Dave had enough sense to take off the monkey suit before crawling into bed. His Father had asked about Dave's night, but was met by a wall of silence. Paul noted the crown perched atop Dave's head, and knew something was off. Something more than his sudden girlfriend or his sudden return to Dave-ness. Paul just wasn't sure what he could do about it.
Dave's dreams were horrible. It was the same scenario, starting off with Kurt trying to get him to come out on the dance floor. If he did come out, the crowd screamed. Even Hudson, who had wanted him in Glee, screamed at him. That he was wrong, and that he needed to leave. That Dave could live with, but then the laughing began, Kurt and his polished prince, laughing at him. How could he ever pretend to be as wonderful as them? He would never be the type of man Kurt wants.
Then it would begin again. Dave tried everything, tried just to dance quietly with Kurt, he tried giving his crown to Blaine, he tried everything. In the end, the only thing he could do, was run again, and in doing so, he awoke.
It was early still, and his room was dark, but there was a glimmer of early morning sunlight drifting through his window. The light wasn't much, but it was enough to see the crown on his dresser, and enough to see Larry pacing by his door. It was nice to see him again, even if by the look on his face, he was still upset. "Hey," he whispered. Larry stopped pacing, and turned to face Dave. "I'm sorry about my jokes. I know how hard you're trying to keep me alive." Larry shook his head.
"It's not that. When I died, I was at graduation. The mayor had turned into a giant snake demon. The students all fought back, and I was one of the casualties. Later they killed the mayor by blowing up the school. My body was still in the courtyard. My parents go to bury part of me, which given the track record at that school, was still pretty lucky. I'm just still a little touchy about it I guess." Larry gestured towards the crown. "I see you won King. Congratulations are in order for you and your girlfriend then."
Dave flinched and took a breath to steady himself. "Santanna didn't win Prom Queen," he paused thinking of the right words to say. "The kids, they were idiots. Instead of voting for an Anti-Prom King, they voted for a not prom queen. They elected Kurt. He was so hurt, and he bolted, but then him and Mr. Perfect came back, and he took his crown. We were supposed to dance, but he wanted me to come out. I couldn't Lar. I'm not ready yet. He friggen' told me he wouldn't ask me to come out tomorrow, and then he did. If I didn't lo… like him so much, this wouldn't hurt like this. I just wish my brain didn't turn off around him. Kurt's always think that there's more than one way up, or that every direction is north. My brain keeps turning circles around him, but my mouth goes in triangles. They're two separate paths, but they really shouldn't be." Dave stopped hurting the pillow in his hand and sat up. He looked up at Larry across the room, and his face was on that Dave knew as pained.
"So, you love him?"
"I hope not. If I could do all those things, and say all of those words to someone I love, then I hope never to love anyone."
Paul Karofsky wasn't a creepy father. He reassured himself that after doing some investigation into David's new habits. David spent a lot of time in his room. From what Paul could hear, it was a lot of time talking in his room. He'd tried listening on the home phone, but David wasn't using that. One time during one of his talks, Paul heard David's cell phone ring. Now it was 6 in the morning, on a Sunday no less, and he could hear the low murmurs that meant he was talking to someone. Paul sat up, and grabbed his robe. It was time to see who was so important in his son's life.
Larry sat down on the edge of Dave's bed. "Love isn't all sunshine and rainbows Dave. There's pain, hurt, and sometimes it comes from within the couple. You might hurt them, they might hurt you. But love can also bring you happiness, and those are the moments you-" The door swung open.
"David who are you…" Paul stopped halfway into the room, lingering with a foot still in the hallway. "Hello." Larry blinked his eyes. He looked between the two Karofsky men. His loyalty was to Dave, but he should have been alerted by The Powers about Paul interrupting this talk. Paul seemed confused. It was six in the morning, Dave was in bed, and a young man he'd never seen before was sitting on it. "Did I… Er, should I go?"
Dave sat numbly in his bed. He could out, right now. He looked to Larry, who sat calmly on the corner of his bed. Larry put his hand reassuringly on Dave's leg. Turning back to his father, he swallowed thickly. It was suddenly hard to speak, and his face was getting warm. "Dad? There's some things we need to talk about. I need… I need you to listen. He paused, his eyes to the crown glinting in the sunlight. "Tonight I ran from prom. I won Prom King, but Santanna didn't win queen. Neither did any of the girls who wanted to be queen. Heck, none of the girls from school won Prom Queen." Paul was confused at what this had to do with the hands-on stranger on his son's bed, but he didn't interrupt his son while he was thinking. "Kurt Hummel won Prom Queen, and I couldn't dance with him, so I ran away. All of those people, I couldn't do that with him in front of them. I just couldn't do what he wanted. I couldn't come out. Dad, I'm gay, and they don't even know they elected two gay boys, they just wanted to hurt him. He asked me to come out, and I ran. Like I've always done, from him, from when I kissed him. That's right, I kissed him, and for one glorious moment, everything was wonderful, and I could just pretend. That he understood me, and that I could be with him, but he pushed me away, and so I ran from that. I didn't bully because he was gay, I bullied because I thought it would make these feelings go away."
Paul stood quietly in the doorway. He had seen the signs of course, he knew this was entirely plausible, but it was still quite a shock. His little cub scout was… gay. In today's society, that would be a difficulty, but at this moment in time, he would cherish his son, but who was the stranger? His eyes flicked towards the stranger, who looked strangely out of place, with the light coming in behind him. His colors seemed strained, and he looked fuzzy around the edges, like a VHS played one too many times. Paul prayed that no funny business had gone down the night before, as he was sure David didn't have the necessary supplies in his room. "I love you David. Right now? I think I need to make pancakes." Paul stepped out of the room and tugged on the door, as it was closing he followed up with, "Then you can explain your man."