In the Spotlight (Chapter eight)
Title: In the Spotlight (Chapter eight)
Author: Emma (Fyrewyre)
Pairing, Character(s): Dave Karofsky and Kurt Hummel (Eventual pairing), various glee members, OC.
Rating: PG - PG 13
Spoilers: Season 2, episode 6 “Never been Kissed”
Summary: Karofsky is sentenced to life in Hell, or at least the next closest thing available: Glee Club.
--
Azimio's car, as Dave had soon discovered, really did smell like bananas. Why someone would put all the effort into making his car smell like bananas was beyond him, but you had to give them points for their dedication to nonsense.
The week passed on in a blur of Glee club (unfortunately), schoolwork, and having to help Azimio hunt down the idiot who messed with his car.
When Friday rolled around, he found himself sitting in the nurse's office trying to convince her that yes, he was nauseous, and yes, he should go home before school let out.
Was she buying it? No. No she was not.
In fact, she was sitting behind her desk and glaring at him, not allowing him to go home but not forcing him to go back to class, either. For that he was thankful. And it gave him hope that he could stay there until Glee was over and no longer a problem he would have to deal with.
… And then, over the weekend, he would fake his death and escape to Canada.
Yeah, that would totally work.
In the meantime, classes were finishing up and Dave was fairly certain Glee was nearly halfway done, he found himself staring at the ceiling and finding patterns in the mold that he was fairly certain was some form of the plague, but hey, he wasn't one to complain.
He had just found two more unflattering portraits of Mr. Schuester (Seriously, how much free-time did coach Sylvester have?) when a chill ran up his spine; this chill was the kind of chill that was made of pure terror, the kind that foreshadowed horrible things.
The chill that Dave had taken to calling Rachel.
He barely had two seconds to register 'oh shit I'm not getting out of this' before the diva had grabbed his arm, right above his elbow and squeezing until it hurt, and dragged him behind her, muttering darkly about how they 'need to be a team' and how if she 'had to work with him at regional's' then he needed to 'suck it up and get all the practice that he could in' because she 'would not be dragged down' by him 'refusing to establish a meaningful connection to Glee club.'
All while this was happening, Dave was making his own arguments against being taken to Glee Club. "No! I'm dyiiiing! I need the sweet sanctuary of the nurse's office!" Had been what he started with, that eventually became things along the lines of "I'm destined to sway in the background, Berry! Whyyy must you torture me?" And "I don't want to be here! Dammit, you can't force me to be one of you!"
By the time they reached the choir room, Rachel had stopped talking and Dave's complaints had deteriorated to "I can't feel me arm."
The girl, despite barely coming up to Dave's shoulders in height and probably weighing less than half what Dave weighed, somehow managed to shove him into the center of the room before turning and walking dramatically to her chair.
Everyone was staring at him, their eyes burned through him like a beam of sunlight amplified by a magnifying glass burned through paper.
He gave a feeble cough. "Oh, I'm feeling kind of sick, I think I'll head back to the nurse's office," He mentally awarded himself the " 'worst actor ever really you should be better at it than this considering how long you've been closeted' award" as he said that, turning and stiffly walking towards the door.
He was quickly stopped by just about everyone in Glee shouting "Karofsky!" (Or a harpy-esque "DAVID!" In Rachel's case) and the sound of chairs being pushed back as some of the more 'footbally' Glee geeks stood up, most likely to physically restrain him.
Dave raised his hands above his head, slowly turning around and surprised to find at least two of them pointing imaginary guns at him.
He stared at them, his eyes big enough to have him mistaken for a creature of anime he was sure, for a moment before slowly inching his way back to the center of the room.
He knew that they didn't actually have guns, but the fact that they seemed to be unaware of this fact was enough to convince him that they were completely bonkers.
And, as everyone knew, you should just go along with crazy people, as they were prone to violence when you challenged their delusions. And Dave wasn't sure he could hold off the entire Glee club if they got violent.
So there he was, standing in the middle of the room, two crazy men pointing invisible guns that weren't actually there at his head, and everyone else waiting for him to sing.
… What was his life?
He sighed, his shoulder sagging with the action, and adjusted his Letterman jacket. The whole 'singing' thing was easier and more comfortable with it off, but he had worn it every club meeting after the first one, and he wasn't about to lose the shield that separated him from them.
… Completely ignoring that the geeks in football sometimes wore their jackets as well, that was completely different.
He sent one last look at Schuester, pleading with his eyes to be let freeeeeee.
But noooo, Schuester was a bastard who seemed to enjoy the fact that he had the teen trapped like an animal or convict or whatever, and simply motioned for him to start singing.
Hoping to convey 'I will murder you' with his eyes, Dave glared at the teacher for another second before turning back to the band. Okay, what was a song themed on romance or heartbreak that he could sing?
Hm… Okay, he knew all the lyrics to that one.
He muttered his song choice to the piano player, who nodded and made a motion to the rest of the band as Dave turned back to the rest of the club.
Okay… He could get through this…
Three, two, one…
"Easy come, easy go, that's just how you live." Okay, he would never admit it, but he really loved this song, something about it just hit something inside of him. "Oh, take, take, take it all but you never give."
"Should've known you was trouble from the first kiss" He would not look at Hummel, He would not look at Hummel, He would not lo- Ah fuck, he looked. "Had your eyes wide open, why were they open?" Speaking of eyes, his were moving all over the room, anywhere but Hummel, anywhere but Hummel.
"Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash" Easier to not look at Hummel. Since when had he given him anything? "You tossed it in the trash, you did…"
"To give me all your love is all I ever asked" Well, not in so many words… "'Cause what you don't understand is…"
Kurt stared at Karofsky, it was obvious that the jock had picked the song quite literally five seconds before he had to perform, and you would have had to be an idiot, or just completely unaware of what was going on with Karofsky, to miss the way his eyes kept flicking back to Kurt.
Kurt, for his part, watched Karofsky with the same amount of interest he showed the rest of the club when they performed. No more, and maybe just a bit less.
I'd catch a grenade for ya
Throw my hand on a blade for ya
I'd jump in front of a train for ya
You know I'd do anything for ya
It wasn't that he was bad; Kurt had already been willing to admit that Karofsky actually had some form of talent when it came to performing. It was just that… He didn't want to have a lot of interest in Karofsky's performance. He didn't want to find something about Karofsky he could connect with. He'd already extended that olive branch, and that was as far as he went.
I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain
Yes, I would die for you, baby
But you won't do the same
No, no, no, no
And not to mention his song choice, last second or not, it was creepy.
Okay, not the song itself, but the way Karofsky seemed to be looking anywhere but him, as if the second they made eye contact the song would magically be about him. Hah, no. If anyone paid any attention to the lyrics they would realize that nothing applied to him, or Karofsky.
Black, black, black and blue, beat me 'til I'm numb
Tell the devil I said, hey, when you get back to where you're from
Mad woman, bad woman, that's just what you are, yeah
You'll smile in my face then rip the brakes out my car
And, wonderful, Karofsky seemed to be restraining himself from getting lost in the song. Yet another reason as to the teen being messed up. Why would Kurt want to have to deal with that?
Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash
You tossed it in the trash, yes, you did
To give me all your love is all I ever asked
'Cause what you don't understand is
There he went saying he didn't understand again, jeez, it was like he thought Kurt was an id- it's a song, Kurt. Stop it. It's not about you. No matter how much your brain tells you otherwise. Just a song.
I'd catch a grenade for ya
Throw my hand on a blade for ya
I'd jump in front of a train for ya
You know I'd do anything for ya
Kurt found himself looking Karofsky over, analyzing what he was doing. He was stiff as a board, and seemed determined to stay that way.
Kurt stopped analyzing Karofsky.
I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain
Yes, I would die for ya, baby
But you won't do the same
Okay, so Karofsky was reaching the end of the song, which was good. It meant he was almost finished, which meant he would be sitting down and retreating to his own world soon, which meant that he could stop messing with Kurt's mind and stop looking at him like that.
If my body was on fire
Ooh, you'd watch me burn down in flames
You said you loved me, you're a liar
'Cause you never, ever, ever did, baby
Karofsky closed his eyes, and Kurt let out a breath that he had not only not been aware he'd been holding, but had been threatening to make his lungs explode.
But darling, I'd still catch a grenade for ya
Throw my hand on a blade for ya
I'd jump in front of a train for ya
You know I'd do anything for ya
I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain
Yes, I would die for you, baby
But you won't do the same
No, you won't do the same
You wouldn't do the same
Ooh, you never do the same
No, no, no, no
With that, Karofsky reopened his eyes and walked to a seat, ignoring Rachel's enthusiastic clapping and instead opting to, surprise, retreat into his own world, away from Glee club.
"Okay," Mr. Schu said, walking forward. "Thank you, David, for finally performing." Everyone else had performed at various points throughout the week "Now, I know this isn't what I normally do, but I'm going to be telling you all next week's assignment now, so that you all can get a head start."
Everyone glanced at each other in confusion. Sometimes Kurt wondered if Mr. Schu loved being difficult or if he was just that befuddling.
"Now, I've noticed that you all work your best when we do a partners exercise." Uh oh. "So I've decided 'what better way to let our two newest members get fully into the swing of Glee?'"
Kurt bit back a groan, and Karofsky looked like he'd been hit over the head with a rotten salmon: confused and a bit disgusted.
"Mr. Schu," Rachel started, but was cut off by the teacher holding up a hand.
"No buts Rachel, pretty soon we're going to have to think about Sectionals, and in order for that to go smoothly, we need you all to get along. Therefore, I'll be assigning your partners this time, I need to shake you out of your comfort zone, and get you all to get along."
Oh, Mr. Schu… Ever the optimist. Ever the naivety.
Ever the 'not one to make empty threats when it comes to Glee Club.'
Kurt fought valiantly against the urge to groan as Mr. Schue pulled out his list of pair-ups.
This was going to be a loooooong week.
Author: Emma (Fyrewyre)
Pairing, Character(s): Dave Karofsky and Kurt Hummel (Eventual pairing), various glee members, OC.
Rating: PG - PG 13
Spoilers: Season 2, episode 6 “Never been Kissed”
Summary: Karofsky is sentenced to life in Hell, or at least the next closest thing available: Glee Club.
--
Azimio's car, as Dave had soon discovered, really did smell like bananas. Why someone would put all the effort into making his car smell like bananas was beyond him, but you had to give them points for their dedication to nonsense.
The week passed on in a blur of Glee club (unfortunately), schoolwork, and having to help Azimio hunt down the idiot who messed with his car.
When Friday rolled around, he found himself sitting in the nurse's office trying to convince her that yes, he was nauseous, and yes, he should go home before school let out.
Was she buying it? No. No she was not.
In fact, she was sitting behind her desk and glaring at him, not allowing him to go home but not forcing him to go back to class, either. For that he was thankful. And it gave him hope that he could stay there until Glee was over and no longer a problem he would have to deal with.
… And then, over the weekend, he would fake his death and escape to Canada.
Yeah, that would totally work.
In the meantime, classes were finishing up and Dave was fairly certain Glee was nearly halfway done, he found himself staring at the ceiling and finding patterns in the mold that he was fairly certain was some form of the plague, but hey, he wasn't one to complain.
He had just found two more unflattering portraits of Mr. Schuester (Seriously, how much free-time did coach Sylvester have?) when a chill ran up his spine; this chill was the kind of chill that was made of pure terror, the kind that foreshadowed horrible things.
The chill that Dave had taken to calling Rachel.
He barely had two seconds to register 'oh shit I'm not getting out of this' before the diva had grabbed his arm, right above his elbow and squeezing until it hurt, and dragged him behind her, muttering darkly about how they 'need to be a team' and how if she 'had to work with him at regional's' then he needed to 'suck it up and get all the practice that he could in' because she 'would not be dragged down' by him 'refusing to establish a meaningful connection to Glee club.'
All while this was happening, Dave was making his own arguments against being taken to Glee Club. "No! I'm dyiiiing! I need the sweet sanctuary of the nurse's office!" Had been what he started with, that eventually became things along the lines of "I'm destined to sway in the background, Berry! Whyyy must you torture me?" And "I don't want to be here! Dammit, you can't force me to be one of you!"
By the time they reached the choir room, Rachel had stopped talking and Dave's complaints had deteriorated to "I can't feel me arm."
The girl, despite barely coming up to Dave's shoulders in height and probably weighing less than half what Dave weighed, somehow managed to shove him into the center of the room before turning and walking dramatically to her chair.
Everyone was staring at him, their eyes burned through him like a beam of sunlight amplified by a magnifying glass burned through paper.
He gave a feeble cough. "Oh, I'm feeling kind of sick, I think I'll head back to the nurse's office," He mentally awarded himself the " 'worst actor ever really you should be better at it than this considering how long you've been closeted' award" as he said that, turning and stiffly walking towards the door.
He was quickly stopped by just about everyone in Glee shouting "Karofsky!" (Or a harpy-esque "DAVID!" In Rachel's case) and the sound of chairs being pushed back as some of the more 'footbally' Glee geeks stood up, most likely to physically restrain him.
Dave raised his hands above his head, slowly turning around and surprised to find at least two of them pointing imaginary guns at him.
He stared at them, his eyes big enough to have him mistaken for a creature of anime he was sure, for a moment before slowly inching his way back to the center of the room.
He knew that they didn't actually have guns, but the fact that they seemed to be unaware of this fact was enough to convince him that they were completely bonkers.
And, as everyone knew, you should just go along with crazy people, as they were prone to violence when you challenged their delusions. And Dave wasn't sure he could hold off the entire Glee club if they got violent.
So there he was, standing in the middle of the room, two crazy men pointing invisible guns that weren't actually there at his head, and everyone else waiting for him to sing.
… What was his life?
He sighed, his shoulder sagging with the action, and adjusted his Letterman jacket. The whole 'singing' thing was easier and more comfortable with it off, but he had worn it every club meeting after the first one, and he wasn't about to lose the shield that separated him from them.
… Completely ignoring that the geeks in football sometimes wore their jackets as well, that was completely different.
He sent one last look at Schuester, pleading with his eyes to be let freeeeeee.
But noooo, Schuester was a bastard who seemed to enjoy the fact that he had the teen trapped like an animal or convict or whatever, and simply motioned for him to start singing.
Hoping to convey 'I will murder you' with his eyes, Dave glared at the teacher for another second before turning back to the band. Okay, what was a song themed on romance or heartbreak that he could sing?
Hm… Okay, he knew all the lyrics to that one.
He muttered his song choice to the piano player, who nodded and made a motion to the rest of the band as Dave turned back to the rest of the club.
Okay… He could get through this…
Three, two, one…
"Easy come, easy go, that's just how you live." Okay, he would never admit it, but he really loved this song, something about it just hit something inside of him. "Oh, take, take, take it all but you never give."
"Should've known you was trouble from the first kiss" He would not look at Hummel, He would not look at Hummel, He would not lo- Ah fuck, he looked. "Had your eyes wide open, why were they open?" Speaking of eyes, his were moving all over the room, anywhere but Hummel, anywhere but Hummel.
"Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash" Easier to not look at Hummel. Since when had he given him anything? "You tossed it in the trash, you did…"
"To give me all your love is all I ever asked" Well, not in so many words… "'Cause what you don't understand is…"
Kurt stared at Karofsky, it was obvious that the jock had picked the song quite literally five seconds before he had to perform, and you would have had to be an idiot, or just completely unaware of what was going on with Karofsky, to miss the way his eyes kept flicking back to Kurt.
Kurt, for his part, watched Karofsky with the same amount of interest he showed the rest of the club when they performed. No more, and maybe just a bit less.
I'd catch a grenade for ya
Throw my hand on a blade for ya
I'd jump in front of a train for ya
You know I'd do anything for ya
It wasn't that he was bad; Kurt had already been willing to admit that Karofsky actually had some form of talent when it came to performing. It was just that… He didn't want to have a lot of interest in Karofsky's performance. He didn't want to find something about Karofsky he could connect with. He'd already extended that olive branch, and that was as far as he went.
I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain
Yes, I would die for you, baby
But you won't do the same
No, no, no, no
And not to mention his song choice, last second or not, it was creepy.
Okay, not the song itself, but the way Karofsky seemed to be looking anywhere but him, as if the second they made eye contact the song would magically be about him. Hah, no. If anyone paid any attention to the lyrics they would realize that nothing applied to him, or Karofsky.
Black, black, black and blue, beat me 'til I'm numb
Tell the devil I said, hey, when you get back to where you're from
Mad woman, bad woman, that's just what you are, yeah
You'll smile in my face then rip the brakes out my car
And, wonderful, Karofsky seemed to be restraining himself from getting lost in the song. Yet another reason as to the teen being messed up. Why would Kurt want to have to deal with that?
Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash
You tossed it in the trash, yes, you did
To give me all your love is all I ever asked
'Cause what you don't understand is
There he went saying he didn't understand again, jeez, it was like he thought Kurt was an id- it's a song, Kurt. Stop it. It's not about you. No matter how much your brain tells you otherwise. Just a song.
I'd catch a grenade for ya
Throw my hand on a blade for ya
I'd jump in front of a train for ya
You know I'd do anything for ya
Kurt found himself looking Karofsky over, analyzing what he was doing. He was stiff as a board, and seemed determined to stay that way.
Kurt stopped analyzing Karofsky.
I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain
Yes, I would die for ya, baby
But you won't do the same
Okay, so Karofsky was reaching the end of the song, which was good. It meant he was almost finished, which meant he would be sitting down and retreating to his own world soon, which meant that he could stop messing with Kurt's mind and stop looking at him like that.
If my body was on fire
Ooh, you'd watch me burn down in flames
You said you loved me, you're a liar
'Cause you never, ever, ever did, baby
Karofsky closed his eyes, and Kurt let out a breath that he had not only not been aware he'd been holding, but had been threatening to make his lungs explode.
But darling, I'd still catch a grenade for ya
Throw my hand on a blade for ya
I'd jump in front of a train for ya
You know I'd do anything for ya
I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain
Yes, I would die for you, baby
But you won't do the same
No, you won't do the same
You wouldn't do the same
Ooh, you never do the same
No, no, no, no
With that, Karofsky reopened his eyes and walked to a seat, ignoring Rachel's enthusiastic clapping and instead opting to, surprise, retreat into his own world, away from Glee club.
"Okay," Mr. Schu said, walking forward. "Thank you, David, for finally performing." Everyone else had performed at various points throughout the week "Now, I know this isn't what I normally do, but I'm going to be telling you all next week's assignment now, so that you all can get a head start."
Everyone glanced at each other in confusion. Sometimes Kurt wondered if Mr. Schu loved being difficult or if he was just that befuddling.
"Now, I've noticed that you all work your best when we do a partners exercise." Uh oh. "So I've decided 'what better way to let our two newest members get fully into the swing of Glee?'"
Kurt bit back a groan, and Karofsky looked like he'd been hit over the head with a rotten salmon: confused and a bit disgusted.
"Mr. Schu," Rachel started, but was cut off by the teacher holding up a hand.
"No buts Rachel, pretty soon we're going to have to think about Sectionals, and in order for that to go smoothly, we need you all to get along. Therefore, I'll be assigning your partners this time, I need to shake you out of your comfort zone, and get you all to get along."
Oh, Mr. Schu… Ever the optimist. Ever the naivety.
Ever the 'not one to make empty threats when it comes to Glee Club.'
Kurt fought valiantly against the urge to groan as Mr. Schue pulled out his list of pair-ups.
This was going to be a loooooong week.