Almost violently smacking the collection of white tablets out of the other boy's hand, Kurt shouted loudly, "Hey, I'm talking to you!," deliberately echoing the phrase he had used when Dave had smacked his cell phone out of his hand, all those months ago now. "Answer me!"

At this Dave's head whipped up to make eye contact with Kurt, while both his hands curled into angry fists. The boy was not fully infuriated yet, but he was well on his way. Excellent, Kurt thought.

"What – are you going to beat me up?" Kurt asked, mockingly, looking at Dave's balled up hands. "What makes you think you can?" he then sneered. "Since you're so much weaker than me…"

Kurt could see the battle going on in Dave's eyes. The part of him that wanted to not care, to just give up, give in, let weakness consume him…and the part of him that could not bare backing down from an affront. That piece of him that actually liked a good brawl and loved tackling 200 pound guys who wanted nothing more than to pummel him to smithereens.

There was still some of that fire left in Dave, some of that fight. Kurt could see it in his eyes as he stared the other boy down, and he was doing everything in his power to stoke that flame. He needed to remind the other boy of his own strength, of the fury that was his life-force, of the pure, raw power that made Dave who he was, made him someone who could fight this rather than be sacrificed to it.

"Come on, what are you so scared of? A silly little faggot like me?"

At that Dave jumped menacingly out of his repose and got right up in Kurt's confrontational face.

"Don't say shit like that!" he growled.

"Why not?" Kurt asked.

"Because you're not – " Dave broke off and his nostrils flared dramatically as he seemed lost for words.

"Not what? A silly faggot?"

"I said stop saying that!"

"Why?"

"Because," the boy responded, his voice and his physical demeanor suddenly seeming to droop in half-hearted resignation. "Because you don't deserve…to be called that."

As he said this, Dave shifted his eyes away from Kurt, and Kurt subsequently narrowed his eyes at Dave. Finally he understood.

"But you do," he then responded, his voice now low and measured with the tone of sudden comprehension. "That's what this is really about, isn't it? It's not that people say horrible things about you. It's that you think they are right when they say them."

Kurt then laughed a very soft, humorless laugh.

"God, you actually believe that shit they spout off, don't you?" he asked rhetorically, his voice rising slightly out of disbelieving hysteria.

In response to this question, Dave simply remained still and continued avoiding eye contact.

"It's not that the world disrespects you," Kurt said slowly, getting up fully in Dave's face once again as he did so. "It's that you don't think you deserve their respect."

Kurt let this statement linger for a moment and then he exclaimed, quite authoritatively, "Wow, are you stupid."

"Fuck you," Dave then said, pushing Kurt away from him as he turned to look at the floor where the pills had scattered.

"Don't you even think about picking up those pills or I swear to god, I'll kick them straight out of your hand," Kurt informed Dave, waving his index finger at him as if he were speaking to a rebellious child.

Dave seemed to be pretending he could no longer hear Kurt as he knelt down to start gathering the splayed tablets.

"I wasn't kidding," Kurt said, as he quickly walked the three short, angry steps it took to reach Dave.

However before Kurt could actually make good on his promise, Dave rose and grabbed both of Kurt's wrists in his hands, pushing the other boy back against the lockers and pinning him there.

"What do you want from me?" Dave growled then, his soft menace equally hostile and pleading.

"I want you to live!" Kurt exclaimed, angrily. "And I want you to stop believing all those stupid things they say about you."

"Why do you care, anyway? I mean, what's it to you really?"

"I care because, silly me, I actually think the world is better with you in it!" Kurt spat at Dave angrily.

Dave appeared thoroughly taken aback by this response. Realizing he was making a dent with this line of argument, Kurt continued.

"I care because, to hell with all of them! I want you here."

Kurt let every inch of the passion he was feeling show on every inch of his face. And as Dave gazed longingly and yes, lovingly at him, Kurt felt moved to say it again.

"Forget all of them," he whispered earnestly to the boy who still had him pinned up against the lockers. "I want you here."

The next moment dragged on long enough for Kurt to think to himself absently that he had not at all seen the encounter going in this direction. If someone had told him five minutes ago that this suicide intervention would end in him kissing Dave, Kurt would have said they were high, or crazy. But that was five minutes ago.

Now Kurt could see the wild desire brewing in the other boy's blood-shot, tear stained eyes, and he found that a corresponding desire was inexplicably at the ready to receive this unforeseen siren call of lust. With the blood rushing to his abdomen and the air rushing rapidly in and out of his lungs, Kurt angled his head upward and opened his mouth slightly. He did not know how to make the invite any clearer.

And Dave took it.

So, yeah. I honestly did not see the story going this way when I first started it. But my muses were working double time last night and this was the only way they would let me write it. So I hope you think it works, especially since I'm not going to take it back now! :)