Liberty

Chapter 5 –

On Monday morning Dave stood in the locker room, refilling his locker with his football stuff. He was just finishing when he heard the door swing open.

"Hey, Big D!" came Azimio's voice, causing Dave to freeze, a t-shirt in his hand. "Long time, no see," continued the other boy, walking up to his friend.

Dave took a deep breath, knowing what he was going to have to say eventually. "Hey, Az," he said, with absolutely no enthusiasm.

Azimio didn't seem to notice because he approached and swung an arm around Dave's shoulder as he closed his locker. "So, that homo's back. He got himself a motorcycle. What do you say to showing him a bike ain't gonna to make him any less of a loser?"

Dave paused. Kurt's back at McKinley? He held back the question, shaking his head instead. "I'm not doing any of that, Az. There's no point anymore."

Azimio stared in surprise. "Dude, why not? It's fun!"

Dave turned to his soon to be ex-friend. "No, it's not," he said. "I think I hate it as much as they do."

"What's wrong with you? It's one of the few things you're good at, man. You've been doing it for three years."

"And I've HATED it for three years." Dave looked away, trying to calm himself down and collect his thoughts.

"I've gone along with you, Az, because I was desperate for friends," he continued, only a little bit calmer now, and looking back to the other boy. "I thought bullying others was the only way to make any friends. But I'm not going to do it anymore. If you still want to be friends with me, then great. But I don't even want to talk to you if you're going keep bullying others."

He waited a moment, wondering if Azimio would agree. But when he saw Azimio's eyes turn dark in anger he turned and left. There was no way he wanted to get in a fight with the other boy. He was relieved to see Coach Beiste as he walked out. She was probably on her way to find out what was up, and she glared at him, suspiscious.

Dave just shook his head, putting his hands up in surrender, "Don't worry," he mumbled, "I'm done." Then he walked away, leaving a stunned and confused Beiste in his wake.

He was surprised to see that Azimio hadn't been lying. Kurt really did have a motorcycle. It was definitely nicer than Dave's, but the ex-bully didn't care, his came with Colton.

With that in mind, Dave found himself a quiet corner in the courtyard, pulling out his lunch and cell phone. He couldn't hold back the smile when Colton answered with, "How's it hanging, Teddy Bear?"

"I will maul you if you ever call me that again," he replied, chuckling.

"Ohh, I think I kind of like that idea."

Dave swallowed back his groan at the sultriness of Colton's voice. "You know what I meant."

"Oh, I know what you meant, but that doesn't change what I want."

This time Dave did groan. "You know I still have to get through the rest of the school day. Stop making it hard."

"It, as in school? Or it as in–,"

"Shut up!" Dave whispered desperately, looking around nervously as if someone might overhear Colton's end of the conversation and figure it all out.

Colton just laughed, but eventually recovered, taking a few deep breaths before noticing that Dave hadn't been laughing with him. "Hey, is everything alright?"

Dave took a deep breath before relaxing. "Yeah, sort of. I was right, it's a lonely lunch."

"Well, I'm glad you called me. How did it go?"

"Fine, I guess. At least, for what it was."

"What was it?"

"I told him I didn't want to be friends with him if he was going to keep bullying people."

"I'm guessing he didn't agree to stop?"

"Nope, I officially don't have a best friend, and by default, no other friends either. I figure the guys I would hang out with will feel the same seeing as how they also hang out with Az."

"I'm sure you'll be able to find someone else to hang out with eventually." There was a short pause before, "So, on a less depressing note, I managed to find one of the parts your bike needed. Charles called in a favor from another junkyard."

And with that they continued to talk while Dave ate his lunch.

The week continued much the same. Dave would sit in the same corner at lunch and talk to Colton on the phone while he ate. Then he'd go over after school and they'd either work on the bike or just "hang out." However, most of the weekend was taken up by Colton packing for school and Dave found himself figuring out a way to help him move in.

He had a quiz Monday morning, and he'd promised his parents he would try and keep his grades up this year. So, skipping school altogether was out of the question. But he could still afford to leave for the second half of the day. The problem was getting to the university. If he took his truck he'd be caught in traffic, and end up getting back even later, which would be bad on a school night.

On Monday morning, he was still debating about taking his truck as he walked into the school. Then a low rumbling caught his attention. He paused. A motorcycle could easily weave around vehicles caught in traffic. He just needed to figure out something to trade, because there was no way Hummel would just let him borrow his bike. Not without some kind of leverage.

Realizing that there was only one thing to trade, Dave put his arm out to stop Kurt before he lost his nerve. He waited, on edge, for Kurt to look up and see him. And when he did Dave was barely able to keep from wincing when Kurt took a step back.

"What do you want, Karofsky?" he asked, clearly trying to appear strong, and Dave ignored that waver in the voice for the sake of the smaller boy.

"I want to borrow your bike for an afternoon," he asked, quickly, just… hoping.

Kurt gaped. "Hell no!"

Dave frowned, looking around and hoping no one was paying attention. He leaned in, lowering his voice, just as a precaution. "I just need to get to Columbus for one afternoon. I can have it back in the parking lot before six if you let me take it around noon."

Kurt shook his head. "Why on earth would I let you drive my bike?" he said, clearly amazed that Dave would ask such a question. "Besides, the traffic would be terrible in the city at those times."

"I… I'd be able to weave in and out of traffic on your bike. I could go that much faster." He glanced around again, using the moment to gather the entirety of his nerve. "I'll come clean, about everything. The kiss, being…" he closed his eyes, having to gather his courage again, before continuing, "Being gay." He opened his eyes when he heard the gasp.

"I couldn't let you take my bike," Kurt said. "Not legally, anyway."

He's considering it! Dave thought. He spoke quickly, not letting the chance get away from him. "I have a license. I bought a broken down bike this summer. Someone's been helping me fix it up and I got my license while we worked."

"Why do you want to get to Columbus so badly?"

Dave didn't miss the suspicious glare Kurt gave him and he sighed, looking at the floor. Kurt knew he was gay; there was no harm in telling the truth. "The guy who's been helping me with my bike… he's starting at Ohio State this year. He's moving into his dorm today and…" he swallowed, hating the fact that he was blushing now, "I wanted to visit."

Kurt just stared, eyes wide. After a few seconds of silence Dave gave up hope. So much for surprising his boyfriend. Sighing, he stepped away. "Fine," he said, just wanting to leave.

He turned back when he felt a hand on his sleeve, surprised when Kurt held up a set of keys.

"You so much as scratch it, you will pay. Use the passenger's helmet, it's on the back of the bike, and be back by six. I'll be waiting out front."

Mixed feelings of relief, for what Kurt was doing, and nervousness, for what he would have to do in return, prevented Dave from responding verbally. Instead he just nodded and took the keys. He was about to walk away when Kurt spoke again.

"And you don't have to do anything you said you would." The gentleness of his tone and the comment itself confused Dave.

"Then what do you want?" he asked.

Kurt shrugged. "Why don't you just make sure that me and my glee friends have a bully free year?"

Dave stared, debating whether or not he should agree to that. After all, he had already decided to stop, but… Azimio and his friends would probably start bullying the gleeks eventually. Maybe he could help stop that, too. Finally he nodded. "Thank you," he added before continuing on to his class.

TBC...

A/N: So if you have read Freedom you might have noticed that the last part of this is almost identical to the ending of Ch. 2 of Freedom. That's because I am finally catching up, which means Freedom will be continuing again. I just have one (maybe two) more chapters of Liberty before I start going back and forth.