Chapter 36: Scandals

Blaine walked into the choir room, tossed his bag on the floor and took the empty seat next to Kurt. "I saw your friend Dave at Scandals."

"Yeah? How's he doing?"

"We didn't really talk." Blaine shrugged. "I've only met Dave a few times, and that didn't work out so well, if you recall." Blaine raised his mega eyebrows and smiled suggestively. "He certainly looked happy."

Kurt grinned. "What's the guy like?"

"I couldn't see much of him. Dave's kind of broad."

"Dave wants me to meet him."

"Meet who?" Puck slumped into a seat in the row in front of Kurt and Blaine.

"Dave's got a guy." Blaine spilled the news.

"No shit! Who is he?" Puck turned to Kurt when Blaine shook his head.

"I don't know." Kurt wasn't sure that Dave would want him telling Puck anything. But Dave was done with hiding so… "Nigel and I are going to meet him this Saturday at Scandals."

Puck nodded. "Okay, I'm in. What time?"

Kurt was quick to protest. "What? No! You're not going to Scandals!"

"You bet I am, Princess." Puck was nothing if not stubborn.

Pinky fingers linked, Santana and Brittany strolled up the riser steps, and sat in the row directly behind Kurt and Blaine. Santana took in Kurt's glare. "What?"

"Dave's got a guy." Puck smirked at Kurt. "And we're going to Scandals to meet him."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Dave likes someone he met at Scandals. He wants me..." Kurt stressed the 'me', and glared at Puck. "…to meet him."

"I've known Dave practically my whole life. We've played football together since we were ten. I'm going."

"I don't think you'll be comfortable at Scandals, Puck."

Puck snorted. "What's the big deal? I'll just say no, thank you."

Kurt took out his most condescending tone. "You just automatically assume that some guy is going to want you to say yes?"

Puck flexed his arms. "Have you seen these?" He dropped a hand on Blaine's leg. "Besides, I'll just say I'm with Blaine. You're coming, right?"

Mike and Tina walked in, followed by Finn and Rachel. Santana called out to them. "Guys! This Saturday, Scandals! We're going to meet Dave's new guy."

Instant chaos, of course, everyone asking questions about Dave's guy. Puck grinned at Kurt. Kurt raised his middle finger in the time honoured salute.

Kurt called Dave when he got home. Texting wasn't going to cut it for this. "Look, Dave, I hope you're not going to be too upset, but Blaine saw you at Scandals, and mentioned it in Glee, and …" Kurt sighed. "They're all coming to Scandals on Saturday."

"What? Why?"

"They want to meet this guy of yours."

"Steven?" Dave's growled. "Why the fuck do they give a shit about who I'm seeing?"

Kurt stopped pacing his room, Dave was taking this better than he had expected. He flopped onto his bed, phone at his ear, staring at the ceiling. "Why? Because they're an incestuous bunch of nosy, insensitive clods, who don't understand the concept of privacy."

Dave laughed. "I don't get it. Why do they care?"

"I think they just want to see you happy, you know, after…"

"Yeah." Both teens were quiet, revisiting that dark hour. "Puck came to see me at the hospital. We didn't know what to say to each other, but he came."

"Really? He never said." Kurt shifted position, sitting up against the headboard. "You okay with this?"

"Well, I wasn't expecting a McKinley invasion but it might be worth it to see Finn at a gay bar."

Rachel squeezed Finn's hand, bouncing with excitement. "Oh, I've always wanted to come here!"

Finn looked at his girlfriend as if she had lost her mind. Santana laughed and pulled Brittany onto the dance floor. Mike and Tina joined them in the crowd of dancers, unable to resist the thump of the music. Puck leaned into Kurt, and shouted over the noise. "Where's Dave?"

Kurt looked around, and spotted him at the bar. "There."

Nigel wrapped an arm around Kurt's shoulder, and pulled him close. "You get Dave. I'll get a table."

Kurt nodded and followed Puck across the room.

"Dude!" Puck gave Dave one of those macho shoulder bumps, followed by some secret bro code handshake.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Nigel's getting a table. Where's Steven?"

Dave hip checked Puck, who spun into the guy next to him. While Puck was apologizing for spilling the guy's drink, Dave and Kurt started for the table Nigel had found. "On his way."

Puck caught up to them, stepping between them, his hands on their shoulders. "Where's your hottie?"

Kurt pulled away from Puck, and smacked the back of his head.

Puck grinned at Kurt. "What?"

"That's Steven to you, Puckerman." Dave had known Puck too long to take offense. "He'll be here soon."

Kurt slipped his arm around Nigel's waist. "Dave, this is my boyfriend Nigel. Nigel, my friend Dave."

Nigel shook hands with Dave. "Hi." He waved at the table. "We're going to need more chairs."

Tina brushed damp hair out of her face, and dropped down beside Dave. "I can't keep up with them." Mike, Santana and Brittany were inhaling the music like it was illegal.

Puck nudged Dave. "Check out Frankenteen." Finn had an arm around Rachel, and although she was tiny next to him, he seemed to be trying to hide behind her. He kept looking at the guys around him on the dance floor.

Nigel laughed at the sheer discomfort on Finn's face. Kurt slid his chair closer to Nigel's and tucked his head on his boyfriend's shoulder. "He's just a little nervous. We should go rescue him."

"No way, Princess." Puck laughed. "He's totally freaking out."

Dave stood up, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted over the music. "Steven! Over here." In the crowd, a blonde head turned, and started for their table.

Steven was maybe 5'8", slender, with blonde hair in an asymmetrical cut, and green eyes. His face was delicate, his smile a little shy. Dave took his hand and pulled him close. "Steven, this is the friend I was telling you about, Kurt and his boyfriend Nigel."

Kurt took Steven's hand. "I'm so pleased to meet you."

Steven only had time to smile and nod, before Dave continued. "This is Noah Puckerman, Puck. Ignore him, I always do."

Puck shoved Dave, and smiled at Steven. "Dude."

"This is Tina. They're all in the Glee Club at McKinley, except for Nigel, he's at OSU."

Steven turned to Nigel. "So am I. Fine Arts, freshman."

"Economics, senior year."

"Hey, took me a while to find you guys." Blaine glanced around the table and smiled at the new guy.

"Oh, look my date's here." Puck held out his arms, and Blaine played along, sitting in his lap. "Did you miss me?"

Dave couldn't believe his eyes. Puck was sitting in a gay bar, with a boy on his lap! Puck the McKinley bad-ass, the football jock, the wet dream of every pool mom in Lima! Dave felt like he had stepped into some alternate universe. Next to Az, Puck was the one that Dave had most dreaded knowing his secret. He looked over at Kurt, wonder in his eyes, and Kurt smiled.

Blaine kissed Puck on the cheek, and then hoped off his lap, extending his hand to Steven. "Hi, I'm Blaine."

"I guess you were right." Dave and Kurt were dancing near the edge of the crowd, where the music was not quite as loud, and they could hear each other talk.

"You're going to have to be a little more specific than that."

Dave laughed. "When you told me to join Glee, you said I could be myself in Glee Club."

"Yeah, they're all crazy, especially Rachel, and annoying, and they don't know when to mind their own business." Kurt shrugged. "But they're good friends to have."

Dave was silent for a while, moving in slow circles. "I never thought that they would accept me, or even talk to me if they knew, guys like Mike, and Finn, and Puck. How was I so wrong?"

"You weren't wrong, Dave. It's just that the guys here tonight, aren't the same guys they were two years ago. We've all changed a lot. Maybe it was Glee, maybe it was just growing up, I don't know…" Kurt laughed. "When Finn first moved in with us, he wouldn't come out of the washroom unless he was fully dressed, like I was going to molest him or something. Now, he asks me for dating advice, and he plays video games with my boyfriend!"

"Mind if I cut in?" Nigel smiled at Dave as he slipped his arm around Kurt's waist.

Dave stepped back from Kurt. "I'd better go get Steven before Puck tells him any more embarrassing stories about me."

Kurt plastered himself to Nigel as Dave walked away. "I thought you hated dancing?"

"True, but I love holding you." Nigel skimmed a hand down Kurt's back, and tried to slide it under the waistband of his boyfriend's skinnys, but they were too damn tight. "You know, Kurt I read that skinnys were going out of style."

Kurt pushed back from Nigel, shocked. "You did not!"

Nigel nodded. "I did. Vogue says that next season …"

Kurt's eyes narrowed. "Nigel Dennison, you've never read a Vogue issue in your life."

Nigel laughed, and pulled Kurt back against him. "Busted."

The music was loud, the beat hard and fast. Bodies crowded the dance floor, gyrating like dervishes, except for two. Nigel and Kurt swayed together, quiet, in a world by themselves.