Authors note: I'm just going to ignore what happened in "Furt" - this is a little alternative universe story :)

Dave had barely slept that night. He kept checking his mobile to see if there was anything new, or whether he'd imagined Kurt's text message. Nothing changed. It was 3:30am by the time he finally fell into a very unhappy sleep. He tossed, turned and jolted awake the whole time and when he did eventually settle into a calm period of sleep, he was woken up by George.

'Get up asshole!' George jeered, gripping Dave by the side and shaking him roughly. 'We're going running.'

'No…' Dave groaned, his face buried in his pillow. The next thing he knew was that he was on his back on the floor, pain coursing through his body as he thumped onto the floor.

'I said,' George smirked, leaning over his brother, 'we're going for a run.'

Anger and embarrassment rushed through Dave's body when he felt his brothers big finger jabbing him in his stomach. 'You definitely need the exercise, tubbo.' George sneered as he strode out of the room. With a loud groan, Dave looked at the clock on his wall which read 9:30am.

Kurt hadn't had a good night either. He had been sitting up and listening to music for the majority of it, trying to get his head around the riddle that was Dave Karofsky.

He was also terrified of what might happen the next day. Would he even show up? If he did, how would he react? Kurt had chosen a secluded spot in order to minimise the chances of running into other McKinley High students. But was a quiet spot a good idea? What if Dave took advantage of the solitude and chose the moment to really hurt him. Maybe he'd kill him. Maybe he'd kiss him.

Cut that out. His conscience snapped the moment he thought it. He lowered his eyes to look at his mobile and sighed. Maybe he should call the whole thing off. He could just not turn up. But maybe that would just annoy Karofsky more and he'd make his life even worse. Before he could come to a decision, he had fallen asleep.

He dreamt about kissing Karofsky. It felt good. They kissed and kissed until he was woken up what seemed like five minutes later by Finn. He groaned and rolled onto his front, reaching for his phone to check the time. It was 9:30. He sat up and sighed, rubbing his eyes free of sleep dust, trying to forget that embarrassing dream. He then looked at his friend rummaging through his stuff.

'Uh excuse me Mr Hudson,' Finn spoke up, startling his friend, 'what are you doing?'

'Um, well I was looking for my phone.' Finn replied, standing up straight and trying to look innocent.

Kurt panicked for a split second before calming himself and playing it cool. 'Isn't it upstairs?'

'No I don't think so…' Finn mumbled as he started to look through Kurt's things again.

'Finn,' Kurt sighed as he walked over to him, gently moving his friend away from his possessions, 'I'm pretty sure I saw it in the kitchen. Go and check there.'

With a slightly puzzled face Finn did as he was told and headed back upstairs.

Kurt span around and opened his bedside drawer, pulling out Finn's rather battered mobile. He quickly checked it to see if Karofsky had responded, but there was nothing, only several texts from Rachel. Ignoring his disappointment he jotted down Karofsky's number and then darted upstairs. Double checking Finn was still in the kitchen, Kurt stood in the living room before crying, 'Finn! I've found it!'

Dave was getting dressed when he heard his phone buzz. He practically threw himself on it and then mentally scolded himself for being so pathetic. It was a message from an unknown number.

'Meet me at 10:30. - K.'

He was surprised that Kurt had sent him a text from his own phone. Giving a bully your phone number was a pretty risky move. Dave ignored this thought and quickly tapped out a reply, a simple "ok". George was bellowing at him from downstairs and he knew he shouldn't keep him waiting any longer, not unless he wanted a physical and verbal thrashing from his brother. He wandered down the stairs, pulling on a thin sports jacket. He was shoved out of the front door before he had the second arm on.

After a quick warm up, the brothers headed off down the road towards the town centre. They jogged through the town in silence, something Dave was extremely grateful for. George was a fitness freak and extremely competitive and Dave dreaded doing any physical activity with him because he always thrashed him.

He hadn't always been like that. Dave remembered George when he was skinny and spent most of his time with his nose in a book. He was an excellent science student and although he was a good athlete, he never seemed interested. That all changed when their father left. Something in George snapped and he suddenly got interested in fitness. He joined the sports teams and started to work out. He very quickly grew into a the star athlete and dominated the school.

Hannah used to say he was over compensating. Their father was a big man as well but he, like George, was more academic. He was, and as far as Dave knew, still is a science professor at Ohio State University. When he left, Hannah said George was terrified of turning into him, so he changed himself. He wanted to be the exact opposite of their father for fear of somehow their similar personalities would automatically mean George would turn out like him.

Dave snapped out of his deep thoughts when he realised where he was. They had been jogging for around half an hour and it was nearing 10:15. They were drawing close to city hall and Dave knew George would run straight by unless he stopped him.

'Lets go around the park.' Dave suggested with an out of breath voice. George slowed down but didn't stop moving, jogging on the spot as he frowned at his brother before shrugging and running in the direction he had suggested.

Around ten minutes later, Dave reached into the pocket of his tracksuit bottoms and pulled out his phone. George glanced at him but didn't slow down. 'What's up?'

'Azimio just sent me a text,' Dave puffed as he followed him, 'he wants to meet up.'

'Oh right.'

'Is that cool?' Dave questioned nervously, slowing down to a stop.

'Sure whatever,' George shrugged as he bounced up and down, 'it's your loss.'

When he was sure George was gone, Dave threw himself at a nearby water fountain and guzzled down the freezing water, not realising how thirsty he was until he started to drink. His chest was heaving as he tried to calm his breathing down. His face was flushed, his whole body was hot and sticky, and suddenly all he could think about was what Kurt would think, or worse, say.

"I don't dig on chubby boys who sweat too much!"

Kurt's scolding remark echoed through Dave's head but he quickly shook it off. He didn't give a damn what Hummel thought. He bristled with anger and humiliation at the memory and tried to force it to the back of his mind, but it was made impossible when he spotted Kurt walking across the frosty ground, heading towards the deserted city hall.

Taking a deep breath for bravery and making sure Hummel had waited for a few minutes, Dave made his way over.

Kurt was leaning against the cold grey stone of Lima City Hall, his arms wrapped around himself. His heart was racing and he kept scanning the open ground in front of him, on the look out for an ambush of jocks. His fears were slightly calmed when he saw the large dark figure of Karfosky walking across the grass.

'You look awful.' Kurt blurted out as Dave reached him.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise before they furrowed together. 'You don't look so good yourself, Hummel.'

Kurt bristled at the comment and snapped, 'I'll have you know I look great, after a crappy night.'

'Crap night?' Dave repeated, surprised.

'Yeah, I couldn't sleep. I was scared you were going to jump me today.' Kurt admitted with a scathing tone.

Dave smirked slightly and folded his arms across his chest, 'who says I won't?'

Kurt suddenly realised this was the first time he'd seen Karofsky without his letterman jacket. The enormous coat made the boy very large, but now Kurt could see that he would be massive even without it. And from the look of his stomach, Kurt realised he was mistaken about the "chubby" comment. Not that he would ever admit that to him.

'I have my phone ready, mace in my bag and don't forget,' Kurt boasted, 'I'm faster than you.'

Dave chuckled slightly before sighing heavily and shrugging his broad shoulders. 'What do you want, Hummel?'

Silence fell over the two teenagers. Kurt folded his arms awkwardly and then cleared his throat. He took a deep inhale and finally said, 'I wanted to talk about your dad.'

Kurt instinctively took a step backwards when Dave's arms swung to his side and his expression became one of fury. Kurt quickly composed himself again and tried to hide his anxiety, 'don't get mad. I just want to talk.'

'I already told you,' Dave growled, 'I don't want to talk about my dad.'

'Why? Because he's the reason you're like this?'

'Are you looking for a smack Hummel? Because you'll get one!' Dave yelled, his large fists tightly closed, just waiting for an invite.

'Oh, do I want a piece of "The Fury"?' Kurt mocked in spite of the warning bells inside his head. His question was answered when Dave grabbed the front of his shirt and lifted him onto his top toes.

'Are you going to stop asking questions?' Dave asked in a low, threatening voice, his eyes locked on Kurt's.

'Karofsky,' Kurt groaned, trying to push him away, 'just calm down will you? Why do you always get to angry? How does that solve anything?'

'Its solved a lot of my problems actually.' Dave corrected with a cruel smirk. 'Maybe I should just get your pummelling over with so I can move on. Sound good?'

Dave's congratulating conscience was cut off when his mind went blank and he crumpled to the floor. Kurt stumbled with him, he was still holding onto his shirt, but he kept his balance whilst Dave hit the ground, curling up into the fetal position.

'Uhhhhggh…' Dave groaned as he held onto his painful groin. Slowly composing himself he looked up at Kurt who was looking down at him with a very guilty expression.

'Look, Karofsky, I'm sorry, I just-'

'You kneed me in my junk! God… damn…' Dave whined, his eyes squeezed shut, his voice incredulous at the very idea of a guy doing that to fellow man.

Kurt was barely able to suppress his laughs at Dave's offended voice but he did the best he could in fear of Dave going completely berserk. He held out his hand to Karofsky to help him up but Dave just swatted it away as he started to sit up.

'Karfosky, come on,' Kurt rolled his eyes, 'why don't you just talk to me?'

'Talk to you?' Dave yelled, clambering to his feet and once again reaching out for Kurt. 'I'm gonna kill you!'

Kurt suddenly saw red and a dark expression was cast across his face. He reached into his bag and pulled out his mace, his finger poised to attack. Dave skidded to a halt when Kurt yelled, 'do not threaten me with that again! If you dare touch me I will mace you so badly you'll be crying until next week!'

Dave glared at the smaller boy but he didn't advance anymore, he just shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed heavily - a deep, rumbling growl of a sigh. Kurt waited a few moments before he lowered his arm. He didn't put the mace away though.

'This is stupid. I don't even know why I agree to this.' Dave grumbled, twisting his foot on the ground like he was trying to crush the gravel under his feet.

'If you would stop lashing out at me I could tell you!'

'I already told you I don't talk about my dad! Why do you even care?'

'I don't care about you,' Kurt snapped, 'but if your dad is the reason you're harassing me then you're damn right I want to know! I think I deserve to know the pathetic reason you feel the need to bully me every day of my life!'

Dave looked intently at the boy before shaking his head and turning away, 'screw this.'

'No! Don't you walk away from me!' Kurt ordered, spinning the bully around to face him.

'Don't touch me fag!' Dave barked, the words coming out like clockwork, an automatic verbal defence.

'Tell me why you're like these! Tell me your excuse for being a stupid, sweaty ass!'

'LEAVE IT HUMMEL!' Dave bellowed, shaking as he tried to control himself, never forgetting the weapon in Kurt's clenched hand.

'TELL ME WHY YOU STUPID ASS!' Kurt screamed, his voice becoming just as loud as Karofsky's. 'TELL ME WHY YOUR DAD RAISED YOU TO BE SUCH A COWARD!'

'MY DAD'S A FAGGOT!'

The words screamed through the park and into Kurt's ears. Dave, red faced and furious, suddenly realised what he had done. His breathing became erratic as he took steps back from Kurt. He couldn't stand to look at his face. He had an expression of shock, understanding and pity.

Dave wouldn't let Hummel pity him.

Kurt felt the familiar pain of Dave's palm against his shoulder, forcing it backwards as Karofsky stormed away. The pain quickly seeped across his arm as the familiar feeling of a dead arm began. He held his arm as he watched the raging bully charge across the grass. He flinched when he saw him slam his fist against a nearby bin, although Dave didn't even seem to notice.

As he saw Karfosky leave the park, Kurt realised he had once again be left with a million questions.