school grounds a few blocks to an old gas station that had closed. He drove them around back. He got out and put his back seat down. Kurt caught on. He got out and put the passenger side back seat down and got in the back. He hit the lock on the remote and lay back so Dave could kiss him more easily.
"I've barely kept it together all morning. You've been nothing but a tease."
"No teasing. Please go ahead. I want to so bad."
"Why are we so completely unable to function?"
"We're on an emotional high. And we're teenage guys. Now, you're being a tease for real. Please."
Dave kissed him while Kurt undid his pants.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Kurt got a pass near the end of AP French to report to Mrs. Klassen's office. He left and went to her office.
"Come in, Kurt. Have a seat."
"Yes, Mrs. Klassen. Is there a problem?"
"You left the grounds during your lunch period."
"I didn't think that was an issue as long as I was back on time."
"Dave has permission to leave at the start of lunch, but you do not."
"Why am I not allowed to?"
"Students need written permission from their parents or guardians to leave the school grounds during the school day. Mr. Karofsky approved Dave's off-campus enrollment for those two courses at the college."
"I don't live with my father or a guardian. My guardianship ended the day I turned 18. Who would sign my permission slip?"
She opened up his file. "Kurt, I'm sorry. This is my mistake. I completely forgot that you're already 18 and living on your own."
"It's alright. I can see how that would be easy to do with so many students to keep track of. Can I go back to class now?"
"Yes, of course. You're not having any trouble here are you?" She pulled out her hall pass pad and filled one out.
"No, not at all. It's been a really nice change so far. Even being called in here by accident – it shows that you're paying attention to the students." He took the pass she handed to him and left.
He got to Spanish late. Sebastian wrote on the edge of his notes in French and asked him why he was late, and Kurt answered him.
"I wondered where you were at lunch," he wrote back. Followed by, "Mme Delacroix was displeased that you did not show up for our before-school meeting about leading the spoken readings groups."
"I completely forgot."
Sebastian stopped writing and paid attention when Señor Artino actually began their lesson.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
After Spanish, Kurt went directly back to the French room. He knocked on Madame Delacroix's door, which was open.
"Please come in, Kurt."
"I came to apologize. It's entirely my fault and I have no excuse. I just didn't get it written on my calendar for this week. I will do my best not to repeat this behavior. Perhaps color-coding my calendar will be of some use. My previous school did not use the Tuesday/Thursday/Every other Friday system. We had the same classes each day of the week. That's not an excuse for my poor planning, but perhaps a place where I can start to improve my planning."
"I'm not angry, Kurt. This is your second week at a new school in a new town. People are allowed to make mistakes. You're human. I appreciate your sincere apology. I know the clubs are getting ready to meet. Can you come tomorrow morning and we can talk then?"
"Yes. I'll be here. Thank you for understanding."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Kurt made it to the Harmonichords meeting right before the bell rang. He took his seat next to Sebastian. Wes handed him sheet music. He put it in his binder, and then started to look at it.
"We redid the arrangement for a double lead."
Kurt nodded.
"I'm assuming that you can read music?"
"Yes. I play the piano."
"Are you any good at sight-singing?"
Kurt nodded.
"Excellent. So is Sebastian." Wes moved down front. "Let's try 'Since You Been Gone' with Kurt and Sebastian on lead again."
Everyone stood up and moved down to the floor level and stood in a semi-circle.
Here's the thing, we started out friends.
It was cool, but it was all pretend.
After they sang through the song, Wes asked Kurt, "Do you have perfect pitch?"
Kurt nodded.
"Even better." Wes looked through a giant binder and pulled out a section of the papers that were in it. He handed them out. "Let's try this. Hopefully you all remember it well enough to give it a shot."
They worked on the song and some choreography until the end of the meeting. Kurt put his binder in his bag and headed for the parking lot quickly.
"Hey, slow down." Sebastian jogged a bit to catch up.
"Sorry, Sebastian. It's nothing personal. I traded yesterday off for today because it was our 2nd Anniversary. Call me tonight after 8:00 or I'll sit with you at lunch tomorrow."
"Oh, okay. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that we're having a sleepover Friday night at my place."
"Okay." He opened the Navigator door. "I'm not sure who 'we' is, but I'll eat lunch with you tomorrow and you can tell me about it. I've got to run. See ya!" He closed the door, put his seat belt on, started it up, and pulled out carefully.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Kurt's phone rang not long after he pulled out of the school parking lot. He let it go to voicemail since he was driving. Once he pulled into the lot at Harmon's, he pulled his phone out to see who had called.
He pressed the button and called Burt back. "Hey, Dad. I was driving when you called. What's up?"
"I read your text when I got up this morning."
"Alright. Is that why you called?"
"No. Actually, I called to tell you that I put my name in for the special election for the fourth district congressional seat. Our congressman died unexpectedly, and Sue entered the race as a Republican and Reggie Salazar is running as a Democrat. I just can't let either one of them be our representative. I may not know much about politics, but I know about Reggie's business practices and I know that Sue is a lunatic. She's running a platform against the arts. Finn came home last week saying that they were going to cancel the fall musical even though they had gotten Coach Beiste and the guidance counselor to agree to be the faculty sponsors. I went around town and drummed up enough support to keep the play going. They didn't rehire a teacher willing to lead the Glee Club, so they're doing it on their own. Finn told me that the Bluebirds, or whatever, from that private school, Dalton…"
Kurt interrupted, "Warblers."
"That the Warblers group is student-led. Finn said a couple of guys joined and Santana got a few Cheerios to join so they'd have enough people. Anyway, I can't have this district represented by either of those two. Getting rid of the arts isn't the answer. I already lost you. How many more kids are going to leave this area because there's nothing to do here? We need more arts programs."
"Well, that's true. So, you're running for Congress?"
"As a write-in candidate. It's a long shot, but I'm going to give it a go."
"Well, I hope you win. I have to go. I'm going to be late for work if I don't get inside."
"Sure, kiddo. And um, congratulations. I'm glad you have someone."
"Thanks, Dad."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
When Kurt got home, he kissed Dave on the temple as he walked past him sitting on the futon. He went straight into the study and sat down at his desk. He pulled the one of the planners out that he had bought on the way home.
"Hey, Dave? Can you come in here?"
Dave put the book he was reading down and went into the study. "What's up?"
"Well, I forgot that I was supposed to show up to school early this morning to meet with Sebastian and Madame Delacroix about something for French."
"Uh oh."
"She was actually really nice about it. I have to go in tomorrow morning. But I went out and got both of us new planners. If you don't like yours, you can return or exchange it. The receipt is in the bag."
Dave sat down at his desk and took the planner out.
"The front is customizable. You can slide a picture in the clear pocket. It has 2-page month view followed by a 2-page week view for each week of the month until the end of the summer. The weekly view has seven columns with lines, which makes it perfect for keeping assignments and activities organized."
Dave opened it up and looked at it. "I don't think I've ever seen a planner or calendar that starts with Monday instead of Sunday."
"Oh, I liked that feature the most. There were several others that had the traditional layout. I liked this because it keeps the two weekend days together. It's always been such a pain to put an all-weekend event on opposite ends of a calendar week. But I didn't know what you would think of that."
"It's definitely unusual, but I can see the merit of doing it this way. I'll keep it."
Kurt got out his colored pencils and a ruler and highlighted the edges of Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other Friday in dark yellow and the Mondays, Wednesdays, and every other Friday in maroon for the rest of the semester on the month view pages.
Dave looked over at what he was doing. "What are you doing there that you're so serious about?"
"After missing that meeting with Madame Delacroix his morning, I need to get this Monday/Wednesday, Tuesday/Thursday thing imbedded into my brain, so I bought I'm color coding the days to help give me a visual reminder."
"Interesting idea. I might do that to mine. I'll put the stuff from my college classes in first since I have a syllabus for the whole semester for those classes, but I'll warm some dinner up for you before I do anything else to my planner."
"Thanks. I haven't eaten since breakfast."
Dave leaned down and kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't think about how you'd have to go straight from Harmonichords to the shop."
"It's alright. I'm just really hungry." He lightly colored in the boxes with the names of the days on the tops of the weekly view pages. Once he finished, he added his meting with Madame Delacroix the next morning on the weekly view. He wrote in his work times in pencil for the rest of the semester.
Dave left and went in the kitchen. Once Kurt finished with the planner, he pulled out his Global History and Geography book and got to work on the end-of-chapter questions that he needed to get done. He paused long enough to eat and went back into the study to finish up the reading he had for AP English. Dave worked on filling in his planner.
"Can I use your colored pencils?"
"Yeah, sure." Kurt pulled them out again and handed them to Dave.
Dave continued to work on his planner while Kurt kept reading. Once Dave finished, he gave the colored pencils back. He thought for a few minutes about what to put in the front.
"How about photo collages?"
"Hmm?" Kurt looked up.
"For the fronts. We can make collages online and pick them up at the Sam's photo department. Our membership didn't expire yet."
"Sure. That sounds fun. Could you get it started while I read these last few pages?"
They spent a while looking through photos and creating two different collages. They looked through some of their DVDs with photos on them. They each chose some with animals and different landscape scenes from places they had been, along with a few pictures from some of the other places they'd been like museums. Kurt arranged his on a crimson background and Dave did his on a deep warm blue. Kurt told him about his conversation with Burt earlier that afternoon.
As soon as they uploaded the collages to the Sam's Club photo studio, they showered. They went to sleep quickly since they had stayed up late the night before and they got caught up in the fun of creating the collages.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
That Friday afternoon, Kurt auditioned for the school musical Into the Woods. Rather than have people audition for particular parts, the students who were interested were given sides to memorize and they all learned and performed the same two songs. The audition process was quick and relatively stress-free.
Dave went his session with Dr. Clarkson and got home a little before Kurt. He put Kurt's collage photo on his desk and started working on his homework. Kurt found him in their study when he came home. He put his bag down on his own desk and then stepped closer to Dave, who looked up from the notebook he was writing in. Kurt leaned down and kissed him.
He noticed the photo. "Thanks." He pulled his planner out and slipped it into the front cover.
"How did your audition go?"
"It went fine. I actually really liked being assigned what to prepare rather than just randomly choosing. It was less stressful that way. How was your session?"
"Good. I like Dr. Clarkson a lot. I think you might benefit from talking to him a few times."
"I'll think about it. I know I should, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to put the mental effort into it yet."
"I get that. I wasn't until recently. But I'm ready to move on and leave that stuff behind."
"I realized this afternoon how little I've done to prepare for going to college. When I was waiting to audition, I looked through my planner. I added applying for scholarships and working on my applications every Sunday for the next four weeks. The early admissions application is due by November 1st at the school I want to go to. I'm going to ask Claire to record my audition pieces in the studio. I have to figure out which schools I'm going to apply to as back-ups. And I need to apply for every scholarship I can find that I fit the criteria for. Even if I got $1000 a year, it would help. When I was working on my planner, I realized that we don't get out of school until the end of June here. That cuts off four weeks that I'm used to being able to work full time. That's over $2000 that I won't be able to earn this summer that I thought I would be able to."
"I hadn't looked that far ahead at our school calendar to see that school ends so late."
"I'm going to try to get as much schoolwork done as I can in the next two hours. I'm working tomorrow morning so I need to go to bed when we come back from the open mic night tonight." He opened his planner to the current week.
"I'm going to go to do all the yard work and any other chores that are mine to do while you're at work."
"Good plan." Kurt put his head down on his desk. "Except that I just saw the Harmonichords sleepover is tonight at Sebastian's."
"You don't want to go?"
"I do, but not without you. And it seems kind of pointless since I have to get up early to go to work. I guess I'll go pack an overnight bag and then come back in here to work on this stuff."
"I just remembered that I need to go to Office Depot. I'll go do that and meet you at the open mic night. We're not dressing up this time, right?"
"Nope. I guess not. No time to think of what to wear or get anything together."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Later that evening, the guys were all sitting around in Sebastian's family room after choosing where to put their sleeping bags. Kurt went to the bathroom to change into the sweats he brought with him. He initially heard music after he stepped out, but then nothing as he got closer. He put his clothes in his bag and sat down on his sleeping bag.
"What?"
"Your old school won the State Championship in football. You were the kicker," Nick said.
"That's true."
Jeff said, "And you won the National Cheer Championship the year before."
"Also true. Why has someone decided to spy on me?"
Wes said, "You looked so familiar when I first saw you. When I looked you up on Google, I found the cheerleading and football information and once I found your old school's name, I looked that up and remembered the name from Nationals. It finally dawned on me where I had seen you. We placed third last year at Nationals for show choir. Your group placed fourth. I saw so many choirs perform that day that I couldn't place your face from the competition, but I still knew I had seen you somewhere before."
"Oh."
"You were really good," Jeff said. "Why does it seem like you didn't want us to know?"
"It's fine. Now, you know. I was a cheerleader my sophomore year. I played football my sophomore and junior year. So did Dave. He played because of me. His first love is hockey. Our hockey team was disbanded sophomore year, so he played freshman and junior year. He's hoping to make the team this year. I didn't want to play football anymore, so I didn't try out when we moved. The area we lived before didn't have much in the way of performing arts. No school plays or musicals. No community theater. The school also didn't offer any advanced courses, like AP classes. That's one of the big reasons we moved, but there are others. Other reasons that are personal. I'm just going to ask you not to go telling everyone else that you figured out where I moved from. It's irrelevant to my singing and performing and how I do in school. Can you all just let this drop?"
"Anyone can use Google," Wes said.
"I know. I was just hoping that no one would care. I can't stop you. And I'm sure that some of you feel more inclined to look now that I've said not to because that's just human nature." He took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. "Look, I'll tell you that the area I lived in was homophobic. The bullying was verbal, physical, and also included property damage to our home and my SUV. Can we leave it at that? Can I just be part of this group without people looking into my past anymore? If I'm not what you want for a lead singer or a group member, then I can pack up and go home. But I really don't want to sit around rehashing my past and I don't want pity-based friendships." Kurt stood up.
"Hey, no," Wes said. "I'm sorry. Your cheer performance was so good I wanted to show everyone. That's on me. I was the nosybody. I should have talked to you individually. I'm sorry. We don't want you to quit. The opposite in fact. We think that with you and Sebastian sharing the lead that we have the best chance we've had in years. Please don't quit because I didn't mind my own business."
Kurt nodded and sat back down on his sleeping bag. "Please don't send that video out to other people. I'm not ashamed of my performance. I'm just not interested in other people knowing a lot about me when I know nothing about them."
Sebastian spoke up in Kurt's defense. "So, that's that, then. Right? We're going to leave Kurt's past in the past where he wants it? If he had wanted us to be super impressed, he would have shown us that performance up front."
Everyone nodded.
"Alright then, who's ready for the movie?" Sebastian got up and turned the lights off and pressed play on the remote. He sat down on Kurt's sleeping bag with him and put his arm around his shoulders and side hugged him.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
After the open mic event, Dave went home and spent the rest of his evening making the collage poster he had been thinking about. He took the photocopies he made at Office Depot of all of the pages he had marked in the Bible he had been reading and started to highlight the verses with different colored highlighters. Once he finished that, he cut the verses out, leaving enough space on one side to write the book, chapter, and verse of each one. After he had finished, he had a lot of verses. He glued them on the half-size poster board he had bought, creating a rainbow from pink verses on the left to lavender verses on the right. He put four textbooks on the corners to keep it from rolling up and sticking to itself during the night while it dried.
The next morning, he took a picture of it to show to Kurt and Dr. Clarkson. He rolled it and put it in the mailing tube he'd bought and mailed it. He donated the Bible back to the store he'd bought it from on his way back home to do the outdoor work.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
The following Monday, the cast list for Into the Woods was posted before third period. Kurt waited until after their session in the resource room to go look. Rather than leave for his afternoon class, Dave went with him to look at the list. They were both thrilled to see Kurt's name on the cast list. Kurt turned and wrapped his arms around Dave's neck. Dave pulled him closed and hugged him.
"This means I'll have rehearsals on Tuesdays and Thursdays until 6:00."
"That's not so bad."
"It's not." He hugged Dave again. "I'll see you when I get home from work tonight."
Dave let go of him. "I'll have dinner ready." He gave him a quick kiss and headed off to the parking lot.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Saturday morning, Dave tried to sneak out of the bed unsuccessfully.
Kurt doubled-down on the hold he had on him when Dave tried to move.
Dave chuckled. "Fancy, I need to get up."
"Nuh uh. You're my teddy bear. I can't sleep if you get out of the bed."
"Well, I was going to make you breakfast before we go."
"Go?"
"Yes. We have plans, remember?"
Kurt scooted closer and snuggled in tighter.
"Come on, Fancy. You know you want to go into the City. We planned our day out together. It's October 1st. The day we're going to the New York City Library, Bryant Park, those music stores, that art show, and the strings concert in Central Park?" Dave kissed the top of his head.
"I remember. I do want to do all of those things we planned, but I'm so cozy right here. I love you and I want to cuddle more."
"I love you too." Dave kissed him on the forehead. "You're adorable, you know."
"Just 10 more minutes? We can eat turkey sandwiches on the drive to the train station."
"Ten minutes." He smiled and held Kurt close.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Dave continued to see Dr. Clarkson. He worked through a lot of the small things that were still hanging around in his mind being bothersome. Kurt went with him a couple of times and ended up making a few appointments just for himself, working through dealing with losing his mother and the situation with Burt, Carole, and Finn.
In addition to his role as Jack in Into the Woods, Kurt got the role of the Scarecrow in the local theater's holiday production of The Wizard of Oz. Joining all of the theatre-related clubs at school put him in the center of the action that he had always craved and had never gotten to be a part of in Lima.
Dave went to the call-out meeting for hockey and met all of the other members of the team. He started to skate with them and play around scrimmaging on the Saturday mornings that Kurt worked. Dave finally began to feel like he belonged at the college when he started getting a scores back on a couple of tests and felt like he was doing well. He started staying at school for lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays and heading to the college to eat with some of his classmates there on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Nick, Jeff, and Nina were frequent visitors to Quinn's. Sugar was a close second for most frequent visitor. Sebastian was Kurt's most frequent guest. Dave had members of the hockey team over fairly often as well. Sometimes Kurt hung around, but other times, he and Sebastian went down to the studio and sang and danced, inviting the rest of the Harmonichords over to work on pieces and watch movies. Kurt had found an old projector that he hooked to his laptop to show movies on the wall in the studio. He was pleased that the guys in the group had followed his request at the sleepover.
Kurt and Quinn used the studio frequently to work on their pieces for ballet, sometimes joined by Nina and Aaron.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
The third weekend in October, Kurt and Dave headed to a nature center about 15 minutes away on. On their way, they stopped at a jewelry store that Dave had found that could do same-day engravings. Dave took Kurt's ring in and gave the inscription to the jeweler and came back out.
Once they got to the nature preserve, they visited all of the outdoor areas, which included a reconstructed Native American area. After wandering through the area and seeing the outdoor animals, they went inside to see the smaller animals and birds. Afterwards, they grabbed their backpack cooler from the truck and headed out to the trails to go for a hike and a picnic.
"We haven't been on a hike like this since we moved. I like it here," Kurt said, as the walked hand in hand through the densely wooded area.
"Me too. And it's not far to drive."
When they got to an area with a clearing, they stopped and pulled out their picnic blanket and sat down to eat. Once they pulled everything out, they ate in silence for a while, enjoying the quiet and tranquility.
"I still want to go back to the other place we went, the one along the shoreline," Kurt said.
"We should look to see when the best times to go are and maybe skip school one morning to go in the spring because I bet it's really crowded on the weekends."
"Sure. By then, we'll be a couple of months away from graduation and I don't see how skipping a day can be that much of a problem. We just have to pick a day that we don't have a test."
When they had finished eating and had packed everything back up, Dave took Kurt's hand and repositioned it to a slow dance hold.
"Dance with me?"
Kurt nodded and put his other hand on Dave's shoulder. After a few minutes, Kurt stepped a little closer and kissed Dave gently. He stepped back and offered his hand and they continued their hike.
When they left the nature preserve, they stopped at a consignment store nearby. Kurt found a couple of things he tried on, but ended up just buying a brooch he liked. They stopped a couple of other places, including the jewelry store before they headed back home.
When they got back home, Dave had Kurt sit on the futon and he knelt down in front of Kurt. "I wrote you a poem. And part of the poem is what I had engraved in your ring." He took a deep breath and recited what he had written for Kurt.
The wind whispers.
The darkness changes into light,
To fade into darkness again.
Everything is ephemeral,
Except our love.
Our fingers remain intertwined,
As the seasons change.
The sweetness of your sleeping expression,
And the purest beauty of your loving gaze,
Are etched forever in my mind.
Let the wind keep whispering,
So I can stay one more day with you.
Kurt slipped to his knees as well and wrapped his arms around Dave's neck. "That was beautiful. Thank you." He kissed Dave gently. He leaned back enough that he could hold his left hand out for Dave to put his ring back on.
"You're welcome. I love you so much." He took Kurt's hand and kissed his ring finger gently before he took the ring out of the little bag. "The inside says, 'Let the wind keep whispering.'" He put the ring back on Kurt's finger.
He pushed up to standing, pulling Kurt with him gently. He wrapped his arms around Kurt's lower back. Kurt slipped his arms under Dave's and wrapped them around his upper back and kissed him.
"It's perfect. Will you write it down so I can keep it and read it over and over again?"
Dave blushed slightly and nodded. "Of course."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
By the last week in October, the two of them had worked through their scheduling struggles. Kurt hadn't had free time on his hands that he didn't know what to do with in a long time. They had found a balance between keeping in contact with their old friends in Lima and spending time with their new friends, their family, and each other. Dave no longer felt like anyone was going to be able to lure Kurt away from him, having worked through a lot of his fear of abandonment in his sessions with Dr. Clarkson.
The last week of October was tech week for Into the Woods and Kurt began to stress out because he had to miss out on two hours of work on Monday and two rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz. Plus, he was nervous about his stage debut. Each evening, Dave warmed up leftovers from their family dinner for Kurt to give him more time to get his schoolwork done, which helped Kurt feel less stressed.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Friday night arrived and Paul, Judy, Dave, and Quinn dressed up and headed up to Roosevelt for the opening night of Into the Woods to watch Kurt. They went inside and met up with Claire and Andrew and sat together. Quinn ended up putting her hand on Dave's knee because he was bouncing it in excitement. The lights went down and the show finally started.
When it ended, Dave made a beeline for the area where the cast was going to come out and greet people. He didn't crowd to the front of the line. He stood back against the hallway wall and waited. He used Kurt's camera to take pictures of people wanting to talk to him. Once the line had dissipated, he walked up to Kurt. He handed him his program and a pen. Kurt smiled and signed it for him. He posed for a selfie with Dave as well. Afterwards, Kurt left with the rest of the cast to go change.
When he came out into the lobby, Dave was waiting for him. As soon as he saw him, he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around him and spun him in a circle. "How did I not know you were like the lead in this musical?"
"You knew I was playing Jack. I didn't hide it from you."
"I guess I figured you would have said that you were the 'lead character Jack'. I didn't want any spoilers about the story, so I didn't look anything up. I wanted to experience the story first-hand tonight. And you were the lead and you were so amazing!" Dave kissed him chastely. "We need to get going. Mom and Dad and Quinn and Sebastian's parents already left for the restaurant. And Sebastian too. He came through here about five minutes ago."
"Alright. Let me go and we can leave," Kurt teased.
Dave loosened his grip and just held Kurt's hand instead. He smiled when he noticed that Kurt's ring was already back on.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
After four successful performances of Into the Woods over the weekend, Kurt finally had time to sit down and make two DVDs of the recording Claire had done of opening night. He put them in padded cases and put them in his bag to send out the next day, which was Halloween.
He left school at lunch and mailed one DVD to Burt and one to Mercedes. He also mailed in the last of his scholarship applications that didn't offer an online submission option. He took the ones that Quinn had completed with him as well.
Kurt was scheduled to work that afternoon, but the area where he worked had a lot of businesses that had planned to participate in trick-or-treating from 5-7, including Harmon's, so he was at least going to be able to participate a little.
Sebastian and Dave joined him at the shop, dressed as a lacrosse player and a hockey player – hardly costumes in Kurt's opinion since they were just their sports uniforms. They said that they didn't want to scare any of the younger kids, so they overruled Kurt's ideas for more elaborate costumes. Kurt helped hand out candy here and there between working on cars. At 7:00, Dave and Sebastian left.
Kurt arrived home an hour later to find that Dave had dinner ready and on the table. They sat down and ate together. Kurt cleaned up since Dave had cooked. While he was washing dishes, Dave went into their bedroom. Right as Kurt finished, Dave came out wearing gray long underwear made out of sports fabric and a matching top.
Kurt looked him and raised an eyebrow. "Did you get some new underlayer pieces for hockey? Those look nice."
"Yes and no. Since you weren't thrilled with my earlier choice of costume, I did a lot of thinking about a costume for here at home that would be more to your liking."
Kurt looked even more confused.
Dave moved closer and stood in the center of the largest open space in the room. He winked at Kurt and said, "I thought I'd reprise my role as the pole."
Kurt chortled, but got himself under control. "I see," he said seriously. He walked closer and pretended to examine the trustworthiness and construction of the "pole". "It MIGHT work. I'm willing to give it a fair chance." He winked at Dave before he left the room to get his iPod. He turned the majority of the lights off in the apartment and dimmed the lights over the sink when he came back in the room. He double-checked the lock on the door and "For Your Entertainment" began to play when he docked his iPod.
"You danced to this at our first New Year's party."
"I did." He began to strip as he sang along with the song.
Dave's eyes went wide and he struggled to stay in place and let Kurt dance around him and drape himself all over him. By the time the song ended, Dave reached for him and pulled him in for a steaming kiss before he removed Kurt's last article of clothing and sank to his knees.
Fortunately, they had both gotten in the habit of finishing their Monday night homework on Sundays, leaving them time to enjoy the rest of the evening. They didn't get to sleep for quite a while.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
That Friday evening, the whole family went to see Quinn in her acting debut as Abby Brewster and Nina as Martha Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace. Sugar played Elaine Harper. They met up with Nick and Jeff and their parents and sat together. Dave and Kurt had worked on the set. Kurt had worked on the costumes too. The performers did a great job and everyone loved it. It was fun to see their hard work as part of the production.
That evening was also opening night for Into the Woods at McKinley. The group had chosen the musical after Kurt told them that Roosevelt was doing it. The limited cast and lack of large group musical dance numbers made it a good choice for the New Directions to be able to put on mostly by themselves with Artie as their student director.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
The next morning, Kurt managed to slip out of the bed, get dressed, get Dave's clothes out, and get their breakfast on the table while Dave slept. Once he was done, he went into their bedroom and lithely slipped back into the bed and managed to straddle Dave and sit down very slowly. He leaned forward and kissed him gently.
"Mmm." Dave reached up and wrapped his arms around Kurt. "You have clothes on."
"Don't sound so disappointed. Open your eyes."
Dave blinked a few times and tried to focus. "You have a Rangers hoodie on."
"I do." He reached next to him on the bed and picked up the hoodie he had laid out and held it up. "There's one for you too. Your dad gave them to me last night. Surprise."
"Well, I like the hoodie, but I wanted to snuggle."
"Breakfast is on the table already. I let you sleep as long as I could."
"Alright, but we're snuggling extra tonight."
"Sounds good to me. Come on. It's time to use your birthday tickets to watch the Rangers game tonight, which as you know, is part of our 2-day mini vacation in the City. Up you go." Kurt slid back and pulled Dave to sitting. He was practically bouncing on his knees. "I want to be at the Hall of Science when it opens."
"You're so fucking adorable, Fancy. I'm up. I'm up." He kissed Kurt on the nose and got out of bed.
They made it to the train to Queens at the time they had planned to. They enjoyed their day at the science museum. A little before closing time, they headed back into Manhattan in time to grab dinner at the food hall near Madison Square Garden. They finished up at 6:00, giving them time to stand in line and get to their seats before the Rangers faced off against the Montreal Canadiens at 7:00.
The game finished about 9:30 with the Rangers winning 5-3. While they waited to get out of their row, Kurt pulled out a lemon throat lozenge and gave it to Dave. He popped it in his mouth and kissed Kurt.
Once they finally made it through the crowds of people and to their hotel, they could talk easily again. Dave put their keycard in and opened the door. Kurt fastened the extra lock after they were inside. He took his puffer vest off and hung it on a hanger on the rack near the door. Dave did the same with his.
"Thank you for remembering how much I would end up yelling."
"You're welcome." He put the Marc Jacobs bag Dave had given him on the table near the window. He sat in one of the chairs and took his boots off. He put his jeans and hoodie over one of the chairs. He looked over at Dave, who was just standing there. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing. You're just gorgeous. I still have these flashes every now and then where I feel like this is some kind of dream."
"No dream." He walked to where Dave was standing and knelt to untie his shoes.
Dave stepped back and sat on the end of the bed to pull them off and undress. Kurt took his shoes and clothes. He put Dave's clothes over the back of a different chair. He opened his bag and pulled out the very neatly packed undergarments that he had brought for the next day and put the large ziptop bag they were in on the table. He pulled out a second bag that he had turned into a minimalist travel bag with their toothbrushes, a travel tube of toothpaste, travel-sized deodorant, and a small amount of the hair wax and moisturizer that Kurt used in a tiny travel container meant for contacts. He took that ziptop bag to the bathroom.
"I still can't believe you fit everything in that little messenger bag." Dave wrapped his arms around Kurt from the back.
Kurt put the items from the bag on the bathroom sink. "I was motivated to not have to rent multiple lockers at the museum and to not have to carry around a big bag tomorrow while we're out and about. Contrary to my usual take on things, I won't die from wearing the same clothes two days in a row."
Dave chortled. "I will keep your secret safe."
"I know." Kurt turned in his arms and kissed him. "You saw that I brought clean undershirts, underwear, and socks. I'm not going to wear dirty underclothes. I do have SOME standards."
"Of course you do, Fancy." He leaned in and kissed Kurt. "Shower with me?"
"Any time."
Once they got out, Dave got his extra snuggles while they watched a movie. They didn't stay up too late because they wanted to be rested for their day at the Museum of Natural History they had planned for the following day.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Late Tuesday evening, Burt texted Kurt letting him know that he had won the election. Kurt called him back and congratulated him.
"He won. I know you heard. But he won! My dad's going to be a congressman." He used the map app on his phone. "Washington DC is only a little over 4 hours from here. I could drive that in a day and maybe go see him sometimes without Finn or Carole around."
"You could." He scooted closer and looked over Kurt's shoulder. "It looks like Philadelphia is right in the middle. You could each drive two hours once in a while too."
"I don't hate Carole. Maybe Finn will grow up more and once he's not so immature, we can get along better."
"Maybe."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Saturday was the Harmonichords first competition. Paul, Judy, Quinn, and Dave came to watch them. They sat with Claire and Andrew. Claire recorded their performance like she had the musical. They came in first. Dave pulled Kurt into a hug as soon as he got close enough.
The group decided to go home and change and meet up later in the evening to go out for pizza and go bowling. They decided to open it up to the group member's significant others as well.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Not long after they had gotten home, Nick texted Quinn that he was downstairs. She went down to let him in.
"You're alone? That's unusual," she teased.
"I wanted to talk to you without my sidekicks."
She winked at him. "Ooh, I bet Jeff and Nina wouldn't like to hear you call them that."
"I'm pretty sure that each of them calls us the sidekicks."
"Probably." She opened her door and let him in. She closed it behind them. "Why did you come over? Not that I'm not glad to see you. I'm just surprised."
"I'll just get straight to the point. I really like you and I'd like for us to date."
"Oh, wow." Quinn panicked slightly.
"You're not interested? We can still be friends, though, right? I didn't just ruin everything, did I?"
"Come sit down." She sat on the sofa and pulled her legs up and sat criss-cross facing the other end.
He sat down and turned to face her.
"I do like you. A lot. But there is something you don't know. And I'm afraid that if you do, you won't want to be my friend, let alone date me."
"I doubt that."
"I wouldn't be so sure. I didn't expect to move here and find someone I liked. I really planned to just move and keep to myself and make it through the school year and then go off to college next fall. I had hoped to make a few casual friends to do things with, but then you and Nina have been so great. I've never really had a best friend that was a girl. Kurt's been my best friend for a while now. I had two good friends that were girls, but I never let myself get super close to them because I've known for a couple of years that I didn't want to stay where I was. But you and Nina both applied to Yale, like I did." She wiped a few tears that managed to escape. "This is really hard."
Nick scooted closer and took Quinn's hand.
She took a deep breath. "Telling you this and you not keeping it to yourself will completely undo everything I've worked so hard to escape from."
"Look, Quinn. Even if you're right, which I don't think you are, but even if whatever you have to say to me causes me to not want to be friends with you anymore, I will keep whatever it is to myself. We told you how much we were hurt by the gossip late last spring. The only exception would be to find out that you're a wanted criminal. I'd have to tell Nina and Jeff, to keep them safe." He winked at her.
"I'm not a wanted criminal," she shook her head and smiled briefly.
"Please trust me." He squeezed her hand.
She took a deep breath. She let go of his hand and went and grabbed the box of tissues and came back. She started from where she transformed from Lucy to Quinn and ended with their move to New York.
"So, you cheated not long after you started dating your first boyfriend that you dated only because he was the 'right kind of guy to date'?"
"I hadn't thought about it, but in the context of what you told me about your last girlfriend, I can see how that point would come to the forefront of your mind. Yes. I did. There's no excuse for what I did. But I would like to say that I was never attracted to or actually liked my first boyfriend. It was expected that we would date. We were the dream team. Two freshmen who were already at the top of the heap socially. Having sex right after I turned 15 was stupid, but I was really attracted to him and I wanted to feel loved. I hurt both of us. He was a player, but I found out later that he really did like me too, but that wasn't until later. I did a lot of research once I realized what was going to happen. I broke it off with my boyfriend, told him that the baby wasn't his, and left town to move into the group home that I had liked the most. He had actually cheated on me as well and was interested in someone else. Anyway, when I came back after the baby, it was my own choice to remain single. The guy I slept with had his own issues to deal with and his family obligations will keep him in Ohio for a long time. I knew I wasn't going to stay in Ohio, so I didn't want to start something with him and get serious, just to move away and break both of our hearts. I never was in love with him, but I didn't want to do anything that would make that more likely."
"That was a mature thing to do."
"I've learned that status means nothing compared to who someone is. I've learned that cheating destroys people's lives sometimes. But I've also learned that sometimes people can find love after loss. My biological father cheated on my mom and she divorced him. But she is so happy now. I honestly didn't know what she looked like happy. And Paul is the best dad. And he is my real dad legally. Legally Dave and I are brother and sister. We didn't lie to any of you. When they got married, Dad adopted me and Mom adopted him."
Nick nodded. "None of what you told me makes me feel any different. That was then and this is now. I'm not repulsed by the fact that you've had sex once. I'm angry on your behalf that someone lied to you about using contraception. But I'm not willing to give up what could be an amazing relationship with you because you were a lonely, barely 15-year-old who made a bad choice. I will ask you to please break up with me if you think you'd rather see someone else at some point."
"Yes, of course. You're still serious about wanting us to date? Even knowing everything."
"Yes. And I don't see any reason to tell Nina or my parents. I appreciate you telling me because I am sure there are things that affect you differently because of what you went through and that will help me be there for you, but my family has no need to know about any of this, not because I'm ashamed or hiding anything, but because it doesn't affect them in any way. And just so you know, I'd like you just as much if you didn't put blond highlights in your hair or if you weren't as thin as you are. There's more to you than your looks. You're kind, generous, sweet, smart, and funny."
"I can be a real bitch."
"I think most people can be, but it's not who you choose to be anymore from what I've seen. I really like you and care about you. Will you be my girlfriend?"
She squeezed his hand. "Yes."
"You're sure. I won't stop being your friend if you don't really want this. I don't want this to be like your relationship with your first boyfriend."
"This is nothing like that. The only resemblance to that situation is that you're a guy. Beyond that, there are no similarities. And yes, I'm sure. I like you a lot. I just figured you wouldn't be interested if you knew the truth and I wanted us to be friends because I enjoy spending time with you."
"Well, I have a question for you then. Will you go with me tonight out to pizza and bowling with the Harmonichords? We're going out to celebrate our win earlier. And we're allowed to bring our girlfriends or boyfriends."
"Sure."
He scooted closer. "Can I kiss you?"
She nodded and quietly said, "Yes." She leaned forward to meet him for a brief chase kiss. "Still want to be my boyfriend?"
He blushed slightly. "Definitely."
"What time should I be ready to go?"
"Well, I was hoping that you'd just change into whatever you want to wear to go eat pizza and go bowling and you'd leave with me. It's not super cold out yet. I thought maybe we could go for a walk or I could get the hammock out and we could just talk in your backyard."
"I'll be right back." She got up and went to her room to pick out something to wear. She texted Kurt.
-Fashion emergency!
-Should I come over?
-No. Just tell me what to wear to this Harmonichords pizza and bowing thing this evening.
-Did Nick ask you out finally?
-What do you mean finally?
-He's liked you for a while. I could tell. What's he wearing?
-Jeans and a button up shirt.
-Okay. Wear the dress with the blue pattern, your longest blue leggings, your brown lace up boots, your blue cardigan, and your brown leather jacket.
-You're sure?
-Positive. I'll see you there. 3
Quinn changed into what Kurt suggested quickly and went back out to the living room.
"Perfect."
She smiled and bit her lower lip.
He got up and walked to where she was standing next to her coat closet. He reached out and put his hand under her chin. "Before we do anything else, I don't want you to wonder what I meant by that. You could have put on any number of things I've seen you wear before or something I haven't and as long is you had on something that suited what we were doing, I would have said the same thing. I don't want you to overthink what you have on and then try to figure out what it is that would get you the same response from me. You're perfectly you and what you wear suits you. You could have put on jeans and a Roosevelt hoodie and I would have said the same thing. On the other hand, if you had come out in this outfit minus the leggings part, I would have reminded you about the bowling aspect of the evening because I want you to have fun, not be self-conscious about leaning over the whole evening because you're only wearing a dress."
She nodded. "Thank you. Really." She stepped closer and kissed him gently. "You're sweet." She stepped back and grabbed her brown leather jacket and closed the closet back. She went down to her room and grabbed her purse. "I'm ready."
"Great." He opened the door reached out for her hand.
"Just let me lock the door first." After she locked it, she took his hand and they left.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Quinn slipped into the chair next to Kurt once they got to the pizza place. She leaned in and quietly said, "I told him everything. He said the past was the past and he wouldn't say anything to anyone, not even Nina or Jeff."
Kurt wrapped his arm around her and hugged her. When she started to sit back up, he kissed her on the cheek. Nick saw and smiled at Kurt. Kurt nodded nearly imperceptibly. No one questioned Nick about Quinn's presence. They all enjoyed their evening together. Kurt and Dave led their half of the group to victory again.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
When they got back, Quinn opened the outside door and they went in. She gave Nick the key to her apartment. "I'll be right up." She went in the studio and knocked on the door that led into the house. A minute later, Judy opened the door from the inside and let her in.
"Nick asked me to be his girlfriend," she blurted out excitedly. "He's so sweet."
"He is. Do you like him?"
"I do. Jeff's sweet too, but I wouldn't have agreed to go out with him. I really do like Nick."
"As long as you're happy, sweetie. You know that's what we want for you."
She nodded. "I told him everything. He said it didn't matter. No, he said that he was glad that I told him because there might be times when I get upset for reasons he wouldn't have otherwise known, but that it didn't change his mind about wanting to ask me out."
Judy hugged her.
Paul came out of the office and heard the end of what Quinn had said. "Did Nick ask you out?"
She nodded. "He did. Now, he's my boyfriend."
Paul hugged her when Judy let go. "I'm happy for you, sweetie. You deserve to be happy."
"I just wanted to tell the two of you. He's upstairs waiting for me. I just have one question. Is he still going to be allowed to stay over?"
"Of course, sweetie," Judy said. "We're not going to give you different rules than Kurt and Dave had. Just make sure his parents are okay with it. We know they were fine when it's been all three of them staying here, but him alone, we don't know. Just ask. That adage about how getting forgiveness is easier than getting permission isn't really a good one. People might forgive, but you lose their trust."
"Very true." She turned to leave.
"Good night, sweetie," Judy said.
"Night." Quinn closed the door and headed upstairs.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Quinn opened the door and closed and locked it behind her. She put her jacket in the closet and slipped her boots off and put them against the wall with her purse. She sat down on the couch next to Nick.
"I saw your little exchange with Kurt."
"It's the best friend seal of approval. You already had Nina's approval."
"What about Jeff?"
"His too."
"My parents said that you're still allowed to stay over, if your parents are okay with it once they know that we're dating."
"I'll talk to them about it. How about for now, we watch a movie?"
"Sure. You can pick. I'm going to go put on a hoodie instead of this dress and sweater. I'll be right back." She grabbed her purse and boots on the way to her room.
When she came back, she curled into Nick's side and enjoyed being snuggled.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
The following weekend was Singspiration's first competition. Kurt went in to work early and got off at 11:00. He rushed in, showered, got ready, and they left to be at the school by 11:45. Dave handed him some food in some ziptop bags and he ate while Dave drove.
The area was a lot more populated than Ohio and there were multiple Sectionals Competitions around the New York City area that same day. They beat the other five choirs they competed against. Paul and Judy sat with Andrew and Claire, who recorded it.
Afterwards, the Duvals went out to dinner with Paul and Judy. Nick took Quinn out on a date. Kurt and Dave went home to get their schoolwork done so they could spend Sunday relaxing.
Kurt got a text on the way up the stairs.
"The New Directions won their Sectionals today too," Kurt said as he got to the landing. He closed and locked the door behind him. He started to undress as soon as he got into their room.
"Well, that's good," Dave said. "I know how bummed Mercedes was about how things were earlier this semester."
"I'm glad for them too. And choosing Into the Woods after I told her about it made a lot of sense for them. I'm glad they finally got to do a musical. I know that Rachel wanted to do West Side Story, but that was just too much. They had no one to play Tony and that musical requires so many people to participate. Where would they ever get that many guys who were willing to sing and dance in front of people?"
Dave laughed. "I guess Coach Beiste could have threatened to kick anyone off the football or hockey teams that didn't participate."
"I guess. And maybe Brittany and Santana might have been able to get enough Cheerios to be in it." Kurt wrapped his arms around Dave's neck and kissed him. "Early shower and sweats?"
"Sure."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
The next week was busy with preparing for Thanksgiving. Judy had invited the Smythes to eat with them. Kurt, Dave, and Quinn worked Wednesday evening to make a few desserts and prep whatever they could for the next morning.
Thursday morning, Judy got up early and got the turkey started. She also smoked the ham they had gotten. The four of them worked to prep the rest of the food. The Smythes showed up at 1:00 with some French dishes to add to what they had prepared. They all sat down and enjoyed their feast.
Once they finished, Kurt, Dave, and Quinn packed up the leftovers and put them away. While the other teens put the food away, Sebastian set up the projector in the studio using his laptop from France. Judy, Quinn, Sebastian, and Kurt watched one of Claire's favorite movies with the English subtitles on for Judy while Andrew, Paul, and Dave watched one of the football games in the living room.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
The week after Thanksgiving, the Harmonichords and Singspiration started working on their pieces for Regionals. Kurt, Dave, and Quinn had to adjust to the fact that the semester wasn't going to end until after winter break, which was only a week long instead of two weeks like they were used to.
Kurt continued to work Monday evenings. Dave's hockey practices went from a few times a week to four days a week. He had to drop out of the Set Design Club for hockey season. Kurt had an additional rehearsal for The Wizard of Oz each week after Thanksgiving.
Without Dave knowing, Kurt took his pullover Roosevelt hoodie to a local screenprint shop and had KAROFSKY printed down the sleeve with the number 19 at the top near the shoulder in the same color as the writing on the front of the hoodie.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Thursday morning, Kurt managed to get dressed without Dave seeing the addition to his hoodie. Once he was dressed, Kurt let him see.
"That's cool. I've never seen the name down the sleeve." He pulled Kurt into a hug.
"I had it put down the sleeve because I'll be too cold to sit in the arena just wearing a hoodie. I knew I'd wear my puffer vest over the top and it would block your name."
"Very creative. So, you're wearing it to school?"
"Of course I am. Today's your first game of the season and I'm your number one fan." He kissed Dave. "Mmm. I need a few more of those. I won't see you after school until the game. And then you'll be busy on the ice." He ran his hand through the back of Dave's hair and gently pulled him into another kiss. He didn't let go. He nuzzled his nose into Dave's neck and placed a small kiss there. "Let's get to school."
Dave squeezed gently before letting go. They grabbed the coats and bags and left for school.
That evening, Paul, Judy, and Kurt went to the hockey game together. Quinn rode with Nick. Kurt was surprised when Sebastian showed up and sat with him.
"I didn't know you liked hockey."
"Who says I do?"
"Initially, I didn't either, but it's really fast-paced and much more interesting than baseball or football, which were two of my dad's favorite sports."
"Well, I'm pretty sure that most other sports are more interesting than football or baseball," he smirked and chuckled. "Now, lacrosse is a fun game."
"Is that a hint?"
"Could be."
"You know I'll come watch you, even if it's boring."
"I guarantee that it's not boring."
"Even better."
They all clapped and cheered. Roosevelt won 5-2. They all waited for Dave not too far from the locker room, just in case there were any issues with the opposing team trying to hassle Dave. Kurt had asked Paul privately, and he proposed the idea so that it seemed liked a family celebration rather than something done out of fear.
Dave finally came out. He got passed through the group and hugged.
"You did great!" Paul said. "You made two out of the five goals."
Sebastian teased him. "You definitely made it more interesting." He shoulder bumped him on the way out of the building.
Dave shook his head. "We'll see how interesting lacrosse is soon enough. I've never watched it before. I don't think any of us has."
"Follow us home, Sebastian. I made a celebration cake."
Sebastian snarked back, "What if we had lost?"
Dave laughed. "Consolation cake."
Sebastian shook his head and got in his car.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
A week and a half later, Kurt and Dave were holding hands and skating slowly around the Rockefeller Center ice rink. Kurt was skating backwards so they could talk.
"Ever since I first saw a picture of this place, I've wanted to come here and have someone I loved to skate with," Kurt said. "It's amazing and wonderful because you're here with me. And yes, I know I'm a sap, but so are you. And I love you."
"I love you too. And you know that I never let myself dream things like that, but I love doing all of these things you dreamed of. I love that I get to be the one to do them with you."
"Twelve days until The Wizard of Oz opens. I'm excited, but a little nervous. I haven't tried to do any of the dancing and stuff in my costume yet. That will happen this coming week. I hope it's not terribly itchy."
"Hopefully it won't be. This is going to be another winter break where I'll hardly see you. These breaks are misnomers because you always take more hours wherever you work and you don't really get a break."
"But I'll get a bigger paycheck."
Dave looked down. "Not a reasonable trade off for me."
It dawned on Kurt that he had hurt Dave's feelings accepting the extra hours at Harmon's during their week break. "I promise not to take any extra hours during our strange week off in the middle of February. I'll even ask off from work that Monday. I'll mark it off when I go to work this Monday. We can start planning. Me and you and no school and no work."
"Sounds perfect."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
The following Thursday, Kurt and Dave got up and got ready without talking much.
"I'm nervous," Kurt said. "I've been trying not to think about it. I wish I could skip Costume Design Club, but it's the final day to work on the costumes for the Winter Concert Saturday. I'm coming straight home after that."
"I can't skip hockey practice either. I'll come right home too. I know we usually eat lunch together on Thursdays, but I won't be there today."
"I remember. I'm skipping yoga and going to the library. You're heading to the college for an early lunch and then to the extra review your final next week."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Sebastian knocked Kurt in the knee with his own knee. He wrote on the edge of his paper. "Stop bouncing your leg so much. I can't concentrate."
"Sorry. Early admissions letters come today."
"I know. I'm waiting for mine too."
Kurt nodded and focused on not bouncing his leg more than he did on what Madame Delacroix was saying.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
After making sure that all of the costumes fit and were ready for Saturday, Kurt headed home. He opened the mailbox, took the letters addressed to him and Dave, and left everyone else's mail in the box.
He got to work on his end-of-chapter questions because it was the most mindless homework task he could come up with. When Dave came in the door, he got up and went in the living room.
"Are you ready?"
"As I'm ever going to be, I guess."
Kurt handed Dave his envelope and went back into the study to get some scissors. Dave followed him. Kurt tapped the end of his envelope on his desk and carefully cut the other end open. Dave followed along and did the same. They both pulled out the contents of their envelopes and read the letters.
Kurt spoke first. "I got in! And I got offered a scholarship. Just $1000 per semester, but it will help."
"I got in too. And I've been offered a scholarship for $2500 per year."
Kurt put his paperwork down and got up. Dave stood up and braced for Kurt launching himself into Dave. He stepped back and kiss him.
"We did it."
"We did."
"Are you still going to apply to those other places?"
"Yes. There's the teeniest, tiniest chance that one of the big-name schools might offer me a huge scholarship, so I'll apply. But I really like this school and I'm not going to be upset if I don't get offered enough financial aid to go to a bigger, more famous school. In the end, it's me standing up on a stage trying to show that I can be whatever character I'm auditioning for. Some people don't even go to college and just start to audition, but I don't think I'm ready for that. I need more training and skills."
"That makes sense. We need to get downstairs for dinner."
They got downstairs and sat down. Judy had made a roast with carrots and potatoes. They served themselves and started to eat.
Quinn said, "My letter came, but I didn't want to open it by myself, so I brought it down with me. I want to open it after we eat."
Once they finished, she pulled it out from where she had it on her chair. She took a deep breath, opened the envelope, and unfolded the letter. "I got in," she said quietly. She looked up. "I got in!"
"Oh, sweetie, that's great!" Judy said.
"I applied for like 50 scholarships. Hopefully, I start to hear from some of them soon. I don't have to let Yale know until May 1st, so I have time. But I really want this. I loved the weekend that I spent there with Nick, Nina, and Braden."
"We're really happy for you," Paul said. "Did you two open your letters yet?"
"We did," Dave said. "I got in and got offered a $2500 scholarship."
"That's great, honey," Judy said. "What about you, Kurt?"
"I got in as well. And I was offered a $1000 scholarship per semester. I also applied for a ton of scholarships and I hope I get a few of them. A lot of them were for smaller amounts like $500 a year, but if I got a few, it could make a big difference."
"Well, I'm proud of the three of you," Paul said. "You've all worked really hard. You three can be excused from doing the dishes tonight. I'm sure you have people you want to talk to."
Kurt ended up texting Puck and Sam, who both got into Ohio State. Azimio and Mercedes didn't want to go to college and hadn't applied anywhere. He talked to Sebastian on the phone and found out that he had gotten in to Columbia.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
The Winter Concert went smoothly. The ballet classes, all of the choirs, and the orchestra, and jazz band all participated. Claire recorded the pieces that Kurt and Sebastian were in.
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The week before Christmas, Dave had his finals for the two college classes he was taking and it was tech week for The Wizard of Oz. Thursday evening, Kurt drove from tech rehearsal to the ice rink to watch the last half of Dave's third hockey game. He hadn't been able to make it to his second game because he had to work and couldn't trade days due to his rehearsals. He went to the area where Paul usually sat and found everyone. He slipped past Paul and Judy and sat in the empty seat next to Quinn.
"Hello, beautiful."
She leaned over and put her head on his shoulder. "I've missed you. You're too busy. You don't spend any time with me and I miss my best friend. You didn't even go Black Friday shopping with me." She sighed.
"I didn't know you wanted me to come."
"I always want you to come."
"I'm sorry."
She took his hand. "You're forgiven, but come visit me more."
"You're a very busy person these days. You have social calls and visitors quite frequently. I'm never sure what to do. I don't want to just knock and interrupt."
"But Nick likes you."
"How about this? We'll set aside some time when I know it's okay to come over and I will. You know it works both ways. You could just knock on our door. It's not like you didn't do that before. You came up and sat with us. You snuggled with me and watched movies with us all the time."
"I think it just feels different since we have our own places. I'll do better too." She pulled her hand away and started clapping.
Kurt looked up and saw that Dave was headed towards the goal dodging in and out and he knocked the puck in and scored.
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Kurt stepped through the door first and let Dave close it. He turned quickly and pinned Dave to the door, reaching to his side and locking it. He brought his hand up and ran his thumb down Dave's jaw line. "A hat-trick is worthy of celebration, I believe." He kissed Dave. "I know you had a shower at the arena, but I'd like to invite you to share my shower since I haven't had one yet." He kissed Dave again.
"I accept your offer."
"I thought you might." Kurt turned and started undressing on his way to the bathroom.
Dave laughed and picked up the clothes he didn't manage to catch and put them all in the laundry. He undressed and got in the shower.
"Now, since you scored the hat-trick, you get to choose the type of celebration you want," Kurt said, as Dave joined him.
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The next night was opening night for The Wizard of Oz. The theater was packed. The show went well and the audience loved it.
Christmas Eve, there was just a matinee. That evening, they had a nice meal together as a family and Paul and Judy gave them one gift each. They had picked out stainless steel dress watches for Kurt and Dave, and a 2-tone dress watch for Quinn.
There was no show on Christmas Day, which allowed Kurt and Dave to sleep in and snuggle all morning the way they had discussed wanting to spend Christmas.
Kurt had nine more shows over the following week, along with working 8-hour shifts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 4-hour shifts on Tuesday and Thursday to accommodate for the matinee shows those afternoons.
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Friday evening, Burt arrived after Kurt got back from the evening show. They made up the futon for him to sleep on.
The next morning, Kurt and Dave made a spinach quiche with turkey sausage for breakfast. Kurt took Burt out and showed him around the area before he had to go to the theater to get ready. Burt dropped him off and met up with Paul for lunch.
After the show, he took Kurt out to dinner. While they were waiting for their food, Burt began to talk.
"The show was really good. And you were great as the scarecrow. And you were really good in that DVD you sent. And the choirs you're in are both really good. I'm glad you're getting a chance to do all of the stuff you've wanted to do for so long."
"Me too."
"And you got into the college you like."
"I did."
"About that. I want you to stop worrying about money. Now that I'm going to be a congressman next week, I'm going to have plenty of money to pay for you to go to college."
"That reminds me. I'll probably need you to update my FAFSA as soon as you get your first paycheck. Your change in income will negatively affect my financial aid. I'll probably lose the $2000 I was offered. I'll just have to see."
"It doesn't matter, kiddo. You said the tuition's less than $10,000 a year. I'll be able to pay that and cover your books. You can just cover your personal expenses. I'm going to rent the tiniest place I can find that's near public transportation in DC. Carole won't be going with me very often because she's still needed back in Lima. She has her job and Finn still. If I decide to run in the regular election next fall, I'll consider a bigger place in DC. But I'm going to put back enough for all four years of school for you this year."
"Really?"
"Yes. I haven't done right by you in a lot of ways, but this I can do."
Kurt nodded. "Thanks."
Their server put the food on the table. They talked more about the college while they ate. After they finished, Kurt directed Burt to the college so he could see it.
He dropped Kurt off at home. He hopped out of his truck and gave Kurt a big hug before he left. "I'm proud of you, Kurt. I love you." He got back in his truck.
Kurt walked up to the window. "I love you too. I'm glad you came."
Kurt wiped his eyes and waved as Burt drove off to get settled in DC before the Congressional session started a few days later.
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Quinn was hosting a New Year's Eve party that evening, but Kurt and Dave only stayed to eat pizza with everyone. Kurt told them after working 32 hours and doing eight shows in the previous five days that he was tired and he was going to rest since he had the final show the next day.
He and Dave went upstairs and took a shower and a long relaxing bath before they got in bed. Kurt set his phone for 11:55 so they could watch the ball drop and kiss at midnight. When it went off, he reached over for it and started the live coverage in Times Square.
"Happy New Year!" they said at the same time and then they kissed. And kissed. And kissed some more.
Eventually Kurt put his phone back on his nightstand. He rolled back over facing Dave. "I love you, sweetie." He turned back over and scooted back as the little spoon.
Dave scooted closer and got comfortable. He kissed Kurt on the back of the neck. "I love you so much."
They both fell back asleep quickly, snuggled up close.
[][][] – Author's Note – [][][]
A heartfelt thank you from me to samarakurtofsky for her beautiful love poem from Dave to Kurt.
