I own nothing.

"What are you doing here before school, Karofsky?"

"Cleaning out my locker, Coach."

He held up a zip-lock bag half- filled with smashed bread and green food coloring he'd prepared the night before.

"I think this was a peanut butter sandwich a few months ago."

"You be sure and empty that can in the dumpster before you go, you'll have the whole locker room stinking like your football pads."

"My pads smell?"

Coach Beiste just glared at the offending sandwich baggie in reply.

"Sorry, Coach."

"And put a liner back in that can, too! There're extra trash bags in the equipment room."

It was exactly what he'd been planning on doing. All of the old played out sports equipment got tossed in there and he knew he'd be able to scrounge up a couple of baseball bats.

ooooo

Dave had set his alarm an hour early the night before; it threw him off only a little, he liked to wake up before it went off, but he was so excited today he didn't even mind it's blaring. After he was ready for school and what if he did spend a little extra time in the mirror, fuck it, he felt sexy as hell he snagged his igloo cooler and the carrying bag for his folding chair from the garage. He'd checked that yesterday afternoon and was gratified to find it was lined with plastic. Dave was just checking himself out in his visor mirror when he realized he'd forgotten his backpack. Fucking hell! His backpack. And he was going to school. No mistakes, no mistakes. He decided it would be his new mantra for the next forty-eight hours.

ooooo

Dave dragged the trash can towards the door of the field house, but instead of taking it straight outside he pulled it into the equipment room with him. He spotted some wooden bats in the corner half-hidden under the medicine balls; after picking out two that looked in fair condition he stuffed them between the garbage can and the trash bag, on impulse Dave picked up a third bat and tucked it next to the others, with any luck he'd break at least one and need a spare.

He peeked out the door to make sure Beiste was still in her office then pulled the garbage can out and made his way to the outside door. Dave stopped when he stood beside his truck bed and quickly, quickly, quickly pulled the camp chair's tote bag out of his cooler and go, go, go put the bats inside it. Garbage emptied and can relined he returned the trash bin to the field house and called to Coach to have a good day. She grunted in reply and he headed around the last row of lockers.

Dave knew he had to hurry now; if Coach walked out he really had no explanation for being in the sports medicine room, if he faked an injury she'd want to look at it and she'd know right away he was lying. Fortunately the latex gloves were in a dispenser on the wall so he grabbed a random handful, stuck them in his pocket and he was out the door in less than sixty seconds.

Back at his truck he snatched the tote bag and cooler from the bed and stuck them in the cab. Dave glanced at his watch on his way to the student parking lot; still time to meet Kurt by his car and walk him to his first class. He felt like a commando. I love it when a plan comes together. He smiled to himself; he was just like that Hannibal Lector guy.

ooooo

He watched Kurt surreptitiously all day; he laughed and talked with his friends, did everything just right. Even Dave would have been fooled if he didn't know what to look for - it was all in the eyes. The coldness. The hardness.

Of course he hadn't been able to pay attention in any of his classes. There were just more important things in life{death}than the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on the United States' economy. He didn't think of the plan, though. He spent the morning thinking about Kurt. Himself and Kurt. In his half-formed fantasies from before Kurt had come to him, full of understanding. Kurt had sensed his dark empty place and loved it away; filled it up with acceptance, joy, Kurt-ness. He loved and protected Kurt from all the dangers on the outside and Kurt did the same for him with the dangerous things that come from inside. If only…Hateful words. Hateful situation.

Now he'd never have a chance at something so beautiful. Now thanks to Prep-twat Kurt had a cold place, the exact match for his own dark place. Their icy/empty spaces inside called to each other. And where did that leave them? Dark and cold. Wasn't that supposed to be what one of the circles of Hell was like? Fuck Dante, he was an asshole no matter how much his dad went on about 'classics of Catholic literature.' Dave just wished he and Kurt could have something different, better than that. Never gonna happen big boy. He forced himself to let it go, push it away.

ooooo

He couldn't push it away at lunch time; Az wanted to go off campus and grab some Captain D's. Dave agreed since he was going to be such a big help tomorrow, but he hated going there with his best friend. Azimio would usually spend the next couple of days after they'd eaten there calling him Captain D. fucking weirdo It turned out Az wanted to talk about him. And Kurt. Great.

"Man I knew the whole time you liked him. I didn't know if it was just him or if you were my new gay-bro. But I should have said something dude, I saw it getting out of hand and I just kept it up. I didn't wanna like, confront you or anything. I didn't know how I'd feel about it if you were…"

Dave raised his eyebrows at that.

"It's all good now. I mean, it's no big to me," Az reassured him, "And hey, what I said yesterday, you know? As long as there's a chick involved, I'm good with some experimentation."

Dave put a hand to his forehead and rubbed his temples. Christ, Az had to be the biggest horn-dog he knew. He was a fucking awesome friend though, so Dave didn't let himself get upset.

"Dude there was nothing you could have said. I didn't even wanna think that I could be fucking gay. If you'd brought it up I woulda just got pissed and kicked your ass."

"Get real Captain D, there's no way. I would totally kick your ass. Then make you walk the plank," he chuckled.

"Az don't do that, shit's not even funny man, it's just fucking weird."

ooooo

That afternoon Dave tried to focus on the plan to keep his mind off{him and} Kurt. Since Kurt was now a big part of the plan it didn't work out that well. When seventh period was finally over he almost sprinted down the hall to meet Kurt at his locker. Dave could see how tired he was but he was still keeping up the façade, bickering with his girlfriends over clothes or make-up or some other girly-shit like that.

"You ready for me to walk you to your car?" like I should always be doing

"I'm ready if you are," Kurt winked at him.

Dave blushed to the roots of his hair and the girlfriends snickered. Damn him! Was this really the time? Then he remembered, keep it looking normal. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

He replied gruffly, "Come on, let's go."

On their way across the parking lot Kurt texted Blaine to cancel their never-gonna-happen-anyway-dinner plans. Just as he opened his car door the phone rang. Dave could hear Blaine's voice, high pitched and angry, on the other end but he didn't insist on speaker phone, this was pretty straight forward and he was liking the sound of Kurt's end of the conversation.

"No, I'll call you tomorrow if I feel better."

"No! I'm going to go home, turn the phone off and get into bed."

"It's really too bad my illness is more important to me than how you feel."

"You should be sorry, I'll call you tomorrow."

He hung up and climbed in the car. Dave longed to lean in the window and hug him, touch him, caress his face, kiss him goodbye. They stood for a minute and just looked at each other. Finally Kurt broke the silence.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow."