"They forgive you." Kurt said. "You should join glee."
"No." Dave said, looking anywhere but Kurt. "I wanted to apologize to you. And I did. Can you accept it and we can move on in our separate ways?"
Kurt reeled as though stung, frowning.
"I thought… Santana sort of implied that you wanted my help—"
"Yeah, well, I don't." Dave said, his shoulders hunched. He fell into a chair. "I gotta stop doing this."
"What. Putting on that tough guy mask?"
Dave laughed through his nose. "Yeah." Dave looked at Kurt. "Do you want me to be brutally honest?"
"Always."
"I don't want to join glee club because you're in it." Dave said. "And not because I don't want to be around you. It's because I want to be around you. I can't control myself. I'm not saying that I'm going to all out and kiss you again. I'm never going to touch you without your permission ever again." Dave clenched his teeth and said seriously. "I know that I'm gay. Being with Santana, talking to her… I know that I'm just as fruity as Toucan Sam. But to know that, and to know that you have a boyfriend who you love, and that you can never, ever feel the same way about me because I repulse you… it's a difficult thing to live with. I don't want to add that to the list of shit that make me want to kill myself."
"Dave, you want to kill yourself?" Kurt said, seriously. "I understand keeping the secret of your sexuality like that can be frustrating, but you have someone to share things with. And are your feelings for me strong enough to lead you to such drastic measures?"
"Not alone, they wouldn't." Dave murmured. "But they intensify when you're around. I…" Dave sighed. "I can't believe that I'm saying all of this out loud."
"You need to say things out loud. You need to sing things out loud. You really do need us, Dave." Kurt stood up to leave. Just as he reached the stage he turned around and said, "And your voice… is the most beautiful surprise I've ever had. It was beautifully rich, heartbreakingly so." Dave let his face curve into a tiny smile as Kurt walked away. Dave sat there in silence for a little bit before Santana came in, leaning against the doorway.
"Hey teddy bear." She said thickly.
"Aw, don't tell me you got emotional over me."
"No." she chuckled, wiping her eyes. "The sight of you just makes my eyes water."
"Well, that's okay. Just don't cry over little old me." Dave said, standing up and putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Dave you have to join. I'm so scared." She whispered. Indeed, she was shaking. Dave frowned. No one had ever shown so much interest in him. He'd never had a friend who cared so deeply about him. Ever.
"Santana…" Dave frowned. "You can't be serious."
"You're an asshole." She said, pushing him. He frowned in confusion. What just happened? "You can't scare me like that! You've got the most amazing singing voice, you sing… like…a goodbye song about some little lion and crap—" She took a second to calm herself down and then looked Dave into the eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm on my period."
"Did not need to know that." Dave said grimacing. Santana shook her head and wiped her face. "Santana… I'm changing my mind, little by little. But being in glee might just make things difficult for me."
"How?" Santana frowned.
"I'm about… 97% sure that I love Kurt Hummel." Dave murmured. "And constantly being around someone that you can't have is really hard."
Santana rolled her eyes and gave a little 'tch'. "Tell me about it."
"I told him my reason. He still thinks I should join, I think."
"Just… just do it."
"They'll never fully trust me unless they know what happened. They'll want to know why Kurt trusts me."
"They'll be fine with just guessing. I told them… that you were really sad and that you needed help. And they seemed eager to help. Rachel was, especially."
Dave snorted. "She likes me for my voice."
Santana nodded. "The same way I only like you for your body." She chuckled. Dave cracked a smile.
"Well… I mean I can hang out with you after school, right?"
"Yep." Santana said. "And then we can go get ice cream and complain about how cramped our closet is." She smiled widely. Dave's white teeth showed in his lopsided grin.
"I'll… maybe I will." He said. "But… just because I can't resist your feminine allure."
"Yeah." Santana cackled. "That and you want to be in a room with Kurt while you watch him doing what he loves most."
"I didn't say it wasn't." Dave shrugged.