Liberty

Chapter 7 –

Dave groaned as he heard Colton hum beneath him. He leaned back down, reclaiming the older boy's lips. He never could get enough of those lips, but he pulled away long enough to smile down at him.

"I'm going to miss you, Colton," Dave whispered, running a hand over his boyfriend's cheek and down his bare chest.

Colton arched his back into Dave's touch. "I'll be home every weekend," he said. "Believe me, I won't stay here longer than I have to." Then he reached up and captured Dave's lips in his own.

Dave released another groan as he felt Colton's hands move over his bare chest. Wow, when did that happen? Oh, right, he had lost his shirt just after things had gotten horizontal on the couch. And that happened a few minutes after Colton had "lost" his own shirt. All of it stemming from a simple goodbye kiss.

He didn't really care though, because he was able to touch Colton, and Colton was touching him in return and not showing any kind of disgust at the fact that he was sweaty. Maybe it was because he was sweaty, too. Then suddenly it didn't matter if he was sweaty or not, because Colton's hands were working their way underneath the waist of his jeans at the base of his back.

He pulled away slightly, panting. His own hand moved to the front of Colton's jeans. "Colton?" he whispered, asking, wanting.

Colton kissed his chin, humming again. "Please," was his almost desperate reply.

Dave smiled, relieved. He had just released the button on the tight jeans when a chime sounded.

"It's five o'clock," said a mechanical, female voice.

Colton looked over in annoyance. "Damn computer," he mumbled.

Dave grinned, and was about to continue when the words finally sunk in. "Shit," he cursed, pushing himself up. "I need to leave," he said to the surprised Colton. "I promised Kurt I'd have his bike back by six."

Colton nodded, then frowned. "Wait, Kurt? Isn't that the boy you kissed and everything?"

Dave paused, shirt in his hands. "Yeah," he mumbled, sighing. "I'll call you as soon as I get back and talk. I promise." He pulled his white shirt on before locating his polo shirt to put on over it.

Colton stood up and pulled Dave towards him. "That's okay, just be careful," he said, giving Dave a soft kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you this weekend."

Dave nodded and walked out the door. He passed Pat on the way out and he heard a faint, "I'm glad I didn't come back any sooner," as Pat took in his roommate's shirtless chest and opened jeans.

"Me too," came Colton's softer reply.

Dave grumbled to himself as he pulled into the school parking lot right at six. He hadn't had time to get gasoline in the bike and he had broken every speed limit by at least ten, if not fifteen, miles per hour. As he approached the front, he noticed Puck sitting with Kurt, which seemed odd. But then, they were both in the glee club and Kurt was basically giving out free rides to them, so maybe Puck was his passenger today.

Dave watched Puck as he dismounted, Kurt immediately moving forward to inspect the bike. There was something strange about the way Puckerman was standing, kind of stiff, like he had a…

Dave snorted when he realized why Puckerman was waiting with Kurt. Crush much, Puckerman? He looked to the smaller boy and held out the keys. As Kurt took them he removed his helmet and said, "I didn't hurt your bike, Hummel. I even managed to not get pulled over weaving in and out of traffic. Thanks for letting me borrow it." The last part was said a little softer, he really did have fun with Colton.

Kurt nodded. "Well, I'm glad. Hope you had a good time." He hesitated, as if he wanted to say more, but didn't because of Puck.

Dave pulled out his wallet and handed over a ten dollar bill. "I did loose track of time, though, so I didn't have time to fill her up. Hope this covers it."

Kurt's surprise wasn't unexpected for Dave, but it still hurt a little that Kurt hadn't expected him to pay for gas.

"Yeah, this is fine," said the countertenor, taking the money. "I didn't even ask you to top her off anyway."

Shrugging, Dave put away his wallet. "Hey, I may have bullied you, but I know the etiquette of borrowing vehicles. You always top it off." He was going to leave it at that, but a thought occurred to him and he turned back. "My original offer still stands, I'll do it if I ever need to borrow your bike again." Before Kurt could protest Dave put up a hand to stop him. "Don't worry, I'm almost done with my own bike. Unless it's an emergency you're in the clear." Then he walked back into the school, wanting to get his things, get home, and call Colton.

Fifteen minutes later he was lying on his bed, staring at his ceiling and waiting for Colton to pick up his phone.

"Hey Teddy Bear," came the blonde's voice.

Dave sighed. "You had better be alone. The last thing I want is for Pat to know your little pet name for me."

"Don't worry, he's out saying goodbye to his parents."

"They stayed all day?"

"They live in Georgia, so yeah, they wanted to spend as much time as they could with him."

"Makes sense."

There was a minute of silence, both knowing what this call was actually for, and neither really ready to talk about it. Finally, Colton took a deep breath and asked the question.

"How did you get Kurt to lend you his bike?"

Dave closed his eyes, still amazed he had suggested it. "I said I'd come out to the school and tell the truth about the kiss."

Colton gasped, and there was a quiet shuffling sound that Dave assumed was him loosing his grip on his phone. "Dave, are you really–,"

"No," interrupted Dave. "I was just really, well, desperate to borrow his bike and go see you. So, I offered and implied to him that I was seeing someone special and he gave me the keys."

"So are you gonna come out to your school?" Colton sounded confused.

"Oh, no, he just asked me to make sure that he and his friends have a bully free senior year."

"But aren't you already doing that?"

"I considered telling him, but then I realized that just because I'm not with them, the other bullies won't stop. So I figured if I could try to prevent some of my old friends from bullying them, I might be a little more even with Kurt. For the bike, at least."

Another moment of silence, though a little less awkward, was again broken by Colton.

"I'm proud of you, Dave," he said, voice low. "It sounds like you've come a long way since the end of your junior year."

Dave chuckled. "As cheesy as it sounds, I think it's because of you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you helped me realize that there's nothing wrong with being gay. Even before I knew you were. Just, as a friend, you never said anything bad about gays; and now I know why you didn't, but still, I think being around Az so much is really what got to me. He would always make fun of Kurt and call all of his friends gay and I just associated it with something bad."

"Dave," said Colton, as the younger boy paused to take a deep breath. "I didn't do anything. All of that was you. You're the one that realized the truth. Hell, you even decided to stop bullying before I mentioned it."

"I know. I accepted my sexuality before you kissed me, even the fact that I liked you. But it wasn't until that day when you first kissed me that I had hope for myself. And later that night, after talking to Az some more, I realized that I could give myself another chance."

"Wow," breathed Colton. "You're amazing, did you know that?"

Dave pretended to polish his nails, even though his boyfriend couldn't see. "Oh, I've noticed it a few times."

A low chuckle was his only reply.

TBC...