#1
David Karofsky walked along the hallway. For a couple of weeks he had been feeling miserable and moody. He tried to compensate with more football training but it didn’t work, so he was pushing the younger kids more than usual. Although it was fun to see their scared faces just because he was passing them in school, it still wasn’t enough to satisfy him. At first Dave thought he had some kind of stomach upset but even after he kept his hands from the 3 portions of nachos every night, this strange feeling didn’t vanish.
“Hey dude!”
It was Azimio waving from the school entrance.
“What’s up?” Dave answered and as they reached each other, he punched the other boy in his upper arm. They smiled at each other. “Have you seen that substitute for history class?”, Azimio asked. “For sure! She’s hot… for her age.”
As they moved on they saw a kid trying to get his locker open. Azimio gave his friend an evil smile. David nodded silently and both went to the nerdy looking kid. “Need help?” Dave asked. The young boy turned around and as he saw the two big football guys, he seems to shrink in fear. “N… no…”, he said shyly.
“It’s your lucky day, kiddo, we’re gonna show you how to open it.”, Azimio laughed. Together they grabbed the kid by his shoulders and pushed him hard into the locker door. The kid fell and the locker went open. Azimio and Dave laughed viciously and walked away.
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After school and football training, Dave felt too fluttery to get home. So he decided to go to the mall for a beer. He knew there was a restaurant that didn’t ask him for his ID and he welcomed the idea of getting a little drunk. He had asked one of his football dudes, but they were all tired because Coach Beiste was mad at them after finding out about their little “chalk on the bench” trick, so they’d had to run some extra rounds.
So, on his own, Karofsky strolled to the mall.
The boy felt strange walking alone without any of his football mates. But after a while he enjoyed the silence. Since the first day at McKinley High he had had to be the strong bully guy so no one would harm him. But there were times when he just wanted to be left in peace. David inhaled the warm and fresh air.
It got warmer and Dave took off his football jacket and stuffed it in his backpack. He really liked being in the McKinley football team and he was proud to wear that jacket. But just with a simple white T-shirt it was easier to blend into the crowd.
Karofsky entered the mall and had a look in some shop windows. He remembered that he still had to buy a new suit for the prom and so the boy went into the clothes store and tried a few. He decided on a black suit with a black bow tie. He didn’t want to take the suit with him, so he laid it away in the shop and his father could pick it up and pay for later that week. One prom problem solved. Now he had to find a girl he could invite. He wasn’t very delighted to ask a girl out, but under no circumstances he was gonna go alone to that stupid prom.
As his thoughts circled around a bunch of girls in his school he could ask out, he suddenly bumped into another person.
“Watch it!” Dave shouted to the smaller boy. “Hummel!” Dave’s voice was surprised and somehow a bit softer than usual.
Kurt Hummel looked at the bully. “So I can’t even go for shopping without seeing your face.”
“Don’t push me, Hummel.” Dave said angrily. Then he mentioned another boy on Kurt’s side. “So did you bring your girlfriend, Hummel?”
Kurt rolled his eyes and linked his arm with the other boy. He pulled him out of Dave’s way. “Come on, Blaine. He’s not worth it.” The other boy looked angry but didn’t say anything and so they went away.
Karofsky watched them until they vanished in the crowd. He saw how Kurt smiled at Blaine and how the other boy touched Kurt’s shoulder in a more than “just friends” way. Dave couldn’t stop sighing. He had treated Kurt Hummel so bad that the small boy had been forced to change schools. There he met Blaine, his new boyfriend.
On his way to the restaurant Dave thought about how much easier Kurt Hummel’s life would have been if he didn’t had come out in school. Sure, he was a victim before that day but after the football team found out about Hummel’s ‘sexual orientation’ they bullied him every single day. Dave had thought it was fun in the beginning, but his feelings turned after the smaller boy didn’t fight back one day and became miserable instead. As Dave told Azimio that they should maybe find another victim for their attacks, he got very strange looks and so the continued harassing Hummel.
‘Better be the offender than the victim,’ was Dave’s maxim and it worked because no one in the school tried to bother him.
In the restaurant he ordered his bottle of beer but after the first draft he decided he didn’t feel like getting drunk today. So he took the bottle and went after paying. Dave got outside and sat on a bench near the mall. He felt the shafts of sunlight in his face and so the boy closed his eyes, happy not to think of anything.
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“Hey”, a voice startled him of his daydreams. It was a young man, smiling at him. “Is there a free seat?” he asked pointing a finger at the empty space on the bench.
“Sure.” Dave said, moving over a bit.
The young man thanked him and sat down. Dave noticed that the man started to rummage in his backpack. Dave opened one eye and took a closer look at this man. He couldn’t be much older than early twenties and his dark blond curly hair fell in his pretty face. ‘What am I thinking?’, Dave said to himself and looked the other way. After a while the man took out a comic book and start to read.
“Is this Wolverine: Origins?” Karofsky asked before he could stop himself.
The boy looked up. “Yeah. Do you know the comic series?”
“For sure! Wolverine is awesome, I love the stories! Can I have a look?”
The other boy grinned and gave him the comic. Karofsky paged through the issue and his eyes started to glow. Dave always loved the character of the wolf-like mutant, he was powerful and strong and he never lost.
“It’s from comic shop around the corner,” the boy said.
“I didn’t know there’s a comic shop here!”
The other boy told him the way.
“I’m Jeremiah by the way,” he introduced himself. “Dave.” They shook hands and chatted a bit before Jeremiah had to go. Karofsky stayed a bit longer and he felt good. He finished his beer and went home.
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Two days later Dave went to the comic shop. It was a bit difficult to find and the boy was sure that no one could find it without knowing the way. It was a very small shop full of comics, art books and small figures of the most common comic heroes. The boy felt quite comfy and he started to browse some of the special editions of Spiderman. As he went to the cash desk he heard a familiar voice. “Hey there again.” Dave looked at the sales clerk and to his surprise it was Jeremiah. “Hi! I didn’t know you’re working here.”
The boy smiled. “You didn’t ask.”
“So you just talk to strangers to find some customers for your shop?”
“Technically it isn’t my shop, I just started here a few weeks ago. And I usually don’t talk to strangers,” Jeremiah laughed and collected the money Dave gave him. Their hands touched and suddenly Karofsky felt electrified. It wasn’t a bad feeling and Jeremiah didn’t seem to notice.
“Good choice.” Jeremiah added on Dave’s comic selection.
“Thanks dude. Never read Spiderman before but the fight scenes look cool.”
“Oh! Then you should also read this one!” Jeremiah stepped from behind the cash desk and went to a shelf. He tried to pick a comic from the top of it, but he was a bit too small to reach it.
“Wait.” Karofsky picked the issue Jeremiah tried to reach. The two were very close and suddenly they glanced at each other. Dave raised his eyebrows and couldn’t stop looking in the other boy’s eyes. Jeremiah turned pink and lowered his gaze. “Yeah. Thanks.” Jeremiah moved backwards.
Dave bought the book the other one recommended and before he left the shop, Jeremiah said: “Hope I see you soon. There are a bunch of other comics you’d probably like.”
Dave stopped. “If I do like this one…” he waved with the comic Jeremiah had given him, “I’ll probably come back to see what else you’ve got.” Jeremiah looked amused by that comment. As Dave recapped his words and was aware of his suggestive last sentence, he added “… on good comics, I mean. Ah… I have to go.” Karofsky nearly fled out of the comic shop. He felt totally embarrassed and his heart was pumping loud. “Idiot,” Karofsky said to himself as he went home.
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“Man, when did you become a comic geek?” Azimio asked his friend.
“Dude, this stuff is awesome! You should read it,” Karofsky answered and hit his friend with the issue. “Ouch!” Azimio shouted but grabbed the comic and opened it. “That chick looks hot!” Azimio commented on one of the drawings. Dave looked over his shoulder to have a look on the woman Azimio pointed his finger. “That’s Viper. She’s cool, she was Wolverine’s wife some years ago…. but look at the fights, the moves are amazing!” He tried to show Azimio another page, but he pushed Dave’s hand away. “Who cares about the fights, look at her tits, man, the suit is so tight! Now I know why you like that shit!” Karofsky grinned, but didn’t say anything. He was happy that Azimio liked the comics, which meant that Dave didn’t have to beat him to make his point.
While Azimio showed the page with Viper to another football teammate, David’s thoughts wandered to the comic book store. He wondered which books Jeremiah would get for him the next time. The cute shop guy with the friendly smile had a quite good taste in comics. Cute? Friendly smile? What was he thinking?! Karofsky shook his head to get the image out of his head. ‘I need to get more football training.’ he said to himself, heading to the gym. He stopped at the Slushy machine at the corner of the lunchroom and filled it up. He hadn’t decided yet if he would drink the shake or pitch it in someone’s face. After a few drafts he got sick of the artificial strawberry taste and looked for a proper victim. He thought about hitting one of hockey douchebags but the risk that the whole hockey team would take revenge was too high. So he threw the whole icey mass of the Slushy in the face of that super strange looking gothic girl from the Glee club.
Tina screamed as the Slushy hit her face. Suddenly two of her Glee club friends were on her side. Damn! Puckerman and Hudson! It really wasn’t Dave’s day.
“What’s wrong with you?” Finn shouted at him, guarding Tina behind his back.
Puck pushed him into the next locker door. “Haven’t you learned to let the Glee club alone? Maybe it’s time to teach you a lesson!”
Before Karofsky could say more, he had Puck’s fist in his stomach. But Dave didn’t wait for long and kicked Puckerman in the knee. Both boys got down and started to wrestle on the floor.
“Dude!” Finn shouted to Puck. “Coach Beiste is coming. You can’t get caught by hitting someone or you have to get back to juvy!”
“Yeah, Puckerman. Do what your “mommy” says!” Dave provoked him and hit the other boy hard in his stomach.
Puck hit him in the chest before he finally got up and went with his Glee friends down the hallway. Dave tried to get up, but suddenly he felt a stabbing pain in his chest. He tried to inhale, but it was like all air was out of his lungs. Somehow he managed to get on his feet, though it felt like a rhino walked all over him.
Coach Beiste came down the hallway. “Are you up to something, Karofsky?” she asked suspiciously.
“No, Coach. Everything’s fine.”
“Then you better get to the gym or I’ll give you extra rounds for being late.”
David didn’t say anything and tried to look relaxed. He went to the gym and changed into his football clothes without moving too much, so the burn in his chest wouldn’t get worse. The next hour was pure torture for David. Every time he inhaled too much or too fast the pain came back and he had to stop. Karofsky couldn’t remember how he survived the whole football training without starting to cry as the ache went more painful. But he did. The coach gave him strange looks the whole training, but she didn’t say anything.
“You’re not in shape.” the coach said later, but as David didn’t answer, she went on to the new blonde team member.
Very slow David changed clothes again. He managed to move without the stabbing pain. He didn’t want to have anyone noticing that he was injured, especially not Puckerman who gave him an angry glimpse, but as the other team members were in the changing room, he didn’t try to fight him again.
School was over and after two very strong pain killers he stole from the school nurse, he felt good enough to go to the comic book store. The ache was still there and Karofsky could feel the breach pumping. But David wanted some new comics and so he ignored it.
After a short walk he entered the shop. “Hey David!” Jeremiah waved at him behind the cash desk. He was selling some comics to a small boy. “Have fun reading it. The next issue comes on wednesday.” The boy smiled and ran out of the store. Now David was the only one in the small shop.
“I’ve wondered when you would visit me again,” Jeremiah said.
Dave grumbled, but didn’t say anything.
“I’ve got your comics,… wait!” Jeremiah vanished behind a curtain and came out with a bunch of comic books. “I wasn’t sure if you like Aquaman, but you can take a look.”
He handed him an issue.
“Dude, the guy is riding a seahorse! That’s so gay!” Dave said and laughed. As Jeremiah didn’t react, David looked up and he saw that Jeremiah’s usually friendly smile was gone. Instead he gave Karofsky a weird look, kinda questioning and part hurt.
David tried to rescue the situation “Ahm… I mean. Well it’s a giant seahorse so maybe it’s not THAT bad….”
Jeremiah’s corner of his mouth twitched, but somehow the atmosphere was cooled down. “You know, I have to arrange some comics in the back. You can have a look on the rest of the stuff. If you want to buy some, just give me a shout.” Jeremiah vanished behind the curtain again.
Dave waited a minute, to see if he would come back, but as he didn’t he sighed silently and thumbed through the Aquaman comic. Suddenly he heard a noise and wanted to move, but he was too quick and the pain of his chest came back more painful than before.
“Argh!” Dave shouted, and abruptly everything went dark for a second. David tried to hold on something, but just reached a board that couldn’t hold his weight. With a loud noise the board plunged to the ground, bringing dozens of comics with it.
Shortly Jeremiah came out and saw David half on the ground.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, trying to help Dave up, but the boy stopped him.
“I can’t breathe!” he whispered and Karofsky couldn’t stop his tears coming up.
“You need to see a doctor. Can you get up somehow? I’ll take you to the hospital!” Jeremiah said, holding Dave’s shoulder. David wanted to protest, but the pain was too bad. Together they managed to get the bigger boy on his own feet.
“Shall I call someone?”
Dave shook his head, trying not to move. Having his dad around him in his weakest hour was exactly the opposite of what he wanted. Jeremiah made two calls, closed the store and then he helped David to his car.
Because of the pain David would have swooned again with every step he took, but somehow he got distracted by the smell of Jeremiah’s hair. While the dark blonde concentrated on the way, Dave fixed on his face and had a closer look. Though it was difficult to see through his teary eyes he noticed some details of Jeremiah’s head. His upper lip was smaller than the lower and his chin was very hard lined. His eyes were so light blue, that it looked unreal.
Jeremiah glanced at Dave. “Hey! We have to do that together. I can’t lift you alone!”
Finally the two got to the hospital. It wasn’t David’s first time there but he hated that building. Jeremiah helped him out of the car to the front desk. A nurse helped David in a wheel chair.
“I have to go now.” Jeremiah said.
“Don’t!” David shouted, grabbing the other boy’s shirt.
“David, I don’t think you want me around you. People will think we’re together.”
But David looked Jeremiah straight in the eyes. “I don’t care! Please don’t leave me here.” Karofsky felt helpless with all the nurses in their uniforms, running around and making him nervous.
“Maybe I can call someone? A friend? Your parents?”
But David shook his head. Jeremiah sighed. “Okay, I’m stayin’. Now let go my shirt. It’s one of my favourites, you know?”
Slowly David opened his fist. The nurse came and asked David some questions.
“What’s your name?”
“David Karofsky.”
“Are you covered by insurance?”
“Yes, I think so. My father told me that he had to contract one.”
“How old are you?”
David thought fast. If he said his true age, they would have to call his father. “Twenty one.”
“The doctor will have a look, you and your friend can wait in the examination room Nr. 25.”
Jeremiah took David in his wheelchair to the room. It was empty except a pallet. With Jeremiah’s help they managed to get Dave on that pallet. Ten minutes passed without any sign of the doctor. Jeremiah sat besides David. It became very silent in the room.
“I’m sorry.” Dave broke the silence.
“For what?”
“What I said about Aquaman. I don’t think he’s gay.”
“Forget it. It’s not about Aquaman.” Jeremiah sighed.
David thought a second about that answer. “Oh.”
The two fell into silence again.
“Then I’m sorry for the other thing.”
“Yeah. Whatever.” Jeremiah said, concentrating on an invisible spot on the other side of the room.
“No. I mean it.” He looked in Jeremiah’s face so the boy couldn’t escape his gaze. Jeremiah looked back. Though instantly David wanted to look away, he couldn’t. He looked in the other boy’s very blue eyes.
“I… I…” Dave stuttered.
“Ssshhh… it’s okay, David.” Jeremiah said, putting a finger on David’s lips. ”I accept your apology.”
Karofsky’s first idea of a proper reaction was to punch the other boy in the face for touching him in an inappropriate way. But as soon as he felt the other boy’s finger on his lips, he was stunned. His eyes widened and suddenly he forgot all his pain.
He just saw the other boy’s eyes and down to that lips. Without even noticing Dave moved a couple of centimetres forward, closer to Jeremiah. Jeremiah put his hand on Dave’s cheek and he turned red. So David took all his courage and touched the curly back of Jeremiah’s head.
And before Dave realized it, the other boy was just a few centimetres away. David could feel his breath. His heart was beating so loud, that he was sure the other boy could hear it. David literally felt the warmth of Jeremiah’s face and David sighed loudly as their foreheads touched each other. Dave closed his eyes in joy from all the feelings storming through his body. His hand was still in the other boy’s hair, playing with a wisp in his fingers. Jeremiah’s hand wandered to David’s neck and Dave shivered under his touch.
And before he could help himself their lips found each other’s. Dave was surprised of the softness of Jeremiah’s lips. Carefully he lined every curve of the other’s lips with his tongue. Jeremiah let him and waited patiently until Dave was ready to get deeper in the kiss. The two discovered each other’s mouths, but as the kiss got more intense, Dave made a wrong move and suddenly he stopped because the pain in his chest burnt every other feeling away.
David groaned in pain, holding his chest.
“I’m sorry!” Jeremiah said pitiful and jumped of the pallet.
“No, it’s alright, I shouldn’t have moved,” Dave said, trying to get his facial expressions under control.
The door opened and the doctor came in. “Mr. Karofsky.” Dave nodded. “The good thing is: The system has proved that you’re insured. The bad thing is, you lied to our nurse and I had to call your father because he has to sign some documents for the check-up.”
“What do you mean, you’ve called my father?” Dave was alarmed.
“Well, young man. That’s the rules for our underaged patients.”
Jeremiah looked at David: “Wait, I thought you were twenty one! What about the beer I saw you drinking?”
Dave looked like a shot doe. “I … I can explain everything!”
The doctor interrupted. “I’ll pretend I did overhear that you drank beer. Your father will be here in a couple of minutes.”
“I gotta go now.” Jeremiah nearly fled out the examination room…
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“So why can’t you go for training again?” Azimio asked his friend.
“Two of my ribs are broken, idiot,” Karofsky grumbled. “And now I have to wear this stupid orthopaedic corset till everything’s healed. Can’t let anyone see that.”
“Uuuh, a corset, like a giiiiirl!” Azimio chuckled.
“Wait until I can move again, you’re gonna regret every single word!” Dave countered and pushed Azimio.
“Yeah, whatever, dude!”
It was five days after his visit to the hospital. Paul Karofsky, David’s father, wasn’t angry at all but relieved that his son wasn’t seriously injured. Dave told him that he fell down the stairs, but he was sure that his father didn’t believe him after all the fights he got in school. David didn’t tell him about Jeremiah and the doctor was smart enough not to as well.
Karofsky went to the comic book store the day after, but there was someone else there, telling him that Jeremiah went on vacation but hadn’t said when he was going to be back. So he setlled down in his old life, trying not to think about that amazing kiss. He felt confused and insecure but of course he didn’t tell anybody.
“Have you found a girl for the prom tomorrow?” his friend asked.
“Nah. Don’t think I’m going. I can’t even dance with that thing round my chest.”
“Come on! Everyone is going! You don’t want to miss that jerk Finn doing that
ape-like dance again, like last year.”
“Yeah. That was funny.” He also didn’t want to be the only guy missing all that stuff the whole school was going to talk about for weeks. So after school he decided to pick up that suit and went to the mall.
“My assistant will bring you your suit, Mr. Karofsky.”, the shop manager said. After a minute a young dark blonde guy with Dave’s suit came in.
“Jeremiah!” said David surprised.
“Hi David.” Jeremiah smiled friendly and gave the shop manager the suit. “Would you like to try it on, see if it fits? We can still make some changes.”
“No. Thanks.” Dave said shortly, fixing Jeremiah.
“You should try it on. Not that one trouser leg is shorter than the other,” Jeremiah laughed. The shop manager glanced at Jeremiah, but didn’t say anything.
“Okay. I’ll try it on then.” Dave went to the changing room. After a minute trying to put the sack coat on David cursed his corset.
“Can I help you?” Jeremiah’s voice came from outside the curtain. Cautious he looked inside the changing room and then took one sleeve of the sack coat, so David could get in.
“It’s that thing I have to wear because of my broken ribs, you know?” David explained.
“Ah. I see. Are you getting better?”
David nodded, looking into the mirror behind the other boy. Jeremiah stood behind David, smoothing out the shoulder area.
“Looking good.” Jeremiah said, but he seemed to regret his words as soon as they were out.
David didn’t react, instead he said, “So you quit at the comic book store?”
“Yeah. Back to my old business. I worked in a clothes store before. So they took me because I have experience.”
“I’m sorry I lied.” Dave said suddenly.
“I’m sorry I ran.”
Bothe boys smiled.
“We’re not going to see each other again, aren’t we?” Dave concluded.
Jeremiah shook his head. “You’re underage. I’ll probably get arrested if they see us together.” Dave looked sadly at the ground, didn’t know what to say.
“But you can stop by any time you want, if you need a tie or a chemise. I’m gonna be here!” Jeremiah tried to cheer the other boy up.
Dave smiled unhappily. “First you need to help me out that thing here.”
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Epilogue:
“That prom was cool.” Dave said to his friend Azimio.
“Yeah! Did you see that chick with the hilarious huge purple dress? She looked like a blueberry!”
Azimio and Karofsky chuckled the whole day about yesterday’s prom. Dave was glad that he didn’t miss all the fun with the boys from the football team. They put some vodka in the technically alcohol free wine cooler and that black girl from the Glee club drank so much, that she laughed the whole evening and fell on the floor like six times. Some of the other losers from the club brought her home after she had tried to climb on the stage.
Dave and Azimio went along the school hallway when suddenly Kurt Hummel stood in front of them. He seemed surprised, obviously he didn’t see them coming.
“Hello homo!” Azimio began.
Kurt wanted to say something, but David was faster.
“Come on, Azimio. Let go. Let’s find a first year we haven’t slushied yet.”
Both Azimio and Kurt raised their eyebrows, but didn’t say anything. David and Azimio passed the smaller boy and went to the Slushy machine…
END
