"I have no idea what I just watched but I'm pretty sure we lost." Erin said standing at the top of the bleachers and freezing in the mid-January chill. The McKinley Titan's had just lost their game, Finn seeming to fumble with the ball or something.
Kurt barked out a laugh next to her, burrowing into his thick woollen scarf. She rubbed her hands together for warmth and leant into his side.
"For someone who's best friend is the ex-quarterback you know fuck all about Football." Kurt laughed, jostling her slightly.
"Ah, and my other best-friend is the ex-star kicker who happens to be the step-brother of the current Quarterback." Erin said dramatically, teasing him slightly, "But, alas, the rules of American Football will forever remain a mystery to me. Why is it called football when you rarely actually touch the ball with your feet? Why do the players just shout random words? Why not just play rugby instead? Also," She dropped the dramatics, "Wasn't the season meant to be over in the autumn?"
"Bad weather," Kurt said with a shrug, as he laughed at her dramatics, as if that explained everything. And as far as Erin knew it did. All she really knew was that this particular game was pointless as they were on their way to the championship game no matter what, and she'd just spent the last few hours standing in the cold sleet for no reason except to be a good friend to Sam and the rest of the Glee Jocks.
"Come on, Sam said something about commiseratory burgers at LuLu's with the Glee Jocks." Erin said, "We can meet them there."
Kurt shivered dramatically at the mention of the Diner and Erin laughed.
"You may have Mercedes, Rachel, and Tina fooled into thinking you eat nothing but salad and health food, but I know for a fact that you enjoy a good greasy burger as much as the next teenage boy."
"Slader!" Kurt said dramatically before laughing and they headed to his car.
* * * sam * * *
"...So then Finn was all like, 'That's funny, Karofsky.'" Sam imitated Finn's dopey drawl, doing quite well if he did say so himself. Kurt had a smirk on his face and Erin was muffling her laughter with her hand. "'How you're calling everyone gay all the time but you never seem to have a girlfriend!'"
The Glee Jocks around him laughed, the sting of the loss fading now, especially since they all knew they were going to the championship game next Saturday anyways. However, while they were laughing, Kurt and Erin shared a conspiratorial look before pasting smiles on themselves.
"And then he almost went all 'Hulk Smash' on Finn," Sam concluded, slightly less enthusiastically than the rest of his story. What had that look meant? "Azimio and I had to literally hold him back from sacking Finn. I know he kinda died down before the holidays." He directed to Kurt and Erin. "But I think you two should probably be on your guard around him."
They shared a look again and Sam narrowed his eyes at them.
"We can handle him," Erin said flippantly, shooting him a smile that didn't look 100% genuine. Erin was a good actress, sure, but she had some tells when she was lying or withholding the truth, and after over three months of friendship Sam was almost certain he could pick up on most of them by now.
"Yeah, well, anyway, he then made this comment about the other team's linebacker that seemed to get into Finn's head, so he fumbled the ball." Sam concluded.
"And lost us the game," Finn groaned, pushing his fries around his plate, "I shouldn't've let him get to me."
"Dude, it's totally his fault." Puck remarked, mouth full of burger. "If he hadn't made that comment about Glee you wouldn't have said anything that made him rage. Seriously, the dude needs to chill..."
Sam tuned them out as they talked about the fight in the locker room and watched as Kurt and Erin had a whispered conversation. He moved closer.
"... well obviously it isn't helping!" Kurt was whisper-shouting.
"It was a better idea than confronting him…" Erin was hissing back.
"Is he already harassing you guys again?" Sam cut in, voice low and sympathetic.
"No." Kurt said straight away, "He's been ignoring us since he came back from his short-lived expulsion."
"I just don't understand why he blew up today then." Sam said with a shrug, "You're right, he's been rather tame since Thanksgiving, but then Finn said what he did and suddenly…" Sam trailed off, blinking in thought.
"...but you never seem to have a girlfriend!..." Finn's words echoed in Sam's head, the moment of Karofsky flying off the handle replaying.
"...It was almost like what Finn had said pushed a few too many buttons." Sam shared a look with Erin, before looking over at Kurt. "You don't think…"
"Don't think what?" Kurt asked, innocence raked up to an eleven. His eyes open wide and lashes fluttering slightly.
Kurt was easier to read than Erin. He was still a good actor, in general, but improvisation was not his strong suit, and so he was terrible at lying.
"Well, it's a massive cliche," Sam hedged in a whisper, nudging his salad around his plate with his fork. "Ya know, the homophobic jock is actually a little gay himself trope, you see it in TV and films, some."
He looked at Kurt for his reaction and it didn't disappoint. Eyes widening, mouth dropping just slightly, before the shocked expression was replaced with one of indifference and he scoffed.
"Yeah, I seriously doubt it." Kurt said with an eye roll, and changed the subject abruptly and randomly. "So I was thinking over Christmas about what we could do next year for the school musical that wouldn't be cancelled…"
Sam turned to Erin next who was watching him with narrowed eyes and a thoughtful expression as Kurt prattled on about West Side Story. He raised an eyebrow at her and shrugged a shoulder.
Well?
She shook her head, the thoughtful expression falling, and turned to listen to Kurt.
"What about Into The Woods?" She asked. "You'd make a brilliant Jack."
And with that the Karofsky conversation was dropped.
But Sam couldn't help but think that maybe he was onto something. It may be a cliche TV trope, but a lot of those were based on real life, and, really, it wasn't so far fetched. There was already at least one not-straight jock on the team, why couldn't there be another?
Apart from Puck. Sam got major Bi vibes from Puck.
* * * dave * * *
"— I am not blocking for him!" Dave shouted in Coach Beiste's face. He'd gotten riled up again, he hated when that happened, he'd been trying to get better at not letting his stupid fucking anger cloud ever single fucking thought in his brain.
"Get the hell out of here!" Coach shouted, pointing to the door.
"Fine!" He shouted back. He was still in his stupid fucking football jersey and pads but he left the locker room anyway, exiting out onto the field.
He let out a scream into the dark empty field and it helped. Somewhat. But now all he wanted to fucking do was fucking cry. Like a stupid fucking girl. Fuck.
He crouched at the edge of the field and buried his head into his hands before letting out another scream of frustration. Anything was better than the sobs he was holding back.
"Karofsky!" He stood and turned to face Coach. "What the hell was that back there?"
"Hudson was running his freaking mouth, that's what!" Dave snapped, hands coming up to pull on his hair. If he kept this up he really would be bald by the time he was 30. Fuck.
"Yeah, well, according to Hudson, and Puckerman, Chang, and Evans, you started it!" Coach said. She was shouting, but not unkindly. She sounded more disappointed in him than anything, and honestly? That was worse than her being angry. He could deal with anger, he could not deal with disappointment.
Fuck. That was why he was so fucking angry and scared in the first place! His fucking inabiltity to handle people being fucking disappointed in him.
"Az started it." Dave said, and as soon as he said the words he realised how childish they were. "He was the one teasing them about Glee Club, all I did was back him up and Hudson had to freaking run his mouth."
Hudson knew. That was the only reason for him to have said what he did. He knew. Hummel or that freshman told him like they told that stupid prep-school boyfriend of theirs. What was stopping them from spreading it around the entire school? Come Monday everyone would know. Hell, probably by Sunday, and then someone would bring it up with his mom at church…
Oh, great, now he was hyperventilating.
"Hey, it's okay." Coach was saying, an arm around his shoulders. "It's okay, Pumpkin."
"It's not freaking okay." He snapped at her, "You don't understand! If my mom found out…"
He refused to finish that thought.
"No-one's going to find out until you want them to." Coach said, trying to be reassuring.
"You did!" He reminded her.
He'd been so shocked, after coming back from his short-lived expulsion, that Coach had somehow figured him out. She'd cornered him in the hall and he had been terrified she was going to kick him off the team, but she didn't. Instead she'd pulled him to the side and talked to him in low whispers—
"I'm not kicking you off the team." She had said, "But I do have some things to say to you."
—and then she'd gone on to tell him that she'd overheard some things in the outdoor stairwell, and that she would be there for him if he needed someone to talk to, that her office was a safe space and nothing said inside would be repeated. She told him that she expected him to clean up his act, start getting good grades again instead of barely scraping a C in every class, stop harassing other students. She told him that if he was found doing that again she would have to kick him off the team, report him to the Principal, and he would most likely be expelled for real —
"...And I don't want that to happen." She had told him, "You're a smart kid, Karofsky, and a great athlete. You can't let this stop you from achieving the future you deserve. I know it's cliche, but it will get better after high school."
—and he was trying. He seriously was. He'd mostly ignored the Glee Club after Thanksgiving, even going so far as to literally turn around in the halls if he saw Hummel or that freshman girl. He'd even read all those links she had sent him after they'd confronted him on those stairs - in an incognito browser in the dead of night, terrified that his mother would somehow know what he was reading.
But then he was stuck in a fucking house with his mom for the whole of Winter break. Surrounded by his Christian God-fearing family who basically kept reiterating that he was going to Hell, even if they had no idea that they were talking about him.
How was he meant to deal with that? Fuck, how did anyone deal with that?
He knew he'd become part of the problem, shoving Kurt around like he had been - those stupid websites taught him that much - but he was trying to fix that, goddamn it. It was just hard when people like Hudson went around saying those things. So what if he never had a fucking girlfriend, that didn't mean anything!
Of course, in his case, it did, but Hudson couldn't know that… right?
Fuck, not knowing was the hardest thing about it all. For all he knew those Glee nerds knew everything… except if they did he'd probably would have stayed expelled.
Hummel and the freshman hadn't said anything to Coach Sylvester, and if they were going to they would have done to keep him expelled. Coach Bieste had only found out because she'd overheard part of their staircase confrontation.
He was probably safe.
He had to be.
He wasn't sure what he'd do if he wasn't.
"You calmed down?" Coach asked as his breathing evened out.
"Yeah." Dave replied, blinking against the stinging in his eyes. Fuck… when had he started crying. He swiped the tears on his cheeks away angrily and sniffed once, twice, three times, before his mask fell into place again. "Thanks."
"Any time, seriously. If you need to just… walk away from a situation and think, my door's open. Actually," She dug into the pocket of her shorts and fished out a set of keys before rifling through and taking one off of the keyring. She took his hand and put the key in it.
"Here's a spare key to the office in case I'm not in. Anytime you think you're going to go off the handle I want you to take a deep breath, walk away, and go there. Ya hear me?"
Dave blinked at the key in his palm but nodded. Fuck. Why did it feel like he was going to fucking cry again. It was just a key.
"Good," Coach said, nodding, as she put the set of keys back into her pocket. "Now, most of the Glee kids have showered and changed so get back in there."
Dave nodded again before heading back into the locker room.