A/N: First of all, thanks to Spooky Bibi, the pink post-it, awkward innuendo, Candybites, M, PowerLad and lisacreature for your reviews! Glad you all like it and that people seem to like the Rachel/Dave friendship. lisacreature, don't worry, I don't really want people to like Kurt at the start of this story, but he should become more likeable later on. It is a Kurtofsky fic after all!
I still have writer's block over NotHisType?so I'm just going to continue with this fic for a bit and see how things go! Although I have got some ideas for that Kurtofsky fic so it might be sooner rather than later!
With A Little Help From My Friends
Chapter One
Dave stood at the kitchen window of his fourteenth-floor flat, gazing across the Liverpool skyline as he nursed his hangover, sipping from a large mug of tea. Helen was shuffling around behind him making sausage sandwiches and occasionally muttering about never drinking again. In the four years he'd lived with her he'd heard her say this at least once a month. In spite of the feeling that his head was going to implode, he smiled.
Over on the sofa of their open plan kitchen/living room, lay Chris who was snoring loudly. In another world, Chris would have been Helen's brother-in-law. Six months before Dave came to live with her, Helen's fiancé, Rick, had died in a car crash. After helping each other through their grief, Helen and Chris – Rick's younger brother – had stayed close, becoming good friends. Helen had never said anything, but Dave suspected that she was in love with the scruffy young man currently wrapped in a duvet on their sofa. He often suspected that Chris felt the same way, but neither of them, it seemed, would do anything about it. Dave imagined they felt it would be betraying Rick's memory. Dave, on the other hand, thought that if it had been he who had died, he would want nothing more than the two people he loved most to be happy, even if that meant with each other.
Dave was pulled from his reverie by the sight of Rachel entering the room. She had stayed in his bed last night and was currently wearing an eclectic mix of pyjamas, one of Dave's hoodies and a pair of sunglasses.
"Sambuca," she declared to the room as she flopped down on the second sofa, "is evil."
"I've got beef sausages on the go for you, Rach," said Helen, sounding much cheerier than she apparently felt.
"Thanks, hun!" Rachel had given up being vegan years ago after she had become dangerously anaemic to a point where all her supplements weren't helping. She was, however, still Jewish. She didn't exactly keep Kosher, but she didn't eat pork so David and Helen always made sure to have beef sausages in whenever Rachel was staying.
They had gone out to some of their favourite haunts in Liverpool last night and had drank far too much. Rachel had recently moved out of her London house, which she was renting out, and had moved to a flat in Cardiff so that she could film for DoctorWho. After an almost two-year run in FunnyGirl, Rachel had gone into TV, mostly acting in period dramas but then, six months ago, she'd been asked to audition as the Doctor's new companion, Emma Curtis – a 19th century American socialite. She'd got the part and had recently started filming down in Wales. The night out in Liverpool was to take advantage of what was going to become a rare weekend with no filming, as well as to celebrate getting the job in the first place.
Dave was so incredibly proud of her – and not just because he, along with Helen, was a massive DoctorWhofan. He felt that Rachel had worked so hard and that, while her dreams had changed since high school, she'd achieved all of them. That said, Dave wasn't doing to bad himself. The sports scheme he had said up in Liverpool four years ago had flourished into a nationwide not-for-profit organisation that helped young people develop through sport. David ran it from his head-office in Liverpool and, although he missed some of the more hands-on work with the kids, he enjoyed it and was immensely proud of what he had achieved.
He was once again pulled from his thoughts by Helen serving up sausage sandwiches. Squirting a huge blob of brown sauce on his own, he took a bite and felt it go to work on his hangover. By the sounds coming from Helen, Rachel and Chris – who was now awake – it was doing the same for them too.
"Sooooo... Who's this Adam you kept texting last night, Rach?" Helen enquired with a glint in her eye.
Rachel blushed. "Just a guy..."
Eager enquiry broke out from Dave and Helen until Rachel was forced, giggling, to give in.
"I met him on set. He's on the special effects team. We were doing a load of green screen bits and he was organising it. We just kind of... clicked. We've been on a couple of dates, he's very nice and we're just seeing how things go. Satisfied?"
"Do have to tell him I'm going to kick his ass if he hurts you?" Dave smirked.
"Not unless you want me to throw my sausage at you."
"Right," grumbled Chris, whose hangover appeared to be the worst. "I'm thinking finish the butties, get showered and head to the Ship for hair of the dog. It's after twelve so it doesn't make us alcoholics."
David nodded. "That's the best idea you've ever had."
ooo
Two hours later they had showered, dressed and braved the half-hour walk from Dave and Helen's flat to the city centre. It was a cold January afternoon but, oddly enough, the cold seemed to help the hangovers. The Ship & Mitre was Dave's favourite pub in Liverpool. Specialising in real ales it was always good for a pint of something tasty and unusual. Today was no exception. The four of them sat round a small table, Dave with a pint of ruby porter, Helen and Rachel with pints of strawberry beer, and Chris with a German lager. While not the healthiest hangover cure, the beer certainly was helping and they were all looking a little less green. The conversation was even beginning to flow again.
"So, Ms. Berry... This Adam... Do I have to tell Finn and Z to Facebook stalk him and check he's good enough for you?" Dave joked as Chris laughed and Helen punched him playfully in the arm.
"Mr. Karofsky, what exactly could Finn and Z do? Unless you're expecting Finn to tell me about his car and Azimio to bust some equal ops on his ass!" Rachel snorted with laughter.
It may not have seemed likely in high school, but Rachel had become good friends with Azimio Adams, much to Dave's delight. Rachel's "adoption" of Dave had endeared her to his best friend and Azimio had taken a vow never to bully anyone again. As good as his word, the jock had studied hard and had become a lawyer, working with Rachel's dads at their Lima firm which specialised in equal rights law. Despite everything, Rachel was also good friends with Finn. The diva had not wanted to make things awkward for Dave, who loved Finn like a brother so, after keeping a respectable distance post-break-up she had sought him out as a friend, had ended up bridesmaid at his wedding and godmother to his first child.
"You should count yourself lucky," Helen smiled. "Most girls would kill for three big brothers like those guys! Or, on second thoughts, maybe most girls would just kill their three big brothers if they were like those guys."
Rachel laughed and some strawberry beer came out of her nose while Dave pretended to look insulted before smiling fondly. "Seriously, Rach, just make sure he's good to you. You've dated too many losers. I want this guy to be a goodun, OK?" Rachel smiled and nodded while Helen and Chris pretended to wipe tears away. David glared at them. "Fuck off you two."
"Oh, bollocks!" This was Rachel's favourite word that she'd picked up since living in the UK and she used it at any given opportunity. "Is that the time? I need to be on my train in twenty minutes!"
"Rach, calm down!" Helen soothed. "The stations, like, five minutes from here."
"I'll walk you," volunteered Dave. "Helen, Chris, I'll meet you guys back here once Rachel's on her train, OK?"
"Cool beans," was Chris' still-slightly-hungover response as Helen gave Rachel a big hug.
A few minutes later and Dave and Rachel were braving the cold once more to walk across to Lime Street Station. "We need to find you someone." Rachel was blunt and to the point. Dave could tell she'd been worrying about him.
"I'm fine as I am, Rach."
"No you're not. You miss Darren. I can tell these things."
Darren was Dave's ex-boyfriend. They'd not been together in nearly a year but Rachel was right, Dave missed him. They'd met about three years ago when Rachel had managed to blag some tickets to StrictlyComeDancing. Darren was one of the professional dancers and Rachel had introduced him to Dave at the aftershow party. They had hit it off straight away. They had a similar sense of humour and liked a lot of the same things and Dave had a verygreat appreciation of Darren's lean, muscular dancer's body. Darren apparently enjoyed that Dave was built like a rugby player and the two embarked on a very passionate love affair. Their relationship had continued for two years despite the distance between their homes in London and Liverpool and they had been very much in love. However, then Darren had a call from the States to see if he wanted to join the professional team on DancingWithTheStarsand they had decided that the best thing to do was end it. Dave couldn't go to America and it was too great an opportunity for Darren to turn down. To end things was best for both of them. But that didn't mean it hadn't hurt.
"Yeah, I miss him, Rach. But I'm not still in love with him or anything. I mean, he was my first long term relationship, I'll always have a soft spot for him but we weren't soulmates or anything. If we were we'd have been able to compromise. I'm happy with us not being together. Honestly."
"I still maintain that you need a boyfriend. Finn's married to Lisa, Az has got Lauren, I reallylike Adam, and Helen and Chris are going to realise they're made for each other sooner or later. I just don't want you to end up on your own."
"I won't, Rach. It was hard getting over Darren but I'm back on the market now and I'm bound to meet someone eventually."
"You are. I mean, you're not thatrepulsive."
Rachel stuck out her tongue and Dave smirked and pushed her sideways as they found her platform. "Your train's boarding, Berry."
"Promise me you'll walk back into that pub and find the man you're meant to spend the rest of your life with?"
"I'll try."
"That's not good enough, David."
"OK, OK! I promise."
"That's better. Now, I really need to get on my train."
Dave and Rachel hugged for what seemed like an eternity before he made her promise to call him as soon as she arrived in Cardiff and they said their goodbyes.
Turning to leave the station, Dave reflected that he was always sad whenever he and Rachel parted. Considering he had hated her with a firey vengeance only eleven years ago it was odd to feel as if he'd lost a body part whenever she went away now.
He made the short walk back to the Ship & Mitre and found Helen and Chris sitting where he'd left them but was surprised to see that a third person had joined them. Dave could only see him from behind but it was a guy – tall and lean with impeccable dress sense and perfectly coiffed hair. Dave felt a jolt of recognition but quelled it. It couldn't possibly be thatguy. He approached the table and Helen caught his eye and waved.
"Dave! This is the guy I was telling you about. He started his PhD in my department last October. His name's-"
"Kurt Hummel." Dave finished for her. The man had turned round and made eye contact with Dave. There was no denying it. It was Kurt in the flesh. Completely unchanged, just a decade older.
"How did you...? Oh." Realisation dawned on Helen's face. Dave had told her all about his past of course: the bullying, the death threat, the kiss. He had also told her all about Kurt's bad behaviour. Of course, he had never mentioned Kurt's surname – why would he? So why would Helen assume that some American guy called Kurt in her department would be thatKurt? But now her face was colouring red and even Chris was beginning to realise who this Kurt was, his eyes going wide.
Dave wanted to fill the awkward silence but he couldn't speak. His eyes were locked on Kurt's who was staring at him with an odd look that Dave couldn't read. Eventually, Kurt spoke. "Dave Karofsky... It's been... What? Ten years?"
"I need a drink." Dave replied, turning on his heel and heading to the bar. None of the anger he held toward Kurt had, it would seem, dissipated in the past ten years. Seeing him standing there, bold as brass, as if he had nothing to be ashamed of had riled Dave like nothing else. He needed to get away but he couldn't think of a decent excuse to leave so he ordered a beer (a strong one) and stayed at the bar.
Suddenly Kurt was at his elbow and speaking in that haughty, condescending tone that Dave remembered so well. "Look, David, I know why you're acting like this and it's OK. I'm totally over everything that went on between us in high school. I've forgiven you so it's about time you forgave yourself, don't you think?"
"What?" Dave wasn't quite sure he could believe what he was hearing.
"I was just saying-"
"I know what you were just saying, Hummel, I'm just having trouble believing it. You think I'm acting funny because of residual guilt over high school or some shit like that?" Kurt just stared back at him, wide-eyed. "Hummel, I apologised back then and you forgave me so why would I still be feeling bad about that? I'm pissed because you just waltz up to me like everything's fine when I had to pick up the shit you caused in other people's lives."
"I beg your pardon?"
"In college, when Finn and Rachel broke up – y'know, your step-brother and your best friend? What did you do?"
"I..."
"I'll tell you what you did. You send Rachel a pissy little text message that made her feel even worse. You didn't go to see her even though you were in the samecity. And then you neverspoke to her again. And Finn? What did you do there? A quick phone call to say it was probably for the best before talking for half an hour about yourself and your boyfriend. Know how I know?"
"Um..."
"Because I was there. Right after I got back from comforting Rachel in New York I went round to your dad's house and saw Finn to check he was OK. You called while I was there. All Finn wanted was his brother to spend time with him, maybe go camping, drink some beers tell him it was all going to be alright. You stayed in New York and didn't come home until Thanksgiving – fivemonthslater."
Kurt looked close to tears but Dave rumbled on regardless. It felt good to get this off his chest. "What did I do? I took him camping. I went to bars with him. I introduced him to other girls and eventually I introduced him to Lisa. Who he married. Whose wedding you didn't go to. So, Hummel, if you think I'm acting out because of some shitty guilt hangover then you're wrong. I'm pissed at you because you have screwed over everyone in your life and don't even seem sorry for it. I just hope Blaine was worth it."
Having said all he could, Dave chugged back the rest of his pint and stormed from the pub. Leaving Kurt looking hurt and humiliated by the bar.
A/N: OK so, Dave's rant was a bit, well, rantier than I expected but I hope this has set up an interesting dynamic in the Kurt/Karofsky relationship! I could've made this chapter a bit longer but, when I thought about what I want in the next chapter, it made more sense to break here.
I know Helen and Chris are a bit underdeveloped at the moment but they'll become more prominent in future chapters. And, yes, Azimio's Lauren is Lauren Zizes. I have an idea for how they got together which I'll try to work into a future chapter. I'm not too interested in bringing in any further characters from the show but I might do if it serves the chapters later on.
ForthosebasedintheUSwhodon'tknow,Strictly Come Dancing istheshowthatDancing With The Stars wasbasedon.Darrenisnotbasedonanyrealdancersontheshow – he'sacompleteOCalthoughheprobablywon'tcomebackintoitanyfurtherapartfromtheoddmention.